Mastodon Feed: Posts

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

It's been a while since I had to ask this question too seriously, so it's interesting to see the where the ecosystem has transitioned to. Lots of new libraries (I've never used PyBind11) but also venerable ones (Boost.Python, cffi). Interesting to hear that parameter conversions are still a significant overhead. Cross the boundaries infrequently, with large values, to avoid the translation overhead explosion, which is ancient wisdom: https://blog.glyph.im/2022/12/potato-programming.html

#NBPy

fromjason ("fromjason.xyz ❤️ 💻 ✍️ 🥐 🇵🇷") wrote:

I wanna get a shirt that reads "I write in .md files and I'm really annoying about it."

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

Now listening to Freya Bhushan Mehta asking the age-old question: what code should be in Python, what should be in C++ (or your compiled language of choice)? #NBPy

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

If you're enjoying my somewhat disjointed attempt at liveblogging North Bay Python here, I'm mostly doing this to try to keep my famously discursive attention focused.

If you want a *good* liveblog, I have no idea how @MaggieFero manages it but their posts are the gold standard

#NBPy

Boosted by glyph ("Glyph"):
dreid@wandering.shop wrote:

"Angel investing is when you give away money with extra steps." - Bob Monsour #nbpy

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

A whirlwind tour through an autobiographical talk from @bobmonsour which has included the detail that I believe he said he programmed a device with 112 bytes of application memory (?!), a skill that I am guessing will be useful in the modern day given current RAM prices #NBPy

pzmyers@freethought.online ("pzmyers 🕷") wrote:

She's wrong. April 25 has been less than ideal for me.

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/04/25/what-kind-of-perfect-date-is-this/

jwz wrote:

DNA Lounge Update, Wherein we have a galley of dick pix
https://www.dnalounge.com/backstage/log/2026/04/25.html?utm%5Fsource=sp%5Fma

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

And finally, the accessing software should not be allowed to *know* if they said "no".

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

If you are ever in the position where you are the steward of a user's consent for software to access their data, make sure that the user gets to remain in control of WHAT data is exposed. Which mailboxes, which calendars, which photo albums, which contacts. This does need to be high-level; as users do not generally want to be forced to do complex configuration as *well* as clicking through a bunch of dialogs just to get their work done, but it is your absolute duty to *give them the option*.

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

RE: https://mastodon.social/@glyph/116467306761201245

I want to elaborate on this one a little bit. When I worked at a company that manufactured, among other things, consent modals, one of the things I tried (and failed) to fight for was the idea that no consent modal should EVER be a 'yes/no'. "Should we let this app access your contacts list?" is a form of the question that disrespects consent. The app can tell if you say no. It can extort a 'yes' from you, after that. Instead: "what group, if any, should this app be able to see?"

Boosted by glyph ("Glyph"):
nik@nkantar.social ("Nik Kantar") wrote:

The neighing horse’s timing is hit and miss, but the hilarity keeps increasing. #nbpy

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

Now Alla Barbalat is talking about using Python to evaluate game balance in the context of a board game.

For me personally this is such a fun and refreshing look at a structured approach to the *basics* of game design. A million years ago when I worked in the game industry, so much of what designers were talking about (i.e., at GDC, but also elsewhere) were esoteric, lost-in-the-weeds explanations of very specific problems. This feels very much like the missing piece of that puzzle! #NBPy

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

TIL about this all-time banger https://lookitup.baby #NBPy

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

Extremely valuable reminder about "simply" and "just": this language (along with its pals; "basically" "obviously", "of course") isn't merely stylistic noise; it sends a specific message:

"This should be easy"

or, in other words:

"If this isn't easy, it's your fault"

This is implicitly an attack on the reader.

#NBPy

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

Now I'm learning about the lesson that users have learned from yes/no "consent" modals is that they just always have to say "yes" or the computer will deny them critical access to functionality that they need in order to perform their desired task, complete assigned work from an employer or school, or even get life-critical medication. I'm not feeling like a feature whose perceived function is 'you have to say yes; now that you said yes it's your fault' should be referred to as 'consent' #NBPy

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

feeling very flattered but every so slightly uncomfortable at the number of direct shout-outs I'm personally getting from the stage #NBPy

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

"People's Intuition Isn't Standardized"

PREACH

#NBPy

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

Margaret Fero beginning their talk by raising the stakes, "Technical Skills That Can Save A Life", no pressure or anything #NBPy

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

My entirely respectful long term crush on Ms. Wiedlin continues and also her book comes out a week after mine, perhaps our book tours will cross paths

RE: https://www.threads.com/@janewiedlin/post/DXhonhXmaGo

jscalzi@threads.net ("John Scalzi") wrote:

Charlie enjoying the yard on a very nice spring day

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

Now on to a talk from Lilinoe Harbottle about surgical robotics, which seems to be converging on the related theme of 'truth is not found inside computers, but projected in from outside'. "A robot cannot be allowed to check its own homework", she explains. An auditor process that can immediately "transition the system to a safe state" is as isolated as possible.

#NBPy

dysfun@treehouse.systems ("gaytabase") wrote:

what's a gerbil's favourite airline?

lufthamster

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

I love talks that, as a 25 year Python veteran, have the ability make me say to myself “wait, does that even work” with less than 10 lines of code

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
arstechnica ("Ars Technica") wrote:

Palantir employees are talking about company's "descent into fascism"
Slack messages, interviews with current and former works paint picture of company in turmoil.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/palantir-employees-are-talking-about-companys-descent-into-fascism/?utm%5Fbrand=arstechnica&utm%5Fsocial-type=owned&utm%5Fsource=mastodon&utm%5Fmedium=social

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
jameshowell@fediscience.org ("James Endres Howell") wrote:

@jimsalter It was always first and foremost an attack on labor.

Boosted by soatok@furry.engineer ("Soatok Dreamseeker"):
jimsalter@fosstodon.org ("Jim Salter") wrote:

RE: https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/116465689693004632

This is very true. The problem is that the pockets of the assholes pushing AI are a *lot* deeper than the pockets of the IT workers that companies are determinedly attempting to replace with AI.

Several years of this shit will do no more than disappoint the oligarchs, but it will *ruin* careers and even lives of millions of workers who can't just wait out a major loss of income "for a few years" while this plays out.

Boosted by isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:"):
icing@chaos.social ("Stefan Eissing") wrote:

In math 'i^2 == -1'. But computers can only approximate that. Good values for 'i' are then:

int32_t 479772853 squared is -7
int32_t 1667710795 squared is -7
int16_t 16203 squared is -7
int16_t 16565 squared is -7
int8_t 53 squared is -7
int8_t 75 squared is -7

😌

isagalaev ("Ivan Sagalaev :flag_wbw:") wrote:

Forming cone. I think this is what a coniferous cone looks like when it's not yet fully formed.

#photography #darktable

glyph ("Glyph") wrote:

“facts”, as the kids say