@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

natknight

@natknight@hachyderm.io

I write software (Python, Rust, etc.) professionally and for fun, run a home server, live in Canada, am a parent, am car-free, ride e-bikes a lot, I love TTRPGs (especially indies), and love to sail but don't get to do it very often, and have chronic back pain.

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

simon, (edited ) to random
@simon@simonwillison.net avatar

As a rough estimate, how often do you navigate to a website or individual page by directly typing its URL (including browser URL bar autocomplete)?

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@luciano @simon I have a suspicion that the fear of losing particular automations and configurations is waaaay bigger than it needs to be for a lot of programmers.

“Aaah, my keybindings!” or “Aaah, my workflow!”

Friend, the smartest and most adaptable part of this system is YOU. You'll hit the wrong thing for a bit and then you'll adapt. You can leave that browser/editor/shell/note-taking tool of you want to. It's going to be okay.

synkr3tyk, to music
@synkr3tyk@mastodon.social avatar

Okay, it's time. Time to change servers. Time to have local & federated timelines that don't make my eyes bleed. Time to support an indie effort.

Does anyone want to share about their server? My main interests are - I play , , , and software, with varying degrees of skill - and - I'm attempting to get into grad school for to facilitate a career change. I'm also liberal af, if that matters one way or the other on your server.

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@synkr3tyk hachyderm.io might be a good fit?

grimalkina, to random
@grimalkina@mastodon.social avatar

I want to see absolutely no sensible and practical advice here. What programming language should I start vaguely and in a chill way teaching myself if I just want to experience something fun or elegant or interesting in and of itself, assuming I have no goal for using it to do anything really (outside of learning)

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@grimalkina Start submitting project Euler solutions in Typst.

https://typst.app

natknight, to python
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

I’ve been experimenting with the Helix text editor. It’s not quite as slick as VS Code, but getting it pretty close was way less with than I expected!

https://nathanielknight.ca/articles/helix_for_python.html

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@michaelaye I haven’t tried, but I think that’s right. My use case is mostly editing code in a terminal. I’m content with VS Code, just hedging my bets so I’m not too dependent on one tool.

pamelafox, to random
@pamelafox@fosstodon.org avatar

Aggh, every SDK should have both examples and a reference. See diataxis.fr for more details.

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@pamelafox I've been learning Typst and their docs are really good for this. There's a tutorial and a reference section, and nearly every argument to every function has explanation and an example. Everything is hyperlinked. It's just glorious.

https://typst.app/docs

ZaneSelvans, to random
@ZaneSelvans@social.coop avatar

I'd like to go back to spending time understanding science things instead of money things someday.

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@ZaneSelvans

I feel this right in the burnt-out husk of my optimistic hope that technology would be the hard part.

BajoranEngineer, to random
@BajoranEngineer@mastodon.online avatar

I love when the things I need to get done today are are the things I want to do least (video recording, newsletter writing, dept-wide email) while I have nice, fun nerd snipes hanging in my peripheral (WASI).

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@BajoranEngineer The programmer's eternal lament 🤣

Come for the puzzles, stay despite the fact that the job's about coordinating people and computers and not just computers.

hazelweakly, to random
@hazelweakly@hachyderm.io avatar

The other day, I got on my soapbox bit about productivity, how humans work and how we don't need to choose between having this nice happy world where people are allowed to help each other and "actually being productive"

I also described humans as a social and equitable animal that wants to help others. But... I don't have any scientific citations on hand for that; I've seen research around it over the years, I just don't have references on hand.

Do y'all happen to know of any I can read?

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@hazelweakly I'm a bit out on a limb here, but this feels a bit like Elinor Ostrom?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Ostrom

hazelweakly, to random
@hazelweakly@hachyderm.io avatar

I love explaining complicated subjects in a quippy way that isn't necessarily wrong. For example:

Kubernetes is 20 while-true loops in a trench coat pretending to be a container orchestration platform.

What are your favorite quippy ways to explain a complicated topic? It could be anything! I'm just curious what y'all have :)

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@hazelweakly Fundamentally, computers can do math, remember stuff, and decide what to do next based on math and stuff they remember. The rest is just plugging in buttons/screens/radios/motors/etc.

b0rk, to random
@b0rk@jvns.ca avatar

i've been hearing a lot from folks on here who are frustrated with git (for many good reasons!)

but I'm curious about the opposite perspective: if you've worked with more than one version control system over the years and you prefer git, I'd love to know:

a) what other systems have you worked with? (hg? svn? p4?)
b) why do you prefer git?

notes:

  • please no replies about why you think git is worse
  • interested in answers other than "because I have no choice"
natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@b0rk The VCS tools I learned (in order) were:

  • svn (don't remember this well enough to comment)
  • git
  • some proprietary language integrated thing (Progress ABL's version manager)
  • MS Team Foundation

I've found the combination of git commands that work for me and have written down the incantations that I don't know well enough to remember. I've got a good enough mental model that I can usually figure out how to get where I want to be.

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@b0rk I prefer git because while other systems may be simpler when things are going well (a linear sequence of commits gets applied by people who aren't working on the same files) they fall apart when you get off the happy path (basically any time you'd rebase a branch in git you're hosed).

You end up with different branches in different directories, or having to lock files before you can edit them. It's conceptually simpler but makes it difficult or downright impossible to get work done.

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@b0rk
Having tried the "simpler" models, my hunch is that there's some irreducible complexity to this problem and you need a model that can handle the edge cases.

I'd compare it to the difference between Python or JavaScript where APIs are simpler but might throw exceptions to and Rust or Elm where the APIs feel fussy but force you to think about edge cases.

jacob, (edited ) to random
@jacob@jacobian.org avatar

What are folks using for simple build scripting these days? I know tons of folks love Just, but I've just (lol) never been able to make it fit my brain and after a very frustrating morning not being able to get what feels like a simple thing to work I'm ready to move on. What should I look at next?

I don't want to go back to Make, I find that even harder. And we use Babashka at work, which I find mostly fine, but I'd prefer something without the JVM dependancy.

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@jacob It's not without its frustrating quirks, but I've used Task and not immediately noped out: https://taskfile.dev/

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@jacob I've also written my own itty bitty task runner and/or frequently resort to writing Python scripts for this kind of thing, so...

🤷

May we all be so lucky as to find the build tool that sparks joy!

samir, to random
@samir@functional.computer avatar

It took me a long time but I finally figured out that Copilot and friends are not meant for me, they’re meant for JavaScript programmers.

One of the reasons I’m enjoying Rust is because there’s a culture of being very thoughtful about every line of code you write, and every dependency you add.

Conversely, in JS land, “just add this dependency” is now a meme.

In a land where you’re encouraged to “just” add more boilerplate (thanks, create-react-app), why wouldn’t you outsource that?

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@samir I've found it useful for a few things: writings tests that I don't mind throwing away, converting functions or programs between languages (e.g. "I don't know how to write this in rust, but I can bang it out in Python and get it converted to Rust as a starting point").

But yes, outsourcing your thinking to a machine is obviously not going to end well. :\

Edelruth, to ebikes
@Edelruth@mastodon.online avatar

Cargo ebikes: does anyone with practical experience have an opinion on basket in front, or to the rear?


natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@Edelruth My family have one of each, which we use for groceries and family trips with two little kids. I generally prefer the basket-up-front model: it's nice to be able to see the kids, and to be able to chuck a bunch of stuff in the basket without having to pack it into paniers.

cliffle, to random
@cliffle@hachyderm.io avatar

As a weekend project, I built a basic interactive web app using htmx and a bit of Javascript on the frontend, and raw Rust (axum) HTTP handlers on the backend.

Once I figured htmx out (their docs don't make a lot of sense to me) it's been surprisingly pleasant.

But they fall into the common "contempt culture" trap of spending a lot of energy openly mocking alternatives and their users. (See the Essays page on their site.) As a result, I hesitate to recommend it.

Axum's nice though!

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@cliffle Nice, those are exactly the components I landed on. 😀

chrisamaphone, to random
@chrisamaphone@hci.social avatar

warm beverage mug that chimes gently when it contains liquid to remind you to drink it

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@chrisamaphone Chair that chimes gently when it contains flesh to remind you to stand up and stretch every now and then

kat_kime, to random
@kat_kime@hachyderm.io avatar

Today, I had to raise the flag that the feature I'm working on is at risk.

I'm a bit frustrated for a few reasons -

  1. When I asked when the deadline was, I was told "don't worry about it." But Monday, I was told it needs to be delivered by next week.

  2. I've been working really hard on this feature, even putting in extra hours for the past couple of weeks. I'm so sleep deprived, that I've been randomly crying at the bus stop and in the bathroom.

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@kat_kime This sounds like an awful situation and really bad management (changing timelines, no support). Nobody deserves that.

And while I expect ChatGPT might be quite effective at scaffolding and disambiguating EmberJS stuff that's clearly not what your were asking for. >:(

nnethercote, to random

My least favourite physical sensation that doesn't involve pain: the sudden jerk that happens when something I'm carrying or wearing gets caught on something else.

E.g. a power cord dangling from a machine catches on a piece of furniture, or a sleeve catches on a door handle. Even worse when it involves nearly tripping. I hate it, hate it, hate it.

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@nnethercote Strong agree! Somehow all the strike plates on the doors in my house are perfectly lined up with the belt loops on my pants and I get caught on one every month or so.

inthehands, to random
@inthehands@hachyderm.io avatar

Any recommendations for a git tool that:

  • runs on macOS, and
  • does a really nice job of the •commit• workflow: showing the diff, selecting changes to commit, maybe selecting individual lines.

I don’t care about anything fancier that commits — not even branches! I have tools I like for all that stuff.

I’m just looking for a nice UI for viewing and selecting uncommitted changes, something better than the clunky “stage / unstage” buttons that are the norm.

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@inthehands I've had good experience with Magit in Emacs (though it's sometimes VERY slow) and Sourcetree.

https://magit.vc/
https://www.sourcetreeapp.com/

tef, to random
@tef@mastodon.social avatar

asking myself what the best "well known (by melody) but least known (by name) song" is and i have a few contenders:

baby elephant walk? jean perry's "e.v.a" or kingsley's popcorn? left bank two?

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@tef Misirlou would have to be up there as “that song from pulp fiction”.

dorianlistens, to random
@dorianlistens@hachyderm.io avatar

Gotta love a good 1000+ line eslint config.

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@dorianlistens 😱😭😡

mcc, to random
@mcc@mastodon.social avatar

Hey Fediverse today is my birthday

If you would like to do something for me for my birthday, will you please send me a picture (or recording) of something broken (or not working correctly)?

You can reply, or post it with and I will see it.

Thank you <3

natknight,
@natknight@hachyderm.io avatar

@mcc This if the antenna from a Subaru Forester, which I broke by backing into a closing parkade door. It was the first time I had an auto collision.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • provamag3
  • kavyap
  • everett
  • mdbf
  • DreamBathrooms
  • magazineikmin
  • Youngstown
  • tacticalgear
  • slotface
  • thenastyranch
  • InstantRegret
  • GTA5RPClips
  • osvaldo12
  • rosin
  • megavids
  • ethstaker
  • khanakhh
  • vwfavf
  • ngwrru68w68
  • cisconetworking
  • Durango
  • cubers
  • tester
  • anitta
  • normalnudes
  • modclub
  • Leos
  • JUstTest
  • All magazines
    •