Compatibility means deliberately repeating other people’s mistakes. -- David Wheeler "Every time you take a breath, you use something you don’t own to meet your needs without asking anyone’s permission and without paying anyone for the privilege. Although you don’t own the atmosphere, you’ve never had to get a job to earn the money to buy the right to use the atmosphere to keep yourself alive. You simply breathe it in as if the free use of a common resource was the most natural thing in the world. I bet you’d be pretty angry if somebody made a rule dividing the atmosphere into private property without giving you a share large enough to keep you breathing." -- https://widerquist.com/mandatory-participation-on-trial-part-1/ “Here is how platforms die: first, they are good to their users; then they abuse their users to make things better for their business customers; finally, they abuse those business customers to claw back all the value for themselves. Then, they die. I call this enshittification.” -- Cory Doctorow "If Tetris has taught me anything, it's that errors pile up and accomplishments disappear." I find sightseeing old, new or any other parts of town as exciting as watching the paint dry. -- https://blog.royalsloth.eu/posts/on-traveling-and-monotony-of-life/ The more we see creative software engineering as monotonous ticket crunching instead of learning and experimentation, the more we compare producing software to building houses. With that analogy, you can only go wrong. -- Niko Heikkilä There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult. -- C.A.R. Hoare "Every breakthrough is at first laughable and ridiculous. In fact if it did not start out laughable and ridiculous, it is not a breakthrough." "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- Bernard Shaw "When you rely on incentives, you undermine virtues. Then when you discover that you actually need people who want to do the right thing, those people don't exist." -- Barry Schwartz “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit.” –Aristotle You can't empower yourself on someone else's power platform, ultimately. -- Jaron Lanier (about Twitter/Facebook) That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence. -- Christopher Hitchens Redundancy is overkill most of the time, shit happens but in redundant servers shit happens twice more often. -- Solène about self-hosting, https://dataswamp.org/~solene/2021-07-23-why-selfhosting-is-important.html "The Misty Meadows were poorly named - not due to lack of mist, but because of a distinct lack of meadow. It was a stifling void even on sunny days, though merry laughter often escaped it enticingly. Only the saddest of folks ventured in never to be seen again. So we feared it. When I stumbled into those mists, I found many friends I thought lost, happier than I'd ever seen, more themselves than ever. Protected by the veil. I stayed." -- by Teryl Pacieco, https://mastodon.social/@Teryl_Pacieco/106170407786862055 “If you don’t have the contributors be a part of the decision-making process, that is the definition of exploitation. It’s uncomfortable to talk about.” — W. Watson Stell dir vor, es ist Pandemie und keiner geht hin. If The World Was Created By A Programmer [Comic] https://toggl.com/blog/world-created-programmer "Talking about MVC usually spawns a heated debate where the business logic of your component should be present, but let’s not go into that because in reality it doesn’t really matter. The messy complexity of this world has to live somewhere regardless of how you call that component." -- https://blog.royalsloth.eu/posts/the-complexity-that-lives-in-the-gui/ nobody is useless: they can always serve as a bad example Good programmers write good code; great programmers "borrow" good code; best programmers remove good code. -- Mike Gancarz, "The UNIX Philosophy", mutatis mutandis. After X11 and Spring, the Maximum Abstraction Task Force shifted to focus on infrastructure. Which is why your Java Virtual Machine processes are now running as a uniquely allocated user ID in a container scheduled by a control plane on a pool of OS instances separated by the hypervisor service of a dynamically sized cloud placement group. --inopinatus, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23122162 "[...] a future filled with big data and small comprehension." http://nautil.us/issue/81/maps/an-existential-crisis-in-neuroscience The pleasures of urban populations have become mainly passive: seeing cinemas, watching football matches, listening to the radio, and so on. This results from the fact that their active energies are fully taken up with work; if they had more leisure, they would again enjoy pleasures in which they took an active part. -- Bertrand Russell, 1935, In Praise of Idleness There are 10 kinds of people: those who know binary, those who don't. And those who didn't know the '10' was written in base 3. It is foolish to answer a question that you do not understand. It is sad to work for an end that you do not desire. -- George Pólya "Do the work." http://rubyetc.tumblr.com/post/164265917267/further-adventures-in-freelancing "I employ employers to find me interesting or useful stuff to do and to provide any structure and organisation required for said stuff. If they aren't doing it properly, I can fire them." "Existing code exerts a powerful influence. Its very presence argues that it is both correct and necessary." "I try to optimize my code around reducing state, coupling, complexity and code [duplication], in that order." -- various comments from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17578714 "If there's one lesson we've learned from 30+ years of concurrent programming, it is: just don't share state. It's like two drunkards trying to share a beer. It doesn't matter if they're good buddies. Sooner or later, they're going to get into a fight. And the more drunkards you add to the table, the more they fight each other over the beer." [...] "Code that wants to scale without limit does it like the Internet does, by sending messages and sharing nothing except a common contempt for broken programming metaphors." -- ØMQ Guide by Pieter Hintjens "It should be noted that no ethically-trained software engineer would ever consent to write a "DestroyBaghdad" procedure. Basic professional ethics would instead require to write a "DestroyCity" procedure, to which "Baghdad" could be given as a parameter." -- Nathaniel Borenstein The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. 2018 New Year's Resolutions: Try a different Angular, but do not over-React. Start with a new Vue. I've found "Top Performer" is really code for "Person who focuses on getting involved on the highest impact project." And then end up resenting grunt work when such projects are not available to them. -- https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16031246 What do you do (for a living)? - Time and time again, one of the first pieces of information we seek to gain about others is the manner in which they sell their time and labor to those in possession of money. [...] as if all activity worth note is exhausted by activity that is economically productive. - Kate McFarland C++ *has* got much better than 2007. It's now about 3 decent languages fighting each other in a dumpster that's on fire. It’s easier to fool people than to convince them that they’ve been fooled. Simplicity — the art of maximizing the amount of work not done — is essential. Debugging is like being the detective in a crime movie where you are also the murderer. — @fortes Denn diese Sache ist alles was es gibt. Ich spreche nämlich vom Kosmos. Und wenn du darueber nachdenkst, dann wirst du begreifen wie lächerlich der Kosmos ist. . Der Akt der Vernichtung eines so viel geborenen Werks wird gewiss etwas weit vernünftigeres sein. Vor allem: etwas bewusst gewolltes und beabsichtigtes. -- paniq, "Finally Unfinished" A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised my friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am." The man below says: "Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 40 and 42 degrees N. latitude, and between 58 and 60 degrees W. longitude." "You must be an engineer," says the balloonist. "I am," replies the man. "How did you know?" "Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost." The man below says, "You must be a manager." "I am," replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?" "Well," says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you are going. You have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in the exact same position you were in before we met, but now it is somehow my fault." Now it's time for the IDE to be eclipsed (ha) by browser-based tools that let you edit the code, often of a working system. Ein Hamsterrad sieht von innen aus wie eine Karriereleiter. [...] the "troll" is a disruptive influence that turns a comfortable place into an uncomfortable one. Most people don't come to the Internet to have their beliefs challenged, no matter how wrong they might be. -- quesera in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9398786 The most difficult thing in the world is to know how to do a thing and to watch someone else do it wrong without comment. -Theodore H. White. Kunst am CERN: Beide müssen ein Selektions­verfahren durchlaufen. Das ist Konzept. Weltklasse eben. «Die Künstler verdienen es, genauso ausgewählt zu werden wie die Wissenschaftler», betont die Kuratorin. . Resultate verlangt sie nicht: «Ich provoziere absichtlich. Die Betonung liegt auf dem Prozess und dem Austausch. Unsere Gesellschaft hat das Vertrauen in den kreativen Prozess verloren.» Einen Projektvorschlag braucht es trotzdem. Die kreative Freiheit bleibt ein Ideal – in der Kunst wie in der Wissenschaft. -- http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/wissen/technik/Kunst-kollidiert-mit-Kernphysik/story/24024379 Daniel Lemire about the insanity of research grant proposals: "If you knew what you were doing, it would not be research." "Poverty is fundamentally about a lack of cash. It's not about stupidity," author Joseph Hanlon remarks. "You can't pull yourself up by your bootstraps if you have no boots." «Es gibt kein echtes Leben im falschen Job. Deshalb sollten wir alles daran setzen, mehr Leben in unsere Arbeit zu bringen.» -- Catharina Bruns About nine billion human beings simply vanished in the blink of an eye [...] [To the survivors] one message crystallized out: "I am the Eschaton. I am not your god. I am descended from you, and I exist in your future. Thou shalt not violate causality within my historic light cone. Or else." -- Charles Stross, "Singularity Sky" The Linux community is very open and egalitarian! *Anyone* can get called an idiot for saying something stupid or posting a retarded patch! Ich erinnerte mich, wie meine Grossmutter zu mir gesagt hatte: "Du wirst so wie die Leute, mit denen du zusammen bist - ausser du bist Jesus." Ich war aber nicht Jesus, also hatte ich keine Wahl: Ich verliess die Bankbranche. -- Björn Berg There are two kinds of fool. One says, "This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better." --Dean Inge "If Apple does indeed hold patents on such basic concepts as multi-finger interaction, then I count myself lucky that the gesture I have for them only requires one." CVS - Compiliert Vielleicht Später Der kleine Geist haelt Ordunung, das Genie ueberblickt das Chaos Der beste Beweis für die Existenz ausserirdischer _Intelligenz_ ist der, dass noch niemand versucht hat, Kontakt mit uns aufzunehmen. -- Bill Watterson I haven't lost my mind; it's backed up on tape somewhere. We called it the Rubber Duck method of debugging. It goes like this: . 1) Beg, borrow, steal, buy, fabricate or otherwise obtain a rubber duck (bathtub variety) 2) Place rubber duck on desk and inform it you are just going to go over some code with it, if that's all right. 3) Explain to the duck what you code is supposed to do, and then go into detail and explain things line by line 4) At some point you will tell the duck what you are doing next and then realise that that is not in fact what you are actually doing. The duck will sit there serenely, happy in the knowledge that it has helped you on your way. . Works every time. Actually, if you don't have a rubber duck you could at a pinch ask a fellow programmer or engineer to sit in. . source: http://lists.ethernal.org/oldarchives/cantlug-0211/msg00174.html Dota Kehr, "immer die andern" kaufen Dinge die man nicht braucht von Geld das man nicht hat um Leute zu beeindrucken die man nicht mag For most people it is no great trick to find other people's errors. The real trick is to find your own. "The last time I was "passionate" about a job, they called me argumentative and difficult to work with, and insisted that I need to be a "team player". Make up your fucking minds. Do you want me to care, to really care? Or do you want me to just shut up and do the job? Because you can't have both." - "They want you to care...and obey. Basically, you should love doing what your betters order you to do." (Slashdot, "FatLittleMonkey" and "Sperbels") "I think the most scary thing is that I've been out of college for almost 15 years now and I'm still regularly having the "it's finals week and you just realized you were signed up for a class you haven't been to all semester" nightmare." "20 years this May. I still have that dream. I don't think it ever goes away." (Slashdot, "Stormy Dragon" and "rk") Der Mensch ist noch sehr wenig, wenn er warm wohnt und satt gegessen hat, aber er muss warm wohnen und satt zu essen haben, wenn sich die bessere Natur in ihm regen soll. - Friedrich Schiller It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it. - Upton Sinclair "Was ist ein Einbruch in eine Bank gegen die Gründung einer Bank?" (Berthold Brecht) . "Was ist ein Dietrich gegen eine Aktie? Was ist ein Einbruch in eine Bank gegen die Gründung einer Bank? Was ist die Ermordung eines Mannes gegen die Anstellung eines Mannes?" - Die Dreigroschenoper Zum Zugunglück in Spanien: Die Zeitung «El Mundo» schrieb, es sei «erstaunlich», dass es dem Fahrer selbst überlassen bleibe, wann genau er den Zug abbremst, um die Kurve zu schaffen. -- . o ( Soviel zur Angst davor, dass wir eines Tages kritische Entscheidungen den Maschinen überlassen. ) nenolod: ping? TkTech: I'm trying to reach any of the CIA project people to offer help. Are you one? esr: I am not, only nenolod is I believe. IRC etiquette would be to just ask your question to the channel. * jonrafkind snickers esr: also, please read http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html kthx I had a problem so I thought to use Java. Now I have a ProblemFactory. Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. -christel- [Global Notice] Hi all, it's that time again.. we're about to get in the ring, ready for round two. I'll be killing off another handful of servers to carry out some upgrades, hang tight and we'll see you on the other side. Thank you for using freenode and have a smashing evening! As we speak, they are simultaneously refactoring the same code; in different directions. (IRC log during Krita sprint) Two things about programming: 1. Nobody really knows how to do it. 2. If you have a system for doing it, you're doing the computer's job. Working with a bunch of open source hackers presents some unique challenges, as I hope Peter told you. Its most similar to herding cats ;) -- Alexia Death on the GIMP mailing list "As fascinating as it was to listen to people describing how they ran into a barrier in what they were trying to do and took "time out" to grapple with it until they were able to find a feasible solution, I admit that I also sometimes felt a twinge of envy. Who can afford - in every sense of the word - to do that?" -- Aileen Derieg about the Libre Graphics Meeting (2010) "Are Software Developers Naturally Weird?" "What do you mean? African or european developers?" "We socially lazy people are good at programming because we have lots and lots of free time that the regular folks spend being sociable." "Sticking a fork into GIMP was never successful. Most everybody who tried didn't get as far as picking a knife with the other hand." -- Alexandre Prokoudine I think "One does not write a web server in Bash" is like "One does not simply walk into Mordor." You're practically daring short people with hairy feet to attempt it. (seebs on slashdot) --> euschn has joined #wesnoth-dev evening afternoon midday ok, i will stick to "hi" next time :) The details of a building cannot be made alive when they are made from modular parts.... And for the same reason, the details of a building cannot be made alive when they are drawn at a drawing board. -- Christopher Alexander, in "The Timeless Way of Building" "One sure way to make your crappy little business app even crappier is to build it like you're building the space shuttle." - Jeff Atwood One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for bona-fide stupidity, nothing beats teamwork. Thus spake the Lord: Thou shalt indent with four spaces. No more, no less. Four shall be the number of spaces thou shalt indent, and the number of thy indenting shall be four. Eight shalt thou not indent, nor either indent thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to four. Tabs are right out. "If the implementation is hard to explain, it's a bad idea." - The Zen of Python "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain Versuch herauszufinden, was du nicht gut kannst und dann lass es bleiben! -- Gordon Shumway When C++ is your hammer, everything looks like a thumb. -- Steven M. Haflich C gives you enough rope to hang yourself. C++ gives you enough rope to hang yourself and every programmer who comes after you. Java isn't platform independent; it is a platform. -- Stroustrup C++: for(std::vector::const_iterator i = items.begin(); i != items.end(); ++i) { Python: for item in items: ... dessen vom Affen stammende Bioformen so erstaunlich primitiv sind, dass sie Digitaluhren noch immer für eine unwahrscheinlich tolle Erfindung halten. -- Douglas Adams in "Per Anhalter in die Galaxies" "Ein Leben nach dem Tod wuensche ich mir nicht. Ich denke, es ist einfach fertig. Und das ist auch gut so. Schliesslich kommen wieder neue Kinder zur Welt." -- Maria Schafroth (96) die schweren Dinge erscheinen oft leicht mit Geringem wird oft Besonderes erreicht weil der Weise niemals Grosses beginnt ist er es der an Groesse gewinnt -- paniq, "lost known good configuration" Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. -- Will Rogers (1879-1935) [Windows und Linux laufen auf Intel-Macs] Eigentlich praktisch. Dann hab ich auf einer Kiste das Linux das ich täglich brauche, Windows zum gamen und noch 'n MacOS X zum angeben. -- tronco_flipao auf symlink.ch Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use XML." Now they have two problems. -- Phillip Eby, paraphrasing Jamie Zawinski Learn to pause -- or nothing worthwhile can catch up to you. "Making up fake quotes is fun!" - Oscar Wilde "Give light and the people will find their own way" Fanaticism consists in redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim. -- George Santayana As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls. -- Matt Cartmill To the optimist, the glass is half full. To the pessimist, the glass is half empty. To the engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be. I'd prefer to think of it as having a safety factor of two. --Zinho on slashdot You will pay for your sins. If you have already paid, please disregard this message. "If you want it done right, you have to do it yourself" Give a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set him alight and he'll be warm for the rest of his life. Teach him how to build his own fire and ruin your perfect business opportunity. It may work in practice but does it work in theory? The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. -- Steven Wright Debian comes with a guarantee: If you break it, you get to keep both pieces. Build a system that even a fool can use and only a fool will want to use it. If nothing changes, everything will remain the same. -- Barne's Law "Die Bibliothek enthielt auch religiöse Bücher: insgesamt eintausendzwei- hundertdreiundachtzig - jedes von ihnen angeblich DAS Buch. Es erwies sich als faszinierend, sie alle zusammen zu sehen." - Terry Pratchett try: python except: print 'Python is exceptional' Wilderness is where you might get lost. Wander Well! Einige sagen, das Nichts sei das Gegenteil von Alles und sie stünden in Wettbewerb zueinander. Das ist natürlich völliger Unsinn, denn das Nichts ist offenbar ein Teil von Alles. (Kamelopedia) Das Universum hat die Menschen hervorgebracht, damit es sich beobachten kann! Nethack famous last words: "Usage fee, 125 zorkmids" - Shopkeeper, killed by a Death Ray Person who say it cannot be done should not interrupt person doing it. --Chinese Proverb Phase 1: Where do you want to go today? Phase 2: This is where you want to go today. Phase 3: You're not going anywhere today. Life is a sexually transmitted disease, ultimately fatal. "Rules of Optimization: Rule 1: Don't do it. Rule 2 (for experts only): Don't do it yet." - M.A. Jackson $ vim ~/.emacs Thinking you know something is a sure way to blind yourself. -- Frank Herbert, "Chapterhouse: Dune" Love it, change it or leave it! Q: Why is it considered good coding practice to define PI as a constant, rather than just using the value 3.141592 in my code? A: It simplifies the maintenance of your program, in case the value of PI ever needs to be changed. (The Allegro FAQ) "He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice." -Albert Einstein Reality? That's where the pizza delivery guy comes from! Warning: Dates in calendar are closer than they appear. Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else. Hackers do it with bugs. > > Das Sendmail-Buch ist ein dicker, teurer Wälzer, aber informativ ... > Gibt es da auch ne German Edition? Nein, das gibts nur in Englisch. Sind rund 1200 Seiten. Vielleicht wirds ja mal verfilmt. =:-) -- Venty in linux@lugs.ch hash bang slash bin slash bash? Der Baum steht im Keller, ein Speicher aus Laub Die Blätter zerfallen hier schneller zu Staub "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but I know that World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." -- Einstein "Intolerance will not be tolerated." Well, it just seemed wrong to cheat on a ethics test. -- Calvin Free Software - find interesting programs and change them Nethack - fight interesting creatures and eat them Usenet - meet interesting people and flame them "... Nur das statt Schamanen oder Exorzisten heute Anti-Virus-Software zum Einsatz kommt." -- alba7 auf www.symlink.ch "Programme hat es nur wo jemand sie schrieb. Wer sie nutzt wird in irgendeiner Weise dafuer zahlen muessen. Bei kommerz mit Geld und Lizenzbeschraenkungen, bei open source damit dass er nur das bekommt was der Programmierer fuer sich selber wollte." -- Neil Franklin Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, then beat you with experience. The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from. -- A. Tanenbaum, Introduction to Computer Networks "The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from. And if you really don't like all the standards you just have to wait another year until the one arises you are looking for." -- A. Tanenbaum, "Introduction to Computer Networks" "Never underestimate the bandwidth of a stationwagon full of tapes hurtling down the highway!" Join the army! Travel the world, meet interesting people, and kill them. Looking for a helping hand? There's one on your arm. My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right. Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math. With no walls or fences on the Internet, who needs Windows or Gates? Linux is for networking, Mac for working and Windows for Solitair. "We can't buy more time, 'cause time won't accept our money." -- Bad Religion You can talk about the farm or you can plow the ground Argue with a rusty nail or hammer it on down [...] It ain't the smoke, it's the fire that gets the burnin' done If it wasn't for the bullet, nobody'd fear the gun It ain't the bark, it ain't the growl, it's the bite that hurts Thunder's just a noise, boys, lightnin' does the work -- (Chad Brock/John Hadley/Kelly Garrett) Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur Der kleine Geist hält Ordunung, das Genie überblickt das Chaos In der Wissenschaft gibt es keine Antworten, nur Querverweise. A supercomputer is a machine that runs an endless loop in 2 seconds. Wer sich nicht bewegt, spürt auch seine Fesseln nicht. No, I'm not going to explain it. If you can't figure it out, you didn't want to know anyway... :-) -- Larry Wall in <1991Aug7.180856.2854@netlabs.com> /* Nobody will ever see this error message :-) */ panic("Cannot initialize video hardware\n"); -- Linux 2.0.38, arch/m68k/atari/atafb.c MCSE = Minesweeper Consultant & Solitair Expert "First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." -- Gandhi C++: an octopus made by nailing extra legs onto a dog. "For every complex problem, there is an answer that is short, simple and wrong." - H. L. Mencken "...one of the main causes of the fall of the Roman Empire was that, lacking zero, they had no way to indicate successful termination of their C programs." -- Robert Firth "Microsoft has done to computers what McDonald's has done to gastronomy" "I'm not going to ride on a magic carpet! I'm afraid of grounds!" "You mean heights, and stop being silly!" "I know what I mean! It's the grounds that kill you!" --Terry Pratchet, "Sourcery" Software is like sex; it's better when it's free. - Linus Torvalds Der Hacker im Haus erspart die Support-Hotline. Tomorrow will be canceled due to lack of interest. All general statements are false. (The Ultimate Law) Am Ende all unseres Suchens werden wir zu unserem Ausgangspunkt zurückkehren, und wir werden den Ort zum erstenmal sehen.