#programmer things

[wallf1ower]

Y’all ever just

I swear, at this point my default IDE is the Notes app!

I love coding but I am so so lazy and held back by executive dysfunction; often, I want to work on a problem that’s rattling around in my head, but getting off the couch to get my laptop and start feels simply impossible.

So, I bust out my smartphone and jot down my ideas or write a few (untested) functions.

Not only does it allow me to just get started, rather than fighting myself for the willpower to “officially” get up, go to my desk, get focused and start working, (which often feels like a dreaded chore even though I always enjoy my time spent programming) it also takes a lot of the pressure off. Since it’s the Notes app rather than a real coding environment, I don’t worry about formatting or syntax mistakes or any mistakes, really, since there won’t be any error messages popping up until I can test the code later.

For me, I find this a really effective way both to get started without the dread and pressure, and to give myself the time and space I need to think through my own solution; predict what errors will come up from this code, and see if I can’t figure out how to solve it (or at least jot down some things to google later).

I find that programming is so creative, and like all creative endeavours, I am at my best doing it in a stress-free, nonchalant environment. It is easiest for me to brainstorm creative solutions, or even just think clearly, when I don’t feel intimidated. For me, this often results in me doing my best work in places where I don’t have access to a computer, or sometimes even internet: at the dog park, in the bath/shower, or lying on the couch high as a kite while I watch TV. (Yes, I sometimes use my phone in the shower. I am hopeless Gen-Z trash. I know.)

Thank you, iPhone. I hate you and I hate your company and everything it stands for. But, I get a lot of my best work done because of you :]

I wish I had a better solution than this, because like I just said, I hate the iPhone and I want to get rid of it, but I’m still too dependent on it right now. The smart phone just feels like a direct portal to my brain, that nothing else I’ve tried has been able to replicate.

Anyone else here struggle with executive dysfunction? How do you cope with it? If anyone does have any advice, tips, tricks, or ideas for me, I’d really appreciate it :]

[a-fox-studies]

17 April 2023

Yes, it's still the same low-quality pictures (I really need a better phone) and the same desk (I am yet to find study locations, thinking of a park a few roads away from home).

After a week of literally no time to study, I have returned! Reviewing certain concepts, learning and relearning - it's a pleasant evening.

[leaslichoma]

You know you're a programmer when you cheer at getting a new kind of error.

[peculiarsoup]

Santa and SQL injection

[danwithouttheplan]

staging changes to my post.

commiting my post.

pushing my post to the remote repository.

2 mutuals approve my changes.

my post is merged into the main branch.

4 issues immediately created.

[thecustomcosplayed]

Chihiro: I have passed the transitional stage of internet geekhood. Chihiro: Somebody was cashiering at the store today, and was punching in the code for plums, which is 4040, and the 0 key doesn't work that well, so they punched it in wrong. And the machine flashed up "Item Not Found: 404". Chihiro: And I actually laughed out loud.

[distant--shadow]

As a prompt, would you draw Imogen and Delilah? Or maybe just Delilah possessing Laudna, with Imogen?

there ya go anon! aware you were probably wanting Imogen giving sass or kicking ass but I'm weak

[sentientstump]

found an unfinished animatic for the season 9 first day, ✨hweat shenanigans✨ that i started a year ago ( o_o wdym a year ago ) And i kinda can't finish it now, so here you go!

yes, thats a horse head, its essential

also have a meme

i did a high resolution version as well but then i remembered why i wanted to do the animatic in the first place... and it's for that moment when a goofy looking horse cuboid head stares at you with its nose and you can't even see it's eyes

[mylasteverlution]

Disco Elysium has a lot of fascinating fictional technology but I have been rotating the radiocomputer in my mind for months now. From what I can gather, they operate in a way very similar to modern cloud computing. It doesn't seem like the mainframes we interact with have any processing capability. Instead, they use antennas to process "on air":

SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "Alright, well... All radiocomputers perform operations up on air, so in order to gain more processing power you need to invest in a *good antenna*."

The only information we get about what "on air" really means is from the same conversation with Soona:

YOU - "Wait, what's 'on air'?" SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "On the *front*. The unified front of radiowaves, licensed and controlled by Lintel in the East-Insulindic region." SOONA, THE PROGRAMMER - "It's all around us," she waves her hand, "that's what 'on air' means."

The nonspecific language used here really invokes cloud computing to me. I think there are two main possibilities for how this could work, one being much more likely than the other.

The more likely answer is that information is sent to and from the in-game equivalent of data centers, which would host massive computers with processing capabilities. I'm not sure what their processors would look like, but they'd almost certainly be analog (the lost Feld tape computers are most likely the in-game equivalent of early digital computers).

The significantly less likely (but more interesting) answer is that in-game radio waves are somehow capable of processing information on their own. I have no idea how this would work, and as far as I know there's no real-world analog. But it's clear the world of Disco Elysium has some crazy things happening with radio waves (see how they interact with the pale), so I'm not ruling it out entirely.

The filament memories are like hard drives, but my guess is they would function more similarly to an optical disc (CDs, DVDs), which use patterns in the disc to encode information that's read using lasers or light. The filaments glow inside the mainframe, so it's not a huge leap to assume they're read using light.

The amount of thought put into radiocomputers is so fascinating. As far as I can tell, their version of the internet has been wireless from the get-go, which makes perfect sense! Antennas and other wireless radio technologies would have to be pretty damn powerful to communicate across and force dimensions on the pale. And you have to assume huge amounts of government money has gone into funding their research and development for those purposes. The technology of radiocomputers is so tailored to the world of Disco Elysium, and it's been a lot of fun trying to untangle how exactly they would work.

[lycanthian]

so today i was sitting in my game engines class (basically intro to game programming) and im just doing fuck all on my phone waiting for my game files to zip and. we have like a forum where we post our game design assignments and stuff and my professor is idly scrolling thru it and looking at freshmen stuff and he pulls up my profile and looks at a bit of my stuff before zooming in on my profile and going like "whats this"

which for the record.

and im just like oh its my silly guy and go back to doing fuck all and i start doodling absentmindedly on ms paint as my file is still zipping

(image for ref)

and my professor like MATERIALIZES behind me. mind you there is only like four people in the lab and were all just doing our own things. and my prof stares at me screen for a minute and hes like "i need to run a test on you". which like. thats unnerving! im intrigued. he goes back to his backpack by his desk and rumnages thru it for like a straight minute before coming back with something in his hand.

and he gets like super serious and quiet. hes like "do you know what this means." and he produces a lanyard from his hand and like stretches it out so the words are legible and. in big bold letters. "ANTHROCON".

and i stare at it for a minute before being like "yeah" bc what else was i supposed to do, lie? after he saw my multiple drawings of my fursona? and he just nodded and went and put it back in his bag and then my file finished zipping and i left. i later told my friends about it and they all went fucking insane. i have not laughed abt something so hard w a friend in a very long time

[legionofpotatoes]

despite having as loaded a past as they do, bioware firing mary kirby is legitimately the most insane decision they've made to date, bar none

[wallf1ower]

Friday

It was a long and busy week for me! Today I’m spending my evening after work finishing up my third week of Harvard’s CS50. Now that I have not one, but two jobs in tech (full-time 9-5 and freelance in the off hours - I can’t believe I was unemployed just months ago), I figured it’s about time I give myself at least the idea of a formal education, to fill in the gaps in my self-taught knowledge.

Of course, since it’s Friday and I work a lot, I also made sure to take lots of breaks, which I obviously spent reading manga :] Spy x Family has got to be one of the best pieces of media I’ve ever had the privilege of consuming. Every single volume is amazing; and I’m seven books in now. I cannot recommend this series enough!!!

I also treated myself to a fancy lavender matcha drink and some allergy-friendly biscottis. That shit was $10!!! But, they were delicious, and they made me very happy. So it was very worth it as an end-of-week treat!

But anyways, back to CS50 :]

So far I’m absolutely loving it, this is the perfect course for me. It’s just challenging enough to keep me engaged, without being so hard that I get overwhelmed and give up. And since I’ve never programmed in C before, I’m learning a lot!

I’ve been keeping a personal diary of my progress and thoughts about this course while I take it. I was thinking of uploading them here as a series of blog posts about what it’s like taking CS50. Would anyone be interested in that? If so, what details would you want to know about?

[a-fox-studies]

10th April 2023

Finally mastered the concept of Recycler View after rewatching, annotating and rereading for hours on end. My brain is exhausted lol.

Every day is a low-motivation day due to fasting, so I'm making sure I don't use up all my energy. I'll probably remarry the grind next month XD

Things I want to do today:

Finish Section 7 of the course and get an early headstart on Section 8

Work on my WIP a little

[isalabells]

I don't care what people think of me. I know what I did in the past, and why I did it. And I know why I'm doing this now. That's all that matters.

[asleepinawell]

can't believe tumblr is now more functional than twitter that was not on my bingo card for the year

[danwithouttheplan]

every object type in my VS code is a different color

does it help with programming? not one bit

does it look cool? hell yeah