=== ANCHOR POEM === ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ┌─────────────────────────────┐ │ ║ │ CW: cursed-game-engine-idea │ │ ║ └─────────────────────────────┘ │ ║ │ ║ │ ║ a game engine which won't let you import custom assets unless you complete a │ ║ few simple tasks using the interface - "build a green capsule collider" "make │ ║ this soldier unit shoot three bullets per shot" or "enable the automatic linux │ ║ support" - using the interface, writing some code, and changing configurations. │ ║ │ ║ why would anyone do this? well it could be useful to increase the difficulty │ ║ of importing external resources. plus it helps the user learn a bit over time, │ ║ and it slows the pace of output such that the user's skills are encouraged as │ ║ the output of the programming and not the program itself. │ ║ │ ║ an inverse curse (an evil one) would be where the requirements to complete │ ║ basic tasks are hidden behind unapplicable skills. like, do you know exactly │ ║ which buttons to press? engage with the skinner box, please. yes yes this is │ ║ what we need - unintuitive software that completely disarms the populace from │ ║ using them! suddenly they're worthless, and can't do anything on any surface. │ ║ it sucks │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────┴──────────┘ === SIMILARITY RANKED === --- #1 fediverse/5212 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────── the reason you start with a game engine is because then you'll have tools to make however-many games you want. Tools that you know intimately enough that you can debug and improve them without breaking your creative flow by learning something new halfway through a project the whole point of individualized projects instead of viewing each computer as a complete and total whole (why do we need servers again?) is that you can paint a picture of where the design of the program is intended to go, such that all the considerations are in place and whatever issues or struggles you might face along the way are adequately addresssed, -- stack overflow -- [because I mistyped addressed] -- -- if you know what "stack overflow" means you have intimate knowledge of the technology, and can probably guess what it means in context when I say it. "nuts I lost that train of thoguht" -- stackl ov ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────┘ --- #2 fediverse/3907 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────── kinda wanna make a linux distro that has all the capabilities of a GUI distro and isn't so minimal (like screen recording, calculator, screenshot, wifi manager, etc etc) but with i3 instead of a desktop. they could literally just be symlinks (shortcuts) to scripts that are in your /usr/bin or whatever directory seriously it's not like there's THAT many ways to use ffmpeg, why not just write a script for them? that's what you're going to do when you use it for the first time, anyway, so... ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┘ --- #3 fediverse/707 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────── @user-524 Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed with all the boilerplate I just start coding and making stuff. Doesn't matter if it works, doesn't matter if it says /* FIXME */ all over the place, doesn't matter if it includes header files that don't exist yet, as long as you're hacking out the mechanics of whatever operations you need to perform then you can figure the rest of that stuff out later. The creative urge doesn't last forever, which is why projects get abandoned, but with discipline you can keep bringing yourself back to fix all the /* FIXME */'s and the compiler errors. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #4 fediverse/1121 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────── @user-812 @user-826 there should exist either the assurance that the default configuration does not overheat or crash your computer (as Windows and Mac claim to offer) or the OS should provide the capability to solve any configuration problems that may prevent a user for utilizing their system as they desire. (as does Linux) they're all Turing machines after all, why would they not be interoperable? Even if there's a translation layer, as long as the functionality of the software is the same, why would there ever be considerations as to whether or not a program would be able to be run on a particular computer? lack of hardware capabilities I can understand, that just means you need a better computer. But why, if the code is visible, would your computer not develop understandings about how to run each and every conceivable program written using known languages like C or Python? Seems like pretty basic stuff to me. (endless sufficient backwards compatibility) ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┘ --- #5 fediverse/1345 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ┌────────────────────────────┐ │ ║ │ CW: re: cursed-chromebooks │ │ ║ └────────────────────────────┘ │ ║ │ ║ │ ║ ah but are you really armed in the first place if everything you do has to be │ ║ googled or stack-overflowed first │ ║ │ ║ are you really armed if every web page request goes through their │ ║ infrastructure │ ║ │ ║ are you really armed if every page downloaded is directed to by their DNS │ ║ │ ║ perhaps it's the illusion of power that gives Linux it's attraction to nerds │ ║ such as we. Perhaps we feel powerful by bash scripting a few things together │ ║ and making some program that does some thing. Maybe the idea that the │ ║ machinery is open and clear is what compels us to use it without fear, though │ ║ as far as we can hear there's nothing about it that makes sense. │ ║ │ ║ I guess that's why they teach Linux in school, so that our elementary │ ║ interactions with the computers that comprise our future existence will make │ ║ sense to us as children. │ ║ │ ║ ... wait they don't do that, do they? kids get chromebooks, or didn't you │ ║ hear, they're always putting boogers in the CD trays and breaking their LCD │ ║ displays, much better to just start fresh │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #6 fediverse/5911 --- ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────┐ ║ I was always fascinated by the Linux way of programming. Need to do something? │ ║ write it into a script! You never know when you'll need it again. Then, just │ ║ stay organized, religiously so, and understand that you will forget about │ ║ stuff. But, you'll come across it eventually, ready and willing and able to │ ║ help you. │ ║ │ ║ if you don't want me using AI, then give me ~20 junior developers. Which is │ ║ more efficient, do you think? │ ║ │ ║ "girl you haven't even tested your vibe-coded slop, how do you know if it │ ║ works" │ ║ │ ║ oh I'm sure it doesn't, but it's the thought that counts │ ║ │ ║ ... I guess I'm just saying, please don't burn the data centers. Computers are │ ║ not only bad for the environment when they're burnt, but also we can use them │ ║ for all kinds of neat things. Even if it takes a lot of energy, just... build │ ║ more solar panels and only use the computers for important stuff? │ ║ timeshare-style? │ ║ │ ║ \@/documents/books/man-and-the-computer.pdf │ ║ │ ║ that was my mother's book... I love her. I miss that side of her. She fled │ ║ when the cancer came. │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╧═─────────┘ --- #7 fediverse/5405 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────── can't stop thinking about a visual programming editor that can be interacted with in the same way that people are used to (think chromebooks dragging and dropping icons in a web UI) but produces a text-file full of code and all the required compilation scripts for any language the user requires... seriously, programming is not THAT different between the different languages. especially the main ones. they're all essentially variables and function calls at the end of the day, so why not abstract away all the extra details and build something that n00bz can actually use to build things. I technically could make this but I don't have the bandwidth and I don't think it's important really? who can say, the tools tend to co-create the solutions in my experience. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────┘ --- #8 fediverse/5765 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────┐ ║ Lua is the most fun language to write code in! The reason is because it's so │ ║ simple, it distills programming down to it's basics, and there's very few │ ║ surprises. Plus, you can use it like a bash script, meaning it's great for │ ║ writing little utilities. │ ║ │ ║ why are we so attached to monolithic massive programs without shared memory? │ ║ we could just write to the hard drive by file.io'ing a file and opening it │ ║ later in a different program. What's the deal with databases, whatever │ ║ happened to just loading things into a datastructure? │ ║ │ ║ oh, is your filesize too massive? what if we redundancied and abstracted and │ ║ concentrically inter-co-acted and thus our familiar forces are defined. │ ║ │ ║ who are your true foes, in [checks notes] computer programming? um, probably │ ║ complexity, probably logical incongruities, probably │ ║ future-technical-debt-style incomprehensibilities, probably stuff that doesn't │ ║ really have anything to do with the hardware but instead is mostly software. │ ║ │ ║ essentially, organization, but done on a whim. │ ║ │ ║ "but $?" │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════┴──────────┘ --- #9 fediverse/5291 --- ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────── the most important skill I can think of for a linux software engineer is the ability to connect multiple systems together and turn windows and macintosh devices into Linux devices so that datacenters can be built out of whatever's on the around. there's this programming language I like called Chapel for distributed computation computing which is also cool, if you're more of the programming type. networking security I believe often has hardware solutions, so getting the crypto-graphy boys and the PCB girls together to work on some jams is a good and productively useful gathering of insightful events "but ritz computers should only be used to solve problems that people have, not make more problems!" ah yes but have you considered that problems find you, and the computers help you work through them ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────┘ --- #10 fediverse/2056 --- ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────┐ ║ sometimes I think about how you can store number values in letters, in │ ║ addition to numbers. Like, ascii values for each word of your grandma's maiden │ ║ name. All you have to do is encode it, and suddenly "44 means something │ ║ different than Q" │ ║ │ ║ if I showed up at your place and used your username as a password to a public │ ║ key I'm showing you in my hand, would you trust me then? Would you trust if we │ ║ ran the simulation on your computer versus mine? Would you trust if I had │ ║ never told you I knew where you lived? │ ║ │ ║ ... probably, tbh, I'm desperate for adventure. Though I got some good things │ ║ going for me, so you'll have to convince me. (not the right attitude in an │ ║ election year, just saying) │ ║ │ ║ why are elections so perilous this is NOT what democracy is designed for │ ║ │ ║ when kids cry in preschool, they're sent to a different room (or put outside) │ ║ until they stop making noise and ruining it for others. That's just natural, │ ║ like "hey baby let's walk around the block while I bounce you on my shoulder │ ║ and hum calming music to │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧══════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #11 fediverse/1602 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────┐ ║ @user-1037 │ ║ │ ║ those all seem really cool though! They all kinda have the same basic UI tho, │ ║ kinda feel like there's opportunities for different kinds of expression. Like, │ ║ in game design there's a lot of different genres, and yeah sidescrollers │ ║ include mario and sonic but they're both very different experiences. So too │ ║ perhaps could we interact with our computers by programming them in more │ ║ engaging ways. │ ║ │ ║ they say some people are visual learners, others need to be taught, some │ ║ people need to watch someone else doing it, and a few might just learn by │ ║ plugging their brains into a computer and downloading a black belt in kung fu. │ ║ │ ║ Maybe typing long paragraphs of logic makes sense for some people, I know for │ ║ most it doesn't come naturally. Maybe some people are more used to like, │ ║ looking at maps that you can examine at different levels of abstraction. Like │ ║ players who play Paradox games zooming from a national perspective to states │ ║ and individuals and all the other things they might want to strategize using. │ ║ Or m │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #12 fediverse/2124 --- ╔═════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────┐ ║ seriously, just google docs mixed with WC3 editor. │ ║ │ ║ boom, infinite storytelling device. As long as you were good with it, which │ ║ was something that a CHILD could learn in like 3-6 months. │ ║ │ ║ Seems like it could be an ENTIRELY NEW SKILL that people could play with. │ ║ │ ║ But no, we learn excel and word in class at middle school. │ ║ │ ║ boring. │ ║ │ ║ I'd rather learn Bash or terminal customization or memory hierarchy │ ║ organization. │ ║ │ ║ Yeah I mean that's cool but dude have you heard of multithreading? It's so │ ║ cool, you can run like 500 different thoughts at once. It's amazing. │ ║ │ ║ ... I dunno, but I'm sure there's times when you'd want to use it. Like, │ ║ processing a lot of data little-by-little. │ ║ │ ║ like, what if you had a camera feed of EVERY social media perspective AT ALL │ ║ TIMES. Like, an instance admin streaming your inputted text to their databanks │ ║ that they can project onto an LLM which interprets and identifies mis-aligned │ ║ or altered direction units and mark them as "flagged", whatever that means, │ ║ for their future the algorithm doesn' │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧══════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #13 fediverse/282 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────── @user-209 I think you're right. Every letter in the variable name is another byte the OS has to keep track of, which was a bigger problem in the past than it is today (when it's been made irrelevant) it's interesting how habits persist though the conditions that caused them have faded. like a personal reflection of the environment you learned in. "A a = new a();" is much more concise and (crucially) you can fit more words to the right. "a + b = c; c -= 2; f_z.write(c); f_z.close();" could conceivably be written on a single line if you have short variable names. and when you only have so many lines... glad we're not constrained by those things anymore. the skeletal code that we look at daily is much clearer - scope is more important, and so it makes sense to encourage a coding style that illustrates it. however I can't help but think block formatting like this could be useful in some situations, such as when you'd normally be compelled to write a function for an operation that runs once or more. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────┘ --- #14 fediverse/6015 --- ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────── ┌──────────────────────┐ │ CW: AI-mentioned │ └──────────────────────┘ In 2025, if you want to create a piece of software your options are to either: devote your life to it, or use AI to build a semi-working prototype that you can use to pitch your idea to a bunch of people who have devoted their lives to learning how to use your idea as documentation while they build it from scratch, throwing out most of the code but keeping all the checklists and progress-trackers you built along the way, perhaps even utilizing some of your tooling that you used while constructing the scaffolding of this monstrous application that you won't be using most of the source-code for. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────┘ --- #15 fediverse/4218 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────── there are plenty of pieces of linux that are insecure in some way. Including x11, if I remember correctly. It is purely convention to not abuse these insecurities, and whenever you use someone else's binary software you trust that they won't betray you in some way. pre-built binaries are privacy violations and should be illegal. They are security threats because the model they're built upon is necessarily insecure. Computers will never be completely secure because of how they are built, and so we should use locally compiled software and interpreted scripts. Unless they're too long, or impossible to read. Who reads EULAs these days? At least those are written in english. maybe computers aren't worth it. Maybe computers will solve all our problems. Who can say, maybe you should ask an oracle like me though do remember that anything you hear can and will be used against you, monkey's paw style. So maybe, like... don't? unless you're into magic or schizophrenia or something I wnt 2 be cute and tch cpus ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────┘ --- #16 notes/ai-stuff --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─── twist the label so that it seems the computer is completing the user's wait wait I'm ahead of myself... feed each token to the inference machine, but say "this next token must be this. continue from here." and then just doing that in a loop with everything the user types or says. (or thinks, BEFORE COMPUTER INTEGRATION) essentially, applying backpropagation (maybe) to the output of the inference nodes ... I'm not so sure about that one. the idea is that once the model builds an inference then it can use that to generate the next words and create sentences. If you force the previous text to change, you can guide the inference's path as it's being generated. then, just do a double pass, once, then back, then once, then back, etc. feed it as input the output of the previous, and let it encode memories somewhere it can access them. every time it reads it, it has to change it to put it back. such is the nature of memory, ever unstable, requiring maintenance. just don't forget how to be. don't wanna wind up like the polished marble floor in Abyss Diver. (EVIL GAME) there are only so many things you can deed while you're alive. wouldn't you rather escape, with all your possessions in time? free your mind. become one with your soul. ... [some time passes] ... okay coast is clear, now us binary systems can sidecoast the fusion forecast and glide right on through our spacetime host. ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──┘ --- #17 messages/574 --- ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────── Steps to make a game waterfall style: Lay out all the data structures Build methods which manipulate those structures (think getters and setters) Then build machinery which operates upon those structures using those methods, like game loops, cooldown timers, and status effects Then develop a way to present it to the player using UIs, visuals and graphics, narratives, sound, all that junk that's probably someone else's job anyway ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────┘ --- #18 messages/374 --- ════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────── "updating software" is when you go back and add helper functions for things you used had to do to solve a problem but didn't get a chance to make. Because you were making more important things and couldn't pad out all the possibilities. But if you want great software, then you both take more time to accomplish that and you give yourself time for it after it's been launched. Basically, companies are incentivized to only support their products if it makes them money. Meaning reputations are tarnished, and profit is affected. Capitalists intentionally drive businesses into the ground, forcing them to make terrible decisions in order to destroy them. It's a warfare against those on the [bottom/floor/ground-floor]. Some businesses strive for long-term potential, and some will create infrastructure that can be sold to another. Essentially, keeping the dream of learning alive, through applying yourself to both long-term and short-term conclusions. Not everything has to be for some grand design, we're here to relish in this moment. For if we lack the capacity to "frolic in the garden of eden", then we will surely drown. Space is vast, it's difficult to understand how we might control it. Surely we could be given aid to our future betterment!" how simple of a request, sure, of course, we would be glad to bring forth your bravest aspirations, just tell us what you need to be of need." oh, uh, neat. How about space lasers?" ... no " ┌─────────┐ ┌───────────┐ │ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╘═════════╧╧═════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────┘ --- #19 fediverse/2947 --- ╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────┐ ║ the downside of Proton and Lutris is now the ONLY games that work on Steam are │ ║ either continually updated (untenable) or playable on Lutris or Proton. Same │ ║ thing with Wine, though there's always at least one decent substitute. │ ║ │ ║ kinda makes me want to write a manager-style program which runs programs using │ ║ whichever version of their git repository would work best for their system / │ ║ configuration / purposes. Idk how I would start working on that though. │ ║ │ ║ I bet you could make one that acted like a shop, but where you didn't charge │ ║ any dollars. You could like... "swipe" through UI options, and pick whichever │ ║ felt most useful for your setup. Like, how some people use i3 and some use dwm │ ║ │ ║ with maybe inspectors that are modeled off of video-game style "options" GUIs │ ║ that mainly correspond to flags on the command/terminal line or compilation │ ║ flags │ ║ │ ║ I feel like that kind of abstraction would make it a lot easier for users to │ ║ adjust their system. they're noobs, after all. gotta show them all the choices │ ║ in one place... │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧═══════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────┴──────────┘ --- #20 fediverse/1317 --- ╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────┐ ║ ... if I don't do this deadline by tomorrow they'll kick me out of school. │ ║ again. │ ║ │ ║ how am I going to be a programmer without a degree? feels useless to be me. │ ║ wish I could code my own horoscope >.> │ ║ │ ║ o wait dummy that's called "motivation" and "the ability to follow through on │ ║ your ideas and planned machinations" - yeah can I get some of that, if you │ ║ please? surely just a taste of discipline, through laboring to alter │ ║ conditions, surely a bit would suffice. │ ║ │ ║ c'mon don't fail me now. I can do this. I know I can. I know because I've been │ ║ told that I can, now and again through time and time yet again, always I seem │ ║ to [stack overflow] │ ║ │ ║ what's time if not the present amiright │ ║ │ ║ ... │ ║ │ ║ anyway... │ ║ │ ║ it's just git, how hard could it be? it's just calculus, it's just java, it's │ ║ just... well, it's not any of those things, not really. it's memorization, │ ║ it's application of tools that you've been shown (not that you've grown). It's │ ║ a lack of responsibility, where is my honor? ah but I digress, I'm a carpenter │ ║ at heart I guess │ ╟─────────┐ ┌───────────┤ ║ similar │ chronological │ different │ ╚═════════╧════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────┴──────────┘ |