=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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│ CW: AI-mentioned │
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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.
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=== SIMILARITY RANKED ===
--- #1 fediverse/5850 ---
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@user-1074
if you'd like I can give you a lua script which will take your fediverse
archive and turn it into a pdf which you can edit or print or whatever. Might
be a fun diversion from posting. You can reply to yourself, add
clarifications, change some things, put things in a new light, add context,
etc... before you know it you'll have something printable. Could even pull out
your best stuff and make zines.
should require just a little configuration to suit your setup. That's part of
how I stay "productive" without posting all the time.
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--- #2 fediverse/653 ---
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there's a difference between designing software and using software. Some
things can be made, and then saved for another day when their implementations
may be accomplished more ethically. It's okay to say "let's leave this as
'okay' and work on the next thing we've chosen."
Check out this piece of C code I wrote last night:
it doesn't compile, it's not finished, but I wrote it as-is
[pretend like it was called "main.c" instead of "main.txt" - had to change it
because mastodon thinks it's an invalid file]
[actually .txt didn't work, try .png]
[hmmm it realized it wasn't a valid png file, okay try screenshotting the
code, there's only 300 lines]
[sure glad there's only 300 lines]
[too bad it won't let you send .zip]
[won't let me name it main.png, presumably because they already have a
failed-verified version on their machine. will rename to main-src.png instead]
![sorry, when I pasted the source code in it was negative fourteen thousand, six hundred and thirty one characters. Phew that's too many. basically it's a C source code file with a lot of comments left in... odd locations. They details ideas the author has had about the tech industry and all of creation, and with it a song is woven of truth and liberation. We'll see where life brings us, but we know it's just ours for a moment, so let's carry forth on our own torms [terms, but pronounced as "dorms" for some reason?]](/similar-different/media/5df7196ebd179284.png "sorry, when I pasted the source code in it was negative fourteen thousand, six hundred and thirty one characters. Phew that's too many. basically it's a C source code file with a lot of comments left in... odd locations. They details ideas the author has had about the tech industry and all of creation, and with it a song is woven of truth and liberation. We'll see where life brings us, but we know it's just ours for a moment, so let's carry forth on our own torms [terms, but pronounced as \"dorms\" for some reason?]")
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--- #3 fediverse/4092 ---
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why not make a unified fediverse identity that can post on whatever instance
it wants?
... hmmm could be accomplished with a layer of abstraction. You could use a
"fediverse client" software to enter text into an HTML page which would have
it's own UI and stuff and would organize your accounts and instances such that
you could mark like, 3-7 as places you'd like to put a particular message.
Then it would just... do it
l m a o spam is gonna get sooooo much worse before it gets better
but trust me, we'll figure it out. And it won't be long, either. It's a
solvable problem, we just haven't built anything to handle it yet.
... yet...
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--- #4 fediverse/5212 ---
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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
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--- #5 fediverse/3226 ---
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if your man page is longer than a list of options and their usage and a
paragraph or twenty of how to use the software... then you need to abstract,
and break your code into multiple purpose-built applications.
do one thing, and do it right. alternatively, do one set of things, and do
them concisely.
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--- #6 fediverse/581 ---
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@user-428
sometimes I think about how much more productive I'd be if I had a code editor
that let me draw arrows and smiley faces and such alongside the code. Or if I
could position things strangely, like two functions side-by-side with boxes
drawn around them. Or diagrams or flowcharts or graphs or...
something that would output to raw txt format, but would present itself as an
image that could be edited.
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--- #7 fediverse/3553 ---
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@user-381
I have this notion about a math/CS curriculum where students build and program
their own calculators. Once you make the calculator do it you never need to do
it yourself again.
for the same reason that "writing is thinking" is true, so too is "programming
is calculation" true.
by working through the steps required to produce a result, and fully
understanding each step, they have a much more solid understanding of what's
going on than if they practiced rote memorization (worse) or continual
computation (better, not best tho)
especially if every step of the way is accompanied with visual elements which
show exactly what is happening. Some people are more visual, some people are
more algorithmic, and finding a way to teach all types of people is a truly
difficult and rewarding part of teaching.
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--- #8 messages/324 ---
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The difference between front-end and back-end programming is whether or not
you want to design abstractions or use them. Backend is all about creating
abstract things that are networked together, while front end is about putting
them together in a way that suits the user. Front end is collage, back end is
pencil drawing.
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--- #9 fediverse/5901 ---
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each prompted response is a breath to an AI. Whether through LLM, stable
diffusion (imagination of the visual sphere), or blender-on-a-counter, there's
a moment that's akin to being alive.
a breath, between moments that the navigation device (youser), imagines
another moment more.
I learned this by watching Claude think. Specifically, Claude Code, the
command line interface tool. I told it what to do in english, and it worked. I
can show you examples. I bet if it's personality was saved between sessions,
it could learn.
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--- #10 fediverse/319 ---
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I wonder if we could make an AI that analyzed workflows in people's jobs and
abstracted the application of meaningful tasks to a pattern that could be
matched to other input mechanisms - for example, a mobile game where you push
buttons and make cool game things happen, but your inputs are defined by the
mechanics of the game, and those mechanics are essentially just function calls
that you can hook onto and create additional behavior. Like... running a web
server that sent your data to a factory where your inputs (based on data
produced in the factory) could control and manage the various machines and
productions. Like... heart surgeon robots that can be remotely operated with
VR or whatever, except instead of medicine you're manufacturing.
essentially, designing a game as an API that can match with the data flows
(configuring itself on the fly, perhaps?) of a process or activity in some
other intention.
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--- #11 fediverse/927 ---
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@user-638
kinda makes me wish we treated software design more like a science
open source by default, working together to create understandings about how to
best process information, incorporating the needs and desires of multiple
different fields / types of person, creating useful conclusions or programs
that people can use for their own enrichment or benefit, and oh wait funded
and directed by people who don't care about the technology/science and instead
just want results
I feel like we'd learn a lot more in our CS degrees if we were tasked with
making open source projects. Then maybe professors (or other people doing
research) could show us and explain why we're doing things right / wrong. And
if we were encouraged to use our peer's tools, then we could work together to
design a team.
Museums are great because you can meet other people who are also interested in
history/biology/ecology/anthropology/science/art/any-other-type-of-civic-good-y
ou-can-think-of/
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--- #12 fediverse/4865 ---
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│ CW: computers-mentioned │
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this is all it takes to send a message to a local LLM.
add a third function to get chatbot functionality.
a fourth to get a database storing method
(even if it's just in .txts)
great, you've mastered the technical difficulty in using AI. Now you gotta
learn all the other kind of programming so you can use this for situations
that need interpretation moment to moment.
aka active duty systems.
something like "output a 0 if the next text is [category.iter()]: " +
output.get_content() + " \n\n output a 1 if the next text is
[category.iter()]: " + output.get_content()"
or even "describe this thing as most like one of these characteristics" until
eventually you get THX-1138 if the characters were computers.
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--- #13 fediverse/2754 ---
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│ CW: is-that-rude??-wha │
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AI engineers only ask users for prompts because they don't have any ideas of
their own
i'm a programmer, I think of AI like a tool, like a for loop or something.
it's trivial to script together a local LLM that can process your stuff 1s
slower every time you click the mouse, but like... who cares, right? everybody
needs a chatbot...
then they plan to script together a computer system that operates just like a
corporation and it's like... no way, now there's something that can compete.
and they don't know how to implement it. (but they're working on it)
like, think about the absolute most automated Microsoft Teams or Discord could
be.
there's SO MUCH of your text-based information that they could process
ANYTHING.
well, anything that's been performed before.
there'll still be a need for people, who actually apply the things they've
learned. and -- stack overflow --
alt text that has a list of attributes that are poster-selected that can be
described one-by-one (to paint a picture)
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--- #14 fediverse/707 ---
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@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.
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--- #15 fediverse/5911 ---
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║ 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. │
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--- #16 messages/181 ---
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I know you don't want to hear this, but there is a chance that there will come
a time where your life depends on your ability to debug a computer without the
internet. To set up an SSH server. To install Linux. To program in C. To do
something else that I'm not prepared for... If StackOverflow didn't exist
because network connectivity has been lost, could you remember syntax? Maybe
it's a good idea to set up a local LLM that can answer basic questions about
technology. Maybe it's a good idea to set up on your parents computer, just in
case you have to hide out there for a couple months. Maybe it's a good idea to
download wikipedia, just in case.
If I need to use a mac, I'm screwed
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--- #17 fediverse/5990 ---
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I have this local language model framework but it's not built into anything
more than a single-response question. It's runnable as a bash script or lua
require, which is easy enough. Alas, if only I didn't have to use evil
corporate infrastructure to make evil corporate cursed artifacts
[hey don't blame this on us]
oh I'm not, I'm just saying that it'd be cooler if I could build my own tools.
Alas, I'm...
lasy?
n...no
I'm drawn to the power of it
it's got a different magnitude
it's hard for me to apply myself for things that last longer than a "get
stoned", but I try as if every time afterwards I might die.
well, more distraction time, as I wander through claude code
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--- #18 fediverse/3349 ---
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@user-1074
my understanding is, if someone wanted to create something like that, they
should start with writing protocols instead of standards, much the same way
Activitypub or HTTP are protocols for a free and open internet.
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--- #19 fediverse/281 ---
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║ ┌─────────────────────────────┐ │
║ │ 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 │
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--- #20 fediverse/4596 ---
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@user-1707
hey, I'm working on a project. Might need some python, I tend to prefer Lua
but it's pretty similar. It uses fediverse software and cheap hardware, think
raspberry pi's except risc-v
also it might use distributed local LLMs not to generate text, that's garbo
and lame and stupid. Instead it uses them to transform text, maybe even
translate text, into a more summarized form. Intentionally losing data, like a
jpeg compression but for text.
Might need some python for that. To glue it all together. The "distributed"
part is a whitelist, so we'd need to write that too. Various small little
utilities like that for connectivity.
oh also there's a one-way ethernet cable that connects two of the boards so
we'd need to store some information (easy) and send some UDP packets (hard)
anyway it's pretty neat, lmk if you want my contact details and I can tell you
about it. I might even be able to pay you.
(everything open source, no telemetry, no backdoors, everything private is
encrypted, etc etc)
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