fast-png is a PNG image decoder and encoder written entirely in JavaScript. It offers options for CRC checking, custom image data, and text chunks. Install via npm and utilize its simple API for reading and writing PNG images. Licensed under MIT.
This article introduces inline evaluation, a programming technique that lets you execute code snippets directly within the editor without context switching. The author demonstrates this using a simple text adventure game, showing how inline evaluation facilitates incremental code development, testing functions, and exploring unknown functions. It significantly enhances developer productivity, especially helpful during debugging. The author advocates for broader adoption, arguing it greatly improves the programming experience.
Nuanced is an open-source Python library that provides LLMs with precise call graph context by analyzing function relationships and generating a structured representation of code dependencies. It addresses the limitations of current AI coding assistants, which lack understanding of code structure and rely on limited context windows and embeddings. Nuanced leverages static analysis to build a traversable graph of function relationships, offering `init` (to generate the call graph) and `enrich` (to query specific functions) commands. This allows AI tools to access the same structured program understanding developers rely on, improving code comprehension and efficiency. Future development will include function purity analysis, code complexity metrics, and more.
This article unravels the curious history behind the use of `` as comment characters in JavaScript. Initially, to ensure compatibility with older browsers, developers would wrap their JavaScript code within HTML comments inside `` tags. Surprisingly, modern browsers still support this syntax due to historical browser compatibility burdens and the standardization committee's commitment to 'not breaking the web'. The article explains how this syntax works and why `-->` must appear at the beginning of a line.
AudioNimbus is a Rust library providing a safe and easy-to-use wrapper around Valve's powerful Steam Audio spatial audio toolkit. It simplifies integration of immersive 3D audio into Rust projects, supporting features like HRTF, Ambisonics, realistic sound propagation (including distance attenuation and reflections), and more. The library consists of two crates: `audionimbus` (high-level safe wrapper) and `audionimbus-sys` (auto-generated bindings to the Steam Audio C API). Check out the demo for a quick start!
This article demonstrates symbolic differentiation using Prolog and its powerful definite clause grammars (DCGs). It begins by explaining fundamental calculus concepts, particularly the definition and rules of differentiation. A mathematical expression parser is then constructed using DCGs, transforming string-based expressions into abstract syntax trees (ASTs). To address left recursion, tabling is employed for efficiency. Finally, simplification rules refine the derivative results. The process highlights Prolog's strengths in symbolic computation, showcasing its elegance and efficiency.
The DuckDB team and MotherDuck are thrilled to announce a built-in local UI for DuckDB! This powerful web interface runs locally, eliminating the need for extra software. It features interactive notebooks, database browsing, table data preview, and data analysis tools, making interacting with DuckDB significantly easier. All queries are processed locally for enhanced data security. The UI also offers optional connection to MotherDuck cloud services for seamless data sharing and collaboration.
This post recounts a year-long commitment to daily coding and publishing to Github, resulting in approximately 100,000 lines of code. The author details the challenges and triumphs, highlighting key takeaways: software development is hard but perseverance pays off; iteration is crucial; confidence builds over time; rest is essential; asking for help is a valuable skill; challenging yourself leads to growth; and failure is part of the process. Looking ahead, the author plans to continue the daily practice, improve their project Vewrite, and explore new ideas.
The author, a long-time user of tiling window managers (Sway and i3), recently switched to the innovative Niri window manager due to a bug in Sway. Niri uses a scrollable tiling design, solving the space limitations of traditional tiling managers. The author details comparisons between Niri and Sway, highlighting Niri's superior screen sharing, screenshot capabilities, battery life, and ease of hacking. He argues that Niri breaks the artificial space constraints of traditional tiling managers, boosting productivity, and highly recommends it to others.
FilePizza v2 is a WebRTC-based peer-to-peer file transfer tool for browsers. It eliminates the need for intermediary servers, transferring files directly between browsers for speed, privacy, and security. New features include a modern UI, dark mode, mobile support, multi-file uploads (zipped), upload progress monitoring, password protection, and Redis-based server state storage. End-to-end encryption ensures secure transfers. Conceived while eating pizza at UC Berkeley, it's now open-source and available at file.pizza.
Web interactivity stems from HTML's form and UI controls. However, since HTML5, complex web projects require more powerful UI control capabilities, leading developers to rely on JavaScript frameworks. This results in poor accessibility, slow page speeds, and other issues. The Open UI Community Group aims to improve HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web APIs to empower developers to build modern custom user interfaces. Their goal is to make web UIs more flexible, efficient, and accessible.
A seasoned programmer with 20 years of experience, after learning Common Lisp, deeply understood the limitations of garbage collection and the security issues of container technology. To pursue performance and portability, he abandoned all previous projects and dedicated himself to developing a new C dialect, KC3, and used it to rewrite previous projects such as the graph database. This article recounts his journey from Common Lisp to C, and the design philosophy and main features of the KC3 language, showcasing his in-depth thinking about programming languages and system design.
Type classes are a popular mechanism for generic programming, used in languages like Haskell, Swift, Rust, and Scala. However, implicit programming, while convenient, can lead to ambiguity in type inference, jeopardizing coherence (the property that a program has exactly one meaning). The research community is divided: some favor context-sensitive resolution; others advocate for globally unique instances to prevent ambiguity. This paper compares how these four languages address type class coherence, revealing that despite syntactic differences, their strategies for circumventing limitations of unique instances are strikingly similar.
AI coding tools like Cursor are generating mixed reactions, with some claiming to build entire SaaS applications in three days, while others deem them useless. This author, an AI skeptic, shares tips for maximizing Cursor's efficiency. Key strategies include creating a `.cursorrules` file and iteratively refining its rules to avoid excessive input; clearly specifying code locations and relevant context; using Composer (Agent) for simple changes and Chat (Ask) for complex ones; carefully reviewing and refactoring AI-generated code; and thoroughly communicating with the AI before tackling complex tasks. The author concludes that AI coding tools are useful when mentally fatigued, but caution is advised against over-reliance, acknowledging potential skill atrophy.
The open-source world faces a dilemma: high-quality end-user software, like office suites and video conferencing tools, often struggles to thrive under a purely open-source model, hindering its development. The article uses the 'lumber and chairs' analogy to illustrate the difference between open-source software (lumber) and commercial software (chairs), highlighting that maintaining open-source software requires continuous investment, which a purely free model struggles to support. It also touches on the issue of European software sovereignty, emphasizing the importance of reducing dependence on American tech giants, and calls for a new model that balances open-source freedoms with commercial sustainability to ensure the long-term development of high-quality open-source software.
After nearly a decade of development, the LLVM Fortran compiler, Flang, has finally been officially renamed from "flang-new" to "flang." This article recounts Flang's journey, from its initial development by the US National Labs and NVIDIA, to its adoption of LLVM's Multi-Level Intermediate Representation (MLIR), and its eventual integration into the LLVM project. Flang's creation aimed to provide a long-term, non-proprietary Fortran compiler, mitigating risks associated with single-point failures, and fostering growth within the Fortran community. Flang's journey also showcases advancements in compiler technology, such as the use of MLIR for optimizing Fortran code. Now mature and stable, with support from vendors like AMD, Flang stands as a powerful tool for Fortran developers.
A debate unfolds on Twitter regarding the Model Context Protocol (MCP), with LangChain CEO Harrison Chase arguing for its usefulness in adding tools to agents outside of a developer's control, such as customizing applications like Claude Desktop. Nuno Campos, LangGraph Lead, counters that MCP's practicality is overstated, requiring significant agent customization and suffering from low accuracy in tool selection by current models. The discussion draws parallels to OpenAI plugins and Zapier, exploring necessary improvements for MCP's future, like simplification, increased usability, and server-side implementation. A Twitter poll concludes the debate, questioning MCP's longevity as a standard.
This tool acts as your central hub for all remote connections, consolidating SSH, Docker, Kubernetes, and more. It supports various terminals, container runtimes, and hypervisors (Proxmox, Hyper-V, etc.), offering complete SSH support including config files, agent integrations, jump servers, tunnels, key files, smart cards, X11 forwarding, and more. Launch shell sessions instantly and efficiently manage all your remote resources.
daylight is a command-line program that tracks sunrise, sunset, solar noon, and day length, projecting these changes over the next ten days. It uses your IP for location and timezone, working in polar regions and with VPNs. Installation is via Homebrew (MacOS/Linux) or manual installation (including Windows). Features include custom location/date overrides and a short summary mode. Built in Go as a learning project, issues are welcome!
VSC (VOUGA-SHREINER-CANTH) Verified is a real-time 3D rendering engine written entirely in software for portability. Inspired by DoomGeneric's frontend/backend separation and the author's previous C++ game engine work, it's a rasterizer approximating lighting, shadows, textures, and materials. Based on Eric Lengyel's "Mathematics for 3D Game Programming," it draws inspiration from a challenging Geometry Dash level, VSC Verified, using Michael Bublé's music. The API is actively developing, but changes should be minimal. Includes ESP32 compatibility, example code, and a Makefile. Follow the book through Chapter 5 for foundational knowledge.
Zach Goldberg's 'The Startup CTO Handbook' offers a compelling daily resource for engineering leaders. Drawing on years of startup experience, Goldberg provides practical frameworks and insightful perspectives to tackle complex challenges in building high-performing engineering teams. The book emphasizes continuous learning, offering actionable advice on topics such as effective 1:1s, skip-level meetings, technical debt management, and navigating the CTO-CEO relationship. Whether you're a fledgling engineering leader or a seasoned CTO, this handbook is an invaluable guide.
Building on a previous post about sorting algorithms, this article explores performance improvements using CUDA for parallel computing. The author implements merge sort, initially using a recursive top-down approach. However, this proves inefficient in CUDA. Switching to an iterative bottom-up merge sort and parallelizing the merge operations yields significant performance gains. Benchmarking shows the CUDA iterative approach is competitive with, and sometimes outperforms, standard CPU sorting for larger arrays.
In 1975, Turing Award winner Edsger Dijkstra published a scathing critique of the computer science field. He bluntly criticized the flaws of programming languages like COBOL, PL/I, and BASIC, and the academic world's silence on these issues. He argued that poor programming languages and methodologies were harming the intellectual integrity of computer science and predicted the risks of over-reliance on IBM systems. This article remains a powerful call for reflection on balancing technological advancement with scientific rigor and honesty.
Two hackers, Bob and Alice, encountered a bug in their resource-constrained microcontroller: OR operations were five times slower than other operations. Facing a three-day deadline, they used logical equivalences, specifically De Morgan's Law, to rewrite their code, replacing OR operations with AND and NOT operations. This bypassed the performance bottleneck. The article further explores the universality of NAND operations and their application in optimizing cryptographic computations, such as significantly improving the efficiency of homomorphic encryption in the TFHE library.
fastplotlib is a new Python library for scientific visualization that prioritizes fast interactive visualization and an easy-to-use API. Its core design treats data as arrays, simplifying data interaction and event handling via simple callback functions. Users can perform dynamic manipulations (e.g., changing colors, data) and build interactive visualizations, such as defining click events, without needing to learn complex, library-specific API features. This streamlined API design lowers the barrier to entry and improves visualization efficiency.
This article explores the advantages and methods of running large language models (LLMs) locally. While acknowledging that local LLMs won't match cloud services in performance, the author highlights their benefits for privacy, cost control, and experimental development. Three tools are presented: Ollama (user-friendly, extensive model library), Llama.cpp (cross-platform, powerful), and Llamafiles (single executable, easy sharing). The article also covers crucial aspects like model selection, parameters, quantization, and model capabilities, while cautioning about model file sizes and security. Ultimately, running LLMs locally offers developers a flexible and controllable approach to AI development.
UUIDv7 is a new time-based UUID standard that combines the benefits of traditional UUIDs with modern, scalable distributed systems. Unlike the randomly generated UUIDv4, UUIDv7 offers both globally unique and time-ordered identifiers, making it ideal for applications requiring timestamps and uniqueness. It addresses privacy concerns associated with UUIDv1 and maintains compatibility with existing UUID libraries. Key use cases include distributed systems, database indexing, logging and monitoring, and e-commerce.
This article details how to drastically reduce the build size of Godot game engine projects. The author systematically optimizes a project, starting with disabling 3D, advanced text servers, and unnecessary modules. Techniques like using the UPX compression tool, WebAssembly optimization (wasm-opt), and Brotli compression are also explored. The article uses a simple 2D bouncing game as an example, showcasing each step's impact with clear before-and-after comparisons. It's a practical guide covering various optimization strategies and their trade-offs.
The TypeScript team announced a native port of the TypeScript compiler and tools to dramatically improve performance. This native implementation is projected to drastically speed up editor startup, reduce most build times by 10x, and substantially reduce memory usage. Initial testing shows compilation speed improvements of more than 10x for several large projects (e.g., VS Code, Playwright). Future native TypeScript (planned as TypeScript 7) will support more advanced refactorings, deeper code analysis, and lay the foundation for next-gen AI development tools. TypeScript 6 (JS-based) will continue to be maintained to ensure a smooth transition.
The Cinder JIT compiler employs a clever type representation, treating types as sets (even lattices) and choosing a compact bitset representation. This article delves into how Cinder leverages bitsets and semilattice structures for efficient type information handling, covering basic type representation, type unions, and specialization. By encoding type information into bitsets, Cinder effectively represents type unions and allows for finer-grained type distinctions. Furthermore, Cinder introduces a specialization mechanism to track the specific value of individual objects, further improving compiler optimization efficiency. The article also discusses the Bottom type and details on generating the type lattice.