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Category: Development

The Folly of Natural Language Programming

2025-04-03

This article critiques the notion of natural language programming. The author argues that while using natural language as a programming interface seems to simplify human-computer interaction, it drastically increases machine complexity and potentially leads to more undetectable errors. Historical experience shows that the precision and rigor of formal languages (like mathematical notation) are key to efficient information processing. The ambiguity and vagueness of natural language, conversely, would hinder the advancement of computer science. Instead of pursuing the convenience of natural language programming, the author advocates for appreciating the precision and efficiency offered by formal languages as the correct path for the advancement of computer science.

(www.cs.utexas.edu)
Development

The Perils of Over-Reliance on AI Coding Tools: Don't Let Automation Become Your Crutch

2025-04-03

The author recounts their experience with over-reliance on AI coding tools, drawing a parallel to using Tesla's Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature. Initially, AI boosted efficiency, but long-term dependence led to a decline in coding skills, particularly in tackling complex problems independently. The author advocates for cautious AI usage, warning against becoming a 'prompt engineer'. They emphasize mastering fundamental skills and maintaining independent problem-solving abilities to thrive in the age of AI.

(lucianonooijen.com)
Development

The Value of a Programmer: Beyond the Code

2025-04-03
The Value of a Programmer: Beyond the Code

A .Net developer's departure caused a company website crash, highlighting the risk of relying on individual expertise. The author reflects on their own experiences, discovering that companies prioritize product delivery over code itself. Even expertise in JavaScript and a self-developed A/B testing suite were eventually replaced due to company strategy changes. The author concludes that a developer's value lies in delivering products and features, not just coding skills; teamwork and overall product value are more important.

(idiallo.com)
Development

arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

2025-04-03
arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

arXivLabs is a framework enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Individuals and organizations involved embrace arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only partners with those who share them. Got an idea for a project to benefit the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

(arxiv.org)
Development

Headscale: A Self-Hosted Open Source Alternative to the Tailscale Control Server

2025-04-03
Headscale: A Self-Hosted Open Source Alternative to the Tailscale Control Server

Headscale is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to the Tailscale control server, offering a simple private network solution for individuals or small organizations. Built on WireGuard, it implements core Tailscale networking features like IP address assignment, user boundary management, and route advertisement. While not affiliated with Tailscale Inc., the project benefits from contributions from a Tailscale maintainer and adheres to strict coding standards and development processes. Headscale aims to provide a user-friendly and sustainable open-source alternative for self-hosting enthusiasts.

(github.com)
Development

arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

2025-04-02
arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

arXivLabs is a framework enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Individuals and organizations involved share arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only partners with those who adhere to them. Got an idea to improve the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

(arxiv.org)
Development

Linux Kernel Community Platform: Terms of Service and Privacy

2025-04-02
Linux Kernel Community Platform: Terms of Service and Privacy

A new communication platform for the Linux kernel community has launched. Users must adhere to the Code of Conduct; violations will result in account suspension. While posting about anything related to the Linux kernel is encouraged, promoting others' status excessively is prohibited. While multilingual, English is the primary language. Admins have access to all posts, so sensitive information should be avoided. Account requests require meeting specific criteria, such as being listed in MAINTAINERS or CREDITS, having a kernel.org account or email, or a long history of involvement with the Linux kernel.

(social.kernel.org)
Development Community Platform

OpenBSD in Amsterdam: A Round Peg in a Square Hole

2025-04-02

The author's journey to connect an old laptop to the internet led to many failed attempts with various Linux distributions and other OSes, until OpenBSD finally worked. While known for its security and minimalism, OpenBSD presented a steep learning curve. Setting up a website proved challenging, like trying to fit a round peg into a square hole. The author ultimately succeeded in deploying their site using OpenBSD and shares their experiences, highlighting perseverance and the unexpected challenges of even the most secure systems.

(ewintr.nl)
Development

Prolog Planners from LLMs: A Surprisingly Effective Approach

2025-04-02

This paper explores using Large Language Models (LLMs) to generate Prolog planners, leveraging Prolog's combinatorial search capabilities. The authors argue that LLMs are better suited for translating natural language into Prolog than for planning directly. Their approach involves prompting an LLM to translate problem descriptions into Prolog code, which is then used by a Prolog engine to perform the planning. A detailed prompting guide is provided, focusing on generating state facts, action predicates, and check predicates. This approach bypasses limitations of LLMs in direct planning while utilizing Prolog's strengths in logical reasoning and combinatorial search. The method is shown to be effective on various toy planning problems.

(quantumprolog.sgml.net)
Development Automated Planning

CSS Item Flow: Unifying Flexbox, Grid, and Masonry Layouts

2025-04-02
CSS Item Flow: Unifying Flexbox, Grid, and Masonry Layouts

CSS Grid and Flexbox are powerful layout tools, but they fall short for complex layouts like masonry. A new proposal, "Item Flow," aims to solve this by unifying Flexbox's `flex-flow` and Grid's `grid-auto-flow` properties. It introduces new properties like `item-direction`, `item-wrap`, `item-pack`, and `item-slack`, enabling more flexible and powerful layout control. This would give Flexbox dense packing and Grid the ability to disable wrapping, while providing a clean solution for masonry layouts. The result is a more unified and user-friendly CSS layout system.

(webkit.org)
Development Layout

Mermaid Chart VS Code Plugin: Effortless Mermaid.js Diagramming in Your IDE

2025-04-02
Mermaid Chart VS Code Plugin: Effortless Mermaid.js Diagramming in Your IDE

The Mermaid Chart VS Code plugin empowers developers with a robust diagramming tool, directly within their Visual Studio Code environment. Create and edit Mermaid.js diagrams effortlessly – no account needed for basic features. Enjoy real-time rendering, syntax highlighting, and seamless Markdown integration. The plugin automatically recognizes .mmd files. Advanced capabilities like cloud sync, team collaboration, and AI-powered diagram generation are unlocked by logging into a Mermaid Chart account. Whether visualizing workflows, software architecture, or API flows, this plugin boosts productivity, supports offline editing, and integrates flawlessly with Git version control.

(docs.mermaidchart.com)
Development VS Code Plugin Diagramming Tool

ReelControl: Reclaim Your Video Playback Control

2025-04-02
ReelControl: Reclaim Your Video Playback Control

Tired of the annoying lack of native progress bars on Instagram, YouTube Shorts, and Facebook Reels? ReelControl is here to help! This browser extension adds progress bars and playback controls to videos on these platforms, letting you easily see video length, rewind, fast-forward, and skip unwanted parts. The developer reports not only an improved viewing experience but also a significant reduction in time spent on these platforms. The project is open-source, and contributions are welcome!

(chromewebstore.google.com)
Development video playback control

Matrix.org Upgrading to Next-Gen Authentication

2025-04-02
Matrix.org Upgrading to Next-Gen Authentication

On April 7th, 2025, at 7 AM UTC, Matrix.org will migrate its authentication system to MAS (Matrix Authentication Service) for next-generation authentication. This will involve up to one hour of downtime but brings a revamped account management interface, improved security (credentials only visible to your server), and a better registration experience. The upgrade utilizes OAuth 2.0/OIDC and paves the way for features like QR code login, opening new possibilities for Matrix applications.

(matrix.org)
Development

Visualizing Async Rust Execution Trees with await-tree

2025-04-02
Visualizing Async Rust Execution Trees with await-tree

await-tree is a Rust library for visualizing the execution tree of asynchronous tasks. It traces the execution flow of asynchronous tasks and presents the result as a tree structure, facilitating debugging and analysis of complex asynchronous code. Compared to similar tools like async-backtrace, await-tree supports runtime dynamic spans, more complex asynchronous control flows, and offers higher stability and efficiency. It has been used in production deployment in RisingWave, a distributed streaming database.

(github.com)
Development

Bare: A Minimal JavaScript Runtime Reimagining Node.js

2025-04-02
Bare: A Minimal JavaScript Runtime Reimagining Node.js

Holepunch has launched Bare, a groundbreaking minimal JavaScript runtime for desktop and mobile. Fast, modular, and efficient, Bare revisits the original vision of Node.js by embracing modularity and universal compatibility. Designed for peer-to-peer applications, Bare runs cross-platform and seamlessly integrates with Holepunch's Pear runtime, achieving true 'write once, run anywhere' capabilities and revolutionizing app development.

(pears.com)
Development Peer-to-Peer

Tailscale on Plan 9: An April Fool's Prank That Actually Worked

2025-04-02
Tailscale on Plan 9: An April Fool's Prank That Actually Worked

Tailscale's April Fool's Day announcement wasn't a joke: they actually ported Tailscale to the Plan 9 operating system. The journey was fraught with challenges, including outdated Go compiler support for Plan 9, kernel issues, and inter-process communication bugs. The team even fixed a decades-old bug in the Plan 9 kernel. The project, initially a naive undertaking, evolved into a significant effort, culminating in a working demo running Tailscale on Plan 9, even showcased on a web browser. This wasn't just a prank; it was a testament to the team's technical prowess and a fascinating exploration of a niche OS.

(tailscale.com)
Development

arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

2025-04-02
arXivLabs: Experimenting with Community Collaboration

arXivLabs is an experimental platform enabling collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on the website. Participants (individuals and organizations) embrace arXiv's values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners who adhere to them. Got an idea to enhance the arXiv community? Learn more about arXivLabs.

(arxiv.org)
Development

Protected Query Pattern: A Solution for Data Authorization in Full-Stack Apps

2025-04-02
Protected Query Pattern: A Solution for Data Authorization in Full-Stack Apps

Securing data access in modern full-stack applications is challenging. This article introduces the 'protected query pattern,' an elegant solution. It wraps pure query functions with an authorization layer, offering `query.protect` and `query.unsafe` methods for authorized and direct queries respectively. This approach avoids duplicated authorization logic, improves maintainability and readability, and supports data redaction. Kilpi simplifies implementation, offering centralized authorization and data filtering for enhanced efficiency.

(kilpi.vercel.app)
Development data authorization

Django 5.2 Released: Composite Primary Keys and Simplified BoundField Overriding

2025-04-02
Django 5.2 Released: Composite Primary Keys and Simplified BoundField Overriding

Django 5.2 has been released! Key features include automatic model import in the shell, support for composite primary keys (using multiple fields as a primary key), and simplified BoundField overriding. Django 5.1 has entered security maintenance, while Django 5.0 has reached end-of-life. All users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to 5.2 for continued security fixes and bug patches.

(www.djangoproject.com)
Development

Fake Deadlines: A Manager's Secret Weapon?

2025-04-02
Fake Deadlines: A Manager's Secret Weapon?

This article explores the effectiveness of 'fake deadlines' in project management. Drawing on personal experience and the insights of James Stanier, the author argues that setting challenging deadlines leverages Parkinson's Law (work expands to fill the time available), boosting team efficiency and driving project progress. However, the author emphasizes that success hinges on team involvement, clear goals, and open communication, avoiding negative impacts like forced overtime. The ultimate goal is enhanced team productivity, not simply on-time delivery.

(newsletter.manager.dev)
Development deadlines

PowerToys Command Palette: Your Ultimate Launcher and Command Center

2025-04-02
PowerToys Command Palette: Your Ultimate Launcher and Command Center

The PowerToys Command Palette, successor to PowerToys Run, is a fast, customizable, and extensible utility providing single-access to frequently used commands, apps, and development tools. Simply press Win+Alt+Space (customizable shortcut) to search for applications, folders, files, run commands (e.g., >cmd launches Command Prompt), switch windows, perform simple calculations, add website bookmarks, execute system commands, and even open web pages or searches. It also boasts rich extensions for easy addition of further functionality.

(learn.microsoft.com)
Development Command Palette

VitoDeploy: Streamlining PHP Deployment

2025-04-02
VitoDeploy: Streamlining PHP Deployment

VitoDeploy, a self-hosted web application, simplifies server management and production deployment for PHP applications, especially those built with Laravel. Developers praise its ease of use, performance, and versatility, with many highlighting its open-source nature. The application now supports SQLite, and a 1.x branch is available for beta testing.

(vitodeploy.com)
Development Deployment Tool

Why Software Estimation Is Always Wrong (and How to Improve)

2025-04-02
Why Software Estimation Is Always Wrong (and How to Improve)

In Scrum teams, story points estimate effort, but software estimations are inherently flawed. They predict an unknown future, and project complexity, unclear requirements, and technical debt contribute to inaccuracies. Cognitive biases like Hofstadter's Law, Brook's Law, and the planning fallacy exacerbate the problem. The article explores improvements: tracking progress, adding buffers, using the COCOMO model, and an alternative from "NoEstimates": dropping story points, focusing on throughput and cycle times, and using visual tools like Kanban.

(newsletter.techworld-with-milan.com)
Development estimation

Multithreading: The Wrong Design?

2025-04-02

This article challenges the common misconception that multithreading always improves performance. The author argues that modern CPUs don't operate as a shared memory model as often taught, and multithreading introduces significant overhead due to cache coherence issues and synchronization primitives, leading to performance degradation and increased complexity. Duplicating single-threaded code across multiple cores is presented as a more efficient approach, leveraging CPU time more effectively and resulting in simpler, more maintainable code. The author advocates for single-threaded designs like Node.js and Actor models as superior for utilizing modern CPU resources, despite the perception that multithreading is a more sophisticated approach.

(unetworkingab.medium.com)
Development

Confetti: A Minimalist and Flexible Configuration Format

2025-04-02
Confetti: A Minimalist and Flexible Configuration Format

Confetti is a novel configuration format built on simplicity and minimalism. Unlike complex formats like YAML, Confetti boasts a concise and easily understandable specification, learnable in minutes. Its typeless design and composable syntax allow for everything from simple configurations to textual file formats and lightweight scripting. Confetti supports custom keywords and tri-state values, is localization-friendly, and encourages extensions, enabling users to create unique Confetti flavors.

(confetti.hgs3.me)
Development configuration format

SSLyze: Blazing Fast SSL/TLS Security Scanner

2025-04-02
SSLyze: Blazing Fast SSL/TLS Security Scanner

SSLyze is a fast and powerful SSL/TLS scanning tool and Python library that analyzes a server's SSL/TLS configuration to ensure strong encryption settings and protection against known TLS attacks. It supports various server types, saves results as JSON, and integrates easily into CI/CD pipelines. SSLyze checks against Mozilla's recommended configurations, offering options to test against different TLS versions and cipher suites. Easily installed via pip, Docker, or a pre-compiled executable, SSLyze quickly enhances your server security.

(github.com)
Development Security Scanning

Graft: A Novel Edge Replication Engine for Strong Consistency and Partial Syncs

2025-04-02
Graft: A Novel Edge Replication Engine for Strong Consistency and Partial Syncs

Graft, an open-source transactional storage engine, tackles the challenges of data synchronization in edge computing environments. Unlike traditional full replication or schema-aware diffing, Graft employs a lazy, partial replication strategy that combines strong consistency guarantees, horizontal scalability, and object storage durability. It allows clients to sync data on demand, fetching only necessary data, and supports syncing from edge and offline devices. At its core is the Volume, a sparse, ordered collection of fixed-size Pages, with clients interacting through a transactional API. This makes Graft suitable for various use cases, including offline-first apps, cross-platform sync, and stateless multi-writer replicas.

(sqlsync.dev)
Development Database Replication

The Linux Binary Compatibility Nightmare: Deconstructing and Rebuilding GLIBC

2025-04-01

This article delves into the deep-seated issue of binary compatibility on Linux, pinpointing the root cause as the monolithic design of GLIBC (GNU C Library). It critiques containerization solutions like Flatpak and AppImage for their shortcomings, proposing an alternative approach using static linking and older system libraries to improve portability. Ultimately, the authors advocate for a radical restructuring of GLIBC, breaking it into smaller, more focused libraries—libsyscall, libdl, libheap, libthread, and libc—to achieve Windows-like robust binary compatibility and finally solve this longstanding Linux problem.

(jangafx.com)
Development binary compatibility

textcase: A Feature-Complete Python Text Case Conversion Library

2025-04-01
textcase: A Feature-Complete Python Text Case Conversion Library

textcase is a feature-complete Python library for converting text to various casing styles (snake, constant, kebab, camel, pascal, etc.). It handles acronyms, non-ASCII characters, and allows for custom boundary conditions for precise control over string splitting. The library includes `is_case` for case detection, and `CaseConverter` for encapsulating conversion parameters. This enables powerful and flexible text manipulation.

(github.com)
Development Case Conversion

Mozilla Launches Thunderbird Pro: A Paid Upgrade for its Open-Source Email Client

2025-04-01
Mozilla Launches Thunderbird Pro: A Paid Upgrade for its Open-Source Email Client

Mozilla is launching Thunderbird Pro, a paid suite of services designed to enhance its open-source email client, Thunderbird. The suite includes Thundermail (a Gmail-like email service), Thunderbird Appointment (a scheduling tool), Thunderbird Send (a file-sharing service), and Thunderbird Assist (an experimental AI service). Initially, Thunderbird Pro will be free for active community contributors, but will eventually require payment for others. Mozilla may introduce limited free tiers later. This move aims to offer a fully open-source, freedom-respecting alternative to competitors like Gmail and Office 365.

(www.techspot.com)
Development Paid Services
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