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Avoiding Data Copies: Exploring Efficient Buffer Resizing in C++

2025-04-04

Avoiding Data Copies: Exploring Efficient Buffer Resizing in C++

Johnny's Software Lab explores methods to avoid costly data copying in C++. The article delves into how operating system calls like `mmap` (Linux) and `VirtualAlloc` (Windows) can enable dynamic buffer resizing, thus avoiding data copies. It compares the performance differences between various approaches, including using `mremap`, `xallocx` (jemalloc), and custom memory allocation strategies. Experiments demonstrate that avoiding copies significantly improves performance, but caution is advised regarding cross-platform differences and potential memory fragmentation issues.

(johnnysswlab.com)

Development

Ayn Rand's Heir: A Tragedy of Loyalty, Power, and Family

2025-04-04

Ayn Rand's Heir: A Tragedy of Loyalty, Power, and Family

This article chronicles the life of Leonard Peikoff, Ayn Rand's devoted follower and heir, whose life revolved around unwavering loyalty to Rand. From his teenage epiphany with Rand's philosophy to becoming her sole inheritor, Peikoff dedicated his life to propagating Rand's Objectivist philosophy. However, after inheriting Rand's legacy and fortune, Peikoff's later years are consumed by a bitter dispute with his daughter, Kira, stemming from his marriage to a much younger caregiver, Grace Davis, and subsequent plans to leave his estate to her. The story highlights the clash between power, loyalty, and family, and the ironic fate of a man devoted to individualism who ends up defined by his dependence on others.

(www.theatlantic.com)

Misc Objectivism Family Dispute

Whale Oil: Tech Progress Isn't Always a Savior

2025-04-04

Whale Oil: Tech Progress Isn't Always a Savior

A common narrative claims kerosene replaced whale oil for lighting, saving whales. This article challenges that. While kerosene reduced demand for whale oil in lighting, 20th-century whaling intensified dramatically, decimating whale populations. Whale oil found extensive use in lubricants and other applications, and advanced whaling technology exacerbated the problem. Only government-enforced whaling bans and the development of synthetic alternatives truly saved the whales. This story highlights that technological progress isn't always a panacea, and government intervention is crucial in environmental protection.

(edconway.substack.com)

Tech whales whale oil technology and environment

A Quick Guide to Spectroscopy Basics

2025-04-04

A Quick Guide to Spectroscopy Basics

This concise overview explains key concepts in spectroscopy, covering various types of electromagnetic radiation (e.g., visible light, ultraviolet light, microwaves), along with related physical quantities like wavelength and nanometers. It also touches upon biological concepts such as pigments, prisms, and cells, and how these concepts help understand light-matter interactions.

(www.snexplores.org)

Tech spectroscopy electromagnetic radiation

Halley's Hollow Earth: A Beautiful Blunder

2025-04-04

Halley's Hollow Earth: A Beautiful Blunder

In the 17th century, astronomer Edmond Halley proposed a hollow Earth theory, suggesting three concentric spheres within our planet, each inhabited and held together by magnetism. While based on limited scientific knowledge and ultimately disproven, his theory ingeniously explained variations in the Earth's magnetic field. Although incorrect, Halley's meticulous geomagnetic data collection and insightful speculation about Earth's interior laid groundwork for future geological research, showcasing the spirit of bold hypothesis and experimentation in scientific inquiry.

(www.wired.com)

Tech geomagnetism

The RAW Image Format Mess: Why Isn't DNG Universal?

2025-04-04

The RAW Image Format Mess: Why Isn't DNG Universal?

The world of camera RAW formats is a fragmented mess. Canon's CR3, Nikon's NEF, Sony's ARW, and others create compatibility headaches for software developers and users alike. Adobe's DNG (Digital Negative) attempted to solve this with an open standard, but major manufacturers cling to proprietary formats. This article explores the reasons behind this: tighter control over image processing pipelines and optimization for their own software. While DNG offers flexibility, ease of use, and future-proofing, larger companies prioritize performance and unique features. This creates friction for early adopters and software developers, but as long as manufacturers cooperate with Adobe, the status quo might persist.

(www.theverge.com)

Hardware RAW format

Python Conquers CUDA: NVIDIA's Native Python Support Ushers in a New Era of GPU Programming

2025-04-04

In 2024, Python surpassed JavaScript to become the world's most popular programming language. At GTC, NVIDIA announced native Python support for its CUDA toolkit, revolutionizing GPU programming. Developers can now use Python directly for algorithmic computing on GPUs without needing C++ expertise. NVIDIA built Pythonic CUDA, not a simple translation of C, but a natural interface for Python developers. This includes components from runtime compilers to cuPyNumeric (a NumPy replacement), and introduces the CuTile programming model, simplifying GPU programming's complexity. This massively expands CUDA's developer base, especially promising in emerging markets like India and Brazil.

(thenewstack.io)

Development

China Retaliates With 34% Tariffs After Trump's Escalation

2025-04-04

China Retaliates With 34% Tariffs After Trump's Escalation

Following President Trump's imposition of a 34% tariff on all Chinese imports, China has retaliated with identical tariffs on all US imports, escalating the global trade war. The move sent shockwaves through global markets, causing a significant drop in US stocks. Beyond tariffs, China added 11 US companies to its 'unreliable entities list' and implemented export controls on rare earth minerals, further intensifying the conflict. Analysts predict severe consequences for both US and Chinese economic growth.

(edition.cnn.com)

Tech Global Economy

UK's Economic Paradox: Rich Yet Broke?

2025-04-04

UK's Economic Paradox: Rich Yet Broke?

Despite being the world's 6th largest economy with decades of high tax revenue, Britain faces a significant economic paradox: widespread financial strain. The article explores two key factors contributing to this: insufficient public and private investment, hindering economic growth; and shockingly inefficient public spending, evidenced by the NHS and defense procurement. The author argues for sweeping reforms to address waste and inefficiency, paving the way for economic improvement.

(martinrobbins.substack.com)

Startup Fiscal Crisis Public Investment

Apple Ditches Goldman Sachs Credit Card Partnership

2025-04-04

Apple Ditches Goldman Sachs Credit Card Partnership

Apple is ending its credit card partnership with Goldman Sachs, according to the Wall Street Journal, marking a significant setback for Goldman's consumer lending ambitions. Apple plans to exit the partnership within the next 12-15 months, encompassing both the 2019-launched credit card and this year's savings account. Goldman's substantial losses in building its consumer banking operation led to this decision. While customer satisfaction was reportedly high, Goldman's acquisition costs—estimated at $350 per cardholder—were astronomically high, likely contributing to the partnership's demise.

(news.slashdot.org)

Tech Goldman Sachs Credit Card

Excel's MAP Function: Functional Mapping of Array Elements

2025-04-04

Excel's MAP function offers a powerful way to process arrays. It transforms each element in an array using a custom LAMBDA function and returns a new array. You can input multiple arrays, and the LAMBDA function will calculate the elements at corresponding positions. This makes batch data processing concise and efficient; simply define the calculation formula, and the MAP function automatically completes the mapping of all elements.

(support.apple.com)

Development MAP function LAMBDA function

Hidden JavaScript Quirks: Beyond the Memes

2025-04-04

This article uncovers lesser-known quirks in JavaScript that go beyond typical programmer humor and tutorials. Examples include the peculiar scoping of the `eval` function; the counter-intuitive variable capture in `for` loops; the falsiness of `document.all`; Unicode pitfalls in string iteration; and the performance and strange behavior of sparse arrays. The author also touches upon the complexities of Automatic Semicolon Insertion (ASI) and potential errors it can cause, listing many other noteworthy oddities within JavaScript.

(stack-auth.com)

Development quirks

Microsoft Kills Off Remote Desktop App, Forcing Migration to Windows App

2025-04-04

Microsoft Kills Off Remote Desktop App, Forcing Migration to Windows App

Microsoft is ending support for its legacy Remote Desktop application on May 27th, mandating a migration to the new Windows App. While the new app offers unified access to services like Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop, along with features such as customizable home screens and multi-monitor support, it also has limitations. Some proxy server environments and AD FS single sign-on are not supported, leading to user inconvenience. The move has been criticized by some as "the dumbest rebranding ever."

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

I'm Bored of It: The Ubiquitous Tech We Can't Escape

2025-04-04

The author expresses profound weariness with a pervasive technology, highlighting its dehumanizing effects and questioning its very existence. It's characterized by garbage in, garbage out, unwanted by the public yet championed by the brightest minds focused on user adoption. Shareholders and policymakers alike succumb to its pressure, its operation demanding immense energy and water resources. Media coverage swings wildly between glorification and condemnation, with endless conversations and personal usage anecdotes dominating discourse. The author subtly alludes to the technology, confessing a feeling of guilt associated with its use. The pervasiveness itself is the source of the author's exhaustion.

(paulrobertlloyd.com)

Tech Tech fatigue Ethical concerns Technology overuse

Setting Up Your Gumroad Development Environment

2025-04-04

Setting Up Your Gumroad Development Environment

This guide walks you through setting up a local development environment for Gumroad. You'll need Docker, Docker Compose, MySQL 8.0.x, imagemagick, libvips, ffmpeg, pdftk, and Bundler. Node.js and npm are also required. Configure Sidekiq Pro and environment variables as needed. Generate SSL certificates and start Docker services and the Rails server using `make local`. Remember to reset Elasticsearch indices and start the push notification service.

(github.com)

Development

Coreboot 25.03 Released: Open-Source BIOS Gets Major Update

2025-04-04

Coreboot, the open-source BIOS/firmware solution, has released version 25.03, bringing significant improvements. This release boasts enhanced display handling, a better USB debugging experience, CPU topology updates, various improvements to open-source RAM initialization for aging Intel Haswell platforms, improved USB Type-C and Thunderbolt handling, various embedded controller (EC) improvements, better RISC-V architecture support, DDR5-7500 support, and numerous bug fixes. Furthermore, it adds support for 22 new motherboards, including several Google Chromebooks, the AMD "Crater" development platform, older ASRock motherboards, and StarLabs devices. The Intel Panther Lake reference platform, "Intel Ptlrvp," is also supported.

(www.phoronix.com)

Hardware Open-Source BIOS

SpaceX Engineer's Hacking Past Exposed

2025-04-04

SpaceX Engineer's Hacking Past Exposed

Christopher Stanley, a former SpaceX and X engineer currently serving as a senior advisor at the Department of Justice (DOJ), has reportedly been caught boasting about hacking and distributing pirated ebooks, bootleg software, and game cheats. These boasts appeared on archived websites, several of which were quickly deleted after being flagged. Stanley was assigned to the DOJ by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). While Musk claims DOGE operates transparently, little is known about its staffers or their roles. Stanley's DOJ duties remain unclear, but the Deputy Attorney General's office investigates various crimes, including hacking and malicious cyber activity. The DOJ confirmed Stanley, a 'special government employee,' doesn't receive a government salary. Stanley's questionable past reportedly dates back to 2006, when he was in high school. Reuters connected him to various online forums and sites using pseudonyms, including Reneg4d3, still used on YouTube, verifying the connection through registration data, old email addresses, and biographical information.

(arstechnica.com)

Tech

Solo Music Listening Boosts Social Well-being, Study Finds

2025-04-04

Solo Music Listening Boosts Social Well-being, Study Finds

Research from the University at Buffalo reveals that listening to music alone can act as a 'social surrogate,' improving social well-being. Two experiments demonstrated that listening to favorite music reduced feelings of loneliness and buffered against the negative effects of social exclusion. Unlike previous research focusing on music's social aspects in group settings, this study highlights the benefits of solo listening. It suggests music fosters connection with artists, immersion in the musical world, and reminders of others, fulfilling the fundamental human need for belonging.

(phys.org)

Misc music therapy social well-being

Modules Begone: A New Programming Paradigm Based on a Global Function Database

2025-04-04

This article proposes a revolutionary programming paradigm: abandoning modules in favor of a global function database. All functions have unique names and rich metadata, stored in a searchable key-value database. This simplifies open-source contributions (contributing a single function is sufficient), eliminates the module partitioning problem, and facilitates function lookup and reuse. The author argues that this approach is more beneficial for the development and maintenance of large programs and proposes specific implementation ideas and extensions, such as function rating and peer review mechanisms.

(groups.google.com)

Development modularization

Heroku's .NET Support Goes GA: A Developer's Dream

2025-04-04

Heroku's .NET Support Goes GA: A Developer's Dream

Heroku has officially launched general availability (GA) support for .NET, ending its beta testing phase. This means .NET developers can now leverage Heroku's robust infrastructure and support services in production environments. Heroku automates the build and deployment of .NET applications, supporting languages like C#, F#, and Visual Basic, and seamlessly integrates with other Heroku features such as Pipelines, CI, and Review Apps for a streamlined development and deployment workflow. Whether you're new to .NET or a seasoned developer, Heroku offers a smooth deployment experience.

(blog.heroku.com)

Development Cloud Deployment

EU Plans to Backdoor Encryption by 2026: Security or Risk?

2025-04-04

EU Plans to Backdoor Encryption by 2026: Security or Risk?

The EU's new 'ProtectEU' plan aims to bolster European security, but includes a worrying proposal to backdoor encryption by 2026 or sooner. While the EU claims this is to help law enforcement access data, critics fear it could compromise Europe's cybersecurity and be exploited by other nations. Simultaneously, the EU plans to deploy quantum cryptography in critical infrastructure by 2030.

(www.theregister.com)

Tech

A Transputer Emulator in JavaScript: A 90s OS Reborn in Your Browser

2025-04-04

A Transputer Emulator in JavaScript: A 90s OS Reborn in Your Browser

A developer has ported their C-based Transputer emulator to JavaScript. Surprisingly fast, this emulator comes pre-loaded with a full-blown operating system from Spring 1996, including a C compiler, assembler, 3D modeler, and ray tracer. Users can experience this retro OS directly in their browser, running commands and even attempting to self-compile the C compiler! This showcases the advancements in JavaScript JIT compilation and the developer's passion for retro technology.

(nanochess.org)

Development Retro OS

Eight Years of Rust: A Multimedia Framework Retrospective

2025-04-04

This post reflects on eight years of using Rust to develop the NihAV multimedia framework. The author initially chose Rust to overcome the composability and portability issues of C. A comparison of Rust with other languages (C++, Java, Go, Nim, etc.) highlights Rust's strengths in composability, performance, low-level operations, and inline assembly. However, limitations are also noted, such as quirks in the macro and trait systems, and controversies surrounding the Rust Foundation. Ultimately, the author finds Rust a good choice, but emphasizes the need for developers to adapt their thinking to Rust's unique paradigms.

(codecs.multimedia.cx)

Development multimedia development

High School Founders' Calorie-Counting App Hits $2M in Monthly Revenue

2025-04-04

High School Founders' Calorie-Counting App Hits $2M in Monthly Revenue

Eighteen-year-old high schoolers Zach Yadegari and Henry Langmack launched Cal AI, a calorie-counting app, which boasts over 5 million downloads in eight months and generated over $2 million in revenue last month. Cal AI uses image recognition to calculate food calories and macros, leveraging large image models from Anthropic and OpenAI for 90% accuracy. The founders' entrepreneurial journey began in high school; Yadegari sold his first company at 16. Cal AI's success showcases the dynamism of young entrepreneurs and the potential of AI in practical applications.

(techcrunch.com)

Startup teen entrepreneurs

New Lasso-Shaped Antibiotic Discovered in Soil

2025-04-04

New Lasso-Shaped Antibiotic Discovered in Soil

Researchers have unearthed a novel antibiotic molecule from a soil sample, demonstrating potent antibacterial activity against a wide range of disease-causing bacteria, including those resistant to current treatments. This lasso-shaped peptide, produced by a Paenibacillus species, uniquely targets bacterial ribosomes, making resistance development difficult. The discovery offers a beacon of hope in the fight against the escalating antibiotic resistance crisis.

(www.nature.com)

Tech antibiotic drug resistance

Sample Size in Baseball: How Much Data is Enough?

2025-04-04

Sample Size in Baseball: How Much Data is Enough?

A baseball season is a collection of countless small events, each pitch contributing to the final outcome. Evaluating player performance requires a substantial amount of data, but the key is understanding which data points are meaningful. This article explores the issue of sample size in baseball statistics, explaining why a single at-bat isn't enough to judge a player's skill and why more data is needed to cancel out randomness. It highlights that different statistics require different sample sizes to 'stabilize,' for example, strikeout rate needs a smaller sample than BABIP. The author stresses the importance of sample size to avoid jumping to conclusions based on limited data.

(library.fangraphs.com)

Game baseball analytics sample size data stability

Anduril Banned from Discourse Recruiting: Weapon Maker Sparks Controversy

2025-04-04

Anduril Banned from Discourse Recruiting: Weapon Maker Sparks Controversy

A job posting from Anduril, a weapons manufacturer, on the Discourse forum ignited a firestorm of controversy. Users criticized Anduril's involvement in creating weapons of war and questioned its company culture. An Anduril employee attempted to address concerns about Nix/NixOS usage, non-compete agreements, and open-source opportunities, but the controversy escalated. Discourse's moderation team ultimately banned Anduril from posting future job openings on the platform to resolve the ongoing community dispute.

(discourse.nixos.org)

Tech defense contractor recruiting controversy

Local-First Web Dev: Reclaim Your Data

2025-04-04

Local-First Web Dev: Reclaim Your Data

Tired of backend-dependent web apps? Local-first web development is a revolutionary approach that puts users in control. Access your apps offline with automatic syncing when online. This guide explores the core principles, advantages over traditional cloud apps, and a step-by-step approach to building local-first apps using Vue.js, including transforming your SPA into a PWA, implementing robust storage solutions like SQLite, and developing secure syncing and authentication systems. Future posts will delve into advanced topics like conflict resolution.

(alexop.dev)

Development

American Wealth Doesn't Guarantee a Longer Life: Study Reveals Systemic Issues

2025-04-04

American Wealth Doesn't Guarantee a Longer Life: Study Reveals Systemic Issues

A study of over 73,000 adults in the US and Europe reveals a shocking disparity: the wealthiest Americans have lower life expectancies than their European counterparts. The survival rate gap between the richest and poorest in the US far exceeds that seen in European nations. Even the poorest Americans fare worse than the poorest in Europe. Beyond healthcare access and social safety nets, the researchers suggest systemic factors like diet, environment, behavior, and cultural differences contribute to this uniquely American phenomenon of shorter lifespans, even among the wealthy. This highlights the deep-seated systemic issues impacting health outcomes in the US.

(arstechnica.com)

Misc health disparity life expectancy socioeconomic inequality

Bash INI Parser: A Robust Shell Script Library

2025-04-04

Bash INI Parser: A Robust Shell Script Library

A powerful Bash shell script library, `lib_ini.sh`, provides a comprehensive set of functions for parsing and manipulating INI configuration files. It supports reading, writing, adding, updating, and removing sections and keys, handling complex values, arrays, and environment variables. The library also features robust error handling, a debug mode, and configurability. An interactive online demo allows for easy testing.

(github.com)

Development Configuration Files

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