Maker of software and other things. Author of "Serverless Single Page Apps" and "Continuous Testing", published by The Pragmatic Bookshelf. Co-host of Two's Complement podcast. TDD nerd.
New Episode: Passing Messages
Ben and Matt wade into the deep waters of messaging systems, get utterly lost in time synchronization rabbit holes, and discover their new podcast tagline: "We make mistakes so you don't have to." Matt celebrates by getting his car stuck where cars shouldn't go.
New Episode: Sequence Locks
Matt talks about a work thing, called a sequence lock. Ben suggests some dumb ideas about that work thing. Then our hosts discuss how to starve a reader, anger the Gods of Volatility, and invoke Sylvester Stallone.
New episode: Deploy First Development
Our hosts congratulate themselves on finally having decent microphones. Matt quizzes Ben on his "Deploy First" approach to software development. Ben explains branch-based deployment environments. He assures Matt he's a mortal. Matt promises to be less rubbish.
Listen now at https://www.twoscomplement.org/#podcast
Or wherever you get your podcasts! Search for "Two's Complement"
Here's a thing I'd never thought of before about #bash aliases: you don't actually have to put a command in one! I've just found it useful to do this:
alias otherenv=SOME_ENV_VARIABLE=non-default-value
so that the command
otherenv program arg1 arg2...
expands to
SOME_ENV_VARIABLE=non-default-value program arg1 arg2...
and runs the program with the environment variable changed.
(The alias is easier to remember than the actual environment setting, and better still, can be tab-completed.)
In 2017, Equifax suffered the worst data-breach in history, leaking the deep, nonconsensual dossiers it had compiled on 148m Americans and 15m Britons, (and 19k Canadians) into the world, to form an immortal, undeletable reservoir of kompromat and premade identity-theft kits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Equifax_data_breach
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/06/28/dealer-management-software/#antonin-scalia-stole-your-car
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these replies about UDP are great but if we’re going to talk about networking I really need people to stop making computer networking jokes, I’m already so tired of hearing the same joke over and over again (“i’d tell you a joke about UDP but you wouldn’t get it”)
(please do not reply to this with more bad networking jokes)
https://tidyfirst.substack.com/p/the-trough-of-despair Software designers don't just envision the new structure, they also manage the process of getting from here to there. Which always involves things getting worse before they get better.
New Episode: Avoiding Abandonware
Matt and Ben explore the unfortunate death and rebirth pattern of software systems. Ben botches a quote from Bjarne Stroustrup, and then explains why you can't go back in time and kill Hitler. Matt exhibits all the bad things when describing a serialization library.
WE DID IT. My new zine “How Git Works" is out now!
You can get it here for $12: https://wizardzines.com/zines/git
What I love about being Gen X is we get a great balance of microplastics and lead.
Edit: well that was mad, I’ve never gone viral here in 5 years!
Seeing as loads of people I don’t know are seeing this, I make dark, brooding Trip Hop under the name INPC.
My Bandcamp is inpc.Bandcamp.com
:80spc: :80spc: :80spc: :pg:
Cheeky I know but I gotta eat some how!
You know, you can sing “the Lion Sleeps Tonight” any time you feel like it, it’s literally just a whim away.
No, you fuck off.
“do you know ascii code 7?”
“yea, that rings a bell.”
You receive a call on your phone.
The caller says they're from your bank and they're calling about a suspected fraud.
"Oh yeah," you think. Obvious scam, right?
The caller says "I'll send you an in-app notification to prove I'm calling from your bank."
Your phone buzzes. You tap the notification This is what you see.
Still think it is a scam?
1/3
Credit to Kit
Is this toot about Betteridge’s Law of Headlines?
MOS 6502 vs. Zilog Z80
@mattgodbolt compares two influential early microprocessors, the Zilog Z80 and the MOS Technology 6502, and describes creative uses of undocumented opcodes and behavior.
The name "house spider" is a generic term for different spiders including Chiracanthium inclusum, Badumna Insignis, Steatoda grossa, Parasteatoda tepidariorum, among others, so named for their repetitive four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. The species evolved due to selective pressure by Chicago's underground club culture in the late 1970s, as DJs began altering disco spiders to give them a more mechanical beat.
![[PANEL 1 - Sam sitting down, and Threddy standing on the right.]
Threddy: Did you see the news.
Sam: Nope.
Threddy: Sorry you missed it.
Sam: I don't miss the news, I actively ignore it.](https://files.mastodon.social/cache/media_attachments/files/113/172/543/743/023/907/original/2a8e80fa5119730b.png)
