#hardware programming

[watchmorecinema]

Normally I just post about movies but I'm a software engineer by trade so I've got opinions on programming too.

Apparently it's a month of code or something because my dash is filled with people trying to learn Python. And that's great, because Python is a good language with a lot of support and job opportunities. I've just got some scattered thoughts that I thought I'd write down.

Python abstracts a number of useful concepts. It makes it easier to use, but it also means that if you don't understand the concepts then things might go wrong in ways you didn't expect. Memory management and pointer logic is so damn annoying, but you need to understand them. I learned these concepts by learning C++, hopefully there's an easier way these days.

Data structures and algorithms are the bread and butter of any real work (and they're pretty much all that come up in interviews) and they're language agnostic. If you don't know how to traverse a linked list, how to use recursion, what a hash map is for, etc. then you don't really know how to program. You'll pretty much never need to implement any of them from scratch, but you should know when to use them; think of them like building blocks in a Lego set.

Learning a new language is a hell of a lot easier after your first one. Going from Python to Java is mostly just syntax differences. Even "harder" languages like C++ mostly just mean more boilerplate while doing the same things. Learning a new spoken language in is hard, but learning a new programming language is generally closer to learning some new slang or a new accent. Lists in Python are called Vectors in C++, just like how french fries are called chips in London. If you know all the underlying concepts that are common to most programming languages then it's not a huge jump to a new one, at least if you're only doing all the most common stuff. (You will get tripped up by some of the minor differences though. Popping an item off of a stack in Python returns the element, but in Java it returns nothing. You have to read it with Top first. Definitely had a program fail due to that issue).

The above is not true for new paradigms. Python, C++ and Java are all iterative languages. You move to something functional like Haskell and you need a completely different way of thinking. Javascript (not in any way related to Java) has callbacks and I still don't quite have a good handle on them. Hardware languages like VHDL are all synchronous; every line of code in a program runs at the same time! That's a new way of thinking.

Python is stereotyped as a scripting language good only for glue programming or prototypes. It's excellent at those, but I've worked at a number of (successful) startups that all were Python on the backend. Python is robust enough and fast enough to be used for basically anything at this point, except maybe for embedded programming. If you do need the fastest speed possible then you can still drop in some raw C++ for the places you need it (one place I worked at had one very important piece of code in C++ because even milliseconds mattered there, but everything else was Python). The speed differences between Python and C++ are so much smaller these days that you only need them at the scale of the really big companies. It makes sense for Google to use C++ (and they use their own version of it to boot), but any company with less than 100 engineers is probably better off with Python in almost all cases. Honestly thought the best programming language is the one you like, and the one that you're good at.

Design patterns mostly don't matter. They really were only created to make up for language failures of C++; in the original design patterns book 17 of the 23 patterns were just core features of other contemporary languages like LISP. C++ was just really popular while also being kinda bad, so they were necessary. I don't think I've ever once thought about consciously using a design pattern since even before I graduated. Object oriented design is mostly in the same place. You'll use classes because it's a useful way to structure things but multiple inheritance and polymorphism and all the other terms you've learned really don't come into play too often and when they do you use the simplest possible form of them. Code should be simple and easy to understand so make it as simple as possible. As far as inheritance the most I'm willing to do is to have a class with abstract functions (i.e. classes where some functions are empty but are expected to be filled out by the child class) but even then there are usually good alternatives to this.

Related to the above: simple is best. Simple is elegant. If you solve a problem with 4000 lines of code using a bunch of esoteric data structures and language quirks, but someone else did it in 10 then I'll pick the 10. On the other hand a one liner function that requires a lot of unpacking, like a Python function with a bunch of nested lambdas, might be easier to read if you split it up a bit more. Time to read and understand the code is the most important metric, more important than runtime or memory use. You can optimize for the other two later if you have to, but simple has to prevail for the first pass otherwise it's going to be hard for other people to understand. In fact, it'll be hard for you to understand too when you come back to it 3 months later without any context.

Note that I've cut a few things for simplicity. For example: VHDL doesn't quite require every line to run at the same time, but it's still a major paradigm of the language that isn't present in most other languages.

Ok that was a lot to read. I guess I have more to say about programming than I thought. But the core ideas are: Python is pretty good, other languages don't need to be scary, learn your data structures and algorithms and above all keep your code simple and clean.

[computer-nerd-girl]

[scipunk]

Paranoia 1.0 AKA One Point O (2004)

[hungwy]

i have no computer goals. i dont have any computer wants or needs. im likea computer buddhist. this is my main barrier to coding

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

DAVE: do you think the army men in toy story came like preprogrammed with horrible memories of a war they never really fought in or did andys play create those memories

DAVE: like do they come out of the bucket quietly rocking muttering about hill 40 or did andy force them to kill

JOHN: …….gonna be thinking about that one. :(

[techtimechronicles24]

🇬🇧 Elite is a groundbreaking space trading and combat video game that emerged in the mid-1980s, captivating gamers with its expansive universe and innovative gameplay. Developed by David Braben and Ian Bell, Elite was first released in 1984 for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers, later expanding to other platforms.

🚀 Elite was revolutionary for its time, offering players an open-ended experience set in a vast, procedurally generated galaxy. The game allowed players to pilot a spaceship through various star systems, engaging in trade, combat, and exploration. Elite's development was driven by its ambitious scope and technical achievements, leveraging procedural generation to create a seemingly infinite universe within the constraints of early computer hardware.

🌌 In Elite, players assume the role of a spaceship pilot navigating through a complex network of star systems, each with its own planets, space stations, and resources. The game featured realistic physics for space travel and combat, adding to its immersive appeal. Players could trade goods between star systems, mine asteroids for resources, and engage in dogfights with pirates or law enforcement.

🛰️ As players accumulated wealth and experience, they could upgrade their ships with better weapons, shields, and cargo holds. Elite introduced a reputation system that influenced how NPCs interacted with the player, offering a sense of depth and consequence to the gameplay.

🎮 Elite's success paved the way for the space simulation genre, inspiring a generation of game developers and spawning sequels and spiritual successors. The game's combination of exploration, combat, and trading became a hallmark of the genre, influencing titles like Wing Commander, Freelancer, and EVE Online.

🌠 In recent years, Elite Dangerous, a modern incarnation of the series developed by Frontier Developments, has garnered acclaim for its expansive gameplay and realistic depiction of space exploration. Elite Dangerous builds upon the foundation laid by the original Elite, offering players an even more immersive experience in a procedurally generated galaxy.

🌟 Elite remains a landmark in video game history, celebrated for its ambition, innovation, and enduring influence on the space simulation genre. For gamers looking to explore the vast reaches of space and engage in thrilling adventures, Elite remains a timeless classic worth experiencing. Fly safe, Commander!

[bynux]

I know this take has been done a million times, but like…computing and electronics are really, truly, unquestionably, real-life magic.

Electricity itself is an energy field that we manipulate to suit our needs, provided by universal forces that until relatively recently were far beyond our understanding. In many ways it still is.

The fact that this universal force can be translated into heat or motion, and that we've found ways to manipulate these things, is already astonishing. But it gets more arcane.

LEDs work by creating a differential in electron energy levels between—checks notes—ah, yes, SUPER SPECIFIC CRYSTALS. Different types of crystals put off different wavelengths and amounts of light. Hell, blue LEDs weren't even commercially viable until the 90's because of how specific and finicky the methods and materials required were to use. So to summarize: LEDs are a contained Light spell that works by running this universal energy through crystals in a specific way.

Then we get to computers. which are miraculous for a number of reasons. But I'd like to draw your attention specifically to what the silicon die of a microprocessor looks like:

Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Let me share some things I feel are kinda similar looking:

We're putting magic inscriptions in stone to provide very specific channels for this world energy to flow through. We then communicate into these stones using arcane "programming" languages as a means of making them think, communicate, and store information for us.

We have robots, automatons, using this energy as a means of rudimentarily understanding the world and interacting with it. We're moving earth and creating automatons, having them perform everything from manufacturing (often of other magic items) to warfare.

And we've found ways to manipulate this "electrical" energy field to transmit power through the "photonic" field. I already mentioned LEDs, but now I'm talking radio waves, long-distance communication warping and generating invisible light to send messages to each other. This is just straight-up telepathy, only using magic items instead of our brains.

And lasers. Fucking lasers. We know how to harness these same two energies to create directed energy beams powerful enough to slice through materials without so much as touching them.

We're using crystals, magic inscriptions, and languages only understood by a select few, all interfacing with a universal field of energy that we harness through alchemical means.

Electricity is magic. Computation is wizardry. Come delve into the arcane with me.

[digitalismmm]

03/12/21

[n64retro]

N64 architecture

[arcadebroke]

[hamaonoverdrive]

Been keeping up with Novella November at my pace, completed the first short story/scene at ~1.7k. Debating what to start next, another idea from my list of OC snippets OR finish a fandom wip that's been sitting at 70% done for nearly a year now...

[computer-nerd-girl]

[electrosquash]

Babygirl i miss you

[emissary-of-dog]

@beesbeesbees42 (putting this here just so i don't spam op's notifs;) THAT I DID, YES!!! it took sooooo so long because getting all the minigame exclusive items was a pain as was fishing up the remaining fish (LOOKING AT YOU, ANGLERFISH) and getting all the health upgrades from charlotte & ambrose... but i know this game like the back of my hand it is my absolute favorite game ever and that's no exaggeration 😭😭 I DIDNT KNOW U KNEW THIS GAME TOO THATS SO KEWL!!!!!!

[techtimechronicles24]

🇯🇵 The Sony NEWS (Network Engineering Workstation) is a series of UNIX-based workstations and servers developed by Sony Corporation. Introduced in 1987, the NEWS series represented Sony's ambitious entry into the high-performance computing market, targeting professionals in engineering, scientific research, and academia.

💾 In the late 1980s, the computing world was rapidly evolving with a growing demand for powerful workstations capable of handling complex tasks. Sony, primarily known for its consumer electronics, ventured into this niche market with the NEWS series to provide high-end workstations for network computing and engineering applications. The initial model, the NEWS NWS-800, was unveiled in 1987. It was designed to compete with established UNIX workstations from companies like Sun Microsystems and Silicon Graphics.

💻 The early Sony NEWS models were based on the MIPS architecture, a series of RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computing) processors known for their performance efficiency. Later models transitioned to other architectures, including the Intel x86 family. The NEWS series ran on a customized version of UNIX, providing a robust and versatile environment for software development, data processing, and scientific computations. The workstations boasted impressive processing power for their time. For instance, the NWS-800 featured a 16.67 MHz R3000A processor and supported up to 24 MB of RAM, which was substantial in the late 1980s.

🖥 High-resolution graphics capabilities were a standout feature of the NEWS series, catering to applications requiring detailed visual representations, such as CAD (Computer-Aided Design) and multimedia development. As the name suggests, network engineering was a core focus. The NEWS workstations were designed with advanced networking capabilities, including support for various networking protocols, which was critical for collaborative engineering projects and research. The machines were equipped with sizable storage options, including SCSI hard drives and support for external storage devices, ensuring ample space for large datasets and software applications.

⚙️ The Sony NEWS workstations found use in numerous specialized fields. They were particularly popular in academic research labs, animation studios, and engineering firms where high computational power and graphical capabilities were essential. Despite their advanced features, the NEWS series faced stiff competition from other established UNIX workstation manufacturers. However, they carved out a niche market due to Sony's reputation for quality and innovation. Over time, the landscape of computing evolved, and the demand for proprietary workstations diminished in favor of more standardized PC-based systems. Sony eventually discontinued the NEWS line, but the series left a lasting impression on the high-performance workstation market.

🌐 The Sony NEWS series represents a fascinating chapter in the history of computing, showcasing Sony's foray into the realm of high-performance workstations. With its robust UNIX environment, advanced graphics, and strong network capabilities, the NEWS series was a testament to Sony's engineering prowess and innovation during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Today, it remains a memorable part of the evolution of workstations, reflecting the dynamic nature of technological advancement.

[shironezuninja]

10 days of emotional contempt, and I finally put these OSTs on my iTunes program this Saturday. They were ready to be uploaded to my laptop’s music library by last weekend, but that dumb Spider-Man moral obligation got in the way.