Mythryl is a new #programming #language with very inexpensive #concurrency, in which it’s reasonable to spawn off a new thread (called an “imp”, like a very small daemon) for each line of a buffer. Its author has terminal cancer.
discussion of #OCaml for new users, and what libraries and stuff to use, starting from Edgar Aroutiounian’s opinionated blog post on the matter, where he recommends opam; possibly ocamlfind and/or ocamlbuild; oasis instead of make; merlin for Emacs/Vim integration; either Core, Batteries, or Containers; and his own Podge library for doing Perlish stuff.
I think this is a Code Words article on #automatic-differentiation, but it doesn’t say and I haven’t finished reading it, yet so I’m not sure.
Unicorn is a #virtual-machine using CPU #emulation, based on #QEMU, focused on instrumentation.
the interval tree data structure and #algorithms. #trees
The WMF “Windows Metafile” #file-format.
#algorithms for Okasaki’s #FP-persistent red-black #trees: specifically how to delete nodes.
planar #manufacturing of #snap-fit joints on a #laser-cutter in e.g. acrylic. #2d-cutting
#manufacturing of “bolted” T-joints in acrylic on a #laser-cutter using Delrin clips instead of bolts. #2d-cutting
more on planar #manufacturing of #snap-fit joints on a #laser-cutter in e.g. acrylic. #2d-cutting
#MJD’s explanation of the qrpff #software implementation of the DeCSS #encryption algorithm for #DRM.
on-chip crypto #hardware in Allwinner SoC CPUs. AES, MD5, SHA1, DES, 3DES, and some PRNG. The latest ones also have SHA-2.
explanations of machinability ratings for #manufacturing by #machining.
#performance #benchmarks of #Raspberry-Pi 2 in #Python.
collaborative real-time drawing #software called "Etherdraw".
a patent for a “digital differential analyzer” used in the rocket plane’s guidance system, filed in 1956. #patents
a linear ball bearing to allow low-friction free sliding on a ground 8mm shaft. #manufacturing
the plan for diffusing the "IndieWeb" to the population in general. Although it’s a wonderful effort, it won’t work. #decentralization
NINETY PERCENT of consumer electronics #manufacturing is done in #Shenzhen, #China, which contains 15 million people. RCA is now owned by Shenzhen-based TCL, which has just opened a new factory in Poland to keep labor costs down. 100 new companies are registered in Shenzhen each day.
discussion of a newly (2014) discovered tablet of the Epic of Gilgamesh in #cuneiform.
“Seaborn is a library for making attractive and informative #statistics #graphics in #Python. It is built on top of matplotlib and tightly integrated with the PyData stack, including support for #numpy and #pandas data structures and statistical routines from scipy and statsmodels.”
A quick reference card for modern #Unix.
talks about encoding an object as a function that pattern-matches on tagged variants that are field (or method!) selectors. #programming #language #oo
a long list of links to things the author found interesting. About programming mostly.
slouching toward utopia, I think by Venkatesh Rao. #predictions
Archdruid John Michael Greer declares an end to the space age. #predictions
the 1972 abstract for The Limits to Growth.
Tom Murphy’s #predictions blog, mostly about #energy. He’s pretty pessimistic.
explains how the Stanford #Encyclopedia of #Philosophy is funded and edited: several dozen already-well-known “subject editors” choose topics and invite writers, which is basically the standard encyclopedia model. Authors and subject editors work for free, Stanford pays its four FTEs, and they’ve gotten the rest paid for by grants (US$2M over 15 years) and by “one-time contributions” from academic libraries, which goes into an SEP endowment, which is now US$3M (US$2M from contributors, the rest from Stanford); this is backed by a money-back guarantee if the SEP shuts down. 10% of the budget comes from a “friends of the SEP” program which gives you PDFs for a few bucks a year. #open-access #academia
5-page #pdf #paper about negative-refractive-index #metamaterials and superlenses and so on.
Feminist perspectives on sex markets #prostitution #feminism
a point-free #multitouch #programming #UX environment for the #λ-calculus.
Tractatus logico-philosophicus, parallel texts in German, the Ogden translation, and the Pears/McGuinness translation, in tasteful pastel colors. #philosophy #Wittgenstein
#IPv4 is finally exhausted in North America a couple of months ago. #internet #nanog #ARIN
blog post about how to cut your #energy usage in your house, especially in the US.
household scale #energy storage to smooth out intermittency of common renewable power sources like #solar; #batteries are best. 10m³ of #lead-acid batteries weigh 19 tons and store 750 kWh (2.7 GJ), but they cost US$150/kWh (US$41/MJ). 360 kg lifted by 3 m is required to store 3 Wh (at 29J/kg at 3 m), about 500× less energy density per mass than lead-acid batteries, so gravitational energy storage is impractical. #Flywheel storage is practical at a multi-meter scale even with steel, but the construction is expensive. Compressed air at a multi-meter scale (10m³) is practical, but again expensive.
Brazilian artists Manuela Donoso and Luisa Pereira did this #art installation in like 2014 or so called The Harmonic Series, visualizing #lissajous patterns using lasers and mirrors, and also #3D printers.
Charlie Stross posits that automation disempowers labor (following Marx, though maybe he doesn’t know that) and that the consequently rising power of capitalism will destroy democracy through the “financialization of government services” and the expansion of the security state. #predictions
argument that US #military supremacy in the 1990s (!) was due in large part to precision-guided munitions, and is weakening but will not disappear.
commentary on US #military circumstances, pointing out that US military spending has declined from the Cold-War 10% of GDP (Gibbon’s hypothetical upper limit to military spending, though measured in headcount and before the rise of Prussia) to 4%.
an #ebook #introduction to #OCaml.
300 meters of 0.3mm, 30kg Dyneema #UHMWPE braided fishing line costs AR$139 now (US$9). That works out to a bit over 4 GPa and about US$400 per liter. Most likely this is a fraud, since WP says UHMWPE’s tensile strength tops out at 2.4GPa.
#Random-forests may be #powerful-primitives for #machine-learning.
why are 8 bits enough for deep #neural-nets?
SMT-LIB is a library of problems and theories for SMT solvers (#SAT modulo theories).
#Bret-Victor’s #constraint #graphics program Substroke, based on #programming-by-example.
#Bret-Victor’s in-depth technical description of his dynamic visualizations system.
#pdf #paper on #convolution-surfaces in #3D #graphics, made computationally tractable by the choice of an especially well-behaved convolution kernel.
Chebfun is a #Matlab/#Octave library for computations on continuous functions as if they were vectors, originally by way of approximations using Chebyshev polynomials. This example does interpolation with splines. #math
there’s a Wiki about prepaid data SIMs for travelers, which is pretty awesome, and it warned me away from using Tuenti here in Argentina, which is even more awesome!
interesting, a representation for rational numbers with simple and efficient #algorithms, including for division.
running R on #AWS, including integration with Elastic MapReduce and #GPGPU.
A 2010 explanation of the "finger tree" data structure and the #algorithms on it, with Edward Kmett in the comments.
Darius was thinking about how to make very simple #virtual-machines and ended up with this thing that simulates a giant glob of NAND gates.
The manufacturer of #Dyneema brand #UHMWPE lists tensile strengths from 2.2GPa (for SK25) up to 3.3–3.9 GPa (for SK78 and SK75), and tensile moduli in the range of 52 to 132 GPa, with a consistent 3–4% elongation at break. Density is .97 to .98 g/cc. #materials
a presentation of a compiler that emits code along with its proof in #Agda, which I guess is a sort of proof assistant? With live Agda code in a page. #formal-methods #compilers
“The “bicameral mind” 30 years on: a critical reappraisal of Julian Jaynes’ hypothesis” #psychology “the Iliad does not seem to mention any subjective thoughts or the contents of anyone’s mind. The heroes of the Iliad were not able to make decisions, no one was introspecting or even reminiscing. Apparently, they were noble “automata” who were not aware of what they did. Iliadic man did not have subjectivity as we do; he had no internal mind-space to introspect upon.”
holy shit, being randomly assigned to taper off #antipsychotics early instead of continuing on them more than doubles your chances of functional recovery at 7 years, from 18% chance of recovery to 40% chance, in one experiment (Wunderlink et al. 2013) #psychology #psychiatry #drugs
Chris Van Wyk’s IDEAL programming language for #constraint #graphics.