Weekend Reading — Put � in random text fields

Mark A. Rayner “Here's to making that right turn!”

Tech Stuff

halcy​ 🤦

I'm going to the .DS_Store you need anything?

New GitHub Copilot Research Finds 'Downward Pressure on Code Quality For your consideration:

We further find that the percentage of 'added code' and 'copy/pasted code' is increasing in proportion to 'updated,' 'deleted,' and 'moved 'code. In this regard, AI-generated code resembles an itinerant contributor, prone to violate the DRY-ness [don't repeat yourself] of the repos visited."

Brian Marick 💪

Something that I’ve said before but haven’t repeated recently: when evaluating whether TDD is right for you, you should program when you’re drunk or have the flu.

People evaluate techniques like TDD at their leisure, when they’re not under mental strain or performance pressure (or sick, or drunk), then extrapolate to their normal work environment. I argue that experiencing and then extrapolating from the worst cases is risk-sensible.¹

New client-side hooks coming to React 19 use(Promise), use(Context), useFormState, useFormStatus, useOptimistic, and async transitions.

Jerry Bell

Make sure the ops team feels needed - don’t forget to push your code to production on your way out the door for the weekend.

It feels like React is getting a bit of a kicking recently The backlash when a framework becomes popular and commonly used:

It feels like React is getting a bit of a kicking recently, which I’m not 100% against, but I can’t stress enough how ingrained React is. It’s what happens when a framework or library is the hot topic for over a decade!

xssfox

Put � in random text fields so that developers are always wondering if they screwed up parsing somewhere.

Bouncy Ball 22 ways to animate a bouncing ball in the browser. Most of these are JavaScript and the post shows the code.

aeva

say what you want about C but "void star" is a great name for a type that is as powerful as it is dangerous

My favourite Git commit Because good comments matter, and this comment explains the reason for the change, is searchable, makes everyone a little smarter, and tells a good story!

Andrew

IEEE floating point numbers are named after the noise mathematicians make when you explain how they work

Scott Hanselman “My next random side project. Building a PDP-11 from a kit. Because you can’t understand the cloud unless you’ve built a working mini computer for your shelf 😂”

Eye for Design

ASCII Theater Fantastic! Stream free text-based movies in your terminal.

Stef Walter Today I learned:

Using Font Variant Numeric: there are so many options with the font-variant-numeric CSS property that allows us to control alternate glyphs for numbers, fractions, and ordinal markers.
I really like the diagonal-fractions, it brings me joy. Don’t ask me why, I don’t know, friends don’t judge each other's typography joy.
Tutorial: https://textlab.dev/posts/font-variant-numeric

Amie Todos + email + calendar, all in one convenient app. I’ve not used this app, so I can’t give a recommendation, but the design of this website is just 🧑‍🍳 😘 … and if that’s any indication of the app itself …

Tech Tangents More machines need a button labeled "DON'T CARE”

Peoples

lenazun

a note about jobs: you should apply to EVERYTHING you want and let the hiring manager decide if you’re not the right fit for it. give them a chance to make that decision, don't make it yourself in advance. I promise many people apply with far fewer qualifications.

Business Side

Behind the Curtain: A new, powerful political movement The techno-optimists:

They have a fairly common ideology: unfettered free speech, pro-artificial intelligence, anti-mainstream media, and deep skepticism of DEI, political correctness and elite consensus.

It's not clear how many votes they can move. But tens of millions of Americans — especially white men outside of big cities — listen to, read or follow them.

The Fastest Growing Software Sectors in 2024

Security companies as a group average 29% expected revenue growth in 2024, compared to 23% for Data (or DaaS which stands for data-as-a-service). Fintech & SaaS (horizontal) average ten percentage points fewer expected growth.
Anticipation of this growth propels multiples. Security & data top the charts at on average 10x enterprise-value-to-forward-revenue, compared to 5x for the others.

Machine Intelligence

The Cult of AI “How one writer's trip to the annual tech conference CES left him with a sinking feeling about the future.”

Everything Else

Memes for my comrades

Joan Westenberg

The biggest lie of the 21st century: ‘I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions.’

EeveeEuphoria “i think i've solved it this is the perfect power outlet”

AaronDavid Every time:

Nothing refreshes my memory of what I need at the grocery store, more than coming home from the grocery store.

Ged Maheux “In retrospect, this is where things all started to go to crap.’

batkaren

Your “best by” date isn’t nearly as helpful as a “still ok by” date would be.

Smudge The Insult Cat

Link between anxious attachment and materialistic values revealed in new psychology study Mansions, Harley motorcycles, expensive suits, huge trucks, they all serve a purpose:

New research finds that individuals with anxious attachment styles are more prone to engage in status-signaling consumption, driven by materialistic values. This behavior contrasts with secure and avoidant attachment styles, offering insights into psychological influences on consumer habits.

Axios

The responses to Elmo's check-in post underscore a growing mental health crisis across the U.S. and a national spike in anxiety and depression, with young people driving a rise in mental health spending in recent years.

Deniz Opal

Follow your dreams, don't let anyone tell you you can't. A stubborn disrespect for the limits of your ability is the key to success. Look at this guy for example. He has co-starred in Blockbuster after Blockbuster since the 1970s he only has one facial expression, and he is so potty mouthed every single line has to be beeped out in post.

Dr. Lucky Tran “Hmmm. It’s like GenZ has spent their formative years living through a historic pandemic that is causing mass death and disability.”

How MLMs are poisoning the media A new paper unpacks the ripple effect:

Less than 1% of sellers actually make money from this work," Roberts tells Axios, "so when they make false claims they're exposing themselves to a lot of liability for no payoff.

Koen van Gilst Sometimes simple is beautiful.