Python item 1

Mutable default arguments don’t get re-initialized with each function call.

got an audible wtf from me… Been using for years, totally unaware.

The “internal business tool” was a well known industry wide product that I had experience in. I should have known that changing an email address in any environment caused that new email address to be notified. It was my fault yes

My first week at a major fund company I was assigned to an internal business tool used by thousands. I noticed all the company email addresses in the sandbox weren’t correct, so I ran a script to correct them. Cue a call from C-level to my boss asking why he got a “email changed notification”. Followed by another… And another… And another…

I went out to lunch

It’s simpler code to re-download the file than retrieve what cached version may or may not exist in memory

This seems incredible

There would already have to be a data layer that serves the main web page renderer. That layer would already have to handle looking in the cache or making an http request in event of a cache miss. It would seem almost trivial for a UI operation like ‘save to disk’ to simply call that layer in the same way

For a few hundred K image file I can understand why some might not bother, but I’ve seen this behaviour where a browser already has an MP4 cached (such that it can replay any part of it without subsequent http traffic) and yet it still makes a new request when saving. It’s weird to be honest…

Have often wondered this myself, would love to know the answer

I simply thought that employees in the software industry were essentially at equal parity in terms of their departments

Oh boy that would be a nightmare.

Don’t get me wrong, I can easily imagine a working environment where everyone is a professional and everyone is making well reasoned responsible decisions with their hardware. Such workplaces exist.

But in reality there are any number of reasons why individual workers shouldn’t have unlimited access to their machines or others in the pipeline. I’ve worked mostly in corporate (financial) software environments, but many of these things apply to all workplaces though many places will be far more relaxed (or disorganised)

A few off the top of my head:

Data loss - irrespective of who anyone is, they shouldn’t be able to plug removable media into a machine and download the production database without being noticed. Likewise, for everyone’s safety, no-one should be able to plug a usb stick they found into a machine connected to the network. Exceptions can be sought, and granted, as part of an audited process. Anecdote: I worked one place where we were due to continue working over the weekend and a business analyst took client data home with them on an unencrypted usb stick.

Verified software - people shouldn’t be able to download and execute whatever they feel like as this offers a huge attack surface. Many companies maintain a list of verified software and install this centrally rather than allowing people (even developers) to download it and install it themselves. Again exceptions can be granted. Anecdote: one place I worked, an member of the infrastructure team had installed bitcoin miners on company servers.

Stability - developers generally do not have access to the production environment, running deployments is the responsibility of a dedicated team, this is because the temptation to meddle when in a pressured situation is too great. Anecdote - at one bank I worked at I made a mistake in a package of changes I’d prepared. The person running deployment came and told me and - because of a particularly time sensitive issue - we went and figured out the issue at the point of production deployment and fixed it manually. This worked but was exceptionally irresponsible. At a different place I worked, early in my career, I made a similar hacky fix and took down the public website of a major UK utility provider for several days

Quality - the software development process has many checks and balances between areas of expertise designed to bring out the best even if it’s more frustrating getting there. Want to change the indexes on the DB? Got to convince the DB admin that it’s the right thing to do, can’t just do it myself. Want to close that ticket that’s way overdue? Can’t unless QA / testing approved else I’m just marking my own work. Want to make changes in the integrated dev environment because that’s far easier that developing against the out of date mocks in my own sandbox? Nope. Want to expose a new endpoint for my services to talk to unilaterally? Nope, need architectural sign off, network security signoff, and the infrastructure team. Anecdote: All of these have been areas where I, a reasonably skilled developer, would have compromised in various points in my career when my back was against the wall and I was under pressure to deliver.

Some corporate environments can be suffocating, other software places can be so lax as to be alarming. In my experience there’s a sensible balance in the middle and the best places to work have been where management is sensitive and reactive to the needs of developers to get the job done in as reasonably a safe way as possible.

You might want to browse through this: https://wiki.osdev.org/Creating_an_Operating_System

Which should also help explain why doing the whole thing in python isn’t feasible

A lot of people misunderstanding you I think.

So you, a regular person, is only attracted to very attractive people, maybe a small number of which you’ve seen in real life and most through media. What to do?

Welcome to the 21st century unfortunately. Your brain was trained on potential mates who were likely accessible, near by, and likely within the realm of being a good pair with you. You were not designed to be exposed to the “best” humanity has to offer on a global scale of billions. You have been spoiled so to speak, your sensitivity is all out of whack.

Solutions? First, don’t lie in a relationship, especially if you already know you’d feel like a fraud. One option is to follow your conscience of not lying and so not entering into intimate relationships at all (because the other almost certainly needs you to appreciate them in that way). Another is to fast from media a while. All of it. You’re in an unnatural situation (biologically speaking) the solution is going to seem extreme but essentially reducing your horizon back to potential relationships of ‘ordinary’ people and nothing beyond. Therapy helps too. Might not work, but you could be surprised.

Are ‘average’ people attracted to their ‘average’ partner. Yes. Attraction works in very different ways in many people. They know celebrities are more ‘attractive’ but the reality and closeness of the person they’re with is what’s more important to them and makes that attraction more ‘real’. Did cavemen find cavewomen attractive? Yes. It was all they’d ever seen. Your brain is on the same hardware version.

It sucks really but, to take an analogy, you’re stuck with your regular food at home with Michelin star chefs serving up masterpieces on TV 24hrs a day. You feel dissatisfied with what your kitchen has to offer. But you can’t afford a fancy restaurant.

Well. Comparison is the thief of joy. Turn the TV off (so to speak). Experiment with some new ingredients to see if you can surprise yourself with what’s on hand.

You should probably also fast from porn for a while (if that’s your thing).

Have you ever been stuck orbiting the earth with a ground crew watching your vitals?

Some examples?

Not money, power. There’ll always be affordable consumables: clothes, food etc. It’s just the quality will go down to accommodate how squeezed the consumer is. But the limited resources: a stay at that resort, a home with space and good schools, the seats at the sports game etc those the prices will continue to race away. Which is just a different view of power (choice/control) shifting into the hands of an increasingly small proportion of people. Those places will still be full - but the chance of getting to them for the average person will grow dimmer with every passing year.

How can someone not value the ingenuity and creativity behind a work of art?

Their point of view is that if people do actually value this then there will always be a market for it.

If they don’t, there won’t.

I suppose a long time ago the radio and gramophone looked like they’d been the end of live performing musicians but they still exist, everything’s just continually changing…

Ok, that’s great. I get what you’re trying to do now.

I think in terms of getting input I can only suggest that deliberately invoking Cunningham’s law is probably going to get you more responses that anything else. You are honest and upfront about the code being unstable but this is unlikely to motivate someone to audit it for you. Simply stating it’s the most secure web chat available for x reasons is more likely to motivate someone to prove you wrong. Even if their motivations are negative you might still find the insight valuable…

urgh .

This is beautiful. If only all tutorials were actually written well.

AP, Reuters, BBC, the Guardian, the Financial Times, the Economist, also Ground News (at risk of sounding like a YT content producer)

Impressive! I assume this must be the part ii of each day?

Meanwhile I spent a lot of time pulling my hair out on day 2 part ii because I read the question wrong…

piece of shit who sexually objectified his own daughter (if not more than that)

Was aware of the rest but not this, what is this referring to?

Depends how you learn. Being mindful of what your goal is helps. C# can be used for console apps, it can also be used to make ASP.Net websites, further afield you can program the Unity games engine with C#. Each of these will have “absolute beginner most basic first steps” type tutorials out there. They’ll all have some similarity as you’ll need to just learn the C# syntax one way out another, but it miles easier doing this if you’re vaguely interested in the types of apps you’re heading towards.

If all else fails, message me, I was there once, about 20 years ago…

I know Jordan Peterson has a lot of followers. He says it’s the women’s fault men are lonely

Peterson has a habit of saying things that might technically be true in isolation but will then disagree with you when you try and make a conclusion from it. In this case he has also said it’s men’s fault for not making women a good enough ‘offer’.