pid0x17

In the name of The Large Language Model, The Harness and The Tokens!

Amen

It feels like UI design froze somewhere in the mid-2010s. There are some changes here and there, but it all looks similar and very bland.

I don't know if this is accurate, but I blame Windows 8 and, especially, Windows 10 for popularizing this extremely bland and boring design.

AIMAN to the rescue!!

I never heard of Daemon and Freedom, they sound very interesting. Thanks a lot for the bringing that up.

Interesting how much of our current timeline the show Person of Interest predicted.

We need to better educate non-technical users about making multiple local backups of things like password managers, TOTP seeds, etc.

Yes, even writing the most important ones on a piece of paper and keeping it somewhere safe (like a safe in your house) is an option, as long as you have a low threat model, of course.

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware And Software by Charles Petzold.

I read it in my second year of studying computer-science during the summer break, and it completely changed how I view computing.

First of all, the contents alone are quite valuable, even though it is an old book, as it basically walks you through building a simple relay computer on paper, with a CPU, RAM, simplified input devices, teaches you Intel 8080 assembly as an example of assembly programming, and then even goes over a simplified BIOS, OS, GPU and higher-level languages at the end, and it does not assume you have any previous knowledge; it starts from the basic physics behind electricity, then goes into boolean algebra, logic gates, etc. It's basically computer-architecture for the layman.

Beyond the content of the book, I think the biggest mark it left on me is that it taught me that there is no magic behind the layers of abstraction, and that breaking problems and concepts down into simpler ones can make what initially seems like a very complex topic into something that someone can easily follow and understand.

After I read the book, a lot of things I had already learnt at university felt like they made more sense, and I then took courses like Computer Architecture and Digital Circuit Design, where I felt a lot more confident than I probably would have, had I not read that book. It definitely colored how I viewed a lot of the courses I took at university after having read it.

In my career as a software developer, I still often think about that book, and I love to learn things by re-inventing the wheel and building simpler versions of complex existing software.

Go to the local smaller CCC conferences, where you can pay with things like GNU Taler or cryptocurrency, and the entry is often free anyway, with a donation being appreciated or buying event merch being a nice alternative to simply donating.

I think the hacker spirit is definitely alive & kicking in those smaller CCC events.

I was also wondering what they meant, tbh, but I have never been to DefCon, so I don't know.

One ex-colleague from my previous employer was there, though, and he absolutely loved it.

This year will be the first time I go to Interfug. I found it while browsing the CCC event calendar 2 weeks ago. I have no idea what to expect, especially because the program preview currently up only lists a few talks (but it clearly says it is still not the full program).

Still, even if there aren't many talks, I like the spirit of these conferences and very interesting conversations you get to have with very interesting people who go there.

Plus, it's only a 90 min train ride away from Dresden, so if I don't like it, I will just go home.

Thank you very much for the effort you put into your advice!! I think I will start with WebGPU (wgpu), even though I have an Apple Silicon Macbook. I would really prefer to work with Rust instead of C++ because I am not good with C++. (I believe) I am good with C, so my C++ code looks like C code, and I am kinda learning the differences as I learn CUDA, which is a terrible way to learn C++, I guess.