Programming On 34 Keys (2022)
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One of the nicest things about Go is the language itself, comparing Go to other popular languages in terms of the complexity to learn to be proficient in:

• Go: 25 keywords (Stack Overflow); CSP-style concurrency (goroutines & channels)
  
• Python 2: 30 keywords (TutorialsPoint); GIL-bound threads & multiprocessing (Wikipedia)
  
• Python 3: 35 keywords (Initial Commit); GIL-bound threads, asyncio & multiprocessing (Wikipedia, DEV Community)
  
• Java: 50 keywords (Stack Overflow); threads + java.util.concurrent (Wikipedia)
  
• C++: 82 keywords (Stack Overflow); std::thread, atomics & futures (en.cppreference.com)
  
• JavaScript: 38 keywords (Stack Overflow); single-threaded event loop & async/await, Web Workers (Wikipedia)
  
• Ruby: 42 keywords (Stack Overflow); GIL-bound threads (MRI), fibers & processes (Wikipedia)
  

Trump’s cultural overhaul throttles local arts, humanities programs nationwide
Piper Hudspeth Blackburn and Sunlen Serfaty,  Reporters  -  CNN

_Stephan: Aspiring dictator Trump, like his father before him, has always been a White supremacist racist. He and his father were both penalized decades ago for using racism in the renting of the apartments they owned. Trump and his MAGAt followers don’t want children to be taught the true history of America … ⌘ Read more

On my blog: Firefox’s Tabs https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/05/21/firefox-tabs.html #programming #techtips

Finding hard 24 puzzles with planner programming
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On my blog: Developer Diary, Malcolm X Day https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/05/19/malcolm-x.html #programming #project #devjournal

10 Most Devastating Computer Viruses
Long before computers made their way into workplaces and homes everywhere, people theorized about a destructive kind of program that could replicate itself and spread between networked machines. In the 1980s and early 1990s, those programs became popularly known as “computer viruses.” You’ve probably had one at some point. All it takes is one wrong […]

The post [10 Most Devastating Computer Viruses](https://listverse.com/2025/05/19/10-most-devastating-comput … ⌘ Read more

@kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz I only listened to you while going through my photos, so I did not pay very close attention. :-)

Since you have a proper server – haha, not just one – and hence are not limited, I suggest you learn a real programming language and don’t waste your time with this PHP mess. It might have improved a wee bit since I was a kid, but it felt like some hacked together shit. The defaults also were questionable at best, it was easier to hold it wrong than right. This stands testament to bad design and is especially terrible from a security point of view.

You’re right, programming is like any other craft. You only truly learn by actually doing it. And this just takes time. Very long time to master it. Or as close to as it gets. The more you know, the more you realize what else you don’t know (yet). It’s a never ending process. So, take it easy, don’t get discouraged, happy hacking and enjoy the endeavor! :-)

Every programming language has its ‘killer’ domain
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Comparing Parallel Functional Array Languages: Programming and Performance
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New Life Hack: Using LLMs to Generate Constraint Solver Programs for Personal Logistics Tasks
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What Problems are Truly Technical, not Social?
Most “tech” problems (and solutions) seem social, with e.g. most newer startups relying on internal connections to gain real world adoption, otherwise blocked due to institutional apathy and bad regulations (sms 2fa, hospital faxes…)

A recent (unlocated) poll asked a similar question: “what percent of workers in the software industry are employed writing programs that should not exist?” While we do have NP-hard problems, politically hard problems like avoi … ⌘ Read more

Flawed Federal Programs Maroon Rural Americans in Telehealth Blackouts
arah Jane Tribble and Holly K. Hacker,    -  Med Page Today | Kaiser Family Foundation

_Stephan: I live on a rural island, and depend on telehealth sessions with doctors, because if telehealth ends, as the Republicans are trying to do, a 15-minute call would become a daylong trip to the mainland.  Sadly, even worse plans to extend internet access have not proceeded under Trump and th … ⌘ Read more

Using AI to build a tactical shooter
This video demonstrates a nice mental model of how to structure AI assisted programming for building prototypes (planning stage and implementation stage), how to increase speed by varying the input (audio vs. text), along with different smaller tactics to improve the process.

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On my blog: Firefox’s Local Storage https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/05/14/firefox-local-storage.html #programming #techtips

I have zero mental energy for programming at the moment. 🫤

I’ll try to implement the new hashing stuff in jenny before the “deadline”. But I don’t think you’ll see any texudus development from me in the near future. ☹️

A programming language made for me
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@kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz @prologic@twtxt.net Given that all these programs are super old (tar is from the late 1970ies), while trying to retain backwards-compatibilty, I’m not surprised that the UI isn’t too great. 🤔

find has quite a few pitfalls, that is very true. At work, we don’t even use it anymore in more complex scenarios but write Python scripts instead. find can be fast and efficient, but fewer and fewer people lack the knowledge to use it … The same goes for Shell scripting in general, actually.

On my blog: Developer Diary, International Nurses Day https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/05/12/nurses.html #programming #project #devjournal

Hidden HackerOne & Bugcrowd Programs: How to Get Private Invites

Image

“Private programs are where the real gold lies… but no one tells you how to get there. Let me break it down for you — with secrets most…

[Continue reading on In … ⌘ Read more

louise: Polynomial-time Meta-Interpretive Learning for logic programming
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** Dad shrapnel **
In a flash I think I“get” liveliness in relation to programming. It’s talked so much about in the context of programming systems and languages — as being something they do or do not intrinsically have or support…but what if it’s actually about the process of doing the thing, and not inherent to the thing you do it with. A noun-gerund kinda dichotomy.

Left with dad shrapnel, 5 minutes here, 20 there, 120 on the horizon, with which to poke at projects what if the key to collaboration is liveliness? Sporadic, low … ⌘ Read more

** Collaboration is a scary word **
I like programming partially because it’s a practice I can, with appropriate to unhealthy application of effort, usually accomplish something at least proximal to my intention.

This isn’t true for visual art, nor music. Lately I’ve been feeling like the little games and toys I wanna make are sorta hampered by my total inability to make stuff I find aesthetically appealing…so…I’ve been thinking about collaboration. Which is a scary word because, you know, other people and all, but I figured I’d … ⌘ Read more

[$] LWN.net Weekly Edition for May 8, 2025
Inside this week’s LWN.net Weekly Edition:

• Front: Debian and essential packages; Custom BPF OOM killers; Speculation barriers for BPF programs; More LSFMM+BPF 2025 coverage.

• Briefs: Deepin on openSUSE; AUTOSEL; Mission Center 1.0.0; OASIS ODF; Redis license; USENIX ATC; Quotes; …

• Announcements: Newsletters, conferences, security updates, patches, and more. ⌘ Read more

[$] Hash table memory usage and a BPF interpreter bug
Anton Protopopov led a short discussion at the 2025 Linux Storage, Filesystem,
Memory-Management, and BPF Summit about amount of memory used
by hash tables in BPF programs. He thinks that the current memory layout is
inefficient, and wants to split the structure that holds table entries into two
variants for different kinds of maps. When that proposal proved
uncontroversial, he also took the chance to talk about a bug in BPF’s call
instruction. ⌘ Read more

Release Candidate of iOS 18.5, MacOS Sequoia 15.5, iPadOS 18.5 Available, Public Release Coming Soon
A release candidate build for iOS 18.5, iPadOS 18.5, and MacOS Sequoia 15.5 is now available for users enrolled in the beta testing programs. For users not in the beta testing programs, what this basically means is that the final versions of these system software releases is coming soon, perhaps even next week. macOS Sequoia … [Read More … ⌘ Read more

Interviewing Software Developers: From Junior to Architect in a Single Programming Task
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[$] Injecting speculation barriers into BPF programs
The disclosure of the Spectre\
class of hardware vulnerabilities created a lot of pain for kernel
developers (and many others). That pain was especially acutely felt in the
BPF community. While an attacker might have to painfully search the kernel
code base for exploitable code, an attacker using BPF can simply write and
load their own speculation gadgets, which is a much more efficient way of
operating. The BPF comm … ⌘ Read more

On my blog: Developer Diary, Day of the Midwife https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/05/05/midwives.html #programming #project #devjournal

@andros@twtxt.andros.dev Programming is art. You become good at art by practising your art. You learn artistic patterns by being inspired by and reading others art works. The most importance however is that you practise your art.

Nobody want to be a shitty programmer. The question is: Do you do anything not to not be one?
Reading blogs or social media and watching YouTube videos is fun. After them, your code may be a little better, of course. But you need a lot. You need to study! Read good books and study the code of other programmers, for example. Maybe work with a new language, architectures and paradigms. You need break the routine.

If you know Object-oriented programming, you learn functional programming.
If you know Model-View-Controller, you learn Model-View-ViewModel.
If you don’t know anything about architectures, you learn Clean Architecture, Hexagonal Architecture, etc.
If you know Python, you learn Ruby or Go.
If you know Clojure or Lisp… you don’t need to learn anything else. You are already a good programmer. Just kidding. You can learn Elixir or Scala.

Be a good programmer my friend.

understanding-j: An introduction to the J programming language that gets to the point
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@bender@twtxt.net Yes, you right. But is premium for more than that.
I use a feature I love a lot: customising different searches with different themes or links.
It’s easy to understand with an example. I have a search with the name “Django”. I set sources: Django documentation, stack overflow, topic “programming” and so on. It’s very quick to find Django solutions.
I also have another way to find my stuff: search my blog and repositories.
I had problems paying for the first mouths, now it’s a working tool for me.

Confession:

I’ve never found microblogging like twtxt or the Fediverse or any other “modern” social media to be truly fulfilling/satisfying.

The reason is that it is focused so much on people. You follow this or that person, everybody spends time making a nice profile page, the posts are all very “ego-centric”. Seriously, it feels like everybody is on an ego-trip all the time (this is much worse on the Fediverse, not so much here on twtxt).

I miss the days of topic-based forums/groups. A Linux forum here, a forum about programming there, another one about a certain game. Stuff like that. That was really great – and it didn’t even suffer from the need to federate.

Sadly, most of these forums are dead now. Especially the nerds spend a lot of time on the Fediverse now and have abandoned forums almost completely.

On Mastodon, you can follow hashtags, which somewhat emulates a topic-based experience. But it’s not that great and the protocol isn’t meant to be used that way (just read the snac2 docs on this issue). And the concept of “likes” has eliminated lots of the actual user interaction. ☹️

Republican posts video defending law that declared slaves ‘three-fifths’ of a person
Sarah K. Burris,  Senior Editor  -  Raw Story

_Stephan: I think it is very important to recognize that Donny “2 doll”, as Lawrence O’Donnell called him on his program tonight, when Trump said basically that American children have too many toys, is just the leader of a racist fascist coup, but far from the only person perpetrating this destruction of the feder … ⌘ Read more

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org Oh, no, this is vastly exaggerated. Neil deGrass Tyson says, the earth is smoother than a cue ball (billiard): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMP5dNsZ-6k That would make for a very dull OpenGL program, though. 😂

Programming languages should have a tree traversal primitive
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@movq@www.uninformativ.de Agreed, finding the right motivation can be tricky. You sometimes have to torture yourself in order to later then realize, yeah, that was actually totally worth it. It’s often hard.

I think if you find a project or goal in general that these kids want to achieve, that is the best and maybe only choice with a good chance of positive outcome. I don’t know, like building a price scraper, a weather station or whatever. Yeah, these are already too advanced if they never programmed, but you get the idea. If they have something they want to build for themselves for their private life, that can be a great motivator I’ve experienced. Or you could assign ‘em the task to build their own twtxt client if they don’t have any own suitable ideas. :-)

Showing them that you do a lot of your daily work in the shell can maybe also help to get them interested in text-based boring stuff. Or at least break the ice. Lead by example. The more I think about it, the more I believe this to be very important. That’s how I still learn and improve from my favorite workmate today in general. Which I’m very thankful of.

Remembered a fun little “hello world” program I made in 2018:

https://movq.de/v/a1c4a819e6/vid.mp4

(It runs smoothly. My computer just isn’t fast enough for a smooth X11 screengrab at that resolution.)

We’re all old farts. When we started, there weren’t a lot of options. But today? I’d be completely overwhelmed, I think.

Hence, I’d recommend to start programming with a console program. As for the language, not sure. But Python is probably a good choice

That’s what I usually do (when we have young people at work who never really programmed before), but it doesn’t really “hit” them. They’ve seen so much, crazy graphics, web pages, it’s all fancy. Just some text output is utterly boring these days. ☹️ And that’s my problem: I have no idea how I could possibly spark some interest in things like pointers or something “low-level” like that. And I truly believe that you need to understand things like pointers in order to program, in general.

4th Beta of iOS 18.5, MacOS Sequoia 15.5, iPadOS 18.5 Available for Testing
Apple has issued the fourth beta version of iOS 18.5, macOS Sequoia 15.5, and iPadOS 18.5, for users participating in the beta testing programs for apple system software. There are also new betas available for watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS, if those are applicable to you. No significant new features or changes are expected in any … [Read More](https://osxdaily.com/2025/04/28/4th-beta-of- … ⌘ Read more

@xuu@txt.sour.is Hahaha, that’s cool! You were (and still are) way ahead of me. :-)

We started with a simple traffic light phase and then added pedestrian crossing buttons. But only painting it on the canvas. In our computer room there was an actual traffic light on the wall and at the very end of the school year our IT basics teacher then modified the program to actually control the physical traffic light. That was very impressive and completely out of reach for me at the time. That teacher pulled the first lever for me ending up where I am now.

[$] Inline socket-local storage for BPF
Martin Lau gave a talk in the BPF track of the 2025 Linux Storage, Filesystem,
Memory-Management, and BPF Summit about a performance problem
plaguing the networking subsystem, and some potential ways to fix it. He works on
BPF programs that need to store socket-local data; amid other improvements to
the networking and BPF subsystems, retrieving that data has become a noticeable
bottleneck for his use case. His proposed fix prompted a good deal of discussion
about how the data should be laid out … ⌘ Read more

On my blog: Developer Diary, Workers’ Memorial Day https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/04/28/workers-memorial.html #programming #project #devjournal

@movq@www.uninformativ.de I started with Delphi in school, the book (that we never ever used even once and I also never looked at) taught Pascal. The UI part felt easy at first but prevented me from understanding fundamental stuff like procedures or functions or even begin and end blocks for ifs or loops. For example I always thought that I needed to have a button somewhere, even if hidden. That gave me a handler procedure where I could put code and somehow call it. Two or three years later, a new mate from the parallel class finally told me that this wasn’t necessary and how to do thing better.

You know all too well that back in the day there was not a whole lot of information out there. And the bits that did exist were well hidden. At least from me. Eventually discovering planet-quellcodes.de (I don’t remember if that was the original forum or if that got split off from some other board) via my best schoolmate was like finding the Amber Room. Yeah, reading the ITG book would have been a very good idea for sure. :-)

In hindsight, a console program without the UI overhead might have been better. At least for the very start. Much less things to worry about or get lost.

Hence, I’d recommend to start programming with a console program. As for the language, not sure. But Python is probably a good choice, it doesn’t require a lot of surrounding boilerplate like, say Java or Go. It also does exceptionally well in the principle of least surprise.

I should probably clarify: Which language/platform? Something graphical or web-based right from the beginning or do you start with a console program?

How to Program a Text Adventure in C
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To the parents or teachers: How do you teach kids to program these days? 🤔

Avoid continue
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[$] Code signing for BPF programs
The Linux kernel can be configured so that
kernel modules must be signed or
otherwise authenticated to be loaded
into the kernel. Some BPF developers want that to be an option for BPF programs
as well — after all, if those are going to run as part of the kernel,
they should be subject to the same code-signing requirements. Blaise Boscaccy
and Cong Wang presented two different visions for how BPF code signing could
work at the 2025 Linux Storage, Filesystem, Memory … ⌘ Read more

‘Deep red rural America’ hurts most as Trump attacks on liberal programs backfire: report
Jennifer Bowers Bahney,  Contributing Writer  -  Raw Story

_Stephan: Just as I, and many others have predicted, MAGAt world is going to experience the worst effects of the Trump coup and dismantlement of the economy and government. And in many ways, MAGAt voters didn’t even think about that when they voted. Here is an example of what I mean. I think … ⌘ Read more

Beta 3 of iOS 18.5, MacOS Sequoia 15.5, iPadOS 18.5 Released for Testers
In what must be the most exciting thing to happen on a Monday since the prior Monday, Apple has released the third beta version of iOS 18.5, MacOS Sequoia 15.5, and iPadOS 18.5. These new thrilling third beta versions are available to the developer wizards participating in the beta testing programs of Apple system software, … [Read More](https://osxdaily.com/2025/04/21/beta-3-of-ios-18-5-mac … ⌘ Read more

On my blog: Developer Diary, Grounation Day https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/04/21/grounation.html #programming #project #devjournal

White House proposes eliminating Head Start funding as part of sweeping budget cuts
JOCELYN GECKER,  Reporter  -  Associated Press

_Stephan: Since its inception in 1965, the Head Start program has served nearly 40 million children and their families. If you have a preschool child, are they benefiting from a Head Start program? Well, Dictator Trump doesn’t give a damn about the wellbeing of little children, and he is working hard to eliminate … ⌘ Read more

[$] Taking BPF programs beyond one-million instructions
The BPF verifier is not magic; it cannot solve the
halting problem. Therefore,
it has to err on the side of assuming that a program will run too long if it
cannot prove that the program will not.
The ultimate check on the size of a BPF program is the
one-million-instruction limit — the verifier will refuse to process more than
one-million instructions, no matter what a BPF program does. Alexei Starovoitov gave
a talk at the 2025 L … ⌘ Read more

CISA extends funding to the CVE program (BleepingComputer)
Sergiu Gatlan reports
that the US government has extended funding for the Common
Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) program, following yesterday’s reports that funding
would run out as of April 16.

“The CVE Program is invaluable to cyber community and a priority of
CISA,” the U.S. cybersecurity agency told BleepingCompu … ⌘ Read more

MITRE Warns CVE Program Faces Disruption (Security Week)
Security Week is one of several outlets reporting
that the funding for the CVE program at MITRE disappears as of
April 16.

Maintained by MITRE Corporation, a not-for-profit organization that
operates federal R&D centers, the CVE program is funded through
multiple channels, including the U.S. government, industry
partnerships, and international organizations.
… ⌘ Read more

Beta 2 of iOS 18.5, MacOS Sequoia 15.5, iPadOS 18.5 Released for Testers
New betas are available as iOS 18.5 beta 2, MacOS Sequoia 15.5 beta 2, and iPadOS 18.5 beta 2, for users who are participating in the beta testing programs for Apple system software. No notable new features or major changes are expected in these beta versions, at least thus far, suggesting they’re likely focused on … [Read More](https://osxdaily.com/2025/04/14/beta-2-of-ios-18-5-macos-sequoi … ⌘ Read more

[$] In search of a stable BPF verifier
BPF is, famously, not part of the kernel’s promises of user-space stability. New
kernels can and do break existing BPF programs; the BPF developers try to
fix unintentional regressions as they happen, but the whole thing can be something of a bumpy
ride for users trying to deploy BPF programs across multiple kernel versions.
Shung-Hsi Yu and Daniel Xu had two different approaches to fixing the problem
that they presented at the 2025 Linux Storage, Filesystem,
Memory-Management, and BPF Summit. ⌘ Read more

On my blog: Developer Diary, Pohela Boishakh https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/04/14/pohela-boishakh.html #programming #project #devjournal

[$] Inlining kfuncs into BPF programs
Eduard Zingerman presented a daring proposal that “makes sense if you think
about it a bit” at the 2025 Linux Storage, Filesystem,
Memory-Management, and BPF Summit. He wants to inline
performance-sensitive kernel functions
into the BPF programs that call them. His
prototype does not yet address all of the design problems inherent in that idea,
but it did spark a lengthy discussion about the feasibility of his proposal. ⌘ Read more

Red Hat DEI Activists Encourage “Killing Fascists”, “Raising Hell”
Following Red Hat & IBM taking the axe to DEl programs and Diversity Quotas, Leftists Extremists within the Linux giant are throwing a temper tantrum. ⌘ Read more

Erlang Solutions: Elixir for Business: 5 Ways It Transforms Your Processes
Elixir is a lightweight, high-performance programming language built on the Erlang virtual machine. It’s known for its simple syntax and efficient use of digital resources. But how does this translate to business benefits?

Elixir is already powering companies like Discord and Pinterest. It helps businesses reduce costs, improve process efficiency, and speed up time to market.

Here are five reasons why Elixi … ⌘ Read more

[$] A new type of spinlock for the BPF subsystem
The 6.15 merge window saw the inclusion of a new type of lock for BPF programs:
a resilient queued spinlock that Kumar Kartikeya Dwivedi has been working on
for some time. Eventually, he hopes to convert all of the spinlocks currently
used in the BPF subsystem to his new lock.
He gave a remote presentation about the design of the lock at the
2025 Linux Storage, Filesystem,
Memory-Management, and BPF summit. ⌘ Read more

FreeDOS 1.4 released
Version\
1.4 of FreeDOS has been
released. This is the first stable release since 2022, and
includes improvements to the Fdisk hard-disk-management program, and
reliability updates for the mTCP set of TCP/IP applications for
DOS.

This version was much smoother because Jerome Shidel, our
distribution manager, had an idea after FreeDOS 1.3 that we could have
a rolling test release that collected all of the changes that people
mak … ⌘ Read more

Sometimes, we spend months stuck in inertia, distracted by screens and routine. So I’d like to give you a simple reminder: creating-in whatever form-is what makes you feel alive.

The beauty of working on projects is not in their ‘success’, but in the simple act of working on them. Whether it’s writing, cooking, programming or redecorating the house: play with ideas without pressure, engage in an activity to test, fail and discover without judgement.

In the end, what remains is not a perfect product, but the satisfaction of completion and valuable lessons.

Find a project, no matter how small, and let it take you without expectations.

Fifty Years of Open Source Software Supply Chain Security (Queue)
ACM Queue looks at\
the security problem in the light of a report on Multics security that
was published in 1974.

We are all struggling with a massive shift that has happened in the
past 10 or 20 years in the software industry. For decades, software
reuse was only a lofty goal. Now it’s very real. Modern
programming environments such as Go, Node, and Rust have made it
trivial to reuse work by others, but our … ⌘ Read more

On my blog: Developer Diary, 1994 Rwandan Genocide https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/04/07/rwanda.html #programming #project #devjournal

CNCF Launches Golden Kubestronaut Program and Expands Cloud Native Education Initiatives
New elite designation recognizes the highest certification in cloud native  KubeCon + CloudNativeCon Europe, London, UK – April 1, 2025  – The Cloud Native Computing Foundation® (CNCF®), which builds sustainable ecosystems for cloud native software, today… ⌘ Read more

On my blog: Developer Diary, Transgender Day of Visibility https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/03/31/transgender.html #programming #project #devjournal

I’m a long-term mpd user (some 16+ years), but for $reasons I have to compile it myself now – and, boy, that is one heavy program. Takes several minutes to build. 😳

Second Release Candidate of MacOS Sequoia 15.4 Available for Testing
Apple has provided a second Release Candidate build of MacOS Sequoia 15.4 for users enrolled in the beta testing program, arriving just a few days after the first release candidate build of Sequoia 15.4, iOS 18.4, and iPad 18.4 were issued. Release Candidates typically match the final version of software that is released to the … [Read More](https://osxdaily.com/2025/03/27/second-release-candidate … ⌘ Read more

Karmada Launches Adopter Group
Karmada is thrilled to announce the launch of the Adopter Group program. This program aims to create a dynamic platform where adopters can connect, collaborate, and share information efficiently. By fostering an environment of shared experiences… ⌘ Read more

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Yeah, most of the graphical applications are actually KDE programs:

• KMail – e-mail client
  
• Okular – PDF viewer
  
• Gwenview – image viewer
  
• Dolphin – file browser
  
• KWallet – password manager (I want to check out pass one day. The most annoying thing is that when I copy a password, it says that the password has been modified and asks me whether I want to save the changes. I never do, because the password is still the same. I don’t get it.)
  
• KPatience – card game
  
• Kdenlive – video editor
  
• Kleopatra – certificate manager
  

Qt:

• VLC – video player
  
• Psi – Jabber client (I happily used Kopete in the past, but that is not supported anymore or so. I don’t remember.)
  
• sqlitebrowser – SQLite browser
  

Gtk:

• Firefox – web browser
  
• Quod Libet – music player (I should look for a better alternative. Can’t remember why I had to move away from Amarok, was it dead? There was a fork Clementine or so, but I had to drop that for some unknown reason, too.)
  
• Audacity – audio editor
  
• GIMP – image editor
  

These are the things that are open right now or that I could think of. Most other stuff I actually do in the terminal.

In the past™, I used the Python KDE4 bindings. That was really nice. I could pass most stuff directly in the constructor and didn’t have to call gazillions of setters improving the experience significantly. If I ever wanted to do GUI programming again, I’d definitely go that route. There are also great Qt bindings for Python if one wanted to avoid the KDE stuff on top. The vast majority I do for myself, though, is either CLI or maybe TUI. A few web shit things, but no GUIs anymore. :-)

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org

Although, most software I use is decentish in that regard.

Is that because you mostly use Qt programs? 🤔

I wish Qt had a C API. Programming in C++ is pain. 😢

On my blog: Developer Diary, World Tuberculosis Day https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/03/24/tuberculosis.html #programming #project #devjournal

@kat@yarn.girlonthemoon.xyz Pointers can be a bit tricky. I know it took me also quite some time to wrap my head around them. Let my try to explain. It’s a pretty simple, yet very powerful concept with many facets to it.

A pointer is an indirection. At a lower level, when you have some chunk of memory, you can have some actual values sitting in there, ready for direct use. A pointer, on the other hand, points to some other location where to look for the values one’s actually after. Following that pointer is also called dereferencing the pointer.

I can’t come up with a good real-world example, so this poor comparison has to do. It’s a bit like you have a book (the real value that is being pointed to) and an ISBN referencing that book (the pointer). So, instead of sending you all these many pages from that book, I could give you just a small tag containing the ISBN. With that small piece of information, you’re able to locate the book. Probably a copy of that book and that’s where this analogy falls apart.

In contrast to that flawed comparision, it’s actually the other way around. Many different pointers can point to the same value. But there are many books (values) and just one ISBN (pointer).

The pointer’s target might actually be another pointer. You typically then would follow both of them. There are no limits on how long your pointer chains can become.

One important property of pointers is that they can also point into nothingness, signalling a dead end. This is typically called a null pointer. Following such a null pointer calls for big trouble, it typically crashes your program. Hence, you must never follow any null pointer.

Pointers are important for example in linked lists, trees or graphs. Let’s look at a doubly linked list. One entry could be a triple consisting of (actual value, pointer to next entry, pointer to previous entry).

  _______________________
 /               ________\_______________
↓               ↓         |              \
+---+---+---+   +---+---+-|-+   +---+---+-|-+
| 7 | n | x |   | 23| n | p |   | 42| x | p |
+---+-|-+---+   +---+-|-+---+   +---+---+---+
      |         ↑     |         ↑
       \_______/       \_______/

The “x” indicates a null pointer. So, the first element of the doubly linked list with value 7 does not have any reference to a previous element. The same is true for the next element pointer in the last element with value 42.

In the middle element with value 23, both pointers to the next (labeled “n”) and previous (labeled “p”) elements are pointing to the respective elements.

You can also see that the middle element is pointed to by two pointers. By the “next” pointer in the first element and the “previous” pointer in the last element.

That’s it for now. There are heaps ;-) more things to tell about pointers. But it might help you a tiny bit.

@movq@www.uninformativ.de Hahaha, that name is certainly fitting! :-D

Yeah, I should revert that and try to figure out which programs misbehaved. But that’s something for future Lyse. 8-) Right now, I just redefine TERM in my Makefile when the USER happens to be me.

@lyse@lyse.isobeef.org There’s a reason it’s called “(n)curses”. 😏 The only advice I can give is to never fiddle with reassigning control sequences and $TERM variables. Leave $TERM at whatever value the terminal itself sets and use an appropriate terminfo file for it. If there are programs misbehaving, they probably blindly assume XTerm and should be fixed (or have XTerm as a hard requirement). If you try to fix this on your end, it’ll likely just break other programs. 🥴

Well, some time ago I put this in my ~/.Xdefaults:

URxvt.keysym.Control-Up:    \033[1;5A
    URxvt.keysym.Control-Down:  \033[1;5B
URxvt.keysym.Control-Left:  \033[1;5D
    URxvt.keysym.Control-Right: \033[1;5C

Probably to behave more like XTerm and fix a few other issues I had with other programs. But, it turns out, tcell expects the original sequence: https://github.com/gdamore/tcell/blob/main/terminfo/r/rxvt/term.go#L487

Hmm.

Julien Malka proposes method for detecting XZ-like backdoors
Julien Malka has
called for the NixOS project to use build-reproducibility to detect when a program has a maintainer-generated tarball that results in a different artifact than building from source. There are good reasons for projects to release maintainer-generated tarballs, but since the materials included in them are usually documentation, extra build scripts, and so on, it makes sense to check that they don’t … ⌘ Read more

i love everything pico.sh i wish i had more of a use for their services but the paste service is SUPER handy omg i finally had a reason to use it (to send a friend my unfinished failed marvel API bash program lol) and it’s epic. i love SSH i love TUI apps they are the best

On my blog: Developer Diary, Saint Patrick’s Day ☘️ https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/03/17/patrick.html #programming #project #devjournal

Erlang Solutions: Elixir vs Haskell: What’s the Difference?
Elixir and Haskell are two very powerful, very popular programming languages. However, each has its strengths and weaknesses. Whilst they are similar in a few ways, it’s their differences that make them more suitable for certain tasks.

Here’s an Elixir vs Haskell comparison.

Starting at a top-level view of both languages, the first difference we see is … ⌘ Read more

Secretary of State Rubio says purge of USAID programs complete, with 83% of agency’s programs gone
ELLEN KNICKMEYER,   Foreign Policy and National Security Reporter  -  Associated Press

_Stephan: I have always found Marco Rubio loathsome. However, it was not until I have seen his behavior and words as Secretary of State that I have fully comprehended how loathsome he really is. The closing of USAID means that millions of people, … ⌘ Read more

3rd Beta of iOS 18.4, MacOS Sequoia 15.4, iPadOS 18.4, Available for Testing
Apple has released the third beta version of MacOS Sequoia 15.4, iOS 18.4, and iPadOS 18.4, for users who are participating in the beta testing programs for Apple system software. These beta builds are working on a variety of new features and capabilities, including refinements to Apple Intelligence, the controversial and frustrating sorted Mail Categories … [Read More](https://osxdai … ⌘ Read more

CNCF Joins Google Summer of Code 2025 – Calling All Contributors!
We’re thrilled to share that the Cloud Native Computing Foundation has once again been accepted as a Google Summer of Code (GSoC) mentoring organization for 2025! This program is a fantastic opportunity for new contributors—especially students—to… ⌘ Read more

On my blog: Developer Diary, Harriet Tubman Day https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/03/10/tubman.html #programming #project #devjournal

Finding leaked passwords with AI: How we built Copilot secret scanning
Passwords are notoriously difficult to detect with conventional programming approaches. AI can help us find passwords better because it understands context. This blog post will explore the technical challenges we faced with building the feature and the novel and creative ways we solved them.

The post [Finding leaked passwords with AI: How we built Copilot secret scanning](https … ⌘ Read more

Adafruit Metro RP2350 is Available for $24.95 with Arduino Form Factor Compatibility
The Adafruit Metro RP2350 is designed for projects that require Arduino form-factor compatibility, multiple GPIO options, and debugging capabilities. Built around the Raspberry Pi RP2350 microcontroller, this board provides various connectivity features and programming support, making it a flexible choice for embedded development. As its name suggests, the Metro RP2350 feature … ⌘ Read more

Beta 2 of iOS 18.4, MacOS Sequoia 15.4, iPadOS 18.4, Available for Testing
The second beta versions of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and MacOS Sequoia 15.4 are available for users enrolled in the beta testing programs for the Apple operating system suite. The latest beta builds continue to refine Apple Intelligence features, add a new Ambient music feature from Control Center, and for iPadOS and MacOS include the … [Read More](https://osxdaily.com/2025/03/03/beta-2-of- … ⌘ Read more

Beta 2 of iOS 18.4, MacOS Sequoia 15.4, iPadOS 18.4, Available for Testing
The second beta versions of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and MacOS Sequoia 15.4 are available for users enrolled in the beta testing programs for the Apple operating system suite. The latest beta builds continue to refine Apple Intelligence features, add a new Ambient music feature from Control Center, and for iPadOS and MacOS include the … [Read More](https://osxdaily.com/2025/03/03/beta-2-of- … ⌘ Read more

On my blog: Developer Diary, World Wildlife Day https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/03/03/wildlife.html #programming #project #devjournal

Community managers in action: Leading a developer community for good
GitHub’s Digital Public Goods Open Source Community Manager Program just wrapped up a second successful year, helping Community Managers gain experience in using open source for good.

The post Community managers in action: Leading a developer community for good appeared … ⌘ Read more

On my blog: Developer Diary, Kingdom of Ava https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/02/24/ava.html #programming #project #devjournal

Short summary of Project2025 and Trump’s plans for the US:

• Abolish the Federal Reserve
  Why? To end what is seen as an unelected, centralized body that exerts too much influence over the economy and monetary policy, replacing it with a more transparent, market-driven approach.

• Implement a national consumption tax
  Why? To replace the current federal income tax system, simplify taxation, and increase government revenue through a broader base that includes all consumers.

• Lower corporate tax rates
  Why? To promote business growth, increase investment, and stimulate job creation by reducing the financial burden on companies.

• Deregulate environmental policies
  Why? To reduce government intervention in the economy, particularly in energy and natural resources sectors, and to foster a more business-friendly environment.

• Restrict abortion access
  Why? To align with conservative pro-life values and overturn or limit abortion rights, seeking to restrict the practice at a federal level.

• Dismantle LGBTQ+ protections
  Why? To roll back protections viewed as promoting LGBTQ+ rights in areas like employment and education, in line with traditional family values.

• Eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs
  Why? To end policies that are seen as divisive and to promote a merit-based system that prioritizes individual achievements over group identity.

• Enforce stricter immigration policies, including mass deportations and detentions
  Why? To prioritize border security, reduce illegal immigration, and enforce existing laws more aggressively, as part of a broader strategy to safeguard U.S. sovereignty.

• Eliminate the Department of Education
  Why? To reduce federal control over education and shift responsibilities back to local governments and private sectors, arguing that education decisions should be made closer to the community level.

• Restructure the Department of Justice
  Why? To ensure the department aligns more closely with the administration’s priorities, potentially reducing its scope or focus on areas like civil rights in favor of law-and-order policies.

• Appoint political loyalists to key federal positions
  Why? To ensure that government agencies are headed by individuals who are committed to advancing the administration’s policies, and to reduce the influence of career bureaucrats.

• Develop training programs for appointees to execute reforms effectively
  Why? To ensure that political appointees are equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to implement the proposed changes quickly and effectively.

• Provide a 180-day transition plan with immediate executive orders
  Why? To ensure that the incoming administration can swiftly implement its agenda and make major changes early in its term without delay.

Do y’all agree with any/all/some of these poliices? Hmmm 🤔

#Project2025 #US #Trump

Beta 1 of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, MacOS Sequoia 15.4, Available for Beta Testers
Apple has released the first beta version of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and MacOS Sequoia 15.4, for users enrolled in the beta testing programs for Apple system software. The new beta updates look to add some additional features to Apple Intelligence for all eligible devices, add the polarizing Mail Categories feature from iPhone to iPad, … [Read More](https://osxdaily.com/2025/02/2 … ⌘ Read more

Does anybody know a right mouse click save and reduce a screen saver image to a smaller file, say 50KB?
My usual method is slow, place in image program and re-save it smaller.

I used to have a Window’s way to reduce file images from 1MB to 50 KB with right mouse click.

I finally got Ubuntu Software to find Kolourpaint and it installed, now when I run the APP nothing happens.
Dead, zip narda.

Stupid program , what is wrong?

On my blog: Developer Diary, World Eve of Social Justice https://john.colagioia.net/blog/2025/02/17/social-justice.html #programming #project #devjournal