TECHNOLOGY
How to Learn Vi / Vim
A coworker was amazed at my use of Vim, especially that I was able to navigate around files so quickly.
Here’s my advice:
read moreGo has eliminated most of my off-by-one errors except 0... I mean 1.
Go’s
read morerangeoperator (for x = range foo) has eliminated the most common trap where I make off-by-one errors. The next largest category of off-by-one errors would be eliminated if there was a way to specify the last item in an array. It would also improve a developer’s ability to convey intent.How do Google Captchas help train neural networks
Q: I heard that the Google Captchas are used to train their neural networks so they can identify things like traffic lights, etc. How does this work since our thought process is in our brain?
read moreBash Env Variable Defaults
In my previous blog post I explained a trick for setting bash env variables when you run a script. In this post I discuss how to write bash scripts that handle such variables properly.
read moreSetting env variables in /bin/bash
If you want to set an env variable in bash for only 1 command, here’s some bad ways to do it:
read moreAll I Do Is Play With Strings
A poem I wrote earlier this year.
read moreWho Builds The H-Bomb? Not I!
- “Who Builds The H-Bomb?”
- Mark Levy, December ‘81
Google Meets and Sneezes
Working at home with dogs
Most of my company works remote, and with C-19 we are now all working remotely.
read moreClayton Christensen has died
Clayton Christensen died on Jan 23, 2020 at the age of 67.
You may know him from his 1997 best selling book, “The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail.”
He was incredibly influential, well beyond the typical author.
read moreDid Google just have their Osborne Moment?
Do you know about The Osborne Effect?
read moreComcast's concern is that they can't fuck you hard enough
Comcast’s #1 concern is that if they can’t fuck you hard enough.
Or, as Vice reported it, Comcast Is Lobbying Against Encryption That Could Prevent it From Learning Your Browsing History.
read moreHow Not to Unit Test
Dave Cheney started a Twitter discussion about when a unit test is not a unit test.
read moreIt's time for Chocolately
Increasingly, vendors understand that the inability to rapidly deploy their products affects the customers’ ability to rapidly purchase their products.
(quoted from Page 152 of The Practice of System and Network Administration, Third Edition)
I believe I first wrote that quote in 1999 when the first edition was still in draft form. That was 20 years ago. I’m embarrassed to say that in the last month I’ve had to remind two different vendors of this fact.
Any vendor that thinks automated installation is a new concept… sigh.
So what does that have to do with Chocolately?
read moreReduce the maximum validity period for TLS/SSL server certificates
Question: What would be the impact on your organization if the CA/Browser Forum approves a ballot reducing the maximum validity period for SSL/TLS server certificates from the current 825 days (27 months) at present to 397 days (13 months), effective for new certificates issued on or after March 1, 2020? (Existing certificates will remain valid for their full term).
read moreWhen you think about Google, what disappoints you the most?
My reply to:
I’m building my “Requiem for a Google” talk this weekend.
— Corey Quinn (@QuinnyPig) August 10, 2019
When you think about Google, what disappoints you the most?My answer was a 17-part megatweet. I’ve collected them here and done a little editing.
read moreThe Ask
When did the word “Ask” become a noun and how do we stop this butchering of language?
read moreDemo Data as Code
Have you been asked to generate data for a demo system? Here’s some advice.
read moreCreating The Demo Disk
Creating a software demo is like creating a TV commercial. You should structure the project that way.
read moreAT&T Fails At Internet
Let’s put this “AT&T could have owned the entire internet” idea to rest. No f—ing way it could have happened.
read moreWhat Should Executives Know About Software?
As “software eats the world” executives need to “understand software”. If you were an executive that was old-school and wanted to “understand software”, what would you teach them?
read moreCryptographic Hashes
Q: How do cryptographic hashes like MD5 and SHA work?
read moreWhy your AI-based monitoring startup will fail
Please don’t call me if you are selling a monitoring project that uses AI to do amazing things.
Since 1991 I have been contacted by sales people from startups that use AI to make their monitoring system awesome.
The first couple times I took their call and set up a demo. I was always disappointed.
Now I just ignore these phone calls and emails.
read moreWhy I Don't Talk To Third Party Recruiters
Here are the four most important reasons:
read moreThis Web Site Uses Cookies
Ok, Europe. We get it. You want every website to tell people if they use cookies.
Here’s the problem. ALL WEBSITES USE COOKIES.
Cookies are how websites allow you to “stay logged in” or have a shopping cart, or just about anything that a website does now a days. Yes, cookies can be used to track what you do, but there are plenty of other ways to do it too.
read moreThe Naming of Talks and Papers
I’m reviewing a LOT of talk proposals, draft papers, draft chapters, etc. I’ve noticed that people’s titles tend to rarely be plainspoken descriptions of the topic.
read moredocuSign Wastin' My Time
Hell Is Server Hardware Firmware Upgrades
So, I met with a major hardware vendor today to talk about firmware update processes. They have a few different products for managing firmware. The “best in class” that they offer is… a reminder of why enterprise IT is so f—ed up.
read moreWorst Cut and Paste Error Ever
The worst cut-and-paste error I ever made.
read more
