Writing System Software [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: Writing System Software [video]

#21

Post by llimllib » Thu, Mar 15, 2018, 6:06 PM UTC

antirez wrote: post #10

In case you are interested in providing feedbacks about the next episodes, my current list of potential ideas is: 1. Code snippets: show small self contained functions from random places inside Redis. 2. Redis Sentinel: the first design, the immediate redesign of v2, and how it is internally implemented. 3. The use of goto in Redis. 4. Redis protocol parsing and zero-copying of objects. 5. The odd Redis persistence m…

What's interesting to me about the videos vs. the blog posts (I like both) is that only the video shows me the way you work. I'd love to see a video where you recreate finding a bug, how you worked to go from issue to repro to fix, just to see more of how you work.

Re: Writing System Software [video]

#22

Post by Xeoncross » Thu, Mar 15, 2018, 6:25 PM UTC

falcolas wrote: post #12

Having watched similar series in the past, I would highly recommend some extra effort be put into the presentation - recording videos with no attention to lighting or sound makes it really hard to see and hear what's going on. Specifically for me, it's really hard to understand what's being said over the keyboard and reverb. Some basic lighting (so your face isn't in shadows), a separate directional microphone (even…

I second fixing the audio. If $50-100 USD for a nice setup is too much, then for $7 off amazon you can get a clip-on, lavalier microphone for your shirt that sounds a lot better and plugs right into your computer.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0727Z8TMX

Re: Writing System Software [video]

#23

Post by cbsmith » Thu, Mar 15, 2018, 6:47 PM UTC

Having a hard time getting past the blatant use of vi instead of emacs... ;-)

Re: Writing System Software [video]

#24

Post by davebryand » Thu, Mar 15, 2018, 6:49 PM UTC

It's really fun to see that the people that we consider geniuses are really just smart people spending their lives forming concepts into reality, one function at a time, like the rest of us.

Re: Writing System Software [video]

#25

Post by sneak » Thu, Mar 15, 2018, 6:53 PM UTC

Xeoncross wrote: post #22

falcolas wrote: post #12

Having watched similar series in the past, I would highly recommend some extra effort be put into the presentation - recording videos with no attention to lighting or sound makes it really hard to see and hear what's going on. Specifically for me, it's really hard to understand what's being said over the keyboard and reverb. Some basic lighting (so your face isn't in shadows), a separate directional microphone (even…

I second fixing the audio. If $50-100 USD for a nice setup is too much, then for $7 off amazon you can get a clip-on, lavalier microphone for your shirt that sounds a lot better and plugs right into your computer. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0727Z8TMX

Or just pair a bluetooth headset and use that instead of the mic that is physically attached to the keyboard.

Re: Writing System Software [video]

#26

Post by drdrey » Thu, Mar 15, 2018, 7:11 PM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #7

ejlangev wrote: post #2

Excited to check out this series and glad that Antirez took the time to make it. Would be cool to see more people make this kind of thing in the same mold of this and the DHH series from the last few weeks. Very interesting to hear something like a person's inner monologue while they're writing and reading code.

I've been trying similar-style videos on advanced data analysis/visualization since such screencasts are an unexplored area (my most recent video using Stack Overflow data: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OeyTfp7eq8 ) but there are a few snags which make it less accessible for anyone to do: 1. It requires subject preparation to avoid going off on a tangent. (in the case of the video above I cheated and use prewritte…

What recording software do you use?

Re: Writing System Software [video]

#27

Post by minimaxir » Thu, Mar 15, 2018, 7:12 PM UTC

drdrey wrote: post #26

minimaxir wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been trying similar-style videos on advanced data analysis/visualization since such screencasts are an unexplored area (my most recent video using Stack Overflow data: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OeyTfp7eq8 ) but there are a few snags which make it less accessible for anyone to do: 1. It requires subject preparation to avoid going off on a tangent. (in the case of the video above I cheated and use prewritte…

What recording software do you use?

Screenflow (https://www.telestream.net/screenflow/overview.htm), which is the same software used for OP's video.

Re: Writing System Software [video]

#28

Post by edsiper2 » Thu, Mar 15, 2018, 7:21 PM UTC

antirez wrote: post #10

In case you are interested in providing feedbacks about the next episodes, my current list of potential ideas is: 1. Code snippets: show small self contained functions from random places inside Redis. 2. Redis Sentinel: the first design, the immediate redesign of v2, and how it is internally implemented. 3. The use of goto in Redis. 4. Redis protocol parsing and zero-copying of objects. 5. The odd Redis persistence m…

Definitely:

5. The odd Redis persistence model: fork() and fighting the copy-on-write.

Re: Writing System Software [video]

#29

Post by anselmio » Thu, Mar 15, 2018, 7:34 PM UTC

antirez wrote: post #10

In case you are interested in providing feedbacks about the next episodes, my current list of potential ideas is: 1. Code snippets: show small self contained functions from random places inside Redis. 2. Redis Sentinel: the first design, the immediate redesign of v2, and how it is internally implemented. 3. The use of goto in Redis. 4. Redis protocol parsing and zero-copying of objects. 5. The odd Redis persistence m…

> language barriers due to the speaker accent (in my case) and the listener ability to understand English without subtitles.

It's usually easier for a non-native English speaker (at least below ILR[1] Level 3 or CEFR[2] Level B) to understand English spoken by another non-native, because the pace is slower, idioms and expressions are not used so regularly, etc. Your accent is much easier for non-natives than a strong Irish accent, for example. So I wouldn't worry about that too much.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILR_scale [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_R...

Re: Writing System Software [video]

#30

Post by hathawsh » Thu, Mar 15, 2018, 8:05 PM UTC

davebryand wrote: post #24

It's really fun to see that the people that we consider geniuses are really just smart people spending their lives forming concepts into reality, one function at a time, like the rest of us.

OTOH, smart people often build systems with excessive complexity, leading to maintenance problems. Genius is found in making complex things comprehensible and simple.