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John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

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Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#251
post #247
post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a very consumer-oriented statement. OpenBSD powers a significant amount of internet infrastructure.

Any example? I know FreeBSD is behind majority of Internet "bandwidth". Never heard much on the usage of OpenBSD.

FogBugz / Manuscript is a relatively high-profile example: https://serverfault.com/a/33503

It's really not that uncommon, in certain areas.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#252
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He wrote awhile back about why he chose OpenBSD to get more familiar with Unix during a coding retreat. tl;dr: the offline documentation and quality of the source code were major draws for him working with slow/no internet. https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2110408722...

I guess that is why I missed it. I deleted my Facebook. I dont understand why anyone make long post on Facebook and Linkedin instead of the good old blog post. But thanks for the link.

Considering at the time he was working for Oculus which is owned by Facebook it sort of makes sense.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#253

Next time I got flak for gratuitous refactors, I'll point to this. From John to John, thanks.

Take care to observe how John Carmack went about it, though. He described the issue from his perspective, gave a clear example, didn't blame anyone, and asked before making any changes at all. Someone replied suggesting that the refactoring be performed separately from other changes. It's hard to give flak to someone taking a measured approach like this.

Indeed, it's not license to go for forgiveness rather than permission.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are writings floating around from Carmack that he was playing around with the OS X prototypes back when it was called Rhapsody in the late 90s. I also thought I read somewhere that Carmack persuaded Apple to bet big on OpenGL for OS X. (Ironic now that it's deprecated.)

Doesn't seem like a _bad_ bet considering it lasted 20 years and like 14 versions, though...

If it were up to me they wouldn't deprecate it, so I wouldn't call it a bad bet either.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#255
post #208
post #52

Also he's had a look at the Imperial COVID19 model that has attracted so much bile in the last week: https://twitter.com/id_aa_carmack/status/1254872368763277313... I share his opinion on the code (though not his expertise!)

> I can’t vouch for the actual algorithms, but the software engineering seems fine. I also looked at the code a bit, and it seemed like typical bad natural sciences / electrical engineering grad student code that could have as easily been done the same way in matlab or python (or, as Carmak suggested, fortran). I guess I’m in good company in thinking it was ok-ish, so now I’ll ask. Why are people so upset with this c…

I think that there are two pathologies. The first is that alot of programmers have very specific and utterly unshakable views on what constitutes good or acceptable code. These are rooted in their experiences, but often have no foundation in terms of evidence or science (because there is very little good research on this).

The second issue is politics; there are a lot of people who hate the idea that data science or science can provide inputs to policy decisions (in business and government). I see modern political groups as :

- traditionalists : protecting what they have, policy aimed at preserving status quo

- capitalists : untrammeled use of capital power to maximize capital return

- idealists : interested in a higher causes/morality (as they see it) and unconcerned about other impacts or concerns

- technocrats : concerned about taking the highest utility actions (measuring utility in various often unconnected ways).

Capitalists have held the whip hand for 50 years, idealists (trade unionists, safety campaigners, ect) have been in full on retreat, traditionalists have managed to align with capitalists (by co-opting them with nice things like country estates). Technocrats have swayed in and out of influence; the crisis of 2009 really smashed up peoples faith in economists for example, the first gulf war really brought logistics and management science to the fore... but the war on terror has smashed this up now.

Data scientists are mostly technocrats but often are compromised/partially capitalists (because... money). In every case that I have seen where capitalists are thwarted by data science they react with fury - because at the moment they are very unused to being thwarted.

Recently though idealists have been grabbing more of the mic, and have a large contingent of data scientists of their own - ie. university scientists. This is why climate change modellers are so hated!

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#256
post #187

John Carmack streaming his programming sessions would make me happier than almost anything else programming related.

Who knows, maybe he is @ https://www.twitch.tv/programming

That can't be him. Carmack doesn't have a ponytail (anymore).

I do enjoy Jonathan Blow's live streams http://twitch.tv/naysayer88

It would be amazing if lots of great programmers started streaming at least some of their work.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#257
post #232
post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried many source contributions to OPENBSD when I was in school, but only one was accepted—-to fix a “house purchase overflow bug” in the command-line monopoly game from the BSD games collection, lol :) I stopped hacking on it some years ago, but always contribute $$ when I’m well employed (currently not, sigh) I’ve yet to work at a $JOB with anyone else who wishes to use OpenBSD, even in the places it is most appr…

> my most recent employer had someone under qualified as the devops lead so we had to use pfSense, an endless source of frustration of issues that couldn’t be addressed, but that I knew exactly how to address with OpenBSD [...] I, for one, think your employer and the “DevOps lead” were advocating for using the wrong technology. pfSense software is many things, to many people, but if it’s not written for a DevOps envi…

It was for managing multi-site WAN, P2P radio, satellite, VPN links and VPN endpoints for employees. I can’t help that IT Infrastructure departments are erroneously adopting the term “devops” for themselves :(

Anyway best wishes Jim, shucks I ordered the first and second gen PcEngines and Winston CM11a radios from netgate.com long ago, and many since, thank you for running a proper store!

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is OpenBSD considered to be an alternative OS?

Yes. Even in the smaller BSD world it's an "alternative OS" compared to FreeBSD or NetBSD.

I think I’d swap “NetBSD” and “OpenBSD” in you public consciousness hierarchy.

I’m a (very happy) NetBSD user of nearly 20 years. It’s excellent; I stick with it for reasons. Even I, though, (with humour) think generally that OpenBSD has general audience attention for Theo, h4x0ring, and bomb proof security, while NetBSD is there in case you inherit a VAX. ;)

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But those things apply to Linux distributions too, e.g., Debian.

Having experienced both operating systems, Debian gets nowhere close. The Debian wiki is full of outdated articles. OpenBSD's manual pages and online FAQ combined have never failed to answer a question I've had about the base system. It's really that good. The ArchWiki is close behind in usefulness, but that's maintained by its community and article quality varies.

The Arch wiki is great. Reminds me of the old Gentoo wiki from way back when Gentoo was the new hotness. I'm not even an Arch user but documentation as to how things like Window Managers work is fantastic.

Re: John Carmack is reading and contributing to OpenBSD source code

#260
post #178

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OpenBSD doesn't need their code cleaned-up. Theo is the Liam Gallagher of development mangers.

"He's the angriest man you'll ever meet. He's like a man with a fork in a world of soup." (Noel Gallagher, about his brother) I found the quote relevant ("a man with a fork")

This is accurate. You may end up getting stabbed with that fork however...
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