351–360 of 478 posts
Management, when alerted, made it right, but I think the point of my story is that this is perhaps more common than anyone realizes.
Reminds me of when Apple started providing "smaller size updates" to OS X. I was curious about the details since my doctorate had touched on the topic, so I worked my contacts (I had a few in Apple engineering from the FreeBSD / OS X relationship) and after a few months I got back as answer: "We're using a tool called bsdiff, are you familiar with it?" I was indeed, since I was the author of said tool. (Just to be cl…
While I'm not the author of anything, I did on one occasion share Russ Cox' articles on regexes with a fellow developer, only for that developer to reply "that guy is making a mountain out of a molehill, just use re2" .
Reportedly, this was also a major factor in Google's strategy shift to open-source a lot of their infrastructure (GRPC, Bazel, TensorFlow, LevelDB, etc.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. Making copies internally is also copyright infringement... Performing it to Brendan might also have been (but not sure on that one).
> Yes. Making copies internally is also copyright infringement... No, GPL FAQ specifically addresses internal distribution: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#InternalDistributi... > Is making and using multiple copies within one organization or company “distribution”? > No, in that case the organization is just making the copies for itself. As a consequence, a company or other organization can develop a modif…
Which couldn't be more irrelevant, because
a) This software doesn't appear to be licensed under the GPL.
b) The question here is not whether or not it's distribution, it's if it's copyright infringement. Making copies of copyrighted material is illegal (up to fair use and licenses) regardless of whether or not you distribute them.
c) The GPL also requires you maintain the license header when you are making copies (GPLv2 term 1, "You may copy [...] the Program's source code as you receive it [...] provided that you [...] keep intact all the notices that refer to this License [...]" (other terms and conditions do apply, hence the ...'s).
d) The license (and the law, and court rulings) is the source material, not GNU's not legally binding faq.
I had a similar, smaller scale of that happen, in a sort of reverse direction a few years ago. My director dropped a resume on my desk for someone coming from a company I had worked at ten years prior, thinking I might have met them (it was a small organization). I didn't recognize the name, but skimmed through the resume quickly, and their primary claim on their work history was something I invented just six months…
Having conducted technical interviews at FAANG companies for over 10 years, I've gotten to the point where I never believe anything anyone claims on their resumes unless I can independently verify them. I also make it a point to ask probing questions about where they got the idea of "inventing" what they did and what alternatives to "making a brand new thing" they considered at the time. However one of my favorite qu…
OH YES.
I've done a lot of things for both work and side, and this is the one thing I can go on and on.
Things that are a choice of the lesser evil, things that are unfortunate, things that we just don't have time for.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That one reply in that flame war is still hilarious so many years later. To anyone who didn't get the reference of Putnam https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079
wow, that’s one helluva response. HN in 2007 seems like a wonderful place
It’s part of why I find it so sad that the moderation here is abhorrent; strongly emphasizing social cohesion amongst a specific group over much more valuable principles.
I had a vaguely similar experience. I was working on virtual reality race car simulators that used sophisticated custom designed and built motion platforms. I had several responsibilities, the first was the software that controlled the motion platform. When it was done, and I proceeded to the sound effects system, my boss turned over my motion platform code to his good friend who he had brought on to the project with…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having conducted technical interviews at FAANG companies for over 10 years, I've gotten to the point where I never believe anything anyone claims on their resumes unless I can independently verify them. I also make it a point to ask probing questions about where they got the idea of "inventing" what they did and what alternatives to "making a brand new thing" they considered at the time. However one of my favorite qu…
Your favourite question has some cultural gaps as in many countries in interview settings people downplay weaknesses and flaws. It’s why a lot of weakness questions are often ineffective. Unless you are acutely aware of when a person is doing this BECAUSE it’s an interview you’re going to get some answers that might lead you to reject good candidates.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Implementing software updates where you don't want to ship entire binaries again (and only the diff) would be one. In some video games the assets are also packed into massive binaries, so you don't want to ship gigabytes of data because you replaced one icon. Sadly many games do this anyway nowadays.
There are other solutions to this problem that the game industry uses. Binary diff patching is slow, incremental, involves large diffs and has the possibility of corruption. It was used back in the mid 90's (RTPatch was the big name), but really isn't used anymore because of the drawbacks. Games frequently use an override directory or file. The patch contains only the files that have changed and is loaded after the m…
Another reason is that certain operating systems originating in the state of Washington have performance problems when you access small files or directories containing many files.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Having conducted technical interviews at FAANG companies for over 10 years, I've gotten to the point where I never believe anything anyone claims on their resumes unless I can independently verify them. I also make it a point to ask probing questions about where they got the idea of "inventing" what they did and what alternatives to "making a brand new thing" they considered at the time. However one of my favorite qu…
Your favourite question has some cultural gaps as in many countries in interview settings people downplay weaknesses and flaws. It’s why a lot of weakness questions are often ineffective. Unless you are acutely aware of when a person is doing this BECAUSE it’s an interview you’re going to get some answers that might lead you to reject good candidates.
"Leaders listen attentively, speak candidly, and treat others respectfully. They are vocally self-critical, even when doing so is awkward or embarrassing. Leaders do not believe their or their team’s body odor smells of perfume. They benchmark themselves and their teams against the best." [1]