Some Reasons to Measure • Hacker News Board

Re: Some Reasons to Measure

#11

Post by IAmEveryone » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 8:31 AM UTC

Karrot_Kream wrote: post #5

amadeuspagel wrote: post #2

Measuring is undervalued, particularly vs writing, because it doesn't show off creativity.

Most folks don't naturally like to measure things. Most people view the world through their own personal lens and they categorize phenomena through their experiences. It makes it hard to "sell" the idea of measurement, since most people only see the things they're predisposed to see.

You should really measure that.

Because, as it is, it just sounds like “advertisement doesn’t work on me, because I’m better than normal people”.

Re: Some Reasons to Measure

#12

Post by vincnetas » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 8:31 AM UTC

shele wrote: post #8

Talking about measuring time I would put a date on the blog post

If you go to homepage, all entries are with date, its just that date is not displayed in article itself.

https://danluu.com/

Re: Some Reasons to Measure

#13

Post by zinekeller » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 8:41 AM UTC

dang wrote: post #9

shele wrote: post #8

Talking about measuring time I would put a date on the blog post

Dan doesn't do that, but from https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://danluu.com/why-benchma... I gather that it's recent.

Dan does put dates... with month-level granularity and only in the home page: https://danluu.com/

Re: Some Reasons to Measure

#14

Post by scns » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 10:20 AM UTC

IAmEveryone wrote: post #11

Karrot_Kream wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most folks don't naturally like to measure things. Most people view the world through their own personal lens and they categorize phenomena through their experiences. It makes it hard to "sell" the idea of measurement, since most people only see the things they're predisposed to see.

You should really measure that. Because, as it is, it just sounds like “advertisement doesn’t work on me, because I’m better than normal people”.

If i read parent charitably i find things i can agree too, would phrase them differently thought.

> Most folks don't naturally like to measure things.

Heuristics save a lot of energy in contrast to critical thought.

> Most people view the world through their own personal lens and they categorize phenomena through their experiences.

Our perception is often coloured/distorted by our beliefs, which then lets information through that agrees with our presuppositions.

> It makes it hard to "sell" the idea of measurement, since most people only see the things they're predisposed to see.

I often experienced people reacting annoyed when i cited studies, could have been my tone, could have been me/them wanting to win/be right.

Re: Some Reasons to Measure

#15

Post by k__ » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 11:13 AM UTC

"When the reporter doesn't have a repro for the bug, which is quite common when it comes to distributed systems, the bug will be written off as non-existent"

This.

If this is your modus operandi, then please think twice.

For me, as the person with the problem, this just sounds like "I don't want to be bothered with this right now".

Most maintainers don't see this as a possibility to improve their project, but as trouble for their brilliant idea. Grow up!

Re: Some Reasons to Measure

#16

Post by Karrot_Kream » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 8:16 PM UTC

IAmEveryone wrote: post #11

Karrot_Kream wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most folks don't naturally like to measure things. Most people view the world through their own personal lens and they categorize phenomena through their experiences. It makes it hard to "sell" the idea of measurement, since most people only see the things they're predisposed to see.

You should really measure that. Because, as it is, it just sounds like “advertisement doesn’t work on me, because I’m better than normal people”.

I think my tone came across as more elitist than I meant. I certainly suffer from all of these issues! I enjoy working with data and ML so I'm aware of and try to actively combat them in myself but I'd be lying if I were to say I haven't succumbed to these problems myself in the past and don't continue to do so.

Re: Some Reasons to Measure

#17

Post by dang » Sat, Aug 28, 2021, 8:23 PM UTC

zinekeller wrote: post #13

dang wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dan doesn't do that, but from https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://danluu.com/why-benchma... I gather that it's recent.

Dan does put dates... with month-level granularity and only in the home page: https://danluu.com/

I had no idea! Thanks!

Re: Some Reasons to Measure

#18

Post by hinkley » Sun, Aug 29, 2021, 4:32 PM UTC

k__ wrote: post #15

"When the reporter doesn't have a repro for the bug, which is quite common when it comes to distributed systems, the bug will be written off as non-existent" This. If this is your modus operandi, then please think twice. For me, as the person with the problem, this just sounds like "I don't want to be bothered with this right now". Most maintainers don't see this as a possibility to improve their project, but as trou…

I think you have to swim upstream in this, which is to say resist the urge to write systems with complex emergent behavior in the first place. They’re thrilling to write, but even you will get tired of your bullshit at some point and lose interest (often before you figure out why you don’t like working on the code).

I am watching a coworker begin to discover this right now. He’s one of the last standing of a cohort of overconfident loudmouths. It’s been... interesting. No self-awareness so far yet though.