Wait until you hear about Common Lisp’s string formatter.
Want to share some details?
The FORMAT directive is Turing-complete. The full spec is here:
https://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Body/22_c....
You Only Use 10% of Printf() – Here Are Things They Didn't Teach You [video]
11–20 of 27 posts
Re: You Only Use 10% of Printf() – Here Are Things They Didn't Teach You [video]
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it's interesting then it's not spam. And why should you care if AI was utilized or not if you found it interesting? Dave (from that video) is an experienced engineer after all. The worst part of GenAI seems not to be AI slop (I can easily close the tab if the content isn't interesting). It's the fact that every...single...submission (!!!) on HN now has someone questioning and dissecting the content to dismiss it a…
> If it's interesting then it's not spam Disagree. Just like those spam 'articles' that may at their core be interesting or have some value - but force you to click past 4 ads and scroll over/filter out another 17 just to extract the promised value - noticing that content you're consuming is obviously AI generated results in two things: 1. resentment that your time and attention was wasted by machine generated word-p…
> Just like those spam 'articles' that may at their core be interesting or have some value - but force you to click past 4 ads and scroll over/filter out another 17 just to extract the promised value
That's a different problem entirely and predates the recent GenAI craze.
> a loss of confidence in the accuracy of the information presented
Then it isn't interesting any longer ;)
---
You're missing my general point though. People like yourself moaning about AI is far less interesting and useful. If you don't like the content, then flag it. If you do, then don't flood the comments with analysis about whether-or-not this was AI.
All of these meta-comments about AI are as worthless to the discussions should be classed with the same disrespect as the meta-comments about website stylesheets:
> Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—e.g. article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting.
Re: You Only Use 10% of Printf() – Here Are Things They Didn't Teach You [video]
#13[flagged]
[flagged]
Re: You Only Use 10% of Printf() – Here Are Things They Didn't Teach You [video]
#14Re: You Only Use 10% of Printf() – Here Are Things They Didn't Teach You [video]
#15Re: You Only Use 10% of Printf() – Here Are Things They Didn't Teach You [video]
#16[flagged]
[flagged]
Dave (the guy in that video) is an older timer Microsoft engineer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Plummer
He definitely isn't an idiot who depends on AI to look smart.
Re: You Only Use 10% of Printf() – Here Are Things They Didn't Teach You [video]
#17Insightful video, never thought that such complexity was hiding there. In a hindsight, it makes total sense.
Re: You Only Use 10% of Printf() – Here Are Things They Didn't Teach You [video]
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If it's interesting then it's not spam Disagree. Just like those spam 'articles' that may at their core be interesting or have some value - but force you to click past 4 ads and scroll over/filter out another 17 just to extract the promised value - noticing that content you're consuming is obviously AI generated results in two things: 1. resentment that your time and attention was wasted by machine generated word-p…
> Just like those spam 'articles' that may at their core be interesting or have some value - but force you to click past 4 ads and scroll over/filter out another 17 just to extract the promised value That's a different problem entirely and predates the recent GenAI craze. > a loss of confidence in the accuracy of the information presented Then it isn't interesting any longer ;) --- You're missing my general point tho…
> You're missing my general point though. People like yourself moaning about AI is far less interesting and useful. If you don't like the content, then flag it. If you do, then don't flood the comments with analysis about whether-or-not this was AI.
As opposed to flooding it with comments about how anti-AI comments are bad?
Re: You Only Use 10% of Printf() – Here Are Things They Didn't Teach You [video]
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Just like those spam 'articles' that may at their core be interesting or have some value - but force you to click past 4 ads and scroll over/filter out another 17 just to extract the promised value That's a different problem entirely and predates the recent GenAI craze. > a loss of confidence in the accuracy of the information presented Then it isn't interesting any longer ;) --- You're missing my general point tho…
> You're missing my general point though. People like yourself moaning about AI is far less interesting and useful. If you don't like the content, then flag it. If you do, then don't flood the comments with analysis about whether-or-not this was AI. As opposed to flooding it with comments about how anti-AI comments are bad?
I'm not flooding HN with such comments though. I replied to one criticism and then experienced a backlash for it.
I get the hate for GenAI is high. Many of you are scared for your jobs and AI has caused a seismic shift in society. But that doesn't justify lashing out at me because I simply said "Dave isn't a n00b" and "if you don't like AI content then flag it".
My comment was reasonable. However accusing a veteran Microsoft engineer for being an "idiot" (as some had in this submission) because his script loosely mimicked some AI-isms, is not reasonable. And it's disappointing that so many people are defending that behavior.