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Re: undefined

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would have put the number at 75% rather than a fraction of a percent. What do all these people do, these "developers" that never have to use bitstrings in python, deal with encodings, endianness, interface with hardware, etc.? Are they all UI people?

> use bitstrings in python, deal with encodings, endianness, interface with hardware is nowhere even remotely close to > parse an archaic binary format The goalposts are on the other side of the field.

In my experience, most files in userspace are in an archaic binary format. And most hardware talks archaic binary.

Re: undefined

#142
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When was that? 2 years ago I was interviewing with Facebook and when I didn't get picked up for a position they offered to put me in for another one to interview a couple weeks later (I opted out, it was clear from the interviews and discussions WFH was considered temporary and I didn't want to switch jobs just to have to quit later since I had no intention of moving to a high cost of living area).

That probably speaks more to the fact that they are lax with the rule for a reasonably well qualified candidates who they actually may want to hire. The rule in the first place is probably targeted at the bulk of lower quality candidates to avoid them constantly reapplying

I was definitely low quality so that could be true.

Re: undefined

#143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> use bitstrings in python, deal with encodings, endianness, interface with hardware is nowhere even remotely close to > parse an archaic binary format The goalposts are on the other side of the field.

In my experience, most files in userspace are in an archaic binary format. And most hardware talks archaic binary.

Most developers interacting with files are going to be doing it through a higher level API, so while sure, technically they're stored like that, it's not like that's what the developer actually has to deal with.

And most developers don't interact with hardware day to day, no. That's an exceptionally small set of people.

Re: undefined

#144
"The snippet `` is an instruction to the web browser that the document is written in HTML5. This is important because it tells the browser how to interpret the code and display the content correctly."

So.. what happens when the DOCTYPE tag isn't there?

"Answer: Without the DOCTYPE tag, the browser won't know which version of HTML to use to display the page. This could cause the page to look different than it was intended."

Well.. yeah that's _sort of_ what happens, but I wouldn't call that teaching. I (and students for that matter) can infer this from context. I know that my intro course to web development specifically used the DOCTYPE tag as a segue to talk about different HTML versions, the HTML standardization process and specifically, that the browser enters quirks mode when it's not present.

Right now it feels like the AI is more on the level of a university student that's slightly ahead of you in the material.

Re: undefined

#145
post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> nonexistent "problem solving related to binary" Are you joking? Without understanding binary, you can't understand: - Numeric types, which numbers can be represented exactly, their failure modes, etc. - Bit-field flags, e.g. for enums - IP address masks and other bitmasks - Anything at all about modern cryptography - Anything at all about data compression - The various ways color is represented in images - Any cust…

The average web CRUD developer never needs to touch any of this stuff. - Numeric types? Who cares? I know min, I know max. I take number from user and insert it in database. For calculations with money, I use integer cents. - Bit-fields? I work in Java, what are bitfields? - IP addresses? I am web dev loper, not network engineer. I don't need to deal with netmasks. - Cryptography? Me no understand. Me use Let's Encry…

Look, it's fine if you want to be hobbyist making some personal website that doesn't store PII or take user submissions. But we're talking about career software developers here. If you want to make a career out of it, this attitude is not only harmful to your career, but dangerous to your company. Besides: do you really not want to actually be good at what you do?

Re: undefined

#146
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We do, but it's taught as trivia. Applications and various "tricks" are what matter for binary in CS, and they don't teach that. We're taught about non-10 bases, but not taught why we should give a shit about them. Same as most of the rest of primary and (especially) secondary school math, really. I doubt 1% of recent high school grads can tell you a single reason why anyone should care about quadratic equations, eve…

> Most of it's just taught is extremely-painful-to-learn trivia. That's weird. When I was in school in the UK (1960..1974) mathematics was illustrated with practical applications. This was especially so as we progressed into more sophisticated physics and chemistry.

You'd get examples sometimes, and (infamously) contrived word problems, but not enough and most of it wasn't at all relatable. Some whole topics were totally lacking in anything but horribly-contrived motivations, including covering bases other than 10. You might get "computers use binary!" which... OK, cool, so what?

But yes, we'd see some applications of usually limited and relatively simple math from e.g. calculus or algebra in other classes, which typically amounted to plugging values into a handful of formulas (which, to be fair to those classes, is what the vast majority of "using math" is in the adult world, aside from basic arithmetic). Not in math class, though, and not at all for many topics.

Re: undefined

#147
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average web CRUD developer never needs to touch any of this stuff. - Numeric types? Who cares? I know min, I know max. I take number from user and insert it in database. For calculations with money, I use integer cents. - Bit-fields? I work in Java, what are bitfields? - IP addresses? I am web dev loper, not network engineer. I don't need to deal with netmasks. - Cryptography? Me no understand. Me use Let's Encry…

Look, it's fine if you want to be hobbyist making some personal website that doesn't store PII or take user submissions. But we're talking about career software developers here. If you want to make a career out of it, this attitude is not only harmful to your career, but dangerous to your company. Besides: do you really not want to actually be good at what you do?

> competent software engineer

Interesting term to conflate with "developer".

You don't have to be a "competent software engineer" to be a developer, and in fact, we were never talking about being a "competent software engineer".

These developers do not get jobs as "competent software engineer"s, do not train to be a "competent software engineer", and do not care about being a "competent software engineer". And yet they make things that work perfectly fine! I'm sorry that you think handling PII or having a career (ooo) has anything to do with being a "competent software engineer".

> But we're talking about career software developers here.

I don't remember the name of this fallacy but it sucks, knock it off.

Re: undefined

#148
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The average web CRUD developer never needs to touch any of this stuff. - Numeric types? Who cares? I know min, I know max. I take number from user and insert it in database. For calculations with money, I use integer cents. - Bit-fields? I work in Java, what are bitfields? - IP addresses? I am web dev loper, not network engineer. I don't need to deal with netmasks. - Cryptography? Me no understand. Me use Let's Encry…

Look, it's fine if you want to be hobbyist making some personal website that doesn't store PII or take user submissions. But we're talking about career software developers here. If you want to make a career out of it, this attitude is not only harmful to your career, but dangerous to your company. Besides: do you really not want to actually be good at what you do?

My attitude is: I learn whatever I need to learn to get things done.

And for a long time, I've just never needed to learn about how many bits were in a byte.

The only time I've ever needed to deal with individual bits in Java was when I was working with flags or parsing binary formats. Both of which are extremely rare when doing generic server dev.

You can even do rudimentary binary reverse engineering without any knowledge of bits. I remember running programs through a disassembler, looking for offending JMPs and then patching them out in a hex editor with 0x90.

Not having knowledge is not a problem as long as you know that you are missing that knowledge.

Re: undefined

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never heard of this rule. If a company has three positions, for which 15 equally excellent candidates are shortlisted, and then three months later another position opens up, one of the remaining 12 will have a shot at it. (Of course, the not-shortlisted ones, not likely.)

Google, Facebook (Meta), and Amazon all had a minimum six month re-apply period when I last interviewed with them.

The FAANG type companies are probably barraged by unskilled wannabes and fakes who want good paying jobs, so they have an explicit rate limiting policy (so they can have automated application systems enforce it?) Don't know about mid-size and small companies.

Re: undefined

#150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean, you definitely Should be doing all that. 2 hours at the gym + suppluments + cutting out processed food + getting at least 150 grams of protein a day + drinking purified water have all contributed significantly to keeping my brain active and capable at 38.

How do you know that you wouldn't have the same capabilities if you didn't do those things?

3 years ago I weighted 210, had persistent fatigue and chronic pain. now I'm 187, and feel better than when I was in my 20's. Its made a difference.
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