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I quit my job to focus on SerenityOS full time

awesomekling.github.io

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Re: I quit my job to focus on SerenityOS full time

#171

Post by e12e »

dpbriggs wrote: post #119

I highly recommend checking out his YouTube channel [0]. He's an _incredibly_ thoughtful person and provides good lessons in staying focused and keeping scope down. I consider him a mentor and his approach to software is something I really resonate with. He has a keen focus on software quality but understands he can't make everything perfect in one sitting. This approach helped me get away from decision paralysis in…

Nice tip, I started with something short - writing a screenshot utility:

https://youtu.be/3BF-vUts3ws

Ed: i really enjoyed the video, but I feel it could have been even better (and shorter) if he used a proper debugger for the second part. But I don't know if that is available in the os.

The more I use a debugger, the more I realize I should use a debugger, and the earlier I should use a debugger.

Advice/directions to start early with a debugger might be the best part of Zed Shaws "Learn C the hard way". Eg:

https://github.com/zedshaw/learn-c-the-hard-way-lectures/blo...

(not a full featured chapter, but note that this is fairly early - exercise 4).

On a related note, it appears Shaw doesn't use the/any debugger at all in the ruby book, which is frankly quite crazy - ruby has great debuggers and repl. But that's a digression.

For a blog post that illustrate how one might do "debug driven" (or "debug first) development, see: https://nikhilism.com/post/2021/experiencing-smalltalk/

(Smalltalk and lisp does this very well - you can't AFAIK quite go that far with c++, but it's what all systems should aspire to, as a baseline (70s debug experience) ).

Re: I quit my job to focus on SerenityOS full time

#175

Post by NaturalPhallacy »

ficklepickle wrote: post #147

As someone who also traded drugs for programming, I find this incredibly inspiring. Programming has become my purpose and the thing that brings me joy. Unfortunately, they way I have to program at work really sucks the joy out of it. I would gladly take a pay cut to be able to work on things and in a manner that bring me joy again.

I feel this.

I haven't written something for fun since high school. 22 years ago. But I've been a professional programmer ever since.

Re: I quit my job to focus on SerenityOS full time

#176

Post by squarefoot »

xyproto wrote: post #157
squarefoot wrote: post #151

The more I see those small graphical OSes like this one, Kolibri, etc. the more I wish they were ported (or better conceived from the beginning) to be run on ARM systems. Those small cheap boards with video output would find the best possible companion when bare metal programming is too hard and a full fledged Linux distro would be overkill. Give me a compiler, then libraries for gpio and hardware, GUI, low level net…

There's always Arch Linux ARM, FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and RiscOS. They all run on a Raspberry Pi 4. What are you looking for that those aren't covering?

Some among the cheaper boards are much less capable than the RPi4; 256 or 512 MB RAM can indeed run a tiny Linux desktop, but for some uses it would struggle for lack of resources. A single user system with no layers of code devoted to security (which would be pointless in non connected devices) would probably be a lot faster on constricted hardware. The goal of such a system shouldn't be to replace BSD or Linux, which do what they do extremely well, but to offer a smaller tinier system for those contexts when the basic functionalities of an OS are needed without the inevitable bloat that comes with security and support for beefier hardware and/or more complex software. "It couldn't run LibreOffice? Who cares! If I wanted to use it for that I'd use Linux instead."

I mean, If I want to build say a fully autonomous portable software defined radio that boots in a handful of seconds straight to its GUI on a very small board, I'd have a hard time doing that with a full Linux distro, no matter how optimized it is, since it still is a full UNIX-like OS with all the bells and whistles that would make it runnable on a supercomputer. I think that those small OSes could potentially fill a gap between smaller things such as no OS at all or smaller ones such as FreeRTOS and complete Linux systems, but to really appreciate them they should also run on hardware such as ARM, RISC-V, etc.

Re: I quit my job to focus on SerenityOS full time

#178

Post by airhead969 »

steveklabnik wrote: post #126
airhead969 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OMG. That reminds me of the Xen dude, of a potential hire at a startup who demanded "make it a big number" salary, and countless people who know some about one domain assuming their ex-food doesn't emanate odor. Also, there's the sociological fallacy of assuming the biggest jerk must be the most talented, when it may well be a façade to impress people. There are some talented jerks, but all the talent in the world do…

<3

He lives! And hasn't yet been struck by any outdoor natural fireworks or rapid, falling condensation in ATX. :D

Re: I quit my job to focus on SerenityOS full time

#179

Post by tokumei »

e12e wrote: post #171
dpbriggs wrote: post #119

I highly recommend checking out his YouTube channel [0]. He's an _incredibly_ thoughtful person and provides good lessons in staying focused and keeping scope down. I consider him a mentor and his approach to software is something I really resonate with. He has a keen focus on software quality but understands he can't make everything perfect in one sitting. This approach helped me get away from decision paralysis in…

Nice tip, I started with something short - writing a screenshot utility: https://youtu.be/3BF-vUts3ws Ed: i really enjoyed the video, but I feel it could have been even better (and shorter) if he used a proper debugger for the second part. But I don't know if that is available in the os. The more I use a debugger, the more I realize I should use a debugger, and the earlier I should use a debugger. Advice/directions t…

Andreas doesn’t prefer using debuggers. He’s actually touched on the subject a few times in his videos.

Re: I quit my job to focus on SerenityOS full time

#180

Post by blihp »

devit wrote: post #98

I'm surprised that either anyone actually uses such an OS (beyond toying with it), or that there are enough people willing to pay without using the OS. What's the explanation for this?

Probably not much practical use, but that's not really the point. Some may learn from it, some will draw inspiration from it, some just want to support the author and some probably just think the world is a better place with projects like this in it. Think of it as the technical version of supporting the arts.
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