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Code is run more than read

olano.dev

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Re: Code is run more than read

#231

Post by [deleted] »

azangru wrote: post #206
C0mm0nS3ns3 wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But should it? How would it work if it wouldn't? He explains what he means by that. If you spend time and resources on all things the users require and your run out of money and go out of business, everybody loses. Of course you can take any of the "rules" and take them to an extreme where they become wrong. But I think if you don't push them to their breaking point they are good rules of thumb :)

> How would it work if it wouldn't? He explains what he means by that. If you spend time and resources on all things the users require and your run out of money and go out of business, everybody loses. I think there is also a bit of a conflation of values vs ability. The formulas in the article represent values. Real life adds constraints based on what's possible. Consider his formula for dev vs user: "user > dev". Y…

[deleted]

Re: Code is run more than read

#232

Post by vasco »

YoshiRulz wrote: post #219
vasco wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we ditch the business part what's your recommendation to pay rent?

I happen to believe in subsidised/affordable housing (I assume a UBI is what cybrox meant by not paying rent; also cracking down on housing-as-investments[1] sounds good to me, a layman, though apparently it wouldn't be enough[2] in our case, supply just needs to increase)—but I'm sure that other, less drastic societal changes would also be sufficient. For example, medium to large businesses could fund any open-sourc…

I thought you'd have something practical in mind like specific industries or working for non-profits or something that would work today, not some theories of how the world could work. I can't go tell my landlord he should believe in subsidised housing like you do unfortunately.

Re: Code is run more than read

#234

Post by [deleted] »

rexpop wrote: post #31
codebolt wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their working domain. If you're a developer in financial services, learn finance. If you're a developer in oil exploration, learn seismology. Don't constrict yourself to only being a programmer who writes whatever code you're told to. Be a holistic problem solver.

What's in it for me?

[deleted]

Re: Code is run more than read

#236

Post by 4death4 »

t43562 wrote: post #147

Some users are not using a system because they like it but because their company bought it. In those situations biz > user by definition and the developers end up having to cater to the needs of the middle managment of their customers rather than the needs of the actual users. The price of not doing this is failing to win the contract. Users then get locked in to whatever crap you have time to provide for them while…

I wouldn’t say you have to cater to middle management instead of the end user. You just can if you want to. Of course you need to consider what middle management needs, since they’re paying you, but there is usually room for craftsmanship to bring a truly great UX to the end user. Most software engineers are lazy and lack a true sense of craft, so they usually skip building a great UX when it’s not a requirement.

Re: Code is run more than read

#237

Post by [deleted] »

s-phi-nl wrote: post #184
red_trumpet wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The example z_1 ≹ z_2 for complex numbers z_1, z_2 is weird. Imo it would be clearer to state |z_1| = |z_2|, that is both complex numbers have the same absolute value. > To conclude, the ≹ symbol plays a crucial role in providing a middle ground between the traditional relational operators. As a PhD student in math, I have never seen it before. I do not believe that it plays any crucial role.

It sounds like the symbol "≹" just means "incomparable", which is a well-known concept in math. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparability This symbol for it may be useful, but it's the concept that matters.

[deleted]

Re: Code is run more than read

#238

Post by charles_f »

bee_rider wrote: post #221

Businesses don’t really exist, they are an imaginary construct that we’ve come up with to help organize resources, ultimately in the interests of working together. Business isn’t more important than anything. There are multiple users, sometimes with competing interests; you can’t be everywhere and everything, so you have to prioritize. Going after more profitable users or users that align with some long-term strategy…

I had the same initial reaction. Seeing something written that can be amounted to $ > person looks wrong.

Yet, importance is subjective. If you're working on your own pet code for your own pleasure, business has no importance. If you want to transform that into your main revenue source, business is the most important thing, because no amount of user love will transform into practical revenue if your software serves no-one.

Re: Code is run more than read

#239

Post by thaumasiotes »

mr_mitm wrote: post #182
nly wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can the sum of a bunch of positive powers powers of 2 be a negative number? Isn't the sum of any infinite series of positive numbers infinity?

In an introductory course to String Theory they tried to tell me that 1+2+3+4+... = -1/12. There is some weird appeal to the Zeta function which implies this result and apparently even has some use in String Theory, but I cannot say I was ever convinced. I then dropped the class. (Not the only thing that I couldn't wrap my head around, though.)

The result isn't owed to the zeta function. For example, Ramanujan derived it by relating the series to the product of two infinite polynomials, (1 - x + x² - x³ + ...) × (1 - x + x² - x³ + ...). (Ok, it's the square of one infinite polynomial.)

Do that multiplication and you'll find the result is (1 - 2x + 3x² - 4x⁴ + ...). So the sum of the sequence of coefficients {1, -2, 3, -4, ...} is taken to be the square of the sum of the sequence {1, -1, 1, -1, ...} (because the polynomial associated with the first sequence is the square of the polynomial associated with the second sequence), and the sum of the all-positive sequence {1, 2, 3, 4, ...} is calculated by a simpler algebraic relationship to the half-negative sequence {1, -2, 3, -4, ...}.

The zeta function is just a piece of evidence that the derivation of the value is correct in a sense - at the point where the zeta function would be defined by the infinite sum 1 + 2 + 3 + ..., to the extent that it is possible to assign a value to the zeta function at that point, the value must be -1/12.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcKRGpMiVTw is a youtube video (Mathologer) which goes over this material fairly carefully.

Re: Code is run more than read

#240

Post by cousin_it »

YoshiRulz wrote: post #18

> There’s a lot of software being produced that just doesn’t care about its users [... caused by] a mismatch between what we thought doing a good job was and what a significant part of the industry considers profitable [... so] perhaps we should take a stronger ethical stand not to harm users. Or, we could ditch the "biz" part. It just so happens that software not written to serve business interests tends to also res…

I think it might be enough to tax all electronic ads per viewer-second. It's what directly or indirectly drives most mistreatment of users. Such a tax could be pretty popular too.
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