The hottest Programming Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Technology Topics

AI applications are more than an LLM

The AI Frontier • 19 implied HN points • 20 Jun 24
🕹 Technology AI Software Programming Engineering Data
  1. AI applications are more than just using a big model; they need careful design and planning to be effective. It's like building a nice piece of furniture versus just putting some wood together.
  2. Quality comes with a cost, and building great AI solutions takes more time and resources. Cheaper options might save money now, but they often lead to poorer results.
  3. Not all AI applications perform the same, even if they use the same tools. Good performance comes from thoughtful engineering and working with the data properly.

Minds Aren't Programs. Neither Are AIs.

Outlandish Claims • 19 implied HN points • 20 Jun 24
🕹 Technology AI Artificial Intelligence Creativity Programming Machine Learning
  1. Most artificial intelligences were computer programs executed by code, fundamentally different from human minds.
  2. Artificial intelligence 'trainees', like GPT, aren't classified as programs or minds but act as learners mimicking human expertise.
  3. The process of creating AI 'trainees' involves converting inputs/outputs into numbers, forming formulas through trial and error, and testing for accuracy.

GM Shaders: MRT

GM Shaders Mini Tuts • 98 implied HN points • 06 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Graphics Shaders Gaming Programming
  1. By using gl_FragData[0-3], you can output 4 separate fragment colors to up to 4 surfaces with one draw call
  2. Multiple Render Targets have various applications like deferred rendering, unique object IDs, and depth maps in 2D or 3D contexts
  3. Consider limitations with MRTs, like compatibility with platforms, VRAM usage, and controlling fragment outputs independently

OpenAI Vision

Tribal Knowledge • 19 implied HN points • 20 Jun 24
🕹 Technology AI Image Processing OpenAI Programming
  1. Working with image processing technology can involve complex math but can also lead to practical and interesting projects like a Magic: The Gathering card detector.
  2. Reflecting on past coding projects can show growth in understanding software systems and the evolution of one's skills over time.
  3. Advancements in AI, like OpenAI's Vision API, have made tasks like image processing more accessible to engineers without the need for in-depth domain knowledge, offering a quicker way to experiment and validate ideas.
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Erika Update #10: Honestly, it’s often faster to do it by hand

Erika’s Newsletter • 157 implied HN points • 20 Jun 23
🔬 Science Biology Technology Data Analysis Research Programming
  1. Sometimes doing tasks by hand can be faster than trying to automate them with scripts.
  2. Automating tasks may not always be worth the effort if the tools or processes are not complete or efficient.
  3. Overcomplicating things with automation can lead to wasted time and effort if the benefits are not substantial.

Writing Good Multi-threaded Programs: Ensuring Correctness and Optimality

Arpit’s Newsletter • 157 implied HN points • 05 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Programming Concurrency Optimization Best Practices
  1. Ensuring correctness in multi-threaded programs is crucial; use locking and atomic instructions to prevent race conditions.
  2. For optimality, ensure fairness among threads and efficient logic to avoid bottlenecks.
  3. Divide workload evenly among threads or use a global variable to track progress for efficient results.

DSA For The Rest Of Us - Part 1

Data Engineering Central • 157 implied HN points • 13 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Data Engineering Data Structures Software Development Rust Programming
  1. Understanding Data Structures and Algorithms is important for becoming a better engineer, even if you may not use them daily.
  2. Linked Lists are a linear data structure where elements are not stored contiguously in memory but are linked using pointers.
  3. Creating a simple Linked List in Rust involves defining nodes with values and pointers to other nodes, creating a LinkedList to hold these nodes, and then linking them to form a chain.

GM Shaders Mini: Imagination

GM Shaders Mini Tuts • 157 implied HN points • 02 Sep 23
🕹 Technology Graphics Programming Mathematics Algorithms Tutorials
  1. When working with shaders, think in terms of vector fields to direct the flow and create gradients.
  2. Consider the acceptable input domains and the output ranges of your functions to prevent errors and unexpected results.
  3. Utilize periodic functions for repetition, sine and cosine for waves and rotations, dot product as a ruler, and exponentiation for adjusting brightness levels.

The Joy of Literate Programming

Rethinking Software • 99 implied HN points • 02 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Programming Software Documentation Development Coding
  1. Literate programming is a fun way to write and document code. It's like mixing storytelling with coding, making the process more enjoyable.
  2. Using tools like Organic Markdown, you can easily manage and run code alongside your documentation in a Markdown editor. It helps keep everything organized and readable.
  3. This programming style allows for creative flexibility, like rearranging sections of code for better clarity and using command outputs as if they were code. It feels almost magical!

HCF EP 005: Cursor based pagination

Hasen Judi • 35 implied HN points • 04 Jan 25
🕹 Technology Software Development Web Development Data Storage Programming User Interface
  1. Cursor-based pagination lets you skip to the next set of results easily. It's better for large lists because it doesn't waste time reading and ignoring lots of entries.
  2. This method is more stable, as it remembers where you left off even if there are changes to the list. It's like using a bookmark to continue reading later.
  3. However, it has some downsides, like not being able to jump to a specific page directly, which might be less convenient for users wanting to skip ahead quickly.

sqlmesh migrate

davidj.substack • 47 implied HN points • 20 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Software Data Engineering Programming Cloud Computing Analytics
  1. If you're using dbt to run analytics, switching to sqlmesh is a good idea. It offers more features and is easy to learn while still being compatible with dbt.
  2. sqlmesh helps manage data environments and is more comprehensive in handling analytics tasks compared to dbt. It's simpler to transition from dbt to sqlmesh than from older methods like stored procedures.
  3. When using sqlmesh, think about where to run it and how to store its state. You have choices like using a different database or a cloud service, which can save you money and hassle.

Open-Weight alternative to GPT-4o Realtime, Athene-V2, Stripe Agent Toolkit, Qwen2.5-Coder-32B, Prompt Canvas and Promptim, Vidu-1.5, MagicQuill, OpenCoder and more

AI Brews • 17 implied HN points • 15 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Development Open Source Programming Machine Learning Innovation
  1. Alibaba Cloud launched a new coding model, Qwen2.5-Coder-32B, which performs as well as GPT-4o for programming tasks.
  2. Fixie AI introduced Ultravox, a real-time conversation AI that works directly from speech input without separate recognition, making it very fast.
  3. Google's Gemini model is now top-ranked for chatbots, achieving impressive performance with many user votes.

The Tech Buffet #16: Quickly Evaluate your RAG Without Manually Labeling Test Data

The Tech Buffet • 99 implied HN points • 18 Dec 23
🕹 Technology AI Programming Data science Automation Machine Learning
  1. You can automate the testing of Retrieval Augment Generation (RAG) systems without needing to label data yourself. This makes it faster and easier to evaluate their performance.
  2. Generating synthetic datasets with questions and answers allows you to test how well your RAG performs. This method helps you understand the effectiveness of your application and provides useful insights.
  3. Using various metrics is key to evaluating your RAG accurately. This way, you assess different aspects of performance, ensuring you get a well-rounded view of how your system is doing.

Tech Talks Weekly #13 🎉

Tech Talks Weekly • 39 implied HN points • 09 May 24
🕹 Technology Conferences Software Development Programming Talks Tech community
  1. This week features many interesting talks from various tech conferences like Devoxx Greece and React Miami. You can find updates on programming languages and system design insights.
  2. There's a call to help improve the content by filling out a quick survey. Sharing feedback can enhance the experience for everyone involved.
  3. The newsletter highlights a selection of must-watch talks from recent events. It's a great way to stay informed about the latest trends and ideas in tech.

Daily bit(e) of C++ | Hardened mode of standard library implementations

Daily bit(e) of C++ • 78 implied HN points • 20 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Programming Software Development Security Debugging
  1. Dealing with assumptions in programming can be risky, especially in C++ where a violated assumption can lead to undefined behavior.
  2. Proper engineering practices like good unit test coverage and sanitizers can help catch bugs, but sanitizers may not detect all issues, particularly at the library level.
  3. Using the hardened mode of standard library implementations like stdlibc++ and libc++ can provide safety features against specific attacks and checks without affecting ABI, enhancing development experience.

Prospero Pascal for the Atari ST

Goto 10: The Newsletter for Atari Enthusiasts • 78 implied HN points • 19 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Programming Software Development Hardware Tools
  1. Prospero Software made compilers for Atari ST and other systems like Sinclair QL and OS/2.
  2. Prospero Pascal was an extensive system with manuals totaling 718 pages, making it one of the most detailed ST development tools.
  3. The integration capability of Prospero compilers allowed for sharing libraries between Prospero Pascal, C, and Fortran, giving a unique advantage in the market.

Tree Of Thoughts Prompting (ToT)

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 19 implied HN points • 11 Jun 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Natural Language Processing Data science Programming
  1. Tree of Thoughts (ToT) is a new way to solve complex problems with language models by exploring multiple ideas instead of just one.
  2. It breaks down problems into smaller 'thoughts' and evaluates different paths, similar to how humans think through problems.
  3. ToT allows models to understand not just the solution but also the reasoning behind it, making decision-making more deliberate.

How AI makes English a programming language

Mythical AI • 137 implied HN points • 07 Apr 23
🕹 Technology AI Programming Software Code generation AI Tools
  1. AI is making it easier for people to program by allowing them to describe tasks in English and having the computer figure out the code.
  2. Computers need precise instructions and struggle with understanding context, making programming challenging.
  3. Programmers are rare, expensive, and building software is costly, but AI is helping automate coding, making programmers more productive.

Stumbling in the Dark

Register Spill • 137 implied HN points • 02 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Programming Frameworks SwiftUI
  1. Trying new languages, platforms, frameworks, and IDEs can be challenging but also refreshing as it allows for learning by doing without prior knowledge.
  2. Struggling with unfamiliar tools and technologies is common in programming, and it's okay to rely on resources like error messages, search engines, and autocomplete features.
  3. Feeling lost and stumbling in the dark while coding can be frustrating, but it can also lead to illuminating realizations about preferred learning styles and the value of having some prior knowledge.

Daily bit(e) of C++ | Domain specific errors using std::error_code

Daily bit(e) of C++ • 78 implied HN points • 15 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Programming Error Handling
  1. To represent domain-specific error codes in C++, use std::error_code customization mechanism.
  2. The custom implementation involves an enum for error codes, an error category for text descriptions, and a mapping from enum type to category type.
  3. This customization allows for a more specialized and descriptive handling of errors in C++ programming.

Console #170 -- An Interview with Alex of DocuSeal - Open source DocuSign alternative

Console • 413 implied HN points • 13 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Open Source Programming Web Development Software Development AI
  1. DocuSeal is an open source platform for digital document signing as an alternative to DocuSign.
  2. Ruby on Rails is used as the backend for DocuSeal, offering an easy and efficient development process.
  3. The developer of DocuSeal is motivated by community interest, aims for wider adoption before monetization, and plans to prioritize user feedback for future project development.

Elixir-like pipes in Ruby (oh no not again)

zverok on lucid code • 57 implied HN points • 16 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Programming Software Development Languages Frameworks
  1. Elixir has a special way to chain functions called the pipeline operator, which makes code easier to read. This idea has caught the attention of many programming languages, including Ruby.
  2. Ruby already has a method-chaining style that makes some proposals for a pipeline operator unnecessary. Ruby methods work differently than in Elixir, which poses challenges for introducing this feature.
  3. The author experimented with a new approach to mimic the pipeline operator in Ruby using a method that transforms code at a low level, but it's not intended to be a permanent addition to Ruby. It's more of an exploration of potential features.

Eventual Business Consistency

Software Design: Tidy First? • 134 HN points • 04 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Business Data Management Programming Systems Database
  1. The goal is to achieve eventual business consistency by closely matching what's in the system with real-world events.
  2. Different data storage methods like storing dated data or double-dated data come with trade-offs in complexity and accuracy.
  3. Bi-temporal systems use two dates to track when data changes occurred in reality and when they were recorded in the system for better business operations.

Google Correlate alternative: Similiarity search of Wikipedia Pageview Statistics in Python

Franz likes to code • 1 HN point • 16 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Programming Data science Machine Learning Web Development
  1. Google Correlate was a tool for finding related search patterns, similar to Google Trends, but it was shut down in 2019.
  2. You can create a personal alternative using publicly available data, like Wikipedia page views, by scraping and analyzing it with Python.
  3. Using methods like similarity searches and cosine distance, you can identify articles that have similar view patterns to a given topic.

CPython Dynamic Dispatch Internals: What Happens When You do a + b?

Confessions of a Code Addict • 293 HN points • 06 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Programming Python
  1. Each type in Python implements functions for the operators it supports and populates a function pointer table in its header.
  2. The CPython Virtual Machine calls a function in the abstract object interface based on the operator being executed.
  3. The abstract object interface performs function pointer table lookup in the object headers to call the right function for dynamic dispatch.

Why is there more than one way to end a while loop?

Mostly Python • 419 implied HN points • 14 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Programming Python Software Development Project management
  1. Programming languages may offer multiple ways to accomplish the same task for different use cases.
  2. Python emphasizes having one clear and obvious way to do things to promote readability and maintainability.
  3. Ending a while loop in Python can be done using the while statement, break statement, or a flag - each with its own unique advantages.

A deeper than average look into Stacks [Math Mondays]

Technology Made Simple • 99 implied HN points • 21 Nov 23
🕹 Technology Programming Data Structures Algorithms Computer Science Software Engineering
  1. Stacks are powerful data structures in software engineering and can be modified extensively to suit different use cases.
  2. Implementing Stacks using a Singly Linked List can be beneficial for dynamic resizing, though Arrays are often preferred due to memory considerations.
  3. Exploring variations like Persistent Stacks, Limiting Stack Size, Ensuring Type Safety, Thread Safety, Tracking Min/Max, and Undo Operations can enhance the functionality and efficiency of Stacks in various scenarios.

The Future of P4: One Perspective

Systems Approach • 353 implied HN points • 15 May 23
🕹 Technology Programming Networking Technology Trends Hardware Software
  1. P4 language is more than just Tofino chips, it has many backend targets like SmartNICs and IPUs.
  2. The distinction between 'open' and 'closed' forwarding pipelines is crucial, even fixed pipelines can be flexible.
  3. P4's value lies not just in quantifiable metrics, but also in its ability to abstract packet forwarding pipelines effectively.