hyperpape
@hyperpape.bsky.social
I knew a dev working on a product where end users could see stack traces. He specifically rewrote null pointer exceptions, because his users were somewhat technical, but not programmers. They would see “null pointer exception” and try to guess what data was missing in lieu of a bug report.
I sometimes wonder to myself: what do normal folk think when they see the result of a (classic) software bug like the below?
September 29, 2025 at 10:34 AM
I knew a dev working on a product where end users could see stack traces. He specifically rewrote null pointer exceptions, because his users were somewhat technical, but not programmers. They would see “null pointer exception” and try to guess what data was missing in lieu of a bug report.
In all seriousness, it’s pretty clear what happened here. In someone’s head they defined 2010s liberalism = woke = censorship, and now that right wing censorship is in the news, it feels right to them to mock it as “woke.”
Honesty, I have no idea what "woke" means in the first place, other than that it's something Trump hates. And "woke right" makes even less sense to me. What's with this nomenclature?
The Woke Right Comes Of Age
And you thought they were in favor of free speech!
open.substack.com
September 19, 2025 at 10:47 PM
In all seriousness, it’s pretty clear what happened here. In someone’s head they defined 2010s liberalism = woke = censorship, and now that right wing censorship is in the news, it feels right to them to mock it as “woke.”
There are hard bugs, but the fact that it’s possible to see this screen indicates a sort of trivially dumb failure mode.
August 28, 2025 at 10:38 AM
There are hard bugs, but the fact that it’s possible to see this screen indicates a sort of trivially dumb failure mode.
I saw someone citing a well known philosophy paper to make a point about AI, and I sometimes wish there were disclaimers about which bits of philosophy were real, and which are strike dummies for training undergrads.
August 26, 2025 at 11:28 PM
I saw someone citing a well known philosophy paper to make a point about AI, and I sometimes wish there were disclaimers about which bits of philosophy were real, and which are strike dummies for training undergrads.
I’m have nearly zero belief that “AIs suffer” and think it’s currently a pretty silly worry, but I think there’s a lot of overlap where people who worry about it are vegans or otherwise very invested in animal welfare.
The funny thing is animals actually can suffer and we slaughter them by the billions but sure let’s have an existential panic over whether a software program screams when we turn it off
Can AIs suffer? Big tech and users grapple with one of most unsettling questions of our times
August 26, 2025 at 2:51 PM
I’m have nearly zero belief that “AIs suffer” and think it’s currently a pretty silly worry, but I think there’s a lot of overlap where people who worry about it are vegans or otherwise very invested in animal welfare.
One my life’s tiniest regrets is that I never wrote up my review of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, based on the screen of the guy one row ahead of me.
It’s hard to believe that any dialogue could’ve made it make sense.
It’s hard to believe that any dialogue could’ve made it make sense.
I subverted the question somewhat in my answer here, but I also second my colleague who said "the movie the person near you is watching." Makes a lot of inane movies way better when you end up imagining better dialogue for yourself.
We asked The Atlantic’s writers and editors: What is the perfect film to watch on a plane?
August 25, 2025 at 8:43 PM
One my life’s tiniest regrets is that I never wrote up my review of Kingsman: The Golden Circle, based on the screen of the guy one row ahead of me.
It’s hard to believe that any dialogue could’ve made it make sense.
It’s hard to believe that any dialogue could’ve made it make sense.
A nice example that a statement can be paradoxically self-defeating not merely because of the content, but because of the context in which it is uttered.
July 17, 2025 at 10:22 AM
A nice example that a statement can be paradoxically self-defeating not merely because of the content, but because of the context in which it is uttered.
Showing up to the pro-Western rally with my Marx/Sartre/Derrida poster…”guys, are we going to the same event?”
"Uphold Western Civilization" types are always all about scientific racism and conspiracy theories and never about baking really tasty bread
June 27, 2025 at 11:38 AM
Showing up to the pro-Western rally with my Marx/Sartre/Derrida poster…”guys, are we going to the same event?”
See a Tim Bray post on mastodon on my phone, want to reference it from my computer. I’m not signed in there.
Google Tim Bray mastodon. First link points to mastodon.cloud, with a post he’s moving to hachyderm.io (mastodon.cloud/@timbray/109... )…
Google Tim Bray mastodon. First link points to mastodon.cloud, with a post he’s moving to hachyderm.io (mastodon.cloud/@timbray/109... )…
mastodon.cloud
Everyone is welcome as long as you follow our code of conduct! Thank you.
Mastodon.cloud is maintained by Sujitech, LLC.
mastodon.cloud
June 26, 2025 at 8:43 PM
See a Tim Bray post on mastodon on my phone, want to reference it from my computer. I’m not signed in there.
Google Tim Bray mastodon. First link points to mastodon.cloud, with a post he’s moving to hachyderm.io (mastodon.cloud/@timbray/109... )…
Google Tim Bray mastodon. First link points to mastodon.cloud, with a post he’s moving to hachyderm.io (mastodon.cloud/@timbray/109... )…
Posted notes on retries, circuit breakers, and other tools that are 100% guaranteed to make your systems more reliable or break them worse. justinblank.com/notebooks/re...
Retries
justinblank.com
June 17, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Posted notes on retries, circuit breakers, and other tools that are 100% guaranteed to make your systems more reliable or break them worse. justinblank.com/notebooks/re...
Heraclitus: I closed another bug with “could not reproduce”
Zeno: okay team, we're half way through the sprint
sisyphus at daily standup: i had to roll back some changes
June 10, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Heraclitus: I closed another bug with “could not reproduce”
There are whole projects dedicated to transforming java bytecode into something that can't be decompiled. Meanwhile, I've done it by accident. Tried a tweak to the regex compiler. It didn't work. Went to debug:
public int indexForwards(int param1, int param2) {
// $FF: Couldn't be decompiled
}
public int indexForwards(int param1, int param2) {
// $FF: Couldn't be decompiled
}
May 23, 2025 at 9:22 AM
There are whole projects dedicated to transforming java bytecode into something that can't be decompiled. Meanwhile, I've done it by accident. Tried a tweak to the regex compiler. It didn't work. Went to debug:
public int indexForwards(int param1, int param2) {
// $FF: Couldn't be decompiled
}
public int indexForwards(int param1, int param2) {
// $FF: Couldn't be decompiled
}
“by far the easiest way to make a compelling, contrarian, data-driven argument is to misunderstand something about the data you're looking at.”
www.thediff.co/archive/long...
(Have not read the piece being commented on, just enjoyed the comment).
www.thediff.co/archive/long...
(Have not read the piece being commented on, just enjoyed the comment).
Longreads + Open Thread
Reading, Covid, Liquid Content, Antimemetics, Life Insurance, KPIs
www.thediff.co
May 19, 2025 at 11:32 AM
“by far the easiest way to make a compelling, contrarian, data-driven argument is to misunderstand something about the data you're looking at.”
www.thediff.co/archive/long...
(Have not read the piece being commented on, just enjoyed the comment).
www.thediff.co/archive/long...
(Have not read the piece being commented on, just enjoyed the comment).
Reposted by hyperpape
This. You don't even have to agree with any version of US civic belief, but the best version of the US-as-an-idea makes all of us born here citizens.
And citizen as our highest title.
And citizen as our highest title.
I’ve taught the 14th Amendment but only today did I fully grasp how radically inclusive Birthright Citizenship really is.
What makes you American? Not race, not religion, not lineage.
You’re born here, you belong here.
What makes you American? Not race, not religion, not lineage.
You’re born here, you belong here.
May 16, 2025 at 3:33 AM
This. You don't even have to agree with any version of US civic belief, but the best version of the US-as-an-idea makes all of us born here citizens.
And citizen as our highest title.
And citizen as our highest title.
When I hit the “Substack won’t let you close cookie notifications” bug, I assumed it was just me.
Then two friends said they also saw it, so I figured “that’s a nasty bug, surely it’ll be fixed soon.”
That was four days ago.
Then two friends said they also saw it, so I figured “that’s a nasty bug, surely it’ll be fixed soon.”
That was four days ago.
May 15, 2025 at 6:47 PM
When I hit the “Substack won’t let you close cookie notifications” bug, I assumed it was just me.
Then two friends said they also saw it, so I figured “that’s a nasty bug, surely it’ll be fixed soon.”
That was four days ago.
Then two friends said they also saw it, so I figured “that’s a nasty bug, surely it’ll be fixed soon.”
That was four days ago.
Reposted by hyperpape
I’m generally pretty bearish on AI codegen but if we’re trying to make Webpack do something different I’m absolutely hiring a robot to suffer in my place
May 8, 2025 at 12:33 AM
I’m generally pretty bearish on AI codegen but if we’re trying to make Webpack do something different I’m absolutely hiring a robot to suffer in my place
AI is a transformational technology, it’s upsetting everything. Old ways of working are completely obselete, and we can unlock nearly limitless value. Every organization must adapt or die.
In this brave new world, we will need *checks notes* exactly 95% of our current staff.
In this brave new world, we will need *checks notes* exactly 95% of our current staff.
May 8, 2025 at 11:02 PM
AI is a transformational technology, it’s upsetting everything. Old ways of working are completely obselete, and we can unlock nearly limitless value. Every organization must adapt or die.
In this brave new world, we will need *checks notes* exactly 95% of our current staff.
In this brave new world, we will need *checks notes* exactly 95% of our current staff.
Reposted by hyperpape
NULL BITMAP: How to Understand that Jepsen Report buttondown.com/jaffray/arch...
May 5, 2025 at 6:03 PM
NULL BITMAP: How to Understand that Jepsen Report buttondown.com/jaffray/arch...
I’m aware voting systems are really complicated (@drmaciver.bsky.social voice in the back of my head) but boy does it suck that this has to be a PSA.
If you rank a candidate in a ranked choice system—even if you rank them last—it is possible your vote could end up electing that candidate. If you don’t rank a particular candidate, your vote can never count toward electing them.
Is it limited choice ranked voting or something? Why not "Rank Cuomo and Adams last"?
March 31, 2025 at 3:04 PM
I’m aware voting systems are really complicated (@drmaciver.bsky.social voice in the back of my head) but boy does it suck that this has to be a PSA.
I don’t think it’s hard to reconcile this. You need to distinguish the floor of the tool and the ceiling.
AI tools raise the floor. As a day 1 novice, you probably can’t do anything with a traditional programming language (unless your problem perfectly matches a tutorial).
AI tools raise the floor. As a day 1 novice, you probably can’t do anything with a traditional programming language (unless your problem perfectly matches a tutorial).
There’s a weird and unexamined tension between the “AI makes it possible for unskilled people to write complex code” and “you need to start learning how to use these tools or you’ll be left behind” lines of rhetoric in a lot of recent AI codegen writing I’m seeing.
March 28, 2025 at 12:29 PM
I don’t think it’s hard to reconcile this. You need to distinguish the floor of the tool and the ceiling.
AI tools raise the floor. As a day 1 novice, you probably can’t do anything with a traditional programming language (unless your problem perfectly matches a tutorial).
AI tools raise the floor. As a day 1 novice, you probably can’t do anything with a traditional programming language (unless your problem perfectly matches a tutorial).
The Internet operates on the principle that can implies ought.
January 17, 2025 at 11:19 AM
The Internet operates on the principle that can implies ought.
Got my first porn spam, so I know Bluesky has arrived.
December 18, 2024 at 5:15 PM
Got my first porn spam, so I know Bluesky has arrived.
Reposted by hyperpape
You should care about this as a software developer, not because you should care about my pain (although you should.)
You should care about it because every time I encounter an app’s PRF, I make a very shrewd mental calculation about whether *using this app is worth the pain*. Often it’s not.
You should care about it because every time I encounter an app’s PRF, I make a very shrewd mental calculation about whether *using this app is worth the pain*. Often it’s not.
December 13, 2024 at 10:22 PM
You should care about this as a software developer, not because you should care about my pain (although you should.)
You should care about it because every time I encounter an app’s PRF, I make a very shrewd mental calculation about whether *using this app is worth the pain*. Often it’s not.
You should care about it because every time I encounter an app’s PRF, I make a very shrewd mental calculation about whether *using this app is worth the pain*. Often it’s not.
When we said “all bugs are shallow”, we did not rule out “we would fucking die before fixing a usability problem.”
forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.ph...
forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.ph...
[Explained] File Sys properties: "some contents unreadable" - Linux Mint Forums
forums.linuxmint.com
December 7, 2024 at 12:34 PM
When we said “all bugs are shallow”, we did not rule out “we would fucking die before fixing a usability problem.”
forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.ph...
forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.ph...
I follow 20 people on Bluesky, 180 on Twitter. Thanks to attrition, it seems like Bluesky is roughly as active now.
November 27, 2024 at 2:57 PM
I follow 20 people on Bluesky, 180 on Twitter. Thanks to attrition, it seems like Bluesky is roughly as active now.