✩ milky resonances ✿
@sp1nnylights.bsky.social
oceans of acetone, crystals of ozone ❀ フォトリソグラフィでエッチングされた雪花 ✮
Also the racism and ethnic and linguistic prejudice there can be shocking, both on a structural and person-to-person level. A lot of liberals there are too naïve to realize how crude their views are, the right-wingers embrace it, and you see the results every day.
November 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Also the racism and ethnic and linguistic prejudice there can be shocking, both on a structural and person-to-person level. A lot of liberals there are too naïve to realize how crude their views are, the right-wingers embrace it, and you see the results every day.
As a result it's a way harsher and more "rugged individualist" place than a lot of middle-class or wealthy people want to acknowledge. The laws favor business owners drastically, support for the homeless is shameful, little is really done about the cost of housing or healthcare or transporation, etc
November 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
As a result it's a way harsher and more "rugged individualist" place than a lot of middle-class or wealthy people want to acknowledge. The laws favor business owners drastically, support for the homeless is shameful, little is really done about the cost of housing or healthcare or transporation, etc
In any case though, it is still true there that the people who hold a lot of the power are from the same clique of rich white good ol' boys that ruled the state with an iron fist in the Jim Crow era, just like the rest of Texas. The oldest of them come from that time, even.
November 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
In any case though, it is still true there that the people who hold a lot of the power are from the same clique of rich white good ol' boys that ruled the state with an iron fist in the Jim Crow era, just like the rest of Texas. The oldest of them come from that time, even.
Then again, many of the people I used to put on shows with and things also don't live there anymore. I know some of the scenes I was involved in are scattered to the winds now, the venues have closed, etc. I'm not sure what's come up in its place or if it really has the same quality.
November 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Then again, many of the people I used to put on shows with and things also don't live there anymore. I know some of the scenes I was involved in are scattered to the winds now, the venues have closed, etc. I'm not sure what's come up in its place or if it really has the same quality.
Since 2015 I've lived in Pittsburgh and it's just not the same…it's not to say that there isn't anything like that here but the scope is smaller and less wild/experimental on the whole. The average person seems less interested in art in general etc. I miss those aspects of the Austin I knew.
November 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Since 2015 I've lived in Pittsburgh and it's just not the same…it's not to say that there isn't anything like that here but the scope is smaller and less wild/experimental on the whole. The average person seems less interested in art in general etc. I miss those aspects of the Austin I knew.
As someone who grew up there in the 90s–00s (and was gentrified away in 2015), I basically agree with this. At the same time, I do feel like it had some genuinely fun pockets of underground culture especially in the performing arts (not just music but also theater etc) that I loved participating in
November 2, 2025 at 2:26 AM
As someone who grew up there in the 90s–00s (and was gentrified away in 2015), I basically agree with this. At the same time, I do feel like it had some genuinely fun pockets of underground culture especially in the performing arts (not just music but also theater etc) that I loved participating in
so i might know the answer, and even if i don't, i'll probably think it's fun to try to figure it out with you ^^
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
so i might know the answer, and even if i don't, i'll probably think it's fun to try to figure it out with you ^^
if you're ever doing gpu stuff and have questions, feel free to ask me btw ^^ i have like 3/4 of a first draft of a vulkan+GLSL book written so i've thought about gpu stuff a lot and always enjoy learning more—
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
if you're ever doing gpu stuff and have questions, feel free to ask me btw ^^ i have like 3/4 of a first draft of a vulkan+GLSL book written so i've thought about gpu stuff a lot and always enjoy learning more—
wasm is great ^^ although again i've mainly just worked with it via emscripten + C++; naturally there are lots of different ways to get wasm code—it is pleasingly fast though 😛 can be a nice way to get around JS bottlenecks if you know your design is efficient in the abstract
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
wasm is great ^^ although again i've mainly just worked with it via emscripten + C++; naturally there are lots of different ways to get wasm code—it is pleasingly fast though 😛 can be a nice way to get around JS bottlenecks if you know your design is efficient in the abstract
i haven't tried webgpu yet, it seems interesting though; i've used webgl some, and although i'd say working with the gpu on the desktop is less constrained, it is really fun to have a fancy graphical program that runs in the browser
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
i haven't tried webgpu yet, it seems interesting though; i've used webgl some, and although i'd say working with the gpu on the desktop is less constrained, it is really fun to have a fancy graphical program that runs in the browser
i've never forgotten that ^^ some of the coolest effects i've ever gotten have been on accident from plugging the "wrong" things together, to the extent that i often approach game etc. development itself in a kind of open-ended way (if i accidentally get something fun i'll just go with that etc.)
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
i've never forgotten that ^^ some of the coolest effects i've ever gotten have been on accident from plugging the "wrong" things together, to the extent that i often approach game etc. development itself in a kind of open-ended way (if i accidentally get something fun i'll just go with that etc.)
anyway 😅 i remember you saying to me, maybe around the time you were working on strawberry cubes or a little after, that you liked C++ for similar reasons as to what you're saying about JS, like in the sense that its low-levelness allows you to "dump bits into a pipe somewhere" experimentally
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
anyway 😅 i remember you saying to me, maybe around the time you were working on strawberry cubes or a little after, that you liked C++ for similar reasons as to what you're saying about JS, like in the sense that its low-levelness allows you to "dump bits into a pipe somewhere" experimentally
the other main thing i like about Ruby is how its block/proc/enumeration features are a powerful and terse computing environment unto themselves ^^ similar in flavor to list comprehensions in Haskell, but dynamic and imperative which i think i prefer (less bureaucracy :P and more flexible)
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
the other main thing i like about Ruby is how its block/proc/enumeration features are a powerful and terse computing environment unto themselves ^^ similar in flavor to list comprehensions in Haskell, but dynamic and imperative which i think i prefer (less bureaucracy :P and more flexible)
or strongly typed (you can make it as weak/permissive as you want ultimately which i deeply appreciate); likewise i like Ruby so much in part because its extensive reflection and metaprogramming features make its type system very supple ^^ you can almost always find a way to get what you want easily
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
or strongly typed (you can make it as weak/permissive as you want ultimately which i deeply appreciate); likewise i like Ruby so much in part because its extensive reflection and metaprogramming features make its type system very supple ^^ you can almost always find a way to get what you want easily
i will say, the fact that you can set up an environment like that relatively easily in C++ is more the reason why i like it so much than just it being statically-typed (which is a bit of an oversimplification…it even supports runtime dynamic typing nicely if you want that, which i do use at times)
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
i will say, the fact that you can set up an environment like that relatively easily in C++ is more the reason why i like it so much than just it being statically-typed (which is a bit of an oversimplification…it even supports runtime dynamic typing nicely if you want that, which i do use at times)
my plan there is to also allow you to make the typing very strict (like toggle it on and off at runtime in different places etc.) if you run into a bug that's /not/ very fun and you want more help from the environment in finding it, or you want a better understanding of a fun bug
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
my plan there is to also allow you to make the typing very strict (like toggle it on and off at runtime in different places etc.) if you run into a bug that's /not/ very fun and you want more help from the environment in finding it, or you want a better understanding of a fun bug
to be honest, i think an environment that allows you to selectively enable "maximum type coercion" (especially if the coercions are designed to produce interesting results as often as possible) would be great for game etc. programming and i'm working on an engine like that right now
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
to be honest, i think an environment that allows you to selectively enable "maximum type coercion" (especially if the coercions are designed to produce interesting results as often as possible) would be great for game etc. programming and i'm working on an engine like that right now
some of JS's type coercions strike me as unintuitive and i have found myself grumbling at the interpreter when i've been bitten by them, but it's far from my biggest complaint about the language really; if you feel like they lead you to cool sorts of bugs more often then not, that's great ^^
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
some of JS's type coercions strike me as unintuitive and i have found myself grumbling at the interpreter when i've been bitten by them, but it's far from my biggest complaint about the language really; if you feel like they lead you to cool sorts of bugs more often then not, that's great ^^
even for me personally, i don't mind its dynamicism or weak typing much at all (especially the dynamicism which i actually favor in a language, all things being equal—i think it makes sense for C++ to be static-by-default but i appreciate how far it allows you to let the compiler infer types etc.)
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
even for me personally, i don't mind its dynamicism or weak typing much at all (especially the dynamicism which i actually favor in a language, all things being equal—i think it makes sense for C++ to be static-by-default but i appreciate how far it allows you to let the compiler infer types etc.)
i don't think there's anything wrong with liking the weak typing of JS and its reluctance to error out and such ^^ i think there is a sense in which that kind of language is arguably good for artistic/aestthetic/creative/etc. sorts of programs (e.g. games) for the reasons you describe
November 1, 2025 at 10:18 PM
i don't think there's anything wrong with liking the weak typing of JS and its reluctance to error out and such ^^ i think there is a sense in which that kind of language is arguably good for artistic/aestthetic/creative/etc. sorts of programs (e.g. games) for the reasons you describe
rather strange language 😅 i will say that recently i've tried using Emscripten with C++ and been very pleased with the results, to the extent that i'm strongly considering writing the bulk of my client-side code with it in the future and using a light JS glue layer to call into it
November 1, 2025 at 3:44 AM
rather strange language 😅 i will say that recently i've tried using Emscripten with C++ and been very pleased with the results, to the extent that i'm strongly considering writing the bulk of my client-side code with it in the future and using a light JS glue layer to call into it
and of course, getting back to the origin of this conversation, its syntax and semantics for objects are different /enough/ from those of a C struct that it pulls the whole flavor of the language away, in ways that make its assortment of explicit C idioms feel a little out of place
November 1, 2025 at 3:44 AM
and of course, getting back to the origin of this conversation, its syntax and semantics for objects are different /enough/ from those of a C struct that it pulls the whole flavor of the language away, in ways that make its assortment of explicit C idioms feel a little out of place
of course, this all kind of strange since, as you point out, it's not very like C in many other ways 😅 notably many programmers have gotten so annoyed with its very weak dynamic typing that they've decided to use a variant with compile-time static typing instead, as drastic as that seems to me 😛
November 1, 2025 at 3:44 AM
of course, this all kind of strange since, as you point out, it's not very like C in many other ways 😅 notably many programmers have gotten so annoyed with its very weak dynamic typing that they've decided to use a variant with compile-time static typing instead, as drastic as that seems to me 😛
admittedly it's grown a lot since the early days of ES5, but even now when i use it i still kind of find myself "thinking like a C programmer" a lot of the time, just without the memory management and laborious error handling; i do use objects and inheritance but it's nothing like Ruby or C++
November 1, 2025 at 3:44 AM
admittedly it's grown a lot since the early days of ES5, but even now when i use it i still kind of find myself "thinking like a C programmer" a lot of the time, just without the memory management and laborious error handling; i do use objects and inheritance but it's nothing like Ruby or C++
and it doesn't offer a full complement of Lisp- or Haskell/ML-style features that i think would justify calling it "functional"; after all C has first-class functions too, but i've never heard anyone claim that C is a "functional language"
November 1, 2025 at 3:44 AM
and it doesn't offer a full complement of Lisp- or Haskell/ML-style features that i think would justify calling it "functional"; after all C has first-class functions too, but i've never heard anyone claim that C is a "functional language"