2026-10-28T12:13:48Z https://nostr.now Slava Pestov https://nostr.now/npub1t2kv4pt2hyxhasmrjswwr94vchdd7cq8msn336mtdfgulqxdtqkse82wfh https://media.mathstodon.xyz/accounts/avatars/113/986/389/360/915/434/original/be14ef8d8b44249f.png https://media.mathstodon.xyz/accounts/avatars/113/986/389/360/915/434/original/be14ef8d8b44249f.png https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsfyasgwt4tcl7sdl8y8pv37t7qw9z57j79ez0w08fpf0683algmjqzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz69cn9yy In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsz7gdvcfqh2cd4ghkk0sml0u5470ehzh3gtasvd22d2gms889kajg5j2hfe'>nevent1q…2hfe</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>If you’re a corporate programmer, TeX is worth studying closely because it is like something from another dimension:<br/>- you can take a math paper written in the 80s, typeset it today, and get identical output. Try that with a random C or C++ program and Clang<br/>- the TeXbook is one of the best manuals for any piece of software ever. Compare that to your README.md<br/>- a second book “TeX: the program” lays out the entire source code side by side with detailed explanations and cross references. Note that all of the code *fits* in a single book. Compare that to your million-line codebase with no comments that nobody understands 2026-10-28T12:21:36Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsz7gdvcfqh2cd4ghkk0sml0u5470ehzh3gtasvd22d2gms889kajgzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6plvlag RE: <a href="https://fedi.kbg.sh/@kevin/117492212328430426">https://fedi.kbg.sh/@kevin/117492212328430426</a><br/><br/>I’m torn on this. On one hand. TeX *itself* is a beautifully crafted and well-documented piece of software.<br/><br/>But, once you layer LaTeX and a pile of random CTAN packages on top, some problems become apparent:<br/>- poor error messages<br/>- slow compile times<br/>- packages that must be loaded in a certain order, or can’t be used together at all in one document, etc<br/><br/>I’ve never used Typst so I cannot compare, but I think TeX ought to be replaced at some point. It has served us well, but at this point it’s more than 40 years old. Which in itself makes it an incredible achievement of course!<blockquote class="border-l-05rem border-l-strongpink border-solid"><div class="-ml-4 bg-gradient-to-r from-gray-100 dark:from-zinc-800 to-transparent mr-0 mt-0 mb-4 pl-4 pr-2 py-2">quoting <br/><span itemprop="mentions" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Article"><a itemprop="url" href="/note1ay7ykg7aa9jl0g472mmc0aq2cxnnjccfdnp9uq0ysl8860hmt3cqkwl8ek" class="bg-lavender dark:prose:text-neutral-50 dark:text-neutral-50 dark:bg-garnet px-1">note1ay7…l8ek</a></span><br/> </div> Before people go all in on Typst, I’d like them to consider the wisdom of replacing TeX, software that is:<br/><br/>- Absolutely finished<br/>- Essentially bug free<br/>- Written in a simple, highly portable language<br/>- Extremely general <br/>- Backwards compatible with decades old code <br/><br/>…with a commercial product that relies on an enormous tangled web of dependencies amounting to millions of lines of code for something which is far less general than that which it replaces </blockquote> 2026-10-28T12:06:48Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqs9c2v4m4ded0d2mrajppjmrgkct3623ve49fy9r6sfc6jnzf262wczypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6nst3c0 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsdw3jnrn7y5slz2zlgadzsx48tfmkzl3va836x8cnfc4rjj7c554c9d9mm2'>nevent1q…9mm2</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>at this point Hunter’s laptop is retro computing and probably needs new capacitors 2026-10-24T00:25:53Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqst3s9f6ug63eteucsnn7yq4tkt4qdavu4vrjn5kje7mlnu8eja08qzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6ll769d Sam Altman is upset someone left a recording device in his conference room. I guess he forgot to explicitly opt out of data collection for marketing and training purposes 2026-10-13T23:50:02Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqs9spgq7vkplh9l8098j4gvunk8g4yzhzcya3hzxt9dkuscddgewsqzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6n4nwy2 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsvup6lgdx665hx0ney64w7e7vg0rx9yl8fjmgzc4een3tpj4pn45q205vm3'>nevent1q…5vm3</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>I think proving decidability essentially means you have an algorithm that always terminates, even if it’s impractical to actually execute. Now is it possible to encode a proof of decidability in a way that allows someone else to verify the claim without revealing the algorithm? Probably but I have no idea! 2026-10-10T02:54:20Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsw78rkcrzssdpxy3t9ccyheu4lq5mvasttwl07wplzv3ru0luzq4czypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz67t845x RE: <a href="https://mathstodon.xyz/@davidradcliffe/117412692476120189">https://mathstodon.xyz/@davidradcliffe/117412692476120189</a><br/><br/>How about monoids with word problem solved (artisinally), then?<blockquote class="border-l-05rem border-l-strongpink border-solid"><div class="-ml-4 bg-gradient-to-r from-gray-100 dark:from-zinc-800 to-transparent mr-0 mt-0 mb-4 pl-4 pr-2 py-2">quoting <br/><span itemprop="mentions" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Article"><a itemprop="url" href="/note1x6n24v2qu006a535j8m9q3qazd7q5hzw7aqxsnrs3te4d4am2wnqhndt2g" class="bg-lavender dark:prose:text-neutral-50 dark:text-neutral-50 dark:bg-garnet px-1">note1x6n…dt2g</a></span><br/> </div> Measuring progress in mathematics by counting proofs of theorems is like measuring productivity in software development by counting lines of code. </blockquote> 2026-10-09T19:56:20Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqswst2ug488tr2d38cea27k6ndvh2c84xfwq0w52dnszgt2dqfnhvgzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6j34wyv In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsy2n2r0kn8d9pakq0a79p7zfn7ljpg264p62j9klamklwr0m6qy3gnh03hx'>nevent1q…03hx</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>The “I need to design my own programming language -&gt; operating system -&gt; CPU -&gt; VLSI CAD system -&gt; programming language” doom loop 2026-10-07T15:27:11Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsymk805ec7ghff5ws3hh4ta9nuj680sglsd86kjee6fde9vgsrhrczypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz67mc42z Forget about programming languages suited for writing compilers and whether that’s good or not, how about a programming language specially for implementing other Turing-tarpit languages in the most concise way possible. There’s a lot of diversity between, say, lambda calculus and Brainfuck. What abstractions would you pick for your language, and why? 2026-08-24T23:10:56Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsq2dhx0l5w203xj3v4ch29m60uvuejwuv477r2dr8mthv30p63n2qzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6ffy687 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqs94fhjtj6afeef8ml9e9c3z5m8308c4vhfz96kuu6h46jws99x05g2x6f8u'>nevent1q…6f8u</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>System 7 was a local optimum in GUI design I think. I always thought the Platinum appearance that came after was driven by marketing trying to look “modern” compared to Windows and Motif, than any functional benefit 2026-08-15T16:49:10Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsxlgz6rlpcl6056xnxj9lky58vfhwetmyt3pndh6p9gnppa3fjc8qzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6umzua9 In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsqz808ec20zzaxjxlhktu2e3kjd2yl5zu6qjhkx06p5ngvyctn3ks8sjp4l'>nevent1q…jp4l</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>I must admit I haven’t found time to look at your work more closely, but I have to say the GUI theme is on point 2026-08-15T16:45:13Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsqdprzxh62xyntl5u7yyzc30859fd3yzyquw8t2y9xe8nu73zgp6czypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6eqps08 RE: <a href="https://recurse.social/@lindsey/116938013465737693">https://recurse.social/@lindsey/116938013465737693</a><br/><br/>“Haskell attracts idealists who care about correctness and think carefully about the abstractions they build with. Hiring for a Haskell role has never been the problem that leaders think it will be. If anything, candidates came to us for the Haskell itself, even when they had no particular interest in supply chain.”<blockquote class="border-l-05rem border-l-strongpink border-solid"><div class="-ml-4 bg-gradient-to-r from-gray-100 dark:from-zinc-800 to-transparent mr-0 mt-0 mb-4 pl-4 pr-2 py-2">quoting <br/><span itemprop="mentions" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Article"><a itemprop="url" href="/note1r8pfmpc6lq58k6rgf4lla4e3ra63gf7x56djmpvss8gzn6gev7wqwqvyd0" class="bg-lavender dark:prose:text-neutral-50 dark:text-neutral-50 dark:bg-garnet px-1">note1r8p…vyd0</a></span><br/> </div> A post on the haskell.org blog about using Haskell in production at H-E-B: <a href="https://blog.haskell.org/enterprise-haskell-at-h-e-b/">https://blog.haskell.org/enterprise-haskell-at-h-e-b/</a><br/><br/>For the uninitiated, H-E-B is the biggest grocery store chain in Texas. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see an industrial user of Haskell that *isn't* a fintech company for once.<br/><br/>🙅‍♀️ blockchain<br/>🙆‍♀️ beloved regional grocery chain </blockquote> 2026-08-07T07:56:52Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqs9jrr565wf8upxyrml4r32jmx89k2zxu5uck2yvqhx2fmrlgmaj5qzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6ayycq0 Smalltalk-80, HyperCard, and Visual Basic 6 were far more compelling &#34;future of programming&#34; attempts than anything available today 2026-07-01T15:30:39Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqspgkyunqv37wks34nz000qfr5x8z6v8ads6jj7jdnnxy7muxe98ygzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6cg7yq7 Perl 5 LLM policy<br/><br/><a href="https://perl.topicbox.com/groups/perl-core/Tded84d01cb16966e-M4f2b94e0c07f9d7cb8e1e76b">https://perl.topicbox.com/groups/perl-core/Tded84d01cb16966e-M4f2b94e0c07f9d7cb8e1e76b</a> 2026-06-26T18:28:19Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqs07qulcetv59qw0ka9ecjjmdecv56yfqr7zvd3flm24vrn4rzfjrszypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6wpdxgz RE: <a href="https://social.nouveau.community/@andnull/116807799779378492">https://social.nouveau.community/@andnull/116807799779378492</a><br/><br/>An interesting corner of PL history saved from bitrot, thank you!<blockquote class="border-l-05rem border-l-strongpink border-solid"><div class="-ml-4 bg-gradient-to-r from-gray-100 dark:from-zinc-800 to-transparent mr-0 mt-0 mb-4 pl-4 pr-2 py-2">quoting <br/><span itemprop="mentions" itemscope itemtype="https://schema.org/Article"><a itemprop="url" href="/note1z5w4llynpk0nv2fwxv0zxujrkgxhu9h6fkqtukduv3zp20d5kkfs5ltue0" class="bg-lavender dark:prose:text-neutral-50 dark:text-neutral-50 dark:bg-garnet px-1">note1z5w…tue0</a></span><br/> </div> I've uploaded the processed archive of the old yahoo-based catlang mailing list. This should be every message in hopefully a correct (enough) order.<br/><br/><a href="https://www.sheeeeeeeep.art/catlang-mailing-list-archive.html">https://www.sheeeeeeeep.art/catlang-mailing-list-archive.html</a><br/><br/>#Catlangs </blockquote> 2026-06-25T00:15:28Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsqw23rlz77e4sj0c5crdz3fwcxv46jcvjnatsz4qt4e5gychv6lwczypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6wpec7e Open source projects will tell you they have no choice but to allow slop, because doing anything else is a form of gatekeeping that will exclude too many potential contributors.<br/><br/>Nothing could be further than the truth, though. When the review queue is a non-stop machine gun of giant, bogus drive-by patches, the good contributions will inevitably fall through the cracks.<br/><br/>Eventually, the contributors you actually want—those who care about the long-term health of the code base, building institutional knowledge, improving their craft, mentorship—will simply leave, because they will realize their limited time and energy is better spent elsewhere.<br/><br/>A blanket ban on LLM contributions is not impractical, idealistic, or too radical—it&#39;s just common sense. 2026-06-23T15:57:58Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqs9mz2axnjaurw98nwlamvel4sa543f9xfnxkg58pp372tgshmza0czypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6n5kew9 Collatz semantic versioning: pick some integer to be your first version number. If it’s even, divide it by two to get the next version number, otherwise multiply by three and add one. When your software reaches version 1, proclaim it to be finished. 2026-06-02T23:49:13Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsz8py4lfg65y2sctgtdk76zq0qqwfqf60uvyy4sy0rmx4k95awuyczypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6lql96p In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqst2texqulu647axpx6zdnhdqn9sz4lxsrkrp3xhjj2qt3lywzkulquq904n'>nevent1q…904n</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>Delete 2; a -&gt; bc, b -&gt; a, c -&gt; aaa 2026-05-28T16:19:46Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqstxyzphl0m5vnqz5eearxtsh4kks5qlmpa3s3kd755amyftqccmfqzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz64sjxwg In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsqwgq6gj2undfxynem3alktwke0ezf6n2h8nxcp4j878zv3a5kpxgk3neud'>nevent1q…neud</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>There is a legitimate need for safe(r) systems languages that give you precise control over memory, because there are still plenty of problem domains where something more dynamic can’t really work. But definitely I agree that the search for the “C++ successor” has sucked the oxygen out of the room in the language design space, feels like a fad at this point 2026-05-22T16:21:57Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsvrftgkzz5wn8nhz9wn0dtxen6zrege7nt0edmdw0wf8n3clffp3qzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6vkyfeg In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsf296us492pekjrnpn5lqsx33unayy0u5mw3wdch8gwng3caeaeacxx5emy'>nevent1q…5emy</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>How about a smalltalk dialect where classes and methods are files and the browser is built on top of filesystem metadata queries 2026-05-09T17:55:53Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqs0awef4ltxueu67dm00lvun72kpsjnaxxye8zwgpqmx24z4m8kfkczypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6ee9jyk This article is about the software bug. For events occurring during the presidency of George W. Bush, see Presidency of George W. Bush. <br/><br/><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_hid_the_facts">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_hid_the_facts</a> 2026-05-05T23:42:32Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqs9nf5cdep8k5jyqgss5m3xqnkt9c5cl94ff3clcucqcxssh2c6xfczypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz676qr4r I’ve always wanted an IBM mainframe! My brother-in-law gave me a LEGO z16 for Christmas. Check out the hot pluggable CPU<br/> <img src="https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/795/296/780/815/417/original/357d30128422b820.jpeg"> <br/> <img src="https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/795/296/788/151/950/original/979558a3315eeaf8.jpeg"> <br/> <img src="https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/795/296/787/958/353/original/b8ab660bdb684a27.jpeg"> <br/> <img src="https://media.mathstodon.xyz/media_attachments/files/115/795/296/761/842/397/original/e8f2851078130703.jpeg"> <br/> 2025-12-28T04:27:51Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqszl7c9pyfvvn5t96q7k3axfjpky7x2rsp259dp726a5p2hwjpk8dszypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz60f33sz In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqs0vz7pygc95tanp6yka2kmvj4sa2wwd28v5xkgxx8tccy7hft7ruc9grual'>nevent1q…rual</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>Wait, does overleaf use its own TeX implementation that’s not TeX? 2025-11-23T00:24:27Z https://nostr.now/nevent1qqsr9klnpp38hz9q82lskmafpgt7awnhqtyvpgd08zxx7fdnws3vcpgzypd2ej59d2us6lkrvw2pecvk4nza4hmqqlwzwx8tdd49rnuqe4vz6tztayu In reply to <a href='/nevent1qqsv9xckr8dftm4jw7lvh9uq9cwaq4d080stmfa60c05a90nzhvp7fc60kdg7'>nevent1q…kdg7</a><br/>_________________________<br/><br/>Knuth 4A also spends a bit of time on the “majority” operation which takes three booleans and returns the one that appears at least twice 2025-10-30T12:14:04Z