A small but complete JavaScript engine

Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by Macuyiko on Saturday October 24, 2020 @06:21PM (#24882359)

Agreed. 10 years ago, I could still pretend I'd be able to come close to his productivity if I "just set my mind to it." Today (being older, slower, and having a family), I can only be humble.

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by chii on Sunday October 25, 2020 @01:27AM (#24884078)

Many people don't have the misconception that they can compete athletically at the level of olympics. And yet, somehow, a lot of people mistakenly believe they could perform intellectually at that same high level!

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by vidarh on Sunday October 25, 2020 @06:06AM (#24885135)

I think you run into the barrier much faster in something like sports because the gap is so easily measurable. E.g. it just takes one 100m sprint to see how slow you are.

Whereas with intellectual work it's often hard to assess the gap, not least because the further you are from closing it, the less understanding you'll tend to have of how hard the remaining parts are.

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by raverbashing on Sunday October 25, 2020 @04:28AM (#24884721)

I guess a lot of people "could". But realize this is pretty much a full-time commitment for years and years. And even then

Sure, let's say 20% of it is genetics, 80% of it is still putting in the work.

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by mantap on Sunday October 25, 2020 @07:09AM (#24885400)

I'm not convinced. Our brains are well know for their plasticity. Our musculoskeletal and circulatory systems: not so much. The brain is capable of rewiring itself after some quite traumatic injuries, of course the people who go through rehabilitation after a traumatic brain injury do so with the focus of someone whose life depends on it.

I would suggest that most people reading this are capable of Bellard level productivity, if their life depended on it.

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by leetrout on Saturday October 24, 2020 @06:36PM (#24882457)

I’m really starting to feel the age and competing priorities with family. Makes me really scared about ageism.

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by taf2 on Saturday October 24, 2020 @10:07PM (#24883335)

Maybe but as the kids get older you the time back and your more efficient with it as a result of those early years... I think at least I’m faster and smarter now then ten years ago... maybe I’m losing my eye sight and my hearing or maybe it’s true :)

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by jfo on Sunday October 25, 2020 @03:43AM (#24884540)

What value of “older” do you have in mind?

As the parent of a 3 year old, I know that it’s at least older than 3 XD

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by sfifs on Sunday October 25, 2020 @04:50AM (#24884805)

Things starts easing up a bit after kids hit first grade around 6 or 7

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by hakcermani on Saturday October 24, 2020 @10:13PM (#24883349)

Touche! i need some more focus too!

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by staunch on Saturday October 24, 2020 @06:41PM (#24882473)

He really has done so much incredible work. I'd love a Fabrice Bellard interview/podcast/tech talk but found none when searching. If anyone has a link, please post it!

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by izietto on Sunday October 25, 2020 @06:39AM (#24885282)

I guess he's too busy developing great projects

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by brabel on Sunday October 25, 2020 @04:52AM (#24884815)

He also wrote JSLinux[1]!! I was just playing with the online shell and it's mind blowing how the browser can now run a fully functioning OS like Linux within it.

[1] https://bellard.org/jslinux/

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by MertsA on Sunday October 25, 2020 @10:51AM (#24886696)

And now you can run QuickJS in JSLinux. Yo dawg...

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by Scarbutt on Saturday October 24, 2020 @09:28PM (#24883181)

Frabrice Bellard truly works in God mode.

And in Emacs mode.

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Re:A small but complete JavaScript engine by bjconlan on Sunday October 25, 2020 @06:50AM (#24885318)

His own emacs mode (https://bellard.org/qemacs) I don’t think he uses it anymore but I always found that the best side effect of concise/elegant (minimal) code (or perhaps goals/scope) is generally better performance (I think this is also partly because of a single author understanding a lot more of a ‘product’ than a team)

Also wanna throw Mike Pall & Arthur Whitney in there as an honourable mentions (productive gods/100x)

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