pid0x17
Amen
I don't know if this is accurate, but I blame Windows 8 and, especially, Windows 10 for popularizing this extremely bland and boring design.
Yes, even writing the most important ones on a piece of paper and keeping it somewhere safe (like a safe in your house) is an option, as long as you have a low threat model, of course.
I read it in my second year of studying computer-science during the summer break, and it completely changed how I view computing.
First of all, the contents alone are quite valuable, even though it is an old book, as it basically walks you through building a simple relay computer on paper, with a CPU, RAM, simplified input devices, teaches you Intel 8080 assembly as an example of assembly programming, and then even goes over a simplified BIOS, OS, GPU and higher-level languages at the end, and it does not assume you have any previous knowledge; it starts from the basic physics behind electricity, then goes into boolean algebra, logic gates, etc. It's basically computer-architecture for the layman.
Beyond the content of the book, I think the biggest mark it left on me is that it taught me that there is no magic behind the layers of abstraction, and that breaking problems and concepts down into simpler ones can make what initially seems like a very complex topic into something that someone can easily follow and understand.
After I read the book, a lot of things I had already learnt at university felt like they made more sense, and I then took courses like Computer Architecture and Digital Circuit Design, where I felt a lot more confident than I probably would have, had I not read that book. It definitely colored how I viewed a lot of the courses I took at university after having read it.
In my career as a software developer, I still often think about that book, and I love to learn things by re-inventing the wheel and building simpler versions of complex existing software.
I think the hacker spirit is definitely alive & kicking in those smaller CCC events.
It is a beautiful and inclusive environment that highlights not only a lot local hackers, but also a lot of artists.
I was there last year and it was amazing! I totally recommend it.
You can find more info about the event and the featured talks and events here:
One ex-colleague from my previous employer was there, though, and he absolutely loved it.
Still, even if there aren't many talks, I like the spirit of these conferences and very interesting conversations you get to have with very interesting people who go there.
Plus, it's only a 90 min train ride away from Dresden, so if I don't like it, I will just go home.
It is a beautiful and inclusive environment that highlights not only a lot local hackers, but also a lot of artists.
I was there last year and it was amazing! I totally recommend it.
You can find more info about the event and the featured talks and events here:
I recently started learning CUDA and parallel programming paradigms.
It generates pages for what could be explained in 1-2 paragraphs.
I use to love using Gemini CLI to have Gemini explain a module for me before I dive into the code and point out specific points of interest, but I can't do that with Claude Code without feeling overwhelmed and starting to heavily procrastinate
English is not my native language.
I personally find Ubuntu's versioning to be the easiest to understand because you know when this Ubuntu version was released. It would be very annoying if they called Ubuntu 26.10 Ubuntu 27, though.
I was actually wondering: are we allowed to publish our work on GitHub? I already have a Github repo but I made it private and only show it to potential employers and individual people who are interested, because I am not very certain about the copyright rules of the HDL skeleton files, and whether we are allowed to publish our work, given Coursera's honor code.
I was very intimidated at first because the concept sounds very difficult, but Prof. Schocken and Prof. Nisan are amazing at breaking down the concepts and abstractions and making something complex very easy to follow and understand.
- I am implementing my own MCP server in Go for Bitbucket. This is more of a learning project for me (I was curious about MCP servers), but I also didn't find any MCP servers that have a clean codebase. Many seem to be vibe-coded, and as I work at a company where security is really important, I thought I would implement my own. (Still a WIP: https://github.com/pid0x17/mcp-bitbucket). I haven't touched this project in a while, though, as I am focusing on Nand2Tetris.
- I am reading the Rust Programming Language book, but I am still in the beginning (just finished Chapter 3 on the weekend).
I have a lot of memories from my childhood.
One particular shameful memory from when I was 4 is I remember purposefully spilling powdered milk on the floor at my grandma's house to play with it as if it's snow, but then feeling very bad when I saw how upset and tired my grandma was when she was cleaning it, even though she did not explicitly express being angry at me.
A guilty pleasure memory I have was secretly taking sips from my mom's Turkish coffee cup when she was not looking, loving how it tasted but feeling guilty for doing something bad because I knew I was forbidden from drinking coffee (I just didn't know at the time why it was forbidden (for my own good)).
Would the router's firewall protect it if it denies incoming connections?
I looked into the Light Phone and The Mudita Kompakt, but I ended up buying a refurbished Pixel 8 and putting Graphene OS on it, then I installed only essential apps I need. I keep my old iPhone 12 in a drawer at home and use it for anytime I Need any apps that don't work on a custom ROM, which includes my bank app (plus, imo, it's safer not carry around a phone that has my baking data on it in case it gets lost or stolen).
The light phones are a really cool concept but the Light Phone 3 is quite expensive (more expensive than a new Pixel 10) and the Mudita Kompakt seems to have a huge amount of grievances from users on their forum, so that put me off.