QuercusMax

If you have a product intended for humans, you're gonna need humans to do acceptance testing, just like now. All the software engineering principles you learned (did you learn them? now's as good a time as any!) are still just as applicable now as they were 10 years ago.

Probably was seen as too modal. Modal UI was very unfashionable for a while.

Part of the value of LLMs and humans is nondeterminism. Pair nondeterministic output with strictly verified results (proper tests) and you can create a useful working system.

Humans can't build a system perfectly, and agents definitely can't. And agents (like humans) will build a different system every time even with the same prompt. Even if it's just trivial differences like array vs linked-list, there are still differences.

The value in having executable code is that it won't change its behavior unless you deliberately modify it. I don't think there are any shortcuts. Models will get smarter and smarter and make fewer mistakes, but you'll still want to produce real source code to execute because it's consistent (you can sell it as a product, set it and forget it, etc.), and most importantly:

running real code is orders of magnitude faster than having an AI either run the process "manually", or have it write the code out multiple times.

There are plenty of processes that have this property, though. For example: setting up a home, workspace, kitchen, factory, office, etc. to fit a particular purpose. As you discover what works well in a particular space, you will refactor your workflows, seating organization, storage systems, etc to fit what you're doing. And it may even have multiple valid configurations - for example seasonal variations like outdoor vs indoor areas.

That's why I say the definition is "project" is key to this.

And what about investigating and fixing bugs? Bug reports don't come in on a schedule, and they're necessarily interrupt-driven unless you just don't care about your customers.

How did you manage to go to school and handle multiple subjects at the same time? It's exactly the same thing.

I'm not talking about multitasking on a moment by moment basis. I'm talking about over the course of a day or week you have multiple reponsibilities. That's the most normal thing ever.

For example, current projects I'm working on include:

  - Babysitting a weeks-long data migration
  - Designing a better storage system for some parts our data
  - Implementing data cleanup for customers who have offboarded
  - Code hygiene improvements across the codebase to support static analyzers
  - Planning committee work for upcoming hackathon

Building high-quality test infrastructure often requires more skill than building the software it supports. Some of the most impactful work I've done in staff/principal roles has been test infra.

Building software isn't the same as building cars. Some ideas needs months or years to be realized, and there's only so fast you can realistically move.

One project at a time? How on earth can that possibly work? I always ask to have multiple projects to work on, because getting blocked is a real thing, and having other work you can still pursue will ensure you keep things moving! Perhaps my definition of project is very different from yours?

Really depends on what you're having QA folks do.

Writing automated end-to-end tests? Those are very often best done by those writing the software, with assistance from experts who know how to effectively build test infrastructure. I've very rarely seen them done effectively by QA or "test engineering" folks.

Running manual test scripts and torture testing the UI to break it in new and unusual ways? Definitely get dedicated testing / QA folks. It's very easy to be blind to how others might use the software, especially if you wrote it.

I'd be impressed if those microbes or butterflies visited the moon and came back to tell about it.

I pay for Youtube premium, which gives me unlimited Youtube Music usage with no ads.

Yet I've built myself a yt-dlp-based system to pipe audio into my multiroom audio system (built on Snapcast). It will cache things locally so they play instantly, and I can mix my own music library with stuff from Youtube Music seamlessly, which is impossible with non-piratical means.

Your naps are too long. Think of it as a reboot, not a full power-down cycle.

I set a 25 minute timer and usually wake up a few minutes before it goes off. You don't want to go all the way into deep sleep which really requires 2-3 hours to properly do a REM cycle, and if you wake up in the middle you'll be super groggy.

That certainly would have aided my understanding!

This article is incomprehensible. I picked up from context that "linear" is some kind of bugtracker, but aside from that I don't know what the author is trying to say.

In one of the repos I work on we have a very particular set of things we refer to as "quality gates", and only in that repo Claude likes to misuse that term in a general sense. It's very much a "fellow kids" type feeling when you KNOW it read that phrase in a doc and so it's just reusing that term out of context, which makes me trust it less.

One problem with PWAs, at least on Android, is that if you save one to your home screen, it may get borked or deleted the next time there's an OS or app update. Chrome has eaten my home screen shortcuts too many times!

If i'm gonna shave a yak, I'd prefer to do it with a set of powered clippers, not a pair of embroidery scissors.

I'm also of this opinion, but also that it doesn't have to be Apple (but they are well positioned). What I've seen with running local models on my 48GB M4 MBP is really impressive - it's not the same level as hosted stuff, but it's better than what I was using a year or two ago.

What about all those fishing boats the US has been blowing up?

What difference does that make? A blockade is a blockade, and oil is fungible, so it doesn't matter whose flag it is. Run a blockade, get blown up. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

Remember, the US blew up an UNARMED Iranian ship after what was basically a parade at sea in the Indian Ocean. The US started this, and keeps it going.

Running a blockade is a risky proposition; it's not something that happens by accident.

A lot of these "neutral" countries either host US military bases, US companies, or are otherwise aligned generally with the US.

If that's the goal then the US and Israel are doing their best to stop it from happening. Iran is responding to provocations. Stop provoking them, no more blown up ships.

For more reading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_explosion

A minute or two a DAY??? I get pissed off that the microwave in my kitchen loses a minute a week!

You'd know the bad guys are Eastasia. Or is it Eurasia?

On the Home Assistant and Jellyfin reddits you'll see tons of vibecoded dashboards and plugins people are putting together - and those are just the ones people are sharing.

I personally have been building a bunch of little personal apps for my home that aren't worth the effort of sharing - like a customized dashboard of the Trimet buses closest to my house. The cost to build the initial good-enough version was literally 5 minutes plus another 10 to test and deploy.

I'm using pi-coder with just the free-tier models I can get on openrouter / opencode / kilocode. When I run out of quota on one model I often switch to another model in the same session, and it generally works just fine.

As long as LLMs don't understand the different between regurgitating facts and making up stories, they're going to necessarily be limited.

Phenylephrine only works as a nasal spray. It doesn't do anything when taken orally, because it is broken down in the digestive tract.