a1studmuffin

The official Python tutorial is very well written and is suitable for total beginners:

https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/

I think it’s a step in the right direction, though it will be interesting to see where the boundaries are drawn. Does YouTube count? What about gaming platforms like Roblox and Fortnite?

Edit: On further reading about this, I’m changing my mind. I can’t see how this would be implemented effectively without some kind of age verification. Unless it’s a meaningless Steam-style “What’s your birthday?” question, that makes it far more troublesome for everyone’s privacy. I can’t see how it would get off the ground after so many Australians have had their data stolen already.

I quite liked the concept a few years back when Apple and Google were talking about a Netflix-style subscription model for iOS/Android… a bit like Xbox Game Pass. The subscription would give you access to a bunch of games, and developers were paid royalties based on a mix of metrics like the game review score, number of downloads, average total time spent in game etc. It seemed like a good idea in that it aligned developers and players in the desire for genuinely good games, regardless of the game style or genre. It threw away the need for each game to find a way to monetize their players (which nearly always ends up in multiplayer endless cosmetic MTX nonsense).

Janitor.

C/C++ still has a huge place in firmware, microcontrollers, operating systems, drivers, application development, video games, real-time systems and so on. It’s a totally different space of programming to webdev, which might explain the surprise.

Clearly we’re going to need regulations around personal vehicle size limits on the road. If you legitimately need a big truck for your business, get a licence for it.

WhatsApp has been exploited before with a zero-day, check the Complaints section in this link:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegasus_(spyware)

The reality is WhatsApp and Signal will continue to be high-value targets for exploits given the number of users, cloud infrastructure reliance and promise of secure communications, so it’s a wise idea to avoid them for defence matters.

I’d recommend setting up a GitHub profile and developing some personal projects on there, and try to get some experience contributing to other projects (even if they’re just simple first PRs). Make sure you include this on your resume, it’s a great talking point for juniors to show you’re passionate and have concrete examples of your code in the wild.

Also set up a LinkedIn profile (fleshed out as best you can) and start adding people at companies you’re interested in. DM them asking for advice, most people are lovely and want to help. While LinkedIn is horrible and needs to die, it’s still used heavily by the tech industry and you’ll find every tech company and recruiters on there.

You know it’s bad when we’re having to invent new words like ‘polycrisis’ to succinctly describe what’s happening.

… or worked in a large team with juniors and members coming and going over a long period of time.

To take up a career in programming is to be professionally confused on a day-to-day basis. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed at times, but this is the advice I give younger engineers: accept that confusion, and try to channel it into curiosity instead of letting it fester into stress and anxiety.

Horizon Zero Mean Girls

I’d rather drink a verification can every 30 minutes.

This feels relevant: https://youtu.be/A4Ncs9gXBAI

This article seems misleading. It uses the loaded Western term “selfie” to generate these images of different cultures smiling. If you use the term “group photo” instead, you get much more natural looking results, where certain cultures are smiling and others aren’t.

Smells like something IDF unit 8200 might have been involved with.

This has been the weirdest console generation. I’m still surprised they railroaded ahead with the PS5 and Xbox Series X launches right at the beginning of the pandemic.

It’s the same for people who don’t understand basic electronics or mechanics. Any problem just becomes “it’s broken” and the only solution is to take it to an expert and pay for their time, or toss it and buy a new one. It’s expensive to be ignorant.

I see this at my local supermarket chains after they received pressure to reduce plastic usage. The exact same plastic bags are in use, except now they have printed on them “REUSABLE PLASTIC BAG”. Such a predictable outcome.

Another vote for Mikrotik, but only if you’re technical-minded and want to learn how routers work. One of the things I like the most about it is the ability to import/export the router config as plain text. That makes it very easy to do things like bulk-editing (I have a lot of IOT devices I need to configure), storing your config in version control for safe-keeping etc.