I can tell you guys work with languages like Go, so this isn't true for yourselves, but I usually find it is developers that only ever work with synchronous code who find async complicated. Which isn't surprising, if you don't understand something it can seem complicated. My views is almost that people should learn how to write async code by default now. Regardless of the language. Writing modern applications basically requires it, although not all the time obviously.
Hey Yoric, I do not want to underplay what it is like to work with async, but I think there has been a lot of improvements to make it easier, especially in JavaScript/ECMAScript. It is nice not to have to work directly with promises in the same way that was required previously. The language has matured a lot since I started using in Netscape Navigator (I see you formerly worked at Mozilla). I think coding can be complicated in general, although it shouldn't have to be. I think having a mental model for async from the start can be helpful, and understanding the difference between blocking and non blocking code. A lot of people learned writing synchronous code first, so I think it can be hard to develop the mental model and intuit it.
I have no problem with async in JS or Rust, but async in Python is a very different beast, and like many people in this thread I do my best to avoid the fully loaded footgun altogether. Writing maintainable Python basically requires avoiding it, so I strongly disagree with "regardless of language".
Maybe, but I wouldn't go back to Python 2 without async. It has also improved over time in Python. I have also had success using async in Python. I do understand what the article talks about however. Understanding the difference between blocking and non-blocking code is also a concept relevant to Python. In Node it's one of the concepts you are first introduced to, because Node is single threaded by default. I also understand in Go and other languages there are different options.
It is interesting hearing feedback from the frontline. Even with the issues, I think it is clear drones are changing modern warfare when you have companies like Anduril. What most people think is coming next is autonomous drones, although I don't morally agree with it. Sorry you had to have this experience, I wish this war would end, too many lives have been lost and it is senseless.
The is also a sort of autonomous targetting for jammers available ? The grandfather of the shaheed was intended to guide itself towardsrrrussian radar aka em sources, so i guess a modern drone should be similar capable on connection loss to rech the disturbing em source.
As someone who was around before WordPress existed, and witnessed all the proprietary CMS systems of the day, as well as personally building custom CMS systems professionally, it disappoints me to watch this unfold.
I used to see WordPress as an example of how open-source can be good business. Being open-source, and comparatively better then other proprietary options at the time, made WordPress an attractive option, and its user base grew rapidly. Blogging was also more popular then, although people still blog.
I think as of today there are better options then WordPress, and blogging is not the same as in the past. I think because of peoples history with products like WordPress, many people have gravitated towards static site generators.
Early on Automattic seemed like a place I might want to work, but obviously a lot that has changed since WordPress first launched. I can't see myself wanting to work there now, or wanting to use WordPress again. Not to mention I moved on from PHP a long time ago.
I generally feel the opposite way. React was changing every few weeks when I started using it, the docs and API are much more stable and consistent now. In general web standards are more stable then ever also. People younger then myself won't have learn 100s of layout hacks to get their pages displaying properly cross browser, or sometimes even in just one browser. This is just my perspective, although I also understand JavaScript fatigue, I feel it is actually one of the best times to start learning.
The net code for the original Q3A client worked well for lan, but was sensitive to latency for remote play. One of the exciting changes to Quake Live was the updated net code for better remote play. Internet connections also got better in general with the time.
Eh. While not great given bandwidth availability at the time, most Quake hosted servers has excellent ping and latency for most people domestically. The main issues were honestly people hosting from their local machines across the world, which obviously had very poor results.
I am a former Quake 3 champion, have a lot of experience dealing with Quake 3 servers :)
What is a former q3 champion doing these days? I'm genuinely curious. Since you are on hacker news I assume you do something with software. Any skills that you picked up back then that are useful today?
I’ll credit Quake for helping/exposing me to networking, filesystems, and shaders at a young age - one of the few games that truly encouraged (à la Quake Console) making modifications and setting booleans to configure settings. That was enough at the time to encourage me to teach myself JavaScript, PHP, and SQL - as I had some web projects in mind that I needed to execute on for the Quake clan I founded. This later became freelance, which later became a side gig through school. I was also grateful for the various sponsorships and earnings at the time so I could keep my equipment up to date and pay for storage.
Fast forward a bit, and I’ve mostly worked in SecEng at a number of great companies, most of them popular FinTech and FAANGs..I’m extremely fortunate and have been able to work at all my favorite companies. I’d like to think at minimum, Quake prepared me professionally be meticulous in my craft, study human pattern behaviors, and know when to take risk.
Lastly, I can (hopefully) better answer your question in a few years as I am just now working through switching careers completely to become a Motion Designer. There’s something extremely appealing to me to be able to work with 3D + Engineering, while still being able to solve problems AND feel creative at the same time.
..maybe this desire stems from Quake, maybe not. Either way, Quake has a permanent location in my heart.
I think early pc shooters (doom, quake, unreal, etc) had a whole legion of kids learn the basics of computing. typing commands in a console. Understanding latency, what servers meant. Installing mods and drivers. It was a fantastic, motivating introduction to system administration.
UT99 did it for me. The game had a built in IRC client. That exposed me to the community outside of the game itself. And then once I heard the game ran better under Linux… my fate was sealed.
I have been playing Quake since Quake World and dial up. For Quake Live I was ranked highly for a while in RA. It's true that if you were close enough to the server you could get a better experience, but in western Canada servers were limited. In the past though, even with a good ping, rails were much more likely to hit on LAN. The changes to the net code in Quake Live were a welcomed change for myself.
As a note, I recently played for the first time in over 10 years. I got banned until 2029 from the main RA3 sever most people play on because I achieved 60%+ accuracy in a match and people thought I was cheating.
I also got the aim bot achievement from Steam as a result, which only 3.6% of other players have.
Back in the day I had a very tiny sponsorship with HyperGlide where I tested their products before the launch. They are credited for making the first hard surface mouse pad. I only received mouse pads, but I was happy to receive this.
What’s the story around the Unlagged mod was that a mod you remember? It was mentioned in the blog post curious if it was popular and if it eventually got iD's attention to implement something similar officially?
One thing to keep in mind is a lot of mods were frowned upon or flat out not allow at all, especially as you can imagine with playing competitive. Once PunkBuster did finally get release for Q3, there was also a bit of hesitation from ranked players on making any non-typical modifications to the game out of fear of being banned. That said, aimbot was a huge issue with Q3 and rarely did I witness PunkBuster do its job.
iD tends to be very tight lipped about things from my limited interactions with them, even in person at Quake Cons..but I do know they were all hanging out on the same forums and places the players were at - so my hunch is they were aware of it.
PunkBuster was a PITA, but there were popular mods like DeFRaG, CPMA (Pro Mode), and RA3. There were also other full on games built like Urban Terror by Sandstorm.
Most of the popular mods were rolled in as game modes though.
I mostly lived in modded Q3A - held a few world records in DeFRaG from time to time, but none that were important. I miss those days, they were the best of times :D
I would like to respectfully provide the suggestion of allowing for the use of Arc without being signed into an account. Although I understand browser/device sync is part of most modern browsers, and the value it provides, normally it is a choice to use this feature. Arc still provides a lot of attractive features, even without browser sync on.
I wish people would stop going on about BSD jails as if they are the same. I would recommend at least using jails first. Most people using container technologies are well versed in BSD jails, as well as other technologies such as LXD, CRI-O, Micro VM's, and traditional virtualization technologies (KVM).
You will encounter rough edges with any technology if you use it long enough. Container technologies require learning new skills, and this is where I personally see people often get frustrated. There is also the lean left mentality of container environments, where you are expected to be responsible for your environment, which is difficult for some. I.E. users become responsible for more then in a traditional virtualizated environment. People didn't stop using VM's, they just started using containers as well. What you should use is dependent on the workload. When you have to manage more then a single VM, and work on a larger team, the value of containers becomes more apparent. Not to mention the need to rapidly patch and update in today's environment. Often VM's don't get patched because applications aren't architected in a way to allow for updates without downtime, although it is possible. There is a mentality of 'if it's not broke, don't fix it'. There is some truth that virtualized hardware can provide bounds of seperation as well, but other things like selinux also enforce these boundaries. Not to mention containers are often running inside VM's as well.
Using ephemeral VM's is not a new concept. The idea of 'cattle vs pets', and cloud, was built on KVM (OpenStack/AWS).
