Spyke

Replies

Comment on

Boys, don't dev alone or you'll end up with a git log like mine

Reply in thread

I'm not sure if any of those commits did, but I worked 2 years doing Haskell backend and jQuery+Bootstrap frontend for Masterword. Before that I did some work for Wire: https://github.com/wireapp/wire-server/commits?author=stephen-smith Before that, I worked at TGCS for nearly a decade.

But, right now I am still looking for work. I've actually been looking since April 2025 when my time at Masterword ended, but I did update my "hire me" posts back in February because my living situation changed, opening up more opportunities. Originally I needed something remote so I could continue to take care of my father (RIP), now relocation is certainly an option.

If anyone reading this has a position available, or is just curios, my current resume public: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ORf48b557nK0gYI4h6J0xP7nzOVRoqtOogYsukUMREU

Comment on

Meet Potential Language

Reply in thread

Agreed. I don't think it should be called typing; it's more tagging (yes, like tagged unions). But, I don't think I'll see that semantic shift in my lifetime.

Anyway, I prefer my types static and my functions curried, which is why I do PureScript, Idris, and Haskell for my personal projects.

Comment on

Tipping

Reply in thread

As wish many things American, it goes back to slavery. Tipped workers were a way for employers to avoid paying (mostly black) workers, effectively providing slavery-lite even after slavery had ended (Happy Juneteenth).

In any case, current U.S. labor law has specific carve-outs for certain tipped jobs that allow the minimal wage to be not the already unlivable $7.25/hr but the unsustainable $2.15/hr. Technically, employers are required to bring a tipped workers pay up to $7.25/hr if they do not report enough tips, but in practice employers encourage reporting incorrect tips and find reasons (if needed) to dismiss employees that do not report enough tips.

Fisherman, Sailor, Teamster, and Chef are not tipped positions. Waitstaff is a tipped position.

Comment on

Meet Potential Language

Reply in thread

If you read the literature, particularly "Types and Programming Language", you'll find that "dynamic typing" isn't even considered typing. If you can have a type error at runtime you've defeated the reason to add a type system: to reduce runtime errors. The hope is that "well-typed programs don’t go wrong" tho there are some limits to what any type system can do (e.g. Rice's Theorem).

That said. Static v. Dynamic is much more precise than Strong v. Weak and should be preferred.

Implicit v. Manifest is less useful just because it's a broad spectrum, basically inculcating how much type inference is done and "how much" generally depends a lot the input program(s). Haskell does whole-program inference, tho GHC (the only Haskell compiler) has a number of syntactic forms that can't be inferred. Scala only does local inference. C doesn't infer types, though is gets close with how it treats functions with no-argument in the prototype and varargs stuff. C++ uses auto for some type inference, which is still somewhat manifest, but also mostly implicit.

I think weak typing is a good name for when there are invisible coercions, but that doesn't actually have much to do with proper types.

Anyway, great comment, If more people would use static/dynamic and explicit/implicit instead of strong/weak, there'd be less miscommunication.

Comment on

Tipping

Reply in thread

Yes and "tipping" has gone insane. Not just amounts (tho even when I was a child, my parents consider 10% the bare minimum) but also you get prompted to leave a tip for transactions that don't involve a tipped position.

My experience is from one of the shittier states for workers (Arkansas), right-to-work effectively eliminates all union activity, the state would remove the minimum wage if it could, and there's even people that want to make it easier for 14-18 year olds to work.

Comment on

It got my shoelace [Puddlemunch]

It's a good comic, but escalators can kill: https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/07/27/escalator-death-china-cctv.cnn

I'd like to think that even if your shoelace got caught that either the lace would fail or your fit would fail (and the shoe would come off) before your person got caught, and if not that, hopefully someone would be able to find the emergency stop before you were mortally injured.

But, be careful out there. It's getting increasingly rare for organization responsible for maintenance and safety to be held meaningfully liable, even though many safety regulations are "written in blood".

Comment on

Tipping

Reply in thread

While the waitstaff has particular challenges in U.S. labor law (lower effective federal minimum wage), it is not safe to assume any of the other workers in the chain are still paid a living wage either.

Comment on

Tipping

Reply in thread

But the people who directly benefit will still fight you on it.

Is that still true? Even back when I has tipped workers as peers, their attitudes were mixed. If you have any polling data, that would be appreciated -- but, I don't have any data either, just vague memories.

Comment on

📡📡📡

Reply in thread

I think the problem is objectification. It's fiction and fantasy, but in the case of a live-action movie, there's a real person under the fictions, and we need to remember that.

Comment on

Tipping

Reply in thread

If you have a family you can divvy up those tasks to all care for one another. You can make a fine meal without a lot of specialist equipment. One sharp knife, one big spoon, and one pot can make a good soup with the right ingredients.

Comment on

I miss when Microsoft used to be honest

Reply in thread

The font and color match the shutdown screen from release versions of MS Windows 95, as far as I can tell / if I recall correctly.

(Also IIRC, ACPI was new enough that MS Windows 95 [or any software] couldn't actually turn off most of the machines it was installed on, which is why the screen exists at all.)

Comment on

These things became common sense for a reason

Reply in thread

If I'm actually being productive at bed time, fsck it. I'll get back in sync later.

But, I think most of the time I stay up too late, I'm not actually accomplishing anything. I'm either playing games that I will enjoy just as much, maybe even more, if I practice good sleep hygiene. Or, I'm letting some recommendation algorithm drip-free me neurotransmitters, and that's not worth disrupting your sleep routine.