You’ve got a great big server that’s capable of supporting multiple users. Everybody wants to run a web server. This would be great, but alas, archaic decisions made long ago mean that network sockets aren’t really files and there’s this weird concept of privileged ports. Maybe we could assign each user a virtual machine and let them do whatever they want, but that seems wasteful. Think of the megabytes! Maybe we could setup nginx.conf to proxy all incoming connections to a process of the user’s choosing, but that only works for web sites and we want to be protocol neutral. Maybe we could use iptables, but nobody wants to do that.

more...

Configuring an HP laptop, came across this gem.

I like that I get a choice, but is it really necessary to tack on a $2 fee? If I have to choose one or the other, maybe just include it in the listed price? I thought airlines were bad...

Possibly related to this great option:

It’s a tough choice, but somebody has to make it. And pay $22 for the privilege.

How big is the ideal team? How do we organize it?

more...

Saving up a bunch of changes for a very special treat.

more...

Got a new spam today, subject “hard facts”, which was actually kind of interesting. There was a link, which obviously not clicking, but the body was a reply to an email I had allegedly sent. Here’s what I said:

Be careful with shitcoins. They tend to market themselves based on the latest trendy arguments against btc.

First it was the confirmation time then mining algorithm then inflation schedule
and recently, unfairly distributed, incomplete shitcoins are hyped on the grounds
of smart contracts, usually asking you to buy in their "crowdsale" or "IPO".

That’s so on target I thought maybe it really was an email I’d sent. Is it still spam if I agree with it?

Moving on, getting in to some good stuff.

more...

Some observations regarding edge vs chrome. Not a complete investigation, some aspects not mentioned may have been outside the scope of inquiry.

more...

Another chapter from the ongoing quest to find an efficient music player, this time tackling the unexplored wilderness of Windows. I have a new Surface, which I sometimes use to watch a video or two, then read a web page. Since I already have my headphones on and connected to the Surface, why not listen to the music while I’m at it?

more...

I wanted to read, or reread, some books, but couldn’t decide which ones, so figured reading all of them at once would be the best solution. In particular, I’d read Coders at Work about the time it came out, and liked it, then skimmed it again recently. The second time through I still liked it, but I noticed new things. I should reread the whole thing. And what about these other books I’m always certain to install on each Kindle but never quite read? My favorite unread books.

more...

All the cool kids are clashing their stacks, and all the cool developers are trying to reduce stack usage. In the midst of this, it is revealed that calling alloca can be difficult.

For starters, we might look at this fine patch removing alloca from a function in glibc. I’m mostly interested in the first chunk. That’s quite the incantation to prototype a function.

Another variant of the alloca spellbook is in bash. This version supports a different set of operating systems.

As Ben Franklin never said, “Beer is proof God loves us and wants us to be happy.” The ifdef maze one encounters trying to call alloca is proof your compiler hates you and you will be unhappy.