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xthexder

@ xthexder @l.sw0.com

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825
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • What are some cool and obscure data structure you know of?

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  • 22 characters is significantly less useful than 255 characters. I use this for resource name keys, asset file paths, and a few other scenarios. The max size is configurable, so I know that nothing I am going to store is ever going to require heap allocations (really bad to be doing every frame in a game engine).

    I developed this specifically after benchmarking a simpler version and noticed a significant amount of time being spent in strlen(), and it had real benefits in my case.Admittedly just storing a struct with a static buffer and separate size would have worked pretty much the same and eliminated the 255 char limitation, but it was fun to build.

  • What are some cool and obscure data structure you know of?

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  • One cool trick that can be used with circular buffers is to use memory mapping to map the same block of memory to 2 consecutive virtual address blocks. That way you can read the entire contents of the buffer as if it was just a regular linear buffer with an offset.

  • What are some cool and obscure data structure you know of?

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  • I came up with a kind of clever data type for storing short strings in a fixed size struct so they can be stored on the stack or inline without any allocations.It's always null-terminated so it can be passed directly as a C-style string, but it also stores the string length without using any additional data (Getting the length would normally have to iterate to find the end).The trick is to store the number of unused bytes in the last character of the buffer. When the string is full, there are 0 unused bytes and the size byte overlaps the null terminator.(Only works for strings < 256 chars excluding null byte)

    Implementation in C++ here: https://github.com/frustra/strayphotons/blob/master/src/common/common/InlineString.hh

  • How the AI ‘bubble’ compares to history

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  • It's not actually the transistors that break down in flash memory. Flash memory works by storing charges in what is effectively a grid of capacitors, and in order for the data to remain stored, the insulating oxide layers in the cells need to be preserved. Every time a cell gets written, a charge is forced through the insulation with high voltage, and this degrades the insulation. A single flash cell might only have a few 1000 writes before this insulation goes bad and it no longer holds data. Modern SSDs have wear levelling techniques to make the drive as a whole last longer.

    Transistors on the other hand don't have any inherent degradation that I'm aware of other than external factors like corrosion. The first thing that's likely to die on a GPU is the electrolytic capacitors in the power filtering electronics, which have fluid in them that dries out over many years.

  • LLMS Are Not Fun

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  • Elaborate?

  • Today in “Google Broke Email”

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  • This guy should be smart enough to realize he's complaining about not getting free storage from Google. You can't just run a business off other people's infrastructure and expect it to work out without any business agreement or contract. Google Workplace is a thing, and it sounds like this guy is just cheap if he won't pay for either it or his own harddrives.

  • Today in “Google Broke Email”

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  • I still have gmail polling my old hotmail//live addresses, and it's been that way since the day I signed up. Back when the slogan was still "Don't be evil"

  • Don't believe them

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  • I guess not every place does this, because I swear the last few times I've been on hold I got transferred 2 or 3 times and had to re-explain my entire issue all over again to each person.

  • Article: I switched to eSIM in 2025, and I am full of regret

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  • What prompted you to disable your eSIM? Airplane mode works just fine on its own to temporarily disable the cellular connection, and you can turn Wifi and Bluetooth back on while in airplane mode. There's also several settings to turn off data roaming if you were worried about accidental extra charges on your phone plan.

  • Librarians Are Tired of Being Accused of Hiding Secret Books That Were Made Up by AI

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  • It's always a treat to find a new Monty Python sketch. I hadn't seen this one either and had a good laugh

  • EU creating a digital alternative to VISA/Mastercard, Canada should too.

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  • And? They operate the majority of online businesses across Canada, so good luck getting all the business to support some new payment method without integrating it into the systems they're already using. This is a practical statement, not a political one.

  • Canadians crossing U.S. land borders will now be photographed | National

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  • How did she enter? Because airports have had portrait photos taken when going through customs for years now. At the land borders, cars are photographed and x-rayed at the border, and the only time they don't ask you for ID is when they already know who you are (from something like Nexus). Maybe there's crossings in rural areas that have way less security?

    I've been traveling back and forth for the last 10-ish years, and I'm honestly confused as to what exactly is changing. It sounds like they might be adding additional checkpoints for exiting the country and taking photos at that point? I guess I'll find out on my next crossing.

  • EU creating a digital alternative to VISA/Mastercard, Canada should too.

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  • or maybe start accepting Euros to pay taxes

    Why would Canada ever accept taxes in anything but Canadian Dollars? You get paid in CAD, and taxes are automatically deducted for most jobs. Exchanging to a different country's currency first makes no sense and would give control to EU institutions for no reason?

    Canada has the resources to set up their own system. They could easily expand Interac, which covers a lot of types of transactions already, at least in-person. Online shopping is going to be an uphill battle getting all the merchants to accept more than just Visa/MasterCard, but maybe with Shopify being Canadian they could make it easy.

  • my argument is foolproof

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  • they want them to be rich, happy and healthy so they keep coming back and spending more money.

    See there's the problem right there. They don't need customers to be any of those things to suck every last cent out of them. Corporations would love nothing more than becoming a monopoly on human essentials like food, water, housing, etc... because people will go to great lengths to afford food whether they like it or not.

  • Solder-It-Yourself DDR5: Russian modders pitch the Idea of making their own RAM

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  • I guess in most cases a bunch of the ram used by things like Chrome isn't being actively used, so it makes sense it'd be fine to compress. Usually you can only see one or two tabs at a time anyway. I think for some truely memory demanding tasks like compiling there'd be a pretty noticeable difference vs actually having more ram, but it's good to know this is an option. And the SSD wear is definitely a concern with regular swap unless you go and buy some used Optane drives

  • Solder-It-Yourself DDR5: Russian modders pitch the Idea of making their own RAM

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  • I'm assuming you're using it as swap so you can take advantage of the compression? Sounds like there'd be a performance hit, but maybe turning half your RAM into compressed swap is better than using an SSD as swap?

  • Removed

    US Trade Dominance Will Soon Begin to Crack

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  • The worst thing about unenforced laws is their ability to be selectively enforced against only the people the government doesn't like.

  • UK campaigner targeted by Trump accuses tech giants of ‘sociopathic greed’

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  • I think to a lot of people "political" means specifically picking sides between Republican/Democrat unfortunately, not talking about actual policy. That seems to be how they were using it here, considering they tried defending the claim by saying they've worked with Trump's organization in the past.

    I definitely agree though, people have every reason to get political (your version) these days, and it's generally justified.

  • NVIDIA Drops Pascal Support On Linux, Causing Chaos On Arch Linux

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  • Well, regardless, the spec only cares about devices drawing more current than the host can supply, and that has always been consistent. Electricity doesn't really work in a way the host can "push" current, the only way it could do that would be with a higher voltage, which would damage anything not designed for it. But that's what the USB-PD spec is for, negotiating what voltage to supply, up to 48V now.

  • NVIDIA Drops Pascal Support On Linux, Causing Chaos On Arch Linux

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  • A USB host providing more current than the device supports isn't an issue though. A USB device simply won't draw more than it needs. There's no danger of dumping 5A into your 20 year old mouse because it defaults to a low power 100mA device. Even if the port can supply 10A / 5V or something silly, the current is limited by the voltage and load (the mouse).