I tried a bunch of Linux Distributions and FreeBSD before mostly settling on MacOS, but never actually got around to running it.

Glad to see OpenBSD is still being actively developed.

As for Desktop vs Laptop, that is relevant too. Desktops are typically much faster than Laptops because they are allowed much larger power envelopes, which leads to more cores and higher clock speeds for sustained periods of time. However, there is always a question as to whether your use case will be able to use all 16/32 cores/threads in a 9950X CPU. If not, you may not notice much difference with a smaller processor.

Source for CPU benchmarks: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/6211vs5031vs3862vs5717/...

When it just gives me the answer, I usually understand but then find that my long-term retention is relatively poor.

That is not an excuse for it being poorly done or unvetted (which I think is the crux of the point), but it’s important to state any sources used.

If i don’t want to receive AI generated content, i can use the attribution to filter it out.

And by “done properly,” i mean done in a regimented way with evals to verify that a wide range of inputs produce the desired outputs.

Prompting is much closer to discovering the properties of an already existing system than building something using engineering methods.

I find them to be super useful for things that I don't already know how to do, e.g. a framework or library that I'm not familiar with. It can then give me approximate code that I will probably need to modify a fair bit, but that I can use as the basis for my work. Having an LLM code a preliminary solution is often more efficient than jumping to reading the docs immediately. I do usually need to read the docs, but by the time I look at them, I already know what I need to look up and have a feasible approach in my head.

If I know exactly how I would build something, an LLM isn't as useful, although I will admit that sometimes an LLM will come up with a clever algorithm that I wouldn't have thought up on my own.

I think that, for everyone who has been an engineer for some time, we already have a way that we write code, and LLMs are a departure. I find that I need to force myself to try them for a variety of different tasks. Over time, I understand them better and become better at integrating them into my workflows.

I think it’s a challenging environment for developers who are either inexperienced or who have skills that are out of date. I have found that companies are a bit more picky than i remember about knowing the exact tech stack they use, but they are still making offers and those offers are pretty good.

Note that I’m applying mostly to mid-sized non-public companies. I’m not sure what it’s like applying to MAANG-types right now.

With that said, I find that they are very helpful for a lot of tasks, and improve my productivity in many ways. The types of things that I do are coding and a small amount of writing that is often opinion-based. I will admit that I am somewhat of a hacker, and more broad than deep. I find that LLMs tend to be good at extending my depth a little bit.

From what I can tell, Sabine Hossenfelder is an expert in physics, and I would guess that she already is pretty deep in the areas that she works in. LLMs are probably somewhat less useful at this type of deep, fact-based work, particularly because of the issue where LLMs don't have access to paywalled journal articles. They are also less likely to find something that she doesn't know (unlike with my use cases, where they are very likely to find things that I don't know).

What I have been hearing recently is that it will take a long time for LLMs will be better than humans at everything. However, they are already better than many many humans at a lot of things.

There is a draft specification for OAuth in MCP, and hopefully this is supported soon.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43196046

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

With that said, I think that LaunchDarkly and the like are a bit expensive and heavyweight for many orgs, and leaving too many feature flags lying around can become serious debt. It totally makes sense to start with something lighter weight, e.g. an env var or a quick homegrown feature in ActiveAdmin.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42880286

Points: 7

# Comments: 1

I wonder how much it would cost to have someone replace the BGA NAND chips in my Macbook. Apple charges $6-800 for a 2TB upgrade for a Macbook (depending on whether it's a 250 or 500GB drive originally). Someone would have to be able to do it for like $2-300 for it to be a feasible upgrade, especially considering that my warranty would be void. I assume there are people overseas who could do it cheaply. I assume it would be fairly quick for someone who knows what they are doing.