Hacker News: scott_w

New comment by scott_w in "Python 3.14 garbage collection rigamarole"

scott_w — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 10:29:21 +0000

> If you had worked with such system before

You mean software that has to be deployed locally? Like the example I gave?

> you'd know the world of difference

It's actually worse. The longer you take to get a fixed version out there, the more people will install the buggy version. As distribution is more difficult than just merging a Github PR, that buggy version will live longer on live systems. And before you say "but it's on the developer/DevOps/sysadmin to test," I point you to the countless CVEs where this didn't happen.

Knowing this is the situation, it's unconscionable to leave a faulty build on live for longer than necessary, when you can rollback the change with limited risk.

New comment by scott_w in "Python 3.14 garbage collection rigamarole"

scott_w — Mon, 15 Jun 2026 06:06:26 +0000

Your argument is, frankly, idiotic. If a version of Windows, or any deployed software, has a performance regression, do you consider it “not a live product” because you didn’t personally install it yet?

I really don’t have words. When people bemoan the state of software engineering, your comment here is exactly what they’re talking about.

New comment by scott_w in "Python 3.14 garbage collection rigamarole"

scott_w — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 21:31:27 +0000

You're simply incorrect here. The GC was in versions 3.14.0 to 3.14.4. See https://docs.python.org/3/whatsnew/3.14.html#whatsnew314-inc...

On what planet is the currently released version of any software "not a live system?"

New comment by scott_w in "Python 3.14 garbage collection rigamarole"

scott_w — Sun, 14 Jun 2026 06:04:03 +0000

Anyone who’s worked in incident response will tell you why you’re wrong.

Tweaking the GC while the system was functionally broken is the worst time to do it. Correct incident response is revert first, figure out how to fix it later.

New comment by scott_w in "Python JIT project was asked to pause development"

scott_w — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 19:02:35 +0000

"It" is the PEP that the Steering Committee are asking for. I'm not on the committee and I don't know how to write a JIT to meet the requirements.

What I don't understand is "what is your position?" Is is that writing a PEP is unnecessary because adding a JIT to Python could trivially meet the goals you state?

My position is simple: adding a JIT is a major change to the language, so of course it should undergo a PEP and answer the major questions that the steering committee put forward. If you think those questions are trivial, then that's ok. Just answer them in the PEP.

> And if it has to be approved by someone who responds like this, it clearly wouldn't be fun either.

I really don't see why you'd think I would be representative of the steering committee's opinions or attitudes. Do I share a name with one of the members?

New comment by scott_w in "LLMs are eroding my software engineering career and I don't know what to do"

scott_w — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 16:43:41 +0000

This makes sense because these companies want to become large companies and contract with large companies. Large companies, by and large, try to follow the law (while trying to bend it to the limit) because they're aware they have a big target on their back and no CEO wants to be on the front page of the papers for tanking a company in such a stupid fashion.

New comment by scott_w in "LLMs are eroding my software engineering career and I don't know what to do"

scott_w — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 16:40:38 +0000

That's why you work with your Legal/Compliance Team to make sure you stay in line. They can explain when a rule applies and when it doesn't. This needs the engineering side to be able to explain what's happening, and translate it into the business process as closely as possible, and the legal side to be able to apply the law to the case.

New comment by scott_w in "Python JIT project was asked to pause development"

scott_w — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 10:08:37 +0000

I don’t know why you keep bringing up Python being dynamic, it’s not particularly relevant. What matters is the content of the request which is to outline how the feature should work and be maintained over time before it can be accepted.

What’s your position? That we should allow an extremely complex system into Python with:

- No clear design goal?

- No maintenance plan?

- No discussion with the steering committee?

PyPy and Jython, and others are not built by the Python team and there has never been a suggestion that any of these systems would be part of CPython.

So again, I still don’t see how different implementations of Python are relevant to the discussion about CPython.

New comment by scott_w in "Python JIT project was asked to pause development"

scott_w — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 06:09:15 +0000

Except it’s not. The intention of JIT in CPython is to make it into the main branch feature complete. If they can’t get the necessary support then it won’t be relegated to niche uses, it’ll be abandoned and need a new effort to get off the ground.

Not even remotely the same context.

New comment by scott_w in "Python JIT project was asked to pause development"

scott_w — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 05:35:03 +0000

Default list/dict arguments is the one that comes to mind. Yes, I know why it happens, no, it’s still bad because it trips up every beginner.

New comment by scott_w in "Python JIT project was asked to pause development"

scott_w — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 05:24:15 +0000

If it’s so easy then writing a PEP and getting it approved in 6 months will be trivial.

New comment by scott_w in "Python JIT project was asked to pause development"

scott_w — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 05:22:58 +0000

I understand your words, I don’t understand why you think they’re relevant to the discussion.

New comment by scott_w in "Python JIT project was asked to pause development"

scott_w — Sun, 07 Jun 2026 04:33:24 +0000

So why did you bring them up…

New comment by scott_w in "Python JIT project was asked to pause development"

scott_w — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 20:57:35 +0000

JIT in CPython has nothing to do with PyPy or GraalPy: it's its own thing. If they can't get a PEP accepted within 6 months then it's best that the code isn't weighing on the main codebase until an approach can be agreed, at which point work integrating it into main can restart. It's not an all-or-nothing situation.

New comment by scott_w in "Python JIT project was asked to pause development"

scott_w — Sat, 06 Jun 2026 19:38:52 +0000

No, it’s a simple request to fully investigate the options before committing a massive piece of work to Python. We’ve seen bad implementations of things land before and now live forever. And frankly, if the team can’t pull together a strong maintenance plan, it can’t be allowed to remain in main.

New comment by scott_w in "Mornings and nights no longer exist at 47C: A day in the hottest place in India"

scott_w — Thu, 04 Jun 2026 21:57:39 +0000

Pretty sure there’s a middle ground between “forced sterilisation” and “boil humans to death in 50°C heat,” don’t you?

New comment by scott_w in "Why are large language models so terrible at video games?"

scott_w — Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:39:35 +0000

I think it’s good to remember that, just 2 years ago, we were having conversations with people convinced LLMs were intelligent and possibly sentient. It’s really good to a) point out that they’re not demonstrating general intelligence and b) why they aren’t a good fit for this type of problem.

New comment by scott_w in "Google employee charged with $1M Polymarket insider trading bet on search term"

scott_w — Thu, 28 May 2026 09:42:29 +0000

Are they voluntarily participating if they’re being lied to about what they’re participating in? What distinguishes the whole thing from fraud?

New comment by scott_w in "A scoping review of bicycling interventions’ impacts on well-being"

scott_w — Fri, 22 May 2026 20:42:01 +0000

> Not scientific but I enjoy actually going somewhere. Jogging you can get to places in your neighborhood, but cycling I can get to places in my region.

You just reminded me of my holiday to Biarritz in April where my wife received a text: "Should be back in about an hour or so, I'm just riding back from Spain."

New comment by scott_w in "A scoping review of bicycling interventions’ impacts on well-being"

scott_w — Fri, 22 May 2026 20:39:22 +0000

While I haven't given up driving, the fact that I don't rely on it to commute (granted I work from home rather than cycling) means that when I do drive, my relative frustration is really low. About the only thing that annoys me is dangerous driving... for obvious reasons!