Category: Culture

Real DevOps do/dont – a list

Posted on by Morgan

[hint: this is not a serious post, I'm sorry if you feel attacked by this]

Inspired by Google search results for "Real Devs dont" (https://www.google.com/search?q=%22real+developers+dont%22).

  • Real Devs don't use UI - they use CLIs instead (https://terminaltrove.com/).
  • Real Devs don't need an IDE like VSCode, instead they code in production using Vim (and of course real devs use Nano. No, Emacs, https://xkcd.com/378/ ).
  • Real Devs don't use frameworks, they use libs.
  • Real Devs don't comment their code, there is no time for that.
  • Real Devs don't test their code, instead they throw all changes in production to save time.
  • Real Devs don't use their trackpad, instead they do practice touch typing (https://www.typingstudy.com/) and learn every app shortcut by heart, or build their own.
  • Real Devs don't need unit tests, instead they build programming skills.
  • Real Devs don't use debuggers, instead they stare at the stack trace for hours.
  • Real Devs don't joke or laugh at work, instead they blame every failure on poor colleagues competency.
  • Real Devs don't use Website builders, instead they code in raw HTML and CSS and throw JS away.
  • Real Devs don't trust anyone.
  • Real Devs use mechanical keyboards.

Piracy is now the rule, not the exception

Posted on by Morgan

This is so to the point: OpenAI Furious DeepSeek Might Have Stolen All the Data OpenAI Stole From Us (404media.co), thanks to Y. C. for sharing.

The question: if Meta and OpenAI are allowed to steal copyrighted content and make money out of it and out of any legal consent, and if all the LibGen/ZLib/Anna's Archive content was sniffed by AI models it means each of those big tech companies consider it is legal to steal content and grow their business without respect for the law. I would assume so that if this kind of act of piracy is treated as necessary for businesses, piracy is de facto legalized and commoditized.

They are all pirating content directly or indirectly by using AI models or libraries that make this content accessible to any mere mortal and for every business.

I do agree with Anna & their team, this is a clear evolution of the jurisprudence and a copyright reform is therefore needed. Until then, there is no ethical distinction between big tech and "pirates". See also Copyright reform is necessary for national security (annas-archive.li)

Sans

Posted on by Morgan

Can you live a day at work and at home "sans"?

Sans smartphone?

We used to boot a computer and even a modem and be actually productive and enjoy life without checking for news, notifications, or email every 15 minutes.

Sans version control conflicture crap due to using Git-ware conflict-friendly patterns?

We used to just work together on code and discuss code, without focusing on the version control tooling.

Sans CI/CD tools to validate your work?

We used to validate our work before committing, in the old days.

Sans markdown?

We used to be able to read and write text without non-sense formatting, HTML was even a thing.

Sans proprietary note taking digital tools (Obsidian, Notion)?

We used to take notes on paper or in our own text editors in the past and format our notes in "raw" HTML.

Sans LLM for coding?

We used to reason about code and go read a programming language book or ask for help from colleagues in case of doubt.

Sans daily upgrades and ads and other modern web crap?

We used to have nice experience with computers.

In a world that used to be simple, what other "sans" would you can think of?

Blog Questions Challenge

Posted on by Morgan

Influenced by https://kevquirk.com/blog/blog-questions-challenge based on an original idea from https://brandons-journal.com/bear-blog-questions-challenge/.

This is a meta post you will find on various blogs nowadays, anyway I find the answers so interesting when shared by other people, hence are mine.

The questions are:

  1. Why did you start blogging in the first place?
  2. What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?
  3. Have you blogged on other platforms before?
  4. How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that's part of your blog?
  5. When do you feel most inspired to write?
  6. Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?
  7. What's your favourite post on your blog?
  8. Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?1.

1. Why did you start blogging in the first place?

I wanted to share cool links to free games and free apps, in french, and mostly because I couldn't find such specialized blogs in the French speaking community.

2. What platform are you using to manage your blog and why did you choose it?

My first blog was hosted at Jeuxvideo.com, it was about free and open source video games and apps. Then I pivoted to blogotext hosted on free.fr to write about some productivity tools.

Following the hype I tried static site generators such as Hugo and Zola without much success as it was painful to feel like debugging whenever I wanted to maintain the tooling or customize my blog.

I've migrated the content of my blogotext to a WordPress hosted on OVH and that got me back into writing, for a time at least.

Nowadays I'm using WordPress managed on my Cloudron instance and hosted at Contabo on my own VPS. I like the stability of WordPress and the ease to just be able to write anywhere using any device, any browser. Without caring about the maintenance of any tooling, upgrades etc.

3. Do you publish immediately after writing, or do you let it simmer a bit as a draft?

I tend to write best when I don't overthink, yet I suffer ADHD and I have 51 blog posts in draft state, I can't help.

4. Have you blogged on other platforms before?

I've only posted on a hosted platform in the past which was jeuxvideo.com. I do not believe anymore in the longevity of platforms after exiting a few social networks and few forums and communities. I've also observed the death of platforms I had invested time into.

5. How do you write your posts? For example, in a local editing tool, or in a panel/dashboard that's part of your blog?

Right in the WordPress editor, in my browser (btw, it's Brave).

6. When do you feel most inspired to write?

When I need to escape my thoughts and surrounding. When I'm expressing a problem or rant or anxiety. Or when I have to think clearly about a topic or elaborate my answer to an existing thread.

7. What's your favourite post on your blog?

Not posts but likely the 😵‍💫 Guilty page which is about things I like too much.

8. Any future plans for your blog? Maybe a redesign, a move to another platform, or adding a new feature?

I'd like to keep the tooling minimal with HTML or plaintext. I do not like Markdown much, likely I'm a nostalgic.