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What to read to become a better writer
https://www.economist.com/the-economist-reads/2022/09/09/what-to-read-to-become-a-better-writer, posted 1 Dec by peter in howto list reference toread writing
Yes, writing is hard. But if you can first grasp the origins and qualities of bad writing, you may learn to diagnose and cure problems in your own prose (keeping things simple helps a lot). Similarly heartening is the observation that most first drafts are second-rate, so becoming a skilled rewriter is the thing. These five works are excellent sources of insight and inspiration.
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Håll dem stången — Institutet för de inhemska språken
https://www.sprakinstitutet.fi/sv/publikationer/sprakspalter/reuters_rutor_1986_2013/2010/hall_dem_stangen, posted 18 Jul by peter in inswedish language reference sweden
Det svenska uttrycket, liksom dess tyska förebild ”einem die Stange halten” har enligt Svenska Akademiens ordbok två olika ursprung, med från början lite olika betydelse. I det första fallet avser stången en lans eller motsvarande, och uttrycket bygger på att första ledet i en äldre stridsordning hade lansar som vapen som de höll mot fienden — och så länge de höll fienden stången kunde fienden inte ta sig framåt. Det andra fallet bygger på att skiljedomaren vid en medeltida tvekamp skilde de stridande åt med en stång när den ena parten gav upp och förklarade sig övervunnen. En numera utdöd variant av det uttrycket var ”hålla stången rätt emellan (två personer)”, med betydelsen ’medla på rätt sätt’.
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The A to Z of economics
https://www.economist.com/economics-a-to-z?etear=nl_special_1, posted Mar '23 by peter in finance list reference
Economic terms, from “absolute advantage” to “zero-sum game”, explained to you in plain English
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Git - git-worktree Documentation
https://git-scm.com/docs/git-worktree, posted Jun '22 by peter in development documentation howto reference versioncontrol
In its simplest form,
git worktree add <path>
automatically creates a new branch whose name is the final component of<path>
, which is convenient if you plan to work on a new topic. For instance,git worktree add ../hotfix
creates new branchhotfix
and checks it out at path../hotfix
. To instead work on an existing branch in a new worktree, usegit worktree add <path> <branch>
. On the other hand, if you just plan to make some experimental changes or do testing without disturbing existing development, it is often convenient to create a throwaway worktree not associated with any branch. For instance,git worktree add -d <path>
creates a new worktree with a detachedHEAD
at the same commit as the current branch.If a working tree is deleted without using
git worktree remove
, then its associated administrative files, which reside in the repository (see "DETAILS" below), will eventually be removed automatically (seegc.worktreePruneExpire
in git-config[1]), or you can rungit worktree prune
in the main or any linked worktree to clean up any stale administrative files.
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Damn Cool Algorithms: Levenshtein Automata
blog.notdot.net/2010/07/Damn-Cool-Algorithms-Levenshtein-Automata, posted Mar '22 by peter in development nlp reference text toread
The basic insight behind Levenshtein automata is that it's possible to construct a Finite state automaton that recognizes exactly the set of strings within a given Levenshtein distance of a target word. We can then feed in any word, and the automaton will accept or reject it based on whether the Levenshtein distance to the target word is at most the distance specified when we constructed the automaton. Further, due to the nature of FSAs, it will do so in O(n) time with the length of the string being tested. Compare this to the standard Dynamic Programming Levenshtein algorithm, which takes O(mn) time, where m and n are the lengths of the two input words! It's thus immediately apparrent that Levenshtein automaton provide, at a minimum, a faster way for us to check many words against a single target word and maximum distance - not a bad improvement to start with!
Of course, if that were the only benefit of Levenshtein automata, this would be a short article. There's much more to come, but first let's see what a Levenshtein automaton looks like, and how we can build one.
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Selling Software To Large Businesses
https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/enterprise_sales, posted Mar '22 by peter in business entrepreneurship howto reference startup
I was under a common engineer misapprehension that BFE [Big Freaking Enterprise] sales requires playing golf, inviting clients to steak dinners, and having budgets beyond to reach of small businesses. This is not 100% true: you can hack the BFE procurement process to your advantage. Let's dig into how.
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Conventional Commits
https://www.conventionalcommits.org/, posted 2021 by peter in development documentation git reference versioncontrol
The Conventional Commits specification is a lightweight convention on top of commit messages. It provides an easy set of rules for creating an explicit commit history; which makes it easier to write automated tools on top of. This convention dovetails with SemVer, by describing the features, fixes, and breaking changes made in commit messages.
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Faster Maven builds
https://blog.frankel.ch/faster-maven-builds/1/, posted 2021 by peter in development howto java performance reference
I want to detail some techniques you can leverage to make your Maven builds faster in this post. The following post will focus on how to do the same inside of Docker.
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Spreadsheet Formulas for Personal Finance
https://bou.ke/blog/formulas/, posted 2021 by peter in finance howto list math reference toread
I love spreadsheets. Spreadsheet programs like Microsoft's Excel, Apple's Numbers and Google Sheets are the secret heroes of our civilization.
I've also been interested in personal finance and the FIRE community for a while—not so much in the early retirement aspect but in the financial literacy it teaches its members. I have combined my passion for both into one mega-spreadsheet that I use to track my income, expenses, savings and investments in one overview. While creating this spreadsheet I got proficient in some new formulas, which I'll share here—and also write down for my own reference.
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6 things you should do before you finish your recording session
https://diymusician.cdbaby.com/music-career/6-things-you-should-do-before-you-finish-your-recording-session/, posted 2021 by peter in audio howto list music reference
So you're all done recording your next song. You've laid down final takes for all the tracks, mixed everything and decided on the final master. Congrats!
But before you call it a day and prepare to distribute to streaming platforms, there are a few things many musicians forget to do that can take their song to the next level.