2022.12.12 - A distant view requires a settled mind, “Chaotic Times” demand even more reading

2022.12.12 – Keep Your Focus from a Distance; In “Chaotic Times” Reading Is Even More Crucial

First Principles for Software Engineers & Debugging manifesto & Unpoly & How to make time for learning in tech & 读书 & 成为自己

This Week’s Highlights

Chrome, 10 years later
https://neugierig.org/software/blog/2022/12/chrome.html
It’s been about ten years since I worked on Chrome. Here are some stories that have inevitably been embellished by my memory over that decade. Treat them as maybe 60 % true. I figured I might as well write them down before I forget them completely.

First Principles Thinking for Software Engineers
https://addyosmani.com/blog/first-principles-thinking-software-engineers/
First‑principles thinking can help solve complex problems because it forces you to break a problem down to its core elements and then systematically build a solution from the ground up. This is often more effective than tackling a problem with preconceived notions or assumptions based on past experience.

A debugging manifesto
https://jvns.ca/blog/2022/12/08/a-debugging-manifesto/
Hello! I’ve been working on a zine about debugging for the last six months with my friend Marie, and one of the challenges we faced was figuring out how to describe the right attitude to adopt when debugging. We ended up writing a short debugging manifesto to open the zine, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. Here it is as an image and as text (with some extra explanations). Related: Tips for analyzing logs.

Vite 4.0 is out!
https://vitejs.dev/blog/announcing-vite4.html
Today, the Vite team, with help from our ecosystem partners, is excited to announce the release of Vite 4, powered at build time by Rollup 3. We’ve worked with the ecosystem to ensure a smooth upgrade path for this major new version. Vite now uses Rollup 3, which let us simplify Vite’s internal asset handling and brings many improvements.

We’re breaking up with JavaScript frontends
http://triskweline.de/unpoly-rugb/#/
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33934580
Unpoly enables fast, flexible front‑ends for server‑rendered HTML views. It has no dependencies and plays nicely with existing code. Related: 'Stop Writing Fake React Code'.

Can AI Write Authentic Poetry?
https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/can-ai-write-authentic-poetry/
Cognitive psychologist and poet Keith Holyoak explores whether artificial intelligence could ever achieve poetic authenticity. Related:

• LearnGPT – The best ChatGPT examples from around the web
• Bumblebee: GPT‑2, Stable Diffusion, and more in Elixir
• Historical analogies for large language models
• Apparently I am a robot
• Making ChatGPT Useful
• AI Homework
• Competitive programming with AlphaCode

Deep Reads

Is Prisma better than your “traditional” ORM?
https://practica.dev/blog/is-prisma-better-than-your-traditional-orm/
You’ll likely want Prisma in these scenarios: simple data needs; time‑to‑market outweighs processing accuracy; a relatively small database; you’re a mobile/front‑end developer taking your first steps into the back‑end; you need enterprise‑grade support; and Prisma’s long‑term business continuity risk isn’t a concern for you.

You Might Not Need a CRDT
https://driftingin.space/posts/you-might-not-need-a-crdt
In this post I first give a high‑level overview of CRDTs, then discuss why other approaches are often preferred in practice.

AWS re:Invent 2022 – Keynote with Dr. Werner Vogels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfvL_423a-I
Dr. Werner Vogels, Amazon VP and CTO, talks about the benefits of building asynchronous, loosely coupled systems and how event‑driven architecture enables global scale. He also explains how the cloud lets customers create more immersive 3D experiences and how simulation empowers new ways of experimentation and innovation.

A Look Back at 2022 for Go Game Development with Ebitengine™
https://ebitengine.org/en/blog/2022.html
It’s been nine years since I started developing Ebitengine. This article is a retrospective of Ebitengine in 2022.

Personalization Pyramid: A Framework for Designing with User Data
https://alistapart.com/article/personalization-pyramid/
After completing dozens of personalization projects over the past few years, we set ourselves a goal: could we create a holistic personalization framework specifically for UX practitioners? The Personalization Pyramid is a designer‑centric model for building human‑centered personalization programs, covering data, segmentation, content delivery, and overall goals. Using this approach, you’ll understand the core components of a modern, UX‑driven personalization program (or at least know enough to get started).

What Do Libraries Have to Do With Building a Better Internet?
http://blog.archive.org/2022/12/09/what-do-libraries-have-to-do-with-building-a-better-internet/
When thinking about how to build a better internet—one focused on the public interest and meaningful participation for everyone—libraries are key players. To fulfill that role, libraries need policies that let them thrive online. Related: Internet Archive Scholar.

Introduction to eBPF
https://coolshell.cn/articles/22320.html
I’d wanted to write an article about eBPF for a long time but never got around to it. I finally have a bit of time, so here’s a simple introduction to what eBPF does, with a few examples of how it works. This technology is incredibly powerful; Linux’s observability becomes astonishingly comprehensive, especially with BCC support. It’s not a tool for ordinary ops staff or system admins—it requires low‑level system knowledge and solid development skills.

How to Make Time for Learning in Tech
https://stackoverflow.blog/2022/12/08/how-to-make-time-for-learning-in-tech/
Everyone wants to learn more, but then sprints happen and you never find the time.

Fresh Finds

VSCode – Remote Development Even Better Introducing Passkeys in Chrome How the Mozilla Community Helps Shape Our Products New npm Features for Secure Publishing and Safe Consumption Announcing Lottie 4.0 for iOS [Introducing Codux, a New Visual IDE for Easing and Accelerating Development]

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Originally written by Ping Xia (平侠) and published in Chinese on Web技术周刊 (Web Tech Weekly). Translated and adapted for DriftSeas with permission.