Test Equipment Anonymous

tggzzz wrote: ↑Tue Oct 21, 2025 8:18 pm Small and light electrons tunnelling through barriers is ... old and boring.

So how about hydrogen atoms tunnelling through barriers?
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.5c00943
and an easier exposition at
https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/tunnel-away

Any practical applications? Didn't see anything.

MED6753 wrote: ↑Tue Oct 21, 2025 9:52 pm

tggzzz wrote: ↑Tue Oct 21, 2025 8:18 pm Small and light electrons tunnelling through barriers is ... old and boring.

So how about hydrogen atoms tunnelling through barriers?
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscentsci.5c00943
and an easier exposition at
https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/tunnel-away

Any practical applications? Didn't see anything.

One day, sir, you may tax it ;}

Looks like it is the kind of thing that might appear in drug synthesis and in-vivo.

There's always a need for better catalysts and a better understanding of catalytic processes.

Zenith wrote: ↑Wed Oct 22, 2025 1:26 pm There's always a need for better catalysts and a better understanding of catalytic processes.

I remember school chemistry lessons, which repeatedly avoided discussions of how catalysts work.

In the succeeding decades the reason teachers avoided that subject have become clearer.

At last: a name for people like me: grug. https://grugbrain.dev/

many many likes between grug brained programmer and me can't copy all so just en-belittle tablets of stone...

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grug brain developer not so smart, but grug brain developer program many long year and learn some things although mostly still confused

big brained developers are many, and some not expected to like this, make sour face THINK they are big brained developers many, many more, and more even definitely probably maybe not like this, many sour face (such is internet) (note: grug once think big brained but learn hard way)

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apex predator of grug is complexity best weapon against complexity spirit demon is magic word: "no"

"no, grug not build that feature" "no, grug not build that abstraction" "no, grug not put water on body every day or drink less black think juice you stop repeat ask now"

note, this good engineering advice but bad career advice: "yes" is magic word for more shiney rock and put in charge of large tribe of developer

sad but true: learn "yes" then learn blame other grugs when fail, ideal career advice

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grug have love/hate relationship with test: test save grug many, many uncountable time and grug love and respect test

unfortunately also many test shamans exist. some test shaman make test idol, demand things like "first test" before grug even write code or have any idea what grug doing domain! how grug test what grug not even understand domain yet!? "Oh, don't worry: the tests will show you what you need to do."

grug once again catch grug slowly reaching for club, but grug stay calm

unit tests fine, ok, but break as implementation change (much compared api!) and make refactor hard and, frankly, many bugs anyway often due interactions other code. often throw away when code change. grug write unit test mostly at start of project, help get things going but not get too attached or expect value long time

end to end tests good, show whole system work, but! hard to understand when break and drive grug crazy very often, sometimes grugs just end up ignoring because "oh, that break all time" very bad!

in-between tests, grug hear shaman call "integration tests" sometime often with sour look on face. but grug say integration test sweet spot according to grug: high level enough test correctness of system, low level enough, with good debugger, easy to see what break

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grug think agile not terrible, not good end of day, not worst way to organize development, maybe better than others grug supposes is fine

danger, however, is agile shaman! many, many shiney rock lost to agile shaman! whenever agile project fail, agile shaman say "you didn't do agile right!" grug note this awfully convenient for agile shaman, ask more shiney rock better agile train young grugs on agile, danger!

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Microservices grug wonder why big brain take hardest problem, factoring system correctly, and introduce network call too

seem very confusing to grug

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grug love tool. tool and control passion what separate grug from dinosaurs! tool allow grug brain to create code that not possible otherwise by doing thinking for grug, always good relief! grug always spend time in new place learning tools around him to maximize productivity: learn tools for two weeks make development often twice faster and often have dig around ask other developers help, no docs

code completion in IDE allow grug not have remembered all API, very important!

grug very like type systems make programming easier. for grug, type systems most value when grug hit dot on keyboard and list of things grug can do pop up magic. this 90% of value of type system or more to grug

big brain type system shaman often say type correctness main point type system, but grug note some big brain type system shaman not often ship code. grug suppose code never shipped is correct, in some sense, but not really what grug mean when say correct

grug say tool magic pop up of what can do and complete of code major most benefit of type system, correctness also good but not so nearly so much

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DRY mean Don't Repeat Self, powerful maxim over mind of most developers

grug respect DRY and good advice, however grug recommend balance in all things, as gruggest big brain aristotle recommend

over time past ten years program grug not as concerned repeat code. so long as repeat code simple enough and obvious enough, and grug begin feel repeat/copy paste code with small variation is better than many callback/closures passed arguments or elaborate object model: too hard complex for too little benefit at times

hard balance here, repeat code always still make grug stare and say "mmm" often, but experience show repeat code sometimes often better than complex DRY solution

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grug like closures for right job and that job usually abstracting operation over collection of objects

grug warn closures like salt, type systems and generics: small amount go long way, but easy spoil things too much use give heart attack

javascript developers call very special complexity demon spirit in javascript "callback hell" because too much closure used by javascript libraries very sad but also javascript developer get what deserved let grug be frank

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grug huge fan of logging and encourage lots of it, especially in cloud deployed. some non-grugs say logging expensive and not important. grug used think this way no more

funny story: grug learn idol rob pike working on logging at google and decide: "if rob pike working on logging, what grug do there?!?" so not pursue. turn out logging very important to google so of course best programmer work on it, grug!

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grug love good apis. good apis not make grug think too much

unfortunately, many apis very bad, make grug think quite a bit. this happen many reasons, here two:
API creators think in terms of implementation or domain of API, rather than in terms of use of API
API creators think too abstract and big brained

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some non-grugs, when faced with web development say:

"I know, I'll split my front end and back end codebase up and use a hot new SPA library talking to a GraphQL JSON API back end over HTTP (which is funny because I'm not transferring hypertext)"

now you have two complexity demon spirit lairs and, what is worse, front end complexity demon spirit even more powerful and have deep spiritual hold on entire front end industry as far as grug can tell

back end developers try keep things simple and can work ok, but front end developers make very complex very quickly and introduce lots of code, demon complex spirit

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grug note lots of fads in development, especially front end development today

back end better more boring because all bad ideas have tried at this point maybe (still retry some!)

still trying all bad ideas in front end development so still much change and hard to know

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note! very good if senior grug willing to say publicly: "hmmm, this too complex for grug"!

many developers Fear Of Looking Dumb (FOLD), grug also at one time FOLD, but grug learn get over: very important senior grug say "this too complicated and confuse to me" this make it ok for junior grugs to admit too complex and not understand as well, often such case! FOLD major source of complexity demon power over developer, especially young grugs!

take FOLD power away, very good of senior grug!

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Impostor Syndrome grug note many such impostor feels in development

always grug one of two states: grug is ruler of all survey, wield code club like thor OR grug have no idea what doing

grug is mostly latter state most times, hide it pretty well though

Man you software guys are weird.

Has grug been eating shaman's mushrooms?

MED6753 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 7:33 pm Man you software guys are weird.

Almost all are perfectly well-balanced people I always thought. Most are definitely on the autistic spectrum, some more than others.

EC8010 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 7:54 pm Has grug been eating shaman's mushrooms?

They do say some shrooms allow reality to be seen. I think that, although his mode of expression is primitive, grug has glimpsed reality in all its "glory".

MED6753 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 7:33 pm Man you software guys are weird.

Have you read the classic "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" ?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6de ... er%2C_Bach

tggzzz wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 10:15 pm

MED6753 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 7:33 pm Man you software guys are weird.

Have you read the classic "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" ?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6de ... er%2C_Bach

I guess I'm too much of a simpleton to understand what the fuck he's talking about.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 10:15 pm Have you read the classic "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" ?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6de ... er%2C_Bach

Copy arrived today with a thump.

EC8010 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 08, 2025 4:46 pm

tggzzz wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 10:15 pm Have you read the classic "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" ?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6de ... er%2C_Bach

Copy arrived today with a thump.

It isn't a book I could read from end-to-end: too detailed, convoluted (deliberately!), and abstruse (chosen style, difficult subjects).

It does have lots of fascinating snippets, concepts, and is thought provoking.

I don't think it is a classic that will ring down the ages, but some of it is fun - provided you like maths, software, and seeing echoes of one thing in another thing.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sat Nov 08, 2025 5:05 pm

EC8010 wrote: ↑Sat Nov 08, 2025 4:46 pm

tggzzz wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 10:15 pm Have you read the classic "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" ?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6de ... er%2C_Bach

Copy arrived today with a thump.

It isn't a book I could read from end-to-end: too detailed, convoluted (deliberately!), and abstruse (chosen style, difficult subjects).

It does have lots of fascinating snippets, concepts, and is thought provoking.

I don't think it is a classic that will ring down the ages, but some of it is fun - provided you like maths, software, and seeing echoes of one thing in another thing.

Math? Nope
Software? Nope
Echoes?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcDiOUQ ... rt_radio=1

tggzzz wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 10:15 pm

MED6753 wrote: ↑Wed Nov 05, 2025 7:33 pm Man you software guys are weird.

Have you read the classic "Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid" ?https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6de ... er%2C_Bach

Oddly enough I have a copy, which I found abandoned years ago. I've dipped into it sometimes, but never made a serious attempt to read it all through. It was left by my manager in a pile of stuff to be disposed of when he left. He and his brother were very interested in Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems. He speculated that Fermat's Last Theorem might be an example of a theorem which could not be proven.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_Last_Theorem

Since the mid 1600s many of the greats of mathematics had tackled it and got nowhere. When computers came about in the 1950s and on, searches hadn't produced a counter example. A proof was published in 1995 by Andrew Wiles.

Zenith wrote: ↑Sat Nov 08, 2025 9:53 pm I've dipped into it sometimes, but never made a serious attempt to read it all through.

That about sums it up. Interesting, but not sufficiently interesting/accessible.

A quick browse was summarised by, "I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this". There are a few interesting things in there, but the author is too keen to show how clever he is.

EC8010 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 10:01 am A quick browse was summarised by, "I'm glad I didn't pay full price for this". There are a few interesting things in there, but the author is too keen to show how clever he is.

I would have a hard time arguing against that. There is interesting stuff there, but some of it is as penetrable as ancient religious texts.

Do you have a bookshelf next to your toilet? One of my ex-lodgers (long ago) did

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 10:32 am Do you have a bookshelf next to your toilet?

No; my books aren't allowed in rooms having plumbing. Although the downstairs loo is also the transformer store with lots of (strong) shelving. If I did have a bookshelf adjacent to loo, "Scientific progress goes boink" (Calvin & Hobbes) would be there, along with a selection of Far Side (Gary Larson).

I've just had another browse (p209), "The above formula is a sentence representing, of course, the commutativity of addition." Of course. When I looked at it, it reminded me that commutativity means, "It doesn't matter which order you do it in". But the "of course" is patronising. A book should leave you with the impression, "Gosh, it's as simple as that; never understood that before", not, "What a clever chap the author is, and what a vocabulary he has." Nevertheless, I will give it a proper go because there are always some pearls. After that, it will roost next to "The Magus".

EC8010 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 11:22 am

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 10:32 am Do you have a bookshelf next to your toilet?

No; my books aren't allowed in rooms having plumbing.

Quite right too

I've just had another browse (p209), "The above formula is a sentence representing, of course, the commutativity of addition." Of course. When I looked at it, it reminded me that commutativity means, "It doesn't matter which order you do it in". But the "of course" is patronising. A book should leave you with the impression, "Gosh, it's as simple as that; never understood that before", not, "What a clever chap the author is, and what a vocabulary he has." Nevertheless, I will give it a proper go because there are always some pearls. After that, it will roost next to "The Magus".

There are a few nice snippets, IIRC, and there is a certain pleasure to seeing how dissimilar things can be connected. But you have to find them and have patience (or be bored).

Ah yes, The Magus. Read that while I was in Greece. IIRC, for it was a long time ago, my thoughts were "that's it?", followed by a wonderment about how someone could stretch so little material out for so long. I've occasionally thought that of other modern "literature".

For fun, go into a bookstore and ask the manage to explain the difference between "fiction" and "literature". If you get a coherent response ask which section contains author X. It isn't difficult to choose X to be a counterexample.

tggzzz wrote: ↑Sun Nov 09, 2025 10:32 am Do you have a bookshelf next to your toilet? One of my ex-lodgers (long ago) did

No, but I've seen it a couple of times. I've always thought it strange and impractical rather than charmingly eccentric.

It reminds me of a quote I heard a long time ago from Max Reger, a musician.

"I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before me. In a moment it shall be behind me."

Damn I miss C&H and The Far Side - two of the best cartoons ever.

-Pat

I've discovered a version of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" in early Middle English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHspDQZ ... rt_radio=1

I find it fascinating and hypnotically lyrical. Not better than the original but it stands in its own right.

Telecoms hacking for fun and profit, 1836 style.

https://nowiknow.beehiiv.com/p/hackers- ... et-edition

Zenith wrote: ↑Mon Nov 10, 2025 11:30 pm I've discovered a version of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" in early Middle English.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHspDQZ ... rt_radio=1

I find it fascinating and hypnotically lyrical. Not better than the original but it stands in its own right.

Amusingly the closed caption identifies it as Romanian, offers to translate to English, and doesn't. Welcome to the brave new world.