miniblog.

Bootstrapping a full GCC toolchain from an extremely minimal hex editor has an astounding number of steps: https://github.com/fosslinux/live-bootstrap/blob/master/parts.rst I didn't realise just how many tools are self-hosting. Not just GCC, but also flex, bison, automake and even perl!

What languages have changed the most since their creation? JS? IIFEs and prototypes to modules and classes. C++? Plain pointers to smart pointers. There must be more dramatic examples.

Pharo 9 will also be available as a Linux package in several major distros! https://thepharo.dev/2021/04/09/installing-pharo-in-linux-using-the-system-package-manager/ For most languages this is no big deal, but it's much harder for a deeply mutable image-based environment.

Pharo 9 refactoring demonstrates some clever analysis: if you extract a method from an expression, it can find other occurrences of that expression in the class hierarchy! https://pharoweekly.wordpress.com/2021/04/01/pharo-90-refactoring-support-improves-steadily/

A clever approach to JS dependencies during development: Snowpack hosts npm libraries which you can reference directly!

TIL you can return values from loops in Rust: https://doc.rust-lang.org/reference/expressions/loop-expr.html#continue-expressions I've only ever seen this in Common Lisp / Elisp!

Renaming code often exposes further needs for refactoring: https://www.fluentcpp.com/2021/04/23/make-bad-code-look-bad/ (I found the example really compelling!)

It's amazing how quickly leaked credentials get harvested and used to create VMs mining cryptocurrencies: https://johnmathews.eu/i-leaked-credentials-onto-a-public-github-repo.html

TIL that &mut [T] in Rust means that you can modify the items in a slice, but you can't change its size. It's surprisingly handy: I'd just been using &mut Vec<T> everywhere previously.

Why Lisp? It has its pros and cons.

This is the most creative form of Linux usage I've seen in ages! From

The number of tools a programming language is expected to provide is growing over time. This in-depth article describes what Rust provides: you can't just ship a compiler these days. Source:

Want to move to a code autoformatter, but worried about git history? Black even documents how to teach git to ignore your formatting commit!

Spectre vulnerabilities remain a problem in browsers, and the PoC even works on new Apple silicon!

Python programmers use Linux significantly more than Mac or Windows, and Windows usage declines with experience level: https://www.jetbrains.com/lp/python-developers-survey-2020/#DevelopmentTools