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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 18th, 2023

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  • In general I agree: ChatGPT sucks at writing code. However, when I want to throw together some simple stuff in a language I rarely write, I find it can save me quite some time. Typical examples would be something like

    “Write a bash script to rename all the files in the current directory according to <pattern>”, “Give me a regex pattern for <…>”, or “write a JavaScript function to do <stupid simple thing, but I never bothered to learn JS>”

    Especially using it as a regex pattern generator is nice. It can also be nice when learning a new language and you just need to check the syntax for something- often quicker than swimming though some Geeks4Geeks blog about why you should know how to do what you’re trying to do.



  • Of course, Li-ion batteries will never cover large-scale power demand. Not primarily because of lack of lithium, but because it’s a technology that scales far too poorly into the MWh/TWh scale, and has a far too short lifetime.

    The battery tech we need for truly large scale storage is different from what we need for small, portable storage. Stuff like redox-flow batteries are looking promising.

    There’s also hydrogen, with different storage methods being actively researched- from direct storage to using ammonia as a carrier.

    The issue with using mechanical storage (like pumped hydropower) is threefold (off the top of my head):

    1. It has ridiculously low energy density
    2. Even after > 100 years of pumps and turbines, the power loss in a pump/release cycle is very high.
    3. It’s heavily limited by geography

    I’m not saying pumped hydropower isn’t part of the solution: I believe the solution is that we need many solutions. I just think it’s important to point out that battery tech isn’t some monolithic thing, and that there are issues with pumped hydropower (and mechanical storage in general).





  • A protein is like a really long chain of simple monomers (amino acids), that you can think of as a long string of differently coloured beads. The ordering of the beads somewhat determines how the protein functions, but the major factor that determines it is how this long string is bundled up, i.e. “folded” (think of a ball of yarn).

    A DNA sequence tells us the sequence of the amino acids in a protein, but tells us nothing about how it is folded. It is of great interest to compute how a protein will fold, given its sequence, because then we can determine how and why it works like it does, and use gene-editing techniques to design proteins to do the stuff we want. This requires huge amounts of computational power, so you get the fold@home project :)

    Thanks for contributing!



  • To clarify a bit: what I mentioned above is the legal minimum an employer can give me regarding sick days. They are of course free to do more, and I my personal case, I’ll usually just work reduced from home (answer mails and do lightweight administrative stuff) if I’m starting to get a cold or something, get better in a day or two, and come back full time, without logging any sick days, because my employer prefers that I’m available for small stuff and get well fast rather than that I take “full” sick leave if I’m just mildly sick.


  • Holy shit… if I get sick during my vacation, I’ll get those vacation days refunded so I can use them later, when I’m not sick anymore. I can call in sick for up to three consecutive days, 25 days total per year without a doctors note. You only need a doctors note if you exceed those limits, and with a doctors note you have paid sick leave until the doctor says you are fit to work (although the government covers your salary, or part of it, not entirely sure about the details, after the first two weeks or something).



  • I’ve been missing an alternative to Facebook that I can use for non-anonymous planning of events and communication in hobby groups etc. and I had never heard of any of the “Facebook-type” federated stuff before!

    Now I just need to convince a bunch of people that this is viable to use without being the annoying guy…




  • I definitely agree that breaking best practices in a way that could lead to UB or hard-to-find bugs should give point deduction. The sole requirement shouldn’t be “write standard compliant code”.

    However, a test does not simulate a real-world development environment, where you will have time to look through your code with fresh eyes the next day, and maybe even have someone review your code. The only thing a test reasonably simulates is your ability to solve the “thinking” part of the problem on your own. Thus, deducting points for trivial stuff that would 10/10 times be caught, either by the compiler, the developer or the reviewer, but isn’t “strictly correct” just seems pedantic to me.

    To be fair, other than the example by OP I have a hard time coming up with things that wouldn’t be either caught by the compiler or are very bad practice (which should give point deduction).