Home.

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nostr:npub10txh7ux0f6xvscesg0ls4p9u2cs2dfr0rhvqca689xk00wfuvl4seacrtk Every damn time. And those execrable “30 Under 30 & No, We Won’t Tell You What Their Parents Do For A Living, Why Would That Matter?” lists.


nostr:npub1npcyjyhgcnnhkwvltpzqy3rq5tgku9mmdy0sz7rn3wejdns6607q4g7ska Global Interpreter Lock. Otherwise known as the BFL (Big “Friendly” Lock)


Don't go to #Dubai part 13684923 in an endless list of reasons: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/04/new-york-college-student-dubai-jail


nostr:npub17x4euql2wskdl90dg5ahp2ujf0lg6ecdspwxj6l0xkh4pn9xvrvsu4ynzs asking the big questions #java #devoxx

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nostr:npub1jn90wy09nvp5xkc70mnazz55p07767qurafdd4n53vwwm0qwssssnc0mt7 And the "migration crisis". 85+% of asylum claims succeed, but there's money to be made with a convoluted overloaded bureaucracy and a need to house the poor folks stuck in limbo.

Public money handed over to landlords, hoteliers and consulting firms, and a ready-made scapegoat to distract attention from utter ministerial incompetence. An absolute twofer! What's not to like?


Today is the 87th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. #NoPasaran today, and always, but it is worth remembering why #AntiFascist commemorate that date - because it represents a diverse alliance of different groups who just wanted to live & peace and coexist against an organized, well-funded and (tacitly or overtly) state-supported Fascist gang.

And we won, and the Fascists lost. They can always be beaten.


Todos los gatitos son bonitos. #catsofmastodon

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My new piece on #Java #concurrency - beyond Virtual Threads: https://developers.redhat.com/articles/2023/10/03/beyond-loom-weaving-new-concurrency-patterns


nostr:npub17wk8qd0uws7akp32rs62pv0n6dv4lgganug7ly9t0a7n9crusrrqle8ey0 The Tantrum Corps that basically ragequit when it was suggested that they may actually have to face consequences if they murder people rather than it just being their Call of Duty playground?


nostr:npub178rvtslm3qykq8uy5afswta2qz5pk9atjxsepht4x8ldddssp6kq4sqekt Every person is only temporarily cybersecure.


nostr:npub1hahdfqpr9vqffaxe79qpwruxryz93vcacp570rvkddr0tsrm5whsq4640q The tech really has advanced in recent years. After years of a slightly clunky box, moving out here to BCN really helped (they even have a 24hr free service line!) and the last replacement was better again.


Occasional reminder that, along with every rancid transphobe they can possibly find, "the world's leading progressive voice" employs a Spanish correspondent who's basically a Francoist and has repeatedly advocated for jailing people for non-violent political activity.


nostr:npub1pvkc9d4sjsaalw3rdxmag5sa6ac0396hep766fxmh5qj8uwvnj5s80px8u nostr:npub1au7zh50hdnu4zq3mxa4n2xr0dp0glj93fa8careml5sk5vtp43jqd3c976 nostr:npub1traay5jdde50ps7y3mqdullw29a0pncqsg9vy637c8x7uyrwnvsq0wnpqw Fair. Bad day.


LLMs fudge all of this, and so this becomes a "grey goo" problem.

LLMs are poisoning their own input set, and this is IMO very likely to produce a spectral line.

I think that "Pre-LLM" and "Post-LLM" will be very easy to detect.

And for anything that there are actual $$$ attached to: Never connect it to a public model.

/end


What does this have to do with LLMs?

The fundamental question is: "What is your training set; how do you verify it; where do you expect it to be predictive?" 3/


Oppenheimer's work ushered in a world which is *visible* in a scientific sense. We can see the pre-nuclear world, and the post in the record.

The Manhattan Project literally changed the world.

While its children may be stranger, and more goblinoid than the grimdark that the Cold War suggested, we still live in the shadow of Hirosima & (to a much less extent) Trinity. 2/


Someone said that: "LLMs cannot write Barbie, they cannot write Oppenheimer". This is, of course, true.

The choice of those two specific movies places them within the blast radius of LLMs, which came to prominence at roughly the same time. And that's cute -- but wait, there's more. 1/


nostr:npub1yyx7sllvsrr0fauh2rdlqk5rakf3963g9xk4a7j5uhfcs00lr3kq42qa5g An interesting experiment I've tried: Want to find out what terms are empty, overused makeweight in your field? Start typing a general statement & watch an LLM try to autocomplete it by adding them.


nostr:npub1f6a33pfyp67y8llhunlhrf855xm47n3fdqymvxfj7yx78c6vqf4scxpnql I'm not sure where we go from here - but in general, I feel like we should be defaulting towards to caution in a way that we very much are not right now.

One technical point that I do want to push back on - I don't see how LLMs evolve from their current state of statistical bins to a "model of the world", which they currently lack. Adding more parameters, and ingesting an increasingly more polluted input set just may not give any better results than today. /4


nostr:npub1f6a33pfyp67y8llhunlhrf855xm47n3fdqymvxfj7yx78c6vqf4scxpnql This population is likely to view the convincing, authoritative view as something it is not (one reason why I think that it was massively irresponsible to package LLMs with this style of interface, and especially with a style that contains faux-selfhood). FWIW, we've known about this problem since Eliza, and yet nothing was done.

Second, and related, is the myth of algorithmic infallability, e.g.: https://emptycity.substack.com/p/computer-says-guilty-an-introduction 3/


nostr:npub1f6a33pfyp67y8llhunlhrf855xm47n3fdqymvxfj7yx78c6vqf4scxpnql My cocnerns are twofold.

First, which I think you addressed in your piece, is the "grain of salt", the skepticism that is required to take theoutput of LLMs and apply them.

You and I know that what they are producing is "spicy autocomplete" or "eerily accurate madlibs", depending upon your viewpoint. But the general population does not. A population that has 20+% of people that do not understand how ranked-choice voting works. 2/


nostr:npub1f6a33pfyp67y8llhunlhrf855xm47n3fdqymvxfj7yx78c6vqf4scxpnql I always enjoy reading what you write, and there are some really interesting parts in the piece - and you also, en passant, pointed out that my carbon maths was wrong for LLMs (they're not as bad as I was claiming).

I'll also take the viewpoint that these things now exist, and so it is on us (as senior technologists) to see how we can use them to help new programmers - and that might, in turn, help democratise programming - which is, effectively, still a priest class today. 1/


nostr:npub1au7zh50hdnu4zq3mxa4n2xr0dp0glj93fa8careml5sk5vtp43jqd3c976 nostr:npub1traay5jdde50ps7y3mqdullw29a0pncqsg9vy637c8x7uyrwnvsq0wnpqw It's literally top hit. And we have dealt with so many people that just want to waste our time & energy.

So, I'm sorry if you felt bad.


nostr:npub1au7zh50hdnu4zq3mxa4n2xr0dp0glj93fa8careml5sk5vtp43jqd3c976 nostr:npub1traay5jdde50ps7y3mqdullw29a0pncqsg9vy637c8x7uyrwnvsq0wnpqw Is Google fucking down?


My project is live. The beast is slain. I was right.

But nothing makes up for looking out of the corner of your eye and, just for one second, thinking that there's a comment on a thread from an old friend - a mazel tov for the sort of technical problem that they used to relish.

There isn't. There never will be. Their memory is, and ever will be, a blessing. As will their god-tier snark.

But we have to go on, and we will.


With yesterday's release put to bed, I'm just finishing off prepping a conference talk, and am apparently once again at the "Oh, fuck, I have far too much material" stage. In truth, though, this is always preferable to the "Aaargh, I have nothing worth talking about." stage that inevitably precedes it.


They wanted *literally* *everything* -  https://balkaninsight.com/2023/09/29/europol-sought-unlimited-data-access-in-online-child-sexual-abuse-regulation/ #ACAB


The pidgey has returned, and they brought their parent. #Barcelona

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nostr:npub1e6hm8anzqme9at43w4vug3tt9mzhvlzd8h44efk4afpc270zfhlshzc9sy I didn't actually think it was possible for my opinion of the man to get any lower, yet here we are.


nostr:npub16fcr9ar476wjqchj2cd6mlz42kzfejrunrth64lsjyvdpcl3pe4q3xnl42 nostr:npub1yljzx3aqedazfcu26d5m5cv26g07alcnzqgjskqxtq9cy7c226nqay0c6m This is, presumably, the non-OSS EE version, right?


nostr:npub1e6hm8anzqme9at43w4vug3tt9mzhvlzd8h44efk4afpc270zfhlshzc9sy Is the answer: "Cocaine, and being surrounded by a pod of people who consistently tell you that your half-baked dorm room ideas are the profound truths of the universe"? (I.e. the same as basically every other billionaire)


nostr:npub1u276ynxyxka9g7pr8y3uv7nw80ujj6qxkwkkk44247gjhwr4xgaqhcgluv Well, that's going to be an absolute treasure trove of fash for the Feds then, isn't it.


nostr:npub16903xw37dxx9gq8m5k9yckjxzw6nghtdup2gehh9efgdunx2lj0q3c9u8w "How I spent 2x more time with my kids by building our systems in the last-but-one LTS version of Java".


nostr:npub1n858582kmk2hc65d2q303xyeynpv2vrehmvlm7zdd9lgz90a3qmsjg25tg No, but that neighbourhood starts a few streets from us. Our block is an old 1850s building with an abnormally large light well.


nostr:npub1ph0cak8zaemvvgcvfc2pj0zj83x4f6hfy8rwq788qh6chwc3k9tsv7e6wu The "small PR" effect is, of course, another manifestation of Wadler's Law.


nostr:npub1pvfcwtwjsa7azwm4gkh00zx42mns9n0yqek4zf02trzm4nnm2keqvq093g I hadn't heard of it until I went to Uni - one of the terms was referred to as "Michaelmas Term".

Now, goose on St Martin's Day (Nov 11th) is a different kettle of fish...


My #Barcelona apartment has both an enclosed interior terrace with two doors out to it & a large front balcony overlooking the street.

The different bits of Outside don't connect up & I'm pretty sure my little guy thinks we live in Castrovalva - he keeps asking me to open both doors and then running through the terrace and looping round a few times. #CatsOfMastodon (Not remotely sorry for the #DoctorWho deep cut either).


This is a bit close to the bone for some classic British kids TV, unfortunately: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fpJXJ6Qa00


In case anyone is wondering why the Adoptium builds of #Java 21 haven't been released yet - https://adoptium.net/en-GB/blog/2023/10/temurin21-delay/


Now, because I know a certain amount about how LLMs work, this isn't actually a surprise to me - and I've known about this effect since reading van der Linden's rather overlooked classic "Expert C Programming" back in '97 or so, but it still seems to surprise a lot of the breathless hype merchants. /2


Still experimenting with Copilot for #Java development, and writing. I typed this: "As Java developers, there is an analogue to this " - and here's what its autocomplete suggestion was: "As Java developers, there is an analogue to this in the Java ecosystem: the ability to work at different levels of abstraction within the Java ecosystem."

One of the most striking things about it when using it for writing is the repetitive, circular nature of a lot of what it suggests. 1/


In case you were wondering how my morning is going, my coffee break viewing has consisted of YouTube clips of Daleks exterminating things.


This playlist is just what I needed right now - https://www.dnalounge.com/webcast/popup.cgi?playlist=PLyALKMPGOR5ej2UVET48j_4Zrd7yq0q3F&title=jwz%20mixtape%20241


Hey, anyone know Mark Pollack? Copilot just tried to helpfully write my bio for me & just hallucinated that I was him. #Java


How the hell can you write a piece like this, containing not a single mention of 13 years of Tory theft and grift and still expect to be able to call yourself a journalist - https://www.theguardian.com/money/2023/sep/26/it-felt-futile-young-britons-swap-career-driven-lives-for-family-and-fun ?

Why is the picture so different in the UK than in other countries? Wow, I can't possibly guess.


An adolescent pigeon is back in the small windowbay by the kitchen again today. I have no proof, of course, but I like to think that it's the same one that hatched there a couple of months ago.


nostr:npub17rlga5cush8htsdgpcm04qvqjylfdwsth4turpd7t0r46j79vekqzlhm3j You should also be aware of the research done by New Relic in this area (e.g. https://newrelic.com/resources/report/2022-state-of-java-ecosystem) - it is based on direct reporting on telemetry that their customers send to them and is *not* self -reported. It also has a very large sample size (10s of millions of production JVMs).

Feel free to DM me if you want more details or an introduction to folks there who may be able to provide you with a more up-to-date dataset.


nostr:npub1jsvp8ekd3tktefrt7usd7ne7nyhzg323reks9599k8fgn94wcmdqldnekl Yeah, I probably should have done too, in fairness.


I do get a little tired of the defult "the entire world works like the US" assumption sometimes. If you follow all of these "etiquette rules" in some places that aren't the US, you are likely to have a suboptimal time - https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/09/25/cell-phone-etiquette-call-voicemail/


nostr:npub1h86w5zy3snu23q0whn58gtlhw5gmdvswrcga9qsy3j6hjsqsq83skuacdl Ah, that’s a shame! But glad you’re enjoying your time in Cornwall.


nostr:npub1h86w5zy3snu23q0whn58gtlhw5gmdvswrcga9qsy3j6hjsqsq83skuacdl Thank you Peter. I think you might know my elder brother Jim, who was vicar of Camelford 10+ years ago?


Off to #Cornwall today for a family camping trip in memory of my late grandmother


nostr:npub1c7js200egzjf743z4q67u46athrd7sx9ncjnsdwp2mpdseshtlgsdhyfk3 Some particular favourites, yes. And Ursula K Le Guin as well, who I often think of as being in a similar space.


nostr:npub17cep5guerrw6crpqe2nnqrqs249p76w9ylgsrte5t2ywqq4rddus02zvzg “It’s a nice day for some light welding” was right there! Billy Idol is very disappointed in you!


nostr:npub1pvkc9d4sjsaalw3rdxmag5sa6ac0396hep766fxmh5qj8uwvnj5s80px8u I, for one, cannot believe that a man who would use the details of his sexual relations with women in order to try to embarrass & humiliate a vulnerable 78-year old man on live TV, for the sole purpose of entertaining some of the worst people in the UK; could possibly have done the things that he's credibly accused of.


nostr:npub1c7js200egzjf743z4q67u46athrd7sx9ncjnsdwp2mpdseshtlgsdhyfk3 Quite. In particular: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/16/a-true-original-katherine-rundell-on-the-genius-of-diana-wynne-jones (& this amazing obituary of her: https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2011/03/being-alive.html )


nostr:npub1tgdlk3u0ytt5uhqqrfdcv2tshvv6la6kpd77xf3mumwekqgdesxsugd22g Aleksey Shipilëv was working on this - not sure if he's still active. This mailing list might also be a good place to ask: https://openjdk.org/projects/riscv-port/ #java


nostr:npub18wgxdtwvqhrwsappfkyg0ke2g70ndnvj9kvd55r7kzaks5ke20gsn2e47d And he didn't even reinstate the Wampa Closet in ESB.


nostr:npub1tnp22fvtsvmyq3jpfsg35nvrn7ge033sqmxluk68hze3s93m9zwss39w0k Sorry to hear this. Thinking of you.


nostr:npub14kkqq9s5kpg4w4u24xap0ylu086mrttjk5ku76tm889wdsuyjuksagr3fj Is there a ferry route to Cyprus, or would it have to be a privately chartered boat? I'm pretty sure there is only 1 ferry from Italy to Malta.


Oh, yeah, and it straight-up hallucinates - classes and enum values that just don't exist started being suggested almost immediately.

This is less of a problem in a language like #Java where the IDE will immediately flag that, but in more "helpful" / dynamic languages, I can see this being a significant source of bugs, especially in code written by more junior developers.


In short, a useful tool, although not as useful to me as I suspect it will be to others, b/c I don't spend a lot of time doing the sort of coding that it can help with anymore.

I'll glad take the increase in writing quality it's giving me, but anyone who claims that this is going to put programmers, especially senior ones, out of a job simply doesn't know what they're talking about. /2


Results from using #Github #Copilot so far: Coding - modest improvement in the areas where Copilot is useful (boilerplate, low-level implementation, things I would have used SO for) - perhaps 25% decrease in time spent.

Writing (yes, it has started suggesting in my asciidoc files as well): Zero increase in speed, but an increase in quality - as I look at what it's proposing and think: "Good Lord, I can do better than *that*". 1/


The need to service those debts has further knock-on effects, such as reducing food budgets, leading to decreased nutrition, higher levels of stress, etc, etc.

In short - it's nothing close to the whole story, but there are real effects here, with real consequences, that we've known about for a long time.

The "Vimes Boots" formulation of it may be a bit glib, but there are still plenty of people who have never thought about any of this that it could a useful starting point for.  /4


To pick one extremely important example - financial services. For example: https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com/archive/the-waste-stream-of-consumer-finance/ - the system is structured in such a way as to keep poor people in the poverty trap in a way that simply doesn't happen for middle class people.

They are simply more profitable when kept in the trap - and the banks and credit card companies don't give a damn how much human misery and damaged mental health is caused by that squeezing out of that last bit of profit from desperate people. 3/


Apparently some shitehawk felt the need to tell me that I was "harming my prospects" by sharing this: https://mattgemmell.scot/level-black/


I absolutely love that this piece about "The Gift of Burning Man: Lessons for Business", stuffed full of bromides about #BurningMan gift culture is ... for paying subscribers only. https://drpippa.substack.com/p/the-gift-of-burning-man-lessons-for


nostr:npub1rskx2p3ux5asc7s5hc9mlcs00nhr9l3422tqgcdvxmgedueq2cvsvx58rq Interesting. I don't suppose for a moment that they have a repro version of the app that they can open so we can have a proper dig about in it?

Tbh ~30-40 Pg calls / request sounds like it might be falling into the "Hibernate Cascade" antipattern.

There are always going to be workloads that are disturbed by the weaving that happens as a result of instrumentation. It's more a question of trying to identify how widespread (or pathological) they are.


nostr:npub1mj63hu3kps6l2n0msmz6940cmhcxcg33g9wzgcdet62xyl09s7tsfnjn9u The specific point I'm making is that: "People who are in financial circumstances that would allow them to undertake an unpaid internship are already over-represented in the tech industry. The practice only serves to add selection bias in favour of those already benefiting from systemic bias".


No, unpaid internships are *not* fine, and if your defense of them is: "Well, I'm subsidizing my offspring to do one right now", then what you should be doing instead is stopping talking.


Big Rish hails "great breakthrough in cleanliness" as he washes pillowcase after shitting the bed: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/sep/07/horizon-brexit-eu-science-rishi-sunak


Ben Evans

Mainly known for #tech stuff, especially #Java / #JVM / #performance etc. Much more likely to post pictures of #cats and rant about society, #antifascism, food and #queer stuff than tech, though.