Path: csiph.com!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Salvador Mirzo Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: broken schools Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2025 22:34:45 -0300 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Lines: 116 Message-ID: <87zfiast6y.fsf@example.com> References: <67b21894$14$17$882e4bbb@reader.netnews.com> <28416cc3-e819-886a-4025-2b2588f88663@example.net> <87a5ale0vg.fsf@example.com> <0310a638-3153-f886-5206-9bc8453c1f8e@example.net> <67b4fc88@news.ausics.net> <87frk9mok6.fsf@example.com> <872b55ac-c289-80d2-733a-eef130471862@example.net> <87y0y0fh0d.fsf@example.com> <800485e9-89a6-61a3-d94d-84df476bb6f5@example.net> <87r03scbr3.fsf@example.com> <875xl03xok.fsf@example.com> <4cc33db7-d48f-98f9-7f36-fe20ee6f73a9@example.net> <87ecznxpcw.fsf_-_@example.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2025 02:34:47 +0100 (CET) Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="369613db06fa6cb53ad225042af8fb9c"; logging-data="1586770"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+oNeVX8vjasFaquT8zTUKgRv3Fhh5EwJk=" Cancel-Lock: sha1:jDkCyr8zlK2KziBlREoGA459kzc= sha1:iv5L1qneJvE1ZwyRaTwPxQU50+Y= Xref: csiph.com comp.misc:26660 D writes: > On Mon, 24 Feb 2025, Salvador Mirzo wrote: > >> D writes: >> >>> On Sun, 23 Feb 2025, Salvador Mirzo wrote: >>> >>>>> It saves all messages in a local spool folder, and since nntp is a >>>>> nice and simple retro-protocols, it is trivial to understand the >>>>> format. So what you could do, between 2 leafnode servers, is to just >>>>> reverse engineer the format and "copy" the spool directory between the >>>>> two leafnode installations and all the messages will pop up on the >>>>> other leafnode as well. >>>> >>>> Okay, but the question was to just to confirm my mostly-forgotten >>>> recollections of Leafnode. I wouldn't mind working on it to make it >>>> peer via NNTP itself. But I would much rather write a completely new in >>>> a non-C language. >>> >>> I wonder if there are any good C to Go converters out there? Would be >>> interesting to see how much effort it would take to convert >>> leafnode from c to >>> go? Maybe then, it would be an easier code base to work with? >> >> I know C a lot more than I know Go---nothing. :) I've already began >> some work in Common Lisp. >> >>>>> I think is perhaps somewhat of a downward trend. I feel awe when >>>>> talking to the older generations who had to learn the hardware, >>>>> program in assembler and so on. >>>> >>>> I feel the same. Like you, I feel great learning from the older >>>> generations. In fact, I often think that they were privileged for being >>>> able to be there first. I identified this easily enough to develop a >>>> passion for studying the history of computer science, which makes me >>>> look very old now because I use a lot of very old tools, which are >>>> awesome tools despite their age. I got a web post by Joel Spolsky the >>>> phrase that ``software doesn't get dusty''. >>> >>> True. I have a retro-class on thursday and will show them some nice >>> stuff in the form of vim, alpine, and midnight commander. Apart from >>> a shell (bash) those are my main tools in the terminal. >> >> Hey... GNU EMACS. :) > > Hah... wrong church and religion! ;) Lol. I have been feeling pretty religious lately indeed. :) >>>> Nevertheless, I feel obsessed by computers and I try to get close to the >>>> hardware by more abstract means. For instance, I've been reading about >>>> the 6502 and it seems like such a simple CPU that it makes up for a very >>>> great computer architecture first introduction, unlike x86, say. >>> >>> I remember programming for the Z80 when I was young, on my >>> calculator, and also, of course, assembler on the 486. Those were >>> the days! =) >> >> Lol. You have more experience than I do. I did own a 486 DX2 66 MHz >> (that was my first), but I wrote no assembly at all---I didn't even know >> there was assembly or machine code back then. I did get to know the >> BIOS pretty well, though, but I had not much of an idea how it really >> fit into the hardware. (I took four to five years to realize that I had >> to get involved with programming to really understand the computer.) >> >> Pretty funny, though, the first book I read was called ``HARDWARE''. It >> was an x86 computer architecture book, superficial, that explained how >> the parts connected or something. That book was very influential >> because it showed me that, by reading it, I could actually make sense of >> taking the computer apart and putting it back on. I consciously >> realized---I can read and get knowledge. (Schools always recommended >> reading, but they never really recommended technical reading---they >> seemed to recommended only national literature.) >> >> From that point on, I never stopped to read technical books, which gave >> me a new realization of how amazingly broken schools are. And the >> problem is not so much in the system itself---it's more in the people >> who run that system. >> >> Many years later, as a result, when I was in graduate school, instead of >> choosing a topic to write on, I chose an adviser to work with. I >> couldn't care less about any topic; I asked my adviser---what are you >> working on? Let's work on that. You see? Anything is interesting so >> long as the people working on it are interesting. When they are not, >> no method will do. > > True! > > I don't actually read that many books on technology. My technology > exposure these days is more through blogs, usenet, and the occasional > networking event. Oh, and work of course, but that is more "organical" > exposure, and not really something I do actively. Yeah. This probably implies you're getting a lot of screen reading time. I like books because I can get off the screen. And, the book being good, is usually so much more carefully written than most papers and blogs. I try to go to the beach every day. Today, for instance, I biked to the beach, swam and then drank coconut water and do my reading. If I'm not reading a book, then I go to Hacker News (news.ycombinator.com) and I print out what I find interesting there. It's so much slow and pleasurable to read off screen. At the beach, I cannot just skip too many texts because I have just a few with me. And I shouldn't read too fast because then I have nothing else to read. So I take a long time on every word and so the reading is a lot more fun. I'm even reading non-technical stuff. Since December, I read ``Hackers'' by Steven Levy (1984) and then I also read the book ``No Filter'' by Paulina Porizkova (2022), the model. :) She's an excellent writer. I enjoy the music from The Cars. Paulina was Ric Ocasek's wife. He died in the pandemic, though not from COVID-19. She seemed interesting and I found her book interview-ads while listening to The Cars songs on YouTube. I enjoyed the book, but, yeah, I was just snooping into other people's lives, which perhaps I shouldn't.