HackerNews Summary (2023-05-15 09AM)

Source: This Word Does Not Exist

Summary
Machine learning algorithms are capable of inventing new words and creating alternative meanings for existing words.

Fact

🆕 The word “Flugly” was invented by a machine learning algorithm and it means “frighteningly ugly”.

🔄 The word “Biscuit” was given an alternative definition of “a small, flat cake with a crunchy texture” by a machine learning algorithm in addition to the original meaning of “a small, typically round cake of bread leavened with baking powder, baking soda, or sometimes yeast”.

---

Source: What if? driven development

Summary
“What if” driven development is an approach to programming problems that starts with a simple solution and gradually builds up to handle more complex cases. Applying the five whys technique can help to identify the root cause of issues.

Fact

💻 “What if” driven development involves starting with simple solutions and gradually building up to handle more complex cases.

🔍 The five whys technique is a helpful tool to identify the root cause of issues.

👍 Starting with types can be a natural way to approach coding problems.

---

Source: cedar-policy

Summary
Cedar is an open-source policy language and evaluation engine that allows developers to create and enforce easy-to-understand policies for their applications. It supports authorization models like role-based and attribute-based access control and has been verified formally using automated reasoning and differential random testing.

Fact

👨‍💻 Cedar SDK includes an authorization engine, validator, policy formatter, and CLI.

📚 Cedar-docs repository houses all the documentations for Cedar projects.

💻 Cedar-examples showcase Cedar language and SDK with example applications.

🔌 Cedar-java has Java language bindings for Cedar.

✅ Cedar-spec repository has the official formal Dafny specification and testing frameworks.

---

Source: Taxonomy of procrastination

Summary
The little accountant, named Jim, puts a “tax” on activities if the reward is too low compared to the effort. There are four taxums: 1) doing the thing is too unpleasant compared to not doing the thing, 2) you don’t really believe that doing the thing will work, 3) even if you successfully did the thing, you don’t really think it will matter, and 4) the timeline is too long.

Facts

🧠 Jim calculates the reward on an effort and puts a “tax” on activities accordingly

👍 It’s easier to do things that you like and are sure will be awesome and work, and with quick benefits

🤖 Taxum 1: Jim imposes higher taxes on activities when there are better alternatives

🔬 Taxum 2: Jim hates wasting time and energy on things that fail, whether due to lack of ability or poor planning

🤷 Taxum 3: Jim disapproves of activities that you don’t think will matter or that no one else will care about

🕰️ Taxum 4: Jim discounts benefits that take too long to materialize

---