bsod’s braindumps

Why boost is impractical

In the C++ programming world, the peer reviewed boost libraries are a gold standard to measure every other library on. Several parts of this library are being made standard in the next C++ standard, C++0x.

So, everybody would be using boost, right?

Well, no… You see, boost is a BIG library. It installs 64Mb worth of header files alone, 24Mb of libraries, and takes 20 minutes to compile on my machine, an average dual-core.

Now suppose I have a simple C++ program, a few files long, that uses some boost to parse the commandline. that would build in some seconds… why would i wait for 20 minutes for the code to arrive to simply parse the commandline? I’m not very happy that parsing the commandline this way requires you to redistribute a 300K+ .dll file.

GNU getopt on the other hand, compiles to less than 5K of code that you link in directly, so no .dll needed.

And they both do more or less the same thing. Sure, boost.program_options does a lot more, but it just is too excessive. And that’s why boost is impractical. You want a sip, but you get a bucketload shoved down your throat

PVV grootste in Almere?

Uit het lijstje van hun standpunten:

• Meer politie op straat en extra veiligheid door nieuwe stadscommando’s
• Geen hoofddoekjes in publieke functies en een burqaverbod
• Aanpak overlast Oost-Europese werknemers
• Preventief fouilleren op wapens in de hele stad
• Geen dieronvriendelijke halalmaaltijden in het ziekenhuis en zorginstellingen
• Geen halalmaaltijden in school- en sportkantines

Okee, dat is toch echt wel vervelend van ze, dat ze de moslims nu pakken op het eten, en dan echt de kinderen van moslims expliciet discrimineren. Kijk, hun ouders leren die kinderen, in feite, om halal te eten, en hun wordt wel ff twee keer onrecht aangedaan. Ik heb het altijd al een kutstad gevonden.

hoot!! Happy 2010 all!!!

Have fun with the fireworks everybody!

A little gem on #philosophical…

LionClan:  The universe is an elevenfold manifold that manifests
              as a fourfold manifold between three kinds of
              sevenfold singularities
bsod: that sounds very superstringy
LionClan:  we see and feel with fourfold vectors like photons
              and electrons, it is understandable our first guess
              was the universe is four dimensional

Some google techtalks

The ‘Your brain at work‘ talk is really worth it, if you’re interested in how your brain solves problems…

• Google techtalk: Your Brain at Work.(also note the talk The Mechanism of Thought by Hecht-Nielsen)
• Google techtalk: Nutrients for Better Mental Performance.
• Google techtalk: Leadership and Vision.

• Quantum Computing Day 1: Introduction to Quantum Computing.
• Quantum Computing Day 2: Image Recognition with an Adiabatic Quantum Computer.
• Quantum Computing Day 3: Does an Explanation of Higher Brain Function require Quantum Computers.

I’ll also post a bunch of very good physics courses (by Leonard Susskind):

• Quantum Entanglements: Part 1
• Modern Physics: Quantum Mechanics
• Modern Physics: Classical Mechanics
• Modern Physics: Special Relativity
• Modern Physics: Einstein’s Theory
• Modern Physics: Cosmology
• Modern Physics: Statistical Mechanics
• Quantum Entanglements: Part 3
• New Revolutions in Particle Physics (2010)

LHC is up and running

The Large Hadron Collider is doing its first succesful experiments.

HaR 2009

Ok, I’m back from Hacking at Random 2009, still with a mountain of stuff in my living room to sort out. Here are my pictures and I made one reasonable youtube movie of the ccc tent at night.

However, others made much better material available: xor-gate pictures, oisec pictures, har2009 at night, harddisk shredder, Soviet Unterzögersdorf, and a movie from anonymous.

There was also some news coverage: the homemade gsm network was on slashdot and security.nl had several articles, including this one with pictures.

C++0x dead in the water?

I was quite shocked to learn that C++ concepts have been voted out of the upcoming C++ standard, C++0x. I’ve written about concepts before and always have been a great fan of the feature. However mostly due to time constraints, the concept feature won’t make it into the new standard. See The Removal of Concepts From C++0x @ InformIT and The Removal of Concepts From C++0x @ Artima Developer Spotlight Forum.

Without concepts, many related features won’t make it. Is C++0x now a failed standard or not? I’m not sure, there are many things that will go into the standard that are very useful: auto variables, multithreading (if they can do this in the given time they have), library updates, etc.

However, concepts are a *major* feature, and with them the for-each loop which is so desperately needed won’t make it. Only time will tell if C++ is evolving fast enough… I hope it will.

A few great TED talks:

Here are a few talks:

• Saul Griffith on self-assembling biological computers
• Garrett Lisi: A beautiful new theory of everything
• P.W. Singer: Military robots and the future of war
• Juan Enriquez: Beyond the crisis, mindboggling science and the arrival of Homo evolutis
• Joe DeRisi: ViroScan, a high-tech tool for solving medical mysteries
• Bonnie Bassler: Discovering bacteria’s amazing communication system
• Wade Davis: Cultures at the far edge of the world
• Wade Davis: The worldwide web of belief and ritual

Yay springtime…

Here is a nice youtube movie, made in WoW, called ‘First of May‘, you’ll have to age verify. (This video may not be suitable for minors.)