Published: 2025-04-16 | Origin: /r/ruby

Thomas Riboulet discusses the importance of authentication in web applications, specifically within the Ruby on Rails ecosystem, which lacks a built-in authentication layer. He highlights Devise as a popular solution due to its extensive features and plugins, but notes that it operates separately from applications. An alternative approach is presented through Authentication Zero, which offers configurable scaffolding for authentication that adheres to security best practices. This solution is preferred over building authentication from scratch due to potential security concerns. Authentication Zero simplifies key aspects like user

Published: 2025-04-16 | Origin: Hacker News

The author expresses frustration with the complicated terminology and writing style in statistics, particularly when it comes to Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. They find the language used in descriptions, such as the abstract from the Encyclopedia of Biostatistics, to be unnecessarily jargon-filled and difficult to understand, even for someone who is familiar with the subject. The author believes that complex terminology is often not needed for basic explanations and aims to provide a simpler explanation of MCMC. They liken MCMC to

Published: 2025-04-16 | Origin: Hacker News

MITRE announced that its contract with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to maintain the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database will expire on April 16, 2025. This decision has raised significant concerns among cybersecurity experts, including Sasha Romanosky from the Rand Corporation, who described the potential end of the CVE program as "tragic." Romanosky emphasized that the CVE system is essential for tracking software vulnerabilities and making informed decisions about security. Ben

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/programming

When creating shaders, SIMD code, or GPU kernels, a fast and efficient random number generator (RNG) is often sufficient, rather than a cryptographically secure one. An ideal RNG for these applications should be quick, straightforward, possess decent statistical properties without obvious patterns, handle floating-point numbers effectively, and be compatible with SIMD and GPU programming. The article introduces LCG-XS, an algorithm that meets these requirements by combining a linear congruential generator (LCG) with an xorshift

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: Hacker News

The author emphasizes the importance of feedback in developing LLM-powered software and invites contributions to an open-source project called "12-factor agents" available on GitHub. The author, Dex, has explored various AI agent frameworks and noticed many marketed as "AI agents" lack genuine agentic qualities, often relying on deterministic code. The goal is to establish effective principles for building reliable and maintainable LLM-powered software, highlighting that even with advancements in LLMs, core engineering techniques will remain crucial. The

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: Hacker News

Robots are increasingly handling manual tasks on dairy farms, such as milking, feeding, and cleaning, which eases the workload for farmers and improves the well-being of cows. In a barn equipped with these autonomous robots, cows can choose to be milked at their convenience, leading to increased comfort and a 10% boost in milk production. Jan Jacobs, a design lead at Lely, a company specializing in agricultural machinery, explains that happier cows, facilitated by robotic care, lead to higher

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/ruby

The article provides readers with practical implementations in C, Rust, and Ruby for adding Gaussian noise to images, similar to a referenced GIF. It emphasizes hands-on coding over theoretical reading and invites readers to subscribe for upcoming content focused on reversing the diffusion process with a neural network. The target audience includes programmers looking to understand the forward and backward passes of Stable Diffusion in low-level languages. The article outlines a structured approach that starts with the fundamental concepts of diffusion models, then moves into coding, specifically generating the

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/programming

A customer reported a long-standing issue with their application's UI thread hanging, which they couldn't diagnose. The kernel dump didn't show the user mode stack because it had been paged out due to the thread being hung. Notably, the UI thread was found to be suspended for over five hours, causing the hang. Upon investigation, it was discovered that the customer had a watchdog thread that periodically suspends the UI thread to capture its stack trace. The watchdog thread was observed in the middle of this stack

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/programming

The content discusses a Python package called TARIFF, which humorously aims to impose import tariffs on foreign Python packages. It emphasizes the goal of making importing more expensive to promote domestic code usage. The message conveys a parody tone, suggesting that importing has become unfair and urges users to "make importing great again." The document also encourages feedback while directing users to the official documentation for more details on available qualifiers.

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: Hacker News

The content discusses a full-featured logic programming system, analogous to Prolog, that is embedded in and callable from Clojure. It emphasizes expressive power and execution transparency, aimed at facilitating rapid prototyping and proof-of-concept development, although it may not be the fastest option available. The system utilizes a Lispy syntax and supports logical variables, allowing for complex terms in assertion statements and answer templates. Key features include: - Clojure-based syntax with logical variable capabilities. - Various logical predicates

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: Hacker News

As of April 15, 2025, Google Advanced users can create high-resolution, eight-second videos using the new Veo 2 video generation model. This feature is part of Gemini and is available to Google One AI Premium subscribers. Users can generate videos from text-based prompts or images through the Whisk Animate tool. Veo 2 produces realistic, fluid animations by understanding real-world physics and human movement. To create videos, users select Veo 2 in Gemini and provide a detailed scene

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: Hacker News

The article discusses the potential of altered states of consciousness (ASCs), particularly in the context of psychedelic-assisted therapy for treating mental health disorders like depression and PTSD. It notes that access to such treatments is limited due to various barriers, which may make circular breathwork a more accessible non-pharmacological alternative. Initial scientific studies on breathwork are emerging, but its underlying mechanisms are not yet well understood. The research compares two types of breathwork—Holotropic and Conscious-Connected—and tracks physiological and

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/programming

At the Craft conference in Budapest, Dan shared insights about the qualities that make the best programmers, inspired by a viral Twitter thread he wrote. He emphasized that the best programmer he knows, whom he's known for over 20 years, is not determined by conventional metrics like solving algorithmic problems or having a computer science degree. Rather, this programmer stands out due to his insatiable curiosity, belief in problem-solving capabilities, and a practical approach to programming. Dan highlighted several key traits of top programmers:

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/programming

The article discusses the potential risks associated with using AI coding assistants, emphasizing that while they can enhance productivity, they may also introduce hidden vulnerabilities in the code. These vulnerabilities could manifest as malicious instructions disguised with Unicode tricks, making them difficult to detect. The initial time savings from using AI may lead to greater long-term issues, such as security breaches and increased technical debt, which can harm a project's sustainability and cause reputational damage. The author illustrates this risk through a scenario where seemingly benign, AI-generated code

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/ruby

Exciting news for Ruby developers! In partnership with Ruby Central, a free Ruby gem analytics service is being launched via sql.clickhouse.com, allowing the Ruby community to analyze gem download data from 2017 onward using SQL, with over 180 billion rows of data available. This initiative follows the success of ClickPy, a Python package download analytics tool launched in early 2024, which has seen massive growth, surpassing 1 trillion rows and serving over half a million queries monthly. The

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: Hacker News

The DigiCert ONE Platform offers a variety of solutions, including TLS/SSL certificates, document signing certificates, code signing certificates, S/MIME email certificates, Mark certificates, and services related to DNS and EU regulations like eIDAS and PKIoverheid. Recently, the CA/Browser Forum voted to amend TLS Baseline Requirements, setting a schedule to shorten the lifetime of TLS certificates and the reusability of CA-validated information. Key changes include reducing the maximum certificate lifetime to 47

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/programming

The author describes a "slow code challenge" organized every few years by their research group, where the goal is to write code that achieves the lowest instructions per cycle (IPC) on a selected x86 server. Despite its absurdity, this challenge serves as an educational exercise to understand CPU functionality and how to exploit performance characteristics. The author notes that high IPC is difficult to achieve, even with efficient code, and distinguishes between code that is slow in intent (like a Python implementation of the Sieve of

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/programming

arXivLabs is a platform enabling collaborators to create and share new features on the arXiv website, adhering to values of openness, community, excellence, and user privacy. arXiv partners with individuals and organizations that support these principles. Those interested in contributing ideas for projects that benefit the arXiv community are encouraged to learn more about arXivLabs. Additionally, users can receive operational status notifications via email or Slack.

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/ruby

Sidekiq, the leading background job framework for Ruby applications, has matured significantly over its 13 years, making major new features less common. A desired enhancement is thread-safe profiling, which was previously hampered by Ruby’s profiling APIs being process-global. However, with the introduction of Ruby 3.2, which features improved thread profiling APIs, Sidekiq 8.0 can now utilize this advancement for precise job profiling with minimal production impact. Profiling allows developers to identify exact performance bott

Published: 2025-04-15 | Origin: /r/programming

The author reflects on their experiences from 2020 and 2021, deciding to explore frameworks again, particularly focusing on creating a text label and an input field that can change the label's text. They mention that simpler tasks like this allow for easier completion but highlight that frameworks designed for scalability may struggle with initial setups. The writing serves as a development journal, offering insights as they work through the task. The author expresses newfound patience in dealing with challenges, such as manually downloading prebuilt .dll files