szastupov's comments

szastupov | 1 year ago | on: An invisible desktop application that will help you pass technical interviews

> I believe live coding is a scourge and we should get rid of it altogether.

I would take an hour of live coding any time over a take-home task that is one hour only on paper and takes you three in reality.

Engineering is collaboration, and it's fair to expect candidates to talk, solve problems, and explain their solutions.

Where we could do better as an industry is the type of problems we give to people. I'm not a fan of LeetCode-style questions, especially when multiple ones are asked. Something closer to Earth would be better. But even if you have to ask something algorithmical, I'd prefer the style of "Advent of Code" exercises where the same problem has variations and multiple levels of complexity.

szastupov | 6 years ago | on: Ableton Connection Kit (2016)

Keep in mind that Lite version barely has any instruments so you'll have to either use 3rd-party plugins or rely on sampling.

A few month ago I decided to start fresh and removed all pirated DAWs, plugins, purchased Lite version and started learning it in and out. I was surprised how far you can go with just sampling. It was so much fun discovering new sample packs, chopping and remixing songs, trying to make tonal instruments out of weird noises. I've also realized how many popular songs use sampling (for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU5Dn-WaElI). So yeah, setting creative constraints is important ;)

I'm at the point when I'm super at home using Ableton and ready to spend more money on Suit, but holding hopes for black Friday discounts.

Also, shameless plug https://soundcloud.com/myprivateparadise

szastupov | 7 years ago | on: The faster you unlearn OOP, the better for you and your software

> Player.hits(Monster).with(Weapon)

The problem is that it's an artificial example, in reality you'll ave a lot of different monsters, weapons, and most importantly separate subsystems. I.e. physics processed in one pass, animation in another, same goes for custom logic and rendering.

Modern game engines use component systems that put data first for the same reasons author described in the post.

szastupov | 8 years ago | on: Ask HN: What tools have most helped your day-to-day productivity?

Also, stopping hating JavaScript and embracing it allowed me to do awesome things. I used to be a system/backend-only engineer, but once you get your head around UI, you get a lot more freedom.

And it's not just about getting MVPs out. For example, I had to make a few audio-processing algorithms, and in order to help myself understand and debug those, I build a simple web app to visualize each step of effects chain. Oh, and with hot module reloading, I can record a sample, then change the code and see updated results without losing the sample. Bret Victor level of productivity ;)

Oh, and after some bundling and transpiling (if necessary), I can run the same code in browsers, node.js and mobile (we're actually using jscore directly)!

szastupov | 8 years ago | on: Ask HN: What tools have most helped your day-to-day productivity?

It's totally fine to be a nerd about your tools, but sometimes, productivity comes when you stop being one.

I had major productivity boosts after switching from a nerdy tool, to a more mainstream one:

Linux -> Mac

Vim -> Emacs -> Sublime -> Vscode

Gdocs/OpenOffice/iWork -> MS Office

etc...

szastupov | 8 years ago | on: “We are working on getting Sublime Text 3.0 final ready to launch”

VSCode has out of the box debugger, git integration, higher quality of extensions, etc... Overall it feels more polished and professional.

But the most important thing is alive ecosystem - a lot of Sublime plugins are either dead or in maintenance mode, developers lost interest and moved to open source alternatives like Atom and VSCode.

P.S. Even though I moved to VSCode, I still love and respect Sublime.

szastupov | 8 years ago | on: Switching to the Mutt Email Client

I'm trying to say, that at that period of time, MacOS 9 was stuck in the past, even compared to Windows. This was in reference to Emacs limitations as a platform.

szastupov | 8 years ago | on: Switching to the Mutt Email Client

> But, just as it is a mistake to blindly cling to the old and comfortable, neophilia is a trap in itself.

Agree, there is always must bee a meedle path.

To answer your question about MacOS 9 comparisons, I meant technical limitations, like single threading issues, ui capabilities, you know. I may be wrong, though, I haven't paid attention to Emacs intervals for a while. Modern web-based platforms are far from perfect, but they are reacher.

szastupov | 8 years ago | on: Switching to the Mutt Email Client

Sorry, I didn't mean it to be hostile. But you're right, I'm expressing my frustration, perhaps a bit sarcastically. Of course everyone's needs and preference are different, I'm not trying to say I am the source of wisdom, just sharing my thoughts, you know ;)
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