Charlie Simms

@validdiktorian

16 Following

15 Followers

Drew Volpe pfp

I love beautiful spaces but if I’m honest with myself, the offices I’ve enjoyed the most were because of scary good teams working on problems I cared about. The space didn’t matter. This one had no A/C, desks we built out of doors, and was shared with a canned fish importer.

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

If anyone is interested in CFA Quicksheets: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AhXxy80KX3ubhJdAd1OKGjFKwjqneQ

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

If anyone’s interested, I have notes from most of the classes in UIUC’s M.S. in computer science program saved in OneDrive: https://1drv.ms/f/s!AhXxy80KX3ubgbts5_CH3ocw-IPK3w

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

Admittedly, I thought this was just an ontological debate. As for adding data storage to the network layer, isn’t that what Helium doing with LoRaWAN, using hotspots as gateways that could validate via Proof-of-Coverage?

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

An argument can be made for distributed systems (e.g., blockchains, consensus protocols, state machines) being the highest layer. Beyond that, the only major change I’d make to the list is adding a delineation between user/kernel/hardware applications and processes. Minor change: adjusting for OS specifics.

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

Ans 1: I kept asking specific questions to ChatGPT to get it to produce the list. Beyond that, I didn’t care about numbering. Ans 2: To me, web APIs, node.js libraries, and web frameworks belong in the Application layer. Ans 3: A layer is an interface relying on lower layers while providing services to higher ones

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

Levels of abstraction in a modern computer that's running a web application. (The simplicity of the table belies the galaxy of information needed to understand every layer.)

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

Central Park was b-e-a utiful today.

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

As someone who went to school for EE, I do think there needs to be some sort of general certification for software engineers. I’ve seen bootcamp grads list themselves on LinkedIn as senior fullstack engineers after working for a year. I mean, it’s like the Wild West out here in terms of titles and skill levels.

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

“You can get hired writing code that manages millions of dollars quite easily.” I’ve found the exact opposite to be true. (Barring the golden era for SWE hiring in ‘21, that is.) As for passing multiple rounds of technical screens, I don’t think 99% of bootcamp grads could do it.

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

I’m currently reading a historical computing book. As well-written as it is, there’s no mention of Noam Chomsky (grammars), Stephen Kleene (regular expressions), Kathleen Boothe (1st assembly language), or Alick Glennie (1st compiled language).

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

The fact that traditional finance (and intermediaries) are nowhere near as frictionless as they should be. 3% for a credit card swipe. 5-7% for a wire transfer. 2 days for stock settlement. Slow transfer/availability of funds. Fraud/chargebacks. No micro transactions.

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

I have to apologize for the late reply, too. I haven’t gotten notifications from Warpcast in days. As for an idea for a project, I‘ve wanted to do something related to microfinance in India. While I’m proficient in Rust, I don’t understand smart contracts at a deep enough level to start building anything.

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

How long it took to get comfortable with blockchain-related concepts. I’m comfortable with abstraction (e.g., ISAs, OS kernels, network APIs), but there are so many different blockchain technologies (e.g., DeFi primitives, transaction models, exchanges) that it’s been tricky to figure where/what/how to build.

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

Great observation.

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

May I ask how long it took you to develop on the blockchain? I’m a software engineer (11 YoE) with a background in EE and I feel like my head is swimming with new terminology. (I’m trying to avoid using LLMs to build b/c I’m one of those devs who needs to understand how everything works to debug properly.)

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

I’m a software engineer who’s also new to this and I genuinely thought there would be more creatives/builders here rather than people trying to get rich quickly from digital currencies. That said, maybe we’re just a little early to the decentralized party?

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

Are you a software engineer?

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Charlie Simms pfp

@validdiktorian

“Oh.” - me, in late 2024, realizing that blockchains are an important technology, not merely a mechanism for pump and dumps.

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