ExLisper

Hi all,

Some time ago I've been thinking about a programming challenge that's not simply another HackerRank style algorithm task and came up with something that I myself had a lot of fun solving. It goes like this:

We have a well known function (as in I didn't come up with it):

 function xoshiro128ss(a, b, c, d) {
                return function() {
                    var t = b << 9, r = b * 5; r = (r << 7 | r >>> 25) * 9;
                    c ^= a; 
                    d ^= b;
                    b ^= c; 
                    a ^= d; 
                    c ^= t;
                    d = d << 11 | d >>> 21;
                    
                    return (r >>> 0) / 4294967296;
                }
            }  

We initialize it with 4 random parameters a,b,c,d (that I selected) :

  let rnd = xoshiro128ss(a, b, c, d);

and we do:

  let rand1 = rnd();
  let rand2 = rnd();
  let rand3 = rnd();
  let rand4 = rnd();

Knowing that:

rand1 == 0.38203435111790895
rand2 == 0.5012949781958014
rand3 == 0.5278898433316499
rand4 == 0.5114834443666041

What are the values of a,b,c and d?

I was wandering if it's possible to figure it out and couldn't stop trying until I did. It was an interesting journey and I learned some new things along the way Maybe someone else here will also have fun with it. As for prizes, I don't know... whoever posts the right answer first gets an upvote and eternal fame.

What essential skills/knowledge would you say are/is required to work as a Rust dev?

I did couple of small/mediumish personal projects in Rust using axum with sea-orm and later tauri with leptos. That's on top of many years of experience working as a Java/Javascript dev and occasionally touching things like Python or Flutter. Most of things like databases and web stuff is transferable but what strictly Rust concepts are required to work as a Rust dev? In what fields it's used the most?

Hi,

So I have lived in Spain now for almost 10 years and I will be applying for citizenship soon. As part of this process I can pretty much chose my Spanish name. Or I can keep my polish name.

The problem is that my name is very polish, like Grzegorz Filipowski. Every time someone has to write it down and look me up in a database I have to show them my ID. When it happens over the phone I have to spell it. Every time I meet someone they ask me what's my name is and then repeatedly try to pronounce it while I say 'yeah... close enough'. It's pretty annoying and it would be solved by simply changing my name to something Spanish like Gregorio González or something.

What do you think? Would you see it as a practical thing to do or as a stupid intent at impersonating a real Spaniard?

Sometimes I will use something and realize I've owned it forever. It's a nice change in our throwaway reality. I think my personal record is a bicycle multi-tool I got for one of my first bikes, ~25 years ago. Still have it, still use it. When it comes to electronic devices I have a Panasonic mini Hi-Fi from ~2005. Never felt like changing it.

What's your record?

Sorry Python but it is what it is.

Tech company faces negligence lawsuit after Philip Paxson died from driving off a North Carolina bridge destroyed years ago

Discuss!

I'm thinking about learning to play drums for some time now and I have a question. If I'm a complete beginner should I still get a full drum set? I know you can buy a cheap electric set for like $300 but can I start with something smaller and simpler? Are there some kind of electric pads that would work for taking first steps and that would later let me progress to full drum set? It's not that I don't have space, I'm just not sure I will stick with it and I don't want to be stack a big set I don't use later. Or full set is actually the best way to start?

How close was it?

Haven't seen any posts about this and it's a pretty big thing. From DMA website:

Examples of the “do’s”: gatekeepers will for example have to:

• allow third parties to inter-operate with the gatekeeper’s own services in certain specific situations;
• provide companies advertising on their platform with the tools and information necessary for advertisers and publishers to carry out their own independent verification of their advertisements hosted by the gatekeeper;
• allow their business users to promote their offer and conclude contracts with their customers outside the gatekeeper’s platform.

Example of the “don'ts”: gatekeepers will for example no longer:

• treat services and products offered by the gatekeeper itself more favourably in ranking than similar services or products offered by third parties on the gatekeeper's platform;
• prevent users from un-installing any pre-installed software or app if they wish so;
• track end users outside of the gatekeepers' core platform service for the purpose of targeted advertising, without effective consent having been granted.

We'll see how this plays out but this is first move in a very long time that could open up platform like WhatsApp to 3rd party clients and force Google and Apple to open their mobile OSes to other apps. Maybe we'll see stock Android without play services? One can dream...

P.S. https://digital-markets-act-cases.ec.europa.eu - page about the legislation