Derek Graham

SInce it's almost snow time here, a micro:bit snowglobe #microbit

Beatrice “Trixie” Worsley: Canada’s 1st female computer scientist & 1st woman in the world to earn a PhD in #ComputerScience, Cambridge 1952. Wrote the 1st program on EDSAC & co-developed Transcode (early compiler) opening computer access to scientists across Canada. Born #OTD in 1921. #WomenInSTEM

“There are two ways of constructing software: one way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult.” C. A. R. Hoare

1. Can a language model feel pain? Clearly not. Large language models are computer software and they can no more suffer than any other human-created artifact can. >>

Watching “Logic for Programmers” youtu.be/8Xrvyu5tV28 by @hillelwayne.com

Reading a nice post on why I should go back to Go: blainsmith.com/articles/jus...

They disinvented the VCR. You might think that the reason we don't have VCRs anymore is because VCRs were supplanted by DVDs, PVRs and streaming, but that's not the case. They had it in for the VCR from the very start, and they never stopped trying to kill it. Eventually, they succeeded. 1/

In case you wanted about 3,700 words on the problems with today's "settlement" that gives Meta way more power over how the internet works than it should have.

The best time to have made Canada digitally sovereign would have been *before* an American president announced his intention to annex Canada and began explicitly deploying America's tech companies to attack his geopolitical adversaries. The second-best time is *now*. 52/

AI is alarming for many reasons: it's a dangerous financial bubble, an environmental catastrophe, and a tool for eroding wages and labor power. But in addition to all that, AI is an epistemic disaster. 1/

NEW: Flock has said for years its cameras don’t identify or track people. We obtained the code for its police AI and rebuilt parts of it. The tool can find witnesses, surface associates, search people by race or physical description, and flag vehicles by how they move. W/ @dell.bsky.social

Hardly a day goes by without my getting email from someone looking for ways to do good with tech. From computer science students thinking about post-grad careers to seasoned coders with decades of experience, there's an army of hackers looking for a way to turn their expertise into public goods. 1/

Submitting an online form for a local business, I accidentally fell into the matrix @kevlin.bsky.social

Enshittification. cc: @doctorow.pluralistic.net

llms only “exist” to give one reply at a turn you: x llm: y then the whole process starts over. there is no continuity. each reply is 100% fresh. the context of your previous “conversation” is included, hidden from you, in every request you make. continuity is an illusion

I say this with all due respect but simultaneously with a rage that can unmake stars, a software-intensive system that “exhibits all the cognitive capabilities that the brain has” is not “a few short years away”. x.com/demishassabi...

Lovely early birthday present with a definitely authentic, hand-written note from @doctorow.pluralistic.net himself. My favourite part is the sketch at the end shows us fighting together with Karl Marx against chatgpt

Can you, as one person, possibly make a difference in whether an unusual, creative, category-breaking book (a book without a marketing department or a budget behind it) succeeds? Yes you can, and I'm going to tell you why it's a hell of a lot more attainable than you think.

AI has been foisted upon us, for sure, but one reason it lands with so many is that LLMs *feel like* a solution for loneliness/estrangement/isolation: People who crave feedback and iteration but lack the courage or social capital to get it. Showing a first draft to someone is exposure. /1

Choose pair programming Choose energised work Choose test-driven development Choose short iterations and frequent releases Choose continuous integration Choose refactoring the code to keep the design simple and malleable Choose your future. Choose XP.

Apropos of nothing www.stvn.sh/writing/prog...

Happy birthday, Dad. Wish you were here. You’d know what to do. Or at least you’d know what to write. ❤️

Thought for the day: Paper plans don’t necessarily need to compile without error.

youtu.be/c9HNjW2Rx60

Zohran Mamdani is so unamerican he wants the country of Iran to be Mayor of New York after him #sad

Really enjoying the new productivity gains in Microsoft Teams where you can now reply to yourself with handy suggestions @kevlin.bsky.social #Perfect #Great #ThankYou

The Jetsons lied to us

In honor of Mr. Rogers’ birthday, here’s your regularly scheduled reminder that the quote of his you keep sharing, that in times of crisis we should look for the helpers, was for his audience of children. We’re adults now. We’re supposed to *be* the helpers.

RE: https://mastodon.social/@GeePawHill/116218123864742737 Quite possibly your last opportunity. Recommended.

For everyone who enjoys a null reference exception, take a moment to mourn the passing of Tony Hoare en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Ho...

So apparently grammarly stole my fuckin identity

Might come in handy one day?

Generating technical debt at scale testpappy.wordpress.com/2026/03/06/v...

The answer to problems in sociotechnical systems is not always "more software", "better software" or "open source software". A lot of the time the best solution is _less software_ and sometimes even _no software_.

🚨 It looks like the UK government is gearing up to upend copyright law in favour of AI companies, legalising the theft of their work. This is despite creatives' huge protests, and despite previous proposals being roundly rejected by the public. Please spread the word. 🧵 1/4