Diary (May 25, 2020)

Online diary of Karl Jones for Monday May 25, 2020.

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Diary

Even in the Quietest Moments... (album front cover).

Song of the Day for Howard Kranz

Twenty-first in a series of songs for Howard and me to cover, or be inspired by, or something.

Even in the Quietest Moments

"Even in the Quietest Moments" by Supertramp

Even in the quietest moments
I wish I knew what I had to do
And even though the sun is shining
Well, I feel the rain -- here it comes again, dear
And even when you showed me
My heart was out of tune
For there's a shadow of doubt that's not letting
me find you too soon
The music that you gave me
The language of my soul
Oh Lord, I want to be with you,
Won't you let me come in from the cold?

Don't you let the sun fade away
Don't you let the sun fade away
Don't you let the sun be leaving
Won't you come to me soon

And even though the stars are listening
And the ocean's deep, I just go to sleep
And then I create the silent movie
You become the star, is that what you are, dear?
Your whisper tells a secret
Your laughter brings me joy
And a wonder of feeling I'm Nature's own
little boy
But still the tears keep falling
They're raining from the sky
Well there's a lot of me got to go under
before I get high

Don't you let the sun disappear
Don't you let the sun disappear
Don't you let the sun be leaving
No, you can't be leaving my life
Say that you won't be leaving my life
Say that you won't be leaving my life
Say won't you please, stay won't you please
Say won't you please, stay won't you please
Lord, won't you come and get into my life
Lord, won't you come and get into my life
Say won't you please, stay won't you please
Say won't you please, stay won't you please
Lord, don't go

Won't you come to me?

Even when the song is over
Where have I been -- was it just a dream?
And though your door is always open
Where do I begin -- may I please come in, dear?

• Even in the Quietest Moments @ YouTube
• Even in the Quietest Moments... (album) @ Wikipedia
• The Most Amazing Interview with Roger Hodgson Part 1 @ YouTube
• Lyrics @ rogerhodgson.com

I Ching

I Ching reading, for inspiration: "Song of the Day":

The present is embodied in Hexagram 60 - Chieh (Limitation):

There will be progress and attainment, but if the regulations prescribed be severe and difficult, they cannot be permanent.

The fourth line, divided, shows its subject quietly and naturally attentive to all regulations. There will be progress and success.

The situation is evolving slowly, and Yang (the active masculine force) is gaining ground.

===   ===
=========
=== X ===
===   ===
=========
=========

The future is embodied in Hexagram 58 - Tui (Joy):

There will be progress and attainment, but it will be advantageous to be firm and correct.

The things most apparent, those above and in front, are embodied by the upper trigram K'an (Water), which is transforming into Tui (Lake). As part of this process, danger and the unknown are giving way to joy, pleasure, and attraction.

The things least apparent, those below and behind, are embodied by the lower trigram Tui (Lake), which represents joy, pleasure, and attraction.

• http://www.facade.com/iching/personal/?UID=115593&Name=KGJ&Query=Song+of+the+Day&Deck=yarrow

AI-Assisted coding

Slashdot reports:

"Altran has released a new tool that uses artificial intelligence to help software engineers spot bugs during the coding process instead of at the end," reports TechRepublic. "Available on GitHub, Code Defect AI uses machine learning to analyze existing code, spot potential problems in new code, and suggest tests to diagnose and fix the errors."

• ltran's 'Code Defect AI' and the Rise of AI-Assisted Coding Tools @ Slashdot
• Machine learning tool trains on old code to spot bugs in new code

Commentary

Not really at the source. That already says it all. This is _not_ a bug-spotting tool. This is a compliance tool, utterly worthless for improving the code. It is apparently made by people that believe that if coders just follow all processes, then the resulting code must be good and bug-free.

The mind boggles at this _extreme_ level of stupidity. On the other hand, MS was involved, so my surprise level drops significantly.

• https://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=16439868&cid=60099802

Typing speed isn't the bottleneck for programmers, thinking speed is. If typing speed is your bottleneck, then you have too much duplication in your code, learn how to find the duplication in your code and put it into a function. Then the next time instead of typing 10-15 lines, you can type one.

Reducing redundancy is far more powerful than this AI.

https://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=16439868&cid=60099902

Exactly, how is it supposed to determine good code from bad code from commit metadata? All it's determining is "good" commit habits against "bad" commit habits. I could write two hundred lines of "hello world" and as long as it's well documented during commits it's going to be "fine". Another bullshit bingo fest, the only company stupid enough to buy this software is the same company stupid enough to put a non programmer in charge of other programmers. Sadly that is a lot of companies.

• https://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=16439868&cid=60100698

I can appreciate the fact that in some limited problem domains bug-assisted tools will be useful. AI gets hyped way too much in-general, as it always has historically. Until I can articulate to a machine "I want {this}" and it generates bug-free C code... well...

• https://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=16439868&cid=60101084

Fiction cross-reference

• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Karl Jones (nonfiction)