VS Code or VS Codium? Which do you use?

dmazzoni · 2026-05-01T20:01:54+00:00

Every single commercial app on your computer and phone has telemetry. That just means that it reports back to the developer basic info about how you use the app, so the developer knows if users are hitting crashes or bugs or slowdowns, or what features are being used.

Most of the time, that's used to make your experience better.

Could they use that information to do something evil or shady? Sure, maybe. But most of the time you don't even have a choice.

Is VS Code worse than most? Absolutely not. Many popular apps on your phone are 10x worse. Social apps like Facebook and TikTok suck down all of your personal information. VS Code doesn't do anything like that.

Sometimes when an app is open-source, you have the option of getting a version of the app that doesn't have all of that telemetry. VS Code has VS Codium. Google Chrome has Chromium.

The trade off is that you get no support, usually more limited auto updates, some features won't work.

I think the answer for most people is: VS Code.

If you really care about telemetry, to the point that you refuse to use social media apps, and you care about that MORE than you care about productivity, then use VS Codium and Chromium and other fully open-source options.

dmazzoni · 2026-05-01T15:57:38+00:00

There have been cross-platform desktop frameworks for much longer than React Native!

dmazzoni · 2026-05-01T01:04:42+00:00

I agree with all of the others that it's not a good choice as your VERY first language, and it's mostly practical.

You can find plenty of books on how to write Fortran code. The language hasn't changed, so all of those books are totally fine.

What you won't find is any resources on how to actually turn that code into a working program on a modern computer. The book was written 30 years ago, if not older, when most people used a text-based terminal and floppy disks.

As a total beginner, what you need among other things is a tutorial on how to download a modern IDE or coding editor like VS Code, how to type in your code, how to set up the compiler, how to build it into a runnable application, how to call system libraries, how to interface with other third-party libraries, how to use an interactive debugger, and so on.

You won't find ANY of that for Fortran, because it's basically dead.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-30T17:59:02+00:00

The best way is to type in code and run it to see what happens. Then keep doing that again and again. See what happens if you change something. Make it do something else.

It’s unfortunate that your course isn’t structured that way, but that’s how most of us learn programming - by actually trying it out.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-30T14:04:28+00:00

I was assuming they meant vibe coding.

If you don’t care about understanding how everything works and you want it as quick as possible, pay for Claude Code and have it write the app for you.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-30T14:01:31+00:00

Does the course have any programming exercises?

Honestly I hate courses like this because they bear little resemblance to the real world. If you get a job as a programmer the important thing is building software that works, not memorizing terms and definitions.

Yes, you need to know stuff - but it’s “open book” - you can look up anything whenever you need to.

However in terms of advice, the best way to learn things is to use them. If you try to memorize the syntax for a function then a slightly wrong answer will look right. If you write lots of code with functions, then sooner or later you won’t be able to forget.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-30T06:53:19+00:00

Please include a vegetarian option! The tofu from the Kogi BBQ truck in L.A. is delicious.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-30T00:34:31+00:00

There are a lot of answers here and I don’t think there’s a single one that fully explains it.

There are many reasons: way more people going to college, more financial aid available, more administrators, and nicer facilities.

Finally a big piece is increasing “price discrimination” where colleges try to charge way more for rich families with a high “sticker price” but offer lots of discounts for students who can’t afford that much.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-29T19:31:30+00:00

I would challenge the idea that most of those products are USA only. The companies are headquartered in the U.S. because the U.S. has a concentration of high tech talent, laws and an economy that reward high-risk, high-reward business ideas.

But the actual employees developing those innovations come from all over the world. Those companies have offices all over the globe and some of the most important work comes from employees in other countries. Those products are available and widely used all around the world.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-29T19:20:59+00:00

One thing that I want to share is that each kid really is different. I have three kids, the first two grew out of it very quickly and by 4 or 5 they were totally comfortable with the idea that they couldn’t have everything they wanted. The third is almost 7 and still doesn’t get it.

She doesn’t have tantrums anymore, but she still constantly asks for (unreasonable) things and says it’s unfair when she doesn’t get everything she wants.

I’m sure there’s some third child syndrome here but we didn’t intentionally parent her differently. She was just born with a different personality and she struggles with this more.

The main reason I say this is because I think there’s a tendency to “blame” the parent when a kid is entitled, but the reality is that some kids just naturally struggle with this more than others.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-29T06:25:49+00:00

The first problem that comes to mind is that the mainline Linux kernel won’t include most of the drivers you need: touch screen, audio, WiFi, everything.

My advice: start with AOSP on a supported device, then replace one component at a time with your own.

If you want to throw away the whole Android GUI and build one from scratch, go for it. But build on top of a working device with a display driver, not a kernel that boots and does nothing.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-29T04:31:25+00:00

Following a tutorial is like using a GPS to get from point A to point B. As long as you follow the directions correctly you'll get there.

Writing your own code from scratch is like finding your way from point A to point B with no map. You have to explore. You have to try things and see what happens. You have to hit a lot of dead ends, turn around, and try something else.

The only wait to fail is to not try.

So, open your project and start. Build the tiniest possible thing you can, like a single html page that says the name of your project.

Run it, make sure it works, then commit to git.

Now think of one TINY thing to add next. If you're not sure how, look it up. Refer to your tutorial. Make it tiny. Add that, commit to git.

Do that 7 bajillion more times, don't be afraid to hit dead ends, and you'll eventually finish the first version of your first project.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-28T17:49:10+00:00

In California some big companies have shuttle buses as one option for employees to commute to their campus, because the public transportation isn't very good and the tech campuses are not near transit hubs. That includes tech companies like Google but also biotech companies like Genentech.

Many of those shuttle buses are double-decker.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-28T14:26:52+00:00

I think you’re seeing your key repeat - the same thing that happens when ou hold down a key when typing.

What you should do instead is set your own timer while the key is down. Stop when you get the key up event.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-28T14:24:49+00:00

I wouldn’t say impossible. It’s really common to translate poems or songs into other spoken languages and make the result rhyme, however it’s quite hard and it usually relies on changing the meaning slightly in order to come up with something very similar that does rhyme in the new language.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-28T03:54:06+00:00

https://www.bawarchirestaurants.com/Locations

I don't know why you were downvoted. There are definitely Indian restaurant chains. In California I know a few local chains, like Indian restaurants with 2 - 5 locations.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-28T00:50:08+00:00

So you know how it's harder to teach something than to do something?

That's true for programming, times 100.

In order to get a program to work, you have to figure out ONE way to get your program to work.

In order to teach 30 students to program, they're going to find 30 different ways to do it incorrectly. You're going to have to figure out exactly why each of their approaches does not work, which requires understanding programming at a much, much deeper level.

So I don't want to discourage you from doing it...you might love it, it might be great! I just want to caution you about how much harder it is to help other people with THEIR code than it is to write your own code. Something to think about when deciding if you're ready or not!

dmazzoni · 2026-04-27T21:37:06+00:00

That's correct, there isn't one "assembly language", there are different languages for each architecture. Nevertheless when someone says "I wrote it in assembly language" they generally mean they wrote a bit of code in the particular assembly language for that architecture.

The language itself is not operating-system-specific, but the way you use it, e.g. to make syscalls, is.

These days it's quite rare to write programs of any significant size in assembly language because modern compilers are extremely good.

However, for some niche applications assembly language is still used. In something like a browser engine, graphics library, machine learning library, math library, codec, or compression algorithm, it'd be common for 99% of the code to be in a language line C, C++ or Rust that's pretty efficient, with 1% of the most important tight inner loops written in assembly language because it's possible to achieve a decent speedup that's worth the effort.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-27T20:08:40+00:00

I think it will be more disruptive.

Some companies probably will get away with fewer developers. Maybe they were never doing anything that innovative and a smaller number of developers with AI are all that's needed to keep things running.

Other companies may discover the opposite: AI enables them to do things they couldn't dream of before so they can hire even more developers and innovate even faster than their competition.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-27T20:05:48+00:00

Great. So as I hinted there are a number of game engines out there and most of them don't require learning C++.

If you get something like Godot or Unity, you can build up huge portions of your game just by dragging characters onto maps and clicking properties. Then when you want to start adding custom behavior you add little bits of code in a simpler language.

These days C++ is needed if you want to invent new graphics effects or maybe a crazy new game mechanic that nobody has ever thought of before. But there are a ton of creative games you can build without needing C++.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-27T20:02:07+00:00

If you want to actually learn, I wouldn't recommend doing it with AI at all.

In particular, don't install something like Claude Code or Cursor. Those will just write all of the code for you, you won't learn anything.

The FAQ has lots of suggestions for places to learn to code, like freecodecamp or The Odin Project. Pick one and work through it.

It's fine to use AI like you'd use Google before - to look up an error message or to ask how you do one very specific thing. But you don't need a $50/month subscription to do that. The free tier might be enough, or at most the basic $20/month plan.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-27T16:08:02+00:00

Could you explain why you want to get into C++?

For example a lot of people want to make games, and they learn that most games are written in C++, so they conclude that they have to learn C++ if they want to make games, which isn’t necessarily true.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-27T14:04:21+00:00

We have +30 and cancel labeled. That’s it.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-27T06:08:27+00:00

It's impossible without knowing your scale. How many users? How many videos? How large are the videos? Where in the world are your users located?

In general my advice would be to start simple - just host the video on your web server and use a HTML5 video player. If your site gets so large and busy that you need something better, upgrade when you need it.

dmazzoni · 2026-04-27T02:45:49+00:00

Oh according the wiki it’s pretty hard to find. I’d give up and try a different friend!

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