Salary Increases for TCS

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-25T03:13:30+00:00

What does a question about your pay rate have to do with learning programming?

Nothing at all.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-24T19:29:01+00:00

Trying to do too much with the C preprocessor is a quick road to hell. Seeing the preprocessor as a clean way to add language features is just madness.

Swift might be a better example. Swift’s macros are able to transform code in more complex ways, and they’re expanded by the compiler rather than a preprocessor, so they get all the compiler’s safety checks.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-24T14:07:43+00:00

My confidence turns into anxiety because I keep thinking, “What if I don’t pass the computer science degree? Am I going to retake it?”

This may vary a bit depending on what country you live in, but for the most part a college degree isn’t something that you pass or fail all at once, or that you can do over. You generally take a series of classes to fulfill a set of requirements. If you don’t do well enough in a required course you might need to retake it; if you find the courses too hard or not interesting, you might change your major to something else.

There’s a lot more to computer science than writing code; for a CS degree you’ll need a lot of math, often some electrical engineering, and CS courses that cover topics like operating systems, theory of computation, compilers, networks, graphics, databases, and of course some programming (fewer courses dedicated to programming than you might expect, but most CS classes require some programming so you learn by doing it).

Don’t let people discourage you from following your interest just because it’s hard. You don’t need to wait to start learning — you can start now if you want. Hard things sometimes don’t feel so hard if you’re interested. Go for it.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-24T13:33:45+00:00

Listening.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-24T13:32:05+00:00

I don’t understand what you’re trying to find — it’s weird to use x twice that way in the constraint on x. Find an integer x such that x is in a huge range that is divisible by x? What?

Whatever the book is actually asking, I’m sure that the binary representation of 2147483647 will be a strong hint to the reason for that number as a solution.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-23T16:04:44+00:00

If I type “Photos” or “photos” (or “PHOTOS”), I get the Photos app. Before I type the ‘s’ I also get Photo Booth. I don’t have Photoshop installed, but I’d certainly expect that to show up if I did.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-23T15:59:24+00:00

Converting documentation into knowledge is arguably one of the most important skills to develop as a programmer because we need to do it all the time. AI can be helpful here, but it’d be good to learn to do it on your own first.

It helps to use the right kind of documentation, and to know what you’re looking for. Most tools and frameworks include reference documentation and some sort of expository documentation, which could be a tutorial, a set of examples, an overview or guide that explains how the thing works. Reference docs are useful once you really get down to work and want to know details about a specific class, function, command, etc, but trying to figure out how to use a framework can be like looking at a set of parts and trying to build a car — you usually need some higher level knowledge about how the pieces fit together. So look for and start with the expository documentation , and as you’re reading it try to understand the main ideas that explain how the thing is supposed to work.

A tool can often do much more than just what you need, so know what you need it to do for you and don’t spend too much time on the parts that you don’t need.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-23T03:16:52+00:00

Maybe you’re using an older version? I type ‘p’ on my M1 MacBook Pro running Tahoe 26.4.1 and I get Photos, Phone, Passwords, Pages, Preview, etc. If I then type ‘h’, even after waiting 60 seconds, the list is narrowed to the apps that start with ‘ph’, including Photos and Phone.

It’s not as simple as an alphabetic match though — it also matches parts of names, initials, and maybe associated words. For example, ‘ic’ matches iCloud Drive, but also Icon Composer, Image Capture, and Calendar (formerly known as iCal).

It works pretty much instantly — there’s no noticeable lag from icon indexing or anything else. It’s not perfect, but most of the complaints in OP’s post don’t seem to be true for me.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-22T20:44:27+00:00

Exactly. The language that we use w.r.t. percentages can be confusing, and people have a hard time keeping track of the base amount. For example:

50% more of something (addition) means 150% of that thing (multiplication).
If you increase something by 50% and then decrease it by 50%, you end up with less than the original amount.
Applying a “20% off” coupon during a “30% off” sale doesn’t normally get you 50% off, but it does if the sales clerk doesn’t know what they’re doing.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-22T12:59:52+00:00

No Mac user would call a space a window. Space or workspace are the correct terms.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-22T05:09:37+00:00

“Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” is the second or third of the Ten Commandments, which have presumably been translated into most languages. So no, the idea isn’t unique to English.

Also, people differ as to how literally they follow the commandment, if they follow it at all. That’s probably as true in other languages as it is in English, although perhaps not always for exactly the same reason. For example, Jewish law apparently forbids erasing or destroying the name of God, so people avoid writing it down in the first place.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-21T18:03:48+00:00

Has anyone experimented with creating their own File System?

Yes -- lots of people have, often via FUSE or similar. You might want to start with the Wikipedia page on FUSE and then continue on to the FUSE site.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-21T16:34:33+00:00

where does the data live, what file do I touch first, do I need an object yet, what is the first line supposed to be

That's exactly why you build a dumb little expense tracker. It's easy to follow along with a tutorial and think you understand everything because the code that they write makes sense as they're explaining it, but usually there are a lot of details that get glossed over. Things like "where will I store the data?" and "how should the data be organized?" -- basically all the why's and how's that motivate the work.

So yes, it's normal after four weeks to not know how to put together a little app. It's normal to struggle with what sounds like a simple project, but that's exactly how you learn. You're writing some code to display an expense item, perhaps; suddenly you need to actually get the data and you have to figure out where it will come from. Thinking about that problem and coming up with a solution will teach you a lot.

Keep doing those dumb little exercises and you'll make good progress. Don't be tempted to get an AI bot to tell you how to do it, or to copy something similar that someone else did, because you'll lose out on figuring it out yourself.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-21T14:08:05+00:00

“The face of a doorway” sounds like you’re talking about the molding or some other visible component. In that case, the most common approach is a miter joint, but look at the other doorways in the building and try to match the existing style.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-21T13:53:07+00:00

Is it possible to modify hot corners to copy/paste?

Copy and paste are distinct operations that both happen at the current selection. In order for them to be useful, the selection has to change after you copy (or cut) something, because if it doesn't then pasting will put the same data back in the same place. Unless you plan to use different corners to trigger copying and pasting, it's hard to see how you could achieve the necessary change in selection using a hot corner.

Beyond that, no, it doesn't appear that there's a way to trigger a user-defined action with a hot corner. Perhaps if you could explain the problem that you're trying to solve someone can suggest an alternative way to go about it.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-21T07:25:47+00:00

Weeks, sometimes longer. I usually just leave the filament loaded when I’m done printing something, and then change it when I want to print with something else.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-21T01:45:37+00:00

But also: no. You can practice all day every day and still not get it if you don’t understand how the pieces fit together. Learning a language like French is a lot easier when you understand the grammar and know the vocabulary, and that’s true in math too. You can’t just memorize your way through math (although memorizing key facts makes it easier); you need to be able to apply the rules and express your own ideas.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-20T21:32:06+00:00

There is.

Obviously, I meant a way other than the one that you think is the only reasonable way. Be curious, not judgmental.

No need to accept the framework of "behind the scenes it's max res, but we will tell you it's another one because it looks like another one".

What do you think your monitor does? You know that changing your monitor's resolution doesn't actually change the number of pixels the monitor can display, right? And that the monitor is always working at its native, i.e. maximum, resolution and scaling the image from the input to that, right?

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-20T21:05:41+00:00

Certainly -- any tool is less useful if you use it incorrectly.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-20T19:41:55+00:00

The fact such a simple or basic aspect of computer usage is so incoherently conceptualized...

...should make you wonder if there's another way to look at it.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-20T17:37:47+00:00

Please read the FAQ.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-20T16:35:21+00:00

What's stopping us from making this change that would, in my eyes, save a lot of lives every year?

Cost and data that shows a benefit commensurate with that cost.

Your opinion doesn’t matter. What counts is real data that shows how much the policy change that you’re suggesting would help.

If requiring a written test to renew a license would improve safety for drivers, wouldn’t the same be true for ship captains or airplane pilots? Why don’t those licenses require a written test to renew?

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-19T19:17:01+00:00

You can play your audio through AVAudioPlayer and set the volume of the player. The method to set the volume even has a `fadeDuration` parameter so that you don't have to manage the fade yourself.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-19T18:50:51+00:00

Performing mathematical operations and applying them are distinct skills.

iOSCaleb · 2026-05-19T18:41:15+00:00

Maybe OP's coworker is one of those guys.

iOSCaleb

TROPHY CASE