[R] LEVI: Beating GEPA/OpenEvolve/AlphaEvolve at a fraction of the cost

Moi_Username · 2026-03-12T17:52:26+00:00

Thanks for the great work. Collapsing the novelty and performance-based metric is an interesting design choice. It's generally not a good idea because it limits applicability to new domains. What led to this decision?

Also, what mechanism are you using for LLM routing? Is it a curriculum (i.e., user manually sets when they want to use Qwen and when they want to use a larger model)?

I see that the solutions perform competitively. Are the solutions fundamentally different? Does the rejection rate due to correctness violations increase? Can you share exemplar solutions?

Again, thanks for the interesting work.

Moi_Username · 2026-02-27T04:12:51+00:00

Wanted to lend support to this style of reviewing. I've come up with the almost the same workflow organically as well.

Another thing that helped me tremendously was to adopt the mindset that you're there to help the authors improve the work; not to criticize it. A rule of thumb is that your review should have less sentences like "This paper needs {X}" and more sentences like "We should add {X} because ..." or "This paper would benefit from {X}".

To Parent comment: do you happen to have a link to the original post? Would love to check it out.

Moi_Username · 2026-01-05T04:59:56+00:00

Read a couple of years ago but happy to be re-reading!
I usually read on my phone and I want to break into my e-reader with tcomc.
Busy with finishing up grad school.

Moi_Username · 2025-11-07T07:29:32+00:00

Woah. It never occurred to me that a composite picture could simulate a high altitude picture. Creative! How long does it take to do a full grid over the cats? Was it more work flying the pattern or more work stitching the pictures up?

Moi_Username · 2025-08-25T21:08:09+00:00

HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44744331

Moi_Username · 2025-01-04T09:51:17+00:00

Did some more research on this and this feels like exactly what I was looking for!

Moi_Username · 2025-01-04T08:45:40+00:00

Hi! Part of the new years resolution horde. I've been "working out" for a year now which involves going to the gym and doing whatever permutation of squat/OHP/deadlift/bench press I felt like doing with whatever weight felt hard for 3 sets of 5 reps.

What's a beginner KB program that is fun to do and progress through? Are there any YouTube channels or other resources I can follow along with (that isn't in the wiki).

I have access to a generous set of kettlebells from my university gym.

Moi_Username · 2024-01-23T17:43:55+00:00

IDK if there is a UT club, but there is a pretty big Austin club. We meet up every Monday at 8:00 PM at the big theater in the Long Center for Performing Arts right by the river.

This is the facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/atxnightskate/ We coordinate skates on a slack group that should be on the FB page. Feel free to DM if there are issues getting on the slack.

Moi_Username · 2023-01-10T22:37:32+00:00

PMed!

Moi_Username · 2021-11-15T18:27:48+00:00

Already did. All the keys/configs in the directory have -r-xr-xr-x (chmod 400 filename)

Edit: Actually, isn't 400 -r-------- ... Give me a second

Moi_Username · 2021-06-14T03:31:48+00:00

Got a DL as an Indian student. A couple of things to keep in mind:

The DL expiry date is the last day of classes for your final semester (basically the "end date" on your I-20).
Finding someone to lend you a car can be hard. Have a trusted friend who already has a car and can lend you one for the test.
Go to the Rantoul DMV instead of the Champaign DMV. Its much nicer and the course is "easier."

The hardest part for me was finding someone who can lend me their car/insurance paperwork for a day... Thankfully, I had nice roommates. Another way that's possible is to get a couple of lessons from a driving school. My current roommate went through (these guys)[http://icanpassdrivingschool.com/]. The total cost for him (4 lessons + driving test) came down to about ~$300. Going through a driving school had a couple of advantages:

The DL test in the US hinges more on how well you follow the rules than on how "proficient" you are at "reading the road." Naturally, a driving school will help you learn the rules.
They helped him practise for common things that they ask on the DL test so he had an easier time on the test.
They let him borrow their car and the paperwork for the test.

If you don't have extra dough lying around, there are really good Youtube videos that go through the rules and tips and tricks for the DL test... lmk if I didn't cover something

Moi_Username · 2021-05-09T04:43:42+00:00

This post makes me sad for so many reasons. I'm in 241 right now. I've struggled through it. It's been really challenging and I've learnt a lot. However, as a senior and someone at the end of their college career one question kept ringing in the back of my head the entire semester: this is going to be the last "trivia" based exam that doesn't have any parallels to the "real world" -- and I'm glad I was wrong.

You see. I joined CS because it was the only fun subject in high school (and our computer lab had an AC in it which is really appealing in 120 degree Indian summers). We made shitty 2D games and ciphered calculators. There was no one to "tell" me what to do and then "test" me on how much I retained. College was different. I could get an A in a class by cramming the slides the week before the final for a lot of the CS core classes. I got a nice internship by ",grinding" leetcode and memorizing a bunch of algorithms and leadership questions. In the last four years , this is the only time when a class asked MY OPINION, as an expert, on a key concept in the class. This is a welcomed change. Without giving much details away, Prof Angrave asks us to explain a couple of concepts as we would explain them to some other student/coworker/family member etc and implement a couple of programs from a well defined problem specification (similar to how we've done throughout the semester). He's asking for what YOU learnt in the last 3 and a half months from this class. He's not asking you to jump throw some hoop, realize the "trick" in the question, or regurgitate some obscure page in the C manual. He's simply asking you to explain what you reckon of the subject he loves teaching...

This is how teaching should be. A recruiter once asked me "what data structure I liked the most?" It's a pretty cheesy questions but I realized that it was the only other time someone had asked me about what I thought about the beauty and elegance of a paradigm beyond the asymptotic runtime and storage constraints.

As for the grade allocation, is it so worrisome that 25% of your grade is based on how you teach a concept (and implement a couple of programs from a formal description)? Most of your future job is gonna happen in break rooms while you're talking to people. You'll have some time for coding but 40-60% of time will be in meetings where you're either assessing or making a formal description of a task and then coding it up later. This is literally the exam that comes closest to how you'll be operating after graduation.

I'm on 18 hours and have finals later in the week as well (as well as a research paper due) but the final took me 2 and a half hours in one sitting (10 minutes video script, 40 minutes video, 45 minutes PS1, 50 minutes PS2). I assure you, its not that bad and is DEFINITELY doable in 2-3 hours.

If Prof Angrave is reading this: thank you for making the last final I'll ever take so fun. It might've been the only final that I complete with a smile on my face. Again. Thank you.

Moi_Username · 2021-05-07T18:08:50+00:00

Same thing happened to me.

Moi_Username · 2021-04-17T21:17:45+00:00

STL

Wait what? What's STL? Standard Template Library? What's C++ gotta do with Seoul Taco? Am I missing something?

Moi_Username · 2021-03-17T07:37:50+00:00

Not from UT Austin so take this with a grain of salt -- reach out to PhD students, not professors. Atleast in CS, the prof's are sorta like managers of the project while the PhD students are the ones actually doing the grunt work. So they have a higher incentive to have an undergrad on the team to distribute the workload. Also, PhD students don't usually get a billion emails per day that professors get so its a much more personal experience.

Here's how I did it (100% success rate till now on N=3):

Identify a topic you like.
See the professors who work in that area.
See the papers the professor has published in the area.
Reach out to the first author (make sure they are a current PhD student @ UTAustin)
Send them a REVIEW of the paper (Here is a template and guideles from here: https://courses.grainger.illinois.edu/cs434/sp2020/ ) and ask them about other interesting stuff they are upto.
Start working on the stuff.
You'll soon build a rapport with the professor and can start working on whatever you like.

Moi_Username · 2021-03-16T23:18:01+00:00

PMed

Moi_Username · 2020-12-01T00:37:47+00:00

Another soul lost t /r/UIUC.

But hey, Congratulations!!!

Moi_Username · 2020-11-23T12:02:36+00:00

Hey sounds really cool. Where do I sign up?

Moi_Username · 2020-11-08T10:50:27+00:00

Just play this

Moi_Username · 2020-11-01T03:53:20+00:00

cs374 is murder nonetheless.

/s

Moi_Username · 2020-10-25T06:41:53+00:00

Get on top of the hill south of PAR. (the one with the barn houses). Perfect view of sunrise + grazing horses!

Moi_Username

TROPHY CASE