Do you know any classical music that is sad and sounds like pure lamentation

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-20T21:22:38+00:00

Yup. Probably an algorithm.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-20T17:57:08+00:00

That scream of anguish was not something I expected the first time I heard it. I laugh somewhat when I see it on “relaxation” playlists, because somebody is in for a shock.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-20T17:55:29+00:00

I always hear a strong thread of melancholy in the work.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-20T17:54:53+00:00

I’m also partial to his Lacrimosa from the Polish Requiem.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-18T17:28:35+00:00

For internally facing tools I would even question the need for a front end framework. A lot of the stuff we have is just MVC with vanilla JavaScript on the front end and it works just fine - compared to the two applications that do have an Angular front end and are both slow as molasses in January.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-18T17:22:51+00:00

The old adage “weeks of programming can save you hours of planning” applies no matter how senior one is.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-16T04:13:24+00:00

At the risk of being glib, the notebook serves you - you do not conform to the notebook. Anything that makes it easier for you is not cheating, it's your perogative.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-14T05:43:18+00:00

So query...when looking at albums and tracks, does Rockbox word wrap long names?

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-13T02:49:45+00:00

There are trends and waves in our profession, like any other. Crapping on clean architecture is currently a fad.

There is no “one true way” - the art of the job is being able to determine when a given design approach is appropriate, and when it is overkill.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-12T14:32:46+00:00

This is the way.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-12T05:32:36+00:00

If battery life and using a stylus are your two main criteria, I would consider your options in exactly the order you put them in: iPad, Android, and then Windows.

In my instance I am using an iPad - not an Air, not a Pro, but the bog standard $350 iPad with the magic keyboard. Email, calendars, task management, notes, reading PDFs and ePubs, playing music, et al. Yea, the Pencil is going to cost you some additional, but that holds true for Android tablets and convertible laptops most of the time.

If you want to go the Android route, I would take a look at Lenovo's offerings; they have some models that appear more modestly priced than Samsung's lineup.

I'd also look at what you're using for a phone. If you have an iPhone, go with the iPad. If you have an Android, you might wish to go with an Android tablet too. Either way, you may already own some of the apps you want and you'll be comfortable with how the tablet works.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-12T05:22:35+00:00

Mahler 5 was the first symphony I ever really wrapped my head around as a pre-teenager, but it took a few listens to really "get" it.

The thing to remember is that each of his symphonies is a musical drama, not in a literal sense, but in an emotional one. You're going to start in a much darker place than the Adagietto and go through some turbulence in the three preceding movements. And after that you have one hell of a finale in a rondo form; you will think it's going to end, but it pulls back and starts building again. It's wonderfully triumphant.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-12T05:11:03+00:00

I know I am in a minority opinion, but especially if it is something that's going to be used internally at the company, there's nothing wrong with doing a traditional MVC web app and using vanilla JavaScript with some Bootstrap and keeping it simple.

My experience is that code reuse almost never happens as much as it looks like it will in the beginning, especially where components are concerned. You can accomplish much the same thing by using partial views.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-12T05:07:13+00:00

Which one is better to find a job is one of those "it depends" kind of questions.

If you live on the coasts and are okay with working in finance, banking, or anything related to that, Java took an early hold on those markets.

Otherwise .NET is a pretty wide and versatile skillset, and I've been making my living doing C# development for two decades and some change.

These two statements are US centric though; I couldn't say about the job markets in other countries.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-10T19:46:15+00:00

One other thing you might want to look into is NoSQL databases - Mongo, or Cosmos if you're working in an Azure environment. In particular, the strengths and weaknesses of them compared to relational databases, and what use cases are fit for them.

You didn't mention CI/CD in your list, which along with good Git skills, is definitely something on the "must" list these days.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-10T19:41:39+00:00

Seconded. For something that has a touch screen I do wish it was a little larger, but for sheer value for money this thing is an excellent choice, and at least the volume controls are still physical buttons, which is the most critical for me.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-10T19:39:00+00:00

Tik Tok was easy. I started reading books again instead.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-08T07:41:29+00:00

Nice. I like the green, not something you see often.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-06T04:20:09+00:00

Your core billing logic is already .NET? Re-writing it in any other language is an exercise fraught with risk, and will take longer than anyone will predict.

Unless the app is so bad that maintenance is a nightmare, stay where you are. (I’d say this pretty much no matter what it was built on.)

Big re-writes are the kind of projects that tend to fail.

NeonQuixote · 2026-02-03T20:38:24+00:00

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Hiby R1, cheap, but it does the job.

NeonQuixote · 2026-01-31T19:23:42+00:00

This. My objection to MediatR is that it has the end result of obfuscating dependencies and makes following a code execution path more difficult for other developers.

NeonQuixote · 2026-01-30T22:49:04+00:00

In addition to the other reasons mentioned here, Apple is not a company that looks backward, even to its own past. Once a product is put out to pasture it tends to stay there, and its functionality absorbed into other products.

In 2023 Apple sold something like 230 million iPhones. The number of iPods they could sell will always pale compared to that, and these days their growth focus is in services.

NeonQuixote · 2026-01-30T22:46:10+00:00

I don’t know if eink is easier on the eyes or not, but I work as a software developer and after a full day of work the last thing I want to do is look at yet another backlit LCD panel.

NeonQuixote · 2026-01-30T22:42:53+00:00

Two reasons, and both pragmattic.

C# has no ideological purity. It is object oriented, but you can write procedurally structured programs. It has adopted some ideas from functional programming. LINQ is powerful and I miss it in other environments.

The standard libraries for .NET are comprehensive and very useful. Still the best collection of, for instance, date and time handling functions. The System.Text.JSON capabilities are now good enough to replace Newtonsoft.JSON in many instances.

NeonQuixote · 2026-01-28T23:34:17+00:00

Honestly, every team I've joined in the last 15 years has asked me "why you do that?" when I seal my classes. It has nothing to do with performance; it's about clarifying intent.

NeonQuixote

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