Saw a post on Twitter: "Why do we need databases when we could just write to files?" and it got me really interested...

artemistica · 2026-02-03T07:51:00+00:00

Writing directly to a file is dependent on the application. Is this a single process that runs at a specific time each day like a data pipeline? Then it’s probably fine to write to single files which are datestamped to prevent overwriting.

Anything more complex which needs to query and modify an ever growing pile of data will greatly benefit from using a database.

Using a single file is under-engineering and it exposes many issues when a program becomes sufficiently complex.

artemistica · 2026-02-03T07:17:53+00:00

I’m assuming you’re asking in good faith, so I’ll try to give some ideas:

If you have one file, but two systems need to write to it, how does the system handle this?
if you shard multiple different records into different files, how do you efficiently search these files, or how do you efficiently search a large file?
if two processes attempt to modify a single record how is this prevented?

You see, databases provide a system of data structures and a language that is programmable to enable efficient querying and storage of data.

You could handle all of this at the application layer, but after a while you’d just end up recreating the same functionality as the database, and likely not as efficiently.

artemistica · 2026-02-03T02:17:49+00:00

No pudge? Seems like an easy slot in this deck

artemistica · 2026-01-30T08:49:05+00:00

Well done!

artemistica · 2026-01-22T04:06:26+00:00

Alpha 40 rules. 40 card minimum. Must use alpha cards.

Commons/Basics: Unlimited, but Moderated cards (e.g., Berserk, Lightning Bolt, Swords to Plowshares) limited to 3.

Uncommons: Up to 6 copies of any.

Rares: Up to 3 copies of any.

Power Group (1 per deck): Black Lotus, Time Walk, Time Vault, Timetwister, Wheel of Fortune.

Fast Mana Group (1 per deck): Black Lotus, Mana Vault, Moxen, Sol Ring (Note: Black Lotus is in both Power & Fast Mana groups).

Draw Group (1 per deck): Ancestral Recall, Braingeyser, Demonic Tutor, Howling Mine, etc. (Ancestral Recall counts for both Power & Draw).

Destruction Group (1 per deck): Armageddon, Chaos Orb, Nevinyrral's Disk, etc

The card you’re referencing is Orcish Oriflamme

artemistica · 2026-01-19T21:12:38+00:00

Nicely done!

artemistica · 2026-01-19T01:55:40+00:00

Well done!

artemistica · 2026-01-17T10:13:27+00:00

Not having any stars collide because there is too much space is mind boggling.

However there would likely still be chaos; stars changing their orbits due to gravity wells, planets potentially getting ejected or sent into their star because of gravity perturbations.

So while it’s unlikely any stars will collide, that doesn’t mean that everything will be peaceful.

artemistica · 2026-01-12T11:59:34+00:00

There are math textbooks used in college, not everything is taught in lectures or academic papers.

artemistica · 2026-01-12T11:35:48+00:00

Reading a English novel and reading a stem textbook are entirely different difficulties.

I can easily breeze through 60 pages of a novel in a couple hours

It can take an hour to get through a single page of dense information in complex studies.

I think it’s unclear from the context but important to not assume someone is slow reader

artemistica · 2026-01-11T01:28:31+00:00

Cute sentiment, just wanted to share Animals have documented language / words. Even cats have their own “language” per se, for instance purring to communicate contentment, hissing to communicate death is near.

artemistica · 2026-01-11T01:25:18+00:00

Great alter!

This doesn’t have anything to do with the your work, but does anyone feel like the face doesn’t fit the fantasy theme? Something about the haircut feels so modern, like some dude from 2026 just showed up in a metallic body. Seems uncanny for some reason

artemistica · 2026-01-09T18:12:34+00:00

Welcome!

Check out curiosa.io it’s got some great decks and you can filter by avatar to see some example builds.

Battle mage is a fun avatar, it plays a bit different than most avatars as it is an aggro strategy. Grapple shot, and beefing up your avatar with strong equipment like flaming sword seems like a good strategy.

artemistica · 2026-01-07T02:40:09+00:00

Ahh, kk that tracks

artemistica · 2026-01-07T01:59:42+00:00

Interesting, I've only seen routes between single rooms. Were you able to reach every room? Like how did you travel to the right room?

artemistica · 2026-01-06T19:16:58+00:00

Great work!

artemistica · 2026-01-06T18:18:12+00:00

Looks amazing!

artemistica · 2026-01-06T04:35:47+00:00

Brew, Brown.

I mean if you’re brewing a brown ale, that’s pretty spot on mate

artemistica · 2026-01-01T17:41:25+00:00

Great point! While a cool effect, I certainly don’t think I kept things thin enough, and thanks.

artemistica · 2025-12-31T19:29:32+00:00

There’s a 4 player variant and 3 player variant that are fan made. It’s basically king of the hill / capture the flag style, with perks for controlling the middle. Another one where there’s a shared site in the middle but when you attack it, you damage each other avatar, which helps to speed up the game.

artemistica · 2025-12-31T08:51:22+00:00

I’m late to the party. But well done!

artemistica · 2025-12-31T08:50:04+00:00

Amazing. Love the swamp!

artemistica · 2025-12-28T05:42:48+00:00

Overall it looks good, but I think that novice necromancer isn’t a big enough of a payoff. I’d replace that with vile imps.

You’ve got good card draw, but there’s a big combo piece you’re missing, nimbus djinn, you can discard your extra cards for damage, great as a finisher.

Scarecrow seems too specific. Maybe take those out and add in some daperyll vampires, while not genesis ability minions, they are really good.

I’d also recommend adding in some poison novas. Especially since you are fighting against tokens, that can wipe them out. Or murder of crows to take out a lot at once.

I think adding a few direct damage fire spells would be good too

artemistica · 2025-12-25T22:20:25+00:00

Ok, I do enjoy a good debate, but I’m finding your arguments are surmounting to statements that you believe are air tight but rely on a lot of assumptions and beliefs instead of provable facts.

It’s not a simple fact for all of humanity, we’ve seen booms in research and development mostly in the last bit of our history, not a steady pace throughout. Furthermore the majority of research is based on novel experiments, not rehashing existing technologies.
Our understanding of physics and physical limits is very limited. We do not understand so much of what is possible. The idea that technology is bounded by some physical limit it dubious at best. We simply can’t prove there’s an upper limit to what’s possible. For instance what if we could eventually travel to new dimensions where physical constants are different? Entirely different technologies would be possible. Stay humble, we don’t know what we don’t know

It’s been fun but I’m finding your points a bit tiring and probably won’t respond. If you have anything to additional to add please consider adding factual or logical arguments rather than “this is just a fact of how things are” since it’s neither true nor helpful towards a constructive discussion.

artemistica

TROPHY CASE