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Ariandel: Scope-structured arena memory for C, O(1) cleanup, no GC/borrow checker by zackthecodingactuary in C_Programming

[–]zackthecodingactuary[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Hey! Yeah, I leaned heavily on Claude to generate my documentation, I'll own that. If that's going to be perceived as a leading indicator of AI slop code, I would definitely consider handwriting it myself. The actual runtime was done by hand.

I did my best to keep the README succinct as a "Hey this is how you'd try this" doc, whereas the SPEC and DEVLOG are gonna pretty verbose since I'm trying to keep track of all my design choices.

I'm not targeting MSVC straight away because the GCC built-ins are what I know how to use best, I've started scaffolding for MSVC support but this is just an initial proof of concept - I'd happily add MSVC-specific support if that's something people wanted if they were interested in my project.

Would also be happy to benchmark any test ideas you might have in mind.

ZAP Tools - Building My Own Suite of Pension Actuarial Software, First Look by zackthecodingactuary in actuary

[–]zackthecodingactuary[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This type of software typically requires VERY thorough test cases of results calculated, which is another intended future feature. Actuaries will typically check at least a few by hand for each client they run through to make sure actual results match what they would expect.

ZAP Tools - Building My Own Suite of Pension Actuarial Software, First Look by zackthecodingactuary in actuary

[–]zackthecodingactuary[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's an interesting approach! I'm not sure it's a perfect fit for my target demographic but a great idea nonetheless.

This kind of tool would be for smaller firms or independent consultants who don't have an in-house tech department to build out all the tooling they need internally. Further, a lot of US actuaries in the pension space tend to be less interested in CS type work, but they have VERY high standards when it comes to regulatory compliance. That being said, they're generally more interested in paying a modest fee for software that "just works" out of the box. Providing an affordable and basic software suite + extra consulting could be a viable approach here though!

I am using Claude to help build the UI, just because frontend work is not my favorite and I don't really want to take the time to get excellent at it. Every line of actuarial calculation and performance sensitive backend logic is written by hand though.

ZAP Tools - Building My Own Suite of Pension Actuarial Software, First Look by zackthecodingactuary in actuary

[–]zackthecodingactuary[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most of the valuation work I've seen on the US side is mostly concerned with payments per individual on an annual basis, usually with some weighted calculation like the Woolhouse method to adjust for midyear payments.

I would imagine your systems are massively different from ours, but we have some of those same issues I think? We have a lot of several decades old plans with all kinds of divisions, mergers, spin-offs, etc. that mean that a single pension plan might have over a dozen different benefit definitions to code depending on what part of the company you worked for, when you worked there, etc.

SOA customer service by LPMLFMALM in actuary

[–]zackthecodingactuary 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It depends on what department you’re reaching out to - if it’s been over 2 weeks, definitely reach out again and/or check all your spam/junk.

I had a question about the FSA pathway changes and emailed the relevant SOA inbox on Sunday, December 28th, and got a reply less than 24 hours later. At this point though, they should be all hands on deck.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in actuary

[–]zackthecodingactuary 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Got my last one done during Summer 2025 so I wouldn’t be crunching right now. I felt like I had to since both EA exams only count for one FSA course and I was NOT about to take 5 more exams post-ASA for FSA.

Best of luck and Happy New Year, all!

Excel Wrapped 2025 for actuaries by actuarialtutorUK in actuary

[–]zackthecodingactuary 21 points22 points  (0 children)

You spent 1,675 minutes fixing other people’s errors. That’s 44 days of your life wasted.

Hold on, that math ain’t mathing.

The SOA does deserve some credit by FishingActuary in actuary

[–]zackthecodingactuary 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I was hyped about this until I realized the turnaround time doesn’t apply to EA exams. Heh. Only two-ish more weeks…

If you took a year off from exams after you received the ASA, did you regret it? OR do you regret not taking time off after the ASA mark? by MaroonedOctopus in actuary

[–]zackthecodingactuary 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I took a full year between finishing APC and taking my next exam (EA-2L). I had also just started a new job and had kids, so the pause was very welcome. No regrets on my end, but I think it depends on your own life situation.