> "But print f is not really just a function... It's a formatting engine."
> "A format string is not just a string. It's a program."
> "A good log file is not just data. It's an emergency instrument panel."
> "...how print f has evolved into a diagnostic language and not just a formatting function."
> "...remember that you're not just printing an integer. You're invoking a tiny machine..."
> "print f of user input is not just bad style. It's an engraved invitation to chaos..."
And then there's the "whimsy" that AI liked to throw into this type of content.
> "It's a bit like giving a blindfold machinist a box of random parts and instructions and saying the third item is a carburetor."
> "...at which point it becomes a swamp full of math crocodiles."
> "The number 0.1 looks pretty innocent in decimal like a little cherub sitting on a cloud. But in binary floating point, it is a repeating fraction wearing a fake mustache..."
> "...letting the user hand your tiny formatting machine a bag of burglary tools."
Apologies to the author if this is incorrect, but this very much feels like videotaped AI spam. Even if I really, really do enjoy the subject matter.
On top of that, the format is -surprisingly enough- also idiotic and would maybe have a chance of being informative if prepared in this newfangled technology called text, 7-bit ascii style.
Bonus points for sober style instead of yet another "breaking news" video vomit. I won't watch your video, thank you for nothing.
Next up: mine bitcoin inside printf()!! what //they// _don't_ want *you* to know!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Plummer
He definitely isn't an idiot who depends on AI to look smart.
The worst part of GenAI seems not to be AI slop (I can easily close the tab if the content isn't interesting). It's the fact that every...single...submission(!!!) on HN now has someone questioning and dissecting the content to dismiss it as AI generated.
I'd much rather people gave submissions the benefit of the doubt, or just clicked `Flag` if it is obviously worthless slop.
Disagree.
Just like those spam 'articles' that may at their core be interesting or have some value - but force you to click past 4 ads and scroll over/filter out another 17 just to extract the promised value - noticing that content you're consuming is obviously AI generated results in two things:
1. resentment that your time and attention was wasted by machine generated word-padding, and
2. a loss of confidence in the accuracy of the information presented
That's a different problem entirely and predates the recent GenAI craze.
> a loss of confidence in the accuracy of the information presented
Then it isn't interesting any longer ;)
---
You're missing my general point though. People like yourself moaning about AI is far less interesting and useful. If you don't like the content, then flag it. If you do, then don't flood the comments with analysis about whether-or-not this was AI.
All of these meta-comments about AI are as worthless to the discussions should be classed with the same disrespect as the meta-comments about website stylesheets:
> Please don't complain about tangential annoyances—e.g. article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button breakage. They're too common to be interesting.
As opposed to flooding it with comments about how anti-AI comments are bad?
I get the hate for GenAI is high. Many of you are scared for your jobs and AI has caused a seismic shift in society. But that doesn't justify lashing out at me because I simply said "Dave isn't a n00b" and "if you don't like AI content then flag it".
My comment was reasonable. However accusing a veteran Microsoft engineer for being an "idiot" (as some had in this submission) because his script loosely mimicked some AI-isms, is not reasonable. And it's disappointing that so many people are defending that behavior.
Then, when finally neither the topic nor the content has anything to do with AI, "It's so nice to read something on HN not mentioning AI" in the comments.
HN has made a clear decision on when AI content is acceptable on the site itself, it'd be nice if there was a clear decision on the linked content as well. Regardless whether it's the policy I'd personally prefer or not, it'd do a lot in regards to avoiding the same discussion appearing everywhere.
People question my use of AI when I double `-` with an iPhone on the internet constantly.[0] I get it, it's annoying.
However, if our barrier for quality is "at it's core, the content of this is interesting", then the quality of this place will fall off a cliff. This is factoid-level interesting. It's not a hacker writing something profound or presenting a breakthrough in garbled grade 8 English. It's a fun fact being presented in an acceptably, inoffensive, reasonably produced format.. Is that the bar?
I suspect the AI-isms you identified were really just more his own personal presentation style. I've watched a few of his videos over the years and from what I recall, they were similarly written.
https://www.lispworks.com/documentation/HyperSpec/Body/22_c....
Thanks for the link, I'll have a read of that later