iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Replies

By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 05/06/2026

There is an entire genre of lists that illustrate the problem with this; the "falsehoods programmers believe" lists: github.com/kdeldycke/aw... 23/

github.com

GitHub - kdeldycke/awesome-falsehood: 😱 Falsehoods Programmers Believe in

😱 Falsehoods Programmers Believe in. Contribute to kdeldycke/awesome-falsehood development by creating an account on GitHub.

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 05/06/2026

From "names of people" and "street addresses"; from "prices" to "time"; from "email addresses" to "phone numbers"; the "awesome falsehoods" lists are awesome because they reveal how much subtlety and complexity is lurking in these seemingly simple and intuitive concepts. 24/

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By Cory Doctorow (GPG 0xBF3D9110957E5F4C) @doctorow.pluralistic.net · 05/06/2026

This subtlety and complexity might never emerge through the process of trying to teach a *person* about them, but when you try to teach a *computer* about them, you have to confront them in all their awesome fuggliness. 25/

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wiredog @wiredog.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

I once had to write an email address validator. As near as I could figure as long as there was at least one “@“ in it, it was valid… Especially once you start looking at Unicode,

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Chris T. @readyuser.one · 05/06/2026

This is why building a 'simple' form is one of the tasks in HCI that seems totally innocent on its surface (how hard could six fields be, right?), but which has more pitfalls than a bootleg copy of Prince of Persia.

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