iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 29/12/2024

I kind of assumed they were marked like national parks here are or something, but is it a bit more arbitrary than that?

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JD Lien @jdlien.com · 28/12/2024

I didn’t know you are from Edmonton! Hope your family had fun!

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 28/12/2024

My understanding is that metal detectors aren’t illegal in Ireland, but using them to search for archaeological items without permission is! Non-archaeological use should usually be fine. www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collec...

museum.ie

The Law on Metal Detecting in Ireland | National Museum of Ireland

Welcome to the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin & Castlebar covering Archaeology, Decorative Arts, Folk & Country Life, & Natural History.FREE Exhibitions

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JD Lien @jdlien.com · 26/12/2024

Yeah, basically: “Are you human? What’s the name of the person you’re trying to email (which is mentioned several places in the form and site).

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 26/12/2024

The honeypot field is a neat idea. What I did on my contact form that eliminated 100% of spam is that I require people to fill any variant of my name into a field. I suppose this could confuse a few people, but if they can’t figure that out, I probably don’t want to hear from them anyways.

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JD Lien @jdlien.com · 23/12/2024

Also, yipes! What a freaking shady company!

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 23/12/2024

Amazing YouTube thumbnail! (And I sure don’t say that often!)

I love these sorts of handy reference sheets when trying to learn a new skill. Regex is so handy to have down cold as a programmer or sysadmin: media.datacamp.com/legacy/image...

media.datacamp.com

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Going with your real name always seems like a safe bet. I think people know it and it has brand equity. Heck, you're even mentioned in Ash's new book for that reason!

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In such a case I'd probably make more money than most actual professional engineers do here. Neat! It still feels wrong to me, though. You can't call yourself a doctor just because you read a book about drugs or something, so it kinda feels similar to that. 🤷🏼‍♂️

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By these standards, I am definitely not a "professional engineer". I have a BSc., but not an engineering degree. I haven't fulfilled the four years of experience under a licensed engineer, etc., etc. But I guess with my 20+ years of experience I could get a job as a "Software Engineer" in the US...

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My stepdad, ex-gf, and some friends are professional engineers. In Canada, that means something very specific: You need a specific education, 4 years experience working under an licensed engineer, have to be a member of a professional eng. association, etc.. You're also obliged to wear an iron ring.

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I'm reading @joshwcomeau.com's newsletter and it's fascinating seeing the difference between US and Canadian pay for developers as well as this interesting stat: If you call yourself an "Engineer" you make almost double what you do as a "Developer". And it's the same job. Ha!

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 19/12/2024

Sounds fascinating. I’m in!

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 18/12/2024

It’s always interesting, that’s for sure!

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 18/12/2024

I don't know what it is about me but it's almost like sprawling, messy legacy systems hunt me down and find me. How lovely it would be to just spend all my time on a beautiful, shiny greenfield Laravel app or something!

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 18/12/2024

Twenty-some years into my career as a technologist and there are days I still feel I have no clue how JS works. It took me a decade to feel like I was pretty competent (given it wasn't what I mainly worked on most of that time). There are SO many things to learn and much of it takes a LOT of time.

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I fucking love it. 🕺🏼

I hear you about the winter weather; we’ve had a pretty cold snowy winter here so far and it’s not particularly enticing to go out at the moment!

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I'll add that I also have an amazing, loving wife with me, although she often works long hours. It'd be pretty darned lonely if I didn't have her. How do those of you working entirely from home cope with loneliness and isolation?

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I've been freelancing from home for over six months. I have to say—the feeling of social isolation in this situation is a real thing, even for very introverted people like me. Some days I really miss how easy it was to chat with a coworker or grab a coffee. I'm bad about making a habit of that.

I've been writing a ton of stuff about databases lately, but I'm seriously considering a diversion into comedy writing. Heck, why not combine both? 🤔

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Ah, haha. I know it’s a thing for some people to set their phones to grayscale to discourage them from mindlessly scrolling too much but I reckon that’s not related. M

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JD Lien @jdlien.com · 16/12/2024

Interesting. Can you explain why the greyscale helps? I wasn’t aware that astigmatism was problematic with colors… is it due to some kind of chromatic aberration or something?

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If you've wondered whether SQLite or PostgreSQL would be a better choice for you or want to understand the differences between these popular (but very different) RDBMSes, here's my latest article for @aaronfrancis.com's DB blogs with a nice explainer: masteringpostgres.com/articles/pos...

masteringpostgres.com

Articles - Mastering Postgres

An explanation of the key differences between PostgreSQL and SQLite, including where each is best used, and what features PostgreSQL has that SQLite doesn't.

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JD Lien @jdlien.com · 16/12/2024

Every now and then I’m interested in a PC for gaming – but who am I kidding? I’d probably rather just use it to train AI models or do something way nerdier than gaming. Sometimes I wonder if it would be nicer to just buy a prebuilt computer, since I always built them when I was younger.

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 14/12/2024

Interesting. I’ve considered trying it out, thinking there’s a chance I might be a bit more productive, but on the other hand, I was worried there might be more noise and distractions. I guess it might be worth giving it a shot!

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 13/12/2024

Thank you for reading it!

JD Lien @jdlien.com · 13/12/2024

Is that why your name is now “ Invalid Handle”?

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JD Lien @jdlien.com · 13/12/2024

Fair, although I originally wrote for X and thought the structure kind of made sense. I’m feeling how how to structure these information-dense thread things still! I’m not sure if threads are still cool!

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I love seeing people showcase what they are proud of and passionate about, whatever silly (or serious) thing it is. Fantastic work, that looks better than professional! 👏

Indeed, and I feel like climate change is making it even more extreme. As a kid we had cold winters, but I don’t remember minus freaking forty!

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But, which is faster?! Well... it's complicated and it depends. MySQL can shine with write-heavy apps. Postgres can perform better with complex queries if you know what you're doing and set up your indexes well. But both are pretty fast these days! 🚀🚀

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BTW, what's with people calling PostgreSQL "Postgres"? It started in 1986(!) as a successor to the Ingres DB; Postgres was short for "Post-Ingres" but changed to use SQL in '96 and "QL" was added to the name. (Many lament this name, which is pronounced "post-gres-cue-el".)

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For practical purposes, they are both free to use and open source, although their licensing model differs a bit. Some are concerned that Oracle owns MySQL, (which is why MariaDB exists) and MySQL's licensing is less permissive than the BSD-like license for PostgreSQL.

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MySQL emphasizes simplicity and speed. It's great for beginners, more flexible and forgiving. Postgres emphasizes strict SQL compliance and advanced features for highly specialized applications, like JSONB, array, and range types.

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Hey, fellow database nerds! 👋🤓 I've written a fresh new article for the blog at @aaronfrancis.com's Mastering Postgres course. Today's topic: PostgreSQL vs. MySQL. You've heard of both and wondered what the differences are. I go deep in the article, but here's a teaser: 🧵

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