Join 📚 Josh Beckman's Highlights
A batch of the best highlights from what Josh's read, .
When I’m working on a research problem I generally begin by filling dozens of sheets of scratch paper with partial calculations. When I eventually get to a point where I can think about the problem while swimming, then I’m often ready to solve it.
Knuth Airgaps & Knuth Buffers
Taylor Troesh
It is probably more illuminating to go a little bit further back, to the Middle Ages. One of its characteristics was that "reasoning by analogy" was rampant; another characteristic was almost total intellectual stagnation, and we now see why the two go together. A reason for mentioning this is to point out that, by developing a keen ear for unwarranted analogies, one can detect a lot of medieval thinking today.
On the Cruelty of Really Teaching Computing Science
University of Texas in Austin
The central idea is that asynchronous work is encapsulated in objects called [Tasks](https://pigweed.dev/api/cc/classpw_1_1async2_1_1_task.html). Instead of registering callbacks for different events, a central [Dispatcher](https://pigweed.dev/api/cc/classpw_1_1async2_1_1_dispatcher.html) *polls* these tasks to see if they can make progress. The polling is *informed* because the task coordinates with its event source regarding when it’s ready to make more progress. The event source notifies the dispatcher when the task is ready to proceed and therefore should be polled again.
Informed Poll
pigweed.dev
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