3天前

top 5 unsolved problems in computer science

Programmer Humor @programming.dev

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Any user input should take top priority over anything. I don't want to wait for your 50 banner and ads to load to click the thing I already know I want. If I opened a program or clicked a link I don't want, I want to be able to leave even before its wasted more time loading the thing I don't want. And holy shit, those tutorial popups that explain features that you can't click out of, and have to click through all the prompts to start using the fucking program, made way worse if you went there by accident and are now stuck.
- I feel this.
  I've visited websites of legitimate companies that I want to support, but as I'm looking to spend my money I get punched in the face with subscription popups.
  If disrespecting me is the first thing you do when I visit your website, I can't give you my money. It's that simple.
  And paid apps that beg you to review their app, no matter how many fucking goddamn times you've closed that popup, is a punch in the dick.

I would guess they're a Windows user based on 2 and 1. wget -c works for continuing downloads, and transferring files is trivial with sftp.
- Fun fact we download things with browsers and not always wget also not everyone has an open port.
  
  You're using all 65535 or so values for ports? Port forwarding is not necessary inside the same network.

Google maps when Android auto detects music moves all the buttons up out of their usual place but it's slightly delayed. Most dangerous #5 I've encountered.

#1 - kdeconnect. Plus several other cool features on it
- Or sshfs between computers
- OK. Now tell me how I do it when I want to send it between a phone and a laptop tethered to that phone via hotspot.
  
  Localsend, I mean kde connect will work this way but I find local send more reliable
  
  Honestly? Hardwire is the only way I've found to always consistently transfer files like this, to this very day
  
  Usb cable much? Heh
  
  What I do is start a micro web server with Python on a termux terminal, if you don't have root on said device you'll be stuck in the /data/data/com.termux/files/ but its still enough to save files with Firefox to said directory on the files/home/ I believe? (export or share to termux and you'll be taken to termux on the aforementioned directory, where you can always pwd to know where you are) however if you do have root you'll be able to literally start the mini web server on the / or any folder you like. And then on your laptop you browse to the IP of the phone and the custom port, which if its hotspot you can also find via termux or tends to be 172.20.10.1 or something mundane depending on your carrier.

i was going to say, your missing one finding a job in cs.

I still remember when my 386 had 4MB of RAM, and I didn't have a math coprocessor.
And I could still get online.
I was going to write that I'm old. But, no, I'm not that old.

the chaotic neutral for #1 is making a torrent and leeching off of youself
- autofellatio
- But how do I send the torrent file to the other device?
- I usually use Pairdrop when on local network. Cross platform, P2P, quick, works on phone, and doesn't need a download. The only third party software is a TURN server. Recently works over internet too.

5 is infuriating, especially if the site engages in fuckery like putting an ad under where the desired click disappeared from, so the user ends up clicking the ad.

isn't 4 expected behavior? if i open an application i expect it to be focused when it opens
- True, but so many applications open more than once. They open a window that is just a logo, then 5 sec later a window with a loading bar, then finaly the actual application. And each time they steal the focus. Fuck that!
  
  Logitech software that wont register my games keybinds unless I open it to spend 3 minutes loading and then hides my game while I'm frantically trying not to die from my lack of utility keybinds
- If you open an application, yes. What if another application does?
  
  Or what if you want to open an application that takes like a minute to load like Discord or photo editing software or CAD software, and want to do things while the splash screen is there and loading still?
  
  Not sure if I want my applications to open other applications in a semi hidden way, if it does I want it to be obvious
- It meant open as an adjective, not a verb.

5 is worst on websites, but "adaptive UX" apps do this, too. It's a crime.
4 is trivially fixed, for many Linux WMs. Here's for KDE. It's less trivial for xfce, but possible. Here's how to do it in i3 (this is as simple as any configuration in i3).
3 is clearly satire, and a very real and valid condemnation about modern web page design. Use Hugo (or similar) and pick a lightweight theme: there are several nice looking ones that specifically exclude JavaScript, which is the main culprit.
1 is such. A. Pain. Sure, if you use KDE or mconnect and the KDE app on Android, it's easy. The Device Connect app works really well. Apple to Apple is trivial. But arbitrary device to arbitrary device? The problem is that there's no standard championed by anyone. Apple is not interested in pushing their protocol: they have a vested interest in making all other devices a PITA so people are encouraged to buy into the Apple ecosystem. Google has been oddly inactive about it. Samsung does the same thing Apple does. We have the Wormhole protocol which is fantastic, but not even the main Linux desktops have built-in support; c.f. KDE Connect.
- Idk why you are reccomending Hugo for number 3. Any static site generator out there performs just as same tbh.
  
  Of course. I recommend Hugo because it's the best static site generator.
  Or, maybe I'm just giving an example.
- python3 -m http.server
  It's the only way I can send anything to my old iPad. Aside from straight up using some cloud service ofc. This is much faster tho.
  
  may i introduce you to LocalSend? Works on Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iPhone/iPad; its FOSS, and uses a REST API and HTTPS encryption. It even has a portable mode, i use it in our Windows/Linux/Android/Steamdeck home and it works flawless and fast.
  edit: Didn't see that it was already recommended below, lol. but no harm done, localsend is really a great tool for any network, especially with mixed os clients
  
  Windows, Linux, Android, and iOS can all open samba shares...
- I love magic wormhole. Still trying to get my bf on board with it. Before that, I used sftp.
  
  Me too! It's easy and reliable.
  But I'd settle for any protocol that was standard and available on all platforms without an extra install.

I hate 5. there's nothing worse than clicking on a page, clicking a button and the split second before you click it the page inexplicably moves 2 inches up or down causing you to click something else
- YouTube is terrible at this for me, I'll open a video go to click full screen and right at that moment all the sidebar videos popup and the whole video window shifts left and I end up clicking on another video entirely. This happens to me at least 5 times a week.
  
  YouTube as a site is just terribly designed imo. i miss the olden days of YouTube back when videos were rated with stars and everyone could customise their channel font, layout, background colour etc
  
  Just press 'F' on your keyboard to make the video full screen

How is centered div formed
- It's actually really easy though! Look up a Flex box generator and copy the code it gives you!

I've had downloads resume properly over http back in the 2000s at least 4 times.
- Back in the early 2000s I was a teen on a 56k dial-up modem. There would be frequent connection drops, or if not that, my dad would simply kick me off the Internet so he could make a phone call. Trying to download large files through the browser would only end in tears, so a download manager that supported resume was absolutely essential.
  I used something called FlashGet (I was a Windows user back then) which looking it up now apparently turned into a malware-riddled mess towards the end of its life, as did so many things. But it was an absolute lifesaver at the time.
  
  I used one called Go!Zilla. I remember the UI being somewhat similar to Winamp, and that I liked to configure it to think that my connection speed was 14.4 kbps so the "speed graph" was always in the "high speed download" zone when I was downloading at 50 kbps 😅.
  
  turned into a malware-riddled mess towards the end of its life
  This caused me to spontaneously remember RealPlayer.
  
  FlashGet brings me back haha.
  I have memories of using a free dialup internet with ads and trying to download a Worms Armageddon demo of like 11-12MB and using FlashGet because my sister was kicking me off dialup.
  
  I used Get Right. That type of program was a life-saver.
- Yes the problem is solved, but it's not well supported where it's needed.
  
  That's probably due to all those sites putting their own authentication mechanism in front of the download instead of just letting the webserver handle it.
  Built something like that myself a few years ago with PHP. And while it wasn't super hard it wasn't trivial either and not supported out of the box by the common libraries.
- I think I just never need it, so I have no idea how "solved" it is. It's absolutely supported by most clients, and I've had downloads resume, but I rarely Downloads anything large enough, over a network unreliable enough, to notice that a resume is needed.
- I haven't really had a problem with this, tbh.

Hello from programming.dev. Yes. This is correct.
- Hi :3

yeah but we have a ton of porn!
- But all my best vids are saved on another computer!
  
  Have you tried:
  Curl
  yt-dlp
  finding that computer and stealing the hard drive

5 is intentional. Websites choose what size ads are displayed, they plan ad placement and page layout around that. If the page is jumping around as ads load they want it to. They want you to accidentally click, because that gets them more money than simply displaying the ad.
- "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity" - or laziness/incompetence/lack of care in this case.
  This happens regularly even on sites with no ads.
  You give these people far too much credit.
  
  No that was true 10-20 years ago, prior to the online advertising systems becoming so refined. They used to just send an ad with a general size, horizontal, vertical, etc.
  It's too common and stick website designs take advertising sizes and loading into account now, so despite constant complaints now it has to be intentional.
- woosh 🤣😂

For #1 you wanna try Magic wormhole. Maybe it's less user-friendly than you need it to be, but it works and there are lots of implementations for different owes (don't know about iOS though).
- There's also localsend, which works like a charm.
  
  python -m http.server 8000
- i would absolutely recommend localsend. it has ios, android and desktop apps and it works flawlessly:
  https://localsend.org/
  Edit: iirc you need to be in the same network though, it does not have gateway (?) servers like wormhole
- That is kind of the problem though. There are many solutions, all with their own pros and cons. But after all these years no universal standard has managed to appear.
  
  You asked for it
  https://xkcd.com/927/
  
  Have you tried NordVPN meshnet?
- I used to use Pushbullet. Haven't really needed it in a long time since discord came on the scene really. But it did the job really well and was super easy to use.
- Cool stuff. How does this stack up vs syncthing? I have a weekly clip show I'd love to be able to share with friends and family
  
  they both do private file sharing, but their working principle is inherently different: wormhole, localsend, pairdrop etc. send a file once, whereas syncthing aims to sync a folder on 2 or more devices bidirectionally

For #1 you can try KDE Connect. Send files and clipboards between your devices over wifi or bluetooth.
Sending stuff to another person's device? 🤷
- I've heard good things about LocalSend.
  
  LocalSend is great.
  Needed to send some stuff from my Linux server to my wife's Window's PC the other day, but I was at work and she couldn't get her PC to see the folders I'm sharing over the network. So I used AnyDesk from my Mac at work, opened LocalSend on the server and sent the files over. 1GB sent over in about 10 seconds. Amazing stuff.
  Some parts of living in the future are magic.
- Doesn't work for me on public WiFi. Tried using device IP, no luck. In my home WiFi it works perfectly though. Haven't tried Bluetooth, didn't know that's possible
  
  Many public wifi networks disable peer to peer connections over the network for security purposes, which breaks KDE Connect

Dark patterns. All 5. Problem solved

3 is intentional, too. A performant page requires paying a skilled web developer.
Web page too slow? Use our affiliate link for a new computer!

Syncthing, Localsend, Firefox Send, Cloud drives
Any download manager out there (Gopeed, Motrix. JDownloader, XDM, etc.)
Vanilla JS, uglification, minification.
Configure it in the settings of your desired DE
Remove timer to move button or delay it more.
- Is probably CLS, and that's up to the website maintainer to fix

The developer streams on the Steam store product pages cause number 5 a lot.
MacOS does number 4 a ton and it's annoying.

4 - I bet there's some a setting for that in some Linux DE
1 - I did literally that two days ago with scp, cause I've had 200 GB to transfer and 40 GB free space on my pendrive
- 4 - I bet there’s some a setting for that in some Linux DE
  XFCE's WM (xfwm4) settings. And yes, I keep it unchecked.
  
  I'll check again but it didn't work as I wanted to last time. What I want: give focus to new processes started by the user, but once the user manually switches windows, do not pop that app into the foreground when it is done launching. Also: not stealing focus was useless when the unfocused window would pop up over the one I was currently using.
- KDE has "Window Rules" and I think it has an option for that
  
  Window rules rule!
- Gnome 3 implemented 4 as a core feature and got so much flack from users for it. So they made it trigger less and less until they effectively removed it. I still see it happen, but very rarely.