LOL, hearing that the first "search" results for the most popular AI coding engines are malware. (both organic search and the hidden "sponsored search" results). Quite the security kerfuffle at work over this. šŸ™„ #ai #vibecoding #cybersecurity
"cut and paste this into your command line" from random websites ALWAYS goes well. /s #cybersecurity
@ai6yr curl pipe to bash for the win!
@Viss Yeah, this is why I manually install any Linux projects instead of that if I can, I don't trust anyone's shell script to be clean!!
@ai6yr sooo muuuuuch stuuuuuf is installed that way. ruby, homebrew, rust, ai shit
@Viss @ai6yr you both have formal training in CS/coding right? Don't they cover best practices or is reality at most companies just get it done quick security problems are overblown?
@CliffsEsport @ai6yr ehm. i took pascal and borland c++ in highschool, but dropped out of college outright when they changed that shit to msvc++. went straight into sysadmin. taught myself perl on the job, then bash, then python. i have no official formal dev training and i dont call myself a dev. im ok in bash but python i always need a crutch and im barely functional
@CliffsEsport @ai6yr also, "best practices" is corpospeak for 'i dont actually know the answer so i copied my classmates homework', so its prolly not the actual best way to do stuff
@CliffsEsport @ai6yr but curriculums vary WIDELY. my c++ teacher in highschool was a math teacher and had functionally zero computer experience. she taught directly out of the book and forced us to do all the examples out of the book. she got pissed when we all went faster than she could. it was bad. we got demerits when we found better, more efficient ways to write code because we didnt exactly copy the book and that meant she couldnt grade us. because she didnt computer.
@Viss @ai6yr I feel your pain, specially with Math teachers. Most of my teachers were sub par, but my Electronics teacher was awesome. He actually encouraged us to program stepper motor with C64 even though it was beyond his knowledge, he knew it should be possible. I learned PEEK POKE from pub library book and shared that w buddy mentioned above & helped that program it.
@Viss @CliffsEsport LOL most schools don't cover best practices, that's way too practical.... Not sure on the state of the art, but traditionally, lots of theory and things like algorithms, etc. and precious little practical knowledge. For awhile everyone was only learning Java in school (which was terrible). Not sure what the language of the moment is....
@ai6yr @CliffsEsport yeah i bailed before they went to java and went sysadmin mode
@Viss @CliffsEsport Just did a quick search, depending on what school, C++ and python. So, they finally figured out Java sucks lol.
@Viss @CliffsEsport I was finding people who (attempted) to learn how to program in Java could not program. The language was too cumbersome....
@ai6yr @CliffsEsport just the mechanics of making anything in java at all. such a fucking nightmare. and android is the same because its all fucking java under the hood
@Viss @ai6yr So as someone who only had the time/money/energy budget to get homelab going in last year what modern language do you recommend really learning? I understand enough of the basics of CS that I can piece together what I need to do for the little bits in past, but have been thinking C though think I'd prefer lower level personally.

@CliffsEsport @Viss Well, for me, python is the easiest to implement and pick up to build things. The main upside and downside of python is the availability of libraries. (able to find libraries for many things). That's an upside, BUT, the downside, is the supply chain for python libraries is ALSO not very well vetted, and there are most certainly bits of malware or Bitcoin mining or other crap you do NOT want on your systems that show up...

As a basic language (without loading libraries, willy nilly), it's probably the best. (Disclaimer: that's the tech stack I am using most now)

@CliffsEsport @Viss I previously developed in:

php
perl
Java
c++
(various variants of c++, including Microsoft's Visual C++)
c
assembly
pascal
basic

🤪

@ai6yr @Viss Yeah, PHP and assembly appeal to me, and no offense but Python argh, and like you said the whole library dependency just feels wrong security wise.
@CliffsEsport @Viss PHP really is a web server language, i..e if you want to build interactive websites. It's not appropriate for, say, a command line tool.

@ai6yr @CliffsEsport @Viss

Depending on your specialty/interest:

  • Bash
  • Python
  • C#
  • C++

Couldn't hurt to give you a foundation of understanding for how programming operates and works. File & logic handling, errors, logging, networking, etc.

There are useful tool 'challenges' to build your own toolkit. Stuff that you will likely use anyhow, that can get you started.

@jackryder @CliffsEsport @Viss Yes! This is a good list.

@ai6yr @jackryder @CliffsEsport @Viss I once wrote an open source Java editor, when (1) the libraries were young and small and (2) we actually had hopes of cross-platform applications. It was popular enough now that I see the AI can give me a summary of it, but I won't bore you guys with the name.

Now fish shell is my jam. Haha.

@ai6yr @jackryder @CliffsEsport @Viss perhaps I should give a more serious answer, that bash is important if you're going to interact with other people and systems, but if you are you are looking for productivity on your own workstation(s), there are alternatives. It wouldn't have to be fish.
@John @ai6yr @jackryder @Viss No worries, I took it as sharing experience and etc. Plenty of nostalgia & etc in this thread I seem to have hijacked :/
@John @jackryder @CliffsEsport @Viss Oooh, I have not heard of fish, what's the advantages of that? (besides not leaving it out to rot?) 🤪

@ai6yr @jackryder @CliffsEsport @Viss yikes. The AI says that my old editor can be associated with certain University curricula!

Those poor kids.

@jackryder @ai6yr @Viss Yeah C family and Bash probably make most sense. Does it really matter which C I start with?

@CliffsEsport @ai6yr @Viss

tl;dr - no. It is turtles all the way down.

Honestly the hardest choices are the ones that don't move us forward. Picking a random language and diving into it will serve you equally well. There is a literal tidal wave of languages available, each designed to solve a set of problems the author felt needed to be solved.

Personally? I tend to apply the language to the problem. If you are playing with web tools, stick to web-friendly environments.

Find the environments that interest you, and then look at what moves them. Becoming an expert in JavaScript is not as useful to Data Scientists, but the mechanics are similar enough to work off of.

If you are building towards a team, quite literally look at their githubs and figure out the languages they seem to focus in. Those are likely popular in the social group you are trying to work in.

@jackryder @ai6yr @Viss I tend to be very cross domainm my main goals are building my knowledge, and maybe also make some money. The way my brain works it cares more about learning than making money.

@CliffsEsport @ai6yr @Viss Oh, well then that's perfect.

Grab one of the languages listed above and find a project to build in it. Start small but meaningful to you.

Example: You have mentioned homelab and understanding CS and C. Create a repo and build something for your homelab using one of the C-languages.

Web tool: C#
CLI: C
CLI: C++

Keep the tool simple and productive. Work through the hows and the why's of the stuff you are typing in.

@CliffsEsport @jackryder @Viss If you just want to learn C, gnu c (which is available on all platforms, open source).
@CliffsEsport @ai6yr python and bash, but depends on what sorta lab. is the lab all windows? maybe rust then? depends on what you wanna do/build.
@Viss @ai6yr Actually got 12 machines: a Win 10, a Win 11, two intel Macs, a M3 MBA, 2 Chromebooks, rest linux of various sorts. Just learning, next project is media server for gf and firewall for me, going to use immutable OpenSuse for that, and do lot of nerd weirdness with it.
@ai6yr I interview lots of intern candidates. C++ and Java are still widely used for CS curricula—schools are really slow (decades) to change their core data structures and algorithms classes. Everyone learns python for either data science or ā€œfull stackā€ (web applications).
@disser C++ is decent, and python yes. I programmed Java for many years and the scars of having done so continue to this day. 🤪
@disser @ai6yr With positions you interview for do you run into same issue Hacks4pancakes talks about that modern CS people don't really understand the hardware as more than a blackbox? Or is not relevant for those positions?
@ai6yr @Viss yeah I am old enough we breadboarded logic gates in HS Electronics class. But only one buddy was in Electronics and Computer class both with me, back in BASIC era
@CliffsEsport @Viss LOL my first programming class was in BASIC, and I failed it totally (because the teacher I think), and I think I was even told I should not go into software. (I was a mere early middle school student). 🤪
@ai6yr @Viss IME it is almost always teachers that are holding students back ether directly or indirectly. And I am not saying that just to validate you. As objective about it as I can manage.
@Viss @ai6yr fair, that phrase probably stick in my brain from ISO documentation days. It is useful phrase for me when I give advise to clients, sounds better than this is what I think you should do based on my knowledge and experience.

@Viss @ai6yr

"trust us! what could possibly go wrong? it's so easy..."

@Viss @ai6yr it's gross and it's even more gross to read all the articles trying to explain away why "it's not as bad as you think" etc.
@Viss @ai6yr This works for me even if you're not talking about computer shit.
@ai6yr "pipe this script right into bash, don't forget root permissions!"
@ai6yr still better than flatpaks (kidding. Mostly)
@ai6yr need an outside consultant? :D
@Viss LOL caught by their detection tools and the offending machines quarantined, apparently.
@Viss That said, you likely will have a lot of clients with similar problems in the future, lol.
@ai6yr ... although you could argue that they are all malware ...

@ai6yr Wired: ā€œGoogle’s AI Overviews Can Scam You. Here’s How to Stay Safeā€

ā€œBeyond mistakes or nonsense, deliberately bad information being injected into AI search summaries is leading people down potentially harmful paths.ā€

https://www.wired.com/story/googles-ai-overviews-can-scam-you-heres-how-to-stay-safe/

Google’s AI Overviews Can Scam You. Here’s How to Stay Safe

Beyond mistakes or nonsense, deliberately bad information being injected into AI search summaries is leading people down potentially harmful paths.

WIRED