Marcin Cieślak

121 Followers
0 Following
1.6K Posts
This instance will be shut down soon. Thank you!
#Bencode uses ASCII characters as delimiters and digits.

An integer is encoded as i<integer encoded in base ten ASCII>e. Leading zeros are not allowed (although the number zero is still represented as "0"). Negative values are encoded by prefixing the number with a hyphen-minus. The number 42 would thus be encoded as i42e, 0 as i0e, and -42 as i-42e. Negative zero is not permitted.

A byte string (a sequence of bytes, not necessarily characters) is encoded as <length>:<contents>. The length is encoded in base 10, like integers, but must be non-negative (zero is allowed); the contents are just the bytes that make up the string. The string "spam" would be encoded as 4:spam. The specification does not deal with encoding of characters outside the ASCII set.

A list of values is encoded as l<contents>e . The contents consist of the bencoded elements of the list, in order, concatenated. A list consisting of the string "spam" and the number 42 would be encoded as: l4:spami42ee. Note the absence of separators between elements, and the first character is the letter 'l', not digit '1'.

A dictionary is encoded as d<contents>e. The elements of the dictionary are encoded each key immediately followed by its value. All keys must be byte strings and must appear in lexicographical order. A dictionary that associates the values 42 and "spam" with the keys "foo" and "bar", respectively (in other words, {"bar": "spam", "foo": 42}), would be encoded as follows: d3:bar4:spam3:fooi42ee.

There are no restrictions on what kind of values may be stored in lists and dictionaries; they may (and usually do) contain other lists and dictionaries. This allows for arbitrarily complex data structures to be encoded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bencode&oldid=944535013
Over the course of the next several decades, Engelbart and his “crusade” played an active role in shaping the emerging science of user-interface design. Researchers at his Augmentation Research Center (ARC) pursued what Engelbart referred to as a “bootstrapping” approach to research and development. The “bootstrapping” concept borrowed heavily from the cybernetic notion of feedback: progress would be achieved by “the feeding back of positive research results to improve the means by which the researchers themselves can pursue their work.” The result would be the iterative improvement of both the user and the computer. The augmentation of human intelligence was dependent not only on the development of new technologies, but on the adaptation of humans to new modes and mechanisms of human-machine interaction. Several of the key technologies invented at ARC, including the chord keyset (an efficient five-button keyboard that could be operated one-handed) and the electronic mouse, required significant behavioral readjustments on the part of inexperienced users.

Engelbart’s emphasis on the computer as an augmentation device brought him into conflict with then-dominant perspectives on user-interface research. In 1960 the MIT psychologist J.C.R. Licklider published a highly influential paper on “Man-Computer Symbiosis” that conceived of human-computer interaction in terms of a conversation among equals. In Licklider’s model, the computer was not merely a tool to be used but a legitimate and complementary form of intelligence: users would be encouraged “to think in interaction with a computer in the same way you think with a colleague whose competence supplements your own.” As the first director of the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) at the United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), Licklider actively encouraged research in artificial intelligence. Engelbart’s program, which was based on an entirely different assumption about the nature of the human-computer relationship, was thus consigned to the margins of the institutional networks that developed under the auspices of IPTO and ARPA.

http://thecomputerboys.com/?p=540

#ai #bootstrapping #engelbart #arpa #history
On Douglas Engelbart and “Bootstrapping” | The Computer Boys Take Over

The Computer Boys Take Over
-----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

mDMEXfpk2BYJKwYBBAHaRw8BAQdAgA1PVicqix2cdDxmRTXSwRYZSrykm1AKGHdI
UC2FF8y0Ik1hcmNpbiBDaWXFm2xhayA8c2FwZXJAc2FwZXIuaW5mbz6IlgQTFggA
PhYhBLNJ/bClt4LaiY8Z19hKb58tUH5OBQJd+mTYAhsDBQkACTqABQsJCAcCBhUK
CQgLAgQWAgMBAh4BAheAAAoJENhKb58tUH5Ol1MBAKrzVdP7v4m9hBTsYlYBEH7r
iKvSAHnnpNUyl0F6AwF1AP9Y/JAIbEb9FRxynX1k5hO9q32su9uVTBoLVM5l1bFu
DLg4BF36ZNgSCisGAQQBl1UBBQEBB0CkHj34mNP+eIzcwJ5dgMqKuMDvqkF/u2Ui
QJEXZ5y/NAMBCAeIfgQYFggAJhYhBLNJ/bClt4LaiY8Z19hKb58tUH5OBQJd+mTY
AhsMBQkACTqAAAoJENhKb58tUH5O4IEBAJrkllS8BNgEEZBUhHCtZciB4wK3X9b5
+t9LrS7hvG79AP95X5IMuS9bP35EyZX7BzGWZ5KQ2aBSxHoztxjaFaKZBA==
=em4R
-----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

@kravietz

One problem with #ed is that it's Too Fast. We tried to script crontab changes by feeding ed commands to
(unset VISUAL; EDITOR="ed -s" crontab -e -u "$user")
...but Linux crontab would lose the changes because ed would usually complete fast enough to leave the (seconds-precision) mtime unchanged, which cleeeeearly means the crontab was unchanged!

Solution? Feed ed commands to:
(unset VISUAL; EDITOR="sleep 1.1; ed -s" crontab -e -u "$user")
instead!

@kurtm Enumerating badness always fails. ALWAYS.

ALL for users has traditionally been okay, but it's still horrid practice.

I'm the PyDev of the week! 🐍📦✨👩‍💻

I talk about getting involved in open source and the Python community, packaging, and more: https://www.blog.pythonlibrary.org/2019/10/14/pydev-of-the-week-elana-hashman/

PyDev of the Week: Elana Hashman - The Mouse Vs. The Python

This week we welcome Elana Hashman (@ehashdn) as our PyDev of the Week! Elana is a director of the Open Source Initiative and a fellow of the Python Software Foundation. She is also the Clojure Packaging Team lead and a Java Packaging Team member. You can see some of her work over on Github. You … Continue reading PyDev of the Week: Elana Hashman →

The Mouse Vs. The Python
@lanodan Hi, I am looking at https://git.pleroma.social/pleroma/mastofe/-/tags?sort=updated_desc - do I guess it right that bundle-2019-10-01 tag was a typo from probably January?
Tags · Pleroma / mastofe

Distribution of the web frontend of Glitch-soc.

Afraid to upgrade #pleroma

@jpmens Glad you had fun!

You've been to two BSD cons. That's a mark that won't come off. You're officially one of us now.

ohai infosec nerds

The Grugq is now on tootsite.

@thegrugq

:D