Hasnain says:

Great read on sorting algorithms and incrementally upgrading a massive codebase (and the adventures learnt during that process). I loved the bit on adding more safety/randomization in code in debug mode, to avoid hitting Hyrum's law - it's a pattern I've seen in the past too (and, in the context of sorting/hashtables, funnily enough!)

"Consider randomization for the APIs that can be relied on at least in testing/debug mode. Seeding the hash function differently for not relying on the order of iteration of hashtables. If the function requires to be only associative, try to accumulate results in different order, etc."

Hasnain says:

“A second mistake is emphasizing training for individuals, instead of overhauling systems and cultures. Again and again, I see women offered extra coaching to encourage them to take career risks, overcome ‘impostor syndrome’ and boost their skills in leadership and grant writing. But the evidence is clear: it is not women who need fixing, but entrenched systems of inequality.”

Hasnain says:

People are complex, interesting, and fascinating. And so is history.

“But the trailer for Stewart's film highlights the significant truth that is perhaps understated in other accounts of this story. The war didn't end in 1945 for Onoda; but it didn't end there for the Filipinos on Lubang, either. And the voice of the Filipino people needs to be heard, "so as to counter the image of Onoda as a hero, and to bring attention and justice for the victims and their families," she says.

Stewart encourages every person who comes across Harari's film or Herzog's book to seek out her documentary. And perhaps, with a story as complex, compelling and controversial as Onoda's, this simple conclusion is also the most logical. There are several sides to every story – the truth, however bizarre, or fantastic, or terrible we decide it to be, requires a consideration of all of them.”

Hasnain says:

Great write up on 0days in 2021 from project zero.

“Unfortunately, these 2 bugs shared a singular characteristic with the Android in-the-wild 0-day seen in 2019: all 3 were previously known upstream before their exploitation in Android. While the sample size is small, it’s still quite striking to see that 100% of the known in-the-wild Android 0-days that target the kernel are bugs that actually were known about before their exploitation.”

Hasnain says:

Quote from one of the reporters on this on Twitter:

“New: Google has introduced "inclusive warnings", pop-ups in GDocs. Google said "landlord" was not inclusive; Google had no notes when we uploaded full text of an interview of former KKK leader David Duke in which he says N-word and hunting black people”

Hasnain says:

No words. Sigh :|

COVID is already spiking again across the US and this will make it so much worse.

“The ruling comes as COVID-19 infections rise again in the United States, with 36,251 new infections reported on average each day, and 460 daily deaths, based on a seven-day average - the highest number of reported total COVID-19 deaths in the world.”

Hasnain says:

“Employees struggle to adequately perform work that, if someone were to look closely and objectively, are so obviously the work of more than one person. But because these are salaried jobs, generally but not always without union protections, that level of work — within the organization, but also within an industry — is just….the way things are. Workers have no choice but to hunker down and do it, because if you don’t, you’re “not a good culture fit.””

Hasnain says:

This two part series was a good read. I’d certainly find the question enjoyable and I can see how it can provide a lot of valuable signal - beyond what you’d normally get from a leetcode style exercise.

“It’s been a while since I was on the receiving end of a software engineering interview. But I still remember my favorite interview question. It was at MemSQL circa 2013. (They haven’t even kept their name, so I assume they’re not still relying on this specific interview question. I don’t feel bad for revealing it. It’s a great story that I tell people a lot; I’ve just never blogged it before.)”

Hasnain says:

““We have gotten to a point in California,” Wiener said, “where we say we want to welcome people, but then our actions are pulling up the drawbridge because ‘I don’t want a duplex in my neighborhood.’ Or ‘I don’t want more people trying to park on my street.’Or ‘I don’t want more kids in my child’s classroom.’”

Hasnain says:

“Our thinking about Sars-CoV-2 and long Covid – and our response to it – has had to shift and readjust, virtually on a monthly basis. This is now a highly infectious, upper-respiratory virus able to reinfect repeatedly – an outcome that wasn’t expected early in the pandemic. If we renege on mitigations as each round of infection draws more of all ages into chronic disability, this may be the blunder that we rue for decades to come. Even after the original wave of lockdowns and deaths has become a distantly remembered nightmare.”