english.md

text

words

Words that make you sound smart. Programmer $wag.

idempotence (wiki)

Idempotence is the property of certain operations in mathematics and computer science, that can be applied multiple times without changing the result beyond the initial application.

atomicity (wiki)

Databases:

a property of database transactions which are guaranteed to either completely occur, or have no effects

Programming:

in computer science, especially parallel algorithms, an operation appears to occur at a single instant between its invocation and its response

atomicity (article)

The job of designers is to create amazing atomic units, and have people consume and interact with them.

quantified self

Gathering data about your everyday life and logging it.

Conway's law

People will build systems that mimic the social structures the people are used to.

lizard person

Person who wears a human suit during the day, but actually isn't a real human being. Reptile.

saucy situation

hot, erotic.

This situation got too saucy.

upsert

If !exists, insert. Else update.

to lose one's lunch

Be sick

Too much PDA, I'm gonna lose my lunch soon

charrette

1. A public meeting or workshop devoted to a concerted effort to solve a problem or plan the design of something.
2. A period of intense work, typically undertaken in order to meet a deadline.

footgun

Device used to shoot oneself in the foot.

expediency

the quality of being convenient and practical despite possibly being improper or immoral

topology

the way in which constituent parts are interrelated or arranged.

"the topology of a computer network"

banal

So lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring.

"songs with banal, repeated words"

polymath wiki

Person who spans a significant number of different subject areas, draws on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.

sayings

Nice phrases, makes you sound smarter.

current state is not guarantee for future state

Call no man happy until he is dead

• Herodotus

can't have it both ways

Can't both have a cake and eat it too

influence & control

With more influence comes less control

don't let tradition dictate the future

It is easy to confuse "what is", with "what ought to be"

• Tyrion Lannister

recognize patterns and act on them

If one person tells you you have a tail, ignore them; if a hundred people tell you that, look behind you

eating a five course meal when all you wanted was a salad

overcomplicating things

any decent answer to an interesting question begins, "it depends..."

every note you play gets you closer to the perfection you seek

arguing with silly people

"Arguing with idiots is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good you play the pigeon is going to knock over the pieces, crap on the board and strut around like he’s victorious.

Unicode mappings

… /u2026

Advice

Most advice is fear projection. Try and figure out how to give solicited advice from a position of strength.

Most advice is about helping people deal with the status quo, rather than changing the status quo.

It's not about getting it right the first time, it's about what you do when you fail.

You will never change anyone's mind if you think that the people that disagree with you are evil or stupid.