rob pike

Long career as a dilettante at Bell Labs Research and Google, mostly building weird stuff no one uses, but occasionally getting it right, such as with UTF-8 and Go.

Also: tootfinder

Public Key

npub16s49cyez927vm69a3vrfckav2pmulculhrzz95cgl82p8r4hd8eq2mpvtz

NIP-05 Address

robpike@hachyderm-io.mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsdg2juzv3z40xdaz7ckp5utwk9qa70uw0m33pz6vy0n4qn36mknusr7ll97

Author Public Key

npub16s49cyez927vm69a3vrfckav2pmulculhrzz95cgl82p8r4hd8eq2mpvtz

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Last Notes

2024-12-08 10:02:20

One of the unremarked indignities of getting older is how long it takes to scroll back from today when using those odometer scrolly things in supposedly well-designed apps that need to know your date of birth.

2024-09-08 23:19:36

Reposting a link to my blog about role models from a few years ago. It is as relevant as ever. Things aren't improving, and the tech bros (ever hear the term "tech sis"?) rise to ever greater, unstoppable power and influence.
https://commandcenter.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-power-of-role-models.html

2024-08-12 08:43:34

Since twitter is gone, I mean really gone (RIP), is it acceptable to use the word "tweet" again? Or would that be unwise? Too soon? An awful idea? I understand it might upset some, but I like to think it honors the old service before it became.... something else.
I miss the logo and the terminology, I really do, even if I don't exactly miss twitter. I had stopped posting there long before certain events happened.

2024-08-11 11:00:22

Attention app designers: If I have disabled notifications, my intent is that the set of notifications that are disabled includes notifications that I have disabled notifications every time I interact with your app. Please give it a rest.

2024-08-10 09:14:26

This is just awful news. Susan Wojcicki was one of the good ones.
Gift link.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/10/business/susan-wojcicki-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.B04.hxx3.VDgW7pbXJsyi&smid=url-share

2024-08-04 08:59:13

USB-C is a fantastic "standard" if you are a cable manufacturer. My latest dance required trying three different cables, all unlabeled with anything other than manufacturer name, before my devices would talk to each other.
I remember people were so excited that USB-C was going to make the vagaries of USB a thing of the past, but in my experience - today was not much of an outlier - it has only accentuated them while introducing new puzzles.

2024-07-30 10:45:21

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@npub1sys…ckr3 Good idea. Or maybe the sound of a slide carousel going to the next image.

2024-07-30 10:30:41

Nowadays the definition of the term "video" seems to be "robotic voice narrating a few still images fading in and out".

2024-07-17 09:31:02

There are three hard things in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and getting your video game character onto a ladder.

2024-07-15 07:34:37

Sometimes you can make something from the result despite the catastrophic print failure.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/112/789/348/317/185/329/original/83902095300b8f36.jpg

2024-06-23 23:40:04

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@npub1sys…ckr3 In other news, I spent the morning getting some rust spots off the printer roller.

2024-06-17 21:39:31

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@npub178r…qekt But have they tried turning flickr off and on again?

2024-06-17 21:38:36

I mentioned this on a Unix mail list, and Doug McIlroy replied.
https://mastodon.social/@mhoye/112615649865163136
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/112/634/122/268/206/104/original/1fe03c3d4306ad8d.png

2024-06-17 03:19:41

Yes, it's the mandatory part that makes the difference. It's not enough to have formatters - Gofmt was not even early in that race - but enforcing its use is critical. And so is not providing options to control the format.
https://masto.social/@aiuto/112629683923661744

2024-06-16 22:51:13

Laurent Le Brun has written up a nice summary of the time Russ Cox and I (mostly Russ) edited about 200,000 files to install a code formatter for every BUILD file at Google.
https://laurent.le-brun.eu/blog/the-story-of-reformatting-100k-files-at-google-in-2011
Then the Hacker News followup, with more details.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40693264

2024-06-12 07:02:06

I was lucky enough to work in Ed Stone's cosmic ray lab when I was a graduate student. He was one of the greatest leaders I've ever known, while remaining so calm and solid and just plain deep. Principal scientist on Voyager, later head of the JPL, then the TMT and much more. An amazing, inspirational man. So sad to see him go but he had a truly great and influential life. There are few like him.
https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/edward-stone-1936-2024

2024-06-07 02:06:50

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@npub178r…qekt We will sell (actually rent) you this hammer; in return we get to live rent-free in any house you build with it.

2024-05-26 22:09:01

Also, today's good code is likely tomorrow's bad code.
https://mastodon.social/@dabeaz/112507379669620422

2024-05-26 02:24:17

I don't understand what the fuss is all about. It said NON-TOXIC glue. Lighten up, people.
But also don't eat rocks, OK?

2024-05-22 04:21:59

My occasional reminder that I once used a ROM burner that, upon power-up, announced on its bright red LED display: "RELF-TEST PASSED".

2024-05-21 21:12:25

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@npub1scr…teus It's the weird thing about carbon capture. If you actually do the math, it's utterly pointless.
If the problem is too much technology, the solution is not more technology.

2024-05-14 20:28:02

It is a fascinating field of study for me. Why some staggeringly complex tasks can be done at 120fps but it still takes me 30 seconds to render the login page at my bank.
https://mastodon.social/@ZevEisenberg/112435500743889014

2024-05-04 03:07:27

So happy I am no longer an Adobe customer.
https://cosocial.ca/@timbray/112379014175497807

2024-04-29 21:15:10

Looking for ideas. Apple offered me $500 for my old laptop, but when I sent it in they say, "Oh, a scratch. We'll give you $100." There's no way a perfectly functioning and upgraded M1 MacBook Air is worth only $100. So I got it back.
Now I'm looking for a good home for it. I don't want money, I want it to have a good life. Two conditions:
1. It has to help make the world a better place.
2. I'm not shipping it, so the transfer has to be local to Sydney.

2024-04-23 13:01:04

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@npub1q37…k2ta Did you know it was actually the second Italian translation? The first was so bad we complained and the publisher pulled it.

2024-04-23 02:37:29

I had the incredible privilege of working/studying in the cosmic ray lab run by Ed Stone, chief scientist on Voyager. The campus used the auditorium to show images coming from the spacecraft as they arrived. Also classrooms with TVs. An expert was there to provide commentary. I remember Larry Soderblom being asked what to make of the first pic of Amalthea: "I have no idea."
What a machine. Incomparable.
https://mastodon.social/@dabeaz/112317859542802282

2024-04-21 12:42:19

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@npub178r…qekt Well, there are a *lot* of Summicron M 35 models through history with different markings.

2024-04-21 06:31:03

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@npub178r…qekt I actually read "Summicron M" and thought, "huh". Couldn't catch the focal length, though.

2024-04-06 21:06:43

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@npub1sys…ckr3 Be careful what you wish for.

2024-04-06 21:05:55

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@npub178r…qekt THIS THIS THIS. Just look, don't bother trying to photograph totality at your first eclipse. It's too short to waste any time, and your human brain will make lifetime memories better than any camera can.

2024-04-05 22:22:21

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@npub178r…qekt Jealous. In your home solar system, is Pluto a planet?

2024-04-05 00:19:33

I do wish people would stop using reCAPTCHA. It's frustrating, often difficult and repetitive (my latest annoyance was having one time out mid-form, requiring a redo), and not believably secure. Plus when I'm forced to use one all I can think about is that I am training some account-stealing machine.

2024-04-04 02:37:22

I wonder who's invited.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/112/210/623/810/327/757/original/22c7f4c88dbd8324.png

2024-04-04 02:27:28

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@npub1sys…ckr3 Why don't they just move the eclipse to the weekend?

2024-03-20 21:31:04

There's been a thread about dependencies lately and the challenge of convincing developers to look at the full dependency chain.
I once maintained a C++ binary that included a PostScript interpreter, a JPEG decoder, a JavaScript interpreter, and a number of other utterly irrelevant pieces causing a huge factor increase in the size of the binary.
The culprit: A single logging statement that invoked a general-purpose printer that could print web stuff. Switching to sprintf fixed it.

2024-03-14 23:29:55

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@npub178r…qekt Yet so many people will tell me I'm the one doing it wrong.

2024-03-11 05:35:58

OK this is a surprise. I have a new Mac laptop with a notch and I CAN'T SEE ALL MY MENUBAR ITEMS I MEAN WHAT? WHAT????
How is this even an idea for a UI?

2024-03-08 08:59:50

A while back, I decided not to upgrade my XBOX One to a new model and just stay in the PS universe. But I still occasionally play old favorites, and today I saw this, which makes my decision a lot easier to bear. I mean, WTF?
"Starting today we're updating the way the Xbox network retains game captures. Game captures stored on the Xbox network will be deleted after 90 days." New definition of the word "retain".
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/112/059/245/323/582/316/original/9d9001527a9e730d.jpeg

2024-03-05 07:32:27

Since the last time I tried to do this, Firefox will no longer let me connect to http://10.1.1.1, the admin port for my modem. It insists on using https://, which of course doesn't work. I can't be the only person to face this issue but looking on line I didn't find much to help me other than a few setting changes to try that did nothing, such as browser autofill.
How does one use a modern browser to connect to the admin port of a plain old DSL modem?

2024-03-05 05:02:39

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Oh and probably time to remind everyone how I had a password rejected because it contained my username. My username was 'r'.

2024-03-05 01:03:35

That critically important web site you use once a year that requires you to reset your password every 6 months.

2024-02-26 02:55:49

That feeling when the tool you bought ages ago just in case is, today, exactly the thing to fix the chair that broke when Aunt Millie sat in it.

2024-02-23 21:13:44

Can someone here explain why heatpumps are the new hotness? (Sorry.) Despite the hype, all I can discern is that they are just air conditioners that can pump in the other direction ("reverse cycle"), and the thermodynamics is poorly explained in the popular literature. Why are they suddenly the thing that can save the world? What am I missing?
My degree is in physics. I can handle the truth.
Thank you.

2024-02-18 06:16:40

You're trying something new and difficult with some program or other, and you watch a very helpful YouTube video explaining it all, only to find the video is 6 months old, the UI has changed unrecognizably since, and you still have no idea what's going on.
Thanks, endless useful churn that promotes product managers.

2024-02-06 07:13:01

I just look up the definition of gcode. Wow. I mean, wow. Like, wow.

2024-01-23 05:59:26

Arno Penzias, Nobel Prize winner (discoverer of big bang's residual radiation), my old boss and the reason my CV mentions a silver medal in archery, has died, aged 90. Although he did much more important things, for me his signature achievement was defending me not being fired from Bell Labs after Labscam.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxMKuv0A6z4
https://www.bell-labs.com/usr/dmr/www/labscam.html

2024-01-11 00:03:27

I was reminded today of the moment Dennis Ritchie fought the lawyers and won. They were reprinting the Unix ACM paper and the new trademark rules required that he change "PDP-11 Unix file system" into "PDP-11™ computer system UNIX™ system file system" in the reprint. He prevailed but only after agreeing to put Unix in italics, uppercase, and adorned with ™ at its first appearance. A win, though, really.

2024-01-10 20:26:15

If we can charge everything with one charger now thanks to USB-C, why do some of my devices charge only with old charger blocks? (Seriously, why?) Leaving aside the whole debacle of unlabeled and widely variant cable capabilities. The idea that charging is "fixed" is risible.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/10/technology/personaltech/tech-smartphones-self-driving-cars.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Mk0.jS4l.tBs-vL-jr5U1&smid=url-share

2024-01-04 20:44:23

My talk "Go: What we got right, what we got wrong" at GopherConAU is now available to all.
VIdeo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yE5Tpp2BSGw
Blog: https://commandcenter.blogspot.com/2024/01/what-we-got-right-what-we-got-wrong.html
The content is the same except for the Q&A being unique to the video.

2024-01-01 09:01:51

I wonder if there is data somewhere about the number of dead links. I would like to have data supporting my hunch that they represent a growing fraction of all the links out there. Sure feels that way, although I suspect with most web sites being dynamic, it's unquantifiable.
Data is _not_ forever. May Shannon bless the the Internet Archive.

2023-12-31 22:58:19

Long ago, I was an angry young man who railed against all the injustices of the world, but now time has passed, I have matured and learned so much more about things, and now I am an angrier old man.

2023-12-26 03:46:21

Good confidentiality job, guys.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/111/644/660/665/171/669/original/227eea0371e72e34.png

2023-12-20 03:46:07

I was watching the 30th anniversary chat between John Romero and John Carmack, and the moderator asked what they thought of being compared to Lennon and McCartney. Carmack's answer pointed out that the Beatles were an "overnight success" only after years of constantly composing and playing live. Similarly, Doom was an "overnight success" only after id Games had made 30 prior games - and like the Beatles, learned how to do it right.
(more)

2023-12-18 04:13:59

That trick of using sodium bicarbonate with CA glue is game-changing. (Look it up if you don't know about it.)

2023-12-17 02:51:23

This link captures the confusion about how to pronounce "fsck":
https://lwn.net/Articles/190223/
Here's the truth. Ted Kowalski, username frodo, may he rest in peace, was the original author, just down the hall from my office in Murray Hill, and his name for the program had a 'u' where there is now an 's'. Management made him change it for distribution, but they couldn't make him change his pronunciation.

2023-12-09 22:52:56

Bell Labs (at least what's left of it) is moving from its legendary location on top of Murray Hill, the birthplace of the transistor, Unix, and many other not-as-well-known elements of the modern world. A great, world-leading institution is undeniably gone now. 🥲
https://www.roi-nj.com/2023/12/08/real_estate/nokia-bell-labs-is-moving-to-helix-in-new-brunswick/

2023-11-30 07:44:01

Some years ago, I was walking from the kitchen back to my office at Google, carrying a piece of cake on a plate flat on my hand. There was a path between the desks, and walking towards me was Henry Kissinger followed by Eric Schmidt.
Eric saw what I had in my hand, and locked eyes with me. I was as tempted as I have ever been, but in the interests of world peace and keeping my job I kept my hand where it was, where it then passed just a few inches from Kissinger's face.

2023-11-04 09:20:40

SOLID WATER COOL!
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/111/351/536/749/515/967/original/f192a2476fdb6ec5.jpg

2023-10-29 20:24:25

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@npub1sys…ckr3 I was just curious about your conversation.

2023-10-29 11:23:58

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@npub1sys…ckr3 And?

2023-10-18 08:35:00

I hear C++ is getting modules. In 1984 I heard Tom Cargill remark that #include files were not the way to manage libraries. He was right!

2023-10-02 22:41:44

"Your shipment will be delivered tomorrow.
Your shipment will be delivered today.
Your shipment will arrive between 2 and 4pm today.
Your shipment is on the truck for delivery.
Your shipment is 5 minutes away.
Your shipment has been delivered.
Here is your proof of delivery.
Please tell us how we did with your shipment."
Will you please shut the *&@# up about it? Just give me my package and let me get on with my life. I'm not looking for a friend in the post office.

2023-09-24 09:40:05

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@npub1sys…ckr3 I just fell on the sidewalk, nothing interesting in itself. Healing but slowly.

2023-09-24 08:45:11

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@npub1sys…ckr3 Hey at least you _can_ ride.

2023-09-08 04:02:08

My knee looks like a face.
https://media.hachyderm.io/media_attachments/files/111/027/532/500/522/478/original/8332781a23e23476.jpeg

2023-08-27 00:45:44

A word about Apple naming. I can watch Apple TV+ on Apple TV using Apple Airpods Pro or maybe Apple Airpods Max, I can't remember - what is wrong with these people? The coupling of disdain for consumers wanting to identify their products with pretension that all that matters is the word Apple and that no one should care anyway: shame.
And Apple is far from the only offender.
I miss real product names - even product numbers. All hail the 2741.

2023-08-14 22:42:38

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@npub1lzz…jhl3 I don't think anyone really understands how to do "balanced" reporting when there is a narcissist in the story, but I agree that the press is far too cautious to maintain the appearance of balance rather than the actuality of fairness.

2023-08-10 06:28:52

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The thing is, files, at least as most OSes used to treat them, were data with a name and access rights. Unix generalized the utility of having naming and access rights for data by making the data's interpretation up to the program doing the asking.
Today, "apps" and "widgets" and whatever else own the files, not letting other programs use them. You can't grep a spreadsheet or put a PDF into your Photos app (the thing that actually triggered this today)...

2023-08-10 04:15:52

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Or to put it another way, no one remembers what a profound clarification it was when Unix used the idea of typeless files and the uniformity of access that resulted.

2023-08-10 04:13:15

The very idea of a "Files app" is high on my list of world-defeating idiocies perpetrated by technology.

2023-08-07 06:16:18

No, guys, they have not achieved "net energy gain" (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/06/us-scientists-achieve-net-energy-gain-second-time-fusion-reaction) because you're only counting the energy IN the laser, not the energy it takes to FIRE the laser, which is hundreds, maybe thousands of times more.
It's misleading and irresponsible to let people think we're anywhere near break-even in fusion.

2023-07-17 03:28:05

I suppose that rather than thinking of this as the hottest year ever, we should think of it as the coolest year of those to come. Just for setting expectations.

2023-06-25 02:29:30

Many track their bike rides on Strava. To me, that would feel either braggy or embarrassing, almost always the latter.
My figure of merit for a ride is the number of dachshunds I see on the trip. Today: 4. Best ever: 7, except for the time I rode into the middle of the Dachshund Owners' Club Christmas party. That was a memorable, innumerable ride.

2023-06-21 02:07:01

Does anyone have any technology that works? I am becoming despondent over the state of things. So much technological progress and yet everything seems to be broken (or must be updated, which amounts to the same thing in user experience) all the time.
Sorry.

2023-06-07 08:44:01

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Now I don't. Not making a value judgment, just a statement of fact: I don't know what's going on any more. Hell, the boot room is probably more intricate than all the layers I used to know put together, and then there is vastly more under the boot rom itself, let alone the stuff above.
It feels to me like we will lose the big picture when a simp like me can't grasp it at all. Because when something breaks, you need to know what broke. ("Oops, something went wrong" doesn't cut it.)

2023-06-07 01:31:22

This is a lovely rant and I agree with all of it. Wish I'd had the courage to write it.
https://tinyclouds.org/rant
I also believe that this insanity of complexity will kill us if global warming or any of a zillion other ills doesn't do it first. But it may win the race. People don't appreciate the cost of all these layers of "I can just use this."