A 2008 blog post recalls five lesser-known programming books that shaped the author's thinking, including Michael Abrash's 'Zen of Assembly Language' (1990) and Julian Noble's 'Scientific Forth' (1992). The author contrasts these with canonical texts like 'Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs,' noting how niche-language books such as 'Fractals, Visualization, and J' (2000) use unusual languages to teach deep domain expertise rather than just syntax.
prog21.dadgum.com
· 2026-11-07
Google, Meta and TikTok have filed separate lawsuits challenging California's Assembly Bill 1709, which bans 'psychologically exploitative' features like personalized feeds, infinite scroll and autoplay for users under 16 and requires age verification. Governor Gavin Newsom signed the law in September as part of a broader social media and AI safety package, with it set to take effect January 1, 2027. The companies argue the law violates the First Amendment and Section 230, saying it overrides their editorial judgment and parents' authority.
techspot.com
· 2026-11-06
The National Assembly voted 11-10, with only 35 of 577 deputies present, to approve an amendment by Socialist deputy Laurent Lhardit taxing content providers 5.5 cents per gigabyte sent to French internet users. ISPs would track data flows and bill senders, with charges capped at 15% of French revenue or 2% of global revenue; supporters project €10 billion in annual revenue, drawing on regulator Arcep's estimate that five companies—Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix and Akamai—generate about half of the 200 billion gigabytes delivered yearly.
techspot.com
· 2026-11-02
French lawmakers voted 11-10 on October 30 to add a per-gigabyte internet traffic tax to the country's upcoming budget. The measure, proposed by socialist lawmaker Laurent Lhardit, would charge €0.055 per gigabyte delivered to France's roughly 154 million internet users, targeting companies like Google, Meta, Netflix, Amazon and Akamai rather than their ad revenue or profits. ISPs such as Orange and Liad would measure data volumes and report quarterly to tax authorities under regulator Arcep's oversight.
tech.slashdot.org
· 2026-10-31
France's National Assembly voted 11-10 on October 30 to approve a tax amendment charging content providers €0.055 (about $0.06) per gigabyte of data sent to French users, rather than taxing ad revenue or profits. Proposed by lawmaker Laurent Lhardit, the measure is projected to raise roughly €10 billion ($11.2 billion) annually and names Google, Meta, Netflix, Amazon and Akamai as likely major payers, with ISPs tasked to measure and report data volumes to tax authorities each quarter.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-10-31
Lawmakers voted 11 to 10 to adopt amendment I-1358 to the finance bill, proposed by the Socialist group, creating a levy of 0.055 euros per gigabyte on data delivered to French users. Internet providers would measure quarterly traffic volumes per company, overseen by regulator Arcep and the tax administration, with charges capped at 15% of French revenue or 2% of global revenue. The tax targets content providers and CDNs rather than consumers directly, and sponsors say it could raise up to 10 billion euros.
lesnumeriques.com
· 2026-10-30
A developer working on porting JonesForth assembly to NASM says a self-imposed deadline caused them to rush the translation, prompting a deliberate pause to fix syntax errors and review each instruction for correctness. To slow down and document the process, they plan to log their debugging sessions using GNU Screen, the terminal multiplexer, replacing their manual use of Linux virtual terminals for running Vim and GDB side by side.
ratfactor.com
· 2026-10-25
A blog post explores the relationship between the size of a programming language and its expressive power, arguing that smaller languages aren't necessarily less capable. It contrasts rigid, low-level languages like assembly and SNOBOL with syntactically tiny but highly flexible high-level languages: Forth, Lisp (especially Scheme), and Tcl.
ratfactor.com
· 2026-10-24
A developer has published documentation for 'In Rainbows,' a specification that defines standardized memory-mapped input/output devices for the ok virtual machine, an instruction evaluator with basic stack-based computation. The spec, named after the Radiohead album, assigns 'magic' memory addresses so that reading or writing to them triggers interactions with devices like keyboards or displays, rather than plain RAM access. The author notes the project is still actively in development, with several devices implemented and others planned.
hitogata.neocities.org
· 2026-10-22
An independent, unofficial project has built an interactive 3D guide that mirrors IKEA's official printed manuals for the BILLY bookcase and LACK table, matching each drawing, part count and hardware piece in sequence. Users can step through the build with arrows, a timeline or autoplay, view the original manual alongside the 3D model, and click parts to hear their names and numbers. The project explicitly states it is not made or endorsed by IKEA, crediting Inter IKEA Systems for the original manuals.
sael.net
· 2026-10-20
Sega's October 13 remaster of Shogun 2, developed with Mataboo, drew overwhelmingly negative Steam reviews over apparently AI-upscaled 2D art, unresolved and new bugs, and a mod system switch that broke 15 years of unofficial patches. Sega had also delisted the original game, leaving Complete Edition as the only purchase option for new buyers. About 48 hours after launch, Sega apologized, pulled the remaster, and restored the original version for sale.
techspot.com
· 2026-10-16
Sega and Creative Assembly have withdrawn Total War: Shogun 2 — Complete Edition from sale after players reported bugs and distorted artwork that many believe resulted from AI-assisted upscaling. The remaster launched Tuesday with promised 4K support and modernized controls but quickly earned an 'Overwhelmingly Negative' rating on Steam before being removed. The companies say they will restore the original 2011 game and that existing buyers of the remaster will retain access.
theverge.com
· 2026-10-15
GoKawiil