DEV Community: Karl Xavier

Balance beam

Karl Xavier — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 02:58:42 +0000

Stress is pervasive, whether it's the anxiety of an upcoming interview, the challenge of a new job, financial concerns, or unemployment. Learning to coexist with stress has become essential in today's world.

How to deal with my stress?

Having a certain amount of stress is not necessarily a bad thing. On the contrary, controlling your stress well can turn it into motivation.

We need to understand the value of stress; it is not just a burden, but also an incentive. When managed correctly, stress can drive you to surpass yourself and achieve your goals.

When facing pressure, adopt a positive attitude. Turn "I can't" into "I will try," and try to find solutions to problems. Build confidence through small steps of success. Each time you successfully overcome a small challenge, it will increase your confidence in your abilities and better prepare you for greater pressures. Maintain an optimistic mindset and believe in your ability to overcome difficulties. Optimism can help you see the positive side behind the pressure and inspire your motivation.

Learn to relax at the right time when facing pressure by meditating, taking walks or listening to music so that both body and mind get rest and have more energy to face challenges.

When feeling stressed, do not bear it alone. Seek support from friends, family or colleagues; their encouragement and advice can help you better cope with stress. Find ways that motivate yourself whether through rewarding yourself or setting up reward mechanisms or imagining joy after success. Treat each instance of pressure as an opportunity for learning and growth. Reflect on the source of pressure and how you respond. Learn from this processand improve. Maintain a grateful mindset; be thankful for every challenge and opportunity in life.

Gratitude helps you see the value behindthe pressureand inspires your motivation. Most importantly,enjoythe processof dealing withpressure. View each challenge as an adventure, and enjoy the funand growth with in.

Through these methods,y ou can transform stress in to a driving force for moving forward. Not only can you cope with challenges, but you can also growand improve in the process.

Low code is evil

Karl Xavier — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 07:35:24 +0000

If someone says that it can be a universal software or that you can do whatever you want on their platform. Then please block him.

I'm not saying that low code is bad, on the contrary, if they control the boundaries, low code should provide a good service experience, at least for non-programmers.

Over-marketing of low-code technology is not only irresponsible to consumers in the market, but also deeply hurts the developers who created the technology. Uninformed bosses spend a lot of money hiring developers, buying equipment or cloud services, all with the goal of making a big splash in the market. In the end, they find that they cannot even implement the most basic business logic. Technical staff feel frustrated and confused about not being able to meet the company's expected goals. It seems like a huge scam.

Revised sentence: "An increasing number of low-code frameworks or platforms are emerging rapidly, but only a few have achieved successful commercialization and profitability. While it may sound exciting to claim that 'you can achieve any business you want by configuring (by dragging and dropping some components and combining them),' it's important to remember that no software can solve all problems, even if it were developed by the most skilled professionals."

Four problems can potentially arise if you focus too much on goals

Karl Xavier — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 06:20:52 +0000

One: Winners and losers share the same goal.
Two: Goal achievement is only temporary.
Three: A goal limits your happiness.
Four: A goal does not support long-term progress.

Difference between . and : in Lua programming

Karl Xavier — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 05:58:13 +0000

The .(dot) operator in Lua is used to invoke the method of an object, and it is a widely used operator in Lua.

The :(colon) operator in Lua is used when you want to pass an invisible parameter to the method of an object that you are calling.

when we use the colon(:) operator what actually happens is that instead of calling v3 = returnX:fun1(100, 1) what gets called is −
v3 = returnX:fun1(returnX, 100, 1) and hence we get the output as an address, and so in the second case when we call returnX:bar(10,11) the second argument will be 10 and that’s what we get.

Suspending vim

Karl Xavier — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 02:37:48 +0000

If you need to suspend Vim while in the middle of editing, you can press Ctrl-z . You can also run either the :stop or :suspend command. To return to the suspended Vim, run fg from the terminal.

The Pivotal Nexus of Power and Progress

Karl Xavier — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 02:45:14 +0000

Ensconced in the labyrinthine grandeur of the imperial palace, the emperor's court was a notable paradox of constant precision and unexpected blossoming. Conflicts, akin to a tug of war, ensued as the regent - a previously subservient facilitator of order - began to ardently argue for reforms against the staunchly conservative philosophy of the emperor's advisory council.

Simmering beneath the surface of hushed discourses, an insidious force was gradually stirring. Barely perceptible, akin to the slow accumulation of methane in an unseen reservoir, it threatened an explosive alteration to the existing order if triggered.

An observer amidst this intrigue was an unassuming philosopher, habitually easy-going yet quietly astute. From the sidelines, he scrutinized the steely hierarchy and detected an undercurrent, a swell of influence that was foreign to the traditional court. This influence was the burgeoning power of a consortium whose presence was being subtly felt through electronic and electrical channels.

The integration and influence offered by the consortium constituted a desirable prospect for the philosophically inclined regent. The philosopher, with his keen gaze, watched as a chronic imbalance began to surface within the power dynamics. The regent's tacit alliance with the consortium promised not only technological advancement but possibility of an ideological overhaul.

Such marked deviation from classical governance was viewed as heretical by the traditionalists of the imperial bureaucracy. Accustomed to the precepts of authority, they perceived the regent's techno-philosophical alliance as a renunciation of the long-held principles that had steadied the empire. Cultural philosophy and socio-political stability were at the brink of polarized disorientation.

Would the empire tilt towards the consortium's shadowy promises of scientific progress and an enlightened philosophy? Or would it resist and retreat into the well-worn structure of traditions set in stone, preserving the rigid hierarchy, yet risking irrelevance? Such questions permeated through the halls of the palace, their echoes bouncing off the cold, stone walls.

The entwined trajectories of the regent, the philosopher, and the consortium were at a critical juncture. As power stakes cluttered and ideologies clashed, decision-makers braced for the impending outcome. The empire languished at the precipice of a revolutionary era, the ride towards which promised to be as dramatic as the unique roll film of unfolding events, captured in the philosopher's contemplative repertoire.

On Writing Well (Part I Simplicity)

Karl Xavier — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 07:54:56 +0000

Part I Principles

2. Simplicity

Clutter is the disease of American writing. We are a society strangling in unnecessary words, circular constructions, pompous frills and meaningless jargon.

Who can understand the clotted language of everyday American
commerce: the memo, the corporation report, the business letter, the
notice from the bank explaining its latest “simplified” statement? What member of an insurance or medical plan can decipher the brochure explaining his costs and benefits? What father or mother can put together a child’s toy from the instructions on the box? Our national tendency is to inflate and thereby sound important. The airline pilot who announces that he is presently anticipating experiencing considerable precipitation wouldn’t think of saying it may rain. The sentence is too simple—there must be something wrong with it.

But the secret of good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components. Every word that serves no function, every long word that could be a short word, every adverb that carries the same meaning that’s already in the verb, every passive construction that leaves the reader unsure of who is doing what—these are the thousand and one adulterants that weaken the strength of a sentence. And they usually occur in proportion to education and rank.

During the 1960s the president of my university wrote a letter to
mollify the alumni after a spell of campus unrest. “You are probably aware,” he began, “that we have been experiencing very considerable potentially explosive expressions of dissatisfaction on issues only partially related.” He meant that the students had been hassling them about different things. I was far more upset by the president’s English than by the students’ potentially explosive expressions of dissatisfaction. I would have preferred the presidential approach taken by Franklin D. Roosevelt when he tried to convert into English his own government’s memos, such as this blackout order of 1942:

Such preparations shall be made as will completely obscure all
Federal buildings and non-Federal buildings occupied by the Federal
government during an air raid for any period of time from visibility by reason of internal or external illumination.

“Tell them,” Roosevelt said, “that in buildings where they have to keep the work going to put something across the windows.”

Simplify, simplify. Thoreau said it, as we are so often reminded, and no American writer more consistently practiced what he preached. Open Walden to any page and you will find a man saying in a plain and orderly way what is on his mind:

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front
only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.

How can the rest of us achieve such enviable freedom from clutter?
The answer is to clear our heads of clutter. Clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without the other. It’s impossible for a muddy thinker to write good English. He may get away with it for a paragraph or two, but soon the reader will be lost, and there’s no sin so grave, for the reader will not easily be lured back.

Who is this elusive creature, the reader? The reader is someone with an attention span of about 30 seconds—a person assailed by many forces competing for attention. At one time those forces were relatively few: newspapers, magazines, radio, spouse, children, pets. Today they also include a galaxy of electronic devices for receiving entertainment and information—television, VCRs, DVDs, CDs, video games, the Internet, e-mail, cell phones, BlackBerries, iPods—as well as a fitness program, a pool, a lawn and that most potent of competitors, sleep. The man or woman snoozing in a chair with a magazine or a book is a person who was being given too much unnecessary trouble by the writer.

It won’t do to say that the reader is too dumb or too lazy to keep pace with the train of thought. If the reader is lost, it’s usually because the writer hasn’t been careful enough. That carelessness can take any number of forms. Perhaps a sentence is so excessively cluttered that the reader, hacking through the verbiage, simply doesn’t know what it means. Perhaps a sentence has been so shoddily constructed that the reader could read it in several ways. Perhaps the writer has switched pronouns in midsentence, or has switched tenses, so the reader loses track of who is talking or when the action took place. Perhaps Sentence B is not a logical sequel to Sentence A; the writer, in whose head the connection is clear,
hasn’t bothered to provide the missing link. Perhaps the writer has used a word incorrectly by not taking the trouble to look it up.

Faced with such obstacles, readers are at first tenacious. They blame themselves—they obviously missed something, and they go back over the mystifying sentence, or over the whole paragraph, piecing it out like an ancient rune, making guesses and moving on. But they won’t do that for long. The writer is making them work too hard, and they will look for one who is better at the craft.

Writers must therefore constantly ask: what am I trying to say?
Surprisingly often they don’t know. Then they must look at what they have written and ask: have I said it? Is it clear to someone encountering the subject for the first time? If it’s not, some fuzz has worked its way into the machinery. The clear writer is someone clearheaded enough to see this stuff for what it is: fuzz.

I don’t mean that some people are born clearheaded and are therefore natural writers, whereas others are naturally fuzzy and will never write well. Thinking clearly is a conscious act that writers must force on themselves, as if they were working on any other project that requires logic: making a shopping list or doing an algebra problem. Good writing doesn’t come naturally, though most people seem to think it does. Professional writers are constantly bearded by people who say they’d like to “try a little writing sometime”—meaning when they retire from their real profession, like insurance or real estate, which is hard. Or they say, “I could write a book about that.” I doubt it.

Writing is hard work. A clear sentence is no accident. Very few
sentences come out right the first time, or even the third time. Remember this in moments of despair. If you find that writing is hard, it’s because it is hard.

iTerm2 with tmux -CC

Karl Xavier — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 05:34:22 +0000

iTerm2 is integrated with tmux-CC

With iTerm2, there is no need to remember tmux commands and shortcut keys, you can easily open a new window and split the screen, and restore all after disconnection.

It's super easy to use, just add the -CC parameter when using tmux in iTerm2:

For example, tmux becomes tmux -CC;
For example, tmux new-session-A-s xxx becomes tmux -CC new-session-A-s xxx.

If you configure the following in ~/.ssh/config, ssh login will automatically resume all Windows and programs last time, and the program will continue to run when accidentally disconnected:

Host xxxxx
    RequestTTY Yes
    RemoteCommand tmux -u -CC new-session -A -D -X -s yyyyy /bin/bash
# Above xxxxx and yyyyy can be replaced with any name you like

Documentation for iTerm2: tmux Integration

This section describes common shortcut keys

The following shortcuts belong to iTerm2 and are compatible with scenarios that do not use tmux.

command + t New tab window
command + d Left and right split screen
command + shift + d Up and down split screen
command + [ or command + ] Switch between the split screen
command + <- or command + -> Switch tab window
command + shift + enter a split screen full screen, Or restore
command + fn + <- Scroll to the beginning of the current output
command + fn + -> Scroll to the end of the current output
command + k Clear all the current output
command + control + shift + d Disconnecting tmux and reconnecting restores all open Windows

Hide the tmux control window

By default, after running tmux -CC, iTerm2 will display two Windows, the original window will be shown as follows:

** tmux mode started **

Command Menu
----------------------------
esc    Detach cleanly.
  X    Force-quit tmux mode.
  L    Toggle logging.
  C    Run tmux command.

You can hide this window by setting, iTerm2 -> Preferences... / Settings... -> General -> tmux:
Select Automatically bury the tmux client session after connecting.

New window opens

You can set the way to open the new window according to your own Preferences, iTerm2 -> Preferences... / Settings... -> General -> tmux:
When attaching, restore windows as: Choose the way you like.
After setting up, run tmux -CC and you will see the difference in each way, which will not be detailed here.

Hide the split screen title bar

By default, Windows that use tmux-CC split-screen display a single title bar, which is very ugly.
The split screen title bar can be hidden by setting, iTerm2 -> Preferences... / Settings... -> Appearance -> Panes:
Do not select Show per-pane title bar with split panes.

Inactive window style

By default, Windows that use tmux-CC split screens are gray when inactive and very ugly.
You can optimize the style of the inactive window by setting, iTerm2 -> Preferences... / Settings... -> Appearance -> Dimming:
Check Dimming affects only text, not background. That's it.

On Writing Well (Part I The Transaction)

Karl Xavier — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 03:44:46 +0000

Part I Principles

1. The Transaction

A school in Connecticut once held "a day devoted to the arts," and I was asked if I would come and talk about writing as a vocation. When I arrived I found that a second speaker had been invited-Dr. Brock (as I'll call him), a surgeon who had recently begun to write and had sold some stories to magazines. He was going to talk about writing as an avocation. That made us a panel, and we sat down to face a crowd of students and teachers and parents, all eager to learn the secrets of our glamorous work.

Dr. Brock was dressed in a bright red jacket, looking vaguely bohemian, as authors are supposed to look, and the first question went to him. What was it like to be a writer?

He said it was tremendous fun. Coming home from an arduous day at the hospital, he would go straight to his yellow pad and write his tensions away. The words just flowed. It was easy. I then said that writing wasn't easy and wasn't fun. It was hard and lonely, and the words seldom just flowed.

Next Dr. Brock was asked if it was important to rewrite. Absolutely not, he said. "Let is all hang out," he told us, and whatever form the sentences take will reflect the writer at his most natural. I then said that rewriting is the essence of writing. I pointed out that proffessional writers rewrite their sentences over and over and then rewrite what they have rewritten.

“What do you do on days when it isn’t going well?” Dr. Brock was
asked. He said he just stopped writing and put the work aside for a day when it would go better. I then said that the professional writer must establish a daily schedule and stick to it. I said that writing is a craft, not an art, and that the man who runs away from his craft because he lacks inspiration is fooling himself. He is also going broke.

“What if you’re feeling depressed or unhappy?” a student asked. “Won’t that affect your writing?” Probably it will, Dr. Brock replied. Go fishing. Take a walk. Probably it won’t, I said. If your job is to write every day, you learn to do it like any other job.

A student asked if we found it useful to circulate in the literary world. Dr. Brock said he was greatly enjoying his new life as a man of letters, and he told several stories of being taken to lunch by his publisher and his agent at Manhattan restaurants where writers and editors gather. I said that professional writers are solitary drudges who seldom see other writers.

“Do you put symbolism in your writing?” a student asked me.

“Not if I can help it,” I replied. I have an unbroken record of missing the deeper meaning in any story, play or movie, and as for dance and mime, I have never had any idea of what is being conveyed.

“I love symbols!” Dr. Brock exclaimed, and he described with gusto the joys of weaving them through his work.

So the morning went, and it was a revelation to all of us. At the end Dr. Brock told me he was enormously interested in my answers—it had never occurred to him that writing could be hard. I told him I was just as interested in his answers—it had never occurred to me that writing could be easy. Maybe I should take up surgery on the side.

As for the students, anyone might think we left them bewildered. But in fact we gave them a broader glimpse of the writing process than if only one of us had talked. For there isn’t any “right” way to do such personal work. There are all kinds of writers and all kinds of methods, and any method that helps you to say what you want to say is the right method for you. Some people write by day, others by night. Some people need silence, others turn on the radio. Some write by hand, some by computer, some by talking into a tape recorder. Some people write their first draft in one long
burst and then revise; others can’t write the second paragraph until they have fiddled endlessly with the first.

But all of them are vulnerable and all of them are tense. They are
driven by a compulsion to put some part of themselves on paper, and yet they don’t just write what comes naturally. They sit down to commit an act of literature, and the self who emerges on paper is far stiffer than the person who sat down to write. The problem is to find the real man or woman behind the tension.

Ultimately the product that any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is. I often find myself reading with interest about a topic I never thought would interest me—some scientific quest, perhaps. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his field. How was he drawn into it? What emotional baggage did he bring along? How did it change his life? It’s not necessary to want to spend a year alone at Walden Pond to become involved with a writer who did.

This is the personal transaction that’s at the heart of good nonfiction writing. Out of it come two of the most important qualities that this book will go in search of: humanity and warmth. Good writing has an aliveness that keeps the reader reading from one paragraph to the next, and it’s not a question of gimmicks to “personalize” the author. It’s a question of using the English language in a way that will achieve the greatest clarity and
strength.

Can such principles be taught? Maybe not. But most of them can be
learned.

Writing a chapter in English

Karl Xavier — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 08:23:30 +0000

Writing a chapter in English can be a rewarding experience, and I'm here to guide you through the process. Here are some steps to help you write a chapter effectively:

Choose a Topic or Theme:
Decide on the subject matter of your chapter. What is the main idea or story you want to convey?
Outline Your Chapter:
Create a basic outline to organize your thoughts. List the main points or events you want to cover in the chapter.
Set the Scene:
Begin by setting the scene for your reader. Describe the location, time, and atmosphere. Introduce the characters if they are part of your chapter.
Develop the Narrative:
If you're writing a story, develop the plot by introducing a conflict or challenge that the characters must face. If it's non-fiction, present the information in a logical sequence.
Use Descriptive Language:
Employ vivid language to paint a picture for your readers. Use adjectives and adverbs to add depth to your descriptions.
Show, Don't Tell:
Instead of simply telling your readers what happens, show them through actions, thoughts, and dialogue.
Include Dialogue:
If your chapter involves characters, include dialogue to bring the interactions to life. Make sure the dialogue sounds natural and is consistent with each character's voice.
Maintain a Consistent Voice:
Keep your narrative voice consistent throughout the chapter. Whether it's first person, second person, or third person, make sure it aligns with the overall tone of your writing.
Use Varied Sentence Structure:
Mix short and long sentences to create rhythm in your writing. This can help maintain the reader's interest.
Edit and Revise:
After writing your first draft, take a break and then come back to it with fresh eyes. Look for grammatical errors, awkward phrasing, and areas where the flow could be improved.
Seek Feedback:
If possible, have someone else read your chapter and provide feedback. This can be invaluable in identifying areas that need clarification or improvement.
Finalize Your Chapter:
Incorporate the feedback you've received, and make the necessary revisions. Read through your chapter several times to ensure it's polished and ready for readers.

Remember, writing is a process, and it's okay to take your time to get it right. Practice makes perfect, so keep writing and refining your skills. If you have any specific questions or need further assistance, feel free to ask. Good luck with your writing!

How to possesses an astonishing vocabulary

Karl Xavier — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 08:09:47 +0000

If you are in search of books to enhance your vocabulary, here are some recommended titles suitable for English learners at various levels:

"Word Power Made Easy" by Norman Lewis – This book employs roots and word origins to teach vocabulary, aiding learners in memorizing and understanding an extensive array of words.

"Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder" – Offering a systematic approach to learning new words, this book includes numerous examples and exercises to reinforce memory.

"1100 Words You Need to Know" by Murray Bromberg and Melvin Gordon – Structured around weekly word lists and exercises, along with engaging reading materials, this book assists readers in gradually expanding their vocabulary.

"Barron's Essential Words for the IELTS" by Dr. Lin Lougheed – Tailored for those preparing for the IELTS exam, this book provides essential vocabulary, practice exercises, and mock tests.

"English Vocabulary in Use" series by Cambridge University Press – Categorized into different levels (Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced), each book in this series features practical topics and scenarios, along with relevant vocabulary and exercises.

"McGraw-Hill's 400 Essential SAT Words" – Designed for students preparing for the SAT, this book lists key vocabulary commonly encountered in the exam and offers mnemonic techniques and exercises.

"Oxford Picture Dictionary" – Ideal for beginners, this pictorial dictionary aids in learning words through visual association, making it suitable for learners with a strong visual memory.

When selecting a vocabulary book, consider your learning objectives, current level of vocabulary, and your learning style. This will ensure that the book you choose is the most fitting for your needs.

A cross-platform graphical system monitor

Karl Xavier — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 05:58:14 +0000

Hi, Today I will introduce one graphical system monitor called "bottom". Bottom is a process/system visualization and management application that provides comprehensive system monitoring capabilities.

It offers a real-time visualization of CPU usage over time, both at an average and per-core level. This allows users to easily identify and track CPU-intensive processes.In addition to CPU usage, Bottom also displays RAM and swap usage over time. This provides valuable insights into the memory utilization of the system, helping users identify potential memory issues or optimize their system's performance.Another feature of Bottom is its ability to display network I/O usage over time. This allows users to monitor network traffic and identify potential network-related issues.

Bottom also includes a range of widgets that provide additional information about the system. These include a disk capacity widget, temperature sensor widget, and battery usage widget. These widgets provide quick and convenient access to system information without having to navigate through multiple menus or applications.

Furthermore, Bottom has a process widget that displays information about running processes. Users can sort and search processes using the process widget, making it easier to identify specific processes or manage running programs.

One of the key features of Bottom is its support for kill signals. Users can send kill signals to processes to terminate them, which is useful for managing resource-intensive processes or responding to system crashes.Another noteworthy feature is its tree mode, which provides a hierarchical view of running processes, making it easier to navigate and manage process relationships.
Bottom is also cross-platform, supporting Linux, macOS, and Windows. This makes it a versatile tool that can be used on multiple platforms without the need for additional configurations or adaptations.

Lastly, Bottom offers extensive customization options. Users can control its behavior using command-line flags or a config file. This includes customizing color themes, modifying widget behavior, adjusting the layout of widgets, and filtering out entries in some widgets to tailor the display according to their specific needs or preferences.