Finding strings in binary files
There’s a little program called strings that searches for what appear to be strings inside binary file. I’ll refer to it as strings(1) to distinguish the program name from the common English word strings. [1] What does strings(1) consider to be a string? By default it is a sequence of
Read moreExtract text from a PDF
Arshad Khan left a comment on my post on the less and more utilities saying “on ubuntu if I do less on a pdf file, it shows me the text contents of the pdf.” Apparently this is an undocumented feature of GNU less. It works, but I don’t see anything
Read moreLength of a general Archimedean spiral
This post ties together the previous three posts. In this post, I said that an Archimedean spiral has the polar equation r = b θ1/n and applied this here to rolls of carpet. When n = 1, the length of the spiral for θ running from 0 to T is
Read moreWhy configuration is so complicated
Ben and Ryan explore why configuration is so complicated, the right to repair, the best programming languages for beginners, how AI is grading exams in Texas, Automattic’s $125M acquisition of Beeper, and why a major US city’s train system still relies on floppy disks. Plus: The unique challenge of keeping
Read moreHow big will a carpet be when you roll or unroll it?
If you know the dimensions of a carpet, what will the dimensions be when you roll it up into a cylinder? If you know the dimensions of a rolled-up carpet, what will the dimensions be when you unroll it? This post answers both questions. Flexible carpet: solid cylinder The edge
Read moreHow to become an AI engineer
Introduction Since the public release of ChatGPT in 2022, innovations in artificial intelligence (AI) have exploded—and they don’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. Industries as diverse as finance, healthcare, and education are increasingly incorporating AI into technology platforms and business operations. Along with rapid advancements in AI comes
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