Spooler

spooler

Have you heard of the Singleton Design Pattern? It's a fancy way of making sure that a class only has one instance and can be accessed globally. In APIs, you can do this by making a class with a private constructor and a static method that returns the instance. This method checks if an instance already exists and gives it to you if it does, or makes a new one if it doesn't. This is great for things like database connections or settings where you only need one instance. Python When should you use Singleton Pattern? So, you know when you need to manage something that lots of different parts of your program might want to use at the same time? Like a printer spooler or a database connection? That's when you might want to use the Singleton Design Pattern in Python. It's also handy for keeping configuration files safe and sound. To be a Singleton, something has to tick three boxes: it needs to control access to a shared resource lots of different parts of the program need to be able to ask for it and there can only be one of them. A simple logger is a good example of a Singleton because it just takes information from the program and sends it to the logger. But be careful - if you use Singletons for business logic, you might end up with more than one instance. When should you NOT use Singleton Pattern? When it comes to testing, singletons are a big no-no. They create a tight coupling between classes, making it impossible to test one without testing the other. Plus, they're a nightmare to stub out or change references for. If you're designing a single-user system, using singletons might seem like a good idea, but it can really limit your scalability if you want to expand to a multi-user system. And don't even get me started on the deadlocks that can happen with multi-threaded applications. So, while singletons can be useful in some cases, it's important to really think about the implications and use them sparingly. Remember, they're just one tool in the design pattern toolbox. How to Use it? The code creates a Singleton class in Python, which ensures that only one instance of the class can be created. The SingleDB class is a subclass of the Singleton class and has an __init__ method that takes a table parameter. The __str__ method returns the table name. class SingleDB(object): def __init__(self, table): self.table = table    def __str__(self): return self.table In the main block, two instances of the SingleDB class are created, singletonA and singletonB, both with the table name 'customer'. The id() function is used to print the memory address of each instance, and the table name is printed as well. singletonA = SingleDB('customer') print( id(singletonA), singletonA.table ) singletonB = SingleDB('customer') print( id(singletonB), singletonB.table ) Since the Singleton pattern is used, both instances have the same memory address, indicating that they are the same instance. Here are the results: 140667521864144 customer 140667521864208 customer Alternative approach In this approach, we check for instance existence and return the instance if it already exists: class Singleton(object): def __new__(cls): if not hasattr(cls, 'instance'): cls.instance = super(Singleton, cls).__new__(cls) return cls.instance Some more tips If you're looking to use the Singleton Pattern in Python, there are a few things to keep in mind. First off, there are three different ways to implement it: Module-level Singleton, Classic Singleton, and Borg Singleton. For the Borg Singleton, you can have multiple instances that share the same state, rather than just one instance. However, if you're using a module with functions, you don't really need to worry about implementing a class. If you do decide to use a class, keep in mind that there's no way to create private classes or constructors in Python. You'll have to rely on convention to prevent multiple instantiations. To implement a proper Singleton, you'll need to synchronize threads during the first creation of the Singleton object. This is important if you're controlling concurrent access to a shared resource or need a global point of access for the resource from multiple parts of the system. Some common use cases for the Singleton Pattern include logging classes, printer spoolers, managing database connections, file managers, and storing global states. Just remember to keep things simple and follow best practices to ensure your Singleton works as intended. Conclusion The Singleton Design Pattern in Python can be a powerful tool for managing shared resources and ensuring only one instance of a class exists. However, it's important to use it sparingly and consider the implications, such as tight coupling and limitations on scalability. By understanding when to use and when to avoid the Singleton pattern, you can make informed decisions about your design choices and create more efficient and effective code.

Mastering the Singleton Design Pattern in APIs: When to Use and When to Avoid

Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . THE SPOONER CORRESPONDENCE. here THE SPOONER CORRESPONDENCE. It will be remembered that Adelaide Palliser had accepted the hand of Mr. Maule, junior, and that she and Lady Chiltern between them had despatched him up to London on an embassy to his father, in which he failed very signally. It had been originally Lady Chiltern's idea that the proper home for the young couple would be the ancestral hall, which must be theirs some day, and in which, with exceeding prudence, they might be able to live as Maules of Maule Abbey upon the very limited income which would belong to them. How slight were the grounds for imputing such stern prudence to Gerard Maule both the ladies felt;—but it had become essential to do something; the young people were engaged to each other, and a manner of life must be suggested, discussed, and as far as possible arranged. Lady Chiltern was useful at such work, having a practical turn of mind, and understanding well the condition of life for which it was necessary that her friend should prepare herself. The lover was not vicious, he neither drank nor gambled, nor ran himself hopelessly in debt. He was good-humoured and tractable, and docile enough when nothing disagreeable was asked from him. He would have, he said, no objection to live at Maule Abbey if Adelaide liked it. He didn't believe much in farming, but would consent at Adelaide's request to be the owner of bullocks. He was quite ready to give up hunting, having already taught himself to think that the very few good runs in a season were hardly worth the trouble of getting up before daylight all the winter. He went forth, therefore, on his embassy, and we know how he failed. Another lover would have communicated the disastrous tidings at once to the lady; but Gerard Maule waited a week before he did so, and then told his story in half-a-dozen words. "The governor cut up rough about Maule Abbey, and will not hear of it. He generally does cut up rough." "But he must be made to hear of it," said Lady Chiltern. Two days afterwards the news reached Harrington of the death of the Duke of Omnium. A letter of an official nature reached Adelaide from Mr. Fothergill, in which the writer explained that he had been desired by Mr. Palliser to communicate to her and the relatives the sad tidings. "So the poor old man has gone at last," said Lady Chiltern, with that affectation of funereal gravity which is common to all of us. "Poor old Duke!" said Adelaide. "I have been hearing of him as a sort of bugbear all my life. I don't think I ever saw him but once, and then he gave me a kiss and a pair of earrings. He never paid any attention to us at all, but we were taught to think that Providence had been very good to us in making the Duke our uncle." "He was very rich?" "Horribly rich, I have always heard." "Won't he leave you something? It would be very nice now that you are engaged to find that he has given you five thousand pounds." "Very nice indeed;—but there is not a chance of it. It has always been known that everything is to go to the heir. Papa had his fortune and spent it. He and his brother were never friends, and though the Duke did once give me a kiss I imagine that he forgot my existence immediately afterwards." "So the Duke of Omnium is dead," said Lord Chiltern when he came home that evening. "Adelaide has had a letter to tell her so this afternoon." "Mr. Fothergill wrote to me," said Adelaide;—"the man who is so wicked about the foxes." "I don't care a straw about Mr. Fothergill; and now my mouth is closed against your uncle. But it's quite frightful to think that a Duke of Omnium must die like anybody else." "The Duke is dead;—long live the Duke," said Lady Chiltern. "I wonder how Mr. Palliser will like it." "Men always do like it, I suppose," said Adelaide. "Women do," said Lord Chiltern. "Lady Glencora will be delighted to reign,—though I can hardly fancy her by any other name. By the bye, Adelaide, I have got a letter for you." "A letter for me, Lord Chiltern!" "Well,—yes; I suppose I had better give it you. It is not addressed to you, but you must answer it." "What on earth is it?" "I think I can guess," said Lady Chiltern, laughing. She had guessed rightly, but Adelaide Palliser was still altogether in the dark when Lord Chiltern took a letter from his pocket and handed it to her. As he did so he left the room, and his wife followed him. "I shall be upstairs, Adelaide, if you want advice," said Lady Chiltern. The letter was from Mr. Spooner. He had left Harrington Hall after the uncourteous reception which had been accorded to him by Miss Palliser in deep disgust, resolving that he would never again speak to her, and almost resolving that Spoon Hall should never have a mistress in his time. But with his wine after dinner his courage came back to him, and he began to reflect once more that it is not the habit of young ladies to accept their lovers at the first offer. There was living with Mr. Spooner at this time a very attached friend, whom he usually consulted in all emergencies, and to whom on this occasion he opened his heart. Mr. Edward Spooner, commonly called Ned by all who knew him, and not unfrequently so addressed by those who did not, was a distant cousin of the Squire's, who unfortunately had no particular income of his own. For the last ten years he had lived at Spoon Hall, and had certainly earned his bread. The Squire had achieved a certain credit for success as a country gentleman. Nothing about his place was out of order. His own farming, which was extensive, succeeded. His bullocks and sheep won prizes. His horses were always useful and healthy. His tenants were solvent, if not satisfied, and he himself did not owe a shilling. Now many people in the neighbourhood attributed all this to the judicious care of Mr. Edward Spooner, whose eye was never off the place, and whose discretion was equal to his zeal. In giving the Squire his due, one must acknowledge that he recognised the merits of his cousin, and trusted him in everything. That night, as soon as the customary bottle of claret had succeeded the absolutely normal bottle of port after dinner, Mr. Spooner of Spoon Hall opened his heart to his cousin. "I shall have to walk, then," said Ned. "Not if I know it," said the Squire. "You don't suppose I'm going to let any woman have the command of Spoon Hall?" "They do command,—inside, you know." "No woman shall ever turn you out of this house, Ned." "I'm not thinking of myself, Tom," said the cousin. "Of course you'll marry some day, and of course I must take my chance. I don't see why it shouldn't be Miss Palliser as well as another." "The jade almost made me angry." "I suppose that's the way with most of 'em. 'Ludit exultim metuitque tangi'." For Ned Spooner had himself preserved some few tattered shreds of learning from his school days. "You don't remember about the filly?" "Yes I do; very well," said the Squire. "'Nuptiarum expers.' That's what it is, I suppose. Try it again." The advice on the part of the cousin was genuine and unselfish. That Mr. Spooner of Spoon Hall should be rejected by a young lady without any fortune seemed to him to be impossible. At any rate it is the duty of a man in such circumstances to persevere. As far as Ned knew the world, ladies always required to be asked a second or a third time. And then no harm can come from such perseverance. "She can't break your bones, Tom." There was much honesty displayed on this occasion. The Squire, when he was thus instigated to persevere, did his best to describe the manner in which he had been rejected. His powers of description were not very great, but he did not conceal anything wilfully. "She was as hard as nails, you know." "I don't know that that means much. Horace's filly kicked a few, no doubt." "She told me that if I'd go one way, she'd go the other!" "They always say about the hardest things that come to their tongues. They don't curse and swear as we do, or there'd be no bearing them. If you really like her—" "She's such a well-built creature! There's a look of blood about her I don't see in any of 'em. That sort of breeding is what one wants to get through the mud with." Then it was that the cousin recommended a letter to Lord Chiltern. Lord Chiltern was at the present moment to be regarded as the lady's guardian, and was the lover's intimate friend. A direct proposal had already been made to the young lady, and this should now be repeated to the gentleman who for the time stood in the position of her father. The Squire for a while hesitated, declaring that he was averse to make his secret known to Lord Chiltern. "One doesn't want every fellow in the country to know it," he said. But in answer to this the cousin was very explicit. There could be but little doubt that Lord Chiltern knew the secret already; and he would certainly be rather induced to keep it as a secret than to divulge it if it were communicated to him officially. And what other step could the Squire take? It would not be likely that he should be asked again to Harrington Hall with the express view of repeating his offer. The cousin was quite of opinion that a written proposition should be made; and on that very night the cousin himself wrote out a letter for the Squire to copy in the morning. On the morning the Squire copied the letter,—not without additions of his own, as to which he had very many words with his discreet cousin,—and in a formal manner handed it to Lord Chiltern towards the afternoon of that day, having devoted his whole morning to the finding of a proper opportunity for doing so. Lord Chiltern had read the letter, and had, as we see, delivered it to Adelaide Palliser. "That's another proposal from Mr. Spooner," Lady Chiltern said, as soon as they were alone. "Exactly that." "I knew he'd go on with it. Men are such fools." "I don't see that he's a fool at all;" said Lord Chiltern, almost in anger. "Why shouldn't he ask a girl to be his wife? He's a rich man, and she hasn't got a farthing." "You might say the same of a butcher, Oswald." "Mr. Spooner is a gentleman." "You do not mean to say that he's fit to marry such a girl as Adelaide Palliser?" "I don't know what makes fitness. He's got a red nose, and if she don't like a red nose,—that's unfitness. Gerard Maule's nose isn't red, and I dare say therefore he's fitter. Only, unfortunately, he has no money." "Adelaide Palliser would no more think of marrying Mr. Spooner than you would have thought of marrying the cook." "If I had liked the cook I should have asked her, and I don't see why Mr. Spooner shouldn't ask Miss Palliser. She needn't take him." In the meantime Miss Palliser was reading the following letter:— Spoon Hall, 11th March, 18–ndash;. My dear Lord Chiltern,— I venture to suppose that at present you are acting as the guardian of Miss Palliser, who has been staying at your house all the winter. If I am wrong in this I hope you will pardon me, and consent to act in that capacity for this occasion. I entertain feelings of the greatest admiration and warmest affection for the young lady I have named, which I ventured to express when I had the pleasure of staying at Harrington Hall in the early part of last month. I cannot boast that I was received on that occasion with much favour; but I know that I am not very good at talking, and we are told in all the books that no man has a right to expect to be taken at the first time of asking. Perhaps Miss Palliser will allow me, through you, to request her to consider my proposal with more deliberation than was allowed to me before, when I spoke to her perhaps with injudicious hurry. So far the Squire adopted his cousin's words without alteration. I am the owner of my own property,—which is more than everybody can say. My income is nearly £4,000 a year. I shall be willing to make any proper settlement that may be recommended by the lawyers,—though I am strongly of opinion that an estate shouldn't be crippled for the sake of the widow. As to refurnishing the old house, and all that, I'll do anything that Miss Palliser may please. She knows my taste about hunting, and I know hers, so that there need not be any difference of opinion on that score. Miss Palliser can't suspect me of any interested motives. I come forward because I think she is the most charming girl I ever saw, and because I love her with all my heart. I haven't got very much to say for myself, but if she'll consent to be the mistress of Spoon Hall, she shall have all that the heart of a woman can desire. Pray believe me, My dear Lord Chiltern, Yours very sincerely, Thomas Platter Spooner. As I believe that Miss Palliser is fond of books, it may be well to tell her that there is an uncommon good library at Spoon Hall. I shall have no objection to go abroad for the honeymoon for three or four months in the summer. The postscript was the Squire's own, and was inserted in opposition to the cousin's judgment. "She won't come for the sake of the books," said the cousin. But the Squire thought that the attractions should be piled up. "I wouldn't talk of the honeymoon till I'd got her to come round a little," said the cousin. The Squire thought that the cousin was falsely delicate, and pleaded that all girls like to be taken abroad when they're married. The second half of the body of the letter was very much disfigured by the Squire's petulance; so that the modesty with which he commenced was almost put to the blush by a touch of arrogance in the conclusion. That sentence in which the Squire declared that an estate ought not to be crippled for the sake of the widow was very much questioned by the cousin. "Such a word as 'widow' never ought to go into such a letter as this." But the Squire protested that he would not be mealy-mouthed. "She can bear to think of it, I'll go bail; and why shouldn't she hear about what she can think about?" "Don't talk about furniture yet, Tom," the cousin said; but the Squire was obstinate, and the cousin became hopeless. That word about loving her with all his heart was the cousin's own, but what followed, as to her being mistress of Spoon Hall, was altogether opposed to his judgment. "She'll be proud enough of Spoon Hall if she comes here," said the Squire. "I'd let her come first," said the cousin. We all know that the phraseology of the letter was of no importance whatever. When it was received the lady was engaged to another man; and she regarded Mr. Spooner of Spoon Hall as being guilty of unpardonable impudence in approaching her at all. "A red-faced vulgar old man, who looks as if he did nothing but drink," she said to Lady Chiltern. "He does you no harm, my dear." "But he does do harm. He makes things very uncomfortable. He has no business to think it possible. People will suppose that I gave him encouragement." "I used to have lovers coming to me year after year,—the same people,—whom I don't think I ever encouraged; but I never felt angry with them." "But you didn't have Mr. Spooner." "Mr. Spooner didn't know me in those days, or there is no saying what might have happened." Then Lady Chiltern argued the matter on views directly opposite to those which she had put forward when discussing the matter with her husband. "I always think that any man who is privileged to sit down to table with you is privileged to ask. There are disparities of course which may make the privilege questionable,—disparities of age, rank, and means." "And of tastes," said Adelaide. "I don't know about that.—A poet doesn't want to marry a poetess, nor a philosopher a philosopheress. A man may make himself a fool by putting himself in the way of certain refusal; but I take it the broad rule is that a man may fall in love with any lady who habitually sits in his company." "I don't agree with you at all. What would be said if the curate at Long Royston were to propose to one of the FitzHoward girls?" "The Duchess would probably ask the Duke to make the young man a bishop out of hand, and the Duke would have to spend a morning in explaining to her the changes which have come over the making of bishops since she was young. There is no other rule that you can lay down, and I think that girls should understand that they have to fight their battles subject to that law. It's very easy to say, 'No.'" "But a man won't take 'No.'" "And it's lucky for us sometimes that they don't," said Lady Chiltern, remembering certain passages in her early life. The answer was written that night by Lord Chiltern after much consultation. As to the nature of the answer,—that it should be a positive refusal,—of course there could be no doubt; but then arose a question whether a reason should be given, or whether the refusal should be simply a refusal. At last it was decided that a reason should be given, and the letter ran as follows:— My dear Mr. Spooner, I am commissioned to inform you that Miss Palliser is engaged to be married to Mr. Gerard Maule. Yours faithfully, Chiltern. The young lady had consented to be thus explicit because it had been already determined that no secret should be kept as to her future prospects. "He is one of those poverty-stricken wheedling fellows that one meets about the world every day," said the Squire to his cousin—"a fellow that rides horses that he can't pay for, and owes some poor devil of a tailor for the breeches that he sits in. They eat, and drink, and get along heaven only knows how. But they're sure to come to smash at last. Girls are such fools nowadays." "I don't think there has ever been much difference in that," said the cousin. "Because a man greases his whiskers, and colours his hair, and paints his eyebrows, and wears kid gloves, by George, they'll go through fire and water after him. He'll never marry her." "So much the better for her." "But I hate such d—— impudence. What right has a man to come forward in that way who hasn't got a house over his head, or the means of getting one? Old Maule is so hard up that he can barely get a dinner at his club in London. What I wonder at is that Lady Chiltern shouldn't know better." About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Anthony Trollope (2006). Phineas Redux. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18640/pg18640-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

THE SPOONER CORRESPONDENCE.

Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . SPOONER OF SPOON HALL. here SPOONER OF SPOON HALL. Adelaide Palliser was a tall, fair girl, exquisitely made, with every feminine grace of motion, highly born, and carrying always the warranty of her birth in her appearance; but with no special loveliness of face. Let not any reader suppose that therefore she was plain. She possessed much more than a sufficiency of charm to justify her friends in claiming her as a beauty, and the demand had been generally allowed by public opinion. Adelaide Palliser was always spoken of as a girl to be admired; but she was not one whose countenance would strike with special admiration any beholder who did not know her. Her eyes were pleasant and bright, and, being in truth green, might, perhaps with propriety, be described as grey. Her nose was well formed. Her mouth was, perhaps, too small. Her teeth were perfect. Her chin was somewhat too long, and was on this account the defective feature of her face. Her hair was brown and plentiful; but in no way peculiar. No doubt she wore a chignon; but if so she wore it with the special view of being in no degree remarkable in reference to her head-dress. Such as she was,—beauty or no beauty—her own mind on the subject was made up, and she had resolved long since that the gift of personal loveliness had not been bestowed upon her. And yet after a fashion she was proud of her own appearance. She knew that she looked like a lady, and she knew also that she had all that command of herself which health and strength can give to a woman when she is without feminine affectation. Lady Chiltern, in describing her to Phineas Finn, had said that she talked Italian, and wrote for the . The former assertion was, no doubt, true, as Miss Palliser had passed some years of her childhood in Florence; but the latter statement was made probably with reference to her capability rather than her performance. Lady Chiltern intended to imply that Miss Palliser was so much better educated than young ladies in general that she was able to express herself intelligibly in her own language. She had been well educated, and would, no doubt, have done the credit had the chosen to employ her. Times Times Times She was the youngest daughter of the youngest brother of the existing Duke of Omnium, and the first cousin, therefore, of Mr. Plantagenet Palliser, who was the eldest son of the second brother. And as her mother had been a Bavilard there could be no better blood. But Adelaide had been brought up so far away from the lofty Pallisers and lofty Bavilards as almost to have lost the flavour of her birth. Her father and mother had died when she was an infant, and she had gone to the custody of a much older half-sister, Mrs. Atterbury, whose mother had been not a Bavilard, but a Brown. And Mr. Atterbury was a mere nobody, a rich, erudite, highly-accomplished gentleman, whose father had made his money at the bar, and whose grandfather had been a country clergyman. Mrs. Atterbury, with her husband, was still living at Florence; but Adelaide Palliser had quarrelled with Florence life, and had gladly consented to make a long visit to her friend Lady Chiltern. In Florence she had met Gerard Maule, and the acquaintance had not been viewed with favour by the Atterburys. Mrs. Atterbury knew the history of the Maule family, and declared to her sister that no good could come from any intimacy. Old Mr. Maule, she said, was disreputable. Mrs. Maule, the mother,—who, according to Mr. Atterbury, had been the only worthy member of the family,—was long since dead. Gerard Maule's sister had gone away with an Irish cousin, and they were now living in India on the professional income of a captain in a foot regiment. Gerard Maule's younger brother had gone utterly to the dogs, and nobody knew anything about him. Maule Abbey, the family seat in Herefordshire, was,—so said Mrs. Atterbury,—absolutely in ruins. The furniture, as all the world knew, had been sold by the squire's creditors under the sheriff's order ten years ago, and not a chair or a table had been put into the house since that time. The property, which was small,—£2,000 a year at the outside,—was, no doubt, entailed on the eldest son; and Gerard, fortunately, had a small fortune of his own, independent of his father. But then he was also a spendthrift,—so said Mrs. Atterbury,—keeping a stable full of horses, for which he could not afford to pay; and he was, moreover, the most insufferably idle man who ever wandered about the world without any visible occupation for his hours. "But he hunts," said Adelaide. "Do you call that an occupation?" asked Mrs. Atterbury with scorn. Now Mrs. Atterbury painted pictures, copied Madonnas, composed sonatas, corresponded with learned men in Rome, Berlin, and Boston, had been the intimate friend of Cavour, had paid a visit to Garibaldi on his island with the view of explaining to him the real condition of Italy,—and was supposed to understand Bismarck. Was it possible that a woman who so filled her own life should accept hunting as a creditable employment for a young man, when it was admitted to be his sole employment? And, moreover, she desired that her sister Adelaide should marry a certain Count Brudi, who, according to her belief, had more advanced ideas about things in general than any other living human being. Adelaide Palliser had determined that she would not marry Count Brudi; had, indeed, almost determined that she would marry Gerard Maule, and had left her brother-in-law's house in Florence after something like a quarrel. Mrs. Atterbury had declined to authorise the visit to Harrington Hall, and then Adelaide had pleaded her age and independence. She was her own mistress if she so chose to call herself, and would not, at any rate, remain in Florence at the present moment to receive the attentions of Signor Brudi. Of the previous winter she had passed three months with some relatives in England, and there she had learned to ride to hounds, had first met Gerard Maule, and had made acquaintance with Lady Chiltern. Gerard Maule had wandered to Italy after her, appearing at Florence in his desultory way, having no definite purpose, not even that of asking Adelaide to be his wife,—but still pursuing her, as though he wanted her without knowing what he wanted. In the course of the Spring, however, he had proposed, and had been almost accepted. But Adelaide, though she would not yield to her sister, had been frightened. She knew that she loved the man, and she swore to herself a thousand times that she would not be dictated to by her sister;—but was she prepared to accept the fate which would at once be hers were she now to marry Gerard Maule? What could she do with a man who had no ideas of his own as to what he ought to do with himself? Lady Chiltern was in favour of the marriage. The fortune, she said, was as much as Adelaide was entitled to expect, the man was a gentleman, was tainted by no vices, and was truly in love. "You had better let them fight it out somewhere else," Lord Chiltern had said when his wife proposed that the invitation to Gerard Maule should be renewed; but Lady Chiltern had known that if "fought out" at all, it must be fought out at Harrington Hall. "We have asked him to come back," she said to Adelaide, "in order that you may make up your mind. If he chooses to come, it will show that he is in earnest; and then you must take him, or make him understand that he is not to be taken." Gerard Maule had chosen to come; but Adelaide Palliser had not as yet quite made up her mind. Perhaps there is nothing so generally remarkable in the conduct of young ladies in the phase of life of which we are now speaking as the facility,—it may almost be said audacity,—with which they do make up their minds. A young man seeks a young woman's hand in marriage, because she has waltzed stoutly with him, and talked pleasantly between the dances;—and the young woman gives it, almost with gratitude. As to the young man, the readiness of his action is less marvellous than hers. He means to be master, and, by the very nature of the joint life they propose to lead, must take her to his sphere of life, not bind himself to hers. If he worked before he will work still. If he was idle before he will be idle still; and he probably does in some sort make a calculation and strike a balance between his means and the proposed additional burden of a wife and children. But she, knowing nothing, takes a monstrous leap in the dark, in which everything is to be changed, and in which everything is trusted to chance. Miss Palliser, however, differing in this from the majority of her friends and acquaintances, frightened, perhaps by those representations of her sister to which she would not altogether yield, had paused, and was still pausing. "Where should we go and live if I did marry him?" she said to Lady Chiltern. "I suppose he has an opinion of his own on that subject?" "Not in the least, I should think." "Has he never said anything about it?" "Oh dear no. Matters have not got so far as that at all;—nor would they ever, out of his own head. If we were married and taken away to the train he would only ask what place he should take the tickets for when he got to the station." "Couldn't you manage to live at Maule Abbey?" "Perhaps we might; only there is no furniture, and, as I am told, only half a roof." "It does seem to be absurd that you two should not make up your mind, just as other people do," said Lady Chiltern. "Of course he is not a rich man, but you have known that all along." "It is not a question of wealth or poverty, but of an utterly lack-a-daisical indifference to everything in the world." "He is not indifferent to you." "That is the marvellous part of it," said Miss Palliser. This was said on the evening of the famous day at Broughton Spinnies, and late on that night Lord Chiltern predicted to his wife that another episode was about to occur in the life of their friend. "What do you think Spooner has just asked me?" "Permission to fight the Duke, or Mr. Palliser?" "No,—it's nothing about the hunting. He wants to know if you'd mind his staying here three or four days longer." "What a very odd request!" "It is odd, because he was to have gone to-morrow. I suppose there's no objection." "Of course not if you like to have him." "I don't like it a bit," said Lord Chiltern; "but I couldn't turn him out. And I know what it means." "What does it mean?" "You haven't observed anything?" "I have observed nothing in Mr. Spooner, except an awe-struck horror at the trapping of a fox." "He's going to propose to Adelaide Palliser." "Oswald! You are not in earnest." "I believe he is. He would have told me if he thought I could give him the slightest encouragement. You can't very well turn him out now." "He'll get an answer that he won't like if he does," said Lady Chiltern. Miss Palliser had ridden well on that day, and so had Gerard Maule. That Mr. Spooner should ride well to hounds was quite a matter of course. It was the business of his life to do so, and he did it with great judgment. He hated Maule's style of riding, considering it to be flashy, injurious to hunting, and unsportsmanlike; and now he had come to hate the man. He had, of course, perceived how close were the attentions paid by Mr. Maule to Miss Palliser, and he thought that he perceived that Miss Palliser did not accept them with thorough satisfaction. On his way back to Harrington Hall he made some inquiries, and was taught to believe that Mr. Maule was not a man of very high standing in the world. Mr. Spooner himself had a very pretty property of his own,—which was all his own. There was no doubt about his furniture, or about the roof at Spoon Hall. He was Spooner of Spoon Hall, and had been High Sheriff for his county. He was not so young as he once had been;—but he was still a young man, only just turned forty, and was his own master in everything. He could read, and he always looked at the country newspaper; but a book was a thing that he couldn't bear to handle. He didn't think he had ever seen a girl sit a horse better than Adelaide Palliser sat hers, and a girl who rode as she did would probably like a man addicted to hunting. Mr. Spooner knew that he understood hunting, whereas that fellow Maule cared for nothing but jumping over flights of rails. He asked a few questions that evening of Phineas Finn respecting Gerard Maule, but did not get much information. "I don't know where he lives;" said Phineas; "I never saw him till I met him here." "Don't you think he seems sweet upon that girl?" "I shouldn't wonder if he is." "She's an uncommonly clean-built young woman, isn't she?" said Mr. Spooner; "but it seems to me she don't care much for Master Maule. Did you see how he was riding to-day?" "I didn't see anything, Mr. Spooner." "No, no; you didn't get away. I wish he'd been with you. But she went uncommon well." After that he made his request to Lord Chiltern, and Lord Chiltern, with a foresight quite unusual to him, predicted the coming event to his wife. There was shooting on the following day, and Gerard Maule and Mr. Spooner were both out. Lunch was sent down to the covert side, and the ladies walked down and joined the sportsmen. On this occasion Mr. Spooner's assiduity was remarkable, and seemed to be accepted with kindly grace. Adelaide even asked a question about Trumpeton Wood, and expressed an opinion that her cousin was quite wrong because he did not take the matter up. "You know it's the keepers do it all," said Mr. Spooner, shaking his head with an appearance of great wisdom. "You never can have foxes unless you keep your keepers well in hand. If they drew the Spoon Hall coverts blank I'd dismiss my man the next day." "It mightn't be his fault." "He knows my mind, and he'll take care that there are foxes. They've been at my stick covert three times this year, and put a brace out each time. A leash went from it last Monday week. When a man really means a thing, Miss Palliser, he can pretty nearly always do it." Miss Palliser replied with a smile that she thought that to be true, and Mr. Spooner was not slow at perceiving that this afforded good encouragement to him in regard to that matter which was now weighing most heavily upon his mind. On the next day there was hunting again, and Phineas was mounted on a horse more amenable to persuasion than old Dandolo. There was a fair run in the morning, and both Phineas and Madame Max were carried well. The remarkable event in the day, however, was the riding of Dandolo in the afternoon by Lord Chiltern himself. He had determined that the horse should go out, and had sworn that he would ride him over a fence if he remained there making the attempt all night. For two weary hours he did remain, with a groom behind him, spurring the brute against a thick hedge, with a ditch at the other side of it, and at the end of the two hours he succeeded. The horse at last made a buck leap and went over with a loud grunt. On his way home Lord Chiltern sold the horse to a farmer for fifteen pounds;—and that was the end of Dandolo as far as the Harrington Hall stables were concerned. This took place on the Friday, the 8th of February. It was understood that Mr. Spooner was to return to Spoon Hall on Saturday, and on Monday, the 11th, Phineas was to go to London. On the 12th the Session would begin, and he would once more take his seat in Parliament. "I give you my word and honour, Lady Chiltern," Gerard Maule said to his hostess, "I believe that oaf of a man is making up to Adelaide." Mr. Maule had not been reticent about his love towards Lady Chiltern, and came to her habitually in all his troubles. "Chiltern has told me the same thing." "No!" "Why shouldn't he see it, as well as you? But I wouldn't believe it." "Upon my word I believe it's true. But, Lady Chiltern—" "Well, Mr. Maule." "You know her so well." "Adelaide, you mean?" "You understand her thoroughly. There can't be anything in it; is there?" "How anything?" "She can't really—like him?" "Mr. Maule, if I were to tell her that you had asked such a question as that I don't believe that she'd ever speak a word to you again; and it would serve you right. Didn't you call him an oaf?" "I did." "And how long has she known him?" "I don't believe she ever spoke to him before yesterday." "And yet you think that she will be ready to accept this oaf as her husband to-morrow! Do you call that respect?" "Girls do such wonderful strange things. What an impudent ass he must be!" "I don't see that at all. He may be an ass and yet not impudent, or impudent and yet not an ass. Of course he has a right to speak his mind,—and she will have a right to speak hers." About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Anthony Trollope (2006). Phineas Redux. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18640/pg18640-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

SPOONER OF SPOON HALL.

What are we talking about? Cookies are being phased out by advertising platforms and companies like . The process of "removing" cookies has been going on for a number of years, but now it is directly affecting everyone: the companies themselves, the advertising platforms, the advertisers and the users themselves. Google For the market and the internet in general, this is a big challenge and a big change. What's wrong with cookie files? First, let's explain that there are two types of cookies: - they store useful data for the user. For example, the preferred language, a successful login. In ecommerce, cookies also store data on the remainder of the goods in the shopping cart and more. 1st-party cookies are cookies that websites pass on to third-party advertisers for more accurate targeting. It is through third-party cookies that advertising systems know that since you bought rubber boots on one site, you should show an umbrella on another. 3rd-party cookies And now cookies of the third order are going to disappear. The reason for this is the growing trend towards greater privacy. People want more control over their digital footprint. They want to take control of their data. Against the backdrop of this trend, the EU, for example, passed the famous GDPR law — and now users are greeted on every European website by an ugly bar with several buttons: go ahead, choose what data about you you want to store on this site. And how, does it make a big difference? For the market, abandoning cookies is comparable to a meteorite hitting prehistoric earth. The dinosaurs are bound to go extinct, but they will be replaced by other species: faster and more adaptable. Thankfully the meteorite has been falling for quite some time. For example, Apple disabled third-party cookies in Safari back in 2019. And while Safari has less than 10% of the share of desktop browsers, attribution in mobiles fell immediately 8% — Apple holds half the share of mobile browsers. In 2023, with Google's abandonment of third-party cookies, publishers could lose tens of billions of dollars a year. This is spurring the industry to use other solutions. Man, it turns out advertising will be less accurate now, doesn't it? Yes, definitely — targeting ads will be more difficult. Some users will probably see irrelevant ads more often. But this won’t last forever. Today's publishers use very powerful advanced targeting systems that can more accurately predict online users' interests and behaviour without third-party cookies. Predictive models are used to do this, which take into account the available data. For example, a publisher predicts that a user living in an elitist area of London with default English on their device is more interested in renting a private jet than a radish in bulk. This is of course an abstraction, but the principle is true — and advertising systems make billions of such predictions a day without any cookies. Well, what about the login’ in? There will be more "one button" local logins. In Russia, Tinkoff, Yandex and Sber already have such systems — and there will only be more. As a result, large companies will create their own "safe pools". You will be able to log in via Yandex ID, and you will no longer need a password or login. And sites and services will not only recognise you quickly, they will also give you new services that are currently unavailable. For example, pay for goods and services with a single button. Smaller companies are lobbying for the introduction of Unified ID 2.0. True, its implementation prospects are still vague — users don't like to leave an email address for authorization on the website, and nothing will work without email. And large companies can also use the data they receive in "clean rooms" — to share information with each other. What other “clean rooms” are there? In such 'rooms', companies enrich their own data with data from other advertisers - usually from closed ecosystems. This allows for insights and evaluation of advertising effectiveness. However, neither party is allowed to use the other party's raw data outside of this space. Publishers (or their associations) and advertisers already use 'clean rooms' in a similar way to get new insights and valuable information from user data. This has the potential to enhance individual targeting, attribution between brands and publishers, and gain insights based on combined information from different devices. And all this without data security risks. Well, it doesn't look that bad... That's right, publishers and advertisers are adapting to the new environment. Technology is helping - it's as if the world has been used to using old-fashioned cookies for years, and has been resistant to using new, modern personalisation technologies. And the abandonment of cookies will also benefit the quality of content. Content in general is coming to the fore as a sales tool, especially authorial and personalised content. Models like can help create such content, but that's another story... ChatGPT

Why the Internet is Giving up On Cookies and How We Can Live Without Them (Spoiler: Wonderfully)

Por qué Internet está renunciando a las cookies y cómo podemos vivir sin ellas (Spoiler: maravillosamente)

Pourquoi Internet abandonne les cookies et comment nous pouvons vivre sans eux (Spoiler : Merveilleusement)

इंटरनेट कूकीज को क्यों छोड़ रहा है और हम उनके बिना कैसे रह सकते हैं (स्पॉयलर: वंडरफुली)

インターネットが Cookie を放棄しつつある理由と、Cookie なしでどうやって生きていくか (ネタバレ: 素晴らしい)

Por que a Internet está desistindo dos cookies e como podemos viver sem eles (Spoiler: Maravilhosamente)

Tại sao Internet đang từ bỏ cookie và làm thế nào chúng ta có thể sống thiếu chúng (Spoiler: Wonderfully)

为什么互联网正在放弃 Cookie 以及我们如何在没有它们的情况下生活（剧透：精彩）

In another life, I was courting a young lady, and shortly after her graduation, before her first day, in her first job as a copywriter, her step-father, a solicitor, gave her the following advice… “When you get there, don’t be surprised if nobody knows what the f*** they are doing” While initially novel, as the years have come and gone, the advice seems to become more and more profound. With an approx of “the youth” going to university in 2021 and 2022, surely we should have a more capable than ever workforce? 38% However, it is an open secret that graduates come out of university woefully ill-equipped for the workplace. Despite what those selling education and training may tell you, nobody can be trained for every eventuality. You can give yourself a base level of knowledge in an area, and then you are on your own. At some point. Everyone has to wing it, and make it up as they go along. At some point, everyone will make mistakes; even . brain surgeons You receive your education; you then have to marry these ideals to reality and balance them against finite resources and ever-changing uncertainty. You must apply your skills in ways you never imagined. This is a hard thing to do, and many people are not good at it. Sometimes people are good at it but are shackled by reality and circumstances beyond their control. Even the most competent person can appear seemingly clueless and make awful choices. Bad choices then beget bad choices, and downward spirals begin. To be human is to be fallible. The majority of people are just trying to do their best with what they have. Some people can do more with what they have than others, and in my experience, this rarely correlates with academic prowess. In an uncertain and polarized world, where there is always someone who claims to know better, it is worth remembering that nobody really knows what the f*** they are doing… …apart from me, of course.

Life Spoilers: Nobody Knows What They're Doing

This is the first book about "Hannibal Lecter", the cannibalistic serial killer. Published in 1981, in this thriller, we follow the story of Will Graham, an FBI agent, who is brought out of retirement to track a serial killer known as the "Tooth Fairy." The story begins with the massacre of two families in Birmingham and Atlanta. The FBI is stumped, with no leads or motive. At this point, the FBI ask for Graham's help, a former agent who captured Dr. Lecter and now is living a quiet life in Florida. Graham doesn't want to help because of the physical and psychological wound made by Dr. Hannibal, but in the end, he is coerced by his former boss, Jack Crawford, to come out of retirement to help track down the Tooth Fairy. One remarkable thing about this book is the ability of Will Graham to recreate the crime scenes and reenacts the murders in his mind to get a sense of what happened to understand the motivations and psyche of the Tooth Fairy. At a certain moment, he became stumped and consulted Dr. Lecter in prison. They have a unique relationship, Dr. Lecter admiring Graham's mind and Graham using Dr. Lecter's insights to track down the killer. A lot of the tension is built with plot twists, red herrings and false leads. Eventually, Graham realizes that the Tooth Fairy is Francis Dolarhyde, a disabled man who works at a film lab. Dolarhyde is obsessed with William Blake's painting "The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed in Sun" and believes he is transforming into the Red Dragon. The climax is when Graham and Dolarhyde face off in a final showdown. The final confrontation was tense and thrilling, keeping the reader in suspense until the end. In the end, Graham can stop Dolarhyde and bring him to justice. Another reason this book is one of the best thrillers is the several complex and well-developed characters. The reader can understand very well their thoughts, motivations, and personalities. The Author made the reader become part of the story. And there are a lot of gross depictions of violence. "Red Dragon" is one of the best thriller books and is considered Thomas Harris' best work, exploring the dark and twisted inner of the human mind. Cover by @ Kiuyan Ran

THE RED DRAGON Book Full Plot Summary [Spoiler Alert]

EL DRAGÓN ROJO Resumen completo de la trama del libro [Alerta de spoiler]

THE RED DRAGON Livre Résumé complet de l'intrigue [Spoiler Alert]

रेड ड्रैगन बुक का पूरा प्लॉट सारांश [स्पॉयलर अलर्ट]

THE RED DRAGON Book 全あらすじまとめ【ネタバレ注意】

Resumo do enredo completo do livro THE RED DRAGON [Alerta de spoiler]

Cuốn sách RỒNG ĐỎ Tóm tắt toàn bộ cốt truyện [Cảnh báo spoiler]

红龙书完整情节摘要 [剧透警报]

There has never been a better or worse time to be online. Humanity's endless ingenuity in digitizing more parts of our lives and finances has empowered and connected people and communities. It also made us helplessly dependent on our machines, so the act of losing or breaking your computer is more horrible than losing your wallet and keys at the same time. Having your computer compromised by a hacker – that's some of the worst luck of all. We are all familiar with the global extortion ransomware attacks have inflicted on small to mid-sized businesses – but what about DDoS attacks? Are they still a concern? Link11, a leading European IT security provider "in cyber-resilience," puts out a bi-annual report on DDoS Attacks. They recently released the . DDoS Report for 2021 TL;DR – DDoS attacks have gotten trickier, more powerful, more frequent and are often part of a more complex attack. According to the report, attacks grew 40% YOY vs. 2020, there were many high volume attacks, and 71% of DDoS attacks were identified as multi-vector. By multi-vector attack, they mean the hacker entity used multiple access paths, methods, and protocols making the DDoS attack. They compare this attack to a mythical hydra, which conveys the near hopelessness of fighting a diversified attack. Multi-vector DDoS attacks are more complex to run but far more challenging to catch and defend against. ** ** The report also showed an increase in carpet bombing -- a high-volume DDoS attack that runs a low volume of traffic from many IP addresses so they can avoid detection. Perhaps worst of all, DDoS attacks are being used as a smokescreen to hide more complex attacks. A mid-sized business' poor IT team will be wiping their brows having restored an online site or service, thinking they have been successful when they are , in fact, due for a ransomware attack a few months later. We spoke with Ken MacIntyre, Sales Director and Marc Wilczek, COO of Link11, on the state of DDoS attacks. Why are DDoS attacks such a big concern today? "So straight after ransomware, your number two problem as an organization these days is DDoS. And what DDoS basically does is create a data tsunami that is unleashed and takes an organization offline for hours, potentially for days. We're thinking about remote work at scale. Everyone is working from home… With a DDoS attack, the entire organization could be taken offline for hours, causing reputational damages, causing productivity losses, revenue losses, and more," Wilczek said. Why the growth in DDoS attacks? "I think there are at least two major driving forces – one is public cloud adoption. APIs are being compromised. The utility power and bandwidth of global providers is being misused or abused in order to produce massive amounts of DDoS attacks. And on the second part of that equation is the massive emergence of the Internet of Things with billions and billions of all these beautiful IoT devices. But unfortunately, to a large extent, they're not protected, and they can be put together to form a bot army to produce these attacks. All of that opens up and widens the attack surface… So you have a sort of a perfect storm. A perfect environment that lets DDoS attacks thrive and grow exponentially," Wilczek said. What about the threat of state actors, like hacker groups in China, North Korea, and Russia? Do they pose a special threat? "There's lots of attention on state-backed actors... But the fact of the matter is that 90%+of attacks are still financially driven. So, it's really financially-motivated cybercrime that is driving everyday attacks. The state-backed actors contribute to the problem, but they tend to go after more prestigious targets such as the critical infrastructure providers. That said, some of these cyber-criminal gangs go after the big hosting companies, and domino effects can happen because if they're taken offline, it will trickle down... They represent a significant challenge today and in the future," Wilczek said. What made Link11 focus specifically on DDoS? "Originally, Link11 was a hosting company in the gaming industry and we were subject to an attack. Consequently, we pivoted from dealing with DDoS as a way of protecting our own business to a shift into becoming a leading DDoS mitigation company. That's how we began. And since then, the trend has been growing," Wilczek said. How can you guard against a DDoS attack? "The rules-based approach we've taken is to look at customers' profiles – what we call their fingerprints – and look at the shape of the data. And then any delta, any change from the norm, we'll look at a lot closer. If it's obviously a malicious attack, then we mitigate it. So the technology approach is an evolution from the traditional approaches many organizations take, which is manually looking at the attacks and trying to work out what's going on… We do it using machine learning and we're looking at it in real-time," Wilczek said. What's the real danger around a DDoS attack beyond having your site or service down? "DDoS attacks are often used to masquerade or camouflage other attacks. If somebody wanted to infiltrate a corporate network with ransomware, it's so easy to simply unleash a DDoS attack in order to keep the IT team busy, so they don't really notice what's happening... And unfortunately, it can take an organization months, if not years, to figure out that what appeared to be a DDoS attack was actually part of something much bigger… We could be looking at what looks like a DDoS attack, and obviously, it's there, but it's masking something else. And that's a really high risk, because that could literally be the backdoor to try and take banking details, credit details, and things like that. And that's not uncommon, and obviously, it could also be the basis of a ransomware attack," Wilczek said. Are there any industries that have struggled particularly with the issue? "Banking has undergone a massive transition because it is no longer a retail conversation. It's no longer brick and mortar – it's about apps and mobile. It's digital, online, and 24/7. And every DDoS attack can cause major drama financially, but it also can erode trust. DDoS attacks are used to inflict chaos and possibly produce a bank run in the banks. And that's what DDoS can do, because it causes panic. If everything is offline, if you can no longer access your mobile apps, it causes a massive wave of chaos. It's interesting because you will see sectors that are being attacked at the same time or groups of organizations being attacked at the same. Utilities, for example, in the last few months… It's very well structured. It's very well thought through. And the unfortunate ones who haven't the proper protection are brought down," Wilczek said. Are DDoS attacks becoming more dangerous? "The attacks are becoming a lot more sophisticated. And what can send an organization reeling is not just a large-scale frontal attack. There are more sophisticated forms of attacks. Think about Carpet Bombing, for example. Instead of having a massive wave of bandwidth, you actually end up with a tiny little spike in traffic per individual IP address, but because everything happens at once, it overwhelms the entire system and brings everything to a standstill. And unfortunately, less sophisticated tools really struggle to detect these traffic patterns because they look like or appear to be regular traffic," Wilczek said. How do you protect companies against DDoS attacks? "When our customers come in, we want to get a sense for their pattern of traffic. And that can be quite detailed. And then we do our work and machine learning does what it does in real-time, tracking those profiles. We check-in against algorithms, patterns of traffic from similar customers, according to industry, and so on. And once we're certain that we've detected a malicious attack, then we basically block the traffic for customers," MacIntyre said. So if you had one piece of advice for companies that might be vulnerable, what would it be? "First, identify your mission-critical IT assets. When was the last time that you audited or tested your defense? Often, companies procured a solution many, many years ago, and then they fail to run fire drills. They fail to practice. They fail to do audits, they fail to pentest, and they simply believe everything is perfectly up and running until there is an attack, and unfortunately, they learn the hard way. That is why I would strongly suggest asking, when did you audit it? When did you pentest it? When was your last fire drill, and it really needs practice, and practice, and practice, because otherwise, maybe there's a couple of months or half a year without any attack. You think you're in a good spot, and it all comes down in the middle of the night," MacIntyre said. Image by from Elchinator Pixabay

Fighting the Hydra of DDoS Attacks (Spoiler: They Got Worse)

Computer science provides more and more abstraction layers with time, to the point that we don’t really know what’s running underneath. GitHub recently released in technical preview. Copilot is an AI-based assistant that will automatically generate code from the context of your application, with the aim of easing software development. Copilot A question that arises with simplification and automation in computer science is generally . And every time it happened, the answer was . Abstraction in computer science reduces the cost of entering the domain, thus attracts a larger population. But it also usually creates opportunities with new technologies, practices, and more complex systems. “will the developer still be needed?” “yes” This short article aims to summarize the evolution of abstraction layers in computer science to help understand the impact that GitHub Copilot may have. A Bit of History The example that seems the oldest and most sensible would be the . It was created with the specific idea to break the cryptographic code , but the concepts behind it are now considered as a for programming languages. Turing Machine Enigma ground reference of algorithmic capabilities Since then, we have created processors, able to take a random set of instructions and process them generically. Those instructions were originally described using , which is hard to manipulate for a human. This is why programming languages of higher abstraction appeared. machine code Generally speaking, we can describe the goal of a programming language as to write human-readable specifications that can be converted into machine code. Evolution of Programming Programming languages evolved from languages to , each iteration adding automation and helpers to the common operations. Those abstractions can take many forms, from to libraries . low (abstraction) level higher levels garbage collection reading CSV files These evolutions enable developers to add more complexity to their software, as there is less complexity on the technical parts. They can, in turn, abstract away even more for others. Thanks to this, taking on programming is becoming easier with time. We even see some programming languages using almost natural languages (e.g., ) and requiring next to zero computer science knowledge to write. Gherkin This does not mean that people will stop using languages with lower abstraction levels. On the contrary, even if they are generally harder to master and more verbose, they can be way more flexible for some use cases, memory management, for instance. We can also note the appearance of Machine Learning, creating dynamic processes over data that would have been tedious to analyze, either by hand or through specific code. This enables writing potentially complex behaviors with a few lines of code in some cases. Even then, there is some of it to the point where you only have to provide data to get working results. automation That being said, having a minimum of knowledge on the layers underneath remains very important to really comprehend the code execution. Otherwise, it would be difficult to adapt to issues that may, and will, arise. Evolution of Infrastructure We talked about code, but the same kind of evolution happened on the servers too. At first, companies were starting on personal computers until they could get a hold of some space in a datacenter, renting one or more servers. This was costly and required technical knowledge for both the installation and deployment processes. baremetal The virtualization technology evolved to the point where you can now rent a hosted on a physical host anywhere through . This tremendously reduces the costs and enhances accessibility but still requires technical knowledge to administrate the machine correctly on top of the deployments pipelines. virtual machine cloud providers Since more recently, the technology of is heavily used with powerful tools like and . Those tools can help you deploy applications on a VM without necessarily mastering the system underneath*. In the same fashion as machine learning, there are projects aiming to further to use such technologies. containerization Docker Kubernetes reduce the knowledge required On top of that, a new abstraction layer called is emerging. This enables you to directly execute code on a remote container without taking care of the hosting problematics at all. While this is currently mostly used for stateless operations, there are no doubts about the growth of use cases and tools around this ecosystem. serverless *Note: Those tools may be better used with knowledge on the underlying layer, but you can redirect your learning to a more practical proficiency. A Glimpse on The Future of Copilot GitHub Copilot is a pretty interesting advancement in software engineering, even if not completely on point at the moment. According to the FAQ, the system gets the generation right around 50% of the time, and it is recommended to stay wary of the generated code. If we look a bit differently on GitHub Copilot, we can consider this as a new programming language. This language input is the documentation and function name, and those are into source code for another programming language. transpiled The generation is today limited to methods, but we can imagine that this will evolve to classes or even packages. We can also imagine the generation becoming almost flawless for well-known use cases. Even if everything is one day working on a larger scale and flawlessly, the generated code will still require developers to handle the direction it takes and connect the even bigger pictures altogether. Conclusion In regard to what we just saw, it makes no doubt that GitHub Copilot will further abstract development and ease the creation of software. This breakthrough has the power to move the development industry, as other abstraction layers did before. Having said that, developers will probably never lack opportunities, as the scope of the projects will get bigger thanks to this new abstraction layer. The day-to-day work done as a developer may change, but developers will still be required for a long time. As a matter of comparison, we already saw system administration positions evolve to SRE, still working on providing reliable hardware, but on a scale never seen before. In the same way, developers may evolve to something close, adapting to the new tools. Thanks to Sarra Habchi for the review Also published . here

Will GitHub Copilot Replace Developers? (Spoiler: No!)

Learn about my secret way for getting into Google. And, new MERCH! 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I may receive a small commission for purchases made through these links. Video Transcript: Note: This transcript is auto-generated by YouTube and may not be entirely accurate. 00:00 hey tech lead here and welcome to the 00:01 attack lead show 00:03 now i am an ex google tech lead 00:06 it is coffee time oh that's great now 00:10 what we're going to talk about today is 00:12 how to get into google 00:13 as a software engineer i can tell you 00:15 how to get in i have done over 100 00:17 interviews for the company 00:19 why don't you join me for a drive and 00:21 we'll talk about this 00:24 so what i'm trying to tell you here is 00:25 that 00:27 i've hacked the system there's actually 00:30 a 00:30 loophole okay in the recruiting system 00:34 in which anybody can easily just bypass 00:38 the whole 00:38 recruiting process and get into google 00:41 now this is something that i've kept to 00:43 myself for 00:44 quite a while now and i was very 00:46 reluctant to share this 00:48 secret and once you pick up on the 00:50 secret 00:51 you'll find that it's not based on 00:53 competency 00:55 right you don't necessarily need to even 00:57 know how to code 00:58 that's why there's so many people so 01:00 many incompetent engineers working at 01:03 these large tech companies people who 01:05 have no idea what they're doing 01:07 people who have no idea how to reverse a 01:09 linked list 01:10 i'm talking about like managers right 01:12 you want to learn how to get into tech 01:14 right and you want a shortcut and i'm 01:17 here to tell you 01:19 yeah there's a shortcut literally hold 01:21 on there's a traffic light here let me 01:23 see if i can just hack that traffic 01:24 light 01:26 there we go you know they say to never 01:29 drink and drive 01:30 and they're right but i'm a professional 01:34 tech lead so just don't copy me don't do 01:37 what i do at home kids 01:39 now let me put it this way the first 01:42 step 01:42 is you need to make your way to silicon 01:44 valley 01:45 sorry i had to just make a u-turn i kind 01:47 of got lost 01:49 and you know oftentimes people just get 01:51 lost in the woods 01:52 right you know you don't see the forest 01:55 for the trees and then people get 01:57 all stuck in the weeds messing around 02:00 but most of the time i would say at 02:02 least say 90 02:04 of the time this technique should get 02:05 you through 02:07 the doors of any company 02:12 all right we're almost there so here's 02:14 the thing 02:15 right you want to know the trick you 02:17 want to know how to get into google 02:19 where are you there that's right we're 02:22 already there we got into google 02:24 this is it let's go take a look all 02:36 right and there we go 02:37 we got into google see that wasn't so 02:40 hard was it 02:42 you basically just need to go on san 02:43 antonio road head northbound 02:45 make a ride over onto charleston and you 02:48 can get onto the google campus 02:50 fairly easy it's open to the public 02:52 anybody can go in it's not that 02:53 difficult you know using this technique 02:55 okay you can actually get into any top 02:57 tech company you know you could get into 02:59 apple 03:00 amazon facebook netflix and i know that 03:03 many times it can be pretty difficult 03:05 for a lot of people 03:06 i might get lost in the woods lost in 03:08 the forest but what you want to do is 03:10 make sure that you're following the 03:11 proper navigation just follow those 03:13 step-by-step turn-by-turn instructions 03:15 you can get into any top tech company 03:17 now i have a few additional updates i 03:18 want to point your attention to 03:20 you may be wondering what i'm wearing 03:21 here and this is the t-shirt i've got 03:23 here 03:24 it's me adjusting my glasses 03:27 and it's a pretty cool shirt actually i 03:29 really like the way it turned out 03:31 it's available in the description below 03:33 if you're interested in checking it out 03:34 it says 03:35 respect the tech lead and i especially 03:37 like the words here 03:39 tech lee tech lead with the segmentation 03:41 fault because 03:43 it runs out of stack space as is trying 03:45 to repeat that and 03:46 it is true by the way i am the tag lead 03:48 and let's not forget that 03:50 i actually found this design agency who 03:53 was able to create the design 03:54 get you guys all set up with this i made 03:56 it as cheaply pressed as possible 03:59 and the design actually costs a few 04:00 hundred dollars to create 04:02 so it's high quality stuff i hope you 04:03 guys enjoy that

How to Hack Your Way Into Google (Spoiler Alert: You’ll be Using Wheels)

A short trip to China reveals incredible everyday technology and a modern-day gold rush As with any looking for the next gold rush, I’ve been eyeing the Chinese market with great interest. At the invitation of the Chinese government, I’ve spent the last two weeks in Guangdong, China getting to know its tech ecosystem and exploring opportunities for collaboration. entrepreneur During my two weeks there, I saw weaved intricately into people’s lives, in a way that I’ve haven’t seen anywhere else in the world. To understand business in China first requires an understanding of how deeply ingrained technology is in people’s everyday lives. technology Here are some observations and anecdotes from my time there, which will hopefully give other entrepreneurs looking to expand into China a very tiny (perhaps superficial!) glimpse into this land of endless possibility. The next gold rush is already here. 1. WeChat is not just payments, it is everything A visit to WeChat’s offices in Guangzhou By now most people would have heard of WeChat. It’s China’s version of Facebook + Whatapp + Venmo, on speed. And that is understating the power of WeChat. At 9am during our visit, there are 750 million people using WeChat Someone has just given you their business card? Scan the QR code to add them on WeChat. Most business cards now come with a QR code so that people can easily add them on WeChat In a tiny village somewhere and need a snack? Pay the street vendors on WeChat by scanning their QR code. A street vendor in a tiny village with his WeChat QR code displayed prominently. Touring the country and want to find out more about what you’re seeing? Scan the QR code, up from WeChat pops an audio tour and Chinese & English description of the place. At a heritage building in a little village. Scan the QR code on WeChat to find out the history of the building! Want a drink from the vending machine? Simply scan the QR code, take your drink and WeChat will automatically detect and deduct the price of whatever you have taken. It’s like Amazon Go, except that the technology has been in China for so long that no one thinks much of it anymore. Cashless, automatic vending machines Want to choose a song on KTV? Scan the QR code on screen and pick your songs via WeChat. (Oh and as an aside, they can also score how well you’re singing in real-time!) Just scan the QR code on your phone to see the song list, choose a song, or send an emoticon to the screen! Ran out of charge on your phone? For RMB 1 per hour, you get to rent a charger, all payable on WeChat Pay of course. These charger rentals are seen everywhere — such is the reliance of the Chinese on their phones And that’s just scratching the surface. Takeaway? Any business catering to the Chinese market needs to understand WeChat and all its potential uses. It can be a payment channel, a social network, a distribution channel, a storefront and so much more. It is a utility. [Without a Chinese bank account, it’s not possible to transfer money into your WeChat Pay account. Previously, entire tour groups used to come to China and spend a few days solely focused on setting up a Chinese bank account so that they could use WeChat Pay. However, from 2018, the Chinese government has started clamping down on foreigners having bank accounts in China, unless they had a business interest in China or were students. So many of these bank accounts have been shut down. For a foreigner without a Chinese bank account, the only way to fund your WeChat Pay account is to ask a Chinese friend to transfer money into it. Even though cash is still widely accepted, WeChat is considered the safer way to take payment as there is still a concern around fake banknotes being circulated.] 2. Bad service isn’t a thing of the past yet, but it is fast becoming obsolete in the digital world I don’t know many people who would say that the Chinese are synonymous with good service. The Chinese have always been efficient — yell for a top-up in tea and you might get a blank look or no response at all, but you’ll get your tea pretty quickly. Efficient, yes. Polite and service-minded, not so much. And being cheated is still a risk. A friend got into a taxi after a night out, and after the car had started moving, was told by the taxi driver than he had to pay a flat fee of RMB 100 for the trip given that it was late. It was 4am, my friend was tired, so he agreed. I was in the next taxi, a more honest one perhaps, so I only had to pay the meter price: RMB 45. None of that is surprising for anyone who has visited China. What was surprising to me though, was finding out that the behaviour of service providers on tech platforms was markedly different from the behaviour of service providers offline. Service providers on tech platforms behave a lot more like what I would expect in London or Singapore. Didi Chuxing (the Chinese Uber) drivers are exceptionally polite, with one of my drivers even driving twenty minutes out of his way to pick me up, as I had entered the wrong address. At the end of any Didi journey, I would hear the familiar refrain: “Five stars?” Merchants on Taobao (the Chinese Amazon) often put in little gifts to surprise their customers with each purchase. It definitely makes buying a delight when you get something extra. And I’ve found the user experience on the tech platforms far better than those that I have grown accustomed to. Better than Uber, better than Amazon. Need to message your Didi driver but you’re in a hurry? Don’t worry, there are pre-set messages which you can click on. You don’t speak Chinese? Don’t worry, the messages are translated for you. Pre-defined messages that are translated in Didi Chuxing App — so that you can communicate with the driver even if you don’t speak the same language. It also allows for voice messages which is much easier! Your friend has shared an item on the Taobao app with you? All you need to do is copy the link and open the Taobao app. Taobao will automatically detect that you have copied a link and will send you to the item’s page. Need to buy something online? No problem, it’ll be delivered to you within 1–3 days on average, regardless of where in China the item is located. Every day, people wait for their online deliveries that arrive like clockwork Takeaway: Poor service and trust issues still very much plague the offline world, albeit to a lesser extent than before. However, in the digital world, poor service and trust issues are very much left in the dust as the Chinese tech giants work extra hard to gain their customers’ trust and provide a seamless, truly on-demand, customer experience. In fact, the level of service is so high that the thought of meeting Chinese consumer expectation in the digital world is a little intimidating! 3. You cannot overstate the role of government in China One of the many tech R&D institutes that we visited During the two weeks, we visited a variety of old and new industries: tech incubators, mobile phone makers, household giants, car axle manufacturers, and WeChat. At every visit, the person showing us around would open by introducing the government’s policy in their area and how their business has been affected by government policy. The government’s hand in driving business was undeniable. Dongguan was not the industrial city I expected — it had wide tree-lined streets and reminded me of cities in Europe Dongguan, an industrial city also known as the ‘factory of the world’, is responsible for producing many of the world’s goods (e.g. at one point, 95% of the world’s woollen products are estimated to be produced there). When Chinese exports were badly hit by the 2008 financial crisis, Dongguan suffered the most. In recent years, Dongguan has repositioned itself as a robotics base and the fingerprints of the government can be found all over this reinvention. We visited huge R&D centres established with grants from the government with the sole purpose of upskilling the industries in Dongguan to enable them to catch up with their more technologically advanced neighbour, Shenzhen, the Silicon Valley of China. The R&D centres were tasked with visiting the factories of Dongguan one by one, to assess what new technologies were required and to help the factories bridge any skills and technological gaps they had. This resulted in the advancement of robotics technology to automate entire factory lines and upskilling workers so that they were able to operate the new technology. This way, Dongguan wouldn’t be left to become obsolete while Shenzhen thrived — they would all thrive together. Introduction to some of the technologies they were focusing on Witnessing this, it made me wonder whether Brexit would have happened if the UK government had stepped in when factories, shipyards and mines were closing in the 1980s, and helped to upskill those industries and workers rather than leave them to become obsolete. I know Brexit wasn’t merely about jobs but, still. In our group, we had an entrepreneur-turned-government-official from Malaysia who later commented that this was the first time in her life that she understood the purpose of government. Throughout her career, she had wondered whether the sole purpose of government was politics, and only in China did she understand the immense power of government to drive the economy and make change happen. In case you were wondering, this isn’t simply because our visit was organised by the government. I was part of a different trip to China last year — visiting companies like Alibaba, Disney, Astra Zeneca, Corning — organised by INSEAD business school. And the themes were similar: government policy drives everything in China so businesses were razor focused on staying close to the government and aligning their business model to government policies. On the other end of the spectrum are the Chinese companies that are looking to expand in the US. We were told that due to the recent US-China trade war, some Chinese companies with US interests were now very careful not to be seen as being too close to the Chinese government. Government grants have been returned, and contact with the government has abated somewhat. Some company visits that were initially planned for our trip had also been cancelled on our trip at the request of the company. When government is so big, businesses have a delicate balancing act to perform. Takeaway? Success in business in China correlates strongly and directly to where the government winds are blowing, more so than perhaps anywhere else in the world. 4. China is open for business and wants you to know it The trip was organised by the Guangdong government for Southeast Asian entrepreneurs to bolster ties between persons of Chinese ethnicity and China. It was the first time I had heard of this kind of trip, but others in the group had participated in multiple such trips over the years. All-expenses-paid. This underscores the extent of the soft power that the Chinese are exerting. The 2008 financial crisis had hit Chinese exports hard, and we were told that this made China realise that America was less reliable a trading partner than it had initially thought. Since then, China has redoubled its efforts to increase its trade with the rest of the world. Everywhere we went as well, people were keen to connect. They wanted to know about the opportunities in our countries and how we could collaborate. The Chinese in Guangzhou loved durians. Could we have a durian export business? Food safety issues played on many of their minds. Could we export wheat from Kazakhstan to China via high speed rail? How about medical tourism? So long as the potential business remained sufficiently small as to not threaten any domestic industry giant, any opportunity was up for discussion. At the end of every meeting, no matter how senior the person meeting us, they added us as a contact on WeChat. We were repeatedly assured that we should message them directly if we thought of a way we could work together. Takeaway? The message from the Chinese we met was loud and clear: we’re open, let’s make money together. The crux being, together. The Chinese government is notoriously protective of their domestic industries, and I don’t expect that to go away anytime soon. Hopefully these observations are useful to founders who are eyeing the Chinese market with interest, like I am. I came back teeming with ideas and incredibly hopeful about all the potential business opportunities in China — it really is the modern-day gold rush for those who dare.

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