A Byte of Coding Issue 416

Hey-yo,

Man, crossfit is brutal. Anyway, here’s the issue.

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Offering Client Trials: Prototypes vs Auditions

Published: 11 June 2024

Tags: business, philosophy

Erik Dietrich discusses the distinction between prototypes and auditions in the context of offering client trials, emphasizing the different risks each approach mitigates. He argues that for content creation, prototypes are more instructive for evaluating business engagement potential than auditions.

Some highlights:

• Prototypes vs. Auditions: Prototypes focus on measurable outcomes to de-risk achieving specific goals, while auditions are subjective evaluations to see if something is liked.

• Prototyping Approach: Hit Subscribe views trials as prototypes to predict success at scale rather than subjective auditions that may not represent long-term value.

• Audition Pitfalls: Auditions might be useful for evaluating content style but fail to reflect the effectiveness or scalability of content fulfillment processes.

A beautiful Python monstrosity

Published: 8 June 2024

Tags: python, testing

Trey Hunner shares his innovative yet unconventional solution to handle flaky performance tests in Python by creating a decorator that attempts assertions multiple times, enhancing test reliability at the cost of standard decorator usage.

Some highlights:

• Flaky Performance Tests: Trey describes the difficulties in creating reliable performance tests due to variability and the complexity of efficient versus inefficient solutions.

• For-Try-Break-Except-If-Raise Pattern: A verbose and repetitive but initially effective pattern for handling flaky tests.

• Attempt_n_times Decorator: A custom decorator that retries a function multiple times to improve the readability and reliability of performance tests, though it controversially calls the decorated function directly.

What is MFA, and why does your app need it?

Published: 13 December 2023

Tags: sponsored, auth, web

WorkOS describes what multi-factor authentication (MFA) is and why it’s useful.

Some highlights:

• “it’s an added layer of security to your app that makes it more difficult for hackers or impersonators to steal and use a user’s credentials”

• describe the different types of MFA

• summarizes the back-end flow for different types of MFAs

Situational Awareness

Published: 8 June 2024

Tags: ai, machine learning, future

Leopold Aschenbrenner explores the rapid progression from GPT-4 level AI to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and the anticipated leap to superintelligence by 2027. It discusses technological advancements, potential risks, and the immense economic and security challenges posed by superintelligence, emphasizing the need for robust security measures and strategic planning to ensure global safety.

Some highlights:

• Path to AGI: The evolution from GPT-4 to AGI by 2027 is seen as likely, driven by trends in computing power, algorithmic efficiencies, and qualitative advancements.

• Intelligence Explosion: Post-AGI, the transition to superintelligence could be swift, compressing decades of AI advancements into a single year due to the recursive improvement capabilities of AGIs.

• Security and Economic Challenges: The emergence of AGI and superintelligence poses significant security threats and demands massive investments in infrastructure and energy, along with the need for stringent measures to safeguard AGI technologies.