Lindsey Kuper on nostr

Recent Notes

@nprofile1q... I just wanted you to know that I read http://ozark.hendrix.edu/~yorgey/forest/00FD/index.xml out loud to my students today at the end of the last day of my PL course, and several of them told me that it spoke to them. Thank you (again) for putting it into words.

Lindsey Kuper

@Lindsey Kuper 1780447865

Just got an email that trash collection is being discontinued in offices and labs in the building where I work. Instead, everyone will need to bring their trash bins to a central location. It's a good thing LLMs will free us all up from dull work such as "writing" so that we'll have time to do exciting work such as "emptying our trash"

Dan Ports · 3w

nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq53xcxrd8ssu62m63v45frt2th3qjvfj4c4t3mvf0k7dz6amr2afst0pxx0 UW did this back in 2016, and now I work at a place that still has trash collection. coincidence??

jonny (nonvenomous) · 4w

Someone* gave a nod to go check out SIGBOVIK this year, I'm only four sentences in on one paper and god bless SIGBOVIK, the only venue we need. Hmu with other favorites, there's no way I'm going to b...

Lindsey Kuper @Lindsey Kuper 1780285582

@nprofile1q... gonna take this opportunity to plug our SIGBOVIK paper on fandomized algorithms (coauthored with @nprofile1q... in 2013): https://github.com/lkuper/fandomized-algorithms

Lindsey Kuper

@Lindsey Kuper 1779839444

Via Neel Krishnaswami (https://semantic-domain.blogspot.com/2013/04/john-c-reynolds-june-1-1935-april-28.html):

"So this was John [Reynolds]'s definition of a successful language design: if you have a user who has used it to write a program you couldn't have, your language has succeeded, since it has helped a fellow human being solve one of their own particular problems.

I've always liked his definition, since it manages to avoid an obsession with nose-counting popularity metrics, while still remembering the essentially social purpose of language design."

Lindsey Kuper

@Lindsey Kuper 1775775821

"Carol's Causal Conundrum", the newest zine from my research group, is out today! 🎉 Read online and print your own free copies: https://decomposition.al/zines/

Thread! 👇

Lindsey Kuper · 11w

Apparently the prospective students have changed their email approach from "write in a resoundingly hollow and stilted style to sound 'academic' and 'professional'" to "write to sound like a LinkedIn ...

Lindsey Kuper @Lindsey Kuper 1775771205

This is so cringe. Did they prompt the LLM with "IMPORTANT: make me sound like an insufferable tool"? They're really nailing that whole pushy-and-obsequious-at-the-same-time thing.

Lindsey Kuper

@Lindsey Kuper 1775751410

Lindsey Kuper · 11w

This is so cringe. Did they prompt the LLM with "IMPORTANT: make me sound like an insufferable tool"? They're really nailing that whole pushy-and-obsequious-at-the-same-time thing. https://recurse.social/system/media_attachments/files/116/376/885/942/096/107/original/a468cdd84fac293b.png

Anil Madhavapeddy · 12w

.plan-26-14: Tracking AI screen time and escaping to pen and paper https://anil.recoil.org/notes/2026w14

Lindsey Kuper @Lindsey Kuper 1775485719

@nprofile1q... FP Launchpad looks amazing! KC is such a badass.

Anil Madhavapeddy · 11w

nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq53xcxrd8ssu62m63v45frt2th3qjvfj4c4t3mvf0k7dz6amr2afst0pxx0 there are adorable puppies wandering around the campus! Why don't we have adorable puppies wandering around Cambridge, I ask

Lindsey Kuper

@Lindsey Kuper 1775323271

meanwhile, my grad student can't run the experiment he needs to do to get the figure I asked him to get, because he doesn't have enough RAM

Colin @Colin · 12w

you ever write code so inefficient you have to secure 80% of the world’s DRAM production nostr:nevent1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpqe8v8vy7sk28h2xwmhj6c20semndsuyveluprmzqmyvxkfc8t2u5s6ndzeu

Lindsey Kuper

@Lindsey Kuper 1773958109

Sylvia just pointed out to me that there's insufficient information to solve this problem, because "8 get on the bus" doesn't specify that the 8 who get on the bus are people and not cats.

Dan Ports · 14w

nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq53xcxrd8ssu62m63v45frt2th3qjvfj4c4t3mvf0k7dz6amr2afst0pxx0 very pleased to see Sylvia's commitment to strong type checking

Lindsey Kuper

@Lindsey Kuper 1773936395

I'm in awe of how Afroman played this. This is someone who knows how to control the narrative. https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/116251155620526484

Look at what he's wearing. He doesn't want *any* of your respectability politics. And what are they gonna do? Find him in contempt of court? He's wearing the flag!

It's not a joke, either. He's there to remind you of your First Amendment rights.

White moms are singing "lemon pound cake" to themselves as they drop off their kids at school today. (it's me, I'm white moms)

Soldier of FORTRAN :ReBoot: · 14w

nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpq53xcxrd8ssu62m63v45frt2th3qjvfj4c4t3mvf0k7dz6amr2afst0pxx0 nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyd968gmewwp6kyqpql20h3kyqwnvxgvn2acujxtwjl4hztzcpqj4x45wkyx59sy97jwyq2wz3lm I still have his song about randy stuck in my head

Lindsey Kuper · 16w

another thing about this whole CS-professors-using-LLMs discussion is that I've been hearing some of my colleagues excitedly say things like, "now that LLMs can generate good code, I don't need grad s...

Lindsey Kuper @Lindsey Kuper 1772915672

I don't think this is LLMs' fault -- it's revealing something that was already rotten about academia, especially STEM academia. I hate the way we talk about grad students. I don't use the word "trainees" -- it grosses me out. You train *dogs* (or LLMs). You *advise* students. My students are for the most part more capable than me at research -- if not from day one, then certainly after a couple years. My job is to keep the lights on and provide the occasional grizzled-old-timer perspective.