Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 45m

Interesting idea! Thanks!! You can drink water from the mug too :-)

Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 50m

I've been thrilled with the popularity of the mugs; thanks to those who've bought one (or more!) Every sale helps Compiler Explorer!

Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · Aug 17

If you're like me and can't remember if it's RCX or R8 for the fourth parameter... Get the Compiler Explorer ABI Mug: actual calling conventions for x86-64 System V, Windows, and ARM64. Support @godbolt.org: grab yours here -> shop.compiler-explorer.com/collections/...

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 19h

I'm feeling quite nerd sniped by this lol :-)

Plugs! Emulate both computers at spectrum.xania.org and bbc.xania.org

I've spent far too much of my adult life reliving my youth haha :-)

Specbolt - ZX Spectrum Emulator

spectrum.xania.org

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 19h

The contemporary BBC Micro had to play different tricks, games like Elite used programmable hardware to switch out low colour high res modes for higher colour low res screens mid frame.

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 19h

Limited but super cunning; with such a slow CPU limited meant "feasible to animate in software" while still having /some/ colour too :) it was a great compromise! No hardware sprites etc!

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 21h

Yes! Something like that
It was massive and very noisy and mostly was something to rest my feet on.

Later the Xbox would do nearly as much with their software tool whose name I forget now..

And spookily I can do nearly similar with MagicTrace on x86 :)

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Reposted by Matt Godbolt

Jason Turner @lefticus.bsky.social · 1d

Are you ready for Halloween or the next Talk Like a Pirate Day??

jason-turner-shop.fourthwall.com/products/con...

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 1d

It was; all marketing of course. It had the EE which was a regular processor by most measurements then two VU units which were more DSP-ey, one of which was a copro to the EE (but could also run independently), and the other has a direct pipe to the triangle unit.

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 1d

Some early 2000s "GPU" processing on a Playstation 2, using the fact that reinterpreting the screen as an 8-bit texture let you do a multiply for red, green, and blue separately (instead of only with alpha as the hardware really supported)... xania.org/201003/swat-... :) Fun times!

Rendering in SWAT: PlayStation 2 — Matt Godbolt’s blog

How we wedged a fully fledged Xbox engine onto the PlayStation 2

xania.org

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Reposted by Matt Godbolt

LaurieWired @lauriewired.bsky.social · 2d

Every year, CppCon has a “Back to Basics” Track, which they also upload to youtube. I highly recommend all of them.

  Instead of being constrained to “old school” CS teaching logic, it’s a demonstration of fuller, modern capabilities.

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Reposted by Matt Godbolt

LaurieWired @lauriewired.bsky.social · 2d

Colleges do a terrible job of teaching C++.  

It’s not “C with Classes”. Injected into curriculums as a demonstration of early CS concepts, it leaves many with a sour taste.  

Students later immediately fall in love with the first language that *doesn’t* feel that way.

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Reposted by Matt Godbolt

Inverse Phase @inversephase.bsky.social · 4d

It can be hard to delineate me from my projects, and even my projects from one another. I typed this thing up and I think it might do an okay job: www.patreon.com/posts/140227...

Life's been hard, but it's about to improve | Inverse Phase

Get more from Inverse Phase on Patreon

www.patreon.com

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Reposted by Matt Godbolt

Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 5d

Top marks if you spot the @compiler-explorer.com swag in the video :-)

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 5d

Top marks if you spot the @compiler-explorer.com swag in the video :-)

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 5d

And for those in the comments asking about Ken Thompson's Trusting attust paper... @lauriewired.bsky.social has just dropped an awesome video going into huge detail: youtu.be/Fu3laL5VYdM?...

The Original Sin of Computing...that no one can fix

YouTube video by LaurieWired

youtu.be

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 7d

Very sad news about Rainer, who passed away earlier this week. If you can help support #ALS research please consider donating.

My thoughts are with his family. We as a C++ community were lucky to have him.

Hacker News 50 @betterhn50.e-work.xyz · 7d

The C++ programmer and educator Rainer Grimm has passed away https://www.modernescpp.com/index.php/my-als-journey-31-31-the-end/ (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45527156)

The C++ programmer and educator Rainer Grimm has passed away

www.modernescpp.com

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 8d

"Hi!". And thanks for the stickers!!

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Reposted by Matt Godbolt

Compiler Explorer @compiler-explorer.com · 9d

And we're back. A temporary misconfiguration - we have fixed it and all is well..sorry for the problem! -mg

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Reposted by Matt Godbolt

Compiler Explorer @compiler-explorer.com · 9d

Investigating why Windows compilers are down! Watch this space, and sorry for any inconvenience -mg

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Reposted by Matt Godbolt

dan sinker @dansinker.com · 10d

lock in friends. look out for each other. we're gonna get through this together.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 10d

This evening, President Trump is ordering 400 members of the Texas National Guard for deployments to Illinois, Oregon, and other locations within the United States. No officials from the federal government called me directly to discuss or coordinate.

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 11d

Similar here in the outer edges of "war-torn" Chicago. Kids playing outside, folks walking their dogs in the uncommonly warm October afternoon. Some people have the audacity to water their lawns; unaware of the peril they're in!

Suffering in a war zone...not. me sat outside my house with my dog in beautiful sunshine and peace and quiet

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 11d

Yes, thanks :-). Or I've adapted to it :-)

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Reposted by Matt Godbolt

Adrian's Digital Basement @adriansdigitalbasement.com · 12d

Coming to your from the warzone that is Portland Oregon. Yesterday, 1:30pm downtown by the Federal Building and Police HQ: total mayhem!

Someone was actually picking up some trash in the park! A couple miles away on Hawthorne, someone was driving a late 70s Ford Thunderbird.

Oh the humanity!

Portland Oregon, SE Hawthorne Blvd, 145pm, October 2, 2025

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Matt Godbolt @matt.godbolt.org · 13d

It's a TidByt: tidbyt.com

Tidbyt - See What Matters

Tidbyt keeps you updated on transit, weather and more. Leave your phone in your pocket.

tidbyt.com

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Reposted by Matt Godbolt

Foone @foone.bsky.social · 13d

not to point at anyone in particular, but I have been in and on many different internet communities of various shapes/sizes/technologies and one mistake I consistently see made is assuming the technical part of running a community is the hard part.

it's not.
it's the social part.
it's moderation.

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