expr

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algebraic_data_type

Some reading material for you. Sum types allow for proper, compiler-enforced error handling and optionality rather than the unprincipled free for all that is exceptions and nullability.

Tony Hoare, the person that originally introduced nulls to the programming world, is oft-quoted as calling nulls the "billion dollar mistake". Here's the talk: https://www.infoq.com/presentations/Null-References-The-Billion-Dollar-Mistake-Tony-Hoare/.

Nulls are absolutely pervasive in Java and NPEs are not avoidable. At minimum, most of the ecosystem uses nulls, so most any library will have nulls as part of its interface. Null is an inhabitant of every type in Java (even Optional, ironically). You cannot escape it. It's a fundamental flaw in the design of the language.

Btw, you also can't escape it in Typescript, either, due to unsoundness of the type system and the fact that many types for libraries are bolted on to the original JS implementation and may possibly be inaccurate. But still, it's a lot less likely than Java.

Why are you talking about functional programming? Python sure as hell isn't FP.

Yeah only time my 2 year old son watches a YouTube video is when brushing his teeth.

I think there's nothing wrong with that at all. Screentime is fine in limited, intentional doses with clear boundaries (and shows that are not complete dogshit, like Paw Patrol). Because we limit screen time, he's very excited to brush his teeth because he gets to watch a short cartoon video. I think it's much more problematic when it becomes a regular thing during the day, especially at mealtime. I see parents at restaurants with their kid glued to an iPad for an hour and it's depressing.

I can only speak to Nebraska, but the malls here have all of those things except for record stores (for obvious reasons), and the number of malls has not changed in decades. They're all in various central locations of Lincoln and Omaha and are very much community spaces. Tons of families come to let their kids play in the play spaces (especially lower-income families), teenagers hang out at the mall with their friends, and so on.

I qualified my statement, so not sure what you were hoping to achieve with your comment.

Also, that can happen for any number of reasons that are entirely unrelated to whether or not malls are dead. Like, for example, Amazon offering an obscene amount of money to the owner of the mall to buy it out for the real estate.

This is pretty much what my local mall looks like right now. The whole "all the malls died out" thing is mostly a myth, in my experience. Every time I go it's absolutely full of people.

I have never witnessed this supposed "dying out". All the malls in my area are decked out for Christmas and have tons of people there all the time. I've been multiple times myself even in the last couple of months.

People always talk about this as a given, but I've never actually seen it. Ultimately, malls are one of the few remaining third spaces that you can be for free. That matters a lot.

Not like that at my local mall at all. Decorations everywhere and more people than ever.

Setting aside the fact that that is not even remotely true, do you think Linux = Red Hat? What about almost every other distro being run by volunteeers?

I've only ever seen redhat used by government and some corporations. As far as the broader community goes (especially the foss community), they are a pretty minor player.

It's honestly insane that you can sit there and shill for Microsoft these days. They've always been pretty evil, but now they've gone so far off the deep end they're even driving away people who have been all-in on Microsoft their whole lives. Even non-tech people are getting simply fed up with all of the spying and intrusive, AI-infested bullshit. Linux marketshare has been steadily increasing over the last couple of years, and it doesn't look like it's slowing down anytime soon. And all of it is, ultimately, because Windows is forcing people away.

Eh, git is never really that fucked. If you understand how it works, it's generally not hard to get back to a state you want (assuming everything has been committed at some point, ofc).

I would much rather people try to spend some time trying to understand and solve a problem first. I had a "senior" engineer who would message me literally every morning about whatever issue he was facing and it drove me absolutely nuts. Couldn't do anything for himself. Unsurprisingly, he was recently laid off.

My time should be respected.