Ronald is indescribably more important than any tech billionaire could ever hope to be. So let's raise a glass and give out a hardy thank you to all the Ronalds of the world!

[–] Kirp123@lemmy.world 36 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Too bad all the tech billionaires profit from Ronald's work while he does it for free.

[–] some_designer_dude@lemmy.world 6 points 49 minutes ago

“Ronald” is all of us.

[–] dracc@discuss.tchncs.de 63 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Not sure if it's part of the joke but that word means "jerk" (as in "jerk off") in Swedish.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 55 points 2 hours ago

So a perfect open source name then.

[–] HerbalGamer@sh.itjust.works 32 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Runk that hog, swedish boy.

[–] wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 59 minutes ago* (last edited 58 minutes ago)

pojke/kille/grabb/gosse = boy/dude/guy/kiddo, so have fun with that. 😂

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 81 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Bless Ronald

[–] AnxiousMiisha@lemmy.blahaj.zone 43 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Our math depends on him 🙏

[–] pelya@lemmy.world 42 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Written in hand-optimized assembly with individual implementation for every CPU on the planet, with integer division function in 10000 lines of code impelented with XOR and bit-shifting which is somehow 0.3% faster than CPU built-in division operation.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 16 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

He had to de-optimize the init sequence because the little trick he added that caused the init sequence to return a little power to the grid instead of taking it was causing grid stability issues because the returned power from offices starting up was a bit higher than the extra power required for factory startup weekday mornings.

[–] ToiletFlushShowerScream@piefed.world 5 points 1 hour ago

I love that this is an actual possibility.

[–] palordrolap@fedia.io 3 points 21 minutes ago

The mention of division has triggered a memory. I think I actually saw a library like that once. It was in C, not assembly, and was almost certainly for one specific architecture (probably Intel), but other than that, there was a lot of low-level stuff that claimed to make division faster for all CPU-native data types.

It was above my skill level to just pick up and use, let alone read and understand, but I can tell you that it at least looked legit, and the author seemed earnest in their description, so something like your hypothetical is very much out there.

[–] mastertigurius@lemmy.world 43 points 2 hours ago (3 children)

Everyone who understands Norwegian love the name Ronald chose for his invaluable tool.

[–] lena@gregtech.eu 22 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

For the uninitiated: well, let's just say. jorkin it.

[–] lime@feddit.nu 16 points 1 hour ago

and by "it".. hehe, well lets just say... my digits

[–] f314@lemmy.world 11 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

Came here to say this (no pun intended)

[–] ChristerMLB@piefed.social 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

Yeah, I was just going to be mysterious and write sniggers in Norwegian, but I guess there's no point in that now :c

[–] mastertigurius@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago

But pun gladly taken nonetheless

[–] Lumidaub@feddit.org 7 points 1 hour ago

I don't know a word of Norwegian but I know the internet.

[–] alpine_jim@piefed.social 9 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Fabrice Bellard is ten Ronalds.

[–] AnxiousMiisha@lemmy.blahaj.zone 11 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

FFmpeg and QEMU? Holy shit!
I had no idea

[–] Arghblarg@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 hour ago

and tcc, which while maybe not as 'important', is extremely cool.

[–] comrademiao@piefed.social 4 points 58 minutes ago (1 children)

Is QEMU simply a VM?

[–] AnxiousMiisha@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 50 minutes ago

I would say so? It's an emulator and I personally use it to manage KVM on Linux. Makes my life easier.

Not really sure about the precise details, sorry

[–] vrek@programming.dev 21 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

For a long time all systems which deal with timezone data (like ability to convert utc to est for example) was reliant on 1 server in 1 random guy's basement which he paid for himself. I heard they were working to correct this situation but haven't been following it.

[–] mushroommunk@lemmy.today 19 points 1 hour ago

You sent me down the exact kind of weird rabbit hole I love. Genuinely thank you.

It's maintained by the IANA now (the same people who basically run the modern Internet, saying what domains are allowed and such for those who don't know). Though Arthur David Olson (the man you mentioned) still contributes his expertise and data.

[–] folekaule@lemmy.world 9 points 1 hour ago

You're probably thinking of Paul Eggert.

[–] agentTeiko@piefed.social 4 points 55 minutes ago

Its almost like his name was Dennis Richie and its a shame a blow hard like Jobs died around the same time as him and overshadowed his passing and his legendary legacy.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 30 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

The myth of Steve Jobs needed the actual genius of others to exist. Steve's gift to the world was recognizing and pointing out actual gifts tonthe world that would have otherwise gone unoticed or not brought to their full potential.

If Steve was still around, he would have taken Ronald's idea and had it rebuilt with a little polish and an exorbitant price tag.

[–] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I think it’s worth noting there’s few people like Jobs and more like Gates but they’re all psychopaths.

[–] unmagical@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 hour ago

Those were both exploitative business men more than engineers or developers. Jobs wasn't special and there're reasons why Microsoft boosted Gates to be the richest person in the world at one point.

[–] bisby@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago

thanks Daniel Stenberg!

[–] wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

It's more often not the "face" that's the crux, it's the geek. Make nice with the actual casters. 🖖🏼