While ncurses still has a place in the modern world, ANSI escape codes may be better in some situations:

• you can use (almost) any programming language, not just those that have a curses binding or a foreign function interface;
• you're literally just printing out some short codes: that's both efficient and liberating;
• you can use features that modern terminal emulators have, but (n)curses doesn't.

As for the downsides:

• ANSI escapes are like coding in machine language – you'll need a cheatsheet;
• some hardware videoterminals never supported the standard;
• ncurses does more useful work besides translating for those old things.

It's still good to have another tool in the toolbox, doubly so when it's easy and fun to tinker with.

The one where I share my dislike for WordPress (again)

Sometimes we can get carried away with adding bells and whistles to websites thinking it somehow makes things better. At the end of the day, design should conform to purpose.

DRAFT! work in progress!

Mark Zuckerberg's bet on the metaverse continues to be a money-bleeding endeavor, with the unit reporting billions of dollars in losses every quarter.

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I always chuckle when folks mention they don't know what to blog about. It's easy, blog about what you like. Talk about the things that you are passionate ab...

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Automattic, the owner of WordPress.com and Tumblr, is reportedly striking deals with OpenAI and Midjourney to sell training data.

Contents1 What is modern?2 Beyond new features2.1 RAII2.2 Strong typing2.3 Compile-time programming3 Conclusion The term “Modern C++” is often used interchangeably with “Code using the new C++ standard”. Here, “new” […]

It's the 33rd anniversary of Lemmings! The classic videogame from Dundee's DMA Design, which helped put Scotland on the global games map.

A technical and root cause analysis of CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities from 2023.

The personal website of Knut Magnus Aasrud

An alternative to the official manual.

A vision for the "small web", small software, and small architectures.

An intriguing new entrant to the field.