I wonder if it was 5*64 bits that got mangled in editing. If 256 bits is sufficient for most of their code, I could see there being corner cases that need a few more bits but moving to 512 bits would be overkill.
It's actually not a typo. Our "real" internal code starts with integer bounds on the inputs (say 2^26) and then computes for each subexpression how many bits are actually needed to exactly represent that. That can even lead to fractional bits (like in "a + b + c"). The generated code then rounds up to the next 64 bit multiple.
Thanks to the positive encourage here and in my email, I've decided to go the self-publishing route. I setup a pre-order page and will release each chapter as I go. :)
Wouldn't normally nitpick, but just in case it's helpful as an author - compound verbs that end in particles, like "set up", "break down", "log in", "check out", etc., are all two words when used as verbs. They each also have single, compound word versions, but those are the noun forms. So, you set up the page, and now the setup is done.
Unfortunately, I'm afraid it's mostly stuff one needs to know by heart, but I think it's often that the noun is the one that is all in one word and the verb is the phrasal one (composed of "base" and the particle, in several words). Note: I'm not a native English speaker.
I think this kind of feedback is a good example of something an LLM is very good at suggesting. I regularly feed my important raw texts to an AI, and ask it not to rewrite it (!), but to give me line by line grammatical, style and tone advice, point out uncommon language, idioms or semantics etc. Also, they are good at fact checking, they can quickly verify each statement against web sources etc.
On the other hand, LLMs are very bad writing partners, they are sycophants and very rarely give substantial criticism, the kind of feedback an editor would give and is mentioned in the article.
This is the substantial service an editor will provide going forward in the AI slop era, where everyone and their grandma will self publish some personal masterpiece: a contact with the real world and setting the bar high, to the point you need to struggle to achieve the required quality. Writing a book, especially finishing a great book, is not supposed to be enjoyable, it's hard, grueling work.
Either one works. And that's actually a way to help remember the general rule. If you can rephrase it split up like that (ie. 'set it up'), then that's the multi-word, verb form.
Edit: actually, either way works, except when using with a pronoun. So, you can 'set it up', but you can't 'set up it'.
To be frank, after reading your blog post, while I am interested in the topic you're writing on, there's no way I'm putting down a pre-order.
If you can't finish a partial manuscript when you have people reaching out to you and reviewers ready to provide feedback, how confident can I be that you'll actually write when you have a faceless pre-order instead? Or will life just get in the way again?
I wouldn't pre-order (from somebody with no publishing track record) but working with publishers/editors you don't align with seems a major hindrance that now does not exist.
To me it sounds like working with a publisher squeezed every drop of fun from the project for the author and freeing up the project could re-inject some personal excitement, motivation and intention again.
Why 564 bits? That’s 70.5 bytes.
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