ReHacked #164: Explaining Code using ASCII Art, “Atari Was Very, Very Hard”, Smallest TV in the world and more

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Explaining Code using ASCII Art – Embedded in Academia #software

People tend to be visual: we use pictures to understand problems. Mainstream programming languages, on the other hand, operate in an almost completely different kind of abstract space, leaving a big gap between programs and pictures. This piece is about pictures drawn using a text character set and then embedded in source code. I love these! The other day I asked around on Twitter for more examples and the responses far exceeded expectations (thanks everyone!). There are a ton of great examples in the thread; here I’ve categorized a few of them.

“Atari Was Very, Very Hard” Nolan Bushnell on Atari, 50 Years Later #hardware #history #atari

The guiding creative force at Atari during that time was Nolan Bushnell, who co-founded the company with Ted Dabney on June 27, 1972 in Sunnyvale, CA. Bushnell and Dabney had already worked together on the world’s first arcade video game, Computer Space, at Nutting Associates, and they were ready to take the business more fully into their own hands. They soon had a monster hit with the arcade game Pong in late 1972, which spawned copycats that spread video games all over the world. But Atari still faced an uphill fight as big names jumped into the market.

Windows 95 in Electron. Runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows. #software #fun

Windows 95, running in an Electron app. Yes, it's the full thing.

The Watch For Which James Bond Gave Up His Rolex: The SEIKO TV Watch — sabukaru #hardware #history

In their 1984 issue, the Guinness World Records book listed the SEIKO TV watch as the “smallest TV in the world.”

The Deep Sea #science #nature #fun

Explore the depths of the sea in your browser.

The Early Spy Manual That Turned Bad Middle Management Into An Espionage Tactic - Atlas Obscura #history

During World War II, the United States published a spy manual urging middle managers in enemy territory to sabotage their employers by bringing up irrelevant issues, promoting bad workers, haggling over petty details, and holding unnecessary meetings.

W3C to become a public-interest non-profit organization | W3C News #internet

Wood Filter | The Wood Database #diy #info

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