Four short links: 12 December 2017
Learned Indexes, Text Tables, Weaponized Ed Data, and Bad Feedback Loops
- The Case for Learned Index Structures — Our initial results show that by using neural nets, we are able to outperform cache-optimized B-Trees by up to 70% in speed while saving an order-of-magnitude in memory over several real-world data sets. More importantly, though, we believe that the idea of replacing core components of a data management system through learned models has far-reaching implications for future systems designs and that this work just provides a glimpse of what might be possible. (via Simon Willison)
- tty-table — displays ASCII tables in your terminal emulator or browser console. Word wrap, padding, alignment, colors, Asian character support, per-column callbacks, and you can pass rows as objects or arrays. Backward compatible with Automattic/cli-table.
- Weaponization of Ed Data (Audrey Watters) — 2017 made it clear, I’d like to think, that the dangers education technology and its penchant for data collection aren’t simply a matter of a potential loss of privacy or a potential loss of data. The stakes now are much, much higher.
- Money as Instrument of Change (YouTube) — asked about exploiting human behaviour in social media, the former VP of User Growth, Mobile & International at Facebook says, The short-term dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created are destroying how society works. The whole talk is interesting. And sweary. (via Gizmodo)
