mugiseyebrows

#!/usr/bin/env python
#
# Decompressor/compressor for files in Mozilla's "mozLz4" format. Firefox uses this file format to
# compress e. g. bookmark backups (*.jsonlz4).
#
# This file format is in fact just plain LZ4 data with a custom header (magic number [8 bytes] and
# uncompressed file size [4 bytes, little endian]).
#
# This Python 3 script requires the LZ4 bindings for Python, see: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/lz4
#

ylmrx

#!/usr/bin/env python3
#
# Decompressor/compressor for files in Mozilla's "mozLz4" format. Firefox uses this file format to
# compress e. g. bookmark backups (*.jsonlz4).
#
# This file format is in fact just plain LZ4 data with a custom header (magic number [8 bytes] and
# uncompressed file size [4 bytes, little endian]).
#
# This Python 3 script requires the LZ4 bindings for Python, see: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/lz4
#

rondy

FWIW: I (@rondy) am not the creator of the content shared here, which is an excerpt from Edmond Lau's book. I simply copied and pasted it from another location and saved it as a personal note, before it gained popularity on news.ycombinator.com. Unfortunately, I cannot recall the exact origin of the original source, nor was I able to find the author's name, so I am can't provide the appropriate credits.

---

Effective Engineer - Notes

• By Edmond Lau
• Highly Recommended 👍
• http://www.theeffectiveengineer.com/

What's an Effective Engineer?

ChrisPenner

from tail_recursion import tail_recursive, recurse

# Normal recursion depth maxes out at 980, this one works indefinitely
@tail_recursive
def factorial(n, accumulator=1):
    if n == 0:
        return accumulator
    recurse(n-1, accumulator=accumulator*n)

maxvt

Currently, there is an explosion of tools that aim to manage secrets for automated, cloud native infrastructure management. Daniel Somerfield did some work classifying the various approaches, but (as far as I know) no one has made a recent effort to summarize the various tools.

This is an attempt to give a quick overview of what can be found out there. The list is alphabetical. There will be tools that are missing, and some of the facts might be wrong--I welcome your corrections. For the purpose, I can be reached via @maxvt on Twitter, or just leave me a comment here.

There is a companion feature matrix of various tools. Comments are welcome in the same manner.

mplewis

How Do I Into Git?

a helpful primer for users sick of git's poorly-named commands

I've used Git since 2011, and this is the stuff that I've always had to Google to remember. I hope it helps you not hate Git so much.

Learning About the Repo

Learning About History

joepie91

Don't use VPN services.

No, seriously, don't. You're probably reading this because you've asked what VPN service to use, and this is the answer.

Note: The content in this post does not apply to using VPN for their intended purpose; that is, as a virtual private (internal) network. It only applies to using it as a glorified proxy, which is what every third-party "VPN provider" does.

• A Russian translation of this article can be found here, contributed by Timur Demin.
• A Turkish translation can be found here, contributed by agyild.
• There's also this article about VPN services, which is honestly better written (and has more cat pictures!) than my article.

paragonie-scott

Hello software developers,

Please check your code to ensure you're not making one of the following mistakes related to cryptography.

I. General Mistakes

• Writing your own home-grown cryptography primitives (For example: Mifare Classic)
  • Exception: For the sake of learning, but don't deploy it in production.
• Using a fast hash function (e.g. MD5, SHA256) for storing passwords. Use bcrypt instead.
• Not using a cryptographically secure random number generator

0xDE57

ABOUT

about:config settings to harden the Firefox browser. Privacy and performance enhancements.
To change these settings type 'about:config' in the url bar. Then search the setting you would like to change and modify the value. Some settings may break certain websites from functioning and rendering normally. Some settings may also make firefox unstable. I am not liable for any damages/loss of data.

Not all these changes are necessary and will be dependent upon your usage and hardware. Do some research on settings if you don't understand what they do. These settings are best combined with your standard privacy extensions (HTTPS Everywhere No longer required: Enable HTTPS-Only Mode, NoScript/Request Policy, uBlock origin, agent spoofing, Privacy Badger etc), and all plugins set to "Ask To Activate".

xvitaly

@echo off
echo Uninstalling KB3075249 (telemetry for Win7/8.1)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3075249 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3080149 (telemetry for Win7/8.1)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3080149 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3021917 (telemetry for Win7)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3021917 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3022345 (telemetry)
start /w wusa.exe /uninstall /kb:3022345 /quiet /norestart
echo Uninstalling KB3068708 (telemetry)