For decades, anyone wishing to work with CSV files and awk had to “roll their own” solution. (For an example, see Defining Fields by Content). In 2023, Brian Kernighan decided to add CSV support to his version of awk. In order to keep up, gawk too provides the same support as his version. To use CSV data, invoke gawk with either of the -k or --csv options.
Fields in CSV files are separated by commas. In order to allow a comma to appear inside a field (i.e., as data), the field may be quoted by beginning and ending it with double quotes. In order to allow a double quote inside a field, the field must be quoted, and two double quotes represent an actual double quote. The double quote that starts a quoted field must be the first character after the comma. Table 4.1 shows some examples.
I am kind of glad that I grew up in an era before modern technology. While it’s kind of neat that my two and a half years old niece can figure out how to call me over Duo (even though I lack the app), I’m kind of glad I’m not dependent on such technology.📵 It’s kind of nice not feeling like I have to have internet or television 📺 where I live but are quite happy with the solitude and doing what I need on the internet or bandwidth intensively either down at the public library or other public hotspot.📚
I am very concerned about proposals to require licensing and regulations on artificial intelligence and all that might fall under that umbrella – machine learning, natural language models. Look who is putting forward proposals to regulate artificial intelligence – it’s the big incumbent players like Chat GPT and Facebook.
Maybe commercial products for sale should be regulated but free, open source projects should not be. Frameworks should be widely available to the public for any purpose they want, good or bad. Let the people play and innovate. If harm exists, go after the harmful commercial users, not the everyday people experimenting with the technology for non profit purposes to see how they can innovate.
Stopping bad actors seems like a good idea but you can’t stop a technology from moving forward in a global internet. If the US bans innovation, another less regulated country is likely to move it forward – China, Switzerland or some other place. I’m okay with regulating Meta and Open AI but not what goes on inside people’s basements.
This interactive map shows area codes in New York State. In most of the state now you have to dial the full ten digit number, as there are multiple area codes overlaying the area.
If you are a certain age, you might remember Macintosh System 7 extensions. But do you know how they worked? They were a giant hack of the Macintosh Toolkit private patching mechanism (INIT code) to get them work and faceless background application, but they did generally work pretty good except when they didn't.
While I get there is a lot of profit to be made by the media by covering sad looking victims, juxtaposed against strong military men dressed up as police officers in armor, the truth is such coverage is terribly unhealthy for society. Enhanced corporate profits and creation of additional patronage jobs in local police departments is not a public good, instead it’s harmful. While the television stations may love all the automobiles and laundry soap the are selling on backs of victims, and police departments love being flush with cash to buy fun-looking toys and weapons – along with the ability to hire their high-school drop out uncle billy to their force – it’s so incredibly harmful to society.
What’s the alternative? I don’t know, I always worry about the government getting too much into the censorship business. If government tells newspapers and televisions that they can’t glorify murder and violence on their airwaves, the next step is the politicians cracking down on negative reporting about themselves. A ban of glorifying violence could easily be used to prosecute those who report on corruption or publicly support positions other then the official state party line. Likewise, restrictions on police and authorities talking to the media could foster corruption, as any law that limits disclosure by the police allows government corruption to flourish.
I don’t know what the answer is. Maybe more disclosure and easier opt-outs could be a partial solution. For example, many television sets have the ability to block violent content if so rated. Certain news stories could be blocked out unless people requested such content. Likewise, parental controls could be added to web browsers to provide a similar form of blocking. Such blocking could be seamless – rather then blanking out screens, alternative content also able to sell advertising could be part of the answer. Likewise, disclaimer requirements could be imposed on the media – for example if they are going to promote mass-shootings on airwaves, they’d be required to provide information on mental health hotlines, and actively encourage people who are thinking of engaging in violent activities to seek help. Local police departments, who are flush with cash from existing the excessive taxation placed on individuals and businesses, could fund such mental health programs, so they are free to those interested in participating.
