A deep dive into Cron, the five-field scheduler that powers recurring tasks across multi-user systems. We trace its evolution from the brutal minute-by-minute polling of early Unix, through System V’s discrete-event scheduling, to modern standards like Vixie Cron and the OpenCron Patterns Specification—explaining how the leap from “is it time yet?” to “when is the next event?” made scalable, reliable infrastructure possible. Note: This podcast was AI-generated, and sometimes AI can make mist...
All content for Intellectually Curious is the property of Mike Breault and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
A deep dive into Cron, the five-field scheduler that powers recurring tasks across multi-user systems. We trace its evolution from the brutal minute-by-minute polling of early Unix, through System V’s discrete-event scheduling, to modern standards like Vixie Cron and the OpenCron Patterns Specification—explaining how the leap from “is it time yet?” to “when is the next event?” made scalable, reliable infrastructure possible. Note: This podcast was AI-generated, and sometimes AI can make mist...
Hoeffding's Inequality Explained: Exponential Confidence for Bounded Averages
Intellectually Curious
4 minutes
1 week ago
Hoeffding's Inequality Explained: Exponential Confidence for Bounded Averages
We unpack Hoeffding's inequality, the 1963 result that bounds how far the average of independent bounded trials can drift from its expected value. We compare it with Chebyshev and the central limit theorem, explain why the bound decays exponentially with more data, and show how to use it to plan sample sizes. From coin flips to reliable AI systems, this episode reveals the math that underpins practical certainty in data. Note: This podcast was AI-generated, and sometimes AI can make mistakes...
Intellectually Curious
A deep dive into Cron, the five-field scheduler that powers recurring tasks across multi-user systems. We trace its evolution from the brutal minute-by-minute polling of early Unix, through System V’s discrete-event scheduling, to modern standards like Vixie Cron and the OpenCron Patterns Specification—explaining how the leap from “is it time yet?” to “when is the next event?” made scalable, reliable infrastructure possible. Note: This podcast was AI-generated, and sometimes AI can make mist...
