To me, it seems like the rise of distributed systems like mesos / kubernetes combined with Docker require you to be master sysadmin, veteran kernel hacker and a part time c developer ALL AT ONCE if you really want to shave off time from debugging/ performance tuning sessions. Anyone wish they paid more attention in class ? Lol.

Client: *uses Oracle on AWS RDS*

Ora: *licence about to expire*

Client: we need a cheaper and equally performant solution.

AWS: we have an outstanding Aurora db! Its performance is flawless!

Client: shut_up_and_take_my_money.png

Engineers: *migrating to Aurora mysql*
Engineers: fine-tuning the db for 2 months, adapting app code.
Aurora: *shits its pants during test ramp-up, delivers ~70% of Ora perf*

==========

Client: we need to do better!

AWS: try Aurora Postgresql!

Engineers: *migrating to Aurora postgresql*
Engineers: fine-tuning the db for 1 month.
Aurora: *shits its pants during test ramp-up, delivers ~40% of Ora perf*

AWS: let me see...
AWS DBAs: *fine-tuning the db for another 2 months*
Aurora: *survives ramp-up, delivers ~70% Ora perf*

AWS DBAs: your application is wrong.
We: Ora didn't complain about that...

AWS DBAs: umm.. Err.. Then your load test is wrong
We: ora wasn't complaining about that either...

AWS DBAs: errr.. Ummm.. Oh, I've got it! Your queries aren't optimized!
We: we cannot change queried - they are hardcoded by our framework's vendor

AWS DBAs: well there you go! Your queries aren't optimized! It's your fault, not aurora's

yyeeahhhh... Riight...

From my xp, aws support and aws engineers ALWAYS try to put the blame on a client. Always. Even when they're obviously wrong.

I'm having an existential crisis with this client.

We are spending millions of $s every year to make sure the product's performance is perfect. We are testing various scenarios, fine-tuning PLABs: the environment, application, middleware, infra,... And then we provide our recommendations to the client: "To handle load of XX parallel users focusing on YY, yy and Zy APIs, use <THIS> configuration".

And what the client does?
- take our recommendations and measure the wind speed outside
- if speed is <20m/s and milk hasn't gone bad yet, add 2x more instances of API X
- otherwise add 3xX, 1xY and give more CPUs to Z
- split the setup in half and deploy in 2 completely separate load-balanced prod environments.
- <do other "tweaking">

- bomb our team with questions "why do we have slow RTs?", "why did the env crash?", "why do we have all those errors?", "why has this been overlooked in PLABs?!?"

If you're improvising despite our recommendations, wtf are we doing here???

One day I will crack. Hopefully, not sometime soon.

Performance tuning Jetty ? On Windows ?? Seriously ??? ROFL...

The next step for improving large language models (if not diffusion) is hot-encoding.

The idea is pretty straightforward:
Generate many prompts, or take many prompts as a training and validation set. Do partial inference, and find the intersection of best overall performance with least computation.

Then save the state of the network during partial inference, and use that for all subsequent inferences. Sort of like LoRa, but for inference, instead of fine-tuning.

Inference, after-all, is what matters. And there has to be some subset of prompt-based initializations of a network, that perform, regardless of the prompt, (generally) as well as a full inference step.

Likewise with diffusion, there likely exists some priors (based on the training data) that speed up reconstruction or lower the network loss, allowing us to substitute a 'snapshot' that has the correct distribution, without necessarily performing a full generation.

Another idea I had was 'semantic centering' instead of regional image labelling. The idea is to find some patch of an object within an image, and ask, for all such patches that belong to an object, what best describes the object? if it were a dog, what patch of the image is "most dog-like" etc. I could see it as being much closer to how the human brain quickly identifies objects by short-cuts. The size of such patches could be adjusted to minimize the cross-entropy of classification relative to the tested size of each patch (pixel-sized patches for example might lead to too high a training loss). Of course it might allow us to do a scattershot 'at a glance' type lookup of potential image contents, even if you get multiple categories for a single pixel, it greatly narrows the total span of categories you need to do subsequent searches for.

In other news I'm starting a new ML blackbook for various ideas. Old one is mostly outdated now, and I think I scanned it (and since buried it somewhere amongst my ten thousand other files like a digital hoarder) and lost it.

I have some other 'low-hanging fruit' type ideas for improving existing and emerging models but I'll save those for another time.

By implementing proper eager loading in Eloquent, based on a sample request, I reduced it from 850 DB queries down to just 14 DB queries. So that's an increase in 98% performance?

Teaching coworkers performance tuning, we have the memory enough that you don't need to write to disk... Really the data isn't Even a MB....

In the fast-paced world of retail, understanding customer behavior and optimizing store operations are key to success. Retail footfall analysis provides valuable insights into how shoppers interact with your store, helping you make data-driven decisions to enhance performance and drive growth. Here’s how leveraging footfall analysis can revolutionize your retail marketing analytics consulitng strategy.

What is Retail Footfall Analysis?
Retail footfall analysis refers to the process of measuring and interpreting customer traffic patterns within a retail environment. This analysis involves collecting data on the number of visitors, their movement within the store, and their dwell times. By examining this data, retailers can gain a deeper understanding of shopper behavior, store performance, and the effectiveness of marketing strategies.

Benefits of Retail Footfall Analysis
Optimize Store Layout: By analyzing how customers navigate through your store, you can redesign layouts to improve traffic flow and increase the visibility of high-margin or promotional items. Strategic placement of products can enhance the shopping experience and drive sales.

Enhance Customer Experience: Understanding peak traffic times allows you to manage staffing levels more effectively. Ensuring adequate staff during busy periods can improve customer service and satisfaction, while reducing labor costs during quieter times.

Evaluate Marketing Effectiveness: Footfall analysis helps assess the impact of marketing campaigns and promotions. By comparing traffic data before, during, and after a campaign, you can determine what drives the most foot traffic and adjust future marketing strategies accordingly.

Improve Inventory Management: Analyzing foot traffic data helps with inventory planning by identifying which products attract the most customers. This insight allows you to better manage stock levels and avoid both overstocking and stockouts.

Drive Sales Growth: With detailed insights into customer behavior, you can make informed decisions to boost sales. For example, adjusting store layouts, optimizing product placement, and fine-tuning promotional strategies based on footfall data can lead to increased revenue.

How Retail Footfall Analysis Works
Data Collection: Footfall data is collected using various technologies such as infrared sensors, video cameras, and Wi-Fi tracking. These tools capture information on the number of visitors, their movement patterns, and the time they spend in different areas of the store.

Data Analysis: The collected data is analyzed to uncover patterns and trends. Key metrics include foot traffic volume, peak shopping times, customer dwell times, and the effectiveness of different store areas.

Insights and Recommendations: Based on the analysis, actionable insights are provided. This might include recommendations for store layout changes, staffing adjustments, or marketing strategies to better align with customer behavior.

Implementation: Retailers implement the recommendations to optimize store performance. This may involve reconfiguring store layouts, adjusting staffing schedules, or launching targeted marketing campaigns.

Ongoing Monitoring: Retail footfall analysis is an ongoing process. Continuous monitoring allows retailers to stay responsive to changes in customer behavior and market conditions, ensuring sustained improvements in store performance.

Why Retail Footfall Analysis Matters
Enhanced Customer Understanding: Provides a clear picture of how customers interact with your store, leading to better decision-making.
Increased Efficiency: Helps optimize store operations and resource allocation, improving overall efficiency and effectiveness.
Data-Driven Decisions: Enables retailers to make informed decisions based on concrete data rather than intuition or guesswork.
Conclusion
Retail footfall analysis is a powerful tool for optimizing store performance and driving business growth. By understanding customer behavior and traffic patterns, retailers can make strategic adjustments to store layouts, staffing levels, and marketing efforts, ultimately enhancing the shopping experience and boosting sales.

Leverage the insights from retail footfall analysis to transform your store operations and stay ahead of the competition. With the right approach, you can unlock new opportunities for success and achieve your retail goals.