I remember inspecting the thermostat in my parent’s house as a child. It was a coil of something metalic which I assume expands and contracts with temperature and physically pushes electrical contacts together to turn on the heat when needed. Knowing how it works, it’s hard for me to imagine that this feels like anything. The whole contraption is just an arrangement of molecules doing what molecules do. But then again, so am I.
This is great. Suggest one additional bit to show black at the bottom. That way the player of black is not handicapped by playing from an upside down position.
Or just rip off the chess piece design of this other minimalist chess board simulator, which is never upside down:
Note: I was carefully reading along and well into the third notebook before I realized that the code sections marked "TODO" were actual exercises for the reader to implement! (And the tests which follow are for the reader to check their work.)
This is a clever approach. It just wasn't obvious to me from the outset.
(I thought the TODOs were just some fiddly details you didn't want distracting readers from the big picture. But in fact, those are the important parts.)
Karpathy ends on a note of despair "Maybe I should just do a startup. I have a really cool idea for a mobile local social iPhone app." That's exactly the path his now-boss took to bring us this. :)