19021
GitHub shouldn't allow username reuse
Update 2018-04-19 - GitHub has implemented some rules around retiring "namespaces".
Top posts
Every blog post that took off on Hacker News, ranked by the votes of its best submission. 49,224 posts.
19022
SQL is syntactic sugar for relational algebra
This idea is particularly sticky because it was more or less true 50 years ago, and it's a passable mental model to use when learning sql. But it's an inadequate mental model for building new sql frontends, designing new query languages, or writing tools likes ORMs that abstract over sql.
19023
The first 40 months of the AI era
Lzon.ca. A personal blog, by a programmer and IT expert.2026216 points144 commentsAI & Machine Learning details
A personal blog, by a programmer and IT expert. Essays, Articles, Guides, and Recipes. As well as Code, Quotes, and Links.
19024
My Unholy Battle with a Rock64
I’ve got this rock64, which is an aarch64 board comparable to a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ with 4 gigs of ram. For years I’ve wanted to put a distribution on here that doesn’t have a premade image available, mainly because out of all the options on that page I don’t actually like any of them. Well, except NetBSD, but NetBSD…
19025
Getting syntax highlighting wrong
Applying human ergonomics and design principles to syntax highlighting
19026
19027
Call yourself titles
We constantly question ourselves when attempting anything new for the first time, which is daunting. And what’s worse, it prevents us from doing anything new, so we can’t change who we are. If you’ve always been terrible at sports and want to start working out, the natural reaction after a few attempts is to stop and…
19028
19029
Writing for Half-Life
(File dated November 9, 1998) PREFACE: Another file from the same disk with the Nihilanth sketches, this one, if it is to believed, written the day after we shipped Half-Life. I do believe it because the file’s creation date is indeed November 9, 1998, and I am not l33t enough to know how to fake […]
19030
The IE 11 user-agent forced Mozilla to freeze part of its user-agent string
Erotic web browser fan fiction.
19031
Massachusetts gas fires: Another technological tragedy
One Thursday afternoon last month, dozens of fires and explosions rocked three towns along the Merrimack River in Massachusetts. By the end of the day 131 buildings were damaged or destroyed, one person was killed, and more than 20 were injured. Suspicion focused immediately on the natural gas system. It looked like a…
19032
19033
Huge Binaries
A problem I experienced when pursuing my PhD and submitting academic articles was that I had built solutions to problems that required dramatic scale to be effective and worthwhile. Responses to my publication submissions often claimed such problems did not exist; however, I had observed them during my time within…
19034
Coarse is better
Make AI weird again.
19035
WebSockets: caution required
WebSockets seem to be gaining a resurgence, suddenly they are sexy again. I think this is the wrong message.
19036
19037
Securing a travel iPhone
These are dry notes I took in the process of setting up a burner iPhone SE as a secure travel device. They are roughly in setup order.
19038
19039
19040
Lessons from six months at Shopify
I’m now six months into Shopify. So far it’s going basically on schedule: as I was told, “Your first couple months you’re going to have zero idea what’s going on. Then around month three you’ll com…
19041
19042
Candy Japan 2017 Year in Review
This was another tough year for Candy Japan, with many factors combining to a sharp decline in subscriber numbers. Contains revenue numbers, site statistics and learnings from 2017.
19043
Reverse-Engineering an IP Camera (2019)
A few days ago I had to replace the old IP camera I use to watch over my dogs and cats, and found out that IP cam technology changed a lot since I bought that old camera. IP cameras are now low-price and ubiquitous. I bought one of those generic models and installed it at my home, expecting to use the same software…
19044
19045
If companies interviewed tech recruiters the way they interview programmers
(The inspiration for this post came from here: https://medium.freecodecamp.com/welcome-to-the-software-interview-ee673bc5ef6)
19046
What made the 1960s CDC6600 supercomputer fast?
Anybody who has ever taken an advanced computer architecture class has heard of the CDC6600, which was the world’s fastest computer from 1964 to 1969. It was the machine that put Seymour Cray…
19047
19048
19049
Why do we keep building rotten foundations?
APIs are like bones: sometimes you have to break them to mend them, and it fucking hurts. It’s not a perfect analogy, but it reflects an observation of (superficially) pragmatic behavioural t…
19050
What’s going on with security at PayPal?
PayPal's one-time login codes are a security disaster. Your account is at severe risk; remove your data or close your account immediately.