Best of 2013

The blog posts Hacker News loved most in 2013. 857 posts.

Software Engineering
161

WebKit is the jQuery of Browser Engines

The news has just come out that Opera is switching all of their browsers (both mobile and desktop) to use WebKit (specifically, Chromium). I’ve seen a lot of gnashing of teeth on Twitter and I feel like I can respond because I use to feel the same way back in 2008-2009. However this is 2013 and the Chrome/Chromium…

166

Brilliant or insane code?

I came upon a very interesting and cryptic snippet of code somewhere nameless , and I can’t decide if it is brilliant or completely insane. It is a very obscure way of accomplishing the required task, but it’s around four times faster than the alternatives I’ve tried, so I have to admit that it’s not completely…

169

Clojure from the ground up

This guide aims to introduce newcomers and experienced programmers alike to the beauty of functional programming, starting with the simplest building blocks of software. You’ll need a computer, basic proficiency in the command line, a text editor, and an internet connection. By the end of this series, you’ll have a…

178

Hostnames

The idea is to come up with some kind of category, so that people have something to remember all the names by. Some categories: Geographical (countries, cities, parks, rivers, lakes, streets), entertainment (flintsones, simpsons, disney films, celebrities), companies (hotels, airports, local shops, restarants)…