Best of 2017

The blog posts Hacker News loved most in 2017. 2,293 posts.

Any topic
2234

Tom Duff on Duff's device (1988)

I normally do not read comp.lang.c, but Jim McKie told me that `` Duff's device '' had come up in comp.lang.c again. I have lost the version that was sent to netnews in May 1984, but I have reproduced below the note in which I originally proposed the device. (If anybody has a copy of the netnews version, I would…

2243

ACLU History

In the years following World War I, America was gripped by the fear that the Communist Revolution that had taken place in Russia would spread to the United States. As is often the case when fear outweighs rational debate, civil liberties paid the price. In November 1919 and January 1920, in what notoriously became…

2244

Friday Facts #176 - Belts optimization for 0.15

Hi everyone. About half a year ago whenever I was sitting deeply in Factorio and when I needed to spend time in my phone, I was reading FFF or Factorio forum. Later when I decided to move - I suddenly realized that Wube is the most logical target to apply my crazy mind. All thanks to those FFF and you guys. Now I am…

2249

Jepsen: CockroachDB beta-20160829

CockroachDB is a distributed SQL database, loosely patterned after Google Spanner and designed for semi-synchronous networks. It speaks the PostgreSQL wire protocol , supports a reasonable dialect of SQL , and combines replication for durability with transparent scale-out sharding for large tables. Its most…

2250

Finally, live TV made for you

There’s no question that people love TV, from live sports to breaking news to sitcoms and dramas. But the truth is, there are a lot of limitations in how to watch TV today. Unlike online video, people can't watch TV when they want, on any screen and on their terms, without commitments. Consumers have made it clear…