Best of 2021

The blog posts Hacker News loved most in 2021. 1,517 posts.

Software Engineering
1202

Spotify Codes – Part 2

In part 1 I dove into Spotify Codes and explained the general technical concepts of how they work. If you haven’t read that post you should check it out. I shared it on reddit where it generated a lot of interesting discussion. Ludvig Strigeus, a key early developer at Spotify and the person who invented Spotify…

1215

What Java Modules Are About

When the subject of Java modules comes up in online discussions every so often, I get the sense that many people misunderstand what it is that modules are supposed to do. That's understandable, as the name 'modules' does not evoke the precise purpose of the feature. There are many kinds of modules, even in the Java…

1222

Re-thinking electronic mail

There are many problems with the existing Internet email system, such as spam, scam, surveillance, insecurity, centralization, and complexity. The problems are starting to outweigh the benefits of the system. Fixing the problems by evolving the current system seems overwhelmingly difficult. This essay examines some…