Hi, This is Enson’s personal blog

1. An old photo of a large BBS (2022) Total comment counts : 23 Summary error Overall Comments Summary Main point: The discussion centers on nostalgia for BBS-era systems, including technical debates about hardware configurations (how many modems per box and whether external or internal modems were used) and the social experience of early online communities. Concern: There is worry that the conversation could misremember capabilities or romanticize the era, leading to inaccurate or oversimplified claims about BBS hardware and operations....

1. Don’t post generated/AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans. Total comment counts : 116 Summary HN favors curiosity-driven content for hackers; politics, crime, sports, and celebrity topics are off-topic unless they show a notable phenomenon. Submissions should link to the original source, avoid self-promotion, and keep titles plain (strip site names; trim gratuitous numbers unless meaningful). For videos/pdfs, add [video] or [pdf]. Don’t post to ask or tell; email hn@ycombinator....

1. Tony Hoare has died Total comment counts : 58 Summary Jim Miles, a Cambridge acquaintance, pays tribute to Tony Hoare (died at 92), famed for much beyond quicksort (ALGOL, Hoare logic, etc.). He recalls Hoare’s precise memory, warmth, and a career spanning classics to CS, including Russian linguistics and early computer demonstrations. Miles recounts Hoare’s quicksort wager—he bet a faster method existed, quicksort won, and the wager was paid. Despite the bet, Hoare remained professional, often implementing the slower algorithm first when appropriate....

1. Building a Procedural Hex Map with Wave Function Collapse Total comment counts : 24 Summary Procedural medieval island maps are built with WebGPU and Three.js, using Wave Function Collapse on hex tiles. The project spans about 4,100 cells across 19 grids and creates roads, rivers, coasts, forests, villages, and five elevation levels in ~20 seconds. With 30 tile types, hexes have six edges, increasing constraints. To avoid global dead-ends, the solver uses modular WFC: solve each grid independently while honoring border constraints, plus a delta-trail backtracking (up to 500)....

1. Neural Boids Total comment counts : 2 Summary These are noids—neural boids that learn steering from local perception rather than hand-written rules. Real starling flocks show no leader; each bird tracks about seven neighbors by topological distance, not metric, enabling robust flocking. A turn propagates as a wave through local interactions. In 1986 Reynolds proposed three rules for boids, hand-tuned. Noids replace rules with a small neural network: 24 inputs (velocity, heading, and five nearest neighbors’ relative positions and velocities) and 2 outputs (acceleration)....

1. CasNum Total comment counts : 8 Summary CasNum is a library that implements arbitrary-precision arithmetic through compass-and-straightedge constructions. Starting from two points (origin and unit), numbers are represented as (x,0), with addition via midpoints, multiplication/division via triangle similarity, and logical operations via geometric methods. The project also ships a functional Game Boy emulator (via PyBoy) where every ALU opcode is built from geometry. It includes a CasNum viewer, examples, and a PyBoy integration requiring a ROM....

1. Ada 2022 Total comment counts : 4 Summary error Overall Comments Summary Main point: A discussion about Ada 2022 changes, learning resources, and the reality that many Ada users maintain legacy systems. Concern: The main worry is that Ada’s adoption seems anchored to legacy work, with few current users by choice and some discomfort with the community and the kinds of software Ada developers write. Perspectives: Opinions range from curiosity and a desire for current-user feedback and learning Ada/SPARK to skepticism about the language’s community and its typical software....

1. GPT-5.4 Total comment counts : 81 Summary error Overall Comments Summary Main point: The discussion centers on evaluating OpenAI’s GPT-5/5.4 rollout—its 1M-context window, pricing, and the confusing proliferation of numbered models—and how it compares to competitors. Concern: The main worry is that the chaotic model lineup and pricing will reduce usability and trust, even as some improvements are praised. Perspectives: Opinions range from enthusiasm for 5.4’s capabilities and the 1M context window to strong skepticism about model proliferation, cost-cutting, and whether these changes deliver real product value....

1. An interactive map of Flock Cams Total comment counts : 30 Summary error Overall Comments Summary Main point: The discussion centers on the rollout of Flock surveillance cameras and the broader tension between public safety benefits and privacy/data governance concerns. Concern: The main worry is that widespread, consolidated surveillance could lead to privacy violations, misuse by authorities or criminals, and a lack of transparency about data and ownership. Perspectives: Viewpoints range from endorsement of cameras for crime reduction and safety alerts to strong criticism of privacy invasion, unequal deployment, and potential corporate or governmental overreach....

1. I’m reluctant to verify my identity or age for any online services Total comment counts : 77 Summary Identity and age verification has become a common policy topic, often tied to restricting children from “social media.” The author criticizes vague goals and quick technosolutionism, asking what services they’d actually verify for—and answering: none. They favor privacy-preserving, self-hosted or offline options (federated servers, RSS, Jellyfin, DVDs) and avoid services requiring verification (YouTube, Wikipedia via Kiwix, forums, Reddit, Signal)....