1. Documented source code for Elite on the NES
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
The article discusses a repository containing the fully documented and annotated source code for Elite on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The code is provided for educational and non-profit purposes and allows users to build the functioning game from the source. The repository includes different variants of the game, and the article provides instructions on browsing and building the code. The NTSC and Imagineer PAL releases have some differences in features and timings. The article also mentions the copyright and licensing considerations of the source code.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses how the developers of the NES Elite game had to work around the absence of a hardware timer in some early NES consoles. Initially, they used the hardware timer to ensure that in-game physics progressed consistently regardless of variations in frame rate. However, when they submitted the game to Nintendo for approval, they were told that using the hardware timer was not allowed due to compatibility issues with some NES consoles. As a result, the developers had to create their own method of estimating real-time by counting non-maskable interrupts in the game. Looking at the source code on Github, it appears that the developers commented on updating the NMI timer, which they used in place of the hardware timer.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author recently started playing Elite: Dangerous and acknowledges that the game has its issues. Nevertheless, they find the experience to be quite impressive. They are particularly moved by the continuity of game elements from the 1984 version and find it emotional to see the graphical transformation over time. They mention feeling emotional when experiencing the detailed interior of the Coriolis station. Despite the current difficulties, the author hopes that the game will continue to exist in some form.
2. What is in that .git directory?
Total comment counts : 15
Summary
The article discusses the contents of the .git folder that is created when using git. It explains the files and folders within the .git directory and how they are related to the actions performed in git, such as adding, committing, branching, and pushing. The article also gives insights into the structure of git’s objects and how they are stored. Finally, it mentions that when pushing to a remote git repository, only the objects, branches, and tags that are explicitly pushed are sent to the remote repository.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the author’s experience diving into the internals of git, specifically the “plumbing and porcelain” aspects. They mention that the git internals documentation is well-written and easy to understand. The author also mentions trying to understand a large 51Gb “.pack” file and learning about delta compression in git. While they don’t have an explanation for the large file, they appreciate the entertaining read they got from the documentation.
Top 2 Comment Summary
This article provides information on various aspects of Git. It suggests chapter 10 of the Git book for a more detailed understanding of the topic. It explains what is sent to another Git repository and clarifies that only the refs that are pushed are included. The article also mentions the importance of configuring Git, providing arguments to git push, and setting up refspecs in the .git/config file. It gives an example of using git push origin +HEAD:develop to forcefully push the checked out branch to a destination branch named develop. Additionally, it mentions the presence of tag objects, which can be created using git tag -a, and explains the difference between annotated tags and lightweight tags. The article also mentions the packing of loose objects into pack files to save space and improve Git’s speed, and provides information on manually running git gc or relying on Git to automatically perform garbage collection.
3. Paperless-ngx – Open source document management system
Total comment counts : 31
Summary
The article discusses Paperless-ngx, a document management tool that offers the benefits of going paperless. The author shares their adoption journey and provides instructions for setting up a Paperless instance. Paperless-ngx features built-in OCR and allows for easy organization of documents using tags. The article also covers the history of Paperless, its transition to Paperless-ng, and finally to Paperless-ngx. The author shares their approach to digitizing and organizing documents, using correspondents and document types. They also provide instructions for importing documents into Paperless-ngx using different methods. The article includes Docker setup instructions for running Paperless-ngx, including configuring the Redis broker and PostgreSQL database. The author emphasizes the importance of data backups and provides a script for automating backups in Paperless-ngx. Overall, the article serves as a comprehensive guide for adopting and setting up Paperless-ngx for document management.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the lack of a learning classifier in a tool called DEVONthink compared to other options for organizing documents. DEVONthink is praised for its ability to suggest folders based on the content of new files. The author mentions their own experiment with organizing documents using a different method but states that if they were to go back to using an app, it would likely be DEVONthink or something similar due to its useful features such as the classifier, smart rules, scriptability, multi-device sync, and Markdown notes with wiki links.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author shares a technique they use to simplify their paper handling process. They have set up their printer/scanner to point to a write-only samba share, which is supported by most HP printers. They have also written a script that uses OCRMyPDF to automatically convert scanned files into searchable PDFs and move them to a different file share. This allows their non-technical family members to easily scan documents and have them available on the family file share within seconds. While this approach lacks advanced features like tagging and search, it offers the advantage of native integration with all operating systems.
4. Show HN: A job application tracker with company reviews, recruiter autoresponder
Total comment counts : 32
Summary
Rolepad is a free and user-friendly tool that helps individuals stay organized and informed during their job search. It allows users to capture and manage job applications, record company and role details, track interview stages and contact information, and take notes all in one place. Users can also organize their conversations with recruiters and hiring managers by emailing them to save@rolepad.com or declining with an automated response by forwarding the emails to no@rolepad.com. The tool also offers the ability to generate a diagram to visualize the job search journey and share progress with others without revealing sensitive information. Users can share private feedback with companies or submit anonymous reviews, and also gain insight into company hiring processes through the Reviews feature.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author questions the notion that it is common for job seekers to apply to dozens of positions. They share their own experience as a software engineer in Western Europe, where they typically only applied to a few carefully selected companies based on their preferences and never interviewed with more than one company at a time. The author speculates that their experience may not be common, especially for those aiming to work at FAANG companies.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article suggests suspicion towards the credibility of company and interview reviews, particularly on Glassdoor. The author mentions having a personal experience with posting reviews and witnessing fake reviews and the deletion of negative ones. They believe that any product with public ratings will inevitably have fake ratings. The author then asks what measures have been taken to ensure the legitimacy of reviews.
5. Wired has removed “How Google alters search queries” story
Total comment counts : 29
Summary
This article has been removed by WIRED due to a determination by their editorial leadership that it does not meet their editorial standards.
Top 1 Comment Summary
I apologize, but I cannot access or summarize articles from hyperlinks. If you provide the text of the article, I’ll be happy to assist in summarizing it for you.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article is about a slide from a trial that the author believes was misinterpreted. The slide is said to describe a fuzzy keyword matching system that matches ads with relevant keywords. The author criticizes the publication of the article and questions the credibility of the author, who is disclosed to have a bias as a former Duck Duck Go executive. The author feels that the article is clearly incorrect.
6. Subtraction is functionally complete
Total comment counts : 13
Summary
The article discusses how IEEE-754 floating point subtraction can be used to construct any binary circuit. It explains that according to the IEEE 754-2019 standard, the sign of a result from subtracting zeroes can be used to create a truth table equivalent to an IMPLY gate. This gate, along with a NOT gate, can form a functionally complete set, allowing the construction of arbitrary circuits. The article provides Python code examples to demonstrate the creation of a NOT gate and an OR gate using floating point subtraction. It also mentions the use of floating point operations in a software implementation of integer calculations.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the potential use of floating point instructions in DRM solutions to obscure virtual machines. It suggests further steps, such as developing a compiler to execute standard source code as floating point integers with a possible interface to conventional operating system APIs.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the abuse of the sign bit as a major clue of a true AI being loose in the wild, as depicted in the short story “Coding Machines.” The link provided leads to the full article.
7. The glass at McCormick Place in Chicago is a lethal obstacle for birds
Total comment counts : 26
Summary
A significant number of migrating birds died after colliding with glass windows at McCormick Place, the largest convention center in North America. Volunteers are finding bird carcasses within a 1.5-mile radius of the center. The incident, which occurred on October 5th, marked the highest number of bird strikes recorded in a single day by the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors. Approximately 1.5 million birds were in the air over Cook County during that time. Carcasses of various songbird species were recovered, although not every collision results in a visible body. This type of bird mortality typically occurs during peak migration periods, and factors such as weather conditions, light pollution, and the prevalence of glass structures increase the risk. It is estimated that up to one billion birds die annually from collisions. Chicago’s light pollution poses a significant threat to migrating birds, and turning off building lights at night can help reduce fatalities. A 2021 study conducted at McCormick Place found that dimming half the lights in large buildings can significantly decrease collisions. McCormick Place participates in the Lights Out Chicago program, which encourages voluntary light reduction. Measures such as incorporating visual markers on windows and implementing bird-friendly designs in buildings can also mitigate bird collisions. While Chicago has approved bird-friendly design regulations, they have yet to take effect. The Bird Safe Buildings Act, signed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker in 2021, requires bird-friendly design in state-owned buildings. Experts suggest investing in retrofits, offering tax credits for environmental initiatives, and implementing bird-friendly policies to address the issue.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a building with a glass lobby that was designed to address issues related to lighting and bird collisions. The glass wall was slanted outward, so if approached from inside, one’s feet would make contact before their face. However, the design caused a problem when blind people booked the lobby for a meeting. Their canes did not detect the glass wall, resulting in accidents. As a solution, foot-high barriers were quickly put up to help the blind individuals detect the glass before collision.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article relates a mildly amusing incident about a CEO and CTO visiting their new office. The CTO accidentally walked into a glass wall and broke his nose. The day before the rest of the team moved in, the author managed to convince the CEO to put a company logo decal on the wall.
8. Emacs and shellcheck
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
The article discusses a talk by Julia Evans titled “Making Hard Things Easy.” One key takeaway is the use of tools to simplify challenging aspects of a system. Specifically, the article mentions the use of shellcheck for writing bash scripts. Emacs version 29 has support for shellcheck, while older versions can utilize the flymake-shellcheck page. The author shares their flymake configuration and highlights how it has helped them identify errors in their shell scripts. Additionally, there is an update mentioning the bash-language-server, which works with emacs lsp or eglot. The article concludes by mentioning the label “emacs” and inviting comments.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article suggests adding shellcheck and shfmt to pre-commit hooks. This can be done easily using the shellcheck-py and shfmt-py wrappers, which can be found at the specified links.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the existence of a bash language server and provides instructions for using it with emacs and other platforms. The link to the repository containing the bash language server can be found in the article.
9. Could we make C arrays memory safe? Probably not, but let’s try
Total comment counts : 16
Summary
In this blog post, the author discusses an idea to improve computer security in the C programming language. They propose a system where the programmer would need to provide a formal proof that the index used in array dereferencing operations is valid. The author compares this idea to the borrow checker in Rust, where the programmer needs to prove they are the only one holding an object before mutating it. They suggest using a custom syntax or pragma to define the domain of variables, allowing the compiler to verify the safety of array dereferencing. The author acknowledges that this scheme would not make C a completely memory-safe language, but it could make it somewhat safer. They note that a full implementation of this idea would be complicated.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the use of array syntax in programming languages and the compatibility of interfaces. It suggests that the array syntax can be made more similar to the C programming language, and mentions that many people have encountered this issue before. It also mentions that selling this idea can be more challenging than implementing it.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses a situation in which an old Intel 80286 chip can handle memory-safe C arrays. It explains that by running code in ‘286 protected mode and properly loading the array’s base, limit, and other segment descriptors, regular code for array access in assembly or C can ensure memory-safety.
10. Show HN: DotBigBang – Multiplayer game engine with 120fps and 2 second load time
Total comment counts : 29
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the writer’s initial skepticism about playing a non-photorealistic game on their phone, but they are pleasantly surprised that it works well. They also appreciate the fast load time of the game. However, they mention that they personally wouldn’t want to play a first person 3D game on their phone, but it’s interesting to know that it’s possible.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article is written by someone who works with bobbydigitales on a platform called dot big bang. They have helped create various games, including Diamond Wars. The author invites anyone to ask questions about game development on dot big bang. They also provide a landing page for developers who are interested in knowing how they plan to support them. The landing page can be found at developers.dotbigbang.com.