1. Making a PDF that’s larger than Germany
Total comment counts : 38
Summary
The article discusses a claim circulating on social media that there is a maximum size for a PDF document, specifically 381 km x 381 km. The author investigates the claim and finds that it is a limitation of a particular PDF reader app, not a limitation of PDF itself. The article explains the limitations imposed by Adobe Acrobat on PDF dimensions and provides details from the PDF 1.7 specification. The author also explores the internal structure of a PDF document and describes how it can be edited directly.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article highlights the benefits of the PDF format, despite its technical limitations. It mentions that PDF/A is a format that removes unnecessary features, making it more secure and stable. The article also provides a link to a polyglot PDF/A CSV file that includes an embedded soundtrack.
Top 2 Comment Summary
This article discusses the maximum width and height that can be specified in a PNG image file, which is 2147483647 pixels. It also mentions that using the pHYs chunk, the lowest density that can be specified is 1 pixel per meter. This means that the maximum size of the image would be 2 billion meters (2 gigameters), which is larger than the diameter of the sun at 1.39 Gm. Additionally, the article mentions that using the sCAL chunk with ASCII floating-point, extremely large dimensions can be specified.
2. How we crowdfunded $750k for a giant book about keyboard history
Total comment counts : 14
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The author is interested in a tax issue related to receiving income in one year but having expenses in the following year. This is known as future-income in their jurisdiction. They explain that a provision is made in year 1 to reduce profit, effectively moving the revenue to the year when the order is fulfilled. This is particularly relevant for subscription revenue that spans two financial years. The author emphasizes the importance of this practice in terms of refunds, as it is difficult to issue refunds if a large portion of the collected amount has been taxed. The author is surprised that this practice is not universal, as suggested in the article.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of an unnamed book asked for pictures from readers who received their copies, and the pictures that have been shared are impressive. People have shared images of the book alongside their collection of antique computer history, or propped up on a typewriter. The requester of the summary also sent a picture of their various keyboards with the book.
3. Show HN: filippo.io/mlkem768 – Post-Quantum Cryptography for the Go Ecosystem
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
The article discusses a pure-Go implementation of ML-KEM-768, which is a post-quantum key exchange mechanism currently being standardized by NIST and adopted by the industry. The implementation is optimized for correctness and readability and consists of approximately 500 lines of code, 200 lines of comments, and 650 lines of tests. It has no dependencies except for golang.org/x/crypto/sha3. The article highlights that the implementation was not ported from the reference pq-crystals library but written from scratch based on the specification alone. The author emphasizes the importance of readability for effective review, security, and as an educational resource for future maintainers and cryptography engineers. The article also discusses the challenges faced during the implementation, particularly in compression and decompression, and the strategies employed to ensure security and performance. The article concludes by mentioning that the implementation specifically targets ML-KEM-768, as it is the most commonly used security level in protocols. Testing is highlighted as a crucial component in ensuring the security of the implementation.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article is questioning the current state of quantum computing and comparing it to artificial intelligence (AI), where the definition has evolved to include new products. It is asking if quantum computing is reaching a level where new applications are being developed or if it is still in the early stages.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the discontinuation of a Go library for quantum-resistant cryptography by Kudelski Security. More information can be found at the provided link.
4. Visual Analysis of Binary Files
Total comment counts : 20
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses an old side-project where files are not uploaded anywhere and the app is completely local. It mentions that the analysis is done in the browser. It also states that the current version is written in React, but the author plans to release an updated version in Rust along with a library of fast implementations of space-filling curves and related utilities.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article compared the tool to old ZX Spectrum computers that had limited memory space. Some software had to temporarily use the screen buffer to load data, causing images to appear on the screen. After loading completed, the software would rearrange memory to use the screen as intended.
5. Damn Small Linux 2024
Total comment counts : 36
Summary
The article discusses the rebirth of the DSL 2024, a compact Linux distribution designed for low-spec x86 computers. The distribution includes a wide range of applications chosen for their functionality, small size, and low dependencies. It offers two window managers, three web browsers, office applications, multimedia applications, and various other tools. The article explains the motivation behind creating a new DSL distribution, highlighting the changes in the computer industry and the need to accommodate older hardware. The project is based on antiX 23 i386 and aims to fit within a 700MB limit. The author acknowledges the contributions of other distributions and individuals to the project.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The xwoaf-rebuild project 4.0 is a small Linux distribution that includes many applications within two binaries: busybox and mcb_xawplus. It provides various tools and utilities such as xcalc, xfilemanager, xminesweep, and more. Additionally, it includes a range of commands and features through busybox, including file manipulation, networking, system administration, and more. The distribution also offers an extensive help system, install scripts, mount scripts, and configure scripts. However, it uses an outdated 2.2.26 kernel.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article explains that DSL used to be 50MB in size, which was determined by the size of business-card sized CDs that were once available.
6. Show HN: Lockbox: forward proxy for making third party API calls
Total comment counts : 10
Summary
The article discusses the importance of user feedback and how it is taken seriously. It also mentions Lockbox, which is a forward proxy used for making API calls to third-party services.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a class of vulnerabilities that involve tricking a more privileged software into performing actions on behalf of the attacker. It mentions that there are vulnerabilities related to this in AWS IAM and also highlights issues related to HTTP request smuggling and Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) when multiple HTTP implementations interact with each other.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author typically uses nginx to proxy requests to a third-party server and add authorization headers, but acknowledges that this approach is only suitable for simple pass-through scenarios. They suggest that for more complex needs or configurations that cannot be accomplished with simple proxying and nginx rules, another solution may be necessary.
7. My favourite Git commit (2019)
Total comment counts : 47
Summary
The article discusses the importance of Git commit messages and provides an example of a well-crafted commit message. The author believes that commit messages are powerful tools for documenting a codebase. The example commit message, titled “Convert template to US-ASCII to fix error,” is from the developer Dan Carley working on GOV.UK. The commit message is detailed and explains both what was changed and why. It includes information about the error that inspired the change, the process of investigating and fixing the problem, and the commands that were executed. The author emphasizes that commit messages like this are valuable for documenting the journey of the codebase and spreading knowledge within a team. Additionally, such messages remind us that every change has a human behind it. The article concludes by recommending further reading on the benefits of good commit messages and tools that can help structure changes around them.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author, a GitHub cofounder and author of Git books, argues that the Git commit message is an underutilized form of code documentation. The issue is that most tools only show the first line of the commit message, making the rest of the message unseen by most people. The commit message was originally meant to be read by everyone in the project, but in modern tools, only the first 50 characters are typically seen. It is difficult to access the full commit message, even for experienced Git users. The author complains that even though the commit messages in the Git project are of high quality, it is challenging to find and appreciate them. Overall, the author believes that writing thorough commit messages is often a waste of time as they are rarely accessed.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author agrees with the sentiment of the article but suggests adding a more specific bottom line up front (BLUF) to summarize the issue. Specifically, the author suggests using the BLUF “Fix test issues caused by non-breaking space character \xa0” to provide a clear and concise understanding of the problem.
8. The theory of concatenative combinators (2007)
Total comment counts : 4
Summary
This article introduces a new theory of combinators, which are programs that manipulate data on a stack. The theory is inspired by the programming language Joy and focuses solely on manipulating programs as data. The article outlines several fundamental combinators such as swap, dup, and zap, which duplicate, rearrange, or remove items on the stack. It also introduces combinators like cat, cons, and unit, which restructure quotations. The article concludes by discussing the interconstructability of combinators and how they can be used to construct all other combinators.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the theory of combinatory logic and its simplicity in representing computable functions using the terms S and K. The author questions the need for concatenative combinators, which involve stacks and quotations, as they seem to complicate matters without providing any additional benefits. The article mentions that the concatenative combinators [C], [B], and [A] have analogues to S and K but do not form a complete basis. The author wonders what can be expressed using concatenative combinators that is not easily expressed in combinatory logic.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article titled “Composition Intuition by Conor Hoekstra | Lambda Days 2023” is a talk about combinators.
9. The Far Side – By Gary Larson
Total comment counts : 43
Summary
The summary of the article is that the website features selections of classic The Far Side comics, updated daily. The website is hosted and operated by Andrews McMeel Universal, and the copyright is owned by FarWorks, Inc. The article states that the FarWorks, Inc. trademarks are registered in certain countries. It also mentions that no content from the website can be reproduced, digitized, or transmitted without prior written permission.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author and their best friend grew up loving The Far Side comic strip and it influenced their shared sense of humor. They had many Far Side books and even wore Far Side shirts. Recently, when their friend turned 40, the author decided to get them a Far Side gift. They ended up giving them the Complete Works of The Far Side. The friend was surprised and happy with the gift, and the author reflects on how small things like this comic strip can bring people together.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses Gary Larson’s original request for fans not to post his cartoons online and how he has since reversed his stance. The author compares Larson’s letter to Bill Gates’ letter on software copying. The article provides links to both the original letter and Larson’s reversal. The author also includes their favorite cartoon from Larson, featuring a cow wearing jewelry and holding a martini glass, expressing discontent to a bull watching TV with a beer.
10. A Plea for More Mikado
Total comment counts : 22
Summary
The Mikado Method is a framework for managing large refactoring projects or software upgrades. It involves breaking down the changes into atomic tasks and shipping each task individually. The process begins by upgrading a specific component or dependency and then running the unit test suite to identify failures. For each failure, a new task is created and linked to the parent task. The changes are then reverted, and one failure is addressed at a time, without the original upgrade. If additional changes or refactoring are required, they are written down and the process is repeated. Eventually, fixes will start to accumulate and reverts will decrease. The final step is to make the actual change to the codebase and ship the upgrade. It is important to have a reliable automated test suite for this method to be effective. While it is not necessary to strictly follow the method’s steps, its core ideas of shipping atomic changes and dropping irrelevant tasks can be beneficial for developers.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a specific implementation of the principle “Make the change easy, then make the easy change” in the context of email-based development. It suggests floating minor fixes and refactoring to the beginning of development series, allowing them to be checked in as they are reviewed. This approach reduces the final merge process by making it smaller.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author questions whether the Mikado Method is actually used in practice and how effective it is. They suggest that it may not work well in cases where a failure can only be resolved by introducing something new. The author also highlights that the assumption underlying the method is that the tests are sufficient, but in reality, the reason for needing a revert is because the tests are inadequate. However, the author still believes the method can be effective because when problems arise, it is possible to revert to the previous version while retaining most of the preliminary changes, thereby reducing the cost of the revert.