1. Psion 5mx Emulator
Total comment counts : 31
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses the Psion series 5mx, a portable computing device that was powered by two AA batteries and a memory backup battery. The author shares their personal experience of using the device for note-taking in university classes and praises its productivity features, such as built-in office programs and a compact flash slot for storage. However, they express sadness over Psion leaving the hardware business and transforming EPOC into Symbian.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article is about a project that focuses on building a Psion emulator. More information can be found at the provided link.
2. A Road to Common Lisp (2018)
Total comment counts : 16
Summary
This article provides advice on how to learn Common Lisp in the present day. The author emphasizes that Common Lisp has a long history and recommends understanding its background before diving into learning the language. They explain the process of standardizing Common Lisp in the 1980s and highlight that the ANSI specification published in 1995 is still in use today. The author also mentions that Common Lisp is a stable, large, practical, extensible, and sometimes considered an ugly language. They caution that, unlike many modern languages, upgrading implementations and libraries in Common Lisp may not break existing code. The article concludes by suggesting that having this understanding will help learners navigate the language effectively.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author of the article struggled to use Common Lisp because they are a Vim user. They found that using plugins to simulate the SLIME EMacs REPL was not ideal and limited the interactive development experience. The author believes that being tied to EMacs or an enterprise solution like LispWorks is not a viable option for many developers. They express a desire for an alternative Common Lisp development experience that can work in a wider range of text editors and IDEs. The author acknowledges that there is a lot to learn from Common Lisp but believes it can be difficult for most developers to access.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the benefits of using a REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop) in programming languages, specifically focusing on Lisp. The author mentions that a REPL is often considered a great feature of Lisp because it allows for an interactive development style. The author, who is only experienced in interpreted languages like R and Ruby, admits to not fully understanding why a REPL is so highly regarded since it seems like a standard feature to them. They speculate that the convenience and immediate execution offered by a REPL may be more appreciated by programmers who work in compiled languages.
3. Tillywork: Open-Source Work Management
Total comment counts : 9
Summary
The article introduces tillywork, an open-source work management platform designed for dynamic teams. It consists of three modules: managing timelines, allocating resources, and monitoring project deliverables; customer relationship management, sales tracking, and performance analysis; and product roadmaps, sprint planning, and issue tracking. The article encourages contributions to tillywork and mentions that it is available under the MIT License.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article mentions that the website and Github page do not provide clear information about what the project does. It suggests that screenshots, video, or more detailed text would be helpful in understanding the project’s features. The author expresses reluctance to compile the project just for a quick overview.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article recommends using Phabricator, now known as Phorge, as an open-source project management tool. It highlights features such as workboards, excellent access control, and project separation through tags. Additionally, it provides links to the Phabricator website and an example board.
4. Show HN: Pls Fix – Hire big tech employees to appeal account suspensions
Total comment counts : 104
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article explains that commercial bribery is considered illegal in most places, including California. According to the California Penal Code (section 641.3), any employee who unlawfully accepts money or anything of value from someone other than their employer in exchange for using their position for the benefit of that person, without the employer’s knowledge or consent, is guilty of commercial bribery. The same applies to individuals who offer or give money or something of value to an employee under these circumstances. However, this law does not apply if the amount involved is less than $250.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article warns against engaging in actions that could be considered corruption, as it could lead to serious legal consequences and potential job loss.
5. Amber: Programming language compiled to Bash
Total comment counts : 72
Summary
The article discusses a language called Amber that is designed to help with learning Bash scripting faster. It highlights that Amber provides familiar language features, making it easier to start using Bash. It also mentions that Amber can help catch bugs during the compile time and ensures that all potential failures are handled properly.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article suggests that the author would prefer a tool to author bash or POSIX sh instead of using bash as a compile target. It compares this concept to MJML for HTML emails, explaining that while it may not produce the best HTML, it handles the complexities required for maximum email client compatibility. The author believes that if the tool focused on providing type hints and cleaner syntax for sh, it would be more useful. They also suggest the idea of defining the environment available to the final script when using the compiler, allowing for customization based on specific requirements.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author of the article prefers using plain POSIX sh as the target rather than Bash when it comes to transpilation.
6. The Stanford Startup and the MIT Startup (2013)
Total comment counts : 24
Summary
The article discusses various topics including parallel programming and accelerated computing, stereotypes in the tech industry, the importance of market development and business models, and the differences between tech-heavy and business-focused startups. It also includes comments from readers expressing their opinions and experiences. Additionally, there are unrelated comments about funding options and a testimonial about a loan service.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article focuses on comparing the startup cultures of MIT and Stanford, with the author having a more critical view of the MIT startup and a forgiving view of the Stanford startup. The author believes that the modern “Stanford startup” culture emerged from VC money in the dot-com boom. They also highlight some cultural differences between the East Coast and West Coast, such as a more conservative business approach on the East Coast and less focus on consumer tech. The author expresses concern about some negative aspects of the East Coast startup culture, like sports betting tech and situations similar to Theranos. However, they note that over time, the East Coast is being influenced by the Stanford culture, becoming a little less conservative and more focused on quick riches and potentially shady practices.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the different archetypes of startups and how they are not always accurately represented. The author shares their experience working at three MIT startups, two of which were business-focused like the “Stanford” archetype described in the article, while the other had a period of developing technology from the lab, similar to the “MIT” archetype. The author also mentions a fourth MIT startup that they almost co-founded, which had a more customer-oriented approach like Stanford. The author highlights the problem of having a team with mostly academic experience and the challenges it poses in building a successful startup. They also mention the lack of sales and reliance on grant funding for one of the MIT startups. Overall, the author suggests that the archetypes mentioned in the article do not always accurately represent real-life startup experiences.
7. Designed to Crash: the story of Antonov An-28 HA-LAJ and its demise
Total comment counts : 10
Summary
On August 28, 1993, a Soviet-designed Antonov An-28 twin turboprop airplane crashed in Oxfordshire, England. The plane had been chartered by a Royal Air Force parachuting club and had two Russian pilots and 17 parachutists on board. Shortly after takeoff, both engines failed when the crew attempted to retract the flaps. The captain managed to crash land the plane safely, saving everyone on board. The incident gave Britain’s Air Accident Investigation Branch the opportunity to investigate the crash of a Soviet aircraft on British soil. The investigation revealed a series of events that led to the plane’s modification for parachuting, its dual registration in two countries, and an electrical fault that caused the crash. The investigation also raised questions about the design process and post-Cold War opinions on Soviet aircraft. RAF Weston-on-the-Green, where the crash occurred, is a grass airstrip used by the Parachute Training School and the Royal Air Force Sports Parachuting Association. The club hired Avia Special Ltd. to find an aircraft that could meet their requirements, leading them to the Antonov An-28 owned by G92 Commerce in Hungary. The An-28 is a twin turboprop airplane capable of carrying passengers or cargo. Its origins date back to the 1960s, and mass production began in 1983. The specific An-28 involved in the crash was built in 1988 and registered under the Soviet state aviation company Aeroflot.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The author shares their experience of flying on a skydiving flight from Weston-on-the-Green. They mention being surprised by the effects of the altitude and the short duration of the flight. They also note the landing site’s proximity to busy roads. The author jokingly mentions their initial skepticism about flying in a second-hand Soviet turboprop plane.
Top 2 Comment Summary
This article discusses the concept of a propeller turning in reverse due to the angle of the blades, which causes the oncoming air to drive the propeller in reverse. However, the author clarifies that a propeller that is unfeathered will continue to rotate in the correct direction, with only the flow of torque being reversed. The article also mentions the possibility of the propeller exceeding its designed speed, resulting in the propeller tips becoming supersonic and introducing additional issues and risks.
8. Counted B-Trees (2017)
Total comment counts : 12
Summary
This article discusses B-trees, which are algorithms used to store and retrieve sorted lists of items efficiently. The article introduces a small enhancement to the B-tree algorithm that allows for lookups based on numeric position in addition to key value. This enhancement enables finding arbitrary ordering statistics or stepping through the tree by a fixed number of items. Furthermore, this enhancement allows for constructing an unsorted B-tree, similar to an array, with efficient insertion and deletion of items. The article describes the structure of a B-tree and explains how the enhancement works by storing a count of elements in each subtree. It also provides a step-by-step explanation of how to look up the i-th element in the tree using this enhanced B-tree algorithm.
Top 1 Comment Summary
This article discusses the motivation behind using a data structure called a counted B-tree for efficiently deleting old data, inserting new data, and querying quantiles over moving data windows, particularly in the context of time series. The author explains that using a counted B-tree is a robust solution that allows for the calculation of multiple quantiles over large data windows, and it is much more efficient than other naive solutions. The article also mentions that in the case of many duplicate keys, the same general framework can be used to handle it. Additionally, if the dynamic range of the data is known, more approximate dynamic quantiles can be obtained using a histogram with log/exp-spaced bins and counters backed by a Fenwick Tree. The article provides a link to a fully worked example in Nim for reference.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the order statistic tree, which is covered in the book “CLRS” in the chapter on “Augmenting Data Structures” and the subchapter on “Dynamic order statistics.” The article also mentions the implementation of a tree-based list data structure without set functionality. There is a link to the implementation provided.
9. Pluckable Strings
Total comment counts : 30
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
I’m sorry, but I am unable to access the content of the article you provided.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The author praises the inclusion of known pieces in the article, particularly a Bach piece that they clicked on to watch. They mention how the visualization of the music allowed them to appreciate the counterpoint rhythm in a new way. Unlike other visualizers that have a moving object to represent tones, this visualization solely focuses on isolating the tones. The author enjoyed how this enhanced their appreciation of Bach’s rhythmic counterpoint, noting that they could see when multiple strings were played simultaneously through clear purple coloring.
10. One-third of Amazon warehouse workers are on food stamps or Medicaid
Total comment counts : 40
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article argues that with increasing levels of automation, low-skilled labor will become less valuable. As a result, most people will have little economic utility unless they receive subsidies or implement Universal Basic Income (UBI). The article refutes the idea that AI and automation will benefit the masses, stating that the economic value of the average person will be close to zero. The author suggests that we need to separate the notion of a person’s value from their economic potential.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article explains how the current system works, in which the government subsidizes low-wage work by corporations. This system is seen as virtuous by many, as it prevents competition and satisfies shareholders. It also ensures a minimum level of care for workers, who would otherwise be replaced at higher rates. However, the article questions whether it would be fair for companies to bear more of the burden, acknowledging that words about justice are easy, but wielding power is costly.