1. Send someone you appreciate an official ‘Continue and Persist’ Letter
Total comment counts : 73
Summary
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Top 1 Comment Summary
The article expresses the author’s belief that most global issues stem from divisive tactics by influential powers. The author finds joy and hope in an initiative that seems aimed at countering this division, wishing it success despite its seemingly small scale.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses a service that sends official-looking legal letters as a surprise to individuals. The author criticizes this service, expressing a preference for receiving encouraging holiday cards over such potentially alarming letters. They view the service as a poorly conceived practical joke.
2. Engineers do not get to make startup mistakes when they build ledgers
Total comment counts : 59
Summary
The article by Alvaro Duran, published in “The Payments Engineer Playbook,” discusses a significant oversight at a fintech startup where he once worked. Here are the key points:
Neglect of Accounting Systems: The startup, focused on rapid development, chose not to implement a double-entry accounting system, leading to discrepancies in financial transactions. This resulted in “dancing cents” where transaction amounts were off by just a few cents.
Impact on Users and Business: These small discrepancies angered users, particularly when they noticed discrepancies in their stock purchases, leading to poor user experience and stunted growth for the startup due to lack of recommendations from dissatisfied customers.
Response to the Issue: The company initially tried to manually compensate for these errors through customer support and developed a Slack bot to manage the process, highlighting a reactive rather than proactive approach to problem-solving.
Lessons Learned: Alvaro learned critical lessons in accounting and engineering under high-stakes conditions. He emphasizes the importance of proper financial tracking systems in fintech, especially given the complexities of money movement and accounting principles.
Educational Aspect: The article aims to educate payments engineers on designing ledgers and handling real financial transactions, pointing out the common gap in practical knowledge available through public resources.
Conceptual Understanding of Money: Money is described not just as a medium of exchange but as a future asset, which complicates tracking and requires a robust system to manage discrepancies and time delays in transactions.
The narrative serves as both a cautionary tale and an educational piece for those involved in fintech, stressing the need for thorough system design and the real-world implications of neglecting fundamental financial principles in software engineering.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses issues with Synapse, a fintech company, where discrepancies between customer balances on their ledger and the actual funds in their pooled “FBO” (For Benefit Of) accounts resulted in millions of dollars unaccounted for. The author suggests that while many might suspect fraud, the issue is likely due to a poorly constructed and buggy ledger system. The piece criticizes the operational model of fintechs, highlighting that they often manage customer funds through a few large accounts, creating a complex ledger system to track individual balances which can lead to errors. Additionally, it points out that the promise of FDIC insurance by fintechs is misleading because this insurance only covers scenarios where the bank fails, not when the fintech mismanages funds. The author advises against using fintechs for depositing money, recommending traditional banks instead.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article emphasizes the critical role of domain knowledge in engineering leadership. The author argues that understanding the specific industry or sector (like finance, journalism, or commerce) is essential for making informed technical decisions and trade-offs. They highlight that successful companies incorporate domain-specific questions into their technical interviews and note that even technically proficient teams can struggle without adequate domain expertise.
3. Show HN: Screen Sharing in the Browser
Total comment counts : 17
Summary
The article describes a real-time screen sharing application that allows users to share their screens using a simple room code. Key features include:
- No downloads or sign-ups needed: Users can immediately start sharing their screens without any registration or software installation.
- Technology: The application is built using Next.js for the framework, WebRTC for real-time communication, and PeerJS for peer-to-peer connections.
- Functionality: Users can either create or join rooms to share screens instantly.
The developers emphasize their commitment to user feedback, indicating that they consider and possibly implement suggestions from users.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article describes a user’s experience testing a demo site where screen sharing functionality was tested. The feature worked well, but there was an issue where, after stopping the screen share, the last frame of the shared screen remained visible to the audience, with no indication that the sharing had ceased.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentions a tool called Screego, which the author has used and liked for personal self-hosting purposes. The provided link directs to the Screego website.
4. Borgo Programming Language
Total comment counts : 28
Summary
Borgo Programming Language Overview:
Compilation and Execution: Borgo compiles to Go and uses the Go playground for execution. It supports type inference, simplifying declarations like slices and maps.
Syntax and Features:
- Uses Go-like primitive types but introduces features like type inference for collections, method calls for functions like
append()andlen(). - Supports tuples, multiline strings with a Zig-like syntax, and loops over collections with an
.enumerate()method for index-element iteration. - Employs Rust-like constructs such as
loop {}for infinite loops,while {}for conditional loops, and expression returns inif,match, and block statements.
- Uses Go-like primitive types but introduces features like type inference for collections, method calls for functions like
Data Structures and Error Handling:
- Algebraic data types (enums) are supported with mandatory exhaustive pattern matching.
- Structs must have all fields initialized, and there’s an
Option<T>type for values that might not exist, along withResult<T, E>for functions that might return errors.
Integration with Go Ecosystem:
- Borgo aims for full compatibility with Go’s ecosystem by automatically handling multi-return values with
OptionandResulttypes. - Uses declaration files (
*.brg) to interface with Go packages, with an automated tool to generate these from Go packages.
- Borgo aims for full compatibility with Go’s ecosystem by automatically handling multi-return values with
Development Status and Contributions:
- Some Go standard library functions are available in Borgo, with more to be added. The language encourages contributions, particularly to enhance its standard library methods.
Syntax Specifics:
- Pointers are dereferenced with
foo.*(similar to Zig), and methods can be defined on types.
- Pointers are dereferenced with
Borgo offers a blend of Rust and Go features, aiming to provide a more expressive and safer language while maintaining compatibility with Go’s extensive ecosystem.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses enhancements proposed or imagined for the Go programming language, highlighting features that would improve its usability and expressiveness:
Result Type: Instead of returning
(T, error), aResult<T>type would simplify error handling, similar to how Rust usesResult.Error Propagation: The use of
?for error propagation is praised for making code cleaner and more readable.Structured Enums: The author notes the frequent need for structured enums, which would allow for more expressive and self-documenting code compared to Go’s current enum limitations.
Option Type: The introduction of
Option<T>to replaceniland zero values, leveraging structured enum support, is welcomed as it would clarify the presence or absence of a value.
The author expresses mixed feelings:
- Some proposed changes might be superfluous or overly influenced by other languages like Rust or Zig.
- There’s a desire for Go to adopt these changes, but skepticism about their implementation due to the language’s evolution not being a straightforward superset update (comparing it to the transition from Python 2 to Python 3).
Additionally, the article reflects on the implications of these changes for language adoption, drawing a parallel with JavaScript and TypeScript, noting that non-superset changes require active migration with no easy revert path.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses a new programming language that compiles to Go and integrates all the features that critics often wish Go had, such as immutability, advanced enums, algebraic types, pattern matching, and improved error handling. Despite these enhancements, which theoretically make it a superior choice, the author predicts that it will not gain widespread adoption. They argue that the issues this new language addresses are not significant enough to warrant learning a new syntax, suggesting skepticism about its future use despite its potential.
5. Show HN: Vince – A self hosted alternative to Google Analytics
Total comment counts : 27
Summary
The article discusses Vince, a self-hosted alternative to Google Analytics. Here are the key points:
- Vince is designed to be run without any external dependencies, shipping as a single executable.
- It was initially developed as a Go port of Plausible Analytics, emphasizing ease of self-hosting.
- Users can find more information about Vince, including how to start using it, on its release page, documentation, and through an API and demo.
- Feedback is actively sought and considered for improvements.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article points out that the documentation lacks a clear instruction on how to integrate a specific feature into a website. The author suggests that there should be a direct statement in the documentation like, “Add the following line to your page source to send data to Vince,” which would guide users, particularly those who are not experienced front-end developers, on how to implement the feature.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentions discussions or mentions about selling licenses and pricing related to a product or service, likely from the source code or documentation found on GitHub for a project called Vince Analytics. The specific link provided points to a part of the codebase where there might be information or hints about licensing and pricing strategies. However, the summary does not provide details on what those plans are, suggesting that for specific plans, one would need to review the linked document directly.
6. The trouble with struct sockaddr’s fake flexible array
Total comment counts : 7
Summary
The article discusses the struct sockaddr, a fundamental component of the BSD socket API, introduced in the early 1980s to handle network address information:
Original Design: The structure initially had a
sa_familyfield to denote the address family (e.g., AF_INET for IPv4) andsa_datafor holding the address, which was set to 14 bytes based on the address formats studied at the time.Evolution and Limitations: As new protocols emerged with larger address formats, the fixed size of
sa_databecame insufficient. This led to the creation of protocol-specific sockaddr variants likesockaddr_in6for IPv6, while still maintaining the originalstruct sockaddrin API calls due to its entrenched use.API Compatibility and Kludges: The unchanged API meant that developers had to cast between different sockaddr structures, leading to potential errors and undefined behavior in C due to these casts.
Introduction of
sockaddr_storage: To accommodate any address type,struct sockaddr_storagewas introduced, which is large enough to hold any sockaddr variant but does not appear in system call interfaces directly.Flexible Array Issue: The
sa_datafield was essentially treated as a flexible array despite its fixed declaration, causing issues with compiler checks for array overflows. This has led to complications in how compilers handle structure definitions, especially in terms of overflow detection.Kernel Redefinition: To address these issues without breaking the user-space API, the kernel redefined
struct sockaddrto explicitly treatsa_dataas a flexible array, using a union to ensure compatibility with existing binary interfaces.
In summary, struct sockaddr has evolved from a simple address holder into a complex structure due to the need for backward compatibility and the introduction of new network protocols, leading to various workarounds and adaptations within both user-space and kernel programming.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article critiques the current design of TCP and UDP socket APIs, suggesting they are too low-level for common programming tasks. The author proposes a higher-level API abstraction to simplify network programming:
Proposed API Changes: The author suggests new functions like
inet_connectandinet_listenwhich would handle details like building and manipulating thesockaddrstructure internally. This would make network programming more accessible by reducing the complexity for typical use cases.Example Usage: An example is provided where connecting to a server (like “google.com” on port 443) would be as simple as calling
inet_connectwith straightforward parameters, handling errors more gracefully and reducing the need for low-level socket manipulation.Benefits: These changes would:
- Make programming easier by abstracting away details that most developers don’t need to manage directly.
- Facilitate easier transitions to new protocols like IPv6, as the underlying socket details would be handled by the API, requiring only a recompile to update.
Legacy Support: The author suggests that while the new API would cater to the majority, the existing API could remain for those needing fine-grained control over socket operations.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses the evolution and design of struct sockaddr and struct sockaddr_storage in network programming. Initially, sockaddr was intended to accommodate various address types through its sa_data padding array, ensuring it was large enough to hold any address. However, this was not optimal as sa_data was not meant to be accessed directly and was not truly a flexible array.
The introduction of sockaddr_storage was likely due to the reluctance to modify the established sockaddr structure, which had become a standard by then. sockaddr_storage was designed to be sufficiently large to hold any socket address type, addressing the limitations of sockaddr’s fixed size of 14 bytes, which was uniform across systems but not ideal for all address types due to varying alignment and padding needs on different platforms. The author suggests that sockaddr_storage was a response to the need for a more flexible and platform-adaptable structure.
7. Core copyright violation moves ahead in The Intercept’s lawsuit against OpenAI
Total comment counts : 22
Summary
The article discusses a recent court decision by a New York federal judge allowing a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) claim by The Intercept against OpenAI to proceed. The claim centers on OpenAI’s alleged removal of authorship and copyright information from The Intercept’s articles when using them to train ChatGPT. This ruling is part of broader legal challenges facing OpenAI, as it also faced dismissals in other related lawsuits. Notably, claims against Microsoft, an investor in OpenAI, were dismissed in this case, but the core DMCA claim against OpenAI was upheld. This legal strategy, focusing on DMCA violations rather than direct copyright infringement, is novel for digital news publishers, many of whom do not register their content with the U.S. Copyright Office due to the cost and effort involved. The article highlights the significance of this approach in the context of AI training data usage, with potential implications for how digital content is treated under copyright law. Other digital news outlets like Raw Story and AlterNet have also faced setbacks in similar claims but are attempting to refine their legal arguments. The outcome of these cases could influence how AI companies use copyrighted material in the future.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article expresses a desire for AI to provide more transparent and sourced responses, citing specific sources and dates, rather than giving confident, unsourced statements. The author also mentions their frustration with ongoing copyright lawsuits, suggesting they view these legal actions as primarily motivated by rent-seeking behavior, and expresses a general disdain for the current state of copyright law.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article discusses a legal case where The Intercept, along with Raw Story and AlterNet, are pursuing damages against OpenAI under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) for allegedly using copyrighted content in the training datasets for ChatGPT. Key points include:
Legal Strategy: The Intercept’s lawsuit might encourage other publications to consider similar legal action, though few have done so far. There’s a concern about the statute of limitations potentially limiting new lawsuits against OpenAI.
Potential Damages: The publications are seeking $2,500 for each instance of alleged copyright infringement. If each article used in training constitutes a violation, the total damages could amount to tens of millions of dollars.
Cost Comparison: The article questions whether the cost to retrain AI models like ChatGPT, excluding the copyrighted material, might be comparable to the potential damages awarded in court.
This case highlights the growing tension between AI development companies and content creators regarding the use of copyrighted material in AI training processes.
8. William James and the philosophy of pragmatism (2018)
Total comment counts : 9
Summary
The article discusses William James, a key figure in American philosophy and psychology, known for his development of pragmatism. Born into a wealthy and intellectually stimulating family, James was exposed to a wide range of thinkers and ideas from a young age, which influenced his eclectic career path. Despite his privileged background, James struggled with personal health issues and psychological challenges, including depression, which he managed through various unconventional methods.
James’s professional life was marked by his reluctance to conform to traditional academic structures; he was known for his spontaneous teaching style at Harvard, where despite his disdain for formal teaching, he was highly influential and appreciated by students like Walter Lippmann and W.E.B. Du Bois. His major works include “The Principles of Psychology,” which became a seminal text, and numerous essays that explored human significance, optimism, and religious experience. His philosophy of pragmatism emphasized testing beliefs and decisions by their practical outcomes.
His personal life was equally complex; his marriage to Alice Gibbens was a source of stability and love, though he continued to battle personal demons, seeking solace in nature, travel, and even psychic consultations. James’s contributions extended beyond academia, affecting how Americans thought about psychology, philosophy, and even religion, making him a pivotal figure in American intellectual history. His life and work continue to be relevant, illustrating the interplay between personal struggle and intellectual achievement.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses William James’ ideas from “The Gospel of Relaxation,” where he suggests that one should limit introspection to avoid negative feelings. Instead, he advocates for behavioral changes to influence emotions positively; for instance, acting brave to feel brave or smiling to become cheerful. This concept is now popularly known as “fake it till you make it,” and the author adds their own take, suggesting that action itself can generate motivation.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article mentions that “The Metaphysical Club” is a highly recommended book which discusses a particular subject and group of people.
9. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, What Is the Best Topology of Them All?
Total comment counts : 5
Summary
The article explains that the website is protected by Cloudflare’s security services, which have blocked the user due to a potential security threat. This block could be triggered by various actions like entering specific words or phrases, SQL commands, or submitting malformed data. Users are advised to contact the site owner to report the issue, including details of what they were doing at the time and providing the Cloudflare Ray ID for reference. The user’s IP address is also mentioned as part of the security log.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses how biological neurons, through millions of years of evolution, naturally develop varied network topologies suited for different brain functions:
Neuronal Topology: Neurons form complex networks or “meta-topologies” using axons and dendrites, inherently biased towards local connections.
Brain Region Variability: Different parts of the brain like the hippocampus and cerebral lobes exhibit distinct neuronal structures, possibly serving different computational purposes. The hippocampus has a more striated (layered) appearance, while cerebral lobes are stratified.
Learning and Communication: The article suggests that these varied topologies might not all support backpropagation (a common learning algorithm in artificial neural networks), but rather facilitate different forms of distributed learning through co-activation neighborhoods. This implies that the brain might use multiple methods for learning and information processing beyond simple bidirectional communication.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article you referenced discusses the Connection Machine, a parallel processing computer developed in the 1980s, which Richard Feynman was involved with. Here’s a summary:
Connection Machine Overview: The Connection Machine was an early example of massively parallel computing, designed by Danny Hillis and funded by Thinking Machines Corporation. It was unique for its time due to its architecture which utilized thousands of simple processors working simultaneously.
Feynman’s Involvement: Richard Feynman, a renowned physicist, was brought in to work on the Connection Machine because of his expertise in quantum mechanics and his ability to think outside traditional computational paradigms. He contributed to the development of algorithms for this new type of computer, focusing on how to effectively manage and utilize its parallel processing capabilities.
Key Points:
- Parallelism: The machine was built around the concept of parallel computation, where many processors could work on different parts of a problem at the same time.
- Applications: It was envisioned to be used in various fields like artificial intelligence, simulation, and large-scale data analysis.
- Feynman’s Contributions: Feynman’s work included thinking about how physical processes could be simulated on such a machine, which led to insights into quantum computing and other computational physics problems.
- Legacy: The Connection Machine didn’t become widely commercial but was influential in the evolution of parallel computing concepts, which are now integral to modern supercomputing and AI research.
The article provides context on how Feynman’s involvement helped bridge theoretical physics with practical computing applications, showcasing his unique approach to problem-solving in a new technological landscape.
10. Car tires shed a quarter of all microplastics in the environment
Total comment counts : 33
Summary
The article states that a user’s request was blocked due to the server’s security policies, and suggests contacting the support team if the block is believed to be a mistake.
Top 1 Comment Summary
The article discusses a conversation about the weight of electric vehicles (EVs) compared to internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. The author was surprised to find that their BMW 3 was heavier than their EV, suggesting that while EVs might generally be heavier than average ICE cars, this isn’t always the case when comparing direct replacements in specific ownership scenarios. The author also mentions their previous car, a Subaru Outback, was heavier than their current Nissan Leaf. They argue against taxing vehicles based on weight due to pollution concerns, proposing instead that tires should be taxed based on their material composition, especially if pollution from tires is a significant issue. They suggest that Formula 1 could race on a single set of tires to foster innovations that could benefit everyday tire technology, focusing on reducing pollution from tire wear.
Top 2 Comment Summary
The article references a study from the 1980s in the Los Angeles basin which found that over five tons of tire dust, which is breathable, are released into the atmosphere daily. This figure has likely not decreased since the study was conducted.