1. Show HN: I completed shipping my desktop app

Total comment counts : 73

Summary

The article describes Pimosa, a versatile application that integrates over 20 simple yet powerful tools for editing, converting, and enhancing media files. Here are the key points:

  • Functionality: Pimosa offers tools for video, audio, and image manipulation including compression, conversion, resizing, merging, flipping, rotating, speed adjustment, GIF creation, audio extraction, and metadata editing. It supports batch editing for efficiency.

  • User Experience: The app features a user-friendly interface with minimalistic editors for video, audio, and images, allowing for easy trimming, cropping, and other basic edits. It also includes built-in players for immediate file playback.

  • Platform Support: Available on both macOS and Windows, making it accessible for users on different operating systems.

  • Community Feedback: Users have praised Pimosa for its comprehensive functionality, ease of use, and the support for developers. It’s highlighted as a convenient all-in-one tool for various media editing needs, appreciated by professionals like photographers and video editors.

  • Features: The app reduces the need for multiple tools by providing all essential media editing functions in one lightweight application. It emphasizes privacy by processing files on the device, and it supports offline usage.

Overall, Pimosa is presented as an indispensable tool for anyone needing to edit media files quickly and efficiently, with positive feedback from its user base.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article provides advice to a software developer or company on product distribution and licensing:

  1. Pricing and Updates: It recommends adopting a business model where the software is initially offered with a year of free updates, followed by a small fee for continued updates. This approach is suggested as a strategy that will eventually be adopted, so it’s better to implement it early.

  2. Distribution: The author emphasizes the importance of having a standalone Windows installer, noting that the Windows Store is not popular among most Windows users, potentially leading to loss of customers if this distribution method is relied upon exclusively.

  3. Dependencies: There’s a mention of properly acknowledging dependencies like ffmpeg. This is important both for ethical reasons (giving credit where it’s due) and technical reasons (ensuring the software does not rely on system-provided codecs, which might not be present or could require additional installations).

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article discusses feedback on a website called Pimosa, which appears to be a video compression tool. Here are the key points:

  1. SEO Concerns: The site has SEO issues because most page titles are identical, which is not optimal for search engine optimization. Different titles for pages like “Pricing” or “Compress Your Video Files” are recommended.

  2. Functionality Suggestions:

    • The video compressor could be improved by allowing users to set a target file size, useful for applications with file size limits.
    • There’s a suggestion for automating the compression process with smarter algorithms or libraries.

  3. Additional Features: The reviewer suggests adding features for handling subtitles, like creating subtitled GIFs from video files.

  4. Legal and Content Issues: There’s a concern about the use of copyrighted material (Spider-Verse movie) in demo videos unless legally sourced.

  5. Editorial Suggestions:

    • The site contains minor grammatical and capitalization errors that could be fixed for a more professional appearance.
    • A prominent “Download” box that detects the user’s OS automatically is suggested to improve user experience.

  6. General Impression: Despite these issues, the reviewer finds the site visually appealing and suggests it shows a lot of effort and love in its creation.

2. F-Droid Fake Signer PoC

Total comment counts : 10

Summary

The article discusses vulnerabilities in the APK signing process of F-Droid, an open-source software repository for Android apps. Here are the key points:

  1. Certificate Pinning Bypass: The F-Droid server’s method of checking APK signatures (looking at certificates in reverse order) differs from how Android checks them, leading to potential security issues where F-Droid might accept a fake certificate that Android would ignore.

  2. APK Signing Block Anomalies: The article mentions that the Android APK Signing Block can contain arbitrary data, allowing two APKs with the same signature to behave differently, which was not addressed despite earlier reports.

  3. Discrepancy in Signature Handling: Tools like apksigner and androguard handle duplicate signing blocks differently, which can be exploited. F-Droid’s server uses androguard, making it susceptible to seeing incorrect certificates.

  4. Vulnerability Exploitation: By manipulating the order or content of certificates in the APK’s signing block, it’s possible to bypass F-Droid’s certificate pinning. This doesn’t require a valid signature, just the certificate’s presence.

  5. Multiple Certificates in Signatures: While v2/v3 signatures have a defined order for certificates, v1 signatures do not, allowing for manipulation where F-Droid might accept the wrong certificate.

  6. Patches and Fixes: Despite suggestions for fixes, F-Droid implemented patches that did not fully address the vulnerabilities, allowing certain exploit methods to still work.

  7. Warnings and Communication: There were multiple reports and warnings to F-Droid about these issues, but the responses were not fully effective in resolving the security concerns.

Overall, the article highlights significant security flaws in F-Droid’s APK verification process that could allow malicious actors to bypass certificate checks, thereby compromising app integrity and security.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses the need for a more rigorous approach to defining and verifying digital signatures for artifacts, particularly in the context of software development:

  1. Clarity on Signatures: The author emphasizes the importance of knowing which keys are used to sign an artifact and what the hash of the unsigned version of that artifact is.

  2. Tool Enhancements: There’s a call for signature verification tools to provide outputs in a machine-readable format to facilitate automation and clarity in verification processes.

  3. Experience with Android and Nix: The author shares personal experience working on reproducibility of Android apps and system images using Nix, suggesting that while defining strict verification steps might seem unusual, it helps highlight issues with current practices.

  4. Ongoing Work: The author is currently focusing on fundamental trust issues that could potentially be addressed using systems like Nix.

The underlying theme is the enhancement of security and trust through better-defined and automated verification processes in software artifacts.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article discusses an issue with F-Droid, a repository for free and open-source Android apps. Although F-Droid typically builds apps from source, it seems they mishandled a particular issue. The potential for disaster was only avoided due to fortunate circumstances.

3. B-Trees: More Than I Thought I’d Want to Know

Total comment counts : 9

Summary

The article discusses the importance of B-Trees in database storage engines, as highlighted in Alex Petrov’s book “Database Internals.” Here are the key points:

  1. B-Trees in Databases: B-Trees are central to many database storage engines due to their efficiency in handling disk I/O. Unlike the typical visualizations of B-Trees with a small number of children (3-5), real-world B-Trees can store hundreds of keys per node, which significantly reduces the number of disk seeks required for operations.

  2. Why B-Trees Over Binary Search Trees (BSTs):

    • Locality: BSTs on disk would suffer from poor locality, leading to numerous disk seeks because nodes are not necessarily stored close to each other. B-Trees address this by packing multiple keys into a single node, thus reducing the need for multiple seeks.
    • Fanout: B-Trees have a much higher fanout compared to BSTs, allowing more key comparisons per disk access.

  3. Disk I/O Considerations: The article explains that disk access patterns are crucial for performance. Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) favor sequential access over random due to mechanical limitations, while Solid State Drives (SSDs) also benefit from locality due to their internal structure.

  4. Visualization and Motivation: The author reflects on how traditional teaching of B-Trees lacks in providing motivating examples or effective visualizations, which can obscure their practical utility in database systems.

  5. Implementation Details: Petrov’s book delves into how keys are laid out on disk to maximize locality and efficiency, which is an area of B-Tree design that adds to their effectiveness in databases.

In summary, B-Trees are optimized for disk storage in databases by reducing the number of disk seeks through high fanout and better locality, addressing the inefficiencies inherent in simpler structures like BSTs when used in persistent storage environments.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses the implementation of a concurrent recoverable B-link Tree, which was developed based on research by Ibrahim Jaluta. The implementation details are documented and can be found on the SimpleDBM project’s readthedocs page, with the actual source code hosted on GitHub under the username ‘dibyendumajumdar’.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article discusses the structure and benefits of slotted pages, which consist of:

  1. Header: Contains metadata about the page.
  2. Cells: Variable-sized slots where data is stored.
  3. Offset Pointers: An array of pointers that indicate where each cell is located within the page.

The key advantages highlighted are:

  • Variable-sized data storage: Cells can accommodate data of varying sizes without needing to move the data itself when reordering.
  • Efficient reordering: Instead of moving the actual data, only the small pointers need to be reordered, which is less resource-intensive since the pointers are small and located at a known position at the page’s start.

The article then poses a question about the efficiency of this method, particularly in scenarios where the entire tree node (or page) might need to be rewritten just to reorder these pointers. This suggests a consideration of whether the benefits of slotted pages hold up in all contexts, especially when physical reordering of data might be necessary.

4. In Colorado, a marriage of solar energy and farming

Total comment counts : 19

Summary

Byron Kominek transformed his family’s 24-acre farm in Colorado into Jack’s Solar Garden, a site for agrivoltaic research. Facing the challenges of modern farming with little experience, Kominek installed 3,276 solar panels that not only generate electricity for about 300 homes but also support agricultural activities beneath them. The panels, raised eight feet off the ground, allow for the farming of various crops and grazing of animals, providing shade that is increasingly vital as temperatures rise due to climate change. This agrivoltaic approach helps in soil protection, offers additional income through solar energy sales, and adapts to changing climate conditions. Kominek’s initiative, driven by the need for sustainable income and influenced by his diverse background, challenges traditional solar installations by promoting land use that benefits both energy production and agriculture. However, he notes that the current evaluation systems for solar projects often overlook land stewardship, focusing instead on cost and prior experience, potentially neglecting the long-term benefits for local communities and ecosystems.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses a research project focused on the economics of a dual-purpose installation involving solar panels and crop cultivation. According to the publication linked in the article, the project’s costs are double that of typical utility-scale solar installations, making it unprofitable if only considering revenue from electricity sales at market rates. However, there is potential for the project to break even if high-value crops are successfully integrated and their sales are included in the revenue calculations.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article discusses how farmers can leverage energy management to enhance profitability and efficiency in agriculture:

  1. Energy Consumption for Farming Processes: Farmers can engage in energy-intensive activities like drying wheat, heating greenhouses, or cooling dairy products, which could yield a higher return through cost avoidance and increased market prices than merely selling back electricity at a low rate.

  2. Time Shifting of Energy: The concept of storing energy as heat or coolness (“coolth”) for later use is highlighted, noting that managing energy in this way can lead to financial savings.

  3. Technological Advancements: The use of agricultural drones for tasks like spraying and weeding is mentioned, suggesting that electric vehicle charging could be another area for cost savings.

  4. Seasonal Storage and Arbitrage: Storing produce in cold storage to sell at a higher price during off-season or when market prices are favorable is suggested as a strategy for maximizing farm yields against predictable price changes.

  5. Alternative Uses of Land: Farms often have land less suitable for traditional farming which could be utilized for deploying large-scale energy storage solutions like flow batteries, which are cost-effective due to their longevity and capacity.

  6. Local Market Opportunities: In places like Colorado, with affluent populations, there’s potential for growing high-value, out-of-season microherbs.

  7. Energy Integration with Farming: The article points out that farms are inherently in the business of converting solar energy into produce, making energy management and storage a natural extension of their operations, optimizing the use of the same energy source in different forms.

5. Self driving 1993 Volvo with open pilot

Total comment counts : 17

Summary

The article details the author’s plan to participate in the Carbage Run 2025 Winter edition, a 6-day, 6000km journey from Sweden to the polar circle and back to Helsinki, in a car that must be over 20 years old and worth less than €1000. The author, along with friends, bought a 1993 Volvo 940 Estate for this event. To make the journey unique and more manageable, they decided to convert this old car into a semi-self-driving vehicle using technology from openpilot by comma.ai, where the author works as a hardware engineer.

The main challenge was retrofitting modern electronic actuators into the old Volvo, particularly for steering, which was originally hydraulic. They adapted an Electric Power Steering (EPS) system from a 2020 Toyota Corolla, modifying it to fit into the Volvo’s steering column. This involved significant mechanical adjustments, including cutting and welding parts to integrate the EPS motor and adding an external steering angle sensor. The modifications were surprisingly accommodated under the car’s dashboard with minimal further adjustments needed. The author plans to discuss wiring and further details in a future blog post.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article praises the Volvo 940 for its quality and design evolution from earlier Volvo models. The author expresses a wish that the Volvo 940 had been available with all-wheel drive and a fuel-efficient diesel engine in the USA. Additionally, the author critiques an article or project where the writer attempted to install electrical controls in the Volvo:

  1. ABS Pump Swap: The author suggests that instead of complex modifications, a newer BOSCH ABS pump could be installed to simplify brake control.

  2. Steering Modifications: Suggestions include replacing the steering system with an electric or fully manual rack from an older Volvo model, or modifying the existing power steering to only engage at low speeds.

  3. Misunderstanding of Fuel System: The author corrects the assumption that the Volvo 940 has a carburetor, clarifying that it uses electronic fuel injection, and notes the presence of a factory cruise control system which could have been utilized for easier modifications.

The article highlights both the car’s attributes and provides practical advice for modifications based on the author’s knowledge of Volvo mechanics.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article discusses the challenge of finding a modern automotive solution for a major actuator in older carburetor-based systems due to the shift towards direct fuel injection and advanced engine control units in newer cars. While fuel injection systems operate independently of the throttle, the integration of these systems into modern throttle bodies presents compatibility issues since carburetors require a different setup upstream of the throttle plate.

6. Breaking Up with Long Tasks or: how I learned to group loops and wield the yield

Total comment counts : 10

Summary

The article discusses the pitfalls of synchronous array processing in web development, which can lead to long, blocking tasks that degrade user experience by causing delays in interaction responsiveness. Here are the key points:

  1. Synchronous Loops: Traditional loops like for..of, forEach, and map are synchronous, meaning they block the execution until they complete, potentially causing long tasks.

  2. Impact of Long Tasks: These tasks can make user interfaces unresponsive, especially if they coincide with or are triggered by user interactions, leading to slow Interaction to Next Paint (INP) and poor user experience.

  3. Asynchronous Processing: To mitigate this, developers can make loops asynchronous by using async/await with methods like setTimeout(0) or the newer scheduler.yield(), though the latter isn’t universally supported yet.

  4. Challenges with Array Methods: Methods like forEach and map don’t respect asynchronous operations within their callbacks, leading to a complete block of execution.

  5. Alternative Approaches:

    • For..of Loop: Switching to a for..of loop with await allows yielding control back to the event loop, reducing the impact of long tasks.
    • Reduce Method: While tempting for functional programming enthusiasts, reduce when used with promises can still queue up tasks synchronously before processing, not solving the responsiveness issue effectively.

  6. Batching: To optimize, the article suggests processing multiple items before yielding, known as batching, to balance between responsiveness and performance overhead.

  7. Browser Differences: The performance of nested timeouts versus scheduler.yield varies significantly, with nested timeouts causing much longer completion times due to a 4ms delay between nested calls in browsers.

The article concludes that while yielding control back to the browser frequently is beneficial for responsiveness, it’s not without its costs, and finding the right balance through batching or choosing the appropriate method is crucial for optimal performance.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses the complexity and unexpected challenges of ensuring that user interface (UI) threads are not blocked, particularly highlighting an edge case involving background tabs. The author expresses frustration over the necessity to understand and handle specific APIs like document.hidden just to manage basic UI responsiveness, which should ideally be managed automatically by the system without affecting typical event loop operations.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article discusses how modern browsers face similar challenges to those encountered in older versions of MacOS, particularly with maintaining application responsiveness. It points out that:

  1. Historical Context: Techniques used in pre-MacOS X to ensure applications remained responsive are being revisited in current browser technology, especially in handling UI thread operations.

  2. Programming Model: The article questions what would be a suitable programming model for browsers to prevent processing in event handlers from blocking the main UI thread, similar to how MacOS transitioned to preemptive multitasking by adopting NeXT’s Unix kernel after acquiring NeXT.

  3. Forced Change: It mentions how Apple enforced a shift in programming paradigms by integrating NeXT technology and dismissing engineers opposed to the change, suggesting that a similar drastic measure might be necessary for browsers to adopt new methods to keep the UI responsive.

7. How to draw an outline in a video game

Total comment counts : 17

Summary

The article discusses various techniques for rendering outlines around objects in Unity, which can enhance visual aesthetics or gameplay by highlighting objects:

  1. Fresnel Effect: This method uses a formula to create an outline effect based on the angle between the normal vector of an object’s surface and the view direction. It’s particularly effective for spherical or rounded objects, creating an inner outline that appears at the edges or rims. However, it fails to produce good results on objects with sharp edges like cubes.

  2. Duplicate Mesh Technique:

    • Simple Scaling: The object’s mesh is duplicated, and vertices are moved along their own vectors from the center, effectively scaling the mesh up uniformly. This method works better for spheres but can result in uneven outlines for other shapes.
    • Vertex Movement Along Normals: Here, vertices of the duplicate mesh are extruded along their normal vectors. This gives a nice outline for objects with smooth surfaces but can show gaps in models with sharp edges due to issues with how normals are handled.

    Both scaling and normal vector methods for the duplicate mesh technique aim to create a visible outline by rendering a larger version of the object behind the original. However, they still struggle with achieving a perfect equal-width outline due to the limitations of working in object space.

The article also mentions that after posting this, the author created a toolkit called “Linework” for Unity, suggesting an evolved or comprehensive solution for outline rendering.

These techniques vary in complexity and effectiveness depending on the geometry of the object they are applied to, with each having its pros and cons regarding outline quality, visibility, and computational cost.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article linked discusses the “Jump Flood Algorithm,” which is praised for its innovative approach to generating outlines of any width efficiently. Here are the key points:

  • Efficiency: The algorithm allows for creating outlines of any width in linear time, which is significantly more efficient than brute-force methods, especially at larger widths.

  • SDF (Signed Distance Fields): It’s highlighted as a clever method for generating SDFs, which are useful for various graphical computations beyond just outlines.

  • Versatility of SDFs: The article mentions that SDFs can be vector-based, function-based (like those by Inigo Quilez), or raster-based (like in the Jump Flood Algorithm).

  • Tools and Applications: The reader mentions Houdini, a software that supports raster-SDFs well, and suggests exploring its tools for those interested in SDFs.

  • General Utility: SDFs are noted for their wide application in graphics, making them worthy of increased awareness and exploration.

The reader expresses enthusiasm for the technical depth of pixel-level manipulation and the practical applications of such algorithms.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article snippet inquires about the aftermath of Unity’s pricing controversy, questioning whether developers migrated to other engines like Unreal or Godot, or if Unity’s apologies and policy changes were enough to retain its user base.

8. Phase behavior of Cacio and Pepe sauce

Total comment counts : 27

Summary

The article introduces arXivLabs, a platform by arXiv where collaborators can create and share new features on the arXiv website. It emphasizes that both individuals and organizations involved with arXivLabs uphold values such as openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. The text also mentions that arXiv is dedicated to these values and only collaborates with partners who share them. Additionally, there is an invitation for anyone with project ideas that could benefit the arXiv community to learn more about arXivLabs. Lastly, it provides information on how to receive status updates about arXiv’s operations via email or Slack.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article reveals that the secret to making traditional cacio e pepe in restaurants involves using pasta water that has been enriched with starch over time. Unlike the relatively starch-poor water from cooking a single batch of pasta at home, restaurant pasta water accumulates starch from multiple servings cooked throughout the day or week, aiding in the emulsification of the sauce. To replicate this at home, one could add cornstarch or flour to their pasta water to increase its starch content or use an alternative emulsifier.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article describes a unique pasta cooking method called “pasta risottata,” where:

  1. Pasta is cooked in minimal water rather than the usual large pot of boiling water.
  2. The sauce is mixed with the starchy water left from cooking the pasta to create an emulsion, enhancing the flavor and texture of the dish.

The result is that no water needs to be drained from the pasta, as all the cooking liquid is incorporated into the sauce. A video link is provided for further demonstration of this technique.

9. Do Files want to be Actors?

Total comment counts : 18

Summary

The article discusses the evolution of I/O operations in Linux through the introduction of io_uring, a mechanism that revolutionizes how applications interact with the operating system for I/O tasks. Here are the key points:

  • io_uring introduces a new model where two queues manage I/O operations, allowing applications to submit requests asynchronously without blocking on system calls. This means applications can continue processing while I/O operations are handled in the background by the kernel.

  • The structure of an async request in io_uring includes an opcode which represents traditional system calls like open, read, write, thereby abstracting away the traditional function call semantics.

  • The article draws a parallel between io_uring and the actor model from the 1970s, conceptualized by Carl Hewitt and Henry Baker. In this model, entities (actors) communicate via messages, similar to how io_uring handles I/O requests. Both models focus on concurrency and asynchronous communication, where the sender does not wait for an immediate response but instead continues processing.

  • This convergence suggests a shift in computing paradigms from direct system calls, which are likened to remote procedure calls with their inherent inefficiencies, to a model where the operating system manages tasks more independently and asynchronously.

  • The author implies that this might mark a new era in operating system design, moving towards models that better handle concurrency and asynchronous operations, reducing the need for developers to manage low-level synchronization primitives like mutexes or spinlocks.

The article concludes by suggesting that traditional Unix system calls might be outdated for modern computing needs, proposing that asynchronous, message-based communication could be more aligned with current and future system requirements.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses the evolution of computing paradigms, particularly focusing on asynchronous I/O and multitasking operating systems:

  1. Asynchronous I/O: Introduced with the Univac 1103A in 1953, this allowed computation to continue while I/O operations were in progress, significantly increasing system throughput but also introducing complexity and potential for bugs.

  2. Multitasking Operating Systems: Developed to make asynchronous I/O more manageable by allowing simple sequential code to be written while the OS handled task switching. This innovation made systems less bug-prone and more efficient.

  3. Historical Context: Asynchronous I/O predates Unix by 20 years, with numerous systems and technologies like CICS, select(), poll(), and others evolving to manage I/O operations more efficiently.

  4. Performance Trade-offs: While event loops and other mechanisms have often provided better performance than context switching in multitasking, the balance between I/O speed and task switching efficiency has shifted over time.

  5. Paradigm Shifts: The article mentions potential shifts like Erlang-style processes, software transactional memory, and JS-style promises as alternatives or enhancements to traditional asynchronous I/O models.

  6. Hardware Innovations: It discusses the failure of Intel/Micron’s Optane memory and the need for zero-copy interfaces for bulk persistent data, suggesting that technologies like mmap() or systems like Multics could offer significant performance improvements.

  7. Future Speculations: The author speculates on the potential of using high-bandwidth, low-cost memory like Flash for tasks like LLM (Large Language Model) inference, suggesting that future systems could manage large models with minimal RAM.

The article concludes that while asynchronous I/O isn’t a new “game-changing” concept, the search for better paradigms and hardware solutions continues to drive innovation in computing performance and efficiency.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article discusses the evolution of I/O operations in operating systems, specifically critiquing the notion that modern systems inherently operate asynchronously:

  • Asynchronous vs. Synchronous I/O: The author argues that despite modern systems wanting to operate asynchronously, Linux’s I/O system remains fundamentally synchronous. Traditional Unix system calls from the 1970s are still the primary method for I/O operations in Linux.

  • I/O U-Ring: This is highlighted as an abstraction layer which attempts to introduce an asynchronous appearance to I/O operations in Linux. However, it essentially manages synchronous operations within a kernel-maintained pool of worker threads.

  • Complexity of Asynchronous I/O: The article notes the challenges in implementing truly asynchronous I/O, especially for file operations involving complex interactions with page caches for both file contents and metadata. This complexity often results in synchronous handling even in systems like Windows, which is known for its asynchronous I/O capabilities.

  • Summary: The author suggests that the I/O U-Ring in Linux is an attempt to fit a new (asynchronous) mental model onto an old (synchronous) reality, indicating that the underlying system calls and operations still adhere to older, synchronous methods. The real innovation with I/O U-Ring is allowing bulk submission of I/O requests, giving the illusion of asynchronous operation to the user program.

10. Swc4j: SWC for Java

Total comment counts : 2

Summary

The article discusses swc4j (SWC for Java), a tool designed for ultra-fast compilation and bundling of JavaScript and TypeScript on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). It’s integrated into the Javet portfolio to handle JavaScript and TypeScript code processing before execution in environments like Node.js or V8 on JVM. The tool is released under the Apache License, Version 2.0. The developers emphasize that they consider all feedback seriously, with further details available in their documentation.

Top 1 Comment Summary

The article discusses the author’s interest in a new Typescript parser for the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). The author has been considering developing such a parser due to the need for parsing Typescript type definitions. However, upon further investigation, the parser in question turns out to be a Java Native Interface (JNI) bridge to existing Rust code from SWC, rather than a fully native JVM solution, which was not the author’s preference.

Top 2 Comment Summary

The article provided is extremely brief and does not offer enough detail to provide a substantive summary. It simply poses a question about potential use cases for an unspecified subject. Therefore, a summary isn’t feasible without additional context. If you provide more information about what “this” refers to, I could help identify and summarize possible use cases.