hackernews

1. Starship Flight 5: Launch and booster catch [video] Total comment counts : 119 Summary error Top 1 Comment Summary The article praises the engineering team’s achievements at SpaceX, particularly highlighting the impressive ‘chopsticks catch’ of the booster, although it raises concerns about the associated risks and suggests the need for better fire suppression systems. Observations include the heatshield’s performance and unexpected asymmetric heating on the flaps, which indicates they are nearing workable solutions....

1. AMD’s Turin: 5th Gen EPYC Launched Total comment counts : 16 Summary The article discusses hands-on experiences with the AMD EPYC 9575F processor, focusing specifically on its memory subsystem enhancements. It highlights the impressive memory bandwidth capabilities of the 9575F—around 52 GB/s for reads and 48 GB/s for writes—compared to desktop counterparts, largely due to its dual GMI links to the I/O die. The processor supports up to 12 channels of DDR5 memory at varying speeds, commonly up to 6000 MT/s in most systems....

1. A Lisp compiler to RISC-V written in Lisp Total comment counts : 12 Summary The article discusses a simple experimental Lisp compiler written in uLisp that compiles Lisp functions into RISC-V machine code. It can be run on RISC-V cores like those in the Raspberry Pi Pico 2, building on an earlier project that compiled Lisp to ARM. The compiler is based on the structured nature of Lisp, removing the need for separate tokenizing or parsing, and is compatible with Common Lisp for displaying generated code, albeit not for execution....

1. Helping wikis move away from Fandom Total comment counts : 63 Summary The article discusses Weird Gloop’s recent transition to host the official League of Legends Wiki, moving it from Fandom to create a player-friendly platform. The author highlights their desire for communities to regain control from Fandom and build better wikis, citing past efforts like the Minecraft Wiki’s transition. The author expresses a deep appreciation for wikis, emphasizing their collaborative spirit and the psychological toll of managing wikis on Fandom, where ads and poor content management compromise the user experience....

1. John Carmack on inlined code (2014) Total comment counts : 37 Summary In a comment dated September 26, 2014, John Carmack reflects on an email he sent in 2007 discussing coding practices, particularly focusing on inlining code and its implications for software reliability. Initially skeptical about pure functional programming, he has since recognized its benefits in reducing unexpected dependencies and state mutations. He emphasizes that while inlining can expose the complexity of state changes, it encourages better coding practices, pushing programmers to refactor impure code into pure functions....

1. Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton [pdf] Total comment counts : 128 Summary error Top 1 Comment Summary The article discusses the surprising nature of recent Nobel Prize winners in Physics, highlighting a trend where winners are not widely recognized even within their subfields. It specifically mentions the 2016 winners Kosterlitz, Thouless, and Haldane as deserving, despite not being household names. A point of contention is the inclusion of Geoffrey Hinton, who has minimal experience in physics, whose contributions are deemed unsuitable for a physics prize....

1. Can you get root with only a cigarette lighter? Total comment counts : 31 Summary In his article, David Buchanan discusses the creative process of hardware fault injection (HFI), a technique used for exploiting software vulnerabilities when bugs are scarce. He explains various forms of fault injection—including electromagnetic pulses and glitches—and acknowledges that traditional HFI often requires expensive specialized equipment. However, Buchanan highlights affordable alternatives, such as using an RP2040-based device and even a piezo-electric BBQ igniter for electromagnetic fault injection....

1. Arthur Whitney’s one liner sudoku solver (2011) Total comment counts : 29 Summary error Top 1 Comment Summary The article discusses the programming language K, created by Arthur Whitney. K is derived from APL and Scheme. It includes a specific line of code demonstrating its syntax and functionality, showcasing how it operates with certain mathematical and array operations. Top 2 Comment Summary The article highlights the advantages of the K programming language, noting its speed, efficient handling of arrays, and expressive syntax as key features that advocates emphasize....

1. Noise Total comment counts : 29 Summary error Top 1 Comment Summary The author describes a fun experience involving a loud sound from their computer that startled both them and their cat, leading the cat to scratch the author’s legs. Despite the scare, the author finds the situation amusing. Top 2 Comment Summary The article discusses the ability to utilize different modes in a JavaScript project using search parameters, specifically in the context of a GitHub repository related to a sound library....

1. Why does man print “gimme gimme gimme” at 00:30? (2017) Total comment counts : 37 Summary The article discusses an amusing issue related to the man command, specifically an easter egg that outputs “gimme gimme gimme” (a reference to an ABBA song) when run without arguments at 00:30. This easter egg was added playfully by developer Colin Watson six years ago but began causing unexpected failures in automated tests. After reflection, Watson decided to remove the easter egg in the upcoming man-db 2....