MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by jchw | 2025-06-04 22:56:53+00:00
The Wikipedia article about Exception handling[1] does a better job discussing the history and background IMO. Also, obviously when we say "exceptions" in a programming language, we're definitely talking about "exception handling", the word is omitted because it's obvious on context. I'd argue that one's on you if you thought otherwise. (If we're just talking about an "exception", well the Go error object is an "exception", but it's pretty obvious you're not merely talking about that.)

True to my word, I won't argue over the definition itself.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_handling_(programmin...

P.S.:

> There can be in name and reasonable equivalency: https://go.dev/play/p/RrO1OrzIPNe I'm not sure what it buys you, though. You haven't functionally changed anything. For this reason, I'm not convinced by the signifaince of syntax.

To me this is no different than implementing "exception handling" with setjmp/longjmp, just less work to do. For example, Go doesn't have pattern matching; implementing an equivalent feature with closures does not make this any less true.
by jlaternman | 2025-06-04 22:57:43+00:00
Yes! It needs and seems to want the human to be a deep collaborator. If you take that approach, it is actually a second senior developer you can work with. You need to push it, and explain the complexities in detail to get fuller rewards. And get it to document everything important it learns from each session's context. It wants to collaborate to make you a 10X coder, not to do your work for you while you laze. That is the biggest breakthrough I have found. They basically react like human brains, with the same kind of motives. Their output can vary dramatically based on the input you provide.
by modeless | 2025-06-04 22:57:55+00:00
I wouldn't trust a general LLM trained on reddit and 4chan (literally!) to run `rm` on my machine. But I would absolutely trust a purpose-built model trained on hundreds or thousands of years of data for a specific task. Models trained for specific tasks on huge datasets can be very reliable; certainly more reliable than humans.

I wouldn't let GPT-5 drive my car, but I let FSD drive it every day. It's not perfect yet, but I definitely see a day very soon when it will be better than me or any other single human, with all the failures humans have.
by alemanek | 2025-06-04 22:58:22+00:00
That is still no excuse.

The majority of the population of the US claims the standard deduction and has all their income in the form of W2 or 1099 which is reported to the IRS by the employer. Those people can be served by a return free filing system.

The minority which have more complicated taxes can still file like they do today. But even adding on investment income and housing related deductions the IRS likely has enough information to calculate what is owed.

We shouldn’t let perfect be the enemy of better. I know you weren’t arguing that point but just because the tax code is complex doesn’t mean it is complex for everyone’s situation
by ninkendo | 2025-06-04 22:58:28+00:00
After coding in swift for ~5 years at job - 1, I can count on one hand the times I had to deal with a reference cycle, and in each instance it was obvious in context that there was going to be a cycle so I used “weak” in anticipation. Zero times did I ever accidentally forget to use a weak reference.

A simple rule of thumb is that if anything has a parent/child relationship, the child should use the weak keyword (or even “unowned” if you’re certain about object lifetimes) when referring back to the parent. That and things like hand-rolled doubly linked lists, but the standard library already has that so who cares.
by rukuu001 | 2025-06-04 22:58:39+00:00
Indeed. My father spent a lot of time bellowing at cockatoos that’d land in his fruit trees and tear them to pieces. He’d storm about and wave a broom at them until they took off. Classic old man yelling at clouds.

When he was on the other side of the house in the garage, they’d take fruit from the trees and drop them on the sloping driveway so they rolled down into the garage. Come play old fella.
by 63 | 2025-06-04 22:58:47+00:00
While I also disagree with the court order and OpenAI's implementation (along with pretty much everything else the company does), the conspiratorial thinking in the comments here is unfounded. The order is overly broad but in the context of the case, it's not totally unwaranted. This is not some conspiracy to collect data on people. I'm confident the records will be handled appropriately once the case concludes (and if they're not, we can be upset then, not now). Let's please reserve our outrage for the plethora of very real issues going on right now.
by soulofmischief | 2025-06-04 22:58:51+00:00
The US is not a functioning democracy and therefore effectively not a democracy at all, either.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly when an empire will fall, but the signs seem to be around for a long time prior to that moment, and you basically have the people who recognize those signs, the people who don't, and the people who profit from confusion and disorder that pay a lot of money to both overtly and subtlety convince people that everything is fine.
by atombender | 2025-06-04 22:59:18+00:00
The New Yorker does it because it needs to project an air of sophistication, even though it's basically The Atlantic with cartoons and a NYC-local bias. It's no New York Review of Books.

It's a similar kind of conservative affectation as The New York Times referring to people as "Mr. Putin" or "Mrs. Clinton". I find it hilarious that the NYT will never refer to someone by their first name, even when it's contextually more apt to do so, and will often use a stiffly formal version of their full name ("Vladimir V. Putin") that nobody else in the world bothers with outside encyclopedias.
by nickpsecurity | 2025-06-04 22:59:34+00:00
They're blaming the court. While there is an order, it is happening in response to massive, blatant, and continued I.P. infringement. Anyone doing that knows they'll be in court at some point. Might have a "duty to preserve" all kinds of data. If they keep at it, then they are prioritizing their gains over any losses it creates.

In short: OpenAI's business practices caused this. They wouldn't have been sued if using legal data. They might still not have an order like this if more open about their training, like Allen Institute.
by trhway | 2025-06-04 22:59:59+00:00
It is understandable pure-logic thinking until you're the one to be made battlefield-relevant.

And if you look at Russia your logic does fail on that example - no amount of human losses affect Russia's behavior in the current war as they are sure that Ukraine will run out of soldiers before Russia does. So, from Russia's POV the faster the grinder the sooner their victory.
by abrefeld | 2025-06-04 23:00:01+00:00
Just fyi I see the href for all links to users, post times, "hide", and comments as:

javascript:throw new Error('React has blocked a javascript: URL as a security precaution.')

I'm on LibreWolf136.0.4-1 with UBlockOrigin. I suspect I should be able to click these and see content?
by bobbylarrybobby | 2025-06-04 23:00:02+00:00
Bear’s implementation is great. One thing I hate about rich text is that it's basically impossible to not inherit the formatting of adjacent text if you move your cursor around, nor is it possible to see the current formatting state. If your cursor is between whitespace and an italic word, will inserted text be normal or italic? Markdown’s formatting characters solve this by creating a boundary that the cursor can be on either side of.
by munificent | 2025-06-04 23:00:12+00:00
A dishcloth is a great place to start, and I've learned ~90% of my knitting from Norman. He's great.

I will caution you that cotton yarn is definitely not the easiest yarn to start with. It has very little stretch which makes it hard to keep good tension and form stitches. Not impossible, just sort of difficult.

It's very much like learning to play guitar starting with an acoustic compared to an electric. Everything is a little stiffer and requires a little more finger strength.

So if you feel like it's more difficult than you expected, it may partially be because of the yarn.
by mmajzoobi | 2025-06-04 23:00:55+00:00
What does it do?

Ubo app:

- offers a GUI (shown inside browser or hardware) to control your Raspberry Pi and Linux utilities. - helps with setting up WiFi even if your credentials change after initial setup. - gives your Pi virtual speakers, (and soon) microphones, and camera. That means, you can play audio on Pi without any audio hardware and hear the audio out of your phone/laptop speakers (virtual speakers). Same for mics and camera. lets you set up remote access (RPi Connect and VSCode Tunnel) using the GUI and configure different system/app settings, install Dockerized applications, etc. - easy configuration of LLM engines and voice assistant - offers a language agnostic gRPC API that you can communicate with from any programming language

-Here's a quick example of installing a Dockerized app (e.g. Jupyter Notebook) in a few seconds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQEYU_t1mk4
by frogperson | 2025-06-04 23:01:55+00:00
It's just so tiring watching people try to reason about the actions of a mad man. Trump has no plan, he is full of hate, and I'm pretty sure he has dementia. He just wants to be in charge, he wants to win (whatever that means), and he wants to punish people.

We are all living in an abusive household with Trump and the Republicans. You don't make plans for the future in an environment like that, you take one day at a time and try not to get smacked around.
by xnx | 2025-06-04 23:02:45+00:00
> One driver driving one passenger is inherently low capacity.

Isn't capacity primarily about passenger-miles / time? Whatever vehicle size optimizes for this is probably better. During rush hours, it could definitely make sense to use big busses.

> You pay more for taxi fare because it's door to door and capacity is far scarcer than bus/train seats.

Hard to compare taxi fares to transit fares when transit fares do not fully pay for the service.

> Good luck finding a CDL holder driver who will work as a "gig" worker. Vans are cheaper than $250K buses

This is one of the strengths of these microtransit options, no specialty employees or vehicles.
by munificent | 2025-06-04 23:02:50+00:00
> you can automatically box your references

Yes, but that is now a different runtime cost which Go also didn't want to pay.

The language goes to great pains to give you pretty good control over layout in memory and avoid the "spray of tiny objects on the heap with pointers between them" that you get in Java and most other managed languages.

I think Swift maybe does something more clever with witness tables, but I don't recally exactly how it works.

It's not an easy problem.
by rerdavies | 2025-06-04 23:03:21+00:00
I can confirm that local websites that don't implement CORS via the OPTIONS request cannot be browsed with mainstream browsers. Does nothing to prevent non-browser applications running on the local network from accessing your website.

As far as I can tell, the only thing this proposal does that CORS does not already do is provide some level of enterprise configuration control to guard against the scenario where your users are using compromised internet sites that can ping around your internal network for agents running on compromised desktops. Maybe? I don't get it.

If somebody would fix the "no https for local connections" issue, then IoT websites could use authenticated logins to fix both problems. Non-https websites also have no access to browser crypto APIs so roll-your-own auth (the horror) isn't an option either. Fustrating!
by impossiblefork | 2025-06-04 23:04:19+00:00
No.

Here in Sweden we instituted mandatory military service we did so because we wanted to ensure that there was no military class that if they decide to can take over. We knew the cost, and the cost is worth it.

In normal times the cost is simply to do ones mandatory military service.

This protects against coups, ensures your power in society and prevents groups of officers and soldiers etc. from taking over.
by Trasmatta | 2025-06-04 23:04:34+00:00
The OpenAI docs are now incredibly misleading: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8809935-how-to-delete-an...

> What happens when you delete a chat?

> The chat is immediately removed from your chat history view.

> It is scheduled for permanent deletion from OpenAI's systems within 30 days, unless:

> It has already been de-identified and disassociated from your account, or

> OpenAI must retain it for security or legal obligations.

That final clause now voids the entire section. All chats are preserved for "legal obligations".

I regret all the personal conversations I've had with AI now. It's very enticing when you need some help / validation on something challenging, but everyone who warned how much of a privacy risk that is has been proven right.
by DennisP | 2025-06-04 23:04:49+00:00
Your link says it's the same thing Waymo is doing:

> Waymo uses what it calls a “fleet response agent,” a human assistant the vehicle can ping when it gets confused by a complex traffic scenario. These agents can view real-time exterior camera feeds, examine a 3D map of what the vehicle sees and even rewind the footage like a DVR to get better context. “As with the rest of our operations, a helpful human is no more than a touch of a button away,” Waymo said in a blog post.

> Tesla's setup appears to be similar. The robotaxis will do the driving, until they don’t. Then a remote human may quietly step in to lend a hand.
by johnnyjeans | 2025-06-04 23:05:12+00:00
Number of cores on a system has nothing to do with it. If you sat down and wrote a few thousand lines of code in both of these languages, the natural architecture presents itself the same way. Erlang has "nothing to do with" actors either. But this language is de facto the standard way to refer to this kind of message-centric architecture. The largest influencers of the actor model are simula and smalltalk. Denying the relationship is beyond absurdity.
by donnachangstein | 2025-06-04 23:06:52+00:00
Globally routable doesn't mean you don't have firewalls in between filtering and blocking traffic. You can be globally routable but drop all incoming traffic at what you define as a perimeter. E.g. the WAN interface of a typical home network.

The concept is frequently misunderstood in that IPv4 consumer SOHO "routers" often combine a NAT and routing function with a firewall, but the functions are separate.
by Loughla | 2025-06-04 23:06:55+00:00
High end wheelchairs are the opposite of repairable. A friend of mine has to use one because of his disability. It was the only model that met his particular needs for his disability, and was around 14k when he bought it.

He can't even change the battery pack without sending it back to the company. The horn shorted out, and if we had disabled it (he can't even use it), it would've voided the entire warranty. Fuck, one of the wheel spoke things cracked and we couldn't even put a new wheel on it, because they only sell the wheels as part of the lower chassis to the tune of 5k.

It's obscenely expensive to have a disability in the US, and these companies take advantage of people who just want to have basic mobility. It's really disgusting.
by XorNot | 2025-06-04 23:07:07+00:00
What the Loyal Wingman program is trying to build is extremely far from what people keep thinking when someone says "drone". The word is overloaded as hell: no one draws a distinction between a quadrotor with a 20 minute flight time and an air breathing jet aircraft costing $20 million a piece.

But then they go and say "drone swarms will defeat all future adversaries!"

Like in the Ukrainian context everyone seems to think the drone swarm was the deciding factor and is saying "this will replace air forces!"...kind of ignoring the multi month infiltration and espionage operation which got those systems in range (they were literally trucked right up to almost the fence line).
by smusamashah | 2025-06-04 23:07:19+00:00
Good riddance. Their privacy policy / licence allowed collection of passwords and whatnot. We should not be sad about it. Copied my older comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38204923

Fakespot has one of the worst privacy policies. https://www.fakespot.com/privacy-policy

Look at Section 2B

B. Personal Information Collected Automatically We may collect personal information automatically when you use our Services. Automatic Collection of Personal Information. We may collect the following information automatically when you use our Services: Contact Information: Your email address Identifiers: User ID: Such as screen name, handle, account ID, or other user- or account-level ID that can be used to identify a particular user or account. This information could be provided via your Fakespot account, Apple ID, Google Account, or other accounts you may use on the Services. User ID also includes your account password, other credentials, security questions, and confirmation codes. Device ID: Your device information which includes, but is not limited to, information about your web browser, IP address, time zone, and some of the cookies that are installed on your device. Usage Data: Product Interaction: How you interact with our Services and what features you use within the Services, including Fakespot’s sort bar, highlights, review grade, seller ratings, alternative sellers, settings and popups. Other Usage Data: Individual web pages or products that you view, what websites or search terms referred you to the Service, and other information about how you interact with the Service. Browser Information: Information your internet browser provides when you access and use our Services. Application Search History: Information you provide when you perform searches in our Services. Purchase Information: Your purchase history or purchase tendencies which we may use to recommend better products and sellers. Location Information. We may collect your location information, such as geolocation based on your IP address in connection with your use of our Services. Publicly Available Information. In providing our Services we may collect data (including personal information such as profile names of reviewers) that is made publicly available via the internet on the websites analyzed and crawled by our Services.
by CuriouslyC | 2025-06-04 23:07:35+00:00
The benefit of Aider is that you can configure a very involved static analysis toolchain to edits which directly triggers new edits in response, and everything is a git commit so it's easy to revert bad edits quickly. I have used both and I find Aider provides more control and produces code faster due to leaner prompts (it's also easier to run multiple Aider instances than Cursor instances), while Cursor has a prettier interface, and I do like being able to see diffs live in files (though I almost never spend the time reading them to accept/reject). I imagine if you don't spend any time configuring Aider cursor would probably seem far better.
by lexandstuff | 2025-06-04 23:08:18+00:00
Even role prompting is totally useless imo. Maybe it was a thing with GPT3, but most of the LLMs already know they're "expert programmers". I think a lot of people are just deluding themselves with "prompt engineering".

Be clear with your requirements. Add examples, if necessary. Check the outputs (or reasoning trace if using a reasoning model). If they aren't what you want, adjust and iterate. If you still haven't got what you want after a few attempts, abandon AI and use the reasoning model in your head.
by WillAdams | 2025-06-04 23:08:56+00:00
I'd like to find a nicer development environment which made use of such options.

Apple killed off HyperCard, Runtime Revolution became LiveCode which when opensource, then closed source and now is only available for monthly license fees.

PythonCard never got to 1.0 and hasn't been updated in almost two decades...

I'm currently doing all my development in:

https://pythonscad.org/

(Python-enabled version of OpenSCAD) but the only user-facing options are the Customizer which is quite limited, and a repository of files which users can access --- unfortunately, trying to bring up a canvas or UI window crashes the app.
Show HN: FlagShark – Automatically remove stale feature flags via GitHub PRs
by joebi | 2025-06-04 23:08:59+00:00
Hi HN! I'm Joseph, creator of FlagShark.

The Problem: Feature flags become technical debt. Teams spend 3-5 hours/week manually auditing and removing stale flags.

"Why not Piranha?": Piranha requires significant setup per language. FlagShark is a GitHub App - install and it works immediately with providers like LaunchDarkly and Split. Custom flag libraries need just simple YAML config.

FlagShark automatically: - Detects flags via Tree-sitter AST parsing - Tracks lifecycle through PR analysis - Creates removal PRs with smart strategies - Works with LaunchDarkly, Split.io, custom implementations

Tech: Go + AWS backend, Next.js frontend, zero infrastructure for users.

Currently in private beta showing 85% time reduction in flag management.

How does your team handle flag cleanup? What barriers slowed down or prevented adopting tools like Piranha?
by helsinki | 2025-06-04 23:10:07+00:00
Has anyone solved scoped permissions in multi-agent systems? For instance, if a user asks an orchestrator agent to:

1) Search GitHub for an issue in their repo.

2) Fix the issue and push it to GitHub.

3) Search Jira for any tasks related to this bug, and update their status.

4) Post a message to slack, notifying the team that you fixed it.

Now, let’s assume this agent is available to 1000 users at a company. How does the system obtain the necessary GitHub, Jira, and Slack permissions for a specific user?

The answer is fairly obvious if the user approves each action as the task propagates between agents, but how do you do this in a hands-free manner? Let’s assume the user is only willing to approve the necessary permissions once, after submitting their initial prompt and before the orchestrator agent attempts to call the GitHub agent.

If anyone could offer any advice on this, I would really appreciate it. Thank you!
by energywut | 2025-06-04 23:10:58+00:00
So a human failure looks like "alarm fatigue"? That when asked the same question many times, they might miss one or two?

Is that at all what is being exhibited here? Because it seems like the AI is being asked once and failing.

I don't disagree that humans might fail at this task sometimes or in some situations, but I strongly disagree that the way the AI fails resembles (in any way) the way humans would fail.
by AngryData | 2025-06-04 23:11:05+00:00
What about "illegal" things? You could live in a country that punishes gay people and want to ask questions about being gay. Maybe you live under a tyrannical government and want to ask questions about the government or politics without raising any red flags on your name or IP. Maybe you overstayed your visa in the US and are worried about ICE putting out honeypot sites to find your location when you are trying to research options on how to get a work visa or how to escape the US without getting arrested at the border and sent to prison.

Is it being overly paranoid? Maybe in most cases yes. But we know the capability and desire exists for certain governments and agencies to locate and punish people and we know it does happen, even if it isn't super common.