MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by rstuart4133 | 2025-08-10 23:04:52+00:00
I came across a version of a "just talking" interview which did work. You asked them to provide bring in a representative body of their code to the interview. During the interview, you ask them to give you any overview of what the project was supposed to do, how well it worked, what they would change in retrospect. As they do so you're scanning it looking for interesting or quirky bits. Then you ask them to explain the reasoning behind those particular lines in detail.

This lets you get a feel for their coding style, comments, unit testing and so on. The "explain why you did it the quirky way" is for proof of authorship. You may learn something from it as well.

It's a bit of work for interviewer, but far less stressful for the applicant than coding tests. But it's easier for the interviewer in some ways too, as you don't need conversation starters - the "tell me about this project" step is a perfect way to find out about their previous experience.

As you say, the charlatans are very good. I even tried bring in sales, with explicit instructions that their job was to spot the bullshitter. They were no better at it than we engineers.
by jlund-molfese | 2025-08-10 23:04:56+00:00
Health insurance in the US, and other countries, is pretty far from traditional insurance markets where you pay a small amount of money to cover rare, catastrophic events (like your house burning down, or an earthquake).

The name might be similar, but the products actually function very differently. Health insurance in many countries covers routine, predictable "losses" like primary care for strep throat as well as long-term "losses" like prescription medication.

A lot of this is because a traditional insurance model isn't palatable when it comes to healthcare. You can't really employ price or service discrimination against high-risk people with preexisting conditions, like you can with auto insuring a Ferrari, or home insuring a coastal house in a hurricane zone.

Not to mention life insurance! You can't just look assume things work the same way because they have similar names.
by ben_w | 2025-08-10 23:05:05+00:00
As I understand it, the core problem back then was the batteries would mass half the car and lose a third of their maximum capacity in just 500 charging cycles.

Back when cars were new, there was no infrastructure for petrol either, that was something you got in tiny quantities from a pharmacy. (The diesel engine can run on vegetable oil, but I don't think Mr Rudolf Diesel himself ever did that?)
by girvo | 2025-08-10 23:05:07+00:00
> which the LLM presumably also fixed after finding them

In my experience: not always, and my juniors aren't experienced enough to catch it, and the LLM at this point doesn't "learn" from our usage properly (and we've not managed to engineer a prompt good enough to solve it yet), so its a recurring problem.

> if prompted correctly

At some point this becomes "draw the rest of the owl" for me, this is a non-trivial task at scale and with the quality bar required, at least with the latest tools. Perhaps it will change.

We're still using them, they still have value.
by keeda | 2025-08-10 23:05:13+00:00
That whole bit about color blending and transparency and LLMs "not knowing colors" is hard to believe. I am literally using LLMs every day to write image-processing and computer vision code using OpenCV. It seamlessly reasons across a range of concepts like color spaces, resolution, compression artifacts, filtering, segmentation and human perception. I mean, removing the alpha from a PNG image was a preprocessing step it wrote by itself as part of a larger task I had given it, so it certainly understands transparency.

I even often describe the results e.g. "this fails when in X manner when the image has grainy regions" and it figures out what is going on, and adapts the code accordingly. (It works with uploading actual images too, but those consume a lot of tokens!)

And all this in a rather niche domain that seems relatively less explored. The images I'm working with are rather small and low-resolution, which most literature does not seem to contemplate much. It uses standard techniques well known in the art, but it adapts and combines them well to suit my particular requirements. So they seem to handle "novel" pretty well too.

If it can reason about images and vision and write working code for niche problems I throw at it, whether it "knows" colors in the human sense is a purely philosophical question.
by 0xsn3k | 2025-08-10 23:05:36+00:00
> Did he consider that the LLM wouldve done it the right way after the first message if prompted correctly?

I think the article is implicitly saying that an LLM that's skilled enough to write good code should have done it "the right way" without extra prompting. If LLMs can't write good code without human architects guiding it, then I doubt we'll ever reach the "10x productivity" claims of LLM proponents.

I've also fell into the same trap of the author in assuming that because an LLM works well when guided to do some specific task, that it will also do well writing a whole system from scratch or doing some large reorganization of a codebase. It never goes well, and I end up wasting hours arguing with an LLM instead of actually thinking about a good solution and then implementing it.
by ath3nd | 2025-08-10 23:05:42+00:00
You are not alone. There are plenty of us, see here:

- Claude Code is a Slot Machine https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44702046

- GPTs and Feeling Left Behind: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44851214

- I also used the Emperor/clothes metaphor: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44854649

And just so we are clear, in the only current actual study measuring productivity of experienced developers so far, it actually led to 19% decline in productivity. https://metr.org/blog/2025-07-10-early-2025-ai-experienced-o...

So, if the study showed experienced developers had a decline in productivity, and some developers claim gains in theirs, there is high chance that the people reporting the gains are...less experienced developers.

See, some claim that we are not using LLMs right (skills issue on our part) and that's why we are not getting the gains they do, but maybe it's the other way around: they are getting gains from LLMs because they are not experienced developers (skills issue on their part).
by p1necone | 2025-08-10 23:07:14+00:00
Academics invent short names for common (in their field) concepts not because they're 'sweaty' but because if the thing you're going to mention in every second paragraph in a good chunk of the communication you do with other people working on the same topic requires a full sentence to explain you're going to A. get really annoyed at having to type it out all the time and B. probably explain it slightly differently every time and confuse people.

Academic jargon isn't invented to be elitist, it's invented to improve communication.

(of course there's a good chance you understand this already, and you're just making a dumb joke, but I figured I'd explain this anyway for the benefit of everyone reading)
by inglor_cz | 2025-08-10 23:07:39+00:00
You can't really compare premodern and modern societies in this regard. Totally different contexts.

In ancient Europe, if you had some lucrative territory and not enough military force to defend it, you would be raided and invaded by your neighbours with absolute certainty. Maybe not the same summer, but quite soon. People had different understanding of morality and wars of conquest were glorified. Plus, quite a lot of the pre-state societies didn't have any centralization of power and a hot-headed noble could absolutely start a war just with his retinue, dragging his entire tribe into it.

This is just not the model on which the current EU works, although the Russo-Ukrainian war was a rude awakening in this regard.
by _mlbt | 2025-08-10 23:07:48+00:00
Regarding ZFS licensing…

> The Linux Kernel is licensed under the GNU General Public License Version 2 (GPLv2). While both (OpenZFS and Linux Kernel) are free open source licenses they are restrictive licenses. The combination of them causes problems because it prevents using pieces of code exclusively available under one license with pieces of code exclusively available under the other in the same binary. In the case of the Linux Kernel, this prevents us from distributing OpenZFS as part of the Linux Kernel binary. However, there is nothing in either license that prevents distributing it in the form of a binary module or in the form of source code.

https://openzfs.github.io/openzfs-docs/License.html
by bacheaul | 2025-08-10 23:08:10+00:00
Pro tip: Duolingo is a game and basically a dead end for properly learning a language. If you want to really learn, you need to build intuition, and that only comes from huge amounts of level-appropriate input. Find yourself some good native language podcasts that are targeted at language learners and native reading material. Search for "Refold" for a better strategy (no affiliation, it's just awesome), and make sure that whatever you do, you enjoy it. Language learning is a marathon, the fun is in the journey, not just the destination.
by bachmeier | 2025-08-10 23:08:24+00:00
Have you looked at college costs recently? Look what Michigan costs for an in-state student: https://admissions.umich.edu/costs-aid/costs

Or Maryland: https://financialaid.umd.edu/resources-policies/cost-attenda...

Or Texas: https://onestop.utexas.edu/managing-costs/cost-tuition-rates...

I think you get the picture...
by koinedad | 2025-08-10 23:09:54+00:00
If he enjoys programming for the sake of it I think it’s valuable but it’s not necessary. He could also get a full CS degree for a fraction of the cost if you’re factoring that in.

The job market is bad but lots of hiring for AI positions, both research and application of AI are still in demand. But this could very well be cyclical.

No matter what someone has to train the AI, control the AI, etc.
by nathan_compton | 2025-08-10 23:10:14+00:00
This seems enormously optimistic to me, both as a technological assertion and a cultural one. Like even if we could build self-assembling nano-machines (nota bene: we can't even build self assembling macroscopic machines) why would we use them to disassemble the moon? I mean a 0.1 % chance, maybe. But 10% chance? Nuts.
by Terr_ | 2025-08-10 23:10:29+00:00
> For example, people prefer dating advice from humans over advice from algorithms

The humans are less-likely to become systematically enshittified giving you bad advice for profit.

> even when the [dating advice] algorithms perform better

Whoah, hold the heck up! When did that ever get demonstrated? I think I would have heard of it before.

Following their link, it goes to study that AFAICT merely showed a preference for different banner-ads, where ads promising human advice were more-likely to be clicked.
by aaronscott | 2025-08-10 23:10:30+00:00
This is awesome!

Thanks for explaining the reasoning behind implementing your own version instead of using Al Dente. The straightforward UI is really appealing.

I paid for an Al Dente license long ago and have been very happy with it, sail mode and temperature sensitive charging are great features (although I’m not sure how big of an impact sail mode makes).

It’s great to see alternatives available though. Having command line access is really cool.
by chrisnight | 2025-08-10 23:10:34+00:00
As a new grad in this job market who got 2 offers (1 FAANG), I heavily disagree. My projects (specifically my toy operating system) got me my offers.

Projects are just about the only thing you can add to your resume to show competence. Everyone has a degree, and no one has work experience.

Not only did my projects show that I have completed semi-relevant work in something considered relatively complex, which presumably got me past resume screenings (confirmed by my hiring manager), my projects also gave a prime talking point in interviews that let me showcase my domain knowledge and way that I work. (Consider cliche interview questions like “what is the biggest challenge you’ve faced”, and how they relate to your projects)

This is especially beneficial if you’re being interviewed by other engineers, and you can geek out over a project. Being human and enjoyable, while demonstrating technical competence, is a great interview winner.

Ofc I have limited experience, but small samples can add up if other evidence corroborates with it.
by avidiax | 2025-08-10 23:10:38+00:00
> Did he consider that the LLM would've done it the right way after the first message if prompted correctly?

This is an argument used constantly by AI advocates, and it's really not as strong as they seem to think.*

Yes, there exists some prompt that produces the desired output. Reductio ad absurdum, you can just prompt the desired code and tell it to change nothing.

Maybe there is some boilerplate prompt that will tell the LLM to look for security, usability, accessibility, legal, style, etc. issues and fix them. But you still have to review the code to be sure that it followed everything and made the correct tradeoff, and that means that you, the human, has to understand the code and have the discernment to identify flaws and adjust the prompt or rework the code in steps.

It's precisely that discernment that the author lacks for certain areas and which no "better" prompting will obviate. Unless you can be sure that LLMs always produce the best output for a given prompt, and the given prompt is the best it can be, you will still need a discerning human reviewer.

* Followed closely by: "Oh, that prompt produced bad results 2 weeks ago? AI moves fast, I'm sure it's already much better now, try again! The newest models are much more capable."
by Someone | 2025-08-10 23:10:40+00:00
Apple claims Optimized Battery Charging “will delay charging past 80% in certain situations” (https://support.apple.com/en-us/102338)

That page also says “On Mac computers with Apple silicon or the T2 security chip, Optimized Battery Charging is on by default when you set up your Mac or after updating to macOS Big Sur or later.”

Maybe, you or a system update switched off that setting? Alternatively, the logic behind that setting may have ‘decided’ that you need 100% charge now (I think this setting isn’t just a “limit charging to 80%” flag, but tries to predict future power demands)
by coldblues | 2025-08-10 23:10:49+00:00
Telegram is not E2EE because it's easier and faster to sync and transmit messages between millions of people. The scale of Telegram groups and channels is massive. Telegram, for a long time, has not complied with law enforcement requests and has made it hard for authorities to get data because of their architecture. You still have Secret Chats for E2EE messaging as an option.
by Reason077 | 2025-08-10 23:11:23+00:00
macOS has a built in "smart" battery management feature ("Optimize battery charging" in system settings -> battery -> battery health) that limits charging to 80% during times when it expects you to have the MacBook plugged in, but charges automatically to 100% when it thinks you'll be using battery power.

It's unreliable, however, especially if you don't have your MacBook plugged in on a fixed schedule every day.

It's good that there are more third-party tools to work around this long-standing macOS deficiency. I've been using another one, called "Battery Toolkit", which has been working well.
by Jcampuzano2 | 2025-08-10 23:11:24+00:00
I find it interesting how many people complain that AI produces code that mostly works but overlooks something, or that it was able to generate something workable but wasn't perfect and didn't catch every single thing on it's first try.

For fucks sake it probably got you to the same first draft you would have gotten to yourself in 10x less time. In fact there plenty of times where it probably writes a better first draft than you would have. Then you can iterate from there, review and scrutinize it just as much as you should be doing with your own code.

Last I checked the majority of us don't one shot the code we write either. We write it once, then iterate on things we might have missed. As you get better you prompt instinctively to include those same edge cases you would have missed when you were less experienced.

Everybody has this delusion that your productivity comes from the AI writing perfect code from step 1. No, do the same software process you normally should be doing, but get to the in between steps many times faster.
by tialaramex | 2025-08-10 23:11:37+00:00
Nah, prescriptivists love writing books saying that a thing almost everybody does - sometimes including themselves - is wrong. Prescriptivist amateurs with strong opinions sell reasonably well, publishers are quite fond.

But this is part of a project by academics and the academics abandoned prescriptivism because it's not science. We don't have prescriptivist chemists or physicists either.
by 1024core | 2025-08-10 23:12:09+00:00
I have been using LLMs for coding for the past few months.

After initial hesitation and fighting the the LLMs, I slowly changed my mode from adversarial to "it's a useful tool". And now I find that I spend less time thinking about the low-level stuff (shared pointers, move semantics, etc. etc.) and more time thinking about the higher-level details. It's been a bit liberating, to be honest.

I like it now. It is a tool, use it like a tool. Don't think of "super intelligence", blah blah. Just use it as a tool.
by Projectiboga | 2025-08-10 23:12:53+00:00
I was about to comment on this, Astor Place Riot - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astor_Place_Riot

Basically two seperate Theatre movements, one favored by the posh thr other favored by the working class. The two scenes came to an actual riot on Astor Place and lead to the wealthy retreating from class mixing.
by catgirlinspace | 2025-08-10 23:13:00+00:00
Could’ve been the built in optimized battery charging where it stays at 80% until about when it think it’ll be needed (based off of previous usage on battery tmk, but i wouldn’t be surprised if it also looks at the native calendar app or something too) at which point it charges to 100%. Apple has been doing it for years on iPhones and i think it was introduced on Mac when Apple silicon happened.

For me my MacBook stays at 80% through the evening and night before charging to 100% in the morning when I typically unplug it and put it in my bag. If you open the battery thing in the menu bar it shows when it’s doing this, the time it’s scheduled to be finished charging by, and has a little button to charge to 100% immediately.
Ask HN: Looking for an AI Research Mentor
by arvind_k | 2025-08-10 23:13:05+00:00
Hi HN,

I’m a senior software developer with 20 years of experience in architecture, backend systems, and product development. Over the last few years, I’ve become deeply interested in AI and machine learning — not just building with existing tools, but understanding and contributing to AI research itself.

I’m looking for a mentor (ideally a researcher, academic, or industry professional) who can guide me in:

Understanding current AI research trends and literature.

Choosing a research focus area (NLP, computer vision, reinforcement learning, etc.).

Developing a study plan to build the mathematical and theoretical foundation.

Navigating from applied engineering into original research contributions.

I’m happy to pay for your time and structure this as regular 1:1 sessions (remote is fine). My goal is to transition from being a senior software architect into someone who can meaningfully contribute to AI research over the next few years.

If you’re interested, please DM me (arvind.kapse@gmail.com)

Thanks!
by ben_w | 2025-08-10 23:13:52+00:00
Imagine that Russia had annexed half of Alaska, was fighting the US for control of the other half, and was talking about its historical connections to much of the US pacific coast down to Fort Ross, California: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ross,_California

If someone proposed to the US that all US citizens could get Russian and Spanish citizenship, would the US response be to ignore this; to laugh at this; or to be angry that this was suggested, followed by "oh god send guns, the Russians I can see them! Why won't you help us, you signed a treaty to guarantee our borders that's the only reason we agreed to give up our nukes!"
by mockingloris | 2025-08-10 23:13:56+00:00
AI can churn out usable code faster than it takes for my cup garri to soak(2-3 mins) doesn't mean it should be used that way.

Software and technology takes mastery; imagine the string manipulation syntax for different programming languages. There are many ways to achieve a business objective. Choosing the right language/coding style for the specific use case and expected outcome takes iterations and planning.

AI still in infancy yet it has replaced and disrupted whole niche markets and it's just the beginning. The best any dev can do in this context is sharpen their use of it and that becomes a superpower; well defined context and one's own good grasp of the tech stack being worked on.

Context: I still lookup rust docs and even prompt for summaries and bullet point facts about rust idioms/concepts that I am yet to internalize. JS is what I primarily write code in but, currently learning rust as I work on a passion project.

└── Dey well
by tomgag | 2025-08-10 23:14:51+00:00
I'm Italian. On my side, I did what I could do: I emailed Italian politicians explaining why they should reject the proposal. A drop in the ocean, and far from impactful, but if it can change the odds even by an epsilon, why not?

https://gagliardoni.net/#20250805_chatcontrol

Big politics is not my thing, so for me the big effort was: 1) understanding who, among the zillions of politicians we have, could have a direct role in the decisional process and how; 2) searching and collecting the email addresses; and 3) funnily enough, picking the right honorifics (for example, I was not aware that "Onorevole" is reserved only to certain figures in Italian politics).

I shared the resulting effort on my website, in the hope of making life easier for fellow Italians who want to do the same.
by vFunct | 2025-08-10 23:14:52+00:00
Yah that's not how the world works. If you feel Israel is being wronged, and are ackshually the good guys, then feel free to state the exact reason publicly. Be convincing! We are listening.

If you can't defend your position, THEN you can go ahead and be silent, instead of telling other people to be silent.

Otherwise, you can go ahead and believe the people making the convincing arguments that Israel are the bad guys.
by Animats | 2025-08-10 23:14:52+00:00
Blockchains store data as long as someone, somewhere has a node. There's no way to purge old data. So old, useless data does build up.

It's not that bad, though. The Ethereum chain is about 1.4TB right now.[1] Growth is roughly linear. Bitcoin is under half a terabyte. Those are manageable numbers given current disk sizes.

The size of the Solana blockchain is claimed to be only 10MB. That's tiny. Where is the data stored?

From the article: "Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards." Right. That's Coinbase trolling for clicks.

[1] https://ycharts.com/indicators/ethereum_chain_full_sync_data...
by supportengineer | 2025-08-10 23:14:55+00:00
I think it depends on where you live. Here in the Bay Area I am assuming we have the fiercest competition of all. Companies here have their pick of thousands of H1B students with masters degrees who have optimized for leetcode interviews and are highly motivated to do whatever it takes to stay in this country and bring their family over.

Companies no longer want people who loved programming for the joy of it and the art of it.