MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by no_circuit | 2025-09-30 12:30:22+00:00
Right, for example, there are no comments on why something there is something called a PromiseIdAllocator that starts with the magic number "1":

https://github.com/currentspace/capn-rs/blob/a816bfca5fb6ae5...

Yet there is a public interface that allows for initialization with "0":

https://github.com/currentspace/capn-rs/blob/a816bfca5fb6ae5...

It's like the LLM was able to predict that 1 is needed in the protocol, but wasn't relevant to check in the boilerplate.

I don't have a problem with newtype-all-the-things to ensure correctness in some areas, but no comments/constants does not lead to confidence.
by Aurornis | 2025-09-30 12:30:41+00:00
The way I explain it is that your company is not your friend, but that doesn’t make them your enemy.

The trap is when they see everything as a false dichotomy between friend and enemy. Enemies are something you avoid or even work against. When someone starts seeing their employer as the enemy and they don’t want to do things that help out their enemy, they trick themselves into poor performance out of spite.

Which leads to performance management and eventually firing if they don’t get a handle on it. This makes them even angrier, confirming their belief that their company is out to get them, leading to deeper spiraling into spite and poor performance.

Breaking someone out of that mentality is hard but everyone is so much happier once you’ve cracked them out of the “friend or enemy” dichotomous thinking.
by petesergeant | 2025-09-30 12:30:48+00:00
tldr as it seems to be being hugged to death:

> Back in 2019, I started my journey of self-hosting iCloud and disconnecting from Apple services. Despite a few inconveniences, I am quite content with the level of customization, privacy, and ownership my self-hosted services provide. At the time I was happy that HomeKit, unlike all the alternatives such as Google Home and Amazon Alexa, did not require iCloud or the need to round-trip to their servers. ... Apple now wants to lock down your HomeKit devices to an iCloud account.
by BenoitP | 2025-09-30 12:30:57+00:00
> "theory building"

Strongly agree with your comment. I wonder now if this "theory building" can have a grammar, and be expressed in code; be versioned, etc. Sort of like a 5th-generation language (the 4th-generation being the SQL-likes where you let the execution plan be chosen by the runtime).

The closest I can think of:

* UML

* Functional analysis (ie structured text about various stakeholders)

* Database schemas

* Diagrams
by Peritract | 2025-09-30 12:31:05+00:00
Elon Musk has no credibility here.

He has a documented history (charitably) overly-optimistic claims and (accurately) lies. On multiple occasions, he (or an unnamed disgruntled employee who happens to share his exact views) has manipulated the output of his own chatbot to push particular political positions.

He's very unlikely to actually do this, and if he did, it would not do what he describes.
by forgotoldacc | 2025-09-30 12:31:35+00:00
A country of 1.4 billion maybe potentially surpassing a country of 80 million strongly implies it's not quite a powerhouse yet.

I'm hopeful for India's future and they're on the right track, but currently, they're punching well below their weight. Germany is punching well above theirs. But investment from companies like Apple shows that India has what it needs to become the next China (or at the very least, next Vietnam). Nigeria seems to lack similar investment.
by data-ottawa | 2025-09-30 12:32:42+00:00
I don’t understand where the AI love of emojis comes from. I’ve never seen them in a professional codebase outside of basic logging.

I assume it comes from the myriad tutorial content on medium or something.

gpt-oss is the most egregious emoji user: it uses emoji for numbers in section headings in code, which was clearly a stylistic choice finetuned into the model and it fights you on removing them.

I’ve noticed Claude likes to add them to log messages and prints and with 4.5 seems to have ramped up their use in chat.
by sharpshadow | 2025-09-30 12:34:24+00:00
The inconsistency in the Starlink data would suggest that they make use of different options to determine to which country their devices get applied to.

As mentioned here Starlink could provide very precise location and limit access but as growing service it’s more valuable to break rules for wider adoption.

And who could punish Starlink? Only the US and they are interested to let this player getting big and regulate later.
by panstromek | 2025-09-30 12:35:00+00:00
> 1 or 2 upvotes makes me feel like maybe it doesn't belong.

This is more or less artifact of HN algorithm, it's common to get single digit votes for majority of your posts. Whether something blows up feel almost random, you have to get pretty lucky to hit a time window when there's not that many posts or a lot of people look at new page and upvote the post at the same time to make it snowball. Many links are posted multiple times with no traction and then they suddenly blow up on 4th attempt.
by softwaredoug | 2025-09-30 12:35:06+00:00
You learn more when you take notes. In the same way, I understand the structure of the code better when my hands are on keyboard.

I like writing code because eventually I have to fix code. The writing will help me have a sense for what's going on. Even if it will only be 1% of the time I need to fix a bug, having that context is extremely valuable.

Then reserve AI coding when there's true boilerplate or near copy-paste of a pattern.
by stingraycharles | 2025-09-30 12:35:54+00:00
Yup, it’s as if you fine-tune your model constantly, every interaction triggering backpropagation. Current techniques absolutely are not economically viable to do that, but I can imagine that maybe OpenAI are running some small scale experiments like that.

You’d basically need a dedicated model per user (or chat even) + continuous training infrastructure as a prerequisite for AGI, I don’t see that happening in the next decade or without a completely different paradigm, let alone being economically viable.
by tlb | 2025-09-30 12:36:11+00:00
In an alternate universe, we'd all be using descendants of these instead of the 8086.

Part of what killed it, besides not having the economy of scale in microprocessors, is that optimizing compilers got good at turning loops over integers into fast code for regular CPUs, and these are pretty important for overall system performance. So no matter how much faster a custom CPU could run eval, it wasn't going to be competitive at integer loops.
by bramhaag | 2025-09-30 12:36:22+00:00
> Does it say GPLv3 on the tin, or does it say "Compatible with GPLv3"?

As per [1], it says GPLv3 on the tin.

> If you mix BSD and MIT code, the result doesn't suddenly become one or the other, but rather a combination of both, right?

The two pieces of code retain their original license, but you can distribute the combined work under just BSD.

[1] https://interoperable-europe.ec.europa.eu/collection/eupl/li...
by driverdan | 2025-09-30 12:36:42+00:00
> If you don't want to verify your age, you can still use its services - but it won't serve you porn or let people send you non-public messages.

> I think that's pretty reasonable.

You lost me right there. Blocking DMs because of draconian age verification is not reasonable. There's nothing inherently problematic about DMs. Someone can be a creep in public just as easily as in DMs.
by tbrownaw | 2025-09-30 12:36:54+00:00
> One is that "you shouldn't use an ad blocker, reputable websites have ads from Google and other reputable companies and they wouldn't be scams or malware".

But I don't care* about that, I care that they're visually obnoxious and sometimes slow.

* Well, usually. Way back when, there used to be occasional news about browser sandbox escapes.
Show HN: WebhookBox – Test webhooks instantly, no signup required
by skrid | 2025-09-30 12:36:58+00:00
I've been using online webhook tools for years, but always thought they felt slow and cluttered. Figured I could build something cleaner with modern tools.

Spent the past week building WebhookBox.

How it works:

Go to webhookbox.io, click the button, you get a URL like webhookbox.io/w/abc123. Send webhooks to it. They show up instantly. That's it.

No signup needed for testing (anonymous, 24hr retention). If you do sign up, you get persistent URLs, history, API access, etc.

What I built:

- Real-time request viewer (Supabase Realtime is honestly pretty slick for this - saved me from building custom WebSocket infra)

- See headers, body, query params - everything

- Custom responses if you need to return specific status codes or test error handling

- Export as cURL/Python/JS/whatever

Tech decisions:

Next.js + Supabase + Vercel edge functions. Used edge to get ~50-80ms global response times. Postgres JSONB for flexible payload storage. Rate limiting via Vercel KV to prevent abuse (100 req/hour per anonymous endpoint).

Free tier is 3 endpoints, 100 requests/month. Pro is $9/mo if you need more.

Thinking about adding webhook forwarding to localhost next - basically a WebSocket tunnel to forward webhooks directly to your dev server, skip ngrok entirely. Would that be useful or is the current approach good enough?
by dathinab | 2025-09-30 12:37:18+00:00
yes, but it's really unclear

like I wouldn't even rely on the "no further restrictions" clause being valid/legally binding and due to how it works pretty much any previous case trying to enforce it I'm aware of failed (but on a technicality _not_ applying here). (As an example for a invalid clause, the automatic contract voiding on violation clause is not valid in some(all?) EU countries!)

and then the definition of derived work, especially in the EU and with GPLv2, is much less ... clear ... then what the FSF likes to claim.

so I think you really would need to ask a lawyer in any situations where it does matter
by bell-cot | 2025-09-30 12:37:26+00:00
Sadly, I'm seeing a business model here. Anyone who doesn't like Wikipedia can subscribe to their own private "AI-Corrected Bubblepedia". (Maybe there's a "free, with advertising" version?) The AI "works for you, 24x7x365", to make sure you only see the <cough> real truth <cough/>. If you notice any biases or errors (or change your mind, or mood, or intoxication level), "your private AI" will immediately "fix" your entire personalized Bubblepedia, to fully reflect your suggestions and corrections.

Really, why would any right-minded person want to settle for Wikipedia?
by EZ-E | 2025-09-30 12:37:39+00:00
Believe it or not there is talent even in countries where salaries are lower. For 3000 - 4000 USD month you can get good english speaking senior engineers in Vietnam used to work in international environments. Not FAANG tier but strong fit for most $CRUD companies. This is cheaper than US by far, although the gap with Europe is unironically closing.
by Intermernet | 2025-09-30 12:37:42+00:00
Just remember, advertising is responsible for the rage economy. It's responsible for platforming misinformation. It's responsible for screen-addiction in children. It's responsible for online scams. Just think of all of the proposed laws and regulations around the world that are trying to counter each of these problems and remember that the root cause, and enabler of all of them is advertising. It's truly an amplifier of enshittification, and one of the worst conduits of bad social behaviour ever invented. If you're in the ad / ad-tech industry, please seriously consider the effect you're having on the world.

I'm happy to pay for media, news, social networks etc. I don't purchase things based on anything other than personal recommendations and research. I have no use for advertising, and I have no desire or need for ad-supported platforms. I'm pretty sure I'm not alone. People say advertising works, and that justifies it. The thing is, advertising only works on enough people to justify it. Everyone else hates it with a passion, or studiously avoids it. I'm not sure if we're a majority or a minority, it doesn't matter, but we suffer advertising and wish it were gone.

Advertising needs to change. It would be nice if it just went away, but realistically that's not going to happen. It needs to be recognised as harmful and regulated as a harmful product.
by raxxorraxor | 2025-09-30 12:37:56+00:00
I would not recommend iterating too much with AI. On the contrary, do "milestones" and solve the smaller problems independently.

If the context window is full, better save the progress by reformulating the problem and prompt the AI with the progress you made before. A new start with an empty context.

In my experience any coding AI starts with really good code and it goes down from there.
by a96 | 2025-09-30 12:38:39+00:00
I count myself lucky as well. I've been in a few great places. Also stuck in tolerable places for 5-10 year stretches because it's a paycheck.

Sometimes people leave (for money or variety) but come back, because they realize other places were worse (despite the money). Sometimes they don't because they're afraid or tired. It varies. But yes, people often walk away from places that either treat them badly as a company or because they have coworkers that treat them badly. The reputation tends to stick, too, even though it doesn't often spread very far.
by hnlmorg | 2025-09-30 12:38:55+00:00
> It's a travesty that there are apparently no laws against their behavior.

there is in the UK. And likely in most other jurisdictions too. But it's about penalizing the advertisers rather than the platform. Which clearly neither works at scale nor across borders.

This definitely feels like a better use case for an "online safety act" -- but instead we got censorship laws....
by redbell | 2025-09-30 12:39:18+00:00
> With this post, I’ve removed Disqus. It was making my blog worse, and frankly, they were profiting off my work and my visitor’s data.

Ironically, if you look at the screenshot, just below the comments' section, you will read: 'Subscribe', 'Privacy' and 'Do Not Sell My Data'. Seriously?! You are already torturing my visitors by throwing many ads, at the same time, on their faces. How can I trust you?

Also, what drives me cra*y the most about online Ads is that they are random and have no relation with the content of the page I am looking at. Oftentimes, they went extremely far by showing what I consider near explicit content.
by Esophagus4 | 2025-09-30 12:39:57+00:00
> the average developer quality (i.e. boot camps & curriculum) has dropped the value of "a developer" from a manager's perspective

If that’s true, I would say it’s because there are simply more developers (therefore more below average developers), not because the good developers are getting less good.

If anything, my experience is that the top developers are far better now.

For an internship position I’m hiring for, I’m getting resumes with several previous internships, a top 20 university’s CS degree, research lab experience, side projects, (brief) exposure to a myriad of languages and tools, and certifications. For an internship, that’s far above what I or my peers had when we were interns.
by kace91 | 2025-09-30 12:40:06+00:00
Honestly, I loved the simple way you explained the general idea, for what I assume is a process full of details and gotchas.

Is there any resource you could point me to where I can learn?

I’m mostly used to working at a higher abstraction level and taking as “magic” everything below that.

I’d like to bridge the gap with lower level stuff now, it’s about time.
by pseudocomposer | 2025-09-30 12:41:01+00:00
I’m amazed that we’d been able to run HomePods without an Apple/iCloud account for a decade!

It seems like we’d do better to positively support products like that though, rather than not buy them and then only complain when they rework their products and get rid of the privacy features the market doesn’t seem to care about.

(I realize I’m conflating the OP and the market at large a bit here, but from Apple’s perspective they’re both just “the market.” I think he should have the ability to downgrade his equipment to a version that doesn’t require iCloud, though.)
by nick_cook | 2025-09-30 12:41:46+00:00
I'm on the cusp of launching an interior design software I have built with my partner (she's the interior designer, I'm the coder).

https://inspec.design

My read of the industry in terms of software is that it's split into 3 groups:

1. Interior visualisation (basically 3D renders) which largely target the what-if amateur market

2. Big, clunky and old software tools for professional interior designers working on huge projects, which works well but has that universal sort of mild dislike to strong disdain depending on the person

3. New players who want to replace the old clunky software

Seeing this, we decided not to try to overthrow the old all-powerful project management solution, but rather to replace a single process in the interior design workflow. And of course to do it very well.
by weinzierl | 2025-09-30 12:42:04+00:00
"your code doesn't become GPL, it's GPL compatible"

That is not how I understand it. You cannot simply unilaterally declare a license GPL compatible if it fundamentally isn't. The FSF is crystal clear that is does not consider the EUPL GPL compatible.

"By itself, it has a copyleft comparable to the GPL's, and incompatible with it." [1]

The trick the EUPL tries to pull off to make it work anyways is relicensing. What they call "outbound compatibility" is more similar to codified and enforced dual licensing than license compatibility in the traditional sense.

It only works if your code becomes GPL licensed and not merely compatible. That is where in my opinion the argument put forward in the EU commentary about the EUPL (and brought into discussion here in bcye's comment) breaks down.

"the restriction are on you code not GPL code you put alongside it"

The restrictions are on the users and outside the five exceptions outlined in the GPL and therefore not allowed under GPL. Same reason we need the AGPL as a separate license and cannot tack its additional clause onto the regular GPL as an additional restriction.

[1] https://www.fsf.org/blogs/licensing/european-union-public-li...
by yuvalhazaz | 2025-09-30 12:42:43+00:00
Hi HN ,

I’m Yuval, and for the past several years I’ve been building dev tools (some of you might know Amplication). Over that time, we’ve all seen the rise of AI copilots and agents. They are useful for individuals in the IDE, but limited when it comes to how teams actually ship software. I believe the next step is moving beyond copilots into *autonomous, continuous AI* that runs inside the SDLC itself.

That’s what we’re building with https://overcut.ai/. It connects directly to GitHub, Jira, and other tools, and runs workflows that handle things like:

- Reviewing PRs - Writing tests - Generating specs and docs - Triaging and resolving issues - Opening and updating PRs automatically

The difference is that instead of manually operated assistants or black box agents, you define the workflows (like CI/CD pipelines, but for AI agents). This makes it transparent and under your control.

We provide several ready-made playbooks, and you can also build your own for anything you can imagine on top of Git and tickets. There are built-in integrations to GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure DevOps, and Jira.

Would love to hear your thoughts: what workflows would you want AI to take over, and what would hold you back from trusting something like this?

Thanks for reading
by sph | 2025-09-30 12:43:39+00:00
What? All they can talk about is how many lines of code they generated. The other day someone was bragging about having built a 500k SLOC behemoth completely AI generated. Good effing luck maintaining that, and I wonder what the hell were they building that needs so much code.

If it were a solo coder writing a half a million lines of code application in the span of a few months by themselves, they would either be a savant or a complete lunatic.
by rcarmo | 2025-09-30 12:44:22+00:00
This is kind of misguided since Apple isn't taking control of your devices -- you can use alternative HomeKit Home apps just fine without logging in.

(I run homebridge and hack my own HomeKit devices, FWIW)

What has happened is that iCloud is now required for syncing settings across devices _and_ being able to tunnel back to your Apple TV/HomePod (whatever is your home hub) and control things remotely - which is not quite how the article puts it.
by malfist | 2025-09-30 12:44:25+00:00
Or: instead of talented software engineers around the world being drawn to the US, they stay home and build deep talent pools in their home country or in the next non-US SV. In the long run the onshore/offshore becomes less and less about quality and cost tradeoffs.

We're giving away our long term dominance of tech for xenophobia and the possibility of short term job growth
by Marazan | 2025-09-30 12:44:36+00:00
I'm currently involved in a project where we are getting the LLM to do exactly that. As someone who _does_ have a working theory of the software (involved in designing and writing it) my current assessment is that the LLM generated docs are pure line noise at the moment and basically have no value in imparting knowledge.

Hopefully we can iterate and get the system producing useful documents automagically but my worry is that it will not generalise across different system and as a result we will have invested a huge amount of effort into creating "AI" generated docs for our system that could have been better spent just having humans write the docs.
by cowboy_henk | 2025-09-30 12:44:45+00:00
Interestingly the internet is full of "slack clone" dev tutorials. I used to work for a company that provides chat backend/frontend components as a service. It was one of their go-to examples, and the same is true for their competitors.

While it's impressive that you can now just have an llm build this, I wouldn't be surprised if the result of these 30 hours is essentially just a re-hash of one of those example Slack clones. Especially since all of these models have internet access nowadays; I honestly think 30 hours isn't even that fast for something like this, where you can realistically follow a tutorial and have it done.

In fact, I just did a quick google search and found this 15 hour course about building a slack clone: https://www.codewithantonio.com/projects/slack-clone
by exDM69 | 2025-09-30 12:45:08+00:00
> hobby wheel reimplementation projects like this, I find doing it as close to the bare metal as possible, relying on the minimum amount of other people's code, a lot more fun.

As a chronic wheel reinventor, I can understand this.

But if I felt like scratching this itch now, I would pick some other hardware than x86. The RP2040 could be a nice target, or maybe some ARM or RISC-V SoC.

That said, I totally understand that there's something different to having a bare metal / hobby OS project running on your daily driver computer than some embedded gadget.

I'm speaking from experience here, I've written bare metal projects in the style of this project (first project I did with MS-DOS debug.com, wrote to a floppy disk and rebooted my machine from the floppy) and the "modern" way with compilers, emulators, debuggers etc. The difference in productivity and learning the interesting stuff is huge.
by DennisP | 2025-09-30 12:45:13+00:00
Roads weren't designed for humans, but vehicles generally were. I don't think we need our robots to be able to drive 70mph on highways when we've already built millions of vehicles.

We've had buildings with flat surfaces for centuries, so I'm not sure of your point there. And Sears was shipping things in cardboard boxes long before warehouses had robots with suction cups.