MurphyA/hacker-news huggingface dataset:
by fao_ | 2026-03-14 16:04:32+00:00
> So, once again, the old question: If reducing jobs is the only goal, but people are also expected to have jobs to be able to pay for food and housing, what is the end goal here? What is the vision that those companies are trying to realize?

Capitalism is reliant on the underclass (the homeless, the below minimum-wage) to add pressure to the broader class of workers in a way that makes them take jobs that they ordinarily wouldn't (Because they may be e.g. physically/emotionally unsafe, unethical, demeaning), for less money than they deserve and for more hours than they should. This is done in order to ensure that the price of work for companies is low, and that they can always draw upon a needy desperate workforce if required. You either comply with company requirements, or you get fired and hope you have enough runway not to starve. This was written about over a hundred years ago and it's especially true today in the modern form of it. Programmers as a field have just been materially insulated from the modern realities of "your job is timing your bathroom breaks, tracking how many hours you spend looking at the internet, your boss verbally abuses you for being slow, and you aren't making enough money to eat properly".

This is also why many places do de-facto 'cleansings' of homeless people by exterminating their shelter or removing their ability to survive off donations, and why the support that is given for people without the means to survive is not only tedious but almost impossible to get. The majority of workers are supposed to look at that and go "well fuck, glad that's not me!" with a little part of their brain going "if i lost my job and things went badly, that could become me."

This is also why immigration enforcement is a thing — so many modern jobs that nobody else in the western world wants to do are taken by immigrants. The employer won't look too closely at the visa, and in return the person gets work. With the benefit being towards the employer — if the person refuses to do something dangerous to themselves or others, or refuses to produce enough output to sustain the exponential growth at great personal cost, well, then the company can just cut the immigrant loose with no recourse, or outright call the authorities on them so they get deported. Significantly less risky to get people to work in intolerable conditions for illegal wages if there is no hope of them suing you for this.

Back in the 1900s there were international conventions to remove passports. Now? Well, they're a convenient underclass for political manoeuvring. Why would you want people to have freedom of movement if your own citizens could just leave when things get bad, and when the benefits are a free workforce that you don't have to obey workers rights laws about?
by icegreentea2 | 2026-03-14 16:04:35+00:00
CSIS is republishing work from PLA affiliated writers from PLA affiliated think tanks, published an a PLA affiliated journal because it does in fact capture aspects of internal PLA thinking. This article is from 2023, it's not written in the context of the current administrations policies and rhteroic. While we can always be certain that there are aspects of external facing PR/propaganda, we also should consider "how does China view the militarization of Starlink and Space".

And to that end, we can clearly see that the PLA sees Space Dominance as being strategically destabilizing. They see threats to their ability to disperse and hide their nuclear launch systems.

In fact, from a 2026 lens, the best way to read this paper would be "the PLA has mapped out its vulnerabilities, and all of its risk control and escalation options (basically its suggestions in the conclusions) are basically off the table. Therefore, it's very obvious that the PLA will attempt to compensate through simultaneously achieving its own space based capability similar to Starlink, develop additional ways to hold US strategic assets (read nuclear strike platforms) at risk, and find asymmetric means of deterrence".

EDIT: Just made a connection in my head - there's been a lot of news about Chinese nuclear arsenal increases in recent years, with a uptick starting around 2023, and the DoD estimating a rough tripling from 2025-2035. I suspect these developments might be connected.

EDIT2: I think to summarize what I think would be important take away from reading this paper is that while the most immediate examples of militarized Starlink use are all very tactical level (thinking about drones in Ukraine), this piece clearly signals that the PLA also believes that Starlink militarization poses treats at the strategic (read nuclear) level. And therefore, if we think purely in terms of tactical/operational capabilities, we may be caught off guard by certain reactions by the PLA/China.
by flux3125 | 2026-03-14 16:04:50+00:00
> You can’t just tell an agent, Build me the code for a successful start-up. The agents work best when they’re being asked to perform one step at a time

That's also true for humans. If you sit down with an LLM and take the time to understand the problem you're trying to solve, it can perfectly guide you through it step by step. Even a non-technical person could build surprisingly solid software if, instead of immediately asking for new shiny features, they first ask questions, explore trade-offs, and get the model's opinion on design decisions..

LLMs are powerful tools in the hands of people who know they don't know everything. But in the hands of people who think they always know the best way, they can be much less useful (I'd say even dangerous)
by rchaud | 2026-03-14 16:05:00+00:00
Step 0: acquire the company through a leveraged buyout by the CEO's own private equity firm [0]

Step 1: speed-run into the ground while loading it up with the debt of the purchase price and paying yourself management fees.

Step 2: close up shop, write down the loss and reduce tax liability for next year?

[0] https://techcrunch.com/2026/01/14/digg-launches-its-new-redd...
by neversupervised | 2026-03-14 16:05:02+00:00
The goal has nothing to do with you being employed. Your job security is a consequence of the ultimate goal to build AGI. And software development salaries and employment will be affected before getting there. In my opinion, we already past the SWE peak as far as yearly salary. Yes there are super devs working on AI making a lot of dough, but I consider that a particular specialty. On average the salary of a new grad SWE in the US is past its peak if you consider how many new grads can’t get a job.
by Jordan-117 | 2026-03-14 16:05:19+00:00
That's exactly what they did to the old Digg back in 2010 -- massive redesign that effectively deleted all old posts, comments, and favorites without warning or opportunity to back up. I pretty feel vindicated choosing not to trust them again, though it's wild they didn't even make an effort to do better here when they claim to want to keep going.
by Joel_Mckay | 2026-03-14 16:05:50+00:00
I removed my anecdote and flash wear explanation, because of cranky folks like yourself.

The corrosion inhibitors in petrol engine oil get fully depleted within about a year with most brands. One may certainly sell the machine before you see acidified lubricant related problems, but the motor will not reach its full operational lifespan ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathtub_curve .)

I do agree that anyone with a CVT style transmission likely won't have to worry, as that entire section will probably need replaced before you see significant hydrodynamic bearing damage.

"Buy cheap, buy twice" as they say...

ymmv, best of luck. =3
by boutell | 2026-03-14 16:05:54+00:00
Wow! I'm so glad this actually did open the door from someone. I remember nerding out over how lame it was, but I was fortunate enough to have a TRS-80 Model III in my household. And I didn't fully grasp the hardware limitations then.

Someone really should DIY a real Atari "VCS," as in adequate bank switched RAM and something not unlike TRS-80 BASIC achieved without outlandish hardware for the time...

OMG! Someone pulled it off back in the day! I had no idea. So much for my retirement project idea:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CompuMate

That's ok, I have a lot of years to go before I need one LOL
by schrijver | 2026-03-14 16:06:11+00:00
You’re right, the kind of cable often used is not easy to solder. This makes it hard to solder a broken cable together again, or to replace a broken / bent plug. So best replace the entire cable and its plug — it’s still an inexpensive part.

You’ll need to solder it to the contacts inside the can, but that’s quite straightforward.

In case the internal cable that goes from one can to the other breaks, you can replace it with any bit of audio cable so you can use one that’s easy to solder.
by hparadiz | 2026-03-14 16:06:12+00:00
I'm already running an LLM locally. This is just me renting space in a data center. Since when did we restrict people's ability to do things? For the record my local models run off the solar bolted to my roof. Even including the data center I'm using 1/10th of the energy we were using on tube monitors back in the 90s. This is exhausting. My GPU would be demonstrably using more power by playing a videogame right now than when I run a local LLM.
by dwoldrich | 2026-03-14 16:06:24+00:00
You could ask the same thing about tests themselves. And I'm not talking about tests that don't exercise the code in a meaningful manner like your assertions on mocks(?!)

I'm saying you could make the same argument about useful tests themselves. What is testing that the tests are correct?

Uncle Bob would say the production code is testing the tests but only in the limited, one-time, acceptance case where the programmer who watches the test fail, implements code, and then watches it pass (in the ideal test-driven development scenario.)

But what we do all boils down to acceptance. A human user or stakeholder continues to accept the code as correct equals a job well done.

Of course, this is itself a flawed check because humans are flawed and miss things and they don't know what they want anyhow. The Agile Manifesto and Extreme Programming was all about organizing to make course corrections as cheap as possible to accommodate fickle humanity.

> Like, what are we even doing here?

What ARE we doing? A slapdash job on the whole. And, AI is just making slapdash more acceptable and accepted because it is so clever and the boards of directors are busy running this next latest craze into the dirt. "Baffle 'em with bullsh*t" works in every sector of life and lets people get away with all manner of sins.

I think what we SHOULD be doing is plying our craft. We should be using AI as a thinking tool, and not treat it like a replacement for ourselves and our thinking.
by zer00eyz | 2026-03-14 16:06:29+00:00
> The best team I've ever worked on had little social cushioning.

It is HARD to build this sort of thing in the modern workplace. We dragged politics into the workplace, in a way thats more about social signaling. We moved to work from home, removing the social interactions around the coffee pot and lunches that let you ask about peoples lives outside of work. Furthermore corporations took over the social channels: Slack/chat, email, zoom etc leaving people less inclined to be personal there. Where is the outlet to go bitch about your boss, your PM, your scrum master with your co-workers.

The blunt, no nonsense request to a colleague, who you just asked about their kids in a separate interaction, reads a lot different, without these interactions.
by mbajkowski | 2026-03-14 16:06:34+00:00
100% this. I have had the MDR-7506 since my DJ days about 30 years ago. These are by no means expensive headphones, but compared even to much more higher-end Bluetooth headphones they can easily hold their own. They have good depth and are well balanced. They are just about indestructible, only requiring the occasional pads replacement. Probably one of the best purchases I ever made
by 0xcafefood | 2026-03-14 16:07:17+00:00
The connection to Amdahl's law is totally on point. If you're just using LLMs as a faster way to get _your_ ideas down, but still want to ensure you validate and understand the output, you won't get the mythical 10x improvement so many seem to claim they're getting. And if you do want that 10x speedup, you have to forego the validation and understanding.
by squarefoot | 2026-03-14 16:07:45+00:00
When the internal non replaceable battery dies the product dies; that's also one reason to prefer wired over wireless. I wrote product instead of headphones because the principle is applicable to every product whose battery can't be replaced by design. All those discarded single use vapes are a good example of that, and... surprise! All of them actually contain rechargeable cells but no recharging circuitry and port, the reason being that rechargeable Lithium cells are much cheaper than primary non rechargeable ones because of economies of scale. Just another example of greed being so damn efficient at producing e-waste.
by quotemstr | 2026-03-14 16:08:31+00:00
> The main property of SGML-derived languages is that they make "list" a first class object, and nesting second class (by requiring "end" tags),

As opposed to JSON, which famously lacks lists? What does "second class" even mean here? How is having an end-indicator somehow a demotion?

> talking about XML-lookalike language, and not XML proper. If you go XML proper, you need to throw "cheap" out the window.

libxml2 and expat are plenty fast. You can get ~120MB/s out of them and that's nowhere near the limit. Something like pugixml or VTD can do faster once you've detected you're not working with some kind of exotic document with DTD entities.
by Bridged7756 | 2026-03-14 16:09:07+00:00
I did a while ago, first you've gotta fix your setup so the top of the monitor is at eye level. Then do neck bridges; put yourself with your back against the wall, use the back of your head as support and move your body and feet a bit forward while keeping the back of your head as support, keep your neck straight. You'll feel a burn in the back of your neck. The more angle the more the burn.

https://youtu.be/RXhyx-vVG_Y?si=TiQVGASxnIRPQDTl

Do it for 30s, maybe 3 times a day, you can also move your feet forward for more challenge.

Speaking out of my ass: I'd guess your posterior neck muscles grow weak due to the unnatural posture and your frontal/side muscles overpower them. Eitherways, it works.
by acllondon | 2026-03-14 16:10:21+00:00
ACL London Air‑Con: Breathing New Life into the City’s Climate

When the first rush‑hour trains rumbled through London’s underground tunnels, the city’s architects and engineers already knew one thing: the capital would need more than just bricks and steel to stay comfortable. It would need a living, breathing system that could adapt to the relentless ebb and flow of people, weather, and ambition. That system is air, and the company that has spent the last decade perfecting its movement through the metropolis is ACL London Air‑Con.

In a world where climate‑change headlines dominate the news cycle and energy bills climb like the city’s own skyline, ACL has become the quiet partner behind countless office blocks, boutique hotels, and heritage sites that still manage to feel just right—neither too warm nor too cold, never stifling, always inviting. This article is a deep dive into the story, the science, and the soul of ACL London Air‑Con, a business that is reshaping how the capital breathes, one duct at a time.
by quotemstr | 2026-03-14 16:10:41+00:00
> XML supports attributes, namespaces, CDATA, DTDs, QNames, xml:base, xml:lang, XInclude, etc etc. They gave it everything, including the kitchen sink.

Ah, the old "throw a bag of nouns at the reader and hope he's intimidated" rhetorical flutist. These things are either non-issues (like QName), things a parser does for you, or optional standards adjacent to XML but not essential to it, e.g. XInclude.
by retost | 2026-03-14 16:10:46+00:00
I have a preference for command/argument DSLs for certain things, such as the example given, over XML etc, for the reasons given.

As an occasional Tcl coder, the example would actually be a valid Tcl script - after adding invoice, item, tax and discount procedures, the example could be run as a script. The procedures would perform actions as needed for the arguments.

It's a shame that there isn't a common library that can be used for these types of tasks. Tcl evolved into something quite complex - compiling to bytecode, object oriented features, etc, etc. Although Tcl was originally intended to be embedded in apps, that boat sailed a long time ago (except for FPGA tools, which is where I use it).
by lacoolj | 2026-03-14 16:10:53+00:00
This page is a good example of when Typescript is both unnecessary and off-putting, based on the content's purpose.

The author is trying to demonstrate a problem and the proposed solution, using example code that the reader then needs to read, formulate a visual "structure" in their mind, and then apply that structure to the subsequent code.

Typescript is not in any way invalid here, and as a tool when programming something that will run in the real-world, can be invaluable.

However, when writing anything you want someone to deeply comprehend, you want to use the least amount of text needed to get your point across. Adding types don't serve any purpose here. The types used are generics, which tell you nothing specific, hence the name, and the names given to the functions and object properties are enough to convey what this code is doing.
by AStrangeMorrow | 2026-03-14 16:10:59+00:00
Prompt quality does matter, but at some point context side does matter.

I’ve had thing like a system that has a collection of procedural systems. I would say “replace the following set of defaults that are passed all around for system X (list of files) and in the managed (file) by a config” and it would do that but I’d suddenly see it be like “wait mu and projection distance are also present in system Y and Z. Let me replace that by a config too with the same values”. When system Y and Z uses a different set of optimized values, and that was clearly outside of the scope.

Never had that kind of mistakes happen when dealing with small contexts, but with larger contexts (multiple files, long “thinking” sequences) it does happen sometimes.

Definitely some times when I though “oh well my bad, I should have clarified NOT to also change that other part”, all the while thinking that no human would have thought to change both
by throwaway27448 | 2026-03-14 16:11:01+00:00
I'm actually ok with reddit banning it and taking sides in political conflict. I just wish they didn't pretend to be unbiased when it's made it a useless site for discussing current reality.

Edit: to be clear, I'm more concerned about how russia was basically banned from the site but worldnews itself seems like the primary fountain of western astroturfing on the internet. No matter your opinion of putin, that is extremely unhealthy for productive discourse. I don't care about american domestic politics.
by Copernicron | 2026-03-14 16:11:17+00:00
I have the Shure TW2 adapters and they work great. No connection issues, great battery life, and the passive isolation I get with the right ear tips is better than any ANC I've ever used. As an added bonus, if you order when they're on sale, you can get the TW2 adapters with a pair of SE 215 buds for the same price as the plain adapters.
by jwilliams | 2026-03-14 16:11:19+00:00
There are some interesting points here, but I think this essay is a little too choppy - e.g. the Aircraft Mechanic comparison is a long bow to draw.

The Visual Basic comparison is more salient. I've seen multiple rounds of "the end of programmers", including RAD tools, offshoring, various bubble-bursts, and now AI. Just because we've heard it before though, doesn't mean it's not true now. AI really is quite a transformative technology. But I do agree these tools have resulted in us having more software, and thus more software problems to manage.

The Alignment/Drift points are also interesting, but I think that this appeals to SWE's belief that that taste/discernment is stopping this happening in pre-AI times.

I buy into the meta-point which is that the engineering role has shifted. Opening the floodgates on code will just reveal bottlenecks elsewhere (especially as AI's ability in coding is three steps ahead and accelerating). Rebuilding that delivery pipeline is the engineering challenge.
by benregenspan | 2026-03-14 16:12:12+00:00
I think the point is that some of the extra words OP is complaining about aren't needless. It's on the writer to know their audience, but it's also asking a lot to tune a message in a PR review to the one particular person who demands bluntness, especially if they don't know that person well. If the majority of people in the organization respond positively to a certain style (which may involve some amount of phatic speech), then the person who is "over-writing" here is probably making a good decision.

Once I build rapport with someone, I tend to be more blunt, but still balance that with the fact that other people may be reading the interaction, and I don't want to model a rude communication style.

An organization can choose to promote a very direct approach to feedback (Bridgewater is famous for this), but it requires top-down work to get everyone on the same page, not just expecting one developer to mind-read another.
by arjie | 2026-03-14 16:12:12+00:00
My experience is that we end up debating the norms because this forum has different views than Wikipedia itself. That’s interesting to some but not to me so I’m opting out.

In addition, the answer to the question is already available so I want any question asker to put in a little bit of effort and if they’re not going to do that then I’m not really interested in talking to them since I prefer peer interactions to tutorials.
by yurishimo | 2026-03-14 16:12:26+00:00
Well, your original comment was about a war brewing between Vervel and Void0. If Accel has a stake in both, I don’t know that they really care. See the Laravel investment as well.

Accel sees the money in vendor lock-in and is so far willing to let these companies fund their open source endeavors and sell hosting as a means to an end. Im not sure we’ve seen the real end game here yet but with geopolitics raising the cost of energy a ton this year, perhaps some screws are going to begin being tightened as margins are reduced. At present, I think its too early to tell.
by cmorgan31 | 2026-03-14 16:12:47+00:00
I don’t believe Elon is even remotely related to a people manager. He’s a stakeholder and operator which require different skill sets. He finds folks who will manage to o bring the empathy he tends to lose in his pursuit of his next project. I believe your evidence may be anecdotally valuable but let’s be clear about the dynamic of a founder/ceo.
by jedreckoning | 2026-03-14 16:12:52+00:00
fighting excel in headless runs using COM. fighting AG grid building excel apps, blowing out tons of js trying to match excel dashboards. drift between dashboard and app, endless. users accidentally over writing excel models. no version control.

decided to just re-write excel. ended up being a little bit of github for excel, faster excel using Polars lazyframe, AG grid but embedded spreadsheet (so it's the same thing the user builds), and native versioning.

ai is integrated to write plugin code, not be "copilot". code is also versioned.

just a bunch of stuff i run into coding on trading desks, tried to solve it. open source.

https://github.com/reckoning-machines/fin123_public?tab=read...