HNHacker News
TopNewBestAskShowJobs

antfarm

1,766 karma · joined November 14, 2010

submissionscomments
antfarm··on Cleaning up after AI rockstar developers
Take a good look at the codebase you're working on. My guess is there's plenty opportunities to clean up after others, or even yourself.
antfarm··on You Weren't Meant to Have a Boss (2008)
Unfortunately, the download links on those pages are broken.
antfarm··on You Weren't Meant to Have a Boss (2008)
I had the exact opposite reaction. Around 2006 I came across two of his OSCON Talks on the IT Conversations Network and totally loved them. I must have listened to them hundreds of times and forwarded them to a lot of friends and colleagues. They fundamentally influenced my self-conception as a software developer.

http://web.archive.org/web/20130729210111id_/http://itc.conv...

http://web.archive.org/web/20130729231533id_/http://itc.conv...

antfarm··on Didgeridoo playing as alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea (2006)
This is more Trance than Techno, but Highlight Tribe use the Didge in a very aggressive way as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcvAwqi4krE
antfarm··on Didgeridoo playing as alternative treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea (2006)
You may like Tribal Need's Genetic Modification Of Sound. Ricardo Moretti is also busking with a Roland Juno synth, looper and didgeridoo. I saw him in Berlin a couple of times in the early 2010s.

https://tribalneed.bandcamp.com/album/genetic-modification-o...

A more recent live performance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9LHiL2ETh0

antfarm··on Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt booed at Arizona U commencement speech
I find his advice rather terrible to be honest. Accepting AI and integrating it deeply into your work and life so you won't be among those made obsolete by AI will accelerate exactly that replacement process even further. Looks a lot like a new variant of self-fulfilling prophecy.
antfarm··on There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going
There is a good chance AI will magnify the current problems, especially regarding inequality, poverty, hunger and environmental exploitation.
antfarm··on There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going
Also, don't forget what he said about "arrogant programmers". His plan is to make the (in his view inferior) human workers redundant, and I do not see why anyone who still has some idealism in them and is just about to enter the work force would applaud him for his tone-deaf speech:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZuTlm00X2E&t=121s

antfarm··on Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt booed at Arizona U commencement speech
The part of his speech that I found most offensive was:

"When someone offers you a seat on the rocketship, you do not ask which seat. You just get on. [...] Find a way to say yes."

In my understanding, that's the billionaire class telling you where your place is in their plan for the world. Nobody asks if you even want to leave the planet, figuratively speaking.

The last sentence in particular shows the contempt he has for the students in the audience, and is reminiscent of another (alleged) incident: https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/tried-to-convince-me-i-...

The quoted part of the speech can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MYggR_PPRg

antfarm··on There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going
History shows that blindly welcoming change just because someone promises you a better future is a dangerous thing.
antfarm··on There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going
The problem is that we are pushed forward, not going at our own pace.

In his commencement speech that got booed by the audience, Eric Schmidt says, "When someone offers you a seat on the rocketship, you do not ask which seat. You just get on. [...] Find a way to say yes."

That's the billionaire class telling you where your place is in their plan for the world. Nobody asks if you even want to leave the planet, figuratively speaking.

The last sentence in particular shows the contempt he has for the students in the audience, and is reminiscent of another (alleged) incident:

https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/tried-to-convince-me-i-...

The part of the speech I quoted is not in the video linked in the article, but you can watch it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MYggR_PPRg

antfarm··on Steve Jobs in Exile – New book on his years at NeXT Computer
The worst thing about the Vision Pro is that Apple tried to unify the UI of visionOS, iOS and macOS (at least to a degree), resulting in suboptimal solutions for the latter platforms.
antfarm··on EFF is leaving X
I wonder why this gets downvoted. The goals of EFF are not aligned with those of a platform that is owned by a neo-fascist who is in charge of the algorithm.
antfarm··on EFF is leaving X
About time. Other platforms may not exactly be aligned with EFF’s goals, but Musk is outright endorsing the far right and neo-fascist parties in America and Europe.
antfarm··on Sonnet 4.6 Elevated Rate of Errors
Claude Code started making stupid errors around Saturday. I have been using it frequently for months, and now it feels like back in the day when I tried Gemini for the first time.
antfarm··on I'm 60 years old. Claude Code killed a passion
Maybe this could work for some as a general recipe for how to collaborate with AI:

- Split up the work so that you write the high-level client code, and have AI write the library/framework code.

- Write some parts of your (client) code first.

- Write a first iteration of the library/framework so that your code runs, along with tests and documentation. This gives the AI information on the desired implementation style.

- Spend time designing/defining the interface (API, DSL or some other module boundary). Discuss the design with the AI and iterate until it feels good.

- For each design increment, let AI implement, test and document its part, then adapt your client code. Or, change your code first and have AI change its interface/implementation to make it work.

- Between iterations, study at least the generated tests, and discuss the implementation.

- Keep iterations small and commit completed features before you advance to the next change.

- Keep a TODO list and don't be afraid to dismiss an earlier design if it is no longer consistent with newer decisions. (This is a variation of the one-off program, but as a design tool.)

That way, there is a clear separation of the client code and the libraries/framework layer, and you own the former and the interface to the latter, just not the low-level implementation (which is true for all 3rd party code, or all code you did not write).

Of course this will not work for you if what you prefer is writing low-level code. But in a business context, where you have the detailed domain knowledge and communicate with the product department, it is a sensible division of labour. (And you keep designing the interface to the low-level code.)

At least for me this workflow works, as I like spending time on getting the design and the boundaries right, as it results in readable and intentional (sometimes even beautiful) client code. It also keeps the creative element in the process and does not reduce the engineer to a mere manager of AI coding agents.

antfarm··on I'm 60 years old. Claude Code killed a passion
I found my peace with AI aided coding during the last three months. I started development of an environment for programming games and agent simulations that has its own S-expression based DSL, as a private project. Think somewhere between Processing and StarLogo, with a functional style and a unique programming model.

I am having long design sessions with Claude Code and let it implement the resulting features and changes in version controlled increments.

But I am the one who writes the example games and simulations in the DSL to get a feel for where its design needs to change to improve the user experience. This way I can work on the fun and creative parts and let Claude do the footwork.

I let Claude simultaneously write code, tests and documentation for each increment, and I read it and suggest changes or ask for clarification. I find it a lot easier to dismiss an earlier design for a better idea than when I would have implemented every detail of the system myself, and I think so far the resulting product has largely benefited from this.

To me, now more than ever it is important to keep the love for programming alive by having a side project as a creative outlet, with no time pressure and my own acceptance criteria (like beautiful code or clever solutions) that would not be acceptable in a commercial environment.

antfarm··on Wired headphone sales are exploding
I love both my Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO and my Apple AirPods. They complement each other perfectly.
antfarm··on Show HN: Channel Surfer – Watch YouTube like it’s cable TV
Try the UnTrap extension. It lets you configure away the things that distract you.

https://untrap.app/

It used to be one time purchase, looks like they turned it into a subscription.

antfarm··on Show HN: Swarm – Program a colony of 200 ants using a custom assembly language
This is exceptionally beautiful. What did you use to build it? Vanilla JS?
antfarm··on Show HN: Swarm – Program a colony of 200 ants using a custom assembly language
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SimAnt
antfarm··on MacBook Neo
Are you saying this coming from Linux or Windows?
antfarm··on MacBook Neo
The post that I commented on was arguing that what sets the Mac apart from other options with 8 GB RAM, and what makes them more expensive, is that they are seen as a status symbol. I made a point against that mentioning two areas in which Macs are truly superior.

What exactly is your point?

antfarm··on MacBook Neo
The worst memory hogs today are websites.
antfarm··on MacBook Neo
The Apple logo is on the wrong side of the screen to be concerned about. Apple's OS and user experience is miles ahead of the competition and so are the displays they use.
antfarm··on Claude Sonnet 4.6
For me it's simple. I did my research, settled on Anthropic and Claude and got the Pro plan at ~$20/month. That way I only have to keep track of what Anthropic are offering, and that isn't even necessary as the tools I use for AI-supported development (Claude Code for VS Code extension, Xcode Intelligence and Claude Desktop) offer me to use the newsest models as soon as they are released.
antfarm··on I’m joining OpenAI
> Quality of code has never had anything to do with which products are successful.

It may look like that, but many of the products with bad code didn't even make it into your vibe statistics because they weren't around for long enough.

antfarm··on I’m joining OpenAI
>We have someone who vibe coded software with major security vulnerabilities. This is reported by many folks

>We also have someone who vibecoded without reading any of the code. This is self admitted by this person.

And we have a company whose product should adhere to the highest security standards possible, hiring this guy.

antfarm··on Show HN: Arcmark – macOS bookmark manager that attaches to browser as sidebar
I am curious about why you are using Swift Bundler and what your experience with it is.
antfarm··on Simply Scheme: Introducing Computer Science (1999)
The full PDF is available here: https://ia800200.us.archive.org/13/items/SimplyScheme/Simply...
← PreviousPage 2 of 12Next →