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berdon

710 karma · joined December 21, 2011

austinhanson.com

[hn at austin dot hnsn dot io]

meet.hn/city/43.5476008,-96.7293629/Sioux-Falls

Socials: - bsky.app/profile/austin.hnsn.io - meet.hn@austin.hnsn.io - github.com/berdon - linkedin.com/in/austin.hanson - austinhanson.com - x.com/austinhanson

Interests: Programming, Running, Technology

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submissionscomments
berdon··on The future of software development is software developers
There is a guaranteed cap on how far LLM based AI models can go. Models improve by being trained on better data. LLMs being used to generate millions of lines of sloppy code will substantially dilute the pool of good training data. Developers moving over to AI based development will cease to grow and learn - producing less novel code.

The massive increase in slop code and loss of innovation in code will establish an unavoidable limit on LLMs.

berdon··on Ask HN: What are you working on? (May 2025)
A cross between a text MUD and an early 2k browser based RPG. Hoping to incorporate many advanced MMO and LitRPG based features plus complex economic, npc, guild, quest, and crafting mechanics. It’s more of a passion project/hobby with no expectation of adoption. It has been very fun to build.
berdon··on xAI has acquired X, xAI now valued at $80B
From what I have been told (specific to the US army):

- Enlisted swear oaths to the constitution and President

- Officers swear an oath to the constitution

I’ve only been told this, I don’t claim to know.

berdon··on Decline in teen drug use continues, surprising experts
Dark Castle here. DIKU based MUD. Ah the good stuff.
berdon··on JSON5 – JSON for Humans
Shameless plug for my JSON/5 parser written in zig: https://github.com/berdon/zig-json

There is a std json library as well but the aesthetics weren’t great imo.

The specs are quite pleasant to implement.

berdon··on Kagi Teams
When I accidentally use Google I’m instantly surprised and delirious. The difference in both search quality and advertisements is astounding.

Been using Kagi since its beta and I’ve never used Google intentionally since.

berdon··on Haunted by my own projects
Mirroring other peoples thoughts.

It took me close to 20 years to finally shed the guilt of unfinished software projects.

Side projects can just be about having "fun". Just as going for a walk, or reading a book, listening to music, etc can just be done for fun. I don't have to finish any of these things. I don't have to finish side projects. Fun things don't have to be useful, purposeful, practical, or anything but they should be fun.

berdon··on How Google Is Killing Bloggers and Small Publishers – and Why
I believe Kagi uses most major search indexes as well as its own.

Additionally, I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s more interested in LLMs than focusing on search. I think it’s fair to say they’re interested in ensuring they’re offering a better, non ad-based search replacement.

Disclaimer: Not affiliated with Kagi in any way, just a long time happy user.

berdon··on Playstation 5 Pro Shows the Futility of the Video-Game Graphics Race
Matt Colville and MCDM are working on Draw Steel and didn’t Critical Role release a few?
berdon··on Show HN: Meet.hn – Meet the Hacker News community in your city
In the US you could just use “zipcode-us”. It’s not ideal though. Otherwise just “city-stateabbr-us” - e.g. “SiouxFalls-SD-US”
berdon··on Testing sync at Dropbox (2020)
Yep, dropbox was a great company until it wasn't.

I made their first "unofficial" android client and they "allowed" it for a year or so up until they wanted to sue the pants off me. (see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27036593)

berdon··on Amazon execs may be personally liable for tricking users into Prime sign-ups
Prime is nothing compared to experian. Logging in forces you through a sign up flow for their paid subscription service. Doing nearly anything in the site does.
berdon··on Direct File officially opens in 12 pilot states
I’m excited for this - even if right now all I get is “There was an error processing your request.”
berdon··on Kagi Changelog 2/13: Faster and more accurate instant answers and Wikipedia page
I also live in this fear and have specifically communicated it to Vlad in an email before. He gave the same response as one of your other responders - they have no intention of selling.

Of course, that's the only answer any successful founder would give you...so I still live in fear :(

berdon··on Kagi Changelog 2/13: Faster and more accurate instant answers and Wikipedia page
What? My !bangs work as a prefix to my query. I didn't even know you could append them and have that work.
berdon··on Protein biomarkers predict dementia 15 years before diagnosis in new study
From what I understand, the medicine available is fairly successful at staving off further disease progression but the normal late stage diagnosis often means it’s far too late. This might make outcomes significantly better if it works as well as reported.
berdon··on Covid's damage lingers in the heart
You’re calling a scientific article unscientific? I think there’s a difference in not liking the direction or application of science and whether something is science or not.

Edit: Hm, the article is more of a summary/fluff piece. But I still think your argument is more appropriately disagreeing with the direction of science than it is a lack of the application of science.

berdon··on Someone keeps trying to reset my Facebook password
I’ve had a gmail account since their first beta. Switching to another provider (Fastmail) took about an hour to run through so my accounts and swap emails out. There was one or two that didn’t allow changing emails (steam is one) but other than that it was much easier then I assumed.

I still check the gmail account ever so often and it still receives spam. My Fastmail account is perfect even after a year.

berdon··on Killed by Google
Switching to fastmail was surprisingly easy and having control of my own domain means I'll never lose access to my emails - I might just need to switch providers.
berdon··on Most promoted and blocked domains among Kagi Search users
Yep. As a developer my life is infinitely better because of Kagi. The product is wonderful, the team is wonderful and responsive - it’s everything I want from a company I pay money to.

I sound like a shill but I’m not. I’ve just been a happy user since their private beta and have had genuine, kind, and personable email back and forth with Vladimir.

berdon··on Dementia risk linked to blood-protein imbalance in middle age
Have you tried diltiazem for cluster headaches? I got them after coming off of the medicine for heart related issues. Started taking it again and they vanished.
berdon··on Never waste a midlife crisis
My response is “my hobby is collecting hobbies”. I think it’s more I’m just interested in learning anything and everything.

I’ve never heard of a scanner or a daybook. Coincidentally, I’ve been deeply invested in finding the best way to keep notes… But a non-digital format loses a lot of utility without searching, etc… Maybe I should try it anyway.

berdon··on Schools are ditching homework, deadlines in favor of ‘equitable grading’
While I agree with your sentiments, the rude awakening won't occur in college/university as these institutes are also softening their grading and programs. The rude awakening will occur in life when they realize what they missed.
berdon··on Never Give Money to Charity
Did my comment come across as "upset"? I pointedly asked if I was being pessimistic.
berdon··on Never Give Money to Charity
The individual loses the tax deductions themselves.
berdon··on Never Give Money to Charity
I don't know - that's why I was asking if this was the case.
berdon··on Never Give Money to Charity
Has anyone else noticed the rise in retail companies asking "Would you like to round up for XYZ charity"?

Am I pessimistic in thinking they're taking this money and donating it purely for free tax reduction?

berdon··on Push notifications are now supported cross-browser
This is a major deal for progressive web apps (PWAs) replacing native mobile development. Most native mobile apps have been able to be replaced by a PWA for at least the last 5 years but couldn't, on iOS, if they needed notifications. Now we can say bye to all the native, cross-platform frameworks and just use PWAs.
berdon··on Push notifications are now supported cross-browser
The key difference is that push notification's backing "service" are out of band with the subscribers.

Applications can subscribe to push notifications and get them even if they're off (the OS runs them and gives them the notification). WebSockets are closed if the app closes.

A little to your point, the backing notification service might rely on WebSockets or polling, or a mixture of both, in implementation.

berdon··on Half of US Employees Earn Extra Cash on the Side, Survey Finds
While I agree with your comment I can't help but wonder if there's one thing missing that needs to be considered.

Quality of life probably needs to be considered and compared between the time periods. I'm too young and history-ignorant to do that but I wonder if these two, in terms of QoL, coincide with your sentiments or not. My suspicion is that they don't.

- a household (2 adults, 2.3 kids, and a large dog, in a house with a white picket fence)

- single household living in a smaller shitty apartment

The QoL might still actually be better in the smaller, shitty apartment depending on your priorities?

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