functional_dev

Learned today why there is no "zig metadata" command. A dependency can be marked lazy, so whether you even need it depends on the build flags you pass.

So ZLS has to actually run your "build.zig" to see the modules

That is why it breaks when Zig changes the build system.

https://vectree.io/c/zigs-build-system-protocol-module-graph...

RSA-768 was already factored in 2009.. cheap now. What surprised me is that RSA keys are much weaker than their size looks. You need 2048 bits to get normal safety, and 768 is far below that.

https://vectree.io/c/how-rsa-key-sizes-map-to-real-security-...

Location: Riga, Latvia (EU)

Remote: Yes, remote only

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies: Rust, TypeScript/Node, React, Go, Elixir, OCaml, Postgres, Kubernetes, NATS, gRPC, LLM/agent systems (RAG, tool calling, vector search)

Résumé/CV: https://martinserts.com

Email: martins.erts+hn@gmail.com

20+ years backend and full-stack. Rust and TypeScript in production, plus a long functional-programming background.

Also three AI products built solo, end to end, in Elixir, Go and OCaml, each on infrastructure I set up and still run. One has been live and unattended for months.

Open to contract (B2B) or permanent.

is there a reason to still pick PgBouncer over these newer ones? Or is PgBouncer mostly the default because everybody runs it

I did not know this before... Google protobuf is not one thing, it is three! Same import, but:

* old C++ extension

* upb

* pure Python

upb parses FAST, but then every access is still C->Python and it slows it down. So for many reads the slow python one can win?

This one helped me to dig deeper - https://vectree.io/c/how-python-protobuf-runtimes-work-pure-...

I did not know this until today... vision models don't hunt for the white space between letters like old OCR does. They just chop the whole image into a fixed grid of equal squares (patches) and treat each square like a word in a sentence.

This will help if you want to dig deeper - https://vectree.io/c/how-ocr-works-traditional-pipelines-vs-...

I always used memcached without knowing how it stores things.. never knew about the slab thing.

It is more sophisticated than grab memory per item.

This helped be to understand it better - https://vectree.io/c/memcached-internals-slab-allocation-lru...

actually local MCP just spawns a subprocess and talks via stdin/stdout.. same as CLI tool. Extra layer is only for remote case.

This might help if interested - https://vectree.io/c/implementation-details-of-stdio-and-sse...

You are right, PRs are not in git. format-patch and request-pull are originals designed for mailings lists. Github just put UI on top.

Interesting that DAG model means any branch from anywhere can be merged... the forge is just coordination.

Explored here if curious - https://vectree.io/c/git-graph-theory-logic

The ETH article title is actually fine - "a new trick brings stability."

The hype is in the HN title.

true, but reading this made me learn something new.

Turns out HashCash (system Bitcoin borrowed), was originally built to fight email spam in 1977 - https://vectree.io/c/hashcash-the-proof-of-work-system-cited...

I like the garden analogy.

Writing online used to bring you readers. Now it trains model, which answers the same questions without sending anyone to your site.

really cool, data pipeline alone sounds like fun challenge

better tooling and integration

Did you try increasing protein intake during the cut?

I found it interesting, that Git itself has built in similarity notion... when it packs objects, it groups files by path+size, runs delta cmpression to find which are close.

Very different from just counting commits - https://vectree.io/c/delta-compression-heuristics-and-packfi...

Do you have a link to the paper showing the 20x improvement?

Such a simple trick, but effective!

Right, the default boxes into heap, but unions are different. Some languages pack them as a flat struct (tag + payload, no allocation).

Here is visual layout if anyone is interested - https://vectree.io/c/memory-layout-tagging-and-payload-overl...

Backwards compatibility point is interesting.

Found this visual breakdown of IPv4 -> IPv6 transition.

Dual stack and tunneling sections show how much complexity came from not having a clean migration path - https://vectree.io/c/ipv4-vs-ipv6-address-architecture-nat-a...

100% true, but method still matters

I am with you here.. there is actually name for why companies do this. They are not pushing app because it is better, but because browser tab cannot lock you in.

Mapped it out here if curious - https://vectree.io/c/enshittification-how-digital-platforms-...

This confused me at first as well.. inactive experts skip compute, but weights are sill loaded. So memory does not shrink at all.

I found this visualisation helpful - https://vectree.io/c/sparse-activation-patterns-and-memory-e...

100%

There is genuine demand for physical AI in Japan, there are not enough humans to hire.

I bet, EU will start long debates wether to automate or not :) Japan already skipped that part

exactly, the simplicity is its beauty!

A single data structure (tables), no built in OOP (you build it with metatables).

Coroutines instead of threads.

I was curious and explored it in detail here - https://vectree.io/c/lua-language-design-metatables-coroutin...

or rather "move when?"

Moving 1,400 tonnes might take years. The window to act is closing.

Agreed, it takes decades to build manufacturing expertise.. lose demand for a few years and all is lost

Throwing more money at it does not work either, you need skilled workforse

Same is happening in EU with shipbuilding

interesting, I never realized macOS compresses memory in place before swapping.. Linux just dumps straight to disk, no wonder it freezes

Found good visual explainer on this - https://vectree.io/c/linux-virtual-memory-swap-oom-killer-vs...

Funny part is that the real infra behind digital signatures is insanely serious compared to DocuSing "cutesy font"..

I did not know that root CA keys are generated in faraday cages?? Multiple custodians persent, then kept in tamper proof vaults.

I had no idea until I saw this visual breakdown - https://vectree.io/c/public-key-infrastructure-pki-and-certi...

Agreed, every astronaut says no photo prepares you for actually being there.

Knowing what the far side looks like and floating there looking at it are completely different things