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huherto

2,972 karma · joined May 16, 2007

Just a hacker
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huherto··on Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)
I am working on creating an Even Driven Architecture framework for Kotlin.

I went through the Software Architecture Patterns for Serverless Systems book, which I think it is fantastic. I learned a lot but I still had a lot of doubts to actually use the ideas in real life. So I started dissecting the companion framework, which is in written in Typescript. I have been going piece by piece and converting to Kotlin which I think it is more expressive (and fun) and it is allowing me to understand how everything fits together.

Typescript framework: https://github.com/jgilbert01/aws-lambda-stream

huherto··on Proximity to coworkers increases long-run development, lowers short-term output (2023)
Paraphrasing. Closed doors (focused work) lets you reach local minimum faster. Open doors (More connections) lets you escape local minimums.

I guess you need focused work to make progress but once in a while you need contact with others to find inspiration or new ideas.

Another one similar phrase(kinda). "If you want to go fast go alone. If want to go far go together". African proverb.

huherto··on Tell HN: Happy Thanksgiving
Eighteen years here. I am not American but I think this is a holiday that we can all celebrate as reminder that we should be grateful for what and specially for who we have, independently what we don't have.
huherto··on Python is not a great language for data science
Isn't the author saying that Python + Pandas is almost as good as R, but Python without Pandas is less powerful than R.

I can't help to conclude that Python is as good as R because I still have the choice of using Pandas when I need it. What did I get wrong?

huherto··on Python is not a great language for data science
For what is worth. The Kotlin folks have been adding some cool features and tools for data analysis. https://kotlinlang.org/docs/data-analysis-overview.html
huherto··on We stopped roadmap work for a week and fixed bugs
I do agree that you should be able to fix most bugs in 2 days or less. If you have many bugs taking longer to fix, it may be an indication that you may have systemic issues. (e.g design, architectural, tooling, environment access, test infrastructure, etc)
huherto··on What Killed Perl?
True. Adding to these. Perl6/Raku suffered from the second system effect. Described in the Mythical Man Month. Larry and company were over confident with their previous success.
huherto··on The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)
I know that there are many reasons for people to work after 65. I also know that sometimes life takes surprising turns. But it makes me nervous to see people so capable as Dave that are well known in our industry looking for a job. What is the hope of the rest of us ? I love software engineering but I still hope to be able to retire to work on my own projects.
huherto··on The kind of company I want to be a part of
"Quality is Free" was repeated over and over by my college professor back in the 80s. I guess he was fan if this guy. https://archive.org/details/qualityisfree00cros.

Similarly in software. When a software product is well crafted/engineered, it has less defects, it is easier to understand and modify, saving a lot of time and effort. I do not see that anymore. I see a lot of smart young engineers but they are managed in a way in which the craft doesn't matter and what matters is how many story points you do.

huherto··on Show HN: Venturu – Zillow for the market of local businesses
Congrats Joel! This is such a great and useful idea! Godsped!
huherto··on Modular monolith and microservices: Modularity is what matters
This is my take too. Just because of the name, people try to make them as small as possible and we end up with too many of them.
huherto··on Why aren't smart people happier?
I don't disagree, but I have seen a few counter examples in my life.

Some of the smartest people that I have known are also the kindest. It is like they are so smart that are able to understand and empathize with other people thoughts and feelings. In any place I go, I look for the kindest people and frequently you also find they are also really smart and interesting.

huherto··on Ask HN: My family business runs on a 1993-era text-based-UI (TUI). Anybody else?
TUI were great for many business applications, specially those in warehouses or factories. They were easier to write and modify. Many business applications were migrated to web for little gain. IMHO.
huherto··on More big companies bet they can still grow without hiring
True. A lot of work done in big companies is waste.

6. A lot of unneeded complexity is added.

Perhaps if we can only use AI to understand the wasted effort.

Also, I rather have the ICs with some slack and time for clear thinking to address the big issues than always be busy on a mountain of work that goes now where.

huherto··on Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
Do it know. She may already be sick. Don't wait for the symptoms.
huherto··on Ask HN: How are you preparing for COVID-19 disruptions?
I believe kids are actually much more resistant to this virus.
huherto··on Math is an insurance policy
I agree that a lot of software will be done declaratively rather than imperatively. But we will create DSLs for that. I don't think we will use math for that. And somebody needs to create the DSLs.
huherto··on Team Structure for Software Reliability Within Organizations
I understand this point of view is contrary to popular opinion. The justification of microservices is to allow a team of let's say 10 developers to scale to 100. What you do is create 12 teams of 8. Each team owns their microservice with well defined APIs, and are allowed some flexibility on languages, tools, process, etc. Of course, it is a good idea to leverage common tools and such, but not obligatory.

Commonly we see a team of 20 maintaining 40 microservices, which becomes very difficult to manage and provides little gains. IMHO, this si the wrong approach. Microservices are tiny from the point of view of Netflix, or Amazon.

huherto··on Investor update on quarterly guidance
I am surprised the stock market is holding up while the virus can have a big impact in world trade. Any guesses ?
huherto··on Team Structure for Software Reliability Within Organizations
That is the whole purpose of doing microservices. Every team can operate independently. Choose their tools, processes, etc. As long as they respect their API Contracts.
huherto··on Google cuts jobs at cloud-computing group
This was the vision of Multics, which was the predecesor of Unix. It is interesting how things come around.
huherto··on Facebook reverses on paid influencers after Bloomberg memes
Thanks for the tl;dr

Probably candidates and influencers should disclose if they are being paid. After all once you are getting paid, you ARE in the advertisement business.

huherto··on Why Aren't More Highly Intelligent People Rich?
Yes, the article lacks clarity and detail. It almost makes you think that IQ is not important. When we know it very important. Necessary but not sufficient.
huherto··on Why Aren't More Highly Intelligent People Rich?
What an insightful comment. Housing, Health care and College costs are out of control which are needed if you want to stay in the middle class.
huherto··on Why Aren't More Highly Intelligent People Rich?
I thought it was pretty much accepted that IQ is very important for success but it is not enough. Among the Big 5 personality traits, Conscientiousness is very important too. Conscientiousness includes (Competence, Order, Dutifulness, Achievement striving, Self discipline, Deliberation). So it makes sense. You have to be Smart, Conscientious and Lucky.
huherto··on Why are we so bad at software engineering?
I will give you one thing. We iterate faster. We can try a dozen number of approaches in a week and often we get immediate feedback on what works and what doesn't work. I hardly doubt any other kind of engineer has tried as many things as any of us do. We build, and build and build. We don't spend a lot of time building one thing. Or if we build one thing it is made of many things that we build, rebuild, refactor and replace over and over.
huherto··on Shit – An implementation of Git using POSIX shell
I moved from SCCS to RCS to CVS to Subversion to Git.

Moving to Git was the more difficult step for me. I prefer it now. For a while I had to move back to Subversion and I hated it.

huherto··on Apple engineer killed in Tesla crash had previously complained about autopilot
> is the insane amount of PR, politics and marketing talk by people who have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA

I have seen this too much. People who have a deep understanding of how things work are busy learning and doing. People who can spent their energy with politics and marketing can do it because they are not busy learning and doing. I which there was a solution for this. Corporate IT departments are particularly full of this.

huherto··on The Economics of Clean Code
It probably means all of the above. You should be able to read the code and understand how everything works.
huherto··on How to grip a pen?
Something that I have to ask my self over and over when criticizing someone else code. "Is this wrong, or is it just not the way I would do it?"
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