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jarek83on Maybe comments should explain 'what' (2017)

I think the benefits of either clean code (sepearate methods) and commenting "what" are of different kind:

- clean code one, for me it just reads easier, specific bits of the larger operation are not surrounded with noise coming from other bits like it is in the commenting "what" one. I can focus more on each step, and that can make it easier to spot a bug or to refactor/adjust/extend, as now I'm more like on a given page of Lego set instructions

- the commenting of "what" one - yeah, this obviously makes it quicker (but probably not easier) to see the larger picture. It has benefits, but I believe this helps more hacker/scripter kind of people than programmers

jarek83on Ruby website redesigned

It could be done with :indeterminate state (so key in a cookie would be absent or removed when switching), but I'd probably would do it with radios instead

jarek83on Ruby website redesigned

Sure:

- images: none are visible above the fold - all should be lazy loaded (like it is done with all conference images) and the pragdave.jpeg one does not need to be that large;

- JS: navigation toggle, including chevron rotation can be done in CSS using :has combined with checkbox/radio input. Similarly for header-navigation and theme-toggle (here combined with cookie store). Then toc.js - seems like something easy to do in the backend. Hero-animation - I haven't looked much through it but seems like at least some parts can be done in CSS;

- CSS/tailwind - well it would probably take less typing to do it just in CSS, the site does not seem to be that much componentized to benefit from tailwind.

jarek83on Ruby website redesigned

I like how it looks. I don't like to see how badly it is crafted tech-wise - not optimized images by size and deferring, JS for things that work natively in the browser, bloat of tailwind instead of nice clean and modern CSS.

Knowing ruby I can tell that the relaxed approach to the website does not correspond with sophistication in the language itself. If I wouldn't know ruby, that would be a put off for me, thinking that if they don't want to convince me tech-wise by their site, it might be similarly annoying to deep-dive into the language.

jarek83on I can build enterprise software but I can't charge for it

That's exactly the use case I would go too (since I'm not native English) and while we have a technology now for this, people will straight away reject because LLM. Funny how we always wanted to connect the world and know it is just not compatible with the situation.

jarek83on Grok 4 Fast now has 2M context window

Isn't that LLMs are not designed to do calculations?

jarek83on Just use a button

It's a thing from the times when <button> did not exist. Other use cases were for supporting IE. Today just use button.

jarek83on Just use a button

The type of developers that would go with <div> in such cases are also those that know very, extremely little about semantic HTML and its purpose. Then if one is challenged about using React or other heavy-JS framework when you don't really have to, the discussion will be met with utter even surprise that someone out there is actually not using React.

The web is darn simple, but we are the place where it is made extremely over engineered and expensive for both companies (salaries and 2-3x more staff needed than necessary because of the bloat) and users of their products (in terms of payloads).

And yet JS-heavy frameworks seems to have the best job market.

Everything seems to be upside down.

jarek83on Meow.camera

POV: A bird's last view before being eaten by them

jarek83on Why I Chose Elixir Phoenix over Rails, Laravel, and Next.js

I wonder what made it hard for you in Rails.

jarek83on Gemini 2.5 Computer Use model

Now I notice that testimonials are victim of the same issue

jarek83on Gemini 2.5 Computer Use model

You might want to change column title colors as they're not visible (I can see them when highlighting the text) https://herd.garden/docs/alternative-herd-vs-puppeteer/

jarek83on Claude Code 2.0

It's first time I started get hit by "ERROR Out of memory" in CC - after about an hour of use. I'm on Mac Pro M4 Max with 128 GB RAM...

jarek83on Claude Code 2.0

I notice that thinking triggers like "Think harder" are not highlighted in the prompt anymore. Could that mean that thinking is now only a single toggle with tab (no gradation)?

jarek83on Getting AI to work in complex codebases

Nice read and I'm trying to follow and use your tools. But it's just seems hard to make Claude Code follow the instructions - it always diverges into researching and proposing fixes as well as searching for root causes - which is strictly said it the research_codebase not to do.

From many tries I had a success only twice. Could you give some hints on how to use it?

jarek83on Show HN: Semantic grep with local embeddings

Man, that's a great thing! Really waiting to see Ruby and Elixir. Fingers crossed for you!

jarek83on Online Safety Act – shutdowns and site blocks

So, now whoever runs anything on the web, will just be over-cautious and block UK traffic, while those in the UK will use VPNs. Are we going to have a time where UK web space will look dormant for law enforcements?

jarek83on Finland announces migration of its rail network to international gauge

https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-war-threat-europe-wit...

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-agrees-five-year-dea...

https://militarnyi.com/en/news/eu-top-diplomat-russia-may-at...

jarek83on Finland announces migration of its rail network to international gauge

Given the 5 year estimate until full-scale russian invasion against EU, it's gonna be to late.

jarek83on Stack Overflow is almost dead

I wonder if they could survive if they added a mode like phind.com wrapper - where each question stores LLM answers as answers. So (SO!) many more content and would people reason to still use it.

jarek83on Ask HN: What are you working on? (April 2025)

That was quick. I wanted to be quick too, but learned that I was too eager and missed that the are optional fields to pick from. I then re-submitted with the same email (will it go through or you have uniqueness validation?) providing optional stuff this time. Maybe play with positioning of the optional fields so they would be more apparent before submitting email address.

jarek83on Ask HN: What are you working on? (April 2025)

Really nice - I love the simplicity of the UI and how intuitive it is!

jarek83on Ask HN: What are you working on? (April 2025)

After sure global success of this book, would you consider having another go about similar topic - this time about Poland? (my country)

It might be interesting to see similar area from similar, but different enough, perspectives.

jarek83on Ask HN: What are you working on? (April 2025)

Finish it, shut up, take my money! This looks really good - make a website just to make it possible to sign up for updates.

jarek83on Moscow-based global news network has infected Western AI tools

If you zoom in close enough, nothing what you perceive as principle, will be true. Physicians can always prove you wrong.

There is always a line beyond which everything can be negated. This line is where disinformation thrives and you have to develop your own sense of how to find it.

jarek83on Moscow-based global news network has infected Western AI tools

I have another way of thinking about it:

History is what other people decided to say about the past events.

I believe 'history' is very often wrongly taken as source of truth.

jarek83on Thank HN: My bootstrapped startup got acquired today

I must say I always hated your tool for how it hijacks page rendering. I took long battles with our marketing team, as we fought for every single millisecond of loading times, and VWO introduction just thrown this all into the bin. And I wanted to put up a negative review on gartner but they never let it through - I guess it was because of the $25 USD gift card campaign, so the paid campaign would not backfire the product. Which of course made me hate your tool even more.

But that aside, I'm really glad (envy?) that the tool was successful for you!

jarek83on Tailwind CSS v4.0 Beta 1

Webdev is a shitshow so investors money could burn quicker. Huge potential for companies that can come in and transform the stack by throwing away the whole "modern" JS stack and use things like Turbo or LiveView

jarek83on How to found a company in Germany: 14 "easy" steps and lots of pain

The chicken-egg situation for bank accounts is the same in Poland - it's funny how such fundamental thing haven't been fixed even in Germany

jarek83on Kurt Gödel, his mother and the argument for life after death

What if all our existence, it has a meaning, but it's not what we hope it is. We exist to develop as evolution becoming more complex, is also evidently more energy 'consuming', or actually to hint the following question, dispersing.

What if the only reason we exist is... what if we are just a tool for... entropy?