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sbensuon Why We Use Om, and Why We’re Excited for Om Next

Yes, a few. Look for David's talk on Om Next he usually lists were he departed from GraphQL/Relay and Falcor. A big one is that both GraphQL and Falcor are string based, while Om Next uses data structures which are easier to programmatically manipulate and compose.

sbensuon Why We Use Om, and Why We’re Excited for Om Next

As a contributor to some of David's projects, I gotta say, he does a great job of helping you contribute. He walked me through every issue I had until I could make a meaningful contribution. The one thing which makes it hard to contribute, is that he expects very high quality code, which requires time. I think it is a good tradeoff.

sbensuon A short fable of software engineering vs. regular engineering

I agree completely with your last point and think that all Programmer vs Engineer[1] discussions should at least take it into account.

[1] https://bensu.github.io/abstracting-engineering-away/

sbensuon Stripe: Open Source

Some of the projects (e.g., jepsen) are quite impressive. I bet that displays like this one beat any office perk when it comes to hiring.

sbensuon CSS Modules

I agree that mangling isn't ideal but the naming resolution rules are already defined in every browser and they use a global namespace! From a distance, I don't see a better approach to providing namespace-like-things.

sbensuon A simpler web architecture using React, Flux, CSP, and FRP concepts

Yeah, and without Signals to make things like mouse position transparent. I started using CSP in Cljs + React applications, but I find signals to be a better abstraction for UIs.

sbensuon Decomplecting Clojure

Author here, feedback welcome.

sbensuon SICP in Clojure

To the author: on the compound data structures example, it would be much better to return an anonymous function with `fn` than to use `defn`. `defn` is meant to add global definitions to the namespace, not to be used as a value.

sbensuon ClojureScript 1.7: ClojureScript can compile itself

Using the same code for the backend is not realistic since Clojure leverages JVM libraries. A new ClojureScript backend ecosystem would need to start wrapping Node libraris to reach Clojure parity

sbensuon [dead]

... said no Lisper ever.

sbensuon Why ClojureScript Matters

I feel the same way. The ClojureScript compiler routinely makes the conceptually sound choices even in the face of breakage. This leads to unstable tooling but the quality of the underlying code allows for bigger and better conceptual improvements.

sbensuon An Empathetic Functional Language

Elixir is not homoiconic: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7623991

sbensuon Programmer proverbs

Programming is about understanding with precision.
Not trying until it works

Unless you are working with Regex of course.

sbensuon Four Text Editors No Developer Can Live Without

Spoiler: Emacs is not on the list and he says the following about Vi

For users not comfortable with command lines, and deep levels of customization this tool will feel esoteric and convoluted.

Cracked me up.

sbensuon React Hot Loader: Tweak React Components in Real Time

Don't forget Figwheel, it has been around since April 2014

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZjFVdU8VLI https://github.com/bhauman/lein-figwheel

sbensuon How You Know

I agree that good fiction book can be an eye opener. I'll give the ones from you list I haven't read a try. By non-fiction I didn't only mean science but also historic novels and biographies. I find they come with connections and lessons that no human could have come up with.

sbensuon How You Know

that is a great story!

I saw the book at my friends house and thought it looked interesting. After borrowing and reading 50 pages I realized I had it in my shelf.

sbensuon How You Know

The Conquest of Happiness - the greatest men had the same problems we all do and managed to be great in spite of it

El Aleph - how small we are in this universe, and much much more

Steve Jobs bio - how to focus

sbensuon How You Know

The problems is figuring out which books provide those useful mental models. I found that fiction usually doesn't but a list with recommendations in the comments would be great.

sbensuon How You Know

I experienced this phenomenon starkly when I started a book, and felt it was filled with obvious remarks and little novelty. It took me 50 pages to realize I had already read it.

sbensuon Zelkova – Elm-style FRP for Clojure and ClojureScript

It reminds me core.async's presentation, where Rich Hickey said something like "we thought Go's take on CSP was great, so we just added it to Clojure as a library". Blew my mind away, like Zelkova.

sbensuon Zelkova – Elm-style FRP for Clojure and ClojureScript

I don't mind the syntax. The difference is that while Elm is a niche language with a small community, Cljs has a very diverse ecosystem on its way to becoming a complete web development platform (or already there!).

sbensuon Zelkova – Elm-style FRP for Clojure and ClojureScript

Are you the author? It looks amazing. I'm going to spend the weekend trying it out. Great Work!!!

sbensuon Ask HN: ”Coffee date” etiquette

If you are interested in Ops you should consider the Docker meetups. I hear they are very good.

sbensuon The First Browser Dedicated to Developers Is Coming

The ultimate feature for hackers is how hackable something is. That means it is easier to develop the version for hackers first, and then package a specific version for end-users. Therefore, if they do develop a hackable browser and allow everybody to innovate on it, they may well be in their way to create the next best browser.

This paradox is similar to creating a new microcomputer only for hackers (Apple I/II) which in turns allows them to develop cool stuff on it (Visicalc) which in turn makes it the standard for all users.

sbensuon Programming Language Network: A Graph of Programming Languages

A filter for those who are only interested in one aspect of the graph (i.e. language influence) would be very nice. With the current balancing, Haskell is closer to Java than to ML.

sbensuon Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore

Very interesting! I find that what geniuses are secretly proud of is seldom what others perceive as their top achievements, so it would be hard to parallel the external "you are a genius" with the internal "I'm a genius".

Or maybe I'm just talking about highly intelligent people != genius.

sbensuon Both geniuses and madmen pay attention to what others ignore

> Everything operates in patterns

very meta of you :)

sbensuon Ask HN: ”Coffee date” etiquette

I'm also based in Sweden. I would recommend you attend to any meetup.com you are interested in. The organizers are usually scouting. If you talk to people and discuss the presentation (many don't) you'll get fika invites instead of asking for them!

sbensuon A Spreadsheet Way of Knowledge (1984)

Everytime I read these accounts of breakthroughs I'm baffled by how everything looks different on hindsight:

Bricklin’s teachers at Harvard thought he was wasting his time: why would a manager want to do a spreadsheet on one of those “toy” computers?

or the one about the origins of the telephone:

The invention is practically worthless. Don't through your money away!