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shoobson If an AI agent can't figure out how your API works, neither can your users

I did an experiment a few weeks back as a bit of a litmus test for a new data format my team and I have been working on. I fed the spec documentation into ChatGPT and asked it to write a file reader for it. It spat out a mostly-correct implementation almost immediately, and with some extra coaxing managed to fix the small bugs in it too.

To be fair, it's a very simple format, but it made me feel good about the quality of the documentation.

shoobson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2025)

ALT | Remote (EU) | Full-time | Frontend Software Engineer

We're a small, established company specialising in subsurface instrumentation development, as well as the software needed to handle subsurface data. As of right now, we're working on a product to streamline management, delivery and visualisation of data.

Currently chasing a frontend developer with a flair for UI/UX design, and experience in Vue.js and D3. Must have a strong mathematical background.

Open to employing via company-of-record (such as remote.com), or direct B2B consulting. If you're in Luxembourg, we can employ you directly. Reach out to me at jobs <at> alt.lu.

shoobson When a hyperspectral image is a cube

I work in the borehole instrumentation industry, and lots of our customers get hyperspectral data from core. I'm working on a new data delivery and management platform, and I've made sure our data structures can handle hyperspectral images. Multidimensional arrays are front and centre. I too think of spectral images as "cubes".

One thing that stems from this is the question of how you visualise it. False colour mapping?

shoobson The Arduous Luxembourg Visa Process

Oof, that's tough. I'm over here on a blue card, and I found that the initial application and dealing with department of immigration was actually really streamlined. Everything is very manual and personal over here, but there are a large number of public servants that are very welcoming and happy to help out.

shoobson Adventures Making Vegemite

I've noticed the umami flavour that tends to develop when cooking beer for a long time. An Irish stew with Guinness in it, or a gulas using beer as the staple liquid all develop Vegemite like flavours.

I love it, but I think a lot of non-Aussies don't recognise the similarities.

shoobson Who is attending FOSDEM '24?

For those that aren't aware, it's a free conference focusing on all things open source - https://fosdem.org/2024/

shoobson Live Feed: SpaceX Starship Rocket 2nd Launch Integrated Test Flight

Not an actual live feed. It looks like the launch will be soon. Official details can be found here: https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-...

shoobson I walked across Luxembourg

There are multiple official camping grounds and caravan parks on the route. Unfortunately wild camping isn't allowed anywhere. I know that some people still try it, and probably so long as you're somewhere off trail, camp late and leave early nobody will bother you.

shoobson I walked across Luxembourg

Thanks for the recommendation. I used KML files and manually connected them, but a router would've been handy. I'll give it a shot.

shoobson I walked across Luxembourg

A few months back I dragged myself away from Tears of the Kingdom and went on a four day hike across the entirety of Luxembourg.

I planned my route using open source GIS tools, and did the cross country walk over a long weekend back in June.

shoobson Tesla exaggerated EV range so much that drivers thought cars were broken

It's why I switched my Model 3 to just report battery percentage instead of estimated range. Their charge usage algorithm in their route planner is very impressive. Even across 300+ km trips, I've never seen it out by more than a few percent. From what I can see, it's most affected by wind. I guess they don't input weather into the estimation model.

My experience is that real world usage gets me about 85% of the advertised range for most of the year. I average around 160 Wh/km for the driving I do, so with a pack capacity of 75 kWh, that's about 470 km. Advertised range here in the EU was 530 km.

shoobson Ask HN: Could you share your personal blog here?

https://blog.ioces.com/matt

I post pretty sporadically about things I'm working on or that interest me. Electronics, coding, food, general hacking and making.

There are only a handful of posts there now, with 2 or 3 in the pipeline for the coming months.

shoobson Haptick, Part Two – Bring-up and testing of a prototype 6DOF input device

Author here. This is just a bit of technical discussion on the first bring-up and testing of a new design of force/torque sensor that utilises a Stewart platform geometry. The ultimate goal is that it'll become a fully functional SpaceMouse style device, which at the moment are really only available from one manufacturer due to many mergers and acquisitions and some heavy patent enforcement.

I've released the design open-source, so if anyone is interested in contributing, check out the GitHub repository. Let me know if there are any questions or feedback.

shoobson Rewrite, refactor, or reinvent? Lessons from 6 software rewrite stories (2019)

Most of the key authors are still with the team, though some of the old crew will start retiring shortly.

shoobson Rewrite, refactor, or reinvent? Lessons from 6 software rewrite stories (2019)

These stories are great, and totally resonate with me at the moment. I'm managing a team working on a 30 year old codebase. It is in technical debt, like many codebases that old. That being said, the codebase is full of so much good stuff from hard learned lessons over 30 years, and that's where its value lies.

I'm convinced that the way forward is not to refactor or rewrite it, but to produce something new and different that draws on the 30 years of experience learned during the development of the original product. And, like Basecamp, run them side-by-side and allow users to chose what they want.

shoobson Full 6 DOFs Space Mouse

I've been working on of these for a little bit as well. I have a prototype that's working, but has a few problems I hope to solve in the next iteration.

Mine is based on a Stewart platform with strain sensors for each truss.

shoobson Extending Python with Rust

Oops, yep, my mistake.

shoobson Extending Python with Rust

I implemented a well known curve simplification algorithm in Rust, and was pleasantly surprised how easy the interaction with Python was. For packaging, setuptools_rust was great, and I too used PyO3 for the bindings. I haven't tried Rumpy yet, but it looks interesting.

shoobson Open source USB C camera with C mount lens, MIPI Sensor, Lattice FPGA, USB 3.0

This is a pretty impressive project, though the results (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwXs9RB6uD0) are somewhat disappointing. From what I see toward the end of the video, the image is blurry with poor colour rendition, although it is fantastically low latency.

I suspect you're currently limited by the optics you're using, lack of white-balance and low CRI lighting. Looking forward to seeing further tests!

shoobson Map, magnetic, and grid north all align in southwest England

I wish it were true where I currently work. Our offices line up exactly east-west. In a few weeks time, I'll be installing a calibration fixture to calibrate fluxgate magnetometers, and the fixture itself needs to be aligned to magnetic north. What this means is our calibration fixture will be awkwardly aligned 2.54 degrees off-angle to the building. I'm looking forward to patiently explaining to our visitors that it's by design.

shoobson Haptick – Prototyping a tactile input device using a 6DOF force/torque sensor

I wouldn't be able to with this particular design, but there might be other solutions for what you're asking. What would you use it for? Something like the CharaChorder?

https://80.lv/articles/charachorder-a-cool-device-for-ultra-...

shoobson Colouring Noise – Generating Noise with a Specific Power Spectral Density

That's exactly the library I'm using for my Allan deviation plots. The documentation and interface are written more in relation to testing frequency standards, but works equally as well for gyro data.

shoobson Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (November 2021)

SEEKING FREELANCER | Luxembourg, Europe | Remote

Looking for a freelancer with PHP and Laravel experience to continue development work on a small internal business application. Contact us at jobs [at] alt.lu.