Hacker News: Sodaware

New comment by Sodaware in "Ask HN: What less-popular systems programming language are you using?"

Sodaware — Wed, 05 Mar 2025 22:12:25 +0000

I started with DarkBasic but moved to BlitzBasic after a few months. Wrote a couple of small games and really enjoyed just messing around with it - it felt just like when I started programming on my first computer.

I still use BlitzMax for game development (when I get time) - there's an updated version with some nice language additions support for more architectures, including the Raspberry Pi: https://blitzmax.org/

New comment by Sodaware in "RIP Jekyll (The Genesis of the Jamstack)"

Sodaware — Mon, 13 Sep 2021 18:24:43 +0000

I used to use Jekyll. I still do, but I used to, too.

New comment by Sodaware in "Ask HN: Which vintage computers do you find interesting?"

Sodaware — Thu, 22 Jul 2021 14:50:17 +0000

I grew up with an Atari ST and I've enjoyed revisiting it. Growing up I stuck to really simple stuff, so it's been fun to to learn more about how it all works. There's a library called Atari Game Tools (AGT) that can do some really impressive things even on a stock STFM. With cross-compilation tools it's possible to build software on a PC in a few seconds before testing in an emulator.

The VIC-20 is another fun machine to work with. There's not much memory and the way it handles graphics is quite interesting.

[1] AGT: https://bitbucket.org/d_m_l/agtools/wiki/Home

Distraction Free Writing with Emacs

Sodaware — Tue, 11 May 2021 22:28:17 +0000

Article URL: https://www.philnewton.net/blog/distraction-free-writing-with-emacs/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27124399

Points: 5

# Comments: 0

How I get work done with Emacs and org-mode

Sodaware — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 19:02:57 +0000

Article URL: https://www.philnewton.net/blog/how-i-get-work-done-with-emacs/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26824801

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by Sodaware in "Show HN: PingMy.Life – Automated Life Check-Ins"

Sodaware — Tue, 13 Apr 2021 18:46:39 +0000

I like the idea!

One small suggestion: if this is a free product I'd reword "Get started for free". That phrase makes me think I'll be signing up for a free trial.

New comment by Sodaware in "Move Slow and Make Things"

Sodaware — Fri, 02 Apr 2021 15:24:51 +0000

My new startup uses machine learning built on Quantum Blockchain technology (patent pending).

I'll take my VC money now, please.

New comment by Sodaware in "Ask HN: What extension/plugin is now ubiquitous to your web browsing?"

Sodaware — Thu, 25 Mar 2021 15:55:40 +0000

Privacy Badger: blocks a bunch of trackers - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-badge...

Privacy Possum: blocks additional trackers that Privacy Badger sometimes misses - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-possu...

Stylus: Let's me adjust the CSS of any website. I use this to tweak websites that have poor contrast or text that's too big/too small - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/styl-us/

New comment by Sodaware in "Ask HN: What is your favorite internet rabbit hole?"

Sodaware — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 13:04:40 +0000

The experience reports on erowid.org make for some interesting reading.

[0] https://erowid.org/experiences/

New comment by Sodaware in "Ask HN: Do You Journal a Lot?"

Sodaware — Thu, 17 Dec 2020 00:35:30 +0000

I don't at the moment, but I find I feel much better (more positive and a clearer head) when I write. I wrote daily for a while and it definitely helped.

New comment by Sodaware in "A palm oil alternative could help save rainforests"

Sodaware — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 13:34:15 +0000

> But I'm sure heating can be accomplished without chopping down trees at all. Through solar, for instance.

In a perfect world, yes.

But this is the problem with conservation work in poor countries. 1.7% of US energy generation comes from solar [1], so going to Madagascar and saying "hey, you should be using solar instead of chopping down trees" rings a little hollow.

[1] https://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.php?id=427&t=3

New comment by Sodaware in "A palm oil alternative could help save rainforests"

Sodaware — Tue, 15 Dec 2020 11:59:53 +0000

> But whatever method we chose, it should not ignore the actual people living there, their intelligence comparable to our own and their fight for survival.

A couple of years ago I attended a talk on lemur conservation, and this was one of the key points they brought up. Habitat loss from slash-and-burn agriculture is a huge problem for lemur populations, but from a conservation point it's not effective to visit Madagascar and tell people not to do it. To the Malagasy you're just a rich tourist telling them off for living without offering any help.

So instead they focus on education. Two of the initiatives they mentioned were teaching people more effective methods of cultivating food (such as setting up fisheries), and providing them with plans for more efficient wood-burning stoves.

New comment by Sodaware in "Controversial Programming Opinions (2012)"

Sodaware — Fri, 04 Dec 2020 16:41:04 +0000

A bit like how /r/unpopularopinion on Reddit ends up being full of popular sentiments.

New comment by Sodaware in "How to Do What You Want: Akrasia and Self-Binding (2011)"

Sodaware — Sun, 29 Nov 2020 22:42:07 +0000

I've been using Beeminder for 8 years[1], and it is no exaggeration to say it has massively changed my life. It helped me run a marathon, procrastinate less, write more words, workout regularly, and a bunch of other stuff.

It's weird and it's not for everyone, but if it works for you then go for it. I'm not ashamed that I need to wear corrective lenses, and I'm not ashamed that I needed help to get my shit together.

[1] https://www.philnewton.net/blog/beeminding-8-years/

New comment by Sodaware in "The Purpose of Writing"

Sodaware — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 21:51:56 +0000

Interesting read! I'm not a particularly good writer, but I do find it useful to explore my thoughts through the written word.

I just finished an experiment where I wrote a blog article every day for 30 days (a more detailed summary is here https://www.philnewton.net/blog/30-day-blogging-summary/). I normally only write a few posts every year, so it was a pretty big increase for me. I don't think it improved my writing skills in any significant way, but it did bring out a lot of ideas that had been floating around in the back of my mind.

New comment by Sodaware in "PHP 8"

Sodaware — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 16:49:22 +0000

I don't really like PHP, but it pays my bills. There are some big improvements in this release. Named arguments and actual attributes (instead of special tags in comments) are really nice.

New comment by Sodaware in "Coil Incident Report on Email Leak"

Sodaware — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 18:55:28 +0000

I was affected by this. I appreciate them putting out such a thorough breakdown of what happened (and why).

New comment by Sodaware in "Show HN: HeyHunter! – Hire senior developers for $29,000/year!"

Sodaware — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 18:44:41 +0000

There's a typo in the "How much does it cost?" section:

> Excelent English.

New comment by Sodaware in "Ask HN: Do you use analytics on your personal blog/site? Why?"

Sodaware — Wed, 28 Oct 2020 23:16:22 +0000

I use goaccess for analysing my server logs and that's it. I look for pages that are popular, traffic spikes, and any referrals that stand out. There is so much referrer spam these days that it takes a while to clean things up to the point where it's useful.

New comment by Sodaware in "What if we had Local-First Software?"

Sodaware — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 22:36:44 +0000

I remember Microsoft pushing hybrid apps called "Smart Clients" back in 2003.