Hacker News: bmoxb

New comment by bmoxb in "API design note: Beware of adding an "Other" enum value"

bmoxb — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 18:45:30 +0000

It arguably makes sense in a large monorepo, but otherwise I would agree.

New comment by bmoxb in "'The tyranny of apps': those without smartphones are unfairly penalised"

bmoxb — Sun, 23 Feb 2025 12:11:05 +0000

I don't see why I should even have to set up multiple accounts. For the vast majority of these apps, I see no reason they need to be geo-locked anyway.

New comment by bmoxb in "Is Iceland getting ready to join the EU?"

bmoxb — Sun, 29 Dec 2024 23:26:34 +0000

I assume they're referring to actually residing and working in other EU countries, rather than just visiting.

New comment by bmoxb in "Google starts tracking all your devices in 8 weeks"

bmoxb — Sun, 22 Dec 2024 15:00:13 +0000

Germany has a very strong culture of dubbing essentially everything. Just finding any showing of a film in its original language at a cinema is very difficult outside of major cities for example.

New comment by bmoxb in "Advancing Memory Safety"

bmoxb — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 23:02:40 +0000

I'll admit that there are certain patterns/data structures/etc. that are awkward to implement in Rust, but to write good C++ you are essentially required to think about ownership and lifetimes to some degree anyway (despite the greater lenience awarded compared to Rust and the lack of static checking). For anyone familiar with modern C++, I don't think that the shift in mental model should be too huge so the degree of backlash surprises me somewhat.

New comment by bmoxb in "Germany's 49-euro ticket resulted in significant shift from road to rail"

bmoxb — Sat, 12 Oct 2024 21:18:25 +0000

By what metric?

New comment by bmoxb in "Ask HN: What are you working on (September 2024)?"

bmoxb — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 07:44:48 +0000

I recently moved to Germany (not to Berlin, but seems like most of the content is still relevant) and your website was extremely helpful - thank you for working on it.

New comment by bmoxb in "How to succeed in MrBeast production (Leaked PDF)"

bmoxb — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 10:39:06 +0000

It absolutely does offer more maths lectures than you could ever conceivably watch.

New comment by bmoxb in "Ask HN: What's Your Experience with eSIMs?"

bmoxb — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 22:13:48 +0000

I can say for certain of course, but I would guess at that being the result of the poor service that travel network providers typically offer. I have also used travel eSIMs in Japan and had generally a pretty poor experience (bad coverage and slow speeds). Conversely, I've had non-travel, regular monthly eSIM contracts in both the UK and Germany and experienced few issues (at least no more than my experience with physical SIM cards).

New comment by bmoxb in "Google Search: Roboto Mono"

bmoxb — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 09:08:46 +0000

Not really anymore, unfortunately.

New comment by bmoxb in "More delays for Euston's HS2 station"

bmoxb — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 10:28:46 +0000

There was never a 'war on drivers' - just empty rhetoric that Sunak clung on to after the Uxbridge by-election.

New comment by bmoxb in "Jailbreaking RabbitOS"

bmoxb — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 22:36:27 +0000

Do you really expect a 10 year old to consistently be able to tell when an LLM is feeding them convincing-sounding but ultimately false information?

New comment by bmoxb in "Crafting Interpreters"

bmoxb — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 05:09:09 +0000

I think Engineering a Compiler is a great next step after Crafting Interpreters. It's both easier to get into (in terms of writing style and structure) and, as you say, generally more practical than the Dragon Book.

New comment by bmoxb in "U.S. home prices have far outpaced paychecks. See what it looks like"

bmoxb — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 06:53:48 +0000

Indeed, while simultaneously doing little of note to address the issue (beyond further propping up the house of cards with schemes like the lifetime ISA).

New comment by bmoxb in "I learned Haskell in just 15 years"

bmoxb — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 23:42:53 +0000

What's wrong with Haskell's syntax? I think it's generally pretty nice though can be excessively terse at times.

New comment by bmoxb in "Ask HN: Why is nobody manufacturing low tech electric cars in 2024?"

bmoxb — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 08:19:46 +0000

Agreed. Electric cars are frankly a pretty poor solution to the issue of carbon emissions. A far better, more long term solution already exists - high density, walkable neighbourhoods and high frequency, well run public transport systems.

New comment by bmoxb in "Google releases smart watch for kids"

bmoxb — Wed, 29 May 2024 22:23:10 +0000

Am I missing something? Is it not just a glorified fitness tracker? I can certainly understand privacy concerns but I don't get how a smart watch is the signifier of a 'broken' world.

New comment by bmoxb in "How to find hidden cameras in an Airbnb, according to a security expert"

bmoxb — Thu, 23 May 2024 12:33:09 +0000

While I agree, depending on where you're staying, 'aparthotels' (hotels where rooms have little kitchens) are becoming increasingly widespread and affordable - can be a good alternative to Airbnb for long stays in many cases.

New comment by bmoxb in "Michelle's List: A free, anonymous landlord review site"

bmoxb — Sun, 19 May 2024 13:08:14 +0000

Indeed. I haven't looked too much into this particular site, but I don't really see the utility of this kind of service in most large Western cities. I've rented in Zurich and am looking for somewhere in Munich - unless your budget is particularly high, it's very much a matter of just taking whatever you can get. From what I've heard, this is the case in many/most large American cities too.

New comment by bmoxb in "Why a New Yorker Story on a Notorious Murder Case Is Blocked in Britain"

bmoxb — Sat, 18 May 2024 14:33:55 +0000

Agreed. UK tabloids are an absolute blight. I wouldn't generally advocate for the censorship of reporting on such a case, but if it's going to happen, then tabloid 'newspapers' would be at the top of the list of organisations to restrict.