Hacker News: cillian64

New comment by cillian64 in "Show HN: The load-bearing vocabulary of Claude"

cillian64 — Thu, 27 Aug 2026 19:28:05 +0000

Generally the claude jargon is valid jargon I’ve seen real people use, it just uses jargon so much more often than a human would. And because it has particular jargon it likes, and claude is widely used, you see so much of that particular jargon that you get sick of it.

It’s like having one coworker with a very particular writing style which is mildly annoying, but then it suddenly feels like half the internet was written by that one person and it becomes a lot more annoying.

New comment by cillian64 in "Fastmail Down for Anyone Else?"

cillian64 — Tue, 25 Aug 2026 20:57:29 +0000

Yeh, I'm having some issues from the UK.

Looks like we're not just imagining it: https://fastmailstatus.com/cmt928hrt00gr0lqvevgyimt6

New comment by cillian64 in "Auto mode is now the default in Claude Code"

cillian64 — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:01:06 +0000

I think by "dangerous" they include things like "makes an edit to a config file outside the current project", not just "wipes the production database". So "dangerous" commands just means things we should ask the user for confirmation, not commands which definitely cause irreversible damage.

New comment by cillian64 in "Auto mode is now the default in Claude Code"

cillian64 — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:55:42 +0000

I changed from cursor to claude code a couple of weeks ago and this is the biggest difference I've noticed. cursor very rarely had to ask for permission for a command because it almost always used builtin find/read/edit tools. Whereas claude code makes extensive use of unix tools with mysterious flags which are basically impossible to whitelist and pretty impractical to manually review.

Overall claude code seems better at "just get things done" if you blindly trust it, but cursor was much better at keeping the human in the loop.

New comment by cillian64 in "Auto mode is now the default in Claude Code"

cillian64 — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 09:47:36 +0000

sed can be used to edit files (with the -i option). Not sure how this interacts with piping to its STDIN, but I wouldn't automatically assume `grep | sed` is safe.

I was thinking about this the other day, standard UNIX utilities seem poorly suited for this because they have so many weird options/flags with "unsafe" side effects. I have no idea if grep, for example, has some niche option to make it write/edit/delete files, so I wouldn't be comfortable blanket whitelisting it.

New comment by cillian64 in "News about Raspberry Pi 6 and Microcontroller Development"

cillian64 — Thu, 28 May 2026 20:18:40 +0000

Even for extended workloads, a Pi 5 without a heatsink is still a hell of a lot faster than a Pi 4. And as sibling says, most users appreciate bursty speed while not doing prelonged compute (see also fanless laptops).

(Disclaimer, I work for raspberry pi ltd, not views of employer etc.)

New comment by cillian64 in "YouTube to automatically label AI-generated videos"

cillian64 — Thu, 28 May 2026 07:10:32 +0000

You could say almost the same about Gorillaz except for the AI part.

New comment by cillian64 in "Tesla Solar Roof is on life support as it pivot to panels"

cillian64 — Mon, 18 May 2026 11:04:43 +0000

I had that style of integrated panels installed on my (Victorian) house in the UK. The slates were old and crumbling so needed replacing and doing integrated panels meant only needing a fraction as much slate which saved a chunk of money. I think the result also looks a lot better than non-integrated panels, at least with slate roofs (which are common in my area)

Apparently integrated panels can be a little less efficient in hot weather as they don't get cooled by airflow under the panels and are less efficient when hotter. But it's a pretty minor effect, maybe a few percent of output. Seems like the best option on a new-build or if you're re-roofing anyway.

New comment by cillian64 in "Who owns the code Claude Code wrote?"

cillian64 — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 12:34:27 +0000

To look at it another way, just because some code I work on at my job is derived from open source MIT-licensed code doesn't mean I personally have the right to distribute it if my company doesn't want me to. I'd guess this comes under some generic "confidential information" clause in the employment contract.

New comment by cillian64 in "Solar panels at Lidl? Plug-in versions set to appear in shops"

cillian64 — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:54:33 +0000

It'll be the same as larger inverters for roof-top solar - they are constantly monitoring the mains cycle and will shut off if the voltage (or probably frequency too?) goes out of range, let alone drops out entirely. The relevant standards in the UK are G98/G99.

New comment by cillian64 in "The Appalling Stupidity of Spotify's AI DJ"

cillian64 — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 09:12:04 +0000

If you weren't aware, the HN guidelines now include:

> Don't post generated comments or AI-edited comments. HN is for conversation between humans.

New comment by cillian64 in "MacBook Neo"

cillian64 — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:05:15 +0000

Two advantages for me: It's nice that you don't break the connector if you trip over the cable or put the laptop down on a soft surface, and it's nice being able to charge while still using both USB-C ports (although I guess 3x USB-C would also solve that).

I don't really see any downside to a proprietary connector if you also have the option to charge over USB-C as well.

New comment by cillian64 in "Ubiquiti SFP Wizard"

cillian64 — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 15:19:27 +0000

Isn't this exactly the same as flexoptix and FS have been doing for years?

Raspberry Pi 500 plus

cillian64 — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 07:04:59 +0000

Article URL: https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-500-plus/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45370021

Points: 19

# Comments: 4

New comment by cillian64 in "I bought the cheapest EV, a used Nissan Leaf"

cillian64 — Fri, 05 Sep 2025 09:37:52 +0000

The trick with neutral in the leaf is that you have to hold the gear selector in the neutral direction for about a second. No relation to brake pedal timing as far as I can tell. No idea why neutral has that delay given none of the other “gears” do.

New comment by cillian64 in "In a first, Google has released data on how much energy an AI prompt uses"

cillian64 — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 15:28:23 +0000

One random preprint I found (https://arxiv.org/html/2505.09598v2) estimates inference is 90% of the total energy usage. From some googling around, everything seems to agree that inference dominates (or is at least comparable to) training on the large commonly-used models.

I was less surprised that inference dominates training after I read that chatgpt is serving billions of requests per day.

New comment by cillian64 in "How to teach your kids to play poker: Start with one card"

cillian64 — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 08:18:32 +0000

Matt Levine is “known for his humorous, witty, deadpan writing style” - I’m pretty sure that’s a joke.

New comment by cillian64 in "LibreLingo – FOSS Alternative to Duolingo"

cillian64 — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 14:49:47 +0000

> Because duolingo is designed for addiction

For people who have trouble keeping up hobbies, that's a feature. Even if duolingo isn't the ideal way to learn, it's a lot better than something I give up on or forget about after a week.

New comment by cillian64 in "How Core Git Developers Configure Git"

cillian64 — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 13:34:42 +0000

I have a load of these shell aliases as I spend a frankly ridiculous amount of time messing with git. `g` is `git status`, `d` is `git diff`, `gad` is `git add`, `ds` is `git diff --staged`, `gg` is `git grep`, `gbv` is `git branch -va`

New comment by cillian64 in "It is not a compiler error (2017)"

cillian64 — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 17:37:19 +0000

Compared to the amount of code that people compile and the number of bugs seen and fixed in that code, that is a tiny number of bugs. I wouldn't say it's "never" a compiler error but when you find a bug in your program, it's almost certainly not the compiler's fault.