Hacker News: gorjusborg

New comment by gorjusborg in "Do you even need a database?"

gorjusborg — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:12:40 +0000

Honestly, there is zero chance you will implement anything close to sqlite.

What is more likely, if you are making good decisions, is that you'll reach a point where the simple approach will fail to meet your needs. If you use the same attitude again and choose the simplest solution based on your _need_, you'll have concrete knowledge and constraints that you can redesign for.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Do you even need a database?"

gorjusborg — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 13:46:21 +0000

Only if you get there and need it.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Bringing Clojure programming to Enterprise (2021)"

gorjusborg — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:34:33 +0000

To me, it's the uniformity and limited rules that make lispy languages attractive.

Javascript's destructuring syntax can look almost indecipherable, and it is mostly because the language syntax is not uniform in its meaning.

  const f = ({a: {b: [x, , z] = [], c: {d: w} = {}} = {}, e: [, y] = []} = {}) => ({x, y, z, w});

This is a function written in one of the most popularly used programming languages in the world.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Bringing Clojure programming to Enterprise (2021)"

gorjusborg — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 13:25:33 +0000

> what looks easier to read

> to me

> theres a reason why pseudocode in every textbook looks like that

The reason is history, inertia, and limited exposure. Preference is self-reinforcing for those reasons. That doesn't make it better, or irreversible.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Bringing Clojure programming to Enterprise (2021)"

gorjusborg — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 14:41:57 +0000

This guy gets it.

The syntax argument is such a tired argument. With LISPy language there is almost zero syntax, it's pretty much executable AST.

Because of this, formatting matters a lot, but I don't think that's too different than other languages.

If you think LISP is hard to read, you are someone who could most benefit from branching out to a non-Algol lineage language.

Also, the little syntax present is pretty much timeless. Learn once and its yours for the next 50 years.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Oracle slashes 30k jobs"

gorjusborg — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 16:37:40 +0000

It's very amusing to me that you bring up IBM in a discussion of the value of Oracle.

I came here to say that if you want to understand Oracle's value, think IBM with less history.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Neovim 0.12.0"

gorjusborg — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 12:36:35 +0000

I believe we are thinking about different time horizons, and your language and comparison to reveals a lot about unsaid about your reasoning.

I don't think comparison to other editors is a good basis for deciding what should be pulled in. The vi ecosystem was and remains weird to those outside, but in a way that is internally consistent to the usage patterns of its own user over decades.

Also, percentage of users using X feature is also a bad selection criteria for pulling a plugin provided feature, unless that number is 100% and there is little deviation in configuring it. There is very little friction in pulling in a plugin as a user.

So what are some good criteria for absorbing plugin functionality?

- extensions that provide an API for entire ecosystems (plenary, lazy.nvim)

- plugins that add missing features or concepts that are to useful, and timeless to ignore

- plugins that would benefit themselves or neovim by moving to native code

Honestly, the bar for absorbing plugins should be pretty high. There should be a real benefit that outweighs the cost of more maintenance, coupling, and ultimately cost.

The cost of installing plugins is pretty low, and they are great at keeping the core software simple.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Neovim 0.12.0"

gorjusborg — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 20:43:57 +0000

I agree in principle that absorbing the best from the ecosystem is good. However, anything pulled into core should have a long lifetime and be considered part of the API. This deserves careful consideration, and plugins work really well until it is clear there is a reason to pull something in.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Codex with a vague prompt just solved a bug in Ghostty"

gorjusborg — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 12:29:57 +0000

What is 'over' is the idea that AI assisted coding is only hype that will go away. It is clear that software development is going to be different in ways we've not seen before.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Kagi Translate now supports LinkedIn Speak as an output language"

gorjusborg — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 12:41:38 +0000

Today I faced an unexpected challenge in a high-pressure environment. I experienced a rapid loss of structural support (my trousers), which led to a complete pivot in my physical trajectory. I didn't just fall; I deep-dived into a new ecosystem (the toilet).

This experience taught me three things about resilience: 1. Always ensure your foundations are secure. 2. When you hit rock bottom, make sure it's a splash. 3. Failure is just an opportunity to wash off and start fresh.

Grateful for the growth. #Resilience #GrowthMindset #Agility #LessonsLearned

New comment by gorjusborg in "The emergence of print-on-demand Amazon paperback books"

gorjusborg — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 13:08:31 +0000

There are a few things I take away from this post:

1. If you care about the physical manifestation of a product, maybe Amazon.com is not the place to be shopping for it.

2. If the product as it arrives is substantially different from that ordered, it seems dishonest of the seller.

3. While the physical book is a source of joy for me as well, I feel lucky to live in a time where I can own a copy of a book that only a handful of people value, for a reasonable price.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Digg is gone again"

gorjusborg — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 15:21:20 +0000

From the article, verbatim:

> We're not giving up. Digg isn't going away.

Post title is misleading.

New comment by gorjusborg in "1M context is now generally available for Opus 4.6 and Sonnet 4.6"

gorjusborg — Sat, 14 Mar 2026 15:18:04 +0000

The question that comes to mind for me after reading your comment is how can a question about a game require that much context?

New comment by gorjusborg in "Writing my own text editor, and daily-driving it"

gorjusborg — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 16:50:34 +0000

I laughed out loud when the author wrote 'it replaced nano'.

So you are claiming to have tried dozens of editors, discarded them, only to land on nano as your daily driver?

If that's true, this person must be a character.

New comment by gorjusborg in "US Court of Appeals: TOS may be updated by email, use can imply consent [pdf]"

gorjusborg — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 18:25:16 +0000

I try not to assume malice (i.e. Hanlon's Razor) when it happens to me. Unfortunately the mob rule seen on other user-curated sites seems to be infectious.

I try to gently call it out here when I see it, though, because HN is the one user-curated site where I still feel that people come to get to 'truths' versus 'agendas'. I want it to stay that way!

New comment by gorjusborg in "US Court of Appeals: TOS may be updated by email, use can imply consent [pdf]"

gorjusborg — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 11:50:38 +0000

I know discussing HN behavior is off topic, but parent's comment is a perfect example of something unpopular that adds to conversation.

We shouldn't use votes to squelch opinions we don't hold. We should use them to improve the discourse.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Ki Editor - an editor that operates on the AST"

gorjusborg — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 13:50:58 +0000

Yeah, macros are definitely helpful at times, but not as much as one might think.

I think the same goes for multi-cursor, though.

New comment by gorjusborg in "Ki Editor - an editor that operates on the AST"

gorjusborg — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 13:48:22 +0000

Exactly the same for me. So far, there have been many challengers but the same champion (subjective, I know).

New comment by gorjusborg in "Don't become an engineering manager"

gorjusborg — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:50:47 +0000

I came to read an article, and all I got was a crummy advertisement.

New comment by gorjusborg in "I'm losing the SEO battle for my own open source project"

gorjusborg — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 21:28:50 +0000

> free software fanatics have bullied and eager programmers

We must travel in different circles. I've been around a while, and I've never seen _any individual_ bullied for keeping their code closed source.

That said, I have an extreme bias toward only using open source code, for practical reasons, and I'm open about that.