Hacker News: iansteyn

New comment by iansteyn in "The Visible Zorker: Zork 1"

iansteyn — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:33:28 +0000

This is very neat! Been wondering what people would do with the Zork code now that it is open source [1].

[1]: https://opensource.microsoft.com/blog/2025/11/20/preserving-...

New comment by iansteyn in "They fixed a typo with a human leg [video]"

iansteyn — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 09:18:56 +0000

P.S. i’ve tried my best to follow titling guidelines by using almost the original title, but removing extra clickbaity words. Let me know if I’m off target.

They fixed a typo with a human leg [video]

iansteyn — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 09:18:56 +0000

Article URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUkLYOPRYH4

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46716903

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

New comment by iansteyn in "Programming languages used for music"

iansteyn — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 18:16:59 +0000

Sonic Pi is missing imo. (Some have mentioned Strudel, it’s a similar live-coding music platform). Admittedly Ruby-based, but it seems some of the other ones on the list are libraries/forms of other langs too.

New comment by iansteyn in "Windows 10 desktop background wasn't computer generated (2024)"

iansteyn — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 21:11:00 +0000

OP here: ^this is a better post, it goes straight to the actual artist’s website

Windows 10 desktop background wasn't computer generated (2024)

iansteyn — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 20:52:15 +0000

Article URL: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/i-was-shocked-to-find-out-the-windows-10-desktop-background-wasnt-computer-generated-but-a-picture-of-light-being-shot-through-an-actual-window/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46039162

Points: 2

# Comments: 3

New comment by iansteyn in "Celtic Code: Drawing knots with Python"

iansteyn — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 21:13:27 +0000

Yeah fair enough. I don’t think of genAI either when I hear “procedural generation” (or CGI - “Computer Generated Imagery” - for that matter). But the word “generate” has taken on new significance for the broader public now and I’m not sure that non-technical folks know the difference.

New comment by iansteyn in "Celtic Code: Drawing knots with Python"

iansteyn — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 16:32:09 +0000

This post makes me wonder - does anyone else think there is a need for a term to more strongly differentiate between procedural generation (like this knot-drawing program) and genAI? I feel it really diminishes the impact of the work of programmer-artists nowadays to say they make “computer-generated” art. Or maybe we already have such a term?

New comment by iansteyn in "Celtic Code: Drawing knots with Python"

iansteyn — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 16:29:46 +0000

I really like how the author walks us through the generation process step-by-step. It makes it seem possible for me to build stuff like this too!!

Custom Asidenotes

iansteyn — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 21:36:15 +0000

Article URL: https://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2025/10/29/custom-asidenotes/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45948631

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by iansteyn in "Nolan Williams, Who Stimulated the Brain to Treat Depression, Dies at 43"

iansteyn — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 16:31:29 +0000

Dupe: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45904025

New comment by iansteyn in "Synesthesia helps me find four-leaf clovers (2023)"

iansteyn — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 22:45:24 +0000

Source? Or is this satire

New comment by iansteyn in "Synesthesia helps me find four-leaf clovers (2023)"

iansteyn — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 21:13:28 +0000

Aha, yep this is it. I got an email about it but didn’t notice until just now.

New comment by iansteyn in "Synesthesia helps me find four-leaf clovers (2023)"

iansteyn — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 21:03:53 +0000

Meta-HN question from a newbie: Can someone help me understand why my 9-day-old submission is suddenly on the front page and says it’s from 3 hours ago?

Edit: Solved.

New comment by iansteyn in "Radiant Computer"

iansteyn — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 17:27:54 +0000

Would you mind elaborating?

New comment by iansteyn in "Radiant Computer"

iansteyn — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 16:22:02 +0000

Yeah I felt the contradictions here too. Doesn’t the feeling of “magic” directly proceed from abstraction and non-tractability (or at least, as you say, not needing to understand every part of the system)?

New comment by iansteyn in "Why do AI models use so many em-dashes?"

iansteyn — Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:43:20 +0000

I tried some of these today, unfortunately it seems they’re not universal across programs.

New comment by iansteyn in "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (November 2025)"

iansteyn — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 23:58:18 +0000

Location: Kelowna, BC, Canada

Remote: Open to it

Willing to Relocate: To anywhere in Canada (w/ preference for BC), maaybe RSA, Netherlands, USA.

Technologies: Python, Flask, Java, PHP (LAMP stack), SQL, JS/CSS/HTML, Git/GitHub.

Resume: https://iansteyn.com/

Email: iansteyn [at] student.ubc.ca

Looking for: 4-8 month software development co-op (i.e. low-paying student intership) w/ Jan 2026 start.

About: 4th yr CS student interested in full-stack application engineering and (eventually) system design, but open to any kind of software-adjacent role including testing, analytics and DevOps.

New comment by iansteyn in "Why do AI models use so many em-dashes?"

iansteyn — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 17:28:50 +0000

This is true. I actually originally started using em-dashes because a high school english teacher called out my overuse of regular dashes (where they technically should have been em-dashes, but he didn’t know that) in the place of other types of transitions… which prompted me to research the punctuation properly and consider other ways to transition thoughts too.

New comment by iansteyn in "Why do AI models use so many em-dashes?"

iansteyn — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 07:35:08 +0000

It’s a real pity to me that em-dashes are becoming so disliked for their association with AI. I have long had a personal soft spot for them because I just like them aesthetically and functionally. I prided myself on searching for and correctly using em, en, and regular dashes, had a Google docs shortcut for turning `- - -` into `—` and more recently created an Obsidian auto-replacement shortcut that turns `-em` into `—`. Guess I’ll just have to use it sparingly and keep my prose otherwise human.