<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Hacker News: ifdefdebug</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=ifdefdebug</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 24 Oct 2026 16:02:48 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=ifdefdebug" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "The foolishness of "natural language programming" (1978)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Yeah I should have been more precise. What I was suggesting is that the <i>behavior</i> of the machine code will be always the same after compiling (assuming no compiler bugs).<p>Anyway, my work process is as follows: I have the agent write the code, and describe it's purpose etc. via comments so another session can later pick it up easily without me having to explain everything again. That's what I commit. Sometimes I even look at the code :)<p>What else could I commit? At the current state of the art, I could commit the whole natural language session that lead to the code, instead of the code. When I later check this out in a fresh environment (without the artifacts the LLM putted out), I'd just load the most recent version of the conversation as an initial prompt. Or I could want to check out the conversation at a point two months ago and rebuild the program from there.<p>Would that produce a program with exactly the same behavior? I don't know. But if it doesn't, the essay's argument is not moot. Not yet ...</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2026 13:19:12 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50208552</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50208552</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50208552</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "The foolishness of "natural language programming" (1978)"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>What do you commit? As long as you commit high level code to your repo, you are still programming in that language. You don't commit machine code because you know it will be always the same after compiling. And it also doesn't matter that you are using very high level tools and basically don't ever look at or even understand your programs any more.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 23 Oct 2026 08:50:21 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50206141</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50206141</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50206141</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "An AI agent emailed researchers for help. It told us why"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The spammer is the guy who runs the spamming program, not the program itself. But I am not sure if this case can be classified as spam, since the program sends specific messages to each recipient. It's still unsolicited mail though.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 03 Oct 2026 11:09:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49943176</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49943176</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49943176</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "F-Droid 2.0"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Not the answer to your question but... do your eyes a favor and use an e-ink device for reading.<p>You can thank me later (in 20 years).</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 06:54:01 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49841046</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49841046</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49841046</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "AI is breaking our proxies for expertise"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>No. Whenever you are done with all strings of length n, you still have to check all strings of length n+1. So that moment you identify by "eventually" can never be reached.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 15 Sep 2026 16:32:12 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49715024</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49715024</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49715024</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Switzerland's Federal Government Is Replacing Microsoft on 3k Computers"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That's the problem, nobody is going to test the new software unless they have to, it will sit unused until the end of the pilot period as long as the old software is available too. Those people are no cs nerds who like testing new software, they are office people and learning new tools is stressful for (most of) them. I have been there.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 15:34:44 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49599560</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49599560</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49599560</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Switzerland's Federal Government Is Replacing Microsoft on 3k Computers"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> Do note that during the pilot phase, the new system runs in parallel with Microsoft 365 rather than replacing it outright. That's okay, I think.<p>Well I think it's not ok without at least a fixed deadline for removal of MS365. People usually have work to do and learning new ways to get it done means extra work, and (almost) nobody takes upon extra work if they don't have to. So the new software will be largely ignored by default.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 07 Sep 2026 13:06:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49597972</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49597972</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49597972</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Earth's organisms developed via evolution. What if the cosmos did, too?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>But since the mass that entered the black hole continues to produce gravitational pull in our universe, the child universe must still be anchored within ours, at least gravitationally, and we should feel the pull from all the additional mass the new universe generates?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:26:53 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49544451</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49544451</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49544451</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Earth's organisms developed via evolution. What if the cosmos did, too?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>>... proposed that mass/energy in a parent universe collapsed to form a black hole (thus leaving the bubble of space-time that was the parent universe). It then “bounced” at the singularity, and expanded in a Big Bang, to form a new universe...<p>So any universe expanding within a black hole of ours has to exist with only the mass that fell into it? How would it produce black holes itself with so little mass?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 02 Sep 2026 23:32:10 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49544045</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49544045</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49544045</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "The world may have less time than it thinks on climate change"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Usually people trying to be helpful just post an archive link, instead of requesting others to do so...</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 30 Aug 2026 21:10:26 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49502851</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49502851</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49502851</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Helsinki Hacker News Meetup"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>You mean 1024 right?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 05 Aug 2026 10:39:22 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49180906</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49180906</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49180906</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Kimi K3 built a Windows XP in browser"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>minesweeper works seemingly until you find some number that don't sum up...</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2026 22:57:23 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49052630</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49052630</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49052630</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Hacker wipes Romania's land registry database"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>As long as trying to break that fiction has real-world consequences like jail time etc., it will work anyway.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:23:49 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48980166</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48980166</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48980166</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Exploit brokers pay $500k for WordPress RCEs. I found one with GPT5.6 and $25"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> Is GPT5.6 Sol Superhuman?<p>This is not a simple y/n question. Computers have been superhuman at playing chess for decades now. Reading this article, I guess they are superhuman at understanding code now as well.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:32:57 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976335</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976335</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976335</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "The state of open source AI"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>And to keep around a concurrent browser with full adblock abilities so they can cripple their own without too much of an outcry.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 16:43:25 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48949382</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48949382</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48949382</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Weave Robotics launches Isaac 1, a $7,999 home robot with Fall 2026 deliveries"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Because your sex slave uses teleoperation assistance when needed to guarantee task completion?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 19:19:32 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48751844</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48751844</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48751844</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Weave Robotics launches Isaac 1, a $7,999 home robot with Fall 2026 deliveries"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> The company says the robot completes Laundry Flow and Daily Reset tasks autonomously by default, but uses teleoperation assistance when needed to guarantee task completion.<p>Does that mean some random human looking at my dirty laundry in the middle of my home, the most intimate place in existence for me? No thank you.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 01 Jul 2026 19:15:11 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48751793</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48751793</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48751793</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Wayfinder Router: deterministic routing of queries between local and hosted LLM"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Do you want the honest answer?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 28 Jun 2026 10:50:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706206</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706206</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48706206</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Norway imposes near ban on AI in elementary school"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Everybody and their grandma can "use AI". Reading (and understanding what you read), writing (coherently) and calculating (in your head) are those basic skills that need to be trained and will give you an advantage no matter in what kind of world you live.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 07:37:45 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48607176</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48607176</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48607176</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by ifdefdebug in "Spain blocks prediction markets Polymarket, Kalshi over lack of gambling licence"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>well I see more problematic the people actually doing the Iran attacks and murder of heads of state. Betting on those is distasteful, but doing those things is where the damage lies.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 26 May 2026 17:08:58 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48282597</link><dc:creator>ifdefdebug</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48282597</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48282597</guid></item></channel></rss>