Hacker News: markandrewj

New comment by markandrewj in "Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price"

markandrewj — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 18:07:05 +0000

Do you work in the agricultural industry? Farm equipment is expensive, farmers will maintain the equipment as long as possible, which is a long time. Manufactures such as John Deere have tried to make it not possible for farmers to do self repair.

https://youtu.be/EPYy_g8NzmI

New comment by markandrewj in "Sunsetting Jazzband"

markandrewj — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 05:25:39 +0000

Wow, this is unfortunate and a loss for the Python community. I have been impressed with the quality of everything under Jazzband.

New comment by markandrewj in "jQuery 4"

markandrewj — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:54:33 +0000

I personally don't have a need for JQuery anymore, but I still have a lot of respect for John Resig.

Don't Block the Event Loop (Or the Worker Pool)

markandrewj — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 22:42:29 +0000

Article URL: https://nodejs.org/en/learn/asynchronous-work/dont-block-the-event-loop

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45121163

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

New comment by markandrewj in "Python has had async for 10 years – why isn't it more popular?"

markandrewj — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 13:06:50 +0000

Maybe, but I wouldn't go back to Python 2 without async. It has also improved over time in Python. I have also had success using async in Python. I do understand what the article talks about however. Understanding the difference between blocking and non-blocking code is also a concept relevant to Python. In Node it's one of the concepts you are first introduced to, because Node is single threaded by default. I also understand in Go and other languages there are different options.

https://nodejs.org/en/learn/asynchronous-work/overview-of-bl...

I will agree with what some is said a above, BEAM is pretty great. I have been using it recently through Elixir.

New comment by markandrewj in "Python has had async for 10 years – why isn't it more popular?"

markandrewj — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 03:05:12 +0000

Hey Yoric, I do not want to underplay what it is like to work with async, but I think there has been a lot of improvements to make it easier, especially in JavaScript/ECMAScript. It is nice not to have to work directly with promises in the same way that was required previously. The language has matured a lot since I started using in Netscape Navigator (I see you formerly worked at Mozilla). I think coding can be complicated in general, although it shouldn't have to be. I think having a mental model for async from the start can be helpful, and understanding the difference between blocking and non blocking code. A lot of people learned writing synchronous code first, so I think it can be hard to develop the mental model and intuit it.

New comment by markandrewj in "Python has had async for 10 years – why isn't it more popular?"

markandrewj — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 21:30:29 +0000

I can tell you guys work with languages like Go, so this isn't true for yourselves, but I usually find it is developers that only ever work with synchronous code who find async complicated. Which isn't surprising, if you don't understand something it can seem complicated. My views is almost that people should learn how to write async code by default now. Regardless of the language. Writing modern applications basically requires it, although not all the time obviously.

New comment by markandrewj in "Claude says “You're absolutely right!” about everything"

markandrewj — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 19:58:21 +0000

Almost never here Claude say no about programming specific tasks.

New comment by markandrewj in "I fought in Ukraine and here's why FPV drones kind of suck"

markandrewj — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 17:34:51 +0000

It is interesting hearing feedback from the frontline. Even with the issues, I think it is clear drones are changing modern warfare when you have companies like Anduril. What most people think is coming next is autonomous drones, although I don't morally agree with it. Sorry you had to have this experience, I wish this war would end, too many lives have been lost and it is senseless.

New comment by markandrewj in "Oracle customers confirm data stolen in alleged cloud breach is valid"

markandrewj — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 15:08:41 +0000

Postgres is commonly used in GIS, via PostGIS (https://postgis.net). That said it is Oracles model to try to lock customers in.

New comment by markandrewj in "WordPress CEO quits community Slack after court injunction"

markandrewj — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 21:23:34 +0000

As someone who was around before WordPress existed, and witnessed all the proprietary CMS systems of the day, as well as personally building custom CMS systems professionally, it disappoints me to watch this unfold.

I used to see WordPress as an example of how open-source can be good business. Being open-source, and comparatively better then other proprietary options at the time, made WordPress an attractive option, and its user base grew rapidly. Blogging was also more popular then, although people still blog.

I think as of today there are better options then WordPress, and blogging is not the same as in the past. I think because of peoples history with products like WordPress, many people have gravitated towards static site generators.

Early on Automattic seemed like a place I might want to work, but obviously a lot that has changed since WordPress first launched. I can't see myself wanting to work there now, or wanting to use WordPress again. Not to mention I moved on from PHP a long time ago.

New comment by markandrewj in "React 19"

markandrewj — Thu, 05 Dec 2024 21:13:37 +0000

I generally feel the opposite way. React was changing every few weeks when I started using it, the docs and API are much more stable and consistent now. In general web standards are more stable then ever also. People younger then myself won't have learn 100s of layout hacks to get their pages displaying properly cross browser, or sometimes even in just one browser. This is just my perspective, although I also understand JavaScript fatigue, I feel it is actually one of the best times to start learning.

New comment by markandrewj in "Quake 3 Source Code Review: Network Model (2012)"

markandrewj — Wed, 04 Dec 2024 18:21:08 +0000

PunkBuster was a PITA, but there were popular mods like DeFRaG, CPMA (Pro Mode), and RA3. There were also other full on games built like Urban Terror by Sandstorm.

Most of the popular mods were rolled in as game modes though.

New comment by markandrewj in "Quake 3 Source Code Review: Network Model (2012)"

markandrewj — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 18:53:00 +0000

I have been playing Quake since Quake World and dial up. For Quake Live I was ranked highly for a while in RA. It's true that if you were close enough to the server you could get a better experience, but in western Canada servers were limited. In the past though, even with a good ping, rails were much more likely to hit on LAN. The changes to the net code in Quake Live were a welcomed change for myself.

As a note, I recently played for the first time in over 10 years. I got banned until 2029 from the main RA3 sever most people play on because I achieved 60%+ accuracy in a match and people thought I was cheating.

I also got the aim bot achievement from Steam as a result, which only 3.6% of other players have.

Back in the day I had a very tiny sponsorship with HyperGlide where I tested their products before the launch. They are credited for making the first hard surface mouse pad. I only received mouse pads, but I was happy to receive this.

https://www.hyperglide.net/

New comment by markandrewj in "Quake 3 Source Code Review: Network Model (2012)"

markandrewj — Sat, 23 Nov 2024 18:46:05 +0000

The net code for the original Q3A client worked well for lan, but was sensitive to latency for remote play. One of the exciting changes to Quake Live was the updated net code for better remote play. Internet connections also got better in general with the time.

New comment by markandrewj in "Listen to the whispers: web timing attacks that work"

markandrewj — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 20:22:30 +0000

I have never met James, but I agree his research is great. I always enjoy reading or watching his content.

Chinese researchers break RSA encryption with a quantum computer

markandrewj — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 14:14:35 +0000

Article URL: https://www.csoonline.com/article/3562701/chinese-researchers-break-rsa-encryption-with-a-quantum-computer.html

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42194083

Points: 1

# Comments: 3

New comment by markandrewj in "Gaining access to anyones Arc browser without them even visiting a website"

markandrewj — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 03:30:10 +0000

I would like to respectfully provide the suggestion of allowing for the use of Arc without being signed into an account. Although I understand browser/device sync is part of most modern browsers, and the value it provides, normally it is a choice to use this feature. Arc still provides a lot of attractive features, even without browser sync on.

New comment by markandrewj in "Unfashionably secure: why we use isolated VMs"

markandrewj — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 15:51:45 +0000

I wish people would stop going on about BSD jails as if they are the same. I would recommend at least using jails first. Most people using container technologies are well versed in BSD jails, as well as other technologies such as LXD, CRI-O, Micro VM's, and traditional virtualization technologies (KVM).

You will encounter rough edges with any technology if you use it long enough. Container technologies require learning new skills, and this is where I personally see people often get frustrated. There is also the lean left mentality of container environments, where you are expected to be responsible for your environment, which is difficult for some. I.E. users become responsible for more then in a traditional virtualizated environment. People didn't stop using VM's, they just started using containers as well. What you should use is dependent on the workload. When you have to manage more then a single VM, and work on a larger team, the value of containers becomes more apparent. Not to mention the need to rapidly patch and update in today's environment. Often VM's don't get patched because applications aren't architected in a way to allow for updates without downtime, although it is possible. There is a mentality of 'if it's not broke, don't fix it'. There is some truth that virtualized hardware can provide bounds of seperation as well, but other things like selinux also enforce these boundaries. Not to mention containers are often running inside VM's as well.

Using ephemeral VM's is not a new concept. The idea of 'cattle vs pets', and cloud, was built on KVM (OpenStack/AWS).

New comment by markandrewj in "No more boot loader: Please use the kernel instead"

markandrewj — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 16:59:37 +0000

It is bold of RedHat to claim this is 'their solution'. UEFI has already been used for years to boot without grub. Some examples, MacOS, HP-UX, or systemd-boot via UEFI.