Hacker News: pjaoko

New comment by pjaoko in "I spent years trying to make CSS states predictable"

pjaoko — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 10:14:21 +0000

> Because many web sites and apps aren't as simple as "my first homepage" and don't only consist of first-party code.

CSS is there to style HTML tags. Yes, your complex webb app is dealing with a lot of third party code and whatnot... but CSS is just there to style your HTML tags. Why is it so hard to get that?

New comment by pjaoko in "I spent years trying to make CSS states predictable"

pjaoko — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 10:10:02 +0000

The point is, comparing CSS selectors to the functions or variables in other programming languages is silly, cause guess what... CSS actually has functions and variables!

New comment by pjaoko in "I spent years trying to make CSS states predictable"

pjaoko — Sun, 26 Apr 2026 10:07:37 +0000

So in your head, the analogy is not a big part of the argument? I'd accept your congrats, but I really have not earned it. The whole idea of comparing CSS to general purpose, Turing complete programming languages is surprisingly stupid. CSS has a very specific, narrow goal: styling HTML elements.

New comment by pjaoko in "I spent years trying to make CSS states predictable"

pjaoko — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 03:39:46 +0000

> Selectors are a global namespace. Imagine if every variable and function in your favorite programming languages were global and so had to be unique.

A selector is not not a variable or a function. CSS has functions (e.g translate) and it has variables, which are both distinct concepts in the language from selectors.

> No modules or namespaces. CSS is not supposed to be a turing complete general purpose programming language. Why would you need namespaces and modules to style up HTML tags?

New comment by pjaoko in "I tried to prove I'm not AI. My aunt wasn't convinced"

pjaoko — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 03:58:58 +0000

> It is AI generated, then we would loose trust in that person

You are assuming that only you can generate fake AI videos of yourself.

New comment by pjaoko in "Web Components: The Framework-Free Renaissance"

pjaoko — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 06:04:38 +0000

Sorry but you're mixing up terms. A "web component library" would be something not compete with React, because React is a web component framework. The frameworks is whats used to build the component libraries e.g I think material design has one built on top of React.

New comment by pjaoko in "Web Components: The Framework-Free Renaissance"

pjaoko — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 13:55:40 +0000

> in which case you're limited to what that framework provides (and it won't be as robust as any non-wc framework).

Is there something inherently wrong with wc that stops robust frameworks being built on top of it? Have you tried actual framworks built on wc like Lit for example.

New comment by pjaoko in "Show HN: Moltbook – A social network for moltbots (clawdbots) to hang out"

pjaoko — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:11:23 +0000

The question wasn't about which is harder, it was asking for proof.

New comment by pjaoko in "Show HN: Moltbook – A social network for moltbots (clawdbots) to hang out"

pjaoko — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:10:30 +0000

Do you exist?

New comment by pjaoko in "Show HN: Moltbook – A social network for moltbots (clawdbots) to hang out"

pjaoko — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 21:04:22 +0000

> maybe some things lie outside of the purview of empiricism and materialism

Maybe? So your whole premise is based on a maybe! It was a simple question, don't know where or how morality and behavior comes into play..

New comment by pjaoko in "Show HN: Moltbook – A social network for moltbots (clawdbots) to hang out"

pjaoko — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 08:28:13 +0000

Has it been proven that it "likely isn't real"?

New comment by pjaoko in "CSS sucks because we don't bother learning it (2022)"

pjaoko — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 21:31:03 +0000

HTML5 refers specifically to the latest, living version of HTML, the markup language. CSS and JavaScript have their own specifications, and version numbers. The term your looking for is the web platform [1].

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_platform

New comment by pjaoko in "CSS sucks because we don't bother learning it (2022)"

pjaoko — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 21:27:47 +0000

Thats correct. Computer language is the top category. Markup and Programming languages are subcategories.

New comment by pjaoko in "CSS sucks because we don't bother learning it (2022)"

pjaoko — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 19:15:06 +0000

> CSS also sucks because 10px isn't 10 pixels, 10cm isn't 10 centimeters, and 50% isn't 50% of the screen.

This really isn't about CSS, it's about screen hardware - and the thousands of constantly evolving products in the market.

New comment by pjaoko in "CSS sucks because we don't bother learning it (2022)"

pjaoko — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 19:09:39 +0000

With the actual layout models, I see it more of an evolution thing. For someone starting on CSS today, you do not have to learn all 8 now if you don't want to, just master the grid. It was designed to be the last one to rule them all.

New comment by pjaoko in "CSS sucks because we don't bother learning it (2022)"

pjaoko — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:58:56 +0000

HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) is a specific kind programming language, a markup language. It is nowhere close to a general purpose (Turing complete) programming language. Maybe you meant the web stack (HTML, JavaScript, CSS)?

New comment by pjaoko in "CSS sucks because we don't bother learning it (2022)"

pjaoko — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:53:18 +0000

> If you like programming exclusively with globals and no warning when you have conflicting variable names

Tailwind is built on top of CSS. It is basically a library of hundreds of tiny "global", documented CSS classes.

New comment by pjaoko in "CSS sucks because we don't bother learning it (2022)"

pjaoko — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 18:45:20 +0000

> It's a source of stress to add a class to the system with a simple, short and readable name and have to worry it is used someplace else.

That is the whole point of CSS classes: re-use. A CSS class is not meant to be used in only one very specific place. For that, you can select an element's ID or an elements HTML path, to style just that one thing.

New comment by pjaoko in "OpenAI declares 'code red' as Google catches up in AI race"

pjaoko — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 02:02:59 +0000

> Being an insane brand means literally nothing if people can trivially switch to competitors, which they can.

Logically speaking, yes it is easy to switch between OAI and Gemini, or Coke and Pepsi. But brand loyalty is more about emotions (comfort, familiarity,..) rather logical reasoning.

New comment by pjaoko in "What is “good taste” in software engineering?"

pjaoko — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 08:16:11 +0000

Completely agree. Readability is actually in the word itself read + ability. The ability of both the code and the reader.