<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: rbsmith</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=rbsmith</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:34:43 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=rbsmith" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "The future of version control"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Do you use Pijul?<p>From time to time, I do a 'pijul pull -a' into the pijul source tree, and I get a conflict (no local work on my part). Is there a way to do a tracking update pull? I didn't see one, so I toss the repo and reclone. What works for you in tracking what's going on there?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 22 Mar 2026 18:47:21 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47480729</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47480729</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47480729</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "SCM as a database for the code"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> there is no way to separate it<p>There is<p>git subtree --help<p>May get complicated at the edges, as files move across boundaries. It's a hard problem. And for some subset of those problems, subtree does give a way to split and join.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 15 Feb 2026 11:44:58 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47022976</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47022976</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47022976</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "US colleges are cutting majors and slashing programs after years of delays"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Baumol’s Cost Disease or Baumol Effect [1]. Thanks for mentioning. I think it deserves more air time, especially looking at typical responses (raising price, reducing quality) and the consequences (raising prices raises expectations, triggering more investment causing prices to go up more). How to reduce consequences? Two models that seem to work are volunteer based organizations, such as AA[2] and education organizations coupled with technology, specifically AI, such as Khan Academy's Khanmigo[3]. What does this mean for universities? Lots of terrain to explore looking for sweet spots.<p>[1] There are the standard places to define like Wikipedia. The link I offer here is an A16Z podcast with Marc Andreesen and Vijay Pande where Marc gives an overview about 3 minutes in.<p><a href="https://a16z.com/podcast/baumols-cost-disease-in-healthcare-and-where-we-go-next/" rel="nofollow">https://a16z.com/podcast/baumols-cost-disease-in-healthcare-...</a><p>[2] <a href="https://aa.org" rel="nofollow">https://aa.org</a><p>[3] <a href="https://www.khanmigo.ai" rel="nofollow">https://www.khanmigo.ai</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 13 Aug 2024 12:43:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41234902</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41234902</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41234902</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "A Git story: Not so fun this time"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I worked on bk<p>> The data received was SCCS, which was an understood format with existing tools.<p>You'd be surprised. SCCS is not broadly understood. And BK is not exactly SCCS.<p>I read the SourcePuller code when it was published (sp-01). It's pretty easy reading. I give Tridge credit for that. I wrote a little test, got it to checkout the wrong data with no errors reported. Issue was still there in sp-02 .</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 04 Jul 2024 06:27:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40872794</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40872794</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40872794</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "William Wulf, computer pioneer who opened way for internet, dies at 83"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I had him as a teacher for my 2nd CS class in 1976, I think it was data structures using Pascal. I don't think I had another class which we laughed so much. Enough learning and fun that I considered switching my major from EE. And then he left to be part of the project that became Ada. It was still a good class, but it became a normal class. I stayed with EE. Thank you, Prof. Wulf, for that glimpse of something bigger. It stayed with me.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 29 Mar 2023 12:46:15 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35356450</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35356450</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35356450</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "Lambda Calculus in 400 Bytes"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Yes! Thank you. On to exploring!</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 01 Mar 2022 20:02:40 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30519229</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30519229</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30519229</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "Lambda Calculus in 400 Bytes"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The blc.S didn’t build for me using `-oformat:binary` . Changing to `--oformat=binary` it compiled, but then get core dumps. Running Linux x86_64 up to date Ubuntu 20.04.4 .<p><pre><code>    for cc in cc gcc clang
    do  echo "## $cc"
        $cc -no-pie -static -nostdlib -o blc -Wl,--oformat=binary blc.S || exit 1
        { printf 0010; printf 0101; } | ./blc; echo
    done
</code></pre>
Any suggestions?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 01 Mar 2022 12:05:25 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30513124</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30513124</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30513124</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "The Source Code Control System (1975) [pdf]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>An example:<p>The 4th paragraph from the end of section II talks about optional deltas. It's like ifdefs in a version control system: many version can be checkout with or without some of the deltas. While not part of many version control systems, it's an interesting idea explored in Andreas Zeller's Feature Logic PhD work 20 years later [1].<p>[1 - currently, SSL cert expired this morning; notified] <a href="https://www.st.cs.uni-saarland.de/publications/files/zeller-thesis-1997.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://www.st.cs.uni-saarland.de/publications/files/zeller-...</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2021 18:15:13 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26228029</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26228029</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26228029</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "The Source Code Control System (1975) [pdf]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>A reasonable direction to go, and I'll give sort of a non-response. For me, it's to take some time to absorb and celebrate this paper. If I go too quickly to doing better, I tend to miss the amazing. It also makes it easier for me to talk about other's contributions (like luckydude's many) to the state of the art, as then get into what could be better.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2021 17:14:12 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26227054</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26227054</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26227054</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "The Source Code Control System (1975) [pdf]"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>This amazing paper holds a special place in my heart: my marked up 1992 copy serving me well when working as a graph and weave engineer on BitKeeper.<p>To me, SCCS is both a marvel and a disappointment. A marvel because its graph and weave were so far ahead of its time. A disappointment is because for the most part, time didn't build on the innovations, with TeamWare and BitKeeper among the exceptions.<p>Take the graph: storing history not just as a version graph, but also as a collection of deltas. The 3rd paragraph from end of section II:<p>"The second kind of special delta is one which, when applied, explicitly forces others deltas to be applied or not, by either including or excluding them. A list of deltas to be included or excluded is specified when such a delta is created. The exclusion facility is most often used simply to correct mistakes.  For example if, after delta 3.14 is added, it is found to be undesirable, the programmer might add delta 3.15 which excludes it. If the module is accessed at level 3.14, delta 3.14 itself would be applied. If the module is accessed at a level 3.15, though, delta 3.14 would not be applied. From the viewpoint of control, this form of error correction is safer than allowing the programmer to actually delete a delta, since no potentially necessary information is lost."<p>Such advanced thinking from 1975! As for the for the brilliance of the weave,  ... [1 - adding to mmastrac's reference of J. Schilling's wonderful SCCS pages]<p>[1]. <a href="http://sccs.sourceforge.net/sccs_invention.html" rel="nofollow">http://sccs.sourceforge.net/sccs_invention.html</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 22 Feb 2021 14:37:59 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26225001</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26225001</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26225001</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "Little is a statically typed, C-like scripting language"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>All the files that begin with L in :<p><a href="https://github.com/bitkeeper-scm/tcl/tree/master/generic" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/bitkeeper-scm/tcl/tree/master/generic</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 20 Feb 2021 21:35:34 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26208201</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26208201</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26208201</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "Mercurial server in Rust, specifically designed to support large monorepos"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Maybe because Mercurial is GPL? I saw that too, and wondered as you did.<p><a href="https://www.mercurial-scm.org/repo/hg/file/tip/COPYING" rel="nofollow">https://www.mercurial-scm.org/repo/hg/file/tip/COPYING</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 01 Aug 2017 09:43:02 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14899068</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14899068</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14899068</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "Pittsburgh Gets a Tech Makeover"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> I've never had an SFO<->PIT flight without layovers.<p>About 10 years ago, I did a round trip a month, each under $300 and all flights non-stop. Then USAirways hub status left, and the pain set in.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 23 Jul 2017 17:00:46 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14833196</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14833196</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14833196</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "Show HN: BitKeeper – Enterprise-ready version control, now open-source"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Interesting.
"^AI Spec" where Spec feeds into a predicate f(Spec, Version) to control printing a particular Version?
Looks like you could drop the ^AE lines.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2016 13:19:19 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11674967</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11674967</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11674967</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "Show HN: BitKeeper – Enterprise-ready version control, now open-source"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Thank you! A peek into the (as far as I know) into root node of source control history.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2016 02:52:51 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11672352</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11672352</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11672352</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by rbsmith in "Show HN: BitKeeper – Enterprise-ready version control, now open-source"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>| CDC's MODIFY and Cray's clone UPDATE, were kind of like SCCS<p>Do you have references?  I've heard of these but haven't come across details after much creative searching since they are common words.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 11 May 2016 01:43:50 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11672078</link><dc:creator>rbsmith</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11672078</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11672078</guid></item></channel></rss>