<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: still_grokking</title><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=still_grokking</link><description>Hacker News RSS</description><docs>https://hnrss.org/</docs><generator>hnrss v2.1.1</generator><lastBuildDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 06:26:03 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://hnrss.org/user?id=still_grokking" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"></atom:link><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> GrapheneOS had to sign some sort of non-disclosure for them, in order to roll them into updates.<p>So doesn't this mean GrapheneOS is effectively controlled by Google now?<p>Also, how is keeping anything secret under NDA possible at all if you want to know what's in a security update and be actually able to build that update yourself from source?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 07:31:00 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451574</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451574</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451574</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Just to switch to an even more aggressively monitored and tightly controlled walled garden?<p>People sometimes act as if the one would be an viable alternative to the other. Even both are effectively the exact same shit for the exact same reasons.<p>How about we move instead to open systems?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 07:24:57 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451540</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451540</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451540</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Don't forget that Apple is spying on their users even more then Google does (which is gross in its own). Apple controls much more user data then Google does.<p>At the same time Apple keeps telling their users some fairy-tales about "privacy".<p>No, Apple isn't honest. Definitely not.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 07:21:25 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451520</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451520</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451520</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That escalated quickly.<p>I think that's actually true. But what does it mean, what's the way forward?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 07:14:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451475</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451475</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451475</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Just use µBlock Origin for most of the annoyances, and for the stupid google popup a simple Stylus CSS rule is enough.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 07:03:57 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451382</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451382</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451382</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>TBH, you could change a few terms and that text wouldn't look much different in the 90's. Microslop never gave a shit on end-users and what they think. Nobody ever "liked" Microslop. People were always complaining that Windows is shit, Office is shit, MS Servers are a joke, etc. Nobody at Microslop ever cared. They always cared only about having all the companies and governments in ransom, which was always their golden egg goose. The only other thing they care about, to make the first thing happen, are developers. They put a lot money into keeping people developing using their tech, and this actually works. Even on Linux it's hard to avoid Miroslop tech. (I've got just today a Pipewire update which pulled in some MS libs for ML; and there is for sure more as they have even code in the Kernel.) Microslop's EEE strategy is a long game, which is actually pretty hard to beat.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 07:00:03 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451358</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451358</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451358</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Most client PC are still running on Microslop Windows.<p>They are, as always, using Windows to sell all their other crap, especially Azure and 365. Things like their AD or office tools are tightly integrated into the cloud so you realistically can't even use the one without using the other.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 06:45:07 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451275</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451275</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451275</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> mail, maps, docs, search, etc. It would be pandemonium<p>I would hardly notice, TBH.<p>There are alternatives for all of that.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 06:41:01 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451250</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451250</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451250</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Google details new 24-hour process to sideload unverified Android apps"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I'm not sure where you are but at least here Microslop is still ruling more or less everywhere besides the online ad market.<p>They are big in everything that is mass scale developer oriented with things like GitHub, VSCode, or all their libs, tools, and integrations (they "own" in large parts for example Python, TS, and Rust). Governments and public services are all running on Azure. So do a lot of companies; more or less all small and mid sized. They are still dominant in the gaming market, and get stronger there with every year.<p>Microslop was always, and still is the same Microslop. They are very successful with what they do since decades. Whether one likes that or not.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 20 Mar 2026 06:38:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451239</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451239</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47451239</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> But safety is not the only important aspect of a programming language.<p>That's also part of what I've said.<p>The point still being: Where you need a safe language there is no way around it, and Scala is still one of the very few options you have at all. Scala is in that regard indispensable.<p>> I feel that Scala 3 really hurt the community angle<p>I don't see that.<p>Everything relevant, besides Spark, is now on Scala 3, and this is already like that since a few years.<p>But I agree that Scala documentation / references / tutorials are to this very day lacking. This was and still is a real issue, and that's actually a very relevant one. I really hope this gets better with time.<p>The sub-optimal situation regarding docs does though not prevent people from starting new projects in Scala.<p>In fact Scala 3 is again ahead of the pack. It provides features not seen so far in any real world language and will almost certainly again pioneer the implementation of new language concepts in the large, as it did already in the past with its pragmatic approach to a OOP / FP fusion.<p>Just see for yourself what is currently happening:<p><a href="https://softwaremill.com/understanding-capture-checking-in-scala/" rel="nofollow">https://softwaremill.com/understanding-capture-checking-in-s...</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 15 Dec 2025 01:27:00 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46269237</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46269237</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46269237</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> Python has convenient and good type design with str.join ignored by other languages.<p>Of course such non-discoverable and unintuitive design gets ignored everywhere!<p>We just established that even in Python the correct way to do it would be<p><pre><code>  Iterable[str].join(str) -> str
</code></pre>
but for that Python would need generic iterators on the language level…<p>> For example I'm lost which abstract class to inherit in Scala to obtain mkString for my custom container.<p>So you're saying you've been able to implement custom Scala collection types, which is regarded some of the more difficult stuff one could possibly do, but you don't know how to implement an Iterator for your custom collection—as this is all needed for mkString to work? BTW, how did you implement the collection type at all without implementing Iterator for it? Your collection is not Iterable?<p>TBH, this does not sound very realistic. This sounds more like typical HN Scala FUD. People throwing around some vague, most of the time outright made up issues they've heard about somewhere about 10 - 15 years ago.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:41:33 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268887</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268887</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268887</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>That's obviously the wrong signature.<p>The semantically correct one is "Container[T : Printable].join(): String"; T must implement the Printable concept, but Python lacks concepts (or type-classes as these are alternatively called).<p>But this all is irrelevant as this is anyway not the signature of `str.join()` in Python. It's `str.join(Iterable[str]) -> str` there. With sane design and syntax it would just become `Iterable[str].join(str)`.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:24:28 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268767</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268767</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268767</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> or Scala 2, yes, or there was the last I looked. Still the best Scala development experience by some margin, sadly.<p>I can't find it.<p>Could you link to that "best Scala development experience by some margin"?<p>All I know is that the Eclipse plugin is dead since about one decade. But maybe I just missed something.<p>> the integration/bridging piece is still flaky<p>What concrete issues do you have?<p>I'm using Metals on a daily basis and don't know about any such problems.<p>Could it be that the last time you've seen Scala (if you actually ever seen it at all) was about 10 years ago?<p>The discussions here on HN regarding Scala seem always massively dishonest, with a lot of people always spreading outright FUD for some reason I don't understand…</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 15 Dec 2025 00:00:55 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268561</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268561</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268561</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>I still don't get what you want to say.<p>Linking some GitHub repo does not explain anything.<p>What is "abuse", what is "magic" in this context?</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 14 Dec 2025 23:43:47 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268411</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268411</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268411</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>First of all nothing in the article is about optimization. Scala does not even have an optimizer…<p>It was about translation strategies and macro expansion.<p>But this makes no difference. You have all issues you just named exactly the same in so called "high level languages" as you have in C. C is in fact a high level language, and the code you write in C has not much in common with what the machine actually executes. The last time this wasn't like that is about 40 years ago.<p>1. Whether the C optimizer kicks in or not is pure dark magic. Nobody can tell from just looking at the code. The optimization techniques are way too complex to be understood ad hoc, not even experts can do that.<p>2. The difference between the optimizer doing its work, or instead the computer just verbatim executing whatever someone written down <i>is hilariously large</i>! Adding -O2 can make your code many orders of magnitude faster. Or it does almost nothing… (But like said, you can't know what will happen just from looking at the code, that's point again 1.)<p>3. You neither can express what the machine does in C. The machine does not execute anything like C. The last time it did is over 50 years ago… Since at least 30 years we have kind of JIT compiler in the CPUs which translate the result of compilation to ASM into the actual machine language. A modern CPU needs actually to emulate a computer that still works like a PDP-11 to match the C machine model even the real hardware does not look anything like a PDP-11 any more! You have only very indirect influence on the actual machine code when writing C. It's mostly about forcing the CPU internal JIT to do something, but you have no control over it, exactly as you don't have control over what for example the JVM JIT does. It's the exact same situation, just a level lower.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 14 Dec 2025 23:41:40 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268387</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268387</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46268387</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>The website is a private undertaking which started literally a few days ago. It's not some official complete tracker.<p>The point was to show that big corps are dependent on Scala, often at their core.<p>Scala is likely not for everybody, but where you need to write safe high level code there is more or less no alternative, not even on the horizon. Scala is simply very likely where Rust will end up after the honeymoon, when people realize that feature rich, safety first languages aren't for the mass market, where mostly only the cost of initial development counts.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2025 22:26:53 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211581</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211581</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211581</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Examples and code snippets in the official docs of course default to the new syntax, making them well readable for all people accustomed to Scala's new syntax.<p>> If I recall correctly, later they added a switch allowing one to choose between syntax versions in the online docs.<p>Stating this, which is not, and never was true creates the impression you're talking about things you have no clue about.<p>The point is: Removing braces really makes code much easier to read for people who get distracted by useless line noise!<p>> So reading unfamiliar syntax is literally harder.
> […]
> Source: have a degree in neurophysiology.<p>You need a degree to understand something such obvious? Never mind…<p>The point is: New syntax is only new in the first few hours of contact with it.<p>Anybody who uses more than one language knows that switching languages is in fact a bit distracting, but at latest on the second day you completely stop thinking about syntax, and than switching back to whatever was before <i>is as hard as the previous switch</i> to the current thing. Usually this happens already after a few hours for languages you already know.<p>As we're talking about neurophysiology: As a matter of fact filtering "noise" — irrelevant information — from sensory input is a hard task for the brain. So having less distracting useless noise in the input helps to concentrate on the stuff that actually matters!<p>Braces in code are 100% redundant, useless noise. The only reason they were added in the first place was to make code simpler to parse for computers, something that does not matter any more since many decades. So there is no rational reason any more to pollute code with useless, distracting noise.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2025 22:18:14 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211506</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211506</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211506</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>Scala 2's macros are compile time constructs. There is no runtime code generation / staging.<p>Scala 3's macros support staged compilation, so you can have macros which create code in later stages at runtime.<p><a href="https://docs.scala-lang.org/scala3/reference/metaprogramming/staging.html" rel="nofollow">https://docs.scala-lang.org/scala3/reference/metaprogramming...</a></p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2025 21:55:42 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211270</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211270</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211270</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>It won't in general.<p>Doing so is a feature of high-end VM runtimes like the state of the art JVMs or JS runtimes.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2025 21:50:36 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211204</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211204</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211204</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[New comment by still_grokking in "Scala 3 slowed us down?"]]></title><description><![CDATA[
<p>> However I agree that the syntax is a textbook case of trying to fix what ain't broke.<p>The great new syntax is the very reason I don't want to even touch Scala 2 any more.<p>The syntax change is the absolute highlight in Scala 3. It makes the language so much better!<p>The only real problem was that it happened so late; at least a decade too late.</p>
]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 09 Dec 2025 21:44:52 +0000</pubDate><link>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211129</link><dc:creator>still_grokking</dc:creator><comments>https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211129</comments><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46211129</guid></item></channel></rss>