Hacker News: xavdid

New comment by xavdid in "In praise of –dry-run"

xavdid — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 08:10:09 +0000

Sure, where you draw the line will vary between projects. As long as its exact placement doesn't matter too much.

For me personally, I tend to draw the line at write operations. So in your example, I'd want a dry run to verify the permissions that it can (if I expect those to be a problem). But if that can't easily be done without a write, then maybe it's not worth it. There are also situations where you want a dry run to be really fast, so you forego some checks (allowing for more surprises later). Really just depends.

New comment by xavdid in "In praise of –dry-run"

xavdid — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 07:56:26 +0000

Yes, but it depends on the context.

For little scripts, I'm not writing unit tests- running it is the test. But I want to be able to iterate without side effects, so it's important that the dry mode be as representative as possible for what'll happen when something is run for real.

New comment by xavdid in "In praise of –dry-run"

xavdid — Sun, 01 Feb 2026 07:21:53 +0000

I like this pattern a lot, but it's important that the code in the dry path is representative. I've been bitten a few too many times by dry code that just runs `print("would have updated ID: 123")`, but not actually running most of the code in the hot path. Then when I run it for real, some of the prep for the write operation has a bug / error, so my dry run didn't actually reveal much to me.

Put another way: your dry code should do everything up until the point that database writes / API calls / etc actually happen. Don't bail too early

New comment by xavdid in "How well can you predict the state of the world in 2041?"

xavdid — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:36:59 +0000

We recently welcomed a new baby and have been discussing whether she'll ever learn to drive. I love bets with long time horizons, so we put together a survey so friends and family could pick a side. We kept thinking of fun questions to ask, so it grew into the survey I've linked above, which we're opening to the public.

It's short, fun, and totally informal. Thanks for looking!

There's a little more context about the project on my blog: https://xavd.id/blog/post/predicting-the-future/

How well can you predict the state of the world in 2041?

xavdid — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 20:36:59 +0000

Article URL: https://xavdid.fillout.com/predictions

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46771146

Points: 1

# Comments: 1

New comment by xavdid in "During Helene, I just wanted a plain text website"

xavdid — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 07:50:38 +0000

Not all the way down to 4KB, but https://512kb.club/ matches this vibe

New comment by xavdid in "A secret to never forgetting numbers"

xavdid — Sun, 02 Nov 2025 08:40:04 +0000

This was originated (or at least popularized) in an episode of Archer from season 1. It remains maybe my favorite 5 minutes of comedy ever out to screen. It's just so tight!

https://youtube.com/watch?v=dNYMQpcqscA

New comment by xavdid in "Python f-string cheat sheets (2022)"

xavdid — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 07:03:00 +0000

Ah, these are great! f-strings are so powerful, but I can never remember the arcane little syntax. Definitely bookmarking this.

New comment by xavdid in "PYX: The next step in Python packaging"

xavdid — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 22:24:37 +0000

that's fascinating - I've definitely been saying "you've" and "tie". I assumed this was "picks"

New comment by xavdid in "Every champion needs a rival"

xavdid — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 20:51:51 +0000

If you're interested in some (light) science behind rivalry and/or the Michigan/OSU rivalry, I highly recommend the documentary "Rivals: Ohio State vs. Michigan". It's a fun look into why a rivalry drives better performance.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22937658/

New comment by xavdid in "Crypto 101 – Introductory course on cryptography (2017)"

xavdid — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 01:01:41 +0000

I don't remember if it links to it, but this pairs well with https://cryptopals.com/, which are practical examples of many of these theories.

New comment by xavdid in "The AI-Native Airtable Has Arrived: A Letter from Our CEO"

xavdid — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 21:52:48 +0000

I found this to be an interesting new direction from Airtable, a product I've really enjoyed. I hope it doesn't muck up the core functionality too much.

The AI-Native Airtable Has Arrived: A Letter from Our CEO

xavdid — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 21:52:48 +0000

Article URL: https://www.airtable.com/newsroom/introducing-the-ai-native-airtable

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44428301

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

New comment by xavdid in "Fun with uv and PEP 723"

xavdid — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 23:57:20 +0000

I mean, there are 3 equally valid ways to write an if statement: `test`, `[`, and `[[`. In the case of the latter two, there are a mess of single-letter flags to test things about a file or condition[0]. I'm not sure what makes them "fake syntax", but I also don't know that much about bash.

It's all reasonable enough if you go and look it up, but the script immediately becomes harder to reason about. Conditionals shouldn't be this hard.

[0]: https://tldp.org/LDP/Bash-Beginners-Guide/html/sect_07_01.ht...

New comment by xavdid in "Fun with uv and PEP 723"

xavdid — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 06:37:30 +0000

My rule of thumb is that as soon as I write a conditional, it's time to upgrade bash to Python/Node/etc. I shouldn't have to search for the nuances of `if` statements every time I need to write them.

New comment by xavdid in "Starship: A minimal, fast, and customizable prompt for any shell"

xavdid — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 06:35:10 +0000

I've been a happy starship user for a few years at this point (after a long time with oh-my-zsh). For me, it's killer feature is the `starship.toml` file. Gone are the days of arcane bash escape sequences to style the prompt. It's a well-documented shape and easy to reason about. So no matter if you got maximalist or minimalist for your, it's easy to tweak. That rocks.

New comment by xavdid in "Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable"

xavdid — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:59 +0000

It works occasionally, but unpredictably. Consistently frustrating though

New comment by xavdid in "Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable"

xavdid — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 22:32:37 +0000

I have no idea, but it's a constant source of frustration. Sunglasses also lead to failed reads, which makes a little more sense but is just as frustrating. "Here's a new phone. It works great except you can't use it quickly if you're wearing sunglasses. Sorry!"

New comment by xavdid in "Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable"

xavdid — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 21:47:12 +0000

> I honestly don't get why people like Face ID more

Big +1. Face ID fails way more than Touch ID ever did. I know you couldn't your finger with wet hands or gloves, but that didn't come up all that much.

Face ID fails multiple times per day, every day. I can't unlock my phone well in bed, while brushing teeth, while it's sitting on a table not directly in front of me, if I'm in direct sunlight, in a car mount, etc. The only time it's more useful is when I'm already using the phone and need to auth for an app (bank, 1Password, etc). Then it's seamless. It just doesn't make sense as an unlock mechanism, IMO. iPad has the same problem - I can't unlock it if it's on the couch next to me without picking it up and holding it in front of my face.

Face ID would make a lot of sense on a laptop, which is always used in basically ideal conditions for unlocking: straight on view, probably inside, always centered on my face.

I'd love Touch ID on a phone's lock button, but that's not an option. And I'm worried that if it was an option, it would be relegated to the budget phones (like it is on ipads).

New comment by xavdid in "How I accepted myself into Canada's largest AI hackathon"

xavdid — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 00:31:26 +0000

> disclosure timeline (mm/dd/yyyy)

> 09/03/2025 - vulnerability disclosed

a security vulnerability and time travel to go with it!