The best Hacker News stories from All from the past week
Latest posts:
Ask HN: Do you hate software engineering but love programming?
I have come to a realization that I don't really enjoy Software Engineering(& the processes that it comes with) but I do love programming & solving problems.<p>Finding and fixing bugs is a lot of fun. Incidence response is a lot of fun. Hacking on new projects is a lot of fun. Writing unit tests is fun too.<p>Refactoring, rewriting, sprint, agile, rearchitecting things etc aren't that fun. I like a few languages and I am not too keen on learning new paradigms or languages unless I have to. I'd rather get to value now by making something that just works(and is adequately tested) than engineer something thats future proof but takes longer to get out.<p>What are some good jobs for a person like this?
The James Webb Space Telescope is finding too many early galaxies
NYC Slice
NanoGPT
Theory-building and why employee churn is lethal to software companies
Ask HN: I'm 40 and feel my mental ability declining. Programming seems harder.
I'm around 40 and recently I have been asked to port an API from one language to another. The code I'm porting is average code, not terrible, but plenty of little things to complain about.<p>I feel like my past self could have handled this task, but I am really struggling. Porting this API will require a deep understanding of the existing API, which, of course, has several layers of abstraction.<p>I can't seem to hold more than about 2 levels of call stack in my head. There's the entry point function which calls other functions, which call other functions, which call other functions, etc. You know how it is, code calls other code, and logically it forms a tree of calls and return values that often goes several layers deep. I struggle to hold more than about 2 levels of this call stack in my head. By the time I'm down in the weeds I've forgotten what I'm doing, what the purpose of the actual API call is.<p>I don't know how to break this into small enough chunks that I can understand it or make progress on. Imagine I gave you the code for the sha512 algorithm, and a hash, and asked you to find the pre-image (the input). This is how I feel. Where do I even get started? How do I find even a single chunk of manageable work to break off.<p>The hard part is, several other developers are making progress on porting this API. Why can't I? What happened?<p>I don't know if this task is just an especially bad fit for me, or if my mental abilities are declining?
Pirate Weather: A free, open, and documented forecast API
Taking over a Dead IoT Company
Gail.com FAQ
CDC File Transfer
Omg.lol – A lovable web page and email address
The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z
How do I draw a pair of buttocks? (2014)
U.S. moves to bar noncompete agreements in labor contracts
‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
Microsoft is preparing to add ChatGPT to Bing
Modules, not microservices
My Youtube earnings
Why Not Mars
Why Not Mars