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Harvard hired researcher to uncover slavery ties, fires him for finding slaves

Published: 2025-06-24 | Origin: Hacker News

A scholar named Carissa Chen, a Harvard University student, was conducting research to trace descendants of enslaved individuals linked to the university when she discovered Jordan Lloyd, a 35-year-old screenwriter. Chen had used historical records and genealogy to identify Lloyd as a descendant of Tony and Cuba Vassall, enslaved people connected to Isaac Royall Jr., a figure associated with the founding of Harvard Law School. In June 2020, while quarantined and reflecting on the novel "Roots," Lloyd

Can your terminal do emojis? How big?

Published: 2025-06-24 | Origin: Hacker News

Emojis enhance the visual appeal of script outputs, especially when used sparingly. The VT100 terminal, introduced in 1978, allows for bigger text through DECDHL (DEC Double-Height Line) escape codes, enabling users to create larger, dual-line character displays. Users can test their terminal's support for DECDHL with specific keystrokes. When combined with full Unicode support, this feature allows for creative emoji combinations, such as merging different emojis to create new expressions. Although not

Excalidraw+ Is Now SoC 2 Certified

Published: 2025-06-24 | Origin: Hacker News

To simplify the tedious process of handling security questionnaires, the company pursued SOC 2 certification. They successfully achieved SOC 2 Type I certification and are currently working on Type II. The team plans to consider additional certifications like GDPR and ISO 27001 based on demand. The SOC 2 certification process compelled them to document their existing security practices, which included measures like multi-factor authentication (MFA) and data encryption. SOC 2, developed by the AICPA, is a compliance framework that outlines

Vibe Coding Makes You a Better Engineer

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: /r/programming

The author identifies as an "AI-first developer," using coding agents like Copilot and Claude Code to assist in coding, but emphasizes that this doesn't necessarily make them faster. Instead, they've become a better engineer by enhancing key skills. The author remains deeply involved in problem-solving, carefully designing the system and workflow, while allowing the AI to handle implementation, akin to an architect specifying a blueprint while skilled craftspeople execute it. They express skepticism about claims of drastically increased productivity, noting that improvements typically arise from

I put Hanami in the browser (kind of)

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: /r/ruby

In a recent podcast episode, Vladimir Dementyev discussed his efforts to integrate Ruby on Rails into the browser, making it more accessible for users without requiring complex setup processes. Inspired by this, the author decided to try a similar approach with the Hanami framework, despite having little experience with WebAssembly (WASM). Initially, they managed to create a basic working version in about half an hour, but the process became challenging, leading to six more hours of troubleshooting and research. After overcoming various obstacles, they

Mochi 0.9.1: A readable VM for learning compilers and bytecode

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: /r/programming

The content emphasizes the importance of user feedback and indicates that it is taken seriously. It mentions the release of Mochi v0.9.1, which includes runtime enhancements, refined development tools, and improved VM introspection. Key features of this release include support for function expressions, generic calls, and map indexing. The REPL has been simplified, and the JIT now handles simple function calls. Updated benchmarks are provided for various targets, and the TypeScript runtime can now dynamically resolve globals. There

Apple Research unearthed forgotten AI technique and using it to generate images

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: Hacker News

Recent advancements in generative image models include two main categories: diffusion models (like Stable Diffusion) and autoregressive models (like OpenAI’s GPT-4o). Apple has introduced a potential third category with their work on Normalizing Flows (NFs), which have been somewhat overlooked recently. NFs transform real-world data into structured noise and can accurately calculate the likelihood of generated images, a feature that diffusion models lack. However, earlier NFs produced images that were often blurry and lacked detail

Git Notes: Git's coolest, most unloved­ feature

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: /r/programming

Git notes are a powerful yet underutilized feature within the Git version control system. They allow users to append metadata to commits, which can be particularly useful for tracking additional information without altering the original commit. This capability is beneficial for adding context to commits, as once a commit is made, its message cannot be changed in the history. Git notes can be applied to various Git objects, including commits, blobs, and trees. While they are often overlooked due to usability issues, engineers rediscover git notes

Disabling Intel Graphics Security Mitigation Boosts GPU Compute Performance 20%

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: /r/programming

Michael Larabel, the founder and principal author of Phoronix.com since 2004, focuses on enhancing the Linux hardware experience. He has written over 20,000 articles on Linux hardware support, performance, and graphics drivers, and is the lead developer of several benchmarking tools, including the Phoronix Test Suite and OpenBenchmarking.org. The site offers a subscription service, Phoronix Premium, which provides ad-free browsing and extra features while supporting its operations. Users can also contribute through

C++26’s compile-time reflection

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: /r/programming

Daniel Lemire is a software performance expert recognized as one of the top scientists globally and a highly followed developer on GitHub. He notes that the upcoming C++26 will introduce compile-time reflection, which allows access to a program's own structure—enabling functionalities such as enumerating a class's methods or converting data structures to JSON strings efficiently. Lemire highlights that through his collaboration with Francisco Geiman Thiesen, the JSON library simdjson will leverage this feature, allowing seamless and performant conversions between

The original Whitesmiths compiler was released in 1978 and compiled a version of C similar to that accepted by Version 6 Unix

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: /r/programming

The message highlights the importance of feedback and its serious consideration. It discusses the Whitesmiths C compiler, first released in 1978, which was among the earliest commercial C compilers and adapted to the ANSI C standard by 1985. The compiler supported various architectures, including DEC PDP-11 and Intel 8086, and was often used as a cross compiler. P. J. Plauger, the company's president from 1978 to 1988, expressed his willingness to allow

Vera C. Rubin Observatory first images

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: Hacker News

The NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory has released its first images, unveiling a rich, colorful view of the Universe, particularly focusing on the southern region of the Virgo Cluster, 55 million light-years away. This image captures a stunning array of cosmic objects, including various stars and galaxies, showcasing the vast potential for scientific discovery. Over the next 10 years, during the Legacy Survey of Space and Time, researchers worldwide will have access to this extensive data to investigate fundamental questions about the Milky

Fairphone 6 is switching to a new design that's even more sustainable

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: Hacker News

Leaked renders of the upcoming Fairphone 6 showcase the company's focus on repairability and sustainable design. Set to launch on June 25 for €549, the device will be available in black, white, and green, featuring a design that includes flat edges and a unique camera system. Notably, it allows easy access to the battery and other components through removable screws, emphasizing its sustainable ethos. The Fairphone 6 will feature a 6.31-inch OLED display with a 120Hz

How I use my terminal

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: Hacker News

The blog post discusses the author's frustrations with lagging in VSCode, particularly when using the Vim plugin, and issues with keybinding conflicts. After trying Zed, which also faced similar problems, the author opted for Neovim (nvim) in the terminal but was annoyed by the need to copy and paste file paths frequently. To effectively manage file navigation, especially with features analogous to VSCode's ctrl-click, the author developed a solution using tmux for enhanced terminal capabilities. The post highlights

libai: A C library for embedding Apple Intelligence on-device Foundation models in any application with full support for native tool calling and MCP.

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: /r/programming

The document outlines a C library designed to integrate Apple Intelligence on-device Foundation models into applications across various programming languages, including C, C++, Python, Rust, and Go. This library, known as libai, allows developers to leverage Apple's AI capabilities without requiring internet connectivity, as all operations are processed locally on the user's device. It is compatible with multiple platforms, such as Intel Macs, Apple Silicon devices, iPhones, iPads, and Apple Vision Pro. Notable features include session management for isolated

Sailing the fjords like the Vikings yields unexpected insights

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: Hacker News

Greer Jarrett, an archaeologist at Lund University, has identified four potential Viking havens along the Norwegian coast after sailing over 5,000 kilometers along Viking trade routes in replica boats. This research is part of a broader field known as experimental archaeology, which seeks to understand ancient technologies through practical experimentation. Jarrett's findings suggest that these havens were situated farther out to sea than previously known major ports, indicating a decentralized network significant for trade and travel during the Viking era. Other researchers in

How much slower is random access, really?

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: Hacker News

In a blog post by Sam Estep dated June 23, 2025, the author discusses the importance of locality in programming to enhance performance. The focus is on how memory operations interact with different cache levels (L1, L2, L3) and how programs should be structured to optimize this interaction. Using an example of summing floating-point numbers based on indices from a second array, the author examines the performance differences between accessing the array in a sequential (first-to-last) order versus

Backyard Coffee and Jazz in Kyoto

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: Hacker News

The author explores the vibrant and unique small business culture in Japan, specifically highlighting tiny bars, izakayas, and specialized shops located in residential areas. They describe visiting quaint coffee shops in Kyoto, where coffee culture is more leisurely rather than grab-and-go. One particular spot caught their attention—a small coffee shop that doubles as a bar in the evening, located in a driveway between homes. The author appreciates the craft of coffee-making and notes the ease of starting small businesses in Japan, expressing plans to write

Comparing Idiomatic Spaceships in Ruby

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: /r/ruby

To make a Ruby class comparable (e.g., allowing expressions like `a > b`), you need to implement the spaceship operator `<=>` and include the Comparable module. For simple classes, like a six-faced Die, you can compare based on a single attribute such as the Die's value. However, for more complex cases, like a Die with varying numbers of faces, you want to prioritize higher values and more faces. A common method to implement the spaceship operator is using `Array#<

An in-depth look at the implementation of an Undo/Redo system in a large complex visual application

Published: 2025-06-23 | Origin: /r/programming

Undo/redo systems in creative software are essential yet often overlooked until they malfunction. Designing an effective system for Alkemion Studio, a visual brainstorming and writing tool for tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs), presented numerous challenges but proved rewarding. The complexity stems from the multiple contexts users navigate, such as moving tokens, editing text, and adjusting metadata, which require a context-aware system to prevent confusion and potential bugs. Additionally, each undoable action serves as a structured autosave, emphasizing the