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Decision trees – the unreasonable power of nested decision rules

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: /r/programming

The article by Jared Wilber & Lucía Santamaría discusses the process of using a Decision Tree to classify trees based on their Diameter and Height. They illustrate this with a hypothetical scenario where, after making an initial classification based on Diameter, subsequent splits are made according to Height and other features to refine the classifications into Apple, Cherry, and Oak trees. While splitting the data into more specific regions can lead to better classification, there's a risk of overfitting the model to the training data, making

Microgpt explained interactively

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: /r/programming

Andrej Karpathy created a 200-line Python script that trains a GPT model from scratch using pure Python, without any libraries. The script includes the core algorithm that drives large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT. It trains on a dataset of 32,000 human names, aiming to learn their statistical patterns to generate new, plausible names. During training, the model outputs names such as "kamon" and "anton," showcasing its understanding of which characters commonly follow others and the typical

AWS Middle East Central (mec1-az2) down, apparently struck in war

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: /r/programming

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[Feature #21930] Add Ractor#empty? method to check for pending messages without blocking

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: /r/ruby

The content discusses the need for a non-blocking way to check for pending messages in Ractor-based architectures, addressing limitations of the current Ractor API. It highlights that the existing Ractor#receive method blocks threads until a message arrives, hindering integration with cooperative multitasking systems. Developers are left with either accepting thread blocking or creating complex workarounds. To resolve these issues, the proposed solution is to introduce a new method, Ractor#empty?, which would allow developers to check if

The looming AI clownpocalypse

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: /r/programming

The author proposes a truce in the ongoing debate about AI risks, particularly focusing on terms like "the singularity," "superintelligence," and "doomers." They argue that the prevailing question shouldn't be about the worst-case scenarios but rather about the real, tangible risks of current AI technologies, which don't require superintelligence to pose significant threats. The author insists that people should be able to acknowledge these risks without being dismissed by either "denialists" or "doomers." They stress

Show HN: I built a zero-browser, pure-JS typesetting engine for bit-perfect PDFs

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: Hacker News

The content introduces VMPrint, a pure JavaScript typesetting engine that produces accurate PDF outputs without relying on heavy dependencies or headless browsers. Unlike traditional HTML-to-PDF tools that compromise on layout consistency, VMPrint guarantees identical formatting across various environments by using a versioned JSON instruction stream. It aims to enhance the quality of documentation by offering a more visually appealing PDF export, which addresses the shortcomings of standard Markdown-to-PDF outputs. The engine supports multiple languages and maintains layout stability, providing a publication

Ghostty – Terminal Emulator

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: Hacker News

Ghostty is a fast and feature-rich terminal emulator that operates on multiple platforms, utilizing platform-native UI and GPU acceleration. It requires no configuration for installation and offers ready-to-run binaries for macOS, with options to package or build from source for Linux. The emulator allows for customizable keybindings and comes with numerous built-in themes, including options for light and dark modes. Ghostty offers extensive configuration options for personalization and also provides developers with a reference on terminal concepts and supported control sequences.

Welcoming Elizabeth Barron as the New Executive Director of the PHP Foundation

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: Hacker News

Elizabeth Barron has been appointed as the new Executive Director of The PHP Foundation after a comprehensive selection process. She possesses a strong background in the PHP community and leadership in open-source governance, including co-founding a nonprofit aimed at supporting women and non-binary individuals in the PHP sector and serving as Community Manager at GitHub. Her experience in community building, fundraising, and open-source strategy positions her well to lead the foundation forward. Transitioning from his role as Executive Director, Roman Pronskiy

Guilty Displeasures

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: Hacker News

A guilty pleasure is a liking for something that contradicts one's self-image, such as enjoying Paris Hilton despite feeling one shouldn't. Conversely, a guilty displeasure is disliking something one feels obliged to appreciate due to their identity or aspirations. The author shares personal examples of guilty displeasures, such as opera, old movies, and poetry, noting a lack of genuine enjoyment for these "high culture" forms despite a preference for classical music and literature. They illustrate their feelings by describing experiences like attending oper

Simple Made Inevitable: The Economics of Language Choice in the LLM Era

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: /r/programming

The author reflects on their experience managing microservices at Qantas and the challenges of maintaining synchronization and managing codebase complexity. A key strategy they implemented was adopting Polylith alongside Clojure, focusing on simplicity through composition and data, aiming to combat "accidental complexity" in software development. They draw parallels between their past challenges and current struggles faced by LLM coding agents, emphasizing that the choice of programming language significantly impacts managing complexity. The author references Fred Brooks' 1986 essay "No

Microgpt

Published: 2026-03-01 | Origin: Hacker News

The content presents a guide for an art project called "microgpt," which is a single 200-line Python script that trains and infers a GPT model without any dependencies. This script encompasses the entire necessary framework, including a dataset of documents, a tokenizer, an autograd engine, a GPT-2-like architecture, the Adam optimizer, and both training and inference loops. The project represents a culmination of various previous projects and aims to distill large language models (LLMs) to their core

Show HN: Xmloxide – an agent made rust replacement for libxml2

Published: 2026-02-28 | Origin: Hacker News

The content discusses "xmloxide," a pure Rust reimplementation of the widely-used XML/HTML parsing library libxml2, which became unmaintained in December 2025 due to security issues. Xmloxide aims to be a memory-safe and high-performance alternative that maintains compliance with the same conformance tests as libxml2. Key features and performance metrics include: - Competitive parsing throughput, with improvements of 12% faster on SVG documents. - Faster serialization capabilities (1.5-

Simple screw counter

Published: 2026-02-28 | Origin: Hacker News

The author expresses mixed feelings about the popularity of their precision clock kits, mentioning their previous anxiety about making mistakes while working. This anxiety limited their ability to listen to media while working. However, during repetitive tasks like counting nuts and bolts, they began to consider automation. The author demonstrates their latest creations, which involve laser-cut acrylic sheets assembled with scrap PLA filament. The design features specific hole dimensions that accommodate a press fit, utilizing techniques previously demonstrated in another project. They've also included a pivot made from a

The Windows 95 user interface: A case study in usability engineering (1996)

Published: 2026-02-28 | Origin: Hacker News

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We do not think Anthropic should be designated as a supply chain risk

Published: 2026-02-28 | Origin: Hacker News

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Segment Anything with One mouse click

Published: 2026-02-28 | Origin: /r/programming

The content is a tutorial by Eran Feit on using the "Segment Anything in Python" tool, which allows users to segment any object with a single click using the SAM ViT-H model. The tutorial guides users through setting up the environment, loading the necessary files, clicking to segment an object, and exporting the results with practical code examples. It explains the segmentation pipeline, detailing how a ViT-H image encoder, a prompt encoder, and a mask decoder work together to produce high-quality masks

A Rabbit Hole Called WebGL (8-part series on the technical background of a WebGL application w/ functional demo)

Published: 2026-02-28 | Origin: /r/programming

In his article published on January 9, 2026, Hendrik Erz reflects on a personal tradition of engaging in side projects around Christmas, which has led him to explore various technical topics over the years. Erz details his past projects, including tool development, programming in Rust, analyzing German political agreements, and creating mechanical keyboards. He argues that these endeavors, while seemingly distractions from his work in political sociology, are beneficial for maintaining a well-rounded skill set as a knowledge worker. They help him stay

Block the “Upgrade to Tahoe” Alerts

Published: 2026-02-28 | Origin: Hacker News

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MQTT: The Protocol Behind Every Smart Device (Golang)

Published: 2026-02-28 | Origin: /r/programming

Of course! Please provide the content you'd like me to summarize.

Yes, and...

Published: 2026-02-28 | Origin: /r/programming

The author, a computer science instructor at Montana State University and a father of three, emphasizes the ongoing value of computer programming careers, even with the rise of AI tools. He believes that programming is essential for solving problems and managing complexity. However, he raises concerns about junior programmers who might rely on AI to generate code without developing their coding skills. He warns students to write their own code to gain a deep understanding of programming, which is crucial for reading and managing code effectively in an AI-dominated environment