Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: Hacker News

The author reflects on their experience of buying vintage knives at flea markets from 2005 to 2008. Initially, they had specific sellers they relied on but often searched for knives among other vendors, who typically dismissed culinary knives as low-value items, focusing instead on military, pocket, and hunting knives. Over time, perceptions shifted, and the value of culinary knives, particularly Sabatier brands, surged after they were recognized as desirable items online. This led to a decline in the availability of good

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: Hacker News

Kip is an experimental programming language inspired by Turkish grammatical cases, which are incorporated into its type system. The project aims to merge linguistics and type theory for educational purposes, rather than for production use. Kip allows for a flexible argument ordering based on the explicit marking of grammatical relationships in Turkish. It supports defining algebraic data types, using type variables for generics, and offers features like pattern matching and named constants. Tutorials are available in both Turkish and English. Users can explore Kip after building it

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: /r/programming

Freenet is a decentralized platform designed for creating censorship-resistant services, utilizing a peer-to-peer network that operates without central servers. Applications are compiled to WebAssembly and consist of three main components: a Contract (which maintains shared state across the network), a Delegate (which handles private data on the user's device), and a UI (the web interface). This tutorial guides users in creating a web UI, container, and backend contract while also detailing local building and serving from a Freenet node. An

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: /r/programming

Frigatebird is a columnar SQL database designed with a push-based query execution model. It employs morsel-driven parallelism, allowing queries to be compiled into pipelines where operations push data through channels for efficient parallel execution across workers. Notably, an ORDER BY clause is required when creating a table. The database stores data in a columnar format, with each column in a separate file, and uses LZ4 compression for storage optimization. For detailed documentation, users are directed to the documentation directory,

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: /r/programming

Failed to fetch content - HTTP Status - 403

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: /r/programming

The author reflects on the complexities of designing a key value store, particularly in interview settings. They appreciate the ambiguity of the question as it allows for various perspectives and problem-solving approaches. However, they note that many people struggle with the foundational aspects, especially in understanding system requirements, which complicates design iterations. The author emphasizes the importance of grasping customer needs, suggesting that effective questioning can lead to clearer requirements, akin to a binary search. They advocate for candidates to understand the business rationale behind a system

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: /r/programming

The content discusses the common frustrations engineers face when their proposals are delayed or rejected by higher-level decision-makers. The author, a CTO, acknowledges these challenges and offers practical advice for engineers to effectively communicate their ideas. Key points include understanding user needs, recognizing what executives need and the pressures they face, and identifying the company's key stakeholders such as the board and customers. The author encourages engineers to engage with their executive teams by asking strategic questions that show their interest in the business, helping to foster better communication and

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: /r/programming

Failed to fetch content - HTTP Status - 403

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: Hacker News

The article by Stephan Schwab discusses the persistent cycle in software development where business leaders hope to simplify the process, reducing the need for specialized developers, yet this ambition often results in frustration. The history of software development, from the Apollo program's mission-critical software created by Margaret Hamilton to the introduction of COBOL in the late 1960s, illustrates this ongoing struggle. Initially, COBOL aimed to allow business analysts to write their programs without needing specialized training, but it ultimately required trained programmers due to

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: /r/programming

This content provides a detailed comparison of three solutions for exposing a PostgreSQL database as a REST API: NpgsqlRest, PostgREST, and Supabase. - **NpgsqlRest** is a standalone executable that connects directly to PostgreSQL, requiring no additional infrastructure. It is easy to deploy and offers high performance, processing 2.2 times more requests and with lower latency than its competitors, even under heavy loads. - **PostgREST** operates similarly with a single binary model,

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: Hacker News

The author has created an interactive image-to-ASCII renderer, emphasizing sharp edges in the output. They highlighted the effectiveness of this renderer using a rotating cube example that showcases clear contours when switching to a "split" view. The tool is also capable of rendering static images, such as an ASCII representation of Saturn, with added contrast through a cel shading-like effect to enhance the separation between different colored areas. The author notes the importance of sharp edges in ASCII art, criticizing other ASCII renderings for their blurry

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: Hacker News

The article discusses the recent trends in utilizing agents in software development, highlighting how projects that establish structured feedback mechanisms help agents handle more complex, long-term tasks. By providing agents with automated tools for checking work (like build systems), developers can reduce the time spent on trivial feedback and instead concentrate on more substantial issues. This approach increases trust in the agents' outputs and allows for greater leverage in development tasks. The popularity of expressive type systems is also noted, as they enhance clarity and reduce potential mistakes by providing

Published: 2026-01-17 | Origin: /r/programming

In June 2025, a security vulnerability (CVE-2025-48432) was discovered in the Django framework, allowing remote attackers to manipulate log outputs by crafting specific request paths. This log tampering issue could lead to forged log entries, compromising log integrity and complicating forensic audits. While Django is known for its strong security features, this vulnerability raised concerns similar to the more severe Log4Shell incident, where attacker-controlled log entries could execute code. The analysis of the vulnerability revealed

Published: 2026-01-16 | Origin: Hacker News

The FLUX.2 [klein] model family has been released as the fastest image models available, offering a unified solution for image generation and editing in a compact architecture. It ensures high-quality outputs with real-time performance, enabling end-to-end inference in under a second while running on consumer hardware with minimum requirements of 13GB VRAM. The name "klein," meaning "small" in German, signifies both its compact design and minimal latency. Despite its size, FLUX.2 [

Published: 2026-01-16 | Origin: Hacker News

Mandiant has released a comprehensive dataset of Net-NTLMv1 rainbow tables to highlight the urgent need for organizations to move away from this deprecated and vulnerable authentication protocol. Despite being known as insecure for over 20 years, Net-NTLMv1 is still in use due to inertia and a lack of immediate perceived risks. The rainbow tables enable security professionals to effectively demonstrate the protocol's vulnerabilities and recover keys quickly using affordable consumer hardware. This initiative combines Mandiant's expertise with Google Cloud

Published: 2026-01-16 | Origin: /r/programming

Jose Zarazua discusses a technique for filtering candidates applying for remote programming positions. He suggests including a simple programming knockout question in the application process to help identify unqualified developers amidst the high volume of applications. The question centers around determining the result of some code, where the answer reflects a candidate's ability to interpret code quickly. Zarazua shares results from his time as CTO at MonetizeMore, noting that about 50% of candidates incorrectly used an AI or interpreter to answer, while

Published: 2026-01-16 | Origin: /r/programming

Docker has introduced hardened images (DHI), which are minimal and secure container images aimed at enhancing security for developers. Released in May 2025 and later made open source in December under the Apache 2.0 license, these images support all developers, not just large enterprises. Key features of DHI include: - **Minimalist Design:** They use a distroless runtime, reducing the attack surface by eliminating non-essential tools. - **Significant Size Reduction:** DHI is up to

Published: 2026-01-16 | Origin: /r/programming

On January 14, 2026, Cursor published a blog post discussing their experiments with running autonomous coding agents for extended periods, aiming to complete projects that typically require significant human effort. They explored various approaches, identified failures, and eventually developed a system that addressed coordination problems, allowing them to scale projects effectively. As a test of their system, they attempted to build a web browser from scratch. The agents ran for nearly a week, generating over 1 million lines of code across 1,000

Published: 2026-01-16 | Origin: Hacker News

On September 16, 1979, eight individuals from two families successfully escaped from East Germany to West Germany using a homemade hot air balloon after over a year of preparation. Initially, they attempted to flee two months earlier but were unsuccessful, prompting East German authorities to investigate the plot without being able to identify the escapees. Despite the heavily fortified border, including the Berlin Wall and armed soldiers, the group, led by Peter Strelzyk and Günter Wetzel, devised their escape plan inspired by

Published: 2026-01-16 | Origin: Hacker News

Let’s Encrypt has launched short-lived and IP address certificates, which are valid for 160 hours (just over six days). To obtain a short-lived certificate, users can select the ‘shortlived’ profile in their ACME client. These certificates enhance security by necessitating more frequent validation, thus minimizing reliance on unreliable revocation methods. Traditional certificates can leave users vulnerable for up to 90 days if a key is compromised, but short-lived certificates significantly reduce this vulnerability window. While these certificates are