Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: /r/programming

Spotify allows Unicode usernames, which can lead to unique experiences but also significant issues. A notable incident occurred on Good Friday when a user claimed he and a friend could hijack accounts. The forum manager challenged him, resulting in his account being compromised. Promptly, the team investigated the issue, discovering that the problem stemmed from how canonical usernames (the standardized form of usernames) were derived from user-selected names. They had to temporarily disable account creation to address the vulnerability. The situation highlighted the importance of

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: Hacker News

The content discusses how to utilize Newlib to create a compact C standard library suitable for bare metal systems, specifically for a RISC-V platform. It highlights the differences in using functions like printf in standard operating systems versus bare metal environments. In standard systems, printf involves multiple abstractions and system calls through a kernel. In contrast, bare metal systems lack such support, necessitating a more direct approach to implement functionality. The article outlines steps including setting up a cross-compilation toolchain, implementing memory and

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: Hacker News

The content discusses an interesting historical anecdote about the Commodore PET computer and an easter egg inserted by Bill Gates, where typing “WAIT6502,1” reveals “MICROSOFT!” on the screen. This was allegedly a response to an argument with Commodore founder Jack Tramiel, intended to prevent Commodore from claiming the code wasn’t from Microsoft. The article also parallels this with a similar incident involving Apple embedding a hidden icon in Macintosh firmware to prove software ownership against clones. The

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: /r/ruby

In a recent post about ractors, the author discusses their initial skepticism about using ractors for entire applications due to implementation bugs and performance issues related to Ruby's global lock. However, progress is being made to address these concerns. A team is actively working to fix known bugs and reduce contention points in the Ruby VM. A significant improvement involved replacing the fstring_table, a hashed string deduplication system prone to crashes when accessed by multiple ractors, with a lock-free Hash-Set. This

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: /r/programming

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Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: /r/programming

The article discusses the differences between planning software that will be stable and not change significantly (like file formats or public APIs) and software that is likely to evolve after its release—most software falls into the latter category. The author, reflecting on their experiences as a student, expresses frustration with conventional advice that advocates for extensive planning of software features and functions before starting development. Using the example of developing a text editor, the author highlights key considerations, such as supporting large file sizes and high-resolution displays.

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: /r/programming

Idempotency is a crucial property in distributed systems, where performing an operation multiple times yields the same result as executing it once. This is particularly important in scenarios with unreliable network communications, where retries may occur due to timeouts or other interruptions. Without idempotency, retrying a request, such as placing an order, can lead to issues like duplicate transactions. For instance, in an e-commerce context, if a customer experiences a network glitch and resubmits an order, a non-idempot

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: Hacker News

On April 26, 2025, a user tests OpenAI’s new o3 model by asking it to guess the location of a photo taken in El Granada, California. The user notes the excitement of using this feature, likening it to a mix of sci-fi elements. To initiate the process, they disable the memory features to prevent the AI from using previous chat context. When provided with the photo, the AI initially claims it cannot see the image and relies on metadata, but soon begins

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: Hacker News

The content describes a 32-bit hobby operating system designed for the i386 architecture, which features graphics, multitasking, and networking capabilities. It highlights the project’s focus on networking and includes a basic C compiler. The operating system has three default users—system, admin (password: 'admin'), and guest (no password)—with no functional difference between admin and guest accounts. The operating system is built using C and Assembly language for the kernel and utilities, C++ for userspace applications, and

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: /r/programming

Python 3.14 is set for release on October 7, 2025, featuring significant performance enhancements including an experimental new interpreter, optimizations of built-in modules, and improved file I/O operations. This upgrade will allow Python programs to run faster without needing code modifications. While most developers may not need to understand all the low-level details, there are three syntax changes in Python 3.14 that will impact programming practices. The article aims to explain these changes for developers to stay current in

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: Hacker News

The prostate gland is associated with numerous health issues, particularly prostate cancer, which claims the life of about one in forty men in the U.S., and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which affects most men over 60. BPH can obstruct the urinary tract, leading to difficulties in urination, often resulting in surgical intervention. While breast cancer in women has a similar mortality rate, it can be attributed to the larger size and more active metabolism of breast tissue compared to the prostate. There's

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: /r/programming

The content discusses the concept of blindly following traditional practices in software engineering, likening this behavior to a joke about cutting the tail off a turkey due to a previously small pan. It highlights common examples of these outdated routines, such as tedious processes, outdated architectures, and adherence to specific daily stand-up questions without rationale. The text cautions that such legacy habits can hinder team efficiency and confuse new members. It encourages teams to question existing practices, seek clarification, and assess whether processes are still effective. For

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: Hacker News

The content explains a tool called "Empty Enter Expander," designed for the zsh shell (with a bash version in development), that allows users to quickly insert commands by pressing Enter on an empty prompt. The commands are stored in a designated module directory using files and folders that start with lowercase letters as shortcuts. Users can create and store their own commands in this directory, and to utilize the expander, they need to prepare a script for lengthy commands and save it under specific subdirectories with appropriately named

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: Hacker News

The content emphasizes the importance of user feedback and invites readers to consult the documentation for available qualifiers. It introduces the original source code of "Colossal Cave Adventure," a pioneering text adventure game from 1976, written in Fortran. The repository includes additional resources like maps, walkthroughs, and executables for Windows and Mac OS. The author discovered the game through the TV series "Halt & Catch Fire" and compiled the resources for educational purposes only.

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: Hacker News

The authors from the University of California, Berkeley have developed the Berkeley Humanoid Lite, an open-source humanoid robot aimed at promoting accessibility and customization in humanoid robotics. This initiative addresses the high costs and closed-source nature of existing robotic hardware, which limits community engagement and innovation. The robot features a modular 3D-printed gearbox and components that are easily sourced and fabricated, keeping total hardware costs below $5,000. The design uses cycloidal gears to enhance strength and durability over standard

Published: 2025-04-26 | Origin: Hacker News

The article from The Fence magazine reflects on the book series "Crap Towns," which the author began editing around the year 2000. "Crap Towns" surveys the worst places in the UK based on public nominations, alongside research and humorous commentary. The series aimed to portray the true state of the nation, described by critics as a “domesday book of misery.” The author appreciates that Adam Steiner interpreted "Crap Towns" as an affectionate critique, sparking discussions about

Published: 2025-04-25 | Origin: Hacker News

In 2025, a user is frustrated that their 24 CPU cores are underutilized during the configuration of a software build, with only 69% of one core being used, leading to a configuration time 13.5 times longer than the actual build. The ./configure scripts, typically used for checking the existence of various software components, are inherently sequential and do not take advantage of parallel processing, which is possible given the nature of these tasks. The author suggests using a configuration makefile

Published: 2025-04-25 | Origin: Hacker News

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Published: 2025-04-25 | Origin: Hacker News

The author has created a "neural world" based on a forest trail near their apartment, accessible through a web browser. This world is generated by a neural network that creates new images based on previous ones and user controls without traditional coding elements like geometry or lighting. The key innovation is that the world operates locally and can be explored offline. The purpose of this project was to improve upon a previous effort where the author developed a 2D video game world using neural networks. Unlike video games that can

Published: 2025-04-25 | Origin: /r/programming

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