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How to Build Idempotent APIs?

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

Watching o3 guess a photo's location is surreal, dystopian and entertaining

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

Show HN: My self-written hobby OS is finally running on my vintage IBM ThinkPad

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

Syntax Updates of Python 3.14 That Will Make Your Code Safer and Better

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

An end to all this prostate trouble?

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

That's How We've Always Done Things Around Here

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

Show HN: Empty Enter Expander – Type less in the terminal with this tool

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

Colossal Cave Adventure (1976)

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.

Berkeley Humanoid Lite – Open-source robot

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

I wrote a book called "Crap Towns". It seemed funny at the time

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

Parallel ./configure

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

Wikipedia’s nonprofit status questioned by D.C. U.S. attorney

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

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World Emulation via Neural Network

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

GCC 15.1 Released

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

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The BeOS file system, an OS geek retrospective

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

The Be File System (BFS) was created in the late '90s for the BeOS, Haiku, and SkyOS operating systems by Dominic Giampaolo and Cyril Meurillon. Its innovative features appealed to OS enthusiasts and included support for multi-threading, multimedia, and database capabilities, all while being lightweight. Despite Be's closure in 2002, BFS continued as an open-source project, re-implemented by Axel Dörfler for Haiku. This article delves

Lossless LLM compression for efficient GPU inference via dynamic-length float

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

arXivLabs is a platform that enables collaboration on new features for the arXiv website, promoting values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. It works with individuals and organizations that share these values. Users are encouraged to pitch project ideas that could benefit the arXiv community. Additionally, users can receive operational status notifications via email or Slack.

What Does "use client" Do? — overreacted

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

React Server Components feature two primary directives: 'use client' and 'use server', which facilitate communication between the server and client in a streamlined manner. These directives allow developers to model a client/server application as a cohesive unit spanning two machines, addressing complexities in network communication and serialization. The article claims these directives are as significant as foundational programming concepts like structured programming and async/await, potentially extending beyond React itself. The 'use server' directive enables backend API functionality, attempting to minimize the typical issues associated

A Visual Journey Through Async Rust

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

The feedback received from users is valued and considered carefully. The importance of visualization in understanding asynchronous execution is highlighted, particularly for learners who grasp concepts better through practical experience. The document outlines a process to visualize async execution by rendering sine waves, demonstrating how futures compute values concurrently. The visualization involves creating asynchronous futures that calculate sine values, yielding execution to allow for parallel computation. The results initially depict two sine waves but are enhanced by incorporating execution duration, illustrating how the runtime processes each future. The commentary suggests that

Synadia tries to “withdraw” the NATS project from the CNCF and relicense to BSL non-open source license

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

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) invites companies to enroll as End Users, allowing them to save over $10,000 on training and conference costs. The CNCF emphasizes its role in maintaining open source principles, such as collaboration and neutral governance. However, these values are currently at risk due to Synadia’s intention to withdraw the NATS project from the CNCF and relicense it under the Business Source License (BUSL), which restricts user freedoms. This move is seen as

Writing "/etc/hosts" breaks the Substack editor

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

The author encountered an unexpected issue while writing a technical post about DNS resolution on Substack. Every time they typed the path to the hosts file (/etc/h*sts), their editor displayed a "Network Error" and failed to autosave the draft. Initial assumptions of a Substack outage were dispelled as the status page indicated all systems were operational. The problem was linked specifically to that file path, while variations like /etc/h0sts worked fine. Further testing revealed that paths to common Linux system