Given that webassembly is a stack language with no GC, i do expect a comeback of concatenative programming some time in the future.
Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?
171–180 of 417 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?
#172Not sure if you're looking for things as "trifling" as programming languages, but I do wish more people knew about Nim. It's fast, statically typed, reads more or less like Python, has a great effect system, etc. It's a joy to use. I've been working through writing an interpreter in it: https://youtu.be/48CsjEFzyXQ
Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?
#173Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?
#174Nix package manager's `nix-shell` is something I wish more people knew about. Nix is gaining some popularity, but people often think of using it has to be a really big commitment, like changing your Linux distro to NixOS or replacing your dotfiles with a Nix-based one (using the Nix package manager). What I wish more people knew was that you don't need to do those things to get value from Nix. Create project specific…
Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?
#175GnuPG/PGP and the web of trust[0]. A lot of things I see blockchain being used for today (e.g. NFTs) seems like it would be better solved using standard OpenPGP signatures with no backing chain. Additionally, as machine-generated content proliferates, I think having services use something like the web of trust concept for membership would be super powerful. The problem is, of course, the terrible UX of cryptographic…
Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?
#176Nix package manager's `nix-shell` is something I wish more people knew about. Nix is gaining some popularity, but people often think of using it has to be a really big commitment, like changing your Linux distro to NixOS or replacing your dotfiles with a Nix-based one (using the Nix package manager). What I wish more people knew was that you don't need to do those things to get value from Nix. Create project specific…
Have you tried compiling software with a nix shell? It gets linked to the Nix store. Needless to say it was a frustrating revelation.
Or was the issue that you expected them to be portable? Or use commonly known dynamic library locations?
Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?
#177Flexion pens
XMPP
Gemini Protocol
Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sure, that works. Or I can have it all in a single shell.nix file that covers everything and is super simple to use. It's great for handing off to coworkers that don't usually use Python.
It's not simple. The nix programming language is like untyped ML. Most people aren't used to it and even if you are familiar with it it gets hella hard to read. Learning curve is huge. One docker file and a poetry file works just as well. And is simpler. It's literally the same thing but using os primitives to manage the environment rather then shell tricks. Makes more sense to me to use a dedicated os primitive for…
It is harder to write on average atm, but it's very much worth it to me when it comes to sharing code for development. Also, LLMs help quite a bit when writing nix.
Re: Ask HN: What are some unpopular technologies you wish people knew more about?
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thank you for summing it up. The common is things from developer's perspective I feel they should be checked out (not just programming languages)
I guess I'm looking for a hint as to why this selection of items is particularly interesting to you . These cover a pretty wide spread of topics, and for folks who aren't well versed in each topic, they might be better served by evaluating the standard option in that field (Redis, Qt, etc) before they dive into the weird alternatives