Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#951

Post by geoffeg » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 3:28 AM UTC

xavierlint wrote: post #853

geoffeg wrote: post #611

The coding part of the software development process. We're still writing code in a text editor like we were 40+ years ago. The editors have become more powerful but writing code is still very similar.

Besides all other points by jhayward, what kind of changes do you have in mind? From my perspective at first sight it isn't necessarily negative that we are doing the things in a pretty simlar way as to how we were doing them 40 years ago.

A few things I've been considering for the last few years. These are just brainstorming thoughts, so I definitely haven't thought these ideas through. * Why do editors allow us to write invalid code? Most editors know the syntax of the language, many embed (or connect to) the language runtime. If the editor knows a file is going to be invalid, why allow it to be saved (allow the user to force the save, of course). * Why are editors still showing us entire files instead of functions? I usually edit code by looking at functions and how they relate to other functions. Why not show a function at a time and allow you to bring up multiple functions at a time to edit, regardless of which file it's in?

Light Table (http://lighttable.com/) started down the path of what I was thinking, especially with the continual/inline code evaluation.

Once again, these are primarily just thoughts I've been considering. I haven't found a good outlet for discussing my ideas, everyone I discuss them with seems to respond that "that's the way things are" or "that sounds complicated". I've been considering writing a little editor proof of concept to explore some of these thoughts.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#952

Post by daniellarusso » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 4:36 AM UTC

sethammons wrote: post #860

daniellarusso wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think alot of this are symptoms of bad management or inexperienced management dealing with remote work. I have had to rise to the occasion, and facilitate icebreakers with new hires of other teams (that work with my team). Their managers thought nothing of directing the new hires to slack and email a handful of strangers. The companies or individuals that had successfully implemented remote work prior to the pandem…

What constitutes inappropriate use?

You search for an animated gif using a particular word and the result is a NSFW image, yet you post it anyway.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#953

Post by renjimen » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 5:45 AM UTC

_Microft wrote: post #165

renjimen wrote: post #125

Overpopulation. It's the main source of humanity's current woes and will only get worse with time. We seem to be content with addressing the symptoms rather than the problem. The idea of population control is taboo but will help everyone in the long run.

Check https://OurWorldInData.org to see that a lot of our woes do not get worse with time. A lot of things are actually getting better quite fast. That does not mean that everything is good yet but at least it is better than it was in the past. The past sucked. A lot. Also: peak population growth rate was 50 years ago and it has been decreasing since then: https://ourworldindata.org/world-population-growth-past-futu.…

Yeah, OWID is great, as is Hans Rosling's work (mentioned below) concerning human welfare improvement. The past definitely sucked a lot. My main concern with overpopulation is that we may have already exceeded the sustainable carrying capacity of the planet, which can have disastrous consequences for all. Soil and fresh water availability spring to mind as ever pressing issues resulting from unsustainable practices in many parts of the world. Climate change is sure to stress agriculture further. Dietary changes and technology will surely help but judging from how reactive we appear to be as species, I don't have high hopes.

https://worldpopulationhistory.org/carrying-capacity/

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#954

Post by renjimen » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 5:55 AM UTC

nmca wrote: post #154

renjimen wrote: post #125

Overpopulation. It's the main source of humanity's current woes and will only get worse with time. We seem to be content with addressing the symptoms rather than the problem. The idea of population control is taboo but will help everyone in the long run.

Most models have the population capping at ~10B, so people don't tend to worry about it any more? (10B number is recalled from "Factfulness", which I'd recommend)

I learnt a lot from Factfulness. Great book!

My concern is mainly an ecological one, which I don't recall Factfulness really addressing. While human welfare continues to improve in most of the world, our sustainable use of natural resources does not, reducing our access to fertile land and fresh water in years to come. I hope technology can get us out of the giant pickle coming our way because I don't put much faith in our long term planning at a national or global level.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#955

Post by yellowapple » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 6:07 AM UTC

Klonoar wrote: post #379

Premium-feeling laptops that aren't Apple machines. Yes yes, I get the economical barriers. I'm past caring. It is so incredibly frustrating to look outside the Apple ecosystem and feel like the entire PC industry is content to sell the bare minimum of quality (outside of Gamer hardware, which looks obscene - but I get that it's subjective). It's a horrible business idea on the numbers and nobody would do this, but i…

My Pixelbook seems to hit most of those points (though unfortunately not quite all):

- Ships with CoreBoot

- Much nicer fit/finish than the average non-Apple laptop (all metal, aside from the rubber palm rest)

- Display wasn't defective :)

- There's a logo, alas

- Comparing to my work Macbook Pro, I'd say viewing angle and brightness are both on par, and the screen is indeed glossy

- I don't know if the trackpad is actually glass, but it does feel nicer nicer than pretty much any other trackpad I've used (to the point where I don't miss having a nub like on my usual Latitudes/Precisions and ThinkPads)

- No crazy vertical integration hardware-wise, but it being one of the main targets for Fuchsia is kinda cool, I guess

- It has both touch and screen-flipping, but it's easy enough to just... not use them (and indeed, most of the time I don't)

- I can't speak to the support aspect (since I've never had to put in a support request, and typically prefer fixing things myself anyway), but Google unfortunately has a, um, reputation...

I've been pretty happy with it; it's a nice solid machine, and while I ain't a fan of Chrome OS at all, the Crostini support makes it at least usable for my purposes (and the first-class Android app support is a nice bonus).

The main downside for me is that Chrome OS seems to be the only option for it that doesn't have some major drawbacks like missing audio support or suspend/resume issues.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#956

Post by yellowapple » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 6:38 AM UTC

yosamino wrote: post #196

Geothermal Energy. Extremely simplified, all you need to do is drill a hole deep enough for a high temperature difference. Then stick in two pipes, on for sending water down, one for steam to come up. Run a turbine, add a valve to regulate how much water you want to converted into steam to be able to regulate output, enjoy your first mover advantage and price the competition out of the market. ... It's not that I do…

Here in Reno, NV we've got the Peppermill, which is notable for being the only resort in the US (last I checked) that gets all its heating (both HVAC and water) from an on-site geothermal well.

Nevada in general is basically a giant blob of hot springs when looking at a hot spring map, which makes me strongly suspect that it could be a major geothermal energy hub for the Western US. Plus, pretty much all of it's desert, which is perfect for solar, too.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#957

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 6:50 AM UTC

TeMPOraL wrote: post #869

cookiengineer wrote: post #697

Web Filtering, Web Automation and especially the UX behind it. I don't understand why the Web Browser ecosystem is stuck with Extensions, and why Web Browsers, the most used programs on the planet, are still unautomated for 99% of humans. This just doesn't make sense in any economical or rational view. Web Filtering and Ad Blocking are things that are stuck UX wise, because currently there are basically two different…

> I don't understand why the Web Browser ecosystem is stuck with Extensions, and why Web Browsers, the most used programs on the planet, are still unautomated for 99% of humans. It's simple, really: because it's strongly against the interest of people with money. And I don't mean some shady megacorps like Google here. A sane web goes against most of the commerce, big and small alike. Ad blockers are what they are bec…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#958

Post by trianglem » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 7:32 AM UTC

absolutelyrad wrote: post #699

Jemaclus wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Related to this, I'm kind of shocked that there isn't a strong third option for OSes. We've got Windows and MacOS, sure, but the nix ecosystem is so fragmented and not as well supported as the other two that it's hard to justify switching. Like you pointed out, Mac feels premium because of the software/hardware tight coupling, and it just works . Windows is the same, but for reasons can feel less polished than MacOS.…

Look out for Kylin OS, it's being created by some Chinese company with that same premium feel. Not complete yet, but works out of the box. I'd probably switch to it once it just works.

Yeah right, never going to use an OS developed by the Chinese government.

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#959

Post by rendall » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 9:21 AM UTC

rainpain wrote: post #675

baron816 wrote: post #243

In-person social organizations. Social isolation is probably the biggest cause of unhappiness in advanced countries. Having a strong social network has lots of advantages including providing better romantic and career opportunities, as well as improving physical and psychological health. Humans have a long history of dishing out lots of money to be parts of strong communities too--country clubs and fraternities have…

I've been living in the USA for a year and I don't think I will ever get over this odd 'spaced out' way of living. I see 3 lane roads that would work so much better as a mixed tram/bicycle lane. Crossing roads is also terrifying. Nix the thought of walking to do the following activities: - fetching a missing ingredient from a local shop/store that would take 25min round trip and benefit you with additional exercise.…

Depends on where you live. Towns and cities with a vibrant downtown exist, from Carmel, California to New York, NY

Bedroom communities established during the mid century tend not to have those. My experience with those have been Fairfax County, VA; Fayetteville, Arkansas; and the suburbs around Sarasota, Florida. These are places that if you walk or bike around or take a bus, people seem to assume you are poor or a servant

Re: Ask HN: What are you surprised isn’t being worked on more?

#960

Post by Jemm » Wed, Dec 30, 2020, 1:18 PM UTC

Camera based AI for traffic control. With today's cheap computing hardware and sensors this really could be on every street light.

Credit card numbers that when given to a scammer trigger an investigation into the scammers finance network. Each person can be given a unique scamCatcher number.