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Show HN: Bungholio – Get text messages when a product is available on Amazon

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Re: Show HN: Bungholio – Get text messages when a product is available on Amazon

#51

Post by IgorPartola »

greggman3 wrote: post #45
jspash wrote: post #36

I'm not trying to troll, so please hear me out. But has Javascript become so universally liked that it's the go-to tool for quick one-off scripts like this? Is it really much better or easier that you would choose it over, say Python or just a shell script? Or is it that Javascript happens to be the best tool for this particular job? I guess what I'm asking is, do most people reach for JS/Node over other languages fo…

I used to write scripts in python. I switched to node. Benefits for me. 1. Python by default requires tons of globally installed libraries. Node by default all libraries are installed local the the project. Nothing to learn. It just does it. That means I don't have to worry about trashing my system and I don't have to tell users a bunch of prerequisites to get it to work. 2. Node is ~8meg and installs instantly. Pyth…

I first tried my hand at Python in 2009. The problem of installing libraries globally was no longer a problem then and still isn’t today.

Installing node is faster until you have to install local libraries. I am currently working on a project whose dependencies consist primarily of Vue, Bootstrap, and a few very small libraries such as moment.js. Our node_modules/ is over 1000 individual libraries and growing. It takes 45-65 seconds just to do an npm install when I already have the libraries there. The build process takes 90 seconds on a brand new top of the line machine. Contrast with Python where that number is 0, and installing the dozen dependencies I actually have is a one time process that takes no time at all.

I used to fuck around with Gentoo Linux where I would always triple compile the latest gcc to make sure I had the latest and greatest and fastest. And even I think Node’s library ecosystem is a bloated unnecessary mess. I don’t have the words to write a more scathing review of it, but if I could I would. There is a night and day difference in usability and speed between Node and Python ecosystems and the latter wins by such a wide margin it is like they aren’t even in the same league.

And don’t get me started on how quickly the JS community likes to break shit. Remember when for a brief moment we were all supposed to switch to yarn? And then migrate back to npm? It’s insane.

Re: Show HN: Bungholio – Get text messages when a product is available on Amazon

#52

Post by impostervt »

jspash wrote: post #36

I'm not trying to troll, so please hear me out. But has Javascript become so universally liked that it's the go-to tool for quick one-off scripts like this? Is it really much better or easier that you would choose it over, say Python or just a shell script? Or is it that Javascript happens to be the best tool for this particular job? I guess what I'm asking is, do most people reach for JS/Node over other languages fo…

I'm a JS developer so it's my go-to. See Atwood's law:

https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-principle-of-least-power/

Re: Show HN: Bungholio – Get text messages when a product is available on Amazon

#53

Post by tasubotadas »

jdellinger wrote: post #39
jspash wrote: post #36

I'm not trying to troll, so please hear me out. But has Javascript become so universally liked that it's the go-to tool for quick one-off scripts like this? Is it really much better or easier that you would choose it over, say Python or just a shell script? Or is it that Javascript happens to be the best tool for this particular job? I guess what I'm asking is, do most people reach for JS/Node over other languages fo…

While I generally agree that you should use the best tool for the job, for small and simple scripts I see nothing wrong with picking a language your comfortable with. I wonder, why do you think python is a better alternative? I would understand bash since it is dependency free, but I don't see any advantage for python vs. nodejs

Python has Standard Library while NodeJS does not.

Re: Show HN: Bungholio – Get text messages when a product is available on Amazon

#54

Post by brianpursley »

This reminds me of a little Visual Basic program I hacked together about 20 years ago when I wanted to buy a PlayStation 2 but there was a shortage after it launched.

Every 5 minutes, my program would make a request to the product page on Amazon and look for the text "out of stock". If it didn't find it, the program would sound off an alarm bell.

I still remember sitting nearby, watching TV one night when the alarm went off. I jumped up and ran over to my computer and bought myself a PS2.

As silly as it sounds, what I remember most fondly about the PlayStation 2 was making and using this little program to help buy it.

Re: Show HN: Bungholio – Get text messages when a product is available on Amazon

#56

Post by sjs382 »

sweetgiorni wrote: post #47
sk5t wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took a moment to get the zeitgeist connection--one of Cornholio's few intelligible phrases is "I need TP for my bunghole." Wikipedia used to host a comically erudite page about Cornholio, e.g. studiously noting such discrepancies in his speech such as "my people have no bunghole" / "my people have but one bunghole".

Couldn't find exactly what you mentioned, but this is still a terrific read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beavis

I was able to track down the most recent version, before the articles got merged: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Great_Cornholio&o...

Re: Show HN: Bungholio – Get text messages when a product is available on Amazon

#57

Post by owl57 »

tasubotadas wrote: post #53
jdellinger wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I generally agree that you should use the best tool for the job, for small and simple scripts I see nothing wrong with picking a language your comfortable with. I wonder, why do you think python is a better alternative? I would understand bash since it is dependency free, but I don't see any advantage for python vs. nodejs

Python has Standard Library while NodeJS does not.

How? Both Python and Node have some https client in their standard libraries, and both have headless Chrome drivers (what this script uses) in easily installed third-party libraries.

Re: Show HN: Bungholio – Get text messages when a product is available on Amazon

#58

Post by owl57 »

richrichardsson wrote: post #42
owl57 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but why couldn't it also be a product name. For example, an express delivery service focused on people who are willing to pay a premium to get TP within an hour. Now, writing this comment had me finally realize that TP, however we mock the hoarders, really is almost unique in its urgency for most people. If you run out of food, you probably have a few hours before you get hungry again. Running out of TP is acute…

Unless you have no access to soap and running water (with the latter causing quite an issue by itself with respect to bowel evacuation), why would it be a problem? I struggle to understand why so many people have an issue with washing their own bunghole. Avoid visiting India (and many other countries that practice increased cleanliness) if that idea is abhorrent.

BTW, soap is exactly what I meant by "almost" unique.

You mean, a bidet? Long-term, seems like an interesting idea. Short-term, filling a cart with TP during an unavoidable (because of food delivery collapse) visit to the store seems like a less dangerous idea than inviting a plumber.

Re: Show HN: Bungholio – Get text messages when a product is available on Amazon

#59

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

IgorPartola wrote: post #51
greggman3 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to write scripts in python. I switched to node. Benefits for me. 1. Python by default requires tons of globally installed libraries. Node by default all libraries are installed local the the project. Nothing to learn. It just does it. That means I don't have to worry about trashing my system and I don't have to tell users a bunch of prerequisites to get it to work. 2. Node is ~8meg and installs instantly. Pyth…

I first tried my hand at Python in 2009. The problem of installing libraries globally was no longer a problem then and still isn’t today. Installing node is faster until you have to install local libraries. I am currently working on a project whose dependencies consist primarily of Vue, Bootstrap, and a few very small libraries such as moment.js. Our node_modules/ is over 1000 individual libraries and growing. It tak…

> And don’t get me started on how quickly the JS community likes to break shit.

I totally agree with you on that one, but I would say the maturity of the JS ecosystem is really settling down, and now that MS owns most of it (Typescript, npm, github, vscode) I think it will only get more stable.

Also, Python community definitely shouldn't be throwing any stones when it comes to "breaking shit".

Re: Show HN: Bungholio – Get text messages when a product is available on Amazon

#60

Post by IgorPartola »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #59
IgorPartola wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I first tried my hand at Python in 2009. The problem of installing libraries globally was no longer a problem then and still isn’t today. Installing node is faster until you have to install local libraries. I am currently working on a project whose dependencies consist primarily of Vue, Bootstrap, and a few very small libraries such as moment.js. Our node_modules/ is over 1000 individual libraries and growing. It tak…

> And don’t get me started on how quickly the JS community likes to break shit. I totally agree with you on that one, but I would say the maturity of the JS ecosystem is really settling down, and now that MS owns most of it (Typescript, npm, github, vscode) I think it will only get more stable. Also, Python community definitely shouldn't be throwing any stones when it comes to "breaking shit".

If you are talking about Python 2 vs 3, think of them as two separate languages where Python 3 can often use a lot of the libraries developed for Python 2. That makes it all make a lot more sense. Even with that, there was maybe a dozen times in the past 8 years, which is how long I’ve been writing Python code full time, where I felt a problem with the 2 vs 3 thing. They were all quickly resolved. This is unlike Node where things like file access change from version to version, and sometimes shit just doesn’t compile because gyp is of the incorrect version, etc. Node is very high maintenance.
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