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Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?

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Re: Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?

#21

Post by mfrisbie »

Browser extensions. Not quite a website, not quite a mobile app, and surprisingly pervasive. Most people don't realize how incredibly powerful they are, even with manifest v3.

I almost fell out of my chair when I found out there were no books on how to build them, so I wrote one: https://www.buildingbrowserextensions.com/ It was incredibly enjoyable to go through the APIs and write about all the different crazy things they can do, and I put the best ones into a demo extension: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/browser-extension-....

Re: Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?

#22

Post by trh0awayman »

chc4 wrote: post #5

- Programming Language dev: I think compilers and VM runtimes are neat, and like talking to people in the space on twitter or reading new papers that come out about it. The /r/ProgrammingLanguage discord server is a great place to hang out, with lots of interesting and competent people working on sideprojects simply because they like the topic. - Urbit: I got into Urbit years ago, and still think it's really interest…

Do you actually use Urbit? I just tried it recently and found it insanely buggy and slow (the most basic things didn't work, attempting to join certain chatrooms hung forever, etc.) Wondering what I did wrong or if it's that way for everyone

Re: Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?

#23

Post by rengler33 »

LAC-Tech wrote: post #10

- Systems that work offline. Partly for practical reasons due to my background working in Agtech companies, as well as logistics in developing countries. But also it's just technically and socially fascinating. How do you detect conflicts? How do you decide what one is? To what extent - if any - can it be resolved automatically? Revisions, event sourcing, CRDTs... there's no one size fits all industry solution and no…

I'm interested in these offline systems in the agtech space. What kinds of use cases exist here? I'd love to be involved in agtech if I thought it could have a positive impact on soil health.

Re: Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?

#24

Post by meadhbh-hamrick »

chc4 wrote: post #5

- Programming Language dev: I think compilers and VM runtimes are neat, and like talking to people in the space on twitter or reading new papers that come out about it. The /r/ProgrammingLanguage discord server is a great place to hang out, with lots of interesting and competent people working on sideprojects simply because they like the topic. - Urbit: I got into Urbit years ago, and still think it's really interest…

Meh. Urbit. That's not a weird technical scene, that's a lightning-rod for arguments about code of conduct at conferences and whether you're a fan of Bergson / Popper-esque Open Societies [cf. "The Open Society and Its Enemies" and "The Two Sources of Morality and Religion" vs. J. S. Mill "On Liberty"]

Re: Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?

#25

Post by gfd »

Competitive programming!

20k+ contestants per contest, around 1-2 times per week: https://codeforces.com/contests

In terms of "scene", there are exclusive discord channels that you can only join if you have above a certain rating (usually candidate masters and above). Probably the highest average IQ community that I'm part of and they discuss stuff beyond competitive programming.

Re: Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?

#26

Post by sedatk »

Demoscene on 8-bit machines. People are still creating crazy demos on 40 year old computers like Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, or Sinclair Spectrum. Demoscene on modern PCs are active too, but not as interesting or mind-blowing as people rotating filled cubes at 50fps on a C64.

Since those machines have fixed configurations, it's easier to assess the level of technical achievements.

Yesterday, I watched a C64 demo on Youtube that featured Donald Trump's face[1]. It's such a fantastic cross-over of 40 year old tech with memes of 2020's. I find it fascinating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsXB7F0lQwY

Re: Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?

#28

Post by unixhero »

conductor wrote: post #16

Disclaimer: I am in no way encouraging or advocating for software piracy. The warez scene in 90s and early 00s was fun to follow. I consider the NFO files a legitimate form of art, not to mention the skills for unpacking and keygen-ing or cracking of the protected software. https://scenelist.org/

Nfos, great Culture.

Re: Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?

#29

Post by pfoof »

conductor wrote: post #16

Disclaimer: I am in no way encouraging or advocating for software piracy. The warez scene in 90s and early 00s was fun to follow. I consider the NFO files a legitimate form of art, not to mention the skills for unpacking and keygen-ing or cracking of the protected software. https://scenelist.org/

and keygen music

Re: Ask HN: What weird technical scene are you fond/part of?

#30

Post by jcpst »

spoils19 wrote: post #18

- Pure HTML / CSS / vanilla JS sites. It's a shame that it's turned into a niche scene, but I'm always a fan of inspecting sites that don't bloat themselves with unnecessary frameworks. - Sites that work without JavaScript. Even better than the first, it's always a pleasure to see when a site is made properly for a change, without the toxicity of JavaScript that pervades the world wide web (WWW) as we know it.

As a recovering former SPA enthusiast, coming back to the simplicity of HTML/CSS/JS over the past few years has been a breath of fresh air.
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