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Hax – a minimalist, terminal-native coding agent written in C

usehax.dev

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Re: Hax – a minimalist, terminal-native coding agent written in C

#31

Post by qrios »

megamorf wrote: post #7

I don't understand why anyone would still start a new software project in C today, given the long track record of mistakes developers can make in it.

From the README.md: If "fancy new AI tech in an old-school minimalist package" sounds like your vibe, you might like this.

What is the question about:

A: Why start a 'new' software project? (instead of old, none, multiple, ...) B: Why in 'C'? (instead of Mojo, Java, D, ...) C: Why 'today'? (instead of Yesterday, Tomorrow, never, ...)

For me the beauty of this project is:

Someone tried to figure out for themselves what an end-to-end process would look like for what they wanted to do. What happens to the input? How are files written? What is sent to the LLMs?

And they used the tool they know best. No `import openai`.

Re: Hax – a minimalist, terminal-native coding agent written in C

#32

Post by mark_l_watson »

I didn't try Hax but I hope someone who has can answer a question: does it support suspending current operation if user hits ESC key?

EDIT: I just looked at interrupt.c in the github repo: handles user interrupts. I trashed my Common Lisp harness because I had problems handling interrupts in a portable way. I did better with Racket. I am traveling on vacation without a computer, will try Hax when I get home.

Re: Hax – a minimalist, terminal-native coding agent written in C

#33

Post by qrios »

mark_l_watson wrote: post #32

I didn't try Hax but I hope someone who has can answer a question: does it support suspending current operation if user hits ESC key? EDIT: I just looked at interrupt.c in the github repo: handles user interrupts. I trashed my Common Lisp harness because I had problems handling interrupts in a portable way. I did better with Racket. I am traveling on vacation without a computer, will try Hax when I get home.

Works better than in Claude Code.

Re: Hax – a minimalist, terminal-native coding agent written in C

#34

Post by iberator »

megamorf wrote: post #7

I don't understand why anyone would still start a new software project in C today, given the long track record of mistakes developers can make in it.

C is the most portable language on the planet.

Literally every single cpu/mcu architecture from the past 40 years supports it.

There are hundreds of such architectures and CPU/MCU types. (x86 is just SINGLE type from maaaaany).

Re: Hax – a minimalist, terminal-native coding agent written in C

#36

Post by [deleted] »

tjoff wrote: post #27
losvedir wrote: post #25

Something about having a very fast, very small harness written in C only to drive LLMs amuses me. Like putting a big ass spoiler on a minivan or something.

Well, you'd think so but given how slow and resource hungry the ones written in javascript are it makes a lot of sense.

[deleted]

Re: Hax – a minimalist, terminal-native coding agent written in C

#37

Post by masfoobar »

megamorf wrote: post #7

I don't understand why anyone would still start a new software project in C today, given the long track record of mistakes developers can make in it.

Because despite all the fear, uncertainty and doubt thrown at the C language over the last 20 years, the truth is that its a relatively 'easy' language to use.

What do I mean by 'easy' ?

C books can typically be about 300-500 pages give or take. Compare that with modern languages especially a Java book in the 2000's, it would be closer to 600-1000 pages.

Why? Because half the book is talking about Object Oriented Programming.

C is simpler by comparison, once you get your head around it quirks and gotchas. Afterall, every language has their own gotchas!

To me, there is a difference between good C programmers and bad or non skilled ones. Those that understand C can write some good and efficient programs that care about performance and memory.

With all the above... the truth is that you could write this towards ANY language. They all have their pros and cons.

> I don't understand why anyone would still start a new software project in nodejs today, given the long track record of mistakes developers can make in it.

> I don't understand why anyone would still start a new software project in python today, given the long track record of mistakes developers can make in it.

> I don't understand why anyone would still start a new software project in java today, given the long track record of mistakes developers can make in it.

And dare I say this one...... ???

> I don't understand why anyone would still start a new software project in rust today, given the long track record of mistakes developers can make in it.

OK. You can argue that rust is not old enough to be labelled the "..given the long track record.." - but everything else stands.

Re: Hax – a minimalist, terminal-native coding agent written in C

#39

Post by para_parolu »

tjoff wrote: post #27
losvedir wrote: post #25

Something about having a very fast, very small harness written in C only to drive LLMs amuses me. Like putting a big ass spoiler on a minivan or something.

Well, you'd think so but given how slow and resource hungry the ones written in javascript are it makes a lot of sense.

Are they? I use pi and it doesn’t drain more than other software.
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