Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

bofh.org.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 194 posts

Re: Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

#171

Post by philsnow »

parkjon wrote: post #35
unwind wrote: post #32

Frustratingly thin on details about the actual bakery (perhaps not surprising since it's a blog series). All I could figure out is this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/theloafery/ . It seems he mainly sells at a market.

That's funny, I was wanting more details on the bakery as well. I'm wondering how much of a pay difference he's experiencing going from software developer to bakery owner.

It's nice to work with your hands and produce something, but the margins you can earn with your time are going to be an order of magnitude larger with a tech job than any job involving producing physical goods like bakery / coffee shop / brewery, unless you achieve a lot of scale (distributing your product to large chains or similar).

Re: Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

#172

Post by 5166cc9c39fa61 »

omouse wrote: post #152
mr_overalls wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know it's an oft-repeated gripe here, but Javascript has so many bizarre warts that I'd never trust it to configure my personal computing environment. https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat

With TypeScript it's basically like Emacs-Lisp in terms of the volume of warts, if not in the same space of bizarreness.

I would take elisp over TypeScript any day. The tooling around TypeScript is hot garbage, debugging async code is a huge time waster, and things that are trivial with dynamic binding turn into major undertakings because of the module system. Also the verbosity and reams of boilerplate.

Re: Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

#173

Post by zrobotics »

nickjj wrote: post #67
rekshaw wrote: post #41

As people flock to become programmers, as a population we will become increasingly technologically literate. Sooner or later we will enter an age where programming is as second nature as writing. Communication at the end of the day is a way to get people to understand what we want. Programming is very similar only directed at machines, and as machines continue to replace people in trivial (and not so trivial) tasks,…

Lots of people are already really good programmers, they just don't know it. I know a few people who are really good plumbers, electricians and general contractors. Basically, they can see a problem and have the skills to break it down and then create a solution. None of them can type very well and barely know how to use the internet but I bet if they focused on learning the basics of computers they would end up bein…

OK, but how many FAANG employees are top-notch plumbers or electricians (i.e. equivalent to tradesman level)? Sure, they may have the potential to develop the skill, but that is equivalent to saying that I have the potential to be a great surgeon. I probably have the dexterity for it, and I'm sure all the information is available through textbooks, but it's a facile argument.

If someone can't even type well, that alone adds what, 80-120 hours minimum of learning just the basic skill alone to get to a level where they can focus on programming without having to focus on input. Specialization exists for a reason, there just isn't the time to learn everything. And the time investment to learn a trade is ~equivalent to the amount of time to learn to program.

Re: Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

#174

Post by zrobotics »

rekshaw wrote: post #66
thrownaway954 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do realize that the author was a programmer before becoming a baker.

Yes, hence my point! I believe we will see more and more of this. Today programming is seen as a skilled art that only the few can comprehend, much like writing was back in ancient times. And so, only a programmer can effectively apply custom technology to non-technical tasks like baking. In the future, programming will be more accessible, and potentially be so common and part of the upbringing of children that anyon…

Why must programming be so universal? Look at the number of people who would balk at a simple task like replacing a plumbing fixture or a light fixture. This isn't implying that these people are 'stupid', it just isn't a skill that they have decided is worthwhile to learn. Changing the oil in your car isn't hard to learn, and certainly isn't filtering out the stupid, but there are just a lot of people who simply don't feel it is worth learning how to do. And programming isn't any different--it simply isn't a universal enough skill. Sure, it is essentially required to know basic arithmetic and literacy to function in a modern society, but I don't think that programming is a skill that will ever be on that level.

Maybe that argument could apply to typing, but I'm not sure that even the ability to use a keyboard will be that kind of universal required skill in my lifetime.

Re: Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

#175

Post by 0x445442 »

protomyth wrote: post #162
Spooky23 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tech people have a problem with assuming that everyone is an idiot, mostly because it’s easier to do half-assed work aimed at a moron. Legacy text based solutions that survived are usually much better designed by people who actually spoke to the users.

We bought a new iSeries mainly because the accounting staff said, point blank, the GUI on the replacement system was total crap. The green screen is efficient and they can get everything done quickly without moving a hand off the keyboard.

Exactly. Go to any retailer with these green screen Point of Sale systems and watch them wiz around the keyboard.

Re: Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

#176

Post by roel_v »

gmfawcett wrote: post #40
ken wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Millions of people used WP5, with its cryptic codes and huge keyboard overlays. I don’t believe that’s any easier than Emacs (or HTML). People can figure things out, when they have to.

Cryptic, yes, but discoverable! Recently I was trying to help someone fix their bizarrely broken Word document, and I would have given my right arm for "F5 Reveal Codes."

It's right there in the toolbar, the "P"-ish looking icon.

Re: Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

#177

Post by jrib »

abakker wrote: post #141
altotrees wrote: post #60

Stories like these are the ones that inspire me the most. People using technology in a way that helps them in their everyday lives, or in a hobbyist fashion. I feel like many of the things I pick-up at work are out of career necessity: the latest framework, bits of an up and coming language that is going to be "the future", semi fluency in a stack so I can aid in a project,I enjoy it, but I don't enjoy it like in the…

As one of those hobbyists, I can say that the thing I wish most for was an easier way of "getting started". I mostly hack around in python, or arduino c, but I really wish that it was easier to write a script and actually give it to someone else, and actually have it run. The feature I like most about excel, is that it is practically ubiquitous. If I give someone else an excel toy workbook that does something, they c…

Depending on what you're doing, a webapp is a great way to deal with the portability issue

Re: Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

#178

Post by roel_v »

istjohn wrote: post #33

I have only ever been a tech hobbyist, but I have leveraged my Python skills in a similar way. I run a home cleaning service with my wife, and I started using Airtable to track clients, jobs, expenditures, employee hours, etc. The data entry became tedious due to having to make entries in multiple tables for each job, so I wrote a Python script to use a simple command line read-eval-print loop to collect job informat…

I have the exact same problem, I've tried many things over the last 10 years and the solution you're using is (imo) by far the easiest, most flexible and robust. It feels hacky but it just works. If you want some interactivity (different graphs in tabs for example) you can just add some jquery or bootstrap - basically a serverless SPA (real serverless, not the 'cloud hosted' thing they call 'serverless' nowadays). I have 'apps' for recipe management, investing, and food forest design that work this way (the food forest one even incorporates Sketchup 3d models and generates a clickmap that lets you click on 2d renders of 3d models to let you interactively select areas using the canvas api - so yes you can make it as complicated as you want, but the easy things remain easy).

Re: Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

#179

Post by flocial »

pdcawley wrote: post #126
MrOwen wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what I was thinking too. Perhaps this guy has greater aspirations for his bakery and laying out the foundation like this from day 1 will enable him to grow without many of the pains you might otherwise experience when expanding your business.

Nah. I just have a tiny capacity and a very variable order book. If I baked the same thing every day, the wastage would kill me.

Just wanted to say I remembered you from your rails blogging days (thanks for those articles and code) and seeing this on r/emacs made me smile.

Re: Running a Bakery on Emacs and PostgreSQL

#180

Post by abakker »

jrib wrote: post #177
abakker wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As one of those hobbyists, I can say that the thing I wish most for was an easier way of "getting started". I mostly hack around in python, or arduino c, but I really wish that it was easier to write a script and actually give it to someone else, and actually have it run. The feature I like most about excel, is that it is practically ubiquitous. If I give someone else an excel toy workbook that does something, they c…

Depending on what you're doing, a webapp is a great way to deal with the portability issue

yeah, I hear that, and I also know in my heart that it's right, but I have no business running access control/distributing my code/or hosting it for public consumption. Mostly a "hey, look at this data analysis" or "this is a good way to do this process" kind of things. emailing someone a file was a pretty good workflow for the low-volume script problem. I wish I could just get a python sandbox for GitHub and have them run it all for me.
Post reply on HN