frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

Packed Data Support in Haskell

https://arthi-chaud.github.io/posts/packed/
77•matt_d•1y ago

Comments

nine_k•1y ago
> Introducing the ‘packed’ data format, a binary format that allows using data as it is, without the need for a deserialisation step. A notable perk of this format is that traversals on packed trees is proven to be faster than on ‘unpacked’ trees: as the fields of data structures are inlines, there are no pointer jumps, thus making the most of the L1 cache.

That is, a "memory dump -> zero-copy memory read" of a subgraph of Haskell objects, allowing to pass such trees / subgraphs directly over a network. Slightly reminiscent of Cap'n Proto.

90s_dev•1y ago
We are always reinventing wheels. If we didn't, they'd all still be made of wood.
Zolomon•1y ago
They mention this in the article.
spockz•1y ago
It reminds me more of flat buffers though. Does protobuf also have zero allocation (beyond initial ingestion) and no pointer jumps?
cstrahan•1y ago
No, one example of why being variable sized integers.

See https://protobuf.dev/programming-guides/encoding/

carterschonwald•1y ago
One thing that sometimes gets tricky in these things is handling Sub term sharing. I wonder how they implemented it.
tlb•1y ago
> the serialised version of the data is usually bigger than its in-memory representation

I don’t think this is common. Perhaps for arrays of floats serialized as JSON or something. But I can’t think of a case where binary serialization is bigger. Data types like maps are necessarily larger in memory to support fast lookup and mutability.

nine_k•1y ago
I suppose all self-describing formats, like protobuf, or thrift or, well, JSON are bigger than the efficient machine representation, because they carry the schema in every message, one way or another.
IsTom•1y ago
If you use a lot of sharing in immutable data it can grow a lot when serializing. A simple pathological example would be a tree that has all left subtrees same as the right ones. It takes O(height) space in memory, but O(2^height) when serialized.
gitroom•1y ago
honestly i wish more stuff worked this way - fewer hops in memory always makes me happy
lordleft•1y ago
This was very well written. Excellent article!
NetOpWibby•1y ago
Is this like MessagePack for Haskell?

OpenAI and Anthropic are ruining San Francisco

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/open-ai-anthropic-ruining-sf-22404657.php?link_source=ta_fir...
1•catchmeifyoucan•3m ago•0 comments

Kumander Linux – A Linux Distro with a Windows 7 Desktop

https://www.kumander.org/
3•linuxkernal•5m ago•0 comments

Our decision on Cursor following its acquisition by SpaceX

https://openai.com/index/our-decision-on-cursor-following-its-acquisition-by-spacex/
2•meetpateltech•6m ago•1 comments

Increased Errors for Durable Objects in the Hong Kong Region – Cloudflare Status

https://www.cloudflarestatus.com/incidents/mlr8smgngv5h
1•kyisaiah47•10m ago•0 comments

Trump announces new US oil agreement with Venezuela

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/28/trump-venezuela-oil-agreement
4•TheAlchemist•17m ago•0 comments

'Devastating' rush for critical minerals has little to do with green energy

https://news.mongabay.com/short-article/2026/08/devastating-rush-for-critical-minerals-has-little...
1•littlexsparkee•21m ago•0 comments

The IBM PC, Part 2: Tsunami

https://technicshistory.com/2026/08/29/the-ibm-pc-part-2-tsunami/
1•cfmcdonald•24m ago•0 comments

StemDeck, a free, open-source and local AI stem separator

https://github.com/stemdeckapp/stemdeck
4•thclpr•29m ago•1 comments

Tech tries a new message: You'd love data centers if China wasn't making you hat

https://www.businessinsider.com/china-data-center-ai-backlash-tech-messaging-2026-8
3•newsomix9xl•36m ago•3 comments

One prompt, five days, and an AI agent that refused to certify itself

https://github.com/Framework-Drift/governed-pass
1•ElvishSteel•38m ago•0 comments

Edcapit Founder Oleh Podobied and Jenny Li Discuss the Future of EdTech

https://www.edcapit.com/2026/08/17/future-of-edtech-silicon-valley-interview/
1•edcapit_inc•42m ago•0 comments

Anti-AI Populism is Reshaping American Politics

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/08/anti-ai-populism-is-reshaping-american-politics/
2•newsomix9xl•43m ago•1 comments

Show HN: ArchLex: a small OSS language for AWS, GCP, and Kubernetes diagrams

https://archlex.dev/
1•bairess•43m ago•0 comments

AI made the boring work visible. Cut the work, not the people

https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/ai-made-the-boring-work-visible-cut-the-work-not-the-people/
3•fagnerbrack•52m ago•1 comments

Ask HN: If AI disappeared today, how much would you ask for in salary to work?

2•senor_digimon•53m ago•0 comments

Results for LLM Usage in Debian

https://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2026/08/msg00360.html
3•baggy_trough•53m ago•1 comments

X claims it found a Chinese bot farm posting anti-AI data center sentiments

https://www.engadget.com/2246140/x-chinese-bot-farm-anti-ai-data-center-sentiments/
5•newsomix9xl•53m ago•1 comments

Why not to use the Gaussian kernel

https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.26974
1•E-Reverance•55m ago•0 comments

Show HN: Leiolai, AI that pays users for the compute their devices provide

https://leiolai.com/
1•leiolai•55m ago•0 comments

Show HN: An annotated archive of S-1 filings, with hindsight

https://s-1.space/
2•eigen-vector•57m ago•0 comments

Nine Pockets: A Pokemon tracker built for my 6 year old and that I went crazy on

https://www.ninepockets.app
1•highhoppingworm•58m ago•1 comments

Milo Yiannopoulos, a far-right political commentator, detained by ICE

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/28/milo-yiannopoulos-detained-ice
5•andsoitis•1h ago•2 comments

New Blockchain and Coin

https://github.com/ego-blockchain/ego-blockchain-
2•artitmuhaxhiri•1h ago•0 comments

Polyend Keys – a mechanical QWERTY keyboard for musicians

https://www.synthtopia.com/content/2026/08/27/polyend-keys-a-mechanical-qwerty-keyboard-for-music...
1•anigbrowl•1h ago•0 comments

Show HN: Free lifetime pro access for limited time to crunchbase alternative

https://startupwiki.tech/blog/free-lifetime-pro-giveaway
1•skiski•1h ago•0 comments

I Am Sitting in a Room

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Sitting_in_a_Room
2•gregsadetsky•1h ago•0 comments

Fintur: A forward-looking personal finance app

https://fintur.fr/
2•kabelbaptiste•1h ago•0 comments

My issue with GPU-accelerated deep learning (2016)

https://erikbern.com/2016/02/03/my-issue-with-gpu-accelerated-deep-learning.html
1•AndrewPGameDev•1h ago•0 comments

Unit 731

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731
4•frabjoused•1h ago•1 comments

Show HN: MicroVM daemon, deploy any Docker image

2•sankalpnarula•1h ago•0 comments