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A Herculaneum scroll has been read for the first time

https://scrollprize.org/firstscroll
157•verditelabs•2h ago•45 comments

IBM debuts sub-1 nanometer chip technology

https://newsroom.ibm.com/2026-06-25-ibm-debuts-worlds-first-sub-1-nanometer-chip-technology
74•porridgeraisin•2h ago•34 comments

Zig's new bitCast semantics and LLVM back end improvements

https://ziglang.org/devlog/2026/#2026-06-25
135•kouosi•3h ago•37 comments

Oxide computer 3D rack guided tour

https://explorer.oxide.computer/
18•darthcloud•3d ago•3 comments

OS9Map

https://yllan.org/software/OS9Map/
56•LaSombra•3h ago•6 comments

You can't unit test for taste

https://dev.karltryggvason.com/you-cant-unit-test-for-taste/
190•kalli•1d ago•74 comments

Apple raises prices of MacBooks, iPads

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/apple-raises-prices-macbooks-ipads-memory-costs-skyroc...
316•virgildotcodes•5h ago•515 comments

Besimple AI (YC P25) Is Hiring

https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/besimple-ai/jobs/yWfhhOR-strategic-projects-lead-audio-data
1•yzhong94•1h ago

Show HN: I made Google Trends for Hacker News by indexing 18 years of comments

https://hackernewstrends.com
439•ytkimirti•3h ago•120 comments

I built a GPU back end for Emacs

https://en.andros.dev/blog/4b707a03/how-i-built-a-gpu-backend-for-emacs/
47•andros•2d ago•3 comments

Half-Life 2 in a Browser

https://hl2.slqnt.dev/
569•panza•12h ago•226 comments

Windows 10 quietly gets one more year of support and updates

https://www.neowin.net/news/windows-10-quietly-gets-one-more-year-of-support-and-updates/
86•bundie•2h ago•49 comments

Tw-fade: pure CSS scroll-driven edge masking

https://pete.design/tw-fade
40•petekp•3d ago•14 comments

Early adversity leaves lasting molecular imprint across the body: primate study

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-early-life-adversity-molecular-imprint.html
20•gmays•4d ago•0 comments

Anthropic says Alibaba illicitly extracted Claude AI model capabilities

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/anthropic-says-alibaba-illicitly-extracted-claude-ai-model-ca...
711•htrp•22h ago•1148 comments

The disappearance of Japan's animators

https://economist.com/interactive/1843/2026/06/19/the-strange-disappearance-of-japans-animators
65•andsoitis•4d ago•59 comments

Physicists Track and Trap the Elusive Neutrino

https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-physicists-track-and-trap-the-elusive-neutrino-20260624/
18•ibobev•2h ago•2 comments

Advanced Nintendo Entertainment System (ANES) – NES Modded to Use 2 PPUs

https://github.com/decrazyo/anes
23•zdw•1d ago•4 comments

Show HN: Turn native language audio into flashcards and shadowing practice

https://lingochunk.com/try
55•alder•6h ago•26 comments

How to get your first customers [video]

https://www.ycombinator.com/library/SF-how-to-get-your-first-10-customers
40•aurenvale•23h ago•12 comments

Show HN: Chess-Inspired Roguelike

https://princechazz.com
20•cowboy_henk•4d ago•6 comments

Deno 2.9

https://deno.com/blog/v2.9
102•enz•1h ago•34 comments

Political bias in AI: Where the AI models stand

https://trakkr.ai/bias
32•mektrik•4h ago•89 comments

LastPass notifies users of yet another data breach

https://9to5mac.com/2026/06/23/lastpass-notifies-users-of-yet-another-data-breach/
367•mooreds•7h ago•160 comments

Show HN: MiniPCs.zip – Charting the Pareto frontier of Mini PCs

https://minipcs.zip
65•yathern•4d ago•27 comments

52-hertz whale

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/52-hertz_whale
34•brightbeige•21h ago•2 comments

Cloudflare launched self-managed OAuth for all

https://blog.cloudflare.com/oauth-for-all/
312•terryds•15h ago•136 comments

Show HN: Bible as RAG Database

https://www.crosscanon.com/
96•jacksonastone•16h ago•66 comments

SoftBank 2026 AGM [pdf]

https://group.softbank/media/Project/sbg/sbg/pdf/ir/investors/shareholders/2026/shareholders-meet...
44•dmmalam•5h ago•11 comments

Mixing Visual and Textual Code

https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15855
61•doppioandante•16h ago•40 comments
Open in hackernews

Extending a Language – Writing Powerful Macros in Scheme

https://mnieper.github.io/scheme-macros/README.html
92•textread•1y ago

Comments

neilv•1y ago
A few formatting changes might make this advanced example easier to understand:

    (define-syntax trace-let
      (syntax-rules ()
        [(trace-let name ([var expr] ...) body1 ... body2)
         (let f ([depth 0] [var expr] ...)
           (define name
             (lambda (var ...)
               (f (+ depth 1) var ...)))
           (indent depth)
           (display "(")
           (display 'name)
           (begin
             (display " ")
             (display var))
           ...
           (display ")")
           (newline)
           (call-with-values
               (lambda ()
                 body1 ... body2)
             (lambda val*
               (indent depth)
               (fold-left
                (lambda (sep val)
                  (display sep)
                  (display val)
                  " ")
                "" val*)
               (newline)
               (apply values val*))))]))
The biggest one is to make the rule template pattern variables all-uppercase. I also made a few other tweaks, including using indentation a little more, and naming the named-`let` variable as "loop" (I usually name it `loop` or prefix the name with `loop-` if there's more than one):

    (define-syntax trace-let
      (syntax-rules ()
        ((trace-let NAME ((VAR EXPR) ...) BODY1 ... BODY2)
         (let loop ((depth 0)
                    (VAR   EXPR) ...)
           (define NAME
             (lambda (VAR ...)
               (loop (+ depth 1) VAR ...)))
           (indent depth)
           (display "(")
           (display (quote NAME))
           (begin (display " ")
                  (display VAR)) ...
           (display ")")
           (newline)
           (call-with-values (lambda ()
                               BODY1 ... BODY2)
             (lambda val*
               (indent depth)
               (fold-left (lambda (sep val)
                            (display sep)
                            (display val)
                            " ")
                          ""
                          val*)
               (newline)
               (apply values val*)))))))
Incidentally, all-uppercase Scheme pattern variables is one of the all-time best uses of all-uppercase in any language. Second only to all-uppercase for the C preprocessor, where a preprocessor macro can introduce almost arbitrary text. Using all-uppercase for constants in some language that has constants, however, is an abomination.

(My suspicion of why Java did all-caps is that they were developing a language for embedded systems developers who were currently using C and C++, and they wanted to make it superficially look similar, even though it was an entirely different language. And then, ironically, the language ended up being used mostly by the analogue of a very different developer of the time: corporate internal information systems developers, who, as a field, didn't use anything like C. It's too late to save Java, but to all other language and API developers, please stop the insanity of all-caps constants, enum values, etc. It's not the most important thing that needs to jump out from the code above all other things.)

Y_Y•1y ago
FWIW, all-caps makes this look much worse to me. I understand that people like things like Hungarian notation, arrows over vector names, and shouting Common Lisp symbols. I understand the argument that it can make reading easier. I just can't appreciate that benefit, and it seems to me an ugly hack which obscures the abstract and general symbolic manipulation going on.

This is all highly subjective of course, de gustibus non disputandem.

neilv•1y ago
You mean aesthetically, in that interspersed all-caps makes the code visually less soothingly sensual?

I can sympathize, but let me make a non-aesthetic argument...

In large blocks of code, with all-caps, you can see at a glance where all the template substitutions are happening, and also instantly know as you're reading code what are variables and what are template substitutions?

I'm asking because one of my realizations in recent years is that not everyone reads or sees code the same way.

For example, maybe some people are stronger "visual" and some people are stronger "verbal".

For another example of a different in how people perceive and think, some people can visualize an object in their mind almost as if they're looking at it, but other people can only know and describe what it looks like without bringing a visual of it into their head.

With the benefit of the all-caps, I can glance at this and immediately see much of the structure of the template. Without all-caps, I'd have to work harder to find all the pattern variables, and the structure would be obscured.

For a bit kludgy practical matter, as I'm quickly looking at pieces of code in a template, with all-caps, I can look at a fragment of code in isolation and know what are and aren't pattern variables. Without that, I have to go read the top of the template clause (and read through any syntactic scopes of `let-syntax`) and get that in my head, until I get to the fragment of code I originally wanted to look at.

IDE support can make this unnecessary, with a hypothetical great IDE, with familiar syntax coloring. But still, if there is one thing that all-caps should be reserved for, it's something like this.

With all-caps, your code can be sensual, and the jolting all-caps bits are look out, potentially arbitrary code gets pasted into here.

mnemenaut•1y ago
https://github.com/rogerturner/scheme-macros/blob/main/examp... shows stepwise development of a trace-let [the `(example: (fn arg) => result)` forms are tests - see check-examples library]
Y_Y
•
1y ago
Since you asked, my objection is both aesthetic and semantic, though I was really referring to the semantic part above.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with this visual vs. verbal distinction.

I can add a few clarifying details. I don't use IDEs as much as basic text editors maybe with highlighting, and I try not to rely on any fancy features. It does worry me that the allcaps use you describe is (afaik) not known to the editor or interpreter, so if you make a mistake or the symbol gets out of sync with its meaning (re: pattern variables) you may have a false signal. Finally I'll say that in the end I can't suggest a good way to treat these special variables, and so maybe I don't get it, or tastes like mine would be better served by a different formalism for macros.