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The Website Specification

https://specification.website/
41•k1m•36m ago•9 comments

Domain expertise has always been the real moat

https://www.brethorsting.com/blog/2026/05/domain-expertise-has-always-been-the-real-moat/
521•aaronbrethorst•11h ago•310 comments

A Gentle Introduction to Lattice-Based Cryptography [pdf]

https://cryptography101.ca/wp-content/uploads/lattice-based-cryptography.pdf
64•jayhoon•2d ago•1 comments

Shantell Sans (2023)

https://shantellsans.com/process
211•aleda145•9h ago•17 comments

Ahoy, DECmate II the little PDP-8 that could

http://oldvcr.blogspot.com/2026/05/ahoy-decmate-ii-little-pdp-8-that-could.html
27•TMWNN•3h ago•1 comments

Associative learning turns DEET from aversive to appetitive in Aedes aegypti

https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/229/10/jeb251935/371741/Associative-learning-switches...
27•croes•2d ago•8 comments

Telli (YC F24) is hiring in engineering, design, and GTM [Berlin, on-site]

https://hi.telli.com/join-us
1•sebselassie•45m ago

A pictorial introduction to differential geometry (2017)

https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.08492
13•ricudis•2h ago•0 comments

Avian Visitors

https://theodore.net/projects/AvianVisitors/
18•fdb•1h ago•0 comments

I found a seashell in the middle of the desert

https://github.com/Hawzen/I-found-a-seashell-in-the-middle-of-the-desert#i-found-a-seashell-in-th...
302•Hawzen•2d ago•77 comments

The AV2 Video Standard Has Released (Final v1.0 Specification)

https://av2.aomedia.org
161•ksec•10h ago•55 comments

Microsoft Office 2019 and 2021 for Mac view-only conversion

https://consumerrights.wiki/w/Microsoft_Office_2019_and_2021_for_Mac_view-only_conversion_(2026)
806•antipurist•8h ago•284 comments

Racket v9.2

https://blog.racket-lang.org/2026/05/racket-v9-2.html
96•spdegabrielle•2d ago•14 comments

Accenture to acquire Ookla

https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/2026/accenture-to-acquire-ookla-to-strengthen-network-intelli...
276•Garbage•15h ago•140 comments

Cheese Paper: a text editor specifically designed for writing

https://brie.gay/cheese-paper/
98•sohkamyung•8h ago•22 comments

Mechanical Pencil: An illustrated celebration of the engineering around us

https://mechanical-pencil.com/
53•Muhammad523•7h ago•6 comments

Voxel Space (2017)

https://s-macke.github.io/VoxelSpace/
276•davikr•17h ago•58 comments

Openrsync: An implementation of rsync, by the OpenBSD team

https://github.com/kristapsdz/openrsync
378•sph•20h ago•152 comments

wolfSSL releases a new product; wolfCOSE a zero alloc C embbedded COSE stack

https://github.com/wolfSSL/wolfCOSE
87•aidangarske•11h ago•17 comments

Zig ELF Linker Improvements Devlog

https://ziglang.org/devlog/2026/#2026-05-30
198•kristoff_it•14h ago•65 comments

Jef Raskin, the Visionary Behind the Mac (2013)

https://lowendmac.com/2013/jef-raskin-the-visionary-behind-the-mac/
99•tylerdane•12h ago•42 comments

Parallel Reconstruction of Lawful TLS Wiretapping

https://remyhax.xyz/posts/reproducing-lawful-tls-wiretapping/
90•jerrythegerbil•11h ago•40 comments

OpenRouter raises $113M Series B

https://openrouter.ai/announcements/series-b
410•freeCandy•14h ago•198 comments

Pandoc Templates

https://pandoc-templates.org/
390•ankitg12•21h ago•50 comments

Microcode inside the Intel 8087 floating-point chip: register exchange

https://www.righto.com/2026/05/microcode-inside-intel-8087-floating.html
111•pwg•14h ago•18 comments

Please Do Not Vibe Fuck Up This Software

https://github.com/RsyncProject/rsync/issues/929
91•justdotJS•4h ago•28 comments

Show HN: 500 years of Joseon court omens as an observability dashboard

https://ajin.im/is/building/omen.ops/
114•poppypetalmask•12h ago•19 comments

Show HN: Komi-learn – continuous memory and self-improvement for coding agents

https://github.com/kurikomi-labs/komi-learn
10•rainxchzed•2h ago•1 comments

Dusklight – GC Twilight Princess Decompiled

https://twilitrealm.dev/
94•shepherdjerred•11h ago•11 comments

Zig: Build System Reworked

https://ziglang.org/devlog/2026/#2026-05-26
347•tosh•23h ago•225 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.