frontpage.
newsnewestaskshowjobs

Made with ♥ by @iamnishanth

Open Source @Github

fp.

Open in hackernews

How async/await works in Python (2021)

https://tenthousandmeters.com/blog/python-behind-the-scenes-12-how-asyncawait-works-in-python/
61•sebg•7mo ago

Comments

quentinp•7mo ago
While it stays at the Python level, https://github.com/AndreLouisCaron/a-tale-of-event-loops really helped me to understand how asyncio and Trio are implemented. I had no idea how sleeps worked before reading that post.
incomingpain•7mo ago
Page didnt load for me.

https://realpython.com/async-io-python/

Multiprocessing all the way!

emmelaich•7mo ago
(2021)

Good article!

punnerud•7mo ago
A more simplified version:

Synchronous code is like a single-lane road where cars (tasks) must travel one after another in perfect sequence. If one car stops for gas (waiting for I/O), every car behind it must stop too. While orderly and predictable, this creates massive traffic jams as tasks wait unnecessarily for others to complete before they can proceed.

Pure asynchronous code (with callbacks) is like dispatching multiple cars onto independent routes with no coordination. Cars move freely without waiting for each other, but they arrive at unpredictable times and following their progress becomes chaotic. It's efficient but creates a complex tangle of paths that becomes hard to maintain.

Async/await combines the best of both approaches with a multi-lane highway system. Cars follow clear, synchronous-looking routes (making code readable), but only wait at strategic "await" exit ramps when truly necessary. When a car needs data, it signals with "await", pulls off the highway temporarily, and other cars continue flowing past. Once its operation completes, it merges back into traffic and continues. This gives you the logical simplicity of synchronous code with the performance benefits of asynchronous execution - cars only wait at crossroads when they must, maximizing throughput while maintaining order.

The genius of async/await is that it lets developers write code that looks sequential while the runtime handles all the complex traffic management under the hood.

explodes•7mo ago
Excellent write up. I appreciate the level of details here showing the history from the days of old, before async/await were even keywords.
bilsbie•7mo ago
How does the GIL come into play here?
punnerud•7mo ago
GIL is like a "red-cap" on the head for the CPU-core running the task, so you would not be able to run true Async without GIL. Have to hand the "red-cap" back, for the next task.

Instead of using a global lock ("red-cap"), Python objects have introduced a specialized reference counting system that distinguishes between "local" references (owned by a single thread) and "shared" references (accessed by multiple threads).

In that way enabling to remove GIL in the long run, now starting with making it optional.

The Universal Weight Subspace Hypothesis

https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.05117
37•lukeplato•1h ago•7 comments

Horses: AI progress is steady. Human equivalence is sudden

https://andyljones.com/posts/horses.html
19•pbui•59m ago•2 comments

Icons in Menus Everywhere – Send Help

https://blog.jim-nielsen.com/2025/icons-in-menus/
213•ArmageddonIt•5h ago•90 comments

Jepsen: NATS 2.12.1

https://jepsen.io/analyses/nats-2.12.1
266•aphyr•6h ago•100 comments

The Lost Machine Automats and Self-Service Cafeterias of NYC (2023)

https://www.untappedcities.com/automats-cafeterias-nyc/
7•walterbell•35m ago•4 comments

Strong earthquake hits northern Japan, tsunami warning issued

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20251209_02/
261•lattis•10h ago•130 comments

Scientific and Technical Amateur Radio

https://destevez.net/
8•gballan•36m ago•0 comments

Kroger acknowledges that its bet on robotics went too far

https://www.grocerydive.com/news/kroger-ocado-close-automated-fulfillment-centers-robotics-grocer...
63•JumpCrisscross•1h ago•50 comments

AMD GPU Debugger

https://thegeeko.me/blog/amd-gpu-debugging/
211•ibobev•9h ago•34 comments

Let's put Tailscale on a jailbroken Kindle

https://tailscale.com/blog/tailscale-jailbroken-kindle
227•Quizzical4230•8h ago•54 comments

Has the cost of building software dropped 90%?

https://martinalderson.com/posts/has-the-cost-of-software-just-dropped-90-percent/
147•martinald•6h ago•294 comments

Hunting for North Korean Fiber Optic Cables

https://nkinternet.com/2025/12/08/hunting-for-north-korean-fiber-optic-cables/
209•Bezod•8h ago•49 comments

IBM to acquire Confluent

https://www.confluent.io/blog/ibm-to-acquire-confluent/
335•abd12•11h ago•271 comments

Show HN: Fanfa – Interactive and animated Mermaid diagrams

https://fanfa.dev/
58•bairess•4d ago•11 comments

Microsoft increases Office 365 and Microsoft 365 license prices

https://office365itpros.com/2025/12/08/microsoft-365-pricing-increase/
240•taubek•11h ago•284 comments

Trials avoid high risk patients and underestimate drug harms

https://www.nber.org/papers/w34534
59•bikenaga•6h ago•27 comments

Microsoft Download Center Archive

https://legacyupdate.net/download-center/
115•luu•3d ago•14 comments

Paramount launches hostile bid for Warner Bros

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/08/paramount-skydance-hostile-bid-wbd-netflix.html
225•gniting•11h ago•216 comments

A series of tricks and techniques I learned doing tiny GLSL demos

https://blog.pkh.me/p/48-a-series-of-tricks-and-techniques-i-learned-doing-tiny-glsl-demos.html
130•ibobev•8h ago•15 comments

AI should only run as fast as we can catch up

https://higashi.blog/2025/12/07/ai-verification/
103•yuedongze•7h ago•109 comments

Launch HN: Nia (YC S25) – Give better context to coding agents

https://www.trynia.ai/
86•jellyotsiro•8h ago•67 comments

Deep dive on Nvidia circular funding

https://philippeoger.com/pages/deep-dive-into-nvidias-virtuous-cycle
261•jeanloolz•6h ago•148 comments

Legion Health (YC S21) is hiring a founding engineer (SF, in-person)

1•the_danny_g•8h ago

Running on Empty: Copper

https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/running-on-empty-copper
30•the-needful•3h ago•30 comments

We collected 10k hours of neuro-language data in our basement

https://condu.it/thought/10k-hours
87•nee1r•7h ago•53 comments

Delivery robots take over Chicago sidewalks

https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/12/08/delivery-robots-take-over-chicago-sidewalks-sparking-deba...
68•mikhael•3h ago•112 comments

8086 Microcode Explorer

https://nand2mario.github.io/8086_microcode.html
13•todsacerdoti•4d ago•2 comments

Nova Programming Language

https://nova-lang.net
83•surprisetalk•10h ago•46 comments

Flow: Actor-based language for C++, used by FoundationDB

https://github.com/apple/foundationdb/tree/main/flow
167•SchwKatze•12h ago•42 comments

No more O'Reilly subscriptions for me

https://zerokspot.com/weblog/2025/12/05/no-more-oreilly-subscriptions-for-me/
108•speckx•9h ago•103 comments