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Al Lowe on model trains, funny deaths and working with Disney

https://spillhistorie.no/2026/02/06/interview-with-sierra-veteran-al-lowe/
39•thelok•2h ago•3 comments

Hoot: Scheme on WebAssembly

https://www.spritely.institute/hoot/
101•AlexeyBrin•6h ago•18 comments

First Proof

https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.05192
52•samasblack•3h ago•39 comments

OpenCiv3: Open-source, cross-platform reimagining of Civilization III

https://openciv3.org/
789•klaussilveira•20h ago•243 comments

Stories from 25 Years of Software Development

https://susam.net/twenty-five-years-of-computing.html
39•vinhnx•3h ago•5 comments

Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback

https://rlhfbook.com/
63•onurkanbkrc•5h ago•5 comments

The Waymo World Model

https://waymo.com/blog/2026/02/the-waymo-world-model-a-new-frontier-for-autonomous-driving-simula...
1040•xnx•1d ago•587 comments

Start all of your commands with a comma (2009)

https://rhodesmill.org/brandon/2009/commands-with-comma/
464•theblazehen•2d ago•165 comments

France's homegrown open source online office suite

https://github.com/suitenumerique
510•nar001•4h ago•235 comments

Vocal Guide – belt sing without killing yourself

https://jesperordrup.github.io/vocal-guide/
184•jesperordrup•10h ago•65 comments

The AI boom is causing shortages everywhere else

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2026/02/07/ai-spending-economy-shortages/
63•1vuio0pswjnm7•7h ago•60 comments

Coding agents have replaced every framework I used

https://blog.alaindichiappari.dev/p/software-engineering-is-back
189•alainrk•5h ago•281 comments

Software factories and the agentic moment

https://factory.strongdm.ai/
50•mellosouls•3h ago•51 comments

A Fresh Look at IBM 3270 Information Display System

https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/a-fresh-look-at-ibm-3270-information-display-system
27•rbanffy•4d ago•5 comments

72M Points of Interest

https://tech.marksblogg.com/overture-places-pois.html
19•marklit•5d ago•0 comments

Unseen Footage of Atari Battlezone Arcade Cabinet Production

https://arcadeblogger.com/2026/02/02/unseen-footage-of-atari-battlezone-cabinet-production/
108•videotopia•4d ago•27 comments

Where did all the starships go?

https://www.datawrapper.de/blog/science-fiction-decline
59•speckx•4d ago•62 comments

Show HN: Look Ma, No Linux: Shell, App Installer, Vi, Cc on ESP32-S3 / BreezyBox

https://github.com/valdanylchuk/breezydemo
268•isitcontent•21h ago•34 comments

Learning from context is harder than we thought

https://hy.tencent.com/research/100025?langVersion=en
198•limoce•4d ago•107 comments

Monty: A minimal, secure Python interpreter written in Rust for use by AI

https://github.com/pydantic/monty
281•dmpetrov•21h ago•150 comments

Making geo joins faster with H3 indexes

https://floedb.ai/blog/how-we-made-geo-joins-400-faster-with-h3-indexes
152•matheusalmeida•2d ago•47 comments

British drivers over 70 to face eye tests every three years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c205nxy0p31o
169•bookofjoe•2h ago•153 comments

Hackers (1995) Animated Experience

https://hackers-1995.vercel.app/
549•todsacerdoti•1d ago•266 comments

Sheldon Brown's Bicycle Technical Info

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/
422•ostacke•1d ago•110 comments

Ga68, a GNU Algol 68 Compiler

https://fosdem.org/2026/schedule/event/PEXRTN-ga68-intro/
39•matt_d•4d ago•14 comments

Show HN: I spent 4 years building a UI design tool with only the features I use

https://vecti.com
365•vecti•23h ago•167 comments

An Update on Heroku

https://www.heroku.com/blog/an-update-on-heroku/
465•lstoll•1d ago•305 comments

Show HN: If you lose your memory, how to regain access to your computer?

https://eljojo.github.io/rememory/
341•eljojo•23h ago•210 comments

What Is Ruliology?

https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2026/01/what-is-ruliology/
66•helloplanets•4d ago•70 comments

Show HN: Kappal – CLI to Run Docker Compose YML on Kubernetes for Local Dev

https://github.com/sandys/kappal
18•sandGorgon•2d ago•8 comments
Open in hackernews

Show HN: I made a word puzzles app for improving your English vocabulary

https://www.dictionarygames.io
12•tomek_zemla•8mo ago
English is my second language. From my experience, I learnt that developing your vocabulary is a long and arduous process. Traditionally, learners used flashcards (or their digital incarnations). I wanted to build something more engaging and more effective in building your vocabulary.

DictionaryGames is aimed mostly at ESL (English as a Second Language) students, but I am hoping it might be fun for any English language lovers.

The project is in BETA, it is free, and no registration is required.

I am looking for feedback to improve it. If you comment, please indicate if you are a native English speaker. I am in particular interested in the feedback from ESL learners.

Comments

we_needit•8mo ago
Why do you make people pay yet you claim to be helpful...you know helping is not always about getting a reward in return right?
tomek_zemla•8mo ago
It’s free.
AlexErrant•8mo ago
> Guess the missing word to complete the following sentence:

> Everyone respects him, he's the _ _ _ _ _ in this business.

Apparently the answer is "daddy"... this is not a good question or answer. Good luck with the launch, but you might want a native speaker to audit your question bank.

tomek_zemla•8mo ago
This is why it's still in BETA...
replwoacause•8mo ago
Hmm, weird questions

"Question: Find the word matching the following definition: Extremely or very much."

My Attempt: "sufficient"

Actual answer: "jolly"

huh??

tomek_zemla•8mo ago
The data comes from various open source, academic, etc databases. If you look up Oxford dictionary you will find for example: adverb INFORMAL•BRITISH very; extremely. "he is jolly busy"
replwoacause•8mo ago
Oh ok maybe that’s why it didn’t make sense to me, it’s a British colloquialism I’m not familiar with as an American.
tomek_zemla•8mo ago
Designing an ESL learning app for the global village is a challenge.
jamesdhutton•8mo ago
Speaking as a native English speaker from London: I can assure you that most Brits would get this question wrong. It is true that Brits use "jolly" to mean "very" but it is, as you've noted, informal. Brits do not use it this way in formal speech. You would have to make it clear in the question that you were talking about informal English. E.G. "Name a word that means 'happy' and can also informally mean 'very'".
tomek_zemla•8mo ago
Note that the question is never a single example or definition, but a starting question plus multiple clues and hints. These help to clear up ambiguities and guide the student towards the correct puzzle answer.
jamesdhutton•8mo ago
I think your game has potential but, at present, the questions are too hard and the answers are sometimes simply wrong. Example:

Q: Find the noun matching the following definition: "A burden or responsibility."

A: Saddle

This is not correct. Saddle as a verb can mean "to burden", but as a noun it does not mean a burden.

tomek_zemla•8mo ago
Working on finding these issues...
Terretta•8mo ago
OK, another such issue:

---

Question

Find the verb having the following synonyms : collapse, crumble, shatter

Answer: disintegrate

Result: SORRY... Word implode is the answer to this puzzle.

---

It not educational to suggest "shatter" --> "implode".

The original 3 words are to fall down, fall apart, or fall to pieces. My answer "disintegrate", is the opposite of integrate, and works for all three.

Implode is an inward converging motion. The 3 words are not that motion.

tomek_zemla•8mo ago
English is my second language so I do not create the content for the puzzles. The data comes from different publicly available sources. A quick search on Google for 'Thesaurus implode' gave me this: The thesaurus for "implode" offers several synonyms, including collapse, crumble, buckle, cave in, shatter, and fail. These words describe the act of something falling inwards or breaking apart due to pressure.
tomek_zemla•8mo ago
Also... Note that the cursor indicates if you typed the correct puzzle answer before you submit it. It prevents users from suggesting words that are correct answers, but not the solutions to the given puzzle.
jamesdhutton•8mo ago
@Tomek_zemla: The people in this thread are trying to help you. We are taking the time to tell you about our experience using your app. Feedback is a gift. Be grateful for it. Do not get defensive. If somebody tells you that they found your app baffling and difficult, then you are not going to change their mind by arguing with them. Instead, you should think about how you can change your app so that people find it useful and fun. You have the germ of a good idea for an app here. It needs more work before it's viable. We are trying to help you identify what you need to do to make it good.
tomek_zemla•8mo ago
I am super grateful for all the feedback and not defensive. Discussing to understand the experience of users...
satisfice•8mo ago
By its nature, this game should accept synonyms of the synonyms it is looking for. I offered “bountiful” when the game wanted “abundant.” My answer was not wrong. When it was rejected I instantly lost interest (i.e. motivation, will, desire) to play the game.
tomek_zemla•8mo ago
The puzzle is about finding a specific (one) word for each game/question. In your case abundant was the answer. The cursor indicates correct/incorrect word before it is submitted preventing you from giving a good answer - bountiful - which is NOT the solution to this specific puzzle. It's designed to push the students to find alternatives, i.e. yet another word that can be a solution until they find the correct one. In other words it does not accept multiple solutions by design.
gumboshoes•8mo ago
As someone who works in the linguistics space and has worked with numerous teams on games and has a wealth of knowledge on how people actually learn vocabulary and what they actually find fun when doing so, I feel like this game would benefit from a pause, a rethink, and a redo. I am in the middle of a Covid bout right now or I would say something more substantive but perhaps most important: you already have valuable feedback here you seem to be rejecting. Why? For example, what if you did allow multiple answers in the blank and scored accordingly?
tomek_zemla•8mo ago
I am not 'rejecting' the alternative design. I am choosing one design path over another. I have a specific vision of how I want this application to work. It is designed to 'push' users to discover new vocabulary. It's not exactly a game, although it feels a bit like that. It's a new take on an ESL vocabulary practice workbook.

Most words in English have synonyms. Some have long lists of them. The puzzles are designed to make you discover (or just recall) specific words. Accepting a semantically correct alternative defies the purpose! It also makes it easier, and the learning happens when it is hard.

If the question is about finding synonym to pretty and you provide beautiful, it's great. But the puzzles are designed so you discover splendind and stunning and ravishing and glamorous and lovely and... etc.