4 ms·

I think of it as my in-house software. Most software businesses write never leave the business, with a lot of the remainder being written in a support role jus

I think of it as my in-house software. Most software businesses write never leave the business, with a lot of the remainder being written in a support role just to further other business needs, not to be sold (such as a bank's online banking phone app.) But it might be even better than in-house software. I don't have to collaborate with anyone. I can observe "best practices" or not. I don't have to care about rough edges like bad error messages - I'm the programmer and user, so I know what the message means. I'm calling it my return to hacker roots. Unix was written for hackers who cobbled together quick solutions to personal problems. I no longer feel pressure to share my creations - sometimes I think people get minimal benefit from what I share, but it's more work for me than it's usually worth. Sometimes I feel bad about "not giving back" but many people "giving back" have their own self-driven reasons, such as building their portfolio of work. I have a day job so these reasons don't exist for me. My most useful software is my meal planning and grocery list system. I've been using it over ten years now. Occasionally I'm asked to share it but it's a very nasty personal creation. I have no desire to share it. I do need to overhaul it though. Linus Torvalds says he uses some hacked-up abomination of a text editor because it works for him and he knows it. That's the hacker spirit.

leucineleprec0n 5y ago
Created an account again (lost old few weeks old one lol) just to reply in enthusiastic agreement on the utility of barebones custom software - but not so much due to the lack of public-facing maintenance and the responsibilities that lie in parallel. Frankly, my own reasons hinge on annoyance with status quo consumer-facing solutions gone boiling over. Ex: I’ve taken to creating my own CRUD programs for iOS or likewise for shell-based Python scripts on a desktop for things from lists & reminders, tallies, to some minuscule gym data tracking, and a few memory logs. I grow weary of bloated apps and programs built for a remarkably simple purpose but lacking just basic malleable parameters - and yet swelling in size, latency, cost. Or hell, advertisements and “social” shit haranguing me at every menu bar. What the fuck? Hell, music applications are lousy with them - as with YouTube Music or Apple Music. So yeah, I’m all for it. My life is too short to acquiesce & tolerate the specter of proprietary watered-down stacks without reservation where I consider it desirable & plausible to do otherwise.
- Cullinet 5y ago
  write to the moderators to get your account back if you can provide adequate supporting information - this is what I did only so long after I'd begun this account and only emailed to inquire in a "kick me cruel world" moment...Just try if it means something to you because definitely the administration cares about keeping the HN community swell and together
  - leucineleprec0n 5y ago
    This is what I love and have loved about HN, haha. Thanks.
Cullinet 5y ago
I think that when people hark to hacker roots or however you want to call the experimental unconstrained and free wheeling pursuit of intellectual satisfaction through commanding over technology, I want to shout out aloud "hackers don't ship they deliver works of art "! I really was looking forward to reading a deeply philosophical introspective considering the poverty of creation that can result from incessant pursuits of relentlessly necessary and important objectives that you have no part in deciding on in any way regardless of the obviousness of futility or impossibility. Impossible tasks multiply most flourishingly in your nearest non tech founded startup, if you need a refresh. Meanwhile the best of us regularly encounter projects that we cannot apply any benefits of our skills and experience to help or even avert failing. To a certain degree this is commonplace, I mean, not the default mode experience of experienced professionals in tech. We definitely can relate nonetheless. I find pointless work refreshing and it revitalises me in every way. I tend to choose painting for my pointless occupational diversions, but isn't it a definition of art to need no purpose to exist?
- nicbou 5y ago
  I can't understand what you are saying
  - Cullinet 5y ago
    whilst I don't consider that comment exemplary English, and I'm inclined to rewrite or edit it, may I ask if I understand what you are saying to me, first, and if I am to take what you say literally or not? my reason for asking is because the most common concern raised when someone's saying that they can't understand a statement or comment uses the phrase "I can't understand" in reference to a particular area of confusion or incomprehension. In this case, I would prefer to clarify the point of your concern in a postscript instead of editing the original text, since that's much better for the integrity of the discussion. However, because omission of all mention of what's desired to be understood, in this form of inquiry so particularly diminishes the likelihood of success for your (rhetorical, implied) inquiry, or else is a omission possibly due to inattention or haste, and I have observed almost identical responses to a increasing sample of comments other than to my own from where I have been able to discern additional semantic information about the question posed, and this has been a reliable negative indicator of sincerity and a consistent indicator of positive derogatory intent on the part of the non understanding declaration, I consequently do not wish to fall into a conversational trap set up only to insult or deride anything that I have said. Indeed, since you have stated that you don't understand what I'm saying, and this can be taken to mean total incomprehension on your part, obviously simply rewriting my comment alone is not any guarantee of my being able to help you at all. Since this is something that I feel strongly about personally, I am entirely happy to completely structure my original comment anew and break it down into the constructive components and argumentative logic to convey my meaning with the maximum possible clarity. in absolutely no way am I meaning to condescend to you or criticise your motivation or personal character in this response - absolutely the opposite : the difficulty this presents is that if eg English language comprehension is involved in a fundamental part of your reaction, then I will need to consider this and compose any renewed comment accordingly. For example this reply itself is complicated grammatically and I will restate myself in accordance with your response if any. The only reason why I write this way initially is because I want to convey the nuances of my predicament as clearly as possible to the audience in general and also for the consideration of the moderators if by any chance this is interpreted in a negative light that I haven't been able to anticipate and prevent from affecting the most broad perception of my writing which is by virtue of being a public forum necessarily and preferably my primary concern. In different circumstances but in cases of apparently identical correspondence with the same comment on my language, when I failed to appreciate the pejorative intended meaning and absence of goodwill in the statement that I replied to, it happened that the negative overtones superimposed and obscured all beyond the cursory impression of a snarky exchange and it was thought that I was engaging with a troll deliberately in order to start a cryptic flame war in the guise of semantics. I wasn't and I am not now attempting anything of the sort. But as is clear from my defensive language already, I've been caused to infer something potentially negative which effect I'm entirely certain could have been averted had you made your comment more understand, as well. (I've worked on concurrent channel linguistic analysis since the early nineties following a successful project processing telephone sales transcripts for outcome prediction. English is far more wealthy and rich in structure than even linguists sometimes realise. Purcell's Lewd Songs are the most excellent introduction to the capabilities and subtlety of cryptic communication in the English language. Temporal dithering of phonetics in the 4 part harmonies are used for singing two simultaneously radically different song lyrics. The cryptic verses are the "Lewd" as in "and bawdy" verses.)

leucineleprec0n 5y ago

Created an account again (lost old few weeks old one lol) just to reply in enthusiastic agreement on the utility of barebones custom software - but not so much due to the lack of public-facing maintenance and the responsibilities that lie in parallel. Frankly, my own reasons hinge on annoyance with status quo consumer-facing solutions gone boiling over. Ex: I’ve taken to creating my own CRUD programs for iOS or likewise for shell-based Python scripts on a desktop for things from lists & reminders, tallies, to some minuscule gym data tracking, and a few memory logs. I grow weary of bloated apps and programs built for a remarkably simple purpose but lacking just basic malleable parameters - and yet swelling in size, latency, cost. Or hell, advertisements and “social” shit haranguing me at every menu bar. What the fuck? Hell, music applications are lousy with them - as with YouTube Music or Apple Music. So yeah, I’m all for it. My life is too short to acquiesce & tolerate the specter of proprietary watered-down stacks without reservation where I consider it desirable & plausible to do otherwise.

Cullinet 5y ago
write to the moderators to get your account back if you can provide adequate supporting information - this is what I did only so long after I'd begun this account and only emailed to inquire in a "kick me cruel world" moment...Just try if it means something to you because definitely the administration cares about keeping the HN community swell and together
- leucineleprec0n 5y ago
  This is what I love and have loved about HN, haha. Thanks.

Cullinet 5y ago

I think that when people hark to hacker roots or however you want to call the experimental unconstrained and free wheeling pursuit of intellectual satisfaction through commanding over technology, I want to shout out aloud "hackers don't ship they deliver works of art "! I really was looking forward to reading a deeply philosophical introspective considering the poverty of creation that can result from incessant pursuits of relentlessly necessary and important objectives that you have no part in deciding on in any way regardless of the obviousness of futility or impossibility. Impossible tasks multiply most flourishingly in your nearest non tech founded startup, if you need a refresh. Meanwhile the best of us regularly encounter projects that we cannot apply any benefits of our skills and experience to help or even avert failing. To a certain degree this is commonplace, I mean, not the default mode experience of experienced professionals in tech. We definitely can relate nonetheless. I find pointless work refreshing and it revitalises me in every way. I tend to choose painting for my pointless occupational diversions, but isn't it a definition of art to need no purpose to exist?

nicbou 5y ago
I can't understand what you are saying
- Cullinet 5y ago
  whilst I don't consider that comment exemplary English, and I'm inclined to rewrite or edit it, may I ask if I understand what you are saying to me, first, and if I am to take what you say literally or not? my reason for asking is because the most common concern raised when someone's saying that they can't understand a statement or comment uses the phrase "I can't understand" in reference to a particular area of confusion or incomprehension. In this case, I would prefer to clarify the point of your concern in a postscript instead of editing the original text, since that's much better for the integrity of the discussion. However, because omission of all mention of what's desired to be understood, in this form of inquiry so particularly diminishes the likelihood of success for your (rhetorical, implied) inquiry, or else is a omission possibly due to inattention or haste, and I have observed almost identical responses to a increasing sample of comments other than to my own from where I have been able to discern additional semantic information about the question posed, and this has been a reliable negative indicator of sincerity and a consistent indicator of positive derogatory intent on the part of the non understanding declaration, I consequently do not wish to fall into a conversational trap set up only to insult or deride anything that I have said. Indeed, since you have stated that you don't understand what I'm saying, and this can be taken to mean total incomprehension on your part, obviously simply rewriting my comment alone is not any guarantee of my being able to help you at all. Since this is something that I feel strongly about personally, I am entirely happy to completely structure my original comment anew and break it down into the constructive components and argumentative logic to convey my meaning with the maximum possible clarity. in absolutely no way am I meaning to condescend to you or criticise your motivation or personal character in this response - absolutely the opposite : the difficulty this presents is that if eg English language comprehension is involved in a fundamental part of your reaction, then I will need to consider this and compose any renewed comment accordingly. For example this reply itself is complicated grammatically and I will restate myself in accordance with your response if any. The only reason why I write this way initially is because I want to convey the nuances of my predicament as clearly as possible to the audience in general and also for the consideration of the moderators if by any chance this is interpreted in a negative light that I haven't been able to anticipate and prevent from affecting the most broad perception of my writing which is by virtue of being a public forum necessarily and preferably my primary concern. In different circumstances but in cases of apparently identical correspondence with the same comment on my language, when I failed to appreciate the pejorative intended meaning and absence of goodwill in the statement that I replied to, it happened that the negative overtones superimposed and obscured all beyond the cursory impression of a snarky exchange and it was thought that I was engaging with a troll deliberately in order to start a cryptic flame war in the guise of semantics. I wasn't and I am not now attempting anything of the sort. But as is clear from my defensive language already, I've been caused to infer something potentially negative which effect I'm entirely certain could have been averted had you made your comment more understand, as well. (I've worked on concurrent channel linguistic analysis since the early nineties following a successful project processing telephone sales transcripts for outcome prediction. English is far more wealthy and rich in structure than even linguists sometimes realise. Purcell's Lewd Songs are the most excellent introduction to the capabilities and subtlety of cryptic communication in the English language. Temporal dithering of phonetics in the 4 part harmonies are used for singing two simultaneously radically different song lyrics. The cryptic verses are the "Lewd" as in "and bawdy" verses.)