4 ms·

Ask HN: What major technical feat are you going to take a shot at this break?

2 points by breck 4y ago

Linus wrote Git v1 over Christmas break in 2005. What major technical challenge are you going to take a shot at during this year's holiday break?

jstx1 4y ago
How many "feats" at the level of writing Git have you achieved in previous holiday breaks?
- breck 4y ago
  Oh I've made a few. Read my papers or see my languages. But I'm more interested in the next thing. This year I'm thinking of: a git DSL, new layer 1 DSL, a new DSL for legal contracts, a new 3D game engine, a new physics DSL, a new music DSL, a hardware device, et cetera. Lots of ideas.
codazoda 4y ago
I'm building a whole bunch of stuff and I'm doing it in public. I've committed myself to doing "one day build" style YouTube video's starting at the end of the break and going for at least 3 months (12 episodes). They should be pretty terrible to start. I'm doing this because I think I have a unique style that I could share and because putting myself on a schedule encourages me to build something every single week and to keep track of it. My stickiest ideas seem to come from setting out a plan and doing regular work. I don't imagine a lot of people will watch, which is okay with me. https://www.youtube.com/codazoda https://www.youtube.com/codazoda
- breck 4y ago
  Awesome! I subscribed! I recommend Loom for recording. Also Descript for editing. Godspeed! Edit: your first one is good! What did you use for the PIP?
  - codazoda 4y ago
    Thanks for the recommendations, I'll take a look at them. For PIP I simply used Quicktime (the one that comes with Mac). I opened a "New Movie Recording", but didn't hit record. Then I resized the window and put it where I want. Finally, I open a "New Screen Recording" that captures a 1080p portion of my window. So, Quicktime is recording itself. I also tried this with recording turned on in both windows, and it works fine. That would allow me to switch back and forth between screen and face in editing, if I wanted to.
  - beckingz 4y ago
    How is Loom better than Quicktime? They seem fairly comparable in my experience using both.
    - breck 4y ago
      Loom gives you the PIP, I didn't think of the clever hack that codazoda came up with. I'll have to give that a shot.
giviv 4y ago
Nothing, I'm going to relax. I get enough major technical challenges in my employment. It'll be nice to give my mind a rest for a couple of weeks.
yesenadam 4y ago
"Don't talk about what you will do, talk about what you have done" http://www.breckyunits.com/dont-talk-about-what-you-will-do-talk-about-what-you-have-done.html http://www.breckyunits.com/dont-talk-about-what-you-will-do-... edit: p.s. hopefully more constructively: > Read my papers or see my languages You don't seem to make it that easy for people to do this! Is there a single page with links to these and a short description of what they are? I couldn't find one. I checked out the tree language designer page, seems pretty cool, a fast way to make a DSL. Not quite enough documentation yet to start using it myself. Your paper on it didn't help me understand it at all. Seems like the docs and page were never quite finished? A shame, it's a nice idea. I can't really see how it's particularly a tree or "programming is now 2D" etc though. I was expecting something weird/unique in a way I wouldn't have if it was just called "Fast DSL Builder" or something. (Although I once spent months writing a graphics DSL with a similar no-boilerplate spirit, maybe it doesn't seem unusual to me because of that.) https://jtree.treenotation.org/designer/ https://jtree.treenotation.org/designer/

2 points by breck 4y ago

Linus wrote Git v1 over Christmas break in 2005. What major technical challenge are you going to take a shot at during this year's holiday break?

jstx1 4y ago

How many "feats" at the level of writing Git have you achieved in previous holiday breaks?

breck 4y ago
Oh I've made a few. Read my papers or see my languages. But I'm more interested in the next thing. This year I'm thinking of: a git DSL, new layer 1 DSL, a new DSL for legal contracts, a new 3D game engine, a new physics DSL, a new music DSL, a hardware device, et cetera. Lots of ideas.

codazoda 4y ago

I'm building a whole bunch of stuff and I'm doing it in public. I've committed myself to doing "one day build" style YouTube video's starting at the end of the break and going for at least 3 months (12 episodes). They should be pretty terrible to start. I'm doing this because I think I have a unique style that I could share and because putting myself on a schedule encourages me to build something every single week and to keep track of it. My stickiest ideas seem to come from setting out a plan and doing regular work. I don't imagine a lot of people will watch, which is okay with me. https://www.youtube.com/codazoda https://www.youtube.com/codazoda

breck 4y ago
Awesome! I subscribed! I recommend Loom for recording. Also Descript for editing. Godspeed! Edit: your first one is good! What did you use for the PIP?
- codazoda 4y ago
  Thanks for the recommendations, I'll take a look at them. For PIP I simply used Quicktime (the one that comes with Mac). I opened a "New Movie Recording", but didn't hit record. Then I resized the window and put it where I want. Finally, I open a "New Screen Recording" that captures a 1080p portion of my window. So, Quicktime is recording itself. I also tried this with recording turned on in both windows, and it works fine. That would allow me to switch back and forth between screen and face in editing, if I wanted to.
- beckingz 4y ago
  How is Loom better than Quicktime? They seem fairly comparable in my experience using both.
  - breck 4y ago
    Loom gives you the PIP, I didn't think of the clever hack that codazoda came up with. I'll have to give that a shot.

giviv 4y ago

Nothing, I'm going to relax. I get enough major technical challenges in my employment. It'll be nice to give my mind a rest for a couple of weeks.

yesenadam 4y ago

"Don't talk about what you will do, talk about what you have done" http://www.breckyunits.com/dont-talk-about-what-you-will-do-talk-about-what-you-have-done.html http://www.breckyunits.com/dont-talk-about-what-you-will-do-... edit: p.s. hopefully more constructively: > Read my papers or see my languages You don't seem to make it that easy for people to do this! Is there a single page with links to these and a short description of what they are? I couldn't find one. I checked out the tree language designer page, seems pretty cool, a fast way to make a DSL. Not quite enough documentation yet to start using it myself. Your paper on it didn't help me understand it at all. Seems like the docs and page were never quite finished? A shame, it's a nice idea. I can't really see how it's particularly a tree or "programming is now 2D" etc though. I was expecting something weird/unique in a way I wouldn't have if it was just called "Fast DSL Builder" or something. (Although I once spent months writing a graphics DSL with a similar no-boilerplate spirit, maybe it doesn't seem unusual to me because of that.) https://jtree.treenotation.org/designer/ https://jtree.treenotation.org/designer/