5 ms·

It's very weird how most websites already figured out how to keep their services up under load, but a CRUD text-only forum, with an "elite community of techies"

by leoff 3y ago

It's very weird how most websites already figured out how to keep their services up under load, but a CRUD text-only forum, with an "elite community of techies", can't. I would be curious to know what is the big challenge here.

diggan 3y ago
Probably the fact that the software was written decades ago, hacked together and also the author decided to first write their own lisp, then implement HN software with this lisp (called Arc). I'm guessing that has something to do with the difficulty of changing it.
- 0x6c6f6c 3y ago
  I almost wonder whether they even care about changing it, because why? This site has been completely functional aside from some load-bearing issues here and there. It's not like it's an ad plagued, high stakes, profitable venture.
  - ehnto 3y ago
    I agree, I would say it's perfectly capable just the target for success is different. It's not a commercial venture aiming for 99% availability and a dropped request here and there isn't that impactful.
- imiric 3y ago
  I would wager that it has more to do with the fact that it's served by a single one-core server: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39548439 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39548439 If anything, that showcases that the software stack is quite capable, however old and hacky it may be. And I suppose that HN is not too high up on the list of priorities for YC :) It works most of the time, and dang can put out any fires...
  - thunky 3y ago
    If it can't run on multiple cores, and a single core isn't enough to run it well, then I would say that the software stack is not quite capable.
    - diggan 3y ago
      Racket, the language Arc is built on top of, can handle concurrency and parallelism, so it is possible. If someone has time/energy, that I don't know. However, Arc was initially written in sometime early in 2000s. I don't think dual-core processors became more common at home until later...
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

by leoff 3y ago

diggan 3y ago

Probably the fact that the software was written decades ago, hacked together and also the author decided to first write their own lisp, then implement HN software with this lisp (called Arc). I'm guessing that has something to do with the difficulty of changing it.

0x6c6f6c 3y ago
I almost wonder whether they even care about changing it, because why? This site has been completely functional aside from some load-bearing issues here and there. It's not like it's an ad plagued, high stakes, profitable venture.
- ehnto 3y ago
  I agree, I would say it's perfectly capable just the target for success is different. It's not a commercial venture aiming for 99% availability and a dropped request here and there isn't that impactful.
imiric 3y ago
I would wager that it has more to do with the fact that it's served by a single one-core server: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39548439 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39548439 If anything, that showcases that the software stack is quite capable, however old and hacky it may be. And I suppose that HN is not too high up on the list of priorities for YC :) It works most of the time, and dang can put out any fires...
- thunky 3y ago
  If it can't run on multiple cores, and a single core isn't enough to run it well, then I would say that the software stack is not quite capable.
  - diggan 3y ago
    Racket, the language Arc is built on top of, can handle concurrency and parallelism, so it is possible. If someone has time/energy, that I don't know. However, Arc was initially written in sometime early in 2000s. I don't think dual-core processors became more common at home until later...

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]