5 ms·

Show HN: Simple Hacker News Client for Emacs

81 points by clarete 13y ago

I wrote this small client to read hackernews from my favorite editor. It's currently using an external HTTP API [0] but I'm working on my own proxy [1]. I'd love to actually scrape and cache all the info I need using lisp. However, my time constraints are keeping me away of that goal. I could definitely use some help here! :) I'm also planning to add support for comments and posting new things. Any feedback is highly appreciated! Thank you! [0] http://api.ihackernews.com/ [1] https://github.com/clarete/rhn

marcosmlopes 13y ago
sweet
- clarete 13y ago
  Thank you man!
prateekj 13y ago
Nice
manojlds 13y ago
If I were to create a mobile app for HackerNews, what would be the best way to go about doing that in terms of API to use?
- Mithrandir 13y ago
  HNSearch has an API: https://www.hnsearch.com/api https://www.hnsearch.com/api
- clarete 13y ago
  So, hackernews.el is actually a very simple front-end for the guy that really has to deal with hackernews. I'm using a library that I built on top of `ruby-hackernews`, you can see what I did here: https://github.com/clarete/rhn https://github.com/clarete/rhn
- terhechte 13y ago
  http://api.ihackernews.com/ http://api.ihackernews.com/
- karangoeluw 13y ago
  I made a semi-complete python api for HN: https://github.com/thekarangoel/HackerNewsAPI https://github.com/thekarangoel/HackerNewsAPI
jpitz 13y ago
Just sent a pull request - I'd use this if it linked to comments. Otherwise this is exactly what I want!
- clarete 13y ago
  Yeah! Thank you for the contribution, I'll apply your patch and release another version as soon as I get the chance to open my computer!
thex86 13y ago
Serious question: does anyone know of a similar command-line/vim alternative?
- justinmk 13y ago
  w3m works great for hacker news.
aylons 13y ago
The best thing since the excel facebook browser: http://mashable.com/2011/07/03/hardlyworkin-excel-facebook/ http://mashable.com/2011/07/03/hardlyworkin-excel-facebook/
marblar 13y ago
I just get an error message: "Bad news, bro: url"
ihuman 13y ago
Are things like these just proof-of-concepts, or are there many people out there that use these? It's things like this that are just promoting the joke that "Emacs is a great OS, but lacks a good text editor." (Honest question)
- skylan_q 13y ago
  I'll be using it. I always have Emacs open anyways.
- parfe 13y ago
  I use emacs for email and news reader (gnus), Irc (rcirc), jabber (jabber.el), twitter (twittering-mode), calculator, password storage (PGP encrypted file), and sysadmining (remote/sudo file editing with tramp). And I use it as my primary development envrionment. I get the same text editor capabilities if I'm writing a tweet, email or code. And yes, vim is a far superior editor. Luckily emacs implements that as well (evil or viper).
nmcfarl 13y ago
In case anyone else is tempted: I tried to add the "new" page, and additional pages of the main results - however the API that drives this ( http://api.ihackernews.com/ http://api.ihackernews.com/ ) has been failing to return those pages for several hours now. I'm assuming that the functionality was dropped at some point...
- clarete 13y ago
  Hmm, bad news. I'll work on polishing the new proxy support that is almost done in another branch, so we'll be able to use more reliable services for now. And then, when I have some time, I'll write the full thing on lisp! Thanks for the heads up!
imdhmd 13y ago
im new to emacs. can someone pls tell me, how will i update as and when new features have been made available to this package?
- ibrahima 13y ago
  If you install it through the package manager (by running M-x package-list-packages and then selecting it from there) you can update it through that as well (hitting U will select all updates). See eg: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs_package_system.html http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs_package_system.html
peferron 13y ago
I love how the first item in the screenshot is "Does everyone hate MongoDB?". Good old HN.
justinhj 13y ago
Great to see well documented emacs lisp code that I can learn from. I've been wondering how you make clickable and coloured text in a buffer.
deerpig 13y ago
Very nice. But no font locking... I didn't see anything in the code to indicate anything that matches the screen shot.
- justinhj 13y ago
  It looks exactly like the screen shot on my computer.
  - deerpig 13y ago
    Weird, I just get plain text. This links work, but no color.
endgame 13y ago
Does this integrate with gnus, or is it standalone? In any case, I'm surprised I haven't seen something like this sooner. Nice work.

81 points by clarete 13y ago

marcosmlopes 13y ago

sweet

clarete 13y ago
Thank you man!

prateekj 13y ago

Nice

manojlds 13y ago

If I were to create a mobile app for HackerNews, what would be the best way to go about doing that in terms of API to use?

Mithrandir 13y ago
HNSearch has an API: https://www.hnsearch.com/api https://www.hnsearch.com/api
clarete 13y ago
So, hackernews.el is actually a very simple front-end for the guy that really has to deal with hackernews. I'm using a library that I built on top of `ruby-hackernews`, you can see what I did here: https://github.com/clarete/rhn https://github.com/clarete/rhn
terhechte 13y ago
http://api.ihackernews.com/ http://api.ihackernews.com/
karangoeluw 13y ago
I made a semi-complete python api for HN: https://github.com/thekarangoel/HackerNewsAPI https://github.com/thekarangoel/HackerNewsAPI

jpitz 13y ago

Just sent a pull request - I'd use this if it linked to comments. Otherwise this is exactly what I want!

clarete 13y ago
Yeah! Thank you for the contribution, I'll apply your patch and release another version as soon as I get the chance to open my computer!

thex86 13y ago

Serious question: does anyone know of a similar command-line/vim alternative?

justinmk 13y ago
w3m works great for hacker news.

aylons 13y ago

The best thing since the excel facebook browser: http://mashable.com/2011/07/03/hardlyworkin-excel-facebook/ http://mashable.com/2011/07/03/hardlyworkin-excel-facebook/

marblar 13y ago

I just get an error message: "Bad news, bro: url"

ihuman 13y ago

Are things like these just proof-of-concepts, or are there many people out there that use these? It's things like this that are just promoting the joke that "Emacs is a great OS, but lacks a good text editor." (Honest question)

skylan_q 13y ago
I'll be using it. I always have Emacs open anyways.
parfe 13y ago
I use emacs for email and news reader (gnus), Irc (rcirc), jabber (jabber.el), twitter (twittering-mode), calculator, password storage (PGP encrypted file), and sysadmining (remote/sudo file editing with tramp). And I use it as my primary development envrionment. I get the same text editor capabilities if I'm writing a tweet, email or code. And yes, vim is a far superior editor. Luckily emacs implements that as well (evil or viper).

nmcfarl 13y ago

In case anyone else is tempted: I tried to add the "new" page, and additional pages of the main results - however the API that drives this ( http://api.ihackernews.com/ http://api.ihackernews.com/ ) has been failing to return those pages for several hours now. I'm assuming that the functionality was dropped at some point...

clarete 13y ago
Hmm, bad news. I'll work on polishing the new proxy support that is almost done in another branch, so we'll be able to use more reliable services for now. And then, when I have some time, I'll write the full thing on lisp! Thanks for the heads up!

imdhmd 13y ago

im new to emacs. can someone pls tell me, how will i update as and when new features have been made available to this package?

ibrahima 13y ago
If you install it through the package manager (by running M-x package-list-packages and then selecting it from there) you can update it through that as well (hitting U will select all updates). See eg: http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs_package_system.html http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs_package_system.html

peferron 13y ago

I love how the first item in the screenshot is "Does everyone hate MongoDB?". Good old HN.

justinhj 13y ago

Great to see well documented emacs lisp code that I can learn from. I've been wondering how you make clickable and coloured text in a buffer.

deerpig 13y ago

Very nice. But no font locking... I didn't see anything in the code to indicate anything that matches the screen shot.

justinhj 13y ago
It looks exactly like the screen shot on my computer.
- deerpig 13y ago
  Weird, I just get plain text. This links work, but no color.

endgame 13y ago

Does this integrate with gnus, or is it standalone? In any case, I'm surprised I haven't seen something like this sooner. Nice work.