Hacker News Reader

Comment by mildweed | Hacker News Reader

FYI: Article has nothing to do with memory pointers or linked list peeks, and everything to do with DOM attributes of HTML5 elements and attributes.

View on HN

Yes, my mind was blown for a second and then I was slightly disappointed. ("Poke" and "peek" are also commands to write to and read from a given memory address, respectively.)

It's presumably a reference to old time tables of "peeks" and "pokes" showing what each memory address controlled, or somesuch.

Here is what it says in the credits (scroll down):

Inspiration: Beagle Bros “Peeks, Pokes and Pointers” chart for Apple ][ (+)

(+) links to this: http://www.lazilong.com/apple_II/bbros/

Here's the story about the name: I wrote http://diveintomark.org/archives/2010/01/29/tinkerers-sunset earlier this year, decrying the lack of "tinkerability" of the iPad and similar closed devices. "There won't ever be a MacsBug for the iPad. There won't be a ResEdit, or a Copy ][+ sector editor, or an iPad Peeks & Pokes Chart."

One of the common refrains in the comments was that the iPad includes top-of-the-line support for a perfectly open, tinkerable platform: the web. Thus, the "HTML5 Peeks, Pokes and Pointers" chart was born.

Also, I just purchased a real live physical original Beagle Bros "Peeks, Pokes and Pointers" chart to hang up in my mancave^Woffice. Next to my Apple //es. Plural. So there's that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com