Hacker News Reader

MayorMontyon Web Locks API

I think this is the idea behind the Baseline <Year> standard you see on a lot of mdn features now, it shows the year when the feature was available in all 3 major browser engines

MayorMontyon Starbase: SQLite on the Edge

iirc they are both powered by the same engine to stream and replicate the WAL. I believe R2 is now implemented as a Durable Object backed by SQLite now.

MayorMontyon The Framework is the most exciting laptop I've used

From what I read, it was because they couldn't fit the charging circuitry for both into the dongle. Better to not deal with the confusion of one not charging

MayorMontyon Windy.com

I imagine something like this could be a fantastic tool to teach about differential equations and their applications. Just looking at you can see specific hallmarks (sources and sinks), and how that sort of analysis can have super-cool uses.

Does meterology use differential equations to model wind?

MayorMontyon Docker for Mac M1 RC

Windows Terminal and Fluent Terminal are both good

MayorMontyon Show HN: Strongweek, an iOS app focused on weeks months and years, not due dates

Todoist supports repeating tasks, but doesn't have the nice time buckets like this app does

MayorMontyon Bevy: A Game Engine in Rust

Rust By Example helped me to get off the ground pretty quickly and give me some ideas when I was stuck. But honestly just making something is the best way to learn rust, the compiler will hold your hand enough for it to be a pretty good learning experience

MayorMontyon Microsoft: Rust Is the Industry’s ‘Best Chance’ at Safe Systems Programming

The language works for the programmer. Those with a higher focus on safety (like rust) make the worst programmer better.

MayorMontyon Is Dark Mode Such a Good Idea?

The most important part is preference IMO. People have the right to choose which is right for them, and if they determine that dark mode is better for them (even if they just think it looks better), having a setting in the OS that cascades down to all applications and websites is just a nice feature to have.

This is why prefers-color-scheme is the perfect mechanism for this. Simply swap out your CSS variables and automatically your site is immediately more accessible to people who prefer dark mode.

MayorMontyon Students are failing AP tests because the College Board can’t handle HEIC images

Yes there was a demo, but it didn't actually submit anything at all. It just mocked through what the exam would look like with timers.

The demo is still up and you can still look at it

MayorMontyon Students think the College Board is running a Reddit sting

https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/pdf/ap-2020exam-sample-qu...

The exams are designed with algebraic solvers in mind and typically, you don't actually find derivatives and integrals. Instead, they'll show you a graph or table instead of the equation itself. Typically students are allowed to use a TI N-spire CAS CX on their exams, which has a lot of the same capabilities as WolframAlpha.

MayorMontyon Students think the College Board is running a Reddit sting

As a student who took 3 AP tests this week, it holds up well. The main weapon CollegeBoard leveraged is that these exams were only 45 minutes long.

For example, AP Calculus had two questions: A 25-minute, and a 15-minute question, each with 9 or 10 parts. There simply just isn't enough time to Google anything. If you look at Google Trends data [0] you can see hilarious spikes in related terms during the exams, but if you didn't have a good handle on the material then you would just run of out time.

[0]: https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=now%207-d&geo=...

MayorMontyon Language Design: Use 'ident: Type' not 'Type ident'

The first point is the most appealing to my brain at least. Type inference is a really useful feature (when paired with a nice IDE) and having a single standardized prefix to declare variables regardless of what type it is can help the mental model. This is especially true with more complex non-obvious types, where you may not know exactly what type you have without the hint from your environment

MayorMontyon Private firefighters go to work for California's wealthy

In Yang's case, the 10% VAT is accompanied by a $1000/month Universal Basic Income.

MayorMontyon SAT Scores Fall as More Students Take the Test

Yes, and those who are naturally good at standardized testing (such as myself) have an advantage on the SAT, which is one of its issues. But as far as College Board is concerned, the actual content is largely irrelevant.

SAT Math does not test number sense or ability to reason with abstsactions, instead how effective you are at applying a specific set of memorized rules.

SAT ERW does test comprehension, but only in a very specific context. The College Board specifically chooses passages that are meant to be boring, so the reader skims them. SAT Reading is mostly about the grit of paying attention to detail.

SAT Writing, of course is about applying specific prescriptivist grammar rulesets (no singular they comes to mind)

Fundamentally, SAT is designed to be a test of attention to detail and studying, not content mastery. Schools will look at transcripts, AP Tests, or SAT Subject Tests to determine that.

MayorMontyon SAT Scores Fall as More Students Take the Test

(For perspective, I'm still in High School, and have scored pretty well on the SAT)

I think what a lot of people fail to realize is that the SAT being based on Aptitude is intentional. Doing well on the SAT means knowing how to study for the SAT (with an advantage given to those who do well in school). That's what the test is measuring, your ability to study.

MayorMontyon Manim – 3Blue1Brown's animation engine for explanatory math videos

A lot of his series on differential equations and geometry makes use of 3d components, presumably from this engine

MayorMontyon Discord raises $150M, surpassing $2B valuation

They have a premium service, but I can't imagine they're making enough off of that. From what I can tell, they aren't making money, and are just spending investor capital

MayorMontyon Don’t sign a CLA

In the past I've run into projects where the source was on GitHub where you could compile yourself, but binaries needed to be purchased. Lemme see if I can find it