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ichversteheon Show HN: Showboat and Rodney, so agents can demo what they've built

I am working on a lightweight notebook alternative which is literally just a Python script that can be viewed interactively. Maybe that could be useful? https://harry.vangberg.name/posts/pdit-the-python-un-noteboo...

ichversteheon pdit: The Python Un-Notebook for Coding Agents

Consider a notebook with a cell with two lines of code:

  [1, 2, 3]
  "foo bar"

The default in notebooks is to just render/show the value of the last expression (`"foo bar"`). In pdit, the value of all top-level expressions are rendered/shown:

  [1, 2, 3] #=> [1, 2, 3]
  "foo bar" #=> "foo bar"

In that way it is more like a REPL than a notebook, you could say.

ichversteheon Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system

Allow me to plug Ankivalenz[1], my library that turns (structured) Markdown files into Anki decks, using a syntax like this:

  # Solar System
  
  ## Planets
  
  ### Color
  
  - Earth ?:: Blue
  - Mars ?:: Red

The best thing about it (for me) is that the header structure (and any parent list items) are added to the cards, e.g.:

  Path: Solar System > Planets > Color
  Front: Earth
  Back: Blue

This hierarchy makes it much easier to formulate succinct cards, in my experience.

The syntax also means that I can easily add cards from my regular Markdown notes, so regular notes and Anki cards live together.

[1] https://github.com/vangberg/ankivalenz/

ichversteheon Anki-fy your life

Allow me to mention my project Ankivalenz[1], which turns structured HTML files into Anki decks. I use it with Quarto[2][3] to generate my Anki decks. Instead of having an unorganized "pool" of Anki cards, I can create hierarchical, well-organized notes and turn them into an Anki deck. This makes it easier to create Anki decks, but more importantly, it makes it easier to keep Anki decks up to date.

[1] https://github.com/vangberg/ankivalenz

[2] https://quarto.org/

[3] https://github.com/vangberg/quarto-ankivalenz

ichversteheon Show HN: Text editor with inline English-German dictionary

Definitely something I want to explore later on, if I can make the individual prototypes work well by themselves.

ichversteheon Show HN: Text editor with inline English-German dictionary

That's something I will have to look into. Thank you for the suggestions.

ichversteheon Foreign Dispatch: Ideas from code editors applied to foreign language writing

Very interesting, I will look into that. Thank you!

ichversteheon Foreign Dispatch: Ideas from code editors applied to foreign language writing

No plans to monetize. Contributions very welcome! :)

ichversteheon Foreign Dispatch: Ideas from code editors applied to foreign language writing

It does not seem to be developed anymore, but Readlang[1] does exactly that. It has been very helpful early on as I was learning Spanish and German.

[1] https://readlang.com/

ichversteheon Foreign Dispatch: Ideas from code editors applied to foreign language writing

I mixed it up with bevorzugen[1] I think. Will fix it, thanks! :)

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bevorzugen

ichversteheon Interactive course about “everyday” data science

I just spent half an hour in an airport reading the first chapter. With only a bit of knowledge of Bernoulli distributions, I found it very informative and well written, moving forward at a nice pace. The tiny tests made me reread a few things I had glossed over initially, forcing me to understand it a little better. Good job.

It would be cool if you provided links to further reading on the various concepts, for extracurricular studies.

Overall the style and ethos feels similar to Pluto.jl, which I think puts you in good company :)

Bonus points for working almost flawlessly on mobile (the table with 0’s and 1’s overflowed and was pushed offscreen.)

ichversteheon Workflows in my note app Skrift

Please do copy! I have experimented with tree based interfaces as well, and have also found that they become unmanageable.

The row/column approach works well, but eventually breaks down when working with dozens of notes at the same time. I am trying to figure out a way to efficiently group notes[1], but have hit a bit of a wall. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with :)

[1] E.g. my attempt to have multiple workspaces, while neat in theory, wasn’t great to work with in practice: https://twitter.com/ichverstehe/status/1347896632424198144 - having everything at the same level works better. My next attempt might be some sort of grouped tiles with autoscaling.

ichversteheon Workflows in my note app Skrift

OP here.

When I started building this a year and a half ago, this was my plan. Since then, (1) there has been an explosion of note apps and (2) I realized that I do not really feel enthusiastic about building out commodity features needed for that. Instead, I am slowly building for myself, experimenting with different ideas and workflows[1], and sharing them on my blog, with the hope that someone else picks them up.

Alternatively, if I wait long enough, the "note app" part will become a commodity itself, and I can implement the interface/workflows on top of it. Quarto[2] looks promising in that regard. Their visual editor[3], which is used in R Studio, is really good.

[1] As an example, I at some point played around with a zooming user-interface: https://twitter.com/ichverstehe/status/1347896632424198144

[2] https://quarto.org/

[3] https://quarto.org/docs/visual-editor/

ichversteheon Exploring Databases Visually

I'd love to test this, at any stage. Email in profile.

ichversteheon Rails Is Not For Beginners

Sinatra, Cuba[1] etc. can finely be used for larger apps as well. It may require some more discipline upfront, but the notion that those are only usable for small hacks is moot. In fact, I have found it easier to introduce new coworkers (without prior knowledge of either) to medium sized (5k LOC) Sinatra apps than Rails apps the same size.

[1] https://github.com/soveran/cuba

ichversteheon RubyGems is not a Battlefield, Part I (5/25 meeting w. Eric+Ryan)

    $ cat ~/.gemrc 
    ---
    gem: --no-ri --no-rdoc

yw.

ichversteheon Ask HN: Best Ideas or Links for SSH User/Key Management for Groups?

Use a VPN. Make that the only point of entry, and whenever somebody departs, you only have to revoke access to the VPN. Here's a decent OpenVPN guide: http://code.mixpanel.com/openvpn-in-the-rackspace-cloud/

ichversteheon LevelDB: a fast and lightweight key/value database library

    CREATE TABLE kv (key text PRIMARY KEY, value text);

ichversteheon Evolution of a Prototypal Language User

Prototypes are, unfortunately, a bit convoluted in JavaScript. In Io[1], on the other hand, their beauty are readily apparent.

[1] http://www.iolanguage.com/scm/io/docs/IoGuide.html#Objects

ichversteheon HN request: Nordic startups, we'd love to feature you

Other Nordic resources: http://basementhq.com/ http://www.arcticstartup.com/

ichversteheon Continuous Deployment

If a mobile app wanted to be updated every single week, I would get annoyed at some point. The point is that web applications can do this in a seamless manner.

ichversteheon Continuous Deployment

And how exactly does this relate to the way they deploy their code? As far as I can tell, they actually review code before marking it ready for deploy. That kind of changes would be an issue with "usual" large batch deploys as well.

ichversteheon Ask HN: Soon to be high school graduate with two full time job offers. Help?

You are right, I think. What I was trying to say is, a lot of the people recommending college in these situations cite the "life experience"—which I wholeheartedly agree with—but, that might not be coupled to college :)

ichversteheon Ask HN: Soon to be high school graduate with two full time job offers. Help?

This really depends on where in the world you are located. Posts of this kind always have a bunch of answers along the lines of the parent post. The thing is, that is largely an American phenomenon, as far as I can tell. At least in Denmark, where I am from, this type of "life-changing experience" usually happens in high school (granted, we're in high school from 16-17-ish till 19-20-ish,) with college being less influential with regards to your social life/experience.

For what it's worth, I dropped out in my final year of high school, to freelance, start my own company, and eventually landing a job at a nice startup. So, while I don't regret not finishing and going to college for a single second, I wouldn't trade the 2,5 years in high school for anything in the world. That was the best time ever. So far, anyways.

ichversteheon Ask HN: Where to live internationally while learning to program?

Dane here. Northern Europe is definitely an easy place to stay for a foreigner, but if you want to stay in a major city, rent is not going to be cheap, and food etc. is pretty expensive as well.

ichversteheon Ask HN: Best cities to live in?

Coincidentally, I'm moving to Buenos Aires in the middle of January. Do you have any tips to share?

ichversteheon Facebook Chat Architecture (Erlang)

MSN Messenger had been sitting on the IM throne in Denmark for a couple of years until Facebook Chat came along.

ichversteheon Facebook Chat Architecture (Erlang)

Do you have any sources to back up that claim? Among my friends Facebook Chat has entirely replaced MSN Messenger.

ichversteheon Oia a port of Io to Javascript and node.js

I have been waiting for this forever.

ichversteheon Ask HN: How to find a "Founder Friendly" rental apartment?

In Denmark almost everybody pays three months of rent up-front and what amounts to three months of rent in deposit.