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No unit tests.

louiechristieon Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (July 2025)

  Location: London
  Remote: No
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: TypeScript, JavaScript, React Native, iOS, Android, React, Next.js, Gatsby.js, 11ty, ghost.org, Node.js, APIs, SQL, HTML, CSS, COBOL, UX, AR
  Résumé/CV: https://www.louiechristie.com/tech/
  Email: foxhole.buzzes2b@icloud.com

louiechristieon I've Acquired a New Superpower

My thoughts exactly. Could be done with a git diff in a VR headset

louiechristieon Doctor-prescribed videogame for ADHD

“More than one-third (36.6%) of adults with ADHD moved into the non-clinical, or normative, range (TOVA ACS score of >0)”- https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230503005295/en/Adu...

So about as effective as a placebo or sugar pill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo

louiechristieon Ask HN: Any advice on navigating this job market or pivoting out of tech? (US)

Get an office admin temp job where they use a lot of Excel? They’ll think you are a genius.

louiechristieon London ranked second best startup hub in the world for tech

Anyone know the source of the "new research" the article is talking about?

louiechristieon Ask HN: How to build a light weight personal blog?

Use Alexandra Spalato‘s (@alexadark)

Free Gatsby WordPress theme.

See this 1 hour tutorial video:

https://www.learnwithjason.dev/gatsby-wordpress-themes

louiechristieon Ask HN: Robust and affordable alternatives to Google Play for app distribution?

https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/installing.png

louiechristieon Ask HN: How to bypass learning CSS?

I make MVPs in the style of GMail, Google Calendar, etc, using Google’s ‘Material Design’ style.

I bolt together pre-made components.

No CSS required if you’re just bolting together standard components like lists, buttons, menus, and images with accompanying text cards.

My favourite implementation of this is Callstack’s Paper because I can use it for websites and apps.

Demo:

https://react-native-web-paper-example.netlify.app/

Getting started:

  git clone git@github.com:callstack/react-native-paper.git

  yarn bootstrap

  yarn example web

louiechristieon Ask HN: What is the most complex concept you understand?

Centering things in CSS

louiechristieon Ask HN: What are some “10x” software product innovations you have experienced?

Prioritisation

louiechristieon Slack is down

Breaking news: Productivity hits sky high today as tech workers forced to work at home and not use Slack.

https://twitter.com/louiechristie/status/1346213038924427265...

louiechristieon Slack is down

https://twitter.com/louiechristie/status/1346213038924427265...

louiechristieon Evidence-based software engineering: book released

Where’s the ‘conclusions’ section?

louiechristieon Graphical User Interface Using Flutter in Embedded Systems [pdf]

I'm surprised React Native didn't get a mention on page 9?

React Native works on Sony PS4 using youi.tv: https://www.youi.tv/build-for-ps4-using-react-native-and-you...

React Native works on Ubuntu: https://github.com/CanonicalLtd/react-native

React Native works on Linux via Electron https://dev.to/evanbacon/making-desktop-apps-with-electron-r...

Not strictly speaking aimed at embedded systems but you'd think React Native would deserve at least a consideration?

louiechristieon My Life Countdown (2007)

I made a web version too:

* Weeks to go (Warning: May cause existential angst) https://weeks.louiechristie.com/

louiechristieon WordPress's Matt in debate with Netlify's Matt

Wordpress or JAMstack? Why not do both?

I did... as an experiment for my blog: https://www.louiechristie.com/blog/

The secret sauce is https://github.com/henrikwirth/gatsby-starter-wordpress-twen...

louiechristieon The Walkman, Forty Years On

90s technology struggles (4 min comedy video) [NSFW] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23730689

louiechristieon Mainframes Are Having a Moment

COBOL in 100 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d7-etf-wNI

louiechristieon Netflix to cut streaming quality in Europe for 30 days

Time for the Negroponte Switch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negroponte_switch

louiechristieon Suicide Prevention Hotline Number Should Be 3 Digits, 988, Agency Says

Too bad in the USA's FCC 70 page report there are 0 mentions of the number 116 123.

(https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-359095A1.pdf)

116 123 is the new standard for emotional support helplines in the 28 EU countries and has already been implemented by France, Germany, Ireland and United Kingdom.

You would've thought 116 123 at least deserves consideration by the USA, even if they didn't adopt it?

Also, while they are at it, it's a shame the USA don't fully implement 112 alongside 911 as their emergency number, because Americans are starting to look like the odd ones out - see this world map https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/112_(emergency_telephone_numbe...

I heard, these days, people go on holidays & vacations abroad, and emergencies & illness don't care about national boundaries.

On a positive note, it's nice to hear about Americans caring for sick people.

louiechristieon Why Markdown Sucks (2016)

Ever tried linting and using prettier with markdown? While working with a team some use atom, some vscode editor? Different linters apply different rules. Ended up having to avoid advanced markup features like lists within lists. Which is annoying when you are writing a readme step-by-step document and need a step 2.b) for example.

This article suggests using XML. XML is based on an older markup language called standard generalised markup language ‘SGML’. Why not go the whole hog and use that?

I found this great little markup language descended from SGML, that is specifically designed for documentation and is great for the use case in this article of blog posts. (The markup language has support for links and is designed to work on screens of any size, all of this was baked in to the language from the start, not bolted on to a scientific paper markup language like LaTex.)

It’s called hypertext markup language or ‘HTML’.

Also, your document can be styled using a styling language called cascading style sheets or ‘CSS’. [But this is optional]. And you can change the styling of your document years later without changing the text.

For blogging, there is also a popular graphic user interface to ‘HTML’ and ‘CSS’ called Wordpress.

In 2019 it powers 1/3 of the Internet.

louiechristieon Mobile App Developers Are Suffering

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/installing.png