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vrepsys

313 karma · joined May 7, 2012

X: @vrepsys

Building prose.ui.com (UI for tech docs) and dhub.dev (dev tooling).

Strong in frontend systems, backend APIs, and product execution.

Available for contract work.

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vrepsys··on Building API Docs
I'm considering of making the OpenAPI->API Reference converter an Open Source project, and then charging only if you need advanced features, like wysiwyg/inline editing, change approvals, automatic testing of the examples in the docs etc.

It's just that I'm not sure I can do it until I have these advanced features. If I can't make money out of this I have to return to my day job, and stop developing portal.dev.

vrepsys··on Building API Docs
Appreciate the feedback.

Would it work for you if you could export this as a static website that you could run on your own servers? (you could do that in a Github action), or, alternatively, use some sort of React component that renders the API docs in your app?

vrepsys··on Building API Docs
Shameless plug: here's my indie-project that converts an OpenAPI/Swagger spec into something that aims to look like Stripe's API Reference: https://portal.dev

Here are a couple of example docs: https://space-api.portaldocs.dev (and the OpenAPI behind it: https://github.com/portaldev/nasa-apod-api-docs/blob/main/op...)

https://recur-api-beta.portaldocs.dev

At my previous workplace we've built the whole docs portal (including the API reference) as a custom static website with Contentful (a json CMS) underneath. It was a real pain in the ass to edit and maintain, that's how I got the idea.

vrepsys··on Show HN: API Docs for NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day API
Hey HN,

I'm building a tool to render Stripe-like API docs from OpenAPI/Swagger files.

I thought that the best way to get people to discover my tool and be useful at the same time is to build docs for various open APIs. (Let me know if you need API docs for your open, or even better, an open source API, and I'll make it happen!).

How it works:

- The OpenAPI/Swagger is stored on S3 and rendered on the server-side using NextJs (on Vercel).

- I use NextJs's incremental static rendering (ISR) to render the doc in the background.

- NextJs's middleware (a new thing in NextJs 12) routes the request to an appropriate route based on the subdomain.

- I'm looking to make the docs generator an open source in the future, when I build out the editing feature which will be paid.

Any feedback/thoughts highly appreciated!

vrepsys··on Lithuania urges people to throw away Chinese phones
> It claimed that one Xiaomi phone had built-in censorship tools while another Huawei model had security flaws. > Xiaomi’s flagship Mi 10T [...] could detect and censor terms including “Free Tibet”, "Long live Taiwan independence" or "democracy movement", the report said.

This phone thing, as well as Lithuania allowing to the word Taiwan in "Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania" were the reasons for economic pressure and unofficial sanctions from China [1].

Meanwhile Taiwan is making a big effort to strengthen economic relations with Lithuania, including investments in the semiconductor industry in Lithuania [2].

[1] https://www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english/19/1569623/china-threa...

[2] https://www.politico.eu/article/lithuania-taiwan-china-micro...

vrepsys··on Germany is closing half of its reactors before the end of the year
It has to do with gas, because 12% of electricity in Germany is produced by burning natural gas. That's up by 4pp from 2018. That's according to wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_Germany
vrepsys··on Next.js 12
How about on demand page revalidation* ? I can't find if it's part of Next 12.

* https://github.com/vercel/next.js/discussions/11552#discussi...

vrepsys··on The Zen of GitHub: api.github.com/zen
Found this endpoint while exploring GitHub's openapi specs. It returns a random phrase like 'Keep the flow going'. It rotates the phrase every 5 seconds or so.
vrepsys··on EU vaccine rollout severely lags behind
The UK has partially funded AZ and added a clause into the contract that will prioritise UK for future vaccine exports from the UK. And that's exactly what's happening, all AZ produced in UK stays in UK)

Whereas a similar contract between Germany and Biontech (Germany paid biontech $445 million to help develop the vaccine) didn't include a clause defining export priorities. Pfizer-Biontech is exported all over the world.

Canada, for example, gets their Pfizer-Biontech from the EU, instead of Michigan where they're also produced.

vrepsys··on EU vaccine rollout severely lags behind
The EU has failed to secure contracts ensuring the EU produced vaccine stays in the EU[1].

So far the EU has exported 41.6 million doses of the vaccine (the largest importer being the UK)[2]. Both the US and the UK have exported 0 vaccines.

[1] https://twitter.com/davekeating/status/1372897635577761803

[2] https://twitter.com/AlexTaylorNews/status/137362147260701081...

vrepsys··on We’re building a high performance electric trike from scratch
I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw this in a mad max convoy. But in a good sense. Love the minimalist industrial design.

I’m sure it would raise some eyebrows if I rode this on a street where I live. I’m not sure however I’d ever want this as my main vehicle (unless I’m in a postapocalyptic mad max scenario where this would be a must).

vrepsys··on Show HN: DPAGE – build and publish webpages on the decentralized internet
You should be able to just copy-paste a link to a picture and it should appear below the link. Just like in the desktop version.

Send us an email if you still can't get it working.

vrepsys··on Show HN: DPAGE – build and publish webpages on the decentralized internet
DPAGE is not able to remove user data (even if it's illegal), because we don't store it. However, storage hub providers will have the ability remove it.

What dpage can do is deny the access to illegal content by blocking illegal dpage.io urls. But then, a user can pick to use another app that serves the pages created on dpage.

vrepsys··on Show HN: DPAGE – build and publish webpages on the decentralized internet
Correct. However, the idea is that you can run your own storage hub on a server of your choice, or, in the future, choose one or more storage providers that you trust and keep your data there (storage providers can't read your encrypted data)

This way you'll be able to pick both: 1) your storage provider 2) the app that works on top of your data

vrepsys··on Show HN: DPAGE – build and publish webpages on the decentralized internet
Hi, one of the DPAGE creators here. We’re a team of two guys who used to work at Wix (website builder). We felt that there are not many good options if you want to quickly set up a minimalistic webpage or publish some content online. So we built dpage. With dpage you can edit your pages in a dropbox paper-inspired editor and give them human readable urls. We want it to be good for personal homepages, keeping and sharing your notes, snippets and embedded content (e.g. youtube videos, twitter posts, or github gists).

In terms of tech, it’s built on top of Blockstack’s decentralized infrastructure. You log into DPAGE using a decentralized id, and your data is stored on Blockstack's decentralized storage hub (Gaia). At any point you can run your own storage hub and store your data on your own server.

DPAGE doesn’t store user data, it connects to user’s storage hub from the browser when user logs into the app. Gaia storage hubs are usually publicly accessible, but all private information is end-to-end encrypted with the private keys associated with the user’s Blockstack id.

As a result, there’s no vendor lock-in with DPAGE, users can bring their data with them to other apps, they have complete control over their data. For example, if Facebook was built this way, a user who doesn’t like FB could seamlessly start using another app and keep all their contacts and messages.

We realize that it might be harder to monetize a product, when you can’t lock-in users into your app. You basically voluntarily open yourself up to the competition. On the other hand, the total value that the product can create for the world is much greater if the data is controlled by the users and they can permission other apps to use it. Imagine all the innovation that could happen if all the data on Facebook was open to developers (with the permission of users who own the data).

We’d love to hear your thoughts or feedback about the idea or the app.

vrepsys··on Show HN: Create your own crapcoin in 3 minutes
We meant this website to be funny and hopefully educational.

But perhaps there could be a paid version with more features, like a small website for your cryptocurrency with a logo etc.

vrepsys··on Show HN: Create your own crapcoin in 3 minutes
Actually, if you scroll down there's an explanation of what will happen when you click create. Perhaps it would've been better to add a tooltip on create.

But generally I agree, it's hard to design UIs in crypto, having to install and use a plugin like MetaMask doesn't add to the trustworthiness of the site.

vrepsys··on Show HN: Create your own crapcoin in 3 minutes
:) thanks, fixed.
vrepsys··on Smart height adjustable table senses distance to your hand and adjusts to it.
Really cool, that's a workstation of the future there (plus design niceties like neon lighting). Good luck!
vrepsys··on Show HN: gridvisual – search and visualize EU data (D3.js)
All very good suggestions, they will help prioritize what to do next!

Yes, charts only use d3. By now the charting code has become a small d3-based js charting library.

Before I continue working on this I'm trying to understand who the potential users are and how they would use software like this. Thx for your comment.

vrepsys··on Variance
truly nice looking charts. Wondering, if the colors and other styles built-in or the user has to define them?

Also, seems only IE10+ version is supported, wondering what prevents the library from working on IE9, since (I think) svg is supported on v9 as well.

vrepsys··on Russia approves use of military in Ukraine
before watching this please read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RT_(TV_network)

"..funded by the federal budget of Russia..", "Since its foundation in 2005, RT has been widely accused as being a mouthpiece of the Kremlin."

vrepsys··on What's relevant in the Ruby Universe?
Coming from Java the biggest surprise to me was a lack of good API documentation for Rails and Ruby gems.

Javadoc used to drive my productivity. It is quite frustrating sometimes with Rails that more often than not I can't find good api docs.

Rails and various Ruby gems have very good tutorials, but sometimes no api docs at all.. Tutorials are great for getting started, but you're in trouble when when you want to do something slightly unusual.

Slowly I'm realising that to be really good with Rails you need to look into the source code of libs you're using to get a better grasp.

As an example, I wanted to find out if it was possible to do something with ActiveRecord.to_json that I haven't seen in any tutorials. Spent 10 minutes searching for docs and then looking at the code.. which in Java would have been done in 20s.

Having said that, I really like Rails and enjoy a lot of productivity gains. I just wish it had better api docs.

vrepsys··on "Fuck the EU" – Phone call intercept (Google translate)
Not a long time ago, similar youtube video with Russian subtitles appeared with a phone conversation of a Lithuanian (where I'm from) ambassador in Azerbaijan having a conversation with another official. This was as well with a goal to discredit Eastern Partnership (a cooperation agreement between the EU and several post soviet states).

One of the conclusions: diplomatic lines in many countries close to Russia are tapped by Russians. Ironic that Snowden is taking refuge in a country which has even less regard for privacy than the US. Not saying he had a choice..

On another note, not completely clear from the audio why the US diplomat is saying 'fuck the EU'. Wouldn't be surprised that EU is not being effective in making hard decisions in helping solve the Ukraine crisis.. causing disappointment among US diplomats. EU should be taking the lead in this IMO, but it's possible it's hugely ineffective due to lack of power (EU is not a state, it has to get a mandate to do things from member countries).

It's just a speculation, however.

vrepsys··on Data Visualization with JavaScript
AFAIK D3.js does not have 'a range' of chart types. It's just that you can use D3 to draw anything you like including charts, maps etc. It does not have any chart types built-in.
vrepsys··on Mutation in key gene allows Tibetans to thrive at high altitude
Wondering if there could be a genetic test to determine where one should live to achieve optimal health.
vrepsys··on Show HN: Analysing Hacker News Metadata with R
Thanks. I scraped the data from https://www.hnsearch.com/. They have a very nice REST API.
vrepsys··on Bolivia to file UN complaint over airspace blockade
This is getting really weird: this morning French and Spanish officials have denied refusing to let that plane in.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/03/edward-snowden-a...

vrepsys··on Bolivian Leader's Plane Rerouted on Snowden Fear
According to The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/03/edward-snowden-a...): 1.05am BST Associated Press has published extracts from a statement issued by the Bolivian defence minister, Ruben Saavedra, who was also on the redirected plane.

It says the plane was allowed to land in Spain for refueling before flying on to Austria.

It describes the rerouting as a "hostile act" by the US goverment: This is a hostile act by the United States State Department which has used various European governments"

vrepsys··on Silver makes antibiotics thousands of times more effective
If all the articles saying we're close to making something 1000x more effective, faster, better etc. were true I would probably be writing this comment while driving a solar powered flying car to my home on a moon base.

Really wish it was true.

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