Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

👌🏽:

“Generating C Code That People Actually Want To Use” [2019], Jonathan Protzenko (jonathan.protzenko.fr/2019/01/04/b...).

On HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1930...

On Lobsters: lobste.rs/s/4vfysy/gen...

#C #Compilers #Transpilers #Readability #Programming #PLDI #CodeGeneration #Verification

Generating C code that people actually want to use

Project Everest is a large, collaborative research effort that aims to verify and deploy a new, secure HTTPS stack. All of our code is verified using the F* programming language. Using KreMLin, a dedi...

jonathan.protzenko.fr

December 8, 2025 at 2:41 AM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

The Amazon Pay app only lets you use your mobile number for UPI IDs (e.g. 9845098450@yapl). 😰

The Google Pay app only lets you use your Gmail username for UPI IDs (e.g. ashokkumar@oksbi). 😥

The BHIM app thankfully lets you customize your primary UPI ID. 😮‍💨

#India #UPI

December 7, 2025 at 5:34 AM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

👌🏽👇🏽:

“Why I Ignore The Spotlight As A Staff Engineer”, Lalit Maganti (lalitm.com/software-eng...).

On HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4614...

On Lobsters: lobste.rs/s/xdjgbd/why...

On Reddit: old.reddit.com/r/programmin...

#StaffEngineer #Google #Career #Infrastructure

Why I Ignore The Spotlight as a Staff Engineer

Discussed on Hacker News, lobste.rs and r/programming. Lately I’ve been reading Sean Goedecke’s essays on being a Staff+ engineer. His work (particularly Software engineering under the spotlight and I...

lalitm.com

December 6, 2025 at 2:31 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

A lot of people feel this way 😩:

“Everyone In Seattle Hates AI”, Jonathan Ready (jonready.com/blog/posts/e...).

On HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4613...

#Microsoft #Seattle #Layoffs #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Hype #Productivity #Morale

Everyone in Seattle Hates AI — Jonathon Ready

A post about everyone in Seattle hating AI.

jonready.com

December 6, 2025 at 1:19 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

The utter greed & cynicism that made IndiGo mess up the lives of hundreds of thousands of passengers across the country this week in order to force the DGCA to roll back an inconvenient rule is 🤯.

Evil. 😡

#IndiGo #India #Capitalism #Monopoly #WTF #Aviation

December 6, 2025 at 2:34 AM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

In which the Indian government continues its authoritarian war on its own citizens 😡:

“India Orders Smartphone Makers To Preload State-Owned Cyber Safety App”, Reuters (www.reuters.com/sustainabili...).

On HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4610...

#WTF #India #Authoritarianism #SancharSaathi

India orders smartphone makers to preload state-owned cyber safety app

India's telecoms ministry has privately asked smartphone makers to preload all new devices with a state-owned cyber security app that cannot be deleted, a government order showed, a move likely to ant...

www.reuters.com

December 3, 2025 at 2:41 AM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

“Rust’s Ugly Syntax” [2023], Aleksey Kladov (matklad.github.io/2023/01/26/r...).

On HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3454... & news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4139...

On Lobsters: lobste.rs/s/tn9gho/rus...

On Reddit: old.reddit.com/r/rust/comme... & old.reddit.com/r/programmin...

#Rust #Programming

Rust's Ugly Syntax

People complain about Rust syntax. I think that most of the time when people think they have an issue with Rust's syntax, they actually object to Rust's semantics. In this slightly whimsical post, I'l...

matklad.github.io

November 30, 2025 at 1:36 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

“Datacenters In Space Are A Terrible, Horrible, No Good Idea.”, ‘Taranis’ (taranis.ie/datacenters-...).

Via HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4608...

On Lobsters: lobste.rs/s/a34m1x/dat...

#AI #Hype #Space #DataCenters #Fantasy

Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea.

There is a rush for AI companies to team up with space launch/satellite companies to build datacenters in space. TL;DR: It's not going to work.

taranis.ie

November 30, 2025 at 12:45 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

A bit too cynical, but there’s a grain of truth here:

“How Good Engineers Write Bad Code At Big Companies”, Sean Goedecke (www.seangoedecke.com/bad-code-at-...).

On HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4608...

On Lobsters: lobste.rs/s/jxppk7/how...

#Programming #Quality #SoftwareEngineering #BigTech

How good engineers write bad code at big companies

--

www.seangoedecke.com

November 30, 2025 at 12:06 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

No, or transparent, bathroom doors are my biggest irritants in hotels 😡. WTF?

👇🏽 lists hotels with bathroom doors 👏🏽:

“Bring Back Doors”, Sadie (bringbackdoors.com).

Via HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4606...

#Hotels #Bathrooms #Doors #Dignity

Bring Back Doors

Bring Bathroom Doors Back to Hotels

bringbackdoors.com

November 29, 2025 at 1:56 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

“Gemini CLI Tips & Tricks”, Addy Osmani (github.com/addyosmani/g...).

Via HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4606...

#Gemini #Google #GeminiCLI #CodingAgents #Tips #AI #LLMs #AIAssistedCoding #MCP #Agents

GitHub - addyosmani/gemini-cli-tips: Gemini CLI Tips and Tricks

Gemini CLI Tips and Tricks. Contribute to addyosmani/gemini-cli-tips development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

November 29, 2025 at 1:05 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

“Opinion Piece: On Zig (And The Design Choices Within)”, ‘Blueberry Wren’ (blueberrywren.dev/blog/on-zig/).

Via HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4587...

On Lobsters: lobste.rs/s/uclead/opi...

#Zig #Programming #PLDI #Critique #Rants

Opinion piece: On Zig (and the design choices within)

blueberrywren.dev

November 23, 2025 at 1:18 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

The article is too verbose & the discussions flame out, but some good references in both:

“Memory Safety For Skeptics”, ACM Queue (queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?i...).

Via HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4587...

On Lobsters: lobste.rs/s/mytmnl/mem...

#PLDI #Programming #MemorySafety #Security

Memory Safety for Skeptics - ACM Queue

queue.acm.org

November 23, 2025 at 12:49 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

In which the “If Books Could Kill” podcast rips apart the #book “Sapiens” by Yuval Noah Harari:

overcast.fm/+AA9URJ81CEw

www.buzzsprout.com/2040953/epis...

😅

#Sapiens #Podcast #BookReview #IfBooksCouldKill #Review

Sapiens — If Books Could Kill

How do you tell the entire history of humanity in a single book? Whatever you do, do not open a browser window. Thanks to Dorsa Amir, Duncan Stibbard Hawkes and David Perry for help researching and fa...

overcast.fm

November 21, 2025 at 12:54 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

Emma Thompson 👇🏽 is all of us who are pissed off by the constant nags to use #AI while we are busy writing or coding – just let us be 😠:

youtube.com/shorts/H_Ff3...

#UX #DarkUX #Productivity #Writing #Interruptions #Nagging

The advent of AI and the plight of the Writer- explained by #emmathompson @ColbertLateShow #write

YouTube video by The Himalayan Writing Retreat

youtube.com

November 16, 2025 at 4:21 AM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

How can you say no to “an agentic OS, connecting devices, cloud, and AI”? 🙄

“How To Declutter, Quiet Down, And Take The AI Out Of Windows 11 25H2”, Ars Technica (arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025...).

On HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4586...

#Windows #Windows11 #AI #Copilot #Bloat

How to declutter, quiet down, and take the AI out of Windows 11 25H2

A new major Windows 11 release means a new guide for cleaning up the OS.

arstechnica.com

November 15, 2025 at 1:43 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

Nice:

“Build System Trade-Offs”, Jynn Nelson (jyn.dev/build-system...).

Via HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4579...

On Lobsters: lobste.rs/s/uwyfpy/bui...

#Build #Programming #BuildSystems #Cargo #Make #Bazel #Ninja

build system tradeoffs

an overview of what builds for complicated projects have to think about

jyn.dev

November 15, 2025 at 12:49 PM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

Nice:

“Why Do We Need Dithering?”, Dan Hollick (typefully.com/DanHollick/w...).

Via HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4581...

#Graphics #ComputerGraphics #ImageProcessing #Dithering #Images #RetroComputing #OpticalIllusion #Vision

Why do we need dithering? | Dan Hollick

Before we all mute the word 'dithering' I thought I'd explain a little bit about why we needed to dither digital images in the first place. Although it's an aesthetic now, we used to need dithering ...

typefully.com

November 15, 2025 at 6:14 AM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

Hmm…limited intersection with my set, but still some good recommendations:

“What’s Your Favourite Podcast At The Moment?”, Lobsters (lobste.rs/s/kinpl3/wha...).

#Podcasts #Recommendations #Lobsters

What’s your favourite podcast at the moment?

59 comments

lobste.rs

November 13, 2025 at 2:34 AM

Ranjit Mathew

@rmathew4bs.bsky.social

Sure to stoke flame-wars that ignore the very point of the article 🍿:

“Why Engineers Can't Be Rational About Programming Languages”, Steve Francia (spf13.com/p/the-hidden...).

Via HN: news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4580...

On Lobsters: lobste.rs/s/jrwaey/why...

#ProgrammingLanguages