merely-unlikely (u/merely-unlikely)

merely-unlikely commented on Please just try HTMX pleasejusttryhtmx.com/... · Posted by u/iNic

alfonsodev · 5 hours ago

I overlooked Astro for a long time, I didn't really get it, and my journey back to it went something like this:

- 1 Getting burned out by Nextjs slowness in a complex production project that shouldn't be that complex or slow on the dev side, (this was 2022 approx)

- 2 Taking a break from React

- 3 Moving back to classic server side rendering with python and Go and dealing now with template engines. Hyped with HTMX and loving it, but my conclusion after so many years of react was that template partials don't feel right to me and templates engines are somewhat not maintained and evolved as used to be. I found my self not feeling naturally inclined to reach for the htmx way and just let the coding agent do it the way they wanted AND stating to notice again the burn out.

- 4 Looking with some envy to co-workers using shadcn how fast they are getting things done and how good they look.

- 5 Wondering would be a way to use JSX with HTMX server side, I miss components, I don't want partial templates.

And then I found Astro, ahhh now I get it, Astro prioritizes generation over run time, and that unlocks a lot of gradual complexity where you can choose how to mix things ( islands ) you get something way more interesting than a template engine, and it uses JSX so you can benefit from React ecosystem.

This where I am now, but yet I have to complete a side project with it to know if I fully get it and love it.

So far seems to me is the answer I was looking for.

merely-unlikely · 2 hours ago

> 5 Wondering would be a way to use JSX with HTMX server side, I miss components, I don't want partial templates.

I'm playing with JSX, Hono, and Bun right now to do just that. It's early but will see how it goes.

merely-unlikely commented on The highest quality codebase gricha.dev/blog/the-highe... · Posted by u/Gricha

tayo42 · 7 days ago

How do you end up with 3 to 4 languages in one project?

merely-unlikely · 7 days ago

Recently I've been experimenting with using multiple languages in some projects where certain components have a far better ecosystem in one language but the majority of the project is easier to write in a different one.

For example, I often find Python has very mature and comprehensive packages for a specific need I have, but it is a poor language for the larger project (I also just hate writing Python). So I'll often put the component behind a http server and communicate that way. Or in other cases I've used Rust for working with WASAPI and win32 which has some good crates for it, but the ecosystem is a lot less mature elsewhere.

I used to prefer reinventing the wheel in the primary project language, but I wasted so much time doing that. The tradeoff is the project structure gets a lot more complicated, but it's also a lot faster to iterate.

Plus your usual html/css/js on the frontend and something else on the backend, plus SQL.

merely-unlikely commented on Over fifty new hallucinations in ICLR 2026 submissions gptzero.me/news/iclr-2026... · Posted by u/puttycat

xvilka · 11 days ago

Code correctness should be checked automatically with the CI and testsuite. New tests should be added. This is exactly what makes sure these stupid errors don't bother the reviewer. Same for the code formatting and documentation.

merely-unlikely · 11 days ago

This discussion makes me think peer reviews need more automated tooling somewhat analogous to what software engineers have long relied on. For example, a tool could use an LLM to check that the citation actually substantiates the claim the paper says it does, or else flags the claim for review.

merely-unlikely commented on Show HN: Glasses to detect smart-glasses that have cameras github.com/NullPxl/banray... · Posted by u/nullpxl

littlestymaar · 21 days ago

The idea of being constantly monitored by a megacorp tracking all my movements wih their swarm of cameras to feed us personalized ads is utterly dystopian indeed.

But I think the only valid way yo prevent this will be legislation though, it's not a fight individuals can win on their own.

merely-unlikely · 20 days ago

Corporations don't need cameras to track people, they have had the ability to track bluetooth emissions for well over a decade. Unless you turn off a lot of connectivity settings, smartphones are pretty much open tracking devices.

[1]https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/14/opinion/bluet...

merely-unlikely commented on Iran begins cloud seeding operations as drought bites arabnews.com/node/2622812... · Posted by u/mhb

merely-unlikely · a month ago

“If only you had reduced your emissions one of the top 10 largest oil producing countries in the world would not have this problem.”

ETA: China imports 40% of Iranian oil production followed by Iraq, UAE, and Turkey.

merely-unlikely commented on Goiaba: An experimental Go compiler, written in Rust github.com/raphamorim/goi... · Posted by u/SchwKatze

littlestymaar · 2 months ago

> But because of the later stage when it becomes 600ms vs 60s.

What later stage though, as I said I worked with big code bases on old hardware without issues.

I'm simply not convinced that there exist a situation where incremental rebuild of the crate you're working on is going to take 60s, at all, especially if you're using hardware from this decade.

merely-unlikely · 2 months ago

I must be doing something wrong because incremental builds regularly take 30-60 seconds for me. Much more if I add a dependency. And I try to keep my crates small.

merely-unlikely commented on Goiaba: An experimental Go compiler, written in Rust github.com/raphamorim/goi... · Posted by u/SchwKatze

littlestymaar · 2 months ago

It really puzzles me that people complain about compilation speed in Rust these days: I've worked on pretty big Rust code bases with lots of dependencies also, and cargo check has always been pretty much instant for me, including when I'm traveling and I use my mid-range laptop from 2012! (my main desktop is from 2018, I bought it because my previous desktop, from 2009 struggled to compile servo, mostly due to having too little RAM).

Debug build take a bit longer (a few seconds) on the desktop, while still staying below a minute on the laptop (remember, I'm talking about a 12 years old Clevo laptop, not a recent Macbook). It's definitely not worse than Typescript compilation or even Javascript bundling, yet we pretty much never hear complains about how typescript has too big compile times.

Yes, it could be faster with a different compiler architecture, especially on clean release builds and that would be nice, but it's a very minor annoyance (I don't do a full release build unless I've updated my compiler version, which only happens a few times a year).

The contrast between the discourse and my day-to-day experience on near obsolete hardware is very striking.

(Compilation artifact eating up hundreds of GB of my hard drive are a much, much bigger nuisance in practice, yet nobody seem to talk about that here on HN).

merely-unlikely · 2 months ago

It's still my number one complaint about Rust, even though it has definitely gotten better over time. Partly my fault - I'm stuck on a slightly underpowered Windows machine at work. My Macs at home compile significantly faster. But as soon as I add certain crates like serde, tokio, windows, and some others, the compile times grow quickly. It also means that tasks Rust isn't necessarily designed for but can be used for (like web backends) become frustrating enough to dissuade me from using it as a do-it-all language despite certain aspects of the language being really nice. Even a 30-45 second tweak-test loop becomes annoying after a while. Again more of a personal problem than anything, but the point is I personally am constantly frustrated with the compile times.

merely-unlikely commented on Why are so many pedestrians killed by cars in the US? construction-physics.com/... · Posted by u/thelastgallon

ageitgey · 2 months ago

This is exactly why this turn is illegal in nearly every country in the world except the US and Canada. [1]

If you are in the UK, this turn is illegal always and everywhere, so it basically never happens.

I grew up in the US with right turn on red, so I was used to it and accepted it as normal. But after living the UK for 6 years, I'm now physically shocked when visiting the US at how dangerous it is to walk around even very dense urban US areas like Chicago's north loop. Cars are constantly trying to run you over by turning across active crosswalks. It's totally absurd to experience once you've lived somewhere else where that would result in you immediately losing your license. US culture in general has no respect for pedestrians (although of course some individuals do).

This isn't some utopian dream of ultimate walkability achieved through pro-pedestrian urban redesign. This is the most basic laws that govern cities actively making it dangerous to walk around because it saved a bit of gas during the 1970s oil crisis.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turn_on_red

merely-unlikely · 2 months ago

NYC very sensibly does not allow right turns on red. Our streets are chaotic enough as is.