Top all-time · #11055
Adam Bosworth
Personal blog · adambosworth.netdatapoliticsprogramming
Adam Bosworth's personal blog at adambosworth.net covers data, politics and programming. Since 2009, 7 different Hacker News readers have linked it 11 times, most often “Adam Bosworth's classic talk on the Web as the "simple and sloppy"”. The last post was in 2013, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Adam Bosworth's essays on web standards, XML and HTML, including his 2004 ISCOC talk on why HTML succeeded through its limitations. Commenters cite them in discussions of CSS, XML vs JSON and Markdown.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 4 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Thoughts on health, technology, and sometimes politics
Most-linked posts?
- /2004/11/18/iscoc04-talk/2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2023-04-06
- Adam Bosworth's classic talk on the Web as the "simple and sloppy"2 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2009-01-23
What Hacker News says?
I strongly agree. CSS is rife with extrinsic complexity—complexity greater than the problem domain required. As often happens with such designs, its pieces don't line up and many simple questions have complicated (or no) answers. It's by far the weakest element of the web stack. I often find myself just writing Javascript to adjust layout instead of bothering to learn the CSS for it. Edit: CSS also seems to me the l…
Comment linking /2004/11/18/iscoc04-talk/
on “Web standards killed the HTML star”Submitted Talking to DC (about healthcare data standards) as a story · 14 points
HN discussionThe Complexity of XML reminds me of something from Adam Bosworth's ISCOC04 Talk [0]. To me, the big takeaway is that HTML succeeded because of it's limitations, not despite of them. JSON seems very simple compared to XML. XML seems to be very powerful, but also very complex - it's like, if all you need to do is pick your kids up from Soccer Practice, you don't need the powerfullness (complexity) of the Space Shuttle…
Comment linking /2004/11/18/iscoc04-talk/
on “JSON vs. XML with Douglas Crockford”Submitted Adam Bosworth's classic talk on the Web as the "simple and sloppy" as a story · 13 points
HN discussionIt is an ironic truth that those who seek to create systems which most assume the perfectibility of humans end up building the systems which are most soul destroying and most rigid, systems that rot from within until like great creaking rotten oak trees they collapse on top of themselves leaving a sour smell and decay. We saw it happen in 1989 with the astonishing fall of the USSR. Conversely, those systems which be…
Comment linking /2004/11/18/iscoc04-talk/
on “XML Is a Cheap DSL”Submitted Learning from data as a story · 4 points
HN discussionThis reminds me of Adam Bosworth's talk on HTML ( https://adambosworth.net/2004/11/18/iscoc04-talk/ ): It is an ironic truth that those who seek to create systems which most assume the perfectibility of humans end up building the systems which are most soul destroying and most rigid, systems that rot from within until like great creaking rotten oak trees they collapse on top of themselves leaving a sour smell and de…
Comment linking /2004/11/18/iscoc04-talk/
on “How Markdown Took over the World”Submitted ISCOC04 Talk as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted To fix health care, release our data as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Data Liquidity or how we can use ARRA’s $19 Billion wisely as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The tide is changing as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
