Top all-time · #10996
Alexander Ell
Personal blog · alexanderell.is · on HN as otrasprogrammingsystems
Alexander Ell writes Caffeinspiration, a personal blog at alexanderell.is about programming and systems. Since 2019, 6 different Hacker News readers have linked it 65 times, most often ““I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-11-16, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Linked for a post on browsing Wikipedia over WhatsApp, offered as a similar project to a text-based web browser. Another linked thread concerns a math trick for guessing a number from sums and products.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 2 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-05-08
- Tunneling Wikipedia through WhatsApp to (maybe?) get around WiFi restrictions2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-05-21
- I miss easily seeing how my coworkers use tools2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2022-02-27
What Hacker News says?
I gave this a bit of thought earlier this year ( https://alexanderell.is/posts/visualizing-code/ ) and, with the help of HN commenters, collected a small list of ways people are working to help with code visualization. I don't think most of them are production ready (some are just research papers), but you may find them interesting all the same. SoftVis3D ( https://softvis3d.com/ ): where a "‘code city’ view provide…
Comment linking /posts/visualizing-code/
on “Ask HN: Visualizing software designs, especially of large systems (if at all)?”Submitted My lizard brain is no match for infinite scroll as a story · 905 points
HN discussionDepending on the browser’s favicon parsing, you can do some odd things with it by adding a new <icon> element. I was looking at this the other day and was able to get a basic example of blinking it together (the “What about the favicon?” section from https://alexanderell.is/posts/attention-javascript/ ).
Comment linking /posts/attention-javascript/
on “Don't allow animated favicons (2001)”Submitted Don't touch my clipboard as a story · 718 points
HN discussionThey always eliminate the pairs of products/sums with only one possible pair (think a sum to possible pairs and a product to possible pairs list). When the person knowing the product says he doesn't know the answer, the sum person now checks the product list for all products with only 1 pair. These pairs can now be removed from the sum and product list. That actually culls the sum list and some entries that previous…
Comment linking /posts/numbers-game/
on “Think of a Number. How Do Math Magicians Know What It Is?”Submitted I only care about the helpful notifications, not the promotional ones as a story · 462 points
HN discussionThe main question is your main motivation and the tradeoffs with respect to time, energy, and money. I think it would be helpful if you could expand on your motivations a little more. For your personal knowledge: do you find that classes enable you you to learn better? Have you tried self-teaching things or taking MOOC classes on your own? Does the structure help? What do you want to know that you don't know now (un…
Comment linking /posts/mscs/
on “Ask HN: Does a formal education in CS matter?”Submitted iPhones and action discoverability as a story · 396 points
HN discussionI've been playing around with Morse code and the Web Audio API recently ( https://alexanderell.is/posts/writing-morse-code-games ), particularly in ways to make it more fun and interactive to play and practice. I've also been playing a lot of Wordle recently, and this is the natural result: Wordle with Morse code. It's a little rough around the edges (especially when Random Mode picks an obscure British English word…
Comment linking /posts/writing-morse-code-games
on “Show HN: Morse Codle – Wordle with Morse Code”Submitted Tunneling Wikipedia through WhatsApp to (maybe?) get around WiFi restrictions as a story · 369 points
HN discussionhttps://alexanderell.is I write on a simple static Hugo blog running on GitHub pages. I found that anything else makes tinkering too easy, which distracts me from the goal of writing. Writing often is hard enough, and I definitely don't need anything else getting in the way!
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: Who's Blogging (November 2019)”Submitted The Power of Shower Thoughts as a story · 351 points
HN discussionLike this? https://alexanderell.is/posts/wikipedia-over-whatsapp/ https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31463249 I'm sure I've seen what you're describing done before to make use of free WhatsApp in mobile plans in some countries, just can't find it, although I remember that one of the limitations found was rate limiting by WhatsApp, which is to be expected.
Comment linking /posts/wikipedia-over-whatsapp/
on “Show HN: TxtNet Browser – Browse the Web over SMS, No Wi-Fi/Mobile Data Needed”Submitted Completing a part-time Master's in computer science while working as a story · 197 points
HN discussionI actually just wrote a blog post the other week about this exact feeling: https://alexanderell.is/posts/me-and-my-work/ I think it’s very important to separate your work from your worth and to view review comments as reviews of your code, not of your ability to write code.
Comment linking /posts/me-and-my-work/
on “Ask HN: How do you recover after a bad PR review or implementation?”Submitted “I don't know the numbers”: a math puzzle as a story · 176 points
HN discussionSubmitted How much oranger do red orange bags make oranges look? as a story · 173 points
HN discussionSubmitted How do you visualize code? as a story · 160 points
HN discussionSubmitted Writing a toy WebSocket server from scratch as a story · 157 points
HN discussionSubmitted The tech interview prep industry as a story · 149 points
HN discussionSubmitted Getting Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable as a story · 127 points
HN discussionSubmitted The strange path of accepting how your brain works as a story · 127 points
HN discussionSubmitted How far behind a plane is its noise? as a story · 108 points
HN discussionSubmitted What happens if you point two CNAMEs at each other? Not much, really as a story · 58 points
HN discussionSubmitted Detecting pitch with the Web Audio API and autocorrelation as a story · 52 points
HN discussionSubmitted Little games to play with Morse Code in the browser as a story · 51 points
HN discussionSubmitted Writing a toy traceroute from scratch as a story · 50 points
HN discussionSubmitted Funny artifacts in a 3D house scan as a story · 33 points
HN discussionSubmitted I miss easily seeing how my coworkers use tools as a story · 8 points
HN discussionSubmitted Show HN: Morse Codle – Wordle with Morse Code as a story · 6 points
HN discussion
