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Anders Sundman

Personal blog · 4zm.orgprogramming

Anders Sundman writes The Ivory Tower, a personal blog at 4zm.org about programming. Since 2017, 6 different Hacker News readers have linked it 6 times. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-05-19, and you can follow it by feed.

Visit the blog
6mentions?
6HN people?
2017–2025first – last linked?
Links on Hacker News per year · peak 3 in 2024

Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?

Why HN links it

HN readers link this site for the Harm-Less Permissive License (HPL), a software license that prohibits causing harm to humans and animals. Commenters cite it as an option for excluding military use.

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.

The Ivory Tower is a blog about software engineering and development philosophy by Anders Sundman.

Most-linked posts?

  1. /files/2010/HPL/index.html
    2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-07-27

What Hacker News says?

  1. heavyset_go · 2020-10-10
    There are software licenses like the Hippocratic License[1], Mind Products' license[2] or the Harm-Less Permissive License[3]. [1] https://firstdonoharm.dev/ [2] https://www.mindprod.com/contact/nonmil.html [3] https://4zm.org/files/2010/HPL/index.html

    Comment linking /files/2010/HPL/index.html

    on ““I just woke up one morning and it struck me that I was a murderer. so I quit.””
  2. signa11 · 2024-12-26

    Submitted A Simple ELF as a story · 292 points

    HN discussion
  3. 1001101 · 2017-07-27
    PETA helped develop the Harm-Less Permissive License (HPL) which I have used in the past. You may have to dig for it. It explicitly prohibits causing harm to humans and animals, which may serve your purposes. You may also want to think about prohibiting surveillance as well. Good luck! Edit: found it!: https://4zm.org/files/2010/HPL/index.html

    Comment linking /files/2010/HPL/index.html

    on “Ask HN: Software licensing excluding military use?”
  4. jannesan · 2025-04-12

    Submitted The Bitter Prediction as a story · 215 points

    HN discussion
  5. belter · 2024-12-30

    Submitted State of the Art Python in 2024 as a story · 9 points

    HN discussion
  6. thunderbong · 2024-12-30

    Submitted Git – Beyond the Basics as a story · 4 points

    HN discussion

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