Top all-time · #20622
Ben Collier
Personal blog · bencollier.infoprogrammingdataculture
Ben Collier's personal blog at bencollier.info covers programming, data and culture. Since 2013, 3 different Hacker News readers have linked it 27 times, most often “Finding a Minimum Set of Languages to Learn All Programming Paradigms”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (1) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
The blog hosts a JavaScript rewrite of Sleuth, a shareware-era DOS game, made with the original author's permission. The commenter links it as a playable version alongside the original DOS game.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 1 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Finding a Minimum Set of Languages to Learn All Programming Paradigms2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-01-15
What Hacker News says?
This is the correct answer. I've copied BBC BASIC games directly to a Pi running RISC OS Pico: https://www.bencollier.info/projects/electronics/emulation/f... To reiterate, the Pi can be made directly backwards-compatible with 8-bit games from 40 years ago. It's wonderful.
Comment linking /projects/electronics/emulation/fun/games/retrocomputing/riscos/raspberrypi/2016/01/02/getting-yellow-river-kingdom-running-risc-os-pico.html
on “I've now played with a Raspberry Pi 400 for a week and here are my conclusions”Submitted Why I've Decided to Avoid US Genetic Testing as a story · 99 points
HN discussionWe loved Sleuth in our house. So much so that about ten years ago, I made a quick rewrite in JS with the permission of the original author. It's not completely identical by any means, but pretty similar, and still enjoyable to play. Sleuth JS: https://www.bencollier.info/sleuth/ For the fully authentic experience, there's a version (or several) of the original DOS game on archive.org, of course.
Comment linking /sleuth/
on “Remembering the best shareware-era DOS games that time forgot (2019)”Submitted Finding the Minimum Set of Languages to Learn All Programming Paradigms as a story · 8 points
HN discussionI put together a REST API for COBOL a while back: https://www.bencollier.info/cobol/programming/projects/fun/r... The blogpost describes how to get the web stuff done, then moves on to API routing. This post has reminded me that I need to write part two of the article which covers parameter handling and so on...
Comment linking /cobol/programming/projects/fun/retrocomputing/2019/03/26/cobol-60-give-rest-framework-birthday.html
on “Cobol Web Development”Submitted Physics and the Demiurge – The Creator is not Omnipotent as a story · 7 points
HN discussionThe Falkenberg blog just prompted me to write on the subject, because it implies that if a creator exists, they are not omnipotent. http://www.bencollier.info/content/physics-and-demiurge-crea...
Comment linking /content/physics-and-demiurge-creator-not-omnipotent
on “Is the Universe a Simulation?”Submitted Commander Riker, as a Service as a story · 4 points
HN discussionYes! It actually runs games from the BBC Welcome disk pretty well. https://www.bencollier.info/projects/electronics/emulation/f...
Comment linking /projects/electronics/emulation/fun/games/retrocomputing/riscos/raspberrypi/2016/01/02/getting-yellow-river-kingdom-running-risc-os-pico.html
on “Raspberry Pi Boot to BASIC”Submitted Cobol is 60. Let's give it a REST Framework for its birthday (Pt. 1) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionParacetamol can also warp the way you think, which I think is pretty interesting / scary: http://www.bencollier.info/content/suffering-existential-ang...
Comment linking /content/suffering-existential-angst-take-paracetamol
on “Tamiflu: Millions wasted on flu drug, claims major report”Submitted Holding Schools to Account Over Children's Data Security as a story · 3 points
HN discussionExcellent. I guess I ought to use this post to plug the Command Riker as a Service (CRaaS?) which I put together a while back, which operates in a similar vein. http://www.bencollier.info/fun/programming/python/2016/01/09... I suppose someone should put together a directory of these things at some point. Give it twenty years and we'll have a full universe of personality imprints (a la the McCoy Pauley) talking to ea…
Comment linking /fun/programming/python/2016/01/09/riker-service.html
on “Show HN: Kanye.rest – A Free REST API for Random Kanye West Quotes”Submitted Finding a Minimum Set of Languages to Learn All Programming Paradigms as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI'm doing the same thing at the moment! Good luck! I put some links up on my site here: http://www.bencollier.info/links
Comment linking /links
on “Ask HN: I'd like to learn how to build a computer”Submitted Finding the Minimum Set of Languages to Learn All Programming Paradigms as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Realistic burn-down estimations with Monte Carlo modelling as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Deep Learning, and why William Binney could be wrong on the “Snooper's Charter” as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Should UK sites go black for a day to protest censorship? as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Federated Data, and a Charter of Digital Rights as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Questionable Coding Concepts – Episode 1. Variable Variables as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted A Programmer's Hierarchy of Needs as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How Quantum Entanglement Could Revolutionise Neuroscience as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted My New Year's Resolution: A Random Book per Week as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Data Science Diary No.1: Cassandra as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted How can we become more like Iain Banks' Culture? as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The BBC should launch a social network as a story · 1 points
HN discussion