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blog.izs.me
Personal blog · blog.izs.me · on HN as IsaacSchlueterprogrammingculture
blog.izs.me is a personal blog at blog.izs.me about programming and culture. Since 2009, 88 different Hacker News readers have linked it 118 times, most often “An Open Letter to JavaScript Leaders Regarding Semicolons”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-08-27, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 5 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Isaac Schlueter's blog for its long-running argument on JavaScript semicolons and automatic semicolon insertion, plus his writing on async API design and Node/npm history.
- Recommended for · 5 comments
- Called a pretty good rundown of the rules, a really good piece, a great post, and a rather famous post.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Writing and Stuff from Isaac Z. Schlueter
Most-linked posts?
- An Open Letter to JavaScript Leaders Regarding Semicolons18 people · 22 mentions · first linked 2010-12-20
- Designing APIs for Asynchrony5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2013-08-24
- JavaScript is Not Web Assembly4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2011-09-14
- Brief FAQ about IO.js4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2014-12-08
- Unleashing Zalgo4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2023-11-23
- Things You Probably Didn’t Realize npm Could Do4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2010-11-27
- Git is an editor, and rebase is the backspace key3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-12-10
- A member of our community is missing, help find him3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-01-13
- On npm and Homebrew2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-02-14
- Intent out, Reality In2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-08-14
What Hacker News says?
If we're lucky this will turn into the 'unstable branch' with new features and things which is periodically folded back into the 'stable' node.js platform. ...but if node wont play ball, it'll become 'the new node', yes. (there's a lot of backstory to this, which you can read about here: http://blog.izs.me/post/104685388058/io-js )
Comment linking /post/104685388058/io-js
on “Io.js 1.0.0”Submitted A member of our community is missing, help find him as a story · 594 points
HN discussionThis "unleashes Zalgo" and is considered a major anti-pattern when designing async APIs: http://blog.izs.me/post/59142742143/designing-apis-for-async...
Comment linking /post/59142742143/designing-apis-for-asynchrony
on “Node v8.0.0 Released”Submitted When we got to the scanner, I opted out. Then they opted out. as a story · 422 points
HN discussionThis reminded me of another missing person posted here. Does anyone know what happened to Luke Arduini? I have no connection, but for some reason this stuck with me. Here's some background: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7048249 http://blog.izs.me/post/72990767417/a-member-of-our-communit...
Comment linking /post/72990767417/a-member-of-our-community-is-missing-help-find-him
on “SF Engineer Dan Ha Has Been Missing Since 10/31”Submitted JavaScript is Not Web Assembly as a story · 221 points
HN discussionThat's not an accurate history; npm started around 2010 and didn't become a company until 2014. Perhaps it was all part of a master plan to build the perfect trojan unicorn, but I invite you to look at some of the 2010-era code and blog posts to judge for yourself: https://github.com/npm/cli/tree/e790c85a https://blog.izs.me/2010/11/10-cool-things-you-probably-didn... You can read and/or listen to issacs talk about…
Comment linking /2010/11/10-cool-things-you-probably-didnt-realize-npm/
on “Node.js packages don't deserve trust”Submitted JavaScript is Not Web Assembly as a story · 178 points
HN discussionIf you are following Crockford (JavaScript, the Good Parts), it is encouraged. However, some, like the current node.js maintainer think otherwise; see http://blog.izs.me/post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascr... Personally, I still follow Crockford's advice though.
Comment linking /post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascript-leaders-regarding
on “Why Python is Important for You”Submitted Git is an editor, and rebase is the backspace key as a story · 155 points
HN discussionAfter reading the linked [Isaacs]( http://blog.izs.me/post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascr... ) post it made me realise a bit more about the language. I don't think I'd agree its easy to screw up. Its as easy as accidentally using global variables.
Comment linking /post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascript-leaders-regarding
on “Replace CoffeeScript with ES6”Submitted An Open Letter to JavaScript Leaders Regarding Semicolons as a story · 84 points
HN discussionEverything you need to know: http://blog.izs.me/post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascr...
Comment linking /post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascript-leaders-regarding
on “Node.js Guide”Submitted Evolution of a Prototypal Language User as a story · 64 points
HN discussion>Pity that omitting them in JS potentially leaves you open to some nasty issues. There is only a single instance I think of that is of legitimate concern - which is #4 listed on this blog [0]. The rest, to me, seem like arbitrarily shitty formatting or scenarios that never arise in an attempt to show why semicolons are needed. i ++ j Who would write that? Why would anyone write that? That being said - "remove all se…
Comment linking /post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascript-leaders-regarding
on “Goodbye CoffeeScript, Hello TypeScript”Submitted Things You Probably Didn’t Realize npm Could Do as a story · 54 points
HN discussionHomebrew doesn't handle software that updates itself. It's an opinionated piece of software. UPDATE: More on this here http://blog.izs.me/post/3295261330/on-npm-and-homebrew
Comment linking /post/3295261330/on-npm-and-homebrew
on “Node.js v0.8.0 [stable] is out”Submitted Designing APIs for Asynchrony as a story · 24 points
HN discussionhttp://blog.izs.me/post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascr... That is a pretty good rundown of the rules. The only problem with not having semicolons is cases like this, where someone is using a bad tool to minify your code. None of the tools that currently do the best job will break on that code.
Comment linking /post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascript-leaders-regarding
on “Crockford on Bootstrap's semicolon omission: “insanely stupid code””Submitted Regarding "Is Node Better?" as a story · 20 points
HN discussionhttp://blog.izs.me/post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascr...
Comment linking /post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascript-leaders-regarding
on “Crockford on Bootstrap's semicolon omission: “insanely stupid code””Submitted Brief FAQ about IO.js as a story · 12 points
HN discussionThe examples he gives are exactly the situations where you should use semi-colons, as understood by those who skip them. Take a look at http://blog.izs.me/post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascr...
Comment linking /post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascript-leaders-regarding
on “Crockford on Bootstrap's semicolon omission: “insanely stupid code””Submitted On Sexism in Tech as a story · 10 points
HN discussionOnly evil people put their return value on a second line... Regardless: http://blog.izs.me/post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascr... Although to be fair: http://benalman.com/news/2013/01/advice-javascript-semicolon...
Comment linking /post/2353458699/an-open-letter-to-javascript-leaders-regarding
on “How to Become a Great JavaScript Developer”Submitted Tip for learning JavaScript as a story · 9 points
HN discussionThe developer of NPM.js recommended this book highly[1] on his blog, so I picked it up. Already on a first reading[2] I could see its potential to be life-changing. It has definitely changed how I interact with (or see) others (and myself), and I am trying to put more of it in practice; currently on a second reading. I think it appeals to the programmer/mathematician in me, because to a large extent it is teaching m…
Comment linking /post/112818868228/letter-to-marshall-rosenberg
on “Ask HN: What was the one book that you read and it actually changed your life?”Submitted Unix Philosophy and Node.js as a story · 7 points
HN discussionThat is a good thing when multiple libraries you depend on depend on different versions of some other library. See http://blog.izs.me/post/1675072029/10-cool-things-you-probab...
Comment linking /post/1675072029/10-cool-things-you-probably-didnt-realize-npm-could-do
on “A Haskell Programmer Tries to Learn Racket”Submitted Why git rebase can save hours of work as a story · 7 points
HN discussion
