Top all-time · #6903
Dominic Tarr
Personal blog · dominictarr.comprogrammingsystems
Dominic Tarr writes Tumblr, a personal blog at dominictarr.com about programming and systems. Since 2012, 12 different Hacker News readers have linked it 14 times, most often “Why you should Never write a package manager”. The last post was in 2016, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (4) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Dominic Tarr's posts on package managers and module loading, such as npm's nested dependencies, the CAP theorem, and funding models for free online services. Comments cite them as support, without judging the writing.
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.
Most-linked posts?
- Why you should Never write a package manager4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2013-10-22
What Hacker News says?
"If you are writing a package manager for a new non-js language, do whatever it takes to get that new language to load modules the way node does. The right way." http://dominictarr.com/post/25516279897/why-you-should-never... http://dontkry.com/posts/code/modules-the-right-way.html To be more specific, what npm does that pip, debian, and rubygems don't do is nested dependencies, which is a wonderful advancement.
Comment linking /post/25516279897/why-you-should-never-write-a-package-manager
on “Explicit bootstrapping of pip in Python installations”Submitted Why Software is Important as a story · 3 points
HN discussionNo, this is not the expectation at all. Software developers should be paid for their work, but (sorry Hacker News) of all the popular funding models "VC-funded free service"(1) is the most hostile towards its users. 1 http://dominictarr.com/post/71958587606/some-thoughts-on-the...
Comment linking /post/71958587606/some-thoughts-on-the-economics-of-software-development
on “Introducing Jelly”Submitted Pull-streams for JavaScript as a story · 2 points
HN discussionHere are a few examples: http://nathanmarz.com/blog/how-to-beat-the-cap-theorem.html http://dominictarr.com/post/44516618714/working-around-the-c... http://scale-out-blog.blogspot.ca/2012/04/disproving-cap-the... Not everyone accepts the CAP theorem yet, or some have an understanding of it that is flawed enough that they think they can beat it.
Comment linking /post/44516618714/working-around-the-cap-theorem-with-rumours-db
on “Beating the CAP Theorem Checklist”Submitted Hashes explained via a fairy tale you already know: Cinderella as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI want to see an 'algebra' approach to packaging -- strongly-typed packaging modeled as types and operators. Package and import systems present a lot of surprising behaviors and edge cases in part because they're not well-defined enough to be well-documented. Also, packaging systems need to get better at integrating with VCS versioning. The elm packaging system goes beyond this to automatically bump versions when yo…
Comment linking /post/25516279897/why-you-should-never-write-a-package-manager
on “The problem with packaging in Python”Submitted Why you should Never write a package manager as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Why you should NEVER write a package manager as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Challenge: Reliable Reputation Graph. as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted The history of Node.js streams as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Social Networks and the Legal Hack as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Death to client-server: let all nodes be created equal as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Have you ever lied at a job interview? as a story · 1 points
HN discussion