Top all-time · #14432
James Randall
Personal blog · jamesdrandall.com/postsprogrammingaigames
James Randall's personal blog at jamesdrandall.com covers programming, ai and games. Since 2025, 5 different Hacker News readers have linked it 13 times, most often “I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-20, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (2) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link these posts on AI and programming, including a long-time programmer's changing relationship with coding and the epistemic risks of AI. Comments describe the blog as bizarre and LLM-generated.
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.
James Randall - Software Engineer, Writer, and Indie Game Developer
Most-linked posts?
- I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-02-10
What Hacker News says?
The whole blog is really bizarre, and LLM-generated >The real AI risk isn't job loss — it's epistemic >This morning I had a ChatGPT conversation that started about engagement metrics and ended up with a systematic destruction of my identity. https://www.jamesdrandall.com/posts/real-ai-risk-isnt-job-lo...
Comment linking /posts/real-ai-risk-isnt-job-loss-its-epistemic/
on “I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed”Submitted I started programming when I was 7. I'm 50 now and the thing I loved has changed as a story · 59 points
HN discussionGood Write up. A great list for further reading for anyone interested: https://blog.lmorchard.com/2026/03/11/grief-and-the-ai-split... https://nolanlawson.com/2026/02/07/we-mourn-our-craft/ https://www.jamesdrandall.com/posts/the_thing_i_loved_has_ch...
Comment linking /posts/the_thing_i_loved_has_changed/
on “My 2c on the AI/GenAI/LLM bubble”Submitted Training a Neural Network in 16-Bit Fixed Point on a 1982 BBC Micro as a story · 2 points
HN discussionManaged to find some screenshots. https://www.jamesdrandall.com/old-thrust/1.png https://www.jamesdrandall.com/old-thrust/2.png https://www.jamesdrandall.com/old-thrust/3.png
Comment linking /old-thrust/3.png
on “AI Can't Recreate the Thrust Game (But It Can Help You Understand It)”Submitted Show HN: Building a small psychedelic twin-stick shooter in the browser as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI think it was Opus but can't remember the version. Managed to find some screenshots. It did work but gravity wasn't really gravity - things fell at a constant rate. Turrets were floating in mid-air. It was missing the shields and you couldn't pick up the ball from the pedestal. https://www.jamesdrandall.com/old-thrust/1.png https://www.jamesdrandall.com/old-thrust/2.png https://www.jamesdrandall.com/old-thrust/3.png
Comment linking /old-thrust/3.png
on “AI Can't Recreate the Thrust Game (But It Can Help You Understand It)”Submitted Teaching an LLM to Write Assembly: GBNF-Constrained Generation for a Custom CPU as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted AI Can't Recreate the Thrust Game (But It Can Help You Understand It) as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
