Matt Mastracci

Most-linked posts?

1. Deriving a bit-twiddling hack: signed integer overflow. (2022)
   3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2022-12-20
2. There Is Life Before Main in Rust
   3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2026-06-11
3. /demos/adventure/
   2 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-12-11
4. What's New in CSS Selectors Level 4
   2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-01-14
5. Anatomy of a Failed (Nation-State?) Attack
   2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-06-26
6. SSH escape sequences (or “don’t kill -9 that process”)
   2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-02-23
7. Abusing CSS3's nth-child selector to invent new ones
   2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-01-09
8. Automatic file transfer in iTerm2 via ZModem
   2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-10-26
9. /blog/
   2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-09-14

What Hacker News says?

1. mmastrac · 2015-03-09

   USB-C as the "one connector to rule them all" is the big news. That's the end of MagSafe and the exploding era of USB-C docking stations that work for multiple devices. I think we'll start to see an era of expandable computing coming up soon: USB-C is a perfect connector to push your data and state into a larger desktop experience. Why not carry around your laptop in tablet form when you are mobile? [1] [1] https://…

   Comment linking /blog/2015/01/16/usb-31-ara-are-the-convergence-end-game/

   on “The new MacBook”
2. mmastrac · 2010-11-23

   Submitted Why we’re really happy with AppEngine (and not going anywhere else) as a story · 174 points

   HN discussion
3. efreak · 2019-06-29

   I did. I abused the history API on my website when it was new, and then they went and fixed it. As it turns out, sometimes people care more about the marshmallows than they do about the fire. I don't have the website anymore, but the basic idea is detailed here: https://grack.com/blog/2011/03/07/abusing-the-html5-history-...

   Comment linking /blog/2011/03/07/abusing-the-html5-history-api-for-fun-and-chaos

   on “Microsoft's Linux Kernel”
4. mmastrac · 2015-03-09

   Submitted USB-C and Modular Smartphones Are the End-Game for Convergence as a story · 162 points

   HN discussion
5. fady · 2011-03-08

   similar to this via twitter: by @paulrouget http://grack.com/blog/

   Comment linking /blog/

   on “I took "abusing the HTML5 History" to the next level.”
6. mmastrac · 2015-02-27

   Submitted Show HN: Opinionated Dress Color Simulation as a story · 134 points

   HN discussion
7. mmastrac · 2025-08-17

   This is pretty nice, though I'd suggest you call it a transparent syntax highlighter. For https://grack.com/demos/adventure/ , I used a hidden <input text> for something similar. I wanted to take advantage of paste/selection and all the other goodies of text, but with fully-integrated styling. Like you, I found that standard text input boxes were far more interesting than contentEditable because they're just so simp…

   Comment linking /demos/adventure/

   on “Show HN: OverType – A Markdown WYSIWYG editor that's just a textarea”
8. mmastrac · 2015-01-09

   Submitted Abusing CSS3's nth-child selector to invent new ones as a story · 93 points

   HN discussion
9. mmastrac · 2013-02-02

   Fun exploit of this - you can use it to lock up Safari hard: http://grack.com/hangsafari.html (not a reduced testcase - it's more of a brute force) You can also trigger a mailto: link that crashes Mail: mailto:pete@bar.com?subject=File:///&body=File:///

   Comment linking /hangsafari.html

   on “Do Not Type "File:///" in OS X”
10. mmastrac · 2011-03-07

    Submitted Abusing the HTML5 History API for fun (and chaos) as a story · 92 points

    HN discussion
11. mmastrac · 2025-07-04

    I have a reasonably good solution for this project of mine you might find useful: https://grack.com/demos/adventure/ The trick for me was just using a hidden input and updating the state of an in game input box. The code is ancient by today's standards but uses a reasonably simple technique to get the selection bounds of the text. It works with auto complete on phones and has been stable for a decade.

    Comment linking /demos/adventure/

    on “Show HN: I AI-coded a tower defense game and documented the whole process”
12. mmastrac · 2015-01-12

    Submitted What's new in CSS Selectors 4 as a story · 70 points

    HN discussion
13. mmastrac · 2019-02-08

    This reminds me of an unrelated C program called "rant" from 30+ years ago: https://grack.com/code/legacy/rant/rant.c

    Comment linking /code/legacy/rant/rant.c

    on “Rant – An all-purpose procedural text engine”
14. mmastrac · 2010-03-17

    Submitted The sorry state of Avira anti-virus heuristics as a story · 45 points

    HN discussion
15. Jaruzel · 2022-03-23

    You can re-live your childhood online: https://grack.com/demos/adventure/ It's the 1984 variant version[1] but close enough. It's also retro styled as well! --- [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Cave_Adventure#Later_...

    Comment linking /demos/adventure/

    on “Ken and Roberta Williams Working on Colossal Cave Adventure Remake for VR and PC”
16. mmastrac · 2010-12-20

    Submitted Solving the Carwoo code-breaking challenge as a story · 38 points

    HN discussion
17. mmastrac · 2021-12-11

    If you want to play the original Adventure without the PDP-11 (though not nearly as authentic), I ported it to the web here: https://grack.com/demos/adventure/

    Comment linking /demos/adventure/

    on “PDP-11 Booting”
18. prakash · 2009-09-09

    Submitted PubSubHubbub vs. rssCloud as a story · 23 points

    HN discussion
19. efreak · 2017-09-07

    Then you'll absolutely love the URLbar marquee[0]. Combine this with a page title marquee and you can grab attention even if the browser is minimized. (Can now only get results for maps to bars named Marquee...). Now just add fartscroll.js[1] and you're set with the most annoying website. [0] https://grack.com/blog/2011/03/07/abusing-the-html5-history-... [1] https://github.com/theonion/fartscroll.js/

    Comment linking /blog/2011/03/07/abusing-the-html5-history-api-for-fun-and-chaos/

    on “Show HN: Make your web page dance with Rythm.js”
20. mmastrac · 2011-09-27

    Submitted Google+ upcoming features: Google Experts and the Facebook wall as a story · 17 points

    HN discussion
21. mmastrac · 2022-09-22

    One of my big contributions to the HP48 community was aggregating a bunch of information into a single guide in the late 90s, as well as documenting a ton of hardware quirks: https://grack.com/writing/saturn/saturn.txt This processor was a lot of fun to work on.

    Comment linking /writing/saturn/saturn.txt

    on “HP Saturn”
22. mmastrac · 2011-02-23

    Submitted SSH escape sequences (or “don’t kill -9 that process”) as a story · 9 points

    HN discussion
23. mbreese · 2016-10-22

    Apparently iTerm2 can be used to setup lrzsz coupling [1]. I haven't tried it yet myself, but I'm going to! I really hope this works. It's such a pain to setup scp back to my workstation that if I need to do any real back and forth, I've been known to setup a reverse SSH tunnel just for getting scp to work. But even then, it's a pain. Zmodem would be so much easier (and make me a little nostalgic inside every time I…

    Comment linking /blog/2011/10/26/automatic-file-transfer-in-iterm2-via-zmodem/

    on “ZMODEM”
24. mmastrac · 2011-10-26

    Submitted Automatic file transfer in iTerm2 via ZModem as a story · 8 points

    HN discussion
25. vdm · 2014-08-31

    Some terminal emulators support in-band file transfers using zmodem. SecureCRT does this. iTerm: http://grack.com/blog/2011/10/26/automatic-file-transfer-in-...

    Comment linking /blog/2011/10/26/automatic-file-transfer-in-iterm2-via-zmodem/

    on “Curl.io – Share files from your terminal or ssh”
26. mmastrac · 2011-03-01

    Submitted AppEngine vs. EC2 (an attempt to compare apples to oranges) as a story · 6 points

    HN discussion
27. mmastrac · 2020-09-27

    I loved my HP48GX back in the day. I wrote a bunch of tools for it (25 years ago!), including an emulator for that printer: https://grack.com/code/legacy/hp48/hpir/ The HP48 font is there in the zip package as well if anyone wants to use it for any reason.

    Comment linking /code/legacy/hp48/hpir/

    on “DM41x: a modern take on the HP-41CX”
28. mmastrac · 2021-11-30

    Submitted HP's Clarke – 4-Bit CPU/LCD Driver/Memory Controller as a story · 5 points

    HN discussion
29. mmastrac · 2024-10-28

    Adventure (but it's admittedly a very difficult game to win): https://grack.com/demos/adventure/

    Comment linking /demos/adventure/

    on “Ask HN: What's your favorite text-based adventure game?”
30. mmastrac · 2026-06-26

    Submitted Anatomy of a Failed (Nation-State?) Attack as a story · 3 points

    HN discussion

Search all of HN for grack.com

Linked by the same people?

• JJohn Resigejohn.org
• EEric Meyermeyerweb.com
• NNetflix TechBlogtechblog.netflix.com
• SSecurelistsecurelist.com
• PPanic Blogpanic.com
• Ccdixoncdixon.org
• TTim Braytbray.org
• SSimon Willisonsimonwillison.net