Top all-time · #8312
Mihai Olteanu
Personal blog · mihaiolteanu.me · on HN as molteanuprogrammingwriting
Mihai Olteanu's personal blog at mihaiolteanu.me covers programming and writing. Since 2020, 9 different Hacker News readers have linked it 32 times, most often “A Lisp adventure on the calm waters of the dead C (2021)”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-03-20, 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 this blog for a practical Emacs tip about pressing Ctrl and Meta with the left palm. The linked posts are about keyboard and Emacs setup.
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.
Most-linked posts?
- A Lisp adventure on the calm waters of the dead C (2021)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-05-27
- Vuiet, the long road to building my own music player in Lisp2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-03-29
- A non-standard book list for software developers2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-07-25
- Defense of Lisp macros: The automotive field as a case in point2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-07-25
What Hacker News says?
> Those concerns seem worlds away from the kinds of things type theorists care about. It’s true there’s a tradition, voiced by Dijkstra, that emphasizes correctness at a point in time, sometimes at the expense of long-term adaptability. > “Unfathomed misunderstanding is further revealed by the term software maintenance, as a result of which many people continue to believe that programs – and even programming languag…
Comment linking /defense-of-lisp-macros
on “Lisping at JPL (2002)”Submitted A non-standard book list for software developers as a story · 450 points
HN discussionhttps://mihaiolteanu.me/language-abstractions
Comment linking /language-abstractions
on “The Evolution of Lisp (1993) [pdf]”Submitted Knowledge-based society, my ass as a story · 370 points
HN discussionI'm a bit slow with the keyboard so maybe that's why I don't have problems with these unintended presses. Yet. It's 200 for me, but also like 50 wpm until I manage to get back to speed. Nah, I'm palm-pressing the Ctrl key on a classic keyboard. I wrote about it here [1]. It was fine for a few years, until I got wrist pain and back problems from leaning on the right side (to reach the right Ctrl with my palm comforta…
Comment linking /emacs-palm-press-the-ctrl-keys/
on “28-Key Mechanical Keyboard”Submitted Defense of Lisp macros: The automotive field as a case in point as a story · 227 points
HN discussionMaybe interesting to know: You can use your left hand palm to press Ctrl and Meta. Also see: https://mihaiolteanu.me/emacs-palm-press-the-ctrl-keys and http://xahlee.info/emacs/emacs/swap_CapsLock_Ctrl.html
Comment linking /emacs-palm-press-the-ctrl-keys
on “Tell HN: Have just discovered that I can use any key as Ctrl on my keyboard\”Submitted A Lisp adventure on the calm waters of the dead C (2021) as a story · 83 points
HN discussionEuclid's Elements, https://mihaiolteanu.me/books.html
Comment linking /books.html
on “Ask HN: Reading which books have brought the biggest changes in you and how?”Submitted Vuiet, the long road to building my own music player in Lisp as a story · 78 points
HN discussionThere is also a complete Romanian version which I've translated more than ten years ago: https://mihaiolteanu.me/circuiteelectrice/ These lessons were so helpful for my University classes that I wanted to help "spread the word" and show my support in whatever way I could.
Comment linking /circuiteelectrice/
on “Lessons in Electric Circuits”Submitted A high-velocity style of software development as a story · 48 points
HN discussionSubmitted If Lisp is so great as a story · 33 points
HN discussionSubmitted Dull Days at the Factory as a story · 5 points
HN discussionSubmitted Emacs Is Violent Passion as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Famous persons in each country's history based on street names (version 2.0) as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Event Loop Simplified as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted A Lisp adventure on the calm waters of the dead C as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Vuiet, the long road to building my own music player in Lisp as a story · 3 points
HN discussionSubmitted Dull Days at the Factory as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Frequent persons on Canada's street signs as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted A Lisp adventure on the calm waters of the dead C (2021) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted AI, You Storyteller Hypocrite as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted A non-standard book list for software developers as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Eponymous Street Names Worldwide as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Miss Alexandra as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted AI, the Joy of Life as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Less Talk, More Code as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted A non-standard book list for software developers (2022) as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Observer Teams as a story · 1 points
HN discussion