Top all-time · #1722
old commonplace
Personal blog · swaroopch.com/blog · on HN as swaroopprogrammingwritingproductivity
old commonplace is a personal blog at swaroopch.com about programming, writing and productivity. Since 2007, 43 different Hacker News readers have linked it 62 times, most often “A Byte of Python”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (23) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
Threads on learning Python and Vim link Swaroop C H's free books, A Byte of Python and A Byte of Vim, as beginner-friendly starting points that readers call good or useful.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 23 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Exploring books, mental models, travel, software engineering (craft, career, open source, side projects), ML & Generative AI.
Most-linked posts?
- A Byte of Python6 people · 6 mentions · first linked 2008-10-02
- /notes/Vim5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2009-05-20
- Back to Org Mode (2013)3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2014-09-05
- A Byte of Python3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-10-28
- My Bash and Vim setups2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2010-12-06
- Freelancing for Joshua Schachter - lessons in product management2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-10-28
- Startup lesson from failure 2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2009-11-13
- 10 things I wish I was serious about before starting a startup2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2009-08-12
What Hacker News says?
I highly recommend A Byte Of Vim for anyone wanting to learn the editor: http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Vim
Comment linking /notes/Vim
on “Everyone Who Tried to Convince Me to Use Vim Was Wrong”Submitted Announcing my free book on Vim as a story · 101 points
HN discussionGood alternative: A byte of Vim - http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/vim/ Sidenote: The navbar & images break on smaller screens.
Comment linking /notes/vim/
on “Vim for Humans”Submitted Why I do Time Tracking as a story · 47 points
HN discussionThere is a chapter on Vim scripting in my online book, please take a look and let me know your feedback - http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Vim_en:Scripting
Comment linking /notes/Vim_en:Scripting
on “VimConf”Submitted The 5-year limit to being a coder in India? as a story · 39 points
HN discussionSemi-ignorant :) I knew of org-mode as emacs only, but the grandparent post mentioned mobile & browser snippets. Just found two apps which edit & sync org-mode files, and templates for bookmarks. Android app uses ssh, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.matburt.mo... iOS app uses dropbox, https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mobileorg/id634225528?mt=8 Blog post on replacing other svcs/apps with org-mode, ht…
Comment linking /2013/01/16/orgmode/
on “Designing a Personal Knowledgebase”Submitted Startup lesson from failure as a story · 27 points
HN discussionPretty cool, I was learning Vim through "A Byte of Vim" at http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Vim
Comment linking /notes/Vim
on “Efficient Editing With vim”Submitted My Bash and Vim setups as a story · 9 points
HN discussionhttp://www.swaroopch.com/blog/where-to-find-startup-jobs-in-...
Comment linking /blog/where-to-find-startup-jobs-in-india/
on “Ask HN: Who's Hiring? (take 2)”Submitted Twitter vs. Why we can't concentrate? as a story · 9 points
HN discussionZed, I've written a beginner's book called 'A Byte of Python', and I'd like to know your opinion about it - http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Python FWIW, the background is that it has been under a Creative Commons license since 2004, it has had about half a million downloads/readers (guesstimate, of course), is used as a text book for introductory programming courses in at least 8 universities worldwide, and has been…
Comment linking /notes/Python
on “Zed Shaw is Writing A Book Teaching Beginner Python”Submitted How to Defend India as a story · 6 points
HN discussionYou may download Python 2.x and Python 3.0 books at http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Python
Comment linking /notes/Python
on “Python 2.6 Released”Submitted Effective Vim as a story · 4 points
HN discussionUse Pomodoro technique. I had written about my favorite book on the subject a few years ago - http://www.swaroopch.com/2011/01/17/pomodoro/
Comment linking /2011/01/17/pomodoro/
on “Ask HN: How do I stay motivated to learn?”Submitted I wish Ubuntu focused on Android as a story · 3 points
HN discussionBuddy, I completely understand your pain. I did my engineering at NIT (it was called REC when I graduated) [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Institutes_of_Technolo... ] and I also suffered in first two semesters because I did not play the game which others were playing just to get good grades. The focus was on grades, not learning. Later I realized that playing game of grades is not much of an effort so why no…
Comment linking /blog/freelancing-for-joshua-schachter/
on “My ICT teacher can’t mark my homework”Submitted Leaving IonLab: Stop reading. Start doing as a story · 3 points
HN discussionPlease see http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Vim_en:Scripting#Using_extern...
Comment linking /notes/Vim_en:Scripting
on “Announcing my free book on Vim”Submitted Takeaways from Mastering LLMs Course as a story · 2 points
HN discussionByte of Python: http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Python Dive into Python: http://diveintopython.org/ Both great and free books.
Comment linking /notes/Python
on “What did you use to teach yourself Python?”Submitted Notes from Redis Conference 2015 as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIn addition to all the excellent suggestions here, I will also suggest reading the free book "A Byte of Vim" ( http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Vim_en:Table_of_Contents ). This is how the book introduces itself: "A Byte of Vim" is a book which aims to help you to learn how to use the Vim editor (version 7), even if all you know is how to use the computer keyboard. The first part of this book is meant for new users who…
Comment linking /notes/Vim_en:Table_of_Contents
on “Ask HN: What's the best way to get started with Vi(m)”Submitted Back to Org Mode (2013) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI've recently invested some time in learning to use vi proficiently, beyond the basic hjkl movement and i/Esc I've installed the Vrapper plug-in for eclipse as well... but since I find eclipse to be full of features but bloated as hell I've done some research on how to use Vi/m as an IDE. I recommend to everyone eager to learn Vim, this free book A byte of Vim - http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Vim There are a number…
Comment linking /notes/Vim
on “Vim Splits: A Guide to Doing Exactly What You Want”Submitted Eight programming lessons learned in 2013 as a story · 2 points
HN discussionAgree, it is too verbose. If I am using vim, I won't be looking for cookbook entry explaining simple tasks. There is probably be audience who'd benefit from the book, but does not appeal to me. I've found A Byte of VIM to be quite useful, though: http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Vim
Comment linking /notes/Vim
on “Vim Recipes”Submitted Why is “Database Layer as a REST API” not common? as a story · 2 points
HN discussion
