Top all-time · #3366
whitequark.org
Personal blog · whitequark.org/blog · on HN as whitequark_programminghardware
whitequark.org is a personal blog at whitequark.org about programming and hardware. Since 2011, 23 different Hacker News readers have linked it 30 times, most often “Why Raspberry Pi Is Unsuitable for Education”. No feed was found, so read it on the site itself.
Too few sampled comments (12) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link whitequark.org posts on Raspberry Pi openness, OCaml extension points and PPX metaprogramming, and a Ruby hacking guide translation. Mostly cited as sources in discussions.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 12 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- Why Raspberry Pi Is Unsuitable for Education4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2012-09-25
- /blog/2014/04/16/a-guide-to-extension-points-in-ocaml/3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2017-09-10
- Reaching the Limits of Adobe Stupidity3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-05-06
- /blog/2014/04/16/a-guide-to-extension-points-in-ocaml/2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2014-05-09
- Ruby Hacking Guide Ch. 11: Finite-state Scanner2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2013-04-01
- Statically compiled Ruby2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2011-12-22
What Hacker News says?
This is why Debian does not recommend Raspberry Pi [0] > Despite the hype it is a more closed platform than many other things you could buy Claiming to be open, but still encouraging and endorsing non-open-source software. I was startled to read why R.Pi is unsuitable for education [1] [0]: https://wiki.debian.org/RaspberryPi [1]: http://whitequark.org/blog/2012/09/25/why-raspberry-pi-is-un...
Comment linking /blog/2012/09/25/why-raspberry-pi-is-unsuitable-for-education/
on “Mathematica on Raspberry Pi for free”Submitted Reaching the Limits of Adobe Stupidity as a story · 178 points
HN discussionIt has no readability issue when you know the basic syntax * "external" is an FFI declaration * "get_internal" is the local symbol name * ":" introduces the type signature, so "get_internal" is a function from a "map 'a 'b" (aka Map<A, B> in more C-style generics) and an 'a to a Js.undefined 'b * followed by the external symbol ("get") * and the stuff between brackets is a compiler instruction (an "extension point":…
Comment linking /blog/2014/04/16/a-guide-to-extension-points-in-ocaml/
on “Messenger.com Now 50% Converted to Reason”Submitted Why Raspberry Pi Is Unsuitable for Education as a story · 81 points
HN discussionThe `[@@blah]` syntax refers to the extension-points feature that was introduced in Ocaml 4.02: https://whitequark.org/blog/2014/04/16/a-guide-to-extension-... https://blog.janestreet.com/extension-points-or-how-ocaml-is... These can be used to do the sort of metaprogramming that people used to do with camlp4. If you want to search more, the other keyword for googling would be "ppx".
Comment linking /blog/2014/04/16/a-guide-to-extension-points-in-ocaml/
on “Messenger.com Now 50% Converted to Reason”Submitted A Language for Embedded Developers as a story · 7 points
HN discussionReasonML is a big con. It is clothed in ALGOL's syntax, but underneath it is a LISP with functions that can be stored, curried, passed around, and composed on top of one another. It doesn't have a Lisp-y syntax and thus no homoiconicity nor macros, but it does have PPX. ( https://whitequark.org/blog/2014/04/16/a-guide-to-extension-... ) The biggest one that Reason pulls however is its syntax. ML based languages (Hop…
Comment linking /blog/2014/04/16/a-guide-to-extension-points-in-ocaml/
on “ReasonML – React as first intended”Submitted Let's Destroy Flash Together as a story · 5 points
HN discussionA better translation of chapter 11: http://whitequark.org/blog/2013/04/01/ruby-hacking-guide-ch-...
Comment linking /blog/2013/04/01/ruby-hacking-guide-ch-11-finite-state-lexer/
on “Ruby hacking guide”Submitted Tweaking Linux TCP Stack for Lossy Wireless Networks as a story · 4 points
HN discussionAgreed. I'm not going to say whether Ruby syntax is nice or not, but its use of parser generators is not a model of simplicity: https://github.com/ruby/ruby/blob/master/parse.y https://whitequark.org/blog/2013/04/01/ruby-hacking-guide-ch... It also changes syntax in patch level versions: https://github.com/whitequark/parser .
Comment linking /blog/2013/04/01/ruby-hacking-guide-ch-11-finite-state-lexer/
on “Compiler Construction by Niklaus Wirth [pdf]”Submitted Git is an acceptable filesystem as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThat is from 2012: in 2012 Raspberry Pi was a closed platform, not at all recommended: https://wiki.debian.org/RaspberryPi http://whitequark.org/blog/2012/09/25/why-raspberry-pi-is-un... Things have only started to change recently when BroadCom released some documentation: https://libv.livejournal.com/26434.html There is some support for OpenBSD on ARM, for hardware that is more open than the Raspberry Pi: http://ww…
Comment linking /blog/2012/09/25/why-raspberry-pi-is-unsuitable-for-education/
on “OpenBSD 5.5 Released”Submitted Statically compiled Ruby as a story · 3 points
HN discussionCool. Language extensions are easier to write. Honestly, never had the guts to really learn camlp4 beyond an introductory tutorial, so I am happy to hear that this new approach is easier and also more practical. There is a link from the article with a more complete example of how the extension points really work: http://whitequark.org/blog/2014/04/16/a-guide-to-extension-p... OCaml is great because it is doing a lot…
Comment linking /blog/2014/04/16/a-guide-to-extension-points-in-ocaml/
on “Extension Points, or how OCaml is becoming more like Lisp”Submitted Statically Compiled Ruby as a story · 2 points
HN discussionEndless marketing for an obsolete surplus item (your last phone is likely to be more capable). Just to clarify: - doesn't work without proprietary blobs, ie. you are NOT allowed to learn how it works. - doesn't make use of the hardware w/o additional license crippleware for the fans to clear the fog: http://whitequark.org/blog/2012/09/25/why-raspberry-pi-is-un... http://boingboing.net/2010/09/19/intel-drm-a-crippled…
Comment linking /blog/2012/09/25/why-raspberry-pi-is-unsuitable-for-education/
on “The Raspberry Pi: One year since launch, one million sold”Submitted Let's play with Ruby code (Ruby parsing library) as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSome of these points are a bit outdated. Ocaml improved a lot recently. > False Sense of Security This is a strawman argument. And the static types really do help, specially if you make good use of algebraic data types and the exhaustiveness checker. The autocompletion and documentation suport is also super nice. Installing Merlin is one of my top priorities when I set up an ocaml environment. https://github.com/the…
Comment linking /blog/2014/04/16/a-guide-to-extension-points-in-ocaml/
on “OCaml Language Sucks (2007)”Submitted Unmentioned Features of Ruby 2.0 as a story · 2 points
HN discussionWhile schematics are available, board layout for the Pi is not, and I see precisely no reasons for not distributing it openly. Raspberry Pi has nothing to do with open hardware. The whole system cannot function without the GPU as it’s the first component to boot and controls some vital peripherals, and the GPU can only work with a closed-source firmware. Oh, and before calling this a conspiracy theory, take a look a…
Comment linking /blog/2012/09/25/why-raspberry-pi-is-unsuitable-for-education/
on “How do you make Raspberry Pi? [video]”Submitted Ruby is (often) statically typed as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSee this: http://whitequark.org/blog/2012/12/06/a-language-for-embedde...
Comment linking /blog/2012/12/06/a-language-for-embedded-developers/
on “A Language for Embedded Developers”Submitted Reaching the Limits of Adobe Stupidity as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI think you meant to link to http://whitequark.org/blog/2012/05/06/reaching-the-limits-of...
Comment linking /blog/2012/05/06/reaching-the-limits-of-adobe-stupidity/
on “Reaching the Limits of Adobe Stupidity”Submitted On Tests and Types as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted XCompose Support in Sublime Text as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted The Next Web as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Ruby Hacking Guide Ch. 11: Finite-state Scanner as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Reaching the Limits of Adobe Stupidity as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
