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Paul Biggar is a tech founder and software engineer interested in functional languages, devtools, and progressive politics.

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Functional languages Devtools Progressive politics Tech Pastries

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The post discusses the container ecosystem, particularly focusing on Docker, and critiques the mixed reactions it receives from developers. It highlights the confusion surrounding Docker's purpose and its role in modern applicatio...
A full optimizing compiler for Darklang was developed in two weeks using AI, showcasing impressive performance and advanced features despite some challenges.
The conversation revolves around the transition from traditional web app deployment methods, like Heroku, to modern containerization technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes. The dialogue highlights the importance of microservic...
Ireland is failing Palestine despite its strong support for a Free Palestine. The Irish government has done little to support Palestine, and everything they have done has been dragged out of them. Big Tech companies in Ireland are...
The text discusses the Lavender AI system used by Israel to predict and kill suspected militants in Gaza, and the role of Meta in providing data for this system. It also highlights the close ties of Meta's leadership to Israel and...
Tech For Palestine is a group of tech founders, engineers, marketers, and investors working to end tech's support for Israel's war on the Palestinian people. They aim to change the tech industry's narrative and allow tech workers ...
The text is about the author's inability to sleep due to the images of Gaza running through their head. They express their anger and frustration at the inhumanity of the soldiers and the propaganda. The author also expresses their...
Bluesky Social, a new Twitter clone, is facing issues with moderation and values as it has attracted a large number of left-wing users. The platform has banned a user for being a nazi and bullied a transphobe off the platform. The...
The text discusses the issue of funding for open source projects, highlighting the lack of salespeople in the open source community to ask for money and convince companies to contribute. The author proposes the creation of a non-p...
The article discusses a party in Silicon Valley that was organized by a VC firm and attended by powerful people, including Elon Musk and Jason Calacanis. The party was described as having a 'cuddle puddle' and offering drugs. The ...
The text discusses the controversy surrounding calls for Peter Thiel to be fired from Facebook's board and as a Y Combinator advisor due to his support for Donald Trump. It argues that the issue is not political, but about safety,...
The author built a URL shortener for Hacker News using Cloudflare Page Rules, which solved the problems of the first version. The new version is faster, cheaper, and more secure. The author discusses the complexity of building mod...
Hkrn.ws is a URL shortener for Hacker News, created to simplify the URL structure and make it more visually appealing. The site uses a 302 redirect to transform specific patterns into Hacker News URLs. The author built it for a si...
The author has been writing about CircleCI, the developer ecosystem, and Continuous Delivery for the last 4 years. The post includes a list of blog posts the author is proud of, including satire on the Docker ecosystem, discussion...
The text discusses the challenges of testing code against 3rd party APIs and best practices for testing. It explains the two kinds of 3rd party APIs, the need to test against these services, and the use of mocks to avoid flaky tes...
Facebook released an initial draft specification for PHP, written by a team of Facebook employees. The author, a PHP compiler expert, praises the specification for its clarity, expertise, and well-written content. The spec allows ...
The text discusses the myth that 'silence is for the weak' and how it affects productivity in the workplace. It highlights the distractions and noise in offices, and the negative impact it has on developers' ability to concentrate...
NewsTilt was a YCombinator-backed startup that aimed to help journalists become entrepreneurs and earn a living off their work online. It closed down due to internal problems and problems with the NewsTilt product. The main reason...
The text is a rant about PHP compilers, particularly HipHop, from the perspective of the author who has worked on phc since 2005. The author discusses the technical aspects, speed, dynamic constructs, and the impact of HPHP on phc...