from Hacker News

The Best Things and Stuff of 2021

by bvaldivielso on 12/27/21, 2:25 PM with 23 comments

  • by mixedmath on 12/27/21, 5:11 PM

    I like this list. In a time when there are many listicals and claimed "curated" collections that are little more than lists of affiliate links, I find value in actual curated lists with actual opinions.

    It helps that I think many things mentioned are interesting, but I haven't heard of.

  • by litmus on 12/27/21, 9:26 PM

    Great to see Herzog on the list. Highly recommend "Werner Herzog, A Guide for the Perplexed", which is a great collection of musings in his own words about life and art, including various anecdotes related to both. Probably one of my favorite books in recent times.
  • by uxp100 on 12/27/21, 5:38 PM

    Last year this post tipped me off to 18xx.games, which I had a lot of fun exploring.

    (Also I suspect they listen to the weird studies podcast, what with the Ishmael Reed and Doris Lessing)

  • by cinntaile on 12/27/21, 9:18 PM

    I have heard some conflicting opinions on one of the books you mentioned. Software Design for Flexibility How to Avoid Programming Yourself into a Corner. Most seem to dislike it, but you have the complete opposite opinion. Why do you think that is?
  • by poulsbohemian on 12/27/21, 7:03 PM

    Those Inside Macintosh books were the best! I was a very lucky teen to have had a few, which unfortunately completely tainted my perspective on quality documentation.
  • by lambic on 12/28/21, 1:25 AM

    I loved The Detectorists, a nice peaceful show to relax to.
  • by ohg on 12/27/21, 8:30 PM

    I don't think Fisher would be particularly happy with his writing being described as neo-liberal! The rest of the list was interesting though.
  • by foobarbecue on 12/28/21, 12:57 AM

    Let's take a moment to pray for all the stuff. (from Don't Look Up)
  • by jjwiseman on 12/28/21, 4:04 AM

    Inside Macintosh was a great series. I used them mostly as a Lisp (Macintosh Common Lisp) programmer, totally new to Macs, trying to translate everything to the MCL FFI.

    Part of me thinks I'd love to have a copy, but I'm sure I have a lot of nostalgia coloring my feelings.

  • by christophilus on 12/27/21, 11:55 PM

    It’s not from 2021, but I re-read it in 2021: Lyonesse book one: Suldrun’s Garden. It is excellent. I’m just starting on book two tonight. I found the series via Hacker News years ago, and thought I’d pay it forward.
  • by kobyconrad on 12/28/21, 4:10 AM

    Software design for flexibility is amazing, just dove into it because of this post thank you.
  • by sidcool on 12/28/21, 4:40 AM

    I am in awe how it's possible to get so much done in a year! I could hardly manage to learn a new programming language, do my day job, read fiction, spend time with family, exercise regularly, socialize, give talks, write blogs etc.
  • by yawn on 12/27/21, 6:16 PM

    I love it when this comes up in the rss feed. I wish more folks did these!
  • by amrox on 12/27/21, 7:13 PM

    Can anyone elaborate on “Stop: Modern C++” under 2021 Tech Radar?