[HN Gopher] /Uses: A list of /uses pages detailing developer set...
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       /Uses: A list of /uses pages detailing developer setups, gear,
       software, configs
        
       Author : petecooper
       Score  : 155 points
       Date   : 2023-07-06 09:47 UTC (13 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (uses.tech)
 (TXT) w3m dump (uses.tech)
        
       | KnobbleMcKnees wrote:
       | Hugged :-(
        
       | skilled wrote:
       | I extracted all the external links in each of the /uses pages and
       | there are about 3,200 unique external links in total. I also
       | checked each domain whether it's alive or not (expired) and
       | surprisingly only 2 domains were expired - that's a pretty good
       | result.
       | 
       | As far as the site itself goes, it's too impractical the way it
       | is made now. It would work way better if people formatted their
       | /uses page in a specific format that could then be pulled by this
       | site and viewed directly. Otherwise, it's a link farm that you'll
       | get bored of browsing very quickly.
        
       | karaterobot wrote:
       | Is this meant to be a directory of people who are looking for
       | work? If so, that's fine, I guess. If not, be aware that it feels
       | like one.
       | 
       | If I made one of these for myself, it would be completely out of
       | date in a year. It's almost like setups, gear, software, and
       | configs are ephemeral and don't describe a person very well.
        
       | gtirloni wrote:
       | Edge functions for hobby projects are awesome, until your project
       | gets featured on HN's front page. I'd love to see a postmortem
       | about the cloud costs.
        
         | LocalPCGuy wrote:
         | I'm guessing he'll (Wes Bos) bring it up on Syntax.fm, the
         | podcast he does with Scott Tolinski. They've talked about this
         | site before and I would be surprised if they don't bring this
         | up and discuss how/why it failed and any plans for changes to
         | avoid it in the future. As it's a little hobby site for him,
         | not sure how much in the way of resources or money he really
         | throws at it.
        
       | dotnwat wrote:
       | How do I stop the animated icon in the chrome tab? It's cool, but
       | very distracting to keep the tab open.
        
       | 50 wrote:
       | alternatively, see https://usesthis.com/ - "a collection of nerdy
       | interviews asking people from all walks of life what they use to
       | get the job done" ongoing since january 2009
       | 
       | some somewhat notable interviews have been submitted before:
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=usesthis.com
       | 
       | e.g., aaron swartz[1]:
       | https://usesthis.com/interviews/aaron.swartz/
       | 
       | 1: his reference of using the MPW 9 font led me towards the
       | discovery of the monaco 9pt bitmap font - curious if it's still
       | around
        
         | beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
         | Another one is https://workspaces.xyz , although it's more
         | interesting to see the actual spaces where some people work.
         | Some are hilariously clean and staged, while others look like
         | they were taken mid escape with a go-bag. Unfortunately they're
         | becoming more like a way of marketing tbh, but the sheer amount
         | of posts on it are interesting nonetheless. (The number of
         | people working in crypto is also hilarious.)
        
         | mattl wrote:
         | I did one a few years ago.
         | https://usesthis.com/interviews/matt.lee/
         | 
         | Glad to see they're still doing them. My stack has completely
         | changed since.
        
           | 0ct4via wrote:
           | You should consider asking if they'd like an update! I'm sure
           | they'd love to see how things have changed in the past ~6
           | years, and readers would enjoy it too :)
        
             | mattl wrote:
             | Good idea! I'll reach out
        
         | bjornasm wrote:
         | I had a period where I read every interview there, it was so
         | cool to read about peoples tech stacks. I kind of fell off as
         | it seemed like it ended up being more interviews with non-tech
         | people than tech-people which removed some of the interest and
         | utility for me. Got to revisit that site.
        
           | 50 wrote:
           | i tend to find the non-tech interviews the most interesting
           | for the remoteness of the tools so to speak, e.g., coming
           | across tools like https://www.wonderdraft.net/, a fantasy map
           | creation tool, and thinking it's rather neat
        
             | beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
             | I find them interesting too because tech people tend to
             | just all have the latest and greatest hardware, while a lot
             | of non-tech people are getting by on bizarre clunkers and
             | set-ups which have more novelty value.
        
       | dazzawazza wrote:
       | Anyone who is, or knows, a guitarist will recognise the
       | pointlessnes of this fetish for "gear used".
        
         | rgoulter wrote:
         | It can nice to hear about ideas which are practical
         | improvements, and which others can benefit by.
         | 
         | e.g. I don't think trackballs are anywhere near as popular as
         | they deserve to be. (Albeit, with trackballs, showing off is
         | pretty much limited to 'look I have a good one').
        
       | 0ct4via wrote:
       | What does this offer that isn't already well-established at
       | https://usesthis.com ? -- aside from /Uses having a hideous
       | design, that is...
        
       | dunno7456 wrote:
       | Application Error
       | 
       | w@https://uses.tech/build/_shared/chunk-BLEU733H.js:1:723
       | vo@https://uses.tech/build/entry.client-2LPQTYSQ.js:6:19484
       | Pi@https://uses.tech/build/entry.client-2LPQTYSQ.js:8:3153
       | Xa@https://uses.tech/build/entry.client-2LPQTYSQ.js:8:44792
       | $a@https://uses.tech/build/entry.client-2LPQTYSQ.js:8:39726
       | Zf@https://uses.tech/build/entry.client-2LPQTYSQ.js:8:39657
       | br@https://uses.tech/build/entry.client-2LPQTYSQ.js:8:39515
       | Ui@https://uses.tech/build/entry.client-2LPQTYSQ.js:8:35905
       | Zu@https://uses.tech/build/entry.client-2LPQTYSQ.js:8:36715
       | pn@https://uses.tech/build/entry.client-2LPQTYSQ.js:6:3250
       | ba</ue/<@https://uses.tech/build/entry.client-2LPQTYSQ.js:8:34235
        
         | ranting-moth wrote:
         | This guy uses stacktraces.
        
       | wavemode wrote:
       | Live site's down for me. Use this instead:
       | 
       | https://archive.ph/51fPZ
        
       | diffeomorphism wrote:
       | Question as a non-dev: many devs there seem to use only laptops
       | and often even relatively old ones; no desktop workstations or
       | high power servers in sight. Is that common? Or is that selection
       | bias of that website?
        
         | gtirloni wrote:
         | No powerful workstations or server under the table? That's
         | pretty common.
         | 
         | Unless you're training an AI model or compiling Chromium all
         | the time, there's very little need for a super powerful
         | computer (by today's standards).
         | 
         | You could have many VMs and whatnot, but that's not _common_.
        
         | monsieurgaufre wrote:
         | If there's a real need for a high powered computer, most people
         | will just connect to a server or whatnot to do the calculation
         | there.
        
       | nfriedly wrote:
       | It looks like this site is experiencing issues, but I believe
       | this is the same data: https://github.com/wesbos/awesome-uses
        
       | oneeyedpigeon wrote:
       | Looks like this site needs to /use a more scalable backend...
        
       | pcthrowaway wrote:
       | This is really fascinating.
       | 
       | Mostly because I never heard of the "/uses" convention.
       | Unfortunately it's impossible to google to learn about it. Does
       | anyone know where "/uses" originated?
        
         | gtirloni wrote:
         | Same here. I know people have posted about their setups but
         | didn't know `/uses` was a thing.
        
         | tiim wrote:
         | I'm pretty sure it originates with wes bos (wesbos.com) , the
         | person that also created uses.tech
        
         | ttepasse wrote:
         | You may also be interested in the /now convention:
         | 
         | https://sive.rs/now3
         | 
         | https://nownownow.com
        
         | mindcrime wrote:
         | Found this:
         | 
         | https://dev.to/nickytonline/do-you-have-a-uses-page-5b82
         | 
         | and
         | 
         | https://dev.to/nikoheikkila/show-your-own-uses-page-160j
         | 
         | and
         | 
         | https://github.com/wesbos/awesome-uses
         | 
         | and
         | 
         | https://heyfirst.co/blog/lets-share-your-setup-in-uses-page/
         | 
         | Not a lot of history that I see at first blush, but I didn't
         | look terribly hard. FWIW, Google "uses page" turns up a few
         | other results as well.
        
           | em-bee wrote:
           | i thought this was some kind of API where you could share
           | your uses tags in a standardized way like other distributed
           | social features so that other sites can aggregate them and
           | show them like uses.tech does.
           | 
           | but this is just a static site that will accumulate a lot of
           | stale data once people lose interest to maintain their
           | entries.
           | 
           | it would not be so hard. a uses.txt on your website listing
           | tag and description.
           | 
           | and a curated list of urls to all these uses.txt files that
           | are periodically scanned for updates.
        
       | the-printer wrote:
       | I like https://hackerstations.com/.
        
       | cellularmitosis wrote:
       | Hmm, clicking on the buttons doesn't seem to do anything?
       | 
       | Edit: oh, I see, the changes happen off-screen, "below the fold".
        
       | ranting-moth wrote:
       | I bit like a modern version of the .plan file displayed when the
       | user is fingered.
       | 
       | http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/P/plan-file.html
        
         | acheong08 wrote:
         | "when the user is fingered" ?
        
           | pcdavid wrote:
           | Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_(protocol)
        
           | gtirloni wrote:
           | The Internet was more innocent back then :)
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_(protocol)
        
             | mindcrime wrote:
             | Don't forget Finger's more modern cousin, WebFinger![1]
             | 
             | [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebFinger
        
             | technothrasher wrote:
             | Was it? We used to giggle about "fingering each other" way
             | back in the early 90's, ask the Internet Oracle filthy
             | questions, and compare notes on the Purity Test while we
             | waited for all the uuencoded parts of our dirty pictures to
             | download off the local Usenet server.
        
               | em-bee wrote:
               | at the time we used to giggle, now we complain about it
               | being obscene.
        
               | nmz wrote:
               | I'm not complaining, I want to go back to the internet
               | being a silly place, instead of an increasingly hostile
               | and damaging to mental health (and sometimes lives).
               | 
               | BUT that ship has sailed.
        
               | decremental wrote:
               | [dead]
        
             | redleader55 wrote:
             | We were harder to get offended, not more innocent.
        
               | anildash wrote:
               | You mean "more willing to ostracize and marginalize those
               | who point out obnoxious or harmful behavior", I think.
               | Now everyone who can't read a room has an entire
               | infrastructure helping convince them they're a martyr if
               | someone points out they're acting like an asshole.
        
           | 867-5309 wrote:
           | from tfl: http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/F/finger.html
        
           | doubled112 wrote:
           | To solidify a sale, find and push a customer's hot buttons.
        
         | there wrote:
         | https://plan.cat/
        
           | mxuribe wrote:
           | Oh wow, you just got me hooked on a rabbit hole that i can't
           | get out of - but in a good way! :-)
           | 
           | I love these sorts of easter egg-like things! I mean, they're
           | not really easter eggs. But this /uses page, the /now pages,
           | the humans.txt file that someone else mentioned (which i also
           | use on my personal website), and other similar "info
           | broadcast" mechanisms are always so much fun...Because they
           | provide a little trail of breadcrumbs of discovery about
           | people in a neat, old school sort of way. I miss the
           | internet/web of old, and this sort of thing brings all that
           | fun back! Thanks for sharing!
        
       | meetpateltech wrote:
       | This is great site!
        
       | 0xblinq wrote:
       | Ahhh... lovely serveless cloud SPA crashing in your freaking face
       | with a stack trace.
       | 
       | We're being so cheated with all this marketing bullshit.
       | 
       | Had you used a decent web framework you'd at least show a proper
       | error page and get sent a notification about the problem.
        
         | gochi wrote:
         | You can also show a proper error page (or continue) through
         | edge functions[1]. They just didn't set any up. So the chances
         | of them also doing so in another framework and caring about
         | being notified is slim.
         | 
         | 1. https://docs.netlify.com/edge-functions/optional-
         | configurati...
        
           | 0xblinq wrote:
           | You can do everything. Even if just using assembler.
           | 
           | Popular web frameworks such as Laravel, rails or Django do
           | this by default, and a ton other "small things".
           | 
           | That's the point.
        
           | pc86 wrote:
           | Not everything needs to be a serverless SPA, that's the
           | point.
        
             | gochi wrote:
             | Nobody is saying everything needs to be serverless. I'm
             | addressing the point that going the traditional route
             | doesn't negate the work required to implement a custom
             | error page and handle rewrites on error.
        
               | mikojan wrote:
               | Yes they are and the promise cited as a justification is
               | always "automatic scalability", "increased reliability",
               | "decreased downtime".
               | 
               | This is from the first google result on "Why move to
               | cloud":
               | 
               | https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/03/12
               | /wh...
        
               | pc86 wrote:
               | I think a lot of people do advocate that everything be
               | serverless, but at the very least the industry as a whole
               | defaults to that. You now need a good reason _not_ to
               | deploy bleeding-edge $FRAMEWORK SPAs to serverless edge
               | cloud functions or whatever they 're called this month,
               | rather than only using them when it makes sense.
        
               | naikrovek wrote:
               | yeah there's a lot of fashion trends that this industry
               | follows and it drives me insane.
               | 
               | by "fashion" I mean new, hot frameworks, architectures,
               | providers, or anything which is chosen because it looks
               | fun or might allow some resumes to be meatier. no one
               | makes solutions for their problems anymore, they make
               | problems for their currently-favorite solution.
        
               | pc86 wrote:
               | I've been guilty of it myself in the past but I'm
               | increasingly getting to a point, especially for side
               | projects that I intend to make a few dollars off of,
               | where I just want to deploy a compiled-language site to a
               | VM and point a domain at it.
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | wlkr wrote:
       | Unfortunately, the link is currently unavailable, but from the
       | title, it sounds similar to Uses This (https://usesthis.com/),
       | which I find to be an interesting way of learning what tools
       | people are using in different industries.
        
       | swyx wrote:
       | nobody asked but here is mine! https://www.swyx.io/new-mac-setup
       | maybe i should switch it to a /uses URL
        
       | thomasfromcdnjs wrote:
       | I have this vague memory of a website where people could upload
       | their bash scripts and more importantly a sort of primary setup
       | script if you were booting up a fresh install.
       | 
       | The idea being after installing your distro, you could
       | 
       | > curl -sSL <script_url> | bash
       | 
       | It was somewhat of a social network. (10-20 years ago)
       | 
       | Am I taking crazy peoples or was this something...
        
         | mgaunard wrote:
         | running arbitrary code from the internet, what could go wrong?
        
           | aerfio wrote:
           | From description I understood it as a site for people how
           | know what particular script does
        
           | [deleted]
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | zanchey wrote:
       | It's geek code in the cloud!
       | 
       | https://web.archive.org/web/20090220181018/http://geekcode.c...
        
       | KingOfCoders wrote:
       | Crashed, but serverless!
       | 
       | "This edge function has crashed"
        
       | folivore wrote:
       | Could you disable the favicon changing all the time? It's crazy
       | annoying
        
       | jakebasile wrote:
       | I like the idea, but I'm a proponent of humans.txt [1] as an
       | analog to robots.txt. I put one on my own sites.
       | 
       | [1]: https://humanstxt.org/
        
       | notorandit wrote:
       | This edge function has crashed An unhandled error in the function
       | code triggered the following message:
       | 
       | The deployment failed while serving the request. Connection
       | details Netlify internal ID: 01H4NGBNZ4NDV642KSK4XW6Y1Q
        
       | _joel wrote:
       | Maybe they need a setup that works themselves
        
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