[HN Gopher] MS Paint IDE
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       MS Paint IDE
        
       Author : smusamashah
       Score  : 146 points
       Date   : 2025-03-05 11:52 UTC (11 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (ms-paint-i.de)
 (TXT) w3m dump (ms-paint-i.de)
        
       | nashashmi wrote:
       | Whhhhyyyyy?
       | 
       | > The IDE may seem like a joke, but the research and development
       | gone into it is most definitely not.
       | 
       | > MS Paint IDE uses a custom OCR that can be trained by nearly
       | any font in any size, reading code from images in just
       | miliseconds. The IDE's compiler and program output are in .png's,
       | and automatically underlines any errors present and provides
       | syntax highlighting with Java, Go, Python, and JavaScript
       | currently being supported.
       | 
       | > The IDE also allows for arbitrarily editing any text file
       | through Paint via a context menu option, with native-looking
       | button overlays onto MS Paint to perform IDE actions.
       | 
       | why?
        
         | INTPenis wrote:
         | Just think of all the useful software they could have written.
        
           | treve wrote:
           | Just think of the shareholder value they could have created
           | instead of having fun.
        
           | jancsika wrote:
           | But also just think of all the useful software that _hasn 't_
           | been written by people sitting around thinking about all the
           | useful software that could be written.
           | 
           | I'd love to see a project on github that mines HN posts for a
           | decent sized list of this.
           | 
           | I'll start-- off the top of my head I remember a post from
           | Mike Hearn about starting the web from scratch using a format
           | that announces the size of the incoming message rather than
           | making the recipient check for terminator(s).
           | 
           | There must be a dozen dozen such thoughts-without-software of
           | "the web, but good" on here.
           | 
           | If we have a list then you could plug it in to a script and
           | have a spit out a random set, and then you could focus
           | specifically on those.
           | 
           | Anyway, I'm thinking it should be stored and maintained as a
           | quine...
        
           | prophesi wrote:
           | It made me laugh, and that's reason enough for me to code
           | anything.
        
         | haswell wrote:
         | On HN, I think a better question is exactly the opposite: why
         | not?!
         | 
         | I've built bizarre things that no one will use purely to learn
         | about things.
         | 
         | Many projects are about the process itself and less about the
         | outcome. Every one of those "useless" projects has informed my
         | productive work throughout my career.
        
       | saghm wrote:
       | This reminds me of the classic StackOverflow question (maybe
       | inspired by it?):
       | https://stackoverflow.com/questions/5508110/why-is-this-prog...
        
         | omoikane wrote:
         | I thought it was inspired by XKCD's photoshop as a patch tool:
         | 
         | https://xkcd.com/1685/
         | 
         | (XKCD might have been inspired by the same post since it came
         | later)
        
           | saghm wrote:
           | I forgot about that one! Normally I'm the one chiming in with
           | relevant xkcds
        
       | omnibrain wrote:
       | This is a true piece of art!
        
       | anonzzzies wrote:
       | It is lovely. I would, if I created this... art... Relaunch it
       | every 1st of april.
        
       | hombre_fatal wrote:
       | If anyone's confused, you can scroll down on the homepage.
       | 
       | I didn't realize that until I accidentally bumped my track pad.
       | 
       | Sometimes when things fit a little too neatly above the fold, it
       | seems like there's nothing below it.
        
       | SamBam wrote:
       | Nice, although I was disappointed that you program by typing into
       | MS Paint. I would have thought trying to draw the letters using
       | your touchpad would be more intuitive.
       | 
       | Every bank seems to accept the weird single line that gets drawn
       | when I try and scrawl my signature using my trackpad, so there
       | must be quite a bit of interesting magic going on there.
        
         | glitchc wrote:
         | The secret is that no one is checking that scrawl for
         | authenticity. Not unless there's actual fraud, that's when the
         | forensic experts are brought out to analyze and pontificate.
        
       | jtwaleson wrote:
       | If I ever become filthy rich, I would like to start companies
       | around nonsensical products. Just to see how long you can make it
       | last until potential customers and applicants are like "but this
       | doesn't make any sense". This project is a perfect fit! Other
       | ideas I had were things like wifi for servers.
        
         | emchammer wrote:
         | SkiFree as a Service
        
           | xattt wrote:
           | Monetization opportunities include: pay-per-jump and
           | Abominable Snow Monster rescue fee.
        
           | navbaker wrote:
           | Enterprise tier adds the ability to disable users being
           | devoured by the yeti?
        
             | doubled112 wrote:
             | Being devoured could be considered not safe for work.
        
             | rzzzt wrote:
             | Just the SSO login, sorry.
        
         | passivegains wrote:
         | > wifi for servers
         | 
         | I urge you to reconsider. Potential customers and applicants
         | will immediately go all in and the "but this doesn't make any
         | sense" step will never happen. We'll be reading blog posts like
         | "I'm hooked on PCP (the Post-Cabling Paradigm)" from Google
         | SRE's with comments praising the downfall of "Big Ethernet"
         | while the emissions from datacenters vaporize flocks of
         | migrating birds.
        
           | jtwaleson wrote:
           | Yes! The servers will look lit without those ugly cables.
           | Zero-downtime cross-rack migrations will become possible.
        
             | spydum wrote:
             | Wireless fiber is the way of the future
        
             | LeifCarrotson wrote:
             | It would take some downtime (or at least a really long
             | extension cord and redundant power supplies for swapping
             | one-by-one) because you'd still need to connect it to
             | power.
             | 
             | The solution is obvious: Qi inductive wireless charge coils
             | on the outside of the server cases.
        
               | jtwaleson wrote:
               | Or integrated miniature diesel generators.
        
               | electroly wrote:
               | You swap it over to a desktop UPS that can _come along
               | with the server_ during the physical move. No downtime as
               | long as you have redundant PSUs and you can walk fast
               | enough to beat the battery draining.
        
             | hateful wrote:
             | But - hear me out - if all of your servers did have wifi -
             | and it was usually disabled - but you could enable it, move
             | the server, then disable it - that might be something?
             | 
             | I know having a redundant server is better - but there's
             | something to it.
             | 
             | Also, this reminds me of a post I read a while ago about
             | them moving a server from one building to another without
             | unplugging it or something.
             | 
             | [Found it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24059243]
        
               | passivegains wrote:
               | thank you for digging up the link, it was everything I
               | hoped it would be. that one's going in my bookmarks.
               | 
               | obviously a second server and a reverse proxy or
               | something would be less jank, but your idea definitely
               | has merit. it's kind of like using two points of contact
               | while climbing something.
        
               | jtwaleson wrote:
               | We should apply to the next YC batch as cofounders.
        
             | FuriouslyAdrift wrote:
             | Cannot tell you how many uncomfortable conversations I have
             | had trying to explain that you still need to run cables for
             | power to wireless cameras (the outdoor cams work off of
             | solar quite well, though).
        
               | dmd wrote:
               | None of the wireless cameras at my house have power
               | cables. They run for months on a charge.
        
               | FuriouslyAdrift wrote:
               | Our bullet cams pull a steady 30W ad they record 24/7
               | (factory floor). Our newer 4k and PTZ cams are coming in
               | pulling nearly 60W.
        
         | buryat wrote:
         | mschf is pretty close to what you're describing
        
           | jtwaleson wrote:
           | Wow, what a gem, thanks for recommending this!
           | https://mschfhotels.com/products/flipped-flop
        
         | jayd16 wrote:
         | I'm down but I'm going to need Power Over Wifi for all my
         | security cameras too.
        
           | throwway120385 wrote:
           | I've been prototyping this but my neighbors are starting to
           | complain about their canned foods coming out warm from the
           | cupboard.
        
           | FuriouslyAdrift wrote:
           | power over fiber is also a thing (it has very narrow use
           | cases)
           | 
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-over-fiber
        
         | ashoeafoot wrote:
         | It has a point though. Anything using clichees to communicate
         | ,using something everyone knows, can spread like wildfire.
         | 
         | This is why some of user facing programable stuff pre node
         | gives the users a interface like excel.
        
         | eddythompson80 wrote:
         | You can apply to Urbit.
        
       | notepad0x90 wrote:
       | We need awards for absurdity, I love this. Lots of good ideas and
       | innovation come from the pursuit of the absurd. Don't ask why,
       | ask why not!
        
       | thumb wrote:
       | I can see utility in something like this where someone sent you a
       | screenshot of code and you wish to compile/execute the code in
       | the screenshot. Anything else is a bonus. I dig the project, keep
       | it up!
        
       | adhamsalama wrote:
       | It doesn't have any AI features? Amazing. I might actually use
       | it.
        
         | odo1242 wrote:
         | Technically OCR itself is an AI feature though lol
        
       | artursapek wrote:
       | incredible
        
       | npodbielski wrote:
       | But... Why?!
        
       | code_runner wrote:
       | AI will never replicate this
        
       | naikrovek wrote:
       | People who have web pages for graphical tools of any kind, where
       | screenshots of the tool are not front & center on the website, I
       | have a question for you: WHY?!
        
       | Lramseyer wrote:
       | As of recent, I have had this pet theory that there's a
       | brilliance / stupidity spectrum, but if you go too far in one
       | direction it loops back on itself. Some things are just so stupid
       | that they're brilliant. I really like this!
       | 
       | Also, I should clarify that "brilliance" and "stupidity" in this
       | theory are not raw intelligence, but the application of said
       | intelligence.
        
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       (page generated 2025-03-05 23:00 UTC)