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    Simple Thread

    simplethread.com · Company blog · on HN since 2017

    Simple Thread, a software consultancy, publishes essays on software engineering practice, project estimation, databases, and React tooling.

    Visit blogHN submissions
    ProgrammingCareer & WorkManagement
    What HN says

    HN commenters cite the 20-years-as-an-engineer list as a favorite, plus the relational databases post, the "lose the duck" post, and the Redux versus hooks piece.

    Stats for nerds
    48HN people shared it
    122linked in comments
    4.7Kstory points
    Jun 2026last shared
    2018people per year2026

    Top posts on HN

    1. 1
      Things I’ve learned in my 20 years as a software engineer
      4 people · 1.4K points · first shared 2021 · 667 comments on HN
    2. 2
      Ruby on Rails in a week
      1 person · 497 points · first shared 2020 · 171 comments on HN
    3. 3
      Dear Client, Here’s Why That Change Took So Long
      2 people · 466 points · first shared 2019 · 273 comments on HN
    4. 4
      Software Complexity Is Killing Us
      2 people · 400 points · first shared 2018 · 287 comments on HN
    5. 5
      Agile at 20: The Failed Rebellion
      3 people · 348 points · first shared 2021 · 313 comments on HN
    6. 6
      Was MongoDB Ever the Right Choice?
      2 people · 317 points · first shared 2019 · 216 comments on HN
    7. 7
      Why does it take so long to build software? (2020)
      3 people · 230 points · first shared 2020 · 172 comments on HN
    8. 8
      Websites should not use dithered images
      1 person · 216 points · first shared 2021 · 129 comments on HN
    9. 9
      Relational databases aren’t dinosaurs, they’re sharks
      4 people · 173 points · first shared 2021 · 103 comments on HN
    10. 10
      Use Spreadsheets Everywhere
      1 person · 169 points · first shared 2021 · 120 comments on HN

    What HN people wrote when they linked it

    • mihaigalosDec 2021

      > My top theory is just that it's convenient for management purposes. That company's are bad at assessing progress, that we're afraid of situations that aren't ultra-well scheduled & predictable, and that we treat programmers like cogs in a machine because we're too afraid to try for better.

      This is because the classical consecrated need for project management. Back in the day, you would have factory workers overseen by managers to a) establish a process for the work to be done which is easy and precise - "plan the work" and b) oversee it - "work the plan". The process is, in their view, necessary so why question it?

      SW development is a creative process which doesn't really lend itself to rigid guard railing of classical project management.

      Some advocates outright speak against managers because of the penalty the rigid process has on creative throughput.
      Quote from https://www.simplethread.com/agile-at-20-the-failed-rebellion/ :

      > The important piece that gets forgotten is that Agile was openly, militantly anti-management in the beginning. For example, Ken Schwaber was vocal and explicit about his goal to get rid of all project managers – not just get the people off his projects, eradicate the profession from our industry.

    • jampaJun 2026

      From what you said: Not looking at code is bad, not because Claude can slip a few bugs (it can), but because LLMs tend to default to writing more code and features than needed, which isn't a good thing. I see a lot of people making 10+ PRs per day, but most of them are just going back to fix earlier PRs.

      Claude always likes to "go big," for example, by choosing tools that can support millions of concurrent users or by adding unnecessary layers of abstraction that create more maintenance pain. I guess that's good for LLM companies, since more tokens are spent fixing the mess it caused.

      Every time I enter plan mode for a huge feature, I end up cutting about 30-60% of the task scope before the LLM can actually start the work. I review the final code, and I still find things to cut. As said before "The best code is no code, or code you don’t have to maintain" [0]

      0: https://www.simplethread.com/20-things-ive-learned-in-my-20-years-as-a-software-engineer/

    • acemarkeSep 2019

      Note that context and useReducer do _not_ completely replace Redux.

      See the following resources for more details:

      - Mark Erikson - Reactathon 2019: The State of Redux (https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2019/03/presentation-state-of-redux/)

      - Mark Erikson: Redux - Not Dead Yet! (https://blog.isquaredsoftware.com/2018/03/redux-not-dead-yet/)

      - Dave Ceddia: React Context API vs Redux (https://daveceddia.com/context-api-vs-redux/)

      - Mike Green: You Might Not Need Redux (But You Can’t Replace It With Hooks) (https://www.simplethread.com/cant-replace-redux-with-hooks/)

      - Sergey Ryzhov: From Redux to Hooks: A Case Study (https://staleclosures.dev/from-redux-to-hooks-case-study/)

      - Eric Elliott: Do React Hooks Replace Redux? (https://medium.com/javascript-scene/do-react-hooks-replace-redux-210bab340672)

      - Chris Achard: Can You Replace Redux with React Hooks?](https://dev.to/chrisachard/can-you-replace-redux-with-react-hooks-20gm)

    • satvikpendemMay 2020

      In contrast,

      https://www.simplethread.com/cant-replace-redux-with-hooks/
      https://daveceddia.com/context-api-vs-redux/
      https://medium.com/javascript-scene/do-react-hooks-replace-redux-210bab340672

      TL;DR Context can replace some but not all of Redux. Redux can figure out which components to rerender based on what's being computed. Context doesn't, so it's basically the same as refreshing your entire component tree every time something changes. You could build it yourself, but at that point, you're just reinventing Redux.

      I also like the Redux Toolkit (https://redux-toolkit.js.org/) which is an opinionated way to write Redux that cuts down the boilerplate a lot. createSlice is easily one of the best features, you can encapsulate Redux logic for each different type of content, like authentication, users, posts, etc.

    • Sohcahtoa82Sep 2018

      I'm interpreting "creative and fun" as either synonymous with "overly clever" (which is hard to read, hard to debug, and hard to maintain [0][1]), or written a non-standard way just for the sake of being different. For example, here's a collection of FizzBuzz solutions[2]. Most of these are incredibly unreadable.

      [0]https://www.simplethread.com/dont-be-clever/

      [1]http://www.delabs.io/clever-code-is-bad-code/

      [2]https://ditam.github.io/posts/fizzbuzz/

    • jsjsjxxnndMar 2026

      In recent years CSS has become closer to a full programming language through experimental features, for example in 2025 they added if statements and some math functions like modulo

      https://www.simplethread.com/new-and-upcoming-css-features-i-m-excited-about/

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