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Posted by KolmogorovComp 13 hours ago

Bonsai: Janestreet's UI Library(github.com)
258 points | 100 commentspage 2
adastra22 10 hours ago|
The “The thinking in bonsai” link 404s.

This says it is based on Elm. So it has the same clean immutable state structure?

simonask 8 hours ago||
I really want to like OCaml. One day I'll get around to learning it.
kubb 12 hours ago||
I wish there were more OCaml shops out there
MrBuddyCasino 9 hours ago||
This is great. It focuses on utility and information density over design. It looks like someone took a terminal UI and transplanted it to the web, Bloomberg terminal style.

I'm pretty sure you can build tools with this that are fast and pleasant to use.

bobjansen 12 hours ago||
This would of been cool back in 2014.
_flux 6 hours ago||
Ocsigen and Eliom were started 2005 and are pretty similar, although I can't find any well-known projects using Eliom :/.

Presumably this has learned some lessons from it, so it's probably better.

ramesh31 2 hours ago||
>"This would of been cool back in 2014."

Pretty much. UI libraries are more or less meaningless now, and I say this as someone who spent the last decade building them. Given a proper data API to work against, you're a single prompt away from a fully tested bespoke lib that's more maintainable and has no dependencies. The weeks of work you saved by reaching for one before is gone, and the tradeoff you had to make of dealing with upstream changes and lack of customization just isn't there anymore.

Traster 12 hours ago||
The "Why Bonsai?" I found really funny.

Let me re-write that section for you:

Why Bonsai?

At Jane Street we're super excited by Functional programming and by CAML in particular, so when we need low latency software, we use OCAML, when we need hardware, we write out own langauge - HardCAML, and when we need a Web UI, we build a Web UI framework in CAML. Because we fucking love CAML.

troupo 10 hours ago||
And there's nothing wrong with that. Many languages attempt to do the same thing. Why bother with 15 different languages if you can leverage one?

See also LiveView and Hologram for Elixir.

bofeiw 12 hours ago||
Agreed, looks like it's reinventing the wheels. Frameworks does not really matter today, AI agents write the code anyway.
KolmogorovComp 12 hours ago|||
But AI do benefit a lot from a strict compiler, and having a simple language improve a lot on type-safety, so I don't think it is to throw, even today.
rmzs0711 11 hours ago||
But what about compilation speed? Hot reload? Maintainability? What is the bus factor for these kind of technologies?

Yea, its cool to have strict type safety, but what's the point of it doesn't have all the benefits from other Frameworks that took years to polish

OtherShrezzing 10 hours ago|||
JaneStreet has enough free cash to not worry about those issues. If one of their key persons dies in service, they can go out and contract the worlds leading expert in that domain, and their annualised rate isn’t even a rounding error on their bottom line.
zem 5 hours ago|||
ocaml has excellent compilation speed, and in my experience the code is very maintainable due to the module and type systems.
shAIster 10 hours ago||||
AI certainly writes Internet comments so that the flock does not have a single minute to get independent thoughts.
ForHackernews 12 hours ago|||
Better frameworks will still help AIs avoid silly mistakes. A smarter framework means you can be productive with a dumber/cheaper AI.
nbevans 10 hours ago||
It looks like a nice little library; but oh boy must this be so limiting for the product teams that are forced to use. Everything looks like it's straight out of the 1990s.
Onavo 5 hours ago||
Considering how ridiculously verbose their library is compared to React/Vue it's a good thing we have LLMs to deal with the boilerplate now.
phplovesong 7 hours ago||
[flagged]
Paradigma11 6 hours ago||
If you read up on it that was basically India protecting its corrupt cronies. Janestreet showed severe problems with some Indian companies and instead of fixing that and creating a healthier and more transparent market they decided to go after the messenger.
dtornabene 3 hours ago||
Why did you feel the need to post this same comment multiple times? Seems a bit suspect itself!
gigatexal 11 hours ago|
All your money and retirement funds are safe; I’m too dumb to work at JaneStreet; every time I see OCAML I feel less than and confused.
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