Show HN: We built a terminal-only Bluesky / AT Proto client written in Fortran (github.com)

by FormerLabFred 84 comments 145 points
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84 comments

[−] lzhgusapp 56d ago
Love seeing niche Show HN projects like this. The choice of Fortran is wild but that's what makes it fun. As someone building small Mac utilities, I appreciate any project that proves you don't need a massive stack to ship something useful.
[−] FormerLabFred 56d ago
Thanks for the feedback!

We got a spec for Assemblersky. Will be a weekend project. Cancel Easter :) And probably Midsummer too…

We got image composer and decoder plugged in in dev env, but will let this first open version breathe first. ASCII or early Apple algo

Fortran-fast feed builder probably in next open version. It crunches fast

Morning, 9 o’clock in Sweden, coffee and check-the-feed-on- Fortransky-time :)

[−] bombcar 56d ago
COBOLsky. It’s enterprise webscale.
[−] cat-turner 57d ago
out of curiosity, why fortran? no disrespect. I wrote a lot of scientific software in the earlier days of my career and I learned fortran to update ocean modeling software.
[−] FormerLabFred 57d ago
You are not the first one to ask :)

We built Cobolsky. Will go public soon. Parallelly too curious on Fortran. The world is better with a Fortran-based social network client in it :)

When we are building the feed composer, in next version, Fortran will be great for the algorithm etc.

Keeping the ancient languages alive. I built some Cobol stuff many years ago. Back at it again. Rusty.

Both Cobolsky and Fortransky looks great on Swordfish90’s cool-retro-term, but we are building our own terminal for Fortransky too. There is a blog post with screenshots over at Patreon/formerlab

Can’t get enough Fortran

[−] embedding-shape 57d ago

> The world is better with a Fortran-based social network client in it

If you don't mind me asking, why is the world better with more Fortran-based software?

[−] Melatonic 56d ago
How do COBOL and Fortran compare for something like this ?
[−] bee_rider 56d ago
Which version of the language is it? It looks like you used Fortran90 at least (modules are used), which is pretty old, but not totally ancient like Fortran77.

Anyway there are also 2018 and 2023 versions…

[−] cat-turner 54d ago
Ya know what? Rock on Fortran Friend. Keep doing what you are doing. We need more nerds passionate about Fortran.
[−] enriquto 57d ago

> why fortran?

why not? the language is straightforward and loops are fast. It is portable and your code will work unchanged for the next 50 years. It may be a bit verbose, but that's not a big deal with today's tooling.

[−] pklausler 57d ago
maybe they weren't really concerned about portability or a decent standard?
[−] zoom6628 56d ago
Brilliant in every possible way. Fortran was first language I learnt at high school in its "PORTRAN" variant.
[−] jrmg 56d ago
It seems you’ve written an extensive blog post about this, but I don’t see a direct link anywhere!

https://www.patreon.com/posts/fortransky-we-in-153457794

[−] worldmerge 56d ago
I’ve never seen fortran before. Wow, that looks more readable than a lot of modern languages.
[−] hk1337 57d ago
Are there any other AT protocol apps that aren’t derivatives of bluesky? By that I mean, not social media feed related, twitter clone.
[−] vissnia 56d ago
I'm curious if you used AI during development and how it handled Fortran
[−] h4ch1 57d ago
It's always nice to see production codebases in languages that you've never used but are interested in.

Tangential, but to the author, are there any FORTRAN codebases you feel are well designed?

[−] Uptrenda 56d ago
Whenever I hear about this AT protocol I think about the text-based commands to control cellular modems. I can't be the only one, r-right guise... r-right?
[−] fortran77 56d ago
Finally! Some relevant news here. I wondered where all the other Fortran people were hiding. I thought I knew all the other BlueSky Fortraners.
[−] uberdru 57d ago
The world is a better place for this app. Wonderful!
[−] FormerLabFred 56d ago
Forecast: Fortransky on Tangled tomorrow Sunday
[−] jrmg 56d ago
There seems to be a bunch of Rust in there too?
[−] nerdypepper 56d ago
y'all gotta throw this up on https://tangled.org ;)
[−] Ashkaan 56d ago
Oh this is cool
[−] blundergoat 57d ago
fortran > cobol
[−] arunakt 56d ago
thats COBOL :)
[−] isodev 56d ago
On ATProto: it’s funny how we never learn the lesson:

- VCs band together to fund something shiny.

- Devs love shiny, helping spread the something.

- VCs enschitify it to get their coins back.

[−] dualblocksgame 56d ago
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[−] mitul005 53d ago
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