Extramaze: Using Racket, PostgreSQL, AWS, but no ads or JavaScript (2018)(greghendershott.com)
greghendershott.com
Extramaze: Using Racket, PostgreSQL, AWS, but no ads or JavaScript (2018)
https://www.greghendershott.com/2018/05/extramaze-llc-using-racket-postgresql-aws-but-no-ads-or-js.html
37 comments
Wow. The author started Cakewalk all by himself in 1987. Now I'm feeling really bad about pirating his software when I was 19. I'm very sorry Mr Hendershott, these days I pay for all the software I use.
Could you afford Cakewalk when you were 19? What damage did you do?
I love how that platform puts SQL into s expressions, with all the capabilities this implies.
Not that I’ve actually touched any Lisp since the 80s.
Back to work in Java / Hibernate hell...
Not that I’ve actually touched any Lisp since the 80s.
Back to work in Java / Hibernate hell...
If you want to get back into a lisp give Clojure a try.
It is amazing how elegant s-expressions are. And just how much pain that could have been avoided by using them. Markup languages, configuration files, you name it. Sometimes there are advantages for alternate notations, but most are quite niche.
Now, if just all the lisp dialects would stop bikeshedding...
Now, if just all the lisp dialects would stop bikeshedding...
Greg made CakeWalk, one of the first and best music programs of it's day.
I bet more '90s-early 2000s demos were cut with Cakewalk than with Logic, Performer, and ProTools combined. Absolutely classic software; I'm amazed that it was put together by just one guy.
Oh my god. I recognized the name, but I didn't realize he was talking about _that_ CakeWalk.
>Markdown edited with GNU Emacs. Site built using Frog, the frozen blog generator, and Twitter Bootstrap.
I was looking at Frog[0] yesterday and found myself in want of an example website. Today I found one, thanks to OP. :)
[0] https://github.com/greghendershott/frog
I was looking at Frog[0] yesterday and found myself in want of an example website. Today I found one, thanks to OP. :)
[0] https://github.com/greghendershott/frog
It looks like it's the same person... also it does look very cool.
I've recently started a blog with a similar ethos: static hosting (for now it's on S3) with no Javascript or ads. However, i'd like to know who is visiting / whether my various publicity stunts are successful. I could self-host something like Piwik, but the maintenance headache and security/PII responsibility doesn't appeal to me.
What would other ethical webmasters here do? Only use HTTP access logs?
EDIT: to be clear: i could also write a bunch of tooling myself to parse access logs or report events to a backend, but that feels like a lot of work + reinventing the wheel + maintenance/security scare.
What would other ethical webmasters here do? Only use HTTP access logs?
EDIT: to be clear: i could also write a bunch of tooling myself to parse access logs or report events to a backend, but that feels like a lot of work + reinventing the wheel + maintenance/security scare.
> Only use HTTP access logs?
what else do you need, honestly?
you could set a cookie on initial page load with a uuid and identify unique users from that (you can log cookies with nginx/apache).
just push the resulting log to Loki [1] (as an example) and you're done.
[1] https://grafana.com/loki
what else do you need, honestly?
you could set a cookie on initial page load with a uuid and identify unique users from that (you can log cookies with nginx/apache).
just push the resulting log to Loki [1] (as an example) and you're done.
[1] https://grafana.com/loki
[deleted]
Noooo. I was excited to look at the site, but it is not up: http://extramaze.com/
The article points to the actual website https://deals.extramaze.com/
I would love to see as a sample a two week-old version of the deals so I could understand what I am paying for.
Article says registered users get deals that are at least a day old for free. Registered users get faster deals and saved searches - i.e. alerts.
I missed that, thanks.
A service like this could definitely be worth the money. I used to watch sales at Musician's Friend and got things like harmonicas for $2, gig bags for $2, and Fender Custom Shop picks 6 boxes for $24.
A service like this could definitely be worth the money. I used to watch sales at Musician's Friend and got things like harmonicas for $2, gig bags for $2, and Fender Custom Shop picks 6 boxes for $24.
I run similar services covering the Vans shoes (https://vaultexplorer.com/) and "parts to build drones with" niches (https://rotorratings.com/). I run them on $5 Digital Ocean droplets.
What kind of revenue you make on that? More than just beer money?
Not enough for a single beer yet, but ive only just begun. Adding features for paid users only soon.
Nice writeup, thanks! I saved the link in my 'cool Racket' list.
I am also using Racket for a side project (Racket for the top level and 'business logic' with some Python/Keras stuff wrapped as services). Racket is very nice, and it is "weaning" me off of Common Lisp (which I have used heavily since the 1980s). The Racket ecosystem just keeps getting better. (I still love Common Lisp though)
I am also using Racket for a side project (Racket for the top level and 'business logic' with some Python/Keras stuff wrapped as services). Racket is very nice, and it is "weaning" me off of Common Lisp (which I have used heavily since the 1980s). The Racket ecosystem just keeps getting better. (I still love Common Lisp though)
There have been some other exciting posts about Racket over the past few days[0][1], so I feel confident that my decision to soon get started with DrRacket is a good one.
Question for you: Do you use any services, tools, or methodology to organize your bookmarks? Personally it's an interesting challenge for me because of the myriad of devices, browsers, and platforms I use.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19027400 [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19043816 [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19044409
Question for you: Do you use any services, tools, or methodology to organize your bookmarks? Personally it's an interesting challenge for me because of the myriad of devices, browsers, and platforms I use.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19027400 [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19043816 [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19044409
Yeah, this link was mentioned in the comments on Racket 7.2 announcement thread and I thought it was interesting enough to deserve a submission. Apparently HN agrees :D (this being my first submission to reach front page in quite a while).
I keep coming back to Racket, thinking it would be awesome to learn it properly and use it for a real project, then forgetting about it again due to busyness with existing projects... it's quite a cursed circle.
I keep coming back to Racket, thinking it would be awesome to learn it properly and use it for a real project, then forgetting about it again due to busyness with existing projects... it's quite a cursed circle.
I keep org mode files for general interests of mine and put links in ‘resource’ sections. I also use browser bookmarks but I frequently get rid of older bookmarks, using bookmarks as todo reading.
It'd be cool to see a revival in niche, honest software. The thing about tech conglomerates is while they do a bunch of things efficiently, they also do most of those things badly. If a single person can build something that's useful to herself and to those like her, it seems like it can be enough to make a living.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/amazo...
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/01/amazo...
I think they do things both inefficiently and badly. They only get ahead because of their sales teams.
I meant the implementation is efficient, not the user experience. Amazon sure does benefit from consolidating all of its services into a single infrastructure, and from being able to bootstrap a whole new "store" just by adding a product category. It just lacks the ability to tune in to any particular user segment's needs.
Note that this was written in May 2018, and the author is probably in the US in the state of Massachusetts. I'm guessing the location based on a statement on the site that MA residents will be charged sales tax.
The next month, a major legal change took place for such sites when the Supreme Court ruled that states can force out of state online vendors to collect sales tax. At least half the states now have such requirements, and most of the rest are in the process of getting it in place.
This made doing a "get paid directly by the end user" site a lot more complicated, both legally and technically.
If you don't have sufficient sales into a state, you don't have to collect tax, but unfortunately most states seem to be going with a threshold of 200 transactions a year or sales of $100k or $200k or some similar high number.
That "or" is the killer. If you are selling items that individually are cheap it is not hard to reach a state's "must collect and file" threshold by transaction count even if you have very little income from the state. You could easily lose all your profit and more in such a state to tax report filing fees.
The next month, a major legal change took place for such sites when the Supreme Court ruled that states can force out of state online vendors to collect sales tax. At least half the states now have such requirements, and most of the rest are in the process of getting it in place.
This made doing a "get paid directly by the end user" site a lot more complicated, both legally and technically.
If you don't have sufficient sales into a state, you don't have to collect tax, but unfortunately most states seem to be going with a threshold of 200 transactions a year or sales of $100k or $200k or some similar high number.
That "or" is the killer. If you are selling items that individually are cheap it is not hard to reach a state's "must collect and file" threshold by transaction count even if you have very little income from the state. You could easily lose all your profit and more in such a state to tax report filing fees.
I am not a member of this organization (yet?) - but they are fighting (right now mostly focus in CA in regards to Amazon's third party sellers) for straightforward legislations around sales taxes - https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/
There has been efforts for more than a decade to introduce a streamlined tax system (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamlined_Sales_Tax_Project), a framework that all states could adopt for their tax purposes. The intent was to make it easy for states to tax as desired, while using a simple framework that would make it easier for companies choosing to do inter-state business, and easier for online companies to implement.
A number of the larger companies had expressed a willingness over the years of implementing a sales tax, provided the states could clean up their tax codes to make it straightforward. A number of the states have tax codes that are so insanely complex for companies operating outside of the state that it becomes a near nightmare to correctly turn in to a computer program, for example Hawaii which doesn't have a sales tax but has a General Excise Tax.
Getting states to be willing to completely overhaul their tax system is an extremely hard battle.
edit: added link to the SST Project wiki page.
A number of the larger companies had expressed a willingness over the years of implementing a sales tax, provided the states could clean up their tax codes to make it straightforward. A number of the states have tax codes that are so insanely complex for companies operating outside of the state that it becomes a near nightmare to correctly turn in to a computer program, for example Hawaii which doesn't have a sales tax but has a General Excise Tax.
Getting states to be willing to completely overhaul their tax system is an extremely hard battle.
edit: added link to the SST Project wiki page.
In the decision allowing states to make out of state sellers collect tax, the Supreme Court said that a state could only do so if it wasn't unduly burdensome on interstate commerce.
They did not give precise rules for what qualified, but did mention that South Dakota (the state involved in the case) was part of the SST project as being an important factor in South Dakota's law not being burdensome.
The general opinion I've seen has been that if a state joins SST, sets thresholds similar to South Dakota's, and does not make their law retroactive, it will almost certainly pass muster.
My guess is that this will bring most of the states into SST. That gets them safe tax collection right away. If they go it alone, they risk merchants making the state prove in court first that their particular law is not burdensome.
They did not give precise rules for what qualified, but did mention that South Dakota (the state involved in the case) was part of the SST project as being an important factor in South Dakota's law not being burdensome.
The general opinion I've seen has been that if a state joins SST, sets thresholds similar to South Dakota's, and does not make their law retroactive, it will almost certainly pass muster.
My guess is that this will bring most of the states into SST. That gets them safe tax collection right away. If they go it alone, they risk merchants making the state prove in court first that their particular law is not burdensome.
Has this group tried outright banning states with overly complex or onerous tax policies?
Voters might suddenly care about this legislation, if suddenly found themselves banned from large swaths of ecommerce sites overnight, with messages telling them it's because of their state's tax policies.
Voters might suddenly care about this legislation, if suddenly found themselves banned from large swaths of ecommerce sites overnight, with messages telling them it's because of their state's tax policies.
So roots of this group are in sellers selling products via Amazon using their FBA service. As a seller on Amazon, you can not exclude the certain state from destinations you ship to. (This is one of the arguments to why Amazon should be considered a seller and not third-parties, but this is totally different topic altogether)
Thank you - this is useful information. This seems like something that would have a very low rate of compliance presently, is that right?
I have no idea what the compliance rate is. I suspect that it various a lot depending on the state.
For these states I suspect that it is higher than for other states:
A key aspect of the SST stuff is that if you agree to collect tax for ALL of those states, the states will pay the costs for you to use a third party service provider to calculate and track taxes and handle the required per state reports. The supported third party providers at this time are Accurate Tax, Avalara, Exactor, Sovos, TaxCloud, and Taxify.
I suspect that a common pattern for merchants, especially small merchants, will be to go through SST and collect for all those states, and deal with the rest on a case by case basis.
Note that all of those third party providers working with SST do provide tax services for non-SST states, but not for free.
For the big non-SST states, like California, it will probably be worth it (California's law requiring collecting tax kicks in 2019-04-01). For small states, I suspect a lot of small merchants might just stop selling in them.
I think that a lot of the non-SST states will be joining SST. I know that many of them have in their laws or policies statements that they agree with the principles of SST...I think some just haven't worked out the details yet.
For the non-SST states, a lot will also depend on which third party provider one is using for SST. With TaxCloud [1], for example, you can have them handle a non-SST state for 0.5% of sales in that state (that's for small merchants...the rate is lower for bigger merchants). That's not too bad, and the pain is the same regardless of whether the state is huge or tiny.
For some other providers the cost structure is typically a per transaction cost (e.g., $N for M tax API calls per month) plus whatever it costs for the state filing fees to file tax reports, and so if you aren't making a lot in a state that filing fee can kill you. You'll need to be a lot more selective.
There's another aspect of having to collect tax that is annoying. Tax depends on location, and tax boundaries do not line up with zip code boundaries. To lookup the right tax you will now have to ask for full address information, even if you are not shipping anything. Before all you needed was zip, to help reduce credit card fraud (and that is actually optional).
It would really really really make things nicer if Congress would step in and pass a law that says that IF states require out of state merchants to collect sales tax, the tax MUST be a function of 5 digit zip code. Then merchants would only need a simple look up table with under 50000 rows to determine the tax. We wouldn't need any real-time APIs for our shopping carts to use to look up tax rates from third parties, simplifying tax handing in our carts. We'd just need to use the SST third parties after the sale to record the tax for reporting, which I believe they all provide APIs for (to cover non-online sales).
Right now, there are places where the tax varies by building within a block. It is vary irritating.
[1] I generally use TaxCloud for examples because they are the best at making information available on their site to the general public. The others tend more toward making you sign up, or making you actually talk to someone, to get details.
For these states I suspect that it is higher than for other states:
Arkansas
Georgia
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Michigan
Minnesota
Nebraska
Nevada
New Jersey
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Utah
Vermont
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
A key aspect of the SST stuff is that if you agree to collect tax for ALL of those states, the states will pay the costs for you to use a third party service provider to calculate and track taxes and handle the required per state reports. The supported third party providers at this time are Accurate Tax, Avalara, Exactor, Sovos, TaxCloud, and Taxify.
I suspect that a common pattern for merchants, especially small merchants, will be to go through SST and collect for all those states, and deal with the rest on a case by case basis.
Note that all of those third party providers working with SST do provide tax services for non-SST states, but not for free.
For the big non-SST states, like California, it will probably be worth it (California's law requiring collecting tax kicks in 2019-04-01). For small states, I suspect a lot of small merchants might just stop selling in them.
I think that a lot of the non-SST states will be joining SST. I know that many of them have in their laws or policies statements that they agree with the principles of SST...I think some just haven't worked out the details yet.
For the non-SST states, a lot will also depend on which third party provider one is using for SST. With TaxCloud [1], for example, you can have them handle a non-SST state for 0.5% of sales in that state (that's for small merchants...the rate is lower for bigger merchants). That's not too bad, and the pain is the same regardless of whether the state is huge or tiny.
For some other providers the cost structure is typically a per transaction cost (e.g., $N for M tax API calls per month) plus whatever it costs for the state filing fees to file tax reports, and so if you aren't making a lot in a state that filing fee can kill you. You'll need to be a lot more selective.
There's another aspect of having to collect tax that is annoying. Tax depends on location, and tax boundaries do not line up with zip code boundaries. To lookup the right tax you will now have to ask for full address information, even if you are not shipping anything. Before all you needed was zip, to help reduce credit card fraud (and that is actually optional).
It would really really really make things nicer if Congress would step in and pass a law that says that IF states require out of state merchants to collect sales tax, the tax MUST be a function of 5 digit zip code. Then merchants would only need a simple look up table with under 50000 rows to determine the tax. We wouldn't need any real-time APIs for our shopping carts to use to look up tax rates from third parties, simplifying tax handing in our carts. We'd just need to use the SST third parties after the sale to record the tax for reporting, which I believe they all provide APIs for (to cover non-online sales).
Right now, there are places where the tax varies by building within a block. It is vary irritating.
[1] I generally use TaxCloud for examples because they are the best at making information available on their site to the general public. The others tend more toward making you sign up, or making you actually talk to someone, to get details.