Every wondered how Facebook spoofs Gmail message list snippet text?

Back when I got a copy of Charles Petzold's Win32 API guide, the first program I created was a Win9x system tray app that would let you grab a window by the title bar, shake it furiously and hurl it off the screen. Once it was completely off screen, the app would send the appropriate PostMessage call to kill it.

Assigning a touch of anthropomorphism to a stubborn program provided a satisfying outlet for user irritation.

poolnoodle · 18h ago

Fun fact: You can hurl app icons off the homescreen on Android.

ChrisGermano · 15h ago

Years back I wrote brainfuck in python to just use various A's and named it Screaming. It's dumb but fun. Hello World:

AAAAAAAAAAÁàAAAAAAAàAAAAAAAAAAàAAAàAááááaÀàAAâàAâAAAAAAAââAAAâàAAâááAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAâàâAAAâaaaaaaâaaaaaaaaâàAâàâ

dcminter · 10h ago

You probably enjoyed this xkcd: https://xkcd.com/3054/

willmeyers · 1d ago

I made a random number generator API that used a shared caps lock key as entropy (https://eieio.games/blog/the-global-capslock-key/). It didn't really work because bots made everything kind of deterministic. But it's kind of weird.

Code’s here: https://github.com/willmeyers/global-caps-lock-rng

90s_dev · 1d ago

Bots ruin everything.

gdhkgdhkvff · 1d ago

Made a “machine learning movie recommendation” website. It went through some relevant questions and had you select some of your favorite movies to base the recommendation off of. Then it “calculated” and finally recommended Weekend at Bernie’s to everyone regardless of what you answered. Then gave you an option of another movie, which was always Weekend at Bernie’s 2.

I had no specific reason to build it other than I thought it would be funny.

90s_dev · 1d ago

https://xkcd.com/221/

hiAndrewQuinn · 1d ago

"Weird" might be overselling it, but I'm quite fond of the first nontrivial Go program I ever wrote, which SSHes into Debian machines and gives a JSON "status report" of everything you might need to know to determine whether a program running on Debian Machine A might run on Debian Machine B. https://github.com/hiAndrewQuinn/meikkalainen

I feel like this falls under a class of tools where the existing solutions are just far too complicated for me to wrap my head around, like many of my shell scripts are meant to help with.

I should really get around to writing the semantic JSON diff for this project at some point.

bhu1st · 4h ago

I built a polyphonic ringtone maker that could create Nokia 1600-compatible ringtones in QBasic. Good ol days.

gcheong · 1d ago

My first iOS app was a button that played a flushing sound. I was trying to replicate the device used by women in Japanese restrooms to mask their, um, noises. Apple rejected it as being too simple and I didn't care to expand it to make it past gatekeepers at that point so it never got to the App Store.

90s_dev · 1d ago

Similarly I made the best bubble emulation app on iOS maybe 8 or 10 years ago. I was so happy with it, to some extent I wish I didn't delete the source code. But it only took me one inspired Saturday to make. Unfortunately it sold no copies because nobody needs a bubble emulator that emulates a Windows 95 era screensaver but with touch capabilities. They were such pretty bubbles though...

90s_dev · 1d ago

I'll just make it with JS. Can't be that hard.

90s_dev · 9h ago

Ok finished https://bubbles.90s.dev/

90s_dev · 9h ago

Oh man I forgot that I made this to emulate the old Windows screensaver. Now I have to make this a screensaver you can embed into a webpage brb

90s_dev · 7h ago

Done, posted it on Show HN.

yen223 · 1d ago

One of the first websites I ever built was a Lorem Ipsum-style placeholder text generator that uses quotes from the /r/nocontext subreddit

90s_dev · 1d ago

That sounds legitimately interesting and fun to use. You should republish it!

mikewarot · 1d ago

I was told to write a program that could erase the boot sector of a hard disk back in the MS-DOS days. I password protected it.

I thought it was a bad idea, so instead of just erasing the boot sector, I just flipped the bits so it could be undone by running it again.

nssnsjsjsjs · 20h ago

Smart. You can charge a $100 to "recover" the boot sector.

babyent · 13h ago

Dating app gamification. Never felt worse in my life but hey job experience is job experience.

sralbert · 1d ago

I worked for a court and a judge asked me to make a website with a button that would show a green circle 95% of the time and a red circle 5% of the time. I didn't ask what it was used for.

nssnsjsjsjs · 20h ago

Probably red means add an extra couple of years to the sentence.

Every wondered how Facebook spoofs Gmail message list snippet text?

Ask HN: Is anyone using AI conversation partners?

Ask HN: What projects do you donate to?

Ask HN: What are you working on? (May 2025)

Ask HN: Why that many more US-based companies are hiring "US-only" remote?

Ask HN: What's a tool you use every day that most developers haven't heard of?

Ask HN: Anyone struggling to get value out of coding LLMs?

Ask HN: Building LLM apps? How are you handling user context?

Ask HN: Merge Request Review Agent?

It Survives Because It Collapsed: Three AIs, One Residue

Ask HN: Go deep into AI/LLMs or just use them as tools?

Ask HN: Why does MCP need to exist?

OSINTGraph – Map Your Target's Instagram Network and Uncover Hidden Circles

Ask HN: How do you promote your personal projects with a limited budget?

Ask HN: How do you determine if something is a sunk cost VS needing patience?

O1 Visa Question - Looking for help

AgentLink: On-demand AI agents you can assemble into teams

Ask HN: What HN posts inspired or changed your perspective the most?

Ask HN: Weirdest programs you ever made?

OWASP PTK – browser extension all-in-one for pentesters and bug hunters

What's been your biggest technical bottleneck as a small startup lately?

Ask HN: Career Change Confusion

Ask HN: Can you give tips on writing a README for project?

Ask HN: What did you learn from your recent project failure?

Ask HN: Openrouter Free Models

Ask HN: What's the best decision you made early in your career

ESP32 MCP Server

Ask HN: How to Make Friendster Great?

Ask HN: Do you have a side project you're getting tired of?

Tips for me before I quit IT job to prepare for government job?

Ask HN: How do you keep on top of all of the AI tools and new changes?

Ask HN: What's your favorite architect/editor pair with Aider?

We sold our first AI agent to a legacy industry–now we're stuck. Help us Advice?

Ask HN: Places in the UK / Europe Related to computers

Ask HN: AI Reading List

Ask HN: Weirdest programs you ever made?

Comments (23)