IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Show HN: I made a Clojure-like language in Go, boots in 7ms

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

Top3 Themes in the Discussion

Theme Supporting Quote
1. Clarifying “time to first instruction” vs. full startup latency "The 7ms here is measured at the point where let‑go starts executing user code. It takes 7ms to initialize the compiler, load all stdlib namespaces and compute all vars. So it's not 'time to first instruction', it's 'time to running your code'." — marcingas
2. Critique of README style & “vibe” culture "You made an account just to post this low‑effort ‘criticism’? What’s the point?" — blanched
"Yeah, it has em dashes alright. But that's besides the point I guess. What is your point?" — marcingas
3. Growing interest in a Clojure‑like Go language & ecosystem "Nice! I recently played around with a Lisp syntax for Go semantics..." — veqq
"I think you could make a framework on top of this. It doesn't yet run unmodified Clojure libs like hiccup but it wouldn't be hard to roll something relatively simple and solid in let‑go." — marcingas

The conversation centers on accurate performance labeling, concerns about polished‑looking READMEs, and enthusiasm for a Clojure‑style language that compiles to Go.

🚀 Project Ideas

TurboGoClojureWarm-Up Engine

Summary

  • Solves the 7 ms cold‑start delay for let‑go/Glojure compiled programs by pre‑warming AOT bytecode.
  • Delivers sub‑millisecond startup latency, making the language feel truly interactive.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience let‑go developers, Glojure users, Go enthusiasts building DSLs
Core Feature AOT pre‑compilation + warm‑up service that caches compiled functions for instant first run
Tech Stack Go, Go plugins, SQLite for metadata, Docker for deployment
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Subscription ($5/mo per user)

Notes

  • HN users like marcingas lamented the 7 ms initialization delay, noting it’s not “time to first instruction” but “time to running your code.”
  • Provides a practical utility for AoC scripting and rapid prototyping, increasing adoption of Go‑based Lisp‑like languages.

CleanReadMe

Summary

  • Eliminates excessive emojis, em dashes, and AI‑slop from project READMEs, giving maintainers a clean, human‑readable starting point.
  • Produces a minimal, well‑structured README that follows community style guides, improving discoverability and reducing onboarding friction.

Details| Key | Value |

|-----|-------| | Target Audience | Maintainers of let‑go, Glojure, and other Go‑based languages; open‑source contributors | | Core Feature | CLI tool that scaffolds a README with sections: Overview, Quick Start, Benchmarks, Contributing, License | | Tech Stack | Go | | Difficulty | Low | | Monetization | Hobby |

Notes

  • HN commenter stingraycharles asked “Why did you feel the need to slopify your README?” highlighting the same pain point.
  • Solves a recurring annoyance, encouraging better documentation practices across the ecosystem.

Glojure Playground SaaS

Summary

  • Provides a hosted REPL with channel support, syntax highlighting, and instant code sharing for Glojure/let‑go.
  • Allows developers to experiment with async pipelines and REPL‑driven development without local setup.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Newcomers to Glojure, educators, Go/Clojure hybrid developers
Core Feature Web UI that spins up isolated containers running the Glojure compiler/runtime, exposing REPL, channel execution, and shareable snippets
Tech Stack Go backend, WebAssembly front‑end, Docker, Redis for session storage
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: Pay‑per‑minute compute ($0.01 per minute) with free tier

Notes

  • HN user ingy shared “Try out this Wasm browser REPL” and discussed the need for a REPL to test code quickly.
  • Creates discussion potential around building a community around a hosted Glojure environment.

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