Nping enhances the standard ping utility by providing a more visual and informative way to analyze network performance. It displays ping results in a variety of formats, including real-time graphs and customizable tables, offering a clearer picture of latency, packet loss, and other metrics over time. Beyond basic ping functionality, Nping supports TCP ping, UDP ping, and a range of other network probes, making it a versatile tool for network diagnostics and troubleshooting. Its flexible output options allow users to tailor the information displayed, focusing on the metrics most relevant to their specific needs.
NextRead (nextread.info) is a simple web tool designed to help users find their next book. It presents a sortable and filterable table comparing popular book recommendations from various sources like Goodreads, Bill Gates, and Barack Obama. This allows readers to quickly see commonalities across lists, identify highly-recommended titles, and filter by criteria like genre, author, or publication year to refine their search and discover new reads based on trusted sources.
HN users generally praised the simplicity and usefulness of the book comparison tool. Several suggested improvements, such as adding Goodreads integration, allowing users to import their own lists, and including more metadata like page count and publication date. Some questioned the reliance on Amazon, desiring alternative sources. The discussion also touched on the subjectivity of book recommendations and the difficulty of quantifying "similarity" between books. A few users shared their personal book recommendation methods, contrasting them with the tool's approach. The creator responded to many comments, acknowledging the suggestions and explaining some design choices.
Summary of Comments ( 43 )
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43023991
Hacker News users generally expressed interest in Nping, praising its modern interface and potential usefulness. Several commenters highlighted the value of the table view, particularly for quickly comparing multiple pings. Some suggested additional features like customizable columns and integration with other tools. One commenter questioned the project's longevity and update frequency, while another pointed out the existing, though less visually appealing,
prettyping
tool. The discussion also touched on the benefits of using Rust and the possibility of leveraging existing libraries like tui-rs for further development.The Hacker News post "Nping – ping, but with a graph or table view" linking to the GitHub repository for Nping generated several comments discussing its utility and comparing it to existing tools.
One commenter pointed out the value of Nping's ability to present ping results in a graphical format, making it easier to visualize latency trends over time. They specifically highlighted the usefulness of this feature for identifying intermittent network issues, which can be difficult to spot with traditional ping's linear output.
Another comment mentioned the pre-existing tool
mtr
, which combines the functionality oftraceroute
andping
. They suggested that Nping might be redundant givenmtr
's capabilities. This sparked a small discussion about the differences between the two tools, with someone clarifying thatmtr
focuses on the route and hops while Nping is centered on the ping results themselves. They noted that whilemtr
can show latency graphs, Nping's presentation is cleaner and potentially more suitable for specific use cases.A different user appreciated the simplicity and ease of use offered by Nping, praising its intuitive interface and clear presentation. They saw it as a valuable tool for quick network diagnostics.
The conversation also touched upon the technical aspects of the tool. One commenter asked about the implementation details, specifically inquiring about the language used and whether it leveraged any particular libraries. The author of Nping responded, explaining that it was written in Go and utilized the
termui
library for the terminal-based graphical interface. They also provided further context regarding the motivation behind creating Nping, highlighting the desire for a more visually appealing and easily interpretable ping output.Finally, there was a brief exchange concerning the potential integration of Nping with other tools or platforms. One commenter suggested incorporating it into a larger network monitoring suite, while another proposed potential improvements to the graphical display, such as adding customizable time windows and more detailed statistics.