Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by throwaway81523 807 days ago
This article is mostly blither, whether or not it is AI generated. It is about a Python library for generating nicely formatted HTML tables, though they don't tell you much about it til the near the end. The library seems to use an OOP approach. An alternative approach might be more declarative. The product name "Great Tables" appears in boldface over and over (no idea if the font helps SEO) and the name itself is awfully pretentious imho. Overall, the library itself sounds ok,, but the blog post is the annoying market-speak that frequently makes me cringe here on HN.

It would be nice to add some interactivity features to the tables, like ActiveAdmin in Rails.
2 comments
paddy_m 807 days ago
It's not AI generated. I have tracked the PR as they have worked on it. From what I have seen, the library has declarative elements that are similar to the grammar of graphics.
link
digging 807 days ago
Actually, it's a near-perfect article from my point of view. I don't (regularly) work in tables, I'm not immersed in data visualization culture, and I wouldn't have thought twice about reading a simple "here is our product" page aimed only at people who already know what they're looking for.

However, this article gave me some really interesting and valuable background material and then concluded with solid, crystal clear (even to me, who's never written python) examples. I actually came away thinking, "well, this look fun - I should spin up some toy project to play around with this and learn how to use it."

link
throwaway81523 806 days ago
I don't think I learned anything about tables from the pictures of rectangular grids found on cave walls. Most of us don't "work in tables", but we have all still seen some, made some, and know what they are.

You might read the famous Edward Tufte book, https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_vdqi

link