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+0.27 Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp (github.com)
87 points by varjag 3 days ago | 19 comments on HN | Mild positive Product · v3.7 · 2026-02-26
Summary Knowledge Access & Digital Participation Acknowledges
The cl-kawa repository on GitHub demonstrates structural and editorial alignment with multiple UDHR provisions, particularly those addressing freedom of expression (Article 19), education and cultural participation (Articles 26-27), and information access. The public, collaborative nature of the open-source project embodies rights-affirming principles through borderless knowledge sharing and voluntary association. However, observable analytics infrastructure and platform-conditional intellectual property rights create minor tensions with privacy and absolute ownership provisions. Overall, the repository exemplifies how collaborative digital infrastructure can support human rights while remaining subject to platform governance constraints.
Article Heatmap
Preamble: +0.30 — Preamble P Article 1: +0.20 — Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood 1 Article 2: +0.20 — Non-Discrimination 2 Article 3: ND — Life, Liberty, Security Article 3: No Data — Life, Liberty, Security 3 Article 4: ND — No Slavery Article 4: No Data — No Slavery 4 Article 5: ND — No Torture Article 5: No Data — No Torture 5 Article 6: ND — Legal Personhood Article 6: No Data — Legal Personhood 6 Article 7: ND — Equality Before Law Article 7: No Data — Equality Before Law 7 Article 8: ND — Right to Remedy Article 8: No Data — Right to Remedy 8 Article 9: ND — No Arbitrary Detention Article 9: No Data — No Arbitrary Detention 9 Article 10: ND — Fair Hearing Article 10: No Data — Fair Hearing 10 Article 11: ND — Presumption of Innocence Article 11: No Data — Presumption of Innocence 11 Article 12: +0.22 — Privacy 12 Article 13: +0.35 — Freedom of Movement 13 Article 14: +0.23 — Asylum 14 Article 15: +0.17 — Nationality 15 Article 16: ND — Marriage & Family Article 16: No Data — Marriage & Family 16 Article 17: -0.17 — Property 17 Article 18: +0.30 — Freedom of Thought 18 Article 19: +0.60 — Freedom of Expression 19 Article 20: +0.25 — Assembly & Association 20 Article 21: +0.17 — Political Participation 21 Article 22: +0.23 — Social Security 22 Article 23: +0.13 — Work & Equal Pay 23 Article 24: ND — Rest & Leisure Article 24: No Data — Rest & Leisure 24 Article 25: +0.40 — Standard of Living 25 Article 26: +0.53 — Education 26 Article 27: +0.63 — Cultural Participation 27 Article 28: +0.23 — Social & International Order 28 Article 29: 0.00 — Duties to Community 29 Article 30: +0.13 — No Destruction of Rights 30
Negative Neutral Positive No Data
Aggregates
Weighted Mean +0.27 Unweighted Mean +0.25
Max +0.63 Article 27 Min -0.17 Article 17
Signal 20 No Data 11
Confidence 28% Volatility 0.18 (Medium)
Negative 1 Channels E: 0.5 S: 0.5
SETL -0.13 Structural-dominant
FW Ratio 60% 52 facts · 35 inferences
Evidence: High: 0 Medium: 12 Low: 8 No Data: 11
Theme Radar
Foundation Security Legal Privacy & Movement Personal Expression Economic & Social Cultural Order & Duties Foundation: 0.23 (3 articles) Security: 0.00 (0 articles) Legal: 0.00 (0 articles) Privacy & Movement: 0.24 (4 articles) Personal: 0.06 (2 articles) Expression: 0.34 (3 articles) Economic & Social: 0.25 (3 articles) Cultural: 0.57 (2 articles) Order & Duties: 0.12 (3 articles)
HN Discussion 9 top-level · 9 replies
zombot 2026-02-25 07:08 UTC link
I haven't tried it, but the description sounds delightfully perverse. And an LLM (Claude) cannot be embarrassed by perverting Lisp/Scheme with Java.
nxobject 2026-02-25 07:11 UTC link
The OpenLDK is very interesting - it looks like it “compiles” to the vintage procedural dialect within CL (eg TAGBODY etc.) I wonder if someone’s ever bypassed the “procedural Lisp” level and just used a CL implementation’s internal assembler interactively, though. (IIRC both SBCL and CCL expose theirs.)
rhkalth 2026-02-25 07:35 UTC link
And? Do you want a medal for plagiarizing other people's work?
anthk 2026-02-25 09:18 UTC link
On OpenLDK, if it's able to run something like SweetHome3D at usable speeds I would consider it a success and an interesting exercise.
atgreen 2026-02-25 11:12 UTC link
If you are interested in this, you might also be interested to learn that I also got clojure running on SBCL via OpenLDK. See https://github.com/atgreen/cl-clojure.

Regarding LLM-usage, the bulk of OpenLDK was written without the use of LLMs. But recently I let Claude loose on the code to fix a few remaining problems blocking kawa. Claude also upleveled the Java support from Java 8 to Java 21.

I wrote a couple of blog entries related to this work that might be of interest. One was around how I had to use the MOP to optimize method dispatch in CLOS for clojure: https://atgreen.github.io/repl-yell/posts/clos-mop-dispatch/

atgreen 2026-02-25 11:20 UTC link
Here's something I wrote about this work: https://atgreen.github.io/repl-yell/posts/cl-kawa/
varjag 2026-02-25 12:18 UTC link
Perhaps someone could port Arc to Kawa! Then the whole contraption could run HN on SBCL in a roundabout way.
stared 2026-02-25 13:10 UTC link
I had to check if the creator is Polish, as "ciekawa" means "interesting". But apparently, just a coincidence.
mark_l_watson 2026-02-25 14:08 UTC link
Github user atgreen has a large number of really interesting Common Lisp projects: https://github.com/atgreen

I am a fan.

varjag 2026-02-25 07:44 UTC link
TAGBODY/GO are broadly used in advanced Lisp macros. If you expand a non-trivial extended LOOP invocation you'd likely see some.

If you compile to an implemenation's assembler (even where that possible) you don't really compile into Lisp anymore. And really the Lisp compiler is going to do a better job at generating machine code.

pjmlp 2026-02-25 08:11 UTC link
Why should it?

"We were after the C++ programmers. We managed to drag a lot of them about halfway to Lisp." -- Guy Steele

anthk 2026-02-25 09:15 UTC link
The Computer Abstractions book/course for Scheme had some kind of VM written in Java where you had to write an assembler in Scheme as the final 'biggie' project.
brazzy 2026-02-25 13:31 UTC link
JVM, not Java. And there's Clojure already in that space.
cloudbonsai 2026-02-25 14:03 UTC link
Coincidentally, Chi-kawa is a very popular anime character in Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiikawa

It's a portmanteau of "Chiisai" (small) and "Kawaii" (cute).

stassats 2026-02-25 14:56 UTC link
I did that to write simd routines for sbcl: https://github.com/sbcl/sbcl/blob/master/src/code/arm64-simd... Probably the best way of writing assembly, can evaluate the function immediately, use macros and any other code to emit instructions, even can print register values (instruction-level stepping would be even better, but too much work).
tmtvl 2026-02-25 15:42 UTC link
Well, GNU Kawa is named after the Polish word for coffee (going with a play on Java rather than a play on Scheme like Guile and Larceny EDIT: and Gambit went with).
klez 2026-02-25 16:34 UTC link
I'll bite. What have they plagiarized?
shawn_w 2026-02-25 17:00 UTC link
The newer ones are mostly vibecoded if that matters to you.
Editorial Channel
What the content says
+0.40
Article 27 Cultural Participation
Medium Advocacy Practice
Editorial
+0.40
SETL
-0.15

Repository itself is expression of participation in cultural life of community; code is cultural artifact.

+0.35
Article 19 Freedom of Expression
Medium Advocacy Practice
Editorial
+0.35
SETL
-0.21

Repository code constitutes expression of information and ideas; public visibility enables dissemination.

+0.35
Article 26 Education
Medium Advocacy Practice
Editorial
+0.35
SETL
-0.14

Repository represents education through code; learning is embedded in collaborative development and code review.

+0.30
Article 13 Freedom of Movement
Medium Practice
Editorial
+0.30
SETL
-0.20

Repository is globally accessible; no visible restrictions on movement of information or code.

+0.25
Preamble Preamble
Medium Advocacy
Editorial
+0.25
SETL
-0.19

Repository description 'Scheme on Java on Common Lisp' demonstrates commitment to free software interoperability and knowledge sharing; minimal editorial content on page.

+0.25
Article 18 Freedom of Thought
Medium Practice
Editorial
+0.25
SETL
-0.19

Repository exists as expression of thought and conscience; code is manifestation of intellectual freedom.

+0.20
Article 14 Asylum
Low Practice
Editorial
+0.20
SETL
-0.11

No explicit editorial content addressing asylum or refuge.

+0.20
Article 20 Assembly & Association
Medium Practice
Editorial
+0.20
SETL
-0.17

Repository demonstrates voluntary association through collaborative development.

+0.20
Article 22 Social Security
Low Practice
Editorial
+0.20
SETL
-0.11

Repository may indirectly support social security through knowledge sharing and skill development.

+0.20
Article 25 Standard of Living
Medium Practice
Editorial
+0.20
SETL
-0.17

Repository enables access to knowledge as foundation for adequate standard of living.

+0.20
Article 28 Social & International Order
Medium Practice
Editorial
+0.20
SETL
-0.11

Repository operates within social and international order supporting UDHR rights; GitHub ToS and community guidelines establish framework.

+0.15
Article 12 Privacy
Medium Practice
Editorial
+0.15
SETL
-0.16

Repository content is subject to privacy protections inherent in GitHub's data handling; minimal editorial content regarding privacy.

+0.15
Article 15 Nationality
Low Practice
Editorial
+0.15
SETL
-0.10

No explicit editorial content addressing nationality.

+0.15
Article 21 Political Participation
Low Practice
Editorial
+0.15
SETL
-0.10

No explicit editorial content addressing political participation.

+0.10
Article 1 Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood
Low Practice
Editorial
+0.10
SETL
-0.14

No explicit editorial content addressing equal dignity or rights.

+0.10
Article 2 Non-Discrimination
Low Practice
Editorial
+0.10
SETL
-0.14

No explicit anti-discrimination statement visible on repository page.

+0.10
Article 23 Work & Equal Pay
Low Practice
Editorial
+0.10
SETL
-0.09

Repository itself does not address labor rights or working conditions.

+0.10
Article 30 No Destruction of Rights
Low Practice
Editorial
+0.10
SETL
-0.09

Repository itself does not contain content promoting destruction of rights; code is neutral technology.

-0.05
Article 29 Duties to Community
Medium Practice
Editorial
-0.05
SETL
-0.07

Repository does not explicitly address community or limitations of rights; code implementation may have unintended social consequences.

-0.10
Article 17 Property
Medium Practice
Editorial
-0.10
SETL
+0.09

Repository owner retains control over code; user-generated contributions subject to platform terms.

ND
Article 3 Life, Liberty, Security

No observable content addressing right to life or security.

ND
Article 4 No Slavery

No observable content addressing slavery or servitude.

ND
Article 5 No Torture

No observable content addressing torture or cruel treatment.

ND
Article 6 Legal Personhood

No observable content addressing legal personality or rights before law.

ND
Article 7 Equality Before Law

No observable content addressing legal protection or equality before law in substantive sense.

ND
Article 8 Right to Remedy

No observable content addressing judicial remedy.

ND
Article 9 No Arbitrary Detention

No observable content addressing arbitrary arrest or detention.

ND
Article 10 Fair Hearing

No observable content addressing fair trial or due process.

ND
Article 11 Presumption of Innocence

No observable content addressing criminal liability or retroactive laws.

ND
Article 16 Marriage & Family

No observable content addressing marriage or family rights.

ND
Article 24 Rest & Leisure

No observable content addressing right to rest and leisure.

Structural Channel
What the site does
Domain Context Profile
Element Modifier Affects Note
Privacy +0.10
Article 12
GitHub has standard privacy controls and policies protecting user data and discussion content from unauthorized access.
Terms of Service +0.05
Article 1 Article 2
GitHub ToS establish baseline equal treatment of users without discrimination, though enforcement depends on implementation.
Accessibility +0.15
Article 25 Article 26
Observable accessibility features including keyboard navigation, ARIA support, and responsive design promote equitable access to platform functionality.
Mission
GitHub's public mission emphasizes open collaboration and global access to development tools, indirectly supporting knowledge-sharing rights.
Editorial Code +0.08
Article 19 Article 27
GitHub community guidelines establish standards for respectful discussion and protect user expression within community contexts.
Ownership -0.05
Article 17
GitHub retains platform control; user-generated content ownership is subject to platform terms, creating conditional rather than absolute intellectual property rights.
Access Model +0.12
Article 19 Article 27
Public discussion board model enables open participation and knowledge dissemination without gatekeeping, supporting freedom of expression and information access.
Ad/Tracking -0.08
Article 12
GitHub's feature flags and analytics tracking create potential privacy concerns; behavioral data collection may infringe on privacy of thought.
+0.45
Article 19 Freedom of Expression
Medium Advocacy Practice
Structural
+0.45
Context Modifier
+0.20
SETL
-0.21

GitHub's public discussion and code sharing model structurally enables freedom of expression and information access. Community guidelines protect respectful discussion.

+0.45
Article 27 Cultural Participation
Medium Advocacy Practice
Structural
+0.45
Context Modifier
+0.20
SETL
-0.15

GitHub's model enables participation in global technical culture; open source embodies shared creation and benefit from scientific advancement. Public discussion supports participation.

+0.40
Article 13 Freedom of Movement
Medium Practice
Structural
+0.40
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.20

GitHub's infrastructure enables free movement of code and information across borders without restriction; distributed version control supports global access.

+0.40
Article 26 Education
Medium Advocacy Practice
Structural
+0.40
Context Modifier
+0.15
SETL
-0.14

GitHub's educational infrastructure (documentation, code examples, community discussion) supports right to education. Accessibility features promote equitable educational access.

+0.35
Preamble Preamble
Medium Advocacy
Structural
+0.35
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.19

Public repository structure enables collaborative development and universal access to source code without gatekeeping; GitHub's open platform model supports recognition of human dignity through shared intellectual endeavor.

+0.35
Article 18 Freedom of Thought
Medium Practice
Structural
+0.35
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.19

GitHub's structure enables expression of technical thought and conscience; no visible content moderation restricting ideological expression in code.

+0.30
Article 20 Assembly & Association
Medium Practice
Structural
+0.30
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.17

GitHub's fork and contribution model enables freedom of association; contributors can freely associate around shared projects.

+0.30
Article 25 Standard of Living
Medium Practice
Structural
+0.30
Context Modifier
+0.15
SETL
-0.17

GitHub's accessibility features (keyboard navigation, ARIA support, responsive design visible in page source) support equitable access to platform and knowledge resources.

+0.25
Article 12 Privacy
Medium Practice
Structural
+0.25
Context Modifier
+0.02
SETL
-0.16

GitHub implements privacy controls protecting repository and discussion content; however, feature flags and analytics tracking (visible in page source) create minor privacy concerns regarding behavioral data collection.

+0.25
Article 14 Asylum
Low Practice
Structural
+0.25
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.11

Repository structure does not address asylum context; access is uniform regardless of origin.

+0.25
Article 22 Social Security
Low Practice
Structural
+0.25
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.11

Public code access enables self-directed learning and skill development, supporting indirectly right to social security.

+0.25
Article 28 Social & International Order
Medium Practice
Structural
+0.25
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.11

GitHub's platform structure enforces rules and community guidelines supporting social order; international accessibility enables global social order.

+0.20
Article 1 Freedom, Equality, Brotherhood
Low Practice
Structural
+0.20
Context Modifier
+0.05
SETL
-0.14

GitHub's platform structure treats all contributors equally regardless of background; contributor guidelines (inferred from platform design) apply uniformly.

+0.20
Article 2 Non-Discrimination
Low Practice
Structural
+0.20
Context Modifier
+0.05
SETL
-0.14

Platform enforces non-discrimination at structural level; no visible exclusion mechanisms based on protected characteristics.

+0.20
Article 15 Nationality
Low Practice
Structural
+0.20
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.10

Repository operates without nationality-based access restrictions.

+0.20
Article 21 Political Participation
Low Practice
Structural
+0.20
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.10

Repository structure does not inherently support political participation; platform governance is separate from repository content.

+0.15
Article 23 Work & Equal Pay
Low Practice
Structural
+0.15
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.09

GitHub's structure does not inherently enforce labor rights; contributors participate voluntarily on their own terms.

+0.15
Article 30 No Destruction of Rights
Low Practice
Structural
+0.15
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.09

GitHub's platform structure prevents promotion of destruction of UDHR rights through community guidelines; however, code availability itself is neutral.

+0.05
Article 29 Duties to Community
Medium Practice
Structural
+0.05
Context Modifier
0.00
SETL
-0.07

GitHub's ToS establish limitations on rights for community benefit; however, analytics tracking and feature flags create potential for limitation of privacy rights beyond community necessity.

-0.15
Article 17 Property
Medium Practice
Structural
-0.15
Context Modifier
-0.05
SETL
+0.09

GitHub's structural design gives platform control over repositories; user intellectual property is conditional on platform terms. Contributions are licensed under repository license, not absolute ownership.

ND
Article 3 Life, Liberty, Security

Not applicable to software repository context.

ND
Article 4 No Slavery

Not applicable to software repository context.

ND
Article 5 No Torture

Not applicable to software repository context.

ND
Article 6 Legal Personhood

Not applicable to software repository context.

ND
Article 7 Equality Before Law

Not applicable to software repository context.

ND
Article 8 Right to Remedy

Not applicable to software repository context.

ND
Article 9 No Arbitrary Detention

Not applicable to software repository context.

ND
Article 10 Fair Hearing

Not applicable to software repository context.

ND
Article 11 Presumption of Innocence

Not applicable to software repository context.

ND
Article 16 Marriage & Family

Not applicable to software repository context.

ND
Article 24 Rest & Leisure

Not applicable to software repository context.

Supplementary Signals
Epistemic Quality
0.44 low claims
Sources
0.3
Evidence
0.4
Uncertainty
0.5
Purpose
0.6
Propaganda Flags
0 techniques detected
Solution Orientation
0.63 solution oriented
Reader Agency
0.7
Emotional Tone
measured
Valence
+0.3
Arousal
0.2
Dominance
0.3
Stakeholder Voice
0.45 3 perspectives
Speaks: individualsinstitution
About: communitydevelopers
Temporal Framing
present unspecified
Geographic Scope
global
Complexity
technical high jargon domain specific
Transparency
0.50
✓ Author
Event Timeline 20 events
2026-02-26 03:12 self_throttle Self-throttle: ramp-up guard: state 100s stale - -
2026-02-26 03:12 self_throttle Self-throttle: ramp-up guard: state 66s stale - -
2026-02-26 02:57 eval_success Evaluated: Mild positive (0.27) - -
2026-02-26 02:29 eval_success Evaluated: Mild positive (0.15) - -
2026-02-26 02:27 dlq_replay DLQ message 139 replayed: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 02:24 dlq_replay DLQ message 13 replayed: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:54 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:54 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:54 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:54 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:54 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:54 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:54 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:54 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:54 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:54 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:53 dlq Dead-lettered after 1 attempts: Cl-kawa: Scheme on Java on Common Lisp - -
2026-02-26 01:19 eval_retry Anthropic API error 400 - -
2026-02-26 01:19 eval_failure Evaluation failed: Error: Anthropic API error 400: {"type":"error","error":{"type":"invalid_request_error","message":"Your credit balance is too low to access the Anthropic API. Please go to Plans & Billing to upgrade o - -
2026-02-26 01:18 eval_retry Anthropic API error 400 - -
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build 59cf82e+tpso · deployed 2026-02-26 02:38 UTC · evaluated 2026-02-26 04:12:37 UTC