Hack site never says what Hack is

[allan-bonadio]

Please complete the information below:

Where is the problem?

https://docs.hhvm.com/hack/

What is the problem?

It doesn't explain Hack. What if my mom stumbles onto that site? Or any non-programmer? Or, even a programmer for that matter? Does one have to install it just to figure out what the heck it is?!!?!?!

Just one sentence, like this:
Hack is a programming language based on PHP, that compiles code using the LLVM system.

If that sentence is inaccurate, that gives you an idea of how confused anybody else would get, without any information about what Hack is, by reading your front page. I've programmed in PHP for 5 years, C/C++ and Javascript for 10 years each, and emscripten for 1 year. And, I'm not even sure what Hack is. You've got to put an intro onto your website!

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• Build ID: HHVM=HHVM-4.164.0:HSL=v4.108.1:2022-10-24T20:44:31+0000:1fa47f258c6b68f8ec01899aa82fd6ffa0957109
• Page requested: /hack/
• Page requested at: Fri, 28 Oct 2022 05:17:50 +0000
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[Atry]

https://docs.hhvm.com/hack/ is the Hack Documentation site. The Hack website is https://hacklang.org/

[allan-bonadio]

That's not my point. If someone goes to https://docs.hhvm.com/ <https://docs.hhvm.com/>, they'll have no idea what Hack is. They won't show up at https://hacklang.org , first because there's no link to it on your front page, second because nobody is going to click on some other link just to find out what it's all about. Partly because they don't want to get hacked. In fact, the first time I saw "Hack" I assumed it was a game program from decades ago which was a takeoff on Rogue, an old VI-caliber game. Can I download that Hack from your website? probably not, but your front page gives me no clue. Does your Hack have anything to do with this website? https://www.hackthebox.com/ <https://www.hackthebox.com/> How about this site? https://hackaday.com/ <https://hackaday.com/> Then there's this, maybe it's stock symbol is HACK: https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/HACK/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEcFu123q1YpAGTvP2tqBtZkeeXTz3Zpx9F495Qe1dS-383PMbrTDwTBIayTCh6LreNQi2hPiSzc_ZGF7Z1eypHZxZcfp-9gjadv5Cqg7aQAd181Uf8kPKis_qfy5pyvf5-ydhb8vww_JheKpOvoQLLUUN33GAOGCKbIQu6jzvEV <https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/HACK/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEcFu123q1YpAGTvP2tqBtZkeeXTz3Zpx9F495Qe1dS-383PMbrTDwTBIayTCh6LreNQi2hPiSzc_ZGF7Z1eypHZxZcfp-9gjadv5Cqg7aQAd181Uf8kPKis_qfy5pyvf5-ydhb8vww_JheKpOvoQLLUUN33GAOGCKbIQu6jzvEV> Here's more than 30 other things named 'hack': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack> It DOES list your language, but it's listed 3rd under 'Computing'. Meanwhile, the Hack I knew is listed first. Also listed is a font, two animals and a television series. Your site has an obligation to tell people what it is on the front page, at least, to tell people looking for some other Hack, that this is not the place. Just one sentence is fine. The sentence on your other site is fine.

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On Oct 30, 2022, at 1:18 PM, Yang, Bo ***@***.***> wrote: https://docs.hhvm.com/hack/ <https://docs.hhvm.com/hack/> is the Hack Documentation site. The Hack website is https://hacklang.org/ <https://hacklang.org/> — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#1309 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAHXLIBD4NS76IQKOOR4253WF3JXRANCNFSM6AAAAAARQW2O4I>. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.

[Wilfred]

Thanks, this is good feedback. We should have some introductory blurb on docs.hhvm.com.

(FWIW Hack runs on HHVM, which is a highly optimised JIT written in C++. It doesn't use LLVM.)