Accounting for Computer Scientists by Martin Kleppmann
Shares rank 28 of 60 articles by recommenders
Recommended as a clear explanation of double-entry accounting for programmers, though critics find it skips the accounting logic and does not suit GAAP or IFRS learners.
Recommended as a clear explanation of double-entry accounting for programmers, though critics find it skips the accounting logic and does not suit GAAP or IFRS learners.
9 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 6
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 67%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 6 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful for learning accounting systems
“This website that you call nonsensical was a huge help to me when starting to learn about accounting systems.”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “Accounting for Computer Scientists (2011)” “it has been very important to me in a career working on a special purpose accounting”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “Accounting for Computer Scientists (2011)” Clear, accessible double-entry explanation
“explains double entry accounting in a surprisingly accessible way”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “10 years of personal finances in plain text files” “one of the simplest and sane explanations I've seen”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “Accounting for Computer Scientists (2011)”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Confusing and nonsensical to some readers
“This website is absolutely nonsensical and I would not recommend it to anyone to understand how GAAP or IFRS accounting works.”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “Accounting for Computer Scientists (2011)” “I'm completely lost and booted out of yet another accounting lesson without passing the introduction”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “Accounting for Computer Scientists (2011)” Convoluted methods, skipped accounting logic
“provides the most convoluted way of calculating basic things like profit and loss”
Comment from 4 Jan 2026 in “Accounting for Computer Scientists (2011)” “it presents transaction flows without properly explaining the accounting logic”
Comment from 3 Jan 2026 in “Accounting for Computer Scientists (2011)”
Other articles people recommend
The four most recommended other articles, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programming as Theory Buildingby Peter Naur | 32 | 0 | 100% | 7 | — | Approved |
| Ur-Fascismby Umberto Eco | 18 | 2 | 90% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Politics and the English Languageby George Orwell | 14 | 0 | 100% | 5 | — | Approved |
| The Grug Brained Developer by Carson Gross | 13 | 1 | 93% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Accounting for Computer Scientists by Martin KleppmannThis page | 6 | 3 | 67% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
10 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“provides the most convoluted way of calculating basic things like profit and loss”
“it presents transaction flows without properly explaining the accounting logic”
“This is the freshest take I have ever seen.”
“it has been very important to me in a career working on a special purpose accounting”
“This website that you call nonsensical was a huge help to me when starting to learn about accounting systems.”
“This website is absolutely nonsensical and I would not recommend it to anyone to understand how GAAP or IFRS accounting works.”
“one of the simplest and sane explanations I've seen”
“I'm completely lost and booted out of yet another accounting lesson without passing the introduction”
“This is so nicely presented it's tempting me to have Claude whip up an implementation.”
“explains double entry accounting in a surprisingly accessible way”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.