Google Wants a Piece of Air-Traffic Control for Drones - <AUTHOR> http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-24/google-has-way-to-unclog-drone-filled-skies-like-it-did-the-web <comment><USER2> This is actually an FAA/NASA initiative.[1] They're trying to figure out how this can work.

The FAA's first round is out, with the proposed "drone pilot licenses" and coordination with existing ATC for drone operations in controlled airspace. That won't scale up to large numbers of drones, but can be done now. The FAA is considering fewer restrictions on very small drones (<2KG). They have a study indicating that in theory most 2KG drones won't damage large aircraft jet engines enough to destroy them. But as yet, that hasn't been tested on real engines. (Real engines are tested against bird strikes by firing frozen chickens of various sizes into the engine, using an air cannon. That's going to have to be done for drones, and it's not cheap.)

The FAA is trying to get this under control before some large quadrotor with motors with cobalt-neodymium magnets gets sucked into a jet intake.

[1] [http://utm.arc.nasa.gov/index.shtml](http://utm.arc.nasa.gov/index.shtml)

<comment><USER3> Thank you for the information, most of which is new to me. However, one minor point of correction, is that I believe the birds are thawed, not frozen, when fired into jet engines to test them.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_gun](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_gun)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> >The idea really is anyone should be free to build a solution

I can't think of a worse outcome.

If drones and automated cars don't operate off of an open and public communication system, it will be a massive failure.

GPS works because a for-profit company isn't in charge of it.

</comment><comment><USER5> Today, we're still using AM line of sight radio, on a frequency that can only accept one transmission at a time.

First innovate a better system for drones. Then replace the legacy ATC system in stages for Class A, Class B, Class C, Class E IFR, and finally Class E VFR. And only then can the altitude restriction on drones be lifted, and integrated into the rest of the ATC system. But even getting Class A and B under the same modern and scalable system as drones, even if they aren't sharing airspace, is something pilots, airlines, ATC, and the FAA have needed/wanted for a long time.

<comment><USER6> Enabling Super Wi-Fi[1] nation-wide would be a good start to a better system for wireless communications for drones and other internet-connected devices

1\. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Wi- Fi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Wi-Fi)

<comment> w-ll I actually worked with Spectrum Bridge and the city on the implementation in Wilmington, North Carolina while in college.

At the time it was called 'Whitespace Wifi' and we actually had a handful of services other than public wi-fi. It was good fun.

<comment><USER6> Do you know of any plans to expand it further? or was there any substantial problems discovered that could not be solved?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> One thing i'd like to see from drones is a registration of the drones firmware signature. So as a drone is flying, it would broadcast the signature, and you can see above you what's flying around.

</comment><comment><USER8> Retailers will be in for a lot of heartache if they hope that the FAA will "work with them."

ADS-B is already mandated for 2020. The spec is cast in stone, and the only thing that could change is the month it's enforced.

As we've seen with the SoCal fires last week, integrated tracking is essential for safe low-level flight.

Certified ADS-B avionics prices have ranged from $10,000 - $1,000,000+. Experimental prices are around $2,000 now.

Obviously that's more than the price of most consumer drones.

Also, what load can the ADS-B system handle? How many drones would overload it?

<comment><USER9> This. Alot of drone guys or people who dream of drones forget that there's GA planes up there. I've had to dodge stupid cameras on balloons while landing. That's so dangerous

<comment><USER10> GA planes?

<comment><USER11> General aviation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> The idea of centralized air traffic control for drones seems completely backwards to me. Birds don't have air traffic control, they have eyes and a brain and avoid obstacles and each other autonomously.

Maybe there will be a need for some defined airways for drones, but they should be able to fly and navigate for themselves.

<comment><USER13> Whilst I appreciate a bird analogy as much as the next guy (and it makes sense from a mechanical perspective), I'm not sure if it works for regulation purely because birds aren't responsible to anyone or anything else if things go wrong. Drones are human products and thus someone, ie their creator or user, would need to be held accountable.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> This is very exciting, and inevitable. This sort of infrastructure will lead to a lot of innovation because it alleviates many of the questions about operating drones in shared spaces.

<comment><USER5> It deals with drone on drone, but not really drone on non-drone. And also doesn't deal with the "virtual pilot" firmware drones will run, that should have an analog to FAR 91 rules such as the obstacle avoidance and being able to avoid injuring people and property on the ground. I have to be able to do that as a pilot, there's no good reason why an up to 55lb drone going up to 100mph should be exempt.

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> Skynet!</comment>


Why Startups cause Economic Inequality - and Why that's Good - <AUTHOR> http://www.heritage.org//Press/Commentary/ed063007b.cfm <comment><USER2> I was wondering when these super conservative groups, such as the Heritage Foundation, would start using the "inequality is good" argument. There's a lot to like about an utopian society based solely on meritocracy. But the truth is there are large numbers of people who cannot compete on equal footing due to circumstances that are/were out of their control. It's like taking a Chinese class with a bunch of Chinese students and you're the only one who doesn't know the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese.

Using the Google founders as the example of "inequality being good" is ridiculous. Most people don't have a problem with rewarding innovative work; people have problems with not providing a baseline for those who can't. In a pure pay for performance society, those who can't perform, won't get paid. Is this fair? On the surface, well yes, maybe. But what if the REASON for their non-performance is based on systematic oppression and lingering effects thereof? Is a pure pay for performance system still fair?

What about the handicapped, depressed, and otherwise ill affected?

The pay for performance (or inequality is good) argument is fine when no one gets hurt, when the low performers, say, will get a 1% instead of 10% bonus. But when we're talking about the lower levels of society, where people can literally go homeless or die of untreated disease, then it's not so easy to come up with these fantasy theories.

<comment><AUTHOR> "It's like taking a Chinese class with a bunch of Chinese students and you're the only one who doesn't know the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese."

But the answer to that isn't to give you all the same grade regardless of how good your Chinese is, is it. The best thing to do is to grade you accordingly, and for you to find some other class to study.

<comment><USER2> To carry the analogy further, it'll be if we're only rewarding on mastery of Chinese. For those who are not on equal footing, what other "class" can they take?

"Good inequality", that is, inequality resulting from differing levels of productivity, is only relevant when everyone starts at roughly the same level.

When current inequalities already exist, isolating the productivity variable is very difficult without a social and historical context.

<comment><AUTHOR> "To carry the analogy further, it'll be if we're only rewarding on mastery of Chinese. For those who are not on equal footing, what other "class" can they take?"

Whatever class they like (Math, science, etc.). Preferably one they are better at than Chinese.

""Good inequality", that is, inequality resulting from differing levels of productivity, is only relevant when everyone starts at roughly the same level."

So you're saying that since people are born with differing abilities then they should all get paid the same?

You understand that one of the chief ways to motivate people to be more productive is to pay them for it. Who would be willing to work start up hours if you only got paid the same as someone who worked 40 hours a week?

<comment><USER2> That's not what I'm saying.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Like all things, though, some moderation is probably a good idea. Even if this argument makes perfect logical sense, it makes apes unhappy to see other apes getting way more bananas than they are, and if you start to talk politics rather than simply economics, this has practical consequences. Better to balance things out a little bit before things get out of hand and the apes with few bananas vote in someone with truly bad ideas about redistributing wealth.

I once saw a not-really-serious idea by a center-left economist that having money is good and just, as the article says, but perhaps what should be taxed are the very visible bananas (fancy cars, "bling") that the better off apes use to flaunt their wealth.

<comment><USER4> Is taxation an appropriate venue for implementing and enforcing cultural norms? Flaunting wealth is a cultural phenomenon, and demarcating it as wrong is an entirely subjective decision.

I think following the "we should appease others to keep the masses from taking everything" argument we end up creating a world far too similar to Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Actually, the entire argument is very much Objectivist. I wonder if there is a connection.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> The popularity of this argument depends almost completely on who you choose for your examples.

Most people seem to agree when you talk about Sergey Brin and Larry Page? They started a company from nothing, added trememdous value to the world, and pocketed some big bucks for themselves. Rock on, those are the kind of guys who make you feel fine, even positive, about income inequality.

Next in line come the CEOs who take over an existing company and help themselves to some of the wealth. Some of these CEOs do such a good job generating growth that most people feel fine about it (Google's still a good example - nobody seems to feel that Eric Schmidt's weath is undeserved). But Grasso's payday (what was it, $160M?) upset a lot of people. And Semel's severance package is truly bewildering to me.

And lastly, we do have some of the genuinely worrisome wealth (mabye worse than the 17th century England or Saudi Arabia kind) in the US. This is what PG wrote about when he discussed the intersection of wealth and political power. For example, I heard about the CEO of a large military contractor. He was elected to the second highest office in the land, where he used his influence to start a war and destroy another country's infractructure. Later, he awarded no-bid contracts to his former company - but he refuses to say who he met with and when.

We need to distinguish between good inequality and bad inequality, and there's still plenty of the bad kind out there. The key is to fight corruption, not wealth.

</comment><comment><USER6> _"...who wouldn't want to swap paychecks with them..."_

I wouldn't want to. They have very low salaries :-)

</comment><comment><USER7> I agree cglee. im all for capitalism but cannot stand it when privileged conservatives use few remarkable examples of immigrant success to gloss over the inequalities of opportunity that are entrenched in and still plague American society.

<comment><AUTHOR> What inequalities of opportunity are entrenched in America? I'm not American so I am genuinely interested to know.

<comment><USER8> One of the worst is schools. Public schools in the US are not very good. Rich people tend to go to private ones.

Pretty near zero representatives' and senators' kids go to DC public schools, for example. Whether they're liberal or conservative, they seem to draw the line at that. And there seems to be an unwritten rule they won't criticize one another about it.

In theory this inequality ends at college, because the best colleges will take you for free if you're poor. But in practice it doesn't, because (a) the good colleges do "legacy admissions" and (b) the private schools are much better at coaching their students to get into good colleges.

<comment><USER4> I don't even think the inequality ends with college, even theoretically. Colleges use the lack of income as leverage to raise the quality of their students, which means you can only apply to a school substantially worse than you would be capable of reaching if you had greater financial resources (this line gets blurred at the top, because the students getting full ride are above the standard student at the institutions, but there isn't anywhere better they could go anyway).

I don't think legacy admissions are a huge problem, colleges are very lenient about admitting any student who can pay their full way, regardless of previous connections (this is more true for private schools where the full yearly tuition + board can be 35-50k).

On the other hand, I think your point b is crucial. The quality of private schools, especially after 1st grade and before high school, is not consistently better than public schools (this is anecdotal evidence from personal experience, which I suspect the statistics would contradict, but there are so many confounding factors that the statistics seem of dubious quality). Instead, it is the connections the private schools have, and the quality of their college admission counselors that are fundamental.

At my school we were hounded relentlessly to submit college applications (we could be detained at school if we missed completing certain goals by certain days). It was literally harder _not_ to apply to college than it was to apply to college. They proofread all admission essays, and gave personalized advice on where to apply, which institutions we had strong connections, etc. This sort of thing simply doesn't exist at public schools, and its the biggest advantage I experienced from a private high school.

<comment><USER9> Depends on where you go for college. The ivies I am familiar with separate the applications and financial aid process the issue of 'leniency' is not there (except when there are very large sums of money involved).

As for private schools, I think you may be confused. Many of the leading private boarding schools are _much_ better than almost any public schools in the nation. Counseling programs vary with the school. Schools which frequently send kids to the ivies (or ivy-equiv) tend to have lots of experience with the process. My public school had only a small amount. Some have none (and don't even know when one of their students has beaten the odds and made their way into such a school).

<comment><USER4> I tried to avoid slandering top boarding schools with the "especially after first grade and before high school". I am a byproduct of such a boarding schooling.

The quality of the teachers was high, and academically you don't comprehend the gap until you reach college and realize a majority of your classmates can't write, only read for required assignments, but were in the top 2% of their school, and graduated with a gpa 1.0 higher than yours. That said, I have also met a number of well prepared students from public schools (and a large number of poorly prepared students who spent $120,000+ on their high school education, but didn't take advantage of it).

I am a fairly strong believer that the real distinction is within the students (as necessitated by my desire to maintain my self-worth). The most successful students, at any institution, will be those who are self-motivated, have well educated and intelligent parents, a well educated peer group, and are intelligent themselves.

These are the confounding factors I mentioned. Students with parents who have terminal degrees are more likely to be attending these elite institutions. This parental advantage may be the strongest influence in intellectual development, and thus clouds the value of private schools. In addition the wealth of the students attending these schools is much higher than at a public school (its weird when your school has children whose parents are billionaires). This wealth provides numerous more resources for students: tutors, summer classes, camps, et al. These addition resources provided by surplus wealth also confound the true value of these high-end schools.

Counseling programs do vary by school, but my experience is not particularly unusual for a higher end private school. These schools will typically have 100% of their students accepted to a school when they graduate. That doesn't happen by accident.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> You're right. I extrapolated to where I sense the Heritage Foundation was hinting at. Word for word, if it came from an apolitical source, there would be nothing to argue against.

<comment><AUTHOR> The merit of an argument is independent of its source: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem>

<comment><USER2> Maybe if you're a computer or participating in high school debate. The source matters a lot, because it indicates intent.

<comment><USER2> Ok, I committed another fallacy in the first sentence. Ignore that and just read the second.

<comment><USER10> No, the second sentence is wrong too.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Short statement from 23andMe regarding FDA warning letter - <AUTHOR> http://blog.23andme.com/news/23andme-statement-regarding-fda-warning-letter/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=23andme-statement-regarding-fda-warning-letter&utm_medium=App.net&utm_source=PourOver

<comment><USER2> Anybody capture the text before they got slashdotted?

<comment><USER2> Got it: 23andMe Statement Regarding FDA Warning Letter Published by 23andMe under news

We have received the warning letter from the Food and Drug Administration. We recognize that we have not met the FDA's expectations regarding timeline and communication regarding our submission. Our relationship with the FDA is extremely important to us and we are committed to fully engaging with them to address their concerns.</comment></comment>


Efficient Graph Search: Stop when done - <AUTHOR> https://dl.acm.org/doi/fullHtml/10.1145/3424302.3424304 <comment><USER2> I'm really confused what problem this solves...? I think it's just supposed to stop de-queuing nodes when it's seen every node in the graph, but the time to calculate V isn't accounted for, won't some form of BFS need to be run in order to count the number of vertices in the input graph, so any time benefits will be trivial.

<comment><USER3> I suppose the author is assuming that the input graph is passed in a way that lets you access the number of vertices in constant time, like with a 2D array.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The optimization can't generalize to weighted graphs, because the first visit is not guaranteed to be the final shortest path: a path with two edges can have less weight than the first visit along one edge.

But hey, it's been reviewed by Tarjan. I must be wrong.</comment>


The Math That Takes Newton into the Quantum World - <AUTHOR> http://nautil.us/issue/69/patterns/the-math-that-takes-newton-into-the-quantum-world <comment><USER2> Thanks for the link, everything written by Baez is interesting! Grothendieck's algebraic geometry is, I lament, a bit too intimidating for me at this point & I suspect that will be true for pretty much everyone who reads this website. However let me point out the wonderful book by Cox [1] which teaches the classical version of the subject with a computational bent.

[1] [https://dacox.people.amherst.edu/iva.html](https://dacox.people.amherst.edu/iva.html)</comment>


Cryptex – Online Treasure Hunt|IIT Hyderabad - <AUTHOR> Cryptex, the OTH organised by ELAN & nvision, IITH, is underway with 27 hours to go! 25-30 cryptic puzzles to keep you engaged for a while. Just need an internet connection and grey cells and you're good to go! Live on elan.org.in/cryptex <comment><USER2> I failed before the first puzzle because I don't have any google account to login :(</comment>


Ask HN: What do you look for in a static web host? - <AUTHOR> I am building a simple web host backed by Dropbox for file sync. I'd love to hear your ideas on what you guys look for in a web host. Really appreciate your feedback.
What are the things you specifically look for in a web host?

  1. Price
  2. Ease of use
  3. Performance
  4. Reliability
  5. Something else.
 <comment><USER2> Name-recognition: I'm sure there are a bunch of quality web-hosts, but if I've never heard of you, or you're new, I'm not going to use you. Hosting companies, especially small ones, routinely go out of business.

For hosting reliability and availability are the main requirements. If you're a company I've heard of I'll have an idea of how good you are. Most of the time people focus on price, via sites like "low-end-box" and the companies listed there are often just circling the drain before they go out of business.

In short: be sustainable, and demonstrate availability & reliability.

After all your competitors are things like Amazon's S3 (cheap, reliable), GitHub pages (free), and similar.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you, this is very helpful.

I see that you have a SaaS targeted at devs [https://dns- api.com/](https://dns-api.com/) . It is a nice concept. How were you able to drive customers to this? Any strategies that worked / didn't work? Would love to hear your story.

<comment><USER2> I used to run a free Dynamic DNS site, which lured users to the more complex site. But I suspect a real reply would be a little off-topic and distracting to your current post.</comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Teachcraft – Learn Python through Minecraft - <AUTHOR> https://teachcraft.net/ <comment><USER2> Looks like a great guide to get started with coding with Minecraft. There have been some efforts over the years, but this looks really complete. One obstacle for schools to get started with this however, is buying all the Minecraft licenses.

To this end, I've been toying around a bit with an open source Minecraft clone called Minetest lately [1][2]. It's surprisingly complete, and could also have great uses in (programming) education.

It has a C++ core based on the Irrlicht 3D engine, but many of the game mechanics are implemented in Lua. Modifications like the examples in Teachcraft can also be built in Lua. For example, this [3] is a mod to spread flowers and mushrooms around the map.

The Lua language isn't used much currently in the education environment, which is mostly focused around Scratch, Python and sometimes Javascript. Then again, seeing different languages and noticing their similarities can be educational in itself.

Finally, I've been wondering how hard it would be to port something like Minetest to Emscripten. Irrlicht seems to be compatible already [4]. The non- JIT version of Lua is compatible as well [5]. Obstacles in Minetest that I can identify would be the heavy use of the filesystem, the use of UDP sockets and memory sharing between threads.

Would anyone know more about how hard porting something like this would be?

[1] [https://github.com/minetest](https://github.com/minetest)

[2] [http://www.minetest.net](http://www.minetest.net)

[3] [https://github.com/minetest/minetest_game/blob/master/mods/f...](https://github.com/minetest/minetest_game/blob/master/mods/flowers/init.lua)

[4] [http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=51...](http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=51809&start=15)

[5] [https://github.com/vvanders/wasm_lua](https://github.com/vvanders/wasm_lua)

<comment><USER3> > buying all the Minecraft licenses

All the schools I know of have an iPad per child these days. I doubt it's an issue [Edit: Ok roger that, not all schools. Consider me told]

There's also this [https://education.minecraft.net/](https://education.minecraft.net/)

<comment><USER4> Dude, the majority of people in the United States don't live near a Whole Foods, let alone the rest of the world.

If you think most schools have an Ipad per child, you live in a bubble.

<comment><USER3> Quite possibly. I didn't think at all outside of my "jesus these schools are giving kids ipads now? When I were a lad the school had 2 PCs for the entire building" bubble.

For reference I was also talking from within a UK only bubble too.

<comment><USER4> In fairness to you, I suspect the government schools (we call them public in the US, but I recall that "public school" means something entirely different in the UK) in your country are much better funded. I may be incorrect.

In the US, public schools are funded primarily by local governments, and are therefore extremely unequal in their funding, even within a relatively small geographic area.

I graduated high school from an impoverished rural county in 1999. The school I attended had a smattering of Windows 95 machines, enough so that about a 1/3 of the classrooms had a computer in it. There were only 2 machines in the entire school with internet access, and they were in the library. This was for a student body of roughly 600.

When I went to university, students from other (wealthier) parts of my home state of Virginia had been in schools where each student had a computer, and all had access to programming courses starting in middle school. Not surprisingly, students from these schools were disproportionately represented in my uni, and my "Intro to Computer Science" course was mostly filled with kids who had been programming for years. It made it very difficult to learn when more than 80% of the students have a huge advantage going in, and give the professors a false perception of how effective the teaching is. I sure hope the UK isn't like that.

<comment><USER5> I'm in a relatively well off US public school district. All kids have Ipads, but the parents must provide them or pay to rent them. If you qualify for the free lunch program they waive the rental fee.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Nice! A while ago, I also worked on a Python <-> Minecraft interaction which is not based on mcpi (and RaspberryJuice), but instead spawns a full Jython based Python interpreter session server-side allowing you to directly use the full Bukkit API [1]. This allows to use various commands mcpi doesn't support, such as creating lightning, explosions, and dynamically writing events using Python, either by using a client (sending Python code over the wire) or from the chat console in Minecraft.

The way how mcpi works is by creating a network bridge between the RaspberryJuice plugin and Python. Commands in Python are send to the Minecraft plugin over the wire and handled there (using the Bukkit API), with output send back to the Python client. This is safer in the sense that you don't have the full Python environment running on the server and that (in theory) you can use both Python 2 and 3 (Jython support for Python 3 is not there yet). The drawback is that you can only utilize commands that are manually implemented and that the full Bukkit API is not directly exposed.

At one point, I also had a plan to expand this into a tutorial series but didn't really follow up on this due to a lack of time. I'd really like to do this some day, though.

[1]: [https://github.com/Macuyiko/minecraft- python](https://github.com/Macuyiko/minecraft-python) and video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4JfwS5hNlw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4JfwS5hNlw)

<comment><USER7> Wow! I believe this is exactly what I've been looking for.

One of my goals is to get my son, who is really into Minecraft, also interested in programming.

The github project seems to be receiving updates too.

If I end up making some reasonable progress on this, I might just contact you later on, if that's ok with you!

<comment><USER6> Sure! At one point, some group of volunteers also created a spin off project with the aim of putting more focus on creating a whole web interface around the concept, but I think it's inactive now. I try to maintain this repo from time to time and to keep it as bare-bones as possible.

At one point, I plan to experiment with ZipPy ([https://github.com/securesystemslab/zippy](https://github.com/securesystemslab/zippy)) to see if that would be a viable option to get Python 3 support underway.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I was thinking about this just yesterday, and wondering if python could be taught _in game_ like ComputerCraft uses Lua, except for python.

Maybe certain object/data types could have a physical presence like a database could be a shelf, and hooking them up physically would create a real database will multiple tables that could be interacted with in the game. I was thinking about this more in the sense of actually helping me model applications instead of teaching, as it would just be more fun to work with. Does anyone else have interest?

Another way of thinking about this could be like a library with bookshelves in game that you can actually walk though, and program an in game robot to get certain books when you want certain things (querying), and it could help visualize how a database and application were set up and working together.

<comment><USER9> I've had the same idea for a while, it'd be amazing if someone made this sub- game in minetest!

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I remember working with a few people who had families several years back.There was a bring your kid to work day. Around mid day I saw all the kids playing minecraft on their laptops. They were probably about 8 - 12 I think. As I talked to them, they got really excited. Wanting to show off their private worlds. They had created custom modules in java, were running servers, and all these other things. This was like the lego blocks for their generation. In addition it bought a lot of STEM knowledge to boot.

Seeing stuff like this is really cool. Adding more to the community and growing opportunity.

</comment><comment><USER11> This is really nice, however I wish someone makes an in-game version of this, so you don't even have to get a development environment running - just install the mod (which kids are already familiar with), jump in game and develop there.

<comment><USER8> I was thinking about this as well, maybe something like ComputerCraft which uses Lua but build on top of it, try and make it more visual though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> This looks great! I run after-school coding lessons for Australian kids aged 8-12, teaching them to code Minecraft mods using scratch-like code blocks (if you're interested, its [https://codemakers.com.au](https://codemakers.com.au)).

I've been looking for a solution for teaching the more advanced students who want to start using a 'real' language. I was initially looking at using Scriptcraft, but TeachCraft looks like another great option!

<comment><USER13> Neat - I'm in the process of making a similar system which will spit out Spigot plugins, with the aim of letting kids create some simple ones themselves and hopefully planting the seed for getting them interested in programming. As part of this I included a 'split screen' view showing the generated Java in addition to the normal block work area, though this is read- only.

It's been more of a challenge than I thought it would be to design the blocks such that the end set isn't near enough a 1:1 mapping to Java - showing it to a non-technical friend of mine made it clear that my intuition was way off. Would be interested to hear how you approached this (if you don't mind).

Also interesting that I didn't find your website when I was initially researching, though I did come across [https://www.learntomod.com/](https://www.learntomod.com/) (and even that was hard to find). I suspect my base search term of "minecraft blockly" isn't the most common one used by the target market to find something for their kids though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> This looks awesome. Minecraft is a fantastic way to teach programming, and not just to kids! There is something magical about seeing code you write doing something visual that you can interact with.

Here's a shameless link to a thing I created a while back when I was running workshops. Minecraft-like world that runs in pure browser aimed at teaching JavaScript:

[http://webblocks.uk/](http://webblocks.uk/)

</comment><comment><USER15> Any parents here have any success inspiring their child to code who was averse to it? I've tried scratch, tynker, roblox, etc without much luck.

<comment><USER15> I guess I gave the impression that I'm shoving it down his throat. I'm taking the approach where I'm trying to inspire by showing him different kid friendly coding tools, not forcing anything and being totally okay if he doesn't want to do it. I was just curious if anyone had any success at inspiring a child to be excited by coding who wasn't into it at first. I know there are a lot of parents out there who try to force activities on their child, and I'm not one of them.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Kids around here mostly use Minecraft PE on tablets. I know previously this didn't work with shared servers but maybe it does now - I'm not really up to date.

Would these Python customized servers work with tablet Minecraft now?

</comment><comment><USER17> Would love to try this out as my kids love Minecraft (when played at friend's houses) but:

"Step 1 - Install Minecraft"

I can't get Minecraft to work on my Windows laptop. Minecraft crashes after a few seconds with a Java error:

"Java (tm) Platform Binary SE has stopped working"

Tried searching for a cause and tried everything I could find. Perhaps someone here has some suggestions?

 _EDIT:_ Re downvotes: that will teach me to post a half finished piece while I went to check on actual Java error! Not complaining - my fault entirely for posting half-assed reply which sounded aggressive.

</comment><comment><USER18> Minor meta note: this site has almost no HTML metadata, which is probably not great for SEO but also makes it less visible when sharing on social media:

[https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/sharing/?q=https...](https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/sharing/?q=https%3A%2F%2Fteachcraft.net%2F)

[https://cards-dev.twitter.com/validator](https://cards- dev.twitter.com/validator)

</comment><comment><USER19> [https://education.minecraft.net/faq/how-much-does-it- cost/](https://education.minecraft.net/faq/how-much-does-it-cost/)

minecraft education is $5/year, with 'opportunities for volume licensing' which sounds affordable, but then it feels really misguided for microsoft not to give it away for free. Getting future developers to have some contact with the microsoft ecosystem is worth more than $5 i would think.

<comment><USER12> Unfortunately you need Minecraft for Mac/PC: Java Edition to use mods, so modding won't work on the education edition.

<comment><USER19> This is even worse than i thought then.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Well, I haven't played Minecraft since around 2013, but this tutorial so entertaining that I will probably install it again as soon as I get back from work today. This reminds me of the great game called Colobot, where players could program their robots to gather resources, fight the enemies etc using Java-like language. It would be nice to have a simple API to script NPC in Minecraft too.

</comment><comment><USER21> This is great.

FYI, Minecraft Pi has this facility too. My daughter loves playing with it.

[https://www.raspberrypi.org/learning/getting-started-with- mi...](https://www.raspberrypi.org/learning/getting-started-with-minecraft- pi/worksheet/)

</comment><comment><USER22> This is really great. All the existing "program in minecraft" solutions were pretty hacky IMO; lots of cruft to work around, which is really bad for my target audience of middle school students.

</comment><comment><USER23> Nice! I was just looking for something similar to this for my minions. Looks like it assumes programming knowledge (beyond say Scratch) already, no?

<comment><USER24> Check out our latest project BlockSchool, we teach programming to kids using a Scratch like programming language in a Minecraft world. Happy to give you a demo!

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> I think that is great...I wish there would be more like that out there so kids and adults can learn playing a programming language

</comment><comment> blubb-fish How about a guide on proper usage of fork, knife and spoon by teaching how to juggle with them?

</comment><comment><USER26> Front page has example code of a busyloop with a time.sleep.

Not a stellar example of coding.

<comment><USER27> What is wrong with that? Will it eat up RAM or crash the box if it was left to run for too long?

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> The instructions say to install Python 2.7. Does this not support 3.x?

<comment><USER29> Its not like the people who will learn off this still be writing 2.x code in 2020... right? :) /s

<comment><USER30> Getting 3.x to work with mcpi is actually super easy; the library works nearly out of the box, and the code is basically the same as far as I can tell.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: how do you objectively prove what you have independantly learned - <AUTHOR>

Particularly in regards to programming. If you state in an application for example that you know MySQL or that you are able to programme say in php, how do you objectively prove this. Is there any reconsigned examining bodies which may provide you with a certificate? <comment><USER2> It seems to me that having an open-source pet project or two that uses the relevant technologies would suffice.

<comment><USER3> Agreed. And I think there's a benefit to having an open source project versus a handful of certifications.

An open source project will generally only be looked at by people with the skill to evaluate actual code.

Anyone in HR can evaluate a certificate.

The underlying goal being that _good_ shops should actually have someone in the hiring process who can evaluate your skills, while _other_ shops are probably hiring to a checklist of acronyms.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> <http://www.mysql.com/certification/>

<http://www.zend.com/en/services/certification/>

</comment><comment><USER5> I'm more likely to believe specific things you've _done_ over general things you claim to know particularly when it comes to specific technical systems. Don't tell me you "know" MySQL. Instead, tell me about the things you did to insure I can't take down your system by injecting a call to BENCHMARK() or about the time you were able to get the database working after InnoDB force recovery didn't work.

</comment><comment><USER6> Either certify or build something public using your skills, I guess.

</comment><comment><USER7> this is basically the purpose of certifications.

other things that work are employment references and code examples.</comment>


The Bad Boy of Pharmaceuticals Hits Back - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/business/martin-shkreli-the-bad-boy-of-pharmaceuticals-hits-back.html <comment><USER2> [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10684160](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10684160)</comment>


(Canadian) Venture Capital Breakdown - <AUTHOR> http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090508.RVCFUNDING05ART1940/TPStory/?query=albert+lai Canada's challenged system forcing entrepreneurs to turn to the U.S. for cash. <comment><AUTHOR> There is an interesting article in one of Canada's national newspapers that has caused quite a stir among the Canadian VC and startup community.

Also, a rebuttal by Rick Segal, a partner with JLA Ventures: [http://ricksegal.typepad.com/pmv/2009/05/never-let-facts- get...](http://ricksegal.typepad.com/pmv/2009/05/never-let-facts-get-in-the- way-of-a-good-story-him-again.html)

and a response by Andrew Lai, an entrepreneur interviewed in the original article: [http://simplyalbert.blogspot.com/2009/05/venture-capital- bre...](http://simplyalbert.blogspot.com/2009/05/venture-capital-breakdown-in- canada.html)

I am a Canadian entrepreneur with some pretty fresh and relevant thoughts of my own as we are in the process of raising capital (in CleanTech, not webapps) but before I share my perspective I would like to hear what others think.

</comment><comment><USER2> I actually pointed this out to Rick Segal (quoted in the article) via a tweet as the catch-22 of Canadian Venture Capital. Kevin Talbot talks about his office at UofT which he expects to be lined-up with students trying to pitch ideas, but the entrepreneurial spirit isn't feeding the system of venture funds. At the same time, Canada is unable to raise significant VC funds because of the lack of Canadian VC's ability to capitalize on investments in the past.

This is a cycle of lack of funds will result in lack of companies getting funded which results in lack of returns.

So, how do we solve this problem for Canada?</comment>


Sample App with Backbone.js and Twitter Bootstrap - <AUTHOR> http://coenraets.org/blog/2012/02/sample-app-with-backbone-js-and-twitter-bootstrap/

<comment><USER2> If this is of interest, you might also check out Bookmarkly, a visual bookmark organizer I open sourced last week. It's node.js on the server and Backbone.js on the client, with a little Twitter Bootstrap in the UI as well.

<http://bookmarkly.com>

<https://github.com/dangrossman/Bookmarkly>

<comment><USER3> Nice, these are exactly the two things I wanted to get my hands on.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Hmmm. Any reason all the views and models are attached to the window object instead of namespaced under some kind of app controller?

<comment><USER5> There are a number of issues with the project, but I'm assuming it was created this way to be easier to digest for newcomers.

<comment><USER6> Would you point out a few of them if you don't mind?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> That's a nice sample app. My only (small) complaint is that I feel using MySQL is a bit of overkill for a sample application.

To throw my hat in the ring as well I've been working on a Backbone project that could help newcomers to Backbone. I'm in the midst of refactoring it a little bit to use lesscss as well as RequireJS and its module system.

Please feel free to fork or contribute! I love Backbone and JavaScript :D.

<https://github.com/hswolff/forgetmenot/tree/dev>

</comment><comment><USER8> Having been working on my own (mobile) Twitter Bootstrap & Backbone.js app for the past week or so, the biggest issue I've had has been working out how best to deal with a combination of local & remote collections (and the caching of them, on demand)

The other blog posts from the author of this one have been very useful in getting over some of the initial speedbumps I encountered - and strongly recommend them to anyone looking to get into Bootstrap itself.

<comment><USER9> I've played a bit with caching models on the client: <https://github.com/napoleond/localmodel>

I'm planning to implement merges at some point, but the current implementation has still proven useful to me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Looks awesome.

</comment><comment><USER11> Thank you for sharing your work. it's interesting. good start, buddy.</comment>


Crowdfund: Technology for DNA Testing of Rape Kits - <AUTHOR> http://www.zoluslogix.com <comment><AUTHOR> Raise $15,000 to fund the validation of technology for single cell DNA analysis of rape kits.

In the U.S there are currently over 400,000 untested rape kits. At present, laws in many local and state jurisdictions allows for the destruction of kits before they are ever tested. With a little help in the form of donations or spreading the word, we can help expedite the testing of these kits to bring justice to victims.

Please support in any way you feel comfortable.</comment>