Show HN: Breakpoint.io - Share and get feedback on your side projects - <AUTHOR> http://breakpoint.io

<comment><USER2> I can't help but feel all these websites miss out on what makes Hacker News great: density of information leading to a quick scan of the zeitgeist. I just feel constrained looking at this website's frontpage.

<comment><USER3> I agree. This is a good idea but the giant thumbnails are very hard to parse since they clash with each other. Would be nicer if it was a simple uniformly styled text list with taglines, and user interaction (mouseovers/expands/something) to show thumbnails?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback. Prior to the current styling, I had a screenshot with title, author, description, etc to the right. I found it cluttered and difficult to read through a list of projects. I'll keep working on it and see if I can find something.

<comment><USER4> I think the name of the project is more important than who posted it. Maybe switch the username for the Title, under each submission?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It'd be good to have the projects tagline on the mouseover display - so one doesn't have to navigate away to see what a project does. Great Job!

<comment><USER6> I was about to comment the same thing. I'd really like to see short descriptions on hover of each thumbnail. I still can't tell what those sites do.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Great idea and execution, but it's somewhat telling that some of the "side projects" people are posting really don't look like side projects.

<comment><USER8> What exactly is a side project supposed to look like?

<comment><USER9> An uncustomized bootstrap app? :P

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I like the idea a lot. Nice work!

One slightly negative impression: while there are already lots of good submissions and it looks like people are using the heart button, there are very few feedback comments so far. I particularly like the idea of a smaller, more tight-knit group of HNers giving each other feedback, since it seems nearly impossible these days to get any attention for a Show HN post without preexisting internet fame or a voting ring, so I found it a bit unfortunate that Breakpoint seems be starting out more in the direction of show-off gallery than a place for substantive discussion and critique in the HN vein. I'm not really sure how to remedy this. Perhaps placing more emphasis on discussion vs. screenshots could help?

<comment><USER11> "(...) there are very few feedback comments so far. I particularly like the idea of a smaller, more tight-knit group of HNers giving each other feedback (...)"

This is one of the reasons behind my Google+ community for and about Internet Startups [1] - currently the largest one about this topic - where you can post under the "Introduce your startup" category and get precious feedback.

[1] <https://plus.google.com/communities/100445483815501942968>

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I love the idea! But I think it would be great if people would be able to change their thumbnail screenshot that is shown on the popular and latest list. I've added my project[1] but I changing the lead screenshot is not possible which is a shame. It's also not possible to delete screenshots, which should be a must-have feature.

[1]: <https://breakpoint.io/65-instaghent/> <http://www.instaghent.com/>

</comment><comment><USER13> I'm getting an Internal Server Error

</comment><comment><USER14> Internal server error

<comment><USER9> Not much.. but something [http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://breakpoint.io/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> The phrase "hand- _whatever_ " has lost its novelty. I'm reluctant to make such a short and flip comment, but I can't be the only person who cringes every time I see it.

</comment><comment><USER16> Nice idea. I added one of my projects: [https://breakpoint.io/84-quotepress- turn-your-customers-into...](https://breakpoint.io/84-quotepress-turn-your- customers-into-spokespeople/)

Although it looks like one of the screenshots I added is not displaying. Could just be hackernews traffic maybe, I noticed there is also an image error with the ad in the sidebar.

[edit] Looks like both screenshots are showing now.

<comment><USER14> Amazon takes awhile to get up to speed from when I submitted mine.

<comment><AUTHOR> A mix with Amazon + backend processing. The server was getting hammered so there was a bit of a delay.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I'm getting server error 500 when I try to upload my project (dbinbox.com) :(

Edit: The developer (thanks Drew!) emailed me within ten minutes of posting this, figured out what the issue was, and pushed a fix. I'm impressed.

Here's my weekend project dbinbox: [https://breakpoint.io/144-dbinbox-makes- it-easier-for-people...](https://breakpoint.io/144-dbinbox-makes-it-easier- for-people-to-send-you-files/)

</comment><comment> j-m-o Cool. I threw my side project up there:

<https://breakpoint.io/48-ringo/>

<http://www.tryringo.com>

Given that most Show HN's never hit the front page (mine was in the 1st page of the 'new' tab for just 20 minutes!), hopefully this fills in a niche that seems to be missing from HN. Good work!

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the feedback! I really want to turn it into a community where others provide great feedback on their side projects.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Very cool idea, I put my project up here: <https://breakpoint.io/101-grouvee/>

</comment><comment><USER19> Very fun, I've added one of my projects here: <http://breakpoint.io/43-trackchat/>

As others have said, the screenshots management bit needs to be improvement - it's a bit of a guess as to what'll work best right now. But I imagine that will come with time.

Good luck!

</comment><comment><USER20> I like the idea and the design. This has some overlap with Launchsky (including a similar UI): <http://launchsky.com>

The main difference is that we're a platform for sharing ideas, and you're sharing projects that already exist. In any case, good luck with this!

<comment><USER21> It says launching in early 2013. so when is it? BTW interesting concept, I'm one of those "would be" users and shared it too :P

<comment><USER20> We are launching the beta next week. Really glad to hear you have been spreading the word!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Nice work. I'm glad you are tackling it [1], now it's off my table. Hopefully your site is back up to let me signup. The UI could benefit from simplicity.

[1] = <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5030945>

<comment><AUTHOR> I started the project a few days before that was posted. Seeing that only inspired us to continue.

EDIT: Yeah, the site is getting hammered right now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I really like it and I hope you're able to get some traction/traffic with it–but also balance it with having a solid community.

Frankly, submitting "Show HN" posts here is now useless and a bit frustrating. Most of them seem to get lost.

</comment><comment><USER24> Cool site!

Suggestions: \- Use Gravatar for the avatar \- Add a field in the profile for GitHub

Also, just added mine... <http://breakpoint.io/116-straply/>

</comment><comment><USER25> Cool :) few minutes before it was inaccessible but now it works fine! I added my recent experiment : <https://breakpoint.io/121-railyo/>

</comment><comment><USER26> Another site that tackles this from a non-social angle: <http://criticue.com> Interesting 1-for-1 review model. I've used it with good results.

</comment><comment><USER27> I like this quite a lot. I hope you keep iterating on it. I've added my project: <http://breakpoint.io/50-underspark/>

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. I plan to keep working on it. I've been working on it for a bit of time now on the side and finally decided to release it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> I'd suggest adding features to keep people coming back. E.g' rss and email subscription for 'hot' projects. Otherwise it might get pretty lonely when you get off the hn front page.

</comment><comment><USER29> Hi, I am sure you are aware, but as I tried to load my project, your site crashed. I ran this on a VM with a spoofed IP as well, so Im not sure whether it is all domains or not...

</comment><comment><USER30> Nice - posted my own side project - would love some feedback on the idea from HN. <https://breakpoint.io/153-bento/>

</comment><comment><USER31> Great idea! Hope I get good feedback on one of my newer projects: <https://breakpoint.io/103-awdio/>

</comment><comment><USER21> You could make signup quicker by adding login with facebook. In this case probably twitter as you are also taking in the twitter username in profile.

</comment><comment><USER32> Awesome idea. Just added my side project :) <https://breakpoint.io/41-furnace>

</comment><comment><USER14> <http://breakpoint.io/45-pineappleio/>

</comment><comment><USER33> Nice idea. I think it's a great way to discover what other people are working on as well

</comment><comment><USER34> Needs a login-with-github button - most of my side projects are on GitHub anyway.

</comment><comment><USER35> Just added my project. Thanks for making something awesome :)

<comment><AUTHOR> You're welcome. Thanks for the comment and adding your project!

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> cache problems with images of Breakpoint - still showing the same image even after i changed the screenshot of my side project

</comment><comment><USER37> you need more too it... What's the wow feature?

</comment><comment><USER38> Site is down.

</comment><comment><USER39> Down</comment>


How to Survive an Acquisition - <AUTHOR> http://charity.wtf/2016/02/03/how-to-survive-an-acquisition/ <comment><USER2> In my experience, there's only one rule to surviving an acquisition: _find political cover immediately_. Upon acquisition, you and your team are an alien entity embedded in BigCo's immune system of political networks and operating rules. They don't know what to do with you, you are a threat to established patterns, and _you will lose to the experienced players_. So unless you have C-suite cover and a title to match it, you need to find existing, powerful entities with complementary capabilities and a need for what you do. If you make yourself useful as you are, then your patrons have an incentive to not meddle too much with your team. But if you don't have anyone protecting you out of self-interest, eventually you and your people are going to be absorbed, rebuilt and rebranded.

I mean, that'll happen anyway, but at least you have the option of staving it off long enough to get your team safely out of there.

<comment><USER3> I've been through 3 acquisitions one very badly done, one well done, and one several years in that im still on the fence about. This is great advice in any case.

Even in the case when say one of your side is brought into the c suite it's important to understand that you need to find acceptance and a reason to exist according to the rules of the buyer however bizzare they may be. In the case of my one bad acquisition our ceo came in as cto, but couldn't navigate the nightmare politics of our buyer. We still ended up lacking cover and lost a ton of great people to burnout and political hijinks. Our products suffered. Our customers suffered. It took us too long to understand the rules of the game and that the real interests of the company were at odds with making our products and customers successful. Or at least that was not the primary concern.

It's tough, figuring out the ground rules. Best bet is to make sure you are working in the best interests of someone who does and can guide you through it.

<comment><USER3> Or of course, just move on! Could be that's the best advice most of the time.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I was once asked to be in charge of an acquisition. We would let the new group (over 100 people in a building on the East Coast) keep doing the same work with the same management. What they didn't know was that that is code for keeping them isolated from the real company. And we would even assign a multi- talented team to integrate their product with our doc group and engineering groups - in a show of how important their work was to our company. What they didn't know was that that was really done so that I could prepare a list of technology worth saving for the CEO (Let's call him Larry). The plan was to spend perhaps six months understanding their code, another six months taking the parts we want, and then letting them go. There was really nothing they could do about it. We simply wanted to consolidate our position in the market.

Since then I've spoken to other CEOs who were acquired by that company. They boast about how they were allowed to keep working on their projects and how they were important to the company and their great relationship to Larry as part of a Fortune 50 company. But then, over time, they found they weren't being given freedom anymore and they left. They just never really understood what was really happening.

</comment><comment><USER5> > 3-4 hour daily commute

It saddens me that anyone thinks this is acceptable. I know some people don't mind it, but what a waste of your life to do this for any extended period of time.

<comment><USER6> I have a 3 hour commute (by express bus with comfy seats, etc.). Honestly, I just use the commute time as "me time", not too different from hanging out at home.

The long commute lets me be close to my parents, in a neighborhood my wife likes, $1100 rent for a 2 bedroom in NYC, etc.

<comment><USER7> Where the heck do you live that you can get a 2BR in the NY metro area for $1100? Even the scuzziest areas start at $800-900 for a 1BR.

<comment><USER8> Well, he is 3 hours out. There are alot of cheaper areas in that big of a radius.

<comment><USER9> Guessing it's 3 miles total. So roughly 1.5 hours each way.

<comment><USER6> This is correct. 1.5 each way.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> The real advice, having been thru many non-coastal telecom mergers:

Its just like a merger on that old TV show Survivor, there's 3000 of us, 100 of you, and after "synergy" there's only going to be 3000 positions, so nothing personal but you are all gone.

The first meetings with the new bosses are a job interview, treat it as such.

Highest priority should be a transfer into the buying company. You want to get on to the existing team as the newest hire, not sitting on the team that's being picked bare before downsizing. Existing teams in the big company have political power and thats all that matters.

Start saving every penny, your job is gone but you have warning you'll be looking for work soon. You may have relo expenses, may not find a job immediately, who knows.

Its easier to find work when you're the first rat to desert the sinking ship, not the last. You want to be the first guy to get a new job. Unless you're 64 and planning to retire, ignore a couple thousand bonus if you stick around. Six months of lost income is probably a lot more than $5K if you're the last downsized. Pretend that bonus doesn't exist unless you're planning on retiring or dropping out.

Assume you've lost it all. The job title, the work environment, the benefits, the vacation time, the seniority, the freedom, the technology. If you get to keep any of it after the merger, you'll feel better.

Sometimes the merger is the time to get away with things. Why, I've always been able to work from home. This is my last chance to upgrade the software without 500 pages of paperwork and procedures, hurry up!

<comment><USER11> I experienced an unusual variation of the acquisition. The company wasn't acquired by another company, but sold out a majority interest to a private equity firm. I did as you suggest here, started looming immediately, jumped ship after the next major release. Turned out it was mistake, the company actually did quiet well, and didn't have the mass layoff I feared. I liked the job and regretted leaving out of fear.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> > Assume good intent. Aggressively assume good intent.

I can't account for anyone else, but my experience says the exact opposite. Most of the acquisitions I've seen, are because the acquiring company wants IP/contracts/some other good that they can't build themselves. Once they have that, the employees are on the short-list.

Obviously every acquisition is different, and should be judged by it's own circumstances, but, having been on both sides of the equation, I'd recommend being skeptical of everything they do. It _is_ hard to do that without becoming toxic, however.

<comment><USER13> I think she means it in a day-to-day sense. People will make comment and put forth actions that could come off as rude or malicious, but it's more likely they don't understand where you're coming from (a culture clash which could lead to discussion, or to fights, depending)

<comment><USER14> Yeah, or just completely oblivious. Most of the technical "advice" they insisted on giving us was just completely wrong.

Also, gotta say, I was never as self-conscious about being a woman in tech until we got acquired by Facebook. I've never had so many experiences of walking in to a room (as a tech lead) and having a dude look me up and down and say, "ummm, how technical are you?"

<comment><USER15> Like, literally? I could see a question like that being _asked_ , but I have no idea what a possible answer would be for anyone. Perhaps "7.2" might be pretty ok, but otherwise I can't fathom a single answer that isn't sarcastic, snarking, or arrogant.

I'm plonking that alongside "when did you stop beating your wife"-style trap questions.

<comment><USER14> "Try me."

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Thank you for what you've built. Our app is backed by Parse, and you've made it possible to help real people in a critical time because of how well you executed on your vision. I'm sure you've heard the same from the myriad other companies you've enabled thanks to the mBaaS innovations that Parse pioneered. I'm dismayed as everyone else that Facebook's bean counters missed this immense forest for the trees of immediate profitability. They won't soon regain developers' trust.

</comment><comment><USER17> In my experience, the first thing to do is to build yourself a little fortress out of binders and printouts. If it looks like you're going to get fired, pretend to be mentally handicapped so that they are afraid of a discrimination lawsuit. Then switch to whatever team has the best donuts, and spend the rest of your time at BigCo playing bullshit bingo with the pointy-haired ones.

<comment><USER18>
        ... and spend the rest of your time at BigCo playing bullshit
        bingo with the pointy-haired ones.

So your solution is to become one of them ? (the pointy-haired ones)

It would be nice to find a solution that doesn't increase the pointy-haired entropy of the world.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Holy moly. I've been through an acquisition, and it was the complete opposite experience. But, I have a bad feeling this post is completely right and this is typical. Must really feel terrible. I'm glad this person shared, and I hope they don't get into any kind of trouble over it.

<comment><USER20> I have been through five as an employee of the acquired company.

My advice is to polish up your resume and dig your job search network out of the mothballs the _instant_ you catch a whiff of one. If you're lucky, you will have approximately one year to find safe harbor before the storm hits.

I always ask leading questions about ownership structure and acquisitions at interviews now.

<comment><USER21> Would you mind sharing some examples of good questions to ask in an interview? It seems particularly hard to evaluate companies as an interviewee when they're trying to be secretive.

<comment><USER20> I don't know about _good_ questions, but here's one that I ask.

"I have been through a few acquisitions, and all of them ended badly for me. Can you tell me a bit about the ownership structure of your company and their exit strategy?"

You have to watch their facial expression as you ask it, as they will almost certainly tell you that the current owners have no plans to sell that they are aware of. (Your interviewers probably won't include any owner required for a majority bloc.) But they also might tell you some names, and you can check for yourself after the interview what generally happens to their peon-level employees.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> There is literally only one thing to do: get your resume together and get the hell out. If they offer you options that take 3 years to actually occur, ignore them. If you believe in your product, take a few weeks to get over the shock, then find something else to sink your teeth into!

<comment><USER23> I wish I would have followed this advice. I was part of a very large acquisition that netted me a measly $30k. The retention package was sizable (for me), but it took your quoted 3 years to even begin vesting.

I left at the end of year 2 and was miserable for almost a full year prior to leaving. I didn't even have any financial gain to show from it.

<comment><USER22> Mate, you live and learn. Whilst the experience might have been horrible, I'd say you've probably had positives come from it. For me, the positives were that I learned that I must commit 100% effort into any place I work, but I've got to be able to move on when necessary.

I'm afraid I'm still learning how to do this, but it has helped me get out of my last job before I completely burned out.

<comment><USER23> I hear you, and definitely did learn a lot. Sadly I've got a severe case of burn out at the moment.

<comment><USER22> It happens. Be kind to yourself and take it easy.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Since they covered up all the pages stating what parse is and does, can someone tell me here. What is parse? And what is it used for?

<comment><USER25> Parse is a backend as a service provider -- originally for mobile apps, but eventually for all kinds of applications. You could store data, manage users, target and send push notifications, gather analytics, etc., all without having to build your own backend.

<comment><USER24> Nice, that sounds useful. I guess it's good that they're releasing some of it as open source then. :) I've built a couple backend systems for mobile and other, I've used Kafka/zk for messaging primarily. I'll have to check this out more in depth, thanks :)

<comment><USER26> Here is a feature list of current alternatives [http://kinto.readthedocs.org/en/latest/overview.html#compari...](http://kinto.readthedocs.org/en/latest/overview.html#comparison- with-other-solutions)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> I think a good thing to assume is that when you work for someone, the product is not your product, but theirs, and the customers are not your customers, but theirs.

</comment><comment><USER28> What an excellent article.

Absolutely disengage. What's past is past.

Trust (not quite) no one. I've only had people depending on me in one of the five acquisitions I've been through, and I simply told them exactly what I think will be the result.

Quintuple check the evaluation criteria and totally, ruthlessly overfocus on that. This is a test. Identify any Catch-22 early and escalate these quickly.

Then do what you can to reengage. But you will almost certainly be a redheaded stepchild. Look at it as an opportunity to reinvent yourself a bit. Chances are you have close to nothing to lose. IMO, relaxing is better than not relaxing.

</comment><comment><USER29> >In retrospect, I realize that a lot of tiny acquired startups _don't_ know what the fuck they're doing and so the behemoth just gets used to assuming that everyone is like that. Just grit your teeth and take it.

This, I'm not sure if this should even be considered a negative. Too often start-ups and smaller tech companies try to reinvent the wheel and call themselves 'agile' or whatever. As a contractor I'd almost always rather deal with a large company - if for nothing other than a dedicated payroll dept.

</comment><comment><USER30> Sad to hear the end of Parse :( so I put together a collection of its evolution over time: [http://www.startuptimelines.org/startup- timelines/Parse/](http://www.startuptimelines.org/startup-timelines/Parse/)

Wishing the team well in any future endeavours

</comment><comment><USER31> I love the domain.

</comment><comment><USER32> > One of Facebook's internal slogans is something like "always do what's best > for Facebook".

Is that real? Like they really have this slogan that like comes straight out of a modern interpretation of Marx's theory of alienation shoved right into their employees faces?

[http://i.imgur.com/oVb4J0b.png](http://i.imgur.com/oVb4J0b.png)

<comment><USER33> I have never heard of this as a slogan at Facebook and I have close ties there; this seems like someone venting emotionally.

<comment><USER14> I am absolutely venting emotionally, I thought that much was clear. :) But I heard a variant of this in dozens or hundreds of meetings, generally when a project was getting shut down or canned or reorg'd, so it's not true to say that it's not true.

It's not even a _bad_ slogan. Company priorities _should_ come before territorial interests. This is why it's important to work in a place that shares your values at a high level.

<comment><USER34> I think people are juxtaposing "what's good for Facebook" not with "what's good for [territorial subunit]", but rather with "what's good for the lives of the people working at Facebook." A slogan like that is sensible in the first case and terrifying in the second case.

<comment><USER14> I think you're right, and I completely intended it in a practical, non- incendiary way. People would constantly say they weren't there to pursue personal, political agendas, they wanted to have maximum impact and do what was best for Facebook. It's like the #1 catchphrase you have to memorize to get ahead. It makes sense. In most cases, it's even true.

I may have a separate set of issues with Facebook People policies, but there are a ton of really passionate, amazing engineers working there who deeply believe in the mission (or at least their local specialty). I miss many of them very much and wish them all well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> Founder is so far from employee it's ridiculous you even comment.

It's sad that most founders don't care or don't understand that sometimes they managed to hire people that actually care about the business, and could have helped make it better.

When I see a founder sell his business, all I ever think is (as I'm sure most do), what a selfish asshole.

<comment><USER35> _> When I see a founder sell his business, all I ever think is (as I'm sure most do), what a selfish asshole._

You must be new here. Some useful info:

[http://ycombinator.com](http://ycombinator.com)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

<comment><USER22> I've been here a long time, and I frequently think the same thing.

<comment><USER35> It's not uncommon for founders to sell their company. Even Paul Graham (who created Hacker News) has done it:

 _In 1996, Graham and Robert Morris founded Viaweb, the first application service provider (ASP). Viaweb 's software, originally written mostly in Common Lisp, allowed users to make their own Internet stores. In the summer of 1998 Viaweb was sold to Yahoo! for 455,000 shares of Yahoo! stock, valued at $49.6 million._

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham_%28computer_progra...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Graham_%28computer_programmer%29)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER36> "Surviving," "Trauma," "Shock","Dismay" ?

I've founded a company through an acquisition and led mobile for another. Life was definitely much much better before the acquisitions. But the perception that it's anything but a first world first world problem ... is a bit misleading and entitled.

<comment><USER25> That's a very dismissive attitude toward real emotional attachments. The loss of something you've poured your life into can genuinely be traumatic, shocking, and dismaying.

I don't like the notion of applying the "first-world problem" dismissal to things that aren't trivialities. It's one thing to laugh about how you have to get up from the couch to get a remote. It's another thing entirely to talk about major changes to one's career, wiping away years of their work, or the loss of something they care deeply about as a "first-world problem".

Sure, getting acquired might be a "good problem to have", but it doesn't make its toll any less real.

<comment><USER36> Fair enough. There are real and powerful emotions at play.

But it's a bit of a stretch to suggest an employee at a company founded 5 years ago has "poured their life into."

Personally, I'll reserve evocative language of loss for things beyond a strategic shift at the office - but I shouldn't judge others who view things differently.

<comment><USER25> Consider, briefly, that the relevant question is what it meant to the OP, and clearly for her it had that impact. Having been through many of the same experiences (I, too, was an early Parse engineer, though I left about a year after the acquisition), I can tell you those feelings are real, and that it's definitely possible to form that kind of attachment to your work in well under 5 years.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Open Source Lessons Learned: Two Years of Telescope - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@sachagreif/open-source-lessons-learned-two-years-of-telescope-be4ed955b39

<comment><USER2> I love Telescope! I use it to run the Meteor.js news site [http://crater.io](http://crater.io).

I am really impressed with the continued efforts that Sacha puts into both Meteor and the Open Source community. He is something I aspire to be like one day.</comment>


Redesigning the boarding pass - <AUTHOR> http://passfail.squarespace.com/

<comment><USER2> Of course, there is little talk about the increase of cost for all of that extra ink.</comment>


Ask HN: What's the best book for learning PHP and MySQL - <AUTHOR>

<comment><AUTHOR> And which PHP framework should I learn?</comment>


Inheritance, Pseudo Classes and Mixins Gone Awray | railway - <AUTHOR> http://www.railway.at/2010/05/03/inheritance-pseudo-classes-and-mixins-gone-awry/ <comment><USER2> The interesting point missed in this article is that mixins actually _do_ create a superclass relationship in Ruby:

<http://gist.github.com/945435>

There's an anonymous superclass injected into the inheritance chain every time a module is included into a class.

So, while it might make sense to use explicit superclasses as a semantic modeling method, the runtime behavior is effectively the same whether you use a mixin or a concrete class.</comment>


Linux-Fu: GNU Parallel - <AUTHOR> https://hackaday.com/2020/06/29/linux-fu-parallel-universe/ <comment><USER2> I'm gnu parallel to distribute the rendering of blender scenes. First I use parallel to copy the files to each nodes. Then I use parallel to render the frames in each node. It works very well. But some times it don't render a few frame.</comment>


Training bees to perform simple addition and subtraction - <AUTHOR> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/how-to-teach-a-honeybee-to-do-math <comment><USER2> For your amusement, a quote regarding fictional-computing from _Hogfather_ (1998) by Terry Pratchett:

> "That is the long-term storage, Archchancellor."

> "And how does that work?"

> "Er ... well, if you think of memory as a series of little shelves or, or, > or holes, Archchancellor, in which you can put things, well, we found a way > of making a sort of memory which, er, interfaces neatly with the ants, in > fact, but more importantly can expand its size depending on how much we give > it to remember and, er, is possibly a bit slow but----"

> "It's a very loud buzzing," said the Dean. "Is it going wrong?"

> "No, that shows it's working," said Ponder. "It's, er, beehives."

> He coughed.

> "Different types of pollen, different thicknesses of honey, placement of the > eggs ... It's actually amazing how much information you can store on one > honeycomb."

> He looked at their faces. "And it's very secure because anyone trying to > tamper with it will get stung to death and Adrian believes that when we shut > it down in the summer holidays we should get a nice lot of honey, too." He > coughed again. "For our ... sand ... wiches," he said.

</comment><comment><USER3> Having gotten particularly bored by pattern fitting algorithms, researches have now diverted their attention back to organic NNs.

</comment><comment><USER4> Maybe I missed it, but did the article completely neglect to actually describe what kind of arithmetic the bees were doing beyond a basic mention of addition and subtraction? How large were the numbers? What was the success rate? Am I expecting too much from PBS?

<comment><USER5> Actual paper link: [http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/2/eaav0961](http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/2/eaav0961)

they can only increment or decrement a number by 1 ("honeybees were able to use color as a symbolic representation of the addition and subtraction signs and learned, during 100 appetitive-aversive trials, to thus add or subtract one element from different samples. ")

The paper is fairly readable even outside the area of expertise. It's straightforward behavioral work.

Amusingly they used sugar as the positive reward and quinine as the negative reward. I quite like the taste of quinine...

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Seems plausible that the bees were able to associate the colors with "many" or "few" rather than (N+/-1). Seems like if they were able to make that general association they would do better than chance, but still fail often.

Which could explain why the effect is fairly weak.

Would be interesting to see if the bees success rate at addition was proportional to the starting value (ex. 1+1 has higher failure rate that 3+1)

</comment><comment><USER7> So they didn't try them on random setup to determine whether bees are just good at "guessing" (i.e. sniffing out the right way)?

</comment><comment><USER8> Now we just need to teach them rocket science so they can get off of this planet.

<comment><USER9> Can you please not post unsubstantive comments here?</comment></comment>


Making a website shouldn't be that difficult - <AUTHOR> http://blog.smartart.it/2016/06/05/making-website-shouldnt-be-difficult <comment><USER2> Great post. Soon Blockstack, [http://blockstack.org](http://blockstack.org) will allow developers to build apps without setting up a server and having to worry about things like authentication and storage.</comment>


OpenIndiana Hipster 2019.10 Released for Advancing Open-Source Solaris - <AUTHOR> https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OpenIndiana-Hipster-2019.10 <comment><USER2> As someone who enjoys artisanal coffee, owns a large vinyl collection, makes his own kombucha at home, and ran Solaris 9 long long ago, I find the term "hipster" a bit offensive.</comment>


This Woman's Mirror Art Makes For The Most Creative Selfies We've Ever Seen - <AUTHOR> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/09/mirrorsme-selfie-artwork_n_5571315.html

<comment><USER2> Not a good fit for Hacker News.</comment>


Show HN: Online Discourse, Organized - <AUTHOR> https://www.disqors.com <comment><AUTHOR> Hi, I wanted to share a web app I made to keep up to date on the most interesting discussions among political/social/economic commentators.

I connect online articles into discussion graphs and intersperse the top tweets about them. There are feeds that filter the discussions in different ways (exchanges among top authors, most discussed articles).

It's also possible to see a specific discussion graph in its entirety, e.g. the discussion around Marc Andreessen's "It's Time to Build" essay: [https://www.disqors.com/discussions/36672](https://www.disqors.com/discussions/36672)

Any feedback is appreciated!</comment>


Show HN: PhotoBuffer – schedule and share your photos from one place - <AUTHOR> http://photobuffer.co <comment><USER2> Looks interesting. Three feedback comments-

\- display pricing according to browser locale

\- allow social login (Google, FB etc)

\- Enable TLS (MUST HAVE)</comment>


Show HN: UnSend.it Beta, modify / unsend any email after it's been sent - <AUTHOR> https://unsend.it/

<comment><AUTHOR> here is a video of how it works (sorry about the audio quality) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLYYh_fuCE8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLYYh_fuCE8)

<comment><USER2> Very very impressive. I am very curious how you do it. What about privacy by the way?

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, its only in beta so its not perfect but getting there

bramgg is right in his comment. we are using images to display the text. when the user edits / "unsends" and email we simply re-render the image.

bramgg is also right about gmail's image caching however we found a way around it

as for the privacy: we will upload our policy soon (it's being reviewed atm). but simply put: \- we do not ever sell your data to 3rd party \- all of the email info are stored heavily encrypted on our servers \- the images are behind a secure proxy \- once you delete an email it completely removed from our servers

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> how is it done?

<comment><USER3> I have no affiliation with the product, but since the email protocol obviously doesn't actually allow altering emails after they've been sent, I can tell you the only two ways something like this could operate.

1) The email isn't actually sent when you click send. There's a delay where you can go back and edit/delete it. This is effectively the same as saving an email as a draft and then having it auto-send five minutes later.

2) The email is actually just text on an external image or on some external web page visible through an iFrame. Neither of these really work because modern day email services like Gmail cache images and pass them through their own servers. Most email clients also block iFrames by default.

Based on their website I assume UnSend.it uses one of number 2. An interesting hack and definitely Hacker News worthy, but in practice I don't think it can be reliable.

There is also always the possibility that I'm wrong and there's a secret method #3, but I really doubt that.

<comment><USER2> #2 is an interesting hack indeed. But from the demo video (posted in a different comment), it also works for attachment so I don't think he is using this method.

Edit: I signed up and you were right. He uses a remote image. It works when I email using the unsend.it web app but doesn't work if I send it through the Gmail website so I couldn't test the attachment.</comment></comment></comment>


CSS text fill animation tutorial - <AUTHOR> https://youtu.be/6AdMP_MGXvE <comment><USER2> Fourth time you've posted this in a week, dude. WTH?</comment>


AirPods Pro Launching on October 30 - <AUTHOR> https://www.macrumors.com/2019/10/28/apple-airpods-pro-october-30/ <comment><USER2> Is hearing aid design going to be moving to match the appearance of wireless consumer earphones, like the AirPods?

Given the general acceptance of individual impairments in an inclusive society, and given the design language of hearing aids made in the past to "hide" the impairment (i.e. being skin-tone), I think that that this will be the case in the next 10-20 years.

I make the prediction that there will no difference in appearance and design of devices made for medical use and casual consumer use in that timeframe.

</comment><comment><USER3> Yesterday's discussion [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21378197](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21378197)

</comment><comment> shaki-dora AirPods are a bit too pricey for my taste, and I actually don't care about headphone cables that much.

But from a purely technical point-of-view, I cannot deny that these are a somewhat impressive feat of technology, especially miniaturisation and power efficiency. It's the rare product where I would have guessed another decade or so of progress needs to pass to make it feasible.</comment>


Incredible collection of vintage advertising . . . - <AUTHOR> http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/

<comment><USER2> Transportation ads are always my favorite.

There's a vintage store in SoHo, Flying A, where you can buy old Pan Am, TWA, Japan Airlines, etc. travel totes that have gorgeous branding from the middle 1900's.

</comment><comment><USER3> These are great for inspiration and a chuckle. Thanks for the wonderful link.

How'd you find this?

<comment><AUTHOR> Glad you enjoyed - the source is <http://waxy.org/links/> \- but be forewarned, lots of good stuff there to get lost in :).</comment></comment>


Facebook and Instagram get redesigns for readability - <AUTHOR> https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/15/facebook-instagram-comments/ <comment><USER2> weird i prefer the one on the left every single time..</comment>


Velib apocalypse: Why Paris destroyed its bicycle network - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@elie/velib-apocalypse-why-paris-destroyed-its-bicycle-network-43ad1d7c916f <comment><USER2> "Therefore, we now have these absurd hordes of delivery slaves everywhere."

One way to diss the Post, certainly.

<comment><AUTHOR> When you look at their status (mostly freelance, but relying on the job to make a living), I can't think of another way to describe their situation!</comment></comment>


Org-mode on web, built with React, for mobile, synced with Dropbox, Google Drive - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/DanielDe/org-web <comment><USER2> Hey all, I'm the author of org-web. It was pretty cool to wake up this morning and see this on the front page (thanks moioci!). If you're interested in taking org-web for a spin you can try it here: [https://org- web.org/](https://org-web.org/)

There's a sample file you can play around with there if you're not ready to link to a sync backend yet.

Happy to answer any questions!

<comment><USER3> I have been on the fence for using Redux in a large-scale project and I am still not convinced about its usefulness. I feel its too much code for too little gain. You have listed it as one of the tools you have used in org-web. Does it add value?

<comment><USER2> The short answer is yes it added value, but I wouldn't use it if I started on org-web today. Largely this is because of the new hooks API in React (particularly useReducer).

Redux also helped me grow a lot as an engineer. I'm sure the concepts that it builds on aren't new, but they were new to me when I first started using Redux and I now spend a lot of time thinking the way Redux taught (or forced) me to think.

<comment><USER3> Thanks. That helps. Looks like you can build a middleware using hooks alone. I found a good video from a React guru: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUzLlHFVXx0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUzLlHFVXx0). He builds a few Redux concepts in the video.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> "Org-mode is a document editing, formatting, and organizing mode, designed for notes, planning, and authoring within the free software text editor Emacs."

In case anyone else wasn't sure what this was, and isn't an Emacs user.

<comment><USER5> You can use orgmode in other editors. I use vim, for instance. (Yes, the "official" module is only for emacs, but orgmode is a format and other editors have plugins for it as well.)

<comment><USER6> The Vim addon isn't unofficial its a different program inspired by org mode that implements some of the features.

The difference between having multiple implementations of a standard and multiple similar tools is that you really can't access the same data from multiple programs or share data with users using a different app.

<comment><USER7> People who want to try out org-mode but are familiar with vim shortcuts may want to check out spacemacs, it's an emacs distribution built to be useful for vim users. That way you can try out the real org-mode.

<comment><USER6> I see a lot of spacemacs users that seem rather confused on emacs basics. Makes me think you would be better of learning emacs, adding evil to the mix. Then using a starter kit if desired.

<comment><USER8> Where does one go to learn emacs basics?

<comment><USER9> Emacs has a built in tutorial. It is advertised on the welcome screen. You may find that it is a thoughtfully constructed and actually quite helpful. You won't be able to finish it in five minutes...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> This looks cool!

But could you (if you are the author?) please restrict the Google Drive permissions from "See, edit, create and delete all of your Google Drive files" to only affect a sub directory of my drive please? That's best practice for isolation.

Thanks!

<comment><AUTHOR> not the author, just a non-techy person who wants to try org mode without the complexity of emacs.

<comment><USER11> A non-techy person who has heard of emacs!

<comment><USER12> "Non-techy" is Impostor Syndrome for "somewhat techy".

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Wow, what i timing. Just found out org-mode thanks to bumping into Orgzly [1] and proffering it more then Joplin [2] due to local directory storage (synced with syncthing [3]). As a Vim user i am now trying vim-orgmode [4] and hope to have complete self hosting synced note taking solution... i will see if org- web fit's into this somehow...

[1] [http://www.orgzly.com/](http://www.orgzly.com/)

[2] [https://joplinapp.org/](https://joplinapp.org/)

[3] [https://syncthing.net/](https://syncthing.net/)

[4] [https://github.com/jceb/vim-orgmode](https://github.com/jceb/vim-orgmode)

<comment><USER14> The Orgzly+Syncthing is an awesome combination. Also, as alternative it is worth mentioning the Standard Notes [0], which tends to be have-it-all-as- extension [1][2] note editor - however, it lacks the org-mode.

[0]: [https://standardnotes.org/](https://standardnotes.org/)

[1]: [https://standardnotes.org/extensions#editors](https://standardnotes.org/extensions#editors)

[2]: [https://standardnotes.org/demo](https://standardnotes.org/demo)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> No mention yet of the very well built iOS app beorg [https://beorgapp.com/](https://beorgapp.com/)

Org-mode files are synced via Dropbox, iCloud, or WebDAV.

Having a Siri shortcut to just tell Siri to add something to my TODO list would be a nice feature. Glancing at the shortcuts API, there is an append to file feature. I might have to try to roll my own.

<comment><USER16> Beorg is awesome, I use it daily, but it's really "TODO" oriented, and not that great for editing documents.

I've often wished there was an iOS text editor that understood org format, even just basic markdown style formatting. I'm going to give org-web a go, I think it could be a good compliment to beorg.

<comment><USER17> There's inkdrop. The iOS app is pretty limited but it syncs with the desktop app and has an electron (I know, I know) app for Mac, Windows, and Linux. It's extendable with plugins. I've been using it for a couple of months and I love it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> looks nice! though the focus on proprietary API-based backends (?!) is a bit puzzling? how about commiting to a git repo on the web server. Running within nextcloud?

<comment><USER2> I think those are great ideas, I just haven't gotten around to them yet. This was largely a scratch-your-own-itch kind of project for me, and I sync my org file with Dropbox, so that was my priority.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Since other people are throwing out alternatives, here's what I use:

[https://dynalist.io/](https://dynalist.io/)

I'm not affiliated, just a happy paying customer. I organize a pretty good chunk of my life in it.

<comment> j-conn I'm planning to give this a try once notes aren't stored on dynalist servers, or are at least end to end encrypted

<comment><USER19> Fair enough. It's a small company and their ops seem competent, but yeah, I wouldn't trust confidential or sensitive information to it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> How does Org-Mode compare to modern note taking apps like Keep? How does Org- Mode handle media files?

<comment><USER21> There is no 'modern' note taking app remotely as capable as Org-Mode. That said, there's a tradeoff to be made as to use Org-Mode effectively is a project in itself (check out a couple of youtube videos on it). In my experience it's also hard to use it without being thoroughly infected by emacs/lisp envy. Whether this is a good or bad thing is a metaphysical question.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Wow this is perfect. I'm using org mode more and more for everything I do and my only concern was mobile access. Thanks so much for working on this!

<comment><USER6> Have you tried orgzly?

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> Awesome! Thanks for making this, and for sharing here, and for open-sourcing it! :)

</comment><comment><USER24> Wonderful! Would love too to see NextCloud/WebDAV support added.

</comment><comment><USER25> I am trying the interface after first login via google drive and cannot find out how to start a new document. I am not presently an orgmode user and use EccoPro on Linux.

Is there a way to create a new document in the mobile interface?

<comment><USER2> Ah, no there is not. Haven't gotten around to that yet. My primary use case here was editing existing files.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Great stuff! I was looking for something like this just a couple of days ago.

</comment><comment><USER27> This is an incredible user interface at the first glance! Really creative!

</comment><comment><USER28> this is really good! I'm extremely happy to see more and more people drawn to orgmode. I'm currently working on a side project that involves blogging + agenda exporting and orgmode, still too rough to share, but hopefully soon. What I might share before is the org-mode parser and htmlfier that I wrote in clojure to support my project.

Anyway, orgmode is a real time and life saver. I use it daily to manage my tasks and keep notes on meetings/1:1s. I'll definitively play with this during the weekend!

<comment><USER29> When you're ready to share, would you kindly ping me? As a power org user and Clojure programmer I am intrigued by your description^^

My mail is in my user description.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> That is not "Org-mode" as "mode" refers to editing mode within GNU Emacs software [https://www.gnu.org/s/emacs](https://www.gnu.org/s/emacs) \-- so you either use the term wrongly intentionally to gain attention or unintentionally as you never understood the concept of integrated environment such as Emacs.

Instead you could call it Org editing or Org files or Org planning. Not a "mode".

Your web design sucks and it is not usable.

This is waste of time.

</comment><comment><USER31> i'm a heavy emacs user but ive never been able to really grok org mode. what makes it special?

<comment><USER32> It's just a really solid markup for large plaintext documents with automa(g/t)ic formatting and the ability to embed:

-Arbitrary code which can be executed and which can update/operate on the contents of the document

-calendars

-hyperlinks

-images and other media

-tables which can also act as spreadsheets _a la_ Excel

It also lets you export to just about any format including HTML and pdf via TeX, and it has broad integration across emacs so you can easily invoke portions of org-mode from your other buffers/modes.

In other words it's a really flexible medium for representing and working just about anything in a plain text file. I use it as a bug tracker for personal projects, I use it for self-documenting code ("literate programming", as they say), and I use it for writing prose that I intend to export to PDF such as reports and other things because frankly org is a much saner way to write latex/xetex/whatever.

<comment><USER33> Beyond being "just" a markup, it's also a pretty decent TODO manager.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> have to say, it was awesome to see org-mode and React used in the same sentence. great work.

</comment><comment><USER35> Anyone did a comparison with orgzly+syncthing? I currently use orgzly and my only problem is that sometimes files get out of sync - I do not always have access to wifi.

<comment><USER13> As long as you only sync org-mode text files, you could install synsthing-fork and enable custom rule to sync the orgzly directory even on mobile data.

</comment></comment><comment><USER36> Does this work offline at all? That would be a killer feature.

<comment><USER37> In case this isn't a joke, what's keeping you from just using emacs or an org- mode plugin for your text editor?

<comment><USER38> I don't like the UX, especially in a touch environment.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> This is pretty impressive. I'm not a fan of the type face and some of the design decisions, but those are rather minor points. With Git it'll be amazing.

</comment><comment><USER30> This would make sense ONLY then, when you would implement editing of Org files on Internet that connects to Emacs server.

As stand alone version this is just waste of time.

</comment><comment><USER39> I am developing a new rich editor for web. I have heard of org mode, but I have never used it. The direction I am heading for is seamless markdown, inspired by [https://typora.io/](https://typora.io/)

Seeing how popular this is made me feel worried that seamless markdown may not be the right direction. What do you think is the good features markdown lacks? I know markdown doesn't have calendar and some features, but some markdown engines support add-ons.

<comment><USER40> > _What do you think is the good features markdown lacks?_

Orgmode adds things like todos, timestamped entries, outlining, cross- references, show/hide sections etc, which markdown editors typically lack.

<comment> vector3-dot-no org-mode for a nice WYSIWYG, I feel, is like a Saturn V rocket for de- spidering your basement.

Works great; maybe a bit too powerful for the average use case.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> Even if I am as a Emacs and org-mode user in the ballpark for people who should be interested in it, and I especially like that it seems to be mobile- first, I'm not inclined to test it. And that is for the simple reason that I don't want to send my private data to Google or Dropbox. It would be nice to see Syncthing or Nextcloud sync first, and then additionally Dropbox and Google Drive as a cherry on top.

</comment><comment><USER22> Currently keyboard shortcut ^n is opening a new window; how do I get it to navigate to next header?

<comment><USER2> Yeah, the keyboard shortcut system is a bit buggy. I haven't put much work into it since I figure when you're at a desktop you'll be using Emacs anyway. You can, however, change the keyboard shortcuts in settings. Maybe that'll help you here?

</comment></comment><comment><USER42> what % of the org-mode API is currently implemented?

<comment><USER2> Author here - I'm not sure % wise, but quite a few features now have first- class support. Those that don't simply fall back to plain text, which you can always resort to editing directly in org-web. You can see a list of the implemented features (and try them yourself) in the sample file here: [https://org-web.org/](https://org-web.org/)

<comment><USER43> Is there support for in line images and LaTeX?

I haven't tried org-web but this looks seriously awesome! Good work!

<comment><USER2> Not currently, no.

Thanks so much!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> Looks nice!

Will there be either OneDrive or Standard Notes support at one point?

EDIT: nevermind, it's open source, so I'll look into it; maybe as an editor for Standard Notes?

</comment><comment><USER45> amazing

</comment><comment><USER46> I want something like this for Vimwiki. Started building it out but haven't had the time.</comment>


SpaceX crushes rocket engine world record during Raptor test - <AUTHOR> https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-raptor-engine-crushes-russian-record/ <comment><USER2> Pretty serious achievements. Wonder what is the demonstrated Isp and the exhaust pressure?

</comment><comment><USER3> Does anyone know what SpaceX did special in designing and building the Raptor that allows it to reach such a high pressure?

<comment><USER2> There is no problem to reach a big pressure by itself.

There is problem to reach it for this amount of fuel using the same amount of fuel as energy source. The flow is fixed, so pressure is proportional to pump power, which is a part of turbine power, which takes energy from that fixed flow. To get more energy, bigger temperatures are needed - on both fuel-rich and oxidizer-rich turbines, and that's limited by existing materials.

Of course, there are many complexities with efficiencies, balances (spinning, two turbopumps), thermal expansions and contractions (LOX is about 90K), cooling of turbine blades, if any, control of pressure feedbacks (e.g. the bigger power on turbine - the bigger pressure on pumps, which supplies fuel to gas generator and then to turbine, so we have a positive reinforcement loop here)... No, the problem isn't the pressure - it's the pressure given all the constraints of the leading edge rocket engine.

<comment><USER3> Ok, but that still doesn't answer my question of what specifically SpaceX did differently. For instance, you said bigger temperatures are needed and that is limited by existing materials. So did SpaceX invent materials that could stand a higher temperature?

<comment><AUTHOR> [https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https:/...](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://twitter.com/erdayastronaut/status/1130884644717699073%3Flang%3Den&ved=2ahUKEwjp6Zrx3rrrAhW9IjQIHbhADA8Qt9IBMAp6BAgQEAc&usg=AOvVaw0TPftFdEOvYLn-H66PNwOM)

SpaceX has the first flight tested, full flow dual turbopump engine.

As in there are turbopumps for both the lox and methane tanks powered by burning extra rich mixtures for each pump leaving enough unburnt lox and methane in the perfect ratio to generate the record primary thrust.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Millennials Are Leaving Religion and Not Coming Back - <AUTHOR> https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/millennials-are-leaving-religion-and-not-coming-back/ <comment><USER2> Interestingly, I used to be irreligious, but about a year and a half ago fell on the path of druidry (druidry.org for reference) through a series of realisations. I've never looked back. I guess I'm a minority of my generation.

</comment><comment><USER3> And that's good. Ideas like religion should've been see as a idea of building pyramides or having a slave in your village</comment>


Six-hour working day 'boosts productivity and makes people happier' - <AUTHOR> http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/six-hour-working-day-sweden-boosts-productivity-and-makes-people-happier-a7023741.html <comment> lloyd-christmas _While impressions of staff being happier and full of energy aren't exactly scientific basis for declaring 6-hour work days as 'better' than the 8.7-hour work day endured by the average American, we do have evidence that what we're doing right now isn't working._[1]

 _The study equates productivity with quality of care, which doesn 't necessarily translate to white-collar work._[2]

 _[The company] had to hire an additional 15 nurses, which cost 6,000,000 Swedish krona (about $735,000). About half of that expense was offset by the decrease in sick days and time off. That said, the experiment didn 't measure how the improved care affected the overall bottom line._[2]

 _To cope with the significant cut in working hours, Feldt says staff are asked to stay off social media and other distractions while at work and meetings are kept to a minimum._ [1]

 _with more people in work, unemployment benefit payments are cut, but the savings accrue to the state, not the municipality that bears the cost of hiring more staff._ [3]

 _Daniel Bernmar, leader of the Left party group on Gothenburg city council, which pushed for the trial at Svartedalens, admits a six-hour day costs more money, but insists it is a matter of quality of life for public sector workers and for residents in elderly care._ [3]

What I see is a quantitative drop in productivity being justified with a qualitative survey. None of which supports " _boosts productivity_ ". Along with this is less vacation, but more day-to-day personal time. I'm happier working longer hours for more time off. The only thing that appeals to me in this list is shorter meetings. I work in the private sector though, which doesn't seem to be included in any studies.

[1] [http://www.sciencealert.com/sweden-is-shifting- to-a-6-hour-w...](http://www.sciencealert.com/sweden-is-shifting-to-a-6-hour- workday)

[2] [http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-10/the-six- ho...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-10/the-six-hour-workday- works-in-europe-what-about-america)

[3] [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/efficiency- up-t...](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/17/efficiency-up-turnover- down-sweden-experiments-with-six-hour-working-day)

</comment><comment><USER2> Well obviously people are going to have more energy and be happier if you reduce their work hours and keep their pay the same. Didn't need a study to figure that out.

I think if working hours are reduced economy wide as planned in some countries, over the long term the pay will eventually come down. More people might have jobs yes and people may earn a higher hourly rate but not enough to make up for the less hours worked.

</comment><comment><USER3> This helps solve our looming automation crisis.

On the other hand, patient handoff is the most dangerous part of the average hospital stay. Shorter shifts for nursing staff equates to more frequent handoffs.

<comment><USER4> The number of patients seen per hour is not a healthy metric _.

_ Well it depends, yesterday I had quite along session with more, but it needed to be. Today I've had some blood test and have no problem (I'm actually glad) it was in there less than 5 minutes.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Early stage startups take notice. Sole proprietor businesses take note!

I too would be happy to get more time off and get the same pay and job security sign me up!</comment>


Yet Another HN "Who's Hiring?" Listing Browser - <AUTHOR> https://kennytilton.github.io/whoishiring/ <comment><AUTHOR> Yet another HN Who's Hiring Browser.

It has various handy filters and sorts and lets us assign and sort by "stars", flag as "applied to", and record notes.

Uses localstorage so stick to one browser! Tested on Opera, Chrome, and FireFox. FF is needed to load index.html as a local file (unless someone help me work around Chrome's complaints).

Regex searching needs a ton of refinement. Working on that now, and performance when hundreds of jobs are matched.

More/same info here: [https://github.com/kennytilton/kennytilton.github.io/blob/ma...](https://github.com/kennytilton/kennytilton.github.io/blob/master/whoishiring/README.md)

Happy job hunting!</comment>


Worst VC Firms' Websites - <AUTHOR> http://bernardi.me/2012/05/worst-venture-capital-firms-websites/ <comment><USER2> You know who else has a horrible website? Berkshire Hathaway <http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/> . Lets think about this for a minute. Do VC firms want people to go to their website and email them about a cool investment? How do people actually interact with VC firms is that its usually a one on one with the company that they are trying to invest in. Therefore, they don't really need a expensive website to be successful.

<comment><USER3> There's a great point here - the VCs are just like any good start up, and are investing only in things that help make them more successful. The difference here is that the VCs are likely satisfied focusing on qualifying inbound leads, whereas most of the businesses we see on HN are actively trying to attract traffic with outbound messaging.

A nice looking webpage is the VC equivalent of a 'vanity metric' - sure it looks good, but does it help them source great investments? Perhaps it raises the number of views on their website, but are any of them the high-quality entrepreneurs they'd like to invest in?

Frankly, I'd think that the problem that the top VC firms is not knowing enough people, it is finding enough time to properly evaluate them all. If you're picking a VC based on their website and not their intrinsic business worth or ability to help you succeed, you probably aren't the kind of business they're looking for.

<comment><USER4> > you probably aren't the kind of business they're looking for.

Sure, but isn't this the problem?

Assume you have a revenue-generating business making 250k in year two. In my opinion, this startup should be valued at considerably more than 10x revenue. But that sort of valuation is hard to get, and likely impossible if the founder has to jump through hoops simply to get introductions.

What will these companies do? They'll focus on growth and avoid raising capital. Because once you break about a million capital becomes really easy to raise, and you can get money on far better terms than any VCs will offer. So there's an adverse selection problem here that effectively concentrates investment in high-risk businesses, since as soon as companies become self- sustainable pursuing funding for growth is usually less preferable to chasing down outside money.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The Lightspeed Venture graphic is the best, looks like they were aiming for the Peter Jackson tricks of perspective to make the front row guys look like hobbits. Maybe looking to corner the hot Shire startup scene?

<comment><AUTHOR> At least they're aware of it and are going to do something about it: [https://twitter.com/#!/lightspeedvp/status/20281354853405491...](https://twitter.com/#!/lightspeedvp/status/202813548534054913)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I did the new version of Kleiner Perkin's site (<http://www.kpcb.com>) and the first thing I did was to review the other VC sites out there. It is amazing how many VC websites look like they were coded up by an intern in a weekend.

<comment><USER7> I bet a lot of other VC funds copy this.

<comment><USER6> Hah. Thanks pg. They should of course feel free to reach out to me if they need a hand ;).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I cringe whenever I see team photos of them where they've been put in aggressive postures or awkward poses.

My favorite though is First Round's where they make everyone the same height: <http://firstround.com/team/>

<comment><USER9> It's pretty cool how hovering over the name highlights which person it is.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> If you'd turn down funding from legendary VC firms because they have a shitty website... well good luck with that.

</comment><comment><USER11> I'm not so sure there's much of a correlation between successful investing and having a nice site ... <http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/>

That said, I suppose it's fair to expect that companies funding web technology have passable sites.

<comment><USER12> Looks like it was designed by Craig Newmark.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> It's certainly reasonable to say that VCs shouldn't be great at building web sites. But I want my investors to give a damn. One of my favorited tweets (by Alexis Ohanian):

"Give a damn. Give so many damns. As a startup/small shop, it's the only competitive advantage you have against incumbents."

I think their website can be a reflection of how much they give a damn. Maybe they are an incumbent and they don't have to. But if I have the choice to raise money from someone who still gives a damn, I will.

<comment><USER14> Wouldn't you want your investors to give a damn about their portfolio companies, rather than give a damn about their own facade of a website?

<comment><USER13> False choice. VCs have a functionally unlimited budget-- they can give a damn about both with a negligible cost.

And their web site isn't a "facade"-- it's how they communicate with their future portfolio companies, press, people looking for jobs at startups, new partner/associate prospects, LPs, etc.

<comment><USER6> I will say, having worked on two VC sites now (see comments on <http://kpcb.com> below - KP is an exception to this). Most VCs can be incredibly cheap when it comes to these types of expenses, for whatever reason they are not willing to pay what it takes to get it done well.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> This title doesn't convey the meaning you intended. ("Bad web sites", not "bad VCs"...)

<comment><AUTHOR> You're right. Any better suggestions?

<comment><USER16> The title is currently "Worst VC Firms' Websites". Just move the adjective over: "VC Firms' Worst Websites" or to get rid of the semi-ambiguous possessive: "Worst Websites of VC Firms".

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> use search on Polaris Ventures website for: '

Error Type: Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server (0x80040E14) Unclosed quotation mark before the character string ' and IsPortfolio=1 order by CompanyName'. /Search.asp, line 72

\-- feels like 2003 again :)

<comment><USER18> Time to start a company named "Mobile');DROP TABLE investments; --"

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> Totally agree. However, I grew up with a family in the film business, and my parents always said you could tell who was in charge because they were usually wearing jeans. The pages/errand boys were the ones in suits.

I also wish their website would be a bit nicer, but they have probably realized it doesn't matter, they are on top and anyone whose worth one's salt already knows it.

</comment><comment><USER20> I would add <http://www.shv.com/> The 90's feeling is very strong with this one.

<comment><USER21> The telltale macromedia functions in the inline page javascript, not that you need to look at the source to tell it was made by dreamweaver.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> CrunchFund has no website at all. Google ventures has an awesome new site. Isn't a big deal to the established firms as people will flock if they have one or not. In fact the big firms almost wholly rely on recommendations and introductions from current investments so don't want people to easily be able to cold contact them through their site.

</comment><comment><USER23> At least these pages are working... T-Ventures website (VC company of Deutsche Telekom) was offline almost the whole last week.

</comment><comment><USER24> If VC's were so worried a about how things looked over how they functioned they probably wouldnt survive as long as they have

</comment><comment><USER25> This article is funny that it points out the fact that the websites for the venture capital firms are lacking and quite horrible. You would think they would want a better looking site but then again, they are the ones who are being sought out so why care?

</comment><comment><USER26> I don't know about VC, but people says you can judge how successful a contractor is by its website; successful one usually has crappy/nonexistent website.

</comment><comment><USER27> "This content requires the Flash Plugin" is something I NEVER want to see on my VC's website.

</comment><comment><USER28> I'm a huge fan of this VC thing called revenue.

</comment><comment><USER29> It's the same reason Google and many huge sites don't care about web standards...they don't really need to.</comment>


Ask HN: Help me pick a name. Transgender + Startups =? - <AUTHOR>

On the table: Translaunch Transincubator Transintegrator Transcombinator Transtartup Transtarter
We are x.
We help transgender
people launch startups.
We are seeking to raise
a fund to do it as a full fledged seed venture capital firm.
What's the best fit for x? <comment><USER2> First off, don't think that your name needs to define you. Your company, it's dealings, and it's founders will define it, so open yourself to more possibilities.

Regardless of the cause or core values of your incubator, putting too much weight behind that can make it sound like a gimmick, and take focus away from the hard work and successes of your founders.

I do like Transformer, however, so anigbrowl gets a ^

Best of luck.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you, and I agree that this problem is less important than our team and what we do, hence my attempt to crowdsource the naming decision. 2 for transformer is a good lead I'll be pitching the team tomorrow. Transfund, Transfunding, or Transfunder seem like worthy competition?

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> TrannyNanny, The Startup Incubator

<comment><USER4> 'Tranny' is generally considered offensive to transgender people.

I vote for Transformer.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for pointing that out and the suggestion, but couldn't we be opening ourselves up to litigation from the toymakers?

<comment><USER4> Unlikely, as you'd be operating in a different field and there'd be no opportunity for consumer confusion - but obviously you should check with a trademark lawyer or consultant, whichever name you go for.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> fagcombinator

<comment><AUTHOR> Is this really acceptable on HN?

<comment><USER5> No. So please stop trolling us with your Transcombinator nonsense.

<comment><AUTHOR> It's not trolling in any way. We have a new team member who is a pr person and are trying to settle the name issue so we can move foward. HN polices itself just fine without bigotry if people don't like the premise of our startup. You can disagree without being disrespectful.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Is Spain now cooking its books? - <AUTHOR> http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2010/09/30/356201/an-anonymous-tip-off-regarding-spanish-gdp/

<comment><USER2> I'm spaniard. Spain has been cooking its books for a long time. Brussels knew it, like they knew about Greece doing the same thing(their economic pros are not stupid) but they short term benefited from that.

The "Spanish miracle"(like Ireland) was created when billions of euros mainly from German and French savers came to Spain as loans. That made money to flow and prices to go up, anyone could buy a 60.000eur house(with a loan with 0%down) and sell it three months later as 90.000eur. That is 30.000eur of profit putting 0%, way more than working. Real state agencies grew like mushrooms after the rainfall.

I had friends that bought one house and later two with the profit they made with the first one!! thinking "prices are never going to go down, they had never been down, we are going to be rich".

That was good for sellers, good for politicians(they get taxes money proportional to the assets price), good for the banks that lended(they got paid), good to the construction workers and companies, good for the gov(less unemployment), so they tried to keep it. They all wanted to believe it was sustainable. It was not. Houses grew +400% but salaries only 17%.

Now our prime minister, Zapatero, thinks "confidence" is the most important thing for the economy to grow. He doesn't care about lying at all, he thinks he could fool all the people, all the time. Time will tell.

<comment><USER3> Are housing prices still inflated? Also, are people able to renegotiate their mortgages?

The US also had a major housing bubble. I am interested in how Spain is handling it.

<comment><USER4> Quite inflated still, it'll be a long time until they go down or a longer time until wages catch up (in the opinion of some, me included).

The problem here is that you cannot return the house to the bank and be debt free. If you give your house back to them they sell it, and whatever is not covered by the sale you still owe to the bank.

And if you still owe 200K€ to the bank but your house valuation has gone under that you have a hard time, because you have to put up with the extra value with some other possessions you have.

So it's not very pretty.

<comment><USER5> How does bankruptcy work in Spain? Does such a thing exist?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> It looks like the original blog posting has been changed. The tldr summary:

An anonymous blogger is claiming that Spain's GDP for 2008 and 2009 actually declined 17.3% in the most favorable scenario versus the reported data of 3.1%.

Actual report from anonymous blogger:

[http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/Spanish_GDP_rep...](http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/Spanish_GDP_report.pdf)

Commentary from zerohedge:

[http://www.zerohedge.com/article/anonymous-blogger- speculate...](http://www.zerohedge.com/article/anonymous-blogger-speculates- spanish-gdp-inflated-%E2%82%AC40-billion-goldman-gets-involved)

</comment><comment><USER4> I have not understood most of it (economics is not my strength and I've got a cold or a flu that gives me a headache) so I'll have to ask.

Could the divergence (or some of it) be explained by the off the books economy that is quite strong here in Spain?

There's plenty of stories of people being "unemployed" but having a job, and employed people with other ways to increase their capital (off-the-books renting, hidden side-jobs, non-declared extra hours,...).

Thanks.

<comment><USER6> The off-the-books economy of Spain, Italy and Greece is amazingly large in both the private and goverment sectors. Your really have to live there to appreciate its size.

<comment><USER7> It seems to me that economies, like information, want to be free. Or that like the internet, they route around damage.

<comment><USER6> That's a nice way to put it.

Unfortunately, I don't think this is the way to a more free market.

<comment><USER8> Agorism is a political philosophy dedicated to the idea that free markets (and a more free society) can arise out of a trend toward disregarding governments in commercial matters. It comes with all the typical and commonly rejected anarchist ideas like "any state is inherently unjust and arbitrary," but isn't altogether unreasonable.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I live in Spain. From my understanding the ratio of Unemployment rate/GDP is very high because of the construction bubble collapse. That 9.7 increase are 80% because construction industry mainly. This bubble collapse affects much more to the increasing unemployment rate than to the GDP (which also does but less dramatically). That's is because we can't compare the ratios from Spain to other countries in Europe, as we have this additional problem.

<comment><USER10> Spaniard here (full disclaimer).

@carlos reasoning seems to be supported by the fact Spain's productivity is going up after all the low skilled workers in construction were sacked.

Some of the comments of the FT are highly interesting.

<comment><USER9> I agree some of the comments in FT are very interesting.

I'm not saying that productivity is going up, it's in fact going down, as the article says -3.1 variation GDP 2008-2009. But the ratio of unemployment/varGDP is very different to other countries because of the additional unemployment from construction industry, which is the suspicious indicator used by the author.

In any case I personally agree with some of the comments in the FT article saying that Spanish government may artificially modify some figures.

<comment><USER10> I was the one saying that productivity is going up in the last months.

I missed the productivity data in the report (I found only production output) and FT just took out the report from the web.

The question is not that the Spanish government did modify some figures, but if the modifications were in line with countries like Greece or like Germany.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Having spent most of this week trying to get my head round the terms of the National Bank of Greece rights offer I'm pretty sure Greece are cooking their books too.

</comment><comment><USER12> Megan McArdle is skeptical: [http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/09/spain- co...](http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/09/spain-cooking-the- books/63828/) , at least skeptical that Spain could've cooked the books to the extent reported.

<comment><USER13> How did people not learn from Greece? Yes, an entire country can tell an extreme lie and get away with it for a long time. Skepticism is justified, but not because "they couldn't have done it so badly for so long".

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> How did you get that link to work? Whenever I link to a ft.com link it brings up a request for me to subscribe to something. But your link worked fine.

<comment><USER15> Not to be beating the same drum I always do when it comes to these things, but if you spoof the "Referer:" header in the request to be <http://news.google.com/> or similar, you'll always go straight through to the article on FT. RefControl plugin works well for me in Firefox; other extensions may work well elsewhere.

I'll probably stop mentioning this for a month, but it's just such a convenient hack.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> You guys should look at Ireland. Ireland has a bottomless bail-out. Spain doesn't.

Anglos and their bias.</comment>


Costco CEO Leads the Cheapest, Happiest Company in the World - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-06/costco-ceo-craig-jelinek-leads-the-cheapest-happiest-company-in-the-world#p1

<comment><USER2> I wish there were more opportunities in the discount business because I love these types of cultures and companies. Seems to be a saturated sector, though.</comment>


F (2006) - <AUTHOR> http://www.nsl.com/k/f/f.htm <comment><USER2> In a somewhat similar vein, I made a concatenative array language inspired by kdb+/q: [https://cryptm.org/xs/](https://cryptm.org/xs/)

Unlike other concatenative languages, the order of operation is right to left, and it supports infix operators. This gives the language a very conventional array language feel, while also giving you the power and flexibility of the stack.

As far as I'm aware, there's really nothing like it. Would love if someone gave it a try!

Here's an example, the factorial function:

      xs> fac:(prod 1+til);
      xs> fac 4
      0: 24

You can also define new infix operators:

      xs> add:{+.};
      xs> 3 add 2
      0: 5

Here's an example of generating a sequence of values, where n_t=n_{t-1}/2:

      xs> (x:;x%2) fixes 12
      0: [12 6 3 1 0]

Note how when we reach the fixpoint of zero, the recursion stops. These kinds of implicitly recursive combinators are very powerful. Also, equality on floats is not strict, so we can also do this with floats, without having to worry about small differences in precision. This is useful when working with equation optimizers and root finding methods.

<comment><USER3> looks cool, like the ideal language I would like to write

for boosting popularity:

1- would be nice to use in tryit online or repl.it

2- would be nice to have a link to the implementation repo in the docs

3- have you tried winning some golfscript contests on stack overflow?

4- main improvements over K, with small code samples?

<comment><USER2> I do have some examples in the examples section. There's a link to the OCaml implementation on the page as well. A repl.it would be awesome, I'll definitely do that.

I hadn't heard of golfscript, but those would make some really great examples. I do have a couple Advent of Code 2019 solutions though.

Thanks!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Did this jump to the top because the click target for the link is so small that people are accidentally upvoting it?

<comment><USER5> Probably, I accidentally upvoted it too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is a very thought provoking language, thank you.

off topic, is it just me? Or a thing informed by silly memes to see this letter and immediately think oh man, Rest in Peace?!

<comment><AUTHOR> [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/press-f-to-pay- respects](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/press-f-to-pay-respects)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> It is often said that K can beat the speed of C for some tasks.

The name of this site is "nsl" for No Stinking Loops.

Here is an array programming challenge for the K programmers reading this thread.

There are two large files A and B.

       File A
       AAAbjhOJxxxWXrCHt
       AAAsofxxxLqKbYOAwLMHG
       AAACgxxxOea
       AAAwfHjDtoJc
       AAAiCfYnbVXWhuvtEx
       AAAkzzQwvf
       AAAdjLalKFapoYAcGE
       AAAthGazmnfK
       etc.

       File B
       AAAwfHjDtoJc
       AAAbjhOJxxxWXrCHt
       AAAiCfYnbVXWhuvtEx
       AAACgxxxOea
       AAAkzzQwvf
       etc.

The task is:

What are the lines in B that are not in A?

Something like

       grep -vf B A

But without the stinking loops!

EDIT: File A,B formatting

<comment><USER8> In J (which might be slower than K) with excessive comments for a one-liner:

        echo@> (2{ARGV) -.&([: <;._1 LF, 1!:1) (3{ARGV)
        NB.    2nd arg                          3rd arg
        NB.              g&f execute f for each, then g on both
        NB.                              1!:1 read file
        NB.                          LF, prepend newline
        NB.                 [: <;._1 split based on first char
        NB.             -.  remove right elements from left array
        NB. echo@> echo each line
        exit 0

On two ~1.6MB files with ~15k lines (both the same except 3) I had lying around:

        $ time j9 -c ./pseudo_grep.ijs test_b test_a
        …
        real   0m0.064s
        user   0m0.032s
        sys    0m0.017s
        $ time grep -vf test_b test_a
        …
        real   0m5.815s
        user   0m5.234s
        sys    0m0.576s

Note that most of the script is for loading each file into an array of lines. Most work is done by -. on the two arrays, which is exactly what you asked for, e.g. 0 1 2 3 4 -. 2 4 is 0 1 3. [https://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/Vocabulary/minusdot#dyadic](https://code.jsoftware.com/wiki/Vocabulary/minusdot#dyadic)

<comment><USER9> In loopless Python:

        set(open('file_b')) - set(open('file_a'))

Slower than J by a factor of 2-3, but still 10x faster than grep:

        real    0m0.128s
        user    0m0.078s
        sys     0m0.063s

This would make a good Rosetta Code prompt.

<comment><USER10> I didn't know you could simply open a file and setify it. Interesting. & neat.

<comment><USER11> You can setify any iterable. File handles are iterables that return a line at a time. Tada!

<comment><USER10> > File handles are iterables...

I did not know that. Assumed you had to somehow wrap them first. Very useful, thanks!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Ok, I'll bite:

Can someone ELI5 what this is about, why it's interesting, and why someone would want to learn or use this language?

(I'm coming from the perspective of someone who builds user-facing web & mobile applications in Ruby, Crystal, Python, JavaScript, Swift, etc.)

BTW - I'm asking not because I doubt there are good answers to any of those questions - but because I truly don't understand and wish to.

I read the opening paragraph and without spending an hour looking up the definition of each term, I'm more confused than when I started :)

Thank you in advance!

<comment><USER10> I've no experience with this language or it's genre of languages, but I doubt there is a good answer for you.

You're working in a very different space (business oriented, needs networking protocols, probably no major number crunching, your collection of languages do fine for your job etc.)

Some languages are just explorations of the language space, disjoint from your language-using space therefore irrelevant to you directly, and may be (currently) only of academic interest. I'd learn this if I had time, to understand different paradigms, and for fun. Sometimes this is useful. Sometimes not.

<comment><USER12> Thank you! That's helpful. I had a hunch this was focused on theory / academia, and if that's the case, that makes more sense.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Discussed a bit in 2015: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10776314](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10776314)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> implementation (also of g and h):

[http://www.nsl.com/k/f/](http://www.nsl.com/k/f/)

(via comments from 2015)

</comment><comment><USER14> > There are no side-effects

Yet it prints stuff to the terminal.

<comment><USER15> Also heats up the room.

<comment><USER16> Exactly. If the program won't read it (the printout) back, or unless it is designed specifically to sense the heat, then, strictly speaking, it's not a side effect (in the particular sense in which a side effect may reflect on the program execution).

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Ha! Well deserved but how did this pop up to #1? All of nsl is a great show of what you kan do with k, an apl.

</comment><comment><USER18> I think we have a new champion in the unofficial HN useless-headline contest.

<comment><USER13> [https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%22work%20a%20little%22%20by:d...](https://hn.algolia.com/?query=%22work%20a%20little%22%20by:dang&dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&&sort=byDate&type=comment)

<comment><USER19> Yet another link to click on? I don't come to HN to work!

<comment><USER20> not labour but leisure: compare [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/σχολή](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/σχολή)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Press F for respects.

<comment><USER22> People probably think this is what article about.

</comment></comment><comment><USER23> I've periodically thought I should at some point learn all the single-letter programming languages. Have we covered the whole alphabet yet?

<comment><USER24> At least the English alphabet has been covered: [https://beza1e1.tuxen.de/one_letter_proglangs.html](https://beza1e1.tuxen.de/one_letter_proglangs.html)

<comment><USER25> The N programming language (1990?) is spookily reminiscent of PyTorch!

> Expecting a wide use of neural network algorithms in the near future, our > objective is to get a complete software development environment for > programming and testing new applications. We intend to produce a high level > language for neural network specification, as a part of such an environment.

> The language we propose is characterized by a high degree of modularity, > based on parameterizable data structures, with functionalities in the form > of update methods attached to them. Composition rules of structures and > methods enable to build, step by step, more complex structures from smaller > ones previously defined. Objects are viewed as autonomous modules which are > linked through plugs for communications. We particularly cared for the > parallelization of methods running concurrently on different objects of the > network. The syntax is largely related to those of the C and C++ languages.

[https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-76153-9_...](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-76153-9_10)</comment></comment></comment>


46 Cents in Revenue Per DAU? Vancouver's A Thinking Ape Has Seen It Before - <AUTHOR> http://www.insidemobileapps.com/2011/11/16/a-thinking-ape-interview-kenshi-arasaki/

<comment><USER2> For what it's worth, DAU is "Daily Active Users" and MAU is "Monthly Active Users". It'd be nice if the article author took the time to explain acronyms in an interview such as this (which is otherwise quite interesting to me, as a complete outside to the app store, mobile apps and gaming).

Interestingly, the article is in fact the sixth google result (to me) for "DAU mobile advertising" (as I initially thought the term referred to some form of advertising). Two of those remaining 5 results above it are also from the "insideX" network. Obviously those terms have become common within the network, and the article authors have forgotten that most people have no idea what DAU/MAU mean.

Explain your acronyms!

<comment><USER3> Hey Leo, we consider ourselves an industry site where the readers are primarily game developers, consumer-facing mobile app developers, advertising networks or the platforms themselves.

DAU and MAU is common parlance in the community, but we'll break it out in the future! We try not to focus on less meaningful stats like installs or downloads if we can. Those numbers can easily be manipulated or be poorly representative, if the app has a bad retention rate.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> That there are "whales" that power a large chunk of in game spending truly suprised me. That the gaming industry uses the same word for these big spenders as Casinos, given the criticisms around social gaming being akin to gambling is disturbing.

<comment><USER5> Who are these people?

"we limit whales. When we were getting guys that were spending $20,000 a day in our game. (Editor's note: Yes, we were incredulous about this figure too. But we double-checked with A Thinking Ape by e-mail on this and they said $20,000, as in real – not virtual – currency.)"

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Now there's a crashblossom-friendly company name.</comment>


Any startups in Utah hiring? - <AUTHOR>

I checked the July job listing post (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2719028) and saw that at least one company in Utah (ClickLock) was hiring. Just checking to see if there are more Utah startups looking for hackers. <comment><USER2> Check out siliconslopes.com -- their job section generally highlights a lot of the startup jobs. Pretty sure that DOMO (www.domo.com) is hiring (they are Josh James', founder of Omniture, new thing).

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, I'll check that out too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I saw these guys had a couple posts - <http://bigcartel.com/about>

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks. I'll give them a look.</comment></comment>


How much of the big picture must my team have? - <AUTHOR>

Greetings all.
I'm currently comanaging my first project - a fairly featured HRMS system - and have run into a bit of a bother.
We are an agile-ish firm and some of the higher ups believe that every programmer should get a holistic view of the application design, the argument being that eveyone works better when they have the big picture and know what they are working towards. Others believe that every programmer must be told only about those classes he is working on, the argument being that 1) the programmer makes no assumptions when he codes, and 2)the design concept remains secure.
I am managing a seven man team and of those there are a couple of potentially unethical guys. This has till date remained the only reason I have gone with the 'Blinkered View' camp. What does HN think? <comment><USER2> By partitioning your team such that each member works orthogonally, you are severely handicapping the team's ability to improve the overall design of the project. Frankly, I would consider such a management strategy to be pretty arrogant, because by locking your team members out of the design process, you are tacitly telling them that your design is so good that their input is unnecessary. That's a great way to sap people's motivation.

As for the "couple of potentially unethical guys," what are they doing on your team? They should be fired. Why would you even consider keeping an unethical team member? How could their work output possibly outweigh the fact that they might steal from you, or worse?

Hiding the overall design isn't going to stop someone who is very motivated from compromising the system you're designing. To prevent that, I'd start with frequent code reviews and restricting access to production systems.</comment>