Ask HN: Tips for Hackers having Kids? - <AUTHOR> In about 6 months I've got a lovely bundle of joy coming into the world, needless to say I'm extremely excited.
Like many Hackers I work fairly long hours, especially weekends (sometimes when I get my best work done).
I'd love to hear some tips from fellow hackers who have had kids & some tips on managing the transition to a more family focused life, without losing sight of goals & milestones that you have for your startup. <comment><USER3> Having kids has been a great change in my life. My kids are 4 and 6 now and I'm loving being a dad. I can still work long hours, but I split the hours to spend time with them. I don't have the time I'd like to have to dig into new technologies, new tools, etc, but I feel I'm a good dad. Starting to do some science experiments with my kids which is very cool.

What has worked for me is to get an early start in the morning so I can cut off work at a decent hour. Then I often will put in hours after the kids go to bed. Doing this I can still put in fairly long hours. Important thing is to review your goals and milestones and make adjustments to the time required to hit them. If the schedule was created assuming 60-70 hours a week, you will need to rethink the deadlines.

On the family front, one thing that has worked out really we for my wife and me is that we each have one night a week free, where the other is responsible for the kids. This one afternoon/evening is a nice relief. I use it to go grab some drinks with friends, play golf, hack on a project, watch a movie, etc. We both find that we are better parents (and spouses) when we get some down time.

<comment><USER4> > I don't have the time I'd like to have to dig into new technologies, new > tools, etc, but I feel I'm a good dad.

That sort of sums it up for me. Being a good dad is the priority for me too, but I feel that perhaps it's the beginning of the end, in a field where you have to rush to keep up with so much stuff happening.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Kids come first!

Spouses second.

Computers third.

I'm sure you already figured that one out but I still have to remind myself periodically when I'm in to something interesting so I figured it wouldn't hurt to repeat it.

Get up an hour or two before your kids do so you can get some work done when you're still fresh (assuming your kids don't get up at 6 am :) ).

<comment><USER6> Why kids first, spouses second?

<comment><USER7> Because they, as parents, are entirely responsible for the kid's very existence. Adults are, to a large degree, responsible for themselves, much as we may love them.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> 1\. Your priorities will change. You're not the same person after you have had a kid. But, you will find that the pressure on your available hours will help you figure out how to work smarter and triage your worklist better. You will have to work fewer hours, but your productivity will adjust to compensate to a large degree.

2\. Hack when they sleep. Pray to any gods you may have that the one you get does that plentifully and regularly :-)

Good luck!

<comment><USER8> For the first two months, ignore point the second and _sleep_ when they sleep.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> My daughter and first child was born this Monday.

I'm reading all the replies and sucking everything in as my daughter is sleeping on my chest. My life has undoubtedly changed - for the better. There can not be a better startup than your own kids.

My plan now is to take an employment for 4 days/week and work on my own project(s) the 5th. Weekends are strictly family.

Is 8 hrs/week enough to get anything off the ground? We'll see. Would love to hear from anyone else working like that.

<comment><USER10> If she's sleeping, you'd better be sleeping! :-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Assuming you're not the Mom, plan also to take time off when the baby arrives. She'll need you, and you too want to bond with the mini you.

Use these first few weeks to help establish (and lengthen) the baby's feeding and sleeping rythm: er, basically help baby get a full meal, sometimes they eat only a little then fall asleep and consequently not for very long. Eat, eat some more, burp. play, sleep.

At first, when baby sleeps, you sleep too. Or you don't sleep at all! Either way, you'll be oh-so-tired. But there's light at the end of the tunnel.

Everyone will be full of advice, listen patiently, then figure out your own way, which will be different from all others. In six months you'll be giving advice too.

</comment><comment><USER12> Find something your child loves and make it a routine to do it the moment you get home from work.

When I arrive home my boy is usually standing at the window waiting for me with a silly grin on his face. I open the door, Mum passes him to me and I carry him straight to the park to look at the trees. Fresh air, relaxing sunsets, big baby laughs and cuddles...

I really can't think of any better way to let go of work day stress and prepare yourself for the chaos that is dinner, bath and bedtime!

</comment><comment><USER13> I am more of a builder than a pure entrepreneur, so YMMV.

I quit my job when my son was seven months old, took a month off, then went back to work three days a week. I'm a stay at home dad the other two.

Eight months later, this seems very, very easily to have been the best decision I've ever made.

<comment><AUTHOR> This is looking like a similar option for us, I'm doing pretty hefty hours between startup & fulltime employment at the moment (although we are profitable). So just need to get the timing right, but definitely looking forward to more flexibility with schedules.

<comment><USER14> I accidentally down-voted you, and can't find a way to undo it :\

<comment><USER15> I upvoted for you.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Actually, you have some experience from your start-up. Babies and a start-ups have so much in common.

They both leave you sleepless, make you think about them all day, make you feel like they are the meaning of life, grow fast in front of your eyes, and interact with you more and more every single day. Well, congratulations!

I'm a hacker's wife and a non-technical co-founder. I and my husband are the two partners of our start-up.

You may start working on these issues:

* Read about baby care (birth to 6-8 weeks), and start chatting with your wife, so that you can start building your parenting style. Baby care is not difficult, but there are lots of different paths to follow. If you learn in advance, you will fell more confident and need less trial-and-error.

* It's best to limit your working plans for the 0-3 months, best scenario with a nice sleeping angel baby will still be quite hectic.

* Getting help from relatives, friends and even neighbours can do a lot of difference. You can take care baby, but it would be nice if someone can care for you in the meantime.

* If you have not yet, read about sleep depreviation. Motivate your wife to rest as much as she can during pregnancy and following birth.

* About the routine, it seemed not so important to me when I was pregnant, we were not the routine type of couple. It turned out to be very important. When you set a routine, baby knows what's next, so she relaxes and be much more cooperative. And when you know what's next, you can plan your day (no, not boring, believe me).

* Take your family outdoors frequently. It will help your wife to recover.

* You'd better spend some time evaluating baby products to be familiar with market. I'm not telling you to buy things in advance, but in some cases a small stupid-looking gadget can save you lots of time.

* Add some parenting blogs to your reader, especially some of those informative/experience sharing ones.

Good luck on your geek fatherhood journey!

</comment><comment><USER17> Lots of good advice in this thread. My best advice is: when you are "there" with your family, really be there. I have a tendency to focus my attention on things I am working on even when I am not sitting in front of the computer. Often this makes me furrow my brow without realizing it.

Early on, my wife (a pronounced extrovert) wanted adult contact and conversation more than anything. She wasn't all that happy when I was off in the land of ones and zeros when she was talking to me. It was a minor issue before the baby, but it really came into focus when their was a little person vying for our attention all the time. As your child gets older, this advice will apply doubly for the child.

This might sound a little crude, but, here goes: after the first three months, schedule opportunities for intimate time! Your time will be limited, and anything that is not a priority will go by the wayside. You can look up and find that it has been several months since you've been intimate. We didn't have a strict schedule like every Wednesday after she sorted the recycling[1], but we did agree in advance to "take a nap together" later that day or the next day. Spontaneity just didn't really work for us. The trick is keeping the pressure off - if one of you is tired and really just wants to take a nap together, that's got to be OK, otherwise it will drive you apart rather than bring you together.

Good luck. It's an awesome adventure!

[1] <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGOohBytKTU>

</comment><comment><USER18> I have a 5 1/2 month old boy named Ryland and he is just now finally sleeping all night long(9pm to 7:30am) The first 2-3 months were zombie time. I couldn't get any work done because of the sleep dep.

My one biggest piece of advice. SLEEP WHEN THE BABY SLEEPS. or you will get _NO_ sleep ever.

It will be the roughest thing you have ever gone through but one smile from your childs face up at yours makes it all better and reinvigorates you for another shot of energy for whatever you need to do.

Trust me though you will need to take at least 4 weeks off work for paternity leave assuming you are the father. Then once you go back to work expect to only work on the computer when you are at work. When you get home expect your wife to want some help with the kid and dinner etc. and don't expect to get any computer time at night for the first 3-4 months.

You will only get computer work done at work when you are away from the house and at the office. When you are at home your wife will have a constant stream of little things she will want you to do and you will feel like a slave, but then you will imagine what she goes through being alone with the baby _all_ the time. and you will have mad respect for her.

Mostly try to be supportive and learn to not mumble under your breath when she asks you to do a million little things, Just do them and move along. It will pass soon once the baby hits 6 months or so and starts to have a real personality that you can interact with.

The first 4 months out of the womb is considered the 4th trimester and the kid is really still a foetus. Literally they cannot do anything for themselves until about 4 months. So its all up to you ad your spouse to do everything for them. They will be all floppy for a while not even able to hold their head up without support.

Trust me though it will all be worth it every time your little one smiles in your face and you will be re-invigorated.

Its the most incredible thing that has every happened to me and it made me re- evaluate my life and make major changes(like _major_ changes). I resigned from my startup that I founded after 4 years(engine yard: really long story i'll write a book about someday ;)) to make sure i could spend this time with my son as much as possible. I cannot say what I am doing next but I am moving to Portland where my folks live in order for my son Ryland to be closer to his grandparents. And got a job that was understanding about working remote and weird hours. My new boss is the coolest ever he literally said "As long as you shit good code I don't care where your toilet is" :P

Don't worry, it will come naturally to you like it has to all humans thhroughout time. But remember this

SLEEP WHEN THE BABY SLEEPS DURING THE FIRST 4 MONTHS

good luck! and congratulations!

<comment><USER19> I was keen to respond to this thread until I read the above response. Ezmobius has absolutely nailed it.

I'm an incredible proud Dad to a fifteen week old baby boy and his advice echoes every single thing I was going to say.

 _Then once you go back to work expect to only work on the computer when you are at work._

I'd like to elaborate on this point. Leaving Mum & baby at home will be difficult for a while, I still struggle with it immensely but it is hugely important to remember that your job is absolutely instrumental as you are now the main breadwinner and your family is relying on you to work hard every minute you are away from them. As hard as it may be to leave them at home, don't let it be a waste of time, make sure that you are giving 100% when you are away and please don't bring your work home with you if you can avoid it. Whilst at work, focus on it 100%. Don't spend all day at work wishing you were at home.

Be prepared to argue like crazy with your other half. Regardless of how strong your bond is, you _will_ fall out. Her patience with the baby may be beyond comprehension but do not expect that patience to extend to you. As stressful as it may be for you, I can guarantee it will be worse for her, infinitely worse if she's breastfeeding. Maintain perspective and learn to let everything slide.

Final point: Routine. Routine, routine, routine, routine. Sleep will become a rare and priceless commodity so it is crucial that you establish a bedtime routine from the beginning. Find a routine and stick with it. Read to your kid every single night. Even if it's just for a couple of minutes. It may seem pointless in the beginning but stick with it. Babies bedtime is now my favourite part of the day.

Good luck mate. It's an incredible journey.

<comment><USER12> _Routine. Routine, routine, routine, routine._

This. It took us 8 months to get it sorted but now our little boy just about begs to be put to bed and he sleeps 10 hours a night without a sound.

<comment><USER20> My experience 1 year into Fatherhood agrees with this. We put baby on a cyclic routine of Eat, Play, Sleep since about day 7. She was sleeping through the night at 8wks. Check out "On Becoming Babywise", Gary Ezzo.

Like all the other papas here say, BE SENSITIVE TO YOUR WIFE. Be aware that as your wife breast feeds (if she does) her hormones are still rocking to a different beat every hour. Let complaints roll off your back. Sometimes things won't make sense to you, but go with the flow. Afford her tons of generosity and selflessness. Clean the house for her, offer to take the baby so she can sleep, draw her a bath to soak in with candles and bubbles. Take her on a romantic date if she's up for it so she feels like she's still got it even though she may complain about her body often. Make her life easy and sweet and yours will be good.

Also, for a bit of relief... listen to Garrison Keilor's Fatherhood tale: [http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media_player/popup.php?name...](http://www.publicradio.org/tools/media_player/popup.php?name=phc/2010/08/07/phc_20100807_64&starttime=00:00:00.0&endtime=01:59:59.0)

Enjoy being daddy! It's absolutely wonderful. You will forget about working overtime. You'll want to spend any and all free time with your little one. Cheers!

<comment><USER21> > Be aware that as your wife breast feeds (if she does) her hormones are still > rocking to a different beat every hour.

Well, and never mind the hormones (though both parents will have a lot of these going on) -- breastfeeding quite literally takes a lot out of you. She will have more to do, but less energy than she's used to.

Just do everything you can, and then more, and look for the humor to put a smile on your face (and hers) whenever you can. It gets easier as you go along.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Congratulations!

The late Tracy "Baby Whisperer" Hogg pointed out that swaddling is a neurological hack to help babies sleep. OK, she didn't phrase it that way, but... Until they reach about 4–5 months, babies don't really have voluntary control of their arms and legs. So imagine you're kind of tired, lying in your crib, drifting off, when OMG THIS ARM IS FLAPPING AROUND NEXT TO MY HEAD ISN'T THAT COOL.

I didn't read about this idea until I had my third child; when I noticing that indeed, he could sleep even in a room where his brothers were playing _until his arm came out of the swaddling blanket_ , I got one of those special swaddling blankets with Velcro (I call them "baby straitjackets"), and that aspect of baby care, at least, became significantly easier.

</comment><comment><USER23> Thank you for not titling this "Hacks for Raising Kids."

</comment><comment><USER24> Such a relevant topic, as we're expecting our first child any day now!

I have a feeling having reduced hours free will cause me to really focus on being productive in those hours and focusing on the work that truly matters.

<comment><USER25> I just had one last week and it's been really interesting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> There's lots of great advice here. I've got a 10-week old girl who I'm certain is the cutest, most wonderful little thing in the world. I'm assuming you're the dad (if you're the mom, I can't offer much).

Stuff to think about _right now_ :

-Sleep deprivation starts _early_. Your wife is going to be uncomfortable as anything the last several months. She may toss and turn a lot at night. Plan accordingly.

-If there is _anything_ you've been wanting to get done, do it _now_. I had been putting off copying my old Amiga hard drive to preserve my childhood computer for 10 years. I narrowly got that done before the baby arrived.

-Make some meals you can easily freeze so you don't have to cook if you don't want to. You'll need this in the first few days as well as much later when you and/or mom go back to work. Cooking is a royal pain with a really little baby.

Stuff to think about after the baby arrives:

-Plan on not getting any sleep and being entirely unproductive while awake (you _are_ taking several weeks off work right?) the first few months.

-Expect that while awake, you will have _zero_ time to yourself. Use the time you do have wisely, frittering it away on Facebook is probably a bad idea.

-Expect the first night home to be unreal. My wife is a pediatrician and I thought that would prepare us. Boy was I wrong. We were still two bumbling clueless parents. Best thing we learned that night is division of labor: one sleeps while the other is awake with the baby. Otherwise, you are both going to be completely exhausted instead of a manageable "really tired".

-A smartphone is a huge help with a little one. I read HN at night a lot when my daughter is drifting off to sleep in my arms but not fully asleep. I do it primarily to keep myself from falling asleep while holding her. It's easy to hold in one hand (vs. a laptop or iPad).

-Babies love white noise. They find it incredibly soothing. Get a white noise generator of some kind. We have a 99-cent iPhone app on our phones that we use daily. My daughter loves "air conditioner" mode. She often fights sleep and squirms around a lot. White noise and a pacifier put her into a deep, restful slumber.

-Babies get cranky for a variety of reasons you will never know. Your inner geek is going to want to find reasons for things and understand "the system". Resist this, it's futile 50% of the time. Instead, try random things: change the diaper, change position, walk around, sit them upright, lay them down, etc... It's good to have a bunch of stuff to run through. Sometimes, a screaming baby just needs his or her mom though, don't forget that.

-Babies like to be with you. Get a bouncer chair so you don't have to hold them all the time and they can watch you as you steal 5 minutes to post photos online. Get one with a vibration mode. They find it soothing and can nap for quite a while there.

-Plan on doing lots of laundry. Babies mess up their clothes and yours all the time. Make sure you have a basin or utility sink where you can soak clothing with detergent to get poop out of it before washing in the machine. We discovered Oxi Free (doesn't have any perfumes as opposed to regular Oxi) takes poop out really well and doesn't damage colors.

-Take tons of photos, they change a _lot_ very quickly.

-Efficiency is key. Look for places to reduce labor. Are you always carrying pacifiers around the house? Leave one in each room. Spending lots of time washing bottles? Get a dishwasher rack that holds them. No time to clean your house? Get a cleaning person to come in and give it a once-over. Just as with a startup, sometimes it's better to trade money for time.

-Mom needs you more than you realize. Help her out. The biggest thing you can do is to suck it up, tell her to get some sleep and take the baby for a while. Yeah, you're exhausted, but babies need moms who aren't basket-cases. You'll survive.

-Talk to your pediatrician about any concerns you have, no matter how silly. They hear the same things _a lot_. A good one will give you excellent advice, even about things that aren't strictly "medical".

Best of luck to you. It's a life-changing experience and one of the happiest times in your entire life.

<comment><USER27> "Babies love white noise."

A friend found out that static from a radio will do the trick.

<comment><USER28> A lot of parents believe in the "white noise" and it does seem to work for a lot of babies, but (this is not scientific by any means) what I have noticed with other kids we know closely is that if you start them with white noise they will continue to need it as they grow older and without it they are not as good of sleepers. So it seems to create a dependency. I know opinions like this could be argued with a lot of baby topics (food, play, milk, etc.), but the white noise is the only one that I have seen repeatedly hold up.

<comment><USER29> We were explicitly taught in pre-natal class that babies have to learn anew how to go to sleep once they're out of the womb, it's not something that's inborn.

For example, we were told it's hugely important to lay your baby down in their cribs as they're drifting off to sleep, but still just slightly awake, so they build the association between crib and going to sleep; if you only lay them down _after_ they're asleep, this tends to have repercussions (e.g. because of the lack of the association, you're not equipping your baby to be able to go back to sleep if they randomly wake up).

As I recall, there is actually a fair bit of research behind this, but admittedly it's been 6 yrs so I don't remember all the details.

White noise is helpful, but falls into the same type of category.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Would be interesting seeing a StackExchange HackerSpawn Q&A site.

</comment><comment><USER31> One of the things I found, is right before my wife had our first son, people used to tell us that it is going to be soo worth it once you see the face of the baby.

I won't lie...it was SOOO anti-climatic for me. I didn't feel all bubbly inside when he was born, and I kinda felt bad because I thought that I might be horrible for not feeling all 'father-y'. I am not sure if this is something that happens to everybody, but it did to me.

The first three months were tough. Physically and mentally. Your wife is going through some more serious body changes (i.e. healing from bringing another human into the world), and the human you guys brought in is reliant on you for - literally - everything.

It can be psychologically draining and physically taxing. You get little sleep, no matter how much you try to sleep while the baby sleeps.

However, just remember that the first few months are the roughest....it usually gets better from there on.

My son is now 2.5 years old and I can't believe where the time has gone.

I ask him to say 'hippopotamus' and he says 'ip-oh-pon-oh-mus'. Just for that little moment alone, everything I have been through for the last 2.5 years, all the medical bills, all the midnight rushing to the ER, all diaper changes, everything is worth it.

Typically, once the baby starts responding to you, guys tend to prefer that stage. It is SOOO worth it...so just hang in there, and like ezmobius said - do what your wife wants (although you will be exhausted as hell you never went through what she went through, so no bitching) and do it with a smile. She will appreciate it. If she appreciates it, you will too :)

P.S. I have since deactivated my data plan on my bb, because when I was with my son, I realized I wasn't really 'with him'. I was always checking my mail or responding to bbm. It's good to be away from the computer when you are away from the computer.

P.P.S Oh...my wife is about to give birth to our second (a girl this time), so I was writing this as much for myself as it was for you. Just to remind myself what I went through and preparing myself for what is ahead. Once the 3 - <USER2> months pass, you forget it. So it's important to try to take a walk down memory lane.

</comment><comment><USER32> One minor tip, not needed for a few months yet: make sure that the socket inserts are difficult to remove.

A number of companies made plastic plugs one can insert into wall sockets to keep babies from exploring them. Unfortunately, at least one company makes them too small. We discovered this shortly after our child started crawling: he crawled to the socket, removed the plug, put it in his mouth, and attempted to re-insert it. We immediately replaced those plugs with ones that required effort for an adult to remove and were beyond what a baby could manage.

</comment><comment><USER33> Be the parent you want to be. A lot of people are going to talk about what the best way to raise a kid is, but you are going to know your kid better than all of them, so do what is right for your family.

Dote on your wife. Give her a foot rub every night.

The burden of a child kind of weighs heavy at times - "holy crap I could serious fuck this kid's head up!" - but remember that most people grow up to be okay regardless of their parents. As long as you're a good and loving person so will your child be.

If you're like me, jokes about kids are going to become seriously unfunny for a few years. If you watch cop shows and dramas you'll notice a lot of kids dying or being threatened and where you might not have had those heartstrings to be tugged in the past, when they first get installed they are fiercely powerful.

My favorite book about childhood development is [http://www.amazon.com/Whats- Going-There-Brain-Develop/dp/055...](http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Going-There- Brain-Develop/dp/0553378252/) "What's Going On In There" which was written by a neurobiologist because she started thinking about what was happening when she was pregnant. I consider it the Hacker's Guide to your Kid's Brain.

My oldest is 4 now, he's about to start junior kindergarten. Seeing him (and my youngest who is 6 months) develop is fascinating and rewarding. Don't give up on your goals and dreams but remember that there's always going to be work waiting for you. Your kids are only kids for a while.

</comment><comment><USER34> Regarding actual hacking...

When the baby is very small they sleep a lot. They sleep more when you're near them. When you have only one baby, (so there's not an older brother causing problems), you can get a lot of work done sitting next to the baby's crib. Type type type, hand him a bottle if he wants, or change him if he wants, or pacifier him if he wants, and then it's type type type again.

As they get older, the sleep becomes less and less, and you're so grateful when it comes that you tip toe around the house, hoping not to wake them up. From that point on, you will get less and less work done in the day time, as they sleep less and less in the day time. At that point, I started going to bed with him at 8:00PM or so, and waking at 2:00AM and then working away till it was time to go to my day job. It was the only time I could get any peace and quiet to focus.

One of our problems has been that our house is too open, so when the baby is sleeping in the swing or the boppy, the whole house needs to shut down. They spend 8 hours a night in their crib, which I assume you have in a bedroom, so they hate the crib. For daytime naps, they often refuse the crib (at least mine do), so you're stuck with them sleeping somewhere else that may not be as private from the rest of the house as you would like. If you can arrange that privacy, you'll be much happier.

</comment><comment><USER35> I have three girls under the age of six. I tend to work 8am=>4pm in the office, three hours with the girls, bath and bedtime stories and then I'll work between 8pm until midnight'ish, between Monday and Thursday. Friday/Sat/Syn nights are for me and my wife to spend time together and Sat/Sun days are for us all to spend time together. I sometimes need extra time at weekends, particularly recently completing a dissertation.

Get you and your family into ROUTINE. It feels like groundhog day sometimes, but when you go out of routine, it's not good. Achieving a routine means you will be able to plan the work you need to do, and understand how much time you have. If you don't have a routine, then you will suffer be warned!

If you need time to work extra which means your wife is taking care of the kids more often than not, then respond in kind and give her time off, treat her, look after her. I never blame my wife for my stresses, ever. You will argue no doubt. Develop broad shoulders and take it on the chin, don't hold grudges, be there to support your wife.

Enjoy this new part of your life !!

</comment><comment><USER36> I must re-iterate what others have said for emphasis:

1) Finish off your to-do list before the baby arrives. Setup the nursery; go see that movie you've always wanted to see; travel to places you've been meaning to visit; drink, party, and be merry; finish playing that video game; crank out a ton of code on that side project of yours. You will NOT have time to do any of that when the baby is here. Heck, it may be many years until you can get to some of things on your to-do list (such as travel somewhere far and exotic).

2) Prepare everything in advance, even if you think you won't need to. Your sleep-deprived-future-self will thank you. Go out and buy a ton of baby clothes in advance (newborn, 3 month, 6 months, 9-12 months). Buy a stock-pile of diapers, formula, baby-food, wipes, etc... Buy enough to last you at least half a year or more. Cook in advance so that you have "ready-to-eat" meals to throw in the freezer; make enough to last you a few months.

You will not have time (or the will) to cook, go shopping, or paint the nursery when the baby arrives.

It will get easier as they grow up :-)

</comment><comment><USER37> With the first child on the way (very soon now), I have been 'practicing' taking evenings and weekends off for a couple of months now. At first you might think you won't have enough time but it already taught me the difference between being busy and being productive. I also sleep better, giving myself enough time to get to a calm state ;) I can highly recommend it (kids or no kids)

</comment><comment><USER38> Really, ezmobius nailed it. I feel compelled to chime in on Baby Stuff, though. (You don't need as much as you think you need, but a few things were really great.)

I emailed a friend with some advice on items we found useful (and a few things we didn't), but it's too long to just paste here, so I'll summarize...

My Brest Friend (put this one in your "OMG the baby's coming" bag!), a baby carrier (we love our Beco, but find a carrier or sling that fits you while letting the baby breathe), "Happiest Baby on the Block" DVD, specially- designed swaddling blankets, and (optionally) a "yoga" ball for bouncing babies to sleep. Big stroller may not be necessary (we mostly wore our daughter, and that big stroller will eat the entire car trunk), but strollers with pneumatic tires are _really_ nice to push.

Later, Kiddopotamus makes fantastic rubber bibs and placemats. (Seriously, their placemat is genius.) We found that the $25 Fisher-price "Healthy Care Deluxe" booster seat beats the pants off of much fancier highchairs.

Ping me at geeksam at gmail if you'd like the long version. (=

</comment><comment><USER39> Stuff i've learned from having (two) kids:

i) _Take photos_. Its amazing how much your child will change and how things that are front and centre in their/your life will fade when day-day life demands attention. Take as many pictures as you can so that you can look back in a couple of years' time and remember those things (and get a good backup plan in place NOW).

ii) _All children develop at their own pace_. Children pick up skills only on a very rough timescale: our eldest could do jigsaws when he was a year old but couldn't jump till he was nearly two. Our friend's daughter could draw recognisable pictures staggeringly early but didn't know where to start with a jigsaw puzzle. Now they're 3.5 and both of them can do all of those things perfectly well. Praise them for trying things not just for being good at them.

iii) _try not to assume the worst_. Its easy - especially with your first child - to get sucked into thinking that your child must have some uniquely awful illness or impediment to a normal life because they 'still' aren't sleeping/they have a cold that hasn't cleared up/they haven't fed well that day etc etc. Whilst these things can happen, and you should obviously watch out for signs of serious problems, chances are nothing sinister is behind it. Accept that this is a phase and that in a few days or weeks it will have passed and you'll get through the rough times much easier.

iv) _share the sleepless nights_ the lack of sleep is tough. Try and agree a rota with your partner as to who will be 'point-man/woman' each night and let the other sleep (ideally in a spare room). The key word is agree - do your 'night-shifts' dilligently and don't be tempted to start comparing the difficulty of the shifts you've already done (i.e., a night where the child slept through doesn't mean your partner is on-shift the following night). These things will balance out.

</comment><comment><USER40> Make time for your kids. It's really easy, as a hacker/startup founder/equity holder to say "Well, X is really important, I need to do that first." You'll always have more X. Take time, play with your kids, love on them, take them to the park, draw with them.

I have a son who is almost 2, and two of his favorite things to do with me are to read books (he'll bring me a book, crawl up in my lap, and snuggle up. When we finish the book he runs off to get another one and repeats the whole process) and play with his hotwheels cars on my desk. It means the world to him when I clear off my notes and keyboard and mouse and just spend a half hour racing cars back and forth over it. That half hour I might have spent reading HN, or testing some new feature, or whatnot, sure, but I'm starting to learn that the things that seem small and unimportant to me are the highlight of his week. Don't get so caught up in providing for your family that you forget to be a father - it's enormously easy to do so.

</comment><comment><USER41> There is some awesome advice already here so I've little to add, other than:

\- Don't expect a normal routine for the first 4 months. Don't expect anything normal for a few years after either.

\- Sleep when the baby sleeps! (yeah, been said many many time already, but worth once more)

\- Once the baby gets into a routine of regular sleep you can figure out times that work for you. So work at night while the baby sleeps but be sure to have a solid plan to be able to get sleep later...

\- Through all this don't forget your wife/partner. Post-partum depression, stress of parenthood, sleep deprivation. You need to make sure you're there for each-other first and foremost. If you can't take care of yourselves, its harder to take care of a baby.

\- Take time to enjoy parenthood. My oldest daughter is 2 and a bit now and its like she was just born yesterday and its gone so fast (then again it seems like she's been here forever - go figure)

Congrats!

</comment><comment><USER42> If you're the type that needs your sleep, YMMV, but I am now the father of four and still a co-founder, so here goes ...

NOTE: This is scattershot advice mixed with personal reflection. Salt liberally, expect typos.

I started working on Stormpulse in 2004 as a hobby project a few months after we had our first child. She slept horribly for the first two years of her life --very difficult to get to sleep and woke up a lot. The 'cry it out' method DID NOT WORK for us (some people insist that it works for all, but it doesn't. If it doesn't for you, know you're not alone). Get this DVD and watch it: [http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8...](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=happiest+baby+on+the+block+dvd) (It could easily be titled "Hacks for getting a newborn to calm down and go to sleep." Worth every penny/second you'll spend and really easy stuff. Seriously, this is very important: watch this DVD--I just got out of bed to include this link because I would feel bad if you didn't know these amazingly powerful tricks that could spare your sanity many times over.)

I worked a full-time job and kept hacking on SP on nights/weekends through 2006. 2006 went full-time on the startup and it was fantastic because I got to spend a lot more time with our first than ever before. Times at the park on Tuesday mornings when everyone else is in their cube are really wonderful bonding times. You can give your wife a break by taking the kid on an errand. Love is a trip to the grocery store with the baby to give your wife a 30-minute break.

Our second was born in early 2008. I was back at a cube-job (though a great one) so I saw him less in the first year of his life than I might have liked, but by 2009 I was full-time on Stormpulse again (and have stayed that way). I won't lie, it's incredibly difficult. The hardest part is REALLY BEING THERE for your family even when your brain is screaming for you to work on the startup. Don't panic. Be there. Make lots of eye contact and actively listen. Your baby will quickly become a toddler that knows the difference between a mindless/reflexive "uh-huh" and real participation. It's better to stop for 30 seconds, get down and give them a hug than to spend 10 minutes saying 'one second, hold on' as they tug at your leg. Often they just need that 30 second re-connect.

Despite what I've just said about spending day-time hours with the family: work away from home if you can. The separation can be a very necessary thing. I was able to do this in an office very close to home until 2010. This year we had twins. They're 7 weeks old now. I am working at home and for the first time ever, it's working. Quitting HackerNews and Twitter can be life-saving steps. No time for that stuff (I've been up since 3:30am and am talking with my co-founder on AIM--I'm about to go back to sleep until 7:30am or so, I hope).

Let your startup fail before you let your family fail. Stormpulse hasn't failed yet, but I've had to 'give up on it' a couple times before I've been able to have a solid enough financial footing to launch into it again. Now we're at a stage where I don't expect to go back to other work and it's the absolute best setup for our whole family (we see how it contributes to Daddy's involvement at home, rather than how it takes away). I was fortunate to at least start while our first was very small, so that my wife went through that early time where all I did was work or moonlighting and the kids know a gentler reality of "Daddy works but he's also around a lot".

One final thought--when things get tough (time pressures, children aren't behaving, whatever), never blame your wife for anything, ever--even when it appears supremely obvious that she's at fault. Instead, take responsibility and figure out what you could have done differently and what you can do differently going forward. That has gotten me a through a lot of difficult times with family + startup. Giving and sacrifice are the new norm, but once you're there you won't have it any other way.

<comment><USER43> I just want to take a moment to second the book Happiest Baby on the Block (I got the book, apparently there is a DVD). It truly is a "baby hacks" book. I read it cover to cover months before my first baby was born, and while I don't remember all of it, I retained enough that I am the goto person for baby burps and swaddling my children. My first born (now 20-months) slept well, was easy going, and is a well-behaved child. My second son (1.5 weeks old) is going the same route as his older brother. Well-behaved, good eater, good sleeper. Takes to swaddling a bit more than his older brother, but is also more active without it.

With 2 children, and with 1.5 weeks left on paternity, I've been hacking away at DuctMail in short spurts. Full time job waiting for me to return, and Mommy is on her 1-year maternity leave (I love Quebec).

I'd add more, but frankly, this post (the parent) is dead-on-balls accurate. Sadly, I have but one vote to give.

<comment><USER29> Another vote for Happiest Baby on the Block (Harvey Karp), probably can't rate it highly enough! The "jiggle" trick worked like absolute magic.

BTW the late Tracy Hogg (Baby Whisperer) is also highly recommended; she was also a big proponent of swaddling.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER44> My regrets in life are extremely few, but one of them is this: If I could go back in time and do things differently, one thing I would change would be my attitude about debt when I was young[er]. My kids are growing up, but the months are floating by, and my time at home is eaten up with contract work I'm doing on top of my day job. I look forward to the day that our financial footing is firm enough for me to go back to just one source of income. To me, being a father is the fullness of manhood, and it kills me that I am not always there for my family. So, my advice is this: Don't let yourself get significantly into debt. From my vantage point, it is completely not worth it.

</comment><comment><USER45> I've got twin babies of 15 months, a full time job and bootstrapping a business. There is only one rule for me: keep your priorities straight. Here are my priorities

#1: Family / Relationship #2: Work #3: Business #4: Personal Time / Relaxation #5: Side Work / Consulting

</comment><comment><USER46> In my experience the first 9 months are hard, there will be a limited time for hacking. Just accept this and spent time on your kid and spouse. Any work you will get done is a bonus.

After 9 months your kid will get into a rhythm, sleep at night from 7 till 7 and take 2 two hour naps during the day. This will give you more time to start hacking again. After another 9 months your kids rhythm will change again. Still sleeping from 7 till 7 at night, but only one longer 3 hour nap during the day.

Off course every kid is different, but my kid, and the kids of my friends generally follow this sleeping pattern.

<comment><USER47> >After 9 months your kid will get into a rhythm, sleep at night from 7 till 7 and take 2 two hour naps during the day. This will give you more time to start hacking again. After another 9 months your kids rhythm will change again. Still sleeping from 7 till 7 at night, but only one longer 3 hour nap during the day.

Ha ha ha. Neither of our boys has ever slept for 12 hours AFAIR. I'll agree with the distinct changes in sleeping patterns though - usually within a week for us and it's all changed around, it seems to indicate a big change like teeth coming or growth spurt, etc. or follow one like walking or taking more regular food.

</comment></comment><comment><USER43> Life is short, but it's not that short. If you spend the next few years enjoying family live, having a job, and just taking it easy, don't worry. Let your ideas fester, play with them. Your children age, they won't stop to wait for you. You'll hate yourself if you miss out on milestones. You'll still be able to hack, but enjoy their smiles. And hold them. Dear god, hold them, because too quickly you won't be able to.

Father of two sons, a 20-month old and a 1-week old.

</comment><comment><USER48> Congratulations to thegyppo and all the other new parents in here. Father of a 4yo daughter myself, and another on the way ...

Everything changes, best to accept it and just try to roll with it. Every kid is different, even if you have twins, every parent is different, even your and your partner. What works one night for might not work the next, or vice versa!

Expect your hours to change, unless you've got an extended family to help out with the bub.

</comment><comment><USER49> My daughter is 4.5 months old now... I don't sleep much.

<comment><USER50> The hard part is getting her to sleep at night. That implies tough stuff, like not letting her fall asleep to eat some more at night, and letting her cry in her crib, in her room, later. Life is hard :)

<comment><USER21> Ah, just let her sleep in the bed with you. Babies aren't really designed to be "put to bed" separate from their parents, evolutionarily, so it's guaranteed to be tough going for most of them.

Leaving them to cry it out is not a great idea, because it undermines their sense of security and may make them more clingy later.

<comment><USER51> Isn't that dangerous? I heard that you should never ever do this while sleeping because of danger of suffocation.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER52> What advice can parents give for parents with multiple kids? I have a beautiful 3.5 yo,2,and newborn. Love them all. They are amazing. I thought I was busy and sleep deprived with one child...three is a different story! :)

I find it difficult to work 60 hours per week, take my kids to sports and then muster energy when they sleep to work on startup

Advice?

<comment><USER53> I find it difficult (as in impossible) to work 60 hours a week without children.

</comment></comment><comment><USER54> Well a lot depends on the other adult(s) that will be helping to raise the child. I do have one piece of advice though:

No matter how much time you think kids will take, it will take longer, even if you take this advice into account.

Remember that guy in college who started playing EQ and (nearly) flunked out? It's more time-consuming than that.

</comment><comment><USER55> I wrote a blog post about how I kept my sanity with my now 4 month old girl: <http://www.antzucaro.com/2010/06/keeping-your-sanity/>.

I hope it helps.

</comment><comment><USER56> If you have any exotic places you'd like to visit, do it now! Much harder logistically to manage later when you have kids.

</comment><comment><USER57> Reduce sleep time and work in the nigth: is the uniq solution i found. Enjoy your kid! ;-)

</comment><comment><USER58> Go to the movies now, because you won't be going again for a while.

</comment><comment><USER59> be like me, have your wife do all the work =)

</comment><comment><USER60> get all the sleep you can now.

</comment><comment><USER61> Me, I've been looking for a Provigil prescription.

My daughter though is my biggest treasure, nothing in life will ever make me as happy, fullfilled and scared of loosing than her.

I've been a dad now for 3 months (currently working long hours and waiting for baby to wake up for her 3am feeding)

I've learned to value sleep, I think of weekend afternoons as brain-rebuilding sessions, I sleep as much as I can saturdays and sundays.

Now, I try to do email, hacker news and all the dilly dallying after I'm home and everyone is asleep, during the day I try to be as productive as possible, since I feel I should head home as early as I can to be with my daughter and help my wife.

Congratulations and welcome to the club (it's indeed a club, you'll notice other parents nodding back at you when you have your baby with you, also you'll notice how babies are to women as hot girls are to guys, they can't help but turn around and look at you and your baby)

<comment><USER62> I'm convinced modafinil and the like would help a lot in sleep crisis moments in the early stages, though a problem is that you need to catch up on the sleep /eventually/ so it could never be a regular, routine solution. Another problem is that such drugs take time to kick in and you might not know when such a crisis moment would be in advance.. You tend to break fast under baby and sleep related stress. For the birth and first night, though, it'd really help the father stay up and take some of the stress off the mother.

<comment><USER47> Interestingly the Wikipedia page doesn't say what it actually does - you'd think it would be headline info, what's the intended result of the medication.

Seems modafinil replaces amphetamines for keeping you really awake when your body wants to sleep. I don't think that the first response to your body saying it needs sleep should be to reach for some mood altering drugs to make it pretend to itself that it doesn't really need sleep.

Grandparents. If you've got 'em close enough (ours aren't) then they, or other friends/family that will do a couple of hours with the kids, are what you need IMO.

<comment><USER62> _I don't think that the first response to your body saying it needs sleep should be to reach for some mood altering drugs to make it pretend to itself that it doesn't really need sleep._

Sure, it shouldn't be the first response - I mentioned "crisis" and high intensity situations. Modafinil has a longer term but similar effect to caffeine, but without most of the negative side effects. Like you shouldn't be fueling your short nights with caffeine (though many parents do), you shouldn't be popping modafinil every night either. Temporarily? Both techniques could provide a respite from soul crushing fatigue.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER63> Oh and hope you get lucky like I did with a daughter who slept through the night from day one. It helped to have a large # of people around the first week or two constantly playing with her (as people do around new babies), keeping her generally awake during the day and exhausting her at night.

Also, don't buy any books. They're all a waste of money, and you probably have enough common sense and natural instinct for the first 18 years.

<comment><USER21> Oh, boy. No, don't rely on common sense, particularly because you won't have much at the beginning (lack of sleep can make you impressively stupid).

You don't have to buy lots of books if you know a lot of smart parents who can bring you up to speed (and who live nearby or with you), but there's a lot of info to learn if you don't have solid kid experience yourself already.

<comment><USER63> I disagree, especially considering the audience here. Most of us are trained at functioning for long periods of time without sleep, especially those of us in operations. I did all of the middle of the night diaper changing the first month, I got to the point where I could have her changed in 2 minutes without opening my eyes. It was like being on-call but far more pleasant, somehow. In the midst of all this we also moved our Datacenter 900 miles north to Seattle, as well as our employees, and ourselves. I'm saying all of this because it isn't as frightening as you think. The exhaustion isn't so bad because it is born in "purpose".

Ugh, even worse, don't ask the smart parents to bring you up to speed, at least not the ones who are going to start cramming some ridiculous child- rearing philosophy down your throat. I will not reproduce again, because I never want to hear the terms "La Leche League", "Co-Sleeping", or "Attachment Parenting" ever again.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER63> Hire a housecleaner, don't even think about splurging on this. You want to spend the next few months with your family, not focusing on menial tasks. The $150/month I paid to have a team come and clean my house every Wednesday during the first year was by far the best service I'd ever paid for.

Nannies are also awesome.

</comment><comment><USER64> It is not a kid, it is relationship bomb. Focus on the relationship.

(I heard it in some random YouTube video once, which just goes to show that good advice can be found in strange places)

<comment><USER65> As a parent of two (3yrs and 10mo) there is serious truth to this. I can only assume that the down votes are because of the flippant way it was phrased, but let me offer this to the new and prospective pappas out there: you will be tired, busy, and frustrated. If you don't step back and take care of momma you can quickly find your relationship spiraling out of control because you no longer prioritize yourself or your wife.

A few thoughts:

(a) Schedule is key. Put the little buggers on a schedule and keep to it.

(b) The parent's bed is sacred, no child shall pass. We were very strict with this rule. Our kids have _never_ been in our bed to sleep.

(c) Free time is key, one of the best things we did was get a nanny/house keeper on Saturday. That way we can leave the kids at home and go have a nice lunch together and maybe see a movie without the hassle of babysitters and late nights.

(d) Start waking up early, way early. Nearly 4 years into fatherhood I am _still_ searching for the ways to attain my lost productivity. One of the biggest has been to simply wake up earlier. Kids bring about a new world order. Accept and move on and embrace the 4:30 wakeup.

<comment><USER47> >That way we can leave the kids at home and go have a nice lunch together and maybe see a movie without the hassle of babysitters and late nights.

Don't have kids, no "hassle"!

As for (d) kids are your productivity, they're are what you've produced, they will be your lifes work. Don't sideline them, don't let nannies have all the fun.

<comment><USER65> Sideline them? Actually I think its theraputic for the kids to allow other people to take care of them. It helps them adjust to the world and understand that mommy and daddy DON'T have to be there for them to thrive.

<comment><USER47> Indeed, balance: "don't let nannies have _all_ the fun" emphasis added.

I let a 7yo I'd never met take my 16mo old off to the playpark today .. I did watch from less than 50m away though, perhaps I'm holding the reins too tight?

<comment><USER65> So what _exactly_ is your point? You don't seem to have one as far as I can tell.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Fiber switch in inline assembly for amd64 with just 3 words of state - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ademakov/MainMemory/blob/cstack-switch-revamp/src/base/arch/x86-64/cstack.h <comment><USER2> A correct context switch needs to handle the XMM registers too, as well as the stack base (on Windows).</comment>


LyX: combine the power of LaTeX with the ease of use of a graphical interface - <AUTHOR> https://www.lyx.org <comment><USER2> The thing I love most about LyX is the "outline" view. Editing plain text e.g. in "vi" has nothing comparable, but neither does Word, or Google Docs, etc., in my opinion.

In the screenshot here [https://pauljmiller.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/lyx- main-scr...](https://pauljmiller.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/lyx-main- screen.png) you can see there is a pane on the left with the document structure. At the bottom of that pane, there are four buttons, the right of which are an up and down button. Those four buttons (left, right, up, down) allow you to take a section of the document and move it around. The up/down change its position relative to other sections, and left/right promote/indent the section (e.g. change heading to sub-heading, or vice versa).

When editing large documents (e.g. > 100 pages), I find this invaluable if I wish to restructure the document.

<comment><USER3> > neither does Word

MS Word has an interactive draggable outline view with the promote/demote/drag features ("View"|"Outline"), it also has a navbar outline view ("View"|"Navigation Pane" checkbox). You can use both combined.

<comment><USER2> The "move heading up/down" don't work as well as LyX.

On Word, if you move a heading up/down with the buttons (in "View"|"Outline") the heading moves but the text and sub-sections underneath it don't move.

Before:

        MY HEADING
        Some text
           SUB-HEADING
           Text about the sub-heading
           SUB-HEADING 2
           More text

If you take "SUB-HEADING 2" and click "move up", the document is now:

        MY HEADING
        Some text
           SUB-HEADING
           SUB-HEADING 2
           Text about the sub-heading
           More text

What you want, when you move a heading, is not only to move the heading, but to really move the whole section, including: the heading, its text, and sub- headings, the text under the sub-headings, etc.

LyX moves the sections around, Word only moves the headings.

I'll concede that dragging in Word does give the desired effect (I admit I never tried drag before you mentioned it, despite having used Word for 25 years and always wishing for that feature. I assumed dragging did the same as the buttons.) And the indent/outdent buttons do work take their contents with them as well.

<comment><USER4> What is your text is not related to the heading? In Word just select everything you want to move, then move it all together.

Also Ctrl-Alt-arrow moves the sections around.

<comment><USER5> Why would your text be unrelated to the header?

In an editor with first-class outlining support, the document is usually _composed_ with the outline view in play, so essentially you're always adding text and headers to a "node" rather than to the document as a whole. You then place the node in the outline, rather than placing text in a linear document that happens to (sometimes) reflect a valid outline.

It's less comparable to Word, and more comparable to editing .rtf files and placing them into a flow in Desktop Publishing software. The content (the .rtf file) and the document (the flow-boxes) are separate, and can be modified separately without knowledge of how the other side has been modified.

(This workflow also being the original TeX workflow, just replacing ".rtf files" with individual .tex content files, and "the layout" with a structural .tex file that imports those content files.)

<comment><USER4> Because a writing app supports the _act of_ writing. Once you're done writing, you don't need the app anymore. And when you're in the act of writing, things are often not linear. You might come up with headers first, and fragments of text, usually in the order they pop into your head, not the order they need to be in the final copy. Then you wordsmith and reorder things to get them into a progression.

And in Word you can always collapse the section and then move it around with all of the text.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I've used LyX for ~17 years. Did all of my homework in it in college, wrote my thesis in it, and pull it out anytime I need to write a TeX document for myself.

If you're new to LaTeX, just grab LyX and go. It is a great gateway to LaTeX, and a reliable friend even if you wind up working in pure LaTeX, in order to collaborate or satisfy a formatting requirement, some of the time.

Thank you, LyX!

<comment><USER7> One problem for me: the text always fills the full width of the window even though that quickly becomes ineligible. I haven't found a way yet to fix that

<comment><USER8> Make the window smaller. Seriously, I had the same problem and now I have room on my screen.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I've used LyX and had high hopes for it, but never really fit my workflow.

LyX is really good if you need to produce simple documents and don't need to invoke a lot of special LaTeX packages. I think LyX hits a sweet spot between Microsoft Word and full-blown LaTeX.

If you need to do anything out of the ordinary (like use TikZ), LyX will still let you do it but it's going to feel a bit unwieldy. LyX is also quite slow on very large documents like dissertations. I recall the WYSIWYM rendering of math symbols and the old-school fonts looking a little unpolished compared to the PDFs generated by LaTeX, which bothered me a little. Many advanced LaTeX heads are sticklers for correct aesthetics. I know LyX can generate PDFs too, but if I wanted that, I'd rather write LaTeX code directly (more control, much more lightweight and responsive).

I eventually wrote my dissertation on TeXworks.

p.s. as mentioned in another comment, TeXmacs has a higher fidelity WYSIWYG than LyX.

<comment><USER10> > LyX is also quite slow on very large documents like dissertations.

Have you tried it again in the last year or two? I've found that scrolling, for example, has become a lot faster since I first started using it.

<comment><USER2> Right, I wrote a 100 page document in LyX on a 2011 Mac Mini and it was fine. (Not sure what version of LyX.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I think that GNU TexMacs [1] is a superior to LyX, albeit less well known. Unlike LyX, it doesn't depend on the TeX stack and all the baggage that comes with it.

1: [http://www.texmacs.org/tmweb/home/welcome.en.html](http://www.texmacs.org/tmweb/home/welcome.en.html)

<comment><USER12> Isn't TeXmacs dead? It got removed from the Debian repos due to lack of maintenance.

[https://packages.qa.debian.org/t/texmacs.html](https://packages.qa.debian.org/t/texmacs.html)

<comment><USER13> No, the package just has no Debian maintainer so it was dropped. Latest release is 1.99.7 which was released July 5:

[https://github.com/texmacs/GNUTeXmacs/releases](https://github.com/texmacs/GNUTeXmacs/releases)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I've found LyX good for getting a document started, allowing you to not think so heavily about formatting details while giving you decent output.

Eventually, though, I export to LaTeX and format the rest myself. I find that using LyX long enough, you don't have the formatting commands available to you (and you end up with a ton of unreadable custom insets and inline TeX), and configuration becomes as complex as LaTeX itself.

It's a neat project and I've been happy to see it steadily grow over the past 10+ years.

<comment><USER15> > you don't have the formatting commands available to you (and you end up with > a ton of unreadable custom insets and inline TeX)

Does this mean a LyX user can't easily collaborate with others? Most people don't use LyX. If in a collaboration one author uses LyX and everyone else uses normal LaTeX (possibly with lots of packages, tikz/pstricks, etc.), will this cause problems---either for the LyX user, for everyone else, or for version control?

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> LyX is a wonderful program that needs more love and more developers.

If you have the skills please help out.

C++ and Python: [https://www.lyx.org/GetInvolved](https://www.lyx.org/GetInvolved)

<comment><USER17> It's seems to be down for me. Perhaps the hacker news hug of death?

<comment><USER18> Most probably; I happen to have gone to the site a few says ago and it was working as usual.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> There's also WordTeX, a "WYSIPCTWOTCG" editor. There's a paper [1], but this is a rare case where the Youtube video [2] is both more entertaining and the medium lets the content shine.

[1] [http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/twildenh/wordtex/](http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/twildenh/wordtex/)

[2] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlX_pThh7z8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlX_pThh7z8)

<comment> a-nikolaev This is nice indeed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> The feature in LyX I miss most when using other document editors is "Branches" [0].

I like to write thoughts about what I'm writing, notes to myself etc and _keep them within the document_ , knowing they won't be output in the final file.

Word's comments never work as well for this. For reviewing they're fine, for longer prose... no.

0\. [https://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/NewInLyX14#toc6](https://wiki.lyx.org/LyX/NewInLyX14#toc6)

<comment><USER20> ConTeXt provides similar feature called [modes]([http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Modes](http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Modes)) and you can imitate it in LaTeX using the [comment]([https://ctan.org/pkg/comment?lang=en](https://ctan.org/pkg/comment?lang=en)) package

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> Trivia: LyX was initially developed by Matthias Ettrich who started KDE one year later. LyX is 23 years old, barely younger than Qt, the GUI framework it uses.

</comment><comment><USER22> Wrote my master dissertation in LyX, it was great. The LaTeX-specific features that LyX did not support, I put in a "preamble". Never had a problem and it even worked on a then-rare iBook (2004).

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I use LyX to write academic papers and really love it. Sure, there are quirks, but it's still makes for a better workflow compared to the alternatives.

Especially important for me:

\- track changes, which makes collaboration convenient (especially with less technically-oriented colleagues)

\- math typesetting with instant preview

\- integrated BibTex support, which makes citing easy

\- easy to reference equations, tables, and figures in the text

</comment><comment><USER23> I use LyX a lot for writing manuals, especially operations manuals. It's worked out fairly well. I've written and maintained several large "Operations Manuals" with other members of my team by placing the LyX documents under version control.

The main issue I had at one point was producing usable HTML output from the LaTeX conversion process, but I found a tool that processes the LyX file directly into HTML which produced acceptabled results.

</comment><comment><USER24> Interesting how ShareLaTeX, Overleaf, Authorea etc. did not adopt LyX even though they are trying to reach a broader audience. Anyone know the reason?

<comment><USER25> They're all web-based and LyX isn't?

<comment><USER26> Qt has a web assembly target now though, so it could be.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> I haven't used LyX in years, but I still probably would if I was doing the same math-heavy work I used to. WYSWIG is really helpful when doing equation editing and learning the shortcuts enabled me to mostly keep up with note taking on my laptop during math lectures.

</comment><comment><USER28> Lyx is great. Although I've moved on to just typing straight latex, I probably would never have gotten started if it weren't for Lyx. I still use it to set tables and such, because coding latex tables can be a huge pain. A great project.

</comment><comment><USER2> LyX is a wonderful program and I do love it, but one thing I will caution against is tables. If you need to use tables, consider not using LyX. LyX looks like it can do tables, the UI in LyX is great for editing tables, however...

Tables do not split across pages (at least not by default). Word and Google Docs etc. can do this out of the box. Maybe there is a way to get this to work. For e.g. the description of a database table, as a table in the document with columns like "column name", "type", "description", not being able to use multiple pages is a real limitation.

<comment><USER29> That's how LaTeX tables work.

You can enable the "multi table" option in the table properties, which will use the longtable package to extend the table across multiple pages.

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> I am a fan of LyX but using version control with the resulting tex document is near impossible and does not work well with others editing in a regular text editor. Wonder if anyone else had this experience?

<comment><USER2> I use LyX with version control.

We put the software architecture document (about 100 pages) in a single .lyx file in a "doc" directory of our Git repository, which stores our software source code.

We love feature branches, so we update not only the code, but the documentation as well, in the branch. When we merge, everything gets merged together.

What I mean to say is, we're not just using Git to "check out, check in", we are also merging and branching as well.

The workflow works perfectly for us.

We've been using this for 2 years, with many many commits. Hardly any merge errors. And no times where Git merged wrongly and corrupted the document or similar. I fix merge errors in a text editor if they occur (maybe once every few months, takes a few minutes to repair.)

One thing I would say is that LyX always writes the newline endings native to your platform. Git, by default, checks out Windows newlines on Windows and converts them to UNIX newlines on commit. So that works well too. But if you don't use that feature of Git, you might experience problems.

We haven't had a need to edit the generated TeX document manually. We just use LyX.

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Can someone comment on LyX vs TeXstudio? I'm using TeXstudio, I'm loving it but I'm wondering if I'm missing out on great stuff.

<comment><USER32> Different levels of abstraction. TeXstudio is akin to an IDE for LaTeX, whereas LyX is more a nice frontend on top of LaTeX. IMO, if you're already experienced and happy with LaTeX there's no reason to switch, but if you don't already know LaTeX or you find the workflow clunky LyX may be a good fit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> I've been using this for years and somehow continue to be able to amaze academics when I show them they don't need to write LaTeX tables and equations etc. by hand.

While there's an argument for writing plain text, I don't think it applies to most of the academics who can barely run a python script and wish they had secretaries typesetting their papers like the good old days.

</comment><comment><USER33> I appreciate the efforts of LyX as it makes LaTeX writing more creative and less technical. I did use it at some point. But being rather absolutist when it comes to this, as a student i still preferred Word and Libreoffice because i like to play with the placement of pictures to explain technical things. But LyX might be your best bet if LaTeX is a requirement.

</comment><comment><USER34> "the ease of use of a graphical interface"

Why do people think this is a thing? Whether I'm making a poster or slides in latex / beamer, dealing with spreadsheet data with pandas in an ipython console, programmatically checking email, writing code in emacs no window mode, or virtually anything else I do with a computer, perhaps the hugest rule of thumb is to avoid GUIs at all costs, they are the biggest productivity killer.

I know people will chime in with their opposing experiences, but it's just noise to me. Sure, there are limited good uses for GUIs, but I cannot fathom at all how writing tex documents could be one. Doesn't matter if you're totally new to it or been doing it for years, anything taking your hand away from the keyboard to deal with menus is killing you.

If you want wysiwyg-like behavior, just open another shell tab with a permanently running job that detects changes to your source file, re-runs whatever document compilation command you use, and refreshes evince or some other viewer that you never interact with except to look at. Spending time learning this way of working from the start is worth far more than spending relatively less time on the first few documents in lyx.

</comment><comment><USER29> Web archive mirror: [https://web.archive.org/web/20180215013049/http://www.lyx.or...](https://web.archive.org/web/20180215013049/http://www.lyx.org:80/Home)

</comment><comment><USER35> Hopefully LaTeX3 [1] will be ready soon, migrating to it should make LyX developes' life easier too.

[1] [https://github.com/latex3/latex3](https://github.com/latex3/latex3)

</comment><comment><USER36> LyX has been my go-to editor for years now. I like it's wysiwym approach and I get so productive on LyX that can amaze seasoned latex users.

<comment><USER37> If you like WYSIWYM, you may also like typora.io for Markdown.

</comment></comment><comment><USER38> What I miss in LyX is the ability to interface with Grammarly or LanguageTools. Otherwise it works great.

</comment><comment><USER39> I think the server died under front page pressure :)</comment>


Show HN: Adopt-a-cloud.com - <AUTHOR>

I created this site based on an idea I found at the Halfbakery (http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Adoptacloud_2eorg).
It makes use of the Play framework for the web app itself.
The actual cloud detection is performed using Mathematica, which i've just started using
and am really enjoying.  Originally I did the cloud detection using blob detection, as detailed in the
blog post on the site, but I've since found a more effective solution in Mathematica.
Originally I did the cloud detection on the webserver itself, but found the server didn't have
enough memory (512M) as I kept getting processes being killed by the out-of-memory killer.
It uses JPA (Java Persistence API) to handle
the database - this allows the creation of records and relations based on Java objects.
Which made creating the database really easy.
While using the framework I came across some interesting problems:
I found the Java VM would sporadically terminate due to a bug with the Java VM, this
was alleviated by using '-XX:CompileCommand=exclude,jregex/Pretokenizer,next'.
I also found I would get a 'too many files open' exception, to fix this
I used 'ulimit -n 65535' to increase the number of file handles allowed (admitedly this seems
somewhat 'hacky' but it did the trick).
In order to add new clouds to my system, I make use of a script which uses curl, to upload both
an image and a file containing coordinates.  I found I kept getting a '417 Expectation failed' error, this was apparently happening as curl sends an Expect header which lighttpd 1.4x doesn't understand. In order to fix this I used 'curl -H Expect:', which lighttpd 1.4x permits. <comment><AUTHOR> Clickable link: <http://www.adopt-a-cloud.com></comment>


Apple announces next-generation Macbook Pro with Retina Display - <AUTHOR> http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/11/3078215/apple-stub-etc-whatevs <comment><USER2> Price point is kind of high, no? Current 15in MBP is $1799. And before you say "look at the internals" remember that Apple is not a PC company with 8000 computers at 8000 prices... they have historically designed their product line around a few carefully selected price points.

<comment><USER3> Absolutely, price is on the higher side. I feel that they're looking to make it the "really really Pro" line. The existing MBPs (specially the 13") is used by everyone (students for e.g.), so its not really a Pro line.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Small change but makes me really happy — power and Mini DisplayPort on the same side so I can 'dock' at my desk with one bundle of cables.

<comment><USER5> uh, MBPs have had all connectors next to each other forever.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Very nice, but I'm a wee bit concerned about non-standard HDD form factor. Operation Total Apple Lock-In: complete! (Granted, non-standard RAM would be way worse.)

<comment><USER6> Agreed regarding the lock-in factor. They are not the first ones to do that though.

Edit: on a second thought, I'm not 100% sure regarding the form factor of hard drives but I once had a Lenovo that had a Lenovo-specific mount on its hard drive, making it impossible to reuse.

<comment><USER7> FWIW, it's not a _complete_ lock-in, since you can purchase non-factory SSD upgrades from OWC: <http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Express></comment></comment></comment>


A Regular Expression Matcher (2007) - <AUTHOR> http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr09/cos333/beautiful.html <comment><USER2> "[star] matches zero or more occurrences of the previous character"

…those aren't regular expressions. Those are fancy globs. Regular expressions have a formal definition that is strictly more expressive than that.

They mention they use recursion (which you can use to _actually_ implement regular expressions, albeit poorly) but…

…they use the recursion as a way of implementing a _state machine_ in _C_? You can get away with this (and it's somewhat common) in a language like Lisp or ML that guarantees tail-call optimization, but this is poor form _at best_ in C, where some compilers are unable to optimize tail calls, and you will blow your stack with long-lived state machines. Code recursion is really only appropriate when your data structures are recursive.

This is poor pedagogy. Students internalize stuff; you can't present them incorrect definitions and poor coding practices. C'mon guys, can't I expect better from the _inventors of C and Unix_??</comment>


Delta Chat – WhatsApp Like Messenger over IMAP - olivier-tille https://delta.chat/en/ <comment><AUTHOR> Previous discussion on HN: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19216827](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19216827)

</comment><comment><USER2> Related HN post 6 days ago about COI (Delta is discussed as well): [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19216077](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19216077)

</comment><comment><USER3> So, does it clutter up my inbox when I use it? Or does it delete the messages on arrival? Or does it file them in a special IMAP folder?

This was also apparently asked the last time this was posted to HN and still isn't answered in their FAQ :(

</comment><comment><USER4> Tried it a few days ago and it made a quite polished impression. I hope COI and Delta.chat will join forces and define a standard algorithm to convert e-mails to instant messages (and e2e encryption).

Otherwise, we might end up with incompatible clients within the same protocol.

<comment> olivier-tille They do use a common core: [https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat- core](https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-core)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This looks really nice. Can't wait to try it out later today. Anyone with a gmail account can use it, and there is no need to install the app if you don't want to.

<comment><USER6> My main complaint about DeltaChat is that their threading model doesn't work with gmails threading model.

As a result when using it to message gmail friends their inbox is cluttered with a new thread for every single message I send. I haven't checked if it's due to the subject changing or if they don't properly set In-Reply- To/References, but its mildly annoying for my contacts.

Of course if they are properly setting In-Reply-To and References headers in the message, well then my complaint is really with gmail.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Is this the same as the COI protocol[1] that came up a few days ago?

[1] [https://www.coi-dev.org/](https://www.coi-dev.org/)

<comment><USER8> The COI FAQ says:

"We are cooperating with Delta.Chat for it to also use COI to provide more features, we are contributing to the C-Kernel of it."

<comment> olivier-tille Exactly, that's what I was told yesterday as well. They're collaborating on [https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat- core](https://github.com/deltachat/deltachat-core)</comment></comment></comment>


Why Spotify Will Kill iTunes - <AUTHOR> http://www.businessweek.com/management/why-spotify-will-kill-itunes-07222011.html <comment><USER2> I think his argument is pretty weak. Sure, for tech-savvy people that buy a lot of music, going with the flat pricing of Spotify makes sense, as does the convenience of not having to manage and sync your music files between devices.

However, a very large number of people spend less than $10/month on music, or don't have the desire to completely switch over to a new music service. There's also the hesitation to spend the effort switching to the new service that will disappear once you stop paying them whatever they demand. Netflix has recently demonstrated that the pricing for media streaming has the ability to change rapidly and sharply, leaving you no recourse other than to either pay or lose access to the music and your playlists.

</comment><comment><USER3> No Beatles.

No Bob Dylan.

No Pink Floyd.

I'm certainly enjoying Spotify, but it has some big gaps that need to be closed.

<comment><USER4> Wow, really? MOG has Dylan and Floyd (but obviously no Beatles). I assumed their catalogs (and anyone's other than Apple's) would be pretty similar.

What explains the very different licensing these different streaming music apps are able to get? Is it just their negotiating (in)ability?

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> The article seemed a bit tedious and overwrought. All that aside, for me it raised the question, "how do the musicians get paid?"

As a musician, this is a matter of great interest. The answer: "Spotify shares it 50/50" according to the first article I found that answered the question.

Last time I checked, Apple was paying 70%; however, if you're not on a major label, you'll likely get to iTunes through a third party such as CDbaby; they pay 91% of that 70%. Even so, 63.7% is better than 50%.

Addendum: as the article I mentioned describes, it may actually be worse than that, because payments aren't on a track basis, but rather more like the airplay payments that BMI and ASCAP pay (in which you only get paid if you have lot of spins).

[http://gramtone.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/spotify-a-loss- for-...](http://gramtone.wordpress.com/2009/03/20/spotify-a-loss-for- musicians/)

<comment><USER6> How much do musicians get paid for Spotify streaming? Well, this much: [http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/how-much-do- music...](http://www.informationisbeautiful.net/2010/how-much-do-music- artists-earn-online/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> If that is the case why hasn't rhapsody which has been around for a long period of time already killed iTunes?

</comment><comment><USER8> Sort of off-topic, but does anyone know why the hype around Spotify is so great?

A few years ago, I started using Napster's streaming service. Then moved to Rhapsody for a slightly better interface/collection and mobile offline caching. Then to MOG, and eventually Rdio.

Now Spotify comes out, and while I also moved to it, about 30 of my coworkers/friends are now on it using it as their first streaming service.

Maybe the invite-only access and alleged legal troubles helped in their favor? I don't get it.

<comment><USER9> Spotify has slowly been building buzz in Europe for a long time and they also did a huge PR push all at once.

Also, they are artificially limiting supply of invites to make more people sign up for the paid service. Scarcity creates value. People want what they can't have.

The other thing is unlike Mog or Rdio, since Spotify came to the US after years of development, it already has loads of polish and solid mobile apps. AKA, their v1 product is actually more of a v2 or v3, so when people use it, it feels more impressive.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Hogwash. iTunes isn't just a place to listen to music. It's a place to buy it, retrieve it, find it, and more. It has better selection and is backed by a bigger company, with more weight to throw around when record companies try to get pushy.

</comment><comment><USER11> iTunes is used, overwhelmingly, to deliver music _to mobile devices_. And streaming is facing a number of serious barriers for that kind of mobile use: battery drain, network coverage, bandwidth caps and the high price of data plans (with sufficient caps).

So, almost regardless of individual quality, streaming services are not replacing iTunes any time soon. Almost certainly not in the US and likely not anywhere else.

They definitely have a market, particularly in competing with terrestrial and satellite radio. But streaming is simply not a good fit to do what iTunes is used to do.

<comment><USER12> Spotify lets you download songs into iPods and phones for offline streaming. This is an obsolete complaint.

<comment><USER6> "Offline streaming", right. You can synch only music you have bought from Spotify. It does not work with the "all you can eat" subscription. So it is very much not an obsolete complaint.

<comment><USER12> "Offline streaming" is kind of a kludge term. To me, if I don't own the songs and they're not immediately accessible to my other software, "syncing" seems slightly inaccurate connotatively. So I went with "offline streaming" because it seems to connote what is going on: localizing my stream, very local.

I haven't had a problem with the Premium service, so I'm not sure which one you're describing as AYCE.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I don't know if I believe that Spotify will really be able to kill iTunes, but perhaps it will force iTunes to lower their prices or to offer streaming subscriptions?

</comment><comment><USER14> Apple can enter the streaming music market whenever they want to; that's why they bought Lala.

</comment><comment><USER9> iTunes isn't going anywhere because it's tied to iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, iPad, Mac and it's where you buy Music, Videos, Books, Apps, Audiobooks, Podcasts, and um....yeah.

Also, I love music and Spotify is pretty great, but so was Mog, Pandora, Napster, Zune, and many other music services, but none of them have dented iTunes, if anything quite the opposite.

Spotify is great relatively cheap way to sample lots of music you may or may not like, but if I want to keep a song or album, I'm going to buy it on iTunes or Amazon MP3 so I have a backup copy of that music "forever".

Spotify is likely a bigger competitor to Pandora and traditional radio than it is to buying music in general. People like owning things more than they like renting things.

Hoarding is human nature.

<comment><USER12> That's probably why Spotify looks almost precisely like iTunes and syncs to un-networked mobile devices.</comment></comment>


Chocolate is a luxury. The people who produce it live in extreme poverty - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2018/07/07/chocolate-is-a-luxury-the-people-who-produce-it-live-in-extreme-poverty/ <comment><AUTHOR> > the market cannot be wrong

I'm hoping that the "market cannot be wrong" group-think in SV is receding.

What is often talked about is what markets fail account for (externalities, human myopia), but in our capitalist world people are unwilling to talk about how markets treat people (labor) just like it treats iron ore or soy beans. The whole point of optimizing economic systems is to benefit people, but when people are treated as commodities, the opposite happens to a large portion of the population. We avoid talking about that because it has been labeled "commie" and proven stupid because of the fall of communist countries, even though there were other factors besides Marxism that easily explain their downfall.

I would like to think that the open-mindedness and desire to rid ourselves of biases would make people in the tech world able to at least read Marx and other socialist critiques of capitalism with a truly open and honest mind.

</comment><comment><USER2> It's such a luxury that we give it away to beggar kids coming to the house every year in October...</comment>


Beyond Games and the Future of Learning - <AUTHOR> http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2008/07/gls---beyond-ga.html

<comment><USER2> Good points, but there is a tacit assumption if we were to use these ideas as basis for large changes.

The exploratory aspects of the "passion communities" requires self-motivated, creative individuals with a sense of individualism. In other words, they are producers by nature: if you leave them to their own devices, they get urges to make stuff. "Closet engineers." My feeling is that this mode of learning isn't for everyone.

There is a definite, strong case for a multifarious educational system, but _nothing_ is definite. IMHO the key word isn't the passion community per se, but _choice_ is. Give them the options, and let them pave the way. For those who aren't self directed, and/or prefer being passive receptors of information (i.e. the prevailing system now), you _still_ need to provide it for them.

</comment><comment><USER3> "James Gee appears to have similar ideas regarding technology and cognitive learning as Henry Jenkins. Do you think?"

Close, but Jenkins focuses more on how fan fiction can be useful in an educational context, whereas Gee is more concerned more with the medium, and less with the content.</comment>