Ask HN: how do I get an H1B visa and job in the US? - <AUTHOR> I've read about the basics on getting a job in the US with an H1B visa. You have to get an offer from a company in the US, prepare all the documentation by March (possibly with help from an attorney), apply in April, then wait for the result (possibly decided by lottery). If you get the visa, then you can start working around October.
Still, I'd love to hear concrete advice from:
1) people who got a software developer job with the H1B visa. How many companies you contacted? When did you contact them? Is February too late? Were you interviewed remotely or at their US office?
2) people who got an offer but for some reason failed to get the visa: besides the lottery, which is outside my control anyway, what should I be aware of?
3) people who got laid off or otherwise lost their jobs while working on a H1B visa. Did you find another job immediately, or did you have to leave the country?
Of course, I welcome replies from people involved in hiring too (though my intention isn't getting hired with this post).
Thanks in advance. <comment><USER2> I am an attorney specializing in immigration and would like to give some inputs on applying for H-1B visa in the U.S..

First of all, it has never been too late to seek employment opportunities. If you do not win the lottery for H-1B, you may still be able to apply for a visa to come in and work for the company.

Second, once you have a job offer and the company is willing to sponsor you for H-1B visa, you should be able to get your H-1B visa approved if the job is within the categories of specialty occupation as defined by US immigration law and you have required academic degree for the job.

Third, if unfortunately you get laid off when you are on your H-1B status, you will need to find a new employer immediately and transfer your H-1B. If you fail to have a new company to file a transfer of H-1B or change your status to another non-immigrant visa category within a reasonable time (usually about 15 days after the last day of your employment with the previous employer), you will have to leave the country to avoid to overstay on your visa.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to contact me at firstname.lastname@example.com.

</comment><comment><USER3> > 1) people who got a software developer job with the H1B visa. How many > companies you contacted? When did you contact them? Is February too late? > Were you interviewed remotely or at their US office?

Getting a job like @pbiggar said is a total crapshoot that is completely stochastic. Interviews are weakly correlated with how good you are. So you can apply as often as you want. Now, I am assuming you are not in the U.S. so here are issues that can happen: Very few companies will fly you out here for an on site visit. This means that quite a few companies will balk at the idea of recruiting someone that they just can interview on Skype (unless you are very good.)

I got a job offer in June last year ten days or so before the H1B cap was getting over. I got the H1B filed successfully under the nick of time because my company has an excellent lawyer. On the other hand, delays during the filing process could mess with you.

</comment><comment><USER4> Not trying to put you off, but H1B's are so difficult, mainly due to the small number available each year. I got one year's ago, but I'm not a dev. As far as I know it's not too late, particularly if the hiring company uses lawyers who have good connections at the USCIS.

If you're looking for dev jobs at companies that sponsor H1B, I noticed today in the Who's Hiring that some are offering H1B sponsorship.

Good luck, it's a arduous undertaking. Out of interest, what country are you from? There may be other visa types available to you. For instance, aussies get their own E3 visa which is essentially a H1B.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes, I'm aware of the Who's Hiring thread. I sort of have an idea of what companies I want to apply to. I was more interested in other details. Thanks anyway.

There are no other kind of visa available to citizens of my country. Even the green card lottery isn't available to me (being vague to keep my anonymity, sorry).

<comment><USER5> Hello,

Could you plz help me with the list of companies you have in mind to apply for ? I'm also looking for H1B. Thanks for any help. (firstname.lastname@example.com)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think the most important part is finding employers who are willing to provide H1B.

You can access to the employeers who offers H1B package. their previous H1B applications and H1B salaries from this website. <http://www.myvisajobs.com/>

You have to pay some fee to access this records but definitely a good point to start.

</comment><comment><USER7> Instead of trying to move to USA for a job and facing the H1-B cap and all the legal hassle, why don't you try Canada instead. There are no arbitrary Visa caps in Canada. It is easy to get immmigration once you have a job in Canada and generally you will find lots of software developer jobs in Canada.

<comment><AUTHOR> I've considered that too. I'm sure Canada is great place to live, but IMO there aren't nearly as many "interesting" companies in Canada. Of course, "interesting" is subjective...

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Hey, could you point me to the website where you read about the dates connected with H1B? In particular I am interested in when is the earliest I can travel to the US if I apply in April 2013?

<comment><AUTHOR> This mentions 2012 but I'm pretty sure it's the same thing every year:

<http://www.workpermit.com/us/us_h1b.htm>

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Like many foreign founders in SF, I've become a bit of an expert on immigration, so I think I can answer all these for you. However, I would say that no matter what, you should talk to a good immigration lawyer. Contact me privately and I can intro you.

Firstly, to clarify the process. You can actually prepare the docs and apply anytime, its just that there is a quota of 65,000 (+ 20000 extra if you have a Masters degree), and its done on a first-come first-serve basis. For the past few years, the visas haven't run out until after October, so you can really apply anytime.

OK, so your questions:

1) Interviews are a crap shoot, so you should apply to lots of companies. More than 10 definitely. February is not too late. If they're going to bring you over on a visa, than its likely that you'll do a few phone interviews, then be flown over for a full day of interviews.

2) With a job offer, you'll almost certainly get a H1B, so long as you apply in time. You'll need to have a relevant degree and not have any criminal convictions, but otherwise it should all be fine. When these fail, its typically because the company or their lawyers made an error or got busy. I've heard of people who got screwed because the visa person at their company was incompetent or too busy, and didn't get the H1B in before they ran out, or made silly mistakes. If possible, be involved in the process (ask for ETAs, offer to help, get on conference calls with the lawyers, etc).

3) There is a lot of lore around this, with people saying that you have 10 days, or a month, or whatever to get out of the country. The thing you want to avoid is being "out of status". If you are out of status for 180 days, you might be kicked out of the country for 3 years. Other than that, there are no hard-and-fast rules, and everybody knows it takes time to get a job.

If you do leave the country, you'll still be on your H1B, and so won't be subject to the caps when you get your next job, which makes it all much easier.

FWIW, I misunderstood some rules when starting CircleCi, and had to get a job quickly: I was able to get one in 5 days. If you're an engineer, there's a massive need for you in SF/SV, so you won't have any problem finding a job on a short schedule like that.

A final thing to note is that H1Bs aren't the only option. There are tons of visas that might work for you depending on where you're from, your qualifications, the company you're applying to, etc. Look into the L1, O1 and J1, and to any visas that apply to your country of origin (eg Australians look at E3 visas).

Happy to answer any more questions, and feel free to reach out to me privately at firstname.lastname@example.com.

And we are hiring, see: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5151422>. Please apply!

<comment><USER3> > Firstly, to clarify the process. You can actually prepare the docs and apply > anytime, its just that there is a quota of 65,000 (+ 20000 extra if you have > a Masters degree), and its done on a first-come first-serve basis. For the > past few years, the visas haven't run out until after October, so you can > really apply anytime.

Minor nitpicks: 1) The 20,000 extra is if you have a _U.S._ Masters degree which OP may or may not have. 2) In 2012, the visas cap was reached, I think in june of 2012.

> 3) There is a lot of lore around this, with people saying that you have 10 > days, or a month, or whatever to get out of the country. The thing you want > to avoid is being "out of status". If you are out of status for 180 days, > you might be kicked out of the country. Other than that, there are no hard- > and-fast rules, and everybody knows it takes time to get a job. FWIW, I > misunderstood some rules when starting CircleCi, and had to get a job > quickly: I was able to get one in 5 days. If you're an engineer, there's a > massive need for you in SF/SV, so you won't have any problem finding a job > on a short schedule like that.

To offer a counterpoint: A bunch of people from my company got laid off recently. From what I understand from those that are also on an H1B, yes, finding any arbitrary job isn't hard but finding a good job takes time and effort. Now, the 180 days rule is a hard limit, another number which is usually tossed around is time between latest paycheck received from previous company and potential appearance of the next paycheck. The reasoning being that you would need a "latest paystub" whilst applying for the next H1B. Also, I believe people's paranoia is mainly because of issues that being out of status for a period of time might pose during the green card process. Now, rationally speaking, people would know it takes time to find a new job but then the details are the devil and a visa officer can screw you over if they want to.

<comment><USER9> > finding any arbitrary job isn't hard but finding a good job takes time and > effort.

True. If I found myself in this position, I would focus on getting any job first to protect my status, and then working on finding the right job. Which sucks for my new employer of course :(

> Now, the 180 days rule is a hard limit

Actually, it doesn't even come into play until they declare you out of status, and from there you have 180 days. But this is completely playing with fire. I would start to get worried after 30 days, personally.

> another number which is usually tossed around is time between latest > paycheck received from previous company and potential appearance of the next > paycheck

Totally. When you apply for a new H1B position, they ask for pay stubs from the old one to prove that you're "in status". If you have a good visa lawyer, they should be able to solve this for you. Always always use a good lawyer.

> Also, I believe people's paranoia is mainly because of issues that being out > of status for a period of time might pose during the green card process. > [...] the details are the devil and a visa officer can screw you over if > they want to.

Very very true.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> I would advice you to wait until immigration reform is passed. The process of hiring foreign nationals with computer skills will be greatly improved due to the growing concern than America is falling behind in technology.</comment>


Flirtey Launches World's First PizzaByDrone Commercial Trials, Delivers Domino's - <AUTHOR> http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/flirtey-launches-worlds-first-pizza-by-drone-commercial-trials-delivers-dominos-pizza-to-customer-homes-300363785.html <comment><USER2> If they ship the pizza, and possibly food as a whole category in the future, they need to prevent the smell from attracting birds...and if that means extra shipping material, it means more costs for both companies and customers.</comment>


Bill Gates is named world's richest person again - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.com/news/business-31694951 <comment><USER2> Several friends of mine work at the Gates Foundation up here in Seattle and they comment a lot about the pressure they're under to GIVE AWAY the Gates' money faster. There's a running "joke" internally there (Gates himself does not find it funny and puts a lot of pressure internally on the folks responsible) that it's been nearly impossible to outspend Gates' financial gains as his own wealth keeps growing too fast.

Kind of a funny thought.

<comment><USER3> This seems to fly in the face of the approach that Bill and Melinda have publicly claimed to have taken. Instead of "writing a big check" they're managing (very directly it seems) the allocation of funds to effective and worthwhile programs.

There may internal pressure to "give money away" but I doubt many have the freedom to start writing checks for ...anything.

<comment><USER2> Despite the internal commentary, which is mostly in jest, spending arbitrarily is going to get you fired pretty quick. But there is still a metric ton of pressure to find the _right_ things to spend money on, and they struggle to do so in a lot of cases.

It's interesting to think about from an entrepreneurial perspective, that The Gates Foundation has plenty of capital to "invest" but the companies and programs are often not mature enough to warrant massive grants. There might be a ton of small NGOs doing awesome work all over the world, and they can take small grants (XX,000-XXX,000), but imagine what a nightmare it becomes for them if given the burden of tens of millions of dollars all the sudden. Money solves a lot of problems in the nonprofit world, but sudden cash infusions can often create a lot of bizarre problems.

And on the other side, even if The Gates Foundation gives thousands of six figure grants out, that's not going to make a dent in the overall pool of cash.

<comment><USER3> I wonder if an element of the foundation could be helping to scale or "staff up" these NGO's to be able to scale/deal with an influx of funding?

Obviously, "staffing up" is time intensive, but I would think they would need an alternative approach if finding worthy organizations becomes difficult.

<comment><USER2> I do think there is a pretty big incentive now for really smart people to work on the world's most important problems (disease, famine, poverty, education, etc) knowing there is a lot of capital to back it up. I know internally at TGF they've been working to market their grant programs better to encourage more young "startup" companies apply.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> These lists are pretty arbitrary. They don't include more than $32 trillion hidden in off shore accounts. Putin, Gaddafi, Mubarak, and other third world dicators have many trillions stashed away. That is not even to count the monarchs who practically own entire countries.

<comment><USER5> I wonder what would anyone do with a trillion dollars... I really can't comprehend this numbers...

<comment><USER6> what ever they want.. :-)

I agree, even a billion dollars, as free cash (as opposed to illiquid property holdings) is mind boggling. At IMF .9% interest rates that is $25,000 a day you would have to spend just to spend off the interest income.

<comment><USER7> I vividly remember the BBC reports about the US government flying planes filled with pallets of cash into Iraq - apparently $12 billion in _cash_ was flow in:

[http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> \- Bill Gates only owns about $13Billion of Microsoft stock directly.

\- Over half of his net worth is in Cascade Investment LLC, a private investment fund run by Michael Larson. Mr Larson appears to be singularly responsible for Bill Gates' return to the top.

\- The Bill & Melinda Gates foundation is worth over $42 Billion, and is not included in Bill Gates' net worth

[http://www.wsj.com/articles/this-mans-job-make-bill-gates- ri...](http://www.wsj.com/articles/this-mans-job-make-bill-gates- richer-1411093811)

</comment><comment><USER9> I actually feel really good about this. I like Bill. I think he tries hard to figure out the right way to spend his fortune. Glad to see he's back on top.

</comment><comment><USER10> This list is static and not really useful given the swings in net worth of people. A far better and modern list is the bloomberg billionaires index, it is updated nearly daily.

[http://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/2015-02-27/aaa](http://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/2015-02-27/aaa)

</comment><comment><USER11> So I guess the koch brothers' combined estate is really #1?

<comment><USER8> The Walton family fortune is considerably larger. Only 2 Walton's make the top 10, but there are 6 Walton billionaires, for a total of $175 billion.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walton_family](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walton_family)

<comment><USER12> Before the fiscal cliff, WMT moved their dividend pay date forward by a few days so that the Waltons could pay 2012 cap gains on their dividend. They saved over 100 million in tax on ONE single dividend. This level of wealth is almost beyond comprehension. ([http://money.cnn.com/gallery/investing/2012/12/21/fiscal- cli...](http://money.cnn.com/gallery/investing/2012/12/21/fiscal-cliff-tax- dodgers/4.html))

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Bill gates keep selling shares on several companies and donating stuff, also he does not do any "work" anymore, he only do volunteer stuff.

Why his net worth keeps increasing?

<comment><USER14> investments, along with the rate of return to wealth in investment markets being greater than the economic growth rate ([http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist- explains/2014/05/ec...](http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist- explains/2014/05/economist-explains))

<comment><USER15> I was going to link to that. Instead here is Mr. Gates' take. [http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Why-Inequality-Matters- Capit...](http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Why-Inequality-Matters-Capital- in-21st-Century-Review)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> I wonder how he keeps getting so wealthy. He does not own much of Microsoft anymore. 95% of his wealth is not Microsoft.

So how does he keep getting wealthy?

</comment><comment><USER17> I think he is happier for what he has done with Microsoft more than his net worth.Money is only the consequence of a good job.

</comment><comment><USER18> Almost 2000 billionaires. Almost 100 in India. 200+ in China. 500 plus in US. 100 some in Russia. WTH.

</comment><comment><USER19> [http://www.moneymeters.org/](http://www.moneymeters.org/)

</comment><comment><USER20> a $3 billion dollar return on $76 is not that impressive, this is about a 3.9% return.

to put this in perspective, in January 2014 30 year treasuries were yielding 3.92% (although they have come down quite a bit since then).

<comment><USER21> I assume you mean $76 billion. Because otherwise that would be a healthy 3,947,368,421% return. ;)

<comment><USER20> haha yes, $76 billion.

also note that if bill gates had simply put all his money in an sp500 index fund last year he would have earned %13.69, or $10.8 billion

<comment><USER22> Also note that putting that kind of money anywhere creates so much market impact in practice that the gains diminish considerably.

E.g. SPY, the most active S&P500 index (also the single most heavily-traded U.S. stock), had a total dollar volume of $275B for all of 2014. Buying billions' worth of it, even over long periods, would drive the price up in the process and make further purchases more costly.

<comment><USER20> he obviously wouldn't put it all into spy, you can buy a diversified portfolio of stocks that basically replicates the s&p 500.

[http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=DailyMarketSummar...](http://www.nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=DailyMarketSummary) (74 billion dollars traded in one day)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Although there is no confirmed amounts(obviously), a lot of people feel that Putin is the world's richest man with all the Russian money has stashed away to personal accounts

<comment><USER24> Any credible people there too?

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> You could fund a lot of curiosity rovers with that money.

<comment><USER26> Highways, bullet trains, tons of research grants...

<comment><USER27> This kind of reality check is extremely effective. I think I'll steal this. Thanks

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> And still he could only buy about 10% of AAPL.

<comment><USER29> I wonder what Steve Job's net worth would have been if he never sold his shares.

<comment><USER30> When he died the greatest contribution to his net worth was his Disney money actually.

<comment><USER31> ...and Disney stock has roughly tripled since he died.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Larry Page: Jobs is rewriting history - <AUTHOR> http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2010/07/09/larry-page-jobs-is-rewriting-history/ <comment><USER2> But when did Android start being so much like the iPhone? And why didn't Schmidt leave Apple's board earlier?

<comment><USER3> Android is an OS not a phone.

<comment><USER4> The OS _is_ the phone</comment></comment></comment>


Senator presses NSA to reveal whether it spies on members of Congress - <AUTHOR> http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/03/nsa-asked-spying-congress-bernie-sanders?CMP=twt_gu <comment><USER2> I'm not sure why this particular question is relevant. It seems to assume that members of Congress should be better protected in their privacy than the rest of us.

But I submit that the opposite is true: they should be scrutinized to a much greater degree, and (nearly) everything they do in their office should be an open book to us.

<comment><AUTHOR> Exactly so - they've suddenly twug that the NSA surveillance doesn't just apply to other people, and that they are, in fact, "Persons of Interest."

<comment><USER3> Yes, but I suspect this particular Senator wasn't interested in privilege, but in backing the NSA into a corner. Because _of course_ Congress is being spied on; they have phones.</comment></comment></comment>


Mini-Mainframe at Home: Installing a Modern OS - <AUTHOR> http://www.cpushack.com/2019/01/14/part-2-mini-mainframe-at-home-the-story-of-a-6-cpu-server-from-1997/ <comment><USER2> I'm confused that Windows XP is the "Modern OS", and I want to know why there is no mention of any kind of linux.

<comment><USER3> I suppose it's to do with the drivers. Genuine question - why does it matter?

If the goal is get some hardware up and running with an OS, I've found it easier to get drivers for Windows OS, even older versions, compared to Linux. And that includes the more recent versions of Linux.

<comment><USER4> XP is an 18 year old OS that hit end of life in 2014. It isn't modern.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It wouldn't surprise me if installing the latest NetBSD would Just Work on this hardware, SMP and all.

</comment><comment><USER6> No part of this title is correct. Except possibly the "at home" part.

<comment><USER7> Opened the link to find 6x Pentium Pro. I think this person has never used a mainframe to know what its I/O capacity is like.</comment></comment>


Zed Shaw - "The Web Will Die When OOP Dies" - <AUTHOR> https://vimeo.com/43380467

<comment><USER2> I voted this up because I agree with Zed's criticisms of HTML/XML/CSS/Javascript etc.

But he loses me when he starts critiquing object-oriented programming.

This is how I "arrive" at object-oriented programming:

* I begin writing an application to implement an idea.

* My hurriedly written code starts out as a whole lot of functions acting on various bits of data.

* At some point I realise that certain functions are really methods on one or more classes of object.

* I refactor my code into class definitions.

* My code is now better organised and more readable.

I don't have to put _all_ my code into classes - there are often a few utility functions that end up just floating around by themselves, not belonging to any particular class. (So I prefer languages that "allow" me to do object-oriented programming over languages that _require_ me to do it.)

But, for me, object-oriented programming is a natural way of organising code. Despite what Zed says, "things" do exist in the real world, and in our applications, and "types of things" (i.e. classes) exist in our heads as ways to think about those things.

If I have to write code in some programming language that doesn't "do" objects, I get frustrated and annoyed (because I will eventually want to organise my code as classes and methods, but I won't be able to).</comment>


Bitcoin block generation rate has slowed down from 10 mins to almost 15 mins - <AUTHOR> https://blockchain.info/stats <comment><USER3> That fact by itself might not be cause for alarm, but the underlying cause -- a large hashrate drop over a short period of time -- might be a signal that people are abandoning the network. Emphasize "might". [https://blockchain.info/charts/hash- rate](https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate)

<comment><USER4> They are likely mining Bitcoin Cash, a recent fork of Bitcoin. It is currently more profitable for miners to mine Bitcoin Cash, so a large number have opted to switch over until the profitability ratio flips back to Bitcoin.

There is more information about the relative hash rates for both chains at [http://fork.lol](http://fork.lol).

<comment><USER5> Worth noting that miners don't receive the coins they mine immediately - <USER2> can't be spent until they're 100 blocks old - so whether or not it is more profitable to mine on one coin or another is actually a question of the future value of the coin, not the present value. BCH has had some really rapid price swings in a matter of hours, so miners who choose to mine it are exposing themselves to those swings unless they hedge that risk.

Secondly, as transaction fees are a supply and demand system, demand for transactions on BTC (tx demand on BCH is negligible) can shift that profitability ratio simply by paying higher fees. AFAIK miners aren't setup to switch back and forth on a block-by-block basis yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if they start to do that in the future.</comment></comment></comment>


Traditional MBA skill set is no longer enough - <AUTHOR> http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/3f7e6788-19d8-11e1-ba5d-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1hRH7MbwL

<comment><USER3> The challenge with business schools is thatvtheyvare schools. To justify their existent they need academic rigor. They also need coursework easily digestible by people from a variety of backgrounds that prepare students for post MBA careers. In general this means accounting, finance and to a lesser degree marketing strategy. What is left out are the harder to teach items - <USER2> intelligence, judgment, etc. These soft skills come from the school of hard knocks, with perhaps a few short cuts from good mentors. Even when they try, business schools get it grossly wrong when they try to teach these topics.

In defense of the MBA... It is the optimal place to learn Accounting. It's too boring to learn via self study!

</comment><comment><USER4> Was it ever?

<comment><USER5> Exactly the question that came to my mind when reading the title. :)</comment></comment>


Ask HN: How long did it take you to reach the $100k/yr milestone? - <AUTHOR>

So, it's fairly obvious many people here are making 6 figures, but how long did it take you to get there? Where you in your 20's, 30's, etc, when you starting making that much?<p>People here make it look easy, but as a recent grad it certainly seems like it could take a long time to get there. <comment><USER2> I'm reluctant to participate in this because it just encourages people to compare their incomes with everyone around them. That way lies madness. Work on projects that you find interesting and other people find useful, and the money will come.

Besides, lots of people here are doing startups, where you take an immediate monetary hit in exchange for a possible big windfall later. You're not going to be making 6 figures as a startup founder, but you might end up with an 8-figure payoff later.

<comment><AUTHOR> Understood. I guess what I am looking for is not so much about the income, but at what age people get to that level in their field. Whether you're a career professional or a startup founder getting that kind of income is certainly an achievement.

Being able to work on something worthwhile and enjoy it is a much more fulfilling goal to have.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I just turned 22. I rake in a little over a $100k all things included (salary+stock options+side jobs). However, let it be known that I'm terribly strapped for time. If you want more money, go out and get it.</comment>


Response to "Never Use Black" - oscar-the-horse http://www.horsesaysinternet.com/design/never-user-black-bullshit/

<comment><AUTHOR> Why are you using a nearly unreadable letter 'k'?

<comment> oscar-the-horse i've not written any posts on typography.

some may called the closed counter on the "k" charming, others unreadable.

me, i like to try out different typefaces. sorry if the free information wasn't as readable as you'd like.</comment></comment>


This tablet sold out in under an hour in Japan - <AUTHOR> http://enchantmoon.com/

<comment><USER2> 'The enchantMOON is a digitizer pen-driven tablet device designed to let anyone program and share HTML5 games and applications without writing code.'</comment>


Show HN: Data Is Plural – A weekly newsletter of useful/curious datasets - <AUTHOR> https://tinyletter.com/data-is-plural <comment><AUTHOR> TinyLetter archive: [https://tinyletter.com/data-is- plural/archive](https://tinyletter.com/data-is-plural/archive)

Structured archive: [https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZhPLMCHKJvwOkP4jucl...](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZhPLMCHKJvwOkP4juclhjFgqIY8fQFMemwKL2c64vk)

Most recent edition, sent yesterday: [https://tinyletter.com/data-is- plural/letters/data-is-plural...](https://tinyletter.com/data-is- plural/letters/data-is-plural-2015-11-04-edition)

<comment><USER2> Thanks for posting those links. The original link isn't to explanatory about what types of content the mailing list will have.

<comment><AUTHOR> Good point. I've now updated the text on the landing page, to the extent that's possible with TinyLetter.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> One of the very, very few "Show HN's" I would give an A+ for the idea. Even better would be a focus on FTP, e.g., datasets available as bulk data without silly "API's". In the early days of the internet posting about such datasets was quite common. Meanwhile I have to continually write flex scanners to transform MySQL and JSON into something useable with kdb (someday maybe I can do all the munging in q). Not to mention all the "scraping". But I am so used to cutting through Javscript and other cruft it does not bother me anymore.

Dataset discovery. A+ for idea.

</comment><comment><USER4> This looks excellent. Are you wedded to the email newsletter distribution format, or would RSS be reasonable as well?

</comment><comment><USER5> Great idea! Subscribed. Have you posted to Datatau? I'll bet there's some folks over there that would be interested as well.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks! I haven't yet, but that's a great idea. Will do so shortly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Very cool idea, I've just subscribed as well.

And I am thinking about starting the same thing, but for my own country. The current links are almost exclusively from the US.

</comment><comment><USER7> So no one is using dat, despite all the hype? [http://dat- data.com/](http://dat-data.com/)

</comment><comment><USER8> Love the idea. Is this the first of its kind?</comment>


Japanese research firms part of global effort to develop spray-on solar panels - <AUTHOR> http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2017/03/23/business/tech/japanese-researchers-firms-part-global-effort-develop-spray-solar-panels/ <comment><USER2> "Spray on solar panels" usually means making solar cells with a printing-like process. That's been done several times.[1][2] Works fine. But the resulting panels were not cheaper. They're flexible, which makes them popular for boats, tents, and RVs. Lifespan is shorter; you can get a 10 year warranty, but not much beyond that.

[1] [http://www.pascaltechnologies.com/files/Whitepapers/Uni- Sola...](http://www.pascaltechnologies.com/files/Whitepapers/Uni- Solar%20Tech%20and%20Manufacturing%20Process%20Guha.PDF) [2] [http://plasticphotovoltaics.org/lc/lc- fabrication/lc-r2r.htm...](http://plasticphotovoltaics.org/lc/lc- fabrication/lc-r2r.html)

<comment><USER3> spray on could work well for creating solar panels on another planet don't you think? especially if you source the silicon locally.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> The problem is we do not really need cheaper panels, we need high efficiency ones. Solar is currently cheap enough.

Not that the spray technology is worthless.

<comment><USER5> I've read the argument that it's the opposite: since there is plenty of area left for solar panels (roofs, for one thing), efficiency (in terms of energy per area) is less important than price (energy per dollar).

OTOH, I have also read that for many installations, especially home-scale ones, the cost of the solar panels itself is in the same magnitude as all the other installation costs; in that case, the best way reduce price (and increase energy per dollar) would be to increase efficiency, effectively installing "more energy" at the same time for the same installation cost.

So maybe we don't need cheaper panels, but do need cheaper installations, and a way to do that is to have more efficient panels.

<comment><USER6> There's also transparent cells, a few companies are trying to market them right now. Lot of areas to reuse, probably low installation fees too.

<comment><USER7> Interesting! But for every bit of light that goes through, that's light not being used by the panel. Do these transparent cells do any better in terms of effeciency than just using a more effecient, nontransparent, smaller cell combined with a regular window? For example, what gives more energy, a transparent cell of 1 square meter area of 50% opacity, or a regular cell of 2 square meters?

<comment><USER6> Detail: it's not a "visible lightwave" cell, it captures near infra red and other part of the non visible spectrum, so the usual light energy is not absorbed, it's 95%+ transparent for us, but it yields some voltage. I don't have the figures (I should have looked at); the first company I've seen was Ubiquitous Energy (from a Stanford or MIT lab prof. circa 2013). I've read on some research paper that there are other in the competition.

Maybe the power output is too low.. considering how many zillions of office windows could be converted I assumed they'd be as famous as tesla.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


PHP: The Right Way - <AUTHOR> http://www.phptherightway.com/ <comment><USER2> The only winning move is not to play.</comment>


Ask HN: Does anyone know when winter's (march 2010) demo day will be? - <AUTHOR>

Has it already been decided?  Is it on the same date every year? <comment><USER2> We haven't decided for sure. It's usually a thurs and fri about 60% of the way through March. We may expand to 3 days this winter, because it was getting a bit crowded.

<comment><AUTHOR> Can I assume it would be the week of March 15th? Thanks for the help, my g/f is looking for a commitment out of me, and I'm hoping to be apart of YC :)

<comment><USER3>
      apart of YC

what a delightful typo</comment></comment></comment>


Tesla Model S sales surpass BMW and Audi in Europe - <AUTHOR> http://www.bmwblog.com/2015/10/19/tesla-model-s-passes-bmw-audi-getting-close-to-mercedes-in-europe/ <comment><USER2> People like to dismiss Model S an an expensive toy, but in the luxury segment BMW 7 series starts at MSRP $82,295 in basic, BMW 6 series is at $80,495, and Mercedes S starts at $105,175 in base configuration, according to TrueCar.

Model S cheapest 70D rear-wheel basic configuration is $63,200 before any tax incentives.

Of course, few buyers in that segment shoot for the barebone base configuration, and Tesla's options are less numerous (a lot of what's considered luxury add-ons) and overall cheaper than packages with similar functionality.

This is before we get into the the cost of service (good luck servicing a Mercedes or a Jaguar anywhere other than the dealer if you hope to have a good resale value down the road) and TCO associated with electric motors.</comment>


Pipeline Operator in Ruby - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/ruby/ruby/commit/f169043d81524b5b529f2c1e9c35437ba5bc3a7a <comment><USER2> This is such a bad idea. A new operator that does the same thing as an old one, but is two characters longer, and named after a unix operator that is different in functionality?

Why was this approved?</comment>


Richard Stallman – "Free Software and Your Freedom" (Beijing, China) - <AUTHOR> http://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20140517-beijing <comment><USER2> Unfortunately too many people just give you a blank stare when you mention that 100 years from now we'll be printing up everything we can't augment. We'll also have brain-machine-interfaces that allow one to 'memorize' copyright media. How does the government/society plan to control our memories in the future? Just go with whatever laws the corporations come up with? Are we going to continue to deprive children of software knowledge so that they're dependent on downloading worthless digital copies of closed source code with who knows what coded into it? Thing is once everyone can code, free and open- source digital goods will undoubtedly prevail.

<comment><USER3> Everyone can code is a pipe dream. It requires high skill and specialization.

It's like saying all of us can at some point make cars, houses, electricity and so on.

<comment><USER4> I disagree. Others have said (much more eloquently than I) that software is the new literacy. In a hundred years, I believe someone who can't at least read code will be at a disadvantage similar to someone who can't read English today.

<comment><USER5> Literacy is not the same thing as the ability and interest necessary to write a novel.

<comment><USER2> But it is the ability to read and (for the most part) understand that novel, which is important. There are definitely more books (and things in general) being written in the age of literacy than there was before.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This is one of Richard's recurring topics, and I agree with matt__rose and higherpurpose that there is some irony since China, along with a few other countries like the USA, Iran, Russia, could do with a more free and open internet. The Internet should be basic infrastructure, inexpensive, and very secure. That is the goal.

I know I have the minority opinion, but I believe that a FSF world is the way go, long term. I think that tax jurisdictions that promote all kinds of open source, and an unfettered Internet will have long term advantages.

Edit: typo

<comment><USER7> free/open Internet in China? No way!

\- You do not have choice of service providers. All providers are government department and there's nearly no competition.

\- Try to use Google in China, lots of fun!

\- Try to access any popular web site in China like Youtube, facebook, etc. Good luck.

\- If you say something bad about the government on Internet, you may have the risk of being kidnapped by some unknown person and thrown into some unknown mountain area. (No kidding, one of my friend had this experience.)

Specific to RMS: I'm the translator of Free as in Freedom (Chinese edition.) Until now, I have no idea if the word "free" (自由) could appear in the title when we publish it.

Edit 1: grammar

<comment><USER8> I think the parent commenter was agreeing with you. The English idiom "could do with" (which I think is somewhat uncommon in California, where I live) means something like "could benefit from", "still needs", or "would like". It suggests that someone doesn't yet have the thing that they "could do with", but that it would be good if they did, at least from the speaker's perspective.

[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/could_do_with](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/could_do_with)

<comment><USER7> Thank you! I didn't know thus expression before. (I can always learn a lot from HN.) Upvote for the Wikipedia link.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Can anyone who attended this comment on the content and, particularly, the reaction and questions from the audience?

(It's already 9pm here in Beijing; the event was scheduled for 2pm-5pm.)

<comment><USER10> Ya, it ended 4 hours ago, a bit late to post an invitation.

<comment><USER9> He's talking at FUDCon (Fedora Users' and Developers' Conference) on the same topic next weekend:

[https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon:Beijing_2014#Schedule](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/FUDCon:Beijing_2014#Schedule)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> I regret I missed the event. It should be noted that rms came to China already quite a few times. I hope his message goes thru and reaches a wide audience here, because keeping full control on ones digital life is as important in China as in other places, or even more. (And I think the main threat for laymen is not from government, but from companies who would sell their users' souls for a short-term increase of their market shares.)

<comment><USER12> I regret so too.

Having just checked the FSF website, there will be a similar function on May 19th, at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou. Admission open to the public, with or without registration. [http://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20140519-hangzhou](http://www.fsf.org/events/rms-20140519-hangzhou)

For readers unfamiliar with Chinese academic institutions, both UCAS (May 17th) and Zhejiang (May 19th) are institutions noted nationally and internationally for graduate and research programs especially in sciences and engineering.

<comment><USER13> I went but there were so many people that the lecture hall was overflowing so I left.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Just let you guys know that China is keeping increasing control of online content. And the new leader has his plan to push it to another extent. Not a nice outlook.

</comment><comment><USER15> I do agree with freedom of individual,and free software is ok if it's authors want to free.

</comment><comment><USER16> Do I even have t read this article? I bet I know what it will say. It's by Richard Stallman.

<comment><USER17> RMS's ideas don't quite square with Chinese law, and Chinese law doesn't take kindly to that sort of thing, which makes this interesting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I found two relevant pictures: [http://ww2.sinaimg.cn/bmiddle/50ccfb23jw1egexhbj4ymj20xc18g1...](http://ww2.sinaimg.cn/bmiddle/50ccfb23jw1egexhbj4ymj20xc18g14j.jpg) [http://ww4.sinaimg.cn/bmiddle/50ccfb23jw1egexhf9xe0j20xc18g4...](http://ww4.sinaimg.cn/bmiddle/50ccfb23jw1egexhf9xe0j20xc18g49t.jpg) Does this custome has any culture-specific connotation? As a Chinese student I don't quite understand why RMS's dressing like this.

Below is my comment on this news:

Two years ago, when I left China for US college, I feel most people around me don't care about FOSS, or respect originality & copyright. \- They use cracked software. You can buy a disk that installs cracked Windows for less than 1 dollar. Cracked Photoshop & MS Office & whatever licensed software are all over the internet. \- They download music & movie for free. \- China's internet is full of copycats because the original websites aren't available due to censorship. (Like FB & Twitter). One of the largest IT Company, Tencent, is full of copied products.

But now I feel China is making some progress. Like: \- Online streaming companies are paying for copyrighted material, and you can't easily download movie/anime for free as you do in the past. \- As Apple becomes more popular, many people start paying for music in iTunes. To my delight, websites like [http://mou.li/](http://mou.li/) even let people buy Sublime Text & Alfred & 1Password easily in China. I really can't believe people would pay over $50 for a text editor two years ago, but now some of them do. \- A recent example. A very large company in China named Guokr launched a website: [http://www.15yan.com/](http://www.15yan.com/) . It's a blatant copy of medium. And in their about page, they are literally saying something like "Our product is currently a copycat of Medium, and we'll adpat it to Chinese market to make it better". Shortly after the website went public, someone asked a question in a Chinese Q&A website: "Can we tolerate such blatant plagiarism?" Take a look at it: [http://www.zhihu.com/question/23400374](http://www.zhihu.com/question/23400374) . I know you can't read Chinese but take a look at the pictures in the highest upvoted(2130)[1] and third highest(756)[2] answers. Two Chinese Web-Devs compared the CSS and HTML of these two sites, expressed their anger, and described the copycat as "humiliating" and "disgusting". Nearly all the answerers requested this copycat going down immediately and said they'd never use it.

I'm really happy China is really making some progress on this matter.

[1]: [http://p3.zhimg.com/69/e3/69e3f847236c2257d925ff11cbb14cc4_m...](http://p3.zhimg.com/69/e3/69e3f847236c2257d925ff11cbb14cc4_m.jpg) [2]: [http://p3.zhimg.com/2f/6b/2f6b6e698413e0db745efdcb8be73867_m...](http://p3.zhimg.com/2f/6b/2f6b6e698413e0db745efdcb8be73867_m.jpg)

</comment><comment><USER19> RMS, once again, missing the forest for the trees.

<comment><USER20> I believe your statement needs to be flushed out. It's very unclear and uninformative.

<comment><USER19> deignan's comment says it best here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7760080](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7760080)

If I were Chinese, the license of the software I was using would be far, far down my list of "Freedoms" that I was concerned about.

<comment><USER21> And rms would be the first to agree with you that there are more important freedoms:

 _" I hesitate to exaggerate the importance of this little puddle of freedom, because the more well-known and conventional areas of working for freedom and a better society are tremendously important. I wouldn't say free software is as important as they are."_

And he explains why he speaks about Free Software:

 _" It's the responsibility that I undertook, because it dropped in my lap and I saw a way I could do something about it. But, for example, to end police brutality, to end the war on drugs, to end the kinds of racism we still have, to help everyone have a comfortable life, to protect the rights of people who do abortions, to protect us from theocracy, these are tremendously important issues, far more important than what I do. I just wish I knew how to do something about them."_

 _" I wish I knew how to make a major difference on those bigger issues, because I would be tremendously proud if I could, but they're very hard and lots of people who are probably better than I am have been working on them and have gotten only so far," he says. "But as I see it, while other people were defending against these big visible threats, I saw another threat that was unguarded. And so I went to defend against that threat. It may not be as big a threat, but I was the only one there."_

Like any activist, he speaks of what he knows. That doesn't mean he considers the rest unimportant.

Source: [http://sisudoc.org/markup_samples.sisu_fn/free_as_in_freedom...](http://sisudoc.org/markup_samples.sisu_fn/free_as_in_freedom_2.richard_stallman_and_the_free_software_revolution.sam_williams.richard_stallman/5.en.html)</comment></comment></comment></comment>


I'm not feeling the async pressure - <AUTHOR> https://lucumr.pocoo.org/2020/1/1/async-pressure/ <comment><USER2> A thread on the front page here: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21927427](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21927427)</comment>


How The World Nuked Itself Over 2000 Times - <AUTHOR> http://www.zerohedge.com/article/how-world-nuked-itself-over-2000-times

<comment><USER2> I think the person making the claims about all this terrible fallout left in the atmosphere needs to read this: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1429524>

<comment><USER3> Yes, "the dose makes the poison", I've found NO support for the zero threshold hypothesis.

Best example of bogus "research" about this from way back when: a study showing US public school scores falling ... that didn't mention this wasn't happening in private schools. Needless to say this was in the " _Why Johnny Can't Read_ " era where we were realizing that US public school education had started going downhill fast a bit before WWII ( _Dick and Jane and Their Running Dog Spot_ ).</comment></comment>


Gawker Pays $750,000 to That Guy Who Didn't Invent Email - <AUTHOR> https://news.slashdot.org/story/16/11/07/022246/gawker-pays-750000-to-that-guy-who-didnt-invent-email <comment><USER2> Related discussion from yesterday on Gizmodo post: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12882311](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12882311)</comment>


Build Status Interfaces - <AUTHOR> http://www.globalnerdy.com/2008/08/01/build-status-interfaces/ <comment><USER2> This is lame and I don't think it is YC material. As someone who's worked on many build systems, I was actually (naively?) hoping for some build status UI ideas. In particular, my current build system that I'm working for needs to visualize a 4D matrix (testsuite revision, impl, impl revision, OS) and I'd love to see what others have done in this area.

Instead, stupid granny pictures. Welcome to the internet, here is the first of an endless supply of stupid.</comment>


A clever line of JavaScript - <AUTHOR> http://bloomca-me.github.io/2017/11/08/the-most-clever-line-of-javascript.html <comment><USER2> This was on the front page on Saturday, discussion from then: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15830788](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15830788)</comment>


Meet the Newest State of Matter - <AUTHOR> http://motherboard.vice.com/read/meet-the-newest-state-of-matter-2

<comment><USER2> The headline is wrong. This is not a new state of matter, but a new type of chemical.

Known states of matter are: solid, liquid, gas, plasma, Einstein-Bose condensate and neutron-degenerate matter.

Einstein-Bose condensate is the coolest one, literally. When atoms approach absolute zero, their momentum is so small that their position (via indeterminacy principle) is so large that they start to superimpose on each other (plus other cool quantum effects).

Check out video here:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensat...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensate)

<comment><USER3> Let's not forget that not everything can become a Bose-Einstein condensate. There are also fermionic condensates[1].

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermionic_condensate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermionic_condensate)</comment></comment>


OS X Lion Recovery - Introducing Lion Recovery - <AUTHOR> http://www.apple.com/macosx/recovery/? <comment> X-Istence Internet Recovery simply looks amazing. From the sound of it there is special firmware on the device that can connect to the internet, download the software and install it to a brand new hard drive.

No more looking for install DVD's, no more having to worry that the media won't be read (on my older MacBook Pro the SuperDrive is slowly failing). Awesome.</comment>


North American English Dialects, Based on Pronunciation Patterns - <AUTHOR> http://aschmann.net/AmEng/#Southern

<comment><USER2> The link for the top of the page including the map is : <http://aschmann.net/AmEng/> . For some reason the original post linked to the Southern US region, most of the way down the page.</comment>


Facebook throws up roadblock for Google-hosted blogs - <AUTHOR> http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/facebook-throws-up-roadblock-for-google-hosted-blogs/10372 <comment><USER2> I'm willing to bet that the huge quantity of *.blogspot.com links ran afoul of an anti-spam machine learning system. Time to add an entry to the whitelist, guys...

<comment><USER3> Blogspot has had a huge spam problems, so it could have accurately triggered the anti-spam systems at Facebook. I'd believe that more than some business decision to punish Google.</comment></comment>


Coffee with Tim Cook finishes at $610,000 - <AUTHOR> https://www.charitybuzz.com/catalog_items/337478#finished <comment><USER2> From this 2010 article [1] it says charity buzz takes 20% off to cover operating expenses. So this winning bidder just wasted $122,000 that could have gone to charity. I would rather donate directly and have all the money go to the charity and then call up Tim Cook and say, "I just improved my supply chain efficiency by 20%. Want to have coffee?" Any CEO would be crazy to turn down the opportunity to talk to me. Of course, I don't care about talking to Tim Cook, so I'll just donate my measly few bucks like any decent person and get no recognition out of it.

[1][http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-27/jay-z-s-new- year-s-...](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-27/jay-z-s-new-year-s-eve- lebron-jersey-fuel-charitybuzz-auctions.html)

<comment><USER3> Yeah, that 20% should have a cap.

<comment><USER4> To add to that, charitybuzz is a for-profit corporation. Not that I am against that, but it is worth keeping in mind as there have been a number of scandals in the past, where money from charitable non-profits gets re-directed to 'non- profit services firms' that are for-profit entities (The Wycleaf Jean scandal is a good example).

In general it is good to keep your eyes open when dealing with the non-profit world. There are some very good, well meaning organizations out there, but there also a lot of organizations that solely exist as tax shelters, influence peddlers, and resume/ego boosters.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The interesting thing is that even if Tim Cook were to spend every working hour of his time doing $610,000 coffee, he would earn Apple only about one billion dollars -- under 1% of Apple's yearly revenue.

<comment><USER6> Thats a fascinating thought.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Lunch with Warren Buffet meanwhile costs $2.6MM

[http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/06/13/warren-buffett- lunch-a...](http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2011/06/13/warren-buffett-lunch- auction-raises-2-63-million/)

<comment><USER8> Which you would then turn around and write a book, blog, tour the country, appear on MSNBC, and get a cozy job as a financial consultant for rich dummies. Well worth the price.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I hope the winner is Tim Cook. "I just wanted to have some alone time."

</comment><comment><USER10> Starbucks must have raised their prices again

</comment><comment><USER11> Yay! One more way for rich people to hang out with rich _and_ famous people.

</comment><comment><USER12> Oh, $9.95 shipping. Damn! :/

</comment><comment><USER13> Should be good coffee

</comment><comment><USER14> Does anyone else want to write that comment?

Fine. I'll do it.

Is anyone else irked that some rich guy is getting even more connections in exchange for a huge wad of cash, yet this is given the name (see: website name) of "charity"? When rich people give society back the money they stole, in exchange for improving their personal connections and reputations, we're supposed to laud them because "it's for charity". Well, here's a fucking idea. How about Tim Cook has coffee with a regular guy out in Montana who's never seen $500 in one place?

<comment><USER15> I was going to write that comment, but you were quicker. Thanks, I absolutely agree.

I would also say that the motivation for buying into that coffee meeting is puzzling. If someone can afford that ridiculous price tag they're pretty successful to begin with. Chances are, Tim Cook won't have anything meaningful to offer to that guy/girl besides the bragging rights of having met with Tim Cook.

It's kind of embarrassing to be that person. Even if I had that kind of money and a desperate wish to meet Tim Cook (why?), I wouldn't want the press to find that out.

Cook clearly doesn't need the money (edit: nor does he need to raise it this way for charity). So he either does it for ego, or he actually wants to help other people's businesses. Is this his idea of "giving back to the community"? If so, he should consider doing an office hour once a week for startup founders or something.

<comment><USER16> >If someone can afford that ridiculous price tag they're pretty successful to begin with. Chances are, Tim Cook won't have anything meaningful to offer to that guy/girl besides the bragging rights of having met with Tim Cook.

This seems to be an odd thing to say. The wealthy have nothing else meaningful to gain or learn? Bill Gates had nothing meaningful to gain from reaching out to Steve Jobs? Is the only reason you could want to meet with Tim Cook because you want him to help your business?

I assume that Tim Cook is probably an extraordinarily interesting man with many great insights. I think there are many reasons beyond "bragging rights" an already successful person could have to want to meet him.

<comment><USER2> >I assume that Tim Cook is probably an extraordinarily interesting man with many great insights.

He probably won't say anything more than you could get from an MBA at University of Phoenix (which costs a smidgen less than $610,000). While I'm sure he's an intelligent man, I wouldn't assume that he's anything more than just a skilled businessman. If you're looking for managerial advice he's probably a good person to talk to, but I wouldn't call him interesting or say he has many great insights. So yeah, it's probably just bragging rights or having something to pitch to Apple.

<comment><USER17> I guess you can say that about anyone if you don't provide any evidence.

Olympus, I'm sure you are an intelligent man, but I wouldn't assume that you're anything more than the average HN reader. I wouldn't call you interesting or say that you have many great insights.

But seriously, you don't think the CEO of Apple has insights about tech and where it's going?

<comment><USER2> Let me start by saying that I don't dislike Tim Cook, but to me he's just another rich guy running a company, not a tech visionary [1].

I certainly don't offer anything more than the average HNer but the difference is that I don't auction off coffee dates with myself.

To answer your question, no, I don't really think that Tim Cook has insights about tech and where it's going. He's a competent businessman, but he doesn't offer $610,000 worth of insight unless you're pitching a business deal. He is a businessman who works in the tech industry. He doesn't do tech, he does management. He has an M.B.A. He does hiring and firing [2]. He isn't ambitiously driving Apple in new directions, he has his hands full holding onto what Steve created. He isn't responsible for creating any revolutionary products. The only thing I would think he could speak with knowledge on is Apple's product launch plans for the next few years. Beyond that, he has no idea where tech is going more than the average HNer.

[1] I would regard Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, as tech visionaries because of the companies they created. I would regard Tim Berners-Lee, Linus Torvalds and Dennis Ritchie as visionaries because they created 'backbone' technologies that we still rely on today. [2] Firing Scott Forstall is the most significant event of Cook's tenure as CEO.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> If no one will ask it, I will. Who's Tim Cook?

<comment><USER19> <http://bit.ly/10N8k8N>

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> The way _The Joy of Tech_ sees it <http://tapastic.com/episode/5641></comment>


JQuery Tools vs jQuery UI - <AUTHOR> http://marcgrabanski.com/article/jquery-tools-vs-jquery-ui <comment><AUTHOR> This is about jQuery Tools that were linked a few days ago from HN: <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=640479>

Actually the comments are more interesting and noteworthy than the article itself.

Also the author of jQuery Tools responds in the comments.

</comment><comment><USER2> Its an interesting discourse. I'm not against people designing alternative solutions when they find the defacto standard is lacking (jQuery UI). The benefit of having a standard "batteries included" solution can't be denied either, look at the ease of adoption of Python or Rails. I think the biggest concern isn't that jQuery Tools offers a different library, its that it goes about doing it in non-jQuery ways.

I think that if jQuery Tools works for you fine, but ultimately this functionality should be subsumed within jQuery UI so that there is a single repository for UI elements.

jQuery UI has done a lot of work in standardizing and componentizing their library, this functionality should be integrated with the UI canon. Then when I want to have functionality only offered by jQuery UI and functionality only offered by jQuery Tools I can use them in harmony, and that includes the nice extras like themerolling.

</comment><comment><USER3> These guys need javascript to do tabs? wow!

I'm doing tabs with plain html and CSS; am I an idiot who is missing something, or am I some kind of pioneer who owes the world a few alistapart articles? ;-)</comment>


"We quit our jobs, remortgaged our houses" – how passion made Cuphead a reality - <AUTHOR> http://www.gamesradar.com/we-quit-our-jobs-remortgaged-our-houses-how-relentless-passion-made-cuphead-a-reality/ <comment><USER2> I'm tired of all these stories about reckless people remortgaging their houses to work on a startup. It's as though being reckless is a virtue. It's encouraging others to do the same and fall flat on their faces.

<comment><USER3> The startup investment machine needs constant supply of fresh, young, foolish blood to work. Those stories are not written to help founders live a better life.

<comment><USER2> It's scary to think that it's those same reckless people who end up being CEOs and industry leaders. I guess that explains why the stock market goes through violent cycles of booms and bursts. It means that everything appears to work exceptionally well until it all collapses due to lack of long-term foresight.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> They will do alright because of the art and the amount of press already generating sales ahead of time.

That's what you need as an indie developer. A lot of publicity and great art. It doesn't matter that you essentially reproduce the exact same recipe as any other Nintendo platformer, as long as you have great art and music, people will love your content.

Similar to hollywood movies being a rehash of each other with different actors and a different setting. It's all about the human condition.

So yeah, in the rare case of Cuphead, they will do well. Maybe enough to make the next one, if they didn't over-extend themselves.

For most small indies though, I can tell you first hand, it's tough. Especially since the whole Hello Games and No Man Sky's debacle, every 'gamer' out there is out to hate indie by default. We're scammers in sheep clothing.

<comment><USER5> > every 'gamer' out there is out to hate indie by default

that's a bit of an over exaggeration. Gamers hate overhyped, but under delivered games. It doesn't matter if it's indie or not.

<comment><USER6> Agree. I would say that part of that is due to the fact that gaming gets more open and new concepts and ideas are being introduced, which is naturally prone to underdelivering first, before becoming mainstream. This is similar to literature and movies and shows that the medium is growing up.

To some degree this is the result of the formulaic, hollywoodesque way how AAA games are being made, and the over-stated excitement about even small developments which indie games feature in terms of gameplay and storytelling.

On the other hand, there is also a significant hipster-ish culture around some games where "overhyped" really describes it. The documentation of attitude and lifestyle of the people who write and who play those games seems to be more important than the games themselves. This is similar to instagramming your own cooking all the time and instagramming your fashionable hip meals all the time.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I hope it pays off for them, I can't help but think of how many other developers/studios have done the same, but failed anyway.

<comment><USER8> Exactly. How many untold stories are there where they 'quit their jobs, remortgaged their houses' and now they live in a cardboard box under a bridge and their kids have been taken into care.

Passion is a fantastic asset but a lot of these people confuse it with stupidity.

<comment><USER9> > _How many untold stories are there where they 'quit their jobs, remortgaged > their houses' and now they live in a cardboard box under a bridge and their > kids have been taken into care_

Oh please, stop with the scare mentality.

Even if things go badly they are still educated, hard working people and would have no problem at all getting an entry level position in one day flat and living modestly for a decade or so.

They're not going to live in cardboard boxes.

<comment><USER10> Modestly with an entry level job with kids, no credit, and no place to live? I'm not sure who is more realistic.

<comment><USER9> They live in Canada. They have healthcare and education. They can rent a house. They'll be perfectly fine.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> One of the most difficult things you'll do to explain success is say, " _I just happened to be in the right place at the right time_ ". So, lacking that, _reasons_ must be provided to explain all that work and risk that was taken.

</comment><comment><USER10> I'm curious if anyone can provide insight as to what the profits of a moderately successful game would be. Let's say they've spent $600-700k over the past three years. Is there any possibility of them saving their homes without the game becoming a massive success?

<comment><USER12> The hope is of course that the game becomes a massive success - to get into the top 15% of games on steam you only need to sell $50k: [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-06-26-introversio...](http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-06-26-introversions- latest-game-has-bombed-in-a-big-way)

To recoup $600k and then make another $600k in net profit (to be able to finance the next game, remember valve's 30% fee & taxes) will require it to basically be a huge hit in indie-terms.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> "I maxed out my credit cards, put it all on the hard 8, and won!"

A positive outcome does not equal a wise choice.

</comment><comment><USER14> I thought this community could recognise passion, hard work & genuine innovation, but wow, the comments on this thread. This team might not make their investment back, but they're shipping a game and a work of art in a way that literally nobody has tried before, and probably nobody will try again.

Cuphead is a bizarre and wonderful experiment in one way, and a classic genre piece in another. Yeah, you do have to try something different to stand out in indie games and this team is delivering. I've not been more excited for a title in years.

</comment><comment><USER15> The art looks even better in motion, as the trailer shows.[0]

The resemblance to the cartoons of the era is uncanny. I really hope Disney doesn't sue them or something. Hopefully they're on rock-solid legal footing. In a just world all those copyrights would be ancient and long expired, but hey—Mickey Mouse is still Disney's IP until 2023, and they'll probably figure out something to keep it going past that.

[0] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5iGwE0XJ1s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5iGwE0XJ1s)

<comment><USER16> This gameplay demo seems like Metal Slug on a Disney universe: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Rt7NugRMs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Rt7NugRMs)

...which is actually pretty cool.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> I look forward to seeing it! I still remember seeing the trailer and now impressed I was, and was recently wondering what happened with it. If it lives up to its promise it will really be something.

</comment><comment><USER18> Been waiting for this game for over a year ... Think it'll make a big splash. Best of luck to the team. They're trying something new and injecting some actual art into the art form.

<comment><USER19> Been waiting for this game since 2014! Also I'm really pleased it's coming to PC, I don't own an Xbox One.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> While I like reading these type of posts, and getting inspired by it. I know that there are many, many more projects that did not make it and forced to close. Where are those stories? I would to read those and to learn from those.

<comment><USER21> Try the gamedev reddit. People regularly post their failure stories there.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1827:_Survivorshi...](https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1827:_Survivorship_Bias)

<comment><USER23> Wow, that's a _lot_ of explanation for a fairly straightforward concept.

Cool site though. Didn't know it existed.

<comment><USER24> It just goes to show how much implicit context you have if you get the joke.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Never heard of it

<comment><USER26> It's not out yet. But if you follow indie games much it's pretty well known.

</comment></comment><comment><USER27> gambling addicts have similar stories

<comment><USER28> Freedom has a high price.

<comment><USER29> Freedom costs $1.05

<comment><USER30> Damn, I got mine for $2. Shoulda haggled.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Empirical Evidence for the Value of Version Control? - <AUTHOR> http://www.neverworkintheory.org/?p=451

<comment><AUTHOR> I submitted this because I'm curious about the answer. In all the discussion of experimental evidence for pair programming, TDD, etc., has anyone carried out research to test the effectiveness of using a version control system?

For some projects, it seems that an automatic versioning file system might be more effective than, say, github.

<comment><USER2> That's an interesting idea: automatically commit every change during development.

I guess developer may choose to label current set of files as "share with other developers on my team" or "production ready". IDE may also auto-assign labels such as "buildable" and "auto-tests passed".

<comment><AUTHOR> Yes.

And a hybrid solution might be a directory watcher which auto-commits the files which are in version control after every save.

BTW, there's also vim's "go back in time" feature, which lets you go back, say, 2 hours in development to an earlier version of a file.

<comment><USER2> Auto-commit after every save would likely break the build for other developers on the team.

<comment><AUTHOR> Under some version control systems, you can commit to your own local repository, which no one else uses. When you're ready, you can push your repository out to others.

With Mercurial, git, and other such system, you can auto-save without affecting others. Only when you push to trunk (if that's your development model) could you break the build.

<comment><USER2> Sorry, I forgot about distributed source control systems...

Yes, such system (keep EVERY version in source control) might be convenient to work with: no need to think about when you need to commit your code changes. The code history switches from being "set of isolated snapshots" into kind of movie.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Show HN: Equilibrium in Cryptoeconomic Networks - <AUTHOR> https://solmaz.io/2019/04/20/equilibrium-cryptoeconomic-networks/ <comment><USER2> In other words, you won't get rich trying to mine bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies from your home. Because if there's money to be made, many others will jump in. To get rich, you'd need some advantage, like incredibly low cost of power.

<comment><USER3> Proof of Stake currencies do not require more power than a desktop PC or reasonably sized cloud server to run a node. Cosmos ([https://cosmos.network/](https://cosmos.network/)) is one such currency, and Ethereum is moving to a PoS system.

<comment><USER4> Proof of Stake is a great idea, Nano is one that does DPoS.

But the downside is that it doesn't provide an equitable distribution. IMO a rare or periodic PoW 'burst' might be a good compromise there.

<comment><USER5> Seems to me it's at least as equitable as PoW. With either one, you get returns in linear proportion to the resources you commit. To the extent that miners have economies of scale, PoS actually does better.

<comment><USER6> but it distills nicely to a dichotomy of two terms that can easily be discussed on forums by "investors" who do not understand the first thing about the underlying tech they are buying into. So you will hear about it for a while, as being the ultimate game changer no less.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Back in the bad old days of only-just-emerging bitcoin ASICs, the equilibrium was distorted by the long lead times for new parts and relatively few suppliers. (For all I know, this might still be the case with new algorithms/new manufacturing process/ASIC generation).

Another interesting thing to consider is that rational miners will often consider applying their hashing power to the coin whose reward/block time/difficulty/exchange rate factor provides the best return (among those that share a PoW).

<comment><USER7> The fact that hash rate doesn't go down much during halvings or during market crashes indicates that mining is not in equilibrium. I don't think equilibrium has ever been reached since ~2011.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Great economic analysis, but economic arguments (by themselves) shouldn't be submitted as "Show HN".</comment>


C? Go? Cgo - <AUTHOR> http://blog.golang.org/2011/03/c-go-cgo.html <comment><USER2> Just curious, and I apologize if this sounds snarky, that's not my intent, but is anyone here actually using Go for anything? If so, what?

<comment><USER3> I've written a few thousand lines. A couple toy VMs/compilers, some web apps, some random graphical tinkering. Nothing big, but enough to feel like I've gotten a sense of the language. I started using it expecting to be annoyed by all of the features it doesn't have, but I ended up really liking it and not really missing much. It has become my go-to language for random tinkering and prototyping, in part because I always end up thinking about the code and never the language.

<comment><USER4> Has the absence of generic types been a problem for you?

<comment><USER5> For me this was something I missed when I started with Go about a year ago (at that point my brain was still filled with years of C# dogma). I was not very familiar with Go's own way of doing things back then. Go may seem familiar at first glance, but there are some peculiar little differences which offer new and novel ways of dealing with a problem. Unfortunately these are very difficult to explain to someone who is not already familiar with the language.

At this point I don't miss generics at all. The benefit they would give me are marginal enough to not consider it a vital component.

I've found that when you become proficient in Go, you will write different code that does not really require generics to be present. At least 99% of the time.

Having said that, I am still hoping that we might one day get unions. Unfortunately there is little hope of that at this point. It has been considered, but they would have to be type-safe in order not to circumvent Go's type system. And doing so, would differentiate them very little from Go's existing 'interface{}' type. There is a small benefit to unions, but apparently not big enough to warrant implementing them.

As far as generics go, they are not out of the question. The problem so far has been that nobody has yet offered a generics proposal that doesn't partially or completely mess up the language and generally make things more difficult for everyone.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> C Cgo. C Cgo go. Go Cgo go.

</comment><comment><USER7> #include <something> are broken in code listings

<comment><USER8> Thanks, this has been fixed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I've used it as a lightweight web server in several projects.

<comment><USER10> Have you fuzz tested it? How'd it fare?

<comment><USER9> What would I be fuzz testing, my own code? I do that always.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> Cgo, goatse, c goatse go!

</comment><comment><USER12> For a language based on C, it has dreadful C integration.

<comment><USER13> Cgo seems to me like one of the best (i.e. seamless) implementations of C integration (certainly better than e.g. generating wrappers with SWIG).

Can you elaborate what is so "dreadful" about it and which language does it better?

I'll give props to C# as one of the languages that does it very well, but most others don't (Java's jni is worse, Python before ctypes was worse, lua is worse - I could go on).

<comment><USER14> In terms of C integration, Objective-C wins, giving C priority even over it's own syntax :)

D has pretty nice integration - you can convert (reasonably non-hacky) C headers to D headers and use C functions and types almost as if they were D native.

Explicit type casts, even for most basic types like ulong and void* stuck me as very inelegant.

For known prototypes, it should be possible to do it much cleaner. There are various Objective-C bridges (e.g. PyObjC) which are able to seamlessly convert known C types and ObjC classes to equivalents in high(er)-level languages.</comment></comment></comment>


Twitter releases new JS template engine: hogan.js - <AUTHOR> http://twitter.github.com/hogan.js/ <comment><USER2>

Really?

<comment><USER3> This irked me on a few levels too.

<comment><USER4> I don't understand the problem. What is wrong with the example they've given?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's because they're using an url shortener in a non-twitter/character limited situation. Makes the browser need to go through a couple of jumps to load something that the user will want to load fast.

<comment><USER5> Is it possible using goo.gl might get you something like a poor mans CDN? I'm thinking it may possibly respond immediately with cached results.

<comment><USER6> No, it responds with a redirect:

        $ curl http://goo.gl/OCK7V

        <TITLE>Moved Permanently</TITLE>

Moved Permanently

        The document has moved here    .

Edit: I suppose the headers are more important:

        $ curl -I http://goo.gl/OCK7V
        HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
        Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8
        Expires: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:18:46 GMT
        Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:18:46 GMT
        Cache-Control: private, max-age=86400
        Location: http://twitter.github.com/hogan.js/1.0.0/hogan.js
        X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
        X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN
        X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
        Server: GSE
        Transfer-Encoding: chunked

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I was dubious when Twitter released Bootstrap.css, but i have to say, not being a UI expert i found it quite easy to work with. Concisely documented and the right set of tools that i need, for the most part at least. Some more on typography would have been nice.

I have yet to understand how templating engines work, and what advantages they provide, but knowing this comes from twitter piques my interest for the future.

<comment><AUTHOR> One place that it really clicked for me in a real world situation was by looking at the source for NodeUp, a node.js podcast. <http://nodeup.com/>

It's a beautiful website, and I was curious what their HTML looked like. If you look at the source for the page, all you see is the mustache template that they then populate with the information for all of the podcasts that they've done. You then can start to see the power that templating gives you. Serve up a template in your html, request some JSON to populate it with on page load and have it replicated.

Makes your initial page very cacheable and clean. Much better than assembling html by hand with "foo" + "bar" or .append semantics.

<comment><USER7> Thanks for a detailed response. I checked out the link and saw Mustache in the source. I still dont see (if im correct in thinking) how this de-duplicates effort?

They still have to do the work to construct the JSON, no?

PS. Not trying to be inflammatory, i'm just trying to understand this better but struggling to get my head around it. I just watched a templating video by the YUI team for Node.js and am still none the wiser. :(

<comment><AUTHOR> It really decouples the model (the data that's served in the json) from the view (the mustache template). This lets frameworks like ember and backbone do MVC on the client side where the server is really just there to serve up a model (in the same way that a database does for most current apps).

Making an http request is then equivalent to making a sql query.

<comment><USER8> I've been working with Backbone and mustache and unfortunately I have to munge my models a lot to get the right results - like passing the cid or converting dates, etc. How do you work around this? I have thought of initializing many of these, but then I'd need to bind on changes... I guess you could save lambdas as attributes?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> I'm surprised that no JS template engines ever implement binding. It seems like everybody just ports some server-side ideas, even though there's a lot more that is possible client-side. Why do I need to rerender the entire template when my data changes?

Sproutcore2 is an example of this, but it's pitched as a full framework rather than a binding aware template engine.

<comment><USER10> I agree, just rendering is a server-side notion that obviously can work on the client-side, but I don't think is ideal.

Web 1.0/server-side templates had to render and sling strings of HTML around because that's all you could do (Rails's RJS was a cool Web 1.5 hack in that regard).

But once you're on the client-side, and have state, I think binding/mutating the DOM in-place is better than trying to explicitly maintain all the state needed to re-render-from-a-string-on-change all the time. And having a template engine/view layer that supports as a first-class notion is a good thing.

I used to (naively) think all JS template engines worked that way (merely re- rendering), but as the other comment says, Knockout at least does not, and I'm sure there are others that don't as well; I'm not an expert on all (or any) of them.

I wrote up some of this render vs. binding differences in a post describing my port of the todomvc sample app to my backbone-ish GWT framework:

[http://draconianoverlord.com/2011/12/10/todomvc-in-gwt- mpv.h...](http://draconianoverlord.com/2011/12/10/todomvc-in-gwt-mpv.html)

(Not that GWT is a terribly popular technology in these circles, and it's not perfect, but I enjoy it.)

Another interesting assertion I make is that selectors are another Web 1.0/1.5 hack that can go away now that we have state and aren't forced into "the server gave us a huge blob of HTML, now do stuff with it!". IMHO of course.

<comment><USER11> I have to think of the difference between rendering and assembly.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Compiling is nice. Not a big fan of Mustache though, the tags look like Brainfuck to me.

<comment><USER13> If you're into compiled templates & more traditional syntax, you could try jazz:

<http://github.com/shinetech/jazz>

(Shameless self-plug. I wrote the initial implementation.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Currently using Underscore, but I would almost switch to Hogan for the name. I am assuming Mr. Hogan's mustache was used for inspiration?

<comment><USER15> And it looks to be based off of mustache.js, another JavaScript templating library.

<comment><USER14> Hence the pun ;)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> Nice to see Twitter has a sense of humor. "Lovingly crafted by bros" in the footer is a nice touch.

<comment><USER17> Quick, someone remove this before the sexism police sees it and we end up with yet another ZOMG-wont-someone-think-of-the-women 100+ comment thread.

<comment><USER18> That's a regrettable comment. Are you feeling victimized yourself? Self reflection may help you figure out why.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Could someone perhaps help me out re: the difference between Compiling and Rendering JS templates? What it feels like is this:

Compiling a JS template on the server gives you a template object that has a render() method. On the client side, you create an instance of the object and pass its render() method a context? Am I missing anything?

If anything, this looks like what I've been looking for to get my templates off my page and into a separate JS file. Makes things cleaner. And _apparently_ faster?

<comment><USER20> It's usually two separate steps anyway. Populating HTML via the object passed in _while_ parsing is a sloppy way to go about it. This lib (and most template engines) compile down to an executable Function, that you then pass this object to. This means you can re-invoke it several times with less overhead

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> My biggest question is: Is rendering faster too?

Because rendering is pretty much just string concatenation. So my guess is it's not. Is it?

If rendering is not faster then this is no use to me, since I'm a very happy user of haml-coffee (<https://github.com/9elements/haml-coffee>).

<comment><USER11> Since it happens on the client, it will be faster for Twitter this way. Not so much for the user, though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> Nice to see that the hogan.js site itself is using Skeleton ( <http://getskeleton.com/> ) for its responsive layout. I've been enjoying using it quite a bit.

</comment><comment><USER23> Resembles handlebars.js. Can someone point out the difference?

<comment><USER24> Right now Hogan seems to be slower and appears to have less features than Handlebars: <http://jsperf.com/t-bench2/6>

<comment><USER25> I may be misunderstanding this, but that benchmark appears to be based on an in-browser compilation, while Hogan's advantage is the ability to precompile templates.

<comment><USER24> Handlebars is also capable of precompiling AFAIK.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> This looks just like Dust.js: <http://akdubya.github.com/dustjs/>

</comment><comment><USER27> So let's recap: This is a new Javascript template engine that uses Mustache syntax and allows you to pre-compile template syntax. Sound's good...

But...why didn't they just use Handlebars? Or if you aren't wedded to Mustache syntax, one of the twenty other template engines out there that support pre- compiling?

<comment><USER20> handlebars is a pretty inelegant lib, a parser generator for a grammar as simple as mustache is just silly, even this current twitter implementation could be significantly smaller. For large deployments like Twitter I imagine these savings are quite important

<comment><USER28> The Handlebars grammar is more complex than Mustache's grammar. It supports helpers (normal and block), paths, strings, numbers and booleans.

My initial implementation of Handlebars did not include a proper compilation flow, but optimizing its output became very complicated. The new approach (the one used for the past year or so in Handlebars) makes it easier to reason about how the input gets compiled into JavaScript, and each stage in the compilation process provides ways to perform certain kinds of optimizations.

One of the major goals of Handlebars is for users to avoid paying for features they are not using. For instance, the ".." feature, which allows a template to reference a parent context, only impacts the compiled code if it's used.

Finally, for performance-sensitive deployments, Handlebars provides a precompiler that eliminates the need to compile the template on the client. This eliminates the compiler requirement on the client, and only requires a small (1k'ish) library at runtime.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> Looks a lot like jquery tmpl -- the syntax at least

<comment><USER30> I was wondering if anyone was going to mention that. If you're already working with jQuery I would think the tmpl extension would be a much better choice.

<comment><USER31> The jQuery tmpl plugin has been deprecated / put "on hold":

[http://www.borismoore.com/2011/10/jquery-templates-and- jsvie...](http://www.borismoore.com/2011/10/jquery-templates-and-jsviews- roadmap.html)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32>
      npm ERR! 404 'hogan' is not in the npm registry.

</comment><comment><USER33> Oh sweet. I was just saying to my coworkers that what we REALLY need is another javascript templating engine.

<comment><USER34> It's not another JS template engine - it's a pure JS implementation of Mustache that's apparently significantly faster than Mustache.js.

They also support compiling of templates for deployment purposes, which is nice.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> I have yet to see a template engine that has any practical advantages over conventional <%= stuff %> scriptlet style. Moving format logic out of your template into your controller always results an unmaintainable mess.

<comment><USER36> Jinja2? <http://jinja.pocoo.org/>

A lot of template engines seem to either go for "FULL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE POWER!" or "NO LOGIC! LOGIC IS EVIL!", but I've found that the sweet spot lies somewhere in the middle - you have enough power in the templates to do cool stuff without polluting your controllers, but it uses a language designed for templating and not a general purpose language shoehorned into HTML tags, and doesn't give you features you'll definitely never need.

<comment><USER37> Here here, the Django/Jinja model for templating is so much nicer than dealing with partials in every template</comment></comment></comment>


List of graph databases - <AUTHOR> http://www.graph-database.org/overview.html <comment><USER2> Had to go look this one up just to find out the pros/cons of graph databases vs. SQL and other NoSQL databases.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graph_database>

It'd be nice if the information presented here would eventually merge with the wikipedia entry.

<comment><USER3> Graphs are a much more elegant way of storing relational data. With graph databases you don't have to mess with tables or joins -- everything is implicitly joined.

And Neo4j rocks -- store 32 billion nodes ([http://blog.neo4j.org/2011/03/neo4j-13-abisko- lampa-m04-size...](http://blog.neo4j.org/2011/03/neo4j-13-abisko- lampa-m04-size-really.html)) with 2 million traversals per second (<http://www.infoq.com/news/2010/02/neo4j-10>), and you can use Gremlin with it (the graph traversal language), which let's you calculate PageRank in 2 lines.

Neo4j is open source, and the Community Edition is now free (<https://github.com/neo4j/community>). I recommend pairing it with the TinkerPop stack (<http://www.tinkerpop.com/>).

For tabular data, relational databases rock. But the relational model doesn't align well with object-orientated programming so you have an ORM layer that adds complexity to your code. And with relational databases, the complexity of your schema grows with the complexity of the data.

The graph-database model simplifies much of this and makes working with the modern-day social graph so much cleaner. Graphs allow you to do powerful things like find inferences inside the data in ways that would be hard to do with relational databases.

Check out Peter Neubauer's introduction to graph databases and how they compare to RDBMS' and where they stand in the NOSQL-movement (<http://www.infoq.com/articles/graph-nosql-neo4j>).

Marko's website is a great resource too (<http://markorodriguez.com/>) -- he created Gremlin, the graph query language.

<comment><USER4> What I always find hard to understand is that when you "query" a graph database, you have to start at a certain node.

User:

      Name: John

      Age: 43

      Country: Sweden

      Job: SoftwareEngineer

What if I wanted to get the names of all software engineers in sweden? Do I have to create a type of "job" node and start traversing from the one that is for software engineer's?

Also: Is sorting possible at all with graph databases? What if I only want people called John that are older than 20?

Is this too far out of scope for Graph Databases?

<comment><USER5> KayaDB is a graph database that can do that: It's a label directed graph that mimics the relational model, so you can do the things you mentioned but much more. For example, you can query just for John and it returns exact matches in any table/column in O(1).

<comment><USER4> Thanks for the information, but I'd rather not store my data somewhere that I can't get to or do local testing and development.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> A question I haven't been able to answer from all this: is there, as of yet, a _portable_ graph database library, ala SQLite, that can be used as a file format for graph-based data?

<comment><USER7> You aré looping for neo4j. It is beautiful.

<comment><USER6> I'm not quite sure; I was imagining something with a small C API like SQLite's (which can usually be incorporated into anything), whereas Neo4j requires the JVM. This means, for example, that if I want to write a Ruby app that interacts with the graph database, it has to become a JRuby app. I suppose a service-based architecture could avoid this (where only the process interacting with the graph has to be run on the JVM), but that defeats the whole purpose of using a database library rather than a client-server database. I suppose it works well enough for languages that are already founded on the JVM, such as Clojure—but that doesn't make it universally portable to systems that don't even have a JVM implementation (such as iOS), in the way that SQLite is.

<comment><USER7> If you want to write a Ruby App you just use Neo4j with their Rest API.

You are right in all the other points though.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Actually, this is a list of graph database management systems.

I was hoping for a list of graph databases, like Knuth's _The Stanford Graphbase_ , which is something completely different.

</comment><comment><USER9> I am surprised by the large number of databases in the list that's written in Java. I would have expected that something performance critical, like a DB would be written in C. Is it typical these days to a database in Java? Are there any well known DBs written in Java?

</comment><comment><USER10> Surprised Dydra isn't mentioned: <http://dydra.com>

<comment><USER11> I am not sure how active they are. I asked for a beta invitation a long time ago, no response.

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> A bit odd that it doesn't mention ZODB. It's a pretty popular/successful graph/object database.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> also <http://nosql-database.org/>

</comment><comment><USER13> They forgot to list CODASYL.</comment>


The Extraordinary Life of Martha Gellhorn - <AUTHOR> https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/tradition/a22109842/martha-gellhorn-career-ernest-hemingway/ <comment><USER2> If you are a traveller (or planing to become one) I highly recommend reading Travels with Myself and Others by Martha Gellhorn.

[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/925368.Travels_With_Myse...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/925368.Travels_With_Myself_and_Another)

</comment><comment><USER3> There's a biopic about Gellhorn's time with Hemingway (Hemingway & Gellhorn), which IMO is better than Rotten Tomatoes suggests.

[https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hemingway_and_gellhorn_2012...](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hemingway_and_gellhorn_2012/)

</comment><comment><USER4> Martha Gellhorn is an amazing person. Particular impressive is this portion of her life as summarized by wikipedia (also covered in the article at townandcountrymag)

"Later, from Germany, she reported on the rise of Adolf Hitler. In the spring of 1938 (months before the Munich Agreement), she was in Czechoslovakia. After the outbreak of World War II, she described these events in the novel A Stricken Field (1940). She later reported the war from Finland, Hong Kong, Burma, Singapore, and England. Lacking official press credentials to witness the Normandy landings, she hid in a hospital ship bathroom, and upon landing impersonated a stretcher bearer; she later recalled, "I followed the war wherever I could reach it." She was the only woman to land at Normandy on D-Day on June 6, 1944. She was also among the first journalists to report from Dachau concentration camp after it was liberated by US troops on April 29, 1945."</comment>