Kindle edition of Classic Computer Science Problems in Python is unauthorized - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/davekopec/status/1302578592552022018 <comment><USER2> Amazon is getting overrun by scams. They're behind eBay and Aliexpress at this point.

I kind of feel like they need to adopt a labor-intensive zero-tolerance policy for this kind of stuff.

There's a bimodal distribution. You can have a few scams, throw a ton of resources at each (to the point of prosecution, etc.) to deter that number from growing. Or you can have a huge number of scams.

Amazon just swung over to the other side, and if they don't get it under control, their brand value will go to nothing.

<comment><USER3> I'm sure they're watching this closely. But for now, scams are still more profitable for them than cracking down on those scams. A moderate amount of impact to brand value is always acceptable to near-monopolies.

<comment><USER2> Amazon has always been forward-thinking, and they ran at a loss for decades to build up a trillion dollar business. I really don't think short-term thinking is what's causing them to tear it down right now.

I have no insider information, but I rather suspect that either:

1) it either got out-of-control to where it would cost billions of dollars to address

2) that there's some organizational dysfunction to where they're not competent to address it.

Or something similar. Those sorts of problems are tough. Cultures, incentive structures, and organizational design issues are slower and harder to resolve than just about anything else, and the theory for how to fix them is not well- developed. Sometimes you try something, and it crashes-and-burns.

<comment><USER4> OP did not say it is a short term plan. Amazon could very well be accepting some amount of bad press around this if profits keep increasing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> This has become a really serious problem buying any sort of Kindle book these days. I got very tired of the OCR-created classic books that are sold with poor formatting, spelling errors and sometimes even remnants of the conversion process left in the text, so I always really carefully search for specific publishers, for instance "Jane Austen Sanditon Penguin English Library" (or similar). But even here all the reviews for the tens of different editions are simply mingled together - including people complaining about torn paperback covers, and random editions that are stolen from Project Gutenberg and sold for profit on Amazon, as well as some that are simply gibberish and seem to have been run through Google-translate. That particular edition above even links to the wrong item from the search.

So sad that Amazon don't even care about their Kindle book inventory any longer: this is an area where they could easily guarantee authenticity and quality - if they could give a shit.

<comment><USER6> > But even here all the reviews for the tens of different editions are simply > mingled together

This isn't just books. There are product pages that cover multiple different models with all the reviews and ratings mashed together, even though the models have essentially nothing to do with each other. Like different sizes of Samsung phone but the different sizes have entirely different motherboards/screen techs/cpus/memory.

<comment><USER7> For many products there is a way to separate out the reviews, although it is not obvious how to do it:

Click the "nnn customer ratings" to get to the review section.

In the barchart on the left, click any of the "n star" or "nn%" links.

Above the reviews will be a row of dropdown lists, which may include "All formats" or "All styles" or the like. There you can select the individual product variation. You can also change the "n star only" to "All stars" to get all the reviews for that variation.

Unfortunately this _doesn 't_ work for the book being discussed here.

<comment><USER8> I just checked a dozen books, from the ones Amazon recommends for me, from their best sellers, and in some randomly chosen categories, and didn't run across any that allowed format filtering.

Also, I distinctly recall I used to see reviews where between the reviewers name and their review, Amazon added a note saying what format the review was for. I'm not seeing that anymore, either.

<comment><USER7> Interesting, I do still see the filter choices for other products, and I thought I used to see them for books.

Maybe they stopped doing it for books? (Other filters are still there, but not filtering by edition.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> This is just a core component of Amazon's business model which can best be characterized as "intentional oversight", where little effort is made against illegitimate users and scenarios _if_ they bring in revenue for them. It has been true for a very long time in many different scenarios, including physical piracy and (via hearsay) lax credit card validation policies.

<comment><USER10> > lax credit card validation policies

However, if you try to pay through a bank account (at least in Germany), it's an utter pain. Same with Maestro debit cards...

<comment><USER11> I tried this the other day since amazon.de kept bugging me about it. But what's the point. Like is it cheaper for Amazon than Mastercard?

If I pay with my mastercard I get a notification instantly and the money disappears. With SEPA-Lastschrift it takes ages and makes budgeting difficult.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> This sucks:

" _It 's crazy that @Amazon has allowed this. There is literally a poorly formatted pirated version of my book on the Amazon Kindle store accumulating 1 and 2 star reviews for its poor formatting that count against all editions._"

I enjoyed the book (paper copy, purchased from Manning), so this prompted me to leave an official review.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you for your support!

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> How does this happen though? Like, policing counterfeit physical products in an environment full of third-party sellers is actual work, because you have to somehow figure out how to inspect or filter a bunch of actual things from many, many, people.

By contrast, there aren't that many sizeable publishing houses in the world. Manning obviously isn't huge, but they aren't tiny either. They've been around for over 25 years, they have hundreds of titles---they're at least a medium- sized, serious, commercial press. And Amazon has been in the book industry for forever.

So: how hard would it really be to maintain a list of authorized agents for serious, commercial presses, and not sell e-books for works currently in print from those presses, unless the person selling them is one of those agents, or can prove that the e-book is authorized/in the public domain? This does not seem hard at all. Like, not even a little bit. Hell, I'd go so far as to call it easy.

</comment><comment><USER14> For anybody who would like to sample this interesting sounding book, there appears to be substantial preview contents available on the publisher's site with a nice audio version as well.

I don't know the limitations; it appears to be constrained by viewport access only (ie. you can read it all without signing in but not offline; it scrambles text when you scroll).

Example: [https://livebook.manning.com/book/classic-computer- science-p...](https://livebook.manning.com/book/classic-computer-science- problems-in-python/chapter-4)

Nice presentation work by Manning/Livebook.

</comment><comment><USER15> Sounds about like the physical products on Amazon these days.

<comment><USER16> This. I have to be so careful about making sure who it is that is the actual vendor. Amazon used to clearly state that a product was "sold and fulfilled by amazon" but I don't see that anymore.

<comment><USER17> I've read that Amazon warehouses mix every vendor's products with the same UPC code into the same box. If that's true, then it's pot luck whether you receive a legitimate or fake product.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Copyright infringement aside, I always tell people that the Kindle ecosystem (from their crappy who-cares approach to their store catalog, to the crappy software in their Kindle products) is a complete disaster. Shoddy formatting is the norm and is only encouraged by the Kindle's shoddy renderer and file format.

Amazon may have kickstarted the ereading device boom, but Kindles surely don't deserve to be as popular as they are any more, especially with a tech-savvy crowd like HN. Other alternatives exist that are much, much better. Anyone who cares about books at all should purchase a device that has native epub support and a good epub renderer. (I.e., not Adobe Digital Editions.) Kobo is a very good option that ticks those boxes, though other alternatives exist. The native iOS Books app on iPad is probably the top tier of native epub renderers though that's obviously not an eink option.

<comment><USER19> Is it possible to satisfy these criteria with non-Kindle ebook options?

* Good book selection, including more obscure and older books.

* Highlighting and notes automatically get backed up somewhere off-device.

* Paperwhite-sized backlit e-ink device.

I would really love to move off Kindle but AFAIK nothing else can satisfy these yet.

<comment><USER18> Kobo. I have a Kobo Aura One from several years ago that does all of that. Book selection in their store is subjective but you can side-load any epub file very easily.

<comment><USER20> The Kobo Aura One seems discontinued. They have a Kobo Nia, but it looks seems terrible (just like the entry-level Kindle). The Kobo Clara is $120 [0], so that's the one going up against the Paperwhite.

I'm ashamed to admit I've never considered using a Kobo, but looking into it, damn. The Kobo's lighting color is adjustable, so no more of that garish blue light. And it supports ePUB files natively. The bezel seems a lot thinner. The only feature it's lacking is it isn't waterproof.

Meanwhile, the Kobo Libra H2O is $170, and is waterproof, has page-turn buttons, and a larger screen.

Since I usually strip DRM (getting harder to do), and even sometimes edit eBooks to strip out the shite publishers add to it (like reading samples for other books, I mean WTF), the ePUB support would be extremely useful.

[0] [https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders/products/kobo-...](https://us.kobobooks.com/collections/ereaders/products/kobo- clara-hd)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I even saw somewhere an article on topic "how to make money duplicating books for Kindle". Was presented like it's something legitimate.

My 5 cents - reading a books on CS topics requires a lot of notes making and working with this notes on kidnle is the worst.

</comment><comment><USER22> Awesome, another scam to worry about on Kindle. Kindle is already worthless for browsing technical books, anyway. So many of the titles on there tend to be low-effort books that get higher placing than legitimate titles. The rest of Amazon is fraught with scams. For example, I will never ever purchase cologne, hair, or skincare products from Amazon because there are so many fakes. Browse some of the reviews from people that experience things like hair falling out or chemical burns, and then they find out they received a bootleg product even when they use "Ships from Amazon." Amazon is getting increasingly useless for shopping.

</comment><comment><USER23> > _There is literally a poorly formatted pirated version of my book on the > Amazon Kindle store accumulating 1 and 2 star reviews for its poor > formatting that count against all editions._

So not only do they commingle physical items so you never know what you get. They also allow other people's products to affect your rating.

<comment><USER24> That struck me as especially egregious; even if the e-book-version was legitimate, why on earth would anyone think that merging these reviews is a good idea?

Some tech books are, in my opinion, _terrible_ for e-book without adjustments and vice versa (e.g., description on left page and corresponding picture on right page might work quite well in a paper book but not in an ebook where you see only one page at a time); why would these ever be merged?

Is this a normal thing on Amazon? Speaking as someone who never ordered anything from Amazon as it barely services my country

<comment><USER25> I don't work at Amazon, but worked at a similar (European, national) retailer:

You really have to walk the line between ratings-per-SKU and aggregate ratings sometimes.

In an ideal world, the reading experience of a Kindle book is the same as the physical book. So someone might argue that ratings should be aggregated across all version of the product. Would you expect different ratings for hardcover/paperback versions of books? Probably not, at least assuming people review the _content_ of the book, not its appearance.

Similarly, do you really want people to leave ratings on a black shirt in size L, and that rating not apply to all sizes and colors?

I assume _someone_ at Amazon thinks about this, and the defaults (fashion => merge, books => merge, electronics => donotmerge) etc. do OK until complaints come in. There's no profit in not being heavy-handed.

<comment><AUTHOR> > In an ideal world, the reading experience of a Kindle book is the same as > the physical book. So someone might argue that ratings should be aggregated > across all version of the product. Would you expect different ratings for > hardcover/paperback versions of books? Probably not, at least assuming > people review the content of the book, not its appearance.

Right, the issue though is that there is a much larger gulf between the eBook and print book than there is between the paperback and hardcover. And the delivery mechanism can greatly affect your enjoyment of the book. It's about more than just appearance. Source code in particular, does not often work well on a Kindle's tiny screen.

<comment><USER26> Although maybe it does if you read it on a full-size tablet. In general, I mostly avoid buying books I know aren't 95% text in Kindle format unless they're very cheap or are from a known publisher for things like guidebooks. They can work well but it's definitely hit or miss. (I also just don't like ebooks for certain types of references where I want to stick post-its etc.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> I've been purchasing pc parts from ebay and honestly I've found it at least as reliable and with better prices to boot.

</comment><comment><USER28> How is Amazon allowed to advertise Kindle so much beside every book on the website? Isn't it anti competitive?

Whenever you click on a book, it defaults to the Kindle version. When you change it to the paperback edition, you are faced with banners on all 4 sides saying 'Kindle is good, fast and easy', etc etc

<comment><USER29> Probably but you're on their site at this stage, buying from them. Yes, they are pushing you to a product that (I assume) has a margin higher profit margin, but this is not like a neutral product comparison site.</comment></comment>


Over 400 advertisers are due to suspend Facebook ads on Wednesday for a month - blinding-streak https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-ads-boycott/facebook-frustrates-advertisers-as-boycott-over-hate-speech-kicks-off-idUSKBN2424GS <comment><AUTHOR> It takes a profound lack of understanding of what free speech is all about -- or a marked preference for totalitarianism -- to be opposed to what Facebook is trying to do.

The old story: At first they came for the blacks. Then they came for the Jews. Then they came for me. Right now the Left has lots of power. But it could be some time in the future either they will lose the ascendancy or -- more likely -- the controlling element of the Left will be too extreme for most people who currently associate themselves with the Left. Then it will be too late. We need to fight against deterioration of free speech rights now, while we can.

"But this isn't about _Government_ censoring speech." Wake up. Social media IS where public speech is happening now.</comment>


Welcome to the interview; please sit down and choose a color (2013) - <AUTHOR> https://plusbryan.com/game-the-interview <comment><USER3> I'm not sure how much I personally buy the idea that playing styles in board games mirror people's behavior when interacting with their coworkers. I play a lot of board games, and tend to do a lot chaotic or risky things (eg why play Hearts if you aren't going to shoot the moon[0]), but I definitely don't act like that at work.

[0] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_(card_game)#Shooting_th...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearts_\(card_game\)#Shooting_the_moon)

<comment><USER4> For anyone engaged or in a serious relationship I highly recommend playing board games with their partner's immediate family (and partner as well.) You will likely gain a valuable insight into the family dynamic and sibling personalities that you may not otherwise.

Whether this also applies to job interviews is highly variable so I can see why it should be presented as an option, but I would never pass up the opportunity to be able to see my potential future coworkers' interaction styles.

<comment><USER5> Why would I want insight into my partner's siblings' personalities?

<comment><USER4> In order to make it easier to endure any time spent with your partner's family, such as during holidays.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> It's also a good way of ensuring culture fit in that it excludes those who don't like board games. If I came to a job interview where they asked me to play board games I would find the first opportunity to excuse myself - <USER2> I am not the candidate they're looking for.

<comment> em-bee given how bad most interviews are, do you really want to pass on a good job just because you didn't like their interview style?

ok, sure, given how unusual the idea of boardgames is, you don't risk much, but if i were to apply that same approach to interviews with trivia questions then i'd probably not find a job.

an interview would have to be outright offensive before i'd walk away. or i would have to be skeptical of that job already for other reasons and i just needed an excuse to drop it (the last straw sort of thing).

e.g. i can understand not wanting to go to a bar, but what's wrong with boardgames?

<comment><USER7> > do you really want to pass on a good job just because you didn't like their > interview style?

Well, the problem is when you're interviewing, that you don't know if it's a "good" job. You and the company are trying to figure out if you're a fit or not, which is the whole point of the interview.

I have to say that I feel interviews are very telling of company culture, for both good and bad. If it's a good interview where they respect you, especially if those people will be the ones you'll work with, that's good signal. I've turned down job offers before because of bad interview experience, and felt like I've dodged a bullet. Sometimes I've taken jobs after having a bad interview experience (mostly because I know someone on the inside), and been burned.

An interview doesn't have to be outright offensive to ring enough alarm bells for me to not want to work there, although outright offensive is the loudest bell.

The problem with boardgames is they have very little to do with the job. I know plenty of people I would love to play boardgames with who I wouldn't want to work with, and visa-versa.

<comment> em-bee you are absolutely right, but i wouldn't hinge that on the fact that they are asking me to play a game during the interview, but how they go about it, how they behave, etc.

i happen to like boardgames, so it is harder for me to imagine the bad side of that, so instead, i'll share how i'd feel about going to a bar as part of the interview process, which is something i don't like.

first of all, i'd go, if the time allows. (if it's where i live, and i could be home with family, i'd decline, but if i am travelling, then ok) but i don't drink. and that's the test for me. some people are perfectly fine with having a non-drinker in their group. others aren't if i feel uncomfortable, it's a bad interview experience and i'll hopefully draw the same conclusions as you. but if they are a good sport about it, and respect my choices, then we may well get along.

now maybe you can translate that to boardgames. if they make you uncomfortable, the interviewers should either be able to make you feel at ease, or they aren't. you then draw your conclusions from that.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Interesting story about the one person with the bad attitude, but the plural of anecdote is not data.

Replace "play a board game" with "go to a bar" or "watch football" or "play basketball" or "go to a wine tasting" or "put on boxing gloves and spar" or about a thousand other things that we think would range from useless to inappropriate and I think you can see the problem with this. You learn _something_ from asking a person to do _anything_ , but not necessarily something useful in terms of their qualifications as an employee.

But no doubt this is a good way to build an organization of people who like board games.

</comment><comment><USER9> I was actually asked to play a board game during an interview. I was interviewing for a Big Financial Corp and in one of the sessions we were asked to play Pandemic [1]. The point was that Pandemic is a collaborative game, so it should reveal something about how we, well, collaborate. In a later session that I watched the interviewees were asked to play Forbidden Island, another cooperative game [2].

I don't know whether you can really get any insights into a person's mind from playing games with them, other than how they are when they play games. I mean, I really don't know. It's an attractive idea. And I've certainly formed general opinions about peoples' character based on how they behaved in games we played together.

By the way- I did get hired by Big Financial Corp. I ended up in the same team as one of the people who set up the Pandemic session and with that dude as a senior colleague. He was a keen gamer so we played Magic: the Gathering a few times. We stopped after a while because I kept kicking his ass and he didn't like it :|

_________________________

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_(board_game)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandemic_\(board_game\))

[2] [https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/65244/forbidden- island](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/65244/forbidden-island)

<comment><USER10> >He was a keen gamer so we played Magic: the Gathering a few times.

In my experience there are a lot of ultra competitive people who play magic, who exist mostly to create decks to see how much suffering they can cause.

It's an interesting subculture.

<comment><USER9> Eh, no, I don't like hurting people (and I usually don't brag like that; I don't think I've ever used the term "kicked his ass" before). It's just, I was working at the industry at the time so I had a lot of money to spend on things I really shouldn't be spending it on, for example lots of M:tG rares. The deck I think my colleague was the most pissed off about was a Karn deck with the Urzatron. On its face that sounds like a net deck except mine included Spine of Ish Shah and Claws of Gix to recurse it which I think most serious players would consider garbage (I'm totally a Johnny kind of player; winning is only good if it's on my own terms). I only played that deck a couple of times because it's true that it wasn't a very nice deck to play in a casual environment, it would probably be banned from casual nights. But then even my wacky rogue decks with all the trash rares that I never thought would win caused the guy pain.

I'm not sure how to find a good balance between a deck that I enjoy playing and that works well and a deck that doesn't offend a casual player. To be honest.

So I guess it's really stupid to brag about kicking that guy's ass. I just failed to adjust to the level of the game and I made the whole experience sour for him. He even mentioned that some of his casual playmates who alsoplayed competitively adviced him on what cards to buy so he could beat me. That's just bad.

<comment><USER10> It wasn't my intention to imply you were that type of person, rather that he might have been one of the ultra competitive types.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> yoz-y In theory I like this idea but it comes with problems. Like others have mentioned, not everybody likes board games. Also trying to gather anything from how a player strategises when they are quite possibly playing the game for the first time makes no sense. In first few games players have no idea whether it is worth forming or breaking alliances, playing to win or playing to make others lose and so on.

As a fun idea what about returning the situation? You ask an interviewee whether they like board games and if they do ask them to choose one, for 2-4 players, preferably less known and bring it over. Then you task them to explain the rules, guide others through the first game and then judge on that? I think you would get better information about a person like this. How do they explain the rules, do they explain just the rules or do they also touch on strategy a bit, do they give tips for winning or do they keep them for themselves. Do they stomp over new players and so on.

I don't know if this kind of interview would be good, but I am quite sure it would be better that what TFA explains.

</comment><comment> GuB-42 Not really a fan of "fun" interviews.

Interviews are a test, and everything you do during an interview will be treated as such, even meals sometimes. That board game won't be the kind of fun game you have with your friends.

So unless board games, or whatever activity is related to the job, I would keep the interview to the point. If it _is_ somehow related to the job as the article makes it to be, then the "fun" argument doesn't hold. In fact, to some candidates, it may end up being the most stressful part of the interview.

</comment><comment><USER11> If I go for an interview I'm not there to play board games and I'm not there to be your friend. I'm there to interview for the jobs. Stay on point and focus on the position and don't waste both our times. If you are into this psychological nonsense then I'm not interested. For fit and culture you can ask open ended questions but only in a job context.

<comment><USER12> > I'm not there to be your friend.

This seems to be the exact red flag they're looking to weed out. If you can't be friendly, do something you're not 100% thrilled with, and get along with others during a 1 hour game, what are you going to be like to work with?

<comment><USER11> But there's a big difference between being your friend and friendly.

<comment><USER12> If that's the hair the candidate insists on splitting then I think the red flag is still there.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> At first I thought this is obviously bullshit.

But then, trivia-style algorithm questions are probably not a good way to evaluate future day-to-day performance on the job either.

I don't think there's a proven way to evaluate candidates, but in the end they all boil down to spending an hour or two with another, and seeing how you get along.

Playing a game in that time seems less stressful than algorithm questions. So unless you are only interested in seeing how they perform under stress, it does seem like a sensible aproach.

<comment> em-bee that's why i like pair programming in interviews. let's just work together for a bit. no trivia or algorithms, but problem solving and communication.

<comment><USER14> Honesty I wouldn't like that, on either side. On one hand it's time consuming, since you simply have to ask other things also - and if you make the problem too simple or easily guessable, you null the benefits of pair programming. Also I see enough nervous candidates to think their performance wouldn't be realistic in an interview situation. When you solve problems together as colleagues it's a really good method, but as test, its awkward.

<comment> em-bee what other things do i have to ask? your CV tells me your skills. the programming session tells me if we can communicate and work together on a code problem. that's all i need to know. the rest is formalities.

the test is only as awkward as every interview is. interviews are awkward because of how we treat the situation, not because of what we do during the interview.

the key point is to put the candidate at ease as much as i can. i usually get positive feedback from candidates about my interviews, so i must be doing something right.

i have been on the other side of this as well. and i felt that the code task i was given was way to easy to be a skills test, but i also realized that any challenge worth my level of experience would not possibly fit into a one-hour interview session.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> I've always found that it makes the game far more interesting when someone defects. In fact, it takes a lot of skill and tact to play a villain effectively.

But that would lose me the job, so I'd play according to their biases now that I know it's riding on their one observation of me playing an irrelevant game...

Generally, the people who find a nice, easy solution to hard social problems are probably not the kinds of people you'd want as a boss.

</comment><comment><USER16> I don't like board games, I find them tedious and restrictive. I prefer more creative games like improv or higher stakes games like poker. When I do play boardgames I don't have a big picture strategy, I make and break alliances for the sake of a joke and I find myself forgetting the rules (since there are so many and they all seem so arbitrary). I'm just not invested. I've learned to not play because it upsets people who take the game more seriously.

What you will learn about me from playing board games with me is that I don't like board games. Not that I lack big picture thinking, loyally etc. I'm perfectly capable of playing the long con in a game of poker and planning all the way to the end because I'm invested and focused.

If you are looking for a filter that only lets people who like board games into your team then great. I'm sure you will have a nice monoculture of board game nerds and hopelessly agreeable people who don't like boardgames.

</comment><comment><USER17> The "board game interview" is a spectacularly clueless display of net-negative cultural and gender bias. Not to mention just juvenile and unprofessional (my bias, sure).

> A relatively recent demographic survey that elicited 3,427 responses among a > publisher's subscribers that found 91.7 percent of respondents were male and > 8.1 percent were female.18 Another 2016 table-top gamer demographic survey > of 2,397 respondents that found 24 percent of board gamers were women, 1.1 > percent non binary and 0.6 percent were trans, while the remainder—74.3 > percent—identify as male.19 The overwhelming majority of survey respondents > were also white, with survey reporting that 2.1 percent were Chinese, 2.7 > percent were Latin American, 0.6 percent were Aboriginal and 0.7 percent > were Filipino.

[http://analoggamestudies.org/2018/12/assessing-gender-and- ra...](http://analoggamestudies.org/2018/12/assessing-gender-and-racial- representation-in-top-rated-boardgamegeek-games/)

<comment><USER18> I don't disagree that the board games are stupid, but to call it gender biased is ridiculous. Women and minorities are just as capable of playing board games as everyone else, even if they don't do it as regularly as men.

<comment><USER17> > but to call it gender biased is ridiculous

Unlikely.

> women and minorities are just as capable of playing board games

Quite beside the point. Even leaving aside the implicit claims here that

(1) the board-game filter measures _capability_ of playing board games rather than fluency with the social scripts involved in board-game playing, and

(2) that it does so without introducing any behavioral artifacts such that this measure would be a reliable predictor of on-the-job behavior,

the question is: What are the outcomes generated by the board-game filter? (reeeee equality of outcome)

If an assessment produces an adverse impact on groups already underrepresented in tech, at a minimum it ought to generate scrutiny.

In the case of leetcode-type hiring filters, I can suspend judgment or reach some kind of nuanced position.

In the case of using Settlers of Catan as a hiring filter, all I can do is chuckle.

That said, heterogeneity in hiring practices is a good thing. Presumably in the long run people sort themselves out and some kind of equilibrium is reached.

I look forward to experimenting with feats of strength and athletic prowess as a hiring filter in order to gauge tenacity, equanimity in the face of adversity, and general team-spiritedness.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> > There's nothing wrong with savoring a win, but players who gloat over > successes tend to be the engineers who have trouble interacting with and > leading teammates later on.

Is this based on ANYTHING?

<comment><USER20> Isn't gloating over previous successes one of the main goals in an interview?

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> I think r/recruiting hell wants their article.

I actually feel sorry for anyone that would be forced to try these games for the first time, while simultaneously being in an interview situation.

Such a strange culture fit test as well, and culture in general where you're expected to stay in the office during unpaid time (lunch and similar). And the test is kind of game-able by someone who is a board gamer, especially ones that love games that are more socially intensive like the hidden traitor genre.

<comment> em-bee the main problem probably is that board games and work have different objectives.

i play board games to have a good time and not to win, but i write code to solve a problem. so if i am being cooperative in a game then that doesn't tell you how i will react to your code in a code review, or how i'll take your criticism to my patch that i happen to believe is the best solution to the problem.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> If they're at the end of the interview rounds, pair with them for a whole day with different pairs for morning vs afternoon. If you want to see how they work solving real-life-like problems, give them one. You'll get a good assessment whether they can code at an acceptable level and secondly they'll have to be able to communicate and have some semblance of social skills.

</comment><comment><USER23> I'd be concerned about the lawsuits when this group or that feels discriminated.

</comment><comment><USER24> Seems good other than making it a group interview if it means multiple applicants joining one game.

</comment><comment><USER25> I wonder if there is a follow up article?</comment>


Flappy Bird Score Generator - <AUTHOR> http://flappybird.herokuapp.com

<comment><USER2> If the shutdown doesn't happen ([https://twitter.com/dongatory/status/432227971173068800](https://twitter.com/dongatory/status/432227971173068800)) I'll be seen as a hero amongst my friends

</comment><comment><USER3> I'm more interested in how people are posting bogus scores to the high score list.

<comment><USER2> hint: ipad</comment></comment>


Microsoft Gets Brutally Honest About Its Bold New Design For Windows  - <AUTHOR> http://www.fastcodesign.com/1669407/microsoft-gets-brutally-honest-about-redesigning-windows

<comment><USER2> Microsoft needs some brutal honesty about its bold new design for windows: It's too much of a deviation from standard Windows, it is _never_ going to be embraced by businesses as a better way to work, and no one I have talked to is impressed with the fact that they're basically just tarting up Windows 7 with unnecessary features instead of polishing the amazing OS that they created.</comment>


Semiconductor job hunting trip to Santa Clara - <AUTHOR> Heya guys, I was hoping to get some advice or even some contacts for an upcoming trip I'm making.
I'm a recent PhD graduate in electrical engineering, specialising in semiconductor processing. My thesis was on nanowires, nanowire devices and material characterisation. Unfortunately, I live in New Zealand and there is very little industry in semiconductors here. I have been applying for entry level positions all over the place for nearly a year and have had very little interest back. It wouldn't be half as bad if I had a stack of rejections, but the vast majority of positions don't even respond and checking back on their career sites just says "accepting applicants" after months.
I'm not even sure if it's a remotely good idea or not, but I've taken the rather drastic step of booking a plane ticket to Santa Clara, with the intent of wandering around for two weeks and trying to talk to actual people at some of the companies headquartered there, the likes of Intel, GlobalFoundaries, Applied Materials, LAM Research etc and trying to hand off some CVs. As I said, it might be a terrible idea and I might end up wasting a whole lot of money being escorted out of buildings by security for two weeks, but I'm hoping that by making myself available to talk to, it might help me get past that first hurdle of being Johnny Foreigner.
Just wondering if there's anyone here working in the area who might have either some advice or even a contact I can ask for at any of the semiconductor companies in Santa Clara? <comment><USER2> Every company in this area has their buildings locked where you need an employee badge to get it. The main entrances have reception up front and/or security guards, metal detectors, etc. You won't just walk in unless you are willing to follow an employee in, in which case it could be a bit more serious. Visitors usually need a big VISITOR badge requiring escort.

Best to contact a whole lot of people before coming.

<comment><USER2> My company has an opening for a process engineer (Bay Area or Florida). My email is my handle at gmail.

I'll send you the details by email. As far as I know, our company does sponsor visas and pays for interview flight + relocation, but we were recently acquired.

<comment><USER2> I don't know if you tried to email me, but I don't have yours. Rather than show up to hand out CVs, I can refer you to a job... and one that is looking for Ph.D grads.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> You may also try contacting people (and invite them for a coffee) on LinkedIn/Twitter before coming that looong way.

</comment><comment><USER4> Contact u/mantrap2 on Reddit.</comment>


An HTML5 app turned native in 10 minutes with PhoneGap Build? - <AUTHOR> http://www.position-absolute.com/articles/an-html5-app-turned-native-in-10-minutes-with-phonegap-build-its-possible-kind-of/

<comment><USER2> Addressing the jQM concern, this is why we built Ionic ([http://ionicframework.com/](http://ionicframework.com/)). It's still alpha and we have a ways to go, but the UI is more "native" centric and we have been improving animation performance over the last week, and on new iOS devices it's hard to tell the difference between simple native app and the hybrid one. Hopefully you'll find it a better solution for hybrid apps.

<comment><USER3> I tried Ionic on Friday last week. The example code didn't work 'out of the box', and there isn't any documentation explaining how to use it. I tried with PhoneGap, with Cordova and running it in a browser both with and without Ripple. I got pretty much nowhere. Contrast that to trying jQM 1.4 RC1 and having a working example running _on my phone_ in about half an hour with Phonegap.

Open source projects live and die on their community, which springs from examples and documentation that people can learn from. I like the look of Ionic, especially if it was decoupled from Angular, but until it's possible to actually do something with it I (and I imagine many others) can't help out with it.

tl;dr Documentation is critical. Write some, don't just rely on your "doc generator".

<comment><USER2> Trust me, we know we need to work on docs and tutorials, and we are. Also note that we weren't actually ready to go live last Friday, so there's that, too (someone else submitted our test site).

The community has actually been more active than we expected, and the forum is seeing a lot of activity in the last week: [http://forum.ionicframework.com/](http://forum.ionicframework.com/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> don't be mystified. all of this comes from your lack of knowledge and experience of native development. if it works in a webview then making a 'native' app out of it is not going to be complicated - you make something with a webview and the html or whatever other source data in the package.

its not magic, its not even hard, you just happen to not know about how it works... if you are interested this is easy to fix with google and experimentation. :)

knowing about android sdk versions is something you would also know if you were an android developer. its everywhere from the first time you install an sdk or ndk - i agree that Google suck at developer tools and docs, absolutely 110%, and this is a good example of that - a lot of their tools I consider 'unshippable' they are so bug riddled and unusable - but thats a tangent.

i do wonder though why even use a native app like this? isn't a web app more friendly? you certainly won't get any of the performance benefits of native code without some real heavy lifting on the part of the framework/library/sdk. isn't a landing page asking you to download a native app just annoying? i know its popular but its just a UX fail however I look at it...

<comment><USER5> > i agree that Google suck at developer tools and docs, absolutely (...) a lot > of their tools I consider 'unshippable' they are so bug riddled and unusable

This absolutely mystifies me. Especially after coming in from the iOS development stack, the android sdk's, simulator, et al, are shockingly bad. And it's been YEARS now.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Are we calling phonegap/cordova native now?

Phonegap build is nice if you don't use any prosperity /closed source plugins.

</comment><comment><USER7> I really like the _idea_ of these multi-platform bridges.

But in reality the ones that I have seen suffered from being terribly slow. The last app demo that I saw using phonegap had 3-5 second loading bars come up _every time_ a button was pressed. This was on Android so I am not sure if the platform was to blame or not.

<comment><AUTHOR> While phonegap is a bridge between a lot of functionalities, not all features has been created equals.

The app is only has good has the html5 app behind it. On android it's tricky, we just did a test run for our mobile app & we have weird issues with a lot is samsung phones while other phones perform perfectly.

We also decided to remove animations on android for all phones below android 4.2 because the browser was to slow to handle them perfectly.

<comment><USER7> Interesting, the slow demo was using a Samsung phone and had many animations. Next time I am going to do some comparisons on different manufacturers and with/with out animations.

The app wasnt one I was involved in so I didnt have chance to mess around with it.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> You Keep Using That Word, I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means

<comment><USER9> Exactly my tought.

</comment></comment><comment> nezza-_-

      But there is reports that Apple will not let you through
      since jQuery mobile animations perform too poorly, oups.

If you read the first answer on the page he links to it sounds like the application was missing a lot of optimisation and was overall executed poorly.

<comment><USER10> I work at a big bank and we're developing a very complex application using only jQuery Mobile and Angular JS & fastclick.js. If properly executed, the app runs beautifully and very, very smoothly. Even as a webapp it performs exactly as native.

JQM is beautiful if you really know how to use and know what you're doing.

We're deploying on _20_ devices with only one code base and it works flawlessly, it's amazing. We only use native to patch holes or do things we can't do easily with html/css/js.

<comment><USER11> No, what you are doing is likely not that complex and just a series of forms and buttons, which jqm is fine for. If you are doing anything truly interface heavy and complex, the hard parts either having nothing to do with jqm or can't be done in jqm smoothly.

And your single codebase likely has a UI and ux that feels wrong on all platforms.

(I built two of the largest US banks mobile apps using Yui and jqm. )

<comment><USER10> Do you talk like this in real life to people? If I told you about an app I was making, you would tell me its garbage, then brag about what you built?

Unless you've actually been in my environment and used my app that we've been developing straight for the past _year_ , kindly fuck off.

<comment><USER12> unless you actually have a product to show, it's his word against yours. Devs always brag about how fast their html apps are, these "fast" apps are nowhere to be seen, or do very little things that require performance.

<comment><USER10> It's my word against his, I'm the developer, I know what I'm making. I have no problem in him not believing me. The problem is disbelief and then commenting on it, which is fruitless as I'm not in a position to preview my app to the public, nor is he in any position to comment on an application he hasn't seen or used.

Take my experience for what it's worth, if it's worth nothing then skip me.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> "But you should know that the webview used by phonegap is generally one generation older than the current mobile browser provided with the device."

Is that right? Is web browser used by WebView a different thing that a default Android browser?

<comment><AUTHOR> It absolutely is in android 4.2. After that it depends on the android version.

My app have perfect smooth transitions in the chrome browser. yet in the phonegap webview animations are slower & I have rendering bugs I never saw in chrome.

Can't find direct sources right now, but it's fixed in android 4.4, you get chrome

[http://www.mobilexweb.com/blog/android-4-4-kitkat-browser- ch...](http://www.mobilexweb.com/blog/android-4-4-kitkat-browser-chrome- webview)

<comment><USER13> I'm honoured to get a reply for post's author. Thanks for a link to very good article.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> .. or just check [http://www.icenium.com/](http://www.icenium.com/) which has integrated IDE and does all this without the manual hassle of uploading files.

<comment><USER15> I really don't like the fact that they tout using VS to create and publish apps right there on the homepage however you have to purchase the ultimate package at $119 a month in order to do this. you would think that every package would include this feature if its their main advertised feature.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> I built Fitwatchr for Fitbit ([http://www.fitwatchr.com/apps.html](http://www.fitwatchr.com/apps.html)) using PhoneGap Build and absolutely love it. I can develop locally in Chrome, switch between Android/iOS using the DevTools, then deploy using Build. Coupled with Kendo UI Mobile, which auto translates the UI of your app to fit the platform, it took days to get a basic prototype running instead of weeks. Highly recommended!

</comment><comment><USER17> Just finished my first phonegap 3 app. I used kendo mobile for the ui, performance is pretty nice. It's not free but saved me probably days.

<comment><USER16> Nice, congrats! I used Kendo UI for my app as well - it's incredible, such a time saver.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> > Its free for one app

Actually, its free for anything that can be hosted publicly and open-source on a Git repository

</comment><comment><USER19> Totally agree with the author here. Being primarily an Android developer I hate when I need to get access to a Mac to anything iOS related. Phonegap Build solves this problem. I work for avocarrot.com and I managed to do a Phonegap wrapper of our iOS SDK with the build service only using my linux machine.. Pretty awesome!

<comment><USER17> If you want to install the phonegap app on your ios device for tests and later publish to the app store you still need a mac.

<comment><AUTHOR> Well, I saw some people creating the certificate with openssl on windows, you should in theory be able to use this for device testing

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Not native. You have a launcher but it's still basically just running through a dedicated browser.

</comment><comment><USER21> If you want to use angular and phonegap, I create grunt tasks that you can use with the angular generator for yeoman : [https://github.com/dsimard/grunt- angular-phonegap](https://github.com/dsimard/grunt-angular-phonegap)

</comment><comment><USER22> Now, this is pie-in-the-sky thinking, but I'd love to see something like Xamarin, that uses JS (for logic) and HTML/subset of CSS (for presentation) that builds cross-platform using native widgets.

Hey, one can dream, can't they?

<comment><USER23> I think this will stay a dream for a very long while. If Xamarin would create controls based on the lowest common denominator of each platform (with regards to functionality), the capabilities of said controls would be very limited indeed, likely only useful for the most basic of apps.

<comment><USER22> Mmm, yeah that's a good point, I didn't think that quite through, and to be honest I've not used Xamarin myself. How does it handle the UI layer? Is it re-done for each platform, using C# but with the Android UI and iPhone UI classes?

<comment><USER24> It's up to you, but mostly, yeah, you write out as much into the shared code area (C#) as possible then, write up/wire up your UI layer using native layout tooling. How far you go to using stuff like iOS storyboards or just doing code-based implementations (C#) is up to you. You have the flexibility.

This yields a massive reduction in time and cost associated with managing multiple code bases while holding onto the native experience.

It's not quite as fluid as html+css, but you don't hear nearly the performance-horror stories.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Nice project but i think steroids js is the best out there at this moment!</comment>


Turning Wi-Fi Signals into Electrical Power Using Energy-Harvesting Design - <AUTHOR> https://www.engineeringpassion.com/turning-wi-fi-signals-into-electrical-power-using-energy-harvesting-design/ <comment><USER2> Blogspam that is copy/pasted from

[https://news.mit.edu/2020/energy-harvesting-wi-fi- power-0327](https://news.mit.edu/2020/energy-harvesting-wi-fi-power-0327)

Actual author (Jennifer Chu) and source of graphics (MIT) were not credited.</comment>


Review my site: NagReminders (inspired by AwesomenessReminders) - <AUTHOR>

I was very impressed by the AwesomenessReminders concept. After seeing a tweet from Susan Orlean (http://twitter.com/susanorlean/status/24414323004), I mentioned to Zack how cool it would be to have something called NagReminders where a real person calls you and politely nags you or reminds you of your set target or goal (http://twitter.com/rahulcee/status/25037352841). After tweeting this out, I realized how much I loved the idea. So I decided to do it myself. I got the domain the same day and created the website (after spending a lot of time trying to get Paypal to work). So here it is. What do you guys think? Is it a valuable service?<p>http://www.nagreminders.com/ <comment><USER2> nice idea!</comment>


Now is the time to start demanding customer service from Apple. - <AUTHOR> http://www.cringely.com/2009/12/ask-and-ye-shall-receive/

<comment><USER2> Original title is 'Ask and you shall receive'</comment>


Uber's search for a female CEO has been narrowed down to 3 men - <AUTHOR> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/08/04/ubers-search-for-a-female-ceo-has-been-narrowed-down-to-3-men/ <comment><USER2> If they were searching for a male CEO it would be sexist. If they are searching for a female CEO, it's great!</comment>


Ask HN: Does MacPorts really suck so bad or am I missing something? - <AUTHOR>

I don't understand MacPorts. It has been over an hour since I started to use it to install ImageMagicK. My processor fan seems to on so fast, I'm worried my Macbook is going to start smoking. Is MacPorts just crappy software? Or is it well-thought out in principle but just doing the wrong thing for some people (searching the web seems to indicate a lot of hate for the software - http://amplicate.com/hate/macports).
It should really not take hours to install wget or ImageMagick or anything else for that matter. What is going on here? <comment><USER2> If it's the first thing you've installed from macPorts, there are probably downloading and compiling a billion dependencies.</comment>


Basics of Memory Addresses in C - <AUTHOR> http://denniskubes.com/2012/08/17/basics-of-memory-addresses-in-c/ <comment><USER2> The fastest way to grok memory issues is to do some work in Assembly. Few programmers will use Assembly for regular work, but the intuition it fosters will serve you everywhere.

<comment><USER3> Absolutely.

First, learn assembly. Pick a machine architecture — it's not that important. For extra credit, pick multiple machine architectures and do something in each.

Then learn Lisp.

<comment><USER4> Then learn Forth.

And Morse code.

You'll need Haskell for dat Damas-Milner sexiness.

Wait wait, we need to pile on some Ruby and JavaScript, you don't want to be some sort of weirdo that can't make a web app do you?

Hrrrrm. Yep, need some APL. With Unicode.

That'll really hammer in the concatenative into your brain.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I appreciate the distinction between arrays and pointers, but the article fails to mention a similar pitfall: _A struct is the sizeof its members._ , which isn't necessarily true.

It's like how everyone learns that (INT_MAX + 1) == INT_MIN (even non- developers seems to know this) yet that it actually is undefined (in C/C++), I feel that just noting that it isn't the whole truth (such as noting that the OS handles the memory behind your back) is quite valuable, even when learning the basics.

Otherwise you might end up feeling, as I do, that your foundation is shaky and built up on lies - not really knowing what "facts" you can trust.

<comment><USER6> I went through this learning experience. Something similar to a struct with 32 bit items, a 16 bit item, then a 64 bit item. The 64 bit item was being aligned to a friendly 32 bit address, which left 16 bits of unassigned memory between the 16 and 64 bit items.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> One thing to note:

Maybe you should explain the first element of an array having the same memory address as the actual array a little bit more, and relate it to why array indexing is 0-based too - the index is that many offsets from the beginning from the array.

</comment><comment><USER8> Nice introduction. I think it is worth pointing out that much of what you discuss is implementation dependent, the c standard doesn't require an implementation to lay out data in memory in any particular way. Instead it requires that access semantics behave in a particular way. These semantics, in turn, align with easy, low level implementations.

<comment><USER9> Er yes, virtual memory is an allowed implementation!

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I like the style, but it was basics indeed. I look forward to following parts. Something that initially confused me about sizeof on arrays is the somewhat deceiving parameter form `char s[]`.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah I agree it is basic. I needed to layout some of these concepts before doing the deep dive on arrays. Writing that post now will be out in the next couple days.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> "Arrays are not pointers". Right. And wrong, actually.

The article says that arrays are different from pointers, but it does not prove it. It is quite simple to prove, see the program below.

Also, it's not interesting to limit the definition of arrays to just the locally and statically declared ones. If you do that then something like 90% of C programs (if not more, I think I never wrote such a C program except for exercises in class) don't use arrays at all. In all the other case (arrays passed as argument to a function, dynamically allocated arrays…), the _are_ the same as pointers. Again, see the program below.

In reality, it is a bit pedantic to insist on this distinction, except for the rare case where it is a performance issue (the arrays of the article require one less memory access, the one to get the address of the memory at which the array starts).

        #include <stdio.h>
        #include <stdlib.h>

        void
        f (char a[], char *b, char *c)
        {
          printf("Once passed to a function as arguments:\n\n");

          printf("What the article limits the definition of array to:\n");
          printf("&a      = %p\n", &a);
          printf("a       = %p\n", a);
          printf("&(a[0]) = %p\n", &(a[0]));
          printf("a + 1   = %p\n", a + 1);
          printf("&(a[1]) = %p\n", &(a[1]));
          printf("\n");

          printf("Pointer to an array:\n");
          printf("&b      = %p\n", &b);
          printf("b       = %p\n", b);
          printf("&(b[0]) = %p\n", &(b[0]));
          printf("b + 1   = %p\n", b + 1);
          printf("&(b[1]) = %p\n", &(b[1]));
          printf("\n");

          printf("Pointer to dynamically allocated memory:\n");
          printf("&c      = %p\n", &c);
          printf("c       = %p\n", c);
          printf("&(c[0]) = %p\n", &(c[0]));
          printf("c + 1   = %p\n", c + 1);
          printf("&(c[1]) = %p\n", &(c[1]));
          printf("\n");
        }

        int
        main (int argc, char *argv[])
        {
          char a[4];
          char *b = a;
          char *c = malloc(sizeof(*c) * 4);

          printf("What the article limits the definition of array to:\n");
          printf("&a      = %p\n", &a); /* behavior differs only here, this is the
                                           difference with pointers */
          printf("a       = %p\n", a);
          printf("&(a[0]) = %p\n", &(a[0]));
          printf("a + 1   = %p\n", a + 1);
          printf("&(a[1]) = %p\n", &(a[1]));
          printf("\n");

          printf("Pointer to an array:\n");
          printf("&b      = %p\n", &b);
          printf("b       = %p\n", b);
          printf("&(b[0]) = %p\n", &(b[0]));
          printf("b + 1   = %p\n", b + 1);
          printf("&(b[1]) = %p\n", &(b[1]));
          printf("\n");

          printf("Pointer to dynamically allocated memory:\n");
          printf("&c      = %p\n", &c);
          printf("c       = %p\n", c);
          printf("&(c[0]) = %p\n", &(c[0]));
          printf("c + 1   = %p\n", c + 1);
          printf("&(c[1]) = %p\n", &(c[1]));
          printf("\n");

          f(a, b, c);

          return 0;
        }

Here is a possible output of this program:

        What the article limits the definition of array to:
        &a      = 0x7fff5590ff00
        a       = 0x7fff5590ff00
        &(a[0]) = 0x7fff5590ff00
        a + 1   = 0x7fff5590ff01
        &(a[1]) = 0x7fff5590ff01

        Pointer to an array:
        &b      = 0x7fff5590fef8
        b       = 0x7fff5590ff00
        &(b[0]) = 0x7fff5590ff00
        b + 1   = 0x7fff5590ff01
        &(b[1]) = 0x7fff5590ff01

        Pointer to dynamically allocated memory:
        &c      = 0x7fff5590fef0
        c       = 0x202f010
        &(c[0]) = 0x202f010
        c + 1   = 0x202f011
        &(c[1]) = 0x202f011

        Once passed to a function as arguments:

        What the article limits the definition of array to:
        &a      = 0x7fff5590fec8
        a       = 0x7fff5590ff00
        &(a[0]) = 0x7fff5590ff00
        a + 1   = 0x7fff5590ff01
        &(a[1]) = 0x7fff5590ff01

        Pointer to an array:
        &b      = 0x7fff5590fec0
        b       = 0x7fff5590ff00
        &(b[0]) = 0x7fff5590ff00
        b + 1   = 0x7fff5590ff01
        &(b[1]) = 0x7fff5590ff01

        Pointer to dynamically allocated memory:
        &c      = 0x7fff5590feb8
        c       = 0x202f010
        &(c[0]) = 0x202f010
        c + 1   = 0x202f011
        &(c[1]) = 0x202f011

As we can see, for their practical use arrays and pointers can really be seen as the same thing. So again, except if you are optimizing a program where you can statically declare your arrays and access them a lot (i.e., you are doing matrix multiplication), the difference between arrays and pointers does not really matter.

</comment><comment><USER12> _Thank you_ for making it clear that arrays are not pointers!

I posted a few comments on the site.

</comment><comment><USER13> Easy to follow, well written, cant wait for the follow ups. Thanks!</comment>


Three Mile Island shuts down after pump failure - <AUTHOR> http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/20/us/pennsylvania-three-mile-island/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

<comment><AUTHOR> Interestingly, this is the second time the reactor has been shut down in a month. The first time was on August 22 following a leak caused by "micro- cracks" in a diaphragm in a pressurized heater bundle within the containment barrier.

[http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/UPDATE-3-Thursdays- TMI...](http://www.whptv.com/news/local/story/UPDATE-3-Thursdays-TMI-shutdown- is-the-second-in/_Z1vYirDt0ybASp0FZhmUw.cspx)</comment>


Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit - <AUTHOR> http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/10/business/10transit.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

<comment><USER2> >The final straw came when he put $100 of gas into his Pontiac over four days a couple weeks ago. "Finally, I was able to trade my independence for the savings," he said while waiting for the bus.

I leave my city apartment at 720, walk briskly to the train station (3/4 mile), take the 737 train, arrive in the suburbs where I work by 830ish, take the bus, arrive at work just before 9. Why? Because I wanted to escape the suburbs and my cube and experience life in the city and keep my decent software job. Because I choose to outsource commuting to my local public transportation authority.

Most people think I'm insane to spend three to four hours a day commuting. I usually don't bother to mention it to my friends who live and work in the city. Taking public transportation, your life is driven by the schedule - which is fine since most workdays are pretty structured. The more I use public transportation, the cheaper it is (unlimited use monthly pass)

I am writing this to explain that it doesn't matter how illogical your commute is - you can always (emotionally) justify it (as with most things in life)

</comment><comment><USER3> For me personally, getting from school to home costs $22 of gas, or 45.75 via mass transit. So while I'm sure I would save a lot of money if I didn't own a car and only took mass transit, as long as I already have a car I have no incentive to ever use public transportation as long as the marginal cost of gas is cheaper than the alternatives. Especially since getting home by car takes 4 hours, whereas getting home by a combination of bus and train takes 7.5 hours. I'd like to use mass transit more, but it just isn't realistic unless the whole system gets a massive overhaul.

<comment><USER4> That four hour trip you are talking about is not you daily commute, right? Either it is your weekly trip or you made a typo.

<comment><USER3> I meant from university to where my parents live, which is a trip I make ten or so times per year.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> The article mentions the cost of gas reaching $3.60 a gallon - here in the UK, based on 3.78 litres per gallon, the cost is about £4.35 - thats over twice the price! I always knew gas was cheaper in the USA, but didn't realise how much.

I am lucky enough to commute to work in 10 minutes on a bike, but the cost of fuel here is starting to get a bit ridiculous bearing in mind 70% or so of it is taxes.

</comment><comment> daniel-cussen In Santiago, a lot of people use public transport. There is no stigma against using buses like there is in US; it's fairly common to see guys in suits taking buses.

<comment><USER6> > it's fairly common to see guys in suits taking buses

This is common in Chicago, also, and I assume most major cities in the US. It's only the SUV-loving suburbanites that won't ride the bus.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> I wonder if the Segway would have caught on if it were launched today. Or at least died a little more slowly.

</comment><comment><USER8> Why is this here? Is this "Hacker News" or related to startups? This isn't reddit, digg, etc.

<comment><USER9> People like saving money.</comment></comment>


Reflections of a 5 years of bootstrapped, profitable and proud startup - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@ichbinhari/reflections-5-years-of-pickyourtrail-76f5fbcfda0d <comment><AUTHOR> This is one of the companies I admire a lot and I also know the founders. I happened to go to their new office opening ceremony today evening to congratulate them. I thought the story is worth sharing as this is a company that is built in my part of the world (and hometown) Chennai. :-) Hope you enjoy reading this.</comment>


Good riddance, gig economy - <AUTHOR> http://www.salon.com/2016/03/27/good_riddance_gig_economy_uber_ayn_rand_and_the_awesome_collapse_of_silicon_valleys_dream_of_destroying_your_job/ <comment> norea-armozel I think some things can never lend themselves to the 'gig' sort of payment system because certain things aren't merely 'gigs'. This is especially true with the reference of SpoonRocket which seems to be fighting against another business (BiteSquad) for the same demand under food delivery/pick-up. Granted, the price of a restaurant cooked meal will be higher but when you're just hankering for a banh mi from Lu's Sandwiches you don't bother with something like SpoonRocket. It just doesn't make sense. As for the other examples, I can't say why they failed but I'm going to say there had to be some mismatch between factors of production and the demand/consumption of what's served/produced therein. I do think SV's would be startup darlings aren't taking a hint in this regard of doing good research on these matters but some things don't need 'disruption' if they're as old as time. Just a suggestion.

</comment><comment><USER2> > just a like an old-fashioned temp agency, but online.

That's exactly what many online businesses are: It's a bookstore, online! Being like a good old-fashioned business, but online shouldn't be a criticism, but a business plan.

</comment><comment><USER3> Most of these companies just 'reinvent the wheel', and do so poorly. The company I used to drive for has taken the 'embrace and extend' approach to respond to the venture capitalists' attack.</comment>


Ask HN: Best practises for a small office - <AUTHOR> I'm wondering how people like their working places nowadays since I'm in the process of outfitting a small software (~50m2, 5 people) office on a budget. In my old-school, corporate mentality I would have gone for isolated desks with desktop computers but I understand younger developers have a distaste of such things now. How are/were your favourite working spaces organised like?<p>Now I'm thinking of getting everyone notebooks with usb-c to connect to their own monitors + keyboard/mouses but is that too restrictive even? Are there people who just prefer working on notebooks? Wireless keyboards for convenience, or wired for never having to charge them? Desks in the middle or facing the walls? Office speakers or individual headphones? <comment><USER2> Pintrest Small Office Ideas > [https://www.pinterest.com/annabellab/small- offices/](https://www.pinterest.com/annabellab/small-offices/)

</comment><comment><USER3> Why don't you ask/survey the people who will be using the office/tools?

What we did: Determined a budget, and let each employee choose their machines, accessories, monitors, etc as long as they remained within the budget. Just had them send in an e-mail with a list of amazon links and made the purchase as part of on-boarding.</comment>


Billionaire Elon Musk says smoking marijuana with Joe Rogan was "not wise" - <AUTHOR> https://sirelonmusk.com/billionaire-elon-musk-says-smoking-marijuana-with-joe-rogan-was-not-wise/ <comment><USER2> I have worked for government contractors very similar to SpaceX in the past and watched friends get fired for far smaller transgressions at such companies.

It's nice to be reminded every now and then that the rules don't apply to the lords, only the serfs.</comment>


Stupid Idea: Hoisting at the end (Javascript) - <AUTHOR> http://blog.vjeux.com/2011/javascript/stupid-idea-hoisting-at-the-end.html

<comment><USER2> I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't work.</comment>


Schiff: Great recession coming as gold standard returns - <AUTHOR> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBzsQohVAWw <comment><USER2> Peter Schiff is just another guy that makes these predictions for marketing, then pretends he's a genius when on finally comes close.

He does this multiple times every week.

<comment><USER3> Much easier to assassinate the messenger than to argue a counterpoint.

<comment><USER2> A messenger is someone who tells something that has already happened. Peter Schiff makes a hundred predictions like this a year, always with the time frame a few months out. He is just trying to promote his all reserve bank and his hold selling business.

If there was more to it maybe it would be worth taking seriously, but he is being serious, just marketing and hoping to catch the ear of people who want it to be true.</comment></comment></comment>


Tech employees are much more liberal than their employers - <AUTHOR> https://www.recode.net/2018/10/31/18039528/tech-employees-politics-liberal-employers-candidates <comment><USER2> The premise of the article is nonsense. Corporations aren't conservative or liberal, they are _selfish_.

Non-billionaire individuals make small donations to promote candidates and orgs (EFF, ACLU, whatever) who already support their interests. Corporations make large donations to influence the policies of people already in office. That's why corporate donations go to both right/R and left/F politicians -- they pay whoever is in power, in proportion to how much power they have. Individuals don't donate to both sides.

<comment><USER3> I think companies do make choices that lean towards the political proclivities of their founders or employees, but that doesn't mean they won't screw things up. You can do this strategy and also be selfish. Google supports liberal causes generally, like gay rights legalization back a few years ago. At the same time they certainly screwed up by following the "pay off high level sexual abusers to go away quietly" strategy, which is against their liberal agenda and so that is apparently leading to the employees doing some kind of walkout.

Compare G to say "Chick fil-A" which is diametrically opposed to some things that google has supported, they are open about espousing Christianity. Chick fil-A not a big proponent of lgbtq.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> A friend of mine back, way back when, said "It is funny how I become more Republican as I get more wealthy."

</comment><comment><USER5> "Labor skews further left than Capital, more at 11"

</comment><comment><USER6> > Tech employees, who skew younger and more educated than people in other > industries, are more likely to identify as Democrats and to donate as such.

And how much of the donation difference can be explained by the demographics of tech employees vs. the tech company's C-suite?

</comment><comment><USER7> i.e. Middle Class more liberal than the Ruling Class. Shocker.</comment>


Ask HN: How do you monitor your background jobs? - <AUTHOR> When you have many background jobs, that take either a few seconds or lots of minutes/hours, how do you monitor them?<p>How do you know when they started and when they finished, their outcome, etc. Do others, non-tenchical folks, need access to that or is it just the developers? <comment><USER2> Most background jobs are run by cron.

Cron has the capability to set environment variables. The scripts/programs can check those variables and then have the ability to adjust the type and quantity of logging according to whether they are run as cron jobs or from the command-line.

The logging of these jobs goes to a specific log file which is rotated daily. The daily logs are kept for 10 days before being discarded.

For instance this is a cron entry. Note the logfile argument as $1.

         # update BAK_MONTHLY on 2nd of the month only
         24 09 2 * *         /home/jvs/binscripts/rsync.bak.monthly.xpz /var/log/cronlog_jvs

This is cron setting variables in the crontab file

         # DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE - edit the master and reinstall.
         # tell cronjobs that they are running under cron
         CRONJOB=CRONJOB
         # specify the logfile for cronjobs output
         LOGFILE=/var/log/cronlog_jvs
         # expand the path
         PATH=/usr/sbin:/sbin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/bin:/home/jvs/binscripts
         #
         # m h  dom mon dow   command

and this is a cronjob template

         #!/bin/bash
         #jvs script
         #
         # DATE WRITTEN ......
         #
         # This crontab item does ........
         #

         #Set variables
         TARGET=
         NOW=$(date +%y%m%d)
         DAY=$(date +%d)
         LOGFILE="/tmp/${HOSTNAME}.crontab-item.log"

         if [ "$1" != "" ]; then
            LOGFILE="$1"
         fi

         touch "$LOGFILE"
         chmod 666 "$LOGFILE"

         echo -e "#######################################################\n " >>"$LOGFILE"
         /bin/date +"%F %H%M" >>"$LOGFILE" 2>&1
         echo "$0" >>"$LOGFILE"

         ### ***************************************************
         ### *******   Guts of crontab item goes here   ********
         ### ***************************************************

         # Say when this item completed
         echo -e "\n$0 Completed at $(date)" >>"$LOGFILE"</comment>


The Kindle Won - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2010/06/22/the-kindle-won/

<comment><USER2> I would like to say that DRM-free formats, will win, if they hadn't already.

All the ebooks I have purchased are in DRM-free formats and I won't buy books in DRM-encumbered formats. All the magazines I subscribe to are either delivered in PDF or as dead trees. If I ever buy a DRM-ed title, I'll crack it and transport them to whatever device I have that I want to use. I currently favor the Nook and intend to buy one as soon as it becomes available here (or I pass through some place where it's available), mostly because it's easy to hack and runs Android. I currently read with Stanza and GoodReader on my iPod, but will move over to the Nook as soon as possible.

<comment><USER3> I used to think the same way. I'm very anti-DRM; I tend not to buy any products with DRM.

But for books? I just really do not care. I used to save every book I bought, and for what purpose? Apart from a few reference works, I almost never re-read a book.

It's a $10 spend, I'll read it in a week/month, and quite frankly, I don't mind throwing it away after that. Topping it off, Amazon has the best customer support I've ever experienced. I bought a couple of Kindles, broke one, returned it - got a new Kindle overnight plus a refund from just one email to support. I actually had to call them to let them know they didn't owe me a refund!

I know this apathy towards DRM is harmful. It's the same apathy that leads to disgusting locked down and censored systems like the stuff from Apple (and WinPhone7). I don't put up with it on my phone (unlocked N1), I refuse to get any iPads, etc. -- but just acting as a consumer that wants to read eBooks, Kindle is nothing short of perfect.

<comment><USER2> > I don't mind throwing it away after that

That's the point. I do and I keep them stored in a way I can quickly search books and magazines. Right now it's broken, but I had my home media server with my book and magazine collection neatly searchable via web. The ADSL modem was not very fast, but it was more than good enough for that.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> I really enjoy my Nook over a Kindle.

@showerst I have an iPad but just can't read books on it as long as I cam with e-ink (but with the addition of anti-glare/matte screen protector it is a bit better than before)

<comment><USER5> Why do you like your Nook more than a Kindle? When I was deciding between the two, the Kindle seemed more usable and more book-like. The user experience seemed better to me - didn't want to trade that for a color screen, less battery life, and weird usability quirks.

<comment><USER2> The Nook is easily hacked and runs Android.

That's enough for me.

<comment><USER6> indeed. I also liked design much better. And WiFi!

and thanks to nookDevs we now have a range of Android software on Nook both from community and B&N itself (including browser, which AFAIK Kindle still struggles with)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> FWIW I finally bought a Kindle this week and the software and device portability really didn't factor into my decision. I still fail to understand how people are able to read books on their phones. My eyes start hurting after a couple of minutes. Am I in the minority on this?

<comment><USER8> No, people who read books on their phones generally don't read any significant amount by any measure.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Has anyone seen any numbers on the difference between people using iBooks vs the kindle app on the iPad or iPhone? Anecdotally, I've heard lots of people say they wanted to get an iPad so they could use the kindle app, but the plural of anecdote is not data.

<comment> bjelkeman-again Usability wise I think iBooks is a lot better than Kindle on the iPad. For example: better page turning, easier to see how far you are into a book, better bookmarking, better search. I am not impressed by the Kindle software.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> I think that the war is just beginning. Currently eReaders are still niche products and I never see them on the street. However, they're just getting into stores now, where people will finally be able to interact with them before buying. Now that they're in stores I think competition will really start to heat up. Many folks will be seeing eReaders for the first time. Kobo has a presence at Borders in the USA and Indigo/Chapters in Canada. Kindle I understand is in Target and I'm not sure about anything in Canada.

On the other hand one certainly wonders if the fight is irrelevant when considering the mighty iPad.

</comment><comment><USER11> I think its a close battle between Nook & Kindle currently, both are good ebook readers, hence the quick price drop by Amazon in response to B&N. I think the next versions of both devices might decide the winners

<comment><USER12> In terms of hardware I think you are correct. However the Kindle doesn't just refer to the device. It's also an app available on Windows, Mac OS X, iPhone/iPad and will be release for Android soon as well.

Supposed B&N are going to release a Nook app, but it might be too little, too late.

<comment><USER13> They already have ereaders for win, mac, iPhone, and blackberry, plus a seperate one targeting the iPad. So they already can be read on most devices. Neither has one targeting the android platform yet so it seems rather even.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I find these "X won" "Y won" blog posts to be getting tiresome. This industry is one of the most fluid, most innovative, and most dynamic in history. The products, services, and companies at the top of the heap today _will not_ be the same at the top of the heap in a year, let alone 5 years or 10. Things change. Every company has to keep up with the competition or they will fall behind. There is no Ragnarok-esque finish line, it just keeps going.

If Apple had stopped at the iPhone v.1 it would have been an interesting footnote in history.

As far as eBooks, we're in early days yet. I doubt we've seen anything even close to the "winner" for eBooks yet.

</comment><comment><USER15> iPad, anyone? I know they're not quite for the same purpose, particularly considering the advantages of eInk for a reading-only medium, but not to even mention it seems bizarre.

<comment><USER16> This article was explaining why Kindle (the software, not the device) has won. Kindle is available for the iPad (and the iPhone, where iBooks isn't yet available) and anyone who already has a large library of Kindle books will be more likely to stick with Kindle than move to iBooks.

The device is going to struggle (I think Seth Godin's suggestion to reduce the price to cost is a good one) but the software is where they need to win in order to accomplish what Amazon really wants: a large market share in eBooks.

<comment><USER17> But in typical TC linkbait fashion, they were fully aware that referencing "The Kindle" would immediately make people think of Kindle the device. Nobody refers to the software that way.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Won? How can you win an ongoing battle?

</comment><comment><USER6> B&N nook - Crunchies 2010 Best New Gadget winner: <http://techcrunch.com/2010/01/08/crunchies-winner/>

Whatever, TechCrunch!</comment>


Your biggest freelancing questions answered in one place - <AUTHOR> http://letsworkshop.com/advice

<comment><USER2> This is a goldmine! Thank you.</comment>