Reasons to Choose Opera over Chrome - <AUTHOR> http://browserfame.com/1928/chrome-vs-opera <comment><USER2> Can we please stop repeating the provably wrong statement that Firefox is too slow to use? Tom's Hardware has recently shown Firefox beating the performance of both Chrome and Opera. No benchmark is absolute, but you can just use it and see for yourself. Also, it still has better extensions.

Source: [http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/chrome-27-firefox-21-ope...](http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/chrome-27-firefox-21-opera- next,3534-12.html)

<comment><USER3> Can we please stop repeating the misleading statement that Firefox is fast enough, because of benchmarks?

When people talk about Firefox being slow, they're _not_ talking about page rendering speeds or JavaScript execution times. They're talking about the longer delays in switching between tabs, in closing tabs, opening a bunch of tabs at once and still having the interface be responsive, and so on. User interface stuff.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any user-interface-responsiveness-speed benchmarks, so it's basically impossible to "prove". But that doesn't mean that people who complain about Firefox being slow are imagining it. The only reason I use Chrome instead of FF on my machine is precisely because the UI is an order of magnitude faster in mundane things -- instantaneous rather than pausing a bit on every little thing.

<comment><USER4> My experience is the opposite. I find Chrome horribly, horribly slow to use. Safari is ultrafast and FF somewhere in between.

I still use it because I've become so accustomed to its UI but I switch to Safari on some sites to avoid spinning up the fan.

<comment><USER5> My experience has also been the same.

Chrome on the mac is absolutely dog slow to use, especially after you open up a few tabs. Seriously, why do people say it's fast? I really don't get it. It was fast at one point but now it feels slow, bloated and the tabs crash far more often than either Firefox or Safari. If I only had a penny for every time I see the sad face on tab crashes.

Firefox has no lag whatsoever when switching tabs, and general usage. Maybe people think it's slow because of its dated UI? Maybe they haven't used it at all? Maybe they're still using Firefox 10 or older? Firefox 22 is awesome. People just need to give it an unbiased try.

Safari is the fastest of them all, both in rendering speed and general usage, though it tends to use a LOT of memory.

<comment><USER6> I honestly wish I could use Firefox as my development environment. I prefer Firebug to the Chrome dev tools. But I've been slowly forced to admit that it can't keep up. With Chrome, I can casually open up a dozen tabs without considering the consequences; in Firefox, I get worried when I have two open. This pans out in the Activity Monitor.

There exist huge inconsistencies in all of these claims, and it's extremely strange how difficult it is to work out what third variables are involved that are causing such vastly different reports.

<comment><USER7> I have heard reports of considerable performance improvement from users clicking on "Firefox Reset" button. Have you tried it? You can find it in about:support (or somewhere in the Help menu, I can't remember where).

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I've been using Opera Next (the preview version of Opera with Blink) for a few weeks now and I would say this is the first time in the history of browsers that I actually like a browser.

Chrome has always had a lot of annoying bugs for me (not all of which affect everybody, but in general I seem to attract all bugs in a software if it has any), like sometimes triggering a page load would not do anything for about a minute and then actually load and render in a second.

Considering that it's a beta the bug-freeness is pretty amazing, in fact I have only encountered one bug since I started using it - and that one is OS X (Keychain) specific.

Edit: Oh, I missed that the final release is out which fixes the bug!

<comment><USER9> Opera 15 is out

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> It's also not based in US, which could be seen as an advantage now.

</comment><comment><USER11> This must be the first time in the recent history (that I remember) when Opera chooses not to release for Linux (and BSDs).

Jimmy doesn't like this!

</comment><comment><USER12> Just once I wish people would fire up a camera, point it at their browsers, and record their claims of sluggishness. This thread is full of competing claims that their favorite browser is fast, while competitor browser is atrociously slow.

Posting system specs would be useful too, there's a chance that slow performance is GPU or driver related, memory related, dependent on other apps you have installed, etc.

Some objectivity would be nice for once instead of warring anecdotes.

<comment><USER13> I use Firefox and love it. I suppose it depends on what plugins people use. Or they may have had a bad experience once and let it at that

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> 1 good reason not to: It's not open source.

<comment><USER15> Neither is Chrome.

<comment><USER14> My point being: choose Firefox, or Chromium, or whatever OS alternative.

<comment><USER15> Chromium != Chrome

<comment><USER16> That's what he said

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I'm not convinced. I tried it, and it still sucks to this day.

</comment><comment><USER18> Oh, so I should use Opera just because it's produced by a cool company? Firefox is Open Source and they champion (or so they say) the cause of a more standardised Internet. Oh, they also raise money to donate to charity. Does that mean I should use Firefox? And speaking of standards: Your typical end- user doesn't give a monkey's about whether all the browsers use the same standards, or whether they all use different engines and different versions of HTML and force web designers to run browser detection algorithms. As long as the page looks good, and loads fast, they'll be happy.

Browsing data sync is also available on Google Chrome. And you're mentioning it even though it still hasn't been implemented on Opera 15? Well that's quite something. Saying that "Browser X is better because in the future it will have Y and Z" debases your credibility as a browser user. I don't use Chrome because "in the future it might use quantum computing and fly." I use chrome because it has bookmarks and it has them NOW. I don't have to wait.

Last but not least, extensions. Opera is perhaps the one that's lacking the most when it comes to extensions. It is good that they'll start supporting chrome extensions, but that doesn't automatically makes it better than chrome. If anything, it reinforces the idea that it's just a cheap clone of Chrome.

So there you have it, at least to me your "5 reasons to choose Opera" post should be renamed "Opera has server-side compression. Yay!". Don't get me wrong, I'm not an Opera hater. In fact, I used to love it. I installed Opera everywhere I could. I showed Opera to a lot of people, and explained to them why I considered it to be the best option. That was one year ago. Today I would recommend Chrome. That's just my point of view, of course. Opera can still improve. That's what I hope, that they will turn Opera 15 into a beast, as fast as Chrome and boasting all the features from the previous versions. But in the interim, I'll stick with Chrome. Is not everything I want in a browser, but it's close enough.

</comment><comment><USER19> I would have loved to see some of these points compared to the traditional chrome alternative - Firefox. There are many browsers out there that aren't produced by google. Is the assumption that I want a browser that's using blink as its rendering engine?

</comment><comment><USER20> My list (using Opera 15):

* Internal pages and tools as pages, specially the downloads manager (I can't stand Firefox's little windows or Chrome's behind-the-scenes crippled manager).

* How it handles extensions by default (little buttons to the right of the address bar).

* The nested Speed Dial and the Stash.

* Off road mode is a _really_ great tool when using slow connections.

* Default synchronization (is not an extension).

On the other side, v 15 isn't as polished as it should had been before being made publicly available (CTRL+Z doesn't work, no bookmarks, small bugs with the address bar).

Anyway, as you can see, most of the benefits are just UI decisions. I just don't like how Firefox or Chrome look and how they display their functionality (which is absolutely subjective).

<comment><USER21> aren't points 1, 2, 5 already in chrome, and have been for some times?

<comment><USER22> Re 1: You have to know to open the page (in the menu, or at chrome://downloads) -- by default it just shows you the download bar at the bottom of the page where you downloaded the file.

Re 2: Parent probably is confused by extensions versus web apps. I find this confusing too, since it's up to the developer to choose which form factor to use when writing the extension/app.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER16> You can use Chromium. There is no way using closed source Opera is safer than open source Chromium.

</comment><comment><USER23> not a dumb company? Charging money & embedding ads into your browser when the market leaders didn't sounds pretty dumb to me.

</comment><comment><USER24> I still need tab overflow. Which so far none of the Chromium provides.

<comment><USER25> That's basically the reason I'm staying with Firefox. I use Tree Style Tabs [1], however, which gives you a hierarchial view of your opened tabs.

[1] [https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/tree-style- tab/](https://addons.mozilla.org/de/firefox/addon/tree-style-tab/)

<comment><USER26> This is the main reason why I can't use any other browser anymore.

Opera actually had a similar tab bar built in for quite some time, but it unfortunately didn't have the tree view. They seem to have removed this feature in Opera 15, which means there is no way I am switching browsers any time soon.</comment></comment></comment>


The Permanent Calendar - <AUTHOR> https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/29/us/permanent-calendar-leap-year-trnd/index.html <comment> Lex-2008 > If instead of Leap Day, you'd get an extra week every few years.

then we'd get a whole week of bugs! Ref currently trending (#3) on HN: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22452065](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22452065)</comment>


Early predictions by FiveThirtyEight and PEC are both way off - <AUTHOR> https://www.quantamagazine.org/20161026-election-forecasting-puzzle-solution/ <comment><USER2> Shorter: projections of the distant future are less accurate than for the near future. Also, dog bites man.</comment>


Without Fail: Podcast with people who did hard things; what worked, what didn't? - <AUTHOR> https://www.gimletmedia.com/without-fail <comment><AUTHOR> This is a brand new podcast from Gimlet Media, where Alex Blumberg talk to people who have done hard things.

I've listened to the first four episodes, and I'm hooked. These episodes Alex talked to Andrew Mason (Groupon founder), Sophia Amoruso (Nasty Gal founder) and Nina Jacobson (Very Successful Movie Producer, of Hunger Games, Crazy Rich Asians etc fame).

They have all been very open and frank about their journey, and I found it really interesting to listen to them. So I thought this might also be interesting to the HN crowd. Recommended!</comment>


MIT shows ground penetrating radar for autonomous vehicles in snow and ice - <AUTHOR> http://www.ll.mit.edu/news/Highly-accurate-vehicle-localization-under-adverse-weather.html <comment><AUTHOR> I think for those of us in the snow belt this could potentially be great news. I first became aware of ground penetrating radar when I worked with remote sensing in Michigan where clouds often obscured satellite photos of farm fields. The military had the capability to look through the clouds but unfortunately the technology never became inexpensive enough for agricultural use.

People may not realize that when it snows the landscape dramatically changes for the sensors on the Google cars and they can't follow the map and suddenly they're quite literally lost.

What do you do when you can't see the lines on the road? Or when cars are suddenly four abreast on a three lane highway? Or things like the especially treacherous black ice. So I am encouraged that it may be possible for us in the great white North to use our self driving cars year round.

<comment><USER2> > The military had the capability to look through the clouds but unfortunately > the technology never became inexpensive enough for agricultural use.

How do the economics of this work out? It seems strange that anyone can afford to spend tens of millions on a satellite launch, but can't afford to put fancier equipment on the satellite. Maybe the penetrating radar apparatus is much heavier and so more costly to launch?

<comment><USER3> > _Maybe the penetrating radar apparatus is much heavier and so more costly to > launch?_

Radar is power intensive. As a commercial operator, you this weigh launch cost, recharge time, and resolution. I've seen implementations where an hour of charge bursts to minutes of capture.

</comment></comment></comment><comment> gene-h This reminds me of a researcher I met, they were proposing to add a vast array of sensors to each wheel of a military vehicle that had at minimum 8 wheels. Every wheel would have rotation sensors, torque sensors, vibration sensors, a camera looking ahead, a camera looking behind, lidar looking ahead, lidar looking behind, and ground penetrating radar.

The idea being that you could know exactly what sort of terrain you were on and what terrain you were going to hit so an active suspension could compensate. The case of the sensors looking behind was interesting, the idea there is that you'd measure how much you deformed the terrain to better understand what you were moving.

Oh and said military vehicle was going to be omnidirectional with each wheel capable of independent rotation, steering, and height change.(for the active suspension)

<comment><USER4> Some cars with active suspension sort of do this. The front shocks tell the rear ones what is coming and they adjust their properties to compensate.

<comment><USER5> Mercedes was apparently the first to do this with a camera in their "magic body control" suspension system.

[http://youtu.be/ScpgI1w5F6A](http://youtu.be/ScpgI1w5F6A)

Related, hilarious Mercedes chicken ad: [http://youtu.be/TzhLIc6c4DU](http://youtu.be/TzhLIc6c4DU)

<comment><USER6> Mercedes was the first to commercialize it but Bose had an earlier implementation and... the crazy part. It would jump over stuff.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3gX2HwFf5I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3gX2HwFf5I)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Another fine example of the role of federal military funding in high tech research. Makes me chuckle whenever I hear a person employed in Silicon Valley refer to themselves as a "limited-government Libertarian". We're all sucking on the government's teat, buddy.

<comment><USER8> I doubt there's very many libertarians that would claim the private sector doesn't benefit from government spending at times. Every complex issue has it's nuances.

Generally, the stance of libertarians is that the TCO associated with the military industrial complex FAR outweigh it's benefit.

<comment><USER7> "At times" grossly understates the role of DARPA and other government support in creating technologies commercialized by Silicon Valley. The entire industry was a direct product of public investment and most key innovations are a culmination of long-term sustained taxpayer-funded research.

Take for example autonomous driving. It's a product of DARPA. See [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_Grand_Challenge)

Even Siri on your iPhone is a result of decades of public investment in AI. See [https://www.sri.com/work/timeline- innovation/timeline.php?ti...](https://www.sri.com/work/timeline- innovation/timeline.php?timeline=computing-digital#!&innovation=siri)

Need I even mention the Internet itself..

<comment><USER8> And there are drones killing civilians in the middle east. Though we benefit greatly in the private sector from this relationship, some of us consider the harm it creates much greater.

I had a very interesting talk with Vint Cerf about this a while back btw. It's a sad situation to be in.

<comment><USER7> Does he have any public comments on the matter? Would appreciate the link.

<comment><USER8> I'm not sure. We had a good conversation of the good and bad of working with groups like the DOD. He's happy to be with Google and recognizes the benefit of working with the DOD, but not exactly pro military.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Whether this pans out or not, it is technology like this that will eventually ensure that autonomous vehicles are far superior to flawed human drivers. The only question is when exactly that will happen. I think everyone now knows that it's within the next 20 years, but does that mean 1 - 2 years, or does it mean 10 - 15 years?

</comment><comment><USER10> This is very interesting work, as many weather conditions still pose big challenges for autonomous vehicles.

I am curious about how practical it will be to maintain data for all roadways. Though deep sub-surface features may be stable over time, it would seem the actual roadway markings may change requiring careful updating.

</comment><comment><USER11> Question: What happens if there are many cars all using this system at once? Is this sort of radar subject to interference from nearby signals?

</comment><comment><USER12> What if the lines never existed in the first place?

At the end of the day, it is still a human that "paints" the line on the road.

So, how would it handle this, under snow?

[http://media.nbcwashington.com/images/1232*675/restriping+wi...](http://media.nbcwashington.com/images/1232*675/restriping+wiggly+lines.jpg)

<comment><USER13> I don't think it's looking at paint. It's looking for road edges.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> This also seems like a fantastic addition to snow plows. They could even serve as a great testing platform--still human driven, but with tons of real world snowy road data. Fast forward a few years and autonomous snow plows will be really nice--an army of plows working through the night and even during the worst storms.

</comment><comment><USER15> The only scenario where I can see this failing is when snow covered lane markings have been temporarily redrawn, eg. for nearby construction sites. Then you have to hope for accurately placed road markers. But that would be a similar challenge for humans as well.

</comment><comment><USER16> Does this mean that if you stand next to the car, you are being X-rayed? :)

<comment><USER17> :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> > "They rely on optics to 'see' lane markings, road surface maps, and > surrounding infrastructure to orient themselves. Optical systems work well > in fair weather conditions, but it is challenging, even impossible, for them > to work when snow covers the markings and surfaces or precipitation obscures > points of reference."

Humans drivers are a pretty glaring counterexample.

<comment><USER19> Humans are challenged, too.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> Just a thought, could autonomous cars be programmed to eliminate the need for road salt?

</comment><comment><USER21> Seems extraordinarily complicated.

<comment><USER22> Not really -- it's a straightforward and obvious application of image correlation. Nothing exotic about the hardware, either.

It certainly shouldn't have been patented. The first claim is as broad as a barn, basically giving MIT ownership of an entire problem space.

<comment><USER21> I didn't really mean the technology itself, more the logistics of actually making it work at scale.

Something like an embedded wire in the centerline of each lane that could be followed by a simple metal detector seems a lot simpler.

<comment><USER23> That's how GM did automatic driving for Firebird II and III in the 1960s.

Volvo's solution for snow is to drive magnets in the form of nails into the pavement along lane centerlines. They suggest that this can provide guidance for snowplows as well as assist autonomous vehicles.

Lane marking in areas of heavy snow is hard. Some areas put up plastic posts along the roadside. Japan puts up arrows hanging over the road in parts of Hokkaido.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


John Mcafee Safe - <AUTHOR> http://www.whoismcafee.com/i-am-safe/

<comment><USER2> Safe? He's a murder suspect who's gone on the run. I'm wondering who is "safe" here.

<comment><USER3> According to the Belize authorities he's not a suspect

<comment><USER2> He is a "person of interest". It's not clear how that's different from a suspect, but the Belize authorities sure want to interview him.

<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-20315415>

<comment><USER4> > He is a "person of interest". It's not clear how that's different from a > suspect ...

A witness to a crime could be a person of interest. A victim of a crime could be a person of interest. An investigator of a crime could be a person of interest. If the police wanted to say he was a suspect, there's a readily available word for that -- suspect.

<comment><USER5> But victim or perpetrator, if your number is up, we'll find you.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Just when I thought things couldn't get more bizarre, Vice magazine get involved...

</comment><comment><USER7> I like that Vice is going to be covering this, they are the perfect outlet for this story.

</comment><comment><USER8> Glad to see him safe.

<comment><USER9> I agree, it's good to hear another human wasn't killed. Death is sad.

Though I'd rather not see his exploits on HN. I feel like I'm stuck reading this man's life-as-opera. "He's a criminal" "He's a smuggler" "He's an antivirus genius" "He's dead" "He's feeling better". What's next with this romance? Will we start hearing "He paints" "He owns llamas"?

So much of this man's activities in life aren't relevant to my own. Drama doesn't belong on HN's front page.

<comment><USER10> "Though I'd rather not see his exploits on HN." <\--- this

I have no idea whether he really is, but all I read about this situation makes McAfee seem more and more like a crackpot. I can't say I've cared about his company's products for a long time and the man doing a Richard Kimble while nothing has been proven either way is just meh.

<comment><USER11> Kimble is dislikeable, but not without some charms (mostly in how he charms others), his rap-video obsessions are different from McAfee in that Kimble is interested in how others perceive him versus McAfee who is living the starker real-life version of the glamour.

<comment><USER12> Heh -- the parent was referring to Richard Kimble, protagonist of "The Fugitive" (I'll wait while you Google it), not Kim Dotcom. While there are some commonalities, R. Kimble was an upstanding medical doctor who, I'm pretty sure, never rapped ...

<comment><USER11> Hah! I'm so used to seeing Dotcom mentioned that I entirely forgot about The Fugitive. My mistake.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Sleeping Tesla driver ploughed into 11 traffic cones on a motorway - <AUTHOR> https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/07/26/tesla_driver_autopilot_motorway_idiocy/ <comment><USER2> What is the legitimate use of Tesla's self-driving function? You're not legally allowed to drive without being in control of your vehicle. Tesla says you're supposed to remain aware and in control. You aren't allowed to sit there eating a sandwich, or take a nap, or deal with the baby in the back seat. Yes, people drive distracted all the time, but encouraging them to do so isn't a good idea, and doesn't make it legal or remove personal liability. Any argument that people do these things anyway (well, not nap normally) is going to be offset by the fact that autopilot encourages and increases these behaviors.

I love the idea of self-driving vehicles, and when it's good enough, I'd trust it more than I'd trust most drivers (but of course not more than I'd trust myself, hypocrite that I am). We're not there yet, though, so I again ask what the legitimate use of it is.

<comment><USER3> This is why I didn't buy a Tesla... It's half pregnant basically.

My 2019 Mazda 6 has adaptive cruise control and I think this gives you 80% of the features set for 1/3rd of the price.

FSD would allow you to only supervise which is definitely a lot LESS work.

<comment><USER4> I've gone on a 4 hour road trip (all on a major US highway) where I actually drove for maybe 30 mins total. The car drove flawlessly on the highway. For these situations, it is a perfect use case to help with the monotony of highway driving.

Yes I had to stay alert, but I could also relax a bit and look around every now and then, chuckle at a billboard, or pass some food back to my kid, which I can't if I'm driving.

<comment><USER5> The software engineer that died when his Tesla hit a barrier only had a 4 second window to react [1]. Hope you're not looking away for too long.

[1] [https://www.zdnet.com/article/ntsbs-tesla-fatal-crash- report...](https://www.zdnet.com/article/ntsbs-tesla-fatal-crash-report- autopilot-sped-up-no-braking-in-final-seconds/)

<comment><USER4> Yeah like I tell my relatives and friends, "I'm a software guy which is exactly why I don't fully trust this thing. I know my people and know exactly how the sausage is made."

I only use autopilot on a sunny day, with less traffic (if going full speed, or in a traffic jam where you're going 10 mph) and only if the lines are very obvious.

Anything away from that happy path, I'm manually driving.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> My Tesla asks me every single minute to shake the steering wheel while on Autopilot. Are you telling me the guy fell asleep between one of those? Maybe, anything is possible.

Also we go through this every single time. Journalists often insist that Autopilot is a misleading name, when it is a PERFECT name for the feature. It is exactly like Autopilot on an aircraft.

Autopilot on an aircraft doesn't absolve the pilots from being at the wheel (yoke), nor does it automatically take off or land a plane. It is literally "I'll follow this heading and altitude until you tell me otherwise, and will make glide path and heading corrections as needed", which is EXACTLY what Tesla's Autopilot feature does. There are other warning systems for air collisions, etc.

Tesla has a name for their autonomous driving – it's called Full Self Driving. And it isn't out yet, to anyone.

The media needs to do a better job of not misunderstanding this feature, and better educating the public instead of just writing sensationalist articles.

<comment><USER6> Ask the average person not interested in aviation what the autopilot does in an airplane. They will tell you "automatic pilot. It flies the plane."

Autopilot is technically correct, which is useless unless you are only selling it to aviation enthusiasts.

<comment><USER4> Which is why I comment that it is the job of the media to properly message this to the public, instead of hopping on the bandwagon of "The name is bad!!!"

Isn't that a big part of why the media even exists? To inform the populace?

<comment><USER7> So, you create a product. And you choose the name. And you feel like the name perfectly describes precisely what the product does.

Only problem is, 99% of the public doesn't understand, and so they keep mis- using your product. And people keep dying as a result.

How is it the responsibility of the media to fix this problem for you?

Naming is hard, I get that. That's why it is critical to get it right.

When it comes to products for the average consumer in this world, the name is the single most important thing that you have to get right. Nothing else matters if you can't get the name right.

And in this case, "right" doesn't mean whatever you want it to. In this case, "right" is defined by the customers and potential customers.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> To a certain extent "Car hits traffic cones" isn't really a news story.

I know it's part of a broader conversation about Tesla's bad user experience, but still, traffic cones.

<comment><USER9> Makes you wonder if Tesla's future Full Self Driving feature will handle this scenario differently.</comment></comment>


Wolfram: A New Kind of Science, Now Online - <AUTHOR> http://www.wolframscience.com/nks/ <comment><USER2> Bactra Review of ANKoS

[http://bactra.org/reviews/wolfram/](http://bactra.org/reviews/wolfram/)

<comment><AUTHOR> This is a garbage review.

<comment><USER2> It is a critical review.</comment></comment></comment>


7 Things Happen to You When You Are Completely Honest - <AUTHOR> http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/10/7-things-happen-to-you-when-you-are-completely-honest/ <comment><USER2> "Life is a series of failures punctuated by brief successes". That's the most precise way of looking at life I've ever seen.

The example of Google can further be boiled down to just aligning your interest with your users. Google did fantastically well because they send users to other sites as fast as they can (doesn't matter that a user spend less time on Google as a result). And they make sure PageRank algorithm does just that.

That is also why dating websites won't be as successful. Dating websites rely heavily on repeat users. That means, their users dates have to go badly for them to return. Their interest and the user's interest don't align.</comment>


Ask HN: Is there a high quality TL;DR version of GDPR regulation for a techie? - <AUTHOR> I know it is impractical to have a TL;DR of a regulation, as the devil is in details with regulations. But still what are the must haves to comply with GDPR for a side project? <comment><USER2> The details are still ambiguous to everyone and we'll see how it's enforced, but the highest-level summary is that the EU is saying that having consumers exchanging their data for services is not an acceptable business model.

Advertising is OK, but advertising based on their data is only OK if they opt in and you can't deny service if they choose not to opt in, so basically the law is saying can't trade the service for use of the data.

</comment><comment><USER3> [https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/02/gdpr-for-web- develo...](https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/02/gdpr-for-web-developers/) How about this?</comment>


Making Navigation Work (2017) - <AUTHOR> http://gameshelf.jmac.org/2017/05/making-navigation-work/ <comment><USER2> As a level designer many years ago for a team FPS, I found it worth while to play and analyze lots of games from that level design perspective. There was one interesting navigational design pattern in World of Warcraft I saw, what I called the "20 second rule" at the time.

Essentially, any time you were on a path there would be something interesting or noteworthy about every 20 seconds of walking. It might be that the path had a bridge that crossed a stream, or it took a bend, or there was a large rock or a small house, or a fork in the path. This was really noteworthy in Teldrassil, the Night Elf starting area.

I think without these landmarks, you have this nagging feeling like, "Did I miss something and should I continue down this path? Or should I go back? Maybe I did miss something."

Overall it is astounding how easy it can be to get lost in a basic first person game environment - one that you would never get lost in if it was real. I found for my own work at the time, I'd do simple things in an essentially symmetrical map like "Team A side of town has all brick buildings, Team B side of town has timbered/wooden buildings". Or place a large distinctive building on each side. Or have some aspect of the skybox stand out, like "hilly Mountain to West, distant hills in East".</comment>


Edward Hopper and American Solitude - <AUTHOR> https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/06/08/edward-hopper-and-american-solitude <comment><USER2> There's an exhibition on Hopper currently running in Switzerland and I think they have some online offerings due to Corona:

[https://www.fondationbeyeler.ch/en/exhibitions/edward- hopper](https://www.fondationbeyeler.ch/en/exhibitions/edward-hopper)

Edit: Also, if you're a Hopper fan, there's a movie which brings his paintings to life:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcQ4JKxxukY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcQ4JKxxukY)</comment>


Ask HN: Are there any tests I can run on a network to simulate 100 heavy users? - <AUTHOR>

I will be hosting a Ruby on Rails workshop at a small hotel in the near future, and while they have 'Wifi' everywhere on the property, and the property normally hosts 150 - 300 people, I am not 100% confident that they have hosted 150 tech people that tend to have heavy web surfing habits/needs.
Their tech department is also 1 or 2 guys.
Are there any automated tests I can download and run from my laptop, on the network, that would simulate 100 'heavy users' on the network at the same time?
Their broadband pipe is a 15mbps cable connection. Would that suffice for the general surfing needs of 100 - 150 techies? I know all it takes is 1 or 2 bit torrenters to kill the entire network, but assuming we can at the very least block those ports or encourage the attendees not to file share on the network, would that speed suffice for general surfing needs?
What are good resources online that would allow me to quickly get up to speed on the IT related issues, so that I can ask their sysadmins the right questions?
Edit: Note that I am fairly technical, so assume I can get up to speed quickly even with technical manuals, etc. <comment><USER2> There were recently some threads about problems with wifi at conferences. They might be useful:

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=870554>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=870489>

</comment><comment><USER3> Tsung could be a good option: <http://tsung.erlang-projects.org/>

It is a very technical tool, and it sure could use a bit more documentation for getting started, but it does what you're asking for.

You can set it up to run as a proxie and connect a browser. Then you record various sessions of typical browsing of the site you want to test and Tsung will save them in an xml format.

Based on these xml sessions you then setup a test plan for Tsung where you can define phases. The idea is to make the phases increasingly tough on the site with more and more users arriving per second.

Once you have the test plan you let Tsung loose on your servers and you will get some nice graphs and reports. If you made the later phases brutal enough you should get to see at what point the increasing traffic makes your site die and you will know wether that point is something that could realistically be reached during normal use...

<comment><AUTHOR> Hrmm....this solution sounds good from the point of view from a site owner. i.e. handling a spike in traffic to my site and trying to plan accordingly.

However, the issue I am having is trying to manage the IT infrastructure to handle 150 people joining the WiFi network at the exact same time. I am trying to setup the wifi network so that it can withstand such an onslaught without crashing.

<comment><USER4> Check out this Joel on Software post. <http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2009/10/08.html>

Be sure to note the Server Fault link it links to as well [http://serverfault.com/questions/72767/why-is-internet- acces...](http://serverfault.com/questions/72767/why-is-internet-access-and- wifi-always-so-terrible-at-large-tech-conferences)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> <http://www.solarwinds.com/products/toolsets/WANKiller.aspx> WanKiller is a pretty capable tool.

</comment><comment><USER6> Can do you 1 million

[http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/sandia- co...](http://www.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/sandia-computer- scientists-successfully-boot-one-million-linux-kernels-as-virtual-machines/)

They use that to model Botnets etc.</comment>


Lessons from Interviews of Pre-Eminent VCs in 2000 (2014) - <AUTHOR> http://tomtunguz.com/done-deals/?utm_content=bufferec870&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer <comment><USER2> (2014) which makes this even more mind-bending.

<comment><USER3> Hi Tomasz,

Ann Winblad talked about 4-5 months of product before an IPO. The huge difference now seems to be no consideration of profit or even projected profitability.

IMHO, this is beginning to hugely distort what it even means to be a business today.

Understandably no one wants to dwell on this, but it's important when we look at what has changed.

<comment><USER4> The equation has been reversed it's about future revenues. Who can you sell to rather than how much you take in. User growth was a proxy for this which is why it has become emphasized. Revenue trails growth and so forth is the saying. It's been valid in the case of Google, Facebook and not in others (say MySpace)</comment></comment></comment>


Nuitka — A Python Compiler - <AUTHOR> http://kayhayen24x7.homelinux.org/blog/nuitka-a-python-compiler/what-is-nuitka/ <comment><USER2> I sometimes see people ask about translating a language like Python to Common Lisp (or another language that can be compiled) as a kind of optimization.

The problem, in general, isn't that Python and languages like it don't have a compiler, it's that the semantics of the language are hostile to good performance by traditional means of compilation. To do what the programmer requests requires doing things at runtime that are hard to make fast. That's why things like tracing JITs are being used for things like JavaScript.

The speedup you get from actually compiling Python programs is because the CPython interpreter is pretty awful, not because compilation is a magic solution to performance problems. The IronPython guy gave a nice explanation of this at OOPSLA 2007's Dynamic Languages Symposium - maybe things have changed in CPython since then.

<comment><USER3> Compilation also helps distribution, though. Distributing a single compiled binary for a particular platform is a lot easier than telling people they need to have some particular version of Python and libraries installed.

<comment><USER2> I hear that idea put forth sometimes. When was the last time you downloaded a single compiled binary from someone? I don't think I've ever done that, except maybe for darcs.

<comment><USER4> Downloading compiled binaries from someone is what you usually do on Mac and Windows.

<comment><USER2> I've never done that; I always see either dmgs (on Mac) or installers of some sort (on Mac and Windows). The thing you download is a single file, but they expand into a lot of files. The Mac makes it look nicer with the .app idea, but you're still getting a bunch of files in there, one of which might be an interpreter for some of the other files.

<comment><USER5> You think an archive doesn't contain compiled binaries simply because it contains more than one file?

<comment><USER2> I think compilation to a single binary is not a big advantage when distributing to others. I think that because I've rarely seen anyone distribute software that way. If it's a widespread practice in some circles, I'd like to know more about the circumstances.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The licence (GPLv3) limits its use a bit - at least for people who prefer other licences like BSD or MIT.

The generated C++ source contains the following comment:

// This code is in part copyright Kay Hayen, license GPLv3. This has the consequence that // your must either obtain a commercial license or also publish your original source code // under the same license unless you don't distribute this source or its binary.

<comment><USER7> I'm confused by this. I thought the license used by a compiler had no effect on the licenses that could be used for programs compiled by it. If the author of Nuitka is claiming that software compiled by Nuitka is in fact a derivative work of Nuitka, that is indeed very problematic.

<comment><USER8> That was my immediate assumption too, but part of the compiler's output is going to be some kind of a runtime library. If that itself is GPL 3 and the code generated by the compiler statically links to it, then I'm pretty sure a case could be made that the compiler's output is a derivitive work. Kind of sneaky and non intuitive, though.

This is all way out of my area of expertise, so take it with a grain of salt.

<comment><USER9> This issue is why bison's license contains a special exception for the part(s) of itself it includes in its output. [http://www.gnu.org/software/bison/manual/html_node/Condition...](http://www.gnu.org/software/bison/manual/html_node/Conditions.html)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Personally I have more faith in JITs for dynamic languages such as Python. It just seems a more natural match. That said, I'm sure there are many Python programs out there that are essencially static.

Did anybody else notice the large number of compilers/interpreters/tools built for python in comparison to many other languages out there? I think it might partly be the advantage of having an easy to parse language with well defined semantics.

<comment><USER11> "I think it might partly be the advantage of having an easy to parse language with well defined semantics."

Either that or the combination of a popular language and poor performance

<comment><USER12> I think you're right about the popular language part. But also important is that it's popular amongst really talented hackers. By contrast, PHP is a million times more popular than Python, but has almost nobody building tools for it. The overlap between the type of people who like PHP and those who have the ability and desire to hack on tools for it, is very very small.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Here's a simple test for the curious. It's not a benchmark.

      import math
      num_primes = 0
      for i in xrange(2, 500000):
        if all(i % j for j in xrange(2, int(math.sqrt(i)) + 1)):
          num_primes += 1
      print num_primes

Here's the code above translated to C++ by Nuitka: <http://pastebin.com/41ueyTEB>

      # CPython 2.6.6
      $ time python hello.py
      41538
      real	0m6.377s
      user	0m6.350s
      sys	0m0.020s

      # Nuitka & g++-4.5
      $ time ./hello.exe
      41538
      real	0m4.573s
      user	0m4.270s
      sys	0m0.300s

<comment><USER14> i ran each test 3 times and picked the fastest. I shutdown all servers(mysql, apache), closed music player to minimize the system effect on the test.

Python:

        real    0m12.775s
        user    0m12.636s
        sys    0m0.037s

Nuitka:

        real	0m7.096s
        user	0m6.930s
        sys	0m0.093s

Lua:

        real	0m2.641s
        user	0m2.410s
        sys	0m0.010s

LuaJit:

        real	0m0.613s
        user	0m0.600s
        sys	0m0.000s

from experience experimenting with a toy scripting language where tried to make it as minimal as possible, essentially every operation was a function call so it just figured out what the right function was and called the corresponding function directly via a C++ function pointer. In the end it was slightly faster than LuaJit at doing some math for 100,000 times. It was a file with the same operation pasted 100,000 times which tested parsing speed... anyway...

TL;DR If you want to know why Python and Nuitka are so much slower, run the test through callgrind or something that reports the number of functions calls being made. You will find Python(possibly Nuitka as well) making billions of functions and allocations while lua's count in maybe a couple hundred million at most.

Also, I tested my Lua code converted to Python but it only shaved less than 1 second of fastest so no difference.

test.lua:

        local sqrt = math.sqrt
        num_primes = 0
        for i = 2, 500000 do
            n = 1
            for j = 2, sqrt(i) do
                if (i % j) == 0 then
                    n = 0
                    break
                end
            end
            num_primes = num_primes + n
        end
        print (num_primes)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> In this Python-to-C++ vein, there's also Shed Skin ( <http://shed- skin.blogspot.com/> ), which has been at it for a few years.

</comment><comment><USER16> I was developing a compiler called unPython for a while but I have not yet released it openly. Plan to do so "soon". It is a compiler for annotated subset of Python (particularly NumPy, rest of it being very slow or not supported) to a C++ Python module. Will post here once I release it.

<comment><USER17> Why wouldn't you just use Cython? it has good numpy integration as well as being quite good for everything else?

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> Should also just check out Psyco: <http://psyco.sourceforge.net/>

"Psyco is a Python extension module which can greatly speed up the execution of any Python code."

<comment><USER19> Psyco is unmaintained, the developer of it (Armin Rigo) is working on PyPy (a Python compiler written in Python) instead: <http://codespeak.net/pypy/dist/pypy/doc/>

They are already seeing quite nice results for computation-heavy benchmarks with the (tracing) JIT: <http://speed.pypy.org/comparison/>

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> 50% speed up, or even 2x, 3x matters to a few niches and users. But for the vast majority it's not significant enough to change/accept limitations (not 2.7/3.1)/accept risks (is this as tested/supported as CPython). We'll just wait for CPython's regular speed improvements and/or effective processing power to increase another order of magnitude.

Research like this is very important. I just don't think it's wise to be viewing it as a silver bullet for use in production.

</comment><comment><USER12> Ah, it's phc (<http://phpcompiler.org>) for Python. Excellent!</comment>


Describe yourself as a programming object - <AUTHOR>

I was looking at craigslist posting for a job and it asked me to program myself as a php class. I thought this was cool and wanted to see if any YCer's wanted to give it a try. Here is me:
<?php
class Auston {
function Auston(){
 //basic stats
 $age = 21;
 $experience = 2.5;
 $knowsajax = true;
 $knowssemantichtml = true;
 $knowscss = true;
 $phone = '944-870-6259';
 $email = 'firstname.lastname@example.com';
 }

 function beCreative($input){
 //Does defining myself as an object constitute creativity?
 $output = $input.rand($ideas, $thoughts);
 return $output;
 }

 function learn($skill, $language){
   //I love learning new things
    if(isset($skill)){
         $relatedinfo = $query->google($skill);
         $query->storeIntoDB($relatedinfo);
        }
    elseif(isset($language)){
        $relatedinfo = $query->google($skill);
        $query->storeIntoDB($relatedinfo);
         $readbook = $buybook->fromborderson($relatedinfo);
        $query->storeIntoDB($readbook);
        }
    else{
      return false;
    }
 }

 function multitask($arrayofupto5tasks){
   //I can easily manage 3-5 small tasks
   $i = 0;
  foreach ($arrayofupto5tasks as $value){
  $query->storeIntoDB($value);
  $execute->task($arrayofupto5tasks[$i]);
  $i++
  }
 }

 function deliverProjectIn($time){
 $deliverytime = $time/3;
 $execute->projectIn($deliverytime);
 //that was a joke
 }

 function beAtWorkBy($time){
 $wakeup = $time+3600;
 $drivetowork = $wakeup+1800;
 $gettowork = $drivetowork+1800;
 //that was a joke
 }

 function showDemo(){
 $arrayofsites = array('http://www.nextmoveinc.com/ycomb/heom_demo.html ', 'http://www.investorscrystalball.com', 'http://www.expeditedtravel.com/call-center/index.html' );
 $site = rand(0,2);
 header('Location :'.$site.');
 }
 }
?> <comment><USER2> One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found himself

transformed in his bed into a PHP class. He lay between clumsy pointed

brackets, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his soft-referenced

underbelly, poorly indented and divided into giant blocks with redundant loops

and parallel data structures. The tests were hardly able to cover it and seemed

ready to slide off any moment. His many built-ins, pitifully feeble compared

to the bloated code they had to support, thrashed about helplessly

as he looked.

<comment><USER3> LOL!!!

I guess I'm the only one who got the ref.

(For all you uncultured lamers: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_metamorphosis>) :-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> 1\. Your constructor has its entire contents commented out.

2\. You should remove the $i in the function multitask(). You don't need it because the foreach is storing $arrayofupto5tasks[$i] in $value.

     function multitask($arrayofupto5tasks){
       //I can easily manage 3-5 small tasks
       $i = 0;
      foreach ($arrayofupto5tasks as $value){
      $query->storeIntoDB($value);
      $execute->task($arrayofupto5tasks[$i]);
      $i++
      }
     }

3\. It's disappointing that your showDemo() function has a hard coded number 2 in it ($site = rand(0,2);) since you could get that from the array length. And also the header() bit has an extra ' in it.

4\. Your learn() function returns false in one case and doesn't return anything in others.

<comment><AUTHOR> i was hoping someone would do this...

1.the constructor isnt commented out in text mate, or dreamweaver just here(yc).

2.i need the $i cause i store the task into the db then execute it.

3\. i could have done that, and it would scale. but i didnt cause i only have 3 demos. you are probably right about the extra '

4\. need to review it, im on my phone right now

<comment><USER4> 1\. I wondered if that might be the case.

2\. I don't understand this explanation, is $value destroyed by the call to storeIntoDB? At the very least your $i++ needs a terminating ;

<comment><AUTHOR> you are right! i should have went with a while loop

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I can't, it is considered bad form to write up a god object.

<comment><USER6> I almost laughed out loud at this. At work :-)

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> def icky(should_be_hacking=True):

            try:
                while should_be_hacking:
                    yc.news.read()
                    yc.news.post(inane=True)
            except IOError:
                grumble()
            hack()</comment>


The Blanck Keyboard - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@friggeri/the-blanck-keyboard-24afe12e81a#.7lirxyrhy <comment><USER2> Really nice work. I never quite adjusted to these metal plate mounted keyboards (PCB mounted are much more pleasant) and I wonder if wood do the trick.</comment>


Backwards compatibility in Go (2015) - <AUTHOR> http://blog.merovius.de/2015/07/29/backwards-compatibility-in-go.html <comment><USER2> The author is essentially saying any API change has the potential to break backward compatibility and that we should define what kind of breakage is ok.

That's kind of interesting, and I'd not considered many of the scenarios mentioned (which apply beyond go).

Perhaps the "correct", but cumbersome thing to do is supply different versions of the API when maintaining backward compatibility and never change the old version.

<comment><USER3> There's no need to reinvent the wheel. Semantic versioning already defines a standard for managing version changes in a pragmatic way.

[http://semver.org/](http://semver.org/)

<comment><AUTHOR> I think you either did not read the article or missed the point. Author says if you make _seemingly innocent non-breaking changes_ you might think it does not require a major version change in SemVer but in fact (for instance in case of adding struct fields) it does.

<comment><USER4> Yes but only in Go. There are projects that have successfully evolved APIs in not only source compatible but binary compatible ways over a period of decades. Win32 and Java are the obvious candidates.

Not changing or deleting existing functions and fields is easy. The problem is that Go apparently doesn't let you reliably add things either. That is kind of a joke, how is anyone expected to be able to evolve an API if you can't even add things?

Seems like the consensus is "well it doesn't happen often so it's not an issue" which is weak. Go isn't even trying for binary compatibility, the article is only talking about source compat!

<comment><USER5> > Yes but only in Go.

I don't believe this to be true. I'd say at least _most_ languages/projects would have exactly the same kind of problems (some of them at runtime, some of them at compile time), it's just that in practice they don't really matter. So you don't know about it and it seems, to a casual observer, to work just fine.

> The problem is that Go apparently doesn't let you reliably add things > either.

Neither does, at least, C. I'd guess that python also doesn't let you do it. I don't know enough about java, but I'd assume that it has the same problems.

What you need to understand is, that I applied an extremely nit-picky interpretation of stability. It's not like any of the things I mentioned are learned from experience or practical problems; I just understand the go type system enough and thought really hard whether there is an obviously correct and useful interpretation of API stability under its constraints and came up with a (mostly theoretical) result. Most projects in go that use SemVer apply a more generous and naive notion that works well enough in practice. C projects do exactly the same.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> This reminded me of "Spec-ulation" from Rich Hickey [0]

[0] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyLBGkS5ICk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyLBGkS5ICk)

</comment><comment><USER7> Well yeah, much of this is true for many languages / libraries. And some of the more annoying ones that other languages don't tend to suffer from (adding a method) are largely due to Go's duck-typed interfaces, or the lack of constructors (there's no way to have optional values, except via factory methods. you _could_ use nothing but factory methods, but it simplifies initializers so much you are disincentivized to do so).

</comment><comment><USER8> I think what the author was trying to figure out was not just when you should do a major/minor version update, but how that could be done automatically. An example is how in Elm it can detect a major vs minor change and bump your numbers automatically when you publish. Something like that for Go could be built into some tool to help package maintainers (public + private) keep SemVar up to date automatically since there are already types and there are ways to possibly detect changes since a previous version.

I imagine you could write a tool that would check the previous highest "v*" tag in git's version of the project vs now using something like go-guru and determine if any public interfaces were changed and that could automatically determine if it's a major or minor bump.

<comment><USER5> You are interpreting me correctly :) Indeed, the article was written when I started writing that tool and quickly figured out that it was impossible to do satisfactory.

I'm a mathematician, so the only satisfactory solution to me would be one that is "clearly correct". As soon as you need to first get agreement about the definition you are using, you are probably not designing a clean and beautiful thing :)

<comment><USER8> Yea I've had this discussion with a friend of mine who likes Haskell and got me in to Elm. He claimed you could only get that kind of tool in something like those languages which have stricter and stronger type systems. I'm not familiar with the details, but it looks like you ran in to that problem too.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> After I posted this I thought of writing a tool that checks if you are making breaking API changes in your go package. Turns out there is already one: [https://github.com/bradleyfalzon/apicompat/](https://github.com/bradleyfalzon/apicompat/)

<comment><USER5> The article was created because I was starting to write a tool to do this. After sitting down and thinking about it quickly, I came to the conclusion in the article: There _is_ no non-breaking change (or rather: That determination can not be made from the package you are looking at). At that point I put the idea to rest :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> > Changing a function/method signature

Another reason for methods is a user could have created an interface based on your method, and assigned your implementing object to a variable of that type. Changing the method signature makes that assignment invalid.

</comment><comment><USER5> Author of the article here. Weird to be on HN ^^ If you have questions, shoot away.

</comment><comment><USER10> > tl;dr: There are next to no "backwards compatible API changes" in go. You > should explicitely name your compatibility-guarantees.

It's not a problem in languages that come with a package manager, or at least promote a specific one to handle dependencies.

It's only a problem in languages where developers thinks "you don't need that". There is this weird belief in the Go community that Go is a miraculous language where good programming practices don't apply because Go magically make them irrelevant. It also stems from the Go team itself, which used to claim that "at Google, we don't need this or that" and then the Go community spreading the "gospel" : "Go doesn't suit you because it wasn't created for you"(?!?).

Hopefully Russ Cox sees that light, he even wrote a paper about "Go zealots" ( [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13356531](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13356531) ) and how they refuse any change in the language, even when "teams at Google needs it". The irony

<comment><USER5> > It's not a problem in languages that come with a package manager, or at > least promote a specific one to handle dependencies.

No. It is pretty much _only_ a problem in languages with a package manager. Languages without the notion of package versioning don't run into the issue of needing to have a notion of what a version is, clearly. A package manager just helps automatically enforce versioning, it does zero to help you figure out what the correct version is.

Yes, not coming with versioning and a package manager comes with its own disadvantages and pain, no doubt. And we can surely debate which pain outweighs or is worse. But claiming that package managers would solve this problem just isn't true (I wrote the article when the whole "SemVer and package manager for go" debate was taking off and I tried to come up with a better approach).

> It's only a problem in languages where developers thinks "you don't need > that". There is this weird belief in the Go community that Go is a > miraculous language where good programming practices don't apply because Go > magically make them irrelevant.

Can you source that? I am one of the most vocal opponents of package managers and versioning in go, but this contradicts everything I believe about it. My believes aren't, that go doesn't need it, but that a) it comes with its own set of problems, that b) those outweigh most of the benefits, IMO and c) that by considering and discussing it carefully, we might be able to come up with an actually innovative new solution to the problems.

Nowhere do I claim that go doesn't have those problems, on the contrary. I'm just arguing that, traditionally, go is a language that prefers doing things right over doing things like they were always done.</comment></comment>


Show HN: ImportDoc – Use the content from a Google Doc in any web page - <AUTHOR> https://importdoc.com/ <comment><USER2> Something I've been wanting to write but will quite honestly never have time is a lightweight replacement for WordPress where all editing happens locally in an Electron app and a static site is published/rsynched to a web server with backups stored in a git or hg repo. The big nut to crack, in my mind, is to support multiple distributed content editors at once, which is why I was thinking that the publish action is really pushing to Git and invoking an API on the web server to do a `git fetch` or equivalent. Does anyone know of a project that does what I'm describing? ImportDoc _sort of_ does this but with a reliance on Google Docs it's not 100% portable.

<comment><USER3> Well, not exactly electron-based, but Lektor (python-based) for the most part DOES provide conceptually what you asked for:

* lightweight replacement for wordpress

* static site generator

* ability to deploy/publish through various channels such as rysnc, github, gitlab, etc.

* not dependent on google docs.

Here are the details around Lekot's deployment options (you'll want to review the left-hand nav under this section too): [https://www.getlektor.com/docs/deployment/](https://www.getlektor.com/docs/deployment/)

I've been using hugo for my personal site, and it has been ok-ish...but I will be moving to Lektor...because jinja templating seems to be easier for me to understand as opposed to hugo's/Go's templating. But, this is of course a personal choice, and YMMV.

Cheers!

<comment><USER2> The idea I've got is that __anyone __could use the editor /publisher I'm trying to describe after watching a 10 minute YouTube video and pulling down the Electron app. Another goal would be to help people in repressive regimes spread news and information that the government wants suppressed: that's why I was thinking of building this on a git/hg model but with all of the hairy aspects of distributed source control abstracted or made easy so the content creators can focus on creating content instead of learning MIS minutiae.

<comment><USER3> I see what you mean...and i definitely would NOT want to dissuade you from any such activities in building what you described - the more attention around providing options for tech and non-techs alike is for the best! However, i wonder if part of what you wish for, might already be built? Have you scoured options via the following? [https://www.staticgen.com/](https://www.staticgen.com/)

If not the whole stack, maybe components and modules might already exist, and you can build upon them? Again, the more options that exist for people to more easily post and host their own content (and in my opinion not beholden to the walled garden silos) is best! In any case, good luck! Cheers!

<comment><USER2> I kinda hope all of the Legos exist and just need to be snapped together in the right way! Would a high-level write-up of the concept be appropriate to post as an "Ask HN" in order gauge (1) whether all of the needed parts exist and (2) what the level of interest would be in assembling the parts/creating what is missing? Regarding part 2, I __suck __at JavaScript so me creating an electron app will happen the day after Linus Torvalds and Steve Ballmer create a tech startup together...

<comment><USER3> In response to your items...

1\. I mean, i guess you could post an "Ask HN"; you could certainly get other insights and intel from others...but if it were me, i think I'd just dive in and start researching things on my own. Or, maybe just get all meta on this topic, and post your thoughts around this to your own existing blog (assuming you have one now?)...about how you wish to go through this endeavor!

2\. I vote for you to just "scratch your own itch".

Hey, I'm not a javascript guru either...But if this were the approach that i would want to take - i.e. to leverage electron - and it doesn't/didn't exist, i might be compelled to learn enough javascript to at least get the ball rolling myself ("dangerous" though it might feel)...and along the way - assuming you've already posted about this effort of yours - maybe others will join in to help you - that is, others who might be better javascript practitioners, and who want the same platform as you want. I think that's worth a shot! I encourage you to go for it! What is it that Ghandi said: "Be the change that you wish to see in the world." Good luck and cheers!

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Love the concept, but I am waiting for Notion.so API to fully migrate to this type of perfect/simple blog back-end.

The engineers at Zeit have a concept of this WITH magical SPR

[https://zeit.co/blog/serverless-pre- rendering](https://zeit.co/blog/serverless-pre-rendering)

<comment><AUTHOR> Glad you posted, that was a big inspiration for this project!

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> I'm seeing so many google docs/sheets ideas on HN lately. Maybe there's a new trend! This on, the database one and someone linked to one that turns it into an AppStore ready app!

<comment><USER6> Also noticed this recently - whats driving this? Non-developers looking to prototype or build actual products without developer involvement? Democratisation of technology?

<comment><USER7> I would say ease of use and cost. A friend of mine has been using Google Sheets for years to power some small bits of data on his website. Maintaining and running his site costs nothing but the domain since he uses Netlify for CI w/Github and hosting with Google Sheets for dynamic data.

His "credits" section and song list uses Google Sheets: [https://www.pontusrufelt.com](https://www.pontusrufelt.com)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> All these ideas are cool, but I am not sure how I feel about further locking myself into the google ecosystem.

</comment><comment><USER9> We did this a couple years ago! It works similarly, plus our version is open source (not sure if their one is). Runs on Google Apps script, but you could use it on any hosted js service really.

[https://github.com/PeterTheHe/GoogPress](https://github.com/PeterTheHe/GoogPress)

</comment><comment><USER10> There needs to be more of these types of solutions. Though, I'd like to see people moving away from Google as a whole. There is a decentralized publishing platform called LetterMesh ([https://lettermesh.com/](https://lettermesh.com/)) and it uses the content from (disclaimer: this is my company) Graphite Docs ([https://graphitedocs.com](https://graphitedocs.com))

</comment><comment><USER11> this has become one of those HN threads that just keeps on giving. thanks for recommendations for publii lektor, googpress, staticgen and hexopress, and the parent article on import doc.

There is a geshtalt emerging in this space that makes me hopeful and curious to see where it leads?

</comment><comment><USER12> I've always found the Sheets Solution to be a little bit better as it feels more like a database. It also allows you to store lots of data in different ways, but maybe a google docs / sheets solution would be the best all round for something such as a blog.

</comment><comment><USER13> Really cool. So the doc has to be sent to the importdoc.com servers first? Is there anyway around that?

</comment><comment><USER14> HN hugged? I get a network error when I click login. A network error has occurred Dismiss

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey, I built this. Login seems to be working fine at the moment. Mail me at firstname.lastname@example.com if you're still having issues.</comment></comment>


M-Kopa sells solar panels to poor Africans and provides them with credit - <AUTHOR> http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-mkopa-solar-in-africa/ <comment><USER2> Clickbait title that makes it sound like the company is ripping people off, but the article was actually interesting and doesn't have that tone.

<comment><USER3> Ok, we replaced that with language from the subtitle.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is a great idea. One thing that most unbanked people in the third world lack is access to easy credit. What a great way to extend credit than essentially a lease to own on useful products. They can easily expand this concept to many other products which can improve the quality of life for their customers and make them rich and create jobs at the same time. Win win win.</comment>


The Pirate Bay Ordered to Delete Copyright-Infringing Torrents - <AUTHOR> http://erictric.com/world/the-pirate-bay-ordered-to-delete-copyright-infringing-torrents

<comment><AUTHOR> Translation of [http://www.nu.nl/internet/2107489/the-pirate-bay-hoeft- niet-...](http://www.nu.nl/internet/2107489/the-pirate-bay-hoeft-niet- zwart.html) :

AMSTERDAM - The controversial Swedish torrentsite the Pirate bay does not have to be switched off. The mainainters will have to take care of removing torrentlinks which in turn point to illegal copies of files such as movies or music will have to be removed and should no longer be accessible for Dutch users.

This is what the court in Amsterdam has decided on Thursday.

If the maintainers do not obey this court order then up to three million in punitive damages can be awarded.

In Juli the judge also found in favour of the foundation 'Brein', which demanded successfully the the site would be made inaccessible for Dutch users. The case was done over because the maintainers of the Pirate Bay were not present.

The summons had not reached them in time.

Damages

The judge found that the Pirate Bay is acting in conflict with the law by allowing its users to structurally infringe copyright, and that it is 'very likely' that the members of the foundation 'Brein' are experiencing damage.

Contrary to the first verdict this one does not force the maintainers of the Pirate Bay to close the site off in its entirety.

Responsible

The lawyers for 'Brein' argued that the Pirate Bay is offering millions of illegal files, computergames, movies and software packages without permission of the rights holders.

Solicitor Ernst-Jan Louwers of the Swedish defendants Lennart Neij, Sunde Kolmisoppi and Gottfrid Warg, said that the founders are no longer owners or maintainers of the Pirate Bay. The site is deemed to be the property of the shady company 'Reservella' on the Seychelles.

However, the judge found that Brein argued successfully that the three still are maintainers of the site, especially since they could not say who sold it to, nor could they produce a bill of sale.

</comment><comment><USER2> I found this interesting:

 _The defense had argued that not Fredrik, Gottfrid and Peter were not the owners of the site, but a Seychelles based company named Reservella. The Court rejected this defense as the defendants could not name the current owners or provide any documents proving that the site was sold. It concluded that the three defendants are responsible for the site._

That strikes me as really the first time any court has properly, legally, seriously made that distinction and then rules on it. Precedent?

<comment><AUTHOR> Quite possibly. I think the are playing games and that either they are still owners or they have a deal with someone they do not want to name to 'hold' it for them until the heat is of (as if that would ever happen).

Not very savvy of them, judges are not as stupid as most techies assume they are.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> blogspam. [http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-ordered-to-delete- tor...](http://torrentfreak.com/the-pirate-bay-ordered-to-delete- torrents-091022/) is the actual source

<comment><AUTHOR> You are right about the original source, but it isn't 'blogspam'. It's just where I ran in to it. If I would be the owner of the blog then it would be blogspam.

Also, unfortunately it's too late for me to edit the link.</comment></comment>


Ellen Pao Says Silicon Valley Isn't a Meritocracy. It's Not - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/05/27/just-look-at-the-numbers/ <comment><USER2> This word, meritocracy... sometimes to me, it feels like it is to capitalism what utopia is to socialism.

</comment><comment><USER3> So, as I write this comment, this has 9 points and was posted 49 minutes ago. It doesn't appear on the front page. Or second page.

Meanwhile, on the front page is "Dune Quotes", with 8 points posted an hour ago; and "The Fallen of World War II", with 8 points and two hours ago.

It's almost like the "objective" algorithmic has a bias against discussing gender!

<comment><AUTHOR> It was on the front page for about 5 minutes before it got flagged.</comment></comment>


Disable scripts for Data Saver users on slow connections - <AUTHOR> https://www.chromestatus.com/feature/4775088607985664 <comment><AUTHOR> This is only a proposal at this stage, but in a future version Chrome may block <script> tags loading if the user is on a slow connection. Seems like a great idea.</comment>