Miyamoto Admits Nintendo Underestimated The Switch To HD - <AUTHOR> http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2013/07/08/miyamoto-admits-nintendo-underestimated-the-switch-to-hd/ <comment><USER3> Of the big three i easily have the most faith in Nintendo. Why? Because they know how to make games i enjoy, and have been doing so for well over 2 decades.

Nintendo put themselves in a tough spot, with dwindling Wii sales they were left with the choice of having no Console choice or having one with no games(very few). It can be argued which is the better option, obviously both suck.

I do not consider Nintendo in trouble, there base(as has been proven time and time again) will always be there(mainly because they stick to there guns, for better or worse). Point & case of this is the 3DS, when this was release for a good 7-8 months it was considered a horrible console, with its best game being a remake of "The Legend of Zelda OOT"(arguably). Look at it now it is considered to be the best running console available. Granted it some good games in this 7-8 month period, but not much.

My point is, when it comes down to it, games sell consoles, and the WiiU has no games, at all really. Once they come, and they will, the console will be in at least fine shape. I personally have not bought one, but it is on my list above both the xbox1 and the ps4.

My 2 cents...

<comment><USER4> Are you kidding? Of the big three, I consider Nintendo dead-man walking. The reality is that the console business is a big company game, and Nintendo is just too small. You need to sink billions of dollars to develop and subsidize the console, be willing to lose money for years and then do it all over again 6-10 years later. Microsoft can do it, and Sony can do it, Nintendo can't. They need to make money because unlike Microsoft and Sony, they don't have other revenue streams. This necessities them releasing under-powered consoles. They got lucky with the Wii. They are not so lucky with the WiiU.

They are still the king of mobile console gaming ... sort of. Tablet and smartphones are eating away their bottom line, and the trend will continue (the minute that Apple and Google decide to focus on mobile gaming in earnest will spell the end of Nintendo). The problem for Nintendo is that mobile gaming is an afterthought for Apple and Google. They don't _need_ to do well in that area to survive, however every point of marketshare that Nintendo loses because little Johnny is fine enough playing games on his iPad instead of buying a 3DS hurts Nintendo incredibly. Everyone will have a smartphone or a tablet, so justifying a 3DS purchase is that much harder.

They make good games, yes, but it won't change the fact that they are in a lot of trouble.

<comment><USER5> People have been saying they're good as dead since N64. It seems to me they are doing just fine.

<comment><USER6> IMO, net income falling for five years with no end in sight is not "doing just fine." Just because people have wrongly claimed something in the past does not mean that they can't be rightly claiming it now.

<comment> mkr-hn That fall is from the high of the Wii's unprecedented success.

<comment><USER7> Mouhaha. "unprecedented success". They just managed to sell a lot of boxes with ONE game per system. The Wii is probably the first console where you have the lowest number of games sold per unit on average, because so many casual gamers bought it and left it lie in the dust after playing with it a couple of times.

<comment><USER6> Hell, I'm a hardcore gamer, and all I ever used my Wii for was to play Metroid Prime with a gamecube controller, since I never had a gamecube. (My wife won the thing at a raffle.) It's sitting there gathering dust.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> Seems pretty inexcusable to me. Nintendo was able to coast through the entire last-gen not doing HD games at all. Now they have to do HD on their new console, and it was perfectly clear they were going to have to do HD, and it's too much work for them to get games out on time??

<comment><USER9> That's just Nintendo being Nintendo. They (seemingly) don't ever watch their competitors or consider the lessons their competitors are learning.

It's not so different than their being dragged kicking-and-screaming into connected services and then introducing initial offerings that look and function as if none of them had ever even seen the Internet before, let alone used any connected services that had been on offer from the industry.

Also: their games are always slow to materialize. Despite SD resolutions, the Wii was a similar-scale software-wasteland for at least its first year. (or longer - depending on how generous you're feeling)

The only real difference is that its launch titles retained novelty and popularity as more and more people were being first-introduced to waggle- gaming. Now that it's old hat, and every visitor isn't demanding to try it out, no-one's logging a hundred hours on a launch title and the lack of software is more glaring.

<comment> mkr-hn Nintendo being Nintendo has served them well for decades. It's not reasonable to expect them to throw their entire corporate identity out just because they have a huge Wii-shaped bump in their stock chart.

What makes Nintendo unique among console makers--and what carries them through each generation--is focusing on making fun games, not abiding the latest trends. Nintendo does roughly what Apple does: let the competitors make all the big mistakes and take the PR hits, then come behind and release something that gets it right on the first try.

<comment><USER9> There's a difference between chasing trends and actually doing research into a problem-area before releasing your service.

And the bit where you claim they release something that gets it right on the first try? That's the exact opposite of Nintendo history. Friend codes, the Wii shop, the Netflix-app-disc situation -- these were not examples of Nintendo "getting it right". These are counter-examples.

That said, I wasn't speaking to whether Nintendo-being-Nintendo was good or bad for them. I was just pointing out that the Wii U's situation isn't particularly surprising.

<comment><USER10> I would completely disagree about friend codes--Nintendo fundamentally makes consoles and portables, and games for same, that it's "safe" to hand over to your five-year-old without all that much supervision. Friend codes add network connectivity to that mixture without sacrificing five-year-old safety. Any sort of a "lobby" system, on the other hand--especially one that allows chat-- instantly sacrifices five-year-old safety (and will teach your kids several new words!)

<comment><USER9> I should have been more clear: per-game friend codes were the most egregious problem. Per-account friend codes are a reasonable-enough precaution, given their target market.

Even still: allowing some mute matchmaking and play, with friend codes required for anything involving trades or chat, is a superior solution to the same problem that was already available in the market to be co-opted [1], if only Nintendo ever considered what others had done and learned.

[1] basically what ToonTown Online was doing in the same space, for the same reasons, since 2003.

<comment><USER10> Really, I think this is a difference in outlook between the American and Japanese markets. Look at Pokemon, for example: in western markets, it was seen as a "you mean I have to buy two versions to 100% the game!?" cash-grab; in Japan--which is much denser, geographically--you were actually reasonably likely to have _multiple_ people to trade with for _any_ game with such features.

To put it another way: Nintendo basically expects people to want to play with their "real friends" over the net--as an extension of their older "sit around a console in the living room together" dynamic--and sees no benefit in letting people play with/against strangers. They assume that if a kid wants badly to find someone to play a game with, they'll go and find someone in the real world, convince them [to convince their parents] to buy the game, and play it with them. This also, as a side-benefit (from Nintendo's perspective), shunts the work of "moderation" in these games to the parents: deciding whether to let your child hang around with some other child is already a well-established thing that parents do, and making it a prerequisite to establishing a game- play link means that parents can't complain to Nintendo for exposing their children to "the wrong sorts"\--the responsibility was effectively passed back to them.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> > It remains to be seen if Nintendo?s laundry list of beloved exclusives can > carry them for another console generation. I recently asked Xbox loyalists > if Microsoft?s continued employment of Master Chief and Halo was enough to > keep them excited about the console. Most said no, and I wonder if the > numbers will finally start to turn for Nintendo as well.

I think that this part misses the point about the differences between Halo and Mario. Halo is and always has been aimed towards the types that have been long term gamers and has only been recently usurped by the likes of Call of Duty et al.

Mario and its entire universe has brand value with parents and is geared towards practically anyone who can figure out a d-pad.

While I think that most of the Mario franchise is just a rehash of a rehash (Mario Bros. Wii being the last rehash I liked), for as long as parents see the games that way, Nintendo can keep pumping them out.

<comment><USER12> True, but how long can Nintendo stay afloat with only the strength of the Mario franchise to lean upon. 3rd party developers are giving the WiiU no love, and the WiiU doesn't have the hook to attract casual gamers the way the original Wii did.

I think parents will still choose Mario, but that number is going to get smaller and smaller as time goes on. Why spend $300 for a console that only has Mario games? That's not a good way forward for Nintendo.

<comment><USER13> > True, but how long can Nintendo stay afloat with only the strength of the > Mario franchise to lean upon.

Perhaps we can ask Disney the same question about Mickey Mouse.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Lot of doom and gloom about the only gaming company that doesn't dump their product on the market at a loss. Sony and Microsoft piss away literally billions of dollars for years waiting for their consoles to become profitable.

And here's a redditor putting the Wii U game library in context: [http://www.reddit.com/r/wiiu/comments/1gurfs/is_nintendo_pre...](http://www.reddit.com/r/wiiu/comments/1gurfs/is_nintendo_preparing_for_a_n64_style_generation/cao1kvm) The Wii U receives slightly better than average third party support vs other Nintendo consoles.

</comment><comment><USER15> That's OK, been playing my Wii games in HD for ages on Dolphin...

No seriously, my only complaint about the Wii graphics was that they weren't very smooth on a 50 inch screen. They didn't need to be photo-realistic, but a bit less blocky would have been nice. Hence Dolphin.

</comment><comment><USER16> Here's something people easily forget... The gamecube wasn't that successful either and the Wii was derided in the press for having a dumb name initially. Even the hardcore didn't quite "get it" at launch.

It wasn't until Wii Sports created this group gaming that was accessible to everybody in the family that it really took off.

The place where Nintendo is not going to lose to Sony or Microsoft is the family friendly entertainment that you just can't get on the PS3 or 360 (or PS4 or XBOne). I've got young children and I can't play Left 4 Dead, Call of Duty, Halo, etc. in front of them if I don't want to expose them to graphic violence, blood, etc.

Nintendo games biggest challenge is going to be on the dealing with "app" type consoles filled with tons of casual games that are cheap or free to play. Think Ouya or Apple TV or some other console with F2P or $1 games like Sonic, vs mario for $50+ and I think Nintendo's ability to create experiences people will pay a premium for is going to be harder, but not impossible.

</comment><comment><USER17> There are three things Nintendo understimated: how much HD would add to the cost to create a game, how little HD would add to the value of a game, and how badly third parties would insist on it anyway.

</comment><comment><USER18> I think Nintendo, but also Sony and Microsoft will have a hard time convincing people to buy a console or portable once Apple releases iOS 7 with the rumored game controller support. You can be sure controllers will be made available for other popular phones too and in about a year there'll be plenty of good games on the market, for much less than classic console and portable games.

If you can get such a controller for less than 50$ and already have a smartphone or iPod touch like device, then I just don't see why you'd want to buy yet another gaming device.

Now give me a good and comfortable controller for my iPad and I won't buy any console anymore.

<comment><USER12> Look at the top selling games on consoles. Grand Theft Auto, Mario games, Halo, Call of Duty, Madden. How many of those games can be done on a tablet or phone? Zero.

Home console gaming currently offers gaming experiences that cannot be done on mobile devices. Mobile devices are only a threat to mobile consoles.

<comment><USER19> GTA / Madden | Fifa / CoD | Battlefield / Mario-like platformers are on iOS right now. Most of them quite decent. They'll get better if an official Controller (or) an API is launched. I think there's an opportunity for a proper platformer IP exclusively made for mobile seeing as how its exploding onto traditional consoles (Ouya/etc)

Remember Nintendo's investors threatened the board and wanted them to release Nintendo IP on Mobile appstores [1].

[1] [http://www.idownloadblog.com/2011/09/15/nintendo-no-games- ap...](http://www.idownloadblog.com/2011/09/15/nintendo-no-games-app-store/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> I think the only console manufacturer, in this generation, that focused on ease of programming from the hardware side was Sony; to make up for the mistakes they've made in the past with resulted in PS3's Cell. That said, I didn't hear anything about Wii U having a weird architecture like PS3's Cell. The only thing I keep reading is that the Wii U's specs are actually even weaker than the Xbox 360's hardware.

<comment><USER21> But the PS4 and the Xbox One have weaker specs than my one-year-old PC so I guess whatever point you're making about the Wii U applies to those consoles as well.

<comment><USER20> Not really. Both PS4 and XBox One pretty much sport near off the shelf PC CPUs and GPUs. They're a lot closer to a PC architecture wise than a Wii U is. Well the Xbox One is a little harder to program for since it doesn't have unified memory.

<comment><USER21> Sure, off the shelf parts, but not the latest and greatest. I'm just expanding on the thought that if a console has weaker specs than other consoles then it couldn't possibly have good games. Consoles are always behind gaming PCs so therefore the logic dictates that you can't have good games on any consoles.

Which, I'm hoping it comes across that I don't agree with said logic.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Feh. If they think HD is hard, just wait until everybody switches to 4K in a couple of years. (The true videophiles will have 8K or 16K.)

<comment><USER23> Unless you're sitting within 7 feet of a 70" screen 4k is completely pointless:

[http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does-matter/](http://carltonbale.com/1080p-does- matter/)

<comment><USER24> THANK YOU. We might see 4k screens take off for computers, but they don't make sense for TVs right now.

<comment><USER23> Yeah, my 22" monitor is 1680x1050 - <USER2> [http://isthisretina.com/](http://isthisretina.com/) tells me is retina at 38".

As it happens, I'm sitting about 26" from it - so I need about 50% more pixel depth. Even then, that only makes it 50% of 4K resolution.

A 4k screen at 22" is a retina display at 17". That doesn't sound comfortable - although I haven't played with an Oculus Rift yet...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> Really good book for those wanting more on Nintendo history: [http://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-Nintendo-Conquered- America...](http://www.amazon.com/Super-Mario-Nintendo-Conquered- America/dp/1591845637)

I just finished the audio version during workouts, while it was not _thrilling_ it was definitely interesting</comment>


Out of the Tar Pit (2006) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/papers-we-love/papers-we-love/blob/master/design/out-of-the-tar-pit.pdf <comment><AUTHOR> > The "software crisis" was first identified in 1968 [NR69, p70] and in the > intervening decades has deepened rather than abated. The biggest problem in > the development and maintenance of large-scale software systems is com- > plexity — large systems are hard to understand. We believe that the major > contributor to this complexity in many systems is the handling of state and > the burden that this adds when trying to analyse and reason about the > system. Other closely related contributors are code volume, and explicit > concern with the flow of control through the system.</comment>


Ask HN: Where do you find inspiring news? News that motivate your (geek) life - <AUTHOR> <comment><USER2> indiehackers.com Not news per se but I got a lot of inspiration from their podcast.

</comment><comment><USER3> Medium.com has all kinds of writers and publications where you can find great content.

<comment><USER4> And in the last year or two, the content has went more and more to shit, most posts are clickbait and it's really forcing premium onto you. Like 50% of posts are premium.

<comment><USER5> The only solution to this is to get away from centralized sites. This pattern always happens, and people move from one popular site to another every few years because if it.

<comment><AUTHOR> what do you suggest as decentralized site?

<comment><USER6> The original solution was just to host a website on your own server.

<comment><USER7> And generate 100% of the content you want to read

<comment><USER6> I've seen google search work well for distribution.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


The Best Business Book I've Ever Read (2014) - <AUTHOR> http://www.gatesnotes.com/Books/Business-Adventures <comment><USER2> A nice observation from the Xerox, Xerox, Xerox, Xerox chapter:

"In any case, office reproduction began to grow very rapidly. (It may seem paradoxical that this growth coincided with the rise of the telephone, but perhaps it isn't. All the evidence suggests that communication between people by whatever means, far from simply accomplishing its purpose, invariably breeds the need for more.) "

<comment><USER3> That reminds me of Edward Glaeser's point from _Triumph of the City_ about the relationship between electronic communication and face-to-face meetings:

> Today, information technology is changing the world, making it more idea- > intensive, better connected, and ultimately more urban. Improvements in > information technology seem to have increased, rather than reduced, the > value of face-to-face connections, which might be called Jevons's > Complementarity Corollary. The nineteenth-century English economist William > Stanley Jevons noted that more fuel-efficient steam engines didn't lead to > less coal consumption. Better engines made energy use effectively less > expensive, and helped move the world to an industrial era powered by coal. > The term Jevons's paradox has come to refer to any situation in which > efficiency improvements lead to more, not less, consumption—one reason why > low-calorie cookies can lead to larger waistlines and fuel-efficient cars > can end up consuming more gas. Jevons's paradox applied to information > technology means that as we acquire more efficient means of transmitting > information, like e-mail or Skype, we spend more, not less, time > transmitting information.

> One might think that better information technology would reduce the need to > learn from other sources, like face-to-face meetings in cities. But Jevons's > Complementarity Corollary, which follows naturally from Jevons's paradox, > predicts that improvements in information technology can lead to more demand > for face-to-face contact, because face time complements time spent > communicating electronically.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I feel very uncomfortable that I cannot see what is so brilliant about this book that Bill Gates goes on and on about it. I tried to read it and was bored and stopped half way through it. Anybody can shed some light? Share what you've learned, please.

<comment><USER5> In general, I have been horrified by the book recommendations about various fields, by experts in those fields. I used to teach, and the masters of the craft, folks who could silence a room with a glance, and inspired kids to harder work than they knew possible, used to recommend books that seemed embarrassingly trite.

I attribute it to the fact that they were natural experts, and not necessarily book lovers. It would be like asking a sparrow for their favorite work on the dynamics of flight.

<comment><USER6> > _I attribute it to the fact that they were natural experts_

I agree that professors often choose books poorly, but disagree with the idea of a "natural expert." No human is born with a mathematical understanding of flight dynamics. There may be people who grasp it relatively quickly, although in my experience that's usually because they're relatively quick learners in general, and because they're building on a _very strong foundation_. Yes, there are people who are just smarter than the rest of us. But there are just as many people, if not more, who put in tremendous effort to become experts at which point they may appear as naturals. (Furthermore, some may downplay these effort and cultivate this idea that they're a "natural" to impress their colleagues and students.) It's not always obvious what sacrifices they made along the way.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> How come everything is so dramatic this days? " The Best Business Book I've Ever Read". What happened to: "Recommended reading book! you should add it to your reading list"

<comment><USER8> The former sentence (assuming true) communicates something more than the latter.

Contrast: "We're going to get some snow" versus "The biggest 2-day snowstorm in recorded history is bearing down on us!"

"A man died" versus "World's oldest man died."

Yes, a lot of times superlatives are used for the purposes of pure link-bait or advertising hooks, but that doesn't mean we should eliminate their usage entirely.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I bought and read the book a few months back. About half the book is about businesses (mainly large corporations), while the other half is about banking and the stock market. I think this disappointed readers who were expecting a directly applicable "how-to" book on business.

Here's a run-down of the book by chapter, with the chapters ostensibly related to business marked by asterisks:

        1. The Fluctuation -- on stock market volatility

        2. *The Fate of the Edsel* -- how Ford failed to find a product-market fit.

        3. The Federal Income Tax -- self-explanatory.

        4. A Reasonable Amount of Time -- on insider trader.

        5. *Xerox Xerox Xerox Xerox* -- read this online.

        6. Making the Customers Whole -- about how a large investment firm crumbled
           when a single large speculative investment fell through, and how the
           stock exchange stepped in to repay the firm's customers.

        7. *The Impacted Philosophers* -- on an anti-trust investigation of General
           Electric (perhaps Gates related personally to this).

        8. The Last Great Corner -- about stock price manipulation

        9. A Second Sort of Life -- about David Lilienthal, who went transitioned from
           a career in government to investment banking.

        10. *Stockholder Season* -- on what it's like, as an individual stockholder,
            to attend a stockholder meeting.

        11. *One Free Bite* -- on intellectual property and non-compete agreements.

        12. In Defense of Sterling -- about how the central banks of the world
            cooperate to maintain stability across currencies.

Many of these stories would be particularly relevant if you ran a multinational corporation or were one of the world's wealthiest investors. I think it's no accident that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet enjoyed this book so much.

I happened to enjoy the parts about Wall Street, so I enjoyed the book. The comparisons to Michael Lewis are apt. It was most interesting for me to see how many of the same economic issues being discussed today (income inequality, intellectual property, corporate misconduct, the extraordinary power and influence of the banking industry, etc.) were discussed in nearly the exact same terms 50+ years ago. It doesn't give you the sense that great progress has been made on these fronts, and perhaps we'll still be complaining about the exact same things in 2065.

</comment><comment><USER9> Kind of surprising that Bill Gates would go through the trouble of setting up an amazon referal link for his article.

<comment><USER10> My guess is that the profits from the referral link goes to Gates foundation for charity.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Everything I've read about this book, apart from comments by Bill Gates, prevented me from reading it. Does anyone have any recommendations of better business books?

I was incredibly inspired by Isaacson's Jobs biography. To learn that someone so flawed can achieve such greatness is inspiring. I also read it almost like a mystery novel, trying to decipher what he was actually doing that was creating such value. I've read a number of Isaacson's other books but none were as inspiring. I did enjoy most of them though.

Any other recommendations of business books I should actually read?

<comment><USER12> If your looking for business entertainement books, check out Michael Lewis (the guy behind money ball). I really like The new new thing, flash boys and boomerang.

<comment><USER13> Pretty much everything he writes is a good read. He takes his liberties here and there (especially with _Flash boys_ ), but he is an intelligent man with a knack for story-telling. Very easy reading.

So add _Moneyball_ , _Liar 's Poker_, _The Big Short_ (good telling of the 2007 financial crisis), _Panic_ (contrasts before and after news articles around financial crises) and _The Blind Side_ to the list.

(Don't let _The Blind Side_ motion picture scare you off. The book has a lot of on-and-off-the field football strategy that I found interesting.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> I remember reading this when it was posted back in July. I thought it was on HN I saw it, but searching for other posts linking to this article came up empty.

Anyone know if there is a prior discussion?

<comment><USER15> Here it is:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8020621](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8020621)

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> This is an interesting follow up for sure [http://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Great-Books-on- Science...](http://www.gatesnotes.com/Development/Great-Books-on-Science-and- Innovation)

</comment><comment><USER17> This book was re-released because of this recommendation. Gates I'm guessing coordinated with amazon to get it back for sale, as previously the rare copies were prohibitively expensive.

<comment><USER12> I bought it at Chapters/Indigo today, to my surprise they had 3 copies. You think it ended up on bookshleves because of his endorsement ?

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> > But the final outcome of the struggle was still uncertain late in 1968\. > McLuhan, for one, was convinced that all efforts to preserve the old forms > of author protection represent backward thinking and are doomed to failure > (or, anyway, he was convinced the day he wrote his American Scholar > article). "There is no possible protection from technology except by > technology," he wrote. "When you create a new environment with one phase of > technology, you have to create an anti-environment with the next." But > authors are seldom good at technology, and probably do not flourish in anti- > environments.

That summaries all the government effort with copyright

</comment><comment><USER19> saved you a click: John Brooks, "Business Adventures."

</comment><comment><USER20> The comments on that blog are... a real insight into humanity.</comment>


Ask HN: "Write your own" or "Build your own" software projects - <AUTHOR> I am looking for writings/tutorials/videos which describe a specific technology or feature by implementing them, ideally in no more than few thousands lines of code (and not just 10-20 line code snippets). Idea is to teach about underlying technology by a hands-on project, which is not overwhelming like trying to implement full-feature game engine and yet captures the essence of technology. Some examples are -<p>* Build a simple database (https://cstack.github.io/db_tutorial/)<p>* Containers in 500 lines (https://blog.lizzie.io/linux-containers-in-500-loc.html)<p>* Malloc tutorial (https://danluu.com/malloc-tutorial/)<p>* Nativecoin - build your own crypto-currency (https://lhartikk.github.io/)<p>I'm sure there are great such projects/tutorials in domains like networking, filesystem, databases, compiler, web design, messaging, game design, fintech, etc. If you have come across such writings/projects, kindly share. <comment><USER3> "500 Lines or Less" is an entire book of articles just like this. Each chapter guides you through a small (500 loc or less) implementation of a common component (eg a web server). [http://aosabook.org/en/index.html](http://aosabook.org/en/index.html)

<comment><USER4> Came here to say this. Also; the other books in the series are interesting.

<comment><USER4> On a related note, I just became aware of hitch, 2nd generation stud(?) - <USER2> real-world, modern, high performance proxy server:

[https://hitch-tls.org/](https://hitch-tls.org/)

<comment><USER5> This is the first generation stud project - [https://github.com/bumptech/stud](https://github.com/bumptech/stud)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> It's still very early days, but Bitwise is interesting ([https://github.com/pervognsen/bitwise](https://github.com/pervognsen/bitwise))

There's also Handmade Hero ([https://handmadehero.org/](https://handmadehero.org/))

The Raytracing books by Peter Shirley are also very interesting, starting with "Raytracing in one weekend" ([https://www.amazon.com/Ray-Tracing-Weekend- Minibooks-Book-eb...](https://www.amazon.com/Ray-Tracing-Weekend-Minibooks- Book- ebook/dp/B01B5AODD8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521122179&sr=8-1&keywords=raytracing+in+one+weekend))

And lastly there's Crafting Interpreters ([http://www.craftinginterpreters.com/](http://www.craftinginterpreters.com/))

<comment><USER7> I am following bitwise very closely, particularly to get better at C. Any companion text/resource that I should follow along?

<comment><USER8> NAND to Tetris[0] has similar goals, but is probably significantly different in terms of implementation that it's only helpful to explain the concepts.

[0]: [http://nand2tetris.org/](http://nand2tetris.org/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> Build Your Own React [https://github.com/hexacta/didact](https://github.com/hexacta/didact)

Create Your Own Programming Language [http://createyourproglang.com/](http://createyourproglang.com/)

Build Your Own Sinatra: [https://getgood.at/build-your- own/sinatra](https://getgood.at/build-your-own/sinatra) (disclaimer: I'm the author of this)

Vanilla JS series [https://javascript30.com/](https://javascript30.com/)

Super Tiny Compiler [https://github.com/jamiebuilds/the-super-tiny- compiler](https://github.com/jamiebuilds/the-super-tiny-compiler)

</comment><comment><USER10> I've programmed my own simple synthesizer [1] by following along "The Audio Programming Book" [0].

It gives a concise explanation for the techniques and theories for signal processing while showing practical code examples.

[0]: [https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/audio-programming- book](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/audio-programming-book)

[1]: [https://github.com/badosu/sine_synth.lv2](https://github.com/badosu/sine_synth.lv2)

<comment><AUTHOR> This looks like much more involved and longer project. But still I'll get your book, looks very interesting :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I worked through most of this tutorial on building a simple text editor in C and greatly enjoyed it. Highly recommend it!

[https://viewsourcecode.org/snaptoken/kilo/](https://viewsourcecode.org/snaptoken/kilo/)

<comment><USER12> Not just a basic one either, it had syntax highlighting! I always thought that was a pretty involved and complex feature, but it's simplified and demystified here.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I've got a bunch of "Build a mini React" [0] and "Build a mini Redux" [1] articles referenced in my React/Redux links list. I particularly recommend the "Didact: a DIY guide to build your own React" post series [2] and "Build Yourself a Redux" [3].

[0] [https://github.com/markerikson/react-redux- links/blob/master...](https://github.com/markerikson/react-redux- links/blob/master/react-implementation.md#miniature-react-implementations)

[1] [https://github.com/markerikson/react-redux- links/blob/master...](https://github.com/markerikson/react-redux- links/blob/master/redux-tutorials.md#redux-implementation-walkthroughs)

[2] [https://engineering.hexacta.com/didact-learning-how-react- wo...](https://engineering.hexacta.com/didact-learning-how-react-works-by- building-it-from-scratch-51007984e5c5)

[3] [https://zapier.com/engineering/how-to-build- redux/](https://zapier.com/engineering/how-to-build-redux/)

</comment><comment><USER14> This describes the purpose of the (paid) resource available at "The Great Code Club" [1].

Marc-André Cournoyer has put together several different projects: \- 2D/3D Game \- Database Engine \- Virtual Machine \- Backend + Frontend Framework \- Neural Network \- Language \- Server \- Real-Time Web Engine

Full Disclosure: I am a happy customer of Marc Andre's "Owning Rails" [2] workshop. No other affiliation.

[1] [http://www.greatcodeclub.com](http://www.greatcodeclub.com) [2] [http://owningrails.com](http://owningrails.com)

<comment><AUTHOR> Very nice! These days think of something and someone somewhere has not just thought about it already but also making money out of it :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER15> I built a live streaming system with VoD constrained to RasPi+CDN with minimal code in a few weeks, fully FLOSS and offline capable. All design and hours of live hacking are online, comparison here: [https://ispooge.com/2018-03-14-video-platforms- compared.html](https://ispooge.com/2018-03-14-video-platforms-compared.html) lmk if you want specifics — tutorials being produced on tinydatacenter.com. I am documenting as I learn, given I have no background in vid nor feature list in mind.

Tldr: all you need to make your own scalable Twitch without coding (but with patience). It's a <2mo old so feedback appreciated, but my live vlog has been going strong for weeks and syndicating to 4+ other networks.

</comment><comment><USER16> MAL (Make a Lisp) is a good one around building a lisp.

[https://github.com/kanaka/mal](https://github.com/kanaka/mal)

Lots of examples across 72 languages.

</comment><comment><USER17> Came across this website some time ago:

The Architecture of Open Source Applications

500 Lines or Less

[http://aosabook.org/en/index.html](http://aosabook.org/en/index.html)

<comment><USER18> I know some of the people behind that book. It's a very interesting take on the craft of programming. I highly recommend it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER19> I know it isn't quite what you're asking for, but I recommend writing a static site compiler from scratch for a static site you actually use. Buy a nice HTML / CSS template (I found this one [https://html5up.net/story](https://html5up.net/story) then modified it) and build yourself a nice personal site from scratch.

You'll be surprised at how nice it is to just fully understand everything without a mess of libraries getting in the way and the resulting project will be perfectly tailored to your needs.

</comment><comment><USER20> I recommend the interpreter book [[https://interpreterbook.com/](https://interpreterbook.com/)], which isn't entirely free of charge however.

On the other hand, it was enough to get me off the ground for my lexer and write a parser that wasn't entirely dumb.

<comment><USER21> As the author of the mentioned book I just want to add that I specifically wrote it because I'm also a huge fan of the technical writings the author is looking for: from the ground up, all code shown, no toys and shortcuts, capturing the essence in a few thousand lines.

And just FYI, the interpreter we build in the book ends up with ~3900 lines, including the full test suite.

<comment><USER20> I think I'm atm at around 2500 lines, of which the parser and lexer is probably about 1200 lines. I mostly ~~stole~~ used the lexer from the book as inspiration for my own and then rolled a LISP-like language from there (which is rather easy given that a LISP AST is simple in nature)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Building a Modern Computer from First Principles [http://nand2tetris.org/](http://nand2tetris.org/)

<comment><AUTHOR> It certainly is a good course and I recommend it too. However, this is a full- fledged class requiring many weeks instead of few hours or days.

<comment><USER23> I was on the fence about whether to suggest it, but I don't think you should dismiss it as being a weeks-long course.

Instead, think of it as 12 mostly-independent projects implementing a small part of a computer's functionality: the set of logical gates, the ALU, the CPU, the computer hardware, the assembler, assembly programming, stack op implementation, a compiler, and and OS. Any one of those will be only a few days.

(I'm in the middle of the Coursera course for it and have done 1-5 and 7-10.)

[http://www.nand2tetris.org/course.php](http://www.nand2tetris.org/course.php)

It only has up to chapter 6 online, but there's an old version of the book available for free but I don't have the link handy.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER24> "Let's Build a Compiler" by Crenshaw: [https://compilers.iecc.com/crenshaw/](https://compilers.iecc.com/crenshaw/)

It's an old classic, using somewhat outdated technologies, but there are more moderns versions floating around, for example a C + x86 one: [https://github.com/lotabout/Let-s-build-a- compiler](https://github.com/lotabout/Let-s-build-a-compiler)

</comment><comment><USER25> The "Getting Started with Redux" course on egghead.io, from Dan Abramov, developer of Redux, basically has you write Redux from scratch to learn how it works:

[https://egghead.io/courses/getting-started-with- redux](https://egghead.io/courses/getting-started-with-redux)

</comment><comment><USER26> I wrote _Hello Web App_ to teach Django + Python web app development by talking readers through creating a unique project (using a project template described in the tutorial): [https://hellowebbooks.com/learn- django](https://hellowebbooks.com/learn-django)

I'm actually fundraising for the new edition of the book, updated for Python3+Django2.0: [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1868398473/hello-web- ap...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1868398473/hello-web-app-20-build- your-first-web-app-with-dja)

<comment><USER27> If this were available right now, I would likely buy it! I am tasked with learning Django in the next couple of weeks.

This got me realizing that I usually purchase and consume tutorials on an as- needed basis and I usually want to start right away. I used to collect them but found it wasn't very optimal because when I found the time to do the learning, I wanted something a little different. For what it's worth, I don't think your Kickstarter numbers would account for people like myself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER28> Here is a Javascript program that implements the basics of the git version control system. It is a literate program with a prose explanation in side-by- side format:

[http://gitlet.maryrosecook.com/docs/gitlet.html](http://gitlet.maryrosecook.com/docs/gitlet.html)

Here is another side-by-side example. It is a Python program that implements a very simple interpreter for the Lisp programming language.

[http://khamidou.com/compilers/lisp.py/](http://khamidou.com/compilers/lisp.py/)

</comment><comment><USER29> Build your own really shitty Redis. Then make it less shitty.

A really shitty Redis/HTTP can be built in around 100 lines in many languages (assuming the language stdlib helps you out a bit -- Python, Go, Clojure would all fit).

The fun begins when you make a concentrated effort into making it less shitty. What tradeoffs will you make to what gain? It's a fun space to explore.

</comment><comment><USER30> Take a look at Gary Bernhardt's From Scratch series:

[https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/screencasts/catalog](https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/screencasts/catalog)

Not free, but very good.

<comment><USER31> They are great. Currently the 'A compiler from scratch' episode is free to watch in case you want to have a preview

</comment></comment><comment><USER32> 'How to Build Tinder with React Native & Expo' It's a bit longer and more complex than what your asking for but I just finished building out a course learning React Native & Expo by building a Tinder clone [https://www.udemy.com/how-to-build- tinder/?couponCode=LEARNR...](https://www.udemy.com/how-to-build- tinder/?couponCode=LEARNREACT)

</comment><comment><USER33> Not my project, but Writing An Interpreter in Go is excellent: [https://interpreterbook.com/](https://interpreterbook.com/)

</comment><comment><USER34> Lots of good stuff already in the comments! Here are some examples/tutorials I wrote on my blog:

\- A TDD approach for building a simple microprocessor model in Python: [http://joaoventura.net/blog/2017/simple- microprocessor/](http://joaoventura.net/blog/2017/simple-microprocessor/)

\- Building a basic HTTP Server from scratch in Python: [http://joaoventura.net/blog/2017/python- webserver/](http://joaoventura.net/blog/2017/python-webserver/)

</comment><comment><USER35> Redox OS has `orbutils`, a bunch of simplistic GUI utilites written in Rust and somewhat cross-platform (it's possible to build and run them on other platforms) [0].

The most interesting and educational one for me is `browser`, which crudely shows web pages and is written in less than a thousand lines of Rust from scratch.

[0] [https://github.com/redox- os/orbutils/tree/6764004b9f6f386af1...](https://github.com/redox- os/orbutils/tree/6764004b9f6f386af17031d302430a89057ba77e/src)

</comment><comment><USER18> I enjoyed [https://viewsourcecode.org/snaptoken/kilo/](https://viewsourcecode.org/snaptoken/kilo/) and [http://www.buildyourownlisp.com/](http://www.buildyourownlisp.com/)

</comment><comment><USER36> A series on building modern business apps [https://www.voucherify.io/blog/building-an-online- marketplac...](https://www.voucherify.io/blog/building-an-online-marketplace- from-scratch-introduction)

</comment><comment><USER12> Writing a garbage collector

[http://journal.stuffwithstuff.com/2013/12/08/babys-first- gar...](http://journal.stuffwithstuff.com/2013/12/08/babys-first-garbage- collector/)

</comment><comment><USER37> There is the famous Linux From Scratch [1] which teaches how to build a functioning GNU Linux system from the grounds up.

[1] [http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/](http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/)

</comment><comment><USER33> I started an awesome list with the content from this discussion: [https://github.com/cweagans/awesome-diy- software](https://github.com/cweagans/awesome-diy-software)

</comment><comment><USER38> Writing a full-featured multi-tenant web app from scratch: [https://medium.com/@ashokgelal/writing-a-full-featured- multi...](https://medium.com/@ashokgelal/writing-a-full-featured-multi-tenant- laravel-app-from-scratch-a0e1a7350d9d)

</comment><comment><USER24> A pretty concise regex engine, along with the explanation: [https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr09/cos333/be...](https://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr09/cos333/beautiful.html)

</comment><comment><USER39> Build your own React ([https://github.com/hexacta/didact](https://github.com/hexacta/didact)).

</comment><comment><USER40> There's a Github repo[1] with a collection of project based tutorials.

1\. [https://github.com/tuvtran/project-based- learning](https://github.com/tuvtran/project-based-learning)

</comment><comment><USER41> I think building a web server is a good way to learn (teach) HTTP protocol.

</comment><comment><USER42> Write your own software renderer, and learn how the principles of computer rendering work: [https://github.com/ssloy/tinyrenderer](https://github.com/ssloy/tinyrenderer)

The wiki has lessons in detail: [https://github.com/ssloy/tinyrenderer/wiki/Lesson-1:-Bresenh...](https://github.com/ssloy/tinyrenderer/wiki/Lesson-1:-Bresenham%E2%80%99s-Line- Drawing-Algorithm)

</comment><comment><USER43> Implementing a Key-Value Store

[http://codecapsule.com/2012/11/07/implementing-a-key- value-s...](http://codecapsule.com/2012/11/07/implementing-a-key-value-store- part-1-what-are-key-value-stores-and-why-implement-one/)

Let's Make a Voxel Engine

[https://sites.google.com/site/letsmakeavoxelengine/](https://sites.google.com/site/letsmakeavoxelengine/)

</comment><comment><USER44> This Tutorial shows how to create a full game (Asteroids-Like) with Love2D and Lua. The game itself is available on Steam. The course is free, and you can pay to get the full source code and the solutions to the tasks. Doing it right now, about halfway through. Really engaging and interesting so far.

[https://github.com/SSYGEN/blog/issues/30](https://github.com/SSYGEN/blog/issues/30)

</comment><comment><USER45> Request: Build a JVM (java virtual machine)

<comment><AUTHOR> JVM might be much more involved project but here is a simple virtual machine - [https://github.com/skx/simple.vm](https://github.com/skx/simple.vm)

<comment><USER46> That's my project, and it seems to be surprisingly popular, yet something I've never really received any feedback on.

At the time I wrote it I was modeling the opcodes on the Z80, but I guess I simplified once I'd got it working enough to make myself happy. (Lots of toy- virtual machines, of which this definitely is one, don't implement labels or "decompilers".)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER47> Unity's roll-a-ball tutorial is pretty good for starting out with their IDE and also gives some decent exposure to C# basics.

[https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/s/roll-ball- tutorial](https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/s/roll-ball-tutorial)

</comment><comment><USER48> This is properly hands-on as you have to make something :) [http://www.technoblogy.com/show?NMX](http://www.technoblogy.com/show?NMX)

Click on the ATTiny85 tag for more projects. I've made / adapted quite a few of those. Great fun and challenging!

</comment><comment><USER49> So with these sort of tutorials/guides is it generally a good practice to build on extra functionality to learn more?

I always feel like it's too much hand holding, or I'm just copying/re-building the wheel and not learning enough, but I do very much enjoy them.

<comment><USER50> Always a good idea! Another thing is to CONSTANTLY question what the article is having you do. Try to disprove rationale given and think of alternative paths. Almost in a playful devil's advocate way.

As the project progresses you'll get more context on why things are what they are than is explicitly written. Eventually you'll hit on something that actually is better and now you're a what-the-article-teaches developer!

</comment></comment><comment><USER51> Write You A Scheme, Version 2: [https://github.com/write-you-a- scheme-v2/scheme](https://github.com/write-you-a-scheme-v2/scheme)

Use Haskell to write a Scheme!

</comment><comment><USER52> "Write Yourself a Roguelike" is an Open Source project that started as a ebook by a former Thoughtbot employee. [https://github.com/thoughtbot/write- yourself-a-roguelike](https://github.com/thoughtbot/write-yourself-a- roguelike)

It's very much still in progress, but certainly fits the brief.

</comment><comment><USER53> This guide to Build Your Own React is great and even includes React Fiber. well worth it. [https://github.com/hexacta/didact](https://github.com/hexacta/didact)

</comment><comment><USER54> One of my favorites: [http://peter.michaux.ca/articles/scheme-from-scratch- introdu...](http://peter.michaux.ca/articles/scheme-from-scratch-introduction)

</comment><comment><USER55> Before switching to React, I learned a lot about Angular from [https://teropa.info/build-your-own-angular/](https://teropa.info/build-your- own-angular/)

</comment><comment><USER56> 'Write your own Operating System' by tuhdo

[https://github.com/tuhdo/os01](https://github.com/tuhdo/os01)</comment>


Show HN: Coronavirus Simulation with SIR Model - <AUTHOR> https://fatiherikli.github.io/coronavirus-simulation/ <comment><USER2> Cool. It would be nice if the graph also showed the amount of locked buildings</comment>


Libreboot Wants Back into GNU - <AUTHOR> http://fossforce.com/2017/04/libreboot-wants-back-into-gnu/ <comment><USER2> here is the older post with the original link: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14172477](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14172477)</comment>


Best Mechanical Keyboard for Newbie - <AUTHOR> Hi, I want to give a try to mechanical keyboards, I am not sure if it will fit me in the future but wanna give it a try so I am looking for a 75%-keyboard under 150$. At work I mainly use Vim or VS code with Vim bindings (if that matters in any sense). Any recommendation? <comment><USER2> [https://www.taekeyboards.com/single-post/REVIEW-QISAN- MAGICF...](https://www.taekeyboards.com/single-post/REVIEW-QISAN- MAGICFORCE-68-MECHANICAL-KEYBOARD)

and there are more good suggestions on that website.

<comment><USER3> Seconded, but you'll have to solder swap FN and ALT. Above all, don't spend more than $50 on a keyboard, ffs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Coolermaster Masterkeys Pro S PBT</comment>


The Mystery Behind How Adult Entertainment Boosts Technology - <AUTHOR> https://adent.io/mystery-behind-how-adult-entertainment-boosts-technology/ <comment><USER2> Warning: this link is NSFW. The article itself may make some valid points about the history of technology, but it is written in poor English and seems meant mainly to advertise services for starting one's own porn site.

</comment><comment><USER3> It also starts with an odd assertion that no one recognizes porns role in pushing technology forward. As far as I can tell this is accepted wisdom.</comment>


The $1,000 CPM - <AUTHOR> https://medium.com/@hankgreen/the-1-000-cpm-f92717506a4b#.m8fgorpyp <comment><USER2> I think the author has a misunderstanding of the market.

Movie theatres and TV can charge so much not only due to the quality/type of content, but also because of the audience expectations.

YouTube and the like are a 'consume random bits of content' platform. The customer expectation is to not pay directly. The advertisers are paying what the market values the content at.

I've been sent links to videos on (I think) Vimeo which had a paywall. $5 for something. I didn't pay it. Was the quality of content worth it? I have no idea. It clearly didn't grab me enough, and looking at the vimeo logo, I am trained to consider that a platform of free content.

Netflix is completely different, even though I'm sitting at the same computer consuming media. I expect to pay a monthly fee. If Netflix popped up and told me I had to pay for premium content, I'd probably not watch it. That's not what they sold me on.

When I go to a theatre (once every 3 years or so) I expect to pay. I don't expect to sit through 30 minutes of advertisements. Growing up without ads in theatres, the unspoken agreement was that I would pay for the content and not be interrupted by ads.

So, $1000 CPM? Nice headline, but not realistic in the way the author is suggesting.</comment>


Ask HN: How profitable has News.YCombinator.com been for you? - <AUTHOR>

So far, if you can somehow convert the time spent on news.ycombinator.com into dollars, how profitable has visiting and/or contributing to this site has been for you?
Examples: I got a hired from a $100k job posted here.  I found a technology which saved me weeks of work and thousands of dollars.  I though I would need to buy this $2k software but this site showed me a cheaper alternative.
Things like that. <comment><USER2> In the sense that I have become smarter and wiser from blog links and Ask/Show discussions, very valuable - in terms of $ I would est $10k in savings from not pursuing bad ideas (no market demand, etc).

As an aside, HNews is valuable in terms of time spent and money saved or earned. Whereas FB is a black hole and LinkedIn has some value, and twitter the most.

</comment><comment><USER3> \- Learned a lot about enterpreneurship, startups & hacking (would have otherwise taken me 3-4+ years)

\- Started blogging because of HN

\- Started and made money on MVPFor1k thanks to HN & it's members ($5-10k)

\- Got some freelance work while I was in high-school

....

\- Met a good friend a couple years ago on HN that later on became my first customer, and a powerful testimonial.

\- Acquired some customers because of it ($10-20k value)

\- Got into a seed incubator because of it ($20k+ value)

</comment><comment><USER4> -$10,000 from the unproductivity.

<comment><USER5> same here

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I got a couple of good sugestions for my project. Other than that its a social media to me. Why shoudl I try to value it in terms of money? I like ideas, talks about those ideas. Thats good enough for me.

</comment><comment><USER7> Got a new job through one of the hiring threads. Got a compensation boost from previous job so HN has been thousands of dollars profitable for me.

</comment><comment><USER8> It's been profitable in the sense it has kept my sanity in periods of boredom. Other than that, I haven't learned much, or found anything useful.</comment>


The biggest stars in the universe - a visual comparison of heavenly bodies - <AUTHOR> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bcz4vGvoxQA&sns=em

<comment><AUTHOR> I think this video is a great way to start limbering up peoples brains with regard to the vastness of space.

The scales shown in the video are truly difficult to wrap your head around - and it's just the size of various stars - it hardly touches on the distances between star let alone between galaxy superclusters!</comment>


Have I tattooed a syntax error on my arm? - <AUTHOR> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/21186724/why-is-whitespace-needed-for-this-to-be-parsed?newsletter=1&nlcode=4592%7Cdedb <comment><USER2> Someone with a tattoo didn't consider things fully beforehand? I don't believe it.

</comment><comment><USER3> Original post: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7098089](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7098089)

</comment><comment><USER4> Ouch. Although, he could fork bash and make it valid syntax.

</comment><comment><USER5> I think it's a nice way to claim allegiance to zsh.</comment>


Silence Detection in the Wit.AI iOS SDK - <AUTHOR> https://wit.ai/blog/2014/08/21/silence-detection-in-the-iOS-sdk

<comment><USER2> This sort of thing often doesn't work for me because, well,

hmmm.

Because I have to pause in the middle of a sentence sometimes to, ah,

um

. . . gather my thoughts.

I'm looking forward to when the AI is smart enough to know that I'm just a slow speaker when I'm using voice search or whatever.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Also, I started to work on a full Voice Activity Detection algorithm that will work client side. I can't wait to see it live and get user feedback!

</comment><comment><USER3> Oh. this is awesome. Very much so looking forward to integrating this into some of the home automation stuff I'm doing.</comment>


Any number can start a factorial - <AUTHOR> https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2019/11/02/any-number-can-start-a-factorial/ <comment><USER3> The article's opening sentence: "Any positive number can be found at the beginning of a factorial..." is a strong statement but no proof is given.

Missing: "... with high probability, and supported by analysis of the digits of factorials from 1 to 10,000"

The work by Diaconis mentioned but not cited: [0] [https://statweb.stanford.edu/~cgates/PERSI/papers/digits.pdf](https://statweb.stanford.edu/~cgates/PERSI/papers/digits.pdf) \- The distribution of leading digits ad uniform distribution mod 1 - <USER2> Diaconis

The sequence: [1] [https://oeis.org/A076219](https://oeis.org/A076219) \- Smallest positive integer m such that m! begins with n in base 10 :: 1, 2, 9, 8, 7, 3, 6, 14, 96, 27, 22, 5, 15, 42, 25, 89, 69, 76, 63, 16, 87, 113, 54, ...

<comment><USER4> I'm not sure what you're getting at, but "any positive number can be found at the beginning of a factorial" is correct. Not with high probability, but with absolute certainty. I don't know which Diaconis proved, but it's pretty easy to construct a non-probabilistic, constructive proof.

Edit: The paper you linked does not prove it with high probability, it proves {n!} is a strong Benford sequence. Edit: Which implies absolute certainty.

<comment><USER3> > I'm not sure what you're getting at

I'm sure what I'm not getting at, which is the proof. I'll think about it. Processing ...

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> The footnote and comments talk about this, but don't exactly mention that what you want for the probability of the leading digits "2019" is log10(2.020)-log10(2.019).

</comment><comment><USER5> While attempting to verify this, I was surprised to learn that bc has no built-in factorial function, even in the mathlib.

<comment><USER6> While looking into this, TIL bc is very scriptable:

      $ bc
      define fact_rec (n) {
        if (n < 0) {
          print "oops";
          halt;
        }
        if (n < 2) return 1;
        return n*fact_rec(n-1);
      }
      fact_rec(5)
      120

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> In case anyone else was curious, Bedford's Law is apparently just a fancy name for the phenomenon where 1's appear much more frequently than 9's in any random sample of numbers. I think Bernie Madoff got caught faking the books due to the distributions not being shaped like Bedford's Law.

<comment><USER8> That's correct, but I think its "Benford's Law" rather than "Bedford's Law".

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law)

<comment><USER9> What on Earth‽‽‽ How have I never heard of this before, and much more importantly - why is it true (I skimmed the wikipedia page and I didn't really see anything for 'why' but mostly for 'what')?

So it takes the data and draws it on a log scale to visualize it, but doesn't explain why the data naturally transposes to a log scale (we are talking about random data sets in nature). If I think of it as a village with 1,000 people is more likely than a village with 2,000 people is more likely than a village with 3,000 people (and this continues in both directions), the only real conclusion I can come to is that nature prefers smaller numbers of things. But that wouldn't extend to something like accounting books (or at least the jump is not immediately obvious to me).

EDIT: I guess I chose a bad example (although my point still is useful as a thought exercise), since this was used as an exception to the rule:

> Benford's law is violated by the populations of all places with population > at least 2500 from five US states according to the 1960 and 1970 censuses, > where only 19% began with digit 1 but 20% began with digit 2, for the simple > reason that the truncation at 2500 introduces statistical bias.

<comment><USER7> Your shock is warranted. It's actually a very deep question, called the Zipf mystery: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCn8zs912OE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCn8zs912OE)

No one really knows why it's true. It's also true across physical constants, not just artificial quantities made up by humans.

The same type of distribution pops up in language, in nature, in numbers, popularity of opening chess moves, everywhere.

<comment><AUTHOR> > _No one really knows why it 's true._

Any distribution of numbers that is "scale free" follows Benford's Law. This is _extremely_ well understood.

The distribution of the areas of lakes, heights of trees, the proportion of the answers that start with the digit "1" should be the same no matter what units you use. You can measure heights in barleycorns, metres, inches, or cubits, the proportion of answers that start with the digit "1" should remain constant across those different units. Grind through the sums and Benford's Law pops out.

And Benford's Law is not Zipf's Law. Zipf's Law is _also_ well-understood when you look at coding theory, and how we would expect language (and mutable codes in general) to change so that more frequently used "atoms" are "shorter.

So I don't really know what you're claiming here, but on the surface of it, with things I've studied, your comment seems mostly wrong.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Modified poliovirus used as therapy for brain tumor - <AUTHOR> http://www.dukemedicine.org/blog/brain-tumor-research-featured-people-magazine

<comment><USER2> Radiolab[0] had an episode a while back where they talked about Henry Heimlich, inventor of the Heimlich Maneuver. During it they mention that Henry advocated for Malariotherapy[1], infecting patient with Malaria to cure diseases like AIDS/HIV.

It's highly controversial, but I thought it warranted being brought up because it parallels this story.

[0]: [http://www.radiolab.org/story/heimlichs- maneuver/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/heimlichs-maneuver/)

[1]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malariotherapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malariotherapy)

</comment><comment><USER3> This is an inspiring story. But "The full article is published in the May 5, 2014 issue of People magazine, and is available by subscription or for purchase at the People magazine website" doesn't inspire confidence in the treatment method, as that is not how clinical medical findings are peer- reviewed. The submission kindly made here is a press release from a medical school press office.

As I search the doctor's name on Google Scholar, I see that he has had various journal publications on various aspects of investigating or treating brain disease for a long time. His research into using polio viruses as agents for treating tumors has attracted some notice in published books, but this is not yet a mainstream treatment. It will be interesting to see if a larger number of patients, seen by doctors other than Matthias Gromeier, also benefit consistently from this kind of treatment, which is now experimental and ethical to use in human subjects only in the most desperate cases.

<comment><USER4> This group's major peer-reviewed paper on the original murine xenograft work appears to be: [http://www.nature.com/mt/journal/v16/n11/full/mt2008184a.htm...](http://www.nature.com/mt/journal/v16/n11/full/mt2008184a.html)

 _Of course_ the human work will be peer-reviewed, but the study is in the early stages and still ongoing. They have an IND (investigational drug) protocol approved by the FDA to conduct the trial, and the trial is overseen by panels at both the institutional and federal level.

The point of pieces like this is essentially to attract patients to the trial (both directly and by making referral providers aware) so that the science _can_ be validated. Perhaps surprisingly, there are a large number of active trials in the country and relatively limited numbers of patients who meet inclusion criteria. So to some degree the big centers have to compete for enrollment. (secondarily, they hope to attract donors for future work in this and other areas; this kind of risky pilot work is heavily seeded by institutional money, before NIH will get involved)

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Friend of mine had Stage-IV melanoma and was told to write his will. He had an experimental treatment where they gave him tuberculosis. The tuberculosis "killed" the melanoma and then they treated the tuberculosis. He died ten years later from a heart attack.

I understand this treatment has been discredited. Nice to see that someone is pursuing this avenue again.

<comment><USER6> My Dad died from metastatic stage-IV melanoma. The gene therapies (which were extremely expensive) weren't effective beyond adding maybe an extra 6-8 weeks.

I'm interested if the tuberculosis actually "killed" the melanoma or if it caused an unusually aggressive autoimmune response that happened to knock out the melanoma. I'd like to see if there's a case study available on that treatment method.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Awesome.

I'm a patient at Duke's Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center and have heard a lot about this.

I have Stage 3 Anaplastic Astrocytoma, had a very successful resection, radiation -- both at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell, and am now undergoing a long tail of Chemotherapy. It is nice to have the minds at Duke in my 'back pocket' looking into all of this.

It's unfortunate that Brain Cancer treatments do not get as easily funded as experiments for the much more common, even though what they want to do is essentially the same -- eventually cure all.

</comment><comment><USER8> This was done to a friend-of-a-friend of mine. When he was diagnosed he was given 90 days. He lived 2 years so it was a win in my opinion. I believe he thought so too.

<comment><USER9> Unfortunately, that doesn't really mean anything. Glioblastomas, like many types of cancer, come in several different forms often depending on the specific mutations that led to the cancer. The different forms have greatly different behavior, and cause death on different time scales (e.g. there are 60-day forms and 5-year forms, and we can't yet distinguish them in a clinical setting without watching them progress). Some of this uncertainty will soon be eliminated by the widespread genetic sequencing of tumors.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Immune therapy for cancer is very exciting right now: there are lots of promising trials in the pipeline and cool papers coming out every month.</comment>


Cuomo Declares a State of Emergency for the Subway - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/29/nyregion/cuomo-declares-a-state-of-emergency-for-the-subway.html <comment><USER2> I would argue that a large reason why infrastructure tends to fall into such sorry states of disrepair in the US is because of the vast misalignment of interests between politicians and the services. When the person responsible for this stuff has a shelf life of maybe four years, there's simply no incentive to allocate adequate amounts of time, energy, and capital towards things which someone else will inevitably get credit for because of the time it takes. Besides, no one gets praised for this sort of thing...it's just something they're expected to do. The whole thing is a shame.

<comment><USER3> it is far easier to promise service than it is to pay for it. in that regard making promises to the users of the service and workers is one thing, when it comes to paying the bill they always kick the can down the road.

NYC is the only American city which relies on heavy transit, just a little more than half the people working there use it. Only one other city crests ten percent and the after that its five percent and down.

It is the most expensive transportation option available to commuters at all stages when you calculate it per passenger mile, this is with subsidies included. Even building all those roads the automobile less that a fourth of the cost and most public transit will be superseded by autonomous cars and buses; the later which can adapt to changing needs that subway and heavy rail cannot.

Besides all the deferred maintenance and NYC is not alone in this, many lines are tens of billions in deferred maintenance, many lines face hundreds of millions with a few at a billion in underfunded pensions. Worse, subsidies have not increased ridership but instead employment. When most lines came about in the hay days of such it was nearly 60k riders per worker, that has fallen to less than 30k riders being served per worker.

the simple fact is that such transit is expensive to build and maintain and even with incredible subsidy they cannot get enough people to ride it though NYC gets close. NYC has the same problem the rest do, no one wants to pay anywhere near what the actual cost is per passenger mile to use it.

<comment><USER4> this is such a bad take. the point of public transit is not to get enough people to ride it so the system is profitable. do we expect roads to be profitable? they aren't, even if you say "the gas tax".

and lol at heavy rail can't meet needs that cars can. A single subway line in New York can carry 60k people _in each direction_ at peak capacity. Autonomous cars are years away and will never achieve that efficiency just because of space.

<comment><USER5> Subways are the most efficient way to move people in terms of square footage needed to move a person at speed, with heavy rail a close second, and walking third. You can fit 4-6 adults comfortably on a subway train with less space than those same people in a private automobile.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Amtrak is in a sorry state as well. They announced recently that they are going to perform much needed maintenance on NY Penn station (which they own, and which the MTA's LIRR uses) [1].

From former Amtrak CEO David Hughes:

"The accumulated deferred maintenance and lack of attention really makes it almost a third-world operation." [2]

[1] [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amtrak-crash-philadelphia- highli...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amtrak-crash-philadelphia-highlights- aging-infrastructure/)

[2] [https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/nyregion/nj-transit- sched...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/09/nyregion/nj-transit-schedule- penn-station-repairs.html)

<comment><USER7> Amtrak should have been euthanized decades ago. They have been abysmal for years, perhaps somewhat better in the Northeast.

The Northeast routes should have been sold off to regional transit authorities and the rest of the system shut down.

<comment><USER8> You're not wrong. The northeast system is absolutely viable--bankrolled mostly by business travelers who get a lot of value out of being plopped down in the middle of Manhattan or D.C. at the end of the trip. The underlying rail is viable for commuter lines too. Otherwise it's a boondoggle and diverts money that could be better used elsewhere.

<comment><USER9> It's hard to say whether the long distance trains are viable as a transportation service, because they're also in the "land cruise" business and oddly enough that part seems even less profitable. It's the source of a lot of the expenses, especially for things like food service. Amtrak has actually tried cutting the diner on one of the Florida trains and dropping sleeper prices by $100, and is making considerably more money on that train, so there's still some potential to get close to 100% cost recovery on LD service if Amtrak gets out of running the land cruise business, which it seems reluctant to do because of tradition.

<comment><USER8> I'm not sure that works long term. Even budget airlines offer meals and long haul flights, and Amtrak long distance routes are often 15+ hours long.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10>
      "We know what we need to do. He mentioned the subway's
      aging signal system. We live in a digital age. Our signal
      system isn't even analog. It's mechanical."

Now _there 's_ something I'd like to read a HN post on.

<comment><USER11> You might find this interesting: [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/why-d...](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/why- dont-we-know-where-all-the-trains-are/415152/)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> "Every New York City Subway Line Is Getting Worse. Here's Why."

[https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/28/nyregion/subw...](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/06/28/nyregion/subway- delays-overcrowding.html)

</comment><comment><USER13> Ignore it and short-change it while hoping the NYC mayor takes the blame until there's a problem, then pretend to be concerned and have a big public "plan" to fix it to try to look like the savior.

<comment><USER14> This subway crisis and others like it is the end result of the cycle of "Crisis Management". We have politicians who "never let a good crisis go to waste", a media which practically requires a constant state of crisis somewhere to attract meaningful attention (and thus ad-revenue) and the final result is that society can barely focus on whatever actively burning crisis is at hand. Future simmering problems are ignored and actively shortchanged, because the political class doesn't care (trains running on time doesn't get you votes, only smearing your political opponents messes do!). The media class cannibalized itself long ago, and no longer has enough revenue to run both a major online presence and deep investigative reporting that could surface future problems in advance. Citizens rightly distrust both as being myopic rent-seeking classes - and they are! Sadly, this mistrust does nothing to fix either situation, only giving both new excuses for why everything is broken.

What's worse is that perpetual firefighting is 10-100x more expensive than fixing a crisis in advance. Perpetual "Crisis Management" is a large driver of the cost disease that infects many industries, like infrastructure and healthcare. Why will "fixing" the subway cost billion of dollars? Because NYC eagerly let the technical debt and maintenance build up in exchange for it not being $poitician's problem yesterday. There was no incentive to improve and fix the situation in advance. There still isn't. So whatever Cumuo does here, don't worry - we'll be back again for a repeat next decade.

<comment><USER15> Like the programmer anecdote that's made the HN rounds recently: Being a crummy programmer who regularly saves the day (because the system is crummy and constantly needs saving) will get you more esteem/money/visibility than being a good programmer who's systems hum along with no fuss.

<comment><USER16> Why do it right the first time and only get one celebration? Just push your first cut to prod then start planning a deprecation / upgrade / migration cycle. Repeat until you get promoted to a management role. Repeat until you're rich enough to retire early or dead.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> NJTransit and Subways failing at the same time makes it really hard for commuters especially ones with families and kids who need to be picked up and dropped at day care and schools. The lack of leadership and vision are making Big Apple into a third world country. What good is it for customers to have free wifi on Streets but failing subways.

<comment><USER18> I commute in from Jersey and I have booked a few hotel stays since the derailments because I would have to leave the house well before 7 to guarantee making it in by 9.

<comment><USER17> Is your company paying?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Classic 'Starve the beast' politics.

Don't fund the public service and it fails.

The first paragraph is about 'entrepenuers' lining up to fix the subway...

There's going to be contracts.and aton of money to be made

</comment><comment><USER20> This article describes the challenges faced by the NYC subway system in a fascinating way: [https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/why-d...](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/why- dont-we-know-where-all-the-trains-are/415152/)

</comment><comment><USER21> I hope California is taking notes.

<comment><USER22> Clearly Illinois wasn't: [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-28/illinois-...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-06-28/illinois- is-in-a-6-billion-budget-hole-and-flirting-with-junk)

<comment><USER23> I don't know, the CTA seems to be functioning okay.

<comment><USER7> The CTA/RTA is highly corrupt. Unsurprising for Chicago. The usual kind of stuff: patronage hiring, pension shenanigans. A former executive director stepped in front of a Metra train on the day he was going to be fired for taking $475,000 of unapproved vacation pay.

<comment><USER24> At least the trains are mostly working, unlike NYC or DC. Corruption coupled with performance is more palatable than corruption that leads to chaos.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER25> If the transit system were privately owned, would it be in better condition?

<comment><USER26> No chance. The deferred maintenance would be even worse, operators would come and go rebranding everything every few years, they'd all point fingers at each other when something went wrong... ugh.

Look at the mess the UK rail system is in - absurdly high ticket prices, confusing interconnections, bad service, finger pointing, bad maintenance, it's a mess.

The original railways were privately owned and apparently worked pretty well but it is a different world now. Minimal costs trump all else and that's no way to run a city's mass transit system. They will never be profitable enterprises, they are a public service, for the good of the public and the city itself.

<comment><USER27> You lead with "no chance", and subsequently acknowledge that the NYC subways used to be privately owned, and that it worked well.

Ever wonder why _airplanes_ had wifi before the subway? Private vs public.

Ever compare the privately owned NYC ferries (fully open to the public) with the publicly owned ferries?

<comment><USER26> I've spent a single day in NYC all my life so have no idea.

I'm wondering if ferries are easier to run as there is less infrastructure. There are the equivalent of stations and maintenance depots, but not rails. I don't know who owns the ferry infrastructure or if it is shared.

If you privatised the trains, would the different operators share tracks and stations? If so who would own and maintain them? My guess is the operators would baulk at the idea of maintaining ANY infrastructure and just want to run trains leased from the govt, over a system maintained by the govt, who now has less revenue from the fares.

In NSW our railway barely if never got to operational status under private ownership. The govt took it over immediately and it has been priceless for the state ever since. But of course bean counters have been complaining about it for decades now. I think there has been privatisation stuff going on for a while like the airport line. They were also trying to disentangle the various routes so they could sell them off, but that is hard because they didn't need to be planned that way when built.

It seems to me like a city's metro system is too important to leave in the hands of private operators whose only reason to exist is to make a profit and that will bail out the second things are not worth its time and money. If the metro chokes, so does the city.

<comment><USER28> Who owns and builds airports? Private airlines run flights out of these.

Who owns and builds roads and gas stations? Private bus companies, taxis, rideshares, chauffeurs, and shipping companies run on these.

Who owns ports? Private cruise lines, ferries, and shipping companies run ships out of these.

Who owns freight rail and associated stations? Private freight and logistics companies move products over these.

Elsewhere in this thread are comments about Tokyo's private subway companies (three of them).

<comment><USER27> Are you proposing that public money build the rail lines, and private companies operate the trains on those lines?

Airports (and baseball stadiums) are built with public money because of competition between municipalities. They are primarily funded by the people who use them though.

Gas stations are private enterprises.

<comment><USER28> I propose nothing, just ask questions that the parent of my post seems to imply the answer should be no to.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER29> > "I made eye contact with a couple of people, and they made a sad face," she > said. "I guess it was a nice human moment."

And to think they claim living in NY is dehumanizing!

Yeah, it's hard to imagine the amount of money it would take me to live there.

<comment><USER30> I dunno, having lived across the US (the southeast, NYC, Colorado, Bay Area, Oregon, Washington), NYC is far from the unfriendliest city. I see way more open hostility in California, which somehow has a rep for being laid back.

<comment><USER31> I wonder if the subway actually increases the perceived friendliness? Everyone that has driven a car has likely experienced road rage in one form or another.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> You can do that?

<comment><USER33> It just frees up funds... its not a real emergency.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> I did not realize he legislated banks to make Affirmative Action (Subprime) loans as HUD Sectary during President Bill Clinton's administration. I did not realize he was the brother of CNN news anchor Chris Cuomo.</comment>


Should Parents of Children with Severe Disabilities Be Allowed to Stop Growth? - <AUTHOR> https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/27/magazine/should-parents-of-severely-disabled-children-be-allowed-to-stop-their-growth.html?_ <comment><USER2> This seems like one of those things that until you actually experience, you have no right to form an opinion.

I suspect that if all those people against it actually took care of an adult disabled person, they would rapidly change their position.

</comment><comment><USER3> If our country gave more assistance to caregivers of the disabled I might have more of a problem with this, but as it is I think that, while not ideal and ideally a last resort, everyone should MTOFB if a family decides this is what they need to do to provide the best care for their child.

</comment><comment><USER4> I'm really conflicted by this.

On one hand, I understand the intent. Severely mentally and/or physically ill people get treated horribly. So in order to be able to tend to them as long as possible, their family may want to... put them in that state. It's an act of compassion in order to take good care of them, like pretty much nobody else would.

On the other hand, oh my god this is invasive. I feel there are so many other things that are wrong with this, but the only word I can come to right now is "invasive".

My higher thinking understands the logic, but my gut won't allow me to agree with it.

<comment><USER5> Remember that your visceral reaction was shaped by evolution in an environment that was very different from modern civilization. So I'd say go with your higher thinking.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Fucking hell no. This is one of the most atrocious things I've read in a long time. It's deeply unethical, immoral, and a massive violation of bodily integrity.

It's horrible and shocking that this is allowed.</comment>


The Kernel Programming Language - <AUTHOR> http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~jshutt/kernel.html <comment><USER2> Why do people insist on creating languages with really terrible names? How about calling it "if" or "else" or maybe something truly impossible to search for like "the"?

If you're going to import an existing word into the technical context, that usually works, it's obvious what you're talking about when you say "Ruby this" or "Python that" since you're probably not discussing jewels or snakes, but "Kernel"? Don't people program those, not program _in_ that?

Absurdity.</comment>


Ask HN: Is cloudflare putting ads on my unconfigured domains? - <AUTHOR> I have many domains I leave dormant, sometimes I point them at cloudflare or other places in anticipation of using them in the near future.
Here is an example: http://mintyhand.com/ (This example will not work soon because I changed the DNS away from cloudflare)
All the ones I pointed at cloudflare for several months, but forgot to add to my cloudflare account seem to point to this spammy site: https://www.istreamingtv.com/
Any ideas on how this is happening? <comment><USER2> No, we are not doing that. But I suggest you contact support to figure out what is happening.</comment>


A bittersweet end for Nothing to Hide - <AUTHOR> http://us3.campaign-archive2.com/?u=dfc6ed35d0a2933c059395987&id=47e5a7480f

<comment><AUTHOR> About [http://www.nothingtohide.cc/;](http://www.nothingtohide.cc/;) when it comes to dev process itself, I liked a lot infrequent (but detailed and honest) progress reports (like this one). It gives insight into the development process, not only serves as a PR.</comment>