I Am Switching to JavaScript - <AUTHOR> https://blogtitle.github.io/i-am-switching-to-js/ <comment><USER2> This is satire but it's pretty lame and unconvincing satire, so much so that I didn't realize it until about 1/3 of the way in. The funniest thing here is a Go developer complaining about _JavaScript 's_ unpredictable behavior.

I'm not going to take the bait and start a flame-war. I will just say that odd quirks don't make either of them a bad language because they each have many other benefits. And that the author shouldn't quit his day job to become a comedian.

<comment><USER3> > unconvincing satire, so much so that I didn't realize it until about 1/3 of > the way in

Hum... I have some news for you.

<comment><USER2> "Unconvincing" of the underlying point it was trying to make.

<comment><USER3> Oh, ok. This makes sense.

The underlying point was to make fun of Javascript. That's an usual activity developers do when bored, so I'm not sure the author was trying to convince anybody. But I do agree, if he was trying to convince anybody, he failed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This had me laughing the whole way through.

One of the most sarcastic put-downs of a language I've ever seen.

It won't change anyone's mind; that's not its purpose.

It's meant to be funny. Don't take it too seriously. Read it for fun.

\--

EDIT: We all know there are _lots_ of reasons to use JS for a ton of use cases -- indeed, JS is currently the most widely used language on Stack Overflow: [https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019#technology-_-...](https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2019#technology- _-programming-scripting-and-markup-languages) \-- but that doesn't mean we can't recognize and laugh at the idiosyncrasies of the language :-)

<comment><USER5> But it is a very overdone idea. Everyone lives to mock the js devs. Idiots that dont know what they're doing. Morons working in the (checks notes) most widespread platform since C.

When I first started coding 20-some years ago, I ended up as a Perl dev. (Cue mockery). I noticed that the perl community loved to mock the PHP (and to a lesser extent Python ) devs. But the LEADERS in the Perl community did NOT mock them. They compared notes, shared experiences, and mutually improved.

So when the programming community decides it is cool to put one group down, to relentless mock and deride them, but hey, it's just a joke, lighten up....

I'm not impressed. I enjoy a good joke, but not all jokes are good jokes.

<comment><USER6> Where does he make fun of JS devs? Call them idiots? Morons? You're overreacting in a big way. Almost everything he points out is a totally legitimate criticism of the language, not the people who use it, and he does so in a good-natured way. Everybody knows we don't just pick the language we think is "best". Far from it. And on a side note, appealing to how widespread it is seems obviously faulty - I think you probably know how little relationship there often is between usage and quality due to the nature of the software ecosystem.

<comment><USER5> I'm well aware that popularity does not equate to quality, but at the same time surviving every effort to replace it denotes SOMETHING, that critics routinely fail to address.

My comment was not to the article directly, but rather to the above poster who seemed so joyous at a "takedown". That's the attitude that is so tiresome. Good-natured pointing out of idiosyncrasies like the "wat" video ARE funny, but people that use them to look down on others aren't. Perhaps I'm oversensitive, but that could be to having my profession belittle me for the past several years...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7>
       3.14 % 5
       // 3.14
       13.14 % 5
       // 3.1400000000000006

There's nothing strange about this, it is, as you would expect, exactly 13.14 - 10.

</comment><comment><USER8> If you enjoyed this, you'll also enjoy this "Wat" video:

[https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat](https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/wat)

</comment><comment><USER9> Ah, it got me, I have to admit it. I thought the author was just mildly confused about JavaScript after skimming most of the article, and then I looked again at the date. I'm the April fool. I don't mind using doubles for integer arithmetic though, they have 53 bits of mantissa, so you have a larger range of exact integer arithmetic than with an Int32Array...

</comment><comment><USER10> I don't think they're switching to JavaScript

</comment><comment><USER11> This is an Aprtil fools right?

>> This is something I have been waiting for: exact arithmetics. It is incredible to think about a language having such a feature.

Haha!

</comment><comment><USER12> Haha. Took me longer than it should have ;)

</comment><comment><USER13> Started to read. Asked myself « but...why ? » Gone back to the top to check the date Oh... right !

</comment><comment><USER14> Great article!

What date is it again?

</comment><comment><USER15> lol</comment>


Logopony: Smart Logo Maker - <AUTHOR> https://www.logopony.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> This is an interesting alternative to Logojoy in that manipulating the logo elements is more streamlined.

Apparently, the AI has been trained on a dataset of professional logo designs.

Unfortunately, there is no way to store several logo designs in a lightbox.</comment>


Python Regex Tool on App Engine - <AUTHOR> http://www.pythonregex.com/ <comment><USER2> See also:

<http://regex.powertoy.org>

It isn't python-specific, and doesn't do named groups, but it does offer animated highlighting in your browser, with no traffic to a faraway server.

(It uses a hidden Java applet to support regex syntax and step functionality beyond Javascript.)</comment>


"So I decided to change my YouTube Channel URL" - <AUTHOR> https://grumpy.website/post/0TKIvdn_O <comment><USER2> I have felt this pain with Google before. Their UX is insane as soon as you delve any deeper than the surface of one of their services.</comment>


Hollywood Moguls Stopping Obama Donations  - <AUTHOR> http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/exclusive-hollywood-moguls-stopping-obama-donations-because-of-administrations-piracy-stand/ ve learned that Hollywood studio chiefs individually and as a group are drawing a line in the sand on the piracy issue with the Obama re-election campaign and refusing to give any more donations.  The blowup came after President Obama on Saturday dashed moguls' hopes that he would remain on the sidelines in the dispute over the U.S. House Of Representatives' Stop Online Piracy Act and the U.S. Senate's Protect IP Act. <comment><USER2> That is the sad part of this issue. Almost every politician votes across money lines with SOPA (Democrat and Republican). I am very impressed that Obama came out against it considering the $9.2 million the entertainment industry has given him:

[http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2008&...](http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2008&ind=b02)

</comment><comment><USER3> good time to rip the band-aid off</comment>


Improved Geometric Specular Antialiasing [pdf] - <AUTHOR> http://www.jp.square-enix.com/tech/library/pdf/ImprovedGeometricSpecularAA(slides).pdf <comment><USER2> Heh, I added this one to our engine at work, based on the deferred approximation. Of all the papers I've implemented, this one was easily the most bang for our buck. Specular aliasing is a big issue in games, especially considering the camera distances our games work at.

The full paper along with the previous one is helpful for understanding the theory:

[http://www.jp.square- enix.com/tech/library/pdf/ImprovedGeome...](http://www.jp.square- enix.com/tech/library/pdf/ImprovedGeometricSpecularAA.pdf)

[http://www.jp.square- enix.com/tech/library/pdf/Error%20Reduc...](http://www.jp.square- enix.com/tech/library/pdf/Error%20Reduction%20and%20Simplification%20for%20Shading%20Anti- Aliasing.pdf)

Anton also helped me figure out why I was seeing some weird results. Turns out the artists had some junk normals that were normally getting hidden by the aliasing. The big challenge here is making sure your art can support the wider angles of the non-aliased specular.

<comment><USER3> I'm thankful you posted those links, they confirmed that Square Enix's tech library page is reachable, it contains some great stuff. Particularly the rendering overview for FFXV.</comment></comment>


Civilian Uses for Nuclear Bombs - <AUTHOR> http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/yourfriendatom.html

<comment><USER2> Australia is a huge continent, but only a small proportion is arable: most is desert. Creating mountains in just the right places could increase rainfall.

But I don't think even the most powerful atomic bombs built so far are sufficient for this modest engineering proposal.

 _EDIT_ and why would a hack like this get downvoted?

<comment><USER3> Creating a fairly-wide sea-passage through the continent (splitting it in two) would probably be easier. Plus it would generate a lot of new beaches and dive sites.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_pulse_propulsion>

This is the only way we have right now of traveling at speeds anywhere close to c.

<comment><USER5> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetoplasmadynamic_thruster>

We also have these; it's probably more practical, but it still requires a powerful onboard reactor (in practice, probably fission or fusion).

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Mount Snow in Vermont wanted to use a bomb to create a back bowl for skiing in the 60s.

[http://books.google.com/books?id=FOhrjSuy6rsC&pg=PA49...](http://books.google.com/books?id=FOhrjSuy6rsC&pg=PA49&lpg=PA49&dq=mount+snow+atomic+bomb&source=bl&ots=tEdg01cKDs&sig=lp5SBYbSBQyFNchJm0UjJXKKWzU&hl=en&ei=QDfhScqoM47glQfMueHgDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4)

</comment><comment><USER5> This is hardly a new idea; the Soviet Union did this for real many times:

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


Can the 'internet of moving things' end traffic jams? - <AUTHOR> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36215293 <comment><USER2> Real time route optimization is a challenging problem. It'll be great to see the results.

Shameless plug: we're optimizing for search. Check out the landing page for a little more info at heimdalldrive.com.</comment>


2016 Ford-Mozilla Open Web Fellows Application - <AUTHOR> https://mozilla-foundation-2.forms.fm/2016-ford-mozilla-open-web-fellows-application <comment><AUTHOR> "The Open Web Fellows program – a collaboration between Ford Foundation and Mozilla – is an international leadership initiative that brings together technology talent and civil society organizations to advance and protect the open Web."

Deadline: March 20, 11:59pm Pacific Time.

for more information:

[https://advocacy.mozilla.org/open-web- fellows/](https://advocacy.mozilla.org/open-web-fellows/)

If you are in new york city, there are two organizations that host:

[Data & Society]([http://www.datasociety.net/blog/2016/02/02/ford-mozilla- open...](http://www.datasociety.net/blog/2016/02/02/ford-mozilla-open-web- fellowships/))

[Color of Change]([http://colorofchange.org/open-web- fellowship/](http://colorofchange.org/open-web-fellowship/))</comment>


5 SEO trends that will matter most in 2019 - <AUTHOR> https://searchengineland.com/5-seo-trends-that-will-matter-most-in-2019-307641 <comment><USER2> Not a bad list, but this is an advertorial pushing a specific SEO tool suite.

</comment><comment><USER3> Seem like 5 SEO trends that are already mattering a fair bit right now, given how Google is already using mobile indexing and brand mentions and page speed and what not.

Then again, I still wonder how much any of this stuff truly matters if your site/service/platform is big enough already. Plenty of large companies rank well for relevant terms even with terribly done websites that ignore every one of Google's suggestions, and the average news site nowadays is slow as all hell where things like page speed are concerned. Doesn't seem to be hurting them all that much right now.

</comment><comment><USER4> Ad tech loves mobile-first as it's the easiest space to commit fraud.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> I'd add a #6, voice search.</comment>


Ask YC: tendonitis at a startup? - <AUTHOR>

I've been at a startup 7 months, and I'm feeling that my wrists are rapidly deteriorating.  How would one write code for 15 hrs/day in such a setting? <comment><USER3> Get religion about good ergonomics.

First a little story: my wife got carpal tunnel so bad in the 90's, she was barely able to button a shirt for 3-4 months, and had to wear splints for almost a whole year. She worked for a high-tech firm and had to leave the corporate world because of her wrists. Things got a lot better, but she didn't type for 3-4 years after that episode. She can type now for 1-2 hours a day, tops. After that, she has pain.

Hackers are like surgeons: worthless without their hands. Your wrists and hands are your bread and butter. Take care of them.

Get religion about ergonomics. Read up online about it. There's tons of information, try a lot of things out and see if they help.

I use the smart glove: <http://www.imakproducts.com/products/smart_glove.htm>

Imak ergo beads: [http://www.imakproducts.com/Products/WristCushionForKeyboard...](http://www.imakproducts.com/Products/WristCushionForKeyboard.aspx)

The MSFT natural keyboard: [http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productde...](http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouseandkeyboard/productdetails.aspx?pid=022)

I go back and forth between a track ball and a mouse.

I also got an ergotron monitor arm: [http://www.ergotron.com/Products/DeskMounts/tabid/71/ctl/Pro...](http://www.ergotron.com/Products/DeskMounts/tabid/71/ctl/Product/mid/396/PRDID/1/language/en- US/default.aspx) It's amazing how much less my neck hurts, and how much easier it is on my eyes, because I can change the monitor's position so easily, I do it a lot more often.

And, I couldn't quite afford an Aeron Chair, so I went to OfficeMax, and got a knock-off: [http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalog/sku.jsp?skuId=20952042...](http://www.officemax.com/omax/catalog/sku.jsp?skuId=20952042&searchString=)

It makes a world of difference for my back, and a better sitting posture means that I lean on my wrists less, causing less wrist and hand pain.

<comment><USER4> Getting serious about ergonomics is an interesting combination of large up- front expense and cheap little hacks and exercises.

Budget $2000. I'm serious about this. The things you buy will last you for years, and $2000 will pay for itself if it saves you two weeks of sick time or a couple of doctor visits.

You may not actually have to spend all of that, but you are going to want:

* An excellent chair ($800 range. Feel free to try the cheaper chairs... I have an Aeron but frankly have no idea if it's worth it. I bought it after using one at work for six months, and discovering it was okay. Testing chairs is difficult and expensive, so I recommend starting out in the midrange rather than spending months working your way up from the $50 OfficeMax chairs. If you find that the more expensive ones are 5% better for you, spend the money.)

The goal with chairs is adjustability. I recommend a chair with adjustable arms, because sometimes when my shoulders get sore I move them up to brace my elbows during rest periods.

* An excellent keyboard. MSFT natural keyboard is a great value, but I switched to the Kinesis Advantage Pro six months ago, and it kicks butt: <http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/> ). It costs something like $350. It looks like it was designed by aliens. You will feel like an idiot for the first week as you relearn all your typing and gradually remap all the keys to your favorite locations. If you don't know how to touch type... you will learn. But then you will experience the joy of feeling like you are typing while barely moving your hands.

* I concur with the Ergotron monitor arms. Being able to adjust the monitor to _exactly_ the right position is important.

* A proper keyboard drawer. You want the kind with the arm that lets you adjust the keyboard to arbitrary angles and heights, and slide it in and out. If you use the mouse, you want to be able to mount the mouse at one side. Something like the ones on this page: [http://www.ergoindemand.com/keyboard-tray-adjustable-shelf.h...](http://www.ergoindemand.com/keyboard-tray-adjustable-shelf.htm) . I would tell you the brand I use, but I picked mine out of the trash by the side of the road. (Arlington, MA -- there are real advantages of living in a startup hub!)

Then you have to hack. Once you've spent money on the raw materials, ergonomics is a game of inches. I have one of those damned expensive Aeron chairs, but just this year I discovered that it doesn't provide enough upper back support, so I strapped a cushion to the top with a bungie cord :). Cost: maybe $20, and the pain is gone. My right arm got sore using the mouse. I discovered that if I took my mouse support off the keyboard drawer and reattached it using a different bolt and some homemade washers, I could raise it by four inches. And, just like that, the pain went away.

See a physical therapist. If you do nothing else, do this. The good ones are _amazingly_ smart. Don't wear wacky gloves or wrist braces without consulting one. It turns out that most of my own occasional wrist pain is caused by nerve pinches in my neck, and treating the wrists is mostly a waste of time...

Oh, and of course: don't type on a laptop keyboard for more than an hour or two every week. Laptops are ergonomically terrifying. Sorry to have to break this one to you. :)

<comment><USER5> First, thanks for the great advice. But, any ergonomic advice at all for MacBook/MBP users (aside from just don't do it)? E.g. can anyone recommend a good keyboard replacement or app or something else?

<comment><USER4> Oh, my main machine is a MacBook. The secret is to realize that laptops are for occasional use in libraries or lectures or hotel rooms, not for real work. It turns out that there really is a reason why pros work in real offices with real desks instead of at a table in the local coffeeshop.

To save yourself from your Macbook, pretend it's a desktop as much as you can. Buy an external keyboard. (I recommend the Kinesis, of course, but even a cheapo standard keyboard is better than the one on the notebook itself.) Buy the nifty Ergotron arm that lets you sit the laptop, open, on a tray and then move the tray around in space until the screen is at the proper height and distance. (<http://www.provantage.com/ergotron-45-192-194~7ERGT06R.htm> )

Now, since you're stuck at a desk anyway, buy a _real_ monitor -- I have a 20" widescreen -- and another Ergotron arm (they have very nice 2-packs -- follow links from here: <http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/archives/000959.html>) and mount that on your desk, then have the laptop drive it as a second monitor. Now you are more productive, because you have more screen space, and you also have a real desk with a real keyboard that you can mount where it needs to be: in your lap.

The problem with laptop keyboards isn't the keyboard, per se; it's the fact that the thing is attached to the screen. You either have to stare down into your lap or raise your arms almost to the level of the screen. Either of these things can eventually cripple you. Obviously, your mileage will vary depending on how old you are, how much you type, your physical condition, your genetic heritage and the phase of the moon -- but, once you even start to _think_ that you're feeling pain, you should immediately get serious about ergonomics.

I've been thinking about how to travel and still get work done. It's not an easy problem to solve. Carrying around my Kinesis and some sort of contraption that lets me elevate the laptop and its screen would be great. A sort of clamp-on, foldable, lightweight, portable keyboard drawer that could attach to the edge of a hotel desk and hold the keyboard at lap level would be _truly_ great... though perhaps rather difficult to implement.

<comment><USER6> This is great stuff. Thank you for posting this!

I normally have a dual-screen setup powered by desktops plus a nice keyboard + mouse.

But I'm in the process of moving abroad and will be living out of my laptop for a little while.

You see some people at startups working straight off their laptops, day in and out. After 1-2 days on my raw Macbook, I have no idea how they do it.

<comment><USER4> I'd strongly encourage you to rent some screens and a keyboard while you're abroad, buy them (used, if possible) and sell them used when you leave, buy them abroad and ship them home to yourself, ship them to your destination and then ship them back...

Whether or not you will be able to find any desk space abroad is, of course, a different problem.

Keyboards and monitors are now lightweight and cheap. I'm hoping to make this fact work for me when next I need to relocate temporarily...

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Ten years ago I got pains in my hands and after various visits to my GP I was referred to a specialist. He dutifully looked at my hands and arms and asked lots of questions about where the pain is, what I do for a living, what medication I'm on, do I have any family history.

He then told me I was an idiot. He didn't understand why I thought I could type for 15 hours a day. Why I expected my tendons to put up with this kind of punishment. I got the feeling that if he could he would have kicked me in the nuts. He told me he could give me medication to reduce swelling but what would the point be. The pain is there because you are pushing yourself too far! Hmm I thought. What an idiot (with a lot of letter after his name). He told me to stop being an idiot and come back in six months if there was any pain.

I was pretty young at the time, I went to my boss and we spoke about the specialist. He told me I was an bloody idiot (I'm English so we're allowed to say these kinds of things to each other btw). He said it's "..great that you want to work for 15 hours a day but think about it. Your body is telling you something". Then he told me something that changed my perspective on coding. He said "It's not how much you type it's what you type". This single sentence made me a better, healthier, more considered and sophisticated programmer.

For the last ten years I've been a better, more productive programmer and if I ever see that specialist again I will shake his hand with my very healthy pain free hands.

Good luck

</comment><comment><USER8> One important point is to take breaks often - get someting like Workrave and set it to force you to stop typing for 30 second every 5 minutes and take a longer break every hour. This doesn't really affect productivity, as you can think about your code during the breaks, and in fact probably improves it.

I had mild tendonitis when I was writing up my PhD, and found that forcing myself to take breaks made a huge difference.

<comment><USER8> ... and also, if you have a laptop, force yourself to only use it at a desk, not on the couch or in bed.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> First, I'll second the folks who have already responded by saying that you shouldn't be typing for 15 hours per day. _Coding_ , perhaps, but easily 1/2 or 2/3 of the time you spend programming should be spent thinking, reading code, etc. If you're consistently banging out line after line of new code for >12 hours per day, something is horribly wrong with your workflow, and I can't imagine you're getting much of an opportunity to refactor and test your code as you go.

That being said, I've found that even 8-10 hours of steady typing can be too much for me, unless I'm using an ergonomic keyboard and good office furniture. If you can find any model of keyboard at all that works for you, buy it. Ditto for wrist rests, chairs, monitors, whatever. If it's expensive, make your employer pay for it. No manager worth their salt should look askance at spending $1-2k if it'll keep you in front of the keyboard for even an hour longer per day.

If you're working for yourself and therefore self-imposing these ridiculous hours and spending limits, then stop. Seriously, just stop. Think about whether the payoff is going to be big enough to make crippling yourself for life. Hell, if you're really sitting at a computer for 15 hours a day, you're probably at risk of getting blood clots in your legs from lack of motion. No startup is worth dying over, or even seriously degrading your quality of living in the future.

</comment><comment><USER10> An addition to all the great advice: remap Caps Lock to act as Ctrl.

<comment><USER11> Or, like me, use the edge of your hand to press it :) (you know the little bone at the joint of the pinky with the rest of the palm? That's what I use to press the left Ctrl)

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> I found that the new apple keyboards really helped ease my wrists pain. They are so flat that I no longer needed a gel pad in front of my keyboard.

<comment><USER13> I love them too, but because the keys take so little force to press.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> Think more, code less :) Often I find the more time you spend thinking, the less code you need to write, because you end up with an elegant solution. Sure sometimes you need to churn out the boring code as well... I'd say use a laptop. I simply can't use an old style desktop keyboard - key travel is way too far.

</comment><comment><USER15> The most important thing for your wrists is to keep the bones in your palm relatively straight with respect to your forearm. If you bend your wrists up, bad things can happen.

I work about 8h per day while walking slowly on a treadmill: [http://rura.org/blog/2007/11/14/the-treadmill-desk- exercise-...](http://rura.org/blog/2007/11/14/the-treadmill-desk-exercise-for- the-sake-of-hacking/) In that configuration, I need a keyboard tray that's angled away from me at a somewhat sharp angle, so I can keep my wrists straight and have my elbows open at about a 120 degree angle.

<comment><USER16> > The most important thing for your wrists is to keep the bones in your palm > relatively straight with respect to your forearm. If you bend your wrists > up, bad things can happen.

Indeed: if you have to reach up to type, you are destroying your wrists.

With a laptop, you are stuck in the unenviable position of having to choose between wrist pains and neck cramps, since the keyboard and monitor are separate.

For a laptop:

Get a wireless keyboard (a wired one will get annoying if you have spinny chairs or accidentally yank on the cord), with a built-in trackpad, and keep it in your lap to type.

Then get either an external display, or raise your laptop's existing display (a stack of phone books should do it), so that your eye level is about 1/3 down the screen.

</comment></comment><comment><USER17> Answer: You can't.

I have RSI flare up when I'm working particularly hard (I'm a business consultant), and it's not fun. Aside from taking NSAIDs, the only real cure that I've found is to stop typing and mousing so much. And working hard to me, means >10 hours a day, plus at least one weekend day.

If I slack off a bit, then the RSI goes away until the next timecrunch, burn, death-march, etc. ;-)

I also have a Logitech MarbleMan trackbar, and that does help, though after a mouse, the trackball is a tad annoying to use, especially one without a scrollwheel.

</comment><comment><USER18> I remember having temporary pain from working alot and it would go away after a couple days...

The bad thing - at some point, it becames residual - no amount of rest (short of 6-12 months of keyboard abstinence) will let you recover. You have to start proactively manage - You've broken the proverbial straw on the camel's back.

That was years ago, I have a much-less painful, residual level of aching (2.5 on a scale of 1 to 10).

Nowadays, I manage my work, with occasional flare ups (4/10). My advice is to get WorkPace restbreak software to force you take breaks. Consider using an burst-proof exercise ball chair (forces you to work your abs) <http://www.fitter1.com/Catalog/Items/FBCJ.aspx>

Take Yoga classes, swimming (great full-body exercise, zero-impact). Alexander technique is good for gaining body awareness as well. If you slouch your head is like a bowling-ball weight that causes a domino-effect of strain on your entire backbone/spine.

The good thing, if there is a good thing about RSI symptoms, is that you may start to realize that you may not be able to be a programmer for as long as you wanted and you start to diversify and you will _not_ take your programming job for granted. And you become a much more efficient programmer..

</comment><comment><USER19> To prevent this kind of thing in the first place: Stop typing at regular intervals, stand up, and run your fingers and wrists through a range of flexion and extension motions while moving your arms around, especially over your head and back down again. This will get more blood flowing in the area, which helps. Strength training of your wrists, shoulders, abs and back helps. Wear wrist braces _at night_. People often push their wrists into strange positions while asleep - this will prevent that. But _do not_ wear them any other time - they will cause muscle atrophy which makes things worse.

You've waited a while though, so you'll probably need to stop typing entirely for a month to let the inflammation go away first.

JWZ is worth reading on this. <http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/wrists.html>

My final advice: try occupational therapists and physical therapists. Physicians aren't as good about knowing specifically what to change about your behavior and how to get you to do it. The better occupational and physical therapists think about these issues constantly.

</comment><comment><USER20> If you often bang keys for 20 seconds, then sit still thinking for 40 seconds, try adjusting that split to 30+30. You're typing slower but you're not working slower.

Variety works well for me. I had a bad pain that was triggered by depressing the left mouse button. I now alternate my mouse between hands on a roughly weekly basis. After the first few days mousing left handed, it was no longer slowing me down.

Also, I find alternating seat height, keyboard type and position, screen height, etc eases the general back and neck pains that can come with sitting in the same position for too long. Whether 3+3+3+3 hours in varied positions is better than 12 hours in the same, "optimal" position is probably something physiotherapists would never agree on.

On medication: you don't want to use painkillers to enable your pushing too hard. On the other hand, my understanding is that inflammation is a bit of a vicious circle (inflamed tissues are more easily further irritated), so anti- inflammatories are your friends. Topical medication may be more or less effective than pills, and are less likely to screw up your stomach.

</comment><comment><USER21> Anyone who thinks they have RSI should read Dr. Sarno's theories about RSI: <http://podolsky.everybody.org/rsi/>

All is not as it seems with RSI, and you should trust what the scientific research shows, not what your physical therapist with a PTA degree tells you.

</comment><comment><USER22> Better take care of this asap. I've got medial epicondylitis, better known as golfer's elbow from typing to much. I've tried everything to get rid of it including 4 months of PT, but it always comes back. It sucks. I'll try anything at this point.

</comment><comment><USER23> At an old job in 2003, my office mate quit and left these amazing hand rests which I began to use. I loved them so much that when they broke in 2006 I actually super glued them back together. At that time I couldn't find anyone selling them on the web. Now, they've broken again and it looks like I can get them here: <http://www.ausconn.com/> \- see the "Comfort glide" area - <USER2> picture from the top left (I know, amazing website). Apparently they're made in Australia. Seriously, these things are amazing.

</comment><comment><USER24> I've been plagued with tendonitis on and off since I started typing like 20 years ago. The number one thing that I've found has helped is keeping track of my wrist alignment. Make sure your wrists are on a straight plane.

The easy way to describe it is that your wrists should be simliar to their natural resting position while you type.

A common problem that people have is that they use their wrist and elbow muscles while they type, and it puts a ton of stress on the joints and tendons.

</comment><comment><USER25> Colemak layout works wonders, and for me was much more pleasant than Dvorak (plus, the transition is easier).

<http://colemak.com/>

<comment><USER26> How informed is your impression of Dvorak? I see that Colemak can be easier to learn for querty-typists, but the other points in the FAQ do not seem that vital.

(FAQ: [http://colemak.com/FAQ#What.27s_wrong_with_the_Dvorak_layout...](http://colemak.com/FAQ#What.27s_wrong_with_the_Dvorak_layout.3F))

P.S. I do not want to start a flame war. Pretty much everything is better than querty.

<comment><USER25> I spent about 4 weeks working on the transition to Dvorak, and it never 'clicked' for me, and at the end I was in the 40s for my WPM touch-typing Dvorak whereas I'm about 85 on QWERTY. After 2 weeks in Colemak, I'm at 40 WPM and growing.

If "learning curve" is stopping you from switching keyboard layouts (as it was me), don't let it: Colemak decreases that transition time to bearable levels.

<comment><USER26> I switched to Dvorak some years ago. Because the keys on the keyboard did not match what you got when you pressed them - Dvorak forced me to touch type - which I hadn't been able to do on querty (or rather quertz) for lack of pressure.

Now I am much better at querty and Dvorak. You do not unlearn the old layout. In fact I find that I can alternate between both layouts as fast as I can tell the computer to switch. (I assigned the windows-key for switching.)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER27> I am a long-time kinesis user because I find the kinesis i the best combination of speed and comfort. But once I head really crippling RSI, I switched to the safetype keyboard (www.safetype.com) for a few weeks, and found it even more comfortable. Eventually I switched back to the kinesis because of the speed and accuracy, but the safetype is worth a try if you have really bad pains.

www.safetype.com

</comment><comment><USER28> I love all of Microsoft's ergonomic keyboards and highly recommend one. They lead to your hands being in a more natural position than on a straight keyboard. Nowadays, I can't type for more than maybe an hour on a regular keyboard before my wrists start to hurt, but I have no problems on ergonomic ones.

</comment><comment><USER29> I've found that resting my arms at the same height as the keyboard really helps.

</comment><comment> daniel-cussen I didn't know this could be as big of a deal as it is. Now I know; thanks isb.

</comment><comment><USER30> Whenever this question comes up I recommend the Alexander Technique. That worked for me, reply with email for more info.

<comment><USER31> This from the ACT RSI group (Australia):

Some treatments were moderately or very successful for most who tried them, with very little or no adverse effect. These were:

        * Bowen Therapy
        * Alexander Technique
        * Tai Chi
        * Self Hypnosis

Treatments with adverse effects on more than 20% of those who tried them included:

        * Swimming
        * Carpal tunnel surgery
        * Local anaesthetic injections
        * Traction (the standout villain!)
        * Stretches from a physio
        * Cortisone injections

<http://www.rsi.org.au/treatments.html>

<comment><USER31> There is now some good science to show that Alexander Technique is effective, at least for lower back pain:

<http://alexandertechniquenorthside.ie/back-pain.html>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> Don't use Emacs.

<comment><USER4> Yes and no. The default Emacs setup on a standard keyboard can be a problem -- the pinkies, how they ache! -- but I find that using the mouse is even worse, so if my emacs alternative involves mousing I have an even bigger problem.

You have not lived until you've used Emacs with the Kinesis keyboard. You can remap any key to any other key instantly _within the keyboard itself_ , without mucking around in your OS. And there are bunches of thumb keys. All those wacky control and meta keys now live, in mirrored pairs, under my thumbs, and the Caps Lock function has been moved to a random, faraway key, to be replaced by my own personal prefix key that I can use to trigger stuff like snippets and abbreviations.

<comment><USER13> If you need to hit modifier keys a lot on a normal keyboard, move your whole hand and press them with your index and middle fingers together, instead of using your pinky.

<comment><USER26> Moving my whole hand is slow..

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER33> <http://www.datahand.com/>

</comment><comment><USER34> Do yoga and pilates and stretching exercises every day

<comment><USER11> Maybe in-between coding sessions...

Give yourself a little massage every now and then to relax the accumulated tension.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> 1) ergonomics. for example, if you have a laptop, keep in mind you should put the screen at the right height (ie, on some books or something) and then use external keyboard+mouse)

2) ergonomics. type with straight wrists. if you rest your palms on the table by the keyboard and bend your wrists up, while typing, that will hurt you

3) attitude and mood are important. when i was really scared of the pain, and obsessing about it, it made it a lot worse. at some point i relaxed and it felt a lot better. obviously that won't work in all cases, and you still have to be careful, but if you're scared every little nerve impulse means you're too crippled to work and your life is ruined, you can imagine more pain than you have.

4) form habits. some ppl play with their hair while thinking, or shake their leg, or bite their tongue. when you're thinking about how to write the next piece of code, you want to be unconsciously stretching. make it something you do automatically when you aren't paying attention to what you're physically doing.

5) i don't like chair arm rests. partly they are too far apart, and they have to be unless your chair width really hugs your body. i use a pillow in my lap (and supported on the ends by the arm rests) at all times. it's from an old couch and not too hard or soft. it gives me somewhere comfortable to rest my arms whenever i'm not typing, as well. your mileage may vary, but feel free to improvise if it's comfortable.

<comment><USER35> Second the arm rest bit and stretching habits.</comment></comment>


The Carbone Ruby VM - <AUTHOR> http://www.nongnu.org/carbone/ <comment><USER2> "But with code that recurses or calls other methods that are implemented in Ruby (better said: Carbon input language). From obvious reasons the mentioned improvment factor will go down to zero when spending all the time in builtins; (long running builtins, not Fixnum#+; but this effect begins with it). One may say snippets that do no work are producing larger speed improvments; but this is also the kind of code one calls object oriented; i.e. many levels of indirection, abstraction ....."

Two issues with this paragraph:

1) "Carbon input language" makes me think that I can't use the full breadth of Ruby. If I can't use the full breadth of Ruby _it 's not a Ruby VM_.

2) I'm not really grokking the "snippets that do no work" portion, but given that Ruby (or at least the Rails/Sinatra flavors) are all about interdependent, highly-OO flavored code what audience is this VM targeting?

<comment><USER3> I mean, this wast last updated in 2002...why it's linked here I don't know.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Why do they call a site promoting free software nongnu? I was curious but nothing jumped out at me as a link to a quick answer.

EDIT: Thank you both. So, non-GNU = "not, officially GNU" instead of anti-GNU I was wondering about. That makes sense.

<comment><USER5> [http://savannah.gnu.org](http://savannah.gnu.org) is a hosting site for "official" GNU software (i.e. sponsored by the Free Software Foundation).

[http://savannah.nongnu.org](http://savannah.nongnu.org) is a hosting site for "community" projects that are not sponsored by the FSF.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> looks to be from 2002, all source in CVS.</comment>


The world's required reading list - <AUTHOR> http://blog.ed.ted.com/2016/12/08/the-worlds-required-reading-list-the-books-that-students-read-in-28-countries/ <comment><USER2> "Reading list" that is unreadable (watch a X-hundred-MB video instead, right). What irony.</comment>


Nokia's new budget phones promise clean Android for all - <AUTHOR> https://www.engadget.com/2019/02/24/nokia-4-2-3-2-1-plus-hands-on-mwc-2019/ <comment><USER2> Have they removed that repo yet that sends base64 IMEI, SIMID,... to zzhc.vnet.cn?

</comment><comment><USER3> I just picked up a Nokia 6.1 as a development phone (it was cheap and supports Pie). It arrived yesterday and I'm quite impressed! I have generally bought cheap phones for development, and this one is way way way better than the others I've gotten over the years. Really great work they're doing!

</comment><comment><USER4> How about no Android? Switch to Sailfish OS that was developed in Nokia (as Meego)!</comment>


Stripe Dashboard for iPhone - <AUTHOR> https://stripe.com/dashboard/iphone <comment><USER2> I wonder how much of Stripe success is due to their gorgeous UIs and overall design, I hate when people say "Design is nothing, content is what matters..." and I love when companies like Apple and Stripe demolish these stereotypes. Design is AS important as content, great content & features will be unnoticed if they are buried under outdated and unfriendly UI design.

<comment><USER3> I don't believe gorgeous or ugly UI came into consideration when we switched payment system for my SaaS to Stripe. Our main consideration were ease of integration, payments transfers from Stripe to our Bank, and User payment dispute resolution. I doubt it we ever check Stripe dashboard and use Stripe App since the integration. Only time we go look at anything on Stripe site is when we need look up something new we are trying to integrate or user payment related issues. I would love to know how Stripe users are using the dashboard and other UI oriented stuff beyond APIs. What values do these thing add to users' business.

<comment><USER4> However, the things you love about Stripe - like its ease of integration - likely come from the same dedication to quality and user experience that went into the design. Amazing UIs are often an indication of a well-thought out product in which a lot of time went into all the details, including UI _and_ functionality.

A product that cuts short on presenting a polished product on the outside, may very well have the same ugliness to its internal components.

Or, as sometimes happens, 90% of the effort went into the design, and the product itself is crap. That happens too. ;)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> I never have used a Stripe product (although always wanted to) nor will I have any need to in the near future but I will _always_ click a new product announcement from them. They are just so beautiful and consistently so. Sometimes I feel like the design takes over the actual product announcement too. The discussion on HN is usually about how great their designers are. Anyway, this looks like another great, polished product from Stripe. They are unstoppable.

<comment><USER6> Exact same for myself, even if the design is very broken in FF Dev Edition.[0]

[0] [http://i.imgur.com/CRAl9h4.png](http://i.imgur.com/CRAl9h4.png)

<comment><USER7> Works fine for me. Must be your setup/extensions.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I said this last time and I'll say it again: Stripe's front-end team makes beautiful, beautiful things.

<comment><USER7> The Stripe web dashboard is nice, but it's _completely_ unresponsive. Why are they developing native apps instead of making their main product mobile- friendly?

<comment><USER2> I hate responsive websites, I prefer to use a full sized version on my phone. Most of "responsive" websites hide vital functions from a smartphone user, I hate that.

<comment><USER9> You don't have to hide content.

Some people do it and it annoys. But it can also be simple things like: Big screens see 2 1/2 screen wide tables across, small screens so the tables under each other. No hidden info either way, just scaled well.

I think good responsive website is the ideal end state. I do not want an app for every single thing I visit. A few important things sure. If stripe was my main activity, sure! But if I am just using it to watch my monthly sales number... rather have a good mobile website.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> If any of the Stripe iOS engineers are here, just wondering what your rationale was for using a card based layout for the app? The alternative being the standard nav stack. Serious question.

Your card layout sure is beautiful and the animation is nice but how did you decide it was worth it given some of it drawbacks (users used to the standard nav stack, less screen real estate for content, etc).

<comment><USER11> The design seems to be taking a leaf from Material Design, e.g. the item selection "splash"

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> If you search for "Stripe" in the iphone app store it is nowhere to be found. Among the results that do appear are "LoL Camera", "Fruit Shake", "Color Lines Free". Apple really needs to improve their app store search.

<comment> SG- If it just hit the app store then it's probably not even released in all the countries or showing up in searches yet.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> I think they may need to revisit the color scheme. Lead in text on left is pretty faint:

[http://i.imgur.com/QNpr5rS.png](http://i.imgur.com/QNpr5rS.png)

FF 38 on Windows

<comment><USER13> Reloading page seems to have corrected issue:

[http://i.imgur.com/haJzllG.png](http://i.imgur.com/haJzllG.png)

edit:Seems to have been related to background loading (opening link in new background tab and then not clicking in to it until after it had fully loaded)

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> As always, product page announcements are gorgeous. But does anyone feel the web dashboard is severely limiting? For example, getting simple graphs like YTD, Last Month, This Quarter... etc currently it's all manual [http://cl.ly/image/0y1I0Y1X450D](http://cl.ly/image/0y1I0Y1X450D)

And ditto on simple KPIs/analytics e.g. % increase of new users this week vs last, ARPU, Q/Q... I know there are 3rd party services that focus solely on this but it just seems like such an easy add; am I missing it somewhere in dashboard or is this really not a priority?

<comment><USER15> Watch this space!

Or, really, watch the dashboard.stripe.com space. Though we'll post it here too.

<comment><USER16> I was using the dashboard last night and felt certain that you guys must have some kind of overhaul in progress. Looking forward to being surprised by it one of these days.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> Anybody have any idea what animation library they're using? Doesn't look to be CSS transitions and all their JS is compressed (rightfully so).

<comment><USER18> I've actually created an animation library based on my work for this page: [https://github.com/bendc/animateplus](https://github.com/bendc/animateplus)

<comment><USER19> Benjamin, really like uilang.js. Do you happen to know what animation libraries are being used for iOS or at least if they are custom?

<comment><USER18> Facebook Pop :)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER20> Wonder how this affects apps like Control that were built to service this purpose. Whats Stripe's stance on that? Also, is Android in the works?

<comment><USER21> (I work at Stripe)

Control provides a number of services (business intelligence, analytics reporting, etc.) in addition to mobile apps to view your Stripe account details. We let Control know we were planning to build an iOS app in September of 2014 and we plan to continue to work with and support their efforts to build on top of Stripe's platform.

More broadly, we want to balance being good ecosystem stewards with building the best product for our businesses. Occasionally, what we do will overlap with what others are building. When that happens, we'll try to give as much notice as possible.

If you have any questions about this, please drop me a line (firstname.lastname@example.com). We want to ensure we're building out the Stripe ecosystem to make our partners successful.

</comment></comment><comment><USER22> I would definitely want to know how they create any announcement page. I mean, a whole process - brainstorming, designs (and tools) and UI.

</comment><comment><USER23> Awesome, the mobile app Stripe has needed for years is finally here. I'm most excited about push notifications (new customers, charges), and a quick overview of transactions on the go. There have been entire companies (successfully) built on just sending Stripe notifications, now it is native in a mobile app.

</comment><comment><USER24> Cannot sign in the app after installing. No error messages. Nothing happened after clicking the Sign In button.

We've been using Stripe for a little more than half a year now. While the product and design is top-notch, the reliability of the service and speed of bug fixes could really use some work.

<comment><USER25> Interesting, can you email me details (email you're trying / account) at email@example.com? Would appreciate it!

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> How convenient, since I _just_ started using Stripe this past week :) Control -- the app I had been using -- seemed great, but I have to imagine this will trump, especially considering the amount of polish and attention to detail goes into every Stripe interface.

</comment><comment><USER27> Someone should write a blog with articles like "how to recreate Stripe landing page $X"

</comment><comment><USER28> Looks great! It was only a matter of time.

I feel bad for all those third-party apps on the AppStore that probably do the same thing. They filled a niche before Stripe could build their own solution but now, will they just fade away to obscurity?

</comment><comment><USER29> Just downloaded and tried the app. This is great for v1.0!

That being said, here's a bug report:

1) There's a typo in the "transfer details" card where it lists "adjustements"

2) Bitcoin payments don't show any info about the bitcoin transaction (or the fact that it's a bitcoin payment) in the payment details card.

3) The "payment details" card cuts off longer descriptions after about 30 characters

4) it would be nice to see logs via the app to track errors "on the go".

<comment><USER25> Thanks for the feedback! Totally on point!

</comment></comment><comment><USER30> Nice, I've been secretly waiting for this, also because I knew that the design and usability would be convincing. Stripe delivers once again.

However I will have to stick to a third part competitor[1] for a while, until the following features are implemented (I imagine they are on the roadlist):

1\. Some sort of app protection, e.g. a pin code 2\. Multi account login

[1] [http://paidhq.com/](http://paidhq.com/)

</comment><comment><USER31> The perspective transform on the video really makes it look bad. Jaggies on the thin lines and text and tough to read. It's worse in Chrome than Safari, but still bad in either case: [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHE07a-XIAARlY4.png:large](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHE07a-XIAARlY4.png:large)

It detracts from an otherwise gorgeous page.

</comment><comment><USER32> This is unlike Stripe but this landing page is totally broken in Chrome and Firefox on Android for me: [https://www.dropbox.com/s/axl4ogngkmdtc83/Screenshot_2015-06...](https://www.dropbox.com/s/axl4ogngkmdtc83/Screenshot_2015-06-10-09-00-45.png?dl=0)

</comment><comment><USER33> I'm not sure about wanting to see payment data on the lock screen. Looks like it includes a payment amount and an email address. Isn't that borderline privacy issue? I wouldn't necessarily want my email address displaying on people's lock screens. Or am I just being paranoid?

<comment><USER34> All shopping cart software I know of sends the store owner an e-mail about each purchase with the customer's e-mail and payment amount. E-mail already appears on my lock screen.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Getting greedy: when can I sign into more than one Stripe account at once?

The app is great. Integrated right with 1password as well, and when I went to Authy to copy my MFA token, it auto-pasted it when I returned to the Stripe app. Normally signing in with MFA is a pain, but this was super great!

</comment><comment><USER36> I wish they revamp their existing web dashboard because it's poorly done.

Features I'd expect from the dashboard at the very least:

1\. Number of new customers per interval.

2\. Subscription renewals per month.

3\. Total income per month stacked by subscription type.

Unfortunately none of these basic features are available.

<comment><USER34> It'd be nice to have that in-house, but for now, Baremetrics gives you that kind of thing: [https://baremetrics.com/](https://baremetrics.com/)

<comment><USER37> Or [http://profitwell.com](http://profitwell.com) (it is free and gives me better metrics)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> Hi I am Kathryn! I am the founder of Control , a Stripe partner, and the company referenced in this thread.

First off, I would like to point out an obvious fact : this is my first post ever on HN. I have observed /admired all of the great discussions on HN for years and have never felt as though I have had anything useful to contribute (or maybe I was a bit intimidated :) However, a couple people messaged me about the thread that has been materializing here- so here I am! I hope I can add an interesting or insightful perspective.

Yes, Control has an iOS dashboard for Stripe merchants. And an Android app. And a web app , and we have an iWatch app in development. We have a number of areas where we are building out a set of capabilities for businesses to manage their payments better. In fact, we have a number of really cool ideas in our pipeline I think anybody who manages payments will find very , very interesting. Contact me to see our roadmap !

I have known that Stripe was building an iOS app for months (as Cristina pointed out , since September 2014) and I believe this is great! I think a free app for Stripe customers looking for very simple functionality is a smart move by Stripe. And the design is sensational, well done!

At Control, we are focused on building out many more capabilities that I believe businesses will find valuable . For example (just to give a flavor of our thinking):

\- Real time alerts on transactional behavior indicative of potential fraud occurring \- Expanded CRM tools in iOs, Android, and web \- The ability to manage Stripe, PayPal , Dwolla, and more from 1 app

We have a number of payment platforms in our radar we want to build business apps around (we already support Paymill in Europe and nearly done integrations to PayPal, Conekta and PIN Payments). However, Control deliberately built around Stripe first because:

a. Stripe/Cristina has supported our business model from Day 1 and b. I truly believe Stripe's approach is the most significant innovation to happen in the payments industry in the last 10 years, because of their philosophy of opening their APIs to the broader developer /app ecosystem. We love Stripe and we love being able to add value to their customers

We are proud to be a Stripe partner and hope to continue growing and innovating alongside with them.

I should point out that one of our investors /advisors is the Hootsuite CEO, Ryan Holmes. The best advice Ryan gave me was not too worry too much about the prospect of Stripe releasing a free app, but to keep innovating and building distinctive value. Hootsuite's business wasn't materially impacted when Twitter launched their free app . I think this is a good analogy of our position.

<comment><USER39> Hey Kathryn, Zac from Pin Payments here. Stoked to hear you're working on supporting us! Do reach out if we can help with anything at all. (It's our first post here too ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER40> Does this app provide a native onboarding flow if I want to use Stripe Connect in my iOS app? This would be great for mobile-only applications that provide payment functionality.

</comment><comment><USER41> It is really beautiful, but have to say it, the iPhone animation is just an mp4 file. Kudos though to their motion guy.

<comment><USER27> What do you mean kudos to their motion guy? Is the iPhone animation not merely just a recorded screencast of the actual app functioning as it does natively? Or have I been had by a ruse -- was the animation made in an animations program?

<comment><USER42> When you load the page, the iPhone spins in slightly.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER43> That landing page is effin' mesmerizing. I think they just set a new standard here.

</comment><comment><USER44> Strange, I can't seem to find this in the app store on my phone. I live in Canada.

<comment><AUTHOR> (I work at Stripe.) Seems like the App Store takes a bit of time to refresh everywhere. Check back in a few hours, and if you still don't find it, please let me know!

<comment><USER45> Great front end!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> Not sure if the Stripe guys will see this.

Your layout is really broken in landscape on iOS.

</comment><comment><USER47> I also love that they support ios 7. We haven't all updated :D

</comment><comment><USER48> text unreadable in firefox 38

[http://imgur.com/m93jmOU](http://imgur.com/m93jmOU)</comment>


Faster PHP fo shizzle - <AUTHOR> http://terrychay.com/article/hiphop-for-faster-php.shtml

<comment><USER2> Am I the only one wondering why facebook hasn't implemented a compression backend into memcache much like Reiser4 and ZFS has done?

They've made it very clear that they're RAM limited (in particular with respect to capacity), so why not just have the processor compress/decompress memcache operations back and forth with a highly efficient and relatively low compression algorithm?

It's not even like you couldn't tune the algorithm to detect duplicate/similar data and create atomic globs of data that represent multiple informational objects.

It seems like their big cost is putting together machines with tons of RAM for their memcache clusters, so why not bring that cost down?

<comment><USER3> [http://highscalability.com/blog/2009/10/26/facebooks- memcach...](http://highscalability.com/blog/2009/10/26/facebooks-memcached- multiget-hole-more-machines-more-capacit.html) would indicate that Facebook's memcached instances are sometimes CPU-bound. They've submitted several patches to Memcached to improve its performance so that would back that up as well.

I've wondered the same thing--compression would be enormously helpful to us since we're RAM-bound (even with tons of RAM) and store a lot of easily compressible HTML. Further, our memcached instances show almost no CPU load.

<comment><USER2> Well, I guess for their scale, CPU-limiting factors would make compression not worthwhile.

That said, for more common scaling issues, I think compression would be a huge win, especially with Redis-style backends.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> _If you are making an argument to recode your entire site from PHP to some other language, the answer is you just lost that argument._

This only works if execution time was a major part of the argument, and the site meets the conditions for benefiting from HipHop discussed in the article.

</comment><comment><USER5> I was afraid that the usefulness of HipHop would be as limited as is regarding that it's not an easy feat to create a PHP-to-C++ compiler that handles C library dependencies (which PHP has a lot!) well.

BTW It was the second time in a week that there was a product that created incredible buzz in HN community without anyone able to trying out the product (the other was iPad of course) and I was amazed at the amount of well-informed opinion based on such little information.

PS. This blog is a good reading if you are interested in Facebook architecture, scaling and design issues in general.

<comment><USER6> They aren't trying to reuse the Zend C libraries. However, phc does, and it is tricky and requires sacrifices.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Some day they'll post the code.

<comment><AUTHOR> It seems the code will be out "soon":

 _We're in the process of opening the list and approving members to the group. Code will follow soon after any recent cherges have been merged to the branch and we're sure that anything Facebook specific is removed._

More in the HipHop mailing list: [http://groups.google.com/group/hiphop-php- dev/browse_thread/...](http://groups.google.com/group/hiphop-php- dev/browse_thread/thread/8e2c858d79a3ada6)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Terry's earlier article about the future of PHP (linked in the first paragraph of this one) is also very good reading:

<http://phpadvent.org/2009/1500-lines-of-code-by-terry-chay>

</comment><comment><USER9> thinking that php is written in C why didnt they do php->c instead of php->c++?

<comment><USER6> They aren't reusing any of the Zend PHP implementation. But that's exactly what phc (<http://www.phpcompiler.org>) does.

<comment><USER9> not asking that. is there that much performance diff btw c and c++ or what are the reasons for the choice? first c++ is sexier that's for sure.

<comment><USER10> From the presentation, it sounded like it generates a C++ object for each user created php object (1 to 1). We will all know when they release the source.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


A mental steam shovel part two: the algorithm - Archetypal - <AUTHOR> http://archetyp.al/blog/2013/02/24/a-mental-steam-shovel-part-two-the-algorithm/

<comment><AUTHOR> This article does a great job of showing how AI can use shortcuts to figure out the next best move.</comment>


Ask HN: Why wouldn't you hire a programming boot camp graduate? - <AUTHOR>

Seeing as I am about to finish such a program, this could be very useful information! <comment><USER2> Just like any other candidate, I wouldn't hire them if they didn't seem qualified, they had no projects to show me or they seem like a bad fit, personality-wise.

If you have no previous experience and your only education is a boot-camp, then I would recommend getting some projects up on github. If you have nothing then just make up some stuff for fun. I generally won't hire somebody if they have no code to show me.

Good luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> If you have the time, a link to my Github account can be found in my profile and I would enjoy hearing your opinion on what I have there.

Cheers!

<comment><USER2> I think your profile looks good. You look like somebody who likes a combination of real, working code and fun projects to tinker around with. That's pretty much the type of person I look for. I'd say just keep doing more of the same!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> A boot camp graduate may be able to do a copy paste job on some existing code or do the limited tasks that they taught in the boot camp, but the person isn't going to be very versatile. It's the difference between a musician who can improvise and one who can play what's on the sheet. Often, companies like to portray development types as all having the same value, but the copy and fill in the blank style tasks are actually not that valuable. Investors don't know the difference though, and that's why boot camps make their money. If I was a startup looking for funding, i would hire a boot camper. If I was someone desperate to get a complex project finished I wouldn't hire a boot camper, but instead someone with 10+ years of what I would call graduate school level work.

<comment><AUTHOR> Has this been your experience with boot camp graduates so far? Because even I will admit that is pathetic.

<comment><USER3> No, but that's the only way boot camps can guarantee a job. The person is worth their 'warm body' value.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> We hire good programmers and couldn't careless where they come from.

That being said, bootcamp has gone a few rounds now, and many companys' junior positions have been filled by previous graduates. so the demand(for entry level) may have gone down.

<comment><AUTHOR> That is actually my biggest concern. I'm confident that my skill (read: lack of?) will get me hired, but if there are no companies looking for junior devs, what can I do?</comment></comment>


How to I learn to solve more coding challenges daily? - <AUTHOR> I'm solving challenges without looking up solutions from the internet. I use the official documentation and debugging methods for help. This method has been helpful because when I go back to solve the problem again, I can implement the code in other ways and apply some techniques to newer and more challenging problems. I used to struggle over a problem, copy the solution, understand the solution, then rewrite it 3-5 times. But I still had a hard time coding a solution up myself. Figuring out the problem without using someone's solution helped with gaps I had about learning to code earlier.
I'm using this method at a month long interview bootcamp, but the pace is slower with me. Is there a way for me to catch up with the class, while working on the problems the way I do right now?
I'm also asking this because I know that when I work in a company, there are time constraints. I'd like to figure out a way to code at the pace needed, but still learn what I need to learn without skimming over material.
Any advice is appreciated. <comment><USER2> Reddit's r/dailyprogrammer [1] is pretty good. Daily challenge threads where people post solutions in all sorts of languages.

[1] [https://www.reddit.com/r/dailyprogrammer/](https://www.reddit.com/r/dailyprogrammer/)

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for this one!</comment></comment>


Word of Mouth Propelled Our Business to $4M/Year - <AUTHOR> https://www.starterstory.com/stories/how-word-of-mouth-propelled-our-business-to-3m-year <comment><AUTHOR> Problem: How does a company find talent to work offsite, when many people who work offsite fail to meet the expectations of those companies?

Solution: Boldly.

"Where there's muck, there's brass"

(Where there's a problem, there's money to had, if you solve it...):

[https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/12/06/where-theres- muck-...](https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2007/12/06/where-theres-muck-theres- brass/)</comment>


Responsible Vacation Policy - <AUTHOR> http://blog.factual.com/my-vacation-policy-is-better-than-yours

<comment><USER2> Because I am a workaholic who doesn't trust management to look out for me, I want a formal vacation policy that accrues vacation days so there's no chance for misunderstanding either way.

If you can solve the problem of finding a management chain that truly looks out for its employees rather than chasing maximal profitability and/or covering its own a$$, I salute you. Until then, I'll stick to a formal vacation policy as the 80% solution that just isn't broken.

<comment><USER3> The problem with that is it will take quite a while when you join before you can actually do anything with your vacation.

<comment><USER2> That's why more Americans need to take at least a month off between jobs, no?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Paragraph 3 of the RiverGlide employment contract ( [https://github.com/RiverGlide/contracts/blob/master/employme...](https://github.com/RiverGlide/contracts/blob/master/employment.md) )

The law entitles You to a minimum of 28 days of paid leave per year. This consists of 8 public holidays and 20 days of paid leave per year. We expect you to take at least the minimum amount of leave each year. We also encourage you to take as much additional leave as you need to maintain the health and well being of yourself and the company, as long as to do so would not cause harm to You, Us or any client We are engaged with.

Basically, we expect our employees to take a minimum amount of time off but we don't track it. Hopefully the other paragraphs make sense to responsible adults too

</comment><comment><USER5> I'd really like to know if they have any actual Europeans working there? I wouldn't call myself a slacker, but having worked only in Germany I like my 25+ days of paid vacation very much.

Oh, and about every person who moved to the US (i.e. the valley) said they miss their vacation time a lot. And they also said they love their jobs...

<comment><AUTHOR> Sure, we do. They take advantage of the vacation policy just like the rest of us.

<comment><USER5> I was referencing this exact paragraph:

> Imagine an employee who takes this policy and chooses to live like a > European with umpteen weeks off every year. What to do about that? Simply > tie it back to performance and things become clear.

It's probably just my bad English that I don't get the nuance, but it sounds a little condescending.

Are the Europeans actually taking more time off due to being used to it? Is their performance judged more because of this, if they do? I can't really imagine anyone answering YES to that, but it just struck me as odd to include this.

That said, your model sounds very good (compared to what seems to be the American standard) :)

<comment><USER6> Author here. Definitely didn't mean to condescend. I used "like a European" as short-hand for, "this is an employee who regularly chooses to take off far more time than the typical American would generally be expected to take off".

This section of the article was meant to speak directly to management who may be concerned about using this policy due to this particular possibility. The following text is attempting to answer their concerns. That is, don't worry so much about this. Rather, judge the results, as you should be anyway.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Verisign Buyout of Thawte Consulting Challenged (2000) - <AUTHOR> https://slashdot.org/story/00/01/11/1029235/verisign-buyout-of-thawte-consulting-challenged <comment><AUTHOR> I believe Mark later used this to fund Canonical (it was worth $575 million). This is a good example of the debt based economy being flawed, including how it encouraged extracting more money from "consumers" (remember that for example IE did not support anything other than VeriSign, Thawte, and GTE CyberTrust until the then recently released NT4 SP6 and IE 5.01).</comment>


The assault on neurosurgeons' privileges by software and bureaucrats - <AUTHOR> http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2015/12/07/brain-surgeon-tortured-by-software-developers-and-hospital-bureaucrats/ <comment><USER2> > Fuck Off 45. He hates computers.'

> 'Why forty-five?'

> 'It's the forty-fifth month since we signed onto that hospital's system and > one has to change the password every month,' Caroline replied.

Every month is a little aggressive of a timeline. Also, stop making users do your bizarre regex passwords.

* include caps

* include numbers

* include symbol

* eight charachters

* must be recursive backronym

Also, stop trying to keep password requirements secret. I am sick of this guessing game. I can relate to Mr. Johnson's total indifference to the system.

<comment><USER3> If you don't you end up with bad passwords.

Maybe we should just get rid of the damn passwords and replace them with a system that makes it easier to remember and use without compromising security. At the very least one password + a smartcard system would be way easier. You enter your password once then you just have to swipe your card when you login to another system.

<comment><USER4> Not entirely sure why you're being downvoted. Sun terminals have had smartcard access for, what, 15 years? (Yes, for hospitals). It's a good idea. Some sort of complementary directional RFID might be even better.

E.g. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R497CzmKyVQ&t=38s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R497CzmKyVQ&t=38s)

<comment><USER5> Pretty sure he got downvoted because of this canard:

>If you don't you end up with bad passwords.

This is a terrible fallacy that has brought so much pain on the world. The rate of bad passwords is probably not so different, but the rate of frustration is so much higher.

<comment><USER6> Were these regulations created at a time when brute force password cracking was a legitimate concern?

Password policies do definitely raise the entropy of the passwords, so if the attack vector you're concerned about is entropy sensitive, its a decent strategy.

As someone who has had to enforce such password policies many times, I can say that it's almost always because of some regulatory or certification organization that requires complex policies.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Most working professionals who aren't software developers suffer through this in some way or another. I mean, heck, let me count up all the passwords I need to do my job:

* A password for the account request system

* A password for the internal services system

* My email password

* My password for the local network

* My password for the product management system

* Pass for the old product management system that we still use

* Pass to the online drawing and document retrieval system

* Password to control room computer systems

* Various maintenance laptop user names and passwords

* Various passwords to systems I'd rather not mention, call them about 10 in total

That's 25 to 30 passwords, total, that I need to remember and use on a regular basis. I've given up NOT writing them down. And IT won't give me any kind of secure password manager, so I resort to a password protected Excel spreadsheet. And I'm not alone.

<comment><USER8> Might I at least suggest using an easy-to-execute algorithm that you can apply to your note to turn it into a real password? There are many options, from adding a prefix, a suffix, adding a small integer to every number, or some combination of these. This, I think, is about as secure as you can get since a targeted attack would just install a keylogger and be done.

<comment><USER9> [https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/06/write_down_yo...](https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2005/06/write_down_your.html)

Even with an algorithm, you're still relying on human memory. As Schneier and other have been recommending for a long time, _write down your passwords_. People already understand some amount of _physical_ security, which is knowledge that can can utilized for password storage.

As long as human memory is the weakest link, password strength will always be _de facto_ limited to the amount of entropy that a human can reasonably memorize. Unfortunately, brute-force password cracking capabilities flew past that limit a long time ago.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> > " They sent the scan on a CD but because of that crap from the government > about confidentiality they sent two taxis."

Not they sent the scan over the internet but they had to copy the scan on a CD and rush it over to the hospital.

SORRY BELLOW is a comment I did this week and it seems just as appropriate.

Here is the discussion on Open Source Software for Developing World Hospitals [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10675275](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10675275)

My old comment still reliant. Another story about my journey with my son while he battled cancer. Closed Proprietary image formats and systems HURTS patients. We used the local hospital for Chemo and everything else at the Children's Hospital 1.5 hours away for his legs and lungs. I would always have to wait 20-30 minutes to get a DVD of the studies (PET, CT Scan or MRI even ultrasound, but those are worthless) and then bring them to the doctor. The doctor would be forced to use whatever the portable image viewing program that came on the DVD and then they had to be sent to the IT Department to be imported into their system. We would be there to remove some horrible tumor but before half his surgeries (I can't count how many surgeries he had) we would have to go in the day before (3 hour round trip) to get the expensive scan done again. One time I had a scan at 11 PM - Midnight and then drive home around 2 AM and be back at the hospital at 7 AM check in for a 10 hour surgery. ALL BECAUSE THE FORMATS ARE CLOSED and SYSTEMS could not connect so that my son's records were all the same every where. I carried 20 DVDs with me all the time just in case. In case you are wondering my son unfortunately passed away after almost 5 years of fighting. If you are ever interested in giving to a cancer society please consider stbaldricks.org. Most charities give 0% or 2% to pediatric research and that is why we went over 20 years without a new chemo for children till last year, which St Baldrick's funded the research for this amazing new drug to fight a different type of cancer my son did not have.

</comment><comment><USER11> Nothing surprising here. Far and beyond IT, surgeons posses a rare and special type of ignorance... typical of your average over-powered decision maker with not enough time to understand or other incentives to make good IT decisions. This is really, really common in health IT, and not rare at all, but here's it's presented in the form of an over-entitled surgeon. Some people seem to think that brain surgeon is supposed to add gravitas to any conversation, in terms of understanding or something... but your average QA person is 1000x more likely to make a better decision than a surgeon, when it comes to IT.

And the source of the problems in this article? The legal dept. So please don't blame this one on anyone in IT.

<comment><USER12> My take away is close to the opposite, having worked around healthcare IT for many years. Systems are antiquated, un-integrated, use archaic and proprietary languages and databases, and the lack of cohesive design for usability encourages most clinicians to keep using paper.

IT as currently and usually practised, especially in a healthcare environment, is also mostly a disaster in terms of value for expenditure. $2 billion for an Epic system in a regional hospital system... Which was obsolete before it was installed. Heck, the Deustche Bank SAP core banking replacement only cost $1 billion.

Much of the "oh but it's regulated" excuses are just that, excuses to be ignorant and stay stuck in the 1970s.

It doesn't have to be this way, but it requires a lucky administration to find a way out of the mess given the market for lemons in IT management and systems integrators in healthcare.

Open source and Cloud solutions (from an operating model perspective way more than technology) appear to be the only way out of this mess of "your mess for less" IT because it lifts the veil of sales, consultant-speak, and opaque RFP processes in favor of actually-working-and-reliable software that anyone can see and touch.

<comment><USER13> > Much of the "oh but it's regulated" excuses are just that, excuses to be > ignorant and stay stuck in the 1970s.

It is actually a serious problem.

You have a bunch of apparently sensible rules with apparently reasonable justifications, but without a holistic understanding of what those rules cost in terms of engineering and design trade-offs. Then compliance prohibits the use of commodity components not designed with those specific requirements in mind, which requires everything to be custom for the industry at extreme cost, which in turn impairs competition and allows the vendors who do pay all the compliance lawyers to sell low quality software for big money.

And it's not clear how open source or cloud would solve any of that, other than possibly through some kind of regulatory avoidance shell game, which sounds more like a loophole than a solution.

<comment><USER4> While that's true many commodity components also currently doesn't live up to the real requirements of those environments. I have a number of friends who work with enterprise Linux deployments. They are all doing very well financially.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> > 'I'm not starting a big meningioma at 4 p.m.,' she declared, turning towards > me. 'I've got no childcare this evening.'

Without knowing what a "big meningioma" involves, I can only imagine it's something like doing a tricky, manual deployment on Friday afternoon. In that case no, this is a completely reasonable response. People have lives outside of work. Yes, "In the pre-modern NHS consultants never counted their hours – you just went on working until the work was done.", but that doesn't mean it's a good thing. In pre-modern factory days people of any age worked there whole day, 6-7 days a week. It doesn't mean that's a good idea to do it now.

<comment><USER15> > this is a completely reasonable response. People have lives outside of work.

For someone in IT, perhaps, but the professional expectations in medicine are starkly different (although they are admittedly growing more lax, to the chagrin of the old guard). In this particular case, the geriatric meningioma patient had already been cancelled on once, rescheduled with the promise of being the first procedure of the day, and then delayed to the end of the day because she tested positive for MRSA and they needed to do a decon of the OR after her procedure. You would seem to find it reasonable to reschedule her yet again, but neurosurgeons don't have much room in their schedules to play scheduling games with, and in general, patients aren't undergoing elective brain surgery for the fun of it: they need it now.

Perhaps the IT analogy is that neurosurgery is largely a hard real-time system: you must execute within a given time window or you fail.

<comment><USER14> > You would seem to find it reasonable to reschedule her yet again

No, I find it unreasonable that not everyone knew the schedule beforehand, or that someone who knew about it didn't raise it as a problem. This should never happen right before the operation. At that point it's too late and it's on everyone to deal with the situation at hand. What I'm pointing out that if the plan was a surprise then it's completely understandable that someone says no.

As for solutions, it depends on a hospital, location, patient's state, available team, etc. Lots of possibilities. (BTW, anyone shouting at anyone else is not even close to a solution)

<comment><USER16> > BTW, anyone shouting at anyone else is not even close to a solution

It may not be a solution you approve of, but I've witnessed plenty of cases where managers have effectively bullied their subordinates into doing work they otherwise wouldn't want to do.

<comment><USER17> In matters of life and death a little bit of yelling can go a long way.

<comment><USER16> Truth. When the stakes are that high, at least some tolerance of discomfort is necessary.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> As a programmer in my first year of med school, I can only confirm the frustrations with medical software. As someone that gives a damn about usability/UI/UX, most (all?) EHR systems make me want to bang my head against a keyboard.

I honestly don't know how long I will be able to practice medicine before deciding that I can build something better (as foolhardy a notion as that is).

<comment><USER19> > _before deciding that I can build something better_

It's very likely that something better already exists. The reason you use something terrible is because "better" does not result in adoption. Personal relationships, salespeople, and marketers drive adoption, not the quality of the actual product.

<comment><USER18> Right, but if I have control over my practice, I also control what EHR I use. No idea if I'll end up in private practice, but there's always that possibility.

<comment><USER20> Right up until insurance companies won't pay you unless you file using a compliant system. This isn't a tech problem.

<comment><USER18> That's not how meaningful use works. You can use paper for all you care, you're just going to take a hit financially from the government (and many do). You can use whatever electronic system you want as long as it all adds up to meaningful use. The insurance companies have nothing to do with this.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> I love how "mediocre software developers" are called out in the header, but then it goes on to list about 10 different people in different roles that are causing actual problems, all systematic, where a developer would make no difference whatsoever.

</comment><comment><USER22> I find it somewhat distasteful that a doctor would compare an obese patient to a whale while implying it's less worthwhile to treat them than other patients. It's not the job of medical professionals to pass moral judgment.

<comment><USER23> What if he were complaining about an influx of smokers with emphysema or alcoholics with liver cirrhosis? Doctors are justified in their frustration with the preventable burden that lifestyle diseases impose on their profession.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> This is what happens when people create systems they don't have to use (software or otherwise).

<comment><USER10> No this what happens when people create systems over things they don't have experience in nor understanding of how things work.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> Very frustrating, I agree. I have another medical computer system horror story - Did you know that the UK National Health Service spent 12 _Billion_ pounds (18 Billion USD) on a computer system and ended up with....nothing to show for it!!!

<comment><USER26> On the other hand, sweet consulting gig if you can get it.

<comment><USER27> This is the problem. The "if you can get it" translates to "if your company has a huge request-for-tender team dedicated to shmoozing your way into these kinds of contracts".

Add to it the whole tech-health ecosystem is scorched earth after countless clueless contractors have blown their way through it (earning the tens of millions of pounds and so on in the process), it's not a great environment for trust, innovation, or making your way through everything to a real-world- usable result.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> _"... I envy the way in which the generation who trained me could relieve the intense stress of their work by losing their temper, at times quite outrageously, without fear of being had up for bullying and harassment. ..."_

Toxic work environments in surgery are on notice in Australia: _" Doctors must stand up to the 'cowardice' that is ignoring bullying"_ Victoria Atkinson, SMH ~ [http://www.smh.com.au/comment/doctors-must-stand-up-to- the-c...](http://www.smh.com.au/comment/doctors-must-stand-up-to-the- cowardice-of-ignoring-bullying-20151202-gldgyl.html)

</comment><comment><USER29> Was at a party with a group of friends who are physicians, surgeons, and medical researchers. It struck me: we software types are so fucking arrogant. I was definitely not the smartest person in the room, and yet I could see IT and CS types mocking these people for their relative computer illiteracy. You know, the people who are actually saving lives every day instead of figuring out how to distract (er, engage) and bilk (er, monetize) people.

<comment><USER30> Speak for yourself. I don't know anyone in med school who would have cracked the top quartile in my math/CS courses.

Doctors aren't smart, they're just friendly keeners with something to prove to their helicopter parents.

Edit:

> You know, the people who are actually saving lives every day instead of > figuring out how to distract (er, engage) and bilk (er, monetize) people.

Very few doctors do anything of the sort. Most of them just charge you $100+ to tell you what you already knew and write you a scrip or a referral.

<comment><USER29> > Doctors aren't smart, they're just friendly keeners with something to prove > to their helicopter parents.

See, that's what I mean. I wasn't writing about the general population of doctors, I was writing about the specific doctors who were in the room with me, who you so arrogantly dismiss.

It's really an ugly and limiting mindset.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER31> I live in Madison, where Epic is stationed. I run into a lot of people that work there.

They hold the records of over 50% of the US. It's pretty scary when you think about it.

<comment><USER11> I just don't think that's true, but I'd love to be wrong.

Any given time 1/3rd of the user-base is dead... and it's growing because the data has to remain in the system for 60 months (HIPAA). It's not scary because it's B.S... No single or group of health provider in the world is close to having access to 125 million active patient-users on an annual basis.

Until Epic disclose any numbers in their 10Q/10K, realize that they're probably taking about "rows" in a db table or nonesuch, not actual patients or anything that will get them in trouble with the SEC/FDA.

I'd guess the reality is Nike is much closer in having shoes on half of the US pedestrian population than Epic having HL7/PII data.

<comment><USER31> > Health care groups using Epic electronic health records serve 54 percent of > patients in the U.S. and 2.5 percent of patients worldwide, CEO Judy > Faulkner said at Epic's users group meeting in September.

Source: [http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/epic- sy...](http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/epic-systems- draws-on-literature-greats-for-its-next- expansion/article_4d1cf67c-2abf-5cfd-8ce1-2da60ed84194.html)

You're probably right though. It's still scary to think that it's possible for them to be centralized to that degree at all.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER32> All systems within a medical establishment should be forced to work with a single-sign-on system. That might sound like a lot of effort for a small improvement, but I believe it would be the single highest value change that could be made.

</comment><comment><USER33> I see opportunity. Let's make this better.

<comment><USER34> Hire redundant staff and organize shifts? His frustrated tantrum is wildly misdirected.

Anyway good luck with that. It's a job that comes with massive liabilities, unprecedented complexity and loads of political infighting.

</comment></comment><comment><USER35> Everything that Epic touches turns to dust.

</comment><comment><USER36> When I read the title I was thinking something different.

Torture is a real and a nightmarish thing, and in this ever shrinking world of ours, we (i.e., Westerners) can no longer think of such horrors as existing only for other people in faraway lands.

Am I the only one who's a bit uncomfortable tossing around the term to apply to a well paid professional who's facing bureaucratic inefficiencies at work?

Or am I just being a sensitive ninny-nanny?

<comment><USER27> If someone is literally dying in your duty of care because noone can access any patient records, that sounds tortuous to me. A bit like the Stanford prison experiment, but replace the guards with IT contractors, and the prisoners with surgeons, doctors, and nurses.

<comment><USER36> Doctors, particularly trauma and tumor surgeons, have dying patients all the time.

Often there are additional treatments available but for resource constraints. Ordinary folk die of heart disease every day, but somehow Dick Cheney lives on with an artificial heart.

I know being a doctor can be quite a stressful job and requires a certain class of personality. But still it has gone with the territory of being a doctor since the beginning of civilization.

<comment><USER37> Well perhaps that is true, but having someone who is dieing because the surgery is failing is a bit different than someone who's dieing because you can't remember some login's passcode.

And of course then these delays compound over time and adversely affect the entire system.

Designing good software which meets government legalese constraints (which are guaranteeedly absurd in certain instances, in wording, and nature (while others will make perfect sense and still be just as hard to implement)) in extremely complex situations (health care systems with millions of users with an outstanding number of providers of different sizes, with different conditions, and medications, and the stringency of the privacy requirements).

That's tough.

It'll be really neat to see the progression of software through time. It'll be neat if what we see today is the Model T to the Tesla (X?) of tomorrow (+~110 Years).</comment></comment></comment></comment>