Anarchism, Capitalism, Altruism : Why do I open source? - <AUTHOR> http://toomanytabs.com/blog/1863/anarchism-capitalism-altruism-why-do-i-open-source/

<comment><USER2> Open source is a kind of post-scarcity economy. It's an economy of attention and status, and although money can be made in the process monetarism is relatively unimportant in comparison to the other factors.

</comment><comment><USER3> I find it hard to understand how writing open source software has a strong value proposition for someone who isn't worried about "getting the next job" or "looking good in front of peers". For me, I believe the best use of those extra hours I have is to learn _entirely_ new subject areas, not writing tests for code I don't care about, answering support or setting up documentation. I don't care if people know what I am doing, I'm not in it for the glory or whatnot.

Instead, over the last few years I have added two _entirely_ new subjects to my repertoire (mathematical statistics and neuropsychology) to a level where I can read, critique and contribute to the latest research in the field. Over the next few years I plan on repeating this process with other subjects. Comparing this with writing more software _about things I already know_ seems to me to be comparing progress with diminishing returns.

If you believe I'm wrong, I'd love to know why. Convince me there's value in opening up the 20+ projects sitting in my source control.

<comment><USER4> There are some obvious advantages.

If it's your project and you're the maintainer, you get periodic free testing, enhancements, and bugfixes from your users. If you're a power user of an open source project and need to patch it for some reason, you first of all have the ability to do that, but secondly if you contribute it upstream your patch becomes _someone else's problem_.

Basically it's a trade between power users, who contribute enhancements, and project maintainers, who take on the burden of _maintaining the project_. Usually, the project is useful to the maintainer in some way, and the maintainer now has a better piece of software due to having open sourced it.

<comment><USER5> "you get periodic free testing, enhancements, and bugfixes from your users"

The amount of this is miniscule, in my experience; not only that, but the level of testing and quality of bugfixes is usually so low that it's more efficient to not bother reading emails like that at all. I guess it's different for bigger/other projects, although the dozens of mailing lists I've been on over the years haven't shown many differences.

"but secondly if you contribute it upstream your patch becomes someone else's problem"

This, too, is vastly overstated. I have contributed dozens of patches over the years that were just left in bug trackers or tracs, or were ignored on mailing lists - sometimes because nobody cares, sometimes because people just like to hack on their own use cases instead of somebody else's problems, sometimes because its against the (usually unstated) 'philosophy' of the software.

Not to be negative, there are many useful open source projects, and I use many. But they're usually run by one or a few highly committed people.

I too have a bunch of projects in local repositories - I don't see any reason to open them up. A bunch of projects out there with no activity for 3 years looks quite bad too - once you start advertising your public repos, you have to keep up on them. The trade off is usually not worth it for me (for new projects, that is - I keep the ones I've worked on in the past on the web).

<comment><USER4> I agree, I was describing the best case scenario, which, however, _does happen_. I think R, SciPy, and emacs are great examples of projects that benefit by accruing contributions from power users.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> The quote from Newton is particularly apt. Open Source contribution is a lot like the collaborative/competitive model of scientific discourse that we've had since the Enlightenment. While that may make it sound academic, much of pre-20th Century science was carried out by amateurs, even by entrepreneurs. OS the new form of something quite old and very well-proven.

</comment><comment><USER7> I open source because I enjoy it.

Why do I enjoy it? I dunno. I think that mostly it allows me to feel karmicly balanced. After all, it's open source technologies like Rails and jQuery that have allowed me to quit my job and work from my own sweet office doing as I please for the most part. Now I can give back, and maybe one day, one of my projects will help someone else do the same.

Also, writing open source projects feels kinda like the geek's ultimate networking tool. I came from the business side of things, and had started getting burned out on networking events. Contributing to open source projects helps me meet awesome like-minded developers from around the world and build productive relationships with them.

 _You tend to get feature requests, bug reports (with a surprising low level of accuracy) and emails of gratitude. But seldom do I receive 'Here is patch that allows you to d x, y, and z ' emails._

This has been my experience exactly, with everything from my jQuery EasyTabs plugin, to the Remotipart gem, to the Rails jQuery UJS adapter. The bug/feature requests always outweigh the patches-with-tests by a factor of 10 to 1. This is usually when I have to start justifying the time in my mind with thoughts like, "it builds clout for the consultancy, just keep at it." The good news, is even the bug reports/feature requests make me feel good that at least people are using it.

Of course, the status and recognition are nice too. Coming from the non-coding side originally, it's nice to feel accepted by the community.

</comment><comment><USER8> Why do I open source? Because of the licenses of the (freakin awesome) libs I'm using. Will commercialize the "add-on packages" (aka the Real Meat) later on though...

It's still all market-driven. 12+ years ago The Ecosystem for the majority of developers was MS-supplied. These days The Ecosystem is the open source web stack (or -- iOS). Back when MS provided "the grooviest platform", that's what coders built on. Now the grooviest platform is built by many indie lib coders, the majority of whom open source. Since it would be too cumbersome to strike individual commercial-licensing deals with them all, the path of least resistance is open-sourcing too. Then figure out commercializing via hosting services, support services, value-adding extra packages ... the whole freemium.

<comment><USER8> Also in some markets / niches, open sourcing a substantial portion of your offering is rather beneficial for driving initial user adoption... but all this is nothing new and I realize I'm not even relating to the core contents of the OP here. =)

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> Why do so many people think of patents and copyright as capitalism? Patents are an artifice created by the government, distorting the natural incentives of a free-enterprising, free-contracting capitalist marketplace. I never understood the European brand of anarchism.

I'm genuinely interesting in understanding it, if there was anyone who wants to explain rather than just downvote.

<comment><USER10> The defining feature of capitalism is enforcement of private property rights. Patents and copyrights ("intellectual property") are a type of enforced private property right.

<comment><USER11> Enforcing something as a property right doesn't mean it _should_ be enforced as a property right. I think capitalism also implies that certain things should be property but not other things. And I'm not saying here whether or not IP in particular fits, that's a debate to be had.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Open source is devaluing developers' salaries.

Why would a company pay an engineer with a college degree to build something, when they can get it for free and hire a software mechanic to make changes? It also makes it much easier to farm jobs out to countries like India and the Philippines.

<comment><USER13> because you can't get specifically what you want from a open source project unless you own that project.

<comment><USER12> If you aren't selling it, you can. Most businesses aren't selling software.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER14> Yes, why I should open source my patient management app if I sure that 99% of nearby doctors never agree cure me for free..</comment>


Reia Programming Language:  Python/Rubyesque scripting language on the Erlang VM - <AUTHOR> http://wiki.reia-lang.org/wiki/Reia_Programming_Language <comment><USER2> Reia is interesting, but ultimately misguided.

Erlang's syntax is not a problem. It can actually help editors like Emacs to indent the code more intelligently. Eg if you're in a clause of a case expression and you pressed Return without pressing comma first, the editor can infer that this is the end of the expression and indent the next line accordingly (to line up with the `case` above).

More generally speaking, if you're not willing to overlook minor issues of syntax in order to get to use _tonnes of awesome stuff_ that it gives you access to... well, in my eyes you're more of a fashion-conscious fanboy than a pragmatic engineer.

If you have trouble remembering what comes when, here's how it works: comma is "and", semicolon is "or", and full stop is "end of definition". These are Prolog's legacy.

Throwing out single assignment and introducing workarounds for pattern matching to still work is a bad idea. So is introducing loops. There are very good reasons for why Erlang is the way it is. The language was not designed by a committee; most of the design decisions have been driven by user requirements. Single assignment is one of such decisions -- it wasn't made because Joe Armstrong was a fan of functional programming, it was made because it made the programs easier to read and debug, enabled hot code reloading, and made the GC simpler. And loops? Loops are close to worthless when you can have higher-order functions like map, filter and fold. I've never missed loops in a year of writing Erlang; come to think of it, I rarely use loops in the Ruby code I write anymore.

LFE is a project with much more potential. It stays close to Erlang semantically, while adding features that Erlang does not have, like real macros, and that's where the real added value is.

<comment><USER3> I disagree. I think it's an interesting experiment for a number of reasons:

\- Sure, syntax doesn't matter _that_ much. But it does, some, and something like Ruby is more convenient than Erlang for me and my tastes. Syntax does matter for something like html templates - Ruby beats Erlang for that hands down.

\- The objects are an interesting touch. Not sure how they'll work out in the grand scheme of things, but it's an interesting idea. Erlang could use a few higher level constructs like that.

\- Single assignment? There are certainly some good reasons why Erlang is what it is, but perhaps this language might make it easier to do other things with Erlang as well. For instance I would never use it for sysadmin type tasks as it stands now (Erlang _STILL_ can't read from the proc filesystem with read_file, as of whatever ships with Hardy Heron). Maybe they'll even be able to retain some of the Erlang strengths that lay underneath and make it easier for The Masses to use.

<comment><USER2> > The objects are an interesting touch. Not sure how they'll work out in the > grand scheme of things, but it's an interesting idea.

Erlang already has objects. They are just called processes. Trying to bolt on a class system on top is just going against the grain.

> Single assignment? There are certainly some good reasons why Erlang is what > it is, but perhaps this language might make it easier to do other things > with Erlang as well. For instance I would never use it for sysadmin type > tasks as it stands now

You would not use C or Java for sysadmin tasks either. You would not use Ruby to write a 3D game engine. Erlang was not designed to be a general-purpose language, much less a scripting one. Right tool for the right job...

<comment><USER3> "Programming languages are not like hand tools":

[http://journal.dedasys.com/articles/2007/12/12/programming-l...](http://journal.dedasys.com/articles/2007/12/12/programming- languages-are-not-like-hand-tools)

The key point is that yes, some things are better than others, but each language is a toolbox that is potentially capable of solving a wide variety of problems. If you can broaden the range of tasks your toolbox handles without sacrificing anything important, that's a big win.

Also:

> Erlang already has objects. They are just called processes. Trying to bolt > on a class system on top is just going against the grain.

Did you read about the language? The objects _are_ processes, so rather than bolting on something that doesn't work, it's providing an easier, more familiar way to access something that often requires a fair amount of boilerplate in Erlang itself.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Erlang with Python-syntax is a great idea. But couldn't see any sample programs (just one-line snippets)

 _EDIT_ some of Reia is written in itself: <http://github.com/tarcieri/reia/tree/master/src/reia/types> <http://github.com/tarcieri/reia/tree/master/src/reia/core>

<comment><USER5> I don't know why people still do this... you'd think it'd be obvious while they were making the language's main page. "Oh, this is a new language, maybe I should show people what it looks like."

In my opinion, the _very first_ thing on any language's main page should be a hello world. The very second thing should be links to other simple examples.

<comment><USER6> Most programmers SUCK at marketing.

Too many projects waste valuable front page space with minutiae before they even tell you what the hell the project is or why you should care. Programming project sites are usually more focused on people with commit privileges than they are on recruiting new users. Which is probably a big reason why so many projects never gain any momentum beyond the founding members.

One of my personal pet peeves: Why do so many open-source projects make you search everywhere (or even download code) in order to find out what freaking language they use for the project? With most programmers only knowing/using a few languages, it seems that this would be a prominent bit of information to impart on the front page, yeah?

I shouldn't have to download code to learn that the project is written in Intercal or C#, ferchrissakes!

"This project is written in XXXXX" is more helpful to me than knowing the last few esoteric bugs that were fixed.

I cringe every time I see the most valuable real estate on a programming project site used to show the revision history.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> I wonder if "ant turd tokens" is the official, computer science term? Cracked me up, though... I find those annoying in Erlang.

My wife was curious about what I was laughing so hard at, but realized it was "computer stuff".

<comment><USER7> If I had a nickel every time my girlfriend saw me laughing or giggling at "computer stuff" and then rolled her eyes, I'd be making money in a very weird way.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Multiple assignment?

I think that goes too far. I would like an Erlang with modern string handling and built in re but not if the cost is losing one of Erlang's strengths.

<comment><USER9> This is a bit of a misconception about how memory works. Erlang's strength of processes memory encapsulation and share nothing semantics are not compromised by alloying multiple assignment. In fact you can very easily model Multiple assignment with Single Assignment, and hand off the managing of that to the compiler.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> The concurrent portion of Reia isn't yet supported. They're still working on getting the sequential part 'rock solid'.

</comment><comment><USER11> vying to be slower than groovy?</comment>


How private-equity firms squeeze hospital patients for profits - <AUTHOR> https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/how-private-equity-firms-squeeze-hospital-patients-for-profits <comment><USER2> The US political system has been poisoned by lobbying and "dark money groups". They need to be exposed so we know who to boycott or take to court.</comment>


Show HN: Todoer App – Minimalist task management tool - <AUTHOR> https://todoerapp.com/ <comment><USER4> Some screenshots, a video, and/or an explanation of features would be nice.

<comment><USER5> Indeed, @mashas please read the "Show HN Guidelines" before posting:

> _Blog posts, sign-up pages, and fundraisers can 't be tried out, so they > can't be Show HNs._

> > _Ref:[https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html) > _

<comment><AUTHOR> Didn't realize it looked like a sign-up page :( Added a preview gif, more to come!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><AUTHOR> Hi friends and thanks for the feedback! Since the description on the site is quite minimalist 8-], listing some current and incoming features here:

In beta:

\- Minimalist UI

\- Unlimited tasks

\- Subtasks with progress track

\- "Smart" due date input: type `tomorrow` or `a week from now` -we'll parse it for ya and set a date

\- Opt-in email reminder with tasks soon due

Not in beta:

\- Stats on your tasks presented to you by a friendly robot

\- Not into clocks and robots? Hide everything but your tasks switching to "Distraction free" mode

\- Multiple lists

\- Customization of background images and some UI themes

Paid features:

\- Share lists with friends

\- Unlimited Lists

\- Calendar view

\- Customization of UI colors

</comment><comment><USER6> Not really my thing personally, but looks good and simple for those whose thing it is. One suggestion: maybe it is my color blind eyes, but the white text on light green Sign Up button has such low contrast that I had to zoom in to make sure it was what I thought it was. Probably not good for a call to action. :-)

<comment><AUTHOR> Truth!

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> What will happen to my todos should you go out of business? Is there any exporting possible?

<comment><AUTHOR> Not at the moment, but def a feature worth having. Adding it to my to-do list! :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Is there something like this that I could either self-host, or use as an app while syncing the storage file..?

</comment><comment><USER9> I have been using Workflowy for sometime, kind of loving it.

<comment><AUTHOR> Interesting, never heard of it - checking it out, thanks!

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Why not make it open source?

<comment><AUTHOR> Good question. I like making products people enjoy using and that's how I make the living. If that model won't pan out, don't see why not open source :)

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> A couple of quick comments:

1\. EDITING! Especially because of #2, but not just because of that. I should be able to edit a ToDo, e.g., to add a task or deadline after the fact. Sometimes ToDos start w/out deadlines but grow to need them. Sometimes all I know is that I have a ToDo, but don't know the subtasks yet.

2\. Hitting ENTER does different things in different fields, which violates my expectations. E.g., hitting ENTER in the title SAVEs the ToDo (and, because of the lack of #1, that's it, I'm done), while hitting ENTER in DESCRIPTION or TASKS adds to them - and it is inconsistent: ENTER creates new tasks while only giving the appearance of creating paragraphs in the description.

3\. If I enter a non-date in the Date field, the results are inconsistent and lossy: If I enter "tomorrow" or "next week", the right things happen (more or less, see below), but if I enter "fred" that information disappears - there is no validation, I can live with that, but throwing away my information is wrong.

3a. If I enter "next week", I'm not sure the date should be 7 days hence - <USER3> should be "next week", as in "the week of xxx"; in my mind, this is something I want to see next week, not on a specific date. I'm not sure how to handle this smoothly, but I'm pretty sure it's not by forcing it into "7 days from right now".

4\. If I had editing, I would want cloning, that is, copy-paste-and-edit, to use a ToDo as a template.

5\. Recurring ToDos.

6\. Expand All - by default, ToDos are collapsed so that descriptions are not shown - I'd like to be able to see all descriptions without having to click on each title.

7\. It's not obvious that clicking on the title is what is required to bring up the description.

8\. Hover functionality? E.g., have a compact "minimized" view that shows ToDo details in a "popup" when you hover the mouse on the item (like how Wikipedia shows you a summary of a target page when you hover over a link).

9\. Search. Table stakes! Must have!

10\. Multi-select. If I finish or get tired of a bunch of ToDos at a time, I'd like to select them all then apply a bulk action, e.g., delete, mark done, without having to drag-and-drop each one or delete and confirm each one, etc.

11\. Is there a trash/archive for deleted items, just in case? These days, that should almost be table stakes, must haves.

12\. Clicking on "create one" should do the same thing as the "+" button - <USER3> seems odd to read "create one" then have to find the place on the screen that allows me to do that.

More as I play....

<comment><AUTHOR> Hi @PeterWhittaker!

Hitting so many good points - some of them are already on my list (like Editing :D), definitely a WIP and needs future refinements.

Thanks a bunch, love your thoughtful feedback!</comment></comment>


Instagram Challenge in Python - <AUTHOR> http://shattermediocrity.com/post/12816649382/the-instagram-challenge

<comment><USER2> Nice effort. Do you find Python fast enough in solving the required task?</comment>


An 18th Century North African Travelling Physician's Handbook - <AUTHOR> http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2016/05/an-18th-century-north-african-travelling-physicians-handbook.html <comment><USER2> 404

</comment><comment><USER3> It's loading for me.

</comment><comment><USER4> Flagged due to 404

<comment><USER5> I don't get a 404. The page loaded fine for me.</comment></comment>


Databranches: using Git as a database (2011) - <AUTHOR> https://joeyh.name/blog/entry/databranches/

<comment><USER2> Can anybody describe a scenario where this methodology is being used?

<comment><USER3> Related, there is Irmin, which is a git like (ie maps to git) datastore[1] for distributed data structures. Being able to see changes to data structures by typing got log is pretty cool, and I am going to try it in a serious program.

[1] [http://openmirage.org/blog/introducing- irmin](http://openmirage.org/blog/introducing-irmin)</comment></comment>


Basecamp network attack postmortem - <AUTHOR> http://signalvnoise.com/posts/3729-basecamp-network-attack-postmortem

<comment><USER2> I expected a more in-depth article, but they either still don't really know the details of the attack or they don't think it is important to share that information.

In any case, a 20Gbps DDoS is not uncommon these days and I feel a stronger security culture inside Basecamp could have had measures already in place.

<comment><USER3> Agree with the latter, but disagree with the first.

There's not much to say about a DDOS. You know the protocol (tcp, udp, icmp) and the src port of the packets, which can suggest the redirected service.

But it's well-nigh impossible to learn where the attacks come from, who is responsible, or the motivation behind it. It generally takes cooperation, in the form of bragging by children, to get much further.

And this sort of attack is eminently achievable by children, these days. 20GB/s is nothing, and practically free if you need to borrow someone else's infrastructure.

So Basecamp grows up, a little. They have the money to pay for proper anti- DDOS measures, and I'm sure they will do so.

I found the tone amusing though. The anti-enterprise 37s get all corporate- speak when they realize they have a PR situation on their hands.

"Working with law enforcement to catch these _criminals_ " is the noop of the security biz. "Paying for basic service protections that we should have anticipated" sounds far less exculpatory however.

<comment><USER2> The details I was expecting are more in the line of what measures they put in place to mitigate the issue, more than "Our mitigation strategy included filtering through a single provider and working with them to remove bogus traffic." which sounds like "our hosting provider enabled the DDoS mitigation service they've got in place". Again, that's not what I expect from a post- mortem but I guess this is me being a geek and not a Basecamp customer :)

Cheers</comment></comment></comment>


Got accepted in an accelerator. What kind of visa? - <AUTHOR>

Guys, just got accepted in an acceleration program in Washington D.C. I'm braziliand and now I'm worried regarding what kind os visa should I get.
Do you know if I can establish a new company in US with the B-1 visa? If not what kind of visa should I got for?
Do you give any advice what should I do? I don't have much time, like a month and a few days to get it. <comment><USER2> You are screwed. This is way way too little time to get your visa situation in order. Consult an immigration professional immediately to have any hope of success.

<comment><AUTHOR> I'll do that ASAP.

Thank you very much!

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> I'm an American that has lived abroad twice and spent time in over 50 nations.

You really waited to the last minute on this. Most visas take 3-9 months. I would suggest your best option would be to try to apply for a student visa. I think it's called F-1

<comment><USER4> He can't start a company in the US with an F-1 visa. He can't even work off- campus more than 20 hours / week with an F-1 visa. AND he has to be enrolled in an institution that grants an I-20 and has to take at least 12 credit hours / semester, which I don't think accelerators satisfy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Likely you can get a B1/B2 visa. You should be able to establish a US company with B1/2 visa, however you can't work for it.

* personal opinion only, not a legal advise.

</comment><comment><USER6> A couple of friends of mine came on a b1 and had no issues in NYC just make sure u bring all the papers and demo with u in case they ask.

<comment><AUTHOR> Great, I'll look to get a B-1 ASAP... Do you know if they told they would be working on a company of theirs?

<comment><USER6> Yes, they told the immigration officer they were coming to participate of an incubator, to one of the partners then officer asked him to show some papers and the demo. Again u have to remember u r not coming here to stay... Yet. U r here for the program, if u happen to be successful and then find the need to stay u will figure it out with the help of lawyers from the program, but for now focus on the problem at hand, been on the program

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Oh and by the way u don't even need a visa to open up a company in the states, u can do that even online, so no worries on that end</comment>


Ask HN: A tldr legal docs as a service? - <AUTHOR> Reading 20-page legal docs/terms/policies can be intimidating. I found this https://tldrlegal.com/ which helps with tldr for software licenses. I think there's scope for building a service that could explain long legal docs in plain English.<p>This could be a good machine learning project. What challenges do you sense at the first glance? <comment><USER2> IANAL, are you? This sounds like something you'd need to plaster with a LOT of disclaimers, especially if you're straying away from standard t&c/tos documentation.

Discreet industries have quite specific legal terminology (in my experience) and machine learning is probably better suited to weeding out mistakes in documents rather than interpreting the contents within them. It's the interpretation that earns the big money. The example you've given is useful - but useful to an audience with specific prior knowledge and an existing familiarity with the licence landscape. Expanding beyond this is probably going to be an exercise in unintended consequences.

The idea has a lot of merit and would be truly disruptive it it could be achieved, but if lawyer jokes have taught us anything, there is no shortage of motivation to reduce the worlds reliance on lawyers, but nobody has yet come up with a good solution (to my knowledge).

<comment><USER3> Reminds me of mathematics. Shortest solution is usually the best (many Pythagorean theorem proofs) but they take effort and time. Law is also formal languages using logics.

<comment><USER2> "Law is also formal languages using logics" In theory yes, but contracts are not math and even though the consequences of disputes are costly, there is enough subjectivity within legal language that arbitration and interpretation by third parities is often required. i.e., two parties can have differing opinions on the meaning of the language and there can be enough uncertainty that costly proceedings are justified. (I'm talking specifically about civil rather than criminal law, and excluding cases where an interpretation of evidence is required)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> There's tosdr.org for Terms of Service for popular services</comment>


Peloton: Uber's Unified Resource Scheduler for Diverse Cluster Workloads - <AUTHOR> https://eng.uber.com/peloton/ <comment><USER2> >Kubernetes hasn't been able to scale to the large clusters that Uber requires, i.e. 10,000-plus, nor does it support elastic resource sharing. It is also not the ideal scheduler for batch workloads due to the high-churn nature of batch jobs.

Feels like a semi-weird justification for NIH. Isn't there pretty active work in addressing most/all of those objections in k8s?

<comment><USER3> Didn't they also have a weird "Postgres can't suit our needs so we're switching to MySQL" argument?

<comment><USER4> yurp

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> It's interesting how big of a difference it makes when you allow local disk I/O, and you need to schedule around it. At Google they disintermediate storage and all (not really all) I/O goes to their cluster FS (Colossus, sort of). They don't have to schedule around I/O resources because every process has access to the full I/O resources of the entire cluster at any time from any node. By contrast as soon as you let some open source or off-the-shelf commercial thing leak into your operations, it will demand ordinary POSIX disk I/O and then you've got big problems. I propose that some companies would actually be better off concentrating on disintermediated storage more, and I/O workload scheduling less.

<comment><USER6> The "Storage as a Service" needs to run somewhere. You can't escape from running a storage aware scheduler. Either it will be the same as your primary scheduler, or storage services will be special snowflakes.

<comment><USER5> There are always daemons on the machines that aren't under the control of the cluster scheduler (init or its equivalent, etc). The thing that exports the storage assets of the box can simply be one of those things.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> I'm always bummed when I don't see Nomad listed in blog posts like these. It has quite a few powerful features that people overlook.

</comment><comment><USER8> CMU has a "self driving" db with the same name [https://github.com/cmu- db/peloton](https://github.com/cmu-db/peloton)

<comment><USER9> Also, there's a B2C company called Peloton [1].

[1] [https://www.onepeloton.com](https://www.onepeloton.com)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Nothing in the article about this being open source or available to the public?

<comment><USER11> why did you think it would be?

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> from the article -- Peloton is built on top of Mesos

<comment><USER13> They use mesos, and the article explains why they added something to it.</comment></comment>


Miami money-laundering case may define whether Bitcoin is really money - <AUTHOR> http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/crime/article80421072.html <comment><USER2> This was settled back in 2013. Here's the judicial decision, from the Trendon Shavers case. Shavers was running a Ponzi scheme ("Make 1% a week") denominated in Bitcoin. The judge ruled that, no matter what thing of value your Ponzi scheme uses, it's still a Ponzi scheme and illegal.

The SEC and the CFTC have agreed that Bitcoin will be treated as a commodity for regulatory purposes, so the CFTC regulates it.

[1] [https://ia800904.us.archive.org/35/items/gov.uscourts.txed.1...](https://ia800904.us.archive.org/35/items/gov.uscourts.txed.146063/gov.uscourts.txed.146063.23.0.pdf)

<comment><USER3> Point of order on the "1% a week":

Initially launched as btclending.com it was 1%/day, invite/referral only and payouts were every 3 days. Effectively it was 7%/week, compound into something like 3300% APR.

That being said as the website ui and backend transitioned from btclending.com to "First Pirate Savings & Trust" and ultimately btcst.com (Bitcoin Savings & Trust) more people started "getting in on the action" rules were changed, payouts went to once per week, blah blah... obviously a ponzi doesn't scale well. In the end minimum balances were required to stay in the "7%/week bracket" where balances <1000BTC were only earning 5.5%/week.

If anyone that sets off your ponzi red flag detectors - well done.

I can say that there were a handful of early GPU miners with truckloads of sub 5 dollar bitcoins and no where to invest them. GPU Miners who built mining rigs that literally ROI'd in days or weeks, not months. Did some people get burned? Obviously. Did others milk free interest? Most likely.

Where I think Trendon and many others have ultimately failed - and this especially goes for Espinoza and his failed "bitcoin isn't money" argument - NOT PRACTICING KYC.

There's a lot of smart people out there that know to walk from the transaction when the counterparty mentions tor/fraud/crime/buying stolen credit cards. Espinoza obviously didn't think facilitating the purchase of stolen credit cards was a problem (or didn't care)

I'm not sure this specific article mentions it or not but the agents doing the undercover buy from localbitcoins told the seller Espinoza it was for fake credit cards. Huge Red flag for the bitcoin seller.

In general though, I would agree with OP that bitcoin is some type of money already defined by precedent and Espinoza is getting reamed for no MSB license and not practicing KYC.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This is an interesting article (about an interesting case) but the title is rubbish. There isn't really a single answer to the question "Is bitcoin money?" It depends on the context. Different laws dealing with money transmission, foreign currency exchange, and the like define things differently.

For the case that is the subject of the article, the relevant question is "Is someone who exchanges bitcoins for US dollars a 'money services business' as defined by chapter 560 of the Florida statutes?"

Read a few definitions from the statute and you'll likely be able to answer the question: [http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Displ...](http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0500-0599/0560/Sections/0560.103.html)

Based on my (non-lawyerly) reading, I would say bitcoin is not a currency, and thus a bitcoin dealer is not a foreign currency dealer, but it is almost certainly a "payment instrument" which means selling bitcoins makes you a seller of payment instruments, and a seller of payment instruments is a "money services business".

Interestingly, you get different results depending on what laws you're looking at. For instance I reach the opposite conclusion when reading the Illinois statutes, and think you can probably sell bitcoins there legally. ([http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1201&](http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1201&)) Though this guy sold them even though the undercover cops told him they were going to use it to buy stolen credit card numbers. That's just dumb, and I would guess prosecutors can find something to charge you with if you do that in almost any state. (And it's definitely a violation of US Federal anti-money laundering law if you don't file a SAR)

<comment><USER5> no the answer is really simple. bitcoin is like the dollar a currency. Why? because it does not have intrinsic value. The only money there is. Its gold and silver. check mike malhoney videos in yt

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Fun fact : there was a "The Good Wife" episode years ago in which this is issue was basically discussed in court. There the judge ruled bitcoin as a currency after about thirty seconds.

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

<comment><USER7> I'll admit to not reading the article, but I would not be surprised if a real judge ruled that way almost as fast. It seems to me that it doesn't matter what it is (pieces of paper, bits of metal, whatever); the important point is what it is used for. I suspect that cigarettes or bottles of laundry detergent would also be considered currency in a money laundering case if that is the purpose that they served.</comment></comment>


Craft: A simple Minecraft clone written in C using modern OpenGL - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/fogleman/Craft <comment><USER2> Is there a non-coder/contributor reason to use this over Java Minecraft? Like, is it more performant?

<comment><AUTHOR> The MacOS version is less than 1MB (vs ~180MB for Java Minecraft).

I was legitimately _shocked_ at how smoothly this ran on my budget laptop. Flying, zooming, building, etc.

This is also free (vs $26.95 for Minecraft).

I wish this one was easier to customize (ex. change up the world, add water, etc).</comment></comment>


Easy parallel loops in Python, R, Matlab and Octave - <AUTHOR> http://blog.dominoup.com/simple-parallelization/

<comment><AUTHOR> Includes sample code for Python using joblib, in R using the Parallel language, and in Matlab/Octave using the parfor construct!

</comment><comment><USER2> Parallel looping is one of those things I wish was easier to use. Countless times I've stared at my python code weighing the cost of using the available primitives to optimise the loop. I just wish it was as simple as

      parallel_for x in range(10):
          myFunc(x)

But we can't have everything.

<comment><USER3> The joblib packages gets you pretty close:

      num_cores = multiprocessing.cpu_count()
      Parallel(n_jobs=num_cores)(
        delayed(myFunc)(x) for x in range(10))</comment></comment>


Ask HN: Help me improve my C-like language, C3 - <AUTHOR> I'm working on a "alternative to C" called C3, but unlike most (e.g. Zig, Odin, Jai, Rust etc) it tries to stay really close to C syntax as far as possible and I'd love to hear what people like and what they dislike, especially if they write a lot of C.
The site here has an overview of the language and code samples: http://www.c3-lang.org
You can try it out in the browser here: https://ide.judge0.com/?1EFo with the list of implemented features/not yet implemented features in the compiler found here: https://github.com/c3lang/c3c
Currently the spec has a bit too many features so I will try to remove the superfluous to make the language more easy to grasp in its entirety.
The syntax tries to stay true to C, with things added on top that C can't easily add due to backwards compatibility:
- Module system
- Generics
- Semantic Macros
- Error handling
- Defer
- Value methods
- Associated enum data
- Subtypes (Go's embedded structs)
- Optional contracts
- Built-in strings, maps, subarrays and vararrays
P.S. I know the change to use `func` with functions is controversial – it's great for a simpler grammar and to make function types stand out, but is quite a departure.
P.P.S. "Why not just use C?" Well, we're seeing C++ inspired languages (like Rust) taking mindshare both from C++ and C communities. I would like to see an alternative that keeps to the simplicity of C code instead of taking C++ syntactic complexity as a base line. <comment><USER2> Here are the things I would need to migrate from C/C++/Rust to a new language:

        Automatic memory management, with optional manual control,
        no garbage collection.

        A universal or widely accepted build system (Cargo, CMake)

        A public package registry and dependency resolver, designed
        for deterministic builds, multiple versions of the same
        package on one machine, etc, and support for private/proprietary
        registries (Cargo, Conan)

        A modern query-oriented/reactive/responsive (non-batch) compiler,
        that supports static analysis, linting, language server features,
        AST traversals/queries, etc.

        Support for debugging with GDB/LLDB.

        A (substantial) subset of the language with a stable ABI.

        Fast debug builds, fast release binaries.

Syntax/semantics of the language are significantly less important to me than all of the above.

<comment><AUTHOR> \- Plan is to be able to at least build a robust ref counting lib in the standard library, supported by subtyping and defer this could be at least as easy as in ObjC _before_ automatic refcounting. Temporary allocators (like Odin) will solve most of the temporary allocs (like when you work with strings etc). I'd need some time to explain how that works in detail, but memory management can be made much easier without even having GC or refcounting.

\- The build system is part of the compiler.

\- Package registry: still on the fence with that one. We'll see.

\- The compiler is not built as a responsive compiler. Working on the compiler I don't feel that the workflow of a compiler is the same as is needed for an IDE. The most important thing is not that the compiler is responsive, but that the language amends itself to be compiled in isolation in a modular way. This is a property of the language, and it's been designed with IDE friendliness in mind.

\- Adding more DWARF support is on the todo and obviously a requirement for a serious language

\- LLVM prevents anything based on LLVM to be really slow to compile. It takes something like 99% of all compile time, even on debug builds with no optimizations. To have really fast debug builds a custom backend is needed for each platform. That will happen eventually.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3>
      /**
       * @ensure const(foo), const(bar.x)
       **/

Does the compiler see inside comments? I think that Python does that for types because they want to preserve backward compatibility, but I never like it. Why not something like:

      #ensure const(foo), const(bar.x)

or

      @ensure const(foo), const(bar.x)

<comment><AUTHOR> Three reasons:

1\. Implementing pre/post condition checks are optional for a conforming compiler. Putting the checks in special docs comments underscores that the checks are optional. The more C way would perhaps be to use pragma.

2\. Putting checks either between comments and function signature, function signature and body, or at the start of the signature body visually divides function signature from code that's actually run.

3\. Since these are hard requirements on calling functions the information needs to be in the documentation anyway. This ensures that docs and contracts are always in sync.

But yes, I think your opposition to this is a valid one. It is not ideal, rather it is the best trade off I could find. Given the above.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I might like to have, in a better version of C:

\- GNU extensions, such as zero-length arrays, ?: with nothing in between, and statements inside of expressions

\- Less confusing syntax for types

\- Full LLVM features

\- Non-Unicode

\- Both normal include files and token macros, as well as namespacing and hygienic macros supported too

\- Standard macros for testing alignment, endianness, etc

\- Macros that can call compile-time execution of codes which can deal with the AST

\- Reduced runtime requirements

\- Support for setjmp/longjmp with catch blocks; if you longjmp past such a block, it should execute the catch block to clean up as needed before that block jumps again back to the target of the longjmp operation

\- The goto command.

The worst thing about C is I think the confusing syntax for types. Pointer arithmetic and goto are both good, though, so keep those.

I can do without automatic memory management.

<comment><AUTHOR> \- Some GNU extensions are already there, let me know what else you need.

\- ?: and statement expressions (slightly extended) are available in C3 today.

\- Type syntax is simplified in C3 more in line with other languages, e.g. java style array declarations.

\- What does "full LLVM features" mean?

\- What do you mean by "Non-Unicode"?

\- You'll likely be able to include files (and more), but token macros are out I'm afraid. I've tried to cover all uses, but I know it's not quite complete :(

\- All the stuff with offset, alignment etc will of course be available.

\- Macros can act like compile time functions, but direct manipulation of the AST is not there to make the macros easier and safer to use. There is stil a lot of things one can do with using conditional compilation etc, but no manual construction of AST nodes. It's about trying to keep the language fairly uniform even though you add a very powerful macro system. I'm sorry.

\- What do you mean by "reduced runtime requirements"? The ability to run it freestanding? If so, yes then this is a goal.

\- No setjmp/longjmp, instead it has a system with implicit "Result" style returns. But it has a unique flavour. A brief overview can be found here: [http://www.c3-lang.org/errorhandling/](http://www.c3-lang.org/errorhandling/)

\- Sadly I had to give up on goto. To replace it: labelled blocks and labelled for/do/while/if, switch-jumps with "next", error handling using "failable" Result types and defer. The reason for removing goto was due to the amount of compiler complexity needed to support unstructured jumps. I didn't remove it willingly.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> This is quit interesting project, I'm loving its direction. Something I hoped for long time ago. I like that it's trying to make a better C not eliminating it. Will keep a close eye.</comment>


Our Brain Uses a Not-So-Instant Replay to Make Decisions - <AUTHOR> https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/our-brain-uses-a-not-so-instant-replay-to-make-decisions/ <comment><USER2> Often when I read papers on neuroscience, I find it difficult to dismiss an analogy. It feels much like we're trying to analyze how different models of computers work by giving them all some input and then trying to discern meaning from the circuitry that then activates in response. The problem with this is imagine I give you even the precise specs of a fairly basic computing system. You're going to be able to create a lot of correlations, yet you'd probably make effectively 0 meaningful progress towards 'cracking' the system, or really gaining any meaningful degree of insight beyond repeating correlations. E.g. it may be that if you press the 'f' key, a certain area of your circuit board sees a heat spike but that doesn't really tell you much of anything. And, at worst, can give you false leads as you start to draw correlations such as 'ahh!!! it heats up when I press f, g, and h, but not i, j, k!!' When the actual reason, as is easy to imagine, might be entirely spurious.

And in this case the analogy is many orders of magnitude worse. The brain is, by far, the most complex computing system we know of. And instead of precise specs, you have nothing but previous correlations to try to even have a clue as to what you're studying. And even of the specs we can measure, it's not looking hot. The Openworm [1] group for instance has been trying to model a worm brain. The roundworm brain is about as simple as you can get: 302 neurons, 7,000 synapses. The human brain's at 86 billion neurons, 100 trillion synapses. Yet even that worm project seems to have hit some unforeseen hurdles since it appears to have stalled out since making headlines some half a decade ago.

Of course neuroscience is far from my specialty, and it's entirely possible I'm missing some critical nuance. I'd love to know why this analogy is inappropriate if anybody could share.

[1] - [http://openworm.org/](http://openworm.org/)

<comment><USER3> > It feels much like we're trying to analyze how different models of computers > work...

There is a paper on exactly this case - "Could a Neuroscientist Understand a Microprocessor?". Great read. [https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/jo...](https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005268)

<comment><USER4> Wow that was an eye opener to the state of the field, thanks for posting!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> So not only the physical repetition of an activity makes it perfect, and not only replaying it mentally with eyes closed, but also dreaming of it...

It's the common sense being proven right, thus reinforcing how to improve it.

<comment><USER6> I wish i wasnt on a nokia feature phone or id go into depth on the misunderstandings u state about memory, the hippocampus, and the utility of repetition as a mnemonic. Perhaps another memory researcher can in my place, as it has taken me a while to type this already on this old style phn keyboard

<comment><USER6> Example. Repetition least advanced mnemonic. Better: integration concepts and rich imagery. Neuro replay not likely analogy 4 repetition mneumonic. hippocampus fast learn, cortex slow learning, hip replay trains cortex to remember and cortex integrates with other learned

<comment><USER7> Your comments are almost impossible to understand. It might be nice if you found a computer to type them on.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Programmers: The New Political Elite - <AUTHOR> http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/meet-the-new-political-elite-computer-programmers/2010/12/20/gIQAfcg9nP_blog.html

<comment><USER2> I don't get it. When did programmers and reddit / 4chan users become the same? If anything, this article speaks about the power of the internet in general, nothing to do with programmers.

</comment><comment><USER3> It's not the programmers. It's the whole Internet waking up. It's the people living and breathing the Internet who want the status quo politicians to stop trying to mess with it. And the vast majority of them are not programmers.

<comment><USER4> Indeed. It's not about (power-hungry) programmers. Programmers _are_ important right now because they make things possible, but in the end it's about humans connecting to humans in ways, and at a scale, never before possible. People are suddenly connected across borders, bypassing and outmaneuvering the old, slow, hierarchical institutions. Though I don't think traditional politics will go away any time soon, this is bound to have far-ranging unexpected effects in the future (what we're seeing right now is only the beginning).

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Hmmm... isn't lawyer supposedly the most common prior profession for politicians? (Except in Sweden, where it's "high school dropout").

A shift from laywers to programmers doesn't seem so bad to me :)

<comment><USER6> Depends _which_ programmers. I've run across a few in Enterprise that would scare me worse than Lamar Smith.

<comment><USER5> Hehe, suddenly I imagine legislators writing laws called SOPAFactoryHelperMultiplexerWhalesemenAbstractBaseclassTemplateDongleSingleton. _shudder_

<comment><USER6> You already have UnitingandStrengtheningAmericabyProvidingAppropriateToolsRequiredtoObstructandInterceptTerrorismAct. _Someone_ in Congress knows Java...

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Programmers _suck_ at politics. Always have, always will. Programmers are so far removed from the wants and needs of the average human we need translators (managers) to even speak with them.

It is even common in programmer culture that we _enjoy_ this great divide between ourselves and the "lusers". We _make fun_ of people who couldn't code their way out of a wet paper bag.

Similarly, your average programmer couldn't lobby their way out of a wet paper bag. Looking at the average HN/twitter/etc. comment, most of us can't even lobby for a nice office with a view, let alone influence a whole bunch of politicians to change their minds.

The reason 4chan and reddit even remotely get anything done is because there are billions of them. And even they have so far shown practically no real political influence. The two biggest offline influences have been getting Moot to be person of the year and sparking the Wall Street protests ... which have been completely ineffective in getting anything done.

<comment><USER8> I think you haven't quite reached the core problem. Many programmers understand "the wants and needs of the average human" just fine; that doesn't really cause as severe a problem as you suggest. We support non-programmers and non-experts, and we mostly frown upon people who attack newbies. More generally, beyond programming, we often have decent solutions for political and social issues, usually generated by ignoring the baggage associated with them and just dealing with the actual issues.

The fundamental problem, in my opinion: as programmers, we hold rationality as a core value above most other things. We expect rationality from others, and we cope very badly with irrationality. To the extent programmers manage to understand irrationality at all, we have an almost moral inhibition against exploiting it. That makes us utterly awful at politics, which currently requires expert-level manipulative tactics to deal with the majority of voters, who don't deal with political and social issues in rational ways. Anyone who refuses to use such tactics will lose to those who do.

A political hacker would need to have expert-level skill in rhetoric, not just in rational argument and problem solving. This doesn't seem like an impossible goal, but we first have to understand and accept the fundamental problem, and get over the constraints we've hamstrung ourselves with.

<comment><USER9> >> _That makes us utterly awful at politics_

But makes us fairly good activists that don't just use hype but real arguments (and in some cases real action).

Proper activism may not be able to change political scenes all the time, but it does usually leave a dent.

<comment><USER8> I agree. However, if we could ever manage to master both hype _and_ real arguments and action, we could much more effectively change the world.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> As a lot of people have pointed out, this is a rather confused article. I think what the author Dominic Basulto is trying to get at is that the Internet and new applications/platforms are being used to exert political influence in new ways.

For me this is the logical consequence of the increasing "digitization" of the structure of our society, i.e. social networks etc. Basulto has jumped from this to Rushkoff's "program or be programmed" idea. But in the large scale the "programs" that define new social spaces is actually written by a very, very small number of people mostly in California, and have nothing to do with campaigning for anything.

moocow01 is correct to say that people going to Codecademy to learn how to launch online campaigns will be disappointed. This is partly because we don't have an API layer for programs that organise social interactions, and this is one reason why I'm working on a project that does just that.

</comment><comment><USER11> This is a dismal puff piece written by someone who barely knows anything about programming or programmers and has just cobbled together a mishmash of disjointed references to recent events without a coherent understanding of the dynamics.

This, in particular, made me cringe:

"The Internet 'hive-mind' is suddenly everywhere in cyberspace..."

</comment><comment><USER12> I'd say doubtful. There definitely are some network effects that can be leveraged by 'coders' but look while we're all twittering and signing digital petitions you know who is actually exerting real political influence...

\- Lobbyists who work face to face with politicians

\- Corporations with buckets of money

\- And most importantly, protestors who can't be ignored by shutting down a computer

Technologists may be building tools around which people can engage in discussion and bond to create a channel for political activity but if you think were going to code our way to a better political structure within the US I would guess you may be disappointed.

</comment><comment><USER13> Programmers are far too literal minded to succeed in politics, as the comments here prove. ;-)

</comment><comment><USER14> This is a hit piece by the washington post.

<comment><USER15> Are you sure? It's confusing enough -- and confused enough -- that I'm not sure what they're trying to hit.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> > Code is becoming the new lingua franca of Web activists around the nation

No, it's not. The sentence doesn't even make sense.

> If you can code, you can launch new movements, upend traditional campaign > dynamics and pressure candidates in a low-cost, high-tech and highly > effective way.

Your power to start a movement online has absolutely nothing to do with if you're a programmer or not.

Honestly, I've stopped reading after this.

<comment><USER17> Completely agreed on both points. The first line is so baffling I read it twice. Do they think programmers talk to each other in this mysterious 'code'? The writer of this article would be deeply disappointed by a glance at Code Academy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> SOPA is actually a perfect example of how programmers have very little clout at all. Basically the entire internet industry has relentlessly and loudly pointed out what a terrible idea it is on so many levels, and yet the people in Congress who support the bill are saying it has only a few opponents. I really don't think they're scared at all.</comment>


Show HN: Never login to Jira again - <AUTHOR> https://www.jiraslackintegration.com/ <comment><AUTHOR> There is a lot of hate thrown Jira way, what if software teams can keep Jira current always without ever logging in to Jira. Your PM is happy and so are the engineers. So we poured a ton of Slack love for Jira and just launched Troopr's Slackbot for Jira 2.0. We got one step closer to our eventual goal: Never login to Jira again (ok may be not for the PMs but for the rest of us). Invite you to check us out and let us know what you think - Raj, one of the makers.</comment>


California Cities and towns without electricity for 5-7 days - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/CityofSanJose/status/1181371474851979264/photo/1 <comment><USER2> PG&E has a map of potentially affected areas. Seems like many of the areas affected are less densely populated.

[https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/emergency- preparedness/natu...](https://www.pge.com/en_US/safety/emergency- preparedness/natural-disaster/wildfires/psps-service-impact-map.page)

</comment><comment><USER3> Actual story about this with details here:

[https://sf.curbed.com/2019/10/7/20903238/pge-fire- blackout-p...](https://sf.curbed.com/2019/10/7/20903238/pge-fire-blackout- power-outages-bay-area-planned)

<comment><USER4> So instead of properly maintaining their infrastructure, they just completely shut down when their job becomes tough?

I can't wait to get out of this state.

<comment><USER5> Something similar happens to prevent long-term, widespread blackouts on summer days. These usually last hours.

But 7 days? That's tough to justify to the public.

I understand why they feel it's necessary, and maybe it is necessary. But there has to be a better way.

<comment><USER6> If this actually happens, it will be great for Tesla and other companies that produce home solar + batteries.

<comment><USER5> Sure - but this isn't the answer for everyone.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> In Soviet California, forest fire prevent you!</comment>


Researchers giving psilocybin to religious leaders (2017) - <AUTHOR> https://qz.com/879285/psilocybin-drug-trials-psychedelics-such-as-acid-lsd-might-not-only-make-us-more-spiritual-and-religious-they-make-us-healthier-too/ <comment><USER2> This reminds me of the "Marsh Chapel Experiment" (aka the "Good Friday Experiment") from 1962:

 _" Prior to the Good Friday service, graduate degree divinity student volunteers from the Boston area were randomly divided into two groups. In a double-blind experiment, half of the students received psilocybin, while a control group received a large dose of niacin. Niacin produces clear physiological changes and thus was used as an active placebo... Almost all of the members of the experimental group reported experiencing profound religious experiences, providing empirical support for the notion that psychedelic drugs can facilitate religious experiences..."_[1]

Much more detail here: [2]

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

[2] - [https://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_journal2.s...](https://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms_journal2.shtml)

</comment><comment><USER3> I've been keeping an eye out on this study and had hoped there were more results, but this article hasn't said anything about that. Not sure where the no-self part comes in, but it looks like the article title has changed.

I've been listening to a lot of Adyashanti's talks and interviews lately. He's not saying anything substantially different from any other non-dual teacher is saying, though I find that he is very clear when he does speak about this. One of the things that come up is that the experience of "no-self" is different from "unity consciousness" and "identification with witness" though those are each awakenings and realizations someone might go through.

I wanted to note that because "no-self" is often confused with "unity consciousness", but what's clear from Adyashanti and some of the others is that the experience of a unity consciousness will still have a very subtle landing space, whereas "no self" doesn't even have that subtle self- referencing either.

Also, these people are experiencing "no-self" and "unity consciousness" as an integral part of their daily, ordinary experience, usually while simultaneously experiencing an individuated and relative sense of self. These are not altered consciousness in the sense that many psychonauts might speak of, or a one-time mystical or peak experience, and the experience itself is a lot simpler, if impossible to put into words.

<comment><USER4> The "no-self" concept you speak of is usually referred to as ego death I believe.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> It's great to see alternative personal development like this proposed. Hopefully governments and doctors will find a safe way to do further research.

<comment><USER6> _Hopefully governments and doctors will find a safe way to do further research._

This is how the government does research.

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

Thanks, but no thanks. Keep the government out of it, please.

<comment><USER7> Yes, pre Church committee secret CIA research is really applicable to the topic at hand.

<comment><USER8> How isn't it?

Anyway, I agree with his comment but for a different reason: government "research" isn't historically trustworthy. Any psychedelics research sponsored by the government, directly or indirectly, is going to end up like marijuana research[0] and like research into alternative therapies[1]. Of course, they will continue coming up with opposite findings for drugs that lobbyists can profit from, like SSRI's. The FDA is able to literally pick and choose studies that work for them[2].

[0]: [http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170319/governments- marijuana-...](http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170319/governments-marijuana-is- terrible-for-scientific-studies-researchers-say)

[1]: [http://www.nbcnews.com/id/31190909/ns/health- alternative_med...](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/31190909/ns/health- alternative_medicine/t/billion-spent-no-alternative-cures-found/) (It took 2.5 billion dollars to find out that yoga and meditation "may" help with anxiety etc.)

[2]: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_serotonin_reuptake_i...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_serotonin_reuptake_inhibitor#Controversy)

<comment><USER9> Before throwing around accusations like this, you might want to consider the evidence. For instance, how often has an FDA-approved drug been pulled because it was dangerous in unknown ways vs drugs which haven't been through the FDA? Conversely, how many home cures have been shown to be useless or even actively harmful?

I find it interesting that you are citing the study on homeopathy in such a gerrymandered way; first, it's not $2.5 billion just on yoga and meditation by any reasonable interpretation. Second, the major conclusion of the study is that virtually no holistic/homeopathic remedies have any health value above the placebo effect. Thirdly yoga and meditation haven't been found to be beneficial, they rather have not had conclusive results either way.

<comment><USER8> You're telling me to consider the evidence? That's funny. Let's just ignore how the US government has been fudging studies for decades to support whatever agendas suited them, whether it be pro-wheat industry, pro-sugar industry, pro-pharmaceutical industry, the list goes on and on. I could spend a day sitting here listing examples of great Uncle Sam and their "studies" and "research". Seriously, I thought people on HN were just a little bit smarter than this.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> TLDR: Your brain has certain regions active during normal consciousness. Magic mushrooms shut down some of those parts and activates others, so your brain makes new connections to different regions and develops an altered consciousness.

<comment><USER11> RTLDR: get off your face on mushies. It's like wow man.

<comment><USER12> Please don't do this here.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> >The Tibetan Zen Buddhist monk Chogyam Trongpa

It's written Chögyam Trungpa. Trungpa was Vajrayana school Buddhist. "Tibetan Zen Buddhism" does not exist. I'm sure there are individual Tibetans who are Zen Buddhists, but there is no Zen tradition in Tibet. Trungpa was also alcoholic, womanizer, sexually abused his students, cocaine user, ... and was able to get away with it because it was all 'crazy wisdom'.

Zen and Buddhism in general is full of people like Alan Watts and Trungpa. Both were highly intelligent, inspiring writers, and alcoholics who presented themselves as masters.

<comment><USER3> Chris Wallis, author of _Tantra Illuminated_ had written to clarify what makes someone a "tantric master", specifically, one is a master of _self_. I think that is a useful distinction when you are searching for guidance.

Another way to look at it is something I've heard Adyashanti (another teacher) spoke about in an interview on batgap.com -- someone's relationship with their teacher is often a reflection of of their relationship with the whole of the spiritual search, whether that be idealization or cynicism, both responses to that searching for perfection.

<comment><USER13> There is whole Tibetan sutra with instructions of how to have sex with prepubescent girls. After their first menstrual cycle they become impure and don't help monk in his spiritual journey.

If you have religion and status, you can always find ways to rationalize fucking around as spiritual development.

I have respect for Buddhism in general and I have practiced meditation with a teacher 20 years. I understand the need to have a teacher and the need for guidance, but it's human nature for people to abuse others when given too much authority.

<comment><USER3> There is also a whole Tibetan teaching that evolved from ritual cannabilism that shares its roots with practices from India. That particular teaching evolved to use visualizations, and the one being offered for sacrifice in those visualization is the practitioner and not someone else. When done that way, it's an extreme, but beautiful teaching relating to impermanence and the Bodhisattva ideal. The lotus growing from the mud -- and that mud is very muddy.

I don't think people outside realize just how dark of a place the Tibetan people came from before the Buddhist Vajrayana practitioners came in to "tame" the land gods of Tibet. There was a monastic order that attempted to bring the Dharma (with the Tibetan king's blessing) and were hounded out. The last monk that left told the king, he needed to bring one of the Vajrayana people. The level of intensity of the dark and negative stuff was just that bad.

There had always been and likely, always will be the Guru syndrome. Even sincere teachers getting themselves trapped by that. (And that was one of my few favorite parts of the Last Jedi). It is as much as the failings of the guru as it is people seeking for something projecting all sorts of idealizations and failings onto their teachers. It doesn't matter whether it is Tibetan or not. This happens with any religion or spiritual path.

One last note, something I heard from several teachers: you can be awakened and still be an ass. You would just be very clear, realized ass.

<comment><USER14> Have you ever been to a Tibetan temple? The walls are filled with detailed, vivid drawings of their "masters" doing horrific things to them.

<comment><USER3> No I have not. I am not surprised though. Content is endless, and shadow conntent is endless.

It sounds surprising, I think, because the Western, or perhaps popular view of spirituality is one of idealization. Focusing excessively on Light is as problematic as focusing excessively in Shadow.

I have a reprint of one of the mandalas to Vajrayogini on my personal altar. Most of the imagery and iconography will evoke the reaction you described. At the bottom is the most wrathful form of Vajrayogini, naked and all black with fangs, an intense, fiery aura, standing on a corpse. She holds a butchering knife in one hand, and a tantric staff (with three skulls) in the other. Various entrails being eaten by various animals. Yet the top one depicts a peaceful Vajrayogini, reposing in a meditational posture.

Both are Vajrayogini. What is not apparent is how any of this is an act of compassion. The middle Vajrayogini is red and she holds a cup made from severing the top of someone's skull. There is blood in it. How is _that_ an act of compassion? Isn't that just a depiction of evil and corruption? And Tibetan Buddhist will take this depiction as a yidam, ritually become this diety/Buddha. Why would anyone do that? Why do I have that on my altar?

Vajrayogini takes the most horrific karma and spiritual poisons and drinks it. She is called the trauma goddess for that reason. All the horror and abuses one might experience in this life and in past lived, she takes and drinks. And because she is a full Buddha, that karms burns and dies within her. In many ways, it is an extreme form of empathy, yet at the same time, the Buddha nature remains unstained.

Her two wrathful forms looks horrific because the pain and trauama she takes on are that horrific. That is why she is depicted in those wrathful forms. She enters fearlessly into your hell to give you the chance to awaken and to heal.

And this is why she is appealing to some people.

I have never set someone's broken bone or worked as an EMT or a nurse. Yet when I hear stories from them, it is like this. Giving care to the person even when really horrible things happen to them. I am not one of those Japanese cleaners who clean a houses after someone dies, or that Austrailian woman who clean hoarder's houses after they die. They clean away the pain, when no one else will do it. It is like that.

Are there abuses? Yup, there are. Is it excusable? No. And yet, there is a lor more going on than what is apparent.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> The original article's title is misleading.

<comment><USER16> Suggested Title:

Study with small sample size suggests that brief drug-induced mystical experiences change people over time, leading them to report better moods, heightened altruism and forgiveness, more closeness with others, and a sense of connection six months later

<comment><USER17> Too long, how about "Scientist report psychoactive drugs leading to long term positive effects".

<comment><USER18> In this case it should say "psilocybin" (as it now does) as there are very particular (IMO significant) differences in its' effects as compared to other 5ht2* agonists, such as LSD. For example it typically has about 1/4 to 1/2 the duration of LSD which is therapeutically significant.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER19> Priests are lucky bastards

<comment><USER12> Can you please not post unsubstantive comments to Hacker News?

[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> How about they give them antipsychotics instead?

</comment><comment><USER21> I can show you the self is not an illusion - ask those people to give you all of their possessions to someone else, the poor or some charity.

Suddenly, they'll care about their well being above others and their eternal connection to everyone else is shattered.

<comment><USER22> It's mistaken (and somewhat sad!) to take a cynical attitude like that given the implications of the research.

The most exciting part of these type of studies is the ability to take depressive people and 'kick' them out of the cognitive ruts they are in.

Those cognitive ruts are often world-views, thought structures and learned behaviours from childhood or their parents which constantly reinforce that the sufferer is worthless or stupid or unwanted etc.

In those world views, other people are often seen in very negative light - they're critical, or assholes, or dangerous, or perhaps you're so needy for love and attention that you endlessly see other people as your savior (and constantly make bad relationships as a result).

The idea that we just need love and kindness and selflessness and we're all connected maaaan - that's a childish interpretation. As is the idea that interconnectednesa and empathy falls apart in a realistic adult world of possessions and basic needs.

In the context of mental illness, being able to experience connectedness and heightened empathy might mean seeing other people for who they _really are_ , not who they appear to be in your distorted worldview. It might mean realizing that other people are similar to you and you're not alone in your struggle, or realizing that you can give support to someone else instead of constantly needing support from them. Sometimes breakthroughs like that take years in therapy, but might be achieved much more quickly using mushrooms.

Hope that helps dissolve the cynicism.

<comment><USER21> Wait, so the idea is to see other people for "who they are"... but they won't do the same. It sure can "restore faith in humanity" and yourself, but what happens when you get hit with a dose of reality? That everyone struggles... individually. And most people don't actually care about you. Back to depression it is?

<comment><USER22> > And most people don't actually care about you

Well... yeah. I mean, imagine you had super critical parents who picked on your every mistake as a child. Now you suffer from social anxiety and feel intense shame and fear in public because you think everyone is constantly criticizing you and talking about you.

Being able to relax and be yourself knowing that most people won't care either way is a huge step forward.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Silk Road Trial: How the Dread Pirate Roberts Embraced Violence - <AUTHOR> http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/01/silk-road-trial-how-the-dread-pirate-roberts-embraced-violence/

<comment><USER2> ... and this is what you get when you have an illegal black market in drugs: bereft of access to the court system, operators rely on hit men to threaten, assault and kill.

I say legalise the sale of _all_ drugs to adults, and allow legitimate sellers to pursue debts and crimes through the courts like any other business would.

<comment><USER3> But how will governments have a black-ops budget without the black markets of drugs? I doubt human trafficking is even close to as profitable.</comment></comment>


Show HN: Arrived – Stack Overflow for US Immigration - <AUTHOR> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=us.arrived.arrived <comment><USER2> I get the analogy, but it's a bit confusing since there sort of is a Stack Overflow for US immigration:

[http://expatriates.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/usa+im...](http://expatriates.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/usa+immigration)

This seems more like a knowledge base for US Immigration (particular since it doesn't look like you can post your own questions).

<comment><AUTHOR> So users can submit questions that our team researches and adds to the knowledge bank. In addition, we have writers that contribute content to the newsfeed based on common questions we receive. So consider it an case-by-case, moderated Stack Overflow. Given the privacy considerations, we wanted to keep any questions anonymous.

<comment><USER3> > our team researches

Are good immigration lawyers doing the research? Do you want to handing out information? If your information turns out to be wrong, the consequences could be very serious.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Stack Overflow might not be the best comparison; it doesn't look like this app lets a user post questions or indeed interact with a community of any kind. It's more of a consolidation of resources designed to help immigrants.

That being said, this does look potentially useful.

A couple questions: who's curating the newsfeed? Where does the data in the FAQ section come from?

<comment><USER5> Agreed. Does not say anything about being able to post or being able to interact. I wonder what the add situation is like on that app. Can't decide if someone wants to help get info out or if they are capitalizing on the current situation

<comment><AUTHOR> So we invite users to email us so we can anonymize, research, and vet each question. We also allow users and partners to contribute to our blog.

(Also we launched back in July.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Why is this (apparently) just an app? I'd much rather have a mobile web site that I can read on any of my devices and not have to install an app on my phone to use it.

If StackOverflow were only available as an app, it'd be much much less useful.

<comment><AUTHOR> For the majority of Hispanic immigrants, smartphones are their only computing device. I'm a believer than an app always outdoes a "mobile-friendly" site. Also an app lets you require a user to sign a ToS once after installation without requiring accounts. For a website it's not as seamless.

<comment><USER7> > Also an app lets you require a user to sign a ToS once after installation > without requiring accounts. For a website it's not as seamless.

Huh? I don't think I've ever visited a purely informational website (like this one apparently is) that required me to sign a ToS just to view it. You just click the link, read whatever information you came for, and leave when you're done. That's far more "seamless" than having to install an app before you can do anything.

<comment><USER8> I think the point is that they _want_ to get users to sign the TOS. Probably for liability reasons due to the legal & sensitive nature of the information.

<comment><AUTHOR> Exactly. Plus the constantly shifting landscape of immigration itself. Relevant info one day is stale the next.

<comment><USER9> Exactly why a website makes more sense. You get the latest version by just reloading the page.

<comment><USER8> You can do the same with an app, though.

<comment><USER9> I meant without downloading a 40 MB binary upfront.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Only giving this very minor and not-useful feedback because you say "The Stack Overflow" for and I make Stack Overflow's mobile apps:

This app is a good idea. It'd look a lot more professional and believable if it had some minor changes like "Don't have the selected tab's text color be black on navy blue", or "give your list items consistent margin and padding".

Both of these minor suggestions, and more, are also listed in the Material Design guidelines: [https://developer.android.com/design/index.html](https://developer.android.com/design/index.html)

<comment><AUTHOR> Great points! We are constantly improving the UI since it's our first foray into Android.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> What was the motivation for making this and Android app?

Since this is just a source of information, I'm not sure I see why you'd want to limit it to a platform-specific client.

<comment><AUTHOR> We launched back in July because we felt tech could scale the great resources and tips shared in guides, forums, and in-person visits to NGOs. Given we are a team primarily of immigrants, we also wanted to combat the xenophobia in this country.

iOS is coming soon! Android headsets are cheaper and have a higher market share, and are therefore are more likely to be used by undocumented immigrants.

<comment><USER7> I think hughes's point was why isn't this just a website? (Which would work on all platforms, including iOS and desktop PCs, and would be searchable through Google.)

<comment><USER12> Maybe because of connectivity? Not everyone has a data plan when they arrive to the country.

<comment><USER7> Offline-capable websites are a thing. Plus you still need a connection to download the app initially anyway.

<comment><AUTHOR> We want users to peruse the knowledge bank offline due to the cost of data and the potential that a detained or soon-to-be-detained immigrant may not have an internet connection.

<comment><USER7> Right, which is why I mentioned that it's entirely possible to make a website which can be used offline. You might want to have a look at Service Workers. [https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/getting- start...](https://developers.google.com/web/fundamentals/getting- started/primers/service-workers)

<comment><AUTHOR> Great suggestion. We'll check it out.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> I found this community very helpful for navigating US immigration for my non- American wife:

[http://www.visajourney.com/](http://www.visajourney.com/)

<comment><USER14> Seconded. Having access to a huge community of people who were a little further along in the visa issue process made navigating it much, much easier. Little stuff like "oh, they're now requiring 2 passport photos instead of 1 and the consular website hasn't been updated everywhere yet" saved a ton of pain.

It was also really nice to see almost in real time how long processing was taking, because you could see when people ahead of you got their interviews scheduled and guess how long you had left.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> As an immigrant I like the idea of having this information on my phone, especially during border crossings.

\- under Learn > Emergency I would love to see a section on "What should I do/say if I'm detained at a border crossing"

\- the See section responds slowly then crashes on my device (Nexus 5X), possibly because I denied the Location permission and it showed the entire map

\- I'm not sure if denying the Location permission removed information from the Learn section

\- You've marketed it at the Stack Overflow for US immigration, but there doesn't seem to be a way to ask questions or provide answers to others. Is this coming soon or not planned?

<comment><USER15> We have a section on physical/digital security when crossing through high-risk borders in Umbrella App (our stuff is open source and Creative Commons so people should feel free to reuse it):

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.u...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.secfirst.umbrella)

or

[https://www.secfirst.org](https://www.secfirst.org)

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> \- You should have made a website.

\- The application doesn't look good.

</comment><comment><USER17> Or just come to Vancouver and take a 30~50% pay cut because "You are living in the best place on earth"™

</comment><comment><USER18> "What do I do when they take this phone away from me before I've had a chance to open this app?"

<comment><USER19> Hey. Australia is the best place on Earth.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> I noticed it asked for few permissions. I'm curious though, what do you need location for?

<comment><AUTHOR> We focus map that has every sanctuary city/immigration NGO and law clinic in the country on your approximate location.

</comment></comment><comment><USER21> SO is a pretty brutal place from a question experience pov.

The stakes are really high for immigrants. I cannot imagine a worse model unless you have actual lawyers answering questions.

<comment><USER22> There's nothing wrong with a site that says "we can answer typical questions about A, B, and C, but we can't answer questions that require legal advice, so please don't ask those or we'll close them". That's how they handle it at the Workplace SE site.

<comment><AUTHOR> Precisely.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> The french translation of the application description is really bad. You should let it in plain english until you have a decent translation.

</comment><comment><USER24> Should have been called Arrival</comment>


Doctors work like entrepreneurs  - <AUTHOR> http://www.aginnt.com/post/25376921912/doctors-work-like-entrepreneurs#.T9-TZiu-RrU

<comment><USER2> Most doctors are entrepreneurs. They basically operate consultancy firms, either through some kind of partnership or independently.

They may not be innovators, but innovation isn't necessary for entrepreneurship.</comment>


UK concludes it can mitigate risk from Huawei equipment use in 5G - <AUTHOR> https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-britain-huawei-tech/uk-concludes-it-can-mitigate-risk-from-huawei-equipment-use-in-5g-ft-idUKKCN1Q60NR <comment><USER2> The best way to mitigate this risk is to make sure there are standards and a viable vendor poole. There will always be higher risk associated with a single vendor.

</comment><comment><USER3> Can they mitigate risks from US businesses too? They _are_ the biggest risk if you go by facts and not rumors and propaganda after all.</comment>


The Next Mainstream Programming Language: A Game Developer's Perspective (2006) - <AUTHOR> http://lambda-the-ultimate.org/node/1277

<comment><USER2> 2006...so taking that into account.

I am not quite sure why something like OCaml has not taken off in game development yet. Seems the promise of C speed, better programming abstractions and functional core would be something a strong game development studio would jump all over.

Though, being completely honest, I am not fully in tune with the game development community. Can anyone else comment?

<comment><USER3> Inertia. From a technical standpoint the game industry is about customer- facing features that happen to also be technologies. You can go from one product to another carrying along many of those features, but change the language and you blow them all up.

Today you have a "legacy" group of AAA developers with huge, well-tuned C++ engines designed specifically around that dev model(typically, lots of scripted and hand-crafted static content with photorealistic graphics and in- game cutscenes), and a growing number on the indie/mobile/web/social side who are using whatever is convenient, and often rolling their own thing to fit their own projects. For many that still means C++ since they're already familiar with it, there's plenty of examples and library code around, and some targets still demand(or literally require, in the case of consoles) that mix of tooling, performance and features. For others it might be Java, Objective C, Actionscript, or Javascript.

The value proposition of a new language isn't great for the AAA developer because the engine coding effort - on a large project - is tiny compared to the content. For tiny games most of the pressure to ship is on programming - but once you're past the core engine(resources, scene/entity/rendering management, collision, events, etc.), the benefits are still unclear since most gameplay coding uses the same patterns in any language - lots of intermittent special-case logic, blobs of state accessable through various indexes, timing, and sequencing. These things can usually get parceled out to a scripting language for faster iteration(or, at minimum, designer-driven iteration, vs. coder+designer pairing).

I haven't mentioned parallelism once yet, notice. Despite Tim Sweeney's focus on this in his slides, it's not a big concern for anyone but the AAA guys who are specifically aiming to max out the hardware. The gameplay proper is hard to enforce in-parallel because most game designs are massively stateful and interdependent. That leaves rendering and miscellaneous auxiliary processes. Rendering quality is now bottlenecked mostly by the content creation process, not by runtime concerns. We can always throw more polygons into a scene, but the details of shading, texturing, and animation have become far more important to image quality.

Look at what Valve and Blizzard are doing. They've both stayed far away from the cutting edge in their own technology, and that hasn't hurt them a bit in sales. So again, there's just very little reason to move forward on the tech if you aren't an indie, and if you are then you have to weigh your choice against how difficult it'll be to ship the final product to consumers. The math tends to favor one of the languages mentioned earlier(C++, Obj C, JS, AS3, Java).

<comment><USER4> If true, the industry would be vulnerable to disruption by an ocaml shop.

I think C's low-level hackability and integration with assembler is hard to beat for max performance. In other cases, a scripting language is more agile. And correctness isn't important in games ( _if it seems right, it_ is _right_ ). So ocaml's impressive attributes don't win any of these battles.

With xbox having 3 cores and ps3 having 8, a better concurrency language has an opportunity to have an impact. Maybe in the _next_ nextgen... (if launched today, moore predicts x8 as many cores: 24...64).

<comment><USER5> You can program Xbox 360 games in F# (a Microsoft language that's based on ML, and is similar to ocaml) using XNA. A few very small indie games have been written that way.

People who write a game in ocaml tend not to write a second game in ocaml. They tend to go back to C/C++. To me this indicates that ocaml is not a good fit for game development.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I think one of the big issues that needs to be tackled for the next generation of languages is inherent support for concurrency and orchestration of concurrency. Typically multithreading is something you have to explicit program into your solutions and make a trade-of between performance and thread-safety. It would be neat if a langugage could be designed with concurrency supported by default, with as small hit to performance as possible for simple scenarios.

There are some languages that provide some inherent support already, primarily functional languages (haskell, f#). Some more tradional languages have started tacking on features to better handle parallelization/concurrency, for instance C# with async,plinq, parallel.net etc.

I'm a bit doubtful however that everyone is going to switch to a functional language, I think the mainstream will stay with a object-oriented language. But there should be an oppurtunity to design a new object-oriented language from the bottom up for paralllization and concurrency which tries to solve performance issues with locking/collections etc on a lower level but provider higher level of abstraction.

Another issue that perhaps should be addressed is better support for "huge" data. In most cases with todays programming languages you have to type your integers, meaning you have to chose between an int, long, bigint or whatnot. and if you type something as bigint for instance all instances takes up loads of memory even if the span of the integer isn't that big. Why cant a number simply adapt to how it's used. I realize the underlying problems of the cpu and precision but still, it should be possible with a more elegant solution.

</comment><comment><USER7> I love checking in with this slide deck from time to time.

I'm not a language nerd by any means, but I wonder how much of the reliability issues are now "solved". It seems that Scala would do a lot of what is required, if only checked exceptions were enabled (why the Scala compiler doesn't have this as a compiler flag, I don't know). I understand why the author wants his static compilation cake, but sometimes sucking down some syntax for practicality/doing stuff now might be OK ;)

<comment><USER8> Checked exceptions, at least the way Java does them are exceedingly verbose, potentially requiring a try/catch block at every level of a call stack. I think it would be possible do static analysis of most possible execution paths and determine whether there's a possible exception not being caught by a certain level without having to deal with it in every call.

<comment><USER9> This is relatively trivial, but only for whole-program compilation. The good thing about declaring exceptions on functions is that you can partially compile programs without a module system - otherwise, at a minimum you have to declare them at module boundaries.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Re-reading this now, I'm struck by how similar some Tim Sweeny's lines of discussion are to Rich Hickey's, particularly about functional by default and bounded mutability.

A dependently typed Clojure would do well against all 3 of Tim's stated topic areas (and of course most likely would need the obligatory curly bracket syntax... for better or worse).

<comment><USER8> Ruby, Python, and in the game-dev world, Lua have become quite popular without curly brackets and semicolons. I don't think syntax is all that critical to a language becoming popular[0]. What does matter is that it solves an immediate problem that simply isn't being solved by other languages, or is attached to a framework or tool that does so. Python got popular because it was a more readable replacement for Perl. Ruby got popular because it was used for a framework that eliminated half the work from the average web app[1].

[0] With certain limitations. A painful syntax will keep people away, and it remains to be seen whether Lisp is painful enough to most programmers to prevent adoption when a language otherwise solves all their problems.

[1] Compared to PHP, Java or just about any language with CGI and a hand- rolled data access layer.

<comment><USER11> Syntax does matter. The lack of expected operator precedence kept many technical non-programmers away from Lisp and Smalltalk. Python, Ruby, and Perl all succeeded because they respected the cultural expectations of *nix hackers. Cultural expectations are a big factor in HID. Programming langs are just a highly specialized case.

<comment><USER12> _The lack of expected operator precedence kept many technical non-programmers away from Lisp and Smalltalk._

I've heard the opposite; where did you hear this?

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Oh, Comic Sans!</comment>