MIT researchers 3-D print colloidal crystals - <AUTHOR> https://www.nanotechnologyworld.org/single-post/2018/08/31/MIT-researchers-3-D-print-colloidal-crystals <comment><USER2> >> "If you could 3-D print a circuit that manipulates photons instead of electrons, that could pave the way for future applications in light-based computing".

This goes hand in hand with the post that made news on HN 3 days ago about "Researchers demonstrate the first single-photon transistor using a semiconductor"

source: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17949622](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17949622)

Where can we learn more about "light-based computing"?

</comment><comment><USER3> Isn't this similar to how a silicon wafer is made, i.e. pulling an ingot from a melt, except you're now doing things upside down?</comment>


Ask HN: Give direction to artist for developing technical skills as backup plan - <AUTHOR>

I know an artist (primarily painting and drawing) in her late-20s who lives in a small US town (2-hours drive from any major city). Not starving but hard-pressed to live solely off her art. Didn't complete her college degree, work experience is very minimal, and doesn't have any other well-developed skills. Smartly, she wants a backup plan while still pursuing her passion. I've encouraged her to consider tech as an option because: 1) there's a push to encourage women in tech which might give her opportunities she wouldn't otherwise have; 2) there is much she can learn for free if she's self-motivated; 3) she likes the idea of "designing websites to make them look better"; 4) tech skills can be a great source of supplemental income for short durations; 5) I once convinced her to start learning HTML by taking a free course on the Web and she seemed to enjoyed it (but didn't stick with it more than a few days on her own); 5) she's good with Photoshop.
She thinks she could invest a little of her minimal savings to take courses (unclear how much). I've suggested 3 areas to research: graphic design, UI/UX, and programming. I explained that, although GD is where she'd see the most overlap with her current skills and, thus, be the easiest transition, GD has the least applicability to most tech jobs and likely would be much more useful for certain jobs in advertising/marketing (both of which she's not interested in). She really likes the idea of UI/UX but admits her organizational skills aren't good and her thinking strikes me as not hierarchical or data-driven (and sometimes even a bit scattered). She thinks she could stay motivated in a coding class because others would be pushing her, but learning on her own isn't going to happen.
Any advice? She's such a good person, enjoys learning, and wants to support herself but self-motivation, especially in the early stages until she develops self-confidence with a particular skill, would be a challenge. <comment><USER2> > _" I once convinced her to start learning HTML by taking a free course on > the Web and she seemed to enjoyed it (but didn't stick with it more than a > few days on her own"_

That's a red flag for me. Your heart is in the right place, but at the same time: You can't force anyone to change. They have to do what's right for them. This is a hard field; it's very very hard actually. If she doesn't have enough passion to even stick with a course more than a couple days, then I doubt she'll be able to stick with it long enough to become employable.

Yes, it'd be great if this was a backup plan that fit her interests, but it doesn't seem to be that way. Life's too short to work jobs you hate, I'd recommend that she continue pursuing her passion, and continue exploring other backup options. Are there junior colleges / trade schools in her area? There are many in-demand fields, I'd recommend that she gets into a program (like at a junior college) where she can bounce around, take different types of classes, and figure out where _her_ interests lie. Who knows, maybe she'll find out that she loves real estate, or welding, or cooking, or nutrition. She's still young, she has time to find those answers.

<comment><AUTHOR> She actually tried the junior college route when she lived in a college town to finish her degree. Hated it (not to mention the financial burden).

I'm frustrated with myself because I'm out of ideas. I know I can't be her internal fire and I can't tell her what to do. But she's such a good person. If I could just help her get exposure to something she enjoyed, I know she'd run with it and have the security she needs.</comment></comment>


Logdown, The MISSING blogging platoform for Hackers  - <AUTHOR> http://logdown.com/?b

<comment><USER2> Any reason why I should use this over my Jekyll blog?

<comment><USER3> Didn't know about Jekyll and can't find any example that uses it on their webpage, any link?

<comment><USER2> It's a static website generator written in Ruby [http://jekyllrb.com/](http://jekyllrb.com/). It powers my website at zachlatta.com.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> No HTTPS on login page.</comment>


Drchrono Is the iPad App That Could Transform Your Doctor's Office - <AUTHOR> http://singularityhub.com/2011/03/04/chrono-is-the-ipad-app-that-could-transform-your-doctors-office-video/

<comment><USER2> So, I don't know. I haven't had time to delve into their backend, so I'm not sure how they import all that data (lab results, ekgs, xrays). But the interface seems clumsy (coming from a former physician, and current ipad user) from the videos I watched.

Neither of the founders are from medical backgrounds: <https://drchrono.com/team/>

They do have a "Senior Medical Director" who is currently a psychiatry resident, which means relatively few years practicing medicine. I don't want to discount his abilities just for that, but for instance, it seems unlikely he has really worked in a private practice which is what this seems whole package seems targeted to.

I know disruption can happen from outside the system, but in the case of physician's medical record systems, I feel like the main hurdle is trying to show/teach doctors that your system can be a more efficient system in day-to- day. And to do that you really need to understand that day-to-day workflow. Especially since they are targetting these small practices it seems.

<comment><USER3> I've worked on an iPad app targeted at an entire state's hospitals.

Doctors, particularly specialists that travel, _love_ their iPhones. They _love_ tablets/iPads. You don't need to convince them. You need to convince the accountants, insurers and lawyers.

<comment><USER2> Regardless of the interface? You seem to be saying that if an app is on an iPad, doctors will blindly love it (and it can't have a bad interface, which is obviously not true)

<comment><USER3> Drchrono isn't any uglier than what a lot of doctors using now. There's software out there that continues to use the blue and grey DOS style interface.

The _hardware_ is the killer app here. The iPad and other tablets like it are off-the-shelf blank slates that cost less than $1,000 and run all day.

There are already proprietary tablets in the medical world, but they can cost thousands more per unit than the iPad and you're stuck with the software that's already on it.

You can go out and buy an iPad today and have electronic health records, medical imaging viewers, medical references and can move towards paperless environment for under five figures per year.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER2> Ok, I've given some more thought to this. To give some constructive criticism. I've been watching the videos, watching people enter data, soap notes, and the transcription. It all seems so painful.

The interface is a lot of small screens, with buttons connecting them. In the dictation screen, you can't reach anything else. You can't seem to look at labs, look at xrays. Similarly, the soap note interface brings up a large text entry with an iPad keyboard. Several of the other interfaces bring up these somewhat jarring iOS inputs. None of this seems to flow well.

I feel like you have this open 10" multi-touch device, but you are using interface paradigms from old point and click interfaces.

Here are some interesting possibilities:

\- Use the fact that you can scroll infinitely on the iPad. A page could have a ton of data vertically, that you can scroll up/down.

\- Maybe you can also scroll/swipe left/right to get to different sections. from Note to Xrays to Labs. Let there be a definite order of those pages. I'm thinking like the Wired magazine app for iPad. Swipe left a couple of times, I'm at labs. I can find what I want, swipe right a couple of times to be back where I started. Or at least short cut buttons for every section so you can jump back and forth easily.

\- Current labs could be embedded in the current note/encounter page. It's obvious I'm going to want to see those. Scroll down to see them, swipe left/right to see older ones.

\- Why are soap notes in full text input? Why not a large page of customizable Positive/Negative toggles? Most EMRs are like this, but having it on the touch screen seems like it might be nice, especially if you can scroll past ones you don't care about quickly. This also helps to minimize pulling up a full keyboard, which is an awkward event on the iPad. You don't want to be typing long passages if you can avoid it.

\- Seems custom interfaces could be explored for making data entry easier. Be it medicines, or complaints etc...

anyhow, obviously those things are just top-of-the-head wild thoughts, but the abilities are there. I just don't see this as an "iPad EMR" but an EMR that was put on the iPad.

</comment><comment><USER4> That's a "burning platform". The correct solution to this kind of problem is government backed centralized system for all doctors. Like in Estonia: <http://eng.e-tervis.ee/overview.html> . Sooner or later all countries will have this kind of solutions in place and unfortunately DrChrono will lose.

It works in Estonia so that all doctors are _forced_ to use that system, which results to a wonderful end result where _every_ doctor has access to _all_ data there is about you 24/7 - so for example when you lie unconcius on the street, 911 knows all your allergies, illnesses and treatments, everything that every doctor has ever written about you etc in that second.

<comment><USER5> That approach might work in somewhere the size of Estonia - but large centralized IT projects have been a bit of a disaster for the UK NHS:

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8397854.stm>

The chances of it being made to work _by the government_ for somewhere like the US are pretty small.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I own an IT services company and we have a medical vertical. There is a demand for this and I am a big fan of what you are doing. What I can tell you however is that no amount of iPad UI wizardy will overcome the hairball that is EMR/EHR. Table stakes are Meaningful Use certification and assurance, HL7, Labs, PACS, HIS integration and the list goes on and on. The hardest work happens there, and Dr. Chrono will need "street cred" there to grow.

</comment><comment><USER7> Unless you work with the doctor, assistant, nurse or office manager for at least 6 months you will have no idea what actually needs to be done or how things could be streamlined. Sometimes it's not just data organization. Surveys won't help, online chats or discussion will not suffice either. Understanding the problem will require more attention.

However much like how another HN post showed us, the baseline market will eat this up even if the product is mediocre at best.

So take note readers, this segment is ripe for a competing startup.

I had a doctor tell me just last week, nextgen is shit. Which by the way would probably be your best corp competitor or prospective buyer as they're coffers are filling up.

Disclosure: I have many years experience in this field.

Update: when I say working with, I mean you need to tail and do the work as if you were an employee for some time.

</comment><comment><USER8> Kaiser doesn't use mobile devices, but they have all this and more. They are an HMO, so they're integrated from top to bottom. There's a computer in each exam room and your chart follows you from Dr. office to lab to therapy to pharmacy. They have bracelets for those admitted to the hospital, and before giving you medication the bracelet is swiped and the computer-controlled delivery mechanism will only give you the meds if you should get them. (Cuts down on deaths due to incorrect medication.)

I could see them augmenting their system with a tablet, but it would be software they build themselves, I'm sure.

</comment><comment><USER9> Am I wrong to stop reading at the grammar error in the second word?

<comment><USER10> Yes.

<comment><USER9> I tried reading a bit further; it reads like PR not journalism.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> As a patient something that I would really appreciate is a realtime queue showing how much behind schedule the doctor is on that given day. Ive had to wait for over an hour on occasion inspite of having a prior appointment. Also self serve appointments would be nice.

</comment><comment><USER12> It would be nice if an article about "new cool" ipad app was viewable on the ipad (videos).

<comment><AUTHOR> All of our videos are on youtube. Feel free to check them out:

<http://www.youtube.com/user/DrChronoTV></comment></comment>


A safe, comprehensible and efficient PID 1/init replacement written in OCaml - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/rein/lyrica <comment> vezzy-fnord It's just sinit translated to OCaml. Given that it all boils down to POSIX libc, I'm not sure what the advantage of OCaml is here.

EDIT: Appears to be a component of a larger "Prismriver" project, but still completely tentative.

<comment><USER2> The name Prismriver reminds me too much of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_\(surveillance_program\)), and the next thing beginning with 'P' that came to mind was Palladium, the codename for Microsoft's Trusted Computing platform. Neither of those seem particularly desirable to associate your project with, although what this does have in common with them is the safety/security aspect...

<comment><USER3> So the letter P is out of bounds now?

<comment><USER4> P is the 15th letter of the alphabet, 15 is 0xf in hexadecimal, the ascii code of f is 102. 1 + 0 + 2 = 3 omg, Half-Life 3 confirmed!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> How tested is this in the field? "Safe" for an init replacement is a strong statement. The git repo statistics make this look young but I don't know what Prismriver is.

I'm not saying this to be a jerk, I'm saying this because, well, "safe" is a high bar for an init replacement! And I'm genuinely interested in the answer.

<comment><USER6> It's just 59 lines of code, 20 of which are merely listing names of signals. I won't say it's safe, but it's certainly easier to audit!

<comment><USER7> Or it might be possible to generate a proof with a solver[1] of some kind.

[1]: [http://www.chargueraud.org/softs/cfml/](http://www.chargueraud.org/softs/cfml/)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> For a fun init can use Erlang!:

[https://github.com/nerves-project/erlinit](https://github.com/nerves- project/erlinit)

Erlang/Elixir is already structured like modern OS (isolated processes, preemptable, built in tracing, debugging, smp support). So if your project is mostly Erlang skip the regular init and use erlinit right away.

Some example and usage from parent site:

[http://nerves-project.org/learn.html](http://nerves-project.org/learn.html)

<comment> vezzy-fnord erlinit is not an Erlang init, rather a C program for bootstrapping a minimum GNU/Linux userspace over which Erlang/OTP applications can run on.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> How practical is it to run a simplified init program like this instead of systemd for a desktop Linux system?

It feels like as a Linux user one has to make the choice between software freedom (and software ethics) and an easily maintained, attractive desktop experience. As a Fedora user, I'm very used to GNOME and all of the comforts that it provides, but I'd consider switching to Gentoo sans systemd for the sake of making a stand against bad practice in the software community.

<comment><USER10> How does systemd violate your freedom? It's LGPL 2.1 and, as far as I know, respects the four freedoms: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Free_Software_Definition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Free_Software_Definition)

<comment><USER11> If Emacs is an example of cathedral-style development, and Linux is an example of bazaar-style development, then Systemd is turnpike-style development, steamrolling ahead against all objections and the better interests of the communities they bulldoze.

That's not a violation of the LGPL, but it is a betrayal of the community it represents.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> Looks good. The more alternatives to systemd the better.

<comment><USER13> also the more basic unix tools written in ocaml the better.

<comment><USER14> I would very much enjoy seeing a shell written in a safe language. The problem is, just installing such a shell isn't enough - it'd have to be capable of being copied into /bin/sh to actually make a fully safe platform.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> The doc says it's equivalent to sinit: suckless init. That led to a git site I don't understand cuz I don't know git. I downloaded the zip to see if readme had anything. Here's what it says:

"sinit is a simple init. It was initially based on Rich Felker's minimal init. Why? I wanted to get rid of Busybox init on my toy distro. How? There are 3 signals that sinit will act on.

SIGUSR1: powers off the machine. SIGINT: reboots the machine (or alternatively via ctrl-alt-del). SIGCHLD: reap children"

So, one or more of these could use some better documentation. Or at least more accessible for non-Git users.

EDIT to Add: I like the idea of rewriting key stuff like this in safer, easier-to-maintain languages like Ocaml. Really nice stuff there. Past that, I can't derive the value proposition without a page detailing what it does vs alternatives.

<comment><USER16> There is also a description of what a minimal init should do here: [http://ewontfix.com/14/](http://ewontfix.com/14/)

<comment><USER17> Forgetting the politics of the site itself, this is a nice list of references to init systems, from simple to complex:

[http://without-systemd.org/wiki/index.php/Init](http://without- systemd.org/wiki/index.php/Init)</comment></comment></comment>


U of Chicago projected to be the first U.S. university to cost $100k per year - <AUTHOR> https://hechingerreport.org/university-of-chicago-projected-to-be-the-first-u-s-university-to-charge-100000-a-year/ <comment><USER2> UChicago 2011 graduate here. When I attended, I paid about $20k/year in tuition, given that I had various merit scholarships, worked for the university, and that my siblings also attended school. My parents were in for a RUDE awakening in my fourth year, however, when my brother graduated his undergraduate program...UChicago found out via a survey, that I was now the sole college attendee, and without warning they jacked the tuition from $20k to $32k for my final year. My parents were absolutely livid and it left a terrible taste in our mouths.

I must say, it was not a pleasant undergraduate experience. On top of being expensive and working very long hours daily, it was immensely competitive and the social life was very poor for me. I have always had numerous friends in life, but I constantly felt lonely at that school, not to mention receiving MUCH worse marks due to grade deflation, which made medical school applications a nightmare.

In hindsight, I absolutely should have gone to my state school, and I'd be a Tesla and a Steinway piano richer for it if I had. I think these ridiculously expensive, 4 year educational vacations need to end...let's encourage our young, bright minds to stay local, to save money, and to use their brightness and talents to lead very productive and EFFICIENT lives.

<comment><USER3> I got in to University of Chicago, but the finances were rough. They expected my parents to pay around 30% of their (combined) income in tuition after scholarships and loans. Presumably this would have dropped when my brother entered college a year after me, but given that I got into other schools that cost less than half as much it wasn't really a question.

My parents didn't really know what to tell me because on one hand they felt like they were being punished for not making profligate decisions like going into debt for a fancy car or buying a bigger house, but on they other hand they didn't really want to outright tell me not to go somewhere like U of Chicago.

Made me feel like college admissions spiels saying not to worry about finances were a lip-service scam designed to make college look accessible while mostly benefiting the rich and very poor and screwing those in-between.

Went to a state university instead, but never really fit in there. Too much alcohol, greek life, and sports.

In any case, I don't mean to imply that my parents didn't have a decent income, just that the way things worked made them feel like they were being punished for trying to be financially responsible, and being asked to pay the equivalent of a 2nd mortgage for your kid's college only for them to be in debt on top of it anyway, and not knowing how things would work once they had a 2nd kid in college wasn't a strong sell. Even though they didn't say not to go there, I would have felt super super guilty about saying yes.

Fun fact: the scholarship U of Chicago offered would have covered the cost of attendance at each other college I got into and then some, but still didn't cover even half of the cost of attendance there.

<comment><USER4> _just that the way things worked made them feel like they were being punished for trying to be financially responsible_

100% feel you, as I my son just started UCSD. He was looking at a bunch of private colleges and I did the financial aid (for early decision) and it was really shitty. I felt that because I had so much equity in my house and no debt, I was screwed. And, when the numbers came back, it was true. Very little help.

I have a work friend who has a very close friend. They're both Dr's pulling down > $500k/yr, but with huge debt. Their kid got into Princeton and they paid $15k/yr. I was more than double that for some equivalent schools, but I make far, far less than $500k/yr.

Very glad he decided on UCSD.

<comment><USER5> So is the life advice to go massively in debt (and jack up your income) before your kids apply to colleges? How far in advance do you have to go massively in debt?

EDIT: Looking at Princeton's financial needs calculator, assuming a constant income, to maximize your financial aid you should: \- Reduce your assets: Buy a really expensive house, have nothing in savings/investments/other equity \- Reduce your income: Pay a ton for private school tuition, medical expenses, or child support.

EDIT 2: Looking around some more, apparently FAFSA doesn't consider: Your primary residence Your car A boat you may own or furniture in your home Untaxed Social Security as income

Here comes my big house / Bugatti / yacht!

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> One thing I find crazy is the very same institutions that are generally very left leaning, decry income inequality, and espouse generally liberal views then turn around and having tuition costs that having been rising at rates so far above inflation.

Student debt is a major issue in the US and the ever increasing costs of tuition are a MAJOR culprit in pushing this crisis. Where are these costs coming from? How can you politically espouse free college while ratcheting up tuition costs?

<comment><USER7> I work at one local university, and my wife works at another. One thing we've definitely noticed (and this is a widespread problem) is that the administration is becoming more top-heavy. There are cutbacks in faculty, support, and teaching staff, more reliance on adjuncts (academic temps, basically), and so on, while central administration grows. Expensive new buildings contribute, but less than people suppose. But that is a tangential problem, in that wealthy donors want to give big gifts for vanity projects rather than to, say, scholarship funds.

<comment><USER8> I worked for five years at a private university a few years ago, and my experience is similar, although to add a little:

It never felt like a plan or conspiracy to make administration costs bigger. It's just very easy to do when you have more money coming in, year after year. In another economic environment, you'd get a "hard no" because the money isn't there. But when there is, expenditures become just another bargaining chip. Maybe you get your seventh librarian this year, and I get my fifth network guy next year.

New buildings (as you stated) aren't as big of a contributor as expected due to the convoluted role of donations, grants, etc. But another big factor for those buildings is that we were getting loans for them, too, and those were based on (big surprise) long term forecasts presuming this gravy train is going to keep on chugging for the next 30+ years. And even then we were getting projections of our "debt capacity" and always riding that line, so it's debt on top of debt all the way down.

I don't know about big schools, but for a smaller one like ours, there was no visible bad faith. These kind of things just happen when you can keep bringing in more and more money and so can your competitors.

<comment><USER9> Are the people who actually teach the classes (professors who teach and TAs) getting raises matching the tuition raises in your school? Or, is all of the money diverted to administration?

<comment><USER8> I wasn't in a position to be explicitly told, although I did at one point see an anonymized list of faculty salaries and they did not seem unreasonable (only one in six figures). This school is about 40 minutes away from a city with an international airport.

I think "diverted" is perhaps a strong word here. The way administrators see it, the administration is necessary to even reach the point where faculty can teach classes, and provides a significant role in empowering them to do so.

And there's some validity to it. Besides, students' expectations with regards to faculty haven't changed nearly as much over the last ~20 years when compared to administrative departments. Students absolutely expect good WiFi, good Internet speeds, Google Apps-quality e-mail, and that's just tech stuff. Colleges are implicitly competing with other colleges with things like on- campus events, residence halls, modern cafeterias, online course registration, athletics... all kinds of stuff. There's a lot of money involved in these expectations that has outpaced the faculty side.

But it's cyclical. We pump money into those things to keep retention up because we need to because the other schools are doing it.

<comment><USER10> > Students absolutely expect good WiFi, good Internet speeds, Google Apps- > quality e-mail, and that's just tech stuff.

My personal internet with Comcast is ~$60/month, so assuming universities have greater bargaining power due to scale that shouldn't make much of a dent in tuition. And my college email interface was clunky but I just set it up to forward everything to Gmail, which is free.

<comment><USER8> It's not really reasonable to compare a residential ISP to one for a college campus. It probably is cheaper if you count only the Internet service itself, but everything between that ISP and each end user's device has significant fixed and maintenance / upgrade costs attached. Your residential ISP can give you an all-in-one modem / WiFI router and you're good to go.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER11> More people need to talk about what Purdue is doing. They've held tuition constant for 8 years since Mitch Daniels took over.

[https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2019/Q1/purdue- anno...](https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2019/Q1/purdue-announces- ongoing-tuition-freeze,-staff-appreciation-payment-for-west-lafayette- campus.html)

</comment><comment><USER12> As a US citizen, I see the US debt bomb ending it two different ways

1\. Sanders/Warren get elected and somehow forgive 1.5 trillion in student loans and make education free going forward.

2\. 2008 level crisis

with (2) is the more probable

I think universities tuition is way too expensive in our country, but I'm against (1) currently because I don't think retroactively forgiving debt is a good policy. The students took those loans out, signed the docs, and knew (or should have known) what they were getting themselves into. I think forgiving all of the debt would be obviously ridiculously expensive (1.5 trillion is a lot of money) but also possibly creates moral hazard.

I would be more supportive of (1) if the government took more of a "Canadian pharma industry" approach and just said "this is how much we will pay for this citizen to go to Harvard, take it or leave it". I have no faith that any of the current presidential candidates will be able to negotiate and pass that type of law, so I currently cant support (1).

Is my line of thinking wrong here? I think education should be more affordable but have no faith we have leaders that can get us there.

<comment><USER13> I'm completely against forgiving student loans. I want to solve the problem, which means no more Government backed student loans. (I'm all for the Government building more low-cost public Universities, though.)

But if they are going to forgive them, certainly the students who prided themselves on being the best and the brightest should have known better! Therefore, anyone in the top 10% of SAT scores or at the top 100 schools should not be eligible for discharge. If you're smart enough to get into Chicago or Harvard, you're smart enough to know how loans work.

<comment><USER14> I would be angry because I lived in the cheapest apartment I could and biked as much as I could until I paid everything off. Had I been less responsible, I would get more money under debt forgiveness. The incentives are inverted. I'm all for wealth redistribution but messing with incentives is shown over and over again to be a bad idea.

Also, my perspective as the kind of frugal guy that everyone else calls cheap is that we live in the most rampantly consumerist society that has ever existed on the planet earth and we think we need all kinds of things that we really don't.

I just can't stomach the idea of throwing money to people who knew what they signed up for but then decided paying back what they owed was too hard.

<comment><USER15> Because you suffered, everyone in perpetuity must also suffer?

<comment><USER16> If this argument is made in public, people will never support debt forgiveness. not only it breaks the social contract with severe entitlement, it's also very hard to accept that people who can afford harvard or stanford "suffer"

populist emotional arguments are good when there is the populus to empathize with it. the vast majority of people won't care for such "plight".

<comment><USER14> You have to realize a lot of kids who went to Harvard and Stanford were just smart kids from normal suburban families and middle class homes. And many of them have middle class jobs, just like people with similar SAT scores who went to state schools instead.

Be wary of populist urges to tear down people you perceive to be "better" than you because maybe they're really not, or they're not the cause of the problem. Do things that will improve society, not just satiate your urge for blood.

<comment><USER17> What's the endgame though? You have the federal government pay UChigago $100k a year times however many kids? And then when UChicago raises the price to $120k, the federal government pays that?

Where does it end?

I'm not against free college, or debt forgiveness, but sometimes even if you have a goal there's no regulatory framework that can meet it.

If I wanted to prohibit abortions, while discouraging birth control, and ensuring victims of abuse get to control their bodies... well, sorry. There's just no regulatory framework that can achieve that. Doesn't matter what I think is "right".

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> The data is this article are pretty misleadingly framed. The only time they quote the current cost, they use the base tuition number of $57,642. In the next sentence they say that in six years the cost is projected to be over $100,000. But the latter number includes all additional costs: tuition, room and board, books, fees, supplies, transportation, and living expenses. The former number is just tuition. UChicago is crazy expensive, but it's not doubling in cost in the next six years.

</comment><comment><USER19> How to fix student loans...

The .gov backs student loans. And, they are non-dischargeable. So, it is zero risk for the lender to give loan to the 2.7 GPA moron getting a worthless basket weaving degree from the local private lib arts school for $100k. So, they give as many loans as possible, since they can't lose (taxpayer on the hook). Colleges are incentivized to drive up costs of tuition b/c tons of free money.

It's a classic moral hazard created by .gov guaranteeing the loans. Same thing we saw in the housing crisis.

Make student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy or take away the .gov guarantee and watch the market for student loans for worthless degrees dry up and tuition costs plummet.

<comment><USER20> Good luck with that. You just made college out of reach for everyone that isn't already wealthy, exacerbating inequality and further entrenching class boundaries.

To be clear, I agree with you, rip out the loan guarantees and let the private market deal. But progressives would never allow this.

<comment><USER21> > You just made college out of reach for everyone that isn't already wealthy

Immediately yes, fortunately, there is a supply and demand curve, so if you cut the demand for a bunch of colleges that already exist; then the price should find a new equilibrium. Of course, as is the science of economics, time and outside influences matter.

<comment><USER22> So what do you say to all the people for who college will be out of reach while the market "equalizes"?

<comment><USER21> The same thing we're telling financially concerned people now; public colleges, community colleges, trade schools.

Fortunately, in a low unemployment world, also means that hiring should be very elastic to this change.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> One big problem here is that they'll be rewarded in the rankings. A bit part of the various rankings models (US News, etc) is how much money is spent on each student. So squandering $10k more on students next year is, in certain respects, a good investment for a university with decent cash flow.

And the question of how much money is spent on a student can be disconnected from the question of tuition, at least at top-tier schools:

At my alma mater, Bowdoin, the college spends just shy of $100k per student each year. The comprehensive fee (incl. room & board) is around $72k per year, and for students qualifying for financial aid (abour half), the college provides grants that bring it down to about $24k per year, which almost resembles something sensible.

But if you're a donor, and you give an unrestricted gift to a top-tier college or university, there should be absolutely no expectation that your donation will be spent frugally. In fact, for rankings purposes (which help all the cash flow stuff above), it just matters that it gets raised and spent.

I think this is one of the biggest problems in American higher ed, and I'm hoping there are a few institutions with the fortitude of character to stand against it and work toward, rather than against, a cost-effective education model in the US.

</comment><comment><USER24> For those interested in background on this, Paul Tough's 'The Years that Matter Most'[1] has a lot of really interesting, surprising facts about college admissions.

Many of the ideas touched on in the comments here so far are covered in much more detail in that book. One interesting fact is that although there is a lot of publicity from colleges about reaching out to lower income students, there are massive incentives (often necessities) for admissions offices to take less qualified kids who can pay full price.

Overall, I found the book a nuanced and surprising view of the realities of trying to manage college admissions, and of trying to deal with inequality in access to higher education.

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/Years-That-Matter-Most- College/dp/054...](https://www.amazon.com/Years-That-Matter-Most- College/dp/0544944488/ref=sr_1_2?crid=C8FMCYCPK4UT&keywords=paul+tough&qid=1572885672&s=books&sprefix=Paul+TOugh%2Caps%2C154&sr=1-2)

<comment><USER25> People who pay "full price" are paying extra for the poor students. Schools need both.

</comment></comment><comment><USER26> Honest question from an outsider: how realistic would it be for the government to stop guaranteeing student loans over a "public university" (community college?) level threshold? What are the unintended secondary effects? Would it help curb wild-growth of tuition fees?

<comment><USER27> The very first step should be to make student loans dischargeable in bankruptcy again.

<comment><USER28> This would be a mistake I think. The nature of a loan is that the lender can reclaim the asset when a default occurs. This works well for assets like cars and houses but obviously fails for knowledge. Combine that with the age and overall assets of graduates (22 and near-zero) and a bankruptcy becomes a less risky proposition to the student. As more and more default on the loans, interest rates will start to skyrocket, to the point that no one will be able to afford one at all.

<comment><USER29> And then universities will stop assuming their students will be able to get them to afford insane tuition prices. That's the point.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Throughout history, every time loans are invented to pay for something, the price skyrockets. House, Cars, Education... except credit cards. What credit cards did is flatten the salary curve, filling the gap between where salaries should be if they increased as much or more than inflation and the cost of living, with debt.

Debt is a powerful tool when used correctly, but most people are unskilled in tool use, financial equations and _themselves_ thus, debt is a Market for Lemons.

Consumers do not know what they are buying. They are buying _cash_ and paying for it with future income.

People are generally more optimistic about their futures and irrationally excited about what they consume.

The banks have been allowed to sell cash with impunity. We have to stop that. We're just cooking the books as an entire society.

<comment><USER31> > Throughout history, every time loans are invented to pay for something, the > price skyrockets.

Which is why interest-bearing loans are prohibited in the three major religions. Puts things into perspective.

<comment><USER32> Which major religion other than Islam forbids it?

<comment><USER33> It's been some time since my Bible studies but isn't there something in the Old Testament against loans / lending money with interest?

<comment><USER34> No. It says the borrower is a slave to the lender and to be aware. But it is not against the Church.

<comment><USER31> Leviticus 25:36-37 says otherwise.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER35> The prices in USA look exorbitant. If a worker works full year for minimum wage, they earn $7.25 * 8 * 253 = $14674. Such worker will have to work for 6 years and 9 months to pay tuition costs for 1 year, if we assume that they don't have to pay taxes, buy food, visit a doctor and pay the rent.

A house may cost several hundred thousands dollars or higher. If that worker has paid for a university, no way they will be able to buy a house in their remaining lifespan.

Who is going to study in this university? Billionaires' kids?

<comment><USER36> Private school tuition is the same as healthcare in the US.

Everything has an enormous sticker price for anyone who asks, but no one is expected to actually pay that amount. And if you do pay that amount, it's just because you're a sucker who didn't get in on the fact that it's just a made up number.

Rich kids may pay that amount, but it probably gets flipped around into some tax-advantaged "donation" that also helps people feel good about themselves.

Poor people get "scholarships", which are really just the university cutting the sticker price down to what they actually need from the person, with some creative shuffling of funds to make it look like they are paying "sticker price".

Healthcare works exactly the same. The key is to have enough layers of bureaucracy that no one can quite figure it all out.

<comment><USER37> I don't believe it's true that rich people are getting to write off college costs as a donation. They might be paying them out of a tax advantaged 529 account. The magnitude of this advantage is such that middle-class people probably care the most about it.

<comment><USER36> there are very few people who don't consider themselves middle-class, so that's not really a useful category I'd think.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER38> It's not stated, so I assume that the current "all in" cost is about $75-80k. Some private universities in the Boston area are not far behind, including Brandeis, BU, BC, Tufts, and I believe MIT.

I have a high school senior and have been visiting many schools across the U.S. and Canada since last summer. The schools with sky-high all-in costs are not even consideration. _If_ they lop off $10k-$15k per year, we will still be paying a quarter of a million dollars for a four-year education. There are no guarantees of this, either, considering grades and our middle class AGI.

The schools we have looked at are mostly public. Our in-state dream option, UMass Amherst, is "only" ~$30k/year all in, but is now super-competitive, likely because of outrageous private college costs driving families to the affordable options. The only comparable values are the schools we have seen in Canada - University of Ottawa, Carleton University, and Concordia.

Out-of-state public universities for out of state students in New England (URI, UConn, UVM) plus Pitt and Temple are generally high 40s/low 50s. CU Boulder was mid-upper 50s. I can't remember UCSD but it in that range, plus travel considerations.

<comment><USER39> > I have a high school senior and have been visiting many schools across the > U.S. and Canada since last summer. The schools with sky-high all-in costs > are not even consideration. If they lop off $10k-$15k per year, we will > still be paying a quarter of a million dollars for a four-year education. > There are no guarantees of this, either, considering grades and our middle > class AGI.

You might want to reconsider those "schools with sky-high all-in costs". Many of them have very generous non-loan aid packages, which for many people can actually bring the effective cost below those of state schools.

For example, take Harvard, which totals about $74k/year.

A family of 3 (2 parents, 1 child) with $160k/year gross income only ends up having to cover $25k/year. A similar family with $120k/year pays $13k/year. They have a net price calculator here [1] if you want to see what it would cost you.

[1] [https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price- calculat...](https://college.harvard.edu/financial-aid/net-price-calculator)

<comment><USER38> I've seen private schools promoting such aid, but for most there is no clarity on A) whether your student will qualify and B) what the amount will be over the 4-year period.

I've heard from friends with students already in college that there are often ad hoc negotiations between parents and financial aid offices about the size of the discount, which is frustrating, unfair, and open to abuse.

<comment><USER40> Financial aid offices typically offer a lightweight calculator you can run when shopping, and a more intense application you can run in parallel with your application for admission. You get a formal aid offer with your acceptance before you have to commit.

<comment><USER25> Formal 1 yr offer, not 4 yr offer, so be careful. It's a bit of a trick, that part.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER41> What I find funny in these discussions on HN is how most people seem to be completely oblivious to the obvious solution, proven to work in many developed countries around the world: have the state directly fund universities and don't charge tuition to students (or charge them a small amount). Why is the assumption "universities are private endeavours that should make a profit" something that goes unchallenged on HN?

<comment><USER42> Most colleges/universities are nonprofits and they still charge tens of thousands per semester. I will also point out that the European model is not free, universal college degrees for all - access is restricted behind rigorous entrance exams. Such a system would be politically untenable in the US wherein a growing movement wants to do away with all entry tests. What would actually happen in practice is that we would get a different flavor of the worst of both worlds.

<comment><USER43> > I will also point out that the European model is not free, universal college > degrees for all - access is restricted behind rigorous entrance exams

WHAT ?? Not. at. all.

I'm french and university is almost FREE (never more than 1000 euros a year and mostly around 300) for anyone with the A-level, at any age. Yeah of course there are exams like for any diploma in the entire world but there are not "super rigorous" especially at uni. There's only a "hard" exam in medecine, and normal "exams" every year (like in every program in the world) that are basically a joke for anyone qualified in these disciplines. If you want you can enroll in elite tracks, which are very hard, but they are almost free too (i paid 0 for the education, 200 a year for housing + around 60 euro per month of food).

Granted you have amphitheater with hundreds of people, but if you are motivated you'll get the education.

The most expensive school in frances are the high end economic school and some engineering school (not the best ones actually) and it's under 10k a year.

You have no idea of how much you get screwed in the US

<comment><USER44> > You have no idea of how much you get screwed in the US

This is true of many issues the US faces that Europe has solved. Healthcare, education, income inequality, housing, transportation, gun violence...

Just go down down the list and it's easy to find "unsolvable American problems" that have solutions, and that we Americans are totally ignorant about or refuse to acknowledge, saying it "won't work for us".

<comment><USER45> Has Europe solved these things? I lived in France for a number of years and unemployment, especially outside of Paris is very high, the economy is in the doldrums (especially in smaller cities like Avignon,) the Maghreb continue to be treated like second class citizens, and terrorism is a very real and continual threat. Health insurance is good, but the system is running huge deficits. And gun violence? Spend a few minutes with the Marseille police and you'll see the gangland violence is dramatic. As far as income inequality— that's debatable. The upper classes are kept from getting too "upper," but the lower classes still live in decaying concrete block housing. Americans also have about $14,000 more per year in disposable income compared to the French — that's after accounting for insurance, education, etc. The very poor do better in France, but should we be optimizing society around the ultra-poor? Doing that means that everyone else is worse off and the ultra poor are still pretty poor. As far as transportation, spend some time in smaller French towns. You better hope you have a car or you aren't going anywhere. There is also the high cost and oppressive regulation around starting a business. Entrepreneurship in France is very difficult despite the word itself being invented there. France rewards mediocrity.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER46> And to think that the benefit of the education has not changed since when I attended a similar school for a total cost of $25,000 per year just 10 years ago.

<comment><USER47> Surely UofChicago did not cost so little 10 years ago? A factor of 4 in ten years does not seem realistic.

<comment><USER46> I attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which had a "total cost of attendance" for out of state students at $40,000 in 2010.

For in state students it was only $15,000 per year.

I came from a "middle class" family and received "grants" from the school, such that my cost of attendance per year averaged to $25,000.

Ever since I graduated, not a single person has ever asked me anything regarding my education, and I currently make $93,000 per year as a front end dev.

Strange times!!

<comment><USER48> Same here. I paid roughly $5k/year for undergrad and about $10k/year for grad. After graduation, only reason people ask me where I went to school was to see where it ranked in college sports. Since my school barely registered, it's easily dismissed. Even better for me since I don't follow sports.

What I did find more interesting is that it all depends on your work ethic and how you carry yourself at the workplace. My lack of interest in sports has hindered me at work slightly because I'm not part of certain groups at work. I've come to find out that they all participate in fantasy sports and meet on Saturdays to talk sports and a little bit of work gets involved. Usually I wouldn't care but some important work-related decisions have come out of that.

<comment><USER46> Oh my god this. It's cancer. I had to learn all thse obscure facts about things I care about just to have a baseline credibility with those types of people.

It's a hazing ritual similar to data structures and algorithms, but one is certainly more useful than the other.

<comment><USER49> > It's a hazing ritual similar to data structures and algorithms

What do you mean by that? Genuinely curious.

<comment><USER46> Many of the problems that the median software developer is working on can be acceptably solved with o(n^2) ideas which are the types of implementations that the median developer can reasonably think of "on the spot" with little prior training. Or the job is HTML CSS and basic js.

However many interviews demand many rounds of demonstrating o(logn) ideas quickly, which I would argue takes x months of preparation, not x weeks or x days.

I think its still very important to learn these structures, but the way they are applied in brain teaser format is not effective at finding the best all around candidate in terms of salary, general skills, sociability, iterative ability, etc.

And that's just taking the process at face value. Some interviewers will take this exercise to its extreme as a reason to deny you and make themselves feel good by giving you genuinely obscure and difficult problems that even Linus Torvalds and Guido admit they can't solve today in a reasonable time frame.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER50> On the other hand, TUM (technical university in Munich) costs only 220 euro per semester, and you're still enrolled into top25 university in the world. The land of free..

<comment><USER51> TUM has a $1.1 billion budget and 41,000 students. Chicago has a $2.6 billion budget and 16,000 students.

<comment><USER52> Could you elaborate a little on why that's relevant? Is the extra money providing materially better education? Is it somehow impossible for Chicago to lower their costs?

<comment><USER51> It's a reference to the "land of the free" dig. The U.S. already spends similar amounts of public money on higher education as Germany, etc. (As a %-age of GDP). We don't have free universities, however, because our universities spend vastly more money. That has benefits for students. In my own experience, going to an expensive private law school was a much _nicer_ experience than going to a rigorous, but more spartan, public engineering school for undergrad. There was much more academic support, hand-holding, mental health services, beautiful facilities, etc. Even American community colleges are really nice. (My mother in law works at a community college in rural Oregon. It's got a fantastic, brand-new fitness facility with sweeping views, etc.)

We can debate about whether that's a good use of money, or what spending priorities should be. Maybe the right thing to do is cut costs, preserving an equivalent education experience while cutting frills. Or, maybe Americans are so rich it's reasonable for us to splurge on all of that stuff. But Americans aren't _irrational._ It's not like Americans are just sitting here refusing to adopt an approach that would get them the same college experience for vastly less money.

<comment><USER53> > We can debate about whether that's a good use of money...

It's not. I can get a gym membership for $10/month. And I'm not going to college to get a degree in physical fitness.

And, your argument doesn't hold numerically. Say 440 euros/year = $500/year. That's 1/200 the cost to the student of the University of Chicago. So Chicago spends 5 times as much per student; it still looks insane from the cost/benefit perspective.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER54> Hello,

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</comment><comment><USER55> I see a lot of people telling everyone to just go to another university if the one you want is too expensive or isn't up your standard in the degree you're chasing. Remember that out-of-state tuition effectively bars students from attending any university outside of their state and, if you're in a smallish state like Oregon, your options can be pretty limited, particularly if you'd like to stay in one geographical region.

<comment><USER56> Not really, out of state tuition per term at Montana state university Bozeman (go cats!) is only 6k/term.

<comment><USER57> Don't know when you went, but Montana State is more than that now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER58> I'm a student attending UT Dallas. Not only am I in the honors programs there, but I also have an AES scholarship which grants me a stipend of $3,000 per semester.

I know several people who've gotten into prestigious institutions such as John Hopkins who are going to UTD instead.

It's not like options don't exist. Yeah UTD isn't some brand name, but it's a good starting point.

I blame universities to some degree for this problem, but I also blame consumers. I was once a starry-eyed high school student who applied to the likes of CMU and got rejected from all save UTD and A&M, with A&M basically giving me nothing. People realize that these schools open doors through elite social connections, more so than say UTD, but you can still network outside these elite institutions, it'll just be a little harder.

</comment><comment><USER59> The key is in the subtitle:

> But fewer students are paying the full tuition

Any seller who can legally charge different prices based on means is under impossibly strong pressure to exercise that power. Universities do this by having "full" tuition rates that almost no one pays.

</comment><comment><USER60> Is University of Chicago even that good? Genuinely curious, as I know nothing about it. I live here in Chicago, and feel like I never hear about it, compared to say Northwestern or like UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago). Why would anyone ever pay that much for college yearly, if it wasn't like the #1 school, by a landslide, in the US?

EDIT: I guess it is good? haha The more you know. Just surprising that I've been here in Chicago for almost 10 years now, and feel like I never hear about it compared to other colleges in the city. Maybe it's cause they aren't downtown or something? ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

<comment><USER6> From US News, its #6 in national rankings so its pretty good. But the way the economy is structured around knowledge work and with the effect of credential signalling, our society is convinced of the need to get into the best school possible. This belief could be utter bullshit, have some truth (top rated schools teach better), or be somewhere in between.

What is probably very true is that getting into a top school is a signal that you did very well in the competition of getting into a good school. And employers absolutely pay attention to where you went.

so getting into a good school becomes a societal self fulfilling prophecy in terms of importance.

<comment><USER61> According to US News, University of Chicago is "Unranked in Best Engineering Schools". [https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top- engineering...](https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-engineering- schools/university-of-chicago-02453)

The high school student needs to ask the question, "where is the best place to get a undergraduate degree in a specific field"? Generic rankings, especially ones that are heavily influenced by the university's research record, are pretty useless for undergraduate education quality.

<comment><USER62> The University of Chicago doesn't have an engineering school, per say.

They recently started a "School of Molecular Engineering" with a large donation from the governor of Illinois. But that is certainly not a general engineering school and isn't going to be, so it will never show up in these kind of ratings.

> Our program was established as the Institute for Molecular Engineering in > 2011 by the University in partnership with Argonne National Laboratory. In > 2019, in recognition of our success, impact and expansion, and the support > of the Pritzker Foundation, the institute was elevated to the Pritzker > School of Molecular Engineering—the first school in the nation dedicated to > this emerging field.

> At PME, our educational outreach initiatives begin with K-12 students. We > offer youth-focused events, internships, and workshops throughout the year, > from teaching molecular engineering fundamentals to extracting DNA from > bananas. We also have a partnership with City Colleges of Chicago. The > multi-year program connects city college students interested in STEM fields > with our faculty and labs, with the goal of helping more students transfer > into four-year STEM degree programs.

[https://pme.uchicago.edu/about/](https://pme.uchicago.edu/about/)

<comment><USER61> They do seem to have a decent CS grad school program. They are tied for 30th with 6 other universities in US News. [https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate- schools/top-science-sch...](https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top- science-schools/computer-science-rankings)

But Urbana-Champaign is 5th and should be somewhat less expensive.

<comment><USER63> UChicago is respectable, sure. But they also host the Toyota Technical Institute:

> TTIC offers a graduate program leading to a doctorate in computer science, > and is currently focusing primarily on theoretical computer science > (algorithms and complexity), applications of machine learning (computational > biology, computer vision, natural language processing, robotics, and > speech), and scientific computing (including numerical analysis, numerical > optimization, and signal processing).

> Both regular and research faculty receive endowment-provided research > funding sufficient for equipment and normal academic travel. Research > faculty are not expected to raise external funding. However, regular faculty > are expected to eventually raise their summer salary and to support their > students with external funding.

> Research faculty are in non-tenure track positions with no teaching > requirements. This is similar to a postdoctoral fellowship, but comes with > endowment-provided independent research funding. Regular faculty are > expected to teach only one quarter per year.

> TTIC is located in Hyde Park on the University of Chicago campus and has a > close affiliation with the University of Chicago Computer Science > Department. An agreement between the University of Chicago and TTIC allows > cross-listing of computer science course offerings between the two > institutions, providing students from each institution the opportunity to > register in the others courses. Faculty and students enjoy full privileges > of the University library system, athletic facilities and other services.

[https://www.ttic.edu/about/](https://www.ttic.edu/about/)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER64> How can these universities be so expensive, if you can instead go to a just- as-good university in the UK for a fraction of the cost, even as a foreign student? Why does anyone agree to pay such fees?

<comment><USER65> You can attend a public university in the US for a fraction of the cost. UCLA is $12,000 a year for tuition. You can also do two years at a community college which costs almost nothing like $50 a credit and transfer to a 4 year university for the the remaining two years.

<comment><USER66> If you add room and board UCLA is $65,000 for out-of-state students: [http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/budget.htm](http://www.admission.ucla.edu/Prospect/budget.htm) Compare that to $74,000 for Stanford. Suddenly Stanford looks not so bad! [https://financialaid.stanford.edu/undergrad/budget/index.htm...](https://financialaid.stanford.edu/undergrad/budget/index.html)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER67> Graduating in Europe with Master's that cost me nothing, I always feel so bad thinking about the debt my coworkers who studied in the US have to repay.

It's just so wrong and stupid. On top of that I can always go back "home" to get free healthcare too.

US is (at times) so much better when you are an immigrant.

And then so many (who actually have student loans to repay and expensive healthcare to pay for) feel sorry for me because of discrimination (perceived only by them!)

<comment><USER68> Same here, got free education in my home country, upto a Masters. Came to the US for a PhD, also free (+ a small stipend and internships). I just don't see undergrad education here being a good deal.

</comment></comment><comment><USER69> I can't imagine paying $100k even for a 4- or 5 year degree. My student loans (zero tuition, only food/rent/books) was $35k for 5 years I think. I have paid over $200/month for 15 years and I'll be done paying it back this year. I just can't even imagine my calculation if the loan had been 10x. My US paycheck would certainly be bigger, but I still fail to see how it could be a good investment.

<comment><USER70> Chicago is one of the private schools where the sticker price is essentially fictional. There may be a small number of students each year from wealthy families who pay that, but I'm reasonably sure it's nowhere near what the average student actually pays.

</comment></comment><comment><USER71> The liberal arts college my wife teaches at recently introduced a more "transparent" tuition pricing scheme. Advertised price $18,600 down from $38,600! [https://news.central.edu/2019/09/central-announces-new- tuiti...](https://news.central.edu/2019/09/central-announces-new-tuition/)

</comment><comment><USER72> I still fail to understand why in US the university is so expensive, compared to 99% of universities in Europe. Not even private universities in Europe are so expensive like there, plus there are countries where university is free (e.g. Germany).

Is the American Dream just the one who wants their kids don't go to university because it's so much expensive?

The boomer generation has really broken it. Imagine now that millennials could not send their kids to colleges because of the high tuition fee, connected to low salaries. It's a system that has its destiny doomed and that a day will collapse badly

</comment><comment><USER73> Are we ready to admit that government-backed, non-defaultable student loans are a bad idea?

</comment><comment><USER74> Not Harvard, not Yale, not MIT, not Cornell...but U of Chicago? Why would they be able to charge so much more than the other big name schools? It may very well be they have a specialty they are the best in that I'm not aware of.

Also, if you are in Maryland take advantage of the MD program that lets you pay your kids college while they're in high school and lock in the college price as of when you enroll in the program. At the average 8% rate of college price increases you could save around %57 of the money you'd pay otherwise.

</comment><comment><USER75> This comment stood out:

"It also manages a staff that receives more than $1 billion in salary, $230 million of which is for its roughly 1,350 instructional staff and faculty, according to federal data for 2017-18. Producing and employing Nobel laureates does not come cheap."

In other words, only 25% of expense is for instructional staff and faculty, while 75% is not. I'd love to know how much of the $750M salary goes to administrative execs who don't actual _do_ anything.

</comment><comment><USER76> At what point doesn't it just become feasible to hire a full-time tutor?

<comment><USER77> The point of college is a name and certificate. If it was about actual education and learning, we'd see online classes with in-person exams in the forefront.

So, never? A tutor cannot give you a magic piece of "job qualification" paper.

</comment></comment><comment><USER78> The vast majority of jobs/careers/professions do not require sitting in a classroom for 4 years to learn enough to do them. Even less require sitting in an extremely expensive classroom for 4 years.

At the same time learning has never been more accessible. I can study Python, mechanical engineering, calculus, aviation ground school, etc all without leaving the house if I wanted. So how does a commodity like education, which is basically free for the people who want to learn, increase in price?

<comment><USER79> You're assuming the entire point of college is to make you a worker. But a lberal arts education has always been about making you a complete _human_. If nothing else, it's important for citizens to be well-rounded enough to be informed voters.

<comment><USER80> If some more education is needed to make people informed voters, maybe we should add a couple more years to the end of high school. Effectively, community college for all. After all, we expect everyone to be a voter, not just those who go to college.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER81> Let's assume a full time student taking 4 courses at a time. A professor might (should) be able to teach 4 classes. I'm not sure how much profs make, but let's assume between 1 and 3 students could pay them. Now where does the money from all the other students in the classes go? Sure, there's admin overhead, room costs, etc, but that stuff is hopefully less than the prof costs. So 6 students max to cover costs for a class. Where does the money go from all the others?

<comment><USER82> > Sure, there's admin overhead, room costs, etc, but that stuff is hopefully > less than the prof costs.

Not by a long shot.

</comment></comment><comment><USER83> They don't even have big time athletics and facilites, do they?

And probably a huge endowment that if properly applied would remove any need of tuition.

</comment><comment><USER84> >But fewer students are paying the full tuition.

Is anyone paying the sticker price and if so what is their financial state / considerations?

<comment><USER66> If you work for FAANG your kids have to pay full tuition because scholarships vanish when you have $250K or more in annual income.

</comment></comment><comment><USER85> A few years ago an American friend told me the cost of his masters at Colombia was about USD$180K for 1 year, taking all expenses in to consideration. Journalism.... insane... no way that money is coming back without a pivot to public policy!

</comment><comment><USER86> No degree, no matter how gold-plated, is worth $400K. Go to a community college, get a degree in accounting or whatever and spend the rest of your life laughing at the idiots still paying off their tuition debt...

</comment><comment><USER87> Is there any data on what % of student loans are spent on things other than tuition? You have things that could be school-related like laptops but then you have kids paying credit cards with student loan money.

</comment><comment><USER88> Education should not be this expensive. If at all, it can be competitive. But it should be available and affordable to all. U of Chicago is not a best place to be in.

</comment><comment><USER89> How does a 400k degree compare to a state ran online degree for 24k? [http://www.wgu.edu](http://www.wgu.edu) as an example.

</comment><comment><USER90> High tuition costs and loan burdens were and are an integral part of the de- radicalization of American college students.

</comment><comment><USER91> It's one thing for private universities to cost so much, but there needs to be a tuition free public option.

<comment><USER92> That exists to some extent in 26 states, though generally at the community college (associates degree, 2 year) level:

[https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for- co...](https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for- college/articles/2018-02-01/these-states-offer-tuition-free-college-programs)

<comment><USER91> I've lived in many states in my life and none of them has had that so this is news to me. Still should be some kind of national program I think.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER93> But why? Why does it cost as much as a full time teacher to get extremely part time access to university faculty?

This stinks.

</comment><comment><USER94> How come it can be this expensive? Can't see how a degree would worth 400k seriously

</comment><comment><USER95> Ouch! The ole Alma mater ain't what she used to be.

</comment><comment><USER96> A year?! Sheesh. Things are getting out of control.

</comment><comment><USER97> Why not just do it like any other developed country on earth, make the universities public and drop tuition altogether. Works very well here in Germany.

<comment><USER98> Compared to USA Germany is a relatively poor, so it doesn't work, you see.

</comment></comment><comment><USER13> Why not!? If our next president will just wipe out student debt--without ending government backed loans--why not charge $1MM/year?

<comment><USER14> I guess you're being downvoted for your sarcasm but I do think a giant uneven payoff is a bad idea and cheap populism. Part of the reason the price keeps going up is the ready availability of money via student loans.

</comment></comment><comment><USER99> higher stocker price and more discounts + aid. It's the clothing store pricing model.</comment>


Google Buzz - A New Buzz in Social. Media (Impact on SEO and Twitter & Facebook) - <AUTHOR> http://wisdomtalks.com/google-buzz-a-new-buzz-in-social-media/ <comment><USER2> Is this machine-generated content? Some really bad English on the website. For example: This Post is about a Problem, i am facing with Google Adwords. As I am unable to find a solution for it anywhere, so i decide to write a blog, and may be by discussion, we can find some solution.</comment>


Microsoft Flight Simulator players are chasing Hurricane Laura - <AUTHOR> https://www.polygon.com/2020/8/27/21403992/microsoft-flight-simulator-storm-chasers-hurricane-laura <comment><USER2> This is awesome. Puts Twister to shame.</comment>


Starting Up, One Year Later: Chasing Dragons - <AUTHOR> http://tom.posterous.com/starting-up-one-year-later-chasing-dragons

<comment><USER2> I would love to see more "one year later" type pieces from other YC startups, I'm sure theres a wealth of useful information in the direct experience of startup founders.

<comment><USER3> Buy lots of tickets through us; I will convince them it is in their best interest ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> It sounds like this is the part where the dream gets replaced by the job. With luck and a bunch of work it can switch back.

</comment><comment><USER5> I'm looking forward to this series.

So, am I reading this right? TicketStumbler has become a maintenance project for a summer intern?

<comment><USER3> You didn't read far enough ;)

It wasn't my intention to make that seem literal; I am still very much committed to working on and improving the site. I was merely speaking to a sentiment that I feel many developers experience as time goes by.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> Well said. The world is full of shiny new things to play with, as well as consulting clients who pay real money right now. It's tough to stay focused in the face of all that.

But it's a game of inches. Every little bit of polish will get you a little closer to where you want to be. Every one of those annoying edge case bugs you squash gains you another inch. Sure, it doesn't seem like you're moving fast like you were a year ago (it certainly doesn't for me), but you're moving.

You have to. Because if you stop you die.

</comment><comment><USER7> Hope ticketstumbler works out in the long term; if it doesn't or if you have a successful exit, looks like you could consider the PG route of becoming a writer.

<comment><USER3> I think I'd have to _know_ something to be a writer like PG, though I suppose I could just make it up ;)

I very much appreciate the compliment, though!

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> _Everyone hears the "good" about startup life, but it isn't all good. But that doesn't mean you quit, either._

+1

</comment><comment><USER9> Are there any legal obligations to YC etc, to continue working on the project?

<comment><USER3> I don't think so. It hasn't really come up, as neither of us have plans to stop.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> A cool feature: where can I go tonight for $x?

<comment><USER3> The problem with that is most tickets won't get to you that day unless you pick them up, and most sites stop selling them a ways before the event just to avoid issues where you don't receive them. Maybe "Where can I go this weekend for $X"?

<comment><USER11> Excuse my ignorance per this industry, but what about a Will Call or prepaid option for the scenario zackattack mentioned?

<comment><USER12> No problem and the they are getting better with this. Stubhub and some of the other providers offer etickets (they email you the tickets). Stubhub also has something called Last Minute Services where you can pick up the tickets up until game time. Unfortunately, they don't do this for most events.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: When's the time to quit a startup? - <AUTHOR> I've been working on a startup for about 3 years now. It was a fun idea, gained a bit of traction - nothing major yet, but enough to support us (founders) living comfortably as we tweak the product further.
There are 3 founders, all fairly technical and with similar experience - worked out great at the beginning. We started as a democracy - trying to discuss and plan everything between us. But as time went by I feel those best intentions kind of backfired.
We often couldn't agree on the direction of the product, pricing, marketing and features to develop - which led to heated arguments at times. The bigger problem was that it was seldom resolved - each of the founders pretty much ended up implementing their own idea. We tried addressing this a few times over the years, using different methods/products/solutions to try to plan and structure this. But after some time - things always returned to what they were.
To a point where it stopped being fun for me. I'll go on a vacation and come back to find features implemented that we never discussed or I was against. Or offers being sent out to clients with amended pricing. Meetings are now almost painful for me and I think about it so much that it kind of paralyses me from doing 'real' work.
Have considered quitting before but I poured so much of my time/craft into the product in general that I just didn't want to let go and was always postponing that decision. But I might have no choice - is just not fun any more and I don't see how it could get better in the future.
Anyone with similar experiences? How did you resolve it?
---- EDIT: the company is private i.e. bootstrapped and funded by the founders (mostly client work/sales) so no issues with stock/investors. The only value in it is intellectual property (software) - and we anticipated and have a contract in place what happens when a founder leaves the company. No issues there. <comment><USER2> >We often couldn't agree on the direction of the product, pricing, marketing and features to develop - which led to heated arguments at times. The bigger problem was that it was seldom resolved - each of the founders pretty much ended up implementing their own idea. We tried addressing this a few times over the years, using different methods/products/solutions to try to plan and structure this.

So for a while at least three different products, marketing and etc? That seems like a lot of wasted cycles.

<comment><AUTHOR> Not sure what you mean - we have one product.

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Do you have stock options? If so, best leave before what you see happening destroys the value of your options.

In one startup I worked for, the lack of a clear business direction had become hallway conversation. Seeing that, I cashed out my stock options and resigned while the stock was high. Those who remained (almost everybody else) got nothing.

<comment><AUTHOR> No - private company. No issues around that.

I've just been going back and forth between leaving something that I've poured my heart/soul into for the past few years and hoping that we could somehow repair the toxic work environment thats making me unhappy.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Are you personally making profit? Are your paychecks coming in regularly, and your lifestyle still being supported? If that's the case, then back down and don't sweat the rest of it. I understand your idea that you want to be passionate about your work; but at the end of the day, you need to be passionate about your income.

The moment the company isn't supporting your personal income needs and/or goals is when it's time to think about leaving. You can't make yourself beholden to a group that's going to end you up on the street hungry. And at the same time, you shouldn't take a risk on something that "might be" rather than something that is real. The rest of it is more or less bunk.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks, but I can't really get behind your point of view at all.

I'll go on a limb and say that startups are not typically started by people who just want their paycheque to come in. Its either people pursuing their passion, people wanting to "make it big" or both.

Because honestly - as an experienced software developer living in a "western" country I wouldn't need to work double shifts in a startup - good paying IT jobs are not that hard to find.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> > [It] is just not fun any more and I don't see how it could get better in the > future.

There is your answer.

<comment><AUTHOR> Yeah - you're probably right. Just not easy to do.

I guess I was hoping someone would post some experiences on how they solved this differently or something.

<comment><USER5> It sounds like your guys cannot work together as a team and that someone has to depart for things to change. If the others are not prepared to do that... Then there is only you left to take action.</comment></comment></comment>


PSD to Bootstrap $99 a page - <AUTHOR> http://psd2bootstrap.us/

<comment><USER2> Power Spectral Density?

</comment><comment><USER3> looks like a scam

<comment><AUTHOR> Its not? What make you jump to that conclusion?

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Irrespective of its complexity? Your website doesn't say much. What if it contains complex controls, elements which are not native to Bootstrap ?

<comment><AUTHOR> Complexity does not matter it just has to be one page. I'm doing this as an experiment I'm going to post soon with details about my thought process towards this.

Edit here my article explaining why I'm doing this <http://99dollarprojects.posterous.com/99-project-a-week></comment></comment>


SublimeGit: Full-featured Git integration for Sublime Text - <AUTHOR> https://sublimegit.net/?

<comment><USER2> Wow... So yeah, I made this. Woke up this morning to a slew of twitter mentions and quite a few orders. Thank you so much for the support!

I'm about to get on a 14 hour international flight in a couple of hours, but i'll be happy to answer any questions. Also, i'm tweeting from @SublimeGit every once in a while.

<comment><USER3> It is great, however when doing a Git Status, the shortcuts are not compatible with VI-input mode since they are vi-commands (i,C etc), could you make it possible to use cmd+shortcut?

<comment><USER2> I've got an outstanding issue on that. Will probably be fixed within a couple of weeks. I'm hoping to do it in a somewhat backwards compatible way, which makes it a little difficult.

<comment><USER4> One thing I think should be flipped to 'off' by default is the long-form commit descriptions --with largish source files there is significant slow- down, and sometimes ST crashes.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Looks good, I'll give it a try, but I have to mention this plugin as it deserves all the praise it can get!:

[https://github.com/jisaacks/GitGutter](https://github.com/jisaacks/GitGutter) [http://www.jisaacks.com/gitgutter](http://www.jisaacks.com/gitgutter)

<comment><USER6> I've always found this plugin slow which is a shame. It's nice to visually see the changes made to a file.

<comment><USER7> If you are using ST3 you can use non blocking mode and GitGutter will run in a seperate thread.

EDIT: Here is the section on the read me about it: [https://github.com/jisaacks/GitGutter#non-blocking- mode](https://github.com/jisaacks/GitGutter#non-blocking-mode)

<comment><USER8> It still ran slowly on my machine. Typed characters were noticeable more sluggish to appear on screen. Just a bit, but noticeable and it was too much. Maybe it didn't work for some reason.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> What are the advantages of using this plugin over using git in the terminal directly? The time to switch windows is always pretty marginal with Cmd-Tab, so that doesn't seem like a big enough win to me. (I'm honestly curious, I can't think of the big ones, but if I could I might switch.)

I could imagine diffing being a way better experience straight from the file you want to diff, and with code highlighting. That definitely sucks from the command line, but it's also pretty rarely needed.

Anything else?

The big disadvantage I see is that this is not going to be on anyone else's computer when I'm pairing or just messing around with them, so if I get accustomed to not using command-line interface then I get screwed when I'm not on my own computer...

Edit: the quick-commit feature looks pretty cool as a way to encourage making smaller commits, since I always forget to commit in smaller pieces.

<comment><USER10> Well I am a heavy magit user.

There are numerous advantages one of being that magit uses multiple buffers to show contextual information. For example I can get a nice ASCII view of the commit log in one buffer (in all the available formats) and see the diffs for each commit with glorious colour-highlighting in the other, _side-by-side_. The diff buffer updates as I scroll through the history.

Easier to remember mnemonics for common tasks.

I can use magit-blame-mode to see the blame information inline with the file as I edit it.

Diffs are super-easy and I can jump right to any file to fix things as I come across them from the logs or the status view.

Plus emacs... so I get hooks into magit that I can use from other packages like org-mode, etc.

I find the command-line to be tedious and slow now. I'd rather use a smart front-end with sane defaults and a nice interface.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I am bit bummed that you have to pay for Git interface. Yeah, it is just 10€ / user, but still. You even get full games for 99 cents these days. And shouldn't this be a default feature in the first place.

Anyway, no-one is forcing anyone to buy it, so all good.

<comment><USER2> I hope that for 10€ most people will find it worth it. If you've already spent 60$ or more on Sublime Text and upgrades, I can see why this might seem weird. However, as the homepage says you can basically install it and use it for free as long as you like. You'll get a popup occasionally (if you do use it), but that's the only "restriction".

Also, for a free alternative, I have to mention [https://github.com/kemayo/sublime-text- git](https://github.com/kemayo/sublime-text-git) which inspired SublimeGit. There are way more people using this, and it's been around forever. Personally I like mine better of course, but I realize that different people need different things :-)

<comment><USER12> Looks like a great job, and good man for giving a shout out to the free alternative as well. As an existing user of Kemayo's plugin, what are the most compelling reasons for me to buy your version? An elevator pitch, if you will.

<comment><USER2> I'd probably say the status view (ala magit). Last time I tried kemayo's plugin it was all happening in ST's quick bars. However, that was a year ago so things might have changed.

Also, I try my best to keep up with user requests, which leads to about 1-2 releases a month. While there are occasionally bugfixes going into kemayo's plugin, I'm not sure if it's receiving any significant development (not trying to call anyone out here, it's just my observation from occasionally looking at the repo).

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> Nobody mentioned [https://github.com/kemayo/sublime-text- git](https://github.com/kemayo/sublime-text-git) Isn't this good enough? I've been using it for quite a while now.

</comment><comment><USER14> I think I'm being dim but I don't understand what this is.

Does it prompt me for a commit message when I save code, with like a special CMD-Shift-S to push or something, or is it just using sublime as a GUI for git?

<comment><USER15> This is based on my experiences with Magit, so maybe this doesn't work quite the same with SublimeGit, but the thing I find most useful is the ability to select exactly which lines to stage in a commit. You can do this on the command-line with git add -p, but it's much easier and much more natural to do it in the text editor itself. Once you get used to doing this, it's hard to imagine going back.

</comment></comment><comment><USER16> Seems like this is more of an autocomplete for git commands than what I was hoping for - for instance in Jetbrains IDEs (pycharm, rubymine, intellij) the killer feature IMO is the ability to see inline highlights of diffs when I have work in progress, and to be able to do a project wide branch diff (e.g develop vs master) with a really nice multi-file diff explorer. It's the one feature keeping me using jetbrains over sublime text for large projects.

<comment><USER17> For the inline bits, that'd be GitGutter: [https://github.com/jisaacks/GitGutter](https://github.com/jisaacks/GitGutter)

</comment></comment><comment><USER18> I use it every day.

`shift + cmd + p --> qcc` for quick committing the file I just finished to edit is priceless.

</comment><comment><USER19> On linux I really prefer Sublime + Git Gutter + Git Cola for the diff and actual git client.

</comment><comment><USER20> Love this extension and have been using it for months. It doesn't quite offer the ability to do everything yet. But it does have an amazing interface for checking diffs of files, checking status (un/staged files), adding files and committing. It's such an improvement from the cli and much more convenient since you don't have to leave sublime. With it I have found myself committing more regularly, more accurately (not slopping multiple commits into one), and with better commit messages.

</comment><comment><USER21> The existing git sublime plugin shows a diff when committing. That on it's own is enough to keep me using it instead of switching, which is a shame as this does everything else better

<comment><USER2> You can actually turn on verbose commit messages by using the setting _git_commit_verbose_. Have a look in the default config for SublimeGit. If you do that, it'll add the diff, and even syntax highlight it for you.

<comment><USER21> awesome, thanks. I have no idea why that wouldn't be on by default. Can't imagine anyone getting annoyed by having it there.

<comment><USER2> It's not on by default, because it's not the default when using git from the command line. If someone is new to git it might be a little scary to see a wall of text when committing.

I'm not sure that it's actually documented though, which definitely is an error on my part.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER22> Definitely encouraging to see more polished premium Sublime plugins.

<comment><USER2> Just to show some love to the other authors of paid Sublime Text plugins (which I can remember right now):

LaTeXing: [http://www.latexing.com/](http://www.latexing.com/)

Sublimerge: [http://www.sublimerge.com/](http://www.sublimerge.com/)

SFTP: [http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/sftp](http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/sftp)

SVN: [http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/svn](http://wbond.net/sublime_packages/svn)

<comment><USER22> I already use and highly recommend SFTP, and will definitely check out Sublimerge. Thanks for the tip!

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER23> Feedback on site: adopt the same demo as [http://www.sublimetext.com/](http://www.sublimetext.com/), it's incredible.

<comment><USER2> I know... It's been on the todo list forever. Hopefully I'll get around to it soon. But to be honest, I'd much rather spend the time adding features to SublimeGit itself.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Very cool!

If you could add the ability to stage by line/hunk, perhaps from within the diff view, that would be pretty rad.

Also too bad that you can't initiate an interactive rebase using SublimeGit.

If I have to drop to the terminal for those two things (which I do quite frequently), realistically I'll end up just using the terminal for all git operations.

<comment><USER2> You can actually stage and unstage hunks from a diff view. With a diff view open, you can press + or - to increase or decrease hunk size, n/p and N/P for next/previous hunk/file, and s/u for stage and unstage.

Rebase is one of the big ones coming up.

</comment></comment><comment><USER25> I've been happy with SideBarGit: [https://sublime.wbond.net/packages/SideBarGit](https://sublime.wbond.net/packages/SideBarGit)

Lots more GIT options for Sublime: [https://sublime.wbond.net/search/git](https://sublime.wbond.net/search/git)

</comment><comment><USER26> It's nice to see variety in plugins. However, if you're not willing to pay for this, have a look at the existing open source Git plugin for sublime: [https://github.com/kemayo/sublime-text- git](https://github.com/kemayo/sublime-text-git)

</comment><comment><USER27> What does this have over say, git gutter, which gives me at-a-glance change information to my current file?

<comment><USER2> This has committing, staging, pushing, pulling etc. Actually, a lot of people seem to be using this alongside GitGutter, since their functionality is very much complimentary. See this issue for instance: [https://github.com/SublimeGit/SublimeGit/issues/27](https://github.com/SublimeGit/SublimeGit/issues/27)

<comment><USER27> Thanks. Think I prefer to keep my editor and git actions separate but appreciate the reply.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER28> Any plans for mercurial integration?

<comment><USER2> Not at the moment, since I don't use mercurial myself. If there isn't a good mercurial plugin, then maybe that's for someone to look into? Writing a plugin for Sublime Text is quite pleasant (it's done in python).

</comment></comment><comment><USER29> If you like this, you should check out [http://wakatime.us](http://wakatime.us) which is a free time tracker for Sublime that works with Git to display how much time you work in each project and even in each branch.

<comment><USER30> Looks interesting, but I'm turned off by 'sign up for free' when there's nothing on the page indicating the cost, if any, of using the product.

If it's free, 'sign up for free' suggests otherwise. If there's a cost, please be up front about it. If you haven't decided what or whether to charge, just say so ;)

</comment></comment><comment><USER31> Does anyone know if there is a good difftool for sublime? I'm always launching meld for complicated diffs, would love it this or some other addon could do side by side diff

<comment><USER32> I like to use P4Merge, it's the best merger/differ for code on OS X. Not the prettiest, but the merge workflow is good.

<comment><USER33> Check out kaleidoscope if you've got a few minutes to try out a new tool. Blew P4Merge out of the water for me. And BeyondCompare if you're on windows. Linux; sorry :(

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER34> Our team has been using it for the last few months and absolutely love it. Best side effect is much more descriptive commit messages. Thanks @miped

</comment><comment><USER10> Sweet! I love magit in my Emacs and this looks very similar. It certainly makes me want to try giving Sublime another whirl.

</comment><comment><USER6> I use this mainly for "Git: Diff Current File". It's much easier to see in Sublime than Terminal for me.

<comment><USER35> You seems to be on Mac OSX, if that is the case, try out the file merger that comes with XCode, it's pretty awesome for doing both diffs and merges.

Screenshots of the software:

[http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/FileMerge- fil...](http://osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/FileMerge-file- comparison-mac.png)

[http://anoved.net/images/filemerge/filemerge.png](http://anoved.net/images/filemerge/filemerge.png)

[http://www.defraine.net/~brunod/fmdiff/filemerge.gif](http://www.defraine.net/~brunod/fmdiff/filemerge.gif)

<comment><USER6> I've always meant to check that out but always forget. Thanks for reminding me about that, I'll take a look now.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> This package has improved my workflow dramatically! Thank you!

</comment><comment><USER36> Just needs individual file status colors in left file tree.

<comment><USER2> Yup that would be a nice feature, but as of yet there's no way to do this within Sublime Text AFAIK.

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> How it differs from magit or fugitive except price? I've tried magit and fugitive for some time, but as for me, adding this plugins to workflow just complicates tasks related to VCS. At the time of this writing, whichever editor/IDE I use, my VCS stay in command line.

<comment><USER38> > my VCS stay in command line

You probably don't realize how much this slows you down.

<comment><USER39> I have tried plenty of GUI clients, but I am the fastest with git in the command-line hands down. git has quite a good user interface for command line use with its hunk-based staging, drop to $EDITOR to quickly edit a diff, etc.

Also, there is completion for git in shells such as bash and zsh.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER40> Wow, this crap even charges 10 bucks?

There was a open source Git plugin for Sublime long time ago.

[https://github.com/kemayo/sublime-text- git](https://github.com/kemayo/sublime-text-git)

<comment><USER41> Are you saying that because it's actually crap or you just don't want to spend money on software?

<comment><USER40> The point is there is already someone who has implemented the almost the exact same functionalities, and its code is open source. However, it seems like someone is still shamelessly trying to capitalize on it.</comment></comment></comment>