I'm 19 and I need advice - <AUTHOR> Hi,I'm a nineteen year old student who lives in NY and about six months ago my parents, who own an eye care practice, needed a program to help analyze the efficiency of their employees and the different Nursing Homes that they visit.  I've never done any programming before and so armed with Google I tackled the program. I ended up with an Access Database written in VBA, that barely functioned, and how I could not have completely said.
I loved the process. The problem solving, the designing of the interface, the whole thing was just extremely fun. After that I started learning vb.net and rewrote the whole program. It still needs a lot of work and I am now learning c# and planning on rewriting it again. This whole thing has inspired me to become a developer. Technology and business was something I always enjoyed, I've been reading Gizmodo and TechCrunch for a while now, but now I see the creative process and analytical skills that software developers use, and I really want to do this as a career.
I have been reading Hacker News and talking to people who work in the field as to what it is that I should be doing now, and the general consensus is to just go out and do something. While this is something I would love to do, (I have a ton of ideas I would like to work on) and on some level I feel like I need to do it, (i need to make some money, nothing major more like 1000 a month, and I want to keep motivated to keep learning) I run into two main problems:
1) I do not have knowledge required to execute my ideas.
I have been programming for only about 6 months, (at most, depending on what you consider programming.), and the languages that I know are limited to vb.net and c#. These are not exactly high level languages themselves, and my knowledge of them is mediocre at best. I don't have the knowledge to execute any of the ideas I have.
2) I do not have any friends who share this particular interest. I don't know any code gurus or anyone I can rely on for advice or as a co founder, and I have no way of meeting anyone who would fit into that category. And if I did meet someone, I don't know enough to be able to tell if they where actually good or just better than me.
I have the opportunity to switch to Columbia University's engineering program  on a 3 - 2 program with my college. Which means I do 3 years at my college, and will major in math and get a degree in mathematics, and then do two years in Columbia and get a CS degree from there. I feel like this would solve both my problems, but it will take 4 more years of school, and I will have to pay Columbia tuition.
I really want to start something but I feel like I can't. I've seen other people ask this before on Hacker news and most of the responses are "Just do it anyways." but that is really not helpfu in any way.
I was wondering if you can please give me advice on what to do.
Thank you very much <comment><USER3> "...the languages that I know are limited to vb.net and c#. These are not exactly high level languages themselves..."

Not only are these very good high level languages but there is lots of well paying and reasonably easy to get work around for competent users.

You sound a little overwhelmed which is normal, confidence is only going to come with experience. Whether or not you decide to study formally, write a lot of different code in your own time.

Imagine big problems, then break them down into smaller simpler problems that you can actually solve. Building Facebook must feel like an impossible task right now, but I bet you could build a database to store a list of friends. The more you do this the more you'll find 'big' problems are suddenly easier to understand.

<comment><USER4> Indeed, languages are not something to get hung up on.

Practical advice? If you are working in C# get a copy of ReSharper. It is transformative :)

Good Luck.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> Go to Columbia. Two degrees in five years is a bargain. You'll only be paying two years of Columbia tuition, while studying there in the later phase of your college life, which hopefully means more focus and insight into how to access the resources a college can provide.

Start looking into summer internships. Good way to establish contacts, find mentors, and get a guided introduction to the field.

Take a look at Hartl's Ruby on Rails tutorial. The book is free, online, and walks you through the stages of building a simple twitter-like client. It's amazing the things you can do with high-level tools these days. There are some good books on Python as well. I recommend O'Reilly's Head First series to my friends who are considering getting into programming.

Start small, bang out code, even if it's just following a book. The act of writing code seeps into your muscle memory and it gets easier and easier, until you start expanding your skills and then it gets easier and harder both at the same time.

Your first efforts are going to seem amateurish and trivial. Don't let that discourage you. With practice you'll only get better and the feeling of creating something with your own mind and hands is awesome.

</comment><comment><USER6> Unlike most here I began learning programming in my late 20s.

On the recommend of my first mentor, the second programming book I picked up was _Code Complete_ by Steve McConnell. It did a LOT to improve the quality of my code, and enable me to write better code.

Be warned that it is a fairly heavy tome. And it is the kind of book which you want to not just read, but to actually absorb into your programming and thinking habits. But if you have the discipline to actually do it, I can't recommend it highly enough.

<comment><USER7> Even if you don't plan on doing anything with the languages involved, buy the book and read it.

(oh, yeah, you might as well learn the example language, which I think is C++ in the second edition. It will do you good to be able to read more than one language, even if your writing skills are focused on one.)

<comment><USER6> Examples are offered in a number of languages. And the snippets offered are of such a form that you seldom need to know the programming language to read the snippet and get the point.

</comment></comment></comment><comment> ryan-allen Everyone's said this, I'll say it too: Awesome!

I fell into programming by accident at about 21, and I remember what it was like, it's much as you described. Fun times!

All the advice here is good, but nobody has recommended you read "The Pragmatic Programmer", which I found to be a bit enlightening. I still go back to it years later to read and ponder.

Good luck! You sound like you wont need it. It's a damn good career for those who enjoy it and are willing to put in some effort.

EDIT: I never did a CS degree, but considered doing it many times (if work dried up, it never did). I believe though that the people you meet and work with is a major part of doing a degree, so that'd be why I would go. I get to work with good people anyway. This article was posted on HN recently and I think is relevant:

<http://sheddingbikes.com/posts/1275258018.html>

I admit there are CS-type stuff I can't do (but I know where and who to ask) because I never did a degree. Saying that though, I have worked with people who have had CS degrees and couldn't code themselves out of a paper bag. If I were to go back in time to when I was your age, I'd do the degree, though.

</comment><comment><USER8> Go for Columbia.

I went there as an undergrad and learned much about computer science, as well as how to connect with smart students, how to find mentors, advanced engineering research, and more.

And best of all, the friendships you can make at an excellent, intense, diverse school can be a lifelong treasure.

<comment><USER9> 2nd this. PG often talks about schools as a way of meeting people interested in the same things you are. You'll learn a lot of applicable things along the way, come out the other end with a piece of paper that businesses consider valuable and you'll build a network of folks. All three of these are reasons for going to school. And, as others have said, it doesn't have to be the _only_ way you learn how to program.

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> Dude, you're lucky. I took me 10 years post college to figure out what I'm truly passionate about. If you don't take the plunge now you'll end up leaving a perfectly good career at 31 to do it anyway (most likely after reading a pg essay like myself).

1\. Hackers learn by doing. If you enjoy tackling problems you're 3/4 of the way there. If you have ideas, you're 3/4 of the way there. Combining those two will fill in the other blanks for you. What language you use would depend on the problem space. When you pick a problem, you could always poll here for suggestions.

2\. Don't worry if they're better or worse than you, just seek out people who love doing it. They'll eclipse everyone else in short order anyway.

My only add on advice is I would assume you have more college options than what you've stated. If you do like programming, you really can't go wrong at this point in history with a degree in it. I would look for less time consuming options.

Seriously, start your new life today. Pick a problem and start hacking away at it. Start hacking away at college options and start seeking out hacker meetups (you'll have plenty of options in NY).

Above all, enjoy it. Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER11> Congratulations on being awesome, 19 year old dude. You're at the perfect age to start and your attitude is dead on.

My advice is that school is good for lots of things but project experience is not one of them. Please, go sign up at GitHub and make it your new home. It's like Facebook for open source development. Start checking out cool projects (it doesn't matter what language, they are all the same - that's the punchline) and learn to read other people's code. Pretty soon you'll find opportunities to contribute.

You know the easiest way to contribute? Leave positive and encouraging messages thanking developers for their hard work and let them know you're following along.

Next advice: stop reading blogs and spend that time practicing coding. Blogs are interesting but you'll find that your memory retention is less than 10%. Try to limit yourself to checking HN twice a day and otherwise, focus on the task at hand.

Final advice: make sure that you have a life. The best coders are interesting people with diverse interests. Develop an appreciation of music and try to expand your artistic whims. Get a camera, travel, read fiction, take pictures, travel more, write fiction.

Take chances. Get the guy. Get the girl. Get both at the same time. Don't be afraid and always try to listen twice as often as you speak.

</comment><comment><USER12> First off, that's awesome! It's so gratifying to see someone else discover that same spark that made me fall in love with programming. Keep it up - you'll love it.

Some suggestions for you:

* Find a community based in your interests. You'll find VB and C# communities around the web, and any number of IRC channels (look at irc.freenode.net - most development-oriented projects end up there). Find a channel and idle in it. Soak up tidbits of knowledge. Try to answer others' questions. Just participate in a community of developers, and you'll find yourself being spurred along.

* Find an open source project that interests you, and try your hand at contributing. Fix a bug, provide art resources, something to connect you to the project. There are lots and lots of people working on really neat things that could use help, and there's no better way to learn than to do.

* Build lots of toys. An apprentice doesn't end up building a cathedral his first year in the trade. Small projects - like your dad's need - are a wonderful way to practice. Each project will expose you to some new concept, and help you learn some new technique.

* Don't expect a CS degree to teach you about programming. CS is just that - the science of computers. You'll learn algorithms, compiler design, how processors work, and all sorts of stuff like that, but any actual development experience will be incidental, more likely than not. That's fine, as long as you realize that a CS degree is not a trade degree. It will augment your prowess as a developer, but it will not immediately make you one. That's up to you to cultivate.

* Don't expect to support yourself with it financially for a little while yet. I don't want to be discouraging, but once you enter into the business end of development, standards and expectations get much higher, and it can be very crushing if you don't have the tools in your belt yet to deal with them. If you can pick up small jobs here and there, do it, but don't look to make a career out of it with 6 months experience.

* Never stop learning. When you find yourself becoming comfortable, find something new to learn. A colleague of mine held the goal of learning and using a new language or technology stack every year. I've adopted that for myself, and it's wonderfully beneficial (this year is Android development). You will keep yourself exposed to new ideas, and continually widen your vision of the field.

* Just start running with it. An artist only develops their skill by drawing and drawing and drawing and drawing. A runner only develops endurance by running and running and running. A cook by cooking, a pilot by flying. There is no better teacher than experience. Some ideas to start yourself out might be an address book, an RSS reader, or a music player. Try your hand at a web application. Pick up a scripting language, like Ruby, Python, or Lua (you can use Lua to script .NET apps, so perhaps it's a good fit!). All you have to do is start _somewhere_ and start doing it. You've started that with your dad's project - just keep it up now. You don't get to revolutionize the world on your second project ever, and that's okay. Your second project is a stepping stone to your eventual world-dominance app.

Good luck with it!

</comment><comment><USER13> You should really put an e-mail in your profile in case people want to get in touch with you privately (or e-mail me at firstname.lastname@example.com) ;)

</comment><comment><USER14> Good for you for having the courage to ask questions. This is definitely as good a place as any to ask.

As for what to do and how to do it, I would definitely tell you to go ahead and do the 3-2 program with Columbia. Besides the education, the connections you will make will last a lifetime.

I actually work for Columbia and live by the campus, if you want to talk drop me a line. But that aside, NYC has a great tech community with all sorts of programming/developer oriented events going on virtually every week (check out meetup.com).

Most importantly, hold on to that spark that got you interested. It will keep you going when you feel you are banging your head against the wall.

</comment><comment><USER15> Join a local users group and go to meetings religiously. You will come to know who is who by attending these. Start small, take your smallest idea and work on it. it is going to be atrocious but that is a good thing, being able to design an iterative plan to get out of a poorly designed systems is one of the marks of a good developer. Resist the temptation to scrap it all and rewrite once you figure out what you are doing. Force yourself to encapsulate the system and modularize it so that you can replace it a piece at a time. The skills you will develop by forcing yourself to clean up your old work will be invaluable.

</comment><comment><USER16> Glad you found something you are passionate about. It is an amazing feeling isn't it?

I ran in to something similar with web development (PHP, apache, mysql, and perl) and felt overwhelmed immediately. But, found that it was so much fun I stuck with it and just started small. "Ok, how do you get the data to sort this way?" "What is this md5 thing?" "How do I manage cookies and wtf are they?" etc. etc. etc.

Starting small, reading other peoples' work, take your time, don't get frustrated for more than 5 seconds, and find some online communities that share your interest.

Good luck and don't ever say "I can't" again ;)

</comment><comment><USER17> Start an "ideas" folder (write them down or they drift away) and get your degree (from anywhere, not necessarily from Columbia. Once working, most fields do not care about the pedigree of your degree unless you want to be a Supreme Court judge or advisor to the president, etc.). A degree opens doors that are closed without one. And getting one after you move forward and start you career and LIFE (esp the wife and kids) is just not possible for most people. It seems like an onerous diversion now but in the end you will look back and value the time spent learning and the people you meet in college. While you are getting your degree you can probably pick up consulting work like you did for your parents and continue to practice and learn what is taught in school (and think of more great ideas). When you near the end of school you can break out the ideas folder and see how many are done and how many no longer make any sense and mold the remaining ideas into viable business/action plans. Your friends from college may want to join you too.

tl;dr: A lack of degree will limit future options; learning is easy when you are young and harder when you are older; get your degree now, the world will still be there when you are done; write down your ideas.

</comment><comment><USER18> I was in your situation at 15 (needed to develop something for a family friend). It was a total failure but kept going thinking up stuff on my own, reading and learning. Three years later I finished high school and got a job. Havent looked back since, ten years later started my own development/consulting company now running for three years.

My point is, if you bite hard enough, your education doesn't matter.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thanks everyone, the comments were really helpful.

I didn't realize how fast responses will come in.

I am now currently looking for conveniently located Hacker Space (preferably in queens if anyone knows of any), and for an Open Source project to help out on. Plus I now have several books to look up and websites to join.

My email address is firstname.lastname@example.com. Weird because it is in my profile

<comment><USER19> The email address in the email field is not visible for others. You have to use the about field if you want to make it public.

</comment></comment><comment><USER20> From how you describe your experience of teaching yourself to not only create a working program via independent research, but also recognize it's flaws and refactor afterwards, I have no doubt you could find some level of success in the industry. Not being able to "execute on your ideas" is not that important in many micro-managed niches of the industry, which are not great gigs in the long run, but are good if you are starting out and need to develop perspective on "getting shit done". Be humble and look to learn - you'll be fine.

I'm a bit confused on the Columbia thing - if it's 5 years instead of 4 - <USER2> for it, education is the best investment you'll ever make. If it means 4 more years after undergrad: just go work, it's probably not worth getting out-of- sync with your age cohort.

</comment><comment><USER21> People have different learning styles. Some learn best by doing, others by being shown how and yet others can study and learn from books. Doing CS at university is only a good option if you learn well in that environment. As many others have pointed out, CS degrees teach you a lot of stuff you will never use. On the flip side, the risk of being a self taught hacker is that you pick up lots of bad habits, could end up with a limited world view.

Instead of going to Columbia and racking up a huge student loan debt, seek out a startup or open source project where you can be an apprentice to some masters who have a verifiable track record (majority of professors are lousy programmers if they do any at all). And never stop learning and seeking out ever better masters.

</comment><comment><USER22> This thread is packed with awesome advice. I'm in the exact same boat as the OP, but 12 years and one child older. Get your educational pedigree now while it's natural and expected. Going back to school with a million other things going on as an adult is unrealistic, period.

</comment><comment><USER23> Do you have an email address where you can be reached? I would like to email you privately but you dont have an email in your profile.

</comment><comment><USER24> Look at the programmer job sites, see what they are looking for in a candidate, use that to inform your next steps.

</comment><comment><USER25> No offense, but you need to read and write a lot more. I know that your post is not the most important writing in the world, but there are many poorly constructed sentences, misspelled words, completely missing words, etc.

It makes a huge difference in how people perceive you and it's also reflected in your speech patterns and your speaking ability. This in turns affects how people perceive you face to face. Poor verbal communication can make even the best resume useless.

<comment><USER7> I don't know about useless, but yeah, it will force you to work at a less desirable job. Nerds will judge you on language skills the way sales people will judge you on clothing.</comment></comment>


What was Kim Jong-un Like as a Boy? - <AUTHOR> http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/foreign-affairs-defense/secret-state-of-north-korea/what-was-kim-jong-un-like-as-a-boy/

<comment><USER2> Adam Johnson's article on Kenji Fujimoto, Kim Jong-il's personal sushi chef, is a great read and goes into a bit more depth than this PBS article.

[http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201306/kim- jong-i...](http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201306/kim-jong-il- sushi-chef-kenji-fujimoto-adam-johnson)

One interesting tidbit is that Fujimoto introduced Kim Jong-il's sons (including Kim Jong-un) to basketball. He would routinely show them videotapes of the Chicago Bulls championship runs. Kim Jong-un grew to idolize Jordan, Pippen, and ...you guessed it... Dennis Rodman.

<comment><USER3> Actually Kim Jong Il himself was a huge NBA and Bulls fans and his son probably inherited the love. Madeleine Albright gave Jong Il a basketball signed by Michael Jordan.

Kim Jong Il's grandson was seen enjoying a K-pop concert. Perhaps one day external culture can bring upon change where diplomacy has failed in NK.

<comment><USER2> Fujimoto seems to take credit for it (via Johnson)

 _" A week later, Shogun-sama [Kim Jong-il] called Fujimoto and informed him that the nannies had been fired: Fujimoto would be the boys' new playmate, a position he would hold until Kim Jong-un was 18. Fujimoto introduced them to video games, remote-control cars, and most important, basketball. Fujimoto's sister in Japan sent him VHS tapes of Bulls playoff games, so Kim Jong-un's first taste of Western hoops came from watching Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman—men who became his heroes."_

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Educated guess… he probably tortured kittens

<comment><USER5> _" Educated guess… he probably tortured kittens"_

North Korea (and its leaders) may be strange and unfriendly, but this is not the kind of comment that belongs on Hacker News.</comment></comment>


Satellite Spots Massive Object Hidden Under the Frozen Wastes of Antarctica - <AUTHOR> https://science.slashdot.org/story/16/12/29/2153217/satellite-spots-massive-object-hidden-under-the-frozen-wastes-of-antarctica?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Slashdot%2Fslashdot+%28Slashdot%29 <comment><USER2> Actual article here[0]... perhaps a better choice for the link:

[0] [https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2489440/satellite-spots- massiv...](https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2489440/satellite-spots-massive- object-hidden-under-the-frozen-wastes-of-antarctica/)

</comment><comment><USER3> "Frozen wastes of Antarctica" sounds dramatic and very British, but I don't think scientists think of an ice sheet as a wasteland.</comment>


Why "no Macs" is no longer a defensible IT strategy  - <AUTHOR> http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/21/17FE-macs-in-business_1.html

<comment><USER2> Their ad screen says "Your request is loading"... and they're a technology site! I think they have some nerve to tell such an obvious lie to an audience that knows better...

edit: Oh wait, it's probably not the site itself that designed this ad page... still, it shows how ads are sometimes so badly integrated and out of place into sites sometimes.

</comment><comment><USER3> "Thanks to key computing shifts, supporting their appetite for Apple is now a straightforward option for IT"

The problem is, IT departments don't know and - more important - they don't want to know. Ours don't take the time to check options because they are too busy hunting windows bugs.

</comment><comment><USER4> Apple's Trojan Horse is licensing ActiveSync for the iPhone. Can't imagine they won't incorporate it into Mac OS X as well.</comment>


Ask HN: What is a problem you face at work? - <AUTHOR> Hi guys,
I'm Cory. I run http://oppsdaily.com, a daily email for software devs who want to solve the problems people face at work.
The email consists of a super brief interview about a problem you have at work, and the software you wished you had (that you would buy), that could solve the problem.
Each day I receive a handful responses from developers who want to learn more, and I connect them to the interviewee.
I really want to source some of those interviews from this amazing community.
If you are facing a problem that you'd like to share, please contact me! - firstname.lastname@example.com
If you're not comfortable being featured in an email, but you would like to share in this thread for the benefit of the HN community, please do! :) <comment><AUTHOR> Here is an interesting problem I felt might be a bit too niche for the daily e-mail:

"I am a sewing machine technician.

I would like a database with machine parts organized and connected to numerous websites so I could click on them and immediately find the least expensive option. Websites with used parts would also be fine as well.

It would solve my problem by cutting my research and shopping down from hours to minutes.

I would pay $100 for this for my phone."

</comment><comment><USER2> This is a great idea! I subscribed immediately.

<comment><AUTHOR> Awesome! Hope you enjoy it! Also, if you find "daily" to be too many e-mails, we have a weekly recap option now, so keep that in mind :D</comment></comment>


How do you turn a chunk of glass into a telescope mirror? - <AUTHOR> http://www.scopemaking.net/mirror/mirror.htm <comment><USER2> I grinded some mirror. Nice experience but at end monotonous and boring. Also grinding powder is lethal, I had my appendix removed since I eat some :-(

But I would recommend building ligh dobsonian to everyone. Mirrors are cheap and rest is just wood or aluminium. My 10" has 20 pounds and is flyable.

<comment><USER3> One thing the article doesn't mention - how long does it take? How many hours total would be spent grinding?

<comment><USER2> It took me 50 hours to do 6" mirror with lambda 1/6, I was 14 and totally left handed.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> [http://allarscopes.com/telescopes/488mm_f5/index2_eng.htm](http://allarscopes.com/telescopes/488mm_f5/index2_eng.htm)

This is a hardcore version. It is interesting that such extremely low technology methods have so precise results.

<comment><USER5> What an impressive amount of work! Absolutely beautiful though.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I have grinded two 8" mirrors. The first one took three years (calendar time) and was a disaster. Lots of scratches on the mirror and astigmatism.

I didn't give up though. Built a second one, applying all tricks that I learnt during the first experience. It turned out very good and only took an year to make.

The linked page doesn't talk about the most painstaking part: the figuring and polishing of the mirror. A good reference is the Stellafane ATM site and books suggested by them.

<comment><USER7> OT: You are the second poster in this discussion to use 'grinded', instead of 'ground', as the participle of grind. I'm just curious whether that's telescope lingo or just your word choice?

I don't want to call it an error, exactly, because it seems to be part of a trend of verbs being regularised in American English. Lit => lighted etc. I read a novel the other day (Brandon Sanderson's new effort) that repeatedly used 'shined' instead of 'shone' and it was oddly distracting. I wonder how long it will be until all verbs are regular?

<comment><USER2> I am Czech and I would not understand what "mirror grounding" means.

<comment><USER8> The words "grounding" and "grinding" are not related in meaning: "grounding" refers to "ground", meaing the surface of the Earth, and "grinding" is a participle of "grind". See [https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ground](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ground) for details.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> If interested in this and in the San Francisco East Bay, there's an ongoing workshop for this:

[http://www.chabotspace.org/telescope-makers- workshop.htm](http://www.chabotspace.org/telescope-makers-workshop.htm)

(I'm interested but haven't done it yet...)

</comment><comment><USER10> A few more resources here: [http://www.telescopelab.com/index.php?page=testing](http://www.telescopelab.com/index.php?page=testing)

How to make blanks: [http://www.mdpub.com/scopeworks/blanks/index.html](http://www.mdpub.com/scopeworks/blanks/index.html)

<comment><USER11> Probably more for inspiration than for tips: Opticks by Isaac Newton. He does go into detail as to how he ground his lenses, but that advice may be a bit outdated.

<comment><USER6> Best classical reference (yet somewhat more modern than Newton) is:

How to make a telescope by Jean Texereau

[http://archive.org/details/HowToMakeATelescope](http://archive.org/details/HowToMakeATelescope)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I don't understand how randomly moving the grinding tool ends up with a perfectly spherical result.

Can anyone explain?

</comment><comment><USER13> Brings back memories - I ground a 30 cm reflector back in my teens. Was interesting to read how they no longer use two glass blanks, instead use one blank and one tile grinding tool. Took me most of the summer to get the mirror ready for coating, and that was working on it most every day for at least an hour. All very worth it when everything was finished and assembled and we pointed it up into the night sky. Nothing like a clear cool fall night and a decent (if amateurish) scope to contemplate extremely large numbers.

</comment><comment><USER14> Some questions that come to mind:

\- Why is this a manual process? Aren't there jigs or tools that can automate out the grinding and get a more precise result?

\- Why does the mirror have to be made out of glass? Lens I can understand, but a mirror just needs to be sturdy enough and chemically compatible with the metal layer. Could a 3d printer produce a precise enough substrate?

<comment><USER15> > \- Why is this a manual process?

Partly it's a tradition handed down over the years. Many years ago it was much cheaper to get glass blanks and grind them yourself to get a good mirror than it was to buy the mirrors. So there are many documents from old astronomers telling how to grind a mirror. You learn a lot about lens terminology.

For smaller mirrors you don't really need jigs or automation.

For bigger mirrors there is plenty of automation.

As I understand it it's a self-calibrating process. The friction and movement of the tool create the shape, which is why they talk about moving the tool around a lot.

YouTube has some interesting videos of home made contraptions to polish rocks into spheres - you have 3 cones with a ring of abrasive, and some abrasive slurry, with a lump of rock in the middle of the cones, and you just spin the cones and end up with a nice sphere.

<comment><USER16> I had no idea about the spheres so I looked up one of those videos. This one seemed to show some of the stages and the machine going. Really cool.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVbACw0jhmU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVbACw0jhmU)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> This reminds me very much of grinding limestone slabs in the printmaking studio: [http://instagram.com/p/fGcGwdwAT1/](http://instagram.com/p/fGcGwdwAT1/)

(Printmaking studios make good hackerspaces, and lithography has fun Chemistry involved. Etching has a little too.)

</comment><comment><USER18> Here's another account of how to do it, in a very authentic voice of somebody who's done it more than once:

[https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Telescope_Making](https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Telescope_Making)

</comment><comment><USER19> Yes but can you make a mirror like Kent did in Real Genius?

"KENT: See! Do you have any idea how hard it is to make a film virtually 100 per cent reflective, one micron thick and apply it to a mirror this shape?"

[http://fringe.davesource.com/Fringe/Entertainment/Scripts/Re...](http://fringe.davesource.com/Fringe/Entertainment/Scripts/Real_Genius.html)

<comment><USER20> That may be the line in that script but it wasn't in the actual film. He just says something about making the "phase conjugate tracking system mirror" or something to that effect. That must have been some sort of "working script" as I recognize many other lines that were different or omitted in the final film.</comment></comment>


I'll Work For - <AUTHOR> http://illworkfor.com/

<comment><USER2> Not really my thing at the moment, but I think you want 'list' for 'lis' in your front line.

Good luck with the project!</comment>


Recommendation generator (useful on LinkedIn for example) - <AUTHOR> http://endorser.org/

<comment><AUTHOR> IMO, letters of recommendation are useless way to judge a candidate. The only exception would be if you know the person making the recommendation, and you can phone them up for a private, candid opinion.</comment>


Ask HN: How to Assimilate into Silicon Valley - <AUTHOR> Hi, I'm college freshman who grew up dreaming about coming to the valley. I've been programming since 3rd grade and ran my own freelancing company back home before coming to school out here. But now that I'm here, I know that the world is being changed around me and I really want to contribute but to me everything just looks like a standard California town. I want to meet programmers like me but can't seem to find any user groups or meet ups that aren't in SF (I don't have a car), and I can't get a full time job so I'm trying to find internships and am trying my best but it feels like you need to know people to get in the door. So does anyone have an advice for me on how I can be a member of the cradle of innovation I've always loved? <comment><USER2> My take from afar is that Silicon Valley is not a particularly easy place to be a student...which makes it more like most places in the US that are not college towns or Boston. Given the amount of opinion against college that comes from local elites, it may in fact be worse.

My standard advice about college is deciding where you want to spend the next few years learning what does and does not make sense for you. It may be the case that Silicon Valley does not actually provide what you need at this point in your life. Just because it works for someone else has no bearing on it working for you right now. Part of getting older is realizing that things I imagined were good weren't, things I imagined were bad, aren't, and things that I had never heard of exist...e.g. Python when I first started reading Hacker News.

Good luck.

</comment><comment><USER3> Have you tried meetup.com? How about the Hacker Dojo?</comment>


UK's porn filter plans are just an illusion - <AUTHOR> http://gigaom.com/europe/why-the-uks-porn-filter-plans-are-just-an-illusion/ <comment><USER2> > "It filters out 35 categories of content, including porn, adult, suicide, > anorexia etc,"

What? Ok, I don't agree with filtering out porn but I can at least understand it. But why would you filter out sites about suicide, anorexia, "etc"? Way to increase the stigma around already difficult issues, block people from useful pieces of information, and make it harder for people to actually get help in the way they want it?

I really, really dislike that.

<comment><USER3> I think that with 'anorexia' they are referring to pro-ana websites (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro-anorexia>).

Maybe websites promoting suicide also exist? I don't know.

<comment><USER2> Even if they are (which is quite possible), this sort of filtering is just _not that good_. No matter the intention, this _will_ limit access to valid information and almost certainly cause harm.

<comment><USER3> Agreed.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> mike-cardwell There will _always_ be politicians trying to ban things on the Internet. They will slowly chip away at it until all sorts of things become banned. I really think we need technical solutions to make it impossible or much more difficult.

<comment><USER4> Killbots that go after politicians?

<comment><USER5> Aren't those called drones?

<comment><USER4> No they are the ones that the politicians send after civilians in other countries.

<comment><USER5> For now.

Surely some of the gangs would love to get their hands on them. It would be very, very difficult prove who committed the murder and it would be all but impossible to prevent.

<comment><USER4> Isn't that how it works now under US government control?

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Ah the irony. Filtering the Internet but you can buy porn through the same companies eg Sky <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_channels_on_Sky:_Adult>

<comment><USER7> That's not irony, it's a business plan.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Just leave the Internet alone. I'm not against filtering inappropriate content (although suicide 'etc' should not be blocked) but the next generation of parents will be more aware of the issues online and put their own filtering software in place if needed. Government mandated filtering is a really bad idea

<comment><USER9> But what kind of content is deemed "inappropriate"? Who are the ones who make that distinction?

I certainly don't want either government bureaucrats or corporate bureaucrats making that distinction for me.

<comment><USER5> It would be reasonable to me that the parents may designate certain things as inappropriate.

That said, I don't think they should be allowed to block e.g information on politics and religion (just as you can't cause bodily harm to your child).

<comment><USER9> Parents doing this for their own children = good idea

Some entity of government / society doing this for its citizens = bad idea

Neither government nor corporations are our parent, and we are not their children.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment> guard-of-terra "So even if you think the mandatory filters are a good idea, the question has to be whether these filters are worthwhile"

People who think the mandatory filters are a good idea don't really "think" in the common sense of this word.

They move on. Yesterday they were furiously pro-filters when asked by media, but today they moved on. They don't remember a thing about the idea. They don't care. You can ever persuade them that filtering in this shape is bad.

But: they'll move on again. And tomorrow they won't remember a word of your explanations. The media baited them once more and once again they will vote "with their hearts". They aren't exactly the caring-about-the-end-result kind.

</comment><comment><USER7> I'm so tired of this game.

The Internet as the Wild West is what contributed to its success, both as an economic powerhouse and as a tool for connecting people. Leave it alone.

It starts at censoring porn and will end at censoring dissenting thought.

<comment><USER10> My UK mobile provider (O2) requires you to opt-in (with a credit card) to "adult content" for their mobile web service. I haven't done this, because I really don't need porn on my mobile, and also because I don't have a UK credit card. Anyhow, during the revolution in Egypt, I discovered that one of the most prominent and important Egyptian bloggers -- "Sandmonkey" -- had for some reason been blocked by O2's adult figure. So although I doubt that this was their actual intention, vital dissenting thought is _already_ being censored by these filters.

<comment><USER11> _vital dissenting thought is already being censored by these filters_

Years ago when my dog was a small puppy, I had a webcam set up in the laundry room so I could check throughout the day that he was OK. That worked great until WebSense, the filtering system that my company uses, decided to classify my puppy-cam as "adult content".

When I complained to WebSense, they did change the designation in their next update. But still, it makes me wonder just how they go about setting these classifications.

<comment><USER12> While errors will always happen, the main concern, IMO, is that slowly it will become intentional and accepted.

This hasn't happened yet outside certain countries. For example, we could still access Wikileaks, despite the US government's visible wrath.

Let's hope it doesn't happen, although the technology probably already exists to set up "private" internet services, e.g. onion routing.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> What do parents do at the moment? I am one but they are so youung it's not an issue (yet...)

<comment><USER14> For me, I talk to my children all the time, so they know the standards I expect and I know if something's bothering them. If they do want to look at something I disapprove of, they can and will, so I don't try to stop them directly - as that will just make them do it in secret and never tell me if they find something that really upsets them.

However, I don't think this kind of legislation is aimed at that kind of parenting.

<comment><USER5> That sounds like too much effort. I want a free instant fix dammit.</comment></comment></comment>


The 'premature optimization is evil' myth (2010) - <AUTHOR> http://joeduffyblog.com/2010/09/06/the-premature-optimization-is-evil-myth/ <comment><USER2> _A colleague of mine used to call C a WYWIWYG language— "what you write is what you get"—wherein each line of code roughly mapped one-to-one, in a self- evident way, with a corresponding handful of assembly instructions. This is a stark contrast to C#, wherein a single line of code can allocate many objects and have an impact to the surrounding code by introducing numerous silent indirections. For this reason alone, understanding what things cost and paying attention to them is admittedly more difficult – and arguably more important – in C# than it was back in the good ole' C days. ILDASM is your friend … as is the disassembler. Yes, good systems programmers regularly look at the assembly code generated by the .NET JIT. Don't assume it generates the code you think it does. _

I love it. Rehighlighting:

 _good systems programmers regularly look at the assembly code generated by the .NET JIT._

Let's consider the percentages, and what it implies about the Joe's assessment of programmers.

What percentage of systems programmers in any language look at the generated assembly?

Is the percentage for .NET programmers higher or lower than the average systems programmer?

What percentage of programmers who regularly look the generated assembly meet the unstated "other requirements" of being a "good systems programmer"?

I can't believe it's a very high percentage that make it through this filter, for .NET or other.

And yet I think he's right: how can one possibly be a good programmer without understanding what the computer is actually executing? And how can you understand what the computer is executing without looking at the assembly?

</comment><comment><USER3> I have always felt that premature optimization is the root of all evil implied that you will profile the code post writing and fix the bottlenecks. Also as long as there is no impact on code clarity, I don't think writing (prematurely)optimum code is bad.</comment>


Human-powered cranes - <AUTHOR> http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2010/03/history-of-human-powered-cranes.html <comment><USER2> Human powered cranes are quite common, in sizes up to a ton or two.[1] Most large auto shops will have one sized for engine removal. Overhead rail and chain fall systems are common.

The biggest hand-cranked crane-like devices ever built were probably the Panama Canal emergency dams.[2] This was a backup system in case a ship damaged all three gates of the top locks and let the lake pour through. The emergency dam could stop that.

It was a swing bridge long enough to swing across the canal, and although it could be operated electrically, it was also hand-crankable. This was regularly tested. The bridge was cranked out across the canal, above the water. Then wicket girder assemblies were cranked down into the water until they locked into slots in the lock floor. Then, one at a time, metal plates were dropped down tracks in the wicket girders, each one blocking more water, until all the plates were in place and the flow stopped.

They were never needed, and were dismantled decades ago.

[1] [http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_material- han...](http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/category_material- handling+hoists-lifts-cranes) [2] [http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/magazine/inventions- panama-...](http://engineering.dartmouth.edu/magazine/inventions-panama-canal- emergency-dams/)

<comment><USER3> Way back in the late 80's/early 90's I visited the USS Intrepid, a WW II carrier converted into a floating museum in Manhattan (to those in NYC: if it's still there it's well worth the visit).

Anyway, one of the (many) things that really impressed me was how easy it was to move the multi-ton antiaircraft gun turrets with just a hand wheel. Mechanical advantage FTW!

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> This article was very fascinating. Some of the weights mentioned seem incredible, but it seems to know what it's talking about.

If you read all the way to the end you get an interesting angle -- this isn't just a historical piece! Then if you click through to the main page of the site it's on, it's bizarro world, like a news source that is the opposite of hacker news in readership, outlook, and what it celebrates. (Way more than you would think given the article in question.)

I'm glad to have read it!

</comment><comment><USER5> I found this video speculating that the pyramids were built by floating the blocks in water kind of interesting: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1y8N0ePuF8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1y8N0ePuF8)

<comment><USER6> Interesting.

The biggest problem would have been making those gates completely watertight. The design on the video cannot be that.

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> Very interesting information. I hadn't known about the late-19thC cranes; compared to them, contemporary ones look a bit under-engineered.

Of course, that doesn't mean that we should go back to manually-powered treadmill cranes -- there's some discussion of that in the comments -- but it sounds like we could build engine-driven cranes that would perform much better than the ones we currently have.

<comment><USER3> Modern cranes look under-engineered precisely because they are properly engineered.

We have the ability today to do much better structural analysis than in the 19 century so a device can be built with much less material than required then. We can build a mechanism with just enough material to provide a known 10x safety factor. Back then they had no choice but to overbuild to be sure that there was adequate margin.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> Some treadwheel cranes survived: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadwheel_crane#Surviving_exa...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treadwheel_crane#Surviving_examples)</comment>


10 free tickets: StartupBus 24 hour challenge -- $2k cash prizes - <AUTHOR>

10 free tickets to StartupBus 24 hour challenge this friday. Discount code is "hacker news". $2000 in prize money.<p>https://sfstartupbushackathon.mogotix.com/ <comment><USER2> If only I didn't get motion sickness ;)

</comment><comment><USER3> I wish I can go there :/

</comment><comment><USER4> Awesome can't wait</comment>


A Method for Web Security Policies - <AUTHOR> https://www.ietf.org/id/draft-foudil-securitytxt-00.txt <comment><AUTHOR> tl;dr: Public security.txt file to be used to instruct people how to handle security flaws.</comment>


Get hands on with Invention Kit - Makey Makey and more - <AUTHOR> http://www.meetup.com/TechXploration/events/74093432/

<comment><USER2> I'll show up at 18:46 if I can get my hands on a Makey Makey

</comment><comment><USER3> food and beer @ 6:47pm?</comment>


Ask HN: What are you working on? - <AUTHOR> What are you working on?  Why is it cool?  Is it a side project or your main gig? <comment><USER2> In the spirit of releasing things before they're ready...

I've been working on Violin.io ([https://violin.io](https://violin.io)) since 2015. It's eventually intended to be interactive sheet music in the browser synced with YouTube recordings of classical music through the use of music information retrieval (MIR) algorithms. For example, click on the score at measure 50, and you'll get a YouTube video at measure 50, and you can change among different performances of that work at measure 50.

To view my rejected application for the inaugural Classical Goes Tech pitch competition last November, see [https://stevetjoa.com/classicalgoestech/](https://stevetjoa.com/classicalgoestech/).

There remains technical challenges, so for now you won't find much yet other than well-tagged and categorized videos of classical works without sheet music. But I'm actively working on it.

You can help. If you frequently listen to or perform classical music, contact me at steve at violin io. I would like to know what specific works interest you. Currently, I'd prefer to focus on strings or piano, and Bach/Mozart/Beethoven/Brahms, and preferably chamber. But I'm open to all suggestions. (I think there's merit to pleasing a narrow audience very well, and with classical music variety being enormous, it can get out of hand quickly.)

</comment><comment><USER3> A personal CRM of sorts. I want to use it to manage my family/social/colleague relationships.

Little things like noting spouses names and children's names, writing notes about encounters we have and something they mention that could be good to bring up next time, setting reminders - e.g. give X a call about Y, adding birthdays (and getting reminded ahead of time), preferred coffee/beverage. etc.

Currently as a web app but will also look to do a React Native app at some point.

</comment><comment><USER4> As a side project I'm building a computer vision framework and hardware sensor for mobile robots. The target users are people who want to build applications for vision based autonomy, but don't want to go through the hassle of building the full 'stack' themselves.

The sensor is designed to be plug-and-play, so like the Kinect it just works out of the box.

The basic building blocks are in place now, and I'm currently working on C++ and Python APIs, and considering a Swift API.

<comment><USER5> That's really cool. Do you have anything published online at the moment?

<comment><USER4> I expect to have v0.1 out in October, will post a 'Show HN' then.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> I'm trying to make web service testing better with Assertible ([https://assertible.com](https://assertible.com)). Our motivations:

\- For many small-medium sized organizations,developers manually test changes deployed to production and staging environments even if automated testing is already in place.

\- Automated testing of a web service is much quicker and less error-prone then testing many workflows separately.

\- Automating checks for security (coming soon), data validation (JSON, HTML), response times, and other assertions which are difficult for developers to test manually on every deployment.

\- Scheduled health checks which let you know when the service is down (email, Slack, integrations)

Currently, we are focusing on automated post-deployment testing. Our primary goal is to connect into your current CI pipeline in a turn-key fashion; similar to how TravisCI and CircleCI work. We have support for GitHub deployments which can be used by services like Heroku, CircleCI, etc.

Here are some of the latest pictures of our GitHub status integrations coming soon: [https://twitter.com/AssertibleApp/status/755115483209228288](https://twitter.com/AssertibleApp/status/755115483209228288)

</comment><comment><USER7> I am working on a project that some of you might be interested in. Put simply we have built a database of beautiful underused spaces in major cities such as New York, San Francisco, and DC. (Over a hundred convenient spaces already) We are first launching a mindfulness & wellness brand that leverages these beautiful underused spaces a long with a few permanent studio spaces for mindfulness-linked yoga, meditation, and fitness offerings.

Particularly, the marketing of meditation as a commercial entity is largely stuck in the 1960's and we hope our brand with accessible and approachable offerings can shift this dynamic. The research backing meditation is enormous, but their still lacks many places where it can be done in ideal group settings with great instructors. Additionally, our platform of spaces significantly reduces overhead so great instructors with solid followings will truly be able to get paid significantly. It is our hope that this can create a virtuous cycle of attracting more quality meditation and mindfulness instructors into our society. Any thoughts on the specifics of building out a mvp of a map based app would be very much appreciated. Feel free to check out our very basic pre-launch site at 2b-infinite.com or to shoot me a line wat firstname.lastname@example.com.

</comment><comment><USER8> I am working on a social app for meeting people over coffee/tea. I am aiming to simplify the process of setting up initial meetings, whether it is to chat with a developer at a company you're applying to, seek advice from a seasoned entrepreneur, or just find someone to jam on synthesizers with.

The core concept is that you are incentivized into meeting people because as part of your profile other people will know what your favourite local coffee shop/bakery/cafe/whatever is and what you like from there so they will know what to buy you. You basically get to name your own price for a short conversation, or on the flip side, cheaply buy time from people whom you would otherwise not know where to find.

Haven't been writing any code I can't easily reuse for other ideas because I'm barely starting to validate the idea, but hopefully I can generate some interest in it as I think there are simple paths to monetization.

</comment><comment><USER9> I am working on Comtify ([https://comtify.com](https://comtify.com)). We intend to kill email - seriously, no kidding!

Currently, Comtify behaves as an advanced collaboration tool. From a single page, you can do task management, knowledge sharing, file sharing, calendaring & scheduling, bug tracking in a highly intuitive manner.

What we are currently building is injecting the features of an email client into Comtify. This would mean that it would become the first collaboration tool which not only makes your intra-team work easy, but also inter-team communication (which currently happens over email).

This would also equip Comtify with a single-user utility - you won't have to invite your team to use it. So you can be a single person from a team using it, while other might not.

Your thoughts?

</comment><comment><USER10> I just released my side project: JobRudder [1]. It's a career management app for the individual. It's got one click resume and performance review generation, career analytics etc.

[1]: [https://jobrudder.com](https://jobrudder.com)

I built it because i realized:

\- Even if i work hard (i do) and smart (i try), a great career isn't just going to happen to me. I have to make it.

\- Updating my resumes, writing performance reviews, all the career/hr tasks i dislike are necessary tools. My work speaks for itself but it needs help.

\- I don't own my own career data, it's split up in all the employee engagement/hr compliance/goal setting systems i've used at all the companies i've worked for.

<comment><USER11> This looks interesting. It would be nice if you had some video/photos of the dashboard / features so you can see what it all looks like before making an account.

<comment><USER10> As requested, i've added screenshots to the landing page. I also updated the messaging. Hopefully things are clearer now.

Thanks for checking it out.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER12> I'm working on a snail simulation side project.

</comment><comment><USER13> TL;DR a web app that finds travel destinations according to your budget [http://www.wanderapp.me](http://www.wanderapp.me)

A project me and my GF have been hacking for the past few weeks for a problem we've had - we had money and available dates but didn't know where to go, so... we decided to build a web app that let's you enter your budget and available dates and you get places which fits that budget. we took a vacation shortly after the product was built ;)

</comment><comment><USER14> An internal database of (potential) customers, searchable by non-tech sales people in order to generate lists to go after. Segmentation driven primarily by locale, and the company's location in the supply chain. Database includes company as well as employee information, enriched by something like clearbit, and other scraped sources. Side project.

</comment><comment><USER15> Developing software to visualize and categorize street lamp bulbs and understand different kinds of light pollution at low cost.

(side project)

<comment><USER16> Do you know about the LSPDD?

[http://galileo.graphycs.cegepsherbrooke.qc.ca/app/en/home](http://galileo.graphycs.cegepsherbrooke.qc.ca/app/en/home)

(I coded it for a teacher and now other students are working on it)

<comment><USER15> Thanks for pointing me to this, this is amazing.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> I've been working on making my deep NLP model Dracula work in the browser and on node.js. Here it is doing sentiment analysis: [http://dracula.sentimentron.co.uk/sentiment- demo/](http://dracula.sentimentron.co.uk/sentiment-demo/)

</comment><comment><USER18> My side project is a web app to publish product updates ([http://productmap.co](http://productmap.co)). Right now, working on letting users leave feedback and suggest things they want to see in your product.

</comment><comment><USER19> Small website to create GPS Heatmaps -

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

I built it to learn python and some sports api's for another project

</comment><comment><USER20> I am building a Crypto exchange!!! :D</comment>


Meet Valkyrie, a Super Sleek Aircraft Taking on the Private Plane Industry - <AUTHOR> http://techcrunch.com/2015/11/12/meet-valkyrie-a-super-sleek-aircraft-taking-on-the-private-plane-industry/ <comment><USER2> Looks neat. Also interesting is the Pipistrel Panthera[1], which will do 200 knots with a 260hp engine or 180 knots with a 210 hp engine, and also be available with hybrid and pure electric drives. For comparison, a Cirrus SR 22 needs a 310hp engine to get to 180 knots.

(Not associated, just a fan)

[1] [http://www.panthera-aircraft.com/technical-data](http://www.panthera- aircraft.com/technical-data)</comment>


Applying to Ph.D. Programs in Computer Science (2011) [pdf] - <AUTHOR> https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~harchol/gradschooltalk.pdf <comment><USER2> As far as I can see, the top PhD programs are getting better and better applications for the same number of slots, and the process is becoming far more competitive. There are plenty of students coming in with publications at good venues (maybe not NIPS, SOSP, STOC level). It used to be that students came in without doing research, but that doesn't seem to be the norm any more.

I don't know how I got into grad school --- looking at the qualifications the incoming students have these days I don't think I'd make it --- and I only started my PhD 4 years ago.

This ratcheting up in qualifications is happening at every level in academia (and not just in CS). I know some grad students whose work and lifestyle is best described as "tenure track professors in the 80s." I know researchers at top labs like MSR who were hired on the strength of a _single_ OSDI publication. I had one as a second year PhD student, and I'm so far off the ball that I don't think I will even be attempting to go on the academic job market when I graduate. At this point I think it's pretty fruitless to apply to do a PhD without having prior research experience, ideally with a publication. I may be getting too jaded and pessimistic though. Consider alternate points of view.

On the other hand, if you can get in, it's a pretty amazing life of learning and developing industry relevant skills (if you're smart about it) on the NSF's dime. I know some of y'all are cynical about academia and like to badmouth PhD students as being unhirable and writing crap code, but consider that RTM is a top academic, and is pretty relevant as far as the startup scene is considered.

<comment><USER3> Are there any fellowships open to international students?

<comment><USER2> All good PhDs are funded (if it isn't categorically don't go). Typically this is through advisor's grants, which are usually from the NSF. I'm an international student (originally from India) and I'm funded through my advisor's NSF grant (I think. I'm not 100% sure since I don't know the exact details and he also has some additional funding from other sources like DARPA that he could be using). You should take the fact that I don't really know where my funding comes from as a good sign that PhD funding is very stable.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> It may be worth noting that in many areas of CS, you can still do research and think deeply about hard problems even if you don't go to grad school. You can read papers on the internet, which are free in some cases, and use your own computer. It will be a lot harder to publish anything, you won't have a faculty adviser to steer you in the right direction, and you won't get to go to conferences. But nothing stops you from doing research anyway, and if you happen to solve some important problem and can prove it, eventually word will get out and people will notice (one would hope).

<comment><USER5> A big problem is the lack of publication access though. I happen to have most accounts through work (ACM, IEEE, etc.), but if I didn't, I'd have to find other ways to get about half the papers I read.

I think the "unschooled" approach is more appealing for practitioners / systems software. BitTorrent and BitCoin both have had papers, though of course that's wasn't their real point, and not their real impact.

If you want to prove results, it seems rare to have the motivation outside the academic community. The environment and feedback is important.

But I'd be interested in any examples of people who have done this. I recall seeing some examples of professors without Ph.D.'s a few months back on HN.

I think anyone who is proving good theoretical results will be quickly offered an academic job, and take it, since they likely won't have another way of supporting themselves.

<comment><USER4> Yeah... I wasn't so much suggesting that it's a viable path to a career in research as observing that if you missed your chance to do a PhD, you're not cut off for life from the subjective rewards of research that Dr. Harchol- Balter alluded to, like the satisfaction that comes from working on fundamental problems. You'd need more self-motivation. However, when research isn't your real job, there's no pressure, so you can take your time, and produce results or not, as you wish.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> It was a very good article and I agreed with most of it except that people who decide to leave academia after PhD still have learned a lot: self management, self motivation and critical thinking as well as learning how to think are several of them. I would say that thinking of PhD as a wasted time assuming that the person is not pursuing academic career is something I don't agree with.

</comment><comment><USER7> Pretty good advice, much of it not exclusive to CS alone. In particular the notes about the opportunity cost involved with getting a PhD.

I'd add to this: find out with absolute clarity upfront what the terms are for applying as a doctoral student vs. a masters student (with option to matriculate).

Often there is an expectation that doctoral students can and will pass qualifying exams within a pretty short period of time (a year perhaps) of being accepted to their program. This was the case in my own program.

<comment><USER8> I wish the opp cost was made more clear cut in some way. Maybe a rite of passage where you take a picture of a house and burn it or something. These days when an undergrad can pull 6 figures, a PhD is very, very costly.

</comment></comment><comment> Vega-Lyra I have BS in CS, MBA-FINANCE, neither will provide the real experience in a real hacker world, less will do a Ph.D a total waste of money and a debt that will hunt you for a long time. Time=Money [https://www.coursera.org/](https://www.coursera.org/)

</comment><comment><USER9> Sorry for the aside, this opened for me in pdf.js in firefox (on archlinux) and the font rendered very poorly, but when I downloaded it and looked at it in zathura (vi-like pdf viewer) the font looked fine. Does anybody know what I can do to fix the fonts in pdf.js?

<comment><USER10> I am using pdf.js with Firefox 27 Nightly on Ubuntu, and its rendering fine for me.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> Manuel Blum's page on research[1] is also relevant. He was Mor's advisor.

[1] [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mblum/research/pdf/grad.html](https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mblum/research/pdf/grad.html)

</comment><comment><USER12> Thanks for share great doc.

</comment><comment><USER13> In Europe a PhD is 3years~ why such a difference?

<comment><USER14> The European system follows a strictly defined progression, LMD:

Licence: 3 years after high school, equivalent to a US BSc.

Master: +2 years on top of the previous, equivalent to a US MSc.

Doctorate: +3 years on top of the previous, equivalent to a US PhD.

Some PhDs can take a bit more time - it's not uncommon for a student to take an extra 6 months or so (or to start a few months after the official school year starts, because of funding issues). However, I've never heard of someone's PhD taking 4 or 5 years or more (although I'm sure it may happen in some edge cases).

The reason why Licence is 3 years compared to the US's 4 is that it's very focused: often, students don't pick which classes they take until the end of their curriculum (where you can pick classes for a specialty relevant to your discipline; for example, AI or Graphics for CS). There are a few general ed classes (for example macro economics, English as a second language, etc.), but definitely less than the US. Similarly, you don't get too pick. I've seen US students get a BSc. in Computer Science and having taken theater and anthropology classes in their first year; this does not happen in Europe (and you do notice that in the US, some very focused students do get their BSc. in 3 years).

This also means that the average euro student with a licence is typically stronger in her field than the average US student with a BSc.; however, the downside is that you can't change majors halfway or anything. If you do 1.5 years of CS and then realize you want to go do something else, it's pretty much back to square one.

The reason why a PhD is shorter is also due to the fact that it is common for the 2nd year of the Master (M2) to be split in two branches- the standard one, and M2R (for Master 2 Research) for students who know they want to go into research. M2Rs typically include a 6 months internship in a lab, where you start working on topics that will be related to your PhD (you can still go work after an M2R and not do a PhD, but it's uncommon).

Source: I've been through the French, British, and US university systems :)

<comment><USER4> A US PhD is considered more substantial and held in higher esteem than a European one.

<comment><USER14> Really? How so? I was a research assistant in a US lab, and we interacted regularly with European groups of PhD students/post docs/professors, there was never such a feeling. I have friends doing a PhD back home, and they publish at international conferences etc. just like their American peers.

Citation needed?

<comment><USER4> Note that by PhD I mean the degree itself, not the person holding it -- I'm sure highly talented people do PhDs in Europe. The simple fact that a US PhD is more time consuming would be enough to account for a difference in esteem. Check out arjunnarayan's comments on this same topic on a parallel thread -- he has more to say about it than I do. I'm repeating what I've heard, and IIRC I heard it from CS professors where I went to college -- the same one where Mor Harchol-Balter works.

<comment><USER14> Thanks for the pointers to the comments. They're interesting to read, just like the replies to them.</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment>


Apply HN: Anonymous P2P therapy phone calls (going through a rough time?) - <AUTHOR> What we do: We like to think of it as a 'Anonymous User to User therapy sessions'. We are building a mobile app that allows users who are going through a rough time in their life to be connected to a random person around the world to have a real phone call with.
Why: We all go through rough times. It can be school, love life, or not getting into YC fellowship (hint). Some of these things are very tough to talk about with people you know IRL (judgmental, embarrassing, they don't care, ect). And we all know for a fact that talking it out with someone and getting advice is a great way to fix problems. This is done much easier when it's an anonymous person on the other end so you can be 100% free.
How it works: Imagine you just got denied from YC fellowship. You're there lying in bed all embarrassed and sad, but you can't tell anyone about it because you're just not that close to someone else. You pick up Yusuf's app and automatically connect to a random person around the world who is also going through a tough time. You tell each other the story of what you're going through and comfort each other. It's simple as that.
Sure, I can talk more about our marketing strategy, product features, monetization, ect. But I'll let you guys ask those questions (if you want to!)
Wanna know more about US (4 founders), past startup experience, more on our product, ect? ASK!! <comment><USER2> I talked to a friend who was considering building this kind of startup recently. The two 'hard questions' that I found were:

1) How do you plan to deal with abuse? Connecting anonymous Internet users to people who are at their most vulnerable seems like a recipe ripe for disaster.

2) How do you plan to differentiate from, for instance, 7 Cups?

<comment><AUTHOR> Hey, jwise. I'm gonna call you Justin wise.

Seems like everyone suddenly is having this idea now lol. Hopefully you don't delete your comment after I respond like the last two guys.

Well, Justin 1\. It may seem like a recipe for disaster and we won't say that every interaction will be golden. That's why we have a review system to make sure there's no trolls and everyone is being nice. And we also have a key feature on our current build, which is 'find help' or 'help'.

2\. We think 7 cups isn't doing it efficiently. They are chat based and their listeners have to go through a sign up process that takes too long. We want things on demand. And voice.

<comment><USER2> Well, you can call me that, but that's not my name :-)

I'll not delete my comment. I'm worried, really, about two categories of abuse: 1) Abusers who are not persistent, but who create multiple accounts rapidly (i.e., aiming to get a quick laugh). They use Tor or VPNs to create accounts for 'easy' harassment. 2) Abusers who will take advantage of vulnerable users (i.e., "the long con") over multiple sessions, or who will act in bad faith over the long term.

Do you have data that indicates that people are unhappy with the level of service that 7 Cups provides?

<comment><AUTHOR> With any product created, you'll have the potential of having trolls. I'm sure even 7 cups has it too. And generally trolls don't attack vulnerable people to the point where they're using proxy or VPN's. Let alone on voice calls.

There's not much data of how unhappy 7 cups members are (maybe they're happy).

But neither of those reasons are good enough to NOT try something. Because you won't know if you're gonna have trolls or if your users will have a better experience from a competitor unless you try it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER3> Have you considered using this idea as a way to change the way suicide hotline works?

it is true that as humans we all have experienced stressful and difficult times in our lives,and knowing that there's an easy to reach-shoulder that is willing to hear your problem and advice you is something that I'm willing to try. Great concept and idea! Wish guys the best of luck!

<comment><AUTHOR> Suicide hotline is very inefficient. Anyone who has ever called them will tell you that it's like calling the police on yourself because they force you to do certain things (like keep a watch on you (like sending the police to your house).

Sometimes users just want another human being to talk to them and hear their problems, and possibly give advice too.

Thanks so much for your positive feedback! We thought of this idea not long ago and already started building it.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Recently I read a story about how a Veterans suicide line went to a voicemail. Horrifying. There is a startup here, maybe it's a non-profit.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for your feedback!

Do you mind elaborating on your comment a bit more?

<comment><USER4> Here's the story I read recently. I think I may have first heard about it on NPR. [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/va-suicide-hotline-calls-went- to...](http://www.cbsnews.com/news/va-suicide-hotline-calls-went-to-voicemail- report-finds)

It's a heartbreaking story about the VA suicide hotline going to voicemail. Every day there are 22 veterans who commit suicide, which sparked the formation of an Instagram account and eventual non-profit called 22 Too Many. [http://www.22toomany.com](http://www.22toomany.com)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Would it be truly random, or would there be some effort to match people likely to understand each other's backgrounds and problems?

<comment><AUTHOR> It would be random at first to bring in users (gotta get them somehow), but as our user base continues to grow larger we will be creating categories (school, relationships, family, ect.)

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> How much you plan to charge for this?

<comment><AUTHOR> We do not plan on charging anyone for the usage of this app.

Monetization isn't exactly our FIRST priority (user experience is for now), but we do have some ideas behind it. For examples, ads can easily bring in revenue if needed. Or even qualified trained therapist are able to provide 'exceptionally higher' help for a fee (this is further in the future of course).

</comment></comment><comment><USER7> How far into development are you?

</comment><comment><USER8> Chatroulette, and tons of similars, already do this if you wanna just chat in audio without the webcam.</comment>


Operations Anti-Patterns - <AUTHOR> http://opsantipatterns.com/

<comment><USER3> Heres another anti-pattern: big buttons with only the text being clickable

<comment><USER4> Especially when they highlight on mouseover

<comment><USER5> (Especially when a many of them don't have link targets, and most of the rest are to pages that 404. I'm betting the site is simply not finished.)

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> Great read

> (Editor's Note: In order to preserve the anonymity of my sources, the > company in question will be referred to as "Friendly Business", or "FB." And > I will pick a random name for ops engineers, such as "Mark.")

<comment><USER7> Agree, it's a great read. I also thought the mention of "Plebian Stable" Linux being "as old as dirt" was insightful (and a great play on words, because "pleb" means "of the people"). Packages on the stable version of Debian are so outdated that using it in production typically requires constant back-porting of more modern packages, introducing all sorts of operational risks that threaten its stability.

<comment><USER8> I think this is a more of a case of wrong tool for the job. For example if i have a fairly static mail server configuration then it could best served by stable - I get security updates back ported but I won't have significant changes in the underlying platform whipping the carpet from under my feet.

Choosing stable for say the website may not be such a good fit though - <USER2> website is permanently in a state of flux due to having money and developer time invested with a lot more vigor, introducing new technologies to the stack, I'd be better deploying testing or more likely unstable under that stack.

For all I love Debian, the naming scheme has cost me many hours explanation to senior ops management over my younger years!

All that said, there is also the valid ops concern about developers introducing unproven tech just because it's in fashion even though there is no business, operational, architectural or even development advantage to be demonstrated or even hypothesised from it.

Its not fun for anyone when you have A team of developers with their dummy's out the pram because you wont open any to any routes on the dmz firewall so they can use some new sexy message queue when any one of the well behaved, well proven, stable alternatives would offer the same advantages.

<comment><USER9> _Its not fun for anyone when you have A team of developers with their dummy's out the pram because you wont open any to any routes on the dmz firewall so they can use some new sexy message queue when any one of the well behaved, well proven, stable alternatives would offer the same advantages._

This sounds exactly like the type of infighting caused by having the developers not responsible for their app in production and having the ops team not responsible for meeting the needs of the app. Right or wrong, if this happens enough the developers will eventually get their own budget and go to Heroku.

<comment><USER8> Just so we're all clear, opening any to any rules on the DMZ means no longer having a DMZ.

That could be a valid move - there are always trade offs to consider and possibly the trade offs stack up such that you should no longer have a separate network for public facing services.

However it's part of the ops team's role to mediate all interested parties requirements and not just allow random changes to make something work right this second because one party needs it for their requirements. Every other team might be a bit miffed if we opened that thus breaking our SOX and PCI requirements and so landing us with a heavy fine, or worse.

I think the point you're trying to make is there are cases where such an action could be warranted and so the goal should be to make that resolution process as fast and as painless as possible for all parties.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Reads like a constructive version of <http://thedailywtf.com/> , maybe because of the anonymized stories. But good read :-)

</comment><comment><USER11> Very good read, bookmarking!</comment>


Trifacta Wrangler: A Free Data Wrangling Tool on the Desktop - <AUTHOR> http://www.trifacta.com/trifacta-wrangler/ <comment><USER2> The is nothing better out there than what Trifacta has to offer.

</comment><comment><USER2> I love this service! It is so user-friendly!

</comment><comment><USER3> Data wrangling for everyone!</comment>


Don't be a dick, with git - <AUTHOR> http://www.alexefish.com/post/52e5652520a0460016000002

<comment><USER2> I don't think these apply generally.

Sometimes it makes sense to have big changes in one commit instead of 10 commits that are logically one change.

> Never commit directly to develop/master, this is a classic git dick move.

> Rebase is your friend, merge commits are your enemy.

In one paragraph the author tells us not commit directly into the main branch, in the other one tells us not to do merges. The reality is that in some cases it makes sense to commit without branching first and sometimes it is nicer to rebase then to merge, however there is no one size fits all solution which this posts seems to suggest before it contradicts itself.

> Never commit directly to develop/master, this is a classic git dick move. > Doing this side steps any code review or ci build safety checks you should > have in place. Thus hugely increasing the chance of commiting broken code > and breaking everything for everybody else when they pull down from remote.

I don't understand how are these things linked together, I think the author is confusing development process with version control and making absolute statements based on his specific process.

I also don't get how does the overuse of the word "dick" adds value to the content.

Overall this article is full of statements that are false in general, they are tied to the way the author works.

</comment><comment><USER3> You know, I work with a lot of people with different work styles, many of which violate one or more of these rules, and my idea of not being a dick is to not act they are terrible people for e.g. putting TODOs in code. We don't really need yet another list of What Everyone Else Is Doing Wrong.</comment>


Nuclear Reactor Wall Charts - <AUTHOR> http://bibliodyssey.blogspot.com/2009/12/nuclear-reactor-wall-charts.html <comment><USER2> Reminds me of Stephen Biesty's books. <http://amzn.com/0590738704> Blew my mind as a kid. Come to think of it, my nephew needs an xmas present.

</comment><comment><USER3> Repost -

NEI has generously provided permission to share the drawings free-of-charge at a resolution consistent with print-out at roughly 11"x17", which is very usable "for educational purposes," e.g., in the classroom. NEI retains the rights to higher resolution images, and marketing thereof.

With this in mind I collected hard copies of the charts for 100+ reactors and have had them digitized. The University of New Mexico set up the website, and will be repository for the 40+ hard-copy charts I had in my personal collection.

The reactor diagrams are copyright Nuclear Engineering International magazine. High-resolution scans, and poster prints, are available for sale. For more information or a quotation contact wdal at neimagazine dot com.

BTW -- I, too, wish someone had done such drawings for Chernobyl, the Russian VVER, and a few other unique designs. Some of the reactor vendors have e-pictures of their current offerings.

<comment><USER3> P.S. Article in Wired this morning <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1006656>

<comment><USER3> Actually here: <http://current.com/16ega4c>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER4> Wow, I really want to make a poster of this as a gift. Do you think I could take this file to Kinkos and have them make a poster of it?

<comment><USER5> Looking at the Original size, there is too much JPEG compression for it to be usable for print. Some needs to upload a document format of this (PDF or otherwise) or a higher-resolution image.

<comment><AUTHOR> Actually, as mentioned in the article, the original pdfs are from:

<http://econtent.unm.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2Fnuceng>

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER6> It would be great if there was one for Chernobyl.

<comment><USER7> This is the best diagram I could find of the RBMK-1000 design:

[http://www.neimagazine.com/journals/Power/NEI/March_2006/att...](http://www.neimagazine.com/journals/Power/NEI/March_2006/attachments/RBMK1000Key.jpg)

<comment><USER8> Not to criticize this one, but it's interesting to see the difference between a diagram like this one and the ones linked. Definitely gives me an appreciation of technical illustrators that can make something that preserves information and looks impressive.</comment></comment></comment>


YouTube, now in Super HD - <AUTHOR> http://mrdoob.com/lab/youtube/superHD/

<comment><USER2> I'm surprised by how well it works. It could be great for presentations with text in the slides.

</comment><comment><USER3> Excerpt from the html sourcecode:

 _I managed to crop the video in 4 and having the first one with the audio.

At first I though FLV decompression was going to be hard for any CPU and having 4 videos playing at once was going to be hard, but in the end it wasn't too bad. ...

Anyway, the next day, I removed the audio from the first video (i,e cropped it again with virtualdub but without the audio), and then created a new video (black) with the music and if you take a look at the code, you'll see that there are 5 youtube players. Well, video0 is the one that plays the music, but as you can see on the styles, it's hidden. So if something goes behind the rest will be the music, and well, neither in the original video the music was 100% synced so I guess it does properly it's job._

.

By the way, it is a Rick Astley video, but not the usual one.</comment>


It's a Recession (Officially) - Since last December - <AUTHOR> http://wwwdev.nber.org/dec2008.html <comment><USER2> Well its about time they tell us - not that anyone couldn't tell you the same thing. Experts, sigh.

<comment><USER3> A lot of times I wonder if the so called experts really are experts.

<comment><USER2> I think they're really good at telling us what happened, but really bad at predicting anything. After all, if they were able to, they'd probably not doing that job, they'd be rich instead.

<comment><USER4> That doesn't make them experts, that just makes them _me_.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> maxklein, if you read this, please tell me how this latest update is "propaganda for our election cycle"

(<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=326852>)</comment>


Celebrating 30 Years of the ZX Spectrum - <AUTHOR> http://snippetsandhelp.blogspot.ro/2012/09/celebrating-30-years-of-zx-spectrum.html

<comment><USER2> Ah - my first computer was a 16k Spectrum.

Fond memories of writing a "tron" game by hand assembling Z80A from the manual.

Good times :-)

<comment><USER3> And the weird video memory layout of the 48k... :)</comment></comment>


Software Business Idea: Make a Software Distribution Platform like the iPhone App Store - <AUTHOR> http://www.philosophistry.com/archives/2008/11/software_business_idea_make_a_software_distribution_platform_like_the_iphone_app_store_and_steam.html <comment><USER3> Yes. Yes _very_ please.

Every time I have to reinstall or get a new computer, I spend a week or two saving & backing up the old and setting up the new - installing dozens of programs and tweaking tweaking. Anything that helps me out there would be awesome - especially if it could save & restore my program (and OS) settings.

I always loved Steam because it remembered what I had and happily started downloading & installing all my games without fuss or needing to re-enter a dozen CD keys.

How to get app developers on board is the big question. There's a sort of critical mass that has to be reached, I think.

Another issue is how, exactly, to stamp out malware? Article didn't really touch on details. Letting the users report it seems mean - making some take the bullet and potentially get identities stolen and data wiped - <USER2> screening apps before letting them in is pretty infeasible at large scale - Apple's app store has hinted at that.</comment>