Ask HN: Hands hurts from coding too long? - <AUTHOR> This is the first time this has happened, but I was coding on my 13" MBP for 5 hours straight last night, and this morning my hands are really tight and sore. I've never had carpal tunnel so I'm a little paranoid that that's what's going on. Any shared experiences is appreciated. <comment><USER2> If you're experiencing any sort of pain, do not attempt to power through it. It's your body trying to tell you something's wrong. Step away from the keyboard and get some rest.

</comment><comment><USER3> Get a full-sized, _mechanical_ keyboard and see if that doesn't help things. The tactile feedback from mechanical switches tells your fingers how much pressure to apply and when to let go, so you don't press too hard or bottom out early. My hands used to become gnarled claws after enough hours at the keyboard; with a Das Keyboard Professional, that simply doesn't happen.

</comment><comment><USER4> Laptop keyboards and trackpads are not ergonomic enough for prolonged daily use. Get a full-sized keyboard and mouse pronto.

Within a week of making the switch, the pain in my hands made a significant improvement.

For even more ergonomics, get some cushioned wrist pads for your mouse and keyboard, (many ergonomic keyboards come with one built in). That's the second biggest culprit in RSIs.

</comment><comment><USER5> Yeah, agree with other comments to _not_ ignore the pain, and don't attempt to type through it. That's how I've exacerbated my carpal tunnel in the past.

Try a different keyboard. I'd recommend the Microsoft split keyboard, it has worked wonders for my carpal tunnel.

If it continues, see a neurologist.

</comment><comment><USER6> I think carpal tunnel would be in your wrists . . . it could be from clenching/tightening your hands in your sleep. I expect that would be more from stress than coding.

I've had something similar off and on the past month. I code on a 13" air 4 or 5 hours per day, regular keyboard the rest of the work day. No previous problems, same routine.

I've woken up with pain in my fingers and hands a couple days per week the past month, I think it's clenching hands in my sleep.

Hope you're feeling better.

<comment><USER7> I have pain in my fingers (especially index finger of my right hand). I've always hit the keys on the keyboard hard (I picked up that habit when I had to work on some terminals with _really_ stiff keyboards back in the day). It's worse on keyboards with short key travel. I think the index finger is worse, because it also gets to do the mouse clicking.

I'm 54. At this point, it could be the beginnings of arthritis...

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> In the short term I'd recommend doing relaxed dynamic stretching on your wrist and fingers every few hours, massage your forearms by hand or with a roam roller, and consider wearing wrist bands if that's where some of your pain is. It's also helpful to readjust the height you sit at, or try standing. When you do start typing again, buy a timer or get a digital one and take regular breaks.

I've had this problem too after spending a lot of time on the computer, even to the point of buying a pair of wrist braces that I wore at night. Some kind of compression with a brace, band, or tape is usually helpful for injuries involving smaller muscles, ligaments and tendons. More importantly though, I'd recommend not getting to the point I was at. I read about many people who injured themselves far worse, requiring surgery and major lifestyle and work- related changes. The complete answer is much more holistic, but sleep and rest will help you the most.

</comment><comment><USER9> I began experiencing the same thing as you and I found a solution 2 years ago. You don't need to see a doctor, you don't need a mechanical keyboard, you don't need to reduce the amount of type you type.

The quickest thing you can do is stretch and massage your hands and wrists every once in while. Make your right hand go limp, put it in the palm of your left hand and use your fingers to gently massage and manipulate the various parts of your hand, then switch hands.

After that, what I would suggest is an ergonomic keyboard and mouse. The Microsoft Ergonomic Keyboard 4000 can be found for $40-60 online and is a great first step for ergonomic keyboarding. It took me about 2 weeks to get used to using this keyboard, but I credit it with removing much of my hand and wrist pain. I also started using a trackball mouse. With a trackball, you are not using your wrist at all, everything is driven by your thumb, and your hand is generously supported by the bulky mouse body.

<comment><USER10> +1 also forearm massage. That's where a lot of the tendons run through. Check out some diagrams of where they are and get a feel for it. Go from the wrist all the way up to your elbow.

</comment></comment><comment><USER11> I developed what I thought was carpal tunnel. I went to the doctor and had xrays. They said they could see nothing wrong. I was in serious pain. I switched to a trackball, and I did experiments with my desk height, keyboard, monitor height, standing desks, posture, yoga, stretching, sleeping with braces, cold and hot compresses...

I'm ashamed that I debug computer programs for a living but I couldnt figure it out. In the same year, I had started using a machete to chop soft wood pine trees down in my new backyard. I didnt own a chainsaw and it was hilarious to me the method. There was enough delay between the activity and pain that I never figured it out.

My wrists started to feel after a year or so of not doing this ridiculous activity. How did it finally click? I randomly chopped one straggler tree down that I had missed, and a week later was back in agony.

So, really step back and try to look at the big picture. Sometimes we can be blind.

</comment><comment><USER12> My hands and arms have been in pain for over a decade now from programming for far too many hours. You need to take this very seriously.

Most people do recover eventually after rest. Please be one of these people and do not power through it until the damage is permanent. No job is worth your long term health.

</comment><comment><USER10> I agree with the other poster saying to look at everything else you're doing as well. My knee hurt for a few weeks starting a few days after moving house. Look into hand exercises. Rock climbing (especially bouldering) can help if you're up for it / live by a rock gym or somewhere lucky enough to have good outdoor climbing. The Microsoft Sculpt keyboard and mouse are the best I've found ergo-wise. imovr makes desks with solid keyboard platforms which can tilt to pretty extreme negative angles if you find that that helps as well. The sculpt KB comes with a negative angle riser as well, to get a feel for if you like that type of thing.

</comment><comment><USER13> See a doctor and get a referral to a specialist.

<comment><USER14> Why would he refer you to a specialist when you tell him _" This is the first time this has happened, but I was coding on my 13" MBP for 5 hours straight last night, and this morning my hands are really tight and sore"_?

This likely is the equivalent of having sore muscles the day after runnning a marathon.

Phrased bluntly, _" don't do that"_ likely is the way to prevent this from happening.

If there are no other reasons than _" I was coding on my 13" MBP for 5 hours straight"_ to explain your symptoms, and the symptoms really are limited to "tight and sore" (as opposed to painful) I would expect your doctor to tell you just that, but a bit more politely, likely with the tip to take regular breaks.

If your doctor refers you to a specialist, I would hope it to be one on ergonomics, to prevent future problems.

<comment><USER13> > I would hope it to be one on ergonomics

That's exactly the kind of specialist I was thinking of.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER15> Time for a new keyboard and mouse. This combo: [https://evoluent.com/products/vm4r/](https://evoluent.com/products/vm4r/) [http://www.typematrix.com/](http://www.typematrix.com/) in addition to smarter keystrokes in vim solved all of my issues. This keyboard is probably a better option: [https://www.kinesis-ergo.com/](https://www.kinesis-ergo.com/)

</comment><comment><USER16> Aside from getting new hardware (which I do suggest), try taking a break every 30-45 minutes. Walk around the room, talk to some people, eat some food, etc. It'll also help you think.

Make sure your body position is comfortable and you're not leaning too far forward or backward.

Lastly, stay hydrated! Fluids is key for long hours in front of the computer. Good Luck!

</comment><comment><USER17> This is gonna sound like some crystal healing mumbo jumbo, but here we go anyway: I had tons of issues with my wrists, fingers, shoulders, and back when I first started programming. I tried all the ergonomic gear. It made a difference, for sure, but the thing that finally made the pain go away was getting strong with barbells.

</comment><comment><USER18> Don't worry about it too much. Worrying can actually make you tense up your muscles, which makes it hurt more...

1\. Make sure you stay warm! Last episode I had with arm pain was due to being under air conditioner vent. Wearing sweater solved the problem.

2\. If you have ongoing problems, get a better keyboard.

3\. Stretching and massage are good too.

4\. Take breaks, don't work 5 hours straight.

</comment><comment><USER19> 5 hours straight isn't a good idea for your hands, your eyes, or your heart. Practice 20-20-20 [1] and move around at least once an hour.

[1] [https://opto.ca/health-library/the-20-20-20-rule](https://opto.ca/health- library/the-20-20-20-rule)

</comment><comment><USER20> I had this happen two weeks into my first job after college. I was freaking out. I bought a Microsoft Natural keyboard and haven't had a problem since.

Also, laptop keyboards are horrible. Do not use them for a long time.

Get an ergonomic keyboard and plug it into your laptop.

</comment><comment><USER21> Replacing the laptop touchpad by a wacom tablet helped in my case, a lot, but I admit that it was a little cumbersome to carry it with the laptop. At 21% VAT, I just forgot to buy a new one.

</comment><comment><USER22> Having a keyboard at a lower level than your desk can help with this. Investing in a monitor and keyboard tray is probably a good idea.

</comment><comment><USER23> I always try to use the same keyboard at home and at work (mine is a Qpad 85 with cherry mx red), typing on a laptop is a real pain.

</comment><comment><USER24> Could be RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury). I had that after binge coding for an extended amount of days without doing anything else. My right forearm was perpetually contracted and hand was prohibitively stiff.

Went to a massage therapist who massaged my trapezoids, some spots in my back and finally my forearm. After 2 sessions over 3 days, it was gone. But I didn't code during that time.

Side note: pretty sure I got much more programming done during my time off the computer than on.

</comment><comment><USER25> \- Get a full size keyboard.

\- Start using IDEs or do more with editor macros.

\- Make sure your hands return to a comfortable position when not actively typing.

</comment><comment><USER26> Take breaks more regularly and take a day off. It happens to the best of us from time to time.</comment>


A tool to make online personal data vanish - <AUTHOR> http://www.physorg.com/news167395285.html

<comment><USER2> This is a really cool idea.

My only issue is I dont see how it could work for anything except the odd message or image.

Unless you can specifically set the exact time it lasts the thing becomes a bit hit and miss...</comment>


Apple Hides Its Latest Samsung Apology With Some Clever Code - <AUTHOR> http://updates.gizmodo.com/post/34975782429/apple-hides-its-latest-samsung-apology-with-some

<comment><USER2> I thought it was funny that the judge Specified Arial add the font.</comment>


GMail: designer arrogance and the cult of minimalism - <AUTHOR> https://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/gmail-designer-arrogance-and-the-cult-of-minimalism/

<comment><USER2> It would have been great if the focus on the Gmail UI was aimed at "making it a better experience". Making it "minimal" doesn't mean making it good or bad. Minimal design can be great in some cases and certainly bad in others. I do agree however that this UI was not an improvement over the old one and the old UI certainly could have used improvement.

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Thank you thank you thank you!</comment>


Show HN: Leviathan, a Fast Clojure IDE for MacOS - <AUTHOR> https://github.com/sdegutis/Leviathan <comment><AUTHOR> Author here. This project was born out of a frustration with the difficulties of adding certain features to Emacs as extensions. It's dormant right now, but it works, and if there's interest, it could see a revival of activity.</comment>


Not Having A Real Job - <AUTHOR> http://edu.mkrecny.com/thoughts/not-having-a-real-job <comment><USER3> Let me get this straight.

Your solution to feeling socially isolated, having no fulfilling hobbies outside of work, and your apparent unhappiness, despite your success, is to _open a co-working space_?

Folks, this is as clear as an indictment of the culture as you get.

I work out of a co-working space. They're great. I am slowly working my way up the informal foosball rankings. And I'm not particularly good at living life, but we're still working at the financial stability part.

There is more to life than work, even if you were blessed with huge natural reservoirs of motivation. Learn to paint. Learn to cook. Learn another language. Write fiction, investigate some non-fiction, learn how to take beautiful photographs (pro-tip: your iPhone is an amazing camera), READ BOOKS, start playing a team sport in an adult rec league, go camping, if you can afford it GO TRAVELLING, oh my god you have the money and total flex but you won't go travelling?, VOLUNTEER at the homeless shelter, at the library, at the office of a political cause you believe in, INTERACT WITH OTHER HUMAN BEINGS [in a setting outside of "lol tech startups" once in a while].

<comment><USER4> Why does everyone say 'travel' or 'volunteer' when these questions get asked?

I'm not being rhetorical or sarcastic. I genuinely don't know. I can only assume that it's something I'm missing and everyone else just 'gets' without having to say it outloud (this has happened) or ... something else?

I've done both and I can't say I really cared for travelling since it's such a hassle. As for volunteering, which I've done, it feels exactly like work -- except even less people wanted to talk than before. Do people who give this advice actually go volunteer?

> INTERACT WITH OTHER HUMAN BEINGS

Yelling at people doesn't help. It kind of feels like people are telling a person to just cheer up if they're clinically depressed.

I think that the problems here, and their solutions, are a lot more complicated than anyone gives them credit for.

<comment><USER5> Volunteering and traveling both put you in a position you are not normally in. They will give you new ways to look at things, from how you might be acting as a customer (volunteering) to how much work goes on behind the scenes (volunteering) and how different people live, work, and play (travel). It's mind-expansion. It's fun. It's rewarding. You make new friends. You find new things to love. Your perceptions change. You become a different person.

Of course, you can also volunteer and travel and get absolutely nothing out of it. Depends.

<comment><USER4> > Volunteering and traveling both put you in a position you are not normally > in.

Volunteering is work. Sometimes hard work, back breaking even. I don't do it for fun, and certainly not the pay. I did it a few times to try to see what it is people get from it, and while it was nice to help people in need, I don't see it as you listed. I'll probably do it again soon because someone has to do the work.

> It's mind-expansion. It's fun. It's rewarding. You make new friends. You > find new things to love. Your perceptions change. You become a different > person.

I don't see it as, "Man, you blew my mind" type expansion (what ever that means). In fact, a lot of what you just said could be applied to just plain work.

Again, either people are getting something from it that I don't 'get' without having someone enunciate exactly what it is or people who give this advice don't really volunteer, or _something_ that needs explaining to me.

<comment><USER6> I don't think there is anything more to it. I think it is a matter of personality or perhaps something along the lines of "neural wiring."

I feel pretty much the same as you do - for stuff like this the juice just isn't worth the squeeze. I think that for some people the juice just tastes better - maybe they have "taste buds" that I lack or maybe I have a much better imagination such that the difference between the actual "juice" and just thinking about the juice is much smaller. FWIW, I also get no pleasure out of physical activity, no runner's high and after working with a physical trainer 4 days a week for two years getting into shape and dropping 75lbs to a normal weight I felt no better than I did when I was fat - the only difference that was perceptible to me was that my old clothes were too loose. Maybe that's all related, maybe not.

<comment><USER7> fwiw I never got any pleasure out of physical training either - <USER2> weights, running, etc is just pure tedium for me.

I do, however, get a surprising emotional boost from physical _work_. Axe, shovel, sledgehammer, wheelbarrow. I don't so it all that regularly, and the effects would no doubt wear off pretty damn fast if it was my day job, but when I do it invariably puts a smile on my face

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER8> I quit using terms like "real job" and "real world" a long time ago (back when I was working as a deckhand on a ship). I don't like that it implies that you are doing something less- that other people are more legitimate because they are on the beaten path. Now I use the term "regular job" and "regular world". On another note, some people thrive in the solo-work arrangement. My creativity has soared since I quit having senseless meetings, or bureaucratic red tape to get through. Good that you recognized that you don't naturally build social networks- As my business has grown it forced me out to meet so many people that now I have reserved entire days to be back in my private office working alone- hoping I can tap into the creativity that comes from solitude.

<comment><USER9> Great quote from the book 'Net Magic', by Lee Siegel:

        "I'm writing a book on magic," I explain, and I'm asked, "Real
        magic?" By real magic people mean miracles, thaumaturgical acts,
        and supernatural powers.  "No," I answer: "Conjuring tricks, not
        real magic."  Real magic, in other words, refers to the magic
        that is not real, while the magic that is real, that can
        actually be done, is not real magic.

The parallel is limited, of course, because you _can_ be employed in a "real job" / "regular job". But the point is, when people say "real job" they don't mean that other jobs are not real things, they mean that they don't fully have the property of _job-ness_. And I'd argue that they're right, and that's exactly why many people don't want to have a "real job". Some people want a job that has only SOME of the properties of job-ness.

(some of the properties of "job-ness": pays enough to raise a family, has reasonable security, has the thing they call "benefits", telegraphs information about you to people who want to make a snap judgement about you (including e.g. your extended family), keeps you busy from 8am to 6pm, gives you a defined social role and a defined social context)

</comment></comment><comment><USER10> So you're working from home and it's making you feel crappy because you're not socializing, you're working bizarre hours, and you're not capable of picking up non-work-related hobbies?

Why jump into immediately advertising your co-working space? Feels like a weird bait-and-switch. Why not stick out the work-from-home thing for a bit and actually see if you can solve some of these problems? Because, yes, if you can then you'll have a nicely flexible life. Hell, start with working only during normal business hours. Do things with buddies in the evenings. Join a sports league. Then see how you feel.

Right now, this reads a bit like: "I tried using chopsticks instead of a fork for the first time, and after poking myself in the eye a dozen times, I decided chopsticks aren't for me and that I should instead open a fork factory."

Also: I work from home. I am an independent developer. It's a "real job." Can we please put to rest this stupid idea that freelancing isn't "real?" It's very real.

<comment><USER11> I completely agree. This felt like such a bait-and-switch post.

And as someone who works from home - I have as much a social life as earlier (in a "real" job).

</comment></comment><comment><USER12> This really struck the perfect HN balance between arrogance and whining with a sales pitch thrown in. If I were writing an HNbot this post is what I would aspire to.

</comment><comment><USER13> I telecommute, and I can definitely relate to most of this post. There's something really refreshing about being able to step out at 1pm, run for an hour, hit a bar for lunch, meander back home, and settle back into coding again. It feels great, but especially in the winter months, the lack of daily social interaction catches up with you really quickly.

</comment><comment><USER14> I cannot praise this enough. The greatest achievements in the world have come from a gathering of bright and passionate people, discussing and vetting their ideas together.

As deep thinkers, we tend to seek isolation to focus the entirety of our mental faculty on a particular problem. In this quest to make efficient use of our biological computing device, we forget that we are indeed humans forged through evolutionary processes, and that our very sanity depends on a positively reinforcing social foundation.

The most difficult task is finding like minded individuals, who would spontaneously coalesce as if by a force of nature but are held apart due to spatial or temporal separation. Once this initial barrier is overcome, such minds become inseparable and often go on to do great things. History is abound with examples such as Godel and Einstein, whose friendship began in the most extraordinary of circumstances but ended up changing our very understanding of the universe.

So good luck, and god speed!

<comment><USER15> _The greatest achievements in the world have come from a gathering of bright and passionate people, discussing and vetting their ideas together._

Nonsense. Any equal number of "greatest" achievements have come from a individuals working persistently in solitude, in humble settings.

<comment><USER16> Each of which only only mattered to the world at large because many others proceeded to spread and implement those achievements.

<comment><USER17> Sure... now we're debating on what proportion of an undefined set conforms to whose preconceptions. This is intelligent.

We could avoid all of this if people would just learn to make their points without also having to jump to outrageous and/or totally unsubstantiated conclusions in addition to just stating what would otherwise be a perfectly valid _opinion_.

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Haven't had a real job in 10 years, luckily.

Instead of going to the gym, I grab my board and surf for an hour or 2, waves/wind permitting.

Travel and code, not too shabby. Make far less $$ than I would in a 9-5 (+ commute/traffic) office setting, but quality of life is much better. I feel like absolute garbage without getting out in nature, dropping the screens for awhile.

YMMV of course, some people are at home in the hustle and bustle of the big shi$$y -- can only handle that for a few weeks max before I get restless for the unknown.

<comment><USER19> What kind of work do you do?

<comment><USER18> Freelance web dev, JVM/Scala.

<comment><USER20> How do you find Enterprisey clients that let you work remotely?

Is it also word of mouth like most regular enterprise work or do you make yourself heard in some specific communities?

<comment><USER18> "How do you find Enterprisey clients that let you work remotely?" Good question ;-)

All word of mouth -- projects run $25K on the high end. I own a couple of application servers that I run in colo stateside, and choose the stack for the client accordingly; tends to be Scala/Slick/Play of late, smitten with Scala.

Side note: I did run into a fellow surfer/coder in Hawaii a couple of winters ago doing the travel/work thing. He made around $200K/year doing C#/SQL Server work for a big Atlanta based company. As long as he made the weekly conference call (4AM Hawaii time) they had no problem with him telecommuting -- France is nice like that, got a 6 hour delay before start of business day EST ;-)

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER21> Am I the only one who thinks this is a load whiny written pseudo viral advertising for that guys 'oh so different' co working space?

I mean I pretty much resonated with all of this right until the last paragraph, where it suddenly turns into some catchy written ad for _Microhaus - an experimental incubator for people who dream bigger than the rest_

</comment><comment><USER22> I'm going to be a bit contrarian here it seems and say "good for you!"

There are a number of quasi-social-business get organizations which exist for the exact same reasons you outlined in your post. That old chestnut the Chamber of Commerce has been a social get together for small business owners forever where they could get together and share issues and influence the politicians to make a more business friendly environment.

What you have started, could potentially evolve into the technology equivalent of such organizations. Getting together with other entrepreneurs to talk about shared issues and ideas, challenges and various technologies, etc. All while working at your own independent businesses but largely in a similar 'space' (the Internet). There is tremendous efficiency to be gained there, an leverage in making changes.

<comment><USER23> I have been thinking lately that the Chamber of Commerce in most cities should be evolving into what you are describing. They could provide co-working space, events, support, advisors, etc - they could be these mini-incubators and bring new businesses into their respective areas. In my dreams I see many small "silicon valleys" (or better put, centers for innovation and incubation) all over the US.

I know the ones around where I live certainly don't do this enough, although they do try to help connect businesses in the community, and they do have some free presentations that are nice.

</comment></comment><comment><USER24> Running a company has been one of the most lonely things I've ever done. I think it's one of the hardest parts of running a company. It's no wonder founders try to form social groups amongst themselves.

I started a weekly coffee meetup in Madison, WI which has been great for reducing some of that loneliness. We also hired more people which has really helped as well!

Best of luck with Microhaus!

</comment><comment><USER25> I can relate to your feelings of solitude. I had similar difficulties coping with self-employment when my business was basically on autopilot. The fact is, just because I was able to quit my job everyone else still works M-F and finding ways to stay stimulated becomes a challenge.

My solution was to just get another job. I work a corporate job now, which is weird because I too had grand thoughts of the Tim Ferris lifestyle. It is nice to know that I do this job as a way to pass the time and remain intellectually challenged. I've already turned down a few promotions because I just don't want the responsibly. Also, if things change or my boss is a prick I have no problems just walking out and never looking back. He knows this and it has turned out to be a great manager/employee relationship because of it.

<comment><USER23> Genuine question - was your business (on "autopilot") successful enough to live off of, permanently?

It seems to me if you're "free" from the need to work (i.e. paying the bills), you then get to choose what to do with yourself. It sounds like you chose to keep working a "job". Which is cool - you chose it.

It seems to me that the freedom we seek is being able to choose and not be tied permanently into any situation (especially a bad one) by choice.

<comment><USER25> Yes, couldn't agree more. Being in control of how I spend my time is the key to being free. And yes, you're also right in the fact I have accumulated enough cash that I never have to work again, if I don't want to.

That brings up another side to this conversation about success, I hate talking about money. It's embarrassing when you're a 30 y/o with $1#M and trying to maintain a modest life (I'm not flashy but I'm no coupon clipper either). For the most part, I surround myself with (upper?)middle-class people with student loans, mortgages, credit card debt, and maybe some young children. So when a friend finds out I am a millionaire (usually another friend tells them, right in front of me), they get this weird look on their face* - and I have no idea how to react. So, I usually just say "yes, it's true" and try to change the conversation.

If I could change one thing, I would have kept my success a complete secret. As it occurs, it's exciting and you want to share and celebrate your successes ("drinks on me!"). Unfortunately, the long-term consequence is other people tend to feel this is public information and that sucks.

* It's something in their eyes, almost everyone does it and it reminds me of gollum and the way he looks at "his precious." Like, as if by instinct, the first thought in their mind is "how do I get my hands on that money?"

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER26> Since I started making my own product and freelancing, I've increased my OSS contribution by a lot. I got eleven eleven days streaking on Github and the contribution graph looks heavy since I quit - and I have a hard time giving it up.

The last two months, I've done four different libraries for iOS that are used by other people as well as bugfixes, new features and readme updates for other libraries that I use.

All of this, because I can pick what hours I do client work and I don't spend two hours a day traveling to & from an office.

Job security is fake. Especially pre-profit places.

</comment><comment><USER27> Best HN post since I've joined. I was in a very similar situation not so long ago. I know a few others as well.

Last month, I watched a lot of snooker as there was a World Championship in Sheffield. Ronnie O'Sullivan [who later won the cup] said something on that same matter. You have a fairly successful life. You have someone who is very close to you. You are good at something. Yet you lack one very important ingredient to achieve total happiness. I don't know what is the word for that ingredient.

Basically, you need to wake up in the morning, (briefly) commute and work from there. Working from home is a great thing but not for everyone. You need an office. You need something away from your flat to work at. You need that commute even if it's just staring at the nature and greeting the doorman or mailman. That's how it works for us (people who have this same problem).

I applaud microha.us. It's a great idea and it crossed my mind to do something similar in the UK.

</comment><comment><USER28> It's a great post, but I was a bit confused by the purpose of Mircrohaus and ventured on to the website. Unfortunately, I'm still a bit confused. Not confused by what it is, but by what the purpose is? I mean, why would people be attracted to this over other incubators? The application process, although seemingly informal, stil exists so I guess what I'm looking for is a sort-of pitch about Microhaus.

<comment><AUTHOR> "why would people be attracted to this over other incubators"

It's focused on developing you -as a person- rather than a product. Microhaus doesn't take equity in whatever you're working on.

<comment><USER29> Then what does Microhaus get in return? Basically, how are you planning on keeping this thing afloat?

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER30> Can I fork microha.us on github?

No seriously, I am currently thinking about renting office space, and this seems to be a great idea so I will think about using it for a microha.us session at the beginning.

</comment><comment><USER31> Doing things like hosting Wednesday board game nights, weekend hikes, and Sunday brunches have kept me "sane" in this regard. They're all great activities to have conversations.

</comment><comment><USER32> This has to be the oddest and most ridiculous attempt I've seen to form a social life.

The comments above have advised to go after interests, and whatnot. Do that, but also seek out people you already know and start doing real things with them. Push the boundaries, get to know what they really like doing with their time, form a network.

Also, "real jobs" are for suckers who aren't passionate enough to follow their interests.

<comment><USER33> _"This has to be the oddest and most ridiculous attempt I've seen to form a social life."_

It's just an advertisement for microha.us.

</comment></comment><comment><USER34> Isn't the fundamental problem that you spent 24/7 coding rather than "not having a real job" ?

</comment><comment><USER35> Off topic, sorry, but just a question in general about this type of link on HN:

Why is the font on that page so big?

Isn't it better of everyone consistently uses the same font size for content, rather than some pages using a big font for articles while others use a small font? In the past these "large font" pages did not really exist, it's a recent phenomenon...

<comment><USER36> In the past, when? In the past, screen resolution was lower on screens roughly the same size as we use now.

I find it weird how rarely people (including myself) modify the zoom level of the webpages they visit, unless they have vision problems, or are using a phone/tablet.

Erring on the side of caution, too big a font is better than too small a font.

The default font size for `p` is 16px, and it can be thought of the ideal size for text[1] on the browser. People will argue for bigger or smaller fonts[2], but I think that I see more people complaining about small fonts than big fonts, and with new higher resolution displays that have inconsistent ways of displaying pages across devices (is 1px a physical pixel? It isn't supposed to be, but most of the time it is, so front end designers assume they are, but the display size doesn't change... everybody uses a 1200x900 screen, right?), just make it readable on small high resolution displays.

Having said that, a much bigger problem than small/big fonts is low contrast font color. If people using zoom is uncommon, people using personalised style sheets are unicorns.

[1]: [http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/07/16-pixels-body- co...](http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/10/07/16-pixels-body-copy- anything-less-costly-mistake/) [2]: [http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/211/is-there-an- optima...](http://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/211/is-there-an-optimal-font- size)

</comment></comment><comment><USER37> I'm not identifying with this at all. I have strong passions outside the industry. Tasks more meanful than dealing with CRUD, servers and web applications. Hobbies/past-times that given the time and money to pursue would become my new fun "job", contribute more to society and connect with others daily.

</comment><comment><USER38> I like his idea for a co-working space but ultimately it will not bring the fulfillment he needs.

Your work is not your life. It's difficult to realize this when you're young and hacking seems like the greatest and most important thing in the world. As you get older, you gain perspective.

</comment><comment><USER39> There's a huge amount of creativity that comes from solitude - I've often felt that the biggest issue for me with having a "real job" is the fact that I can't carve out enough time to be truly alone with my thoughts. The grass is always greener... :)

<comment><USER40> I was JUST starting to think "Oh, God... I'm reaching the end of the comments and no one has suggested to read Nietzsche and enjoy your solitude, not a single person!"

Thank you, sir, for representing the underrepresented!

</comment></comment><comment><USER41> I need to get out of this industry

</comment><comment><USER42> Great post. Thank you for sharing this.

> Surely, I would fill my days with an eclectic mix of hobbies and spontaneous > travel, funding the whole thing with the ultimate passive income stream.

Was this the original goal for not having a 'real' job?

> But for some reason I can't do that. I'm not good at using my free time for > hobbies. I typically spend it thinking about work, or prototyping the 'next > thing'.

This part was most attention-grabbing for me. Did you have many hobbies before you became so deeply involved in tech?

I like to think I'd be outside playing golf a few times a week, but that's something I used to do before getting a tech job in a city.

</comment><comment><USER43> mkrecny, forget about the haters, I think it's cool. At the end of the day we're just communicating on HN with abstractions based on less than a minute of thinking. A month with six cool people sounds like a blast.

</comment><comment><USER44> Coming in from the other direction: I have no problem with the social networking, and I've spent years working part-time or at unconventional jobs just to have free time. I'm good at the lone gun lifestyle, maybe too good. Now with many "interesting" but unprofitable web projects... still trying to get on that gravy train.

So I bounce from school to more serious work trying to build real development skills. Hopefully I can bring some product to market, or make something. That's the hard part for me.

</comment><comment><USER45> For some people having a life is harder than having a job. For some other people having a job is harder than having a life. Not sure who is more lucky between the two groups.

</comment><comment><USER46> For a moment I thought I was reading a description of my life.

<comment><USER47> Same thoughts here! I'm not sure starting my own incubator would fill the void, but I can see how joining something like Microha.us might be nice. Anybody know of anything along the same lines in SF?

</comment></comment><comment><USER48> What sort of paperwork do participants have to sign in order to join this "incubator"?

</comment><comment> question-all MUST WORK 24/7. ALL WORK AND NO PLAY... we all know how the movie ends.

</comment><comment><USER49> this is pretty sweet

</comment><comment><USER50> The social life that comes with a typical office job is a false security. Your boss can take it away at any time. Never get so beholden to one person. You need to start going to Meetups, hanging out with different sorts of people, etc.

After you leave, you're lucky if you're in touch with one or two of your former co-workers. If your boss is sour about you leaving, or if he fires you in a piss-fit, he'll actually turn a lot of people against you.

It sounds like you're already coming to the right path. Generating a social life without an office context is harder, but it's a valuable skill because almost everyone successful has active out-of-office ties.

<comment><USER51> I think this depends purely on the type of people who work at your job. I now work at home and have done for 2 years, but still meet up with colleagues from my previous job occasionally, and they still talk to me and we discuss life/software/beer etc.

The company I work for now has meetups 2-3 times a year, and whilst the people are generally nice enough, I wouldn't really consider keeping in touch if I left. I doubt they would bother either.

I also have a group of friends from my childhood around and we hang out alot. I consider this extremely important and make specific efforts to organise activities and nights out so we don't lose touch. People really don't put enough effort into friendships to stay in touch. They often treat friends as disposable when it comes to their careers which is sad.

Friends > cash, every time.</comment></comment>


Learn to Code: Head-to-Head - Lynda VS Treehouse - <AUTHOR> http://adamtreister.com/post/53214324878/head-to-head-lynda-lynda-com-vs-treehouse

<comment><AUTHOR> Would love to hear your thoughts on my review.

<comment><USER2> Good write-up. I'd be interested in a comparison next with a paid versus free offering such as Codecademy, which also offers interactive learning, but without the large library of video tutorials that lynda & treehouse offer.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thanks for the reply. I'll give CodeAcademy a go over the next few weeks. Stayed tuned.</comment></comment></comment>


Ask HN: Compiled Web App - <AUTHOR> I desperately want to build radically fast and lean web apps.
My stack at the moment is nginx > nodejs > sqlite. To step it up I want to replace nodejs with a compiled app. What language should I use ?
Precision : I'd prefer a C-like language since I'm comfortable in JS and C.
- C/C++ are excluded for obvious reasons.
- D looks REALLY nice but lacks momentum at first glance. (few packages - only one for async-http, one for sqlite - and a not-so-busy forum)
- Go ? I'd like to avoid it.
- Zig : as alluring as D but not stabilized.
- Rust : too unfamiliar. <comment><USER2> Haskell!

If you aren't proficient in a functional language like Haskell then you haven't completed your programming education. Go, Rust, D, etc. are all just C with fancy features. Change your whole programming paradigm.

Here's a great deep-dive into Haskell web server performance: [https://www.aosabook.org/en/posa/warp.html](https://www.aosabook.org/en/posa/warp.html)

And if you're building an API you don't need to code! Just throw postgREST in front of a postgreSQL database and get a haskell-powered API for free. No need to write a web server.

<comment><AUTHOR> Damn.. that Warp lib looks powerful. Although from 2012, that benchmark against Nginx is unbelievable.

> Go, Rust, D, etc. are all just C with fancy features

Come on.. Their fanciness is very helpful. Doing web in C is tedious, insecure.

> Change your whole programming paradigm.

That is no small endeavour but I hear you !

</comment></comment><comment><USER3> Need more info. What do you mean by radically fast? Unless you're doing lots of computation in your web request, then the "steering code" that is currently nodejs is almost never your bottleneck. 90% of the time your database is your bottleneck. sqlite can be crazy fast for one request at a time so it just depends on your app.

<comment><AUTHOR> By 'radically' I mean the fastest possible - short of writing a single blob in C integrating an http server.

Since I want to keep it modular, the db part with sqlite is already optimal. Now I need the app on par : statically typed, compiled.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> I know you said Rust was too unfamiliar but if you want the efficiency of C++ but in a safe language this is where I would start (and what I'm currently learning). For what it's worth, the Rust web framework Actix has some of the best performance numbers on techempower.

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you. Indeed it ranks top. Followed by.. a Java framework (es4x) ?

The D one (vibed) doesn't shine much. Alas.

Maybe you're right and I should take the dive with Rust.

</comment></comment><comment><USER5> If you're willing to exclude D because it "lacks momentum", Go because you'd "like to avoid it", and Rust because it's "too unfamiliar", then you're really out of options. I don't think there exist any other performant, popular, compiled languages that are similar to Javascript; all of them fail one of your criteria or another:

\- Haskell: very fast but probably more "unfamiliar" to you than Rust

\- Common Lisp: fast, very stable, easier than Haskell (semantics similar to Python/Javascript) but definitely not mainstream

\- FORTH: very fast but memory-unsafe and semantically+syntactically almost polar opposite of most popular languages

<comment><AUTHOR> Thank you,

\- I don't exclude D but it means some untrivial learning in spite of its semblance to C. I don't have infinite time to learn all promising C++ replacements.

\- Haskell.. really ? Plus it's not fast at all it seems.

\- Lisp : interesting idea. I'd prefer a C-like language but learning it expands your mind they say.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> C# and .net core sounds like a good solution to your rather vague problem. What are you trying to do?

<comment><AUTHOR> It's more of an inclination for speed than a problem. I have no problem with my current stack.

C# and .NET are VM/bytecode I think and like 1/4th the speed of C.

<comment><USER6> Perhaps they are faster than well written C, which you say you have discounted, do doesn't bear comparison.

There have been several articles on HN stating that .NET core is considerable less resource intensive than Node in real world use cases.

I'm not clear you have a real world use case though.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER7> Have a look are Wt ([https://webtoolkit.eu](https://webtoolkit.eu)) and Kore ([https://kore.io](https://kore.io))

</comment><comment><USER8> Why would you like to avoid Go? It's pretty ergonomic for programmers with C experience and can compile a web app plus its dependencies into a standalone binary.

<comment><AUTHOR> Honestly I may have no good reason except maybe speed.

I just read that Go is not best for low-level optimizations, and memory size.

</comment></comment><comment><USER9> I'm using c++/mongodb for my backend.

I'm gonna rewrite my backend using epoll and coroutine.

<comment><AUTHOR> Exactly what I want to achieve. Compiled and evented.

D permits that. I guess you are comfortable with C++ but I would not even try..

<comment><USER9> my code is open sourced, [https://github.com/shi- yan/Swiftly](https://github.com/shi-yan/Swiftly)

it's based on Qt, but my rewrite will be pure c++.

<comment><AUTHOR> Nice if you can get rid of dependencies and threads.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


A map of London as it was during the era of the Tudor monarchs - <AUTHOR> https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2018/06/13/this-tudor-london-map-overlay-is-marvelous/ <comment><USER2> Nice. For a few years I had a desk in the middle of St Mary Graces Abbey cemetery. I believe the black death and great plague filled it. There were tunnels under my desk leading to The Tower, but they'd been blocked up years before I could take advantage.

Edit: I've just found that I currently work in another, smaller cemetery.

<comment><USER3> That's amusing. Excavating future beings will think we wanted our ancestors near us so we built our cities ontop of their graves.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> What's funny is that the map only covers London, as in the City of London, not the City of Westminster, which is where the Tudor monarchs themselves would have been!

<comment><USER5> It's just using Tudors as the historical era - it's not really about the literal Tudor monarchs.

</comment></comment><comment><USER6> I work in Moorgate, and although I know so many names are derived from the things that were at the location, I'd never put two and two together that Moorgate is the gate to Moor field, which was I assume, a moor.

Especially when there's Moorfields Eye Hospital near by!

<comment><USER7> Did you know Spitalfields comes from Hospital fields? There used to be a hospital near the market. Every name has a story especially in London.

</comment></comment><comment><USER8> The final link in the article was the most interesting part for me. The National Library of Scotland had a side-by-side comparison of modern maps (Bing Maps by default) with set of Ordnance Survey maps from 1892-1914. It's incredible how accurate the maps are and how they line up: [https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by- side/#zoom=15&lat=55...](https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by- side/#zoom=15&lat=55.9497&lon=-3.2021&layers=168&right=BingRoad)

<comment><USER9> [https://pastmap.org.uk/](https://pastmap.org.uk/) has the same maps in a (to my mind) better interface.

<comment><USER8> Thanks, I'm checking it now! Also hey Andrew, long time no see (edit: I realised I have no details on HN - it's Sean, we worked together in ADI) :D

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER10> Is it building on this: [http://www.historictownsatlas.org.uk/content/tudor- london-15...](http://www.historictownsatlas.org.uk/content/tudor-london-1520)

It's a great book to have in paper form!

My Aunt worked on that map after retiring from being a cartographer for the Oxford University Press and their world Atlases. It was fascinating to see the work that went in to collecting data, drawing and redrawing maps. Things like papers from a court case being discovered lead to observations such as "if such and such happened then the width of street X at this point must have been 2 feet wider" or similar. A painstaking work of love by the whole team, driven by tremendous academic rigour. Fascinating.

</comment><comment><USER11> It's a bit awkward to use (I was expecting a direct link) but for anyone else wondering:

1\. Enable the Tudor layer using the Layers menu in the left-hand sidebar

2\. Apparently, only the City of London (not Greater London) is covered, so make sure to pan/zoom over there!

Generally, a nice little tool — it's a shame the satellite imagery is so low- res.

</comment><comment><USER12> It entertains me how small and precisely (presumably pettily) staked out the parishes were. There must be a good story why All-Hallows-the-Less, upstream from London Bridge, was specifically allocated that green space disconnected from the parish itself, seemingly cloven off of All-Hallows-the-Great's parish.

<comment><USER13> Not sure about London specifically, but this sort of fragmentation occured in medieval Europe through people donating their property to a specific church, even though there would have been a geographically closer one.

</comment></comment><comment><USER14> My gf loves this kind of work and actually wants to do something very similar herself. She has been working on mapping the locations of Emma Smith during her life in the 1800s. It would be super neat if something like this existed for the united states during that time.

</comment><comment><USER15> so the map doesn't appear to contain any royal residences, which were perhaps all in Westminster not London at the time? So Henry VIII and QE1 etc didn't live within the walls of London?

<comment><USER16> The Tower of London is technically a palace, but yeah, Royals generally didn't live inside the square mile. The Palace of Whitehall in Westminster would have been the main London area residence at the time of these maps.

<comment><USER17> Note that the Tower of London is actually outside the walls of the city of London, so even it doesn't qualify as living inside the city of London.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER18> Interesting how little the names of places have changed in 4-500 years - Bishopsgate, East Cheap, Cannon Street, Wallbrook etc. All recognisable.

</comment><comment><USER19> Fascinating to discover I am currently sitting where there used to be a Franciscan monastery!</comment>


Features vs Buttons Graph from Balsamiq - <AUTHOR> http://balsamiq.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/img/featuresVsButtons.png

<comment><USER2> "When it comes to wireframe the first comer has a huge advantage and all the fans create a huge wall for the late comers. I wonder how long the fans are going to resist MockupTiger? Once you use it you will fall in love!"

</comment><comment><USER2> "Google plus mockup/wireframe [http://www.mockuptiger.com/google-plus-mockup- hand-drawn-vs-...](http://www.mockuptiger.com/google-plus-mockup-hand-drawn- vs-normal-look)

</comment><comment><AUTHOR> Image is from their manifesto at <http://balsamiq.com/products/mockups/manifesto#vision></comment>


Can't Code? Learn Design. - <AUTHOR> http://learncodethehardway.org/blog/AUG_17_2012.html <comment><USER2> I agree with the commenter's initial point that learning any amount of programming will help a non-technical person to understand and better contribute to a technical startup or organization significantly. What I'm worried about is that non-technical people will skim this article and think that design is easier than coding. There's a rabbit hole in every discipline and my experience has been that the attributes that makes someone a decent programmer are usually the same attributes that makes someone a decent designer. In fact, I'd go as far to say that the attributes that make anyone decent at anything are usually the same for anything else.

So if you "want to learn to code" and for some reason cannot, then I'm going to bet you have other issues that prevents you from doing so, which is the sentiment Dan Shipper (the original comment this poster was responding to) basically attributed to "false constraints."

I guess the argument comes down to believing that coding (like most people believe about design) requires some innate talent to be able to do it. And while I believe that might be the case to be great at it, I truly do believe almost everyone should be able to learn to code (or design) if they truly want it enough.

Like with anything, I prefer people not to go into a field if they're not passionate about it. Don't code if you're not into it. And don't come into design because it's Plan B. Code because you love it. Design because you can't get enough of it. If you're non-technical and your passionate about wanting to build technical things, then you really only have one avenue for that outlet if you can't somehow convince others to help build those things for you and that's learn it the hard way.

<comment><USER3> Zed is a master of subtle provocation (and not-so-subtle, if you are familiar with his other projects). I suspect that he doesn't actually think that it's easier to become a _real_ designer than it is to be a programmer. But there's a certain amount of truth to the idea that one could pick up Photoshop, or a wireframing tool, or a bit of HTML and CSS, and start turning their ideas into designs much faster than one could learn enough programming to build a full application prototype. Working that insinuation into the title attracts readers.

<comment><USER4> I've been doing design-by-necessity on projects for 15 years. I even take time to study and understand design concepts. While I'm an OK UX guy, I still pretty much suck as a designer.

It's easily as hard as programming, but for _very_ different reasons. And because of those reasons, it may be a good alternative for the "suit" partner to learn.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER5> Just to extend this statement a bit. There's 2 related but different skills in design. User Experience and Visual Design.

Visual Design is one of those things where the best designers do have a innate artistic ability. There is a certain level of talent in this area which you're just born with.

UX however is a skill which can be taught and learned and is a phenomenal skill for a product guy, learning to do Information Architecture, UX etc. is very doable.

BTW Not all visual designers are good at UX. Those that are talented at both aspects of design are pretty much unicorns.

A spot to get started <http://www.uxforthemasses.com/ux-books/>

<comment><USER6> Can you elaborate about this fields? What kind of problems belong to VD and what to UX (possibly with examples of good and bad desing/ux)? I'm a coder (cs student) genuinely interested in learning some design skills, but I'm not quite sure what areas exactly to pursue.

<comment><USER4> UX is about _how_ people interact with a product. Visual design is about what they see while interacting.

So UX will guide you towards what features are important and ways of exposing those features so the end user has the best experience. UX also tends to focus on testing assumptions.

Visual design will guide you towards making sure the elements on the page are aestheticly pleasing and that they communicate what is trying to communicated. Google is famous for testing it's shade of blue, but, IMO, great design can't be tested, but rather comes from a designer understanding her audience and the story she is trying to tell.

<comment><USER7> I think "great design can't be tested" is wrong. All design has consequence. If I make an add to cart button on an ecommerce site purple, I can test that to see if it performs better than the red add to cart button. Yes, these decisions (of choosing red or purple) can come from a designer understanding his/her audience, but should never be just taken at the designer's word... it should always be tested to make sure the designed solution is the right one.

<comment><USER8> I disagree: the really important changes take vision and guts, and can only be tested after the fact. Testing things like the color of a call-to-action button can certainly direct you to a local optima, but in a larger sense it misses the point. You can A/B test a whole bunch of small changes, but the really impactful ones take a unified vision that changes the whole design strategy of a website or product. Google didn't go from old Gmail to new Gmail by incrementally changing things based on testing, they took a good hard look at the pain points of the old site and applied a new visual direction to the site. The iPhone didn't come around by tweaking a phone piece by piece until people liked it better. It came around because someone had a vision and saw it through.

Don't get me wrong, usability testing is incredibly important. Every programmer can tell you how much they learned the first time they watched an uncoached newbie try out their software. And even with those paradigm-shifting design changes, you can and should test that the results are really an improvement. But you can't make big important changes by measuring the impact of every little detail.

<comment><USER4> Thank you for putting my thoughts into much better words. The "local maxima" point really nails it.

</comment></comment></comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER9> A point the article misses is that design is very conceptually similar to code. If you can design something it can almost always be coded and you will have a fantastic understanding of how it all works. (I'm thinking more towards UX design than aesthetic design.)

</comment><comment><USER10> >If you can lay out all the major screens and the design then that's worth its weight in gold. Design is also just about as hard to find as programming.

I am going to put myself out there by honestly saying that, as a programmer, I have never understood why people believe the above statement, and I disagree. Please don't take this as a negative comment (I know people will, which is why most people would not write a comment like this). I am just trying to understand.

I'm sorry, but I don't believe its worth its weight in gold. Here is the starting point for my perspective:

1\. An analyst, customer, boss, or someone who is not a programmer, describes in words what they want the software to do. I take that description and spend a couple of days building a prototype web application. I don't create the screens in Photoshop first because A) it will take longer and B) I'm not trying to create the ultimate user experience, I am trying to build functional software that we can start getting feedback and iterating on.

2\. Analyst, customer, boss, designer, or someone who is not a programmer, looks at the prototype, may or may not acknowledge that the software now has the primary functionality requested, and starts criticizing the appearance or user experience. Its actually easy for him to find flaws: its not very attractive (there was no time invested in making it attractive) and some use cases could involve fewer clicks.

2A. Here is the issue I have: it really seems to me that a significant portion of people believe at that point that the programmer was unable to conceive of an attractive design or shortcuts that would improve the user experience, and that is the context and justification for the entire field of design.

Anyway here is my experience: if you can't code, then you probably cannot actually create a better user experience than me. If I am given time to work on a design, then I will optimize the user experience as much as possible given the features of the software platform and budget. If there really aren't budget or time constraints then I can disregard the inner workings of the platform to some degree because I know I will have time to code whatever interface I can conceive of.

Maybe some designers can help me understand.

<comment><USER11> Rather than trying to answer this here I'll point to a great definition of what UX design _actually_ is. Hint, it's not "laying out a page" or "painting the picture".

<http://uxdesign.com/ux-defined>

If you can do all of the above and you are a rock star developer, my friend, you are a rare breed.

Why not go straight to code? Iterating through conceptual ideas via sketches, wireframes, research etc to get an experience correct is a million times more effective and efficient than iterating through it in code.

<comment><USER10> None of what I wrote contradicts that description of UX. I did not imply that I thought it was laying out a page or painting the picture.

Also I did not mean to imply that I thought that going straight to code was the best approach. But you can honestly do a fair amount of that sketching/wireframing etc. in your head and with verbal descriptions, and then after a one or two iterations of that or actual mockups I think you would gain the most from a real system.

Anyway, based on that description, I will definitely start putting UX design on my resume, because I have already incorporated most of the substantial points made there.

Also, in regards to <http://uxdesign.com/ux-defined>, I have never in my life had so much smoke blown up my ass in the process of an ostensibly (partially) technical discussion.

I am definitely going to have to start practicing this UX design stuff, in case there is actually something more to learn, and because it looks like people are using a lot of bullshit to justify getting paid a lot more to not have to do the real work/problem solving (coding).

<comment><USER12> > [..] I have never in my life had so much smoke blown up my ass in the > process of an ostensibly (partially) technical discussion.

Very harsh words but I'm afraid I have to agree. That article doesn't _really_ tell you what UX design is. Back on university I attended an interactive systems class, which was very focused on UI and UX design. I found it to be rather vague and everything but precise in definition. I believe UX is a very blown term these days anyway, just as I believe "design" is an inflated term.

What I want is a precise definition of good UX, that doesn't feel like "make it idiot-proof".

Disclaimer: I make no claims whatsoever to be good at UX design. Actually, I couldn't care less. I'm one of those weird code monkeys who favour function over everything else. Maybe that's what UNIX made me to be ;)

</comment></comment></comment></comment><comment><USER13> well he's right, and his analogy is perfect. i once again in fact yesterday, had someone wanting me to build his business for free. after agreeing that i get a share of the revenue for cutting my rate in half and giving them my services, which are actually the result of 18 years of experience.

the point is, op is wrong in his belief that people will ever understand the value of what they ask for if they want it for free. lesson hard learned. i'm actually thinking about putting together an opensource contract that everybody should fork and edit to give a working framework to people that keep getting cheated over their expertise.

but, i completely agree with the article itself.

</comment><comment><USER14> The middle option is (was?) learn Flash. You get a bit of both sides and can complete projects by yourself.

<comment><USER15> You can't complete non-flash projects by yourself?

<comment><USER16> I think what radley means is that Flash is an all-in-one solution, whereas to finish a non-Flash project you would have to master HTML, CSS, a back-end web framework, and perhaps some JavaScript as well.

</comment></comment></comment><comment><USER17> code and design aren't two separate ideas.

</comment><comment><USER18> Can't design, LEARN UX</comment>


ITunes Match now available in beta - <AUTHOR> http://www.apple.com/icloud/features/

<comment><USER2> "iTunes Match stores your complete music library in iCloud, allowing you to enjoy your collection anywhere, anytime, on any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or computer.

iTunes Match beta is currently available to developers in the United States. Beta subscribers will receive iTunes Match service during the beta period plus an additional 3 months for free with their 12 month paid subscription.

To get started with iTunes Match, download the current version of iOS 5 beta and iTunes 10.5 beta 6.1 with iTunes Match. Once installed, choose Turn On iTunes Match from the Store menu, and click "Subscribe for $24.99."

Please note that you must maintain a local backup of your iTunes library as well as any music you add to iCloud. Apple will periodically reset your iCloud library during the beta and it is critical that you backup your music regularly. Some features and optimizations of iTunes Match will not be available during the beta." - e-mail from Apple

</comment><comment><USER3> Library size is limited to 25k songs. Which would mean I would have to go through and sort which I'd want to be part of itunes match and which would not. I'm already not fond of how bloated/integrated iTunes is.

I will stick with manual backups, spotify, and looking for a lighter weight music manager.</comment>


5 Worst Websites of the year  - <AUTHOR> http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1638344_1638341,00.html

<comment><USER2> My nomination: Time.com, for making us click on four "next" links to see a list of 5 sites.</comment>


Steam is going to start accepting payments via Bitcoin - <AUTHOR> https://twitter.com/SteamDB/status/723230754113724416 <comment><USER2> The Bitcoin story continues. This is pretty huge.

</comment><comment><USER3> Excellent news.</comment>


I Built Another Writing Application - <AUTHOR> https://dafuqisthatblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/27/why-i-built-another-writing-application/ <comment><USER2> Your post recalled me about Mellel[1] and DevonThink[2], unfortunately MacOS only. Check them out!

[1] [https://www.mellel.com](https://www.mellel.com) [2] [https://www.devontechnologies.com](https://www.devontechnologies.com)</comment>


One software engineer's path to 40% salary raise - <AUTHOR> https://salaryfairy.com/blog/how-I-got-a-40-percent-raise-using-salary-fairy

<comment><USER2> I don't understand, when the recruiters asked about your salary history, why give it? Just tell them how much you expect to make, and that is that.

<comment><USER3> That's probably good advice, but:

1) some people don't like to lie.

2) telling an actual lie during some parts of the recruitment project leaves you open to rare but unpleasant effects.

</comment></comment><comment><USER4> Is this just advertising copy?

<comment><AUTHOR> No, this is an actual guest post from a real user.

<comment><USER4> I think it would be more convincing if it was on her blog and not on the Salary Fairy site.

<comment><USER5> Will a Medium post suffice?

[https://medium.com/p/c7ea9cef0b01](https://medium.com/p/c7ea9cef0b01)

The part where I offered on my own to write it is 100% true, by the way. They wouldn't even suggest what to say, and they put it up with virtually no edits. Which is amazing, since it could probably use a few.</comment></comment></comment></comment>


How to write great error messages - <AUTHOR> http://inessential.com/2014/05/05/error_messages <comment><USER2> Good thoughts. Here are some more thoughts:

The "Can't x because of y" pattern is a nice one. But it can be difficult to apply in practice. We write functions at particular levels of abstraction; indeed it is good advice to avoid writing functions that do work at multiple levels. However, the "x" and "y" in the pattern often exist at multiple levels.

"x" should be something related as closely as possible to user intent. The user wants something done. It can't be done. The error message explains why. The "y" is more low level; it is close to the direct cause of the failure. Unfortunately, due to our wonderfully designed architecture, with its separation of concerns, etc., the knowledge of what "x" is and the knowledge of what "y" is reside in different places. So the function that runs into the problem with "y" does not actually know that the task to be performed is "x".

Getting those two pieces of knowledge together in the same place takes work. That's work most of us don't want to do. It may even be work that we rationally decide not to do, based on a cost-benefit analysis. After all, what user ever said, "I love this app; it has great error messages."

Nonetheless, the ideas in this article are helpful ones, I think.</comment>