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tritchey
Lisp web frameworks: which one should I use?
jsmcgd
We use ucw for http://paragent.com (click on "DEMO" to see our app in action live). We actually use the older _dev branch of ucw, as we started over a year ago before the _ajax branch had really settled down. In fact, we've ended up removing much of the AJAX from the site for design reasons, and gone to a simpler page model with the latest site update. ucw has been pretty reliable. OTOH, we don't get hammered on the front end that much, so we may not be really stressing it. Most of our heavy-lifting is all on the back-end connections to the agents, where we have to maintain thousands of ssl connections. We have been very happy with our decision to go with Lisp.
I'm about to start development of a 'web 2.0' site. I've learnt some lisp and now I need to get to grips with a web framework. Any recommendations? Scalability is obviously important. Cheers.
1
18
2007-08-21 22:36:51 UTC
45,014
44,876
portLAN
Hacker School
palish
Start-ups should be a temporary economic blip. In our lifetime, we should either see convincing virtual reality, or be sitting on the beach sipping umbrella drinks served by robots which have taken over all "work" positions.It's beyond the pale that with our present technology and abundance that we still use "being out on the street and starving to death" as a stick to make people work dead-end jobs. At least, if you'd like a future where all human beings are valued and cared for simply because they are human.For crying out loud, it's the 21st century and the world still has human slavery. Don't judge your country based on it being better than the worst -- that encourages a race to the bottom. Judge it from a future perspective; science fiction has offered plenty of promising visions for humanity.
It seemed best that this had its own discussion so we could really refine this. The original discussion is at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44627The idea is to create a YCombinator-like process that starts at the K-12 level. Perhaps not as far back as kindergarten, but definitely before 6th grade. Students would be trained in programming, art, writing, and other methods of creation. When the students graduate, some number of them will be given the opportunity to start a company. In return, the school will get 2-10% of the company.But what about the students who won't start companies, though? Clearly not everyone will have what it takes to think of a viable business. Well, the wonderful attribute of this system is that everyone's a winner. Anyone who doesn't start a company could be a cofounder or go to work for previous companies produced by this program, or go to college if they'd like.Why would children be motivated in such an environment? My theory is simple: If you don't treat them like idiots, they won't become idiots. Show them the joys of creating something cool. They'll like it. The reason children aren't motivated in a public school environment is because most public schools are prisons for children. It was for me. This system is the polar opposite of that. Everything revolves around project creation and development, not rigid, unbreakable structure that beats compliance out of the children, which is how public high school is.The teachers would need to be extremely high quality. They need to want to be a part of the process of training the next generation of hackers, not hired because there's a shortage of teachers. Hacker School would focus on programming, but there's no reason why it couldn't train children to become excellent journalists, novelists, or any other creative activity the students like.One property that this system needs from the beginning is a way for advanced children to be placed right where they're mentally stretched. If it makes sense for an extremely bright child to skip three grades, so be it. There are social implications, but another theory of mine is this: If you give children an environment where you respect them and treat them like adults, they will respect and treat each other like adults. Sure, there will be social conflicts, but there always are in life. Yes, they will lack maturity to deal with those. Yes, there will be outlying cases where it's really bad. But the system can be flexible in dealing with things like that. There won't be childish punishments. There won't be detention. I don't know what the appropriate system of punishments is, but it doesn't seem like we need to even worry about that until it becomes a problem. Adults have a way of sorting things out, and I believe children can behave like adults.Please be harsh in constructively criticizing this. The system needs to be the best, and for it to be the best, I ask that you guys please tear apart anything about it that seems like it won't work.
12
29
2007-08-21 22:57:00 UTC
45,015
44,835
petercooper
Coming to America?
redrory
It's not too difficult. It's what the E-2 visa was designed for.. for people to come to the US and start (or, rather, "invest in" businesses). All you need is to invest about $100,000 into a company, either one of your own creation, or one you're going to take over, and you're in for two years (and then indefinitely if the business continues to make reasonable revenue). There are no quotas on this visa and application times are very quick, whereas the H-1B ties you to an employer (totally useless for your own company), etc.The L-1 visa is another option if you have a company and you want to set up a US office while maintaining the company in your home country, which can be harder to do but is most likely "cheaper".
Hello again guys. I see alot of posts by persons wanting info about move to San Francisco , and stuff. But I was wondering for the international persons among us, ( I am from Jamaica) on what bias do international persons come to properly develop their startup. I mean like, will I need work permit? Can I come on a Visitor's visa? etc.Thanks much..
0
3
2007-08-21 22:59:27 UTC
45,017
45,012
aston
HackrTrackr: 3 Days, 300 Users Who Want a Forum = Dilemma
dottertrotter
If users trust you with their passwords, you can use the HTTP Identity API provided by news.yc. That is submit a POST directly to the login page (y?u=username&p=password, but POSTed). If "Bad login." is in the resulting page, that's not them.
3 Days ago I launched hackertrackr and since that time 300 y combinator readers have submitted their information in order for other readers to find them. The problem now is how do those readers communicate with each other in a public forum? Since I launched I have received quite a few emails asking for a forums or comments feature where users can post meeting times, etc. The dilemma is how do I verify the user posting the comment is indeed the y combinator user they say they are. I see only one possible solution, but am hoping you all might be able to come up with more. If everyone would post their email address in some form of standardized format on their y combinator user info page, then I could write a script to send a password to that email address. They could then sign in to the forum section (yet to be built) on hackrtrackr with a their y combinator user name and the password provided and then switch the password to whatever they want.Any other ideas?Having some type of system like this would also be helpful for other people who have ideas for third party apps that are targeted toward y combinator readers.
3
5
2007-08-21 23:00:50 UTC
45,023
44,509
jsnx
Jeremy Zawodny: There is no Web Operating System (or WebOS)
toffer
An operating system is a lot of things -- it would be more precise to talk about a "web userland".
null
6
31
2007-08-21 23:13:06 UTC
45,031
44,882
papersmith
Lisp web frameworks: which one should I use?
jsmcgd
Has anyone tried out the new weblocks?http://www.defmacro.org/ramblings/weblocks-demo.htmlIt sounds promising.
I'm about to start development of a 'web 2.0' site. I've learnt some lisp and now I need to get to grips with a web framework. Any recommendations? Scalability is obviously important. Cheers.
4
18
2007-08-21 23:56:06 UTC
45,037
45,012
brett
HackrTrackr: 3 Days, 300 Users Who Want a Forum = Dilemma
dottertrotter
Along the same lines as your email scraping idea you could have users create accounts at your site and give them some string to put into their news.yc profile to prove they own that news.yc account. To make it worth their wild the string could be, say, a link that resolves to a map of their location on hackrtrackr.
3 Days ago I launched hackertrackr and since that time 300 y combinator readers have submitted their information in order for other readers to find them. The problem now is how do those readers communicate with each other in a public forum? Since I launched I have received quite a few emails asking for a forums or comments feature where users can post meeting times, etc. The dilemma is how do I verify the user posting the comment is indeed the y combinator user they say they are. I see only one possible solution, but am hoping you all might be able to come up with more. If everyone would post their email address in some form of standardized format on their y combinator user info page, then I could write a script to send a password to that email address. They could then sign in to the forum section (yet to be built) on hackrtrackr with a their y combinator user name and the password provided and then switch the password to whatever they want.Any other ideas?Having some type of system like this would also be helpful for other people who have ideas for third party apps that are targeted toward y combinator readers.
1
5
2007-08-22 00:05:53 UTC
45,039
44,828
staunch
it's slow... it's unstable... it's... [reddit] beta!
aston
It seems like they really gave in to the luxury that we all want with code that gets old: The Total Rewrite.I don't think it's always a fatal mistake, especially in something as relatively simple as Reddit. It still seems like a mistake to not transition to their new system piece-meal. I've witnessed this first hand a few times already in doing contract work. I'm pretty gun shy about it now and I definitely buy into what Joel said a lot more than I did before.http://www.joelonsoftware.com/printerFriendly/articles/fog00...
null
0
9
2007-08-22 00:19:35 UTC
45,044
45,012
brlewis
HackrTrackr: 3 Days, 300 Users Who Want a Forum = Dilemma
dottertrotter
Give them a hash of their hackrtrackr password plus a secret salt, and have them put it in their yc profile.
3 Days ago I launched hackertrackr and since that time 300 y combinator readers have submitted their information in order for other readers to find them. The problem now is how do those readers communicate with each other in a public forum? Since I launched I have received quite a few emails asking for a forums or comments feature where users can post meeting times, etc. The dilemma is how do I verify the user posting the comment is indeed the y combinator user they say they are. I see only one possible solution, but am hoping you all might be able to come up with more. If everyone would post their email address in some form of standardized format on their y combinator user info page, then I could write a script to send a password to that email address. They could then sign in to the forum section (yet to be built) on hackrtrackr with a their y combinator user name and the password provided and then switch the password to whatever they want.Any other ideas?Having some type of system like this would also be helpful for other people who have ideas for third party apps that are targeted toward y combinator readers.
0
5
2007-08-22 00:56:26 UTC
45,051
44,628
vlad
News.YC's half birthday (with stats)
pg
Happy birthday! What day did you actually embark on this project?
null
3
33
2007-08-22 01:25:00 UTC
45,055
44,935
vegashacker
Relative Efficency of Programming Languages vs. Legal Language (by Jeremy Zawodny)
joshwa
From the article: "[Legalese] doesn't use modern techniques like subroutines or standard libraries."Hey, maybe these guys will be the ones to change that:http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44361
null
3
12
2007-08-22 01:50:27 UTC
45,056
45,036
donna
Would you create a "making of" commentary for your site similar to ones for movies and video games?
amichail
This was done in the CD-ROM days, like in Myst. Customer response card claimed they liked it.
Presumably such commentary can give potential users the impression that quite a lot of effort has gone into the design and implementation of the site, thus increasing the chances that users will like the result.
0
1
2007-08-22 01:53:01 UTC
45,060
45,046
donna
How to Know You Have Found a Great Startup Lawyer
drm237
I found our lawyer at a party in a bar... if you can hang and split a beer together, you know you'll get along.
Evaluating your startup lawyer (or any lawyer for that matter) can be a difficult task because a lawyer's work product tends to be intangible. That is, if you hired someone to build you a bookcase you could test its craftmanship in a matter of seconds. Not the case for the startup lawyer that typically deals in Word and PDF. Therefore, it's good idea to evaluate your startup lawyer in the following ways to determine if you have found a keeper.
1
5
2007-08-22 01:58:33 UTC
45,069
44,935
daniel-cussen
Relative Efficency of Programming Languages vs. Legal Language (by Jeremy Zawodny)
joshwa
Programming and legal are exactly alike: they try to make a precise and unambiguous set of rules and procedures with words. They try to translate language into reality. The difference is that the language of programming has to abide by physics and logic, while the logic of legal has to abide by the flaws of language.
null
1
12
2007-08-22 02:50:30 UTC
45,075
45,073
rms
Dynamic image manipulation technology using "energy seams"
rms
Here's the paper. http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1276377.1276390Also got some coverage on an Adobe blog which makes me think they want to duplicate this functionality as soon as possible. http://blogs.adobe.com/jnack/2007/08/holy_crapworthy.html
null
0
8
2007-08-22 03:11:37 UTC
45,080
45,012
zaidf
HackrTrackr: 3 Days, 300 Users Who Want a Forum = Dilemma
dottertrotter
Time for Hacker News API!
3 Days ago I launched hackertrackr and since that time 300 y combinator readers have submitted their information in order for other readers to find them. The problem now is how do those readers communicate with each other in a public forum? Since I launched I have received quite a few emails asking for a forums or comments feature where users can post meeting times, etc. The dilemma is how do I verify the user posting the comment is indeed the y combinator user they say they are. I see only one possible solution, but am hoping you all might be able to come up with more. If everyone would post their email address in some form of standardized format on their y combinator user info page, then I could write a script to send a password to that email address. They could then sign in to the forum section (yet to be built) on hackrtrackr with a their y combinator user name and the password provided and then switch the password to whatever they want.Any other ideas?Having some type of system like this would also be helpful for other people who have ideas for third party apps that are targeted toward y combinator readers.
4
5
2007-08-22 03:24:23 UTC
45,086
45,036
aaroneous
Would you create a "making of" commentary for your site similar to ones for movies and video games?
amichail
http://rockstartup.com/
Presumably such commentary can give potential users the impression that quite a lot of effort has gone into the design and implementation of the site, thus increasing the chances that users will like the result.
1
1
2007-08-22 03:39:12 UTC
45,087
45,076
rms
AJAX SQL Schema Designer. Outputs in any format
ingenium
This is a great tool. I voted it up but it didn't count because I'm on the same IP as the submitter.
null
0
18
2007-08-22 03:45:32 UTC
45,088
45,081
daniel-cussen
Is There Anything Good About Men?
jyrzyk
Harrowing.
null
7
32
2007-08-22 03:48:20 UTC
45,090
45,081
motoko
Is There Anything Good About Men?
jyrzyk
Is this supposed to be irony? What is this poorly written rambling doing on "Hacker News?"
null
3
32
2007-08-22 03:52:34 UTC
45,094
45,073
daniel-cussen
Dynamic image manipulation technology using "energy seams"
rms
That is beyond awesome.
null
2
8
2007-08-22 04:01:12 UTC
45,095
45,082
Goladus
News.YC Library
bmaier
http://www.paulgraham.com/onlisp.htmlhttp://norvig.com/paip.htmlhttp://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
7
32
2007-08-22 04:02:39 UTC
45,097
45,082
dfranke
News.YC Library
bmaier
In no particular order:The Art of Computer Programming, by KnuthCompilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools by Aho, Sethi, and Ullman (the dragon book)Structure & Interpretation of Computer Programs, by Abelson and SussmanOn Lisp, by GrahamA First Course in Database Systems, by Ullman and WidomThe C Programming Language, by Kernighan and RitchieThe Cathedral and the Bazaar, by Raymond
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
1
32
2007-08-22 04:04:43 UTC
45,100
45,082
pretzel
News.YC Library
bmaier
Godel Escher Bach, by Hosfstadter
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
10
32
2007-08-22 04:16:16 UTC
45,101
45,082
Jd
News.YC Library
bmaier
From reddit:language agnostic books: http://programming.reddit.com/info/1y0ux/commentslanguage specific books: http://programming.reddit.com/info/1y9cj/comments
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
8
32
2007-08-22 04:28:03 UTC
45,102
45,082
palish
News.YC Library
bmaier
Domain Driven Designhttp://www.amazon.com/Domain-Driven-Design-Tackling-Complexi...
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
13
32
2007-08-22 04:36:18 UTC
45,105
45,076
dfranke
AJAX SQL Schema Designer. Outputs in any format
ingenium
This is not far off from being a first cut at the idea I submitted to YC last cycle.
null
1
18
2007-08-22 04:50:26 UTC
45,107
45,082
pramodbiligiri
News.YC Library
bmaier
The Art of Unix Programming by Eric Raymond: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
4
32
2007-08-22 05:02:09 UTC
45,111
45,082
dawie
News.YC Library
bmaier
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
12
32
2007-08-22 05:21:03 UTC
45,112
45,082
bluishgreen
News.YC Library
bmaier
For my 2 cents these are books I read in the past year and was very impressed with the clarity of the presentation. Theory of Computing. Michael Sipser.Introduction to Algorithms, by T. H. Corman, C. E. Leiserson, and R. L. RivestHow to design programs http://www.htdp.org/2003-09-26/Book/curriculum-Z-H-1.html#no...I think I will add something that I am interested in, it is not of interest to programmers, but heck, we are hackers! All the Math you missed: Thomas A GarrityMathematics: Form and function. Mac Lane. These are the first 2 books I would buy if I am interested in math and want to know more. These books are simply index books. They go over the land mark concepts in mathematics along with the key theorems and how they evolved in the historical context. You will be surpriced at how obvious things took years for people to learn and will come to appreciate the value of mathematical knowledge. The algorithm will be like this: You want to know about some field of mathematics. Say Differential geometry. You can consult the sections on both these books. Will take you about 3 full days. And then go ahead and read the list of suggested books. This is the real gold mine of both these books., they suggest the best books for all of the sub-fields of math. Besides they really list the key theorems in a few pages with proof sketches and this is like a map for you. You can follow the map to exactly where you want. This sort of idea, you will get only after studying that field for say a year. And these books just give it to you right away. I think we need a continuous thread for this sort of book suggestion, reviews etc.
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
0
32
2007-08-22 05:23:49 UTC
45,116
44,935
mdkersey
Relative Efficency of Programming Languages vs. Legal Language (by Jeremy Zawodny)
joshwa
What's scary is trying to write code that implements a legal document. That's when you find out that much legal language is shot through with logical holes big enough to drive a tank through. I was asked to implement a municipality's recently-revised alarm permit legislation. I read the old legislation, the new legislation and wrote down questions that weren't covered by either (never mind how to handle the transition between rule sets). At a meeting with all the guilty parties and their lawyers no one was able to answer my questions. They were surprised and embarrassed that so many details had been overlooked. An additional constraint was that, given the political climate, the possibility of properly amending the legislation was slim.I made a list of suggestions to plug the holes and asked for a sign off. No one wanted to accept responsibility. Finally a division chief relented and the details were swept under the political rug as "regulatory implementation".So my experience is that legal language is far too vague to translate directly to code.
null
0
12
2007-08-22 06:03:35 UTC
45,117
45,073
far33d
Dynamic image manipulation technology using "energy seams"
rms
The 2D image processing stuff at Siggraph this year was truly exceptional. I usually skip right through that part of the conference and proceedings, but this year there were a few really cool things.
null
1
8
2007-08-22 06:11:41 UTC
45,119
45,104
zaidf
Scaling a startup from 0 to 40 hits per second in 3 days
mmaunder
congrats on the great launch!
null
4
45
2007-08-22 06:13:09 UTC
45,121
44,876
bootload
Hacker School
palish
"... create a YCombinator-like process that starts at the K-12 level. Perhaps not as far back as kindergarten, but definitely before 6th grade. Students ..."So we need to go to school in a structured environment to learn to play with technology, break it down and build it up again?
It seemed best that this had its own discussion so we could really refine this. The original discussion is at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44627The idea is to create a YCombinator-like process that starts at the K-12 level. Perhaps not as far back as kindergarten, but definitely before 6th grade. Students would be trained in programming, art, writing, and other methods of creation. When the students graduate, some number of them will be given the opportunity to start a company. In return, the school will get 2-10% of the company.But what about the students who won't start companies, though? Clearly not everyone will have what it takes to think of a viable business. Well, the wonderful attribute of this system is that everyone's a winner. Anyone who doesn't start a company could be a cofounder or go to work for previous companies produced by this program, or go to college if they'd like.Why would children be motivated in such an environment? My theory is simple: If you don't treat them like idiots, they won't become idiots. Show them the joys of creating something cool. They'll like it. The reason children aren't motivated in a public school environment is because most public schools are prisons for children. It was for me. This system is the polar opposite of that. Everything revolves around project creation and development, not rigid, unbreakable structure that beats compliance out of the children, which is how public high school is.The teachers would need to be extremely high quality. They need to want to be a part of the process of training the next generation of hackers, not hired because there's a shortage of teachers. Hacker School would focus on programming, but there's no reason why it couldn't train children to become excellent journalists, novelists, or any other creative activity the students like.One property that this system needs from the beginning is a way for advanced children to be placed right where they're mentally stretched. If it makes sense for an extremely bright child to skip three grades, so be it. There are social implications, but another theory of mine is this: If you give children an environment where you respect them and treat them like adults, they will respect and treat each other like adults. Sure, there will be social conflicts, but there always are in life. Yes, they will lack maturity to deal with those. Yes, there will be outlying cases where it's really bad. But the system can be flexible in dealing with things like that. There won't be childish punishments. There won't be detention. I don't know what the appropriate system of punishments is, but it doesn't seem like we need to even worry about that until it becomes a problem. Adults have a way of sorting things out, and I believe children can behave like adults.Please be harsh in constructively criticizing this. The system needs to be the best, and for it to be the best, I ask that you guys please tear apart anything about it that seems like it won't work.
15
29
2007-08-22 06:16:38 UTC
45,124
45,082
herdrick
News.YC Library
bmaier
The Little Schemer and its sequel, The Seasoned Schemer. Both have excellent shelf space (or weight) to enlightenment ratios.
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
11
32
2007-08-22 06:35:55 UTC
45,125
45,012
mariorz
HackrTrackr: 3 Days, 300 Users Who Want a Forum = Dilemma
dottertrotter
we could add more info to the profile for you to scrape to make this more useful, I suggest something along the lines of the following csv:email,age,project statusemail: something as simple as rot13 for security could be more than enough. It doesn't have to stay on our profiles indefinitely.age:could be relevant information I thinkproject status: where we could maybe have something like 0=(no project/looking for project) 1=(working on project/looking for co-founder)I think that and a forum (maybe phpBB?) would be more than enough. Where your script just creates our account with info in phpBB or whichever you decide to use and sends us the email for confirmation.P.S. dottertrotter: kudos on this man!
3 Days ago I launched hackertrackr and since that time 300 y combinator readers have submitted their information in order for other readers to find them. The problem now is how do those readers communicate with each other in a public forum? Since I launched I have received quite a few emails asking for a forums or comments feature where users can post meeting times, etc. The dilemma is how do I verify the user posting the comment is indeed the y combinator user they say they are. I see only one possible solution, but am hoping you all might be able to come up with more. If everyone would post their email address in some form of standardized format on their y combinator user info page, then I could write a script to send a password to that email address. They could then sign in to the forum section (yet to be built) on hackrtrackr with a their y combinator user name and the password provided and then switch the password to whatever they want.Any other ideas?Having some type of system like this would also be helpful for other people who have ideas for third party apps that are targeted toward y combinator readers.
2
5
2007-08-22 06:46:18 UTC
45,126
45,076
iamyoohoo
AJAX SQL Schema Designer. Outputs in any format
ingenium
good app to start off with - though could use some more advanced options
null
2
18
2007-08-22 06:47:00 UTC
45,128
45,104
palish
Scaling a startup from 0 to 40 hits per second in 3 days
mmaunder
Congrats. It seems like the main bottleneck of webapps is the on-disk database. I'd say that if your app is small enough you shouldn't even start with a database, but that would be a preoptimization.
null
1
45
2007-08-22 07:07:21 UTC
45,131
45,082
omouse
News.YC Library
bmaier
Snow Crash, Cryptonmicon. Both are by Neal Stephenson.Another pair of good fiction novels are Plowing the Dark and Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers.Sometimes you need good fiction to inspire you.
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
5
32
2007-08-22 07:25:10 UTC
45,138
45,082
davidw
News.YC Library
bmaier
All the suggested computer books are pretty good, but you'll bump into those sooner or later if you're looking. You can't avoid them.What' I'd recommend, in addition to those, are some mind-broadening books that give you some ideas about other disciplines. I'm particularly interested in economics, because that's very important for understanding the whys and hows of the market. If you just want one recommendation, "Information Rules" is a good one.I summarized a bunch of books I like here:http://www.squeezedbooks.comIn particular, others that I would recommend:- Crossing the Chasm - In Search of Stupidity: Over Twenty Years of High Tech Marketing Disasters- The Innovator's Dilemma
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
9
32
2007-08-22 07:42:34 UTC
45,145
44,882
nablaone
Lisp web frameworks: which one should I use?
jsmcgd
I suggest using Hunchentoot (TBNL successor) + cl-who + postmodern. It provides the classic way of web programming just like pure java servlets.Yesterday i've wrote simple app, just for fun http://nablaone.net/dino-demo/. What can I say, lisp rulez :-). REPL -> instant gratification -> flow -> happiness :-)
I'm about to start development of a 'web 2.0' site. I've learnt some lisp and now I need to get to grips with a web framework. Any recommendations? Scalability is obviously important. Cheers.
6
18
2007-08-22 08:40:50 UTC
45,149
45,148
rms
NYT obit of Joybubbles: He hacked the phone system by whistling
rms
I'm of the school of thought that whistling into a phone should never be a crime. I wonder if Woz and Jobs would have made it if they had been prosecuted for their crimes.
null
0
1
2007-08-22 09:05:11 UTC
45,150
45,082
euccastro
News.YC Library
bmaier
Most programming books I'd recommend have been repeated a lot recently in news.yc, so I'll add a couple good ones on usability:The (Psychology|Design) of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman (it comes under both titles; 'Psychology' is an older edition.)Don't Make me Think, by Steve KrugAnd a timeless one on writing:The Elements of Style, by Strunk and White
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
2
32
2007-08-22 09:43:00 UTC
45,157
44,882
nickyp
Lisp web frameworks: which one should I use?
jsmcgd
Another option: KPAX http://homepage.mac.com/svc/kpax/ (download) http://kpax.wolf359.be/kpax/dynamic/welcome (demo apps) http://homepage.mac.com/svc/LispMovies/index.html (screencast)
I'm about to start development of a 'web 2.0' site. I've learnt some lisp and now I need to get to grips with a web framework. Any recommendations? Scalability is obviously important. Cheers.
5
18
2007-08-22 10:28:06 UTC
45,158
44,890
jgamman
How to Make Your Millions
donna
if you want millions, pick a job that pays well in a large company and work your arse off 60-70 h/wk. seriously. good lawyers, accountants, finance etc, lots/most of them will end up with net worths >1M by the time they're in their 40's-50's. if you want to work on interesting things, money may well be a logical outcome but it's probably not your primary incentive. advice is worth what you pay for it but if you're entrepreneurial because you think it's the fast lane to cash, you might want to analyse your reasoning.
null
1
8
2007-08-22 10:38:50 UTC
45,160
45,082
RevolutionsEnd
News.YC Library
bmaier
I would recommend The Programmer's Stone on www.reciprocality.org . While not a very standard book with many factually disputed points, its a book that really made me think about the art and essence of computer programing.
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
15
32
2007-08-22 10:59:46 UTC
45,163
45,082
tim
News.YC Library
bmaier
free computer science video lectures: http://www.lecturefox.com/computerscienceThe first on the list is great: Dr. Garcia presents the outstanding computer science lecture Machine Structures (C, Assembly, CPU design...) at the University of California Berkeley.
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
3
32
2007-08-22 11:39:53 UTC
45,165
45,161
jamongkad
The project generator
jgamman
Ha ha fun widget! Love it!
it took a few spins of the wheel but i'm launching my new 'computerized rotating sex toy' website after a suitable stealth time...
0
1
2007-08-22 11:51:14 UTC
45,166
45,104
epi0Bauqu
Scaling a startup from 0 to 40 hits per second in 3 days
mmaunder
I'm curious about your previous set up. You said mod_perl2, MySQL and Apache2 weren't cutting it for you, but I've scaled to that level fine with mod_perl2, PostgreSQL and Apache2. The key was database pooling via Apache::DBI, all the perl modules cached in a startup.pl via mod_perl2, keep alive and host lookups (and a few other things) completely off in Apache2, and all queries using indexes and indexes all in memory via postgres.Early on, like in your situation, I did go to the file system at first because I couldn't "make it work," but then eventually I went back to postgres after I figured out its scalability details. If you have a lot of little files and you hit them a lot, that will eventually probably become your bottleneck. Did you figure out the bottleneck in your db setup or has there just not been enough time yet? Just curious.
null
0
45
2007-08-22 11:52:15 UTC
45,189
45,175
davidw
What hosted service for SCCM (SVN or CVS) do you use for your company?
pbnaidu
I host that kind of stuff on my own dedicated server.
I am looking for a hosted service for SCCM (SVN or CVS or anything else) of my source code. I am working with a friend of mine who lives in different state than me and we are collaborating on a project and would like to maintain a single source code repository. The service could be similar to sourceforge.net but I can't use it as this project is not a open source project. Any recommendations for such a service and advantages/disadvantages of it will be greatly appreciated.
1
1
2007-08-22 13:43:50 UTC
45,194
45,164
ivankirigin
Content Aware Resizing of Images - Awesome
Keios
This is excellent. PhotoFlock should use this :)
This will take you to a .mov file. If you want to see an embedded clip instead use this link -- http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/66481/detail/Its a very impressive technology.
2
6
2007-08-22 14:09:16 UTC
45,205
44,876
iamwil
Hacker School
palish
I'm a bit surprised to see no one's mentioned Hackety Hackhttp://hacketyhack.net/It's Why the Lucky Stiff's venture into creating a ruby programming environment for kids that tries to entice their creativity.
It seemed best that this had its own discussion so we could really refine this. The original discussion is at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44627The idea is to create a YCombinator-like process that starts at the K-12 level. Perhaps not as far back as kindergarten, but definitely before 6th grade. Students would be trained in programming, art, writing, and other methods of creation. When the students graduate, some number of them will be given the opportunity to start a company. In return, the school will get 2-10% of the company.But what about the students who won't start companies, though? Clearly not everyone will have what it takes to think of a viable business. Well, the wonderful attribute of this system is that everyone's a winner. Anyone who doesn't start a company could be a cofounder or go to work for previous companies produced by this program, or go to college if they'd like.Why would children be motivated in such an environment? My theory is simple: If you don't treat them like idiots, they won't become idiots. Show them the joys of creating something cool. They'll like it. The reason children aren't motivated in a public school environment is because most public schools are prisons for children. It was for me. This system is the polar opposite of that. Everything revolves around project creation and development, not rigid, unbreakable structure that beats compliance out of the children, which is how public high school is.The teachers would need to be extremely high quality. They need to want to be a part of the process of training the next generation of hackers, not hired because there's a shortage of teachers. Hacker School would focus on programming, but there's no reason why it couldn't train children to become excellent journalists, novelists, or any other creative activity the students like.One property that this system needs from the beginning is a way for advanced children to be placed right where they're mentally stretched. If it makes sense for an extremely bright child to skip three grades, so be it. There are social implications, but another theory of mine is this: If you give children an environment where you respect them and treat them like adults, they will respect and treat each other like adults. Sure, there will be social conflicts, but there always are in life. Yes, they will lack maturity to deal with those. Yes, there will be outlying cases where it's really bad. But the system can be flexible in dealing with things like that. There won't be childish punishments. There won't be detention. I don't know what the appropriate system of punishments is, but it doesn't seem like we need to even worry about that until it becomes a problem. Adults have a way of sorting things out, and I believe children can behave like adults.Please be harsh in constructively criticizing this. The system needs to be the best, and for it to be the best, I ask that you guys please tear apart anything about it that seems like it won't work.
17
29
2007-08-22 14:33:16 UTC
45,207
45,162
joshwa
Auctomatic starts an in-house eBay business
kul
OK, here we could use a title edit to more accurately reflect the article content...
anybody need 1Gb Mac RAM?
0
11
2007-08-22 14:35:39 UTC
45,209
45,082
jcwentz
News.YC Library
bmaier
The Lambda Papers: http://library.readscheme.org/page1.html
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
16
32
2007-08-22 14:39:07 UTC
45,211
45,046
yubrew
How to Know You Have Found a Great Startup Lawyer
drm237
I don't agree with this guy's advice. There are more than 1,000,000 lawyers in the US,[0] a bunch that want your money, but only a few that know what their doing with tech start ups. A good heuristic when developing a good start up support team is to use whoever everyone else successful is using that also passes the gut check. Same goes for accountants, VCs, etc.[0] http://www.lawschool.com/wannabes.htm
Evaluating your startup lawyer (or any lawyer for that matter) can be a difficult task because a lawyer's work product tends to be intangible. That is, if you hired someone to build you a bookcase you could test its craftmanship in a matter of seconds. Not the case for the startup lawyer that typically deals in Word and PDF. Therefore, it's good idea to evaluate your startup lawyer in the following ways to determine if you have found a keeper.
0
5
2007-08-22 14:40:16 UTC
45,212
45,082
Autre
News.YC Library
bmaier
Kernighan & Ritchie, The ANSI C Programming LanguageKernighan & Pike, The UNIX Programming EnvironmentKernighan & Pike, The Practice Of Programming (Really, anything written by Kernighan is pure joy, even a man page)Jon Bentley, Programming PearlsPapadimitriou &Lewis, Elements of the theory of computation
Piggybacking on the recent Where to Start Programming and Hacker School Threads... What texts and works do you feel are essential and should be a part of every hackers library. Looking for books and also free online material. Any topic from strict programming texts to more abstract works.I'll start: Church-Turing Thesis: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/church-turing/
6
32
2007-08-22 14:47:36 UTC
45,221
45,081
mynameishere
Is There Anything Good About Men?
jyrzyk
I remember reading an article by a woman (I believe it was an early 1950s style feminist, ie, a pre-feminist) who laid out the problem very simply: Every field, even fields such as dressmaking, dancing, and interior design, have men at the top producing the greatest work. There are no female-dominated endeavors [1]. I think the (also ironic) title of the essay was "Woman is a failed sex" or something like that.[1] No longer true. A few things, such as the book publishing business are almost completely ruled by women. Not that "rulership" is necessarily "achievement".
null
1
32
2007-08-22 15:03:46 UTC
45,223
45,164
MartinMuehl
Content Aware Resizing of Images - Awesome
Keios
This really is pretty amazing. First I thought it's just showing different sizes of pictures if you change the size of the browser, but that's far better!
This will take you to a .mov file. If you want to see an embedded clip instead use this link -- http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/66481/detail/Its a very impressive technology.
0
6
2007-08-22 15:17:04 UTC
45,228
45,227
tracksuitceo
Is there a US alternative to Second Life?
eastsidegringo
Habbo is for 13-18 year olds (and probably younger but they probably have restrictions so the youngsters say they're 13). Second Life captures an older demographic (not sure of the stats). The market seems ripe for some newer competition. Something like a Linked In in a virtual world.
Habbo is like Second Life in Japan. From the article:Could you conduct market research in a week and come back with the buying and spending habits, and brand preferences, of 42,000 teenagers around the world? Sulake Corporation, developer of the Habbo virtual world for teenagers, did this very thing. And they're going back in September for another data mining run. You can read the full story in CRM Daily, Mining Virtual Worlds for Market Data.
0
4
2007-08-22 15:23:08 UTC
45,229
45,081
bz
Is There Anything Good About Men?
jyrzyk
This article is more informative for what it implies about the writer/audience than its actual contents. It dabbles in a mess of pseudoscience (plus a generous dose of bolds and underlines) and ends up drawing an absurd amount of conclusions out of paragraphs smaller than a fist. If anything, this article just plays on the what we already know/read to pander some trite preconceptions.
null
5
32
2007-08-22 15:27:04 UTC
45,234
45,175
damien
What hosted service for SCCM (SVN or CVS) do you use for your company?
pbnaidu
You might want to consider using a distributed system like mercurial or git, since it is much more flexible than something like Subversion. It will allow you to start coding today without worrying about servers by just pulling directly from each others local repositories. Once you have a server ready, then you can move to a central repository if you wish.
I am looking for a hosted service for SCCM (SVN or CVS or anything else) of my source code. I am working with a friend of mine who lives in different state than me and we are collaborating on a project and would like to maintain a single source code repository. The service could be similar to sourceforge.net but I can't use it as this project is not a open source project. Any recommendations for such a service and advantages/disadvantages of it will be greatly appreciated.
0
1
2007-08-22 15:42:20 UTC
45,236
45,206
myoung8
Bogus search engine pulls plans for IPO
jcwentz
How on earth did they get the likes of Bill Clinton and Eckhard Pfeiffer to associate with such a sham?
null
1
10
2007-08-22 15:55:44 UTC
45,238
45,181
aandreev
Lisp interpreter made with Action Script 3.
edu
touche?
The author talks about his work on http://www.solve-et-coagula.com/?p=8.
2
24
2007-08-22 15:59:24 UTC
45,241
45,181
Zak
Lisp interpreter made with Action Script 3.
edu
It doesn't seem to support closures. User>(defun accgen (x) (lambda (y) (incf x y))) ACCGEN User>(setf foo (accgen 5)) <Interpreted Lisp Function> User>(funcall foo 5) NaN User>(let ((bar "bar")) (defun qux () (print bar))) QUX User>(qux) null User>
The author talks about his work on http://www.solve-et-coagula.com/?p=8.
0
24
2007-08-22 16:12:19 UTC
45,244
43,686
auferstehung
Are We Failing Our Geniuses?
karthikv
One aspect that bothers me about the educational system is the educational system's education for educator's. Educational "theories" seem to follow fads that wax and wane in popularity every decade or so. (Reminiscent of the latest "Quality System" fad: the nuts and bolts remain the same but they are arranged differently.) One would think that educational techniques would converge over time rather than bouncing around. An educational degree strikes me as largely a waste more suited to a minor.
null
7
22
2007-08-22 16:21:22 UTC
45,245
45,206
edgeztv
Bogus search engine pulls plans for IPO
jcwentz
I interned for the company that provided Accoona's search engine software. This same software has been deployed successfully in many enterprise environments, is based on solid IR theory and research, and had powered a large web search engine in the late 90's. However, any company trying to use it to compete with Google/Yahoo/MSN today, has 0 chance of succeeding. It's like trying to use Lucene to compete with Google. While these IR systems are solid and great for special purpose deployments, they provide little means of dealing with spamdexing, and all the other things a full web search engine needs in modern times.It was obvious to me two years ago that Accoona was founded to capitalize on the search engine craze of the time as opposed to delivering a competitive product. I'd stay really far away from their stock if they ever go IPO.
null
0
10
2007-08-22 16:23:14 UTC
45,246
45,227
ivankirigin
Is there a US alternative to Second Life?
eastsidegringo
First Life? ZING!
Habbo is like Second Life in Japan. From the article:Could you conduct market research in a week and come back with the buying and spending habits, and brand preferences, of 42,000 teenagers around the world? Sulake Corporation, developer of the Habbo virtual world for teenagers, did this very thing. And they're going back in September for another data mining run. You can read the full story in CRM Daily, Mining Virtual Worlds for Market Data.
2
4
2007-08-22 16:24:41 UTC
45,247
45,190
ivankirigin
Competition: Provide Insight When You Meet With VCs
markpeterdavis
Hypothetically, what if the competition has a good model and is as smart & nimble as you are?I feel like this would be like an job interviewer asking "what are your worst qualities?" Few honest answers would benefit you.
After you have set the stage about your company's competitive positioning with your Investment Overview slide, be prepared to take a deeper dive into the competitive landscape. More often than not, VCs won't know the competitive landscape for your marketplace off hand so be sure to have information about all of the existing competitors.
0
2
2007-08-22 16:26:43 UTC
45,250
43,686
auferstehung
Are We Failing Our Geniuses?
karthikv
Reason's for public education:1. An educated citizenry is critical for a functioning democracy.2. An educated citizenry is critical to the economy of a nation.
null
9
22
2007-08-22 16:44:23 UTC
45,251
45,202
knewjax
Pick up today's Metro in Boston
knewjax
My bad. Its an article on one enterpreneur. The owner of "Second Glass" a wine magazine
I havent seen it yet but i guess there is a section in todays Metro on Boston Entrepreneurs under 40.
0
1
2007-08-22 16:48:22 UTC
45,252
44,882
apgwoz
Lisp web frameworks: which one should I use?
jsmcgd
if by Lisp you mean Scheme, perhaps http://magic.xmog.com suits you. It's lacking documentation, but it's promising at least.
I'm about to start development of a 'web 2.0' site. I've learnt some lisp and now I need to get to grips with a web framework. Any recommendations? Scalability is obviously important. Cheers.
9
18
2007-08-22 16:52:03 UTC
45,253
45,219
vlad
Seth's Blog: Business card mistakes
kkim
I disagree with him on this article. Aside from the fact that business cards should fit their intended purpose, which he didn't even address, all of those have flaws. The one he likes, I hate the most.A business that sells boats or boat rides should target older customers with bigger fonts.
null
3
14
2007-08-22 16:54:24 UTC
45,262
44,628
oditogre
News.YC's half birthday (with stats)
pg
What's that huge spike in April from?
null
4
33
2007-08-22 17:09:13 UTC
45,274
45,181
edu
Lisp interpreter made with Action Script 3.
edu
He has released the source code of the interpreter: http://www.solve-et-coagula.com/?p=9.
The author talks about his work on http://www.solve-et-coagula.com/?p=8.
1
24
2007-08-22 17:38:24 UTC
45,287
45,227
byrneseyeview
Is there a US alternative to Second Life?
eastsidegringo
As long as they don't do the survey at the wrong time (http://www.encyclopediadramatica.com/index.php/The_Great_Hab...).
Habbo is like Second Life in Japan. From the article:Could you conduct market research in a week and come back with the buying and spending habits, and brand preferences, of 42,000 teenagers around the world? Sulake Corporation, developer of the Habbo virtual world for teenagers, did this very thing. And they're going back in September for another data mining run. You can read the full story in CRM Daily, Mining Virtual Worlds for Market Data.
1
4
2007-08-22 18:18:23 UTC
45,289
45,146
simianstyle
The Twilight Years of Cap'n Crunch
rms
holy crap
null
1
13
2007-08-22 18:28:31 UTC
45,296
45,295
augustus
Firms, investors tend to prosper with founders at the helm
nickb
Good article on Usatoday
null
6
7
2007-08-22 18:42:12 UTC
45,299
45,164
danw
Content Aware Resizing of Images - Awesome
Keios
Thats incredible. Imagine the banner ad implications too
This will take you to a .mov file. If you want to see an embedded clip instead use this link -- http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/66481/detail/Its a very impressive technology.
1
6
2007-08-22 18:49:09 UTC
45,301
45,281
samb
Ask pg.news.yc: How do acquisition prices get settled?
aswanson
How can you trust the negotiators to work in your best interest? Make their cut percentage-based.
For instance, PG, how did Viaweb and Yahoo agree on a sale price? Arbitration by investment bankers, the board, etc? What is the process? How can you trust the negotiators to work in your best interest?
3
23
2007-08-22 18:49:48 UTC
45,308
45,153
palish
Deadpool: Five Stupidest Startups of the Summer
ordersup
At least they're trying things.
null
1
19
2007-08-22 19:30:06 UTC
45,311
45,309
rms
A Fear of Foreign Investments
rms
Personally I'm glad that these funds exist. It's much better than the alternative, foreign owned US dollars being sold. Instead, everyone just ends up owning a little part of America. $2.5 trillion doesn't seem like that much, how fast do you think sovereign wealth funds will grow over the next decade or two?
null
0
2
2007-08-22 19:31:23 UTC
45,312
45,104
tocomment
Scaling a startup from 0 to 40 hits per second in 3 days
mmaunder
I noticed if you come to a site using Feejit (sp?) via google, you're search term is included in the coming from URL. Does this present any kind of privacy issues? I remember AOL got in a lot of trouble for releasing search queries from their users.
null
3
45
2007-08-22 19:38:45 UTC
45,316
45,104
tocomment
Scaling a startup from 0 to 40 hits per second in 3 days
mmaunder
Would you mind expanding a bit on keep-alive settings? In what cases would you want to set it to a low value?Question 2. As a web developer, should I be worried that I don't know as much as you about scaling a web app? What will I do when my web app makes it big?
null
2
45
2007-08-22 19:41:15 UTC
45,317
45,153
ahsonwardak
Deadpool: Five Stupidest Startups of the Summer
ordersup
Unless it was intentionally stupid, they are trying. I have to disagree with Doostang.com. I've heard a lot of good things, and the other sites are the beginnings to good ideas. Usually, 2 or 3 sites have to start in a certain direction, before another one gets it just right.For Doostang, LinkedIn is a forerunner to better sites, or it's the successor to Monster, HotJobs, and the like.
null
0
19
2007-08-22 19:42:05 UTC
45,322
45,219
juwo
Seth's Blog: Business card mistakes
kkim
"Don't use big type for the address and contact info. The #1 way we can tell if a business card is cheesy is with a glance at the type size."bad advice. small type strains the eyes.The vistaprint cards are free + $6 shipping. But there is their logo saying "free cards at Vistaprint" on the back. Is that a Very Bad Thing? I wonder.
null
2
14
2007-08-22 19:50:05 UTC
45,324
45,146
chaostheory
The Twilight Years of Cap'n Crunch
rms
I just met him at Bar Camp - cool guy In fact, he's currently recruiting for his new startup in LA. I im'd him to see if he was interested in talking about it on the site formerly known as "Startup News" Actually with its current name, John would probably be more inclined to post
null
0
13
2007-08-22 19:52:42 UTC
45,326
45,123
nabeel
How/Why they started conduit labs
far33d
Story of a boston start-up social network+gaming and a little on how the VC round came together.
null
0
2
2007-08-22 19:55:18 UTC
45,332
45,323
epi0Bauqu
The Character Traits for an Entrepreneur
ahsonwardak
http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/startups/team.htmlSearch for "Qualities that I find absolutely necessary:"
I know there's much written about being a great leader and how-to posts on starting a company, but I'm more interested in those innate characteristics of a startup founder. Founders at Work had many great interviews, but I'm looking for the synthesis here of all the successful webpreneurs.
3
6
2007-08-22 20:10:29 UTC
45,333
45,295
pg
Firms, investors tend to prosper with founders at the helm
nickb
I'm all in favor of having founders run the company, but their 4x number not very meaningful. The company doing badly can be a cause of founders leaving, not just as result.
null
4
7
2007-08-22 20:13:33 UTC
45,337
45,281
pg
Ask pg.news.yc: How do acquisition prices get settled?
aswanson
It's always pretty much the same kind of haggling you'd see in a bazaar. Usually both sides send signals in advance about the ballpark figure they'd consider. If these aren't too far apart, you haggle. That's usually stressful, because you can only haggle effectively if you are truly prepared to walk away from the deal if you don't get what you want. So deals are always about to fall through till the last moment.
For instance, PG, how did Viaweb and Yahoo agree on a sale price? Arbitration by investment bankers, the board, etc? What is the process? How can you trust the negotiators to work in your best interest?
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2007-08-22 20:22:22 UTC
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run4yourlives
Ask pg.news.yc: How do acquisition prices get settled?
aswanson
>How can you trust the negotiators to work in your best interest?Be one of the negotiators. Sounds stupid, but if you aren't at the table, you really aren't being represented, no matter how wonderful the high priced help is.
For instance, PG, how did Viaweb and Yahoo agree on a sale price? Arbitration by investment bankers, the board, etc? What is the process? How can you trust the negotiators to work in your best interest?
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2007-08-22 20:30:04 UTC
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run4yourlives
Idea: A genetic testing service to allow parents to exchange newborns to reduce conflict 16 years later
amichail
Great Idea, now all you have to do is convince someone to exchange their baby away.As a parent, I can tell you that this will be harder than building a city on mars.
The idea here is that parents would exchange their babies according to the results of genetic testing to reduce overall conflict with their children 16 years later.For example, children who tend to take risks would be assigned to parents who also take risks as determined by similarities in their risk taking genetic profile.To encourage women to have healthy babies, the algorithm would take into account the health of the baby so that babies of similar health are exchanged.
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2007-08-22 20:32:54 UTC
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ivankirigin
Idea: A genetic testing service to allow parents to exchange newborns to reduce conflict 16 years later
amichail
0, this would be completely unreliable give the non-genetic factors in personality.1, it totally ignores that people care more for their own genetic offspring than for other kids.2, people having kids aren't thinking about teenage conflict. People that do think long term think about relationships with adult children.
The idea here is that parents would exchange their babies according to the results of genetic testing to reduce overall conflict with their children 16 years later.For example, children who tend to take risks would be assigned to parents who also take risks as determined by similarities in their risk taking genetic profile.To encourage women to have healthy babies, the algorithm would take into account the health of the baby so that babies of similar health are exchanged.
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2007-08-22 20:34:12 UTC
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nostrademons
Firms, investors tend to prosper with founders at the helm
nickb
Another hypothesis as to why companies do better with founders:A company's culture is set by its founder(s). As long as a founder is in charge, the CEO is working with the corporate culture. When an outside manager is brought in, he usually ends up working against corporate culture.In every company I've worked in, the culture was essentially a reflection of the founder's personality. If there are multiple founders, it reflects a weird amalgam of all the ones that are involved in the daily business. If an early employee tends to run things in the early days, the culture reflects them as much as the founders. Think Intel and Andy Grove, or 3M and William McKnight.Companies tend to inherit both the best qualities and worst faults of their founders. However, their position in the marketplace usually reflects the best qualities. After all, nobody buys from a company for what it sucks at.An outsider brings his own strengths and weaknesses to the company, but it's very unlikely that his strengths will line up with the culture and market that the company already has. Think John Sculley and Apple - great executive for cola, not so great for computers. The founder, instead, may have tons of liabilities, but at least he won't be fighting the corporate culture he himself has created.There's some evidence to back this up, for instance:1.) It echoes the findings in Good to Great: the turnaround process involves applying the "hedgehog principle" of asking yourself what the company is really passionate about, then getting the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus, and only then changing strategy. The hedgehog principle is essentially a question about culture: where does the culture of this organization fit into the overall economy. Then getting the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus consists of strengthening the positive aspects of the company culture and weakening the negative ones.2.) In cases where an outside turnaround CEO has successfully turned around a company, they usually spend a significant amount of time acclimatizing themselves to the existing culture, and only start changing things after they already "fit in". Think Lou Gerstner and IBM. Even then, they often make decisions that mortgage the long-term health of the company by destroying the previous cultural values. Gerstner eliminated IBM's status as an R&D powerhouse, for example, while James McNerney nearly destroyed 3M's innovation culture with Six Sigma.3.) Companies that survive the departure of their founders usually do so by institutionalizing their culture as a set of company values, bringing in fresh recruits out of college before they've been able to pick up a different corporate culture, and then promoting from within to put in place management who already understands the existing culture. Think GE.
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2007-08-22 20:37:31 UTC
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pg
Top 10 reasons why your startup needs a Board of Advisors
nreece
Top 2 reasons you don't:1. How many startups you admire have one?2. Investors and board members should already be doing this.
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2007-08-22 20:39:00 UTC
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karthikv
The Character Traits for an Entrepreneur
ahsonwardak
"I now have enough experience with startups to be able to say what the most important quality is in a startup founder, and it's not what you might think. The most important quality in a startup founder is determination. Not intelligence-- determination." http://www.paulgraham.com/startuplessons.html
I know there's much written about being a great leader and how-to posts on starting a company, but I'm more interested in those innate characteristics of a startup founder. Founders at Work had many great interviews, but I'm looking for the synthesis here of all the successful webpreneurs.
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2007-08-22 20:39:56 UTC
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epi0Bauqu
Ask pg.news.yc: How do acquisition prices get settled?
aswanson
After the introduction of the topic of acquisition from the buyer to the seller, the first major milestone in an acquisition deal is usually a terms sheet. The terms sheet would be essentially a non-binding high-level agreement to the basic terms of the deal. Price is just one of many terms. It is clearly one of the important ones, but there are other sometimes equally important terms in a given deal, such as associated non-compete and consulting contracts. Also, "price" is a nebulous term and is usually not just one isolated number. For instance, there can be earn-outs, hold-backs, escrowed amounts, consulting fees, etc., and all of these can be tied to indemnities, conditions, etc. And the structure of the deal, e.g. stock vs asset, impacts the net take home to the shareholders, which is what most people are ultimately interested in.Both parties agree on the terms sheet through negotiation. That sounds obvious, but the point is there is not one set process. There are many strategies to negotiation and some make more sense than others in the context of a particular deal. It is not uncommon for parties to walk away and come back to the table at this stage, and in fact, at all stages. The "price" could easily move up or down significantly depending on a number of factors. It really comes down to what the seller is willing to sell for and what the buyer is willing to buy for. If there is an overlap, there could be a deal. If not, then no deal. The rest is jockeying for the overlap. Walking away until you get x is one tactic to get to the top of the overlap from your perspective.Finally, investment bankers and their equivalents in these situations are not necessary, but they can get you a higher price. Their basic usefulness is connecting you to potential buyers, i.e. through their roladex. You, alone, may not know or have access to these potential buyers. By engaging multiple buyers you can get an auction scenario, which is often ideal because usually buyers willing to pay more for something if they are taking it away from someone else in addition to getting it for themselves. However, certain tactics can turn off and ultimately dislodge particular buyers from the process, which could be net negative for the shareholders depending on which buyer(s) walked away. Also, brokers usually take a significant % fee, and if they do not get an auction going, this could just be wasted money.
For instance, PG, how did Viaweb and Yahoo agree on a sale price? Arbitration by investment bankers, the board, etc? What is the process? How can you trust the negotiators to work in your best interest?
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2007-08-22 20:49:41 UTC
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flyhighplato
The Character Traits for an Entrepreneur
ahsonwardak
Everyone will just describe themselves ;)
I know there's much written about being a great leader and how-to posts on starting a company, but I'm more interested in those innate characteristics of a startup founder. Founders at Work had many great interviews, but I'm looking for the synthesis here of all the successful webpreneurs.
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2007-08-22 20:53:41 UTC
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henryw
The Character Traits for an Entrepreneur
ahsonwardak
I think one of the traits is to be relentlessly going after results, getting stuff done. Result is what matters. And since results are not guaranteed, the best one could do is to religiously maximize his/her probably for success by doing/learning whatever is needed (within legal and moral bounds).From Paul Graham's wealth creation article http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html1) Be smart and/or learn a lot so you have a high multiplier on your productivity2) "You need to be in a position where your performance can be measured ... And you have to have leverage, in the sense that the decisions you make have a big effect." Or in other words start your company or join a small startup producing things people want.3) Take a lot of actions (with your high multiplier) in working on your company. "Imagine the stress of working for the Post Office for fifty years. In a startup you compress all this stress into three or four years."4) Enjoy the show after you're done and while at it. (I added that one.)This was about doing it by creating things. "There are plenty of other ways to get money, including chance, speculation, marriage, inheritance, theft, extortion, fraud, monopoly, graft, lobbying, counterfeiting, and prospecting. Most of the greatest fortunes have probably involved several of these."
I know there's much written about being a great leader and how-to posts on starting a company, but I'm more interested in those innate characteristics of a startup founder. Founders at Work had many great interviews, but I'm looking for the synthesis here of all the successful webpreneurs.
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2007-08-22 21:15:47 UTC
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Goladus
Only So Many Ways to Do Something Right
samb
I sort of disagree with the example of wristwatches. A wristwatch is not a blank canvas, it's a highly restrictive environment creatively. People look at those constraints, look at the bigger picture (that a watch is also a clothing accessory) and then stretch the limits. Most people don't start with a blank canvas and come up with great ideas, the great ideas more often come when there is a need to figure out how to make the most of a limitation.
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2007-08-22 21:34:14 UTC