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Model predicts civilization will soon collapse - winstonx
http://www.policymic.com/articles/85541/nasa-study-concludes-when-civilization-will-end-and-it-s-not-looking-good-for-us
======
JackMorgan
I read something like this, and wonder, "ok, maybe I can't solve all society's
problems myself, what can I do to survive such an upheaval?" Any suggestions?
~~~
killerpopiller
live in the first world, close to good water sourced and read those forums of
survival enthiasts. some selected skill sets are always demanded
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Comparing Java and JavaScript - aogl
https://ao.gl/comparing-java-and-javascript/
======
chrisma0
I still really enjoy the tidbit that the name JavaScript was a Netscape
marketing move to benefit from the "hotness" of Java. "Since Java was the hot
new programming language at the time, this has been characterized as a
marketing ploy by Netscape to give its own new language cachet."
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript#Creation_at_Netscap...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript#Creation_at_Netscape)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New Pentagon blueprint sees bigger role for robot warfare - wikiburner
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/2013/1227/New-Pentagon-blueprint-sees-bigger-role-for-robot-warfare
======
writtles
I would imagine robot warfare is / will be much more politically feasable as
"our" human cost goes way down.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Article Analyzer - gsundeep
http://gsundeep.com/articleanalyzer.php
This script analyzes the content of an article. It won't work with all websites (cURL issues). Tested with CNN articles among others.
======
benbjohnson
I like the sentence length progression graph. It's interesting to see how it
changes over the course of the article.
One suggestion I would make is to add links for example articles on the home
page to make it easy for people to test it out without having to go find an
article to enter.
I'd also be interesting to see what other information you could get out of an
NLP (Natural Language Processing) library.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hiroshima (1946) - kibwen
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1946/08/31/hiroshima
======
supernova87a
When I was young in grade school, and learned about the bomb, and its
terrifying aftermath, pictures, scars, I thought that this was clearly a wrong
against humanity to have been dropped on anyone. Clearly the visceral kind of
"this should never happen" reaction that any average person would have. "How
could we put the Enola Gay on a stamp to glorify this?"
Then, in college and especially after, learning about the equal horrors of the
Japanese war machine, and maybe actually more the non-horrific but relentless
robotic support for the war (or obedience towards the emperor, government,
etc) among the people, I realized that it actually did bring an end to the
war. Which if it had continued, could have consumed far more lives. (whether
it had to be this tool, of course, is certainly worthy of debate)
Now, my 3rd phase of thinking -- beyond any opinion on tactics or reaction or
bombs in the moment of a war -- is how do we get people to help themselves get
out of the path to war? Each and every one of us, who whether by support or
indifference, or tacit approval, or compounded misinformation, or ego, get
ourselves into situations that we look back 50 years from now and say, "what
happened?".
Surely, we have the tools and desire, don't we? I hope.
~~~
EarthIsHome
For those interested in arguments about whether the bombings were necessary,
there's a good Wikipedia article:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_over_the_atomic_bombi...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debate_over_the_atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki)
I do believe the bombings were a strategic show-of-force to the Soviet Union
since they were coming out of the war as a global power; USSR were
instrumental in ending the war.
~~~
missedthecue
The fact that the military is still awarding Purple Hearts that were
manufactured for the invasion of Japan tells me that it was more than
justified. Japanese intelligence itself estimated 20 million casualties during
an invasion.
~~~
pmachinery
Regardless of the number, there was no need to invade Japan.
It was already defeated, and offering to surrender, before the USSR joined the
fight.
Totally surrounded/blockaded, no allies left in the world, bombed at will,
what else could it do but accept defeat?
~~~
manfredo
Offering to surrender _conditionally_. Specifically, on the condition that it
keep Korea and Taiwan (and maybe Manchuria, too), and that it's military
government remain largely unchanged. This is was not a surrender that was
acceptable to the Allies.
This thread is being rate limited, reply in edit:
Denying Korea and Taiwan is easier said than done. Remember that Japan
essentially won the continental war against China. It's best equipped and most
experienced troops are there. Japan is also in an optimal position to control
ocean access to Korea. Any boats have to travel through the East China Sea, or
sea of Japan to reach Korea. Both of which are in range of the thousands of
kamikaze planes built for the purpose of destroying vessels that sail close to
Japan.
At this point, you're talking about conducting an invasion of a landmass even
larger than the Japanese home islands, against better troops, and with more
difficult naval access. It would undoubtedly incur substantially more losses
than the 100 to 200 thousand inflicted by the atomic bombings. And to what
end? A hostile military government would still be in power back in Japan.
~~~
valuearb
Not invading or dropping nukes would mean the deaths of millions. The Japanese
would still fight, Japanese and Allied planes would still get shot down and
warships sunk. Japanese Civilians would still be dying at a high rate, from
bombings, starvation, lack of medical supplies, etc.
Before these bombs were dropped, tens of thousands were dying on days with no
large military operations.
------
mholt
If you're interested in this, I highly recommend watching _In This Corner of
the World_. The perspective of a young woman who lives her life during the
war, and her family's tragic experience with the bomb.
If I'm not mistaken, it is the first anime the Emperor of Japan has gone to
see personally in theaters ([https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-
news/2019/12/18-1/japans-e...](https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-
news/2019/12/18-1/japans-emperor-and-empress-attended-charity-screening-of-in-
this-corner-of-the-world-anime-film)).
Spoiler-free analysis:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPS2U2ijBkU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPS2U2ijBkU)
US Netflix:
[https://www.netflix.com/title/80192244](https://www.netflix.com/title/80192244)
------
spicyramen
I have had the opportunity to visit Hiroshima and lived in the US where I had
the chance to study under professor William Perry former Secretary of Defense
and responsible for many post war research. The perspective and official
version that Americans have is that dropping the bomb was the right thing to
do and only way to finish the war in the Pacific. The history is written by
the winners simple fact to always keep in mind. This is clearly a
misunderstanding of World War 2. In Europe after England and France lost their
hegemony as empires, it became a race between USSR and US for world
domination. The Red Army after controlling Germany were on their way to Japan,
and Japanese were really afraid of it. There was a previous dispute over
Kamchatka peninsula and other territories that Russians would want to claim
back. US already defeated Japan in the Pacific and most of Japan was already
destroyed. US sent the bomb to send a message to the World and USSR: we have
this weapon and we will use it. It was in their best interest to control a
Russia-free Japan than get into the same mess as in Germany.
------
mytailorisrich
The allies had already started to resort to obliterating whole cities and
their inhabitants before Hiroshima (see Dresden, Tokyo).
IMHO, this was not the result of how "evil" the German and Japanese regimes
were (which seems to me to be a rationalization) but the result of 5 years of
total war. I think that at some point people came to accept doing whatever it
took to win and end the war.
In the context of what was going on I think dropping atomic bombs to
precipitate the end of the war and send a message to the Soviets was perhaps
not considered as big a deal as we might think because, as said, the result
was already accepted looking at the conventional bombing raids that had taken
place.
War is hell and total war means total hell.
~~~
gen220
FWIW, the goal of the allied bombing campaign was _always_ to cripple the
adversary nation by bombing industrial infrastructure; the doctrine pre-dated
the outbreak of WW II.
The invention of radar-assisted targeting thwarted this mission in the early
phases of the war in Europe, and it took a tech arms race to get past it.
In the Pacific, the US’s primary objective was to secure an air base within
strategic bombing range of Japan. It pursued this by capturing islands and
investing in aeronautics (extending the range and carrying capacity of
bombers).
Once within range of Japan, the Air Force tried strategic bombing at first,
but found themselves unable to hit their targets. They had to fly above flak,
and aim _through_ the previously-undiscovered jet stream. They eventually gave
up and turned from strategic bombing to recently-invented (demonstrated in
1942/3, mass produced in 1944) napalm. They knew it was awful, but considered
it a trade of X lives now for 10x lives later.
All this to say, I don’t believe that war weariness significantly influenced
the decision to use napalm and atomic weapons, in Europe or Japan. If the
allied powers had encountered the opportunity to use them within the first
year of the war, their military doctrine would have dictated their use.
------
overkalix
This is such a remarcable piece of writing. I'm sure among americans this is
already somewhat of a classic but if you haven't read yet it do yourself a
favor and take half an hour to read it.
~~~
dan-robertson
If you look up the author, one of the first things a you will read is that
this was judged to be the finest example of 20th century American journalism
by a large group at New York university.
~~~
gen220
It also arguably made The New Yorker magazine. It’s identity is still strongly
influenced by this piece. Each article they have published since has had to
“follow” this one.
Prior to WWII, its tone was more playful and humorous. The somewhat-detached,
illustrative and poetic exposition originated in the war period, and resonates
today.
------
dang
If curious see also
2018
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18536235](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18536235)
2016
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11750331](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11750331)
------
idlewords
If you ever get a chance to visit the Hiroshima Peace Museum, it is a moving
and worthwhile place to go. Give yourself a few hours so you can spend time
watching eyewitness interviews. The main tram line through downtown goes right
past Ground Zero, which never stops being shocking.
~~~
jfoster
There is even some restored tram cars from that time still in use:
[https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-
elsewhere-33148281](https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-
elsewhere-33148281)
------
mlb_hn
Great article. It's worth considering the Japanese reaction to the bomb -
people thought it was cluster munitions or other conventional explosives
leading to them taking sub-optimal follow-on steps. While the physicists
figured it out, it was not obvious at the time to many people who experienced
it firsthand what happened.
------
pengaru
I happen to have just started reading the book Made In Japan, and the first
chapter's title is War.
It's been a good read so far. I found it quite interesting to hear about the
Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings from the perspective of a young Japanese
technician working in the war effort at the time.
A lot of comments in here are throwing around terms like "war crime". I'm not
well informed on this subject, but the impression I get from this book at
least, wasn't one of anger and accusation of wrongdoing WRT the bombings.
It comes across more as a humble acceptance of defeat, and perhaps a subtle
criticism of his own nation's propaganda-washed populous, military-dominated
leadership and authority, than anything accusing the Americans of committing
war crimes.
He describes the bombings as clearly demonstrating how far behind Japan was
technologically. Up until that point he had the impression that Japanese
military technology was only slightly behind the Americans, based on reverse
engineered equipment recovered from downed planes.
The thing I wonder is if the Americans could have just dropped a single bomb
first on a relatively unpopulated area, near enough to a Japanese population
center to witness its destructive force, without all the loss of civilian
life. They might have surrendered after that. You still have the second bomb
if they don't get the message. But I guess there wasn't exactly 100% certainty
both bombs would function, and I don't know how long it would take to make
another at the time - it's not like we had a huge stockpile of the enriched
fissile material laying around.
In any case, so far I'd recommend the book, and I haven't even gotten to the
stuff about Sony yet.
------
traceroute66
Nuking the Japanese was just the culmination of rather horrific methods used
by the US against Japan.
Another one the US was quite keen on is firebombing (aerial incendiary bombing
of urban areas). Grave of the Fireflies is a movie well worth watching that
provides a depiction of the effect of war on society.
------
MrsPeaches
If you have never read it, I high recommend "The Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima
& Nagasaki" by the Manhatten Project [1].
There are some facinating technical details (in particluar the way heat
reflected in the hills of Nagasaki) but in general it makes for grim reading.
I was always struck by the contrast between the dispassionate analysis in the
report and the final eye witness account in the appendix.
I always had the feeling that they knew what they had done and knew that it
was wrong.
[1]
[https://www.abomb1.org/hiroshim/hiro_med.pdf](https://www.abomb1.org/hiroshim/hiro_med.pdf)
------
lordgeek
Notice the similarity with today Russia:
\- Run by an eternal Emperor adored by population at large (not counting few
remaining intellectuals he murders every year)
\- Extremely religious-jingoistic national ideology as “strong spiritual
braces of Russians”. Quite similar to militaristic Japan “warrior spirit of
master race”.
\- Already invaded and conquered few smaller neighbors in the wars of conquest
\- On of top sources of toxic influence in every field in the modern world
Countries who blindingly follow some two bit God-Emperor aggressive trash
should not be surprised to eat Gamma rays for breakfast one fine morning.
------
dkyc
The pop-up advertising a 'flash sale' over the first paragraph couldn't have
been placed worse.
------
mixmastamyk
There are two "WWII - HD in Color" documentaries on Netflix right now. I
recommend them if you find this subject interesting.
The old one is more comprehensive, but a bit numbing in that it just hits you
with fact after fact after fact.
The newer one is a bit shorter, and breaks up the action with recent
interviews with historians, who delve deeper on the "why" of what happened.
The second one skips a few important things, so I recommend the older to fill
in a few gaps even if you don't watch both.
------
programmingpol
I highly recommend The Making of the Atomic Bomb. I listened to the audiobook
last year. It starts with the scientific advances, beginning in the late 19th
century, and continues up through the achievement of a chain reaction and the
dropping of the bombs on Japan. The final part of the book, detailing the
eyewitness accounts of the bombings, is the most harrowing thing I’ve ever
listened to.
------
ErikAugust
Feynman on Hiroshima is fascinating:
[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018w6rc](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p018w6rc)
------
bamboozled
The thing about all of this is that these bombs were dropped on children and
innocents.
Children on their way to school, the innocent and the weak were the victims of
nuclear bombs, people were left without skin, their faces melted, bodies
deformed and with radiation poisoning.
Sorry but it's a disgusting and weak act no matter how you people try spin it,
I can never truly get past the facts and some of the footage of the aftermath
available.
------
sorokod
Kazutoshi Hando, The Pacific War Research Society, Japan's Longest Day (Tokyo:
Kodansha International, Ltd., 1968), pp. 11-53.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110225124451/http://www.mtholy...](https://web.archive.org/web/20110225124451/http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/hando/hando.htm)
------
mcguire
The Atomic Bomb and the End of World War II: A Collection of Primary Sources
[https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/index.htm](https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB162/index.htm)
------
hermitcrab
Japan and Germany were both utterly humbled by the war. They learnt the
lessons and are now respected and vibrant democracies.
UK and USA were on the winning side. This bred myths of British and American
exceptionlism, which led eventually to Brexit, catastrophic handling of
COVID19 and (perhaps) Trump.
History often has a sting in it's tail.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Meet the Next Billionaires - bootload
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18628572/site/newsweek
======
sabhishek
Wasn't this submitted long ago on on ycnews ?
~~~
bootload
_"... Wasn't this submitted long ago on on ycnews ? ..."_
Might have been (same article with different url), show me? Now if
hackernews.yc had a search function I'd look for it and not bother but as it
is I have to go to google, then search something like
_[http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fycombinat...](http://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fycombinator.com+Meet+the+Next+Billionaires)
_ Maybe I should add this submission check to my sub-que software before I
submit. It would scale much easier if this or similiar searches could be
provided at submission. But even then there is no guarantee that this will
work, so I don't bother.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Background removal by measuring color distance - jajoosam
https://dev.to/jajoosam/show-dev-colorspace---smart-background-removal-with-canvas--56cc
======
summitsummit
didnt see any examples and arduously went through the process to upload my own
pics and that also didnt work, regardless of threshold.
iphone
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Ideas to manage DB correctly - aaossa
Hi HN,<p>I'm currently working on a project that requires working with data and do some processing. I've been reading about software architecture and I think that the best design is use a separated database server. My current plan is to use a Python Flask app to create a REST API that saves the data to a few Google Spreadsheet. Is this a good solution?<p>Another question is how do I test this? I was thinking in create some tests to try to write some data using the Flask app and "assert" that the response codes are correct.<p>Is this a good approach in general?<p>Summary: I'm using a Python Flask app to access the data in Google Spreadsheets. Good? Bad? Opinions?<p>Thanks :)
======
mindcrime
Depends on the use case, but at the end of the day Google Sheets is not a
database engine. If you're storing any serious volume of data or doing a high
volume of processing, I am guessing you'll need a real db like Postgresql, or
something of that ilk. If you don't want the hassle of installing and managing
a database engine yourself, you could look at Amazon DynamoDB or Amazon RDS,
etc.
~~~
aaossa
Thanks mindcrime! I'll read about them :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Think you have a secret life? Think again. - kkim
http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20071109_003391.html
======
raghus
"Take all the web usage and YouTube video data Google has been acquiring about
us all, glue it to our data down at the credit bureau, tie it to our mobile
phone number and our mobile activity"...
Yahoo has as much, if not more data about us than Google - and for longer.
Yahoo knows everyone I emailed for the past 10+ years (Yahoo! Mail), what
links I find interesting (del.icio.us), what links I find interesting but
don't want you to know about (Private del.icio.us), where I've been and who I
meet (Flickr photos), who my trusted friends and family are (Flickr
Contacts/Family), what online communities I take part in (Yahoo Groups) - and
we haven't even touched on Yahoo Web Search History. Plus I've bought domains
from them so they have my CC and home address.
If Yahoo wanted, I am sure they could build a frighteningly accurate dossier
on most of us.
Why is it that all these Big Brother scenarios worry about Google finding out
everything and more about us rather than Yahoo?
Is Yahoo such a has-been or has Google taken on quite the Sauron persona - the
all-seeing eye?
~~~
derefr
Because Google has proven that they know how to index, and cluster,
information better than anyone else. Having all the information in the world
at your fingertips is a _necessary_ , but not _sufficient_ , condition for
omniscience; you must also know _which box_ the ark of the covenant is in.
------
robg
The important bit is the metadata plus the uniqueness of the phone number.
Whereas an IP address or, as he notes, a SSN can be used by many people, how
many people use the same cell number/phone? And the IP is tied to a specific
location while the SSN has no real world significance except as a verifier. By
contrast, it's easy to see if a phone number is live and _where_ it is. What's
better from a marketing perspective, especially since you're out in the world
uniquely traveling around with it?
If that's the Google play - wow.
------
mojuba
Soon, Google will be able to hire without interviewing.
------
rms
I believe Google will make free service available on the 700 megahertz
spectrum but I don't see them making the leap into identify verification --
that would even start to creep me out.
------
myoung8
Wow, that was far-fetched.
I'm starting to wonder, is there a limit on the number of ad-based services we
can have in the economy? (i.e. are there are fixed number of ad dollars to be
spent)
~~~
asdflkj
Probably not. Advertising is slowly becoming less like brainwashing and more
like a valuable service to the consumer. Where there is value, there will be
money. The only limit on that value I can think of will be reached when Google
(or whoever) learns to read our minds perfectly.
------
zach
I'm betting the Social Security number with 3,000 people using it must belong
to the guy from Lifelock.
------
kajecounterhack
I see 1984 in our future. Eric Schmitt is Big Brother!!!
------
cellis
thats a lot of ifs.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Calculus on Computational Graphs: Backpropagation - inetsee
http://colah.github.io/posts/2015-08-Backprop/index.html
======
xtacy
It's also known as "automatic differentiation" \-- it's quite different from
numerical/symbolic differentiation.
More information here:
\- [https://justindomke.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/automatic-
diffe...](https://justindomke.wordpress.com/2009/02/17/automatic-
differentiation-the-most-criminally-underused-tool-in-the-potential-machine-
learning-toolbox/)
\-
[https://wiki.haskell.org/Automatic_Differentiation](https://wiki.haskell.org/Automatic_Differentiation)
The key idea is extending common operators (+, -, product, /, key mathematical
functions) that usually operate on _real numbers_ to tuples of real numbers
(x, dx) (the quantity and its derivative with respect to some variable) such
that the operations preserve the properties of differentiation.
For instance (with abuse of notation):
- (x1, dx1) + (x2, dx2) = (x1 + x2, dx1 + dx2).
- (x1, dx1) * (x2, dx2) = (x1 * y1, x1 * dx2 + x2 * dx1).
- sin((x, dx)) = (sin(x), cos(x)).
Note that the right element of the tuple can be computed precisely from
quantities readily available from the inputs to the operator.
It's also extensible to derivatives of scalars that are functions of many
variables by a vector (of those variables) (common in machine learning).
It's beautifully implemented in Google's Ceres optimisation package:
[https://ceres-solver.googlesource.com/ceres-
solver/+/1.8.0/i...](https://ceres-solver.googlesource.com/ceres-
solver/+/1.8.0/include/ceres/jet.h)
~~~
conistonwater
I don't think you're describing quite the same thing. You're talking about
forward-mode differentiation, whereas backpropagation corresponds to what's
usually called adjoint-mode differentiation (I think it's called reverse-mode
in the post). The difference is in computational efficiency when the number of
parameters is large.
------
versteegen
Anyone reading this who hasn't already should do themselves a favour and read
the other articles on colah's blog. Beautifully presented demonstrations of ML
algorithms, a number running live in your browser
[http://colah.github.io/](http://colah.github.io/)
------
jmount
My demonstration Scala automatic differentiation library: [http://www.win-
vector.com/blog/2010/06/automatic-differentia...](http://www.win-
vector.com/blog/2010/06/automatic-differentiation-with-scala/)
------
outlace
This is beautiful. I've never seen a more concise yet powerfully clear
explanation of backpropagation. This explanation is so fundamental in that it
relies on the fewest number of axioms.
------
plg
Love these tutorials. Not sure that the LaTeX font is the right choice for a
web page though.
------
misiti3780
this is easily the best explanation of back-propagation i have found on the
web - nice work
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Creator of SimCity, Will Wright, live Q&A - mrmonkington
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9-svog-uBs
======
dreen
What has he spoke about for the past 35 minutes? Anything on the latest
kerfuffle?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Thoughts on porn startups? - hajrice
I'm really curious to what HN has to say regarding porn startups; I dont mean the ones involved in production, but end-user, etc.
======
mooism2
What is there to say about porn startups that can't also be said about non-
porn startups?
~~~
michael_dorfman
About the only thing that I can think of is that porn is a highly competitive
and crowded industry. Unless you've got some "secret sauce" that is extremely
hard to replicate, I wouldn't even consider it.
~~~
iwwr
Try exploring the yet unharnessed sections of the EM spectrum. We have age-old
visible-light porn, Paris Hilton introduced IR-light porn, the TSA pioneered
x-ray and millimeter-wave porn, while some researchers dabbled with CAT-scaner
machines. There is a huge potential still remaining! Near-UV, far-UV, far-IR
(thermal), not to mention luminescence and fluorescence.
------
gexla
Maybe you could do a chat roulette where instead of blocking the penis, you
embrace it. Well, not embrace it. You don't want to touch it. Eeew. I just
meant that... oh nevermind.
I agree with top comment. A startup is a startup. You only have so many
resources though (time and money) so make sure this is the area in which you
could kill it the most.
Just like with any startup, look for something which you can improve on.
Except for bigger boobs. They can go bigger, but they are already big enough
on the sites which specialize in those things!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Password Hashing Competition finalists announced - harshreality
https://password-hashing.net/candidates.html
======
edwintorok
I'm confused about POMELO, the wiki says it is ' independent from any existing
cipher ', does that mean that it invents its own cipher or that it can use
_any_ existing cipher? After a quick glance at the PDF I'm worried it is the
former.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (November 2018) - whoishiring
Please lead with either SEEKING WORK or SEEKING FREELANCER,
your location, and whether remote work is a possibility.
======
revorad
SEEKING FREELANCERS - Remote
Hi, I'm Hrishi Mittal. I run Learnetto, an online education site
([https://learnetto.com](https://learnetto.com)). I have a growing site with a
few thousand developers. I'm working on a new service to offer 1-on-1 coaching
and mentoring to junior and mid level developers.
So I'm looking for multiple senior developers who have expertise and
confidence in teaching Ruby, Rails, Javascript, Node, Express, Python, Django,
React, Vue, Angular, SQL, Devops, AWS and other technologies.
If you have any experience teaching online through blog posts, tutorials,
courses or books, you might be the right type of person I'm looking for.
If you don't have experience teaching yet, but do have tech expertise and are
interested in getting into teaching, then I'm also interested in hearing from
you.
I'm looking to pay anywhere between $100-$200 per hour based on your skills.
This will be highly rewarding work because you will help developers who are
starting out in their careers to learn faster and progress quickly.
Please fill in this form with your details -
[https://goo.gl/forms/fFYHV9bzVHyxE5DR2](https://goo.gl/forms/fFYHV9bzVHyxE5DR2)
If you have any questions, email me at [email protected]
If you're a junior developer looking to improve your skills, feel free to
email me.
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fuzzy-logic
SEEKING WORK
Location: Seattle, WA
Remote: yes/world-wide
We make sure your site doesn't go down on Black Friday.
Hi, I’m Lee Whalen, Principal of Fuzzy Logic, a Seattle-Based DevOps
consultancy with deep experience in providing business results through
technical solutions.
We help SaaS companies save money through extensive automation -
infrastructure deployment, code-checking/deploy, CI/CD - and good-practices
for on-premise or public cloud management.
Business results we’ve obtained for our Clients include:
\+ Savings in excess of $1.4M/yr by environment-wide migrations from Rackspace
fully managed hardware to a privately hosted Openstack environment
\+ A 33% savings from previous OpEx through optimizing public-cloud spend,
replacing expensive SaaS products with internal services, etc
\+ Cut DevOps engineer 'time to first commit' from two weeks to two days with
documentation and optimized onboarding processes
\+ Developed a custom API-driven provisioning tool that allowed VMs to deploy
independent of the cloud provider backend
Let's have a conversation about where your business is going and what we can
do to get you there. Contact Fuzzy Logic or its principal Lee Whalen:
Resume/CV: [https://www.fuzzy-logic.org/](https://www.fuzzy-logic.org/)
Email: hnhireme (at) fuzzy-logic.org
------
mypath
SEEKING WORK | Pristina, Kosovo | REMOTE
I am an experienced full-stack developer. I specialize in creating web
applications with Angular on the front end and Nodejs (Express) on the
backend. I have professional experience in enterprise application development
with cutting edge tools like GraphQL, Rxjs, Docker, Typescript, NGXS and so
on.
My background and skills include:
1) Highly skilled in designing, testing, and developing software
2) Experience with front-end frameworks (Angular, React)
3) Experience with back-end frameworks/technologies (MERN stack, MEAN stack,
Spring Boot).
4) Experience in database management
5) Experience working with Docker
6) Experience working with in an agile environment with a scrum team
7) Experience working with tools like Jira, Asana, Trello
I am looking for part-time work. If you are looking to get a project done, or
you have an existing project that needs modifying, I would love to hear from
you.
Email: adonismurati [at] gmail.com
------
markfer
SEEKING FREELANCER | New York, NYC | Remote or onsite okay
Looking for an somewhat-experienced freelancer to make constant updates to
SaaS wweb app built in Elixir/Phoenix, Postgres, and React (built using
brunch).
Work will include integrations (Zapier, Filestack, Google drive, etc) ,
implementing product features, and overall product improvements (UX, UI, etc).
Bootstrapped business with high recent growth, so won't be able to afford
high-priced consultants, but open to creative solutions.
Also, potentially interested in bringing on a CTO through equity (until
revenue/seed raise can support in 1-3 months). Would have to be NYC.
Inquire within - [email protected]
------
adamhepner
SEEKING WORK | Location: Hamburg, DE soon to be Wroclaw, PL | REMOTE ONLY
(with occasional travel within Europe)
I am a software testing specialist with a background in software development
and experience in test automation. Full ISTQB Advanced level certification,
actively working since 2009. I specialize in Exploratory Testing and Test
Automation. I've worked in both regulated industry (dental devices) and all
sorts of agile environments. Tested things myself, coached other testers,
automated testing, solved some programming problems myself, coached developers
in the art of unit and integration testing, you name it.
I am familiar with the following languages: Python, Ruby, Java, JavaScript,
C#, Go, Bash
I have used the following test automation tools: Robot Framework, Ranorex,
Selenium, Fit, Nosetests, JUnit, Mockito, Mocha, Jest, Jasmine, Pandas
I have used the following infrastructure automation tools: Puppet, Ansible
What I do NOT do is security testing, at least not in depth.
I am looking for either full-time or part-time projects. I work via a company
founded with a couple of friends that ensures that I am properly employed and
all tax stuff is taken care of. I move from Germany to Poland in December and
starting January I am available 100%. If you have a need, any need related to
testing or software quality, do send me an e-mail at [email protected]. I can
do consulting, mentoring, time and material testing, automate or rework your
automated tests.
------
InternetOfStuff
SEEKING WORK: Embedded/IoT development, development process consulting,
product quality consulting
Location: Munich, Germany
Remote: preferred
I'm an experienced (>10 years) software engineer with management experience. I
have a master's in mechanical engineering.
I've worked on all stages of embedded products, from product management, to
specification, to coding, testing, and qualification. A lot of my career was
spent working on safety-critical systems up to ASIL D / SIL4.
How I could help you:
* advise in improving the quality of your product
* close gaps in your team's embedded development expertise
* organise and manage your development efforts
* provide training
* bring automated tests and continuous integration to your embedded projects (DevOps for embedded!)
* close gaps in your team's embedded development expertise
* help you comply with safety regulations
my current projects:
* training and advising several German Fortune 500 companies on DevOps
* managing a small, experienced team in the development of an industrial robot
* advising a multinational company in the development of a highly safety-critical (ASIL D)
automotive electronics component
* advising a startup in the IoT development tooling space
* coaching a startup team on improving their development workflow
Contact me at luca [at] ingianni.eu
------
designbymarcus
SEEKING WORK | UI/UX Designer | UK | Remote
I design development-ready interfaces For web and mobile. Whether it’s a new
or an existing idea or service we’ll work together on your project. You’ll
walk away with a beautiful and intuitive interface ready to be developed.
Portfolio: [http://designbymarcus.com](http://designbymarcus.com)
Dribbble:
[http://dribbble.com/designbymarcus](http://dribbble.com/designbymarcus)
Email: [email protected]
------
vram22
SEEKING WORK. Location: India
Remote possible: Yes. Prefer remote.
Profile:
[https://www.codementor.io/vasudevram](https://www.codementor.io/vasudevram)
Rating: 4.8/5.0. See reviews there.
Creator of xtopdf, PDF generation toolkit for Python. Freelance developer,
consultant and trainer for many years. Worked with many startups. Employee at
a few large and small US & Indian companies earlier.
Skills: Python, C, SQL and database design, Unix & Linux, shell, awk, sed,
etc., web dev (back end), REST, XML-RPC, PDF generation (created a product for
it - xtopdf) & PDF text extraction, command-line utility dev (wrote IBM dW
article on creating Linux CLI utilities in C), Flask, SQLAlchemy, software
design, testing. Some Ruby, Rails and Java earlier too, not current.
Was team leader of a successful Windows C database middleware product; did a
lot of Unix C work too, e.g. managing (hands-on) year-long project for
migration / conversion of NEC mainframe data and programs to Unix C and shell
scripts and Sybase for examination processing department of a leading
university.
Overview of xtopdf (my PDF toolkit for Python):
[http://slid.es/vasudevram/xtopdf](http://slid.es/vasudevram/xtopdf)
xtopdf creates business reports & simple PDF ebooks. Supports 20+ input
formats. Works on CLI, desktop and Web UIs, on Linux, MacOS and Windows. Some
well-known orgs in US, UK, NL use it.
------
nunoarruda
SEEKING WORK | Front-End Angular Developer
Location: Europe
Remote work: Yes, remote only
Portfolio:
[https://nunoarruda.com/#portfolio](https://nunoarruda.com/#portfolio)
GitHub: [https://github.com/nunoarruda](https://github.com/nunoarruda)
Resume: [https://nunoarruda.com/resume.pdf](https://nunoarruda.com/resume.pdf)
Email: [email protected]
Hi, I'm Nuno, a Result-Oriented Front End Angular Developer with a strong
technical skill-set, attention to detail, and 16 years of experience. I have a
passion for translating beautiful designs into functional user interfaces and
building great web applications.
I actively seek out new technologies and stay up-to-date on industry trends
and advancements. Continued education has allowed me to stay ahead of the
curve and deliver exceptional work to each employer I’ve worked for - both
full-time and contract.
I've successfully delivered projects like a CSS UI library used by 17,000
employees, a mobile app that has 120,000+ users, and an award-winning payroll
system used at 400+ sites. I've done frontend work for Adobe, Webflow, Bayer,
among other companies.
I've been working remotely for the last 5 years for clients and companies
worldwide. I can be flexible in order to have overlapping working hours with a
distributed team.
------
morenoh149
SEEKING WORK | New York, NY nyc | Remote or onsite in NYC
Full stack engineer with 6 years experience delivering software. Experienced
working for startups and larger corporations in fast-paced environments.
Comfortable eliciting requirements from stakeholders, developing software
specifications and implementing the software specified on time. Experienced
developing full solutions: frontend, backend, mobile, devops, sql database
reporting, email marketing, machine learning and conversion funnel
optimization. I have developed software used by thousands of paying customers
in Javascript (React, React Native, jQuery, Node.js), Python (Django, Flask,
keras, tensorflow, ml-engine), Ruby (Ruby on Rails), Mobile native languages
(java, objective-c), Go, SQL (postgres, mysql, sqlite) and cloud providers
(Amazon Web Services, Ansible, docker, kubernetes and Terraform).
Experienced in the restaurant, healthcare (hipaa compliance), hospitality,
beauty and e-commerce industries.
Interested in Machine Learning and Blockchain technologies. Beginner in
solidity, wordpress and PHP.
Email [email protected]
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrymoreno/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrymoreno/)
[http://harrymoreno.com/about](http://harrymoreno.com/about)
------
zephyrfalcon
SEEKING WORK -- Gainesville, FL -- remote/freelance
I am a very experienced Python developer, having used the language in all
kinds of areas and situations, including web development (Flask, Django,
Pylons, Google App Engine, etc), GUI development, database access (using MS
SQL Server, MySQL, and Postgres), ORMs, REST APIs, scripting, backend
development, automated testing, web crawling/scraping, data extraction and
parsing/ETL, parsing, language implementation, games, etc.
I am looking for full-time or part-time work, either one is fine. If you are
looking to get a small project done, or you have an existing project where
some maintenance work needs to be done (perhaps on a regular basis), then I
would love to hear from you.
I am also available for technical writing (I kept a programming blog for many
years, mostly about Python), and for front-end development using React.
(For the record: Although Python is my main programming language, I am also
interested in, and have worked with, many other programming languages,
including C, D, Delphi, Go, C#/Mono, Ruby, OCaml, Prolog, Lisp, Scheme, etc,
on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux systems. I am also available to work on
projects in these languages.)
Website: [http://aquila.blue](http://aquila.blue)
Email: zephyrfalcon at gmail.com
------
promptworks
SEEKING FREELANCER. Philadelphia & New York. Local only.
We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling
is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web & mobile applications,
APIs, products, and services.
Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD
aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day
work.
We love polyglots. We use lots of Ruby, Python, Elixir, and JavaScript (mostly
React and React-Native).
As PromptWorks grows, so does demand on our engineering team. We often find
ourselves fielding development inquiries from excellent clients working
outside our preferred stacks and expertise or we occasionally don’t have
enough staff to fill out a team with employees. In those cases, we like to
work with seasoned, versatile contractors that are excited to dive in. We are
seeking experienced freelance engineers to mutually expand our business.
Skills we are currently looking for:
• Ruby & Rails
• Elixir & Phoenix
• Kubernetes, Docker, AWS Lambda
• Python
• React, Angular
• React Native
• .NET
• iOS, Android
[https://www.promptworks.com/jobs](https://www.promptworks.com/jobs)
------
finkin1
SEEKING WORK - Denver, NYC, or Remote
We are a remote 3-person full-stack design and dev team. Our portfolio:
[https://stratosphere.digital](https://stratosphere.digital). Some recent
projects we've launched: [https://divvydose.com](https://divvydose.com),
[https://fitnessration.com.sg](https://fitnessration.com.sg),
[http://shoptwigs.com](http://shoptwigs.com),
[https://caster.io](https://caster.io).
Some of the technologies we're most familiar with: Web and mobile design, UI,
UX, iconography, illustration, design prototyping, PHP, Node.js, Meteor,
Python, Ruby, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Sass, LESS, Stylus, CoffeeScript,
WebSockets, AJAX, MongoDB, Redis, MySQL, Cordova, PhoneGap, React Native, iOS,
Android, Browser extensions (Chrome, Firefox, Safari), AWS, WordPress, Joomla,
Drupal, C, C++, C#, Java, Objective-C, Swift, QS/1, HL7, HIPAA.
We offer hourly rates and discounted monthly retainer options. Contact: via
our website or you can contact me directly at [email protected].
------
Zjaaspoer
SEEKING WORK
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Remote: Yes
Willing to relocate: Not right now (just had a baby), but probably in about a
year
Technologies: angular 1, angular 2, es6, react, redux, react-native, webpack,
html5, css3, sass, scss, jade, node, php, building restful api’s, git, grunt,
jenkins, jira, mysql, postgres, redis, mongo, firebase, aws, heroku.
Resume: [http://www.jasperschulte.nl/wp-
content/uploads/2018/03/curri...](http://www.jasperschulte.nl/wp-
content/uploads/2018/03/curriculum_vitae_jasper_schulte.pdf)
Website: [http://www.jasperschulte.nl](http://www.jasperschulte.nl)
Email: You’ll find it on my site
Linkedin:
[https://nl.linkedin.com/in/jasperschulte](https://nl.linkedin.com/in/jasperschulte)
Rate: €85/hr
As a Javascript front-end developer, my main experience lies in enterprise
scale single page JavaScript applications (SPA’s), preferably built with the
Angular 1/2 or React framework. Beside that I have strong business development
and leadership skills. Having successfully built my own company from the
ground up and run it for 10 years, I know what it takes to build, lead, grow
and maintain a business.
------
pjungwir
SEEKING WORK - Portland, OR or Remote
I'm a full-stack developer with 18 years experience. My specialties are Rails,
Postgres and Chef/AWS. I'm also very comfortable in Angular, Vue, React, Java,
and Python (lots of projects in Django, Flask, and CLI tools for DevOps and
ML). I've made modest contributions to Rails, Postgres, and lots of other OSS
projects.
At the low level I've done paid work writing custom Postgres extensions with C
and SIMD CPU instructions and implementing performance-critical network
services with Rust. At the high level I can design and wireframe features,
show their business value, talk to customers, lead other developers, mentor,
consult on application architecture, and advise on scaling/performance. You
don't want me to pick your color scheme though. :-)
I am reliable, easy to work with, quick to turn things around, and a good
communicator. I can work solo or on a team, either as lead or a team member. I
value client satisfaction as highly as technical excellence.
You can see some of my recent work here:
[https://illuminatedcomputing.com/portfolio](https://illuminatedcomputing.com/portfolio)
[https://github.com/pjungwir/aggs_for_arrays](https://github.com/pjungwir/aggs_for_arrays)
[https://github.com/pjungwir/db_leftovers](https://github.com/pjungwir/db_leftovers)
If you'd like to work together, I'd be happy to discuss your project!:
[email protected]
------
RickS
SEEKING WORK – Remote (or the occasional Seattle meetup)
Product designer w/ 10+ yrs experience.
case studies: [http://ricksteeledesign.com/](http://ricksteeledesign.com/)
email in profile
I'm a full stack UX/product generalist and can help you with everything from
brand to front end code.
Things I'm especially good at:
* Reviewing your product with fresh, expert eyes to give you a prioritized list of problems you might solve, and how you might solve them. If you're budget crunched and need a design roadmap, I can help.
* Overhauling sprawling legacy monsters into compact, streamlined, conceptually simple processes. Answering the question "how the hell does this thing work now, and how _could_ it work if we shed the baggage?"
* Fintech/form-heavy/data-intensive UI. I've got extensive experience in the finance and government space, and have owned payment flows that process billions annually. If you feel like a 90s credit union and want to feel like stripe, get in touch. If you've got the kind of volume where people get excited about gains measured in basis points, _really_ get in touch.
* Design systems & scaleable design ops. If you have a small team of overworked designers who do nothing but one-off fire drills, I can help them build a toolkit of assets, patterns, and best practices that solve more problems at the boilerplate stage, cut down on flailing during exploration, and simplify dev handoff. Scale your team without scaling headcount.
Very interested in the payments/fintech space, but try me – happy to chat
about your project casually, even if you're not hiring.
------
Zak
SEEKING WORK - remote, short to medium term projects - [email protected] I
make software - mostly full-stack web development and HTTP APIs, but I'm
adaptable. I have some interest in artificial intelligence and machine
learning. I have a little experience making Android apps, and my open-source
Android app Ceilingbounce has happy users.
I can do stuff that's harder than basic CRUD apps. Stuff I know well: Clojure,
Ruby (with or without Rails), Python, Django, Javascript, Lua, PostgreSQL,
MySQL, SASS, responsive CSS.
Other stuff I've used for something non-trivial at least once: Common Lisp,
Scheme, Java, SASS, C, PHP, Haskell, Bash, Perl, MongoDB, Mirah, Android
development with Clojure. Yes, I can probably pick up that language or tool
you're using that nobody has ever heard of.
Github: [https://github.com/zakwilson](https://github.com/zakwilson)
Some public facing things I've worked on:
[https://priceonomics.com](https://priceonomics.com)
[https://survis.com](https://survis.com)
[https://remarkbox.com](https://remarkbox.com)
------
SteveMorin
SEEKING WORK | San Francisco | Remote Okay | Steve Morin
Currently CTO for 50+ person startup/company. Been a manager of 35+ people 3
times. Looking for new engineering leadership role. I've worked a Yahoo, AT&T
and started companies before, so have a nice variety of experience with
platforms at scale, dealing with mature organizations and growing small teams
to mature ones. I have also opened up international offices for companies for
growth and expansion. I have a deep specialty in BigData and Data Systems
engineering as I started an ran a large consultancy in the US that specialized
in that for large companies. Have experience with Frontend, and Backend
systems. I have a very large architectural breadth along with strong business
skills.
Location: San Francisco
Remote: Yes
Willing to relocate: No
Technologies: Java, Python, Javascript/React, Elixir/Erlang, Perl, Clojure, Hadoop, Kafka, Spark Hbase, Elastic Search, Docker AWS , GCP, Ansible, Chef, Postgres, Neo4J ....
Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevebmorin/
Email: [email protected]
------
xisnextbigthing
SEEKING WORK - Istanbul, Turkey / REMOTE
Hi, I'm a full-stack developer with 9 years of experience. I worked on a wide
range of projects with clients from mostly English speaking countries.
Currently available. Would like to work on your MLPs (Minimum Lovable
Product).
I try to work on my clients projects like they're my own and strive to do best
both technically and business-wise. The thing needs to launch, but first
impression matters too.
\- MSc in CompSci
\+ JS (React + MobX, FeathersJS, Vanilla ES5+)
\+ HTML5 (Offline Apps), CSS (Sass, CSS Modules)
\+ PHP (Laravel, WordPress, Symfony)
\+ Python (Data Wrangling, NLP, Scrapy), Conversion Optimization, UX, App
Performance, Solr, Selenium, RDBMS (PostgreSQL, MySQL), NoSQL, Software
Architecture, Docker, DevOps
I am open to interesting and challenging work, involving research and
learning.
You can see some reviews about my work here:
[https://gasoved.github.io/testimonials/](https://gasoved.github.io/testimonials/)
As sample work, a side project of mine:
[https://metacopter.com](https://metacopter.com)
My rate is $50 per hour and can work up to 30 hours per week.
Feel free to drop me an email: gasoved [at] gmail
------
embrangler
SEEKING FREELANCER | Boulder, CO | Remote | US Time Zone
At Uplift, we’re on a mission to perfect our working lives all while learning,
building, and enjoying our free time. We're looking for software engineers or
web designers who want to create their own career path on their own terms.
If you're self-sufficient, passionate & a good communicator, apply now!
Begin part-time and go from there.
#### Software Engineer
Mid-level to senior in at least 2 of these:
* GraphQL experience (backend/frontend). Alternatively, solid API experience.
* FE (React/React Native)
* Django (python)
Bonus: Freelance/project experience (most important) | Familiar w/ Heroku or
AWS | Native iOS or Android experience | Understanding of databases, SQL
#### Web Designer
This is a UX Design and Visual Design dual role.
* Bohemian Sketch experience preferred. Photoshop/Illustrator works too.
* Experience designing web applications.
* Mobile design experience a plus but not required.
#### To apply, please include:
* Location and preferred working hours (US-based preferred)
* Details about your experience designing web applications
* Current & next 3 months of availability, range is OK. At least 10 hours a week.
Email [email protected] |
[https://www.uplift.agency/careers/](https://www.uplift.agency/careers/)
------
switchbak
SEEKING WORK - Remote
Location: BC, Canada
Technologies: Primarily Scala, Java (8+), Kotlin, and some Python. Quite rusty
in JS/C/C++/Ruby.
Résumé/CV:
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/agiledave/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/agiledave/)
Email: [email protected]
========
I'm a seasoned freelancer with over 15 years experience working with all kinds
of companies - from small startups to Fortune 50 organizations. Very familiar
with Agile / DevOps approaches, and particularly fond of good developer
testing practices.
My focus is on delivering lean, simple, well tested products. I've worked on
desktop GUI applications, backend web services, web UIs. These days my focus
has been on the backend, typically providing some kind of a REST API. This
includes all the usual tech: relational and NoSQL databases (Mysql,
Postgresql, RethinkDB, MongoDB, Elastic Search, Redis), Docker, Docker Cloud,
AWS. Spring, Guice, and many more.
------
BigBalli
SEEKING WORK, San Francisco, Remote ok
My startup is getting acquired, looking to get back into consulting. Focus on
pre v1 or innovation for existing products.
Entrepreneurial product person with a background in technology and business.
Obsessed with creating great products that, through technology, make a
significant impact in the world.
8+ years product management experience with consumer-facing online platforms
and mobile applications. Comfortable with cross-functional interactions
(technical and non-technical) Experience exploring innovations and assessing
feasibility, requirements and workload Strategic mindset enabling
prioritization of competing opportunities and requests, articulating decisions
and tradeoffs Innate curiosity driving strong troubleshooting, debugging and
problem-solving abilities.
[http://www.linkedin.com/in/giacomoballi/](http://www.linkedin.com/in/giacomoballi/)
Email: [email protected]
------
embrangler
SEEKING WORK Location: Boulder/Denver, Colorado (CO), USA and San Francisco
Bay Area, California (CA)
Remote: yes
Technologies: JavaScript (React, Native, Vue, NodeJS), GraphQL, python
(Django, Flask, AppEngine)
Résumé/CV: [https://www.uplift.agency](https://www.uplift.agency)
Email: [email protected]
\---------------
We are product-minded engineers. Build full-stack sites or native-mobile apps
and take them to market.
Marius & Paul are engineers turned freelancers who started Uplift to build
amazing software and solve complex problems.
As experienced consultants and former founders, we understand tech companies.
Running a business is hard. You have to wear many hats. Let us wear the ones
we're great at!
We specialize in React, React Native, GraphQL and Django/python.
We’ve worked with companies like Credit Karma, ClearCare, NerdWallet, MIT,
Humble Bundle (W11), FlightCar (W13), Mozilla and more.
For more details, previous work, testimonials, please visit:
[https://www.uplift.agency](https://www.uplift.agency)
------
pknerd
SEEKING WORK
Location: Pakistan
Remote: Ideally.
I can help you:
\- Writing Automation Tools. \- Writing Web scrapers that could fetch million+
records in a few days. \- Web Development in Laravel and Flask. \- Developing
Chrome Extensions(Launched a new one, check this out
[http://adnansiddiqi.me/items/ptab/](http://adnansiddiqi.me/items/ptab/))
\- Recently done with Kafka, ElasticSearch and Airflow so could help you
integrate it. \- Reading/Learning CRO these days, something I meant to do for
a long time. So if you have a website that is not generating traffic enough or
have a low conversion rate, I could help you out.
\- I can teach Python and related things.
In case the listing above does not cover what you want, no worries, just shoot
the message. I a not a _typical_ programmer :-)
Profile: [http://adnansiddiqi.me](http://adnansiddiqi.me)
Blog:// [http://blog.adnansiddiqi.me](http://blog.adnansiddiqi.me)
Thanks
------
jamii
SEEKING WORK | London | Remote is great
I specialize in systems engineering and performance optimization. I can help
you:
* handle big data without building an expensive distributed system
* replace complex hand-coded data pipelines with simple declarative languages
* improve response times and reduce server expenses for your web service
* use web assembly to speed up hotspots in your web app
* train your team in Rust or Julia
"Jamie is a first principles thinker with a deep understanding of systems and
algorithms. He is fearless in the way he approaches problems. Jamie’s research
on staged compilation saved our team many person years of effort, and his
training and support was crucial to our adoption of Julia. I hope to have the
opportunity to work with him again soon."
\-- Molham Aref, CEO, RelationalAI
"Jamie brought a degree of rigor and theoretical knowledge that took the
company to places we never could've gone otherwise. From exploring the
implications of language semantics to building high performance database
engines, he didn't just help us get things done, he helped us get them done
right. As a result, we were able to explore in weeks what could've easily
taken years."
\-- Chris Granger, CEO, Eve
"Jamie took over the latexsearch engine, our most technically challenging
project to date, and turned it from a foundering prototype into a successful
service with over 200k users. His engine required only one small server and
ran uninterrupted for over 5 years with no errors."
\-- Brian Bishop, VP Platform Development, Springer
[email protected]
[http://scattered-thoughts.net/resume](http://scattered-thoughts.net/resume)
------
stevesunderland
SEEKING WORK / Remote / Based in Los Angeles
Designer + Developer
I have over 10 years of experience as a graphic designer and web developer. I
create websites, brand identities and marketing material for a variety of
companies including startups, agencies and non-profit organizations. In
addition to my design skills, I have thorough knowledge of full-stack web
development.
DESIGN: websites, mobile apps, logos, banner ads, marketing material,
advertising, billboards, trade show displays, packaging, 3D modeling, photo
retouching
DEVELOPMENT: HTML, CSS, LESS, JavaScript, Angular, jQuery, Node, PHP, Django,
MySQL, Bootstrap, Foundation, REST APIs, Contentful, Webhook, Wordpress, Modx,
Git, Grunt/Gulp, Static Site Generators
PORTFOLIO: [http://sunderlandstudio.com](http://sunderlandstudio.com)
LINKEDIN:
[http://linkedin.com/in/stevesunderland](http://linkedin.com/in/stevesunderland)
CONTACT: stevesunderland[at]gmail.com
------
oldboyFX
SEEKING WORK | Central Europe | REMOTE with frequent visits if needed
A high-grade self-managing team of two specialized in mapping out, designing,
and delivering complex custom-built web applications on time.
We work with both established companies and passionate entrepreneurs to help
them polish their ideas, turn them into state-of-the-art working products, and
bring those products into the market.
We have a lot of positive experiences working with non-technical founders and
guiding them through all stages of the product lifecycle.
Reach out and let's discuss your current challenges and future plans to see
whether we're a good fit.
Read more: [https://codetree.co/](https://codetree.co/)
Get in touch: [email protected]
Sample passion project (2015):
[https://movieo.me/movies](https://movieo.me/movies)
Preferred tech: React.js, es6+, webpack, npm, Yarn, Ruby on Rails, Elixir,
PostgreSQL, Redis, Elastic, AWS, Capistrano, Docker
------
nvch
SEEKING WORK | Kyiv, Ukraine | Remote
I’m experienced full stack web developer. I work with web projects since 2004.
Now I use JavaScript/React in frontend and Python/Django in backend and have a
preference in frontend jobs. TypeScript, PostgreSQL, MySQL, MobX, Redux,
Ansible would be fine too.
I’m returning to contracting jobs after long hiatus. Last years I worked on my
own projects and would be happy to offer crazy low rates for first clients.
Also, I’ve created a few successful small businesses and have diverse
experience in product development, design management, and strategic advising.
I work in a team with a great designer if you have graphic design/UI tasks.
Email: [email protected]
Sample works:
[https://monastery.tech/projects/](https://monastery.tech/projects/)
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/nazar-
ch/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nazar-ch/)
------
cassidylaidlaw
SEEKING WORK: Washington, DC area or remote
Full-stack web and mobile app developer with data science and machine learning
chops. I've freelanced for startups, individuals, and government agencies over
the past five years. I specialize in Python, Django, Javascript, and React
Native.
Languages/platforms: Python, C, Java, VBA, R, PHP, WordPress, JavaScript,
jQuery, React, React Native, Django, Swift, Android, AWS, Heroku, MySQL, deep
learning, natural language processing, classification, clustering, data
cleaning and preprocessing, automatic summarization, topic modeling, etc.
I build secure, standards-based, reliable software from spec to deployment. I
charge a reasonable rate in exchange for the value I deliver, I guarantee that
I can get the job done, and I communicate throughout the development process.
Website: [http://cassidylaidlaw.com](http://cassidylaidlaw.com)
Email: [email protected]
------
hiciu
SEEKING FREELANCER | Remote
Hello,
I'm part of young European startup. We have an easy-to-use app that allows our
users to mine some crypto, with little to none technical knowledge required.
As part of our app we are distributing few opensource miners (for example
[https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig](https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig)) and
antivirus vendors are giving us a hard time because the same miners are often
distributed with malware. We are looking for someone who could solve this
issue. This could be done by modifying those opensource projects, by working
directly with AV companies, or perhaps by some binary obfuscation. It's open
for discussion, end goal is to make sure that our users won't have to deal
with false positives.
This could be anything from few hours of consultation to few weeks of work.
Please send me an email at hiciu (at) hiciu.org if this looks interesting.
------
jeffmk
SEEKING WORK - US, Remote
\- Available now and into Q1 2019
\- Hourly or milestone-bid engagements
Backend developer specializing in three areas:
1) Early product R&D and implementation
\- Given requirements, provide guidance on scope and design
\- Develop initial mockup, MVP, or product
2) Focused short-term problem solving
\- Drop into an ongoing project to work past specific problem area(s)
3) Automation
\- Create processes to eliminate redundant or manual effort
\- Data processing and extraction
\- 3rd party API integration
Tech stack is varied, but I tend to use:
Server
- Linux VPS
- AWS
- Heroku
Database
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- MongoDB
Backend
- Python (Flask)
- Ruby (Rails)
- Clojure
Front-end
- Vue
- jQuery/vanilla JavaScript
Site: [https://jeffkayser.com/](https://jeffkayser.com/)
Contact: [https://jeffkayser.com/contact/](https://jeffkayser.com/contact/)
Email: jeff plus hn at jeffkayser dot com
------
taptap1
SEEKING full time Senior PHP backend/fullstack developer, long term remote
work.
An up and coming company building self order systems for restaurants, with
great growth potential and major customers is seeking senior PHP developers,
mainly for backend work but some frontend may be required from time to time.
Pretty much everyone at the company works remotely, we have people working
with us remotely for 10+ years in other ventures. We care about our people and
provide a great opportunity for those willing and able to work from home. We
don't care where, who or what you are as long as you're dedicated, talented
and are willing to do great work as part of a team scattered around the globe.
Solve this below and let's talk:
\-- QzBERTgyNDYKCjYzNkY2NDY1M0EzMzM1MzYzNDJDMjA3Mzc1NjI2RDY5NzQy
MDc0NkYzQTIwNjg3NDc0NzA3MzNBMkYyRjc4NzM3NDY1NjM2ODJFNjU3NTJG
NzM3NTYyNkQ2OTc0MkQ2MzZGNjQ2NQ== \--
~~~
kalehrishi
are you sure its a valid data matrix code in task#3?
~~~
taptap1
Yes, a bunch of guys are already past that step.
Hint: think simple here, real simple
~~~
kalehrishi
i am pretty sure it's not a valid data matrix code.
------
clarkema
SEEKING WORK - Remote, travel possible depending on location and duration.
Location: North-east UK
What I do: Prototype development. Feasibility studies. Data migration,
transformation, and processing.
In the past I've been a network engineer, run large-scale Debian installations
doing devops before it had a name, and been responsible for servers in
Antarctica. I have experience with a wide range of different Unix tools and
technologies, at various levels of the stack. This gives me the ability—and
the perspective—to pick the best combination of tools for any particular
project, rather than simply treating everything as a nail because all I have
is a hammer.
I focus particularly on taking on “weird” or niche data or exploratory
projects end-to-end; things that wouldn’t be a fit for a standard web or
development agency.
Previous work:
* Custom domain specific language (DSL) to encode business rules for computer vision system (Common Lisp)
* University library data migration project, with a focus on completeness and validation. (Clojure, Elixir, Ruby)
* School data processing app (Elixir/Phoenix, PostgreSQL)
* Custom data dashboards (R, Geckoboard)
* High-reliability, long-term timelapse platform for inaccessible locations. (FreeBSD, Arduino, Python, Shell)
* Migration of existing Node.js+Firebase service to Golang+PostgreSQL on AWS
* Feasibility study investigating the possiblility of writing custom code to interface with a biometric timeclock (Common Lisp)
* Proof-of-concept hardware development for projects linking the physical and virtual worlds in real time (Arduino, Node.js)
Buzzwords: Debian, Ubuntu, AWS, PostgreSQL, Perl, Common Lisp, Clojure, Ruby,
Go, Arduino / AVR, Elixir / Phoenix, FreeBSD
Got something you think is a good fit? Drop me a line at mike -at-
lambdafunctions -dot- com
------
worldclasshack
SEEKING WORK | Earth.Americas.South.* | REMOTE ONLY
Unlike most people here, I'm more of a cowboy than a professional developer.
I've been using a Unix-lookalike as my only OS for over a decade so I know my
way around it fairly well.
I've also completed quite a few freelance projects in the past. Anything from
coding simple static websites to fairly sophisticated CRUD apps. Some
scrapping, some testing, some sysadmin stuff, part-time DBA, technical
writer/translator, etc.
I feel most comfortable with a Python-centric stack, but I've actually done
quite a bit of work with other languages (Java, PHP, Perl, JavaScript...) I
also took two semesters of programming using C at university. Also I don't
mind learning obscure stacks nor working with old and unsexy technologies.
I'm open to all kind of offers. I'm neither fussy nor pricey.
[email protected]
------
riche4
SEEKING WORK - Remote / Europe
Seeking contract work for a few months. I could build MVPs and/or make your
apps more robust, faster, more extensible.
I have extensive experience with the following technologies:
\- JavaScript (mainly React)
\- Python (mainly Django)
\- C# (Windows and Office app/extension/service)
\- Clojure and ClojureScript and JVM ecosystem (Java, mainly Spring)
Extensive experience building web applications, enterprise applications,
application architecture, API and database modeling.
Served remotely as the CTO of a US-based startup for 5 years, which became a
multi million dollar success with tens of thousands of paid users.
Created multiple startup/enterprise products with the technologies mentioned
above.
Worked as a consultant and trainer and helped digital transformation of
multiple enterprises, including banks and insurance companies and startups.
Spoke at various international conferences on Clojure, React, Django.
Contact: [email protected]
------
dserban
SEEKING WORK, Big Data Engineer, Primarily Remote (based in Eindhoven, NL)
I am a strong data engineer who is passionate about large-scale distributed
systems and streaming pipelines, and cares about producing clean,
maintainable, robust Scala / Spark code.
Core Skills:
● Kafka, Spark Streaming, Avro
● Cassandra (DevOps, Data Modeling)
● Distributed Systems Coordination (ZooKeeper)
● Feature Engineering for Machine Learning
● Programming Languages: Scala (highly proficient, 8 years exp.), Python
(proficient)
Other Skills: Airflow, Docker, Kubernetes/GKE, JVM tuning for big data.
Educational Background: Computer Science.
Solid experience working remotely.
All of my recent work history (8 years) is exclusively with startups. I have
recently architected and engineered the platform and big data pieces of an
end-to-end, turnkey ML platform. References upon request.
Profile: [https://angel.co/dan-serban](https://angel.co/dan-serban)
Rate: $125/hour.
E-mail address in the profile.
------
pedrohidalgo
SEEKING WORK | Full Stack Developer | Dominican Republic | Remote Full Stack
Developer with 9+ years of Software Development Experience with 2+ of them
working as a freelancer.
* I can build a Product on my own (Frontend, Backend, Software Architecture, gather requirements from Customers).
* I have plenty of experience working with Angular 1 and 2, React, NodeJS, Android and Java on the backend.
* Functional Programming experience (Javascript, typescript, and Scala)
Specialties: Javascript (ES6+), Java (8+), NodeJS, Angular 1 & 2, Play
Framework, JAX-RS, Android
You can reach me at pedroantoniohidalgo at gmail dot com
Medium:
[https://medium.com/@pedroantoniohidalgo](https://medium.com/@pedroantoniohidalgo)
My Online CV: [http://pedrohidalgo.me/](http://pedrohidalgo.me/)
Cheers,
------
mocko
SEEKING WORK - London, UK - Remote preferred, happy to visit clients anywhere
in the UK.
DevOps / Python guy with a decade's experience building, hosting and tuning
applications.
I work with engineering teams to make their products as scalable and robust as
possible. AWS, Kubernetes, load testing, CI, deploy systems, monitoring,
config management, security audits, dev projects of my own - you name it I've
done it.
Recent projects include:
\+ Re-hosting a large microservice node.js + RethinkDB web application on
Google Cloud. The resulting stack (serving a busy news site) is deployed to
GKE with a set of Helm charts and a minimal amount of custom tooling for CDN &
image serving. GKE has turned out to be low-maintenance and rock solid; I'll
be glad to work with it again.
\+ Rewriting a Python big data stack for a bioscience client. Result was a
robust, scalable system deployed with Terraform/Docker to spot instances
managed by AWS Batch. Benefits included better resilience, higher resource
utilisation and vastly reduced cost/processing time.
\+ AWS/Kubernetes/Docker deployment to support a large distributed (15
microservices + persistence layer) application. Updated a sprawling
Django/Postgres app to fit modern containerised hosting, resulting in a stack
that makes great use of k8s' scaling & resiliency features. Templating via
Helm for multiple, namespaced stack instances & continuous integration.
\+ Another AWS/k8s/Docker stack, this time with a persistence layer comprising
Cassandra & Kafka with service discovery through Zookeeper. Prometheus &
Grafana for monitoring.
\+ Large multithreaded Python 3 application for automated crypto trading.
Didn't get rich, still posting on here.
[email protected] / [https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/alex-
hewson/b6/50a/8b4](https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/alex-hewson/b6/50a/8b4)
------
csbartus
SEEKING WORK | Europe | Remote | WordPress
I'm a web designer and developer specialized in WordPress.
One of my works was featured on Brutalist Websites, another on the
WordPress.org theme store.
I create clean design and write standards based front-end code.
\- [http://metamn.io/gust/](http://metamn.io/gust/) \- Featured on Brutalist
Websites
\- [https://morethemes.baby/](https://morethemes.baby/) \- Featured on
WordPress.org
\- [https://github.com/morethemesbaby/wp-best-
practices](https://github.com/morethemesbaby/wp-best-practices) \- WordPress
best practices
\- Resume/CV: [https://goo.gl/Ac5FXB](https://goo.gl/Ac5FXB)
\- Email: [email protected]
------
rasikjain
SEEKING WORK - Remote
I am Software Engineer consultant with 15+ years of experience.
Worked in various roles at Enterprise Clients in Greater New York Area. Some
of the roles include Product Development, Enterprise, Software Engineering,
Solution & Enterprise Architecture, Agile/Scrum, Full-Stack, Cloud Computing,
Data Analytics & Delivery.
My Expertise: .NET Core, C#, Javascript, ReactJs, AWS, Cyber-Security, Asp.Net
MVC, Asp.Net WebAPI, GraphQL, NodeJs, SQL
LinkedIn:
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasikjain/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasikjain/)
Stackoverflow: [https://stackoverflow.com/users/1993944/rasik-
jain](https://stackoverflow.com/users/1993944/rasik-jain)
Email: jainrasik AT gmail (.) com
------
gilli
\---
SEEKING WORK - Remote
Product designer and developer from Iceland.
\---
I can help you with:
* UX Design - We will work together to make user flows, wireframes and prototypes that will be easy to use and pleasing to the eye.
* Front-end development - Building a front-end needs attention to details. I got the skills to work with your developers, or on my own, to create a great product.
\---
See my previous work at [https://gilli.is/](https://gilli.is/)
Contact me at [email protected]
Related links:
* Portfolio: [https://gilli.is](https://gilli.is)
* Dribbble: [http://dribbble.com/gilli](http://dribbble.com/gilli)
* Twitter: [http://twitter.com/gillisig](http://twitter.com/gillisig)
* Github: [http://github.com/gillisig](http://github.com/gillisig)
\---
------
simonhlee97
SEEKING WORK / Remote / Based in Seoul, Korea
Web Design/Development. Fairly new to the industry, looking for experience,
and open to short-term or long-term projects.
I have been coding for almost 2 years and have about .5 years of professional
experience as a web developer. I can build single page apps with React or
VueJS. I also know how to build full-stack applications, using (for example)
MongoDB and NodeJS.
DEVELOPMENT: HTML, CSS, SASS, JavaScript, Angular, jQuery, Node, Flask, MySQL,
Bootstrap, REST APIs, Git, Gulp
PORTFOLIO: [https://simonhlee97.github.io](https://simonhlee97.github.io)
LINKEDIN: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-h-
lee/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-h-lee/)
CONTACT: simonhlee4945[at]gmail.com
------
azdv
SEEKING WORK - REMOTE Highly experienced VP of Engineering & Crypto
consultant. Skills:
* Crypto/Blockchain - building Crypto infrastructure (multiple Blockchains), customized libraries and APIs, as well as front-end (MetaMask) solutions - Highly motivated to continue working with this.
* NodeJS/Meteor/SailsJS
* Serverless (going heavy on that one)
* Cloud technologies (AWS/Azure/GCP)
* Wordpress/CodeIgniter/Yii/Drupal (Components, Hacks, Themes) - less motivated, unless truly cutting edge (or WP VIP projects)
* CI & Unit testing - Jenkins, Mocha & Karma for JS, Toast for PHP, as well as Selenium
* Django (general Python too) - to a lesser extent
Seeking: Challenging projects. Most recently worked extensively with
Serverless & AWS APIs, building cloud-related prototypes, before that worked
as an AngularJS specialist.
Example work: Upon request
Location: EU
Contact: dev (at) azdv.co
------
anilgulecha
SEEKING FREELANCER - Bangalore/India, REMOTE.
Are you a domain expert in one of the following: ReactJS, Angular 2, Spring
Boot, Golang, NodeJS, Ruby on Rails, Django (or any other popular web
framework)?
We are looking for experts that can create real-world projects for testing the
skills of software developers. If you think you'd be a good fit to create
these projects.
You're ideally in Bangalore, as it'll make it easy to meet in person when
needed, but this can also work for anywhere in India -- if you are a good fit.
It's OK to also do this as a weekend gig if you have a day job. Our main
criteria is expertise in your chosen framework.
Please reach out and I'm happy to discuss more. The work is 25-50k a working
project/question (usually 10-20 hours).
Email: [email protected]
------
chrisjm
SEEKING WORK | Southern California, US | Remote with visits if needed
Goal-oriented full-stack developer with focus on front-end optimization and
styling.
Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, ReactJS, Node, Express, AWS
Website: [https://chrisjmears.com](https://chrisjmears.com)
LinkedIn:
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjm80/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjm80/)
Github: [https://github.com/chrisjm](https://github.com/chrisjm)
Side Project: [https://www.openbrewerydb.org/](https://www.openbrewerydb.org/)
Sample Client Site: [https://pkc.io](https://pkc.io) (Jekyll)
------
robomex
SEEKING WORK - Chicago, IL - Remote
Skills:
– iOS Swift Development
– Augmented Reality ARKit Development
– Growth
I specialize in developing iOS apps. Several of my apps were handpicked and
featured worldwide by Apple. I've built augmented reality, social, gaming,
messaging, lending, consumer, and location-based products. I am a startup
founder, native iOS developer, and growth/marketing expert.
Experience with: Swift, ARKit 2, iMessage extensions, Firebase, AWS, Sketch,
Heroku, HTML5, CSS3, Wireframing, UX, and SQL.
Website: [https://atmorales.com](https://atmorales.com)
Email: [email protected]
LinkedIn:
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/atmorales0/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/atmorales0/)
If you have any questions: Shoot me a message & let's talk!
------
kalehrishi
SEEKING WORK | Agency specialized in building and growing products | San
Francisco and Pune, India
We’ve helped build over 5 multi-million dollar startups in the last few years.
2 of them got acquired. 3rd is about to be acquired. Recently built this SAAS
product: [https://www.mailtag.io](https://www.mailtag.io)
We can help you with:
\- Rapid prototype development \- Iterate product to grow \- Build SAAS with
all necessary features to serve users and grow the product
Skills: iOS/Android, NodeJS, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, AWS, Bootstrap, React, PHP,
Crawling at scale, Browser Extensions, Stripe, SAAS
contact: [email protected] website:
[http://www.vshsolutions.com/](http://www.vshsolutions.com/)
------
charlespwd
SEEKING WORK, Montreal, Remote
Pragmatic Front-End Engineer working on big projects (50M+ Revenue).
Areas of focus:
- Mentoring/Lead
- Optimization (A/B testing)
- Performance
- Stability
- Deployment
- Automation
Skills:
- JavaScript (React, Redux, NodeJS, Mocha, Webpack, etc.)
- Scripting / Build / Automation (Bash, Docker, CircleCI, Jenkins, Capistrano)
- Monitoring (AppDynamics, SumoLogic)
- Clojure + ClojureScript
Recent successes:
- Performance optimizations that equates to 3M extra revenue (data obtained with A/B testing with 95% statistical significance)
- Reduce CPU lag on our fleet of servers 10-fold (Optimizations)
Rate: $105/h
Contact: charles[at]cpclermont.com
------
nraynaud
SEEKING WORK, Software Developer, Remote (Phoenix, AZ)
I have 15 years experience in software development, and I work in many
languages (most currents are node.js, python and ocaml).
I mostly do complex algorithms, weird file conversion, and language parsers.
I have most recently worked on the VHD and VMDK file formats, some real time
web transactions and with the Fusion 360 API. In the past I have worked on
gcode parsing and generation, toolpath generation, OCR issues, gerber and
excellon file parsing and generation, Xenserver, signal acquisition and
processing (including the hardware), GIS systems, distributed file systems
(gluster), etc.
github: [https://github.com/nraynaud](https://github.com/nraynaud)
address in profile.
------
seanwilson
SEEKING WORK | Edinburgh, UK or remote | [email protected] |
[https://www.seanw.org](https://www.seanw.org)
Full stack software developer with over 10 years experience including a PhD in
software verification offering:
\- _Web app development:_ JavaScript (Node, TypeScript, AngularJS, Vue,
jQuery), Python (Flask, Django), Java, PHP (WordPress).
\- _Mobile app development:_ Android, iOS, PhoneGap/Cordova.
\- _Cloud hosting:_ Creating scalable apps that run on Heroku, AWS and
Firebase.
\- _SEO:_ On-page audits and implementing required changes.
\- _Code quality:_ Reducing defects in existing projects by integrating test
suites, staging + development environments, Continuous Integration, planning
boards and code reviews.
Examples projects independently developed and sold by myself:
\- Checkbot for Chrome ([https://www.checkbot.io/](https://www.checkbot.io/)),
tests if your website is following 50+ SEO, speed and security web best
practices. Rated 4.9/5 with 15K+ active users and has paying users. Everything
was done by myself, including frontend and backend work (TypeScript, Vue,
Firebase, Docker, Node, Webpack, Netlify), website and UI design, and the
comprehensive best practices guide that goes with the Chrome extension
([https://www.checkbot.io/guide/](https://www.checkbot.io/guide/)).
\- Fresco for Android
([https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.seanw.fres...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.seanw.fresco.pro)),
easy to use yet feature packed digital painting app for phones and tablets.
The app features layers, customisable brushes, image filters and more. Rated
4/5, over 500K free downloads, over 10K copies sold. Implemented with Java and
C.
See [https://www.seanw.org](https://www.seanw.org) for more.
------
adamqureshi
Small Artificial Intelligence consulting shop.
Computer Vision.
Deep Learning
Machine learning
Risk Analytics.
Credit risk modeling and analytics
Tell us the business your're in and we will tell you how AI can help you. As
they say data is the new oil. If you have the data we can train a system with
your data. If we can feed enough data into a database can detect patterns.
Those patterns can then be used to make predictions.
Recent engagement(s)
German auto manufacturer
Financial underwriting company for leasing / finance automotive
Ev (electric vehicle) valuation tool for a leading ev automative company.
Credit Collections scoring system for collection agencies
Computer vision system. Facial detection / Recognition for a kiosk
Robotics / process automation. Feasiblity study for a major league business
team in Houston.
$250/hour. Pay for Play. 15 min free call.
contact(at)qureshimedia.com
10 hours minimum. NYC.
~~~
adamqureshi
Edit: SEEKING WORK. REMOTE or NYC
------
SuperJC710e
SEEKING WORK | Toronto, ON | Toronto or REMOTE
=======================================================================
Location: Toronto ON CA
Remote: Yes
Willing to relocate: No
Technologies: Linux/BSD System Administration, Shell Scripting, Apache, Nginx,
MySQL, VMware, Puppet, cfEngine, Cobbler, Foreman, (DevOps Engineering),
Retail POS Systems, SLEPOS, working on my AWS Arch, some Python, PHP &
Javascript, some Network/Firewall Design, Setup, Maintenance & Security, some
Windows Server Administration
Résumé/CV:
[https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jasoneclark](https://ca.linkedin.com/in/jasoneclark)
Email: [email protected]
=======================================================================
------
ccajas
SEEKING WORK | Chicago, IL | Central time | remote
Technologies: JavaScript (React, Vue, NodeJS), Ruby (Rails), PHP, MySQL, HTML,
CSS (Sass), MongoDB, C# (.NET, MonoGame, Unity)
Resume/CV: linkedin.com/in/chriscajas
Github: github.com/ccajas
Email: chris.cajas.m -at- gmail -dot- com
I am several parts full-stack web developer, game developer, and all-around
generalist, with an interest in computer graphics and data visualization.
Solving technical problems that client dev teams might have difficulty with,
sometimes in a pinch to handle them. This includes not just web development
but also game development. I have experience with overhauling legacy code,
engine optimization work, and helped ship two indie games on Steam.
------
Reith
SEEKING WORK - Remote
Mid-level back-end developer
Programming: Erlang, Python, JavaScript, C, Java, Kotlin, C++, Bash and PHP
DevOps: Docker, Mesos, LXC, Rancher, DC/OS, Ansible, Juju, *stat tools
DB: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, Redis, Elasticsearh and Cassandra
Timezone: GMT+4.5 | available to work any time of day for a while
CV: [https://www.reith.ir/cv/cv-priv.pdf](https://www.reith.ir/cv/cv-priv.pdf)
GitHub: [https://github.com/reith](https://github.com/reith)
E-mail: [email protected]
I'm a software developer with 5 years of professional experience. I worked as
UI developer, network developer, back-end developer, data engineer and
development lead.
------
Element_
SEEKING FREELANCER | Toronto | Local preferred or REMOTE
Looking for someone experienced with point clouds and 3D programming to help
with a small side project. Should be able to write code to extract bounding
coordinates of a room and filter out noise from a point cloud generated from a
depth camera. Build a basic framework that higher level functions can be
developed on top of. Ideal candidate will have industry experience in this
area.
\- Stack: Orbbec Astra SDK, C++, C#, Point Cloud Library, OpenNI \- Schedule:
Freelancer can provide a time estimate with quote and work remotely on their
own schedule. \- Rate: negotiable \- Email: cloudjob2018 <at> gmail
------
ujal
SEEKING WORK - Remote, Cologne, Germany - [http://mygnu.com](http://mygnu.com)
Hi HN,
my name is Ujal and I am a Frontend Engineer from Cologne, Germany.
For the past 8 years I've worked exclusively as a freelancer
and I am currently on a search for exciting new projects.
My past clients include https://minglabs.com,
https://dunckelfeld.de and https://universal-music.de
You can find more about me on http://mygnu.com.
See https://linkedin.com/in/udschal for a full list of my projects.
------
ggabelmann
SEEKING WORK Location: Currently Mexico, usually British Columbia, Canada.
Remote: Yes
Willing to relocate: Probably not.
Technologies: Mostly server-side with some frontend. Java, JSP, Spring, SQL,
Git.
Resume: [https://ggabelmann.github.io/](https://ggabelmann.github.io/)
Email: [email protected]
I have over a decade of experience, mostly server-side and Java but I've done
some frontend work with whatever framework happens to be popular at the time.
I like to do "full-lifecycle" development and release to production
frequently. I've been learning about Rust and hope to write a Network Block
Device server with it when I find some time.
------
kamil_rafikov
SEEKING WORK - Russia, REMOTE
I’m specialized in development and management of large complex web-based
projects (on LAMP(PHP)/Yii/Symfony stack) with a size of several hundreds
functional components. This experience includes active work with large poorly
documented code bases created by other developers. Other half of my background
consists of self-financed self-studies in social sciences, biology, and arts.
My CV: [http://kamil-rafik.com/docs/Kamil_Rafikov__2018.pdf](http://kamil-
rafik.com/docs/Kamil_Rafikov__2018.pdf)
Email: [email protected]
Skype: kamil.rafikov
------
crystalPalace
SEEKING WORK
Location: Bloomington, IN
Remote: yes
Full Stack Development - Android - Haskell
[https://whiteboarddynamics.co](https://whiteboarddynamics.co)
I'm Joe Cieslik and I lead a small team that helps startups succeed. We build
full stack web and mobile applications primarily using functional programming.
We have a track record of successful Android apps and Haskell backends
delivered production-ready and on time. Additionally our team members have
expertise in Vue, React, Go, Python, Docker, AWS, Serverless, and C++. Reach
out for a free consultation and codebase analysis:
[email protected]
------
pattle
SEEKING WORK
Location: Leeds, UK
Remote: Yes, Can easily adapt to different time zones.
Technologies: JavaScript, React, React Native, Electron, KnockoutJS, HTML5,
CSS3, Canvas
Hi I'm Chris Pattle a front end developer with 8 years of experience. I'm
passionate about what I do and care deeply about my craft. I pride myself on
being a trustworthy and reliable no-fuss developer who produces high quality
work.
I can provide excellent references from clients.
Email: [email protected]
Github: [https://github.com/pattle](https://github.com/pattle)
Side Project: [https://scinder.io](https://scinder.io)
------
fovc
SEEKING FREELANCER - Remote
I would like to hire someone to do some open-source work on Emacs email,
ideally directly for mu4e, but happy to publish this as a standalone
package/gist/Emacs Wiki post. I don't have a huge budget, so this would
probably be someone willing to do below-market work to contribute to the
commmunity.
The problem (adding proper handling of iCal invitations) is already detailed
in this issue[1].
[1]:
[https://github.com/djcb/mu/issues/994](https://github.com/djcb/mu/issues/994)
[email protected]
------
DeonPenny
SEEKING WORK Location: San Francisco
My background and skills include:
1) Full Stack Web and Android development
2) I have experience in python, java, and node.js backends.
3) I can work in typescript, javascript, react, flux, and redux front-end
environments.
4) I can work in android using java and kotlin, and iOS using react-native and
swift
GitHub: [https://github.com/Radzell](https://github.com/Radzell) LinkedIn:
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/deon-
robinson-07a24b15/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/deon-robinson-07a24b15/)
------
dmilicevic
SEEKING WORK | Amsterdam | Remote
I am an innovative and results-driven enterprise solutions architect with a
strong track record of success creating dynamic Customer Relationship
Management (CRM) solutions that have helped companies from a wide range of
industries achieve new levels of performance. Industries include pharmacy,
manufacturing, publishing, hospitality, and insurance to name a few.
LinkedIn: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/darijo-
milicevic/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/darijo-milicevic/)
------
helij
SEEKING WORK / London, UK / Remote
I have over 15 years commercial experience taking projects from start to
finish. After many years in permanent employment in various companies I am
looking to go into contracting.
I am a full stack Python/Django developer and can deliver your minimum viable
product in a month along with a nice and unique polished design. Due to
extensive experience in marketing and SEO in one of the leading agencies in
the UK I can help layout a plan for online marketing as well.
For further info and chat ping me on [email protected]
------
saelamin
SEEKING WORK | Atlanta | Remote
Full-stack developer and designer with a focus on MVPs and helping companies
launch new products.
Over 15 years experience and excellent communication skills.
Portfolio:
[http://23andwalnut.com](http://23andwalnut.com)
Recent Projects
[http://getsoloapp.com](http://getsoloapp.com)
[http://duetapp.com](http://duetapp.com)
[http://theanchorapp.com](http://theanchorapp.com)
[http://boulevardjs.com](http://boulevardjs.com)
Email:
projects (at) 23andwalnut.com
------
callagg6
SEEKING WORK
Full stack software developer. I have over 20 years software development
experience . I'm available for remote work. I have very competitive rates too
and open to all offers :)
Some but not all my skillset:-
Python Golang Nodejs C# Mysql Sql server Angular Vuejs Docker Css Javascript
Bootstrap
Please see my professional linkedin profile
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreycallaghan](https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreycallaghan)
My email is callagg3 @ Gmail.com
Please feel free to reach out with any questions.Cheers!
------
nelsonshaw
SEEKING WORK, Auckland, New Zealand, Remote
Full Stack Engineer with 7 years experience
Portfolio + CV:
[https://nelsonshaw.com](https://nelsonshaw.com)
Contact:
[email protected]
Recent Work:
[https://contento.marketing](https://contento.marketing) (React + Firebase)
[https://finappster.co.nz](https://finappster.co.nz) (React + Django API)
[https://salesjaguar.com](https://salesjaguar.com) (Django App)
Primary Skills:
* Python (Django)
* JavaScript (React)
* iOS (Swift)
* Firebase (Realtime DB, Firestore, Auth, Cloud functions)
Secondary Skills (a few projects here and there)
* Android (java)
* Rails
* Java
------
floydprice
SEEKING FREELANCER
Location: UK, Midlands
Technologies: Node, SQL, HTML
Experience: Must have a few years doing full-stack web development with good
recent Node experience.
Anything from 10 hours per week to full time available.
Email me: floyd _at_ hampton _dot_ io
~~~
crystalPalace
I tried to email you but the email bounced. If you're still looking for a
developer please drop me a line jcieslik_at_whiteboarddynamics_dot_co .
------
omnieq
SEEKING WORK
Location: Newcastle, Ontario, Canada
Logistics: Remote work, relocation, and travel are possible.
Breadth: Full stack.
Technologies: LAMP w/ Varnish and the usual front end acronyms. No frameworks,
all vanilla.
Niche: Stock market. Multithreaded PHP using pthreads, typically to consume an
API and do something useful with the data. Thoroughly enjoy redlining 96-core
VMs instead of learning a compiled language.
Experience: 3 years. A few dozen reviews at fiverr.com/codecanada (moved on
from Fiverr about a year ago).
Contact: <redacted>
------
dgsiegel
SEEKING WORK | Munich, Germany | Remote | Travel possible Digital Strategy
Consultant with more than a decade experience and a host of happy customers.
Looking for visionary entrepreneurs that need help with their positioning &
digital marketing strategy.
Specialities: Digital Strategy, Positioning, Digital Marketing & Marketing
Automation
Résumé/CV: [https://www.dgsiegel.net](https://www.dgsiegel.net)
Email: [email protected]
------
bernhardwenzel
SEEKING WORK - Remote / London, UK / Travel within Europe once per month fine
Java/Python/AWS developer (10+ years experience). I'm also running an AWS
compliance & security assessment firm.
I can build your MVP rapidly in Python/Django, develop your API in Java & AWS,
assemble you a team and help you with client outreach/business development.
[https://bernhardwenzel.com](https://bernhardwenzel.com)
------
webjay
SEEKING WORK | Copenhagen, Denmark | Remote works well
Willing to relocate: For periods of time, yes.
Technologies: JavaScript, Node, React, React Native, AWS, Azure.
Résumé/CV:
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfsaxberg/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jfsaxberg/)
Email: [email protected]
I am a full-stack developer who have been part of a few startups, created my
own way back, and am currently building a large web application for a client,
due soon.
------
mking
SEEKING FREELANCER | San Mateo, CA | SF or REMOTE
Second Measure (YC15) is looking for a frontend contractor to help build our
platform for data exploration. See
[https://blog.secondmeasure.com/](https://blog.secondmeasure.com/) for
examples of the types of problems we are working on.
You should be familiar with React, TypeScript, Webpack, and Jest.
Please email your resume and rate to [email protected] if interested.
------
magicma2
SEEKING WORK | Taïpei, Taïwan | Remote or onsite in Taïpei
Hi, I’m Lee Antoine, Fullstack developer from France. I've had 4 years of
experience in a consulting firm and trying to start freelancing now.
Technologies I'm comfortable with :
\+ Java/JEE/Spring/Hibernate and most backend Java framework
\+ Android
\+ Javascript/Typescript/Angular for frontend work
\+ HTML/CSS
Resume/CV: [http://antoinepuyo.co.nf/](http://antoinepuyo.co.nf/)
Contact: [email protected]
------
MattBearman
SEEKING WORK | UK | Remote is ideal
I'm a full stack developer. For the last 3 years I've been working full-time
on my one-man startup Saber
([https://www.saberfeedback.com](https://www.saberfeedback.com)) however I'm
now looking to get back into freelancing.
I mainly work in Ruby on Rails, EmberJS, Javascript, PHP, WordPress and
CodeIgniter.
Drop me an email on [email protected] to discuss your project.
------
zvanness
SEEKING WORK - Remote, San Francisco, Washington D.C
I'm a full stack developer and designer.
I'll build you a minimal lovable product for a fixed $9K and in 4 weeks.
For iOS apps, I use Swift. For web apps, I use Ruby/Rails, JavaScript.
To see some of my recent work:
[https://breue.com/](https://breue.com/)
[https://dribbble.com/zachvanness](https://dribbble.com/zachvanness)
------
jmarneweck
SEEKING WORK | PHP Developer / DevOps | Cape Town | REMOTE
I am an experienced PHP developer and DevOps/CloudOps guy. Spent the last four
and half years in the FinTech space building and maintaining Online Banking /
Cash Management software. Worked for TAP, ITS, Joyent, NPM, TextDrive,
ViaMedia, Imvelaphi Mobile.
Technologies: PHP, MySQL, Redis, SmartOS, FreeBSD, Ubuntu Linux.
Email: [email protected]
------
nirmoh
Seeking work | US | Remote Only Profile: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-
gupta-216b7532/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-gupta-216b7532/) Over a
decade of experience working with SharePoint and .NET apps. Over 5 years of
experience with Azure Infrastructure deployments and migration.
------
aqw137
SEEKING WORK | Europe/Serbia | REMOTE ONLY
PHP backend developer with 10 years of experience. Last big project: back
office app for
[https://thelondonhelicopter.com](https://thelondonhelicopter.com)
Resume/Portfolio: [http://holisticagency.com](http://holisticagency.com)
Rate: €35/hr
------
xepaez
SEEKING WORK
Location: Quito, Ecuador, South America (gmt-5)
Remote: Yes, please
Technologies: PHP, JAVA, Javascript, MySQL, Linux, HTML, 15+ years of
experience, Soft skills (business, entrepreneurship, mktg, social business)
Résumé/CV:
[https://www.linkedin.com/in/xepaez/](https://www.linkedin.com/in/xepaez/)
Email: [email protected]
------
akrakesh
SEEKING WORK from anywhere | ONLY REMOTE | I'm in India
I'm a web and mobile UI/UX designer.
Experience: 7 years
Technologies/Skills:
\- UI/UX design for web, iOS and Android
\- Information architecture
\- Interaction design
\- Visual design
\- Icon design
\- Brand Identity design
\- HTML & CSS
Portfolio: [http://radesign.in](http://radesign.in)
Email: [http://radesign.in/contact](http://radesign.in/contact)
------
jrgoj
SEEKING WORK
Location: Minneapolis / Saint Paul, MN USA Remote: Yes
Technologies: .Net, C#, Azure, Web API, WPF, WinForms, SQL, Mongo,
Elasticsearch, Javascript, React, Node, much more
Experience: 12 years FTE development experience, leadership roles, consulting
services as well
I am looking for contracts up to 10 hours per week.
Resume: Please email me
Email: grjrojo at gmail
------
technological
Seeking Work, San Jose, Remote Ok
Programming Languages : Python, JavaScript, Go (Not expert but can understand
any existing code base), RUST (Cannot write great code but can debug and
understand existing code base)
Tools: OpenStack, Docker, Kubernetes, Jenkins
Love to speaking with people and troubleshooting their issues.
Looking For: Anything
------
moltar
SEEKING WORK | Custom Software Development For Amazon Sellers | Remote
I'm looking for Amazon sellers who need custom software solutions.
Web: [https://www.scaleleap.com/](https://www.scaleleap.com/)
Email: hello (at) scaleleap (dot) com
------
steve_elearnt
SEEKING WORK Location: Europe
Remote work: Yes, remote only
We have our eLearnt product for talent training
[http://elearningsoftwaresolution.com/](http://elearningsoftwaresolution.com/)
Contact: info @ our domain
Rate: €75/hr (negotiable)
------
gauravgupta
SEEKING WORK - New Delhi, India Web/Mobile development
Portfolio & Information: [https://squareboat.com/](https://squareboat.com/)
Contact: [email protected]
------
iamskog
APP DEVELOPER: iOS | iPhone | iPad | Apple Watch | Apple TV
SEEKING WORK | Remote | Dallas, TX
Validate and launch your iOS app for less than $10K.
[https://iamskog.com](https://iamskog.com)
Get started with a free Skeleton Demo!
------
adnanazad
SEEKING FREELANCER | REMOTE
Looking for someone to help me build a web-based IRC client. Someone who has
prior experience working with IRC or at the very least real-time chat
applications would be preferred.
Email: [email protected]
------
asparagui
SEEKING WORK - Remote/SF/Missouri
iOS/Android/Mobile development
Portfolio & Information: [http://quarkworks.co](http://quarkworks.co)
Contact: [email protected]
------
stephen82
Excellent job mate. You have an issue with
[https://www.sunderlandstudio.com/portfolio/louise-
fishman.ht...](https://www.sunderlandstudio.com/portfolio/louise-fishman.html)
The second "VISIT THE WEBSITE" link points at
[https://www.sunderlandstudio.com/portfolio/{](https://www.sunderlandstudio.com/portfolio/{){
item.website }}
~~~
stephen82
Your website is full of errors thanks to view-
source:[https://www.sunderlandstudio.com/assets/css/app.css](https://www.sunderlandstudio.com/assets/css/app.css)
that points to multiple links to url(../../../node_modules/slick-
carousel/slick/fonts/...
~~~
dang
I assume you're trying to be helpful, but it's a bit rough to pick flaws in
someone's work in response to a freelancer post, especially the "Your website
is full of errors" bit.
Since the person's email address is there, probably the helpful thing to do
would be to send them a note about the errors your found.
We detached this subthread from
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18356732](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18356732)
and marked it off-topic.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
“It’s so incredible to finally be understood.” - leksak
https://www.16personalities.com
======
ColinWright
I personally didn't find that interesting, engaging, or insightful, but I
would be interested to hear the views of others. If you took it, did you find
the results useful? Accurate? Insightful? Thought provoking?
Personally, honestly, I found this[0] _far_ more useful, and in my experience
it's been worryingly accurate given that it's obviously a parody:
[0]
[http://www.solipsys.co.uk/LipsonShiu.html](http://www.solipsys.co.uk/LipsonShiu.html)
~~~
T-A
It's just another Myers-Briggs test, and a pretty short one at that. FWIW, the
result I got (INTP) did not match what I usually get when I waste time on
these things (INTJ).
The Lipson-Shiu one on the other hand quite correctly identified me as "ICUE
(Mad Scientist/Hacker)". :D
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Would you mind giving me your feedback on one of my main sideproject? - Concours
Dear Hackers, I'm sbout to go public beta with my sideproject http://www.mcsquare.me and I'm looking for some feedback to improve the public beta 1 of the service and the roadmap. I'm looking for any kind of feedback, regarding the design, the readability and of course the features of the site, and whatever you think should be improve. thanks
======
kolinko
My frist impression was that it looks very much like one of these spam sites..
I guess the adwords taking up most of the screen property above the fold give
that impression. The add looks too much like the rest of the site for me. I
know that this will drive clicks, but it doesn't make me want to get back to
the site again.
2\. the text is barely readable. I've got a perfect eyesight, but small white
letters on dark background + small line heights make it hard to read.
3\. What's up with the title? When I see a site entitled "Free RSS feed.."
(Chrome doesn't display more in the tab title) I automatically classify this
site as one of the "Free Icons", "Free Screensavers" etc. sites. You should
move "McSquare" to the begginning of the title.
4\. I like the image view of news (Onion & Twitter)
And here are some more comments. This is a screenshot of when I first entered
your site. Notice how little usable information is on the page and how much
does the ad take.
[http://img.skitch.com/20101017-eq5huu5yhm6egmby4p7p6ys8c4.jp...](http://img.skitch.com/20101017-eq5huu5yhm6egmby4p7p6ys8c4.jpg)
Overall: \- Looks too much like a spam site \- I wouldn't switch from Reddit &
HN to read the news on your site \- Good view of news images.
Hope I didn't kill your enthusiasm :)
~~~
aw3c2
Since I use adblocking I did not see ads, but I still got that impression. I
guess it is the "wall of images on the bottom" that looks like many
imagehoster sites' ads.
~~~
Concours
Working on it to make the site look less like a place with ads and to improve
the design (this should solve the problem).
------
GreenM0nk
* Navigation below the logo: the font is as dark as the border with too less padding. Perhaps some other style would work.
* Too small font for the new headlines
* The ads on the above are a huge distraction. I would suggest not having ads (atleast initially). Hint: Monetizing small sites with ads isn't going to work out to a large amount.
* You have pagination for a news aggregator. Feature suggestion: Why not a page that allows users to pick whatever news they want to read?
* "rss-feeds-talk", not something anyone would prefer. Why not just call it "comments" or something simpler?
* The separator between news headlines is as bright as the news headline. Would look good if the contrast of the separator is somewhere between that of the page background and the font color of the news headline/topic.
* How are you picking the news headlines for the news update ticker at the top of the site? I would suggest customising it according to users. Have a like button (not the facebook like button. just one for your site) and also use the data as to which topic the user comments on to personalize news. Add those headlines to the ticker.
Since you posted it here for review, I assume you are ready to take both good
points and in-the-face criticism. So if you want a frank opinion, it looks
like popurls.com with a little more ads. Perhaps you could take a little
design inspiration from that site and add a little more features that
differentiates yours from their app. There's also another similar app called
Alltop run by Guy Kawasaki. Check that out too for some design inspiration.
Another really cool news app is Dooblebuzz (<http://doodlebuzz.com>) by
Brendan Dawes. This one has a really off-beat experimental interface that it
fun to use.
But if it's a fun project. This is nice. The design needs polishing.
P.S: This is way better than my first site, which had 50 html pages with
inline styles and dark green background, and was supposed to be an online
bookstore :) Not to mention I even wanted to dropout of school to launch it.
~~~
Concours
Thanks for the feedback GreenM0nk ,working to improve the site with the
feedback here.
------
sirwitti
several things come to my mind watching the site:
1\. i could not figure out, what exactly the site is about. please write a
short sentence or paragraph, on what users can expect.
...i just saw that you have this information in the title tag. put it in the
header somewhere . your users will thank you.
2\. you use caps for the main navigation and have 13 nav items. the nav items
are very hard to read (and there´s no space between the text and the borders).
capitalizing only the first letters would help a lot. regarding that there are
many items (and subitems) perhaps it would be better to put the navigation in
a left sidebar.
3\. you use tahoma for text and content. serif fonts are hard to read (on
screens). if you wanna have serif fonts, use them for headlines and serifless
fonts for content. again you users will thank you.
4\. there is the date in the top right. most users will know which is today´s.
so it will distract many users from the real content.
5\. in the top top navigation there are options for font size, background
color,... i´d remove all of these and carefully set typography and colors that
they fit most users needs.
6\. like this buttons: the images are cut out from a white background, so
there are those little white pixels left on the edges. though this is a very
smallish issue it gives the users the impression that this is an
unprofessional site. i guess you don´t want that :)
7\. using adwords is ok, but putting ads (and no content) in the very center
looks like you wanna make a quick buck and are not at all interested in
providing real information/benefit. users immediately sense that and i guess
about 90% of your visitors will leave the site. if you wanna make money out of
this, you should get more creative. (extra tipp: making money from adwords
works quite bad today)
8\. generally read some articles on design and best practices. this will help
you improve your site(s) more than you might think.
martin
~~~
Concours
Thanks a lot for the great feedback Martin, I'll finally go with a redesign of
the whole site and carefully pick fonts and colors with a new approach.
Adwords will be a very tiny amount of my revenues and I'll consider not using
them at all, and probably will not use them on the main release, but they are
really a very tyni part on my business model.
------
invertedlambda
Nice site overall - looks like you put a lot of time and effort into it.
The only thing I would point out is that the site looks kind of "busy" to me.
In some ways it looks like a clone of a lot of other aggregators out there, or
a site for a parked domain.
Maybe more whitespace? More colors? Make it fun?
Prooost! :P
~~~
Concours
yup, a lot of time indeed, thanks.
Ok, I took my design inspiration from the nytimes, but it seems like, it
doesn't fit well with the site's layout, I'll improve the design, means more
colors and whitespace, this should make it fun and less...cold or less work
and research tool. Thanks
Prooost! :)
------
phr
One small thing I noticed is that selecting a white background on the main
screen doesn't "stick" when you choose news/america.
Another small UI thing: the choice of large font is welcome, but didn't go as
large as I wanted. When I used command-+ on Chrome (Mac) to go a bit larger, I
ended up with horizontal scrollbars. This is a pet peeve of mine. Why can't
you use percentage measures for the different regions? I don't mind some
vertical scrolling, but horizontal is much worse.
Edit: I forgot to say: Nice job overall, despite my nit picking above. Also,
where did the name come from?
Edit 2: The title of the news / america section comes out as "Amerika". Is
that just a typo, or a political statement? (I've seen that spelling used to
imply the U.S. is being taken over by Facists or something.)
~~~
Concours
The white background issue is a bug, I'll fix it today, I somehow miss that
one.
Indeed the font issue is a problem I have to figure out how to solve, I'm
playing around with some fonts , but haven't yet found the perfect fit , so
you won't even need to change the font size, if it doesn't work, I will have
to change the approach and probably go with your suggestion on percentage
measures. Thanks for the great critic and the nice words on the product.
clickable: <http://www.mcsquare.me/>
EDIT: Oh, forgot to tell you about the name, I'm a fan of Einstein ( E=mc² =
mcsquare ) and bought the domain to create a twitter alike board for my
University (Mecanical Eng.), but I find out, it wasn't a great idea, so as I
switched to this project, the domain was just perfect for me, and here's the
logic: site handle about rss feeds, Einstein was a very smart guy, ----> Tag
line: Feed (from feeds) your brain (be smart with all theose infos like )--->
feed your brain with all the latest news and knowledge.
Amerika is a typo, this happen when one write too much German stuff, "ca" is
mostly "ka" in German, updating it now.
~~~
Concours
Could you point me to the "Amerika" url? I'm still missing it!
------
robryan
I don't like the ad locations, sure you want to make a bit of money out of it
but to me it just on first glance has the feel of a made for adsense spam
site. I would leave the first row ad free and put the 2 ad blocks in the right
most column of the second and third rows.
~~~
Concours
got it, I'll remove the ads from the top left position, of course that's one
of the best place for Adrevenues , but since the user experience is horrible
with the ads staying there, I'll move them somewhere else, I'll try your
suggestions. Thanks
------
p0ppe
There seems to be a problem with the database connection; "Warning:
mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Lost connection to MySQL server at
'reading initial communication packet', system error: 111 in
/home/djachao/mcsquare/connect.php on line 2 connection failed"
------
petervandijck
It's really slow and the images don't seem to load. Also, remove the
advertising for 6 months. If you get users, then you can add it back in.
~~~
Concours
Great approach, I'll try it this way, if they don't work later, I will just
remove them. Thanks
------
andrewtbham
reminds me of <http://popurls.com> and <http://alltop.com>
~~~
andrewtbham
the menu at top reminds me of alltop, and the layout of the feeds reminds me
of popurls.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Why are high-res maps vital to self-driving cars? - panabee
Could someone with expertise around self-driving cars kindly explain why high-res maps are vital to self-driving cars?<p>Cars must react in real-time to unmapped items like fallen trees, debris, and people (not to mention other cars), so what additional value do high-res maps provide?<p>Do they reduce processing time because now cars simply scan for deltas instead of the entire environment?
======
atroyn
This is a complex question. As you pointed out, having a high fidelity map
helps to identify the part of the environment that change, creating 'deltas'.
Another reason is that autonomous vehicles take data from a wide variety of
sensors, including cameras, RADAR, LIDAR and others.
None of these modalities is perfectly, and there is always ambiguity and
drift. High fidelity, high resolution maps provide a strong prior that helps
to resolve these issues.
Besides the sensing issues, high fidelity maps also provide priors with
respect to planning and prediction of the behaviors of other road users. A
busy intersection should be approaches differently to a small backroad.
In the end, autonomy needs both real-time processing and high fidelity maps to
perform effectively.
------
agitator
high-res maps help localize the vehicle. All of the sensors on the car
(cameras, GPS, radar, lidar, sonar) all have some degree of error, and have
their own respective strengths and weaknesses.
In order to know where the car is located at any given time, the vehicle uses
data from the gps and a combination of any of the other sensors to help
localize itself in the world. Relying on just GPS is risky and error prone, so
fuzing that position with matching landmarks from the field of view, or lidar
is a way to improve positioning.
This is especially important for determining which lane the vehicle is in,
where it needs to be in order to take a proper exit or turn, and what
potential obstacles or traffic scenarios it might encounter depending on where
it is located on a road.
------
starlord97
Check out this episode of a16z: [https://overcast.fm/](https://overcast.fm/)
BlzEcPXdQ
They go into details on use cases for HD maps
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
10x one-line solutions for the euler project - wingi
http://united-coders.com/christian-harms/10-one-line-solutions-for-project-euler
======
endtime
There are a few shortcomings here. One is that the calls to list() in #16 and
#20 are unnecessary - strings are sequences in Python. Another is that the
second solution for #19 isn't correct (it might output the right answer, but
if so it's a fortunate accident).
~~~
wingi
_ups_ thanx, forget to remove the list(str(x))-term.
And yes, the solution from #19 dont work in every century.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Allegory of Treo - laujen
http://www.asymco.com/2011/03/11/the-allegory-of-treo/
======
laujen
I'm blown away by this. I lived through those days as a Windows Mobile and
Palm developer and had this weird feeling of deja-vu when the Nokia-MS news
broke. Now I know why!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Get Paid to Type CAPTCHA's - chatmasta
http://www.megatypers.com/<p>Note: THIS IS NOT MY SITE. I'm posting this here in the hopes of generating discussion about a pretty important topic.<p>A few sites exist specifically for breaking CAPTCHA's. These are known as "CAPTCHA farms" [1][2]. You can find a bunch of them on Google, but a few examples are DeathByCaptcha [3] and ImageDecoders [4]. These two sites charge about $1.35 per 1000 solved CAPTCHA's.<p>This is a relatively well known industry, but most of the articles I've seen only talk about the <i>demand</i> side of the market. Nobody has bothered to find the sites paying the suppliers to type the CAPTCHA's. So today I did a little bit of research and was able to find one.<p>MegaTypers [5] pays its users to solve CAPTCHA's. Signing up is kind of difficult because you need to track down an invitation code, so I took some screenshots and put them in an album for anyone interested, including pricing table, CAPTCHA entry, and statistics board. [6]<p>When typing CAPTCHA's, I was limited by the speed they were offered to me (hence the ability to buy "boost packs," I presume). In 60 seconds, I was able to type 12 CAPTCHA's, 11 of them accurately. Assuming I sustained this rate for an hour, I would type roughly 700 CAPTCHA's.<p>Assuming average price of $0.65/1000 (it varies by hour), I would earn 45 cents. In an 8 hour day, that's $3.60.<p>CAPTCHA farms are making a profit of roughly $500 per day.<p>I'm wondering: What does the (largely libertarian) userbase of HN think of this?<p>Note: I ran into the character limit, so will post more in a comment.<p>[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/technology/26captcha.html?_r=0<p>[2] http://arstechnica.com/security/2008/09/captchas-flummox-bots-but-may-be-doomed-by-captcha-farmers/<p>[3] http://deathbycaptcha.com/<p>[4] http://www.imagedecoders.com<p>[5] http://www.megatypers.com/<p>[6] http://imgur.com/a/QevOc<p>[7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_minimum_wages_by_country
======
chatmasta
So, in summary: CAPTCHA solving companies charge $1.35 per 1000 CAPTCHA's.
They pay less than half of that to the people typing the CAPTCHAs. Some of
these CAPTCHA farms claim to be solving 700,000 CAPTCHA's per day (according
to the NYT article), which equates to roughly $500 per day in profit, or
$15,000 per month, or $180,000 per year.
According to Wikipedia [7], a wage of 45 cents per hour is higher than the
minimum wage in 40 countries where the number is listed, and more than double
the minimum wage in more than 12 countries.
Personally, I'm divided. People are clearly using these services, and many of
them are working from home, not from a sweatshop as many people imagine
(although I'm sure those places exist). That means conditions must be
"somewhat" tolerable. In some countries (like the dozen with a minimum wage
under 20 cents per hour), a wage of $0.45/hr could actually be really good.
Of course, then there's the issue of spam. Personally I see that as ethically
orthogonal to the labor issues here, since it almost exclusively affects
"first world" people, and hardly in any meaningful way. So I'll ignore that
question for now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Zig – a Dijkstra's algorithm-inspired puzzle - karaokeyoga
http://zig.iffy.studio/
======
jastr
To call this Dijkstra inspired is an understatement! Playing this game is
literally solving Dijkstra in your browser.
------
karaokeyoga
Press space for some useful options. (These options would naturally appear
when you graduate from the 3×3 grids.)
The mobile version is a bit rough.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Osama bin Laden's hideout compound - espeed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden%27s_hideout_compound
======
troels
I wonder how long before someone makes a counter strike map out of this?
~~~
Deestan
I am confident hundreds of people are already building this in Minecraft.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Nest was supposed to lead the next computing revolution. Its looking like a bust - tdrnd
http://www.vox.com/2016/4/7/11378904/nest-tony-fadell-struggling
======
iamleppert
Honestly, the only stroke of genius at Nest wasn't the self-learning aspect of
the thermostat, or the fact you could set pre-programmed times, or control it
from your phone. There had been other products on the market that did this,
albeit somewhat poorly.
I'm convinced it was the industrial design, of making something that normally
is a beige box sexy and nice to look at. Something you put on your wall, that
is a necessity is now a piece of high-tech artwork that you can admire.
This is evidenced by the fact their smoke alarms, if their "connected home"
story were to hold true, haven't done nearly as well. People could care less
if their smoke alarms are smart, because you rarely look at your ceiling. You
often see your thermostat every day, with most being located on the wall when
you walk into your house or apartment.
Evidence: I have many non-tech friends and family who own a nest. They do not
use any of the advanced features, maybe rarely. They all say the same thing:
they bought it because it looked cool and wanted a "finishing touch" on their
house. Maybe did so after a kitchen remodel or something else they did to
their house, indicating it was more an emotional purchase fueled by aesthetics
and ego.
Based upon this, it is now unsurprising the hype hasn't scaled. The business
was kind of a one hit wonder and it's not shocking the company is floundering.
------
carsongross
Nest, to me, was never about a computing revolution.
It was that someone was finally taking Apple-level industrial design and
applying it to common household goods. That made me very excited, and happy to
pay more for it. Finally, a common product was getting better aesthetically,
rather than worse.
All the rest was noise, mainly for investors. Unfortunately, it appears that
the noise may destroy what matters.
~~~
sp332
This would have happened a long time ago if Honeywell didn't have all the
patents on good thermostat design. They have three lawsuits currently going on
and have settled with Intellectual Ventures.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nest_Labs#Litigation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nest_Labs#Litigation)
That's crazy expensive and it would put almost any other company out of
business very quickly.
~~~
JoeAltmaier
Wow - what Honeywell sells is "good thermostat design"? All those horrible
buttons and opaque modes? There's lots of room for improvement.
~~~
CapitalistCartr
That's the problem with modern patents. What you're seeing is their
implementation of their patents. Another company might make a massively better
design, but tread on their overly broad patent that is vaguely written for
just that reason.
------
jbob2000
If anything, Nest is a comment about how growing a company via investments
doesn't work. If Nest could focus on working out the technical issues without
the investors breathing down their neck, I'm sure the product would do much
better.
Not only that, but I already have a thermostat. It works _perfectly_. I've
never said to myself, "Gee, I wish I could adjust my home temperature from
work, I need an exact 23.5 degrees when I get home". It doesn't do enough for
me to justify messing with my HVAC system, that whole "if it ain't broke,
don't fix it" adage comes to mind.
~~~
raldi
And I bet your VCR never flashed 12:00, either. You are not a representative
user.
There are hundreds of millions of families out there that have no idea how to
program their thermostat beyond changing the current temperature, so they just
leave it running all night and day, whether they're home or not.
The appeal of the Nest thermostat is _not_ so that control freaks can fine-
tune the temperature at home while in an airplane. It's so that regular people
can just have it installed and forget about it.
~~~
talmand
But wouldn't those people not able to program their current thermostat, for
whatever reason, would have to be able to program their new fancier
thermostat?
~~~
Domenic_S
They don't scream this like they used to, but it's called the "Nest _Learning_
Thermostat". There's one control, a ring that you turn left for colder and
right for hotter. Over about a week the thermostat takes your inputs combined
with the weather and develops a schedule it thinks you'll find comfortable. As
it misses, you override it (again, just turn the ring) and Nest learns and
updates its schedule for you.
You can use the app or the website to input a specific schedule if you prefer,
which is still simpler than 99% of conventional thermostats.
Anecdotally I just programmed my grandmother's thermostat for her and it took
me -- a 30-something with deep technical experience -- way too long to figure
it out (I even had to break out the manual). What if grandma could just turn
the ring left or right and the thermostat would come up with a schedule for
her, wouldn't that be better?
~~~
talmand
But isn't that just a small part of the Nest idea?
Wouldn't the same thing be accomplished by getting someone to do it for them?
Much like your grandmother and you? You set it up for her, she likely has to
rarely deal with it again. All Nest does is take you out of the equation but
you work for free.
~~~
Domenic_S
Except the next time I visited, her thermostat had messed up its program and
it was set at 80 degrees. Whether it was a power outage and dead backup
battery, or she somehow fiddled with it and messed it up herself, it was once
again in a broken state.
I hate to invoke the overused phrase, but the nest thermostat Just Works™.
~~~
talmand
Could not the same things happen with a Nest?
~~~
Domenic_S
Not really, because it continually adjusts its schedule for you depending on
your manual inputs, is powered by the HVAC wires themselves (and charges a
small backup battery that you never have to worry about), and if you really
wanted to you could log into her account and fix the thermostat remotely if
somehow she managed to really break things. If all you do is turn the ring
right or left for colder and hotter, it'll do its thing just fine.
You could hop into the menus and.. forget the wifi password or something I
guess?
One thing nest handles really well is "I'm feeling a little too cold/hot
tonight and I'm going to adjust the temp". You walk up and twist the ring and
you're done. You don't have to disable scheduled mode or enable override mode
or anything like that. Twist and done. I have a feeling that's how grandma
messed up her thermostat, she was feeling cold so she turned it up to 80 (lol)
and then the thermostat said, ok I guess this is my life now. 80 degrees
forever.
~~~
talmand
I hate that this sounds like I'm arguing, because I'm not. I just find this
discussion interesting.
If the device learns over time from grandma turning the dial up and down, does
that not create strange data for the device to figure out? Take your example,
grandma is cold so she turns the temp up; does this count as a manual input?
Does that not eventually create a problem? Much like the original thermostat
but takes longer?
Although, the account thing is interesting. Can you set the schedule and then
disable the manual interface to let grandma change all she wants with no
changes?
~~~
Domenic_S
Heh, no offense taken.
I don't know the internals of how nest deals with wild swings in manual
inputs, but I haven't seen a problem. Although even if it results in a "nights
are 80 degrees" situation, the rest of the day is unaffected so at worst it's
still better than the other thermostat.
Yes, you can set a schedule and disable the physical interface.
------
ubercore
Funny timing on this story. Just last night my Nest "froze" the heat on. Heat
was set to 68, thermostat read 73 and the Nest was still running the furnace
(and the screen was orange, indicating the heat is on). Had to power cycle the
thing for it to stop running my furnace. Welcome to the future!
------
alistproducer2
Nest is product very few people want. Period. A thermostat is not difficult to
operate and why would regular people introduce complication into their lives
over something they think about as little as the thermostat? The IoT will only
take off when someone can come up with a value proposition besides "isn't that
cool?"
~~~
sp332
The Nest requires less interaction and less thinking than a normal thermostat
or even a programmable thermostat.
~~~
ianferrel
But is it enough?
It took me maybe 10 minutes to set up my programmable thermostat, and I
probably never need to touch it again.
It cost like $40. I just can't see spending $250 for something to save that 10
minutes. And that's assuming that the Nest actually takes zero setup. What if
I have to dig into it because its internal logic is doing something weird?
~~~
ZeroGravitas
There was an efficiency program that gave out programmable thermostats to
average householders. When they evaluated the program they found that they
actually made things worse, because no one knew how to use them properly.
~~~
alistproducer2
It's not that most people couldn't figure out how to use those programmables
right; it's that they didn't care enough (ie, see the benefit) to take the
time necessary to learn it.
For people who do see the benefit (I am one of those as I programmed mine in ~
10 minutes as well), it's much more time and money efficient to use the
programmable that came with my house than it is to buy some $250 contraption,
install it, sync it, then learn how to use it.
With gadgets, the world is divided into those who love them for their own
sake, those who see enough utility in them to invest the added time/money
(relative to lower tech alternatives) and those who do not care enough to use
the alternates or the gadgets (ie, most of humanity).
------
jandrese
I have a Nest and if the cloud service went away and I couldn't control it
from my phone anymore, I really wouldn't be sad. It's a feature I use maybe
twice a year at most.
The Nest does look cool and has a much better interface for programming a
schedule, but it is hardly revolutionary.
In particular, I've been disappointed that the "the Nest will know when you
aren't home and automatically adjust!" feature never worked, although that's
maybe not a surprise since it's basically magic.
But I got it for free, so I can't complain. It looks cooler than the old
Thermostat I had and they send me an email every month telling me how I'm like
the bestest person in the world for turning off the heat and opening the
windows in the spring.
~~~
Domenic_S
> _it is hardly revolutionary._
When it was released there was nothing like it. It's still the best DIY home
thermostat imo. The installation is straight out of the Apple playbook, little
included screwdriver and all. It looks both retro and futuristic. Turning the
wheel to set the temperature is such a great interface.
Auto-away works really well for me, so being able to crank on the heat/a/c
when I'm an hour away is huge. Huge. This sounds lazy, but I like being able
to control the upstairs thermostat while I'm comfortably snuggled in watching
a movie downstairs.
Monthly emailed energy reports help me pay attention without being too
intrusive. It's also adapted to our family's usage really well (the "learning"
part of the learning thermostat). I love not having to mess with it too much,
although I understand that's not a Nest-specific feature.
Best of all, there's no monthly fee. I can't get behind Nest Cam because of
their fee, but the Thermostat is buy-it-once (...so far).
What's so smart about it is that unlike other energy-saving improvements, you
can use it in rentals too. My current nest was installed in my last rental, I
just saved the old thermostat and took pics of how it was installed so I could
put it back.
For me, its set-it-and-forget-it factor is massive, and that's what I prefer
almost always. Since I'm the resident utility guy, the less I have to dork
around with stuff other people use, the better - and Nest filled that role
perfectly (incidentally: that's why my family has iphones and macbooks instead
of android & windows/linux desktops, why I don't install Tomato on my routers,
etc -- not because I think they're intrinsically better, but because I don't
have to spend a bunch of time managing them).
Anyway, my point is I think the thermostat _was_ revolutionary -- essentially
nobody was thinking about residential thermostats before Nest came along.
Their smoke detectors on the other hand... don't even get me started.
~~~
mcphage
> Turning the wheel to set the temperature is such a great interface.
It doesn't get talked about as much anymore, but the scroll wheel on the
original iPods really was a fantastic interface... it turned something
obnoxious (tapping arrows to move through a really long list) into something
easy and comfortable. I'm very glad the idea is still being used.
------
PaulHoule
It's a fascinating topic and there are many angles to discuss, but the one I
would focus on is the acquisition issue.
One of the contradictions of capitalism is that a high-P/E and high-growth
company like Google will inevitably close services and squash products that it
acquires because it to maintain that high-P/E ratio they will be forced from
time to time to get out of any businesses that can't sustain the great numbers
that their core business can put up.
At the enterprise level, if I was tasked with vendor management with a company
that was acquired by Google or Facebook I would probably call my sales rep
right away and be like "you better post a performance bond" or "you better
sign an escrow agreement for the source code" or "I talked with a sales rep at
company B and he told me this and he told me this (what do you think about
that?) and he told me this (what do you think about that?) and he told me this
(what do you think about that?) (oh really?) and I would go on with that until
he gives me at least a 15% discount or blows up at me and hangs up the phone."
If it was Microsoft I would feel the same way based on historical experience.
Not so with IBM. They buy failing or market trailing companies that have
something to do with "Watson" or "Cloud" \-- generally they don't get any
better, but they suffer from at most benign neglect. Generally they did not
make the cut or we moved to a competitor years ago, but as notorious as IBM is
for discarding employees, it does try not to leave customers out in the cold.
~~~
mcphage
> ...or "I talked with a sales rep at company B and he told me this and he
> told me this (what do you think about that?) and he told me this (what do
> you think about that?) and he told me this (what do you think about that?)
> (oh really?) and I would go on with that until he gives me at least a 15%
> discount or blows up at me and hangs up the phone."
What?
------
traviswingo
I think this article makes some good points. No matter how you spin it, most
people just won't understand the appeal internet-connected, smart devices for
the home. That's why the direct-to-consumer market isn't exactly the correct
route to take, right now.
It works well with tech-savvy individuals, but that's a small subset of
humanity. It's basic economics.
My company (ElectrIQ Power) is actually in the IoT space, and we've carefully
assessed the market before even starting. Fortunately, for us, we're in a
unique group where demand is currently small, but increasing at a very high
rate. Our revenues are also far greater than would be possible if we were
operating in a direct-to-consumer strategy.
------
matthewmcg
I replaced my existing "dumb" thermostat with a nest and it has certainly been
worthwhile, both in terms of energy cost savings and in having a convenient,
pleasant interface for temperature control.
I purchased the third party Skylark app and installed it on my phone and my
wife's phone so that the nest goes into "away" mode only when we are both out
of the house. I think the official Nest app also added similar functionality
recently.
After this initial set up, and a week or so of "training" we haven't had to
think about setting our thermostat. Our house is just magically at the correct
temperature when we are there but our bill is lower than it was before we got
it.
------
Naritai
The main takeaway from the article (they don't make this argument directly,
but I'm inferring it) is that the main opportunity is for a cloud/services
company to provide a standard and backbone services for all the individual
appliance manufacturers to connect to. So we wouldn't be seeing a Nest washing
machine, but rather an LG washing machine that connects to your (for example)
Nest account.
This still leaves an opportunity for Alphabet (who knows better than them how
to offer a free service and profit off the data?), but leaves Nest in a
category similar to Nexus - a line of HW that demonstrates the value /
usefulness of the services, but is not really a key profit center for the
company. It's not bad, but it's not somewhere I personally would want to work.
------
pacala
Nest is a pillar of the future. The future of ubiquitous surveillance. We
track your online activities, we track your work and personal communications,
we track whom your friends are, we track your whereabouts, we track your
financial transactions.
The last battlefield is your home. You must have an always on device in your
house that listens to your activity and conversations. Since you can turn off
mobile phones and smart tvs [1], we need something better. Amazon has Alexa.
Google has Nexus Player. Nest is the best, because shutting it down has
unpleasant consequences.
[1] Your smart tv is probably smart enough to not really shut down and keep
listening [wink wink].
~~~
seanp2k2
We're already there as of >a year ago re: TV always listening to you:
[http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/09/technology/security/samsung-...](http://money.cnn.com/2015/02/09/technology/security/samsung-
smart-tv-privacy/)
------
increment_i
Nest is a cool product, but it might be just slightly ahead of its time, by a
hair. Maybe the future generation of homeowners will be adamant about having a
high tech touchscreen interface for their HVAC system, but for most people I
know, it isn't a problem they're compelled to pay for. As the saying goes, the
existing solutions are generally "good enough". I think Nest is on to
something, but I'd bet it's another 5-10 years before they start seeing real
breakthrough success.
~~~
bpchaps
One of my good friends asked me to make a touchscreen interface for his car's
HVAC system.. so there definitely are interested folks out there. :)
------
caseyf7
I'm really disappointed about what they did with Dropcam. The dropcam was such
a great product that Nest basically destroyed by pushing out the core team,
making the product worse (but hey, it's slimmer), and stagnating development.
I believe we are missing out on great things that would've happened if Dropcam
had stayed independent.
------
anexprogrammer
It took them so long to produce a version capable of running common European
systems (separate hot water), that I lost interest long back. They finally
released something christmas last year.
The cock ups along the way didn't help either. Wouldn't touch them with a
barge pole now.
Honeywell on the other hand seem to have smarter smart kit, and a decent
reputation.
~~~
dangravell
Honeywell's Evohome product is much smarter, you're right. As is Heat Genius.
They are probably a slightly different market though, because have more
capable systems, being able to do soft zoning. Also arguably, neither are
quite as slick looking.
The trouble with Honeywell is that they should've been doing this stuff a
decade ago.
Personally I think all these thermostats are just sticking plasters over the
real problem: houses shouldn't leak heat nearly as much as they do. We know
how to fix it, it's a technically solved problem, but regulation and
government intervention just isn't keeping up.
~~~
ghaff
>houses shouldn't leak heat nearly as much as they do. We know how to fix it,
it's a technically solved problem, but regulation and government intervention
just isn't keeping up.
The house I live in is almost 200 years old. What sort of regulation and
government intervention do you have in mind? Should everyone with a house
that's not up to the latest modern insulation standards be forced to undertake
a major construction project to update all their walls and windows?
As with many things, the issue isn't with the technology and standards that
exist today. It's with the large installed base that can't be just wished
away.
~~~
anexprogrammer
The UK had, for a while, a reasonable approach to insulation. Historically,
especially post-war, we had some terribly poor housing as far as thermal
efficiency went.
The energy companies were required to provide free and discounted energy
saving measures for their customers, to a certain value each year. This was as
part of the overall carbon lowering measures.
They typcally provided loft and wall insulation, both of which could be done
in a day. If you had solid walls it took a little longer and some properties
weren't suitable.
For the vast majority it was quick, easy and cheap. No major construction
required either for most.
~~~
ghaff
When CFL bulbs were new (and pricey) there were a number of programs to sell
those at discounted prices to consumers through the power companies. I've
never heard of anything comparable wrt insulation although that doesn't mean
there hasn't been such.
I've actually done a lot with my house when I've been having construction done
anyway but there's no easy way to retrofit insulation into the existing walls.
(Plaster lath etc.)
------
draw_down
When this thing started out, I remember reading Fadell saying that he would go
around and have coffee with his colleagues in the valley, and tell them he was
working on a thermostat. And as the story went, they were all incredulous that
it could be a good idea. Maybe they were right after all.
------
xg15
If, in an article of a former IoT enthusiast who now starts to understand the
other side, most of the quotes and sub-headings sound like trivial common-
sense, maybe that sheds some light on how solid the assumptions behind today's
IoT actually are...
------
CullingTheHerd
"Nest" isn't a bust. "Post-Google" Nest is a bust. And the bigger issue is
much, much bigger.
Google didn't acquire Nest to out of an altruistic desire to assist Nest to
grow faster to fulfill their mission. Nest was acquired because Google was
lazy and saw an opportunity to grow _Google 's_ revenue and data-base while at
the same time getting a foothold in the nascent but exponentially growing IoT
sector, instead of having to build something themselves and compete with Nest.
When I hear about the piles of cash that companies like Google and Apple are
sitting on I often shudder to think of all the other "Nest" like companies out
there that will be snatched up in the middle of a growth spurt like an
organism infected with a virus that injects its own DNA in order to hijack the
host organism's biological mechanisms in order to fulfill its own goal of self
replication, often killing its host in the process.
Nest was born from Apple culture. The founders left Apple after having worked
on the iPod and set out to build another beautiful product. They wanted to
_build_ something. And the culture that informed them to make this decision,
to take this path, was essential in the manner in which it played out.
Acquisitions such as this, that aren't merely hands-off capital injections, by
definition change the culture, goals, and products of the company acquired.
So, companies, like Google and Apple, that have massive, _massive_ stock-piles
of cash have the luxury to, as a side-effect, at will, change the culture,
goals, and products of just about any nascent company, and they most often do
so for the purposes of furthering their bottom line, expanding their user
base, and growing their data-base.
Everyone else (read: everyone that is not one of these handful of companies
like Google and Apple) pays the price by losing out on all the beautiful
things companies like Nest could have born into the world.
Because it's not just about products. Products are, in addition to being
attempts to solve engineering problems, a piece of our culture, of our social
technologies, of our shared experiences. Nest wasn't trying to "solve"
thermostats. They wanted to improve the experience of being in your home, for
many of us our most sacred or private space.
You can't "solve" everything, because not everything is a "problem".
People buy vases and then put them in the middle of a room with nothing to
fill them, because they like the way it makes the space feel. There was no
"vase" problem. And there is no "awkward silence between friends in a car
ride" problem. That awkward silence is a miracle of a good relationship, when
two people know, without saying anything, that something is being left unsaid,
and that one of them has the chance to be brave and kind enough to, for the
benefit of their friendship, make the unspoken spoken. But Spotify would like
to suggest you play their "awkward silence" play-list.
Independent companies creating products they themselves want, and that they
are not trying to push onto others, but that they'd love to share with the
world, need to resist the urge to take that capital infusion or accept a
buyout so they can have access to the network and infrastructure of some grand
suitor. It's a deal with the devil almost every time.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Toward a better programming - ibdknox
http://www.chris-granger.com/2014/03/27/toward-a-better-programming/
======
kens
I alternate between thinking that programming has improved tremendously in the
past 30 years, and thinking that programming has gone nowhere.
On the positive side, things that were cutting-edge hard problems in the 80s
are now homework assignments or fun side projects. For instance, write a ray
tracer, a spreadsheet, Tetris, or an interactive GUI.
On the negative side, there seems to be a huge amount of stagnation in
programming languages and environments. People are still typing the same Unix
commands into 25x80 terminal windows. People are still using vi to edit
programs as sequential lines of text in files using languages from the 80s
(C++) or 90s (Java). If you look at programming the Eniac with patch cords,
we're obviously a huge leap beyond that. But if you look at programming in
Fortran, what we do now isn't much more advanced. You'd think that given the
insane increases in hardware performance from Moore's law, that programming
should be a lot more advanced.
Thinking of Paul Graham's essay "What you can't say", if someone came from the
future I expect they would find our current programming practices ridiculous.
That essay focuses on things people don't say because of conformity and moral
forces. But I think just as big an issue is things people don't say because
they literally can't say them - the vocabulary and ideas don't exist. That's
my problem - I can see something is very wrong with programming, but I don't
know how to explain it.
~~~
jimmaswell
> People are still typing the same Unix commands into 25x80 terminal windows.
> People are still using vi to edit programs as sequential lines of text in
> files using languages from the 80s (C++) or 90s (Java).
Well yes, there are always people who stick to the older methods, or sometimes
the situation calls for programming through a terminal window, but there have
been big advancements since those methods, like the great environment of
Visual Studio and such. Why do you say programming has gone nowhere because
there are people who don't use the newer advancements?
~~~
falcolas
> Why do you say programming has gone nowhere because there are people who
> don't use the newer advancements?
Speaking for myself, its because Visual Studio and its ilk don't feel like
advancements. They feel like bandaids. They do their damnedest to reduce the
pain of programming by automatically producing boilerplate, auto completing
words, providing documentation, and providing dozens of ways to jump around
text files.
Personally, I don't feel that the bandaid does enough to justify using it
(granted, my main language doesn't work well with Visual Studio, so there's
that too).
The main source of the pain is, to me, is that we're still working strictly
with textual representations of non-textual concepts and logic, no matter how
those concepts might better be rendered. We're still writing `if` and `while`
and `for` and `int` and ` __char` while discussing pointers and garbage
collection and optimizing heap allocation... Instead of solving the problem,
we 're stuck down describing actions and formulas to the machinery. No IDE
does anything to actually address that problem.
Sorry, rant, but this problem certainly resonates with me.
~~~
jimmaswell
>The main source of the pain is, to me, is that we're still working strictly
with textual representations of non-textual concepts and logic, no matter how
those concepts might better be rendered.
I can't see any issue with representing logic abstractly with symbols. It's
the same for calculus. Of course the ideas we're representing aren't actually
the things we use to represent them, the same as written communication.
Non-textual programming has been explored to some degree, such as Scratch, but
it's not seen as much of a useful thing.
>Instead of solving the problem, we're stuck down describing actions and
formulas to the machinery. No IDE does anything to actually address that
problem.
Describing actions and formulas to a machine in order to make it do something
useful is pretty much the definition of programming. IDEs make it a more
convenient process.
Unless you want to directly transplant the ideas out of your neural paths into
the computer, maybe some AI computer in the future based on a human brain,
this is how it's going to be.
~~~
misuba
> I can't see any issue with representing logic abstractly with symbols.
That's the problem: text isn't abstract enough. So we put some of the text
into little blobs that have names (other methods), and use those names
instead, and we call that "abstraction," but black-box abstraction doesn't
help us see. The symbols in calculus, by contrast, are symbols that help you
see. The OA is calling for abstractions over operating a computer that help us
see.
~~~
flyrain
Agree. There is must be more abstract way to present ideas than text. In this
way, programs are easier to understand and modification, and have less errors
and bugs.
~~~
krakensden
I am suspicious. I think it would certainly be easier in some ways for rank
beginners- it would make spelling errors and certain classes of syntax errors
impossible- but those aren't really the bugs that cause experienced
programmers grief. It's generally subtly bad logic, which is more about how
people are terrible. Plus, we already know how to create computer languages
that largely avoid those problems.
Written language is wonderful in many respects, and I sometimes thing people
discount these things out of familiarity. Keyboards too- you can do things
very quickly and very precisely with keyboards. Those things matter for your
sense of productivity and satisfaction.
------
freyrs3
This strikes me as armchair philosophizing about the nature of programming
language design. Programming languages are not intentionally complex in most
cases, they're complex because the problems they solve are genuinely hard and
not because we've artificially made them that way.
There is always a need for two types of languages, higher level domain
languages and general purpose languages. Building general purpose languages is
a process of trying to build abstractions that always have a well-defined
translation into something the machine understands. It's all about the cold
hard facts of logic, hardware and constraints. Domain languages on the other
hand do exactly what he describes, "a way of encoding thought such that the
computer can help us", such as Excel or Matlab, etc. If you're free from the
constraint of having to compile arbitrary programs to physical machines and
can instead focus on translating a small set of programs to an abstract
machine then the way you approach the language design is entirely different
and the problems you encounter are much different and often more shallow.
What I strongly disagree with is claiming that the complexities that plague
general purpose languages are somehow mitigated by building more domain
specific languages. Let's not forget that "programming" runs the whole gamut
from embedded systems programming in assembly all the way to very high level
theorem proving in Coq and understanding anything about the nature of that
entire spectrum is difficult indeed.
~~~
ibdknox
> There is always a need for two types of languages, higher level domain
> languages and general purpose languages.
I never suggested otherwise, just that when you're in a domain you should be
_in_ that domain. That solution requires something more general purpose to
glue domains together, which is the crux of the problem. What does such a
language look like? How do you ensure you don't lose all the good properties
you gain from the domain specific languages/editors when passing between them?
I think you present a false dichotomy though. General purpose languages are
just as much about encoding a process. The distinction between compiling to
the machine vs some abstract machine also isn't really relevant: this is about
semantics, not implementation. And if you let implementation dictate the
semantics you won't get very far from where we are now.
> What I strongly disagree with is claiming that the complexities that plague
> general purpose languages are somehow mitigated by building more domain
> specific languages.
I never said that :) I said that programming would be greatly improved by
being observable, direct, and incidentally simple. And again those have
nothing to do with what "level" you're programming at, they're just principles
to apply. I do think there is a general solution that can encompass most of
the levels (though I'm not interested in trying to do that any time soon), but
there is a common case here and it certainly isn't high level theorem proving
or embedded systems. It's stupidly simple automation tasks, or forms over data
apps, or business workflows. The world works on poorly written excel
spreadsheets and balls of Java mud. You don't have to fix everything to make a
_huge_ impact and the things we learn in doing so can help us push everything
else forward too.
~~~
scribu
> How do you ensure you don't lose all the good properties you gain from the
> domain specific languages/editors when passing between them?
That's a very interesting (and I'm betting hard to solve) problem! However,
it's very hard for me to see how Aurora would help with that. From the demo,
it looks like yet another visual programming system; such systems don't seem
particularly interoperable.
~~~
ibdknox
The clever part of the strategy I was using in that demo was that all domains
are expressed declaratively as datastructures. This meant that the glue
language only needed to be very good at manipulating vectors and maps. You
built up a structure that represented music, html, or whatever and then just
labeled it as such. Interop between domains then becomes pretty simplistic
data transformation from one domain's format to another. And given how
constrained the glue language could be, you could build incredibly powerful
tools that make that easy. You could literally template out the structure you
want and just drag/drop things in, fix a few cases that we maybe get wrong and
you're done - you've translated tweets into music.
We ended up abandoning that path for now as there are some aspects of
functional programming that prove pretty hard to teach people about and seem
largely incidental.
~~~
jonathanedwards
Here's some meat. So how does FP fall down?
~~~
jamii
Explicitly managing hierarchical data structures leads to a lot of code that
isn't directly related to the problem at hand. A lot of attention is dedicated
to finding the correct _place_ to put your data. Compared to eg relational or
graph data models, where that kind of denormalisation is understood to be an
optimisation made at the expense of program clarity / flexibility.
The pervasive use of ordering in functional programming inhibits composition.
(Even in lazy languages the order of function application is important).
Compare to eg Glitch or Bloom where different pieces of functionality can be
combined without regard for order of execution/application. This better
enables the ideals that BOT was reaching for - programming via composition of
behaviour. In a BOT plugin you can not only add behaviour but remove/override
other behaviours which turns out to be very valuable for flexible modification
of Light Table.
A more concrete problem is displaying and explaining nested scope, closures
and shadowing. As a programmer I have internalised those ideas to the point
that they seem obvious and natural but when we showed our prototypes to people
it was an endless source of confusion.
Functional programming is certainly a good model for expressing _computation_
but for a glue language the hard problems are coordination and state
management. We're now leaning more towards the ideals in functional-relational
programming where reactivity, coordination and state management are handled by
a data-centric glue language while computation is handed off to some other
partner language.
~~~
ibdknox
> A more concrete problem is displaying and explaining nested scope, closures
> and shadowing.
That's what really killed it for me and also one of the things that I found
pretty surprising. Tracking references is apparently way harder than I
realized. And while I thought we could come up with a decent way to do it, it
really did just confuse people. I tried a bunch of different strategies, from
names, to boxes that follow you around, to dataflow graphs. None of them
seemed to be good enough.
------
RogerL
There's a reason the game Pictionary is hard, despite the "a picture is worth
a thousand words" saying. And that is that images, while evocative, are not
very precise. Try to draw how you feel.
If you are using card[0][12] to refer to Card::AceSpades, well, time to learn
enums or named constants. If, on the other hand, the array can be sorted,
shuffled, and so on, what value is it to show an image of a specific state in
my code?
There's a reason we don't use symbolic representation of equations, and it has
nothing to do with ASCII. It's because this is implemented on a processor that
simulates a continuous value with a discrete value, which introduces all kinds
of trade offs. We have a live thread on that now: why is a _a_ a _a_ a _a not
(a_ a _a)_ (a _a_ a). I need to be able to represent exactly how the
computation is done. If I don't care, there is Mathematica, and and the like,
to be sure.
If you disagree with me, please post your response in the form of an image.
And then we will have a discussion with how powerful textual representation
actually is. I'll use words, you use pictures. Be specific.
~~~
ibdknox
It's not about choosing one or the other, it's about allowing both. I can use
symbols (though not sentences or other usefully descriptive language), but do
I have an opportunity to represent those symbols at all? no.
I'm not saying we should forsake language, if you look at the now very out of
date Aurora demo, all the operations have sentence descriptions. This
certainly isn't an all or nothing thing. If it makes sense to visualize some
aspect of the system in a way that is meaningful to me, I should be able to do
so - that is after all how people often solve hard problems.
~~~
RogerL
Sure, there are plenty of cases where visualization is helpful. But I see so
many blog posts about it, and not much in the way of actual progress.
Take the card again. It's your example, after all. I cannot think of any way
to use that to, say, write a small AI to play poker. I suppose I could see a
use in a debugging situation for my 'hand' variable to display a little 5@
symbol (where @ is the suit symbol). But okay, let's think about that. What
does it take to get that into the system?
No system 'knows' about cards. So I need a graphics designer to make a symbol
for a card. I surely don't want an entire image of a card, because I have 20
other variables I am potentially interested in, which is why in this context a
5@ makes sense (like you would see in a bridge column in a newspaper). So
somebody has to craft the art, we have to plug it into my dev sysstem, we need
to coordinate it with the entire team, and so on. Then, it is still a very
custom, one off solution. I use enums, you use ints, the python team is just
using strings like "5H" \- it goes on and on. I don't see a scalable solution
here.
Well, I do see _one_ scalable solution. It is called text. My debugger shows a
textual depiction of my variable, and my wetware translates that. I'm a good
reader, and I can quickly learn to read 54, "5H", FiveHearts as being the
representation of that card. Will I visually "see" the value of a particular
hand as quickly? Probably not, unless I'm working this code a lot. But I'll
take that over firing up a graphics team and so on.
I do plenty of visualizations. It is a big reason for me using Python. If I
want to write a Kalman filter, first thing I'm doing is firing up matplotlib
to look at the results. But again, this is a custom process. I want to look at
the noise, I want to look at the size of the kalman gain, I want to plot the
filter output vs the covariance matrices, I want to.... program. Which I do
textually, just fine, to generate the graphics I need.
I've dealt with data flow type things before. They are a royal pain. Oh, to
start, it's great. Plop a few rectangles on the screen, connect with a few
lines, and wow, you've designed a nand gate, or maybe a filter in matlab, or
is it a video processing toolchain? Easy peasy. But when I need to start
manipulating things programmatically it is suddenly a huge pain.
I am taking time out of writing an AI to categorize people based on what they
are doing in a video (computer vision problem) to post this message. At a
rudimentary level graphical display is great. It is certainly much easier for
me to see my results displayed overlaid on the video, as opposed to trying to
eyeball a JSON file or something. But to actually program this highly visual
thing? I have never, ever heard anything but hand waving as to how I would do
that in anything other than a textual way. I really don't think I would want
to.
Anyway, scale things up in a way that I don't have to write so many matplotlib
calls and you will have my attention. But I just haven't seen it. I've been
programming since the early 80s, and graphical programming of some form or
another has been touted as 'almost here'. Still haven't seen it, except in
highly specialized disciplines, and I don't want to see it. "Pictures are
worth a thousand words" because of compression. It's a PCA - distill a bunch
of data down to a few dimensions. Sometimes I really want that, but not when
programming, where all the data matters. I don't want a low order
representation of my program.
~~~
ibdknox
> So I need a graphics designer to make a symbol for a card.
I think this is the crux of the debate. The point isn't high quality
visualizations, it's about bringing the simple little pictures you'd draw to
solve your problem directly into the environment. Can you draw a box and put
some text in it? Tada! Your own little representation of a card.
I'm not suggesting that you hire people out to build your representations :)
This is about providing tools for understanding. Maybe you don't see value in
that, and there's no reason you can't just keep seeing things as plain raw
text (that's just a representation itself).
> Anyway, scale things up in a way that I don't have to write so many
> matplotlib calls and you will have my attention.
Give us a bit and I think we can provide a whole lot more than just that. But
we'll see!
~~~
vorg
Just use Unicode, and a programming language that uses the full power of
Unicode symbology in its syntax. E.g.
♠♣♥♦ × A23456789TJQK
~~~
mercurial
Please don't. People are already terrible at naming things, I for one am not
going to try the entire Unicode table to find out which symbol you chose for
"MetadataService". Plain text is fine, it's searchable, readable, and somewhat
portable (minus the line ending debacle).
If you need something more, vim has the "conceal" feature which can be used to
replace (on the lines the cursor is not on) a given text with another (eg show
⟹ instead of =>). Would you be better off if there was an option to do this
for variable/class/method names? I'm not sure.
~~~
vorg
> vim can be used to replace a given text with another (eg show ⟹ instead of
> =>)
If you use the short ⇒ to substitute for => (rather than long ⟹ as in your
example), as well as many other Unicode symbols, then the overall code can be
much shorter and thus more understandable.
The spec for the Fortress programming language made a point of not
distinguishing between Unicode tokens in the program text and the ASCII keys
used to enter them. Perhaps that's the best way to go?
~~~
Pacabel
Why do you think that "much shorter" implies "more understandable"?
I think we have a lot of experience to suggest otherwise.
Anyone who has had to maintain old Fortran or C code will likely know what I
mean. With some early implementations limiting variable and function
identifiers to 8 characters or less, we'd see a proliferation of short
identifiers used. Such code is by far some of the hardest to work with due to
variable and function names that are short to the point of being almost
meaningless.
Then there are languages like APL and Perl, which make extensive use of
symbols. APL has seen very limited use, and Perl code is well-known for
suffering from maintenance issues unless extreme care is taken when initially
creating the code.
Balance is probably best. We don't want excessively long identifiers like is
often the case in Java, but we surely don't want excessively short ones,
either.
~~~
mercurial
As somebody who spent some years writing Perl code, I don't feel that having a
few well-defined ASCII symbols were such an issue. The problems with Perl are
that symbols change depending on the context (eg, an array @items needs to be
accessed via $items[$i] to get an item at position $i, to tell Perl it is a
scalar context), and weak typing. Even with changing symbols, it makes it
easier to distinguish between scalars, arrays and hashes, especially with
syntax highlighting. As opposed to languages like Haskell or Scala, in which
library designers are free to display their creativity with such immediately
obvious operators as '$$+-'.
Edited to add that I agree with your overall point. Shorter is not always
clearer. It can be a benefit to have a few Unicode symbols displayed via
'conceal' but it's not (at least in my experience) a major productivity gain.
And the number needs to be kept small. If I want Unicode symbol soup, I'll
play a roguelike.
------
j2kun
I'm concerned about Chris's desire to express mathematical formulas directly
in an editing environment.
Coming from a mathematician with more than enough programming experience under
his belt, programming is far more rigorous than mathematics. The reason nobody
writes math in code is not because of ASCII, and it's not even because of the
low-level hardware as someone else mentioned. It's because math is so jam-
packed with overloaded operators and ad hoc notation that it would be an
impossible feat to standardize any nontrivial subset of it. This is largely
because mathematical notation is designed for compactness, so that
mathematicians don't have to write down so much crap when trying to express
their ideas. Your vision is about accessibility and transparency and focusing
on problem solving. Making people pack and unpack mathematical notation to
understand what their program is doing goes against all three of those!
So where is this coming from?
PS. I suppose you could do something like, have layovers/mouseovers on the
typeset math that give a description of the variables, or something like that,
but still sum(L) / len(L) is so much simpler and more descriptive than \sigma
x_i / n
~~~
anaphor
I agree with you, and incidentally so does Gerald Sussman (co-inventor of
Scheme). He helped write an entire book on Lagrangian mechanics that uses
Scheme because he believes the math notation is too fuzzy and confusing for
people.
[https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/...](https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/content/sicm/book.html)
~~~
freyrs3
Both this and the subsequent text on differential geometry are very good but
they are written against this enormous undocumented scheme library (scmutils)
that is in my opinion very difficult to debug or figure out how macros expand
out.
------
mamcx
Natural language (like english, spanish) show why this kind of thinking lead
to nowhere, and why a programming language is more like english than like
glyphs.
Sometime the post not say: We want to make a program about _everything_. To
make that possible, is necesary a way to express everything that could be need
to be communicate. Words/Alphabet provide the best way.
In a normal language, when a culture discover something (let say, internet)
and before don't exist words to describe internet-things then it "pop" from
nowhere to existence. Write language have this ability in better ways than
glyphs.
In programming, if we need a way to express how loop things, then will "pop"
from nowhere that "FOR x IN Y" is how that will be.
Words are more flexible. Are cheap to write. Faster to communicate and cross
boundaries.
But of course that have a Editor helper so a HEX value could be show as a
color is neat - But then if a HEX value is NOT a color?, then you need a very
strong type system, and I not see how build one better than with words.
------
zwieback
Interesting work and I really liked the LightTable video but I think there's a
reason these types of environments haven't taken off.
To understand why programming remains hard it just takes a few minutes of
working on a lower-level system, something that does a little I/O or has a
couple of concurrent events, maybe an interrupt or two. I cannot envision a
live system that would allow me to debug those systems very well, which is not
to say current tools couldn't be improved upon.
One thing I've noticed working with embedded ARM systems is that we now have
instruction and sometimes data trace debuggers that let us rewind the
execution of a buggy program to some extent. The debugger workstations are an
order of magnitude more powerful than the observed system so we can do amazing
things with our trace probes. However, high-level software would need
debugging systems an order of magnitude more powerful than the client they
debug as well.
~~~
jamii
It depends entirely on how much state they need to capture. Ocaml has long had
a time travelling debugger ([http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/manual-
ocaml-400/manual030.htm...](http://caml.inria.fr/pub/docs/manual-
ocaml-400/manual030.html)) which is very useful in the small. Data-centric
languages like Bloom ([http://www.bloom-lang.net/](http://www.bloom-
lang.net/)) can cheaply reconstruct past states using the transaction log.
Frameworks like Opis
([https://web.archive.org/web/20120304212940/http://perso.elev...](https://web.archive.org/web/20120304212940/http://perso.eleves.bretagne.ens-
cachan.fr/~dagand/opis)) allow not only moving forward and backwards but can
exhaustively explore all possible branches using finite state model-checking.
The key in each case is to distinguish between essential state and derived
state.
[http://shaffner.us/cs/papers/tarpit.pdf](http://shaffner.us/cs/papers/tarpit.pdf)
has more to say on that front.
------
jostylr
Both the indirect and incidentally complex can be helped with literate
programming. We have been telling stories for thousands of years and the idea
of literate programming is to facilitate that. We do not just tell them in a
linear order, but jump around in whatever way makes sense. It is about
understanding the context of the code which can be hard.
But the problem of being unobservable is harder. Literate programming might
help in making chunks more accessible for understanding/replacing/toggling,
but live flow forwards-backwards, it would not. But I have recently coded up
an event library that logs the flow of the program nicely. Used appropriately,
it probably could be used to step in and out as well.
I am not convinced that radical new tools are needed. We just have to be true
to our nature as storytellers.
I find it puzzling why he talks about events as being problems. They seem like
ideal ways of handling disjointed states. Isn't that how we organize our own
ways?
I also find it puzzling to promote Excel's model. I find it horrendous. People
have done very complex things with it which are fragile and incomprehensible.
With code, you can read it and figure it out; literate programming helps this
tremendously. But with something like Excel or XCode's interface builder, the
structure is obscured and is very fragile. Spreadsheets are great for data
entry, but not for programming-type tasks.
I think creation is rather easy; it is maintenance that is hard. And for that,
you need to understand the code.
------
chenglou
I have a tremendous respect for people who dare to dream big despite all
cynicism and common assumptions, and especially people who have the skills to
actually make the changes. Please keep doing the work you're doing.
------
Detrus
Toward a better computer UI
The Aurora demo did not look like a big improvement until maybe
[http://youtu.be/L6iUm_Cqx2s?t=7m54s](http://youtu.be/L6iUm_Cqx2s?t=7m54s)
where the TodoMVC demo beats even Polymer in LOC count and readability.
I've been thinking of similar new "programming" as the main computer UI, to
ensure it's easy to use and the main UI people know. Forget Steve Jobs and
XEROX, they threw out the baby with the bath water.
Using a computer is really calling some functions, typing some text input in
between, calling some more.
Doing a few common tasks today is
opening a web browser
clicking Email
reading some
replying
getting a reply back, possibly a notification
clicking HN
commenting on an article in a totally different UI than email
going to threads tab manually to see any response
And the same yet annoyingly different UI deal on another forum, on youtube,
facebook, etc. Just imagine what the least skilled computer users could do if
you gave them a computing interface that didn't reflect the world of fiefdoms
that creates it.
FaceTwitterEtsyRedditHN fiefdoms proliferate because of the separation between
the XEROX GUI and calling a bunch of functions in Command Line. Siri and
similar AI agents are the next step in simple UIs. What people really want to
do is
tell Dustin you don't agree with his assessment of Facebook's UI changes
type/voice your disagreement
share with public
And when you send Dustin and his circle of acquaintances a more private
message, you
type it
share message with Dustin and his circle of designers/hackers
To figure out if more people agreed with you or Dustin
sentiment analysis of comments about Dustin's article compared to mine
That should be the UI more or less. Implement it however, natural language,
Siri AI, a neat collection of functions.
Today's UI would involve going to a cute blog service because it has a proper
visual template. This requires being one of the cool kids and knowing of this
service. Then going to Goolge+ or email for the more private message. Then
opening up an IDE or some text sentiment API and going through their whole
other world of incantations.
Our glue/CRUD programming is a mess because using computers in general is a
mess.
------
sold
The standard deviation is a poor example IMO, in many languages you can get
much closer to mathematical notation.
def stddev(x):
avg = sum(x)/len(x)
return sqrt(sum((xi-avg)**2 for xi in x) / len(x))
stddev xs = let avg = sum xs / length xs
in sqrt $ sum [(x-avg)**2 | x <- xs] / length xs
~~~
jeorgun
It's even a poor example of C++. Using valarray, you end up with basically the
same thing as your above examples:
#include <valarray>
#include <iostream>
double standard_dev(const std::valarray<double> &vals)
{
return sqrt(pow(vals - (vals.sum() / vals.size()), 2).sum() / vals.size());
}
int main()
{
std::cout << standard_dev({2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8}) << '\n';
}
…and none of those are really much less readable than the math version. All in
all, that "example" clearly wasn't made in good faith, and left a bad taste in
my mouth.
------
qnaal
Hate to break it to you people, but rms was always right- the #1 reason why
programming sucks is that everyone wants complete control over all of the
bullshit they threw together and thought they could sell.
Imagine an environment like a lisp machine, where all the code you run is open
and available for you to inspect and edit. Imagine a vast indexed, cross-
referenced, and mass-moderated collection of algorithm implementations and
code snippets for every kind of project that's ever been worked on, at your
fingertips.
Discussing how we might want slightly better ways to write and view the code
we have written is ignoring the elephant problem- that everything you write
has probably been written cleaner and more efficiently several times before.
If you don't think that's fucked up, think about this: The only reason to lock
down your code is an economic one, despite that all the code being made freely
usable would massively increase the total economic value of the software
ecosystem.
~~~
tonyedgecombe
Locking down my code for economic reasons has worked pretty well for me. It's
allowed me to have a pretty good lifestyle running my business for the last
fifteen years and kept my customers happy because they know I have a financial
incentive to keep maintaining my products.
~~~
qnaal
and he's oh so healthy
in his body and his mind
------
crusso
I liked this article. I particularly liked the way the author attacked the
problem by clearing his notions of what programming is and attempting to come
at it from a new angle. I'll be interested to see what his group comes up
with.
That said, I think that fundamentally the problem isn't with programming, it's
with US. :) Human beings are imprecise, easily confused by complexity, unable
to keep more than a couple of things in mind at a time, can't think well in
dimensions beyond 3 (if that), unable to work easily with abstractions, etc.
Yet we're giving instructions to computers which are (in their own way) many
orders of magnitude better at those tasks.
Short of AI that's able to contextually understand what we're telling them to
do, my intuition is that the situation is only going to improve incrementally.
~~~
gldalmaso
I agree. I beleive that most of the incidental complexity has to do with the
fact that in end, every single thing greater than a single bit in the digital
realm is a convention.
A byte is a convention over bits. An instruction is a convention over bytes. A
programming language is a convention over instructions.
It turns out that every time someone sets out to solve a problem with
programming, they create their own convention.
It just so happens that either there is no convetion over how to create
covnentions, or it is just not followed and thus creates a paralel convention.
We cannot get our arbitrary conventions in line with each other, unless we
plan in advance.
Considering, its amazing how far we have come in the middle of this chaos of
unrestrained creation.
------
bachback
Leibniz wrote in 1666: "We have spoken of the art of complication of the
sciences, i.e., of inventive logic... But when the tables of categories of our
art of complication have been formed, something greater will emerge. For let
the first terms, of the combination of which all others consist, be designated
by signs; these signs will be a kind of alphabet. It will be convenient for
the signs to be as natural as possible—e.g., for one, a point; for numbers,
points; for the relations of one entity with another, lines; for the variation
of angles and of extremities in lines, kinds of relations. If these are
correctly and ingeniously established, this universal writing will be as easy
as it is common,and will be capable of being read without any dictionary; at
the same time, a fundamental knowledge of all things will be obtained. The
whole of such a writing will be made of geometrical figures, as it were, and
of a kind of pictures — just as the ancient Egyptians did, and the Chinese do
today. Their pictures, however, are not reduced to a fixed alphabet... with
the result that a tremendous strain on the memory is necessary, which is the
contrary of what we propose"
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristica_universalis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristica_universalis)
~~~
gregw134
You might like The Universal Computer: The Road from Leibniz to Turing
[http://www.amazon.com/The-Universal-Computer-Leibniz-
Turing/...](http://www.amazon.com/The-Universal-Computer-Leibniz-
Turing/dp/0393047857)
------
PaulAJ
The standard deviation example conflates two questions:
1: Why can't we use standard mathematical notation instead of strings of
ASCII?
2: Why do we need lots of control flow and libraries when implementing a
mathematical equation as an algorithm.
The first is simple: as others have pointed out here, math notation is too
irregular and informal to make a programming language out of it.
The second is more important. In pretty much any programming language I can
write:
d = sqrt (b^2 - 4*a*c)
x1 = (-b + d)/(2*a)
x2 = (-b - d)/(2*a)
which is a term-by-term translation of the quadratic equation. But when I want
to write this in C++ I need a loop to evaluate the sigma term.
But in Haskell I can write this:
stDev :: [Double] -> Double
stDev xs = sqrt((1/(n-1)) * sum (map (\x -> (x-m)^2)) xs)
where
n = fromIntegral $ length xs
m = sum xs / n
This is a term-by-term translation of the formula, in the same way that the
quadratic example was. Just as I use "sqrt" instead of the square root sign I
use "sum" instead of sigma and "map" with a lambda expression to capture the
internal expression.
Experienced programmers will note that this is an inefficient implementation
because it iterates over the list three times, which illustrates the other
problem with using mathematics; the most efficient algorithm is often not the
most elegant one to write down.
------
phantomb
Historically it has been easy to claim that programming is merely incidentally
complex but hard to actually produce working techniques that can dispel the
complexity.
The truth is that programming is one of the most complex human undertakings by
nature, and many of the difficulties faced by programmers - such as the
invisible and unvisualizable nature of software - are intractable.
There are still no silver bullets.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Silver_Bullet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Silver_Bullet)
[http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~xswang/Research/Papers/SERelat...](http://faculty.salisbury.edu/~xswang/Research/Papers/SERelated/no-
silver-bullet.pdf)
------
dude42
Sadly I feel that LT has jumped the shark at this point. What started off as a
cool new take on code editors has now somehow turned into a grand view of how
to "fix programming". I can get behind an editor not based around text files,
or one that allows for easy extensbility. But I can't stand behind some
project that tries to "fix everything".
As each new version of LT comes out I feel that it's suffering more and more
from a clear lack of direction. And that makes me sad.
------
JoelOtter
Forgive me if my understanding is totally out of whack, but it seems here that
the writer is calling for an additional layer of abstraction in programming -
type systems being an example.
While in some cases that would be great, I'm not entirely sure more
abstraction is what I want. Having a decent understanding of the different
layers involved, from logic gates right up to high-level languages, has helped
me tremendously as a programmer. For example, when writing in C, because I
know some of the optimisations GCC makes, I know where to sacrifice efficiency
for readability because the compiler will optimise it out anyway. I would
worry that adding more abstraction will create more excuses not to delve into
the inner workings, which wouldn't be to a programmer's benefit. Interested to
hear thoughts on this!
~~~
Detrus
I think this improved programming vision starts at a higher level language
like Clojure/JS/Haskell and builds on that.
To allow the everyday Joe to use simplified programming all the way down to
machine code is a harder task. Languages like Haskell try to do it with an
advanced compiler that can make enough sense of the high level language to
generate efficient machine code.
Of course you'll still lose performance on some things compared to manual
assembler but with larger programs advanced compilers often beat writing
C/manual assembly.
Honestly the bigger performance problem is not wether you can make a high
level language that generates perfect machine code but wether you can get
through the politics/economics of JS/Obj-C/Java to distribute it.
------
michaelsbradley
Chris, have you read Prof. David Harel's[1] essay _Can Programming be
Liberated, Period?_ [2]
The sentiments expressed in the conclusion of Harel's article _Statecharts in
the Making: A Personal Account_ [3] really jumped out at me last year. When I
read your blog post, I got the impression you are reaching related
conclusions:
"If asked about the lessons to be learned from the statecharts story, I would
definitely put tool support for executability and experience in real-world use
at the top of the list. Too much computer science research on languages,
methodologies, and semantics never finds its way into the real world, even in
the long term, because these two issues do not get sufficient priority.
One of the most interesting aspects of this story is the fact that the work
was not done in an academic tower, inventing something and trying to push it
down the throats of real-world engineers. It was done by going into the lion's
den, working with the people in industry. This is something I would not
hesitate to recommend to young researchers; in order to affect the real world,
one must go there and roll up one's sleeves. One secret is to try to get a
handle on the thought processes of the engineers doing the real work and who
will ultimately use these ideas and tools. In my case, they were the avionics
engineers, and when I do biological modeling, they are biologists. If what you
come up with does not jibe with how they think, they will not use it. It's
that simple."
[1]
[http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~harel/papers.html](http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~harel/papers.html)
[2]
[http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~harel/papers/LiberatingPro...](http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~harel/papers/LiberatingProgramming.pdf)
[3]
[http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~harel/papers/Statecharts.H...](http://www.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il/~harel/papers/Statecharts.History.CACM.pdf)
~~~
ibdknox
I haven't seen that, thanks so much for the pointer!
> in order to affect the real world, one must go there and roll up one's
> sleeves
This has always been our strategy :) Whatever we do come up with, it will be
entirely shaped by working with real people on coming up with something that
actually solves the problem.
------
SlyShy
Wolfram Language addresses a lot of these points. Equations and images both
get treated symbolically, so we can manipulate them the same way we manipulate
the rest of the "code" (data).
~~~
bsilvereagle
It doesn't handle the "true" debugging discussed in the article. One of the
goals of the author is to move away from stepping through breakpoints and
print statements to watch data "flow" through a program.
~~~
taliesinb
With debugging, we'll get there. I have some prototypes, but it's a long way
from a research prototype to production, and we're still quite busy on getting
actual products out the door.
And even at the moment, the fact that so much of a typical program in the
Wolfram Language is referentially transparent means its easy to pick something
up out of your codebase and mess around with it, then put it back. That's a
huge win over procedural languages.
But in terms of the language, many of the ideas Chris is talking about are
already possible (and common) in the Wolfram Language:
It's functional and symbolic, so programs are _all_ about applying
transformations to data. In fact, the entire language is 'data', with the
interesting side effect that some 'data' evaluates and rewrites itself (e.g.
If).
The mathematical sum notation is unsurprisingly straightforward in WL.
And StandardForm downvalues allow for arbitrary visual display of objects in
the frontend.
For example, the card would have a symbolic representation like
PlayingCard["Spade", 1], but you could write
StandardForm[PlayCard[suit_, n_]] := ImageCompose[$cardImages[suit], $cardNumbers[n]];
to actually render the card whenever it shows up in the FrontEnd.
Graphics display as graphics, Datasets display as browseable hierarchical
representations of their contents along with schema, etc...
------
jonahx
I love seeing the challenges of programming analyzed from this high-level
perspective, and I love Chris's vision.
I thought the `person.walk()` example, however, was misplaced. The whole point
of encapsulation is to avoid thinking about internal details, so if you are
criticizing encapsulation for hiding internal details you are saying that
encapsulation _never_ has any legitimate use.
I was left wondering if that was Chris's position, but convinced it couldn't
be.
~~~
ibdknox
Black boxing is very, very important and necessary if we're ever going to
build a complex system, BUT my point is that you _should_ be able to see what
it does if you need to. So I don't think we're at odds in our thinking.
~~~
gridaphobe
That seems like more of an argument in favor of having all source code
available (i.e. not using closed-source libraries) than an argument against
OOP. The question of what code executes when you call `person.walk()` is no
different than the question of what code executes when you call `(person
:walk)`: it depends entirely on the value of `person`! This is the core of
dynamic dispatch in OOP and higher-order functions in FP, they enable
behavioral abstraction. You can impose restrictions on the behavior through
types or contracts, but at the end of the day you can't know the precise
behavior except in a specific call. And this is _precisely_ where a live
programming environment comes in handy.
------
DanielBMarkham
I've been lucky to write at least one small application per year, although
most of my work is now on the creative side: books, videos, web pages, and
such.
So I find myself getting "cold" and then coming back into it. The thing about
taking a week to set up a dev environment is spot on. It's completely insane
that it should take a week of work just to sit down and write a for-next loop
or change a button's text somewhere.
The problem with programming is simple: it's full of programmers. So every
damn little thing they do, they generalize and then make into a library.
Software providers keep making languages do more -- and become correspondingly
more complex.
When I switched to Ocaml and F# a few years ago, I was astounded at how
_little_ I use most of the crap clogging up my programming system. I also
found that while writing an app, I'd create a couple dozen functions. I'd use
a couple dozen more from the stock libraries. And that was it. 30-40 symbols
in my head and I was solving real-world problems making people happy.
Compare that to the mess you can get into just _getting started_ in an
environment like C++. Crazy stuff.
There's also a serious structural problem with OOP itself. Instead of hiding
complexity and providing black-box components to clients, we're creating semi-
opaque non-intuitive messes of "wires". A lot of what I'm seeing people upset
about in the industry, from TDD to stuff like this post, has its roots in OOP.
Having said all that and agreeing with the author, I'm a bit lost as to just
what the heck he is ranting on about. I look forward to seeing more real
tangible stuff -- I understand he's working on it. Best of luck.
------
jakejake
I liked the part of the article concerning "what is programming" and how we
seemingly see ourselves plumbers and glue makers - mashing together various
parts and trying to get them to work.
I felt that the article takes a somewhat depressing view. Sure, these days we
probably do all spend a lot of time getting two pieces of code written by
others to work together. The article suggests there's no fun or creativity in
that, but I find it plenty interesting. I see it as standing on the shoulders
of giants, rather than just glumly fitting pipes together. It's the payoff of
reusable code and modular systems. I happily use pre-made web servers,
operating systems, network stack, code libraries etc. Even though it can be
frustrating at times when things don't work, in the end my creations wouldn't
even be possible without these things.
------
jeffbr13
I love Chris Granger's work, and LightTable, but _jeeez_ my eyes were going
weird by the "Chasing Local Maxima" section.
Turn the contrast down!
~~~
ibdknox
#ddd -> #ccc
It seems like I can never win the contrast debate :p Try it now.
~~~
seanmcdirmid
The problem is dark backgrounds rarely work well unless if you have nice OLED
display. I know they are cooler, and its the current hotness among young
people whose eyes haven't started to give out yet...but dark themes really are
limited by current LCD displays. Not to mention, everyone has a different
display as well as eyes, and you can't really predict how the text will bleed
from one viewer to the next!
This is what I get from being married to a visual designer.
------
arh68
> _programming is our way of encoding thought such that the computer can help
> us with it._
I really liked this. But I think we're encoding _work_ , not _thought_.
If I could add to the list of hard problems: cache invalidation, naming
things, _encoding things_.
I think the problem in a lot of cases is that the language came first, then
the problem/domain familiarity comes later. When your language lines up with
your problem, it's just a matter of _implementing the language_. Your
algorithms then don't change over time, just the quality of that DSL's
implementation.
------
3rd3
I think this article forgot to emphasize the act of reading documentation
which probably takes 25% to 50% of the time programming. I think Google and
StackOverflow already greatly improved it but maybe there is still room for
improvement. Maybe one can crowd source code snippets in a huge Wikipedia-like
repository for various languages. I’m imagining a context-sensitive auto-
complete and search tool in which one can quickly browse this repository of
code snippets which all are prepared to easily adapt to existing variables and
function names.
------
anaphor
Just a few quotes from Alan Perlis:
There will always be things we wish to say in our programs that in all known
languages can only be said poorly.
Re graphics: A picture is worth 10K words - but only those to describe the
picture. Hardly any sets of 10K words can be adequately described with
pictures.
Make no mistake about it: Computers process numbers - not symbols. We measure
our understanding (and control) by the extent to which we can arithmetize an
activity.
------
andrewl
Chris' criticisms of the current state of programming remind me of Alan Kay's
quote, "Most software today is very much like an Egyptian pyramid with
millions of bricks piled on top of each other, with no structural integrity,
but just done by brute force and thousands of slaves."
Thank you for all the work on Light Table, and I'm looking forward to seeing
what the team does with Aurora.
------
zapov
As someone who is trying to improve the situation ([https://dsl-
platform.com](https://dsl-platform.com)) it's strange getting feedback from
other developers. While we are obviously not very good at marketing, when you
talk to other developers about programming done on a higher level of
abstraction usual responses are:
* I'm not interested in your framework (even if it's not a framework) * so you've built another ORM just like many before you (even if there is no ORM inside it) * not interested in your language, I can get most of what I need writing comments in php (even if it's not remotely the same)
It takes a lot of time to transfer some of the ideas and benefits to the other
side and no, you can't do it in a one minute pitch that average developer can
relate to.
------
agentultra
Visual representations are not terribly hard to come by in this day any age.
It's almost trivial to write a little script that can visualize your tree
data-structures or relations. Plenty of good environments allow us to mingle
all kinds of data.
I'm more interested in programs that understand programs and their run-time
characteristics. It'd be nice to query a system that could predict regressions
in key performance characteristics based on a proposed change (something like
a constraint propagation solver on a data-flow graph of continuous domains);
even in the face of ambiguous type information. Something like a nest of
intelligent agents that can handle the complexity of implementation issues in
concert with a human operator. We have a lot of these tools now but they're
still so primitive.
------
Locke1689
The author is correct that programming is currently under-addressing a
specific set of use cases: solving problems with conceptually simple models in
equally simple ways; in other words, "keep simple programs simple."
However, thinking about computation as only simple programs minimizes the
opportunities in the opposite domain: using computation to supplement the
inherently fragile and limited modeling that human brains can perform.
While presenting simplicity and understanding can help very much in realizing
a simple mental model as a program, it won't help if the program being written
is fundamentally beyond the capability of a human brain to model.
The overall approach is very valuable. Tooling can greatly assist both goals,
but the tooling one chooses in each domain will vary greatly.
------
sdgsdgsdg
Programming is taking the patterns which make up a thought and approximate
them in the patterns which can be expressed in a programming language.
Sometimes the thoughts we have are not easily expressed in the patterns of the
computer language which we write in. What is needed is a computer language
which pulls the patterns from our thoughts and allows them to be used within
the computer language. In other words we need to automatically determine the
correct language in which to express the particular problem a user is trying
to solve. This is AI, we need compression - modularisation of phase space
through time. The only way to bring about the paradigm shift he is describing
in any real sense is to apply machine learning to programming.
------
analyst74
I am optimistic about our field.
Things have not stayed stale for the past 20~30 years, in fact, state of
programming have not stayed stale even in the recent 10 years.
We've been progressively solving problems we face, inventing tools, languages,
frameworks to make our lives easier. Which further allows us to solve more
complicated problems, or similar problems faster.
Problems we face now, like concurrency, big data, lack of cheap programmers to
solve business problems were not even problems before, they are now, because
they are possible now.
Once we solve those problems of today, we will face new problems, I don't know
what they would be, but I am certain many of them would be problems we
consider impractical or even impossible today.
~~~
sanderjd
Yeah it's interesting, every time I hear "software has been stagnant for
decades!", I think to myself that my god, it's hard enough to keep up with the
stagnant state of things, I can't imagine trying to keep up with actual
progress!
~~~
Detrus
Keeping up with actual progress should be easier. The current "stagnant" state
could be called that because your attention is wasted on miracle cures that
promise the moon, but mostly deliver a minor improvement or make things worse.
~~~
sanderjd
I don't see a bunch of miracle cures that promise the moon, I see a bunch of
things that promise, and sometimes deliver, hard-won incremental improvement.
The OP seems a lot more like a moon-promising miracle-cure than all the
stagnant stuff I'm wasting my attention on.
~~~
Detrus
To clarify my moon examples would be NodeJS, MongoDB is web scale,
HTML5/WebGL/VMs/Flash on mobiles, fast JIT/VMs for languages that aren't
designed to be fast from the beginning etc.
Things that are technically hard and get a lot of hype. And maybe
MVC/OOP/DI/TDD design patterns and agile.
The OP is promising something that's more of an architecture design issue like
those of MVC libs. If he fails it will be because of a product design that
doesn't catch on. It has no guarantee of catching on even if it's good. LISP
and Haskell didn't. But their ideas trickle into other languages.
~~~
sanderjd
Yeah I had a fairly good sense of what you meant by promise-the-moon
technologies, and I believe many of those you mentioned to be exactly the sort
of hard-won incremental improvements that I was talking about. Good ideas
trickling down is also the exact sort of hard-won incremental improvement I'm
talking about.
I suppose my general point is that things aren't stagnant, they are merely at
a point where real progress tends to be hard-won and incremental. This may be
frustrating to visionaries, but it seems both inevitable and perfectly fine to
me.
~~~
Detrus
Except MongoDB's and Node.js's incremental improvements in their marketed use
case of easy scalability weren't worth your time if you really were concerned
with scalability. You would have been better served by existing systems.
So the marketing pivoted to being simple for MongoDB and being SSJS for Node.
In Mongo's case scalability was severely hampered by the fundamental design,
but many developers fell for the marketing and it cost them. Node.js can
perform on some hello world benchmarks, but writing large scalable systems was
a minefield of instability, callback hell bugs, lack of JS support for CPU
intensive tasks, etc. It's still catching up to systems that existed in 2007.
The incremental improvement on scalability is nowhere to be seen. They do
improve some other metric like programmer enthusiasm. Other newcomers did
improve on easy scalability after more careful thought and years of effort but
the hype machine largely left the topic.
A similar case can be made for HTML5/Flash promises for mobiles. You can use
it but it often makes the process more difficult than writing two native apps
in many cases. Good luck guessing which.
~~~
sanderjd
This is sort of my point about incremental improvement being hard-won, though.
It's really difficult to make something that is actually better than other
things, even for pretty narrow criteria. That's why I'm always suspicious of
things (like the OP) that claim they will bring a major sea-change of
betterness across broad criteria.
------
programminggeek
You want better programming? Get better requirements and less complexity.
Programming languages and IDE's are part of the problem, but a lot of the
problems come from the actual program requirements.
In many cases, it's the edge cases and feature creep that makes software
genuinely terrible and by the time you layer in all that knowledge, it is a
mess.
I don't care if you use VIM, EMACS, Visual Studio, or even some fancy
graphical programming system. Complexity is complexity and managing and
implementing that complexity is a complex thing.
Until we have tools to better manage complexity, we will have messes and the
best tool to manage complexity are communication related, not software
related.
------
lstroud
This seems reminiscent of the "wolfram language" stuff a couple of weeks ago.
Perhaps it's a trend, but I can't shake the feeling like I am seeing a rehash
of the 4GL fiasco of the 90s.
I have a lot of respect for Chris. So, I hope I am wrong.
------
3rd3
I think a lot could be won by reducing complexity of the systems. In modern
operating systems we stack too many abstraction layers ontop of each other.
Emacs is a great example of a development environment which prevents a lot of
complexity because everything is written in one language (Emacs Lisp),
functions are available throughout the system, one can rewrite functions at
runtime and one can easily pinpoint the source code of any function with the
find-function command. It would actually be great to have an operating system
as simple, extensible and flexible.
------
dmoney
What I'd like for programming is a universal translator. Somebody writes a
program in Java or Lisp, and I can read and modify it in Python and the author
can read my changes in their own pet language. I write an Ant script and you
can consume it with rubygems. You give me a program compiled into machine
language or Java or .NET bytecode and I can read it in Python and run my
modified version in the JVM, CLR, Mac, iPhone, Android, browser.
Transparently, only looking at what the source language was if I get curious.
------
NAFV_P
> _Writing a program is an error-prone exercise in translation. Even math,
> from which our programming languages are born, has to be translated into
> something like this:_
The article then compares some verbose C++ with a mathematical equation. That
is hardly a fair comparison, the C++ code can be written and read by a human
in a text editor, right click the equation > inspect element ... it's a gif. I
loaded the gif into a text editor, it's hardcore gibberish.
Personally, I would stick with the verbose C++.
------
datawander
I wholly agree with this article. The exact point the author is getting at is
something that I have been trying to say, but rather inarticulately (probably
because I didn't actually go out and survey people and define "what is
programming and what is wrong with it").
I really can't wait for programming to be more than just if statements and
thinking about code as a grouping of ascii files and glueing libraries
together. Things like Akka are nice steps in that direction.
------
mc_hammer
i have to disagree somewhat. imho the difference is in abstraction. i think
good forms of abstraction have allowed computing proceed as far as it has, and
will allow it to proceed further.
i think abstraction may correllate with a ide or librarys usefulness,
popularity, and development time, moreso than what your video demonstrates.
i have a question, how many clicks would getting this snippet from above to
work?
you also have to navigate various dropdown menus? (dropdowns are pretty
terrible UI, and i would think reading diff dropdown lists im not familar with
would be jarring.) IMHO it would be like writing software with 2 mouse
buttons, dropdowns or other visual elements, and instead of with keyboard, and
would actually be slower. the opposite of my point above
#include <valarray>
#include <iostream>
double standard_dev(const std::valarray<double> &vals)
{
return sqrt(pow(vals - (vals.sum() / vals.size()), 2).sum() / vals.size());
}
int main()
{
std::cout << standard_dev({2, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7, 8}) << '\n';
}
------
e12e
I'm wondering, did the author ever play with Smalltalk/Self? Essentially those
environments let you interact with objects directly, in about as much as makes
sense. Seems a good fit for the "card game" complaint.
Doesn't help with the mathematical notation, though (Although it would be
possible to do something about that, I suppose).
------
DennisP
I hope the production release will be editable by keyboard alone, instead of
needing the mouse for every little thing.
~~~
ibdknox
that prototype is basically nothing like what the end result will be. And
yeah, it will be keyboardable :)
------
AdrianRossouw
man. i've been thinking about this stuff a lot.
especially after I saw rich hickey's presentation "simple made easy" (my notes
on it [1]).
I'm actually on a mission now to find ways to do things that are more straight
forward. One of my finds is [2] 'microservices', which I think will resonate
with how I perceive software these days.
[1] [http://daemon.co.za/2014/03/simple-and-easy-vocabulary-to-
de...](http://daemon.co.za/2014/03/simple-and-easy-vocabulary-to-describe-
software-complexity) [2]
[http://martinfowler.com/articles/microservices.html](http://martinfowler.com/articles/microservices.html)
------
clavalle
I'm intrigued.
This is a problem that many, many very smart people have spent careers on.
Putting out a teaser post is brave and I have to believe you know what you are
doing.
I am looking forward to the first taste. Do you have an ETA ?
------
ilaksh
I have been saying stuff like this for years, although not as eloquently or
detailed. But now Chris Granger is saying it, and no one can say he's not a
"real" programmer, so you have to listen.
I think it boils down to a cultural failure, like the article mentions at the
end. For example, I am a programmer myself. Which means that I generate and
work with lots of static, cryptic colorful ASCII text program sources. If I
stop doing that, I'm not a programmer anymore. By definition. I really think
that is the definition of programming, and that is the big issue.
I wonder if the current version of Aurora derives any inspiration from
"intentional programming"?
Also wonder when we can see a demo of the new version.
~~~
jamii
> I wonder if the current version of Aurora derives any inspiration from
> "intentional programming"?
The long term vision definitely does. At the moment we are mostly focused on
building a good glue language. By itself it is already very capable for
building CRUD apps and reactive UIs. If we can nail the tooling and make it as
approachable as excel then that gives us a solid platform for more adventurous
research.
------
leishulang
Sounds so philosophical ... almost sounds like something to do with how to get
strong A.I and expecting some sort of universal answer ... such as 42.
------
hibikir
There are entire families of problems that would be better solved with a far
more visual approach to code. For instance, worrydream has some UX concepts on
learnable programming that just feel much better than what we use today.
We could do similar things to visualize actor systems, handle database
manipulation and the like. The problem is that all we are really doing is
asking for visualization aids that are only good at small things, and we have
to build them, one at a time. Without general purpose visualizations, we need
toolsets to build visualizations, which needs more tools. It's tools all the
way down.
You can build tools for a narrow niche, just like the lispers just build their
DSLs for each individual problem. But even in a world without a sea of silly
parenthesis and a syntax that is built for compilers, not humans, under every
single line of easy, readable, domain-centric code lies library code that is
100% incidental complexity, and we can't get rid of it.
Languages are hard. Writing code that attempts to be its own language is
harder still. But those facts are not really the problem: They are a symptom.
The real problem is that we are not equipped to deal with the detail we need
to do our jobs.
Let's take, for instance, our carefree friends that want to build contracts on
top of Bitcoin, by making them executable. I am sure a whole lot of people
here realize their folly: The problem is that no problem that is really worth
putting into a contract is well defined enough to turn it into code. We work
with a level of ambiguity that our computers can't deal with. So what we are
doing, build libraries on top of libraries, each a bit better, is about as
good a job as we can do.
I do see how, for very specific domains, we can find highly reusable, visual
high level abstractions. But the effort required to build that, with the best
tools out there, just doesn't make any practical sense for a very narrow
domain: We can build it, but there is no ROI.
I think the best we can do today is to, instead of concentrate so much on how
shiny each new tool really is, to go back to the real basics of what makes a
program work. The same things that made old C programs readable works just as
well in Scala, but without half the boilerplate. We just have to forget about
how exciting the new toys can be, or how smart they can make us feel, and
evaluate them just on the basis of how can they really help us solve problems
faster. Applying proper technique, like having code that has a narrative and
consistent abstraction levels, will help us build tools faster, and therefore
make it cheaper to, eventually, allow for more useful general purpose
visualization plugins.
------
sgy
[http://www.paulgraham.com/progbot.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/progbot.html)
------
GnarfGnarf
Chris Granger sure doesn't make it easy to contact him.
------
aoakenfo
demonstrates an immediate connection with their tool:
[http://vimeo.com/36579366](http://vimeo.com/36579366)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What is the actual state of brtfs? - Bombthecat
======
zinkalu
Used it since 2011? I think, on various laptops. Used snapshotting frequently,
and RAID1. No stability issues at all.
(I've had some very minor issues with ext3 in the past, massive corruption
caused by LVM, lots of empty files with XFS, etc. btrfs did much better than
any of these in the stability department.)
Performance has improved recently. Apparently, laptop SSDs can cause massive
pauses when a sync is done? It used to be that the whole system froze for a
long time; with kernel 4.8 and newer versions of btrfs, it seems that the
pauses caused by SSDs does not have as severe an effect as they previously
did.
Using it over a network (NBD) has been stable, but with a large number of
files or blocks (not sure which) in the filesystem, it all of a sudden gets
extremely slow. Something I would like to see improved (here's to hoping...).
Storing virtual machines on it works very poorly. Say that you install
KVM+QEMU on a host system, format the harddrives with btrfs, disable COW with
chattr, create a virtual hard disk (in RAW mode, no QCOW), then install an OS
and enable LUKS and btrfs on top of that in the virtual machine. This, for
some reason, causes _massive_ fragmentation of the virtual machine hard drive
file. It's something like a 4 TB disk would have 4 billion fragments, every
single time. Multiply by a number of virtual machines, and you will quickly
get tired of pausing virtual machines, copying the entire virtual harddrive
from one file to another in the host system to get rid of the fragmentation,
and un-pausing the virtual machines. A very big issue, so don't do this.. Not
sure what the best filesystem (apart from VMFS) is for storing virtual
harddrive images...
~~~
osandov
I'm curious about your NBD performance issues. When you say large number of
blocks, are you talking a large filesystem? The free space cache tends to be a
performance bottleneck for large filesystems, you might want to try out
space_cache=v2.
------
svjatoslav
I'm using it without data loss incidents for over 1.5 years now. On SSD drive
I have encrypted volume. On top of it I have LVM volume. Ot top of it BTRFS
partition. I use compress-force=lzo,autodefrag mount options. Works well for
personal computer use case. I always follow latest kernel from Debian
backports repo. I red that some RAID modes are implemented poorly it BTRFS
still.
~~~
Someone
[https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Btrfs#RAID](https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Btrfs#RAID):
_" Parity RAID (RAID 5/6) code has multiple serious data-loss bugs in it."_.
AFAIK, that was true back in July. It likely still is.
I have no opinion on whether using it without it is safe, but I would
definitely avoid RAID.
~~~
bantunes
A fix has been proposed recently:
[http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-
btrfs/msg60595.html](http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-btrfs/msg60595.html)
~~~
Bombthecat
Ha thanks! That what I was hoping for!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Play Framework 1.1 RC1 Released - dabeeeenster
http://www.playframework.org/documentation/1.1RC1/releasenotes-1.1
======
dabeeeenster
This is hands down the best full stack Java web framework out there. We've
built a couple of apps on it and it completely rocks. Fast, stable, simple,
stateless and with a great development community.
~~~
abp
I wouldn't just say best Java web framework, because i think it's even better
than many in other languages.
Also Scala is now officially supported.
Glad to hear that you're successful with using it in production.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Designing RedditRiver.com Website - iamelgringo
http://www.catonmat.net/blog/designing-redditriver-dot-com-website/
======
ghiotion
God, I just love this guy's posts. He's so freaking enthusiastic. It's really
infectious. Normally, I'm not a big fan of the exclamation point, but somehow
he makes it work.
------
cnu
Here is one project which does a cloud view of top news in reddit. The author
has a python and a lisp version. <http://nearfar.org/git.html> But I can't get
the url to the actual cloud view page.
------
kpax
this guy got some skills.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Spammers Paying Others to Solve Captchas - rooshdi
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/26/technology/26captcha.html
======
tdfx
This has been going on for years... not sure how this is news. Any site that
is big enough to be targeted by spammers has (or certainly should have)
learned that CAPTCHAs are just one of multiple layers of security that are
necessary to prevent abuse of their service.
------
cduan
Back in 2004, someone pointed out to me a nice way of getting free CAPTCHA
solvers by offering certain audiovisual materials to visitors and requiring
the visitors to solve CAPTCHAs in order to access those materials. To maximize
effectiveness, said audiovisual materials tended to "appeal to the prurient
interest," to put it politely.
------
dagobart
I didn't bother to read the actual article, just responding to the headline:
Did you ever look at getafreelancer.com? There are _tons_ of jobs for captcha
solving. Permanently.
------
edukatr
Is recaptcha safe?
~~~
Qz
I don't see how it's any different than regular Captchas.
~~~
az
reCaptcha is more than captcha since the user is reconfiguring the
misconstrued word taken from a real source. If I remember correctly, the words
are from old versions of New York Times and they are put through computer
programs to make them hard to decode with computers.
In essence the spammers are really being helpful more than they know!
~~~
JoachimSchipper
Yes, but this makes reCaptcha no more secure than other captchas - just more
tangentially useful.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
QWERTY Must Die, by Bryce - kirillzubovsky
http://bryce.vc/post/19344485892/qwerty-must-die
======
pkamb
Using "QWERTY" as the noun here instead of "typewriter-like keyboards" is
confusing everyone. He's arguing against physical keyboards, not a specific
keyboard layout.
(Typed in Dvorak)
------
sheraz
I find that overly optimistic that qwerty will go away by the time his
18-month-old is an adult. QWERTY has been with us for over 100 years, and I
see little need to throw it out.
It is a good, functional, accessible, and consistent tool for putting words to
screen. I can't understand why so many techies are so eager to throw
everything out the window.
~~~
prodigal_erik
QWERTY has no rhyme or reason and must be laboriously memorized (and I say
this having reached ~80 WPM years ago). It's even been claimed that it's
deliberately _de-_ optimized for our natural languages to accommodate legacy
hardware (pre-Selectric typewriters). If gestures are the future, text entry
should take advantage of the flexibility of virtual keys and offer better
Fitts' Law targets for more frequent letters or digraphs. I like Swype well
enough but I can imagine something derived from pie menus being a big step up.
~~~
sheraz
Yes, it is laborious and must be memorized -- just like our multiplication
tables back in 2nd grade. Learning is not always fun, nor should it be.
~~~
mistercow
Yes, but the difference is that multiplication is a fact about logic, not a
contrived interface to obsolete hardware. Multiplication tables _do_ have
rhyme and reason to them. We don't memorize our 21-times tables because as
soon as we pass 9, we switch to a methodical system with a simple, general
system of rules.
It is pretty hard to swallow that something developed a hundred and forty
years ago for interacting with box of springs and levers is a close-to-optimal
text entry system.
~~~
dpark
Any keyboard will be a "contrived interface". The logical thing would be
alphabetical order for ease of learning, but that would be terrible for speed.
Alternatively, you could go with something like Dvorak, optimized for speed,
but at the end of the day Dvorak feels just as contrived, has the same awkward
learning curve, and the evidence that it's significantly faster than qwerty is
virtually nonexistent except for a couple of old studies whose results have
not been substantiated by newer studies.
~~~
DanBC
Dvorak is not faster, but it is significantly more comfortable.
At least, that's what a lot of people say. I'd love to see some decent
research. I guess it's hard to double blind for things like keyboard layouts.
~~~
mistercow
You could get a bunch of qwerty users/untrained typists and then train them to
use randomly assigned keyboard layouts. Once training is complete, you have
them type some long piece of text, and then fill out a questionnaire rating
various qualitative points like tiredness.
Finally, you do a statistical analysis to determine if layouts with more of
Dvorak's purportedly beneficial features are correlated with higher comfort
ratings. Of course, those features must be rigorously defined beforehand, and
you must properly blind yourself when doing the analysis.
------
dfc
Do piano players ever discuss rearranging the keys + pedals on a piano?
(Not troll bait. Honest question.)
~~~
lbk
Yes , two categories :
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isomorphic_keyboard> These tackle the problem of
how the normal piano layout requires different motor-memories for the same
interval-patterns at different pitches . Janko and Wicki-Hayden are examples ,
as is layout of the chromatic button accordion .
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalized_keyboard> These are designed to work
for various other tunings than standard 12-tone tuning ; i think most of them
map some pitch-space to a hexagonal grid .
------
shubber
The strongest argument he makes is that there's an impedance to text entry vs.
"tactile computing." Which seems pretty intuitive to me. With a keyboard a
user can generate tons more information (as opposed to raw data) than with
almost any other input hardware.
But you have to think about what information you're inputting. A GUI provides
an ongoing dialog that guides you through the interaction with the computer.
But if there's data that's unavailable a priori to the interface developer, a
keyboard is still the best way to enter it.
------
pkamb
> _For the longest time I thought the answer would be speech to text, but the
> more I play with Siri and work around its shortcomings the less and less of
> a believer I become._
Really? You think Siri's (current) technical shortcomings are the major hurdle
for speech-to-text adoption?
Not the fact that no one wants to type out loud in their cubicle or coffee
shop?
~~~
DanBC
There are some specialist niches for speech to text. Medical notes are one
example.
I'm gently surprised that speech to text isn't better. There's so much
weaponisation of sound analysis that I thought the research would be there to
help programmers.
Also, I don't know where you drink coffee but there's a total arsehole in one
local coffee shop who's happy to bellow into his mobile phone.
------
VMG
And let's all switch to Esperanto while we're at it.
------
rgc5
dvorak
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
FaceBook on TechCrunch - 2005 - _grrr
http://techcrunch.com/2005/09/07/85-of-college-students-use-facebook/
======
dmix
This reads odd for a TechCrunch article.
Its written more like a personal blog/analysis of the startup rather than
reprinting of a press release or some drama angle.
~~~
jkw
That's basically how TC started
------
mattcurry
I sorted the comments by oldest first and skimmed them looking for people
dumping on facebook with things like "flash in the pan" or "i could build this
in a weekend".
Surprisingly few. In fact most people loved it. So if you're looking for
indicators of startup success they'd go something like: 1) 85% of target
demographic has signed up. 2) 3.5 millions users. 3) TechCrunch commenters
love you.
------
sudonim
I got creeped out that the "Demo account profile" still worked...
[http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=11752&l=732749925...](http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=11752&l=732749925d)
Is Amy Weller a real person? What did it used to look like in 2005?
~~~
jwegan
I don't think so. Almost all of her 28 friends work at Facebook and she is
friends with a Jane Smith <http://www.facebook.com/janesmith199> (note the
generic name) who has the same profile picture and also a small number of
friends
------
Cmccann7
Read the comments, interesting what people had to say about FB back then.
------
cliqstr
hey... where's eduardo...
------
iopuy
lol at Sean Parker as President.... well that didn't last long.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Upcoming Changes to GitHub Services - bencevans
https://github.com/blog/1402-upcoming-changes-to-github-services
======
i386
There is a service hook for our product. Does this mean its broken as of
today?
~~~
technoweenie
Nope. If you were trying to submit it tomorrow, it'd be rejected though.
~~~
i386
Thanks for the clarification. If you work for Github it would be useful if the
blog clearly stated it (maybe I just missed it?)
~~~
dangrossman
> For an example of a service that won't be accepted _after today_ , check out
> Campfire. It uses other Ruby gems and contains custom logic to transform the
> GitHub payload to Campfire messages. _Existing hooks will keep working_
> (don't worry 37signals, we Campfire).
------
johns
At this point aren't they big enough to shift the onus onto the service
providers to create hook endpoints that all accept the same payload? I don't
see any reason why the service hooks section needs to be anything more than a
list of URLs you want hit. You could still list all the providers and just
automatically create proper URLs for each service. No need for the Ruby layer.
IFTTT and Zapier and the like can fill in the rest for those that don't want
to create the webhook interfaces.
~~~
thedaniel
Doesn't this cover shifting the onus onto service providers?
"As of today, all new services must accept an unmodified payload over HTTP.
Any service that does not will be rejected."
~~~
johns
You still have to write the Ruby layer if you want to appear in the list. I
think they should get rid of the Ruby file requirement.
~~~
thedaniel
Well, that's what the post-receive URLs
(<https://help.github.com/articles/post-receive-hooks>) are intended for,
though you're right that you won't appear in the services list.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Django security releases issued: 1.10.3, 1.9.11 and 1.8.16 - tweakz
https://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/2016/nov/01/security-releases/
======
Kaedon
I'm glad to see this update! It doesn't like a must-update version, unless
you're using a production dataset on your local dev database.
I'd also recommend against using a production dataset for your dev database.
------
aisofteng
Forgive me for being out of the loop, but how did we arrive at the point of
development frameworks having security frameworks?
OpenSSL, sure, makes sense, that deals with cryptography. But Django?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Crytek sues Star Citizen developer, alleging copyright infringement - smacktoward
http://massivelyop.com/2017/12/13/crytek-sues-star-citizen-developer-cloud-imperium-alleging-copyright-infringement/
======
bovermyer
I wonder if this will have a substantial impact on Star Citizen's release or
not. For a non-product, it generates an enormous amount of profit.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Economic Lives of Animals - Thevet
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2017-biological-markets/
======
tpeo
> Even John Maynard Keynes, the father of modern economics, attributed our
> irrational choices to “animal spirits.”
Yeah, there's an equivocation in this reference. The "animal" in "animal
spirits" doesn't refer to non-human lifeforms, rather it means "of or relating
to a soul". The expression itself is an obsolete medical term which designated
what people from late antiquity to the modern period thought was the cause of
bodily movement.
By the early 20th century, it had become a somewhat quaint and tongue-in-cheek
expression. To say that someone was "full of animal spirits" was to say that a
person was lively, restless, or something like that.
There's without doubt a conflict between rationality and irrationality in
Keynes' usage of it. But that conflict isn't alluded to through a reference to
"animals", in the contemporary sense.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_spirits_(Keynes)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_spirits_\(Keynes\))
[https://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/11/16/exorcising-...](https://neurophilosophy.wordpress.com/2006/11/16/exorcising-
animal-spirits-the-discovery-of-nerve-function/)
~~~
msgilligan
And the term 'Homo Economicus' is usually (and originally) used pejoratively
to critique economics for its oversimplification of human behavior.
------
erikpukinskis
The first person who starts a SnapChat and Patreon for a famous working
animal, and uses it to defend their legal right to minimum wage and some
degree of autonomy will change the world, regardless of the outcome of the
case.
The first egg farm that pays the chickens a wage, and lets them choose between
different "jobs" will make a huge splash. Once consensual animal products
enter the free market, there will be a fascinating forcing function on animal
welfare, possibly leading to legal personhood for some animals.
~~~
paperkettle
dont forget algorithms ! [http://nonhumans.net](http://nonhumans.net)
------
anotheryou
please no animations where I'm trying to read...
~~~
exotree
I found the animations to be quite informative in helping me see the animals,
thus helping me understand the article more clearly. They also were very
tastefully done. I hope this publication continues.
~~~
anotheryou
Which includes the necessity for looped animation?
------
agumonkey
Reminds me of the video of monkeys living with dogs. It's a very weird
collaboration (in a particular context, based on free food from humans
nearby).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Aviation Is on a Low-Carbon Flight Path - flip8
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/aviation-is-on-a-low-carbon-flight-path/
======
maliker
Electric aviation for aircraft larger than 4 passengers is extremely hard.
Batteries don't have the energy density needed, and fuel cells are barely at
the prototype stage for aviation. ARPA-E has been looking at this for while,
see slide 6 in [1] for an overview of payloads by energy storage medium. If
you read a little more through the deck you'll see there are also issues with
power output of electric motors in this application.
I'm much more optimistic about low-carbon jet fuels. Biofuel options here have
already been trialed successfully. And some new synthetic fuel companies [2]
that use direct air capture CO2 are looking promising.
[1] [https://arpa-e.energy.gov/sites/default/files/Grigorii-
Solov...](https://arpa-e.energy.gov/sites/default/files/Grigorii-Soloveichik-
Fast-Pitch-2018.pdf) [2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_Engineering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_Engineering)
~~~
mikepurvis
It's also hard because batteries don't get lighter as they deplete, so you're
landing a plane with the exact same weight as what you took off with, meaning
you need much more rugged (and heavy) landing gear. This is extremely
significant when you consider that a fully loaded 747-8 is 970,000 lb, of
which up to 326,000 lb is fuel (per Wikipedia's numbers).
It's a hard problem, and most proposed solutions are extremely novel and
risky, like having an all-battery tugboat that tows the plane up to cruising
speed/altitude before returning to the airport to charge or get a battery
swap— obviously bad because risky, also adds 50% to runway capacity to land
all the tow planes.
~~~
kuu
Just drop them before landing... There could be a batteries landing place
where they'd be collected.
Is it too crazy?
~~~
mikepurvis
Since a big chunk of the power is expended on takeoff, the ideal would be to
drop part of your battery then rather then waiting until after landing. But
either way, you're stuck with the significant complexity and expense of having
to prepare a parachute and landing gear specifically for the battery on each
flight, plus having to collect and charge those batteries.
~~~
SupersonicScrub
There's a better electrically driven solution that takes advantage of the fact
that take-off and climb-out requires the most power.
Maximum power requirements come from take-off and climb-out, so the engine
size is designed around the max take-off power. This means that the engine is
over-designed and less-efficient for the majority of the flight.
By implementing a hybrid engine, the gas-powered component and the electric
powered component work together to provide take-off power requirements. By the
time the aircraft reaches cruising altitude, the batteries are dead, and the
gas-powered component works alone. This allows the engine to be designed for
the cruise power requirements, which results in a much more efficient engine.
UTC is currently experimenting with this concept.
[https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/utc-to-test-
hybri...](https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/utc-to-test-hybrid-
electric-propulsion-system-on-da-456942/)
Yes it's not carbon neutral, but it's a step in the right direction.
~~~
iguy
Not just for take-off, but for the possibility of finishing the take-off with
one engine failure. That's quite a bit of spare capacity.
However I also wonder why, if electric motors are a solution here, there
hasn't been a comparable fuel-powered extra-takeoff-engine. Why would this not
have the same benefits? Or are extra engines simply too complicated
mechanically unless they are motors?
(The liked article is about modifying a Dash 8, which is a turboprop, and
perhaps it's easy to have oversize propellers for takeoff, and just connect a
motor to the same gearbox.)
~~~
mikepurvis
Probably because a jet engine costs like $30MM. It may well be that the
incremental cost ($, weight, complexity) of adding an electric booster to an
existing engine design is much more practical than just adding more engines.
------
spodek
I challenged myself to go a year without flying for climate reasons. I thought
I would hate it. Work, family, and lifestyle depended on it.
It turns out it was one of the best things I've done. Experience taught me
what I never could have imagined -- how much my life improved. Like dropping
Facebook on steroids. What I expected to miss I got more without flying, plus
improved relationships, community, and connection.
A few months in I decided to go for a second year. I'm 4.5 years in now. I may
fly again, I don't know, but I want to less and less.
EDIT: Amazingly, my TEDx talk on this experience went live minutes ago:
[https://youtu.be/sTYiHr1lu10](https://youtu.be/sTYiHr1lu10).
~~~
mhb
This doesn't seem very hard to believe. Flying is a miserable experience.
~~~
jml7c5
If you're a die-hard reader and always have a book in hand, it's actually not
that bad. You just happen to stand in line to read, rather than lounge or lie
down to do so. Granted, obtaining and arranging accessories (pillows etc.) so
as to sit comfortably in the seats does take some trial and error.
~~~
AnimalMuppet
Or I could just stay home, and read in a more comfortable seat...
------
criddell
Recently there has been some talk about banning air miles programs and
actually flipping the incentives. Because you have to fly under your
government ID it wouldn't be out of the question for people who fly a lot to
pay more per mile in taxes.
I've been thinking about this a lot trying to root out the unintended
consequences of such a plan, but I can't think of any.
~~~
t34543
This is a terrible idea. Some people have no choice but to fly. Say what you
want but air travel is efficient.
~~~
MauranKilom
Pretty sure it doesn't take a literal ton of fuel to move me across Europe in
a train. In an airplane, it does.
~~~
t34543
Time is more valuable.
~~~
esotericn
Indeed it is.
There'll be time after us.
------
cagenut
Its important to remember the time constraint in these conversations.
Engineering is about constraints, and if you simply remove the biggest one
(time) it becomes facile and easy to endlessly talk about future,
hypothetical, optimistic "someday" solutions. It is vapid empty happy-talk.
When you factor in the time constraint, specifically the timeframes outlined
in the IPCC SR 1.5 report, then you simply cannot claim that direct air
capture fuels are a meaningful part of the conversation of what to do with air
travels footprint.
I am 100% in favor of continued _and_ _increased_ investment in R&D for DAC. I
am 0% delusional that it will be a viable solution in the timeframe we need it
to be (same goes for thorium and fusion).
If you're not solving for the time constraint and the curve shape in this
graph, you're not talking about "solutions" you're just chit chatting about
(cool) tech:
[https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/SPM3...](https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/sites/2/2019/02/SPM3a.png)
~~~
thinkcontext
Airplanes are not going to stop flying. We can try raising the price to make
them fly less than they would otherwise but there will still be a need to
lower the carbon footprint of flight. Synthesizing fuel from captured CO2
seems like a much better pathway than batteries. Also, I don't think its valid
to compare it to thorium or fusion. We can make synthetic fuel from captured
CO2 today whereas those are science projects. Synthetic fuel isn't cost
effective given economic and political realities but its likely this will
occur within the next 10 years in at least some places.
Minor point, people seem to marry DAC with synthesizing fuel, probably because
Carbon Engineering has gotten a lot of press. Fuel can be synthesized from CO2
from any source. It is my understanding that DAC is currently more expensive
than capturing from a point source, like a natural gas power plant. This is
due to CO2 being such a small percentage of the atmosphere vs 10%+ from plant
flue gases. So, while DAC is more expensive and there are still substantial
point sources of CO2, fuel made from DAC will be more expensive from point
source capture.
~~~
cagenut
point source capturing co2 from burning fossil fuels and then turning it into
more liquid fuels that you then burn again is _madness_. you get that right?
it makes _less sense_ than simply saying "fuck it" and pumping the same amount
of fossil fuel up. at least then you don't have to pay the energy cost of the
transitions.
this kind of high-anxiety circular reasoning is hopefully the 'bargaining'
phase before you move onto acceptance.
~~~
thinkcontext
I don't get that because its not true. In both scenarios after the energy
consuming activities are done the same amount of CO2 is in the air (ignoring
operational efficiency). One just costs more than the other because a more
difficult path of capturing the CO2 is chosen.
~~~
cagenut
oh well if we just ignore efficiency and cost!
you are living in a world of spherical cows, not in the reality of the climate
emergency.
please understand that as the body counts rise this level of "technically
correct" pedantry will be seen for the rather gross complicity it is.
~~~
thinkcontext
The operational efficiency of both is probably within 10% of each other, so
not that significant compared to the big picture of what we are discussing. My
guess is that DAC actually fares worse because you have to run an enormous
bank of fans to suck in all that air which is why it costs more.
As for cost, I'm not ignoring it, it was my point. Fuel from one pathway costs
more from another pathway. High cost is a barrier to taking a solution out of
the lab and actually putting it into action to causing less CO2 to be emitted.
If 2 fuel pathways have the same carbon footprint but one costs less than the
other why would you choose the one that costs more?
I'm willing to listen if you would like to explain why you think DAC is better
but so far you haven't done that, you've just been insulting which I don't
get.
~~~
cagenut
I have no idea how you got it in your head that i'm advocating for DAC. I not
only did not do that, I specifically did the opposite by saying I have "0%"
hope for it. The fact that you've twisted this around now into trying to get
me to defend it is an example of why i'm being insulting to you. Your behavior
is bad, and I hope you feel bad about it. Why should I treat you with respect
when you're ignoring the context of the conversation in order to correct
internet strangers with your tangential distraction of a point? What makes you
feel entitled to other people being graciously receptive to that?
The actual topic at hand here is the GHG footprint of air travel (see topic,
OP). My comment was about the time constraint provided by the IPCC that people
fail to include in their analysis. Here you are 5 replies deep twisting my
arguments into their opposite while failing to even address, let alone refute
or propose your own alternative for the central point.
On a micro level your behavior is just garden variety piss poor social skills
(can't say i'm the best either!). On a macro (and specific to this topic,
climate change) level your behavior is the sand in the gears that keeps any of
the rest of us from discussing this challenge in good faith and reaching
rational conclusions. You are poisoning the well. You are pissing in the pool.
Please stop.
~~~
dang
Personal attacks and flamewar like this will get you banned here. Please
review
[https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html](https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html)
and don't do this on HN again.
~~~
cagenut
hi dang
which side are you on?
[https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/climate-...](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/05/climate-
crisis-11000-scientists-warn-of-untold-suffering)
the bodies are piling up. are you a polite german or a rude one?
i'm a rude one.
~~~
dang
If your internet comments are coming from a noble place, you should be able to
make them without taking cheap shots or attacking people personally.
~~~
cagenut
you have made a category error if you truly believe that
------
burlesona
A quick google suggests that aviation accounts for 2% of global carbon
emissions.
Everyone in this thread is pointing out how difficult the engineering is to
convert aviation to something emission-free.
To me it seems obvious that we should focus on shrinking the 98% as fast as we
can. While we should also work on decarbonizing air travel, I am pretty sure
that if we decarbonized everything _else_ that the environmental impact of air
(and space!) travel would not be enough to fuel global warming on its own.
Further, because the impact is so much smaller, it might be more feasible for
air travel to eventually be required to perform offsetting direct carbon
capture than to replace jet fuel with an alternative. That would make flying
more expensive, which I think is fine, but it wouldn’t make flying
_impossible_ which I think is at least highly undesirable.
~~~
Scramblejams
Nearly every article I've seen on this subject conveniently omits the
proportion of aviation's contribution to global carbon emissions.
I'm starting to think it's intentional, and it's instructive to ask _why_.
~~~
p_l
A lot of railway-related lobbying, at least in western europe.
~~~
nexuist
The submarine:
[http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html](http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html)
------
0x7265616374
Clickbait title. Read the article hoping for great news in the emerging
aerospace sectors. What I actually found was a rather large serving of
humblebrag with a generous side of monetary privilege.
~~~
stevenwoo
Based on past decisions, it's going to take some revolutionary technology that
is cheaper than avgas fuel/engines. Isn't the USA is the largest and last
major country that uses leaded fuel for small planes. We'll do almost anything
to save small plane owners the cost of upgrading.
~~~
bdamm
Mainly because avgas is not a meaningful contributor to climate change or
environmental lead. It's a pittance when compared to anything else; commercial
aviation all sources, DoD, road transport for GhG and piping, paint, and
industrial sources for lead.
~~~
stevenwoo
I should have been clear I was not comparing greenhouse emissions of avgas to
replacement but that contributing more lead in any amount to the environment
is pretty terrible since we all pay for the effects, even considering
whataboutism of all other human lead pollution. The forever persistence of
lead and ready bioavailability makes it special.
------
rcMgD2BwE72F
>Aviation Is on a Low-Carbon Flight Path
Really? The article just says its author hope for a low-carbon future for the
air transport, and mentions some tiny plans by jet makers and early startups
to plan to 'hybridify' airplanes.
How much low-carbon would that be? As far as I could read, the author does not
even try to evaluate that and blindly hope that it should be helpful, somehow.
As if he can't bear flight shame, and tries to share/sell some "hope" to cope
with that.
~~~
ekianjo
There's always the possibility of hydrogen-powered planes.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Engines_A2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Engines_A2)
~~~
sokoloff
Energy density of hydrogen by mass is excellent (about 3x that of gasoline/jet
fuel), but much worse by volume (about 1/4 of gasoline/jet fuel).
Finding a way to store liquid hydrogen in 4x the volume (plus any required
cooling/insulation and safety systems) might be a challenge for long-haul
flights.
~~~
revax
Also the production of hydrogen is far from being low-carbon.
Yes there are some ways to produce hydrogen from electricity with electrolysis
but at the moment 90% of hydrogen use natural gas or other hydrocarbons and
release enormous amount of CO2.
~~~
davedx
You can say that about everything (except maybe nuclear) right now. This
morning I had a discussion with someone on Twitter about windmills, and he
said "yeah but they're still manufactured with carbon based processes, cement
and steel are made using fossil sources".
Hydrogen production _can_ be clean though.
[https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/hamburg-and-
fukushima-c...](https://www.cleanenergywire.org/news/hamburg-and-fukushima-
cooperate-wind-power-and-hydrogen-production)
~~~
revax
It can be, but it in fact not. And if it is, at what price?
Don't misunderstand me, I want a low-carbon aviation, I'm all for it. But even
if you cut the emissions by a factor 2 of each newer aircrafts, what's the
point? The numbers of flights is expected to double in less than 20 years.
Global emissions won't reduce at all.
[https://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2018-10-24-02.aspx](https://www.iata.org/pressroom/pr/Pages/2018-10-24-02.aspx)
IMHO, we need more regulations (e.g. ban domestics flights if high-speed
trains are a viable alternative) rather than technological solutions.
~~~
netcan
There needs to be some middle ground in these discussions.
Yes, it's silly to ignore realities like "how was the electricity powering
this car produced?" OTOH, since we're talking about _potential_ future
solutions to a hard problem (hard relative to cars, for now)... you kind of
need to dismiss current issues if they're solvable to in theory.
Price of electrolysis hydrogen now, when we're not using that much of it is
not necessarily indicative of potential prices at scale.
To me, I think we need to focus regulation that gets high potential
technologies (eg electricity production and electric transport, atm) past the
point on their learning curves where ordinary price economics and/or bans on
carbontech can take over.
The problem with marginal mitigation like discouraging flights or large ICE
engines is that gains are one-off, and not en route to bigger solutions.
I agree that commercial flight is a big problem. I'm just skeptical that
carbon austerity can amount to more than a rounding error in the long term.
------
nradov
There are electrification gains to be made on the ground. Aircraft
manufacturers are already experimenting with using electric motors for taxiing
so that they can wait to start the turbines until close to the runway.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGTS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EGTS)
And longer term, electromagnetic catapults embedded in runways can be used to
launch aircraft using renewable power. The engineering challenges will be huge
and a new generation of airliners will be needed to make it work, but the
concept is technically feasible.
[https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/07/airbus_smarter_skie...](https://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/07/airbus_smarter_skies/)
------
brianbreslin
I'm curious if anyone here can answer this: what part of flight consumes the
most energy/fuel? Is it the take-off? Landing? Cruising? So would a hybrid
model plane make sense to use jet fuel or equivalent for the most energy
consuming part, then electric batteries for the least intensive parts?
~~~
Robotbeat
For long-haul, it's cruise. And the energy required can thus be improved
directly proportional to lift to drag ratio. What I find promising is work
NASA is doing and has done on truss-braced wings to enable a ~doubling of
current transonic lift to drag ratios by using an extremely high aspect ratio
wing.
~~~
yboris
Truss-braced wings seem really cool!
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Truss-
Braced_Wing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Truss-Braced_Wing)
------
aaron_m04
Why not use renewable energy to synthesize the regular airplane fuel? That
would be carbon neutral, and it would avoid all the issues with heavy
batteries and upgrading or replacing existing planes.
~~~
AWildC182
It likely wouldn't be Jet-A that's synthesized, it would be some sort of bio
diesel that would have to get approval. GA still uses leaded gas because the
industry is so slow to change and everyone is terrified of having to re-
certify (STC) existing aircraft or add additional fueling infrastructure. It's
a far more complex issue than I can describe here but it works as a useful
analogy.
Electric aircraft, however, sound really good in a boardroom because the
logistics are "simpler" (disregarding the issue of charging gigawatt-hour
batteries somehow).
------
geogra4
No discussion of Synthetic Natural Gas => LNG powered jetliners? To me that
seems a lot more realistic than banning flight altogether or battery/electric
powered aircraft.
~~~
jackdeansmith
My bet is that if you're making synfuels, it makes more sense to take the
efficiency hit and go for long chain hydrocarbons instead. Even if LNG is the
technically superior fuel, planes last a long time and compatibility with
existing equipment is worth a lot.
------
buboard
What if we work to make air travel less useful. Find reasons why people air
travel and eliminate them. For example, conferences where a whole lot of
nothing happens - and they 're usually seen as an excuse for mini vacation.
Business travel is often a game of persuasion that should be done over skype.
Apparently the #1 reason people travel is education & training.
The idea of a battery plane sounds too good to be true , and it 's probably
decades away
~~~
choeger
> What if we work to make air travel less useful.
Air travel is (for a certain distance) the most efficient way to travel. No
infrastructure needed along the way (if you discount the air ports used as
emergency targets), fast, and quite flexible. Trying to ignore that is futile.
We should simply mandate a growing percentage of carbon neutral fuels for all
aircraft traveling to and from our countries. Start with 1% next year, it
should be easy to implement and then increase every 2 years by another
percentage point.
~~~
buboard
how is that better than not needing to travel at all?
~~~
choeger
Because most people _like_ to travel. Any policy that makes people happy is
intrinsically better than one that makes them angry or sad. Weird that I have
to tell you that.
------
raxxorrax
With the weight of batteries it would definitely be a challenge. Fuel is heavy
too, but there is still a factor between their energy density that is close to
100.
Owners of electrical drones know that the fun often ends after around 20
minutes with the battery being the heaviest part by far. I remember there
being a drone that could fly for 2 hours with the whole body basically being
the battery.
------
starpilot
Is this really more environmentally friendly if the electricity comes from a
coal plant driving a turbine? With a gas aircraft, it's still fossil fuels
driving a turbine. Sometimes they're very similar turbines:
[https://www.ge.com/power/gas](https://www.ge.com/power/gas).
~~~
gumby
The Carnot efficiency (and joules/“unit pollution”) go up dramatically at
scale (one of the reasons the 737 MAX was designed for such huge engines). So
yes, a vehicle powered by a coal plant could pollute a lot less than a vehicle
burning melted dinosaurs at the point of use.
In addition some of the other pollution (NOx, particulate etc) could be more
manageable when coming out of a large smokestack in a desert vs in the cramped
spaces of a city (car) or upper atmosphere (plane).
I’m definitely not defending coal! Just saying the calculus is complex and
multi factor.
------
dzhiurgis
Hmm, when fuel is around 5% of your total ticket cost, something says that
there are much more inefficiencies to solve than just the flight itself.
Being forced into security theatre, not allowed your drink or food, forced to
overpay in airport... Smells a lot like how housing market is regulated by
councils or NY trains having higher carbon emission than Prius due to admin
costs...
Most of stewardess could be replaced with a vending machine. Bunk beds made
using compliant mechanisms. Tax charge passengers by weight, not by height.
Here's something even more ambitious - it's really bizarre that airlines buy
airplanes and then decide to skimp on maintenance. They should really be
leasing them from manufacturer who does all the maintenance. Same with pilots,
but perhaps they could be airport staff (especially crew). Airline should only
focus on ticketing and routing (similar to how energy and telco markets are
"deregulated" in some countries).
~~~
xyzzyz
The planes themselves are also pretty expensive. New Boeing 737 costs $120M.
Maintenance also costs money. You need to recover all these costs too.
------
AtlasBarfed
Biofuels or fuels made by excess wind/solar seems the way forward. Carbon
neutrality should be the immediate goal.
All electric will require lower speeds and probably a hybrid airship airwing
design
------
GhettoMaestro
We just need someone to develop an air-to-air battery replenishment system
(same theory/model that you see in use with military tanker aircraft for air-
to-air refueling).
I can see it now. Max weight/batteries on take off. Controller to drain
batteries serially, and as each one is exhausted, chuck it out the bottom of
the plane (with some kind of landing/recovery mechanism). When you start
running low on batteries, re-fuel at the nearest tanker.
Obviously I'm kidding. The tanker model is ridiculously expensive. That's why
you only see it used for extremely critical things (military).
------
cagenut
couple of key points here:
#1 - this article is a great example of how the conversation is shifting, but
the mid-point we're at now is a wasteland of nonsense and cognitive
dissonance. the text of the article is about the truth of what things matter
to reduce your footprint (kids, flying, cars, beef), but the tone of the
article and the headline is one of "things are gonna be fine because the whiz
kids are working on it" soft-denialism.
#2 - the co2 footprint from jet travel is somewhere between half and 1/4th of
the overall greenhouse gas emission footprint of flying. this is because
nitrogen oxide and water vapor are also greenhouse gasses (particularly at
altitude). It gets very complicated to factor, but at a high level you should
simply 3x the carbon cost of flights for the "CO2e" total:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_aviati...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_impact_of_aviation#Total_climate_effects)
#3 - the electrification of air travel is very well under way. it will not
replace trans-oceanic flights in our lifetimes, but it can replace a massive
amount of regional travel, and customers can be forced to adapt to a multi-hop
world (jfk <-> ord <-> den <-> sfo). If you'd like to learn a ton about the
state of the art 1 year ago, check out this playlist from the Sustainable
Aviation Summit last year:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LDU0Wgn0Lk&list=PLWUnMAqjJ9...](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LDU0Wgn0Lk&list=PLWUnMAqjJ9CAue9jS0osS5i-QQF8X6Q-l)
~~~
sokoloff
Given that we already have private jets flying routes that are directly served
by airlines non-stop, I doubt how much you can impact business travel.
You can stop kids from seeing their grandparents quite easily by raising
ticket prices or taxing jet fuel. I’m not so sure that’s going to keep
airlines from serving JFK-SFO direct for business travelers.
~~~
cagenut
you are correct that marginal pricing mechanism are no longer enough to solve
this problem. we have moved on to the legislative phase.
~~~
sokoloff
I guess I’ll believe it when I see private flights banned or airlines banned
from running SFO-JFK direct flights.
I don’t expect to see that in my lifetime (next 40 years).
~~~
cagenut
Yes, the number one problem we have right now is neither technological nor
scientific. Its the self defeating circular reasoning of normalcy bias and
projecting your unwillingness to change on everyone else.
~~~
sokoloff
It costs me $2500 or so to fly to Europe and stay for a week. Maybe $4K in a
high week.
I can steer or create a significant _multiple_ of that value by visiting my
teams for a week. There’s massive financial incentive for me to take that
trip.
~~~
cagenut
yes when the cost of carbon is not accounted for then it creates financial
incentives to not just ignore but actively exploit that externality.
------
sailfast
Didn't see it listed as an option here, but are the travel-via-ICBM options
that SpaceX has been touting going to actually be cleaner options than burning
jet-fuel? If you remove the cruise speed requirements for longer-haul flights
and put them in space, maybe that helps? Hard to say without any real numbers
out there (and even if I had real numbers I'm probably not in a position to
synthesize them vs. aircraft)
~~~
FlyingAvatar
Judging by the amount of volume of a rocket or ICBM that is consumed by its
fuel, I would have to venture that it's nearly impossible that it's cleaner.
~~~
Ottolay
I would love to see the numbers for this.
A significant part of the volume in a ballistic rocket is oxidizer which a jet
does not need to carry. Liquid methane is much less dense than jet fuel, so it
makes sense it would take up much more volume. Also, methane has less carbon
in it than jet fuel on a per energy basis.
Still suspect you are right.
------
jellicle
Probably the best way to cut air travel pollution is with a combination of
high-speed electric trains between all major cities (make it convenient to get
around without flying) along with a ration book for air travel - everyone is
allotted one trip per year, second trip has a surcharge, third and subsequent
trips have massive surcharges growing to astronomical numbers.
The average person does not fly in a given year. Those that do fly tend to
take no more than one trip. A very small percentage of frequent flyers account
for the bulk of air travel. An explicit rationing system would allow "regular"
people to still fly occasionally and would have huge benefits for cutting air
travel overall while impacting only the frequent flyers. People would be
forced to ask if they REALLY need to fly out to NY for that meeting.
The boosts to the VR/Skype/virtual presence/hologram/conferencing field would
be enormous.
~~~
0xffff2
As a California resident, this reads like a fantasy novel. Sure it would be
great to have high-speed trains linking every city, but we cant' even link the
two biggest cities in California.
Maybe I'm not as typical as I think, but all your proposal has done is cause
me to drive to the one or two conferences I go to each year. Probably not a
win at all since I don't drive and EV.
------
notatoad
The most interesting part of this article to me is that carbon offsets to
cover 12T of CO2 emissions comes out to only $10/month. I've never looked into
personal carbon offsets before, but that seems really cheap.
~~~
staticcaucasian
For less than you might pay for a car, or a year of college, or heck, what you
might put into your 401k for the year, you can offset effectively your entire
life at $16,000. (80y lifespan * 20T/year typical American emissions * $10/ton
current price). I am expecting my first child and I've thought about
registering for carbon offsets in his name instead of a typical baby registry.
Unfortunately of course, that will only do so much, because the growing global
demand for things like air travel, personal car ownership, meat in diets, or
air-conditioning mean the numbers on this chart will start to get uglier:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_di...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissions_per_capita)
------
elif
The safety benefit of removing the concern of fuel fouling will be a
revolution for air travel.
I just hope they don't end up more exposed to bird strike due to bigger more
efficient turbines with more composite components.
------
iandanforth
As a thought experiment if you could produce jet fuel using carbon captured
from the atmosphere (and energy from zero-carbon sources) what other negative
externalities would remain from burning it in planes?
~~~
elihu
I would expect the biggest one to be the opportunity cost of what you could
have done instead with that electricity besides make fuel.
For instance, if, say, converting natural gas heating to electric is a better
use of energy in terms of reducing greenhouse gasses, then maybe we should do
that first.
In the end, a lot of these sorts of proposals depend on cheap renewable
energy, and if we can get enough solar and wind power installed then other
goals become feasible. Fuel production is an interesting case because you can
use surplus energy at times of low demand.
------
frankus
Some air-breathing batteries can apparently roughly match liquid fuels for
specific energy, but they're not rechargeable so much as recyclable, and they
also get heavier as they discharge.
------
clueless123
Doing my part to solve the issue :)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBTZG1qkH5s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBTZG1qkH5s)
~~~
raquo
Hey, nice! What kind of components are you using? Engine, batteries, etc.? Did
you pick those yourself, or borrow the design from an existing system like the
e-help for hang gliders?
~~~
clueless123
Motor: [http://www.freerchobby.cc/](http://www.freerchobby.cc/) 202/80 27
brushless motor with hall sensor
Controller: [https://kellyev.com/shop/khb/](https://kellyev.com/shop/khb/) KHB
- High Power Opto-Isolated Brushless Motor Controller With Regen (72V-144V)
(400A) * must choose high speed option controller to get more than 2000RPM !
Batteries : 6 * CNHL 8000MAH 22.2V 6S 30C LIPO BATTERY Propeller: Wood 49"
Pitch 30
------
JumpCrisscross
What's the advantage of this over using clean energy sources to synthesize jet
fuel?
------
_pmf_
Electricity == low carbon
Not a good starting point for a discussion.
~~~
Robotbeat
It actually is. Super easy to clean the grid; many grids are extremely clean
already.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are your productivity tips to get things done? - wizardofmysore
Share your productivity tips, how you plan your tasks, how you estimate the time it takes etc.. for a single person project
======
itamarst
1\. Know when to ask for help. Figure out task deadline in advance, set a
timeout, ask for help if you haven't made progress in interim. (Longer
version: [https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/12/07/asking-for-
help/](https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/12/07/asking-for-help/))
2\. Understand your goals: why are you doing this task? This will help you
make tradeoffs. Also, try to have multiple goals for a task; this will help
you stay motivated.
3\. Write everything down. This will help you get back to work quickly when
you are forced to context switch.
(Longer version of 2 and 3: [https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/08/03/stay-
focused/](https://codewithoutrules.com/2017/08/03/stay-focused/))
------
eitland
For studies: Variants of the pomodoro technique:
Set a timer, don't do anything except the task you decided on until the timer
finishes.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Hybrid Cars May Include Fake Vroom for Safety - chuck_taylor
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/automobiles/14hybrid.html
======
quant18
_"One possibility is choosing your own noise,” said Nathalie Bauters, a
spokeswoman for BMW’s Mini division._
I sooo look forward to hearing hybrids rolling down the street broadcasting
horrible pop tunes in the form of simulated engine noise.
And of course I also await with bated breath the automobile version of the
Camera Phone Predator Act: [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR00414:@@@L...](http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-
bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR00414:@@@L&summ2=m&);
------
DanielStraight
Or you could just actually pay attention while driving, and, if walking, look
both ways before crossing the street.
When will people realize that responsibility is more important than safety
features? There's a great quote from House: "If you want people to drive
safer, take out the airbag and attach a machete pointed at their neck." No
sane person would ever drive such a vehicle in any way that even resembled
dangerous. No one would likely exceed 5 mph, and no one would be killed in car
accidents (except accidents involving the machetes of course). Almost all car
accidents are preventable. The only ones that aren't are probably those that
involve mechanical failure. If your brakes go out, you're pretty much screwed,
but almost everything else is in your control. You can't control what other
drivers do, but they should be taking responsibility too.
Just the other day, there was a 5 car pileup on the interstate near where I
live. The only way that can possibly happen on a 3 lane interstate is if
someone was following too closely to the person in front of them. Simple rule:
If you aren't at least three seconds behind the person in front of you on the
interstate, you are endangering their life and your own. If everyone was
obeying that simple rule, there is no way the accident would have happened.
Almost all accidents at intersections are either the result of someone not
knowing the rules of right of way or not caring / paying attention. These
accidents are also completely preventable.
~~~
evgen
> Or you could just actually pay attention while driving, and, if walking,
> look both ways before crossing the street.
Yeah, tell that to the blind people who have almost no chance of knowing that
a hybrid car is sitting at a corner waiting to make a left turn...
I do pay attention and watch what is happening around me and the closest I
have ever come to getting hit by a car was when walking through a parking lot
and having a Prius back out of a spot and almost run me over. I had passed the
car and noticed the driver but did not hear an engine noise that normally lets
me know I need to remember that car once I am past it. The driver of the Prius
was not paying attention at all. The only thing that prevented me from getting
hit was the fact that the car cleared the space it was backing out of just as
it tapped my legs and before I realized what had happened they were driving
away.
There is no excuse for a car in motion to be silent. None.
~~~
DanielStraight
Deaf people can't hear cars coming, but that doesn't mean they should have
bright flashing lights which are on all the time. Disabled people can't cross
the street as fast, but that doesn't mean cars should be limited to 5 mph to
ensure they can cross.
Aside from the fact that blind people are a small minority of the population
(blind meaning people who could not tell visually whether a car was on the
road; plenty of people who are legally blind could still make this
distinction), there are already other measures in place to prevent cars from
hitting blind people. Guide animals are available which can see hybrid cars
coming just as well as they can see gasoline-powered cars coming. Signs are
posted as warnings in neighborhoods where blind or deaf children are known to
live.
Furthermore, there are other solutions available. Crossings where this is a
concern can have small grooves cut in the road leading up to the crossing so
ALL cars make noise when coming through (ever hear a car going over a
drawbridge?). It is important to note that crossings where this is a concern
are a subset of all crossings and that crossings make up only a small fraction
of the surface area of the world's road systems. Maybe 1% of road surface is
crossings where blind people need to hear cars coming, but this suggestion
would add noise pollution to 100% of road surface traveled by hybrid or
electric cars.
In your parking lot example, I would add the rule that you should assume every
car with a driver in it is running and preparing to move in much the same way
that you should assume every gun is loaded and treat it as if it were _even if
you know it's not_. Also, I frequently walk behind cars I know to be running.
I am cautious but I am also somewhat relying on the driver seeing me. No
amount of safety measures will stop stupid people (like the driver you
encountered) from being dangerous. A driver can just as easily gun it going
backwards (thus giving people no time to react) in a gasoline car.
Finally, there are edge cases where cars making noise makes them more
dangerous. Noise draws attention. If you're driving through a particularly bad
part of town, you may not want to draw attention. Passing through without
making a sound may increase your safety. If you leave your hybrid running
(accidentally or intentionally) for a short time, a potential thief might not
know it and therefore might not try to steal your car. With a gasoline powered
car, they will always know it. The point is that edge cases are just that:
edge cases.
There is no inherent reason why cars should make noise. None.
~~~
nfnaaron
The traffic and pedestrian system has grown organically into what it is now.
That includes cars that make noise, and that fact is taken into account when
we learn to be pedestrians in the traffic system.
So we have a system with noise as part of an evolved safety system, and now
we're going to randomly sprinkle ninja juggernauts into the mix.
No, cars don't have to make noise. Unless they're going to coexist with the
current system and its users. I certainly don't think municipalities should
have to cut (and maintain) grooves in crossings, and blind people should have
to get dogs when none were needed, merely so cool kids can go "whoosh!"
I'm not blind, but I'm sure going to feel endangered when most cars are silent
and we still mix pedestrians and cars the way we do now.
Not only should cars be required to make noise, but the noise should conform
to traffic safety regulations, similar to how headlights and brakelights must
conform in their way.
Edit: I don't think unregulated "ring tones" should be allowed, but if they
were, man I would feel so cool going down the road as my car cried out "Bring
out your dead! <clang> Bring out your dead! <clang>"
~~~
DanielStraight
You make some good points, but the purpose (if it can even be called that,
since it's more an absence of noise than a presence of silence) of silent cars
is not just so "cool kids can go 'whoosh'". Noise pollution is a serious
problem. Not as serious as transportation system safety, but still serious.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How to (not) have sex in the 600s - tosh
https://twitter.com/erik_kaars/status/1196756091289423875
======
paulddraper
While there are some extras by this bishop, the common taboos around marriage
and sex (no extramarital sex, no homosexuality, no incest, no bestiality, no
public nudity, no polygamy, etc.) appear to be created -- consciously or
otherwise -- to promote reproduction in nuclear families.
No bastards, divorces, single parents, abandoned children, parentless adults,
etc.
Those taboos are the "right" ones, assuming those goals are in fact the
preeminent objectives of human society.
~~~
spamizbad
Or, more likely: Archbishop Theodore was asexual (before we had labels for
such things) so it was effortless for him to label the bulk of the
heterosexual experience as sinful. He thought it was all super gross; just
like how he felt about beastiality and homosexual acts.
How does _not_ cultivating a healthy sexual relationship with your spouse lead
to a nuclear family?
~~~
paulddraper
As I mentioned, Archbishop Theodore himself takes a historically extreme
version of sexual taboos. And a celibate clergy may have something to do with
that.
My points were around the more standard taboos in the list.
> How does not cultivating a healthy sexual relationship with your spouse lead
> to a nuclear family?
Without defining what is or isn't "healthy," Judais/Christianity explicitly
does at least broadly support intramarital children/sex.
"Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and
adulterers God will judge." (Hebrews 13:4)
"God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the
earth and subdue it.'" (Genesis 1:28)
"He which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For
this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife:
and they twain shall be one flesh" (Matthew 19:4)
~~~
yjftsjthsd-h
And, of course, the entire book Song of Solomon:)
------
mcv
While it's certainly interesting to read about an early medieval perspective,
it's important to keep in mind that this is only the perspective from a single
Archbishop. I'm sure many people at the time disagreed with him.
~~~
tralarpa
Maybe, but it kind of became (or already was?) the official position of the
catholic church for many centuries. And many of his rules (mariage,
bestiality, etc.) were supported by the bible.
A theologist once wrote that the concepts of deadly sins and heaven/hell are
one of the most ingenious things anybody has ever invented [+], at least if
you are a ruler. With these concepts the church was able to control people
even until their last moment (their death). No matter how terrible life as a
simple farmer was in the middle ages, who would dare to risk their sweet and
pain-free eternal life in heaven by opposing the king and the pope?
I am wondering whether the interest of the church in controlling the bedrooms
of their sheep was motivated by the same idea: Not allowing any kind of
escape, even temporarily, from hell on earth.
[+] Yes, I know the concepts are older than the catholic church and even
christianity but you have to admit that the catholic church had really an
unhealthy obsession for the afterlife.
~~~
javajosh
> Not allowing any kind of escape, even temporarily, from hell on earth.
It may read like harmful advice now, but I can imagine that "don't fuck too
much" might have been meant well back then (as I believe it is usually meant
well today). Certainly lust has caused much suffering in the world, on scales
large and small, and this looks like a rather ham-fisted attempt to blunt the
worst of effects of lust.
What I find fascinating is that the people would even _permit the Church to
comment_ on such intimate matters and in such agonizing detail. Of all the
myriad human issues dealt with in the Bible, sexual misconduct isn't
particularly important (the one counter example is Jesus mentioning divorce in
his sermon on the mount).
This intersection between religion and sexuality is interesting and someone
should look into it.
~~~
mcv
Restricting sex to strict monogamy would definitely limit the spread of STDs
and prevent some socially disruptive things like a divorce with children,
parents rejecting illegitimate children, etc. Of course in real life none of
that ever actually worked, and things like condoms and economic equality might
work better. Or not. We haven't exactly solved these issues yet.
But yeah, if people actually cared about what Jesus said about anything,
poverty would have been solved a long time ago.
~~~
manifestsilence
I think what you said about condoms highlights a key historical difference.
Throughout most of humanity's moral development, there was no such thing as
protection, against STDs or pregnancy, other than the rhythm method or induced
abortion. Definitely, there was wisdom in limiting the number of partners and
orifices in much of that time.
Edit: which is to say, technology can affect morality and there's a good
reason for these attitudes to change now.
Also, what you said about Jesus and poverty is spot-on. I really wish more
Christians would embrace the truly good and radical parts of Christianity
instead of fixating on arcane moral rules.
------
williamdclt
I'd be very curious to see a timeline of the social acceptability of various
sexual practices: homosexuality, out-of-wedlock sex, bestiality, multiple
partners at once...
About homosexuality for example, my naive vision is that it was "not OK" until
very recently. Which is very certainly completely wrong.
It also depends a lot on the part of the world obviously
~~~
ajsnigrutin
> About homosexuality for example, my naive vision is that it was "not OK"
> until very recently
Well... it was not "OK" until recently for some time. But was "OK" for some
time before that. Atleast in some places... well.. atleast ancient greeks and
romans didn't seem to care about that.
~~~
1_player
After a little more than a 1000 years we've almost reverted to the sexual
freedom of the Roman Empire. Sex work and decorating your living room with
well endowed gods of fertility is still frowned upon in most of the world.
In fact, in some countries gore is more acceptable than female breasts.
~~~
DiffEq
The sexual freedom of the Romans of the Roman Empire did not exist in the
Romans that BUILT that Roman empire. They were, although the same blood,
different peoples. Just as the founders of our nations and we today are
different peoples. The same pretty much with every Empire that has come and
gone including the Greeks.
~~~
thaumasiotes
> The sexual freedom of the Romans of the Roman Empire did not exist in the
> Romans that BUILT that Roman empire. They were, although the same blood,
> different peoples.
Not exactly the same blood; the Empire included a lot of territory outside
Italy. Imperial Rome itself received a lot of population from foreign
territories (it was an important place!), especially the East where most of
the population was.
The rural Italians near Rome were more or less the same during the Empire as
they were during the building process.
------
Smithalicious
Most of these are pretty understandable if you consider it sinful to do things
solely for the purpose of pleasure. They're an extreme interpretation of a
pretty common idea.
------
agumonkey
After some personal experience, I ended up feeling quite a bit like most of
the morality demonstrated in this thread. I'm extremely curious if anyone
knows about explanations of Christian views on sexuality (by that I mean
paragraphs retracings roots of their doctrine, rather than conclusion and
judgement).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Adventures in Narrated Reality (2016) - hownottowrite
https://medium.com/artists-and-machine-intelligence/adventures-in-narrated-reality-6516ff395ba3
======
jbattle
I got about 3000 words in and lost interest but I will say this - I always
wonder with posts like this whether you are seeing examples that are
representative or cherry-picked. I assume the latter.
Which implies that we are reading about what _humans_ select, not what the
machine learning is selecting, artificially enhancing how interesting the
output of these algorithms really is.
~~~
norlys
That's actually a point the author makes - he sees an AI as a tool for the
artist, not as an creative subject on its own. I found it highly interesting
to read about a writer's perspective on text producing AIs. Especially the
part where its output suddenly was "I don't know what you want me to do". Part
2 - where he presents a sci-fi short film with a plot written by AI - is also
a interesting read.
------
lmm
> Unfortunately, I’ve had trouble making it say anything interesting about
> language, as it prefers to rattle on and on about the U.S. and Israel and
> Palestine.
And the simulated version shares the same problem?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Samsung data center fire causes outage, errors on smart TVs and phones - lelf
http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/20/samsung-com-outage-sds-fire/
======
PhantomGremlin
Holy crap.
That video is scary. I didn't know that "modern" office buildings could burn
like that.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Java Aerodynamics Toolkit (JAT) - sgt
http://opensource.gsfc.nasa.gov/projects/JAT/
======
heykjo
Astrodynamics, not Aerodynamics
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tech’s Other Diversity Problem - hellogoodbye
https://medium.com/the-ascent/techs-other-diversity-problem-ef45b9dd23b8
======
Tomte
That's interesting, because I think my employers (all in Germany) were pretty
typical insofar as most of the people in HR were women. And I think that's
normal in German companies. Is it really so different in America?
~~~
sterkekoffie
I think you misread the article. The author is saying that HR is female-
dominated and gives the example of a team she was on which was entirely women.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Coder and the Dictator - veza
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/20/technology/venezuela-petro-cryptocurrency.html
======
notlukesky
Funny how NYTimes calls the elected leader - despised by Trump et al - as a
dictator.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Venezuelan_presidential_e...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Venezuelan_presidential_election)
And how when there was a coup in Bolivia they said Morales resigned:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Bolivian_political_crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019_Bolivian_political_crisis)
At least on foreign policy regime change Trump and the NYTimes are on the same
page.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Emoto – AI Robotic Sidekick Concept - gtm1260
http://emotoai.com
======
sharemywin
That was kinda creepy. I'm not sure I want my phone to awaken and have eyes
looking at me.
~~~
sharemywin
The platform itself was kinda cool but does it charge my phone while it's
moving it around.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Bootstrap for Native iOS Apps - pcolton
http://www.pixate.com/bootstrap/index.html
======
bsaul
How far are you planning to go in your support for css properties ? css
animations/transitions ? Positionning (top, left, right) ? There are a lot of
similarities, but by going very far you may end up rewriting a lot of the
storyboard xml in a css format... Then maybe later on, you'll want a WYSIWYG
css editor on top of it, and i'm a bit wondering whether you won't have ended
up rewriting absolutely everything.
From my personal opinion, CSS is nice the first 10 minutes, or whenever you
only have a few element to style, but styling a complete app along with
animations between states makes you really want to stay away from it as far as
possible for mobile apps (and especially ios where resolutions are quite
standard)...
~~~
bennyg
I'm with you about CSS. It seems the target market of this app is geared
towards Web->iOS devs, but that seems like a smaller slice than something like
"Bootstrap for iOS" should be made to do. Bootstrap is great because it makes
web development so much easier through native uses. It doesn't add another
language paradigm to make web development easier - it does it inherently.
1) If you're gonna' call it "Bootstrap for iOS", have the analogy end there.
The site is way, way, way too much like Bootstrap already. Brand it better.
2) Good native code should be inherent! Nobody should have to learn CSS to
make better iOS apps! A beginner should have a framework for her/him that
allows something easy like [view fadeIn] and it work. Then, if they want a
little more control something like [view fadeInOverTime:seconds]. Adding a
shadow should be as easy as [view addShadow] or [view
addShadowWithCornerRadius:radius]. Rounding corners is already extremely easy
using QuartzCore, but let's make it even more intuitive for people. [view
roundCorners] and then [view roundCornersWithRadius:radius]. The whole point
is to make development exponentially easier for anybody to come in and start
making useful, beautiful things.
I'm working on a class to include that does all of point #2 plus a ton more -
and seeing this post will probably be the catalyst to releasing it this
weekend. I have a huge plan in the works for making extremely easy to use UI
elements as well, but I think open sourcing this in chunks, then releasing the
whole thing as an example on how they all work together is gonna' be the route
I go. So far, I've released one part of the project that makes choosing good
colors to use in the app a breeze (<https://github.com/bennyguitar/Colours-
for-iOS>). The next one will be for UI utilities like the fade in and shadow
code mentioned above.
~~~
nmcfarl
Coming to Cocoa dev from the web all of the direct manipulation in objective C
of styling seems like mayhem. I’m not very far in, but already the giant
amount of searching and replacing required to change all the corner radii in
an app is crazy.
For me it seems obvious that this stuff should be /declared/ in one place,
with all other styling mechanism, not littered through dozens of classes that
are primarily interested in getting things done, not looking pretty.
Of course I’m a new at this - and everyone seems to think the other way is
better… So maybe I’ll come around with time, but right now Pixate seems like a
great idea.
~~~
bsaul
Beginner often tend to underuse storyboards. Except for fadein/fadeout and
views being moved you really never end up coding styles in Obj-c. It's all
done graphically using xcode and interface builder. Rounding corners is very
often not necessary at all, since you end up using images all the time for
buttons and backgrounds.
~~~
ofacup
ever worked with git and storyboards? quite the disaster once you're more than
the sole developer
~~~
bennyg
Exactly. Plus storyboards tend to lock you in, and moving around and
constantly iterating to better and better nav schemes kind of goes out the
window.
------
ultimoo
This is a great product.
First there was the native client era on desktops that involved twiddling
around with swt, gtk, qt and windows programming.
Then came the advent of webapps with more uniform abstractions of client side
js frameworks and css3 and dozens of toolkits and decorators around these.
Then came the mobile era with a new breed of native v/s web applications.
Nowadays, the general opinion I hear is that no one really likes webapps on
mobiles. But we as a community actively are trying to port over the
abstractions of css/js frameworks to native mobile so that developers can
continue being comfortable while programming devices that function at the whim
of Apple and Google.
I wish there were a timeline of sorts of all the paradigm shifts that
programming user experiences has undergone over the last decade.
~~~
FuzzyDunlop
I think it's a shame that something as as unambiguous and nice to work with
as, say, the Cocoa framework and MVC (using that example because of
familiarity), was available for us web developers without trying to shoehorn
it into javascript and the browser environment.
Having had a taste of native app development, it makes client side web
development comparatively frustrating. We're continuously getting new features
but little in the way of a more satisfying environment that can help bring all
these parts together.
~~~
pjmlp
This is what makes me nowadays prefer work on native every time I am given the
opportunity to do so.
Too many crazy web projects trying to shoehorn the desktop experience into the
browser in a way that has to work the same across multiple browsers and
operating systems, which leads to CSS/HTML/JavaScript hacks everywhere, with
some customers discussing designs down to the pixel level.
------
pifflesnort
Trying to turn native apps into template-styled web apps is just backwards;
you're discarding the fine attention to detail, typography, pixel-positioning,
scaling animations, etc, that can make native apps so great.
~~~
pcolton
This isn't an all-or-none situation. You lose none of the fidelity of native
development, it's just an abstraction of code to markup. It's all natively
executed using native APIs. Typography, absolute pixel postions, animation,
and much more is all there.
------
tsunamifury
Quite a few things confuse me here:
How is a system based on CSS stylesheet native?
Why is it 1500 dollars per day to do what seems to be templated app
development -- many other companies offer this at far far lower rates (think
50 dollars or less for a complete app).
Why only iOS? The purpose of templated distribution is to reach a wider
audience, not a narrower one.
~~~
pcolton
Pixate Engine is a native framework for iOS (and Android soon) for styling
your native controls using the CSS syntax. There's no web here other than the
shared syntax of CSS. For example, to style a native UIButton:
button { border-radius: 5px; background-color: red; }
Think of it as declarative markup for styling native controls.
------
leviathan
Is it just me or is it a bit ironic that an iOS related website doesn't work
well on iPhone? All the screenshots o out of the screen, and you can't zoom
out or pan to see them.
~~~
pcolton
Fixed. ;-)
------
firlefans
Any performance benchmarks of Pixate vs procedural code or vs similar DSLs,
e.g. Teacup, Formation in Rubymotion?
------
mcintyre1994
I'm not a developer (or user) on iOS, but does it not have a similar design
scheme for apps to Android (since ICS at least)? Would an app that looks like
bootstrap fit in at all, and indeed would Apple even allow an app that
resembles Bootstrap instead of its own design guidelines?
~~~
pcolton
Bootstrap is totally configurable, we're just showing the default styling. In
terms of Apple allowing alternate designs, I think they encourage it, just
look at Garage Band ;-).
~~~
mcintyre1994
Of course, but if there was a standardised sort of style used by most
applications, then recreating it using Bootstrap would seem like a lot of
effort for little benefit. If there isn't much of a standard style, then this
is really neat - that just seemed like an odd situation to me. My impression
was that there would be a style, and Apple would enforce it, but it's great if
that's not true. And fair enough, googling for Garage Band iPad..it looks
unique.
------
bennyg
I still think CSS is one step away from making something awesome for
developers of all flavors (from not developing at all to extremely competent
in other languages) to make native apps even easier to code. I'm working on a
more natural language version for iOS right now.
------
mkhalil
[Stripped-Down Non-Free Version of] Bootsrap for Native iOS Apps.
~~~
pcolton
It's free and open, and will work with our free engine. In its current beta
form, we wanted our commercial customers to have a crack at it first.
~~~
joeblau
I think the "Buy Pixate" is what he's referring to.
~~~
pcolton
Clarified on the site, thanks.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Amazon and Google Start a Price War Over the Future of the Internet? - nirkalimi
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/what-happens-when-amazon-and-google-go-to-war.html?utm_content=buffere1fb0&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
======
amits89
Cloud is the future, as they are being part of smartphone, tablet and many
more services. Company like Amazon, Google and Microsoft have reduced the
price of their cloud services just to remain in competition. Microsoft is
aggressive in cloud business thanks to the new CEO.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Once a somebody, now a nobody: Starcraft 2 has destroyed my life - voidnothings
http://www.olganon.org/?q=node/27012
======
tomku
As somebody who went through nearly the exact same experience with a different
game several years ago, it's really disappointing (and unhelpful) to see so
much emphasis put on the game. Starcraft 2 didn't destroy his life, his lack
of self-control did. There are millions of people playing Starcraft 2
worldwide who did not do what he did. Taking action to overcome the Starcraft
addiction is a good first step, but it won't do him any good if he lapses into
addictive behavior in another aspect of his life.
It sounds like the poster is a really motivated guy, and lionhearted is
correct in his sibling post here that that can be a strong force for
productivity if you can master it. I really hope that Tom manages to do so,
because at 21, he's got his whole (non-destroyed) life ahead of him. Losing
two years to an addiction is a big deal, but it's something you can overcome
and possibly even come out stronger from.
Edit: Since I talked a little bit about my own circumstances in a reply, I
might as well go into detail here, particularly since it looks like the actual
linked post might be a lie/exaggeration. I played Final Fantasy XI (an MMO,
unlike most games in the series) from the fall of 2004 until the fall of 2009,
and World of Warcraft from then until January of 2011.
During that time, my life outside of the game basically stopped. I dropped out
of college, I moved back in with my parents, I stopped programming and
reading, which were my main interests before the MMOs came along. For a few of
the years in the middle I didn't work or even really leave the house.
Eventually I got pushed out because my parents knew that what I was doing
wasn't a healthy lifestyle, but I did just enough to adapt and got a job an an
apartment and continued gaming.
What pushed me to quitting wasn't any sudden realization, but just a slow-
building frustration with the whole idea of MMORPGs. Eventually it hit
critical mass and I quit FFXI, thinking that the problem was just that I
needed a better game. A year of WoW convinced me otherwise, and I've been
putting my life back together since then. I (obviously) don't mind talking
about it now, and I'd be glad to answer questions if anyone has them.
~~~
dredmorbius
You could make the same argument that a lack of self-control destroys the
lives of heroin addicts.
That self-control is based, however, on biological and physiological pathways.
Dopamine receptors, and anomalies with the dopamine system, in particular, can
leave people vulnerable to various addictive habits:
[http://www.people.co.uk/lifestyle/real-life/2010/10/03/ms-
tu...](http://www.people.co.uk/lifestyle/real-life/2010/10/03/ms-turned-me-
into-a-compulsive-gambler-102039-22603246/)
~~~
potatolicious
The difference between Starcraft and heroin is that the _vast_ majority of
Starcraft users do not become addicts. In fact, only a _very, very_ small
portion of users do - heroin has no claims to the same.
This also brings social gaming in as a concern - what is the moral stance on
games what have been _specifically and deliberately_ engineered with said
biological and psychological pathways in mind, with addiction as an intended
outcome as opposed to an accidental and marginal one?
~~~
CarlTheAwesome
It's morally wrong to trick someone biological and psychological in order for
them to play games in order to generate income for a game company. But I think
there's a way to balance between making users like the game thus generate
income for the company and making users biologically and psychologically rely
on the game.
~~~
dromidas
In the end, is there really any difference between making a game that is fun
and a game that is addicting? I really don't think there is even if they went
in with the idea of "lets make this game addicting".
I've never once seen a game that is not fun, but is addicting. Although my
friends have said Master of Orion 3 fits that description, but I never
actually saw them ever play it so I think it was a joke.
~~~
Too
There's a great talk about this from some guy at Digital Illusions. He found
some definition of what a "game" is and compared that definition with
Farmville, it failed on every single bullet. I can't remember the exact
details but it contained things like it has to be challenging, a skilled
player should easily beat a newbie, not requiring grinding. What's interesting
is that the definitions are not designed with the sole purpose of bashing
farmville, all of them really make sense and origin from even before computer
era.
_If somebody knows where to find the talk please post it, my google-fu is
weak today. He also compares the iphone to a swiss army knife and the ipad to
a "swiss-army-kitchen-utensil" (i.e too bad to be really useful and too big to
fit in your pocket). The talk was just a few weeks after the first ipad
release. It also contains alot of other talk about the future of gaming for
the general masses, facebook games and gaming anything in life(like shopping),
etc. If that's enough to trigger anyones memory._
~~~
otisfunkmeyer
Jesse Schell at DICE. No Google-fu required. I just know that talk inside and
out.
------
luu
This article has a lot of things which sound fake. Here's one:
_I was 6'2'', 168 lbs, 1% body fat_
When I was climbing competitively, I once had my bodyfat measured (by DEXA) as
just under 3%. For climbing, pretty much any weight (even most muscle) is just
dead weight, so climbers are as skinny and lean as any athletes out there, and
I only very rarely ran into people as lean as me.
I've known a lot of bodybuilders and wrestlers, and even there, it's rare to
see people below 3%, and I've never heard of anyone who's tested below 2%
bodyfat. 1%? I won't say that it's impossible, but to be alive and functioning
at that level would require you to be a genetic freak on the same level as
Lance Armstrong or Michael Phelps.
~~~
pixelbath
This was my main problem with the article. While it's well-written, it has
many details that (on the face) seem way too contrived.
_My friends even looked up to me, as they are monks who train Taoist Wudang
Kung Fu in southwestern China. At one point I became a monk by my own right,
and I was looked to for even spiritual advice._
So you're such a badass that monks that train others in Kung Fu looked up to
you at 18 years old? They also made you a monk and decided you were
enlightened enough to give spiritual advice, despite the fact that you have
very obviously poor impulse control?
_I tried being a drywaller, and a welder twice._
Why didn't you try doing what you spent all that time in southeast Asia
learning, and start doing martial arts professionally? You could be a martial
arts instructor, stunt man, or any other profession that hires badasses of
this caliber.
Also, "being a welder" isn't something you just jump into without previous
experience and/or equipment.
This whole thing feels made up for sympathy. Apologies if you're telling the
entire truth, Tom.
~~~
hosh
>> _My friends even looked up to me, as they are monks who train Taoist Wudang
Kung Fu in southwestern China. At one point I became a monk by my own right,
and I was looked to for even spiritual advice._
> _So you're such a badass that monks that train others in Kung Fu looked up
> to you at 18 years old? They also made you a monk and decided you were
> enlightened enough to give spiritual advice, despite the fact that you have
> very obviously poor impulse control?_
That is not as incredible as it seems. You can see his addictive and
competitive personality in the martial arts training. I know people like that
in the martial arts world.
Sometimes, in the East, you're promoted beyond your skill and competency in
order to encourage you to grow into the role. If his teachers are genuine,
they would have recognized his addictive personality to begin with. What's
even funnier and sad is that, they would have accepted his shame in going a
little crazy. It is surviving and healing from this that will allow him more
empathy as his role as a monk in the future.
You're also making a very common mistake that seems to pop up in America,
these strange notions about enlightenment and giving spiritual advice.
> _Why didn't you try doing what you spent all that time in southeast Asia
> learning, and start doing martial arts professionally? You could be a
> martial arts instructor, stunt man, or any other profession that hires
> badasses of this caliber._
That's the same thing as jumping into the UFC. I feel the same way, and have
avoided teaching, let alone doing stunts or getting paid to inflict violence
and death. If he were as obsessed about Buddhism in his teenage years as he
was to games and martial arts training (likely), then these professions would
not have appealed to him.
Anyways, the post is to Gamers Online Anonymous. I'm glad there's such an
organization out there. I doubt this guy wrote it gain sympathy from you
specifically. Maybe the post is for sympathy, maybe it isn't. It doesn't
matter, because the addiction is real.
------
lionhearted
Sounds like he has the "rage to master" personality trait... very conducive to
hardcore training and mastery in something like martial arts or a craft skill,
or a discipline... also conducive to addiction or getting "way too into"
hedonistic pursuits.
I've got it too, and have made insane/amazing progress and gotten quite good
at some skills, crafts, and disciplines in fast time. I've also burned many
hours on something like Civilization IV or playing lots of Chess. It's a mixed
bag.
I wrote about it here --
[http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/advice-if-youve-got-the-
rag...](http://www.sebastianmarshall.com/advice-if-youve-got-the-rage-to-
master-personality-trait)
Definitely worth reading if you've got the same personality mix.
~~~
awef
I've never heard of the term 'rage to master' but I've been told this
behaviour is common in people with Aspergers Syndrome. Intense interests which
takes priority in life only to be substituted with something else weeks,
months or a couple of years down the line.
Maybe you can shed some more light on the 'rage to master' personality trait
you're talking about?
~~~
lionhearted
Ellen Winner coined the term in the book "Gifted Children: Myths And
Realities" --
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465017592/ref=as_li_ss_tl?...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0465017592/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0465017592&linkCode=as2&tag=sebastianmcom-20)
I'm not able to find the definitive research paper on it right now which was
titled "The Origins and Ends of Giftedness," but here's one on the trait in
the visual arts which should give you an idea --
<https://www2.bc.edu/~winner/pdf/talent_in_visual_arts.pdf>
Despite the term being catchy/interesting, most of the literature on it is
very academic and somewhat dry. It probably makes for poor curiosity reading,
but it's _supremely valuable_ to dig through the academic papers if you have
the trait yourself or you're a parent/guardian/teacher of someone who does.
~~~
awef
Seeing as I have yet to read up on the matter I can't say that I do or do not
have the trait myself. But from the little that I've come to understand I'd
say it's highly plausible.
I'll continue to look into it, I find awareness of oneself's personality of
highest importance and I always strive to learn more about why I do the things
I do.
------
Claudus
It seems like he was already screwing up his life pretty well before SC2 was
released:
"Fast forward to summer '10. By now I had moved out of three apartments with
my friends. I lost three jobs. I tried being a drywaller, and a welder twice.
In between my friends and I would do odd-jobs that lasted a week at a time
then would get paid one large sum, then blow it all on alcohol and marijuana.
Living literally off of pickle juice, beer, bread once in a while, redbull,
and cigarettes, we found ourselves wasting our days away on the Xbox with
nothing else to do but wait for a job. Finally, I had to move back into my
mother's house (a big time alcholic, who is seperated 15 years now from my
father, a raging, abusive in every way alcholic) _and that's where I took the
deep plunge into hellish unconciousness._
Waiting eagerly for years for the realease of Starcraft 2 I waited in line 2
hours at 2:00 am for the special release...."
~~~
klochner
I'm pretty sure the whole thing is a fabrication - the details all sound like
what you hear from a bad liar:
- 1% body fat
- ran 12 miles and got bored (so he walked home??)
- 20 one-handed push-ups on either side (but only 100 combined??)
- became a monk
- shrank an inch in a year do to inactivity
~~~
LoganCale
24 miles in a day is a long day but feasible. I've done 18 miles walking,
starting mid-morning and ending early afternoon. Running one way would shorten
the time needed (though would also cause faster exhaustion, I presume).
The other sounds less likely...
~~~
agscala
I think the silly part is why would you run 12 miles, get bored, and then WALK
home? Shouldn't you just run home?
~~~
icegreentea
Nah, sometimes you just don't want to run anymore. I've definitely done 10k
runs, and just stop and look for a bus home. It's not even that you're too
tired to run (though that plays a role). Some people can just keep running as
long as they keep in the flow. When you lose it, running quickly becomes
boring.
------
justjimmy
I can relate to the OP in certain parts – though some bits do sound odd. (Like
the mentioned 1% and being a top monk.)
When SC2 was released, I got into it big time as well. I know I have an
addictive personality (if given the right method and circumstance), but I
didn't know the term 'rage to master' I'll have to look it up.
Anyway, I slept and breath SC2. I knew it was going to get me in trouble, I
had no delusions of going Pro, but I just wanted to be good. I hated the
feeling of losing to cheese tactics and winnings games, surprisingly, only
gave me a mild high. If I won, I wanted to be a legit win. SC2 to me is chess
on steroids. I'd kept playing no matter if I won or lost.
I was aware of my personality flaw so I gave myself a goal – Plat #1 on my
division and I'm done. So I reached the goal and immediately quit the ladder
game. My ability to do this made me doubt if I really had an addictive
personality. I find myself going through the same process for other games such
as WoW and D3 – aim for the highest (reasonable) goal, 'prove' something to
myself and be done.
It's really unfortunate, since I rarely play games for the sake of 'fun'
anymore (any online game bring out the competitiveness in me.) Just like the
Matrix guy, I don't see them as games anymore, I see them as ways to min/max,
look for exploits, efficiency, risks vs rewards, mathematical equations.
~~~
ismyrnow
"... I don't see them as games anymore, I see them as ways to min/max, look
for exploits, efficiency, risks vs rewards, mathematical equations."
I was talking with a fellow gamer, and we both made the same observation about
playing video games at an above-casual level. I realized (when playing Skyrim)
that I was focusing so hard on being as efficient and successful as possible,
that I wasn't really enjoying myself anymore.
I've since been making an effort to play games more casually. I can still be
competitive, but if playing games feels like a chore, I'm doing it wrong.
------
picklefish
This sounds so fake :/ There are certainly video game addicts out there, it's
a serious problem in korea and china, but I think this is a troll and/or
pathological liar.
~~~
JonnieCache
I do know what you mean. All that stuff about becoming a monk was curiously
non-specific. Still, we should assume good faith here: we stand to gain
nothing by making accusations.
------
jboggan
I think video games can become extremely addicting to a certain
mental/psychological cross-section that is highly represented on Hacker News.
While most drugs have a cycle of reward and withdrawal video games have that
in very small sustainable bursts but connected to the act of being clever. We
like being clever for its own sake but we really enjoy it when we use it to
defeat or conquer something, no matter how synthetic and abstract. Do you feel
any different zergrushing an unprepared base or finally getting that Clojure
script to run correctly? I really don't, and I've had to remind myself over
the years to focus my endeavors towards productive learning even if the
rewards come a little more slowly and are harder to get.
It's great that he posted this though. He'll be able to come back and read it
over and over - and hopefully it will help him begin to take responsibility
for his life and what he can do to change it.
------
ericcholis
Bit of personal insight here, I have anger issues that may border on bi-polar.
I've never attempted a diagnosis or treatment, I just try to maintain a cool
head. Most of the time I'm rational and level headed. However, there are
certain triggers that just make me snap, completely flipping my personality.
On more than one occasion, Starcraft 2 was one of those triggers. It only
occurred after long heated anonymous matches that I lost, never during single
player or with friends. I shelved Starcraft 2 shortly after a bad outburst
where I broke the door of my wooden keyboard tray.
If I had to guess, the intense focus I was putting into Starcraft broke my
normal awareness of my emotions. Thus, loosing control when I was defeated.
~~~
JonnieCache
Going from normal to angry is not "flipping" your personality. It's called
bipolar for a reason: there are two poles, equidistant from a center. It's
also called manic depression: when you're not depressed you're often high as
fuck.
What you described is called "getting really angry and losing your shit." It
happens to pretty much everyone.
EDIT: I probably should have written that like less of an asshole. Sorry - I'm
not here to deny your problems. The point still stands though.
~~~
ericcholis
Perhaps I chose the word bipolar incorrectly, but it's the closest word that
describes the situations I've encountered with my anger.
I guess the feeling is hard to describe; "getting really angry and losing your
shit." doesn't cover it at all, especially in the situations I can remember.
Everybody looses their cool, this is way beyond that for me. The situations
where it's come up wouldn't constitute the level of rage I've felt.
~~~
JonnieCache
There is a continuum between losing your shit, like normal people do, and
having a full blown behavioural disorder that destroys your life. We all lie
somewhere on it. There's probably another continuum that goes off in the other
direction, with jesus hanging out on the end with master joshu or something.
If you need to put a label on yourself, intermittent explosive disorder or
something is likely closer than bipolar.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermittent_explosive_disorder>
There really is no reason to pathologize your behaviour unless you want to
seek treatment though. There's a lot of shite in the DSM.
------
antman
I totally understand. Totally. This is a dangerous path taken, but it could
happen for everyday things. Having the inner pressure to do things when things
dont need to be done only to avoid feeling stale.
I was better than anyone I knew in my job and I kept studying edge cases of my
profession that I would never need. Soon my job became too easy. I would spend
time studying professioms related to mine only in case I come up with
something useful. Make no mistake this was not workaholism since it had
nothing to do with my day to day work except in very rare circumstances. I
also know that this is personally unproductive since I work as a manager and I
can tell mismanagement of resources I mile away. I am very strict
unfortunately only on everybody else but me. I read issue queues and follow
forums for open source projects for thing I will never use. Same thing goes
for stackoverflow for a series of languages. I have studied history books,
correlating things on various books and sources and historical archives.
Attempting to put everything in an elasticsearch cluster for better fulltext
search. To what end, I don't know. My spouse has gotten used to this but my
friends seem to have changed during the years. I have no long term goals and
many things I learned I won't use. Since my addictions are not fun related
they just look like hobbies. The problem is they add up to many hours a day.
I would not call it rage to succeed, I would call it inability to stand still
mentally.
------
neutronicus
> I'm afraid to leave the house to be seen; I don't even want to see my
> friends anymore. All I want to do is sleep because I'm so ashamed of what
> I've become it's painful to be awake and have to think about it all.
God, do I know this feeling. I don't know if I would have gotten away from it
without friends and family.
------
alberich
This is bizarre, really. You known, while being addicted to something may be a
big problem, the OP sounds much more depressed than addicted. Come one, 21
years old and his life is destroyed? how come? He even has money for beer and
cigarretes? The guy should take a walk into some hospital to watch people that
are screwed up really bad, both physically and mentally.
And I don't mean to be moralist, even if I sound like one. The main problem is
that he must get up and decide to change his life, see that he is a perfectly
normal young guy. If he can't quit playing by himself, why don't he look for
help? A psychologist or even a psychiatrist may be of great help, but they
sure wont come to his home from out of nowhere.
~~~
tankbot
You do realize that obsessive/addictive personalities and depression go hand
in hand right?
~~~
alberich
Sure, and I'm also aware that there is cure for this, but you must go for it.
If this story is real, I hope that now that he is aware that he is troubled,
he will seek professional help.
------
jwwest
The poster has what my mother always called an 'addictive' personality. It's
both a benevolent and malevolent trait to have. I'm sure most professional
athletes or anyone that 'masters' something to any sort of extreme has to have
this sort of trait to stay intrinsically motivated.
I am disappointed to see people blaming 'this or that game' for their
problems. Personally these types of folks need help and a good safety net of
friends and family to point out what's truly happening instead of being
surrounded by those with the same issues. Unfortunately it sounds like this
guy had none of the former and plenty of the latter.
------
coryl
Definitely a troll, this was the tell (where he refers to the UFC/combat
fighting): "those institutions are false and insulting to real martial
artists. The people who take place in them worship violent demagogues."
Funny.
~~~
mindcrime
I dunno... I could see the heads of some traditional McDojo type TKD or Karate
schools trying to promote thinking like that. I think they realize that most
of the world has moved on and recognized MMA / hybrid training as more
effective for actual combat, so they might try to reposition themselves by
trying to paint MMA as wanton violence.
Heck, some of them might actually _believe_ that their stuff is superior to
MMA, based on some woo aspect or other. :-)
------
gersh
Would it be possible to make a nicotine patch for Starcraft 2? How about a
less addictive version to wean yourself off it. Maybe, you switch to Starcraft
I, and then Warcraft. How about messing up the resolution, or having a slow
internet connection with lag? What if you have a computer that cheats for you?
What would it take to make such a thing? Is it possible? Exactly what elements
of Starcraft make it addictive? Would it be possible to make a similar but
less addictive version?
------
malkia
Should I feel terrible now?
I work in the team, making one of the the best selling fps games.
Then again I don't like playing fps games, I'm just supporting tools code.
I don't like multiplayer games at all, especially mmorpgs ones. I do love hot-
seat multiplayer games like Heroes of Might and Magic - it's great fun. People
in the same room, taking turns, and in the mean time having laugh and jokes
(and smelly clothes, also a bit drunk after 24hr marathons)
For single player - old quest games, and JRPGs took many hours of my life...
~~~
AznHisoka
No, it is not your responsibility if people have no self control and abuse the
game. Just like if you work in McDonalds and someone keeps eating there
everyday.
------
digitalpacman
If anything this story has nothing to do with SC2, and all the fact that this
guy is a depressed addict. Anything would do, he just chose video games.
------
dinkumthinkum
I find this story pretty hard to believe. It might, I guess it might be true,
but it seems a bit fanciful. For sure, even if only partly, this person
clearly has major problems with balancing things. But the Kung Fu master part
seems a incredulous to me. In the story, we go straight from being one of the
greatest monks the Wu Tang Clan has ever seen to ... doing drywall odd jobs
for money to buy weed and beer ... seems like something is missing there. Then
there's the bit of moving out into the wilderness, resuming this big regime of
training. I just don't know about that.
IANAP (psychologist), but I would say probably this person has a big problem
with video games, but more specifically impulses and I would venture to guess
possibly a hard time distinguishing reality from fantasy. Probably, the
inability to distinguish reality from fantasy is one of the bigger problems
here and then addiction. It's good that this person seems to want help, get
out of the hole. I think it will definitely take professional help; there's
more going on here than just playing Starcraft 2 too much.
------
ericz
Guys this is obviously fake.
------
TheMagicHorsey
Believe it or not, even learning can become addictive. I know a lot of people
that have an addiction to learning new technologies, but they never actually
build anything. The pleasure of learning new things is what they crave. They
learn something, then they go learn something else, then something else.
Sometimes they get two or three degrees in unrelated fields. It gives them a
false sense of productivity. In the end its like playing Starcraft. It does
not lead to any output. Just firing of neurons within their brains.
~~~
nostrademons
Accomplishment can also become addictive. That's why they call it workaholism.
Usually these things result from a misfiring in the brain. Some are more
impressive to the outside world than others, but none of them really satisfy
the person.
------
Tichy
Videogames are harder to quit than drugs? What has he been smoking?
~~~
jseliger
I lost a lot of seventh and eighth grades to video games, and the final
departure from them entailed smashing Starcraft 1 and Brood War CDs in my
driveway, in front of my friends, who were telling me "not to waste the CDs."
But I needed to do something cathartic, and in my case smashing the discs
helped me go cold-turkey.
I wrote about it a little bit more here:
[https://jseliger.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/from-the-
departmen...](https://jseliger.wordpress.com/2011/09/04/from-the-department-
of-no-shit-technology-and-computers-are-not-a-silver-bullets-for-education) .
~~~
Tichy
I guess there is still a chance that playing those games gained you some super
powers, similar to Karate Kid washing the cars.
There are also a lot of ways to waste time. Few people seem to make good use
of it, so perhaps again it is not really Computer Games that are to blame?
~~~
onli
Who didn't lose a lot of time on 7th and 8th grade to something? That age is
defined by being a lost time for the most of us.
~~~
jseliger
I think a lot of people were playing sports, or practicing an instrument, or
learning how to deal with the opposite sex (or maybe even the same sex), or
reading. . . all of them, to me, more viable activities than Starcraft, at
least at the level I played.
------
DavidAdams
A friend of mine was just as bad of a game addict when it drove him to drop
out of graduate school and become a deadbeat. He's now a successful game
designer at Blizzard.
------
kenster07
I would bet on contrived.
------
kmfrk
I find that videogames fill a void more than they create it.
Spending too much time on them seems more like an effect than a cause.
------
benhoskins
I haven't played StarCraft 2 yet. Wow; is it really that good? Think I might
go buy a copy today.
------
mikemoka
it would be very interesting to know how is he doing now (since a year has
passed, as you can see the post linked is from 2011) and why he didn't try to
teach martial arts professionally
------
joeblau
What league are you in? I hope GM!
------
drivebyacct2
I am very thankful that I don't have a too terribly addictive personality. At
worst, I'm addicted to "the Internet", but only in the sense that I'd rather
be reading Hacker News or programming a side project than hiking or sitting on
my ass watching TV.
That having been said, I have a handful of friends or acquaintances that have
problems with addiction. Each of them ruined their college experience with a
combination of: drinking, pot, alcohol and finally Adderall (to fix their
attention, but ultimately fueling alcoholic-ish binges).
It's terribly sad because I'm an excellent student who spent basically three
years straight getting high after classes and homework and continued to work
on my github projects. Stopped when I moved away for an internship cold turkey
and had a headache for a few hours and then was back to normal.
I hope that we can learn how to screen for these things or provide better
treatments for people that get addicted to those sorts of psychological
releases. Video games are a nice way for me to relax and I've been known to
have a four hour binge with a bottle of wine on a Friday night, but I can't
imagine literally losing control of my life.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Mundie sees rise of tablets, 'room computer' - ilamont
http://www.thestandard.com/news/2009/04/22/microsoft-executive-sees-rise-tablets-room-computer
======
trickjarrett
Link not working for me. Is it working for anyone else?
~~~
tvon
No, it bounces between www.thestandard... and m.thestandard... _shrug_
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Enhanced Primitive Support for Clojure - alrex021
https://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/clojure/Enhanced_Primitive_Support
======
zephjc
Definitely good for performance, but this is getting a little line-noisy:
(defn ^:static fib ^long [^long n]
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Inside the MSF Hospital in Kunduz - vinnyglennon
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/10/13/inside-msf-hospital-kunduz-afghanistan-taliban-us-attack/
======
ScottBurson
Oh man, I didn't hear about this until today. Tragic -- and inexcusable.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Living Strong with Low-Grade Depression - mfishbein
https://medium.com/zero-infinity/low-grade-depression-535aafd586d9#.fza3dwv66
======
blackflame7000
I can certainly relate with the author and admire his refusal to pass blame in
favor of self-reflection. A root-cause analysis often reveals far more flaws
than simply observing the effects of malevolent actors. A person, like a
server, must be secure from within in order to avoid having their actions
dictated by an external entity.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What If An iWatch Replaced Most Of The iPhone's Functions? - akosner
http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2013/02/13/what-if-an-iwatch-replaced-most-of-the-iphones-functions/
======
EA
"Please turn off your watch when we close the cabin doors." - flight attendant
It won't be a watch. It will be Siri manifested.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Low Carb vs. Low Fat Diets - woodandsteel
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/wellness/low-carb-vs-low-fat-new-research-says-it-doesnt-really-matter/2017/07/13/270d2270-61c1-11e7-a4f7-af34fc1d9d39_story.html?utm_term=.d17a72b5933f
======
dchuk
My wife and I have been doing Keto since May 1st. I'm down 17lbs now (started
at 221, right around 204-205 now, goal is 195). She started at 135 (she's 5'8"
so not much for her to lose) and is down around 129 now.
Weight loss is great, but the energy gains from the diet are incredible. I
never crash anymore. I have steady energy all day, and way less lethargy in
general. Also, in general my stomach is not tempermental anymore. I used to
get stomach aches after dinner, no more.
It does make eating out trickier, but oh well.
Now, I don't necessarily think it's _just_ keto that is responsible. I think
it's these 3 things (in this order):
1) Way less beer drinking (and when I do, it's Miller Lite or something
comparably light on carbs)
2) In general just paying attention to what we eat
3) The science of Keto itself
On the second point especially, it's kinda insane to pay attention to the carb
counts in some meals. Especially fast foods/Mexican/Italian foods, you're
looking at _hundreds_ of grams of carbs in a single meal...sorta nutty.
I recommend everyone try it if not just for the experiment/self control test.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I hit my goal in terms of lightening up
on things or not, but I'm happy so far.
~~~
Cshelton
Your energy gains are more from being more healthy and not weighing as much.
Not so much the particular diet you're on.
Now that you are down 17lbs, go grab 17lbs worth of weights and strap them to
your body somehow and walk around the house for a bit like that. It's pretty
incredible how much 17lbs will feel like. Now think of how much harder your
body had to work to carry that extra 17lbs everywhere. (This is assuming that
the 17lbs lost was not comprised of muscle =p)
~~~
HorizonXP
I've lost this much weight via traditional means before, and I will say that
keto is very different. Your sleep improves, and overall focus is better.
The weight loss certainly helps. But for me, keto does something different.
~~~
komali2
This illustrates my problem with "the keto phenomena" (also including Atkins
and its ilk).
My problem is because my parents have been on the Atkins diet for about 5
years now. They objectively have lost weight, they claim to feel much better,
more energetic, etc. I don't have a way to argue that this could just be
because they are healthier, fitter, and slimmer now. That the reason could
just as easily be because they consume less calories and a no-longer-absurd
amount of carbs. To them, it's all because of Atkins.
The _reason_ I have a problem with it is that I'm not convinced that long-
term, severe carb restriction (and the consequential increase in fat in the
diet) is healthy. Their cholesterol is rising, they are consuming alarming
amounts of high-fat foods such as bacon and butter, and I don't think they
ever actually learned how to "diet" because they still eat _a lot_ , but
because it's low carb, they don't gain weight. They still drink and eat a lot
of "sweet food," because they never tackled those cravings, just instead of
sugar now they get aspertain or whatever it's called. Lots of coke zero,
atkins bars, etc.
I can't find any evidence that long term atkins dieting is unhealthy, so I
can't convincingly link the increase in cholesterol (or convince them that
high cholesterol levels are unhealthy) or increase in kidney stones to their
diet. To them if I ever am able to point out a negative change before and
after their diet, it's simply due to old age (kidney stones for example).
~~~
Baeocystin
The increased kidney stone problem is a real risk. You can help minimize it by
taking citrate ion supplementation, which is available in prescription slow-
release, or cheap OTC regular tablets. My doctor recommended it when I started
keto years ago, and so far so good. I would do it anyway, as I've had a kidney
stone again, and holy hell I do not want to experience that twice if at all
possible!
Regarding cholesterol levels: make sure they get a full vertical profile, not
just a calculated one. If their overall levels are higher, but it's from HDL,
and the amount of LDL or VLDL is low, there is no associated increase in
cardiac risk. FWIW.
------
WillPostForFood
_In the end, “low-carb” meant about 30 percent carbs and 45 percent fat, while
“low-fat” was about 29 percent fat and 48 percent carbs. Despite not being
required to cut calories, participants were eating an average of 500 calories
less, and what they were eating was high quality. The low-fat group was
encouraged to choose whole grains, a variety of beans and lentils, seasonal
organic fruit, organic low-fat milk and lean meats. The low-carb group was
pointed toward high-quality oils and fats, organic avocados, hard cheeses, nut
butters, grass-fed meat and pasture-raised eggs. “Everyone was supposed to
have vegetables all day long as much as they could, have a salad every day,
and no added sugar and as little refined flour as you could get,” Gardner
said._
They designed two diets that were very similar to each other, and
unsurprisingly got similar results.
~~~
pesfandiar
> Despite not being required to cut calories, participants were eating an
> average of 500 calories less, and what they were eating was high quality.
This could also be simply attributed to being watched. That to me is a huge
confounding factor that needs to be carefully isolated in all diet studies.
The huge success of personal fitness trackers suggests people tend to have
healthier lifestyles when they measure their actions, even if it's for their
own personal record (let alone for sharing on social media or being studied).
~~~
AstralStorm
This is why cross study design is better. In both cases the vigilance is
applied nullifying it as a factor.
The trouble is that diets take very long to apply so a cross design study
would take many years.
------
Havoc
Firmly in the low carb camp.
There is another aspect to it though: With a low-fat mentality you can eat
anything you like since everything is "low-fat" these days. Low carb on the
other hand requires conscious strategic thinking & planning - the average
processed product isn't geared towards it. I wonder whether some of the health
benefit comes from that: The second I'm tracking & analysing things I
automatically eat healthier and better as a result regardless of what exactly
I'm tracking.
~~~
jorgec
I agree. And its hard, really hard to follow a low carb diet. Practically all
diet products are rich in carbs. Many products for the breakfast are rich in
carbs. Practically all products in small stores (such as newsstand) are rich
in carbs.
~~~
chrisseaton
> And its hard, really hard to follow a low carb diet.
Really? I do very low-carb precisely because it's so very easy. I have heaps
of vegetables and lean-meat and that fills me up and gives me all the energy I
need. I almost can't see where I'd fit carbs in now. (I do eat more carbs when
I'm doing something particularly arduous though).
> Many products for the breakfast are rich in carbs.
Well you can eat whatever you want for breakfast. You don't need 'breakfast
food' in particular. I often have steamed fish for breakfast.
> Practically all products in small stores (such as newsstand)
Well yes, things are going to wrong if you are planning a diet around shopping
at a newsstand. I'd say obviously you shouldn't do that no matter what your
diet, but I suppose people have different lives to fit diets around - I work
from home so it's probably easier for me.
~~~
komali2
>lean-meats
Well, it's not easy to do it "cheap," in most people's mind of what "cheap"
food is - the little muffins at star bucks, or mcdonalds, the free cereal at
work (when there are no high-protein, low-carb options).
So it's not "easy" because you're no longer even capable of eating what 80% of
the people you know are. If you had even half of one of the muffins at work,
you'd be thrown out of ketosis and you'd need half the week getting your diet
back on track.
That being said, if you already have a strong habit of cooking and eating the
majority of your meals instead of eating out or eating the free food at work,
a low carb diet is a remarkably "easy" way to lose weight, because it doesn't
come with that shitty feeling of grumpy hunger that (I at least) one gets from
low-calorie dieting.
~~~
AstralStorm
It is also easy to prepare ahead of time, as fatty foods do not spoil as
easily when done due to lack of water. Easier than dried fat free foods
though.
------
kbutler
"In the end, “low-carb” meant about 30 percent carbs and 45 percent fat, while
“low-fat” was about 29 percent fat and 48 percent carbs."
Does anyone who advocates a low carb diet consider 30% of calories from
carbohydrates "low carb?"
In a 1600 calorie diet (likely calorie restricted), that would be 120g of
carbs.
~~~
5_minutes
Low carb generally would be <50 grams/day.
Though most enthousiasts on keto aim for <20 grams/day.
So you're right, 120g is still very high. And can basically be accomplished
with just not stuffing yourself with bread, pizza or fries.
~~~
Cshelton
Yeah, I read the 30% amount and the study now makes sense as to why the
participants had the same results. I wish they had the low carb group do < 20g
carbs/day. I think they would have seen a difference.
I've done the keto target at less than 5g, 10g, 15g, 20g (depending what stage
you're at) carbs a day. Even increasing that number to 100g carbs a day kind
of ruins that diet.
The under 10g carbs a day has worked very well for me. Just remember, stay
hydrated! =p
~~~
AstralStorm
The problem with grams is that everyone has different needs. So It only works
as a guide. It is easier to calibrate a keto diet with a real ketone sensor.
(Available at any pharmacy, used by diabetics.) Specifically increase carbs
until ketosis stops then drop say 20% for margin. There's your value. Check
every now and then.
------
tzs
> Despite not being required to cut calories, participants were eating an
> average of 500 calories less, and what they were eating was high quality.
That's what happened to me. I tried to lower carbs to 40% of calories, not to
lose weight but rather to see what affect it would have on blood sugar levels.
My A1c had crept up to 8.1, and that was while on two different diabetes
medicines.
I made no attempt to limit calories...just to make sure that 40% or less came
from carbs. In fact, to reach that I started _increasing_ the size of some
meals. For example, if I got a sandwich which would normally be 50% carbs, I
would order that sandwich with double meat and/or with full mayonnaise instead
of light mayo or no mayo, because meat and mayo are calories without carbs,
and so lower the carb ratio.
I found that this made the food more satisfying, and I ended up eating less
kind of automatically. Over the next 18 months I lost 140 pounds that way. A1c
is down to 5.0 now, and that is after three months with no diabetes medicine.
Long term, I'm eating about 30-35% carbs, and about 45% fat.
------
pconnelly15
This is an interesting discussion about a topic we know doesn't work. Every
piece of reliable data shows that diets don't work. 95% of people who diet
gain that weight back and more within 1-5 years. Nutrition philosophies based
on deprivation are doomed to fail. A better question might be is what healthy
lifestyle components lead to a healthier experience?
~~~
mistermann
Most "dieters" follow it on a whim. For those that really get into keto and
_educates themselves_ on nutrition, read forums, etc I would bet money are
_far_ more successful than 5% in keeping it off. It's far easier to be
disciplined following a low carb diet because you simply can't cheat with
sweets, cheating = you're not on keto any more, makes it psychologically
easier (for me anyways).
And, once you adopt it as a lifestyle, you really watch what you eat even
after the intensive diet - I eat whatever I want, I just don't find myself
wanting sugary foods because I know what they do to you, and I have zero
problem staying at my desired weight.
~~~
zzalpha
You've literally described anyone who chooses to truly adhere to _any_ diet
over the long term.
The point is, those people are, in practice, a tiny fraction of dieters.
~~~
kinkrtyavimoodh
Yes, but a diet is not a magic incantation that you can get the effects of by
merely repeating the word or discussing it endlessly with friends.
Diets work (or not) based on fairly straightforward causal chains. People who
want to continue to do exactly or very nearly the same of whatever they were
doing and see a drastic change are bound to be disappointed not only in the
mission of reducing weight but also in life.
------
LyndsySimon
> Gardner asked the 609 participants to aim for 20 percent carbs or fat
20% carbs is not a "low-carb" diet.
I've been doing keto since January and have lost over 50 pounds. I never get
more than 20g of net carbs per day, which is less than 5% of my overall
caloric intake.
------
jorgec
Using a low carb diet, i lowered from 90kg (198lbs) to 68kg (149lbs) in 6
months. And im still in 67-69kgs.
ps: i do zero exercise, just because i can't.
------
cies
I think the real interesting diet at the moment is Whole Food Plant-Based
(WFPB). It is a low-fat, high-carb, fully plant based diet, that does not
prescribe going "raw only".
Many have great results on this diet without counting any macros.
~~~
bluejekyll
Does this basically mean no processed foods?
~~~
cies
Kinda. And then the plant-based section of it. It is in line with what mankind
supposedly _really_ mostly ate for 100000s years.
The docu "What the Health" also discusses this diet and some other stuff.
------
blackflame7000
The diet that truly works is high protein. Carbs and Fats cannot convert to
muscle like proteins can and as a result they can not raise your resting
metabolic rate like proteins can. Furthermore proteins have a filling effect
that satiates hunger and they are not easily stored as fat. If you focus on
filling your daily allotment of proteins first, you will often find you are
too full to fill the remaining Fats/Carbs requirement. This advice from a
personal trainer helped me lose 60 lbs over a year.
~~~
AstralStorm
Come on, getting those 60g of protein or so is trivial on any diet. (Including
complete protein, unless you're vegan and have major legume intolerance.)
High protein diets do work indeed, but most of them end up ketogenic by
accident as well. Mostly because sugary or starchy foods have little protein.
------
woodandsteel
Seems there was little difference between low fat and low carbs. However, both
groups were urged to eat a healthy diet: “Everyone was supposed to have
vegetables all day long as much as they could, have a salad every day, and no
added sugar and as little refined flour as you could get,”
Also, at the end it talks about the idea of satiation. Eat as much as you want
to feel full, as long as it is healthy. That has been my philosophy, and it
has worked very well.
~~~
juice_bus
I've 'recently' (May 2017) started simply counting the calories i consume and
not avoiding one thing or another, keeping it below my TDEE. Some days are
very high in Fat, others carbs, sometimes protein.
I've lost 32lbs/14.5kg since then (and another 30 to go).
I guess i will see in the long term if it is healthy, but i do feel great now.
~~~
fintler
After a few (many?) failed attempts at keto and other diets (I would always
stall out after around 15lbs of weight loss), simply counting calories is by
far the only thing that has worked for me well. Currently, I target 1,400 kcal
a day (8-16 intermittent fasting with 2 meals of 700 calories each) with a
calculated TDEE of around 2,500 kcal. I've lost around 60lbs/27.2kg since
January 2017 (240lbs/108.9kg to a bit less than 180lbs/81.6kg). I eat whatever
I feel like (usually meat, veggies, and a starch in each meal) and just limit
calories.
I don't use anything like MyFitnessPal to track calories counted. Keeping
things to "eat only 700 calories per meal" is simple enough where you can do a
quick Google search before eating to make sure you're on track.
Something interesting is that my error with calorie counting (and possibly
metabolism) is about 10-15%, given that the hacker diet calculations
(trendweight.com hooked up to my withings scale) calculates my TDEE (based on
my actual weight changes) at 2,200 kcal instead of the calculated 2,500 kcal.
Also, I just bought a medium t-shirt last weekend for the first time since I
was in high school! :)
~~~
Terr_
IMO it helps to treat calorie-counting as something that is fundamentally
inaccurate, but still "good enough" as long as the errors are consistent.
Meanwhile, the moving-average of your weight is closer to some kind of ground
truth, and can be used to recalibrate the calorie budget.
------
robotpony
I'd like to see the actual distributions of foods (and micro/macros) in these
studies along with the human stats (ages, activity levels). I suspect that the
factors are for more multi-modal than the buckets of "low carb" and "high
fat". Open source data here would allow for alternative views on the data, and
likely better learning overall.
------
GuB-42
Low carb, low fat, low anything are essentially just low calorie diets, which
result in weight loss through basic thermodynamic principles.
The more I follow trends in diets, the more it seems to boil down to : don't
eat too much or too little and have a varied diet.
The first point is obvious, the second one is more subtle. There is actually
no need for a varied diet. It is just that it is the easiest way for us to
make sure we get all the nutrients we need while limiting toxicity. By
toxicity, I mean that everything we eat is a bit poisonous, but fortunately,
our body is well equipped to deal with it. But eat too much of one poison and
it won't keep up. So it is possible to have an unbalanced diet and still be
healthy (ex: vegans) but it may take some bookkeeping.
Note that research seem to point that the more we eat something, the less we
get pleasure from it, as if we are wired to prefer a varied diet.
Remember, we are omnivores, and the whole point of being omnivores is that
anything goes.
~~~
blackflame7000
Treating all calories the same ignores the fact that the body does different
things with Carbs, Fats, and Proteins. Proteins help build muscle which raises
a person's resting metabolic rate. A diet that is deficient in proteins will
result in muscle loss and will lower metabolic rate. The scale only tells half
the story. 200 lbs of lean muscle burns much more calories than 200 lbs of
fat. What you eat directly contributes to this composition and therefore
impacts your ability to burn calories.
------
simonebrunozzi
I still haven't found a simple, straightforward, proven explanation of how to
do a "ketonic" diet. Any help?
~~~
Greenisus
Eat no sugars, no grains, and lots of fat. Also as far as veggies go, avoid
potatoes and corn. Avoiding alcohol is best, but if you must drink, go for no-
carb options like hard liquor. That's about the shortest version of it I can
come up with :)
------
patrickg_zill
an aside, for those on either diet: lacto-fermented foods like Kombucha,
sauerkraut etc. seem to do me a lot of good.
Perhaps it is just the B-vitamins in the Kombucha but I find that being on
keto and having Kombucha once a day is a good combination.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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The Pmarca Guide to Startups, part 4: The only thing that matters - abstractbill
http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/the-pmarca-gu-2.html
======
paul
What he refers to as "market" is a lot of what I think of as "product".
Really, how great is your product if nobody wants it? And how great is your
team if they don't adapt whatever they are doing to build what people want?
I can imagine a lot of technology people falling into this trap though. They
think that they've invented some great new technology and now they just need
someone to make a product or license it or something (maybe they aren't sure,
but they are certain that the technology is revolutionary).
~~~
pg
I agree. I think Marc is using "product" in a strange way. Maybe he means
quality of implementation or something. What he's basically saying is that the
only thing that matters is to make something people want. This wanting he
calls the "market." Which is also a bit confusing, because most VCs use that
word to describe the total number of users your product could serve. "Market"
in the usual sense is not so much a determiner of whether you succeed as an
upper bound on the size of the success if you do.
~~~
pmarca
I'm not sure I'm being that strange :-). At a certain point it just becomes a
semantic debate, but let's try:
\- Product -- the thing that gets built. Let's assume there is one
customer/user of it who finds it relevant to his needs. That customer/user is
evaluating it on how fast it is, how reliable it is, how many features it has,
how extensible it is, what platform it runs on, how easy to use it is, how
polished the UI is, etc. That's that customer's view of product quality.
\- Market -- how many users/customers are there going to be like that? A
dozen, a hundred, a thousand, a million, a billion? How hard is it going to be
to get to those customers? How much will it cost to acquire them as
users/customers? How long will it take them to use/buy? That's the market
question.
Yes, you're right, the point is that you need to make something that people
want (or, more precisely, that lots of people want, if you want leverage).
Yet the Valley and the industry is filled, and has been filled for 30 years,
with very smart people building great products (as defined above) for very
small markets.
The classic example is the huge universe of ISV's for marginal platforms. Ask
anyone who tried to succeed as an ISV for the NeXT box, BeOS, the Amiga, etc.
what the difference is between a high-quality product and a great market, and
they'll certainly be able to tell you. Hell, most (not all, but most) Mac
ISV's had this exact problem over the last 20 years.
I see this kind of thing _all the time_ in this industry.
------
lupin_sansei
"There is one high-profile, highly successful software entrepreneur right now
who is burning through something like $80 million in venture funding in his
latest startup and has practically nothing to show for it except for some
great press clippings and a couple of beta customers -- because there is
virtually no market for what he is building."
I wonder who that is?
------
staunch
It's obviously risky to go after hot markets, even though there's a lot of
success to be had doing it. Joe Kraus says "Better to be a trendspotter than a
trendsetter" and Marc is saying something like "Make something people want, in
a really hot market."
So does the advantage of working in a hot market outweigh the advantage of
solving a problem you personally have? I'm thinking it probably does. If you
can make it past the initial hurdle on your own steam your "hot market" users
can probably carry you to victory.
~~~
JohnN
What he is saying is not about "hot" markets, he says big markets. There are
lots of "hot" markets that are not particularly big imho. For example
videocasting. Then, there are big markets, that were not so hot, e.g. browsers
around 2002-5. Before Firefox anyway.
If its hot, you probably have already missed it.
~~~
staunch
That's might be a good distinction. He did say "red-hot markets", but he
mostly described a "great market" by its size, growth rate, and sales costs.
That's what I had in mind but you could also interpret hot as meaning hype.
I'm not sure I'd agree that you've missed a market just because it's heavily
hyped though. The blogging world still has sizable disruptions and is largely
unexplored. Facebook is a late entry to social networking and it's doing okay.
~~~
pmarca
Yes -- I think my use of the term "red-hot" was misleading -- in my post I
meant "huge and growing".
Agree with second point also -- big markets often get a lot bigger, and
provide a lot of opportunity to new entrants. And sometimes they're heavily
hyped along the way.
------
mynameishere
I guess it's needless to say: The team is the most important part of a
company, by a factor of...well, by an incalculable factor. A good team can
change product-focus, change market-focus, create products, occasionally even
_create_ markets.
A bad team is hopeless and will stay that way into perpetuity.
~~~
pmarca
Actually, it's remarkably easy to upgrade a bad team when you have a great
market.
Cisco.
------
gyro_robo
Condensed version: Making money.
Edit: No, really. _"Because, really, what else could it possibly be?"_
~~~
motoko
You're right.
"The #1 company-killer is lack of market." is a euphemism for "when nobody
buys what sells, you go out of business."
What else does the "The only thing that matters is getting to product/market
fit" mean much more beyond "The only thing that matters is making money?"
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Bitcoin Price Will Go to Zero as Bitcoin Will Struggle To - kofk
https://www.cityfalcon.com/blog/investments/bitcoin-price-will-drop-zero/
======
superkuh
User kofk, 2 submissions 0 comments. Both submissions point to cityfalcon.com.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why I think Tripid - a ride sharing service - will work here in the Philippines - hwf829
http://squawknet.net/why-i-think-tripid-will-eventually-be-great/
======
hwf829
share your thoughts :)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel awarded - DanielleMolloy
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-45785222
======
DanielleMolloy
Also see:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Econom...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Memorial_Prize_in_Economic_Sciences#Controversies_and_criticisms)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Riposte: an anonymous messaging system handling millions of users - wtbob
http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.06115
======
wtbob
swordswinger12 posted this on
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12073942;](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12073942;)
I thought that it's important enough to post separately.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Popularity of technology on Stack Overflow and Hacker News: Causality Analysis - l____
https://github.com/dgwozdz/HN_SO_analysis
======
notafraudster
None of this is causal. For a problem to be, in a statistical sense, causally
identified there must be some random or as-if random manipulation of
treatment. The two major ways of thinking about causality in statistics are
Judea Pearl's DAGS (a representation of causes and effects as an acyclic graph
where pathways between variables must be clear of "colliders" which threaten
causal validity) and the Neyman-Rubin causal model (also called "potential
outcomes", where a unit's outcomes under treatment and control,
hypothetically, are considered).
One example of an identification strategy here would be to find two languages
that are identical in all regards (including in their overall popularity and
exposure across the world), but where one was more popular than the other on
SO specifically. This would be a matched selection on observables strategy,
where selection into "treatment" (popularity on SO) is not globally random,
but random conditional on certain pre-treatment covariates, such that the non-
treatment potential outcome of both languages would be expected to be the same
and the difference between the observed outcomes (the level of popularity of
both languages on HN) is only a product of the treatment.
Here's a simple inferential threat; the author ascribes the popularity of
technology on SO as causing the popularity of a technology on HN. What if,
instead, some third common cause caused both, but it caused SO spikes faster
than HN spikes. Now, in the world I've described (where the true treatment
effect is zero), what statistical test involving comparing SO and HN data,
even incorporating temporal ordering, would correctly come up with an estimate
of 0? If your answer does not come up with an estimate of 0, then its real-
world causal estimate is also presumptively wrong.
I also have concerns about how the author measured both treatment and outcome.
Overall I think there is an interesting DESCRIPTIVE (non-causal) question
somewhere in this article, but it's bogged down by the author trying to apply
something they heard about from a Wikipedia article as though it were a
substitute for taking causality seriously. We've all heard Alexander Pope's
adage that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing".
~~~
stared
Measuring causality is hard. Without randomized control trials, you pretty
much need to assume some causal graph structure (plain data is not enough).
See: "ML beyond Curve Fitting: An Intro to Causal Inference and do-Calculus"
[http://www.inference.vc/untitled/](http://www.inference.vc/untitled/)
When it comes to this SO vs HN article based on data one can look at
correlations. Even if some delayed correlations, then still - it does not
imply causation (e.g. HN crowd my by faster to post links to new technologies
than SO crowd to questions).
~~~
nerdponx
Sure, but you need to make your assumed graph convincing. As the GP said,
_Here 's a simple inferential threat; the author ascribes the popularity of
technology on SO as causing the popularity of a technology on HN. What if,
instead, some third common cause caused both, but it caused SO spikes faster
than HN spikes._
You either need to account for this, or make a convincing argument that no
such common cause exists.
~~~
stared
Sure, fully I agree with that.
------
mlthoughts2018
> “After each time series is transformed (if necessary) to a stationary one, a
> Granger causality test is performed.“
This is actually methodologically incorrect. You test Granger non-causality by
taking a VAR system and you _do not difference the data for stationarity!_ You
use the cointegration order to determine how many extra lags of the exogenous
variable to use beyond the order p that defines the lags tested against the
null hypothesis (what the authors mention is tested by AIC, BIC, and observing
autocorrelation of residuals).
> “The ADF test, differencing and the Granger causality test were performed on
> data aggregated to monthly frequency”
Hmm. It looks like differencing was done based on the ADF test... this is not
valid for Granger causality.
Remember, with the frequentist statistical tests, there are so many fraught
issues like this.
In the end, a test like this only talks about the following:
“Under the assumed hypothesis of no causality, how extreme do the observed
test statistics appear to be?”
— where the test statistics are in part based on estimated model parameters
that are highly sensitive to methodological errors, like differencing prior to
computing the coefficient-is-non-zero tests in this Granger VAR model.
In the end it makes me skeptical of interpreting any of the results from the
OP.
A good explaination is here: [0].
[0]: < [http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2011/04/testing-for-granger-
ca...](http://davegiles.blogspot.com/2011/04/testing-for-granger-
causality.html) >
~~~
thanatropism
They're "data scientists", what did you expect.
~~~
mlthoughts2018
I expect they are paid 2x more than trained statisticians unfortunately.
Happily though, they didn’t try to solve this problem with Judea Pearl-style
causal inference hype.
A better approach to this would probably be treating the data as panel data
and either doing monthwise hierarchical Bayesian regressions, and testing if
the coefficients pooled over time are significantly non-zero, or else using a
sort of distributed lag model or instrumental variables model on the monthwise
simple regressions. In these cases, it’s better to roll up lagged features of
the exogenous time series to serve as constructed covariates in the lag model,
than to rely on differencing and time series tests which are like a landmine
of interpretation issues.
Checking causality in models like this is _very_ tricky, so a lot of care has
to be taken, and you should expect work to proceed slowly and require a lot of
posterior checks.
~~~
l____
Hey, thank you for informative comments. I would gladly read more about
hierarchical Bayesian regression. Would you recommend any sources from which I
could learn more?
(I am fully aware that I can google it but in my opinion it's usually better
to ask someone who is already familiar with the topic because he/she may know
good learning materials.)
~~~
mlthoughts2018
\- <
[http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/book/](http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/book/)
>
\- <
[http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/arm/](http://www.stat.columbia.edu/~gelman/arm/)
>
If you happen to use Python, pymc3 is a great place to look for hierarchical
and Bayesian timeseries models with full examples.
~~~
l____
Thank you. One of my personal goals with regard to this analysis was to learn
Python on-the-go (I feel more comfortable in R) so I will definitely check
pymc3.
------
DeusExMachina
As it's often repeated "correlation is not causation".
Personally, I would only expect the former and not the latter. In my opinio
it's more plausible that some other cause causes the increase of popularity on
both sites.
The rise of Swift, for example, was caused first by Apple releasing the
language, the increase of online articles and communities around the language
and its open-sourcing.
This lead to an increase in popularity pretty much everywhere, including SO
and HN. These are correlated, but there is no causal relationship between the
two.
~~~
ChrisLomont
That's why the author didn't simply look at correlation, but used Granger
_causality_ tests.
~~~
red75prime
And then the author remarked that Granger causality doesn't indicate
causation. It is a measure of how well one variable predicts upcoming changes
in another. It doesn't mean that direct manipulation of the first variable
will necessarily influence the second one.
~~~
thanatropism
Causation is an ill-defined concept. Already Aristotle had to define several
kinds of causation, and philosophers still struggle with it.
It's even possible, per Hume, that causation doesn't actually exist.
------
wolfgke
> Additionally, in case of two technologies (JQuery and Tensorflow) the
> variables regarding data from SO were pointed out as potential results of
> variables from Hacker News. The idea of Hacker News influencing popularity
> of technology on Stack Overflow is not so easy to accept (at least for me)
> as the opposite one, nevertheless, it shouldn’t be entirely disregarded.
What is so unplausible about this hypothesis?
~~~
tofflos
I came here to say the exact same thing. To me the hypothesis put forward by
the author (SO influencing the popularity on HN) seems unlikely. I visit HN to
find out about new technology and only visit SO when the technology I've
already chosen isn't working out - and even then it's only indirectly via
Google search results.
~~~
wpietri
Yeah, I'm sure the causal arrow goes both ways. You learn about it on HN, try
it out, ask a question on SO. Somebody else hears of the tech, visits SO, sees
that there's activity, tries it out, and mentions it on HN.
But I'm puzzled by the framing. If I were looking at the relationship, I'd be
asking questions like: Is HN a good place to post if I want to make something
popular? If I learn about something on HN, is it likely to become popular? If
I want to know what the next big thing is, is HN an indicator of that?
If I'm thinking of SO as the cause of something, it'd be mainly in the
category of docs: a supporting factor. So I'd be inclined to measure
documentation and developer resources more generally.
~~~
l____
> Yeah, I'm sure the causal arrow goes both ways.
Even not fully realizing this (see my replay to @tofflos) I did not exclude
such a possibility and that's why I performed the Granger causality test for
both hypotheses (SO influencing HN and HN influencing SO).
> But I'm puzzled by the framing. If I were looking at the relationship, I'd
> be asking questions like: Is HN a good place to post if I want to make
> something popular? If I learn about something on HN, is it likely to become
> popular? If I want to know what the next big thing is, is HN an indicator of
> that?
I guess these are different questions which are not covered by my analysis.
> If I'm thinking of SO as the cause of something, it'd be mainly in the
> category of docs: a supporting factor. So I'd be inclined to measure
> documentation and developer resources more generally.
To be honest, I do not understand this one. Could you please elaborate?
~~~
wpietri
Sure. I personally wouldn't put SO down as the cause of anything in that I
think it's intermediate in the kinds of causal chains I see around software
popularity. I almost never hear about a new technology on SO. I'm there
because I am already using it, have a question, and see a Google result.
So if I'm looking at technology adoption, SO is in a basket of factors that I
think of as supporting. Does this technology have a website? Is it easy to get
started? Is there a place where I can chat with people? Is there a meetup? Is
there a conference? Are there good docs? Are there good videos? Are there blog
posts and books? And, of course, are there good questions and answers?
All of these supporting factors can keep somebody on the road to adoption, in
that once somebody has decided to try the technology, they aid the person in
getting to a useful result. I don't think they're causal in the sense of
initiating anything. But if I squint I could call them causal in the sense
that if you invest in them, you see increased adoption. Given their
substitutability, though, if I were looking at causality I'd try to find a
broader metric than SO alone.
is that helpful?
------
tannhaeuser
I wonder if we could use this kind of correlation analysis to detect
shilling/astroturfing, like when there's a spike on HN that isn't backed up by
SO for a given topic. It's also timely I guess since MS seems to have been on
a spree lately on reddit and elsewhere.
~~~
solarkraft
Meh: A more developer friendly product would cause less activity on Stack
Overflow, right? How about frameworks with their own forums?
------
amelius
Isn't this one of the fundamental problems of the advertising industry? I.e.,
answering the question "did this ad cause the increase in sales?"
How do _they_ approach this?
~~~
citrablue
There are two primary approaches, both with their issues. Media Mix Modeling
is the top down approach, where you input all marketing activities over time
with corresponding response (sales) data. Direct attribution (multi touch
attribution) attempts to identify each touchbase a specific customer had with
your brand, and use that to infer causality.
[https://medium.com/@BenHinson/understanding-the-
difference-b...](https://medium.com/@BenHinson/understanding-the-difference-
between-digital-attribution-and-media-mix-modeling-c4f7b7a53bbc)
------
stephanheijl
The graphs shown are cumulative, which is defined by the README to be the sum
of all the points up to that date (the most common definition). However, some
graphs show a dropping number of points, like the one for Java, even in the
non-standardized plot.
([https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dgwozdz/HN_SO_analysis/mas...](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dgwozdz/HN_SO_analysis/master/readme_vis/plots/20180602_java_so_score_sum_cum_hn_all_score_sum_cum_double.png))
Would this indicate some sort of error in the data collection, or did I
miscomprehend the "cumulative" label?
~~~
CapitalistCartr
He explains that when discussing HTML.
>Such a situation occurred due to greater number of downvotes than upvotes.
This may be result of high number of duplicates since 2014 or the questions
which were not formulated in a clear way or were not reproducible (and
therefore were downvoted).
~~~
stephanheijl
Thanks for the answer, I missed that paragraph. It seems quite disconcerting
to me that the average question in the Java tag has been rated negatively the
last 4 years. I'm curious as to the specific reason for this downward trend,
which isn't reflected in most of the other languages.
~~~
Macha
One thing that comes to mind for the three which exhibit these patterns, is
that they're high volume, slow moving ecosystems. Given the SO community's
high penchant for closing questions as duplicates, I wonder if we're just at
the point where these languages have exhausted their supply of "sufficiently-
unique-and-not-homeworky questions for SO".
~~~
l____
Hey, I was thinking about writing something like that in the analysis. I
finally decided not to do this because languages develop over time. I'm not a
user of Java/HTML/Pascal/PHP but I use SQL quite frequently and in my opinion
it is possible to ask a well defined question that did not appear before, at
least for some "dialects" (if I name it correctly) like TSQL or Oracle SQL.
Maybe if those "dialects" were investigated, their trends would not be
downward.
------
echelon
You mentioned Rust, but it wasn't included in your analysis. Would you be able
to regenerate the analysis easily to include it? I'd be super interested in
seeing trends around Rust.
~~~
l____
I only reported plots I found interesting/saw some resemblance between HN and
SO and in case of Rust probably none of those was he case. However, it must be
said that I didn't have any quantitative criterion for this and this decision
was purely subjective.
------
thanatropism
The easiest way to perform this analysis is to use a statistical package that
features Vector Autoregression and Vector-valued Error Correction Models.
Example:
[http://www.statsmodels.org/dev/generated/statsmodels.tsa.vec...](http://www.statsmodels.org/dev/generated/statsmodels.tsa.vector_ar.var_model.VARResults.test_causality.html)
~~~
l____
Thanks! I wasn't aware that such a function exists.
------
chiefalchemist
\- number of times questions from a certain time span (e.g. from a given day)
were tagged as a favourite,
\- number of comments for questions from a certain life span,
\- number of views of questions from a certain life span,
\- number of replies for questions from a certain life span.
Perhaps it's me, but questions (on SO) could be indicative of poor
documentation, or a lack of answers elsewhere. The latter, obviously, somewhat
counter to popularity.
~~~
l____
Thanks for pointing this out, I didn't think about this. Nevertheless, I
assume that in an ideal situations when documentations for two programming
languages have the same quality then the number of questions for the
programming language which would have larger group of users would be greater
therefore I still think of this measure as valid. I am also aware that we do
not live in an ideal world.
Offtopic: I do not know how to measure and compare the quality of
documentation and am curious whether there are any methods, so if you know
some and could elaborate on this, I would be grateful.
------
baxtr
At the bottom of the README you’ll find the answer:
_> To sum up: does popularity of technology on StackOverflow (SO) influence
popularity of post about this technology on Hacker News (HN)? There seems to
be a relationship between those two portals but I could not determine that
popularity on Stack Overflow causes popularity on Hacker News._
~~~
contingencies
Common sense would dictate that one website does not cause another website to
do anything, particularly those with vast communities. This is a classic case
of someone misunderstanding the utility of an analytical technique. IMHO they
may execute it right (didn't bother reading) but apparently fail to ask the
right question in the first place or comprehend the limited utility of the
result.
~~~
theothermkn
It would be interesting to see if the prevalence of comments of the common
internet form “I am deliberately ignorant, but I think...” caused a decline in
quality on HN, or if the decline in HN quality was caused by the prevalence of
such comments.
~~~
baxtr
How do you measure the decline?
~~~
theothermkn
Measuring it would mean first figuring out what was valuable in HN and then
tracking that. It may turn out that what was valuable isn't easily measurable,
even with ML.
In a preliminary way, however, it seemed there used to be a stronger
correlation between length of comment (as a proxy for thoughtfulness, perhaps
crossed with reading level) and comment score. It also seemed there were fewer
of the "I know nothing about field X, but let me pontificate on X" comments.
Frequency of one-liners has probably increased, in relative terms. We could
probably also look at the relative frequency of comments of the type "Thank
you for your (specialist) explanation" or "Very interesting!" over time, as a
more or less direct proxy for quality.
One might also be able to come up with a measure of "feeling of safety." In
other words, the crowd probably perceives the level of discourse and guards
their contributions accordingly. For example, "How do you measure the
decline?," is interpretable as a technical question, or as a rhetorical
question with "one" replacing "you," or as a snarky attack (by reading it with
a sneering emphasis on "you," to indicate skepticism that a decline has
happened), and so on. The general tone of replies might serve as an indicator,
especially if crossed with something like days-since-joined-HN or karma.
But, really, my original comment was meant to contribute something positive
while calling out, en passant, a particularly egregious kind of comment
behavior that I am saddened to see on HN, particularly since I perceive a
general decline over time.
Full(ish) disclosure: I burned down a previous account because I had made a
shameful anti-Muslim comment a la Sam Harris, whom I'd been reading (and was
inexplicably taken with) at the time. I could no longer edit or remove the
comment by the time I'd come to my senses, so opted to irreversibly change the
password on that account to gibberish. This is all just to point out that,
despite my apparent HN youth, I can indeed seem to remember a time when
thoughtful comments that represented either expertise or care elicited far
more upvotes than they do now, and a time when short quips and adolescent
snark elicited far swifter and more brutal karmic beat-downs.
~~~
baxtr
Thank you for your thourogh explanation. My question was indeed sincere in
that I wanted to understand how you perceive the decline. And, your statement
makes sense to me. I think HN is becoming much more mainstream these days.
It’s growing out of its niche is my feeling. That is probably driving “the
decline”. I don’t know whether this is a good or a bad thing. Maybe, however,
the development makes a good case for an HN alternative once enough people
think the way you do.
------
bencollier49
Given that he's tested for lots of languages, shouldn't he be applying
something like bonferroni correction to the Granger causality results?
Wouldn't this have the effect of making them all insignificant?
------
nfrankel
"Correlation doesn't imply causation"
~~~
l____
Hey, thanks for the comment. I am fully aware of that and did not stated
otherwise in the analysis. I only established that there seems to be some kind
of relationship but it is not possible to determine causality.
------
oli5679
This source includes a helpful summary of Granger causality, written by
Granger himself.
[http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Granger_causality](http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Granger_causality)
_The topic of how to define causality has kept philosophers busy for over two
thousand years and has yet to be resolved. It is a deep convoluted question
with many possible answers which do not satisfy everyone, and yet it remains
of some importance. Investigators would like to think that they have found a
"cause", which is a deep fundamental relationship and possibly potentially
useful.
In the early 1960's I was considering a pair of related stochastic processes
which were clearly inter-related and I wanted to know if this relationship
could be broken down into a pair of one way relationships. It was suggested to
me to look at a definition of causality proposed by a very famous
mathematician, Norbert Weiner, so I adapted this definition (Wiener 1956) into
a practical form and discussed it.
Applied economists found the definition understandable and useable and
applications of it started to appear. However, several writers stated that "of
course, this is not real causality, it is only Granger causality." Thus, from
the beginning, applications used this term to distinguish it from other
possible definitions.
The basic "Granger Causality" definition is quite simple. Suppose that we have
three terms, Xt , Yt , and Wt , and that we first attempt to forecast Xt+1
using past terms of Xt and Wt . We then try to forecast Xt+1 using past terms
of Xt , Yt , and Wt . If the second forecast is found to be more successful,
according to standard cost functions, then the past of Y appears to contain
information helping in forecasting Xt+1 that is not in past Xt or Wt . In
particular, Wt could be a vector of possible explanatory variables. Thus, Yt
would "Granger cause" Xt+1 if (a) Yt occurs before Xt+1 ; and (b) it contains
information useful in forecasting Xt+1 that is not found in a group of other
appropriate variables.
Naturally, the larger Wt is, and the more carefully its contents are selected,
the more stringent a criterion Yt is passing. Eventually, Yt might seem to
contain unique information about Xt+1 that is not found in other variables
which is why the "causality" label is perhaps appropriate.
The definition leans heavily on the idea that the cause occurs before the
effect, which is the basis of most, but not all, causality definitions. Some
implications are that it is possible for Yt to cause Xt+1 and for Xt to cause
Yt+1 , a feedback stochastic system. However, it is not possible for a
determinate process, such as an exponential trend, to be a cause or to be
caused by another variable.
It is possible to formulate statistical tests for which I now designate as
G-causality, and many are available and are described in some econometric
textbooks (see also the following section and the #references). The definition
has been widely cited and applied because it is pragmatic, easy to understand,
and to apply. It is generally agreed that it does not capture all aspects of
causality, but enough to be worth considering in an empirical test.
There are now a number of alternative definitions in economics, but they are
little used as they are less easy to implement._
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Unicode character info via JSON - tantalor
http://www.fileformat.info/news/2006/12/01/unicode-json.htm
======
tantalor
For example,
{
"code":"U+2603",
"name":"SNOWMAN",
"url":"http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2603/index.htm",
"imageurl":"http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2603/snowman.png",
"htmlentity":null,
"block":"Miscellaneous Symbols",
"blockcode":"miscellaneous_symbols",
"blockurl":"http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/block/miscellaneous_symbols/index.htm",
"category":"Symbol, Other",
"categorycode":"So",
"categoryurl":"http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/category/So/index.htm"
}
[http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2603/index.json](http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2603/index.json)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Anonymous to use stolen credit cards of the rich to donate to the poor - div
http://informationweek.com/news/security/attacks/232200481
======
mooism2
I'm sure the charities and activist groups in question will be delighted to
pay the resultant chargeback fees.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Magit maintainer taking a break - gcv
http://emacsair.me/2016/02/10/magit-2.5
======
gcv
Donation link:
[http://magit.vc/donations.html](http://magit.vc/donations.html)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Skilled Immigrants on Why They're Leaving the U.S. - raju
http://www.businessweek.com/print/bwdaily/dnflash/content/jul2009/db20090724_178761.htm
======
anon12345
I left the US because I finally got fed up of the treatment of anyone foreign
- I was working at a top US university on an international project, but every
time I returned from a conference or field work I had to convince some not
finished high school rent-a-cop at immigration that I was allowed back in. I
wasn't allowed on field work in the US because the research plane flying the
experiment and equipment I designed had the door to the cockpit open - and as
a foreigner I couldn't get airport security clearance to be on such a flight.
The bioscience people left the US long ago for countries where 4000year old
mythology didn't dictate what you could work on, the physical scientists are
going now.
Still if you get rid of all the immigrants the US will be a world leader in
beaded blankets and feather headresses.
~~~
me-too
Similar story - back in the 90s it was next to impossible to work on an
international scientific project with the USA because scientist working in US
universities had to apply for the same green card quota as MS/Intel/Google
etc.
This year apparently it's much easier to get a green card but the feeling in
academia is that it just isn't worth the hassle. In my field (nuclear
physics), except for some weapons projects, it's becoming a bit of a
scientific backwater.
~~~
frossie
_because scientist working in US universities had to apply for the same green
card quota as MS/Intel/Google_
This doesn't mesh with my experience. They had to work within the same _H1-B_
quota as the commercial sector. I agree that this is a serious problem in
research institutions that are not affiliated with a university (universities
can issue J visas for their visiting scientists and thus bypass the H1-B
quota).
Green cards are different in that there is a fast track for people with world-
class scientific expertise. It is possible to get a green card in under a year
in that category. That said, that doesn't help people in the commercial sector
who are just as equally valuable to the brain trust, which was the point of
the article.
I think the US would benefit from a points-based immigration system like
Canada and Australia have. That way you can qualify for residency
independently from your employer's whim, and the government can manipulate the
point value of different skills to fill holes in expertise.
------
flooha
It's anecdotal, but my wife moved here 1.5 years ago and before she quit her
job to move here with me, she was a Global Application Manager for DHL
International (Deutsche Post). She was responsible for a team of software
engineers and support technicians whose app was installed in 9 countries, at
20 locations all over the world. She has expertise in Oracle and is fluent in
Spanish as well as English. The software controlls automotive sequencing (just
in time part delivery) for Chrysler, Volkswagen, Seat, Ford, and GM where the
supplier can be charged > $10,000 per minute of downtime. We met through work
and she was always the person who could be counted on to troubleshoot any
issue even outside her area of expertise.
In one and a half years, she has had two interviews and no offers.
It's pretty clear that her resume is almost immediately rejected because she
isn't a U.S. citizen (she's a permanent resident) and because her experience
is with "foreign" companies.
~~~
tokenadult
_It's pretty clear that her resume is almost immediately rejected because she
isn't a U.S. citizen (she's a permanent resident) and because her experience
is with "foreign" companies._
That's not clear at all to me from the facts stated. There is a global
recession going on right now, which began a while ago.
Best wishes to your wife in finding suitable career employment.
~~~
flooha
_That's not clear at all to me from the facts stated. There is a global
recession going on right now, which began a while ago._
I don't have any hard evidence on why her job search is not yielding results,
that's true. However, I've seen people with similar skill sets (or less) with
multiple opportunities. I recently put some feelers out for contract work,
just to see what the environment was like and she was astonished when I had 3
full-time and 2 part-time offers in less than one week. I know it's cliche,
but I don't think being a woman in IT is particularly helpful either.
_Best wishes to your wife in finding suitable career employment._
Thank you very much!
~~~
mainguy
Perhaps her resume isn't very good. Has she had it worked on by a professional
recruiter? She's using a professional recruiter right?
------
nico
I have a friend who studied Business (with a concentration on
Entrepreneurship) at Notre Dame (2nd best in Business according to
BusinessWeek). While at Notre Dame he could not get decent internships at big
companies because these companies either had a policy to not hire foreigners
(at least not for internships), or because it was such a hassle that they'd
rather not. Many of those companies were also in the process of shutting down
their "immigration departments" because it's become increasingly difficult to
get visas for their foreign workers, hence for them it's pretty much like
playing the lottery when they apply for an H1B visa for one of their workers,
and having dedicated staff for this very uncertain process is a big cost.
While finishing school, my friend was unable to secure a job with any company,
he had an offer from PWC, but it was finally withdrawn, while his friends were
hired. At the end he decided coming back to Chile, where he now has a job at
one of the top VCs in the country.
This is only one case, but I think it represents what a lot of immigrants in
the US have been experiencing.
~~~
kragen
In the US it is supposed to be illegal to discriminate in hiring on the basis
of national origin, which sometimes prohibits discrimination on the basis of
citizenship:
<http://www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/national-origin.html#VI>
It happens all the time, of course.
~~~
philwelch
National origin and citizenship, you're right. But when it comes to
immigration status, I've always had the "are you eligible to work in the
United States?" question asked of me for every job I've applied to.
~~~
ajju
It is not illegal to discriminate on the basis of immigration status. In fact
"Sorry, we can't hire anyone other than citizens and permanent residents" is
so common a response, it's usually part of the job ad itself.
------
geebee
Good article. The EE Phd mentioned in the beginning sounds like a _very_
skilled person, and it's hard to replace someone like that. Hard to see how
that guy is taking a job away from anyone, and he is likely creating wealth
and jobs for others. We want him here, no doubt.
One factor - I was once a PhD student in engineering at Berkeley, and in my
opinion, it's much a harder path than a JD or MBA, more uncertainty and lower
pay. While the "100K" salary the EE PhD in the article was earning isn't bad,
it's actually quite low compared to other professional degrees that can be
earned in half or even a third of the time (with less rigorous undergrad
preparation to boot). To me, there's little doubt that universities and
employers use the desire for a green card to keep these spots filled without
becoming "competitive" with other professional degree programs (the RAND
institute recently did a study that supports this view).
What to do? Well, maybe we should just set a minimum pay rate for a green
card. Perhaps a company needs to commit to a high salary to prove the worker
really is highly skilled. Given that starting salaries at top law firms exceed
$150 for a three year degree, I don't think that 100K is quite enough for the
company to claim that the worker is "critical" and "can't be found anywhere".
So I think this salary threshold needs to be very, very high.
If they were paying him 200K, I'd have no trouble granting the green card,
because then the absence of americans would be easier to attribute to a
"skills gap" rather than a desire to pay salaries that are not competitive
with other (often easier) career choices.
~~~
chime
> So I think this salary threshold needs to be very, very high.
Anytime you link a legal requirement to salary levels, you end up with
geographic cost-of-living disparities. 100K in NYC/SF is no big deal, 100K in
Clearwater, Florida is. A person who can easily get a greencard in NYC can't
do so in Florida. This makes the law unfair to states with lower cost-of-
living because employers cannot hire and keep skilled employees even when they
are willing to pay very competitive rates.
~~~
raghus
_A person who can easily get a greencard in NYC can't do so in Florida. This
makes the law unfair to states with lower cost-of-living ..._
chime - why would it be easier to get a GC in NY as opposed to FL? How then is
FL at a disadvantage because of the salary rules?
~~~
philwelch
Because a $100k salary in NY is easier for employers to meet (that's closer to
what they're already paying) than the same salary in Florida. Florida then
gets fewer immigrants this way.
------
Leon
So where are immigrants concentrating themselves if not the US? I am not
looking for the response, 'They are going home,' but surely the intelligentsia
is concentrating in some area so where is it? Is it just that the distribution
is more even with respect to country (in which case the US would still be the
lead) or is there a new, hot area (maybe parts of europe)?
~~~
potatolicious
I think that immigration to Canada is still on the rise. I can't source it,
but I think I heard that immigration to Canada from American citizens has
tripled in the last few years... As an educated professional with a college
degree and whatnot, and one who speaks fluent English (or French), entry into
Canada is almost a no-brainer under the skilled workforce immigration policy.
This is really an attitude thing. In the beginning the US was _the_ place to
be, so as non-Americans we all put up with the rampant bullshit you had to go
through to get in the door. Now, there are choices, and the xenophobic
attitude and the circus-like hoops you have to jump through to get in are no
longer as attractive.
Not to mention that the US is now dealing with some major social changes
(read: problems) that other countries have managed to avoid... health care for
one...
~~~
ajju
Actually Canada actively recruits US immigrants. Send an email about H-1B
visas using Gmail and soon you'll see an ad on the top saying something like
"Stuck in an H1B visa? Canada will give you an expedited residency if you are
a qualified immigrant". And it's goes to a Canadian govt. website with a form
asking for your phone number. THEY contact YOU!
If I could bear the cold I'd skoot over to Toronto in the blink of an eye.
~~~
potatolicious
To be fair, get ready for a rude income shock. I am one of the (few?)
Canadians who recently came to the US to work. Why? Honestly, because I got an
offer that was double what _any_ Canadian company was willing to offer me.
Software in Canada is second class - salaries are nowhere near the US levels,
and much of the work is "scrap" from Americans.
Everywhere I look in Canada I see satellite offices to large American software
companies. Invariably these offices do the boring, mundane code that nobody
wants to pay $150K to a Californian to do. That's what I mean when I say
"scrap" - monkey work, not real dev. It's hard to find a Canadian shop that
writes real, meaningful code.
~~~
ajju
Good point. I want to work for my own startup though so access to a large
number of customers is more important to me. I don't yet know how this
compares (the ease of finding new customers in Canada as well as traveling to
the US as a Canadian resident to meet customers) but I am looking into it.
~~~
potatolicious
Customer-wise stay in the US I say :) Canada doesn't really have a consumer
culture to the tune of the USA, and because of lower income and higher taxes,
you need to sell harder to get our money.
For tech companies focusing on mobile apps this is especially troublesome.
Telecommunications in Canada is _expensive_ as hell, and come with a ludicrous
number of strings attached. Want to do a high-bandwidth site like Hulu? Forget
it, your customers get hit with overage fees from their ISP like the plague.
Want to do a mobile app? Sky high costs for data plans means your customer
base is severely limited, and even the ones that do have it are apprehensive
about going over their paltry (500MB to 2GB!) monthly limits.
I wouldn't consider doing a Canadian startup that sells to Canadians. I would,
however, consider a Canadian startup that sells to Americans :)
~~~
ajju
Thanks. That's useful input! :)
------
Mintz
This really bothers me. It's like the U.S. is a football team, and we train
one of these immigrants; we make them hit the gym, show them the ropes, teach
them the intracacies of the game, let them know some good techniques, then
say, "Now get out of here, we don't want you to play for our team."
~~~
eugenejen
At the other hand, the law makers can say that this is how we intend to make
all countries around the world to be as good as United States by giving their
brains back. We are spreading Lord's wisdom and grace to everyone on earth by
being altruistic.
~~~
Mintz
Yeah, I can see how you're spinning it to be a positive thing, but when you
hear how these guys are getting frustrated, I don't think this is quite what
they want to hear.
~~~
eugenejen
Now you get my joke. You see how ridiculous the feeling is!
Unfortunately immigration is the thing that politicians either don't know
anything about it or don't care about anything about it.
Because until immigrants naturalize themselves as citizens, immigrants have no
voting right and politicians have no use of immigrants (Of course politicians
may still want immigrants to donate hard earned money to their campaign fund
under corporate names)
------
bwd
Maybe Obama will be smart enough to start handing out green cards to anybody
with an H1B who can hold a permanent position for two years. I'd much rather
employ somebody who's motivated enough to leave their home country in search
of opportunity.
~~~
jimbokun
That helps you, but does it help Obama (assuming Obama's goal is to get re-
elected) or the median U.S. voter?
~~~
roc
Obama will be painted as weak-on-immigration by the right regardless. So
there's no up-side to him ignoring the larger immigration problem or H1B in
particular.
(H1B should be a short path to a green card. Letting them be taken advantage
of and then sending them home is a _bad_ policy.)
------
ajju
I am jumping through hoops right now so that I can work for a startup based on
technology I developed (that has already created 3 jobs).
It's pretty frustrating.
------
jimbokun
'Senator Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Senate immigration
subcommittee, said in June that U.S. policy will aim to "encourage the world's
best and brightest individuals to come to the U.S. and create the new
technologies and businesses…but must discourage businesses from using our
immigration laws as a means to obtain temporary and less expensive foreign
labor."'
I'm curious for the opinion of Hacker News readers on Schumer's statement. Do
you agree or disagree that this should be the goal for U.S. immigration
policy? (and why)
~~~
patio11
I'd sell Green Cards, with a portion of the fee going into a background check
(more to buy off the Republican Party than anything else). I think about $50k
is fair, but you could calibrate the number as desired. Heck, if you want,
impose a quota, issue securities entitling the bearer to one green card, and
then auction them like T-bills. Transferable or non-transferable, your call.
This system is easy to understand, transparent, and offers certainty that the
patchwork quilt of immigration statuses does not. You'd hear a lot less
whinging from the nativist set if they were automatically $50k less expensive
than the next guy. This would essentially eliminate any abuse of (legal)
foreign labor, as employers would no longer hold any particular power over the
fates of their employees, other than the usual ones accorded by contract law.
(I can see Microsoft or whomever offering to foot the bill if they were
guaranteed 3 years of service, and have absolutely no problem with that
arrangement.)
It would also be easier for desirable foreign laborers to interface with.
Believe me, I can tell you from personal experience, NOTHING scares me like a
routine visit to get my visa renewed. It is the only time when I am ever
totally at the mercy of a clerk who has a Destroy My Life button on his
computer. Folks trying to fit an extended stay in the US into their near-term
life plans must have similar emotions. This would quiet them. Pay the license
fee. Get the green card. Simple, easy, fullproof.
Besides, you can essentially buy your way around immigration laws anyhow, so
we might as well be honest about it.
~~~
kragen
_Besides, you can essentially buy your way around immigration laws anyhow, so
we might as well be honest about it._
Can you really? How does that work?
~~~
gaius
Pay someone to marry you. A friend of mine did this. Tho' there's nothing
sleazy about it, he's gay and married a lesbian. He, his boyfried, her and her
girlfriend share a house in SF.
~~~
btdxtrt
The american dream?
------
pjvandehaar
I think a way to improve the situation would be to change the way income-tax
scales. To citizens, it increases percentage as wage increases, scaling
exponentially. To foreigners, it could scale sub-linear-ly, by lowering
percentage as wage increases. This would encourage foreigners to take high-
paying jobs in the US, but not low-paying ones.
Also: <http://paulgraham.com/foundervisa.html>
------
tokenadult
Is this situation better in other countries?
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=726097>
------
onreact-com
The brain drain from developing countries was aggravating their problems. Now
as the the US struggles itself those nations that need experts the most can
keep them.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What is the best DB for versioned time series? - sambucini
Dear all,<p>time series DBs are a hot topic these days but given the focus on IoT -- or more generally measurement data -- the underlying data model typically assumes that for one time series there is only one data point per period of time, so it's really just one dimensional.
However, if you work for example with forecast data (say for a stock price) you might wanna store every version of a forecast and not overwrite the previous forecast.
What are in your experience the best time series databases that (natively) support two or more dimensions and also allowing queries on these other dimensions like "get forecast for delivery-time from x to y where forecast_time = z"?<p>Thanks!
sambucini
======
Xeago
[https://spotify.github.io/heroic/](https://spotify.github.io/heroic/) is a
multi dimensional timeseries database with a rich query language.
------
aprdm
I have been using the ELK stack as a time series database for a long time, I
know it isn't built for it but there's so much documentation and resources
online that makes it a very "easy" choice, it's very easy to scale any part of
it, use the elastic as a nosql database, have kibana to visualize and easily
query. Curator to move old data to cold storage / shrink. It's been a no
brainer.
------
wut42
Have a look a TimescaleDB.
~~~
IpV8
I've used this with decent success. Their support slack channel is great as
well, and there is a lot of active development on the project.
Postgres's built in partitioning is also being actively developed. If it gets
good enough, I wonder what will happen to timescaleDB as a company...
------
gmuslera
Wouldn't that be solved with tags? Most time series databases support tagging
values.
~~~
misframer
Yeah. You can treat the version as just another attribute to identify the
series.
------
harrisreynolds
Amazon just launched their Time Series DB. It is probably worth a look.
------
ajawee
Clickhouse - [https://clickhouse.yandex](https://clickhouse.yandex)
------
sambucini
Great, thanks all!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why we need Python in the Browser - jinhui
http://archlinux.me/dusty/2012/03/13/why-we-need-python-in-the-browser/
======
hetman
For some time now I've been wondering why the primary scripting format
consumed by browsers is JavaScript (a language intended for humans) and not
some sort of standard bytecode that would be executed in a browser's virtual
machine.
What we need is the JSVM! In other words, something like the JVM but adapted
for the browser. That probably means it would have a more dynamic typing focus
since it makes sense for JavaScript to be the primary language targeted by the
system (though there's no reason this couldn't evolve over time just like the
JVM has).
All of a sudden you don't need to build in Python support, or Ruby support or
LISP support or whatever else you fancy into the browser. The browser no
longer cares what you compiled the script from, it just gets the standard
bytecode and everyone's happy.
~~~
Drakim
I'm sure we could have some sort of JSVM, we could even have some sort of
bytecode for the HTML, but it would destroy part of what makes the web so
great: it's openness. The ability to view the source of any webpage, and even
make chances and enhance it locally.
There is also the fact that certain optimization can only be done by the
browser if it has the actual source code rather than the compiled bytecode.
~~~
justncase80
In both .net and java there exists excellent decompilation tools where you can
easily decompile the bytecode back into java or C# or anyother language. It's
not necessarily going to give you the original source code (especially missing
comments) but it works incredibly well nonetheless. You could easily debug in
it and edit it dynamically in browser tools as well. This is pretty much a
solved problem. I wouldn't consider this a limitation worth talking about
again.
------
tomp
Python in the browser would ultimately lead to all the same problems as
Javascript in the browser. In a few years, we'll be hearing: Clojure in the
browser, Scala in the browser, Haskell in the browser.
I've been programming in Python full-time for the past 6 months, and it's main
deficiency are the same as JavaScript's: no (optional) static typing - I'm
really sick of writing checks whether my function got values of the correct
types, and unittests testing if a class's/function's signature changed in an
unexpected way.
What we need, in my opinion, is a dynamic language with powerful optional
static typing (unlike Dart, where types are just comments), with sane object-
orientedness, and support for immutable values. The core has to be really
simple, but the language has to be powerful enough so that libraries can
provide the missing functionality (math - rationals, matrices, ...;
concurrency - channels, isolates, ...; GUI, IO (with formats, ...)).
~~~
Pewpewarrows
> I'm really sick of writing checks whether my function got values of the
> correct types, and unittests testing if a class's/function's signature
> changed in an unexpected way.
Sorry to be blunt, but if every one of your Python functions and methods
begins with isinstance() checks for every parameter, you just missed the point
of the entire language. Python was built on a foundation of ducktyping, with
the mantra that "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission" (EAFP).
Just use your parameters in whatever way you expect them to be, and either
catch the rare Exception there or allow them to bubble up. Here's some
suggested reading on the subject:
<http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/isinstance/>
[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6092992/why-is-it-
easier-...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/6092992/why-is-it-easier-to-
ask-forgiveness-than-permission-in-python-but-not-in-java)
~~~
haberman
The Python approach means that when an exception is thrown, it's unclear whose
fault it is. Is it a bug in the called function, or in the caller for passing
a bad parameter? The larger the program the more of a problem this becomes.
It also means that when you change a function signature, the compiler can't
tell you all the call sites you need to fix. You have to find them through
testing. This is a large barrier to aggressive refactoring.
Even the Python C API provides facilities for checking that arguments have a
specific type and raising TypeError if not, so it can't be _that_ completely
counter to the intention of the language:
<http://docs.python.org/c-api/arg.html> (see O!)
~~~
Pewpewarrows
> It also means that when you change a function signature, the compiler can't
> tell you all the call sites you need to fix. You have to find them through
> testing. This is a large barrier to aggressive refactoring.
This is a problem inherit to every dynamic language. You sacrifice brain-dead
refactoring for improvements and tradeoffs elsewhere. Not to mention that
modern IDEs and tools like Rope [1] can definitely help.
[1] <http://rope.sourceforge.net/>
------
trothamel
We don't need Python in the browser. We need x in the browser, where x is
every language and runtime.
Javascript isn't some sort of global optimum that's perfect for every possible
application. The subset of Javascript that's supported by a wide range of
current browsers certainly isn't. And the result is that people aiming for the
web environment are limited by what Javascript can do - even though there are
languages that are arguably more expressive than it.
The problem is right now, only browser makers get to decide what languages run
in the browser. Browser makers have their own concerns, and supporting new
languages hasn't been historically among them.
What would be nice to aim for is a model where browsers can support multiple
language runtimes. Instead of the browser makers being the ones to support a
language, that language's advocates would be responsible for the port - and I
suspect the competition and cooperation would make them stronger.
Ideally, the language runtimes would be installed transparently. That's the
big potential of a project like Native Client - if it lives up to its billing,
it makes downloading the latest version of a language runtime to a browser
safe, while giving near-native speed and abstract machine.
This would let Python, Ruby, Haskell, Scala, Closure, Java, non-legacy
Javascript, and more exist in the same browser, giving the web platform the
same diversity of languages as is available on the desktop.
(Mobile platforms seem to also have this problem. The recent move from
general-purpose to language-specific platforms is sub-optimal.)
~~~
skizzikskizziks
So I'm a little ignorant, but I think I'll benefit from answers more informed
people give:
My question is, why aren't people out there (who are more experienced at
programming/developing than I am) developing support for X language(s) in open
source web browsers like Firefox. I'm sure I don't fully understand how this
works yet, but can't anyone who wants to be developing this capability
independently instead of waiting for browser makers to do it?
~~~
TylerE
Because unless the major browser makers ship it in their mainline product,
it's worthless.
~~~
skizzikskizziks
That's a good point; does that imply that it can't be incorporated after the
fact? That if a number of dedicated users applied it to the product
themselves, the browser makers wouldn't come around to incorporating it?
------
carsongross
We don't need Python in the Browser.
We need a _VM SPEC_ for the browser, so we can have whatever language we
damned well please in the browser.
Why Google decided to go with Dart rather than publish a VM spec is beyond me.
~~~
kirbysayshi
Brendan Eich has talked about why bytecode + VM is a bad idea for a browser:
<http://www.aminutewithbrendan.com/pages/20101122>
If you really want a VM, it already exists. It's called JavaScript, assembly
language of the web.
I would hate for sites to start saying, "Requires the PyJSVM v0.8 or better to
function, download it now!"
EDIT: in hindsight, this post was careless. I was wrong about the "PyJSVM"
point, and I posted the minutewithbrendan link to provide commentary, not
"Eich said it, so it must be true."
What I should have said:
JavaScript is so widely used today, that anything that comes along purporting
to be better (such as bytecode, Dart, whatever) must be _so much_ better as to
provide a clear reason for developers and users. If it's just "better", then
JS will remain dominant because it's good enough. Therefore, it makes sense to
target JS from other langs. It's definitely not getting slower, and we're on
the cusp of some great APIs!
~~~
carsongross
Surprise, surprise. Mr. Javascript thinks a VM for the browser would be a bad
idea. Let's address his points:
Viewing source is a non-sequitor: the source code could be streamed down with
the bytecode.
Standardizing a bytecode is no harder than standardizing a language and DOM,
in fact, should be easier.
Versioning bytecode is no harder than versioning languages.
Bytecode does _not_ imply an implementation any more than a language does,
although it can imply semantics.
And then, at the end, he basically advocates a JS-specific bytecode. Hah. Oh,
but they aren't working on it in committee. That says about all you need to
know.
There is _nothing_ about a bytecode spec that harder than a language and
language spec.
Basically, he doesn't want any competition for Javascript. That was an
incredibly weak podcast and he should have been shredded for it. People cut
this guy way too much slack.
~~~
ootachi
The semantics are the hard part. Just making a bytecode for some language
isn't hard. The problem is coming up with some semantics that allow all
languages to be implemented efficiently on top of it. Turns out that's
extremely difficult. The JVM and .NET certainly didn't achieve that; the Java-
fied and .NET-ified versions of languages are typically slower and don't
integrate well with their host languages.
~~~
carsongross
Slower and integrate less well than _javascript_?
C'mon.
------
tuukkah
There's a Firefox extension that integrates Python:
<http://code.google.com/p/pythonext/>
With that installed, you can write extensions in Python and even include
Python code in your HTML files if you want to:
<https://developer.mozilla.org/en/PyDOM>
------
nailer
Source mapping (part of ES6) gives proper error messages for other languages
compiled into JS, I believe this would include Pyjamas etc.
But do Python programmers who haven't programmed for the browser before
realize how important async is?
Tornado and Twisted users are used to passing around functions, but they're
very small subsets of the Python community, who, if asked to fetch something
and do something with it, would generally wait until it's fetched.
~~~
jerf
"But do Python programmers who haven't programmed for the browser before
realize how important async is?"
Not a very useful question. Anyone who has ever programmed on a GUI of any
sort will know how important that is, anybody else will rapidly learn. The
vague-but-pervasive idea that web developers invented async about two years
ago and thus "async experience" can be presumed to have not penetrated out to
those other less enlightened communities who still haven't discovered its
Mighty Powers is... not exactly historically accurate, let us say. GUIs have
always had to deal with async issues, going all the way back to the dawn of
GUIs. It's not a new idea. It's probably older than you are. (It is older than
I am.)
~~~
nailer
> Anyone who has ever programmed on a GUI of any sort
Most Python folks are backend folks. As mentioned, I frequently see Python
folk (including myself a few years ago) confusing async code for JS being a
complex language.
> anybody else will rapidly learn.
Why?
Delphi and the other desktop app RAD tools took care of callback integration -
the entry point for the code was generally not shown, it was just visually
attached to the button.
------
Joeboy
Can the rpython translator support js as a target? Could you compile pypy to
js that way, to provide a python environment in existing browsers?
To be honest though, JS is a perfectly OK language for web browsers, and if
you really want to reuse python code it probably makes more sense to translate
it before it gets to the browser, using automated tools or otherwise.
Supporting everybody's favourite language natively in every browser would be
horrible.
~~~
tav
Yes, you can compile PyPy to JavaScript. There even used to be a JS backend as
part of the RPython translation toolchain, but it got dumped since no-one was
interested in working on it [1]. There've been more successful attempts like
RPythonic [2] in translating from RPython to JavaScript by going via
Emscripten [3], i.e.
RPython -> LLVM -> Emscripten -> JavaScript
And, then, there have been efforts like my own which have focused on building
a WebKit bridge [4] to PyPy.
[1] [http://www.mail-archive.com/pypy-
[email protected]/msg03946....](http://www.mail-archive.com/pypy-
[email protected]/msg03946.html)
[2] [http://pyppet.blogspot.com/2011/04/rpython-to-
javascript.htm...](http://pyppet.blogspot.com/2011/04/rpython-to-
javascript.html)
[3] <https://github.com/kripken/emscripten>
[4] <https://github.com/tav/naaga/tree/master/webkit_bridge>
------
ma2rten
I like Python, but JavaScript is sort of good at what it does: evented
programming. In javascript it's really easy write a closure. I have not worked
with asynchronous frameworks like twisted, but I'd image it's a little more
awkward. Am I wrong?
~~~
justncase80
Python also has lambda syntax, therefore closures are quite easy to do.
Example:
items.select {|e| e.isFoo}
It's arguably more terse and superior to javascript in that particular feature
as well.
~~~
steve-howard
That's Ruby, if I'm not mistaken. In Python you'd do
filter(lambda e: e.isFoo, items)
~~~
andreasvc
It's more Pythonic to write
[e for e in items if e.isFoo]
------
okal
There's <http://skulpt.org>. Not sure how complete it is, though.
------
mcdaid
The language in the browser is not the problem to me. If I could use python it
wouldn't change the fact that you still need to deal with the DOM, CSS and
browser differences.
------
dhconnelly
It seems that the primary method of disagreement used by only-JavaScript-in-
the-browser advocates is as follows:
1\. Talk about the "open web"; 2\. Tell you to compile to JavaScript.
I really don't understand why this is considered a reasonable response to
people who just want to build things with the language they prefer, without
being treated as second-class citizens.
~~~
ttt_
Maybe because people are afraid to end up with a fragmented web all over
again.
Preference of language shouldn't really be a factor. The real question is that
any change must be properly standardized and implemented by all browser
vendors else you end up with "This webpage is written in python and is only
supported by Chrome 39+ and Firefox 43+".
Does using your prefered language really outvalue that?
I think the bytecode argument is a more feasable one, as long as it could
somehow be compiled to javascript and support older browser versions
effortlessly.
~~~
steve-howard
Version fragmentation is nearly a non-issue if browser updates are automatic
by default and non-intrusive. Firefox is slowly catching up, and Chrome is
very good at this. IE would obviously need to substantially change its release
cycle if it lost enough market share, though I imagine that won't happen for
quite some time.
------
jnowl
If google is serious with Dart, I'd hope they would release some library/tool
that bridged python to chrome and supported the dart dom libraries.
I would think that would help make it popular which would help compel other
browsers to support such technology.
------
mhansen
This is ridiculous. I love python, but it has no language support for an event
loop, and if you put it in a browser, everything would have to be done in an
event loop. It'd be ugly.
Javascript excels at evented programming. Use the right tool for the job.
~~~
Yaggo
I was just going to comment that at least Python has _yield_ (generators)
which helps to avoid callback spaghetti¹, but Javascript seems to have got it
too in 1.7².
[1] <http://www.tornadoweb.org/documentation/gen.html>
[2]
[https://developer.mozilla.org/en/New_in_JavaScript_1.7#Gener...](https://developer.mozilla.org/en/New_in_JavaScript_1.7#Generators)
------
martincerdeira
I think about this, a time ago and create a drumbeat project:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Q-BEBq4...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Q-BEBq4_Bb4J:https://batucada.mozillalabs.com/en-
US/projects/client-side-
python/+mozilla+drumbeat+python&cd=3&hl=es&ct=clnk&gl=ar&client=firefox-a)
but, sadly, nobody follows this idea...
------
spobo
If your python eventually compiles down to JavaScript it's worth doing. That
way you can get the developers to hop on because it's easier to program.
Browsers could then implement functions to directly process the python source
and not the JS which would have speed benefits.
But I really feel there is no need for python in the browser. JS is good
enough. If you want an easier way to write it use CoffeeScript.
------
scriptproof
With a tool like Enyo you can write all the code in a sort of JavaScript, and
it is converted to HTML + JavaScript. Google also has a tool to convert Java
to JavaScript. Why not a similar tool for Python (or other language)? No
practical need to have a lot of languages in the browser itself IMHO even if
it would be nice to program web pages with his favorite language.
------
andybak
An ideal situation would be installable interpreters that still allowed you to
use a system-wide rendering engine. I actually think Windows had something
similar with ActiveScripting.
I assume something like QT allows you to script the webview with whatever
language you have bindings for? Unfortunately QT+bindings is a pretty long way
from 'zero install'
~~~
hannes2000
Sounds more like plugin hell to me. I think it's becoming increasingly harder
to convince users to install browser plugins (for good reasons), and it's not
even possible on most mobile browsers.
~~~
andybak
As with the original article I'm talking about desktop apps which would
already require an installer. It's just about reducing the pain of that
install.
------
BrennanCheung
We don't need another language in the browser. We need a VM in the browser. As
in byte codes. That way ANY language can be used. JS gets compiled down to a
VM and then that is run in most implementations of JS. Why can't we just
target that VM directly and use our own tools and compilers instead of being
forced to compile it to javascript?
------
Newky
Sorry if this is a bit off-topic, but its mentioned that there is work being
done on an event loop in python, Can anyone give me some sources on this?
Are they talking about async frameworks such as twisted/tornado? or is there
more core work that I don't know about?
------
voidr
JavaScript is the bytecode that you can compile your python or whatever code
too. Just make the standards committee implement some nice features that are
useful for bytecodes and you are all set.
------
joshaidan
I remember Internet Explorer used to support VBScript. Is that still supported
in IE? It's been so long since I've used IE!
------
nkassis
What about using Native Client (nacl) to compile an implementation of python
(without the batteries)?
~~~
azakai
It would just run on Chrome, and it would just run on x86 and x86_64 machines.
~~~
nkassis
That's true but for the first part, it's mostly due to a lack of interest by
other vendors. For the second part, isn't the nacl team working on a protable
version of nacl?
It's at least one way to get python in the browser today.
~~~
azakai
> That's true but for the first part, it's mostly due to a lack of interest by
> other vendors.
The lack of interest by other vendors is because NaCl isn't an appropriate
technology for the open web, not just random lack of interest. (First and
foremost, because it is CPU-specific, while the web is supposed to run
everywhere.)
> For the second part, isn't the nacl team working on a protable version of
> nacl?
A research project called PNaCl, yes. But it is a different technology than
NaCl despite the similar name. One is based on gcc, the other llvm, one ships
CPU-specific machine code, the other bitcode, etc. So it is at this point too
early to tell if PNaCl will achieve good portability+speed, NaCl's speed
doesn't mean PNaCl will be fast too. Adopting NaCl because of the promise of
PNaCl doesn't make much sense.
------
hereonbusiness
how would one go about minimizing python code ?
------
rsanchez1
Would creating a Python interpreter that runs on Chrome's Native Client be
enough? In NaCl you have an environment that lets you take C/C++ code and
deploy programs written in that code to the browser. The Python interpreter
(and the ones for several widespread languages) is written in C. Why not put
the two together?
I've seen a proof-of-concept of this on webOS, which is essentially a browser
since JavaScript programs can run natively. In webOS 1.4.5 and above, there is
the PDK, which is a library that lets you make C/C++ programs compatible with
webOS and run them on-device. Part of the PDK is the plugin interface, which
allows JavaScript code to call C-compiled functions, which the C-compiled
program exposes to JavaScript with special PDK functions.
Since the Python interpreter is in C, it can be adapted with the PDK to allow
Python programs to run natively. Here is a post demonstrating it:
<http://www.ezequielaceto.com.ar/techblog/?p=359>
In Chrome, NaCl is analogous to the PDK, so why not have Python as an NaCl
plugin and use it to run Python in the browser? You have to imagine that if
NaCl gets widespread use, similar and compatible technology will pop up in
competing browsers, so sooner or later your Python will be cross-browser.
I'd like to see someone try Python in NaCl.
------
funkah
Just don't be so afraid of JavaScript. The future can be yours, today!
------
leon_
> the most restrictive operating systems only permit us to code in Objective C
uninformed gibberish.
------
justncase80
I think he misspelled 'Lua'.
------
mbq
Many people would be very surprised to see what MS Pyton is capable of (-:
~~~
nailer
Sure, Silverlight can run Python, but Microsoft has stepped away from plugins
in IE10, and SL/ML run poorly or not at all in most other desktops and
tablets.
------
mahmud
As a user of Real Programming Languages (Common Lisp, Java, C) I'm indifferent
to scripting languges, but if I had to choose ONE to see in the browser, it
would be Lua.
It has sane, symmetric minimal design that gets closures. It also _looks_ like
a programming language. I can type Lua into the Firebug repl and not worry
about indentation.
~~~
ramblerman
I like how you capitalized the Real Programming Languages, as if it is some
official definition.
The notion that python isn't real, is just silly.
~~~
mgkimsal
Of course Python is a Real Language, it exists, etc, yes. But it's not a Real
_Programming_ Language.
You see, everyone using python, ruby, perl, php, and other similar platforms -
we're not _programming_ , we're just _scripting_. The difference is _so_
extreme, that, well... if you don't understand, _I'm_ not going to bother
explaining.
~~~
icebraining
Sorry, Poe's law kicked-in and I mistakingly downvoted you. I'm very sorry:|
~~~
mgkimsal
Sorry too - I should have added a sarcasm tag (or, more appropriately, a
sarchasm tag).
I've been doing PHP for 16 years (among other things), and have grown tired of
the "scripting vs whatever" debates/comments/remarks/jibes/etc over the years.
That didn't come across enough in my original post - sorry. :/
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
We make the world - michokest
http://micho.biz/we-make-the-world/
======
easymode
Great words. I really loved reading it :) . What kind of stuff are you
building?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Open-sourcing the Lightning Web Components framework - kungfudoi
https://developer.salesforce.com/blogs/2019/05/introducing-lightning-web-components-open-source.html
======
tvanantwerp
I (thankfully) don't have to use Salesforce very often. But from my
experience, the Lightning Experience always felt non-performant compared to
the traditional server-rendered pages. Things always took a noticeable amount
of time to finish loading. Even though the traditional interface is, by
appearance alone, quite traditional, as least it felt fast. I don't know if
Lightning's problems were with poor performing front end code, or poor API
performance. But I was always underwhelmed when testing the SPA version of
Salesforce.
~~~
hliyan
I was using SFDC extensively when the Lightning experience first arrived, and
my experience tallies with yours. I ended up switching back to the old
experience to get my day to day work done.
~~~
tdviking21
Ugh, ya, I had to immediately switch back to the traditional. Lightning was so
slow.
------
miloandmilk
A lot of Salesforce sites use react - including:
[https://status.salesforce.com/](https://status.salesforce.com/)
and ironically:
[https://www.lightningdesignsystem.com/](https://www.lightningdesignsystem.com/)
Why do they insist on forcing their framework of the week on their dev
community and make it much easier to bring your own framework? NIH syndrome?
Lock in?
We use react and visualforce to get our products built but the visualforce
requirement to do so is sub optimal.
~~~
elfogris
At its core, Salesforce is a platform. As such, our customers expect their
code to work for the long run (and backwards compatibility forever). Not
owning the framework fundamentally means jeopardizing our business and our
customers, since we can't control our future.
We believe the best way to future-proof our platform is to align with
standards and help push the web platform forward, hence our sugar and take on
top of Web Components.
Also to your comment about using different frameworks, again as a platform,
allowing our customers to trivially include their framework choice of the day,
will mean that we might end up having to load seven versions of react, five of
Vue, 2 Embers .... You get the idea :) Outside the platform we love all the
other frameworks (hence other properties might choose what it fits their use
cases) and we had a lot of good discussions with framework owners about how to
keep improving things over the last two years.
Our goal is to keep contributing to the standards and push all the things to
be implemented natively on the platform so we all get faster and better.
~~~
jefflombardjr
> Not owning the framework fundamentally means jeopardizing our business and
> our customers, since we can't control our future.
Then why make the framework open source in the first place? The definition of
open source is not owning the framework.
~~~
dickeytk
that's the definition of free software, not open source. Open source just
means you can view the code.
~~~
ptx
No, open source[1] and free software[2] are the same thing. The only
difference is in philosophy of advocacy - the open source movement branched
off from the free software movement because they wanted to emphasize the
practical benefits rather than the ethical aspects (user freedom).
[1] [https://opensource.org/osd](https://opensource.org/osd)
[2] [https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-
sw.html](https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html)
~~~
dickeytk
That’s my point.
~~~
ptx
If you look at the definitions I linked to, you'll see that they are very
similar to each other and both involve a lot more than "just means you can
view the code".
In fact, the very first sentence of the introduction explicitly rejects your
proposed definition: "Open source doesn't just mean access to the source
code."
~~~
dickeytk
Sure, buddy
------
kls
<template if:true={isTrueTemplate}> Sorry been down this road with Angular
before, logic in the template is a dumpster fire of a non-debug-able, bad
idea.
------
couchand
I haven't used it, but I'll try to summarize what I know for the folks asking
general questions.
"The Lightning Experience" generally is a set of related products and tools
from Salesforce. It's based on a live-updating model (as opposed to
Salesforce's old-style whole page refresh model) and has a new visual and UX
design system targeting mobile.
They're trying to bring everyone along to their new model, but they clearly
understand it will take a while: they've built an experience switcher in the
main menu and have invested heavily in adoption tooling.
If you want more specific info I'd suggest their training site Trailhead.
Here's the Lightning Web Components introduction:
[https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/light...](https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/lightning-
web-components-basics)
~~~
hajile
The honest truth is that Lightning Components are just vendor lock-in. Once
you buy into lightning, you wind up using their proprietary communication
channels and their proprietary component library (which this press release
makes clear isn't open sourced).
If you want to change backends to something better, you can't because while
the backend will port rather directly, the front-end will not.
Then there's also the fact (unless things have changed dramatically in the
past few months) that writing your front-end in Vue or React will result in
much faster UI experiences and finding developers to maintain it will be
easier and cheaper (Salesforce devs are generally a bit more expensive).
~~~
vips7L
I think the honest truth is that the only people going to be using LWC are
Salesforce developers on the Salesforce platform, they're already locked in.
------
iagooar
Question for the HN crowd: is your company using, or have you used Salesforce?
On what scale? What kind of business? Was it worth it? Did you enjoy the
experience? Does it make sense for smaller businesses?
I have considered it for my company because it can do some neat things, but I
feel a bit overwhelmed by it. Really curious about the feedback.
~~~
adavis321
I work for the federal government. Another team in my organization is using it
for contact management and some other CRM tasks. They are very happy with it.
My team is developing a custom dashboard prototype for leadership. Our results
are mixed. Please note that I've only been working on this project part time
for about 4.5 months, so I'm far from an expert.
Basic entry and view forms are very easy to create; Basic reporting is very
easy, as well as basic charting. But the provided charting components can only
be customized up to a point. For example, you can set the color of chart
segments by value for pick-list fields, but not for calculated fields, and
only for certain types of charts.
Salesforce is a big, complicated system and it takes a while to learn. If your
needs can be met by their built-in Sales or Service modules then it may be a
great choice. If your needs can be met by a 3rd-party add-on, and you're
willing to pay extra for that, it may also be a good choice. If you want to
recreate your custom business logic in Salesforce then you may want to hire a
consultant.
Salesforce also has a lot of pricing and licensing options, so you would need
to be careful about making a purchase before you know all of your needs and
understand the different license types and pricing tiers.
~~~
cosmodisk
Salesforce reporting is relatively basic,consider Einstein Analytics for more
advanced stuff. Alternatively,just connect it to Tableau and do all the fancy
shpancy stuff there.
------
mrdoops
Using the Lightning Web Components without the Salesforce back-end is a
compelling idea. The design system is well tuned for standard business
requirements (rich data-tables, modals, forms, etc.). If there's a good story
around using those UI components without having to use the Salesforce back-end
this could have value. The Salesforce back-end is a scary entity-attribute-
value system coupled to an Oracle database on top of a layer-cake of legacy
multi-tenant architecture constraints and years of Java/C code.
~~~
davidbanham
I've done this with the older lightning CSS based toolkit and it was great.
The front end was React/Redux and we just wrapped the bits of markup we needed
into React components.
------
tvphan
How long has this been around? I had to recently build a React app for
Salesforce and I had to set it up as something called a Lightning Container
Component, which was pretty much a glorified iframe.
~~~
vips7L
I think LWC has been GA for ~6 months. It is leagues better than the old Aura
components.
------
drcongo
I may be entirely misunderstanding what the point of this is, but wouldn't it
be better if they just made their API unhorrible and let people use their own
components?
------
chenster
[https://vaadin.com/](https://vaadin.com/) has been doing web components for a
while now in open source.
~~~
pjmlp
Yeah, that is where they went after Google lost interest in GWT.
~~~
chenster
What do you mean that's where they went? Is it a spin off from the G?
~~~
pjmlp
Vaadin started as a set of GWT component library, Eclipse extensions and GUI
editor.
------
getpolarized
I don't understand the goal of this. Is it to replace React/Angular or are
these components like tree controls, tab controls, etc?
~~~
megaman821
It looks like it is a set of components and helpers for building components of
your own.
The good thing about Web Components is that they are reusable across
frameworks. You don't need jQuery-picker, react-datepicker, and vue-datepicker
just <my-datepicker /> and its reusable anywhere.
------
jefflombardjr
Salesforce is brilliant at marketing, I would take this PR announcement with a
grain of salt.
Lightning was already based on open source software - their Aura Framework. As
of March 2019 they decided that they were going to continue to maintain it,
but were ceasing to make it open source.
You can read the notice here:
[https://github.com/forcedotcom/aura](https://github.com/forcedotcom/aura)
------
datpuz
Just poking fun, but I like how the post says "Many features that required
frameworks are now standard" then introduces a... new framework!
------
erikrothoff
Looks a lot like Ember and their Glimmer.js components system.
~~~
elfogris
Certainly Yehuda from Ember had some influence on us :), so as many others
like Richard from Svelte or Evan from VueJs.
A lot of good conversations happen within the last two years to be where we
are today!
Hopefully some of our solutions and ideas will help improve the ecosystem.
------
EGreg
What is the point of this? Where are the examples?
~~~
sdegutis
Their home page says:
> Lightning web components are custom elements built using HTML and modern
> JavaScript.
> The Lightning Web Components UI framework uses core Web Components standards
> and provides only what’s necessary to perform well in browsers. Because it’s
> built on code that runs natively in browsers, the framework is lightweight
> and delivers exceptional performance. Most of the code you write is standard
> JavaScript and HTML.
> Build apps anywhere, any way. You can build an app with your favorite tools,
> like Webpack, TypeScript, and Babel, and run it on Heroku, Google, or
> anywhere else. You can also package an app to create a desktop experience in
> Electron.
Which I _think_ is equivalent to just saying this:
> Lightning Web Components is a lightweight, cross platform, and framework-
> independent web components library that builds on the native Web Components
> standards to add some convenient functionality.
~~~
elfogris
Beautiful as well :)
------
TotempaaltJ
Can we change the title to something like "Salesforce open sources Lightning
Web Components framework"?
~~~
sctb
Updated from “Lightning Web Components Open Source”. Thanks!
------
etchalon
I have a hard time getting excited about a framework whose announcement post
fails to do something as basic as ensure their images resize on mobile.
~~~
pcurve
I couldn't believe my eyes but you are right.
~~~
elfogris
We will work with marketing to fix it. Hopefully
[http://lwc.dev](http://lwc.dev) works better, but any feedback is welcome :)
~~~
lucasverra
Now there are way to small on desktops :(
[https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V9qB8V9RcTQ9h-Og4YAIao8FOFe...](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V9qB8V9RcTQ9h-Og4YAIao8FOFeGtN5I/view?usp=drivesdk)
~~~
dmix
Marketing needs to have a web developer on the team. Can't leave this stuff to
the sales guys.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
New Dizzy game from the Olivers - thorin
http://yolkfolk.com/mwd/
======
gregmorton
Flash? Really?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
What It’s Like to Be Part of Bird’s Scooter-Charging Workforce in Atlanta - nicpottier
https://moguldom.com/148419/birds-contract-scooter-charging-workforce-in-atlanta/
======
ddtaylor
This website has a lot of attention grabbing popups =( It's pretty irritating
to be reading an article and get interrupted.
> in other Bird-seeded cities, muggers have followed chargers heading into
> less-populated areas. Some chargers reported being victims of theft
Reminds me of Craigslist scams. The solution for CL scams was to only meet in
public/safe areas, what is the solution for these muggers? Send a officer
sometimes to sting sketchy bait scooters?
~~~
jpopesculian
The original hypepotamus article is a lot more user friendly. Not to mention
they're a pretty good resource for startup news in Atlanta.
[https://hypepotamus.com/news/perspective-bird-chargers-
atlan...](https://hypepotamus.com/news/perspective-bird-chargers-atlanta/)
~~~
ddtaylor
Ah, I didn't see this was a cross-post. Thanks!
------
telesilla
I wish Mexico City's Mobike[1] had someone running around at night finding
bikes - I swear, every day there are less and less on the streets. I've given
up even bothering to look for any near me and have gone back to walking to the
nearest ecobici stand or calling an uber.
[1] [https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-crime-
mobike/bike-...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-crime-mobike/bike-
theft-puts-the-brakes-on-chinas-mobike-in-mexico-city-idUSKCN1IX381?il=0)
"Mobike, which recently changed hands for $2.7 billion, equips its bicycles
with an electronic alarm that alerts the company when one of them leaves its
operating zone."
Yeah that doesn't work - I always rode one to neighbouring areas without even
thinking about it, and there is no disincentive. Reporting a bike that says
it's on the street, but is actually in someone's yard behind a fence, takes 3
days to get a response in the hope that the bad actor gets their account
revoked.
~~~
_rpd
I gave up on car2go for similar reasons. On the rare occasion that I could
actually find the car I'd reserved, it was parked in private parking. There
were allegedly punishments for doing this, but they never seemed to make the
practice any less common.
------
sandworm101
What i do not understand is how these collectors are expected to enter non-
public areas to retrieve company property. Railway tracks? Id punish the
person who left it there. The rule should be that you leave it in a safe
public place. Then again, leave anything in public place for too long and you
should be charged with littering. Seeing these things lying around waiting to
be picked up is depressing. I wish i could just leave my stuff in the city
park and pick it up a few days later.
~~~
Symbiote
> I wish i could just leave my stuff in the city park and pick it up a few
> days later.
Isn't that what on-street parking for cars is, except each car takes up 20× as
much space?
There are some bike racks near me which are positioned in what was a car
parking space, making a nice comparison.
[1] is the basic version, [2] to make a point.
[1]
[http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I4uxRsnmym8/TM5_oAi1I8I/AAAAAAAAAZ...](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_I4uxRsnmym8/TM5_oAi1I8I/AAAAAAAAAZ8/HYuAZkxTMys/s640/bicycles+is+car+parking+space.jpg)
[2] [http://mat2.materialicious.com/images/car-shaped-bike-
rack-b...](http://mat2.materialicious.com/images/car-shaped-bike-rack-by-
cyclehoop-o.jpg)
~~~
sandworm101
>> Isn't that what on-street parking for cars is, except each car takes up 20×
as much space?
No. Because cars, like bikes, are placed in designated spots. When they are
not, they are towed and their ownsers fined. Some of these scooters are just
left anywhere. Drop a bicycle in the middle of a baseball field and you'll be
ticketed for littering. Park a car on a park bench and it will be towed. But
these scooters appear in such placed regularly without consequence.
------
framebit
I've seen an uptick in the city of different pedestrian-ish modes of transit:
bikes, e-bikes, skateboards, electric skateboards, unicycles (at least near
GT), roller blades, all kinds of other stuff, and now Bird scooters are part
of the mix. Anything that helps Atlantans get from here to there without a car
is a net positive in my book. The Bird scooters being electric also help
combat the downside of navigating a hilly city in the summer heat. I really
hope that Bird users can continue to be and/or learn to be good citizens:
staying off the Beltline, not ditching the scooters on train tracks or private
property, etc.
------
creaghpatr
In Atlanta the scooters are only scattered throughout a small section of
Midtown, so while they are a kind of novelty in that area, I've never
encountered one outside of that 1-2 mile radius which is mostly comprised of
park and Beltline.
Does anyone in ATL know if people are using these on the Beltline? I'm almost
certain it's 'not allowed' but the beltline does make for an interesting
pairing with the scooters if it wasn't so crowded in the midtown part.
~~~
wil421
Midtown is the hotspot and unfortunetly where I commute to work. Really hope
the fad goes away. Biking is much better for you and I’m happy Atlanta is
embracing bikes. Dekalb has planned a connection between Path and the
beltline.
------
wil421
I hope these go away fast. Read about them first on HN and how they were
cluttering streets in SF. Now I can see what they mean. I ride public
transport to work in Atlanta and find them all over the sidewalks in Midtown.
The past month has been much worse. They are literally laying sideways on
sidewalks blocking people.
~~~
atwebb
There's some sort of social media astroturfing going on, it's pretty obvious
b/w the more "modern" news sites (and some not) and Reddit/HN. Lots of
contentless posts or biased headlines/reviews.
~~~
str33t_punk
Is there?
All I read every where is how terrible these things are.
I like them.
Does that make me a shill?
~~~
atwebb
It doesn't but the news seems disproportional to the usage, maybe this is the
first sign I'm not longer with it.
------
TheBeardKing
The Atlantic did a good article about this a few weeks ago:
[https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/charg...](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/05/charging-
electric-scooters-is-a-cutthroat-business/560747/)
------
lainga
>“It’s pretty funny — there’s a place where someone keeps putting them on
train tracks, so there’s like 20 on these random train tracks,” [Shahid] says.
Should put 20 on the tracks and one neatly parked off to the side, so the
chargers take the one with least risk. It doesn't look like they're paid more
to retrieve scooters in dangerous locations.
~~~
wyldfire
I'm a little puzzled about why Shahid thinks this is 'funny', as it seems
pretty obnoxious. The danger posed is not limited to Shahid but also the
trains, their operators and passengers/freight.
But I'm also puzzled by your comment. Why should anyone put any of them on the
tracks?
~~~
lainga
Hooliganism, vice and moral deficiency. I'm approaching this from the bad
user's point of view.
~~~
wyldfire
Ok, I see. I think your "bad user" model is inconsistent -- they probably care
no more for Shahid and his peers than they do for the lives and property
related to the railroad.
~~~
lainga
It's not about Shahid's well-being, but giving him the choice of taking an
easier scooter for the same payout and leaving the hooligan's track-
obstructing scooters alone.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Steve Job's Yacht - Venus - gorans
http://mashable.com/2012/10/28/steve-jobs-yacht-revealed/
======
joezydeco
So the Dutch shipyard crew finishes an 8 or 9 figure yacht (that you know
_had_ to be not as easy as a regular 8 or 9 figure yacht) and they get handed
a $25 iPod and a thank you note written in English?
That kind of came off as tacky. Or a fitting summary of Jobs' career.
~~~
kyro
Or you made an incredibly stupid leap of logic and forgot to consider the fact
that these guys most likely are employed by a company that compensated them
for their work throughout the months or years that it took to build the ship.
Think of it like you bringing out food and drinks for construction workers
fixing your roof.
~~~
joezydeco
If you were fixing the roof of a $100,000,000 mansion and the owner comes out
at lunch time and hands you a warm can of Wal-Mart Cola, what would you think?
See dagw's comment above.
~~~
jtbigwoo
I've done yard work and demolition for a few very rich people and I was always
appreciative when they came down with drinks--most didn't do anything other
than hide out upstairs and wait for us to leave. If someone had come down with
WalMart Cola, I probably would have thought, "I can't believe this guy owns a
chain of restaurants and still goes to Wal-Mart to buy soda."
~~~
blaines
Exactly, look at it this way... How many yachts did they make WITHOUT getting
a thank you note?
------
snogglethorpe
The funny thing is that the sum seems _less_ than the parts here—nothing looks
really all that bad in isolation[+], but as a whole it's awkward and
unbalanced, looking like unrelated pieces sort of crammed together as an
afterthought. Utterly without grace.
I wonder what Apple's industrial designers think about it...
[+] Aesthetically, mind you; judging from comments on other sites, the hull
shape is not so good for an ocean-going vessel...
~~~
indiecore
So you're saying that it's an aesthetically pleasing piece of work that while
functional isn't the absolute best you can get? Sounds like Apple products to
me. (I wonder if this'll kick off a big yacht buying trend?)
~~~
snogglethorpe
No; please read what I wrote again.
------
jerrya
I would like someone to confirm that is Steve Job's Yacht and that he was
involved in the design process.
That yacht seems the antithesis of a Jobsian yacht.
Ostentatious. Gaudy. A landlubber's office complex on water. Features and
design that would make it difficult to handle on water.
Dysfunction follows form.
~~~
dagw
_Dysfunction follows form._
You're assuming the primary function of a yacht is to travel quickly and
gracefully through a wide variety of waters. While some hold that view, other
believe the primary function of yacht is to be an awesome office, apartment
and party space that can be moved between the St. Tropez and Monaco harbors.
This boat seems to fulfill latter function perfectly.
------
jasonkolb
I think his love of minimalist Bauhaus design really shines through here. Not
my cup of tea, but then I like furniture in my house, too :)
I remember reading his bio and wondering what this looked like--apparently it
was his last big personal project that he was trying to get done before he
died. It looks very Jobs-ian to me, kind of like a Star Trek spaceship landed
in the water.
------
BenoitEssiambre
Am I the only one who sees this?:
<http://imgur.com/jdEEx>
------
backprojection
I don't really care; people can do whatever they want with their money,
_obviously_. But I am kind of surprised Jobs owned/commissioned a yacht. I
always figured owning a yacht was an abject status symbol, and that somehow
Jobs tried to be 'above' these things. meh
------
tapan_pandita
Slow news day apparently ...
------
timc3
That is quite the eyesore, with a complete lack of any emotion or inspiration
and it has what looks like an Apple store inside.
------
VBprogrammer
I think it probably says something about my eye for design that I prefer the
megayachts which look more like cross-channel ferries (Le Grand Bleu and
Octopus) than the god awful fibreglass gin palaces.
~~~
zalew
I prefer powerboats, but the Abramovich's megayacht was awesome. afair aside
of heli landings it had a powerboat inside and anti-missile protection. this
Jobs' one looks like an ugly office building.
------
xradionut
As a Navy vet and a technical guy, I wouldn't mind seeing the actual specs on
this beast. As a sailor, I'd rather crew on a ship designed more for
performance than luxury.
~~~
deadsy
Not an expert, but I'd be worried about those hull windows around the bow
getting broken as you plowed through waves. Maybe the boat is more of an Apple
III than an iPhone.
------
Aardwolf
It looks like something I'd accept if it were given to me as a gift, but to me
personally wouldn't be worth the purchase with my money.
The front looks a bit weird.
------
zalew
#12 7 points by gorans 2 hours ago
#13 141 points by Pwnguinz 15 hours ago
how does it work?
~~~
gus_massa
Originally the formula was: (points-1)/(hours+2)^1.4 , but pg changes it
whenever he wants, so the "gravity coefficient" is now different from 1.4.
You can read detailed analysis of the (published) formula in 2009 in
[http://www.arcfn.com/2009/06/how-does-newsyc-ranking-
work.ht...](http://www.arcfn.com/2009/06/how-does-newsyc-ranking-work.html)
And there are a lot of secret coefficient corrections, for example the number
of flagging that the submission received and the number of comments (if it has
too many comments, it is too polemic and it is pushed down.)
If we use the 2009 formula we get
Points(P) Time(H) (P-1)^.8/(H+2)^1.8
7 2 0.3457
141 15 0.3177
that gives the ordering you saw.
~~~
zalew
tx!
"if it has too many comments, it is too polemic and it is pushed down." well,
this is surprising.
------
JanezStupar
To me it looks like an Imperial Star Destroyer.
------
orenmazor
boat aside, I'd love to see more about the instrumentation on the bridge with
those imacs…
------
earnubs
The upper section, is that an iPad mini stacked on an iPad?
~~~
breckenedge
I'd have to be a first-gen iPad with the rounded back. Top kinda looks like a
Mac Mini from the front, but that diminishes in the other views.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: What are some tech cos in Vancouver, BC tackling interesting problems? - neptunespear
Please keep the discussion about real estate prices, how Microsoft's office here is an H-1B, "what does HootSuite offer that other companies don't?!", to a minimum. Believe me, I live here. I know. And just for the record, Microsoft's new office in Vancouver mostly hires Canadian citizens/PRs for permanent positions. An H-1B/L-1 holding tank to Redmond <i>was</i> the original plan, but when the temporary foreign worker scandal hit in 2014, the company backtracked on L-1 hires for the new Van office due to pressure from the federal government (source: MSFT recruiter via an anecdote in /r/cscareerquestions). I think London and Zurich are more popular for L-1 holding tanks than Vancouver these days.<p>I don't know if HN is this is the appropriate site to ask this question, but /r/cscareerquestions wasn't much help. And by the way, they can be bootstraped, have small-cap VC funding, have huge a16z/SoftBank/KPCB-scale VC investments; they can be startups, they can be more mature publicly-traded companies; they can be homegrown or big U.S. companies; it doesn't really matter. They should have a lot of smart people working on interesting problems in technology. What are some of them?<p>I also wonder which companies have signed up to the new WeWork space in Bentall III (https://www.wework.com/buildings/burrard-station--vancouver) that's opening "soon". As far as I know none of the tenants have been made public. Maybe they're under confidentiality agreements?
======
anon012343210
[https://mcec.microsoft.ca/teams/](https://mcec.microsoft.ca/teams/)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
A considered look at using Data Visualisation and Infographics - destraynor
http://www.contrast.ie/blog/infographics-and-data-visualisations/
======
neovive
Excellent and very informative article. I would be interested in knowing what
your tools of choice are for wireframing, charting and infographics?
~~~
destraynor
Omnigraffle, OmniGraphSketcher, Numbers, Pixelmator, and rarely Keynote.
~~~
neovive
Thanks. This is the first I've heard of OmniGraphSketcher and it looks like
quite a flexible tool.
------
Adrock
All of Tufte's books should be included at the end.
~~~
viggity
If you like Tufte, I totally recommend Ben Fry's Thesis (Fry is the author of
the very popular "Processing" language that lets you create some awesome
visualizations). It is an incredibly easy read.
<http://benfry.com/phd/>
~~~
jacobolus
And if you like those, the mother-of-all-infoviz-books is Jacques Bertin’s
1967 _Sémiologie Graphique_ , finally back in print in English translation
after 25 years out.
about $50 on Amazon: <http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1589482611/>
------
tel
I completely agree with the author, but I don't think it was taken far enough.
The positive examples at the bottom are crawling out of whatever pit of hell
the "184 milk jugs" came from, but meaningless colors, exuberant gradients,
fading bars, big overlapping data points... these are all examples of chart
junk as well.
My favorite information design mantra is that your design should be _exactly_
as exciting as your data. This probably takes it too far, but much like
statistics it is so easy to lie with graphs that you're better off assuming
you're lying accidentally.
~~~
destraynor
Hey tel, I wrote the article, thanks for your agreement, allow me to quickly
explain myself.
The gradients served purely as a background to the image in the article. I
wasn't suggest that every diagram ever should have a gradient backdrop.
Overlapping data points was a laziness of my behalf, I was just throwing these
examples together in Omnigraffle. The colours in the Markov chain aren't
meaningless, they are just out of context. (The idea came from a dash I
designed where the app distinguished customers by colour type, so I followed
that convention in the chain).
Most of all thanks for reading my article, and for your considered feedback.
Regards, Des (@destraynor)
~~~
tel
Hey Des,
Sorry if my comment sounded overly critical — I'm sure you know well the
frustration you can get from infographics, and simultaneously the urge to just
have everything be somehow perfect, suddenly. I want to also mention that I
appreciated bringing up the Victoria Secret graphics. Sometimes it is
important to lie, much like humor being the best way to tell a sad story.
Anyway, thanks for writing the article. Despite my criticisms, I'm always
happy to see more arguments to whittle away abject trust in garden variety
infographics.
To round out my comment, I want to mention that I really appreciated the note
that there is definitely a time for confusing, artistic infographics even if
they are misleading. Victoria's Secret graphics can definitely raise awareness
from 0 in a hostile crowd, they also can overemphasize detils to compensate
for the audience's unwillingness to consider them meaningfully.
~~~
destraynor
Hey Tel, Thanks for your reply - no worries re: sounding critical. Your points
were valid.
The Victorias Secret thing is something I keep reminding myself. Life is not
about "usability" - the experience is more importantly.
Reminds me of a Joel Spolsky quote
"Usability is not everything.
If usability engineers designed a nightclub, it would be clean, quiet,
brightly lit, with lots of places to sit down, plenty of bartenders, menus
written in 18-point sans-serif, and easy-to-find bathrooms.
But nobody would be there. They would all be down the street at Coyote Ugly
pouring beer on each other— - Joel Spolsky"
------
rnadna
FYI, the link to the Cleveland article is broken. It should read
[https://secure.cs.uvic.ca/twiki/pub/Research/Chisel/Computat...](https://secure.cs.uvic.ca/twiki/pub/Research/Chisel/ComputationalAestheticsProject/cleveland.pdf)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Impossible Foods Announces Impossible Pork - dbenamy
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2020/1/7/21054910/impossible-pork-sausage-plant-based-meat
======
dbenamy
The main site is at
[https://impossiblefoods.com/pork/](https://impossiblefoods.com/pork/) but
there’s very little info there.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tell HN: I used to be a hacker - EPRangler
I used to be a hacker.<p>I used to bounce around like a molecule, colliding with everything untiI I discovered every crack and backdoor by sheer persistence.<p>I used to sit in my parents basement for 14 hours straight without a single thought unrelated to the screen in front of me entering my head.<p>I once made $5 in a day. The money was meaningless, just a way to keep score.<p>I used to be a hacker, I was driven by pure curiosity and the joy of finding out.<p>I once made $100 in a day. I could actually buy stuff in real life.<p>The money wasn’t important to me. I wasn’t concerned about my future, my career, or what other people thought.<p>I once made $1000 in a day. I probably don’t need a real job. That’s nice.<p>The money wasn’t that important to me. I just wanted the freedom to travel and keep hacking without having to work for
someone.<p>I once made $27,000 in a day. My parents were proud of me because I was successful now.<p>The money wasn’t the most important thing to me. My expenses increased, but I lived below my means. I should probably invest in a tax deferred retirement account and make a linkedin profile.<p>I once made $1 million dollars in a day. I was now a professional internet entrepreneur.<p>I was no longer a hacker. I wanted to build a robust internet business with low overhead and diversified recurring revenue streams to be attractive for an eventual acquisition.<p>I was concerned with the landscape, the competition, and that guy on the cover of Inc magazine.<p>It became harder to figure things out. I felt like I was consuming twice the mental resources. I’m a successful internet entrepreneur now, and my identity is tied to the outcome.<p>Me today could never have done what I did back then. I don’t have the curiosity, the scrappiness, or the delusional optimism to even try.<p>To those just starting out who haven’t yet made a dollar and a cent, block out all the bullshit and hack.
======
dirktheman
I visited a microbrewery last Saturday. The owner used to be a big shot
entrepeneur, but he lost it all and started over from scratch doing what he
loves the most: making beer.
He runs the brewery with his wife. He told me that he gets multiple offers a
month for selling his beers in consignment but that would mean ramping up the
production and the entire organization, and he doesn't want that. He said that
he could sustain himself with doing what he loves. As soon as his company
grows too much, he won't be able to do what he loves anymore.
------
EPRangler
Just wrote this on my iphone in the car. Wanted to get it off my chest.
Anonymous for now please.
~~~
iamthirsty
Glad you got this off your chest mate, but HN really isn't the place for it.
~~~
rubbingalcohol
Is it though? IMO the progression from a pursuit of passion to the
practicality of profession and profit is particularly poignant, and pointful
in this place.
~~~
cimmanom
It’d be perfectly reasonable to share a link to on HN after writing it in a
blog. But HN isn’t a blog or a blog hosting site.
~~~
lgregg
Following that logic there shouldn't even be a way to submit text beyond a
title and url. I've got to disagree, I think this belongs here.
~~~
cimmanom
I always figured the text was so you could elaborate on your _question_ since
Ask HN posts with just a title are often too vague to answer.
------
tinktank
Dude, I feel you so much. I got into computing because I loved it. I used to
write TSRs and hack binaries for the fun of it. I did a degree, got a PhD in
it, got into academia, saw the pettiness and the money being made all around
me, eventually I just burnt out. Hate it now, do it because I have to.
~~~
stealthcat
>do it because I have to.
I don't get it. Sorry can you explain
------
HiroshiSan
I love this post, thank you.
------
thecupisblue
Don't let the hacker die.
------
malux85
Email me, I’m in a very similar situation. Let’s chat.
------
is_true
You should be more specific on how or what were you doing?
Probably answering any of those questions more people would be interested in
this because they could learn something from your experience.
~~~
EPRangler
I don't want to get into what I'm into. I'm not a role model for the young
guns. You won't understand until you're ready. 1 million is nothing. Money
flows like water on the internet. There is no secret barrier stopping you from
making millions. No one cares.
I see indie dev threads where kids are stoked they're making 2k a month.
That's a daily rounding error for dudes getting it and not talking about it.
It's is a matter of getting out of your own way, your ego, your
preconceptions.
If you don't have a dollar to your name yet, you need to be a few percent
delusional optimistic.
If you're real smart, most of your ideas will be crap, but one of those
thoughts will be very insightful. Respect your ideas, organize, categorize,
and execute on them accordingly. Kill the losers quickly.
This is not a talent show. All that matters is revenue. It is a technical
problem. Get out of your own way.
~~~
segmondy
You just told us nothing.
~~~
alain_gilbert
Oops [https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OdO-
SO...](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OdO-
SO8gBAQJ:https://news.ycombinator.com/item%3Fid%3D17831235+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)
I was hesitating if I should post it or not since op didn't want to talk about
it... but well, I think a hacker should know that anything that reaches the
internet is not private anymore.
TLDR seems to be: affiliate programs & cookie stuffing
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: If there was no internet, what business would you have started? - stefanobernardi
Apart from companies to try and create the internet, what offline businesses would you have started and why?
======
wheaties
I'd figure out how to put laser beams on shark's heads and hold the world
hostage for 1 million dollars!
No, really. I think I wouldn't start anything because without the internet and
places like HN I'd never have found the courage to seek out new business
ideas. I'd view failure as too high an obstacle and be content with climbing
the corporate ladder through an established company.
------
cynusx
I was toying with ideas for home automation systems before I discovered that
the risk/reward curve for internet based businesses is pretty neat.
I do remember that home automation systems usually are the lowest priority
while building a new house, so a good entry in the market would be to make it
dead-easy to fit into an existing house. One solution I thought was viable
were small bluetooth enabled switches any DIY guy can install either as a
socket adaptor or to be installed in an existing light switch wiring. This
could then be hooked up by bluetooth or zigbee to check which devices are on
and in the case of lights, turn them off remotely.
Advanced uses can be measuring and controlling power or simulating daytime
routines when you are away on vacation as an anti-burglary measure.
Obviously I never built this, nor did I invest in acquiring the skillset to
build this. However, I would have made the effort to get the skillset by now
if the internet wouldn't have existed.
~~~
ramanujan
It's probably already on your radar, but Nest is a company that could
mainstream home automation, if you are still interested in the area.
------
kephra
There wont be much change, besides chatting in #ai, #machinelearning and #lug-
bremen, browsing the web for lol cats, and the like.
My startup is applying machine learning to industrial processes - and guess
what - most factories, power plants, chemical plants or oil fields don't have
internet.
~~~
cperciva
_most factories, power plants, chemical plants or oil fields don't have
internet._
Some don't have internet. Most _shouldn't_ have internet.
But given the number of SCADA exploits I've heard about recently... there's an
awful lot of places which _shouldn't_ have internet but _do_.
~~~
secoif
Link for such SCADA exploits?
~~~
tptacek
You can search the news for them, but if you're looking to verify the
anecdote: I don't have time to do anything more than pile them on, but you
should know that SCADA evaluations of factories and utilities have been a
mainstay of IT security for the past 6-8 years; there are hundreds of
consultants who have found ridiculous exposures to insanely sensitive sites.
~~~
patio11
Anecdote: "You can do _what_ with an email to factory-
[email protected]? What possessed you to
implement that? You didn't make e.g. a web service because the corporate
policy kept restricting you from operating potentially lethal machinery from
outside the firewall? _That wasn't a strong enough hint?_ "
------
TillE
Still computer games. The industry was small but wonderful in the pre-internet
days.
Alternatively, I've always wanted to set up a fast food restaurant. Lot of
work, but I think it'd be fun.
~~~
tagabek
What kind of games are you working on now? Android, iOS, indie?
------
tptacek
I would go door-to-door soliciting contributions to a new encyclopedia,
mailing the improvements out as a "National Geographic"-style
magazine/journal.
~~~
mcrider
I think this could still succeed, and I would almost certainly subscribe if
the magazine was well-designed and had interesting topics.
I was just looking at my parent's collection of National Geographics and the
shelf of yellow spines looks beautiful as a thing in itself, not to mention
that they are filled with amazing articles and photography.
Edit: This would be a good Kickstarter candidate IMO!
------
stretchwithme
I'd set up the world's largest local area network.
~~~
mmphosis
Even if there is an internet, this is a good idea.
------
michaelpinto
Is this an alternate universe where it's 2012 but we have a different set of
technologies or is this in a previous period on this timeline? I tend to think
that geeks go where the action is: For example if this was the 70s most of the
folks here would be working the PC. I started my first company in 1989 and
while the internet was around there was no easy way to use it, so we launched
a dial-up BBS. We weren't able to monazite that so we focused on technologies
like HyperCard and CD-ROMs.
------
guard-of-terra
If there was no internet, it's obvious we'd have space exploration instead and
so I'll probably either design spaceships or fly on them.
------
areavic
I'd start a business that would have offices in the top 20 major commercial
cities in the world and would trade physical commodities taking advantages of
the price differences between these locations. My business would use telephone
or telegraph.
The presence of the internet and ensuing information exchange reduces these
price differences to make such a business nonviable.
------
brk
I would buy a van and drive around offering virus removal services. I think
that could really be successful in the right market.
~~~
duck
A market without the Internet would probably not be the right one. :-)
~~~
ig1
Viruses were widespread on platforms like the Commodore Amiga well before the
wide-spread adoption of the internet.
~~~
matznerd
How did they spread?
~~~
enqk
exchanging floppy disks via mail
------
JamesLeonis
I actually did a computer repair service for a bit in high school. I started
with my parents recommending me for my service and word spread around quite a
bit. I made a pretty nice amount fixing/replacing/upgrading hardware, backups,
and recovery. Even if there was no internet, PCs still broke.
------
tjlytle
Right now I'm a contract developer (building web applications for clients) -
if that wasn't possible (and, since it seems like a cop out, I'll ignore non-
internet related programming) I'd likely be a carpenter/tinkerer (building
physical things for clients).
------
mindslight
Lacking the Internet, I'd probably follow the herd and play the Web-startup
lottery.
------
bobdvb
By trade I am a broadcast engineer, but I like the simple things in life, in
my past I always said I wanted a small rural restaurant/pub/hotel.
More recently my fiancée and I have discussed a small holding farming and
opening a local produce deli. But this will probably be for early retirement,
once I've made my millions...
------
jazzychad
A t-shirt printing company. I had one for a while in my basement before I
moved to CA. Hand screen-printed thousands of shirts before it was over. I did
take payment and orders over the internet, so I guess I would have to change
that aspect.
~~~
tagabek
I'm curious; how much did that earn you all in all in the end?
------
gadders
I always wonder what I would have done for a career in a would without
computers (broader than the original question, admittedly).
What I would like to have done: successful chain of kindergartens/soft play
areas for kids
What I would probably have done: accountant :-(
------
cdvonstinkpot
No change. My startup's not primarily an internet-based venture. Its the
marketing plan that requires a custom server app. Operations would be much
different without the cloud.
------
tuananh
From my own experience, without Internet, I will probably end up playing
offline game and watching movies. So game dev and cd/dvd rental services are
way to go.
------
rdl
Cheap space launch, using a cannon (Gerald Bull style). Basically being able
to put a 100kg payload into LEO every hour for $50mm capex and $10-20k per
launch.
------
Toph
No internet doesn't prevent software to be written or hardware to be made.
That's where I'd be and where I'm going.
------
thehodge
I started a sweet shop (online and offline) in September... I'd have probably
done that a lot earlier in life..
------
TMK
I probably would do local woodworking and build furniture all by myself with
my own hands, no robotics.
------
callmeed
Encyclopedia sales or a travel agency
------
stevenj
I would have started Chipotle.
------
zerostar07
I 'd work in academia, I would be useless for anything else
------
imd23
Concert entreraiment company (a la sensation/tomorrowland)
------
hajrice
Would have started a nightclub or something like that
------
chaseideas
A better mousetrap.
------
jameswyse
I'd start an ISP. Internet is important!
------
tgrass
I would have written my second novel.
------
RealGeek
I would be a DJ.
------
sixQuarks
Lemonade stand
------
alpine
Assuming we had all taken a wrong turn technologically ie the Internet concept
had not occurred to someone, then Rocket Mail would be fun:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_mail>
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Landing on a U.S. Aircraft Carrier Is About to Get Easier - bootload
https://warisboring.com/landing-on-a-u-s-aircraft-carrier-is-about-to-get-easier-1778ac6e771f#.ad3cbth81
======
najajomo
How exactly does Precision Landing Modes [PLM] make landing on an aircraft
carrier easier?
~~~
bootload
I'm in awe of how the USN land F/18s at sea, at night in rough weather. When
the pilots on ship are sitting down with pop-corn watching night landings in
rough seas of their flight team-mates using IFLOLS... watch this video on
landing on pitching decks. [0] The real problem is being able to land in all
weather consistently. The advantage of Precision Landing Modes (PLM) is
described this way:
_" “Every aircraft is continually on glideslope with a stable and predictable
energy state. Ultimately, this makes landing at the aircraft carrier safer,”
said Lt. Greg “Cinder” Blok, CVW-8 Paddles."_ [1]
Because landing is visual [2] and aided by LSO (Landing Signal Officer) the
precision on landing is more variable than using PLM.
_“All results showed benefits in touchdown dispersion reduction of more than
50 percent when compared to current landing control techniques,”_ [3]
References
[0] Video showing USN in the Pacific in rough seas
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4HTXBTkcpg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4HTXBTkcpg)
[1] _" Fleet Flies Magic Carpet"_
[http://navalaviationnews.navylive.dodlive.mil/2017/03/14/fle...](http://navalaviationnews.navylive.dodlive.mil/2017/03/14/fleet-
flies-magic-carpet/)
[2] _" IFLOLS—the improved Fresnel lens optical landing system—is a stack of
12 light cells, which produce a single ball-shaped image used by carrier
pilots to determine the glideslope as they approach the carrier to land."_
[3] Ibid, _" Fleet Flies Magic Carpet"_
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Why we started startuplab.co - danielpal
http://startuplab.co/blog/2011/06/07/why-we-started-startuplabco/
======
mikeleeorg
I love seeing initiatives like this, especially in areas with traditionally
little entrepreneurial support. The "Silicon Valley Experience" is interesting
too. I wonder if this will be a popular program for them.
~~~
danielpal
Thanks, that is the idea, to provide more support. The Silicon Valley
Experience comes from a similar experience in NY. About 2 months ago 4 latin
american entrepreneurs and I did a trip to NY(general assembly) to work from
there for 3 weeks and we had a great time. Everyone loved the trip so much,
and it was so valuable, that I decided to create an ongoing program, but this
time to Silicon Valley.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The most popular docker images each contain at least 30 vulnerabilities - vinnyglennon
https://snyk.io/blog/top-ten-most-popular-docker-images-each-contain-at-least-30-vulnerabilities/
======
DCKing
Although vulnerability scanners can be a useful tool, I find it very
troublesome that you can utter the sentence "this package contains XX
vulnerabilities, and that package contains YY vulnerabilities" _and then stop
talking_. You've provided barely any useful information!
The quantity of vulnerabilities in an image is not really all that useful
information. A large amount of vulnerabilities in a Docker image does not
necessarily imply that there's anything insecure going on. Many people don't
realize that a vulnerability is usually defined as "has a CVE security
advisory", and that CVEs get assigned based on a worst-case evaluation of the
bug. As a result, having a CVE in your container barely tells you anything
about your actual vulnerability position. In fact, most of the time you will
find that having a CVE in some random utility doesn't matter. Most CVEs in
system packages don't apply to most of your containers' threat models.
Why not? Because an attacker is very unlikely to be able to use
vulnerabilities in these system libraries or utilities. Those utilities are
usually not in active use in the first place. Even if they are used, you are
not usually in a position to exploit these vulnerabilities as an attacker.
Just as an example, a hypothetical outdated version of grep in one of these
containers can hypothetically contain many CVEs. But if your Docker service
doesn't use grep, then you would need to _manually run_ grep to be vulnerable.
And an attacker that is able to run grep in your Docker container has _already
owned you_ \- it doesn't make a difference that your grep is vulnerable! This
hypothetical vulnerable version of grep therefore makes no difference in the
security of your container, despite containing many CVEs.
It's the _quality_ of these vulnerabilities that matters. Can an attacker
actually exploit the vulnerabilities to do bad things? The answer for almost
all of these CVEs is "no". But that's not really the product that Snyk sells -
Snyk sells a product to show you as many vulnerabilities as possible. Any
vulnerability scanner company thinks it can provide most business value (and
make the most money) by reporting as many vulnerabilities as it can. For sure
it can help you to pinpoint those few vulnerabilities that are exploitable,
but that's where your own analysis comes in.
I'm not saying there's not a lot to improve in terms of container security.
There's a _whole bunch_ to improve there. But focusing on quantities like
"amount of CVEs in an image" is not the solution - it's marketing.
~~~
kayfox
I work for a network hardware and security vendor and its utterly
disheartening how many customers come to us and don't actually care about the
impact of any of the vulnerabilities they ask us about, they just care about
the CVSS score, its PCI impact and their often bizarre policy about them.
Theres often less concern about actually doing something about security risks
and more concern about meeting their compliance goals. Now, this may be biased
by who actually reaches out, but it is scary that big names have underlings
who dont know the first thing about some of the security issues their
"investigating".
In another discussion the other day, I had heard programming these days
compared to slowly transitioning out of the hunter-gatherer phase and into
more structured society. From what I have seen this largely rings true, we are
still relying on software that is largely not engineered, but written with
loose engineering. The security industry seems to largely be like this, but
more of a wild west (as depicted in Westerns) feel to it. Some companies and
organizations have structured strategies for security, but even in large
organizations like Equifax theres still a kinda "go shoot the bad guys and tie
up the gate so the cattle dont get out" aspect to it, very ad hoc.
I am hoping the industry moves more towards engineering things, standardizing
interactions, characterizing software modules, etc so that the security
industry can spend less time on wild goose chases when trying to figure out
how something is supposed to work and how this latest vulnerability applies to
that.
~~~
tracker1
It comes down to risk, cost, reward. If it costs you one developer 3 months to
build a utility used by 5 people in your company, but would cost 3 years for a
team of 5 to write an "engineered" version with security focus, it may never
happen.
It depends on need and risk.
~~~
flukus
> It comes down to risk, cost, reward.
In theory I agree that there are trade offs like this, but in practice I
rarely see them being applied properly. A small startup up using electron to
build a cross platform app for instance, I can see how that's a good trade
off, but then you see multi-billion dollar companies with hundreds of devs and
millions of users building electron apps when they can easily dedicate the
resource for native ones.
Security tends to be similar, giant (non-tech) companies with lots of
important data are the ones that optimize for cost the most and don't care
about the risk.
~~~
tracker1
I'm not sure that I entirely agree... VS Code is really well supported across
platforms that otherwise may have been left behind. Contrast to say MS Teams,
which doesn't have as broad support outside Windows/Mac, that irks me more.
I'm a pretty big fan of Electron + Cordova to reach a broader base of users. I
don't think it's a net bad as a user who prefers the same tools on windows,
linux and mac as much as possible.
There are a lot of things you get in the box with a browser based platform
beyond the cross browser support. I mean even reflows and alignments working
right are far more consistent, more easily. CSS/Styling is the same as the
browser which is very flexible/capable. Some may dislike JS, but it gets the
job done.
But on the flip side, I've seen people build an entire application
(executable) or service from what could be a simple script in any given
scripting language.
------
haroldp
I'm a little appalled at the general attitude here. "These issues are probably
nothing," is just not a good approach to security. "My app only exposes port
80 so I don't care about local exploits," is not a good approach to security.
"Docker images always have a bunch of junk installed that you don't actually
use," is not a good approach to security.
Am I crazy?
What does this tell us about Docker as an ecosystem? It's amazing tech, to be
sure, but I feel like a lot of projects are leaning on, "just install the
docker image," to avoid the hassles of making flexible, compatible,
installable, readable software. If people out in the world can't install your
software because it's not compatible with a library they have updated to patch
a security vulnerability, they you will hear about it, and maybe get a patch.
If people just install your docker image... eh, it works, why bother looking
behind the curtain and see how? That's a ecosystem where I would _expect_ to
see a lot of bloat and security vulnerabilities creeping in and getting worse
over time.
~~~
rconti
Both are correct. I've been a sysadmin fixing vulns in PCI infra identified by
a Major Security Vendor, cussing about how pointless it is to fix most of
them, all in order to change some magic number to get below the acceptable
threshold. I've worked for that Major Security Vendor. And now I'm working
elsewhere, using Docker images from god knows where. It truly is quite
stunning how cavalier people can be about their container deployments, but the
reality is the vast majority of these vulns have never mattered to the vast
majority of people. But it's also important to be on top of what the vulns
are, so you can assess if they matter to you or not.
We started in a place of way too little concern about security
vulnerabilities. Some environments are still there, but many have been driven
by draconian policy to go way overboard.
~~~
haroldp
Oof, I have been there on dumb PCI "fixes"!
But my big concern here is, "How do Docker users stay on top of
vulnerabilities?" And I worry that for many of them, the answer is that they
don't. Or they just update their image when a new version comes out. And the
latter answer could actually be a big win for security... provided Docker
image maintainers are staying on top of vulnerabilities. Is the Docker
infrastructure doing a good job of policing that? Of highlighting images that
have known vulnerabilities?
Lots of people are replying that the article doesn't give any details about
_which_ vulnerabilities. That's valid, but is Docker giving details about
known vulnerabilities?
~~~
rconti
I think this is what people are banking on with CI/CD. In theory if the
maintainers knew what they were doing, we could just roll new containers same
day. Because patching things in-place has ALWAYS been a nightmare.
------
SahAssar
I really don't like these kinds of alarmist reports if they are not actually
saying what the problems are and how they can lead to actual, real, serious
attacks. A lot of claimed "high CVSS" vulnerabilities aren't when you put them
in context, and sometimes vice versa.
Yes, we should strive to be a lot better and maintaining dependencies is one
thing that generally everyone in modern development does bad, but this sort of
alarmist posts that have no concrete examples generally just lead to people
ignoring the whole field/industry. If those images are exploitable in the ways
they are intended to be used highlight that. If it's as bad as this post makes
it sound then that should be easy.
~~~
objectified
CVSS is a common and open approach. CVSS scores that are particularly high,
are often directly exploitable. If they aren't, then probably their
calculation was done wrong. You can try it for yourself here:
[https://www.first.org/cvss/calculator/3.0](https://www.first.org/cvss/calculator/3.0)
Having said that, what can lead to a serious attack for your organization is
often subject to a combination of factors. Say, there is an SSRF vulnerability
in your own application, because the HTTP library you use doesn't parse the
URL correctly, so now an attacker can let your application perform arbitrary
HTTP requests. But fortunately, the connectivity of your application server is
quite limited, so that an attacker can't reach internal systems, can't go to
the internet, uses strong authentication to web services it does use, all the
good stuff. So now the chance of a successful, serious attack is largely
diminished.
Also, it can be quite complicated to know what the exact, real dependencies of
your application are. What is the transitive/recursive list of dependencies
your application uses? Which of your application's dependencies actually use
libraries on your system? And what are _their_ dependencies? I think that cost
wise, it is cheaper to make sure your application dependencies, containers,
host system libraries, container orchestration tools, etc. are always up to
date.
And yeah, I agree that the post doesn't do a good job at all to provide a sane
rationale on _why_ you should update. Anyone who has ever administered an
operating system knows that security vulnerabilities are found in them every
day. But the awareness that a Docker container is subject to the same pace is
definitely not present everywhere, and it probably should be.
~~~
SahAssar
I'm not sure if that was the idea, but nothing you said refutes what I said.
If there is a potential SSRF due to one of those vulnerabilities show that, if
there is a potential but unlikely RCE show that.
Just saying that the default node image has 580 vulnerabilities helps no one
actually trying to fix these vulnerabilities or assess how to prevent this in
the future.
------
BossingAround
Did you know Red Hat has a free container registry [1] which is being
constantly watched for CVEs and CVEs are fixed like within a week of
announcement?
Just try "docker run -it registry.access.redhat.com/rhel7-minimal /bin/bash"
and you're good to go...
[1]
[https://access.redhat.com/containers](https://access.redhat.com/containers)
~~~
ihattendorf
What's the licensing status for these images?
~~~
e1ven
The slide at [https://www.redhat.com/files/summit/session-
assets/2017/LT12...](https://www.redhat.com/files/summit/session-
assets/2017/LT122012-dherrman-rhcc-lightning-talk-final.pdf) says that the
License will be displayed on the Get Image page.
This page says (for the NodeJS image)
"Before downloading or using this Certified Container, you must agree to both
the Red Hat subscription agreement located at redhat.com/licenses and the Red
Hat Connect Certified Container Partner’s terms which are referenced by URL in
the Partner’s product description and/or included in the Certified Container.
If you do not agree with these terms, do not download or use the Certified
Container. If you have an existing Red Hat Enterprise Agreement (or other
negotiated agreement with Red Hat) with terms that govern subscription
services associated with Certified Containers, then your existing agreement
will control."
~~~
indigodaddy
So I can't tell from this if you need a RHEL subscription or not to use the
docker images? I guess the most salient question will be can the images yum
install things or not? I'm guessing they will have that functionality without
requiring a subscription but that's just speculation based on my reading of
that blurb.
------
jrockway
Docker's concept of base images is quite useful. You can build your
application in a convenient container, then copy the resulting binary into a
container with nothing else (except SSL certificates and the time zone
database, for Go code anyway).
[https://gist.github.com/jrockway/cceef8bb5dcef62743f8bcbc044...](https://gist.github.com/jrockway/cceef8bb5dcef62743f8bcbc044cd2ad)
I started doing this around the time we started doing vulnerability scanning
and now the containers are both tiny and free of scannable security issues. I
recommend that others take this approach if possible, as having too much stuff
in your container increases app startup time, storage costs, and your attack
surface.
~~~
curtis
I've been doing something similar, but I've been taking it one step further:
Alpine's apk package manager will let you treat a subdirectory as "root" and
you can install packages there. Then you can write the root out as a tar file
and use that as the file system for a "FROM scratch" Docker build. One
deficiency is that every package seems to depend on the Busybox shell, so the
only way to get rid of that is to delete it after it's installed.
So far this approach seems to work OK, but it feels unnecessarily hacky, and I
wish there was better tool support for this kind of thing.
------
mrweasel
Generally speaking people should be much more careful about just pulling down
images from Docker Hub. So many image are extremely popular, but also very
wrong. For instance there are images that contain some web-framework, a
webserver and a supervisor process, ignoring the fact that it goes completely
against Dockers own documentation.
You also find image that contain some weird little tool, apparently solely
because author of the Dockerfile wrote it himself, not because you actually
need it.
I would wish that more people would build packages for their distribution of
choice and simply install via the package manager, rather than pulling down
compile time dependencies and rebuilding things like webservers, databases or
frameworks in containers.
We reach the point where I'm concern when people around me use images that
aren't just base OS images. The quality of image from Docker hub is all over
the place.
------
aboutruby
A lot of people say you don't need Heroku when you have Docker images, but
Heroku actually takes care of the vast majority of vulnerabilities for you.
~~~
mikepurvis
This has always been my hesitation with Docker— unless you have a proper
pipeline in place to be constantly rebuilding your overlay from updated
versions of the base image, you're basically just carrying a snapshot of
unknown binaries into the future with you, indefinitely.
Obviously, any reasonable shop will have such a pipeline in place, but
DockerHub and the whole ecosystem of docker getting started tutorials seem to
really encourage a "set it and forget it" mentality toward a container once
it's built and working.
~~~
orf
Do they? The whole point is you'd rebuild your app every redeploy, which
includes from the base image.
Docker has a lot of problems but build repeatability is not one of them, in my
experience. It makes it really really frictionless, in some cases way too
frictionless
------
tofflos
How about the Distroless containers from Google?
[https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/distroless/blob/mast...](https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/distroless/blob/master/base/README.md).
~~~
alpb
Similarly, Google Cloud has managed "base container images" for debian, centos
and ubuntu: [https://cloud.google.com/container-registry/docs/managed-
bas...](https://cloud.google.com/container-registry/docs/managed-base-images)
------
LunaSea
Oh surprise, surprise, another click bait, low effort Node.js security blog by
Snyk.io.
------
Thaxll
I would be very cautious with those vulnerabilities reports, 95% of the time
it's libraries from the Docker image that you will never use or don't have
access to.
~~~
vjeux
I am admin on a few high profile js projects. Github has enabled sending
alerts for vulnerabilities, I haven’t yet seen one that was actually a real
one. Lots of times there’s a deep dependency that we’re not even using that
can accept a regex that may cause a DoS.
~~~
eunoia
The deep dependency regex vulnerability warnings are particularly annoying.
Can anyone speak to what the actual attack vector is?
~~~
cyphar
There is a type of regex called a "pathological" regex which can be used to
make certain regex implementations have exponential time complexity. If you
exposed this in your application, someone could DoS you. Some libraries might
have accidentally pathological regular expressions, and so some user input
might be able to trigger the pathological case (Atom had a bug a few years ago
where certain source files would cause the editor to lock up, and it was
caused by a bad regex they used for parsing to figure out the auto
indentation[1]).
Russ Cox wrote an article about this in 2007[2], and the situation is still
the same. Go doesn't have this problem since Russ Cox is one of the lead
authors of Go, and wrote Go's regex library.
[1]: [http://davidvgalbraith.com/how-i-fixed-
atom/](http://davidvgalbraith.com/how-i-fixed-atom/) [2]:
[https://swtch.com/~rsc/regexp/regexp1.html](https://swtch.com/~rsc/regexp/regexp1.html)
~~~
gpm
Rust's regex library also doesn't have this issue [1], and is easily usable by
other languages [2]. If you're concerned about this issue in your code and
your not using go it's probably easier to use this than the go one.
[1] [https://docs.rs/regex/1.1.0/regex/](https://docs.rs/regex/1.1.0/regex/)
[2]
\- C (and thus everything with a FFI): [https://github.com/rust-
lang/regex/tree/master/regex-capi](https://github.com/rust-
lang/regex/tree/master/regex-capi)
\- Go (heh): [https://github.com/BurntSushi/rure-
go](https://github.com/BurntSushi/rure-go)
\- Possibly somewhat out of date Python:
[https://github.com/davidblewett/rure-
python](https://github.com/davidblewett/rure-python)
~~~
cyphar
Sure, but the only reason I mentioned Go is because Russ Cox literally wrote
the paper on this problem and also happened to write the Go regex library (as
well as a large part of Go itself). I wrote an FSA-based regex implementation
in Python some years ago[1] as a learning experience, but that's not really
relevant to someone asking "what is a pathological regex".
[1]: [https://github.com/cyphar/redone](https://github.com/cyphar/redone)
~~~
gpm
I agree entirely.
I wasn't trying to say "you should have linked this instead", just trying to
point anyone who sees this and goes "that's an issue in my code" in the right
direction.
~~~
cyphar
Ah, sorry -- I misunderstood the thrust of your point. Didn't mean to bite
your head off.
------
bayesian_horse
Most of these vulnerabilities won't matter to most users. Privilege
escalation, inside a docker container (mostly) doesn't go very far, and
developers should avoid providing code execution to users in the first place.
With docker, you will attempt a defense in depth. Even if someone breaks into
an app in a container, it can be very hard to break into other containers or
the host.
I suspect that many, maybe most developers have lower hanging fruits on the
security tree than upgrading deployed docker containers daily.
The removal of a vulnerability which can't be used as a link in the "kill
chain" of a hacker attacking your system isn't improving security that much.
------
vbernat
Currently, "node:10" is based on Stretch. The image is not totally up-to-date.
Despite what the article says, Debian Jessie is still maintained, part of
Debian LTS effort. After pulling "node:10-jessie", "apt update", "apt list
--upgradable" says:
curl/oldstable 7.38.0-4+deb8u14 amd64 [upgradable from: 7.38.0-4+deb8u13]
libcurl3/oldstable 7.38.0-4+deb8u14 amd64 [upgradable from: 7.38.0-4+deb8u13]
libcurl3-gnutls/oldstable 7.38.0-4+deb8u14 amd64 [upgradable from: 7.38.0-4+deb8u13]
libcurl4-openssl-dev/oldstable 7.38.0-4+deb8u14 amd64 [upgradable from: 7.38.0-4+deb8u13]
libpq-dev/oldstable 9.4.21-0+deb8u1 amd64 [upgradable from: 9.4.20-0+deb8u1]
libpq5/oldstable 9.4.21-0+deb8u1 amd64 [upgradable from: 9.4.20-0+deb8u1]
libsystemd0/oldstable 215-17+deb8u10 amd64 [upgradable from: 215-17+deb8u9]
libtiff5/oldstable 4.0.3-12.3+deb8u8 amd64 [upgradable from: 4.0.3-12.3+deb8u7]
libtiff5-dev/oldstable 4.0.3-12.3+deb8u8 amd64 [upgradable from: 4.0.3-12.3+deb8u7]
libtiffxx5/oldstable 4.0.3-12.3+deb8u8 amd64 [upgradable from: 4.0.3-12.3+deb8u7]
libudev1/oldstable 215-17+deb8u10 amd64 [upgradable from: 215-17+deb8u9]
systemd/oldstable 215-17+deb8u10 amd64 [upgradable from: 215-17+deb8u9]
systemd-sysv/oldstable 215-17+deb8u10 amd64 [upgradable from: 215-17+deb8u9]
udev/oldstable 215-17+deb8u10 amd64 [upgradable from: 215-17+deb8u9]
There shouldn't be 500 vulnerabilities here. Of course, node itself may pull
many outdated libraries outside of Debian (which is a common practice with
software using bundled copies instead of system libraries), but without
details, it's hard to know what is accounted for a vulnerability. Moreover, if
the Alpine version has 0 vulnerability, it would mean all the vulnerabilities
come from Debian.
The article mentions backports of fixes, so I suppose they just don't compare
blindly package version numbers with the versions provided in the CVE report.
For Debian, they could use the security tracker to know if a CVE is fixed and
in which version (something Alpine is lacking, so it's difficult to assess the
security of Alpine). However, many CVE are not fixed because the security
issue is deemed to be too minor. A bit more details about the 500
vulnerabilities would help to understand.
~~~
rixrax
Docker Hub has been providing 3rd party component details for some years now.
And based on my limited exposure, they've been pretty spot on in regard to
what 3rd party code is included, CVEs impacting shown components (meaning they
appear to mostly correctly show backported patches to otherwise vulnerable
libs). See below (requires DockerHub account):
URL: [https://hub.docker.com/_/node/scans/library/node/current-
sli...](https://hub.docker.com/_/node/scans/library/node/current-slim)
URL:
[https://hub.docker.com/_/mongo/scans/library/mongo/4.1](https://hub.docker.com/_/mongo/scans/library/mongo/4.1)
~~~
vbernat
For node:10-jessie, this is:
[https://hub.docker.com/_/node/scans/library/node/10-jessie](https://hub.docker.com/_/node/scans/library/node/10-jessie).
This seems credible.
------
cheald
FWIW, we use Gitlab to help protect against this: we use its CI scheduling to
rebuild our base images on a regular basis. Our Docker image builds are
managed via CI, and we have a schedule set up to rebuild them with --no-cache.
This keeps our base images fresh without slowing down most marginal builds
during the workday.
You could obviously do this with cron, as well, but if you already have a CI
pipeline managing your base images, it makes sense to set up a recurring
build.
------
nivenhuh
Looks like Alpine-based images were found to be "ok". Not sure why folks would
use non-alpine based images unless you really have some odd dependencies?
------
ricardobeat
The node:10-alpine image is a better option [...]
while no vulnerabilities were detected
in the version of the Alpine image we tested
Note that Docker Hub offers no way of verifying download statistics _per tag_
, so we don't know how many containers are using the base node image - in my
experience everyone uses alpine.
~~~
tracker1
I tend to build on default/full and release in alpine.
------
coleifer
Can't tell if this is fud or not. For example with node, typically you'd only
be exposing port 80, right? So as long as your http server isn't vulnerable
you're ok. Or same with Redis, which I hope isn't anywhere near the public
internet?
~~~
acdha
> So as long as your http server isn't vulnerable you're ok
… and everything loaded by every dependency under any situation which doesn't
require admin access. Your server can be fine but if e.g. you process images
you have to follow libjpeg, libpng, zlib, littlecms, etc.
Yes, it's a lot better than a full multiuser Unix system where you have to
worry about background processes which aren't useful for a dedicated
microservice but there's a long history of vulnerabilities in components being
combined into successful exploits and it's usually far more expensive to try
to analyze those chains than to upgrade.
This brings me to:
> Or same with Redis, which I hope isn't anywhere near the public internet?
That's hopefully true in general but also consider chained attacks: say you're
running a web app and I find a way to run code in the app process. That might
be limited but if I can poke at Redis enough to run code there I can test
whether you were as diligent about sandboxing it. That'll hurt if, say, there
was a container exploit which someone delayed patching because they “knew” our
app only runs as an unprivileged user.
------
stevebmark
Most of these "vulnerabilities" are in the operating system that aren't run
when you run 99% of Docker containers...
~~~
ben509
Okay, what about the 1%? And how do you find out which 1% apply to you?
~~~
stevebmark
I'm guessing you would know because you're doing a lot of specific work in the
container to boot an OS, like get a full Ubuntu instance up and running in a
container
------
finchisko
I have an idea how to solve problem with outdated images. What about building
service, then will automatically rebuilds your image, when there is a update
base image and automatically publish it to docker hub (or private hub). What
do you guys think? Is there any interest in such a thing?
------
g105b
Can we have a new tab on Hacker News? "ask", "show", "jobs" and "marketing"?
------
zeristor
At a previous employee they were quite chuffed to have a Windows 2000 locked
down build provided by the NSA
------
PeterHK
if you have issue with having updated packages and or dont like unneeded stuff
in your containerbuild. use nixos `dockerTools.buildImage` (builder needs to
be nixos machine but that should not be a problem) also i like `skopeo` to
upload the image
------
je42
things like
[https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/distroless](https://github.com/GoogleContainerTools/distroless)
should help to reduce the attack surface of your containers.
~~~
collinmanderson
Interesting. So instead of using a package manager inside the container, it
downloads .debs from debian, parses and extracts the files, and then uses
bazel to build the container directly.
------
musicale
If only there were a technology where you could fix a vulnerability (or other
bug) once and it would automatically propagate to all of your applications
without having to rebuild them.
Maybe we could call it a "base OS image" or maybe "shared libraries."
------
ganoushoreilly
Anyone else think this was Synack at first with a short url?
~~~
ganoushoreilly
Why would someone downvote an observation that this product was confused with
another cyber security firm?
~~~
ganoushoreilly
Let's make a threepeat.
------
alexnewman
How does this compare to vagrant?
~~~
e1ven
One big difference is that (afaik) people aren't putting vagrant images into
production, it's for local development.
~~~
alexnewman
sure they do. you are totally wrong. they just shouldn’t
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Electronic commerce iOS APP framework Demo - renboan
https://github.com/zonghongyan/EVNEstorePlatform
======
renboan
Electronic commerce iOS APP framework The structure of the APP is divided into
three main line:One of the main frame process;A framework is the user login
process;Other such as advertising page, a welcome page, etc
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Lockheed Martin Claims Fusion Breakthrough That Could Change World Forever - funkyy
http://www.forbes.com/sites/williampentland/2014/10/15/lockheed-martin-claims-fusion-breakthrough-that-could-change-world-forever/
======
brownbat
They're hopeful they'll see a prototype in five years, but for now it's just a
concept.
Maybe the idea works out really well, that'd be amazing. But "breakthrough"
almost suggests they've successfully tested some device, which doesn't seem to
be the case.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Office Hours - bjonathan
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/04/office-hours.html
======
jasonfried
I've been doing office hours via phone since Oct 2009
([http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1973-announcing-ceo-office-
ho...](http://37signals.com/svn/posts/1973-announcing-ceo-office-hours)).
It's been great. Lately I've been available less so I haven't been as
consistent as I'd like to be, but it's definitely been worth it.
<http://37signals.com/officehours>
~~~
tansey
Seems like there is a qualitative difference here, though. Your office hours
are effectively 37signals customer support from the CEO. Fred's are more of an
altruistic way to give back to the startup community. Both are great, just
noting the distinction.
I'd be very interested if you tried Fred's style of office hours.
~~~
jasonfried
The majority of the calls I get are from entrepreneurs asking for business
advice or my thoughts on their concept/ideas. I barely get any calls re:
37signals products.
------
rstocker99
You know what I'd pay for? Enterprise sales office hours and online customer
acquisition office hours. That would rock. Basically 15 minutes of an experts
time over Skype. They'd have to really be an _expert_ but I'd happily pay.
~~~
meterplech
A few companies do that actually. Their analysts/consultants will work with
you for an hour or so and then try to set up a longer term deal to help you.
It makes sense: the economics of even an hour long meeting aren't great
factoring in customer acquisition costs. I think Gartner and maybe some others
do this though.
------
Lost_BiomedE
This is such a great idea. It can be used in so many places where it currently
is not available, due to culture or other reasons. It can also be a meet the
____ that is scheduled for whoever and whenever.
I imagine that a lot of opportunities, connections, and collaboration is lost
due to no sense of being welcome or fear of wasting time. It reminds me a bit
of the comments that Nobel prize winners often kept their office door open to
welcome all.
While the idea does not appear to be new, it is definitely underused.
------
meterplech
I just had office hours with Albert Wenger. The process is really great. I
tried to get into office hours last round (I think they do them twice a year?)
and made the waitlist. I was then contacted this time to see if I was still
interested.
I actually didn't have a pitch or anything. I'm just about to move to New York
and wanted advice on getting involved in the startup scene. He was very
interesting to talk to and had great advice. Highly recommend doing these
office hours.
~~~
joshu
Albert is awesome. He was my COO at Delicious and is now on my board for Tasty
Labs.
------
joeyespo
When I applied to AlphaLab, a Pittsburgh-based startup accelerator, they
offered the same thing. I felt it was extremely helpful.
It's an incredible opportunity to meet the people you may be working with
right at the start. It's also very helpful since you, the guest, can get a
better feel for how they operate and even get some quick, low-risk feedback on
a pitch or about your story.
------
arethuza
Did I read that correctly? _Anyone_ can try and get a meeting and there is no
screening?
~~~
pclark
What is the worst that can happen in 15 minutes?
~~~
hugh3
Do you want a literal answer to that question?
Of course if we're talking "getting stabbed" then it's probably more likely to
happen on your way home rather than in your office, so I don't think it's
worth worrying too much about.
~~~
pclark
That was my point, and why I questioned arethuza on his emphasis on anyone, I
was curious what he meant.
~~~
arethuza
I guess I'm just more used to VCs in the UK - which are usually a bit more
standoffish (perhaps with a couple of exceptions).
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google to AdSense users: Please don’t dump us in crap economic times - markbao
http://venturebeat.com/2008/10/30/google-to-adsense-users-please-dont-dump-us-in-crap-economic-times/
======
enomar
Those bastards!
How dare they communicate with their customers! They have no right to try to
persuade anyone that despite the downturn, they are still investing in their
product and trying to improve ad effectiveness. Don't be evil indeed!
------
teej
Now's probably a good time to ask to be reinstated if you've been kicked out,
I imagine.
------
curiousgeorge
AdSense helped boost our number of daily visits when we experimented with it,
but we've had much more success getting traction other ways. Once we stopped
advertising the boost subsided. We get better kick for the buck directly
sponsoring private forums with decent niche traffic.
We will probably experiment with higher value keywords at some point. The
major issue is mostly conversion rates though - you need to charge a high
price to justify spending a significant amount to attract one paying customer.
SEO is a much better approach, but it's interesting to see Google getting
taken to the cleaners here by some of the more spam-oriented sites out there
that really push the keywords into their domain names. Even the market leader
in our field is not listed on the first page for the most important keyword
related to their product.
~~~
tocomment
You mean adwords. You posted on the wrong thread :-)
------
arien
So I wonder, if they sent such a letter, does this mean they already started
to see a decrease on AdSense use?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
"Songs of the IBM", an orwellian-type songbook for IBM employees, circa 1937 - mactac
http://www.noisemademedoit.com/songs-of-the-ibm/
======
olog-hai
This looks an awful lot like plagiarism. He rewrote Rob Weir's blog post
without giving him credit. <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4465098>
~~~
mactac
Source link at bottom.
------
jgeorge
He's got a much better copy of it than I do, I have a photocopy of an older
edition (I want to say 1935 but it's not at hand to check).
Useless bit of trivia: the original OS/2 release included several MIDI sample
files in a "media" directory on one of the diskettes. The IBMRALLY.MID file
there is a rendition of "Ever Onward, IBM".
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Google creates a Charts Tools API - sown
http://code.google.com/apis/charttools/
======
ajju
They have had this for a while, months at least.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
John Resig: JavaScript as a First Language - fogus
http://ejohn.org/blog/javascript-as-a-first-language/
======
jashkenas
For the interested (and with the caveat that I definitely would not suggest it
for the Khan Academy's purposes), CoffeeScript does try to address all of the
issues that John raises in his post.
Type Coercion: There is no `==` in CoffeeScript. You usually write `if x is y`
in order to be particularly clear, but if you're in the mode of most other
scripting languages, and you write `if x == y`, it will compile to `if (x ===
y) {` in JavaScript.
John's note about `x == null` being the only useful application of double
equals is quite true, and something that CoffeeScript provides in the
existential operator: `if x?`
Falsy Values: The existential operator helps you ask the question "Does this
value exist?" (Is this value not either null of undefined?) ... which covers
many of the use cases for having saner falsy values in JavaScript. For
example, instead of JS' `if (string) {` ... where the string may be the empty
string, you have `if string?`
Function Declarations: JavaScript having function declarations, function
expressions, and named function expressions as three functionally different
things is indeed a wart on the language. Especially so because JavaScript
having a single type of function is one of the beautiful aspects that shines
in comparison to languages like Ruby, where you have methods, blocks, procs,
lamdas, and unbound methods -- all of which behave in slightly different ways.
CoffeeScript only provides JS's function expressions.
Block Scope: This is a tricky one, because unfortunately it can't be emulated
in a performant way in JavaScript. So all that CoffeeScript can provide is the
"do" keyword, which immediately invokes the following function, forwarding
arguments. So, if a regular "for" loop looks like this:
for item, index in list
...
A faux-block-scoped "for" loop would look like this:
for item, index in list
do (item, index) ->
...
~~~
gnaritas
And made the mistake of making whitespace significant thereby driving off
people in droves.
~~~
dextorious
It's 2011. We love significant whitespace now, get on with the times...
~~~
malandrew
Assume you've never programmed before. Would you want to debug a program that
has a significant whitespace bug? It's much easier for the average person to
spot an unbalanced parenthesis that an incorrectly sized whitespace.
Getting stuck and being frustrated hurts motivation a lot.
Now curly brackets and syntax may be seen by a person as an irritation or
inconvenience compared to whitespace, but I'd say it's better to use a
language with an inconvenience than one which is more likely to leave you
stuck.
You, I and others used to programming with insignificant whitespace have
developed and eye for detail and can rapidly spot a whitespace but. The
general population with no programming experience can't consistently space
most of the documents in their life, but they can typically place periods
correctly.
~~~
dextorious
"""Assume you've never programmed before. Would you want to debug a program
that has a significant whitespace bug? It's much easier for the average person
to spot an unbalanced parenthesis that an incorrectly sized whitespace."""
I'd argue that for a beginner it's equally difficult.
And how about this equally difficult to spot classic bug:
if (f==x)
do_something()
and_also_do_this() //oops!
a language with significant whitespace does not permit it. It gets people
using the correct indentation levels from the start, whay they _should_ have
used anyway in any language, even one where whitespace doesn't matter.
I propose we don't talk about languages with "significant whitespace", but
instead about "languages with proper indentation enforced".
~~~
melling
Why is this hard to catch? Format your code and the incorrect indentation goes
away. A beginner should be taught to run the formatter to keep the code neat.
------
absconditus
Javascript is an absolutely horrible language to use for such purposes. There
are far too many gotchas. See the following for numerous examples:
[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1995113/strangest-
languag...](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1995113/strangest-language-
feature?tab=votes&page=1)
~~~
maximusprime
Disagree... for example from the link:
In JavaScript:
'5' + 3 gives '53'
Whereas
'5' - 3 gives 2
That's just logical and obvious, since "+" is both numerical addition, and
string concatenation, but "-" is only numerical subtraction, and the '5'
starts out as a string.
Every language has 'gotchas'. Doesn't really matter which you pick to learn
first at all. The more important thing is that you don't give up. _possibly_
there are languages that just make people want to give up, but I'd say perhaps
they're not motivated enough to learn if that's the case.
I started out on BASIC, and after a while I decided it was a piece of shit
language and learnt assembly. But it taught me programming which is what I
wanted to learn. I'm really glad I learnt BASIC first... essentially I learnt
to swim really fast through syrup, and then switched to swimming in water.
The good thing about javascript as a first language is that people can be
programming in it immediately, in their browser. They have a built in REPL to
help them, as well as a debugger, profiler, etc. They have numerous docs to
look at, and if they go to any website they can check the source to see how it
works. That's a big win.
~~~
kevingadd
Calling your example logical and obvious is only logical and obvious if you're
completely trapped within the JS mindset. It's the same as how people defend
the absurd semantics of Visual Basic and PHP. It's fine if you like it, but to
claim that it's objectively okay is just not supported by fact.
It's also worth considering that even if every language has 'gotchas', some of
them have far worse gotchas than others. It is worthwhile to choose a starting
language that teaches the fewest bad habits and the fewest bizarre rules so
that people can easily learn new languages.
~~~
maximusprime
See my comment below. It's not about being trapped in any mindset. It's about
thinking logically.
Either '5' - 3 results in an error of some kind, or it evaluates to 2. There
is no other logical outcome. Javascript chooses to do the latter.
I also disagree that starting language matters. It's like saying you need to
have a steinway grand to learn the piano properly.
Learning is about learning what not to do just as much, if not more, than what
to do.
Also if you learn to swim through syrup, imagine how fast you'll be when you
try swimming through water...
~~~
mquander
Your ideas about what is "logical" are completely arbitrary. Look, I can make
up rules too:
* '5' - 3 should return '5', since it's the string '5' minus all the instances of the character '3' in it. There is no other logical outcome!
* '5' - 3 should return an empty string, since it's the string '5' with the last three characters removed. There is no other logical outcome!
* '5' - 3 should return '2' -- since we started with a string, the result should turn back into a string. There is no other logical outcome!
* '5' - 3 should return 50, since the only logical way to do math on a character is to take the UTF-8/ASCII value of it and then do the math. There is no other logical outcome!
* '5' - 3 should return undefined, since subtracting from a string typically doesn't produce a reasonable result. There is no other logical outcome!
You have provided absolutely no rational basis for discriminating between the
merits of these choices, so your claim that Javascript's choice is one of
exactly two "logical" ones is bizarre. If you think Javascript's choice is
better, give a _reason_ why it's better, don't just say that it's better.
------
laconian
I'm a fairly experienced programmer and JS still drives me up the wall. The
implicit casting and inconsistent operator overloads have led to many unhappy
visits to Stack Overflow to see just WTF my browser is doing. I can't imagine
the experience being any better for newbie programmers! Even simple things,
like bitwise operators, are basically broken unless you take care to ensure
that your variables are coerced to whole numbers, because all numerics are
f%!#^&ing floating point numbers...
Given that the language is such a mess, I think it would induce a new
programmer to compartmentalize their JS learnings as a bunch of special case
hacks instead of discovering broad language principles that are applied
consistently across the language.
~~~
cageface
Python seems to me like an infinitely better choice. Every language has its
warts but bringing up a new generation on a language that even the author
admits was a quick and dirty hack takes "worse is better" cynicism way too
far.
~~~
showell30
I like Python too, and the current CS curriculum on Khan is mostly, if not
completely, based on Python.
------
IanMechura
I have argued JS as an intro language for years. My main argument has been not
based on language features which I feel are unimportant in forming a young
programmers mind but rather in the complete lack of barriers to getting
started.
Take for instance python( my personal language). At a minimum you need python
installed on the computer. Then you need to deal with issues such as the PATH
and PYTHON_PATH. Also you have to understand package naming and import scheme.
With JS you only need a .html text file on the desktop.
Write code, save, double click, results. It is something that anyone who has
even seen a computer can understand.
Particularly if the student has not had much experience in computers in
general, things like paths, imports, file system knowledge and command line
interfaces can be a barrier to learning code. You will eventually need to
learn all of the things above to be a programmer but why bore a child or
teenager with the details of a file system or command line when you could be
showing them how to code animations on a web page.
I will admit, that struggling with run time environment, compilers and class
path issues made me into better engineer sooner, but I already had a passion
for what I was doing.
~~~
pbsd
In the particular case of python, I see none of the problems you mention. In
pretty much all Linux distros, it already comes installed and ready to use
(i.e., just execute it, no need to know paths or anything).
The same happens on Windows, once you run the installer; there you can, too,
just edit and double click it. All you need is a .py file on the desktop.
------
extension
Yeah, JavaScript will break their impressionable young minds. But you know
what? Programming in general will break their minds. Programming is fucked up
from any perspective. If they learn a good language first, they will go crazy
trying to figure out why nobody is using it. Might as well teach them a
language that lets them get stuff done in the real world, while preparing them
for the ugliness ahead. They can learn the good language later.
------
sirchristian
I support using JavaScript as a first language. If for nothing else there are
millions of code snippets just a short "right click -> view source" away.
Granted these may not be the most ideal examples, but it enables tinkering.
One thing that always frustrated me about the "easy" languages to learn
(Python, Ruby, etc) is you still have to figure out how to download something
and then the first programs just write out text to a console window. It's hard
to see at first how learning one of the "easy" languages translates into
building cool stuff.
Having access to such a vast array of samples, plus something like Khan
Acadamy teaching the "right way" is just awesome to me.
------
noelwelsh
Reading this I reminded of the saying "when you have a hammer everything looks
like a nail". It's not surprising to see John Resig leaning towards using
Javascript. There is a lot of research into teaching introductory programming.
It would be nice to see some of that referenced in making the decision. You
know, base it at least in part on science rather than just opinion.
------
angelbob
I am _so_ looking forward to a huge army of newly-trained programmers who view
_prototype-based_ inheritance as the default and classical inheritance as
weird.
Similarly, I look forward to a whole set of various modules and libraries to
graft prototype-based inheritance onto existing languages like Ruby...
_cackle_
~~~
kenjackson
Unfortunately I think that class-based inheritence is more general in concept.
That is, people who understand class-based inheritence have a very small leap
to get prototypal inheritence. You can pretty much just say, "Inheritence
works on the instances/objects, not on the class."
Explaining class based inheritence to people who only know prototypal seems
trickier. You have to explain the concept of classes and then build from
there.
BTW, are there any prototypal languages that support multiple inheritence --
you can create an object from a set of an arbitrary number of objects?
~~~
anon1385
In Io you can add as many objects as you like to the protos list of an object:
[http://www.iolanguage.com/scm/io/docs/IoGuide.html#Objects-I...](http://www.iolanguage.com/scm/io/docs/IoGuide.html#Objects-
Inheritance)
~~~
kenjackson
Nice. Thanks. How is it that I've never looked at the IO language before? Some
reading for tonight.
------
agentultra
I think it'd be more apt to choose something like Racket. It has all the
desirable characteristics the author finds attractive in Javascript. It is an
integrated environment and includes libraries and extensions for teaching
basic programming. Unlike Javascript it isn't married to the browser (and by
extension, the DOM) and doesn't suffer from a variety of syntactical
discrepancies. It even comes with a free book for teaching the fundamentals of
computer programming and computation.
<http://docs.racket-lang.org/quick/>
_Update_ : All of the desire-able characteristics except for being a resume-
search keyword with a high hit frequency. IMO, learning how to program and
getting a job are orthogonal.
------
yuvadam
tl;dr - they picked JS due to its _"ubiquity, desirability in the larger
workforce, lack of prior installation requirements, and ability to create
something that's easy to share with friends"_
I find that explanation disturbing. Why not start from a language that teaches
the basics of the common programming paradigms, such as OOP (Java) or FP
(Scheme)?
~~~
catshirt
for new programmers, the entry barrier for those languages is significantly
greater than javascript. people don't quit learning programming because
they're not learning OOP- they quit because it's inaccessible.
~~~
hello_moto
While that may be true (it's definitely take more steps to get your feet wet
in Java), my experience with JS is otherwise until Node.JS arrives.
I just don't have time to twiddle with document object (DOM API) just to see
results.
~~~
ricardobeat
Some people dont have time to twiddle with a crapload of OO
abstractions/interfaces just to see results either.
~~~
hello_moto
Some people don't use that at all with Java for a simple academic assignment.
Some people don't have time either to deal with scoping or the right way to do
prototype in JS.
We all should use QBasic...
------
njonsson
All decent suggestions. I quibble with this, though:
// Don't do this:
function getData() { }
// Do this instead:
var getData = function() { };
The assignment is righteous, but by omitting the function’s name, you make
stack traces more difficult to follow. Better this instead:
var getData = function getData() { };
~~~
apalmblad
I definitely agree with your point about stack traces - I've used var x =
function(){} for some projects, but have found in practice that named
functions are very much worthwhile when dealing with stack traces?
What's the benefit of var x = function x(){}? Is it just illustration that
functions can be assigned to variables?
------
edtechdev
The language picked doesn't matter as much as what you can (quickly) do with
it.
But personally, for high schoolers, I would start with Scratch (
<http://scratch.mit.edu> \- scratch 2 will work in the browser) and then
perhaps Processing.js or a game development site/tool like
<http://html5.yoyogames.com/> <http://www.scirra.com/construct2>
<http://www.playmycode.com/> <http://pixieengine.com/>
There is actual research on how to teach kids programming and computer science
concepts. <http://csunplugged.org/> doesn't use any software at all to teach
concepts like binary numbers, sorting, etc.
~~~
arctangent
Any languages which people unfamiliar with programming can get immediate
(hopefully positive!) feedback with in under 5 minutes is ideal. Some
languages do not pass this test :-)
------
firefoxman1
Before I even read the article, I was pretty sure that with a title like that
there is going to be lots of debate from the CS people. They do raise some
good points, but here's my 2 cents.
Besides a little bit of VB in highschool, JavaScript was my first language. I
mainly learned through two books: "The Good Parts" which was a nice overview,
and "Object-Oriented JavaScript" a really underrated book that covered every
little piece of the language, even those weird parts like block scoping and
falsy types.
Having never learned anything about classes or inheritance, prototypal
inheritance was kinda hard to grasp, but I eventually found it pretty amazing.
I think a loosely typed language is much better to learn on too. That way you
can learn the big pieces of the language then later get into the little things
like typing. That's just my experience, but I'm really glad JS was my first
language.
------
olov
I want to take this further still. Most JavaScript programmers already use a
subset of the language and I believe that there is quite a broad union of
those subsets that should resonate with the majority of us. Excluding certain
parts of the language will lead to more robust code that is easier to reason
about (and more fun to write), I claim. My attempt to formalize it is called
"restrict mode for JavaScript" <http://restrictmode.org> and I laid my case
here: <http://blog.lassus.se/2011/03/case-for-restrict-mode.html> . Would be
curious to hear other thoughts about it.
~~~
tikhonj
I think Resig means to use JSLint throughout, which does something similar.
Additionally, browsers already support "use strict" which is also a restricted
mode. In short, plenty of people share your views on the matter (me included).
The whole thesis of _JavaScript: The Good Parts_ was basically that, and the
book is one of the best on the language.
~~~
olov
The major difference is that JSLint as well as "the good parts" focus on a
subset that can be verified statically (before running the program) while
restrict mode sanitizes operator semantics that must be verified dynamically
(when running the program). I like the few changes strict mode did except for
one thing that breaks compatibility in an unfortunate way (this is bound to
the primitive, not the boxed number). But we should take all this much
further.
More important than anything I'd like us to start talking about sane subsets
of JS more, and stop limiting ourselves to what one author considers "good"
because quite frankly, _that_ subsets still contains a whole lot of awful
stuff.
------
kls
One thing that I have not seen covered that is worth mentioning, is that
JavaScript for the most part embraces an event based development model. While
it is not unique to JavaScript it certainly is heavily reinforced by
JavaScript and JavaScript developers. In other languages it can be fairly
underrepresented, that being said, it is worth learning JavaScript due to the
fact that it helps developers think of execution as events. One can go their
whole life in other language and not deal with events, with JavaScript you
will be hard pressed to get to intermediate tutorials without fairly good
coverage of events and event syndication.
------
arctangent
If you want to teach computer science to people then a good first language for
them to learn is C, because it will help them think about and understand what
the computer is actually doing.
~~~
danenania
That's an argument for learning C, but not for learning C as a first language.
Studying assembler or chip design or even particle physics will also help you
understand what the computer is 'actually doing', but it doesn't mean that's
the best place to start learning how to program.
~~~
arctangent
I didn't claim that C was the best language for learning how to program.
John Resig's article above is about "teaching Computer Science" rather than
teaching students how to program. These are very different things.
That's why I recommended C - because it is very much a language that will
teach the theory about how computers work.
I agree that there are other languages better suited for learning how to
program.
~~~
danenania
Ok, I see your point. But perhaps one can learn Computer Science much more
efficiently after already knowing how to program? It doesn't seem likely that
you'll be very open to learning data structure design and asymptotic
complexity when you're still wrestling with for loop syntax, the difference
between assignment and reference, what the hell recursion is, etc. You have to
learn to walk before you can learn to run, and while jumping in the deep end
may work for some, I'd guess most would find a more programmer-friendly
introductory language a quicker path to comprehending basic CS concepts and
would subsequently be in a much stronger position to tackle C.
------
city41
On a similar note, I've been in the process of creating a JavaScript
library[0] that is strongly inspired by _why's Shoes. My intent for doing this
was to create a DSL where one can whip up webapps very quickly. But I'm also
now looking into essentially recreating Hackety Hack on the web, and maybe
having a simple way for very young people to get a taste of programming. Sadly
JS isn't as DSL friendly as Ruby.
[0] <https://github.com/city41/Joeys>
------
glenjamin
Am I the only one who thinks that lack of block scope is only confusing for
people who are used to it?
I don't think it'll affect JS-as-a-first-language people.
------
j45
Interesting Idea.
I know for me the way I learnt programming made me quite flexible and happy.
Working the entire scale from functional to OO languages gave me a really good
perspective for anything I face.
I've learnt all the web stuff I use today completely on my own, but I use the
foundation I learnt below. The "classic" academic programming languages I've
learnt happened in this order.
Basic -> VB -> Pascal (High school/first year Uni) --> C --> C++ --> Java
Too much code out there rarely exists entirely on the OO or functional end and
projects are often heading towards one or the other.
Once I had traversed this, I was easily able to pick up .NET, whether any one
of the .NET languages was OO or functionally based (Foxpro, or whatever).
Javascript was interesting because it extended from Java for me.
I really do feel that programming needs to be learnt at the
mathematical/computational level of functions for clear process/analytics and
then learn the benefits of using functions in an OO world.
Be interested to hear what order others learnt
~~~
tikhonj
I'm curious: which of the languages you listed do you consider "functional"?
~~~
j45
Pascal was procedural, so was VB.. (pre .NET) even though it shared so much
with COM/DCOM :)
------
malandrew
I'm a full-time javascript developer and entrepreneur myself, but I'm
wondering why you don't consider Scheme instead, basing the course on the How
to Design Programs v2 curriculum?
The people behind that book have spent a lot of time thinking about how you
teach programs to people.
More importantly, they focus on problem decomposition and concepts that
provide a great foundation for growing.
The reasons I can see for using Javascript first is because everyone has a
runtime available at their fingertips (M. Haverbeke's approach of including
the console was great.) and because people can immediately see the utility of
the language to real world needs.
But does Javascript provide the best foundation for future concepts? Does it
teach good habits both mental and in practice?
Ref: The Structure and Interpretation of the Computer Science Curriculum
<http://www.ccs.neu.edu/racket/pubs/jfp2004-fffk.pdf>
------
captainaj
I parted away with CS to major in biochem thinking it wasn't as fascinating
(first course was in C++). This is definitely not a bad idea and also already
implemented. Stanford has CS101 in entirely Javascript:
<http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs101/>
------
tantalor
I once considered teaching JavaScript as a first language, but the absence of
synchronous user input made me reconsider.
For example, there is no way to do this in JavaScript,
> var line = read_line();
Of course you could use the prompt() function, but that only works in the
browser, and it's an ugly hack.
~~~
danmaz74
Why is prompt() ugly? On the contrary, I think that for kids who grew up in
GUIs, it is much more familiar and less intimidating than a prompt.
~~~
tantalor
With a standard prompt, you can see the previous output from the program and
user input. But a popup window has no context, no history.
Of course that's just my opinion. If it could help teach kids good programming
skills then it should be used used.
~~~
peterbraden
Chrome, Firefox and Safari all have built in REPLs
~~~
tantalor
REPL is not the same as standard streams (STDIN, STDOUT).
You can build a REPL with standard streams, but you can't use a REPL like the
WebKit console as standard streams. Where is your STDIN?
------
mycodebreaks
Well, I would like to teach kids assembly language first. That's how my
generation did it. Second language should be C. That's how you know how your
program actually runs on a computer. You know what memory is, and how it is
used.
------
jhuni
Its pretty easy to criticise, so instead I will discuss the steps I would take
to a student CS principles from my own experiences. I find graphs to be
fundamental, so I would start the student out with them.
1\. Teach the student basic concepts in graph theory such as nodes, edges,
walks, paths, cycles, and structures such as trees, and linked lists.
2\. Introduce the student to syntax trees as a means of representing
mathematical equations, and the representation of them used in Lisp: (+ (* a x
x) (* b x) c).
3\. Describe dataflow graphs to the student. For example, loops are cycles in
the dataflow graph, and infinite loops occur when the cycle is endless.
------
potch
The hopeful part of me loves this because I truly believe the web stack is a
truly democratizing technology, and has tremendous accessibility.
The cynical side of me also loves this because I like watching PL bikeshedders
rage.
------
Stormbringer
I loved this comment:
_"The policy when I went to school was to start everyone with LISP. That way,
if they never got past CompSci 101, they wouldn’t be capable of impersonating
a real programmer. "_ \-- Dave Edelhart
------
olivier1664
I've learn programming to create small 2D games: Turtle at 8, TI-82 at 16,
Pascal at 18, C with Allegro at 22, android-java at 30. It was some "Snake" or
"Tron" or "Bomberman" kind of games.
Seems obvious for me that children motivation can be creating game.
So, in my opinion, an ideal first language should be a sandbox language that
have C syntax style without pointer stuff and can easily: \- Read keyboard()
\- DrawPixel() \- DrawImage() \- PlaySound()
Bonus if there is no install. Bonus if created games can be send by email to
friends.
------
_THE_PLAGUE
I have commented (at length) on this earlier, so don't have much to add. But a
further thought did occur to me: JavaScript has "loose typing", that is, one
is not taught the difference between say, an int, and a double, or even a
char, and the fact that there is no such thing (really) as a string -
"strings" are just a lazy shorthand for a char array. Loose typing is not just
incorrect - on some level, it is immoral, IMO.
------
ZenPsycho
Someone is teaching JavaScript to other people? This is nothing less than /The
Downfall of Civilisation As We Know It!/. Quick everyone, get your pitchforks!
------
neduma
Io will do.
I do not think this would be optimum for new comers even thought i’m a die
hard fan of JavaScript. You can teach ‘Io’ language instead of JavaScript
which has all kind advantages you have mentioned and which has few set of
parser rules that would be easier for new comers.
JavaScript can be a icing on the cake.
------
tingletech
JavaScript was my first language. I made web applications using Netscape
Enterprise Server which had server side javascript, and I worked on a signed
javascript kiosk application that ran in Netscape and had javascript menus
that would side off the screen.
------
capex
To introduce kids to programming, there is nothing better than Javascript.
Instant gratification & no installations. It'll be an easy entry into harder
concepts. But the way you enter does matter.
------
tolmasky
Anyone else taught Karel++? In high school they taught us: Pascal -> Karel++
-> C++
Then the new AP tests came in and the switched to C++ -> Java, which seemed
very silly to me (C++ as a first language???)
~~~
showell30
My intro CS class in college started with a week of Karel. It was incredibly
fun for me, but I can't vouch for it as a first language, since I had already
learned Basic and Pascal in high school. (Yep, I'm old). Karel variants are
actually very challenging in a way--the syntax is dead simple, but its lack of
constructs forces you to be fairly clever.
------
jebblue
>> a function is actually an object and can be manipulated as such
A function is an object? I also read down the comments and saw something like
'1' + 2 prints '12'. ROFL
------
bdfh42
Only thing I am not sure about is the focus on "===" - I think it is a pain
and fails in too many instances to do what the programmer would expect.
~~~
OriginalSyn
Strict Equals Operator (===) does exactly what I expect and that is no funny
coercion or guessing, two objects I'm evaluating have a 1 for 1 likeness, no
more no less. How is that confusing?
~~~
ryanbraganza
NaN !== NaN
Apart from that, I agree.
~~~
tikhonj
That's not really language dependent--that's how floating point numbers always
work. And with good reason--there are actually a ton of different NaN bit
patterns in the floating point standard. I think anything where the exponent
is all 1 is an NaN (except maybe for infinity--I don't remember the exact
details). The point is that two completely different patterns of bits can be
NaN.
------
_THE_PLAGUE
My response: [http://blogkinnetic.blogspot.com/2011/12/on-civic-decay-
of-u...](http://blogkinnetic.blogspot.com/2011/12/on-civic-decay-of-us-
computer-science.html)
------
_THE_PLAGUE
Here is my blog article I wrote on this travesty. (Available here:
[http://blogkinnetic.blogspot.com/2011/12/on-civic-decay-
of-u...](http://blogkinnetic.blogspot.com/2011/12/on-civic-decay-of-us-
computer-science.html)) I am not a pugilist for the sake of it, but when I see
abominations like this, well, somebody has to take a stand for whatever real
programmers are actually left out there. :-)
=================================================== When I saw the above
article I could only be reminded of H.P. Lovecraft's description of the
Massachusetts seaport town of Innsmouth, a great fishing community before the
American Revolution, but which by the early 1900's had become a classic case
of civic decay, with bootleg liquor becoming its primary occupation, and the
general cultural or educational status descending to the level of the
primitive. This is because the approach the article advocates for teaching
computer science can only end in one place: the primitive, and by that I do
not mean the C primitive variable types of char, float, double, and int, but I
mean primitive as in stone-age. :-)
I learned programming a bit ass-backwards. I got a "teach yourself Java" kind
of book, went through that, and generally learned things "on the fly" as it
were, and, in so doing, in time, eventually was comfortable with the "Java
world" of Java SDK (basic Java), XML, XSLT, and some DOS / UNIX scripting
skills as well. Still to this day, Java is a language I feel very "at home"
in, and would choose if I had to build something up really fast. It is my
"GOTO" or "default" language if you will.
Later, though, I started to study C++ and C, first for a job that required me
to write unit tests using CPPUnit (the C++ port of Java's JUnit) and just sort
of "learning on the fly" began to be able to understand and edit C++ code,
though I was not then (or now) as proficient there as in Java. Still later, I
studied C proper and read Kernighan and Richie's classic book, "The C
programming Language". I think it was then, and only then, that I really
understood the fundamentals of programming, by which I mean the principles of
it, not just memorizing syntax to get stuff done, but rather having a deep
understanding of things like memory allocation, processes, stacks, etc.
The thrill of creating dynamic (re-sizable) arrays using C-style pointers is
something that still gives me a bit of a high, because there are many
situations in which resizable arrays are needed or desirable, and doing this
via C-style pointers is the most efficient way of doing it.
I can say that while today I still would choose Java if I were doing a
personal project of some size or complexity just for expediancy's sake, I love
C the most, for it is the most efficient (fast, using less memory, etc.).
To make a comparison to poetry: Java is Ginsberg and C is Eliot. Both of whom
I love, but they are different styles. Ginsberg is the Jazz musician of poetry
- creating crazy yet haunting melodies by going "off the map" if one wills in
terms of traditional styles. Eliot is the baroque musician of poetry - using
the fewest notes to create the greatest effect - precision is the key word
here - no room for an off-note here or there but every note having a purpose.
Both have their place. I love Jazz. But in terms of aesthetic efficiency,
baroque has something to be said for it. Ginsberg is poetry's Jazz - wild,
haunting, all over-the-place in a good way. Eliot is poetry's baroque -
precise, haunting as well if more in a subtle way, and always having a precise
direction or purpose.
Well, Java is the Ginsberg / Jazz of this analogy. It is easier / quicker to
mess around and improvise and come up with a Jazz tune. It takes longer and it
is more painstaking to come up with a baroque melody. Both are great and have
their place. However, while I would use the quicker thing to come up with
something on a deadline (Java / Jazz) there is a certain satisfaction to be
had with taking longer and having to put more effort in order to produce
precise, efficient, parsimonious code, and by parsimonious I mean not wasting
any memory or CPU cycles, but having each bit of memory serve a purpose, just
like each note of a baroque piece or each line of an Eliot poem has a precise
purpose and taking one line out or one note out would ruin the whole thing.
So, while I still would use Java probably the most, I find a certain nobility
in C, much as while I might probably listen to Jazz (or its descendants) the
most, I find a certain nobility in baroque, and whereas I love and relate very
much to Ginsberg, there is a certain appeal in Eliot's ability to say so much
with so little that will always hold an attraction for me.
This is why the above article I came across, in which a computer science
professor is talking about using, not even Java, but JavaScript for goodness
sake, as the first language to teach students, is so tragic. Like I intimated
before, if I had to do it all over again, I would have studied C before I even
got into Java. That would have taught me correct principles and just a better
"philosophy" of programming. As it was though, I was lucky. I worked with a
math PhD who was a C++ whiz, a guy named Dr. Mark T. Lane, Chief Scientist at
what is now mobi (mobicorp.com) who imparted to me the basic concepts of
efficiency and attention to detail that I could never have gotten from the
Java world, so, although it was later that I seriously began to study C, even
early on I had some of those benefits, for which I will always count myself
lucky and grateful.
But not everyone is going to luck out like me and get to work with such
brilliant folks. I can only feel sorry for those aspiring computer scientists
who go to a computer science program and get freaking JavaScript as the
opening silo in their introduction to the world of programming, and I can only
feel contempt for those professors who would advocate such a fool's errand.
When I was a kid, I loved this old 1950's teen sci-fi novel called "The
Forgotten Star" featuring a character named Digby Allen who travels to the
50's version of a moon base and a Mars base, and eventually lands on Eros, an
asteroid. Turns out in the book the asteroid is a space ship and inside are
people from another planet (from a "forgotten star") who long ago have
forgotten the knowledge that propelled them into space in the first place. The
interior of the ship has a simulated earth-like environment, with a sky,
fields, etc., and these people live like primitive savages, in huts, etc. not
knowing there is a world outside the interior of their space ship, not even
knowing, for that matter, what a space ship even is. They have a cool
contraption which can convert atoms into anything asked for, so they get their
food from that. The contraption (as near as I can recall) would basically take
atoms from space and convert them into the molecules for whatever the user
requested, so I could say ask it for bread and it would give me bread. To
these inhabitants it was like a magic thing, for they had lost the knowledge
that went into producing that contraption to begin with. And I suppose the
young space adventurer Digby Allen saves the day and brings them into the
modern age, though now I forget just how that ended. But I will never forget
the impression which the book had upon me - the concept, the very sad concept,
of a people once-advanced who through laziness had allowed themselves to
descend into ignorance and dependency upon technologies they could no longer
understand.
I was reminded of this tragedy when I saw the above article. Already I had
read essays about computer science professors lamenting that C / C++ is no
longer at some schools taught, Java being the preferred language. And now, it
seems we are descending yet another rung, with JavaScript now being the
preferred language. What is next? HTML? How about just forget about teaching
kids how to write code and teach them how to use point-and-click tools like
say WordPress which does not require any code skills at all to at least be
able to use the basics thereof.
If we go down this road enough, we will be in the "Forgotten Star" situation -
able to use tools built in the past but not having the knowledge anymore to
build those tools again. Because you can only create great Jazz if you also
know how to play baroque. You can create mediocre jazz I am sure - hell, a
chimpanzee, given enough time, also could. But you cannot play great jazz
without the underlying principles that led to it. Neither can we expect great
code to be developed without the understanding of the underlying principles
which led to our current languages (like JavaScript) in the first place.
Oh, and one more thing, subverting a function into an "object" has its
purposes in terms of being able to code things up faster, more easily
understanding the architecture, etc., but here is a dirty secret that
apparently contemporary self-styled computer science professors won't tell
you: a mathematical function is not an "object", sweetheart. Because "objects"
belong to "sets" which may describe computational functions, but are not the
functions themselves.
Deal with it, Java cultists. :-)
~~~
pdenya
Your comment is heavy with comparisons that don't really apply while still not
making much of a point. Javascript isn't as low level as other languages but
HTML is no more the next step than XML is the next rung down from java.
If you hadn't linked the blog post in your comment I would have thought tl;dr
but since you did I tried to wade through all the flowerly language. Your
whole post can be summed up as "People who learn javascript first will never
learn CS fundamentals" which is unfair and untrue.
------
jaequery
john, just teach them jQuery!
------
more_original
Nooooo!
------
its_so_on
wat. This is like teaching postscript as a first language.
almost literally.
~~~
its_so_on
this was downvoted. Let me make the analogy clear.
Javascript is sent by a server to a rendering engine (your web browser),
usually a part of displaying a page, though of course also as part of
interacting with it.
Postscript is sent by a (print) server to a rendering engine (in a printer),
as part of typseting a page. It is a Turing-complete programming language, but
that's no guarantee it won't make your eyes bleed.
The existence of things like jquery "on top of" javascript are really no
different form having Microsoft Word or Open Office / Libre Office there to
'print' your postscript file.
Like it or not, neither javascript nor postscript are:
\- Systems languages.
\- Desktop application languages. (As Java can be).
\- Low-level language suitable for writing drivers.
\- Low-level languages suitable for writing network protocols.
\- High-level languages suitable for prototyping very large, complex data
structures and relationships
\- High-level scripting languages suitable for abstracting away incredible
sophistication and power and letting the user program in a very high level
mode.
\- Robust and scalable applications languags, suitable for putting in a
version control system and having a team of fifty iterate on it
They're niche, domain-specific languages, like a Perl regex. Would you suggest
anyone's first language be the regex Perl uses? Obviously not.
Appropriate first languages are anything from:
* A fake language like Turtle Logo
* An almost-fake academic language like Pascale
* An "electrical engineer" approach nuts and bolts introduction: assembly.
* A low-level systems language, C, or C++
* A high-level scripting language: Ruby, Python, Perl
* An interpreted systems language: Java.
* A markup language: HTML and CSS
* No language. Configuration files for nginx and other things.
etc etc.
Very, very low on the list would be something like Javascript. This would be
akin to editing Adobe Illustrator files in a hex editor. Sure you could end up
with an image and an understanding of vector art, but, why in the name of God
would you try to learn those concepts in that way?
~~~
jerhewet
Upvote from me. It's a sad day when Kiddiescript is somehow magically elevated
to the status of a _real_ programming language.
~~~
Apocryphon
JavaScript is Lisp in C's clothing.
<http://javascript.crockford.com/javascript.html>
Also this: <http://gigaom.com/cloud/node-js-and-the-javascript-age/>
~~~
silentOpen
If this were actually true, JavaScript would have TCO by now.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
The Other Mile-High Club - DiabloD3
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/the-other-mile-high-club
======
oofabz
If I run a computer system that commits a crime because of a bug, I will be
held accountable for my system's actions.
For example, I might misconfigure my FTP server to include my music
collection, facilitating piracy. Or I might write a shopping cart that takes
everyone's money and doesn't deliver their product. An "honest mistake"
defense won't get you off the hook for these.
Since the law applies to everyone equally, airlines should also be responsible
for their mistakes. We have laws against false advertising for good reason and
if we stop enforcing them, companies will take advantage.
~~~
branchless
I really don't like this vulture culture. The main defence seems to be "the
airlines are bad too". My six year-old now knows this doesn't cut any ice.
This vulture behaviour even extends to ruining small companies. In the UK
recently I read of a company on amazon with a far lower price on a product
than intended and the twitter crowd were all out demanding the company
"honour" the price even though everyone knew it was an error. Amazon were of
course siding with the customer but the company was saying it would put them
out of business.
~~~
Spooky23
This class of mistake is a cost of doing business when airlines have computers
and people playing these ridiculous revenue optimization games.
Unlike virtually any other business, it's really difficult to accept the
excuse of fare "misprints" when in many cases airlines reprice routes several
times per day, or even multiple times per hour. I'm sure that if they were
able to say "oops", the number of "mistakes" would spike whenever unexpected
demand was encountered.
If they have issues with employees fat fingering fares, perhaps they should
review the internal controls.
------
rubyrescue
I've flown from SEA-NYC for $1.86. I flew from YYV to Romania, and onto
Turkey, for $200. I flew with my family of 5 in first class from SEA-YTO
(Toronto) for $0, on Air Canada. Too many others to count. All from flyertalk.
It's not as good as it used to be but there were times I've taken whole
flights full of flyertalkers headed somewhere basically for free.
Key to success: Find some friends who also like to do this and who will wake
you up in the middle of the night if they find a great deal (and won't
complain if you reciprocate). It's hard to watch flyertalk all the time and
the deals go quickly.
~~~
hristov
Just curious did you actually want to fly to new york? Or was it a case of
"wow it is only 1.86 to go to nyc, i guess i am going".
~~~
hueving
nah, you have to be up for random trips or have a list of places that you
would be willing to go if free. It's much less likely that one will pop up
conveniently for a trip you need to make any time soon.
------
aaron695
I find it sad that there are people who think because someone makes a mistake
you should be allowed, in fact a 'right', to take advantage of them.
I understand if you don't realise and their mistake sets you back you should
get some sort of resolution.
But come off it, everyone in these groups knows when it's a pricing error.
These groups are fun, I do like them, but when some members think they are
entitled to something because mistakes happen I have issue.
~~~
jrochkind1
Airlines have taken advantage of me for making a mistake so many times. Once I
booked I accidentally booked a flight for February 12, when the conference I
was going to was actually March 12. I didn't realize until the day of my
actually purchased flight. There was no sympathy for me, I simply had to buy
another ticket.
~~~
hueving
That's different because it's not obvious to them, especially since you waited
so long. Your parent comment is referring to situations where it's obvious
some sort of mistake was made and yet you jump on it and exploit it knowing
that something wasn't right.
~~~
jrochkind1
How do I know what fares are obviously mistakes? Fare prices are all over the
place. They quite often charge less for a round-trip than a one-way to the
same destination, which is not a mistake at all, that fact makes it clear that
it's not obvious which fares are mistakes and which aren't, or I'd think all
of those were!
~~~
redblacktree
It may not always be obvious, but as an example, the $1.86 flight that another
poster mentioned should certainly trip your "this isn't right" sensor.
~~~
Spooky23
Why?
Companies do all sorts of bizarro price offers. Megabus offers $1 fares to
encourage pre-booking. Target sells $6 shampoo for 90% off when it sits for
awhile. $1.86 may be preferable to an empty chair for some reason.
Pretending to be in Denmark to score a deal is acting in bad faith... But if
you offer something for sale at a bad price, that's your problem.
~~~
lsaferite
Well, If I had an account with a billing address in Denmark while I lived in
the US, would that suddenly change the morality of the situation?
------
spitfire
In Canada an offer to trade is legally binding. At least for the first sale of
a erronous advertisement.
Legally speaking if a company posts a screaming good deal in a flyer or
advertisement they have to honour the first sale, but after that may make
corrections.
This has been tested in court.
Also, if you make an offer and accept a response by mail, the second the
response hits the mailbox (NOT the postmark) it's considered accepted.
So if you offer to sell something, to person A who who responds via mail but
sell to person B before the letter gets to you you're legally bound to make
person A whole.
This too has been tested in court.
This is why you now see legalize at the bottom of flyers now which says the in
store price is the valid price if disagreements pop up.
~~~
eru
Couldn't airlines put some fineprint into any offer, that they are not
actually selling you a straight up flight ticket, but a flight ticket that
comes with the option for the company / obligation for the customer of a
buyback at the price paid (or, say, 110% of the price paid)?
------
jrdnbshp
I started a community for this exact purpose. It's called Oyster Chat and it's
free to join We've got about 400 travelers on Oyster Chat right now and
membership is growing at 10-15% per week. We collectively share the best
flight deals, but unlike FlyerTalk it encourages real-time discussion and you
receive city-specific notifications. It's hosted on Slack right now.
Over fifty flights have been booked so far based on the discussion in there.
Oyster Chat is an extension of my flight hacking business Yore Oyster.
Happy to answer any questions about it, and anyone interested in flying
cheaply is encouraged to join and contribute to make our community even more
valuable.
-Jordan
~~~
boothead
How do you join? Got a link to the slack room?
~~~
jrdnbshp
oysterchat.com. You'll get an email invitation within 30 minutes of signing
up.
~~~
boothead
Thanks, signed up! :-)
------
bryanlarsen
Claiming you're from Denmark when you're not to receive an advantage is fraud.
I wouldn't expect a company or a prosecutor to press charges over it, but
demanding that your fraudulent transaction be honoured certainly seems like
pushing your luck.
~~~
cjg
"Oh, no, I must have put Denmark by mistake."
------
lifeisstillgood
The crux of the article:
“People absolutely have no qualms screwing
airlines," he said, "because they just
hate them."
It is probably true. I think the pricing mechanisms make this true - every
time I get on a plane I am annoyed that there will be others on board that
have paid significantly less than me, and I suspect that, Lake Woebegone
style, _so does everyone else on the plane_.
I don't know if the maths will support it, but an airline that actually
charges flat fares may win enormous amounts of good will.
------
fsk
I don't see why this is even an issue. You publish a bad price due to your own
incompetence. You should have to honor the fare.
If the airline overcharged someone due to an error, do they give refunds?
If you accidentally buy 100000 shares of a stock when you meant to type 1000,
you don't get a redo. Why should airlines be any different?
I once saw replacement electric shaver heads on sale in Rite-Aid. The price
should have been $30 but they charged me $1. When I saw how it rang up, I
bought another two. Can Rite-Aid demand $58 from me? How is this different?
~~~
joezydeco
This is an issue, and United is allowed to deny the tickets, because the non-
Danish citizens that tried to enter a purchase contract with United did it
under false pretenses (i.e. putting down their country of citizenship as
Denmark to trigger the pricing error when they were not Danish citizens).
Contract law gets pretty precise under these situations.
Airlines have been held to task when people found legitimate fares and
honestly purchased a ticket. This was not one of those situations.
More generous airlines and other large corporations have been known to honor
the price anyway to avoid a P/R fiasco and generate goodwill. From my
experience, UAL is not one of those companies. =)
~~~
lsaferite
Were they putting Denmark as the citizenship for ticket details or putting
Denmark as the billing country for a creditcard to trigger the correct billing
currency?
I read it as a simple billing currency issue.
------
math0ne
Anyone got any links to places where stuff like this gets posted ;)
~~~
joelrunyon
I just did a trip like this to Seychelles for $400.
Wrote about it here --> [http://impossiblehq.com/say-yes-
adventure](http://impossiblehq.com/say-yes-adventure)
There's a good round of links that I follow for good deals near the bottom.
Hope that helps!
~~~
seanmcdirmid
Was the ticket mispriced or do you think Etihad was just running an aggressive
promotion?
~~~
joelrunyon
It was mis-priced, but Etihad did a standup job, got extra press & honored the
tickets.
United did the opposite, which is one of many reasons why no one likes flying
United.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Stupid Simple Things SF Techies Could Do To Stop Being Hated - rmchugh
http://dashes.com/anil/2014/01/stupid-simple-things-sf-techies-could-do-to-stop-being-hated.html
======
woah
None of this will work. The hatred of tech has nothing to do with techies
themselves. It is a channeling of people's anger about high rent towards an
easy-to-demonize group of outsiders. The political organizers fanning the
flames are largely the same people who caused the situation by demonizing
(real estate) developers and making it hard to build.
Techies can volunteer until they are blue in the face, and it will only ever
be seen as an empty, fake gesture. The real estate situation in SF is a hard
reality and volunteering will not diffuse it.
"Look at these techies, they make so much money and sanctimoniously act like
they are saints for deigning to volunteer once a week."
We're talking about people who demonize shuttle buses here. Shuttle buses
unquestionably reduce congestion and help the environment. This is not about
who the techies are, or what they do. It is about the xenophobic scapegoating
of a group of socially awkward outsiders by political organizers whose
previous shortsighted outrage campaigns have screwed up SF's real estate
market for decades to come.
~~~
johnjlocke
Rattling off excuses for why "that will never work" and not even attempting
will not solve anything either. Funny how design is all about problem solving
until it forces people out of their comfort zone and challenges them to meet
people who are not like them.
~~~
woah
Sorry, right out of high school, I spent 3 years digging ditches, pouring
concrete, and putting up drywall before getting into tech.
For me at least, this has nothing to do with "meeting people who are not like
me". I have found the tech community to be very diverse and much more tolerant
than my colleagues in the construction industry.
~~~
thwest
Is this a claim that your colleagues in construction are the same housing
activists your OP is demonizing?
------
calroc
I'm from SF. People should realize that politics in this town (and
Berzerkeley) are infused with an entire cottage industry of lunatics and
freaks. Watch SFGOV public access to see what I mean. People sing songs, rant,
dress up in weird costumes, it's a little slice of a Fellini movie.
Even if tech folks suddenly got bit by the community bug they're not going to
be able to dialog with people who have basically NO interest in real working
politics because they are simply using the public sphere to project their
hang-ups and obsessions. Crazy people who want attention make up too much of
the political scene out here. Basically SF is one giant open-air insane
asylum. This is where you end up if no place else in the country (or world)
has a niche for you and your particular weird.
Now all these fresh-faced, well-scrubbed tech workers are flooding in and
displacing the nuts, who have nowhere else to go. Of course the nuts (and
brother/sister/sophont I am one of the nuts) are upset.
Unless the techies can somehow develop the compassion for and tolerance of,
say, Mother Teresa, for weird freaky shit they just aren't going to be able to
engage with the old school Bay Area culture. And I don't think it's fair to
expect them to.
Unfortunately, this means that the "gentrification" will proceed apace until
SF has become the new, uh, Portland? Seattle? San Jose? Some other not-so-
weird city anyhow.
------
vacri
_The employees who ride the buses could put up simple signs at the stops: "[X]
out of the 300 people who ride this shuttle each day have pledged to volunteer
once a month at a city shelter or facility..._
This is kind've offensive from the outset, and curiously enough, the paragraph
doesn't actually suggest those shuttle riders _actually_ volunteering, or how
does an employer entice its employees to volunteer for unrelated stuff in
their free time.
Not to mention that it doesn't matter how many of the 300 realistically
volunteer, it will always be seen as 'not enough'. 10 out of 300? Embarrassing
stat to put up. 260 out of 300? What's wrong with the other 40?
Also, I can't speak for SF, but here in Melbourne I had a friend rejected for
volunteer work from several charities because she wasn't skilled. Volunteer
work they have in spades for monkeywork. What they needed was management and
organisational talents, to organise the volunteers and events, make orders etc
~~~
billyjobob
In my time volunteering, I've never found a charity that would accept
volunteers for any skilled, technical, interesting, managerial or decision-
making tasks. Anything important is only entrusted to paid employees.
Volunteers are used for unskilled work that would be minimum wage if paid. I
was also surprised at the high number of my fellow volunteers who were
actually 'volunteering' only because it was part of their court ordered
sentence.
------
ryguytilidie
Look, I'll be the first person to express my dismay at tech people throwing
money around and essentially saying "fuck you I'm rich" to the rest of the
city. However, expecting them to do charity work, give free daycare and fight
for civic changes that are almost diametrically opposite to their own needs is
completely insane. Why does it have to be the people who work at startups? Why
not the bankers? Why not the actual CEO's of these money making startups? How
on earth did we decide that the people we should target are the workers at a
company that is rich, why not the stockholders or executives? I mean go throw
rocks at buildings on Sand Hill Road, not at the people who are just working
their first job out of college.
------
temphn
startups which provide deluxe on-site benefits could extend
their daycare, meal and on-site walk-in health care to
people who have WIC or EBT cards and can show that they
live in the neighborhood. The bonus here? You can meet
actual people in your neighborhood.
I really, really, really want Anil Dash to try this with his own startup on
Market Street in the middle of the Tenderloin. Send us the video. Show us how
it's done, Anil! Practice what you preach.
------
jseliger
1\. I'm not sure that the premise is true and that people "hate" techies.
Outside of a few, small media precincts, does any of this actually exist?
2\. To the extent that any of this actually is true, it seems like a failure
of voters and public policies to a) allow enough housing to built
([http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/10/san-
francis...](http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/10/san-francisco-
exodus/7205/) or Matt Yglesias's _The Rent Is Too Damn High_ ) and b) to build
better public transportation, which is related to a). To the extent that tech
company buses mean anything, they mean that the current system works so poorly
that people are routing around it.
~~~
Doctor_Fegg
The transport thing baffles me. Here in the UK, improved public transport
would be funded either by levies on new development (known as Section 106,
being replaced by the Community Infrastructure Levy), or by supplemental
business rates (that's how London Crossrail is happening). The commuters to
the new developments get the transport they need, and it benefits everyone
else as well. Why doesn't that happen in SF?
~~~
rco8786
B/c politics in SF are nothing like politics in London.
------
JohnTHaller
So, the last round of gentrification is mad about this round of gentrification
and thinks these new folks should make these token gestures to gain better
acceptance? Sounds like a perfect plan.
------
SwellJoe
I'm a lifetime nerd and a tech startup founder. Some of my best friends work
at Google, facebook, Apple, etc., but I'm very sympathetic to the folks who
are angry about the situation in SF.
The industry culture in the valley is extremely insulated from the real world,
and it shows in everything. At bars and cafes, the conversation is the same
old echo chamber; re-affirming the world changing nature of the next Snapchat
copy. In a world with so many huge problems, so many smart people exerting so
much effort and spending so much of other people's money on trivial things is
the rule not the exception, and it's sad (of, if it doesn't make one sad, it
makes one angry). You can't escape it. It's actually one of the reasons I
bought a motorhome and hit the road...I've only been back to the valley once
since I left four years ago. The valley is depressing to me, for all the
reasons so many find it full of optimism. I'm not optimistic when some of the
brightest minds are expending their efforts on imitation of trivialities.
America is looking like a class war again for the first time in a long time.
And, the folks comfortably in the middle don't realize they're siding with the
folks up top, either through inaction or through conscious choice to serve
those interests (even if they're only middle class by SF standards and have
much more in common with poor folk than with the .1% that effectively own
everything). This is why there's so much anger. San Francisco has always been
expensive and most regular folk there have always been renters. But, it's
becoming impossibly expensive for huge swaths of people and the hope of
surviving in SF as anything other than a wealthy white (or Asian) male
engineer is fading fast.
This article has some good ideas. People in the valley _should_ get out of
that echo chamber regularly and do something real in their community. Come up
with something else to talk about now and then. But, I don't think it will
solve the underlying problem; lower and middle class people are realizing the
world isn't what they thought. The odds are simply stacked against poor folks
in America (and stacked against escaping being poor), and they're worst in
places like San Francisco and NYC. The churn in wealth that is supposed to
happen in a market economy _isn 't_ happening anymore, if it ever did. It's
been locked down hard by a very few, and the rest of us are merely renters and
debtors, with no real say in the system. And, the idea I see that "they should
just move" is missing the point...this problem isn't a San Francisco problem.
It is nationwide, and San Francisco is just the canary. It's happening in
every major city in the country.
~~~
kelnos
_At bars and cafes, the conversation is the same old echo chamber; re-
affirming the world changing nature of the next Snapchat copy._
I hear this stated as fact all the time, but is it really true? I can't speak
for cafes, as I'm not a coffee drinker, but I'm in a lot of SF bars, very
often, and I very rarely hear talk like this. Certainly not in my friend
groups, and rarely (if ever) from adjacent conversations that I overhear.
Sure, this is anecdotal, but pretty sure all the reports I've heard of the
opposite are anecdotal as well. Or maybe I tend to frequent bars that don't
feature a tech-douche clientele.
Widening the net a bit, my conversations with friends and acquaintances does
_not_ include this sort of vapid tripe. The nature of the next Snapchat copy
is a topic of derision, not re-affirmation. I wouldn't consider myself to be
the most extroverted person in the world, but I do tend to meet and converse
with a decent variety of people.
So really, _who_ are these people all over SF who talk like this? I just don't
encounter them regularly, or even non-rarely.
~~~
kcanini
He has no idea what he's talking about. He said in the very same post that
he's only been to SV once in the last four years.
~~~
SwellJoe
I lived in the valley for three years. If it has changed dramatically in the
four years since, I'll be surprised.
------
thrill
What BS. There's no such thing as affordable housing - there's only housing
you can afford. If you want to live in the Valley and can't afford it - then
you can't afford it.
~~~
ryguytilidie
Yeah this argument just kills me. I used to live in a $2k apartment across the
street from Google SF. My rent got raised to $4300 because they knew Google
employees would pay it. Did I go throw rocks at Google buses? No. Did I move
to a place I could afford? Yes. The idea that me, as a startup employee making
a decent wage can't afford to live there, yet thousands of people who are
things like "artists and poets" are upset they can't afford it is absolute
madness. The reason housing is expensive is because lots of people desire it,
the idea that we should make sure to reserve places for people who can't
afford to live there makes no sense at all.
~~~
therobot24
While technically you're correct, it doesn't mean you're right. It's not so
easy to uproot a family from their home and start new somewhere else. It's
been stated several times in each of these discussions that many of those who
can't afford the housing increase are the ones who've spent generations in the
area. Pushing out area natives and alienating the poor for not 'living where
they can afford' is no way to build a community.
~~~
jack-r-abbit
I consider this to be little more than a testament to owning rather than
renting. If people have spent generations in the area but are renting, then
they were always living on borrowed time anyway. If you've lived there for
years and own your flat, it makes zero difference what the housing market
looks like today.
~~~
aeorgnoieang
That's not really true. Property taxes are usually assessed based on the value
of the property and that rises with the housing market. People are sometimes
priced out of areas even when they own their home.
~~~
jack-r-abbit
> _when real property is purchased, the county assessor assigns it an assessed
> value that is equal to its purchase price, or “acquisition value.” Each year
> thereafter, the property’s assessed value increases by 2 percent or the rate
> of inflation, whichever is lower. This process continues until the property
> is sold, at which point the county assessor again assigns it an assessed
> value equal to its most recent purchase price._ [1]
If you have owned your home for awhile, your property taxes are not changing
that much. Your assessed value starts with the purchase price and increases,
at most, 2% each year. This house[2] listed on Zillow is a great example. It
sold in 1973 for $32K. For the passed 40 years they've been paying property
taxes based on the $32K plus ~2% increase each year (I'm not sure how far back
that 2% max increase goes). In 2013, the assessed value was still down at
$72K... meaning $997 in property taxes. That same year the house was sold for
$875K. Now the assessed value resets to market value and the new property
taxes will be like $11k rather than the previous year's $1K. So even though
the housing prices skyrocketed around them, the previous owner of the house
wasn't really effected by that increase.
[1] [http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2012/tax/property-tax-
primer-1...](http://www.lao.ca.gov/reports/2012/tax/property-tax-
primer-112912.aspx) [2] [http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3245-Anza-St-San-
Francisco...](http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3245-Anza-St-San-Francisco-
CA-94121/15095502_zpid/)
------
WalterBright
Doesn't anyone else find it ironic that now it's rich people who ride the bus,
and poor people who are forced to drive their own cars?
~~~
dkuntz2
Not particularly. The saying "time is money" applies here: the argument could
be made that the "rich people who ride the bus"'s time is worth more, and
putting them on a bus where they can do some work instead of driving is a more
efficient use of their time.
Of course you could argue that the poorer people "forced" to drive their own
cars could use that time, but they might not be knowledge workers, which means
that time wouldn't be productive to their employers anyways.
And this also is entirely dependent on how you perceive value to be created,
and the model you choose to use.
~~~
WalterBright
People riding the bus have always been able to do things like read, study,
write, etc., whether or not they were knowledge workers.
~~~
dkuntz2
True. But is that productive for their employers? Which was my main point...
------
schraual
I don't know, I work close to the Twitter HQ and the other day I saw some
Twitterites (I could tell by their badges) half assedly walking down the
sidewalk while on their phones occasionally plucking up a piece of trash with
one of those trash picker-uppers...it seemed like it was 100% for show and
actually made me hate them a little more.
~~~
herbig
"made me hate them a little more"
It seems like your whole perception of the situation is skewed by your
preexisting disdain for these folks.
~~~
rgbrenner
Maybe that's the point. The people protesting have the same preexisting
disdain.. so why would they be anymore convinced than schraual?
------
grecy
These are all fantastic ideas, though I find it fascinating they're all about
sharing the benefits of enormous wealth with the greater community, so that
everyone can be happier and healthier.
One wonders when America as a whole will realize the benefits of doing so and
catch up to the rest of the Developed world.
In my experience, Americans would rather "get mine" than share.
~~~
octaveguin
Americans are ranked as one of if not the most generous nation by numerous
stats [0]. Americans donate more of their money as a percentage of their total
income than any other citizens on earth.
Now, there's a lot one could say about why. I imagine it's a mix of the wealth
and importance of religion uniquely in that developed country.
There's a lot the US could do with social programs, that's for sure but the
individuals are certainly more charitable than certain European countries.
Greetings from Copenhagen :)
The ideas presented in the blog are trite and solve nothing.
[0][https://www.cafonline.org/media-office/press-
releases/2013/w...](https://www.cafonline.org/media-office/press-
releases/2013/world-giving-index-2013.aspx)
~~~
grecy
> _Americans are ranked as one of if not the most generous nation by numerous
> stats [0]. Americans donate more of their money as a percentage of their
> total income than any other citizens on earth._
I wonder if that's because the society they live in requires them to do so.
For example, Australian's know that employed people have plenty of money from
welfare to live on, so there really isn't any need to "give" money to them.
Americans know that the "have nots" are in serious trouble, so they give to
them.
------
crw-rw-rw
If these idiots hadn't agitated for laws limiting development in the first
place, then housing wouldn't be as unaffordable as it is now in the Bay Area.
Instead of attacking tech workers earning high five-figure salaries, which is
hardly makes them "rich" by Bay Area standards, why not relax laws restricting
development?
Much of this outrage is actually manufactured, and by Gawker no less:
[http://pando.com/2013/12/26/look-whos-gawking-inside-nick-
de...](http://pando.com/2013/12/26/look-whos-gawking-inside-nick-dentons-
phony-hypocritical-class-war-against-tech-workers/)
------
neilk
The entire premise of this is flawed. I posted a huge ranty comment on Anil's
page, but the TL;DR:
* Tech companies have no expertise providing social services.
* It is a very bad idea to have public services delivered at the whim of private companies.
The answer to this is _taxes_. You want to criticize Google? Criticize them
for using offshore tax shelters.
There also seems to be a longing for Google to swoop in and somehow fix
politics, but really, unless money or technology solves the problem, Google is
not the answer.
~~~
jinushaun
The buses fix the Bay Area's bad public transportation problem. Now unless the
Bay Area city and county govts and its residents are open to the idea of
having tech companies use imminent domain and straight up pay for everything
(like Google's municipal wifi initiative), I don't understand the hate for the
buses. You don't hear this in NY.
------
joemaller1
The "solution" will be an exodus from SF to other communities. SF has eaten
itself before, and it will doubtlessly eat itself again.
------
arnoldwh
I think the "backlash" is a symptom, not the cause.
The cause likely has a lot more to do with an unnatural supply constraint
imposed previously as well as very little in the way of a public
transportation infrastructure that would better enable workers (both tech and
other) to live where they would like, at a price they want to pay.
~~~
wwweston
Transport infrastructure is one of the issues I'd think would be a no-brainer
for support as far as public or even shared private projects go.
Providing transportation to your workers isn't a core function that you want
to be working on yourself as a business; it's a problem you'd _prefer_ to
externalize or share. And the better the transportation infrastructure of a
city functions, the more likely the city in general will be a desirable place
for workers to settle.
------
danielharan
There are two problems that need to be fixed.
-Housing prices. Supporting affordable housing isn't the solution here; there needs to be more supply. Given all the money invested in tech, surely the bigger companies could invest in some real estate. Or announce that you're ready to do so, when the city finally allows it - now the city's the villain.
-Fix Transportation so you don't need private shuttles. Either force the city to improve transportation or support startups that can do it instead.
------
scotty79
Simplest thing would be to build apartments and shops for all their emploees
on company land.
------
memracom
It says something about the level of intelligence of Silicon Valley people
that it has taken this long for someone to point out that there are LOTS of
things that local people could do to defuse the situation and improve the
situation. In fact, given the number of people who live in SF and work down in
the Valley, one wonders why on earth they started running private buses and
did not go straight to the city and demand new routes on the city bus system.
As for wifi, that could have been installed on the new routes for all riders,
not just privileged Googlers.
Great coding ability is not enough to get by in life. You need creativity as
well, and some understanding of social, business and political issues. Because
life does not end at the edge of the CPU chip.
------
rco8786
The author came up with 5 original ideas(not even very good ones) and then
accosted tech companies for having not implemented them before he/she thought
of them.
Wat.
------
oh_sigh
The entire premise is flawed. Who hates techies in SF? A tiny, tiny minority
of people.
------
bksenior
People dont change wholesale until they are forced too. The backlash hasnt
affected the individuals, only the collective. Until people start to feel
unsafe or targeted the only people who will organize improvements will be
their employers because public opinion of big companies affect the bottom
line.
~~~
aaronem
> Until people start to feel unsafe or targeted
The implicit threat, made explicit once again -- it amazes me how blatant some
people are in HN comments on this subject!
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Microsoft’s new documentary about startups is brutally honest about Microsoft - aaronbrethorst
http://www.geekwire.com/2011/microsoft-film-startups-brutally-honest-microsoft
======
andrewfelix
That trailer is straight out of the 90's. Cliche stock shots run through cheap
filters in between attention grabbing soundbites.
The documentary clearly has some interesting subject matter and interviewees.
Why couldn't they have just run some interesting snippets from the people
they've interviewed?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Reverse Engineering the HN Ranking Algorithm - foob
http://sangaline.com/post/reverse-engineering-the-hacker-news-ranking-algorithm/
======
mos_basik
Welp. I'm glad I managed to catch this in whatever window of time it was
visible on the site. Great analysis, reasonably readable.
While I might disagree with the methods used to suppress it, I understand why
the powers that be might not want this sort of article to be widely spread,
but what can you say. Thanks OP.
------
mabynogy
Very cool!
And the IPython notebook is direct available here:
[https://github.com/sangaline/reverse-engineering-the-
hacker-...](https://github.com/sangaline/reverse-engineering-the-hacker-news-
ranking-
algorithm/blob/master/Reverse%20Engineering%20the%20Hacker%20News%20Ranking%20Algorithm.ipynb)
------
awsoutage
Unironically, this was apparently censored (no realistic human interaction
would result in this post, which was gaining popularity quickly, disappearing
from the first 6 pages within moments).
Meanwhile, a post about YCombinator itself (the _US_ company) going to Canada
to skirt US visa regulation changes so that it can continue its access to
foreign founders whose exploitable economics are desirable to US founders...
remains on the first page.
This, IMHO.
This article was excellent, btw, despite my lack of basic calculus knowledge
and, thus, my inability to understand the notated equations.
~~~
dang
This article was flagged by users for some reason. Moderators never saw it
(edit: wrong, see below). If we had, we would have turned off the flags.
The post about YC and visas was untouched by moderators except that we
eventually downweighted it because it had spent such a long time on the front
page.
So what these two examples illustrate is not what we do, but how easily people
can find examples to fit any belief. We're always happy to answer questions
and correct mistakes though.
Edit: ok, I think I know what happened now. It's not true that a moderator
never saw the post: a moderator put 2010 on the title by mistake. I didn't
think to look for title changes when I checked the logs. Later, a user pointed
out the mistake and we corrected it.
In this case although we didn't penalize the post, it's possible that the
inaccurate '2010' annotation acted as a penalty without us intending it that
way. Obviously when we add years to submission titles, which we do every day,
the intention is to get it right, not wrong.
~~~
awsoutage
My comment above has just received a down-vote, despite being 2 days old, well
outside of the down vote time limit (unless there is a comment flag feature
without a time limit that I'm unaware of), at the same time @dang left a
reply.
So, another example of moderator tampering...? Or was there a recent up-vote
that was removed?
I guess we are all just conspiracy theorists.
------
ollyoxalls
Mods: please remove the 2010 in the title. The publication date is today and
the post discusses data from 2017.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
BrowserStack $19 plan ends mobile browser support - eliot_sykes
http://autumnlansing.com/bye-bye-browserstack/
======
eliot_sykes
Today I'm looking to start subscribing to BrowserStack and discovered that the
$19 plan had lessened its value considerably. I thought it used to support
mobile browsers but this blog post was the only evidence I found to verify
this. Perhaps HN can confirm or have I remembered this wrong?
~~~
eliot_sykes
According to archive.org, the $19 plan for us little guys did include mobile
browser support up until November 6th 2013 at least:
[https://web.archive.org/web/20131106160333/https://www.brows...](https://web.archive.org/web/20131106160333/https://www.browserstack.com/pricing)
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
DigitalOcean Intermittent NYC2 Connectivity Issues - _JamesA_
https://status.digitalocean.com/incidents/kpr7nn6x836s
======
subatomic
I've been struggling all week with issues from nyc3 spaces (object storage). I
haven't been able to get any explanation or confirmation of my issues although
I have submitted a lot of information at each of their requests.
I hope these problems are temporary and the reliability improves very soon
because I feel like I've wasted this week beta testing a flaky product. I
might be small-fry but I need to spend my time wisely.
Having said that, I've got my fingers crossed because this sure as hell beats
the pricing of AWS S3 and It'd be nice to host app and objects under the same
umbrella.
------
_JamesA_
Connectivity has been up and down all day.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Remote control a crane robot - bartman
http://crane.dnsalias.com/
======
shard
Unfortunately, this is about the same level of interestingness as Subservient
Chicken to me. Now maybe if the robot was roaming the streets of Detroit..
~~~
noonespecial
The difference being that Subservient Chicken was prerecorded footage
activated by keyword. In this case, you are actually teleoperating a small
robot. Its _real_ , as opposed to Burger King's chicken, which is, you know, a
chicken _simulation_. :)
I thinks its cool. Kudos.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
How traders 'pump and dump' cryptocurrencies - bradvl
http://uk.businessinsider.com/how-traders-pump-and-dump-cryptocurrencies-2017-11
======
jeremyt
This article is complete bullshit.
I'm a member of this group, only because I was added without my consent, which
is probably the case for most of the users in the group.
Just for giggles, I watched them do a pump and dump one time, and they
basically sold the pump hard, managed to get about 10 Bitcoin in some tiny
market cap coin, and then one guy sold all the way back down and left the
"members" of the group holding the bag.
This group is a scam, but not in the way that this article says.
Also, telegram isn't encrypted as far as I know.
~~~
jcoffland
Telegram's key feature is encryption.
[https://telegram.org](https://telegram.org)
~~~
neuralzen
Only on phones, there is no option to encrypt on desktop.
~~~
jcoffland
According to their website all data is encrypted. From what I understand it's
transparent and does not require enabling via an option.
~~~
krrrh
This is a longstanding issue with Telegram, and deceptive advertising that a
lot of people have an issue with. They use client-server encryption sure, but
unlike Signal or WhatsApp, they do not employ end-to-end encryption by
default; you must enable it for two person chats, and it is not available for
group chats. Unless something has changed, you get full chat history when you
log in from a new device or are invited to a pre-existing group, meaning that
the chat history is stored on their servers, and if not in plain text it can
be unencrypted for new group members or devices.
------
vim_wannabe
Sounds more like whale/s telling people to raise the price of a coin then
dumping on them, rather than some kind of a 'collaborative' pump.
The article is talking about minutes after all so there's likely no outside
buyers fast enough to react. Essentially most 'members of the community' will
lose, but some lucky ones will be fast enough to dump before the whale for at
least some cash.
~~~
KVFinn
>The article is talking about minutes after all so there's likely no outside
buyers fast enough to react.
The article doesn't talk about it, but there are campaigns organized over days
and weeks to talk up a coin. It's not all about minute timescales.
~~~
mancerayder
Do you have evidence of these?
Don't get me wrong, I believe you, but convincing evidence, even anecdotal,
would be useful.
Of the big coins, not the hundreds of random ones with "To The Moon" Reddit
comments.
~~~
KVFinn
>Of the big coins, not the hundreds of random ones with "To The Moon" Reddit
comments.
In terms of personal experience, I've not seen anything as explicit as this
article. And nothing with a giant market cap coin. More like a gray area
between pump and dump and a bunch of over enthusiastic marketers.
Like I'll be reading a forum and notice a ton of people hyping up a small
market cap coin. Check their post histories and they are generally new or
they've only talked about the coin. Eventually find the slack/discord for the
coin, people are posting links to forums/threads/mentions of the coin in the
discord, and people are organizing shifts to give support. The comments are
all purportedly coming from a genuine place (and to an extend they may be) but
they were posted as if they were just random people stumbling across this
discussion -- not an organized group explicitly trying to spread the good
word.
~~~
Gargoyle
Pump'n'Dump of that sort for small coins has been going on since literally the
beginning of altcoins. I'm not in the altcoin arena now, but I assume it's the
same as it was.
Really, there wasn't much different between that era and the yahoo penny stock
boards of the late 90s.
Learning to detect and filter that noise is a crucial skill if you're gonna
trade those things.
~~~
ecommerceguy
"Really, there wasn't much different between that era and the yahoo penny
stock boards of the late 90s."
I came here to say exactly this. Coins are extremely similar in nature to pink
sheets. Bitcoinforums et al are the new yahoo finance forums. Full of shills
and pumpers, be very VERY wary.
I was doing "research" this weekend for some long tail alts I could ride the
pump on next. I couldn't help but note the number of template Diva Wordpress
sites out there, all using the exact same template just with different fonts
and minor style changes. All have some bullshit "whitepaper" (overused term of
the year). Then I thought this can't be that hard to start my own. So, I am.
Hopefully I'll pump my own coin within the next few weeks. I've noted a few
criteria that I'm sure will attract some gamblers/fools.
On a side note, the eBay market for mining rigs and accessories is stunningly
healthy.
~~~
amigoingtodie
I am interested in the criteria you have identified.
Would you be willing to discuss this further? I have some silly ideas.
------
Itsdijital
How traders pump and dump sub 50 btc volume coins is a more accurate title.
Manipulating a coin with 1k+ volume is significantly harder.
~~~
godelski
I've been hearing talk about 1k people own >40% of BTC[1]. I think having that
kind of market share gives you that kind of power, especially if you
coordinate your moves (like the article suggests).
This article more seems like spammers. Same kind of thing that the stock
spammers did with emails. There's a nice DefCon video about this [2].
Basically some people have a lot of the stock (or coin), get people to buy,
and dump on them. I think the evidence that people have been doing this with
the smaller stock exchanges show that it can be done with BTC. I think if you
watch BTCs price long enough, you can even see these patterns.
[1] [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-08/the-
bitco...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-08/the-bitcoin-
whales-1-000-people-who-own-40-percent-of-the-market)
[2]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytDamqTjPwg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytDamqTjPwg)
~~~
VMG
> I've been hearing talk about 1k people own >40% of BTC[1].
That seems dubious. These numbers usually don't account for custodial wallets
e.g. exchanges
~~~
atmosx
"The Bitcoin system is the best known and most widely used alternative payment
scheme, but so far it was very difficult to get accurate information about how
it is used in practice. In this paper we describe a large number of
statistical properties of the Bitcoin transaction graph, which contains all
the transactions which were carried out by all the users until May 13th 2012.
We discovered that most of the minted bitcoins remain dormant in addresses
which had never participated in any outgoing transactions. We found out that
there is a huge number of tiny transactions which move only a small fraction
of a single bit- coin, but there are also hundreds of transactions which move
more than 50,000 bitcoins. We analyzed all these large transactions by
following in detail the way these sums were accumulated and the way they were
dispersed, and realized that almost all these large transactions were
descendants of a single transaction which was carried out in November 2010.
Finally, we noted that the subgraph which contains these large transactions
along with their neighborhood has many strange looking structures which could
be an attempt to conceal the existence and relationship between these
transactions, but such an attempt can be foiled by following the money trail
in a sufficiently persistent way." \- Dorit Ron and Adi Shamir
ref:
[https://eprint.iacr.org/2012/584.pdf](https://eprint.iacr.org/2012/584.pdf)
------
electic
I am on Telegram and none of these channels really have any bearing on pumping
a coin. There might be some movement on smaller coins but these channels
rarely play a major part.
Typically what happens, is a whale starts buying a particular currency and
magically you start to see news articles appear on major and smaller niche
crypto blogs. Then the reddit posts start appearing causing a even more
hurried frenzy to buy the coin. It is very similar to how traditional stocks
are pumped.
On a side note, I am noticing a trend from Forbes, Business Insider, and CBS
News that are very hostile to the crypto space. They will literally grasp at
any resemblance of shadyness to write a negative article.
~~~
autokad
feels like a fear and smear campaign to allow the government sweeping
authorities and regulations "for everyone's own good" that probably offer
little help to the problem the fear and smear campaign was calling out.
------
m3kw9
Happening every day at the penny stock stalls in small doses, but in crypto
currency, these guys get off scott free with huge sums
------
blcArmadillo
Is coordinated buying really considered pumping? Don't you also have to
distribute misleading information?
------
cowpig
I have a feeling these businessinsider articles are actually coming from the
pump and dump groups' press kits.
------
thisisit
Oh, this brings back memories. Back in 2013/2014 when bitcoin first touched
1k, I got to know some of these groups.
First, there are positive campaigns run for multiple coins through YT channels
(some really respected ones), reddit posts, bitcointalk forum etc. Once enough
frenzy is generated a pump date is announced but not the coin name. The coin
name depends on various factors like -how many coins these guys have
accumulated, which coin is generating some vibe outside their efforts, how
much of the supply has been mined etc.
Once the time arrives, the coin name is announced in the chat group, twitter
etc. And the coin price flies on a particular exchange. It seems obvious that
the price should tank. But it doesn't. Because there are a lot of things going
on here:
a. In the cryptocurrency world, everyone has a constant FOMO fever. So, if
they see a coin flying they buy irrespective.
b. Then there is lot of belief in technical analysis too. So, if there is some
MA crossover, RSI crossever etc happens then people buy irrespective.
c. There are a lot of "arbitragers" who have automated setups to try and catch
up the difference. So they sell at the high price exchange and buy at low
price exchange. But, the imperfect market ensures that they actually end up
pulling the price at the lower exchange. The price does drop but it doesn't go
to the previous low price.
d. Lastly and most importantly the orderbook gets messed up and price is re-
framed.
These coins are thinly traded. So, there is some form of equilibrium at the
low price - there are both buyers and sellers at this price. Once the pump is
over the price has inched higher. The bag holders have bought the coins at a
higher price so they wont sell for a loss. Then the FOMO, TA and arbs come in
to create an equilibrium market at the higher prices.
Things don't end there. The pump and dump schemers also are unable to get out
at the high so, they keep creating positive buzz for the coins. In most cases,
the same coin gets pumped up by many (or maybe same) groups multiple times.
Look at the chart for the Magi Coin mentioned in the article:
[https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/magi/#charts](https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/magi/#charts)
It is going higher and higher.
If you look at the market on bittrex, which btw is the go to market for these
schemes:
[https://bittrex.com/Market/Index?MarketName=BTC-
XMG](https://bittrex.com/Market/Index?MarketName=BTC-XMG)
you will find multiple price swings, which are actually prices being pumped.
Does it work for big coins? Yes it does. But, those are much more nuanced than
telling people to pump a coin. There it takes form of some announcement -
mostly it is a vaporware feature which remains WIP for a long time or some
collaboration.
------
cyphunk
you had me at...
_" Russian messaging app Telegram is heavily encrypted and,..."_
enough of the mccarthyism.
anyway, time to log off of my freedom infused american hacker news app and go
work for a bit in my almost fascist italian code editor on my communist
chinese computer
~~~
skinnymuch
It's not even really Russian. It's based in Germany. Pretty sure the founder
and his brother of VK fame haven't been back to Russia since Telegram was
created. Either are dual citizens or only have non-Russian passports now too.
------
nkrisc
The current link anchors to the bottom of the page.
~~~
sctb
Thanks, we've removed that from the link.
------
Timbaker
These days, iN KOREA, it is crazy!! Several days, it shows going down tread,
but in las weekend it goes up and upper! you guys, I want to ask you, how long
does this situation go?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks - spectramax
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reply_of_the_Zaporozhian_Cossacks
======
Jun8
“Turkish devil”, indeed; note the irony, the title of the person who wrote the
purported letter is “Kosh otaman”, a title with a Turkic word:-)
There’s confusion between “Kazakh” and “Cossack”, much was at stake on
definitions like this, especially in earlier times when Turanic ideas were en
vogue. Tolstoy’s novel is about the people mentioned here, who are Christian.
~~~
sologoub
Turkic origin is not the only possible root - there is also a Scandinavian
theory that ties hetman and otaman together (their meaning is similar and at
some point was used interchangeably) and also a Germanic root.
Source is in Russian (couldn’t find an English one):
[https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Атаман](https://ru.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Атаман)
~~~
app4soft
> (couldn’t find an English one)
Here are Wikipedia pages in Ukrainian[1] and English[2]
[1]
[https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B0...](https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9E%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BD)
[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ataman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ataman)
~~~
sologoub
Thanks! Didn’t search hard enough.
------
legohead
I love this story and painting, but I wonder.. did the Cossacks hold their
ground, or did the Sultan eventually get them?
~~~
smsm42
One can say he did not, and they did. The most likely context of this is one
of the countless wars between Ottomans and Russia for the control over
Ukraine, south of Russia and Crimea. Most likely this one:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-
Turkish_War_(1676%E2%80%...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-
Turkish_War_\(1676%E2%80%931681\)) Note that there were different Cossack
communities there, and some were recognizing Ottomans as rulers, and some did
not. The initial letter was probably written to the latter, and is by the
standards of that time pretty mild - basically just asking the Cossacks to
bend the knee, like their fellow people on the other end of the river did, and
stop harassing the Ottoman territories. But these Cossacks were having none of
it, and by the end of the war Russia ended up owning their side of Ukraine
(separated by the Dnepr river) while Ottomans ended up owning the other part.
Of course, it soon led to the next war, of which there was about a dozen
overall. Cossacks as a community (or rather very diverse set of communities)
survived most of them, until the Communist revolution, which largely destroyed
their way of life. Though it is said to be reviving now, not sure whether it
is authentic anymore.
------
tomcam
That’s one of the most lively paintings I’ve ever seen. I suspect there are
depths of symbolism of which I’m totally unaware and probably a bunch of
insults to ethnic groups, but to my untrained eye it reminds me of Bruegel the
Elder meets Norman Rockwell.
~~~
andrewl-hn
One interesting detail is the rolled banners. Some of them are yellow and blue
- same flags that modern Ukraine uses. Others are black and red - the colors
used by Ukrainian rebel armies against Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, Ottoman
Empire, and Russia. Centuries later black and red banners were used by
Euromaidan protesters.
------
dmix
> The second version of "The Cossacks" the artist tried to make more
> "historically authentic". In 1932 it was presented by the Tretyakov Gallery
> to the M. F. Sumtsov Kharkiv Historical Museum.
The differences in the two versions is interesting. It's mostly some subtle
differences in hair styles and clothing design. I'm curious what the exact
motivation/reasons were.
------
samirillian
> the crick in our dick
gold
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Ask HN: Should I charge the military more to use my SAAS? - hoodoof
I'm thinking of having a price list that charges the military more than other buyers.<p>Perhaps free for personal use, $amount for business users and $amount X 2 for military.<p>Any thoughts on this? Good idea, not good idea?
======
greenyoda
U.S. Government agencies (of which the military is one) may insist on a "Most
Favored Customer" contract, in which they get the best available price. See,
for example:
[http://www.fedmarket.com/contractors/GSA-and-Most-Favored-
Cu...](http://www.fedmarket.com/contractors/GSA-and-Most-Favored-Customer-
Pricing)
If you deliberately charge the military more than everyone else without having
a valid business-related reason to do so, they may just refuse to do business
with you.
------
poof131
I encourage you not to do this. If you want to make a statement, do it through
your vote or by volunteering. By charging extra to the military, you actually
join the camp with all the corrupt defense contractors who overcharge for
everything. Clearly by your statements this isn’t who you want to be aligning
yourself with. As a veteran, I hate defense contractors and believe the system
is broken. When mercenaries get up-armored humvees before our soldiers do we
have a problem, not to mention the fact we are using mercenaries. Don’t join
this group through what seems to be good intentions.
------
eitally
I don't think you should do this. If you're doing it for moral/ethical
reasons, you're just screwing all the taxpayers. If you want to take a stand,
just refuse to sell to .gov & .mil domains.
------
NameNickHN
I sympathize with you and I think you should do it. But you should come up
with a "real" reason other than "because I can". For example, I imagine the
military requires a different service level agreement than the average
company. That would be your price differentiation right there.
------
akg_67
It is a bad idea if you are advertising pricing on your site. Unless, it cost
more to service or offers more value to or offer different feature set to
government customers or a particular group, you shouldn't charge different
pricing.
It is routine for enterprise vendors to charge more to government because of
the more involved process in selling and managing product for government and
associated costs. But the way it works is enterprise vendors have a list price
at which anyone including competitors can buy the product. Then vendor can
decide how much discount from list price to offer to different customers.
I think there are laws that you will run afoul of when discriminating against
a group of customers without any business justification.
~~~
hoodoof
>> Unless, it cost more to service or offers more value to or offer different
feature set to government customers or a particular group, you shouldn't
charge different pricing.
Why not? I'm free to charge differently if I want to aren't I?
>>I think there are laws that you will run afoul of when discriminating
against a group of customers without any business justification.
Hmmm, doesn't sound right to me. Can you be more specific about which laws you
mean?
~~~
akg_67
Just a little bit of google-fu for laws on pricing gives these sources.
Price Discrimination: Robinson-Patman Violations [https://www.ftc.gov/tips-
advice/competition-guidance/guide-a...](https://www.ftc.gov/tips-
advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/price-discrimination-
robinson-patman)
Price Fixing [https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-
guidance/guide-a...](https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-
guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/dealings-competitors/price-fixing)
A Guide to Retail Pricing Laws and Regulations
[http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/laws/pricing-
laws.cfm](http://www.nist.gov/pml/wmd/laws/pricing-laws.cfm)
Consumer Protection Laws and Your Business [http://www.nolo.com/legal-
encyclopedia/consumer-protection-l...](http://www.nolo.com/legal-
encyclopedia/consumer-protection-laws-business-29641.html)
~~~
hoodoof
Is there anything in there to support your assertion that it would be against
the law?
I'm interested less in getting a pile of links but more hearing why you think
it would be against the law.
------
saluki
Most businesses give the military discounts . . . and I expect most citizens
would dislike seeing you charge .mil/.gov 2x just because of who they are. So
I wouldn't list it like that on your pricing page.
What I would do . . . if you have existing military users, I would look at
their usage patterns, number of users, data, etc . . . and change your tiers
to charge them more based on their typical use of your SaaS.
That would be the best way to do it, create a tier pricing that would apply to
them but doesn't spell it out in the pricing page.
Good luck landing a potentially large user for your SaaS.
------
notahacker
What makes you think the military want your SaaS?
The standard approach is to advise that they will need to purchase the
enhanced security version which will be $whatever, which is also how SaaS
vendors deal with large companies and other clients whose custom they're only
willing to consider because of their deep pockets
------
gesman
Large companies selling stuff to enterprises use "Contact us for pricing"
forms.
What follows is a sales dance with "confidential" pricing discussions.
This may or may not work for buyers.
I personally staying away from vendors who are using this tactics unless there
is no other choice.
------
brudgers
Keep it simple, just double your price.
[http://jacquesmattheij.com/double-your-price-and-no-im-
not-k...](http://jacquesmattheij.com/double-your-price-and-no-im-not-kidding)
------
bmmayer1
It depends on what your product is. Are military customers receiving 2x the
value from your product? Are they 2x more expensive to serve?
~~~
hoodoof
No, but if they want the product then I want them to pay more.
~~~
elthran
OK - but /why/?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Show HN: Swift Optionals in 3.5 minutes - CharlesMerriam2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fte-oZ50RU8
======
CharlesMerriam2
Understanding the Swift Languages concept of Optionals (or nil protocol). It's
under four minutes and I hope gives a good overview. Let me know if I can
improve it while still keeping it short.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Tech Workers Are Hard to Find. H-1B Visa Suspension Just Made Recruiting Harder - SQL2219
https://www.forbes.com/sites/gadlevanon/2020/06/26/tech-workers-were-already-hard-to-find-the-h-1b-visa-suspension-just-made-recruiting-them-even-harder/#3f7044935878
======
raincom
I knew a guy, who started his career as a backup tape boy at Bell labs, right
after his high school. As he started to learn more about computers, he became
a system administrator at Bell labs. Later, he became a developer at AT&T
research labs, Florham Park, NJ. His boss, who is a MIT Ph.D, encouraged him
to get some online undergrad degree so that he can be bumped to the right
salary level. I believe, he still works for AT&T labs in Middletown, NJ.
These are the old days, where managers encourage people to learn and give them
opportunities. Now we have a different set of managers, whose only aim to tick
off credentials, leetcode questions, pedigrees, pleasing upper management,
etc.
~~~
catsarebetter
Oh boy I wish I couldn't relate to the last part but dangit you just get me
------
duxup
I don't doubt some are hard to recruit.
But as someone who was trying to break into one area (web development) of tech
from another area (networking)....I felt like the whole industrial complex of
hiring and getting ghosted by recruiters was there to keep me from talking
with anyone actually technical... and only after randomly getting through
those hoops (often just alphabet soup matching games) did get job offers.
I just seems that if places are so desperate, it would be easier to get a
job....
In the meantime some engineers at my old job told me I should apply for a job
at the company that bought the piece of the company that I worked at for
nearly two decades. They're desperate they said and they referred me....I got
a call two months+ later and was told that my old job "data center networking
support", now required a CS degree and I didn't have one.
~~~
sarcasmatwork
Try not to fall into a contract worker trap.
CS degree? They dont value experience?
Good luck!
------
digianarchist
The should pivot to recruiting Canadians, Mexicans, Singaporeans and Chileans
who are still eligible to work in the US.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Gary Reback: Why the Technology Sector Should Care About Google Books - andrewpbrett
http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/16/gary-reback-why-the-technology-sector-should-care-about-google-books/
======
jim-greer
The 2nd comment sums up my feelings pretty well:
"If the argument is: better these books not be available to anyone than to
have only Google have them, as it will make Google search too good — from my
own consumer point of view, that doesn’t carry a lot of weight. Please do not
seek to protect me from good search results.
If the argument is: Due to Google's activities, since we are on the precipice
of having these books become available through one party, it would be
preferable for them to be available to multiple parties, then I’d agree. But
that is hardly a point to demonize Google for. We wouldn’t be having this
discussion without their efforts."
------
fnid2
Well, Google is above the law. In fact, lots of large corporations are above
the law. Politicians are above the law.
What this google case does more than anything is support the idea of the
decline of a nation of laws. We are no longer a nation of laws, we are a
nation that rewards _law breakers_.
Google violated copyright law and are being permitted to benefit from that
violation and that means the law doesn't really matter, does it? I mean, not
if you're google anyway... or rich I suppose. I mean... what are the rules
about who is subject to the law and who isn't?
That's what I don't know anymore. Politicians can break the law and
corporations can break the law, but the people can't break the law...
Apparently, individuals can't even have manga or carry around arabic flash
cards.
It's really disgusting what is happening. It's not good.
------
ippisl
His argument about of long tail item's value for sell of mass market items, is
also true for any other market.
Amazon uses this in a clever way. For long tail items , it lets merchants sell
their wares at it's site , with little cost to amazon.This lets amazon control
the mass market sales.
But this can go further:now amazon controls the customer , and the data of the
niche market sales. If amazon find a scalable way into niche market sales , it
could easily disrupt all it's merchants.
------
ZeroGravitas
Slightly off topic: I use books.google.com to keep track of books I want to
read. Just recently that list of books got made public and retagged as
"favorites". What's going on there?
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
Cycling Cadence and Bicycle Gearing - voberoi
http://www.kenkifer.com/bikepages/touring/gears.htm
======
rue
Interesting article, if a bit involved. Sheldon Brown (of course) has a
calculator for gearing: <http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gears/>.
Due to the terrain here, I have a 50/34 front (compact cranks) and 11-25
cassette., and a preferred cadence between 90-100 depending on the grade or
lack thereof.
~~~
zackola
Sheldon Brown anything gets upvoted by me :) The amount of information and
detail of it that man put together about bikes on the internet always amazes
me.
------
watchdogtimer
It's nice to see people are still finding Ken's pages on the internet useful.
He was tragically killed by a drunk driver back in 2003:
<http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-37758.html>
------
ANH
I'm not sure if it's the book to which the author was referring (he doesn't
give any references), but I've found _Bicycling Science_ by David Gordon
Wilson [MIT Press] to have a very informative treatment of human power
generation. It also includes an entertaining introduction concerning the
evolution of the modern bicycle.
[http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Science-David-Gordon-
Wilson/...](http://www.amazon.com/Bicycling-Science-David-Gordon-
Wilson/dp/0262731541/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1276434642&sr=8-1)
------
nl
_I also have to accept another problem -- chain slap. With some of my lowest
gears, the chain runs loose because the derailleur does not have the ability
to wrap that many teeth._
I'm sorry, but that's just a recipe for unreliability. Surely mountain bike
dérailleur can take up that much slack? (I only ride road bikes, so I don't
know)
If not, I believe the new SRAM Apex groupset will be able to support it - it
has an 11-32 cassette (<http://www.sram.com/node/2121/brand/sram-
road/src/cat>)
~~~
pmccool
Yeah, modern derailleurs have fixed that problem - it's a fairly old article.
A couple of our bikes have gearing that low, and no issues with chain slap.
They use MTB derailleurs.
------
pkulak
I recently bought a single speed, and I think I enjoy it a bit more than my
stolen 24-speed. I've done hills several miles long and standing up while
pedalling slowly works great. It's like walking up steps two at a time, very
slowly. I'd like to get a child trailer though, and I suspect that will push
the limits of this experiment.
------
joe_the_user
_For instance, in one book (which was much better than most), the author said
that a 27-inch gear was the equivalent of walking._
I'm not sure what 27-inches means. I have a 28 tooth back/42 front as my
minimum. One day climbing Centiniel drive - to the Lawrence Hall of Science, I
noticed an old guy walking was quite able to keep up with me.
~~~
nl
_I'm not sure what 27-inches means_
It's the distance the bike moves in one revolution of the crankset
~~~
gamache
Nope, that would be "27 inches development". "Gear inches" refers to the
nominal wheel diameter multiplied by the gear ratio. Approximately,
development == gear inches * pi.
I prefer to use development as my unit, taking into account the actual
circumference of the wheel and tire. Only at that point can you compare
apples-to-apples among a broad range of bicycles.
------
ja27
I calculated the gear inches for all my combinations and it's printed on a
tiny chart taped on my handlebar stem. It's too small to be useful in the
middle of a ride though. I do have a larger-print version just showing the
gear combinations in order of size, which is more useful mid-ride.
~~~
rue
I would classify this as a "great to know but not in any way essential" for
someone, so I am curious why you actually take a chart with you? How do you
use it?
I can understand using a chart to plan things out ahead of time, though to me
it seems that it is easy to figure out workable gears when starting out just
by riding and eventually you _know_ how to shift in a given situation. The
more serious riders will refine that by trying out different combinations in
more controlled experiments (power meters when you get to Serious Training).
The best gearing always depends on the rider.
------
nhooey
If you're riding through Williamsburg in Brooklyn, you won't really fit in if
you have more than one gear on your bike... ;)
------
stcredzero
What if you prefer internal hub shifters?
~~~
jsnell
Then you just skip the math and get a Rohloff Speedhub.
~~~
allertonm
In addition, Shimano has an 11-speed alfine hub coming that's getting close to
Rohloff's versatility at a fraction of the price.
~~~
jsnell
Thanks, hadn't seen the announcement. Looks like a nice deal for the price,
400% hits the sweet spot for range and the jumps aren't too bad.
It's good to hear that there's finally going to be some competition in the
high end hub gear space. Even if I don't expect to on the market until my
Rohloff breaks down, which might take a while... :-)
------
davidw
I tried touring a few times, and didn't really care for it. Instead of my
'Ferrari', it feels like pushing a garbage truck around, both up the hills and
down.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
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Using the computer as a tool for thinking in discrete mathematics (2017) - gilad
https://rtalbert.org/computational-thinking-discrete-mathematics/
======
proverbialbunny
I couldn't agree more. Abstraction and decomposition were not talked about in
the programming classes I took, nor were they talked about in the discrete
mathematics class I took.
When I asked teachers why calculus was required for discrete mathematics and
programming I was told, "To create mathematically mature thinkers, which is a
prerequisite for these topics." This seemed foolish to me, because calculus
seems to weed people out who struggle with abstraction and decomposition, not
teach it to them. Instead the topics could be explicitly taught, and
thankfully these topics are taught in some schools.
Over the decades I've seen people who taking programming classes, struggle,
and assume they're not smart enough. By sitting down with them and not only
teaching these topics but demonstrating them in a concrete way, programming
seems to come easily and naturally for these people who once struggled.
Discrete mathematics is incredibly important for programmers. I'd argue it's
the single most important class for a dev. It also helps the student
understand where a teacher or text book is coming from, by seeing how they
structure their lessons, and how they communicate those lessons. The intent
becomes transparent. Discrete mathematics taught me how to read text books in
an effective way. This accelerated my learning of every subject I've studied
since. For this reason, discrete mathematics should be taught easily and
simply in elementary school. We're already teaching programming in elementary
schools, so we're half way there already. Furthermore, the way discrete
mathematics is taught today is difficult. It doesn't have to be. Difficult
subjects can be made easy. The complexity of the subject is not an excuse to
not teach the topic to kids.
~~~
adonnjohn
Are you effectively saying the onus is now on pedagogy to determine the most
effective way to distill those concepts to earlier learners? Just trying to
understand where the actionable side of this starts coming into play.
~~~
taeric
Not the op, but I think it is unfair too say it is on one side.
That isn't right, either. I think it is worth exploring both sides. Surveys of
what interests people, as well as constant trying of methods seems sensible.
Somewhat inefficient, I suppose; but I feel efficiency is a trap. Often used
as a weapon against exploring.
That is too say, fairness is also a trap. As long as we have the resources to
go after methods, we should do so. Challenge people, but don't assume we know
the skills necessary to meet those challenges. Drop timeline requirements, and
just keep upping the challenges with smaller challenges along the way.
~~~
proverbialbunny
Efficiency is a local maxima.
| {
"pile_set_name": "HackerNews"
} |
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