skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"an author should be careful to frame his arguments in a way that minimizes the danger from misinterpretation"

I find this takes more effort than any other part of writing. There is a point where this doesn't necessarily make the text better because it becomes less succinct since the author must clarify against every possible non-charitable interpretation.
I wonder how hard it would be to get a web browser to recognize and block these attacks. Are the patterns very formulaic?
The (not so) hidden goals of Prism, AIR and Silverlight
Where does a wannabe hacker begin?
Prior to coming across Paul's essays I had relegated myself to never being able to have a start up. I'm an Economics major in college right now, and I suppose I assumed a tech start up was for the comp sci guys.

Reading Paul's essays along with some other stuff -- like the fact that two of the founders of Auctomatic didn't know how to hack prior to starting it -- has been pretty empowering. In one of Paul's essays he mentioned that someone who's smart could probably pick up hacking within about 6 months to a year, which was definitely much shorter than I imagined.

All of it has really piqued my curiosity. I have some free time over the summer and I thought there's probably no better time to learn something new, but I can't even figure out where to begin!

So I come to you, the hackers of YC News! If you were completely new to programming and you hoped to some day try your hand at a web start up, what route would you take? What language would you learn? How would you learn it? If there's anything else you think is noteworthy, I'd be extremely grateful if you could share it!
I was hoping that wasn't going to be as despicable as the title sounded. That's really upsetting.
There is a standard gadget, the Harding FPA Machine, to check television adverts for likelihood of triggering epilepsy. Apparently, it wasn't used to check London 2012 Olympic publicity material ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2007/06/05/2012... ).
Every athlete doesn't have access to this technology. When it comes to the Olympics, some countries have contractual obligations to other manufacturers.

When I read this sentence, my brain instinctively filled in the voice of The Simpsons' Nelson Muntz: Ha ha!
Why should it be justified at all? I feel like you're coming to logical conclusions based on all the wrong questions. ;-)

Edit: Oh, and if you're actually interested in wasting some time on a little literature you might enjoy some Alain de Botton; he's a logical ninny that's written some good stuff on relationships in a weird way of combining a novel with light philosophy. On Love is probably better than The Romantic Movement; though the latter paints a prettier picture of romance.
That's in part because Leopard's built in firewall is awful. I realize that was not the reason it was beaten so easily here (Safari was to blame in this case), however it seems like a good time to say this: I have no idea why Apple switched away from using iptables, a host based firewall that has been tried and tested for almost 20 years, to using a brand new, closed source, black box firewall.
Where to find great ideas and arresting images (for free)
Yea, me too. I mean, while I'm not part of the hacker culture, I always understood the point of it was more for recognition than actually hurting anyone. This very much goes against that.
submarine alarm
For a public company the goal (by law) is to maximize profit per share. I think Microsoft should split itself up. Most of its businesses outside of Windows and Office lose money, and there is little overlap between an operating system and an internet advertising network.

For a YC company the goal is whatever the founders want. Personally, I'd want to maximize growth, but in a capital efficient way. Slower growth from bootstrapping can often make founders more money than fast growth from VC dollars.
I wonder if the target should be 100 million $ in revenue, or 1 billion $?

Sorry - puzzled about the questions people ask themselves at times...
I think putting together a startup and becoming a hacker are completely different things.

A hacker is someone who likes to play with the world around them. I don't even know if it's possible to become a hacker. If you've never been inclined to take apart your VCR or walkman then I'm not sure if hacking is for you.

If you just want to start something up, learn PHP and MySQL. It's easy and can run on just about any hosting account. Actually depending on what you're looking to do, a CMS like Drupal could work if your startup was just a news and review site or something.
Your first challenge: take a generic PC (or a Mac, for that matter). Install Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. Get Wordpress running and put up a simple blog. Make a post or two. Smile.

Bonus points for using Drupal instead of Wordpress.

You might prefer to do this exercise using a webhost like Slicehost. They'll hand you a VPS for $20 a month. The advantage here is that, when you're done, you'll have a public website instead of just a local PC that nobody can visit.

Read up on basic security and set up a firewall on your web server. Read up on DNS and get that working. Get a mail provider, like gmail, and wire up your new domain's email.

This exercise is actually really easy, nowadays. But it's a start. It will teach you a bunch of fundamentals, like how to use Google to solve all your problems ;). You will learn how much you enjoy tinkering with web technologies. And, for the purposes of many, many profitable online businesses, you'll be almost done. :)

----

When it comes to actually learning programming: Try Ruby or Python. Although I still never find time to use it, I will once again plug Hackety Hack at hacketyhack.net. Consider learning Rails by using Heroku: http://heroku.com/ .

If you want to impress folks around here with your earnestness, read SICP. Just Google "SICP". You can even find free online lectures from the MIT class that SICP is for. If you read it, you'll know Lisp, and you'll be well launched on your career of bluffing your way through computer science. As an economist, you might be enough of a math guy that you'll fall in love with Lisp. It does happen.

Oh, and two key words: emacs. git. Buy and read Learning emacs; it's worth it. And learn about version control -- I do recommend git, but it's still kind of confusing to learn, despite the best efforts of the Peepcode screencast guy and Randal Schwartz. You may find better intro material for Subversion: google for "svn book".
Once you start coding, start sitting in on some CS classes at your college to get some fundamentals down.

Data Structures (bonus points if it's in a functional language), Algorithms, Systems, and Architecture are all a must.
As well as having a hierarchy of disagreement it seems to me useful to have a categorisation of statements (both in original essays, and disagreements with those essays). Such a categorisation might include:

* [1] statements of how the world is. These are statements that can in principle be tested by experiment. e.g. "broken glass is good to eat"

* [2] statements of how one would like the world to be. These obviously can't be tested. e.g. "Everyone should like cats."

* [3] definitions of terms. Where people describe how they are defining a term they'll b e using for the rest of the essay.

It seems to me that with poorly-written arguments, it's often hard to decipher which category a particular statement belongs to; and i suspect in many cases the writer doesn't know either.
One of the best resources for getting a practical handle on electronics is the ARRL Handbook. They've released a version every year for many years now.

http://www.arrl.org/catalog/?item=no-hb2008

By the way, The Art Of Electronics has a pretty nice lab manual that goes with it....
WordPress 2.5 is here.
Entrepreneurial Hunger
Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'm pretty sure I have an old Dell laptop laying around somewhere, so I'll have to give that first recommendation a shot this weekend!
Raganwald:  The only workable system for generating interesting, cool, and relevant software
The article doesn't claim that billionaires were "sitting around thinking about ways to get money into the hands of poor black guys was hardly one of them."

It claims that changes to the law, promoted by ACORN, made it legal to write bad loans.

A quick look at Wikipedia suggests that this might be the case:

>The [1995] revisions [to the Community Reinvestment Act] allowed the securitization of CRA loans containing subprime mortgages. The first public securitization of CRA loans started in 1997

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Reinvestment_Act#Chan...

NY Post or not, it appears correct. I also recommend reading this article (for a different reason):

http://www.paulgraham.com/disagree.html
Great advice, thanks. I'll have to see what my school's policy is on that.
If you're serious about getting into this, consider obtaining a scope - even a cheap used one. Reading about various waveforms is one thing, but seeing the output of your circuit at various nodes can help build intuition.
The word "mean", has contradictory means: "the more mean [a person is], the less means [it provides]".
This creates a new type of contradiction: language disagreement; with the easiest solution translation in a second language.

English is an awful language; Paul, I would prefer to read you in Latin or Greek.
Turn Your Lights Off, Google Needs Extra Power Today
" A comment like The author is a self-important dilettante.
is really nothing more than a pretentious version of "u r a fag."

Well, such a comment is only " a pretension version " if it is not true... and in fact becomes trenchant if, in fact, the respondent IS a self-important dilettante. Which would have bearing on whether or not to engage the person at all... I would not disagree with a person because I thought them a faq, mainly because I don't think a faq is either a bad thing or a thing relevant to many issues I would normally discuss. I would most likely not engage with someone if I thought they were a self-important dilettante, because I DO think that both self-importance and dilettantism is bad. Or, at least, I would say to them, "I think you are a self-important dilettante and I don't have hopes that the conversation will be either enlightening or productive. If we are to engage, you have to rise above your self importance."

Of course, the accusation of dilettantism might be as baseless and rude as that of 'u r a faq' and likewise deserving of scorn. But not always and dismissing it with equal scorn in every instance may be a way of avoiding scrutinizing your own sense of importance and the meaning of dilettantism.

Graham also elides a whole cateqory of 'disagreement' with the implicit assumption that everybody has something worthwhile to say and is therefor deserving of being engaged. "u r a fag" is neither agreement nor disagreement, but simple bad manners. "You are a self-important dilettante" might be a necessary thing to say, especially if the dilettante in question may be in possession of a good brain and otherwise discerning intellect (say on matters not bearing on his/her self-importance...) Intellectual endeavor is approached at with different skill sets, attitudes and skin thickness...
I feel vaguely guilty when I read fiction, as if I'm wasting my time playing videogames or watching TV. It's gotten to the point where I can't really enjoy novels anymore. I still occasionally read trashy non-fiction though; today I've been reading To Cork Or Not To Cork by George Taber. I wonder what this says about my future relationship prospects.
Why use lisp/scheme/arc rather than c# and Visual Studio on Windows?
I was hoping someone could point me in the right direction as to the reasons for using lisp/scheme/arc rather than c#/ASP.NET in a Windows environment. I may need to be able to integrate with .NET or COM components and to access SQL Server databases. I also have requirements to create Windows Services (daemons).
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
Some time ago I tried to create a discussion forum software which embodied this kind of classification. Users could write what they liked (including trolling and name-calling) but all responses had to be given a"type" which readers could use to sort and filter the threads. "Moderation" was only through type-changing (ie. the supervisor could reclassify a reply from "counter-argument" to "name-calling" meaning that it would probably get filtered, but not delete it entirely)

The software didn't really make it, but there's some interesting discussion here : http://www.nooranch.com/synaesmedia/wiki/wiki.cgi?TypedThrea...
Fail our way to success
Failure is a teacher; it prepares us to succeed. Not go out there and purposely fail, but don't be afraid of it. Ones who don't fail at something or at somepoint in his/her life, usually don't succeed at anything in his/her life. We fail when we give up. We should fail until we succeed; fail our way to success.
Is there anyone here who fail at something in his/her lifetime? What was it? What was the lesson learned?
That's one thing (of many) that metafilter got right.
Natali Del Conte From CNET Teaches Us How To Rip Off Video Game Merchants
No doubt. I wish I had him as a science teacher.

My grade 8 science teacher didn't know the difference between microwaves and radioactivity (true story).
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AFAIK "Hacking" is the creative implementation of any technology to do something it wasn't designed to do.

Cracking and griefing regrettably fall under that umbrella as well, as do physical assaults perpetrated with technology.
Revolution OS (Linux documentary) [flash movie]
very nice and clean UI.
This raises another question: how long are we going to fight the losing battle of reclaiming the word "hacker" from its current shady connotation? After reading news like this, I would be really ashamed to call myself a "hacker".

Note that I am making a purely linguistic point here. The popular culture has pretty well defined the word already .... think about explaining to your non-technical friend that you were reading about the epilepsy episode in Hacker News!

This reminds me of another word, "liberal", which in America means someone who advocates what would be classically considered illiberal economics (government intervention in the economy, protectionism and so on). The Economist still refuses to accept the American hijacking of a fine word, but somehow I don't believe a Ron Paul would ever want to be called a "liberal", which he actually is in the classical sense.

As a counter-example, J.K. Rowling seems to have bestowed a different meaning to the word "witch", equating it with "wizard". And then I realize PG was originally a Brit, so may be the Brits can "take English back" :-)
If you have to integrate with all that Windows stuff, you may be better off using Windows-native tools. On the other hand, that doesn't mean you have to use C#.

You might want to look into IronPython or IronScheme. You can use all the .Net libraries and Windows tools that let you integrate with all your checklist items cleanly, but you can use it from a more powerful dynamic language.
It requires -- dare I say it? -- humanity.
The style of argument you call "Ad Hominem" should really be called "Attacking the author's credibility". The original meaning of ad hominem was not attaching the author but rather appealing to the readers emotions rather than logic. Hence, "think of all the children who will starve due to biofuels", which contains the embedded assumption that biofuels will cause starvation but does not support that argument. In most cases attacks on the author's credibility are useful and valid, since the reader will tend to rely on evidence as presented. In addition, the motivation of the author is relevant since most people decide their position on an issue and then seek supporting evidence rather than surveying all of the evidence before making up their minds.
Desire2Learn is the company that's been fighting to have Blackboard's patents invalidated, and they are maintaining a list of all legal documents pertaining to the case here:

http://www.desire2learn.com/patent/files.html

If you don't mind wading through scanned legal paperwork, I'm sure the patents in question are specified somewhere in there.
On a related note, I recently ported a Python script to Ruby and found that the Ruby 1.9.0 interpreter ran the script about 20 times faster than the 1.8.6 interpreter (though it was still about 10% slower when compared to Python).

Matz and the Ruby team are doing good work on Ruby. Too bad Rails doesn't run on 1.9.0 yet (something about waiting for changes to Mongrel).
Definition of creative (ditionary.com):

>1. having the quality or power of creating.
>2. resulting from originality of thought, expression, etc.; imaginative: creative writing.
>3. originative; productive (usually fol. by of).

Adding blinking gifs to a homepage does not create anything, it does not result from any originality of thought nor is is productive so I would argue that it is not hacking.
That does not imply they are more valuable; rather, it is human nature to respond to a statement that you feel you can "correct". It is an ego boost, if nothing else.

To me, cooperative, exploratory statements are the most valuable.

"That is a interesting opinion, I've never heard that perspective. But what about case xyz, have you considered that."

In that context, it is much easier to build up interesting information trees, rather than simply staying stuck on one (often minor or irrelevant) node.
What I've learned is that revenue and growth are in some ways meaningless. For example you can have a billion in revenue, but if your costs are greater, you are moving backwards. Incredible growth is not helpful if you don't make money from it.

It is net profit that counts for a business.
AST compilation from Python
I was not dissing your essay, just giving more information. I agree with you that most intellectual dishonesty is unintentional, and that knowing these things is important in avoding them. I was just pointing that there are other sources to draw upon, as this subject is timeless. But your essay is a much easier read than Aristotle's treatise. :-)
Experimental procedures are less regulated than standard practices. "Kurzweil and Grossman justify it not so much with scientific citations — though they have a few — but with a tinkerer's shrug. 'Life is not a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study,' Grossman explains. 'We don't have that luxury. We are operating with incomplete information. The best we can do is experiment with ourselves.'"
Videos About Open Source and Free Software
Why all the down votes, I was simply implying that if your wife isn't also your girl friend it is a sad place to be.
You say "The original meaning of ad hominem was not attaching the author but rather appealing to the readers emotions rather than logic."

I don't think you're right here; "Ad hominem" in Latin means "to the man", implying attacking the original author.
New Open Source Business Model Using Software Patents
If you are using the mouse to copy and paste then this tool is not for you. Seriously, learn some shortcuts :)

This is the second version of the site and I added lots of new features, so let me know what you think.

Here is the list of new features:

- feeds everywhere e.g. search for visual studio and subscribe to that feed to get all newly submitted shortcuts with that search term

- user voting (digg like), so vote to make sure only the good shortcuts make it

- best and latest shortcuts (and feeds)

- top 10 search queries

- much better UI and UX (I think)

More features coming soon:

- user registration

- favorites

- printer friendly

- and whatever you guys suggest.

Thanks.
Just because some TV, video games, novels, etc, are not worthwhile doesn't mean you should be averse to rich media in general. The format is good, and good things can be put in it.
I definitely agree with your first exercise. It would give some kind of confidence and any newbie would feel at home to web apps. Reading SICP/git; add to that Data structure CS stuff is not at all mandatory to become hacker. Thats the "school" way or maybe it worked for some people. My gut feeling is you need to work on some part of your app every day. It would lead to html/css/JS and then get/post basics and common boilerplate routines for them in java/python/ruby etc.Unless until someone starts real programming; reading books wont do any good. Stumble across problem; Google; download sample solution..make it work on pc; figure out how it worked; tinker; customize and keep logs in your work journal. It would motivate you on some down day.
At least I feel happy when I solve problem this way. There are "Big problems to solve" but maybe I have to learn about "small and smart problems which people have already solved" first. And as newton said "I could see farther because I am sitting on shoulder of giants"...something like that.

Once it becomes part of thinking process then you would automatically go to books to figure out what you need at this point of time. So becoming a hacker is not a goal; goal is to get that attitude deeply imbibed in everything you do with problems.

disclaimer: I am just at the bottom of the pyramid actually. But whenever I get to know things about programmers; I find all I wrote above.

P.S. get "Just for Fun- Revolutionary story birth of Linux operating systems". You can read some good accounts of hacking there. It was all about tinkering around and fixing.
I agree on the black swan analogy. I think you have to be careful of survivorship bias, reasoning backward from a handful of highly successful survivors. Among the startups we see at the Bootstrapper Breakfasts very few are able to prospect for oil and find uranium in their backyard. The ones with a simple plan to build a compelling product, at a price, for a particular set of customers at least have something to tinker with when they start to miss their own expectations.
Oh I wasn't worried about you getting it.

It was just that when I checked back in on this about half an hour later it had already been downmodded, and that just seemed really ironic to me. Glad someone is out there stomping DH3... I would be.
i don't want to discourage you because any technical learning will help you in the future - but just in case if you find this things very technical or boring or not interested then don't get disappointed (and dont give-up either) because u can still become a webpreneur - a startup is about many things and not only hacking, its about building a business from scratch it requires skills, knowledge, experience of sales, marketing, finance, HR, market research, project management etc.

Also if you have terrific idea then u dont have to wait to learn those technical skills rather you start looking for hacker co-founder or hire a hacker or outsource it to a freelancer - this is because there might be someone who has the same idea and is planning a startup, so u better keep balance between speed, gaining knowledge and time spent on learning hacking ONLY.
I admit it. I read the Character of Physical Law just to pick up chicks.
yep, flickr is a great resource for amazing images, have been using it for my blogs for some time and always find something good. beats paying hundreds per month for lame ass stock photos that scream STOCK
Heh, I actually an "Atlas Shrugged" experience - I knew a pretty girl and after adding her on facebook I noticed the book was at the top of her favourites. That really did change the way I thought of her.

But more generally, I can't make my mind up one way or another about this. I've seen the kind of relationship the last part of the article talks about - very long term, very stable with interests like books, movies, music etc being completely irrelevant - so that makes me think its quite right. At the same time, there's gotta be some baseline - how can a music lover go out with someone that thinks highly of (say) Paris Hilton's music? Or a normal person with a objectivist? ;)