skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
If you find a legitimate bug in SQL Server, you can open a support ticket, and Microsoft will fix it. Frequently these fixes will make it into the next service pack, or if they're severe, a Windows update. This is all at no (extra) cost to you.

In speed tests I've seen using ODBC be as much as 10x slower than npgsql in talking to PostgreSQL. I didn't look into why, and just used ADO.Net.
Before I get raked over the coals:

npgsql is great. It is up to 10x faster than the PostgreSQL ODBC driver for our workload. It has a few tiny issues that are irritating but not big problems, and I plan to fix them and submit patches when I have time.
I think it's pretty hard to remove nastiness from competition, since it's such an easy 'win.'

On a tangent, is competition necessary or even beneficial for progress? The world today seems to be founded on this idea, but things would be much different if people didn't believe competition was important. Competition makes products ego based, and I don't think ego based products are the best. People have to aim beyond themselves and the felt needs of others to make something truly excellent.
Hackers don't tolerate bad behavior. They avoid communities that accept mean people (unless they are also mean).

Paul probably only visits Reddit to read comments about something he's done. I left the chatroom #lisp because of the assholicism. (Leaving was an excellent decision. Everything about Lisp can be learned from CLHS, SICP, On Lisp, gigamonkeys.com/book, other books, and Google. It takes patience, but you'll learn far more than by asking someone.)

Communities are a source of power - if you've built a strong one, you can usually get rich. But they require huge amounts of time. Unless you're working toward a specific goal, it seems best to be a lone wolf (or part of a small team) and to operate without considering what everyone else has to say, or to offer you.

I learned to program almost exclusively by asking people and experimenting. It was a mistake to ask people how to do things. You can learn orders of magnitude faster by reading manuals and books than by trying to get someone to help you. Hacker culture isn't necessary, except to feel good about yourself, which isn't necessary. John Carmack knows so much because he spent most of his time in quiet isolation, meditating on problems, not hanging around communities.
If speed is the overriding concern, see if you can use Berkeley DB, which has ACID transactions and blows away all relational databases in speed. It sounds like your data model may be simple enough for it.

You should also consider a mix of both; you could use BDB as a kind of cache used for rapid delivery whereas, say, the relational database could be used for non-time-critical processing and storage or something.
I wonder, if you offset the losses of the Playstation 3 group at Sony with the gains of winning the format war, if Sony came out ahead after all.

And of course, for anyone who missed it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywWfmRdOmJ0
Excellent article. I've been reading your essays for well over a year now and am always impressed by your insights.
Obfuscated Python
I don't think I ever encountered a bug for which I'd be able to write a coherent support ticket. They tended to be horrendous mandelbugs that were difficult to reliably reproduce due to caching. If it were an open source project then I could have at least set some watchpoints and sent a useful backtrace, but with closed source, SOL.
If that's what you mean by market, there's no market for any programming language.
IPython for scientific computing: (PDF)
How does this mesh with "don't try to create trends, find and ride them"?

You mean Joe Kraus's advice? That's advice for making money at something before your funding runs out. If burn rate is a factor, you may not be able to survive a contemptuous initial reaction, even if you're right.
SICP, On Second Thought
I mostly agree with you. But I don't think it's a geek thing per se. Just look at the comments on political blogs. It's the same thing there.

It's the anonymity. Combined with a 95% male audience. If each reddit commenter had to sign with his full name, and his picture would be shown next to his comments, the tone would be quite different.
So the solution is easy: ignore one of the biggest markets in the world and then pretend like the remaining cultures all do things the same.

.NET's support for internationalization extends to things that vary by language and country (they aren't all the same), like names of the days of the week.
The question is, how much effort does it take to make your application pass such tests and how important is it that yours do so?

If you're making an application for filing income taxes in the US, say, I would argue only worrying about usability with ESL speakers and not worrying about how your program would work in Turkey or Japan or whatever.
For the past 2 years I've had great success through editing my hosts file, blocking me from seeing the sties that I tent to get addicted to. It was interesting (and scary) at first. For the first month I would still go to digg 6 times a day, subconciously even though I knew it was blocked.

Eventually it settled in that I couldn't go there, and I haven't wasted time on there since. Its a great feeling and I get way more done.

Editing the host file was a pain though, and was a cold-turkey cutoff. That's where the idea for 8aweek came. We want everyone to be able to control their bad habits, but in a nice feature rich app, and not some hack in your system's files.

Hope you try it out. Let us know if it worked for you and what would help.
I have already written off YC because of pg's postings on single founders. I don't agree with it but I can see his point a load shared is a load halved.

I have taken my own route and if it works out then I will go out of my way to help single founder companies. My only constraint would be they would have to be hackers.

I am 33 and married but don't have kids yet but I am running my own business to fund my time working on my other startup work.

I'd like to know out of the single founder applications which got funding were they all hackers?
Is it for a programming language startup to make money if you have a superior language? Say you have a programing language that is to Lisp as Lisp was to Fortran, how (if at all) can you make money from it?
Dating is a significant part of what Facebook is used for. They're definitely competitors.
Can you tell us about the perpetual motion machines type of pitches? seems like a great blog posting or something.

I bet its a bit like American Idol :p
InstantDomainSearch.com is great.
Bustaname.com is also very good for testing various keyword combinations.
Oh, from reading the essays I took it as a given that there was not a snowballs chance in hell you would accept single founders. Enlightening.
They're running a massive web app. That means they have all the usual stuff any site would need. I imagine it's mostly just a matter of adding enough servers to handle their growing load. They must do quite a bit of data crunching as well.

Their third party app infrastructure must be quite significant. They're proxying and processing huge amounts of traffic. Almost certainly doing it with a custom server app that's probably quite interesting technically.

A huge portion of that $150M must be going towards network infrastructure (where it's damned easy to spend millions) and datacenter space/power, etc.
Ok, I think I get it now if I look at the "Arc approach to language design" instead of "Arc in its present form". The problem isn't to come up with a better language, it's to set a good example of the better language production process and in doing so perhaps get a better language as a byproduct. Here are the morphisms I see:

a) Programs in "high level" languages can fail to be shorter than their lower-level equivalents. The simple solution: be merciless in keeping the important things short!

b) The overlooked problem in language design is high-level language brevity.

c) The "language design" problem that needs to be solved is... not sure about this one. I'm guessing it's the fact that the rate of change in the field is putting more programmers into the role of language designers at an increasing rate and anything that helps them avoid bad decisions based on ignorance is significant.

d) deliver informally as possible: when designing a new language, write enough to make the goals clear, address issues in a discussion group and put the code somewhere without sweating organizational details like setting up code repositories, bug tracking systems, regression frameworks, etc.

e) crude version 1: implement the minimal stuff using an existing system and don't worry about the fact that to the unaware it may seem just like a trivial program in that system.

f) iterate rapidly: don't get bogged down by things like release processes and backward compatibility. Just focus on getting feedback, experimenting, measuring and looking for improvements.
Maybe because moving an electric car takes slightly more energy than turning a drill bit. It's not really the same class of problem.
"Y2 Combinator is a new kind of firm: a company that starts companies that starts companies."

why don't people proofread shit?
>Such statistics are useful because they give people insight as to how likely they are to be accepted, and thus whether it's worth applying.

Correlation does not imply causation. Repeat with me: correlation does not imply causation
I think the key is the meaning of the word "distribute." I believe it is generally accepted that using MySQL in a web based application provided as a service doesn't constitute distribution (though there are some questions about situations when the app is hosted on servers operated by a 3rd party).
i didn't know about the i/I problem (question 3 on their test), that's really neat
Yes, I meant Joe Kraus's advice. It's interesting how I took it to mean something different than you did: a bad idea generally, not just if you don't have enough money for it.

I suppose you're right and I only found it general advice because it completely applies to my current state in life. Lots of people make that mistake: "this totally applies to me, it must be good advice generally"

After the first $10B, once I start working on a space elevator and robotic asteroid mining, I expect the luxury of a contemptuous initial reaction.
The only way I can think of would be to keep it secret and write applications in it.
Start with a open-source DB(can't go wrong with Postgre or mysql) -- if you start hitting a wall, start looking into specific database optimized for financial data like Kx(http://kx.com/)

Do you have any SLA/other constraints on how fast you have to deliver financial data?
Sometimes when confronted with adding more crap to someone else's crappy program, I just decide to rewrite it right. Probably more often than most others would recommend. My reasons? 1. In the long run, everyone will be better off. 2. If's not how quickly you get started; it's how quickly you get done. 3. I just don't feel like working on crap today (or any other day). 4. I want to write something I could be proud of.

Sometimes it just takes a rewrite in order to put yourself in a position of writing code you can be proud of.
PG on trolls
Does anyone know what's going to happen to people who try to return their HD DVD players?
Examining the charisma mandate
mysql on linux is better then its windows version. and the windows version I belive has a licensing cost. I guess they call it mysql-max and mysql-nt maybe this was the older versions..

if you are going with .net then your server I guess is a windows server so go with MS SQL..

I would not go with.NET Unless other things depended on it and there was gun pointed at my head :)
The number funded from each category has to be related to the numbers submitted from each category to make any meaningful comment on relative "hardness to get funding".
11 Things To Know About Semantic Web
Whether you're single or not, one of the nicest unmentioned benefits about yc is that you can "act as if" you're going to apply whether you do or not. Either way, you'll be way ahead.
That's not true. I'm learning Arc to use it to build my first web applications. I'm the sort of small company you mention about viaweb.
Machines 'to match man by 2029'
Looking for a co-founder? post here (3 rules apply)
Ok with all the cofounder finding going on. I thought i'd start a useful thread.

There are 3 rules

1. Put in your location in the comments
2. If there is someone in your local area looking for a cofounder meet them this weekend.
3. Not too much spiel - keep it fairly enigmatic

Three rules. Go forth and conquer..
Another way to keep signal to noise higher is to treat debates about languages the same as those about politics and religion. Maybe it's just best to agree to disagree.

I generally tend to avoid the "language war" threads for 3 reasons: 1. No one is really right or wrong. 2. Not much gets accomplished. and 3. It really doesn't make that much difference anyway.

Debates about favorite colors, on the other hand, should be strongly encouraged. Blue is definitely the best one.
Tenerife Skunkworks: Erlang FFI
I love your answer.
Like graffiti, trolling can be impressive when it's done especially well. My favorite troll of all time is the guy from comp.compression last August:

http://groups.google.com/group/comp.compression/browse_threa...

followed by the famous "Is Your Son a Computer Hacker?" troll from adequacy.org:

http://adequacy.org/public/stories/2001.12.2.42056.2147.html
It is scary how thin the startup layer really is
I actually just assumed the title was talking about mail services, in which case I can see some truth, though it is probably a corollary to the actual facts.

I think people who are more technologically-inclined are using Gmail. It offers a lot of obvious advantages to a power email user over Yahoo! Mail. I have also noticed that those who are technologically inclined are often slightly more affluent than those who are not, perhaps due to in-demand skillsets causing jumps in pay rates versus other jobs. So maybe the money is sort of a side effect of technological knowledge.

Just my .02.
you can use it all you want. Just don't distribute it. e.g you are prohibited to take it and make tweaks and release your own DB software...
Very small nitpick, but I think "It an old one, as old as forums" should be "It _is_ an old one, as old as forums".

Update: this has been corrected.
Speed I have found is more dependant upon the sql query you are using and once you have the data the method you use to display it. If you have highly optimized queries and you are using Array's or GetString (not sure what they call those in .net) then you will be in good shape.

For $42 from Amazon you can get the SQL Server 2005 developer version, which is the "enterprise" version, but just for development to get you started
http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-SQL-Server-Developer-2005/dp...

Personally, I am sticking with MSSQL 2000 because I know and already own it. You can get that on eBay for about $800.

I hate that I tend to get out of date on Microsoft stuff, I tend to stick with what I have and not experiment once something is working the way I want it. I did buy the MSSQL 2005 developer because the price is right, one day I will try it out.
Germs may help fight tumors -- which means an infection-free lifestyle comes at a price
While I agree with you that avoiding those discussions is a reasonable general policy, it's not the case that "no one is really right or wrong" in debates about computer languages, politics, or religion. There is a truth of the matter.

Your point that not much is accomplished by such discussions is definitely what usually happens. But it isn't what must happen. There are rational ways of discussing these subjects which can lead to knowledge creation and agreement.

The reason I'm posting is basically that I think people are a little too quick to give up, and if they tried to discuss seriously a bit more, they might find it sometimes works. Especially if they are careful to ignore the bad replies they get and only reply to the other people who are also taking the discussion seriously.
reminds me of the physicist who wrote a fake post-modernist paper and submitted it to a journal and got it published.
Okay, I'll start. I'm 24 and living in San Francisco. I'm a programmer but would like to find another technical person to work with. I have three ideas for a startup:

1. An easy software solution for multivariate testing web pages.
2. A bid management tool for PPC. I'm thinking something like www.efrontier.com, but for small and medium sized businesses.
3. Totally different from the top two, but I'm interested in a personalized (or well-balanced) news site. Findory would be the best comparison. Of course, it failed, so I am a little bit hesitant and I think relying on advertising as your only revenue source is very risky. If you're interested in the latest technology that could be used in this area, check out http://www.cs.utoronto.ca/~hinton/absps/sh.pdf

My email address is in my profile.
I need a person into writing copy. If you like to write articles, sales text, web page copy please let me know. Click on "gscott" to see what I am doing and where it is going.
it's not clear to me that nastiness is more common at hacker forums. a certain kind is. but i've seen much nastier stuff on parenting forums (which i've been to a lot).

on parenting forums, you don't find so many jerks. when people are mean, they tend to be a bit more subtle (or passive aggressive) about it. but they make it emotional and personal, and i think that does a more effective job of actually hurting anyone.
what city are you in?
it's not the case that "no one is really right or wrong" in debates about computer languages, politics, or religion. There is a truth of the matter.

Well, yes and no. There's only a truth to the matter if you can get people to agree on a premise. Two libertarians who adopt the same premises can have a meaningful debate with each other. They'll agree that there can only be one consistent position -- so if they disagree on what it is then one of them must be mistaken -- and set about trying to figure out which of them holds the fallacy. But if you pit a libertarian with the premise of self-ownership against a communist with the premise of "property is theft", nobody is going to accomplish anything because neither will view the other's argument as relevant.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_Affair
The "Commie Day Care" Adequacy troll was far superior, imho. And it was all much better when it was at k5.
I think news.yc has a 5th troll behavior and it's down modding a comment because they disagree with it. I have been down modded a number of times not for saying something rude or stupid just something that others don't agree with.

I tend to down mod rude and aggressive people on here and I also up mod people who I think have been down modded unfairly.

I am not sure if I am alone with my way of thinking.
San Diego, California.
My experience on forums is that -size matters-. A pond with ten fish gets far less trollers than a pond with ten thousand.

As for solutions: there have to be consequences. Either losing the ability to post or losing the ability to have your posts seen. Certainly banning accounts is an option, but then you have to fight with the crapflood, if and when it comes.
He was doing more than trolling though. That was an experiment to show how low their filters were set.
Who is this guy and what authority does he have to write about these topics? I haven't read the essay, but there's no way anything so short and written in such an informal style could have anything useful to say about such and such topic, when people with degrees in the subject have already written many thick books about it.
Funny...
Where can I get a degree in trolling?
We shouldn't down mod things we disagree with?
My email address is in my profile.

The email address in your profile is only visible to you and the YC management.
> our society really doesn't have an appropriate way to deal with the situation

They used to all be committed in mental institutions. The laws changed and now they're out on the street. Pick your poison: government power to lock non-criminals up and force treatment, or free crazies wandering the streets and hurting themselves.
Ahhh well now I feel stupid. My email address is npomara at gmail
About what size was reddit (in uniques) before it jumped the shark?
John Cleese’s “Letter to America”
8aweek works much in the same way, but is its own FF extension to allow for some extra features and ease of install that you can't get through greasemonkey.
I'm in the Los Angeles area. Mainly looking for an interface graphics designer, but anyone else could be interesting. Doing work in Seaside. phil at dizm.com
I guess it's a matter of pertinence. Comments supporting a constructive conversation should be uppmodded (which does not mean it's comments you agree with). Or comments you want others to pay attention to (diluting uninteresting ones by extension).

Like in this thread, we can note the irony (and worshiping) of the community, with the top comment (11 points so far) done by anewaccountname, deliberately taking a piss out of PG's essay.
I'd try Hampshire College, UC Santa Cruz, or the New School.
There's only a truth to the matter if you can get people to agree on a premise. Two libertarians who adopt the same premises can have a meaningful debate

This is the myth of the framework. See Popper's book by that name:

http://www.amazon.com/Myth-Framework-Defence-Science-Rationa...

Besides the issue of whether productive debate is possible across frameworks, there is also your (possibly accidental) assertion that what premises people believe affects what statements about reality are true (beyond statements about who believes what). That's solipsism.
For $44 billion, Microsoft could buy every Silicon Valley and Silicon Alley venture-backed start-up in existence. That includes Facebook at $15 billion. It includes Slide, RockYou, and every other elemental company. It would be a Moe Green kind of scene like at the end of the Godfather when Michael Corleone takes out all the heads of the five families. It would turn Microsoft's Internet business around overnight. It would be the ultimate coup.

That is indeed the scariest thing that I have read this year.
"Hackers can be abrupt even in person. Put them on an anonymous forum, and the problem gets worse."

I am sure everyone on this forum is on some kind of social network. If we can get every user's handle to link to their flavor-du-jour social network's public profile, verify via email -- that should at least cut down on some of the noise.

PG: What do you think?
Actually, there's no way a comment like anewaccountname's would get upmodded to that extent were it not a verbatim reference to pg's previous article.

The fact that people here upmod/downmod based on whether they agree rather than whether it's insightful really bothers me. I think it's the wrong incentive structure.
You should refute mistaken ideas with better ideas.

If you want to downmod, it's no big deal. But there seems to be some proportion of the audience that feels vindicated in their views just because the opposite view was downmodded. Downmodding does not make opposing positions less legitimate.

These people seem to be different than the ones who write replies. I've had multiple lengthy threads where I hardly get any mods either way while discussing, and then when I wake up the next day I have -20 karma, but no new replies.
I think it's ok to use the up and down arrows to express agreement. Obviously the uparrows aren't only for applauding politeness, so it seems reasonable that the downarrows aren't only for booing rudeness.

It only becomes abuse when people resort to karma bombing: downvoting a lot of comments by one user without reading them in order to subtract maximum karma. Fortunately we now have several levels of software to protect against that.