skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I've been doing 3D and film/video at the time on SGIs. While true that CPUs gained in performance on other platforms, IRIX machines were 64-bit, had great 3D accelerators (OpenGL was SGI's in fact) and - most importantly - they had bus bandwidth which was very important for large amount of data image processing required. Also, proprietary I/O was available for video and film which was only starting to come out for PCs (FAST and TARGA cards were getting cheap). It's all funny considering there was a void in the market. SGI (and discreet for video and A|W and Softimage for 3D) was great, if you could afford it, for high end broadcast and film and PC was nearly usable for video, but not for film still. Mac was great for video editing, but not for 3D... etc. Amiga was great for everything for video (not film), but it was, at that point, dead for several years.
Something about that is incredibly interesting to me. And for some reason it makes me sad:

You cannot fully understand even a city. It takes too much time -- as soon as you understand one piece, the other pieces have changed.

Cities are small, in the grand scheme of things. When it comes to larger things-- states, nations, planets, there's no way you could ever fully understand them. All you can get is a tiny, ephemeral snapshot, stuck in time.

It's humbling to think about, and I don't really know why it makes me sad.
Help for the Way We Work Now
That's exactly what I got from that.
Please do not use that phrase...
http://regex.info/blog/2006-09-15/247

EDIT: I take that back, you're actually using it in its original context :)
While I agree that it is unreasonable to expect someone to deeply understand the current state of all of these technologies/problems, an actual "full stack engineer" needs only to be able to learn very quickly about these problems and, ultimately, make things work.
16 hours daily usage?! Whoa nelly, that's a lot of TV watching! I suspect a lot of people on here (like me) watch less than one hour a day. The US national average is five hours, which is still startlingly high, but doesn't get you close to 16 hours per day even with multiple people in a household (as their viewing times will tend to overlap).

I suspect that stand-by power usage may be more important than active power usage for such a device. And I don't know how Roku fares for that, nor its alternatives.
Agreed - I always thought it meant you had a solid understanding of both the front and back end stacks, and could work in both comfortably.
I didn't know that. Perhaps I should be more explicit on my resume about Ops and UI/UX experience?
Look at the website- all the content is there, just in multiple PDF files.

In the spirit of supporting an open textbook effort, I ponied up $10 for the 'combined' PDF that has some other little niceties.
Agreed. I've never encountered an employer aiming to find a developer who can handle RAID.
I'm not sure I buy the reasoning on "surface area", at least not the specific comparisons in the article. It seems unfair to count Chrome but not Unix. For that matter, shouldn't we count the surface area of everything that touches the email as it hops around, including routers, etc? And isn't that the whole problem with email that the protocol does not require secure transport? So, seems like the only way to make that even vaguely secure is to use PGP (or something) on top, in which case who cares about mutt...
Gordon Welchman
Mostly curiosity. For instance, I'd like to know what percentage Neanderthal DNA I have.

Plus, if I am at a significant risk of certain diseases, I'd like to know. I just don't want anyone else to know.
In my experience when a job description is posted requiring a "full stack developer", they mean someone who can do some UI, business logic, and DB coding.

It doesn't mean they're looking for someone who is an expert in every aspect, or has skill sets in all 18 tiers that are listed in the article.

So yes the definition of "full stack developer" that this article uses means that there are exceedingly few full stack developers. But the definition implied by most job postings I see are a lot more reasonable than this article.
Modula-3 was a required course at Cambridge, including for postgrad (which I did). I _hated_ it, and so did most of the others on the course.

It did structural polymorphism well before Go, but did the whole thing through a 32-bit hash. This meant you could (quite easily) structure a type that was castable to Int, String, anything you wanted...

And OMG the ridiculously verbose syntax.
I use Alpine instead; tried mutt first, but found it abstruse to set up.
I tend to hire people for what they will do, not for what they have done. AFAIK, full stack means someone who will be able to work at all levels of our stack to deliver something that works on top of the surface (eg. UI) or edges (eg. API) of the stack.
This is cool. This person did something similar on a bike:
http://rideallofsf.tumblr.com/
(go back a page or so, the project finished a while ago and it has since devolved into Strava drawings)
Abortion foes target UW in a battle that could dramatically affect research
Some people are generalists, others specialists. I dont think either fully appreciates the other as much as they should.

Companies that get it right in my opinion find room for both, however in my experience the larger the company the less likely you are to see full stack developers or generalists due to the pressures of organisational structures and high level ownership.
This is the author's last line:

Temporarily, though, I can say this: If you live in San Francisco, I've walked by your house.

Dunno if it's just me, but that idea struck me as hilarious.

I'd like to think the author has wrestled with the valid points you've mentioned, and has concluded that the only thing you can do about the inevitable march of time is to laugh in its face :)
Any recommendation for Standard ML ?
I still use mutt (and default to text), but I don't see anyone else doing this, even in my geek coworkers or friends. So I'm a bit surprised by this article.

I use mutt because it's very very fast, and quite customizable (I maintain a kind of 0-inbox through a set of hotkeys, + spamassin + procmail). To handle numerous mailing-lists with medium volume, it's so far the best I've seen.

I tried many email clients (on Windows, OSX and Linux), but I always come back to mutt, because it's the fastest to handle the high-volume of email I have...
Lol, Excellent point.

I was going to say, although full stack is pretty loose, it isn't that loose.

Full stack means you can touch front end code, backend code, and you can design a table or two or dump a few things into a NoSql Db for persistance. That's hard but it's not impossible at all.
Well, this book certainly looks like it deserves a donation — I just don't like when people use the term "buy" when they offer the same item for free.
Towards universal event analytics – building an event grammar (2013)
How fantasy sports are helping kids learn
Why Are Tech Companies *Really* Looking for Heads of Diversity?
I recently changed jobs. I've been "Full Stack" since I began and was "Full Stack" at my previous job and am "Full Stack" at my new job. But the author is spot on that "Full Stack" has meant different things at each of those jobs. At first, it was VCS+JavaScript/PHP/HTML/CSS. Then, Jenkins deployments+Apache server configuration+Bootstrap+Foundation+Laravel were tagged on. Now, it includes Nginx+Mongo+RabbitMQ+Elasticsearch. But I don't know that I agree that it's as meaningless as "Ninja". I think of it more along the lines of "here's our stack, we need someone who can tinker with any element within it"
My definition of a full stack developer is someone who is able to build and deploy a complete working application with no-one else's help. That means they can write the back end, the front end and configure the servers and of course design the database tables.

That said, as a recruiter I'm seeing employers now who really won't consider candidates unless they are expert front end and back end developers. That's a pity as I'm not convinced that's useful where there are three or more members of a team building a web application. Browser development alone is easily enough to occupy all the available work time of a single developer.
I'd be very surprised if the standard IoT ecosystem that ultimately wins out doesn't use standard 110 V lines already in the walls for power and WiFi for data. Realistically I am not seeing it being worth it for the average person to spend many thousands of dollars to rewire their entire homes when the alternative is to simply get much cheaper devices that use the wireless network you already have and plug into the wiring and outlets you already have.
The important part is what you parenthetically dismiss (in volume).

I know they've been around in volume for years, but most of the stuff I build doesn't come close to triggering that kind of volume. Therefore, the guy who wants me to send data from his forklifts to a central server in the warehouse can get it done at a cost he can more easily stomach when the hardware cost is under $20 as opposed to being around $100.

Price matters!
Not disagreeing with the premise (far from it) but how on earth can you be simultaneously completely sure about this and claim it is also something that is largely unknowable ('so deeply important in a way we still can only guess at')?
Hi, I'm a full stack developer, I can tick every box on that list, and I've been programming since I was 7, not 12 :). All this stuff can be mastered given enough time, effort and by choosing projects which broaden your technical horizons.

Coincidentally available for contract work right now...
i think thats is the best thing can happen as i would never get such kind of VCs or especially angels money.would love to hear real stroies, any links? i think it is almost equal to you love someone and getting no with no explanation.
I'm a full stack developer. Although not an expert in all areas, I'm efficient and productive in almost all of the areas listed.

Then again, I'm creeping on 40 and thus, slowly getting fewer and fewer recruiter calls. This is definitely an industry that prioritizes youth (i.e. low expense) over execution, experience, skills, and breadth of knowledge.

But, also, I'm probably only in the top 10% (sampling over the over 200 developers that I've worked with). And, I've worked with a few exceptional people who would destroy me, in overall comparison.
I think I've seen something like this before...
While smart devices are inchoate at present, and likely to be difficult to get right (I see why you're not interested right now), I think it's a mistake to dismiss the concept based on current tech.

Long term probably most of the devices/materials we own will be networked in some way, acting as sensors, reacting to local conditions by changing, updatable with software. That's all a bit fuzzy, but specifically things like heated floors and lighting which sense presence, windows which react to lighting conditions or insolation requirements, voice controls, panels which turn into display surfaces or speakers and a desk which could charge and update objects wirelessly when placed on it would all be very useful and far more powerful if driven by software which was updatable. Software will eat the world, one object/material at a time.

I don't know if the revolution will be in one OS which runs your home (though corporations would love to sell you that), it might be more in our tools, clothes and structures gradually becoming networked and part of a global computer. Specific operating systems seem to me to be declining in importance as the network grows and a constellation of devices which talk to each other arises. There are of course potential downsides like security and privacy but I think those will be outweighed by the obvious benefits.

Do we need any of this? No, and our ancestors lived without it. Will we want any of it? Probably, if on balance it improves our quality of life.
Royal Navy Could Have Unmanned, 3D-Printed Surface Ships by 2030
Biometric monitoring for at-risk individuals is patently not silly. As a percentage, more babies are at-risk than young adults.
Maybe not, but I've seen developers who fail to fully understand RAID make infrastructure decisions that lead to data loss.
If you can design 1) the database schema, and 2) the application's frontend (either web or native app), you're essentially a full-stack developer. What's left are the operational details increasingly handled by service providers (like AWS).
The White House report on excessive occupational licensing [pdf]
It's like astronomy: you can look up and see it all at once, but what you see "now" is the just-arriving view of what happened minutes or billions of years ago. Getting a grasp on what constitutes "now" can be rather distressing when you really think about it.
Gcc and make? Server management? Interesting.

Anyway, I could never understand the meaning of this new buzzword. Can anyone explain what does a "full stack" developer mean? Is it something from the web world?
Sorry, but the writing style just grates on me.

"It was nuts. Totally obsessive-compulsive. Call it an exercise in eccentricity or futility, and you'd probably be right."

How is that humble? A good writer would tell the story and let the reader decide how crazy and eccentric he is.

There are a million ways to write about personal experiences without using "I" every other sentence and bragging about how great you are.

I probably shouldn't have even said anything.
KNX can be used over wifi, it is both a protocol and a wiring standard. Many KNX devices are not wifi-enabled however, which means you still have to use some wiring to connect things. I agree KNX is not good enough, even if it's the only home automation standard worth anything. The biggest problem however is not the wiring, which is preferable to wifi due to the reliable connectivity, but the consortium-made KNX ETS software. You use that software to change the configuration of your devices, it has no alternatives, and it is absolutely horrible.

Anyway, if all those IoT smart home vendors would just implement KNX support, and a group of open source developers would get together to build some proper management software to replace ETS, it would stand a chance. It at least has the benefit of being an ISO standard and having lots of device choice in the market.
> I would recommend it to anyone looking for a free Intro to OS resource.

Can you say how it compares to Tanenbaum's 'Modern Operating Systems'?
The emergence of the physical world from information processing [pdf]
Naturalistic fallacy. Humans are also "born to lie" and "born to kill", but societies create structure and limits.

So too should we strive limit bullshit.
Aren't you just describing a game with a discouraging action rather than an encouraging one?
I'm a full stack developer. I exist, and you can hire me for $800 a day if you want.

I've always used the term to mean that I'm comfortable on the back and front end of things, and that I have a wide range of experience that means I'm familiar with most of the technology you're likely to use. It also means that I can build an deploy an application from the ground up, alone if necessary.

A full stack developer is just a generalist. A good one is super useful if you only have a few employees, or if you're building a new project.

At some point, you reach the level where you need dedicated specialists, and at that point a generalist can often transition to a management role.

I don't think I'm alone in this--I can't do this stuff because I started coding at 12, or because I was born a genius. I learned it by bootstrapping a startup--doing everything myself from designing hardware, to web development, to handling customers.
“True” full stack developers exist, but so do geniuses and people who have been coding since they were 12.

Exactly. There's no need for the headline bait. Neither full stack developers, nor geniuses, nor 12-year-olds who can program are mythical. They're just uncommon. No news there. If you think your project needs one of the former, you can find one. I'm sure we all know or work with people in all of the above three "mythical" categories.
You said SF, not Silicon Valley.

Degree is not relevant, no one in SV cares. There are plenty of people that don't have college degrees that have very good jobs. All that matters is your skill and competence.

You are in an awkward position. You know Javascript, but you don't know front end. There aren't very many purely backend positions that require only Javascript/Node. They probably expect a complete fullstack knowledge, so not knowing front end will hurt you, and not knowing a more back-end language like Python, Java, etc will also hurt you.

Keep interviewing, but learn a new language, like Python or Java, and try to get some experience in it, through open source projects, freelancing, etc.
It's considered common knowledge in internet advertising that these are, in fact, mostly the same people - that's why everyone tries to do as much retargeting as they can.
i think we are in the trough of disillusionment with regards to IoT devices
By tick every box, do you mean every layer or every component?
>I can understand never owning a car, but never learning to drive feels a bit like never learning to swim.

I've never been a particular car person and the cars I've bought have tended toward the nice but practical. To never learn to drive though strikes me as just incredibly limiting.

I've almost always needed a car to get to my company's office on a day-to-day basis and even when I've worked downtown, I've pretty much needed a car for visiting customers, job sites, or while traveling. Even if some scenarios could have sometimes been handled without the need to personally drive, I would never have wanted to be "that guy who needs always needs some special accommodation because he never learned to drive."

Furthermore, I've gone on many many vacations that depended upon my ability to drive a car. Sure, I could just not do those things and attach myself to a group or avoid locations not accessible by other means but it all seems so limiting to me.

Whether you actually buy a vehicle depends on a lot of factors and, especially with the newer short-term rental options, one may be able to avoid purchasing one in borderline cases.
Well, a real stone countertop is probably more functional than formica because it won't age as quickly and thus lasts longer. I'm not sure if the increased cost justifies that.

When I hear "granite kitchen counter crowd", I think of people who spend a lot of money on their house to have nice things, either because they genuinely like the aesthetic or they want to keep up with and show off to the Joneses.
Most useful thing I have picked up from this is the notion of interposablity. It captures the basic idea behind both LD_PRELOAD hacks on unix and the way servers can be stacked in Plan 9. Very useful new term.
I would have thought Market Street is the longest, although it changes its name from Market to Portola to Junipero Serra and then turns into 280.
> After considerable research, it's not worth the hussle or money.

Agree. There is no point in making a 75% smart home. A 10% smart home is fine, it feels like a nifty gadget here and there. It can be clever to automate just a few things, maybe get a nest or make it possible to start watering plants remotely when on holiday. But the dream of the full smart home isn't here yet. If you have 9 lights switchable on your phone, that tenth light just feels like a hassle. If you try, you end up spending more time fiddling with your smart stuff than you would ever spend walking to light switches.

I have a shortlist of demands for "smart home" things (specifically the simplest things like switches and other fixtures).

1) It should be as reliable as a regular dumb switch. It can't work 99% of the time, or take 100ms from switching to lighting.

2) It should require no extra cabling. If I can run ethernet over my power lines already, surely I should be able to reliably route around some smart home packets too-

3) It should work as far as possible with existing fixtures. I don't want to replace my switch, I just want to add a smart relay behind the switch. Switches are pieces of interior design, I don't want to be limited to a choice of 2 colors of extremely expensive "smart switches".

4) I don't want any products backed by a single/small company. It should be a reasonably big consortium or an open standard. Z-wave checks that box, barely (and it fails horribly at item 1).

If I were to build a house today I would probably try to make some good decisions in "dumb" power cabling such as trying to put all lighting together behind some central master relay to be able to do the hotel style switch-all when leaving, and also put Cat6+PoE sockets everywhere (both high and low on walls) as to be able to put sensors (motion, smoke, whatever) without ugly cable routing or using wireless.

> if my siblings an I were brought up just fine in the 80's without being in a "smart onesie", I'm sure we can do just as fine today

That's really the same argument as "we were brought up in asbestos houses with smoking people and we're fine..." isn't it :)
That's because, for an extremely large portion of the "businesses who employ programmers" market, most of that image is just not a thing they do. I've never seen an ASP.NET consultoware shop do anything with PaaS, containers, load balancing, package managers, automated server management, search, automated configuration management, security auditing, or real UX design.

You usually have one guy or a very small team managing an on-site closet full of hardware, which is running an operating system you're probably not going to like, that is maybe virtualized, if you're lucky. That's all lumped under IT, so the same people are responsible for answering support calls, setting up email accounts, and installing network connections.

Then, on the development side, you have a particular web server, database, programming language, and application framework being used for every project, no possibility of doing anything else. The people who are hired here are expected to be able to make fool-proof instructions for the IT staff to be able to install the programs on the server.

And there is nothing in between. IT owns the hardware were the software runs, but they know nothing about how the software is made or what it needs. If something goes wrong, there had better be a developer on hand to "just fix it". Developers own the software, but they have zero access to the hardware, so preparing deployments is basically a ritual of finding the IT guy who hates the lead developer the least and hope he has time play telephone game on script runs that the developer massages based on his screenshots that he pastes into MS Word documents and emails.

If you're particularly lucky, your team figured out what sort of joke your "Corporate IT infrastructure" actually is and they communicate completely outside of the issue ticket tracking system that you installed to try to measure productivity because you have no clue how to evaluate anyone's work because you only have an MBA and have no idea how software is actually built or what kinds of problems IT departments actually face.
Also 'crazy' people were more apt at recognizing other people with mental problems that the doctors
Threeflow.js – Sunflow 3D raytracer for THREE.js
You can use mutt with Exchange servers and Gmail servers
Likewise, you can't fully understand yourself, your friends, family or partner. As with the city, you gain what understanding you can from your experience with them.
Like file systems and network shares!

weeps for the future he'll never see
We haven't seen this with instant messaging. For some inexplicable reason, the big players find great value in maintaining walled gardens.

Why would we expect things to be any different in the world of hardware?