skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Using Git--for simple things--is not that hard. Seriously, it would take 10 minutes to write shell scripts that simulate Subversion's behavior if one wanted to. It would take far less time than writing a blog post about it, even with only a cursory knowledge of Git.

Further, the tendency of some developers to bitch about using any tool outside their comfort area is annoying. Guess what, users of open source software: unless you're programming using assembly, you use the tools you do because people decided to try something a little bleeding-edge, adventurous, and new. The idea that developers should always "stick with what works" and resist change (even if they don't always like it) is kind of freeloading. Some day, the tools one is using now will be obsolete for the purpose it's being used for now. Be ready to accept change.

That said, the OP should try Mercurial if he wants something with a slightly shallower learning curve.
Anybody knows what percentage of these 60,000 apps are actual paying clients? If e.g. 50,000 of these apps are free, even for a modest cost of $3/month to host each one, that quickly adds up to ~$2mn of cash burn / year.

Another interesting question is how well they scale. http://success.heroku.com/ has some interesting companies, but nothing with very high traffic (or am I wrong)?

PS. I'm a happy heroku user myself.
When I worked at Cisco Systems circa 2003/4 myself and the other data warehouse developers came into the office once every two weeks, the rest of the time was at home. I wasn't directly employed by them (I worked for a small consultancy) but the same rules applied for permies on the same team.

Right now I contract for a large investment bank and the dev team are rarely all in the office any given day. This is due to a simple desk space shortage - I work from home 2days every week.
Don't forget JRuby and they have a fix for the spin up time with http://gist.github.com/331854 Deferred Dispatcher.
If you're only using 3% of git's facilities, then you're doing it wrong. You're probably doing it wrong because you don't understand the other 97%. That's OK, but don't pretend that the stuff you don't understand is useless.

Almost every time I learn something new about git, it is something that is immediately useful.
http://book.git-scm.com/

http://progit.org/book/
I don't see how your description of WordPress makes it different from Toto.

Toto is blogging software, has a full blown CMS, through git, is easy to host (Heroku), and is easy to use.

Hence, they serve the same purpose, which is of publishing and managing articles in the cloud.
No one would complain about unionized teachers if they were doing a good job. All people see is vast sums of money going in and functionally retarded children coming out.

This could be because of bad teachers, bad parents, stupid/unteachable children, etc, but the unions' only solution is always "more money." Is it unreasonable to think, then, that the unions are acting in bad faith? The teachers are the only ones who get to elect the union leaders so they are responsible, directly or indirectly.

There's a huge shortage of qualified teachers because of the nonsense teachers ed requirements for certifying teachers. You've probably seen many articles on how ridiculous and shoddy these curricula are. These requirements exist at the behest of the unions to protect their members from competition.
As someone who doesn't understand version control extremely well I can say I don't have much of a clue when it comes to CVS and all the configuring to make it behave normally but git is extremely easy for someone who only needs a little version control. If you don't get it read this http://progit.org/book/ch2-0.html otherwise it just seems like a rant by someone who just doesn't want to try and learn something new (over CVS).
Part of the problem with flash is that when it is crunching away executing some code, it is unresponsive to GUI events. One way around this is to break up computation by using a chain of events to complete the computation which allows GUI events to be interleaved thus making the application more responsive.
You're right. They must have some really old stock summary from when they wrote about Heroku long ago. Heroku's business is exclusively hosting Ruby (and now Node.js) apps that you write normally.
Uh, the company is originally Danish and I believe most of the staff are still in fact Danes. Her grammar was poor but understandable. I'm not sure why this guy gets so rage-filled when the email is innocuous when read coming from the mouth of a non-native speaker of English.

Calling a response to any sort of support mail a "ticket" is pretty common as well and certainly not worthy of offense.
I think you meant Blosxom: http://www.blosxom.com/

Your link goes to someone's personal homepage. :)
http://www.viemu.com/a-why-vi-vim.html

http://blog.ngedit.com/2005/06/03/the-vi-input-model/
"If you think your users are idiots, only idiots will use it." --Linus Torvalds

Others have basically spoken my thoughts that this is a wrong direction to take, files actually are pretty intuitive and the trouble is often "which app can I use on this file?". I'm against trying to simplify everything to such a degree, since it's treating users like idiots. Down with single-button mice.
I don't use git but am considering it. So I was hoping this article might point out a few things I should beware of before getting started.

Instead, all it provides is one, single, minor example of a potential issue: you can't commit the same way as CVS or subversion.

Not sure why it took the author so many words to get around to saying that. And if there are other problems with git, I'm not sure why the author doesn't mention them.
Let me know if you have general comments on ItsTrending.com
In general, no.
Here is a good posting on StackOverflow regarding Vim: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1218390/what-is-your-most...

I started last week and am trying to learn everything i can.
Wow. Generally, I've really loved the Reinvigorated Programmer. This feels like it was written by someone else, or is some kind of joke.

The guy who dedicates three posts to loop invariants and formal (ish) reasoning practices thinks git is hard?

I feel like this post is from some kind of bizarro-world. Even more so since I'm reading on my phone, so there are no sushi pictures!
And some people wouldn't date a woman who isn't Catholic/Jewish/Hindu/whatever. You're within your rights to choose whom you date, but it doesn't really reflect anything about the people you're refusing as much as about yourself. How is your personal unwillingness to date such women interesting or relevant?
Git is a Harrier jet all right. I just got into it and keep thinking to myself, "This thing can turn on a dime, Macross Zero-style!"
Sorry for the late reply, but yes. The amplitude and frequency of the signal would still be different (your heart is beating harder and faster), but the characteristics would still be the same.
The odd thing is that I grew up with folder heirarchies in DOS and am quite happy with them.

Until I get onto a default Windows install, where all the hints about where you are in the folder tree are hidden by default. Then I get easily lost.

c:\users\myname\local settings\application data\microsoft\outlook\ - fine.

outlook - well that could be anywhere.

It's no wonder to me that people are lost by default when a modern system goes out of its way to not provide any hints or landmarks to tell you where you (and your files) are. It's bizarre.
Of course, just passed it along to the team to review.
Software - the web - marketing - design
I would argue that it's easy to use for a hacker. For the majority of bloggers, using git and Heroku is probably not a simple or easy task.
Here's a more recent one: http://channel9.msdn.com/posts/matthijs/Anders-Hejlsberg-Tre...
I can't think of a reason why a device maker couldn't put google Chrome OS on a tablet (which would be a closer approximation to the iPad).
How do I use it without installing a bunch of stuff on my Windows computer?

Wordpress is for the masses this is like jekyll alternative rather than wordpress killer.
Buried in a bit of a rant is a very good point about using the right tool for the job, though I'm doubtful this was the actual intention of the post.
Some of these instant-on linuxes actually run on a separate ARM chip from the main OS to further differentiate it as the low-capability/low-power/long-battery alternative to the full blown Windows OS, as well as the speed of access element.
I know it's annoying to have the Microsoft tell you how to organize your files, but there are some benefits to keeping those. Since those folders are in the API, many apps use them as defaults. Also, trusted Silverlight apps are restricted such that those special directories are the only ones visible. Really whether we like it or not, all of the major OS vendors are moving to a model where you store your own files in specified places.
I would be curious to see how the same benchmarks pan out for running flash on some of the popular Linux distros, e.g. Debian, Ubuntu, Red Hat. I write from the assumption that Adobe sees little incentive in ever releasing decent flash support for Open Source OS's, but a quantitative comparison would at least be informative.
The company that I really hope doesn't sell out is Dropbox
Version control software, like, say, file systems, is not an area where most people should be "adventurous". They should just work, and mostly keep the hell out of your way.
I'm a proud father of a two year old the long lag of the N1's camera makes it near worthless. Doesn't matter if it's 5 or 10MP as long as it takes over a second to snap a photo.

I was impressed by the iPhone's camera, but that's only because I was coming from an HTC Mogul, which had a horrible 2MP camera.

That I can (mostly) do what I want with my N1 without relying on a jailbreak is what makes the N1 a win, overwhelmingly. That said, it is ironic and frustrating that your warranty is voided when you unlock your bootloader, a part of rooting a N1. It doesn't matter if there is dust under the screen, they see the "unlocked" icon and turn down warranty requests.

At least, they were- I'd love to hear that things have changed... Unless that changes I won't be rooting my N1, and I'm glad I didn't do that first thing- I just had to send my two week old N1 in for a swap to HTC because of dust under the screen. :/
The original site, Gilt Group, is a clothing sales store which has sales which start at 12pm EST. Frequently things will sell out within scarse minutes of the start. I imagine having your stats update 20 times/sec is extremely interesting (and exciting) for that kind of application.
It's for the Hollywood-created movie star webmasters of the future! After all, in the movies, everything must scroll incessantly.

Kidding aside, it feels more useful if the rate of usage is slightly less than that in the demo... Seeing hits pop up in real-time definitely has a certain appeal!
FWIW - I just migrated my old WordPress site to Heroku, but I decided to keep the WP database structure intact.

So, I made a little Sinatra app with an ActiveRecord adapter that can understand the WP db schema.

It's just a hack to support my immediate needs at this point, but I think the concept is a good one.

http://github.com/trevorturk/trevorturk

Holler if it looks interesting to you.
Yeah, seems he isn't around people who know git. E.g.:

Me: Why? I already added them before, why do I need to add them again?

They: You just do, OK?

The answer isn't "You just do," neither is it complicated. You need to re-add files after you've further modified them, because you aren't adding files, you're adding changes to files at the time you added it.

After all, why should your VCS assume that your file layout consistently and meaningfully aligns with your changes? I've found it's much more meaningful to cut up a body of work into several commits after the fact using a tool like GitX.
Roughly 5 years ago I was an Emacs user. I remember I got my first job out of college at a Windows development shop, and I tried to use Emacs for the first couple of weeks, before I had to give in and use Visual Studio like everyone else around me. Being able to actually compile the project from the Project file was kind of a must-have =)

Nowadays I can't really think of a good use for Emacs. I use XCode for C++, Textmate for Python (and some old PHP and Java), MacTex for writing articles...

But man I'd love to use Emacs again and whip out some Elisp!
What version(s) of Lisp does it use? On what platforms?
It's kind of laughable, because you just need to add a flag - "git commit -a" to do what he wants.
Yes but how do you use WordPress without installing a bunch of stuff on your computer? You need MySQL and you need a web server to run it, probably Apache. These don't come standard with Windows, so it's not that much easier to get WordPress running locally. It's true that many hosts now offer very easy WordPress installs, but there is no reason why something like this can't be set up for Toto. But as it is right now, Toto is a great WP replacement for hackers.
Are there an excerpts from the book available? I didn't see any and was curious
And some people wouldn't date a woman who isn't Catholic/Jewish/Hindu/whatever. You're within your rights to choose whom you date, but it doesn't really reflect anything about the people you're refusing as much as about yourself.

I didn't say it does.

Having a one-night-stand is stupid. Does it make someone a whore who should be ostracized? No. Is it a behavior that, in my estimation, a rational person would be ashamed of? Yes. Is it worse than the worst or stupidest thing I've done? Probably not.
Chatroulette for Facebook
All right, look.

Project Gutenberg + nook = reading bliss.

Snarf some epubs of your favorite authors, philosophers, etc. and have some rich brain food for your bus ride.
The reason I have is killing tasks like Camera, which appear to chew away at the battery even as they sit in the background... It wasn't until I started using a task manager that I started getting decent battery life out of my N1.

The first week, I followed the party line- I didn't touch a task manager. And the first week I was seeing 20% of my battery drained by 10 AM in the morning while using it for under 15 minutes since I pulled it off the charger.
Founding engineers from Netscape,Epinions,Adbrite,OpenDNS hiring PHP engineer
I apologize for the double-post. The orignal one used the CL ad title automatically and din't have the ad itself here. Here's the ad below, and some key points about our team:

- All of us have been founders at major Silicon Valley companies.

- Our investors are by invite-only.

- One key member of our team was named as one of the top 25 Angel investors in tech by Businessweek a month ago.

You don't need to be senior level, just sharp and hardworking. We're all friends, enjoy each others company, believe in what we build. If this matters, impressing this team will open pretty much any door in Silicon Valley for you.

Ad below:

We're a small team, where each individual has built successful Valley companies. Now we're taking over a $2 billion market filled with lame products and unsatisfied customers. We have a clear revenue model and more opportunities than time.

You should:
- Be comfortable working with procedural PHP (a background in C is a plus)

- Want to work in a fast paced early startup environment wearing multiple hats

- Have familiarity with MySQL, NoSQL, and making the right choice

- Be self starting, and able to execute on a project plan with minimal project management

About us:
- Not another photosharing or social media company. We have direct control over one of Google/Yahoo's most profitable sources of advertising revenue.

- Angel funded, with no foreseeable need to take VC. You will directly benefit from the value you create without having to wait for an exit.

- Small engineering heavy team based along The Embarcadero in San Francisco (access to BART, Caltrain, and Ferries).

- Our experienced team has been a part of Netscape, Epinions, AdBrite, OpenDNS, and other successful companies

Compensation:
- Startup salary plus equity.

Contact:

- Please send a resume and links to your previous work or code examples.

- Best way to send resume is via CL http://tinyurl.com/32prg34

Thanks!
Snapvine.com: Thanks for the memories
Or HTML/JS.
From a comment in http://themaninblue.com/writing/perspective/2010/03/22/ :

mine is: (ubuntu 9.10, core 2@2.4Ghz)

on FF3.5: flash 25 FPS, canvas: 16FPS, svg: 2FPS

chrome: flash 26, canvas, 12-15,svg:13

I suspect the guy is running the beta x64 version of FP10 for Linux though, as other people are having lesser ideal results.
Fair enough - I understand now that it was the inconsistency in their level of personality that was the issue. I agree that insincerity is bad but it's pretty borderline how much you'd read into one of these "semi-automated" emails anyway - most companies will give you the usual "we love what you're doing and want to help you out" and I don't think anything more if it than I do when someone says "hello how are you" without expecting a breakdown of my day.

I guess with point (3), you can't have your cake and eat it too - you either have formal but impersonal or informal but personal. Web companies often opt for the latter, because engagement with customers as real people has proved to be a great long-term strategy.
Git is a harrier jump jet when you need it, and a motorcycle the rest of the time.

It is perfect for little "6 file projects". Try getting started so quickly like this in CVS or subversion:

git init
git add .
git commit -a -m "My own repo"

Bam, done. Now you can just do git commit -a whenever you need to add something new. Sure, the index might feel strange to some people, just skip it with -a.
A few specific examples (| is cursor position):

* You have a function call: `|foo("blah", blah)` and want `bar()`. You type `c%bar()`. The `c` command means 'replace' while `%` searches forward for a matching character and jumps to the closing.

* You realize (after the fact) that you have a few more calls to foo. You type `/\<foo` and enter to jump to the next word in the file starting with foo and hit `.` to repeat the last edit. Then `n` to search for the next match and `.` again to repeat, etc. Since the vim command syntax is really expressive, repeat becomes a very powerful tool if you're doing it right.

* You have `my_dict['ab|cd']` and want `my_dict['efg']`. You type `ci'efg`. That's replace (c) inner (i) single-quoted string (') with efg. If you then wanted to change the single quotes to double quotes and had the surround.vim plugin, you type `cs'"`, which is replace (c) surrounding (s) single-quotes (') with double-quotes (").

* You have `fooTransformer(blah)` and want `barTransformer(blah)`, you type `ctTbar`, which is replace (c) 'till character (t) T with bar.

I've been deliberately using the replace command for these examples, but what makes the vim command syntax neat is that the command and the motion parts are orthogonal. So you could replace the `c` in any of the above examples with `d` to delete or with `y` to copy (yank) or with g% to rot13 or whatever.

It may seem like relatively small gains, but the most important thing is that I stay in the flow of the code. If I think "replace call" I type `c%`, which is only slightly slower and far faster than trying to ctrl+shift+arrow my way through the codebase.

The downside of Vim is that the learning curve is very, very long and is initially steep. Unless you're coding for a couple hours a day, it's honestly not worth it.

One tip that everybody eventually learns but is almost never metioned in beginner tutorials: Whenever you stop typing, go back to normal mode (use ctrl-[ or remap insert mode ctrl-j to Esc for more efficiency). This will eventually become automatic and will help you to avoid mode errors where you think you're in normal mode but you're actually in insert/replace mode.
When you see a photo on your desk, do you think "a file!" or do you think "a photo of my family!"?

This is all well and good except it comes right at the end of an article explaining why I can't have a single photo on my desk and why I shouldn't want to, all I should ever need is a photo album with all my photos in it.

Hrm.
It means they would just need ~1800 paying users with my bill to cover the costs.
I'd love to know what happened. $20M is a lot to pay, to then shut the doors.
Haml, Sass and Compass have completely 180'd my POV towards web development. I've gone from hating the view part of the MVC web stack(thanks LAMP!) to loving the abstractions and frameworks being built around HTML/CSS/Javascript/DOM.

If I couldn't use Haml/Sass now in every project I touch, I would go postal.

Great work on Haml/Sass, keep it up guys!
Jane McGonigal (Alternative Reality Game Expert) says that it took 100 million mental hours to create and produce Wikipedia and that that effort is expended in only 5 days of playing World of Warcraft. She sees gaming of that sort as a resource to be exploited.
I think the main point is that for video flash is more taxing than a hardware decoded html5/x264 (at least on the mac because flash video doesn't use hardware decoding).
Correct. But one interpretation of "Brown steps down" or "Brown resigns" would be "Brown resigns as PM" and hence, "Brown to concede election to Tories", when the real story is "Brown to step down from Labour leadership in September in bid for coalition with Lib Dems". So the headline is in fact misleading, or at least ambiguous.
From the rate that these guys innovate, it's obvious they're working hard - and at the right things. I'd bet this will pay off for the investors.

I have one app on heroku, it's probably easier to use, but I have more apps on Google Appengine with jruby simply because it stays free-er for longer. I've come up against Heroku's free limits.
Why not just use make install? Because that doesn't allow you to easily manage the software at a later date.

Eh, I don't mind just installing into my home directory with autotools.
I think you missed both points. Point 1 was that he doesn't need to install anything on his Windows client to publish to his blog. Point 2 was that Toto is not a WP killer. By naming Toto as a replacement for hackers (solutions for hackers are never killers of solutions for the masses), you are confirming his point.
Im going to say....no. Maybe some of us on HN laughing at how the engineers could have missed something like that, but the general public probably doesnt care now that its been fixed.
http://kutoken.com/ exists, can't speak intelligently about the comparison, or their quality though.