skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
There are definitely things that broke along the way in Rails. However, the overall problem is that the 2 or 3 dozen gems or so that were coupled with this project of mine all had incremental releases that broke existing APIs. And new dependencies were introduced. And so on. Basically bringing an old project up to the status quo was an exercise in frustration, so I just worked with my old gems, bugs and all, since it was less scary to do so since my test happily passed in their frozen-in-time world.

Note my post here was partially devil's advocate, since, as bphogan said above, having a vibrant community inventing new things (with a lot of extraneous wheel-inventions accruing along the way :)) is infinitely more desirable than a dead one, set in their ways and so on. I just wanted to throw up a counterpoint that this enthusiasm for the churn needs to be tempered.

I think basically the Ruby community is what you get when developers are given a fun to use language and throw caution to the wind and just build. This is great, but it's time to tilt back towards future-proofing a bit, as the Rails 3 initiative has shown us. It kind of reminds me of the typical successful project: lots of initial, quickly built prototypes created not to sell but to learn, followed by one or two more solid, grounded, mature and thought through production releases that are meant to last years, not months.
Can you link us to one working classified ad? I'm clicking through random Boston categories and I can't find any that have anything.
The Data-Driven Life
You're too lazy to open a file, type the unit tests and hitting CTRL+S but you're not lazy to open the REPL, type the unit tests and hit capture?

If you can't automate 100% of the REPL-into-test feature, if you need two mindsets/styles/etc, if you still need to "find the behaviour codified in a test", then you're just duplicating in the REPL the same workflow and results of writing the tests in a file. They need to overlap 100%.

Now, if they do, then it's awesome.
AOL Sells ICQ to Digital Sky Technologies
Yeah, not only segmented by category but also by region. Curious, what area are you from?
There are many postings in the Dallas area. http://dallas.abtain.com/
Microsoft and HTC Enter Licensing Deal Over Android Patents
That is actually part of an A/B test with abingo to see if having that motto does better with conversions. It did better with advertising.
Had a client that had the exact same problem. We built them basically an "eBay for rentals" platform. They had a solid business plan and plenty of smarts on how to build it out. However, when it came down to marketing and filling up the site, their guy on the team with that job failed miserably. As a result, they were a non-starter and tanked horribly. Just goes to show: cashflow is king. Concentrate on that first, otherwise you've got to get really luck (like Twitter) and get investments without having solid plans in that area.
We should make up an entirely new buzz-phrase for this. How about Incremental Development?
great name for a late night tv exercise machine though :)

You know you want sexy abs like these. Call Now! and get the ABTAIN-A-MASTER 3000 PRO for only six easy payments of $99 (plus $129 s+h)
I agree that you're likely to increase your potential deal flow in the long term by staying active. I suspect you'd also learn a hell of a lot about angel investing too, and build your network which may be an asset to the companies you're investing in.

All of which would have far more effect on the bottom line than spreading risk - it's just that, unfortunately, there's no simple way to build a model of it!
Nokia N8 Captures Amazing Videos
How to be an expert at anything in 4 simple steps
Since from what I can tell, the biggest user group of the ICQ service is Russian hackers, the sale is only logical.
Things I like:

- Design looks nice and clean. I'm impressed that you have a photo of downtown Raleigh on my city's section, that's a nice touch.

- Posting interface is simple, and I like that its free.

- I like the McAfee secure logo. I know it doesn't mean anything, but the everyday user in me likes seeing it (reinforces trust).

Things I think could be improved:

- My profile says I'm in Reidsville (geolocated). I can't find a way to change this (I'm actually in Raleigh, NC).

- I can't find a way to post an ad from the dashboard.

- More categories for services. For example, I'd like to list under graphic & web design, which is available as a job but not a service. Computer is too broad.

- Once I choose a city, set a cookie so that when I click back to the homepage it takes me to the Raleigh homepage, instead of the generic choose-a-city page.

- Let me add a link to my site! I'll make a profile for my business on just about any well-made business directory provided that listing is free, and lets me link to my website.

- Following on this, let me add more metadata about my business (e.g., hours, address, phone, specializations).

- "Manage My Ads" is dropping onto 2 lines, orphaning "Ads".

- The combination of the icon and the name Abtain make it seem like a health site at first blush.

Overall, I really like it. If you can add in some of that metadata I will definitely fill out my listing and try your site out.
I think part of the sluggishness is the extra traffic from hacker news right now, and forgetting that I only had one mongrel up to serve the load. Working on getting unicorn going again to help handle more requests/second.
Thanks for interpreting my comment as more thoughtful than the blunt stab at OOP I wrote.
Depends. Unless it's launched from very close, I wouldn't presume that it could certainly get past the normal cordon of air defense around a carrier group.

Perhaps a swarm attack from several or dozens of such launchers would overwhelm defenses, but suddenly the last-ditch defense isn't looking cheap anymore. If you're that country, you'd better hope the invaders aren't ready to send a second carrier group, or that a neighboring country isn't going to go, "Nice job on that carrier group - now we're rolling tanks and troops over your border, so get cracking on that welcoming ceremony in your capital," now that your defenses are toast.
Welcome to the start-up everyone started-up in 2001 that failed for the same reason: content.

Craig won the lottery on this one.

Here's something to think about though:
Critical mass and exponential growth.

It's going to take you a few years to hit critical mass, which I "imagine" is around 60,000 to 100,000 sellers.

It's at this point where if every person tells 3 people about your service, and 1 of those 3 people use the site, you'll start getting enough traffic that enough products will be sold that enough of your sellers will return to sell again, maybe your buyers will too.

My first thought is to create a community for your sellers. Give them an outlet to talk with each other. They'll help you improve your site. Engage in that communication. Let them make it a home away from home, let them make friends with each other.

It's these people that will give your site legs.

(I do have some past experience in this space...)
How Robotics Research Keeps Re-inventing the Wheel
Installing the New Ubuntu One Music Store
Microsoft and Joomla working together
Yes, yes I am. :) The reason being, that first, it's annoying to have to set up the boilerplate for the file. Second, it's annoying to have to convert what I just exercised in the REPL into a test. (Setup, tear down, asserts.)

The reason TDD works and is fun is that you are using tests to learn and explore. It just so happens the artifact of that learning ends up living forever as a test. In a REPL, I'm doing that same learning and exploration already. The act of writing a test becomes as exciting as filing a TPS report.

Here's an example. I've just implemented a new function, and REPL'ed it to solidity. There were about 4-5 ad-hoc calls I made to the function to prove that it worked. I just finally got to the point where I can call it using my 4-5 different arguments, and it always outputs the right thing. Using readline, my arrow keys, and my enter key, I'm repeating the same series of steps over and over until the function works. We all do this. Win.

Now, I'm at a crossroads. Do I just start working on the next piece of the project? I know this piece works, I'm happy with it.

But wait! What if something changes. I need to write a test don't I. Sadness consumes me, since testing is slowing me down. I've already exercised the code, I already know it works, and I've already written the tests, albeit sloppily, in the REPL. Why do I have to switch gears now and start writing a file, running a test runner, and so on?

The truth is: I won't. I'll move onto the next thing, not breaking my flow and not doing something boring, something I already know the outcome of, instead of doing something fun: the next feature.

Maybe those who do switch off and go through the motions to write a test, repeating themselves, are more noble and careful in their programming. But I humbly suspect most of us are more lazy than noble :)
Honestly though, the "rape" thing was pretty offputting to me. Completely gratuitous and not at all clever.
Rails 3 + Ruby 1.9.2 should be fine.
If you are never going to take outside investment, an LLC would be simpler to set up and maintain. You would have a separate legal entity, limited personal liability for the members, and pass-through taxation. With an S or C corp, there are annual reporting requirements, and you need to elect a board and hold annual meetings.
New Google AdWords Keyword Tool
Most programmers aren't silicon valley hot shots working at the coolest companies. I have no trouble believeing our average programmer working your avereage dull programming job makes about the same as the general manager of a fast food joint.
The Man Who Thinks Apple Will Buy ARM
They're saying "Look, we've got this new platform that's more interesting than boring old computers, let's us have absolute control over everything about, and practically prints money for us." It's pretty obvious why they've made their choice, even if it affects me as a primarily desktop user. In fact, I'd be willing to bet all of Apple's management team uses their desktops way more than their mobile devices. But it's all about cool factor and the iPhone OS has it right now.

Guess it's a good time for the Linux desktop to improve!
Congratulations guys! Our offices are in the same room as Klout, and they are good peeps.
Well, we are still a long way from it (2+ years?), but at some point there will be an interesting discussion on how you merge the iPad with the desktops... Will Apple merge the two product lines and OSes?
As someone trying to convert/integrate Robotics research results into production code, I found this spot on. There is no real incentive for researchers to write decently structured/reusable code.

There is another cartoon laying out WillowGarage's strategy to counter this effect (http://www.willowgarage.com/sites/default/files/blog/201004/... ) I am not entirely convinced, but an interesting read nonetheless.
That is kind of what I use/need stuff like jquery for.

I don't really need the extra level of abstraction it provides, but the extra level of abstraction allows it to do the browser conditionalization that I am too lazy to do.

It isn't a panacea, but it works for my purposes.
When a lot of people are using something it does not prove that it is not a crap.

PHP is the best example. =)
Do you know about cut? You can replace awk here.

cut -d ' ' -f 1
Reward-driven People Win More, Even Without Reward
I don't think it's at all clear that Apple's product coolness is orthogonal to whether they're open or not. If we go with the instance you set out (iPhone OS is licensed or open sourced, presumably), we would lose one of the key differentiators of iPhone: the consistent hardware and software UI. Licensees would build devices with more than one (main) hardware button, differing aspect ratios, hardware keyboards, etc. iPhone OS app developers would have more devices to target and users would be left with software that isn't fully optimized for that device's strengths and form factor. You can't have the good of "open" without the bad.

Not that I'm saying that there being such systems in existence is a bad thing by any means: I'm very glad that Android and the like exist. They've got strong advantages because of their openness: if you want a hardware keyboard, you ain't ever getting one from Apple, and it'd be a poorer world if nobody could get a phone with a hardware keyboard. But disadvantages from that openness are unavoidable, too. So, to me, the optimal situation for customers is for there to be a mix of providers with varying degrees of openness. This increases choice and diversity: there aren't only different makers of phones, there are different whole models of what those devices should be like, with each model competing on its strengths, not just individual devices. If nobody in the "open" camp can produce something as cool as Apple (I'm not saying this is the case), then maybe we should reconsider whether open always leads to the best solutions.
The value of edges in complex network visualization
I was unaware that the health reform that passed created a more powerful consumer market. Lack of preexisting conditions banning means you can get individual insurance, but most people would opt to get it through an employer for cost reasons -- no?

The measure to create a consumer market -- shifting tax benefits to individuals not corporations -- never was introduced.

(I could be wrong. After 50,000 iterations, I don't think anyone knows what passed.)
Title is a bit misleading.. If I'm understanding this correctly, it means the retailer cannot submit your credit card information to another service. Basically, you can't buy something, and be automatically signed up for a third party service at the same time.

That's pretty different then preventing retailers from rebilling your card automatically (like for a subscription).
Ask HN: Will Greece go bankrupt?
Will Greece be saved by the EU (and/or go bust anyway?)? Will it be thrown out of the Union?

What do you believe/know/speculate about the future of Greece and especially the Euro?(I think a lot about this because I do not want to found a startup in a potential european inflation.)
I will definitely be using this. The most crucial part is in place, namely the ability to use sparklines within a line of text. Now I will be able to seamlessly blend context and data everywhere I go.
This is on the wall above the front desk in the lobby of Red Hat headquarters. Always love reading it every time I go in there.
Aside from this library, I'm not aware of a library like that. While I think the idea has some merit, there's a couple of problems:

- Its a lot of Javascript, and that can make things really slow. As another commenter pointed out, the computer running IE6 is probably on the older side anyway.

- Its a lot of work, and people would rather spend the cycles getting people to upgrade. To borrow a phrase, it would be rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

- Its sure to cause some quirks that in turn require their own workarounds. While older versions of IE are a PITA, their quirks are at least finite and known.

Regarding AJAX, IE6 actually has fine support for AJAX. Perhaps someone can correct me here, but I believe IE actually introduced the XHR, which is the foundation of AJAX.

That's not to say it couldn't be done, or that it wouldn't be fun to try. Those are just my guesses as to why we haven't seen one.
I actually did this before for a client in the auction market. Most of the initial users were in the Texas / Louisiana area. After around 30,000 users we had a nice critical mass.

The biggest problem came from the client not anticipating the support required fro 30k users. Fraudulent transactions like fake Rolexs with western union money transfers were too common. Another issue that came up was people paying for postings yet using stolen credit cards. If you charged $5 to signup, but then had a chargeback, you would get dinged for that $5 and a chargeback fee of $25.
Do you really see many startups moving to RIA? Maybe it's because I'm from Hicksburgh, but I don't know of one company here that's doing anything serious with RIA. We even have one guy doing an 'embedded' HTML5 app, using <video>... Most of the websites that I use aren't using RIA, either. Am I missing out on a big trend?

And why can Ruby not "fight with Python and PHP on their markets?" Care to elaborate a bit?
Ask HN: Review my startup - Snapza.com
I'd love some feedback on my startup: http://snapza.com?invite=6142

It's a simple photo sharing site. You can post a pic via webcam, upload, or email/mobile.

Right now the focus is on taking photos of yourself, similar to dailybooth. If that doesn't catch on, I may focus more on photography and pushing content out to other sites (IE, posterous for photography).

What do you think?
have someone read out said thought exercise to see how many of them remotely understand it.

Many of them don't understand it and don't care - they were told to vote for it by the party whip and so they did. Bought and sold.
Clickable link: http://snapza.com?invite=6142
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Arch_Compared_to_Other_D...
"Name anything, uchuusen that blings..."
The mouse speed one is incredible!

Now I'm just trying to work out how to fit these in to the stats section of my websites, great piece of coding!
The Surprising Reason Why Americans Are So Lonely
Why I don't love Ruby:

Ruby 1.8.6:

require 'set'
[[5, 6].to_set].to_set == [[5, 6].to_set].to_set
=> false

Meaning, two identical objects are not equal. This is fixed in 1.8.7, but:

Ruby 1.8.7:

require 'set'
[2, 3].to_set.hash == [4, 5].to_set.hash
=> true

I understand hash functions can produce collisions, but they really shouldn't collide for something as trivial as [2, 3] and [4, 5].

Broken semantics for such simple things make me seriously distrust the language runtime completely. At the very least, this means that the much-touted Hash object in Ruby is untrustworthy and can easily lead to data loss or corruption.
On a related note, for folks using PuTTY.exe on Windoze to SSH, if you sometimes accidentally hit CTRL-S and "lock up" the session, hit CTRL-Q to recover.

Apparently CTRL+S actually does XOFF, which means the terminal will accept key strokes but won’t show the output of anything. It will appear as if your terminal is dead when it’s really just waiting to be turned back on. The fix? Simply press CTRL+Q to turn flow-control on (XON). If you pressed a whole bunch of keys before pressing CTRL+Q, you’ll see the output from those keystrokes.

credit: http://raamdev.com/recovering-from-ctrls-in-putty
Ha, I love that CrunchBase has the updated logo but the post itself does not.

Congrats, folks!
Looks very nice. Seems to solve a problem, a win-win for everyone. But how will you generate renevue?
Read at Dho's link. My primary reason for the switch was that I wanted to learn more about Linux.
This has been around for a few years, it's rock solid and very awesome.
Stack Exhaustion in WebKit.dll – Safari (and Opera)
He may just be translating a common expression from his native language into English and doesn't realize how forceful it sounds. 'You've completely raped that function' is the literal translation of something I would say to someone that rewrote a function in a bad way. It would be considered to be less offensive than something that would translate as "you fucked it up". It's closer to 'you've completely wrecked that function'.
I'm pretty sure I lost a $150k job opportunity for saying that TDD is a waste of time if your product hasn't been validated as a money maker. I don't regret saying it either.

Fast forward a month and I begin working on a pre-profit project that is so bloated with tests and unnecessary complexity that it took me a few days to really figure out what the hell was going on with the code. When I first started reviewing the code, I was thinking, "Wow, this guy's testing chops make me feel stupid.". Then, after really spending some time with the code, I just thought, "WTF!?".

It's clear he spent much more time writing tests than writing any features. On top of that, he had written 10 level deep abstractions for features that had features for their feature's features. In order to really understand the insanity of this you have to know that this site basically had 0 users and was going nowhere fast.

Then I was just pissed. Pissed at the thought of someone just getting paid to implement every feature under the sun without questioning if any of it was really necessary and with 0 user feedback. This is one of those instances where the developer makes thousands of dollars and the site and owner just lose thousands. This is totally unacceptable and irresponsible in my opinion.

The first thing I did was start removing features and didn't write one test for anything. I would have loved to just scrap the whole code base and start over, but there just wasn't time so I just had to rewrite as I went. You would think with all those fantastic tests, the code would be pretty solid, but I continually found incongruencies and errors. The database didn't even have foreign key constraints set up for any of the relationships. Why bother using a relational database?

I know that TDD is popular and I've seen job descriptions like "If you are just getting started with tests, don't even bother.", but I think there are a lot of developers wasting a huge amount of time and money writing tests for products that are destined to fail, partially because of all the time and money spent writing tests.
My ophthalmologist has a visual-field-test machine which, after it runs its battery of tests, gives the operator the option of storing the data on a 5 1/4" floppy. Because there are probably grasshoppers with longer lifespans than these storage media, they have to buy fresh disks from somewhere. Probably a specialty supplier that sells them at considerable markup.
Sorry dude, I fat fingered on my iPad and hit the down arrow instead of hitting up.

The mouse demo thing was killer.
Yeah, I generally have gems locked into a particular version, and try to only update when I actually have to. I'm also still using ree, I plan on just doing the 1.9.2 move at the same time as the Rails 3 move.

> I just wanted to throw up a counterpoint that this enthusiasm for the churn needs to be tempered.

I think this is a valid point, but I also really enjoyed David's comment above. This 'never being content' aspect is one of the things that I really _like_ about Rails, and probably why the community gets a reputation for being a bunch of angsty teenagers. It's important not to get rid of that fire and desire to make things better.
Is rails 3 beta running on rails 3 beta?