skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Hey man- You're getting a lot of advice. I'd even say some of it's good :) Here's my two bits - but only you can find out what'll work for you.

Around the time I turned 20 I started having bouts of serious depression that lasted from 2-5 days. And then I'd get better and be OK for a week or two. This was pretty debilitating, and left me more or less emotionally unstable until I sought professional help around the time I was 25. I frequently entertained suicidal thoughts in this period.

Around 25 I found a therapist I could trust, and a psychiatrist. I have a family history of alcoholism and bipolar disorder, and my psychiatrist diagnosed me as bipolar pretty quickly. For the past 5 years I've been taking an anti-depressant (celexa) and a mood stabilizer (lithium) every day. That, combined with weekly therapy, has made me 100% more functional in daily life.

Above all else, find a therapist. I'm on my 4th, have been seeing him weekly for 5 years, and I like him a lot. The first few you try might suck - I had one therapist who actually belittled my problems. I ditched her. My current therapist has helped me excavate and talk about the ugliest stuff in my head. Turns out it's a lot easier to live with if you can hold it, turn it over, and talk about it. I know for a fact that I'm a better person because of therapy.

Pharmaceuticals probably aren't for everybody. But they sure as hell helped me. I credit them in part with the healthy marriage, productive professional life, and happy social life I have now. I'm going to have a freakin' baby next month, and I'm psyched about it. You can work through this.

Good luck. You're already drowning in advice, but here's my story. Cheers!
I agree up to a point. There's more to think about here than just finding the right market -- though that's a must.

The problem is that doing this while working full time is freaking hard. Doing an entire year of development after hours is just brutal. The longer the time to launch the more likely you are to not see it through to the end. So if you're taking on a project that's going to be in development for several months before you can even charge a dime -- finding something to get excited about is huge.

If it's just something you're going to build in a couple of weeks then that passion can totally be lacking there because marketing is going to be much larger part of the effort (it typically is but typically not to this extent).

In any case, I highly recommend sticking with something you can launch very soon. Probably no more than 3 months. I went 6 months and it was tough. It's an exhausting effort so take advantage of that motivational boost that launching gives you.
You Sir, win a dollar! I think to make the joke really clear I'd have to add a few more consts and some pointers in there.
Can we please stop naming companies -ly, -ify and -erous?
Pretty please with sugar on top.

Sincerely,
the world outside silicon valley.
Your comment about "I don't usually have a cheerful face" really rings a bell for me. For years, I tried to force a cheerful face, even though it was like swimming upstream. Now, I simply accept that I have a low positive affect (not bubbly).

Marty Seligman would say we have a low "happiness set point" which is extremely hard to change. I know that Paul Ekman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ekman) says smiling can make you happier. That may be true for others, but it didn't help me. In other words, I think that trying to change your happiness set point is a low ROI investment.

In contrast, for me, sleeping well and on a regular schedule is a very high ROI investment. So is lowering stress and spending lots of time in Flow.
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This is very very very cool, If i recall my pl research lore correctly, self even ~ 15 years ago had runtime/compiler tech that was at least par with 10 year old java.

Also, its an objects all the way down language, so its quite pretty! (in terms of uniformity of semantics/syntax!)

[added edit]
I believe that the documents to substantiate this can be found at http://selflanguage.org/documentation/published/
and I suspect that part of the reason for self's comparative advantage is that by having the core language be so uniform, every control/date structure and abstraction immediately benefits from any improvement in the runtime or optimization techniques (as is the case with scheme and to a moderate extent haskell as well).
All the good domains are taken by squatters and bootstrapped start-ups can't afford the good ones, so we get creative.
> Write down the problem.
> Think real hard.
> Write down the solution.

I had a college physics professor who called this "The Method of Applied Brilliance".
Yes, I think this is the funniest thing about C++. Everyone who loves it thinks it's the most popular language...well except when compared to C.

Basically, until you can kill C your language really isn't that popular. It's a fad by comparison.
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Yeah some guy paid $8 CPM for rickroll, reddit has a minimum of $20k per campaign.

Here is a discussion on the ad: http://www.reddit.com/r/ads/comments/cpm2d/i_cant_believe_so...
Do entrepreneurs seeking VC need to present on an iPad to be taken seriously?
Discuss.
Bill Nye Explains How BP's New Containment Cap Could Still Go Terribly Wrong
No, more a nod to Lisp getting "metaprogramming" right when C++ screwed them up. If I've gotta do it, I'd rather do it in a language where the turing completeness wasn't designed to be a tarpit.
Actually, this is what I loved about Grace. It was like all the crap that pissed me off about C++'s design decisions just went away. It made C++ so nice to work with.
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You just threw a great dinner party. You're done with dinner and you don't want to do the dishes. Pick up the phone and call 1-888-WASHMYDISHES and someone is there pronto for $25+ tip.

Could something like this work in a big cities?

I had the idea today while we were out to dinner and someone mentioned how nice it was not having to do the dishes.
Do you have to block them, or is just not reciprocating the follow enough? I've been doing the latter and so far have no problems with spam.
I mentioned that depression is possibly an evolved mechanism. The mechanism is: depression makes you ruminate which leads to insights. Meanwhile, you feel bad so you have an incentive to make a positive change in your life as a result of these insights.

Here is a NYT article about this: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/magazine/28depression-t.ht...

This really changed the way I think about depression. I now think about depression as a signal to ruminate, have insights, and make change.

However, don't try this at home, kids. I mean, it makes a lot of sense to work with a therapist/doctor, if you can find an effective one.
Here's how I did my hardest take home exams in grad school:

- Attempt to solve problem using tools learned in the course
- Attempt to solve problem using "standard" tools
- Fail at the above
- Go to bed
- Wake up, shower, eat breakfast

I'd have the answers in the last step.
On representing some real numbers exactly
I think this is a key point, the language doesn't matter as much as the capability and training the people using it have. This is why all these language arguments are rather irritating, because I'll typically use what works best. On some projects, C++ is great. On other projects C is best. Python is great for some things too.
How to get a job in a recession
Most jobseekers asked me " what else should i do to get hired". Here is the advice what should you prepare to get a job
Hi Jason,

I am the founder of Visual Website Optimizer. And to be fair I have been expecting Optimizely post on TechCrunch as soon as I learnt that it was a YC funded startup. To be honest it bites me to actually read it on TC especially when I emailed you thrice :) But anyway that is life. I guess special connections do matter!

As far as name is concerned, the company's name is Wingify (which isn't as dull as Visual Website Optimizer). The product name was chosen to differentiate it from Google Website Optimizer, as my tool makes creating tests super easy.

As far as differentiation is concerned, well we launched way earlier than Optimizely (so it is them whom you should be asking this question). Actual differentiation comes in the ease of use, while offering all enterprise level features. Here is a comparision table: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/feature-list.php

As far as interesting story is concerned, well we're bootstrapped (2 people actually), launched two months ago, are profitable (more than just ramen) and have managed to bag customers like Microsoft, Rackspace, 99Designs, Aweber and Threadless. Here is a partial customer list http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/customers.php

The tool has helped numerous small businesses in increasing conversions and sales. Here are some case studies: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/case-studies.php and if you must compare it with other tools, here are numerous (all non-asked) testimonials comparing VWO with other tools: http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/testimonials.php

I don't know how else to pitch you rather than just providing facts. Please let me know if you wish to do a story, I will be happy to provide you with more stats or make it into an interesting story.

-Paras Chopra

PS: Thanks for mentioning VWO at the end of the post, but I will still stand by saying that it was bit unfair on TC's part.
Well, we can agree to disagree here, but my belief is that OO is a impedence mismatch for writing "low-level efficiency of direct pointer manipulation and other C features". It's kind of like saying, "There is no 16 wheel semi truck that can win the Tour De France." Maybe you shouldn't be using a 16 wheel truck.
I agree with you on this. I remember that shortly after Google announced the Android operating system, Apple announced that it would be releasing an SDK for developing native applications in the iPhone.
The cool thing is that it's not even as facetious as it appears. "Writing down the problem" is a legitimate, and very useful, tool for problem solving, and one that is often skipped.
Embed V8 into Python, then tell me how great C++ is.

In other words, C++ is great until something else has to call it. Then you're hosed and end up wrapping everything in C anyway.
It's actually possible to make C++ nice, the Grace library is wonderful. If I ever have to C++ again I'm totally grabbing it and using it. The Grace value types and type safe format operations are just the best thing ever.

My problem though is it's not the right tool for the job. Simply having access to C level APIs doesn't instantly mean your language is awesome at making servers and operating systems. Especially if that same language can't quite figure out what the hell really happens on a copy, or during an exception, or can't make decent strings and data buffers.
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Grace is absolutely awesome. The value type and format syntax are exactly the way it should be done.
Wingify (the startup name) is better than VisualWebOptimzer (the product name). I am not sure why Paras is not using the same name for both.
Happy to see your product doing well, and the fact that it is profitable already. Good going.

I am sure you are pretty cool about it, but take it easy about the TC (or any other such blog's) (non-)coverage. You got paying customers and if this continues, relevant news coverage would follow soon.

Cheers.
2.0? You really trotted out that cliche? Ok, I'll one-up you:

2005 called, they want their joke back.
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"But the process does seem to be a lottery to some extent."

They go to great lengths to ensure this is not the case. If the feedback from five different interviewers led to a 'no hire' decision, the chances are good that it was the right decision. Of course, no system is perfect. They tend to err on the side of exclusivity; it's much cheaper to decline a suitable candidate than it is to hire someone who won't work out in the long term.
people seem to have forgotten how a real Italian coffee is made - you don't need an expensive machine, and sure as hell don't drip or filter coffee. You use an espresso maker: http://www.amazon.com/Bialetti-Express-12-Cup-Stovetop-Espre...

This is how my family and the Italians have done it for generations
Actually the ruby would just be "if myvariable" - I think it's more readable simply because it expresses the minimalist core of what that line of code is doing. I could also use Blub and say "IfConditionIsTrue(myVariable.booleanValueOfNullStatus())"

Yes, you're right that my mental model of the 'if' construct will be basically the same in any language, but it's fundamentally less work and less error prone for me to translate ruby than some other language into that model, and the same is true going the other direction
And there goes my attempt to trick you into becoming a Lisper :-(

Learn CL inside and out, not because you want to be a better programmer, but penning "Lisp is a Ghetto", if you get it right, will guarantee your name echoes in the hallways of hacker heaven long after we're both gone.
I'd like to extend his position to the argument that the semantics of any language that isn't ML or Lisp are too complicated...
For this reason, take home exams are evil. Also, get rid of the fourth strategy
Oh, you have to read that in the voice of The Comic Book Guy. Then it's fucking hilarious. Here try it:

"You sthee const const &const char[const ] is the proper way to make a thruly safe reference to a conthst char array conthst pointer conthst."

See, prime comedy gold there.

Also, 'cause you guys think the internet should be nothing but a massive academic white paper curated by Knuth, so any amount of hyperbole sends you into a literalism hissy fit.
I had an interview for a systems administrative position way back when that was my primary gig, admittedly this was in the twilight after ten years of experience and I had already mostly gotten sick of systems administration and was deeply into coding so maybe I was just too jaded, but the single question I recall that they asked me I actually found so stupid it was insulting;

What's the default bytes per block in random linux distribution x version y when using filesystem z?

My response;

I'd google it.

Perhaps this is unique to the Australian branch of Google or something but I get the impression that they're much more into the whole meaningless rote memorisation of facts than is often let on.

I had a contact from another Google HR person a couple months back in Estonia, this time for a development position. I can't say I wasn't tempted but this time I turned them down flat.
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Interesting how they are scouting stackoverflow profiles for potential hires. I suppose it takes more than 10k reputation (talking about my own profile of course).

The part about being denied because he was Microsoft-centric and yet Jon Skeet was accepted was quite amusing.
While I can recognize there designers that are the exception, it's silly to think and expect your designers to have this ability. The fact of the matter is that most don't. The same use true for developers. By and large the ones that do are self-motivate individuals running their own startups, or participating on a similar level.

I could easily say that it's preferable to have someone understand the core facets of every part of any field, but the truth is that you're lucky if you can find someone that has the core competencies in any specialized area.

I've successfully separated our designers from the code that implements their designs for the past 5 years and have got only positive results. The designers don't need to learn anything else, or fumble with code, they enjoy living in Photoshop/fireworks and passing it off. Developers shouldn't be doing any interpreting, the designs should be such they can clearly see what things should be.

Nobody said anything about static-mock ups, I said they should be focused on design, not coding. There are plenty of tools available that can allow them to mock-up an effect without coding.

I don't know what idealized world you live in, but sometimes you have to accept the situation and work with it. In any event, we can agree to disagree. Since we clearly have 2 different sets of opinions and 2 different sets of work experience history.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_nature
I still think the industry should put together a consortium that develops and builds such equipment and keeps it ready to go in the event of deep-water well failures like this. Seems like a lot of trial and error and onsite improvisation and engineering were done after the disaster. If it had been done ahead of time, then we may well have gotten to this point perhaps weeks sooner. A lot of oil might not have been spilled.
> They go to great lengths to ensure this is not the case.

That may well be the case and I can't dispute the conclusion because I am unaware of the position. Were they looking for a hardcore C++ programmer? That's not me.

This goes to my observation that feedback is important. I've applied for positions that were slim chances before but I knew they were slim going in so I could set my expectations accordingly.

As for the lottery part, 2/5 didn't know my primary language. That seems open to interpretation.
I think the fourth is crucial.
I don't think I want to try localroulette here in West Hollywood...
I actually think reading speed has a lot more to do with how things are written, than any reading skill.

For example, when I write code, I try to arrange things in such a way that my eye won't have to move much horizontally. I always put function names at the left margin, with return types above them, so that they're all "scannable" (because they are always in the same general place, my eye doesn't have to guess).
That does seem like a strange question but then again I'm not a sysadmin so I really don't know what's reasonable.

I'll frame this in what I know, which is programming. I think it's entirely reasonable to ask someone how a hashtable or even a quick sort (or some other O(n log n) sort) works because programmers should be familiar with that even if 99.9% of the time (if not 100% of the time) you're using a HashMap or std::map or dict or whatever.

But number of inodes does seem somewhat esoteric.
A /. commenter wrote some real funny satire about this: http://idle.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1720732&cid=329...

"If you find literature on Fourier Analysis, Electronics or Calculus in your child's bedroom, please get your child to Oklahoma and get them help from the nearest minister."
How do you/would you/have you recruited a co-founder or mentor
Recruited, for lack of a better word.

I know a lot of people meet up in college - I haven't been so lucky up until this point. In the past I haven't met anyone qualified enough to be a real co-founder or mentor until recently. I've put a lot of effort into all of my projects and am set to start a company, and I'm sure choosing the right people is extremely important. As such, having already started on my own, I'm wary to let someone who hasn't yet contributed in on all of my work.

What's a reasonable way to proceed? Should I just bring them on and offer them the farm? Should I toss them a heap of legal work?

Does age play a role? Should I look for an older, experienced co-founder/mentor or a someone young with time on their hands?

How do you decide how shares are divided?

I recognize these questions don't have a precise answer, but I'm looking to get a broad perspective of how it's been done before.
> Dumb is a strong word, young padawan.

I carefully weighted my words, and I rest my case.
Hi Niyazpk, The reason Wingify decided to have a separate name Visual Website Optimizer for its A/B testing product is because we have plans to roll out more website optimization tools in the future.
Ask HN: Stuck in terminal
I am using terminal within coda and I got stuck when I tried to hit backspace and just got "^H" in a result. (a) what's the purpose of that (b) how to I undo/try anew?
After a point, but I think a large part of getting a problem is committing maximal time and energy to solving it or "dying"
backtrack = true unless consequence.signifies? :block_end

It doesn't seem that much harder to read.
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I would probably use this as more of a reservation based service. If I'm throwing a party, I might say "I won't want to do the dishes after it", but I probably wouldn't say "That party was long, I wish I could call someone over to do the dishes for me". Doing it with reservations would be easier to manage on your end as well. Having a schedule for someone is much easier than having them be on call.
The given example of "unless myvariable.nil?" is a little bit awkard. In fact, the use of the "unless" keyword is, in my opinion, almost always awkward unless it's postfixed: "do_a_thing unless wait?"

Not only that, but most of the time, the expression could simply be written "if myvariable; ...; end", seeing as the vast majority of the time, we only care if the thing we're testing is falsy.

Ruby does give you the tools to be very expressive, indeed almost conversational in your coding style, but it also gives you enough rope to hang yourself.
Push yourself and get into the habit of using it for your online reading through its bookmarklet. It's been amazing for my reading speed.
As a company that gets 100k resumes a day, they can afford a few false negatives, but no false positives.
Regarding const references for temporaries, the advent of rvalue references allows separation of access control and lifetime:
http://www.artima.com/cppsource/rvalue.html
Is there any available implementation of this (like Hadoop for MapReduce)?
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In my view, it's stupid because it implies that if you're the kind of person that bothers to attempt to commit irrelevant or at best situationally relevant things like this to memory as a matter of course, you probably aren't making optimal use of your mental resources.

I found it pretty ironic actually as that's exactly the kind of thing we have search engines for.
He mocks that you can attach const nearly anywhere in c++ and it seems to do something different. (Note: This is a generalization, an important aspect of many jokes)
If I have an interview scheduled to go through lunch hours and the company does not offer me lunch, that makes a very bad impression on me. To me it's part professional courtesy as well as an indication of how well things are planned. Also, if you are able to lunch with the team, it lets you get to know each other in a less stressful situation.
The first thing I thought of is that if lack of diseases is what has been causing the rise in intelligence, then there's likely to be a ceiling that average intelligence will hit as countries become healthier, rather than some mysterious force continually increasing average intelligence forever. That makes me a little sad.
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