skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
You are trying to learn how to program, but many people are suggesting that you should pick a language based on what you plan on doing with the language. I don't think that should be your primary consideration. The primary consideration should be the quality of introductory material in that language. I think you'll find most material to be in Java, followed by C++ and Python.

Assuming you want to do web programming, I would suggest you start with Python as your first language. It has quality introductory material[1] and is widely used for web programming, as well as many other tasks. There is less complicated syntax that you have to ignore while learning how to program compared to Java and C++, and is generally regarded as a Better Language. Even if you weren't planning on doing web programming, Python would still be my suggestion for a first language. I'd only suggest anything different if your main concern was getting a generic programming job, in which case Java would be a better idea.

I feel like JavaScript would be a particularly poor choice as a first language since most introductory JavaScript material isn't trying to teach how to program; it typically teaches how to manipulate web pages. As a new programmer yourself, it will be harder to judge what texts you should pick from those that are available.

If you start out trying to learn how to program web applications instead of learning how to program in general, you'll be selling yourself short. Your code will be worse and it will be more difficult to figure out how to solve atypical problems that a web framework hasn't solved for you. Don't do it.

[1] Or so I hear. I haven't read introductory material in years, and then it was C++. Try How to Think Like a (Python) Programmer: http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/
Was thinking of making a file system notification observer to auto-add changed files to a git index on an external drive or server. Like Time Machine on a micro scale.

It would be handy in a game development context for artists, who often edit scores of assets at a time and chafe at programmer-style version control. Thoughts?
Akamai is moving towards P2P CDN too. Not as a replacement to what they have, obviously, but still it's indicative of the overall trends in CDN segment.
I use provigil when I'm on a work bender or playing poker. Helps a lot, no increase in anxiety, in fact I barely notice I've taken it except for the fact that concentration/focus is through the roof.

As most everyone knows, I'm a total stoner, so I won't get into that except to state that it's been nothing but positive on the quality of my work as well as quantity. But there is direct causality with the quality and variety of bud in question.

I don't drink alcohol, nor do I do any other drugs. Although I did a lion's share of ecstasy and LSD back in the early 90's.
Why Gen Y Is Going to Change the Web
> I think this is an issue of perception.

Exactly. So all there's needed is to tell them there's a traditional CDN framework in a hot standby, just in case this novel ultra low cost CDN experiences any operational problems.
Famous People Who Have Failed (short video)
Yahoo! frees the Monkey, and announces prizes for a Developer Challenge
> The server at www.techcrunch.com is taking too long to respond.

Perhaps it's TechCrunch that should be fired. The site responds less often that Twitter.
Depends what you're interests are. Documentation is usually poor to non-existent in most open source projects (at least initially). I would argue that good user documentation at an early stage can mean the difference between a successful project and a ho-hum project. I wrote the first Asterisk Management Portal Installation Guide (AMP was a precursor to FreePBX) and I can tell you that that guide made a huge difference.

If you like to code, submit patches. Your patches will be scrutinized but that will make you a better programmer. Eventually you might get contributor status if your patches/code is solid.

If you like to help people there are always novices that will ask the questions that people who have been in the project for awhile will ignore because they've heard them a million times (because there's no good documentation).

Cheers
The url I see is: http://www.scribd.com/vacuum?url=http://www.soi.city.ac.uk/~...

so, I used whatever is after "?url="
8 Things You Should Know About Amazon EC2
Robotic suit could usher in super soldier era
Much much more of the same here:

http://www.erowid.org/experiences/subs/exp_Modafinil.shtml

The quality of these reports is uneven, but the quantity should give you a better sample (especially if you want to know what happens when you mix it with Adderall, metadone, ecstasy, mushrooms, etc.)
Man: (calling in panic) Doctor, I ate Viagra but I can't find my wife anywhere.
Doc: Don't you have a maid?
Man: Come on doc, I don't need Viagra when I'm with the maid.

May be the problem lies elsewhere.
If you are interested in search engines you can check out our project, http://hounder.org

The project is relatively mature and stable (three years old, deployed on some high-traffic sites). We are looking to gain some community traction, so there is a lot to do besides writing code and documentation. We definitely could use some help!
I think it's ten orders of magnitude easier to say "do something new," than it is to actually do something new. It's tempting to believe that prodigies burn themselves out because they get cynical about the "rat race", but many burn themselves out by trying to revolutionize the world at a young age, without realizing that the world is a damned hard place to revolutionize. (You can see this phenomenon in the kid in the cited article -- he's ten, and already convinced that he's going to revolutionize a branch of astrophysics. That's a dangerous kind of immodesty.)

Obviously, it's good to strive for creativity and novelty in your work, but you also have to maintain a sense of perspective: if you've set your goals so high that your definition of "achievement" is isomorphic to "originality", then you're probably in for a lifetime of disappointment. It's a hard problem to be original -- there are a lot of other people in the world, and most of them are trying to be original, too. In fact, being original is a lot like being famous, because you can strive for it, but your success is largely determined by what other people do; it's probably bad to condition your self-esteem on the actions of other people.

For what it's worth, here's my half-formed philosophy: you have to do whatever it is that gives you a sense of personal satisfaction and contentment. Your accomplishments don't have to be great; they don't have to be original; they don't have to make you famous. As long as you can look in the mirror in the morning and feel excitement about the day, you're doing pretty well.
"I think it’s a stupid thing to do, because you shouldn’t ever take drugs you don’t need."

Amen sister.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo_effect
Social media marketing might have a limited future
I think the idea here is to sell it, not run it. So the main qualification of the new board would be: can phone MSFT and ask them to again offer $33/share.
Do you mean something like TortoiseGit, if you were in Windows?
the author can improve this article greatly by learning how to spell the name of the drug.

perhaps there are some side-effects that affect the ability to read and write.
Slack is a form of theft.
1. Notice something that bothers you.
2. Fix it!
3. Profit???
Like schtog said, I think python is a great choice. You can easily write programs that actually _do_ things without having to get too deep into the ugly details.

Most of all, write programs that are fun. For my third year software engineering class we wrote a 3D implementation of bomberman. It was a blast to write and I still hack on it now and then to add crazy over the top powerups.

Also, it looks like you've found a good place to get your news from. Being aware of cool new projects / languages / ideas is always a good thing.
And which CL would you recommend the Padawan Hacker use? Oh, that's right there isn't a majority view on this... hence no standard CL to point people towards.
He says it's been tested relative to placebo (I imagine only for its on-label use).
Anyone know how this compares with 'Javascript: The Good Parts'?
Imp is right, that's a terrible book for someone just getting started. I'd recommend "How to Think Like a (Python) Programmer" available on the web here: http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/

O'Reilly's Learning Python is also an excellent learning tool for the language.
Sorry, but how is that different to sending all notification events to all users? You are still sending all notification events to all users, whether you do it lazily or not!
So CDNs may lose some customers that use Flash, but that's about it. This doesn't help anyone who just wants standard HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and images.
PingMyCompany has new features & a blog
The first time through a Bachelor's program I made the same mistake. I wanted so much to get out of school and head into the business world. The result was a finance degree and an intense urge to go back to school to pursue math and computer science. Now I am going back to pursue those two at Bowling Green, and I will not make the same mistake again.
Ask HN: Why be an option/futures/day trader when it is zero-sum?
Many very intelligent people whom I admire, such as Nicholas Taleb, are speculators. But isn't it very irrational considering that it is provably zero-sum? I also would have moral qualms about doing it as well considering that I am not using my energies to produce wealth in any meaningful way.

Nicholas Taleb talks about jobs that "scale well". But isn't it more important to have jobs that are non-zero sum? If you have a job that is zero-sum, you have to keep working to stay ahead, whereas if you have a job that is less competitive you can relax. There will always be jobs available even for bad programmers because they at least create some wealth, whereas bad speculators would quickly lose their money and bad baseball players would starve in the streets.

I think it is as a rule irrational to enter a zero-sum game. When you enter the game, you are assuming that you are better than at least half of the other players. But everyone else is thinking the same thing. Clearly someone has to be wrong, and is going to be sorry. Is there any reason to believe that it is not you?

What do you think about this? I have been thinking a bit about getting into option trading, if you have any experience with it, please share.
I appreciate the bluntness (excuse the pun) of your post. This issue is very difficult to talk about on a public forum such as this due to legalities and individuals' preconceived notions. It is interesting to see your specific experiences with these substances.
Probably not. Does TortoiseGit commit every time a file changes?
Web Developer and FireBug for FireFox are the best way I know of to discover the inner workings of a web page.

FireBug even has a javascript REPL built in!
I'm somewhat unsure about the 'online pharmacy' thing. Has anyone here ordered Provigil from an online pharmacy that ships to Europe? How do you evaluate these pharmacies? I don't want to get misslabeled pills etc...
Somehow this part of the article bothered me:
"But isn’t that cheating? What’s the difference between Progivil for students and steroids for athletes?"

Is it cheating for tall people to play basketball? Should smart people take a drug to make them stupid for a test - to make things "fair"? If provigil really doesn't have long term negative effects it seems to me like it should be welcomed.

Using technology to change our natural abilities seems to evoke a certain amount of fear. More so than is explained by fear of potential negative long term effects. Why should that be?
As long as your comments contribute to the discussion about your submission, the community here is pretty reasonable. Also, they seem to be pretty good about downmodding comments that are unreasonable or otherwise unhelpful - so if you 'step out of line' someone is always happy to let you know.
In your example the assumptions you make seem to be along the lines that there is a fixed workforce. New candidates enter the market every year. Assuming that the collective whole of graduating seniors from the universities are normally distributed in ability, you are always going to hire a group of people who ultimately will flesh out your bottom 10% even if it is not readily apparent in their first few years of employment.
yep, you're right. sorry.
The API you're talking about is authenticated SMTP. I think he's just talking about setting the From: header.

I've seen both approaches - but it seems clear you'll get a better response using the individual's email.
Programmers Get Ripped Off by VC backed Firm
Ah, that's why results for it were sparse on Google.

It's Provigil, not Progivil.
hey, were going to be going open source in a few months. would love to get you involved early on. ping me: jason [at] publictivity.com
Looking for a chat software to run on my site
Hi guys. I would like to run a chat software on my site. Think of one of those old fashioned AOL public chat rooms. The key requirement being that it should integrate with my mysql users tables in order to manage authentication. I had been using this one: http://tufat.com/s_flash_chat_chatroom.htm but its not mature enough for more than 20+ simulatenous users. Anyone have any tips?
Don't some people, especially big organizations buy options/futures as hedges for another investment?... so it might not be a true zero sum game in the sense that some of the players aren't really playing to win.. they are just putting money in for insurance
> There's simply no way a large blue chip will be happy with the design philosophy of p2p delivery.

Maybe they'd start crying about piracy upon hearing the term "p2p" ?
Facebook Bans Google Friend Connect
Side effects include dyslexia?
If you build something they should want it but don't, then you have 2 problems, building it and convincing them that they should want it.

Since the former is difficult and the latter is very difficult, I'd just stick to building something they know they want.

How do you know what that is? Ask them. People aren't bashful when their hair is on fire.
Mosso Updates Pricing Structure; A Better Model for Cloud Computing?
"As with any drug, Provigil has side effects. According to the [UK govt], the list is substantial, including nervousness, insomnia, excitation, irritability, tremors, dizziness and headaches. It may also cause "gastrointestinal disturbances", including nausea and abdominal pain, dry mouth, loss of appetite and cardiovascular effects such as high blood pressure, palpitations and tachycardia - a fast heart beat."

http://education.guardian.co.uk/higher/research/story/0,,127...

Still tempting for hitting immediate deadlines, but I'd be very reluctant to use it long-term.
Replace 'take drugs' with 'eat food', 'write software', 'go on runs', 'learn skills'.

Now also define 'need'.

I think blanket statements like this are ignorant. The vast majority of the population takes drugs they don't need, if you define drinking coffee/tea (for caffeine) or smoking or drinking alcohol as taking drugs.
You are right, we are very off topic now :) back to Arc.
The Monkey is Out of the Bag: Yahoo! Opens Search Developer Platform
While I certainly appreciate that you are sharing knowledge, I hope you will understand that I am a bit skeptical because I don't have first hand experience. So, entrepreneurs in Amsterdam should, on the average, be more productive than, say, those in Silicon Valley?

( Please don't take this as an assholic comment though it sounds like that. Just curious... Also see my startup angle ;) )
Who's Watching Your Videos? YouTube Now Offers Free Demographics
I've been experimenting with "smart drugs" (nootropics) for a few weeks. Piracetam, vinpocetine, aniracetam, inositol and choline. Varying effects, so far. Ranging from the equivalent of a cup of coffee (without the stimulant side effects), to extremely different "brain feels". None of them have (so far- I'm still experimenting) changed my productivity or memory drastically.

I don't view it as anything other than an experiment to see if my brain is underachieving in its normal state. So far, I'm reasonably satisfied with the conclusion.

I'd like to try provigil, but it is prescription only. Is there any way to get it semi-legally without a prescription?
ISlsk Brings Filesharing to the iPhone
Information:
A way of checking and tracking the actual polling processes of published opinion polls, including exact questions asked and calculations of margin of error. A way of tracking your person diets intake of different ingredient types, (transfats, hfcs, etc.) and rank health impacts. Meshes of lobbyists, industries, politicians involved in each vote. I can think of many more places where people should want more information but don't.
You guys are talking past each other.

One of you is talking about a standard in the true sense (such as an ANSI Standard, which Lisp has in spades) and one of you is talking about a canonical/standardIZED IMPLEMENTATION (which Lisp doesn't technically have.) So, everyone can follow the actual ANSI Standard for CL. And if you're looking for a standardized open-source implementation, you should just choose SBCL ;-) Either way, you should be Lisping instead of arguing.
The irrationality you are referring to is called the self-serving bias (SSB). I wrote a thesis on overconfidence for my master in behavioral economics, and the two are related. SSB is a well-documented bias. For instance, 90% of American drivers think they are in the top 50%. It's hard for people to fully appreciate this fact. Allow me to illustrate. Do you still consider yourself, even after reading this statistic, to be in the bottom 50% of drivers? If so, then you're a minority, my friend ;-) (10%, to be exact)
This is human nature. It happens everywhere, the most commonplace example is a lottery ticket: that is a negative sum game. Venture capital is also a negative sum game (EDIT: I'm actually not sure about this, the winnings of top VCs might outweigh the losses of the majority).

Risk hungry people will pay a premium for increased upside. For example, they will prefer a win 20-lose 30 game over a win 10-lose 0, because 20 > 10.
Thoughts on Privacy [Facebook Developers]
Being a quant has a certain appeal, but nothing (to me) is as appealing as creating tools that people use to accomplish things.

Gambling on anticipating/creating the future is not an easy way to make money. However I agree that there is no wealth creation resulting from this (the increased liquidity of the market due to new kinds of derivatives may increase the efficiency of the market, but I think you are talking about "simple" trading.)
For a complete newbie, the Zelle book is probably even better. I think it is called "An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python." MIT and a few other schools use it now, but it is a very gentle introduction.

HTDP.org is also really good if you go the Scheme route instead.
But it is not going to happen anytime soon without a major breakthrough in battery technology. I don't know much about battery technology except that I keep hearing the challenges are tremendous. I dream of the little walnut sized atomic power plants Asimov described in the Foundation books.

From the article:

"Before the technology can become practical, the developers must overcome cost barriers and extend the suit's battery life. Jameson was tethered to power cords during his demonstration because the current battery lasts just 30 minutes."
Try humping multiple kilometers through mountain ranges on provigil on a 3-day training mission. It was one of the worst things I've had to do. Being tired and being in a state of living death because of drugs are bad. Drugs are bad, kids, mmmmkay?
> "You get about 16MB of persistent info that will stick with your instance"

This is inaccurate. While bundling an image, you can specify its size (max 10GB), http://docs.amazonwebservices.com/AWSEC2/2008-02-01/Develope.... The unused space is the free space in the root file system.

It's a very bad idea to keep only 16MB free - it does fill up pretty quickly.
this is useful, thanks
You are making the assumption that teamwork is not a metric on which people are scored.
I guess this post could be summarized as:

The Restaurant: your website is the final destination

The Taxi: your website is the means of getting there

There are thousands of restaurants, but not many taxi companies. The more lucrative business is the taxi company.
While most of the general people like well insulated airplanes with reclining leather seats and other nice features, most of us here like stripped down fighter jets that can steer like a ninja. (oops, got carried away)

Scribd is a great product, but it is not suitable for PDFs posted in Hacker News, may be?
Microsoft Claims Victory in Next-Generation Console Wars | Tech Jaws
Provigil, the brand name of the drug Modafinil, is unfortunately illegal to import without a prescription in the United States. [1]

And strange side effects listed... "PROVIGIL may cause you to have a serious rash or a serious allergic reaction that may result in hospitalization or be life-threatening. If you develop a rash, hives, sores, swelling, or trouble swallowing or breathing, stop taking PROVIGIL and call your doctor right away or get emergency treatment." [2]

Lastly, more side effects: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=provigil+more:drug_...

Interesting drug. Sounds great, but I wouldn't take it, though.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modafinil#Legal_status

[2] http://www.provigil.com/pat/important-safety-info.html
I referenced Feynman at the bottom of my article. http://scienceblogs.com/thescian/2008/03/what_are_worthwhile...

Perhaps I should have described another trap. It is too easy to grow up with the sense that one should work on only grand things.

"The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. [...] No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it."
I often wonder whether or not one could get similar effects through meditation. When I was doing regular Buddhist meditation exercises, I felt that I had an increased level of concentration. The disadvantages are that meditation is much harder than taking a pill and the effects might not be as strong. The advantages are that meditation has no harmful long-term side effects and has much longer lasting positive effects than any drug that temporarily alters brain chemistry. Meditation causes long-term changes in brain structure and function.
No funding yet?...a guide to kick-ass summer jobs. Worth bookmarking....just in case : )
"I am a firm believer that regardless of your end goals to really learn programming one must start at the beginning."

Absolutely - I've never met a hacker who didn't know the fundamentals.
http://www.drugbuyers.com/freeboard/ubbthreads.php/ubb/cfrm

Basically Modafanil is really hard to get in the USA without a legitimate prescription because the DEA/customs are really good about finding scheduled drugs in the mail. In the USA you will probably need to do a service where you pay an online pharmacist/doctor to do a consultation and prescribe you the medication.

Europe is easier.