skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I got into programming in 4th grade.

I had a sinclair 1000 when I was a kid. http://oldcomputers.net/ts1000.html Yes, $100. NOT a rich family's computer.

Eventually, I got a Commodore 16. $100 also.

Then, when that died and I was crazy about it, I got a Commodore 64. $600. Well, -I- didn't get it. The family did. I had to share with my sister and mother. (Dad didn't care.)

Eventually I got my first IBM-compatible. Again, shared. It was about $2500, if I remember correctly. This was about 10 years after the first computer our house had, I think.

I didn't have other hobbies. There were no expensive lessons or instruments to buy for me. Video games? Atari 2600, then 7800 that were bought used and dirt-cheap.

No, you don't -need- to have a wealthy family to get into programming early.
Yes. Because being old sk00l does count for something.

In fact, I'll go further than that: the graph of payoff vs. practice over age is nonlinear, and the time you spend from 8 to (say) 14 is probably more valuable than the time you spend from (say) 18 to 22.

My friends growing up who coded were writing their own protected mode operating systems, building 3d engines, and modem file transfer protocols. Why? Because that is something that is easier to do when you're too fresh and ignorant to know what a pain building those things turns out to be.

Is the lack of access some 8 year olds have to this uniquely valuable development time a problem? Yes, friend, it is. That's a good argument. Which is exactly why arguments that boil down to the notion that it isn't valuable or a credential are bad arguments.
Businesses need to be more like causes. Causes need to be more like businesses.
Same story here. Our family was poor-- getting evicted was like a family past time. My brother and I were salvaging 8088s and 286s when 486s/Pentiums were selling for an unimaginable amount of $1400. We would dial into the library with our 2400 baud modem-- I designed my geocities homepage offline and then uploaded it using Lynx because it was the only free internet access I could find.
I was a 3+ pack/day smoker for many years. Quit cold-turkey 27 years ago. I had tried Shick (electric shock aversion therapy), some sort of injection, you name it. Just quitting finally worked. Many days of being non-functional, but I've never gone back.
you have "-->" on your frontpage
Having done a bunch of user studies in the past, one of the big issues I've seen is the Hawthorne Effect ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect ) -- just the fact that the user knows they are being watched, they change their behavior so much that the study is irrelevant.

I think GazeHawk has the chance to push usability closer to being unbiased -- very promising!
Ahh, good point. I forgot to update my profile. Thanks for the reminder.
CareerElement.com is hosting a Tech Startup Career Fair at the Stanford Park Hotel in Menlo Park, CA, on August 17th.

You are all invited!

In addition to the companies listed on our registration page, the following companies will also be attending: Ning, Scribd, PlayHaven, and many more!

Here is the registration page for job seekers and startups:
www.careerelement.com/jobfair

Also, for any startup company that registers by this Saturday we will waive the registration fee if you write in that you heard about us on Hacker News!

We are also going to be launching some very exciting things very soon... so keep an eye on us!!
That certainly sucks but it in no way negates the fact that you commented specifically on the part of the article you claim not to have comprehended. I don't have dyslexia and I miss words, sentences and paragraphs too.

I have no specific requirement to know details of your medical conditions, just a comment like "sorry, I missed that sentence" would be fine with no further explanation.

That said, thanks for the courtesy of explaining.
Looks like you beat us to the punch with the article!

Questions and comments are welcome. Thanks everyone!
I switched to both Vim and Dvorak cold turkey at the beginning of this year. (I figured as long as I can't type, might as well be unable to edit things too.) I am not sure if not having prior knowledge of QWERTY Vim makes any difference, but I have seen no downside to using Dvorak. The most common complaint I see--the hjkl thing--isn't even an clear-cut disadvantage. Now they are on two different hands and I think it makes movement faster. Vim commands are all mnemonic, so unless you Vim has penetrated so deep into the subcortex that it's all muscle memory, learning shouldn't be much of a problem.

Definitely gratifying to hear this guy's experience, BTW. I got religion when it comes to Vim. If you spend 8-10 hours a day editing text, it makes sense to put some thought into how you are doing it. Small efficiency gains add up.
This is actually how I code for the most part. I comment out and indent the general structure of the algorithms/structures without the literal code and then when that's done I go back and add the actual language syntax, types, lookups, etc.

This is particularly helpful for developers like me who jump daily between many different languages. It helps me get the design down first and come back and worry about getting into a specific language syntax/mindset only after I've thought through all of the logic and conditions at a high-to-mid level.
Buy 1 get 1 sale at O'Reilly. What are some good startup or tech-related books?
I wouldn't worry about that. "Most popular plan" is marketing-speak for "we think that's the plan most people want". Even if you have 0 users, I wouldn't be shocked.

Do not try to be 100% technically accurate. That leads to long, unreadable text. It's ok to rely on your reader's imagination to convey a message.
The Singularity is Always Steep
Agreed about the route between two points. DailyMile.com does this very well.
Builtwith:  discover what technologies a website uses
Energy is a complex topic, so calculating the actual energy costs to produce something is hard because different forms of energy have different value. EX: heat pumps don't generate energy even though they can output more BTU's than an electric heater.

However, electricity cost to generate other types of energy works as a shortcut to a lot of this stuff. So generally if something costs X$ to manufacture it takes less energy than X$ worth of electricity.

As to being green; PV is not exactly a single technology with a single type of environmental impact. Assuming you recycle the cells, PV can have a very environmentally friendly footprint, but the factory must also take care to avoid a wide range of pollution.

PS: It’s hard to talk about energy without using enthalpy, entropy, and other thermodynamic concepts. If my point is not clear I can try a more detailed explanation.
Once - you are lucky, twice - you are good.
Despite being excessive at points ("disgusting flaunting of privilege") I think the article points out a real problem. In my experience, the only way to fill this gap is to actively--as adult programmers--"bootstrap" the computing lives of lower class children in our communities.

For example, I volunteer with a church ministry that refurbishes old machines, installs Ubuntu, and gives them / grants them to those who need them (we just call it the Hardware Cooperative).

Our last machine went to a child who just turned 10. His family is low-income and their lone computer was a decade old HP running a virus-filled XP that rebooted every few minutes.

We gave him a speedy little box with Edubuntu on it and he was thrilled by it. He took to it immediately and was engrossed by Tux4Kids and more.

Without our donation, it was obvious that he wasn't going to go anywhere with computers on that XP machine. Without us "bootstrapping" the process for him, I don't see how he ever could have developed an interest in computers, but now I'd say there's a fairly big chance.

So yes: check your privilege if you've got it. But more proactively, look to see how you can prevent these kinds of gaps in the future.
I had no idea what a "sha-bang" is. I've plowed through it and I never noticed it. If you're wondering, it's the "#!" magic number at the start of bash scripts. I know, what the hell, right?

There are definite geographic variations on that. I pretty much universally encountered "hash pling" early on, and did a real double take the first time I heard it called something else. Why would anybody raise this in a test, I have no idea.
We've been users of Mogotest since they first launched their beta. Amazing time saver (especially if you dev on a Mac). I run automated tests across three sites as well as on demand after major pushes. It's especially helpful for our IE 6/7/8 testing. I used to keep VMWare open to test IE stuff and it killed my poor MB and was still a pita to have multiple IE versions happy in my test XP image. Haven't opened it in months ... don't miss it at all.

Big props to them on their launch.
Dublin, Ireland
(fulltime, onsite)

We're hiring Rails hackers to join our team. We're a startup team from the US that is working within Paddy Power, an Irish bookmaker. So, you get the pluses and fun of the startup life with the benefits of a 1.3B Euro (and really awesome) company - i.e. no eating ramen noodles unless you want to.

If you're a Rails developer and you're in Ireland, give me a shout to learn more. Email in my HN profile.

http://tbe.taleo.net/NA2/ats/careers/requisition.jsp?org=PAD...
Well, as said quasi-competitor, I don't mind the name drop. ;-)
TextArea - The All-Purpose, All-Platform Editor
The beauty of DEFCON 18 badges
One beef with the article, one with the tone of many of the upvoted replies:

As for the article, I'd argue that the strict ability to afford a computer matters much less than the understanding of why a computer is useful, how to get the most out of it, and even that it can be programmed by kids. Possessing the knowledge that computers can be programmed by kids to do fun and useful things is, I'd argue, correlated with socioeconomic status. Passing that knowledge onto your kids is also correlated with the gender of those kids, it seems.

Of course, the fact that one comes from a privileged position doesn't require an apology. Nobody is asking anyone for a heartfelt "I'm sorry" note, or a reparations check, or whatever. One can be aware of one's position of privilege without being ashamed of it.

I for one fondly remember the feeling of empowerment when I was able to fire up my dad's copy of Visual Basic and create a working facsimile of Blackjack. I was using a real, grown up tool to create real, cool stuff all by myself (well, not really, but it sure felt that way). I'd love to give any kid the chance to feel that sense of limitless power.
Thanks for posting a link. I just added a number of startups from this thread to my company list and will continue to expand coverage.
It is unclear to me what argument this article is trying to make - the headline makes me think it is about getting early access to computers due to rich parents, and it partly is, but then it dives off on a tangent about gender. (Disclaimer: I fit the stereotype of the title exactly, as I am a male who started programming when I was roughly 10 on a computer bought by my parents.)

This is only personal experience, but my family had a computer when I was young (8 or 9, and my siblings are a couple years younger). This was a family computer, not mine personally, and my brother and sister were both exposed to it as well, with equal opportunity to experiment and learn, but neither of them developed an interest in programming or computer technology like I did. There was no gender bias when computer access was given - we all used it on a regular basis. Maybe this is untrue for other families, but my sister had just as much opportunity to uncover computer science aspirations at roughly the same age as me.

I certainly agree with the idea that "class" (or at least parents' foresight in buying computers) influenced my ability to get involved with computers early, but I didn't observe any gender bias in this early exposure. Surely this is becoming even more true with the proliferation of computers in everyday life - if you can use Facebook, you have enough access to learn much more about computers. The only impediment is your curiosity about the topic. Perhaps there are other gender-related factors that determine whether one is likely to be a self-motivated proto-hacker, but computer access doesn't seem to be one of them.
Very impressive. They deserve to succeed for being so clever.

But are there more samples/examples? I can't find any on the site.

At $5 per site viewed, I hope the qualify the viewers! (oh wait it's "up to" $5)

( https://www.gazehawk.com/tester/signup/ )
What's the revenue source for mydunktank? It's not raking in a percentage of the money supposed to go to charity, is it?
My only issue with reading on kindle like devices is the way it changes the page. I don't think I can stand that. I feel like that would bother my eyes.
EDIT: That is the only thing stopping me from buying one.
1) Hitting the ENTER key on my keyboard should submit the search form on the right. Right now I have to click on the Go button with my mouse or tab - space. (FF on Mac)

2) The elevation map is nice, but it would be great if I could click on a part of it and it would show me exactly where on my route that elevation corresponds to. A flashing marker in that spot for a second perhaps.

3) I've seen other similar services place mile markers along the routes. This is a nice feature that won't detract from the simplicity of your site at all.
> I think it is mistaken to assume that poor blacks have it easy

Good for you, but no one is assuming that.
I used to have really yellow teeth because I brushed my teeth really rarely (thank goodness I never smoked). I've had some periods where I brushed them more often but I'd quickly fall back into hopelessness.

Then I hung a small calendar in the bathroom where I cross each day that I brush my teeth, and the "I don't want to break my win streak" feeling is so RIDICULOUSLY compelling that it's been many months now and I brush my teeth almost every day, in fact I didn't miss one day since 1 month and 3 weeks ago.

DON'T underestimate the sheer POWER of "win streaks".

My teeth are almost white now!
I think leaving your comfort zone forces you to grow, so even if you sustain some short-term bruising, the overall growth makes it worth it.

I knew I wanted a career in software, but I figured that out just as I finished a completely unrelated degree (business, as it happened). Eventually I decided I was just going to make it happen somehow, bought some books, and started jamming the knowledge into my head.

It was hard at first, but I really loved it once I got going. Way outside my comfort zone, and I felt a bit insecure posting to forums with my complete newb questions.

After really getting serious, with maybe eight months of coding every day after work building stuff I thought was really cool, I said all right, screw everything, this is for me. I did something terrifying: Gave my boss six months notice and started saving for my move to the west coast.

After I moved, I wanted a break from working for the man. I worked for myself another half a year building iPhone apps, sharpening my skills, and generally having a good time. About the time my savings ran out, a Bay Area startup hired me to do product stuff and now, voila, I'm in the industry.

Funny thing is, I miss writing code so I still do it at night after work.

A lot of time out of my comfort zone but a lot of growth, too. And if I hadn't forced myself to do it, I'd still be stuck in Florida, doing work that didn't really connect with what I care about.

So I dunno, I think if you get the sense you're out of your comfort zone, that's the feeling of your mind straining to grow to meet your new challenges. So far, it has worked well for me.
Yep, it's all open.
Not just for people to see, but for people to join us and make it better.
Demdex is a fun, exciting venture-backed start-up in the Internet advertising industry, based in NYC. We're hiring for a number of roles, but most notably back-end Java engineers (preferably with some Hadoop experience).

http://www.demdex.com/Demdex_careers.html
I highly recommend the pocket reference guides - those things are huge time-savers. I use the LINQ pocket guide constantly and the T-SQL pocket guide is another one I use quite often.
You are probably right that desktop vs. smartphone matters. And perhaps the amount of people and the amount they benefit doesn't weigh against the additional battery usage. The best solution would be if you could simply switch between color schemes at will (and set a personal default).

This page [1] suggests that most studies are even from before 'the web' (but from when is the page?). It has the quote by Jakob Nielsen that formed my opinion back when, from his well known 'Designing web usability':

Use colors with high contrast between the text and the background.
Optimal legibility requires black text on white background (so-called
positive text). White text on a black background (negative text) is almost as
good. Although the contrast ratio is the same as for positive text, the
inverted color scheme throws people off a little and slows their reading
slightly. Legibility suffers much more for color schemes that make the text
any lighter than pure black, especially if the background is made any
darker than pure white (Nielsen 2000, p 125)

I don't own the book and can't check on his sources, but Nielsen generally bases such advise on research. Anyway, all I'm saying is that they may have simply thought to be improving their app, not necessarily to increase the shinyness.

[1] http://web.mst.edu/~rhall/web_design/color_readability.html
Atlanta, GA

Neybor.com

We are bringing real estate into the future. Out platform includes a custom geospatial database, a crowd-sourced neighborhood boundary system, virtual tour platform, syndication engine, property search, and a mobile/location platform (like Foursquare) but specifically for real estate. We also power the online real estate section for small newspapers.

We are a small but great team always looking for engineers to join the team. Almost everything we do touches PHP, Ruby/Rails, Postgres/PostGIS, Mobile (HTML5 and Cocoa) and Javascript. We also need UX help. Of course there's much more, but that's the bulk of it.

If you love hacking, learning, and getting things done that real people use, and particularly if you think real estate needs a makeover, contact us!

We're also on the lookout for a strong marketing type to grow our pipeline.
One power supply for the motherboard and 3 banks of drives, one power supply for the rest of the drives. So either power supply fails and you're down. Obviously you would need to buy them in pairs. The article doesn't mention the cost of interconnecting all this stuff. I also wonder if they have thermal issues. It doesn't look great for storage of data that is frequently used, but for archival storage that is less hassle to access than tape.
I don't feel the need myself, because the "really really good" ones I share out to Google Reader (one click via the lovely shareaholic Firefox extension), which reduces the pool to search from (and of course is easier to search). And I could star it there, if I needed.

Of course that is not an HN-only solution, but that is an advantage (months later I don't necessarily remember where I encountered a story).

YMMV, of course.
In what world do you live in that honing a skill for 10 years longer than someone else counts for nothing?

In fact, as computing moves forward, I believe the amount of insight gleaned in the early years of programming decreases. I think I would be farther along in my knowledge of programming and CS if I had started with assembly instead of BASIC. So I think being 'old sk00l' counts for quite a lot.
How often do you turn the page? Can't you shut your eyes for that half-second if it bothers you?
Pastebin, compiler, and debugger supporting 40+ languages
Might be as good as Old Spice Marketing...pleaseshutup.com
How to fix iOS 4 performance on the iPhone 3G? Disable Spotlight
Anyone try this and see a performance increase?
How Low Will E-Reader Prices Go?
> If you are president of 4H and want to go into some sort of agricultural field, what they hell are you going to do at Harvard or Yale anyway?

They don't do biology at Harvard?

4H isn't specific to future farmers. (Heck, Future Farmers of America, aka, FFA, isn't specific to future farmers.)

If you're going to argue that a specific kind of discrimination is rational, shouldn't you actually know what you're talking about?
My point is that airlines that provide bad customer service today are going to continue to provide bad customer service tomorrow, because if you can build a culture that countenances bad service in a commodity service-based industry, you will never be able to do service right. See: retail banking.

The corollary to my point is as follows: it is silly to blame SWA --- which provides exceptional customer service for an airline --- for problems at (say) Delta. The problem is that Delta is genetically incapable of providing good customer service, not that SWA is tweaking their contracts.
Interesting how many of the comments in this thread take the form of "This article is bullshit! I started coding when I was eight because I got my first computer by way of [something other than privilege or affluence]."

Because if you've been coding since you were eight then you should probably know by now the difference between anecdotes and data.

[Full disclosure: I did my first hacking with BASIC and Rexx at around seven or eight because my parents were wealthy enough to afford an Amiga 500--but this experience would never inspire me to write an article claiming that everyone who started coding at a young age must have come from similar socioeconomic conditions.]
Yeah, I made it a habit to start entering a query by typing 'WHERE', before anything else.
I wouldn't expect even the privileged to apologize. It's awesome that some people were able to shake up the world of computers sooner, otherwise, we wouldn't have what we have. It's people taking advantage of what they can get that ends up producing some great stuff. So I'm a little late to the party? Doesn't mean the party isn't going to be awesome in my book!
I have the impression that if I complained about an SWA employee to SWA, it would matter. On the other hand, complaining about a Delta employee seems like an utter waste of time.
Thanks for the trial minutes of SL from PyCon, I still have mine and I'm having a hard time using them. :-(

Most of what I want to test is internal and I don't have the political clout/intestinal fortitude to get it exposed enough for SL to see it.
Did you read the article?

"What if a network devoted one week, maybe in early summertime, to airing all its pilots for the fall season, with viewers voting on their favorites? You turn your otherwise failed pilots into content for a weeklong American Idol-style competition"
I'm meeting with my boss in 2.5 hours.

Who says software engineers are deadline driven, eh? :-)

I was thinking that I'd take a 50k reduction in salary for 25% equity in the new company.

I don't really know the answer to your question, but my gut reaction is that you shouldn't start off by offering the cut in salary - ask for equity in exchange for "running it like your own business". I mean what's the worse that can happen.
Safari Extension for Hacker News?
I'd like an extension like this one for reddit, but designed for hacker news:
http://www.macosxtips.co.uk/extensions/#reddit
"This extension takes you to the reddit comments for the current page. If the page hasn't been submitted to reddit, it takes you to the submission page and fills out the details for you."

does such a thing already exist?
Would you mind if I talk with you over e-mail? I've been applying to Rackspace (San Antonio) but I'm having trouble catching anyone's eye. How'd you do it?

I don't see an e-mail address in your profile, but if you don't mind talking with me, my e-mail address is davidkellis@gmail.com.

Thanks,

David