skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
The first time I touched HTML I was ~19 years ago for my middleschool's technology class, where we were to implement a very simple (and ugly) webpage.

Later, in highschool, the first real programming language I learned was Java, and I did some personal projects with that on my own.

After graduating college without any marketable skills in the height of the recession, my sister (a SWE) introduced me to Python and then JavaScript. I weighed my options and found that going into front-end development would be ideal for me; I had an eye for design and it was simple enough to begin. I learned JavaScript through-and-through, but contemporaneously I learned backend web-development (via Python, Django and Flask). When an opportunity at work opened up, I transitioned to doing backend development (of which I was already familiar from personal projects).

Having done both, I do not see why they are mutually exclusive. I think the issue is that most people who call themselves full-stack engineers do not actually fit the description; it sounds like a good thing to label oneself. I see this often with bootcamp grads who know JavaScript only, and can run their code with Node, so they believe that they are now backend developers.

To learn the backend, I built from scratch:
* a simple (and crappy) ORM
* a simple (and crappy) db-backed session system
* a simple form-generator (similar to Django forms, for flask)
* login / user handling (etc)

To learn the frontend, I built a simple single-page-application, using vanilla JavaScript.

I have worked for years doing both backend and frontend development (JS visualizations for SVG/canvas, data-heavy SPAs, backend APIs, Golang services to process data, work with AWS, docker, etc), and I doubt that I am unique. Full-stack developers do exist, though of course one only has so much time and "jack of all trades, master of none" will apply to many.

Many of these new-bootcamp grads build a simple Node web-app without realizing many of the problems (and solutions) inherent in the backend and label themselves full-stack. That's the problem; not that the frontend is somehow too difficult to master, or that the backend is somehow out of reach.
I'm not sure I'd put Terra together with dynamic language JITs. It a low-level statically typed language that is closer to C than to Lua.
You are always at risk of being sued. But if some had listed you directly as a reference you should feel you have more freedom than if you are just listed as a former employer.
I think you're thinking of HR being only able to say that the person worked there in some places.
Not even a patent. Just an application.
Ditto for smartphones. So what if I upgrade every year, when the device I had 5 years ago is still being used by someone else and is fine for their needs?
Or only give your references directly to the potential employer at the end of the interviews.

May as well tell the recruiter this is your intent before hand. There are a great many recruiters in the world and it's worth sorting the good from not so good.
I'm pretty sure it's illegal in the EU unless you provide explicit consent.
You don't have to break a law to be ruled against in civil court (in the US), but I agree with you; I don't see a case here (even checked with a lawyer who happens to be visiting.)
In theory the programming language is independent from the implementation. You could write an alternate implementation if you wanted.

JIT-ness is a concept related to the implementation, not to the language.
The real benefit of federation is that anywhere on the moderation spectrum is possible on a per-instance basis.
You're thinking employment verification, or checking that the places you listed on your work history are correct. As an employer, you open yourself up to litigation if you say anything more than dates and titles. I mean there are stories of employers being called about a past, problematic employee, and saying things like "I could get sued if I told you how their performance was, wink wink." But... :-)

I don't believe in Colorado it is illegal to say anything more, it's just not worth it to risk possible litigation.
Completely agreed. I find it much easier to communicate with specialists like our DBA, or DevOps team, having at least some mid-level experience or knowledge in each different domain.
activitypub needs some kind of a badge/logo for recognition. Like the RSS button.
Why would you ever give references to a recruiter?
They are not employers who have offered you a position you have decided to take.
Does anyone know when Kubernetes will stabilise their IPv6 support? Anyone using / planning to use this in production?
Depends a ton on the role and the company. Every job I've gotten called my references. For at least one of them, the hiring manager told me my references were the tiebreaker between me and another candidate.

> What's the incentive to give an unbiased reference for free? ... it's not my problem and I don't want to be held accountable for the person not getting a job.

Maybe I'm on better, or at least different, terms with the people I've passed on as references. I let them know that I'm applying for jobs ahead, they follow up with me after the call and let me know what questions the hiring company or recruiter asked.

They don't have an "incentive" other than wanting to help make sure the job I'm applying for is a good fit. Maybe a recruiter's questions to a reference throws up red flags that don't come up in a screen or interview that might lead me to back out. Or maybe a recruiter seems focused on a specific skill or experience that I can double down on in prep. Or maybe they just want to know if I'm a good person to manage or work with.

> The truly calculating individual would get a request for a reference and think "wow, I could poach this person from the recruiter by giving them a poor reference and hiring them for less than their market value."

I limit my references to former managers and people who worked with me in different roles than the one I'm applying for. The interview and challenge processes are going to determine if I'm qualified for the job; the references are going to help the recruiter or hiring manager determine if I'm a good fit for the job.

I didn't consciously pick for your reasons because it never crossed my mind that the people I pass on as references — people with whom I stay in regular contact — would actively betray or undermine me in order to get the job that I also applied for. That might be naivety on my part, but I guess it's also harder to get poached in favor of a reference if I'm not using potential competing candidates as references.

To the OP's point, I agree that references shouldn't wind up on a tech recruiting firm's desk from the start (in part because I wouldn't curse being an unsolicited contact of a third-party tech recruiter on my worst enemy). But as a general practice, I've seen repeat value from having reliable references — aside from them also being friends with whom I like staying in touch even when I'm not job hunting.

> I just don't see how references are A Thing. Maybe I'm just cynical.

We probably just apply for different roles at different companies.
You might like Pleroma then: https://pleroma.social

Instance example: https://pleroma.site

One of the nice things about Pleroma is that you can "plug in" different interfaces to it. Each instance already comes with the option of both the Pleroma frontend and the Mastodon one.
One of the devs is also working on a Facebook-like frontend.
Now I understand your angst.

10 months, 5 months, 4 months, 3 months, 3 months, 1yr 4 months, 2 months, 2 yrs 11 months, 4 months, 7 months, 2 yrs 11 months, 5 months, 1 yr 1 months.....
Although I agree with your premise, I think the delivery takes away from your point a bit.

Specifically, you risk people piling on that rsync isn't good enough in the modern world and referencing the comment criticizing Dropbox as being little more than an rsync replacement [1].

Of course, the specific tool one uses is irrelevant. The data synchronization problem may not be well solved, but it has been very well studied, with a remarkable number of good-enough options.

So, no, there isn't just one "sync" button, as the parent comment snarkily suggested, but there may be two, one where you might lose the last N seconds of chat (perhaps temporarily) and another where you lose the ability to chat entirely for those N seconds.

[1] Although it had other criticisms, such as monetization, which are, naturally, ignored.
Agree, and the mess is when an architect thinks they are the head and know better than everyone else. I doubt there would be a mess if the architect said let’s do x and someone said oh no y is a better approach and they lived happily ever after ;)
Well, depending on what you mean by that, it isn't necessarily true.

If you mean "References can say whatever they want without any potential legal ramifications", that's not true. If you say anything that is demonstrably false about the former employee, you can be sued under defamation laws (and, yes, you can lose). Of course what it was that you actually said (and the potential harm done to the former employee) makes a huge difference as to their chances of winning such a lawsuit.

This is one of the reasons many employers have the policy of only confirming that a former employee has in fact worked for the company in the past. Usually it is because their legal team (or for smaller companies, just the lawyer they use) have advised them not to give out anything further.
Debate: Different Flavors of Serverless Marketing – StackSense
Unless your numbers are completely random just for the example, deciding to run an 1,000 hour project with 10 people is a disaster by itself. How would you involve 10 people in a short 3-4 weeks project?
I wish this had Thunderbolt 3, which it doesn’t have (contrary to what the article says I think).

Hopefully the Surface Book 3 will!
You’re assuming that urban is always superior to suburban. There are many who prefer the problems you call out vs the problems with urban centers.
> Employers really, really do not like their employees being paid on the side to dish about the company. And employees were (rightly, I think) hesitant to potentially put their jobs on the line to make a little side cash. In fact, the more exclusive and well-paying the job, the less likely it was worth the risk for insiders to participate. I would imagine The Lobby will face the same problem, especially since it's starting out with a narrow focus on "elite finance" roles, and promising anonymity only goes so far.

I think you skipped this point, or I misunderstood. I work as a management consultant and get regular request to help people (eg is the job something for them, practice interviews, etc). It’s internally encouraged to help in this way, but I’d be extremely hesitant about taking money for it because I don’t think it passes the blush test (couldn’t tell this to a colleague without blushing), and creates wrong incentives (eg there are things about the recruiting process that should not be shared)

Anonymity only strengthens the impression that it’s not ‘kosher’ for me

What are your ither ideas to tackle this? (And perhaps you get sufficient people with just anonymity, that’s fine too :)
Traditionally in the US recruiters know not to call or abuse references, it has been an unwritten rule. Things have gotten a bit sleazier in the last decade or so, you can't trust them as much to stay within what used to be the culturally accepted boundaries. It might be due in part to the considerable increase in recruiters working remotely, they're not being as well policed or screened by their employers.
Yes, getting it via https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=3206004.3206019 does work.

And yes, The PDF link is:

https://dl.acm.org/ft_gateway.cfm?id=3206019&ftid=1981299&dwn=1&CFID=4...3&CFTOKEN=b...F

And the fetched link is:

http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/3210000/3206019/p127-richter.pdf?ip=1.2.3.4&id=3206019&acc=OPEN&key=4...7&__acm__=1...9

And I cut too much in my testing. I did test in new private tabs, but not in new Firefox windows. Not really worth the hassle. But damn, why do the need to put the bloody IP address in the URL?
Does decrypting SSL/TLS violate HIPPA?
My employer has made the decision to decrypt all traffic in the name of security. Since people use various email services to send and receive private information over encrypted channels, does decrypting SSL/TLS fall afoul of HIPPA?

I'm nervous about what this portends. I'm aware plenty of organizations do this in the name of "security", but are we even safe anymore if this is so widespread? I'm now wondering if my ISP does this. Is there a method to determine if your packets have been subjected to DPI?

Thoughts, ideas, and opinions, please.
> What makes you a "senior" engineer?

You've spent enough time designing software that you can take a vague spec, design a solution avoiding common pitfalls and following a very easy path. Then you hand back a prototype followed by a complete and maintainable solution to a happy client.

At that point, your services should no longer be _required_ to keep the product working.
Connecting TGVs is hard, but I’ve done it before from Lausanne to Nantes, through different train stations in Paris no less. Was worth it, since I would have needed a 30-40 minute train trip to Geneva anyways.

Airports are usually outside of the city, train stations are usually inside the city, that is a big deal worth a couple of hours. Geneva airport is a bit more convenient, but if you are coming from Lausanne, it’s still an hour.
HN does get updates occasionally, e.g. the mobile width change that happened a couple of years ago. I suppose there hasn't been a pressing need to make any changes.

If any sweeping redesign occurred the entire userbase would surely be angry.
Check out light phone 2. Might suit you.
> Every bug is an opportunity for a programmer to learn more about computers!

Most bugs I've fixed have taught me relatively little about computers but lots about myself.
Can't you read reviews about a psychologist on the internet before you decide whether or not to go into their office?
Portable Services with systemd
The misunderstanding the author makes is that a Full Stack Engineer is a specialist in all roles. They're not. They're simply Intermediate to Senior in most.

I'd defer to a specialist in essentially every field, but if you require a broad range of work to be done without hiring a half-dozen people, I'm who you're looking for. The best title we have got that kind of experience is Full Stack.

(It's also a well-understood recruiting buzzword you can use to quickly indicate the work you want and the salary you expect.)
> The fundamental problem with corruption, and the reason that corrupt dictatorships do not work in practice

Corrupt dictatorships do work in practice.

They don't work for the common people, but then that's kind of not the point of a corrupt dictatorship.
wren is another language that fits lots of extra data within the "spare" bits within NaNs. http://wren.io/
I've been using mastodon for a few months and it depends on your instance, really. A lot are more "this is the type of people you'd expect here" (tech people, lgbt people, art peopl, etc) but everything that isn't specifically related to that topic is OK. I'm on a semi-political one, because that's what I'd use a platform like that for. But it's not limited to that at all. Some are stricter, some aren't pegged down to a topic, but might be related to a "type" of person. I know some people who have a few accounts, to only share stuff related to that instance. Some people end up running their own instance (although that's easier with pleroma, you could probably run it off a toaster if you wanted to) or just with one or two friends.

there's added value to the local timeline, especially in smaller instances when you've just joined, because it allows you to find like-minded people. If you could do without that the easiest option might be to join a large instance or start your own, but both come with discoverability issues.

In short, no, you don't need to, but you could (just like you can make multiple emails) if it helps you separate stuff
Value based pricing. More willingness to pay for ex-US fares than from anywhere else in the world.
If you haven't seen it yet, JetBrains also has editor support for Kubernetes descriptors, including intra-file references. If you're not using their commercial versions, or just generally want to know how that works, the open source version still works fine: https://github.com/tinselspoon/intellij-kubernetes
Banning federated networks is actually much easier than dealing with an important centralized entity like Facebook or Google. Just ban every node that provides access to illegal content.
Can we stop giving this idiot (John McAfee) free exposure?
If that call led to you being fired you would have a good case to sue for damages from lost income.
One reason is that N-Trig works accurately right to the edge of the screen, but Wacom loses quite a lot of precision near the edge and pressure can behave differently there too. That's why Wacom's own Intuos and Cintiq devices have enormous bevels - the pen sensor continues out further.
Ask HN: Disclosing legal troubles to potential employer
I have been in the process of applying to other jobs, because I am dissatisfied with my current job. In the middle of this process, I got in legal trouble, specifically an alcohol related driving incident. The outcome of this will most likely not affect my ability to work or my performance.

So my question is what should I do? Do I blow off these interviews and stick where I am till this is over? Do I go to interviews and be completely honest? Do potential employers have the right to know about something like this?
After reading the article the statement "I think McDonald's owes Galax, Virginia some kind of debt." is ridiculous. McDonalds kept their side of the bargain and gave the winnings. After that it's the winner's responsibility to be wise with the money. McDonalds owes nothing. Scotty should be (This is my opinion. I have no affiliation with McDonalds)
I don't work with recruiters. 95% of them waste my time and don't bring any value. I don't play those odds.
There are also people who do both. I started out with JavaScript and PHP and do a lot of React/Angular/Laravel stuff. But I have also worked on complex performance-sensitive business systems written in a mixture of C++ and Rust.

My boss at my last job had done the opposite. Coming from a tradtional compsci C/C++ background (many moons ago), he learnt Angular 2 for a frontend project that required it. Both his C++ and frontend code were among the best at our company.

Saying there aren't good fullstack engineers is like saying multi-instrumentalists aren't good musicians. Sure, the very very best violinists probably don't play other instruments at a high level. But the average multi-instrumentalist (who plays the violin) is a lot better than the average violinist.
This is how it works where I lived in Europe. All the big grocery store chains have their own food subscription boxes, and instead of having it delivered home you can also just pick it up at your local supermarket on you way home from work.
A crooter once called my work's front desk asking to speak to me, so he could attempt to entice me into a different position on my work phone.

Crooters give less of a fuck about your personal data than Zuckerberg. Don't let them have more than they absolutely need. Waiting for crooter firms to be hit with the GDPR banhammer.
If I am presented with two contradictory statements, one by an expert and one not, and have no particular reason to believe one or the other, then I'm going to guess the expert is correct. Wouldn't you?
Building complex systems is far from limited to the backend.
Depth to Bedrock and the Formation of the Manhattan Skyline, 1890–1915

New York City historiography holds that Manhattan developed two business centers—downtown and midtown—because the bedrock is close to the surface at these locations, with a bedrock “valley” in between. This article is the first effort to measure the effect of depth to bedrock on construction costs and the location of skyscrapers. We find that while depth to bedrock had a modest effect on costs (up to 7 percent), it had relatively little influence on the location of skyscrapers.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-economic-...
> You don't have to break a law to be ruled against in civil court (in the US)

Yes, you do; civil courts enforce civil law, which is actually law.
I have another point to add to article: reference fatigue. If someone volunteers to be a reference you don't want them to have to talk to more than a few companies. If you are giving them out at the beginning that is potentially a lot of requests.

I've personally never been asked until after on-site but if i had I would do what this article says: offer to do so after on-site and walk away if that's not ok.
Exactly, can you hold a conversation with a machine on a given subject given an ontology and a knowledge graph. It is the sort of holy grail of dialog systems. Dr. Boyd-Graber and CU Boulder had a lab working on these problems while I was with IBM doing something similar in Watson.

The ontology provides a structural linkage for both constraining the conversation and surfacing situations where the conversation has broken down. The knowledge graph provides bounds around the conversation space concepts to insure you don't go off the rails semantically.

"restaurant" and "service business" reservations have nicely constrained ontologies so that you can search them in real time and stay synced.
I wish. My recent task has been writing scripts to set up Postgres on a bare-bones linux server (including all security, software, users, nfs, hot backup servers, etc) and port an Oracle database over to the postgres database and update 1000s of oracle queries to work on postgres.

In my spare time I also had to create some new admin screens and do a bunch of back end work. I also created a bunch of new svg images for the admin screens.

Basically I'm expected to do everything from setting up and managing linux servers, security, install and configure software, set up oracle and postgres databases, do DDL and DML work, write server-side code, write web services, create images and do layout work, write test cases, write html, js, css, and know a bunch of JS libraries like vue, vuex, vue-router, webpack, jest, bluebird, lodash, async, tailwind, scss, etc. ad naseum.
The Surface Book 2 has a 15W CPU in it, which is the power class of the CPU in a Macbook Air. Unless you have a workload that is highly GPU dependent but makes little use of the CPU, the SB2 and MBP aren't even in the same performance class.
They nearly all pull stunts like that.
Well, I'm going to have to disagree with this view, which would suggest scientists alone should direct public policy with no counterbalance or role for the rest of us.
On the other hand...

I've been working as a full-time salaried (insert whatever term you like here for people who write code) for coming up on 13 years now.

This past month, going through the process with a potential new employer, was the first time anyone insisted on contact information for my previous jobs and made any effort to try to check on them. I have worked at both small (startup) and large (household-name) companies, at increasing levels of seniority. None of them ever did that.
>Do they really just tell you to go pound sand when a corporate client asks them for support?

I'm guessing they tell you to call Dell or HP because that's who's responsible for whether hibernation works on their specific machines.
And who's the biggest lobby for keeping them factored out?