skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Sorry to be really anal and pedantic, but you can have more than 1 language in a .Net DLL (assembly). You compile the code for each language to a .Net module, then bind these together with a manifest into a .Net assembly. I told you it was anal.
wonderfully said!
How does seaside help with that? Do you code all of the client logic in Smalltalk instead of Javascript?
"What are these people thinking? Why are they going to VCs for venture capital to write social networking sites in Ruby on Rails? The whole point of Ruby on Rails is it gives you the ability to write applications without VC funding! That's what it was invented for!"
Y Combinator is Dead. Why? Because all the little MeToo Point Oh companies it funded aren't making any money. So Paul Graham writes this article practically daring Microsoft to buy all Web 2.0 companies in the valley, hoping that a couple of his little darlings will also be scooped up. We should all be screaming "shill".
Well, there is that. I spend rather more time gloating about my Macs than I should, I suppose, and much of the gloating is about antivirus suckage for the Windows boxes. :)
The poverty of analysis and thought in this essay is best illustrated by the sentence:

"There can only be one big man in town, and they're clearly it."

I love reading the "Microsoft is dead" stories - there has been about 1 a year for the last 10 years or so.

I remember when Netscape was going to rule the world - or AOL.

I even recall that people seriously thought that a Palm Pilot would slay the giant.

Oh how we laughed!

And just because your tiny geek-chic niche all uses Macs doesn't mean that everyone does.

Nor does using a Mac make you A) cooler B) smarter C) more attractive to the opposite sex D) more creative or E) qualified to make sweeping generalizations about industries and business you apparently know little about.

Other than that, very interesting.
Wow, it may be the first time someone's read my weblog! Good post yourself though, thanks.
Starting a startup outside Silicon Valley
interesting interview that would have been much more interesting if they'd used typography that made it readable.
Great article. The demo works. What language was used?
We use Allegro Serve's webactions, though we've customized (bypassed) it to the point where we now only use their session feature.
How many developers of startups do you know who actually use a browser based IDE ?

There are a couple and they only suck a bit, but they don't compare to the desktop ones.

I don't use a browser based text editor when I want to make a quick note. Actually a couple of my friends do with google docs - but not too many.

For the apps I use everyday, the browser sucks. It's not just latency, although this is a big contributor to why web apps feel sucky and clunky, but the browser just isn't a very good platform for rich applciations.

The google integration between their applications is very good, and getting better, but it isn't enough to make me forget that the interface sucks...
Yeah, make only hits. Make only products that will sell by millions. Only concentrate on winners.

"A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them." ~ Steve Jobs
Why not use a database?
Someone who's IQ is reasonably high will still say uninformed things. Also, IQ does not change with age... so a 14 year old with a high IQ would fit right into your "elite community" and immediately spoil the party due to their lack of maturity.

Why not just form a blacklist of "stupid IPs". Keep your input productive... or die.
As an open-source developer (with Python) who uses Windows, Microsoft and their actions hardly ever seemed to feature in the things I was interested in or that were important to me.

That actually changed when I got a job developing an application with IronPython (an open-source implementation of Python for .NET - funded by Microsoft).

Now I actually use .NET, and I have to admit that it isn't bad. Generally a sane API, and C# is nicer than Java.

Still, when I develop my own projects I use cPython, and Microsoft is now 'slightly; relevant whereas for the last few years they have seemed completely irrelevant.
From my two years at university, I've had interesting conversations with friends specifically about starting something.

Here's the problem: from what people hear in the media, college folks have this idea that START UP = GET-RICH-QUICK. And on that basis, it is not hard to get someone to be your cofounder. Of course, then I explain to them that while this could make us really rich, it also has tremendous risk and that I start start-ups FIRSTLY because it is my passion before anything else. At that point, almost everyone I know just finds it easier to maintain their good GPA instead of risk their GPA and degree for a start-up.

A good test I have is asking someone what they would do if they are taking an exam and find out midway through that their high traffic server and website is down.
Started out with Ruby on Rails, changed to Python (pylons) + mako + toscawidgets + postgres for more flexibility. Considering giving Common Lisp (Uncommon Web) a try, but the documentation scared the heck out of me.
Go to India
Drink, Party and start a new Company. Maybe move to a cheap warm country
Sure epinions would be a closer comparison to us, because we do allow user reviews.

Our approach though, is mostly to let people submit links to outside reviews. There will always be CNet & engadget (and these will be submitted), but what we're hoping for is a place to help people find reliable reviews from lesser known sites like audioholics, i4u, GSM arena, or the hundreds or thousands of tech blogs like digitalconsistency.com that pop up all the time.

Forming a user-driven centralized hub for consumer electronic reviews from all over the web.
I absolutely agree. I would start another one. Not so much because I want to sell it. I have all these ideas that I have written down and I want to have an opportunity to do them. Because they're your babies and you want to give them ALL life. It's always hardest to decide which one to do now and which ones to pursue later...
Here's a detailed link on setting up a scheme server (perhaps more detailed than many system admins would need). I'd err towards mod_lisp under Apache rather than run SISC Scheme under Tomcat, but this is a pleasant read:
http://www.lisperati.com/quick.html
Simply not displaying who rated you up or down (just like on here) is the first step towards that.

That is definitely something that has been a consideration since day one though. Epinioins was widely disqualified as a reputable source because people formed such "cartels" to take advantage of their paid review model.
That was fun. I just started a game with the others there called "kill purple." I wrote that in the chat and then started drawing in purple. Other colors then squashed me.

This could end up being top productivity killer. Put the power of perezhilton.com in the hands of the people. Oy!
What a small view of the world you have. So, since all you see are macs therefore MS is dead. This also resembles the all I see is linux so MS is dead to. LOL. It's 2007, Why is MS still in business then? MS keeps moving forward. The battle ground is not the os anymore but what you will do with it. I do not see Apple creating there version of .NET and getting the largest amount of developers on board to work with it. Linux has a long way to go before Gradma can use it daily, Many gradmas ARE using MS to blog, share pics and more everyday. And once the other contenders get to that point, it will gradmas PROGRAMMING for windows. So say what you like. You know deep down they can't beat MS, MS will just adapt and create a more compelling reason for the majority to work with them. There is room for everyone. Just a bigger room is needed for Microsoft!
How far to the future should a startup look?
Best advice I've heard about what to do after selling your company is to first get your first one off the ground. If you want to go to Disneyland copy the http://www.twiddla.com/ guys and sell it a week later on sitepoint. That ought to get you enough for a week in LA.
I'm currently doing a bit of financial planning for our startup - nothing serious just playing with some numbers to see how much money we'd burn if we hired a few more people and how much longer that means we could last for.

A question I'm interested in getting opinions on is how much "runway" a startup should typically look at having at any one time. This isn't really something I've personally paid attention to before but I want to give it at least some thought before I move back onto important stuff.

Perspectives welcome.
I like .NET Framework..... However, be vigilant about perf!
LISP is cool!! I did it 10 years ago.... but keep confusing it with ML and Prolog.... :-|
How to Optimize Rank Data in MySQL
I hadn't heard of kpax before. Their documentation is missing on their website. Do you know the features and positive reasons to use it?
well with Microsoft holding a good 90% of the desktop market and most schools only have classes for Microsoft software i just don't see Microsoft as dead and not anything in the near future

this article was well just a bunch of FUD
Isn't this a little premature? I mean, except for PG, dshah, and perhaps a few other lurkers, very few of us have sold (or statistically, are likely to sell) a company.

That said, I'd probably work on some of the other ideas I've had. Ones that are arguably more useful and more world-changing, but have little or no revenue potential.
if you're thinking of developing a web app in lisp but haven't looked at python or ruby, you might consider them -- remember, it's not just the raw language but also the surrounding infrastructure, and python (django, turbogears) and ruby (rails) have arguably much more developed frameworks, and also arguably have most of the interesting language features that would draw you to lisp in the first place.

the point is the language is only one piece of the equation -- you want to be spending your time developing your app, not rolling your own supporting elements (templating systems, init scripts, form validators, sql bindings/mappers, etc.) and of course i'm sure others will point out reddit's switch from lisp to python.
Does YC only invest in ventures planning on liquidity events, or are they open to ventures that only plan on becoming profitable and paying dividends?
Here's an overview of different approaches: http://bc.tech.coop/blog/041017.html

And here's a list of different web server resources: http://www.cl-user.net/asp/tags/web-servers
Does anyone else get tired of "What are these people thinking?" comments? Or anyone with an "I have all the answers, everyone else must be crazy or a moron because christ look at what they're doing" attitude?

People use Ruby on Rails and still go after VC funding might just do so because they need it.

Or maybe not! Maybe they want some sort of prestige, or maybe they're scared, or maybe they just want the experience. Who cares?

There is such a loud din on the Internet about the right method to follow, or in this case the right "wheels" and the right "car". Most of these articles do not reference any real supporting research, but instead rely on the author's vague intuition. The author of this article, Giles Bowkett, is talking about people who haven't failed yet - so who's to say if their picking up a serial entrepreneur founder wasn't a wise decision?

My computer chair advice: use your own brain. Precisely identify the problems you need to solve and the questions you need to answer.

For example, one of my problems is that it's difficult for me to focus on side projects in my spare time while doing client work. To solve this problem I'll need seed funding so that I won't have to do client work while I work on the project I really want to do. Thus, I've applied to ycombinator (and have experienced 7 days of stomach churning apprehension hoping I'll be accepted). This doesn't make me illiterate, nor does it mean I have to go memorize Getting Real. It just means I'm relying on my own judgment.
Very true about the first statement. But I asked to see what people's aspirations in life are. If money wasn't an issue and you could have everything you want, what would you do with your time? I often ask myself this so as to know that I am always following my hopes and dreams rather than following money.
This sounds like someone took Gmail Paper -- http://mail.google.com/mail/help/paper/index.html -- a bit too seriously.
I think it depends at what stage you are. If you are at the beginning then the answer is in the (conservative) estimate of how long it will take you to start getting some real money in. This can be very tricky to get right so be very conservative.

If you are already at a stage where you have some cash inflow from sales then I would say 6 months reserves is what you need. If you see that you have more than enough cash in the bank to last you 6 months without any sales then I would say expand.
Did you guys buy the Allegro suite or are you using portable allegroserve?
I think it's an interesting point, but using Rails doesn't mean you have to structure your business like 37 Signals. I did read Getting Real, but with a grain or two of salt. It had some really good points, but understanding their point and trying to emulate their business structure (as they suggest you should) are different things.

Busting your ass and forming a company with a larger growth potential is still an option. It makes things riskier, but some people are fine with that.

The point of this really should have been that you need to be cognizant of the type company you are creating, realistic about its chances for success and aware that VC funding is only a means to an end.
Why did you decide to go with Scheme as opposed to Lisp? (I'm very curious about the pros and cons)
Paul Graham speaking at Stanford on Wednesday (4/11/07 - 5:30PM)
their RSVP page:
http://ases.stanford.edu/speaker_eventrsvp.shtml
Sorry, I spent years demonstrating to people how Lisp is better for everybody doing web development, not just elite programmers. I'm done. My new philosophy is, if you can't get them to join you, beat them.

Now I'm at a point where my venture absolutely must succeed. I'll take every advantage I can get.
I would love to see more Lisp web apps in startups. It's been quite discouraging after reddit abandoned Lisp.
There's also this resource which is very much for beginners but if you're just starting to find out all about using Lisp to do web development this might be a good read:

http://www.gigamonkeys.com/book/practical-web-programming-with-allegroserve.html
We actually bought Lispworks (half the price of Allegro), and are using portable allegroserve. My partner (who is a software architect by trade) learned lisp for our current start-up and is using slime on Emacs for his interface so we can switch to Allegro if we want later on, which we are considering for their native high-speed mysql interface assuming it performs as advertised - we're using ClSQL right now to talk to MySQL.)

He is extremely happy about lisp, especially after hacking java for years. (The code-base I had built up over the last few years as well as PG's writings helped convince him to give it a try even though he was very skeptical about lisp at first, There is no going back now :)

Ironically, we decided on a different (more focused) idea to pursue for the current startup for which my architectural firm is the current first customer (my hair was on fire for this app), so the initial code base is waiting for a later date. (It will be used to extend the feature set of the current app by adding a conceptual interface)

My partner is concerned about Aserve's ability to handle massive numbers of sessions at the same time, so we are considering going to a java websever and using the lisp side to generate all the html. (The html macro in Aserve is proving very fast and reliable) We're definitely looking for the best solution out there right now as we are planning to go live in about 2 months.
Please pardon how newbieish this article starts out. I don't mean to insinuate that you're at this level - I was just dropping a link that may or not may be of use to you.
There is no VC in 37sig? I think it is.
But still people can open multiple accounts or ask their friends to log in and hike up the karma? They can manipulate the reviews and swing it in their favour
I'd use a continuation based framework to get started. Seaside for smalltalk, plt-scheme or UCW in lisp. I've been using UCW to develop my project. It makes it really easy to think about the problem. You serve a page, the page has actions (method calls) which take parameters. The parameters are fields on the page. It's really easy to think about an application. It lets you prototype in code.

For our stuff, I started with rails, just found it too hard to get started. I had to decide what the tables looked like, how I was going to divide the data, write a model for every table then connect it to a page.

With UCW, I write code which connects to a function call. Simple.
Most people say that you shouldn't use lisp because it doesn't have libraries. Well they are only half right.
You shouldn't use lisp, because most lisp libraries have
very little documentation. Lisp has a lot of libraries.
You have to be willing to read code (i.e. examples/tests)
to figure out how to use them.

http://www.cliki.net/Library

Assuming that the most precious commodity is development time.
I'd say rails/django don't even come close to UCW in getting
stuff done.
I think there is potential in Web OS. But they can't be a defacto replacement of the desktop interface. I think the wufoo approach is better than say the youos approach.
If this article was renamed, "Microsoft Potentially Faces New Challenges and more Intense Competition in the Upcoming Future," then, sure. But "Microsoft is Dead?" Give me a break. How can the most profitable and recognized software company on the planet be "dead?"

Could it be stagnant? Yeah; I suppose. Maybe it is stagnant. Or maybe you're just so caught up in your "hip" counter-culture $2,000 iMac lifestyle that you are blinded to the plain facts. The facts, like, that 99% of businesses and developers EXCLUSIVELY use Windows. And 99% of all homes. And 90% of all students. I don't understand how any company with around 90% of the entire marketshare could be considered dead.

You made some good points but ultimately this whole "essay," is just off-base hogwash for Apple fanboys.
Some people are lazy, exploit others good will and have luck, they sold their company and other people are agile and doesn't have luck. If you was lazy before, you stay lazy, and buy dream house, car or whatever ... if you are agile, you start a new company.
I actually thought it was an excellent piece. I don't necessarily think that Microsoft is down and out for the count but equal they do seem to be playing catchup a lot.

It was a great little piece Paul.

http://www.virtualchaos.co.uk/blog/2007/04/08/microsoft-is-dead/
justin.tv as a way to augment your mind with the intelligence and knowledge of your viewers
Imagine using justin.tv to augment your mind, taking advantage of the intelligence and knowledge of your viewers.

For example, in a difficult social/business situation, you would get instant recommendations about what to do via an ear piece from your viewers.

You could also expand your sensory perception by having cameras and microphones pointed in all directions. Again, your viewers would pick up things that would be worthy of your attention.
How would you filter everything out? That's a lot of white noise to process efficiently and quickly. Can't see it being a great deal of help during a social/business situation... unless you're going to pause awkwardly for 5 mins while you sort through all the suggestions. Same thing for extending the senses.
From Google (Norvig): How to write a spelling check in 20 lines (very cool)
You could use something like reddit to do the filtering.

You probably don't need to pause for five minutes because most social/business situations last quite a bit longer than that. You could probably say something later.
It's scheme, not CL, but don't forget HOP http://hop.inria.fr/ and whatever the PLT people have in store http://www.plt-scheme.org/
YC is clear in its approach. It says helping idea materialize and also says that its not a charity type org.
I'm fairly new to Lisp, this is encouraging to hear! :) Just a few technical questions:

Is there any specific reason to use Lispworks as oppose to a free implementation (say SBCL)?

I remember the author of portable allegroserve mentioned that he wrote it mostly for demonstration purposes, and might not perform well. Are you guys finding this to be an issue at this stage?

As for session, would it be possible to store session objects in AllegroCache, which comes with the paid version of AllegroCL? (I'm just a newbie speculating :) )
"Missed opportunity costs" said Sergey :)
FACT: Your second fact is actually an opinion.
Is Your Business Healthy?
Atten.TV Lets You BroadCast Your Clickstream
Hitchsters: Share a Taxi, Save Some Bucks
Concurrent Startup Idea Generation and the Pervasive Copycat Fallacy
Remember, "Karma" is for techies!
The word karma has evolved and taken a meaning of its own thanks to slashdot's use of it as a point unit.

But I have to say: I consider myself pretty good with computers and even program here and there. Yet, for the longest time I was confused about what exactly "karma" stood for. I knew it was a measurement of some sort(hey what else can a number be?) but I'd no idea about what exactly having "more karma" means.

My point is that when you use such phrases, you are assuming a specific kind of audience. Use of karma for reddit(tech-focused) is fine; even for news.yc it's fine - but for a consumer website, you should be very careful about introduction of new words. And say you love the word karma so much that you insist on using it - in that case, have a page that clearly explains what karma is assuming that the user knows nothing about it.

Karma is just one example - larger point here is to be careful about use of individual words that may have a huge role to play in your website. Thing that triggered me to make this post is I saw another poster use "karma" on their consumer start-up(bad idea IMO).

This is a mistake that is so easy to commit. Heck we did it when we launched. A lot of our users that were playing songs on our site had no idea what "Jigg It!" button meant. After couple user mails inquiring about it, we put up a tooltip saying "Jigg It if you like it!". Suddenly more people were clicking on it.

--Zaid
Elements of Design: A Web Design Showcase
Scheme is a dialect of Lisp.
I don't think price is necessarily a great indicator of quality - at the very largest firms, I'd say that most of the high price is because they're offsetting the cost of training their newly minted lawyers on you. Three years of law school in the US really doesn't teach you a whole lot - you learn everything on the job. You're basically paying for a law firm's reputation sometimes.

He's right, though - the best gauge for quality of service is experience. Get a lawyer with lots of experience in your area, or at least work with a boutique firm that specializes in your field. They will be expensive. Ask around first - other companies have a firm they work with, or in-house lawyers who can recommend a firm. Don't go with an asshole bigshot just because he has the experience - you're in the long haul with your lawyers, so make it pleasant as possible. Never forget that law is primarily a service industry, and he should be listening to you as well as offering advice.

The other side of the coin is this: don't hide anything from your lawyer. He can't save you from the pit you dug yourself if you don't tell him about it. You'll save yourself a lot in fees, believe me.
python, webpy, binding in code from just about every other language.