skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I think it's strange that "Bayesian Theory" has become a concept. It's just one of many formulas in probability theory. Yeah, it's particularly useful in many cases, but learning Bayes theorem without learning the rest is silly.

Regardless, I agree that investing in probability/statistics is a good idea. Right now, there's a rush to fill all the niches of the web ecosystem. Startups can afford to be relatively unsophisticated, because so is everyone. I suspect that eventually, we'll see radically more "evolved" systems displacing the old ones, like Google did to Yahoo. I don't think that those could be built in 3-months, though. I'm curious to see if YC will have to change its model, but that might be a way off.
They want to charge people $100 to sit through a sales pitch?
Regardless of where you are, I'd suggest improving your tech skills beyond rudimentary knowledge of PHP and Ruby.
My thoughts on my non-upcoming Y Combinator interview:

It wouldn't be very polite to prove someone wrong.
Don't tell them jack. Really. If they have a "we own your brain" employment agreement, treat them as hostile.

Be polite, be friendly, but be very quiet about your plans.
A very good essay on Bayesian probability theory and its applicability to rationality is "A Technical Explanation of Technical Explanation" at http://yudkowsky.net/bayes/technical.html . The beginning is more mathy than the latter half, which is more interesting, so don't let the math keep you from reading it and getting to the more interesting later parts. There isn't much math, and the math that is there is pretty simple. If you haven't been introduced to Bayesian probability, you need to at least skim through the article entitled "An Intuitive Explanation of Bayesian Reasoning" that is linked to from the above URL.

If you decide that Bayesian rationality is totally awesome, read the book "Probability Theory: The Logic of Science" by E. T. Jaynes, which is specifically about Bayesian probability theory and its applications, derived entirely from a list of simple informal "desiderata" that we would expect from a theory of probability. He shows that Bayesian probability theory is the only way to satisfy these simple logical desiderata, and that Bayesian probability theory is the unique consistent and natural extension of Aristotolean logic (True/False logic) to real values.

Bayesian probability is a good topic to be familiar with as a general conceptual tool for evaluating information; it's not just some obscure theorem used by statisticians.
This is good advice, despite the down-mods. Google is a great place to learn a few things, make contacts, and find your co-founders. You shouldn't stay too long (a year or so), but there's a lot of much worse paths you could take.

Don't spend too much effort on it though...the interview process can really suck up a lot of time (I know because my girlfriend works there), and if you aren't really Google material (don't have a proper degree in your area of interest, for example) your odds of getting hired are low...particularly given your inexperience. I've received a recruitment letter from Google due to some projects of mine on the web, but I suspect I wouldn't actually get hired. Luckily, I already know what I want to do in California, so I don't need to work at Google while I figure it out. ;-)
ced - "Bayesian Theory" is more than just a formula, it's a way of thinking. A beautiful book exists on this subject, "Information Theory, Inference and Learning Algorithms" by David Mackay, which you can read for free online. Granted, the nomenclature is confusing, there is a Bayes formula. [Edit: jey mentioned Jaynes' book. Another excellent reference. Link to chapter in Mackay (http://www.inference.phy.cam.ac.uk/mackay/itprnn/ps/22.40.pdf read from bottom of page 25 on)]

In regards to the unsophisticated aspect of startups, I think that much of the low-lying fruit has been picked. Statistical sophistication is but one ladder to the higher fruits. Why? Social websites have enormous databases of information about their users. People who /understand/ data will be able to take social networks to the next level.
Options for clusters of 16+ GB RAM 4+ core hosting?
Empowering the developer: why Rails is good for you
Best places to network with super geeks in the bay area
I attended startup school and I met many brilliant and ambitious people. I also heard of superhappydevhouse.org which sounds like a lot of fun. Anyone knows of other good places to network with programmers and founders in the SF/Bay area?
is this for web or desktop?
i think the standard approach is that u

1.cannot work on ur idea, during work time
2.u cannot start an idea that is a direct competitor to ur companies business

if these two do not apply u shud be ok, but the laws are harsher here in the uk. with non compete clauses etc
Why not simply static render these things when something actually do change... huhu.
It's confusing to talk about Amazon as if it were a single acting agent. It seems to me as if someone there has just hired some overly enthusiastic lawyers, and top management/PR department hasn't realized how much it's hurting the company just yet.

This doesn't take away from the engineers that seem to have done a great job implementing S3/EC2 before the competition has much of anything comprable to offer.
At my company, we decided to get a few dedicated servers from LT. Prices are great and so far -- knocking on wood -- it's been a great ride.

VPS are not the best for mission critical services, because you never now what you neighbours are doing. Colo is just to expensive and not practical.
It's hard to fire workaholic lawyers, and once you've hired them, they'll find people to sue, with or without good reason. Could the moral of the story be: don't hire in-house lawyers if you can, and make sure someone PR-competent holds a big stick over their heads if you do.
Isn't this a little harsh? What, you can't file bug reports or submit suggestions without going to the workshop? These user conferences / workshops are very common in the software-for-businesses industry, AND $100 is extremely cheap for one of these things. I'm not saying that it provides any legitimate value or anything, but it's a normal practice, and I think people just go to them because they just have to drink beer and socialize with other geeks, it's a vacation from real work, and they expense it so it's free to them.
http://news.ycombinator.com

In all seriousness, it seems like this site has a high concentration of both true geeks and persons living in the bay area. You can also shoot me an email, I'm always looking to meet more super geeks: jeykottalam, gmail.
jey pointed out superhappydevhouse here:
http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=14518
It's not really a place you'd necessarily network at, but you can at least work in the presence of other geeks (and wannabes) at Ritual Roasters coffeeshop on 21st and Valencia.

http://ritualroasters.com/

Around Cambridge - I personal prefer http://www.diesel-cafe.com/ in Sommerville, Ma.
I think the idea is the hardware is fully documented, hence the reason to go with this particular model. (This is just an assumption.) The project developers won't allow themselves to be tempted by a closed-hardware phone.
Sorry to continue an argumentative tone, but I just really don't like to see young hopeful guys ask for advice only to get slapped with an unwarranted "grow up you baby" response.

If you actually read his question, it's clear that he is asking very specifically for advice on this situation:

1) Moving to California

2) Wants cofounders

3) Has junior dev skills in PHP/Ruby

4) Has 10K in savings

Doesn't sound much like the meta-physical angst question as you suggest...
Sins of Software Security
SHDH is really great. Lots of smart and helpful guys to hang out with while you're coding.
Ah, I guess I'm programmed to think YC == PG. Don't know if Robert frequents the site here but it'd be a cool discussion to have.
I don't know - XSLT is rather obscure, and I don't think it is the speediest solution either.
I'm heading down from San Fran to the SDForum event Thursday evening in Palo Alto - you're welcome to join us - let me know if you need a lift. After SDForum we'll be heading over to watch Mystery Science Theater 3000 with some friends and you're more than welcome to come to that too.

http://www.sdforum.org/SDForum/Templates/CalendarEvent.aspx?CID=2130&mo=4&yr=2007
Great point ;)
Exactly. Right now my best plan is to wait until I can get into a grad school out there to begin the startup process. Grad school would connect me with like minded people and keep me alive until we can open the doors on our business. However, that's at least a year and a half away, and I'd like a plan to do it sooner. But if I just show up in CA with a "startup or bust" t-shirt, I don't know how to get the show off the ground.
"I don't know how to get the show off the ground"

Exactly.

The good news is that there are plenty of startups that already have the "show off the ground". Join the most interesting startup you can find with a team you 'click' with, then work your tail off with them. You'll learn more than you ever dreamt ;)
My impression of them has always been that they are the Apple of webapps. They have style, grace, and a cult following. They also have a reality distortion field, will nickel and dime their customers, and if you don't get it then it's your fault you suck.
While his headlines are intended for shock value, his book is not new-age crap like "The Secret".

It basically amounts to working smarter, applying effort in the right way, to get the maximum effect.

But I suppose that message is too boring or likely to be overlooked, so he calls it "The Lazy Way".
Remember Paul Buchheit's advice at Startup School. "Maybe consider not using a database", or some similar statement.
FWIW, here's a contradictory take, also seen on YC news recently: http://blog.tomevslin.com/2007/01/web_20_greater_.html
First Rule of Usability?  Don't Listen to Users
Ballsy, definitely, but think about the people who show up for that: you (if you're 37signals) know they'll sign up for anything you offer.

There's an important concept in sales called pre-qualification (i.e. only spend time pitching to prospects who are likely to buy) and this is one way of doing it, albeit an extreme one.
Call me old school, but I think this is a bad idea.

Some things should not be blogged.
Just reading the headline, I thought this was yet another 37signals badass, but the point of the article is "Watch Users Work", which is a terrific strategy.
I never want to see it go down or become unavailable, either, but I agree with your underlying sentiment.

On a related note, I find that user feedback (of any kind) is a terrific boost: since most people are lurkers (or worse, look for 5 sec and never return), people who take the time to email us or post a blog comment provide a huge lift.
Having looked into Pevayler, I think it buys you more problems than it solves. Thanks for the happs reference.

Terracotta may be a good solution for Java.
"use in-memory hashmap for small data, Amazon S3 or filesystem for large data. treat disk as sequental device."
More Thoughts On Zenter
The more I think about it the more I think Zenter might be in a very good position; if their software is really good (and I expect it is) then Google competitor's might want to acquire something to compete with Google.

What do you guys think?
Yeah there you go.
The fact the you're posting this question here, in a startup forum, tells me you've already made your decision to do it (i.e., quit the ibank and head to California).

This is according to a French philosopher (digging deep here, trying to remember that freshman course...) who used an example of a young man in France, during the German occupation in WW2.

He was trying to decide between joining the priesthood or the resistance.

The fact that he went to his local church for advice meant, according to the philosopher (attention lazyweb: name check?), that he already decided for the priesthood, and just needed some reassurance or confirmation.
How to get into the del.icio.us popular page
why does Jesus make you and others so angry?

I will bet $10 that if instead, it were a short para on Hinduism or Buddhism (and I dare say, even Islam), no one would have been so hostile.
Anyone know of detailed write-ups by people that didn't use a database. I too dislike the overhead of SQL as an interface. How did they cope with the problems that DBs solve? Did they ever have to scale to more than one "DB server"?

Cheers, Ralph.
Arent the pictures clear and simple?
The problem with screencast is what juwo tries to solve.

However, as you suggest, I shall create a screencast and see which is better.

Also see:
my reply is here: http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=14590
Thanks for continuing to engage!
Cofounders - how high a bar?
Web 2.0 Expo: All Things Widgets
[I submitted this anonymously because the person in question may very well read this site now or at some point in the future.]

In short: I have a potential co founder, which is something that everyone seems to say is good. The problem, though, is that I don't think this guy is perfect (he may well think the same of me), for various reasons. Ok, no one is perfect, but I know people that I think would be "about as good as you could get" (unfortunately they aren't available), and this guy doesn't measure up.

Better to strike out on my own, or throw in my lot with someone who's perhaps not the right person?
I agree, my friends actually just switched off MT because of their difficulty hosting RoR apps.
It is hard to explain juwo in one sentence because it can be used for at least a dozen things. I dont want to leave anything out. IMHO, juwo is a new concept. IMHO it is very powerful - but I am getting carried away...

I have reorganized the page so that the simple explanation with the diagrams comes first.

I have to also say this. Your recommendation, wufoo.com; "Online HTML forms" means nothing to the layman. Similarly, I think the layman will not understand anything by "juwo is...

A "Swiss Army knife" piece of software that gives more power to consumers to structure snippets of audio, video and text as a bullet list, to more easily index and annotate them, and to share the lists with others. Its benefits extend to multimedia as related to more enriching broadcasts, collaboration and organizing".

Yes, it may look like I have put the Help manual there. That is intentional. For a new concept, I believe that if people cannot get help easily with the details, then they will stop using it. Help manuals tend to be secreted away in software like a squirrel hides nuts.

Of course, it can be argued successfully that I have already scared even the geeks away!

I am not justifying, but explaining my rationale. I hope everyone at news.YC will continue to engage with juwo.

Anil Philip
juwo.com
Awesome, I think I'll take you up on it. Check your email.
You actually had time to type all that? Go work on your demo :)
Usually when someone asks for advice about what to do, they're really looking for facts and information.

If I present a problem to a bunch of friends, the chance that I'll just take their list of suggestions and pick one to run with is minimal. What is valuable are the various tidbits of information that come up during the discussion. Often, it's information that I wouldn't have thought to ask about directly.
It's an excellent opportunity for their competitors to get informed about their products for only $100 (and a plane ticket. My startup being one of them - not that I have time to fly over there) It is also a social gathering, so people might be getting value out of it in that respect too.
I have put in a TOC now.

http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=14590
my reply is here: http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=14590

Thanks for continuing to engage!
both. please click a demo.
my reply is here: http://news.ycombinator.com/comments?id=14590
Thanks for continuing to engage!

What is a pro-con link?
One of my sayings is "Perfection is Difficult" meaning that it is actually impossible. I wouldn't want to start up a company with someone I couldn't completely trust. Having different skill sets is actually a very good thing, but you need to really like the company of the person.
Google is losing its edge. The cracks began to appear when they acquired YouTube.
Joe Kraus: Hiring. No False Positives
Great question. This reminded me of Joe Kraus's article on the subject. He makes a compelling case:

http://bnoopy.typepad.com/bnoopy/2004/09/hiring_no_false.html
Rumor: Third-party widgets on Facebook?
What are the best non-database solutions you've seen? What did Viaweb use?
And I'm sending my business plan to the SDForum's investor review. Free business plan review is a good thing.

Thanks
Twitter is using a database because the Twitter engineers chose not to prematurely optimize their system. They now fully understand their problem domain and thus now would be the appropriate time to make optimizations such as replacing the SQL back-end with faster, less flexible solutions.
I've been using SQLite since it has the advantage of flat file storage and also the power to run SQL queries against your data. It's very light and powerful. But I was wondering about the specific setups other folks have used?

From: http://paulgraham.com/vwfaq.html

"What database did you use?

We didn't use one. We just stored everything in files. The Unix file system is pretty good at not losing your data, especially if you put the files on a Netapp.

It is a common mistake to think of Web-based apps as interfaces to databases. Desktop apps aren't just interfaces to databases; why should Web-based apps be any different? The hard part is not where you store the data, but what the software does.

While we were doing Viaweb, we took a good deal of heat from pseudo-technical people like VCs and industry analysts for not using a database-- and for using cheap Intel boxes running FreeBSD as servers. But when we were getting bought by Yahoo, we found that they also just stored everything in files-- and all their servers were also cheap Intel boxes running FreeBSD.

(During the Bubble, Oracle used to run ads saying that Yahoo ran on Oracle software. I found this hard to believe, so I asked around. It turned out the Yahoo accounting department used Oracle.)"
What is your take on web APIs?
You can also reference this article:

http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/04/database_war_stories_2_bloglin.html
API's are amazing if done right. They foster loads of good-will among developers because you have opened your system for them to extend and develop upon. Just look at what the Google Maps and Flickr API's have done for the proliferation of those projects.

Here's an amazing presentation on API's by one of the Google devs:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/33655/How-to-Design-a-Good-API-and-Why-it-Matters
Awesome info, thanks ;)
It seems like any sizable company is first hailed for releasing a powerful API. Then comes the powerful mashups. Then comes a crackdown on the mashups. examples: google maps, myspace widgets, alexa vs alexaholic

I guess any start-up that is dependant on a SELECT other sites is seriously asking for Morning Surprises where they find out their app has been blocked or API changed or product killed by a competing product by the parent API company.

Web apis seem fun to play around with. And are even nice to use them to make life easier and more fun for your users. But in no way I feel you can plan a long-term business out of it without any formal agreements.
Depends what you want him to do. Things can be learned and you can always use an extra hand. What you want ot worry about is "why is he getting into it?" In the "world is Flat" T.Friedman states P+CI. That is Passion + Curiosity Intelligence. Your startup and mine have less than 5% chance to succeed and yet we believe like no-one else that 5% is big enough to go thru this journey.We like the money, but if money is your first drive then you will eventually quit at some point when evrything says it is going to be over in One minute. At that point the co-founders who were in it for the money will walk out. The one who were in it for the passion and the challenge to learn and master the ultimate startup language ( not Technology, but "loyal and satisified Users") )will get 2gether and ask themselves " How the F&$ we got into this mess and how the F%^$ can we clean it up now, make it look good and have more users?
Sure, glad you found it useful!

A few months ago, I created a silly little sudoku site, then blogged about how I did it with no database backend (man, I got flamed). Truth is, I really didn't need one but lots of people couldn't see past the fact that I wasn't using the conventional database approach. In their minds, there was simply no reason why I should have used a few flat files.

The whole idea of databases and flat files is such a polarizing topic. It's terribly interesting.
Keep everything in memory in the usual sort of data structures (e.g. hash tables). Save changes to disk, but never read from disk except at startup.
Goodbye Froogle, Hello Google Product Search!
Pg, that's exactly the technique I used for a sudoku site I built for myself. Everything was cached and only read from disk when something changed.

It's snappy and with very little overhead.
With Viaweb, the stores were islands, each dealing exclusively (or almost exclusively) with its own dataset. They would not run into locking/contention issues as they scaled the way some other apps would if they used flat files and conventional locking.

The database landscape was different in 1995. There were no good free relational databases, and no cheap Oracle licenses.

Lisp makes it very easy to write out any data structure. (Most Scheme implementations can only write non-circular structures easily, but Viaweb used CL). So if your app is amenable to using flat files, coding storage/retrieval is trivial.

So basically, if you're writing an app with lots of separate datasets, flat files are a viable option. If you're using Lisp, they're an easy option. If it's 1995, they're a cheap option.
It was kind of exciting getting kicked off of my shared host for being too popular, but it was stressful and frustrating trying to get it back online. It's fun to do once, but if I had to scale beyond my dedicated server right now I'd be pissed.
"Better to strike out on my own"

are you planning to steal his ideas, or any part of them?

----------------

update: thanks for clarifying that you wont!
----------------

My 2 cents:

WAKE UP!

He is doing the best he knows to do - pitch to VCs and raise funds.

You are doing the best you know to do - build a prototype and bootstrap.

Both are valid paths.

In fact, a former advisor - I say former because he was your cofounder's type. He had "no skin in the game" but kept forcing me for months, to abandon work on the prototype and pitch the idea and raise funds. But it worked for him - he sold a company in China to Disney.

Truth is relative - at least in this area.

However, when you say your cofounder is not up to par, "does not measure up" - even though he came up with the idea,
to me that is not very respectful. You dont really value him. I can see a big fight looming ahead. Several months down the road, you will want to spend 90% time bootstrapping; while he will want you both to be pitching to investors instead. Unless - you do both.
Great points, thanks ;)
Did it ever need to scale beyond one server?