skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
A lot of hate for Java in this thread. Just want to try to counterbalance it with some things that I, personally, like about Java.

1. Java enums

2. Java's generics, especially covariance/contravariance with wildcards (erasure really isn't as bad as people make it out to be)

3. Java's standard collections library

4. Java's method override rules (lets you extend return types on derived classes)

5. Default interface methods (.Net has them too now, but Java was first)

6. @Functional interfaces. They may seem a bit funny at first, but they are very useful (especially when combined with default interface methods)
Load times seem very variable. Loading any label (from 10s to 10,000s of emails) is <1 sec for me.
Perhaps he means that you could somehow abuse the induction axiom, although it seems to me that would be in a way that's not what the axiom was meant for.
> and so is Chrome

Yeah, I'm shocked how much slower Chrome is than Firefox here in 2020. Never expected this.
Be cautious when binding Alt key by default.

In some terminal programs they report Alt key differently (use showkey -a) so it may lead confusions.
Haha, it is more like 'free and Emacs' to some of us.
What OS X and Windows, IOS, Android and probably lots of others need, is Long Term Support releases. I'm so sick and tired of my phone and computer switching up major features and UI every year, because some UX person wants to not get fired.

Releasing a new major version of your OS yearly is insane.
My undergrad was a while ago, but we also did assembly and prolog first. The lecturer basically said assembler was almost to shock us into seeing how preferably the magic was. I still don't understand why prolog.

I struggled with the Java, but got my teeth into it on my own time to the detriment of my marks in other modules. Eventually it clicked enough, I got a degree and walked into a career where my skills have been in demand for 15 years. I'm pretty happy with that, I'd go so far as to say Java was by far the best part of the course for me.
This seems quite a common complaint, but gmail has always been pretty snappy for me. I wonder what causes the variability?
Yup. I jumped ship for Swift a while ago.
Surely that's just redefining what time means. And the definition seems tautological to me; when you say "movement of matter", that implies a time dimension, since you cannot have movement without time. And the phrase "rate of movement" uses a word (rate) that is inherently about time (meters per second, for example).
I found an obscure political joke in the scan of a 1971 IBM logic block manual
Found on Figure 1-20, page 1-11 of the manual [1]

[1] http://bitsavers.trailing-edge.com/pdf/ibm/logic/SY22-2798-2...
I may be off as well, and we're probably talking about the same version. As far as I remember it was version 4 that was the slow and buggy one.

I was trying to find out when these versions were released to see if I could line it up with the projects I was working on at the time, but I can't find a list of major releases with dates.
That's interesting because I look at the date of 2006 and the drawing and say he was about a year or so behind The Facebook's status update.
Important Things to Consider Before Starting a Small Business
Right. I'm saying that France is the bigger loser if Google pulls out. They need a pipe to google.com far more than Google needs an office in France.

Something, something, something, once you pay them the Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane...
I don't know if the goal of the virus is to reduce entropy. Viruses mutate just like some clever computer viruses. Allowing them to trick immune systems and anti viruses and render antivirals useless. Bacterias are doing that too.

I think we can equate too much entropy with danger since cancer cells also mean mutations.
I am using Linux Mint.
Zettelkasten is the original name of the concept of networked note-taking. It even worked on paper. Roam took the concept close to users with a polished UI. Some history: https://fortelabs.co/blog/how-to-take-smart-notes/
I did my first text processing exam using edlin, "It's really neat!" isn't something I would use to describe it.
I use mutt for that which modifies local maildir so it's super fast. Commands are: "D~=$". Then it's just a matter of syncing local changes back e.g. with mbsync.
Don't most iOS bugs these days require multiple security exploits in order to work? I'm not sure it's always that simple to find a reliable exploit just based on what code has changed (because lots of code has changed).

If there is an obvious to find, easily-exploitable bug, the update could be pushed to everyone (the way updates are pushed today).

There is a balance to strike here. If issues with auto update cause enough people turn auto update off, I'm not sure it's helping security.

Finally - Apple already has a beta programs including public betas. Are those binaries not already used to find exploits?

Essentially, I'm not convinced a phased update (with public security disclosure slightly later) would lead to worse security than we have today.
Email is obviously really important, but the cost of running Netflix is extremely different to running an email service and I would take that into account with the pricing.

But I think Netflix is extremely cheap/good value if you enjoy the content.
First current generation of developers needs to be willing to pay for their tooling, if they want to get something better than Bazaar quality.
Fun read.

But wouldn't we reluctant to change if the only goal of individuals was to preserve/propagate information to the future? Mutations, increase entropy, yet some of them are beneficial.

How does it fit in this theory?
Why would this be so surprising though, or need corroboration? I would just assume the presence of wild animals in any place where humans aren't.

Also y'know wolves aren't really some dark harbingers of doom, heavy with portent; they're just a kind of dog, doing their dog thing, looking for food and whatnot. Yeah they're ferocious... so is a panda when it's pissed off. But the panda gets to be the beloved symbol of cute cuddliness while the wolf is reviled as the symbol of all that is evil. Grow up, Red Riding Hood!
Corey Schafer- https://www.youtube.com/user/schafer5/playlists

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12702651

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16224165

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20385679
Crux is good, and it has a file system storage option.
Apple has beta releases including a public beta program. Don't these beta releases also reveal information to the malware community?
My Turbo Pascal story is weirder than most I think. When I was much younger, someone I knew was learning COBOL and the "editor" they were told to use was a pirated binary on a floppy. That binary was called tp3 and nobody paid any attention to it until I, wanting to also learn a bit about COBOL, decided to try it out myself and read the notice that the program output. Something about Pascal.

Long story short, I ended up looking into Pascal and using that tp3 "editor" to learn a bit of Pascal, which seemed a lot more fun than COBOL.
And J++.
> ...if you’re teaching C++ you should be teaching CMake.

I've been programming very advanced C++ for close to 20 years now.

Never had any reason to use CMake.

Plain old make for when you just want to build something without expending effort and brain cells, or (nowadays) nix if you're putting together an industrial-strength build environment.

CMake is the worst of all worlds, and provides no benefit unless you really want to build Windows exe's with Microsoft's proprietary tooling. (And let's face it, Windows is a legacy dying platform here in 2020.)
Ask HN: What problems are you having with your data (or lack of data)?
Hi HN

I'm seasoned in the data space and impacted by COVID-19. It's a good time for me to start something new (maybe a product, or perhaps consulting playbooks).

I'm looking for what problems of yours I might be able to solve with that something new.

Please answer any of the below that appeal to you:

- What don't you know about your business, but need to?

- What decisions do you have to make despite being very uncertain of?

- What don't you trust about your current data?

- What worries you about your data infrastructure?

- What's blocking you from turning your data into actions?

- What decisions are made frequently in your business that you would like to automate?

- What else would you like to suggest to me?
Perfect thanks for guidance :)
Please submit through Show HN for feedback
https://news.ycombinator.com/show
That typically doesn't work. Google antifraud detects and groups these "related" accounts, so they potentially could suspend them all at once.
It shows that to whatever extent an experimenter can behave nondeterministically, so can an elementary particle. So it's useful as a simple way to convince people that quantum mechanical randomness is a true fundamental phenomenon (in particular, that hidden variable theories are all inherently invalid).

I've never seen a coherent definition of "free will", but I don't see how someone whose decision is random has any more or less of it than someone whose decision is nonrandom, so IMO it doesn't really have anything to do with free will one way or another.
Wait...your mail was a reply to a mail they sent to you, and it went to the bit bucket? Their spam handling is not sophisticated enough to special case replies to mails that they have sent?
Turbo Vision was my introduction to OOP after learning it with Turbo Pascal 5.5 and getting old of a 6.0 copy.

Learning C after that experience was probably similar to how Bjarne felt being forced to leave Simula for BCPL.
Cool I'll make more search upon that I don't have any evidence that was just an assumption, thanks for participating :)
Absolutely. Erasure lets you write code that's actually generic, instead of code that appears to be generic.

For example, in C# IList<Foo> and IList<Bar> are two different interfaces that happen to have similar methods. Whereas in Java, List<Foo> and List<Bar> are the same interface. This means you can do things like this in Java:

List<?> list = ...
Object o = list.get(0);

To do something similar in C# is significantly more effort. You either have to duplicate all of your interfaces (IList + IList<T>), use `dynamic`, or use reflection to compile delegates at runtime.

A common complaint is "but erasure lets you add an integer to a list of strings". But as long as you follow PECS[1] rules you can avoid most of those situations.

[1] Producer: extends. Consumer: super
If you change your habits so that you sleep for eight hours a day instead of seven, after reading Why We Sleep, but in fact you didn't have to and you function just as well on seven, then you are literally wasting 4.1% of your life. That is a lot of life.
this discussion inspired me to write down my thoughts on email setup: https://medium.com/@krokodil42/a-quick-guide-to-your-persona...
Very useful setting, thanks for pointing it out!
>HFD is meant to make it easier to create designs which are parameterized (i.e. one design where you could easily change the width, height, thickness, ect). And make it simpler to split and layout designs across multiple pieces of material.

so sorta like OpenSCAD (the language, not the program), but specialized for 2d/planar work?
This is how MVPs are done, and should be done, in 2020, still, every time.
Most of our soil is also this color in Australia.
This reminds me of a road trip I took with a girlfriend in 2010 or so. We drove south out of St. Louis, MO, going nowhere in particular, and ended up near the Arkansas border. I could have sworn I was dreaming, but nearby there was a bona-fide 13th-century French castle under construction, using period-appropriate tools and techniques, in the middle of the Ozarks!

It was absolutely surreal. There was a working farm to grow food for the laborers, stone was sourced from a nearby quarry, there was a smithy on-site, and even some tools were original to the period and were imported from France.

Just looked it up - I guess it closed down. Too bad, but maybe unsurprising: https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/arkansas/ar-ozark-medieval-f...
We are using Elm in production for almost a year and I never had a situation where a bug was blocking us. Do you have any example?
Lambdas/first class functions were already there in Turbo Pascal 5.0, via procedure types.

Coupled with nested subroutines, there was already a couple of things possible.
What happened that made you hit the wall?
The latest version drops ARC, which pissed me, but I guess it is better to have a sound history, instead of a schizophrenic one depending on the target platform.
Usually it mean that device is not function anymore. Some time ago were very easy to brick phones while flashimg them. Its not hardware, it just complete mess in software.
This is not true in Catalina.

1. https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210650
Do other spam filters actually check every incoming email against a database of outgoing emails?
It's completely absurd that we are having farmer's destroy their produce at the same time that we have massive food shortages.

The products being destroyed here are the very same ones that you can't buy at any price.
For comprehensions should alleviate the examples you have given with regards to readability.

Although yes there are other more complex instances in which nested matches might come up. Generally I would think to handle them by creating a function that contains the next layer of matching instead of trying to come up with an uber function. Adds a bit more verbosity perhaps but I find it is fairly easy to follow and show intent.
Turbo Pascal for Windows had intellisense.

Turbo Pascal 5.5 and later had all MS-DOS graphical modes.
I toyed with Basic on Z80 as a kid but I have fond memories of Turbo Pascal.

When I was 14 and I first got access to a PC at school, Turbo Pascal was the first proper programming language I got access to. It got a compiler, strong typing, an IDE and a help page. Help page was invaluable since we didn't have Internet access nor did I owned Pascal books.

Pascal made me think anything is possible, from games to line of business apps. It provided low level access and I toyed with rebooting the PC and entering BIOS and bypassing BIOS password by writing to some hardware register.

My journey with Pascal didn't last much, as I discovered C and C++ which seemed even more amazing and flexible.
I found his blog a little while ago while getting into generative art and it has been a wonderful source of inspiration, quick learning, and deep knowledge. The domain warping tutorial is one of my personal favorites and the examples are gorgeous!

He also has some wonderful youtube videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62-pRVZuS5c).

I cannot recommend his website enough for folks getting into lower-level graphics development!
You can add a blurb about your credentials to help with down votes. For example, lead with "I have a PhD in <subject>" when your creds are applicable to the case you're trying to make.

Also, votes are just fake internet points. No need to worry about them too much :)
Mine does. And I wrote it myself.
It took me a long time to recognize and be able to articulate the seriously detrimental effect of reading pop sci on my thinking.

“Knowing” incomplete, false, distorted, or misleading facts is often much worse than having no information, or having never even considered a topic.

If I read fiction, it may imply some fundamental lens on the world, but I think my brain is better able to recognize it as an opinion, or subjective.

But if I internalize the “truth” of dietary principles or basic psychology, I will make real choices and have my perceptions shaped to believe I am seeing the results of these choices ... and it is often completely wrong.

This can be subtly or devastatingly negative for my success and quality of life.

I think this problem is under considered. In recent years I have started realizing that most of what I read literally makes me dumber.

It’s a thought that has more implications than I think most people want to consider. Especially people whose identity is connected to being someone who “knows” things.
Bitchute seems to be popular.
Too much human intelligence is spent on space missions. Imagine what we could achieve if this intelligence was spent on useful things which affect regular people in our society.

The costs vs benefits of space exploration are not balanced at all.
DoesLiverpool MakerSpace Covid19 response repository
Edit: added quotes. Added part about not wanting any social network nationalized.

> But more importantly, these platforms need to be declared public utilities and forced to be transparent. This is not controversial and is usually welcomed by the public when it happens.

Even just a real threat that it might happen might, if it became visible enough, drive some introspection and push them in right direction.

> It is time for us to nationalize Facebook.

Assuming you are from US (but mostly valid anyway): Not sure if I'd want your president, now or in 6 years, to have more say over the biggest social media networks than they already have.
Delphi ticks several of those points.

Turbo Pascal for Windows also.

Multi-language projects was a available in the full box Borland products, as one could get Borland C++ and Turbo Pascal together.

In fact the symbiotic relationships of Java/C++ and .NET/C++ can somehow be mapped to TP/C++.
> Xcode 11.4

your probably not missing much, there are some serious regressings in that release, for example [0]

[0] https://forums.swift.org/t/swift-5-2-struct-property-wrapper...

(for me, cant make release builds because the compiler crashes... sigh...)
Image Detection as a Service with Flask
Never waste a crisis, eh?

Now this disease is the excuse to completely obliterate any remaining fragments of liberty.
> The company is based in Switzerland and is French speaking. Any chance "AdVite" means something different in French?

No, it doesn't mean something different in French.
They would until someone replaced them with a free service.
I switched from Gmail to Fastmail a year ago and I really miss how Gmail filtered things into primary/social/updates/forums. I feel overwhelmed with a single inbox, and can’t possibly keep up with my own custom filters. The result is I’m likely to miss something important. Does anyone have a solution for this?
Yes, but to use a term in a technically relevant way, it needs to be tied to reality; if not, it's just marketing jargon or pseudo-tech speak. The best technical definition for this case is not by how it is most commonly understood, but how it most commonly applies. Dragonwriter makes a compelling case in that it is most commonly true that a user won't have access to the specialized hardware required to "unbrick" the device.
Her, you outlaw the economy, lock people in their houses, and intentionally cause a food shortage by forcing farmers to destroy their crop instead of selling it to the market, and you're surprised to find that people are starving?

Of course food banks are overrun. Of course there's no food to be had.

That was the point
> "Bricked" is relative, depending on your skill level.

According to postmodernism, everything is like that.
The article is a good read from a design perspective (how typefaces look and behave), from a history perspective (where do these conventions come from) and from an engineering perspective (how does this affect our users?)
That's done and dusted, what's happening now for example is that today 7620 new .com domains got signed, ~73% of them by googledomains.com. And roughly the same thing is happening every day:

https://stats.dnssec-tools.org/tld-graphs/com.png

Sure, if the pace stays the same it works out to about 2 million per year, which is cool, but there are over 140 million .com domains, so more than just Google would need to engage in large-scale signing.

I am not denying that until recently things have been slow to moribund, but things have started to change, and where we part ways is that you've written off all possibility of change based on past stasis, but I'm ignoring it and having some real, if early, success at driving change.

My take is that you're under no obligation to contribute or even admit that change is starting to happen, but I think it would be polite to back off on the negativity, just wait and see, you may be proved right without expending any energy being vocal about it. But if adoption picks up unexpectedly, allow yourself to be surprised...
Change is necessary for survival as the environment shifts. Many organisms have a stable superstructure within which controlled change is accommodated--the seasonal timing of reproduction, the outer protein coat of a virus, the plasticity of the brain.

The dichotomy isn't so much between change vs. stability, but where change happens, and in what way.
I read somewhere that Netflix drm runs in sgx and they're basically the only ones.
SQL Injection Attacks: So Old, but Still So Relevant
Everyone always seems so handwavey when they talk about "decentralized" web. It seems more like a string of buzzwords than an actual technical definition.

What are the actual properties of the "decentralized web" that make it "decentralized"?
Maybe eclipse is too much IDE. Maybe a advanced editors like VS Code hit the sweet point. The tasks infrastructure there - as bad as it is - will force you to understand details. It also has a terminal.

I do not understand the Java bashing. Python is nice, but it is an interpreter, does not compile, link or create executables. It misses so much in the compilation chain that it is neither a good language in the regard of this post.

C++ has all, but well, editors are crappy and pointers for a first lesson student are hard.
Too many problems from Youtube in the last year with banning/deleting accounts.

I wish we had a good alternative
Beta programs are about new features, not about security fixes. Those that are included are typically incidental. They're more likely to be deliberately held back/in a separate branch from beta programs so as not to reveal them.
> They laid off the testing team

Must be good for the bottom line.

The cost is absorbed by the unlucky users.
Sure, I'll refrain, but I hope you're taking into account that these kinds of astroturfed comments are causing significant harm.
Best have your spare MacBook available to do it!
Very good point.

But still, even if some other business lost money for years that doesn't give them a do-whatever-you-want card.

I think a lot could be done automatically to avoid a number of the dumbest automated account removals that we see here.

That should limit the workload quite a lot.
Yeah, and that phrase has no meaning. Especially "critical explosion" is nonsense, because "critical" in the context of a nuclear chain reaction means "steady state".

What happened, as commonly understood, is that the reactor was in a state where it had a positive temperature coefficient. The insertion of the graphite-tipped control rods added reactivity, it became super-critical, and thanks to feedback, the power spiked to an order of magnitude more than the design power. All that heat flashed the water in the pressure channels to steam, which blew the top off the reactor. A steam explosion caused by heat from a nuclear reaction.

Now what the hell is a "critical explosion", what is "a nuclear jet", and how is a "nuclear explosion" not the sudden expansion of water or air?
You've described the best part of HN for me because I can always count on learning something super obscure but alos super interesting that nobody else would have thought of.
I agree with your first paragraph.

I like the snark in the second paragraph, but I don't think you can draw your conclusions so easily.

Both bro science and academic nutritionists tell you that exercise is good for you. Bros are much more likely to take that advice than the average person.

Whether that different predisposition explains the whole difference in outcomes or not is a much more complicated question. It's all terribly confounded.

(You might very well be right, but your argument ain't tight.)