skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
The biggest problem with journalism right now is how to pay for it. We help solve that problem.

(As a side note, it works really well for bigger media companies too.)
shrugs I don't have a degree and I'm fairly comfortable with all those topics (and quite a few more - including abstract algebra, real analysis, numerical methods, tiny bits and pieces of category theory, etc).

I like to read journal articles, and when I stumble onto something I don't know, I go learn about it. Just in the last year or so, I've taught myself stochastic calculus (I was doing HFT and wanted to learn more about the greeks) and the basic typed lambda calculus (was into haskell and wanted to learn more type theory). These days I'm doing distributed systems, so I'm brushing up on the process calculi.
So tempting, this idea of changing the world of education is. If I wasn't neck deep in my own ventures, I'd definitely be applying.
My immediate thought was to assemble a crew of displaced fishermen to hunt and retrieve these shipping containers to sell at a discount. I suppose water damage would be too great for any products of value (electronics) though.
I have started a massive number of projects, but of the startups I've founded, every single one of them has released a product. Of the projects, I have probably a 40% finish rate overall, which isn't half bad IMO, considering that those are projects like creating new OSes, independently recreating the Win32 API, etc.

So no, I don't have a perfect history, but it's pretty good considering the scale at which I've worked.

Edit: Fwiw, I've only started 3 companies, not including this one. Not that many, considering a 6 year time span.
That last sentence as summary has been 100% true so far in my experience working with self-taught or minimally educated programmers.
Ha, that's possibly true as a percentage of total fees. Hopefully the total fees paid to Engine Yard will always be a rounding error in the context of consulting fees! :)

We're investigating other benefits for our Development Partners too. Any thoughts?
Scotland is different enough from the US, you don't want things to be too different as you need to adjust to going to school ;). The University of Glasgow also has a good program (I got my masters there), out of the 2, Edinburgh has much nicer weather but Glasgow is more "real" city with great people (although it has a bad rep).
Definitely the X-47B could be called a robot (or an autonomous, mobile robot if robot takes on the broader definition used by a few of the other commenters). I wonder how it reacts if it is engaged or damaged. Does try to self-preserve by evading or moving to a safe place without human interaction?
If a person can teach himself/herself something non-trivial like programming, I am sure (s)he can easily learn what is academically taught. The learning for self learned-programmers is mostly driven by need, unlike in a college setting. The toughest skill to learn is teaching yourself which not many people learn at college/university.
There are few other world changing endeavors that can match the scalability of impact of the Khan Academy.

Haven't encountered it, but would be great to see translations done on a larger scale to touch the wider world.

Additionally, perhaps at a later date, would be interesting to see the same topics covered by additional instructors (and rated) available on the site to provide variation in teaching styles.

Nevertheless, even today, this is the best thing going on in the education field. Kudos to Sal.
That article adds little to nothing to the author's original explanation. I'd suggest you read this page instead:
http://info.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/Z.Kalal/tld.html

That page also has links to the papers referenced by SandB0x.
It's not that simple. They need to figure out which assignment of drivers to customers maximizes some utility function. If they just send the closest available driver, that may degrade service for some other customer, or leave an important area of the city uncovered for the next unexpected call.

It's not the same problem as TSP, but it's surely reducible to it, given the NP-completeness proof.
And look how well it's worked for them ...
Git & Pivotal workflow at Gobbler
“In rural America, small businesses would rather the Internet didn’t exist, but it does."

This is the sort of generalization that leads to countless missed opportunities in the largest parts of America. Aside from the obvious advantages of nearly instantaneous electronic delivery and communication to businesses separated from customers by greater geographic distances, rural communities have a history for adopting technology faster than urban centers; they just don't make as big of a deal out of it.

If you want to see an example of this, visit a farming expo; those guys have had GPS in tractors years before you had it in your car and they have more robotics and telepresence than the majority of "modern" urban offices.
"I think computer science students who've spent a lot of time doing research (particularly Ph.D.s) gain something that can't be self-taught."

Isn't research the very definition of self-taught? You're learning as you go -- no one has defined the path yet.
And related to combinatorial math - probability is usually a required course in CS, very helpful for tons of tech jobs (e.g., quant jobs).

You can actually make a decent living as a programmer by just gluing js/ruby together, since that constitutes the bulk of most programming jobs.

I guess the point is that formal eduction forces you to learn advanced math, whereas only the motivated self-taught programmers learn it.
Virgin Oceanic will expand the reach of human exploration on our planet
Even in Canada, liberal arts students don't have to declare a major until they're a couple of years in. However, for STEM degrees you've generally got to know where you want to go by the end of high school, or by the end of freshman year at the latest.

Of course, in the US and Canada you can generally switch programs in midstream. That may not be possible in India.
This is a point that seems obvious but I'm not sure it is actually true. I majored in math and took a number of computer science courses and have a hard time figuring out where to begin when it comes to signal processing and videogame code. In contrast, I know a number of guys who make video games and audio software and they are almost all college dropouts or have completely unrelated degrees. In fact, in my limited experience it seems like games and audio software are two parts of the software industry where not having a CS degrees is the norm.
Interesting -- I am much more likely to read the Wikipedia page for a language I don't know than one I do. Not sure how to interpret the stats in that case.
I like it a lot. I had a similar idea to do this with Wine.
Well, I know from personal experience the universities in the Netherlands are pretty decent when it comes to CS. Added bonus is that practically everybody can speak English (and don't mind doing so).
Ask HN: How Do You Build A Startup Team?
How did you/do you build a startup team? I left my job at at a Fortune 10 company in October to start my own company but 6 month later it's still "just me". I have not actively gone looking for people to join me because the project is in stealth mode - thus I have zero funds to acquire talent. I'm considering approaching VCs even though the only real need I have for their $$$ would be for building a team. Is this the right approach?
I did a good bit of research into it, but it just doesn't seem to be viable at this point. It's insanely expensive (fiber stuff isn't cheap), and you can't really do AR due to the lack of a camera. Eventually we'll get there, but as of now it's just going to be goggles.
Here Twitter is a bunch of whiners trying to use social capital as political capital, "people think we're cool, so you should give us something special." which means the SF Board of Supervisors will likely bend over on this. Total high-school politics. The supes like fancy holiday parties too, after all.
The article asserts that heavy containers placed on top are more likely to be flung into the sea. Is that really true? What if it was actually better to load heavy containers on top? Or heavy containers around the edges with lighter ones in the middle. More valuable cargo in the middle? What is the optimal shipping container arrangement?

Do shippers have software that tells them where to place the containers or is it more or less random?
"Learning a new language simply teaches me to communicate the same thoughts and feelings but in a different way. This is the same with programming languages: you accomplish the same tasks in a different language that has different syntax."

I liked that. A computer language, or CS, are both, for me, means to turn an idea into reality. I don't think it necessarily matters which way you were trainer, so long as the idea you're trying to execute gets done. Success either way imo.
How I got to #7 in the App Store (Including Analytics)
Perhaps you might find this useful: https://github.com/schacon/git-media
Excellent business folder printing by using vibrant colors and glossy material
Idsketch.com provides you very trendy business folders. We offer our services to our valued customers all over the world. We know how to serve you better. We offer you brilliant business folders printing services using latest techniques
Ask HN: What is a useful virtual gift for a hacker?
I mean something like Github, Dropbox, Evernote or some hosting(Amazon, Linode) subscriptions for a year, etc.

What would you recommend?
I had a similar case in a programming class, too. We worked in teams of two, I wrote the programs for the weekly tests (they were required to write the exam), she had no idea about data types, she couldn't compile, she had no practical understanding of programming. When we wrote the exam, she passed well, I failed. :)
The sphere is allowed to pass through itself according to the conditions of the problem. This is not considered a hole in the sphere. Otherwise, it's obviously impossible.
Thank you. These paywalls are insanity inducing.
I think its an interesting idea. Never saw anything quite resembling that in the wild. Might it be that open source code != open source design? Both groups collaborate, but what does it say that designers fawn over sites like forrst (which is walled) and coders like Git? Perhaps a different question needs to be asked - like what tools would a designer use to not simply outsource but open up the design process?
It's also how formally educated programmers learn. The ones that deny this just haven't realized exactly where their professors build their lectures, which is just a spoken book format in itself.
I thought this article would be beneficial to the many who are pursuing an internship. Interns should know their rights and that most of the time, if working for for-profit company, they should be paid.
The fact that you have a degree and are comfortable with math doesn't refute any of what pkaler said.

I assume pkaler (and probably many others) would claim that you're the exception to the rule.
Credentialing is useful, especially in cases where other forms of information are difficult to obtain.

Medicine is a good example. As a patient you don't really have the expertise (and maybe not the time) to determine if your physician is of good quality. You rely, partially, on the credential received by getting a medical degree and passing the boards. While not perfect, it gives you some information.

The same goes for computer science. If I were looking for an expert witness for some computer science related legal case I'd take their credentials into account -- in part because a jury will.

But hiring a programmer is different. Like I said in my original post a computer science degree isn't a programming credential. There's some overlap, but the degree of overlap is variable and generally unrelated to program quality -- Stanford tends to have a lot more pragmatic "programming" courses than MIT, at least historically.

Additionally with hiring a programmer you, the person doing the hiring is also usually an expert in the field. You can more easily ascertain their degree of knowledge and aptitude in areas you care about. Plus you have more time to do so (you'll usually get a full day if not more to question them).

Now with that said, do I consider CS degrees when hiring? Honestly it depends. If I was hiring someone to do some signal processing work I'm more inclined to look for someone with graduate degree background in the field, as a starting point. It's a domain that tracks closely to foundational work. OTOH, for a web dev I'm just as likely to hire someone who dropped out of high school as a PhD -- since frankly the PhD probably has spent less time doing web development than anyone else. But in all cases, if you come to me with some asset that shows great skill in what I'm looking for -- maybe a portfolio, or a paper you wrote, or a program, or a recommendation from someone I respect -- that will always get you in the door, period.
First, XMPP obviously works. Google Chat is XMPP. Facebook Chat is XMPP (ejabberd). But SOAP works too. Doesn't mean I want to use it.

My problem with XMPP is best illustrated by XEP-0060, the pubsub extension proposal: http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0060.html -- I don't have time to figure out that monstrosity.

AMQP is at the limit of complexity as far as pubsub things go. It's complex enough to need explaining, but simple enough were you can understand it in an hour.

If you want an in-depth discussion war about pros and cons, ask your question both on the redis mailing list and on the rabbitmq mailing list. I'd be interested in seeing how both communities respond to your requirement of running on limited access servers.
Very nice! I am not familiar with hunch's api. Could you share some internals on how you leveraged that?
Yes you make a good point (one I have experienced myself). I spent a lot of time as a teenager learning to become aware of the subtle signs your body gives you to indicate what it needs to remain balanced (I got these exercises from a Marine hand-to-hand combat booklet if you can imagine). It takes practice and discipline (and it's easy to overlook when you're busy) but it is possible to "tune-in" to these subtle signals.

It also helps to remove yourself from "modern society" now and again. A few days in the woods away from artificial stimulus goes a long way in this regard.
Hey, Entrepreneurs, Samuel Adams Wants to Lend You Money
I'm very biased as this is my own home town university, but over the years I've heard good things about University of Aarhus' Comp. Sci. department. (http://cs.au.dk/)

Points worth noting include a local Google research/dev. office (does Chrome's V8), and the "birth university" of Bjarne Stroustrup of C++ fame.

The department has research groups in the following areas:

Algorithms and Data Structures, Bioinformatics, Mathematical Computer Science, Computer Graphics and Scientific Computing, Cryptography and Security, Data-Intensive Systems, Human Computer Interaction, Modelling and Validation of Distributed Systems, Object-Oriented Software Systems, and Programming Languages

Feel free to contact me if there's anything I can help you with :)
You missed the very significant names of Linear, NXP, ST, Fairchild, and On Semi (for the analog market).

Regardless, TI is bigger than any of those companies, and probably bigger than all of those companies combined.
I see too many programmers that get in it for the money and not the passion. Having passion removes the need to be formally instructed. Passion gives people the drive to excel and be the best. However, you do get a big picture view of what's going on having earned a degree. The slackers tend to be the non-self-teaching among us.
Is it better to have started double digit startups than to have not started anything?

Your snide comment seems to go totally against the idea that we should fail quickly and often.

Out of curiosity, not knowing anything of the subject of your scorn -- why are these multitudes of start-stops an issue?

Maybe this intern, who's academic path is in-line with the premise of his startup - are just the thing he needs to have this one be the one.

---

Or are you a friend of his teasing him?
Granted, people like getting things at no/low cost. But it might also be a vote for Murdoch's version of the news? If it's at all like Fox in the US, I can see why net-literati won't touch it.
This sounds to me like a Home Depot -> Lowe's relationship.

I guess you'd have to master "being Google" first, so since G's business model is much much less settled than Home Depot's it will probably be a while. After all, there's still no "Fry's with good service," so maybe it's the B2C tech industry itself that precludes (good) customer service in general.

This is complicated by the existence of customer-focussed companies/sites like 37Signals and Craigslist, so maybe the difference is that customer service has to be a charter goal of the company in order for them to be any good at it. Just spitballin'.
Hah. I failed a course at the U of M. For the record, it was completely my fault; I was an idiot and easily distracted by shiny things.
Amazon shafting authors??
Hair Salon, Beauty Salon in Arcadia CA 91006
I remove myself from my "work" situation (when I worked a rigidly scheduled job, I'd take a drive to a nearby park) and just lay back and relax. If the weather is cooperative having the car windows down and some nature sounds to listen to seem to help but I imagine listening to anything that you don't have direct control over (as opposed to music, other forms of entertainment, etc.) would work.

Also a large lunch at a Mexican restaurant never hurts...
I tend to agree with Mark Twain on this point: "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."

For me, I have learned more outside of school than I have in it. Really I'm in it for the diploma. I wish companies would look at your software rather than your certificates, I think they would tend to find better developers. I know some companies are good about this but the reality is that programmers do need to go to college if they want to compete for jobs.

I will say this for school: it fills in gaps in education so companies can expect some standard knowledge from everyone. Also, it can be helpful for people that don't have the motivation to learn on their own.
Bill to repeal 1099 small business paperwork bill clears Congress
Nope, I'm just the peanut gallery :)

I do prefer the actual ^L though. I think sticking to printable characters and being copy and pastable from the web are good things for your project though, keep up the good work!
Economics also plays a big role. Most of us outside India just don't get this.

In India, your choices are the following:

a) Be a (relatively, not absolutely) rich doctor or engineer in the top 2.5% [1] of India (in terms of income).

b) Be poorer than the bottom 2.5% of Americans. Very likely, be poor even by the standards of Brazil or Mexico.

I'd work a job I hate to avoid that. I'd encourage my kids to do the same. Most people would.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/31/the-haves-and-t...

[1] Rough approximation: I am assuming the 2.5% mark corresponds to the average of the top/bottom ventile in the graph I linked to.
> Or are you a friend of his teasing him?

He was an early supporter of my Alky project (see http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1018290 ), who's still apparently bummed that it was killed.
I assume they've tested it out and aren't just assuming that the reflection would be a killer... but...
The artificial-reef situation should be fairly well understood and expected, right? I mean, New York City was dumping old subway cars in the Atlantic for this express purpose for years and years.

Though the idea that an eventual 'trail' of such items might link habitats to dire consequence is an interesting thought.
Gojko Adzic » How is it even possible for code to be this bad?
Show HN: Non-technical founder MVP = Hustlebee
Working with List Controls in ASP.NET
This looks impressive. I've written tracking systems previously, so can appreciate that it's not an easy problem to solve.
The 7 Rules for Achieving Exponential Growth (Part I)
Fascinating.

I wonder what kind of toxic chemicals are filling the ocean floor fresh from China, etc.
This sounds like the studio model that the AAA video game publishers have been using for some years now. While they have in-house production and coding for many packages, more and more the big-name titles are implemented by small remote teams that focus on the meat-n-potatoes while marketing and distribution and project management is handled by the parent company.
My parents ask me every year what to get me for Christmas, and I tell them I only want two things: black athletic socks and a renewal of my Netflix membership. I can highly recommend both as a gift for a "hacker".
I can somewhat agree with this. I used to do a lot of computer graphics work professionally. My degree was in electrical engineering, and it was the controls and robotics classes that taught me the necessary math background to work with computer graphics.

Related rant: Many university educated computer scientists think that all the math that they learned was 'invented' specifically for computer science, when in fact it existed long before computers were around. I once got into a heated argument at a Siggraph party with a guy who actually claimed to be the 'inventor' of quaternions.
From the site: Follow the principles below to write sentences that are clear, to the point, and easier to read.

I think they're claiming a lot more than "here's how to write concise sentences, if that's the style you're aiming for."

Note also that this section ("Clear, Concise, Sentences" [sic]) falls under the heading "Improving Your Writing Style."
With sites like khan academy the expectations for self taught programmers can be much higher now than before. If someone isn't a mathematician I think they can still do better than gluing Javascript and Ruby together.
Great points. It be nice if it also included concrete examples of real CEOs doing each of the 13 things each week.
> "I've only had an iPad for a week, but it hasn't faired much better."

I can't say I've ever noticed the experience you're describing on iOS. Not even with "Lite" apps.
Movie online
movie online
movie online movie online movie online movie online movie online movie online movie online movie online movie online movie online movie online movie online
This sounds like a rationale for implementing the Peter Principle.
It worked for them well for a long time. From what I hear managers there finally have managed to take over.
What else would matlab qualify for?

Matlab is huge in engineering and specialized fields.
But was it that way in Britain before India became independent in 1947? I thought the British "slot everybody into a job" system was part of post-WWII socialism.
hunch gives recommendations about pretty much everything, you can check out their api here: http://hunch.com/developers/v1/

i am specifically using "get-similar-results" and "get-recommendations" limited by the location you enter