skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
saving the data to be repopulated when/if they return to the form

I think this is my best option. I hate dialog boxes.

My only concern would be the user wondering where that data came from. But, then again, he's the one who entered it in the first place, so now he has to deal with it. Maybe a tooltip explanation at this point would help.

Thanks all for the great feedback!
I find it strange to say it's clueless when it's, in fact, the rationale used by the committee members. I don't appreciate being mocked when I'm trying to have a discussion. Compilers also happen to be part of my work, but that's beside the point.

Introducing a new scope would, I think, introduce more corner cases than the ugliness of the new syntax. (And I do agree that it's ugly in the context of C++ which already has a function syntax.) Right now, scopes are only introduced inside namespaces, classes/structs, functions, and explicit braces. Having a new scope start before a function and its parameters are declared is counter-intuitive to me.

Now, I might actually be willing to take counter-intuitive semantics to avoid the syntactic ugliness, but that's not my point. The point I've been trying to make is that the committee has considered these issues; they didn't blindly make a bunch of decrees.
I've always taken the approach of learning both and deciding for myself. If you're interested in true proficiency and building something for yourself, go with whatever rings most true to you.

I liked Ruby, but found that Python clicked better for me. That, and call me crazy - but I prefer quiet competence to foaming at the mouth zealotry. There are plenty of people who rave about Python - but they've been doing it for a lot longer than the Ruby people (simply age of language).

Ruby also has gotten lots of people hooked via Rails, and that seems to be where most of the evangelism is coming from.

(edit: commented to clarify my meaning below, in another comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=283771)
Yeah, if you're polite about it people will understand. I don't think you'll have too much of a problem if you think up solutions before hand. So instead of waiting for it to happen, write down now what you will do, what you will say to people if the wrong script is posted, and make sure you're very consistent about it.

Also, remember, if someone's script is posted without permission they might be mad, but there is always the possibility they would have posted it themselves. So every time you're contacted about a script it wouldn't hurt to say: "We're sorry your script got posted. We'll take it down immediately. A lot of people found it really useful, would you consider putting it back up under your own name?"
Thanks. I'll be using this one from now on. I can't believe the founder sold out. Gotta keep things real, G.
Rails. but you have Django which is better ;)

Seriously, I envy ruby's blocks and being able to redefine a class later in your code (monkeypatching-easy-syntax).

Oh, and Shoes :)
this is never really brought up, but objects in ruby fully encapsulate their instance and class variables. the only way to get at them from the outside is by sending an object a message asking for them (like Smalltalk or Objective-C). what appears to be setting a property on an object, is really calling a method: `foo.bar = 5` isn't directly setting the property, its calling a method named `#bar=`

in my opinion, this is powerful and elegant.

that being said, i have little experience with python, but what i've seen never wowed me. it seems like it has a well written collection of libraries, but that seems to come from the community more than the language. correct me if i'm wrong.
China Blocks Access to iTunes Store
Python Universal GUI (tkinter, wxwidgets, winforms with shoes-like syntax)
Political and  Magazine of India
Two good things and one bad thing. The good things are multi-line lambdas (which Ruby calls blocks) and loose syntax rules, which I found weird at first but is the secret behind all of that DSL stuff.

The bad thing is the cultural tendency of the Ruby community towards monkey patching, which in my opinion trades long term maintainability for short term convenience.
>> but I prefer quiet competence to foaming at the mouth zealotry.

Do you really pick your language by your perception of its users? I'm not sure that's a great criteria for choosing a tool. If an annoying dinner guest admired the butter knives, would you butter your roll with a fork?
Why Are You a Programmer?
Get a Mac, get a job
My experience is that the languages are similar in terms of features, but the communities are very different and there isn't much overlap between them. Ruby types tend to be younger, focussed on the web, probably employed as full-time developers. Python types tend to be older and not employed as developers, but write code as part of their main jobs. Python people often have experienced a nightmare of unmaintainable Perl, that is why there is the insistence on there being one right way to do everything (which is the exact opposite of what Perl people believe). Ruby people (being younger and hence less experienced) haven't, which is why they talk about expressiveness and do things like monkey-patching. Neither group is "smarter" and neither language is "better". The choice is a choice of what community you want to join, not a technical one.
Yeah, me too. Is it a good idea to learn ruby just to use shoes? I mean is it easier that qt/tk/gtk+/wx?
Ah, dammit. You're right. It is non-participating convertible preferred, as specified by 2(c) of the ARAI. (It's been a really long time since I've seen regular convertible preferred.)

I've fixed that section. (If I were still in banking, I'd call it a "clarification.")

You get mad karma points.
The FQA is delightful snark. Thanks for that.
Citizen Journalism Latest News
Sigh! To whoever down voted,

1. Total file size uncompressed is 428 kB, compressed is roughly 100 kB i.e. reduced bandwidth from origin & faster downloads

2. The webserver has to process 1 request instead of 6

3. Having all the word files in one zip file is easier to download
Citizen Journalism
Note that Python is sensitive to indentation not whitespace per se. So long as your line is at the right level there's no difference between

a=1+2

and

a = 1 + 2

In fact I wish Python were more sensitive to whitespace, then I could say my-variable without it mistaking a hyphen for a minus.
Well, working extensively with a language means working with its community, as a reader of news and documentation if nothing else. The size, expertise, and helpfulness of the community are all important factors in deciding whether to adopt a language. If a programmer finds the community annoying, that could be a legitimate problem.
Recursion and human thought
Would You Update Your LinkedIn Status? I Sense Status Overkill…
Lively, Google’s virtual world, has been a flop
I chose RoR over Python/Django for one simple reason: RoR's tight integration with the Prototype AJAX javascript library. Personally, I like Python as a language much better than Ruby. But if I'm going to code up a Web app, I want easy AJAX integration - I don't want to hand craft a bunch of javascript. It's not that I've got anything against writing javascript, but I hate, hate, hate trying to debug it.
The struggle to balance openness and control
New Linked In iPhone App could be the Killer App… But It's Not
The article jives with reality. At 38, he is the youngest invitee and he is working at SAP. A year and a half later, he is not working at SAP. You just ignored the "at 38" clause.
I made tea.
We need a startup that simplifies the funding process and turns these documents into a single sheet with no more than 4 paragraph. Seriously this 10 page contracts have to go.
I've not been on ebay in many months, so this is news to me. Just goes to show the trust mechanism that helped make the site popular is broken.
Is Microsoft Buying the Community?
Here's the info from the browser's about box:

Version 9.51
Build 4886
Platform Mac OS X
System 10.5.4
Java Java Runtime Environment installed

Browser identification

Opera/9.51 (Macintosh; PPC Mac OS X; U; en)

Here are some screenshots showing the issue:

First Page - http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr266/justhackit/P1.png

After clicking on a link showing 2 comments - http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr266/justhackit/P2.png

Second page zoomed to 50% to show the whole page - http://i490.photobucket.com/albums/rr266/justhackit/P3.png
The community also determines what is and isn't easy. This is something that a lot of otherwise smart people don't seem to get. Everytime someone into a powerful but obscure language wonders why it isn't more popular the answer is almost always something like "because Haskell's interface to Oracle is rubbish". And that's fine, because the Haskell community care about other things, if they want to be popular tho' they'll have to address that.

Concrete example: The Ruby community is very focussed on the Web, so there's Rails but they aren't really interested in scientific computing so there isn't a real equivalent to NumPy.
The languages are similar enough that it does not really matter. Just pick any, but make sure you balance it out by also knowing a low level language or a functional language.

Remember this: Every language you learn is a big investment in time and energy, and I don't think many people can be really proficient in more than 2 or 3 languages. Some can, but not most.

So, choose wisely, because you will likely be using that language for a long time to come. I personally prefer python because it's more widespread and right now, you have more available to you when you know it than with ruby.
I prefer Python, but I am somewhat envious of Ruby blocks. Also I like the idea that method calls are messages.
Hype? ;-)
"when corporations do kill, it's generally with the help of the state"

when states do kill, it's generally with the help of corporations
This thread sure got raped by lolbertarians fast
You have to learn the JavaScript core and the native DOM first to really understand the motivations and appreciate the beauty behind a framework like JQuery or Mootools.
When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going | ServiceLive Blog
I didn't choose to be a programmer, programing chose me, i was forced in to it, because its the least boring thing from all my hobbies. I love it, and if suddenly programing ceased to exist i would probably kill my self, or die of boredom. Also all the cool programmers are really weird, some of them even get sexually aroused by programing. weird==cool!
I've done quite a bit of Smalltalk programming, and I agree about the blocks. But what do you mean by "method calls are messages"?
RedHat EL and Fedora Core infrastructure servers compromised, possible backdoored packages
"AFL" --> Australian Football League

"Footy" --> Football

"Nutter" --> Crazy person

"Isterling" --> OK, that's just a stupid name.
The astounding range of prices for a gallon of gasoline around the world - interactive graphic
It isn't so much about language features, as both languages are roughly equivalent in that sense.

It is about how the language makes you feel. If you're going to be spending >5 hours a day writing in some language, it is of great importance how that language makes you feel when you write it. Simply said, writing Ruby makes me happier than I've ever been while writing code.

Python is to German as Ruby is to French. You can get roughly the same message across equally well in both languages, but French just sounds so much better.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: the only good reason for doing a PhD in any subject P is that you're so fascinated by P that you find youself saying:

"Holy shit, you mean somebody will actually let me sit around and just do research on P for a few years? And they'll even pay me a little bit of money while I do it? What a sweet deal!"
I couldn't disagree more.

Even if you spend a month learning Ruby and never use it again, it will still irrevocably change the way you approach writing code.
personally i don't like the 'one way' mantra that Python is designed by, because it seems to imply a couple things. 1, the language is probably not as flexible and powerful as it could be. and 2, the design goal is similar in nature to that of production languages, eg Java which forces object orientation. the intentions are good... to allow the construction of readable, maintainable software by normal humans, and Python is at least not as retarded about it as Java, but i have found that languages which constrict aren't for me

so to me Python seems more of a team production dynamic language than one where i can get into flow and crank shit out
There really isn't a huge difference between the two. For what it's worth, I personally prefer Ruby because it has better support on the Mac - Apple use ruby a fair bit themselves. For example, the command line tool gen_bridge_metadata (supplied by Appleto make it possible to access system frameworks written in C from scripting languages) is itself a ruby script. I notice that on Linux it's the reverse - python seems to be the preferred scripting language.

But don't take my comments as saying only ruby is supported on the Mac, or only python on Linux - in reality it's only a light preference one way or the other.
Rugby Union > AFL.

:)
How I Built a Working Online Poker Bot, Part 8
The lack of built-in regular expressions is a pain point for me.
You mean that ruby has a greater learning effect than python on a C++ programmer?
I really like Python, but it doesn't have an equivalent to CPAN or RubyGems.

I'm actually quite puzzled by this.
Very interesting! It's important to note (as he said) "recursion" means different things to Linguists, Mathematicians, and Computer Scientists. Still, quite interesting to think about how our brains have developed these tools.
Ask HN: How do you organize your code?
I've always created a "Development" folder in my home directory where I put project-specific folders. For example: "Development/projectA", "Development/projectB" etc.

But this approach is getting messy and I'm about to reinstall my system so I'm curious how HN users organize their code.
I'd just like to take this opportunity to plug ammonia as an alternative solution. High energy density. No nasty emissions. No need for new infrastructure. No need for new cars. We just need to ramp up ammonia production, which we need to do anyway to meet growing fertilizer requirements for a hungry growing population.

Any HNers with me?
Once again, google stumbles with something remotely social. They really need to stop thinking algorithm is king for non-search products. Also, I've heard many anecdotes of designers being treated as second class citizens. That has to stop.
it's been out like 3 days. I agree that it seems dumb so far but google has released tons of stuff that seemed half baked and then over time gets better.

I remember everyone hating google talk when it first came out. No one liked Google news when it first came out either.

There is no guarantees but give it six months to a year before you're 100% sure it's dead.
"Python types tend to be older and not employed as developers, but write code as part of their main jobs."

I'm curious, how did you arrive at that conclusion?
Microfiche is still in heavy use in many places. Keep it in a dark vault with controlled temperature and humidity and it will last for 500 years.
pypi? www.python.org/pypi
you should try it out and see if you like it.. shoes is a good way to learn ruby

shoes is good for simple apps. But if you need complex controls like trees and sliders, coding in shoes would get annoying. Also the documentation for shoes leaves something to be desired.

but it is pretty fun.. i'm coding a shoes app right now and would recommend it
They really need to stop thinking algorithm is king for non-search products.

Source or Is this just anecdotal evidence? I do agree with you that a better algorithm doesn't guarantee an automatic win.
Tight integration with prototype is one of the things I don't like about Rails, mainly because I don't like Prototype (I'm a big fan of JQuery).
They're both impressive, modern languages. What I find interesting when comparing Python to Ruby is how much Python isn't like Lisp. Matz has said outright that he considers Ruby to be "MatzLisp" and it shows, whereas Guido has absolutely no problem chucking Lispy things overboard--like multi-line anonymous functions--if they do not fit the rest of the language.

Instead, Python finds another way, like powerful list comprehensions that can be used wherever Ruby would use blocks and maps.

So I would say you can learn some very interesting things from either language, and there's a good chance they will be different interesting things.
Simple hack discovers China falsified age of Olympic gymnast
I have a similar setup to you and I agree, mine isn't optimal but it works (for now). Basically it's:

/dev

- /dev/py

-+ /dev/py/projectA

-+ /dev/py/projectB

- /dev/lisp

..etc

- /dev/php

.. etc

And so forth. I like having all my code in one area but still separated enough that I can easily fetch what I need.

I also have some "global" folders for things like Javascript code, random HTML/CSS junk, and so forth
I am a programmer because I like solving problems. And the process of creating something - it is usually a nice feeling to be able to build something tangible from scratch (a blank editor screen). No, I don't see myself programming forever.

As an old programmer told me once, the most qualified programmers are usually the ones who are not programming. When you first come out of school and/or first start programming, you are young and excited and eager to learn the latest/coolest technology. After several projects and/or years of experience, you start to realize it's not about the technology - there are commonalities/patterns. And maybe after that point (when you start to become uber efficient and deadly) you start to think about transitioning out and getting married/starting a family.. Then the freshman cycle continues.
"That's one of the most provocative things I have heard in a while."

Corporations can and have killed people when they can get away with it: see the embarrassing history of leaded gasoline (http://www.thenation.com/doc/20000320/kitman/single is a decent start) for just one example; it is still sold today in Third World nations even though we (and especially corporations) are well aware of its highly deleterious and sometimes fatal effects on public health. The idea that corporations are happy to run roughshod over people's health remains provocative only outside the reality-based community.

"Corporations are businesses. They provide the best service or product to people at the lowest price."

The first statement is true. The second is not. You cannot logically infer the second from the first.

"How could you keep a market interested in your product if you were killing people making it? Do you think some kind of secret trade-off where corporations got to kill vast numbers of people secretly in the middle of the night to keep prices low would actually work for _any_ corporation? If you were a CEO, would you gamble the entire corporate stock on it?"

A common lolbertarian strawman. It's not as if the only people corporations risk killing are customers. Any 12-year-old can see that a guy running a store has no interest in shooting everyone who walks in through his door. But given a complex network of global transactions, where the end consumer of a product may be many steps removed from the product's manufacturer, vendor, and purchaser, there are many points where dangerously cutting corners or exerting pressure to stymie scientific investigations can pay off. And asking whether a CEO would gamble the entire corporate stock on a risky move is a question liable to backfire in your face: I can trivially point to the Enron boys, who may not've killed anyone (at least not directly) but were happy to cause far more damage than any mundane murder for short-term gain.

"It's the stuff of Hollywood fantasy, not reality. Business is based on good faith, trustworthy contracts, and the moral and physical support of all concerned. You can't just start whacking people and expect any of that to stay around. That's not reality. Yes -- you could sell a dangerous product. But that's not killing people. It's a different thing entirely."

Hahahahaha you talk about business being founded on good faith and trustworthy contracts, AND the "moral and physical support of all concerned", and you have the audacity to say someone ELSE is trafficking in Hollywood fantasy? You got a lot to learn, kid.
I thought I'd be making video games.
Social life starts way before 10PM. Not everything social is a late-night party.
Programming is the 'least boring' of your hobbies? List some of your other hobbies please.
People expected this to get big?

I think it would of been a surprise if it did get big and even though it hasn't had much of a chance, I still don't think it's a good product.
Build your own Fusion Reactor [pdf]
Mainly through direct observation. Among my own circle of friends, it's surprising how neatly we (well, those of us who use either language) divide into those categories. But you can see the pattern in job ads, discussions on mailing lists and in the domain-specific libraries for each language too. As many people got into Python through NumPy as a MATLAB alternative as got into Ruby via Rails, I'll bet.

Like I say, this isn't a good thing or a bad thing, it's just interesting.
Anybody using MonetDB?
A review of the Nokia E71
Throw everything in ~/work/my_awesome_hack .. you really need a lot of projects before that gets unorganized. Deprecated code that I never touch is in ~/work/_oldies.
It's close enough to be moot, But I think that getting Instapaper running is faster and takes less time, and registration is included.

I think that signing up for Instapaper is faster even than installing a browser plugin. It's the single fastest registration process I know. And the system works much more efficiently than this one seems to: for one thing, you can use it in Safari. For me that's a winning feature.
Another strategy I considered was using an infrared photodiode instead of a visible light photodiode. That way, the diode effectively reads the toast temperature rather than color, which would address the issues you mention. But I was a bit worried that the infrared emission of the heating coils would swamp that of the toast.

For my original design, you'd definitely have to set the control to only slightly darker than your rye bread, or you'd get burned rye toast.
A Creative Commons license might be a useful thing to add. With no license specified a potential user could run into picky copyright law hangups down the line.
I agree that this is the big decision point. I'm a Ruby guy and I've looked at Python several times and it never really stuck (I could work on a project that use Python, it just wouldn't be as fun as a project using Ruby to me). I could complain about various technical details, but if I'm entirely honest it would just be minute, meaningless, bitchy detail nitpicks.
Read up on setuptools and the Python Package Index, aka the Cheeseshop. Setuptools hasn't yet been adopted as the one true packaging format by all library creators, but it gaining acceptance.
How Can Non-Profit Organizations Benefit From Toll Free Numbers?
Is it true that toll free numbers can help non-profit organizations? Will 800 numbers help non-profit organizations in increasing the flow of donations? Yes, it is true that toll free numbers can help non-profit organizations a great deal. Read on to see how non-profit organizations can benefit by using 800 numbers.
Your comment made me realize that the phrase direct observation sounds so much better than anecdotal evidence.
Furthermore, the more attention Microsoft calls to itself, the most it endangers itself. Because - with respect to Windows users - most people get wowwed over by what Mac does, and inertia stops them from switching. When Microsoft tries to push themselves, they make users move around, and Microsoft is the most endangered by that set-up.