skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Ask HN: Advice for a rising Junior in College
This is my first post to HN, and honestly I'm not sure why it has taken so long. I've been following Y-combinator, techcrunch, and internet startups in general for a couple years now and I would consider this my "passion." However, with my major (Finance and Operations and Information Management) I find myself pressured towards the investment banking world. I know that might sound stupid. Yes I'm in college; I have my whole life ahead of me, but simply put I'm torn. It seems that Georgetown is an incubator for investment bankers, not budding entrepreneurs.
I have started my own company and have been an executive of another $16 million dollar (asset) company so I definitely have some experience, but the former I would not label as successful. In fact, I would label it as a failure for all the hours I put into it, and the meager output of cash flows. But I am very glad I did it because it has been the greatest learning experience of my life and I now know exactly what not to do (like bank on ads for a revenue stream). I have lots of really good ideas, and I have even narrowed down what my next venture would be, but I don't think I could do it on my own. I am definitely more of the business side and think my strengths include my networking ability, problem solving skills, and finance know how. I know a decent amount of php, html, css, javascript, sql, but I would think my time would be better well served on the business side.
Sorry for all of the "stream of consciousness" but I felt it would be helpful in answering my question.

Here is (finally) my question:

How do I find a partner? I think this might be one of the most important decisions of any entrepreneur, especially with my prior experience with a half-ass dedicated co-founder. More specifically, where should I look for a partner that is a developer? Unfortunately, not many (if any) of my friends fall under this category.
Thanks for your advice and suggestions,
Chris
And I'm sure hoping we succeed! They recently pulled the plug on Adobe Air Linux support ( http://blogs.adobe.com/open/2011/06/focusing-on-the-next-lin... ), which only makes them look worse in the eyes of devs like me.

I don't care if the year of the Linux desktop never comes - you just don't pull the plug one something like that. Adobe is becoming incredibly irrelevant to the consumer, while still strong to the content producer market - which I want to know nothing about anyway. So, all the best :)
>>Programming as an intellectual activity is the only art form that allows you to create interactive art.

Not true! Live performances can be plenty interactive. Which doesn't devalue programming--you can do things in software you actually can't do anywhere else--but this was perhaps poorly thought out.
Galactic Weathermen to Predict Solar Storms
Ditto. I use XP at work, have had a chance to use Windows 7 in the past, and have a Mac at home that I use for Lightroom. Being in regular contact with the competition helps me have a balanced attitude towards the downsides of Linux. Sure, Flash crashes a lot. Sure, you get lied to about the user-readiness of desktop apps and environments. Those things are worth bitching about, but I use Windows every work day, so I know switching to Windows won't be an improvement, at least not for me.
I think it's total bullshit that all your comments are getting downvoted. I don't like this law, but I'm not going to take it out on you.
Improving lives? What a lofty goal!

It's strange whenever I think of my company's product in such terms, since my product doesn't reduce global warming, improve international relations, or anything like that. However, it DOES accomplish the much more modest goal of facilitating an aspect of time management (http://www.domador.net/two-click-reminder). I did set out with the goal of making people's lives easier when I developed this program, and I hope that's what it accomplishes, even in a marginal way. I definitely want my programs to improve lives. I shudder at the thought of ever running or working for a company with an extremely selfish motivation, a company obsessed with its own benefit and indifferent to the effect its actions have on the rest of society.

I am just getting started, and it's too early to tell if my product is having beneficial side effects. I haven't gotten much feedback yet.
Haven't noticed this myself. Can you upload an example mp3 file and file a Github bug? https://github.com/nddrylliog/jsmad/issues (Also, I don't have a 'Web Audio' flag in my Chrome 12 - I have in Chrome Canary on Windows though).
One thing that facebook has taught us is that people hate RSVPing for things even when it's completely painless. Pretty much any event you'll find ten confirmed yeses, twenty confirmed nos, fifty confirmed maybes and about four hundred invitations awaiting reply.
The title of the blog post is unfortunately misleading. The tutorial shows how to convert PDF to DejaVu but doesn't explain how to compress a PDF file by itself.
I always thought so. :)
Deer dropped by eagle knocks out power in Montana
On our university these guys built a complete eavesdropper, installed in a running quantum cryptography link, and actually extracted the full ‘secret’ key unnoticed.

Read more about it here: http://www.iet.ntnu.no/groups/optics/qcr/

Pictures and description: http://www.iet.ntnu.no/groups/optics/qcr/full-eavesdropping-...
Apparently to give to those who need it more. For example, because my parents had a median Silicon-valley income (which was above the national median), I did not get any financial aid, reasonable financing options, etc. My parents, limited by the mortgage payments to the house they bought in 2007 (bad timing, I know), had very little free cash (I had a little sister). As a result, I had to work for my money while there were supposedly poor classmates running around with Macbook Pros and brand new iPhones and iPads, paid for by their financial aid. (Or rather, they didn't have to pay for living and tuition, so every dollar they earned went into accessories).

You can tell I'm a bit bitter about this. I wonder what everyone else thinks. I understand that education should be equal opportunity, but this is not equal opportunity.
It's a bit too geeky, most people would prefer to text you back with some personal message and most people would like to read them more than just observe blank confirmations on a website.

I believe the real problem is that people forget to RSVP and it is difficult to reach them with a reminder without calling them all with mandatory chit chat what wastes a lot of time.
6 Free E-Books on C and C++
The thing that goes around the neck was too small. :) It was a kids cape.
Possible? Sure! Cheap enough to make it worthwhile? Hells no.

Maybe you could get the cost per invitation down to ten bucks if you really had economies of scale and the cooperation of the cell phone networks. But who wants to pay ten bucks just to invite someone somewhere? For that money I'd rather provide two more free drinks to everyone at the party.
+1, this is the nitty-gritty
Haha, of course a downvote. No, really, she's pantless everywhere. This is not a joke. Maybe the AOL writer who came up with that example knew what they were doing; I thought it was an interesting possibility.
A reversion on Wikipedia doesn't necessarily indicate that the reverted edit was wrong.

Wikipedia is a highly politicized and point-of-view pushing place, so it's quite common for edits get reverted by others who simply have a different opinion or a contrary agenda.
That's why I run Apache+mod_wsgi behind an nginx proxy (and have nginx serve up static files etc directly).
I think JavaScript will stick around for quite awhile. However, the viability and popularity of languages that compile to JavaScript will probably continue to increase.

Besides CoffeeScript, which mostly only offers syntactic improvements to JavaScript, there are several projects which compile very different languages to JS, including:

* Emscripten (http://emscripten.org/) compiles arbitrary LLVM bitcode to JavaScript. Since clang and GCC can both target LLVM, a whole lot can be compiled to JavaScript. The Python interpreter (http://syntensity.com/static/python.html) and the Bullet physics engine (http://www.syntensity.com/static/bullet.html) are both particularly impressive.

* Google Web Toolkit (http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/) compiles Java to JavaScript. It's used in many real projects. Scala+GWT (http://scalagwt.gogoego.com/) aims to use this toolchain to compile Scala code, though it's not yet production-ready.

* The reductio ad absurdum of this approach is http://bellard.org/jslinux/, a x86 PC emulator written in JavaScript. You can run almost any language in the web browser with that!

See https://github.com/jashkenas/coffee-script/wiki/List-of-lang... for a (possibly exhaustive) list of languages like this.

Whether these approaches can deliver passable performance for legacy browsers is an open question. However, for newer browsers it's safe to assume this general approach holds a lot of promise.
Careful with that assumption. In my experience on a recent project, finding Perl developers was a good bit easier than finding Python developers. Generally, though, I think both are pretty prevalent.

The only problem I've had with Perl programmers is that a lot of the more casual Perl programmers (those who aren't exclusively Perl) tend to not keep up with the (significant and important) advances in Perl from the last 2-3 years.
I'm pretty sure that's why it was put on Pastebin, which lately is turning into a sort of PostSecret of random geekery. Thanks probably in part to Lulzsec.
Google's Native Client [1] is one answer. It allows you to run native code safely in the browser. It's goal is also to support LLVM IL to run safely in the browser. This way you could potentially use all your favorite languages at nearly full speed, and also have access to the DOM and other browser APIs.

Another answer is to compile your favorite language down to Javascript. This gets you the expressiveness at the cost of a slowdown in runtime speed. Languages like Coffeescript are very close to Javascript so they don't incur much overhead by doing this, but even this approach can't go as fast as code running on Native Client.

[1] http://code.google.com/p/nativeclient/
It sounds like you have self confidence issues which lead to a fear of failure. The only way to overcome it is to take a leap of faith. The time is now. I waited until I was 30 to really get over it, and I wasted most of my 20s. So basically:

- stop comparing yourself to others
- stop being afraid of failure
- just fucking do it

You'll be amazed how freeing it is to not worry about failing anymore. This isn't to say it isn't a hard "habit" to break. I still have my own doubts, but I just remember rejection/failure is only temporary. To paraphrase someone much wiser than me:

"On my deathbed, I will regret not trying things far more than I'll regret failing at them"

So my suggestion to you: start a side project and get to hacking. Pick a small problem that drives you crazy and set out to program a solution in Rails. It doesn't even have to be something to make money; you just need to put yourself out there.

Maybe this isn't you, but your story sounds very familiar. I've been self-employed since I was 20, but I never let myself take it to the next level. If I can save you or someone else those wasted years, it was worth writing this. This Steve Jobs quote still gives me chills, and it spurred me to change my life:

"For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something…almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose."
So i'm curious what you mean by "more suitable languages" for writing an mp3 decoder. Also which of Javascript's abstractions are do you think are so inherently unsuitable?

As far as general purpose programming languages Javscript does pretty well with regard to object semantics. That's why things like Coffeescript are as powerful as they are. Javascript certainly doesn't have the elegance that say Ruby or Python has built in, but thanks to JavaScript's powerful and flexible nature, a lot of those capabilities are possible to build on top of JS's core.

http://documentcloud.github.com/underscore/ (which was also written by jashkenas and others) is a great example of this.

On the performance front, given all of the work that's gone into the various browser implementations of JS, that you could call it unsuitable from a performance standpoint. Could perhaps elaborate on this further?
Ask HN: How to scale an early startup to grow from 0 to 10000 to 1M customers?
What's the right way to scale a startup from 0 to 1M customers without lot of $$$ spend on PR and Adwords in the beginning?

It's difficult to come out from code incubation - directory submission,

Chasing PR is one way but who covers a non-ycombinator or funded startup. No one bothers to write about you or even return your email or tweet :( - that's reality.

Spending on adwords seems to expensive affair - doing it via forums will take ages to scale..

I know lot of startups would have undergone the same situation. So would love to see your comments.

Where or how do we start? What are the companies who have seen exponential growth?

If our background helps, We - http://www.Clickdesk.com - are new to live-chat space but we are lighting fast, Google-AppEngine based, allow agents to receive Chats on Skype and Google Talk, allow visitors to call from Browser without installing anything new and from local access numbers. Eg: customer in Japan calls a local number in Tokyo to reach you business...

Hope this post will help others.
Donate blood ,save someone’s life. be a good citizen.
Actually, the whole point of rating that stuff AAA was a regulatory arbitrage. Buying AAA-rated CDOs and buying credit default swaps against them was a capital-efficient way to lever up. And that level of leverage was only possible due to central banking backstops.

If deregulation caused the crisis, why weren't hedge funds (the least regulated entities out there) a big part of it? I seem to remember a bunch of the major investment banks (much more regulated) losing money because of their positions in mortgages (a very strongly-regulated investment).

It's really hard to describe the financial crisis without talking about decisions that only make sense in the context of gaming regulations.
Sigh. I'm tired of the internet, and its nonstop flow of stories which sound outrageous when you read the summary but rapidly sound a bit more sensible when you find out the details.
I suspect this was the start of mainstream pastebin-as-publishing-platform: http://www.michielovertoom.com/python/pastebin-abused/
Full Thesis 
Writing a thesis can be a tough project. For this reason students will look up examples of thesis. Downloading a full thesis will be beneficial as the entire contents of the thesis can be perused. This will serve as an excellent guideline for students’ work.
I wonder if chrome was counted twice? The fact that some are still running 11 and other were running 12 makes me think that maybe users were in the middle of that switch? I'd put their numbers around 12% then.

Whatever it is, I think it good. My app is biased to chrome because that's what I use. I keep seeing more and more people on chrome at my browser research lab (snooping on people's laptop at starbucks ;p)
I really do not think that it is that black and white. First it is not about people who do not like Linux on the desktop but about people who used Linux on the desktop for many years, promoted it at their schools, at their companies, to their friends. And then after many years struggling against the same problems all over again they discover that it is not worth their time.

Then there is another question - does it make the Linux desktop better if people (like the author and me) stop using it?
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Even if there are laws regulating Mt. Gox, given the fact that Mt. Gox is operated by a Japanese company, Japanese laws apply to Mt. Gox, meaning that anyone willing to take legal action against Mt. Gox would at least have to find a Japanese lawyer and litigate in Japan, which, I imagine, makes the process more complicated and possibly more expensive for most BitCoin users.
The customers win, either way. They are informed and have a choice. It's not only quality, its also supporting the national economy. E.g. you might buy a made in Germany washer, or you might buy a made in US one, to support local economy and to prevent the outflow of money, even thou it is of lower quality (I'm not saying that it really is).
In short, the founder of the business has developed new hydro-kinetic generators that have higher efficiencies than the existing technologies. So they can generate power from a slower-moving river. The generators can be placed in standalone deployments, creating their own local grid. They also can be attached to existing grids to augment the current systems.

As I am just helping to organize it all, and not the founder nor the inventor, I'm not comfortable getting into too many details, but if anyone really does have a sincere interest (especially if interested in investing), let me know. I'll get you in touch with the guy in charge...
I don't think that the new design 'emphasises' the search button at all. It slots it neatly onto the end of the search bar rather than hanging it below the bar. It's smaller and more pleasing to the eye.

But I'm all for removing the 'I'm feeling lucky' button. Did anyone ever use that?
Every federal department has an Inspector General and the employees are federal agents authorized to carry firearms and conduct raids. However contrary to the article, the OIG agents, like all other officers, have to get a judge to sign the warrant and approve it for no-knock service.

A few examples:
NASA OIG: http://oig.nasa.gov/
USPS Postal Inspectors: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/
National Endowment for the Arts: http://www.nea.gov/about/OIG/Contents.html

All Inspectors General: http://www.ignet.gov/igs/homepage1.html
Terminal.app definitely still has problems in Snow Leopard; especially the lack of 256 color support. I've switched to using iTerm2, a replacement terminal emulator, and it's solved most of my complaints about Terminal.app.

Hopefully Lion rolls a lot of those fixes into Terminal.app.

[1] http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.4010
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I believe that he's right that just putting it in a hidden form field would be useless for this sort of attack. However, I believe rails and django actually include the CSRF token in headers for ALL ajax requests, not just form submits.
Q&A with the creator of Clojure
It seems like Chrome has eaten up Firefoxes market share. if im not mistaken.
Heterogeneous Computing: Past, Present, and Future
How do you act on all that product feedback?
Still, I would be worried simply because they could get a warrant without going to the court, and them having their own law enforcement forces... Isn't the police enough?
They way they count that can't happen (or rather it always happens for all browsers, since they count browser usage, not unique users) so it's definately 20%, at least by the count of this source:

http://gs.statcounter.com/#browser-ww-monthly-201006-201105
By oppressed countries, do you mean those that enact laws that enable the government to censor parts of the internet and/or deny citizens access to the internet as a whole? Like, for example, England and France? (And perhaps soon the US as well?) If so, I'm not sure that counts as a "niche" market!
> Does anyone feel that sooner or later JS will probably turn out to be not-so-suitable for stuff we want to do ?

Be more specific. Every programming language is not-so-suitable for stuff we want to do.

> Are there any attempts being made to provide an reliable alternative or can JS itself evolve ?

What's "unreliable" about JS? The lack of standardization in available features among browsers? That's an issue, but it will be dealt with, one way or another. C gained a huge infrastructure of tools and standards to make it more portable, and platforms that didn't or couldn't keep up are no longer used.

This presentation from Velocity 2011 shows just how far JS has come. The author suggests that in the next iteration will be type inference in JS engines and/or optional explicit typing in the language.

http://www.slideshare.net/newmovie/know-yourengines-velocity...
Our government also invaded Iraq to search for weapons and Afghanistan to search for Bin Laden.
Bitwise operators in C and implementation of 8 booleans in one char
I think there's a lot of understanding to gain from building a computer from scratch. We've abstracted computing so much that starting over gives you a unique perspective on some of the big problems still out there, as well as a definite appreciation for the innovations we've come up with--even if it's nothing new.
Apple's new iPad 2 ad : "Now"
also, very mobile unfriendly
I hate PHP. Personally, I just don't like the language. However, it's still incredibly popular in the web world.

As for the rest? Ruby on Rails was super hot a year or so ago, because it was a new concept in simplicity for certain types of web apps. However, Perl and Python both have comparable frameworks that are just as good now, and in the minds of a lot of people, better. Rails does have a bit of a reputation for limited scalability, compared to Perl and Python solutions.

Realistically, the scalability of your application will be limited by your database design and application architecture to a far greater extent than the language you use. In all but a few special cases, Perl, Python, Ruby, and eve PHP will be fast enough, assuming you don't create bottlenecks with the application design.

Personally, I would go with Perl. I like the language, I love the rapid advances and direction it's taken in the past couple of years, and I think Moose and Catalyst are awesome. However, it sounds like this is for something of a startup, so the language you write the app in should be whichever one the developer writing it is most comfortable with. You want them to be at maximum productivity, and that'll happen with their preferred language. Find the right person, then pick the language.
An example that shows that Javascript wasn't designed for performance: it doesn't support integers. They can be used in some Javascript implementations that do smart tricks to convert float arithmetic to integer arithmetic, but it is not reliable. If you were designing a language for performance in the first place, this would be a ridiculous method to get access to integers. Same for dense arrays. Yeah, JS is pretty fast if you know how the particular implementation that you're targeting works, but even then there are many things that just need a lot more performance than JS can offer.

On the expressiveness front: Javascript doesn't support proper lexical scoping. It's object model is broken. It doesn't use proper abstractions in the standard library. Etc. These can all be fixed by compiling another language to Javascript, but then you lose on the performance side.
Pulse width modulation (PWM) is a pretty common technique. This article seems to be more about measuring the actual waveform Apple uses. It even says that the PWM used in the original introduced artifacts into the measured waveform.