skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I've had quite a journey since quitting, so sorry for the long post!

I worked at a company writing mathematical software for 8 years. The work was interesting, but I kept feeling there was a deeper way of thinking about some particular topic I was working on (e.g. data science, array programming, visualization, deep learning). Unfortunately, writing production code didn't leave me the time and energy to pursue these "deeper truths". Thinking deeply takes a lot of time!

It was a hugely difficult decision, but in 2018 I quit, without much of a plan. I attended some summer schools in different things, taught at some other summer schools, started reading papers and watching lectures on youtube about things that interested me. I trained with a friend to get a job as research engineer at DeepMind, but when it came time to apply, I worried I'd repeat the same pattern as before if I got the job. So I got cold feet.

The second decision, even more difficult, was to trust my instincts that I could learn topics and work on my own proto-ideas independently without the imprimatur of a PhD program or industrial lab. I had saved money, and I had enough runway for a couple years.

I have roughly 3 ideas in me that I need to formalize -- or die trying (meaning run out of money). I have cute names for them: hyperbooks, algebraic arrays, and discrete geometry. I'm working on the last one right now [1].

My inspiration was people like Andrew Kelley (author of Zig), and Rich Hickey (author of Clojure). They just did the things they believed in, worked hard, and have contributed something useful and novel to the world. Of course, I don't know if what I'm working on will be useful to others, but I have reason to be hopeful.

If one of my ideas succeeds, I'll be able to find a way to make a living off of it somehow. If they all fail, I'll have learned an enormous amount, had an adventure, and I can still go back to the ordinary career path.

In the end, the fundamental question was: "do I believe in an idea enough to pay my own salary to work on it?" Realizing I could honestly answer "yes" was a profound inflection point in my life.

[1]: https://quivergeometry.net
Apparently there is little current economic incentive (or regulatory push) to streamline the process and take on airlines in cross-border travel:

Railway companies are national in nature and by history. The share of cross-border travelling is small; the income mainly comes from national rail.

-

Obviously if they streamlined the process to take on airlines their revenue would increase. But perhaps the cost of streamlining would outweigh the revenue increase. Unfortunately it is almost impossible to create a disruptor in the train space due to rules, regulation and the capex nature of it. Whereas the airline space is easy to enter as a competitor even though it is capex heavy because the core asset (planes) are mobile. You can move them from very competitive market to another one that has less competition if the laws (and airport slots) allow for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contestable_market
>Can you do an online degree and work on the side?

I am, that's why I mention being 3~ years out from a degree in my OP. And then I'll be 39~ with a degree and then 18 years of experience doing paperwork and it'll be a whole new set of "well, we're looking for someone with actual experience in such and such field" or "we can get a 22 year old for way less money than you" instead of "well, we're looking for someone with a degree".
Part of serialization is getting to pick how you encode numbers. And, one should do so with a good match on the range or required precision. I'm not sure double values are required here or necessary.

> Text compression of number data is extremely efficient

Of course it isn't. It is arguably one of the worst there is. It can only ever by more efficient when representing a very low subset of values and the alternative binary representation is exceedingly poor. But those constraint would make the whole discussion kinda silly.

Serializing text, is after all binary encoding data. If you follow this with compression algorithms, you'll likely not end up too far away in either case.

Just take the example you gave. "A 5 digit integer is 3 bytes less than the double to store it". Yes, true. However, a 5 digit integer can also be represented by 12 bits.

And you can even pack them if this is all you really care about (there is a good reason why you wouldn't want to do this, as word alignment is much more important, as you would be able to directly map data to memory allocations, but let's for argument sake say that storage was king). For each 5 digit numbers as a text file, you'll need another byte to encode the line break or delimiter. I.e. 6 bytes instead of 12 bits, or 4 times wasted space. For a million values, 5.7 MiB instead of 1.4 MiB.
The people who are quitting, where are they working now? Can you work there?
Pandemic helped spread fentanyl across US, drive opioid deaths to new high
"Garbage in, garbage out" means nothing in this context yet you keep throwing it around to punctuate a very confusing and misguided point.

Also loving this typical cop-out argument of "If you don't see the problem then there's no hope". Either explain your weird stance further or stop getting fussy when people decide they don't want to listen to you. We're not lemmings, we're capable of analyzing situations with a critical eye.
I acknowledge that in a correctly designed binary format given data may in some cases be more compact than when represented as compressed XML.

I ask myself though will it practically matter in the 3MF vs STL case, given 3MF uses a different approach to represent geometries that produces both more accurate and far more compact results than STL for a similarly high precision[0]?

[0] https://hawkridgesys.com/blog/3mf-the-file-format-for-the-fu...
While true, I also know there's the Dark Matter of software development - most of the internal software development at large (non-software) companies never sees the light of day.

(XP's famous use in the failed Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation System is one exception. The Edsel also had some innovative features.)

Anyway, that's all to say there's a 25 year period (including popular interpretations of DOD-STD-2167A) where risk-averse managers with no software development management experience might have heard about waterfall and said "gimme some of that."

My working assumption is that that's the target audience of the expensive Agile consultants. 'Cause at least that makes some sense.
I would consider ligatures a text rendering concept, which allows for but is distinct from the linguistic concept described by GP.

Edit: to further illustrate my point, in the ligatures I'm familiar with (including the ones in your link), the component characters exist standalone and can be used on their own, unlike GP's example.
It went fine. I did this ins 2019. I had more than enough in savings and no other responsibilities (no mortgage, wife or kids). I took about 5 months off during which I travelled for a couple of months. Felt it was worth it and had no trouble finding a new job when I was ready to go back.
I quit my job a few years back without anything lined up. I had enough saved up to last a couple years and the hiring market was booming so I wasn't worried about my next job, I was pretty burned out and just wanted a break.

I spent a couple months lazying around until I felt like going back to work, then spent a month doing interviews until I got a couple offers I liked. Nobody seemed to care that I took a break between jobs, and the only time it came up I said I had the chance to relax for a bit so I just took advantage of it and they didn't question it or anything.
The rent thing bothers me too. I wish I could just pack up and go. Throwing money away on an expensive apt I won't be using kind of bothers me. I guess I could do storage for my stuff when my lease ends but the schedule is tough to work around and there is nothing to go back to. Where do I live then lol
No experience with ruby but nixpkgs has sections for many languages. See ruby: https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/blob/master/doc/languages-f.... Also a quick search on the NixOS wiki gives this: https://nixos.wiki/wiki/Packaging/Ruby.

This is less packaging related (more nix lang related) but here is my go to resource for functions: https://teu5us.github.io/nix-lib.html. teu5us extracted the builtin/lib function docs and put them on one place saving you from having it split up into multiple manuals.

One issue with nix is the content has been written down it’s very inaccessible. It is split up between blog posts, discourse, nixpkgs code comments, the wiki, Reddit, etc. When working on something in nix I’ll frequently have 10+ sources of information. The google-fu needed is strong.

My biggest recommendation is to dive into the nixpkgs repo and other public dotfiles as most likely what you are doing has been done.
That's a big difference. That doesn't mean you shouldn't leave your job, but if you're getting paid overtime the 60 hour weeks are a lot different than if you were straight salary with no overtime. You are working too much perhaps, but you are not "giving" any of your time to your employer for free.

When people start quitting, the simple economics of it may lead to an increase for you. Your value has increased as others quit, especially since you've been there for so long and probably know the job better than others. Your replacement cost is high right now, so now would probably be a good time to ask for a raise (even if you are looking to leave).
The drug is itself what becomes toxic not the delivery methods. Read the last paragraphs again carefully.
Traveled the world for a year and a half, then started contracting remotely while remaining abroad, making more money than I was before in NYC (I wasn't working at a FAANG type company though). Zero regrets, life is too short to be miserable, and people severely overestimate the repercussions of quitting one's job and difficult of finding employment again.

Although NYC is fun to visit from time to time, I don't miss living there one bit. And nowhere else in the U.S really appealed to me as someone who actually likes cities, though who knows maybe that would change when I start a family.

Spent this year living in South/Central America and Europe, and currently in Rome of all places. Not my ideal city, but been seeing a girl here and want to see where it goes.

Financially, lucked out on going all in on crypto a year ago at some friends' advice. That being said I still wouldn't consider myself FIRE. I would have millions had I not sold my altcoins a month or two too early against my friends' wishes (who's now definitely FIRE). I might've been better off focusing more on crypto and less on my day job, but can't blame anyone but myself, and it takes some real cajones to hold for a year and not sell even after 5-10xing. Once this contract ends though, I'll definitely be doing something in the crypto space.
Go Basics: Variables
This has nothing to do with scientist motivations and everything to do with scientific advancement.

If you think you scientists have multiple options in front of them and can pick the most financially opportunistic one, you have no idea what R&D is like

I’ve been in the lab, have you?
And it's present in Unicode also! Ĳ and ĳ are single characters (try selecting only the i or only the j in those). Their use is discouraged though:

> They are included for compatibility and round-trip convertibility with legacy encodings, but their use is discouraged. Therefore, even with Unicode available, it is recommended to encode ij as two separate letters.
If you wouldn’t be willing to “experience” the same set of experiences and pains via a similar subset of your sensory system and brain in exchange for the benefit of a meal that could have been cruelty free, then you shouldn’t. The burden of proof should not be on others to prove to you via rationalization/ intellectualization that it’s not a nightmare of an end to a sentient creature’s life experience.
Sounds like most U.S. workers already felt that way, and now even more do.
Contestable Market
Tell it to yahoo.

Money is obviously a great help, and saving money aside is a great hedge against future risks (so you can call it a plan).

I think that the OP had no “career” plan in mind. You can burn through all the money in the world if you are not careful.

But again, having money helps immensely whether you have a plan or not. If possible do put some aside for future emergencies or crises.
Slightly disappointed that this was not an explanation about why the first pancake always sucks.

Agree with the sentiment of the article though. Getting hands dirty and having some small success can make a big difference for newcomers.
Er, hi tom from myspace!
> “However, for the Customs Brokerage role we require a BA/BS degree”

Get that degree. Lots of people on here will discourage you from finishing college. Ignore them. Employers are directly telling you to get your degree so they can hire you. The faster you get the degree, the quicker your salary goes up and that boost will compound your entire life.

Edit: You might feel too old for college, but you’re not. My dad went back to finish college at 37. It was worth it.

Edit: Be efficient about college. The requirement is a B.A. or B.S. degree. Find an affordable school with a guidance counselor that understands students in your situation. Apply for financial aid.
Pretty neat. I did notice though that if you try to combine sleeping face with monkey covering its eyes, you get just the plain sleeping face for some reason.
I don't see RUSTC_BOOTSTRAP as "insanity". Mara could do whatever here. Even if Rust's stable compilers had an internal parameter totally disabling nightly features, Mara's macro could take your compiler apart, identify the parameter, flip it, and re-assemble the compiler then run that. Indeed even if nightly was abolished, and new versions of the compiler simply didn't have these features, Mara's macro could go to github, download the old compiler that did have these features, install and run that.

night_crimes! must be possible unless/ until sandboxing is implementing for proc macros and so the insanity is the same regardless of how it's possible. Which is fine, but like I said, these are big guns, not good to use just because they're tidier than a couple of declarative macros to get your job done.
I'm going to caution that I have NOT quit my job, but I did take a ~3mo leave of absence from work to study full-time for getting a job as a senior software engineer.

This thread seems to take a very optimistic view of quitting, and that getting another job was easy as a fallback option. I can say as an average dev in the Bay Area, I've failed the vast majority of first round technical screens I've encountered. Consequently, I basically have nothing to show for the last 3 months. For someone like me, I guess I'll be working the same job (which I am rated highly at) until I can actually retire.
That's the point. You can lose accents, or other parts of a character, even if you are aware of the encoding. You need to be aware of the modifiers as well.
No, they don't check it. The tank volume isn't part of vehicle registration either to my knowledge.
I think the key question here (looking at some of your other answers below), if not how, but what.

What are you passionate about? Project management? Product? Problem solving?

Once you have an idea of the area you would like to work, in you need to think about what you will bring to that role - why does someone need you?

If you are non technical (currently) you might steer towards test, product, BA, marketing. If you want to be technical you will need to think about how you can achieve those skills in your own time - esp as it doesn't sound like you have any time right now.

Sounds like you cope with stress and pressure well - so that is a good start, but don't fall into another high pressure role just because you can. For me pressure and stress always have to be worth the reward.
KDE ain't too, unfortunately, and really unrelated to Qt. I'm using Plasma right now, but that transition was rough, and unrelated to it's refresh.
It wasn't clear which purpose you were looking for the antidepressants.

(They're prescribed for all of the above!)

Anyway, CBD gummies or oil are worth the shot.

I hope you find exactly what you need. You deserve it.
Is the line "abundance of new features" a joke?

This a a major version increase, looks like very minor new features as usual.

What happended to the async ORM?
Really?

> When travelling from Copenhagen to Warsaw or Lisbon to Marseille

People pick the train because those trips are far enough to make the train a hassle

But I can enter the origin train company sites (or the operator) and buy a ticket to another country "pretty easily" (for the last couple of times I did this). In fact buying online was easy enough.
One problem that NixOS solves is to be able to use different tools on the same host in different versions easily(1) and in a reproducible way(2). Docker containers can be used to solve 1), but they are in some sense overkill and quite a few uses cases. If you are a developer who only wants do use different compilers then Docker containers are not really ideal, because they also enforce process isolation. Also there is the popular believe that Docker containers also solve 2) that is not really completely true. Yes you can run a Docker image in a reproducible way on different machines, but cannot necessarily reproduce the Docker image, at least not with the standard Docker tools. You can use Nix to create Docker images in a reproducible way.
Are they any better than guesswork or flipping a coin?
I’m afraid you’re right. I’m not a crypto utopian - I think the dystopian outcome for crypto is equally likely.

In fact it’s likely that both utopian and dystopian outcomes will all happen simultaneously.

I do like NFTs as a way to support digital artists and I think they’ve gotten a really bad rap in the press. But they’re not going to empower some kind of utopia. They just allow digital artists to profit from their work directly in a novel way.

That’s good to me. The fact that they have problems doesn’t stop them from being an innovative solution with real usage.

The decentralisation aspect of it is only interesting from my POV insofar that it’s allowed this market to exist.
On they box it says, sync ALL your work, not sync the work of the last 50 days. They did not keep this promise.
Yeah, this has been yet another PR failure for Fauci. We went from the vaccine being "virtually 100% efficacious" to needing a booster every 6 months, and even then you can still catch, spread, or die from the virus.

And yes, I know that this is common for vaccines. No vaccine is 100% effective. Which is why Fauci's testimony to the contrary was so irresponsible.
If you're asking "how is waiting for external requests relevant to my service's response time" the answer is "because it's usually the largest part". I really don't know how to explain it more simply than that.

If you need to improve this, and that code is .NET, then the solution is a different design, also in .NET Code.
The same way an ant does as well.
I use these from Gboard all the time. If you're using Android it's my go-to keyboard, allowing you to resize and shift the keyboard to where it's comfortable for your hand (among other features).
The UI for the search is pretty confusing. It took me a minute or so to realize that once you click a magnifying glass, a giant searchbar appears at the bottom
Their reason often came down to “raising a family of four in 700 sq ft 2 bed kinda sucks”.

For the same amount of money they could get a 1,100 at ft home, with a yard, lots of families close by and good schools.

You cant “build more housing” if the desirable housing is a single family home with a yard. SF is out of space.

Like I said in my other reply, countries where raising a family in a 2 bed apartment is mostly due to cost - they can’t afford more space. American has plenty of space.
It's an old tradition, dating back (at least) to yacc.
That is an issue, for sure. But that is not "the issue" that they're describing. They are clearly talking about (2), so confusion about other meanings is irrelevant.

Their point is that they would expect number of visble grapheme clusters to be the same when converting between cases. But in some languages that's not true, as their example demonstrates. (An upper case ß does exist in Unicode but culturally it's less correct than SS.)
We get a lot out of having static classes and methods that can't change dynamically. This allows us to use the selector-based row displacement technique for building a compact method dispatch table. (See https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.29...)

Many small decisions help keeping the system fast. The memory layout, the bytecodes, the FFI interface, ...

Separating the compilation process from the running process obviously also helps. It gives us the option to do slower optimizations before-hand, and not pay for them at runtime. (Independent of the fact that the ESP32 wouldn't be able to do big optimizations anyway).

This is actually an area we haven't really spent too much time on yet: optimizations. The current compiler doesn't even do inlining yet. The speed of Toit was never really a problem, and we preferred to spend time elsewhere. Eventually, we will definitely do more there again.
I'm not afraid of wrongthink. What particular piece of secret knowledge do you think I'm terrified of?
My favorite photograph of a fingerprint is when the Chaos Computer Club reproduced the German Foreign ministers fingerprint from a photo. So much for military grade security.

https://www.dw.com/en/german-defense-minister-von-der-leyens...

-

The core problems with biometrics are that:

1) Not revokable (unlike compromised credentials)

2) Not a secret

3) Usually trivial to reproduce and spoof (even "liveliness" tests)
The first cases for child abuse in the USA were prosecuted using animal welfare laws. I think the same thing is true in the UK.

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/health/15abus.html
I definitely like the thought of working to live vs. living to work. The French have a pretty good idea of what that's like as far as I'm aware.

Perhaps some more automation can kick in which would at least hopefully lead to UBI for workers.
Pandemic now an ‘also-ran’ in economic worries
I completely lack the cultural context to tell if this is trivial or not.

Naive heuristic: look at the font rendering on my Mac:

ء
: 1 (but it sounds like it can be 0 depending on context)

ﻻ
: 1

ال
: 2

שלום
: 4

שַלוֹם
: 4

Do you see any issues?

In Japanese, which I am more familiar with, maybe it’s similar to ゙, which as you can see here has width 1 but is mostly used as a voicing sound mark as in turning か (ka) into が (ga), thus 0 (or more properly, as part of a cluster with length 1)

The use-case I’m getting at is answering the question “does this render anything visible (including white space)”? I think it’s a reasonable answer on the whole falsehood-programmers-believe-about-names validation deal (after trimming leading and trailing whitespace).

It’s the most intuitive and practically useful interpretation of “length” for arbitrary Unicode as text. The fact that it’s hard, complex, inelegant and arguably inconsistent does not change that.
Yeah, but this is incredible if it works at the human level.

My friend was in a car accident and a subwoofer that wasn't tied down ended up striking in him the back paralyzing him from the mid-back down. Years and years of heartache for both my friend, and the other friend who installed the subwoofer without tying it down.

There was a lot of things wrong that allowed this to happen, but knowing future people with injuries like my friend whom this therapy could save or alleviate makes me incredibly excited.