skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"Elite" can have different meanings and is only relevant in context. If you have a small library of programming books you've read and you're constantly gaining new knowledge, you are "elite" compared to all the people who write bank software in Java that they learned once 5 years ago.

If someone they describe is in the top 5-10%, there are still folks in the top 4-1% and at some point it becomes ridiculously difficult to get anymore "Elite" without prodigy-like skill. I read a lot of books and am skilled in numerous computer-related areas including programming, but Linus Torvalds I am not.
they didn't actually collide anything yet.
Wow the homepage looks great, very cool stuff. This is something that is really needed too.

I am very skilled in Python, have toyed around a lot with Haskell but not really written anything significant. Probably only written about 200 lines of C++ in my life...
Is that ok or you demand strong knowledge in all three?

How much Haskell do you use anyway(just out of curiousity) and for what?

Do you do raycasting?
I am sure how people learn this is as varied as their background. I learned by starting a small business and when it got bigger I got mentoring from other entrepreneurs as well as had my accountant teach me. I also bought books on simple accounting, read QuickBooks manuals etc. i.e. wherever I could find the information.

These type of basic tutorials are useful though.
I am new here, don't know what protocol is for duplicate (or in this case highly related) threads. Here is a newer entry about swype:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=300601
have a notable bald head graphic?
What's the difference between financially supporting someone who would do evil, and doing it yourself?

Is hiring a hitman wrong? Is shopping at a known hitman's store, knowing that the profits he makes will be invested into killing wrong?

It's an extreme example, but if you feel that something a company is doing is wrong, financially supporting them is also wrong.

If you say "I'm supporting an entity that does wrong, but the benefit it brings me is greater than the guilt I feel from using them" is one thing. saying "I support them financially, but I disagree with them, therefore I'm not supporting immoral behavior, and am still moral" is just stupid and hypocritical.
Related Reading -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boson
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/08/the_large_hadron_co...
The Java protection model is in many ways less strict than the process isolation model exploited in Erlang. Giving each programmer responsibility for their pool of classes may sound like a good way to limit their ability to damage the rest of the system, but as long as anyone else is dependent on the stability of their API (and the absence of unchecked runtime exceptions), a single bad line of code can easily bring down an entire system.

Also, while it may technically be a "functional" language by virtue of disallowing destructive update of values, it really reads more like a scripting language. Variables are dynamically typed, and the functions only have an arity, not a signature.

Programmers used to the expressive type systems and polymorphism of more "academic" functional languages like ML or Haskell, on the other hand, would probably chafe at Erlang's lack of support for any abstractions other than forking and message-passing.

Real rocket scientists, on the other hand, would probably like Erlang, since the semantics of the language are simple, and its fault-tolerance and concurrency features could be well-suited for high-availability systems like mission data collection. (Its lack of hard real-time features make it a non-starter for actual avionics.)
Ask HN: Can anyone share their experience with logo shootout sites like logosauce?
We are looking to create a new logo for our startup and are thinking of crowdsourcing the project out for a small fee ($250-300) to a shootout website like http://www.logosauce.com

1. Does anyone have experience with these types of sites?

2. Are there are any other competitive sites that we should be looking at?

I know it's sexy to work with a logo designer, but I think there's probably a good number of them banging away at these websites.
Do any programmers actually work only 8 hours a day..? I've never seen evidence suggesting this is actually true. 10+2 seems more realistic.
I'm guessing not receiving text messages at all is also not an option for some people. Being able to whitelist numbers from which you can receive messages would be much better.
http://99designs.com/

I have seen quite a lot of quality work done on these sites.
Biden vs. McCain vs. Obama - Voting Records for Votes that Matter
Ask HN: What's the newly hyped Secret Weapon in Iraq
In a 60 minutes interview to promote his new book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ns_3VpOEkzM

Woodward talks about a new "secret weapon" - It seems to involve surveillance / tracking. I'm interested in hearing your wild speculations as to what this technology might be. (please try to avoid politics if possible)
The Real Story Behind the Google Chrome Comic
>> 9. Read other people’s code

> I have NEVER liked this advice.

The only way I'm able to read code is when I'm actively working towards some goal. Usually this is extending or fixing the existing code in some way. Sometimes it's to extract a specific algorithm or technique for some project of my own. That can certainly be enlightening, whereas just plain reading the code sends me to sleep.

Basically, that turns the advice into:

- either participate in an open source project (bugfixing, implementing features)

- or integrate/convert some complex piece of open source code into/for a project of your own

I definitely think there's something to be gained (learned) from read/write hacking rather than (mostly) write-only. Obviously, if you're trying to get stuff done, all that goes out the window, just get the damn thing written, by whatever means it takes.
Sony Ericsson W350i BLUE Unlocked 
The Sony W350i is basic phone that performs like a high-end model. Sony has decided not to skimp on any of the features and the style of the phone certainly brings something new to the table. When resting on a table, the phone looks like a work of art.
How Google Chrome Stores Passwords
I had a great experience with 99designs-- but I have mixed feelings about the subject, since I'm not sure that it is healthy for the design industry....
For the 80% case, cap works fine. It's when you need to do stuff in that last 20% that you have real trouble.
We would probably die pretty fast, because all the atmosphere would be sucked in, plus the black hole would create a big shock wave while sucking the earths surface and probably the great amount of radiation would kill us instantly, im no physicist, all i know about black holes, i know from the discovery channel and wikipedia, if i am wrong, please tell me, im dieing to know :D
Of course it isn't. But it's a lot more efficient. I have a hard time buying the concept of paying a designer $500 on a project basis, when I could pay $500 to the best of 30+ submissions I receive.
That's trivializing a not so simple problem. In a pure market, with no regulation whatsover, anybody could just stick an high power antena on it's roof, and bam, they have their own network.

But, also spectrum is finite, especially on what we can use with the current technologies. If everybody puts it's own high powered antenas, it would just make everbody's service unsuable. And taking out your competitor, ment to just place a bigger antena.

Also, high costs and barriers of entry don't just come b/c regulation. There is huge capital costs to build a infrastructure (towers, technology, etc.) Look at Wimax, (which has less regulations than cellular telephone) where two companies had to merge in order to make it feasable.

What I would like, is option 2. The goverment makes sure there is fair competition for services, and where a carrier shouldn't lock your devices, and not allow you have your own apps and services in your phone.

If you look a classical use of goverment regulation: Road traffic, traffic lights, rules etc. In the early days of the car, none existed, and it used to be every man for each own. Result was lots of accidents, traffic jams (deadlocks everywhere), making cities almost too chaotic. People driving without knowing how to really drive (accident rates where very high). Regulation brought some control to the chaos, where it made roads usable, traffic flowing, and make sure only people that know how to drive, drove.

But, regulation can also go too far, but making things expensive, excessive tickets that serve only to make revenue to cities and states. etc.

And yes, I have real life experience with this. I come from an ex-communist country, where twice in my life time goverment basically ceased to exist (once in 90-92, and once in 97). It was everybody on it's own, and it wasn't pretty.

I remember my favorite TV channel went off air, b/c one their competitors decided to erect a bigger antena, and use the same band.

Overegulation is bad, but under regulation is surely aweful. And I lived through it. Most of you probably just dream about it, and think it is cool, but it is not.
No need to be so caustic. You wrote a redundant headline. Learn from it and move on.
I used crowdspring for web design and had an amazing experience.
They have sections for logo design as well as other design services.
A cool OCaml version:

http://www.ffconsultancy.com/ocaml/sudoku/index.html
how is this "brilliant" and not "common effing sense"?
The Landscape of Possible Intelligences
Large Hadron Collider: Best- and Worst-Case Scenarios | Wired Science from Wired.com
If it were small enough, it could only suck in a few atoms at a time. So, it could take a substantial amount of time to expand in the beginning.
Some don't even make it to 40hrs a week, ask DHH and crew: http://www.37signals.com/svn/posts/893-workplace-experiments
Next week, I'll tell the world why "Lua will replace Erlang in the next 2 years as the standard for Enterprise Applications"
cool concept with the swyping, but isn't it time for something better than the qwerty layout for this?

though my fingers have learned where to press on the keyboard, I don't think my mind would be as good at swiping across like this.
Would it grow exponentially? Would it be possible to cut around it and launch it out into space?
Spectrum is finite. But consider that the "junk" spectrum was left unregulated, completely unregulated and pretty much every exciting wireless tech started in this unregulated junk spectrum.

Obviously you're right too, we could come up with examples all day long, suffice it to say I think that a big part of texting costs is due to regulation driven high entry costs.
Up until recently T-Mobile refused to let people opt-out of receiving text messages, regardless of what steps you were willing to go through. The only reason they changed their policy was because of a class-action lawsuit that was filed against them.
Google will anonymize Chrome's Google Suggest data (Omnibox) within 24 hrs
Now apparently I have the thought process of a three year old, but I think when you actively disagree with a particular product, so much as to post online and change images to remind you of how they are actively evil... yet continue to use it its almost masturbatory behavior.

Look, I'm glad there are things people care about, but the correct way to care about things are not passive-aggressive image swaps but speaking with your dollars and eyeballs (at a minimum). I feel the same way about things like Darfur, it seems to be more fashionable to be outraged than to enact meaningful action.
The Eagle Nebula | The Astronomy Blogger
I agree with the notable graphic part, but I don't think it has to be a bald-head.
Spore User Research Outtakes
0. Do not mock up webpages in Photoshop.
Edw519, I agree with you about a lot of things but for this post I disagree with you in several places.

>2. Try out some TDD - Test Drive Development (TDD) makes for better code.

No. Define your target. Code to it. Deploy. Then test.

You're both right. One of the points of tools like RSpec is to make the "define your target" step and the "test" step so close as to be indistinguishable, thus killing two birds with one and a quarter stones.

>5. Investigate Continuous Integration - ...makes automating your tests to run at checkin next to trivial.

Making checkin trivial is not a goal while coding. Getting something done IS. Anything that is not coding is not helping you make progress while coding.

It seems like you're just disagreeing to disagree on this one. All the guy is saying is to consider having your tests run on a remote server every time you check in so that you don't break the build. This is hardly radical advice.

>6. Know your code - It is one thing to write your code, but it is another greater thing to know your code. Four automated tools...

"Know your code" & "automated tools" are mutually exclusive. See my response to #7 below.

>7. Automate your deployments - Automation is your best friend.

Wrong. This is EXACTLY to opposite of #6, "Know Your Code". Automation takes you out of the very trenches you have to be in to get to know your code in the first place. The dirtier I get, the better I know my code.

How does automating deployment drudgery like checking out code and SSHing into the production box stop you from knowing your code? As a matter of fact, formalizing this process in a central location probably means you'll know your process better than the development lead who has an intern run deployment off a 12 step list scrawled on a Post-It note stuck to a monitor somewhere.

More importantly, if you're using deployment as a learning exercise, you're doing it wrong.
I've heard from some pretty reliable sources that a small black hole WAS created, but gravity pulled it towards the Earth core. It simply got away and now they are trying to ignore the incident. Who knows how long it will take it to eat Earth inside out?
I'm not sure I buy this "all was chaos, and then the government brought order" narrative. I'm just as apt to believe that the system self organized as people figured out what worked in a new situation.

Anyway, the "tragedy of the commons" problems you get with spectrum and such-like call for legal solutions, not regulatory ones. You need clear precedents and fair courts. But that's not the situation. We have monstrously complex regulation and federal intervention instead. The original justification for all the telecommunication regulation was that phone and telegraph lines are a "natural monopoly" and resources are wasted by allowing many competitors. I believe this original justification affects the current situation.
You're right, there is a significant bias towards C#, ASP, and .NET. Why not help change it? I'm sure there's room on the site for everyone.
I doubt that, as well. Ruby still isn't all that popular a choice for startups, and it's had some astoundingly good marketing. I'd say maybe 20% of the startups I know personally are using Ruby, with the rest divided amongst PHP, Python, Java, and Perl (not necessarily in that order, though PHP is definitely at the top of the list by a large margin). Since RoR started gaining traction about three years ago, and RoR is still not the leading platform, the notion that Erlang could even become a contender (much less the leader) in two years is more than a little ridiculous.

Not to mention the fact that there's only one language at this point that is inevitably going to grow really rapidly in popularity (JavaScript). (Others will grow, but none so fast as JavaScript.)
He doesn't disagree with the product, he disagrees with one decision that the company that makes that product has made. When you're a political extremist, it's very hard to find a company that doesn't fit that bill. Yahoo does the same thing in China that Google does, and Microsoft is, well, Microsoft. Should he just not use any search engine?

Instead he continues to use and support a company that does many good things while speaking out about the bad ones. That seems entirely reasonable to me. Maybe when you turn four, you'll understand :)
Bonus points to anyone who catches the hidden physics reference.
I can't see that the atmosphere is likely to get sucked in -- not in the early stages. Until it becomes very massive (i.e. has absorbed a significant portion of the Earth's mass) it's only going to have a significant effect on things that are very close to it.
of course if you use tail recursion you dont need to increase the stack at all
Emusic has survived for a really long time...
Its up now
How would they even be able to tell if they'd done it?
We used 99designs (formerly SitePoint Contests) for two logos with good results. I wrote an article about the process here:

http://inthebox.webmin.com/getting-a-great-logo-reducing-the...

Though I just noticed all of the images are dead (I guess because of the domain change)...gotta fix that.

I definitely found it a good way to get good work. I've been told by several designers that contests are offensive...but I've found it really hard to hire a designer that I work with regularly, at any price. Designers, I suppose, being creative types, aren't often strong on on-time delivery, responding in a reasonable time to queries and requests, etc. I've never yet found a designer that I could count on, who also does good work, despite many attempts. (And I'm not cheap. When I have run contests, the prizes we offer are always the highest on the site at the time--and I've regularly paid "going rates" for icon work and other bits of design. Nonetheless, keeping a designer focused on our projects has been extremely difficult.)

Anyway, I think design contests provide large corporation style design workflow for small companies. Design firms often work on spec for large companies, at least for the initial pitch. I don't think it's a bad thing to bring that kind of process to small businesses.
It's a lot easier to test once you have something to test.
Test time is the time for testing

No offense but these comments show us that you aren't aware of what TDD really is. I'm not coming down on you but I think that, if you are going to offer advice and critique on the guy's post, you should at least have knowledge of the topics.
You couldn't cut around it, because it would fall out the bottom of any container you tried to put it in.

Perhaps you could give it a charge (by firing electrons at it) and then confine it electrostatically or magnetically.
don't confuse me with the facts
Personally, I'm worthless after 6 hours of programming.

I'm decent for most of those six hours, and I can churn out maybe 3000 lines a month, but I tend to need a holiday afterwards.

I just quit my cubicle job to switch to iPhone programming, and it's been interesting how hard it is to knuckle down and really get started.
Mind that your average religious nutjob is in its way to a Black Swan: they are breeding at a faster pace than the rest of us. They will outnumber us, and at some point quite dramatically (growth is exponential, but one doesn't feel it until it's too late and the new nutjob majority too sudden).
Actually no, take a look at this: http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB122100794359017593.htm...

It talks about Google's crawlers and google investigating etc.
Thanks.
Murphys law. It worked for 2 weeks without any glitch, and now this...Working on it.
How to destroy the Earth (in case LHC fails)
Joel and Jeff are both .NET programmers. This does have a noticeable effect on the initial seeding of data. The site though is set up to allow any form of programming. As Kylec stated go answer and ask non-Windows programming language questions. Make the place better.
Whats wrong with putting in the extra ram yourself, it's really easy to do. The manual even comes with instructions (with pictures!), on how to do it.
I'm probably biased, because I work for SitePoint (which owns 99designs -- though I have nothing to do with that part of the operation), but have also previously owned a design contest site (GFXcontests.com). I'm not so sure it is bad for the design industry.

Reasons why it's good:

1. It provides portfolio building opportunities and real-world client experience for new designers

2. It provides hobbyists a good way to try their hand at professional work

3. If the contest holder (client) holds up their end of the bargain and provides all entries with quality feedback, it provides useful practice for designers.

4. I've heard from a large number of designers that participating in design contests led to more visibility for their portfolios and in turn helped them land regular, non-contest employees

5. I can say with confidence that a number of designers on 99designs at least are earning healthy five-figure incomes from contest work

6. Many designers are able to sell losing designs as templates (though contest holders should be careful to put in a stipulation that designers should only be allowed to do that once they remove your name/IP from the design)... or they can repurpose the designs for another contest or client

Why it might be bad:

1. The No-Spec people will say it takes paid opportunities away from designers (I might rebut that it gives more designers the opportunity to compete for work and make a name for themselves -- and that no top tier designer I know is struggling for work)

2. They'll also say that it is unfair for designers -- who are asked to create work with no guarantee that they'll be paid (the rebuttal here: if you don't want to work that way, don't participate -- and as I said above, losing designers can still often make some money from that effort)

Just my (perhaps biased) two cents.
Stop Kicking & Ride The (No Quite) Dead Advertising Horse
Shawn Adrian discusses advertising and how it's changing, in relation to perspectives by Rob Walker and Al & Laura Ries.
Ask YC: What is the best 3rd party e-mail tool? Anyone try iContact?
I've read some of the previous threads about how to send e-mail to users, but just wondering what tools people prefer. In terms of reliability and price (for an early stage startup).

Anyone try iContact? Other competitors? Or are you doing in inhouse?

Thanks a lot, as always.
It's better to just avoid it entirely, and use clearer phrasing:

* That raises the question

-or-

* That forms a circular argument
> But consider that the "junk" spectrum was left unregulated, completely unregulated and pretty much every exciting wireless tech started in this unregulated junk spectrum

It was not "unregulated." If it was then I could have built my 1000 Watt 802.11b network to cover an entire city. There were rules and regulations on this spectrum, it was just not reserved for specific users.
I've worked as a programmer for over 30 years.

I've had two really productive periods during that time.

One of those periods I spent about 4 hours a day coding, totally focused - get to work at about 5:30 after a leisurely brunch and a 30 minute bus ride during which I planned my coding for the day, jump on a machine and pound the teletype for 4 hours or so, and go home, nearly exhausted. This was writing device driver assembler routines and image processing code.

The second period, I was implementing a prototype of a distributed OS, about 10% of a 3 inch thick spec which defined the whole thing down to the level of small procedures, with a hard 6 month deadline (which was what I had estimated the job would take). I worked steadily for that 6 months on a 40 hour schedule, and finished about two weeks before the demo was given.

I'm currently reading On Lisp and The Four-Gated City (by Doris Lessing), for whatever that's worth.
Yahoo announces social networking app for iPhone
UAL Story Blame Is Placed on Computer