skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Geesh. Uncle Bob again. The man is everywhere.

Here's the thing: "craftsmanship," no matter how many "we are going tos" and "we are not going tos" you put around it, focuses on the thing instead of the environment. If I go to a craftsman to build a chair, the reason I select a craftsman is because I know I can sit on the dang chair after I buy it. It is this economic trade, my money for a chair I want, that defines the craftsman, not anything he does to the chair itself.

While Bob means well, there is an economic decision at the heart of many startups which I can state plainly: don't spend a second doing anything that people don't want. Not only does that include testing, that includes coding as well. That's right, startups avoid even writing bad code, much less good or great code. Every little thing you do has to be tested first -- and the only test that matters is "do people want this?" Not some kind of unit or mock test.

It's a totally different situation from corporate or normal small team programming where you already know somebody is paying you, you're only supposed to make them happy. Bob gets away with this because his market is those guys, the guys that are 95% of the market for his books and such. But since this is HN, I have to point out the differences between those guys and the average startup team. In the startup world most of the time you don't even get paid. Which means that all these discussions about languages, testing, craftsmanship, and the rest of it? It's just bullshit for some other folks. The guys who get a steady paycheck. If 19 times out of 20 the code you write for a startup will never be seen again, much less maintained, there is no maintenance programmer. There is no project. There is no customer. "Craftmanship" or "Quality" have no meaning. There may be some guy making 12-legged chairs from jello somewhere in the world, but no matter how great he is at doing that, and no matter what a wonderful job and hard work he puts into the product, he's not a craftsman. He's just some guy with mild Aspergers who is spending too much time with jello.

I think we do a great disservice when we talk about programming as something that can exist in a vacuum. It does not. Each programming team exists inside a certain economic reality, and that reality needs to be considered with each decision that is made. There is no universal standard of craftsmanship for programming because programming is a form of thinking, and there is no universal standard for that, either. To defend Uncle Robert, you can make broad generalizations, and for most business programmers I'm there with him, but it's important to know where the limits are to these things. Bob has a tendency to speak in overly broad generalizations.

</rant>
This is definitely better than no variables, but is it the best solution? I think most of the advantages of variables can be achieved through a technique that introduces no new syntax and a minimum of new keywords:

.element {
color: #06c;
border-color: #006;
}

h1 {
apply: .element;
border-style: thick;
border-width: solid;
}

This will make H1 "pretend" that it has .element class applied to it, even though in HTML source code it doesn't. I think it's a conceptually simple and orthogonal solution. True variables differ from the current metality of CSS way too much.
Motorola is notoriously bad it looks like. It's a pitty you don't list many Samsung phones. They churn out devices, but don't do a lot of updates.
Yes, it's 7 that were "never" and 5 more that were "weeks", so 12 total that were "weeks or less". I struggled with that phrasing a bit - either way seemed wrong.
"Once you are done sir, would you allow me the honour of directing you across several of our nearby streets?"
How do buying apps works on Android and all its versions? I remember buying apps on my first generation iPhone that then wouldn't support iOS 3.x but the Store still let me buy it. Is it the same on Android (but worse since there are so many different versions around)?
Most of the devices listed are US-centric or US-only. Anything 4G isn't available in Europe under the same name.
Or add the ability to pause / control which slide to view.
Unfortunately I suspect you're right.
The euro deal: No big bazooka
Show HN: Hellepoll is a blazingly-fast async HTTP server written in C++
Legacy systems support eXtendiaIT
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Writing a piece on the daily kos is one thing, but if this guy feels this strongly about it, why doesn't he do something substantial about it? All the 99% can do is have a sit out to raise awareness, and that's what they're doing (and then some). It takes money, lobbying and connections to fix this problem. The author seems to have some of that, at least.
I ask it in the way those annoying moral dichotomy type of questions are asked. The goal is to see what you would actually do or believe, not to get your opinion why the situation would never happen or why the situation is Forbidden. I agree with you completely on the notion that killing people is wrong, I find it sick how he was killed and how his body was treated, however I recognize that, in the following toy scenario, killing is the optimal choice from the set of available choices {kill, do nothing}: an Oracle reveals to you that if you don't kill Mr. Bob within the next five minutes, 5 billion people are going to die; do you kill him?

Even Gandhi recognized the right outcome here, but I agree with him that in most real cases the set of choices usually contains something else, such as maiming or more generally "disabling" to include relatively harmless things like tackling. (Hence I still criticize soldiers who shoot-to-kill brainwashed and/or insane kids coming at them with a machete for not shooting them in the knees or somewhere easier to hit but less likely to kill.)

My original question is dependent on you believing that there exists some real situation where killing one or more people makes the world better, the classic (sorry to Godwin the topic) being to kill Hitler to save who knows how many lives (regardless of if the war still happened). Since you've said you don't believe that, I guess I got what I really wanted to know. I should have just framed it that way to begin with. I agree with you that too many people falsely believe they could fix things, I don't agree with you that a single person couldn't fix things given the right opportunities such as being able to kill the most damaging 50k people.
this post completely ignores the secret scotty divulged to Geordi on TNG: he always told kirk things would take twice as long as they really would. "How else will they think you're a miracle worker?"
Venture Beat : Discovr releases Mac app, hits 1M downloads, gets $1.1M funding
STor: Social Network based Anonymous Communication in Tor
It might be interesting to include whether a given phone is running stock Android or OEM skins like Sense. General consensus is that stock phones tend to be upgraded more often and faster, but it'd be nice to have some data to back that up.
Perhaps the biggest lesson here: never give someone a gut-level estimate of anything. The challenge is that a lot of clients/bosses/whatever will press you for one. Some people just need to hear a spot-estimate in order to feel comfortable.

In those cases, I've found a fairly effective verbal counter. It goes something like this: "Listen, Bob [assuming the client's name is Bob]. I don't want to mislead you here. I'd rather work up a proper estimate than throw out some number on the spot that might be incorrect. I want to do this the right way, for your benefit and mine."

If Bob presses you further, respond with "I've worked on similar projects in the past. Some have taken 2 days, and some have taken 10 days. It really depends on X, Y, and Z. I want to take a proper accounting of X, Y, and Z in this case, so that I'm not misleading you up front."

If pressed further: "Bob, obviously time is of the essence for you and for this project. I understand that, and I will do everything I can to ensure that I complete the project as quickly as possible. In the end, this will be much quicker if we get it right the first time. Give me a little bit of time to do some planning, and it'll save us a lot of time in the long run."

All of this is true, of course. It's better to aim twice and shoot once, as the saying goes. However, there will be clients or bosses who just won't accept this sort of conversation up front. It'll piss them off. So be it. FAR better to have a little bit of confrontation at the outset than a lot of confrontation later on (i.e., if you toss out a gut estimate and then have to crawl back and amend or delay it).
Indeed; here are some related items about that:

9/11, both the attack and the perceived overreaction (or at least the security theater part of it) did result in many people changing their minds about self-defense and so on. The Katrina gun confiscations, some caught on video, also had an impact. For that matter, as more and more excesses of the police get caught on video ... you'll note that in the US Google got a lot of takedown requires for those and refused ... well, those don't make people feel more secure.

Take your pick of the Great Recession and/or the election of Obama, who's history prior to 2008 was relentlessly anti-gun except for HR 5441 in 2007, that both outlawed Katrina style confiscations and critically provided a private right of action against those violating it. Non-hunting gun and ammo sales went way up and are still higher than before then, even after we've seen that Obama in action is no more anti-gun than George W. Bush. (Note that "W", like Obama, was in favor of a renewal of the "assault weapons" ban, which lapsed while he was in office, and again, no blood in the streets.)

The fact that despite these hard times people are still, 3 years later, buying more guns and ammo is pretty amazing.

I'll close with two factoids:

The last time I checked we buy 9 billion rounds of ammo per year.

Economically, the shooting sports are bigger than golf.
The top income earners in this country are paying a vast majority of the federal income tax burden already. We have a spending problem. Not a tax problem.
Hospitals list in India
I was very impressed with this until I realised that everyone with my birthday will get the same result as me so the count is not accurate with out a specific time of birth. Just saying.Great idea all the same.
Ha, good catch. But let's not get started on inconsistencies in the Star Trek universe :-)

Edit: I meant to add that Scotty obviously was a genius in many ways.
Funk and Blues
The 76 billons ones.
MicroVentures Raises $300,000 Fund To Invest In Facebook On Secondary Markets
A Visual Guide to Atlanta's Startup Scene
TechCrunch completes transition to AOL Way, links everything to their own trash
Charted: Android Fragmentation
Facebook confirms first data center outside US on edge of Arctic Circle
If there is anything Maemo was to be shot for, is that it continued to support the horrible disaster which is the X Windows System. That horrible, horrible excuse for a graphic system should be taken out and shot, the sooner the better (and no, I'm not bitter. Just a little bit tangy, perhaps.)
Behold, Barcelona? Beware, Barcelona.
You're right, but as a current iPhone 3G owner not getting updates, I can say that I had a great life for this phone (3.5 years and counting) and that I'm not mad Apple decided to stop supporting it. It's a very old device with very little memory - very difficult to support I imagine.

And I'm okay with it because I know Apple has conservative product life cycles and will stick to it. And I know the next iPhone get will be supported for 2-3 years at least, as well.
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Concur. Similarly, general consensus seems to be that the skins actively hold things up because manufacturers have to port them to each new OS on each device.

It'll be interesting to see how much life the skins have left in them in the post-ICS era.
Seems a smalltalk IDE-like intention. With fingers, though.
"we wouldn't have noticed a 3.5% tax increase."

... Yes, you would. I hear the reasons state, and they're bunk. When you're outside the 5% margin at the end of the year, are you going to say, "Oh, I screwed up" or "It was that 3.5% tax increase!" I know which you'll pick.

Rich people generally don't get rich by throwing money away. They aren't going to vote for higher taxes because that takes money directly from their pockets.

And if those taxes get passed, they'll find a way around them, like moving to another country, or at least moving their operations there. It's already happening, and we don't need to make it any worse.

I'm not 'defending the rich', I'm defending our country. I don't want to see the 1% leave. It will not be pretty.

I'm not even close to being in the 1%, but I live comfortably. I actually rather resent being included in their 99% statistic. I haven't been tricked into owing a bank more than I earn in a year. I haven't had a problem finding a job because I picked a career (and skillset) with a future. Anyone that doesn't pick a skill and work towards it, then complains that there are no skill-less jobs left... Well, I'm having trouble having sympathy. I worked my ass off to get better at what I do.
How to make the TextView in android scrollable?
If you were an Internet start-up trying to solve Barcelona's rampant thievery epidemic, what kind of start-up would you be?
that pie chart made my eyes barf
It takes money, lobbying and connections to fix this problem.

No, that is the problem right there. The more this mess is unfolding in your country the more it's becoming apparent that American democracy is now bought rather than voted for.
Where's Alternative Rock? That's what I'm listening to most of the time. Sometimes it's Metal or just Rock. Sometimes it's nothing.
If your OS version isn't supported, you can't see it in the market or download it.
While they are outside the game executable, they are typically injected into the game's memory space, and detour actual game functions.
Original chart from here: http://theunderstatement.com/post/11982112928/android-orphan...
How is X11 a horrible disaster?
No. The apps are targeted to a version (like 2.1 or above) and the devices below 2.1 don't see the app in the market.
>On the other hand, rsheridan6 had bought a year-old design.

Well, yes, my previous 3G had been stolen, I needed a replacement right away, and I couldn't afford the premium for the 3GS right then. But if the 3G was intended to be obsolete less than a year after I bought it, it was a dick move to sell it with a 2 year contract. I don't think it's too much to ask that a phone not be obsolete before the contract runs out.

But I have learned my lesson. I'm only buying top-of-the-line from now on. I need to switch to Verizon because I moved to an area where they have the only decent network, and I'm holding out for the Rezound or Nexus Prime (Nov 10th).

But this also favors Android over the iPhone. New iPhones only come out every so often. Suppose your iPhone broke/got lost/got stolen at a time when the current iPhone is 8 months into its lifecycle. Your choices are to sign a 2 year contract for a phone that will be likely be obsolete before the contract runs out, pay an exorbitant cash price, go without a phone until the next release, or buy a cheap phone with no contract and wait for the next release. Or you could buy Android. There's always a latest and greatest Android phone that's not more than a month or so old.
New Xilinx Virtex-7 2000T FPGA provides equivalent of 20 million ASIC gates
Even in a seed-stage startup, you'll often wind up doing heavy refactoring and redesign.

Let's say you've just spent two weeks building a prototype billing system, and you demo it to some potential customers. They get excited, but they ask for time-tracking features. So you add some. Great! Now, what about your old features? Do they still work, or did you break them?

In my case, I just tweak 2 or 3 acceptance tests, watch everything go green, smoke test for 2 minutes, and run 'git push heroku'. Without unit tests, I'd waste the next hour carefully hand-testing all my features.

Now, this might not fit your personal coding style. That's fine. But tests actually let me go faster, even on a 3-day project. In a seed-stage startup, you need to get in as many iterations as possible before you run out of money.
I LOVE to work with some light/easy on the ears electronical music in the background (mostly remixes and some dubstep tracks).

I recently discovered tammyszu's Youtube Channel[1] and usually kick some of her playlists on when I arrive at work. She has over 500 videos, so every time it's something new... And almost every video is just amazing and refreshingly different and works super-well for me for programming.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/user/tammyszu
I'm learning this now. You might have a great strategy to get between 2 points but if you dint actually walk, the strategy is useless.
"Years since" is the right metric, because mobile phone contract lengths are measured in years, not in some ad-hoc multiples of the times between releases of the OS.

I own a one year old Galaxy S, and lately I have been holding my breath hoping Ice Cream Sandwich will be released for my terminal, whether by Samsung or by Cyanogen.
I wonder if that's enough to build a pocket Alto or Lisp Machine...
When did they start doing that? When I started using S3 to back up other people's photos I immediately created a second Amazon account for AWS. I don't remember them discouraging me from doing that.
That's right, only Google shills are anything other than 100% satisfied with the iPhone. That's why Android is selling more than the iPhone now.
This sadly also applies to Windows; Win Mobile was just Windows-on-the-phone, Win Phone is a crazy Silverlight slideshow. Thank you, Apple, for showing the market that dumb smartphones sell better than the real ones )-:
"Wouldn't it be nifty to have that color picker in Vim?" a friend posed the question after my showing him the video.

Maybe: http://www.supaspoida.com/2011/10/26/a-short-story-about-a-t...

(note: I didn't develop this, just sharing it with you all)
I once read on the web (I think on HN?) that Dubstep was made for programmers. I agree.
It's funny that these kind of long-term "features" don't get taken into consideration for any of the phone reviews. Its probably one of the most important features of a phone.

I'm currently torn apart between buying an iPhone 4s and the galaxy nexus, but given that I can expect the iphone to be supported and updated instantly and regulary for a long time, and not with any of the android phones (less than 2 years for the original nexus phone), I think iphone it will be.. despite prefering the openness of android.
Here is the link to donate to the Treasury:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/gift/gift.htm

Group A wants to raise their own taxes, and a (much larger) Group B does not want their taxes raised. Fantastic, the Treasury's donation program allows both preferences to be satisfied without acrimony.
In my city (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada), there is a 20+ difference in life expectancy between the most affluent and most impoverished neighbourhoods. Even within countries, averages mask deep inequalities.
Are OS updates really that important for most consumers?

I have a Desire running Froyo. I don't think I've really missed out on a huge amount by not getting Gingerbread.
Horoscopo Diario
I think that the fact that the chart stopped at June 2010 makes it looks much worse than it is now. Android is newer than iOS and works on a very different environment. Support 4 devices is much easier than 4 thousand.

If you extend this chart to 2011 you will notice that the platform is more mature and most of the phones will receive ICS (my wife Galaxy S is a relatively old device and will get it).
Agreed. That's why electronical music works best for me. It's music (with some kind of a beat), but mostly without big vocal parts.
I don't think it's set in stone. Some countries which previously had very low fertility rates have seen a recent upswing, notably France and a few Scandinavian countries.
Red Dragon Martial Arts Ezine No. 62 November 2011
can't wait to MC
I think it's great if it remains just a "toy". Kids could use it to get started with programming.

The previous generation had Amigas or whatever that was (sorry) they used to hack on. My generation had the early days of the web. This (and others like it) could be the next generation's hacking toy.
What I meant was that if you use the email registered for amazon.com when signing up to AWS they don't create a separate account for you or suggest that you use a different e-mail to create a new account.
Apologies if I did a poor job explaining. Perhaps I should restate. Yes, test first. But the test is user wants, not code functionality.

So to your example, you sell a mock-up. If they want it, then you go back and test-first and code. If you can find out they want time tracking without coding, what are you coding for? If you are coding one thing and they really want something else, what are you coding for?

I'd argue that if you have customers that are directing your sprints, timeboxes, or whatever, then you're already past the point I am talking about. They have money, they have needs, they express needs to you and you go fill them. This is a great spot to be in as a startup! But at that point you're really just quasi-business programmers, and all Bob says is very applicable.

The guys I hear who do well always regret that they spend too much time on stuff that doesn't matter: coding, business plans, reading business books. Instead they should have just worked out more effective ways to find out what people want.

If you have a Minimum Viable Product that people want to pay money for, go code it. And do a good job of it, because you've already determined that people are going to pay money for it. So in that scenario, if you misunderstood your MVP, then all that TDD is going to be awesome when you refactor.

There's a third scenario that's being hinted at: you don't know what people might want, but you think you should code anyway to find out. This is like building a runway hoping that an airplane will suddenly have an emergency and need a place to land. I'd argue that you should either avoid this at all costs, or if you must code, write the cheapest, fastest throwaway crap you could imagine -- the odds are very, very high that you will never use or see that code again. If you do? You hit the lottery, and worrying about how badly you coded something is a ridiculous thing to get uptight about. Every second you spend creating an artificial world, whether that's a business plan, program, or sales chart, without validating with the customer is a waste of energy for an early startup.
David Wood Empower Network? Can You Join Now?
Yeah, I think it's obvious that Group A cares about raising Group B's taxes, rather than having an altruistic desire to donate their own money and somehow being unable to figure out how.
Awesome, thanks. I looked all over that Premium site and didn't see it.
If I donate $10 to the treasury, I get -$10 and the treasury gets +$10. If I can pass a $10 tax, I get -$10 and the treasury gets +$3 000 000.

It's entirely reasonable to value one dollar in the treasury somewhere between one dollar in my wallet and 1/300 000 of a dollar in my wallet.

[Note: I'm not an American.]
Apple Has A Patent On 'Slide To Unlock'
Once I have the time I should calculate the number of people who grew up to be older than 15 during the history times -- most of the births must have been of those who didn't grew up.