skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I don't have any substantial regrets, but it's possible that those will come with time. I sincerely wish that I could have made college work for me, but I think that I'd have to be a substantially different person for that to happen. One thing that I do regret is that I'm missing out on the opportunity to engage in academic research. I would like to try it, just to see what it's like, and I'm afraid that I might not have the opportunity without attending university.

As far as money goes, I made some cash from participating in Google's Summer of Code, but currently I'm not making any significant income and I'm living at home. I've got some projects that I'm working on and I've had a couple of interviews so, hopefully, I will soon be able to support myself, but not currently.
That's a pretty accurate description of life in Sydney, yes.
DuckDuckGo Doodle
If they had the skill set they'd be using it. Think "Those who can't, teach". Similar concept with recruiters.

They're salespeople, not talent.
Whether or not it's a waste of time depends on the commitment you've made to your customers. Jobs obsessed over design for a reason. Our promise is to provide exceptional customer service, so that's how we prioritize our time.
I did some initial TCP tests running netperf on a single GigE line, and there are some tenuous gains. I'll do NFS over TCP tests with 10 GigE or IB soon to get some meaningful numbers.
I had an idea of making recruiters put their money where their mouths are. Want to represent me? That'll cost you $2000/year. If you find me a great job in the next few years you you get many times your money back.
Go to various tech meetups/meetings that seem relevant and then try to identify smart people by what they say in meetings. Then approach them.

Maybe sponsor a relevant meeting by buying the pizza/beer for it. This buys you the opportunity to give a company introduction and let people know you're hiring. Very cheap advertising.

meetup.com is probably the generic place to look for these types of meetings, but every city probably has its own, better site. In Seattle, among others, we have http://www.seattletechcalendar.com/ and http://www.seattle20.com/ among probably others.

Sitting in your office waiting for resumes/cover letters is the absolute worst way to try to get people. It also leaves you with only an interview to get to know the potential hire, while at the meeting you may find out all sorts of desirable or undesirable characteristics about them. Additionally you may get input from that person's peers.
"Startup rollercoaster" isn't even the half of it
Facebook's massive identity database with linked photos would be useful for this service.
@Nitrogen, that sounds like a different issue. But, yes, it could be an issue if you're sending email with confusing subject lines.

The comments at the following link show what I'm referring to -- people taking the easy way out:
http://ask-leo.com/why_shouldnt_i_use_the_report_spam_or_jun...
Anti-Facebook Social Network “Unthink” Launches To Public
You could do that in Python using the ord function.

white_ranges = [('0', '9'), ('A', 'Z'), ('a', 'z')]
any([ord(low) <= ord(x) <= ord(high) for low, high in white_ranges])
"careful tuning of the stock networking libraries" <-- Care to expand?

I am skeptical about claims that simply changing how it makes concurrent requests will make it 'insanely fast'. Bottom line is, outside of some careful tuning that uses knowledge of iOS internals, there isn't any real way a library can impact how fast bits travel over the wire.

Here's some feedback - if you wish to substantiate this claim, it shouldn't be hard to write the same app using ASI and then extract some real performance numbers (bonus points for publishing your test code to get doubters like me to shut up).
Are we really having the GUI vs CLI holy war on HN? Here's how to deal with this question.

1) Design a nice DSL to express whatever it is you want your users to be able to command.

2) When you build the GUI, have all the gestures correspond to a particular DSL expression.

3) Add a shell where the user can type arbitrary expressions in your DSL (and for that matter, load files with DSL commands and execute them).

You're done. People who want a GUI have one, people who want a CLI have one, and there's a nice clean upgrade path from the GUI to the CLI. In fact, that's where this approach really shines: when a GUI user decides he needs to automate something, you can give him a single clear expression to type for each gesture he's used to making, and at first he'll probably just memorize those and use your product in exactly the same way with the CLI as with the GUI. Once he gets used to the CLI itself, he'll probably start tweaking the basic expressions you gave him and eventually feel comfortable enough to write his own. It's a nice security blanket for people who are basically learning to program to have a set of magic spells they're confident they can use no matter what.
the 18-22 years are periods of extreme income growth for anyone ending up in a skilled field. I didn't go to school and eh, my income had a similar curve during those years. Going from unskilled to skilled is going to make your income curve look pretty goddamn dramatic for a few years, no matter how you go from unskilled to skilled.

The thing is, a degree no longer guarantees a skilled job. I know a lot of smart and well-educated people working retail right now.

Also: do not underestimate middle-class connections. As a kid I mowed lawns to make money. Middle class neighborhood in the central valley. One of the yards I dealt with belonged to the sister of an industry notable; it got me an interview. (it wasn't my first SysAdmin/Programming gig, but it certainly was the most impressive one. For years after, if I really desperately wanted a job I'd use that guy as a reference, and I'd get the gig.) During the depths of the dot-com crash? I cracked under the stress of being the only sysadmin to not get laid off, and quit without another job lined up. My dad, a mid-level IT manager at a university got me an interview with someone who had worked for him as a student who had later done well with his own company.

Those two jobs, I think, made the difference between a pretty good career and a sputtering, so-so career. And really, if I didn't have a dad and a stepdad in the field and if I didn't have computers, compilers, books and people who knew how to use such things around the house from the age of four onward, well, I'd probably have ended up with a semi-skilled career. Whatever you want to call this situation I was born into has helped my career far more than any amount of schooling could.

That said, I think you are likely right about the cultural aspects of College; No matter how rich I become, I suspect I will never fully relate as 'middle class' even though I mostly am. My social skills have suffered quite a lot; I'm probably four years behind my peers who went to school in that area. The thing is, high school is such a horrible experience it leaves you overly misanthropic and cynical. I think College softens this outlook for most people- it took some time for me to soften.

But income-wise? I don't think a degree would have bought me anything. I mean, it might be different now, just because the job market is so shit, and going to school for four years is lightyears better than being unemployed or working retail for four years; but I just wanted to say that school is not what gets you that 30+% salary increase for four years; going from being an unskilled worker to a skilled worker is what does it.

It's also possible that people born without at least middle-class connections can gain those connections by going to college; that could dramatically contribute to the value you take from a degree.
This would be a more useful comment if it were more specific.
Can you post a link? I'd like to check out your product.
WordPress – Contact Form 7 Made Simple
My opinion: if startups aren't serious about hiring you, they shouldn't go through the dance. Why are they wasting everybody's time?
Daring No Balls
I haven't reviewed the implementation, but the API alone appears to be a significant improvement over the previously available options.

However, the use of non-prefixed category methods (monkey-patching) is an inappropriate design choice, given the fact that the likelihood of conflict is actually higher than 0 when using non-prefixed category methods.

Let's say you were doing a gradual migration from ASIHTTP -- you'd have a non-deterministic conflict on the -[UIImageView setImageWithURL:] category method.

Unfortunately -- and despite repeated advisements to not do so by Apple engineers and others -- AFNetworking isn't the only library to add such a category method, and in fact, a number of libraries and third-party code add different, conflicting -[UIImageView setImageWithURL:] category methods. It's not too hard to wind up with a conflict.

Category methods should always be name-prefixed to avoid conflict, if you're going to use them at all:

-[UIImageView af_setImageWithURL:]
Approximate population of NYC = 20 million
Assuming 40% of population rides subway everyday
no. of passengers = 8 million
Avg miles ridden by each passenger let's say is 10.
Total miles ridden = 80 million miles.

Way too many assumptions. Are they sensible? I don't know.
OT: What's the deal with that "thehackernews dot com" site linked in the article, using an orange favicon and everything? Which came first?
Review of JobPage.com an innovative Online Applicant Tracking and Posting System
From Startups in Silicon Valley to the Israeli Army
In other words, GUI apps can and do incorporate CLI elements. But CLI apps cannot incorporate GUI elements like click-to-select. So would it be accurate to say CLI apps are more limited than GUI apps? Or is the point in the article about forcing people to use CLIs so that they have to know about the more powerful features(or give up trying to use the program)?

Or does he mean it's a good thing to replace the car's interface with a bunch of strings like a guitar that allow you to steer, brake and accelerate and change gears and this will allow for more creative driving? As I said, the article is not even wrong.
Download Torrents via HTTP Direct Links without Seedbox HACKING TRICKS
Oh please. Don’t compare Latex to Word, compare it to InDesign. Word is word processor with some typesetting functionality crammed into it, certainly not the ideal tool for creating beautifully typeset documents.

Latex is awesome if you stick to the (very sensible) defaults. It basically creates beautifully typeset documents for people who have no idea about typesetting. (That’s a good thing, by the way.) It’s not all that great if you want to go very far beyond that and in that respect InDesign runs circles around it.

Different tools are good at different things.
On Learning from Entrepreneurs: John Frankel, Partner ff Venture Capital
Every time all winter my wife asks me to get out of bed to go downstairs to change the thermostat that's awkward to use and hard to see in the available light, you can bet I'm going to be thinking about how I could have a Nest and just adjust it from bed using my phone. Combine that with plausible claims of it saving us $100+ a year in energy bills, and this is a very appealing product, IMO.
They've been out for a while. Expensive, and I don't remember the name, but they are there. My shower has "scald control" so if someone flushes a toilet nearby the temperature doesn't change, but I don't think that's what you are after?

Search the usual suspects" Moen, Delta, Kohler, etc.

Here's one: http://bathroom-kitchen-faucets.com/hot-cold-automatic-senso...
Thanks for pointing that out. Will fix that!
I've had very mixed experiences with recruiters. At best they ask reasonable questions and provide informative information about companies. At worst they're rude, condescending, unprofessional and openly confess that "I know nothing about software". I think that the probability distribution is skewed more towards the latter than the former.
Are you looking for adult show?
Come to chat with me. It's free. no cc required
Thanks, but I don't need your pity. I enjoy working with PHP, and I really enjoy studying, playing around, and finally making money with quality frameworks like Kohana and Symfony2 (still learning this one).

I may not be an uber-programmer like you, or have a $55,000 college education/loan, but PHP makes it easy, fun and profitable to be self taught.

So, yes, I'm "married" to PHP, much like I'm married to jQuery, but keep your pity to yourself.
Using Smooth Scroll with Page Anchors and Javascript
Thanks for the feedback. Will fix the font!
New York couple tries to trademark 'Occupy Wall St.
How do you show your app privacy policy in the App Store or iTunes?
Apple makes it challenging to meet their privacy policy requirements.
- "Grandparent is saying that there are, but we don't have to obey them unthinkingly."

How does he know that we can override genetic behaviors? Sure, we can try, but that doesn't mean that we can override them.

- "you might still want to think twice before unquestioningly endorsing their superior wisdom over conscious thought."

Don't put words in my mouth. I said: "it may be best (for the other, certainly) not to try."
I'm curious; what is it about Symfony2 that makes you recommend it over CakePHP?

I really enjoy using CakePHP personally, and I found Symfony v1 a headache to start with and never really got off the ground with it. It's interesting to me that the CakePHP 2.0 release got no love while Symfony2 is front page material. Any insight here would be appreciated.
>> Are Visual Studio users just operators of an IDE?
>Many of them are operators and it's freaking painful to watch.

And many of them create awesome games, OSes, applications and websites that hundreds of millions of people find useful and enjoy. Funny how an open-ended tool works, isn't it?

>Well, actually Microsoft has yet to create a replacement for Latex.

They have EPS.

>This comparison is not fair because HTML itself was meant to be rendered in a graphical interface.

So you mean GUI is for consumers and CLI is for creators? But is Photoshop CLI or GUI? What about Eclipse?
AppFog gets (more) multilingual with Java support
Not to detract from rfurlan's thread, but is there really a lot of interest in the stories of bootstrapped and profitable companies?
It's worth distinguishing immediate from indirect benefits.

The purpose of the karma system is to encourage better posts and comments. To do this, users need to be able to see and, preferably, feel the link between karma and post and comment quality. Their ability to do this is impaired if the link is subject to delay and confusion.

Of course this is only true in so far as users are being guided by the "average karma" figure. But if they aren't, then either it shouldn't be there or the principle you're appealing to is incorrect.

Just out of curiosity, do you think that the black bar displayed at the top of HN pages when certain people die results in better posts or comments? Or would you consider the possibility that, important as those things are, they aren't all PG cares about? I think they aren't; I think he probably cares to some extent about how pleasant HN is to use.
I'll often get calls from recruiters telling me they've found a position for which I'm a perfect match. And then they explain it's a senior developer position requiring 5 years of experience, when it's very clearly stated on my resume that I'm a college student looking for an internship.

They just keyword search resumes.
Ten years of Windows XP: how longevity became a curse
That's an interesting observation about physical exercise. The most excess weight I've lost, and the best physical exercise I've gotten, has been when I was doing something that simply required physical exertion, rather than exercising for the sake of exercising.

Thank you; I suspect if I ponder this for a bit, it will have a positive impact on my future exercise plans and goals.
One recruiter reached out to me when I was fresh out of college, and brought me in for a meeting. He then suddenly stopped responding in an email thread and I never heard from him again.

Then again, that's a one-time experience. But my time with the recruiter was as wasteful as time spent posting my resume on Monster and other job sites.
Jmarnold71
One realization I've had is that, for all of the projects that I started and never finished, or even never started, I would much rather have that project finished and done and part of my project portfolio, even if it really was a dumb idea, than to have given up on it.

If I can really truly believe that and act on it, then it makes since to follow through and finish projects, regardless of if after a week I think it's a dumb idea. Now, of course, some ideas may really be dumb. You have to have some mechanism for filtering out garbage. I propose filtering at the beginning: make at least an informal design of the project, and if, after that, it still seems reasonable, then commit to yourself to finish it. And finish it before starting another personal project.
I can't tell you what to do. Honestly, it sounds like your mind is already made up.

But if I were in your shoes, I would want to do both. So I would schedule next semester classes to be in the evenings OR I would strike up a deal with the new employer to change my hours around slightly.
Stereotypes About Powerful Women
TFT + network + Android NFC + Google = targeted ads on vending machines!

In version 2.0, you will get a discount for automatically posting your purchase on G+.
I had one idiot who kept phoning me about a "great position" with an investment bank that offered less money, a lot less holidays, a lot more pressure (which I interpreted as being required to be available 24x7) and less interesting work than what I currently do.

I kept asking him why I should be interested in such a role, of course, he couldn't tell me. The sheer desperation in his voice was almost enjoyable.
The customer is always right.

Maybe your emails aren't appreciated in the spirit they are sent. Just because you cajoled someone to check a box to use your site, doesn't mean they appreciate your email campaign.
Ask PG/Harj: Mysterious black-band
There seems to be a mysterious new black band atop the regular orange on my HN view. For fear of sounding stupid, does this have any oblique implication my HN behaviour, or on our recent YC application?
Simple: you design your electronics to fit existing cases that can be purchased off the shelf. Here's one of my favorite vendors: http://www.polycase.com

There are many, many vendors of plastic and metal electronics enclosures. Many of them will customize them for you with printing, cutouts for displays, etc. I know Polycase will do so very cheaply.
Scrolldit: I Heard You Liked Scrolling Reddit So I Put Scrolling In Your Reddit
We're mostly in agreement.

My point is that dropping out isn't a particularly easy path to choose. It's not a good default for most people.

I'm not trying to say that you can't be successful as a drop out. If I believed that, I wouldn't have dropped out myself.
Oh this will end well. Nah it will never be abused or have mission creep.

Now the TSA will have a database to use on everyone while they wait in line for a bus, train or plane.

You protested at OWS? No flying for you. Oh you false match a felon? No flying for you either.

I wonder when they will just start grabbing people left and right off the street to do iris scans like the military does to the locals in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Or from what university you're at, and what you're studying.

I should clarify that it is pointless busywork with respect to a career. There's definitely something to be said about learning for the sake of learning and personal growth. Not having world class knowledge of mathematics is not going to hinder your wallet in any way though.
> Only a portion of web work I've seen in PHP uses any community framework. This is just the way it is.

This is not a good thing! It's one of the biggest reasons why the overall state of PHP development, @fabpot and friends excluded, is absolutely terrible.
select sum(distance_between_subway_stops(entered,exited) from subway_info where date=any_given_day;
Computer superstar (Dennis Ritchie)'s death overlooked
"I lunge for the phone, stopping the experiment."

That's been my exercise (gym membership expired 3 years ago) as I try different Android voice recognition apps. Add random people you no longer remember on your Facebook account which is automatically put in my phone contacts. It should be a sport.
Iranians Upset Over Google Reader (A Bigger Deal Than You Think)
I love how in the video the young guy asks "Does it use a frame buffer?" Dude, this beauty didn't use bitmaps or raster graphics at all. Rather, it was a glorified oscilloscope you programmed by directly controlling the deflection of the tube's electron gun. To draw a line you'd tell it to keep the electrons firing during the deflection. If not, you got a dot. That's it.

For a brief period of time vector games like Asteroids and Gravitron made it into arcades where their "smooth", rotatable graphics looked quite sophisticated beside all the blocky, pixelated games like Pac Man or Centipede.

Somewhere in storage at our old house I even have a vector-based game console, called the Vectrex. I really need to dig it out for my boys to play with.
A lot of programs already do that. Eg. http://www.gregshackles.com/2010/01/scripting-iis-7-with-pow... and even things like Excel.

But the argument here seems to be that forcing users to use the CLI will make them use the more powerful features that they won't otherwise use with a GUI that's good enough for them. Or something like that. The useless analogies in the article don't help.
Why not just use a programmable thermostat? They are down to around $20 these days.
Ask HN: What accounting software do you use for your startup's userbase?
Hey guys, we are trying to figure out what accounting software would work best for our startup. We will have per-month and subscription plans, payments are handled through stripe, but we aren't really sure what accounting software would be best to keep track of all of those payments for our bean counters. Any thoughts? What's have you used?
Or even the driver license photo databases.
You know when you go to Wal-Mart and there's that giant basket full of $5 movies? There "may" be a gem in there, but you have to stack and pile them all over the place, dig through loads of repeat garbage, and just hope something is in there you want. After 5 minutes you're frustrated because you just wasted your time.

The Chrome Web Store is a pile of apps - especially games. Except there's no way to pile, sort, and cart them. If you could at least STAR a game so you could go back and look at the ones you've given a STAR to later, then it would be helpful.

G+1 doesn't help because I don't want to +1 something that may suck. You CAN create a bookmark while a pop-up of the app is showing, and when you return to that bookmark, the app popup shows.

But you know what would make sense because it's the way SHOPPING HAS BEEN DONE FOREVER? A ton of categories and sorting methods so you can browse small niches of apps you are interested in, like Platform games, or RPG games, or Sports games.

Not on the Chrome Web Store. Nope. Just GAMES. That's it. GAMES. Thomas the Train is right next to Counter Strike.

Ridiculous.
A few days ago I moderated a panel discussion at the Computer History Museum with the founders of Dropbox, Evernote, and Wildfire. I asked whether it was worth dealing with outside recruiters, and they all said no. They all had recruiters working for them in house. In fact between 3% and 5% of their employees were recruiters.

They said the best source of people initially were the friends of the founders and the first employees (which is one reason it's helpful to have gone to a good CS school) and that as soon as you've exhausted this source you should start hiring recruiters.