skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I wrote an interactive demo to create sound waves (FM Synthesis) using JavaScript. Now I will try this audiolibjs to make it better and add effects. I was creating effects from the scratch (using rand to produce white noise, etc):
http://js.do/sound-waves-with-javascript/
(Click each "Interesting Sound and Waves" to see each effect. Graphics/waves are created using Processing.JS)
Well, you'd be wrong. Speaking from personal experience, nobody cares about bootstrapped businesses. There is no glory, admiration, or external social validation of any kind to be had by bootstrapping a business. The money, the challenge, and the freedom of control makes the obscurity worthwhile, though.
Funny seeing this within days of the iPhone version of Plants vs. Zombies adding a mode where you control the zombies. (Feature already existed in Flash version; requires in-game currency to play most of it).
The explanations are right, but I find $1m to be less noisy. The $1MM usage is firmly entrenched in finance, though.
Who says there was a conversion? It's possible to grow up as both. I know a few CS guys who were national level swimmers, and one who was international caliber and only went CS after completing a masters in EE.
"He's saying not that the method is bad, but that things are getting complex enough, at least in medicine, where we're hitting some limits on how easily we can practice science to the necessary level of rigor and precision."

But we are still doing fine and achieving the "necessary level of rigor and precision". The one main example of the article was the drug that was stopped in trials, which is exactly as the process was supposed to work, and yet then the author tries to paint this as a reason or example of the failure of science in general.
The articles criticism I think stems from the same feeling of discomfort I got when I understood a bit better how drugs are developed.

As a culture I think we have a certain faith in the medical system to save us from death, the same way previous generations looked to priests to save the spirit.

The inference you mention 'high HDL is associated with low cardiac arrest, therefore a drug that increases HDL might help is more vague than a layman expects.
It's like saying 'I want a safe car, and German tend to be safe, therefore I will buy a German' - it's valid in the absence of a real understanding of how to specify and select a safe car, but it's more vague than you'd be comfortable with.
You expect an engineering company to be able to specify a safe car based on deep knowledge. But because our understanding of the disease, and of what different chemicals can do is incomplete, a drug company can't do that.
Instead, they follow as many hints as they can to select a chemical that might work, and then advance it through a series of progressively more expensive trials until they are pretty sure it does more good than harm.

That's a valid way of doing things, and at the moment it's all we can do. But it's not what a layman imagines, or certainly not what this one imagined.
It undermines our sense of control - our sense that we are immortal and can get on with making an angry birds clone to get rich because there will be plenty of time to do the projects we want to after the payoff - it's not like we are going to die of heart disease, science has our back on that one!

Or maybe I'm generalizing my personal feelings too much?
I'm not sure I can fully agree with the idea that programmers are self-taught in the sense of writing good code. I'm a student at the University of Waterloo, and in the courses in 1st and 2nd year a sizeable chunk of the marks depends on readability/documentation and such. We have coding guidelines and we lose marks for not following them. Needless to say, this doesn't mean most students at Waterloo write good, well-documented, readable code. Most of them are focused on getting the program to work, sprinkling in obvious comments (i.e. "//setting width to 60" ) and debugging when the tests fail. When they get marks off for poor documentation/readability they either complain or brush it off, claiming that since their program worked the rest isn't a big deal.

Bottom line: in my experience, the reason most programmers are self-taught with regard to writing good code is not that no one tries to teach them. It's that most of them don't think they NEED to know (i.e. don't place enough importance on it) and are willing to lose marks for it until they get to a job and they have no to choice but to, you guessed it, teach themselves. There are people who try to make the best out of their education, and these can be very good coders who learned by making the best of their education.

(Note: obviously this is a generalization - there are plenty of students who try to write good code.)
Misclicked on LLVM-GCC, meant to click on LLVM Clang.
Actually, according to this article, "All programmer’s are self-taught."

Unfortunately, some are also self-taught in grammar and punctuation. (I had to. My snark quota is done for the day.)
Counterexample?

I'm self-taught. I'm trying to filter for confirmation bias here.

I dated a girl (it was awesome but it didn't last) who was a C.S. grad student but wasn't the type to "autodidact" at anything. She was also a stunning musician, an entrepreneur, and an investor.

Ok, basically I'm trying to paint the picture of someone who is clearly my superior in many areas, and understands C.S., but isn't self taught.

I couldn't pretend to know all the reasons, but she wasn't in it just for the job or the money. She seemed a genuine hacker but just not in the same sense as me.
It's FF8 for Windows.
> If you're just going to extract the values once, why not just write the code to actually do that instead of trying to play tricks with memcpy()?

Because it's more expressive, doesn't cost performance, and is less error-prone than writing field extraction code manually. And because it's the type of processing people actually use C for.

> Those tricks won't even work in many cases where certain fields indicate the length of certain other fields (which is quite common).

... it's common for a field to specify the size of the data portion of a packet, not other header fields. The one exception I can think of is a version number, which indicates the layout of the rest of the packet, which isn't exactly rocket science to model using explicitly-packed structs.

> When I first started programming in C I also had this fantasy that I could parse network formats with memcpy().

Nobody here has such a fantasy, they're expressing a desire for this to be made possible.

> Since then I've become convinced that writing the actual parsing code is for the best.

Given a programming language grammar, would you prefer to use an LR parser generator, to write an LR grammar by hand, or to write a recursive-descent LL parser by hand?
Not sure how reliable a source it is, but Wikipedia cites a Mozilla engineer's tweet as saying they have 600 employees, which is a bigger operation than I would've guessed: https://twitter.com/#!/paulrouget/status/116110841669099520
I think we agree?

browserid & apps & intents-or-something-like-it are all mutually reinforcing, IMO.
Model S Update: Pricing and Options | Blog | Tesla Motors
I've actually been working on exactly this for quite some time now. You can check it out at http://loggur.com.

I should note that a number of things are currently disabled on the site (like the mobile version and invite referrals), but the current information on the site should give an idea where Loggur's headed. A few things are disabled because just last week I decided to convert the entire backend to Node, mainly for Socket.io... because the idea is to let users edit and use apps together in real time... probably using a turn-based system or variations thereof. I was going to wait until after beta release to do this but decided it would probably save a lot of time and effort in the long run to knock it out while the code base is relatively small.

And I actually just now (re)hacked together the invitation system right after I saw your comment. Gotta seize the opportunity, even if it only means another 5-10 sign-ups! The plan was to wait until after the app builder is complete and use Loggur to build Loggur (i.e., recreate the majority of the current site), as it wouldn't take long at all; but the opportunity came up to do a shameless plug.

And I thought I was done coding for the day!
Imagine certain parts of the shaft are copper. It would feel crazy to be free falling, then abruptly slow then, then speed up again all the way to the bottom.

Okay. No more nightmare fuel.
Direct link to specs & pricing here: http://www.teslamotors.com/models/options
As someone who has taught and TAed many students, I always tried to comment on coding style, explain what good style is, and why. This becomes more difficult as the number of students scales.
This is a crazy read.
Or maybe you just make the common mistake of assuming that everyone else thinks the same way you do.

And you're not doing the same?
I see that you have layered a Buffer-style API on top of your per-sample code (api-buffer-effects.js), and I could still be missing something, but it looks like that just automates the call to process each sample individually --

//api-buffer-effect
self.effects[n].pushSample(buffer[i + n], 0);

//api-generator
out[i + n] = this.getMix(n) * this.mix + buffer[i + n];

This is very different from being able to process batches of samples within your effect or osc code -- even if the JIT inlines the functions of this.mix, you will still incur unnecessary setup cost.

Of course, without profiling this is just speculation.
Sorry about that, fixed now.
The problem is that even though you have a great idea, that's only one part of the equation. To have a successful product you have to have four aspects: the market, marketing, design, features - in that order (got that from "Start Small, Stay Small".

Everyone could say that the features in your product are amazing. But if you're in a market where customers don't pay, or if you're unable to reach them with the right marketing, then a perfect product is useless.

You have to determine the most profitable segment of your market. And find the cheapest way to market to them. What's the expected lifetime value of a user? Is it less than the cost to acquire that user through Adwords/Facebook? Then run through some ads. And invest some time in learning to optmize the ads.

What are some keywords that people are searching for that would lead users to your product? Are there many people competing for those terms? It might be worthwhile to invest time/money doing SEO. It seems you have a lot of content that might be worthwhile.

You've solved the hard part of having a good product. Now you have to figure out how to market it well.
You forgot to add referral links to the itunes store in all these! -.-
Model S Options and Pricing | Tesla Motors
"But if your files are generally much larger or tend to grow over time..."

No numbers are given in what you quoted, but when I think about "much larger" I'm thinking of file sizes in the megabyte to gigabyte range, such as a dedicated data drive for a media server or a database server. A 4KB median file size doesn't fit my mental model of "much larger".
I used to share your skepticism about single sign-on. I'm actually quite bullish about BrowserID because it uses concepts that both users and websites are very familiar with (email, 'validated email addresses'), and works it in a flow that feels very much like facebook connect. It's really neat rather than overengineered IMO (and I can say that because I didn't do any of the engineering ;-).

Similarly, the apps project is a lot about recognizing what mobile apps did well, and filling in the gaps in the web (stores, receipts, APIs) that will make it possible for people to translate their mobile appdev skills into the broader web.
If you don't need to know how to solve algorithmic problems or use mathematics and you're programming, why the fuck is your job still not automated or outsourced?
You're confusing me, I opened this thread amazed someone could raise 1 billion.

Now I'm quite happy that M = 1,000 and m = 1,000,000, and you're throwing me off with $1mm now.
Is switching as simple as changing the project config to use the new compiler, or is code migration/change needed?
If You Only Read One Lawsuit Per Year, Here it is!
Newt just wants to shoot these people?
Both #2 and #3 are addressed in the bill as well. http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/HR%203261%20Managers...

For #2 see: No Duty to Monitor, No Technology Mandates and No Impact on Security or Integrity in Section 2 Savings and Severability Clauses, and then Service Providers in Section 102. My paraphrasing: Service Provider is not required to actively monitor, design their service to "forestall or prevent acts that would actually or potentially create a cause of action".

For #3 see: Enforcement of Orders in Section 102. My paraphrasing: Attorney General may bring an action for "injunctive relief" against any product or service that is designed or marketed for the purpose of enabling a domain name affected by this act. I think MAFIAAfire and DeSOPA both apply here but a general DNS cacher/sharer may not apply since they could be said to have different purposes than just bypassing SOPA/ICE/ProtectIP.

So, yeah, some people can be affected negatively, but I think they have put in some effort to address the issues you bring up while still being able to carry out their mission of targeting foreign sites dedicated to infringing and profiting off of copyrighted works.

I am not a lawyer, this is only my best attempt of explaining the bill which I have read now a few times.
I've been thinking of just an app like this but for soundcloud.com.

Btw. Trying to log in with google open ID then selecting 'No Thanks' on the OpenID screen logs you in as 'vynsynt'. I assume that's a demo account? If not it looks like a security issue ...
We are looking for Puerto Rico's startups
The CS undergrad curriculums that I have been a part of (on the student and teaching side) were designed so that people with no prior exposure to CS or programming could succeed. For that reason, the introductory class taught programming. Sure, they (we) tried to instill general CS concepts along the way, but the fundamental task was to teach the students how to think algorithmically, how to use that skill to solve a particular problem, and, yes, how to use the particular tools we chose (that is, the language, compiler, editor or IDE).

To do otherwise is to require that incoming students already know how to program. That is, I think, indefensible. If students want to test out of the introductory course, fine. But it must exist, just as the intro to physics course must exist for physics majors.
I would disagree that the pharma drug development model hasn't evolved. There are many recent advances that have helped improve drug development (human cells used in pre-clinical screening, more advanced clinical trial design, etc).

What I think has really changed is the cost of failure. The best example I can think of is the discovery of benzodiazepines (the drug class that includes Valium). The first benzodiazepine (chlordiazepoxide, Librium) was discovered in 1957 (we're talking, the FIRST set of pre-clinical tests) and it was on the market in 1960. 3 years from the first tests to market.

Nowadays, you'd be lucky to get to market in 15 years. A great example is Qutenza. The product is nothing more than a patch that contains a very high level of capsaicin (the stuff that makes peppers hot). When you apply it to the skin, it can reduce the pain that sticks around after an attack of shingles. I can't think of a product with fewer safety issues, yet it took 10 YEARS for the company to get FDA approval.

This is due to a combination of increased FDA scrutiny around safety along with a high standard for efficacy (i.e. we don't care if your drug reduces cholesterol, we want you to prove it reduces heart attacks). So in the past, when a smaller, shorter trial was sufficient for FDA approval, you could take a promising drug all the way to the FDA without a lot of expense. Not so anymore.
Cara pemesanan jelly gamat gold: Jelly gamat gold-g
You'll probably get some minor warnings here and there due the differences in the Parser. But in my experience, it's been relatively painless.
If that is the case, any business that provides any activity that is remotely dangerous would not be able to stay in business without the huge overhead of a powerful legal team backing it. Consider skydiving, watersports, or even karting.
I still use ir_black_plus. Looks great under OSX; much like wombat. For some reason I could never get wombat to work with my vim setup..
Dead post from ballard:

ballard 3 hours ago | link [dead]

Java was an over-reaction to C.

Go was a reaction to Java back to almost center.

C is close to hardware, which is important for things like game engine cores, video drivers, varnish and the list of use-cases goes on and on.

Finally, people tend to complain about their tools even when those tools work. Be thankful if you didn't have to write the tool yourself. But if you would feel compelled to complain, write a better one yourself first instead. :)

@phk: When was the last time you wrote inline asm in C to solve any problem on an non-embedded system? Mine was 1996.
When at my old company we switched between multiple mail companies we didn't pay the initial quote that any of the companies gave us. However none of the big names we used are on your chart.
There's an argument that this counts as fair use case. And in that case, charging or not charging can make a difference.
Hopefully I'm not giving anything confidential away, but the answer is pretty straightforward:

Buffer was able to prove that they can convert x% of their users to a paid service, with a very viral, rapidly growing user base.

They proved that they could build something people wanted, get people to pay for it, and market it in such a way that it grows virally (keeping their costs low).

As an investor, that would be music to my ears - their burn rate is likely to be completely covered by the CURRENT revenues, and the rest is gravy. They have all the time in the world to figure out what additional services people want layered on top of their social media, and have proven that their team can both build and market their new ideas.
IIRC, there's a windows-specific bug that was discovered at the last minute. They're fixing it & respinning.
Making the MoneyWell App Icon
I know this is fine when everyone is being moral/rational. But what prevents someone from maliciously suing the skating (or something more dangerous, such as skydiving) place for something they weren't really responsible for?
I'm not sure I agree. Yes to a certain degree, I think that programmers are self-taught, but I think like most things in life, most of the learning comes from your peer group. Working on a project in a small team with other motivated developers is a much more enriching learning experience than doing solo class projects or teaching yourself some new technology.
Creativity is awesome. not in the UI. For me it means less time focusing on my product and more on remembering to make button:active look like it's pressed. for my users it means another UI to learn.

Think about trello. After two minutes on the site I was like "hellll no, I ain't gonna learn how to use this!". The UI scared me, it was too different with too little explanations.
Perhaps I shouldn't have said that I won't attempt to defend SOPA. I am obviously defending certain parts of it. However, I still don't support it, in fact, I still hate the ambiguity of terms, the way it is argued in congress, and how this may be the canary before other "real" internet censorship bills get introduced.

And since this is about the dozenth SOPA article posted in the last couple weeks, and with a certainly flamebait title, I just wanted to introduce some other viewpoints and, hopefully, some rationality to the otherwise emotional discussion.
+1, in fact I'm still a fireworks 8 junkie, I still can't find a better product for web layout and super quick vector/raster work.
Piers Morgan Tonight - Gary Vaynerchuk- Thank You Economy Interview
How LinkedIn, Pandora, Groupon & Zynga Performed Since Their IPOs
I don't use Java, but Python has a reasonably large set of builtins, and the base modules like os and sys provide a lot more - C would require a longer list of includes. Still, I would like to be able to write something like "mmap::mmap" and have Python automatically figure out what to import, keeping the namespace separation but eliminating the redundancy of explicit imports.

(maybe pick something other than double colons, heh.)
Drum lessons
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I disagree with this post. There are professors out there who do in fact teach code style in a very hands on and personal manner.
Chris Riesbeck [1] at Northwestern University has made a great system to teach good coding practices in a number of languages. Many of my fellow alumni have learned good coding practices from him. Its an inside joke to talk about "Riesbeck crying" when messy code is written.

[1] http://www.cs.northwestern.edu/~riesbeck/critiquing.html
Just getting it done and out the door counts for so much more right now. It matters far less in a day, week, month or year when you or the next guy has to maintain it.

Though now that I reflect for a second I have to acknowledge that it's all that matters to the stakeholders, and not necessarily to the coders (nor future maintainers).
It seems that the preferred implementation these days is to write an LL parser by hand, if most production compilers and interpreters are anything to go by.
No personal reflection, but what "good code" means in a professional context is quite a bit removed from student assignments.

There are just some things you'll never learn, for example, until you have to interact daily with code you wrote a year ago.
Out of the 4, I think Zynga has the best shot at succeeding because they have the most control over their destiny.

LinkedIn has to deal with the Facebook juggernaut.
Pandora is at the mercy of record label contracts.
Groupon has a ton of competition and needs a massive sales force.
not to nitpick, but what another poster here calls "Essentially the wikiHow founders bought Web-1.0 also-ran eHow for cheap,", the article specifies as $100,000.

Right, quite cheap, if you have that kind of money kicking around you can live a story that ends up with you bootstrapping to 30MM visitors. Sounds like this guy's story is very different from the kids who really need the $16k they first sell 7% of their company for.

I guess I'm more interested in 'bootstrapping' that happens with a laptop and skype, not already having 100k.

The article doesn't specify whether he got large material support from family background. But from the story of the point he was at in his education when he went off to do rock-climbing with a large 'off-budget' travel fund, all after working briefly as a 23-year-old mgt consultant, it's not hard to piece together.

If someone has links to similar stories that are more in line with not having these things, while bootstrapping/not seeking outside investment, would love links.
Half a billion dollars: why Apple's acquisition of Anobit matters
I'm excited to watch Apple unfold as the pioneers of next-gen SSD.
Partly due to lifespan expectancy ages ago, that was even when they were getting married.
I think CS departments should offer at least one course that spends a little time focusing on writing quality code.

The Software Engineering course I took at university was a pretty good introduction to "programming". One of our required texts for the course was Code Complete by Steve McConnell. We were required to read all the chapters that focused on programming style.