skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Quite an interesting comment. And you are right.

What I want to do is strive to make copyleft the default, instead of copyright being the default. It has to be protected the same.

To put something under copyright or patent it should cost millions, the expected price the society would loose if the invention/product was not improved on by others. To let it free to use as see fit by others should be default, and if anyone or company decides to not share or in other ways obstruct freedom, fined.

A value-shift is needed for this. Thats what I as developer am working for everyday, improving freedom software, being the change I wish to see.
This is really awesome advice. Thanks. Living in the Bay Area sometimes means you're in an echo chamber. I hope that as people travel for the holidays they will take your advice and bring it up to friends and family that may not be exposed to this kind of information.
Sad that a patent could have so many ways to be implemented. Patents are supposed to be implementable. Google could hide a ton of trade secrets behind this patent.
Looks like you can't pass a function as an argument to any of the functions in a Sugarless chain.

Seems like a pretty glaring oversight to me.
I know set theory has some very real world applications, like formulating a data query in set notation. Applying set transformations to it to get a more optimized query and then transposing that to SQL to get a correct and performant sql query.

How do order theory and category theory have practical effects on computing? At university we learn this to explain how RSA works, but besides having funky properties that are nice for implementing asymmetrical encryption, it left me confused about their use in everyday computing.
Have you tried releasing it for production use? I would love to hear how it is working out for you. Are there any frameworks?
Programming Websites with Scheme could be very instructive:
http://docs.racket-lang.org/continue/index.html#(part._.Gett...

For learning more about OO http://seaside.st/ Smalltalk Web Framework

For job opportunities Java Web programming should be killer, especially if you want to work on big projects.
Meet Dotti, Sincerely’s New Mobile Photos App
The WebSocket protocol design was hijacked by architecture astronauts who decided that it must have all of these extra features added, instead of remaining a simple, easily implementable and understandable protocol. The original WebSocket protocol was a simple stream of delimited messages, with the only complexity being in the handshake that was necessary to ensure that JavaScript apps couldn't send arbitrary data to arbitrary ports without permission.

The problem is that the original handshake wasn't good enough (there were still security vulnerabilities despite he handshake), and when Ian Hickson decided to hand over control to the IETF, the architecture astronauts took over, adding complex framing with six different frame types, subprotocols, extensions, versions, complex bit twiddling required to parse frame headers, fragmentation of messages into smaller frames (which is what this article is complaining about), control frames interleaved with fragmented messages, numeric status codes and textual close reason strings that "MUST NOT" be shown to the user, masking of data by xor'ing with a random value that changes for each frame, but only for one direction (client->server), a two-way closing handshake on top the existing TCP mechanisms for closing the connection, pings to test the connection for liveness, and so on. There are six registries defined for IANA to keep track of http://www.iana.org/assignments/websocket/websocket.xml; extensions, subprotocols, version numbers, close codes, opcodes, and framing bits.

And despite all of this over-engineering and attempt at extensibility, all extensions must know about each other, because there is no standard method for delimiting different extensions' data (or even specifying how much data an extension uses), and there are three header bits and 10 frame types that all extensions must share. And I don't really know why there's a need for subprotocols on top of the ability to just encode that information in the URL.

It's kind of sad how what could have been a relatively simple and easy to implement protocol has been taken over by architecture astronauts. Yes, a few of these features are actually required to securely deploy websockets (the handshake and masking). Most of them are people making up features that would be nice in theory, instead of implementing something simple that works. Ian Hickson's original protocol wasn't perfect; it still needed some work by the time he left. But it was simple, and easy to implement, and didn't impose restrictions that couldn't be worked around at a higher level.
RIAA Slams Google's Anti-Piracy Efforts, Demands Even More Unreasonable Measures
Maybe the government / society / businesses / schools can solve the problem in some way; but any solution would take many years to develop - it's not like millions of extra STEM grads will be popping out of college a week after you start some kind of campaign to make it more appealing. (Which doesn't mean you should not start it right now, in parallel with adequate immigration policies.)

Also, this problem is not unique to America. The shortage of skilled STEM professionals is universal in every country with a modern economy. And I don't think this will ever change; STEM is not appealing to everybody, it's just too hard and too boring for most people. I don't say that in a demeaning way; Law or Health Sciences for example, are too hard and too boring for my thick skull. People are different. But in the modern world, the increasing demand for people with a STEM-friendly brain is clearly exceeding the percentage of the population who both have that kind of brain and are lucky/wealthy/hard-working enough to afford full education.
Cue in "drive-by buffer overrun".
Former Publisher of the WSJ, Gordon Crovitz, on news today
Why is eight years significant?
I'm reminded of a line from the producers:
"Never invest your own money."

I don't see how one could make methodical and appropriate business decisions with the gun pressed to their head of potential financial ruin.
Although I don't use it I have heard the symfony2 is one of the better MVC frameworks out there. The same people have also made quite a nice templating language called twig that you may also want to look at (http://twig.sensiolabs.org/).
...And of course downvoting for pointing out that 65% of the project in 8 years might be not as rosy, as someone would paint it to be. Ah, gotta love to have a non-popular opinion!
Ignorance definitely can be bliss. I think there needs to be healthy disregard for the impossible; it's what makes you do things that others normally would not dare to do or even think about. Most innovations come from either disregarding what they already know or not knowing better.
But of course the completion times and attrition rates are high. Anyone who's worked in the science academia is well aware of the fact that way too many American K-12 graduates, no matter how much they may like a STEM career, are woefully unprepared to deal with the math involved in it. The attrition rates and general unpleasantness of these majors result directly from this factor. Until K-12 math gets fixed for good, you need either some stopgap measures to fill those jobs or the inanity to graduate engineers who can't do basic math (and then drive over the bridges they design).
I agree. Of all the arguments, the one about transportation is probably the most important. Even though there has been good improvements in national highways over the last decade, majority of the roads in India are still in desperate need of repair. Price of gas is about $6/gal. As compared to US, it takes probably 4 times longer to cover the same distance due to traffic and road conditions.

This problem is not new and I am sure that companies like J&J have looked at the Indian market. Reaching remote villages while providing a low price is something that a big company concerned about profits will not consider at all. Not until the numbers make sense.
"That is an old cliché that doesn't hold true anymore. The US doesn't have substantially lower taxes or less government regulation than Nordic countries. (If anything, the regulations for private stock investments in the US are much more restrictive and complicated.)"

Since you mentioned Nordic countries in general, let's look at Norway:

1) 28% flat tax on income (additional 9% on gross income if you earn between $73,641 - $119,662 and 12% on anything larger than this.
2) VAT on most things you purchase (25%)
3) 1% wealth tax, including your assets.
4) All tax returns are publicized. So everyone knows how much you make. This is a violation of privacy.

source: http://www.davemanuel.com/2009/09/08/the-norwegian-tax-syste...

It's not just corporate taxes that need to be factored in here. If I'm a VC, why would I invest where everything is going to cost 3X or 4X as much.

There also has to be a reason why there is almost no startup scene in Nordic countries. If taxes were great and the government made it really easy for businesses to startup and flourish, VC would be flocking there.

another article: http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-say...

"As a Norwegian, he pays nearly 50 percent of his income to the federal government, along with a substantial additional tax that works out to roughly 1 percent of his total net worth."

"And that's just what he pays directly. Payroll taxes in Norway are double those in the U.S. Sales taxes, at 25 percent, are roughly triple."

This article is filled with reasons why I would never want to start a business here.
I second that idea. And would further suggest highlighting some projects that require roles other than developers, so those projects can get the design, marketing, product, etc help that they're seeking.
This essay seems quite relevant: http://www.lambdassociates.org/blog/hackers.htm

It compares self-taught and college taught programmers to street fighters and martial artists.
Newt Gingrich does not approve of this website
Smoke Screening: Journalist tests TSA
I have to say, that's pretty impressive. Although, one has to wonder as to whether or not you were over-privileged. Is your "success" a result of having a head-start? It would seem the economy is just perfect for you, but I digress.

Homelessness eh? So you were leaching off your school, yes?
Because of someone is spending public money on a dubious cause that takes forever to implement?
Copyrights and patents protect the little guy as much as they protect big corporations.

I am somewhat skeptical of that, but especially in regards to patents.

Many companies build patent porfolios out of a desire for ptoection, but only from other patent holders suing them as a large patent portfolio would likely permit them to counter-sue any practicing entity (read: anything other than a dedicated patent-troll). Others build up the portfolios of patents just to show value to potential purchasers. They generally do not actually provide protection for real R&D (and often don't represent an investment in it).

Paul Graham touches on this at: http://www.paulgraham.com/patentpledge.html and at http://www.paulgraham.com/softwarepatents.html

To very briefly summarize (and perhaps oversimplify): Even if patents can be good in the modern era, it is very easy to use them in bad ways, and they often are used in bad ways.
alloca(3) isn't in ISO C (or even in POSIX).
Weekly Badass JavaScript Roundup #4
I'd say there's a combination of factors, the first (and most important) being that Google is good enough for most people.

This is actually why I think it's important to have a good open source alternative. Google is good today. And frankly, if Bing wasn't around, Google could probably stop doing any work on search for the next five years with impunity.
I'm not sure that's the real reason. Intel recently found that they could interest an extra 30% of students in tech careers just by giving them more information. https://newsroom.intel.com/servlet/JiveServlet/download/38-7...
When the shabby old man is put on trial for jury tampering, shouldn't a jury of his peers find him not guilty? The deliberation on that trial could be very interesting. Or very difficult because the judge won't let the defendant's counsel say anything. Or both.
MariaDB 5.3.3 Release Candidate Notes
What was the most Badass JavaScript demo of 2011?
I really want to get one, but apparently there are issues when you don't have a C-wire. Basically a power wire from the furnace. I just finished my basement, and the house only came with 4 wire, and I didn't run 5+ wire before I finished the basement.

Marco Arment documented it here:
http://www.marco.org/2011/12/17/nest-incompatibility-without...

Although it may just be for boilers.
"Last year, Montana prosecutors were forced to offer a defendant in a marijuana case a favorable plea bargain after so many potential jurors said they would nullify that the judge didn’t think he could find enough jurors to hear the case."

I don't get it; jurors are selected based on how they claim will decide? That's all kinds of messed up.
I've never really understood how SOPA will deal with websites that are indisputably multi-use. I don't think anyone could, with a straight face, argue that Scribd doesn't have a significant amount of non-copyright infringing use (unlike Napster, which was close to 99%+ copyright infringing by volume) - thought it does have a significant component of copyright infringements that rights holders are always having to stamp out with DMCA takedown requests.

So - what to do with sites like Scribd, post SOPA? Just blacklist the entire site because it gets a lot of DMCA requests?

What do the SOPA proponents (do we have _ANY_ of those on HN, I really would love to be educated by them) have to say about that?
Tim Bray: Mobile Review 2011
The idea using next() with asynchronous sounds interesting. With sugarless, you could create a state machine with functions as the nodes and next() calls as the transitions. I don't know if I would ever use this, but it is still an interesting idea.
Just How Much Are Engineers In Demand? Very Much So
My furnace takes 2-3 minutes to turn on after shorting the wires, although the pulse method could potentially be bad for it as well.

I would have ran the wire, but my wife was adamently opposed to getting a wifi thermostat, but I bet she'd like the nest.
All Programmers May Be Self Taught But The Best Are Also "Martial Artists"
We developers are getting evermore control and power on the internet

No, we're getting far less control and power, compared to the free-for-all of the Internet's early days. SOPA is just one example of longstanding power structures extending their control over engineering domains.

In the real world, the people with the guns win. Sometimes it takes time for them to realize the importance of new technologies, but eventually they win. Always.
30% is not bad.

In Norway it's over 50% after everything is said and done..and this isn't include the 20% VAT that is paid on almost everything, the 1% "net wealth tax" (which includes real estate, cars, etc), and any other tax you might have to pay.
That's a factor, but are you sure it's 100% the piss-poor state of math education? I'm not sure if you've read the RAND study I mentioned... here's a link:

http://www.rand.org/pubs/issue_papers/IP241.html

Now, this study doesn't mention anything about immigration systems, it just concludes that the aversion to STEM graduate degrees (particularly PhDs) is market driven.

So to me, there are a few factors here:

- Our K-12 system failing to produce graduates that can go on to advanced study in STEM

- The declining appeal of STEM careers relative to other options available to the best and brightest

- The relationship between the decline of the appeal of STEM fields and the increasing use of visas to fill these positions (for instance, the RAND study makes recommendations for changes to PhD programs... but these programs will be able to resist change if they have the power to bestow visas).

I'm not at all claiming to have a definitive answer here, but I do think you've gone way too far in attributing it to the decline of math education in the US. I would never try to argue that you haven't identified a major factor, but I think your claim that this is the only factor or even the single overwhelming factor is weak, especially in light of the RAND study.

As for filling the jobs... well, I haven't argued that we shouldn't base immigration on job skills, I've argued the opposite! However, I do think we need to consider the possible impact of emphasizing one particular field (STEM) over another, and make sure that we aren't using these visas to the extent that the prevent the market correction that would - slowly as you've pointed out - improve the appeal of STEM careers and bring "Americans" (by which I mean people living here with broad choice of career paths) back into this field.
Hey Patrick, first of all congrats on your engagement and your business success.

Secondly, I was wondering if you could share a bit about how you decide which ideas to invest your time in. Why did BCC and AR make the cut, while other ideas didn't (I assume you had a lot of other probably-good ideas along the way)?
When I worked at ArsDigita in 1999 we did something like this but it was only 3 weeks.
Settler of Catan, hands down.
Programming Team Challenge: Would a Dolphin eat a Dog?
I'd say go for the print version with the expectation that not too many people are going to buy it. There is a well known psyhcological device called price fixing that shows that people are more likely to buy/pay more for the mid range option when presented with a high priced option. Look at the basecamp signup page for this. People are predictably irrational. (check out that book for more good stuff like this; chapter 1 in particular for this example)

Do you get to own the code for the iPhone app or are you beholden to one company for updates?
The obvious answer to this math puzzle is not correct
So no videos, no essays, no code ("underwear") reviews; those all just tell how well you "present"... I'm struggling to figure out what you do think a good way to measure your suitability for a programming job is. Just hire you and see how it goes?

I hope this doesn't come off as callous, but I think you need to grow a thicker skin (heyoo!). Like someone said above, you are getting sounding defensive and hurt before anyone has "hurt" you.

Perhaps living social is not looking for a basement dwelling hacker who doesn't feel comfortable on video. In that case, weeding out people who don't feel comfortable presenting themselves is an asset, not a liability. Perhaps they want people with the right motivation and attitude, and then they'll make them programmers (some of them). This seems to be exactly what they want. I think the insistence that you be able to communicate and have the confidence to sell yourself is intentional, not accidental.
OP's understanding of these test patterns is incorrect. 'bradleyland' has already commented on the star chart. I'll talk about the second set [1, 2].

>> As you get closer to the end of the spectrum, you can see that the color depth blends together

These images are not testing the "spectrum". These test the gamma curves of the display. With reference to [1], the center squares with checkerboard patterns spatially mix two sets of colors to check if the mixture matches the color shade in the surrounding box. If the gamma curves are tuned correctly, all of the outer and inner boxes should blend. Nearly none of the displays I have tested achieve this and calibration is quite involved.

[1] http://www.nies.ch/pic/monitor-1280x1024.png
[2] http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/REZPIXTEST2.j...
Well - kind of.

The idea is to find jurors as close to the "impartial" ideal as possible.

So - if a murder case is being tried - and someone whose family member is a murder victim is called to the jury - they're probably not a great impartial arbiter in that case.

It's called Vior dire, and certainly not unique to the United States: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_selection#Voir_dire
Jurors are selected based on all sorts of things.

You'll find that jurors with higher education are often eliminated (prosecutors hate educated jurors, they tend to be harder to convince), jurors with law experience (even if it's as simple as a law class in high school) also tend to be eliminated, because they know at least a little something about standards of proof and nullification, etc.

The list of things that you can be eliminated for by either the judge or one of the attorneys (who get a limited number [3, I think] of eliminations) is staggering.
Games are less and less CPU-bound these days as well. A mediocre Core 2 Duo paired with the latest ATI/nVidia GPU can run pretty much anything out there (I speak from experience).

Overclocking still has its benefits; you can save quite a bit of cash by overclocking your 16-slice home render farm or video encoding rig. This is especially apparent in Intel land, where they charge a $600 markup between the second-best and absolute best CPU they offer.
He is obviously not motivated by money and most people aren't when you dig deeper. Many geeks want to achieve mastery, succumb new challenges, etc. I recommend watching this [1] 10m video out about what drives us to understand this a little more.

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc
The poster you were responding to sounded like he may be dealing with hypervigilance, which is why I brought it up. Hypervigilance is one facet of PTSD. PTSD should not be poo poo'd. People with PTSD cannot just say "oh life's short, I should enjoy it" & then get on with their lives.
Not necessarily. GCC, at least, avoids showing warnings in system headers unless explicitly requested. So, normally you'd only see warnings about the use of reserved identifiers in your own code.
Do you have to pay this 1% tax on stock you own in companies you've founded? I.e. would the founder of a successful new startup that had such a high valuation in its last round that his stock was worth $50 million on paper have to somehow come up with half a million dollars every year to pay taxes?
By not firing him on the spot they sent a message to their employees that this is acceptable behavior and have created a hostile, fearful work environment for their female employees. They have also allowed Florian to attend other conferences and represent Twitter, which discourages other women from wanting to attend these conferences, and from wanting to interact with brogrammers from Twitter. Their lack of action is wrong in so many ways that if you don't understand it, I feel really sorry for you, because you were clearly raised without a father, or at least without a father who knew how to teach you to be a man.

And for some reason, it's always germans. A german from VW violently raped one of my father's engineers at a conference 20 years ago, and VW tried pretty hard to cover it up. Since dad is now dead, I don't feel sorry to say that he beat this man to within an inch of his life, and then had him arrested.
It would be nice to know how the RSS works, and maybe have a way to select articles over a certain threshold via RSS. I use Calibre to fetch HN articles but when i see them through out the day, I can't be sure if I'll get that one later or not.
And Cornell is in NY state and probably has more relevant connections with authorities than Stanford...
Juries are to be impartial and decide only upon the evidence that is put forth by the prosecutor and defendant as it relates to the charges and the law that defines those charges. If a juror states up front that they'll vote one way or another, without hearing the evidence, based on some prejudice then they will be disqualified.