skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I don't know Lisp, I only tried Clojure but I think this applies. I don't think it's about code as data per se as it is about the philosophy that there are no "special cases" outside the few special forms needed to bootstrap the language. This simplicity allows you to shape the language the way you want without having to consider the impact of your modifications on existing code. Consider the hell C# or Java teams have to go trough when they introduce things such as async, lambda, linq, etc. and how those features interact with the existing language. Consider implementing pattern matching for C# and all the edge cases. Even when if you had a open compiler it would be difficult. Python is no better, for eg. it has a rigid class/type model that has been abused more than once to provide metadata for ORM for eg. I once tried to extend a ORM functionality that was using metaclasses and multiple inheritance, the hell you go trough with metaclass ordering is insane, compared to writing a declarative DSL in clojure with a macro and leveraging existing ORM library. And consider when libraries overload operators to implement DSL's you immediately get in to problems with operator precedence. This problems don't go away even if you can redefine the precedence because it's not consistent with the rest of the language.

So what I'm saying complexity is significantly reduced when you have a small/consistent core. As for readability I think Clojure makes this better by providing different literals for vectors and maps and those literals have consistent meaning in similar situations so it provides nice visual cues. But immutability by default, clear scoping and functional programming make things like using significant whitespace and pretty conditional expression syntax bikesheding level details.
Generally speaking the lower levels of the stack should always do the simplest, least amount of work.
One should not ask 'why not' but 'why' when designing protocols (imnsho); in other words, what is the correct layer to put session state.
it's definitely a tough balancing act - if you're too sure, you might miss signals that you need to adjust or pivot - you have to calibrate your own feelings and thought processes so that you are confident enough to push but also realistic enough to make good decisions.

or maybe you just bring a pusher onto the team to spread the word if the hacker is more of a diffident type
Getting responses about those projects isn't interesting. By now all the answers you will give will essentially be committed to rote memory, so the interviewer won't be seeing any actual thinking going on. It's also hard to gauge which contributions came from you, or from the people around you, based on your responses and your resume -- most people are happy to steal credit if they think it won't actually hurt anybody.
Absolutely. But the idea of a collective action problem is that sometimes it isn’t in anyone’s interests to provide the service by themselves.

This can interact badly with some of the (contingent) ways we’ve come to practice capitalism.

Ideally, a government can act as an internalizing force that allows economic actors to step out of local maxima – bad Nash equilibriums where everyone knows how to fix problems but gets punished by the market/shareholders for taking initiative to fix them.

It doesn’t have to be a government that solves a CAP – it can be an industry standards body, for example – but when they deal with things like individuals and libraries, we tend to call them governments.
DNA robot could kill cancer cells
US registrars do register foreign domains. If a US based registrar gives you a .de domain and the Feds ask your registrar to shut down your site I wouldn't be surprised if they did regardless of which registry controls the domain.

It's comforting to think that you're safe outside the US but you aren't. The US government is running a global empire. We may know the Internet is international but as far as the US is concerned they think they own it. When the US is no longer the power it is (and though it may seem prime to fall it is still a superpower) we won't be safe. All we can do is hope that whoever we register with is willing to put up a fight but not all countries are.

Besides that theres more than just the TLD to think about. It's the registrar, registry, your residence, and, if applicable, the location your company is registered. Unless you pay careful attention to all those details there will be a way to shut you down.
I, too, would love to see a list of questions that I should avoid asking in interviews. :)
As a marathon runner, I can confirm that even after running for 10 years, there are still many, many days where it just plain sucks. The real secret is that the hardest days, the ones when you're tired or sick or just not feeling it, are the ones that matter the most for your training program.
My outdated Computer Science degree: Was it a waste of time?
I hope that the author can take their thoughts to a wider audience than a comment on metafilter. This is a moving and thoughtful article that really needs to be published...
> half of Palo Alto and Mountain View is 1930s craftsman track houses.

Huh? Tract houses are a 1950s (and newer)s thing and Craftsman is a 1910-20s thing.

While PA does have old areas, San Jose, founded in the 1770s, has more. My house is 1902 and there are neighborhoods where that era dominates. Other neighborhoods are dominated by Victorians. Pick a decade, and there's a couple of neighborhoods.

PA's Eichlers (which are 50-70s) are nice if you like that sort of thing.
The currently front-paged Julia claims to have macros in a non-lisp. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3606380
THis is pretty neat. We've been waiting for a similar product for quite some time. Kudos
I could've done without the nationalistic jingoism at the end, but I love seeing a partnership that focuses on producing really cool, new stuff, rather than new ways to get people to click on ads.
I can't believe how many people here are averse to the idea of demonstrating coding ability in an interview.

Github doesn't reflect the amount of time that somebody put into writing that code. It doesn't reflect how long it took for them to iron out bugs from a poor initial implementation.

My experience is that correctness AND speed both count when a person is developing software. I'm sure you guys have worked with people who are really sharp, can talk the talk, but just flail around helplessly in an IDE, constantly solicit help from their neighbors, and burn up milestones doing very little. I want to make sure that those people don't get hired.

I also want to know that these people are going to use idioms that aren't wasteful, that their naming conventions are sane, that they are being thoughtful and methodical about their implementation rather than grafting edge cases onto edge cases.
The name "Osfoora" initially struck me as an encoding of "Twitter" with a substitution cipher ("o"s in the same places as "t"s, and the same length), but apparently it's Arabic for "Little bird".
Interesting points, although I respectfully disagree.

It's pretty silly to talk about economics if you don't believe in rational economic actors. A public list is a nice theory, but then you would still have people trying to get on the list for the minimum amount possible and hoping that others would donate more to be higher on the list of donors. And what happens when you have 60 local farmers and 40 corporation farms. Most corporations would be pretty hard to shame into paying if they could somehow get others to pay.

Point #2 goes both ways. If the project becomes a net benefit then the dissenters get the benefit and win even though their judgement was incorrect.

Point #1 also goes both ways and points towards the need for public goods. In reality the sick farmer will benefit the most from public services such as dams and health care being shared by all of society. By sharing the cost of the dam and healthcare across all of the farmers they can help prevent one of them going bankrupt due to a bad case of cancer.

It's true that the government isn't better than everyone else at knowing which dams should built, but that doesn't mean that society can't figure out that some projects are best funded by the entire society.

Anyway - interesting perspective on your part. I wish more people could talk about the pros and cons without getting downvoted for disagreeing with the majority.
When I quit my job last year to join a start-up the cost to continue my COBRA benefits would have been $700/month (and I'm a healthy guy in my 20s). Fortunately, I'm in MA with its private health insurance market, and I was able to find a plan for $200/month. I still had to go without health insurance at all for a month, though, to make myself become inelegible for COBRA and therefore eligible for the other plan.

"Not the cheapest thing in the world" is quite an understatement.
I'm not sure if it should be being technical vs. being pragmatic.

It's not a black or white issue like pregnancy.

It's possible to be pragmatically technical, and technically pragmatic.

It involves building discipline, from being burnt from over-engineering or trivializing matters. That's all us, no one else.
Remember, "computer science" is not the same as learning specific technologies. You may not learn the ins and outs a specific codec, but you should understand signal processing and maybe even some coding theory. (This isn't a rebuttal to the author, who clearly understands this.)

Also, at the risk of repeating myself, CS != IT.
Serious reply to an unserious question:

In the common law tradition, land owners' property rights extended literally "to the heavens" [0]. Overflying someone's property (in a balloon, say) was legally a trespass. But in the United States land-owners' air rights were progressively diminished by the courts in deference to practical considerations as civil aviation developed in the first half of the last century. In 1946, in a ruling that is the basis of current law, the Supreme Court decided that a land-owner "owns at least as much of the space above the ground as he can occupy or use in connection with the land," and invasions of that airspace "are in the same category as invasions of the surface." [1] Rights to the rest of the country's airspace appertain to the federal government.

So if your nemesis sends a drone into the space immediately over your property, you would likely have the same rights to respond as if he had sent a land-lubbing robot onto it. (Courts have ruled that a crane overhanging one's property constitutes a trespass, for instance.) Generally you would be able to seek an injunction against continued trespass and/or sue for damages under various torts (interference, nuisance, etc.). You probably would not have the right to shoot down the drone, unless perhaps you have reason to believe that the drone might do you serious harm and you are in a jurisdiction where some form of the Castle doctrine [2] applies.

Rights to airspace, and how they've changed over the years, are a great illustration of how property rights are not at all static but are continually rejiggered to fit the times. (Perhaps we can expect more tweaks as drones become common?) Michael Heller's book Gridlock Economy [3] has an interesting chapter on how rights to airspace have been adapted to allow for civil aviation. If you're super interested, there is at least one full-length book [4] (which I haven't read) on the history of the legal concept of airspace in the United States.

0. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuius_est_solum_eius_est_usque_...

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Causby

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_doctrine

3. http://www.amazon.com/Gridlock-Economy-Ownership-Markets-Inn...

4. http://www.amazon.com/Who-Owns-Sky-Struggle-Airspace/dp/0674...
Tips for entrepreneurs from a founder-turned-VC
Before reading that, I had never heard of Pinterest.

After reading that, I knew that something named Pinterest existed, but still had no idea what it was other than it was some kind of site.

The article would be clearer if after the first mention of Pinterest it tossed in a parenthetical or comma phrase comment saying what it is, and if the word Pinterest were a link to the site.
"I need to fill out this form. If you help me you can use the computer sooner". Said to the person behind you.
You hit the nail on the head which naive interpretations of libertarian isolationism often miss -- unchecked problems spread viz fire, pollution, garbage, disease outbreaks, crime and poverty.

As one's liver combats the effects of pollution in your bloodstream by filtering it, so, as a society, we have developed certain organs to combat the degrading effects of similar sorts of problems.
You're right. I'm gravely pessimistic about the UK in many areas but healthcare is an area I'm really happy with. Due to shortages at the time, I'm "private" for dentistry, and even private prices aren't onerous compared to those in the Americas.

I've paid £30 for a checkup, £400 for a root canal and crown, and £40 for an extraction before. Fillings are between £50-£150 depending on complexity. And then I hear of insured Americans who've paid $300+ for an extraction AFTER their insurance company paid the majority of the bill! :-)

We certainly have it good here. Unless you have cancer and want to get a radical new treatment, of course..
And more recently: "Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain." -- Homer Simpson
Last time I was in NYC, it was about $0.10/minute

And as we know, everyone lives in NYC, and nobody lives in places where there aren't any Kinko's and where the closest computer place is 50 miles from their home.

Oh, and certainly everyone has to buy their own PC, it's not like there are dozens of charities and individuals donating them to poor people.

And now sarcasm free, you can get a desktop on Craigslist for $50 and a Playstation for $30. That tells you absolutely nothing about whether a family is poor or not. Most electronics are simply too cheap compared to the unavoidable recurring bills.

Cable TV is a different thing, though. I have no idea what the plans around there are like.
Oh god, I just looked up the rent in mountain view and Manhattan and it's the same.
I think the Facebook profit per user (from the IPO prospectus) is only ~1$ and it seems likely that the potential users generated using your suggestion will be below average in terms of revenue generation.
The problem with this is that it limits the options of library writers. For example, I can't replace some function with a macro that does something smart, such as check format strings for printf at compile time, because that breaks all callers. It also fundamentally limits what you can build with macros, because you can't build language features that are basic -- they always appear tacked-on.
I'm still using the old 0.9.9 version because that's the last version that has the old Slow Motion = Deep Pitch sound effect when you slow down the music. I actually like my music to sound deeper when I slow it down. So I've refused to upgrade for years.
I've been working in this area as well, if you'd like to discuss it further... shoot me an email.
I'd like to believe that but the tone I got from the story is that we shouldn't be using our local libraries.

I'd hate the thought that I have checked out a book I could otherwise afford to buy and deprived the use to someone that could not. Or that I am using a computer to read Hackernews that an ex-convict needs to use to apply for a government program to keep his grandson alive.

Using the library deprives a slice of the pie to the very people that need it more than you. If you use the library and you can afford the alternative, then you are just as bad as the people that want to close it.
Now team up and go with the flow
And when you call it, you can call it Util: Naming things correctly in code
When I was in high school we made much use of library meeting rooms. Do they turn away student groups?
Can you recommend a foreign registrar? I'm with a US Based one that started out great, but has been acquired twice now, by increasingly less relevant sounding businesses.

I've been looking for a foreign based registrar, preferably in the EU or iceland, that has really good domain management tools (my biggest problems with registrars are twofold- first many of them seem like fly by night operations, and the second is that their tools for managing domains are often very poor.)

I have a large number of domains to manage.
Well the distinction is clear. Electronic control system? Wait. Onboard microprocessors like those sold by cypress? Wait..
And there's Dave Moon's PLOT (Programming Language for Old Timers).
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=537652

With the interesting critique that "objects" are better than s-expressions for representing sourcecode. (BTW, Moon did a lot of work on Lisp.)

I've too thought that s-expressions don't necessarily contain as much information as you'd want. Using Rich Hickey's word from "Simple Made Easy", maybe they're used to "complect" visual presentation and internal representation.

Then again, there's metadata...
What you do is co-opt a coffee stand to open shop right outside your front door, or in a secluded corner. That way people can get food and stay longer, but the library doesn't just turn into a coffee shop with a few books.

I've seen a few libraries with the just-outside-the-door model, and a Borders with a small Peet's upstairs. Both were well-executed.
Wait, facebook has stores? :P
And the worst thing is that there is nothing we can do about it. Stupid, ignorant, malignant people will win and those in the right will loose.

And people wonder why I am an atheist... To hell with this world.
Algorithm analysis, graph theory, information theory, higher order logic, number theory, and problem solving (et al) haven't changed much in a while. I realize in the article he points out specific technological stuff but a good CS program uses technology to drive home larger principles and ideas. I don't think CS degrees will be outdated any time soon.
>New video outputs for Windows 7, Android, iOS and OS/2.

OS/2 ? Why ?
Thanks for sharing. I'm having the same struggle and can really relate. I feel very lonely as a consultant trying to show a whole project how to be pragmatic and not only care about making better hashtables, but to actually care about the customer and the product as a whole. The funny thing is that some companies (generally younger and smaller ones) can be so very professional, while bigger ones house teams which are really stagnant and have a completely unrealistic view on software development. I suppose it's logical considering the "do or die" situation that most startups are in, but its sad to see these money black- holes thrive within large organisations.
Well, it's kind of hard. What they're not telling you is that the police actually called the highway squad to close off the road to your building with the sign "Closed due to illegal activity." They also don't tell you that it's technically legal and cheap to get the same highway squad to build a new road to the same place, and that it only takes a day or so of waiting time -- though you cannot be sure that the same highway squad won't close it down again, and so you pay some extra to some out-of-towner with a private lot between you and the highway, to build their own exit to your place.

Nuances like that are pretty specific to the cases that we're dealing with here.

Also there is the problem that it's totally a mistake and is silently reversed some days later -- yet nobody compensates you for the lost business or even apologizes for the horrible stain on your reputation. People instead blame you for choosing to open the mall on the west side of the town, which is more popular for businesses but the highway department on that side is well-known for handling these sorts of requests in a generally poor fashion, caving in under a minimum of pressure and not keeping you in the loop, and so forth.
I'm in the same boat. I used to think that Rand had legitimate points and that hey, a society like that could work.

Of course, I was fifteen at the time. Finding the intellectual discipline necessary to realize that Rand's philosophy was predicated on nonsense and that I had been wrong was important to my intellectual development.
Can you pay and get one? How much would that cost?
TL;DR we all have short attention spans now, libraries are in trouble.
One example of how unliberal our society has become today I think is "imagine libraries being invented today: media industry would scream piracy"! Those libraries that today experiment with e-books pay ridiculous prices per loan to do so. It's yet another angle where I think it's evident that the copyright lobby is losing perspective and society has lost the compromise struck once over copyright.
Throughout this case, I've felt like the charges are just a pretext. They wanted to get this guy for something, and they used this as a justification. I find it really hard to believe that someone in the Iranian Justice Department-equivalent was looking for porn sites and checking out the source code.

There must be something else going on here; this is just misdirection.
That's why I have vlc running on pause in the background right now. Only since 30 hours, but still.
Interesting. I'm rolling out and testing a tool that lets restaurants create and sell their own Groupon-like daily deals from their Facebook page (using their own Stripe acct).

Maybe it won't work ... we'll see
Every morning (or almost every morning) I get up at 5am for self study. Then finish up and go to work from 8-5. I find myself less motivated to work during the night after work. I've still been able to put in a few hours every other day. There has been 3 times where I snuck in some study during my lunch hour but I find that harder to 'get into'.

I have no kids so that might be different from your situation.

You can perform self study while still working full time hours, you just need to be motivated and find the time out of your day. You need to focus on the long term goal, which shouldn't simply be 'Finish AI lectures' but something potentially life altering, 'Finish AI lectures to better my chance at a job for Y/to create Z'.
I tried to, given the opportunity. I thought it time to level up yet again.
I love Depeche Mode 45 rpm in 33 rpm.
I wonder how long the libraries of America could operate on the money we spent for one week of the Iraq war.
> It's pretty silly to talk about economics if you don't believe in rational economic actors.

With respect: when you find rational economic actors in notable quantities, please do let the rest of us know. (My skepticism of the questionable assertions of libertarians is largely based on the conspicuous absence of such actors.)
Github doesn't even reflect whether somebody actually wrote that code themselves or merely copied it and tweaked some identifiers. It's not that I want to be this suspicious, but I find I have to now that the salaries have attracted so many losers and con artists to the industry.
inconsolata is a good alternative: http://levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html
That's a great name for it "economic integration center".
There's probably a business idea in there as well.
Kind of a franchised system, where a company create a saas app and you local socialpreneurs who stand/park near offices with laptops help people. You often see this in third world countires near government offices such as passport offices who help people for a small fee. The socialpreneurs could probably even be crowdfunded on kickstarter/indiegogo.
Never seen this around any of the true hackers I've met or worked with...
I hope divvy is not affected by this. They are using X11 API.
"how long is a piece of string"....great answer!!

Couldn't have said it better!!
Thanks - I downloaded everything he has ever done and wasn't sure where to start