skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"Designer" is underspecified.

Engineers are, in general, bad at two things:

- Designing a product that people want to use. By this I mean focusing the idea, cutting off the extra bits, refining the workflow, making it simple enough for people to understand, pivoting it slightly to solve a different need, and designing the basic methods of interaction.

- Making it look pretty.

"Designer" could mean either (or both! or neither!) of these tasks. The first is what a co-founder should be. The second is someone you hire.
Baume & mercier classima executives
Kiva.org's Annual Report
I can count on one hand the number of content sources I go to on a daily basis. This is one of them.
Ask HN: Tax issue with Foreign Partner  startup
We have 3 partners in our startup. 2 are US citizens and one is a Canadian citizen. The business is registered in the US. When we did our taxes the accountant failed to mention (he didn't know!) that for the foreign partner we have to pay a 35% tax.

so now the IRS is saying we owe them around $15000 which is roughly 30% of what that partner took as revenue for last year.

Do any of you have a similar issue? how do you get around this? what's the best legal way to go about this so we don't get hit with a 35% tax on his take?

One thing the partner has mentioned is that he would just sell his shares to us and work as a consultant for the company. He is our technical guy and needs the money so just wants to get out. Now the question is if our company is making around 140K a year, how much should his shares be worth if he owns 33.33%? would 40K be lowballing him?

thanks
I really enjoy Eli Bendersky's posts: http://eli.thegreenplace.net/
Well, just yesterday I thought to myself: I should compile a good list of blogs for reference, instead of the usual marketing blogs disguised as Compsi(most of them are really just trying to sell you something, not discuss real CS). Thanks for sharing.
Sensible answer, tnx.

Anyone play with the numbers? average web use vs. average AdWords profit vs. typical commute?
Immigrant entrepreneurs on the rise
I remember a lot more Perlisms in early Ruby.
Can your friend prove the Haskell and ML compilers he is using are 100% bug free as well? And the hardware it is running on? (both the compiler and the execution environment if they differ)
Thanks Chris-- means a ton!
Yeah, redirects to manifest entries makes the cache fail, but a 302 on a page the user visits (which is covered by a FALLBACK rule) is fine as long as it's to the same domain.

As for GOTCHA #9, I thought that was fixed in iOS4. But yeah also fails on Blackberry playbook and Andorid 3 & 4. Actually works on Android 2.3 (unless I'm mistaken), which isn't suprising as there are loads of regressions in the Android 3 browser.
Something is obviously wrong there, and as seen in many other posts in this thread, that is not the case for most people these days.
Opera-specific prefixes to WebKit? No.
WebKit-specific prefixes to Opera? Maybe yes.

http://dev.opera.com/articles/view/opera-mobile-emulator-exp...
so unless there has been a giant leap in a.i. we'll need a licence to access a site about scunthorpe?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scunthorpe_problem
This was, sadly, a problem long before piracy came along. Hollywood is a famously conservative industry.
I went the opposite direction, burnt out by startups and went to a BigCo.

I have never been at a startup where you could remotely set strict boundaries on work. You have to be available at all times to deal with whatever crisis is happening.

Moving to a BigCo, they treat me way better than a startup, and there is less day to day stress. I have weekends and my time off work really is "off" again.

I couldn't be happier with the switch. Do I miss things about working at a startup? Sure.. but being treated like a professional and having a life again is more important than the chance at glory, money or being "the" guy to fix this critical unsolvable problem.

Now I'm one of many many people solving problems no startup I've been in could dream of solving.

Just my experience, I'm sure many people have divergent experiences.

Edit:

I would also like to add a key driver to my happiness is that I'm in a position of change at the BigCo. It's not just endless meetings, and I have a great deal of autonomy, and am working on exciting things.

I had this in startups too... so I didn't trade usefulness for constant meetings.

Thought that was important to add, I'd feel differently if I didn't have a useful, interesting and rewarding job at a BigCo... which I could have never gotten without working in startups for the beginning of my career.
If I was sharing code and the response I got was "you should dot your i's and cross your t's" instead of "thanks for providing functional code for free" it would make me reconsider sharing more in the future.
The "Unauthorised Reproduction" of Treaties?
I heard it for v2, for 2.5, 3, and 3.5 and now of course whatever crazy version number Firefox is on now.

And each time Firefox has gotten more stable than the last. It's pretty snappy now and I can run it for days on end with no problems.

Also this patch hasn't been applied yet.
Unless you can a) point to numbers indicating that your claim is true, and more importantly b) justify how this isn't just a teeeeny tiiiiiiny drop in the bucket compared to defense spending, tax cuts and health care costs, your post is essentially irrelevant noise in the grander scheme of federal budget politics.

And come to think of it, even if food stamp spending is at an all time high, isn't that consistent with the idea that the economy is fucked and suddenly there are a lot more families dependent on food stamps because of the inability of the labor market to bring down unemployment?
it sounds like you need a break...perhaps you should take six months off and do some consulting, relax and then wait for the right opportunity.
We don't support Internet Explorer, and we're calling that a feature*

*An option few have, so don't be ignorant and categorically mimic our approach.

FTFY.
Every time I use Chrome, my Macbook Pro becomes slow and everything pages to disk. It's snappy when it starts, but in Chrome 20 or whatever crazy version number they're on now, there's still a lot of leaks. It's very frustrating.

But for some reason everyone has the impression that Chrome is both fast and uses less memory than Firefox, when the evidence points to the speed difference being anywhere from minimal to completely unnoticeable (I recently read a paper which suggested that Chrome's JIT optimizations have a negative effect on overall performance due to their expense). Furthermore, Firefox uses substantially less memory in general.

Extremely effective marketing on Google's part.
We do mobile web development, and we like to scale down images to the appropriate size for any given phone. I was hoping to be clever, and instead of redirecting every user to a hardcoded image path (/illustration.17.503x302.jpg), to just redirect them to /illustration/17 - which would generate the properly sized image, and use a redirect to display it.

Spent a few days on it. Worked great online. Then I discovered that putting /illustration/17 in the cache manifest made the entire thing fail, since it's a redirect.

C'est la days of wasted work.
There have been many, many polls over the years. the problem is that they are all self-selected, and so there is likely to be significant bias in any results, rendering conclusions impossible. There have also been various attempts at getting web sites running that allow users to register and say where they are, presumably so that meetings between the can be arranged. I've seen no success in this regard.

So no, I know of no surveys of HN users, and no sizeable, bias-free aggregate data.
Task: write a static analyzer to check primary control software for a new family of passenger airliners. [1]

Employer: Airbus.

Which language did the team choose for the analyzer? OCaml.

It is possible to write OCaml programs that are provably correct.

[0] "Caml language family" http://caml.inria.fr/

[1] "Success Stories" http://caml.inria.fr/about/successes.en.html

[2] "OCaml: a serious contender" http://caml.inria.fr/about/programming-contest.en.html

edit: clarity
Being willing and able to walk away from it all to become an early employee is actually even less common than people who do it all to become a lone entrepreneur, so don't sell that aspect short.

Getting institutionalized in a toxic work environment is a good thing to escape, but it's important to recognize that making the transition to a startup requires casting a lot of the baggage associated therewith overboard; some of it doesn't even feel like baggage.

Many startups (like mine) don't crack the whip and force you to work outside the bounds of reality or past your optimum productivity. Just gotta seek us out.
For anybody looking to overdose on CS topics, you might also enjoy:

http://www.reddit.com/r/compsci/

and

http://www.reddit.com/r/compscipapers

Also, http://machinelearning.reddit.com and http://semanticweb.reddit.com feature some high quality links and discussion that many HN'ers might find of interest.
Given that the US spends over half its budget on "defence" I really don't know where you are getting your ideas from.

Maybe some numbers and a source?
Is there any company that has the rewards you desire and has strict boundaries on work time?

I would get specific with the things you want, then you can analyse opportunities against those criteria.

The first company I worked at freaking sucked as well, it's soul destroying I agree, but you live and learn.

Lastly one of the biggest lessons someone pointed out to me is we teach other people how to treat us. If someone calls you at 10pm at night and asks you to do something and you do it. You have just confirmed to that person this is ok.
Point 1 needs expanding... Assuming that you only need to access MxStringBuffer via a pointer, you don't need to include it in the header. However, this is somewhat deceptive and doesn't self-document. I don't think there is much advantage to it at all.

Edit: In fact, you must need the declaration to access the internals.
> This says a lot about our culture.

That's a big leap. In Danish we just say "venture kapital". There are thousands upon thousands of direct loanwords like this. I wouldn't read anything deeper into it.
'It just didn't feel right'

If I had trusted this I would have dodged some 'bullets'

Likewise only by ignoring good advice have I learned to ignore bad...
Yes, go into academia. Do some research. That's the most comfortable job one can ever have. You have to like research though. Do masters in something you like. Just anything related to academia.
Upload an image using Objective C (iOS)
New RubyStack with RVM and DevKit support
Joint Strike Fighter (F-35) C++ Coding Standards
Solving the problem isn't the problem
Do you have permission to be taking these snapshots? The Newseum does something similar for print content and has agreements with all of the organizations so that they don't just Cease & Desist them out of existence.

http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/
What language was the primary control software written in?
I'm of the opinion that the obsession with these ORMs is, in some small part, the result of an abject fear of using SQL directly.

There's a certain incompatibility that prevents them being truly powerful without bending your schema to the will of the ORM, or without sacrificing a lot of the potential functionality SQL has to offer (and thus the readability of your code as you try to shoehorn these things in).

I suppose NoSQL solutions help fill that niche, though.
> We don't spend hours debugging obscure IE bugs

IE "bugs" are rarely obscure. Most "bugs" are actually as-intended behavior, which is documented on MSDN. Do your homework.

> Sensible browsers can do amazing things (canvas, SVG animations, CSS3, web-sockets, blazingly fast JS), and limiting usage to these lets Paydirt take full advantage of these new technologies.

As was mentioned earlier, graceful degradation renders this point moot. Web pages do not need to look and function the same in every browser.

> Originally, we feared that we'd receive a torrent of angry emails from avid IE users. In reality we've received exactly zero requests for IE support, angry or otherwise.

Ignorance begets ignorance. The lion's share of people that use IE aren't technically savvy. They're people like parents, uncles or even grandparents. Why expect them to know how to send complaints when they barely know how to use a web browser?

> We work harder when we're happier, and skipping the dirty work of IE makes us very happy.

Clearly you were never working hard to begin with. Supporting IE is much easier than Internet FUD makes it appear.

> Who knows – future versions of IE will probably be standards compliant, super fast and reasonably secure.

You mean like IE 9? A little-known fact is that IE 4-6 were the most innovative browsers of their time. `innerHTML`? IE; event listeners (`*tachEvent`)? IE; editable text content (`innerText`)? IE. Those are some pretty important additions from a platform that seems to get no respect.

Cut the browser elitism and get a clue.
I agree, but it was often marketed that way.
If you're still struggling with burnout and concerned your motivations and desires aren't going to line up with the company founder(s)' motivations, then listen to your gut! You know you the best, and you seem to be saying--via your post--you're unsure about jumping into the startup world at this point in time.

I understand where you're coming from, I've worked at BigCo. as well. If you want an opportunity that offers learning opportunities, task ownership, growth potential, and some policies of an established business (work/life balance, for instance), why don't you take a look at a small, growing "post-startup" company with <50 people? For purposes of clarification, post startup being defined as: Has at least one viable product or service being sold to and used by customers, established sources of revenue, corporate financial stability, been in existence for several years, and some level of defined business/HR practices. You get the benefits of working for a small company without the stresses of being in constant start up mode.

Such companies do exist, the industry they work in might not be glamorous and you will have to dig to find them, but if you find one you mesh well with, you'll learn alot. The most important part of this whole process is to ask questions about issues you care about and if you don't like the answer they give, ask a more penetrating follow up. Always make sure to ask to speak with someone you'd be working with, they'll have a trench level view of the system. And, at the end of the day, if you don't feel comfortable with the place and don't think you'd jive with their work environment, you don't have to take the gig. :)

tl,dr: Such places do exist, they just probably aren't startups, and you're going to have to dig to find 'em.
You talk of startups like they're only run by 20-something brogrammers. Find a small company that isn't, then work there. Find a company with a CEO / founder who's in their 30s, 40s, or 50s and has a family. There's tons out there. You'll find a better work/life balance and less foosball.

Don't be the first hire, be the 10th, after they've established themselves but are still small enough that it has that startup vibe. Don't expect stock options but the pay should be market rate by then.

At small companies, you ship. Or you go out of business. You also probably won't read about 99% of them on HN. Ignore HN (except for the who's hiring) and get to work building something awesome!
Sony Announces List Of Phones ready for ICS Update
RIP Adam "MCA" Yauch, Professor Emeritus, Sounds of Science
When will legal writing become a programming language?
Disclosure: I live with a benefits broker.

I'm interested in your friend's story. At 23, male, in VA I had absolutely no trouble buying an individual policy. I have some health issues, but nothing major, but I was able to secure a decent policy for just over 100$/month. MD should be even easier (if more expensive), considering there is no medical underwriting in MD.
Grow Up
Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated. I should do more proofreading and editing.

As for trying to run my own company, the truth is that it's the only thing I know I want. I went into programming because I wanted to build a product that could be a company, and I got the job at the startup because I thought it would be the type of experience that would help me get my company started.

Also, I've had a few interviews for developer position but have lacked the technical knowledge and skills needed for the jobs. At almost 30 I know that a purely technical position is not what I want or what I am qualified for.
It's been my experience that the aerospace industry distrust anything that's less than 30 years old. A lot of people have died from trying to introduce new technology, so they do kind of have a point. However, I think they have mostly learned the wrong lessons from the past.
Samsung Galaxy S3 vs HTC OneX vs iPhone 4S.
This appears to me to be an implementation of a gap buffer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gap_buffer

I actually just implemented one in Python on top of the array module, planning to use it in a text editor:

https://github.com/jasontbradshaw/gapbuffer
On Why I Am Not Buying RubyMotion
I like Ruby and the way it is easy to work with. I personally use ruby in many projects, mostly on the server side. I am not a lover of Xcode. Yet, RubyMotion is not for me.
Food stamp usage breaking historical pattern of going down when joblesness decreases (and at an all time high): http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-26/food-stamps-keep-go...

Two Charts Exposing America's Record Shadow Welfare State - Disability going up dramatically: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/two-charts-exposing-americas-r...

Oh, and I never said I support gigantic amounts of defense spending. I'm talking about dependence, not federal spending or budgeting. You've diverted what I said to another topic.
jstalin? Really?
New & Improved Mac App Interfaces for OSX
No, I'm talking much more recent.
How to tame a Javascript alert() and get it to do your bidding
Startups have their own pathologies, but I'm going to point you that if you think "perpetual crisis mode" is somehow a big-company problem, you're going to be disappointed. Especially at a startup that isn't profitable yet, you're essentially continually in "crisis" given that if you don't achieve profitability or sale, you're going to be out of work. It's a whole different grade of pressure from a big company where "crisis mode" rarely actually results in anyone losing their job.

Also, re this comment "The prevalence of social bubble-worthy companies whose value propositions are little more than "cat pictures" suggests an inflated sense of self-importance among the founders, and I can't expect to keep my level of enthusiasm in line with their irrational exuberance." ... I think you're over thinking this. There are silly startups because people (for one reason or another) are willing to invest in them, and generally those folks aren't the founders. Whatever startup you go to, you'd better believe in what they're doing, because you're going to be taking a huge financial risk and going through a lot of stress attempting to play out that belief.

If you don't believe in a startup, don't work there - but also don't denigrate whatever vision they're trying to implement, at least respect that they're trying.
Congrats on the TC mention. Please share the impact on your site as a result of the publicity.

Who came up with the headline?
Craigslist Helps Woman, Lori McInturff, Find Long Lost Brother, Matt Beaumont
Exactly, when you look at the list of biggest sales you realize that the list is pretty much the same for pirated movies.
Where did I support current or additional defense spending?

Frankly, it's just another welfare scheme. Defense spending is largely a waste.
FWIW, I'm definitely talking about 3G access and not open wifi spots.
I think your gut is right-on; the issues you describe aren't just endemic to BigCo, you'll find them anywhere and everywhere...but...if you have the financial risk tolerance to work at a startup, why not start your own company instead? These days, it's really easy to get going and self-fund with very little capital if you can save up living expenses & tighten the belt for a year or so.

Set goals and a drop-dead date (i.e., if I'm not making money within $65_percent_living_expenses_depleted, time to head back to work) and I suspect you'll be happily surprised by the outcome...
Inception wasn't that big a risk. Nolan had proved he could do ideas (Memento), he'd proved he could do big budget (two Batman films) and he was willing to stick major stars in it (including arguably the biggest star on the planet). They then backed that up with a $100m advertising budget.

In many ways it was an art house sci-fi film but in many others it did everything by the book for a big budget movie (proven track record, stars, special effects and action then hype it to the hilt).

You're right that the pattern is towards the more conservative but I'm not sure that Inception was a massively out there move.

Requiem for a Dream is a completely different beast and shows the other way you can do it even now. That was a cheap film - £5m or so. Adjust for inflation and you get maybe double that, which is still less than 5% of the budget of the Avengers.

That sort of film can be funded by smaller production companies, by larger studios (often as vanity / credibility projects - Schindler's List was seen that way when it was signed off though I doubt the studio will admit that now) and in a host of other ways. I can certainly see large studios funding things like that almost as part of an incubator model - giving new directors who seem promising a stage to show what they can do before they let them loose on something larger.
Well, why not return the proper content right away instead of redirecting? 'Course, you'd have to mark it with a private cache policy to prevent caching proxies from weirding things up.
For me it usually comes down to the 'is it worth it?' Avengers was worth it - you knew it was going to be great in 3D, explosions, cinema sound, Iron Man, etc. Whilst I begrudged paying £16 (~$26 US) for me and the girlfriend (before even thinking about drinks / popcorn) we were always going to see it in the cinema.

Compare that to a film that doesn't excite me (or most of the general population), and all of a sudden I'd rather wait for the movie on Netflix or whatever, because then £16 is better spent on a takeaway and watching from home.

I know films are different strokes for different folks, but the cinema is really overpriced if you're in the 'shall we / shan't we' category, so I can understand people just thinking - I'll pirate it and save the money (or spend it on dinner) and watch from the comfort of my home - the risk to reward is so much lower.

I'm not saying that's right - just with the cost as it is you need a great (or mass appeal) product to get bums on seats. Or you have lower the cost in cinemas and make going to the cinema the experience ("we can choose a film when we get there") rather than people just going to see something in particular.

EDIT: Regardless, great article on TF ;-)