skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Don't be an asshole

Agreed but on the page, it looks a bit of out of place with the other points.

My mind fills in the details as "don't act like you are the programmer who's a hundred times more productive than the others, even if it seems like you are".

But that's a big question. Apple Computer arguably expects its programmers to all be the x100 producers and was managed by someone who it more or less was admitted to be an asshole (a genius, inspiration, unique asshole but still an asshole).

So it think the greatness and asshole-dom question is not settled for people even if I would embrace it.
Toshiba Cancels Windows RT Devices on Delay in Getting Parts
Maybe dead in the US, where I live (Morocco), daily deals websites are growing like weed, and many users "discovered" online payment through them, IMO, they're not going anywhere.
It's certainly true that the "minimal summary" of the features of systemd vs. sysvinit (or Busybox, or a BSD init script, which is even simpler) is hugely skewed against systemd. Understanding how systemd's process tracking works requires understanding cgroups, for example. Things that used to be one liners in a script ("mount hugetlbfs -t hugetlbfs /dev/hugepages") suddenly become first class "mount" objects with status. Systemd introduces a bunch of new jargon and new tools.

But at the same time systemd really does do much more than a classic "launch some stuff and call wait()" style init. And that stuff is pretty nice -- in a systemd world, no one needs to worry about writing a "daemon" any more. Any program that sits in a loop writing to standard output can be started, stopped and syslog'd.

And making this work isn't bad at all. You configure systemd with straightforward .ini file syntax and clear fields (e.g. "ExecStart=/path/to/my/program").

Basically it's complicated in structure (and the task of porting a whole distro to it strikes me as pretty scary) but simple in interface, and that's pretty much the right place to be. Most "systemd is too hard!" rants don't survive long past the initial implementation phase.
In fact, the syntax of s-expressions is the key to Lisp's power. The form of program and data are the same, which allows the powerful macro facility and the functions read and eval.

I've wondered for years why people latch onto the parenthesis thing. When I learned lisp for a class, I never gave it a second's thought. To me it feels like people are looking for a handy reason to put Lisp down, perhaps either because they don't understand it or because they do understand it and they are jealous of some of the features of Lisp.
You admit that today in common usage and implementation in various languages, "delegation" means what the GoF described it as. Language is defined by usage, so that is the current definition.

You are insisting at this point that we should only use the first definition ever proposed for the word in software at this point. That would be redefining it. It would also create confusion.

I do not dispute that GoF already redefined the word. That's historical fact. However what they defined it as is a concept that is better software design than the thing defined in the historical definition that you want us to go back to. Thus what they are calling delegation is not just different, but better.

To reduce jargon, it is good that we try to limit how many words get special meanings in software. And it is therefore good to only give that treatment to particularly useful concepts. Which means to me that what GoF defined "delegation" to be is more deserving of having its own word than the original concept.

Hopefully that clarifies why I call your attempt to go back to the original definition "redefinition", and why principles of good software design make the GoF definition more compelling.
> Of the people who are AT ALL interested in learning about programming, I have encountered exactly zero of them who aren't already excited about it.

How is this tautology at all helpful? Of course the people who are excited about programming are excited about it. For every one of those, how many view computers as entertaining magic boxes? Most non-programmers I know regard programming as a kind of impenetrable dark art. There is such a monumental disconnect between "Hello World" and "I can do whatever I want!" that most people just assume that they'll never be able to achieve any meaningful result. Being able to create something visually interesting that you can share with your friends is a big motivator, and I think you're too quick to deride it.

Also, I don't get why you view this as something "barely worth learning." The "real world" doesn't run on Turbo Pascal anymore, and Javascript, like it or not, is a big part of modern programming. Do you really think it will be so difficult to translate skills acquired generating interesting games into skills that can be used in a modern web shop?

Anyway, you're welcome to your opinion, I just personally don't understand it. Luckily for people that share your opinion, there are plenty of traditional CS resources all over the web and elsewhere to learn programming in the "real world." For those whose "real world" consists of playing games and wondering how they work, this might just be the thing that motivates them to look under the hood.
It is frustratingly difficult to get biomedical scientists to openly discuss the work in their field. PLoS tried to have discussion sections to papers, and Nature has tried various approaches as well. Neither have worked. I looked-up my favorite topic (a popular one) on Plasmyd, and found 20 papers, none of which had a single comment associated with it.

It's honestly a vast waste of intellectual potential, I wish I knew the solution!
All very valid questions, but don't judge until you try it... I graduated from one of the schools they are testing this with and submitted my name. Just got an email soliciting questions from me about how it works, and they offered to set up a phone call to have a discussion about the ins and outs (which I've taken them up on). You can be sure I'll be asking your questions and more, but let's wait and see exactly what the deal is. I'll let you guys know how it turns out.
http://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI should be required reading for every designer, developer, and stakeholder who is involved in building any kind of product on the web.
I wonder if you would really be able to identify a startup that was really tackling a "Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Idea."

At the point that they are coming out of YC they would probably be tackling one small, seemingly non-consequential part of a larger problem.

Maybe they would explicitly state 'we are going to eventually revolutionize X' - but my bet would be they would fly under the radar for a while.
I have to disagree. All of the games you just mentioned are casual titles with little to no complexity. Action and platformer titles in particular require more precise controls. As a long time gamer on both consoles and handhelds, I can tell you that there's a definite improvement when I can physically feel the buttons and build muscle memory.

Imagine as a developer having to switch to a keyboard with no tactile response. A completely button-less piece of glass with virtual keys on it. Your productivity would no doubt diminish greatly.

In addition, a large install base of these kinds of devices would make it easier and more profitable for studios to port their games over to the iOS platform, giving us even more game choices in the app store.
The Truth Is Many Scientific Studies Can't Be Trusted
For anything that nice I'd probably do a Wordpress currently, but it will be interesting to see how this compares.
Our design feelings were that the camera/look controls (right analog stick) generally need to be tighter than movement (left d-pad). Almost every standard controller places buttons on the same side as the camera/look analog stick. We would, though, still like to provide analog input for directions, too.
Hack a standing desk from Amazon ... by buying a drafting table: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dap...
Yes, they do have some strengths like predictable performance and easy administration but they still have to improve on things like:
- weak data model
- difficult query API
- poor single node performance
- small community/weak adoption
Scalr introduces 2-factor auth as a premium feature
If you agree with munificent, then perhaps you could soften your title and introduction to say that many people confuse what the GoF meant, not that the GoF are wrong.
Time is someone's most precious resource. Suggesting that they should waste it because "nothing they requested is of any consequence" is inaccurate.

Your incredibly condescending tone doesn't help either. You could have just said the 3rd paragraph and your response would have been just as useful.
Personally I don't create any to stay on top of. Business wise use an excel spreadsheet or similar.
Many people agree on the words proposed by GoF, but not on the details of the meaning, and this is a frequent source of misunderstandings and useless debates. Over the years I have gone from fan of the book to considering it a net negative force in software engineering, a failed attempt that many people still believe in. (The other failure of the book is in educating people to blindly believe that applying a given pattern is always a good solution because, hey, it's a pattern)

If you look at the details of the patterns as examples rather than definitions, and treat on the book as a general description of common situations, problems and approaches, then all is well.
The parentheses may seem like a disaster at first, but one can quickly learn to use and abuse them.

Also, there is great support from lisp-friendly editors to handle parentheses management (e.g. paredit for emacs http://emacswiki.org/emacs/ParEdit).
I see it as something like the National Institute of Standards and Technology (http://www.nist.gov/index.html).

I don't think most academic labs will pay for this. However, I can see it as being something that VC investors might like to see the next time someone presents with a wonder drug.
Ok, well, you there in Marocco are having exactly the same situation like we had in US about 2 years ago. And most likely, due to the fact it cost more money to keep the DD business running than it generates profits (todays groupon stock performance, anyone? -27%), you will see the downslide very soon, following the US. We too thought DD aint going anywhere...
Maptia – Exploring the world through the eyes of others
Oh man, my first university used Univers (and not just Univers, the condensed version) for all their signage and handouts as well.

I almost feel like with a font like Univers the similarities between letters could saturate out your pattern recognition quite easily (imagine looking at these same stems and bowls all day long), and that perhaps serifs (or at very least, differing lettershapes) add a much-needed bit of stochastic resonance to the whole process. Maybe the uniformity of modernist typefaces isn't all it cracked up to be. </idle speculation>

An exaggerated example of what I'm talking about: http://i.imgur.com/Ypwtm.png

(I wish I had a Discrete Fourier Transform plugin for Photoshop so I could try it with these two examples)
So was the JoyBoard.

Do you know what the JoyBoard's designers went on to create, what they were trying to build all along?

The freaking Amiga.

Actually, that was a toy too. But it was a phenomenally cool toy that was vastly more powerful than a lot of people's work computers.
Most likely using "keepalive": http://nginx.org/r/keepalive
You are a badass, good job!
Aside from breaking the escaping convention, slashes in code give the page an unfortunate swirly quality. It seems like line other parallel or perpendicular can make the line of the page look it is at a different angle.
Bank Simple Innovations #3 and #4: Debit Card Mailer
So with #1, that's the Boston's right. But it's not what the C&D is about, so we should set that aside. This is about #2.

With regards to #2, it's clearly reaching. You can make an argument that they're "measuring the distance with the iPhone", but clearly they're measuring it with GPS. The iPhone is not a measuring device. If they used the accelerometer in the iPhone to measure distance, it might be a fair point.

If they don't want GPS used in commercial transactions it's within the city's power to ban it. But that's what they're doing: banning the use of GPS in commercial transactions. Not banning Uber's iPhone app.

I don't think the city is willing to do that, since this is really about screwing with Uber using whatever regulation they can find and not about fairly enforcing the rules.
This could be an amazing investment depending on who your mentor is. If Warren Buffett invested $100k in me[1] for 10% (valuing me at $1m) of my future income I would do it for the sole fact that I would have a direct line to the Warren Bat Cave, that would be priceless. If Joe Schmoe wanted to invest in me I wouldn't do it. The question is essentially will the mentor help me increase my lifetime earnings (and lifetime happiness) more then the cost of the mentorship. I could just ask for $1m put it in a index fund, get my 7% annual income of $70k and give my investor $7,000/year and be set for life. The flip side is many mentors/advisors will not invest in your startup but provide their network and mentorship while maybe only asking for 0.25% of your startup, not lifetime earnings.

I would like to see this list of mentors, but for now I wouldn't go through upstart.com...

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnPoCsTHIYg
Yeah I rewatched the sections with the guy playing it and it seemed the hand positions weren't comfortable. But hard to tell with the shots in the video and without getting one's hands on it.
The foundation
Doesn't mean they aren't fun and popular games. I don't doubt that there are things buttons can do that touchscreens can't - I like my Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect just as much as the next person - but they're different animals, ones that take full advantage of big screens, complex controllers, and comparatively long play sessions.

A lot of iPhone gaming takes place in short sessions, and I'm not about to keep snapping a coco on and off just for five minutes at a time.

In any case, I'd prefer it if studios didn't bother porting their games over to iOS. They're optimised for consoles, not for handhelds, and even with a millions cocos out there, the economics probably wouldn't be that attractive to most big devs when set alongside the hundreds of millions of people who don't have them.
For sure. And it's funny coming from Obvious. Twitter's traditionally one of the best examples of real-world cool URIs.

Hopefully it's just a prototype thing, but you'd think they'd want even these early URLs to be shared with love.
Regulatory capture is when you make it more difficult to work in your industry on purpose through regulation, in order to discourage competition.

For example, McDonald's could push for a law that would require anyone who wants to run a chain restaurant to post a $100 million bond. Sure, they have to put up the bond too, but they have plenty of money to do so. The burden would probably stop many new chains from ever getting started.

It is similar to rent seeking though.
third! :P
You ping the service by email/phone/SMS, not by logging in. But you have a point, you'd have to keep pinging it for the rest of your life and it would fire anyway when you die :)
So make the destination address optional while booking, and if given you'll get an exact price ahead of time. This doesn't exactly conflict with demand pricing either - Uber just has to be a bit smarter ahead of time.

The fundamental problem is "you don't know what you're going to pay", and I'm not surprised they're being called out for that under consumer protection laws. The point of taxi regulation is to prevent people from being cheated on the spot. Uber is in a position to do even better than what regulations are capable of, with market pricing, and they should aim for that.
The L512 is 15 inches and has the same resolution.
Frictionless sharing, the Netflix amendment, and the Hulu litigation
Not quite the same but Amazons daily deals are still often good.
You should take a look at Railscasts.

Given what you're looking to do:
Geocoding gem: http://railscasts.com/episodes/273-geocoder
Devise gem: http://railscasts.com/episodes/209-devise-revised

The former uses the google maps api to handle geocoding but you could use it as well to figure out the distance between two points. You could also use the great circle formula yourself if you know the lat and long of both points (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great-circle_distance).

The latter is one of his pro episodes but if you don't mind watching semi-dated material and picking up the rest from docs you could watch the original episode.

I find the railscasts to be extremely helpful when it comes to understanding both what's available to the rails community (lots of gem coverage) and unique ways to deal with common problems.
They already knew he had an "unauthorized meter". The sting was wholly unnecessary to learn anything.

It was purely the legal justification to slap on the C&D; they needed evidence in the court-admissible sense. But the idea that they "noticed" anything in the process is silly. It was all scripted from minute 1.
I don't know about the jail thing, but this is a big deal.

There's a mountain of sociological literature on the ideological nature of all maps. If you have time, it's worth checking out. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/41144136?uid=3739560&#...
> Now I'm interested to know which languages exist that don't rely heavily on backslashes.

I posit that line continuations don't count, at least not in the "rely heavily" category.

Then I am not sure how popular J and Icon are. So let' keep those away. Is the backlash really used that often in Prolog? I wouldn't say "heavily". So that leaves us with:

* Perl
* Haskell
* Tex

I think that's a more realistic "rely heavily" category.
The list of (pilot) mentors/backers is there. They're not Joe schmoes.

Investments seem to be in the 25-50k range, nowhere near 1M.

"Return" is some percentage of future income for next 10 years, not lifetime.
> Systemd loses the huge transitivity of shell scripting, and puts you in the position of needing to acquire a novel skill at the one time you least need to be learning and most need to be applying: when your systems won't boot straight:

What about those that can't debug when a shell script breaks?

Your answer is going to be that they have no business administering a server where a shell script is an integral part of the system working.

Conversely, someone that can't debug when a system can't start that uses systemd has no business administering a server where systemd is an integral part of the system working. If your system uses systemd, then you're going to need to learn a new tool. Get used to it.
"Twitter's traditionally one of the best examples of real-world cool URIs."

Do you mind expanding on this? I thought hashbangs were a rape and pillage of URI convention.
Here are some reasons that come to mind when I ask myself, "why are daily deals businesses unsustainable?"

* Large marketing overhead
* Large direct salesforce overhead
* Daily deal hunters don't become regular customers
* Merchants take a loss on the deals

Merchants take a loss on the deals because Groupon takes a 50% cut after convincing them to reduce prices. Groupon takes a 50% cut partly because they have large "sales costs" in creating each deal.

Direct sales and outbound marketing was initially required because it was a new concept that required educating the market. Now that everyone and their grandma knows about Groupon, I wonder if companies can adopt a new model without such heavy marketing and sales overhead, and try to make the numbers work so that both the merchant and the daily deal company makes a profit on each "deal".

I think the market has established that using daily deals as a "loss leader" for merchants to gain more repeat customers generally does not work because of the clientele the deals attract. But what if the Groupon2.0 business structures the deal such that the deal is offered on a high-margin product that the merchant already carries, takes a smaller cut (say, 20-30%), and offers a "lower margins but higher volume" deal to the merchants?

If savvy merchants evolve such that they proactively seek such companies, or if Groupon2.0 style companies can use low cost electronic marketing methods, something more sustainable may be attainable.
What you use depends on where you use it. Inside of a match, \1 refers to what was matched by the first parens. After the match $1 refers to what was matched. In a substitution, \1 is special cased to mean $1, but that is frowned on.

Thus: /\b(\w+)\W+\1\b/ means "match repeated word".

And: /\b(\w+)\W+$1\b/ means "match word preceeded by the word matched on your last match.

Moving on: s/Hello (\w+)/Goodbye $!/ means "Replace Hello followed by a word with Goodbye followed by the same word."

And finally: s/Hello (\w+)/Goodbye \1/ is special cased to mean the same thing, but is frowned upon.
> by and large Clojure basically obsoletes Ruby and Python

Care to qualify how Clojure obsoletes Ruby or Python? Both of those languages have great tools (rails, for example) that those in the Clojure communities have great respect for. As a Clojure and Ruby/Rails programmer, I share your enthusiasm for Clojure and lisp, but I can't see Clojure pushing either Ruby or Python out of the water any time soon.
oops http://getjoypad.com/ instead.
> a new world where a lot of the content is provided more-or-less for free, but we still need reliable places to go for news

That's a wonderful sentiment, one that I'd love to see come true. But until someone can make it happen, we must consider the possibility that it cannot happen.

I mean, just take a look at The Verge. They have an enormous amount of accurate and in-depth tech coverage, both text- and video-based. They are far and away better than just random bloggers posting gadget reviews - they have actual lawyers explaining the Samsung v. Apple trial, and they create wonderful video features[0] on niche communities that we'd never know about otherwise. Even though their articles and videos are plastered with ads, I just don't understand how they can become profitable, even in the long run. In any case, they had to hire the best of the best in the online tech journalism industry to build the site they have today.

0: http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/8/3177438/cyborg-america-bioh...
> What about those that can't debug when a shell script breaks?

Are they more able to debug when a systemd setup breaks? If not, it seems like a moot point to bring up. They're hosed either way.

Although I do have to say, I like the systemd model. The use of sockets to do process activation and thus doing away with almost all of the need for dependency management is pretty cool. I haven't used it enough to pass judgement, but the concept has the potential to be a good deal simpler than the init hackery we have now.
How The American University Was Killed, in Five Easy Steps
I would add:

(iii) It's unclear Uber is actually in violation of the law. Boston may have sent a C&D, but this hasn't been tried in court yet and I would not be surprised if Uber was to win.
If you found this interesting and have not tried Clojure yet, you should really give it a go. Learning Clojure teaches a lot about programming just because it is very well-designed.
"incredibly condescending tone"

doesn't exactly jive with someone who prefaces what they say with "I'm going to say this in the nicest way possible."

"doesn't help either"

Feel free to have a vendetta if you want and downvote my comments if you feel appropriate based on what you personally feel is condescending. I've already made my money (the old fashioned way by the way) and don't really desire to have to sugar coat my reactions based upon my years of experience.