skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> Wow, scrolling down from that article was a hilarious reminder how much more cogent HN comments tend to be than any other comments on the interwebs. "Grrr! USPTO is mean to Apple! How dare they! I'm mad!" Etc.

Really? It seems like the entire internet is anti-patents, even apple fans.
Kickfolio Brings iOS Applications To The Browser
They're executable abstractions, thus they are explicit. And no, that's not what I'm advocating at all. There is no assumption in 3 * 5; * is a defined function, if you need to know how it works you can look. What's important is that it's computable. Notation often isn't, too many implicit assumptions that rely on a trained eye to execute correctly.
This is good, because Google is one of the few companies which could afford the missiles.
VentureBeat: Ownshelf launches a cloud-based network for eBook sharing
Finally! There's one game I've been waiting for on the iPad for ages. The burning question: is it a literal port or did they speed up some of the awfully slow "go fetch a broomstick from the other side of the map at walking speed" quests that are so common at the beginning of the game?
Sure, but it's less expensive to store and maintain a single boolean value than a potentially-huge list. That's sort of the point of any(), sum(), or any other builtin that takes an iterable. This reminds me of reduce functions in MapReduce: if they return variable-sized objects they'll blow up.

As others suggest I'm probably all wet about savings vs. a simple loop because of instantiation etc. And I don't think I'd ever use expressions like these merely for their side effects. I do expect that at a certain problem size the cumulative costs of building the list in a list comp will swamp the generator instantiation costs of gen exps consumed by iterator-friendly functions.
Economic forces always push ad use towards "annoying."
Maybe Microsoft will buy T-Mobile and let Skype loose on it.
One should be able to post a silly post every 100 seemingly-relevant posts.

Also the top post in this article is just someone calling this a "Christmas present"; at least you made me chuckle.
Yup, the sample code even has a simple filter for this:

http://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/EventHa...

The accelerometer + gyroscope combination is refered to as "sensor fusion algorithms" in that document, btw
Irony: feedback on the feedback is unwelcome.
This probably didn't prompt the proposal (given that this speech was in June 2011), but at the time certainly contributed to the loss of TEDx credibility: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtNRHo_AMfM

> Conventional medicine failed to help him, but an introduction to nutrition and alternative health care completely changed the quality of his life and health forever. A homeopathic doctor, Lindsey opened Home Nutrition Clinic in Santa Monica, California in 1985.
Neat!

(Windows has built-in shortcuts to screenshot to clipboard too: PrtScr grabs the whole screen, Alt+PrtScr grabs just the active window)
I totally agree with you that it is not good law.

I think it is good policing, though. Seattle has a pretty great police department, especially for a city so big.

Now, the cops deciding how and what laws to enforce doesn't always work out well, but as a practical matter that is part of what police departments have to do in every city, and Seattle's police seem to do it particularly well.
It's the app equivalent of a "cannonball run" - a race to see who can get from point A to point B as fast as possible. Unless you have some way to ensure participants obey traffic regulations (and I don't think anything exists at present), if you base winning on minimizing time you are arguably inducing people to break rules, since that's almost mandatory to win.

There's still some rallies around that run on public streets, but usually winning is based on _matching_ some target time, rather than having the shortest time overall.
Bitcoin provides a number of great features, but anonymity is not one of them.
Kids and the Future of Creativity
Friends For Minecraft - Fun with Friends Just Got Easier
They don't ask you about fajitas because those come standard on the "Fajita Burrito".
Same! But apparently it's a thing. I'm totally just asking for "fajitas" now.

Also, tried the Chipotle app but the app doesn't let you choose between white and brown rice :-/

Edit: but you can add special instructions at the end of the order.
This is great for starting out with node, any recommendations on a more advanced node book?
Or you could learn to cook.
stop acting like you know abut Dropbox's engineering difficulties.
I am not a programmer by trade... but I'm a little confused as to why you would say Go can replace java but not c++? Is it just a speed thing?
I'm such a geek for these old isometric games. If you are too, I'd recommend checking out Project Eternity (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternit...) and Wasteland 2 (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2) on KickStarter.

Both were very successful in raising funds, so I'm hoping we see a renaissance of the genre and some new IP.
Do they, really? Would that not result in less revenue as people move to your less-annoying competition?
Dan Benjamin on Running the Best Podcast Network on The Web
Depending on the interest rate of your educational loans, it can be better to keep them around. Save your money in the bank and budget for loan payments.

Sometimes it is useful to have that extra cushion in the bank instead of saving a small percentage in interest.
GoDaddy's has a "Bulk Edit" feature and an "Import/Export" feature that may do what you're looking for, though I haven't used either myself.
Not specific to these instructions but because of (potential) caching, when you need to verify dns it normally pays to use a third party server (or two) such as these instead of your local machine:

http://www.zoneedit.com/lookup.html

http://www.kloth.net/services/dig.php

http://www.zonecut.net/dns/
Never seen anyone use an android workstation as their main work system though. I have an android phone and a PC. I spend ~8-10 hours on the PC and probably < 1 hour on the phone.

Not saying it won't happen , but it seems a little premature to call "victory" just yet.
> When you try to write the algorithm, you're going to be reminded of its meaning, fast.

Exactly, and forced to replace implicit assumptions with explicit instructions to make it work.
OK, that makes more sense. I don't use Dropbox and didn't realize they had a desktop GUI client.
As long as there are no true mobile flatrates at a reasonable price (1 Gigabyte with reasonable bandwidth a month? Today I downloaded an update for an android game that was > 1.5 Gigabyte) and as long as mobile networks are overburdened all the time, any ad on a mobile device that is not just text is irresponsible.
Love the hacks - going to definitely use the 50-50 meat next time I'm there. Unfortunately the bean hack does me no good since I don't like beans. Fajitas all the way.

I prefer QDoba to Chipotle but only marginally. Chipotle has the better quacamole, so it's definitely worth the upcharge.
Maybe it's just me, but having a bunch of strangers staring at me on the landing page was a pretty poor user experience.
Why do you need to hire the developer of Python in order to use it at google? Or do you mean they got him to better use python or to have close insight about a core language?
It's interesting how the bubble burst has influenced the professionals I've worked with in larger companies. The ones holding high positions were at peak points during this bubble.
Speechless. This is definitely one of the best decisions that Dropbox will probably ever make. Not only will this mean that Dropbox can hire other equally great Python developers, but as a company you can't get any more humbling than, "hey we hired the guy who wrote the programming language this site is based on and makes its money from"

Guido is an exceptional engineer as well, not just a guy who knows Python really well. The dude is seriously one of the rare gems in the community.
You'll be glad to know that our marketing is shifting away from that, though I think it'll be an awkward transition. The newest ad is about how Frank's Pizza is sexy because he can now take online orders thanks to GoDaddy. It's a little weird.
This is the first thing that's made me want an ipad for anything more than marking up web development work.
$180 of Chipotle gift cards is worth significantly less than $180. So the gift card ROI is debatable.
It looks like it requires iOS 6, so I won't be able to play it on my 1st gen iPad. Sad times!
It turns out its easier to "sell" lots of copies of something for free. Microsoft actually sold those > 1 billion copies of windows. Google still makes almost nothing on android. This article was absurdly over the top IMO.
It would be entirely the other way round if Larry Page announced a startup dedicated to giving children flu-jabs.
I'm wondering if nefarious advance knowledge of this office action was a cause for the drop in Apple's stock as shown here:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=AAPL+Basic+Chart&t=1m
Nor on my iPad 3, which I have deliberately not 'upgraded'... oh well, I'll wait for BG2.
Not aware of any prohibition against Python. The rule as I understand it is (not surprisingly) "use whichever of the supported languages best fits the goals and requirements of your project". If that's Python (and you can support your reasoning), use it.
This vision of the world feels like it was dreamed up by a science fiction author. I understand Android is growing. But, I can not help but think he is answering the wrong question. Honestly, I do not know what the right question is. It reads like a narrow view of the market, global economy, and fads. I look at my very young cousins. They are growing up with iPads and iPhones not Google products. (observations)
People seem to be pretty critical of this post, but can anyone give me a good reason why math notation shouldn't have some concept of scope? I can't see any downsides. It would certainly help me puzzle out my professor's notes when he has used f to mean three different things in as many lines.
43 Websites of Israel HaCked bY Teamr00t
Free Palestine
The developers were seeing out of memory issues on the iPad 1, thus the requirement for iOS 6. I believe there is still some hope they can get it to run, but ultimately, that didn't hold up the release:

https://twitter.com/TrentOster/status/276748438882902016
I would love to see a gameplay video on the iPad. The controls could be very tough...
Honestly, I have moved on from Chipotle and upgraded to Freebirds. Crushes Chipotle.
> They have weekly pamphlets that they put up in bathroom stalls to educate employees

There's something slightly creepy about that... oO;
A lot of things written in Python. It's hardly an incentive enough to pluck someone from Google.
If you like these, you should check out the RPGs by Spiderweb Software. They're available for iPad as well as Mac and PC:

http://www.spiderwebsoftware.com/products.html
i more or less lost respect for TED a couple years ago
Math researcher here. I agree with the basic idea of this article, but not the specifics.

So: notation is a wonderful thing. If someone can improve on it, then great, but modern math notation is what makes math doable. It's true that there is poor notation and poorly used notation; these things need to be fixed.

Regardless, I agree that math is hard to read. I read a lot of math. It's hard. Part of this is because it involves abstract, complicated stuff that often must be understood exactly. But part is because we are not very good at writing it. Or perhaps we don't put as much effort into making it readable as we should.

Being someone who knows a fair amount about programming (or so I like to think) and also writes math research papers, I've found that some of the concepts used to manage complexity in software are also applicable to math.

In particular, I must agree about scope. I've made an effort in my recent writing to be careful about this issue. Another helpful idea involves how to write good comments in code. Too many mathematical proofs perform some operation without telling the reader why or giving any kind of overview. There is nothing wrong with saying, "Here's what we're going to do," and then doing it, and then saying, "Here's what we just did."
Tried, for years, to get my lawyer friends to explain to me the legal system(s) in terms of Nomic rules, but they find it difficult to abstract law.
Sure, I'm not suggesting that was the only factor. Only that, I bet it played a part in tipping the scales? :)

Also, while there are plenty of shops using Python, Dropbox is certainly one of the ones seeing an appreciable amount of success, no?
And I said that I would narrow my definition of malicious a little more so I basically agree although I should have mentioned informed consent and whether it is opt in or out.
1. I came into this thread expecting to find a math expert of some sort defending their "programming language". Thank you for not letting me down!

2. It depends on context. The people writing and manipulating mathematical formulae LOVE the short hand I'm sure... but for consumers of the information perhaps it's less than ideal.
The current set up has your search queries going to a server Canonical runs, which does anonymised searching of Amazon. I appreciate that's not that much better, but it does mean it won't affect your Amazon suggestions.
Is Harvard Really a Tax-Free Hedge Fund?
Mathematics is only hard to read if it has been written badly or if you do not understand all the concepts involved.

Source: I am a Mathematics student.
I can understand not supporting iOS 4.x. Memory management got a whole lot less annoying with ARC (automatic reference counting) in iOS 5.x.

But there are a lot of people, myself included, who won't upgrade our devices to iOS 6 because we want a Maps product that works and, you know, has public transit directions. Until that changes I'm staying on iOS 5.

It's a shame. I'd buy this in a heartbeat. I love to support actual games (social "games" not being games by my definition), which seem to be becoming increasingly rare.
I didn't. I nuked my personal stuff, and then worked hard to put the machine in a state that my replacements would find useful to reproduce my processes.
Here's the first half of the tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pOqwUoJniPQ

I feel like the controls are pretty decent. It's pretty much a straight port from the PC, so the menus are the same, etc. The hitbox for small items can be a bit of an issue, but that's my only complaint so far.

You may want to browse through the TouchArcade forums for more feedback and videos:

http://forums.toucharcade.com/showthread.php?t=169358
Interesting concept, I might try it.
Technically I believe any company that is less than 2 years old is a startup, they have a limited operating history. VC funded startups that are supposed to grow hyper fast but lots of statistics we see also count every new small business.
Reminds me of Lisp...
I think you make a really good point about the power of mathematical notation and conventions.

However, I completely agree with the article.

Do mathematical formulas have to use Greek letters rather than useful variable names like "distance" or "speed"?

Does C's syntax actually allow you to express something you can't in Python? Or is it more terse for historical reasons? (And never mind that it's a good idea to use descriptive variables and function names in either language!)

I think the keyboard-driven vs GUI tool analogy is very apt. vi is very powerful. Would the average user like it much if we made vi the interface for all text forms in browsers? I think sometimes it's desirable to present a friendlier form of a thing. (You obviously agree regarding web programming.)

So I think the complaint is this: why is math always expressed in the tersest form? Is it really necessary?

Why does math have to be restricted to the lifers!?
Just typed out a long story about playing Nomic once...and then deleted it.

I think I should get an upvote or two for sparing all of you the details. ;-)
Perhaps you are greatly overestimating how much "a lot of people" actually are.
At this point, I really wish all down voters had to give their reasons.

I give a perfectly fine example of something that would fit in the guidelines as a warning that you should probably discuss somewhere else and get down voted. Meanwhile Symmetry does two insulting posts which give the same point I already gave as if I was on the other side and I get down voted responding. I am well and truly at a loss.
You are the second person on HN to describe me as hostile. I am not. Feverish and crabby perhaps, but not aimed at you. Sorry.

I have gotten off 8 or 9 prescription drugs. I strongly disagree with measuring quality of life by how doped to the gills you can get on someone else's dime. And the measure you dismiss as "blunt" -- longevity -- has its good points as a rule of thumb measure. Stuff that kills usually isn't exactly good for your quality of life prior to killing you.

The drug in question is designed to help a tiny portion of the CF population which is an "orphan disease" to begin with. It is deadly and involves a lot of suffering, so it is a "dread disease". I think using a new drug that has the potential to help a mere 1500 Americans as your example because of the strong emotions associated with "saving" someone from something so awful amounts to a bullshit example.

Also, I worked for an American insurance company for five years. My diagnosis automatically disqualified me from some of their policies. So I suspect the reason American companies claim to cover this drug is because American rules are designed such that people with CF have trouble getting coverage at all. I was an industry insider for five years. I know how they make their money. Spending jillions on a small number of very needy people is not how they line their shareholder's pockets.

Most likely, they won't pay for it in England in part because that would involve actually paying that ridiculously high annual bill because I believe they have some form of national coverage. The American companies may list it as a covered medication, then do everything in their power to not cover any of the mere 1500 Americans with the alleles it is supposed to help. Plus the initial reports were spindoctored to boost company stock. There is a certain amount of hype surrounding this drug. It is generally a bad example to give as some kind of "proof" that Americans have it better.

I also have multiple relatives who have or have had cancer. For brevity's sake, suffice it to say I am not as impressed as you are with the American approach to treating it.
His Google+ post says they're "parting as the best of friends", so it doesn't sound like he's unhappy with Google. Maybe he just feels like a change?
How Corruption Is Strangling U.S. Innovation
A college friend named Zach Barth was incredibly into this sort of thing, a game where the rules and units were made up as the game progressed. He tried quite a few times to make such a game, usually called infini-something such as Infinitron[1] and later Infinarena. The [1] link talks a lot about the challenges that came up trying to make such a game and I think its a neat read if you're into this sort of thing.

It's very understandable why these sort of games don't take off very often, as Z. writes in the [1] link on What Went Wrong:

> Unfortunately, the things that made the Infinifranchise great are the same things that made them alienating and, at times, ridiculous. It’s very hard to be creative on demand, which can lead to games that are draining and not terribly spectacular if the players aren’t in the groove. As a result, the games tended to have a limited audience and be overly complicated, although this is most definitely also a consequence of me.

--------------------

Zach is also the guy who made Infiniminer[2], the sandbox mining game, and if it looks like a precursor to Minecraft, that's because it was.

I haven't talked to him in a while but Zach these days mostly makes indie engineering puzzle games, you should really check them out[3].

[1] http://thesiteformerlyknownas.zachtronicsindustries.com/?p=6...

[2] http://thesiteformerlyknownas.zachtronicsindustries.com/?p=7...

[3] http://www.zachtronicsindustries.com/
Linked to from the Nomic article was this:

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

which I find fascinating.
The Government Cannot Be Sued For Violating Its Own Wiretapping Laws
Mornington Crescent.
Go, yes. Javascript, I'm not so sure: http://code.google.com/p/dart/
How does Go replace Python for web development? Is there a thriving web framework and module ecosystem for Go, like Django/Rails are for Python/Ruby?
The Black Marble
The original example was poor. Engineering and Physics are closely related fields.
"Linux Mint as a Debian based version of their distro,"

Didn't realize that, I'd always seen it as Ubuntu-derived. Thanks.
Liquid Robotics’ Papa Mau Wave Glider Covers 9,000 Miles across the Pacific
I meant it literally.
I never posted before but this article made me so mad I had to jump into the comments!

I am so glad to find everyone pointing out all the reasons the article is wrong, actually there is a highly relevant link on math.stackexchange about this particular issue:

http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/24241/why-do-mathema...
Things we have done right so far
> But are mathematicians too embroiled in some misguided quest for Huffman coding?

I think that yes, they are: for centuries, mathematics has been written by hand. It's much easier to write 'f' than 'force'. on a blackboard. Moreover, when writing on paper, with ink that you have to make or buy, with a pen that wears out as you write with it, it makes sense that early mathematicians would embrace a compressed notation. Scribes even did it, so it shouldn't surprise us that mathematicians would.

The compression is based on domain knowledge, and this is only problematic for people who are not intimately familiar with the domain at hand. Physics is similar. Decoding the rocket equation is only possible when you know what m1 and m0 are, or ve, and many properties, constants, and even operations are symbolized with a single greek letter. (Gradients, for example)

This is very powerful, because (as others have mentioned) it allows you to easily write more-complex things, and often times you (as a mathematician or physicist) prefer to think at a higher level of abstraction. It also makes it tremendously arcane for those of us who don't even know the names of the greek letters, let alone have a sound backing in that particular field of math or physics.
I've known about all these by simple observation and going to Chipotle a lot.

I'm not sure I feel comfortable using the word 'hacks'. I see it more like 'more bang for your buck'.

However, a lot of people choose Chipotle for the health factor, which these 'hacks' break.

I am a runner and do weight training a few times a week. I am partial to having a 'clean diet'. Each body requires or needs different diets. Thus, I modify his suggestions to the following for myself:

(1) Get the burrito bowl. You don't need the added flour or wheat wrap, as it adds a few hundred calories you don't really need.

(2) Don't get double beans. Portion control. What's more, don't get pinto, they're the equivalent of 'white bread' or 'flour' wraps. Remember they're cooked with bacon.

Easy on the sauces. For a leaner meal, I skip on the cheese, but I get my protein through other means throughout the day, as well. Watch out for the protein-to-fat ratio.

You do well to get the rest (add fajitas, 50/50 meats and guac [good fat]!).
The author has some preconceived notion of how math is supposed to be read, deduces that math is hard to read.

See: How to avoid "compliation errors" when reading math. https://profiles.google.com/114134834346472219368/buzz/GPQDR...
Forgot to say we are open to any constructive (or destructive) feedback. If you have any feedback please feel free to post it here!
Why is char[] preferred over String for passwords?