skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I agree with you. This is a "fish out of water" story. Career aspirations are influenced by several factors; including socioeconomic status,race, parental expectation, parental occupations, and parental education level. I'm sure nearly all of those will negatively impact someone coming from the ghetto.

Neither one of my parents are athletes, and I don't know any professional athletes. And my parents have always valued academics over athletics. So while I'm sure I would be supported if I decided I wanted to become an athlete, it would not be the most convenient career path. I would have to find mentors myself, and start out with not a lot of significant support or career advice from the people in my life.

So if you look at it from a sociological perspective, he is definitely an outlier for even getting a phd. He personally experienced the differences in socioeconomic levels, so I can understand why he would be attracted to sociology.
"If you keep inexplicably being drawn to something when other people wouldn't be, you probably like it".

I totally agree with this one. If you do something that you love, it will just pull it out from you. Realize it or not, sometimes i see people living in denial because they can't believe that's their passions even though it's very apparent from other people's eyes.
But jailbreaking makes the phone work properly...
Oh? I just saw it in one of the fellow Australian's blog and think it is quite interesting to see what HNers got to say. =)
> Simply put, it works by storing a conventional lossy MP3 track that standard players can play, alongside a 'lossless' version -- both audio streams are contained in one single MP3 file. It's similar to how hybrid SACDs work.

That will create some huge files, but I guess in the interest of compatibility it might be worth it. But I'd much rather see a free lossless codec take off instead.
And that they have nine kids by nine different mothers. (That is not hyperbole, that is an example from the article.) I'm trying to summon up sympathy but failing miserably.
http://i.gizmodo.com/5182795/installerapp-for-mac-installs-j...

Costs $7
Differential equations is probably not the form of mathematics he was referring to.

Algorithms, linear algebra, basic logic and discrete math are all used commonly in many CS jobs, especially by those who have a deep understanding of the systems they're working on.
A $7 application which may break at any time, leaving you (and your non-approved applications) stranded.
Renting is about as much fun as using a PC at your local library. If your hacker-nature extends beyond computers, consider home ownership.

The people getting burned right now bought houses above value, perhaps because they wanted to live in a specific area where and when home prices were inflated. If you can't buy at or below the true value of the house, either rent until the housing market deflates or buy somewhere else..
It took more than one pair of hands to create that. First there was the CMS, with a layout engine written in tables in 2003. Then there were all the developers in between who never did anything about it, because it more or less worked -- and if you look at all the other sites using that CMS ( http://www.denverpost.com/portlet/layout/html/sitemap/mng_si... ) you'll see most of them don't have the same horrific time to render problem. Then there were the users of that CMS, who also use tables to lay out the pages. I think the list goes on.
We're talking about the user interface to computational machines. There is no abstract "right" or "wrong" and no context-insensitive "practical" or "impractical."

He wanted to do a course about robots, and according to him, the interface to the robots was Python, which was otherwise an adequate language.

If you want to make a case to the contrary, it should be rooted in the specifics of the situation.
> Libraries aren't the issue

You say libraries aren't the issue, but the discussion is about a blog pst that said: "And why Python, then? Well, said Sussman, it probably just had a library already implemented for the robotics interface, that was all."

I'm sure your experience is grounded in a general reality. But the post you disagreed with was about a specific case: i.e. the one described in the blog post.
Monster Employment Index Up
Including Hacker Jobs I'm sure...
Poll: How many servers is your startup running on?
A shared hosting account(dreamhost/hostgator etc)
Multiple VPS.
Amazon Web Services/Mosso/Other Cloud Computing service
1 dedicated server
2 dedicated servers
3-5 dedicated servers
6-10 dedicated servers
11-20 dedicated servers
21-50 dedicated servers
51-100 dedicated servers
101-999 dedicated servers
1000+ dedicated servers
A bunch of phonegap apps have gotten in to the app store: http://phonegap.com/projects

Maybe that person just got unlucky and had a bad app tester.
Slicehost. 1 slice for production DB, 1 slice for web, and 1 slice for testing.
I don't think I can do clean html/css. What I learn is from playing around with other people's source codes.
A few years ago, I took over maintenance of a Windows program that depended upon a Java component wrapped in COM. With Sun and Microsoft at war, that seemed a bit risky to me.

I asked: "why is this Java component in the Windows client app?" The answer was that the server was also implemented in Java and the SOAP libraries were compatible, whereas Microsoft's and Java's were not (at that time).

I nearly choked: they chose a "standard" like SOAP and then re-standardized on a particular library (client and server components of it) "for compatibility."

So to bring this digression back to relevance, I'll say this: if you already have Java code around, it will be easiest to talk to it from Java. And since Java is the new COBOL, there is a bunch of Java floating around. (but if you need a Java client to talk to a Java server using a "standard" protocol then something is seriously awry somewhere)
"“Slicehost” and “slice” are trademarks of Slicehost, LLC" -- Slicehost.com website footer.

I run off of VPS accounts hosted with various VPS providers (vpsfarm and linode.)
Shared hosting for now. I have Bluehost but we will be getting 1 dedicated server soon.
Should he consider studying part-time with a part-time job to sustain his life and interests? Or will he lose his scholarship for doing part-time?

I have learned from life that you don't need to rush as long as you know where you're heading and you are patient enough to work towards that goal. And there is no point to compare if you seriously know your strengths and passion. It is because you will succeed regardless of other people. :-)
I'm a sophomore at MIT and took 6.01 last term.

I think a lot of people don't understand the goals of this course. 6.01 is not meant to be a crash-course in writing code. (6.005, know as "java deathlab" is for that.) Likewise, it's not designed to reveal the deep inner workings of computers. Instead, it's mean to be an introduction in how to /think/ with computers. It's conceptually more high-level, and often focuses on the "why" rather than the "what." We learn how to approach problems and look at the best ways to solve them using logic and code.

Python is visually clear, has great documentation, is well maintained, and has an active community of developers. I don't understand the outrage in switching. I didn't learn to drive in an obscure European sportscar; I learned in my mom's minivan. Python is like my mom's minivan, but with better documentation.

I don't think the caliber of CS grads coming out of MIT in the next few years will change because they know Python, although it'd be an interesting thing to look at.

#

Here's the course website, if you'd like to look closer: http://mit.edu/6.01/mercurial/spring09/www/index.html
I don't want my tax dollars being wasted on reddit or twitter.
Looks cool and I think possibly before wearable tech proliferates we'll use our iPhone type devices to do the same thing. iPhone would just need that intelligent infrared built in.

Interesting tech with endless useful possibilities!
This has been debunked. It actually jailbreaks your phone.

http://i.engadget.com/2009/03/24/debunk-jailbroken-apps-on-a...
Ask HN: Hacking ability related to teaching language?
Do you think a person's programming ability is related to the language(s) they learned to code in? If so, what languages are superior and why?
JSON is much more popular than s-expressions, and not just accidentally. Explicit, compact syntax for both lists and key-value pairs is The Right Thing in a language like this.

{
"x": [
{
"y": "a",
"z": 23,
"q": [
54,
32,
45
]
}
],
"r": 43
}
Ask HN: How do you reach women 18-25?
We're currently building apps that might be interesting for this demographic group. What (online) locations would you recommend us to go and promote to that age group?

Facebook? Ads or posting links in Groups?
MySpace? How/Where?
Boards? Which ones?
Social News Sites? - Which ones?
Blogs?
Other Ideas?
Evaluating renewable energy startups
If you follow the thread to the end, you'll see that the guy renamed some variables, resubmitted and got accepted.

PhoneGap is open source. There is no "signature" that they can use to know that you incorporated code from it. They would have to disavow their own APIs in order to stop people from using it.
3 slices. 1 for the main site, 1 for the blogs (largely separate just so that failures can't cost me money), 1 for development projects.
Anyone still remember VRML? The attempt to bring 3D graphics to web browsers in 1997? Netscape browsers supported VRML and you could actually view 3D models in it, written in XML.
I am not sure what your purpose with this poll, but I don't think the results are indicative of anything. It depends what stage they are in.
We are a startup, bootstrapping with our own money, and went private beta about 2 weeks back, so we are on one VPS, where db, 2 RoR apps, transcoding, blog, mail, queueing server, storage, everything on it. Its far from real scenario, where (hopefully) some day we'll be serving thousands, if not millions, of users.
Speaking of TED was anyone from HN at TEDxUSC?
That was my favorite part of the interview too. It sort of flips around the issue of something being "hard". I.E. how can a language be built to make hard problems easier, as opposed to how to use a language to solve a hard problem.
Wonder how it compares with Quake for Pocket PC which I used to play about 4 years ago. Tricky to reproduce all the controls without many buttons but hopefully they'll come up with something. The accelerometer might come in handy.
I couldn't agree more.

Laws & rules are worthless unless enforced equally and absolutely. Once the cops start deciding /when/ to enforce a law, a country is no better than a lawless one.

This is just the contractual parallel to that situation.

Is this part of the contract new or has it been in there all along. I'll be the first to admit to clicking the "Accept" button having only read blog articles about the terms, but not the terms themselves.
Techcrunch attacking apple? why i am not surprised?
Ask HN: Where should I move to maximize my career potential?
Hi everyone,

I'm coming to a turning point in my life. I'll be graduating from university soon, and I'm looking forward to moving to a more hacker friendly city with brighter prospects. My question to the community here is... if you were in my position, which city would you choose?

Some background information:
I'm a bit of a laggard in graduating, being that I'm 25. I spent two years abroad in Japan, and upon entering university, switched majors more than once. However, my time has been well spent, working on various software projects.

I live near Boulder right now, but I'm originally from Detroit. While the Boulder/Denver area is certainly in a better position than Detroit in terms of tech related jobs, I feel that there are better cities out there.

Here are some cities and locations I'm considering:

* Chicago

* New York

* SF Bay Area

* Seattle

* Boston

* Houston/Austin

From a lifestyle and interests standpoint, any of these cities are acceptable. However, my gut tells me that the SF Bay Area is where I should really be. Some of my tech proficiencies are a bit esoteric (read: Erlang). So I think that given the large concentration of tech related companies in the SF area, the probability of me finding a suitable job there would be greater than that in a different city. I could be totally wrong though.

What do you think?

Thanks for the help.
In the sciences 20kish per nine months. Presumably a few thousand lower in the humanities, but I'm not sure. It's actually not that bad. The area is expensive and I can't afford a car, but it's enough to live comfortably.
Perhaps there should be a return policy attached to every app.

It seems that a fair argument can be made for both cases: some apps are clearly $1 disposable toys, while others are $50 business apps. It seems entirely appropriate to have a return policy for the latter category, but not the former.
Oh my god.

RSS + VRML

An idea whose time has come.
WebCore and JavaScriptCore are primarily written in C++ and all code within them is virally licensed under LGPL. Apple did not change the license. Some portions of WebCore and JavaScriptCore if compiled independently would be licensed under BSD. WebKit is a thin shell over the above-mentioned two. On OSX WebKit's primarily implemented in Obj. C. On Windows it's primarily implemented in COM/C++. WebKit if compiled independently would have a BSD license but when compiled with WebCore and JavaScriptCore has an LGPL license virally.
Lawsuit: Best Buy has "anti-price matching policy"
Are they just wrapping web apps inside a WebKit window with a special javascript library?

It'd be interesting to see a bake-off between the OtherLanguage->iPhoneApp frameworks. The one by 380 North looks particularly interesting, though I'm not quite sure why you'd ditch Objective-C for a language that looks almost exactly like it (until they build in converters for other platforms..)
If you're serious about targeting this demographic then Hacker News might not be the best place to get your answer. If you're spending significant amount of time and resources in this demographic you should already know this information about them. If you don't know where they go for information, or what sites would be good promoting partners, how can you be sure that your application is interesting to this demographic?

If however, your application has a different target demographic and you simply wish to test the waters with this group then sites such as TMZ (and other gossip related rags) is your best bet, IMHO.
If you want to work with the web, SF Bay Area hands down. + its the shortest move for you
I think this is a very cool service but hesitated to sign-up because of a couple of questions:
If I don't use my 15 pictures do I lose them, or do they carry over to the next month?
Can I change plans? If so how often?
Is the sending date fixed for some reason? i.e. could you just send as soon as I send you 15 pictures?

I was about to pull the trigger on buying but didn't because there was no FAQ
OnLive could threaten XBox, PS3 and Wii
i.e. if you've got a botnet, you can still syn flood a host, and simply not respond with an ack.

In such an event all of the bots on the botnet have valid IPs and are representing themselves correctly, it's just that they're not behaving as they should with regard to the TCP handshake cycle.

So i gather that your suggestion would cut down on ip spoofing syn floods (but maybe not, i don't really know the full story :) ), but that wouldn't stop botnets.
If I don't stop watching videos like this I won't be able to enjoy Star Trek.
how to profile / debug your iPhone app on a (simulated) slow network connection
Oh no Last.fm sounds like music industry is playing Dr. Kevorkian, yet again!

I hope Last.fm can survive this stupidity!
I use dedicated servers located at colo4dallas.com and cloud computing with Amazon Web Services.
I find http://videolectures.net/
better than academicearth because it also has interesting sessions and talks from conferences, where all the really cutting edge stuff is.
Stop Whining About Facebook's Redesign
Sales taxes are also regressive, because expenses are a much higher percentage of income for those that make less.

This is also true for payroll taxes.
Dumb question; How is this better than Paypal?
I'm a PhD student at MIT and arrived to my office on Monday to find the International Lisp Conference had set up shop downstairs.

Let me just tell you.. I've never seen so many bearded people in one place!
Wikileaks.de domain owner raided
I'm in about my 12th hour with fieldrunners. I wish (for productivity's sake) I could throw it away.
http://paulgraham.com/startuphubs.html

Yes, I think the SF Bay Area is the credited response here.
I've lived and worked at startups in both NYC and SF. It isn't even a contest. The amount of startup activity, the character of the companies (ie are the founders left in charge or do you have to have a Harvard MBA to pass muster with the VCs), the ecosystem surrounding the companies, cheaper housing, the ability to move between companies (you mostly can't enforce non-competes in CA) -- come to SF. Oh, and the weather.

Paul Graham will give you the same answer in a much more detailed form -- go read it.
Validation - not a fixed cost. Some can take several real man-hours to complete, and additional costs of access to third-party databases, translation costs. I see it possible to make a loss on some certs purely in validation.

Oh, so if validation is the big factor then why do you make me pay my hundred bucks year after year? Shouldn't it go down to, say, $10 from the second year onwards?

Also I have certified quite a few domains for the same company. Thawte strangely didn't ask us to send n copies of the same paperwork - but still happily charged the full fee for each cert.

Legal costs - insurance premiums for something this specialised are high

Again. Cry me a river. I have no idea how many customers VeriSign and the ilk have but the figure must be in the millions. Assuming an average profit per customer, per year of only $50 (which is probably a low shot) I'm not so worried about your insurance fees.

CA chaining - as per other comments, you're look at potentially $50K

Wow. Assuming one million customers this is almost half a day's worth of revenue! Indeed, you guys are suffering over there...

Plus, it keeps me gainfully employed :)

I'm not attacking you personally. I just hate being ripped off like that. And it is a rip-off, no matter how you spin it.
Ammunition for the Paul Wellstone conspiracy theorists? http://www.alternet.org/story/14399/
As for the level of vetting, a lot depends on who you bought it from, and what type of cert

Which is part of the absurdity here. The CA's make us pay ridiculous fee's for the validation but can't even protect us from other CA's issuing certs for the same domain.
Every programmer I know who has learned Lisp (that is, some Lisp dialect) thinks that was very helpful for learning how to think better about approaching programs. It's especially the functional approach to programming that my son misses when, for example, he has to write code for a numerical computing class in MatLab rather than in Haskell, his current favorite language.
In one of the high schools I went to, there were 3 classes they wouldn't devote a full term to, so we rotated through them - art, shop and home education. They called it serendipity, which I thought was kind of appropriate, mashing up disciplines is a big part of it.
Why can't we keep the indents and drop the parens?
I am not sure what your purpose with this poll, but I don't think the results are indicative of anything.

The poll results, being voluntary response convenience sample results, would of course tell us nothing reliable about what most start-ups, or the typical start-up, does for hosting its services.

http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=194473&tsta...

But the poll gets us talking, and the forced choice among the responses gets me thinking about what other choices I have. And your response about what issues a person has to think about when making these choices is a very helpful response to the poll.
Porn with a Purpose
I'm from Chicago (and still consider it home), but without question, California is the place to be. I moved west 10 years ago and it's been a fun ride.
We have been able to produce neutrons from fusion reactions for a while now, this is nothing new. The real breakthrough will be when someone finds a way to make a net positive energy reaction (where you produce more than you consume). Another problem with this article is that its anemic on details, especially that tidbit at the bottom.
since nobody realistically checks who issued a certificate before trusting a website with one, paying more for stricter verification nets you nothing.

The sad part is that the VeriSign's of this world put a lot of money into into brainwashing the masses for the next addressbar-color. We have green bars, yellow bars, blue bars... Expect the pink-unicorn-bar any day now (IE9?).

So yes, currently the users are conditioned to look for the padlock only and you can get away with it in most cases. But I wouldn't be surprised if the browser-makers soon get strongarmed into displaying those "unworthy" certs in a less appealing way - crackled padlock, perhaps?

The net result will be more fancy address bar colors and even less understanding for the average user whether the site he's looking at is "secure" by any means or not.

This whole tragedy is one of the rare cases where I'd be glad to see legislation to step in. Free market is just not working here, on so many levels.
The products we build are quite different. Someone invented GUIs to take up developer's time. Instead of simple procedural programs that start at the top and run to the bottom (with some loops and conditions) we have event driven, multi-window, complex applications.
No, ingenuity isn't restricted to a single language. Besides after you have your eyes opened to new experiences in other languages your first language doesn't matter that much. When you first pick up a new language sure you drag your old programming habits into it but if you make the effort\spend the time in the new language you will pickup its habits after a while.
mailto:carlnichols75@yahoo.com
Eating Out in Chester
Looking for a romantic evening for two?Grabbing a bite between shops?Celebrating your birthday in style?The bonus of Chester is that eating out is exactly what you want it to be, where you want it to be and when you want it to be - all depending on your occasion and your mood.
Why are people upmodding this? The intent of the OP was clear to me: schools are supposed to be a meritocracy, and if his friend was much more qualified and got rejected, why is this guy there?
Sorry, despite my many posts in this thread already I can't resist to vent about the green-bar stunt, too.

So, one day the CAs discovered that their regular certification procedure is broken. That the "normal" certs are effectively unfit for their stated purpose.

Am I the only one who would have expected them to go back, properly re-validate their certs and fix the problem that way? Or at least perform this procedure at expiry time?

I mean, I understand that inventing new levels of "secure" (with fancy colors even) is a much more effective way to sell more certs and crank up the prices. But heck, can you think of a comparable stunt in any other industry?

Just imagine a watch-maker who has a problem with water-proofing to invent an "even more water-proof" label instead of fixing their mishap. It would rain tears and lawyers...
if everything else is equal, SF bay area. if you have other considerations that do have sway beyond brazen careerism, then that might change things. or it might not.
Lets go back further:

Between 1933 and 1939, federal expenditure tripled, and Roosevelt's critics charged that he was turning America into a socialist state.
> someone who hasn't committed a line of code to any public repository in ages.

well, to be fair, he throws code into gpsd at times. not that gpsd is a great codebase.