skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
When you learn a natural language, you can speak with a native speaker even if you make a lot of mistakes; he'll still understand you (and maybe try to help you improve).

Computer languages "feedback" (error messages, etc.) is poor. It's interesting: you can find hundreds of blog posts about syntax, garbage collections, string libraries or whatever but nobody seems to care about error/warning messages. It's a thing that hasn't evolved since a long time.
You could be famous now ;-)

But I was thinking the same thing: what if, instead of becoming a pro at "guitar hero", that kid had invested the time to learn playing an actual guitar?

Then again, there are millions of guitarists, but only a few pro guitar hero players...
Overcoming Bias:  Lost Purposes
How corporations and societies lose track of what they're doing.
Some progress has been made:

http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/blerner/papers/seminal_pl...
my feeling is that jef raskin had a whole bunch of good ideas in his life, most of which failed to reach fruition due to the fact that he was irascible and far too difficult to work with. a shame, really.
I'd call it an anti-feature at the browser API level. Code to launch a new browser window is nonessential and it was included as a feature long before anyone thought about whether it was a good idea for the product as a whole.

Today, popup windows are an accepted feature, though still insanely overused. The only time I have ever found popups at all valuable is for instruction annotations during stateful sessions where winding up in a situation where the 'back' button is needed is undesireable. I would still usually prefer to simply open a new tab.

Ok: one other time, this web application at my last company had a subtle bug where putting two consecutive slashes in the URL of the login page caused weird things to happen. Their answer was to launch the app in a popup window with the correct URL.

I think if it had been always impossible to launch popup windows by default, then websites would be generally better designed.
Didn't he try to mislead people by saying he started the Macintosh project?

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

"He later hired his former student Bill Atkinson from UCSD to work at Apple and began the Macintosh project in 1979. He also recruited Andy Hertzfeld and Burrell Smith from the Apple Service Department. The machine he envisioned was very different from the Macintosh that was eventually released and had much more in common with PDAs than modern GUI-based machines. The machine was similar in power to the Apple II and included a small 9-inch black-and-white character display built into a small case with a floppy disk. A number of basic applications were built into the machine, selectable by pressing function keys. The machine also included logic that would understand user intentions and switch programs on the fly. For instance, if the user simply started typing it would switch into editor mode, and if they typed numbers it would switch to calculator mode. In many cases these switches would be largely invisible to the user."
The World's 10 Most Famous Uncracked Codes
What was it like to work on a Lisp Machine?
>When you learn a natural language, you can speak with a native speaker even if you make a lot of mistakes; he'll still understand you...

This is simply not true, especially the last part. This comes from experience, on both ends.
You compared writing small programs in python with taking years to learn a natural language. I pointed out that the two are not equivalent undertakings. It's not a fair comparison.

Natural languages are not 'easier' or 'harder' than programming languages, they're just different kinds of skills. There's lots of evidence for this: some people have aptitude for one, some for the other.
Searching for Type-Error Messages
For a quick overview, check out the slides:

http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/blerner/papers/seminal_pl...
There are at least two very difficult things about natural languages: messy illogical syntax and enormous vocabulary.

For a simple language such as python, you can learn most of the syntax very quickly. Vocabulary (e.g., libraries) takes a bit longer but still requires much less memorization. And you can always create things from scratch.
It's well thought out article. One key insight that Benjamin Hill offers is that anti-features are often driven by business model requirements. If a competitor "un-implements them" (enabling the feature) it's hard for the original firm to follow without changing business model. This applies beyond open source vs. proprietary competition.
It depends on if you're bringing it in house, or renting a server someplace.

I've found that if you are renting a dedicated server, you can get insane bandwidth deals, but if you try to bring it in-house, or even colo, you get burned. The dedicated hosts aren't expecting that you actually use the allocated bandwidth- This is why they'll give you 1000GB for the standard cost, but charge $100 extra to bring it to 1200GB.. If you need to bump it, it shows you're actually using it.
>Natural language is easier because I can learn in a minute to say "Hello world" in a language like German.

If that's all you can say in German, it's like _copying_ a "Hello world" program from someone else. That takes two seconds.
Python totally has more than one way to do it. People sometimes simplify the python approach as 'the opposite of the perl approach', but they're not exactly opposites.

The philosophy that makes python distinct is "There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it." Emphasize the word 'obvious' if you don't see why this isn't the same as "There is only one way to do it".

Python has many redundant mechanisms: def/lambda, list.append/list.extend, sys.exit/SystemExit, x[y]/getattr(x,y), etc. But even though multiple mechanisms exist, the hope is that there will be a single obvious way to do whatever you want at the moment. Want to add one element to a list? list.append. Want to add another sequence to a list? list.extend. (The point here is that list.extend would be technically sufficient for both cases, but it makes the one-element case clunkier and less obvious.)

A language where there was actually only one way to get a particular result might be interesting, but it wouldn't look like python.
Alexa's Make Believe Internet
Hate to break it to you, but you are just like all the others: every programmer thinks he is the only good programmer and all the others are crap.
I've seen whole projects fail over that discussion.

Maybe it really should be used as an interview question. There is no point in mixing same-liners and new-liners together.

Only remedy might be to use a programming language without curly braces.
It's sad that I've seen like four of these, including the pop'n music one. There are also some impressive videos on YouTube for Brain Age.
But once the data is there, you can re-arrange it however you want for your own purposes.
Everyscape - Web tours of the insides of stores
How I recovered my hard drive by double-boiling it
I totally agree. Its a lost art. The horror of the error messages seems to be proportional to the square of the pretty ness of the language.

I find scheme error messages much friendly the common lisp (which some would say bucks the trend a bit, but they are both lisp I guess).

Also, dynamic typing, and type inference can result in massive bum-steer errors. Its boring staticaly typed languages that tend to be more friendly for error messages. eg most java compilers will tell you, to annoying accuracy what you should have said, where you should have put a ; etc... (which makes you think, why doesn't it just do it !). Some dyn langs to better then others, I think python isn't too bad, but I find ruby really noisy and wierd when I stuff up.
It would be kind of fun to "pair program" with a scientist like that. Each learning from each other. You know the details to keep the machine happy, he knows the details to get the formulas right. Together == cool things.
VC Due Diligence Tips
The Catalog Of Correctable Omnipresent Human Flaws
I have to admit it's a pet peeve for me -- even more than choice of languages, oddly enough. When scanning code, I just like the ability to see my control blocks clearly. Simply because you can do something like this

if (a==b) { doStuff(); } else doOtherStuff();

Doesn't mean you should.

I would consider this a little bit of a hangup on my part, though, as it seems other programmers go the other way. An interesting topic for a book is all the weird things programmers get hung up about. Variable naming comes to mind, as does error handling strategies. And when we get hung up, usually we're not too shy about explaining why everybody else is wrong!
I agree, and in fact that's generally the attitude I see. Tools I've seen used: Matlab, Python, Visual Basic, Java, C++. Often scientists seem as eager to play with programming as programmers are eager to play with (or at least read and talk about) research.
It also shows how predictable the Digg users are... if you want a bunch of traffic from Digg, make something to piss off Digg users.

Digg: mob mentality at it's finest.
Something to do with the original macintosh, iirc.
The problem is that the patent system is a) broken and b) very abused.

It's at the point where companies will go out and patent everything they possibly can, in order to protect themselves. Then, when company A decides to sue company B for patent infringement, company B simply finds a patent of theirs that company A is infringing, and they counter-sue then call it even.

It's utterly ridiculous, but it's common and considered normal these days. For example, the Qualcomm / Broadcom patent lawsuits. Cisco does the same thing.
How to render text on images in python such as gthe image here
http://cdnll.i.imagechef.com/ic/templimg2/Shaved%20Head.jpg
PR for an old and failed business model, and completely scooped by Google's recent efforts (mapping cities and the insides of some businesses.)
The author left out the important information that Kryptos is split into 4 parts (and supposedly a code within the code), 3 of which have been repeatedly cracked.
image rendering text ?
It worked for Hiro Protagonist.
Doc Searls: Time to write our own rules - Stop petitioning Facebook and Google to solve our problems for us
The wonderful horrible life of Facebook users and their data (or, "data hogs get slaughtered")
Using Wikipedia and the Yahoo API to give structure to flat lists
Free sample legal documents
My laptop was stolen.
So, my $1k laptop was stolen with my project/startup code over the holiday (all backed up to shared host/gmail). After all was said (obscenities/what-I-would-do-if-I-caught-theif) and done, it was gone: stolen, I assume, from my jeep. What do you guys do to ensure that this doesn't happen, and if it does, what recourse do you have? I have no idea where it was stolen, (at work, parents house, or coffee/book shop).

I really, really wish I had thought about this and bought LoJack or insured it on my car insurance or something, but I didnt :(.

Anyone have similar horror stories?
I suggest calacanis should just focus on his ill-fated "search engine" and stop worrying about Facebook.
What Online Social Media Networks Do You Participate In?
Social media networks generally consume allot of time, so we can only really frequent a handful regularly. Which ones are your favorites, and why?
I see your point about misleading people... I always read how he was the "father of MacIntosh" but after you read more you realize that was never the case.

"For instance, if the user simply started typing it would switch into editor mode, and if they typed numbers it would switch to calculator mode. In many cases these switches would be largely invisible to the user."

Ouch... talk about doing way too much. This would drive most people insane. We should all be thankful to Jobs that he took over MacIntosh team and never implemented any of this stuff.
I lost a pair of pants once, but it was worth it to leave rapidly.

Losing a laptop is never good, it is a reminder to us all to backup. The actual laptop isn't worth very much, but a laptop full of data seems priceless.
I was taking amichail's comparison - writing small programs in python vs learning a new natural language - and making it even more extreme to highlight its unfairness. Apparently nobody gets sarcasm anymore :)
are you covered on your parent's homeowners insurance? You might be if you are a full time student.
I did get it. And I wasn't serious either.
If a student already knows English, then it's better to learn to write small programs in a high-level language than it is to learn another natural language.
Agree with comments re: Raskin's self importance over stated.

That being said, he did bring my hero into the fold, the amazing Bill Atkinson. Atkinson is who inspired me to get into programming. Viva la hypercard!
Whoever Designed This Product Should Be Fired (re:Kindle)
I Want My Slice of the Pie: A Look at Startups and Ad Spending
I just tried Yahoo Go on my blackberry (8830). It kind of sucks. The maps and weather features require you to manually type in your location and give no option to use a phone's GPS to get the location. The search doesn't seem to offer anything special, and it's laggy switching between "widgets". The worst part is that deleting/uninstalling it requires the phone to be reset, at least on a blackberry. No application on a phone should require a reset.

The only nice thing about it was an interface to flickr that looked nice, but that wasn't worth 3.5MB of space on my phone for the application.
Stuck in a chair all day? How to sit properly
Game Development Archeology: Zelda on Game Boy comes with source
How to divide fast by immediates
Anyone use an encrypted file system? Is there much of a performance penalty?
Waste of talent. Quick thinkers like that should find something more productive to do.
UNC Task Chair Ratings- don't sit on a crappy chair
Ha, I knew I read that post already over at http://www.darrenherman.com/2007/11/25/i-want-my-slice-of-th...
Enjoy the Internet anywhere
If it was stolen from your car, you might be able to get your car insurance to pay for it. But you might have to file a police report.
I'm going to use these for review before the final for my lang and stats 2 class.
Scoble: Dear Jeff Bezos (one-week Kindle review)
Host 2.0 - Grids, clusters, clouds and more
Really stupid question:

Why ever even move your startup laptop? I have never done this. I work on my startup from home 95% of the time. The other 5% I edit check program listings. Startup laptop backed up and secure at all times. Am I the only one?
I've been using this one. Easier to type definr though.

http://www.ninjawords.com/
Making a round trip with each letter typed? Impressive. Who needs a desktop app?
I use Filevault. Never had ANY issues with it so far. My password is also pretty strong (10 alphanumeric characters with punctuation sprinkled) so I doubt anyone would get much out of trying to crack it.

Everyone who travels with their laptop should use some kind of an encrypted FS if their data is worth anything.
If so, how are you using it? What are the advantages vs. a traditional database system? What are the features that you love? What do you wish it had?
Ask YC:  Anyone using CouchDB?  
If so, what do you like about it? What problems does it solve for you? What does it not have that you really wish it did? How is this better than a traditional DB?

Link to project:
http://code.google.com/p/couchdb/
"Religious wars" is a long-standing metaphor when discussing programming languages.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Religious+wars+programming+la...
You might want to use the mobile component of the laptop at times. Like in a cafe for example, or perhaps if you were to attend a conference or maybe on a long train ride.

Am i missing the sense of your first question?
UNC Task Chair ratings
Funny, the first thing that popped into my head after seeing the GH clip was that it was probably someone who already knew how to play the guitar. I would think that a good guitar player, for whom fretwork would be second nature, would find Guitar Hero to be a breeze even at the hardest levels. They don't have to worry about working individual strings, so speed becomes less of an issue.

On the other hand, whoever it was playing that Japanese flying/shooting game is a monster. Being able to operate using a completely different train of thought for each hand and operate really is fundamentally difficult. Most of the other things are just routines that can be practiced ad nauseam until muscle memory kicks in and they get it right.
What do you think about Compete.com?
Capistrano is very shiny and nice.
GH has less to do with playing guitar than pure rhythm -- I can't play guitar but I can play the drums and I'm great at Guitar Hero. I've seen people that play guitar pick up Guitar Hero faster than people with no musical background but anyone with some rhythm can do pretty well in guitar hero. There are various stories on the internet of professional rock guitarists that are unable to play solos they recorded in Guitar Hero.

The other important skill is reading the notes as they fly down the screen -- I was good at this because I played Harmonix's pre-Guitar Hero games with nearly identical gameplay, Frequency and Amplitude. I was good at sight reading real written rhythms also.
It's much, much easer to become a pro Guitar Hero player than a pro guitar player. The same amount of time invested in real probably wouldn't have gotten him that far.
please help yourself. as for copyright, "your ideas will go further if you don't insist that they carry you go along with them."
I use Orbicule's Undercover service, which is much like LoJack, only specifically tailored to Macs.

I also back up to an external drive nearly every night (Thanks, Time Machine!), and check my code into source control (SVN or Mercurial) on my VPS.
$ crontab -e

*/3 * * * * curl -m 5 http://myserver.com/ping.txt > /dev/null 2>&1

Maybe I'll get their IP address at least.
Compete.com and quantcast.com are the only free alternatives that are closer to reality. I have no idea how accurate Compete.com is but Quantcast is extremely accurate for sites that have added their tracking code. Basically, Quantcast is like open Google Analytics. I've added Quantcast tracking to our site recently and their estimates are close to our logs (once you discount for bots etc).
A quick poll of Hacker News readers: if you lived in Boston, where would you go to test drive some of these chairs? How about Silicon Valley, or New York City?

I'm 6'2" and most of the world's office chairs don't fit me. Trying to shop for them over the internet is like performing surgery while wearing mittens -- and, while articles like this are very helpful, they're not exactly conclusive.
"Maybe it's time Steve Jobs stopped thinking quite so differently."
Robert X Cringely saw the iPod 'coming'; I bought AAPL at $20 on his recommendation, and made out like a bandit (wish I'd bought more, of course :) ).
yeah I read that comment as the opposite.
This cries out to be implemented with Berkeley DB, which is simply much faster than relational databases.
But you still haven't addressed the main objection here: that you're comparing two different undertakings. You've compared writing a small app in a high level language with learning a natural language. You could have just as easily said it isn't as hard as proving fermat's last theorem, or writing a novel, or composing a symphony. Thsse things also have a few elements in common with writing a short script in a high level language. But these comparisons don't mean a thing.
Check ebay for the next week or so. You might be able to buy it back!
I had completely forgotten about BDB, thanks for the reminder!
Ask YC:  Why bother with a blog if social news sites were to provide user rss feeds and profit sharing?
Social news sites should provide some sort of profit sharing so that you would get money from advertising associated with your contributions. Also, you should have rss feeds for user submissions so that one could subscribe to users as is done with blogs.
I'd rather get dollars from my blog and lucrative work opportunities than pennies from digg.
You would get less money from ads per click, but for most people, you would get a much larger audience looking at your stronger submissions.

Also, submissions can simply be links with no commentary. You would still make money from those.

You should also be able to make money from commenting on other people's submissions.

One possibility is to pay people based on their karma.
1) A car is for transportation, not storage. 2) Laptops, like children, should never be left unattended. 3) No one needs insurance until they need it. 4) Finish your code, make money, and buy a new laptop.
Hey, good idea ... I'm going to do that.
That's ok if you don't have a password on your account or you don't require a password to wake up from sleep. That's too dangerous so I recommend the following:

Set your Mac to use Filevault and go to Security section and select "Require password after waking up from sleep" so if someone opens up your laptop, they'll be greeted with a login screen. Now you want them to reboot...

What I did to make a 'honey pot' is this: I created a guest account (named it 'Krista') and that account doesn't require a password so if someone steals my laptop and reboots it, they'll be able to use this account. The account itself is locked down with very little permissions. I allow the use of a browser and the browser launches immediately after login (add it to Login items). The home page of the browser is set to my server's redirect page that uses meta refresh to immediately take the user to Yahoo. But I do get their IP. I also have curl set to ping a page every 20 min or so.

You could pay some cash for Orbicule (they use your iSight to grab pics of a person sitting in front of the screen) etc but this method is more than good enough. A step-up would be to proxy all of the requests from the browser through the proxy you control... but I haven't found a nice proxy to install on a shared server.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any method that would survive a reinstall of OS X but most thieves don't know how to do that anyway.