skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I agree that programmers should not take on the burden of supporting hypothetical future compiler optimizations (if that's what you're saying), but this problem could be reduced if compilers started forbidding undefined behavior — then programmers would only have to adapt once.
I love these design discussions on HN, brings out many different specialties.

I know this isn't specifically a Microsoft thread, but I can't help myself...

I find myself wishing Microsoft would return to its hardcore productivity app roots, and I don't feel Windows 8's Metro design serves me. Give me desktop apps with multiple child windows and allot only a single, thin button bar and the menu bar for the mouse clickers. Let me Ctrl-Tab/Ctrl-Shift-Tab between my stack of child windows and Alt-Tab between my stack of processes.

Isn't this a form of minimal? To focus one's app and UI design on keyboard accelerations and freeing up a maximum amount of screen real estate for editors/data presentment? A throwback productivity-focused design like that would demonstrate real bravery. Microsoft has already committed to balancing touch with a keyboard and touchpad with their tablet design, so this could be possible.
We have a structural problem, when things are "too big to fail", the normal democracy does not work anymore, the bank gets too powerful on its own and goverments can't regulate it effectively.

Moreover, bigger companies are not necessarily more efficient. A smaller company (or country) has the agility of a shorter decision chain.
The world is full of successful narcissists and psychopaths. Not the most introspective types, so how do they do it? A better predictor for successfulness is how successful your parents was. That is the only theory I know of that can explain how George W Bush became president.
The criminal actions[1] of Wachovia, Lloyds, Credit Suisse, Barclays, HSBC, et al have shown that the megabanks cannot be trusted to follow existing laws.

The robo-signing debacle[2] has demonstrated amply that the financial sector can't be bothered to verify their data before destroying the lives of thousands of people.

The LIBOR manipulation scandal[3] proves that even the industry's own measuring rods are bent and unreliable.

The last 5 years have revealed an industry rife with crime, deceit, and unabashed greed which has severely damaged the global economy and the quality of life for hundreds of millions of people. And the penalties for these actions pale in proportionate comparison to those imposed on a street-level drug dealer.

When a private enterprise becomes too essential to regulate effectively, it endangers the society in which it operates. Breaking it up into manageable chunks is the only viable option.

[1]: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/03/opinion/how-bankers-help-...

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_United_States_foreclosure...

[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libor_scandal
Oh, I like Dropbox a lot. But you know what? For 50GB free, I'm willing to put up with a bit of inconvenience.
Actually it was not argued early on by analysts that Amazon would have a hard time being profitable. It was argued that they would be a lot more profitable than traditional bricks & mortar because they didn't need the physical stores. That was supposedly one of their great competitive advantages. This was an almost universal claim during the early years of Amazon when the bubble was in full sway.

It was only years later, toward the end of the bubble and after it, that the claim began that Amazon could / would never make money.

Amusingly, both of these popular analyst points turned out to be false.
It is very hard to do anything. For decades, both China and the Soviet Union supported North Korea as a buffer to keep American soldiers away from their own borders. Neither country liked the North Koreans very much, but they didn't like each other very much either, so the Koreans could play one off the other to get away with whatever they wanted. Moreover, there was no possibility for the Americans or the South Koreans to do anything without risking war with the Soviets and/or the Chinese.

This situation changed somewhat with the fall of the Soviet Union. I believe the article has a chart of the freight tonnage crossing the border that shows a sharp drop off at this time (I saw the chart somewhere last night). The loss of aid from the Russians exacerbated the North Korean famine in the 1990s. The Chinese still continued to support the Koreans as a buffer state, however. Recently, it has become clear that the Chinese have grown somewhat ambivalent to the whole situation (wikileaks, for example). It is now unlikely that they would defend North Korea in a war, but they do still think of it as their backyard. For the Americans and South Koreans, the prospect of going to war against the North with a possibly nuclear armed army of 2 million soldiers is not very appealing.

I would say that the Chinese influence is growing as the Koreans have not been able to play them off against the Soviets for the last 20 years. More and more (capitalist) Chinese investment seems to be occurring, and the country seems to be opening up ever so slightly, though the Koreans still act pretty randomly.

One final note, I have been watching North Korea for a few years, and I would say there has been a very important sign of opening up. Last night, I watched a video from a tour where the guide at a collective farm talked openly if not completely honestly about the famine. A few years ago, they would not have even admitted that the famine occurred and blamed it on American propaganda. The door has been wedged open a little bit, and I am hopeful that a new generation of leadership that has grown up without the benefit of Soviet support will allow things to open further. Then, we may be able to do something productive about the atrocities that sadly still occur.
How about (3), a government not run by Bush/Greenspan/Krugman/Obama/Bernanke, a government not intent on creating housing bubbles in the first place?

Let the banks go bust by all means, but let's also recognize that government regulation/incentives ($440B from Fannie Mae!) was a large part of what got us into this mess.

http://articles.cnn.com/2002-06-17/politics/bush.minority.ho...

Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the federal Home Loan Banks --
the government-sponsored corporations that handle home
mortgages -- will increase their commitment to minority
markets by more than $440 billion, Bush said.

Under one of the initiatives launched by Freddie Mac,
consumers with poor credit will be able to obtain mortgages
with interest rates that automatically decline after a
period of consistent payments, he added.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/02/opinion/dubya-s-double-dip...

To fight this recession the Fed needs more than a snapback;
it needs soaring household spending to offset moribund
business investment. And to do that, as Paul McCulley of
Pimco put it, Alan Greenspan needs to create a housing
bubble to replace the Nasdaq bubble.

Paul Krugman, 2002
My point is that I'm also pro-life.

And most of the pro-life positions people take are also pro-choice, just to a lesser extent than they are pro-life.

Choosing what you perceive to be the lesser of two evils doesn't make you pro-evil;
choosing what you perceive to be the greater of two goods doesn't make you anti-{life,choice}.

EDIT: To further clarify, I'm not at all confused as to what camp I'm in. By standard definitions, I'm definitely pro-choice. The point I'm making is that the standard definitions are not hugely useful.
As the main designer behind Maki, I'd love for it to be comprehensive enough to replace the standard OSM set someday. If not on the main OSM map, at least in the editors. I have a long way to go!
Great writeup, looking at basically the same models currently and this helps tremendously!
So you are using a second monitor over USB3 ? Whats your experience with it ?
Well, it really depends on how the digitization of Helvetica that any particular user has installed is hinted. The Helvetica that comes with MacOS is quite nicely hinted, and will make for a pleasant read at most sizes.

On Windows, however, Helvetica isn't (at least from my experience) as nicely hinted, or at least doesn't play quite as well with Microsoft ClearType. And that's if it's installed, which is less likely on Windows. In that case, if your font stack specifies a fallback to Arial, which is ClearType's best friend, you'll probably be fine.
Outline-presentation-mode for Emacs
Value types are non-nullable. But they're also stack-allocated* and passed by value, so they're really only appropriate in certain cases. You can't use them as general-purpose non-nullable objects.

*In practice, though technically that bit's an implementation detail of Microsoft's run-time and not part of the language spec.
Google's $25 Million Bargain
Probably because profit is only somewhat related to delivering actual utility.
What I ALWAYS miss at these site: Metric units.

Imperial/US/Australian/dunno is just PITA.
It's still completely broken for me. I'm getting 500 Server Too Busy even on the initial load. When it loaded before, I couldn't upload anything.
Cats as Pets
Is profit the main driver? Should it be?
The likes are recycled. Bob likes an article on a website. Two years later that website advertises with Facebook. Facebook re-use Bob's like, and post the ad.

Some people 'like' a lot of things and might not remember what they've liked; or they may discover something about a previously liked company but not know how to unlike things or etc etc.

Facebook say you can turn off this behaviour. (https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=ads&view)

I'm not sure I'd use the word "malicious", but the combinations of obscure settings (how to find the list of liked things; how to unlike things; how to opt out of social ads; etc) is sub-optimal and gives the appearance of sleazy marketing.
Since you're planning to run Ubuntu and for $1000 the only thing you can get from Apple is the low-end 11-inch Macbook Air (64 GB HDD), I'd suggest to go for a Thinkpad. I've had nothing but great experiences with Thinkpads in my company, even the low-end ones.

Then again, maybe it's worth to give OS X a try - you can run the same software as you can on Linux but you can also run all the Mac software which is just so much better than anything else out there with a GUI.
The issue is not just money, it's time, which includes shopping, preparation, and cleanup in addition to cooking.

I love cooking, but after a long day's work, when you have other stuff you want to do, sometimes it's hard to fit in cooking too; even just "throw some rice and veggies into the rice cooker" (a simple, tasty, cheap, and healthy meal) sometimes seems a huge burden...
I think the keys are that they have a limited set of requirements, they're close to the users, they have low/reasonable expectations, and are willing to accept that the system will need updating & improving in the future. Sounds like a perfect fit for one of the agile methodologies.
oooh swear word so edgy bro
http://www.glooko.com/ ?
This is awesome. Or witchcraft.

Top, top work. I love it. Now to try with my monster list of packages...
it'll be a nice resource for hackers! will post content soon, need to polish some
What is required to start synthetic biology company from 0 depends on what problem you are trying to solve commercially. If you do not have a problem in particular, then you need to evaluate the current research and commercial synthetic biology space, approximate the gaps in services and identify a problem you would like to address. Once you have a better idea of the problem, then you will have an idea of where to start. What did you have in mind ?
Didn't anyone judge them by how good they looked ? Not "pixel peeping" but the general outlook.

Arial looks vertically uneven somehow - the tops of the letters of a word seem to form a more solid straight line with Helvetica.
Should neurosurgeons make good money?
This is why I'm getting a bit annoyed with all the "visiting North Korea" stuff. You are directly funding the regime.
I have been running Precise Pangolin on a Samsung series 9 15" (NP900X4C) for a while now (with Xmonad, too). It works wonderfully and all the external hardware I've tested (Logitech HD webcam, USB headphones, ...) have worked fine. Only recently, I've been hitting a hard wall trying to use WebGL (for Acko.net's MathBox, specifically). Despite trying for the past two weeks, I could not get this to work and have resorted to dual-booting to Windows 7 (where WebGL does ... just work). This seems to be an issue with Intel HD 4000 graphics under linux (which System 76 laptops and the Lenovo X1 Carbon have in common). It was not obvious from the RedHat website whether RHEL suffers this, so I've sent them an email (but no reply yet).

If anyone knows an actual fix (i.e. not just the various things suggested in obvious search results), I would buy you a beer. But, yeah, replacing this machine with a System 76, or re-partitioning and dual-booting, or buying RedHat are all options I'm willing to consider, so there's that. Other than WebGL, I heartily recommend the Series 9 laptops (I had a 13" series 9 previously, as well).
Watched the video but I honestly can't tell if he's trolling or not ;)
Who says programmers are the greatest minds of our generation?
MasteryConnect Wants To Give Teachers A Better Way To Track Student Progress
I'm also looking foward to Rust, but it's not "here" yet :P
There's nothing wrong with profit. I think how we measure it needs reform.
You should not switch your apps. You should stop creating new projects in C++ once Rust is mature enough for your liking.

The fundamental "problem" we're having/facing with C and C++ is the investments we've put in. Lots of "infrastructure" in modern day computing relies on C and C++ and will do so for ages. We can't just drop the projects and switch to something else(say Rust or maybe Go), but we can stop creating new C and C++ codebases to alleviate the problem for the future.
I don't have a degree in medical sciences so I have no idea where I would start.
A slow cooker is your friend! When I was younger and foolisher, there would be days when I would stay up for 48 hours straight coding. I still always had pulled pork, soup or congee of some sort (three of the simplest things to make with a slow cooker) to keep me going.

Now, I've just learned to take my time with things. No longer do I let things rush me.
The benefit is that you know which tedious people to avoid when they tell you they work at Facebook/Google/etc.
>Toughbook

It's tough alright. http://www.panasonic.com/business-solutions/marketing-materi...

No wonder they managed to fit a really good keyboard into a huge chassis like that.
Why the fuck do we see this complaint pop up on HN every quarter?
There are a lot of interesting startups right now in the mobile health space, but it is a significantly more difficult space to operate in. It takes years to get FDA approval for new medical devices, the healthcare industry is beholden to several large industry players, and the culture of medicine is resistant to rapid innovation. I understand and echo your frustration that silicon valley often only pays lip service to 'dangerously ambitious ideas', but there are also real reasons why people don't operate in these difficult business environments.
Bad incentives.

Maybe smart people don't care about money all that much, but they want their lives to not suck, their effort to not feel wasted, their identity not wrapped up in the service of dysfunction and politics. There are not many places where you can better humanity for a living and live the life such a person deserves, and it is not the job of humans to sacrifice themselves for no reward. That's why people who do so, effectively, are so rare.

Here's a guy who left the ivory tower for Google: http://cs.unm.edu/~terran/academic_blog/?p=113

I’m concerned that the US — one of the innovation powerhouses of the world — will hurt its own future considerably if we continue to make educational professions unappealing.
For most large projects, you usually standardise the compilation environment for a specific release. Any issues for a newer version would be fixed when you make a newer release of your software. Especially for anything that is safety critical, like satellites or spaceships.
Because it creates value, whether or not you approve or understand it. Fun and entertainment are what most people spend most of their time seeking. Simple as that.
You did not get down voted for asking help. You got down voted for asking for help in an inappropriate forum and in an inappropriate post perhaps.

PS - I am not down voting your post.
The Safe C Programming Language (Tutorial)
I think they're right, please release a version that could be controlled by a keyboard + integrate Youtube's API and you could probably break the Internet because it would be too awesome to handle
Because most people, Facebook programmers included, don't have the patience and the resources to undergo the amount of schooling necessary to reach the level of understanding to make an impact in these areas; and after they do, the amount of bureaucracy they will need to fight to make a dent will drive even the most resilient minds to take a job getting people to click on ads.
Modelos acura
Gracias al contenido de este portal podemos tener una información más clara sobre alfa romeo, autos contemporaneos y lanzamientos autosconsultando las notas adicionales en caso de que queramos mayor información y, lo mejor de todo, entendemos todo sin problema alguno.
Be the change you want to see in the world. Feel free to quit your job and go bankrupt while trying and most likely failing to make the world a better place.
It appears that Diabetes research receives over a billion in funding each year just from the NIH [1][2]. As far as I can tell this doesn't include private funding for cures/treatments.

Maybe I'm misinterpreting the data here, but it looks like many people and many millions of dollars are devoted to solving real world problems like the one Scott Hanselman has.

[1] General Disease research numbers http://report.nih.gov/categorical_spending.aspx

[2] Diabetes funding by project http://report.nih.gov/categorical_spending_project_listing.a...
while it may be a point that they may have to rewrite it down the road, the advantage is they retain the logic so they don't have to start again from square one with a new vendor trying to get their system to work.

Also they could opensource it or sections to get help in hardening the code, create interoperability APIs, or anything they choose. Such an option is usually not a possibility with a private vendor.

Another issues is when you do have a significant change in law or policy getting the vendor to get those updates out in a timely/inexpensive manner may not be so easy.

Interoperability is overrated, what happens when HR decides they to get a new system? ...and that new system doesn't work with your current tracking system X but only with the much more expensive and over complex Y pro system?

I guess it comes down to is how important is it to have your hands on the data and process? I know some schools are really tiring of the "new system every five years or so" cycle that they go through (this can include, besides software, new hardware, training, reassigning staff responsibilities - all depending on the systems needs,) having control of costs and process might help them in the long run.
We were able the 'main' app booted after adding a requirements.txt: http://class2go.a.pogoapp.com/

It would be nice if you could separate out the ops infrastructure from the actual application, to suit a wider variety of deployment scenarios.
Because research pays terribly and not everyone has the luxury of martyrdom.

Want to be a grad student? 80-90% pay cut. (Unless you go to Switzerland and then it's closer to 70%).

Want to be a university research programmer? 70% pay cut.

Removing economic considerations, would I rather be researching auto-immune disease? Sure. But 'doing good' means compromises like buying a house at 45 instead of 35.

No one asks doctors to make these compromises.

Edit: If someone wants to deposit $2m in my bank account I'll quit my job on Tuesday and go to grad school.
And I think this is the biggest issue. Where do I find the information? Who's going to pay me for it? What incentive do I have to toil over something that might be needed and useful on one level, but stark in contrast to other opportunities that derive much greater incentive.

To become competent, I might be wasting my time in the end. If I have a marketable skill now with no additional work, then I don't have much a reason to invest into something else.
Because nobody cares about your diabetes and obesity. Lay down that taco and get some fricken exercise, FFS.
I've been loving my Zareason Ultralap. Ships with your choice of linux distro, and is thin enough to impress the Macbook kids..
Maybe because it is something HN readers worry about. Seems like a pretty reasonable explanation...
Because it's easier to be negative than positive. Complaining about something is a heck of a lot easier than doing anything about it.

Reg should use crowdfunding to develop this device, or something along those lines, if he really cares about this problem.
Thanks. Always happy to help. That was the result of 3 days full-time (~16 hours / day) research, so it was good sharing instead of letting it rot among my "Sent items".

I'm actually starting at my new job today (in 11 hours). So the jury is still out on what the machine is like. The X220 has a DisplayPort and VGA out, so no need for driving monitors over USB.
I always hated Maven and... Leiningen sadly uses Maven under the hood. So I've been kinda forced to use Leiningen, at least for now (because I still don't know Clojure well enough to do without it).

Wanna quickly add a private .jar file / private repo? Good luck. Oh, it's doable, sure (I did it). But it's a major pain in the arse.

People will say: "But you shouldn't use free-floating .jars". Well, guess what... I like 100% reproducible builds that do not need to connect to Internet to be build. So now to have reproducible builds we need to have not only our DVCS but also our local Maven repository. Major major pain. I much prefer to have my jars managed by myself and commit them directly in the DVCS.

People will complain that it's not the correct to do it: but meanwhile I've got an easier time reproducing builds than they do...

During all my Java years (more than ten) I always managed to dodge Maven and the rare projects I inherited that were using Maven were utter mess. People will argue that it's because of people, like me, who don't know Maven well enough, that the entire projects (and builds) became utter junk. Whatever.

Another area where Leiningen/Maven really do not shine is when you don't have Internet access (like, you know, in companies which have separate networks, including ones non-connected to the big bag Internet).

Major major pain.

And what happens if you have an Internet connection but some high-target repo gets rooted and a major Java .jar gets replaced with a version containing an exploit?

Millions of devs account instantly owned by automagic Maven updates to your project.

It hasn't happened... Yet!

But lately we've seen enough Java exploits that one can reasonably think it's not "far fetched" to imagine that such a thing could happen.

Also I hate working in an environment which can change automagically, against my will. So I'm "staging" my development by using a dev account which has no Internet access and another one which does (it's easy to do on Linux, where you can trivially use per-user firewalling rules).

I've always been amazed at how many devs cannot correctly configure a Java classpath themselves and need to be babby-sitted by a tool like Maven.

As soon as I'll understand better how Clojure and how Clojure builds do work, I'll do just like I've always done with Java projects: custom scripts building from known good .jar files.

Not some magical tool constantly "phoning home" and being a security disaster waiting to happen...
Generally their bank accounts.