skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
OK guys, since this conversation comes up every single time...

Yes, public school systems can be very good, and tailored to individual students. Look at Scandinavia, especially Finland and Sweden.

Yes, lots of people do extremely well without structure and authority figures breathing down their backs.

Yes, teachers are underpaid, and yes, paying them more will not solve the fundamental issue.

Yes, unschooling kicks ass, and no, your excuses don't really make sense.

No, you don't need to keep rehashing your story to defend your choices or whatever, will you please take the chip off your shoulder already. It's the internet, nobody knows (or cares) that you dropped out, or that you stuck with it and graduated.

Yawn.

And if you're going to debate - on the Internet - you might want, in the spirit of hacking, to brush up on the material on the topics that already exists by eminent people who've spent much longer thinking about it than you. E.g. if you haven't read John Holt & John Taylor Gatto & Jean Piaget[1], why are you bothering to write?

[1] On the other hand, I will accept novel theories about why all these men are named John.
So long as they still allow unlocked phones with removable SIMs, I guess there's probably a place for this in very small devices or something.
1) Thank you for being logical and data driven
2) Damn you for being logical and data driven

I'm a firm believer that necessity is the mother of invention. I also believe that necessity is only proven by crisis. Even if we had the world's greatest broadband infrastructure, I'd rather everyone think we were having an internet drought of biblical proportions. It would certainly step up the pace of innovation and encourage modernized legislation.
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Didn't I? Don't decide on the veracity of something before reading the whole of it. The postscript is just as much a part of my statement as the rest of it, and it's much clearer than injecting numerous "maybe"s any "perhaps"es into the text itself.
Facebook Eases Grip on Site, Seeks Third-Party Developers
Do you have evidence for that? On the contrary, multiple twin studies have found zero correlation of "shared environment" with longevity:
http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2009/04/do_parents_affe....

In these studies, identical twins who are adopted and raised apart have just as much correlation in lifespan as identical twins raised together, suggesting that genetics (rather than family lifestyle) is the cause of the correlation.
Entourage MQ: publish/subscribe messaging system for HTML/JavaScript applications
The author makes an excellent point.

Each development team at Microsoft has a dedicated documentation team. The developers typically write the API "xmldoc" level documentation, but the doc team writes the overviews, examples, etc. They also perform heavy editing and standardization of all documentation materials.

I think the docs folks I work with do a stellar job, but I think the docs would be overall better if the developers wrote them and the documentation team simply edited them. This would mean that the developers get less time to write code, but quite honestly, that is might be a good thing. There is a double digit number of windowing toolkits in active use at Microsoft...
It may not be what you are looking for, but if you want a C based intro CS text, this classic is now freely available.

Foundations of Computer Science

http://infolab.stanford.edu/~ullman/focs.html1
I wish I could find more places in the first phase.

I was part of a startup that got acquired a while back and I can honestly say I miss the earlier days. :(
It's the updated version of APUE done by Rago (the guy who did Unix System V Network Programming; a fairly good book but with a narrow and almost obselete focus; sysv STREAMS -- a very good idea whose time hasn't come.)
In early high school, I was a chronic procrastinator. I became really freaking good at it too.

Then I got to college and had to start doing work. Not because college is hard (it's actually easier than my high school), but because I'm much busier now.

To help balance things, I did a number of things. For one, I started putting everything into The Hit List. This works great and it helps me stay sane. Everything gets out of my head, which is important. The second was that I began practicing a process known as gatekeeping. Basically, you have to start making conscious decisions about what you allow into your work flow. (Shameless plug here: I wrote about gatekeeping on an introductory level here: http://loganleger.com/effective-gatekeeper/) This really helped me get down to business and focus.
Totally agree. Would add just one thing though - properly established and enforced guidelines on what exactly constitutes 'aggregation'.

So people don't go crazy with ripping off entire articles, images, ideas etc.
Thanks, that looks awesome. It's hard to find any good guides online (wikipedia links to one that makes no sense at all) but it seems like an easy project to do without instructions, since all it takes is a couple solenoids and a magnet or two.

Just experimenting with paper strips, it seems like the frequency depends on the width between the membrane and the base. Does anyone know if/why this is true?
I fail to see any contradiction here. The core of the issue lies in taking the word of people who don't know anything about the science. And, where science is concerned, Wikipedia tends to do very well: any non-stub science article will likely have copious references.
Your rant appears to be based, at least in part, on the assumption that massive social structures are in some way necessary and beneficial to the lives their constituents.
I've been told, by more than one person, that "web apps should not need [help|documentation|training] and while I understand the sentiment I agree that the act of writing user documentation, or training materials, exposes complexity and inconsistency quite effectively.
The education system at this point is not a designed entity. It has evolved through the interplay of various political forces. It has no purpose. No one would design anything like our system if they were doing it from scratch. It's just no one has a plan to fix it ( or the authority to implement such a plan).
Jesus christ, maybe we should have called the Green River Killer the "River Killer"; we wouldn't want to give Tacoma a bad name either.
I'm not sure I've ever read an article that's more wrong.

First, refusing to an employer's criteria of hiring will never get you hired. There are more degrading things in this world than explaining technical, even trivial, things to a non-technical person.

Secondly, SAT or any other standardized scores aren't a test of intelligence. Even purporting so shows your level of intelligence. I know plenty of engineers and programmers who did poorly on standardized tests yet who are freaking geniuses compared to others who scored much higher.

Yeah, I agree that reviewing resumes more closely might be a better indicator of qualification than a phone interview, but I don't think they should be entirely forgone. They add an important level of inspection.
I wanted to do this in high school so badly. I had friends whom I had met outside of school who had done this and it always seemed like they were a head in life. My co-worker has done this with his children and they are all starting college 2 years earlier or so.
Another way might be to use tcpflow. Then just wait and see which files get large as the thing buffers.
I tend to think everyone loves learning stuff that's within their ability range. If you put a kid who simply is not naturally talented in math in a calculus class with a bunch of kids much smarter than him, then he will be miserable. But that same kid might naturally pick up the drums and learn to play them for fun, because he can be really good at it.
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should founders be going to investors saying "we're ready and willing to change gear" or "we're ready and willing to step out when we're ready to change to a growth team"?
Has Madagascar Closed its Port?
Design and the Google brain
> They're supported by tasteful sponsorships and donations

They get 50% of their budget from taxes, and most of the "tasteful sponsorships" are large companies that either get large subsidies from the overnment, or work under lots of government regulation and want to buy favor with congress.

The largest sponsor of NPR is Archer Daniels Midland, an agricultural corporation. Want to know why Scientific American is talking about how food shortages could kill tens of millions over the next few years?

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=civilization-food-shorta...

It's because ADM has been using its NPR sponsorship to buy access in Washington, where it can push biofuel mandates, turning food into a poor substitute for gasoline, thus boosting the price of it beyond the reach of the global poor.
If this guy didn't waste a good deal of the essay on crackpot goldbug economics, it would have been a more valuable read.

"Perhaps a private grain-backed currency will draw upon the grain exports of North America as the only "real wealth" of nations. Would you buy a wheat-backed "quatloo"? I personally would be interested in trading paper for wheat, gold, oil or anything more valuable than paper."

Backing a currency with an agricultural product is a recipe for inflation, as several American colonies discovered with tobacco in the colonial era. Gold works better because it's really hard to inflate (unless there's a gold rush--likewise, the silver rush proved bimetallism untenable) but a grain-backed dollar would be a disaster waiting to happen.
Is NPR really considered "mainstream-media"?

To me "mainstream-media" means the big for-profit corporate conglomerates.

I bet not needing to make a 10-15% profit has much to do with it. Not only monetarily but also integrity("no worries a show/statement will alienate advertisers") and public perception. In fact I'd wager the not afraid of digital is a symptom of being a NPO.
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Keynote Kung-fu Two
Hi octane, just the opposite. I meant to say I had no problem walking home late at night but somehow I left out the "no." The next sentence is correct, however (that I've never felt unsafe or threatened).
(Note: Some would consider this a shameless ad, since I reference my own site; if such things offend you, feel free to click the "back" button, or to denounce me here or elsewhere.)

... and those of you interested in applying but unfamiliar with how grants work might find Grant Writing Confidential at http://blog.seliger.com useful. Like most blogs, it's in reverse chronological order, so you might find it somewhat disorganized if you think, "Where do I start?", but you'll find a ton of information there about how the grant making process works.
I learned C a while back, and don't regret the time spent doing so at all. This is how I'd recommend going about it:

* Everyone is going to recommend K&R, which is fine. Find a copy of C Interfaces and Implementations as well--very good implementations with explanations of standard high-level structures.

* Read source. SQLite's source, for example, is very well written and documented, and they actually have a version to download recommended for reading (everything is in one file).

* Implement. You're going to want to try implement standard Unix commands yourself. Try writing an interpreter/compiler as well. These things give you a good grip on a wide variety of C basics and will make sure you can work well with memory management and all that.

* Assembly. This is where I would learn assembly (i.e., where I did). I don't think you need to go too far in depth, but a basic working knowledge will make debugging much, much easier.
And perhaps Freebase: http://www.freebase.com/
I think the way to "solve" the problem of procrastination is to let delight pull you instead of making a to-do list push you. Work on an ambitious project you really enjoy, and sail as close to the wind as you can, and you'll leave the right things undone.

Does making a to-do list for my problem/project count as procrastination?

I'm actually working on a simple to-do/task list manager right now as a final project for this PHP class I'm taking, but upon reading pg's article I almost feel as if I'm contributing to the problem of procrastination rather than solving it...

pg sorts tasks according to value, (a) nothing, (b) something less important, or (c) something more important, rather than your typical formulation, according to state (1)do, (2)doing, (3)done...aren't the two formulations of task interdependent [with maybe the exception of nothing]?
Brings to mind an amazing book - Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society. Essential reading if you're interested in this topic (and who wouldn't be? http://www.preservenet.com/theory/Illich/Deschooling/intro.h...)
Sorry that I intercept, but that <em>there are</em> "people [who] still ask this question" is an indicator only for that <em>there are</em> people "only in school for the degree" but not for that people <em>in general</em> are "only in school for the degree". Then if so, what about yourself?
For those of your who are slightly confused, FF 3.1 (that was supposed to be released in Decemberish) is called FF 3.5 now. I suppose that version number makes a bit more sense given the feature set and time frame.
I haven't said anything about their stats or methodologies, but I don't know how you can outright dismiss the reputation of the organization when accessing those very things.
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More reasons working for yourself is the only way to go.
http://www.randsinrepose.com/archives/2007/06/04/keynote_kun... Link to the first Keynote Kung-fu.
K&R was the only C book that ever allowed me to pierce the veil of mystery surrounding C and understand it. I'd tried at least a half dozen other books and was either bored out of my mind at the painfully slow pace, or utterly baffled around chapter 2 or 3 where it leapt into pointers and seemed to just assume it was obvious.

For whatever reason K&R was a perfect storm of comprehension for me, and I came away actually knowing how to read and even sort of write C (and knowing how to search the Internet, pre-Google, or ask reasonably smart questions on the mailing list or IRC channel of the software I was working with, for answers to the harder questions). I failed miserably with every other book on the subject.
I'm currently developing an API for my site, and started writing the user documentation pretty early, which is something I haven't done before. The initial release of the API is only going to have a fraction of all the methods and resources I want to support, so writing the documentation like this has really helped me get my head around the whole system, how everything should work together and what will be needed in the future.

It's funny, because I always spend a fair bit of time writing notes when programming ... but it's usually a stream of consciousness straight to a notebook via pencil - sometimes with dialog as I ask and later answer questions to myself. This really helps me find solutions to problems I'm currently working on - but is not so good at later turning into user documentation. I've tried to use a word processor, thinking that it would be easier to manipulate later into docs, but it seems that the pencil, the paper and the process all contribute to the end product.

In this case though, writing the user documentation really helped me think about the overall picture, as not only was I trying to work out the best way to implement something, but also about how my users were going to use and learn it.
As someone who was homeschooled all the way through high school and am now working on my PhD in aerospace engineering, keep up the good work.

My bit of advice would be to join an active homeschooling group (if you're not part of one already). Not only will your kids have a (relatively) healthy social life, but they'll meet some really interesting people. I had (and still have) friends whose interests ranged from writing operas to fellow hackers. Most of my public school friends seemed boring in comparison.
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There are also plenty of sites built around this specific function. http://keepvid.com will provide the links to all versions of the file.
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C Primer Plus was completely useless to me. As I mentioned in another thread, I tried several books on C before K&R and none of them "took". I knew (by some definition of "knew") other languages (several BASIC variants, Pascal, REXX, Amiga shell, a little 6502 and 68000 assembler, etc.) when I started learning C...but it took years, and several failed attempts before I was actually able to make sense of real C code.

My book recommendations would be K&R, Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment by Stevens, and C: A Reference Manual by Harbison and Steele. In that order. With liberal doses of web research and reading real world examples and experimentation.
I think they supplement each other. Wikipedia is a great place to go explanatory material; statistics are a part of that but if you are really interested in the numbers behind something you'll probably follow up the citations. Alpha looks to have great potential as a tool for statistical discovery and analysis, but I rather doubt it auto-generate tutorials on what data mean or why they matter.

It would be nice if Wikipedia can improve the quality of its articles by linking to Alpha; I hope Wolfram research won't exert a propriety attitude to its search results, but will make them available with something like a creative commons license to the extent that the original sources are in the public domain.
I taught myself C/C++ when I was around 13. I already knew most of the concepts through my experience with Pascal, including pointers, which are harder to use than to understand. What I did have trouble with was Windows as I just couldn't figure out the API. What solved it for me was one of those old 'Game Developers' series of beginner's books. It gave detailed instructions on for a 'hello world' Windows application. After that, it was pretty easy to get the hang of it.

I don't use C much anymore (haven't since Highschool.) When I do, it's with GCC and I and the environment is still the hardest part.

Moral of the story being that C is pretty easy. I learned it with some very basic references. The hard part, supposedly, is pointers, and those are much harder to use than to understand. Basically, everything is done through them, without the usual abstractions that you would get with say, Java. You mainly just have to make sure you always have the right number of asterisks and ampersands.

One book I can suggest is Advanced Programming in the UNIX Environment by W. Richard Stevens, (revised version) which gives a very through introduction to UNIX from a C perspective. C is interesting in that it is almost a different language depending on which system you write it on and you'll spend more time learning system calls and UNIX paradigms than C syntax and pointers.
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Tell YC: SoCal YC Facebook Group
I'm sorry if this borders on spam, but I thought posting here would be the best place to let you all know about the Facebook group I created for SoCal YC'ers.

For some time now I've tried to connect with SoCal YC readers and hackers, but haven't made much progress. I know you guys are out there! You can find the group here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=83407422326. Anyone from north of LA down to SD, please join. I'd like to get a little get together going for the near future, and would love to have a great turn out.
I bought K&R but in the end found http://www.cs.cf.ac.uk/Dave/C/ to be much more useful and accessible - and free!
Here's the weirdest phone interview question I ever got, for a front-end webdev position: "How would you implement a thread scheduler?"
Here is another clear difference between industry and academia:

When your million-dollar grant gets funded, you buy your grad students a beer.

When your million-dollar contract gets signed, you buy yourself a car.
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Previously submitted:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=574607
Care to share how you decided in the end?
Evan Paull is a software engineer and a startup consultant.

So you know he knows what he is talking about.
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Can you seriously assume that if a person is not good at A he WILL be good at B, can't he be really average at everything. I know you are offering the optimistic viewpoint, but I am just offering the cynical one.
Unfortunately K&R is all-rights-reserved copyright by Bell Labs, so this is illegal. It's also a bit ironic that you have this at the bottom of your own website:

© 2005-2009 White Paper Clip, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. Stealing leads to beatings.
I am pretty sure it was a system designed to make docile citizens, not docile workers. The system is skewed in the favor of the state(Duh, conflict of interest) and by definition whatever the hell its special interest group the state is in bed with.

Whatever options the market makes availiable for people with low incomes should eventually accures from new schools opening up. Unless special interest groups colludes with private schools, innovative entrepeneurs should be able to build schools that train ever more highly skilled professionals with better educational techniques.

To ensure that this process doesn't get screwed around, you cut all the red tapes and regulations on schools so that people can experiment and innovate to their heart's desires.
> Best beginner text after K&R is Kelly and Pohl's "A Book on C";

That's the book I used to teach myself C and I though it was just brilliant.
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