skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
You're overlooking the possibility that some may have eaten less at McDonalds or bought fewer candies in order to save up more money to buy those PC games if piracy weren't such an easy option.

It's not as if kids rigorously budget their money and have a "video game" line item which cannot be exceeded. If they could easily sneak into movie theatres or hockey games and never get caught, they'd do that too and spend the leftover money on something else.
Run that with vanilla JavaScript, Java, SQL or anything but C/C++ [this is the premise of the protip] and I'll bake you a cake! (One that's not a lie;) Nothing that's discussed here does the same thing, though I completely agree there is a lot of better techniques for various tasks, nothing is functionally the same as the trick. (Why can I not reply the the reply of this post? I'm new here.)
I'm not quite so optimistic, or at least my optimism is more measured at least in terms of the games market.

Most kickstarter projects I see (games at least) are not proposing "If this gets funded the game will be free" they are proposing "If this gets funded the game will be $20, but you can get it for $15 if you fund us". So they are still relying on copyright to some extent.

Of course there are some games that appear to be sustainable as donationware (dwarf fortress for example) but I would be amazed if we saw a COD/Skyrim scale game on a "pay what you want model" simply because the up front development costs are so high that it would be too large a risk.

I suspect in the AAA areas you will see a move towards support for closed platforms where piracy is more easily controlled and IAP type models.

So probably two divergent markets , with starving artist auteurs in one corner and AAA publicly traded behemoths in another.
Screenshot in the source article is a screenshot of the existing TotalFinder.

We don't know if Apple has done anything at all to Finder.
Why couldn't talented people also game the interview?
As a long-time C++ developer I wish people don't use any commenting tricks such as this, and I wish people don't use /* * / to comment their code, even if you develop in C. Instead, use // in modern C/C++.

The reason is that we often need to comment OUT code during development. In C++, the 4 choices are: (1) #ifdef, (2) bool dothis = false; if (dothis) { ... }, (3) /* * /, (4) // ...

Among them, I would say the best and least-confusing way to comment out a block of code is /* * /. #ifdef's are very confusing especially if you have multiple of them; // needs to be applied to every line so only works in small scale; if (dothis) doesn't work across multiple functions, and at a glance it is harder to discern whether this is a "comment-out", or a legit condition.

However, by using /* * / in your comments, you eliminate the possibility of commenting out blocks of code that contains /* * / comments. The problem, of course, is due to how the opening and closing symbols are matched.
Model View Controller: Free Enterprise Patterns Framework
I think this goes for most things. Step 1) develop a sense of judging how well-made things are, step 2) develop the skills that allow you to create your own.

I'm pretty good at telling if a design is good or not, but I can't for the life of me create my own. I just get lost in the space of possibilities, or don't consider alternatives an experienced designer would.
Spain's Extremadura starts switch of 40,000 government PCs to Linux/opensource
> I'm also surprised that this was released before Google I/O

I haven't been at the Google I/O but it wouldn't be surprising if they did not want to have anything to do with a competitor mentioned at their conference.
Wish I hadn't ran out of time for this ... https://vimeo.com/mindhead. You can easily get to "on/off" with equipment like this. The rest depends on training protocols and the software design needed to implement them.
Unbelievable Places that are Hard to Believe Really Exist
Awsome.
Anyone know what the arc structure is at 70GHz? I'm guessing artifact, but would love to know.
If you legally purchase a digital copy of music and find the quality to be too low I don't see a problem in downloading a "pirated" copy at a higher bitrate. So long as you don't share it you will never run into legal problems for doing so.
in the future. Javascript will be become the common language for the web. Why learn 2 language when 1 will take care of all aspects of the web.
I know that feeling. My undergrad CS course had a rigorous electronics component where we coded in ASM for the 8086. One of my fondest moments of that time was when I wrote a program that would split the terminal screen into two halves of different color, and display what you typed on one side and the inverse case on the other.

This could probably be done with less than 50 lines in python, but doing it in assembly, calling all those interrupt routines, making sure your registers contained all the right values, man, when it finally worked, it was the greatest feeling in the world!
I think 76 characters is a good ideal to strive for because it means the code is legible everywhere, including my phone. It also reduces variables named request_response_header_validating_auditor.

However, some things don't break well, so readability ought to trump.
Frankly, it's clear you have very much a microeconomics-based of the macroeconomy, all accounting identities and no feedback.

To begin with, there has been made the case that progressive taxation does, mostly, not mean a significant negative behavioral response in production. That is, taxes can in practice be increased a lot until the rich start fantasizing about going Galt. [D&S] estimate the optimal tax rate, for maximum social welfare, for the richest to be at 70%. It's now about, what, 20%? Citizen Romney paid 14%, and the Great Capitalist still behaves like a little bitch, whining about his being oppressed and all.

You also don't seem to take into account elasticity, the decreasing utility of money, or any notion of optimizing social utility. If I'm Bill Gates, I could not give enough of a shit that you taxed from me $5k dollars, or even $500k. But, use that to pay for nine or ten heart surgeries, and suddenly social utility is increased by, I would guesstimate, 100x (total lifetime earnings of those ten people, starting after surgery). Even if 20% of that is embezzled.

Also, there's not really any empirical support for a inverse relation between business taxes and economic growth. It's just one data point, granted, but we could take as an example Bush's years. Massive tax cuts, but very poor growth.

[D&S] http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.25.4.165
Broken? It sounds exactly how optimization systems work :-)
"Programmers on Stack Overflow: older users like teaching."
You are assuming that some one using pirated software would have bought it.

I think pirates actually harm people who make free and cheap software, by using expensive "pirated" software instead. Had they not used the pirated software, they would possibly be using the free stuff and boosting the use of that free stuff. The big boys don't lose out, because they wouldn't have bought it in the first place.

As such, the high moral ground the big boys think they occupy is equally suspect.

IMHO, given the lack of large software houses going out of business actually due to piracy, I don't believe piracy has any real effect. All that is happening is that people are using the software, and the software houses remain profitable.

If I am ever yo believe in piracy losing business money, I want proper proof that the vast majority of people which pirated software on their machine would have paid for that software. I suspect not. I suspect that if there really was a way to stop piracy, many more people would use Linux and all it's alternatives for free. In that scenario, MS and co would really start losing money and market power.

Addition Edit:
Also, most people spend the money they have. If they did buy all the stuff they pirated, software, games, music, movies, etc, there would be another sector that lost out. For example, pirating Far Cry 3 instead of buying, means £40 (whatever) to spend on clothes, food, cinema, fuel, etc. Its the same money, there is no extra. It just goes to different places.
prose.io impresses the hell out of me. Hopefully it evolves to the point where it can be hosted on your own server.
Agreed, but with a caveat:

> a good programmer can be coding in something new within a week or maybe two and after a couple of months should be completely fluent.

It's a risky choice.

The project we were working on had very, very heavy emphasis on idiomatic Java. In this situation a good manager would need to recognize the deficit in the prospective lead and only ever accept the candidate if they have a rock-solid track record of success, if the team is proficient enough with the language that they can fill in the architect's gaps, and most importantly, if the team is on board.

Unless you have a very mature team that has bought into the leadership of this individual, deficit in language skills might be perceived as a deficit in overall skill, and the team will have difficulty accepting the new leadership.

[Edit: My very, very strong preference is to never hire leads. Hire team members, pay them what they're worth with frequent raises for good performance, and let the team decide who does what.]
There hasn't been one called "cougar," which is a scary-cat name people think of, I think. Of course, "cougar" is another name for the puma, but then, so is "mountain lion," so that may not be a barrier.

Cougars(/pumas/mountain lions) are also interesting because they're not big cats, taxonomically speaking, so potentially the entire felidae family is in play, and it's pretty big. "Lynx" is a possibility... maybe also "wildcat" or "bobcat"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felidae
I tried Ubuntu 12.10 again briefly and was disappointed that intel HD4000 wasn't fully supported in 3D. Graphics is dog slow in Ubuntu on the same hardware.

It looks like shopping spies still on by default in 13.04. I doubt I'll ever use Ubuntu again on that principle alone. Even Apple doesn't force that on you in Spotlight. Still cannot move taskbar. Still cannot resize taskbar without 3D support.
"I'd appreciate if you'd have this discussion on Coderwall. That way I could 'defend' the post where it's due.
However though, please read https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5626456 and summary is:
It is a trick, not a silver bullet. It prevents code from being compiled to the binary, in a portable - yet hacky - way."
By the last paragraph, I get what he's saying (too many companies build something they'd never pay for in hopes that there's an audience that will), but I think he's arguing two different - but vital - aspects of testing.

There's dogfooding and there's finding users at all levels of experience (both in internet proficiency and experience with the type of software/service you've built) who have little/no incentive to use your platform over the competition. The best apps I have come across have had their community managers leverage me and ask repeatedly for my feedback and how to make things better. What else am I seeing going on in the market? How intuitive is that action? If this tool didn't exist tomorrow, where would I go and why? If a user isn't willing to take the time to answer these questions, move on to the next person.

Reaching out to the right people here means free advertising and loyalty, in addition to fixing the problems you don't come across internally.
Douglas Crockford, as that was the first thing JSON (as a data format) was used for: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON#History
sorry, I just meant there's no schedule for 4.* for which you can gauge a "trajectory", just a plan to bump it after a few years.

Since 2004, the kernel team has aimed to release every 2-3 months, and current releases are still within that timeline.
also get used to befuddling even competent recruiters, at one startup I did almost every job in the place at one time or another, when looking for a new job it drove the recruiters crazy trying to place me

I had this problem - recruiters want a job title to pigeon hole you with. Their brains explode when they can't do this.
> And yet, astonishingly, you get your mail

There are many places (where people live) that you can’t send a letter to. Instead you’ll have to send it to a mail drop where the intended receiver will have to pick it up.
Well, it would be that if Ghostery didn't offer you choice. Also, the data collected is about trackers and not the user.

Note: Ghostery dev here.
Well trained average people are good enough to do great things. That is a feature, not a bug.
I don't drive or travel much. But the few times it has been insanely helpful is if you do travel and have no idea about places to visit / see while you are there.
Have you seen the Happy Meal toys & some of the boxes lately? With all of the various movie tie-ins and whatnot, it's only a matter of time before Happy Meals are completely subsidized by the toys included.
Can I have Google Now on Android 4.0.4 please?
Yup, it has happen to me too. I have around 20 years in software development.

Around 9 years ago...

Me: We can abstract most of that data access with a simple table oriented orm. Not all of it, but a good 80%.

Younger Developer: Nope, That is what record sets are for, it is right here in the Microsoft docs (pointing to the ado api)

...

5 years later, he had moved to a different company, and I received a phone call from him: Just called to say that now I understand what you wanted and how it is simpler.

Me: Then I failed to communicate properly. What could I have say that would have make you give it a chance?

Him: Nothing, I needed to learn it the hard way.

Experience teach.

A few months ago, working with very young dev. team.

Tech lead (late 20s): We need to do all using TDD, if it is not TDD we don't touch it.

Me: Agree, but TDD is one of several tools to DDD; the developer needs to understand what its building, not just that all checks are in green.

Tech Lead: The devs only need the proper test.

Now they drop the core calculations from the project because they couldn't understand them by just looking at the tests, I got task with that, and a salary increase. And some how the tech lead think it is unfair because he "gets" Git and Resharper much better than me.

Aaawww, the luxury of being young.
Why execution is more important than idea
So the entire fix is basically to reboot to safe mode, then back out of it?

How does that fix anything?
Since I had to look it up: FTFF = Fix The &$%#ing Finder[1], a blanket term for OS X Finder woes!

[1]: http://www.applematters.com/article/ftff/
As a developer, it scares me to think that I may have a harder time finding a job after 40. For me, 40 is not far off. I love coding and want to do it professionally until I retire. I hope this trend of discrimination ends soon. It is sad to think that people would be discouraged from doing what they love just because of discrimination.
I find the study to be highly suspect. Looking at Stack Overflow means that you're only looking at people who are looking to learn & grow. It could be perfectly possible that programmers "weed out" of career advancement as they age and stay stuck with the same skills but those same programmers never think to create a SO profile.
How To Be Sensationally Successful At Your New Job
I'm not surprised at all. The mobile market is a much more compelling _user scenario_ than desktop, both in terms of the user-need and the user-interface.
On mobile, the user-need can be satisfied much better with additional sensor data that aren't common in computers today. The user-interface, too, is why it's a much more compelling mobile offering than a desktop offering (collating all that information in mobile between multiple apps would be annoying, not so much with a multi-tabbed browser or multiple windows)

Besides, Google has been killing it on iOS recently.
Knowing when to not microoptimize is a skill.

Honestly, you should have decided based on compensation, geography, etc. The jobs are similar. But you microptimized :-)
Never on Linux, not on Android, nor has Apple shown any indication of supporting Windows RT. If anything, Apple's abandonment of Safari for Windows indicates that they can't wait to support their platform solely. Even their retail store app, which is used to sell hardware products as little downside of being cross-platform, is iOS only. That's just cutting off your nose to spite your face behavior we've come to expect from Apple.
> One has to make choices. If you spend time learning graphical design rules, you cannot use that time to learn some new algorithm

For what it is worth, in my misspent youth, I started learning about design in elementary school and started learning about development early in high school. I do believe you are correct, but perhaps underestimate just how much time is at one's disposal.
Yes it will. Can we talk more about it?
Microsoft Pays Higher Rate to Beat Apple Sale: Corporate Finance
Or philosophers--specifically logicians.
On Android, it's accessed much the same way as Siri and so is truly "Google Now" on that platform. On iOS, you made have to launch an app but I don't think it would make sense to change the name to "Google Very Fast" or similar. Perhaps the name also refers to the speed of getting information when you're already in the app.
When interviewing programmers, I've not noticed any stark differences between the old and the young, but I have noticed a difference between years of experience, as expected.

Yes, hire an individule that is excited and willing to learn new things and keep up with this crazy industry the way others keep up with sports, politics, and whatnot ;)
Well, first, there is nothing preventing you from running JS or Java through the C preprocessor (and we did run JavaScript through it at my last job).

But there are equivalents for any programming language, but others here have already touched on them.

I'm not sure what SQL has built in, but I'd just use the C preprocessor if I needed that. However, I'd much rather not muck with my queries like that, because that will cause nasty surprises in production.

And I don't eat carbs, so your off the hook for a cake.
IMO you're assuming that folks would use Google Now on their desktop browser more than their smartphone. I wouldn't assume that. The data collection they'll get as a result of iOS is FAR superior (+ a bit more relevant for the current cards they're offering).
"are there real physical machines which are simple enough and have root on to be early hacking machines?"

If you really want to re-enact the OP article, visit Briel Computers and get a Micro-KIM. Mine works perfectly. At the 2013 Midwest Gaming Classic someone (not me) was exhibiting an original KIM (as seen in the post) and a microKIM side by side in the retrocomputing room, which my family found entertaining because I also have one mounted on a wood plaque in my "office" area. How else are you going to display one?

I was always more of a Z80 guy... speaking of Z80 computers, one currently shipping project is the N8VEM CP/M SBC project which I found pretty trivial to assemble and use, not to forget the P112 SBC as recently seen on kickstarter.

Then there's my stack of FPGA devices ranging from the micronova mercury to my boring typical Spartan boards, which twists the borders of "real hardware" and emulation.

A link to the MicroKIM1

http://www.brielcomputers.com/wordpress/?cat=24
A quick coarse-grained classification of mobile news apps
Make sure you have search history turned on in your Google account - that's when the magic happens.

Also, I'm not quite sure how the iOS experience will be compared to Android - on Android, Google Now can proactively push data to users via the ridiculously powerful notifications system, and the intents mechanism lets it hook into the other parts of the phone seamlessly. iOS' notification center is distinctly less advanced, and it obviously has no intents mechanism, so it may feel less "magical" than it does on Android, simply because it'll require more user proactivity to bridge that gap.

Here's a list of all the cards that Google Now might show you: http://support.google.com/nexus/4/answer/2839499?hl=en
Note that the second one outputs " -n", which is probably not what you want.
>Does anyone care to argue that the second could somehow be preferable to the first?

Mind that this's not my own PoV but from what I've been taught in school in the USSR and read in the modern liberal media the general idea is that it depends.

If you just take 5K from every man, woman and child then it's not good. However if this is just the average number and you take more from the "rich" and less from the "poor" then the communists argue that you reduced the wealth disparity and the value of this could easily be over 6K per person.
This is pretty neat, though this was available for math already. I wish you would aggregate some information up the tree, i.e. not only the list of students but a count of the students' students, etc...
Yeah, it took quite long to notice that it was kickstarter ad. Although there is something done if you believe actual kickstarter page.

Also, whole point of first paragraph in the site is to promote that app is open source and what benefits it brings to the users. So using open source for marketing and then kind of hiding actual source.. not nice.
Here is our take on mobile news consumption. I wanted to start a discussion about the market, which is currently very active (specially after Summly and Wavii acquisitions).
> Google better not be evil.

Given their history, that's an awful big statement to make.
I've found a wealth of talent by swimming against the Silicon Valley tide of favoring youth.

There is an annoying pathology at work though. During the 90's most experienced developers were incentivised to move into management or sales roles. Many of the management/sales roles these developers moved into have disappeared.

There is a population of older software developers who kept coding through the late 90's and early 00's who are almost invariably awesome.

There is also population of older developers who left day to day coding work and have seen their employment prospects diminish who are trying to get back into development. This is a more difficult population to work with.
One small typo under 'Crawl Data' - Dublicate titles should be Duplicate titles
Why would you do this instead of #if 0/#if 1? Has exactly the same effect, is a one character toggle (sure, it's editing one character rather than inserting/removing one character), and is much easier to read and remember.
I used to think that but lately I've been considering switching to Android. Google Now is one of the reasons. Giving me the opportunity to really try it might make be switch now. I think it's because Google Now isn't the kind of feature you can just test in the shop and make a decision on. It requires actual use to know if you like it.
> if there was a decent node.js based jekyll replacement, I would be using that.

I wrote https://github.com/marijnh/heckle to fill exactly that role. Though it only does the parts of Jekyll that I happened to need for my own blog. Calling it 'decent' might be pushing it.
Turn Your Web Application into a Firefox OS App in 5 Minutes
Last year at I/O, one of their big keynote announcements was Chrome for iOS.
1.5 hours and 1 hour and 30 mins and
Lateral Networking
There are manuals and an emulator here: http://www.floodgap.com/retrobits/kim-1/
Does "clear the console" mean open the terminal and type clear, or something else?
Branson's Virgin Galactic spaceship ignites engine in flight
We are looking into dynamic layout where tables can be split. It would be great to work along side you. Can I have your contact?
Ohhh, thanks a lot!
If you're running things like iStat Menus then you shouldn't be shocked when the system runs sluggish at times.
Generation jobless
Well, it's possible an object was transmitted as JavaScript source (to be decoded using eval) before the JSON spec existed.