skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
Well, the compile-to-C thing is one thing. It's possible to compile any language down to C. You could compile Brainfuck or Python down to C if you wanted. The question is how complicated the resultant code will end up being compared to pure C. I would only call Ruby a "compile-to-C" language if it could generate code that is at least somewhat comparable to sane C code. Here's some C code that sums all the integers in an array:

long sum(int *a, int len)
{
long ret = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < len; i++)
ret += a[i];
return ret;
}

The entire loop (the conditional test, the increment, and the `ret` update) could probably be implemented in less than 10 native instructions depending on your machine. Faaaaast. If Ruby were a compile-to-C language, I would expect it to produce C code that looked somewhat like this. So let's look at the same snippet in Ruby:

# sum the first len elements of a
def sum(a, len)
ret = i = 0
while i < len
ret += a[i]
i += 1
end
ret
end

(This is far from being idiomatic Ruby code, but this solution is the simplest and it also seems like it would be the easiest to directly translate to C.) Semantically, here's what that would translate to (in a C-like pseudocode):

RubyObject *sum(RubyObject *a, RubyObject *len)
{
RubyObject *ret = newRubyInteger(0);
RubyObject *i = newRubyInteger(0);
while (call(getMethod(i, "<"), len)) {
ret = call(getMethod(ret, "+"), call(getMethod(a, "[]"), i));
i = call(getMethod(i, "+"), 1)
}
return ret;
}

Why is this so complicated? Because I've captured Ruby's dynamic typing and dynamic dispatch within the function itself. `ret` isn't a long, it's a Ruby variable that can hold any type of object, so we need to capture that in the source. Same with `i`, `a`, and `len`. When we say `a[i]`, we're not jumping to the `i`th element of the integer array `a`, which would be super fast. Instead, we have to dynamically dispatch the `[]` method, which will perform bounds checking and a bunch of type-checking. We also have to dynamically dispatch the `<` and `+` methods everywhere, which perform type-checking themselves. Obviously, this all takes much, much more than 10 native instructions. You can't generally optimize out the method dispatches, since you are generally allowed in Ruby to redefine methods of built-in classes wherever you want. You might be able to perform some static analysis to get rid of some dynamic types, but you have to be careful with machine integers, since they overflow without warning. You'd have to check after every operation you do that the operation didn't overflow, and switch it out for a big integer if that happens. Any of these methods could raise exceptions and that's a nontrivial problem to deal with. The garbage collector is also running in the background.

And this is just a simple example, too. Things get a hell of a lot more complicated when you introduce blocks and dynamic scoping (which I purposefully stayed away from). So that should paint a somewhat clear picture of why it's not just an issue of waiting 10 years until Ruby gets as fast as C. I don't know how close it's even possible to get without messing with the semantics of the language.
Having a general CS education does not necessarily make you able to explore arbitrary fields. CS programs are ultimately designed by course administrators and professors and can be slow to change, so there's no guarantee that they will prepare you sufficiently to explore whatever avenues you wish to explore later.

Ultimately it depends on where you see your shortcomings that are preventing you from doing what you want. Do you wish you had better credentials so that you could get a job with better pay or more interesting work? Or do you find yourself frustrated because you are not able to sufficiently grok a certain subject area.
I'm a Devbootcamp alumni, now working in a full time position. Just like you, I wanted to continue my learning and get more knowledge on algorithms, data-structures, and other things DevBootcamp doesn't teach you.

I strongly recommend
- Algorithms in a nutshell from O'Reilly (http://www.amazon.com/Algorithms-Nutshell-In-OReilly/dp/0596...)

and
- Cracking the Coding interview (http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Coding-Interview-Programming-...)

Those two books are perfectly concise and straight to the point to understand and learn exactly what you feel you are lacking as a self-taught programmer.

The first one will teach you what you have to know, putting everything into work context, making it really easy to understand why and how this or that algorithm is useful.

Cracking the coding interview then offers really good challenges to practice and master those algorithms. And of course, if you are interested in getting a job, will perfectly prepare you for that ;)
Yes, you are right. I took some liberties with the assumptions to keep it simple.
From the founder of Aptera, tiny (and stackable) ultra-efficient organic farms
OK, technically correct, but access to source code and a restriction on commercial distribution is not what people usually associate with propietary software. When you say propietary what most of us think is Linus releasing binary-only versions of Linux in 1991, which is false. I think "almost free software" is a much more accurate description, and a lot less flamey.

And by the way, the GPL was first written in 1989, so you could hardly argue that in 1991 many people understood how free software should work or which are the longterm consequences of using a certain license for your hobby project. Cut Linus some slack, he released source code and eventually used the GPL, right?
A Full Life to the End
i'm sorry, english isn't my native language.
and i haven't tested it on mobile devices.
the design is responsive but i think FileSaver.js isn't supported.
i'd glad if u try it on desktop browser.

thanks.
Valleywag & D.Cohen are missing the point; are accelerators worth it?
Out of curiosity, what do you think of the Dell XPS13 Developer Edition, which seems to fill not all, but a lot of your conditions?
I am talking mostly from my own experience (from two or three European universities). A lot of my undergraduate CS programme was very mathematics heavy with a lot of focus on proofs (a lot of calculus, linear algebra, discrete mathematics, graph theory, algebra, even set theory for some, first order and predicate logic) and then of course a lot of foundational CS subjects like automata theory, basic datastructures, crypto, .... I would argue that proper rigorous proofs and thinking are maybe easier taught on the example of calculus or set theory rather than graph theory (I am not talking about discrete mathematics such as combinatorics without much of graphs, etc.). In graph theory, you often resort to doing proofs "by drawing" assuming that a skilled reader would be able to fill in the dots in a formal manner. That said, it's just my opinion and your course may have ways around it.
I am really curious about the economics of this. I can see 100% artificial light being an efficient way to grow weed but how it can compete in the vegetables market is mysterious to me. The article says they are already at the same level as top-grade organic food. If that is true and they aren't making a loss on this, surely they should be able to scale it up and lower prices in the future. That would be great but I am not convinced it is in fact possible. Does anyone have further insight what the math on this is?
The consumer web might be dying, but the b2b web isn't.

We are a far cry from me being able to properly program or design anything without at least a laptop size computer.
Yes. 2000 calories can be starvation, complete with feeling like crap, reduced mental and physical capabilities and the body lowering its metabolism to keep itself from getting thin. Also, even if you do lose weight by starving yourself (which is inevitable if you do eat little enough for long enough and don't die from malnutrition), you can't go back to eating enough to feel satiated, because you'll get fat again. You'll need to feel like you're starving for the rest of your life.
PHP internals are actually very different from Javascript internals, but the same could be said for a lot of languages. Point stands though, no language is the same as another and habits die hard.
Once again Betteridge's law proves true.
have planned. keyboard support like ctrl+s, tab etc.
thanks :)
There's always lots of PHP hating going on from language snobs, mostly from people with toy projects in the latest language du jour (was Ruby, then Node, Scala, now Clojure and Go).

Fact is PHP, for all its faults, still runs far more websites than all of those others combined and then some (http://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/programming_languag... - eg PHP 80%, Ruby 0.5%, Python 0.2%)
The question that popped in my mind reading this is: should apprentice developers do away with learning web app development and focus on iOS/Android development? What if new graduates go through hoops learning how to develop web apps only to find a market that only wants mobile app developers? I'm not worried much for server side development, that's the same for both types of apps, but for client-side developers and designers that might actually find themselves with a very shrinked market 5 years from now.
go to "data:text/html, <html contenteditable>" to your browser and type
A couple of years ago I wrote something similar (runs offline):
http://web.student.tuwien.ac.at/~e0427417/outliner/outliner....
https://bitbucket.org/panzi/outliner/

It never worked with IE (I used addEventListener) and I think is buggy now even in Chrome/Firefox. But at one point it had D'n'D support (of lines within the outliner and dropping of files from your file system), common keyboard edit methods (Shift+Arrow keys to select things, Ctrl+X/C/V, Tab, Shift+Tab, etc.), and Undo/Redo.

From today's POV the code is a bit horrible. The Undo/Redo code should be written completely differently (so it can be serialized) and it all should be rewritten with jQuery or something like that (it's plain JavaScript).

About saving/downloading files generated in JavaScript I wrote something here (might not be up to date anymore; e.g. see the "update" at the very end):
http://hackworthy.blogspot.co.at/2012/05/savedownload-data-g...
Last time I checked this pure JavaScript code could save on more browsers than FileSaver.js, but that was at least >1 year ago.
I see the web as a collection of information and information processors (applications) and don't see how can one exist without the other.
X-No-Wiretap
0. I have everything in a text file because I still haven't found a solution that is easy to use, fast to use, allows tagging and a navigation that makes sense.

I don't care much about synchronisation, but most bookmarking service providers seem to care little about anything else with a few exceptions like thumbnails or backups.

I've had a few ideas of how to change that but there are some edge cases that are probably hard to solve (massive usage of tagging combined with ajaxified access would probably require quite the infrastructure, thumbnail support for a lot of websites is both extensive and requires worker queues/communication, latency ruins benefit of search-as-you-type).

I hope some day I will be able to tag all open pages into a temporary holding place, lasso all I want to keep and drag & drop the whole bundle into preconfigured places (like development, python, javascript) which then automatically tags them accordingly. And if there are some pictures in there I want to be able to zoom in seemlessly to take a better look at what I'm tagging. Then I open the sidebar, take the cat box from the shelve and I have a workdesk of hundreds of cat pictures which I can shuffle, sort by name, color or date, zoom into or stuff in another new box called favorites. Then I remember I need to do some work and type "de py b" and it recognizes that I want to take a look at all bookmarks tagged development, python, blog because there was something I wanted to read but I forgot the name of the page. Another click on sort-by-date and I'm sure I will find it.

Do many people need such features? I don't know. But it sounds amazing in my head and also fast enough to be of use, because if I have to navigate trough menus, type out the tags, or do the same thing a hundred times to tag a hundred pictures I might as well google for it and stuff the pictures into some session or even download them instead.
Yes, because fecal transplants are so invasive.
There is an updated version: http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymit...
Best Notepad in your broswer
Open your browser.

Enter "data:text/html, <html contenteditable>" for the url (wo the quotes).

Type in the page.

This is my everyday go-to noteskeeping. Enjoy
Can Man Ultimately Take on 'The Machine' in Chess, or Anywhere?
By that logic, the networking hardware on the NIC could be compromised as well, giving an attacker DMA capabilities on a server, too.
I don't think that is the main problem with that calculation. They assume to know the risk of failure over one year. Having three separate copies would allow you to estimate the risk as they do if they don't intend to monitor failures over shorter times than that (which would be a very very bad idea). Therefore the risk is actually much smaller since one would presume that they do something about it when the first hard drive fails...

As noted elsewhere this is hardly the only source of potential data loss however.
Why is Google building Google Fiber in Provo Utah where the NSA facility is?
Yes or no. Google is pushing the mobile web because it can index/rank web pages (PageRank work well with web pages and the links between them). It is much harder to deep link between native apps, hence Google cannot search in-app content. Without being able to rank in-app pages and even whole apps, Google cannot make money.

The other key question is access to the device native capabilities from java script. Google can at max, assure access to android OS API from java script, but even than the device hardware manf (e.g. Samsung) can create additional hardware capabilities which can be accessed only by native apps.

So to sum up, the whole "mobile web app" vision can only occur if Google could rank mobile app pages and show you native apps (or a link to the original web site) in the search results.
I don't know how to evaluate its trustworthiness, but I use PIA too and like it. Quite fast, servers in many countries, and support for L2TP (so you can use it in Android without a client -- though they provide one).
> Random IO is processed first through the SSDs (the thing that they are really good at) while sequential IO short-cuts to the hard drives - which is pretty slick.

Any idea why the sequential benchmark numbers improved 4-5x when it is still "short-cutting" to the HDs?
thanks for the links..
i got some inspiration from ur design and will take a deep look at the code...
I think it was an attempt at humour, as in the fascist party ruling the country has now tagged you as a dissenter and will arrest you.

I suggest you get some hosting somewhere (location will depend on where you are, and where you're communicating too, and who you're worried about). Then install OpenVPN (requires custom clients) or configure IPSec (will work out of box on all OSes including Android/iOS).
I would suggest you avoid any US and UK providers. Surveillance cooperations like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA_Agreement are red flags.
Ask HN: Parents, What's The Coolest Kids Birthday Party Activity You've Seen
> 100GB Bandwidth

and no unlimited plan.
True, but the way you quoted the argument does not back that up. The article is discussing diet modification in a quite different context.
Imgur is also a good example of this (piggybacking on reddit)
i know this.
even first i thought i'd use contenteditable attribute inside a div but later i decided to use textarea instead..

thanks.
Could be, but careful observation and personal research has revealed that Flash runs dog slow in OS/X and Windows also.
kind of cool, but the data disappears with the tab.
Absolutely. I wasn't trying to paint it as a black and white argument at all, and in fact, quite the contrary.

The people who are against vaccinations are mostly idiots, however, scientists are not infallible. Sometimes they lapse into politics too.
Why would someone use s3for.me service instead of Mega ?
In terms of speed, security and pricing how much worse/better is this service ?
Why (a successful) Kickstarter didn't work for us
On the basis of the content of the article -- which is my first impression as to the quality of her research -- I am reluctant to buy the book.
Why didnt OP link to original article?
Beached whales take a long time to die. I think these are signs that PHP is dying, not thriving.
And if you are healthy and thin you can make money by donating it:
http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/vol/4050676649.html
I would second this recommendation, if you have the technical chops for it. Whilst it may seem like more work initially - your vpn will perform far better.

Many paid vpn providers limit you to ~1Mbps down, which may be impractical for some forms of browsing. By contrast, as your personal vpn's only client - you can reasonably expect to see speeds comparable to your own connection and (if you are in europe) only a minor drop in ping.

Furthermore, if you need to use the VPN on a network which blocks ports, running the vpn yourself allows you to edit the port upon which it accepts connections.

Lastly - Hetzner is provider without direct ties to the US/UK, which should afford you some security from drag-net surveillance etc... the Germans seem pretty upset about the whole US signals intel overreach debacle. A win from this perspective.
99.99 over a year (@365.256 * 86400) is about 52 minutes downtime.

I wouldn't want to promise that.
That is great and all, but if the government wants some data from google.. they will get it one way or another.
KNUTH can contribute to the temple. He writes books, not code though, so maybe not. Make it better without increasing line count (more or less). Any genius can make it more complicated.

Some nigger thinks the is a size limit. No. Any genius can make it more complicated. It's a modern C64, not a heap of shit code. Do you not understand that simple is harder to do than complicated. Why the fuck are you such a nigger-moron?
For a 150 pound male who is sedimentary, approximately 2100 calories is required to maintain weight (American Cancer Society). While there are exceptions, most people who are overweight eat too much and exercise too little.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Why-people-become-ove...
Arrays and copies are often faster than the equivalent structure-sharing trees, under a certain size at least.
I like tunnelr. They have pretty good log retention rules and a bunch of handy exit nodes.

https://www.tunnelr.com/
"The name of the language isn't named after anyone. While I was trying to find a name for this project I happend to glace over at a guitar pick that was sitting on my desk. It said "Ernie" on it so I figured that would be the name that I would use"

Well, in that case it _was_ named after someone: Ernie Ball.
That chart is bogus. There are way more than 2 million desktops in the world. Did you mean billion?

Moreover, most of the apps on your phone are native front-ends for web-facing APIs:

- Facebook

- RSS readers (Pulse, Flipboard)

- E-mail

- Chat

If you think of the web as strictly HTML documents, then yes, usage patterns may be shifting towards native. But, the core-concept of the web is really a global network of interoperable machines that anyone can enhance. It's a world-wide watering hole. If you take this broader view of the web, it's thriving more than ever before.

It's a bit alarmist to imply that this network is dying because HTML may be displaced as the primary interface.

(Incidentally, the biggest reason this is happening is because Apple's interest is in making proprietary apps awesome and WebKit good-enough. Mozilla, Google, and many other community players are working to bring native-quality APIs to the web to preserve its platform-agnostic nature. As long as Apple dominates developer mindshare, they'll have an uphill battle.)
The classic startup article fallacy. Let's look at these group of winning startups (from the somewhat distant past) and then find some commonalities and then make them a general guide for startups today. Without looking at the losers, you have no idea what characteristics of the "winning" startup was actually the most important. I have no doubt that for every one company that succeeded at one of these bullet points, ten failed doing something similar. That isn't to say the ideas are bad, but the fact that one startup succeeded doing them doesn't mean it is good.

Also why is everybody so afraid to mention luck in posts like these? I think if you build a product for a new web browser, and that browser becomes the #1 browser on the internet, that is pretty lucky. Yes, there is a ton of skill there too, but also a ton of luck.

I'm not saying the lessons in this post are necessarily bad, but statements like "This is how networked products achieve viral growth" and "So here’s the secret" are just hyperbole, nothing more.
I honestly don't see the difference, if you consider it from the the consumer point of view. The web is alive and thriving, the only thing that has changed is a smaller screen size and touch screen interaction. Weather its a screen on a desk or held in your hand is irrelevant.
When I was younger, I went to a birthday party where some presumably wealthy parents had shelled out to keep a waterpark open a day after it closed for the season, and we had the park to ourselves. Not every ride was open, but there were basically no lines, and it was pretty cool.
99.99% uptime on Hetzner.

Based on my experience this should be really good.
Possibly because the HDDs are free to only do long sequential reads, as opposed to having to seek to some random place every now and then.
Yup, I use the Trader Joe's analogy too. I love them. There's no contrived nonsense. It's so refreshing. It's so obvious how all the rest are manipulative bullshitters. Hooray for integrity. Why they hell do 70% of GNU/Linux users still not use AdBlock????
http://www.tobtu.com/lastpass.php why nobody should use lastpass
I am not disputing the fact that a major motivation for their actions is PR. I am suggesting that action as a result of PR pressure is still action - vastly preferable to meek acceptance of the status quo.

That being so - dismissing something as "just PR" misrepresents the actual benefits something like this may confer.
Man built the machine.
I guess a better title would be "Is the web browser dying". It seems to me like the web is transforming away from the browser into standalone applications that use the underlying architecture. Sure it's still HTTP requests going back and forth from the Facebook app but it is different from the old way of building a website.

I don't think any major service has launched in a long time without a dedicated app for iPhone and Android as their main product, the browser experience is just too clunky on mobile.
That's a let-down. I was hoping that this was a language with keywords like Bert? and rubber duckie.

It's been that kind of morning.
> The faces of autism are the faces of everyday people.

My oldest son has an ASD. I'm very familiar with the idea that those with a form of autism are not those who simply "look autistic".
> those adjectives accurately describe those people

I think there's a big difference between someone who blatantly broke the law, like Horiemon, and someone who failed to contribute as much philanthropically as people would have liked to have seen (Jobs). Moreover, we have examples of successful entrepreneurs who have given back (such as Gates).