skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
A more rigorous stack-rank-and-yank may be appropriate in this situation. :-)

A big part of the problem is that current researchers did have to manage their programming, IT, etc. during undergrad, grad, and post-doc periods. They did a lot of hacking with C, Perl, and Maple/MATLAB/etc.

As with many managers who were promoted because they were stellar engineers, those skills fade but they continue to think that they are qualified to judge the difficulty of the work. The fact that they have "done it"[1] before leads to a logically incorrect assumption that it's not that difficult.

After all, they learned those things on their own while thinking about the tough stuff.

[1] Except for, of course, in a predictable, repeatable, safe, auditable, etc. way with fifty other users asking for high priority changes.
Pressure from whom?
Ask HN: What's the best place in the U.S. to live and work cheaply?
I think some of us are interested in this discussion in the other thread, but that's about working locations outside the U.S.

Where would people choose to live cheaply and work on their own projects inside the country?

For example, I noticed someone here promoting an incubator in Myrtle Beach recently, and it appears that one could rent a townhouse there for < $1k.

From my own perspective the usual problem with this is the lack of other interests, amenities, and a dating pool. (Admittedly those things can be distractions, but those are distractions I'd like to have, from a QoL perspective.)
Actually I sympathise with the poster here. I just tried to get back to the personalised vanity chooser thing in G+, and ended up clicking on Settings then to Account, which got me to a google account page. On the right handside there is a link to a profile, and there's a nickname listed. I can't even remember what that's for or what that profile belongs to. There's even some reference to Buzz that I thought I'd killed. I go around in circles. And don't even get the whole Youtube integration thing. So I just back away from it and try and ignore it. You get overloaded. I'm not at the point of deleting my account, but not far off - mainly out of confusion.
Warning: Sonicwall firewalls come with no warranty
I bought a new TZ 205 firewall and cannot log in. When I contacted Sonicwall/Dell for help I was told that the firewalls come with no warranty and no support. So beware, with a Sonicwall you're on your own.
Heh A lot of the modern commodore peripherals have more computing power than the computers they are plugged into. But then again they aren't usually as fun as the Commodore.
:-D
Is it me or has this theme of Silicon Valley's innovation, or lack thereof, become played out?

Like, it's become sort of the popular thing to do as of late, and it is such bullshit. Pundits are so quick to criticize the region as a whole yet only can point to startups they see everyday in mainstream tech media—very annoying.
OP was clear about looking outside the US, but since I (and others) seem to really want to talk about this:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6702111

(Not trying to steal the OP's thunder--this is a separate discussion.)
Mozilla Firefox supports typhoon Haiyan victims
You've to show that you're ready to adapt with the company needs. I don't have a crystal ball to tell you exactly what you will be working on.

There is a difference between asking for a crystal ball, and asking which of the tech listed on the job advert is actually relevant.

Remember, this question is asked due to widespread misrepresentation from companies about job adverts. Prospective employees can stop asking this question when job adverts become much more honest.
I come exactly from this background at school, so I never had this 'problem' with Java.

It was pretty new to me and kinda not sensed the concept behind closures.

I would like to know what you think about the explanation I provided in the post about closures. Did I get the point? Don't hesitate to tell me if I'm totally wrong
Language Theoretic Security
Javascript error messages, Custom object representation
AST-Macro enabled languages (... Python)

What?! You can't write macros in Python? (right? have I missed something?)
In my experience established PIs tend to delegate a healthy fraction of the responsibility for managing technical staff, mentoring students, and even acquiring funding to their postdocs. In turn, faculty search committees see this experience as crucial, and competition for academic jobs is strong enough (~100 applicants per position, last I heard) that I would imagine any new PI should have a fair amount of experience under their belt.

At the PhD level and above, academia seems to revolve around managing one's personal brand. Publishing a few good papers isn't enough, you have to be "THE guy/girl" in an in-demand specialty to get a job. Your observation that this requires a business/PR/advertising mentality in addition to the ability to do solid research is spot on, but I think the game changes long before professor-hood, and I think that anyone who successfully obtains an entry-level professorship has already demonstrated competence at playing it.
- What will I be doing the first week I'm here?

If you get an answer like "you'll be setting up your development machine and loading/building the A-12 project to get a feel for our servers and systems", that's good. You also have your first assignment when you show up and your boss is too busy to guide you around.

If you get a shrug and something more nebulous, press harder. If they can't answer, expect a goat rodeo when you start.
> "company"?

Possibly a Freudian slip. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freudian_slip
I feel that the argument for the need for multiline definitions here is a bit weak. You are already putting each definition on its own line, so the definitions are actually fairly close to how their actual usage will look. I feel that if you really need them to be all that long, you are already in weird-style territory, so it isn't such a bad idea to just say "deal with wide files". Overall, it improves ergonomics for the vast majority of use cases, with the only cost being a possible aesthetic annoyance for users who are already writing aesthetically-annoying code.
The people who finance modern politics - their corporate donors. Who supposedly (see EFF) stand to gain power over governments if this thing passes. Including the US government.
Ask HN: Your Thoughts On The Present Bitcoin Rally?
Hi,

I remember recently seeing a poll on HN & seeing that many of us hold bitcoin, and I'm wondering what HN'ers opinions are on the recent bitcoin price rally.

I'm personally of the opinion that it's not going to be a bubble but rather a new normal in terms of a higher value in bitcoin overall. I have no idea where it's likely to level off however, and am enjoying watching my portfolio increase in value.
Self hosting Rack based apps
"If teenagers decide to congregate on a different social network, why would they stop using that and go back to facebook just because they go to college?"

Not only that but parent comment (which does make some valid points) doesn't take into account what could be called the reverse network effect. If stories of facebook's lack of popularity continue to surface (as well as the reasons for it) things would begin to accelerate (stock drops, advertisers no longer see it in a positive light) users who wouldn't leave begin to leave or discover alternatives, someone is spurred on to develop a product which attracts more of their users etc. In other words usage drops, morale at facebook drops it's no longer the place to be. Facebook hasn't been around that long and after a while it is entirely possible that even users today will tire of it and move elsewhere. And losing the network effect will make it less valuable to anyone who sticks around.
The secret, powerful cabal that decides which stories end up on the front page of Hacker News is going to be after you for exposing this. Quick! Run for safety! I'll hold them off as long as I can!
So you're not concerned about Ubuntu. Why don't you then let Ubuntu try _their_ thing and be happy with the Linux ecosystem which provides so much choice? Why the strong critisizing?

It was an apt-get remove --purge .. to remove the things I didn't like. The things I like I can download from everywhere, much much more difficult with Mac/Windows (how would I e.g. get XCode other than through iTunes?)
...

mmm hm.

your graph looks similar to the authors. Huge sprawling areas of meaningless changes, punctuated by actual work, which more or less was consistent throughout history.

Do you feel this is a meaningful metric?
Check below ideas shared in another HN post. Even you can't work on those ideas, you might be able to learn how he finds/describes his ideas.

http://thedannorris.com/startup-ideas/
The first one to come to mind was the Kyoto Protocol. Clinton signed it. I don't think the Congress even voted on it.

A funny result of that is despite all the negativity, the US actually met the requirements anyway: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/04/05/usa-meets-kyoto-protoc...
> It's secretive because politicians can't have discussions and make deals if everything they say is picked over by their constituents and enemies.

Maybe they should look for another line of work then and leave it to those who can have those discussions under public scrutiny, because that's how it works in a democracy.
I'd say the real trouble is teaching any syntax at all to beginners, because their first language really taints them for life. Most people will think of successive languages in terms of their first, until they learn many and are able to think more generally.

Lisp has the advantage that it really teaches the general semantics of programming languages, because it's syntax is just the syntax tree, and it basically only has one form, which is function application. There's some "special forms" built into the implementation of a lisp to make it useful, but those shouldn't be confused with syntax. In fact, the parenthesis and space between function and arguments shouldn't be considered the lisp syntax either - it's just one way to represent a tree structure in linear text.

I think the real issue is the confusion in teaching is between Computer Science and Computing as a vocation. Nobody teaches the former any more, because it's less useful in the real world. As a result, we have languages which try to make a distinction between "programmer" and "programming language implementer", where the programmer generally knows less about what he is doing because someone has imposed a specific, narrow set of ideas on him.
Well said, we just ask for basic info. It just gives it for free though we don't want it.
Tory Burch Sandals,Tory Burch Handbags,
The bitcoins held by the US is only the largest held at a single address. MtGox's bitcoins are probably split between multiple addresses.
Well if you and I are thinking that the people running Twitter are dumb and left a billion dollars on the table, there may be more to the story.
In the US, a huge difference between a treaty and a normal law is that only the Senate is involved in ratifying a treaty. The House does not get a vote.
You should aim for quality, not quantity.
Two random comments:

First, the NYT is engaging in the standard Brooksian/Friedmanist technique of supporting something with apparent qualifications, but actually engaging in unconditional support. That is, using the Iraq War as an example:

- I support the Iraq War, if it is done this way (describe reservations)

- The Iraq War is not done that way in the slightest

- Given the above, I support the Iraq War

The NYT supports TPP with qualifications; the TPP will not have those attributes; given the above, the NYT will absolutely support the TPP. It's a way to deflect criticism - if anyone criticizes your support, you just point to your expressed reservations.

Second, free trade has proven to be not good for the bulk of the public. Most HN commenters, having been immersed in right-wing economics, have the belief that it is somehow scientifically proven that free trade is beneficial for all, but that's not actually what the science says. The results of decades of "free trade" agreements have been to overrule local decision-making; they are profoundly anti-democratic. They've resulted in a massive transfer of wealth from the bulk of the population to a very few, very wealthy individuals. Free trade agreements are a substantial cause for the fact that most workers in the United States are making less money now than they were 30 years ago, even though their productivity has gone up massively in the meantime.

If an action X takes away $1 from each of nine people, and gives $15 to the tenth person, the total benefit for society in dollars is theoretically positive (-$9, +$15) but nine out of ten people have been harmed by it, and it's not clear that the real benefit is positive at all, because of the declining marginal utility of money. That's pretty much what "free trade" represents. Add in the anti-democratic aspects and it's clear to me that modern "free trade" agreements, negotiated in secret between the Aspen corporate elite, are something that should be roundly opposed.
I've noticed the same thing. I find it strange though. Most people I know have smart phones on contracts and most smartphones come with unlimited SMS. Still these people prefer Whatsapp and Viber. I drives me nuts as I'd rather not send me communications through yet another company.
Hot Stove Roundup: Skippers remain in news
Many of these questions will make you look arrogant and not easy to work with.

Which, incidentally, is exactly how you're portraying yourself when you assume that the choice is up to you alone and dismiss the right of the potential employee to choose another employer.
> visualization techniques for exploring and analyzing large datasets.

Would it be possible for you to treat the vast amounts written on the internet regarding career choices as your "large dataset" and use your knowledge and tools to explore and analyze this dataset, and visualize it to us?
Unicode character info via JSON
wow. The best use i found is if you know something of a kind and want to find something like it.
For example,

{
"code":"U+2603",
"name":"SNOWMAN",
"url":"http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2603/index.htm",
"imageurl":"http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2603/snowman.png",
"htmlentity":null,
"block":"Miscellaneous Symbols",
"blockcode":"miscellaneous_symbols",
"blockurl":"http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/block/miscellaneous_symbols/index.htm",
"category":"Symbol, Other",
"categorycode":"So",
"categoryurl":"http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/category/So/index.htm"
}

http://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/2603/index.json
The career progression slide is awesome but never implemented in practice. The director has waaaay more influence and salary compared to the architect.
Love the "Simon Says" app from Los Noders:

http://los-noders.2013.nodeknockout.com/#

brought back some memories (and smiles!) :)
Not even going to click to find out how stupid people are. Did they implement integration with data streams from hundreds of national insurance companies? Didn't think so.
+1

This looks a lot like the language I've been dreaming about. I actually like the explicit `end` keyword to materialize the end of blocks. The lambda expression syntax, as illustrated by the filter/map/fold example, looks like Ruby blocks with a much simpler syntax. A couple of questions to the crew:

Why advertise it as a teaching language ? As a working programmer this looks very appealing to me. Are there limitations that don't make it a good language for practical programming (other than the fact that it's not ready yet, of course)?

Are you planning to provide a tutorial more approachable than the language reference?
"Two parties (however defined) that implement a free trade agreement tend to see a rise in standard of living."

You're missing the part where party A has a standard of living of 9 and party B has a standard of living of 4 and after the treaty they go to 8 and 6, respectively.

Yes, a rise in standard of living - but A lost and it would be completely rational for them to reject the FTA.

It's even more stark when you consider that the 9 that becomes an 8 is made up, internally, primarily of sevens-that-become-fives and a small portion of 100s that become 200s.

So yes, people railing against FTA/globalization often have no theoretical underpinning, have no clarity in their argument, and generally "don't know what they're talking about" - but they're getting fucked and they know it and that trumps the well-worded argument you're looking for.
EBay - How to Stick it to the Little Guy
Same, noticed the Facebook button and walked away. Show me some live examples, and include a how it works page, and you might grab my interest.

Please people, stop requiring users to login to learn about your application or service. Why are you putting a giant hurdle at the front door? Signing up should be the very last step. For example, let me setup a Webbify page, and if I want to save it, I need to create an account. At that point, I'm invested, I'm much more likely to register.
FEC poised to allow Bitcoin campaign donations
Here's what future career paths very roughly look like for new grads (based on my own perceptions, not glassdoor):

Trying to Cure Cancer: $25k/yr, bump to $40k after 6 years

Engineering Medical Devices, Airplanes, etc: $60k/yr

Trying to Build the Next Twitter: $100k/yr, $150k/yr after 6 years

Helping Rich People Game the System to Get Richer: $150k/yr, $300k/yr after a few years if successful

The desire to stay in academia comes from having different priorities than the market. Many/most people do. The people who don't usually happen to specialize in a field that the market is currently smiling upon. It's great if your dream can be gently tweaked to be compatible with market considerations, but please understand that for most people this is not the case. There are many Big Problems lurking on the horizon where intermediate progress can't be monetized. Academia lets you work on them. The market doesn't.
Yes, spot on.

For your original code example, the Java compiler would have failed with an error that the variable 'i' was not declared final (immutable). Java 8 supports lambdas now, but in earlier Java versions you would have had to add a line like 'final int fi = i;' and you could then have used the fi inside the closure. The point in my previous post that the compiler detecting this ambiguity is exceptionally helpful and I'd prefer more languages to follow that route.

With Java 8 lambdas, it's much the same but with some nice syntax to make it easier[1].

[1] http://java.amitph.com/2012/08/at-first-sight-with-closures-...
The Kyoto Protocol does not have the force of law in the U.S. because it was not ratified by Congress--so it is not an example of what rayiner was talking about.
Definitely going to check this out, thanks!
Memberlist - Cluster membership and failure detection library in Go
I lot more Ruby-like than Python. Not sure why it both has ":" and "end" and the "|" is kinda ugly the way it's used.
That was exactly what happend to the German clones from the so called "VZ" group. The where designed after facebook, but before its internationalisation.

Once FB gained traction here, it was a lost fight for the VZs. The other local social networks suffered as well.

But here the next big thing for the kids/youth is Instagram. So the stay with FB. But listening to them when I commute, it really is, "Have you seen thet thing on Instagram..." when one year back it was "... seen oon FB..."
Don't have a Facebook account, don't want a Facebook account.
Good list. N. 2 is a good catch really.

I would add another question. What's the development stack like. And by that I don't mean N.4

What I mean is: What's your source control system, bug tracker, (possibly) IDE/Editor, (possibly) other tools/environmental issues depending on the area (more usual in specific areas, embedded software for example)
My biggest gripe with these is the inability to name the tests. What exactly is a unittest block testing for? You need to rely on comments or read the test code where none exists. Doesn't seem like Pyret fixed that issue.
Interesting. You actually think this is worth material for HN?

Personally I felt bad about that comment, because it was shooting fish in a barrel, but it seems those fish needed to be shot.
It is mostly the ability to participate in group chats, share media and the native feel of it. It really just works. I don't like the whole third party idea either, especially because the company behind Whatsapp is pretty shady.

SMS is just too dated to compete. In fact, wih the new SMS proxy API in Android (apps can act as interfaces to SMS), Whatsapp can even obtain a bigger role.
Just hit day 50! I think GitHub could really do some awesome things with that little contribution grid. And yes, having private repo's show as green-blocks is kinda crucial imo. I recently had a potential employer take a look at my account and mentioned how I have only made "a few" commits to my GitHub repos when I had stated that I am constantly working on stuff.
Indeed you can https://github.com/lihaoyi/macropy
Here is a video showing how to bootstrap an angular-phonegap application in 6 commands : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXkLu7q4tq4
These are the package management systems that I use. A new package management systems just does this http://xkcd.com/927/ What we need is a cross-platform cross-applicaton meta package management system which comes as configuration management that evolves to a general purpose package manager without relying on any external package manager.

I'm not fanboy enough and would happily replace:

emerge, equo, apt-get, aptitude, ipkg, dpkg, zypp rpm, yum, tazpkg, pacman, homebrew

tar/gzip, slackpkg (Yeah, you, Slackware, we were friends and you helped me for long enough. You shouldn't do all my work anymore, you're old. Take a rest)

pip, cabal, bundler, gem, composer, pear, cpan, ctan, cran, maven, vundle – haven't you also a love hate relationship with these?
> Java only allows 'final' or immutable variables to be passed into closures. This prevents the value from changing and ensures that the compiler catches the problem if you try to pass a changing value into a closure.

"Final" in Java does not make objects immutable. The object itself can have mutator methods that change instance variables/attributes of the object, even though the identifier is declared as final.

IIRC, the only reason Java requires variables in closures to be final is for garbage collection. "final" allows the runtime to know that the identifier itself isn't going to be rebound to a different object, which is different from knowing that the object that it is being bound to won't change internally.

(Disclaimer: It's been a while since I used Java proper, so I'm probably missing some subtlety with the explanation of the rationale, but I'm pretty sure it's something along these lines).
Huh. I didn't know that Murdoch had anything in mainland China, thought that he'd avoided it with all of his properties. Thank you for informing me. :)
This doesn't seem like it would be easy for novices to grasp, though it looks like a solid language. For teaching, I think Quorum (http://www.quorumlanguage.com) seems like a stronger alternative (disclosure, I am a member of a CS senior project team building their web system).
So it seems like sites like kickstarter should only allow Visa and MasterCard, and people should not start sending rewards until > 2 months after payment has been received...
azio_m, What company do you work for? I want to make sure I never send my resume there.
John Matrix (Commando) Bio on IMDB.
The list may be good but I find this writing style off-putting