skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I recall studies that claimed 10 LoC per day - that is, debugged, documented, production, finished code.

The odd thing was that it was 10 LoC whether it was assembly or high-level languages - because you could do more in 10 lines of a high level language, it is actually more productive. Not really surprising, I guess; that's the point of good abstractions.
There are, admittedly, some tools that can make solving a specific set of problems very quickly. "A blog in 20 minutes" or a "news site in 15 minutes" are quick examples.

I can deploy Plone in under that and, lo and behold, you have a functional intranet (in fact, my department uses one I deployed in about that time) that will need refinements in the future but that can be used right now. You are not building something out of specs, but on a living, deployed, system.
Go for it: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/freespirit/

:)
Doesn't really matter that is such a small part of the story.

From the language of Apple's statement it is fairly obvious they are being weaselly about the meaning of the word "reject" in addition to being dishonest about what the Google voice app actually does. This whole response reads like a carefully crafted PR statement. I love Apple products but they've really managed to dig themselves into a hole here.
#songsincode - Birthing a Trend
WampServer 2.0  Free Download
Sounds like a cool idea. Never thought of PP in this way. Will surely give it a try.
Taking a closer look at my macbook keyboard, of all the lisp forks, I'd go with squared brackets [lisp] for convenience.

Ergonomics win.
Ira Glass talks about this at length here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hidvElQ0xE

I routinely tell friends that this is one of the most important videos I've ever watched.
The benefits of rising early are so profound that he decided to do the opposite: http://zenhabits.net/2009/04/how-to-become-a-late-riser/
A citation would be helpful here. I am not disputing your claim. But in general, it is easy to disparage someone as a moron when they make decisions you disagree with.

I would not be surprised if it turns out that the FCC was staffed by tech morons appointed for political reasons, but at least a couple examples of moronic behavior seems called for to keep this a useful discussion. Mind you, even making a morally distasteful decision does not qualify as moronic, there would need to be an indication of an actual misunderstanding of the underlying issues.
"Let’s get real about this Google Voice thing. It’s totally the wave of the future, a future invented by Apple via the iPhone and then handed off to Google and eventually Microsoft for shrinkwrapping. "
That's odd, because I was using Grand Central and PhoneTag/Simulscribe before there was Google Voice and iPhone. On my Blackberry. Too bad RIM doesn't fit into this conspiracy theory or he could have worked Canadian health care in too.
"Why did it take a strongly worded letter from the FCC for them to do so?"

Uh, because the FCC has the power and authority to make things very unpleasant for Apple if they didn't reply?
"Pondering?"

This seems to call for a parody video of Pinky and the Brain working as App Store app reviewers.

(Apologies to readers too young to get the reference.)
For Eurostar (Paris<->London) there's a security checkpoint with x-ray and metal detector too. No shoes-off, but you don't have to do that for air travel in Europe either. I guess they're paranoid about the Chunnel...

The legroom on a standard Eurostar seat isn't any better than a plane either.

The Shinkansen, however, really is the gold standard for train travel in the world still: fast, convenient (no security), and frequent.
If you feel so strongly about it then develop a web app. At least then you won't be locked into the platform and will have a wider audience.
And then you have people who sued McDonalds successfully for not placing a warning label on a hot cup of coffee
It's not 'perhaps what he means', it's one of the central points of his article. He doesn't 'perhaps mean' it, he spells it outright -

"I've spent a total of 240 hours on the project, or about 6 working weeks." This is his total time, coding, or otherwise.

"In terms of code there are about 2000 lines of template code, 6000 lines of Python, and 900 lines of migration scripts (done in Python). [...] Given those figures, it looks like I was reasonably productive -- averaging over the complete time that comes to about 37 LOC/hour, which is reasonable."

I.e. 8900 LoC / 240 hours = 37.08 LoC/hr. That's 37.08 LoC/hr where hr is hr of total time spent on the project.

His estimate is low if perhaps you'd read the article.
For Twitter, Sharing Data with Google Would Be Suicide
Freesheet model seen as no longer viable
It looks like I have to download it to try it. Is there an alternative or at least some screenshots?
I agree. While building the initial product takes time in and of itself, adding features to any project takes an even greater effort IMO.

You have to think about things such as adding a new feature which works well with the rest of the site, add the new code without making a mess, change the existing implementation of a feature 'cause you realize your first implementation was not the best way to do it, or that it does not work so well with the new feature etc.

All this time and effort should be counted in - putting out an initial release is good, but you still have a lot of work left to do.
i love me a good unsubstantiated conspiracy theory. my favorite became a great james ellroy novel "american tabloid". this story didn't have as much punch as 'tabloid', but was still fun nonetheless.
Kazaa founder turns music piracy crime fighter
Well also outgoing calls can (optionally) be routed through Google Voice. On my G1 with Google Voice, I have it set to ask me for each number I dial whether I want to use T-Mobile or Google Voice for the call.

I think it is fair to say that it alters the user experience of one of the core features (i.e. dialing a number). I just don't think that should be grounds for rejecting an app.
Gvke - Berbuka Puasa with Juadah Jariah
From Universe to Multiverse
Nice Proof of a Geometric Progression Sum
Dead wrong.

No person shall circumvent a technological measure that
effectively controls access to a work protected under
this title.

The DMCA makes it illegal to circumvent DRM with very few exceptions. It doesn't matter if it's for your own personal use. Doesn't even matter if you actually pirate any software. Simply breaking the locks is illegal.

In fact, it makes it illegal to simply create or traffic tools that could be used to circumvent DRM (i.e. modchips, but that could describe a lot of tools)
EFF is pushing the Copyright Office to issue an exemption for jailbreaking iPhones and extend the exemption for breaking a SIM lock. (One good reason to send them some money.)

As it stands now, it probably is illegal to jailbreak a phone. Apple certainly asserts that it is.
Svgweb - Scalable Vector Graphics for Web Browsers using Flash
Why you shouldn’t keep your startup idea secret
Ask HN: on a penal code for HN
Disclosure first: this is the first and last time I post under this account. I am submitting through it because I need to ask a question and other means of contact are not resulting in any effect.

I feel the original rbanffy account was flagged in the wake of my (half-joking) attempt to get my karma to a specific value (1337) long enough to get me a nice screenshot. The reason seems a couple of posts I made politely asking to be voted down. This created an unexpected reaction (I agree - it was vanity, but who wouldn't want 1337 karma on Hacker News, after all?).

Unfortunately, a side effect of my account being flagged is that nobody on HN can even be contacted in order to produce a meaningful answer to "what did I do wrong?"

I understand HN belongs to the people who created it, but I think clearer rules about what can be done along with clearer punishment guidelines could serve the community that thrives on it well and prevent both future transgressions (I guess mine was one) and the subsequent punishment (which I feel was a bit on the harsh side).
Share your ideas
I've just been through my ideas file and realised there are several that have been in there for a while. I doubt I'll implement them but I'd be interested in others' opinions. Here are a few in no particular order.

anyone else care to share?

ev
- a "proof of posting" service for email. You send emails via the service which keeps hold of a copy for x years, accessible by the sender or recipient. Useful for mailing assignments and other important documents
- an online log/journal for numeric information. You IM, tweet or email the info to the service where it gets logged for later review and analysis. Useful for keeping track of calories, exercise, mileage e.t.c
- an online noticeboard. When I was at uni, notices relevant to my group of students were either emailed out to everyone or uploaded as a word document to a shared drive. The former flooded my inbox with irrelevant notices, the latter was a pain to have to keep checking. Instead, I can imagine an online noticeboard with tags/directories and expiration dates set by the authors. Users would get a ping when a new notice went up for the tags/directories they had subscribed to.
- chat rooms based on TV channels. Users can chat live via IM/sms/tweet about the show currently being viewed.
- a site making it easy for people to share their photo essays. There are plenty of photo sharing sites and plenty of photo essay sites from the big boys but I've yet to find a site that makes it easy for people to share their photo essays.
Cool. Contragulations!
There's a thingy in the guidelines about tempting people to mod you down.

But I can't imagine that's the reason your account got killed, it would seem to trivial a reason to me.

this is the exact moment when your account got killed though:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=758334

So probably you're right that that did it.

It seems a little over the top, imho.
It could only be that. I can't remember the last time I trolled, even on Slashdot, where people do it for sport ;-)
Hackers use Opera as defense against other cybercriminals
> a couple of posts

You spammed about every thread you could find. Not a "couple of posts", you made over 20 of those...

On top of that, you're reposting a question that you asked earlier on your own and that got killed: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=776875
I don't know. I have to check. I suppose half a dozen would have sufficed to get to the point I wanted. I doubt I did more than 10 and I did so on new stories I felt would not get to the first page, aiming to reduce the disruption.

And the question originally posted was not visible to anyone except those who chose to see dead stories (I can't see from this account and I bet nobody here can). It was killed without so much as an answer.

And, BTW, this is a discussion that needs to happen. What can and can't be done and how to react to misdeeds. And perhaps, more importantly, what the procedure for killing an account should be. Can it be done my a single moderator? Can it be undone by another?
How Google Rank Pages [experiment]
You spammed. You posted without relevancy and interrupted every thread you entered. And you did it for leet karma? Seriously? It's a fucking number on a fucking web site. The number doesn't fucking matter, the number on the web site doesn't fucking matter, the web site doesn't fucking matter. This is not a social experiment. It's asshattery.

The guidelines are basic: If you're not stupid, you don't get banned. I'd never heard of you before, but I looked at your comments. For a guy who's been here two years, you don't have a clue what this community likes and doesn't like, apparently.

My advice: Get a new account, one with a completely different name, and start over again. Your karma doesn't matter. From your previous posting habits, it didn't look like you were much of a karma whore anyway.
I was never a karma whore. I just identified a specific, funny, number and made getting to it a small project on "karma engineering". It was aimed on the fun side.

At first I needed a couple down-votes. Then I felt the urge to post on a discussion (about a civil rights and the responsibilities of the press issue) and got a whole lot of karma points because of that. It was then I decided on Plan-B, which was to actively ask for down-votes.

As for the disruption, had the posts worked as expected, they would quickly sink to the bottom of the list. Can I be blamed someone up-voted them into the middle of the discussions? Specially when I asked the contrary in the very message?
> For me, the point of sport is fun - that's why I don't watch Professional Football (soccer), it's all about money, not about fun IMO. The only way I really find fun in sport is doing it.

Yay :) That's it. I could play pong all day or soccer or ride a bike or swim, it really doesn't matter. But to look at the performance of my 'national team' or so doesn't translate into a % of the same feeling of actually doing something.

If you want you can live your whole life second-hand today.
"Karma engineering?" That's absurd.

I understand your logic. I just think it's incredibly stupid. It goes against the point of this site, and it's a waste of time.
It was in bad taste, a simple deletion of the relevant posts would have done the job. No need to burn somebody who has been contributing lots of good stuff for one silly thing.

After all, there are plenty of people that do dumber things than that (stop their car on the highway to take a picture of their odometer ticking over...). This was very mild in comparison. Annoying, sure. Apologize, never do it again. But to kill an account for that ?

There are quite a few known spammers here, they get away with it almost every day and they do on the whole a lot more damage, their accounts don't get killed either, it seems a little arbitrary.
Americans still have it easy. (And Britons slightly less so.) In Germany you have to prove to the government that your case satisfies one of the official reasons (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namensrecht#Beh.C3.B6rdliche_Na...) if you want to change your name.
I disagree. It's an exploration of the social bonds of the community on top of this site and the mechanics of it. Something can be learned. For instance, I have a couple unanswered questions:

- Why people would up-vote a post asking to be downvoted?
- Why is this issue polarizing?
- What are exactly the laws under the community?

I am sorry my playful attempt to manipulate an otherwise meaningless indicator offended so many people. I would have never guessed it would. I am utterly surprised at the reactions.
Ask PG: Do you ever fund startups outside of normal Y Comb. funding cycles?
Hey Paul,

In the case that someone were to run a startup in the months leading up to Christmas, has there ever been a situation where Y Combinator has provided funding to a startup outside of the "normal" funding cycles?

I ask this for two simple reasons:

1. A friend and I are going to be working on our own startup coming this fall, in this case potential funding MAY be needed before the Winter Y Combinator session starts.

2. Neither of us can really relocate to California at this time. It has potential in the future, but not for this coming winter.

If PG doesn't have any insight into something like this, does anyone else have information pertaining to something like this?

Thanks a lot.

EDIT: Since everyone seems to think that we are looking for funding right now, I will clear things up by saying that no, we are not looking for any funding at this point in time.
Third example: Writing a Python-style generator in a language that doesn't have it. There's a trivial rewrite using gotos that means you mostly get the same logic, but you need goto.

I think I've used that twice in 10 years, but when you need it, you need it. At the cost of uglying up one function you can clean up tens or hundreds of invocation points, each of which involves duplicate (and hard-to-factor-out without-this-trick) logic. (This is the trick to factoring it out.) I'll pay that gladly.
Add to that a proof of receipt mechanism using a webbug.

(Edit: a webbug is a small image with a unique identifier that is downloaded by the client when the document is shown, assuming that image loading is enabled)
My university uses a Facebook Page for this.
It's sad that so much work had to be done by Google to get these standards available to IE users. Had IE been open source, a few patches would have been released to the upstream maintainers, and a fix could have been released years ago.
Taibbi: Ladies and Gentlemen, AIG’s New Chief
"I'm quite pleased with my results! I'm not sure if I can really give a less biased view. I normally find with programming that by the time I've finished a project, I'm already quite unhappy with the quality of the code, and I have a list of 'cleanup' TODOs, or even 'rewrite this large chunk of it' TODOs, which usually never get done. By the time a few years have passed, I'm downright ashamed. So far I don't feel this way about any of the code -- let's see how long that lasts!"

This is exactly how i feel most of the time. When I look back at my code which was written a year back, I think it is downright ugly. Sometimes I feel I haven't learned enough. I should be able able to write clean code which will remain clean. Other times I feel that it is a good sign that I'm feeling this way because that means that I have learnt something over the period and i'm constantly learning.
Okay, there's been enough threads about sharing ideas on HN, but let me post the one I thought about tonight.

I was thinking about eBook readers. About how convenient they could be for reading not only books, but blogs, rss feeds, mail. How nice would it be if they could also work as gps navigators, if they could play some video and post to twitter. Now I know some of these devices already have these features, but how about having a platform (like iPhone) and an application store for it? Wouldn't it be great to open these devices for developers? Because, to think about it, I spend about 1-1,5 reading rss headers and blogs a day and it's really not that fun to sit in front of my desktop or notebook for that. I'd like something more mobile, but not as small as a cellphone. And, I assume, this could be one of the trends of the industry: we don't need to have these large shiny screens anymore for something as trivial as reading.
Though I don't watch TV so this isn't directly applicable to me, after seeing it written out I'm amazed that this isn't already common. It's a really good, sensible idea.
Or more consistent batsmen, there's a reason why where not playing hauritz, he's no good.
Really? I consider myself an oddball because I typically don't use Firefox and Greasemonkey. From all the blog posts, articles on sites like LifeHacker, etc, that I see, I figured Greasemonkey was extremely popular amongst the techie crowd.
Maybe he can modify the script so that the score is shown only on demand.
I find this kind of post on HN very enjoyable. Thanks for sharing.
The one I did that seemed to go down best on Twitter:

problems.size == 99 && !problems.include?("bitch")
Here's a video. It looks a little old, but should give you some idea. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGYJyur4FUA
Reconsidering relevance (google talk)
I do get tired of bloggers disputing what should be fact by mixing it with rumors or secondary sources...

The companies that get reported on are no better with their "We definitely won't be doing X" and then they do X.

I think this story isn't grounded very well but there's a kind of precedent with Apple's DRM play with iTunes.
http://twitter.com/pud/status/3439453476

If (BillieJean.is != my.lover)
{
BillieJean.justa = 'girl';
i = 1;
}
Why do you need to replace one bad abstraction with another? What's the value of having a concept of seasons if they're not something we can agree on universally?
hehe, funny! I thought of that exact same thing years ago, I even registered 'ontvnow.com' for it...
Neat illustration, but I'd present the proof to kids in the usual manner:

(1 - r)(1 + r + r^2 + ... + r^n) = 1 - r^(n + 1), because all other terms cancel out.

If |r| < 1, the right part tends to 1, QED.
YC isnt the only investors around. I obviously can't speak for PG, but from my understanding of YC the program is run twice a year on the same schedule. I have never heard of a YC company starting earlier, especially since they haven't had the chance to review all the applications and potential candidates.

PG may make personal investments outside of YC, but then you lose access to the program. There are many other routes you can go for fund raising... Angels, normal VCs, bootstrap consulting or one of the other programs similar to YC. Those programs may fit your schedule and geographic location better.
Ask HN: What's a Non-Programmer to do?
My two business partners and I have been running our startup for about 14 months, we're ramen profitable, we have a small user base and we're growing steadily. (We've posted to YC a few times before, you can check out our website at www.skritter.com.) By all accounts things are looking very good for us, but we have a somewhat persistant problem that is hurting morale: simply put, I feel underutilized and we all three decided we should ask YC what other startups do about this situation.

To give you a little background, Nick, Scott and I were all three best friends in college. Nick and Scott were CS majors (among other majors) and I was an economics major. When we first started the business we all three decided together that we didn't want to seek venture capital or anything big, we wanted to raise as little money as possible, get to market, and then live (or die) off of the profit. We raised two rounds of philanthropic funding, one for $30k and one for $25k, it was literally free money.

After that the problems started. We didn't yet have any revenue and our service wasn't going to have high margins, so a lot of traditional marketing just wasn't going to have positive ROI (I know, I ran a LOT of numbers). I focused on doing some menial labor, and I also did a lot of design work, but even that wasn't a lot of work. At the same time I was having trouble feeling productive at 40 hours a week, Nick and Scott were working 60 hour weeks consistently and were still behind. To their credit, they were extraordinarily graceful about the problem, always downplaying the inequality in work, trying to find me new productive tasks and the like.

So here's my question: do other small startups have this problem? And if so, what have you done to mitigate the workload inequality and give the businesser meaningful stuff to work on? Put another way, if you're a three person startup or you have a full time business person or designer, how do they spend their time?
- Twitter digest. A Web tool that makes it easy for me to select a bunch of tweets (such as those in response to a question I raised, or just some I find on a search) and then have them repackaged into images or nice HTML I can put on my blog. Sorta like http://twictur.es but on speed.

- Better niche content aggregator. Like a "Planet" site but not pulling everything from the sources.. I don't wanna see non-Ruby related stuff on PlanetRubyonRails, for example.

- A site that lets you put in a URL and then a day/hour/whatever later e-mails you a link to a ZIP archive of that site for you to download for safe keeping. (I think I saw something like this a few days ago, but it's been on my list a while.)

- A blog like LifeHacker but just for coders/developers.

- A blog called something like "Lifeform A Day" that has a basic post about a different type of life/animal each day.

- A Web app dedicated to helping you make headlines or titles for blog posts, pages, etc. Has a giant swipe file of headlines from throughout the ages and will switch in and out terms of your selection automatically and let you scroll through until you find something that works for you.