skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
"Perl requires that you learn a bit before you can be comfortable reading/writing it naturally. Like Japanese Katakana characters or the Cyrillic alphabet, a little investment goes a very long way. It's not nearly as alien as it appears at first glance."

This is, no doubt, true. But if people find that for a lesser investment (in say Python or Ruby) they can get all the (or almost all the) benefits of learning perl, it is natural they prefer those languages.

If a hypothetical English speaker were to be given the choice of learning French or Japanese and if he could get his work done with either language equally well (this is where programming languages differ from spoken languages) why is it a problem that someone chooses to learn French (an English speaker could be fluent in french in year or so, Japanese would take years) instead of Japanese? A Chinese speaker might prefer to learn Japanese vs French and that's fine too.

Focussing on perl specifically, unless I am maintaining a legacy codebase or I have a situation where libraries I need exist only in perl (and not, say in Python) why should I learn perl in preference to (say) Python?

I can imagine making a case for learning Haskell in preference to Python (or vice versa!) but perl Python and Ruby are largely equivalent in practice and at least to some people Python is easier to read than perl.

"Some people think Perl is a good deal more expressive and powerful for them. A whole lot more people would if they managed to get past their initial reaction."

I agree. The counterpoint is that there are equally powerful and expressive languages where I don't need to get past the initial reaction. To some people aesthetics matter. And aesthetics is subjective.
I wish I could be Lonnie Johnson -- R&D on squirt guns and whatnot sounds fun!
They would all be 5 stars.
-Ted.
As I saw, it was not meant to be offensive. Special olympics are for special people. They are not the best among all competitors. Most interpreted languages are not comparable to compiled languages.
Pci Compliance 
Your resource for PCI Compliance Tools &amp; SOX Compliance Tools. Offering pci compliance, pci dss compliance, pci requirements, and answers for what is pci compliance?
I don't really disagree that Ruby/Perl/Python are roughly in the same league of power. I do think some people may find that Perl is a good deal more productive/expressive/powerful for them. The Moose object system, CPAN, Catalyst, DBIx::Class. Perl has some amazingly awesome stuff going for it now and I think it's a shame that many people never discover that because of the stigma surrounding Perl's syntax.

It's tiresome seeing the same old superficial argument about Perl's sigils. I'd like to see more discussion about how much more powerful and advanced Perl's Moose object system is than Python's :-)
A=1, B=2, C=3, ...
"I'd like to see more discussion about how much more powerful and advanced Perl's Moose object system is than Python's :-)"

:-) I agree this would be a fruitful line of discussion. I know next to nothing about Perl and while (as of now) I have no intention of learning Perl, it would be great if someone (you? :-D ) were to write (or submit) such a post to HN
I'm going in the other direction right now. I have a sheet of notes titled "PHP WTF". Seriously, PHP is such a mess. Thank Jesus for Thrift http://incubator.apache.org/thrift/
I use Gmail because of the refined and intuitive UI, and because it has eliminated spam almost entirely.

However, I feel uneasy about handing over to Google large helpings personal information, even though most of it is mundane.
One more: "Work on hard problems. Keep trying things."
"I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it."

I watch this speech of his every couple months. So damn good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
“one thing at YC we learned that determination matters FAR more than intelligence.”

There's an insult somewhere in that quote.
"All your O are belong to us."
While I don't agree with the way bumbunnies put it (and certainly not with the liberal vs. conservative characterization) I think he has a point in that we let our list of "basic needs" grow to include a lot of overpriced, unnecessary stuff like iPhones and $4 coffee.

A major part of the reason many of us work too much and are in too much debt has to do with consuming crap we don't need. The example brought in another comment here of a $30k wedding & $5k ring demonstrates that perfectly.
I use Mailtrust/Rackspace, but I check it from a desktop client.
Exciting, wasn't that? I was hoping for moon-base coordinates.
Ref: http://www.joyent.com/joyeurblog/2008/01/16/strongspace-and-...
This is interesting, but the 1337speak makes them somewhat hard to read.
Its origins lie in a study by a Nobel laureate, Otto Meyerhof, who in the early years of the 20th century cut a frog in half and put its bottom half in a jar.

R.D. Laing once said (paraphrased): "I would hope that if someone wanted to get to know me, they would not cut me in half and put me in a jar."
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=All_your_base_are_...
Or maybe...copyright is a way to make sure that the guys who created the product get as much money for it as possible. Why make it a moral issue when its more like a cultural issue in the way humans have implemented resource sharing and creative compensation.
Well just binding it to h/l combination. Easy to follow.
American Diabetes Diet - 5 Healthy Tips
Or even to power down the entire pod if the data on it is quiescent. If you managed the fill and aging properly, this wouldn't even be hard to do -- as a backup service, they're write-heavy, which gives them a lot of flexibility that other applications don't have.
I know PG well enough to know he never said "u" instead of "you".
OK, now there is a mailing list. http://groups.google.com/group/incanter/
What I found encouraging and enlightening was knowing that most startups go through the "Trough of Sorrow" (the time after launch when you don't get any users and things look really bad). Just knowing that you're not alone makes it so much easier to go through it.
> I have a friend who lived off of pell grants and loans to make it through a degree. He did not have the aptitude for math or science

Then why did he go to college? Why didn't he work and go to a community college?

Making excuses for him only allows him a pass for personal responsibility, as if selling drugs was his only option -- ha!
I'm a bit surprised that they only have 40K users since SXSW. I mean, it's 1) a really great app and 2) "won" SXSW. There are certainly things I'd change about it if I were the PM, but only 40K users is a bit scary given how good the database, marketing, and use cases are.
Ask HN: Should you release many products to see what takes off?
Is it better to test out many ideas and see what sticks, or focus on your first idea? Quickly releasing multiple products, each with the minimum viable feature set, seems like a good strategy because nobody knows what will catch on. The odds of your first idea being exactly right aren't be that high. By releasing the next idea quickly, you have more shots at creating something that catches on, and you avoid pouring a lot of time and effort into an idea which might not work no matter how many features or refinements you add. On the other hand, you may be giving up too quickly on a product which could succeed with more time and effort. Thoughts?
I also have a 1 user setup of Roundcube. It's a little slow because of the server it's on, but I'm happy that Google doesn't have my email.

That said, Gmail is so much better. If I trusted them, I'd immediately switch.
James buccelli
I like the quote about no technical founder. I meet many people who are doing start-ups & they have no techical background or those who want to do a start-up have no skill. IT's not impossible, but almost and it's tiring and progress is slow!

I am sorta one of these people who is now learning back end code (some) along with the hack web design skills I picked up(average web designer now). I look forward doing another start-up where I am doing back and front end. As oppose to just front end and relying on a consultant/partner in India who cared some for our product, but no way had the same passion i did/do.

Learn how to code if you want to start a start-up, also find partners who are as crazy focused as you are.
2009 HSK Basic cancelled in China
If countries the size and density of the NYC metropolitan area have better digital infrastructure than the NYC metropolitan area, that is a problem. No one's expecting gigabit internet in Wyoming, but not even in the densest parts of the country can we compete with the rest of the world.

If health care is going to be nationalized, it can't be a productive part of the economy anymore. It's already (probably) a net drain on public resources. If we're gonna have something like public health care, we need a way to pay for it. Fixing our technology infrastructure enables this country to create more wealth.
Tata Motors to Launch New Indigo CS Model Soon
An excellent demonstration of how, sometimes, erroneous but entrenched beliefs take decades, generations, to overturn.

Next up in the list of stubborn myths people grew up with and find hard to set down: obesity is caused by excessive caloric intake.
>We got super lucky with HIV because you have to exchange bodily fluids to catch it. If it ever becomes as easy to catch as the common cold, we're screwed.

If some asshole creates a contagious HIV, then discovering cures faster than diseases will hardly save us.

You get diminishing utility from curing diseases anyway. Say you discover cures for half the world's currently incurable diseases at random. My guess is that our life expectancy would increase by less than a decade. People are still going to age.

And I'm not sure the threat of a contagious HIV would ever go away. It'd be hard finding a cure for a disease that wasn't even created yet.

My guess is that there's already too much momentum behind this sort of research for us to halt it. Do you think requiring background checks for purchasers of biotech supplies would make the field more or less attractive to a hypothetical evil mastermind?
Customer development - find out what someone is willing to pay for.
Excellent article, thank you.
This is a good story, despite an annoying interview format. I'm reminded of the point PG has been making that determination is more important than intelligence. Not that these guys aren't smart.
Now that you mention regarding the two types of profs, I can closely relate to seeing that as well. I think I will set my mind and see if I can find the first type, I think the traction of grad school in any way along side my project is more valuable than funding at this point. Thanks, and good luck on your ventures.
Not if you realize that determination is just one factor in the path to success. A founder could push his determination to the absolute limit and still fail, since there are so many other variables at play.
Women are interested in men who give them the cold shoulder because it's a challenge. In her head she is thinking "He must be surrounded by so many pretty women so he is immune" or "Whats wrong with me?"

The 'challenge' theory also applies to guys who are married or who have girlfriends --- it is a challenge
Ask HN: Is Anything Missing from This Picture?
This nice photo visually depicts entrepreneurs involved with ycombinator, as the inside spread of Inc Magazine (June Issue).

To be fully honest, I looked at this photo a number of times while flipping through the magazine but I never found anything unusual.

I'd like to know what the community thinks: Is there anything missing from this picture? Why do you think so? Why does it matter? Or is the picture just a picture?

There's no right answer, but it's interesting to hear how a vibrant entrepreneurial community like ycombinator (and HN) views itself on the canvas. Thanks for sharing.
I think releasing several products might not be that great of an idea because a large part of a successful startup is your ability to market and attract users.

Setting up the startup/product is easy...it's getting people to use it and retaining them which is hard
Two main qualities of Gen Y employees -- increased drive for knowledge and better efficiency. The advent of the internet has taught this generation that these characteristics are crucial to success.
He was fucking linking to the IE site - how much more blatant do you want it?

Paid shills are douchebags and I am utterly unrepentant in saying that. Just because someone has an account here doesn't transform them into a paragon of integrity and virtue. You work for the bad guys, you take the criticism, that's how it works. Or are you suggesting there should be no social penalty whatsoever for contributing to the crippling of the WWW? How much damage have they done? How much is 5 years of progress worth?

I will never tone down my attacks on these pricks. It's my honest opinion and I'm going to say it. I feel no need to maintain a "professional" demeanour or keep up appearances. I hate those motherfuckers, and I want them to know it.
I have used Yahoo! since 1996 (originally a free Geocities POP3 account), and am currently using a paid account.

I find it much superior to Gmail. Their beta AJAX web interface has the look and feel of a full desktop mail client, and is very similar to Thunderbird. Yahoo!'s AddressGuard feature is extremely useful - Google has nothing really comparable. The only drawback is that Yahoo! does not yet offer IMAP.

I use Google for my calendar and contacts (and use the Google exchange server to sync both of these to my phone).
Started w/Yahoo! Mail long before gmail existed.

Stuck with it due to incumbency, and a vague feeling [call me paranoid] that since I already use Google for so many other things, if they could also data-mine my email, they'd know almost everything about me. I don't [knowingly] use Yahoo for anything except email.
A true inventor. Even when manufacturer after manufacturer failed he kept pressing on. Kudos.
Do I really have to say it?
I wasn't talking about me; my point was, by being reasonable, you're going to have a hard time picking fights with security researchers.

Hmm, you may have a point there. In that case... there's no way you'll ever find any security flaws in tarsnap! My code is far too good for either you or anyone else to find any bugs in it! And your mother is... oh, never mind. I'm really not very good at acting unreasonable. :-)

Incidentally: you'd be surprised how many "names" in the industry are ex-NSA.

Fair enough -- but the principle of conservatism requires me to presume that the NSA has at very least more resources than its former employees.
Nagra 3 encryption and cracking
3c; 3c Lotus Boulevard; 3c Sector 100 Noida; Buy Property in Noida; 
Spread over a sprawling area of 40 acres, 3C Lotus Boulevard is India’s Largest Green Residential project strategically located in sector 100, Noida. A perfect blend of majestic ambience humming with ecofriendly environment, this group housing would be a synonym for affordable luxury.
Man that brings back some memories. I was 11 and remember that big green bottle well.
I know that tweeting is all the rage, but these would sound less childish rewritten with proper spelling and grammar. I doubt that the tweets were direct quotes in the first place.
I can assure you that there are only a handful of people on ET who are successfully doing HFT and 10 at most who are profitably automated. The rest are either discretionary traders, retail pikers, trolls, or troll aliases. There's definitely no congregation, nor is there really anything of substance regarding automation or strategy trading, short of a few older threads.
A Survey of Concurrency Constructs
So I can eat all the cheeseburgers I want now? Totally ready to start, just give me the thumbs up.
This thread is now about UFOs and other far-out. Look, it's Friday and who doesn't want to hack an anti-gravity drive from time to time? Besides, I miss making crop circles.
These are pretty far from verbatim. Way far in some cases. I never said anything about board meetings, for example. I said it was good to keep in touch with your investors, but I assume most of a startup's investors won't be on the board.
I think he's referring to his sister. Who died of cancer before he finished the catheter.
I'd like to hide the comments on questions, at least until after I've answered them. I found them to be a distraction.
I think it really depends on the products...

If you are talking about simple web apps with quick development times and maintenance, I see no problem attacking with multiple products simultaneously. But the down side is, most quickly developed apps require a critical mass quickly (and to get there quickly you need to market and get the word out, which you need time). The other downside is their easy to be cloned by someone before reaching critical mass (due to quick dev time).

Now if you're building a bit more involved project with complex development, high server requirements, or needs users to put a lot of trust in your system, I would highly suggest deviating attention away from it.
Hand Painted Jewelry Boxes
Sure you can. But you can't have the buns, fries, or non-diet drink ..
He should be spreading his arms out a bit more. Other than that, it's pretty good.
I'm just guessing based on next to nothing, but I don't think there's anything wrong with the space. You have two things that many good hackers would find interesting: a big market, and a higher purpose.

It could be cultural, organizational, technical... if I were you I would look into these areas. The fact that you're asking here suggests that you're aware of the cultural factor.

Great programmers want creative collaboration. Frame it as a hard, worthy problem that you want help with, not as a set of technical tasks ("we just need to build the software"); a partnership, not a hierarchy.

Don't put any effort into improving your rhetoric to attract developers; this will only work on the ones who are not as smart. Instead, be as direct and honest as you can, including about what you don't know. I think that quality in your question is what struck me positively and prompted me to reply.
Or the ketchup :)
Because it's a racket.
To paraphrase Lennon: "More disciples than Jesus"
Is it me?

Either that or a sense of balance -- pg should be in the center, since it's a homage to Leonardo's The Last Supper: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Leonardo_da_Vinci_%281452-...
Google India announes Doodle 4 Google contest
Google India is providing the Indian school children with an opportunity to design logo for Google India's Homepage, with its competition - Doodle 4 Google. Students will have to design a logo with 'My India' as the theme. Winner will win a laptop for personal use and his logo will be featured on Google India homepage.
WTF^2. I can't decide what's more irritating - the dreadful writing or the bullshit justifications from (most of) the educational establishment. Instructive but aggravating.
Agreed! All of them are great, and thats why they are invited to TED!
Does anyone here use Hushmail? I was looking for first hand experiences with it, since I've been considering a switch.
The Importance of Finding Cheap Hosting
With the recession hitting each family hard and subjecting all of us to tremendous financial stress, everyone is looking for extra sources of income. Many people try to make extra money with an internet based businesses, which require them to have a website of their own. Launching a website has its own set of expenses. One needs to pay for the domain name registration, pay for their web design company,
At the risk of sounding cliched, citation required?
Writing GTK apps for the Nokia N900
AutoGlo
Jay-Z stated, "Death of AutoTune, moment of silence". But as many may think hiphop is not dead. And there's nothing wrong with utilizing AutoTune. The problem here is that instead of using the software to enhance music and give an interesting effect, many are simply using the feature to cover up the fact that they just cannot sing. Not everyone is creative enough to properly use AutoTune to make good music. Everyone cannot be T-Pain or Kanye. True creative geniuses at work. Real hiphop is still alive and well. Artists like KRS-ONE, as dylanz previously posted, are not the "end all, be all" in so-called "real' hiphop. Try JayZ, Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, Talib Kwali, Nas, Kanye West, Pharrell, Lil Wayne, T.I., and lets not forget the millions of underground and undiscovered artists that never get the shot at mainstream exposure, or even to earn a living from their craft.

And in response to datums. Hiphop didnt just get rich. It got smart, and diversified itself, as all other genres of music have done before it, and all other areas of the entertainment business. Its hiphop's turn to shine.
ah, I didn't think about that possibility - so that means it's still yours for the taking

Although I love the economist, I find they tend to touch upon computer technology less frequently as compared to the natural sciences
Not just college, it seems.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009...
Instead of a library, the [prep school] is spending nearly $500,000 to create a 'learning center', though that is only one of the names in contention for the new space. In place of the stacks, they are spending $42,000 on three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet and $20,000 on special laptop-friendly study carrels. Where the reference desk was, they are building a $50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine.
The title was actually copied directly from the article. I completely agree that the title appears to be linkbait, but the blame should be placed on the editor and/or author of the post, not the poster.
Obesity is usually caused by excessive caloric intake of some sort; the energy used to generate the additional fat tissue has to come from somewhere.

Of course, the definition of excessive probably varies from person to person based on many factors...
Flag Cases
Buy solid mahogany flag display cases and flag boxes. Fast delivery of burial, memorial and retirement flag boxes, American flag display cases.
http://www.plugandplaytechcenter.com/ is one incubator that is alive and kicking. They don't pass ideas to residents though, they're a real estate company and based on what they charge for a cubicle I think they're doing just fine.
I would be incredibly surprised if Fansnap's advertisements were immediately ROI positive. Otherwise, the Ticketstumbler guys could use a credit card and do the same thing.
It doesn't bother you that they essentially charge you for POP3 access?

That's what put me over the edge from Y! to Gmail - I wanted to use an email application (Thunderbird, actually) to manage multiple email accounts. And now I'm mostly using IMAP for better accessibility
I like the snow shovel analogy, since it's easy to understand but allows for discussion of many of the nuances and tradeoffs:

http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/Mcchesneysnow.html

When it snows hard in Chicago, people have to shovel out parking spaces for their cars. But no one will want to do this if someone else can just take the space as soon as they leave. So the rule (not a law, but socially enforced) is that the person who shovels the space "owns" it for a limited time. This means that people can do useful work and be rewarded for it. But their "property" returns to the public after the snow melts. (Think about how the outcomes would change if the "ownership" were just for one day, or if it were forever.)

This doesn't capture all the interesting things about copyright (like the non-scarcity and zero marginal cost of information goods) but it does capture some important differences between "intellectual property" and real property that get left out of most discussions. And the Chicago parking system is controversial just like many copyright issues.