skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
I think that's true in some instances. But if you want to keep the Latin analogy going, you have to acknowledge that Latin stuck around because an entrenched organization continued to use it long after it had lost vulgar relevance. And Latin's high status fooled the intellectuals of the day into thinking that it was the pure, holy tongue, and had undue and sometimes destructive influences on the development of other languages. This happened precisely because people tried to apply the grammatical patterns of Latin to languages that were structurally different.

I'm not saying that Java (or Latin, for that matter) doesn't have a place in the future, but I just hope that it doesn't continue to have undue influence on the evolution of programming language and methodologies simply because it is a revered institution.
yeah. and besides switches/PBX I don't see where would one need Cisco anyway.
Thanks, we'll do that.
I find this tool much easier to use for building quick throw-away scripts than GreaseMonkey - it allows you to write your scripts in a higher level. Unfortunately, it is not well known. It also has a nice feature of generating a Firefox extension from a Script (you can even pick your icon).
Fitch To Fulton - The First Mover Disadvantage
This is probably getting off topic, but I think that many times the concept of "green" energy is more about reduced footprint vs. zero or negative footprint.

The impact of the plane ride may take a very long time of renewable living to offset. Some things in life are unavoidable, but the net impact of plane+renewable is still going to be less than plane+standard/disposable lifestyle.
Thanks!

Any chance you'd be willing to mention what it was you liked about their video?

I think the video part might be one of the more challenging parts of the application, partly because of the 1 minute time limit, and partly because it's supposed to be unscripted and off-the-cuff but the applicants still need to describe what they're doing, which takes some preparation.
Malawi windmill boy with big fans
These are Sandbox invites. In all likelihood your gmail account will become your wave account and the sandbox accounts may or may not stay alive as developer accounts. Spending money on invites is pointless.
The article does go further than it should have, at least given the evidence it was citing. I may or may not (or may) agree that government efforts of increasing happiness may be of limited efficacy, but I would not try to make my argument using only the two cases mentioned.

..Then again, I think that is true for most news sources.
Here's a few things I experienced when building an erlang webapp 4 years ago:

During dev, I had a server live for users to play with. The data structures were in flux, there was zero traditional data input protection. My users were domain experts, no tech background and would type in all sorts of odd inputs as there was no training or documentation on how to use the webapp. But I never once had data corruption issues and never once did the server crash. I was able to run this "test" server with no admin or headaches while I was doing dev.

The reasons are due to a few characteristics of erlang:

1 - you write concrete pattern matching, not abstract object containers. So a controller or model function would spec out a clear data structure that was expected as input. Anything else failed right at the point where the data didn't fit the patterns and guards.

2 - each request is handled by an isolated erlang process that fails gracefully and doesn't effect the rest of the system. So my early testers would get error dumps from the server for bad data inputs but they never corrupted the data or crashed things. I was able to take these error messages from test users to see how they were using the system incorrectly.

3 - Single assignment and functional programming were a big win in terms of writing once, testing once (not writing separate test code), and knowing that that piece of code was solid and I could move on.

The app was very responsive. All requests were ajax and this system felt like the server was running on the same box as the web browser. When we had errors, the erlang error message almost always showed the crash at exactly the point in the code that needed attention.

These characteristics speak to the power of the dev process, not scalability which is what you normally hear about erlang.
I'm doing a lot of python lately...but yesterday I compared one of my python lucene search programs with the java equivalent...and the Java one was considerably faster. Also, the fact that I could write the same program with Scala is enticing.

I feel like I am being drawn back to the JVM after pushing it away for so long. It really is an impressive system.
p.s. great handle.
well at least that way you are going to hire someone who has not been "caught".
Let me tell you how --

From the top: government blessing, (biased) censorship

From the bottom: much more native friendly domain name, thirst of pirated music, nationalism, ignorance

From the corporate itself: ferocious marketing and sales -- not everyone realizes that THE most effective way of doing business in China is to hire as many marketing and sales people as the number of the bullets Arnold Schwarzenegger shoots, and I can assure you that it'll be much more effective than his shooting/acting.
I think the biggest problem with going the Microsoft route is locking your options to Microsoft solutions forever.

Compared to the lifetime costs of an application, the marginal savings you get from using Visual Studio (assuming there are any, which is quite a bold assumption) are vanishingly small.

I seriously doubt the viability of any startup that brags about their .NET technology.
Free Giant's ticket to the first HNer who emails me
My friend bailed at the last minute. I still want to go but I can't find anyone who is free today from 12.30 to 4. If anyone wants to take a break and come watch the last SF Giant's home game from a choice seat, let me know.
And 'greener' to boot.

If that matters to you anyway (and it probably should), then flying in people just to troubleshoot your network seems a bit excessive.

Other than physical cabling and things like that this seems to be one job where you could do most if not all of the work remotely anyway (hard to tell without a lot more background info).
Splintered sexuality as a window on the brain
If I sit down in front of a camera, I just blank out. If I'm just talking to myself in a room it's fine. So I kept going over 2 minutes because I would pause for multiple seconds constantly.
According to colorzilla, they're both #787878.
No it's not. JIL might be, but Java isn't anything for "the next X new programming language" except a curse those languages were created to flee from.
Dislike it or hate it, Java is the COBOL of modern times. Java won - it's firmly entrenched in Fortune 500 Enterprise companies.
Oh no, don't worry. Quick-fire written discussions are hard, so I don't hold any antagonism against you. No offence taken, and I hope you understand I too was writing out of interest rather than a desire to be argumentative.

I was wrong in my assumptions about the current usage of the phrase, as you've already pointed out, so I concede the argument.

I'm very interested in the use of language too, which is why I enjoyed the discussion, though I've never formally studied it. Thank you for the recommendations.

This debate is an instance of a strange phenomenon which I don't yet know yet understand how to resolve.

If someone wrote a serious piece on the internet, containing in all seriousness, the phrase "I isn't very happy about dat" then it's certainly possible to write an interesting essay on culture, the use of colloquialism, evolution of language etc., but I also think it's equally valid for me to summarize my position by saying "Your grammar is incorrect, and you've spelled 'that' wrongly. Please don't do it again in a serious article.".

In much the same way, if someone wrote "integration is reverse of differentiation" I could explain at length why this is not true but often it's more effective to accept it as an approximately true statement and move on to discussing more important things.
Thanks for the feedback. We definitely need some work on the visual design; also, I love the idea about an inferred structure.
Thank. We'll add that to FAQ.
The 2009 TechCrunch Web App Survey Results
I was actually thinking of the medical profession, but yes, your point is well taken (I take it you refer to the church).
You would be correct. I've been using Git longer than Mercurial, but I feel that I have a better grasp of how to use Mercurial. That said, Git is exponentially more powerful in my experience. I'm rather enjoying getting to know it.
This is a pipe. (Something dear to me.)
Yes, these are probably silly and/or harmful laws, but how is this article not just a political fluff piece?

An article with more on how these kinds of laws might impact a startup and less political rhetoric would be both more interesting and more relevant.
Appreciate your reply. But wasn't that too heavy for just a jovial comment?.

so, you ready for the vacation?. :)
The most basic cause for bad technical decisions are wrong assumptions about technology.

If you believe every other web framework will get crushed with a few dozen simultaneous requests, you will be absolutely sure this is the solution you have been waiting for.

I am curious to try Erlang out, but I know exactly how many dozen requests my current tools can handle. And it's a lot more than a couple.
also here: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=853890

But at least the BBC article gives some more info..
>>>Chicago Boss is fully asynchronous, using one single process to handle hundreds or thousands of simultaneous requests<<<

>>>All other web frameworks will break down and cry if you ask them to process more than a few dozen simultaneous requests on a single machine.<<<<

Isn't this what facebook Tornado, Orbited and all the other servers using select()/epoll() solves?
Ask HN:Could you give me some advice on how to get started in San Francisco?
Hi HN,

Here's the gist. I'm graduating soon, moving to San Fransisco, and would like to start a career in programming. I'm a bit lost as to how to get off to a good start in the industry. So I was hoping I could get a bit of advice from you guys.

My Background

I'm 25, and will be graduating with a BS in Applied Math. My language of choice is C, although I'm just as proficient with C++ and Python. At the moment, I'm living in Colorado, but plan to move to San Francisco at the end of this semester upon graduation. From what I've heard and seen, the stretch of land between San Francisco and San Jose is the mecca of technology. I'm super excited.

The problem is that I don't really know where to start. When I look at most of the job ads on DICE, I see requests for very specific skills. While I have some experience in these areas (say, posix threads), I'm an expert in none. I started programming over 10 years ago, but I don't have any solid completed projects to show for it.

Is it possible for a guy like me to get hired without any previous working experience in the industry? I have a very strong math background, and am well versed in Algorithms and proper software design. But like I said, I don't really have anything to show for it.

My main concern is making sure that I work somewhere interesting. I want to tackle interesting problems that actually mean something. I don't want to be a digital plumber that fixes bugs in an enterprise CRM system. Obviously though, I'll take what I can get just starting out.

What advice would you guys have for someone just starting out in the software development world?

Thanks for the help.
Can anyone send me an invite please? My email is peteris.krumins---gmail.com. Thanks! (replace --- with @)

Edit: I wonder why this is getting downvoted. This seems a completely ok comment to me.

Edit2: A good person just notified me that he has sent me an invite! Thanks dan!
Short story: Baidu colluded with Chinese regime.
Michael, look at banner!
Its good to know there are more typography geeks out there reading HN.
The Nine nines of reliability often quoted is for the availability of a complete distributed system, including maintenance downtime.

A typical single Ericsson AXD 301 switch had a target of 5 nines of reliability without network redundancy, which is 5mins/year, including planned outages. see http://www.erlang.se/publications/Ulf_Wiger.pdf

One of the advantages of these switches was that they could manage 95% throughput at 150% load (Throughput then drops linearly to 40% at 1000% sustained load), which is also extremely useful, although not mentioned often.
As a former core admin of New England's two biggest LAN parties, some of this advice is good and sensible, some of it appears like the author has never actually thrown a LAN party.

A glaring example is the power section. Fuses? I've not seen a fuse on a main power circuit in 20 years. Furthermore, a figure around how many computers you can get per empty 20a circuit (~6, less if it's hot outside) might be useful for American readers.

Another is wireless security: Just change the key, or remove it if you're in an unpopulated area. MAC filtering is less secure than telling people to keep the key secret.

And why are they talking about the kid who threw the mega-party? Why would you invite people who you don't know to a residential LAN party? People aren't going to show up with a computer and crash a LAN party, that's just not how it works.

In summation: the information about how to throw a party that is 'good' applies to any sort of get-together, the information that's LAN party specific is lacking anything above common sense.
If you're a developer, what you really want is sandbox access (already free), not an public beta invite...

http://code.google.com/apis/wave/guide.html
Wow, haven't seen that one in a while, feels like years ago. We actually tried a couple takes until we stopped caring and just wanted to get it done and have the application sent.
I'd much rather use Ruby (with Rails) than Java, and for future learning, I'm interested in Scala. Obviously, the JVM figures heavily into all this, though that isn't the same thing as Java.

But still, GWT, Guice and Grails are pretty active and relevant projects. Even if you don't plan to use them (I don't), it's pretty hard to see a language as "dead" when the community still draws this level of talent and innovation.
PDF programming for faster forms
I love it, but I'm not a "T-Shirt" kinda guy. I wish they would do something other than just T's.
What do you work with now? If it's not erlang, what prompted you to not use erlang?
Meh. I'm on the fence on this one: while photoshopped images are speech, they're false speech, which the speaker knows to be false, while the viewer perhaps doesn't. If they do cause psychological problems for girls growing up, that's bad.

The combination of deceit plus harm makes a half-decent argument for the sort of regulation that's on the table.
so these are for the wavesandbox.com dev server? i got in on the first (uh..) wave of invites ages ago, but haven't received any codes today.
Ooh, forgot about that. :) Still doesn't help with the URL text interrupting the flow of prose, though. What's so wrong with having to hover over links to find out where they go?
I agree. Imagine the distress caused to supporters of Trotsky: http://199.219.158.116/~jordigetmaneraso/behold_the_disappea...

Imagine the emotional distress felt by viewers duped into believing that Dali Atomicus was real! http://iconicphotos.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/dali_atomicu...
Side-effects from placebos can be drug specific
Stand far away?
Who knows - one day it might even make it to Canada
It's not very well designed, but it's not a "Windows bug." It works as intended.
I'm an avid reader of Prof. Volokh's blog, but was unaware he had anything to do with software. Can you elaborate?
Heh sounded very rambly. I'm kinda happy that this is all it takes.
Yes (as far as I know). My wife got one yesterday and it was for wavesandbox.com.

Edit: I was wrong. The new invites are for the production server.
When the state does it, it's not illegal.
Perhaps you're thinking in blub?

edit: Can you give examples? How do you roll back side effects in your solutions?
Yes, they're absolutely the same. I had to go to and use the gimp to convince myself.
Jonah Lehrer: Nature and Compassion
> ...and another theories say human and dinosaurs live coexist.

Are you sure that wasn't a movie?

I've never heard of the theory that humans and dinosaurs coexisted, at least not with credible evidence.
It's probably something the creationists propagated.

Evolution is partly by chance. But evolution takes millions of years. So basically, what are the chances of something like humans eventually coming along? Well apparently after millions and millions of years and countless iterations of random morphs the chances are good.

It's like a startup, except without smart founders behind it. That's why it takes so long and so many iterations before evolution gets it "right." With a startup if you get something wrong you change it because the previous method failed (if you don't change it the startup fails). In evolution the species that doesn't get it "right" fails. The iteration of the species that does get it right obviously continues to thrive. So over millions of years there are constantly new iterations and the best ones make it through to now.

If this is new to you, it shouldn't be. Where are you from? As far as I know all schools in the US should get you up to speed with evolution. But judging from your writing you're probably not from an english speaking country?
JVM not Java. Sounds right!
Eight digital alternatives to paper business cards
Thanks for the insight est. Looks like they didn't take into consideration all the subtle cultural nuances in China. Goes to show that sometimes you can't just transplant a U.S. centric company into China. Maybe they should have launched with a series of Chinese acquisitions and a strong Chinese team. Anyway, there's nothing wrong with being strong number 2.
Multi dimensional data visualization
Sure, but they aren't using Erlang.
Same here...
Porn site "popped" while my boss was standing across from the desk
Well, since it's now in at least one human, we're finding out what the side effects are as we speak.
I don't think it's true in any sense. I think someone just made it up.
I didn't mean for it to be so heavy ;)

Part of the reason for my response is a bit of a personal nit, I guess. I come across a lot of talented and capable people who seem to feel that they need someone else to verify their skills. Schools and training programs and certs are all well and good for some people, but those things take time and money. Time and money that might be better invested on self-learning, or taking a mid-level job at a salary less than you are worth but such that your net income is still ahead of where you would be if you were going to school, and using that job as a learning/advancement opportunity. I'll take a guy with a GED and 4 years on an ISP tech support position before a guy with a Bachelors, 3 Cisco certs and no work experience in many cases. (YMMV).

The higher-ed/certification thing is so ingrained in so many people that I believe people do not often stop to consider the alternatives frequently enough. OR, they are led to believe that these degrees and certs are universally respected and the gate keepers to better career opportunities. This is of course not true.

My main point is that it's never too late to learn something new, and depending on how you personally develop new skills, the best approach may be non-traditional.
Yes, Java is strong. And JVM is good. So, instead of fighting the big guy, a smart way is to coopt it (see Scala, Groovy, Clojure, etc).
That's a good question. I've been using merb lately. I started with rails and didn't like it but thought ruby was ok. The main reason for going with ruby was to be able to hire other programmers and get out of the way of coding everything myself. I assumed 3 years ago when I made the decision that I would eventually be able to hire others. This has not worked out as planned. I am still coding everything. It turns out erlang has taken off enough that it may be reasonable to do a new project in erlang. I'm still not a fan of using erlang for writing view templates, but choices for this have improved greatly as well. When viewing the erlang vs. ruby programmer talent pool, there is a gut feel that the erlang pool may have a higher quality ratio although its a much smaller pool.

I can tell you that although merb is a nice framework, I still end up digging through code at times to find bugs that would be much easier to spot if it were in erlang.
Yeah, I got some complaints about calling that section "swear words." Some people also complained about "cock" and "suck" and some of the other words. I guess "profanity" would have been a better term to use.
I gave a talk at LugRadio 2008 about AI and Liquid State Machines and what was supposed to be a lightning talk turned into an hour long open debate with the audience about the many forms of "Intelligence" apparent in digital systems, and what exactly could be construed as "alive".... this feature/bug was one of the most interesting that someone raised, as it has the capacity to mutate as the information that is sent over wireless could corrupt. The way it was explained was that one box serving a "Free Public WiFi" prompts other boxes to connect as an ad-hoc network, the original box goes down, leaving any that connected as servers. But in broadcasting the status and info of the network, it would be possible to corrupt the information, essentially mutating what some original server set up as a "Free Public WiFi" network to a "Free Pubic WiFi" or something. The idea being that the thing is mutable, mobile and seeks it's own preservation if only in a very limited fashion.... I was intrigued, but I can't vouch for the accuracy of my understanding.
Your remarks on the difficulty of pronouncing Yahoo! or Google in Chinese remind me of the problems Coca Cola faced when trying to translate their brand into mandarin: http://www.coca-colaconversations.com/my_weblog/2008/03/bite...
The last few charts are the most telling. The majority of free sites reported $1-$5 in monthly revenue but the majority of subscription sites reported $1000-$5000 a month.
Google Wave Tsunami Crashes
Understanding the Anxious Mind
Yes, using ratings that are made in the context the comment originally appears would probably be better. /. is another site which could be used as source material for such an analysis.
My guess is that saying "Geographically: University of Chicago" doesn't really add anything to the conversation. Also, it wasn't in the linked page when I went there, so maybe there was some confusion.

Although, I just downmodded you because it seems like you've got a tough time being civil.
Lets all hold hands and start praying that more seed capital comes to NYC.
Apparently.

The first major clue is the presence of iridium (a metal common in asteroids) at exactly the right place in the rocks (the Cretaceous-Tertiary or "KT" boundary, dating to 65 million years ago, which is also when non-avian dinosaurs went extinct). That was discovered around 1980 by Alvarez et al.

Further research has led us to the Chicxulub crater near the Yucatan Peninsula as the impact site.

Now you know.
Hybrid Books Add Video and Web Features
My solution is a little bit more hackish, but more usable imo. Not thoroughly tested though, might have some implications I haven't thought of.

http://pastebin.com/m7cc84252
How to Easily Memorize Any Number