skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
To be precise, AM is related to so-called 'computer mathematics'. In this project, we do not aim at modelling mathematics for theorem provers or similar things. Our applications (e.g. keyword-based formula search, education, information extraction) are introduced in the papers.
Why is this comment at the top? Why do I have to scroll down so far to get to any sort of interesting discussion about the lander? Pathetic.
Fast coders know their languages, frameworks and tools like the back of their hand. They eat docs for breakfast, have a knack for memorizing it, and an even stronger knack for making sense of it.

Sounds like a job add at the Startup From Hell.

Fast is a subjective term. How would you quantify? LOC/hour ? Words per minute?

There is no such thing as a "fast coder". You could differentiate from "mostly beginner" and "somewhat experienced" but that's about it, and even that is subjective.

I find "coder" a demeaning term and prefer programmer or developer.

Do you know a programmer that recommends himself as a "fast coder" ?

(Other than a job starved dev, in a low income country, to a low budget - low quality dev shop ?)

As DHH says, the main factor of velocity is feature negotiation: shaving off the 20% of stuff that takes 80% of time.
You know how GCC compiles mutable C code? It converts it into immutable SSA form, optimizes it in this form, and it's only at the register allocation stage that things become mutable again - if two different reassignments of your variable end up compiling to the same register, at some level it's only coincidence that they did so. So unless you're doing handwritten assembly, you're already relying on the compiler's ability to optimize away redundant copies.

Why does GCC do it like this? For the same reason FP systems do: because it's easier to reason about immutable values, and easier to optimize things you can reason about. In general the closer we can get to telling the compiler our intent, the better the performance we should ultimately be able to unlock. If we tell the compiler to create a loop variable and increment it, it has to do that (or at least, has to simulate the effects of doing that). If we just tell the compiler to apply this function to every element of this list, it has the option of being smarter about it.

There's an argument that this will be much more important as the world becomes ever more multicore. In a multicore environment immutable values become much easier to work with because they can be safely copied around; with mutable variables your program can end up spending more time on synchronization overhead than actually doing things. I'm not sure how much I believe this, but it could explain the recent rise in popularity of functional languages.
It depends a lot where you go, and I'm not an expert in this either, but there are some libraries and bookshops in France which will advertise obscure books with a custom criticism handwritten by someone from the staff; or where you can pop in saying "I'm looking for a good textbook for a beginner-level Russian speaker who wishes to learn French" and get useful advice. It is, of course, marginal in volume compared to large chains, but it exists. (I wouldn't be able to say, however, if it is more common in France than elsewhere.)

(I am not especially familiar with it myself, but I would imagine that a good bookseller, or librarian, can be really important to people who are poorer, or less educated. If you want to read something or learn about something, it may be easier if you have someone to ask, rather than if you have just the Amazon website with a huge choice but no guidance.)
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This is a long, but brilliant essay.

I especially enjoyed the section on Music Instruments about 1/4 down the page.

The theme argues the idea that civilization/society/humans create for the sake of social status, not for the effect of the creation.

For example: We choose to learn to play guitar to "be cool," or piano to indicate we want to be thought of as high-class rather than because we value the sounds of either of these instruments.

This can be incredibly earth-shattering to realize. I hope it's not 100% true, but there is plenty of evidence to show it is.

This type of thinking may also inform the famous "Mac vs. PC vs. Linux" debates. Do we choose our OS based on it's social significance or its technical, productive and visual benefits?
Pearls of wisdom in .NET source code (in Portuguese)
I think what flatestcat wants is something that actually functions and is proven to function correctly. Frama-C is yet another open source project that is long on hype but woefully short on delivery of actual, working code.
If you have an idempotent service, why do you need the accumulated cruft of 40 years of bad ideas to provide it?
For what it's worth, VAT on books in 0% in the UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/vat-notice-70110-...

Not because we're some sort of literary paradise, though. Probably some civil servant decided in the '50s that books were improving and zero-rated them, and now everyone would kick up a fuss if it changed.
So I went ahead and actually used kdiff. Here are the relevant passage.

Honestly it looks more like live rewriting of the FAQ to take into account the fact that Philae had a bumpy landing. I don't see an intention to deceive. It's awkward to present the document without mentioning it's not the detailed mission objectives.

That maybe the `perfect ending` considering we have some data back and well.. it's the only ending we have so rosetta exploding before philae could even be launched might have been labeled `perfect` too because it's the first time we put something into the orbit of a duck-like comet.

They certainly wished they had more philae time though. That would have been even more perfect. I wouldn't qualify this a `major failure` though (does the hostility come from that ?).

> The science observations will start immediately. During the first week – the minimum mission target – a first run of the most important scientific measurements will be completed. During this phase the lander can operate on primary battery power, should this be necessary. In a second phase that is meant to last up to three months, a secondary set of observations will be conducted, using backup batteries that will be recharged by the energy from the solar cells on the lander. However, no one knows precisely how long the lander will survive on the comet.

And then:

> The science observations will start immediately. During the first 2.5 days the first series of scientific measurements will be completed. During this phase the lander will operate on primary battery power. In a second phase that may last up to three months, a secondary set of observations will be conducted, using backup batteries that will be recharged by the energy from the solar cells on the lander. However, no one knows precisely how long the lander will survive on the comet.
Yes...why?
How the hell is "pair of mutually recursive functions" any less "arcane" than "fixed-point combinator"? "fixed-point combinator" is an obvious name that describes exactly what it does: it's a combinator that returns a fixed point. Can't get plainer than that.
A very timely write-up! Just last night I ordered a large (19"x16"), flat cast iron griddle[1] for oven baking after another disappointing result cooking pizza on my stone.

I used to own a pizza stone that seemed to transfer a lot of heat to my bread, even though it was relatively thin and didn't feel very dense. Bread and pizza would brown nicely on it, even though it was too small for baguettes. One day it cracked and I bought a different kind (Ceramic Chef brand). It's a little thicker and feels more porous, and I just can't get crisp bread on it even after pre-heating it in a 500F oven for 30 minutes. The new one is definitely a different type of stone. Maybe it's engineered for people who want to cook on rocks but don't like crust?

I'm excited about baking on a large slab of cast iron. I've had a 12" cast iron skillet for ~15 years and use it all the time.

[1] http://www.katom.com/067-1016905.html (store link; the manufacturer only describes it in detail in a PDF)
First off, let's start with Benjamin Franklin's "What good is a newborn baby?" quote, when asked what good electricity could ever do. Primary research leads to unknown and unknowable benefits, because it is impossible to know what will come of it.

As an example, let's consider the magnetic moment of the proton. It's a rather esoteric measurement. The proton acts as a tiny magnet, and some researchers wanted to know exactly how strong of a magnet. So, they set up a strong magnetic field and looked to see how the proton behaved. They ended up finding two different values.

As it turned out, those two different values were the result of electrons getting in the way of the measurement. As it turned out, there were two different chemical environments in the molecule being studied, and that caused the two different values. The chemists loved it, because then they could directly measure the electron density.

Then the doctors realized that the chemists had an awesome tool. They could use it to measure the concentration of water inside a patient's body. Bam, MRI.

All this from esoteric primary research.
Should have sent these guys to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
Maybe that's their real goal.. https://what-if.xkcd.com/119/
I think it should be stated on the title that this is a post from 2011.
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Tesla Roadsters Has Auto Pilot
Tesla Roadsters has Auto Pilot !

files.shareholder.com/downloads/ABEA-4CW8X0/3604745137x0x791902/d7b8cc04-9c3e-4216-9ce3-7fb4d7e0c00b/Q314%20SHL%20Final.pdf
Show HN: Fully customizable notification module for your AngularJS application
Thanks! This is a pretty good description of a scenario where quantum effects can do something that a classical model can't.
Electricity Pole Saves Lives of Three Person
If you're interested in alt-startup US cities, here's my list of places I would be interested in if I were a founder or early employee:

1. Boulder
2. Austin
3. Omaha
4. Des Moines
5. Reno (the real sleeper, but just look at the low, low business tax rate and proximity to SF).

The above list isn't meant to be chiseled into stone—it's just a thought experiment on my part and I'm interested in what others think the pros/cons of these towns would be. The obvious con would be the lack of proximity to investor and startup networks and that ecosystem.
And I'm sure most people here saw this compilation for Philae, but if you didn't: http://xkcd1446.org/#0
Eurostar lifts lid on next-generation e320 train
Having read the two different versions of the FAQ, I also have to dispute your thesis here. On November 12, that FAQ page was probably getting more hits in an hour than it had in its entire history up until then. Say you're in charge of communications, and due to the landing problems, the mission profile has just changed from best-case to medium-case. What's the point of a FAQ that's wrong? The question is "How long will the lander operate on the comet's nucleus?", not "How long did you originally promise the bureaucrats the lander would operate?"

As the answers change, the FAQ page changes. The previous version of that page on the Internet archive doesn't mention the landing at all. So this isn't even a long standing promise. Probably they were making estimates and new guesses every few days as they got closer to the comet and learned more about it. The target mission duration probably depended on the location they landed, which wasn't decided until a few weeks ago. Anyway, the FAQ page is not the official mission planning document, and it's not meant to be a history of every change in the plan. It's a place to answer questions that the public and the press have about the current state of the mission.
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Introducing the MICHELIN X TWEEL Airless Radial Tire
>"But we are mistaken when we interpret anxiety and other forms of existential disorientation as being at odds with a well-lived life. It may well be that they are an essential part of such a life."

If existential anxiety is part of a well-lived life, then by definition, why does everyone seem to prefer not to have existential anxiety?
Power, Noise, and Meaning in the Internet Multiverse
"...the profits of bestsellers are being used to cross-subsidize new books and new authors"

The publishing market seems to vary quite a bit country-by-country judging by the comments here.

In the UK, we also had an agreement between publishers and booksellers called the Net Book Agreement [1] which set fixed book prices. The original defence of the agreement was that it subsidised important but less popular works. The Agreement was scrapped in 1997.

What effect did that have on the publishing market? For a start, discounts by online retailers and even supermarkets have altered people's expectations of book pricing. Most people simply don't expect to pay full price for new titles anymore. Many independent bookshops can't compete on price and have closed. However, the number (and variety) of books published hasn't declined - quite the opposite: new and revised titles have grown substantially according to the Guardian report below [2]. But some publishers feel there are too many titles being published and the volume isn't sustainable.

Books, magazines and newspapers are exempt from VAT in the UK. However, e-books are subject to full (UK) VAT rate of 20%.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_Book_Agreement

[2] http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/22/uk-publishes-mo...
>"People who are interested in actually contributing to the world by scientific research and technological innovation have zero interest in a field that is overwhelmingly useless and idiotic: Politics."

You say politics as a field is deemed useless by those people, and yet the funding for them to pursue the thing they are interested in is directly affected by said "useless field".
No worries! I'm glad to be of service. At any rate, my work has certainly helped me land a couple of sweet internships. Doing work on interesting projects always looks good on your resume. :)
I think people are very tired of the extremely preferential treatment Israel is getting in general. Can I say that without offending anybody?
Patrons are now sending $1M per month to Patreon creators
Fedora is my primary desktop. Been using it since Fedora 7. Used Ubuntu prior to that, and RedHat prior to that.

For work and play I run unix-type apps, that target Linux systems, so I've always found it better to be running on something close to what you deploy on. Sure you could use VMs, but its still not the same, you don't learn as much about Linux that way.

Over the years I've moved away from Linux laptops and now use a Mac laptop. Mainly to make my life simpler - who knows, maybe Linux on the laptop is better now? But 99% of my time working is on the desktop, and sometimes its nice to have access Mac apps.
LiveCode – IDE for live-coding, cross-platform
GTLD.club – Articles and short posts about new generic Top-Level Domains
SuperServer in Firebird 3
You wouldn't need an actual keyboard, of course, because the glass could just watch where you're typing and convert that into keystrokes.
Alexander Grothendieck, Math Enigma, Dies at 86
I also just bought a cast iron frying pan and it should be delivered today. I'm mainly curious about how good it can cook without having the nonstick layer, which feels dubious considering I am terrible at ensuring I don't use too much heat which would melt the Teflon and presumably poison me. Cast iron with oil/butter may be a bit greasier but hopefully more forgiving given my blunt culinary abilities.
I think he argues that it's the actuators that we need to be concerned about, because there are plenty of intelligent entities around who will do bad things with actuators that allow that. One more entity intent on doing a bad thing does not make a great deal of difference. Neither humans or AI's should be given the tools to do great harm to other humans or AI's.

He cites drones as an example, but of course nuclear weapons are the obvious gotchas for humanity. One trident sub is perfectly capable of killing a hundred million people, I doubt whether anyone so vaporized would give a toss whether these were launched by a googlebot or a mad captain.
“Official” binary of Emacs-24.4 for MS-Windows now available on GNU FTP site
> conspiracy among 'Israeli supporters' (we all know what you mean bro!)

This line clearly links "anti Israeli" with "anti Semite". It's a vile tactic and does not belong on HN.
It's not only the durability. As cookware my cast iron pans outfry every other pan I have. Their only downside is that they are not very large and since they are kinda needy when it comes to care I'm not sure I would like to have bigger ones anyhow.

My cast iron pans are awesome. They cook the best steak and they have been in the family for generations. I remember eating some good steaks as a kid that were made in those pans and now I use them myself.
I've seen this before and have tried seasoning with flaxseed oil. In short, it does work much better than other methods. It also smells a bit unpleasant compared to some other oils when seasoning the pan.

Once you get that base coat really solidly on, you shouldn't ever have to hit your skillet with anything harsher than water and a rubber spatula.

I also leave my skillet in the oven as a thermal mass, but that's another story.
probably would be more effective to have an electrode connected to your brain
Is the cast iron going to wick away the moisture like a stone? That's the point of a pizza stone, and what gives breads and pizza crusts that crispiness.
I was (and still am) deeply disappointed when I got my copy of the dragon book and there's no dragon on the cover. That is blasphemy. What next? SICP with no wizards?
If you season it appropriately (see the original article) you should be able to slide an egg on it.
In case FB ever has problems with a mass migration of users to a successor (though unlikely, as there are billions of people still not having either internet or a FB account, in the next 10 years), they still can morph into a software and hardware technology giant...
Rosetta mission scientist Dr Taylor cries during apology over 'offensive' shirt
If you put 'applications' in 'quotes' when you refer to websites, we are so far from being on the same wavelength its not even worth continuing the discussion.

I can only recommend you seek additional input from your immediate peers before writing your next web 'application'.

(hint: the considerable negative feedback re inbox not working in firefox is the kind of bad press companies would rather avoid)
Thanks! I had completely missed the point that when oils start releasing smoke they are not really usable any more due to the free radicals.

My family will actually eat healthier food after I read this article since "Dad's panfried stuff" will no longer be so carcinogenic :)
Yes. A real designer isn't just a UI artist. Art is one skill among others. A real designer should also understand: UX, human behaviour and interaction, logic, visual language (architecture, shape, color, animation) and other skills...

Most designers don't get it right because they don't have these skills, they are only artists. And because of that they don't understand why a particular design is better than another or even what their own design expresses.

To do a real design, it asks you to do a ton of research and going back and forth between art and UX. Doing brain storming to implement old and new logic elements in a fashion way.

It's like the iOS 6 it was a big step forward because it was a design: simple, expressive, and functional. The guys who created it understood all of that. Then again, Apple followed the fashion trend more than the logic and did the iOS 7 design criticized even before it was out. The problem, among its specific fashion, was that the design was so flat it was destroying UI information. Plus visual problems: sometimes the color seems to mean something but you find one red button that isn't one, sometimes the shape, sometimes the animation...

Here is an example of what a designer should do to design a UI.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2013/06/27/desi...
Does anyone know of a more recent comparison between tcmalloc and jemalloc?

Also of note, if you haven't played with this before, be aware of how you are linking if you are in a more complex project. It is possible (though difficult) to end up with multiple malloc implementations in one binary, so be careful to keep from passing memory allocated in one to the free function of the other :-)
Yik Yak Is Close to Closing on Roughly $75M
http://www.gwtproject.org
According to the very knowledgeable folks on the pizzamaking.com forums, the best surface to bake pizza and/or bread is between 0.5 and 1" of cordierite, which is the kind of ceramic you find in pottery kilns. That's what I use with excellent results.
I do remember that line - Bill Bryson is gold. The other fact I remember is that Slipknot originated there.
That defeats half the purpose though, because if the string is null, you won't be able to call the method without throwing an exception. Or is that not the case for extension methods?
While it seems perhaps uncharacteristic of a space agency to make engineering decisions based on politics, if I had to guess I'd imagine that the team was well aware of the PR effect of the power supply chosen for their lander. I would also guess that the same issue was considered at NASA while planning the Mars Exploration Rover (solar) and Curiosity (RTG) missions. Are you claiming that this did not factor into their decision at all?
Until I see an award-winning 4k/64k demo written in one of these ultra-high-level languages, I stand by my opinion that C is more efficient.
Comcast Kisses-Up to Obama, Agrees with His Stance on Net Neutrality
Show HN: Crowdfunded inventory for small businesses
We were a part of Boomtown Boulder's second accelerator class, and after a few months of thrashing and pivoting, we feel we've got something pretty cool! We are a new crowdfunding platform with a twist - we let you partner with retail businesses by financing their inventory, helping them with marketing/lead generation and then collecting a return when that inventory sells. What I am personally really excited about, is that because the users are actively engaged throughout the process, this type of investment is not classified as a security and we can offer it to non-accredited investors. It's also a pretty unique solution for the businesses as they essentially get their inventory fronted to them at no cost, freeing up their cash for other business activities. Would love any feedback on anything, our site is: http://www.kickfurther.com
Actually, You Don't Run Your Agency Like a Startup
You think you contribute a lot in a year of code?
pound for pound, solar power is much cheaper. you cant disregard the weight considerations of a thermoelectric generator
I won't echo this sentiment, but; why use C for writing a compiler? It seems that languages in the ML family, among others, are nicer for that kind of domain.

I guess it at least has its uses if you want your compiler to be really fast.
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/284158_townes.htm...

1960.

When the first laser appeared, scientists and engineers were not really prepared for it. Many people said to me—partly as a joke but also as a challenge—that the laser was "a solution looking for a problem."
Associated types mainly: https://github.com/rust-lang/rust/issues/17307
Um, no. This isn't easy to do, except in movies. Glass doesn't have the CPU power to do it, so you'd have to rely on cloud power; do you really think everybody wants all their key strokes sent to Google? And language models aren't that much help with terminal commands. And even humans can't do this; you're expecting Glass to be smarter than a human... not impossible, but think about what processing power and memory it has on board, both constrained by battery. And your head would have to be in an incredibly awkward position. So many reasons, no.