skysight-inc/HackerNews huggingface dataset:
> It is the most popular free iphone app. That wouldn't be the case if it weren't well made.

I believe iFart was fairly popular for a time (where popular is defined as "downloaded many times"), and it even cost money, putting a financial barrier to entry in front of potential users. Does that make iFart a well-made app though? I don't think so (though maybe you or others do).

I think the Facebook app's popularity just comes from the popularity of Facebook the service.
So, because google is big they get to do as they please ?

The 'bit of research' is roughly 30 man years. There is a book in print about it. Until yesterday you could actually find something about it on the internet.

Whether or not it amounts to something in your eyes does not give google the right to just stomp all over it and appropriate that name.

Might does not make right.

How big something is depends on your position and perspective.

If 'being updated in the last two years' is a criterion why didn't they re-use algol ?

There is this thing called corporate responsibility and google is displaying very little of it in this particular case.

It's interesting how 'who designed it' and 'where it was designed' seems to be enough to give them a free pass to do this in your eyes.

What do you expect me to do with the link to Ken Thompson ? Are you introducing me to him ? Do you think it matters that he's involved in this with respect to the name of the project, not the quality of the language or the concepts in it ?
Recall that you pay nothing to use facebook, whereas with an iPhone, something that you physically own, you're not even really allowed to do as you please with it.
This is, in general, an awesome article.

The one thing I'd add is that, unlike most newspaper articles, technical documentation can be executable. I was so excited when I realized the implications of that I nearly had to sit down. (Yes, I live a boring life.)

I did a bit of that with the documentation to A/Bingo: the documentation is presented in a live demo, the formatted sample code is automatically composed from what I'm actually running (and thus gets automatically patched without me having to do anything special about it), and I copiously abuse my favorite Javascript effects (lightboxes, etc) to make the presentation flow better that linear text.

For example, often in tech documentation you want to focus attention on a portion of the code buried in a bunch of boilerplate. (Or maybe that is just those of us who write Java all day.) You can bold the bits you want to emphasize, or you can hide the boring details with Javascript and let only those folks who need them look them up.

My opinion is this is better than linking to a fuller version on another page, as it interrupts the user's flow less. It is also more readable than a few lines of bold text studded in the boilerplate, and more usable than omitting the boilerplate and producing code which doesn't function if copy/pasted.
Here's what I know about AdMob. I went to their site on Monday and tried to advertise one of my iPhone apps.

AdMob failed to figure out my iTunes URL, so I could not post any ads.

I immediately posted to their forum and emailed their support. To date, I have received no response.

It seems like they will fit in very well at Google.
Why not "yourcompany.com/productname/"?
My response to your criticism: http://zef.me/2355/a-when-rails-fails-follow-up
Reddit is not the Community of the Go language.
I was familiar with the term, but thank you for your attempt at educating me.

Google has some unique problems, they also have a unique position in that they probably have pooled the largest number of IT talent world wide.

That gives them clout enough to do these things, just like Erlang came out of a phone company (why, couldn't they have used some existing language ?) and Apple made their own phone (I'm sure they could have afforded a Nokia or two) google can and does have the budget to branch out in other fields.

That's not 'NIH', NIH is doing something even though better alternatives exist, for instance, writing your own bookkeeping software when you're a mid-sized company and you should be spending your time on serving your customers instead of writing bookkeeping software.

Google even makes their own servers, at their levels of scale a lot of things that do not make sense for smaller companies actually improve the bottom line.

Google suffers from many defects, bad customer support would be the top of my list, but NIH isn't one of them, at least not in this case.

That's almost like accusing Xerox in their heyday of having NIH, and I'd hate to think what the world of software would look like today if it hadn't been for that.
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This is more economic than politic. The government creates an incentive to sort garbage, which should lead to new businesses creation and better overall management of garbage/recycling.

The article suggests that people have to sort their garbage themselves, but they could pay someone to do it for them.
This is similar to carbon taxes philosophy, create an incentive by making consumers bear the cost of inefficiencies, then some company will find a way to improve things, this reducing those costs.
I also live in Sweden, and in all the places I've lived, recycling has always been optional. If you don't want to recycle anything, you can just throw everything in the general trash, and noone will know or complain or charge you extra for it.

That said, I read an article many years ago by the head of our environmental protection agency, and he rightfully pointed out the externalizing of the cost of sorting on the population, but most importantly he pointed out that recycling of some materials is completely negative, i.e. it is cheaper and uses less energy to create fresh material than recycle the old.

The materials that did make sense to recycle though was glass, newspaper and aluminium cans. By not recycling milk cartons or plastic containers, you're doing more for the environment than if you recycle them.

The lesson learned is of course that you should always have science to back up your viewpoint, only by making a lifecycle analysis can you find out if a certain activity really is good for the environment, or if it's only good for your conscience.
Could someone explain why this was downvoted?
Yes I didn't read past the title because the title itself is a turn off to me.
It also seems like the author also forgot that code brevity is very important when maintaining such a large code base. Everyone can understand that switch, but the suggested object replacement is not so obvious.
Ask HN: My CTO just left me 2 angry voicemails...
I recently joined a startup in San Francisco about 3 months ago. We launched our product and it has been a great success (many customers, a lot of buzz, tons of traffic).

Before the launch, I was working until midnight everyday, 6 days a week. After the launch, my CTO was so happy with the work I did that the founders tripled my stock.

Today, I screwed up and left my phone at home while I went out for dinner. We had some work that needed to be done, but I thought it wasn't due until the morning (miscommunication on my part). When I got home, I had a couple of missed calls and two really angry voicemails.

My CTO told me he had expected me to finish my work earlier and that I was irresponsible. He pretty much yelled at me and had a few cuss words to throw in.

I called him back and apologized. (wtf? Why'd I do that?)

I can't believe how intense startups are.

Since I've been here there have been 2 people that were fired. I'm actually scared that I'll be fired when I walk in tomorrow morning. But at the same time, I don't need this job. I have enough savings to cover rent and living expenses until I find a new one.

I can't sleep right now, I've talked to my wife and she thinks I should quit. What do you guys think? Are startups ALWAYS this intense? Are the successful guys the ones who stick through it no matter what?

Thanks
- Anonymous
blatant self promo - http://closureoptimizer.com/ - for a simple form to play with the optimiser basics
Eckart Wintzen is my hero since I worked at his company, Origin, back in the 90s. He actually implemented that concept at Origin: We had to track and estimate the footprint of each project, and then the amount was reinvested in environmental projects.

Recently I have created a methodology inspired by that experience at Origin:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/5507536/Sustainable-Software-Engin...

More info about Eckart Wintzen (who passed away recently):
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.11/es_wintzen_pr.html
That's an excellent observation, frustration really is key to sensing where the world can be improved.

The problem is that one mans frustration is another mans income, so it would probably be easier to limit this frustration guide to those areas where you are not going to be facing opposition right away.

On the other hand that might cut off fruitful avenues and maybe we shouldn't be that timid about this.

Thanks for the idea, looking forward to that other thread and I'll do my best to think about your challenge while going through the day.
HN Help: I'm lost
I'm posting this with a new nick to hide my identity. I'm one of the top people (by karma) on HN and if I told you my nick or name you'd probably know me.

But I'm totally lost.

From the outside you'd be amazed to know that inside I am in terrible turmoil. You know me because of code I've written, books I've published, and my contributions here. Perhaps you follow me on Twitter. But I have reached a point in my life where I do not know what to do, or where to turn.

I'm in my early 40s, I've worked for start-ups and big companies. I made a little bit of money in the early 2000s which helped pay off a bit of mortgage. I have a family that depends on me financially. And yet I feel I have nothing to show.

I don't own my home, I don't have lots of savings, I have a job with a difficult boss. Because of the hours I work and commuting I barely see my children. I am utterly unhappy with my life.

Where should I turn? And what would you do?

I am tempted to totally change my life and stop working and create something new that will be challenging and interesting. Create something that I can do from home so that at least I am not a slave to my boss.
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Anyone who would fire you for this is not worth working for.
and that he can still walk.
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Startups that have recently launched and are dependent on a single product for income are going to be very intense around deadlines. If you're currently the sole / lead dev I doubt you have much to worry about. You are worth more to them than running a few hours late.

Let your cto cool off and theres no harm, then no foul.

If it's a good, popular, product then it is worth sticking with it, but of course your health should come first. Burn out over a job you don't need is not a good idea. Just try to balance things, set sensible deadlines etc so 13hr days are a rarity not the norm.

Edited for conciseness
It's just this sort of zingy one-liner that hurts HN. You are playing into the cult of personality, your comment does little to further the discussion, and it's basically just an inside joke. Surprise, surprise... you have thirteen points at the time of this retort.

Instead, you should debate the merits of the idea. I was actually not so much advocating the idea as I was bringing it up for discussion - you can tell by the tone of my comment.
And, while I questioned myself for even bringing up the idea of a length requirement, your response makes me lean a little bit more towards the idea.
There's an easy solution. Put a deposit (tax) on bottles, that gets refunded when the bottle gets recycled.

If it's worth a 10 cent "sin tax" for me to chuck a Cola bottle away, the that's my choice. If somebody can sort my garbage (because they really need the money, or they have a high-tech robot that can sort trash really well, or whatever else), then they win as well.
I've heard that saying as well (only it was "Rags to Riches in three generations, rags to rags in four"), but as far as I can tell, the Rockefellers are still around, still rich, and are at the sixth generation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_family ---the legacy section of that page makes for interesting reading). The Kennedy's are still around, still rich and are in the fourth generation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_family ). History has yet to see what happens to the Bush family ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bush_family ), currently on the fourth generation.

The Hilton family ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilton_family ) on the other hand, might fall into your theory.
No, startups are not "ALWAYS" anything; there is a wide variety of people involved in startups. Startup founders, often very successful ones, can be polite and generous people. Most people do have flaws of some sort, and sometimes there will be people who have flaws that are distinctly incompatible with your own flaws.

If you aren't comfortable with the working environment, you should quit; the world is too wide and life too short to do otherwise. You might prefer to line something else up first, if you're unsure of your prospects or don't have sizable savings.

It may just be that you're taking it too seriously. If you have owned up to your mistake, done what you can to reduce its impact to the rest of the team, and apologized, you should let yourself move on. If your boss doesn't see it that way, he's an asshole, and probably isn't worth working for.

Also, if he's being such an asshole that he's chasing off and firing people at an alarming rate, the finances of the company may be dramatically worse than you are aware of and he's deluding himself and others into thinking he's being proactive, when really he's just unable to admit that his company is going down the toilet and he should own up to those problems. Actually, I can't think of any instance where a founder was being truly a dick where it didn't boil down to things going really badly and the founder not knowing how to cope with the failure. (I'm sure there have been many...people are sometimes just dicks. But, I can't think of any examples right now, but I can think of several examples of poor financial situation leading to emotional falling outs among founders and employees.)
I have a couple issues with what you're saying.

First, there's a long history of name appropriation about which I'm quite certain you've never raised any concerns. For example: this site's domain name, which represents the appropriation of an important bit of CS terminology by a for-profit concern which isn't in any way related to that bit of terminology. Where is your outrage toward PG?

And I'm glad you chose 37Signals as an example further on in your post, because they recently launched a search-oriented (helping designers and clients find each other) service named "Haystack". A friend of mine was already maintaining a somewhat-popular (in its niche) search framework for Python web apps called... Haystack. Guess how many people are standing up and denouncing 37Signals as the Big Bad Evil Destroyer? You didn't, so far as I'm aware.

So it seems somewhat hypocritical, or at the very least arbitrary, to single out Google for the treatment you're advocating while overlooking numerous other examples of the same thing happening.

And this leads into my second concern: I don't really see how someone can stake a permanent claim to a name in a field based on not much more than a niche/hobby project. If "Go!" had been more heavily marketed or more widely disseminated (or even maintained; it seems to have basically died as a project), I'd be more inclined to sympathy, but the simple fact is that it wasn't: until the past couple of days, it had spent its entire existence shrouded in obscurity, and to my mind that's nowhere near enough to begin dictating the use of the name to anyone.
And here: http://extent.nl/

'Eck's tent' :)
Then please, don't comment. The cliche "don't judge a book by its cover" comes to mind.

Do you often judge articles by their titles and then proselytize to your peers?
Maybe retrain as a teacher and do private tuition in the mean time? The working hours will be better, it's rewarding work (not financially), probably quite a secure job and you can work on ad hoc projects/consulting on the side.
Wikipedians test whether it's possible for new editors to still create articles
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No, that's called loosely typed.

Having type annotations is a big deal because you can infer certain things at compile time.

Take for instance (+ x y). In CLisp "+" is a multi-method, the dispatch being done at runtime, but if you know that x and y are both integers, there's no need to search the right method to call at runtime, its address is already known. And then you can also decide to inline its code at compile-time if there aren't any conflicts (mostly like a macro, but without the laziness).

Of course, in dynamically-typed languages you have the freedom to infer these things at runtime, in certain situations you can infer the types of "x" and "y", you can use a cache for the call sites, and so on, but it's a lot more complicated, and one of the reasons is that for every optimization you do, you have to be ready to de-optimize when the assumptions have been invalidated.

That's why I said SBCL doesn't count as being dynamic in that test because it probably makes full use of those static annotations.
He touches lightly on it at the end, but this cone does not work for all people.

For example for me, HEAR and READ would be reversed.

And actually the rest are not accurate - for me - either.

The point isn't the details (I initially posted them, but edited it out) - the point is to figure out this cone for yourself, and work with it to best effect.
"So, because google is big they get to do as they please ?"

Consider a different phrasing: if I start a project with a particular name, work on it for a bit and then abandon it for a few years, do I have a right to demand -- forever -- that no-one else use the same or a similar name?

It's instructive to note that in many countries, trademark laws include the concept of "abandonment", whereby a name or mark can lapse through disuse.
Y combinator was as far as I know not in use for the domain of 'start-up booster / mentors / incubators'

And I wasn't aware of the 37signals name clash with respect to 'haystack', and I really wonder how you can expect me to be supportive of things that I am not even aware of.

But, now that you have raised my awareness to the issue, if the clash is for the same problem domain, then yes, I think that 37signals should change their name.
This is silly, and off-topic, and you're right that the concepts in a language are what matter. Incidentally, that's also what this article is about, so let's focus on that.
However the lack of generics means that you can't write a general-purpose map, filter, reduce, etc.

I'm not so sure, why not just define them "dynamically"? From the article: it's defined as an empty interface, and everything implements the empty interface
I completely understand. Put some sort of anonymous email in your profile and we'll talk.
this comment now makes no sense because the parent got edited.

Both are programming languages, 5 minutes of work on googles part would have resolved the clash.

Either they've been careless (doing your homework before you stake a claim on a name is important, see the 'gmail' fail in Germany, which they rightly lost, and yes, that was a trademark dispute, and in spite of being clearly wrong from the get-go google decided to push on and on in a clear attempt to crush the other party with litigation when everybody could see they were just plain wrong).

Or they've been doing this wilfully, in which case they deserve no respect at all.
This is quite an interesting method, but be aware: it doesn't work for all people. Everyone has to figure out how they learn best, preferably by the start of high school.
This is design-as-art, and it's an insult to true design.

Huh?

Why are top-tier designers visualizing choose–your-own-adventure books?

Actually, only one guy is doing something he loves, as a hobby, and he gets to learn a lot of useful stuff at the same time.

I'd much rather this guy use his PhD in Computational Neuroscience to help my brain visualize code

So, how far do you think he'll get doing something he may have no passion for, for somebody like you?
Ask HN: Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?
When I saw this question, my first thoughts were as follows. Looking at these, not sure if they're exactly on point, but they sure do reveal a bit about my thinking.

* When I see a problem, I can’t help but fix it.

* Inefficient processes piss me off. I instinctively start thinking of better solutions.

* I love shortcuts and using system to my advantage.

* I get a kick out of being resourceful and coming up with duck-tape solutions.

* I enjoy doing a different thing each day and look forward to challenges and crises.

* I want to make the calls – more than that, and I want to be responsible for any bad decisions.

* I need to make a difference in the world.

[See also: http://euwyn.com/2009/11/12/why-do-you-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur/]
I have done that. Thank you.
So, you are effectively arguing that since the namespace is finite that google had no option but to pick a name that was already in recent use ?

How would you feel if they took the name 'arc' for this project ? After all, arc is a one guy 'hobby project', and it's state of maintenance seems to be such that it will not be ever in wide distribution, that makes it fair game right ?

As far as I'm concerned, any language that has an entry in 99 bottles is in existance, whether maintained or not doesn't enter in to it, it takes 30 seconds to verify if a name is 'taken'.

http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-go!-289.html
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I'm really surprised you didn't stress the importance of having useful fragment identifiers for every section, and using references to them liberally -- and not just the obvious <a href="#foo">foo</a> -- tertiary links inline in prose like Suck.com popularized in the olden times.

Some nitpicks:

and you need to understand why I’m putting the commas and semicolons in this sentence inside the quotes, not outside

I know why you do that, but it doesn't make it any less bullshit. It's not like you're doublestriking on a monospaced typewriter or manually kerning on a press! Don't pollute what are ostensibly quotes with exterior punctuation. At least you're using the oxford comma :)

Mostly, this means using emphasis and strong text frequently. I usually avoid too much strong because it’s looks like I’m just aping Jakob Neilsen, but whatever.

An apter and and more pejorative example for today's whippersnapper would be Jeff Atwood. In my opinion using <em> and <strong> with default styles is worse than useless, just use <i> and <b>, they aren't poisonous. I did appreciate the <em> as yellow-highliter fad that 37signals kicked off years ago.