X = Number of Successes, Y = Number of Failures

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5522918

by aashaykumar92 • 13 years ago

12 11 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

X = Number of Successes Y = Number of Failures

if(X>Y){ alert("Take more chances, be bold."); } else{ alert("Keep it up!"); }

True or False? Or just commenting is of course ok :)

tpae• 13 years ago

You forgot the while statement

aashaykumar923• 13 years ago

where?

caffeinewriter• 13 years ago

I'd add an elif (or else if, depending on if your language can handle that shorthand) checking the total number of X+Y, as well as if X>Y, with a statement that says "Don't be afraid to fail."

But that's just me.

aashaykumar923• 13 years ago

What would X+Y represent?? And "Don't be afraid to fail" would be a nice add-on for sure!

skndr• 13 years ago

Total number of tries. If you've only succeeded or failed a handful of times, you might not be trying enough ways.

rmp2150• 13 years ago

Doesn't take into account the magnitude of successes or failures

jfoster• 13 years ago

This is important. I think ambition is also important. Someone who is extremely ambitious but has had 0 successes probably needs to scale back. Someone with plenty of successes but no failures might want to think about scaling up their ambitions.

Mz2• 13 years ago

"Your unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning." -- Bill Gates

Success and failure are often simplistic and arbitrary judgement calls. It is common to just rejigger the numbers if you don't like what they say. So I am not sure how to engage you in meaningful and useful discussion on this topic. You haven't even really defined your terms and if you did I might fundamentally disagree with your definitions.

aashaykumar923• 13 years ago

Definitions of Successes and Failures are subject to your own discretion--that's the beauty of these terms.

Mz2• 13 years ago

I think life is a little more complicated than that. But I doubt you want to discuss it in earnest, especially not with me -- which is probably for the best as I probably should learn to shut up.

Cheers!

imwhimsical• 13 years ago

Shouldn't (technically) there be a prompt function there somewhere? I mean, how does the computer know how many successes/failures I've had? :P

Just kidding!

While the whole "failure is the stepping stone to success" thing is high these days, especially with startups, It doesn't work for me. Obviously teaches us a lot, but then again, failure is failure. Embrace it, acknowledge it, and move on. Just my 2 cents :)

X = Number of Successes, Y = Number of Failures

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