ecommando

Awww.. you mad... I'm so sick of hearing about all these "new" technologies that are so revolutionary, but can't hold a candle to postgres and memcache.

Despite what the brochures tell you, a "degree" from DeVry and 3 hours in a Ruby book doesn't make an architect, and this is one of several "revolutionary technologies", like Ruby, that won't scale and will wither and die.

Another one bites the dust, another one bites the dust, bamp bamp, another one bites the dust.

This is a terrible hit to the team. I lost one of my co-founders at a very young age.. Brandt Cannici was his name, and we really never recovered from the loss. My condolences and best wishes to his family, friends, and the Diaspora team.

I assume you are afraid of reprisal from Google by not mentioning which application(s) they allegedly removed. When trying to rally support, more evidence is better than less, more detail better than none.

Nice work :)

first.. identify their role, and yours. Be clear about it. It's the first thing they'll ask you after you tell them what the company will be doing. The lines need to be very well defined, especially if you don't know this person, so that the roles don't conflict.

Before you "find" one, do the above. Then repost :)

Cheers R

| And just because they're operating at a different scale as you doesn't change the fundamentals.

What? Which fundamentals?

Google licensing the data from the provider doesn't make it less expensive for anyone else, it makes it more expensive. They get exclusive licenses that allow them to resell access, thus removing a potential vendor from the pool of possible vendors, and making Google ultimately the only vendor available as they tie up the access points.

I suppose as long as you're okay with Google controlling your access to the information you require, full steam ahead.

That still doesn't change the fact that you no longer control the future of your business. If that's the path you choose, Google owns your business. If they decide to deprecate the very data your business depends on, you're done.

It's about risk mitigation as it pertains to the use of third party APIs. I believe there are too many startups basing their businesses on the APIs of others.

Had I simply written about risk mitigation, it would have been up to the reader to apply it to the use of API's, which clearly startups are not doing.

With respect to the use of those APIs as a core business function, the viability of their continued use is only as secure as the CEO of the company that offers them is honest.

If history is any measure, that's not very secure.

Interesting viewpoint, Jeff...

Google licenses the data, but has the resources to acquire the data, and the company that owns it. If you go to the vendor and try to license the data, the cost is now so high that a startup without funding will be unlikely to afford it.

With the exception of "employees", you are correct.

Each is a single point of failure that should be considered, each with its own set of criteria. If there is a sufficient supply of vendors, then the single point of failure (or sourcing in this case) does not pose a threat to your "business".

In the event where the payment processor keeps your customers credit card information, for example, you risk losing your customers when you have to go back to your customers to re-acquire the data should the provider cease to exist, or their policies prevent them from being used. This can be mitigated by using gateways that don't hold the data (like PayPal) as an exclusive processor, and managing that data yourself.

Risk mitigation should be applied to every aspect of your business that has a reasonable risk of becoming a choke point for operations.

R

Except that throughout the years, the manufacture of cars has become commoditized, and there are many more engine manufacturers than there were, so it's virtually impossible for a single manufacturer to corner the market on engines. Additionally, since the parts can all be fabricated by a multitude of vendors, there's no risk to the car company of a single point of failure.

Sure. I've programmed PHP for the last 8 years, and C/C++ for 18 years before that. A few months back I picked up Python in about 5 days, dabbling part time. Django on top of Python took another day or two.

I now consider myself an advanced Python developer. It's actually much easier than PHP, but the lack of curly braces, and strict adherence to MVC were my initial hurdles.

I can't imagine going back to PHP at this point, even though everything I did in PHP was highly object oriented.

Looks interesting, but why would you use arrays for data passing? Why not use objects?

For PHP, I recommend KohanaPHP. I've played with it, and it appears to be the most complete framework I've examined.

Douchebag posting links to lead-capture pages.

uquast.com (formerly freeiq.com)... both have been failures thus far.

Will you PLEASE stop spamming this site to this list.

Congratulations! THANK YOU for serving our country. You may not hear it enough, but it IS greatly appreciated.

Why would cheap ladies put their clothing online?

It's an image, not a website. Nice image though.

LOL... Domain Name Fail :)

It's LibreOffice, not LibraOffice... right?

You could also use it for providing one-time or shielded email addresses for people who wish to subscribe to mailing lists or newsletters, but don't want to give their email addresses.

Yeah, you're mature. right.

I suspect that you weren't in the "senior developer" group with your employer, and you're bitter about only making $8.75 an hour writing crappy code.

I never said I programmed before the first compiler, I said I wrote assembly before compilers were available. The first compiler was written in 1952, not '57, but if you had any study skills, you'd have simply googled that.

It's double digit IQ pinheads like you that make this and other sites like it a colossal waste of time.

Consider yourself ignored.

Yeah, check out http://www.101domain.com/ (I am not affiliated). I used them to get a .sk domain where an registered agent was needed.

Excellent suggestion. That was a great post by Steve, and I can see his points. I especially love the answer to the C++ question ;-)

However, I ask you, please revisit this post in 20 year, when you've run the gamut of jobs, startups, and made a ton of money, and then ask yourself, "Did I ever really use any of the knowledge I gained in my compiler design and application courses?

You already know the answer will be "no".

I'm not saying it's not important for some people. For some, it's truly foundational and life changing. For others, it's a complete waste of time, and I'm not saying that to one-up or make myself seem super-hero-like. It's just the way it is.

How am I qualified to make such statements? I have coded assembly by hand since the 6502 and Z80 processors came out, since before there were compilers, and I'd happily list projects I've done in assembler if there's interest.

Cheers R

LOL... What history? You have none. You've accomplished nothing, and you have zero social skills. Chocolates. LOL!

Have a great day.

* Your education is important to the discussion. *

It's only important to you, and only because it's the only measure you have by which to assign the value of others. Hell, just 128 days ago, you were begging for advice on which chocolates to get your fellow employees so they would like you. You don't have experience, but you sure talk a good game.

* Care to comment on this? * Get into a hot startup and listen and learn. The first six months will provide you with more experience than you'd get in a PhD program at any university (short of MIT or Stanford). *

Absolutely.

The first six months of a hot startup is a microcosm or activity. Designs and ideas flying, deals, market tests, focus groups, venture capital pitches, startup camps, all night code binges, and more. It's 20 hours on, 4 hours off, for months at a time, pure adrenaline and pipelined learning at its best.

While you could argue that the VOLUME of information in a PhD program is greater, it takes six to eight years, and the VAST majority of that information is forgotten and never used. A bright person could easily pick up experience in a startup that they wouldn't see for ten years post-grad, if they just get engaged and pay attention.

Short of Stanford, MIT, and to some extent RIT, there really aren't many actively entrepreneurial schools that promote technology development from within. That's why I said "you can always go back". Sure, most choose not to, but that's a personal problem.

He should take a year off to work at one or more startups, then go back to school, if school is what he wanted to do.

So, let's take a look at Cornell, one of the top CS schools (#5 I think).

Here's their "Practicum in Operating Systems" (CS 4411 Project 1) for Fall 2010: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs4410/2010fa/CS4411/proje...

Now, the same course in 2009: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/courses/cs4410/2009fa/CS4411/proje...

See any difference? Any modifications? Any enhancement or change of any sort?

Nope. None.

It was the same in 2008, but the page has been removed.

Two years of time has passed, new OS architecture designs have been published, some implemented, new threading paradigms documented, and some are in production, but the exact same project, with the same code, same requirements, and same final problem is to be solved, by the same morons that have no incentive to innovate because they're tenured.

Sure, you could argue "it's the basics, dummy!"... but wait...

It's a SENIOR YEAR project, and they STILL have these poor drones working on the food service project. This is AT BEST a sophomore project.

Any truly good developer with even a basic interest in OS design should be able to understand and implement the basics of kernel level pre-emptive multitasking and cooperative threading in year one of college, but these geniuses still have you studying the basics of semaphores and mutexes in your senior year.

Let's look at some of the Cornell senior year projects: http://people.ece.cornell.edu/land/courses/eceprojectsland/S...

Seriously? Sound identification of Loons? Arduino-based ANYTHING??? Touch screen user interface for a car using LabView?

These are the "geniuses" todays top schools are turning out.

It may sound like I'm calling out these specific people for their lack of imagination, but the fact is that they are the majority, and some of them go back into the educational system to get their masters in education so they can teach! Sheer insanity.

I've worked with hundreds of developers and mentored a dozen or so; some excellent, some not so much.

The one thing I can say without exception is that I have never met a truly prolific architect level developer that wasn't self taught. Most of them had a passion for programming, and an education in some other speciality unrelated to development.

Yeah, you can get some basics, and yeah, there's SOME value in compiler design, but nothing you can't get from "Dummies Guide to Compiler Design", which, if it exists, was probably written by a student admin ghosting for a tenured professor.

What a system.

Thank you.

I do have a ton of experience, and formal education is not a prerequisite for success.

It's an option, and not always the easiest one to choose.

Cheers, R

Am I a troll? Let's see... My software has been used by millions of people, I've been paid millions, and I've worked with some of the best and brightest minds on the planet.

I guess I MUST be a troll.

* "Anything you learn there is already 10 years out of date, and anything "new" you learn will be useless by the time you graduate"

This was in the context of CS, not anything else, which is why I suggested he go a non-CS route if a degree is his goal. I've reviewed some of the best projects to come out of todays CS programs as assignments, and I can tell you that they are rote, unimaginative, and lack real-world application value.

* "You have got to be kidding me. What you learn in school is not the idea itself but a method of thinking, method of critiquing and the method of learning. One of the most effective ways to learn to solve problems is to solve problems that already have solutions and to learn from those that came before you. Yes you may learn "stuffs from the 70s" but you are learning them for a reason. For example, just because NoSQL is in vogue right now doesn't mean that relation theory should be discarded. There is a value in going to school, being surrounded by a learning atmosphere, reassessing yourself every day and learning more about yourself." *

I agree completely. Why so defensive? Huge loan payments due? You don't need to go to an ivy league school to learn ACID compliance, or relational theory (although relational application is more suitable for real world problems). You also don't need to go to school to "find" yourself, and to presume with such conviction that YOUR position is the correct one is just as asinine as if I were to presume mine was the only correct path.

Some of us are natural problem solvers, who absorb and process volumes of information quickly. Based on your frustration level, it's probably safe to assume you are not one of those, and there's nothing wrong with that.

But, ya know, you're right.. clearly there's only one way to go through life, and yours MUST be the correct way, or why else would people like you sink to name calling and belittling just because someone has a dissenting opinion?

* Seriously, you get to meet people who started fields, who wrote books, who first thought of the problems in CS schools. Computer Science is still in adolescence. You will still meet legends." *

Seriously? You'd go to college to meet the guy who wrote Pong?, or the guy who wrote the first ray casting algorithm? Sounds like a rational fiscal decision. I'll bet Dad was paying the bill. I figured out long, long ago, while you were still a glint in your father's eye, that I can simply call those people up and buy them lunch, and they'll impart all their knowledge to me on demand.

* So? Just because you interviewed idiots doesn't mean everyone who got a BS/MS is one. Serious sampling bias there. I am sure YOU attract mediocre people. *

Again with the berating. You must be a stellar human to be able to look down upon us all. I've interviewed 327 people in my professional career, killed billion dollar deals because they weren't technically feasible within time and budget constraints, and made more money writing code than 99% of the people on this board will ever see.

Does that make me better? No. It simply makes me an individual with a lot of experience.

* "Jesus Christ dude, how old are you? what is your educational background? What do you aspire to be?" *

Perfect. The true measure of a man is his alma mater. Get serious dude.

I'm 43, and I have a quarter century of rock solid software development experience, all in real world applications, many of which are still used today, probably by you without even knowing it, and my educational background is not germane to this discussion.

What are YOUR qualifications? I suspect you won't post them in public.

And yes, I still sit down and have lunch with people who call me and ask to meet with me.

He asked for my opinion. I gave it to him.

Crawl back into your hole, troll, and mind your own business.

Finish high school, but spend every waking minute working on your passion for software development.

Skip college, you can always go back. Anything you learn there is already 10 years out of date, and anything "new" you learn will be useless by the time you graduate. Seriously.

If you MUST go to college, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get a CS degree. Go for finance, or liberal arts, even bio or chem, or some course of study where the instructors have a clue and have actually done something in that field.

I can't tell you how many BS/CS and MS/CS grads I interviewed that couldn't code their way out of a paper bag because they spent their college years writing compilers or some other such nonsense.

Get into a hot startup and listen and learn. The first six months will provide you with more experience than you'd get in a PhD program at any university (short of MIT or Stanford).

Cheers!