Why this this story on the front-page of HN? This provides very little quality content and discussion. This just seems to be propaganda. Yes, Curebit was in the wrong, admit it, move on. I'm sure there are more interesting things in the world of technology and startups than this. To quote PG: "I think HN's initial population of smart, mostly apolitical nerds has been diluted by the arrival of a lot of new users who are not as smart, and are thus more excited by shallow controversies."
HN user
langsamer
I'm curious, how did Begemann start his company in 2008? There is a note in there about him raising 5M in 2009 but that was after he had a 25-person company?
I don't think that quote is meant to be taken literally. It's more a commentary on how you can accomplish most things you can put your mind to; the only limits you place are those you impose on yourself.
And I don't know, but it might be possible to create a light-sabre. Who knows. I am sure that we live with technology today that seemed just as impossible 100 years ago.
A great math book is Gilbert Strang's "Introduction to Applied Mathematics". Actually anything by Gilbert Strang is worth it.
I would also recommend: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521792851/ref=ox_sc_act_ti...
You could also try out the problems at projecteuler.net
I would recomend some social "stretching" techniques. Tim Ferris talks about them in his book 4-hr work week:
1. Make eye-contact. Make a conscious effort to do this. Pick one eye and stick to it. Make eye-contact on passer-bys on the street. If they cause trouble, just say "Sorry, you just look really familiar"
2. Get phone numbers. The goal will be to get numbers from attractive females/males. Remember the real goal is not to get the numbers but get over the fear of asking, so the outcomes are unimportant. A mall is a great place to try this. He recommends to get over the discomfort quickly, ask three people in a row within five minutes. Here's an example script he provides.
"Excuse me, I know this is going to sound strange, but if I don't ask you know, I'll be kicking myself for the rest of the day. I'm running to meet a friend [i.e., I have friends and am not a stalker], but I think you're really [extremely, drop dead] cute [gorgeous, hot]. Could I have your phone number? I'm not a psycho, I promise. You can give me a fake one if you're not interested."
3. Relax in public. Simply lie down in the middle of a crowded public place at some point. It can be a well trafficked sidewalk, the middle of a popular Starbucks, or a popular bar. There is no real technique. Just lie down and remain silent on the ground for 10 seconds. Then get up and continue with what you were doing. Don't explain it at all.
I've done the first two and it was a bit difficult at first, but over time it becomes totally second nature. At that point you can talk to anyone about anything without feeling timid. When that confidence builds up, I find that your passions come out naturally as you converse with that person since you don't have any insecurities hindering your thoughts.
Yep. I quit my job to start my own venture. It was scary but it was long overdue. For a while I had been doing the "working on the side project after work" but then I realized that if I do want to do this, there is no half-assing it. It's time to go big or go home.
That is probably why it was overlooked
I like how most languages now a days are trending back towards LISP-like functional languages by supporting constructs like closures, lambda expressions, etc. It's all about modularity and making the programmer most productive, which LISP seems to do quite well. I guess John McCarthy was on to something.
I like the spirit. Keep developing. Keep learning.
Are you going to have subtitles for your 30 second tutorial video? ;-)
Safari's integration of bookmarks and reading lists over iCloud is just such a useful feature to have out of the box. I switched back to Safari just for that. Keeping all my devices in sync is a huge gain over slightly faster rendering times.
Firefox has become absolute bloatware. Opera is the only browser that is doing any kind of new innovation.
He reveals quite a bit of his character and interests in his seminal Art of Computing series. It's a great read for both it's content and it's prose.
Ignorance definitely can be bliss. I think there needs to be healthy disregard for the impossible; it's what makes you do things that others normally would not dare to do or even think about. Most innovations come from either disregarding what they already know or not knowing better.
Have you tried releasing it for production use? I would love to hear how it is working out for you. Are there any frameworks?
I'm not sure I agree. Yes to a certain degree, I think that programmers are self-taught, but I think like most things in life, most of the learning comes from your peer group. Working on a project in a small team with other motivated developers is a much more enriching learning experience than doing solo class projects or teaching yourself some new technology.
Awesome idea. What did you use for the physics engine?
I think it is a bit silly to try to re-create OO with type classes or vice-versa. They are just two different modes of thinking and represent two different ways of architecting your program. Personally, I do find OOP a hoax, which leads to just horrendous code, but I'm sure either approach can be used to solve the problem at hand as long as you don't try to fit the round-peg in the square-hole.
For a case against OOP read : http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?ObjectOrientationIsaHoax
about and contact pages don't seem to work
I think GO is still experimental in app engine and doesn't support some services like OAuth, Google Cloud Storage, and XMPP. Also, "experimental" scares me for production use.
I wonder if GO can be used as a new front-end language, i.e., replacing javascript. The fast compile times certainly would make it feasible to compile the code at runtime in the browser and then execute in a sandboxed environment.
It's not only syntax, I think Erlang although a very good language, puts you in a different mode of thinking. This might be a good thing, but it also makes it harder to find developers to work on your project as they are less abundant.
I've been experimenting with GO and I really like it, especially since I come from a C/C++ background. Does anyone know of any good GO packages?
I wanted to use the experimental support for GO in google app engine but it seems fairly limited...at least for the time being.
I think a much better indicator of how valuable a person will be in your company is not if he can solve puzzles on the fly but how munch time he puts into coding. If a person is coding in his free time and keeping up with technology and experimenting even though his current job doesn't require it, that person is more likely to have a breadth of knowledge that will pay dividends over time. Something like that cannot be gauged by him/her solving a "reverse-linked-list" problem.
Furthermore, a person involved in the community is more likely have in-roads with other strong developers, which again might pay dividends in the future in terms of hiring.
Nice! How long did it take you guys to develop the released version?
Also, the name reminds me of the Belgian Bier "Tripel" ;-)
Is that the music he is listening to or is that just ambiance music added by twitch.tv?
Great idea! It would be awesome to couple this with a planner type system as well so you can plan your adventures with your fellow travelers. A hook into AirBnB or another service to get discounted room & board with other people might be another cool idea.
Nice work!