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learning Basic Math, Reading Math | psyklic: To start off, I recommend that you get more practical-oriented books which contain lots of exercises. There are actually some books which try to explore discrete math using C or Mathematica/Maple. Those might make the subject a bit more interesting and concrete.I've found that (at least with computer books), f... |
How best to sell used server hardware? | RobGR: Computers are basically free on a small scale. Most of the cost is electricity to run them and various other overhead and management. As a freelance programmer and linux sys admin, I have so many servers, desktops, older laptops, and etc that customers have given me free, that even though I only keep the worki... |
learning Basic Math, Reading Math | Arun2009: This is a topic I'm really interested in, and I do sympathize with your situation. I have no advice for you, but here's my experience.I hold a Masters in EE (control theory). I have never really found studying Mathematics formidably intimidating, probably because I've been at it for some time now.But I totall... |
What was your first job? | haseman: Lifeguard, 16 |
Best way or place to sell domain names? | xinsight: I've sold a couple of domains years ago simply by people emailing me and making an offer. I'm also curious about the state of the current market. Today I flagged a couple of domains with my registrar (dynadot) as "for sale" and they list them, handle payment and take a %5 fee. Big caveat is that they don't pa... |
learning Basic Math, Reading Math | papaf: Another online course that starts with the basics:
http://math.ucsd.edu/~ebender/DiscreteText1/ |
does anyone know when the Everyblock code is going to be released? | zach: Good catch. Here it is now, as I'm sure you've noticed:http://blog.everyblock.com/2009/jun/30/source/=>http://www.everyblock.com/code/ |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | ramidarigaz: I tend to avoid demo apps that require me to enter my payment info right off the bat.I don't know of any studies, but I would guess that many people feel the same. |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | a-priori: I have no data to back this up, but I know that I would think twice about signing up for a "free trial" that asked for payment information.Really, the only way to know for sure is to do an A/B test on it and compare the conversion rates. |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | patio11: I'm operating under the assumption that you're using the magazine billing model -- sign up today and you will be billed in 30 days unless you cancel in the interim. This is opposed to the shareware billing model -- sign up today and you will not be billed until you make an affirmative decision to purchase.The... |
Is there any one book or resource on search engine development & theory? | xinsight: This article gives a wonderful overview of the challenges:"Why Writing Your Own Search Engine Is Hard"
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=988407(site is down currently.) google cache:
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:13tlOSQwtjAJ:queue.acm.o... |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | shizcakes: Drop the free trial. You've got a free version - if you need to 'convince' people, point them at the free version.If you would like to do a 'first month free' kind of deal, collect payment/payment information up front, but drop off the cost of one month from the total. Or, allow people to cancel within 30 da... |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | Derferman: FogBugz does it the right way. 45 day free trial with no payment info up front. After those days are up, they ask you for payment info. |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | dkokelley: I would offer a cancellation policy within 30 days. The way I see it, there are only two reasons why anyone would get payment information up front.A: To 'trick' people into paying for something they might have decided against buying. (Bad reason)B: To limit people who try to take advantage of unlimited free ... |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | donniefitz2: Let them signup without payment information. It promotes easy signup and you are much more likely to get people to try it out. I know from experience.Loose the free trial because you are giving a free version away which is enough to try it out. |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | gaford: Collect the email addresses. You will be able to monetize a certain percentage of your users in unexpected ways. Maybe because they use your free version for years and finally decide to pay.Don't scare people into denying you the ability to sell to them out of fear or mistrust.. |
What was your first job? | richesh: Unpaid intern at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and at the same time worked Drive-Thru at a McDonald's (High School)Application Developer at Cingular Wireless (College) |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | netsp: Test it yourself. Any studies or advice is likely to tell you 'it depends.' Any advice you get gere will be 'we do this' or 'I like that.'Can't beat real data that applies. |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | kvs: How competitive is your market? Would your product rank in the,say, top 3? If we know the answers then, I believe, we can have a better discussion. |
Why Python over Ruby? | JeremyChase: One major problem with Ruby has been that the performance as been much slower than Python. This is no longer true with Ruby 1.9. I happen to have done a benchmark using a recursive Fibonacci algorithm yesterday, results: http://pastie.org/528717 source: http://pastie.org/528720I wouldn't say Ruby has lost ... |
Why Python over Ruby? | dylanz: One is not better than the other, and neither have "won". |
Ask HN:How can a non-technical guy find/screen mobile/tech talent | JeremyChase: I recommend using a lot of references, and looking for specific examples of projects the person has worked on. Find out exactly what they did for a project, and make sure they can speak about it well. If they aren't able to point to specifics look for another candidate. |
Why Python over Ruby? | bcl: I haven't really looked at Ruby that hard, but from my perspective as a reformed Perl user I found Python's syntax to be very clean and well organized. On the surface ruby looks more Perl-like to me, more clutter, not as easy to read as Python.Having found Python, I really don't feel a pressing need to learn anoth... |
Why Python over Ruby? | ghshephard: Speaking purely for myself, the only reason I switched from Perl to Python is I had a great deal of difficulty understanding the perl code (because I'm a poor perl scripter) I wrote after a day or so. That, and the language construct HashOfArrays and ArrayOfHashes is exceedingly difficult to do in perl wit... |
Why Python over Ruby? | yan: For me personally, it boils down to me liking the library more, the syntax more and the common programming styles. Ruby is very hard to follow me due to the (imho) overuse of meta-programming and using language constructs that obscure the actual meaning of the program. Patching objects and being overly clever with... |
Why Python over Ruby? | paulgb: Ruby is slightly newer and wasn't particularly popular in the United States until it was popularized by Rails.Python became popular with Linux and open source developers before Ruby did, and has had slightly more time to develop a nice set of libraries to do just about anything. |
Why Python over Ruby? | xenophanes: Python is older, and gained popularity before ruby. That's why it's more established outside of the web development frameworks space. |
Do You Worry about Patent Infringement when Deciding on Startup Idea? | pg: You shouldn't bother, except perhaps in a few specialized fields. |
Why Python over Ruby? | davidw: Python got popular earlier - it was already gaining significant converts in the early part of this millennium, and the later years of the last one. Ruby only really took off when Rails started to get popular. But it has really taken off, in a way that I think sometimes makes the Python guys (who have been slo... |
Why Python over Ruby? | ntoshev: Personally I like generators, generator expressions and list comprehensions much more than the Ruby equivalents (chaining each/filter/etc). Python is cleaner overall, and if you want metaprogramming you can still do a lot of it. Also Python has better libraries and runs on App Engine. |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | dkubb: Regardless of what anyone says here, you have to test several approaches and pick the best performing one.One company I worked for was famous in it's niche for running tests. We'd run 30/45/60 day free trials, bundle offers, one-time offers, and so on. I mean we ran literally hundreds of split tests every year... |
Why Python over Ruby? | tdavis: Python is far more mature, isn't a strange ad-hoc combination of other languages, has a third-party library to do anything and everything (which is probably also reasonably mature), and doesn't have a community rife with arrogant children.I'm generalizing to some extent, of course, but these are the things that... |
Why Python over Ruby? | bdr: I prefer the design of Python over Ruby. I'd be hard pressed to explain why -- something vague about Python being straightforward yet graceful -- but that aesthetic preference is enough to sway me. |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | csomar: If you are going to enable the free trial so never asks for "Credit Card" information. Most people will consider you SPAM, why asks for my CC while it's free? |
Why Python over Ruby? | GeneralMaximus: From the Python website:"Python has been an important part of Google since the beginning, and remains so as the system grows and evolves. Today dozens of Google engineers use Python, and we're looking for more people with skills in this language."When I first saw this, I went "Google? Whoa. I gotta chec... |
Why Python over Ruby? | plaes: Python has IMHO better support for GUI toolkits - Tk support in main library, PyGTK+, PyQt. And two more words about library - import antigravity :).And strong company backing:
Google has have hired some of the core Python developers, and some of its infrastructure is written in it...
Flumotion with its streami... |
Do You Worry about Patent Infringement when Deciding on Startup Idea? | gojomo: IANAL, and this is not legal advice, but I have heard this analysis from software engineers wiser than me:Unless you have very specific expertise in the interpretation of patents, given their specialized lanaguage and all the circumstances of related law and practice, you are highly likely to misinterpret them ... |
Why Python over Ruby? | nailer: Having used Python a while, unnecessarily marking out statements a second time for the computer using brackets is a waste of time, and ugly. I use older faster languages and put up with this, but don't see the point of doing so with Ruby.Nearly all of the installers and packaging formats and management tools in... |
Why Python over Ruby? | drawkbox: In Python you dont' have to type 'end', just kidding although for some reason it reminds me of VB for this reason. I wish it didn't but it does. Why have an end be anymore than 1 character on a serious note, that is lots of keystrokes extra not needed.But more seriously Python is a growth like Javascript. I... |
All Startup communication+docs with Google? | quizbiz: Take advantage while you can, back everything up on a physical drive. Worst comes to worst, migrate from your drive to another service. |
All Startup communication+docs with Google? | patio11: Google is good at many things. Uptime is one of them. Individualized attention to support requests, not so much.I use Google mail for my business. In ~2 years it has been inaccessible to me twice, both times for less than an hour. I got access back at the same time as the other millions of people who were ... |
Why Python over Ruby? | Bjoern: Why language X is better of Y makes no sense. Every language has its benefits and downsides. Python has been slighly longer around and has a bigger user community which resulted in more available library code. Ruby and Python is pretty much interchangable in the sense of features as they often steal from each ... |
All Startup communication+docs with Google? | nr0mx: Don't both Gmail and Google Docs come with offline support these days ? If it's access to data you're worried about, you could also use other apps to backup this data. e.g Thunderbird for email. I remember a fairly recent Lifehacker article about a python script that downloads all your Google Docs, which might b... |
Why Python over Ruby? | mannicken: I chose Ruby mainly because of all the syntactic tricks and weirdness but despite slowness.You might choose Python for exactly the same reason; e.g., I wouldn't use Ruby on teams with >2 developers, especially in Google. Python is more straightforward but at a (small) price of freedom.Example: you can rapidl... |
Why Python over Ruby? | mahmud: They're both equally Greenspuned to usefulness. |
Why Python over Ruby? | CyberFonic: For me it's very simple !I can READ other people's Python code with greater ease than Ruby, Java, C#, C++ or even C. At the end of the day, the quicker I can assimilate library code the quicker I can use it well and the quicker the module gets completed and fully tested. Of course, with Google and Eric Ra... |
Why Python over Ruby? | brueno2009: python is easy to learn like php and ruby have sometimes strange looking syntax like perl for newbies.
A good programmer doesn't have this problem and will love the goodies and syntactic sugar from ruby. |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | jasonkester: I take this a bit further for S3stat. Not only do we not ask for payment info when you sign up for the trial, we don't allow you to pay at all in the first 7 days, even if you want to.This essentially forces you to actually use the thing and decide if you want it before buying. Before switching to this m... |
All Startup communication+docs with Google? | intranation: We use Google Apps for all of our start-up communication/document infrastructure. It works pretty well, and is obviously compatible with most email clients/calendars people prefer to use on their desktop.One thing to be careful of: Yahoo! Mail has been filing emails sent from our domain (and others I've he... |
Why Python over Ruby? | blasdel: I wish Ruby were good, but it's so fucked: Matz's decision-making process
He tries to make Ruby be all things to all people
Lots of confusing sugar and overloading baked in
I much prefer Guido's hard pragmatism
The pointless panoply of function types: Methods, Blocks, Procs, Lambdas
All i... |
All Startup communication+docs with Google? | dvv: we use. it works. forget about critical docs, they should stay local. |
Why Python over Ruby? | mikewoodhouse: When you say "win", are you meaning in the sense of "there can only be one"?Why limit the discussion to Python and Ruby? Why not include PHP, say? Why have Python and Ruby "lost" to PHP? What about C++, Java and C#?Heck, VB is still more "popular" than either:
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paper... |
Why Python over Ruby? | ilyak: For embedding and scripting, I'd take python too. It'a s known value here, and I've heard ruby isn't so much.When NOT talking about embedding or scripting, I'll probably take ruby. |
Why Python over Ruby? | jlees: Both have their uses. I was a Perl hacker so Python was the obvious choice for me - but I would use Ruby for specific projects, for example if I desperately wanted a one-off app that primarily depended on a stable Ruby library where no Python one existed. |
Why Python over Ruby? | al3: Using edge cases in the syntax to construct an API with unusual calling conventions is not "writing a DSL." Unless you build a compiler/translator for it, it is not a "DSL," it is plain-old Ruby, happily accepted by any conforming Ruby implementation--nothing more.After their pretentiousness, their arrogance, and ... |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | DirtyAndy: I like the free trial option, without ever entering any credit card info.
A free trial gets the user used to what they are getting, and you don't have to upsell them later. If you just let them use the free version from the start it is easy for the user to end up thinking "oh these ads on the side aren't to... |
Why Python over Ruby? | zach: Ruby has clever syntax. Python has pure syntax.Ruby has method aliases. Python does not allow a string to capitalize itself.Ruby uses Ruby methods within Ruby classes to extend Ruby. Python has decorators so you can write functions that return functions that return functions to create a new function.Ruby has s... |
Why Python over Ruby? | lisperforlife: I believe it is more of a personal choice than anything else. That said, here are the reasons I like Python more than Ruby.* Namespaces - Ruby has namespaces but when you are reading some code it is very hard to figure out what got mixed into what. This may be more predominant in the Rails world than oth... |
Why Python over Ruby? | knowtheory: What's clear to me reading the comments in this thread, is that there are a lot of people who like Python, and don't understand what people appreciate in Ruby.None of these are reasons why people choose Python over Ruby. Or why Python has become more popular. It is worth noting that Python was also mentio... |
Why Python over Ruby? | tel: I like Ruby (culturally) more than Python.Python has NumPy/SciPy/and friends, so I use Python.This, I feel, is a strong point for most who are using a scripting language to do scientific work. |
Critique this idea | davidw: Sounds complicated (transaction costs!) and people don't donate much to open source projects in any case.I'll add: how to fund open source projects is a Difficult Problem. A while ago, there was a great mailing list called FSB (free software business), with a lot of illustrious folks. They never really came t... |
Why Python over Ruby? | c00p3r: 1. Get latest OpenSolaris.
2. Install latest SunStudio
3. download latest source of Python (3.1) and Ruby (1.9.1).
4. Try to build them with CC=/opt/SUNWspro/bin/cc" CFLAGS="-m64"
5. See the results. Run make test for ruby. |
Constant List predicate in python? | makecheck: def f(x):
return not x or x == [x[0]] * len(x) |
Critique this idea | surki: may be you can use ohloh.net to see individual contributions on a project and derive some calculations based on that. or may be you can even link the "donor concept" into it. ? |
Why Python over Ruby? | sethg: Just my personal story, but perhaps extrapolating from it will help answer your question.At my job I use Python because, well, at some point before I arrived one of the senior developers went on a jihad against Perl. :-)I've read stuff about Ruby and while some things about the language intrigue me, it seems tha... |
Critique this idea | synnik: I think you'd need to define the value of contributions before you ever begin. Otherwise, time will be spent bickering of the value of work, and not actually doing the work. |
Critique this idea | jeroen: People who previously had no problem working on the project without direct compensation will now feel undervalued if they don't get shares, but other people do. |
Critique this idea | mixmax: Once you put a dollar amount on work you have done, and then hand it over to someone else you run into a can of worms regarding taxes. Uncle Sam will want a share, and will eventually get it. |
how do I sell git to my colleagues? | stuff4ben: Is svn working for them? What problems are they having with svn that git would solve for them? If there isn't a compelling reason, you're probably better off sticking with svn. OTOH you could use git personally as a front-end to svn. If your coworkers see an improvement in your development workflow then ... |
Why Python over Ruby? | eznet: For me, it was the 'magic'. Ruby seemed to have a lot of 'magic' working behind the scenes - which confused the hell out of me when I tried to figure out how something worked a particular way. Python on the other hand has far less magic and more transparency - magic replaced with a transparent box showcasing t... |
Why Python over Ruby? | woid: I have been using Python for about year for Google App Engine projects. I have been using Ruby for about two years for various personal open-source projects. I like both languages, but I prefer Ruby over Python.I hate Python's neglect (by Zed Shaw): http://www.zedshaw.com/blog/2009-05-29.htmlRuby seems to be so m... |
Critique this idea | pudo: The implication that F/OSS donations should go to charity might not sit too well with a lot of people. They're developing software in their own time and giving it away for free - why do they now have to channel money to charity to improve their 'image'? Having some donations every now and then might be a nice thi... |
All Startup communication+docs with Google? | paulsingh: We use it as well -- no real issues yet. FWIW, I also use a local IMAP client to keep a backup copy... just in case.Setup Google Apps for your startup and then start working. IMHO, this is the least of your concerns at the moment. |
how do I sell git to my colleagues? | noss: I am using git-svn daily at work. It gives me benefits in that I can fork or stash away changes and continue later on experiments. I can tidy up my patches before i dcommit.What would take this to the next level is being able to have colleagues pull from my repo, and me from theirs.Also, git-svn is not that good ... |
how do I sell git to my colleagues? | davidw: Wait a year until they fix up git a bit? |
how do I sell git to my colleagues? | RiderOfGiraffes: Why?I mean, seriously, why? Is it because it's new and shiny? Is it because lots of Open Source stuff has jumped on the bandwagon?Or do you have a situation where SVN causes pain, and git doesn't?(edited to fix typo) |
Critique this idea | growt: If the money isn't the motivator (gets donated anyway) you could use a virtual currency. "karma" or something similar.
You might monitor svn/git activity and create a community where people could rate each others commits and give each other some "karma" that way (hacker news with code submits instead of news, so... |
Constant List predicate in python? | gms: return (len(set(l)) == 1) |
All Startup communication+docs with Google? | izak30: I use google docs for 99% of stuff.
Critical docs and spreadsheets though stay local, with OpenOffice, and synced with my partners via dropbox. |
Critique this idea | izak30: Joel Spolsky talks about this over and over on the Stack Overflow podcast. People who are willing to do something for free !== People who are willing to do something for small bits of money or quantified reward.It's possible that there is incentive to be had in the 'common goal'; "The Foo Project's Charity is... |
Critique this idea | calambrac: I just wrote some code that the community recognizes as useful and that thousands of businesses incorporate into their product or process. Thanks for the twollar. |
Why Python over Ruby? | chl: NumPy. |
Critique this idea | pmichaud: If you're at all familiar with how shares are traditionally divided in a business, then you'll realize this is no trivial matter. If you want to think of an individual operating agreement or charter as an "implementation," then the complex negotiations, armies of lawyers, rounds of iterations, and continuing ... |
Critique this idea | randomtask: What happens to shares when people stop contributing? Are they recycled? If not then how do you deal with the possible eventuality that there will be no more shares to award? Printing more on the other hand means this would be a currency, not shares.On a related note the Capitol Hill Baby-sitting Co-op pape... |
Critique this idea | ghempton: Seems like donations could be put to better use than just being tunneled into another organization under a different name. |
Critique this idea | dejan: Here is an idea for you, I won't go into criticizing your idea. If I knew what will work out, or for that matter ANY of the people here, we would be doing it. We can spend hours and hours talking about the idea, telling you the problems why it wouldn't work, but still be way off course of the reality. Recently I... |
Why Python over Ruby? | bruceh: I've worked with a lot of languages. Python, C++, Scheme (and CLISP), Java, C#, Perl, Ruby, etc. Every language I've used besides Ruby, I feel that I have to fight the language to actually implement my idea. The fact that programmers want flexibility should be obvious by the contortions present in C++ with boos... |
Why can't HN tell me what comments have been added since I last visited? | RiderOfGiraffes: Not ideal, but I use
http://news.ycombinator.com/newcommentsIf you really do read a lot it's easy enough to pick out the comments in the threads that interest you. |
Rate My App (Bingo Card Creator, Now With Extra AJAX) | patio11: Clickable: http://staging.bingocardcreator.comWhat is it: Bingo Card Creator is desktop software (written in Java swing) I wrote three years ago that, well, makes bingo cards. It is mostly used by very non-technical teachers and parents -- something on the order of 1,800 paying customers and about 100k free t... |
Rate My App (Bingo Card Creator, Now With Extra AJAX) | gaford: I'd suggest less text and more big bright green buttons. It may seem ridiculous, but people just don't read instructions. They'll avoid text like the plague until they aren't sure what they need to do, then frantically scan. Then give up.I'd also widen the width of the page - fullscreen gives more space for com... |
Rate My App (Bingo Card Creator, Now With Extra AJAX) | keltecp11: You should find a UI guy, but I like the concept... a lot |
Why Python over Ruby? | cmars232: Ruby feels like all the misery of Perl mashed into Smalltalk. Which is a shame, because I hear such good things about Smalltalk. |
Can one make a decent living from freelancing ? | noodle: yes. there are plenty of people who make a good living freelancing. you'll likely find a good market if you can connect professionals with a need with quality professional freelancers.but, its difficult to make a living freelancing via things like elance.com and similar sites, though, because those are typica... |
Can one make a decent living from freelancing ? | icey: If you're in the US, it's going to be tough unless you have a solid portfolio and connections.On the freelancing sites, you're going to be competing with people who live in areas that have a significantly lower cost of living. As such, they are going to be able to underbid what you'd need to make just to feed you... |
how do I sell git to my colleagues? | mbrubeck: At both of my last two jobs, I helped switch my team from svn to git. In both cases, at least of us first started using git-svn. Other developers saw how we could use this to edit our commit history before pushing to the server; create lightweight topic branches to separate feature work from bug fixes; push... |
Constant List predicate in python? | balding_n_tired: Of course, this will run through the whole list, no matter what... def is_constant(l):
return reduce(lambda x, y: x and (y == l[0]), l, True) |
Can one make a decent living from freelancing ? | dpnewman: the long term relationships and connections you develop from existing clients are the most essential things.gettig your first clients is the hardest part.2 things that can help you get some initial clients:1) create a blog that shows your knowledge, skills and expertise.2) side project(s) that demonstrate wha... |
Rate My App (Bingo Card Creator, Now With Extra AJAX) | systemtrigger: I think you've manifested nicely a good business idea. I tried the web version as well as the Mac download and although I didn't send anything to a printer the Print Preview in each case looked functional. I like how in both versions you: de-dupe the word list, give the user a Cards Per Page option, and ... |
Collect payment info before 30 day trial? | smokey_the_bear: I'm really not a fan of pre-collect payment info trials, but if you do this, make sure you state that it is possible to cancel your account via the website. I will never sign up for one when I suspect they'll make me call to cancel. |
Will you please screw me? VC style. | mbrubeck: You have at least two options: Sell the business to someone who wants it, or hire someone to replace you as president/manager/CEO/whatever. |
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