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Get together in Tokyo? | jbm: My connection keeps dropping while trying to set up a meetup group.Email me, hn@ordisante.com, or post your email below; we'll get something going.For those who may be wondering, I hang out here (http://tokyohackerspace.org/) but there aren't really that many software people sadly. |
Bad Ads? | cmelbye: As David Heinemeier Hansson said on Twitter this evening:Worst elevator pitch I've heard in a long time: "Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud-computing company". Could it be more contentless?I still have no idea what Salesforce is. Their marketing sites are so loaded with buzzwords that I find that it's almost too much work to try to learn more. |
Bad Ads? | cgherb911: Competitor of Farmville:"Tired of Farming. Try Digging"The competitors innovation was a digging for treasure game. |
Is it weird to ask users to pay via CC through a desktop app? | mahmud: You're not over thinking it, the web has trained people to trust it with their credit cards, while your application has to establish itself a new.The best thing you can do is mimick the visual cues of browser security and put a big fat golden lock somewhere on the screen, and show other cues of encryption in use (say, show a certificate verification dialog.)Of course, use OpenSSL! This goes without saying. Don't fake security if you're sending sensitive stuff in plain text.Just to be sure your users don't have a keylogger (specially on Win32) provide an on-screen keyboard/keypad and accept input only through that, or encourage it over the actual keyboard. The more security hoops people jump through the better they like it, at least I do. |
Is it weird to ask users to pay via CC through a desktop app? | eli_s: I suppose it comes down to human psychology. People are more used to entering CC info on a secure site (https padlock icon all that) rather than their desktop apps. Maybe the easiest solution would be to send users to a secure URL? |
Opinions on New Business Launch | tjoozeylabs: i would have uploaded vids to vimeo. |
How do you juggle time spent on learning vs. time building things? | mschy: 1) I schedule my time rigorously. There's dedicated time allowances for every single thing I want to do. If my time budget doesn't allow something that's important to me, I cancel or reschedule something else.2) I take formal classes in my areas of weakness.3) I schedule my time rigorously. |
Opinions on New Business Launch | patio11: Who is the customer that you identified who wanted "e-commerce with printed catalogs that don't suck"? If you haven't identified someone who said that, DROP WHAT YOU ARE DOING and DO NOT CONTINUE until you have verified that there is at least one actual person who sees the need you are trying to fill. If you have, in fact, talked to a person who was willing to rip out their existing e-commerce solution and replace it with a new one just to get a printed catalog which does not suck, a) get their money and b) start identifying other people who want a printed catalog which does not suck.Marketing advice: you will find that "e-commerce" is extraordinarily, extraordinarily broad and, as a wee little guy on the virtual corner of Nothing St. and Nowhere Bldv., it is impossible for you to penetrate through the din. Start by digging into niches. For example, if you have that customer who wanted the printed catalog that does not suck, start banging virtual doors in their industry because presumably other merchants have the sort of tech-negative clients who respond well to printed catalogs. If for example you find that it is impossible to sell, I don't know, porcelain dolls without a printed catalog, then you could try dominating the "porcelain doll e-commerce" niche, which shouldn't be nearly as hard as e-commerce proper.After you get a bit of traction and the porcelain doll merchants are eating out of your hand, you can expand horizontally into related industries. Additionally, the bigger the snowball gets the better your chances of attacking the fat head from the Long Tail are. |
I made $24k over the last month. Now what? | eb0la: Congrats. But let me tell you this straight: you are not making money (yet). You are now cash-flow positive.So start paying up your debts. Did you say you don't have any? that's a lie: you owe yourself some (a lot) working hours for programming, distributing, promoting the app.Also, you had to buy a mac which is also an expense, an iphone or ipod touch, etc...Step one: sum all that money. Put it wherever you like and feel free to spend it: It's your delayed salary.The next step is trying to figure out how much money you need to "forget" about getting money everyday.Maybe 10k/month or 20k/month to cover all your living expenses and get all (physical) things you want without having to worry about money. Let's suppose you're happy with $20k/month (tax free, of course).Step 2: How much money do you need to have to get $20k in interest ? Figure out that sum. Remember that next year today's $20k will be something like $19,002 or something like that.First: Keep making money (selling your app, and building one or two more).Second: Invest in something like bonds (us, corporate bonds, etc...) with good credit rating. You may earn between 1.5% - 8% yearly (if you can buy bonds at discount, better).Third: Invest in stock, funds, etc... just follow the tide: don't try to outsmart the market because you will fail.Fourth: When you have time, start looking at derivates. Then, build your own guaranteed-credit deposit with options and swaps. Beat next year inflation (mostly on autopilot).Five: Enjoy ! |
Opinions on New Business Launch | rms: I have an ecommerce site running on Prestashop and the features of your site are not particularly compelling to me. However, if there was a good hosted ecommerce site builder available at the time I installed Prestashop that only charged a monthly fee and not a percentage of sales, I would have used it. |
Get together in Tokyo? | ricosroughnecks: I'm in! Email is in the profile! |
Is a .net domain good enough? | yannis: On the premise that you are expecting your start-up to be a success you should look for another domain and you should register the .com, .net .org .info etc... Besides your application you will be building a brand don't share it with a domain squatter and don't pay for a name over what is reasonable. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | jonsen: Grace Murray Hopper:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0766022730/thegreatid...Also googling her will turn up inspirational material. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | rsaarelm: Portraits in Silicon: http://www.amazon.com/Portraits-Silicon-Robert-Slater/dp/026... It has short bios of several computing pioneers. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | sybreon: Not in the similar vein, but I would recommend "The Last Lecture" (by Randy Pausch). It was very inspirational to me.
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Lecture-Randy-Pausch/dp/140132325... |
Is a .net domain good enough? | pg: I discourage it. People will always look for you (and worse still, send you mail) at the dot com. And there are lots of decent dot com names still available. |
Bad Ads? | jim_lawless: A few years ago, United Parcel Service tried to coin the term "brown knows" in televised ads, referring to the brown uniforms that the drivers wear.The term "brown nose" is used ( at least in the U.S. ) to very negatively refer to the act of being trying too hard to please others higher in the corporate food-chain. |
Resources for 3D solid modeling | regularfry: The googleable phrase you want is "constructive solid geometry." The wikipedia page is probably as good a place to start as any, but there are plenty of other resources that talk about it, mostly from the perspective of ray equations. |
Is a .net domain good enough? | healsdata: I'd recommend against it. I worked for a company that was named akin to "example.net" Nearly every week, we'd get a call from someone who went to "examplenet.com" and didn't know why we were suddenly selling skateboards. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | arethuza: http://www.turing.org.uk/book/ |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | michael_dorfman: I was going to recommend the Hodges biography of Alan Turing, but it appears to be (sadly) out of print.http://www.amazon.com/Alan-Turing-Enigma-Andrew-Hodges/dp/08...[edit: In the US. Someone else posted the link to the UK edition, thanks!] |
Is it weird to ask users to pay via CC through a desktop app? | dkersten: If you're going the credits route.. why not just say "Your account has $10"? No need to rename it to credits or anything like that.Also, desktop online casino apps seem to open a browser on the payment page. Maybe you could do something like this? |
Is a .net domain good enough? | astrec: Failure to secure the dot com cost us $400,000 at auction (plus legal fees over 10 years): I really can't recommend you try and build a brand without it. Even bit.ly owns bitly.com. |
Is a .net domain good enough? | pierrefar: The short answer is no.The only time you should use the .net is if you have secured all the other TLDs and the .net is the best choice for branding or marketing. |
Is a .net domain good enough? | jrgnsd: I can only add that yes, it's a good idea to get the .com as well.If you look at Slashdot, they didn't even bother with the .net (or they're struggling to get it), but they did register .org and .com |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | eraad: Jeff Bezos: King of Amazon.com is a very inspirational reading:http://www.amazon.com/Jeff-Bezos-King-Amazon-Com-Techies/dp/... |
Is a .net domain good enough? | shykes: It could be interesting to look at Dropbox's story. Didn't they secure dropbox.com only recently? |
Is a .net domain good enough? | jasonkester: If your product is a development tool targeted at .NET developers, then yes. Otherwise No. It looks bad, and nobody will remember it.If you want to be a real business, you need a .com domain name. That's just the way it goes. Register the .net and .org variants of your name if they're available, but definitely run your site off a .com. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | ludwig: Don't forget about Johnny von Neumann! Read his biographies too. |
Is a .net domain good enough? | patio11: I have multi-personality disorder on this question. The SEO in me says "I would take a strong, exact match .NET over a weak .COM every day of the week and twice on Sunday." For example, if you want to do restaurant scheduling, restaurantscheduling.net is better than servrschedulr.com or whatever the convention is these days.However, I don't think exact-match domain names are the answer for everybody on this forum. I like them and swear by them, but a lot of y'all have goals which would be better served by something brandable, even if it does sound like twitpickr.ly.PG mentions that people will always look for you at the dot com. This is true, but the dot com they're looking for you at is google.com, because direct navigation is dead. The ascendancy of search engines, broadening of the Internet away from technical Americans, increasing use of mobile devices, etc etc etc, have killed it convincingly.As always, check your stats if you don't believe me. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | mrduncan: Not to be snarky but I'm curious what you're doing that you need extremely fast typing for? I rarely find that typing is my bottleneck, it's usually my brain.That said, why not give it a shot for a day or two? At worst, you'll realize it is going to take forever to regain speed - at best, you're well on your way to using the new layout. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | DavidSJ: I'm about 115 WPM on QWERTY. I learned Dvorak about four years ago and got to about 80 WPM. If I kept going I think I would have eventually slightly surpassed my QWERTY speed.However, what I found was Dvorak is designed for English; it predates programming. Most programming languages are designed with QWERTY in mind. I think Dvorak made that harder, not easier. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | edw519: My inspiration is Steve Wozniak. To this day, I try to write software with the same thinking he used when he built the Apple II. Get a clear picture of what you want, keep it as simple as possible, stand on the shoulders of giants but build your own tools when you have to, and keep all the details in your head. (This last one has made a huge difference in my work.)You have no excuse not to read about this because Chapter 3 of Jessica Livingston's "Founders at Work" is one of the best treatments of Woz and is on line here:http://www.foundersatwork.com/steve-wozniak.htmlThen check out"IWoz"http://www.amazon.com/iWoz-Computer-Invented-Personal-Co-Fou..."Founders at Work"http://www.amazon.com/Founders-Work-Stories-Startups-Problem... |
Is a .net domain good enough? | profquail: You could try using Sedo (domain name buy/sell website) to make them an offer for the domain name (or they may even have it listed there), or use Namejet to try to grab it once it expires. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | chriseidhof: Coders At Work is a book about a lot of high-profile programmers (Crockford, Knuth, Peyton Jones, Thompson, among others). It's not a biography on any of these people, but it was very inspiring to me. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | jules: Check out Colemak. I don't think I type much faster with Colemak but it's much more comfortable. |
Finding tech team | eraad: What about setting up a small recruiting site with a set of programming challenges? It has worked for me in the past.But I guess you first need to find someone to help you out with that. You may try something like http://www.scriptlance.com/ to get this mini-site done. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | numeromancer: I started using dvorak some years ago. I have since switched back. I don't think it helped my speed or my hands, and there were too many other costs which made it not worth while: having to set it up every time you reload your OS or start a VM, or change window managers, etc; it made the vi editor unusable, and while I mostly use emacs the ubiquity of vi makes it inevitable; using other computers in the lab became difficult, because they are shared with other people who used querty; it sometimes confused some programs and made them unusable; and so on.I don't think there is a long-term gain to be had. Read
http://reason.com/archives/1996/06/01/typing-errors for an account of the qwerty myth. |
Is a .net domain good enough? | markkoberlein: When you are a startup with no money, I would say buy the .net first only if you could foresee buying the .com in the future when you do have the money. Example of this would be if the .net was available and the .com domain was owned by a squatter and is willing to sell it for $2k to $5k.I wouldn't by a .net domain where the .com is already owned by an established company because you probably won't be able to buy it in the future. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | macco: As alternative do DVORAK you could use the NEO-Layout it has a third modifier for parenthesis an that stuff.
But I think is it very dangerous to use a different keyboard layout. I used NEO quite a time and I got a bit faster than on qwertz. but sometimes i had to use other computers than mine and i this moments I were doomed. I had to use two fingers with looking on the keyboard. That was my reason to switch back. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | SlyShy: As DavidSJ noted, typing in Dvorak doesn't make programming any easier. However, there are newer generations of Dvorak such as Programmer's Dvorak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dvorak_Simplified_Keyboard#Prog...) that attempt to make it easier. I've been using plain Dvorak, because I didn't learn about the alternatives in time. I don't think the switch has made much difference either way.Oddly enough, the change that has caused the greatest increase in typing speed for me was starting to use my netbook keyboard. Most people will find this insane, but the smaller keyboard decreases finger travel, so as long as your fingers are small enough to continue typing with precision it ends up being a plus.I think it's pretty meaningless to worry about typing speed being a productivity problem while programming. I can type at 120 wpm, but only 85 wpm while typing composed English, and about 35 wpm typing code. It's much more about brain latency. :) |
Is a .net domain good enough? | flooha: I posted a similar question a couple of days ago here:http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1058437I'm curious how much it really matters. I can see it being a big deal for email, but for organic traffic I'm not convinced. Most domain squatters don't have anything up on the site, have a adsense landing page or something extremely outdated. Assuming your site has even mild success, your search engine ranking will be much, much higher. Sadly, the email issue is probably a show-stopper.Also, I don't think a lot of people actually type the domain in the address bar. They're either clicking a link or searching.The real question here is, can you pull a dropbox? Trademark the name, launch your site, get popular, then just take away the .com if the owner somehow infringes on your mark. Is this a valid precedent or do you have to have boat-loads of cash to actually make this work?In any case, it's probably just easier to choose a different name. I just emailed someone yesterday about a .com domain name and he wanted $20k. Seems like the dropbox method might be easier. |
Is a .net domain good enough? | ohashi: Can we not call everyone who holds domains squatters? Just because they don't:* answer your emails* you don't see anything on the page* there are currently advertisements showing* won't sell for 10$ because that's registration feedoesn't make them a squatter. A cybersquatter is someone infringing on your trademark. In almost every case I see, the people calling someone a squatter are simply pissed off that the domain they want is taken and they have no legitimate rights or claim to it, other than they thought of it just now and think they can do something better with it.Thanks. |
Is a .net domain good enough? | kebaman: Have you tried the .us domain? I always suspected it's the next big landrush as so many of the .com names are gone. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | shrughes: You're not going to type faster with the Dvorak layout. Maybe piano lessons would be a better use of time than Dvorak practice.The layout is better for programming, though, so I recommend learning it. Underscore and hyphen are in the perfect place, and having the comma and period keys on the upper row is nicer for the hands.Dvorak is a lot better for Emacs, too, if only because C-x stretches out the hand instead of scrunching it up.I've become ignorant of the benefits of Qwerty, though. For some period of time, I got annoyed by the positioning of Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, but eventually I just got used to using two hands for those commands. That's the one specific lingering annoyance that I can think of. |
I made $24k over the last month. Now what? | mike463: I'd say, invest in yourself. If you're short of creative ideas on what to do with your time and finances, I think you might find the book "the 4 hour work week" interesting. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | cpach: Steven Levys "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution" from 1984 is a great read. It pictures three major hacker cultures: the MIT hackers; Woz and the other early hardware hackers; and the video game hackers of the 70's/80's.https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Hackers:_Hero...John Markoffs "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry" from 2005 is another great book that follows the history of the PC industry, from it's roots in the ideas of Vannevar Bush and Doug Engelbart to the modern PC. IIRC Woz and the MIT hackers are portrayed here as well, but there's not too much overlap with Levy's book.https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/What_the_Dorm... |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | Terhorst: I started using Dvorak out of curiosity more than anything. I've been using it for close to 4 years now, and I haven't noticed any speed gains.It's inconvenient to use other peoples' computers; although, this is offset a bit by the amusement value of watching others try to use my machine.The claims about ergonomics may be valid. My hands move a lot less when using Dvorak, but I can't speak as to whether the chances of RSI are reduced in any way by this, or if it provides any kind of relief.Programming-wise, I haven't had any problems. The biggest concern there is that you might not be able to type for the first week or two.Unless you have some significant reason to do so, I don't think I would recommend switching myself. I didn't see any significant gains, but your mileage may vary. |
Is it weird to ask users to pay via CC through a desktop app? | wmblaettler: iTunes allows for in-application purchases with an online account. I suggest examining their payment model. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | davi: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution, by Steven Levyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers:_Heroes_of_the_Computer...http://www.amazon.com/Hackers-Computer-Revolution-Steven-Lev...Stories from early in the personal computer era. This book inspired me greatly when I read it as a high school sophomore. After reading it, I taught myself Pascal (that dates me -- I guess this was in 1989) and started making little drawing programs on our old Fat Mac.At this point it's an old book, but it's still in print, and the profiles in it are pretty timeless. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | lincolnq: Change keyboard layouts if you have ergo problems, like I did. Don't change for speed; you won't gain any.If you are finding that your keyboard is slowing you down while you code, though, consider changing your tools -- get a new programming language, or a new IDE. A concise language like Haskell requires very little typing, but you end up thinking about each line for a long time. If you're using Java with a plain text editor, consider switching to Eclipse; I find that Eclipse ends up entering about a third of the code that I author. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | StudyAnimal: I used it for about 3 years, and it sped me up greatly when writing text, as in large blocks of English language text, it didn't help with programming at all. However before that I was only ever a 5 finger Qwerty typist, the speed gain from Dvorak came from forcing me to touch type properly.2 things made me abandon dvorak and switch back to qwerty. Keyboard shortcuts. I never got the hang of mentally mapping between individual keys, so I when I had to push a Ctrl-X for example, I would have to stop and think for too long trying to work out which one X is.The other thing was pair programming, was a pain switching back and forth when grabbing and relinquishing the keyboard. Sometimes pair programming meets enough resistance as it is without my stupid keyboard layout adding to it.Another bonus, is that with qwerty you can work single handed, and e.g. hold the baby or eat or use the mouse or whatever.So right now I am back to my 5 finger qwerty, its slower for example for things like this message, but the bulk of what I do is just typing in little bits of text and source code here and there so the speed loss is acceptable.If I were typing in large blocks of English text for a living I would switch back to dvorak, but for a programmer qwerty is better.Actually, if you are one of those programmers that use the mouse to use menu items, and never use shortcuts, you might be ok with dvorak. |
implications of using GPL'ed Ruby library inside a SAAS service ? | DanielStraight: You can use all the GPL code you want on your server without telling or sharing it with anyone. GPL only matters when you're redistributing a program using GPL code.I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | 27182818284: It took me about two weeks to learn it well enough to where I could instant message my friends comfortably. I didn't notice any speed-up from the switch. I did seem to notice less stress on my fingers after a full day. Eventually I had to switch off of it because I found oscillating between QWERTY and Dvorak keyboards (for example home vs work vs friend vs lab) was annoying. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | chanux: I kept adding Inspirational stories I find on HN and other places on http://inspiry.tumblr.com (Just wanted to share) |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | collision: As others have said, the major benefit of Dvorak isn't speed -- it's comfort. Your fingers do a lot less work typing Dvorak than QWERTY. |
implications of using GPL'ed Ruby library inside a SAAS service ? | casualjim: it's Free as in libre not gratuit
And free means that your source code has to be available, users should be able to modify the application etc etc. But it doesn't mean you can't charge money for it.
Enterprises can't do GPL because then their users can ask for the source code of internal applications and that is a big no no because they could sell them to competitors etcSo I think you're correct ;) |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | pmjordan: I'm using a type-II (German) Dvorak with some custom modifications that map [({<})]> to Alt Gr+homerow (Linux)/Alt+homerow (Mac) and the caps lock key to Alt Gr and Alt, respectively. I switched for ergonomics (big improvement, no RSI pain at all) not speed; if my speed has improved, it's probably not by much, but then I don't think I've ever wished for faster typing speed. |
Is a .net domain good enough? | thibaut_barrere: I'd go .com whenever possible, at the cost of choosing a slightly different name.37signals http://campfirenow.com/ (instead of http://campfire.com/) is a typical illustration. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | mkeblx: I just use the 0 and 1 keys and have my IDE convert to corresponding character every 8 keypresses. This way I don't have to move my fingers around at all and only need two fingers. It's a minor speedup and lets most of your fingers rest all day. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | Apreche: Don't listen to the DVORAK people. All the things they say are just FUD with no scientific studies to back them up. There is no real evidence that it is better in terms of ergonomics or speed. If you do switch to DVORAK, you will have lots of inconvenience because the world is QWERTY.The very real advantages of sticking with the world standard greatly outweigh any imaginary advantages of changing layout. Your best bet is to just get a better keyboard, physically speaking. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | fadmmatt: In my experience, yes.I switched to Dvorak a couple years ago, and I've been glad I did. I used to have terrible pain in my wrists and forearms. For eliminating pain, switching to Dvorak was as effective as switching to an expensive ergonomic keyboard.I went cold turkey, so I felt like a stroke patient for the first four days. It was a very awkward and frustrating feeling. Within a week, I could type fast enough to code. (Coding doesn't require a fast typing speed.) It took about two weeks to get back to email/IM speed.I'm probably not as fast as I was at QWERTY (110 wpm -> 90 wpm), but I'm certainly fast enough. If I do 15 years on Dvorak, I'll probably reach 110 wpm again.I'd recommend doing an hour of typing exercises each day, and napping after each exercise to let it sink in. Each time I woke up from a nap, I was much better at the exercise from before the nap.I wrote up my experience on my blog if you're interested:http://matt.might.net/articles/preventing-and-managing-rsi/ |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | nw: I began using Dvorak because I heard it could be helpful in reducing RSI symptoms. It took several weeks to become proficient, so I don't recommend learning Dvorak with a big deadline looming. As a programmer, the most frustrating aspect of Dvorak is cut/copy/paste because the X/C/V keys are all over the place. I imagine this would be a problem for hardcore vi users too. The benefit is that my fingers travel less, so typing hurts less. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | richardw: Depends. I use the "programmer dvorak" layout and it's definitely less finger-work, but you miss a few things. Cut and paste is a bit more of a hassle. I look like an idiot on QWERTY keyboards because I haven't bothered to remember it. You can practice both but it's much easier/faster to just switch.I'm happy with my decision because it's one short decision and affects the rest of my typing life - ie forever. The reduced impact on my fingers and wrists seems worth it. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | mbrubeck: I switched from Qwerty to Dvorak about 13 years ago, and frankly I don't recommend it. It's not faster, it's only marginally more comfortable, and it's mildly inconvenient. I still type Dvorak, but only because the hassle of switching back is not worth the possible tiny benefit.The initial slowdown lasts only a few weeks if you work on your typing speed. When I first learned Dvorak I lost the ability to touch-type Qwerty, but within the first year I retrained myself and was able to switch back and forth (though I'm still not quite full speed on Qwerty). The only thing I can't do is use Vi keybindings in Qwerty. They seem to be in a different part of my muscle memory, which has never been retrained. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | EdwardCoffin: In the same vein as Coders at Work is Programmers at Work by Susan Lammers: http://www.amazon.com/Programmers-Work-Interviews-Computer-I...The book is now out of print, but the author has a blog on which she is gradually posting all the old interviews and also provides a place to discuss the interviews: http://programmersatwork.wordpress.com/ |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | shaiguitar: Keep in mind though one thing;If you use the terminal often, you'll be using TAB, and even if you switch to DVORAK you'll still have repetitive action. |
implications of using GPL'ed Ruby library inside a SAAS service ? | thibaut_barrere: Interesting thread on the topic: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/94346/can-i-legally-incor...So having a hosted service with GPL2 would be ok, but GPL3 seems to be an issue.It also opens the question on weither a project with just "GPL" specified (not 2 or 3) automatically moves to GPL 3.I'm not sure to understand. I'll definitely go away from the library if I don't. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | weavejester: I'd suggest learning Colemak. It requires slightly less finger movement than Dvorak, the layout is more similar to Qwerty, and it's more convenient for typing commands like "ls", which requires two presses of the right little finger in Dvorak.I can touch-type in Dvorak and Qwerty, and I've been meaning to learn Colemak. |
Finding tech team | hajrice: "...However, I have a good idea and most importantly startup capital." |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | gr366: I made the switch to Dvorak over a 2-week holiday break just under 10 years ago. I may have eventually boosted my speed marginally, but I can say my hands don't get tired or sore typing for long periods as they did on Qwerty.The only con I've run into is when I have to use somebody else's computer, like during a presentation in a meeting and I end up basically hunting and pecking on Qwerty. I get looks like, "this guy is a developer?" One time when I explained I was a Dvorak keyboardist, a participant asked if I also spoke Esperanto. (I don't.)However, I highly recommend the switch just for the brain-remapping experience. Going through the learning process literally feels like a mental rewiring. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | msluyter: I think you'll see a wide variety of responses here and the only way to know for yourself is to try it. I used Dvorak for 10 years and it worked fairly well for me, though ctrl-c/v is clumsier because you can't do it with the left hand while mousing with the right.I ended up going back to querty in order to revert to hunt and peck (painful) due to wrist issues. Now I continue with querty on a very low impact keyboard with a "pawing" approach. My typing is slower this way, but it appears that independent finger motion is what does me in. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | zck: I use Colemak (http://colemak.com/), and I'm up to about 70 WPM (measured at typeracer.com, not anything more scientific). Unfortunately, I did no QWERTY tests before switching, so I can't compare, but I doubt I was significantly higher.I'd recommend it. There are a few modifications I'd make, but overall it's quite nice. They've written programs to check finger travel distance, and it beats QWERTY and Dvorak. A reason to choose it over Dvorak is that it keeps WAZXCVB in the same place, so those common Ctrl-keys are just as easy to press.There's several versions for Windows, including one that can be run off a flash drive, and work without installation (http://colemak.com/Windows), and Colemak is also built in to X on Linux.Although depending what you're doing, switching to an alternate keyboard layout can be a problem. For example, if I were a sysadmin, going around to different computers and fixing them, it would be infeasible to switch, unless I put the time in to being able to context-switch my brain quickly, so I could touch-type both. |
Please review my webapp: Sit4.Us | megamark16: Clickable link: http://sit4.us |
Is a .net domain good enough? | Tawheed: What're your thoughts on .IO domain names? e.g. http://braintrust.io |
Please review my webapp: Sit4.Us | samdk: I have no need for babysitters, so I can't comment too much on the idea. However, I think you could make it more general (usable for types of jobs other than babysitting) fairly easily too and then it might be more useful to a larger number of people--although I know that's not necessarily what you're going for.One minor UI nitpick: the hover effect on the navigation links is very difficult to see on some monitors. I'd make it less subtle. |
Is a .net domain good enough? | thinkbohemian: If you decide to look for another domain, someone posted a pretty cool app to Ycombinator called nxdom.com it is worth taking a look.In my personal experience, I say go for a few domains and direct them to an alpha of your site with no branding. Then ask your alpha testers what they prefer, and if they can remember your url. There are some popular .net sites boingboing is the first thing that comes to my mind. |
Please review my webapp: Sit4.Us | icey: A couple of things: if you own sit4us.com you may want to redirect to your site (judging from what you've said, I'm not sure that you do).I was working on a project awhile back, and we used the name "bets4.us". People would try to go to our site in about this order: bets4.us
betsforus.com
bets4us.com
betsfor.us
Also, it would be nice to have a demo up so that I don't have to give up my email address just to see if I want to register. |
Any Books on Inspirational Computer Science Personalities ? | dedalus: Out Of their Minds:
http://www.amazon.com/Out-their-Minds-Discoveries-Scientists... |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | silentbicycle: These posts seem to come up periodically. Search hacker news for 'dvorak'.I've used Dvorak for three years or so. I like it, and it hasn't caused me problems. (FWIW, I use Emacs.) I type 95ish WPM on Qwerty, and haven't cared to time my typing on Dvorak - I type fast enough, either way. I switched as a precaution for RSI (and just to shake up old habits), and the layout feels less awkward than Qwerty. Seriously, ; on the home row?Some people seem to believe that the failure of the Dvorak keyboard proves their economic ideology. Whatever. |
Please review my webapp: Sit4.Us | Vindexus: Disclaimer: I just finished reading "Don't Make Me Think" so I'm probably just being arrogant when I list all of these possible changes. I know it's hard to hear so much criticism so let me add this: I like itHere are three things I would do right away:1. Usability testing2. Usability testing3. Usability testingThe site is pretty good for usability but there were a few things that I didn't get right away. My list of possible changes:1. Feedback link: I thought this would take me to a page of testimonials or maybe to a UserVoice page. I think "Contact Us" would be more appropriate.2. About link: I thought this would be a page about the developers and who they are and where they're from. I'd probably change this link to "How It Works"3. Too much text: as the maxim goes "Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what's left"4. Add request page: If you have no contacts it just displays nothing. You should probably put a little field in there that allows you to add contacts directly from that page.5. Contacts: Change it to "Babysitters". Contacts is kind of ambiguous.6. Contacts page: I would show the "Add Contact" field above the list of contacts instead of having a link to it on another page. It's such a small form that it won't matter that much.7. Editing contact: add a "Cancel" link8. Editing icon links: I'd move them to right instead of the left just because I'm more used to seeing them there.9. Home page: I'd change "Welcome to Sit4us" to something that tells people what the site does. Like "Organize your babysitters" or "Contacting babysitters made easy".10. Tagline: Add a tagline below your logo11. Make logo clickable. Should send you to the homepage.Anyway I'll stop now. So far I quite like it despite my list of nitpicks.What is your monetization strategy, if you have one? |
Is a .net domain good enough? | visakhcr: If you really want the domain, then I would suggest that you go ahead with .net now, and later try to get the .com and link them to the same page.To cite an example, Darren Rowse of Problogger initially started with problogger.net since the .com was with someone else ('squatter' as you call them). He started off the blog with the .net and later went on buying Problogger.com |
At what time and how frequently do you visit HN? | alain94040: 7 times a day? It's a great place to find out the latest news, check the comment count to know what's really interesting, and only then click on the articles. |
At what time and how frequently do you visit HN? | anigbrowl: In between checking email and Google News. I don't have a regular schedule as I'm freelance. |
At what time and how frequently do you visit HN? | swolchok: This seems best answered by server logs. |
other mathematical link/discussion forums? | jmount: Also, related question- would you consider the old newsgroups world (I guess as filtered through Google Groups such as http://groups.google.com/group/sci.math/topics ) as still being worth following? |
other mathematical link/discussion forums? | wmat: http://www.onlinecollege.org/2009/10/19/100-incredible-open-...http://www.mathpuzzle.com/http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ |
At what time and how frequently do you visit HN? | eraad: 7 days a week, first thing in the morning and multiple times during the day. It´s addictive.Sometimes I even get to HN for inspiration when stuck in a project/problem. |
Resources for 3D solid modeling | maxharris: I'm interested in CSG software that can calculate intersections between primitives with arbitrary precision (so that error does not accumulate - suppose that you wanted to use such a library to automatically generate manufacturable designs from broad geometric constraints - with current CSG libraries, you'd have to worry about precision, which would make such a program unwieldy and unreliable.)I'd like to contact you directly, but I don't think hn has an IM feature. |
Is a .net domain good enough? | adrianwaj: I can help you with finding an alternate domain.I've had the exact same problem very often and always ended up with something more imaginative, and practically better each time, once I start brainstorming.Try combining two short normal words. |
Are splash pages history or preference? | DanielStraight: What do you mean by splash page? Do you mean a page that shows a pretty picture or video with a link that says "Enter here" or do you mean a pretty page with links to various destinations and maybe some recent news? If the former, never for any reason create such a page. If the latter, it's fine. |
how to tell my co-founder that I gonna leave for about 3 months? | noodle: be upfront and honest. if you have to, be ready to explain why, and make sure that your explanation will make sense. and do it ASAP. the longer you wait, the tougher it'll be for both of you. its just that simple.i'm sure it'll also help if you can promise do try to continue working part-time as best as you can. |
how to tell my co-founder that I gonna leave for about 3 months? | pclark: I don't think you should take the internship, you should do the startup.
Probably doesn't help.But I'd be far more interested in hiring someone that spent 3 months busting it on a startup than working elsewhere. |
Review my rapid AJAX idea | profquail: It seems like what you're describing is DIFFing the page DOM, then using the delta to update the page. Sounds cool, but for something like your comments example, why wouldn't you just reload the data and have a client-side script alter the DOM (unless adding new comments changes the layout of the page, it's going to be easier to do that than to calculate the new HTML DOM with the new comments and apply it to the page). |
Review my rapid AJAX idea | qhoxie: Sounds like an interesting idea for some scenarios. You should definitely give it a try. Assuming you do and it's open, drop a link to it on here. |
How viable is it for a programmer to switch to a DVORAK keyboard layout? | Mathnerd314: Which language/IDE are you using? |
Review my rapid AJAX idea | daleharvey: to me this sounds a lot more complex than just writing the javascript in the first place, I need to generate 2 pages and make sure they are virtually identical, I can see making a minor differences that suddenly invalidates a diff on an entire page and ends up generating 5x more data than a plain full page load would have |
Review my rapid AJAX idea | tptacek: Easier than: $("#comments").load("/post/749744/comments #comments")
is kind of a high bar to clear. |
Creative SaaS business models | Raphael: Small charges get drowned in transaction fees. Better to do $12 per year.You can also charge based on usage, and just run up a tab, where they are only billed at the end of the payment cycle if they have exceeded a minimum amount. Like Google AdWords, but in reverse. |
Developer/admin log software? | there: in bigger companies they probably have a formal change-request/management system where everything is documented and changes are approved/rejected by teammates or managers.for a smaller setup i think any wiki that supports revision control would work well. |
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