andjones

10 ms·

31.
by andjones 16y ago
This test shows what was valued - at least at Harvard - in the late 1800's. Greek and Latin were more important, as well as knowledge of geography of the known world and algebra and geometry. Algebra and geometry, I feel, are still importan
32.
by andjones 16y ago
indeed... see: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2363697 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2367132
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by andjones 16y ago
thank you for quoting a source (bloomberg). I'd like to see more journalism/rants that quote some source for reference.
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by andjones 16y ago
I think this a wonderful approach and I was taught at Indiana University. Recursion helped me learn how to break problems apart. Working with lists and the list primitives all the time gave me a leg up in data structures. Anonymous function
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by andjones 16y ago
"deprives society of one great programmer in favor of one mediocre writer" I'd say since you care about writing you will eventually excel at it. Of course, society will be the ultimate judge. But you have passion for writing and that matt
36.
by andjones 16y ago
Wouldn't the median be a bit more useful? The highest selling apps will tend to skew the average upwards. The median would be more useful to determine what the average app creator might make.
37.
by andjones 16y ago
I had the fortune of working with Jonathan Sobel at IU and hearing this story. We were taught to translate a recursive program to continuation passing style in a way that many variables could be translated to registers directly. If I rememb
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by andjones 16y ago
This a route I took last year for a client. I self represented and the clerks at the courthouse were friendly and helped where they could. In North Carolina, the cap for small claims action is $5000. Once my case was heard, it took 10 minut
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by andjones 16y ago
My random musings from three years in CS grad school at UNC: Of all the graduate students I met, you could more or less divide them into two classes. The first class wanted the PhD as a means to an end, such as doing research, or getting a
40.
by andjones 16y ago
My startup offers online surveys, which are mainly used for research, company and employee evaluation, and feedback. I don't consider the service so glamorous, but I think its useful and I'd like to spread the word as much as possible. I co
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by andjones 16y ago
I think sharing your idea with others is a great way to start. You get: * Practice selling your idea * Feedback about the validity of your idea * Encouragement (hopefully) from others * Suggestions that you may not have considered That's wo
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Ask HN: How do you promote your website?
14 points by andjones 16y ago|6 comments
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by andjones 16y ago
And like many lessons, they are best - and unfortunately often - learned through experience. As an beginning rider, I was told to pretend like no one sees you, and in fact, people will try to hit you. I internalized those lessons much more
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by andjones 16y ago
I think the author is attacking the wrong viewpoint. Being passionate about some idea I scrawled on a napkin at a bar is a great way to start a business. The phrase "Be passionate" says nothing about discipline or determination. Most of his
45.
by andjones 16y ago
Although I understand the author's desire to not have his work copied, I think he stepped across the line when he used a personal attack: "Guys like you are the reason I stopped doing Ruby."
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by andjones 16y ago
I think there are several start-ups which are boring and we don't hear about. I think I fit into this case and I'd love to hear other stories as well. My startup at http://new.surveyshare.com is a tool where you can develop online surveys
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by andjones 16y ago
well done sir, well done
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by andjones 16y ago
Give the Programmer as Much Control as Possible. See: http://paulgraham.com/langdes.html Let the programmer shoot himself (or herself) in the foot. I do not believe a language's job is to hold a programmer's hand. A programmer will write
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by andjones 16y ago
This reminds me of the scene in "The Social Network" where Mark Zuckerburg sits in front of the Harvard disciplinary board for hacking into house face books to harvest student images. The Zuckerburg in the movie thought that he deserved cre
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by andjones 16y ago
I do not think any of us are born with the ability to understand the structure of GitHub and Rails projects. These are learned abilities. How do we learn them? Two ways. (1) spend time on our own. This can either be brute force (i.e. just e
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by andjones 16y ago
I remember reading articles 1998/1999 saying that the search problem had been solved and no major new search engines would enter the market. Google proved that wrong. There are many 1+ billion opportunities. Think of the ideas that started
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by andjones 16y ago
Is there any context you can give about the project our environment in which you'll be working? And, why only Ruby vs .NET?
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by andjones 16y ago
This information is invaluable. This is a great way to attract some traffic / get valuable feedback. I once posted an early version of one of my sites on the craigslist forum for feedback. The responses were not helpful.
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by andjones 16y ago
Essentials of Programming Languages (EOPL) http://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Programming-Languages-Danie... and The Seasoned Schemer as well http://www.amazon.com/Seasoned-Schemer-Daniel-P-Friedman/dp/...
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by andjones 16y ago
I think most of the comments are are missing the main point of the article: enjoy the journey instead of painfully achieving a goal. Goals are wonderful. However, I think our society is a bit too goal oriented (i.e. be a doctor, get a law d
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by andjones 16y ago
Facebook is an excellent tool, despite its many privacy concerns. I hear people talking about leaving facebook entirely and that seems a bit short-sighted and draconian in measure. Little do I hear discussed changing the way that we use Fa
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by andjones 16y ago
My father used to tell me "it's all about the journey, not the goal". As a kid I thought that was silly, but as I grew older it made more sense. As an adult, I would sum up that statement as follows: When you look back on you life, would yo
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by andjones 16y ago
How exportable is YCombinator? Much of YCombinator depends on people being in the same geography. I understand that to be the reason why founders are required to move to Mountain View. Do you think it would be possible to start YCombinator
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by andjones 16y ago
I agree, this is very useful. Entering address information into separate fields is something we have, sadly, come to accept. From a user standpoint though, this makes no sense. I write my address on an envelope, and the US post office deliv
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by andjones 16y ago
RFC 2616 HTTP/1.1 has a definition of idempotence with regard to request methods: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/rfc2616/rfc2616-sec9.html Section 9.1.2 "Methods can also have the property of "idempotence" in that (aside from error or expira

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