bkovitz

29 ms·

241.
by bkovitz 18y ago
It's very standard. Calc 1: Differentiation up to the Chain Rule, with applications like maximization problems. Basic integration, up to the Substitution Rule. Calc 2: More-difficult integration techniques (integration by parts, trigonomet
242.
by bkovitz 18y ago
"Cryonics is the second-stupidest thing I ever heard of. Being eaten by worms is the first-stupidest." --Timothy Leary. He gave up cryonics before he died, though, and was cremated.
243.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Commitment?? Who needs commitment? Start reading GEB. If you enjoy it, read on. If not, stop.
244.
by bkovitz 18y ago
There is an important demographic shift happening, and anyone starting a business that rides a large social wave would be wise to pay attention to it. In the 1980s and 1990s, the younger generation was put down as cynical, slackers, no good
245.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Hmm, maybe it's me. Does Skype on Mac OS have special difficulties?
246.
Ask HN: Non-cellphone long distance
1 points by bkovitz 18y ago|3 comments
247.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Articles about net neutrality and other political issues of relevance to hacker entrepreneurs are certainly relevant to HN. General political stuff of the sort that's already saturating the media everywhere else is not.
248.
by bkovitz 18y ago
mogga.com (taken, but probably buyable) mogtown.com (available)
249.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Actually, the article says that OOP has failed us by not being a good fit to the way most programmers' minds work.
250.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Yup, motivation is the blocker. I have repeatedly gotten tired of math when it seemed like meaningless puzzle-solving. Why do I really care, for example, how many nonabelian groups of order 36 exist? When math seems to me like it's provid
251.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Indeed, I moved to San Francisco last year, planning to leave in a few months after completing a contract job, to go on to a Ph.D. That is, I intended to be a tourist. But I loved the city so much, I deferred my admission one year. "You s
252.
by bkovitz 18y ago
I used to live one block away from Caltech, when I had the good fortune to work there. The eavesdropping there was the best I ever heard.
253.
by bkovitz 18y ago
I worked 20 years in software and publishing with no degree. In my experience, no one cared. I did not see any correlation between skill level and degree. Programming is a craft, like carpentry. You learn it by doing it, by doing it with
254.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Really interesting comment about realizing that right now is your real life. I also spent years in that mode of "this is just a temporary thing while I get enough money to do what I really want." A couple years ago, I had the same realiza
255.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Wikipedia: one of the top 10 web sites by traffic, and run by 15 people, most of them not even technical. http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Current_staff
256.
by bkovitz 18y ago
"Identifying where I am now means I can't change myself" is one way of looking at this. Another, of course, is that by identifying where you are now, you can plot a course for what you want to do next. I've been a "builder" my whole life,
257.
by bkovitz 18y ago
The question is: How much worse would it be if they didn't have unit tests?
258.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Yup, unit tests are a programmer aid, not a replacement for QA. If the unit tests aren't helping you code faster (by preventing debugging), they're not worth it. It's probably close to impossible to prevent people from using unit tests as
259.
by bkovitz 18y ago
I drank the Kool-Aid and I still like the flavor. I still practice TDD every day. And yet I agree with most of what you said. When people get dogmatic about unit tests, they write way more than is needed to bring value. The value is: you
260.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Is #2 ("Unknown or expired link") a bug or a feature? It sure feels to me like a bug.
261.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Hmm, if Google doesn't turn up much about your niche market, maybe you have a great opportunity. The fact that it's hard to get info about these people and what they need means that market is yours if you do the leg-work (or phone-work).
262.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Thanks for the info! Interesting how you found a way to differentiate yourself from competitors.
263.
by bkovitz 18y ago
What did you make that people wanted?
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by bkovitz 18y ago
What were the services and new features? And of course, how did you find those first few customers, so you could tell that they really liked the new services and features well enough to pay for them?
265.
by bkovitz 18y ago
I've actually had some success on the shyness front. I did two things here: took a course on improvisational comedy, and hung out with some pick-up artists who showed me how they start conversations with women. These things got me into th
266.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Interesting stuff, and thanks for the reminder about keeping the sign-up process super-simple. We are indeed aiming to make something super-simple. Getting to know the customers is top priority--hence this post.
267.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Wow, so you got your initial users by posting on-line! That's interesting. So far, I had been assuming that we would have to work through our networks of friends and/or make cold calls. Cold-calling is probably the hacker's worst nightma
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by bkovitz 18y ago
Wow, so AdWords has actually worked for a subscription site. Is this how you got your first customer, or how you expanded the business after the initial few customers? I'm looking for how to get that evolutionary-feedback process started.
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by bkovitz 18y ago
Thanks! Interesting data point that you didn't charge your first few customers. What is your site?
270.
by bkovitz 18y ago
Thanks! What web business is it?

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