daly

97 ms·

781.
by daly 8y ago
I spent a couple thousand hours over several years flying the MS flight simulator for a small plane. I signed up for flying lessons. On my first-ever real flight I started the plane, got tower clearance, taxied to the proper runway. took of
782.
by daly 8y ago
Just to add facts to my argument, here is a posting from today's Hacker News about how to prepare for a Javascript interview: https://github.com/IamManchanda/algorithms-javascript Walk away.
783.
by daly 8y ago
The environment I describe is not universal, nor did I claim it was. In fact, I am advocating walking away from the subset of companies that do whiteboard interviews. About your reply for point #1, I agree that communication and collaborati
784.
by daly 8y ago
That's nice in theory. But it doesn't fit the facts. 1) The whiteboard questions are unrelated to the job opening. The interviewers have no idea why you are there. They don't know what your resume says. They don't know w
785.
by daly 8y ago
BALL-PITS and CLOWN NOSES I worked with a guy, Bob, in our college computer room. Bob had returned to get his BS after many years in industry. He had great stories. He also had great advice. He taught me that you can learn a lot about how a
786.
by daly 8y ago
Buy a Dell laptop with Linux pre-installed. My linux systems report uptimes measured in years. The only time they die is when we have an extended power outage.
787.
by daly 8y ago
Microsoft made clever interview questions popular, such as "How many pingpong balls can a tractor-trailer hold?". The justification was that it revealed the way you thought. Google whiteboard interviews use the same justification.
788.
by daly 8y ago
Google is a "ball pit" company, like a children's restaurant. As a professional, you don't take clients to restaurants that feature ball pits. As a professional, don't interview with companies that play the "wh
789.
by daly 8y ago
The problem is the phrase "the current standard". Is Haskell going to become the new C++? C++11, C++14, C++17, etc? Is it going to live up to the phrase "I love standards. There are so many to choose from."? Is it going
790.
by daly 8y ago
I love programming. Computers are mirrors for the mind. It's not the mirror that's the problem.
791.
by daly 8y ago
That also fails.
792.
by daly 8y ago
One other key difference between lisp and haskell... Common Lisp has a standard definition. My code from the last century still compiles and runs as does code from all of the books. On the other hand, haskell seems to be a struggle. I recen
793.
by daly 8y ago
IDEs? You mean emacs?
794.
by daly 8y ago
There is no magic in Haskell's strong typing. Axiom, a computer algebra system with extremely strong typing, is written in common lisp. Axiom's language is essentially a domain specific language on top of lisp. The key difference
795.
by daly 8y ago
The 360/91 would throw an "imprecise interrupt" error indicating that the error occurred somewhere in the last (dozen?) instructions.... which caused me untold hours of grief. Which branch ended up here?
796.
by daly 8y ago
Selling hardware below manufacturing cost in order to undercut competition. Isn't that called "dumping"? Wouldn't that be an anti-trust issue?
797.
by daly 8y ago
I am an independent researcher, entirely self-funded. And not rich. The real barrier to independent research is the huge paywall to get at published papers. I paid $40 for a 4 page paper. That kind of expense really adds up. If you're
798.
by daly 8y ago
Just another BALL-PIT and CLOWN NOSE company. Notice that the engineering question (e.g. describe a cell phone architecture) is reasonable and job related. But the software questions (shuffle coins, compute gas quantity, etc.) are BALL-PIT
799.
by daly 8y ago
Good point. Technically, according to your metric, programmers are not "Professionals", licensed to practice their art. On the other hand, if you have a degree and years of experience, would a license matter? I wouldn't objec
800.
by daly 8y ago
I agree. I'm just passing on some general life advice for interviews I got from Bob. If you're in a position to look around for other opportunities (as "the best and brightest" often are), it helps to see through the mar
801.
by daly 8y ago
Yes, I agree that walking away from whiteboarding is displaying "negative signals". It is a sign of "an attitude and discipline problem", what IBM Research used to call "wild ducks". They placed great value on
802.
by daly 8y ago
Send your architect home to build a rocking chair over his weekend. See if he calls you back on Monday. A take home test is a very clear statement by management that your time is less important than their process. As a professional, you onl
803.
by daly 8y ago
Anger? I am not, nor did I intend to come across as, angry. I'm just passing along interview advice. As for the myth of "world class salaries" I know, for example, that my nephew who works at one of the Top 5 companies, has a
804.
by daly 8y ago
BALL-PITS and CLOWN NOSES I worked with a guy, Bob, in our college computer room. Bob had returned to get his BS after many years in industry. He had great stories. He also had great advice. He taught me that you can learn a lot about how a
805.
by daly 8y ago
Yes, you can set up a business to handle everything. And you can pay an accountant to handle the grant. And you can do all the receipt tracking. And you can get your busiess certified by organizations that issue grants. All of which means t
806.
by daly 8y ago
no, No, NO. We're programmers. If you can think of it, we can do it. But it takes someone who has the motivation and the time. Motivation is easy to find but time is not. Because Time is Money (as I'm sure you've heard). So t
807.
by daly 8y ago
Oh, and that option is only available on the "professional" version of Windows. We poor open source developers use the "non-professional" version that comes with the machine and THAT won't let you turn updates off.
808.
by daly 8y ago
Yes. I know. The point is their attitude. Someone, somewhere decided that the default reboot policy would be good for Microsoft. Apparently the effect on developers was not worth considering. They didn't seem to care that you would wak
809.
by daly 8y ago
I read a lot of comments claiming that MS "used to be a bad actor" but, of course, they now "care about developers and open source". Developers, they say, are the very lifeblood of the new Microsoft. "We respect dev
810.
by daly 8y ago
Coffee is pretty much all I drink. My coffee can (Folgers) claims it will make 380 cups. I go through a can about once every 2 months... so ~400*6 = 2400 cups per year. There is a fine line to walk. I can't read my computer screen when

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