ericlavigne

13 ms·

91.
by ericlavigne 16y ago
The dimension of the configuration space of the juggling pin is six: the minimum number of parameters that specify the position in space is three, and the minimum number of parameters that specify an orientation is also three. The quote c
92.
by ericlavigne 16y ago
Makes me tempted to try and write a "Structure and Interpretation of Neutron Transport" Let me know if you do - I'd be interested in reviewing early drafts. I studied nuclear engineering in grad school, but enjoyed the computational aspec
93.
by ericlavigne 16y ago
I visited Hashrocket's Jacksonville office for a couple days earlier this year, just to watch and learn from the programmers there. They seem like a good group of people, and I'm sorry to see them getting caught up in this. The alleged frau
94.
by ericlavigne 16y ago
"Private benefits actually aren't that expensive. I just checked ehealthinsurance.com and they quoted $79 a month for me." The issue here has less to do with the cost of private health insurance, than with whether private health insurance p
95.
by ericlavigne 16y ago
An example of a "provocative thing" expediting the security process is given in another of Les's stories (copied from Sukotto's comment). http://yarchive.net/risks/mongrel.html "The lesson was clear: if you want a clearance in a hurry, p
96.
by ericlavigne 16y ago
The data is not clear about that. If I had taken this survey, my response to the following question would make you think that this was my first functional language, when in fact I have been exploring exotic languages for about five years. "
97.
by ericlavigne 16y ago
Closing only over final variables is deliberately a requirement because closing over non-final variables can lead to confusing situations. I discussed this in more detail in a previous thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1257599 G
98.
by ericlavigne 16y ago
While I would prefer Scala over [Java + closures], and would prefer Clojure over either of those, I am still pleased to see closures in Java for several reasons. 1) For now, I still have a job as a Java programmer. Closures in Java will sav
99.
by ericlavigne 16y ago
That's an interesting read. Some conclusions about US-born tech startup founders include: (1) they tend to be 30+ years old, (2) they tend to have advanced degrees, especially from ivy-league schools, and (3) those with advanced degrees ten
100.
by ericlavigne 16y ago
I started this tutorial with zero prior knowledge of Javascript, but I have still learned a lot from it. I am now 2/3 of the way through. The challenge of guessing what will work helps to keep me engaged. The extra time that I need to spend
101.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
I actually think that will change in Java 7. I will likely not be using "for" very often, and will start using higher-order functions like map and fold. The issue is mainly developers for whom closures are a new concept. If they are too con
102.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
Or use Google Collections in Java 1.5 or higher. http://code.google.com/p/google-collections/ List<String> list1 = Lists.newArrayList("item"); List<String> list2 = Lists.newArrayList("item1","item2"); Of course, none of th
103.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
The top priority is still to avoid confusing programmers, and closing over non-final variables can lead to some very confusing situations. For example: List list = Lists.newArrayList(); for(Integer i = 0; i < 10; i++) { list.add(fn [
104.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
The original poster's first suggestion was Squeak. It is a variation of Smalltalk, a "real" programming language, that is focused on being approachable and fun for children. I find it rather fun as an adult, too, and would highly recommend
105.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
The article doesn't even cover gen-class? You can use Clojure to create a Java library. Then the Java (or Scala or JRuby or Jython) code that calls it doesn't even need to know it is calling Clojure rather than an ordinary Java class. The o
106.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
I read the hacker-howto around the same time, and the list of languages was the best thing I got out of it, too. I already knew C and C++, so started working with Python. Python was a joy, but while using it for a couple small projects I re
107.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
Do whatever you want with it. I hope you enjoy Clojure - I certainly have.
108.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
I tried a Google search for clojure commons, and your post here was the third result. Maybe you meant clojure contrib? I wrote a small Compojure application about a week ago. It's only an afternoon's worth of work, plus some cleaning up lat
109.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
This is advice for improv performers. Yes, performers deliberately deceive people into thinking they are someone that they are not, and those people are willingly suspending disbelief. It is also relevant for non-performers who wish to be c
110.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
As you said, some debuggers are better than others. However, you may be surprised by how much better some debuggers are than others. If you have any interest in debuggers, and how awesome they can be, it is worth giving VisualWorks a try.
111.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
Your comments are very insightful. I know this because I try to read the whole comment before judging. Unfortunately, even in fairly intelligent audiences like HN, it is common for people to form judgements based primarily on first impressi
112.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
SICP presents programming as something mystical and exciting, starting with using a wizard for the front cover. http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/ SICP was still written to be a college textbook, though, and is now more than 15 years old. I th
113.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
I think you are very lucky to have heard about Lisp while you are just starting to get into programming. If I could send my younger self some advice, it would be the books you just mentioned. Also Felleisen's other books such as Little Sche
114.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
In the arc version you can navigate to the same url in multiple tabs, and each of those tabs will work independently. In order to make that work you need, in addition to the per-user session, a per-page session. It probably makes more sense
115.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
What is the target number, and where did you find it? Your 8% estimate seems very low, and does not agree with the graphic progress meter in the upper right which is at around 55%.
116.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
Your expectation that more donations would come from well-funded regions relies on the assumption that well-funded companies are more likely to donate. The opposite may be true, since the founders of bootstrapped startups can make such deci
117.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
After donating, I added the following paragraph to the bottom of all my Clojure-related articles. Hopefully it will encourage others to donate as well. I donated $100 so that Rich Hickey can continue working full-time to make Clojure even b
118.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
Is your code hosted someplace that we could watch the project unfold?
119.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
It sounds like you are looking for Software Engineering for Internet Applications. http://philip.greenspun.com/seia/ I am working through this book right now, very slowly since I have a lot of other stuff going on right now. Links to my s
120.
by ericlavigne 17y ago
Yes, but I would propose breaking it down by their level of median annual income over the last 5-10 years. This would give a number, for any given individual, would tend to change gradually over a lifetime and would not be significantly aff

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