jfarmer

61 ms·

571.
by jfarmer 14y ago
I can't stand the sans serif typesetting and cramped mathematical formulas. The tone is kind of obnoxious, too. When he introduces group theory: Group theory basics. It is time to note that our one-parameter symmetries are groups in the
572.
by jfarmer 14y ago
You're not going to out-pedant me, damnit! :P Given the original comment, yes, I think it's more likely he just didn't understand why a A/A test might sometimes show a false positive. Even if the system were misconfigured, there's no reason
573.
by jfarmer 14y ago
The original commenter was using off-the-shelf A/B testing software, so the odds of it doing anything other than a simple t-test are virtually zero. Not sure that the frequentist vs. Bayesean debate is the most relevant thing for him right
574.
by jfarmer 14y ago
I wish! The words empirical distribution are music to my ears. No, usually the rule people use is this: "If A1 and A2 show a statistically significant difference, then do not reject the null hypothesis regardless of A1/B or A2/B."
575.
by jfarmer 14y ago
"I did an A/A test, basically testing the same exact page––expecting the results would be the same." That's not how A/B testing works. :) Let's say we want to detect a 1% lift in some metric at 95% confidence and we set up an A/A test. We
576.
by jfarmer 14y ago
I've worked at companies that tried to do this before. It makes no sense and shows the people running the A/B tests don't really understand the statistics behind A/B testing. If I'm running an A/A test at 95% confidence and a sufficient nu
577.
by jfarmer 14y ago
Quoting you earlier: "defuse a true statement by making assessment of that truth so complicated that most readers won't bother" That's how I feel now. I have no idea what you're saying.
578.
by jfarmer 14y ago
chernevik, speaking as a neutral-but-technically-minded third party: between the two of you, Thomas comes off as as much more sensible and convincing. Maybe your your argument is too smart for me, though.
579.
by jfarmer 14y ago
For sure. Do you have any research I can read? There's tons of ink spilled about child development and learning, but precious little about adult learning. I help run Dev Bootcamp so knowing as much about this as I can is really important t
580.
by jfarmer 14y ago
I think learning is inherently social. Part of the problem is the mindset that creates a false dichotomy between "learning" and "socializing." One consequence of this mindset is the idea or impression that "learning" involves locking onesel
581.
by jfarmer 14y ago
You might not realize it, but your first sentence is an example of what makes "too many girls ... feel that it [the technology field] is more of a 'guys' area." When people say "sexism," that's a big part of what they mean. It's not necess
582.
by jfarmer 14y ago
There's an invisible-to-the eye unicode character in the string "owned," if you copy and paste the text from the website. JSON is fine with these characters, but JavaScript is not. For plain-jane JSON this is usually fine, since you're not
583.
by jfarmer 14y ago
Technically the thing in the video isn't a walkthrough as much as it is a demo, but in either case they didn't use it as a substitute for proper affordance in the final product design. Like a matryoshka doll, it's best to educate your user
584.
by jfarmer 14y ago
Blurry as heck on my Retina screen. :( Also freezes after I add my Gmail account, saying "Loading..." I DEMAND A REFUND!!!!!!!!!111 I kid, I kid. I'm going to stick with Sparrow for now, but will revisit this in a few months.
585.
What's Functional Programming All About?(blog.8thlight.com)
4 points by jfarmer 14y ago|0 comments
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by jfarmer 14y ago
It doesn't matter whether it's in Ruby, but most resources around algorithms are not accessible to people who want something "in their hands" to play with, i.e., every beginning programmer, ever. They're also introduced abstractly, rather t
587.
by jfarmer 14y ago
I think this is easy to say, but hard to prove. It's certainly the conventional wisdom among software engineers.
588.
by jfarmer 14y ago
One of our summer Dev Bootcamp students moved back to Columbus, Ohio. Shoot me an email at jesse@devbootcamp.com and I'm happy to put you two in touch. :) Can't promise he's what you or anyone you know is looking for in terms of a potentia
589.
by jfarmer 14y ago
Yes indeed, but it can be dangerous to intellectualize it. Encapsulating what people in that situation experience as "loss aversion" confuses reality for a model of reality, IMO. I'm not saying you are, but most people I know who talk in t
590.
by jfarmer 14y ago
I grew up in rural northern Michigan in a village of ~1,500 people. It's the largest municipality in its county, if you can believe it. My senior year of high school was the first year my high school ever offered calculus. The annual une
591.
by jfarmer 14y ago
This is great! Does anyone know other computationally-focused data structures / algorithms resources out there? We've been trying to find a relevant way to integrate deeper algorithms work into Dev Bootcamps -- it's one of the most-request
592.
by jfarmer 14y ago
Well, I don't think that's what anyone has ever said about any of these languages. :D I was just trying to stick with the form of the essay.
593.
by jfarmer 14y ago
I'd say, Ruby: Smalltalk is scary and Perl is a kludge
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by jfarmer 14y ago
"Calculus is definitely more easily understood with infinitesimals vs. limits (ask any physics major or engineer)." I don't think this is true, and suffers from the same fallacy as the opposite statement that limits are easier to understand
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by jfarmer 14y ago
Caveat lector : I help run Dev Bootcamp ( http://devbootcamp.com ), which is probably "the one in SF" whose name you forgot. :) I have two thoughts. First, there's more to learning how to be a software developer than downloading a bunch of
596.
by jfarmer 14y ago
You can't just say "many surveys" and leave me hanging! :D And just so I'm clear: I wasn't speaking literally. I did not mean, for example, "Surveys show that among 20 answers to the question, each answer received 5% of the responses withi
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by jfarmer 14y ago
I've clearly pushed some kind of button for you. I apologize. I hope you enjoy the reading I suggested.
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by jfarmer 14y ago
A lot of our students come from backgrounds in higher education, so I want to be careful not to imply that places like Harvard, Oxford, etc. are for "some people" and others just can't meet their standards, so hey, why not set your sights l
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by jfarmer 14y ago
The "current general perception?" My point was more that if you ask 20 people, "What is the purpose of an education?" you'll get 20 different answers -- everything from "to get a job" to "cultivate the life of the mind."
600.
by jfarmer 14y ago
Well, first, this "I see universities struggling to be everything to everyone" was exactly my point. :D For some people, education is about "jobs," for others its about other things, and as a result universities have dozens of conflicting m

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