jpallen

13 ms·

91.
Show HN: We've open-sourced our bootstrapped startup, ShareLaTeX(github.com)
276 points by jpallen 13y ago|79 comments
92.
by jpallen 13y ago
We're using docker at ShareLaTeX to run the latex compilation. It lets us have lightweight isolated containers so that we can now let people do scary/cool things like run R code in a secure way.
93.
by jpallen 13y ago
What are you guys doing that will give us a compelling reason to switch from Hootsuite? Our team is only a handful of people but we've found Hootsuite really useful for making sure everyone has access to the same feeds and being able t
94.
Scienceography: the study of how science is written(arxiv.org)
2 points by jpallen 13y ago|0 comments
95.
by jpallen 13y ago
I don't necessarily disagree with you, I just always prefer to sit more on the side of 'don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to'. I don't think creating an n-th competing format is the answer here. In the
96.
by jpallen 13y ago
I don't really know why human readable is important here, but there already exist open data formats that have good support for the things that matter: large data sets, compression and support for multiple platforms and languages. I&#x2
97.
by jpallen 13y ago
I know Linode has been getting hammered for not being trustable or that they don't respond well when contacted, but in my experience they have been extremely responsive to any issues I have raised. I don't just mean technical issues either,
98.
by jpallen 14y ago
I've been maintaining an open source LaTeX web API called the CLSI ( https://github.com/scribtex/clsi ) for a few years now. This powers ShareLaTeX and ScribTeX, and I'm really keen for others to use it, and for the standard to evolve with
99.
by jpallen 14y ago
Can you give an example of a piece of math notation that you think could be improved? Maths is more like a human language - the writing necessarily does not contain a complete picture, just like a book can never unambiguously describe a sce
100.
by jpallen 14y ago
Feeling like I'm part of something bigger than me and my own personal code. I won't try to rationalise it, because it's pretty much an emotional response, but I enjoy the feeling of other people using my code, because it means I've had a po
101.
A small collection of useful LaTeX templates(sharelatex.com)
5 points by jpallen 14y ago|0 comments
102.
by jpallen 14y ago
I'm curious how you handle the LaTeX compilation, since in my experience this is one of the trickiest things to get set up securely. I created the "Common LaTeX Service Interface (CLSI)" ( https://github.com/scribtex/clsi ) as an open stand
103.
by jpallen 14y ago
Thanks. I didn't invent the telnet REPL trick, but I've forgotten where I found it so I can't give credit where it's due, sorry.
104.
Tracking down a memory leak in Node.js and Socket.IO(jpallen.net)
66 points by jpallen 14y ago|8 comments
105.
by jpallen 14y ago
Could you allow the requester to provide a link to the pay wall where they get stuck? People who have access to the paper through a university subscription could then easily click on that link and then immediately be taken to the paper. I i
106.
by jpallen 14y ago
Yes, we'd love to do that. I coded up a prototype a while ago and found that latexdiff can quite easily get confused and produce LaTeX code that won't compile. I definitely plan to revisit this though and try to get something working.
107.
by jpallen 14y ago
Yes, we have a feature called 'History' which you can access from the editor. It lets you see the changes that have been made to your project over time. It's a bit of minimum-viable-feature at the moment, but it's still quite useful, and we
108.
by jpallen 14y ago
I'm one of the co-founders of ShareLaTeX, and there are two main reasons that we've found that people really like ShareLaTeX. The first has been mentioned - you don't need to set up a LaTeX repository yourself. Even more than that, you can
109.
by jpallen 14y ago
No doubt I'm missing something dumb, but would one get similar benefits from simply storing half of the password hash on one server, and half on the other? To authenticate the password, you would then just authenticate it against both serve
110.
by jpallen 14y ago
You have a good point there. The problem is that LaTeX doesn't have a fundamental distinction between 'style' and 'commands'. Everything is really just a command, but by convention some of them are wrappers around predefined styles, like \s
111.
by jpallen 14y ago
As soon as I read his opening piece I thought 'this guy needs to use LaTeX', so I'm glad that he did in the end. I've benefited a lot from the stories and comments here at HN, so I'd like to offer my help in getting you started with LaTeX i
112.
by jpallen 14y ago
I don't have any experience with the US system, but I've heard similar things. In fact, when I started reading this article I assume the author was talking about the US system, so I was quite surprised to see it was in the UK system that sh
113.
by jpallen 14y ago
As others are saying in this thread, I find myself disagreeing with almost every point the author makes about doing a PhD. I'm just about to hand in my thesis after 3 and half years of doing a PhD in theoretical physics in the UK. I've publ
114.
by jpallen 14y ago
We use a very similar set up in a large Node.js app I'm working on. It works very well for the most part, but we're definitely still figuring out the best way to split things up. For example, say we want to work with a 'user' model, and we
115.
by jpallen 14y ago
Not only does the problem become easier, using the right notation enables us to do things that we just couldn't do before. Humans (or at least me) can only hold a few simple things in our head at once. If the problem is too complicated, we
116.
by jpallen 14y ago
From reading the title I thought that 'juggling' and 'tricks' where metaphors for how choosing the right notation in mathematics can make a problem trivial, while choosing the wrong notation can make it nearly impossible. Even though the ar
117.
by jpallen 14y ago
It's not going down, we've just started pointing new users at ShareLaTeX, since that's where our development efforts are focused. If you have an account with ScribTeX you'll still be able to use if for the foreseeable future.
118.
by jpallen 14y ago
This seems like a good strategy for Linode - rather than decrease their prices as their running costs get cheaper, they offer more for the same price. This keeps them competitive on price, but keeps their revenue high. It reminds me of the
119.
The TeX family tree(sharelatex.com)
2 points by jpallen 14y ago|0 comments
120.
by jpallen 14y ago
As the author of this article I'm glad to hear you like it :). If you have a spare moment I'd love to chat to you about LaTeX and collaboration in academia, and what your experiences with git are in this context. The blog is hosted at Share

More ›