jvans

18 ms·

91.
by jvans 3y ago
Yes. Use GBTs and off the shelf language models you don't train yourself.
92.
by jvans 3y ago
This holds back people of every level. Paradoxically I think it holds senior people back more because once someone gets a sufficiently senior label, they think they should have all the answers and stop asking questions
93.
by jvans 3y ago
In my experience the more familiar that someone is with the code, the more they think pushing code into smaller functions is the correct path. They have already built up a mental model of the code at hand, so the cleanest implementation to
94.
by jvans 3y ago
Building your own bayesian model with something like pymc3 is also a very reasonable approach to take with small data or data with too much variance to detect effects in a timely manner. This also forces you to think about the underlying di
95.
by jvans 3y ago
I would say the same logic applies to products/features and influences the design component. You create a product that reaches some local maximum of utility but there's a constant pressure to churn out new features with increasing
96.
by jvans 3y ago
I would make a distinction between adding an index to sqlite/postgres and adding one to elastic. The ANN algorithms usually require the index fits into RAM which can lead to high memory requirements on large datasets. Something like el
97.
by jvans 3y ago
Yes, definitely. I am a generalist SWE, learned ML through Jeremy Howard's course and transitioned to the ML team at my company. 98% of ML in the real world is building a robust software system to support the models. The last 2% is act
98.
by jvans 3y ago
Besides being false, the problem with making the scientific certainty the bar for whether to ban these chemicals is that the default action is to keep them, harming people for decades before science catches up. The bar should be for proving
99.
by jvans 3y ago
I have often thought along similar lines, that the effort involved in building software seems to indicate a level of abstraction that is missing. The general theme of the comments seems roughly what you should expect from a very bold, parad
100.
by jvans 3y ago
I found that book impenetrable. I'm sure it's the most rigorous textbook on the subject but it is not explained in an intuitive or friendly way. I will check out the stan guide though, thanks!
101.
by jvans 3y ago
> It's difficult. Applying these techniques efficiently and correctly is way more difficult than standard frequentist methods Do you have any good resources/examples for applying these methods effectively? I've read Stati
102.
by jvans 3y ago
It doesn't have to be outright fraud. I imagine the vast majority of manipulations are extremely subtle. Intentional selection bias, multiple hypothesis testing without correction or reporting the failed hypotheses(p hacking). Most of
103.
by jvans 3y ago
I imagine the number of people who fit the venn of data engineer with signal analysis knowledge/skills is pretty small. Is hiring for that kind of role difficult? How would you recommend people with skills in SWE/DE become hireabl
104.
by jvans 3y ago
The incentive structure of the PM role is to pump out new features when a lot of the time making something more reliable or easier to use has more user value. Design and Engineering should jointly take on this role
105.
by jvans 3y ago
Next step: tweak enough chemical bonds to give it a different acronym and dodge litigation for another 20 years
106.
by jvans 3y ago
If you aren't writing the code you don't understand the problem and can't possibly write the documentation
107.
by jvans 3y ago
it's a classic bike shedding exercise: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_triviality
108.
by jvans 3y ago
Does that mean that 5+ years go by before code starts running in production? How do you cope with the existing system evolving as the rewrite is taking place?
109.
by jvans 3y ago
I am sure there are good reasons for it, the postgres proposal for switching concurrency models[1] comes to mind. I actually just posted this question to see what people come up with: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=366
110.
by jvans 3y ago
Some non fiction books that thoroughly convinced me of their thesis with their rigor: 1. Bottle of Lies - Eban 2. Capital in the Twenty-First Century - Piketty. I will admit this was difficult to push through but by the end of it you really
111.
Ask HN: What are some examples of successful major software rewrites?
12 points by jvans 3y ago|9 comments
112.
by jvans 3y ago
I don't think this is hyperbole, i completely agree with it as written
113.
by jvans 3y ago
The incrementally part is extremely important and often overlooked. I have seen project after project attempt some major big bang rewrite that always takes way longer than expected, delivers less value than promised, and causes problems in
114.
by jvans 3y ago
The devil is always in the details and it's too easy to present a high level intelligent sounding argument that ignores all the important complexity.
115.
by jvans 3y ago
In any highly nonlinear system it's extremely difficult to predict side effects of changes like this. It's plausible there are benefits to things that seem mild or harmless and eliminating them can have dramatically negative conse
116.
by jvans 3y ago
The suits know the profit math and find the risks acceptable. The engineers know the mortality math and do not.
117.
by jvans 3y ago
The types of effects you want to measure would take months or years to show and are the combination of many different small decisions. Teams need to apply common sense thinking, empirical data, and the willingness to wrestle with uncertaint
118.
by jvans 3y ago
I agree but a truly nuanced approach to interpretation of A/B tests is rare especially when mixed incentives are involved. Ignoring empirical evidence is bad and taking it as gospel is also bad.
119.
by jvans 3y ago
This is why I sometimes hate a/b testing. I'm sure someone at booking a/b tested these things and saw an increase in revenue. The thing that these tests don't measure are very long term effects where people either start
120.
by jvans 4y ago
I am not exactly sure which surgeries you are talking about but for people curious there are basically 3 surgeries to consider: 1. MMA - Break both jaws and advance them forward to expand the airway. Most invasive, most effective. It is a m

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