singular

14 ms·

1. 211.▲
   by singular 15y ago

   I have a policy of not arguing online any more as it tends to lead nowhere, so this will be my last response on this (I don't mean to be patronising here, just stating my position). It's a autobiography by a right-wing leader, so if you tal
2. 212.▲
   by singular 15y ago

   I like the way you state this as incontrovertible proof + openly admit you are reading an overtly right-wing book. I wonder whether this is a troll... All I shall say is a. I think you'll find it's more complicated than that, and b. look at
3. 213.▲
   by singular 15y ago

   Though I'm not saying there aren't good points here, there are many, I think it's interesting to consider the usual impact of discussions on this subject - typically a great deal of insecurity/defensiveness (I feel it too), which I don't me
4. 214.▲
   by singular 15y ago

   I think it's important not to conflate the more subjective regions of psychology with somebody who is erratic and clearly suffering/causing harm to themselves/others. In fact this sort of relativism can be harmful I think as it can justify
5. 215.▲
   by singular 15y ago

   I think (I hope!) this was just an amusing reference to procrastination. Meta-procrastination = procrastination on a procrastination tool ;)
6. 216.▲
   by singular 15y ago

   I have to say that I've found go to actually be pretty awesome as a scripting language, though I've not used it a lot for this purpose a lot myself. The type inference + straight-forward standard library helps a lot with it.
7. 217.▲
   by singular 15y ago

   I've certainly found them handy to encode + self-document specific loops and reduce duplication, e.g.:- https://github.com/lorenzo-stoakes/weak/blob/master/board/he... (helper functions for unit tests within a chess engine.) Having closur
8. 218.▲
   by singular 15y ago

   I think there's a lot of truth in this (though as with all opinion pieces, esp. seriously entertaining ones like Stevey's, you have to take it with several pinches of salt). I have a suspicion that a lot of agile is a hack designed for man
9. 219.▲
   by singular 15y ago

   This, to me, has a lot to do with the languages and tools used on a project - the more 'locked in' to a structure you are, the bigger that cost will be when something changes. This has been a concern of mine w.r.t. oop as implemented in C#
10. 220.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    And it can be running 24/7 while you're sleeping/playing skyrim/etc./etc. which would be indescribably awesome :)
11. 221.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    I'd have preferred it if the trucks/tractors were fully autonomous, now that would have been awesome :)
12. 222.▲
    Investigating patent wars by stripping down an iPhone(bbc.co.uk)

    2 points by singular 15y ago|0 comments
13. 223.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    s/vi/emacs/ ;-)
14. 224.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    I notice that there seems to be this debate (as exemplified by @georgieporgie below) between manager straw men who are only concerned with creating value and engineer straw men who are vain + concerned with writing elegant aesthetic code di
15. 225.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    Didn't he have a contract which he used to successfully sue the client with? It didn't seem to make any difference. At the same time I am uneasy with this sort of one-sided public exposure, doesn't feel very professional even if true, and o
16. 226.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    I think one of the most valuable points made in the article is the opportunities that came out of the failure. The default of staying in your current job is a choice too, and one that people often don't judge against the risks of moving on.
17. 227.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    I sometimes wonder whether Russ Cox is actually human or is in fact a collective pen name for a group of very talented hackers :)
18. 228.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    Not only have I found that to be true, the famous Jeff Atwood has commented on this :) - http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2005/06/the-broken-window-t...
19. 229.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    Quite despicable. Potentially ruining somebody's life because of alleged, highly questionable, loss of profit. I wonder what would have happened had a smaller country made the same request.
20. 230.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    Not that I want to dive into 'yet another typical silly internet argument (TM)', but those seems to me to be tongue-in-cheek geek references whereas your comment carried the immature snark of 'lol you n00b' which I come to hn to avoid.
21. 231.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    Not sure condescending references to 'noobs' is in the spirit of HN. There are other sites to go to if you want to talk like that.
22. 232.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    Obligatory link - http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/The_Brillant_Paula_Bean.aspx Mwargh!
23. 233.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    Herein lies the art of programming - writing clean, elegant code that isn't overwrought. It's hard, but the key is to keep in mind that complexity is the enemy and simplicity is the aim. Easier said than done :)
24. 234.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    that's very rude and patronising. You have no idea whether that is/is not the case. Don't assume and act snobby + elitist.
25. 235.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    Absolutely, but things get complicated when you compare the little guys in any situation. It's not so easy to compare. I am a low-level functionary on the death star :)
26. 236.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    I think a lot of the problem with this kind of thing is that the things where the evil is obvious and wrong, i.e. finance (in which I work by the way!) are easy to pick on, especially when the industry has so wrecked the world economy, but
27. 237.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    I definitely don't mean to imply working 80+hr weeks. Perhaps the parent does, but I personally don't think it's healthy nor do I do I think it's conducive to avoiding burnout let alone happiness. You can work hard in a 40hr week.
28. 238.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    > The best coders I know (including agavin, who comments below) are all insanely hard workers I'd +1 this if I could. This is the instinct I've had for a while, and probably also the key as to why it is so rare. I suspect a key part of
29. 239.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    Oh I'd be being dishonest if I said there wasn't a petty ego blow there on my part too, esp. since there were a few answers that I just didn't check properly. Part of it is that I was simply frustrated that it had become that sort of thing.
30. 240.▲
    by singular 15y ago

    There really is a meme here I think, and it relates to ego. Having said that, I definitely do think there is truth in massive variations between programmers, though I personally think that is a combination of a small pre-requisite talent (t