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JohnAllen

18 karma · joined July 9, 2010

http://hnofficehours.com/profile/JohnAllen/
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JohnAllen··on How Little Sleep Can You Get Away With?
I can tell if I've slept less than 8 hours; I can barely function with anything less than 7; add 30-60 minutes if I've exercised intensely the previous day.

The report makes it seem like even if people don't realize it, their performance suffers. I've always been jealous of those that could seemingly sleep for however much time was convenient but not anymore!

JohnAllen··on The Node Beginner Book
Here's a list of CRUD+ apps that I keep open in textmate to consult as examples:

I suck at formatting here; apologies in advance.

Alex Young's NodePad (from daily.js) (more than a simple CRUD app but helpful nonetheless)

  https://github.com/alexyoung/nodepad 
Individual Node + Express examples by TJ (as mentioned in another post)

  https://github.com/visionmedia/express/tree/master/examples
Another basic Node+Express example (by TJ again)

  https://github.com/visionmedia/finance
Guillermo posted a CRUD with Express + Mongoose a few days ago

  https://github.com/guille/mongoose-meetup-04-05/
There's another VERY simple CRUD app somewhere in the Mongoose Google group as a zipfile(yes, this uses Mongoose as well obviously). I can't seem to find it right now, but I think Siegfried Ehret was the original poster. Email me if you'd like me to send it to you.

Also try nodetuts.com. Pedro's stuff helped me when I started learning a few months ago. Some of his stuff might be out-of-date but it will still help you conceptually (and not all of it is by any means). Some out-of-dateness will just be making simple code changes (like upgrading Express).

Hope this helps!

JohnAllen··on Learn MongoDB
Thanks so much for making these! Doing IS truly learning.....
JohnAllen··on Turning into a hacker aged 27
Tl; dr: Somethings will probably be learned quicker if coding with a team/more experienced developers. Architecture/security/design/layout stuff that just takes years of experience to get really good at, for example. I'm learning to code also but have been learning primarily on my own. Perhaps a combination thereof would be optimal.

Thanks for this comment. I started coding about 8 months ago and am enjoying it thoroughly (I just turned 30 and have a background in business). I was actually thinking about doing the same thing this guy's done - get a developer intern position somewhere since reading this post earlier this morning. I'm sure I would learn tons that I wouldn't otherwise learn (I'm thinking specifically architectural and security type stuff, among other stuff) but am also learning tons on my own.

Just last night I was talking with a good friend that has been coding for 15 years and he suggested something kind of similar: fix the bugs and maintain some code that a more experienced developer can check - run errands so to speak. That way I'm not breaking something or pushing insecure, buggy code into production. I think a combination of the two would be optimal.

JohnAllen··on Buy This Satellite
Yeah, this seems like something Google should do. They're probably already looking at it. It's their job.
JohnAllen··on Ask HN: San Francisco's Best Coffeeshops for Writing Code
I frequent Philz on 24th. It seems like there are always developers there. Javalencia on Valencia is usually pretty quiet. That being said, neither has the best coffee. Also, Philz isn't quiet if you need it. It depends on what atmosphere and other attributes you need to code to offer a true recommendation.

Java Beach cafe (on La Playa at the beach) has awesome sandwiches but is normally crowded. It's 100 yards from the beach for nice breaks and thinking about problems.

JohnAllen··on Thanks For Paying Taxes. Here's A Receipt.
The denominator should be tax receipts, not federal spending. Foreign countries and our Federal Reserve actually made large contributions this past year (both do every year we have a budget deficit and every year the money supply increase- this is most every year for the past few decades). This is not to suggest that Americans won't eventually pay for all of this year's expenditures, we eventually will. In the case of the Fed, consider their new money printing and subsequent spending to be a tax of everyone that holds dollars at the time of the printing/spending.
JohnAllen··on YourTaxReceipt.org - personalized tax receipt
The denominator should be tax receipts, not federal spending. Foreign countries and our Federal Reserve actually made large contributions this past year (both do every year we have a budget deficit and every year the money supply increases- this is most every year for the past few decades). This is not to suggest that Americans won't eventually pay for all of this year's expenditures, we eventually will. In the case of the Fed, consider the new money printing and subsequent spending by the Fed to be a tax on everyone that holds dollars at the time of the printing/spending.
JohnAllen··on Ask HN: Please, help me understand what I am doing wrong.
"What am I doing wrong"?

Feeling sorry for yourself :)

One suggestion: write down what the average life is of a middle-American; or, go to Africa!!!! (I'm dead serious; it changed my life)

You'll cheer right up! Seriously, do something new, out of this world.

Also, be glad that you care about what you're doing and you realize that you have huge opportunities. Most that do have opportunities don't realize it and everyone that doesn't, dreams that they did.

Don't forget rule #62: stop taking yourself so damn seriously!

Also, my guess is that you have been doing great stuff (just from the fact that you care about whether or not you are). Make a list of your accomplishments.