andykx

In my opinion, the only type of mathematics that is useful to ALL programmers is discrete math. This is applied math that barely resembles the kind of math that you learned in high school, but it’s easy to see how these thoughts lead to the creation of computers.

Other types of math are relevant depending on what you’re interested in, but I think students should learn discrete math before diving into writing any serious code.

Can you please stop posting your anecdotal experience and framing it as fact? For someone asking for proof from everyone who disagrees, you don’t seem to be living up to your own standards.

I mean, I know tons of Scala and Clojure devs who don’t touch Java at all in their day to day work. I don’t think the user(s) above were referring to the implementation of the JVM.

I use both Reddit and HN. HN has much better content (both links and comments), but it has a singular focus on tech/things tech people generally like.

On the other hand, there’s a subreddit for practically every hobby. In many cases, Reddit is home to the largest community related to a hobby. Sometimes things related to my interests outside of tech pop up on here, but the discussion is rarely in depth.

But why do you have to be able to glean meaning from the phrase alone? And how often does that really happen in other situations, when last names aren’t involved?

The term “polymorphism” is a good example. It isn’t named after someone, but could anyone without a background in computer science have any clue what that term actually refers to? Sure, they could examine the root words and try to figure it out, but would they be any closer to the actual meaning of the word?

I don’t think it makes sense to make field-specific jargon accessible to the masses. Instead I think it makes more sense to make it easily researchable and distinct from more commonplace words.

Is it just me or does it really boil down to the simple fact that the vast majority of people are likely to choose the largest amount of money? If I thought I was going to get paid for doing practically anything, even if it was a small chance, and I was presented with similar options, of course I would choose the largest amount. This is especially true of doing something as easy as not using Facebook.

As an aside, I haven’t used Facebook in years and I haven’t used any other mainstream social sites in months. I don’t really miss them. I wish I could ditch LinkedIn, but it’s proven to be a valuable job search tool more than once and frankly, the recruiter messages keep my mood up to some degree.

Would most people actually do that? That example seems like pretty idiomatic Go. I imagine junior developers would write that.

Without wishing to downplay the fact that this is a major issue, it’s hard to read scientific literature from a field you haven’t previously studied. Layman summaries are a great way to get a sense of what the paper is actually saying, though summaries made by random commenters are unreliable.

I mean, not everyone lives in a city. Someone could spend hours picking the lock on my front door at night and no one would even see them.

Plus, in the majority of break-ins, does knowing how they got in matter? If someone broke into my house and stole my valuables, does the fact that they picked the lock make all that much of a difference? I mean, I'd almost be relieved they did that as opposed to something more destructive.

(For the record, I have security cameras, please don't pick my locks)

Why does the importance of a public mail service depend on its ability to make money?

Please excuse my potential ignorance here, as I fear that I may not have a complete picture of the issue at hand.

Was it not confirmed yesterday that the USPS is being purposefully sabotaged by the current administration? Or was it facing problems previously, and the current administration decided to use the existing problems to its benefit? Is it not well within the federal government's power to simply increase funding, or does the USPS function like any other business?

I am not trying to spark a political debate here, I am genuinely curious.

Japanese companies also avoid firing people as much as possible. Typically, when they want you to leave, they will demote you or move you to a generally unpleasant position.

I can't find the source where I heard this, but it was an interview with several "average" Japanese people concerning Japanese work culture.

It seems like everything you said is true of current written languages. If you don’t know how to read/write it, you won’t understand it. I feel that this writing system is best used to facilitate inter-cultural communication, as opposed to making it easier for people to read/write.

Humans are quite good at optimizing language without even thinking about it. This is a fact that almost all conlangs ignore. They are a fun mental exercise for linguists, but will ultimately never see any serious usage.

Well, that’s what I meant when I said that it isn’t a solution. You shouldn’t rely on training, but it’s disingenuous to say it can’t help.

But does the fact that machines can also create works of music and art make it any less enjoyable for humans to create them? Will we suddenly stop writing or drawing for pleasure?

This is an excessively pessimistic take on security training. How many spear phishing attempts have been thwarted because the employee knew better?

It’s not a solution to the problem, but it certainly helps.

It won't necessarily take that long though. That is an upper limit.

So many formative moments in my life happened in my local mall. I live in the exurbs of NYC and the mall was the only sensible, safe meeting place for my friends and I. Notably, it was a place where we could hang out without parents around.

It’s hard to defend the existence of malls. I think they’re a symptom of larger problems concerning community design. I also think that they encourage excessive commercialism. Still, none of that changes what the mall means to me.

I don't think that there are any. Simply writing a program that outputs sounds that resemble someone's voice can't be illegal, right? You can use it in illegal ways, sure, but I don't think there are any laws concerning software like this.

The findings are mind-boggling to me. Though none of these songs are representative of my preferred style of music, I knew every single one of them so well that I feel like I still know every word. I was born in ‘93. I’m surprised that so few people from my age group seemed to recognize some of them.

You might be impressed by the things some kids make with Scratch. I understand that Flash was ultimately a more powerful tool, but in terms of Flash games that a child could have made, they're definitely pretty similar.

It's impossible to tell which games were made by kids, but take a look at this:

https://scratch.mit.edu/explore/projects/games/

Jokes aside, I thought this was going to be about them selling this information, not a hack.

It is possible that they phished a few users (or used account details from another leak) and the rest of the data is BS.

I don't think they're claiming zero knowledge. They're doing the exact opposite: they're saying they have complete knowledge, and that it simply didn't happen. I hope, for their sake, that they are correct.

I struggle to conceive an alternative. I don't want to download a native app every time I want to access my bank account or browse Twitter, for example. Web applications, despite their glaringly obvious flaws, are undeniably convenient.

I mean, websites (and apps) are cross platform. That fact alone reduces a ton of development time and mental overhead.

1. When is that going to happen? (Genuinely curious if it does happen)

2. It is really up to the person.

I think there's some nuance here. It's not illegal to know that someone is an informant, you just can't publish their information.

I think ICE cars will find a new home with hobbyists who are interested primarily in driving on a track. Tons of people already throw non street-legal race cars on trailers and drive hundreds of miles every weekend. There are 30-50 cars racing at my small, local track every weekend. For a company like Porsche, with a name that car enthusiasts hold in high esteem, you have to imagine that they will continue to sell enthusiast-focused cars. Also, they made the Taycan, which many consider to be the sports car of the future (though that’s a matter of opinion).

I’m not a “business” person by any means, but I tend to doubt that every automaker in the world is making a poor decision (on a financial level) by continuing to improve their ICEs. There are incredibly smart teams of people making these decisions, and they’re doing it for a reason.

I touched upon this in another comment, but I miss "profile-based" social media sites. No feed.

Ex. I have a profile that I can update with photos, etc. If you want to see those things, add me as a friend and navigate to my profile. If I want to share something with my friends, I can use a feature similar to MySpace's bulletin board, a space to share text-only updates about my life. The actual content of the update is hidden behind a link (the title of the update) so I can decide if I am interested in it or not.

I think centralized feeds have destroyed social media. This is especially true of feeds optimized to show "relevant" content.

That's really interesting to me. I grew up with MySpace. Facebook wasn't a thing until high school. I used them similarly, but for different reasons: I spoke to new people on MySpace and people that I already knew on Facebook. I made many dear friends on MySpace and still talk to many of them frequently.

I think that more traditional "profile-based" social media is well-suited to meeting new people. I have no interest in reading another person's "feed" of shared content and ramblings, but I am more inclined to perhaps read a short "About Me" if that makes sense.