Hacker News Reader

coolnewtoyon PHP Interpreter Detects SQL Injection and XSS Vulnerabilities

there's a real disconnect between the academic literature and tradebooks on using web application frameworks.

I fell into writing about it this way:

me: I want to write about securing databases from attack via the web front end

prof: go find me the most common vulnerability

me: that's sql injection

prof: that's your topic

coolnewtoyon NY Poly Tech Open Course on Penetration Testing and Vulnerability Analysis

This looks very interesting - I will have to check it out when I have more time. I was also looking over the Certificate/Master's programs - did I miss something or is there really no coursework on database security?

coolnewtoyon Student challenges prof, wins right to post source code he wrote for course

Actually, I really appreciate the assignments and solutions on the Stanford Engineering Everywhere courses. It's probably just as valuable as the lectures.

coolnewtoyon Why do professors do (unfunded) research?

On "sorting students by using poor teachers" I have a couple of thoughts:

1) Teaching well involves communicating clearly to people who are outside of your field. It seems to me that having this skill would be an asset in securing funding.

2) I'm not convinced that the students who learn quickly are always the ones who will be the high performers once the material/skills are mastered.

coolnewtoyon A Selection Of Thoughts From Actual Women (regarding GoGaRuCo)

Writing code is an act of communication. Your code must communicate clearly to the compiler. If you're really a rock-star coder, your code should communicate clearly to the next coder who comes along and has to maintain it.

coolnewtoyon Can a musician sell their music online?

What about TuneCore? http://www.tunecore.com/ Their prices don't seem that bad to me - nothing like what a label takes from you.

coolnewtoyon Ask HN: Should I go back to university?

If you go back, get a degree in an industry. Technical aptitude and skills are great and transportable to almost any field. A "proper education" makes you more valuable if you understand the problems to be solved in an industry like biotech, or greentech, etc. (probably not so much financial services these days)

coolnewtoyon Don't Blame H-1B Workers for Woes

"Kerr and Lincoln built algorithms that recognize likely foreign names on U.S. patent applications."

This doesn't seem very definitive to me.

coolnewtoyon At M.I.T., Large Lectures Are Going the Way of the Blackboard

I've been reading Stanford's Engineering Everywhere lectures, and the thing I'm most impressed about is how much support there is for students:

Course-specific computer labs with course-specific lab assistants to help you walk you through problems as you're coming up against them in learning to code!

Sections with section leaders who grade your code in front of you and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your coding style!

There is no advantage to a huge lecture hall over a podcast. But in-person mentoring, one-on-one human interaction is the best way to learn if you can afford it.

coolnewtoyon Rare is the leader who can actually write well

As a CS grad student with an undergrad degree in creative writing, I always feel like I have to explain how I got here.

I usually tell people I have an affinity for metaphors, and remind them that their desktop, folders and files are all electronic metaphors.

coolnewtoyon Post a possibly good app idea that you have no intention of doing yourself.

A twitter-like feed that sends text messages to cell phones that let first responders like police and ambulance folks recruit helpful bystanders to assist in managing emergencies.

For instance - I need an entrance ramp blocked so no more cars get on this highway - is there someone nearby who can park their car to block it and wave people around?

Or - how many people are stranded on the other side of this flooded road - can someone nearby give me an estimate?

There should be some well-known way to subscribe to the feed, and it should be able to recognize your physical location.

coolnewtoyon LinkedIn IPO Looming?

hey that reminds me... how do I get an invite to the YC linked-in group?

coolnewtoyon TalentSpring Launches Competitive Job Hunting

I wonder what the "social influence" factor would do to the perceived value of applicants' resumes. I'm not convinced it would lead to better hires.

Here's a study on the effect of social influence on music preferences:

http://www.iserp.columbia.edu/publications/press_releases/musiclab.html

The researchers found that, while quality songs (as determined by market share and rank by the independent participants) do better on average, songs of any quality can experience a wide range of outcomes. "The 'best' songs never do very badly, and the 'worst' songs never do extremely well, but almost any other result is possible," they said. A song in the top 5 in terms of quality had only a 50% chance of finishing in the top 5 of success.

coolnewtoyon Unorganised teens? Try Notely

I like the 37 signals stuff better for keeping track of notes and deadlines.

Group projects are strongly emphasized in my gradschool program so collaboration tools are essential.

lecture notes are posted as pdfs, so I like to just have a clickable link to the resources.

And I also like google docs for working on papers from work, school, or home and also collaborating with co-authors.

coolnewtoyon What is your recommended beginner's hacker training course?

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Electrical-Engineering-and-Computer-Science/6-171Fall2003/CourseHome/index.htm

Philip Greenspun described this course as "how to build Amazon.com all by yourself"

the textbook is available on amazon here:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262511916/pgreenspun-20

The curriculum is not language specific so you'll also need a book on Lisp, Ruby-on-Rails, IIS/ASP.NET, Apache/Tomcat/Java, or whatever is your choice of technology.

coolnewtoyon How to evaluate a Startup idea?

At the very end of this address to Stanford students in the Q & A section, Janice Fraser of Adaptive Path talks about "Intrapreneurial" ventures, where she and her partners of an existing company evaluate ideas for a new business direction.

She and her partners created a list of gating criteria, by which she means "how will we know if this is the right venture for us?"

Their list included:

- something that would catch on virally

- redefining a category based on a user experience challenge, because we are a user experience firm

- solid revenue model

- relevance to our ecosystem

http://edcorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=1561

I think the gating criteria themselves are probably specific to the partners and their skills and passions, but the concept that you get the team first, come up with a whole bunch of ideas and throw out 95% of them based on specific, well-thought-out criteria, is a good one.

coolnewtoyon Uploading files which method you prefer?

I like yousendit.com for transferring files from one place to another.

coolnewtoyon Paul Buchheit: Beliefs, intelligence, and failure

another article that supports this idea:

http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/

"...a growing body of research - and a new study from the trenches of the New York public-school system - strongly suggests it might be the other way around. Giving kids the label of "smart" does not prevent them from underperforming. It might actually be causing it."

coolnewtoyon How to get/make a Logo for Your Startup?

for the do-it-yourselfers, here's a link to quickly evaluate what you've done. Peachpit press is very well known in the print graphic design crowd.

http://www.peachpit.com/articles/article.asp?p=676596&rl=1