dmpayton

As was I. Y'know, I didn't even realize there was a bubble until after it had burst.

I spent my time teaching myself HTML and toying around with Photoshop 6. I also did an insignificant amount of PHP around 2001 -- mostly tweaking existing scripts to try and get them to do what I wanted (I used to get grounded for spending too much time on the computer and slacking at school; now I get paid a nice salary for "playing on the computer" :).

It was another year or two until I really started programming.

I use Komodo Edit, and I love it. It has everything I need, is customizable, and was recently Open Sourced. I would be hard pressed to switch to something else.

"I'm going to live forever or die trying."

My daughter won't be arriving until around the 19th, so I don't get to celebrate this year. :(

The rampant down-modding for differing political views on this thread (which has no business being on Hacker News in the first place) is ridiculous.

I was about to say, word for word, the exact same thing. Had it typed out and everything. Then I had to check on dinner, came back, and got the unknown/expired link error.

Needles to say, I'm in agreement.

http://planet.python.org/ is pretty much all you need, plus project-specific feeds such as http://www.djangoproject.com/weblog/

http://www.learningpython.com/ and http://thinkhole.org/wp/ are great reads for beginners, but neither one have been updated very much in recent months.

Congratulations to you both!

Neat, I share my wedding anniversary (1 year today!) with pg.

Looks really nice.

Coincidentally, I've been working on something extremely similar the past week, though my project has a twist that I think Twitterers are going to enjoy. I'm going out of town for a few days, but hopefully I'll be able to release early next week. And it's in Django.

Congrats are certainly in order!

Sadly, I missed it. I had the video feed playing but, due to the Benadryl I took (our cats are shedding right now and I've been sneezing nonstop for a few days), ended up dozing. I woke to the cheering of the landing. :(

Yeah, I noticed. I'm tempted to try compiling from source, but chances are I'll end up in a worse hell.

Or maybe I'll setup a new debian slice to toy around with.

The best answer you will ever recieve on this question is, "it depends" -- no one can make the right choice for you.

It depends on what your experience you have. If you know Python, use Django. If you know Ruby, use Rails. I know Python, so I use Django. Since you have no experience with either, this one is moot.

It depends on what you're building. A lot of people on the net seem to take the position of "Django is good for content publishing sites, and Rails is good for web apps", but that has more to do with the applications the two frameworks were derived from than the frameworks capabilities. Realistically, anything you can build in Rails you can build in Django, and vice-versa.

Personally, I love Django. It lets me develop quickly and I know how to deploy it properly. I tried setting up Rails no more then three days ago (on Ubuntu), and it wasn't as much fun. I had issues installing the correct version of Ruby, and then Gems didn't want to work.

As for you, I'd recommend spending a few days with each framework. Get them both installed and just tinker around. Build a quick CRUD app. After that, you'll have a pretty good idea of which one suits you (and your needs) better

So teach them. Small charities such as that are perfect candidates for Open Source solutions.

$50-100k? I'd for sure quit my current job and live off it for a year while I develop my idea(s).

The only problem is, I don't have $50-100k. Or even $5k. (Feel free to help change that! :o)

No.

I don't read TC that often (or at all, really), so I get use out of having the better articles posted here.

techcrunch != valleywag

For my personal stuff, I run Ubuntu 7.10 because Ubuntu was my first experience with Linux (in May '07), and it's what I'm most comfortable with.

At work (I work at a startup), we're using CentOS 5 because that's all that (mt) offers.

"Take Down Obligations: What Google Can Do To Hosted App Engine Web Sites"

That's seems reasonable to me. If I violate their TOS or in any way act immoral, they have the right to ask me to remove my content from their server. If I refuse to do so, it's completely within their rights to take it down themselves.

"Non-Performance Clause: How Google Puts All Risk and Liability on App Engine “Customers”"

AKA, you're responsible for your data. If something goes wrong and a commit fails, Google isn't responsible, just like if a MySQL query fails, you don't lay the blame on Sun. Again, this sounds pretty reasonable.

"Personal Data Capture Machine: How Google Usurps Private Consumer Information"

In the interest of full disclosure to my customers, I'd be more than willing to say "We use the Google Apps Engine!"

This article seems like one big mess of FUD. Google is providing some cool services at no cost. You don't like it? Go somewhere else.

As someone whos only significant experience is in PHP and Python, I hope I can be of some help. I started with PHP when was 13 or so. When I was about 18, I discovered Python, and haven't looked back since.

PHP is designed primarily as a web language. As such, it's pretty simple to get it up and running which is great for new web developers. The language itself, however, is pretty bad and programming concepts beyond syntax are better left to other languages. That said, I learned a lot with PHP and I think that dealing with it's idiosyncrasies and pitfalls has made me a better programmer overall.

Python, OTOH, is a general-purpose language that has recently gained popularity as a web language. It has greater applicability, but it's a little more difficult to get up and running on a web server. It's great for a new programmer, but not necessarily a new web developer. Since you already have a bunch of experience developing web apps, this is probably a non-issue.

We can debate advantages and disadvantages of the two languages all day. In the end, everyone is different and everyone has their own preferred language. Obviously, my language of choice is Python, Paul Graham is a LISPer, and I know someone who swears by PHP, even though he's used Python and Ruby/Rails. It doesn't matter. I say go ahead and give Python a shot. The worst that will happen is that you've added another tool to your toolbox.

Well played, Google. Well played.

What the hell...

This should be a ban-worthy offense.

Does anyone else have experience with BrainTree? They look good and seem to offer a very robust API (which would make -my- life a heckuva lot easier), but my boss is still leaning towards PayPal due to brand/stability.

Also, they talk a lot about "up-front pricing," yet I can't seem to find any information about pricing and fee's on their website. What gives?

This is so extremely old and unworthy of Hacker News.

We need a down arrow.

Wow!

The third one down, Antonio Diaz (Artifice Studios), is my best friend and God Father of my baby-to-be (found out today I'm having a girl -- Whoo!).

Glad to see his work getting some recognition. :)

I'm currently on a break from school while I move and get settled with a new job (software developer at a near-Silicon Valley startup). I'm going back this fall to work on my BS in Comp Sci at CSU Fresno.

I highly doubt that anyone will revisit this thread, but I wanted to post a follow up for archiving sake, and in case anyone decides they want to know how everything ended up.

So, I felt the interview on the 17th went great. I didn't have much trouble coming up with answers to questions they asked me, and my interviewers had fairly easy-going personalities, which helped me relax a bit.

That Thursday, December 20, they asked me to return for a second interview on the following day. I got to meet the entire team (all three of them :o), see the office, and see a bit of the product. They said they'd get back to me by the end of the day and, long story short, I spent most of the weekend checking my email every 15 minutes.

Then came Christmas Eve Day: I got an email from the head honcho saying I'd been given the position, outlining my duties, and asking when I could start.

Thank you everyone who replied to this thread, your advice was invaluable!

Wow, excellent advice. Only problem is, I don't know if they'll interview like you or not.

House, flat out. I'll also occasionally watch Colbert.

Aside from that, I'll only watch History/Discovery/A&E. Everything else on TV these days isn't worth the time to watch, IMO.

Eh, California isn't all it's cracked up to be. It's crowded, it's expensive, there is insane traffic, and the schools are far below decent.

Sunny beaches and summer fun are one thing... Reality, I'm afraid, is much different.

And I've lived here my whole life.

My day job is as a web developer for a small PC repair shop, and this article pretty much nails it. Many custom builds are requested with XP, and a lot of customers with Vista complain about it and some have us downgrade them to XP.

I'm just glad I switched to Ubuntu.