effbott

  data = {one: "one"}
  ref = makeRef(data)
  ref().two = "two"
  
  data
  => Object {one: "one", two: "two"}

Ah, that's a good point. That seems to be a more accurate interpretation of what the author was trying to express.

  class Person
    attr_accessor :sanity

    def initialize
      @sanity = 50
    end
  end

Should it be acceptable for people to Kickstart escort businesses, "legal high" websites, or Amway pyramid schemes? All of those things are legal but are seen by the public as being slimy and taboo. Why would Kickstarter want to associate with these people?

That number is trivial compared to other causes of death. Here's a sampling of some death statistics from the year 2006 [2]:

  Fireworks discharge:                           8
  Fall on and from stairs and steps:         1,818
  Bitten or struck by dog:                      32
  Contact with venomous snakes and lizards:      8
  Accidental drowning and submersion:        3,579
  Exposure to electric transmission lines:      93
  Transport accidents:                      48,412
  Contact with hot tap-water:                   32
  Terrorism:                                     0

[1](http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/terrorism/wrjp255a.html)

[2](http://www.nsc.org/news_resources/injury_and_death_statistic...)

Wall Street banks aren't the only ones doing HFT. The technology to develop and deploy algorithms has become much more accessible in recent years. It's still not cheap - collocated servers, real time data streams, and Bloomberg terminals can rack up tens thousands per month - but you don't need a Wall St. budget to get started.

There are lots of small proprietary trading shops (prop shops) scattered throughout the major financial hubs (NYC, London, Chicago, etc.). These shops typically have 20 employees or less. In my case we had two traders, one programmer (me), and one IT guy. These shops are more likely to care about your skills as a programmer than where you went to school.

You only need one if statement, and you only have to involve a single guard.

    key = @xzoor.askKey(@door)

Up until now I've always billed by the hour, but this sentence alone has convinced me to switch over to daily. Those "10 minute" requests drive me absolutely insane. Even though that time is billable it takes a large toll on my mental well-being.

I hear this a lot, but I'm not sure how to implement it. Some people have suggested that freelancers ought to bill for the entire project, but in doing so you run the risk of losing money by underestimating the amount of work and time involved. Some have also suggested billing daily instead of hourly, but if the client expects a "day" to mean "8 hours", how is that any different than just billing an hourly rate?

How do you handle your billing?

What are the main advantages over Sinatra?

http://www.amazon.com/Eloquent-Ruby-Addison-Wesley-Professio...

If you just want to learn some basics of Ruby without diving into an entire book, check out Ruby Monk. All of the tutorials are interactive:

http://rubymonk.com/

Our industry is definitely becoming more popular but that doesn't mean that the demand is dying down.

That really surprised me. Maybe it's just a tech entrepreneur thing but I thought the "college drop-out turned founder" narrative was more common.