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farnsworthyon Ask HN: What's the most underrated programming language?

Can we call SQL a programming language, or no? (I was trying to think of someone who's been around for a while, but maybe doesn't receive his just due.)

SQL seems to power nearly everything at some level, has much code written in other languages for the sole purpose of interfacing with it (for better or worse), has inspired other concepts and technologies (even as they are defined against it as what they are not), etc.

I don't think anybody mentioned C yet either, another foundational case…

farnsworthyon A kinetic sculpture that sorts M&Ms (yes, by color)

A ten-year quest.

farnsworthyon Orcas can imitate human speech, research reveals

Same. But they can, too. Be careful.

farnsworthyon Becoming a Lawyer Without Going to Law School (2015)

I thought Vermont permitted this, and according to the article, it is (or was) four states:

"Today, only four states — California, Virginia, Vermont, and Washington — allow aspiring lawyers to take the bar exam without going to law school. Instead, they are given the option to apprentice with a practicing attorney or judge."

farnsworthyon Ibuprofen alters human testicular physiology including testosterone production

Funny to see this now, as I was thinking a little while ago of the break-in period for a new mattress I owned, where I dealt with a sore throat or asthma-like condition for a week before realizing the probable cause, after doing some reading about many with similar problems. (I closed off the bedroom with the windows open during that winter period and slept elsewhere for a little while after that.)

To me it's emblematic of the Safety State: a (relative) few die from mattress fires, so now everybody is gassed with possible or probable toxins in hyper-response.

PSA: Careful of those new mattresses…

farnsworthyon Promising Billions to Amazon: Is It a Good Deal for Cities?

I'll never understand the head-splitting rage about certain topics, but blind indifference to others (that often would seem to have a far greater impact). No reasoning. I don't believe that's nation-specific, though.

farnsworthyon Promising Billions to Amazon: Is It a Good Deal for Cities?

It's like the professional sports team dynamic.

Who's making the decision: owner/board/executive committee?

I'd imagine that whoever it is already has a gut choice or two in mind, as people typically do when making decisions about anything (new job/hire/partner/significant other/car).

farnsworthyon My Delorean runs Perl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_programming_languag...

Objective-C? Or maybe Ada is more contemporaneous…

farnsworthyon Ask HN: Which language do you prefer for back end development?

Go/Ruby/whatever--tons of good options, and I still regularly see startups posting PHP jobs (especially Laravel).

It's funny, because with so much happening in the front-end, the back-end largely seems like a "solved" problem. (Even if that isn't strictly true, and I expect the pendulum will eventually swing back, along with more efforts aimed at complete integration.)

farnsworthyon “I guess you can’t use NYU Libraries if you don’t have Twitter or Facebook?”

I assumed HN would guess this, whereas Twitter wouldn't:

Wasn't this most likely a simple technical implementation shortcut/limitation? (Which they're now having to defend as a "policy" decision against the tweetrage?)

In other words, I assume it's an organization with a limited technical staff and budget who just followed a means--social login--to an end (since everybody has one of those, right?).

farnsworthyon Webpack 4 Beta released

I've been running the alpha, to help get past the Webpack/Uglify ES6 support issues.

It sounds like webpack-dev-server will also disappear soon, too? (Replaced with a more tightly integrated solution, or?)

farnsworthyon Ask HN: Do You Consider Remote a Working Perk?

No, working remotely isn't a perk, it's simply: work.

[Use of the term "telecommuting" seems like another common giveaway, where and when it appears.]

The teams I've worked with have never had difficulty with communicating and collaborating, meeting deadlines and "innovating," and I highly doubt that we're all ninjas (because surely I am not).

Typical was my last position: I never clocked in from 9-5, usually from the early morning hours until late at night, to provide time zone coverage and purely out of interest and the desire to be a contributing member of the team, with several breaks included for meals, exercise, etc. Flexibility meant I was more likely to contribute, rather than less. (So many entities fail to understand this basic human dynamic. Instead create a prison, and watch how the inmates adapt and behave.)

I'm mostly able to control my environment, which means a quiet space in which to work, free from the distractions of my cube-dwelling days (though at least those had walls).

It's simply natural to work together remotely at this point, and I frequently notice how it provides companies with other tangible benefits, which I think some fail to consider.

I'd say some are trapped in a twentieth century mindset, but perhaps we're stuck here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_system.

farnsworthyon For Bonobos, it pays to have powerful allies

And chickens prefer attractive people:

https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/01/animals-chickens...

Rough out there.

farnsworthyon Reducing Memory Usage in Ruby

I thought he was nuts already. (Smiley thing here.)

farnsworthyon Reducing Memory Usage in Ruby

From a different perspective, having worked on numerous Ruby projects for years across the private (startups to Fortune 500), nonprofit, and government sectors, spanning many locations with worldwide team members, I don’t see where Ruby/Rails isn't at this point—it’s seemingly all-pervasive.

Similar to general hiring/salary surveys, I’m not sure that the referenced index is accurate.

farnsworthyon Forging a Swiss Lens: How Zurich's tech scene changed my view of SV

I should think they would come and buy your lunch.

farnsworthyon Webpack-dev-server is now in maintenance mode

I thought this would have been posted to HN already, but a search didn't turn up any results. Discussion here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/javascript/comments/7pg2rq/webpackd...

farnsworthyon Their eyes are on D.C.: Capital area said to have good shot at Amazon HQ2

Has there been any indication of the new HQ's purpose? Duplicate functionality, admin, technical, etc.?

I've wondered why they wouldn't simply locate the new HQ at or near their existing NoVa location(s).

If I'm (not) betting, I'd flip the Dublin bookmaker's DC-area rankings: NoVa would seemingly have the things that people "want" (traffic and all), while Maryland wouldn't seem to resonate, and DC seems better suited for a small footprint/satellite office (lawyers and lobbyists).

farnsworthyon I am a roboticist in a cheese factory

It seems that most if not all of these issues have software development process equivalents…

farnsworthyon Inside Moscow's Metro

The (centrifugal) layout's cool, too:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Mo...

Or this alternate take:

https://ilyabirman.net/projects/moscow-metro/map/2016/i/diag...

farnsworthyon End of the conference era?

I'm not sure about some of the reasoning in this article. Perhaps the author is referring to a particular sort of conference, with which he is most familiar?

Would an appropriate analogy be the era of stadium rock concerts, versus smaller, more intimate venues (and the economics of one versus the other)?

farnsworthyon Some thoughts on security after ten years of Qmail 1.0

Nice summarizing article, with some programming concepts—explicit data flow, for example—that are even more generally applicable (though the topics of security and code volume/quality be linked).

farnsworthyon Changes to the YouTube Partner Program

Someone please do this. (You'll probably need a lot of money.)

In the meantime, download anything you enjoy today, because it may not be there tomorrow.

farnsworthyon A new grad SDE makes 2x more in SF than Toronto after tax and COL

I'd keep looking, as I regularly see remote positions that will hire only in either the "US and Canada," or "North America."

farnsworthyon Crooked Style Sheeding – Webpage tracking using only CSS

Sounds like HTML, and a browser. (Sad.)

Perhaps Firefox's Reader View would be suitable, when activated.

farnsworthyon Ask HN: For someone starting to learn webdev in 2018, where should they start?

There are many different paths to success. But considering the first sentence, just go with JS.

PyRu is/are still good enough, and Go is too, but considering the first sentence, just go with JS.

farnsworthyon Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (January 2018)

SEEKING WORK | Remote

Full-stack dev with extensive remote background seeking new projects. Mostly Ruby/Rails stack, though experienced with several different languages and frameworks.

Thorough and caring in my approach, early contacts will receive favorable rates.

Please contact for further discussion: farnsworthyhn@protonmail.com

farnsworthyon Ask HN: What sites have you seen that have great typography?

I'm not one to judge their work, but A List Apart is certainly a site that has always cared about the topic:

https://alistapart.com/

(Good timing--they currently have an article about typography on the home page.)

I think Medium traditionally has, as well.

farnsworthyon Ask HN: I made a ridiculous amount of money and feel “depressed”

With success I think it's easy to fall into a pattern of comfort and avoidance.

Whether it's exercise, going to meetups, gatherings, or any sort of public place, trying new hobbies as you've done with the house, etc., I'd suggest finding at least one thing to do each day that forces you out of your comfort zone, and see if you don't notice a difference in your feelings and outlook.

If you're walking, speed it up a bit or even try a short sprint to force a recovery, and note any physical and mental difference as the body does its thing.

Can you approach it that way? "I haven't done my 'one thing' yet today--I need to get out/hit the floor/call a friend/whatever." Go to the library, hardware store, mall, church, something different, even seemingly mundane.

And yeah, maybe move if you need to. Sometimes a change can be beneficial in and of itself, and you don't have to go to the extreme Bay-end of the COL spectrum to find more opportunities--there's a range of options between there and remote small town.

farnsworthyon Automate GitHub Pages with IFTTT, Glitch and Jekyll

Upvoted, because there's nothing wrong with this sort of comment, and this and the posts above represent two sides of the same coin--one wants to support, the other wants to tear down, but is shielded behind a veneer of "helpfulness" or "constructive criticism," when in fact it is not.

Complainers complain, and like attracts like. If people want to assert that supportive comments don't "contribute," then knee-jerk downvotes for their own sake are equally unhelpful.