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mcgwizon Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

If you're interested, another commenter here actually set up a Discord server.

mcgwizon Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

If you're interested, another commenter here set up a Discord server.

mcgwizon Ask HN: Resources for older developers?

Another commenter on this post set up a server.

<aside>

Joel is a great but credit for this goes to Rico Mariani, originally quoted here https://web.archive.org/web/20100514093413/http://blogs.msdn...

</aside>

mcgwizon Ask HN: Those making $0/month or less on side projects – Show and tell

https://blocvox.com

tl;dr: crowdsourced microblogging platform that encourages inter-community dialogue. I.e. wrest the very fate of your causes back from self-serving officials, celebrities, and mass media!

It started as a side project 10 years ago, before I took some time off to try to build it into something more. Alas I knew far too little of marketing and customer development.

mcgwizon Old CSS, New CSS

The original thesis is very instructive.

https://www.wiumlie.no/2006/phd/

mcgwizon Having Kids

Agree completely. Have found that, in addition to the bursts of energy, I've honed my already-refined productivity and organizational habits to the extreme as a result. Hoping these will retain usefulness/accuity after we get through the early childhood years.

mcgwizon Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

Corollary is to develop an openness toward their continuing evolution, that no one is static, and to expect and support this.

mcgwizon Ask HN: What's the most valuable thing you can learn in an hour?

Learn the basic techniques and the rationale behind non-violent communication. It is a tool that can make the most difficult, risky discussions in your personal life a lot more constructive and beneficial.

mcgwizon CSS Utility Classes and “Separation of Concerns” (2017)

What's always missing from these perennial CSS deep dives is that HTML already gives us a paradigm worth extending: generic constructs, used in domain specific contexts. Generic constructs are those that are devoid of domain specifics and can be used by HTML documents from other domains, e.g. links, paragraphs, buttons, tabs, and modals.

A link can refer to a user profile page or a news article. Both use the generic anchor "component", which comes from the wider universe of components applicable to most/all HTML docs. HTML: `<A class="user">`, CSS selector: `A.user`.

To extend this, a media card could represent a video or a book or a sidebar item. Both use the media card component's HTML structure but can be tweaked visually with CSS. The root element of the video media card would be `<DIV class="MediaCard video">` and would be identified with the selector `DIV.MediaCard.video`.

(PascalCase is arbitrary but I like that it harks to class naming conventions from OOP languages. You'd need some other naming conventions as well. I like `_title` for internal element class names, like private class members from OOP languages. Internal selectors would be built using the performant child combinator. Some of these patterns are more verbose than current alternatives, but it's also the minimum necessary to get crystal clarity around inherited and cascaded values. Preprocessor nesting makes this less painful. And `-highlight` for variants, because they resemble CLI switches. What about non-generic components? Those aren't "components" as defined here - they are simply higher-level HTML fragments, typically organized in source as an HTML template.)

This gives you two dimensions along which to flexibly organize things - the generic forms and the domain-specific applications, and should keep you from slipping down the slope to utility-dominant CSS.

mcgwizon My Favourite Git Commit

Some of this background decision-making information can be included as developer documentation, whatever form that takes, e.g. as comments (usually for low-level) or sibling README file (usually higher-level).

Commit logs will have the greatest detail, but they also are the costliest to dig up, often requiring multiple rounds of `blame`. They are therefore most appropriate to include information pertinent at integration-time, namely code review context/justifications.

Merge commits (such as those created during typical PR/MR merges) have similar potential to include explanatory background, but at a coarser granularity, e.g. feature level.

mcgwizon Age Discrimination at Work

Age is just a heuristic. It's not an age gap, it's a culture gap.

Expectations of one's job are vastly different (fulfill all of my personal needs versus provide financial stability to support my personal life; work-life blend versus work-life balance).

Ethics are different (Adderall will get me through crunch time versus ugh! crunch time!; give me little projects like I had in college versus give me an area of responsibility and a mandate).

Standards are different (this project will be dead/replaced in a year, or I'll be at a new gig, so building quality is a waste versus always build quality, the definition of which I've determined based on decades of experience).

There's a gap of political perspective as well (boomers and, to an extent, Gen-Xers screwed up the world versus inheriting the established business/social order was generally accepted).

Easiest to understand is a vast difference in language and cultural reference points - not as different as an ESL candidate but on that same spectrum.

mcgwizon France and Germany Agree to Block Facebook's Libra

What technical distinctions between Libra and cryptocurrencies running on other permissioned blockchains (like Lumens/Stellar) would prompt this type of regulatory response?

mcgwizon How to Build Good Software

The lead image features two laptops and a desktop. And three hardcopies of code. All with a light-on-dark color scheme. I'd wager they had a bit of fun taking this programmery photo.

mcgwizon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2019)

Reasi is revolutionizing real estate with a modern, secure, and convenient transaction platform. We're early stage but have already received backing by big players, such as renowned proptech accelerator MetaProp. Compensation is a healthy mix of cash and equity (up to 3%) - ideal for the senior developer tired of building other people's ideas without sharing in the potential for profits.

Obligatory "ideal candidate" laundry list - you don't need all to apply if you're an aggressive learner:

• 5+ years tech leadership on nontrivial projects (not necessarily all successful)

• Expertise in most of: PostgreSQL, Node.js, React, TypeScript / modern JavaScript, Solidity, Jest, Docker, networking / HTTP, OOP / FP / infrastructure patterns and practices

• Expertise in one of: real estate domain, blockchain development, DevOps / site reliability, IA / UX / UI design, data science

• Multidisciplinary interest beyond the code, e.g. focusing on product, improving the business, and devising solutions to real estate problems

• Obsession with detail and quality

• Strong technology opinions (weakly held) and courage to raise concerns

Your primary responsibility will be to develop the core application suite, infrastructure, and tooling that powers our P2P blockchain escrow platform. Additionally, you will provide strategic input to the business and our engineering culture.

We focus on results, continuously improve ourselves, and derive strength from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Drop us a line at jobs@reasi.com!

mcgwizon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (July 2019)

Reasi is revolutionizing real estate with a modern, secure, and convenient transaction platform. We're early stage but have already received backing by big players, such as renowned proptech accelerator MetaProp. Compensation is a healthy mix of cash and equity (up to 3%) - ideal for the senior developer tired of building other people's ideas without sharing in the potential for profits.

Obligatory "ideal candidate" laundry list - you don't need all to apply if you're an aggressive learner:

• 5+ years tech leadership on nontrivial projects (not necessarily all successful)

• Expertise in most of: PostgreSQL, Node.js, React, TypeScript / modern JavaScript, Solidity, Jest, Docker, networking / HTTP, OOP / FP / infrastructure patterns and practices

• Expertise in one of: real estate domain, blockchain development, DevOps / site reliability, IA / UX / UI design, data science

• Multidisciplinary interest beyond the code, e.g. focusing on product, improving the business, and devising solutions to real estate problems

• Obsession with detail and quality

• Strong technology opinions (weakly held) and courage to raise concerns

Your primary responsibility will be to develop the core application suite, infrastructure, and tooling that powers our P2P blockchain escrow platform. Additionally, you will provide strategic input to the business and our engineering culture.

We focus on results, continuously improve ourselves, and derive strength from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Drop us a line at jobs@reasi.com!

mcgwizon HTML is the Web

Taking a linguistic perspective, one can analyze HTML usage through the lenses of prescription and description.

Prescriptively, HTML was designed to be used a certain way. "Proper" use of it supports a variety of use cases beyond graphical browser-based publications and applications.

Descriptively, there is no "right" or "wrong", "proper" or "improper". <div>s and <span>s are often enough because they get The Job™ done, for some critical subset of all "jobs." It is true that web scraping and machine parsing of content becomes harder when tags aren't applied semantically, and that text- and speech-based browsing is more difficult. It would seem that those needs are simply not substantial enough to the commissioners of web development work to warrant the extra attention and care, especially in the hyper-competitive, sink-or-swim environment of tech startups.

It is (nominally) what it is (actually).

The real problem is a lack of exploitation and education of the secondary applications of semantic HTML and how it fits in with related technologies (HTTP headers vs <META>, URLs and fragment identifiers, microformats and CSS semantic class naming) by product designers. This would naturally drive developer interest. In the meantime, those who do understand these things can continue to devise solutions orders of magnitude more efficient or effective.

mcgwizon Introducing a new HTML element – welcome <clippy>

Agree name isn't primary concern, but by your own definition shouldn't it be called <popup>?

mcgwizon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (June 2019)

Reasi is revolutionizing real estate with a modern, secure, and convenient transaction platform. We're early stage but have already received backing by big players, such as renowned proptech accelerator MetaProp. Compensation is a healthy mix of cash and equity (up to 3%) - ideal for the senior developer tired of building other people's ideas without sharing in the potential for profits.

Imaginary "ideal candidate" laundry list - you don't need all to apply if you're an aggressive learner:

• 5+ years tech leadership on nontrivial projects (that were not necessarily all successful)

• Expertise in most of: PostgreSQL, Node.js, React, TypeScript / modern JavaScript, Solidity, Jest, Docker, networking / HTTP, OOP / FP / infrastructure patterns and practices

• Expertise in one of: real estate domain, blockchain development, DevOps / site reliability, UX / UI design

• Multidisciplinary interest beyond coding, e.g. focusing on product, improving the business, and devising solutions to real estate problems

We focus on results, continuously improve ourselves, and derive strength from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Drop us a line at jobs@reasi.com!

mcgwizon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2019)

Want to revolutionize an industry? We're passionate about modernizing real estate because buyers and sellers deserve better than the nerve-wracking, fraud-prone, disjointed and expensive manual processes they currently endure. This is a huge market but it has high institutional and cultural barriers - our success is driven entirely by our expertise, creativity, agility, and action.

Stack: AWS, Docker, Ethereum/Solidity, SQL, TypeScript/ES6/JavaScript, Node.js/Koa/Express, React, Jest/Mocha, Bootstrap/Sass, <tech you recommend>.

Senior Software Engineer:

- seasoned full-stack web/mobile developer who specializes in any of the following: blockchain, DevOps / site reliability, graphic design, data science;

- has a number of challenging projects under their belt, providing the drive and experience to identify and deliver our most impactful business needs; and

- is an effective interpersonal communicator and mentor with acute attention to detail and strong opinions (weakly held) about software architecture and teamwork.

Please reach out for more information: jobs@reasi.com.

mcgwizon Starbucks' music is driving employees nuts

Reminds me of my (second) stint working there in the mid-00s, deciphering the format of their PlayNetwork discs.

https://club.myce.com/t/starbucks-playnetwork-playdisc-aud-f...

Unfortunately, within a year they happened to transition to satellite feeds.

(Kudos to myce, formerly CDFreaks, for keeping this content online all this time.)

mcgwizon Why you think you’re right, even when you’re wrong (2017)

"What do you most yearn for — to defend your own beliefs or to see the world as clearly as you possibly can?"

Before you answer the latter, ask yourself when was the last time you admitted to someone you were wrong about something significant to you both? Can you do so more often?

mcgwizon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2019)

Want to revolutionize an industry? We're passionate about modernizing real estate because buyers and sellers deserve better than the nerve-wracking, fraud-prone, disjointed and expensive manual processes they currently endure. This is a huge market but it has high institutional and cultural barriers - our success is driven entirely by our expertise, creativity, agility, and action.

Stack: AWS, Docker, Ethereum/Solidity, SQL, TypeScript/ES6/JavaScript, Node.js/Koa/Express, React, Jest/Mocha, Bootstrap/Sass, <tech you recommend>.

Senior Software Engineer:

- seasoned full-stack web/mobile developer who specializes in any of the following: blockchain, DevOps / site reliability, graphic design, data science;

- has a number of challenging projects under their belt, providing the drive and experience to identify and deliver our most impactful business needs; and

- is an effective interpersonal communicator and mentor with acute attention to detail and strong opinions (weakly held) about software architecture and teamwork.

Please reach out for more information: jobs@reasi.com.

mcgwizon Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps

This is a godsend for Apple's PR, now that attention is no longer focused on Group FaceTime.

mcgwizon Apple leaves Facebook offices in disarray after revoking app permissions

I wonder how pervasive the abuse of the EDC for customer-facing apps actually is. If this got through FB / Google's legal teams, they might know of others who have done this without consequence.

mcgwizon Show HN: Instantly create a secure URL to your Mac

Same, with Apache. We leave our reverse proxy up 24/7. Relevant Apache config:

    RewriteEngine on

    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} =websocket [NC]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^([^\.]*).*$ [NC]
    RewriteRule /(.*) ws://localhost:%1/$1 [P,L]

    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} !=websocket [NC]
    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^([^\.]*).*$ [NC]
    RewriteRule /(.*) http://localhost:%1/$1 [P,L]

    RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^([^\.]*).*$ [NC]
    RewriteRule ^ - [E=TUNNEL_PORT:$1]
    ProxyPassInterpolateEnv On
    ProxyPassReverse "/" "http://localhost:${TUNNEL_PORT}/" interpolate

This reverse proxies something like https://12345.example.com to http://localhost:12345, which is forwarded back to the dev machine (typically port 80 or 3000). When a local server is spun up, our tooling automatically sets up the remote port forwarding and appropriately configures the local instance based on an environment variable. For a pre-seed startup, this results in considerable cost savings w.r.t. ngrok's pricing.

mcgwizon A three-page paper that shook philosophy, with lessons for software engineers

I initially thought this article might be about programming by coincidence [1] or maybe about user experience superstitions [2], but after reading it I wonder if this isn't just about the practice of debugging. Software is complex. When someone begins investigation into a bug, if the fix is not immediately found, it becomes a matter of running down a list of hypothetical causes. As one's experience deepens, both the "running down" and the curating of the "list" become more efficient. IMHO this article is merely about a developer who was unaware of certain hypothetical causes.

1: https://pragprog.com/the-pragmatic-programmer/extracts/coinc...

2: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/quality-assurance-ux/

mcgwizon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2019)

Want to revolutionize an industry? We're passionate about modernizing real estate because buyers and sellers deserve better than the nerve-wracking, fraud-prone, disjointed and expensive manual processes they currently endure. This is a huge market but it has high institutional and cultural barriers - our success is driven entirely by our expertise, creativity, agility, and action.

Stack: AWS, Docker, Ethereum/Solidity, SQL, TypeScript/ES6/JavaScript, Node.js/Koa/Express, React, Jest/Mocha, Bootstrap/Sass, <tech you recommend>.

Senior Software Engineer:

- seasoned full-stack web/mobile developer who specializes in any of the following: blockchain, DevOps / site reliability, graphic design, data science;

- has a number of challenging projects under their belt, providing the drive and experience to identify and deliver our most impactful business needs; and

- is an effective interpersonal communicator and mentor with acute attention to detail and strong opinions (weakly held) about software architecture and teamwork.

Please reach out for more information: jobs@reasi.com.

mcgwizon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2018)

Want to revolutionize an industry? We're passionate about modernizing real estate because buyers and sellers deserve better than the nerve-wracking, fraud-prone, disjointed and expensive manual processes they currently endure. This is a huge market but it has high institutional and cultural barriers - our success is driven entirely by our expertise, creativity, agility, and action.

Stack: AWS, Docker, Ethereum/Solidity, SQL, TypeScript/ES6/JavaScript, Node.js/Koa/Express, React, Jest/Mocha, Bootstrap/Sass, <tech you recommend>.

Senior Software Engineer:

- seasoned full-stack web/mobile developer who specializes in any of the following: blockchain, DevOps / site reliability, graphic design, data science;

- has a number of challenging projects under their belt, providing the drive and experience to identify and deliver our most impactful business needs; and

- is an effective interpersonal communicator and mentor with acute attention to detail and strong opinions (weakly held) about software architecture and teamwork.

Please reach out for more information: jobs@reasi.com.

mcgwizon Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2018)

Want to revolutionize an industry? We're passionate about modernizing real estate because buyers and sellers deserve better than the nerve-wracking, fraud-prone, disjointed and expensive manual processes they currently endure. This is a huge market but it has high institutional and cultural barriers - our success is driven entirely by our expertise, creativity, agility, and action.

Stack: AWS, Docker, Ethereum/Solidity, SQL, TypeScript/ES6/JavaScript, Node.js/Koa/Express, React, Jest/Mocha, Bootstrap/Sass, <tech you recommend>.

Senior Software Engineer:

- full-stack web/mobile developer who specializes in any of the following: blockchain, DevOps / site reliability, graphic design, data science;

- has a number of challenging projects under their belt, providing the drive and experience to identify and deliver our most impactful business needs; and

- is an effective interpersonal communicator and mentor with acute attention to detail and strong opinions about software architecture and teamwork.

Please reach out for more information: jobs@reasi.com.