nemild

But don't we all use a small fraction of library/package and language functionality.

- In C's stdio, I've used a fraction of calls

- In Ruby/Rails + gems, I use a fraction of calls

- In Node/Express, I use a fraction of calls

- In frontend javascript, I use a fraction of the native calls

In frontend dev, I get that this means forcing users to download a library, but for many use cases 4 kb gzipped isn't a big deal (esp if CDNs are involved).

I think it'd be interesting to poll developers on what part of Lodash/Underscore causes them concern:

1. The extra download time/bandwidth

2. The extra costs of packaging (failed builds, extra packaging process)

3. The speed of computation (assuming that some native functions are faster)

4. The concern that libraries should only be used when they are highly utilized (e.g., at least 20% of a library's code should be used before it is appropriate to include it)

Am I the only one who feels that it's not a terrible thing to use Lodash? It's relatively small gzipped (4kb for core build), a single interface for a developer to learn, and means you don't have to think as much about the target browser. Sure it adds a dependency, but an incremental dependency isn't often an issue.

The .chunk is a good example (a 7 line function in native vs a 1 line function in Lodash).

I imagine some native functions are faster, but often it doesn't matter.

I say this only partially jokingly: maybe there should be a "You don't need javascript," and we should go back to assembly.

From the article:

>“Only one computer was used in the past, because Boeing was able to prove statistically that its system was reliable, the person said.”

Years back, my father co-wrote a paper on the Space Shuttle Challenger showing issues with the statistical thinking at NASA:

http://www.math.montana.edu/shancock/courses/stat401/Dalal_e...

I wonder what statistical techniques Boeing used, and how defensible those techniques were.

If you use a "silver bullet", you are almost guaranteed to get into the class, as it puts you at the top of the line. This is a way to ration the highly desirable classes.

Agreed. A favorite quote: “[E]verybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance.” - Kurt Vonnegut, Hocus Pocus

For a long time, my bias was to write code when faced with a problem, without realizing the debt I was taking on and the other solutions available.

https://www.nemil.com/on-software-engineering/dont-write-cod...

I would go for it, but just the fact that you're asking shows that you're less susceptible to injecting needless technology. Typescript has also been used for years, and it has a place as Javascript is used for more complex products than it was intended.

I wrote a short bit in "Handling Hype" here arguing that you need to dig into your problem, assess claims, and weigh tradeoffs:

https://www.nemil.com/mongo/1.html

I would change that last phrase, "I want to be engaged and active in what I do" to "I want to build something that solves user needs and ships and is maintainable." Or at least a mix between the two.

An older piece that I loved is Dan's point on just allowing a certain number of technology tokens in any project:

https://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology

I think one big part of the mistake is using Hacker News, Reddit, conferences as a sign of what companies are actually using. Instead, I liken it to a bazaar:

https://www.nemil.com/on-software-engineering/beware-enginee...

Oh, and remember marketing is not reality, even though marketers try awfully hard:

https://www.nemil.com/mongo/3.html

The irony is that this page will help improve the SEO of this domain.

Two articles on this topic:

You are Not Google (my favorite): https://blog.bradfieldcs.com/you-are-not-google-84912cf44afb

A piece from my Notes to a Young Software Engineer that likens engineering media to a bazaar, not a mirror of the industry:

Beware Engineering Media:

https://www.nemil.com/on-software-engineering/beware-enginee...

(Martin Fowler's YAGNI article is also great)

But also, the distribution muscle of Facebook.

This was a previous comment from that user:

> Looks like the HN account is working again.

> There have been a couple of quick updates I posted on the linked page. First, SDF does accept Bitcoin for validation. Second, SMJ is personally upping the prize to $100. See the link for details.

> I am very happy with the result of this stunt. So far this page has gotten over 100,000 which works nicely towards the goal of driving more users towards Tor and SDF.

I wrote a tweet thread on building a writing habit:

https://twitter.com/nemild/status/1113441095323492352

Consistency and having social pressure were critical for me.

Also, check out Daily Rituals: How Artists Work (book)

I thought this was remarkably self-reflective:

> "It works for people but it doesn’t necessarily work as a business today, at least under my oversight"

I recently went to Bar Shiru in Oakland (mentioned in the article) and it was quite the experience:

https://www.yelp.com/biz/bar-shiru-oakland

I've been working on some tips on burnout for early engs. Would value any feedback:

https://www.nemil.com/on-software-engineering/beware-burnout...

I'm surprised that "security by obscurity" is touted as a way reduce attacks. This is almost guaranteed to lead to less diligence in the code — and more risks.

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

That hype in software is the reason I wrote a media literacy guide for software engineers. Hype makes it easy to get free marketing and also drives clicks for media and social networks.

https://github.com/nemild/hack-the-media/blob/master/softwar...

For more context, see this piece by Renee DiResta highlighting the difference between free speech and free reach (previously, there was little distinction between the two at Facebook):

https://www.wired.com/story/free-speech-is-not-the-same-as-f...

I very much agree. It's nearly impossible to know in the moment which it is.

I spend so much of my time on media literacy issues, and one thing I'd be careful of: most of these prognostications you cite should really be considered marketing. They are not thoughtful views of cryptocurrency.

If you're a software developer, I'd really dismiss lots of what you read about new technology, whether it be crypto or MongoDB. Here's my media literacy guide for software engineers:

https://github.com/nemild/hack-the-media/blob/master/softwar...

(It's kinda fun to realize that by getting excited about cryptocurrency, I also got excited about the financial incentives behind the media ecosystem)

Also, be careful about throwing the baby (unfounded hype and speculation and charlatanism) with the bathwater (programmable money, open financial systems, digital scarcity).

Stablecoins are much more than that. It's the first openly programmable stable money, and can remove custody risk.

With the growth of stablecoins, there is an opportunity to prove out use cases that depend on stable value.

Regardless, I do think there's value to smart contracts, even with a volatile/speculative currency:

https://www.nemil.com/crypto/why-cryptocontracts-matter.html

People in early spaces dream about mainstream use cases (kill credit cards, fix online payments), but killer early use cases are often randomly found. They're the ones most poorly served by the current market.

You need the extreme use cases like reducing the risk of hyper inflation early on, when the product is so raw, much like you might have with the first PC:

> [In the early PC days], Steve Jobs initially pitched the personal computer as a way to store recipes. It took years for the first killer use case, spreadsheets in the guise of VisiCalc, to appear.

https://www.nemil.com/crypto/rationally-irrational.html

I was in YC during the same time as Coinbase (where I now work), and personally, I think cryptocurrencies are transformational. Having grown up during the Internet era and hearing from my parents about the Mainframe -> PC era, use cases and viable businesses take time. Even founders in early, disruptive spaces have a hard time figuring out the use cases.

Here's my own thoughts on why rational people — and media — get disruptive markets (like crypto) wrong:

> As someone who had worked in banking and and microfinance, I got excited about the idea of credible digital scarcity, programmable money, and open financial systems. I didn’t quite know the use cases that would follow, but it was clear to me that the world would never be the same.

> Mostly though, everyone I respected thought cryptocurrencies were stupid. One MBA classmate haughtily wrote off cryptocurrencies as only useful for drugs and pornography. My old management consulting friends—all from elite American universities—pooh poohed Bitcoin and other open cryptocurrencies as they fixated on the needs of their lucrative banking clients. The vast majority of successful, rational people disdained everything about cryptocurrency.

https://www.nemil.com/crypto/rationally-irrational.html

I loved Paul Buccheit’s (of YC) quote on social media:

“[Twitter] is like a game where you get 1 point for being fair and thoughtful and 1000 points for character assassination.”

https://mobile.twitter.com/paultoo/status/110014488287253299...

(He said it about Twitter, but I think the spirit was about social media generally)

Paul also helped brainstorm “Don’t Be Evil” at an early Google.

Personally, I don’t blame the media alone (as some in this thread do). All of us are a product of the incentives we face, and feed algorithms play a huge role (including for the journalists at media outlets).

And as always, I will shill my media literacy guide (there’s also a version for software engineers):

https://github.com/nemild/hack-the-media/blob/master/README....

https://github.com/nemild/hack-the-media/blob/master/softwar...

Yes, but the partisanship is likely getting worse, because we each individually get the exact information that is "relevant" to us and therefore feeds our confirmation bias. It's a different form of tribalism from 1950s mass media partisanship. There's actually research (James Hamilton @ Stanford) that shows when capital costs for printing presses were higher, newspapers became less partisan because you had to appeal to everyone to be profitable. The internet, cable news, are helping to unwind that period.

As background, I've spent years writing on social media (and used to work in it):

My Media literacy guide:

http://github.com/nemild/hack-the-media/blob/master/README.m...

A piece I did for Quartz on Selective Facts:

https://qz.com/1130094/todays-biggest-threat-to-democracy-is...

And my data analysis of the NY Times (with an example in social media):

https://www.nemil.com/s/part2-terrorism.html

Here you go:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/09/travel/airbnb-miami-beach...

> Airbnb and Miami Beach Are at War. Travelers Are Caught in the Crossfire.

> The Florida city, like others around the country, is trying to control the home sharing market. Renters often find out their weekend home is illegal when they get a knock on the door.

I emailed you. For everyone else, here’s a rough article I’m writing on reading code for my Notes to a Young Software Engineer series:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/q5mtxxk6bswkag6/Read%20Code.pdf?dl...

https://www.nemil.com/on-software-engineering/index.html

(The article has a few great HN threads on reading code; after all, there are lots of contexts where you need to read without working someone in person who’s been involved in that code)

A recent quote I loved from YC's Paul Buccheit (who helped inspired "Don't be Evil at an early Google"):

“[Social media] is like a game where you get 1 point for being fair and thoughtful and 1000 points for character assassination”

https://twitter.com/paultoo/status/1100144882872532992

This is partly why I spent so much time writing a media literacy guide to explain the incentives behind what we see in our feeds and our newspapers:

https://github.com/nemild/hack-the-media/blob/master/README....