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nicholaideson I spent $220 on Google app ads and 60% of the installs were robots

I hope Reddit is not charging advertisers per ad video play.

As a mobile reddit user, I’ve noticed that the app treats ads differently than regular posts. They are more sensitive to taps than regular posts and I frequently accidentally trigger ad videos playing by scrolling past them but I never accidentally trigger regular videos.

nicholaideson In north Michigan woods, feds raid an alleged upscale art forgery factory

The difference here is that these paintings were "previously unknown paintings by well-known artists", so, it's not like a frame-by-frame reproduction or a cover song at all. It's more like a newly discovered but fraudulent Bowie album.

nicholaideson The science of mask-wearing hasn’t changed, so why have our expectations?

The duration can differ. A shortage lasting a week is better than a shortage lasting months.

nicholaideson Why I'm Building a Side Dish (and Maybe You Should Too)

Thanks for bringing it up. An underlying assumption here is that cordiality should be the default, and I agree with that.

In this particular case, though, this question is essentially "TL;DR?", which is also a question everyone wants to know, but not considered good etiquette by this community.

The question was "Is there a reason the author uses the word dish instead of project?" If the answer is yes, then, you can find out by reading the article. If the answer is no, then a comment critiquing or clarifying would be helpful.

I could have been more cordial, but it's unsustainable (IMO) to counter low-effort with high-effort. Acting annoyed is a convenient shortcut for communicating etiquette expectations.

nicholaideson Why I'm Building a Side Dish (and Maybe You Should Too)

"Side dish" is not another way of saying "side project" (in the context of this article.

Side dish = product built on a platform the customer already uses. Example: Streak (a side dish) is a CRM that lives inside Gmail (the main dish).

nicholaideson Why I'm Building a Side Dish (and Maybe You Should Too)

RTFA: it's not talking about side projects.

Side dish = product built on a platform the customer already uses. Example: Streak (a side dish) is a CRM that lives inside Gmail (the main dish).

nicholaideson Regex2fat: Turn your favorite regex into FAT32

It converts your regexp into a virtual filesystem and then you can test if a string matches the regexp by converting the string into a path and testing if that path is contained in the filesystem.

nicholaideson Hjson, a User Interface for JSON

Seems like it overlaps a lot with Yaml. What are the benefits to using Hjson instead?

nicholaideson Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (March 2020)

SEEKING FREELANCER | Philadelphia & New York | Local & Remote US We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web & mobile applications, APIs, products, and services. Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

We love polyglots. We use lots of Ruby, Python, Elixir, and JavaScript (mostly TypeScript, React and React-Native).

Local only:

    • Ruby & Rails
    • Python
    • React, Angular
    • Vue.js
    • .NET
    • iOS, Android

Local & Remote:

    • React Native
    • Elixir & Phoenix 
    • Azure, especially with Kubernetes & Terraform
    • ML, AI, & Data Science
    • Kafka

https://www.promptworks.com/contracting

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (March 2020)

PromptWorks | Multiple positions | Philadelphia PA | ONSITE | https://promptworks.com/

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web & mobile applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

We love polyglots. We use lots of Ruby, Python, Elixir and JavaScript (mostly TypeScript, React and React Native).

Open positions:

• Senior Software Engineer

• Software Engineer

• Senior React Native Engineer

• Senior Software Project Manager

• Software Project Manager

https://www.promptworks.com/jobs

nicholaideson SQLite Is Serverless

I think a good under-appreciated use case for SQLite is as a build artifact of ETL processes/build processes/data pipelines. Seems like lot of people's default, understandably, is to use JSON as the output and intermediate results, but if you use SQLite, you'd have all the benefits of SQL (indexes, joins, grouping, ordering, querying logic, and random access) and many of the benefits of JSON files (SQLite DBs are just files that are easy to copy, store, version, etc and don't require a centralized service).

I'm not saying ALWAYS use SQLite for these cases, but in the right scenario it can simplify things significantly.

Another similar use case would be AI/ML models that require a bunch of data to operate (e.g. large random forests). If you store that data in Postgres, Mongo or Redis, it becomes hard to ship your model alongside with updated data sets. If you store the data in memory (e.g. if you just serialize your model after training it), it can be too large to fit in memory. SQLite (or other embedded database, like BerkleyDB) can give the best of both worlds-- fast random access, low memory usage, and easy to ship.

nicholaideson Nim vs. Crystal

I wrote some Crystal recently for a hobby project. I have to say, I really like it.

• Nice syntax (mostly just that blocks/procs are easy to use— Ruby-like syntax is nice, but it’s not really that important)

• straight-forward class/object model

• type system is simple but powerful (union types + type inference are a great combo)

• syntax and std lib that enables functional-style programming, but isn’t strictly functional

• Pretty darn fast— compiles to machine code via LLVM, and seems like it’s not far behind C, C++ and Rust in most benchmarks, despite being garbage collected

What other languages offer a similar profile? D? Swift? Kotlin (via LLVM)?

nicholaideson Amazon wants to control third-party sellers’ product pricing

I have a relative who has a farm that sells products wholesale to a large supermarket chain (not Walmart). One of the supermarket's tactics: place huge orders from you so that you have to ramp up production and invest in new equipment, labor, livestock, etc, and then, once you're ramped up, they stop ordering as much so that your supply is significantly higher than demand and they can dictate very favorable pricing for themselves.

nicholaideson Ask HN: Freelancer? Seeking freelancer? (August 2018)

SEEKING FREELANCER. Philadelphia & New York. Local only. We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web & mobile applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

We love polyglots. We use lots of Ruby, Python, Elixir, and JavaScript (mostly React and React-Native).

As PromptWorks grows, so does demand on our engineering team. We often find ourselves fielding development inquiries from excellent clients working outside our preferred stacks and expertise or we occasionally don’t have enough staff to fill out a team with employees. In those cases, we like to work with seasoned, versatile contractors that are excited to dive in. We are seeking experienced freelance engineers to mutually expand our business.

Skills we are currently looking for:

    - Ruby & Rails
    - Elixir & Phoenix
    - Kubernetes, Docker, AWS Lambda
    - Python
    - React, Angular
    - React Native
    - .NET
    - iOS, Android

https://www.promptworks.com/jobs

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2018)

PromptWorks | Senior Software Engineer, UI/UX Designer | Philadelphia PA | ONSITE https://promptworks.com/

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web & mobile applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

We love polyglots. We use lots of Ruby, Python, Elixir and JavaScript (mostly Node.js, React and React-Native).

https://www.promptworks.com/jobs

nicholaideson Cracking Minesweeper with Z3 SMT Solver

You would think that if you clicked a bomb first, the app would regenerate the board until it made one where the place you clicked was not a bomb.

nicholaideson Home Computers Connected to the Internet Aren't Private, Court Rules

Federal computers, too!

nicholaideson Syntax Highlighting Off

The author does mention that, though, when he's talking about the pros and cons in the very beginning of the article:

> What do I miss? Syntax highlighting hinting that I made a dumb typo (importance is directly proportional to compile time or speed of running syntastic).

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (February 2016)

PromptWorks - Philadelphia, PA and New York, NY

All positions ONSITE, 1 of the positions for INTERNS. Relocation assistance available.

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

Open positions in Philadelphia:

    - Senior Software Engineer
    - Software Engineer
    - Senior Front-end Engineer
    - Sales Intern

Open positions in New York:

    - Senior Software Engineer

We use lots of Ruby, Python and JavaScript.

More info: http://www.promptworks.com/jobs/

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (January 2016)

PromptWorks - New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA.

All positions ONSITE, 1 of the positions for INTERNS. Relocation assistance available.

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

Open positions in Philadelphia:

    - Senior Software Engineer
    - Software Engineer
    - Senior Front-end Engineer
    - Sales Intern

Open positions in New York:

    - Senior Software Engineer

We use lots of Ruby, Python and JavaScript.

More info: http://www.promptworks.com/jobs/

nicholaideson When Do Extraordinary Claims Give Extraordinary Evidence? (2007) [pdf]

    For example, you would assign a very low prior probability to your friend telling you that she met her 5’2” tall second cousin last Tuesday at   8:47am at 11 feet northwest of the smaller statue in a certain square. Nevertheless, after   she made such a claim to you, you would likely place a high    probability that the event happened as claimed. On topics   like this, most people are fairly reliable.

This is a bad example. "you would assign a very low prior probability to your friend telling you __________". If it was a prediction, yes, that would be extraordinary, but it's not.

Its the same as if someone told you they flipped a coin 100 times and got a certain sequence of heads and tails. The probability of that happening is 1/2^100, but it's only extraordinary if you predict it in advance.

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (December 2015)

PromptWorks - New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA.

All positions ONSITE, 1 of the positions for INTERNS. Relocation assistance available.

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

Open positions in Philadelphia:

    - Senior Software Engineer
    - Software Engineer
    - Senior Front-end Engineer
    - Sales Intern

Open positions in New York:

    - Senior Software Engineer

We use lots of Ruby, Python and JavaScript.

More info: http://www.promptworks.com/jobs/

nicholaideson John McCain wants to outlaw encryption that the US government can't crack

It's also a 2nd amendment issue. From wikipedia:

Since World War II, many governments, including the U.S. and its NATO allies, have regulated the export of cryptography for national security considerations, and, as late as 1992, cryptography was on the U.S. Munitions List as an Auxiliary Military Equipment.

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

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2015)

Sorry-- that rule was added in June and I hadn't re-read the instructions since then. Fixed.

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (November 2015)

PromptWorks - New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA. ONSITE. Relocation assistance available.

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

Open positions in Philadelphia:

    - Senior Software Engineer
    - Software Engineer
    - Senior Front-end Engineer
    - Sales Intern

Open positions in New York:

    - Senior Software Engineer

We use lots of Ruby, Python and JavaScript.

More info: http://www.promptworks.com/jobs/

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (October 2015)

PromptWorks - New York, NY and Philadelphia, PA. Local only. Relocation assistance available.

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

Open positions in Philadelphia:

    - Senior DevOps Engineer
    - Senior Software Engineer
    - Software Engineer
    - Senior Front-end Engineer
    - Senior UX/UI Designer

Open positions in New York:

    - Senior Software Engineer

We use lots of Ruby, Python and JavaScript.

More info: http://www.promptworks.com/jobs/

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (September 2015)

PromptWorks - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Local only. Relocation assistance available.

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

Open positions:

    - Senior Software Engineer
    - Senior DevOps Engineer
    - Software Engineer
    - Front-end Engineer
    - Senior UX/UI Designer

We use lots of Ruby, Python and JavaScript.

More info: http://www.promptworks.com/jobs/

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (August 2015)

PromptWorks - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Local only. Relocation assistance available.

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

Open positions:

    - Senior Software Engineer
    - Software Engineer
    - Front-end Engineer
    - Senior UX/UI Designer

We use lots of Ruby, Python and JavaScript.

More info: http://www.promptworks.com/jobs/

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (July 2015)

PromptWorks - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Local only. Relocation assistance available.

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

Open positions:

    - Senior Software Engineer
    - Software Engineer
    - Front-end Engineer
    - Senior UX/UI Designer
    - Business Analyst

We use lots of Ruby, Python and JavaScript.

More info: http://www.promptworks.com/jobs/

nicholaideson Ask HN: Who is hiring? (June 2015)

PromptWorks - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Local only. Relocation assistance available.

We are a development shop that focuses on software craftsmanship. Our calling is to help companies create amazing, intuitive web applications, APIs, products, and services.

Pair programming, continuous integration & delivery, kaizen, and TDD/BDD aren't just ideas we pay lip service to, but core practices of our day-to-day work.

Open positions:

    - Senior Software Engineer
    - Software Engineer
    - Front-end Engineer
    - Senior UX/UI Designer

We use lots of Ruby, Python and JavaScript.

More info: http://www.promptworks.com/jobs/