Hacker News Reader

petr25102018on Writing a technical book: from idea to print

I think that's true. If larger software projects need more time and resources than small ones (when comparing effort per LOC), I am pretty sure that with books it is the same.

And I agree with the blank page... The more of the book is written, the easier it gets (I think).

petr25102018on Writing a technical book: from idea to print

Even though I wouldn't want the publisher to make the outline of my book for me, I have to say that Manning books were some of my favourites. Their structure is pretty good.

petr25102018on Writing a technical book: from idea to print

Did you create the illustrations yourself or the publisher managed to do them for you?

petr25102018on Writing a technical book: from idea to print

I am also now writing my first book (https://efficientdeveloper.com/) and it is really difficult, especially during Covid times (my original idea of writing this book was writing it on a transatlantic cruise... )

What you realise when writing a book is that every sentence gets rewritten 3 times, even before you start caring about proofreading. With all the research and decision making, publishing etc. it takes much more time than it looks.

petr25102018on Microsoft urges users to stop using phone-based multi-factor authentication

This is how I do it.

But of course, keeping emergency codes is a good idea too.

petr25102018on Microsoft urges users to stop using phone-based multi-factor authentication

I am not American, but it doesn't matter.

Yes, of course I can have a second phone or other solution. The point is that SMS-based auth is just worse than the alternatives.

petr25102018on Microsoft urges users to stop using phone-based multi-factor authentication

First, it is a good idea to setup the authentication on multiple devices. This is not hard to do.

Second, if that happens you are in the same situation as with the phone authentication -> so the disadvantage is the same.

petr25102018on Microsoft urges users to stop using phone-based multi-factor authentication

I literally hate when services and apps force me to use SMS-based authentication.

When I travel I need to use a different SIM to access reasonably priced internet. Because I don't have a double-SIM phone, that means my other SIM is not active at the moment.

Really dangerous trend is when this SMS confirmation is requested when I don't expect it. Once I was in the Philippines and AirBnb wanted me to verify my authentication attempt. It can be not only frustrating, but dangerous - I have accommodation scheduled and without the access to my home number I could be easily left on the streets in a foreign country.

And my last complaint -> SMS can arrive pretty late when you are in a foreign country. Sometimes too late that the authentication window is closed.

petr25102018on Never Pay for Online Dating (2010)

Very relevant. Hint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZTIbHIsIYw

petr25102018on Show HN: Simple accounting and invoicing software – INVOICY

You should put your name on the web. Why would someone sign up to a service where the communication channel is a generic chat and your name is nowhere to be found?

I use a Czech invoicing app because it prepares legal documents that I can submit with one click to the government. Pure invoicing app is not that attractive in my opinion.

petr25102018on Why Silicon Valley has so many Bad Managers

You should consider why it is easy for developers to leave a company. It is also because companies hire only people who already know everything and don't train and give chance to people that might need to learn something on the job.

Also, if companies don't provide incentives for people who stay longer, it is only their fault.

petr25102018on AI Expert Roadmap

Maybe a better way to attack this problem is to watch Harvard's Introduction to AI course (or similar one) and from there pick an area that piqued your interest. This is because AI is such a vast field that nobody can learn everything (on top of data processing etc.). I made some notes from the ^ course + listed relevant Python libraries to have a good place to start: https://stribny.name/blog/2020/10/artificial-intelligence-in...

petr25102018on Google users locked out after 15 years' use

I recently tried to sign up for Google AdSense and received an automatic reply that I already have an account They even sent me an email address of that account.

That email address and account is not mine, it belongs to my brother. We connect to the accounts from the same location, have the same surname but we are different people.

Google sucks big time and I will definitely try to avoid building a business on Google products.

Seriously, NO SUPPORT is a scary thing.

petr25102018on Show HN: Personal CRM: Note taking, the way it should be

I also created my own personal CRM (https://contactcache.com), but my main take was privacy. I believe that the information stored about our business partners or loved ones are really sensitive and therefore I opted for 100 % end-to-end encrypted notes.

I am not working on the app now as I haven't figured out how to make money on it yet. However I will leave this idea here because I think that you guys should consider offering end-to-end encrypted notes (even just as an option for some selected notes).

petr25102018on Ask HN: Why isn’t finance a part of the core curriculum at schools?

Also Czech. I don't think this is common in here at all. You were lucky with your school.

petr25102018on My Notes from Harvard's Artificial Intelligence in Python

The article presents main building blocks in programming AI in Python and it is loosely based on my notes from Harvard’s course CS50’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python 2020 and extended to include other interesting concepts and Python libraries that were not mentioned in the course.

petr25102018on Database Version Control with Liquibase

Exactly. For Python project the solution can be https://pypi.org/project/nomad/ and you will even save yourself that one day of development.

petr25102018on Career- Java or Python job as Fresher

Just go work for a role, company and product you like. Thinking about leaving your job before it even starts is not really good :)

petr25102018on Scaling Relational SQL Databases

Recently I was researching what are all the possible options when it comes to scaling workloads with relational SQL databases. I think other people can find it helpful.

Feel free to suggest other ideas!

petr25102018on Show HN: 14 Habits of Highly Productive Developers – New Book

I think it is good that you have interviewed people that you know and I definitely see the branding appeal of having some big names around. It is just some of the wording in the book could be better, especially since the topic is productivity (not a career success where the argument is definitely stronger).

I am not selling the book yet, I have just a sign up page for now (https://efficientdeveloper.com). My take will be more about software development as a whole rather than just the productivity part, with productivity being just an angle of what I will cover in the book.

petr25102018on Show HN: 14 Habits of Highly Productive Developers – New Book

Disclaimer: I am writing a book on the same topic (nevertheless it will be quite different from the content perspective).

I don't want to comment much on the book because of ^ but there is something that I found a little bit off putting for me.

It is the obsession with American big tech (the biggest tech companies and well known startups). The book suggests that all such companies have it figured out, that all engineers working there are the most productive and best in the industry. I personally don't believe it and I am not sure why a productivity book should be so heavily based around it.

As an example take this question from the book "What's so special about individuals who create the most used applications in the world?" I really really just want to answer "Nothing".

Anyways there goes my little rant... Definitely congrats on publishing a book, it is a struggle!

petr25102018on Guide to Python Debugging

Shameless plug of some debugging options in Python: https://stribny.name/blog/2019/06/debugging-python-programs

petr25102018on Ask HN: Why is there no emphasis on training in tech culture?

Most companies don't have any diversity goals (if you mean gender, color, age, ...) and I assume that those that do, they do it mainly for political reasons.

Just hiring people of different color or gender doesn't increase the success of a business. So why would it be a priority? Businesses typically only need people who will get the job done, no matter who they are.

Why companies don't have training programs is another (good) question.

petr25102018on Multi-node TimescaleDB is now free

Why should someone use TimescaleDB over ClickHouse for time-series/analytics workloads?

petr25102018on Ask HN: What projects are you working on now?

Looks really cool.

petr25102018on Ask HN: How does your company keep track of lessons learned?

I have seen post mortems or "common problems" in knowledge bases, but outside of that the lessons learned were either addressed directly (improved process, fixed code, improved docs) or only in the heads of people involved:)

petr25102018on Show HN: I just launched my first video course (React/Next.js)

Not for me, but good luck!

petr25102018on Monica: Open-source personal CRM

https://contactcache.com/

I didn't get to monetize it as I don't have all the features yet & also I don't see a big demand for it.

petr25102018on Monica: Open-source personal CRM

My app is in the same space (or at least the original idea of it) but over time I really doubt it is a space to make any money in. People just don't pay for a personal software like this.

I am glad to see that they have over 40,000 users (maybe not active tho) so it proves that the idea is not completely unreasonable. Maybe it just needs a little bit different approach, I don't know.

I myself struggle with what to do with my own app in the space.

petr25102018on Ask HN: Do you write tests before the implementation?

No, almost never, with no intention in doing so in the future. I don't think TDD is necessary nor better for anything.