Hacker News Reader

sbarlsteron Learn X in Y minutes where X = Go

time for a new job?

sbarlsteron HN is 6 today. Here's traffic since the beginning

For myself its an intelligent distraction between server re-starts and waiting for compilations etc. Don't do so much of that stuff at the weekend.

sbarlsteron HN is 6 today. Here's traffic since the beginning

Would you like to share what that startup is? I am genuinely interested as I'm about to start a new venture myself after being inspired by HN.

sbarlsteron What happened with LEGO

The megablocks stuff we have bought either has nobbly extra molding bits still stuck to the bricks meaning they just don't work OR the bricks are not of a uniform enough size so they don't stick together for any length of time.

I would estimate at 40% as good as logo. Which puts it down in the play with it a bit and then ignore 'while the cat (or hoover) eats it' camp.

sbarlsteron Newcastle startup scene reaches 'critical mass' [video]

I agree with these thoughts. A founder with enough passion and drive for their company doesn't need VC funding - if IT focused. IT stuff can be built and hosted with minimal outlay.

VC money needed for cash intensive manufacturing activities?

sbarlsteron What's produced more value: Y Combinator's investments or Hacker News?

I don't know about the YC companies but I agree that HN has been a great inspiration to me also. Got me thinking about companies and that it is possible!

Thanks HN.

sbarlsteron This robot serves up 340 hamburgers per hour

What Americans really need right now is the ability to eat burgers faster and cheaper...

http://singularityhub.com/2011/07/19/fat-america-keeps-getti...

Duh.

sbarlsteron Why time is not running out

I would be wary of cutting out too much fiction as some great minds put down their thoughts and ideas through fiction. e.g. Hemmingway, Orwell or Steinbeck - there are probably many others. But yes be selective.

sbarlsteron Intel says Clover Trail will not work with Linux

I thought that MS made a stack of cash from Android via patent extortion methods?

sbarlsteron RBS IT cockup: This sort of thing can destroy a bank, normally

Interesting that a retail bank whose core business is to process transactions takes the decision to outsource that capability. And then is exposed as unable to monitor/control the outsourced operation.

Some similarities to the now defunct Railtrack whose remit was to maintain the UK railways decided that it was a good idea to outsource all of its engineering capability. It turned out that Railtrack did not have the ability to manage, monitor or access the state of work carried out by contractors. Some details and links in... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railtrack#Founding

A good lesson. Accessing which are the core functions of your company. And the ability to execute them without failure.

sbarlsteron How to incorporate a US Corporation from outside the USA?

What a lovely story. Not specifically the credit card stuff but the hackernews inspired startup story... http://blog.freshdesk.com/the-freshdesk-story-how-a-simple-c...

I find the 'just make the core features work' part interesting. Make my core business processes work with no glitches at a 'reasonable' cost.

I would be interested in a freshdesk tech stack blog entry?

sbarlsteron Poll: Do you test your code?

Unit tests. Tick.

Integration tests. Tick

Automated acceptance tests. No Tick.

Tried to sell concordian as a framework to support BDD - but that is a hard x-discipline change which would have required more effort to push through. So as a short term measure have started to write/express unit tests using a standard BDD style - GIVEN x WHEN y SHOULD z. This has helped to assign value to each unit test. There is now a direct connection between the test name and acceptance criteria specified in a user story.

sbarlsteron Why I am Not a Professor, or The Decline and Fall of the British University

I have experienced two degrees in two different universities in the UK. First was a standard undergraduate course finishing in 1992, a joint BSc in Economics and CS. Course content was fine (complexity, algorithms, compilers, database design etc).

However the students attitude was poor. As an undergrad straight from school I did not self learn, did not study - generally not motivated. Left in recession and with poor CS skills could not find work so delivered pizzas, worked the call centres, manned beach car park huts - all fun however.

Second degrees was a 1 year MSc in Software Engineering - this time focusing on the softer skills around methodologies, design, large systems modularity etc.

This time the student was motivated. I read, studied, wrote C++ and Java programs, delivered tasks on time and used my previous economics knowledge to build a dissertation on neural networks analysis of wholesale electricity prices. I left and went straight into a C/C++ job helping to build a mobile phone network planning system.

On both occasions the tools, environment and time were available. Just the student attitude differed. I saw what I wanted and went for it - just not the first time.