I've kept a diary of sorts most of this year. Every night before I go to bed I try to fill a notebook page with all my thoughts from the day. Think about what I want to do tomorrow.
What I ended up doing by mistake which I really like is that when I get to the end of a diary, I have usually written only on the front side of pages. So I start writing on the back sides of the pages and I watch as my life unfolds in reverse. I can see how I felt yesterday, then 3 days ago, then 5 days ago, and then it gets to several months. And I am looking back on how I thought/felt and seeing all these patterns. You start looking at what you wrote in a different like. Patterns, like maybe a person in your life being sad often or a certain idea that you keep writing about, start to really emerge clearly.
I think it is a worthwhile habit if you want to understand your mind. It also helps me sleep most of the time by letting me get stuff out of my head.
I took a look into Hacker News hotness algorithm a month or two ago, and it is way more complicated than just points and time. Youtube videos probably don't rank that high compared to other websites. People could be colluding, but I think it is more likely there is more to ranking than we can understand from what we see.
[Edit: This was in response to someone asking why it wasn't on the front page.]
It got 20 to 30 votes in the first hour but was buried at around 50. Whatever algorithm they use, I'm not impressed. Maybe Arc just can't handle complex expressions. :-)
If you come from a javascript background, you will have a leg up on most people in terms of learning clojure. You get used to inlining functions pretty regularly.
What I am encountering as I chew through Programming Clojure though is that I had no idea what I could have been doing in javascript all this time. I would look at C and laugh about how they have to define an extra function for event handling. It just seemed so verbose.
Looking back at the javascript I wrote/write, I really wish I had understood what I could have been doing with functions, mappings, and apply. I didn't/don't write javascript: it's just C with some in-lined functions.
Please don't call them inlined functions. That has a very precise and very different meaning in common usage, so you're likely to confuse a lot of people.
You are totally right.
For somebody like me who did learn from W3 initially though, those first class functions are conceptually and in practice "inline" functions. If you are talking to somebody who knows the difference between inline functions and first order functions, then you probably don't need to tell them to learn more about how to use higher order functions. But if first class functions are conceptually the same as "inline" functions to a person, then they would probably benefit from the advice to learn more about higher order functions.
How would you suggest explaining how to handle an event without using the word "inline"? Explain how functions are first class and go from there?
"If you come from a javascript background, you will have a leg up on most people in terms of learning clojure. You get used to inlining functions pretty regularly."
You'd be better off listing the languages that don't have some sort of 'inline functions' than claims about javascript superiority here; Heres a handful of common imperative/OO languages that have an analogous construction: Python, Ruby, C#, Visual Freaking Basic Dot Net, Smalltalk, Objective C and other C languages with Apple's blocks extension, probably PHP and Lua…
Of those Languages you listed, many don't have implemented function closures correctly.
Python doesn't allow you to mutate variables from enclosing scopes (by default, at least).
Ruby's blocks aren't first-class, they have to be converted to a Proc object first (and argument passing works differently than for methods).
Smalltalk blocks don't have to be able to call themselves recursively by the ANSI standard (most implementations allow that, but eg. Squeak/Pharo does not by default).
C on OSX doesn't have GC, so you have to manually specify which variables you want to capture (and how).
JavaScript was originally supposed to be Scheme, and thus has implemented lexical closures better than most other languages. ('this' however... don't want to talk about that train wreck)
I am a student and I worked with publishers last semester for a while to get interactive electronic textbooks published. I got to view things on the inside and what I've concluded is that the publishers don't actually care about students.
They are marketing to the schools and universities first and foremost because they are the ones who actually make the buying decisions. All the publishers try to do is make something that looks better their competitors and lets colleges cram more students into the classrooms. I don't ever remember them saying "students need this" but rather "universities want to see this". It is a broken system that relies on lazy/overworked teachers and massive hulking collegiate bureaucracies.
Good electronic textbooks won't come from companies that made shitty paper textbooks.
Well, what's your goal? Why do you comment on Hacker News so much?
Do you do it to give back to other hackers?
Is it to promote yourself?
Do you do it just because you enjoy it?
People might not know what they really need, so any advice people give might just be a weird version by what they want to hear.
Desire to make neat web pages. Learn enough jQuery so that you can make something move and change colors with maybe two lines of javascript instead of 20. Keep trying to one up yourself in what kinds of cool shit you can make (I use the term shit because you won't be making anything useful persay, but it will be something that will make friends say "Shit, that is cool. How did you do that?")
Then get bored with frontend stuff and jump into node on heroku or whatever hosting service is popular but has good documentation. Make a chatroom with a lazy bot(zackbot.com) and a static file server. Look into the database bindings. Look at the stuff DailyJS puts out on node(http://dailyjs.com/tags.html#lmawa old with bugs, but very in depth for the time). Make something neat (still working on that part).
Read a bunch of Javascript/jQuery blogs. If you learn that way, pick up JS The Good Parts. Read anything/everything by Steve Yegge, John Resig, and Ryan Dahl. Use the jquery documentation from the website, then get frustrated with it and use jqapi.com
But that is all based on one approach. It sounds like you are interested in more backend stuff. Starting out with node would probably be what you looking for, but without much know how of how to make things work, you might not get thrilling enough results to actually stick with it. I would say stick with the frontend to learn how javascript works and where it came from and then when you get really really bored go mess around with node.
Yes, AnyAsq is a YC company. We hadn't asked Harj to do an AMA though. :) And we hadn't really intended to launch quite yet but we're not complaining.
Ways we hope AnyAsq beats reddit ama:
-The concept should make more sense to people as a standalone site than as a sub-section on another site. (Easier to explain, easier to link to, etc)
-As a standalone site we can optimize the interface for this concept, which is really a very different idea than reddit.com.
-Twitter integration is really helpful. Acts as both moderation and as a way for people to spread AnyAsq to their followers when they do an AMA or ask a question.
-We're a YC company which will hopefully help us get people like Harj (or pg? Don't do it quite yet though please) on there and maybe help with press.
Feature request: don't force me to sign in with twitter. I understand having the option and even encouraging it, but I don't actually like twitter and don't want to use it as my identity/login. I don't want to use Facebook for that either, though I'm sure it would be wise to offer that as an option.
Please support OpenID and good old non-social username/password logins.
The concept should make more sense to people as a standalone site than as a sub-section on another site. (Easier to explain, easier to link to, etc)
Should isn't very strong. I don't think the 15 seconds it takes to get used to an /r/IAMA thread is worth a whole new product.
As a standalone site we can optimize the interface for this concept, which is really a very different idea than reddit.com
That's true.
Twitter integration is really helpful. Acts as both moderation and as a way for people to spread AnyAsq to their followers when they do an AMA or ask a question.
Twitter has a text box where i can tweet anything i like. Your twitter integration makes it harder to sign up and adds almost no benefit. That's a negative, imho.
We're a YC company which will hopefully help us get people like Harj (or pg? Don't do it quite yet though please) on there and maybe help with press.
So is reddit, and reddit doesn't need any help with press, given it's 15 something million users.
You're taking something that works and breaking it.
"I don't think the 15 seconds it takes to get used to an /r/IAMA thread is worth a whole new product."
I don't know what to think about this product, but I have to disagree with you on this point. It might take 15 seconds to explain Reddit AMAs to techies, but if the aim is to make AMAs more popular with non-techies, I can definitely see that there might be an advantage.
> The concept should make more sense to people as a standalone site than as a sub-section on another site. (Easier to explain, easier to link to, etc)
> As a standalone site we can optimize the interface for this concept, which is really a very different idea than reddit.com.
reddit already has the capability of allowing the moderators do a different domain with a different interface -- the mods just have to decide to do it, so be careful here.
Otherwise, you make some interesting points. I'm curious though, what is your advantage over Quora, which is also a clone of Iama, designed to be a standalone Q&A site?
I think you underestimate the value of a giant community interested in reading about stuff in general. They are the consumers of knowledge and content and are there to consume pictures, videos, AMAs, etc. While I don't always want to read AMAs, the most popular do make it through to my front page or I can see what's going on when I feel the urge, without ever changing sites. That value proposition alone is why I don't think I'd regularly use a dedicated AMA site.
As an early user on anyasq (http://bit.ly/iQYjXb), I'll say anyasq already has a much better user experience than reddit AMA. The twitter integration for both questioners and submitters (and the emails when you get new questions) are key. Once they get a few prominent people on there I could really see this taking off.
* Better moderation. Seems like there are no unverified AMAs on anyasq. Trolling is a major problem on /r/iama.
* By leveraging the YC network to get AMAs with people who would never do a Reddit AMA.
These two things are relatively straightforward and simple, but I think it's a winning combination. The popularity of the AMA concept certainly has been validated by /r/iama. Backed by a company, I think it has a lot of potential to form the basis of a small successful media company. For example, I have a binder saved of useful advice mined from /r/iama. The value of this advice is great and would normally be unavailable to me. If someone put out a curated book, I'd buy it in a second.
Devil's advocate:
Reddit is getting better at the trolling with confirmations from moderators.
Reddit AMA gets a surprising amount of important people to pass their way.
And technically reddit is in the YC network (though the founders have left). But agreed that there are some people who would never do a AMA on reddit that might come from YC.
Also, let's say that anyasq isn't a YC company (not sure if they are or not). Then all they have going for them is better moderation. To me that just sounds like retweeting on twitter without the character limit and a cleaner interface. I am not so sure that is a winning combination. One would think that YC would pick a company that didn't need to be in YC to succeed.
> One would think that YC would pick a company that didn't need to be in YC to succeed.
I don't think that holds up here. Like it or not, reputation is the name of the game when it comes to media. It doesn't matter if you are as good of a writer as those on staff at the Times, you simply wont get the same opportunities. I think it would be silly for YC to discount this fact when funding media companies.
> The ones where it's a person, /iama/ already verifies those.
Trolls have successfully gotten fake IAMAs from celebrities like Emilia Clarke verified by the moderation team. The fake Emilia Clarke IAMA got close to 1,000 comments before the ruse was discovered. [1]
> Unverified IAMAs tend to be the I am a doctor etc...which can't be verified.
It's an incorrect assumption that verification is only useful for specific people. There was an amazing AMA by a Navy Seal a week or two back [2] and verification was crucial in that case (for some odd reason, lots of people like to claim to be a SEAL). Verification is certainly possible for most AMAs, including professions like doctors. Another example that comes to mind was an AMA by a law school professor [3], which was verified as well.
> what moderation?
Successful moderation is a critical part of running a community in this area. The moderation in /r/iama is extensive and they do good work there. I'm simply saying someone who is getting paid to do it will do a better job.
> Seems like this is a money grab.
Well that's because it is. It's a company. It's not like the /r/iama moderation staff couldn't have spun off a company a long time ago. That's what the moderation staff of /r/starcraft ended up doing and it seems to be working. There's nothing wrong with someone trying to make money off of a value added service. When you think about it, AMAs have the appeal of books like Founders/Coders at Work. People like to read that stuff and I can see the benefit is someone trying to start a company around it, rather than do it as a hobby.
I am not sure I accept the proposition that moderation staff who are paid will always do a better job. Unpaid moderators do it for their various reasons, one of the most common I've seen is a deep passion for the topic. Being paid to do something changes that dynamic incredibly. The best moderated forum I ever was a member of was done completely on a non-profit basis. There were paid competitors, every other site in the niche had some sort of monetization, except this one. The mods loved the area and were deeply respected in the niche. The community was strong. They eventually did quit and sold it to a company, the site died nearly instantly with a paid staff taking over.
Stark contrast to startup accelerators/incubators:
Everything must be triple-y open sourced.
Profiting from the idea is fine but not required (or even heavily encouraged).
No equity involved.
Emphasis on technical mentorship from Mozilla crew.
Sounds like a program that accelerates your chance of getting recruited by Mozilla to keep working on your project. None of this is a bad thing, it just depends on your particular bend in life. If I was trying to make the next jQuery or Modernizer, for example, I would be bouncing off the walls trying to get into this.
Only code written during the incubation is required to be open source, teams are free to fork it after that and continue onward (with traditional VC funding). However, Mozilla does encourage keeping the source open; certainly open source does not imply not profitable.
That is how emacs has felt to me. There was a large amount of upfront learning, more than there probably should be for this example to make perfect sense, but after a few months with it I am able to do the basics pretty well. Every time I wish I could do something in emacs, a little bit of googling shows that there is a key binding for exactly what I want. So bit by bit, emacs is going from a weird text editor that does the basics into something way more useful than I thought.
/noob rant about the magic, magic!, of using emacs.
What I ended up doing by mistake which I really like is that when I get to the end of a diary, I have usually written only on the front side of pages. So I start writing on the back sides of the pages and I watch as my life unfolds in reverse. I can see how I felt yesterday, then 3 days ago, then 5 days ago, and then it gets to several months. And I am looking back on how I thought/felt and seeing all these patterns. You start looking at what you wrote in a different like. Patterns, like maybe a person in your life being sad often or a certain idea that you keep writing about, start to really emerge clearly.
I think it is a worthwhile habit if you want to understand your mind. It also helps me sleep most of the time by letting me get stuff out of my head.