wes-exp

6 ms·

1.
by wes-exp 11y ago
There is also ftype: (declaim (ftype (function (number string) number) add-string)) (defun add-string (a b) ...)
2.
by wes-exp 11y ago
It sounds like what you're describing is not figuring out at a high level what to do, but formalizing that into low-level instructions for a computer. This goes exactly to my point. What I meant by "algorithm design" is strat
3.
by wes-exp 11y ago
The ill-conceived notion that parents giving children procedural instructions is somehow like programming brings me to a question for you as a teacher. I've noticed that the industry really prides itself on algorithms and this is commo
4.
by wes-exp 11y ago
Well there is the Steve Jobs solution: don't have license plates.
5.
by wes-exp 11y ago
> And this meant that the great danger to the peace and freedom of the world came not from Moscow or "international communism," but from the U.S. and its Empire stretching across and dominating the world. Can anyone explain how
6.
by wes-exp 11y ago
> neither Windows, Mac and Linux have any kind of permission system Actually, OS X now has the beginnings of an iOS-like permission system for location services and access to your contacts.
7.
by wes-exp 11y ago
Airbnb's technical quality has been obviously crap for its entire existence. Why are we taking engineering cues from a glorified room rental site that is frequently buggy?
8.
by wes-exp 11y ago
The whole tone of this question smacks of "gold fever". I'm guessing you're thinking about entering the field, so I'm going to tell you what someone told me during the original dot-com bubble: Only become a programm
9.
by wes-exp 11y ago
Please don't complain about one of the most fertile job environments and wish for it turn it into another Europe.
10.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Be careful not to conflate offshoring with outsourcing, which the article does. Some startups will have their own employees overseas, but my point is specifically about outsourcing to other companies.
11.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Two things: 1) You don't outsource your core in business, so outsourcing tech is not appealing for tech startups, period. 2) Typically tech startups are more of a growth optimization problem than a cost optimization problem. Outsourcin
12.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Here's Lisp (SBCL) vs. Python 3: http://benchmarksgame.alioth.debian.org/u64/compare.php?lang... Summary: crushes it.
13.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Greenspun's tenth rule rears its ugly head. Go reinvents Lisp macros, poorly.
14.
by wes-exp 12y ago
I strongly disagree that the high cost of living is beneficial for startups. Keep in mind the very term Silicon Valley comes from chip companies (Fairchild, Intel, etc.) who came to SV because it was cheap, open farm land . There isn&#x2
15.
by wes-exp 12y ago
I think too often people make social rather than technical decisions Indeed. It's sad that as engineers (who theoretically espouse logic, reason, and evidence) we still end up making so many decisions based on herd behavior.
16.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Jon Huntsman, the politician and businessman, speaks Mandarin. As such, he served as US Ambassador to China. Zuck's not the first – I'm sure there are more examples out there.
17.
by wes-exp 12y ago
For me something like list comprehensions is simply a matter of learning and expertise, not cleverness. Somebody banning them for "cleverness" reasons should be called out for what they are really doing: setting a (sadly low) know
18.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Nonsense. It could be steered (well, maybe rotated) with flywheels :)
19.
by wes-exp 12y ago
All good points. I wasn't trying to suggest a solution, but merely trying to point out that job creation should not be the sole bar by which we measure the investment of capital, but that it should do something useful too — whether tha
20.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Employment is all good and well, but one needs to consider: what are the second-order effects of that action? For instance, you could employ people to dig holes that serve no purpose. Or, you could employ people to build public infrastructu
21.
by wes-exp 12y ago
The explanation of greater longevity is simple. Heart disease and stroke, at least in the US, together account for slightly more deaths than cancer. Suppose that moderate alcohol consumption increases cancer risk by 5%, but decreases heart
22.
by wes-exp 12y ago
promoted by people wanting to feel better about their alcohol consumption Maybe, but this works in reverse too. There is a bias towards assuming that behavior perceived as sinful must also be harmful. This manifests in bad science in any
23.
by wes-exp 12y ago
I agree that it is silly to think that not drinking is actually a risk factor for heart disease. I was never trying to support that claim. I was just trying to point out the institutional biases that may be at play when AHA makes recommenda
24.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Don't single out cancer without considering all-cause mortality. A number of studies show that moderate alcohol consumption results in overall less death even if cancer risk is increased. "The beneficial effects of alcohol are not
25.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Keep in mind that almost no organization (outside alcohol sellers) can "recommend" alcohol consumption for the simple reason that alcohol is extremely negative for certain cohorts (i.e., alcoholics). Therefore, even if there are d
26.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Yeah the title should be something like "Study identifies the most nutrient-dense foods". Of course, I doubt that would get upvoted as much.
27.
by wes-exp 12y ago
And software built by volunteers, like OpenSSL, has proven to be so much more secure. It's not like heartbleed left practically the entire internet vulnerable to abuse. Oh wait, yes it did.
28.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Palantir is an SV company too. It was founded by Peter Thiel (et al) and its HQ is in Palo Alto.
29.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Java vs. Lisp/OCaml/etc. It is thought that these niche languages are more productive in the hands of an expert, but then, you need an expert, which is scary for the corporate bottom line. Hence the mass adoption of Java to keep w
30.
by wes-exp 12y ago
Excellent point. I found myself struggling to describe Lisp in terms that non-Lispers would understand (blub paradox I guess), and I figured almost everyone knows what a REPL is. You're absolutely right that a REPL itself is just scrat

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