if you were me and had zero knowledge of programming would you learn from the internet (what websites would you use?) or would you pay thousands of dollars in schooling?

gordonfreedmen · 1 day

Me too. Except for me it was AOL "proggies" rather than games, which was also a fun little sandbox :)... I was about 13 when I started that; and then I spent $10,000s on school when I was 23. The school was just a personal goal, more of a break from my career to develop some social skills and learn really hard stuff along the way.

That said, if I could offer my younger self some advice, it'd be to keep balance in life and don't spend 24x7 locked in a hole on the computer. Developing IRL social skills is at least equally important, no matter how cool I was in my online circles.

Good luck, whatever you do!

EDIT: as for online learning, I'd say jump in and make something OR look at Udacity, because their format is different and more interesting than most of the other online courses in that it is oriented around building something specific.

EDIT 2: also, check out /r/cscareerquestions, there are tons of great Q/A there on the subject.

hiskoolstudent · 1 day

I dropped out of high school and worked as a programmer for ~5 years, and then got a 4.0 during my 3 semesters of community college (MCTC). I started at the U in Fall '09 in CLA, and transferred to IT/CSE in Fall '10.

killyridols12 · 2 days

I ruined my first relationship because of it (age ~15 y/o). I was convinced she liked a guy we knew, but after she felt overwhelmed and broke up with me and didn't start dating him and I felt stupid. I had no idea about MBTI back then, so I can't discuss that too deeply.

After that experience, I learned to ignore my gut feeling of jealousy. In my next relationship, I ignored it completely. Turns out that girl cheated on me with three guys(!), and I feel like an idiot because I knew it.

Now my philosophy/lifestyle is that if she's going to leave me, she's going to leave me. Since that time, relationships have never gone bad from jealousy because I'm pretty hands off of their personal life/time away from me, and I end if it I feel it's not working out. I'm on good terms with all the women I've ever dated (including those two), except one who was completely and objectively a psychopath...

TLDR; I've messed with jealousy but I think after a few solid lessons it figures itself out.

udelblue · 2 days

last I knew there was no secure 'random' number generation in browsers, but it looks like this library is using some new window.crypto stuff which is secure:

https://github.com/openpgpjs/openpgpjs/blob/master/src/ciphers/openpgp.crypto.js#L338

are there still reasons this might be a bad idea?

Honestly_ · 2 days

Not sure when they updated it, but I noticed the update on Sunday... check out this awesome (but low quality) picture of it that I took at the Google campus: http://i.imgur.com/SEFYg.jpg

webzter · 3 days

Sounds like a tough situation. Do what you gotta do! I wish the world were perfect...

webzter · 3 days

I just referenced, and unfortunately it doesn't name any specific metrics. On pages 60-61 of the 2nd edition, it just says "Suppose there were a foolproof productivity measurement tool and it was being applied to your people's work at this very moment...." and goes on to make the point that if ever the data were to fall into the hands of management, bad things would happen.

I'd suggest things like Sonar as a good starting point.

edit: added missing words from quote

webzter · 3 days

I read a book called Peopleware (DeMarco, Lister) a while back. It basically said that quantifying the output of knowledge workers is inherently hard, and that once measurements are used by management (especially for negative action) motivation will drop and the system will be gamed; and that the only legitimate use of metrics is as private heuristics for self-improvement

I'm not quite a development veteran, but I've been around for a while, and in my experience it's been clear when somebody wasn't pulling their own weight or was plain incompetent. If the company culture is right, they will be weeded out pretty quick. I understand that it's the wish of your higher up and you may be forced to come up with something, but in the end a better answer to them might be that it's just a bad idea to try, and that effort would be better spent building a culture that is conducive of productive team members.

WilliamMeabrod · 6 days

This is flat out wrong. Three friends and I (two new grads and two experienced) all just decided to move to out here within the past year and had no trouble doing so, all hired by different companies we had no prior connections to. Relocation packages have been hit or miss, with 2 of us getting $2-3k and the other two not.

easypeas · 9 days

It's excellent and should be prerequisite reading for any CS/CE program. Requires absolutely zero knowledge of the subject to understand, yet is still interesting enough for those who do. It starts as a progression from flashlight codes, through number systems (binary/hex), through ram, through instructions, etc... from the absolute bottom up.

RootimusPrime · 12 days

TIL there are a few varieties of Hoegaarden: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoegaarden_Brewery#Types_of_Hoegaarden_beer

rya11111 · 15 days

but is it web scale?

g4r4e0g · 1 month

http://i.imgur.com/OO05v.jpg me enjoying my first Maibock of the season a couple weeks ago (Gordon Biersch in Palo Alto)... I've shared the love with a couple sixers too, quite delicious :)

Sierra Nevada is next. Hopefully I can get my hands on a Summit (a home town fave for me).

foundingo · 1 month

I watched an interesting talk the other day about Lean Startups... it mentioned a number of validation techniques that can be done without actually writing an app:

http://www.infoq.com/presentations/Lean-Startup

Interesting techniques include Grease Monkey scripting user tests to insert fake stuff into FB feed/Google results, and theclicktest.com

The important thing is you can validate your idea before investing money and even a lot of time into actually constructing your idea. If it turns out to be accepted as an awesome idea, you can go all-in without hesitation.

From there, the real data might make it less risky for somebody with the technical skills to come on board and help you out, since it's a validated great idea.

robschultze · 1 month

I'd start by hitting up networking events/social hours/hacker spaces; tons of entrepreneurs are there. Talk about what you do (it's what everyone does, I promise it's not awkward) and see if they have needs that seem interesting, and make deals when you can.

If you are introverted and hate 'networking' as I do, check out the book 'Networking for People who Hate Networking', it's got some pretty good non-standard tips to play on the strengths of the introvert.

Good luck.

IAmAGecko · 1 month

If you can get to Detroit, you can get to Mpls via Chicago on Megabus for very cheap.

Holmes1 · 1 month

I agree. I don't always fly, but when I do I make a point of not using my laptop and definitely not getting the in-flight wifi. Reading, music, dozing off, maybe having a drink or two, with no distractions. I love sitting down with the chance to read, think or zone out, or if I'm lucky have an X hour conversation with a random stranger.

johnrod32 · 1 month

I spend most evenings on the 23rd floor of 150 California. great view.

BetterBooNick · 1 month

I like the concept, but as wilfra said, it's way too long.

I'm in an accelerator right now, and they have drilled it into our heads that our 30 second pitch should be 30 seconds or less. You need to say just enough to peak their interest and have them wanting more.

The best outcome is when they are telling you what your product does. This means you've communicated the concept clearly enough for them to understand it intuitively. Translated to a video, maybe that would mean 'show rather than tell'. Then you could save the telling for a 'how does it work?' or 'learn more' page that interested people click on. Maybe some people get it and sign up without learning more first.

A more personal reaction, is I think Nick needed a better boo anyway because she was kind of a B if she'd leave him for getting the 'wrong' gift. I get the idea though :)

Good luck man.

lolelepants · 2 months

It's probably what Franholio said. My (live-in) girlfriend keeps saying she'll study to get hers, but 9 months later she's still not picked up the manual. I asked her what's really going on, and she has a certain fear.

I know it gets TIRING being chauffer every-single-time, I feel your pain. I think you should start by telling him it's straining the relationship (if you haven't already). It's only a small reframing of the discussion, but maybe it'll get him to be a little more open about whatever else is going on. That's language I understand, at least. Good luck!

qpla · 2 months

No doubt. I have a little C# language envy myself, but I like the Java ecosystem (and we use it at my company). Given a choice I'd use something more compact/expressive but still statically typed.

qpla · 2 months

You can get nearly the same effect with final variables and gain static typing power and guaranteed immutability of scope variables.

private Runnable saySomething(final String something) {
  final String prefix = "Let me just say ";
  return new Runnable() {
    public void run() {
      System.out.println(prefix + something);
    };
  }
}

I make no argument that the syntax is compact...

PenguinOpus · 2 months

I would love for us to have enough habitable planets and ability to readily travel between them for this to be possible!

Funnnny · 2 months

A couple Google talks at GDC talked about a framework called PlayN--may or may not be the foundation of the platform. It was created as they ported Angry Birds to Chrome.

cmsimike · 2 months

Groovy "Builders" seem to be the preferred means to DSL on the JVM recently. Check out the 3rd code block down: http://groovy.codehaus.org/Builders

harlanji

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harlanji

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