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Startup advice, briefly
This is a very short summary with lots left out—here is the long version: http://startupclass.samaltman.com You should start with an idea, not a company. When it’s just an idea or project,...
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 1,895 posts.
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Many McGill Education Students Cannot Calculate an Average
This is a story about McGill education students that cannot calculate an average, and the professor who admitted he didn't care. Fina...
1624
Mastering Git submodules
Hair-pulling. Helpless rage. Clusterfucks. They leave much to be desired, yet sometimes are the right tool for the job. Let’s tame them!
1625
Komodia SSL certificates are in many products
So, as people have started turning over stones, looking to see how common these Komodia certificates are, some surprising (and depressing) things are beginning to surface. It does appear that Komod…
1626
Bayes' Theorem with Lego
Find Bayes' Theorem confusing? Let's break down this famous formula using Lego to help you build up a better intuition for this foundational concept!
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Extracting the SuperFish certificate
I extracted the certificate from the SuperFish adware and cracked the password (" komodia ") that encrypted it. I discuss how down below. T...
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Another update on the Truecrypt audit
There’s a story on Hacker News asking what the hell is going on with the Truecrypt audit. I think that’s a fair question, since we have been awfully quiet lately. To everyone who donate…
1632
A Tribute to the Windows 3.1 “Hot Dog Stand” Color Scheme
Yesterday’s post about code syntax color schemes got me thinking about what is perhaps the ultimate color scheme, Windows 3.1’s “Hot Dog Stand”: The truly funny thing about this color scheme is that all the other Windows 3.1 color schemes are surprisingly rational, totally reasonable color
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What interests Reddit? A network analysis of 84M comments by 200K users
Reddit.com is a popular social media and news aggregation site. Here I analyze over 80 million comments by 200K redditors to discover what topics interest them.
1634
I Know This – Hack Jurassic Park’s Security System
“I Know This” is a game I made for the Global Game Jam 2015 along with Gavin McCarthy (art, design), Adam Axbey (sound effects) and Matthew Simmonds (4mat) (music); I did programming and design. The name we chose for the team was Two’s Complement .
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HTTP/2 Is Done
The IESG has formally approved the HTTP/2 and HPACK specifications, and they’re on their way to the RFC Editor, where they’ll soon be assigned RFC numbers, go through some editorial processes, and be published.
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The billionaire’s typewriter
Butterick’s Practical Typography
1638
The Expert in a Year Challenge
The Expert in a Year Challenge took place in 2014 and followed novice table tennis player Sam Priestley's journey from complete beginner to mastery.
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Why I Don't Hate Git: Hidden Consistency
Some thoughts on why git’s complex user interface works so well in practice.
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Shipping Culture Is Hurting Us
Yet another programming blog. Thoughts on software and related misadventures.
1642
Who Can Name the Bigger Number?
[This essay in Spanish] [This essay in French] [This essay in Chinese] In an old joke, two noblemen vie to name the bigger number. The first, after ruminating for hours, triumphantly announces "Eighty-three!" The second, mightily impressed, replies "You win." A biggest number contest is clearly pointless when the…
1643
Harmful Gotos, Premature Optimizations, and Programming Myths
Let's revisit some programming myths and see how harmful they have been to our industry.
1644
The Software Revolution
In human history, there have been three great technological revolutions and many smaller ones. The three great ones are the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, and the one we are...
1645
Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) and Software License FAQ
A: To answer common questions about the Debian Free Software Guidelines and how we judge whether some piece of software is free.
1646
An Investor Wanted to Give Me $50,000. Here’s Why I Said No
It was money they needed, but it came with strings attached.
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Are You Living In a Computer Simulation? (2003)
The original paper that introduced the simulation argument
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From 1,000,000 to Graham's Number
Graham's number is so big, we need a whole new set of tools to even discuss it.