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Life, Learning & Writing
The most popular blog posts about life, learning & writing on Hacker News. 285 posts.
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On Digital Minimalism
The Curmudgeonly Optimist People are sometimes confused about my personal relationship with digital communication technologies. On the one hand, I’m a computer scientist who studies and improves these tools. ... Read more
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Shrimp Trap
I built a prawn trap from lawyer cane, sticks and vine. Then I caught some prawns and ate them. Prawn (and fish) traps are simple traps designed to catch aquatic life due to their shape. It consist…
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Knuth versus Email (1999)
I have been a happy man ever since January 1, 1990, when I no longer had an email address. I'd used email since about 1975, and it seems to me that 15 years of email is plenty for one lifetime.
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End of Cycle?
One sign that technology markets often exhibit at the tail end of a cycle is a fast diversification of the types of startups getting funded. For example, following the core internet boom of the late 90s (Google, Yahoo!, eBay, PayPal), in early 2000 and 2001 there was a sudden diversification and investment into P2P…
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Don’t prematurely obsess on a single “big problem” or “big theory”
Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. (Susan Ertz, “Anger in the Sky”) There is a particularly dangerous occupational haz…
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So Far, So Good
Kind people already sent donations that will make my childrens' lives easier, when I'm not there any more. Thank you enormously! :-)
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Creativity is a great motivator
After a few years teaching a beginners course, I realized that using creativity is a great motivator to learn programming. Even in a technical field like software engineering, even with logic-driven students, the desire to create and express oneself is stimulating and inspiring.
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Meeting People Is Easy, but Hard
I have been doing app development since 2009. Initially as a hobby, then as part time work, and now as my full time job. It wasn’t until last year, however, that I found out there was an entire developer community out there supporting one another. That’s when I discovered conferences.
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Am I really a developer or just a good Googler?
I got a very earnest and well-phrased email from a young person overseas ...
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We have an epidemic of bad posture
What happens if you Google “coworking space”? You see people working hard. I see lots of necks, backs, arms, wrist and hands that will need phyiscal therapy in…
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The Programmer’s Guide to a Sane Workweek
This post used to contain an early version of the introduction to my previous book, The Programmer’s Guide to a Sane Workweek. I’m now working on an updated iteration.
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Don't Assume It's Difficult Until It Is
Algorithms, circle mazes, hex grids, masking, weaving, braiding, 3D and 4D grids, spheres, and more!
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Sad Trombone Exoplanet Reality Check
Some people on the internet are getting very excited at the (unconfirmed) reports of an "Earth-like" exoplanet orbiting Proxima Centauri , a mere 4.25 light-years away from Earth. If correct, the planet is orbiting in the liquid water zone around our nearest stellar neighbour and is of the same order of mass as the…
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My personal burnout – Lessons learned
Last week I was on the My Life For The Code podcast and had a really good talk with Shawn Rakowski (He has Continue Reading
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Why I’m never buying HTC again
I’m not a tech blogger, much less an activist. I usually never write reviews about tech gizmos. I just buy devices that I think will be useful, and if my expectations aren’t met, I just…
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Long Names are Long
One smart thing Google does is rigorous code reviews. Every change, before you can land it, gets reviewed in at least two ways. First, someone on the team does a normal review to make sure the code does what it’s supposed to.
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Ever young?
I turn 52 next week, and I have a confession to make: I feel like a complete failure at "adulting". Adulting, loosely defined, is that set of activities and behaviours which we judge to be characteristics of grown-ups. You can stop now and make your own list: what I'm going to suggest, speculatively, is that you…
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Stop saying learning to code is easy
(The photo above was taken at the Microsoft NYC office of three amazing young ...
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The Bug in the Physical Building
I heard a story on the way to work this morning. This story starts out like many stories about software projects start out: with a weird specification.
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Thought as a Technology
Have you ever felt awe and delight upon first experiencing a computer interface? An interface that surprised you with its strangeness, with a sense of entering an alien world?
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Academia, Love Me Back
My name is Tiffany Martínez. As a McNair Fellow and student scholar, I’ve presented at national conferences in San Francisco, San Diego, and Miami. I have crafted a critical reflection piece that w…