think-large

I <3 you OP. So much right now. I didn't even know i needed these until I read this post and now I know and I'm so happy.

I know matplotlib comes with Python(x,y) but that's a pretty awesome one too.

I think that is the beauty to this post it wasn't one person... However, Jeff Atwood seems to be the main contributor. He was also the co-founder of Stack Overflow.

http://stackoverflow.com/posts/477578/revisions

The power of team work.

Coursera has a huge amount of data and could create their own algorithms that check for similar code in the database. It wouldn't be perfect but it could do simple string comparison against other work.

Thanks for the advice. I've slowly been moving to the more technical side of the house since I graduated school, because I got hired on as an "Systems Engineer" that wrote power points. It was great in that I learned to deal with customers and push my comfort zone, but it also left my coding experience woefully insufficient for a time.

Luckily, I'm a step closer to what I want to do now, and I can fill my time with Udacity/Coursera classes when there is an abundant amount of downtime. I do have my eyes on the prize (which would be working in a faced paced and supportive environment) but I'm still building my skill set. It's just good to know that other people have been where I am and approached the problem logically to finally get somewhere that there was a better fit for them.

I plan on moving away from government contracting in general soon. I find that while they do pay well the constraints they put on the work just isn't worth it. If the company doesn't own the system that they work on then they don't tend to care about it in the same way.

Your comment was very inspiring. At the risk of saying too much, I find myself in a similar situation, where the culture of my workplace doesn't seem to jive with productivity or the way I work. I think another danger of a workplace is the idea that appearance is more important that quality of character.

Anyone can put on a suit and tie, but the ability and desire to fix problems isn't inherent in everyone. I've been at government contracts where they overvalue the employees who dress well and don't value those that look them straight in the eye, tell the truth and deliver in a timely manner.

I'm in my 20s and have never touched a type writer. I use the two space method almost exclusively because that's what I was taught. Sure I mess it up sometimes, but this article does make a fantastic case for why to use it for parsing. If I do mess it up that will show in my parsing, and I'll be able to go back and fix the spacing in the future.

Best comment I've read in a long time. Thank you very much Yoda.

Ditto and 100% agreed!

I think that something a lot of people who read this are forgetting (and please correct me if I'm wrong) is that most of us have 4 year degrees and/or jobs in Software Engineering (or at least Engineering).

These courses are meant to be a segue into free courses offered online that people can use in lue of a 200k four year degree. While this form of education isn't there yet, it's use builds the reputation of these online courses.

If cheating runs rampant in the courses (more so than in person classes) it has a chance to negate the reputation of these sites. This could set back "free" education for years.

While I don't think that Cheaters should have an affect on what we can learn and take away from these classes, but it will have an affect on how much employers (like edw519) trust the courses. If they don't trust the online classes, then people who don't have a formal education won't be able to use these freely offered classes to raise their earning power.

It's sad how much a few bad apples can spoil.

Another solution would be to employ an alogrithm that checks your solution against past solutions. It would work much like what professors employ when they submit Reports to an online repository.

If someone it stupid enough not to even change variable names then they'd be caught easily. While with Millions of solutions it would be easy to get some replication, most of the time there wouldn't be any and this is when manual intervention by a person could be triggered.

This in conjuntion with your solution would work pretty well especially if someone submitted a wrong answer for another question that they haven't seen.

Or by any employer who checks this "black list"

I agree with you, but that is mostly because I already have a 4 year degree in Engineering and I'm assuming you do too. There is a problem in the fact that many people cannot afford that degree because their parents can't afford it (or the loans that they'd need).

Cheating degrades the quality of education at any level. Cheaters are trying to get accreditation when they shouldn't. While Cheating is all over in education (we had a couple of cases at my school), it is obviously going to be more prominent in a place like Coursera, where cheating is easier and looking for cheaters is harder.

One thing they could do is create an algorithm that checks answers much like what they do for journals, but again that's an extra load they "shouldn't" have on their employees.

Thanks, that was my point.

Dude this comment is what I went to r/politics for... huge freaking mistake. Yeah I agree both of them misled. I was watching Obama's video the next day and he was till using that 5trillion dollar thing, but that doesn't upset me that much. I also think it's important for people to point out that Obama mentioned (last year) that he wanted to cut tax loopholes so on that front they are both even.

I think Romney isn't the man for the job, but I also am not of the opinion that the world is going to go to hell if he wins.

I can't believe how ridiculous this is. I think that this will definitely just earn her a bigger following among her fellow players and only alienate the older crowd who wouldn't like her anyway.

Politics makes me sick.

It's really the contrast between these two comments that drove me to Python. Many things are possible with the web, yet I'm more interested in Machine Learning and development of applications for phones/computers/adruino/etc. So I gotta say that Python seems like the tool for me. I also love C and C++ so that might say a little more about what I like...

I know absolutely nothing about Ruby, is it as useful outside of the web framework as python is? I have come to use python a lot for different programming needs and as a test before I turn to something like C/C++ any more.

I have been able to use Python as a middle ground. A place that I can go and work to make web tools, but also go offline to solve little problems that bug me.

Is this something that is equally easy in Ruby? I mean, if I was going to go to the web strictly, I can see comparing the two as apples to apples, but that's not why I use Python...

I think that his statements were matter of fact and mostly true. While the baby boomers do know how to use computers and can handle their own for the most part. I'd also say that the knowledge gained by growing up with those tools just isn't there. It doesn't seem as intuitive to them.

I think that a chart like this would show a similar trend if it was geared toward exposure to computers and aptitude.

Now this is just a hypothesis based on data that I've seen and I'd be open to a study that shows the opposite.

Also, big buttons are just a logical step, I know that my dad loves anything with big buttons because it doesn't strain his eyes or take as steady a hand. And some day I'm going to want the same thing.

Assuming that age doesn't affect our ability to see and interact with tools it just ridiculous. Hacker News is not a place for people to bury their heads in the sand.

Another important thing to consider is your target audience. If you are designing a site like github that targets developers then you can probably assume they know what a FAQ page is.

I think that overall, this article isn't highlighting sins, but more pet-peeves. I get annoyed by some of these things as well and I think good website designs should incorporate better options. But unless you present me with a study that is broken down by generation on who doesn't know what a FAQ is I'm going to have to throw the BS flag here.

This sort of thing is very dependent on a person's age too.

I know a lot of my peers would know what FAQ means and what a password is. Even some of the "less" tech savvy people. But late adopters who are still using 10 year old PCs usually don't know.

Before I hear claims of ageism, it is just a fact that a higher percentage of the older generations don't know how to use computers. It isn't ALL of them but they didn't have the benefit of growing up with computers as a tool, to the point where they become second nature.

I just have to say that this post spoke to me. I've found things on this forum that have helped me tremendously at work. I have a minor in CS and I now work as a developer. I have been able to perform well at work, but I still feel inadequate for the job. I know some of the other developers do things better than I do, and I struggle to see how "I" am a Hacker. I really deem that a term for the elite in our field, and I don't think I'm there.

But I'm learning and I love learning and that's what I think is really important as a programmer. Some of the things in this post I knew about others, I'm going to have to research but at least it's easy to find useful help nowadays. Thank you Hacker News.

>Name for me one brand new feature.

Navigation App

I just wanted to say that you need to calm down and address the issue here. He is obviously an avid follower of this type of bill and he pays attention to the news and likes to post his opinion here.

I'd like you to watch this video and see if you might fall into this category. I know that I frequently do.

http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_...

Would you define reality as what the media is telling you or do you have experience living in America? I'm just not sure, but your post implied that you don't live here and get many of your facts from the news. That doesn't give an accurate representation of life in America.

I am new to Hacker News. I have to say that I too despair at some of the comments posted on the site. I believe that open discourse and communication is great, but when someone posts in jest it belittles what we all desire from a community like this.

I find myself filtering comments on HN. I still go and read them (as opposed to Reddit where I don't read comments), but this is a location where comments should be meaningful and less of the "Herpty Derp" we get on YouTube. I don't believe HN is comparable to YouTube, but at the same time I can see where content in comments could be improved.

I would be in favor of a system that taught new recruits to listen and watch the community before commenting, much like what this article suggest.

Re-post anyone??

I'd love to get any references you have. I enjoy learning from anyone who can keep an open mind. I do have to say that your comment about sheep herders, while funny (and accurate) was a little over the top.

Deistic or Theistic, if someone doesn't suck at religion I think that they should be left alone. Especially if that leads them to give money to the poor, teach in developing nations, etc. While it can be argued that those things have negative effects I've also seen some of the good that comes from it first hand.

I love this comic. I believe it sums up most of what I think about religion. The only thing I would change is the one where the father is teaching his daughter. There does need to be room for a parent to "express" belief to his children and acceptance when the children differ from the parent.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/religion

Agnostic and atheistic beliefs can be added to the above comic as well. :-) That being said, if you see someone sucking at their religion please school them and tell them I'm asking them not to make the rest of us look bad.

Bah, I'm stopping this thread cuz I did a better job of explaining in this other conversation.

Also, it is not a failure at all, it is a datum to be added to the experience that we base our observations on.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4417531

agreed. also, why (for the most part) the religious try to avoid addressing science. There are some crazies out there tho...