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unkeptbarista

Re:That time when I failed the Microsoft interview on Tuesday August 04, 2026 @11:01AM (#49169946)
I had an interviewer once interrupt me and say that there was no way I could remember the techincal details of a 10 year old project I was the architect for, thus any details I did offer would likely be lies. Needless to say, I didn't get an offer nor would I have accepted it.
Kiki's themes can be edited to suit one's personal tastes. The theme .css files are about 120 lines long.
There is a network of Memory Labs (1) and many more that are not part of the network. Check your local libraries to see if they have one. The Kansas City area has one at the Johnson County library.

1) https://memorylabnetwork.github.io

Re:Tracy Kidder has died on Wednesday March 25, 2026 @05:48PM (#47523737)
I too had a crossing of paths with one of the micro kids. She was descibed in the book as the lone female engineer on the team. She is a very sharp and talented individual and was a pleasure to work with.
Re:The last supported version of HP-UX is no more on Monday January 05, 2026 @02:02PM (#46503118)
I once worked at a shop that supported their product on a variety of Windows, UNIX, and Linux platforms. Most of the development was done on Windows, but there were some there that favored Linux and a few, Solaris. The machines running HPUX were primarily used to debug issues that arouse only on HPUX. I think the machine running HPUX was old and slow, so none there favored it as a devlopment platform.
Re:Ask HN: Who here is not working on web apps/server code? on Friday December 19, 2025 @05:13PM (#46331587)
I'm not sure I'm the best person for advice on this matter, or maybe it is great advice for some. I took a leap, believed in myself, and it worked out okay.

I'm self taught when it comes to computers and software development. For years before I landed a paying development job I did a lot of hobby projects. When I decided to take the leap and landed my first development job I took a fairly steep cut in pay. I was single, could afford the cut and was doing something I really wanted to do. It got the experience I needed and after the first year and changing jobs, my pay substantially increased.

I realize not everyone can take the approach I took. It may not even work these days. I did this 38 years ago when the industry was a bit more accepting of developers without a college degree.

Addendum: I also networked. I went to the equivalent of meet ups of the day. Talked with other developers, showed them my work, etc. This is how I found my first job.

Re:Ask HN: Who here is not working on web apps/server code? on Friday December 19, 2025 @04:14PM (#46331009)
Doing embedded development using C. Thoroughly enjoy it.

I was once in a group that was switched away from the work we were doing and repurposed to do web work. It was a bad experience, but not because it was web work. The code base we were given was in terrible shape and we weren't allowed the time to adequately fix issues. Thankfully I no longer work there.

Re:Tell HN: Happy Thanksgiving on Thursday November 27, 2025 @04:10PM (#46073255)
Happy Thanksgiving all.

Mostly a lurker. Been here over 10 years, but created my HN account 9 years ago. HN has been an invaluable source for me over they years.

Re:Earth may have had a ring system 466 million years ago on Monday September 16, 2024 @12:06PM (#41557513)
There is such a sci-fi plot. Unfortunately, I don't recall the story's title or the author. What I do recall was the use of gravitational lensing (a neutron star) to observe an alien world in the years just before the alien's home star went nova.
Re:Wizardry Co-Creator Andrew Greenberg Has Passed Away on Tuesday September 03, 2024 @08:17AM (#41434197)
I had the pleasure of meeting (virtually) Andrew through his work with the Squeak community. I also ran into Robert Woodhead (also virtually) through the game StarWeb[1] which he played and contributed to[2].

[1] http://www.rickloomispbm.com/starweb.html [2] https://www.madoverlord.com/wiki/doku.php/madoverlord:projec...

Re:How I Got My Laser Eye Injury on Thursday August 01, 2024 @08:42AM (#41128554)
I find this basics of this story believable. I worked at a place that manufactured IR lasers, and where the owner (the "Doctor" as we called him) set up similiar impromptu demonstrations that went awry. Thankfully no one was injured, but some random piece of equipment was damaged by the reflected beam.
Re:A Personal History of APL (1982) on Sunday December 03, 2023 @01:20PM (#38509382)
I had not heard of uiua before, but I'm familiar with both APL and stack languages, so it should fun to explore it its capabilities.
Re:Analysis of Lisa Clascal source-code on Monday February 06, 2023 @07:31AM (#34676391)
I think it displayed correctly for me. Still I switched to reader mode for comfort, due to the small font size and narrow column.
Re:Byte Magazine: The C Programming Language (1983) on Friday September 09, 2022 @02:31PM (#32783121)
Ditto here. C, Pascal and Forth were what I was using in those days. I did some 6502, 6800 and 68000 assembly, but only when needed.
Re:Byte Magazine: The C Programming Language (1983) on Friday September 09, 2022 @02:24PM (#32783037)
I was fortunate enough to start learning C, in 1983, using one of the compilers reviewed in that issue. BDS C for CPM. Learning C definitely paid off. Here it is nearly 40 years later, and I'm still using C for embedded development.
I'll admit that I was assuming that since many civilizations at that time knew how to make gold and silver filigree, that copper wire was also possible. One can probably replace the copper wire with gold wire, but you might have a hard time convincing the locals to loan you some for demonstration.
Pretty sure the Greeks have all the materials for these.

Create batteries from dissimilar metals, using clay pots, weak organic acids, and copper wire. Once you have batteries, wind copper wire around a small, rough rod of iron to create a weak magnet.

A mineral acid will produce stronger batteries, but require access to things like salammoniac and blue vitrol and the knowledge of how to heat them together and pass the resulting gases through water.

In all the years I've used Consumer Reports I've never seen them rate moving services. I just jumped on their site now, and there are no reviews for moving services.
I've been wearing hearing aids for almost 8 years. The brain training process is real and I'm glad the audiologist explained it.
Re:The Toynbee Convector on Monday October 18, 2021 @03:53PM (#28910713)
My personal favorite was "Something Wicked This Way Comes".
Re:Discontinue Sourcetrail on Thursday September 23, 2021 @10:17PM (#28637947)
Yes, that is what it's talking about.
Just so it's clear, that truly frightening stuff is on haven.org, and not on the OP's havenweb.org site.
Re:C Programming on System 6 – Intro [video] on Friday October 02, 2020 @11:51AM (#24663871)
Good memory, there was a Megamax C, but I never used it.

When Lightspeed C (renamed to Think C) came out most of the Mac developers I knew that used C switched to it. I was still writing in MPW Pascal, and would continue to use it for professional Mac development until '91.

The C compiler that I remember working with was Aztec C, but for early Mac side projects. Later I switched to Think C for my side projects.

An aside: My first C compiler was for CPM and was named BDS C.

https://www.bdsoft.com/resources/bdsc.html

Re:Metcalf Sniper Attack on Saturday August 29, 2020 @05:05PM (#24319432)
The action is easy to miss after nearly two minutes of nothing happening. If you fast forward you might not see it at all.

1:54 What I believe is the signal flash near the fencing. Lower left of the video.

2:06 You will see sparks from a bullet striking the fencing. A bit higher up than the signal flash, and on the extreme left of the video.

3:01 Toward the middle right of the video, a bullet striking the fencing.

Update: NPR article with timing of events seen in video. They say first flash is also bullet related and not the signal flash I thought it might be.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2014/02/05/272015606...

Re:By the Bluebook implementation of Smalltalk-80 on Tuesday May 26, 2020 @07:55PM (#23317866)
Well done. My first experience was with Smalltalk/V. I still have my well worn copy of the blue book.
Re:My Favorite Science Fiction (and Non-Fiction) Books on Monday December 19, 2016 @09:56AM (#13211741)
I'll counter with:

1) Dune - Frank Herbert

2) Mote in God's Eye - Niven & Pournelle

3) The Lord of Light - Roger Zelanzy

4) Xeelee Series - Stephen Baxter (Or the Manifold: books)

5) The Well World Saga - Jack L. Chalker (Stick with the first 5 books)

There is a urban fantasy novel by Mike Sheldon based on the two oldest quit rents mentioned in this article.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6673065-sixty-one-nails