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bballbackus | 13 years ago | on: DoubleDollarJS.com

The script-markup mixture used by DoubleDollar or Backbone is really just a necessary quirk to achieve templating functionality. I haven't seen it done better honestly.

Try it, you're refusal to "get past the need to mix markup and code" is restricting you from some pretty helpful functionality if you build JS heavy web apps!

bballbackus | 14 years ago | on: Foxconn workers threatened mass suicide for their working conditions

They don't consider it inhumane, because it lies around the general treatment these people will get for the majority of low wage low skill jobs in China. This unrest is good though, as it compliments the already staggering turnover rate Foxconn endures with its employees, and will lead to marginal improvement over time assuming low skill job demand is competitive enough in China.

bballbackus | 14 years ago | on: 3.3 million e-mails between the most powerful men are about to be released.

This is due to one of my least favorite traits about reddit: the hivemind criminalizes the rich and powerful by defining them as naturally evil. I don't know how this mindset got started on reddit; I would love to find out. It seems to be their way of justifying being middle/lower class by saying the reason the rich/powerful succeed is due the rich/powerful not having a heart and gaming people of their money.

bballbackus | 14 years ago | on: Go Isn't C

I think most programmers and engineers have personalities that constantly question their own competency. This is predominantly a good quality as it leads to much more rapid talent development, but it also leads to irrational actions like recreating libraries out of fear that you're "not a real programmer" if you use the work of others.

bballbackus | 15 years ago | on: A Python programmer’s first impression of CoffeeScript

I don't like that Coffeescript requires a compiler to create the actual javascript, but that they don't offer a cross-platform solution for this compiler. Yes, you can get the compiler working on Windows with Cygwin, but a better solution would be a windows compatible compiler that didn't make me go through the hassle of setting up Cygwin in the process.

bballbackus | 15 years ago | on: The Ultimate HTML5 Tutorials and Useful Techniques

Can we avoid these types of submissions in the future? This article isn't trying to educate the readers with anything in particular, HTML5 is just a buzz word and by dumping a ton of links about the topic they can drive traffic to their site. Just look at the content: there are two articles about "Drag and Drop with HTML5", a half dozen articles about writing HTML5 that is backwards compatible and cross-browser, and another half dozen articles that are just generically talking about how to create a page with HTML5 from scratch.

bballbackus | 15 years ago | on: Poll: Is HN your main online news source?

My main sources of news are:

1) HN for news about technology, startups, and some programming

2) Reddit mainly for entertainment now, maybe a tiny bit of news, psychology articles

3) New Yorker for interesting articles about topics I would never think of learning about.

4) Economist to get a good idea of all important things going on in the world (I don't read them cover to cover, more just skim. Reading a full issue would take almost a day of my time).

5) Ny Times and WSJ rss, mainly just read the headlines and read occasional articles if they catch my eye

bballbackus | 15 years ago | on: Dumb and gets things done

As a high schooler, I'm fascinated with a similar paradox that I've observed. In my opinion there are four defining types of students, smart with a strong work ethic, average intelligence with a strong work ethic, smart but prone to procrastination, and average and prone to procrastination. In the schooling system, the order I listed is also the order of highest grades to lowest grades, meaning that these groups are ordered in highest to lowest scholastic value. I don't think this order is relevant outside of school though as people take more targeted jobs that appeal to their interests. This presents a problem as college admittance is based on the hierarchy I listed, meaning that some of the smarter kids will be put on a path that doesn't set them up for an optimal career.

bballbackus | 15 years ago | on: Sorting Algorithm Animations

So is there an ideal case for selection sort that isn't shown or does it just suck?

Edit: Never mind they explained:

From the comparions presented here, one might conclude that selection sort should never be used. It does not adapt to the data in any way (notice that the four animations above run in lock step), so its runtime is always quadratic.

However, selection sort has the property of minimizing the number of swaps. In applications where the cost of swapping items is high, selection sort very well may be the algorithm of choice.

bballbackus | 15 years ago | on: 4Chan To Target RIAA Next

The idea is that the MPAA or someone hired a company that executes DDoS attacks against torrent websites. It is in fact a immature retaliation. At the end of the day, even if the RIAA and MPAA are sometimes behind the times, they are enforcing the (American) law on digital rights. People can use all the backwards reasoning they want, but they are still receiving content for free that the distributor wants them to pay for.
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