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bjacks | 10 years ago | on: A Badass Way to Connect Programs Together

Can anyone explain what a sequential programming language is?

Context here:

"I guess I’d underestimated the difficulty of implementing Anything-over-TCP in a sequential language. Just because it’s really really easy in Erlang doesn’t mean to say it’s easy in sequential languages."

bjacks | 10 years ago | on: Early exit is a tail call optimization of procedural languages

I think that if the author re-wrote the first method in a cleaner way, composed of lots of smaller methods with descriptive names then the code would be a lot more readable, and you wouldn't even need to debate the whole multiple returns versus single point of return thing because your "mental stack" could handle either option equally well.

For example:

  public string Execute(int integer, string str, bool boolean) {
    string result;

    if (isValidInteger) {
       result = validateStringAndBool(str, boolean);
    } else {
       result = “Error: Integer is too small”;
    }
   return result;
}

  private string validateStringAndBool(string str, bool boolean) {
     if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(str)) {
       return isValidBoolean(boolean)          
     } else {
        return  “Error: String is null or empty”;
     }
  }
 
  private string isValidBoolean(bool boolean) {
     if (boolean) {
        return “Success”;
     } else {
        return “Error: Incorrect Boolean”;
     }
  }
And yeah, I can't see how this has anything to do with tail call optimization other than a fluffy analogy to stacks - mental and programmatic.

bjacks | 10 years ago | on: Who Y Combinator Companies Want

I'd really like to know what it is about a resume or in an interview that makes someone seem like more of a 'product programmer'.

Is it the particular things they have worked on at other jobs, i.e. their experience, or is it the way they talk about what they want to build?

I'd be really interested to hear how I can make myself sound like more of a product programmer.

bjacks | 10 years ago | on: P vs. NP: An Assumption That Runs the Internet

I don't understand how verifying a TSP is any different to solving it - I.e. don't I have to do just as much work to verify that a particular solution is correct as if I was solving it from scratch? I.e. brute force?

bjacks | 10 years ago | on: Reconsider

I love this part of the article, it's incredibly important to remember this:

"The web is the greatest entrepreneurial platform ever invented. Lowest barriers of entry, greatest human reach ever. I love the web. Permission-less, grand reach, diversity of implementation. Don’t believe this imaginary wall of access of money. It isn’t there."

bjacks | 10 years ago | on: Developers who can build things from scratch

A little off-topic, but has anyone else found that a lot of Haskellers fit into that "pet technologists" category? I've worked with a number of them, and seen them sneak Haskell in, despite it not being the best choice for the project.

bjacks | 11 years ago | on: How Coursera Competes for the Best Talent

Actually, this exact thing happened to me. I was asked to come in for a couple of hours to meet the team and see the office. When I arrived I was taken to a room where I was interviewed for 3 hours, by 3 different interview teams. Two of them were whiteboard interviews, then an interview with management.

Needless to say I rejected the offer, I was so unimpressed with the hiring process. Disgusted actually.

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