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1331on Ask HN: good book or resources to get my SQL skills to the next level

I recommend two authors, listed below with Amazon links to their most famous books:

C. J. Date http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Database-Systems-C-Date/d...

Joe Celko http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Celkos-SQL-Smarties-Programming/dp...

1331on Ask HN: where to search for open source software?

It has been a long time since I have used it, but I see that http://freshmeat.net is still around.

1331on Minimalistic Memoization (Python, 16 lines)

http://docs.python.org/reference/expressions.html#calls

Line 9: A formal parameter using the syntax * identifier receives a tuple containing any excess positional arguments.

Line 11: When the syntax * expression appears in the function call, expression evaluates to a sequence, the elements of which are treated as if they were the positional arguments.

1331on Who's your favorite domain registrar in 2010 and why?

My favourite is http://joker.com/ because they are very professional and honest.

1331on Bootstrapping a Lean Startup

According to http://www.whoishostingthis.com the site is hosted by ServerBeach, not RackSpace.

1331on Bootstrapping a Lean Startup

Here is a coral cache link:

http://www.ashmaurya.com.nyud.net/2010/03/bootstrapping-a-le...

1331on Ask HN: Good Drupal resources?

Smashing Magazine has an article with links to many resources:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/09/24/drupal-developers...

1331on Ask HN: I use and love Python. What's the best book to learn C ?

I highly recommend _C: A Reference Manual_ by Harbinson and Steele. It has many tiny examples, but it is mainly used as a reference manual (as the title suggests).

http://www.amazon.com/Reference-Manual-Samuel-P-Harbison/dp/...

A good book for learning C is _Mastering Algorithms with C_ by Loudon. The source code is over-commented and contains too much white space, which is a bit annoying, but the content is quite nice.

http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Algorithms-C-Kyle-Loudon/dp/...

1331on An Interview Question That Prints Out Its Own Source Code (In Ruby)

Check out this "quine relay!" http://d.hatena.ne.jp/ku-ma-me/20090916/p1

The Ruby program outputs Python that outputs Perl that outputs Lua that outputs OCaml that outputs Haskell that outputs C that outputs Java that outputs Brainfuck that outputs Whitespace that outputs Unlambda that outputs the original Ruby program.

(I was unable to get it to work when I tested it, but I still find it quite impressive!)

1331on Ask HN: techniques for basic graphics design (for programmers)?

You are welcome!

Here are some sites that aggregate tutorials: * http://www.noupe.com/ * http://www.smashingmagazine.com/ * http://sixrevisions.com/

There are some Xara Xtreme tutorials on their main website. The free Linux version is not near as feature-complete as the Windows version, unfortunately, but you can still do quite a bit. * http://www.xara.com/us/products/xtreme/tutorials-demos/

I do not know of a way to save vector (SVG) images from browsers either, but if raster (PNG) exports would suffice, then check out the Firefox Screengrab! extension, which allows you to easily capture screenshots of whole pages (regardless of scrolling). BTW, here is a fun JavaScript library: * http://raphaeljs.com/

Keyboard input in Photoshop and Illustrator is something that I consider a core feature. How much it is needed really depends on the type of artwork/design that is being done, but every professional user that I have met makes quite extensive use of the keyboard, particularly when placing guides or dealing with vector shapes. (Unfortunately, keyboard input is not as core as it should be... For example, Adobe software does not support keyboard positioning of Bézier curve handles, meaning that the designer needs to create reference objects to snap to in order to have consistent curves.)

I find that doing everything in a text editor is great for some projects and not for others. I use Asymptote (within LaTeX documents) for technical drawings, and one of my favourite benefits is being able to use revision control. Postscript itself is Turing complete, BTW! :) For more artistic works, however, I find that using a GUI suits me better. My philosophy is to learn many different ways of doing things and use whatever you feel works best for any particular job... I use Python extensively, and sometimes I even break out POV-Ray!

1331on Ask HN: techniques for basic graphics design (for programmers)?

Practice is essential in becoming proficient in design. A technique that I particularly recommend for beginners is recreating designs that you like, from scratch. Start with something easy and work up!

The majority of my design "training" was done in a professional environment, using Illustrator and Photoshop. Such software has hierarchical layers/groups as well as support for keyboard input, which address your questions about performing tasks such as drawing circles and modifying designs.

Photoshop (raster-oriented graphics) is quite mature and impressive; there is unfortunately no OSS that can even approach its creative power, IMHO. Illustrator (vector-oriented graphics, which seems to be your interest) is nowhere near as solid as Photoshop... The best OSS alternative (for screen design, that I know of) is Xara Xtreme, which outdoes Illustrator in a number of ways. Unfortunately, core features such as layers/groups and keyboard input are not done well in Xara, and it is a long way away from being able to do print. Inkscape trails pretty far behind.

If you would like to take a scripting approach, how about trying JavaScript in a modern browser? In case it is better suited for your needs, you may also want to check out Asymptote and/or METAPOST.

A bit more advice: Technically-minded people can usually learn software applications by just playing around with it, but I highly recommend reading good books on the subject to really learn the software. The many design tutorials online can also be quite useful.

http://www.xara.com http://www.xaraxtreme.org/ http://asymptote.sourceforge.net/

1331on Ask HN: Good, lightweight bug tracking system for small team?

Flyspray is as advertised: "uncomplicated." If you want a simple system, it is worth a try. http://flyspray.org/

1331on Ask HN: Discovering new music?

South by Southwest (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_by_Southwest) is an Austin, Texas music festival which showcases bands that play a wide range of music. Artist bios and MP3s are put on the website (http://sxsw.com/music), and there are also unofficial torrents (http://sites.google.com/site/sxswtorrent/2010) for convenience. With gigabytes of publicly-available music, there is a lot to discover!

1331on Algorithms course material

_Introduction to Algorithms_ (aka "CLRS") http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Third-Thomas-C...

1331on Martial Arts for Geeks?

There are many different styles of martial arts, with a wide variance in philosophy. Some martial arts discourage hurting the body, in stark contrast to those that seem to promote it. Personally, the philosophy of Chayon-Ryu matches me really well. If you do a bit of research and try out some styles that look promising to you, you may find one that you like. I recommend checking out aikido, which encourages safety and does not require much physical strength.

1331on How best to navigate to a PHP page after a form submit?

Your question is a common one in web development. I highly recommend learning how to use Zend Framework. Even if you choose to not use the framework for any real projects, the things that you learn will significantly improve your knowledge of PHP and give you a much better understanding of how to deal with problems such as the one posed by your question.