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526 karma · joined May 23, 2008

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ii··on Superformula
If I made a formula that is more generalized, patents still apply?

Here it is in complex numbers:

    p = (r1*cos(ph1 + th) + 1.0*I*r2*sin(ph2 + th))*
   (Abs(cos(m*th/4)/a)**n2 + Abs(sin(m*th/4)/b)**n3)**(-1/n1)
This can produce a number of interesting shapes that original Gielis transforms can't.
ii··on How to Fold a Julia Fractal
To fold Julia fractal you only need to treat it like something simple and two-dimensional, project it onto a square grid, transform that grid, and then interpolate every cell using simple affine transformations.

EDIT: Removed unneeded emotional junk

EDIT 2: Affine transformations are just simple arithmetic operations between complex and dual numbers but nevertherless matrices are simpler!

ii··on Why is the mouse cursor slightly tilted and not straight?
When an average right-handed person points at something his hand has a very similar shape. Imaging a large screen with some kind of a presentation and you are explaining something to the public and pointing at some object on the screen. The shape of your hand in this moment is the most natural thing for a pointer, immediately understandable by anyone.
ii··on Why do credit card forms ask for Visa, Mastercard, etc.?
All developers I know of, including myself, do have this unawareness of simple things, but I prefer to call it for what it is: simple human laziness.
ii··on Microsoft backs off on Metro
Flat is inevitable. Flat is practical. But, yeah, you can not make money on it yet, because you know people love what they used to look at. They don't like change.

Kazimir Malevich 100 years ago tried to tell the world about it but the world is slow.

ii··on How in-app purchases have destroyed the game industry
Sorry, I haven't read your reply and replied with almost the same thought. It is not hard to do and many developers already do this, Triple Town by Spry Fox is doing exactly that for example.
ii··on How in-app purchases have destroyed the game industry
Solution: make a game free with a small number of free levels and sell unlimited levels for a fee as a one-time in-app purchase.
ii··on How in-app purchases have destroyed the game industry
There still is a sane solution: make a game free with a small number of free levels and sell unlimited levels for a fee as a one-time in-app purchase.
ii··on Why do credit card forms ask for Visa, Mastercard, etc.?
Is it really hard for anyone in 2014 to get the type of a card from the first 2 digits of a card number and add a field to an INSERT query?
ii··on JavaScript – The monkeys in 2013
All that is needed is a standalone "interpreter" with a REPL that can do some basic OS tasks and a pretty good way of starting simple web servers. Yes, small web services that can interop with larger systems, nothing more.
ii··on Show HN: I open-sourced my web app alternative to Illustrator
Can it be used to resurrect Aldus/Macromedia/Adobe FreeHand? I still can't use anything but it and I keep a windows VM on my Mac almost only for it.
ii··on The rise of Dogecoin, the internet's hottest cryptocurrency
Our PM is really into crypto-currencies and when we talk about dogecoins it always makes me smile and feel better. I don't own any dogecoin yet but they surely make me healthier and more productive!
ii··on JavaScript – The monkeys in 2013
We really need a monkey version of nodejs and node-webkit. Mozilla's engine looks more solid for universal use, there are more interesting features and experimentation. The only problem is that it's harder to embed in another software, but it looks that it is changing and I really hope it will change.
ii··on Chrome Is The New C Runtime
"optimized for use in browsers" means that collection of C++ cross-platform libraries can segfault a production server simply because it was not enough tested in other environments.
ii··on Chrome Is The New C Runtime
Chromium, Gecko and Webkit codebases are huge, they are hard to compile. They are optimised for use in the browsers and nothing else. They are not universal runtimes yet! I like that idea but please don't make it sound like chromium runtime is ready for everybody to use for their projects.
ii··on Microsoft says it's prepared to hand over Skype users' data to Russia
You know you can't get in jail for twitter jokes in Russia, whatever they are. In fact you can do almost whatever you want here. I'm so tired of that negative image of Russia in the Western media...
ii··on Oracle kills Virtual Iron. Is MySQL next?
Oracle will kill MySQL, but the code behind it under the different name will kill Oracle sometime in the future. You can't fight the weather, working open source is unkillable.
ii··on Study separates Russian flat tax myth and fact
Most big companies I know just hire a right person who knows a few FSB generals and create their very own "defense" departments to solve these problems. They pay only salaries to people who know what to do. No bribes or "taxes" whatsoever.
ii··on Study separates Russian flat tax myth and fact
Criminal "protection" "taxes" were common 15 years ago and even then it was nothing like "20%" for everybody, it varied greatly from place to place and from business to business and depended on who you know and where are you from.

Small-to-medium businesses are free from anything like that by now AFAIK.

To conduct a "serious" business in most fields you still have to know the right people though, if you don't want it to be taken from you.

ii··on Study separates Russian flat tax myth and fact
> That was 6 years ago

Things have changed. Such encounters were very common 10 years ago, less so 6 years ago, there's nothing like this now, I think that the most of those OMON guys are either dead or in prison.

The level of corruption is still very high, but things are getting better. Slowly. Because those who care do something to change the status quo. The problems like those can't be solved quickly.

ii··on Study separates Russian flat tax myth and fact
> Evil, mean bastards every one.

I know few guys who are not like that and who actually fight crime. But they are overshadowed by overly corrupted minority (I know other guys among them who sell drugs for example).

Things in Russia are not that simple and you exaggerate the problems. In general, you just have to know the right people to conduct business there. C'est la vie.

ii··on Guy #3
I'd say it was a girl who moved closer to the dancing guys just after guy #3 showed up.
ii··on Curing Python's Neglect
You can monkey-patch your interactive interpreter BTW:

  >>> type(exit).__repr__ = lambda self: exit()
It will exit then the way you want :)

Nobody do it for the sake of overall consistency. Yet you are free to change it with the one line of code.

ii··on Ask HN: In which modern language/environment/framework is programming a joy?
I find Ruby + C combination the most enjoyable for non-web things.

But for web I prefer Python/Django.

ii··on Curing Python's Neglect

  >>> class ExitFunc:
  ...   def __call__(self): __builtins__.exit()
  ...   def __repr__(self): return "That's how!"
  ...
  >>> exit = ExitFunc()
  >>> exit
  That's how!
  >>> exit()
ii··on Curing Python's Neglect
> The only way to then exit is Ctrl-D

Nope.

  >>> __builtins__.exit()
ii··on Curing Python's Neglect
Just to be even more pedantic, "orthogonal" means more than perpendicular.

It means at least:

1. having a zero inner product

2. (a square matrix) that is the inverse of its transpose

3. linear transformation that preserves angles

4. statistically independent

ii··on Popular languages on GitHub ranked by number of bytes stored
Interesting. A good example that illustrates why C is the top language is _why's shoes -- it's written mostly in C, but still belongs to Ruby-land.
ii··on Ask HN: C vs C++
Don't forget C++. Even if you stick to other languages you would probably still want to be able to read C++. There a tons of great stuff written in C++ out there already.
ii··on Would you have survived in the middle ages?
> BTW, site shows http 403.

Try proxy server. Any anonymous US proxy works for me. They seem to have crazy IP (spam?) filters that block many legitimate providers, including mine.

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