misterjangles

Threads view! Yea, I think I just get anxious that I'm simply not being productive or earning my salary. Sometimes I worry that I won't get back into the zone or be able to pull off something to make up for all the downtime.

I'm trying to just handle it by not worrying as much and accepting that I just work in spurts.

I have similar work habit and, though I wouldn't say it was due to depression, I will become guilty and/or anxious when I'm in one of my low-productivity phases.

It looks interesting. I have to wonder if the sideways action of this ax is tough on the wrists? I know with a regular axe when you get a bad hit and the ax goes sideways, it's very unsatisfying - not to mention slightly jarring to the wrists and arms.

I don't think he confuses the two - he talks about both in detail. The issue is with the concept if the flat interest rate combined with service fees and signup fees that make the advertised borrower rate misleading.

But there is a likelihood that not everybody understands it. Journalists and bloggers just throw out the 5% figure without specifying what it means because it makes for a nice sounding blurb.

It does because you were trying to insinuate that 1 hour delivery of food is a logistical nightmare. You probably are thinking more along the lines of Amazon.com and shut out of your mind that restaurants have been doing this for decades. Dominos can deliver fresh baked food almost anywhere in the country in 30 minutes.

Sometimes it's good to get a little slap that wakes you up out of startup mode.

There shouldn't be a key baked into the app. Each user gets their own unique key. so the worst you could do reverse engineering the app is to steal your own key. There should never be any "master" key used for all users.

It is true you have to trust that the native app is not tricking you into thinking that you're entering your password on Facebook.

But, at least if it's implemented correctly and not maliciously, the app doesn't ever see your password.

I think it's valid to ask questions like this. We get advice all the time warning us not to try to invent our own algorithms for certain things. Obviously if we all did that, though, we would make no progress as programmers.

I'm not really an expert but it looks like this algorithm does sorting in a way that doesn't require as much extra memory as others..? I could be wrong about that, but the point is that this algorithm likely has some certain situations where it performs better than others.

You're correct - you shouldn't ship an app with a secret key embedded. That would be a flawed implementation.

It's hard to be specific without knowing what you're doing. If you have an app that connects to a third party API like Twitter, that's one situation. If you have an API that other app developers will connect to - that's a second scenario. And third is if you have an API and you write your own app to connect to it.

OAuth handles all three of these scenarios but in #1 you are a consumer, in #2 you are a provider and #3 you are both.

Check out 3-legged oAuth for an example of how to allow apps to talk to your API on behalf of a user, without that user having to give their password to the app. It's actually pretty interesting, clever and simple all at once!

HTTPS encrypts the traffic - making it difficult to sniff. It doesn't actually provide authentication though.

#1 is a fairly standard security concept used by protocols like oAuth or JWT. It requires an API key pair (public and secret key).

The secret key is only used for signing and is never passed in the request. Used in combination with nonces and time stamps you can make a secure API that isn't susceptible to replay attacks.

Using a standard library for authentication like oAuth or similar is generally a better idea than creating your own. It's also usually easier since you don't have to re-invent the wheel.

Aside from that, I don't see a reason for an API to be able to retrieve passwords. If passwords need to be reset then the API could maybe issue a pass reset request that would email a confirmation link.

The plain text password is something that's beyond the API design, but a one way hash is generally better with an algorithm that is recognized as being secure (not MD5).

Basically, to repeat, simply not designing your own security but using recognized libraries will typically be a better idea.

My first introduction to ORMs was hibernate. I immediately loved the idea but to be honest it can be extremely frustrating to get things done - especially if you are good at writing SQL already. It can feel like handcuffs!

I kinda suspect that started the whole anti-ORM thing in response to the ridiculous complexity of some frameworks.

I still use ORMs but I've decided that it has to be a light approach that doesn't try to totally hide the SQL code from you.

In my case it just saves a lot of time on "plumbing" code. Having DB entities represented consistently as objects is helpful for doing all kinds of things. - having events fire on save or delete, hooks for business-logic validation, etc. boring stuff perhaps but time-saving and keeps things really well organized.

My ORM of choice doesn't take away the ability to write raw SQL when you want, though. I wouldn't want to use an ORM where you couldn't extend it with your own SQL.

I use an ORM that does basic mapping but let's you write your own SQL to cover situations that mismatch (still contained in a data layer of the app). It basically just saves a ton of time and let's me write a REST Services in about 2 minutes that power mobile apps or provide public/private APIs. I've used it for all variety of apps.

I certainly do care what strings get sent to the Database though, I can tell you that! If you use an ORM and don't know how to inspect the queries it generates then I'd consider that to be somewhat negligent. That's just me, though.

Or #7 the programmer who is too cool to use modern, stable, popular tools that would be perfectly adequate for solving the problem. Instead insists that the team write everything in unproven fad technology XYZ - then disappears when he/she gets bored in 3 months, leaving others to maintain a code base written on a abandoned platform.

I think those are all perfectly fair questions however I would take the answers you get with a grain of salt. I wouldn't expect an employer to admit they're 6 weeks away from going under at a job interview.

Startups are risky and a lot of times you are convincing people (including yourself) that it is going to work. So startup employers kinda have to be optimistic and positive, otherwise everybody would be freaking out and fearing for their job.

Also - without having any idea what startup you are talking about - the odds are against you that the company will make it. That's just the reality of startup life.

Yea good point. They would probably be more likely to get their money back actually, but it won't be a massive payout.

I'm not really into trolling but I will admit it's funny too see somebody who takes themselves way too seriously getting strung along. Particularly if I find their opinions disagreeable.

I don't really find it that interesting when people just try to troll and cause havoc for absolutely no reason at all other than their own amusement. There should be an appropriate target who has been flapping their gums and needs to be brought down a peg.

Actually a lifestyle company is pretty much the term for any business that makes a great living for the owners and employees, but never results in significant profit for investors.

Investors won't touch a company with a 10 foot pole if they get a whiff of lifestyle corporation because they'll never get their investment back. But this doesn't make it a bad company, despite what you read around here on HN. In reality a lifestyle company can be just about the greatest, most satisfying and financially rewarding job that you can have. You just won't get any investor telling you that because there's nothing there for them.

My experience is pretty much the same as yours. I feel sharper in some ways. I definitely work much smarter than I did in my 20s by magnitudes.

Although, mildly annoying, I find myself more frequently going to another room to fetch something and forgetting what the thing was.

I think universities have always been this way. It's ironic because they are places of learning and exploring. But only when the topics do not concern the running of the institution itself.

I've noticed the HN hive mind becomes interested in certain types of non-tech topics for a few days and then moves back to tech.

I find the non-tech links to usually be an interesting diversion but I have to resist the temptation of adding my own hot air to all of the arm chair philosophy in the comment section. I often fail in this attempt.

Not sure I agree about heroin being gentle and harmless, but I do think that making any drug illegal immediately creates a black market, which in turn leads to violence and powerful, wealthy crime organizations.

I'm not sure where the line should be. I'd like to say make all drugs legal, but as soon as the first high school kid is killed in a drug-related car accident we will see an army of furious parent organizations screaming about making stricter laws.

It's not really surprising to me. Oracle has been the DB system for enterprise systems for years - they have a lot of corporations running on their platform.

Well if your story doesn't seem to add up then you might find yourself explaining things.

My point is really that there is no advantage to lying about being a student vs a rich tourist because they don't favor one over the other. They're not going to think "oh boy this person is really going to help our economy!"

Now, if you are planning to work illegally or overstay your visa - then you might want to make up a story!

The other reason he will never, ever go back to the US is because he's likely on a watch list now and will be denied any attempt to enter.

It's a shame that happened. The traveler has had an unfortunate interest in traveling to multiple countries with which the US has hostile relationships. And then entered the US in a slightly unconventional way by train via Canada. I think that's a stupid reason to deny entry because an actual "terrorist" would surely have fake documents anyway.

Perhaps the moral if the story is to get a replacement passport without the stamps if you have travelled a lot and take a direct flight.

If you've been traveling to Yemen and Somolia and all over the Middle East to places that do not have good relations with the US - then it wouldn't be a terrible idea to "lose" your passport and get a replacement without all the stamps before entering the US.

These stories get everybody riled up but in reality are a tiny fraction of people who enter. I have a story too - when I was visiting Amsterdam I had the most rough body search I have experienced when traveling. Maybe I should never visit there again to see all if the rich culture and friendly people? That'll show 'em! My wife was called into the back room on our way to Aspen because her bag triggered some false alarm. Cross that place off my list, I'm never going skiing there again!

The border patrol could care less whether you are a broke student or a rich tourist. They are not interested in how much you plan to spend.

So in that regard I would think you might as well tell them the truth simply because if you get caught in a lie then you would cause grief for yourself of no good reason. But if you are an excellent liar, then go for what're you want!

Basically the border patrol are looking for three things: terrorist, drugs and people who are coming to work illegally.

I believe as they say, 10 apprentices does not equal 1 master. When you work with any outsourcing company they have people of all skill working on the project. You will get their best masters at first, but at some point the "b" team will be brought in and you will start seeing bad code.

I think this must be somewhat the nature of hiring contract workers because I have seen it again and again coming from all counties, as well as within the US.

I can see a client canceling a deal without paying after you have done work due to not having a contract. To actually use the work you produced and weasel out of paying with a "ha ha I tricked you into working for free" is really malicious. I would say that client would probably never have paid anyway. However you may force them to reveal their hand by signing a contract. They will probably try to find some other loophole, but at least you have some documentation that helps you to take legal action.

I have had client drag their feet on the contract and the down payment, but rush me to start. My feeling is that if you can't get a check when they are desperate for you to start, then it certainly will be difficult getting one after the work is complete.

The more eager you are for the gig, you may be more willing to agree to things. But definitely it's a always a good idea to be patient and make sure both sides agree to the terms before you invest your labor.