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Ask HN: If you had 5 years of uninterrupted time, what would you build and why?

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Re: Ask HN: If you had 5 years of uninterrupted time, what would you build and why?

#31

Post by eli_gottlieb »

I would finally finish my goddamn compiler for my goddamn systems programming language.

I'm honestly considering just tearing out my type system and type-inference so I can implement something in there that has actually been verified as formally valid. Waiting months at a time just to get my stupid paper reviewed again is boring and useless.

If I had money, I would also hire some professional web designers to help me make my web-app for using Bayesian reasoning to replace tech recruiters. Launching the thing as a lifestyle business is really appealing, but I can't web-design for crap.

Re: Ask HN: If you had 5 years of uninterrupted time, what would you build and why?

#32

Post by 31reasons »

wheaties wrote: post #2

1 year to talk to people in real businesses that aren't in tech and study their problem in depth. 4 years to create what they need. Too vague? I don't know enough about enough things outside of tech to really build something that would actually help the rest of the world. (The only thing I can think of is another Skype-like company akin to Twillio but for video communication with a phone. That probably would fail unt…

I really liked the idea that you added problem search as part of the product development. Many times investors want to invest in you if you already have the idea. It would be awesome to think some investment funds to just search for problems in specific domains!

Re: Ask HN: If you had 5 years of uninterrupted time, what would you build and why?

#33

Post by onaclov2000 »

Iron Man Suit, (Complete), doubt it'd take me only 5 years though. I think it would be so amazing to fly, and have all the capabilities of that thing (not as excited about the weaponization, but all the other aspects)

Thinking machine, software that learns how I learn.

Re: Ask HN: If you had 5 years of uninterrupted time, what would you build and why?

#36

Post by MichaelGG »

Jeremy1026 wrote: post #14

I think I would devote those 5 years to writing a new browser. My goal would be to have a browser that is 100% standards compliant. My browser would run, and display web pages, equally on Windows XP+, OS X 10.5+, as well as all the major flavors of Linux.

100% standards compliant -- have you read specs and tried to implement them before? This is the kind of phrasing I tend to expect from people that are either selling things, or not really involved in implementation. Standards aren't actually programs, and there is generally some measure of ambiguity.

Then, real-world interop issues that cause things to be less than standard. Not to mention that it's unlikely if the browser was "100% standards compliant", it would probably be missing some functionality that would severely impact behaviour.

And I'm also curious as to what benefit you think there is to delivering a browser in 2018 that targets a 16-year-old, 32-bit OS?

Re: Ask HN: If you had 5 years of uninterrupted time, what would you build and why?

#39

Post by MichaelGG »

31reasons wrote: post #34
notdrunkatall wrote: post #26

With a few hundred million dollars and five years, I'd build a functional, scalable LFTR.

What is LFTR ?

The first Google result for that is "liquid fluoride thorium reactor".
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