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Ask HN: What is the most exciting development in your field right now?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the most exciting development in your field right now?

#51

Post by ClassyJacket »

rrrhys wrote: post #42
Curious42 wrote: post #40

As an Android developer, I'm most excited about instant apps. If it works as marketed, you won't have to hold on to the apps which you use maybe once or twice a week. Instead, you'll be able to download the required feature/activity/view or whatever else on the fly. I'm not sure I did justice to instant apps, because there's a language barrier playing in. But here's an example: I use the Amazon app maybe once every 2…

This is going to sound really naive... Isn't that just a website?

It's still a native app, you just don't have to explicitly download it, or download the whole thing. It still runs native code and can take advantage of Android-specific features.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most exciting development in your field right now?

#52

Post by pwython »

onion2k wrote: post #19

My field is web development, and, to be honest, the most exciting thing going on is that more people are starting to complain about the complexity of development. Hopefully this will lead to people slowing down and learning how to write better web software. As an example, one survey ( https://ashleynolan.co.uk/blog/frontend-tooling-survey-2016-... ) put the number of developers who don't use any test tools at almost…

I've been interviewing junior/intermediate frontend candidates for the past few months now. 90% don't use any test tools, and their biggest complaint is their current employer forcing a new framework/library for the sake of being bleeding edge. While interesting to them, it turns out most of them really just want to see what they can do with vanilla JS.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most exciting development in your field right now?

#53

Post by michaelmior »

jackgolding wrote: post #36

Web Analytics I feel is years behind data science - but tools like http://snowplowanalytics.com/ are becoming much more widespread and are taking market share away from Google and Adobe which is good for everyone. Free GA is still the best tool for small sites.

Cool! I've heard of Snowplow from a long way back but I haven't heard anything about in the past couple years. Good to know they're still doing well.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most exciting development in your field right now?

#55

Post by michaelmior »

lngnmn wrote: post #5

That in the past people used to deceive (delude) themselves and other fools around them with theology, speculations and metaphysics, today they do the same with statistics, probability and abstract models.

It's all a matter of perspective. One could also claim that those who don't acknowledge God are deluding themselves with a lack of theology. I'm not trying to start a debate, but dismissing the beliefs of billions as simply delusion/deception is painting with broad strokes.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most exciting development in your field right now?

#56

Post by hyperpallium »

Curious42 wrote: post #44
rrrhys wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is going to sound really naive... Isn't that just a website?

Here's a really good overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cosqlfqrpFA Also, to answer your question, not it's not the same as a website because it will be a native Android app with the ability to communicate with the Android OS, like any other Android app. The possibility of things — in terms of improved UX — that you can accomplish with instant apps are infinite. It all comes down to how you want to use it.

BTW You can do this kind of thing now, with classloading. I'm doing developmemt on my phone, and it's far faster to load new class versions than install a new app version. Google will have a framework around this.

Full OS access could mean permissions per page - could be awkward or ok. Much of the app vs. webpage debate here is the same as always - though offline advantage is gome.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most exciting development in your field right now?

#57

Post by coinidons »

In Bioinformatics/DNA sequencing I'm probably most excited by Illumina's push toward a 100USD genome.

Their current scale-up of instruments I think means that they're looking to aggressively push into diagnostic applications.

The lack of competition is unfortunate however.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most exciting development in your field right now?

#58

Post by bem94 »

mafribe wrote: post #13

Compilation: - Meta-tracing, e.g. PyPy. - End-to-end verification of compilers, e.g. CompCert and CakeML. Programming languages: - Mainstreamisation of the ideas of ML-like languages, e.g. Scala, Rust, Haskell, and the effect these ideas have on legacy languages, e.g. C++, Java 9, C#. - Beginning of use of resource types outside pure research, e.g. affine types in Rust and experimental use of session types. Foundatio…

I work in CPU design. So I'd add that the tools for formally verifying CPUs have come a very long way in the last two years, and the next two years look like they will be very exciting indeed.

Re: Ask HN: What is the most exciting development in your field right now?

#59

Post by subpixel »

Illniyar wrote: post #23
onion2k wrote: post #19

My field is web development, and, to be honest, the most exciting thing going on is that more people are starting to complain about the complexity of development. Hopefully this will lead to people slowing down and learning how to write better web software. As an example, one survey ( https://ashleynolan.co.uk/blog/frontend-tooling-survey-2016-... ) put the number of developers who don't use any test tools at almost…

To me as a web developer, the most exciting new development is react native (not react itself) - it's redefining the border between web and native apps in a way that cordova and xamarin never did.

As a web dev, the most exciting development I see is the rise of progressive web apps and a shift away from native apps in situations where web-like experince is more appropriate.

That said, I'll be thrilled if React Native gives rise to higher quality apps in situations where a native app is unavoidable (e.g. my bank's app).

Re: Ask HN: What is the most exciting development in your field right now?

#60

Post by pdimitar »

siddboots wrote: post #17

It's all subjective, but as a data analyst I'm excited about probabilistic databases. Short version: load your sample data sets, provide a some priors, and then query the population as if you had no missing data. Most developed implementation is BayesDB[1], but there's a lot of ideas coming out of a number of places right now. [1] http://probcomp.csail.mit.edu/bayesdb/

Would you be so kind as to provide several introductory articles to probabilistic matching of data? Fuzzy searching, most-probable matches, things like that?
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