Fast • Hacker News Board

Re: Fast

#111

Post by ricardobeat » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 9:54 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #92

gizmo wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They had to design the software, the UX including the touch wheel, the mac integration and syncing, and everything relating to the design, materials, and sourcing of the components. It’s astonishing that they got it done in less than a year. (And I highly recommend Fadell’s book)

Everything around the software would have been quick -- both the iPod UX and syncing were extremely simple back then. The iPod didn't really have a GUI, it was just six lines of text and a header line. It's the manufacturing speed that astonishes me -- the sourcing as you say, the supply chains and the factory capacity. I'm also very curious about the manufacture of the scroll wheel -- was that something really new t…

Most inventions become trivial right after they are released. Creation, research, design are the hard parts, and you cannot judge those by the complexity of the final product.

Re: Fast

#112

Post by kevinmchugh » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 9:55 PM UTC

nitwit005 wrote: post #93

chrisco255 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

28 years later the web is a thriving platform responsible for trillions of dollars of economic activity, of which JS is a core component.

Sure, but they could have made something very different, and that would still be true. People just have no choice but to use JS. Plenty chose Flash, Java, and friends when there were other options.

And JavaScript beat those.

Re: Fast

#113

Post by soperj » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 9:55 PM UTC

post-it wrote: post #80

soperj wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are all variables still global unless defined not to be?

No, as of eight years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECMAScript_version_history#ES2...

thanks!

Re: Fast

#114

Post by JimDabell » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

chaxor wrote: post #90

JimDabell wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> from the 2010-2020 decade Depends exactly how you define this. If it’s inclusive of 2020, sure. If it isn’t, then it won’t include the COVID vaccines.

The vaccine development happened effectively in a weekend. The long period of time to develop isn't related to science, it's the bureaucracy afterwards that took so long. So depends on the definition.

Isn’t that partly the point of the linked page? That one of the things contributing to how slow things go these days is that bureaucracy can grind quick developments to a halt?

Re: Fast

#115

Post by dang » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #91

anonymousiam wrote: post #53

This may be one of the best (worst) examples of how bad things are today. The California High-Speed Rail was funded over 15 years ago and they haven't begun building it yet. They are 82% of the way through their environmental studies. https://hsr.ca.gov/about/capital-costs-funding/ https://twitter.com/cahsra/status/1674900759677227012

It may delight you to know, then, that they've started building, and in fact they've built a bunch of stuff for it already! As of March 2023, 50 miles of guideway are complete, 39 are underway; 41 structures are complete, and 29 are underway¹. Some of the completed structures include: - The Cedar Viaduct, a 3,700-foot-long bridge over State Route 99 in Fresno, which features a signature double arch design². - The Han…

> What are you talking about?

Please edit swipes like that out of your HN posts, as the site guidelines request: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

Your comment would be just fine without that bit.

Re: Fast

#116

Post by briangle » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 9:57 PM UTC

This reminds me of when I interviewed at Stripe, a few years back. It was a surreal experience. We were in a small conference room. I sat at the table on one side, Patrick and Edwin sat on the other side. They asked me questions, I answered them. It was a good discussion.

Then there was a brief pause in the conversation. Suddenly, Patrick let off the most absurdly loud fart. I chuckled in surprise. Patrick and Edwin stared back at me, in a stony silence, neither of them making any acknowledgement of Patrick's colonic eruption. I forced myself to adopt a similarly straight face.

As the smell of it filled the room and my nostrils, I could only assume this was a power move, intended to dominate. I held my nerve, and continued the interview. Unfortunately, I wasn't offered the job. Now I wonder if maybe it was a cue to speak up and point out the loud, smelly elephant in the room. I suppose I'll never know.

Has anyone else here who's interviewed at Stripe had a similar experience? To this day, I still wonder if Patrick's fart was a deliberate and calculated part of the hiring process.

Re: Fast

#117

Post by drewda » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 9:58 PM UTC

nitwit005 wrote: post #93

chrisco255 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

28 years later the web is a thriving platform responsible for trillions of dollars of economic activity, of which JS is a core component.

Sure, but they could have made something very different, and that would still be true. People just have no choice but to use JS. Plenty chose Flash, Java, and friends when there were other options.

For what it's worth, I miss Adobe Flex.

Re: Fast

#118

Post by kybernetikos » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 9:58 PM UTC

crabmusket wrote: post #110

kybernetikos wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Difficult to know. It would have been difficult for them to make money without adding an ads team. Without making money it would have been difficult for them to create the infrastructure to process the large amounts of data and change that are a big part of how google search works these days. Would a two man company focused on search have created google maps or google earth? Probably not - gathering just the data for…

Google acquired both Maps and Earth, they didn't create them.

That's interesting, but I don't think it diminishes the point - a two person company would have been pretty unlikely to acquire them, or stay two person if it did and needed to integrate them with their search product.

Re: Fast

#119

Post by shawndrost » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 9:58 PM UTC

mamonster wrote: post #3

Very interesting thing(maybe sample representativeness) is that there aren't any "fast" things from the 2010-2020 decade. Does anyone have anything impressive in mind? Personally can't think of anything myself.

About 30% of interstate gas pipelines were built between 2007-2017 as one of the many consequences of the shale boom. Global LNG trade doubled in the same window.

Germany installed 6 (floating) LNG import terminals in 2022.

California built five gas-fired power plants in a few months in 2021, after a blackout.

We can still build things fast when there is institutional will to do so.

Re: Fast

#120

Post by Archelaos » Wed, Jul 05, 2023, 9:59 PM UTC

dblohm7 wrote: post #59

Apollo 8 is not a very good example; it's not like the hardware pipeline wasn't well on its way to be ready to go by the time the decision was made. Don't get me wrong, Apollo 8 was an extremely risky and critical part of the program, but it's not like somebody conjured everything up from thin air in 134 days.

I think you have a point here. Our standard approach of looking at the duration of a project too often neglects the effort of preparation.