Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Fast

patrickcollison.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

181–190 of 306 posts

Re: Fast

#181

Post by MarceColl »

novok wrote: post #136
q7xvh97o2pDhNrh wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a big tech company is surprisingly similar to governments in terms of internal bureaucracy Underrated point. It didn't really sink in for me until I saw the numbers with my own eyes. From a quick DDG search of publicly available info, here's [1] the numbers for FAANG headcount as of the end of 2022: - Meta: 86,000 - Apple: 164,000 - Amazon: 1,541,000 - Netflix: 12,800 - Google: 190,000 The numbers get a bit smaller…

Amazon and apple’s numbers are inflated by retail and warehouse staff significantly, who are effectively political non actors as far as this dynamic goes

Amazon yes, Apple no, there is an internal difference between retail (not on slack, except executives, high level logistics, etc) and corporate. When I worked there there were 180000 people in the general channel (that includes some contractors, but the number is not that off), and that is only corporate.

Re: Fast

#182

Post by CamperBob2 »

zimpenfish wrote: post #167
imchillyb wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ...That’s like saying that it’s only natural human behavior to abuse and be abused... I think that's exactly what experiments have shown the world. There are many follow-up experiments that prove exactly that. The Stanford Prison Experiment has become one of psychology's most dramatic illustrations of how good people can be transformed into perpetrators of evil, and healthy people can begin to experience pathologic…

> The Stanford Prison Experiment Thoroughly debunked[1][2][3], no? [1] https://themindlab.co.uk/academy/epic-fails-what-can-we-lear... [2] https://www.vox.com/2018/6/13/17449118/stanford-prison-exper... [3] https://gwern.net/doc/psychology/2019-letexier.pdf

No. The SPE was unethical and its methodology was garbage, but the observations were valid enough. When someone refuses to commit an atrocity for you, all you have to do is ask the next person in line. You won't have to go too far down the line before you find someone who is not only willing to follow an illegal order from an authority figure, but happy to. See also Milgram.

The conclusion was self-evident before they ran the experiment, so another criticism that could be leveled at the experiment was that it was redundant.

Re: Fast

#183

Post by edwinwee »

briangle wrote: post #116

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…

lol looking through my recruiting notes... no such thing has ever happened

Re: Fast

#184

Post by selcuka »

samtho wrote: post #38
yellow_lead wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Much of these examples similarly lack any info on prior work. i.e mRNA COVID vaccines were completed quickly, after years of prior research.

We are all standing on the shoulders of giants. I don’t see the same criticism for anything else that required prior human knowledge and achievement.

"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe" -- Carl Sagan

Re: Fast

#185

Post by giantrobot »

chrisco255 wrote: post #168
cornfutes wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, Runescape one of the most successful MMOs ever was a Java applet. Java is much more effective at complex object-oriented modeling and an MMO is a canonical example of where OOP not only shines but is necessary. Before ES6, there were half a dozen styles of approximating classes in JavaScript, the main one being with closure-returning-functions. Even utilizing these clever tricks to make JavaScript a decent…

If Java was perfect, Jagex the creator of Runescape, wouldn't have felt compelled to create its own custom scripting language, RuneScript, in 2004, which it very much did: https://web.archive.org/web/20080615044119/http://archive.th... https://runescape.wiki/w/RuneScript Far more apps were written in Flash than in Java Applets. Java Applets were problematic for their large file size and memory requirements. You would…

> Video codec encoding was such a mess for such a long time due to the issues with MP4 and all the patent nightmare mess that unfortunately took way longer than it should have.

Dude this isn't even wrong. It's just nonsensical and ahistorical.

Re: Fast

#186

Post by nine_k »

ajmurmann wrote: post #176
nine_k wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

JavaScript was also famously built in 10 days. I'd say that internally git is more consistent %)

JS on the list is quite interesting, since it being rushed and a prototype ending up getting shipped often gets cited as an explanation for why JS has issues. Given how widespread it is, this is a project I wish had gotten a lot more time. An argument could be made that it succeeded, so it must be good, but given it's the only built-in, full language in the browser just says that it was good enough and now we are kin…

Indeed, there was no choice.

Good thing we ended up with a small language that has easy objects, first-class functions, and compact syntax. We could have got something like ABAP were we really unlucky.

Re: Fast

#187

Post by crtified »

AYBABTME wrote: post #60
jljljl wrote: post #24

For the Van Ness Bus Line example: one reason there were major delays was because maps of underground sewer lines and plumbing were inaccurate, and needed to be relocated. The 6 years of construction was really a bus lane + major sewer infrastructure project. Which brings up another reason why some of these projects were Fast -- they operated in places where there there wasn't existing infrastructure or residents to…

Sure, complications happened. But how efficiently was each day, each hour, used to solve these problems.

Wherever there's a complex chain of independent workers (a government plan checker, inspector, a planner, a surveyor, an engineer, machine operators, a landscaper, a drain layer, a lawyer, ....) then the reality is that unforeseen nuance and conflicting priorities are ever compounding.

It's ideal to have an uber-specialist, an experienced and respected senior overseer who knows the industry and the project inside-out in both theory and practice, dedicated to the project. That gets things going. It's also rare and expensive - there are a lot more development projects than there are such individuals. They are powerful cards coveted by successful owning developers.

Re: Fast

#188

Post by rglover »

gizmo wrote: post #18
entrepy123 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Impressive for sure, not to knock it. But, as I recall reading, the mini HDD for the iPod was already developed by a vendor's R&D, sitting around for a use case. Which Apple decided to take exclusive advantage of. Thus, that iPod offering seemed kind of "revolutionary". But it's not like Apple started the project, then developed all of the tech for it in this time of 290 days. Which is sort of what the summary reads…

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)

The UX of the touch wheel was wholesale ripped off of Dieter Rams. I love Jony Ive but he (technically, the rumor is it was Phil Schiller) ganked/remixed that one: https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/141242/what-was-the-i...

Re: Fast

#189

Post by atestu »

carabiner wrote: post #73

Major one missing: China built 5,000 miles of high speed rail in 6 years. In California, it's been 15 years and we have 0 miles complete. Also built numerous hospitals during pandemic in a couple weeks. Demolished and replaced a bridge in 43 hours: https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/infrastructure/a... . General pattern of completing infrastructure projects at a blistering pace - and they work. Also landed a…

About those COVID hospitals https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/janelytvynenko/china-st...

Re: Fast

#190

Post by interroboink »

One semi-common thread to these is how much of the invisible groundwork had already been laid, in order to execute so quickly. I wonder how much is "fast" and how much is "right time, right place" and/or "right preparation."

I'm reminded of Alexander the Great, and his massive conquests within a short lifetime. But my understanding is that his father Philip II paved the way for him, building a lot of the political and military structure that he would leverage. But people don't remember the accomplishments of Philip II nearly as much as Alexander.

Post reply on HN