Best RFS yet. Well done Y Combinator. I hope this orients more technical people toward problems that really matter.
New Requests for Startups
311–320 of 407 posts
Re: New Requests for Startups
#312> What comes after programming languages? I've been working on this for several years, though a startup seems the wrong vehicle for it. I think the description in the RFS is misguided: "We’re interested in helping developers create better software, faster. This includes new ways to write, understand, and collaborate on code, and the next generation of tools and infrastructure for delivering software continuously and…
I feel very strongly about this and have very crude ideas about what I want (e.g., expressed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8283025 ). Would love to get in touch with you.
Yes, I have opinions on this approach. In its favor, Charles Simonyi's working on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intentional_programming. But let's discuss it over email. Mine is in my profile.
Re: New Requests for Startups
#313[deleted]
Re: New Requests for Startups
#314> What comes after programming languages? I've been working on this for several years, though a startup seems the wrong vehicle for it. I think the description in the RFS is misguided: "We’re interested in helping developers create better software, faster. This includes new ways to write, understand, and collaborate on code, and the next generation of tools and infrastructure for delivering software continuously and…
I feel very strongly about this and have very crude ideas about what I want (e.g., expressed here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8283025 ). Would love to get in touch with you.
That comments sounds earily close to what is shown in this video http://www.infoq.com/presentations/tools-language-workbench. It's all working and I think the eclipse website is already hosting most of it.
Re: New Requests for Startups
#315Earlier quoted context omitted.
Interesting premise, but I can't see a list of services you support on your site. Do you have such a list?
Check out the Services section in the docs: http://empiredata.com/doc/ We currently have integrations with Salesforce, Hubspot, Gmail, Google Spreadsheets, Zendesk, Mailchimp, Stripe, and CallRail. If there's another integration you need, feel free to email us: hello at empiredata dot co [edit: I have added the current and upcoming integrations on the home page: http://empiredata.co/#supported-platforms ]
You don't list Stripe on that page, FYI. Add Intercom and you have a customer.
Re: New Requests for Startups
#316An important trend is the API-ification of everything. As more and more businesses are accessible with a web API, the Internet becomes more and more powerful. I'd like to invite people to try the early release of Empire API, which is one API for every enterprise SaaS: http://empiredata.co Empire is an API for accessing enterprise SaaS services such as Salesforce, Zendesk, Google Apps, etc. It provides a uniform, data…
I don't know if you're looking for fundraising, but if so, you have a nice opportunity here. Make it trivially easy to build investor metrics (like, I dunno, suggest queries around the tools startups are using, like mixpanel, intercom, stripe) and graphs, and then you'll be in every deck that they see.
Re: New Requests for Startups
#317Nice to see programming tools listed here. In 2011, investors couldn't've cared less. That description could almost have been written for CircleCI: "delivering software continuously" and "better software, faster".
That said, I had more success building what wasn't in the RFC (dev tools in 2011), than what was (journalism stuff in 2010).
Re: New Requests for Startups
#318> What comes after programming languages? I've been working on this for several years, though a startup seems the wrong vehicle for it. I think the description in the RFS is misguided: "We’re interested in helping developers create better software, faster. This includes new ways to write, understand, and collaborate on code, and the next generation of tools and infrastructure for delivering software continuously and…
We already have the tools to deliver software continuously and reliably. They are called containers and virtual machines. The problem as usual is not with the technology. If you look back we had SmallTalk virtual machines some time ago that you could pause, ship over the network, and pick up where you left off. Reading is not the issue as well because most code is terrible and it doesn't matter how easy you make it t…
Totally agree. My 2 additional cents.
Most reasonably skilled programmers can read code. They choose not to. Cultural problem not technical one.
I've been in the industry a long time and the best codebases I've seen had a handful of things in common:
* They were written by highly competent programmers who all had an interest in doing a good job. * The code was neat, well-document, and sensibly structured based on agreed upon standards. * The programmers writing them weren't forced to inject changes faster than they could compensate for them.
That's it. Most of the disasters in industry are the result of extrinsic demands. People not caring or people. People documenting nothing. People under extreme deadline pressure hammering in something that then has massive, long-term design ripple effects on the rest of the codebase. Do this several dozen times and you're almost certain to produce a disaster and some point.
Therefore, most software problems have to do with people in over their heads or making changes haphazardly to meet deadlines. These cultural issues seem largely to stem from people thinking that writing software is a deterministic process - it isn't, and has more in common with chaotic systems than linear deterministic systems. Hell, I've written virtually the exact same piece of software twice at one company and each time produced both identical bugs and completely new bugs.
We would probably benefit more from understanding what software actually is and educating people about that than attempt to technologize away our problematic understanding of technology.
Re: New Requests for Startups
#319It would be awesome if programming could actually be as easy as you imagine it to be in your head. Any non-tech person could program in their head: When this happens, do that, except for when this happens. It's more of the hidden bugs and shit just not working for no reason that makes programming so difficult and frustrating, but if there was a way that things would "just work," that would be game changer.
Re: New Requests for Startups
#320Earlier quoted context omitted.
It doesn't matter that a student can't afford their books on $7/hour. No one seriously expects a kid to make even a dent in the cost of his education anymore, because relative to cost of attendance (except at community colleges) kids in general just don't have the earning power. Cost of attendance at my state flagship is $24,000. Full time at minimum wage is $15,080. Any education worth that kind of money is hard eno…
A large proportion of my students work part time jobs for 20+ hours a week. I don't really understand how they can afford tuition + room + board but need the $140 (less taxes) a week, but as it turns out this is very common. It made a big impression on me when a student walked in to turn in his homework wearing a Chick-Fil-A cap. Asking around, I learned that this is typical at the university where I teach. So, yes,…
>I don't really understand how they can afford tuition + room + board but need the $140 (less taxes) a week, but as it turns out this is very common.
As a student, maybe I can shed a little light on this. There are a few reasons working part-time at minimum wage can make economic sense for a student.
At least at my institution, few kids whose parents foot the tuition bill work.
The students most likely to be working 20 hours/week are the same students likely to receive some form of financial aid/merit scholarship. As such, the tuition + room + board costs may be significantly less than the sticker price. Considering this reduced expense, the ~$200/week from part-time work may make a considerable contribution to a student's budget.
Even if these students aren't able to completely cover the remaining cost of school not covered by financial aid, there are many instances where that part-time job replaces a potentially high interest student loan, reducing the overall cost of education in the long run.
In some instances, even students whose parents assist them with educational expenses require a part-time job for discretionary expenditures. I have more than one friend whose parents pay tuition, but do not cover the cost of gasoline/car repairs necessary for the student to go to class.