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Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#391

Post by nzmsv »

Random_Person wrote: post #362
nzmsv wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To write Java well you have to understand object-oriented programming. I think first learning to program is easier without OOP, or GUIs for that matter. But if you already know the basics, learning OOP is a good next step. Not trying to force you to use Python - I just thought I'd address some of your concerns. You don't have to ship Python to your Windows users - there's a way to glue the Python runtime to your prog…

Very awesome answer. Thank you. I am familiar with programming. Though I remember very little of the syntax, I certainly have not forgotten how to properly analyze and organize the flow of code-- or in other words, how to think like a machine. Still, OOP was completely foreign to me before starting this adventure-- but I have also realized that it is not entirely different to writing good segmented VB code in which I…

You can do OOP in VB. It is almost proper OOP: the only thing not supported is real inheritance. So for every method in your child class you have to write some boilerplate to make a call to the parent.

As a side note, there was a really awesome book I read back when VB6 was still new. It's called Hardcore Visual Basic, and it is about how to do things that were said to be impossible in VB. Using the undocumented VarPtr functions, calling Windows API, etc. It is out of print (obviously), but available online at http://vb.mvps.org/hardweb/

That page mourns the late VB6. It is right: VB.Net is an entirely different language. I don't even know where you'd get a copy of old school VB these days (though VBA in Office is quite similar). Anyway, VB6 is dead, so you are probably interested in moving on to something modern.

The nice thing about Python is exactly that everyone keeps going on about how awesome it is :) What this means for you is that people have written some really good libraries. Many of them are in the standard distribution and are well-documented. This is what Python people mean by "batteries included".

As for what I'd use for this app... Not sure. I haven't written anything GUI-heavy in a long time. With Java I usually hand-code the GUI, but there might be good visual editors these days. For Python there is an IDE called Boa Constructor which lets you build GUIs. I have not tried it though.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#392

Post by bengl3rt »

jaxn wrote: post #308
bengl3rt wrote: post #305

Trying to figure out if my dream job really exists anywhere. I am trying to move from pure coding to a job that combines coding with traveling and dealing directly with technical stakeholders. It seems in most companies the people who are responsible for the latter do very little, if any, of the former. Figure I will put another 1-3 years trying to find this position at an existing company, and if that doesn't pan ou…

I had that gig for a while. I was a consultant working on Business Intelligence and found a niche in automating rights management. After a couple of years the travel got old (and there were some not fun projects in there too).

Yes, the verticals that are likely to feel like bankrolling all the traveling tend to be the larger corporate ones - the ones who are in the Business of Business, especially.

Not saying there aren't fascinating problems to solve in there as well, but you're right, there can be a lot of churn...

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#393

Post by jholman »

johnfn wrote: post #188

The google codejam occurs about once a year ( http://code.google.com/codejam ). If you make it past the qualification round and the first round, and you place in the top 500 of the second round, then you get a codejam tshirt. (This year, I placed around 1300, which is good, but not good enough!) Getting that tshirt is my goal - a nice, tangible way to symbolize the massive amount of algorithmic things that I'm attemp…

Yay, code jam was fun! I meant to do it the last two years, but didn't notice at the right time of year. But in 2010, I did remember.

What are your roadblocks?

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#394

Post by mattm »

roel_v wrote: post #130
mattm wrote: post #25

Become one of the world's top salsa dancers by 2020. Current roadblock is that I'm just not doing it enough. I get distracted by other interests of mine. I was previously practising 3 times a week (which probably still isn't enough) but lately I'm only going once a week.

Not to be cynical, but how are you going to be top of the world in anything practicing only 3 times a week?

Yeah, I know. Even three times a week isn't enough. Perhaps it's a goal that isn't really important to me.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#395

Post by anthonyb »

Rod wrote: post #281
eirene wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Says alot about HN that this reply hasn't been downvoted more.

If you want to hear pretty lies, go watch Sex and the City . It's well known that 40 year old women are almost infertile. And their pregnancies tend to be riskier. I didn't make the rules, so don't shoot the messenger. Show me a man starting a family with a 40 year old, and I will show you a man without options.

Why would women date you at 40 when they could go for the "younger, hotter" model?

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#396

Post by Magneus »

barmstrong wrote: post #288
MarkPNeyer wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My Advice: 1) Accept the person that you are, and learn to love that person. If you don't accept who you are and love yourself, others will have a hard time following suit. 2) Do the things you love. In doing so, you're likely to meet others who share the same interests. 3) Stop worrying about whether you'll ever find someone. When you do this, you project a sense of desperation, and others can pick up on this.

Great advice, and totally agree. On a more practical level, try OkCupid.com. Seriously, I've been so impressed with that site. If match.com is like myspace, okcupid.com is like facebook. High quality, smart people. The girls actually write you back. I'm averaging about 2 dates a month from OkCupid right now. Also, the site is just a well designed and fun web app, so I can appreciate it on that level.

Seconded. Great site.

I haven't used any other dating sites, so I have no proper basis for comparison, but I've been very satisfied with the site, from matching system, search options, etc.

Bottom line: I ended up meeting my current girlfriend there and things are going very, very well with her. Anecdotal evidence, yes, but I hope it complements the nuggets of awesomeness you'll find on OKTrends (http://blog.okcupid.com).

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#398

Post by zeta »

cromulent wrote: post #245

Learn to be happy. "Satisfied with my lot" is probably a better term. Life is excellent except for the 5% of my brain that sees the bleak side of everything. The main roadblock is the common depression / bipolar type II episodes.

Meditate! You will be happier, calmer and more focused. There are many meditations out there - be promiscuous and try out as many as you can. You will then be able to figure out what works best for you.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#399

Post by sqrt17 »

araneae wrote: post #384
sqrt17 wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As common wisdom goes, children are created through an act by one male and one female human, and subsequently carry about 50% of each partner's core DNA and 100% of the female partner's mitochondrial DNA. As a result, neither egocentrical males nor lesbians can bear children by themselves, even though artificial insemination and foster mothers may make it easy to live in the illusion that it's a possibility. (Or were…

"[T]o bear" means "to give birth" in common parlance. So lesbians can certainly bear children by themselves, but men, the vast majority of which have no wombs, cannot. Citation: #3 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bear And while you may consider yourself witty, I feel I must point out that in the context in which I was using it, "to carry" a child refers to the state of being pregnant with it. Citation: #6 http…

Lesbians can certainly bear children by themselves, just as any woman could. By that point, it does not matter (for the biological notion of conception) if that woman is lesbian, heterosexual, asexual, or anything else.

As opposed to that, the mindset of getting a partner for the sole purpose of having a family, while certainly more often found with those with non-womb reproductive organs, can probably be found with both males and females and in either case is sure to be appalling to the partner (or to other people at large).

While I strongly agree with your basic point, I'm not sure I like the way you make that point.

In my understanding, both the OP and yourself implicitly talk about the whole parenting affair and not just getting pregnant with a child, at which point the social faculty of being a good parent becomes more relevant compared to biological disposition.

Re: Ask HN: What's your most interesting life goal currently?

#400

Post by Rod »

anthonyb wrote: post #395
Rod wrote: post #281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to hear pretty lies, go watch Sex and the City . It's well known that 40 year old women are almost infertile. And their pregnancies tend to be riskier. I didn't make the rules, so don't shoot the messenger. Show me a man starting a family with a 40 year old, and I will show you a man without options.

Why would women date you at 40 when they could go for the "younger, hotter" model?

No one is talking about dating. We're talking about starting a family, which is an entirely different bag of cookies. Wake the f*ck up.

Assuming that women and men are the same, have the same goals, and obey the same rules is an immensely stupid mistake to make, one that could be avoided by observing the real world social dynamics, and one that only clueless feminists such as yourself make.

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