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We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

darklang.com

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Re: We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

#61

Post by jlarocco »

MarkyC4 wrote: post #32
aphextron wrote: post #7

Can we get some more info on what exactly "Dark Lang" is? A Google search yields absolutely nothing. Definitely sounds interesting though. I have a lot of ideas, and would jump at the chance to cut my salary in half in exchange for total freedom to pursue them.

I went to their homepage to find this blurb: We’re creating a new programming language, tightly integrated with an editor, compiler and PaaS, to allow engineers to build distributed applications using high-level primitives. We abstract away individual machines and low-level distributed systems code to: * Generate and run scalable infrastructure for you. * Use APIs as easily as if they were functions. * Remove the dep…

Sounds like they're developing Common Lisp, Emacs, and Slime.

Re: We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

#62

Post by temuze »

> We’re creating a new programming language, tightly integrated with an editor, compiler and PaaS, to allow engineers to build distributed applications using high-level primitives.

Not sure if this is ambitious enough. Maybe you should make a database, too :)

But seriously, you'd have to convince me of a lot of things before I consider using a service like this, much less basing a business off of it:

1) The bar for your language is going to be high. Not only does it need to be appreciably better than everything out there, it needs to compensate for a lack of community / libraries.

2) You'll need to show me that your language is production ready. For most languages, it takes years to build up that level of confidence.

3) Holy vendor lock-in, Batman! What happens if you go out of business? You mean you're trying to lock me into an ecosystem that you haven't even built yet?

4) If that's not all, a new editor as well? Editors are substantially harder than most programmers think they are. It's hard to make them fast, harder to make them intuitive and there are tons of companies who focused solely on editors who have failed.

5) "High-level primitives"? "Use APIs as easily as if they were functions"? Honestly, sounds like using AWS services with Boto.

Re: We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

#63

Post by lossolo »

rapsey wrote: post #41
MarkyC4 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to their homepage to find this blurb: We’re creating a new programming language, tightly integrated with an editor, compiler and PaaS, to allow engineers to build distributed applications using high-level primitives. We abstract away individual machines and low-level distributed systems code to: * Generate and run scalable infrastructure for you. * Use APIs as easily as if they were functions. * Remove the dep…

* forever bind you to our services and charge you any amount of money because you have no choice but to pay. If you fail we will just take your business.

This. They are paying you for locking your startup into their platform and then they will get their money back and a lot more.

Re: We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

#64

Post by pbiggar »

BryantD wrote: post #38

Missing info: how much will it cost to use the Dark platform?

Long term, that's an open question! However, we're targeting utility pricing, not premium pricing.

That said, since we're so early we really have no idea.

For our first user, it'll be free for quite a while, and then we'll make it work :)

Re: We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

#65

Post by aylmao »

throwawayjava wrote: post #24

> Your product is not backend-heavy, such as: ...machine-learning models Maybe the meanings of these words have morphed over time, but in what sense is a "machine-learning model" not a back-end concern? It sure as heck isn't front-end... (E.g., the current wiki page for "front and back end" explicitly mentions "converting the symbolic phonetic representation into actual sounds" as an example of a back end concern, an…

Fair comment, thought something similar when I first read this, but ML falls into its own category IMO because it's not part of the "application" most of the time. It's back-end in that it's not front-end, but it's not what you'd normally consider the back-end of an app.

A model is built offline, experimented upon, tested, and then once ready "connected" to the main app. Like, the TensorFlow code you write doesn't "need" to be on the server; it could be running on your laptop for all you care. It's the output model that eventually makes it into the back-end ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

> Honest question: does "back-end" now mean "the CRUD and API client portions of a web-based CRUD app?"

Back-end has always meant the CRUD/API portions of a CRUD app.

Re: We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

#66

Post by cpeterso »

pbiggar wrote: post #60

Lots of folks asking exactly what Dark is so answering separately. tl;dr Dark is a programming language and service. Our goal is to allow you to build backends without having to deal with the endless accidental complexity in software today. (Accidental complexity meaning everything from infrastructure and storage, to syntax errors, etc). What does that mean exactly? Dark is a language, and editor and a PaaS, combined…

Adopting a new language with no ecosystem of libraries seems like a hard way to build useful applications. Or does Dark build upon an existing ecosystem like Elixir and Erlang? Dark's feature set reminds me a lot of Erlang.

Re: We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

#67

Post by pbiggar »

saagarjha wrote: post #8

I looked around the website and couldn't find any mention of what Dark even is. I keep hearing that "Dark is a new tool to help you build a complete scalable app in an afternoon", but how does it actually do this? Why would I want to base my startup on this platform?

Good question. I answered here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16803660

Re: We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

#68

Post by sjm-lbm »

rapsey wrote: post #41
MarkyC4 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I went to their homepage to find this blurb: We’re creating a new programming language, tightly integrated with an editor, compiler and PaaS, to allow engineers to build distributed applications using high-level primitives. We abstract away individual machines and low-level distributed systems code to: * Generate and run scalable infrastructure for you. * Use APIs as easily as if they were functions. * Remove the dep…

* forever bind you to our services and charge you any amount of money because you have no choice but to pay. If you fail we will just take your business.

Eh, even if what they are promising is only economically viable as a proof of concept, it's probabally still better than the "overengineer a system that nobody ever actually uses" situation that's pretty much the norm now.

Re: We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

#69

Post by pbiggar »

pmcgrathm wrote: post #33

This sounds like a good fit for a friend of mine, but he'd need some kind of documentation to even consider showing up. Do you have anything about the platform that you're willing to share?

Probably not as much as they'd need in advance. If they get in touch we can give more info and figure out if it's a fit.

Edit: some more info here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16803660

Re: We'll pay you $3000/mo to build your startup on Dark

#70

Post by pbiggar »

fipple wrote: post #52

Dark team - this is a great idea that I used myself. I had a startup building an Excel-like product and we had a casual office in SF. We didn't pay anyone but got some consulting teams to come into our offices for a few days so we could watch them work. The consultants got to tell their client that they were engaging with this cool new startup's tools to analyze the client's data (which we never saw), wear T-shirts t…

Great suggestion. We're not ready for that yet (hence our offer), but we'll definitely look into that!
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