I'd love to, but no plans currently. It was originally a hack week project that just turned large scale. We're looking into broadening the scope a bit first: adding parent/child relationships so there's better query dependency support, and long run looking to tie into AirFlow so analysts are using this UI but really creating AirFlow jobs in the background.
To be fair, this is price agnostic, and they are the same patterns they've had when the subway/bus price was 2.25. The remainders, while still more than a couple pennies, were definitely smaller than the current setup. It also allows for the MTA to continue price hiking (ugh) without people ending up with even larger remainders: "I have 2.50 on my card but now it's 2.75!"
What they should have done was update these price points alongside the price change that occurred to keep remainders at or under a dollar. A "fill to the next ride" option could also be a great way to even out the remaining cost.
While this still isn't perfect and screws over tourists (particularly when they removed the 1 day unlimited!), I imagine this is non-issue for the majority of New Yorkers (myself included).
I also imagine there's good reason here. Imagine all the trash that gets created because someone will finish up their metro card completely. The extra $1 fee per new card was likely a newer solution to prevent people from throwing them in the streets or in the subway trench, and providing an odd remainder on the card may have been a historical way to do the same. Imagine, if you had an extra dollar sitting around on your card, you probably would reuse it, and not throw it out.
That said, the fact that anyone can get from Sunset Park to the Bronx Botanical Gardens (a 20+ mile drive) for 2.50 isn't so bad of a deal.
Totally agree, especially because even I personally would have rather just done all the analysis in Python or R. I figured this to be a great opportunity to play with d3.js a bit, but also build some data analysis on the spot. I like that anyone could easily fork this, play with the code just a bit to fit their needs, and have the majority of their "analysis" done (I only hardcoded the "winner" markings). They can just focus on the fun of brewing. Thanks for the geekiness appreciation!
Most of these seem true about any well put together company that has set the boundaries between the code and breaking of said code. As a software engineer intern at Animoto in NYC, these were all completely true, and I know other interns at other startups in NYC that also had high expectations out of their SE interns.
Interns can't learn unless they build and break, and shouldn't be put out in an island so they don't have to worry about breaking. If your system is built out well enough, no intern would be able to push out code that breaks in production.
Just to make a point, and certainly not capturing all the grammatical problems with this post:
"Your sitting down eating lunch at your desk."
One list ends with periods, the other does not.
"No one knows who you really are besides your previous title’s"
Is grammar now a lost art? I understand the author has a message, but it feels lost and less professional when one doesn't take the opportunity to proofread work.
This "my desktop should be a tablet OS as well" situation is boggling my mind.
I'm an avid Apple user, and I'm not a fan of the direction Lion went, and the continued direction Mountain Lion is going. I use a notebook because I want a notebook: a keyboard for easy terminal usage and more efficient browser hunting, a mouse or touchpad for manageable selection tools, drawing, etc. I don't think I've ever pressed F4 (Launchpad, I think it's called?) on purpose, especially when Alfred or even Spotlight do the exact same thing much faster.
Windows took this in a stranger direction: let's make it two completely different experiences, but make the unifier the most difficult thing in the world to find. I haven't played with this release yet (played with the previous 8 preview), but if there's an easy switch button (probably is the Windows key), I'm all ears. Otherwise, let's move on. I'm not quite sure who they're targeting here.
The Chromebook/box announcement that came recently is, I think, the most interesting take. Seems like Google's idea was to build Ice Cream Sandwich with the desktop in mind. But here, we lose real apps. I'll tunnel and use Vim when I need to, but Sublime is too powerful for me to pass on. If I want to play Diablo 3 or Portal, forget about it. Then again, Google's looking at a completely different market than OS X or Windows 8.
I pushed this comment out to my peers for a read first, but thought I'd share here as well. I've been in the author's shoes as both an English teacher and band director (at the same time), and disagree wholeheartedly. As others pointed out, he's comparing hard skills (math) and soft skills (gained from anything, but in this particular case football and band).
No kid asks when band or football is going to be useful in their life because they already have a premise around it: start from the bottom, and you have four years to become a leader. Math doesn't provide this opportunity, because the moment you get a passing grade in a math course, you move on to the next class. There's no leadership here. No opportunity to lead that class you passed with what you now know. Nothing shifts. On another note, you do gain group work skills and peer bonding, like in other said activities.
The calendar thing pisses me off, like him, but for other reasons.
Primarily, this isn't because people don't know math. It's because they don't want to do it. We're currently in an era where it's easier to share information--good and bad--than for us to figure it out on our own. The problem here isn't that no one knows math, it's that "share" and "be a sheep" is much higher on everyone's bucket list than "do something by myself and learn from it." This is especially with kids. Instead of frustration, however, he's provided with a the perfect warmup problem. Ask kids to figure out if the answer is true or not using what they know about math, five minutes pass, and you show them how to handle it. You make two points now: math is useful, and don't always believe everything that gets shared around the internet.
First, let me just mention that I think it's fantastic when others offer to share their personal experiences with interviewing, particularly when what's shared is unique and interesting to read or look at.
As others pointed out, there's more to this article than the whiteboard title, and some great points (particularly a fan of the python one) are made. I can't agree with the whiteboard concept, unfortunately. Maybe it's because of my teaching background, but when I interviewed for a startup engineering position a long time ago, they loved my whiteboard usage. It was clear, easy to follow, and effective. In some respects, it's (part of) what got me the job offer.
That said, the main point between whiteboard or pen and paper: make sure you can express yourself clearly to your interviewers. It was crucial in all the essays I graded, and a key skill to attain no matter your profession.
I don't think the grid is completely correct in Manhattan, even where the grid exists. It puts Washington Square Park , which southern end should be 4th street, as 6th street, and on the northern end of the grid, George Washington Bridge, which comes into Manhattan at 175th (I believe), is marked at 180/181st.
This is a really cool map, but some minor adjustments and testing to get the correct fit in Manhattan first would make a notable improvement in the overall product. I'd say fitting goals would be Houston as 1st street, and maybe 191st-200s area for north bound (Bronx continues the pattern, but it's much less consistent). Good work!
I taught for a few years in a fairly-sized school district. Even the best teachers I knew in my department--ones who were very internet savvy and technological proficient--admitted they wouldn't pay for an application in the classroom. They just didn't have the money. They constantly look for free things, such as Google Docs for teaching students how to collaborate and edit papers together.
Target to teachers, yes, but there are other ways to do business with them than to take from their tiny bank accounts.
The best advice I can give you is to write as much as you can before you start coding. Putting a program or app together is 60% critical thinking, 20% writing, and 20% error management. If you've already got some ideas, try to break them down as much as possible.
As for specific languages to learn: startups in particular seem to love Ruby, but honestly, they all work the same way, fundamentally. I crashed through the basics of Ruby in a week, started learning JavaScript, and stopped shortly after realizing that the majority of it was the same code just written differently.
++ to keeping a journal. It keeps you in check, because even though you say will will devote so much time a week to it, you won't. I had to start setting personal goals on a daily basis. That drive alone is helping. Keeping a blog is great for peer support too. I don't get many comments on mine, but it definitely feels good when someone stops by to say, "Hey, this is cool stuff."