Let me make sure I understand this: The license means that Facebook grants you the right to use the patents on React, but if you sue Facebook for patent infringement, you lose the right to use React?
Unicode identifiers make me uncomfortable. I have no idea how I would type that circular one in the "sharp macro" section (short of copying and pasting), and I'm imagining seeing those missing-character boxes all over the place.
As a Python-lover who previously played with Common Lisp and Clojure, lispy syntax took less getting used to than having no end tags, but I'm still not used to prefix math.
> Personally, I think buying domains that seem good, and then brainstorming ideas for them is risky.
Your ideas have to come from somewhere, but I think it's risky too. That's why I suggested buying a cheaper domain to vet the idea before buying an expensive one (if at all).
I like the idea of using expiring domain names to generate business ideas (especially domain names that are fetching a good price).
But what if, instead of buying the domain name, you... didn't buy it? What if, instead of dropping $5K on an exact match, you spent $10 on a B+ domain name, where you can set up a landing page to see if there's interest in the business idea you've generated?
That way, if you are getting signups, or even actual customers, then you try to get a better domain name; but if not, you're not out $5K.
Or am I missing something? I guess you can still sell the domain if you don't end up doing something with it, but what if it declines in value?
I've found that reading sci-fi/fantasy before going to sleep helps me transition to sleep mode. I think it's because sci-fi problems are really somebody else's problem, so my brain can let them drop when I put the book down.
You can write any abstraction in any language (more or less). But working in some languages you're less likely to encounter code written by people who realize that.
Why do we need so many different VMs anyway? Is it it just history and politics? Are, e.g. Python and Ruby so different that, if implementing from scratch today it would make sense for each of them to have its own VM? What about the CLR vs the JVM: are their respective functions so different that it would make sense for both of them to exist if not for the need for Oracle and Microsoft to maintain mutual incompatibility?
F|R: I read that when you call Y Combinator winners, the founders have only five minutes to accept. ("If people turn us down," he says, "as far as we're concerned they've failed an IQ test.") Have startups turned you down? Are there any that have turned Y Combinator down and still gone on to succeed with a liquidity event?
Graham: You're confusing two separate things. The reason people are supposed to decide quickly whether or not to accept is that they already know everything except the percent we'll ask for. They've already seen the deal terms, and they already know as much as they're going to know about YC before actually working with us. So they should already know when we call what percentage they'd be ok with. Since all they have to do is subtract one integer from another, five minutes should be enough.
The "IQ test" quote refers not to how fast they have to decide, but the amount of equity we usually ask for. In the median case it's 6%. If we take 6%, we have to improve a startup's outcome by 6.4% for them to end up net ahead. That's a ridiculously low bar. So the IQ test is whether they grasp that.
There was one startup that turned us down because they received an acquisition offer during the weekend when we did interviews. It was a pretty good offer. I'd have taken it in their position, and they did. But other than that I don't know of anyone who turned us down and went on to succeed. There have only been about three others who turned us down.
Who do you think the Democratic nominee will be? Clinton again?