lobsters

<p>Following up on: <a href="https://lobste.rs/s/p3wmty/step_right_up_lobsters_blog_carnival" rel="ugc">https://lobste.rs/s/p3wmty/step_right_up_lobsters_blog_carnival</a></p> <p>Please prepare and PM submissions by March 23rd (or just post yourself on the carnival on April 1st). The topic: Why are different languages better than each other?</p> <ul> <li>Do you want to definitively prove Lisp's superiority, through <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM1Zb3xmvMc" rel="ugc">song</a>?</li> <li>Have you worked on metrics of measuring superior language or DSL fit to find the ultimate notation and thus tool of thought?</li> <li>Are you tired of people badmouthing PHP while you're too tired to defend its honor, because you're actually shipping stuff?</li> <li>Hell, do you have a good argument why Neolatino's <a href="https://terracalida.eu/per-que-falliscen-las-lenguas-artificiales" rel="ugc">better</a> than Esperanto?</li> <li>Do you have an even handed framework for actually picking the best tool for the job and not literally hitting everything with your hammer du jour?</li> </ul> <p>Write now for great fun and profit!</p>

<p>You may submit ONE feature for LOBSTERS-LANG.</p> <p>Otherwise the great Lobster In The Sky may curse you.</p> <p>That is all. The slate is ready for your chisels.</p>

<p>As a follow-up to <a href="https://lobste.rs/s/ckjr52/how_do_you_decide_what_learn_next" rel="ugc">this thread</a>, I'd love to know what you Lobsters are planning to learn next year. Feel free to talk about any topic you've had your eyes on, and would like to pick more of it up in 2019.</p> <p>Super curious about the responses!</p>

<p><strong>TL;DR: Should I give a "time out" to 'newbies' who have been 'newbies' for (subjectively) too long, or am I being too harsh?</strong></p> <p>Let me start with a graph.</p> <p><a href="https://raw.github.com/gist/9e8f8b837c1eb7e68c90/6332a8a13e51ae71adf2cdfad04d8dbb1839f791/skill-vs-time.png" rel="ugc">https://raw.github.com/gist/9e8f8b837c1eb7e68c90/6332a8a13e51ae71adf2cdfad04d8dbb1839f791/skill-vs-time.png</a></p> <p>Now let me explain what the graph <em>means</em>.</p> <p>The red and yellow lines in this graph are two people who have been in the Ruby on Rails community <em>about</em> the same period of time. The person represented by the red line has gained more skill over a shorter period of time than the person represented by the yellow line. Let's say the total time for this graph is 18 months. Both people, for all intents and purposes of this story, are gainfully employed as Ruby on Rails developers. Where they work, what they are paid and what they're building aren't important to this story. What is important is the role that these two people play in the #rubyonrails channel on Freenode.</p> <p>Yellow is in the channel nearly every single day continuously asking questions. Red (not me, by the way) is there, again, nearly every day, answering questions from people like Yellow. Occasionally, these questions take anywhere from mere seconds all the way up to (in more than one case) <em>5 hours</em> to answer. These questions are usually relatively simple things, like defining custom validations, working out nested resources or figuring out syntax errors in ERB code.</p> <p>Now, I don't personally have a problem with people who take up the channel's time by asking question after question after question, month after month after month. That's what the channel's there for. If we didn't allow all those questions then why even have the channel in the first place? My problem is that I think that a lot of the answers to these problems can be solved in a better way than asking anonymous strangers on the internet for help. Like reading <a href="https://railstutorial.org" rel="ugc">free</a> and <a href="http://manning.com/bigg2" rel="ugc">not so free</a> about the topic, for instance. Or finding an anonymous stranger who can consistently volunteer their time to help build the thing that they're having issues with, and become not-so-anonymous, perhaps even a friend.</p> <p>Basically, IRC is a shitty medium for discussing big programming architecture problems, but a great one for teeny-tiny problems.</p> <p>In IRC-land, Red only has so much patience to help Yellow in their quest for learning. If it appears that after a long time that Yellow isn't actually learning anything from what they've been told and they aren't applying any actual critical thinking to the problem space, then Red may get annoyed at the "slow-goingness" of the progress. I've seen this happen. Hell, I've been annoyed myself that some people just don't 'get it' sometimes. But what I realised is that, as the above graph shows, different people learn at different speeds. As an extension of that, different people learn better from different resources. Some people may learn better from just brute-forcing a problem. Others may need hand-holding and a walkthrough of the problem several times before they finally understand.</p> <p>I don't know what the "correct" answer is to this problem. Do you maintain the status quo and let Yellow keep asking questions, day in and day out and hope that, over time, there is actually something to show for it; that they actually reach a higher form of competency? Or do you encourage them (perhaps forcefully so) to look into other means of improving their knowledge in the field? I just don't know.</p> <p>WDYT, Lobsters?</p>

<p>Christmas is coming up, and I know some of you have experience helping children/nieces/nephews/etc learn programming. Mind sharing?</p> <p>Are there any kid friendly books, toys, kits, or other such gifts you have experience with and would recommend?</p> <p>What approaches have you used to generate interest, projects have you done that were fun and rewarding, or any goals to aim for?</p> <p>Any pitfalls to avoid?</p> <p>Any success stories to learn from?</p> <p>Any wisdom on what is appropriate and approachable for different ages?</p> <p>Input, advice, or recommendations/reviews are much appreciated.</p> <p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Weekly question for Lobsters community: What are you working on this week?</p> <p>Feel free to champion your projects, personal or professional, ask advice, give feedback, etc.</p>

DURHAM, NH—A new study released Friday by researchers at the University of New Hampshire’s Aquatic Institute revealed that lobsters are capable of feeling pain, and, what’s more, get off it on like the sick little…

<p>A node module that I created to get Lobsters stories.</p> <p>I <a href="https://github.com/medimatrix/lobste.rs-node/wiki/Using-lobste.rs-node-with-Emacs" rel="ugc">use it with emacs</a>.</p>

The algorithm drives negativity online, but my Hacker News and Lobsters experience showed that humans spread toxicity just fine without one