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Zappable
Personal blog · zappable.comaiprogrammingother
Zappable is a personal blog at zappable.com about ai and programming. Since 2011, 3 different Hacker News readers have linked it 27 times. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-30, and you can follow it by feed.
On technology, AI, education, and beyond.
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I recently wrote a short post on something similar: while AI is able to solve increasingly longer tasks, people's attention spans are getting shorter. https://www.zappable.com/p/ai-vs-human-attention-spans Hopefully people can learn to use AI to help them, while still thinking on their own. It's not like that many of the assignments in school were that useful anyways...
Comment linking /p/ai-vs-human-attention-spans
on “The deadline isn't when AI outsmarts us – it's when we stop using our own minds”Submitted Resources to Learn Programming in Java, Python, Ruby or Javascript as a story · 83 points
HN discussionI wrote a post here of resources for learning ruby http://www.zappable.com/2012/11/learning-ruby-and-rails/ and made a chart here with some more: http://www.zappable.com/2012/12/a-map-of-resources-for-learn...
Comment linking /2012/12/a-map-of-resources-for-learning-ruby/
on “Learning JavaScript - my experience and advice”Submitted Writing with Less Writing as a story · 17 points
HN discussionI think the basic new compose window is an advantage since I often want to reference previous emails while writing one email, and it lets me do that without creating a new gmail tab. (I always though Google should add this feature: http://www.zappable.com/2011/07/things-gmail-should-fix/ ) There is a separate issue that Gmail hid many options. I personally find this annoying since I don't want to click through thing…
Comment linking /2011/07/things-gmail-should-fix/
on “Why The New Gmail Sucks”Submitted Silver Bullets in Software Development as a story · 3 points
HN discussionThis has been AT&T's practice for a while. The big carriers want to make huge monthly fees by charging people for the privilege to use a smartphone on their network. You have a few alternatives: Get a GSM phone that AT&T can't recognize, i.e. one that wasn't made for AT&T. Alternatively you could switch to one of the prepaid carriers that allow smartphones at no extra fee. These options may not last forever though.…
Comment linking /2012/07/smartphones-for-cheap-ii/
on “AT&T Will Force Your Data Plan For Your Unlocked Out-of-Contract "Smart" Phone”Submitted Picking a Programming Language – Chart as a story · 3 points
HN discussionI'm not sure why people don't also look at job sites to see language popularity. I quickly compared a few languages here http://www.zappable.com/2012/12/job-market-for-programming-l... but one could do a more in-depth analysis. I created a chart with some more languages in this Google Doc: http://bit.ly/UBuI02 . Java seems to be by far the most popular, though C# seems to be pretty high-demand too. One could probabl…
Comment linking /2012/12/job-market-for-programming-languages/
on “C# is the language of the year, Python of the decade”Submitted 80% of School Is a Waste of Time – Will AI Change It? as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI mentioned it in my post ( http://www.zappable.com/2012/11/learning-ruby-and-rails/ ), but I think the Humble Ruby Book is clearer to actually learn how to code.
Comment linking /2012/11/learning-ruby-and-rails/
on “Resources to Learn Programming in Java, Python, Ruby or Javascript”Submitted Eric Schmidt on Innovation: Patents, Self-Driving Cars and Education as a story · 2 points
HN discussionI think the solution needs to be more ambitious. What if the "invention" is not prior art, but other people can come up with the same idea on their own? Does that deserve to be patented so that the company that was one week late will need to pay patent fees? Maybe the whole patent process should be crowd-sourced and patents should only be granted if no one can think of the same idea. (I discuss this more here: http:…
Comment linking /2011/08/how-to-fix-the-patent-system/
on “How To Kill Patent Trolls”Submitted Eric Schmidt about Apple, Android and Smartphones as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIt's funny. I spent a while yesterday trying to find a free easy and secure way for anyone to publish static websites, but couldn't find anything that was like the Dropbox public folder option. And now Google comes out with this... I guess I'll have to update my post http://www.zappable.com/2012/11/the-zappable-guide-to-findin...
Comment linking /2012/11/the-zappable-guide-to-finding-a-web-host/
on “Announcing Google Drive Site Publishing”Submitted How to Fix the Patent System as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIts true that people dont always need a data connection, and an ipod would be one alternative. However, there are ways to get smartphones for cheap. I discuss a few options here: http://www.zappable.com/2012/07/smartphones-for-cheap-ii/
Comment linking /2012/07/smartphones-for-cheap-ii/
on “Why do you need a Smartphone?”Submitted The Soul of Claude as a story · 1 points
HN discussionI collected some resources on this here: http://www.zappable.com/2012/11/chart-for-learning-a-program... There are some programs for kids or to make games for various languages: Java - Greenfoot Python - Invent Your Own Computer Games (book) Ruby - Hackety-Hack, Ruby4Kids Javascript - CodeAvengers If they're not yet ready to write real code, they can look at these programs from MIT: General - Scratch Android - AppIn…
Comment linking /2012/11/chart-for-learning-a-programming-langauge/
on “Ask HN: Are there any children's websites that teach coding or coding concepts?”Submitted Podcast Recommendations as a story · 1 points
HN discussionIts quite impressive, but will they actually be able to write "real" articles, or just convert stock or sports data into paragraphs? Since its possible that data is easier to look at in table form. http://zappable.com/2012/04/algorithms-writing-articles/
Comment linking /2012/04/algorithms-writing-articles/
on “Can an Algorithm Write a Better News Story Than a Human Reporter?”Submitted Using AI to Analyze My Saved Articles as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted A Map of Resources for Learning Ruby as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Guide to Finding A Web Host as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Updating the Educational Curriculum for the Information Age as a story · 1 points
HN discussionSubmitted Beginner's Guide to Finding a Web Host (with recommendations) as a story · 1 points
HN discussion