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Xcode is Apple's development suite. HN is a site largely populated by technology enthusiasts. We don't all have the same interests, skills, background, or vocabulary, but I think it's acceptable to assume that a reasonably sized subset of the group will understand the message and that those who don't will either choose to run a web search or simply move on. There are many submissions to HN that presuppose a certain level of familiarity with a given topic and we all seem to manage.


Microsoft is an important computer company. I use Microsoft products. To save my time getting background information, I just stay with Microsoft's products.

Why just Microsoft? Because for what I'm doing, it's enough, and I don't see anything else clearly better. My computer usage and software development are on Windows.

My development is for a Web site where the site runs on Windows. My Web site sends to users just very standard HTTP, HTML, and CSS; so users need only a Web browser up to date as of, say, five, maybe 10, years ago.

Each of my Web pages is just 800 pixels wide, with large fonts and high contrast, and should look good on any device with a screen with 800 pixels of width. The Web pages have both vertical and horizontal scroll bars so that, really, the pages should be usable on any device with 300 pixels of width and even fewer pixels of height.

Net, my users might be using Linux and/or Apple products -- fine with me, but I don't have to be using Linux or Apple products and so far am not.

I have no Apple products. I've never used any Apple products. I've never used Linux or Unix. Why? My project just doesn't need Apple products. Or Linux.

That experience with Unix, Linux, or Apple is a prerequisite for being an expert in computing, which I am, is absurd.

Yes, maybe generally HN is strongly in favor of Apple and Linux and, basically, hates Microsoft.

I had to select a computing platform, and the main two choices were Linux, maybe on Apple products, and Microsoft. I selected Microsoft.

For the hardware, I got some parts, motherboard, processor, fans, disk drives, CD/DVD burners, diskette drive (still used a few times), power supply, case, monitor, keyboard, lots of cables, lots of little screws, etc., a B/W laser printer connected via USB, gigabit Ethernet, etc. Wired a cable to drive my old daisy wheel printer (still really good for addressing envelopes) via a 9-pin serial port.

That hardware has been fine.

I've stayed with Microsoft; that's not a bad decision.

Linux and Apple? So far I don't need them and, thus, don't want to allocate time, money, and effort to use them.

Your implication that Linux and Apple are standard prerequisites for HN is rude, insulting, and absurd.

Xcode -- garbage if not defined.

And I shouldn't need Google to read HN.

Lesson: Once again, over again, one more time, time n + 1 for a very large n, clearly, simply, don't do it; never do it; give up on it; having in group jargon, essentially deliberately undefined, is garbage behavior; trying to put off people outside the in group is very bad behavior for everyone; IBM used to do that and it really cost them; in group jargon is a really big, bad, bummer; being inclusive is much better, and now even Microsoft knows this; liking undefined in group jargon is really bad stuff; undefined acronyms are really bad stuff; don't do it; simple lesson; got it now? Don't do it; don't excuse it; don't put up with it.

I'm not against Apple or Linux; it's just that, given that I do work on Windows, I don't need Apple or Linux and, thus, get to save on time, money, and energy that would be needed to use them. And, Objective-C? Don't need it. Python? Don't need it. PHP, Ruby, Rails, Django, Scheme, Lisp, assembler, C, C++, model-view-controller, Java, JavaScript, JQuery, node.js -- don't need them because they add little or nothing to what I already have on Windows.

E.g., Microsoft's ASP.NET writes a little JavaScript for me, but so far I have not written or even read a single line of it. Don't need it.

Pop-ups, pull-downs, roll-overs? Don't like them; don't need them; don't use them. JavaScript for asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), don't need it or use it.

A point: I'm not a professional programmer. It's been a long time since I wrote code for other people.

Now I'm an entrepreneur doing a startup. For my startup, I write all the code, and I'm writing that code on Windows. I've written some quite significant code.

But it is important for me to save my time, money, and effort and, thus, try hard not to buy, that is, invest time, money, and effort in, tools that I don't really need. So, so far I get to ignore Linux, Apple, PHP, ... Java, etc.


Do you realise that you come across as rude and arrogant? I don't think that you intend to, but you do.

You might want to read this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9238739

It's about people posting meta commentary on HN threads.


Simple: I like music, was interested in the OP, had never heard of AudioKit, and have never used Unix, Linux, or any Apple products.

I understand computing, violin, tuning in music, Fourier series, Nyquist sampling in digital signal processing, saw some music performance software decades ago, am interested in software for composing and performing music, needed an overview of AudioKit, and thought that the OP would have been helped by an overview.

For too much of the audio voice, I couldn't make out the words -- the speaker just needed to speak up, speak clearly, and not drop his voice.

For me to read the screen, I needed another 400% of magnification.

I wanted explanations of terminology such as playground -- sounds good, but in what sense do we have a metaphor of a real playground?

So, I suggested such revisions. My suggestions should have been constructive.

As it was, I gave up on the OP -- I'm really interested in the subject (on violin, I actually made it through a lot of the Bach Chaconne, especially the D major section -- no way to do that without being really interested in music) yet gave up on the OP as something with text I couldn't read and audio I couldn't understand. So, maybe the OP has some problems?

But then I got voted down and criticized. Then I defended myself.

It's all very simple.

So, some people on HN just assume that of course anyone on HN is a LInux/Apple user -- of course. Maybe they are also a Windows user, but necessarily they are a Linux/Apple user. Of course. Impossible to understand otherwise.

Well, that assumption is wrong and absurd. It's also "arrogant", intolerant, and, really, uninformed and ignorant. I just defended myself.

Linux/Apple are not the only good paths into computing now. There is also Windows. It happens that I'm a Windows user. Gee, if I'm wrong, then get PG or Sam to change HN to Linux/Apple/Android HN.

Right: With some of the audience at HN, I don't fit in. For that audience, I'm not sure I or anyone should want to fit in.


Your first comments were not rude and I've responded to them but I don't appreciate the personal attacks, and you've gone off on unprovoked tangents. Everyone, just walk away.




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