
Ten Years at Google - pavel_lishin
https://neil.fraser.name/news/2016/12/18/
======
williamstein
This guy (Neil Fraser) wrote [https://github.com/lqc/google-diff-match-
patch](https://github.com/lqc/google-diff-match-patch) right before joining
Google, which is an incredibly useful foundational library for realtime
synchronized text editing. He was very influential in open source work on
realtime sync until going to work at Google, when he just sort of disappeared.

~~~
pgbovine
Blockly has been a reasonably widely-used open-source contribution, especially
given that it's mostly a one-person project (the last time I checked, but that
was a few yrs ago).

------
bootload
_" My biggest contribution so far at Google has been Blockly."_

Nice -
[https://developers.google.com/blockly/](https://developers.google.com/blockly/)
no real fan of google, but the tools and code churned out by individuals there
is pretty interesting. This I will play with.

~~~
hacker_9
Blockly is awesome and often overlooked. It realises the idea of a real time
scripting language, and should really be the thing devs reach for over
flowcharts when they decide to implement a visual programming environment.

~~~
codeonfire
I saw the exact same app circa 1996 sans the web stuff. Our professor was
trying to force this on us because it was his big research idea. It's not
overlooked, just a really old idea that didn't pan out 20 years ago.

~~~
jldugger
IMO, the use case for blockly is those structured search and filter
interfaces. Like RequestTracker or your email filter rules.

------
sn9
I recognized his site for being the source of one of the most inspiring posts
on the potential for what CS education could be:
[https://neil.fraser.name/news/2013/03/16/](https://neil.fraser.name/news/2013/03/16/)

~~~
kriro
From that article:

"""The CS teacher was excited and promised to teach Blockly the next day. But
there was another issue compromising the class. Due to a lack of funds, the
school could not afford two CS teachers, so half the school was unable to take
CS. I asked what a teacher's salary was. $100 per month. So I went to an ATM
and bought them a second teacher for the next year."""

Sad and awesome at the same time.

------
sabujp
Someone had built an open source graphical Perl code generator that used
blocks very similar to this. Looking back in your blog you used to be a heavy
Perl programmer. Was it you that did that? Where's that original project, iirc
it used to be on sf or something.

~~~
sb8244
I can not think of the name of this!

My first real paying gig was for a local Pennsylvania company who distributed
pBasic boards and merkur sets. They used an open source Perl IDE that allowed
3-5 graders to program the bot visually.

I didn't know Perl and was still in high school, but was able to make some
great contributions (to the company version). Taught me how to manage very
small amounts of memory. I owe the original author a thanks for making such a
solidly coded tool.

The tool may have come from parallax software.

~~~
dtamhk
This?

[https://www.parallax.com/downloads/s2-gui-
software](https://www.parallax.com/downloads/s2-gui-software)

------
binarytransform
Correct me if I'm wrong. Here of all places on the internet, an article with
the title of "Ten Years at X" is expected to encapsulate some kind of
intellectually rigorous narrative about the passing and the meaning of those
10 years to both the author and the organization. Or are we to assume that
such standards no longer exist in order to receive upvotes on HN?

~~~
nicky0
Clearly, you are wrong. People up-vote articles they find interesting based on
the criteria of their own choosing. You can't expect every HN reader to share
your own particular standards for what an article "should" be.

------
RoboTeddy
Neil wrote/maintains a wonderful javascript interpreter (written in
javascript) -- [https://github.com/NeilFraser/JS-
Interpreter](https://github.com/NeilFraser/JS-Interpreter)

I think he's the most responsive maintainer I've ever come across!

------
coldcode
Amazing to work for 10 years at one place. The only place that comes close is
working for my own company back in the later 80s, early 90's. Who stays with
one employer anymore these days?

~~~
edblarney
"Who stays with one employer anymore these days?"

Google will keep anyone talented that's 'producing stuff', they have massive
surpluses of cash.

I think a lot of people would love to work at Google for a long time so long
as they fit in the culture. Who wouldn't want to work on fun stuff that the
word is using?

And a high, stable income is the next most valuable thing after stock options
in a high flying company :)

What are the alternatives? A startup wherein you will likely lose your job?
Oracle? Cisco? Probably not nearly as interesting.

Alt career choice? Might cut their salary in half ...

Maybe a different way to frame it: why would they leave?

I wouldn't even like to work at Google, but I have no trouble understanding
why people would park there for a long while :)

Kudos to them for providing a place for so many talented folks to create cool
things.

------
op00to
The title of the article is very misleading. I would have loved to read how
Google changed on the inside over the last 10 years. Or maybe even how the
author changed. Instead, we get some spam about some tool that is neat.

~~~
peteretep
I was also a little disappointed, although I don't think I'd have written your
comment...

I wonder if anyone has a favourite article that reflects on how they and
Google changed over the ten years that they were there?

~~~
DannyBee
If i ever leave (10.75 years so far), i'll write you one :)

~~~
user5994461
What's your motivation for staying? Or what's your motivation for not leaving?

(whichever question makes more sense)

------
iso-8859-1
There was a project this summer to develop a functional programming language
using Blockly: [http://stefanj.me/funblocks/](http://stefanj.me/funblocks/)

------
jackweirdy
The laminated blockly story is awesome. Can't imagine how it must feel to see
your work being used like that.

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vmarsy
The robot moving aspect of blockly reminds me of one of the awesome Dr. brain
game (1994)[1], is there other kid-friendly games like this those 2 were
inspired from?

[1]
[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xqDGPYMcWGk](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xqDGPYMcWGk)

~~~
teddyh
Many suggestions on HN here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6345975](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6345975)

------
andrewvijay
Title should have been ' blocky is so dope'

------
raphlinus
I heard a little about Niel's next project last night, and it does sound
exciting. I look forward to trying it out.

~~~
Anm
I did not expect to see this here (nore Neil's post). Nice meeting you.

------
jaaames
Thanks Neil. We use Blockly in our little startup teaching kids to code and
it's fantastic.

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mwcampbell
Can't wait to see what the next big project will be!

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hatsunearu
Not sure but Blockly crashes my firefox. Weird!

50.0.2 on Ubuntu 16.04.

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joe563323
That mouse is scary.

