

Show HN: Want to learn C? Join this class on my website as we work through K&R - imp
http://curiousreef.com/class/programming-in-c/

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imp
I launched this site last January, and there was a great response for the SICP
class. This year I was feeling like learning C, so I started this class based
on the K&R book.

I'd be interested in any thoughts you have on this class or the website as a
whole.

~~~
gvkv
UI issue: Why do I need to come up with yet another username? I've never
understood why websites don't just let username == email with an optional
alias. I understand that OpenID or ClickPass might not be worth implementing
but in my view, this username thing has got to stop. To this end, I refuse to
sign up for any service that requires me to login via username (other than
email). It's too bad too, because this looks very cool.

~~~
imp
I'm sorry to hear that you don't want to register. I agree that usernames are
frequently unnecessary, and for other sites that I've created I avoid them.

However, I think it's useful for this website because you get a profile page
with a URL that uses that username. For instance, here is mine:

<http://curiousreef.com/kday>

Sure, and email + alias could work also, but I really wanted people to have
their own vanity URL, and this seemed to be the easiest way to do that.

~~~
gvkv
A unique alias is fine in circumstances such as the one you've given--my point
is about account creation and logins. There is no reason you can't use an
email as a login and then require the user to give a unique alias to use in
their URL. FogBugz (On Demand), to cite one example, does things this way. You
login with an email but when you sign up, you have to give a unique
corporation name and the app generates a subdomain of fogbuz.com; e.g.,
mycorp.fogbugz.com.

Anyway, I really like the idea of what you're doing, but as time marches on I
am becoming increasingly zealous over this issue. Retooling your app at this
point is probably too much work given that most users don't have the same
conviction as I do but since you asked for feedback, I'm giving you my 2¢.

~~~
imp
That's a good example. Thanks for the feedback. Overall, I wasn't aware that
this was a big issue for some people, and now I'll spend more time considering
aliases for future projects. Thanks.

------
middlegeek
Nice, I signed up for a class. Is there a way to mark other classes in a queue
of sorts to be taken when you are done with the one(s) you are currently
taking?

Thanks!

~~~
imp
No, there isn't, but that sounds like a good idea. I'll try to add a way to do
something like that. Thanks.

