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Stack Overflow Blog: Stack Exchange API Usage Stats and API 2.0 Plans

4:27 AM

@ScottPack Fancy flight-tracking map

Stack Exchange

5:13 AM

Stack Exchange

5:49 AM

Posted by Jeff Atwood on September 29th, 2011

Stack Exchange has a very full featured, albeit currently read-only, API. You can view some of the nifty applications people have created with the Stack Exchange API in the app gallery on Stack Apps, or check out the winners of the Stack Exchange API contest we held last year.

We’re currently in the planning stages for Stack Exchange API 2.0. There’s a draft API 2.0 specification on Stack Apps, so head on over there and take a look if you want a voice in that process.

As a part of our research process leading up to 2.0, we analyzed usage statistics of the API to date. For the period …

1 hour later…

this.josh

7:06 AM

Apparently my five minutes out of the penalty box are not destined to coincide with active chat

4 hours later…

11:31 AM

Good luck on the interview, @JeffFerland!

@ScottPack It's off to a fantastic start before I get there. While they covered my flight and booked a hotel, they apparently didn't pay for the hotel, or provide me with a way to get to the hotel that was 14 miles away.

:-/

Also, tip for car rentals at the airport: if the "right now" rate on the Internet is ~$100, take the shuttle to the car rental place anyway, walk to the counter with the shortest line, and tell them you want to rent for one day for $40 right at the start of the conversation.

Why start at 40?

Why not start your negotiations at 25?

I based it off the rates of the following day.

11:44 AM

Ah. That's probably fair, then.

Starting my interview off by handing them my receipts -.-

What time is your interview?

Also, that was $40 inclusive... and taxes are a ton of the fee.

Stack Exchange Security Blog: QotW 11: Is it possible to have a key for encryption, that cannot be used for decryption?

Time to go into the office.

Stack Exchange

12:03 PM

ninefingers on September 30, 2011

This week’s question of the week was asked by George Bailey, who wanted to know if it were possible to have a key for encryption that could not be used for decryption. This seems at first sight like a simple question, but underneath it there are some cryptographic truths that are interesting to look at.

Firstly, as our first answerer SteveS pointed out, the process of encrypting data according to this model is asymmetric encryption. Steve provided links to several other answers we have. First up from this list was asymmetric vs symmetric encryption. From our answers there, public key cryp …

7 hours later…

6:38 PM

@StackExchange @RoryAlsop Shouldn't that be tagged/filed under QotW?

2 hours later…

8:40 PM

Really quiet today...

8:56 PM

It was. ಠ_ಠ

9:33 PM

Maybe the post-election fiesta turned into a general binge and all the regulars are wasted.

Does anyone else think this might be just a little bit nuts?

Read about SpaceX's plan to fly a rocket back to its launch site for reuse and watch a video of the maneuver. http://bit.ly/rrQlgR

Tweeted by SpaceflightNow on September 30, 2011 at 9:06 PM

@ThomasPornin Interviews make me feel hungover.

9:53 PM

@JeffFerland Did it went well ?

(apart from the transportation issues)

@ThomasPornin I'm going to say 50/50. I feel like I had a hard time selling myself as somebody who focuses on security... go figure.

Also, courtesy of the gravatar, my resume page on careers now has a cat photo. Need to fix that.

@Iszi The "back to its launch site" cannot work. Having the parts land safely at some place a few hundred kilometers away seems doable.

@ThomasPornin You mean like somewhere in the middle of the desert, or on a platform in the middle of the ocean?

@Iszi Or whatever is at the right place. Launching from Florida in the East direction means ocean, yes.

Russians have convenient solid ground all around Baïkonour

@ThomasPornin I think they intend for all components to complete at least one full lap around the earth.

10:02 PM

@Iszi That's why I call bullshit. If the first stage can do a full lap, then it has achieved orbital speed, by definition, and there is no point in having a second stage.

Ninefingers

@ThomasPornin Ha, I was out at a cycle show today, but I spent quite a lot of the time moving nowhere on the motorway.

@ThomasPornin I didn't say a full lap at orbital altitude, but I see your point.

@Ninefingers Rough traffic around Paris ? A12/A13 maybe ? They are always the worst.

Ninefingers

@ThomasPornin I'm UK based... we have this fantastic car park called the M6... uh I mean motorway! That said, I've driven around France an am always impressed by the people in the outside (our name for the fastest) lane with their indicators on which means "get out of the way"!

We do a slightly different thing - get as close as you can behind and look menacing.

That said, France has cooler roads, especially that tall bridge... brain not working, but this year's TDF went over it in week 1.

@Ninefingers Millau

well, "viaduc de Millau"

For the non-French speakers here, "viaduc" is actually latin and means "guide for a road", so really "tall bridge"

Ninefingers

10:12 PM

@ThomasPornin that's the one. Hats off to French engineering - it's awesome to drive over it and if you're ever in a traffic jam you can always admire the view.

Journeyman Geek

10:41 PM

morning

11:26 PM

@JourneymanGeek Australia?