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Not really. Simula is generally considered to be the first object-oriented language (i.e. being built around the notion of classes: entities which encompass both data and behaviour). It builds on Algol60 and was defined in 1967; it predates both C and Pascal which are early seventies.

Object-orientation gained popularity through SmallTalk (late seventies).

C++ isn't a pure OO language; it's a procedural/OO hybrid language due to being based on C. It's unwieldyness isn't explained by this. Other OO and OO/hybrid languages (say Objective C which was a stronger influence on Java's OO nature than C++) are a lot less unwieldy.

Nowadays, Object Orientation and OO programming are popular because they allow for a more natural modelling of problem domains and implementations of solutions than the procedural approach which makes it possible to deal with larger problem sizes.

Not really. Simula is generally considered to be the first object-oriented language (i.e. being built around the notion of classes: entities which encompass both data and behaviour). It builds on Algol60 and was defined in 1967; it predates both C and Pascal which are early seventies.

Object-orientation gained popularity through SmallTalk (late seventies).

C++ isn't a pure OO language; it's a procedural/OO hybrid language due to being based on C. It's unwieldyness isn't explained by this. Other OO and OO/hybrid languages (say Objective C which was a stronger influence on Java's OO nature than C++) are a lot less unwieldy.

Nowadays, Object Orientation and OO programming are popular because they allow for a more natural modelling of problem domains and implementations of solutions than the procedural approach which makes it possible to deal with larger problem sizes.

Not really. Simula is generally considered to be the first object-oriented language (i.e. being built around the notion of classes: entities which encompass both data and behaviour). It builds on Algol60 and was defined in 1967; it predates both C and Pascal which are early seventies.

Object-orientation gained popularity through SmallTalk (late seventies).

C++ isn't a pure OO language; it's a procedural/OO hybrid language due to being based on C. It's unwieldyness isn't explained by this. Other OO and OO/hybrid languages (say Objective C which was a stronger influence on Java's OO nature than C++) are a lot less unwieldy.

Nowadays, Object Orientation and OO programming are popular because they allow for a more natural modelling of problem domains and implementations of solutions than the procedural approach which makes it possible to deal with larger problem sizes.

Not really. Simula is generally considered to be the first object-oriented language (i.e. being built around the notion of classes: entities which encompass both data and behaviour). It builds on Algol60 and was defined in 1967; it predates both C and Pascal which are early seventies.

Object-orientation gained popularity through SmallTalk (late seventies).

C++ isn't a pure OO language; it's a procedural/OO hybrid language due to being based on C. It's unwieldyness isn't explained by this. Other OO and OO/hybrid languages (say Objective C which was a stronger influence on Java's OO nature than C++) are a lot less unwieldy.

Nowadays, Object Orientation and OO programming are popular because they allow for a more natural modelling of problem domains and implementations of solutions than the procedural approach which makes it possible to deal with larger problem sizes.

Not really. Simula is generally considered to be the first object-oriented language (i.e. being built around the notion of classes: entities which encompass both data and behaviour). It builds on Algol60 and was defined in 1967; it predates both C and Pascal which are early seventies.

Object-orientation gained popularity through SmallTalk (late seventies).

C++ isn't a pure OO language; it's a procedural/OO hybrid language due to being based on C. It's unwieldyness isn't explained by this. Other OO and OO/hybrid languages (say Objective C which was a stronger influence on Java's OO nature than C++) are a lot less unwieldy.

Nowadays, Object Orientation and OO programming are popular because they allow for a more natural modelling of problem domains and implementations of solutions than the procedural approach which makes it possible to deal with larger problem sizes.

Monsanto
Socialism

Monsanto
Socialism

I'm probably going to come off sounding like a big time Socialist-sniper, but whatever. It happens. It's amazing that people (read: Sierra Clubbers, Greenpeace, et all) always assume that government will lead the way to more economically happy ideas and products.


First, please do me a favor and don't assume that anybody who is a socialist is a Marxist or any other form of authoritarian.


Second, corporations are not leading us to more economically happy ideas and products. They are also not moving our society towards a more positive future.


Of course, neither is government. And don't get me started on the prospect of the two working together against the will of the common man, as they have always done.


Instead, check out these links:



The truth about Monsanto


The *true* ideals of socialism


Thank you, that is all...


Michael Chisari

mchisari@usa.net
Michael Chisari

The other two are Open Directory and Ask Jeeves, which, while a little corny (and annoying at times), tends to bring up the occassional good lead.

see the Open Directory for more Neal Stephenson info.

This is not a particularly surprising inclusion. Media companies put all kinds of language in their standard contracts assigning ownership to The Company.

For example, cartoon companies routinely have the creator sign away rights to the characters and style, allowing The Company to continue to publish the strip even if the creator quits. I'm sure some of us remember how bitter Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin and Hobbes was...

Unfortunately, people go ahead and sign these contracts since their only other alternative is to be forever consigned to oblivion. Without a publisher, these artists would never have been noticed.

With the advent of cheap (or even free) web publishing, this is all changing. Anyone can make their art readily available-- witness the popularity (for both consumer and supplier) of mp3.com, User Friendly, and others.

The Internet is starting to force media publishers back into the role of promoters rather than controllers, and they are understandably upset and/or scared. Consumers will still need publishers to help pick out what is good, but they no longer need be restricted to only what the publishers wish to promote, so the publisher will no longer have the same power over the artists they once had.

There are basically two types of color matching that are relevant. The first is Pantone spot colors, and the second is ICC. The latter is generally what you'd use when preparing photos and related images for CMYK offset printing. ICC is gaining ground, and is used as the color matching standard in such emerging technologies as SVG.

Pantone is basically a named collection of colors. The cool thing about Pantone is that you can communicate Pantone colors to professional printers, and they know how to match it. Let's say for example that you're doing a business card, and you want your logo to be in black and a nice deep blue. By specifying Pantone 280, you can be assured that the printers will produce the same nice deep blue that you intended. Incidentally, it's not hard to find a Pantone palette for Gimp if you're skilled at Web searching.

Pantone colors are far less useful when dealing with natural images. The Pantone palette is only a few thousand colors, while the standard for scanned images is sixteen million. These are all the colors between "nice deep blue" and "slightly deeper blue than that". That's where ICC comes in.

ICC basically specifies a transformation from a source color space (say, a calibrated RGB such as sRGB) to a destination color space (say, CMYK values for your particular printing press). In theory, this allows exact color matches between scanned, displayed, and printed images, but in practice things are a lot more complicated because (a) people don't perceive color the same way from an emissive display such as a CRT and reflected color from paper, and (b) not all devices can reproduce the same range of colors. Category (b) is especially tricky because the only way to ensure an exact color match is to use a lowest-common-denominator set of colors. As you can imagine, that's not a good idea. It doesn't look very good. In any case, ICC goes at least partway to solving these things.

Now we get to the patent problem. It appears that Electronics for Imaging has some patents that cover the generic idea of colorimetric matching between scan, display, and print. These patents have recently been upheld in court, so they'd appear to be pretty strong. I don't see a way around them.

As far as I know, these patents only apply in the United States. There is some very interesting development of color management code going on outside the US. Perhaps in 2003, when the most important of the EFI patents expires, this means that color management will be free for all to use.

Hope this clears things up.

Marijuana or any drug, when used with heavy machinery can be dangerous. Marijuana, though, does not kill brain cells. Besides huffing (or other "recreational" activities which deprive the brain of oxygen) the only drug which kills brain cells is alcohol. Ask your doctor.

Cirrhosis of the liver, fetal alcohol syndrom, etc. are all dangers from drinking.

Essentially the only danger from smoking marijuana is lung irritation, and so far no studies have shown an increase in risk of lung cancer or emphysema, but bronchitis is still a danger.

The biggest problem with drugs (and a lot of other things) is ignorance, on the part of users and law enforcement. For example, an average cigar contains enough nicotine to kill several people, but I could still get one. The U.S. sends billions to Cuba, Peru, and Bolivia to eradicate their coca fields using firepower and herbicides. And still I could get as much coke as I want in a matter of minutes with just a phone call (in NYC). What a collassal waste of manpower, tax payer dollars, and lives.

Users are of course no better. Children romanticize drug use, and get far to caught up in catching highs and spending their parents money. All of our prohibitive laws regarding naturally occuring drugs (and now designer drugs) are based on the idea of protect the children, but have the effect of arresting minorities and adults while kids can pick up whatever they want in school. Except of course alcohol, you have to go outside of school to get that.

For people interested in learning more about drug laws and the problems they cause, check out the following URLs.

• National NORML
• The Lindesmith Center
• The Partnersip for Responsible Drug Information
• Columbia University NORML Shameless plug.
• Marijana Myths/Marijuana Facts a great book as well.
• Dmoz on drugs for everything I can't put in this post

Please people stay informed and don't hurt yourself with drugs or anything. Fun comes with moderation. Anyone who has gone to college (or probably high school) has seen people who have taken things a bit too far. Don't do that, but also don't castigate people for seeing things differently than you. I am a firm believer in an open market in drugs, but I know that in reality a comprimise must be reached that takes into consideration all points of view, not just my own.

Sorry for the long post, but I felt the record needed to be set straight. Carl Sagan smoked herb, cool, too bad he wasn't able to stand up for it while he was alive.

So maybe we need something like Open Directory but just for kids, or rather only pertaining to limited sensibilities. A list of sites that are good instead of rules for sites that are bad. Sure, it would still limit the horizons of kids, but something open and dynamic like that would certainly be more fulfilling than just slashdot and freshmeat (no offense CmdrTaco and Scoop!)

I think a distributed project would be great, assuming anonymity, and the fact that most people's outgoing pipeline is fairly unused. If browsers could simply toss the current page an META summary to a search server for it to check if that page is indexed and update that information. If the page isn't indexed, it can do it's spidering on it ... of course, a majority of visited pages would probably be indexed, but the work completed would increase exponentially (especially personal sites).

For an excellent example that is almost there, see the Open Directory.

Sounds like you might be interested in the Mozilla Directory, i.e. DMOZ.org -- it's an Open Source web directory, more or less. There's a feature on there for the editors which point out dead links and even sends an e-mail to the editors warning them about the dead link so it can be corrected.

Plus, as the tag line goes, "humans do it better."

I use Google for a search engine and DMOZ for a web directory. Either way, I tend to find what I need much more often than not.

-Augie, is an editor on DMOZ by way of full disclosure

And read on. Part 6 of Yah??'s TOS, on "member conduct", immediately goes on to say:

Yahoo does not control the Content posted via the Service and, as such, does not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Content. You understand that by using the Service, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent or objectionable. Under no circumstances will Yahoo be liable in any way for any Content, including, but not limited to, for any errors or omissions in any Content, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Content posted, emailed or otherwise transmitted via the Service.

So they claim the right to modify (damned Geocities popups and watermarks), sublicense your works in perpetuity, and create derivative works in any form until hell freezes over. They can sell ads on your "free" page. They can sell your original content to anyone they please, or they can change it and sell it. You need not be acknowledged as the author.

But if there's any legal trouble, you take the fall. Yah??!/Geocities is claiming to own your work but not to be liable for it.

What a deal, eh?

I don't know of a good free webhosting alternative offhand, but maybe people jumping ship could find something at The Free Webpage Provider Review .

As for directories, long live the ODP!

They don't give much more that one or two lines of information on the job. There is no company info whatsoever for fear that the agency is bypassed. I have just visited an Irish one jobfinder and it's mind-boggling. I'd say more than 90% of the entries are various Recruitment services.

This is frustrating.

Worthy of a much better RANT really.

Checking the Irish Times newspaper (on-line) you can see the jobs pages are published in paper form only. Why? Has someone monopolised this industry? How can it not be worth the papers while to publish their job-ads? However, that said, even in the newspaper ads there is pathetically little information.

How can you choose the right job from two lines? I can't. If you ring the agencies up .... you get loads of hassle, no information until you interview with them and certainly no company or job choice. PATHETIC!

Okay you can apply and do the interview to find out what the job really is BUT I really don't want to go to all that hassle just to find out what I would be applying for.

How can there not exist an option to filter out all those nasty recruitment agencies? And why are the jobs advertised with such a tiny amount of information? Do people not know what they want someone to do? Where they will work? Hours, benefits, what is involved...?

If software companies have such problems hiring people why is it such hassle to find a nice geek job? Is there no jobsearch site that could act as a central resource for both companies and geeks? I guess not :( It would surely be worth someone's while. Think of the advertising $$$s.

Need: good job info, reject obfusticating recruitment advertisments (or filter them out) become THE job portal everyone uses, rake in loads of money.

Get Yahoo interested .... a people moderated Yahoo style jobs area would be quite interesting. Hmmm, I wonder could the ODP manage this?

Um, get a clue. Only Kaffe is actually a full VM. Classpath isn't a VM and isn't compliant to anything because it isn't ready yet. JLint is clearly not a VM.

BTW, the dmoz directory has a more comprehensive listing of open source Java stuff than the FSF:

http://dmoz.org/C omputers/Programming/Languages/Java/Open_Source/ (86 links - and that's just the open source links)

Um, get a clue. Only Kaffe is actually a full VM. Classpath isn't a VM and isn't compliant to anything because it isn't ready yet. JLint is clearly not a VM.

BTW, the dmoz directory has a more comprehensive listing of open source Java stuff than the FSF:

http://dmoz.org/C omputers/Programming/Languages/Java/Open_Source/ (86 links - and that's just the open source links)

It is not the fault of the West that the third-world poor are poor. And simply building them internet connection, while a noble goal, is not going to solve the problem.

Here is some info on US "helping" of the third-world...

more info, or is that disinfo... :)

still think that the US has nothing to do with the poor being poor?



nmarshall
#include STD_DISCLAMER.H
R.U. SIRIUS: THE ONLY POSSIBLE RESPONSE

Google or Open Directory Project they both are better at finding what i need sometimes i use Altavista too... but now i will never use yahoo cause i need results not ad's!