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If it didn't need sayiing, you wouldn't be so confused about what SCO is going after, the kernel or the whole GNU/Linux thing. You see now why it matters what you call it? If not, I give up. Really, all the folks who have been mantra-like opining about rms annoying the community with the stupid distinction haven't yet observed that they were wrong all along, and they still are. You can read more about the SCO legal mess on Groklaw and get yourself unconfused.

Link ==> Discussion on Concepts, Techniques and Models of Computer Programming

Here is my conclusion from the disucssion:

Let me say that I like your overall presentation (despite my having said that it was "wrong or confused"). You have good content, you are just a little fuzzy on the object-oriented side and using terms like "abstract data type" too loosely.

We are now in complete agreement. I have discussed with Peter and we will change the book according to your recommendations, i.e. make clear the concepts: data abstraction, ADTs and objects, and the differences between objects and ADTs.

No, it isn't my blog. Just a site that is covering this issue very thoroughly.

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They don't own the patent. Novell does. But SCO is claiming copyright.

Translation:

Roland Piquepaille writes "... You'll find more details [LINKS 1, 2 to the company's site and one from a distributor!] in this summary [THAT'S MY BLOG!]"

What it should have said:

Roland Piquepaille writes "...You'll find links 1, 2 to the company's site and one from a distributor that only L337 H4x0rz [LIKE ME!] can find [GOOGLE IS, LIKE, SO KEWL] and could have linked to directly from my Slashdot post instead of forcing you to go to my blog [LIKE PAVLOVIAN DOGS], Roland Piquepaille's "Slashdot Karma-Whoring" Technology Trends and hunt for it, just so I could bump up my karma here/ try to turn myself into a pundit."

Someone, please tell me: When will the karma-whoring end?!? OH, THE HUMANITY! ;)

Translation:

Roland Piquepaille writes "... You'll find more details [LINKS 1, 2 to the company's site and one from a distributor!] in this summary [THAT'S MY BLOG!]"

What it should have said:

Roland Piquepaille writes "...You'll find links 1, 2 to the company's site and one from a distributor that only L337 H4x0rz [LIKE ME!] can find [GOOGLE IS, LIKE, SO KEWL] and could have linked to directly from my Slashdot post instead of forcing you to go to my blog [LIKE PAVLOVIAN DOGS], Roland Piquepaille's "Slashdot Karma-Whoring" Technology Trends and hunt for it, just so I could bump up my karma here/ try to turn myself into a pundit."

Someone, please tell me: When will the karma-whoring end?!? OH, THE HUMANITY! ;)

This looked familiar - it's not so new, as it was on BoingBoing last October

http://boingboing.net/2002_10_01_archive.html#8554 7387

see also
http://www.enorgis.com/arc20021013.htm#BlogID1043
http://radio.weblogs.com/0103443/2002/10/10.html

But it's still quite amazing - that's why it stuck in my mind I s'pose

Here.. "It looks like high contrast items are needed for the tracking system to work optimally, but a combination of sonar overlayed with ccds and IR would likely make that less of an issue. It appears that vison is done through a video camera that tracks the moving object, and in turn controls the arm. Also, interesting reflex action with the thumb serving to close the hand once contact is made. Hmm, as I watch more of the videos I'm less and less impressed, It looks like the handler is actually all but feeding the objects to the arm, not unlike teaching a kid to catch a ball by placing it in their hands. That's a shame really." (Edited for spelling)

1) consistant database integration - Why not have a SetDBType() function, rather than hardcoding mysql_connect, mssql_connect, myodbc_connect, pgqsl_connect, etc?

Because different databases do different things, and abstracting degrades performance -- you CAN, however use ODBC with PHP. I do abstract whenever time allows. Manual abstraction is easy. There's a DB:: class in PEAR as well as ADOdb.


2) Native XML support - It's just not there? Why re-invent the wheel each time? Give us a good XML tree-walking engine DAMMIT!


php.net/xml


3) sane and consistant functions. Single quotes, double quotes, some functions work with both, some work with one or the other, embedded html in an echo screws up if you don't double quote it, etc.


Quotes always work consistently. If you're thinking of Magic Quotes, it's a "feature" put there to make newbies not do stupid things. It can be turned off, and worked around very easily. I will, however, give you that function naming could use an overhaul, but in order to save backwards compatibility, this has not been done. The parameter order of implode vs. substr is confusing, and easy to forget.


4) .NET support?

This might not be exactly what you're looking for, but the January issue of PHP Architect has an article on using PHP with the .NET framework.

Enjoy. PHP is not all things, but it does a GOOD job on the web.

S

Try ADOdb. It is a database access library for PHP which seems to work well.

I'm pretty sure this is a troll (I mean, .NET support?), but since it's had a large amount of "Insightful" mods, I figured I would point out at least one misconception.

The parent poster complains about "consistant (sp) database integration" as one of the main problems with PHP. This is usually a problem noted only by those who haven't used PHP in serious development. Sure, if you're writing a 20-line script that you know is only going to use MySQL, then who cares what database connection statements you're using. However, if you're writing anything that needs to be more serious and portable, check out one of PHP's database abstraction libraries: ADOdb or Pear DB. Both of these libraries will let you abstract out database functions so that they aren't tied to one specific database.

Personally, I prefer ADOdb. Not only is it faster than Pear DB, but there's also a C port to speed it up even more. ADOdb also has more capabilities, and its author hangs out in their forums and is extremely helpful with user questions.

You have to change your mindset a bit to code with ADOdb or Pear DB, but it's worth the bit of extra learning curve to gain portability. Since ADOdb can generate insert/update SQL and also generate HTML tables, I find that I'm faster coding with it than I ever was with mysql_query()... and I can switch to Postgres or Microsoft SQL Server at any time without really thinking about my database code.

I hope this helps those of you who are still stuck with mysql_query() or similar. <plug>Also, we're a web hosting company that supports PHP 4.3.x, ADOdb and Pear DB, and we will answer your PHP questions as part of your web hosting package.</plug>

What proof did SCO present for the origin of both fragments of source code?

What proof did SCO present to show the SCO code did not originally from old BSD,Linux or public domain publications?

Who put the SCO source into Linux? - Was put there by Old Novell/SCO/Caldera in the first place?

What proof did SCO provide to show that the person had access to SCO's Unix sources?

The latter question raises another issue. The similarity is just as likely to be due to both operating systems performing the same role. Form is often directed by the function it performs. Function and variable names are often dictated by the API and common terminology.

Both the current Linux and Unix kernel developers have attended the similar university courses and read the same publicly available documentation. The works of W. Richard Stevens are very influential as a reference toward modern Unix and Linux and have dictated the implentation of APIs and TCP/IP stacks in both.

Copyright WHAT Copyright

From Groklaw.

Now that copyright is back on the table in the SCO case, you might like to

read the law on copyright.

SCO held another telephone conference today, but you had to be on time. I tried to call in later, when I was free, to hear the recording, but although the operator told me it had been recorded, it wasn't being made available. She suggested I contact SCO and ask to hear it. Meanwhile, someone who did listen posted on Slashdot as "mec" and he or she heard this question and answer:

[question #3] Stephen Shankland, CNET --

"Q: Copyright office does not have an assignment on file [for the Unix copyrights from Novell]. 'Is it your understanding that the copyrights have not been registered yet?' A: 'Stephen is correct ... [if we need] we will change the assignment of copyright ...' [we can do that at any time]."

If this is true, that they failed to register, it puts another interesting twist on this story. (Novell put a twist of its own, by posting a press release on its site saying that while the Amendment that SCO sent them seemed to support their claim "that ownership of certain copyrights for UNIX did transfer to SCO in 1996", Novell doesn't seem to have the amendment in its own files, and patents for sure didn't transfer.)

It's true you can register a copyright any time, but you can't sue for infringement until you have registered and you can't get certain damages for infringement that occured prior to registration: "Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U. S. origin." Section 411 says it precisely like this:

" 411. Registration and infringement actions10 (a) Except for an action brought for a violation of the rights of the author under section 106A(a), and subject to the provisions of subsection (b), no action for infringement of the copyright in any United States work shall be instituted until registration of the copyright claim has been made in accordance with this title...."

You are limited as to remedies without registration, as Section 412 sets forth:

" 412. Registration as prerequisite to certain remedies for infringement11 In any action under this title, other than an action brought for a violation of the rights of the author under section 106A(a) or an action instituted under section 411(b), no award of statutory damages or of attorney'

We differ on the motivations but I think we are in some agreement on the relative worthlessness of this blog. In truth, the number of accepted stories is about 1100% higher than what you thought. For those who care to read it here's a recap of a prior comment and open letter that sums it up for me:

Check this column for a summary.

I'm curious why (with one exception) you never seem to point out that ''this column'' is YOUR BLOG?

If you want to be a karma-whore then that's your business. And that's the only conclusion we can reach considering the sheer number of submissions (33 as of this one, not counting however many were rejected) in the 2 months since you set up your account, and the frequency with which you discourage people from reading the original articles (always pointing them to your blog).

I find some of the articles you post interesting so by all means continue to contribute. But please don't pretend that you aren't pointing people to your blog.

Presumably you're trying to turn yourself into another Internet pundit or get the traffic on your site up high enough so that you can charge big bucks for advertising. That's cool too if you want to do that.

But please ... just stop pretending that you're directing people somewhere other than your own blog.

Sincerely,
HardcoreGamer

I'm getting a little annoyed at refering to references that refer to referenes that refer to a source article.

The content on Roland Piquepaille blog is always worthless. This is at least the third story he submitted (and was approved) that links you to his site, where they quotes from the article, and then says a very obvious sentance about that quote.

This all started back in Nov of 2002 see: for his articles

I don't get it. If you find something intresting, and you want to submit it to slash dot, then do so. Why make a blog, so you can submit, so you can refer to your blog.

I'm not getting into conspiracies about money or ads or anything. Near as I can tell none of that is involved here.

I just get annoyed going to his blogs to find he just quots the article, and has no real insight or other information.

-Malakai

For those of you who do not have access to the Wall Street Journal online articles, I wrote a summary of the original story. This column also shows a picture of one of these mechanical chicken harvesters.

There is a discussion about this on Lambda the Ultimate.

These links don't require registration :-)

I already commented in this column about this. But it was based on this Wired News article, Making Wines Finer With Wireless.

I also commented this story here, but I also previously posted another column on this subject. Please read it if you're interested by the photonic revolution.

I also commented this story here, but I also previously posted another column on this subject. Please read it if you're interested by the photonic revolution.

The parent is not flamebait. It's a a well known fact that ESR is proud to be a homo. He has written about it many times. The man has no shame. He takes other mens' penises in his mouth and anus whilst defiling the good name of Open Sores.

For shame, ESR, for shame.

In all the comments, I haven't found what was the most important point in the whole article. with all this GPU horsepower, Nvidia Chief Scientist David Kirk said that "the question becomes not how many more pixels can be drawn per second, but how much better pixels can be made to look, by synthesizing them in very different ways." He added that "it's the end of graphics as we know. Many new things will soon be possible with large scale streaming processors, which will create a whole new revolution in graphics." You can read this summary of the long ExtremeTech article for more details.

For more information about the hybrot, you can read A Hybrot, the Rat-Brained Robot or Researchers use lab cultures to control robotic device

For more information about the hybrot, you can read A Hybrot, the Rat-Brained Robot or Researchers use lab cultures to control robotic device

I wrote this column a month ago about the Peacemaker and the Masterpeace. Besides my comments, you'll also find pictures of these expensive combination chair-computers.

There's no indication whether or not blogs will be left in or out of search results. This is very different from USENET, which was never part of the web in the first place. Orlowski is far from an unbiased source on this, having published many articles critical of bloggers in general. While two source are cited which are critical of the effect that blogs have had on the google ranking algorythm, none are cited which show the contributions personal publishers have made to the info-sphere.

Far more authoratative sources that I have already weighed in on this.

While there's certainly a lot of innane content available in blog form, this isn't really any different than it was before. I have never had to wade through 500 pages of results to find an original source either. The whole thing reeks of FUD to me Methinks that Orlowski and Roddy have their own axes to grind.

In this column, I was just not giving the references to the three articles mentioned in this Slashdot story, but also I gave more comments on each story. Read it by yourself. Roland Piquepaille. Website: http://primidi.com/ Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends: http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/

The FlyUI already does this over in Europe, just without all the high-tech crap.

These kinds of rumors are a recurring phenomenon in this industry. Check for example "When will IBM buy Sun?" which is over a year now.

Sun has a market capitalization of around $12 billion (at its current stock price of $3.75).

To buy it with a good premium would mean a huge investment.

And considering that Sun always stands alone and that its products -- hardware as well as software -- are not really compatible with the rest of the industry, anyone who would buy Sun would only buy its customers. But for how long?

Sun customers are among the most loyal ones.

And you can believe me: I was working for one of its competitors.

Here's a little bit of a developing collaborative weblog for sorting out difficulties with respect to usability of our public library and some other related matters of interest.

Collaborative weblog
A guide to problematical library use. Boston Public Library.
http://GuideToProblematicalLibraryUse.blog-city.co m
http://GuideToProblematicalLibraryUse.WebLogs.com/ faq

I don't think anyone would dispute that the person that develops code shouldn't test it. The same is true for documentation, for some of the same reasons.

However, I agree, developers can, and should, contribute to helping users, especially through forums and blogs. Steve Muench does a great job on that at his website "Dive Into BC4J".

BTW, the book being reviewed isn't really about writing documentation, it's about managing documentation projects, with some writing guidelines for creating modular docs. If you want a good book on writing high quality documentation for software, you should look at "How to Communicate Technical Information: A Handbook of Software and Hardware Documentation by Jonathan Price, Henry Korman"

Dan,

There are a lot of people who don't think the interet will make them powerful per se, but believe that the internet will make the world a better place and help them lead a happy and fulfilled life at the same time. That's where I and my blog stand. I think if there's one thing that the internet can do, it's to increase the prevalence and vitality of communty/personal-level networks and culture (e.g. things that only 100 - 1000 or so people pay attention to and tend to be responsive and lively) in response to the overwhelming preponderance of political-level networks (things that 10,000+ people pay attention to and tend to be one-way and bombastic).

I'm not articulating very well, so I'll just refer you to this link. It's not about personal agendas, it's about changing the framework in which everyone (regardless of agenda/ideology) operates.

Ross Mayfield did an experiment on Social Network Analysis with blogs once which I found quite interesting.

Unfortunately, in PHP4 (at least, not sure about 5) the native DB connection functions are named by the database they connect to. So, you have a function called mysql_fetch_array, another one (for PgSQL) called pg_fetch_array, and so on. That's why there is the PEAR DB database abstraction layer and ADODB (another one, this time with an ADO-style syntax). That's right, natively it's just that ugly. Does anyone know if they've changed it in 5?

I'm using ADODB myself. It's a lot like ADO for (what else) Microsoft products. It's actually quite nice in my opinion!

http://php.weblogs.com/ADODB

While it lasts... there is a mirror of some of the aljazeera stuff at:

http://radio.weblogs.com/0108234/categories/iraq/2 003/03/23.html

Possibly someone with some spare bandwidth can "mirror the mirror"

Sony is introducing a new robot, but this is only part of the story. Sony is betting its future on robots. Sony believes robotics will be bigger than the computer industry in 30 years. And there are many other robots coming, in hospitals, in New York steam pipes or on the battlefield. Look for example at Elvis, designed by Pyxis, which carries medications, or the future Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' Wakamaru, a home caretaker for the elderly. Check this column for more details or read this Newsweekarticle.

...this thread on Lambda the Ultimate for a recent discussion of issues related to Bray's article.

As it was mentioned in an earlier comment, [ MobileWise also has an interesting product. "MobileWise has a clever solution: technology that lets a flat surface (like a desk pad, or maybe even a desk itself) transmit power to little conductive contacts on the bottom of a device (notebook computer, PDA, cell phone, etc.) when it's set down. The power flows right through an exposed grid of contacts via direct current, and yet the recharger never shorts out or presents a danger, because it doesn't turn on until it recognizes a device." Read this column for more details -- and a picture.

It appears to be about the situation where people bid for ad space. Emergent Music does that. A lot of sites do, it arguably includes the phenomenon of "text ads" such as are used on Kuro5hin. One thing that is important to keep in mind. This isn't a patent, but a published application. The patent has not been issued or approved by the PTO. However, once a patent is published, companies that would infringe if it were issued can be contacted, and if they continue to use the claimed matter, can be sued for damages retroactively when it is issued. The patent was applied for on October 8, 2002. It seems obvious that there was plenty of prior art. I don't know, though, whether the patent "takes priority" from some earlier application such as a provisional patent application. I'm not sure whether the online publication mechanism normally makes that information available. As I get more info I'll post it to my blog.

Yet another "convergence" device. How many more must flop? I've written an article on the myth of convergence explaining why such "all in one" devices are doomed. Can you imagine the scene in a family of four with such a device? The dad wants to watch football, mother wants to watch a soap opera, kid wants to surf the Net, and older kid wants to visit PlayBoy.com How on earth would you do all of those at the same time?

offtopic much?

lambda

or filter out portables and trivia such as SECURITY on the preferences page

or roll your own damn topic:

What's your exact attitude about the hidden sids?

which part of google don't you understand?

I commented about this article two days ago here. In it, you could find references to the Evans Data Corporation (EDC) he based his story. Check Primary OS Prior to Mainly Targeting Linux OS or How Important Are 64-Bit Architectures? pages before arguing about Nicholas Petreley's article.

For more information about this wireless technology, please read this column. And for more comments abot today''s Washington Post article, check this one.

For more information about this wireless technology, please read this column. And for more comments abot today''s Washington Post article, check this one.

The problem goes beyond specific aging hardware. It's also about keeping access to current software or even art. Here is the introduction for this column. "This article raises an interesting question: how can we preserve access to all the digital contents we are creating today. As you all know, technologies evolved -- and fast. How will you read an e-mail or an MP3 file twenty years from now? Maybe in a museum, maybe nowhere." On art conservation, you can read "Art restoration and Technology: Two cultures united."

The problem goes beyond specific aging hardware. It's also about keeping access to current software or even art. Here is the introduction for this column. "This article raises an interesting question: how can we preserve access to all the digital contents we are creating today. As you all know, technologies evolved -- and fast. How will you read an e-mail or an MP3 file twenty years from now? Maybe in a museum, maybe nowhere." On art conservation, you can read "Art restoration and Technology: Two cultures united."

The average reaction is either "yeah this guy is right, we're all being poisoned" or "this guy is a nut, it's all in his head". Extremism is common in the world.

I think from reading through his web site, it's clear that:

1) This guy has spent a significant amount of time looking at interesting architectural experiments, and has done a lot to write these up in an accessible way to those who believe that there is something better possible than 2x4 stick built houses with gypsum board and vinyl flooring. Just look at his "simplicity and pavilion architecture" site.

2) Stress kills. No joke. Even if his primary problem is psychological, he suffers real physical problems from the stress caused by the psychological problems. Try living under continual stress conditions for a while (ie. barely able to pay your creditors, or on the run from the law, or being held as a POW or something), you'll see what I mean.

3) There really are toxic environmental issues that we should be aware of. For example, for the longest time Atrazine was a popular approved weedkiller. People thought DDT was a good idea at one point. People even though smoking was harmless at one point.

Pressure treated lumber IS dangerous, primarily for those who cut it, but leaching levels in the soil are measureable. That's why it's being phased out. Formaldehyde offgassing levels CAN be measured. No it's simply NOT true that standard forced air heaters exchange the air several times an hour, that would be WAY too expensive.

Take a look at the contents of a water resistant drywall spackling compound container some day. We had our bathroom done recently and I still can't be in that room for very long. I just hope when the swanstone goes up over it, it seals in the damn chemicals.

Often people claim that things are completely safe, but these claims are based on expected usage. All you have to do is put a piece of software in the hands of one of your users to know how easily people can do the unexpected...

Toxicology is about studying the levels of toxins that produce statistically unmeasureable effects. But LOTS of things confound statistics to make measuring effects difficult.

Oh and by the way there are major differences between the toxicity of volatile organic compounds and the toxicity of minerals like arsenic embedded in adobe. For one, you can't avoid VOC's by simply not licking your walls.

Does this guy have a real problem? Sure. What is it, biochemical or psychological? Are you all philosophical dualists or can we agree that psychological problems can have biochemical origins?

Anyway, I just want to thank this guy for putting together an interesting web site...to hell with the rest of you who feel they have to debunk his illness.

For more information about radio-frequency identification tags, or RFIDs, you can check these two columns, "Bye-Bye Bar Codes?" and "The Eerie Possibilities of RFID Tags". The first one contains illustrations about how RFID tags are tested at McDonalds or Prada.

For more information about radio-frequency identification tags, or RFIDs, you can check these two columns, "Bye-Bye Bar Codes?" and "The Eerie Possibilities of RFID Tags". The first one contains illustrations about how RFID tags are tested at McDonalds or Prada.

It's funny though.. if this story weren't submitted by one of the authors of the paper, do you think it would have gotten through? Does submitting your own site lend some level of legitimacy to it that says, "No need to check this one, if the author is submitting it then it must be new!". It makes me wonder if he submitted the story before or after the other one was posted.