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Perl 6 Synopsis 5
XaXXon writes: "perl.com has Synopsis 5 for Perl 6 up. It's a brief overview of all the changes made in Larry Wall's Apocalypse 5. Lots of stuff about the new regex syntax. I must admit, however, that I'm getting tired of reading about perl 6 -- I want to start using it." We posted Larry Wall's 5th Apocalypse in May.
Migor is VERY angry. Migor has identified a creature worse then the common household troll.
Migor calles them retarded mods because they are retarded in their very own brain. They are stupid and their brains should be harvested for suppliments to kitty litter. They mod down insightful and informitive comments because they don't understand them, or worse, are too stupid to reconize the humor.
Migor is here to help. Migor will keep posting to waste those mod's points so real mods can mod up the good comments.
Migor will eat your soul
I am a frequent visitor to slashdot and also an avid supporter of anonymous free speech online. However I noticed something VERY ODD regarding slashdot. I use ad-aware on my Windows XP system, and it found the double click cookie. Here is a summery of the doubleclick SPYWARE cookie from pest patrol:
===
A spyware cookie. Cookie is used to track unique visitors to many different sites, and their "preferences."
Online ad company DoubleClick used Web bugs that could communicate with cookies from its Web site. The cookies then revealed past online behavior, even home addresses, IP addresses, and phone numbers to the bugs, and the bugs sent that information straight back to DoubleClick.
A company can also use the bugs to tie cookie histories to personal identifying information, such as your phone number and address. In fact, a California woman sued DoubleClick for just that behavior. The company bought another firm, Abacus Direct, which holds detailed consumer profiles on more than 90 percent of U.S. households. DoubleClick cross-referenced its spyware results with that database to compile surprisingly personal profiles
===
As one can see double click is a DANGEROUS piece of spyware, which totally removes privacy and hijacks ones computer and all it's information. After I removed the doubleclick TROJAN from my otherwise secure and updated winXP pc I went to slashdot and noticed I WAS LOGGED OUT. Slashdot also uses SECRET 1 pixel gifs in it's advertising system.
The only answer is that slashdot is WORKING WITH DOUBLECLICK's spyware software and selling millions of personal profiles of its users to fund it's OTHERWISE UNPROFITABLE business. I find this to be detestable and immoral behavior especially for a site that claims it supports peoples RIGHTS TO PRIVACY. My only course of action is to use other linux resource sites and to make sure slashdot.org is BLACKLISTED as a spyware-installing site. It is a sad, sad day when you cannot visit a freedom-loving site without having your computer HIJACKED.
show your true colors and respond to this journal showing that you support the FIGHT to end slashdot spyware!
Migor is angry. Migor has identified a creature worse then the common household troll.
Migor calles them retarded mods. They are evil. They mod down insightful and informitive comments because they don't understand them, or worse, are too stupid to reconize the humor.
Migor is here to help. Migor will keep posting to waste those mod's points so real mods can mod up the good comments.
The Internet is generally stupid
Today's Software and IT industries are plagued by programming errors. While some of these errors are the result of illegal use of non-Microsoft software on rogue networks, the majority of problems stem from difficulties in mingling code of different programming languages.
Standarization on the best-of-breed programming language, C++, would undoubtedly reduce errors in software.
In this comment, I seek to dispel the myth that non-C++ languages are beneficial in proper Software Engineering. I outline how standardization on the C++ language can strengthen your corporation's bottom line. And I describe how to contact the men in Congress to have C++ use finally made legally mandatory.
C++, a programming language invented by Lucent's Bjarney Strupstrup in 1995, has been hailed as a God-send to Computer Science since its creation. Based on Richie Kerninghan's language "C+", C++ brought several previously-theoretical programming languages features to the mainstream:
Church-Rosser Compliance
Known as "multiple inheritance" in the programming world and as "being Church-Rosser" in academia, C++'s compliance to this IEEE standard immediately placed it head-and-shoulders above other languages. "Churrossity" allows programmers to use blocks of code, called "objects," in place of other blocks of code ("arrays".) The layman can think of this as "allowing 'new' code to 'run' old code." This advance has not been possible in previous logic-based languages such as Ada.
Multi-Byte Characters
C++ allowed use of "Beaster," a subset of Microsoft's COM ("Common Object Model") windowing layer. The Beaster system allows non-English-speakers such as the Welsh to use computing technology, as it could redirect the signals used to display non-English characters on a computer's monitor screen or laser printer. It is also useful in helping the blind, who speak a specialized subset of English called "ALS."
Pass-By-Text
A non-recursive pass-by-text mechanism existed in Kerninghan's C+, called "macro facility." But Strupstrup did Kerninghan one better with the "String Template Loader" variable passing mechanism, which allowed text to be passed to procedures at run-time. This sped up code execution times, as code could be compiled while the user was running the program. This eliminated speed loss caused by incompatibility from obselete computer chips (Motorola and ADM.)
The superiority of C++ over other languages should be obvious. But is switching to it from other languages possible in your corporation? Astute observers will note that the eco-terrorist group FSF produces a C++ compiler called "DJGPP." Under President Bush's War on Terror, any organization supporting a terrorist organization is recursively itself a terrorist organization.
Corporations needn't worry. Microsoft has its own C++ offering, "Visual Studio." As an added bonus, Microsoft Visual Studio is highly standards compliant. It features a visual programming interface, and several features not found elsewhere (such as a visual debugger and an AOL instant messanger client called "Windows Messaging".)
But these advantages can only be realized if code written in inferior languages can be kept from polluting the inter-web eco-space. When compilers for other languages are available, low-level managers are tempted to write code in them. Why? Often times, managers are brought up from the ranks of Software Engineers, and thus lack an Executive's sense for using the right tool for the job. When these managers write code in a jungled zoo of languages, code in one program is unable to interact with code from another program (churrossity.) Only by standardizing on C++ can all programs run together smoothly. Using C++ to eliminate software errors will jump-start the sagging technology industry. This will boost our economy as a whole, which in turn will help us to win the War on Terror.
The effort to legally mandate this has been going on for a while. But it needs your help. Even the smallest person, such as a reader of this site, can make a difference with his Congressman. Congressmen are kept highly versed in technical issues by lobbyists from Microsoft and Intel. But without strong grassroots input, the men of Congress and the Senate are powerless to heed the corporations' pleas.
Please, I urge you to visit the Congress and the White House to help bring this important movement to its fruition.
>> You're sexual preference is man-only.
And you, sir, have the grammatical sense of a toddler. As you may know, "You're" is a contraction for "You are". Therefore, you just said quite literally, "You are sexual preference is man-only". I can only suspect you are another disgrace to our troll community, an illiterate troll. How can we fight back against Slashdot's communist moderation when all you can do is embarass us with your horrible English?
Thanks for the attempted troll, but you are truly a disgrace to us.
~The English Troll
long may you plover
It should be called Blah .. since that most explains what the code looks like.
Thanks for defending me, my fellow troll brother. Do you not agree that your parent poster is, indeed, a flaming homosexual?
k0osh, You seem to not understand the binding force between all of the brethren of Slashdot trolling! It's not the karma, it's not the message; it's the obscure look at overcomes one, as they glance through serious posts and out of the blue, see an ASCII-art glorified pair of separated ass cheeks staring at them from the deep heart of the goatse man (among other deep things), or the look on anothers face as they click on a link in a supposed serious article to find the true image of goatse.
Have you, k0osh, forgotten what it means to troll? Have you stopped fighting for our troll liberty? Or were you always just a twirp who signed on to get his teenage rage out by saying "you are gay" in even a a sort of "friendly fire"?
Please, rejoin us and help us fight for troll liberty and rights!
Thats simply amazing, you own can of gravy! Open source sucess-story of the day!
Take your best shot. My IP address is 207.229.152.43. I challenge you to do your best.
~The English Troll.
You are a waste of flesh, "k0osh". Not even a true troll, just a new-age twirp who signed onto the troll draft to get his teenage rage out on even his own fellow trolls with such stupid messages as "you are gay". Please, quit with the friendly fire.
p.s: 207.229.152.43. I await you.
I can't find the article about the terror CEO's of a DotCom; anyone got the link?
LOL
CmdrTaco: What as the first language you learned?
[ed. note: in the following text, former FreeBSD developer Mike Smith gives his reasons for abandoning FreeBSD]
When I stood for election to the FreeBSD core team nearly two years ago, many of you will recall that it was after a long series of debates during which I maintained that too much organisation, too many rules and too much formality would be a bad thing for the project.
Today, as I read the latest discussions on the future of the FreeBSD project, I see the same problem; a few new faces and many of the old going over the same tired arguments and suggesting variations on the same worthless schemes. Frankly I'm sick of it.
FreeBSD used to be fun. It used to be about doing things the right way. It used to be something that you could sink your teeth into when the mundane chores of programming for a living got you down. It was something cool and exciting; a way to spend your spare time on an endeavour you loved that was at the same time wholesome and worthwhile.
It's not anymore. It's about bylaws and committees and reports and milestones, telling others what to do and doing what you're told. It's about who can rant the longest or shout the loudest or mislead the most people into a bloc in order to legitimise doing what they think is best. Individuals notwithstanding, the project as a whole has lost track of where it's going, and has instead become obsessed with process and mechanics.
So I'm leaving core. I don't want to feel like I should be "doing something" about a project that has lost interest in having something done for it. I don't have the energy to fight what has clearly become a losing battle; I have a life to live and a job to keep, and I won't achieve any of the goals I personally consider worthwhile if I remain obligated to care for the project.
Discussion
I'm sure that I've offended some people already; I'm sure that by the time I'm done here, I'll have offended more. If you feel a need to play to the crowd in your replies rather than make a sincere effort to address the problems I'm discussing here, please do us the courtesy of playing your politics openly.
From a technical perspective, the project faces a set of challenges that significantly outstrips our ability to deliver. Some of the resources that we need to address these challenges are tied up in the fruitless metadiscussions that have raged since we made the mistake of electing officers. Others have left in disgust, or been driven out by the culture of abuse and distraction that has grown up since then. More may well remain available to recruitment, but while the project is busy infighting our chances for successful outreach are sorely diminished.
There's no simple solution to this. For the project to move forward, one or the other of the warring philosophies must win out; either the project returns to its laid-back roots and gets on with the work, or it transforms into a super-organised engineering project and executes a brilliant plan to deliver what, ultimately, we all know we want.
Whatever path is chosen, whatever balance is struck, the choosing and the striking are the important parts. The current indecision and endless conflict are incompatible with any sort of progress.
Trying to dissect the above is far beyond the scope of any parting shot, no matter how distended. All I can really ask of you all is to let go of the minutiae for a moment and take a look at the big picture. What is the ultimate goal here? How can we get there with as little overhead as possible? How would you like to be treated by your fellow travellers?
Shouts
To the Slashdot "BSD is dying" crowd - big deal. Death is part of the cycle; take a look at your soft, pallid bodies and consider that right this very moment, parts of you are dying. See? It's not so bad.
To the bulk of the FreeBSD committerbase and the developer community at large - keep your eyes on the real goals. It's when you get distracted by the politickers that they sideline you. The tireless work that you perform keeping the system clean and building is what provides the platform for the obsessives and the prima donnas to have their moments in the sun. In the end, we need you all; in order to go forwards we must first avoid going backwards.
To the paranoid conspiracy theorists - yes, I work for Apple too. No, my resignation wasn't on Steve's direct orders, or in any way related to work I'm doing, may do, may not do, or indeed what was in the tea I had at lunchtime today. It's about real problems that the project faces, real problems that the project has brought upon itself. You can't escape them by inventing excuses about outside influence, the problem stems from within.
To the politically obsessed - give it a break, if you can. No, the project isn't a lemonade stand anymore, but it's not a world-spanning corporate juggernaut either and some of the more grandiose visions going around are in need of a solid dose of reality. Keep it simple, stupid.
To the grandstanders, the prima donnas, and anyone that thinks that they can hold the project to ransom for their own agenda - give it a break, if you can. When the current core were elected, we took a conscious stand against vigorous sanctions, and some of you have exploited that. A new core is going to have to decide whether to repeat this mistake or get tough. I hope they learn from our errors.
Future
I started work on FreeBSD because it was fun. If I'm going to continue, it has to be fun again. There are things I still feel obligated to do, and with any luck I'll find the time to meet those obligations.
However I don't feel an obligation to get involved in the political mess the project is in right now. I tried, I burnt out. I don't feel that my efforts were worthwhile. So I won't be standing for election, I won't be shouting from the sidelines, and I probably won't vote in the next round of ballots.
You could say I'm packing up my toys. I'm not going home just yet, but I'm not going to play unless you can work out how to make the project somewhere fun to be again.
= Mike
--
- Trolling