Slashdot Mirror
Culture of UNIX and Windows Programmers
bebonzo writes "Joel Spolsky, 'Joel on Software' has an interesting review of Eric S. Raymond's book about 'The Art of UNIX programming'.
Quote:"What are the cultural differences between Unix and Windows programmers? There are many details and subtleties, but for the most part it comes down to one thing: Unix culture values code which is useful to other programmers, while Windows culture values code which is useful to non-programmers."
About slashdot: "slashdot-karma-whoring sectarianism..."" He's harsh on some points, but pretty on the money. Except about us. Nobody karma whores. Update Note to self, never post before coffee. Yes, its a dupe. get over it.
Right next to each other :)
Well done Taco.
first post. w00t
big time..
Trigger happy?
Diego Rey
diegoT
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
That feeling in the pit of your stomache is my penis tip. Yeah, it *is* a huge one.
Hey...
If I turn my head sideways and wave my fingers in front of my face I can read Slashdot in 3D!
Wow! Now thats worth paying for!
from the NYTimes:
...
In August, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board at NASA released Volume 1 of its report on why the space shuttle crashed. As expected, the ship's foam insulation was the main cause of the disaster. But the board also fingered another unusual culprit: PowerPoint, Microsoft's well-known ''slideware'' program.
NASA, the board argued, had become too reliant on presenting complex information via PowerPoint, instead of by means of traditional ink-and-paper technical reports. When NASA engineers assessed possible wing damage during the mission, they presented the findings in a confusing PowerPoint slide -- so crammed with nested bullet points and irregular short forms that it was nearly impossible to untangle. ''It is easy to understand how a senior manager might read this PowerPoint slide and not realize that it addresses a life-threatening situation,'' the board sternly noted.
PowerPoint is the world's most popular tool for presenting information. There are 400 million copies in circulation, and almost no corporate decision takes place without it. But what if PowerPoint is actually making us stupider?
Amazing that you have positive karma. From condescension to profanity... well, at least we're not offtopic, since there really is no topic in a dupe.
I'm quite aware of the existence of the word "tuple". However, it's not in common usage, and in fact has nothing to do with the number 3, unless you want to call it a 3-tuple. It's also defined as a "a data object containing two or more components". Or "Toyohashi University Parallel Lisp Environment". Or "is a term from set theory which refers to a collection of one or more attributes." Or just a record in database theory. Nothing to do with 3.
Fuckwit indeed. I'm sorry that you seem unable to see obvious patterns.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former - Einstein
ha ha!!
-- I am. Therefore, I think!
Slashdot Information Minister CmdrTaco: Nobody karma whores on slashdot! Our armies have beaten back the infidel raymond! ;)
Does anybody know this guy personally? Does he have some kind of self-destructive, pathological condition, or has he always been an arrogant, incompetent fuck? He posts more dupes than all the other "editors" together. Didn't he start this site? Doesn't he give a shit at all about how he or his work appear in public? HE DOESN'T EVEN SCAN THE HEADLINES OF HIS OWN WEBSITE!
This guy sold out to VA, so somewhere he has a boss. I'm going to find out who it is and start dropping turds in his/her inbox until he /she fixes this idiot or forces him to retire.
I think Taco just showed the real cultural difference. A windows programmer would have implemented a system to warn editors of potential dupes. UNIX wizards simply don't believe in such wimpy protection systems.
The other big difference is that a Windows user would look at what the slashdot market is interesting in discussing and look at a way to support that. With UNIX there is a curious one way street, Taco and co do not read slashdot, they are the priesthood who edits it. User participation only goes so far, the plebs can comment on the stories but Taco and the priesthood will forever set the agenda.
The game is giving out the appearance of power so that the elite can continue to enjoy the substance.
Slashdot's biggest stories are consistently the non-tech ones. People who have an interest in the RIAA issues tend to also have views on Ashcroft, the PATRIOT act, Iraq, Bin Laden, Haliburton/Harken.
When we created the Web the idea was to enable disintermediation. Today people realise the power because of the Dean campaign, but we first ran a Web campaign in 1992 for Clinton/Gore.
The point is not left/right politics, in fact early on it was the right wing who felt that the media failled to represent their interests. Today people understand that the Web is a serious threat to the power of the press and the press barrons who want to control what people think. Fox News was just as biased four years ago as it is today, the reason most people are now aware that it is a propaganda station is because the Web provides a feedback loop and there are now a large number of bloggers who are actively rebutting Fox's distortions.
Sooner or later the Web community is going to move to a forum where the masses get to set the agenda rather than the priesthood.
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
Oh, I'm always around in one form or another ;)
haha
That CmdrTaco has acknowledged his mistake immediately unmittigated is at least professional and something much more valuable than apathetic news for money reporting.
Yes, because telling people to "get over it" after you make a mistake is very "professional." I challenge you to try this at your job the next time someone points out a mistake you've made. Also, your comparison to money reporting is false: Slashdot isn't a pool of journalists, they simply post links. That's all. It certainly doesn't take a degree to do that, and even with that the Slashdot editors continually fuck things up.