Listen, you Labview fan boy, I am not smoking crack. (Although I will admit it: Labview makes me wish I was a toothless meth addict, hitting rock bottom, giving blowjobs to married, middle-aged closeted gay men in a movie theater for drug money.)
I spent more than 10 minutes learning that crap. More than a few weeks in fact. I got to know some Labview tech support "engineers" by name. The problem, I later realized, was that I knew exactly what I wanted the hardware to do, except I had to jump through all kinds of Labview hoops to get there. In C or C++, I could have had the majority of the hard parts done in a few days, and then polish up the details. Not so in Labview.
Ever try to force yourself to do something the hard way, when you know there is a much easier way to do it? Ever try to pee sitting down when you're a few pints in, and you really have to go? That's what working with Labview is like -- it will block your peehole until you are calmly sitting on the toilet like a good boy. If you are a girl it will make you pee standing up through one of those cardboard funnels.
Let's look at what you'd have to spend to get a hardware and software package that lets you look at signals at 10MHz.
Here is the "Buy Labview" (a.k.a. get raped in the ass with a cactus branch) web page:
I could go with Labview Base or Labview Full, but since I want to deploy stuff to customers' machines without forcing them to buy Labview, I'm going to go with Labview Professional for US$4299, although I should probably go for NI Developer Suite for US$4699 because it's the "best value."
Next, I want to sample at 10MHz or greater. In 5 minutes of searching, these are the only products that I could find, that will let me do that. Note that these both have a maximum rate of 10MHz; there don't seem to be NI products that can go higher.
PXI-6115 for US$4199, or if we go with the "NI recommended" version, US$5249
PCI-6115 which is just the PCI bus version of the PXI-6115, for US$3799, or US$4849 for the "NI recommended" version
If you go with the PCI version, you will need a PC with some pretty good horsepower to handle the 10MHz data stream. This may add an extra $1000 or $2000 to your total price.
If you go with the PXI version, then bend over and grab your ankles again, for into your bleeding rectum NI shall happily insert a well-lubricated PXI chassis of your choice, for an additional few thousands of $$$.
Add in all taxes and other costs (shipping, and oh yeah, $600 cables, anybody??) and it's pretty damn near $10k if not well above. Just for the privilege of writing multi-colored spaghetti code in order to make your measurements.
In conclusion, it is better to just get a real 60MHz digital scope for a few grand. Labview treats intelligent humans like dogs.
By all means, buy National Instruments hardware. It is fantastic. I have deployed it on a number of production systems that run for days and days and days without a glitch.
As for Labview, stay the fuck away from that steaming pile of dogshit. It is a great way to waste lots of time and give up your sanity (and possibly your anal virginity) unless you feel like fucking around at your lab bench and drag-n-dropping some blinky lights and text boxes to impress your PHB. Oh yeah, and it's also great if you enjoy having fresh-out-of-college, inexperienced National Instruments tech support fuckwads (i.e. never having done any actual work with data acquisition or signal processing in their lives) repeatedly tell you, "OMG, change the way you think! You're so wrapped up in the text-based language tunnel vision! LOL!" whenever you get frustrated because Labview actually slows you down and doesn't help you get your results.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, it will also cost you an arm and a leg. A hardware and software (i.e. Labview) package will let you look at signals in the 10MHz range and above will probably run you at least $10-15k.
In my day to day work, I prefer to remain in the "text-based language tunnel vision." That is, I prefer to use a well-designed C or C++ API to write programs that actually work in a predictable and reliable manner. (The NI-DAQmx API is actually very powerful and easy to use.) That way, I don't have to scroll around in a blinding maze of brightly colored connector lines and boxes and stuff, just because some National Instruments fucktard decided that "text-based languages" are just too, like, texty and complicated and not very much fun, yay! Yuck.
You're not qualified to answer the question. Information technology is not computer science. They are called different things for a good reason.
There is little or no similarity between computer science and IT because they are completely different fields. In IT, you use programs and systems that real computer scientists created, and write scripts and Visual Basic things to glue them together, in order to get something that does what you want. IT is about integrating systems. Computer science is about math, scientific analysis, designing optimal algorithms, and so on. Therefore your lack of need for math in your IT work has no connection to the question being asked.
Thank you for your correction. Using "origin" would have indeed made more sense.
Not to be a nit picker, but I did clearly state that I kept reading in spite of the cringe-inducing opening of the article. I'm not sure why you're calling me unwise because of that. But, your trite network communication metaphors are almost as cringe-inducing as Mr. Spiegel's writing.
You're right, the article is in fact "a stream of information not forced onto [my] consciousness." But it appeared on the Slashdot front page, and when there is something on the front page of Slashdot that annoys us, we speak up.
I fail to understand your generalization that "attack is a primitive response to a stream of information not forced onto your consciousness." To clarify, are you saying that when information is not forced on me, and I am primitive, my response is to attack? I beg your pardon. That makes no sense at all. I hope that English is not your first language; if it is, you are probably a sloppy programmer.
Furthermore, Mr. Spiegel, you are keen to use cliche phrases without even putting in the effort to understand their meaning, or know their correct spelling. This helps you come across as a pompous idiot.
For example: "Queue awkward silence."
The correct spelling is "cue awkward silence." It comes from stage and movie production, where the producer will "cue" actors, lights, or special effects. How does one "queue" awkward silence?
I almost stopped reading there. But I kept going, hoping to find some redeeming value.
It was hard to finish your article, as your tone makes it clear that you are a cocky, holier-than-thou ladder climber. You provoke a regular guy eating his lunch into a pissing match, and then you claim to have said things like, "Everyone is making valid points," in actual conversation. Who does that?
God help any of us who may have to work with you, or even worse, for you. I don't care if you have Asperger's or not. You are a douchebag, period.
I'm pretty sure most kids wander around and are curious about things anyway, whether or not they go to school. Nothing dangerous about it. What supporters of "unschooling" are suggesting is that that is all that kids should have to do.
Classes go from 9am to 3pm in most schools. That leaves plenty of time after school and during weekends for wandering around, acquiring knowledge, and "being dangerous" as you call it. I guess my question is, why go to the extreme of "unschooling" and let kids do whatever the hell they want, all the time? Or am I missing something?
I understand your point, but I don't see how going to the park with your mom and checking out salamanders (as the kids were doing in that photo in the article) is a faster route to a head full of useful knowledge, wisdom and experience.
I'm not sure why you assume anything about my father being strict. Perhaps you just read a book about conservative/liberal politics, and are keen to apply your new buzzwords?
Anyway, I beg you to show me one kid who would by his/her own accord sit down and learn to read, write, do math, and so on. Most kids would rather play games and colour books all day, which is what "unschooling" is all about.
Sounds like a another way to continue the trend of child-proofing the world, so that "everyone can learn at their own pace." Right. What these people are unable, or unwilling, to recognize is that the world meets nobody half-way. We either work hard at learning how to succeed and survive, or we fail hard.
"Unschooling" is just another way for lazy, stupid parents to coddle their children toward a lifetime of failure, mediocrity and narcissism. In 20 years, when these kids turn out to be useless tools who are unable to work for what they want or even support themselves, they will turn around and blame the government and you and me, for not doing enough to help them. (And no doubt they will do the complaining in a petulant, entitled tone that makes you want to punch them hard in the mouth.) Is this what we, as a society, want?
Yes, let's have more unschooling! Looks like a winning strategy to me.
Riiiight... how many new Linux users do you think would like to go messing around in SourceForge, getting lost in all the operating systems, CPU architectures and package versions, just to try out the open source version of Bejewelled?
"App store" has come to mean something where people can browse a list of apps, click "install" on the apps they like, and immediately start using the app. I'm sure it's not hard to see why SourceForge does not fit that description.
The overhead in Inkscape will surely be greater than the 2MB required for Cairo (which for some reason the OP finds unacceptable). Furthermore, Inkscape, like other similar applications, probably stores its graphics in an internal data structure. The SVG reading and writing are only a front-end for constructing and translating the internal data structure. The code that draws the image will be using the internal data structure, not actual SVG data. All of these things coupled together will almost certainly result in a multi-megabyte overhead.
Furthermore, in addition to the multi-megabyte overhead, but there will be the [probably not insignificant] time and effort required to learn the Inkscape architecture. Then he will need to find and extract the relevant parts of code, so that they can be linked to his C++ program.
In short, I'm afraid that "leveraging" Inkscape is not a very feasible idea at all.
Given infinite time and resources, [t]here isn't any program that can't be done well in C++
Fixed that for you.
Not true. The assertion that you will somehow need infinite resources and time to develop programs, just because you're using C++, is completely false, not to mention ignorant.
With a solid knowledge of C++ and STL, Boost and a handful of other what I'd call core libraries, you can accomplish most tasks very quickly. Similarly if you are experienced in Perl, you can accomplish tasks quickly with few lines of code. On the other hand, if you are a beginner in Perl or C++, you can easily waste days or weeks solving simple problems in messy, convoluted ways.
This knee-jerk response that C++ absorbs "infinite time and resources", for no reason other than the fact that it's C++, is not constructive at all, and just serves to exhibit your own tunnel vision when it comes to Perl (or whatever your tool of choice happens to be).
University admissions might not be there. You can take a break when you get your degree.
I see the point you're trying to make, and it may apply to average, underachieving nerds who need all the help they can get to get into a good school. But aantn seems to be in great shape for university admissions, regardless of whether or not he goes to science camp.
Second, he may find out that some university profs (and future employers) appreciate the fact that he took the time to develop his cultural and artistic sides. You know what I've found in my life? It's less awkward to be around someone culturally and artitistically developed, and easier to have a conversation with them, too.
Seriously, are we all supposed to congratulate you because you're so involved in computer stuff while being "only" grade 11? And you want something that will be academically challenging and research-oriented? And you have dual citizenship? Whoa!
Even more seriously, please take a break from all the computer and robot stuff. You get enough of that every day by the sounds of it. You need to take the summer off to travel, see new things out there in the world, volunteer in the community, make some friends, meet some girls. You know, the real stuff that will get you ahead in life. Computers and robots will be there for you for the rest of your life, whether you still love them or not, but your friends, youth, health and curiosity may not be.
Slashdot Mirror
Listen, you Labview fan boy, I am not smoking crack. (Although I will admit it: Labview makes me wish I was a toothless meth addict, hitting rock bottom, giving blowjobs to married, middle-aged closeted gay men in a movie theater for drug money.)
I spent more than 10 minutes learning that crap. More than a few weeks in fact. I got to know some Labview tech support "engineers" by name. The problem, I later realized, was that I knew exactly what I wanted the hardware to do, except I had to jump through all kinds of Labview hoops to get there. In C or C++, I could have had the majority of the hard parts done in a few days, and then polish up the details. Not so in Labview.
Ever try to force yourself to do something the hard way, when you know there is a much easier way to do it? Ever try to pee sitting down when you're a few pints in, and you really have to go? That's what working with Labview is like -- it will block your peehole until you are calmly sitting on the toilet like a good boy. If you are a girl it will make you pee standing up through one of those cardboard funnels.
Let's look at what you'd have to spend to get a hardware and software package that lets you look at signals at 10MHz.
Here is the "Buy Labview" (a.k.a. get raped in the ass with a cactus branch) web page:
http://www.ni.com/labview/buy/
I could go with Labview Base or Labview Full, but since I want to deploy stuff to customers' machines without forcing them to buy Labview, I'm going to go with Labview Professional for US$4299, although I should probably go for NI Developer Suite for US$4699 because it's the "best value."
Next, I want to sample at 10MHz or greater. In 5 minutes of searching, these are the only products that I could find, that will let me do that. Note that these both have a maximum rate of 10MHz; there don't seem to be NI products that can go higher.
If you go with the PCI version, you will need a PC with some pretty good horsepower to handle the 10MHz data stream. This may add an extra $1000 or $2000 to your total price.
If you go with the PXI version, then bend over and grab your ankles again, for into your bleeding rectum NI shall happily insert a well-lubricated PXI chassis of your choice, for an additional few thousands of $$$.
Add in all taxes and other costs (shipping, and oh yeah, $600 cables, anybody??) and it's pretty damn near $10k if not well above. Just for the privilege of writing multi-colored spaghetti code in order to make your measurements.
In conclusion, it is better to just get a real 60MHz digital scope for a few grand. Labview treats intelligent humans like dogs.
By all means, buy National Instruments hardware. It is fantastic. I have deployed it on a number of production systems that run for days and days and days without a glitch.
As for Labview, stay the fuck away from that steaming pile of dogshit. It is a great way to waste lots of time and give up your sanity (and possibly your anal virginity) unless you feel like fucking around at your lab bench and drag-n-dropping some blinky lights and text boxes to impress your PHB. Oh yeah, and it's also great if you enjoy having fresh-out-of-college, inexperienced National Instruments tech support fuckwads (i.e. never having done any actual work with data acquisition or signal processing in their lives) repeatedly tell you, "OMG, change the way you think! You're so wrapped up in the text-based language tunnel vision! LOL!" whenever you get frustrated because Labview actually slows you down and doesn't help you get your results.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, it will also cost you an arm and a leg. A hardware and software (i.e. Labview) package will let you look at signals in the 10MHz range and above will probably run you at least $10-15k.
In my day to day work, I prefer to remain in the "text-based language tunnel vision." That is, I prefer to use a well-designed C or C++ API to write programs that actually work in a predictable and reliable manner. (The NI-DAQmx API is actually very powerful and easy to use.) That way, I don't have to scroll around in a blinding maze of brightly colored connector lines and boxes and stuff, just because some National Instruments fucktard decided that "text-based languages" are just too, like, texty and complicated and not very much fun, yay! Yuck.
You're not qualified to answer the question. Information technology is not computer science. They are called different things for a good reason.
There is little or no similarity between computer science and IT because they are completely different fields. In IT, you use programs and systems that real computer scientists created, and write scripts and Visual Basic things to glue them together, in order to get something that does what you want. IT is about integrating systems. Computer science is about math, scientific analysis, designing optimal algorithms, and so on. Therefore your lack of need for math in your IT work has no connection to the question being asked.
If he opposes the bill, the government can accuse him of hypocrisy.
I don't follow. How would it make Abbott a hypocrite if he opposes internet filtering?
"Its minimum processor configuration are two specialty mainframe processors designed for Linux."
What the fuck kind of grammar is that?
Why is this moderated as "troll"? Of all the responses, Obfuscant's makes the most sense.
I believe I did provide evidence. Did you read my initial comment?
Thank you for your correction. Using "origin" would have indeed made more sense.
Not to be a nit picker, but I did clearly state that I kept reading in spite of the cringe-inducing opening of the article. I'm not sure why you're calling me unwise because of that. But, your trite network communication metaphors are almost as cringe-inducing as Mr. Spiegel's writing.
You're right, the article is in fact "a stream of information not forced onto [my] consciousness." But it appeared on the Slashdot front page, and when there is something on the front page of Slashdot that annoys us, we speak up.
I fail to understand your generalization that "attack is a primitive response to a stream of information not forced onto your consciousness." To clarify, are you saying that when information is not forced on me, and I am primitive, my response is to attack? I beg your pardon. That makes no sense at all. I hope that English is not your first language; if it is, you are probably a sloppy programmer.
Pardon me if this seems like flamebait to some moderators.
Please point out why I'm wrong, rather than just painting it flamebait. I think I am well justified in taking my position.
I agree with acidfast.
Furthermore, Mr. Spiegel, you are keen to use cliche phrases without even putting in the effort to understand their meaning, or know their correct spelling. This helps you come across as a pompous idiot.
For example: "Queue awkward silence."
The correct spelling is "cue awkward silence." It comes from stage and movie production, where the producer will "cue" actors, lights, or special effects. How does one "queue" awkward silence?
I almost stopped reading there. But I kept going, hoping to find some redeeming value.
It was hard to finish your article, as your tone makes it clear that you are a cocky, holier-than-thou ladder climber. You provoke a regular guy eating his lunch into a pissing match, and then you claim to have said things like, "Everyone is making valid points," in actual conversation. Who does that?
God help any of us who may have to work with you, or even worse, for you. I don't care if you have Asperger's or not. You are a douchebag, period.
I'm pretty sure most kids wander around and are curious about things anyway, whether or not they go to school. Nothing dangerous about it. What supporters of "unschooling" are suggesting is that that is all that kids should have to do.
Classes go from 9am to 3pm in most schools. That leaves plenty of time after school and during weekends for wandering around, acquiring knowledge, and "being dangerous" as you call it. I guess my question is, why go to the extreme of "unschooling" and let kids do whatever the hell they want, all the time? Or am I missing something?
I understand your point, but I don't see how going to the park with your mom and checking out salamanders (as the kids were doing in that photo in the article) is a faster route to a head full of useful knowledge, wisdom and experience.
I'm not sure why you assume anything about my father being strict. Perhaps you just read a book about conservative/liberal politics, and are keen to apply your new buzzwords?
Anyway, I beg you to show me one kid who would by his/her own accord sit down and learn to read, write, do math, and so on. Most kids would rather play games and colour books all day, which is what "unschooling" is all about.
Sounds like a another way to continue the trend of child-proofing the world, so that "everyone can learn at their own pace." Right. What these people are unable, or unwilling, to recognize is that the world meets nobody half-way. We either work hard at learning how to succeed and survive, or we fail hard.
"Unschooling" is just another way for lazy, stupid parents to coddle their children toward a lifetime of failure, mediocrity and narcissism. In 20 years, when these kids turn out to be useless tools who are unable to work for what they want or even support themselves, they will turn around and blame the government and you and me, for not doing enough to help them. (And no doubt they will do the complaining in a petulant, entitled tone that makes you want to punch them hard in the mouth.) Is this what we, as a society, want?
Yes, let's have more unschooling! Looks like a winning strategy to me.
Did you even watch the video?
I'm not sure how your reply is in any way related to what I said. Does SourceForge have a "Menu -> Add/Remove Software" option that I'm not aware of?
Riiiight... how many new Linux users do you think would like to go messing around in SourceForge, getting lost in all the operating systems, CPU architectures and package versions, just to try out the open source version of Bejewelled?
"App store" has come to mean something where people can browse a list of apps, click "install" on the apps they like, and immediately start using the app. I'm sure it's not hard to see why SourceForge does not fit that description.
Are you out of your mind?
The overhead in Inkscape will surely be greater than the 2MB required for Cairo (which for some reason the OP finds unacceptable). Furthermore, Inkscape, like other similar applications, probably stores its graphics in an internal data structure. The SVG reading and writing are only a front-end for constructing and translating the internal data structure. The code that draws the image will be using the internal data structure, not actual SVG data. All of these things coupled together will almost certainly result in a multi-megabyte overhead.
Furthermore, in addition to the multi-megabyte overhead, but there will be the [probably not insignificant] time and effort required to learn the Inkscape architecture. Then he will need to find and extract the relevant parts of code, so that they can be linked to his C++ program.
In short, I'm afraid that "leveraging" Inkscape is not a very feasible idea at all.
Because the shorter the message, the less intelligent thought has to go into it, I guess.
I beg to differ.
Given a topic to write about, what's easier:
Now which takes more intelligence?
Looks like another good reason to visit Silicon Valley, if only 4G devices were readily available to the general public.
Fixed that for you.
Not true. The assertion that you will somehow need infinite resources and time to develop programs, just because you're using C++, is completely false, not to mention ignorant.
With a solid knowledge of C++ and STL, Boost and a handful of other what I'd call core libraries, you can accomplish most tasks very quickly. Similarly if you are experienced in Perl, you can accomplish tasks quickly with few lines of code. On the other hand, if you are a beginner in Perl or C++, you can easily waste days or weeks solving simple problems in messy, convoluted ways.
This knee-jerk response that C++ absorbs "infinite time and resources", for no reason other than the fact that it's C++, is not constructive at all, and just serves to exhibit your own tunnel vision when it comes to Perl (or whatever your tool of choice happens to be).
Har har har... burning a Canadian Tire...
For people not from Canada: http://www.canadiantire.ca/
solafide, those odds don't sound much better than high school! :)
University admissions might not be there. You can take a break when you get your degree.
I see the point you're trying to make, and it may apply to average, underachieving nerds who need all the help they can get to get into a good school. But aantn seems to be in great shape for university admissions, regardless of whether or not he goes to science camp.
Second, he may find out that some university profs (and future employers) appreciate the fact that he took the time to develop his cultural and artistic sides. You know what I've found in my life? It's less awkward to be around someone culturally and artitistically developed, and easier to have a conversation with them, too.
Seriously, are we all supposed to congratulate you because you're so involved in computer stuff while being "only" grade 11? And you want something that will be academically challenging and research-oriented? And you have dual citizenship? Whoa!
Even more seriously, please take a break from all the computer and robot stuff. You get enough of that every day by the sounds of it. You need to take the summer off to travel, see new things out there in the world, volunteer in the community, make some friends, meet some girls. You know, the real stuff that will get you ahead in life. Computers and robots will be there for you for the rest of your life, whether you still love them or not, but your friends, youth, health and curiosity may not be.