I once noticed a shiny new car parked accross two spots in a packed parking lot. It was clear they had done this to protect their car. I got a piece of paper, wrote "Sorry about the scratch", and left it on their windshield. To this day, I chuckle everytime I picture them inspecting every inch of the car for the non-existent scratch.
For me, it's the opposite. I'm a musician who can't stand to listen to MP3s at 128 or lower.
I've done blind tests. Have someone play the same music at 192 or 128 and I can tell which is which. I just have to listen for a couple minutes and then decide if my ears are hurting or not. At 128 kbps or less, my ears start to hurt after 5 minutes or so.
My theory is that my ears are straining to hear the harmonics that are lost with aggresive compression. Since I'm used to playing in accoustic settings (stringed instruments, pipe organ, horns, ect.), my ears are used to hearing the full harmonic range of an instrument. Lose the harmonics and I still try to hear them.
Ogg Vorbis at 128 or better is how I do all my compression.
Block violence? That's what makes the kids stronger. No, a true American parent would block all incidences of "wardrobe malfunctions". That is the true menace in today's society.
Re:The real 90s versus outdated 00s software
on
Java Is So 90s
·
· Score: 1
You might want to re-read my post. The JAVA side ran fine. It was the third party drivers (written in C) that failed.
Re:The real 90s versus outdated 00s software
on
Java Is So 90s
·
· Score: 2, Informative
If you haven't met a serious developer that could say Java ran flawlessly on every platform, then you haven't been looking.
How about a 100 thousand plus line app running flawlessly on Windows, OS X, Netware, Solaris and AIX? Not linux yet, but close. The problem wasn't with our code, but getting drivers for third party hardware.
Oh, and also talking to MSDE, MsSQL, MySQL, Oracle and Postgres databases.
Why this kitchen sink of combinations? Because that is our customers environments and if we can say we work on their environment rather than forcing them to our environment, we both win (only our QA department loses)
While "Java, Write once, Test everywhere" is true, that should be true of your product regardless of language, so you haven't really lost anything.
We've had some GUI issues, but the server-side code has required almost no special handling for the different OS's (we did need to work around an OS X bug).
Re:The real 90s versus outdated 00s software
on
Java Is So 90s
·
· Score: 4, Insightful
Absolutely! The Java apps we have (over 100 thousand lines, so not small), have been deployed on customer equipment running on Windows, Mac, Netware, Solaris and AIX. Other than some bad coding on our part relating to file paths the only problems we've had is look & feel issues where the screen didn't look or work right on some environments. Yes, running on many platforms does require a great deal more testing (our QA department has machines piled on machines) so the write-once-test-everywhere statement is true. But if the choice is to expect a customer to buy a new machine to use your software or let your software run on their existing machines, the price is well justified by the sales.
Actually what I think you are describing is not legal in Canada.
You can only make copies of the original and those copies can only be for your personal use.
If you borrow a CD from a library, you are allowed to make a copy of it to use. You could then lend the original to a friend and they could make a copy and return the original to you. You then return the original to the library. You, your friend and the library now all have legal copies of the music. You could also buy a CD and lend it to a friend for them to copy.
You can not borrow a CD from the library, make a copy, and then give that copy to a friend to copy, because that would not be copying from the original, but from a copy.
It sounds stupid by I'm pretty sure that is how it works. The requirement to copy off the original constrains the possibility of mass distribution.
Now, back to the above post. In the case of BitTorrent, you are effectively copying from a copy, not from the original, and thus it is not legal.
My friends and I roleplay because we like to roleplay. While there are sometimes snacks around, they are not why we are there. (We don't live in our parent's basements and thus can eat those whenever we want.) Nor do we repeat Monty Python jokes any more. (except for "bravely run away".)
More to the original point. While I am a computer geek, we have a mix of people including a math geek, a couple teachers, a management type person and one whose job is unclear to me, but non-geekly. Of the 12 people I have roleplayed with in the last 2 years, I'm the only full-time coder. There are one or two hobby coders and a number who are almost computer illiterate.
I work in a software development shop and I'm the only one who has pen-and-paper roleplayed in anything like the last 10 years, so I'm not convinced that there really is a correlation between roleplaying and coding.
I'll agree (mostly) with the what, but not the how.
A non-programmer should be able to determine the what, but the what should come as much from the naming choices as from the comments.
If your comments are explaining how the language works to the point that a non-programmer can understand it. You've gone too far with your comments. Long before this point, the actual code that programmers will need to maintain will have become obscured by the comments and you will have made the code harder to maintain.
In general, the primary purposes of comments is for maintenance (either by someone else in a months time, or by you in a years time).
Re:Quick way to colonize
on
Ice Lake on Mars
·
· Score: 1, Offtopic
According to this link, the trap was invented by the Swedes. NHL teams like the Panthers, Ducks and Devils trap far more than say Edmonton or Calgary. In fact, I think the only Canadian team that traps is Ottawa. So no, trapping isn't a Canadian thug thing, it came to the NHL when expansion diluted the talent pool and brought a bunch of useless US teams into the league.
I went the other way. I was a rabid Eclipse fan until I was forced to use IDEA on a project. I went to it kicking and screaming about my right to choose whatever IDE made me most productive. After about 3 weeks of using IDEA I decided IDEA was slightly more polished then Eclipse.
I've since become a rabid IDEA supporter where you have the money to pay for it. At home, I was still using Eclipse until someone at work pointed out that IDEA's license allows me to use when I'm working from home.
Having written Java apps that work seamlessly from Windows to OS X to AIX to SUNOS, I call bull. And no, we were not ensuring jre minor version. We were ensuring jre major version though.
Exactly. Point is, this will not serve to simplify anything. It is simply trading one set of meaningless (for the average user) terms to another set of terms that are just as meaningless (but may make the average user feel better about themselves)
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Apple does not "just work". If a person is used to Windows and Unix, moving to an Apple (even OS X) is a frustrating experience. Nothing just works. You have to re-learn everything about the GUI metaphor.
Another problem is that either a level 5 today is a level 3 next year so the box will say "needs a level 5 (2004) PC" and you'd need a conversion chart or within 2-3 years, the game will say "this game needs a level 32 PC", and the year after "this game needs a level 40 PC". It will just get silly.
I have to disaggree with the bit about anyone able to participate in a code challenge can download and run a Mac installer.
Having coded on Windows and Unix boxes for many years, I recently had to do some development work on a Mac. Trying to figure out how do do things via the Mac's GUI was brutal. None of my GUI instincts were right. I was constantly going to the Mac aware people asking how to do simple things.
If you are trying to guess the password of a device you found on someones desk, then by encrypting the password you enter and comparing that to the encrypted password on the device, you will never see the device's password in plain text. The best you can do is determine the encryption used. Given a suitably strong encryption, knowing the encryption algorithm will not help you determine the device's password.
Re:Asimov's Foundation
on
Port-A-Nuke
·
· Score: 1
I've just been re-reading the foundation series, and it's actually walnut sized.
My Motorola T720 went through the washing machine about 8 months ago. Came out in three pieces (main body, back panel, battery). I disassembled it and air dried it. It is working at 95% of pre-wash capability. The only thing that doesn't work as well as it used to is that I have to talk louder than I used to for people to hear me.
Slashdot Mirror
Apparently many of the early ones.
http://www.actsweb.org/article...
Yeah, they should build in a flight simulator! Pilots could exercise their emergency skills. Just hope they don't get confused.
I once noticed a shiny new car parked accross two spots in a packed parking lot. It was clear they had done this to protect their car. I got a piece of paper, wrote "Sorry about the scratch", and left it on their windshield. To this day, I chuckle everytime I picture them inspecting every inch of the car for the non-existent scratch.
For me, it's the opposite. I'm a musician who can't stand to listen to MP3s at 128 or lower.
I've done blind tests. Have someone play the same music at 192 or 128 and I can tell which is which. I just have to listen for a couple minutes and then decide if my ears are hurting or not. At 128 kbps or less, my ears start to hurt after 5 minutes or so.
My theory is that my ears are straining to hear the harmonics that are lost with aggresive compression. Since I'm used to playing in accoustic settings (stringed instruments, pipe organ, horns, ect.), my ears are used to hearing the full harmonic range of an instrument. Lose the harmonics and I still try to hear them.
Ogg Vorbis at 128 or better is how I do all my compression.
Block violence? That's what makes the kids stronger. No, a true American parent would block all incidences of "wardrobe malfunctions". That is the true menace in today's society.
You might want to re-read my post. The JAVA side ran fine. It was the third party drivers (written in C) that failed.
If you haven't met a serious developer that could say Java ran flawlessly on every platform, then you haven't been looking.
How about a 100 thousand plus line app running flawlessly on Windows, OS X, Netware, Solaris and AIX? Not linux yet, but close. The problem wasn't with our code, but getting drivers for third party hardware.
Oh, and also talking to MSDE, MsSQL, MySQL, Oracle and Postgres databases.
Why this kitchen sink of combinations? Because that is our customers environments and if we can say we work on their environment rather than forcing them to our environment, we both win (only our QA department loses)
While "Java, Write once, Test everywhere" is true, that should be true of your product regardless of language, so you haven't really lost anything.
We've had some GUI issues, but the server-side code has required almost no special handling for the different OS's (we did need to work around an OS X bug).
Absolutely! The Java apps we have (over 100 thousand lines, so not small), have been deployed on customer equipment running on Windows, Mac, Netware, Solaris and AIX. Other than some bad coding on our part relating to file paths the only problems we've had is look & feel issues where the screen didn't look or work right on some environments. Yes, running on many platforms does require a great deal more testing (our QA department has machines piled on machines) so the write-once-test-everywhere statement is true. But if the choice is to expect a customer to buy a new machine to use your software or let your software run on their existing machines, the price is well justified by the sales.
Actually what I think you are describing is not legal in Canada.
You can only make copies of the original and those copies can only be for your personal use.
If you borrow a CD from a library, you are allowed to make a copy of it to use. You could then lend the original to a friend and they could make a copy and return the original to you. You then return the original to the library. You, your friend and the library now all have legal copies of the music. You could also buy a CD and lend it to a friend for them to copy.
You can not borrow a CD from the library, make a copy, and then give that copy to a friend to copy, because that would not be copying from the original, but from a copy.
It sounds stupid by I'm pretty sure that is how it works. The requirement to copy off the original constrains the possibility of mass distribution.
Now, back to the above post. In the case of BitTorrent, you are effectively copying from a copy, not from the original, and thus it is not legal.
Bzzzt, nice try, but wrong.
My friends and I roleplay because we like to roleplay. While there are sometimes snacks around, they are not why we are there. (We don't live in our parent's basements and thus can eat those whenever we want.) Nor do we repeat Monty Python jokes any more. (except for "bravely run away".)
More to the original point. While I am a computer geek, we have a mix of people including a math geek, a couple teachers, a management type person and one whose job is unclear to me, but non-geekly. Of the 12 people I have roleplayed with in the last 2 years, I'm the only full-time coder. There are one or two hobby coders and a number who are almost computer illiterate.
I work in a software development shop and I'm the only one who has pen-and-paper roleplayed in anything like the last 10 years, so I'm not convinced that there really is a correlation between roleplaying and coding.
Fair point, I was reading the "how" differently.
I'll agree (mostly) with the what, but not the how.
A non-programmer should be able to determine the what, but the what should come as much from the naming choices as from the comments.
If your comments are explaining how the language works to the point that a non-programmer can understand it. You've gone too far with your comments. Long before this point, the actual code that programmers will need to maintain will have become obscured by the comments and you will have made the code harder to maintain.
In general, the primary purposes of comments is for maintenance (either by someone else in a months time, or by you in a years time).
According to this link, the trap was invented by the Swedes. NHL teams like the Panthers, Ducks and Devils trap far more than say Edmonton or Calgary. In fact, I think the only Canadian team that traps is Ottawa. So no, trapping isn't a Canadian thug thing, it came to the NHL when expansion diluted the talent pool and brought a bunch of useless US teams into the league.
UNIX was and is open source?
Tell that to AT&T then (or SCO now)
I went the other way. I was a rabid Eclipse fan until I was forced to use IDEA on a project. I went to it kicking and screaming about my right to choose whatever IDE made me most productive. After about 3 weeks of using IDEA I decided IDEA was slightly more polished then Eclipse.
I've since become a rabid IDEA supporter where you have the money to pay for it. At home, I was still using Eclipse until someone at work pointed out that IDEA's license allows me to use when I'm working from home.
I suspect I've picked one brand over another because of advertising for the brand I picked, but I can't think of any examples.
I can however think of many examples where I have chosen to not pick a brand because of an annoying ad, and have chosen a competing product.
Having written Java apps that work seamlessly from Windows to OS X to AIX to SUNOS, I call bull. And no, we were not ensuring jre minor version. We were ensuring jre major version though.
Exactly. Point is, this will not serve to simplify anything. It is simply trading one set of meaningless (for the average user) terms to another set of terms that are just as meaningless (but may make the average user feel better about themselves)
Maybe for an average user. Not for someone trying to develop an app and having to setup sharing across 3 OS's.
I'm willing to accept that for the uses you described, it "just works". It doesn't for all uses. (or in fact most uses I'd want to put it to)
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Apple does not "just work". If a person is used to Windows and Unix, moving to an Apple (even OS X) is a frustrating experience. Nothing just works. You have to re-learn everything about the GUI metaphor.
Another problem is that either a level 5 today is a level 3 next year so the box will say "needs a level 5 (2004) PC" and you'd need a conversion chart or within 2-3 years, the game will say "this game needs a level 32 PC", and the year after "this game needs a level 40 PC". It will just get silly.
I have to disaggree with the bit about anyone able to participate in a code challenge can download and run a Mac installer.
Having coded on Windows and Unix boxes for many years, I recently had to do some development work on a Mac. Trying to figure out how do do things via the Mac's GUI was brutal. None of my GUI instincts were right. I was constantly going to the Mac aware people asking how to do simple things.
Sure it would be better. Not the best but better.
If you are trying to guess the password of a device you found on someones desk, then by encrypting the password you enter and comparing that to the encrypted password on the device, you will never see the device's password in plain text. The best you can do is determine the encryption used. Given a suitably strong encryption, knowing the encryption algorithm will not help you determine the device's password.
I've just been re-reading the foundation series, and it's actually walnut sized.
My Motorola T720 went through the washing machine about 8 months ago. Came out in three pieces (main body, back panel, battery). I disassembled it and air dried it. It is working at 95% of pre-wash capability. The only thing that doesn't work as well as it used to is that I have to talk louder than I used to for people to hear me.