a "short story" MAY be a form of fiction, but what about a short "story"? Dictionary.com defines story as 1. An account or recital of an event or a series of events, either true or fictitious
I'm more of a dabbler in python than anything else, but I like it quite a lot. The information hiding thing kinda bothered me when I first heard about it too.....I guess I always wondered why python doesn't allow it? Is it a technical thing? or a philosophical one?
Absotively!!! After hearing so much about what was and wasn't ANSI 92 compliant I went to the ANSI site. I was very disappointed to see they were charging for the standards. I think sql92 was $20 for the electronic version. Not much, but enough to make me think twice.
Don't forget the browser wars and Java. Microsoft saw (in Netscape and the JVM) how someone could take away their OS monopoly by creating a layer ON TOP of the operating system that people could develop for. A couple of years later the DOJ are threatening to split MS into an OS and Applications division. They think to themselves "Why don't we create this 'new layer' ourselves, lock people in to this 'new layer that sits on top of the OS' negate any possible problems a split might create?"
Interesting. I wish I had mod points to mod you up for this one. So far all the other comments in the thread have been pretty "safe" - make sure you get all the requirements up-front (ignoring the reality that some customers don't know exactly what they want, some can't articulate it, and some systems that you may have to interact with are so old and arcane that the only way you'll really know something doesn't work is 3 weeks after you've integrated with it and something goes wrong), abstract your interfaces, read the mythical man-month. You on the other hand are advocating somthing much more interesting. Good work Dancin Santa!
Mr. Bloch is obviously familliar with the world of commercial development seeing he worked for SUN. I think what he has to say is very relevant. My brother has read his book and said it was great. Chris Sells from Developmentor also said it was good, reccomending it to C# programmers. Although the issues you mention are also relevant to software development I think what Mr. Bloch is talking about goes to the very core of what is required for good software development.
do M$ really have hoards of incopetent developers?I thouught they had a reputation for hiring and retaining some of the best developers around. Sure, there may be developers just as good or better working in other companies but to characterize M$'s development team as incompetent is being silly. I think it is more a case of priorities, they do what their superiors want, and in most cases M$ want things to be easy to use and convenient before they want them to be secure. They want to develop cool features and be first to market. Now if Bill G. has cracked the whip for real, and isn't just after good PR we can expect these priorities to change somewhat...
I've got no love of UML, but when I did have to use it I found the UML specs themselves to be quite good. I used version 1.3 but the latest (1.4) look like they are out. A simple introductory book (like the one by Martin Fowler) and this baby should see you right. It would also be nice if the specs. were better indexed, and more easily searchable.
I guess the big question is "Now what are Microsoft going to do with them?" - send the software piracy gestapo around to your house? or just bombard you with spam about why windows has a lower overall TCO and crap like that? Perhaps M$ could be sued under spam laws if they send unsollicited e-mail to you? Perhaps I'm just a crackpot? who knows.
But why the silly name? the virus writer called it dotNet, but Symantec decided to call it Donut instead...why? Is naming a virus like naming a cyclone or commet?
I guess everyone has their own take on win98, but from what I can remember it was pretty horrible and crashed fairly often. I agree 100% regarding win2K. I've been using it since it came out both at work and at home and I can think of only perhaps 2 times that it has 'crashed' in any sense of the word. Applications crash, but win2K keeps going strong (although as you point out getting {}wn3d due to security problems is no fun either).
Perhaps he could combine his modest technical skills and his business management/customer relations/financial/leadership skills to become a project manager?
- Headphones for music and to reduce background noise. The choice of music can play a big part in creating a mood for your work environment.
- Posters to improve the "view"
- Lamps to change the lighting (if it is too dark or un-natural/natural)
- If you find your cubicle is designed to expose you to the view of the casual passer by then change the design of it by getting more partitions, or moving them around.
- Plants for your desk can give a refreshing feel to your cubicle.
- I've also found that play with the height and angle of your monitor can improve the vibe of your cubicle.
- Finally remeber the Hawthorne effect. I'm not sure if it applies if you make the changes yourself, but changes of any kind, if you percieve them as being in the interests of improved productivity WILL improve productivity.
No worries - Active Scripting is probably best known for it's role in web development, but I really love imbedding script in applicaitons too. The Doctor Dobb's Active Scripting Newsletter is quite good for info on this sort of thing.
by Porting I assume you mean going from Windows -> *nix....I guess it depends on the scripting language you choose. If you choose VBScript then porting will not be an option (and perhaps you should go and sit in a quiet dark room for a while) but if you choose something like python...you can always port you "main compiled application" to Java (assuming you didn't develop it in Java in the first place) and interact with python via jython. Or write it in C/C++. I'm not sure about Perl ('cause I have zero knowledge about it) but I assume there are ways to do it. Porting from one OS to another is fairly involved anyway (from what I hear), is that what you meant by porting? As far as being all web-based goes - what did I say that gave you the impression it was all web-based? I've imbedded active scripting into desktop apps before (and I will probably do it again).
I like ActiveScripting in windows for this. I can write an application in any COM language and inculde the script control. I can share objects between script and application code, I can call one script langugage from another, and the choice of languages is fairly good (JScript, Perl, Python, TCL....O.K. - I admit I've even used VBScript for some date calculation stuff). Doing it all this way means you can debug it in one place, and leverage the strength of the different languages that are available. The final application has a lot of flexability too. Store you scripts in external files you can just edit them in a plain old text editor, rather than edit/re-compile/deploy. I agree with the other posters who note that you may be creating problems for management, but it's not like they've never create problems for developers in their whole lives is it?
Perhaps someone should write a truely object oriented, cross platform, scripting language derived from some other cool languages and actually call it "The Next Big Thing". I can just see it now "The Next Big Thing for Dummies", "Learn The Next Big Thing in 24 hours". Of course it wouldn't be long before M$ released "The Next Big Thing.NET"
I agree. Microsoft has put a huge ammount of effort into developing a quality platform in.NET, and they are betting the farm (or at least appearing to do so) on.NET. Certainly if.NET flops MS will lose face, and lots of money, but I don't really see the success or failure of.NET affecting their core monopolies. Windows and Office. I see this as MS's attempt at condsolodating their stock in the server arena, which is where other vendors like Oracle and Sun have been traditionally strong. Server-side Java rocks, and that's where MS is attacking.
Right on - Around the world I've seen WAY more money wasted on designs by people who were _NOT_ contenders for "World's Smartest Human, Ever", I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder etc etc but a lot of stuff I've seen cost millions and was going to look so silly and out of date in a couple of years (if not already). I think this bridge is cool. I just wish I was lucky enought for the requirements for something I designed not to change week to week, let alone for 500 years. Bridge designers get all the breaks.
I can think of one of my deaths that would have won this one easily. I was trapped in a shop (don't ask), starving and wihtout food. I started reading my scrolls (hoping for some salvation) and I found a scroll of genocide! Great, I thought, I can kill the shopkeeper and get out of here! So I genocide all the @'s - stupidest death ever.
Slashdot Mirror
a "short story" MAY be a form of fiction, but what about a short "story"? Dictionary.com defines story as
1. An account or recital of an event or a series of events, either true or fictitious
I'm more of a dabbler in python than anything else, but I like it quite a lot. The information hiding thing kinda bothered me when I first heard about it too.....I guess I always wondered why python doesn't allow it? Is it a technical thing? or a philosophical one?
Absotively!!! After hearing so much about what was and wasn't ANSI 92 compliant I went to the ANSI site. I was very disappointed to see they were charging for the standards. I think sql92 was $20 for the electronic version. Not much, but enough to make me think twice.
Don't forget the browser wars and Java. Microsoft saw (in Netscape and the JVM) how someone could take away their OS monopoly by creating a layer ON TOP of the operating system that people could develop for. A couple of years later the DOJ are threatening to split MS into an OS and Applications division. They think to themselves "Why don't we create this 'new layer' ourselves, lock people in to this 'new layer that sits on top of the OS' negate any possible problems a split might create?"
Whenever I feel like a good laugh, or reading the work of particularly gifted flamers I fire up /. an do a search for Motif....does ANYONE like it?
Interesting. I wish I had mod points to mod you up for this one. So far all the other comments in the thread have been pretty "safe" - make sure you get all the requirements up-front (ignoring the reality that some customers don't know exactly what they want, some can't articulate it, and some systems that you may have to interact with are so old and arcane that the only way you'll really know something doesn't work is 3 weeks after you've integrated with it and something goes wrong), abstract your interfaces, read the mythical man-month. You on the other hand are advocating somthing much more interesting. Good work Dancin Santa!
People get old? Why can't superhero archaeologists? You'll be looking for a reasonable bowel movement too one day - if you're lucky.
Mr. Bloch is obviously familliar with the world of commercial development seeing he worked for SUN. I think what he has to say is very relevant. My brother has read his book and said it was great. Chris Sells from Developmentor also said it was good, reccomending it to C# programmers. Although the issues you mention are also relevant to software development I think what Mr. Bloch is talking about goes to the very core of what is required for good software development.
do M$ really have hoards of incopetent developers?I thouught they had a reputation for hiring and retaining some of the best developers around. Sure, there may be developers just as good or better working in other companies but to characterize M$'s development team as incompetent is being silly. I think it is more a case of priorities, they do what their superiors want, and in most cases M$ want things to be easy to use and convenient before they want them to be secure. They want to develop cool features and be first to market. Now if Bill G. has cracked the whip for real, and isn't just after good PR we can expect these priorities to change somewhat...
I've got no love of UML, but when I did have to use it I found the UML specs themselves to be quite good. I used version 1.3 but the latest (1.4) look like they are out. A simple introductory book (like the one by Martin Fowler) and this baby should see you right. It would also be nice if the specs. were better indexed, and more easily searchable.
I guess the big question is "Now what are Microsoft going to do with them?" - send the software piracy gestapo around to your house? or just bombard you with spam about why windows has a lower overall TCO and crap like that? Perhaps M$ could be sued under spam laws if they send unsollicited e-mail to you? Perhaps I'm just a crackpot? who knows.
Why not create an applet? that way you already have a web browser...
But why the silly name? the virus writer called it dotNet, but Symantec decided to call it Donut instead...why? Is naming a virus like naming a cyclone or commet?
I _wish_ I had mod points for your post. I read the article about a week ago, and remember thinking "and your point is..." at the end
I guess everyone has their own take on win98, but from what I can remember it was pretty horrible and crashed fairly often. I agree 100% regarding win2K. I've been using it since it came out both at work and at home and I can think of only perhaps 2 times that it has 'crashed' in any sense of the word. Applications crash, but win2K keeps going strong (although as you point out getting {}wn3d due to security problems is no fun either).
Perhaps he could combine his modest technical skills and his business management/customer relations/financial/leadership skills to become a project manager?
- Headphones for music and to reduce background noise. The choice of music can play a big part in creating a mood for your work environment.
- Posters to improve the "view"
- Lamps to change the lighting (if it is too dark or un-natural/natural)
- If you find your cubicle is designed to expose you to the view of the casual passer by then change the design of it by getting more partitions, or moving them around.
- Plants for your desk can give a refreshing feel to your cubicle.
- I've also found that play with the height and angle of your monitor can improve the vibe of your cubicle.
- Finally remeber the Hawthorne effect. I'm not sure if it applies if you make the changes yourself, but changes of any kind, if you percieve them as being in the interests of improved productivity WILL improve productivity.
No worries - Active Scripting is probably best known for it's role in web development, but I really love imbedding script in applicaitons too. The Doctor Dobb's Active Scripting Newsletter is quite good for info on this sort of thing.
by Porting I assume you mean going from Windows -> *nix....I guess it depends on the scripting language you choose. If you choose VBScript then porting will not be an option (and perhaps you should go and sit in a quiet dark room for a while) but if you choose something like python...you can always port you "main compiled application" to Java (assuming you didn't develop it in Java in the first place) and interact with python via jython. Or write it in C/C++. I'm not sure about Perl ('cause I have zero knowledge about it) but I assume there are ways to do it. Porting from one OS to another is fairly involved anyway (from what I hear), is that what you meant by porting? As far as being all web-based goes - what did I say that gave you the impression it was all web-based? I've imbedded active scripting into desktop apps before (and I will probably do it again).
I like ActiveScripting in windows for this. I can write an application in any COM language and inculde the script control. I can share objects between script and application code, I can call one script langugage from another, and the choice of languages is fairly good (JScript, Perl, Python, TCL....O.K. - I admit I've even used VBScript for some date calculation stuff). Doing it all this way means you can debug it in one place, and leverage the strength of the different languages that are available. The final application has a lot of flexability too. Store you scripts in external files you can just edit them in a plain old text editor, rather than edit/re-compile/deploy. I agree with the other posters who note that you may be creating problems for management, but it's not like they've never create problems for developers in their whole lives is it?
Perhaps someone should write a truely object oriented, cross platform, scripting language derived from some other cool languages and actually call it "The Next Big Thing". I can just see it now "The Next Big Thing for Dummies", "Learn The Next Big Thing in 24 hours". Of course it wouldn't be long before M$ released "The Next Big Thing.NET"
I agree. Microsoft has put a huge ammount of effort into developing a quality platform in .NET, and they are betting the farm (or at least appearing to do so) on .NET. Certainly if .NET flops MS will lose face, and lots of money, but I don't really see the success or failure of .NET affecting their core monopolies. Windows and Office. I see this as MS's attempt at condsolodating their stock in the server arena, which is where other vendors like Oracle and Sun have been traditionally strong. Server-side Java rocks, and that's where MS is attacking.
Right on - Around the world I've seen WAY more money wasted on designs by people who were _NOT_ contenders for "World's Smartest Human, Ever", I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder etc etc but a lot of stuff I've seen cost millions and was going to look so silly and out of date in a couple of years (if not already). I think this bridge is cool. I just wish I was lucky enought for the requirements for something I designed not to change week to week, let alone for 500 years. Bridge designers get all the breaks.
I can think of one of my deaths that would have won this one easily. I was trapped in a shop (don't ask), starving and wihtout food. I started reading my scrolls (hoping for some salvation) and I found a scroll of genocide! Great, I thought, I can kill the shopkeeper and get out of here! So I genocide all the @'s - stupidest death ever.
While it was around I could always use this joke..."I know DOS backwards...it's SOD". I guess I'll need to find/think up/steal some more material.