Do you know what we call them, collectively, in the hospital? Bugs.
"Hmmm... Computer bugs?" No, that's already taken...
That didn't stop the "ILOVEYOU virus" (worm whatever) from being called "The Love Bug" by the popular press.
Words are words, and their meanings are defined democratically. What the lowest common denominator wants everybody gets, and if you fight it, you'll just get marganalised as an elitest snob. Sad, but apparently true. :(
You can have evidence to support a theory, but you can't prove it. What you can have is evidence that dis-proves a theory. Much bad science forgets this.
Welcome to June's edition of Karma Whore Tip Of The Month.
This months top tip: The Haiku, poetry, with a twist. Its sharp, witty, and appeals to the minimalist in all geeks, and has a zingy splash of the (highly fashionable) orient to boot, but remember to stay on topic, or the moderators will spot you for the troll you are and your karma will disappear in a puff of troll smoke.
4 bits short. It was 12 bit, sold as 16. Your thinking of 15bit 555 format, common in PC video cards which is sold as 16bit, as the missing bit is wasted/not used, making each pixel 16 bits in size, but only 15 bits of information.
Hmmm, yeah. I know what you mean. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the fact they mark a submition as (rejected) then run it three days later under sombody else name.
I kinda get the impression you should hold off for a while before submitting. I can imagine Rob or whoever sitting there with a sad look on his fact clicking the reject button:
[reject], [reject], [reject], [reject], [reject], [reject], "Damn it. Enough already! I'll run the story!"[accept]
:) It's like one of those radio phone-ins
"And if your out 99th caller, you win a free slap slaaapdooown! Ooh yeah!"
On cause 2, its easy to obsficate source code, and I believe that they already have a automated system for doing it. Have you ever read the source code for the Micrsoft implementation of the STL? That wasn't created by a human being, and is no help at all for anyone.
I was working for a small UK games developer that can't be named for legal reasons. I was "made redundant due to financial difficulties" along with a few other talented but outspoken others, without due notice, and without due reason.
In the UK an employer must follow legal dissmisal proccedures that designed to ensure fairness in the workplace. These proccedures where not followed. This permited me to sue for unlawfull dismissal. I also sued for wrongfull selection. What that means is that under the ussumption that the company did nead to cut staff that I was better qualified than those retained.
This kind of dispute is normally settled in whats known as an Industrial Tribunal, but it didn't get that far. The case was so clear cut that it was settled out of court.
"Kevin and Adrian fired Paul Steed in retaliation, over my opposition." - John Carmack, Id Software
"Paul was damn good at his job" - John Carmack, Id Software
It sounds like unfair dismissal to me. I don't know about US law, but the UK you can sue if an employer does this. I know, because it's happened to me, and I did, and I won.
I thought the difference between Jews and Christians was that the Christians think that Jesus is the Son of God and Jews think Jesus was a false profit.
Aww - alright, yeah a quick bash in google seems to indicate that Muslims and Christians do share a God. Interesting. Historicly speeking, where did the divide occur?
Or not disclosing the names of any people in the court case (defendant, witnesses), including to the jury, until after the case...
This is a really good idea. It would allow infamouse criminals to be tried for repeat crimes. At the moment if a rapist / kiddy fiddler is involved in a well reported case it can be very hard to find an impartial jury for a repeat crime.
I don't remember the details, but I seem to recall an incedent recently where a well known pervert was "assasinated" by vigalanties. The only reason he was out in the first place was because they couldn't find a jury who handn't heard about his previouse convictions.
If the jury didn't know his name then it wouldn't have mattered. Perhaps courts should do more to protect the identity of a defendant, perhaps the jury shouldn't even get to see them. That would prevent accusations of bias based on race or grotesque uglyness.
I would rather see is a separate cellphone and MP3 player that, when I want them to be, can be combined together to get my cell/MP3 player (how many times are you going to use that, seriously?)
When you feel like downloading a new MP3...
Whats more worrying with the proliferation of bluetooth is that the end result would be like living in a microwave.
Microwave radiation is (probably) okay in small doeses, but as the dose increases you start to cook things. As bluetooth becomes more popular, we will be spending more and more time on low heat. This might not be a bad thing, but if it turns out that it is, will it be to late before we find out...
What I'd like to see is more acceptance of "docking" appliances, it may not be as "cool" but its safer and more efficient.
I'd like to be able to have it comfortable at a smooth 30 FPS+ @ 1024x768 in 32-bit color
On what platform? With how much memory? 8 meg? Your going to have to quantify your expectations a bit more if you want sombody to give you a reasonable answer!
Many good points made, much of which I agree with, but let me pull you up on a couple:
the necessity to use "virtual"
So you don't pay the cost when you don't use the feature. Without the ability to specify virtual/nonvirtual you can't make a simple 2word/8byte point class without paying another (miniumum) 1 word per instance for rumtime polymorphic methods. The simple fact is runtime polymorphism costs, and sometimes that cost is unacceptable. Arguably this could have been acheaved via the use of a nonvirtual keyword instead, but then I'd be having this same discussion with sombody else.
the need to declare separatly class methods from class definitions
Its called seperation of interface from implementaion, and its a requirement for large scale development. Its also optional in a lot of cases (basically, any situation where a class does not have static data, it can be defined and declared in one place.
RTTI not on by default
Again, its the don't pay for what you don't use principle, and most applications don't need RTTI. (Admitiedly I've been caught by this so I see your point, but if it had been the other way round other people would be complaining!)
templates+overloading funkyness
Templates are a power full tool for creating low runtime cost abstractions, and are the most powerfull tool for enabling reuse that I have ever seen. Overloading also provides the programmer with a powerfull tool for abstraction.
bizarre iterators
Whats bizarre about iterators? There great. Admitedly the syntax is ugly, but I'll have functionality over asthetics every time.
hyper-complexity of STL
Whats complex about a vector? Or a stack? Or a map? It becomes complex when you want to do complex things, but thats better than most librarys, which just don't have the flexability neaded to acheave the complexity at all. But yeah, allocators do suck. =)
unsafe casting
Are you talking about the left over C style casts, or the explicit, documented "unsafe" reenterpret_cast, which is actually usefull if you know what your doing...
Thanks for the suggestions. Although I'm no fan of Java, I have heard good things about Eiffel, and (when I get time) I'd like to look into it, as well as some of the others you mention.
Slashdot Mirror
Words are words, and their meanings are defined democratically. What the lowest common denominator wants everybody gets, and if you fight it, you'll just get marganalised as an elitest snob. Sad, but apparently true. :(
Thad
Thad
Its very easy to stand up and shout "This Sucks!" but what, exactly are you proposing people do?
Thad
(Playing devils advocate, as its so easy to argue by analogy) :-
What if he had a public noticeboard? What if it had dope pickup points?
Thad
Thad
This months top tip: The Haiku, poetry, with a twist. Its sharp, witty, and appeals to the minimalist in all geeks, and has a zingy splash of the (highly fashionable) orient to boot, but remember to stay on topic, or the moderators will spot you for the troll you are and your karma will disappear in a puff of troll smoke.
Thad
Mental note to self: Don't correct people who are already correct. :)
Thad
Thad
I kinda get the impression you should hold off for a while before submitting. I can imagine Rob or whoever sitting there with a sad look on his fact clicking the reject button:
Thad
Thad
Mental note to self: No job security in America.
Thad
In the UK an employer must follow legal dissmisal proccedures that designed to ensure fairness in the workplace. These proccedures where not followed. This permited me to sue for unlawfull dismissal. I also sued for wrongfull selection. What that means is that under the ussumption that the company did nead to cut staff that I was better qualified than those retained.
This kind of dispute is normally settled in whats known as an Industrial Tribunal, but it didn't get that far. The case was so clear cut that it was settled out of court.
PS Look at my user info ... :)
Thad
It sounds like unfair dismissal to me. I don't know about US law, but the UK you can sue if an employer does this. I know, because it's happened to me, and I did, and I won.
Any questions?
Thad
Even Really Stupid Ones(tm) like:
Where Do You Want To Go Today(tm), whois(tm), & It's The Software, Stupid(tm).
The List Goes On(tm).
See also Verio Trademarking 'Whois'? or google.
All Trademarks are the property of their respective owners(tm).
Thad
I thought the difference between Jews and Christians was that the Christians think that Jesus is the Son of God and Jews think Jesus was a false profit.
Aww - alright, yeah a quick bash in google seems to indicate that Muslims and Christians do share a God. Interesting. Historicly speeking, where did the divide occur?
Thad
Thad
Thad
To 7days - Well trolled troll boy, you got 'em good.
To an active moderator - Mod it down, and perhaps people will stop getting so exited about it.
To everyone else - IGNORE IT. Its nonsense.
PS Perhaps I'm wrong. I might be.
Thad
I don't remember the details, but I seem to recall an incedent recently where a well known pervert was "assasinated" by vigalanties. The only reason he was out in the first place was because they couldn't find a jury who handn't heard about his previouse convictions.
If the jury didn't know his name then it wouldn't have mattered. Perhaps courts should do more to protect the identity of a defendant, perhaps the jury shouldn't even get to see them. That would prevent accusations of bias based on race or grotesque uglyness.
Thad
Thad
Whats more worrying with the proliferation of bluetooth is that the end result would be like living in a microwave.
Microwave radiation is (probably) okay in small doeses, but as the dose increases you start to cook things. As bluetooth becomes more popular, we will be spending more and more time on low heat. This might not be a bad thing, but if it turns out that it is, will it be to late before we find out...
What I'd like to see is more acceptance of "docking" appliances, it may not be as "cool" but its safer and more efficient.
Thad
http://www.dack.com/web/bullshit.html
Thad
New! Hardware! Faster! Production process! More! Linux! OOP! XML! WAP! Internet! WWW! E-commerce! Open Source! Multimedia! Bigger! Next generation! Component! DVD! Cutting Edge! Online! IPO! Digital! Interactive! Content! You want one! AI!
Thad
Thad
Thanks for the suggestions. Although I'm no fan of Java, I have heard good things about Eiffel, and (when I get time) I'd like to look into it, as well as some of the others you mention.
Thad