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User: dfdashh

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  1. Contribute to open source games first on Best Education Path To Learn Video Game Programming? · · Score: 1

    While what people are saying here is likely valid (game development is not "fun and games", etc etc), I'd like to suggest an alternative to lying to them or pawning them off to a school that will only postpone their decision-making process wrt game development: suggest that they work on an open source game. Working with an open source game is

    - a tremendous learning experience
    - a resume booster
    - free
    - easily accessible

    Personal example: I never wanted to be a game developer, but I was interested in how games work and how to make them better feature-wise. After looking around I found the Xonotic project, for which I now provide feedback and test for. It's a win/win for me and the project team; I've learned a lot in the process and the project team gets free map reviews and gameplay videos.

  2. Drizzle = what devs felt MySQL should have been on Drizzle's Future Moving To Rackspace? · · Score: 3, Informative
    Background reading: one of the Drizzle guys who is moving over to Rackspace has a pretty good blog post on the move.

    Although Drizzle is a really stripped down version of MySQL at the moment, it seems like the developers are trying to make it into what they thought MySQL should have been in the first place: a simple, modular database for web applications. From their FAQ:

    What is the goal?
    A micro-kernel that we then extend to add what we need. All additions come through interfaces that can be compiled/loaded in as needed. The target for the project is web infrastructure backend and cloud components.

    Rackspace sounds like a perfect environment for them to fine tune their project under real world loads. Good on 'em.

  3. Re:Try to skew their stats, if you must... on Did We Lose the Privacy War? · · Score: 1

    verifying regular expressions must be too complicated for the dumb programmer wannabees, employed by these companies

    Before you hand wave e-mail address validation off as a simple regular expression, you may want to take a look at the code behind an actual RFC-compliant validator. Hardly just a regular expression.

  4. Re:I also heard on NPR this morning... on Google Applies To Become Energy Marketer · · Score: 1

    Agreed. s/money maker/inimitable resource/.

  5. Why buy either? on Barnes & Noble's Nook, Reviewed · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Could someone please explain the advantage of a dedicated e-book reader? I don't understand why I would buy either when I can get a netbook for $50 more (at worst) that can read both PDFs and Amazon e-books. Is it the battery life of these things, or is the hardware form factor really nice? I don't know.

  6. It's all in the name on Server Failure Destroys Sidekick Users' Backup Data · · Score: 1

    Clerk: Danger Powers personal effects [shows box of off-site tapes and such]
    MS: Actually my name is Microsoft Powers...
    Clerk: It says here - name: Danger Powers
    MS: No no no no no... Danger is my middle name
    Clerk: Okay, Microsoft Danger Powers...

  7. Re:An Alternative on CentOS Project Administrator Goes AWOL · · Score: 1

    Garth Algar: Uhm, Wayne? What do you do if every time you see this one incredible project administrator, you think you're gonna hurl?
    Wayne Campbell: I say hurl. If you blow chunks and he comes back, he's yours. But if you spew and she bolts, then it was never meant to be.

  8. Re:Apt on Novell Ponders "Open-Source Apps Store" · · Score: 1

    I would guess that they would want to put a new web GUI around their repositories, with metadata and shiny pictures to guide the user towards applications they might want. It is a new concept on what we've had for years now, only with a less-clunky interface (no offense to ATrpms and friends - they do a great job!).

  9. Re:Windows 98 FTW on Windows 7 "Not Much Faster" Than Vista · · Score: 1

    Go throw Ubuntu on a computer from 2001 and then go cry about how Linux has gotten slower.

    That's exactly what I did for the MythTV system down in my basement. It is working quite fine, thank you very much.

  10. Yes, they are needed in today's environment on Do We Need Running Shoes To Run? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Long time distance runner here. While running barefoot converts more of your energy into forward motion, shoes can protect us against those oh-so-prevalent sharp things on the ground. Granted if you run barefoot enough you will develop thicker skin, but (speaking from experience) I would still check the ground first before I ran barefoot on it. The last thing I need is to step on tiny shards of glass when training for a marathon. Ouch.

    The article also spends little time discussing one big factor in the increase of running injuries: the surface on which most people run these days. Soft earth is infinitely more forgiving than asphalt, but due to its convenience asphalt/pavement is probably used the most. This leads to more running injuries as more and more runners are literally out in the streets, pounding their poor feet on a surface that doesn't give.

  11. Dupe on James Bond Villain Data Center · · Score: 5, Informative

    We've read about this particular data center before, though we didn't have this video. The first link in TFA has layouts and other pictures. Very cool.

  12. Re:Message to Virginia Fusion Center, from Anonymo on Slashdot Mentioned In Virginia Terrorism Report · · Score: 3, Informative

    Perl hint: s/([a-fA-F0-9]{2})/chr(hex $1)/eg;

  13. Re:Huh. on South Park Creators Given Signed Photo of Saddam Hussein · · Score: 1

    My kingdom for mod points! You are spot on. Mod up people!

  14. Re:Groovy? Why not java? on Google App Engine Adds Java Support, Groovy Meta-Programming · · Score: 2, Informative
    I was forced to learn it for the job (Quest Foglight uses Groovy for its internal ruleset), but I ended up liking it for its:
    • Interactive console
    • Perl-like regular expression support
    • Optional typing
    • Support for "for i in $array" syntax
  15. Re:cash cow on Google App Engine Adds Java Support, Groovy Meta-Programming · · Score: 1

    Or, are you suggesting that everyone write their web apps in C?

    YES. And you'll like it too, dammit!

  16. Re:He may be a lawyer, but he doesn't understand on Google CEO Warns Newspapers Not To Anger Readers · · Score: 1

    This is ultimately an Advertiser business.

    And what is it, exactly, that you think draws advertisers to the news outlet in the first place?

  17. End this now. on Warner Bros. Acquires The Pirate Bay · · Score: 0

    I get it - it's April 1st. Can we move on to real articles now? FYI, here is a head's up on some other tech-related April Fools Jokes we will see on the /. front page.

  18. Re:Or was this the april fool joke? on Slashdot Launches User Achievements · · Score: 1

    Seconded. Hear, hear!

  19. Re:Digital Artifacts.. on Young People Prefer "Sizzle Sounds" of MP3 Format · · Score: 1

    Attempts to clone artists for personal, "analog" performances have largely been unsuccessful. The members of Led Zeppelin participated in cloning tests in 1975, but backed out after finding the process yielded 4 replicates of Barry Manilow instead of themselves. Needless to say, the focus groups were unimpressed.

  20. Re:My take on the problem on What Has Fox Got Against Its Own Sci-Fi Shows? · · Score: 1

    Arrested Development is actually a great example. Despite great fanfare and awards galore, Fox didn't want to give its creator (Mitch Hurwitz) the money he felt he deserved for both his own salary and the show's budget. He left and the production team didn't feel they could pick the show back up without him (article here).

  21. Re:Twenty-four hours?! on Coming Soon, 250 DVDs In a Quarter-Sized Device · · Score: 1

    Yeah, true, but you also have to consider what kind of batch the manufacturer can concurrently process. These are also supposedly small objects, so perhaps many of them could fit into one batch and spread the cost out until they are feasible from an energy-expenditure/cost perspective. Who knows...I'm not holding my breath.

  22. Re:So what they're saying... on Fannie Mae Worker Indicted For Malicious Script · · Score: 2, Informative

    Fannie Mae most certainly does have backups. Having a backup and the time to recover said backup, though, are two very different things.

  23. Rational Suite on How To Track the Bug-Trackers? · · Score: 1

    I'd highly recommend the Rational Suite from IBM. Their ClearQuest product is great. I use it every day in my company. It has...

    - Severity tracking: categorize or re-categorize your bug according to severity
    - Source control integration: link your bug directly to one or more source files with a direct link to ClearCase (the sister Rational application...highly recommended)
    - Authentication plugins: standalone database (DB2 UDB) or LDAP/AD
    - Authorization: fine grained, with approvers list and list of team assignees
    - Project based: each bug goes to a project, which is can be managed separately by what I've mentioned above
    - Reporting: crystal reports, SQL, internal query language, Perl

    We maintain dashboards of the projects maintain in our ClearQuest system, so we essentially just run a report to get the stuff out of CQ and quickly have access to a 10,000 ft overview of the status of a project.

  24. Re:No Critisism of F/OSS? on KDE 4.2 Is Released · · Score: 1

    (has anyone made a joke about how Balmer likes to throw chairs lately?)

    I don't see a lot of Windows and OSX users going around attacking Linux users.

    Hold on, let me go get my chair.

  25. Re:LTSP on Best IT Solution For a Brand-New School? · · Score: 2, Informative