* Balance a checkbook * Read a recipe and cook a meal * Typing * How to write coherently. * How to read a blueprint (something I've found very useful) * Basic woodworking. * Basic engine mechanics. * Basic plumbing * Basic electrical (change a light switch)
Problem is there is too much to know for any one person to learn it all. I've never been asked to encrypt a file in my life (programmer for 15 years), because no single company that I have worked for has cared that much about securing files being sent out. (the ones that did, just sent password protected zip files). Typically the things that need to be secure are behind firewalls, or the encryption is handled for you by other systems you are using.
Now, how do you find a good developer? Those are hard to define intangibles.
Being a quick study is one. I don't know how to do that today, but give me a day and I'll tell you all about it. I have enough of the background to learn the detail quickly and retain them. So, if the developer in question doesn't know the particular information you consider critical, ask them where they will go to figure it out.
Now, I have litmus tests as well, typically they involve a developer's knowledge of the languages (e.g. C#, Java, SQL, JavaScript, etc), because no developer is going to be writing encryption code all the time, where they are going to be writing in languages all the time.
Writing good code. That is really hard, but basically they can write code that they can easily understand and modify over time with minimal errors. That is the heart of the craft.
From what I've seen, not if it doesn't run Excel and Outlook. Doesn't matter if you have an open office alternative, if it doesn't say Excel, Word, and Outlook you aren't getting anyway. Yes, those applications are still that entrenched.
I've used Linux for longer than that...I can't think you are doing much with it. I've crashed linux plenty of times, just like I've crashed Windows plenty of times. All comes down to hardware. If you have bad hardware (like ram), the system will crash. If you have good hardware, it will stay up.
To that point, I've been running WinXP and Win7 for years now, on good hardware, and not a single BSOD. And my linux systems don't crash when running on good hardware either.
I would concentrate more on language breadth (learn a lot of them). If you already have a grasp on C languages, try some non-C languages that do things very differently. Namely, functional and dynamic languages. You've already covered procedural and OO (Java). Lisp, Perl, Ruby, Python, F#, Scala, OCaml, JavaScript (JavaScript looks like a C language, but really isn't).
Outside of languages, more than likely you haven't learned OO concepts very well yet. Not your fault, colleges are notorious for teaching bad OO practices (I've only been proven wrong on this once). Design Patterns are another good topic to investigate.
The key to Microsoft's fortunes are in the Business Market, not the Consumer Market. Businesses buy Office, Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, and Server products. Businesses pay for support agreements and the like. There just isn't as much money for them in the consumer market. So Microsoft doesn't put as much energy there.
Apple loves the consumer market. Linux loves the business market.
I can make an install for ANY windows machine that has no uninstall -- this has been trivial since the days of Win95. Just because a program has an installer is NO guarantee that it will have an uninstaller. And frankly, this is not Microsoft's fault. Some programs have a legitimate reason to not be uninstallable (DirectX is a good example of a program NOT to uninstall) because it would destabilize the machine.
Code Complete 2 by Steve McConnel. An invaluable book for the beginner. Mythical Man Month. Another good one.
Learn another language or three. C++ is a good language, really. But there are other languages that are used more often. Java, C#, Visual Basic.NET (pick 2, preferable Java being one of them). Also a good scripting language or two (perl, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, VBScript) never hurts.
Also, figure out the whole relational database thing. Means you need to learn SQL. Microsoft SQL Server Express, Oracle Express, MySQL, and Postgres are all good places to start.
The key is versatility, and coming out of college you have none.
Finally, if open source has done one thing for all of us, and you, it has contributed tons of code for you to read thru. Find a project on source forge that you find interesting in a language that you know and download the source.
BTW, as soon as you are done with this list, there will be a new one. Programming is all about being willing to learn.
First off, cows sleep laying down. I lived on a dairy for 15 years and had to wake them up.
So, if the cow is standing, it is awake.
Next, a good sized dairy cow weighs in at over 1000 lbs. Standing, feet average width apart -- you, scrawny programmer boy (or me, an almost athetic 200 lbs) aint just gonna nock the thing over. Head start or no.
1. Standard date functions and handling. 2. Allow for SELECT statement reordering. I should be able to have the FROM first. This would be a BIG help to SQL editors! 3. Column aliases. So if I have a column in the select that is ColA+ColB as "My Value", I can use the "My Value" in the WHERE, GROUP BY, and ORDER BY instead of having to restate the equation every time.
I agree, we can't just do away with the blasted thing, but...
Even Microsoft is telling people not to use it anymore to store app setting. They actually do recomend using ini or xml files for that. Case in point, the default place to store app settings in ASP.NET and WinForms is in an xml file (either web.config or app.config).
Now, completely doing away with the registry? Impossible. There are too many things that the registry does for Windows that the blowhards on this list dont even know about. All of.NET and ActiveX run thru the thing at one level or another.
And as much as the people of slashdot hate ActiveX (and its big brother.NET), that is what makes writing apps on windows do-able, and a lot more fun than Linux.
Thats right, because of the restistry, stuff just works. We have installs that just work. We have programs that can talk to eachother, and it just works. Linux, not so much.
You dont have to be for this book. I dont think he has a single article in it.
Btw: there is an essay in there by Rory Blyth, if you dont think it is funny you have never worked in the real world. But the great thing is, the essay is a blog post. you can read it here. http://neopoleon.com/blog/posts/434.aspx
This will go into the archives of -- posted too late for anyone to read. oh well.
Let remember what Creationists and Inteligent design proponents are really fighting over: how life began.
Now remember one other small fact: neither group has proven ANYTHING to that end. If an evolutionist tells you they have proof for how life began, they are eithe lieing or selling you something.
Now, do things change over time? Absolutily. Can you call it evolution? Yes. Does evolution have scientific proof as to how life began? Not even close.
So, in that context, Evolution and Inteligent Design are equals and both have as much footing at the other.
Now, as to what happened AFTER life began...Evolutionist have a pretty good story.
Anyway, I've decided that I'd like to make a little extra beer money on the side by starting up my own computer service/upgrade/repair business.
If all you want is extra beer money, just charge beer (be sure to spesify brand: Coor, Bud, Miller, Fat Tire). Then figure out how much work you are willing to do for the beer.
I'd say, one beer per virus removed, and a 12 pack for hardware upgrades.
Slashdot Mirror
* Balance a checkbook
* Read a recipe and cook a meal
* Typing
* How to write coherently.
* How to read a blueprint (something I've found very useful)
* Basic woodworking.
* Basic engine mechanics.
* Basic plumbing
* Basic electrical (change a light switch)
Problem is there is too much to know for any one person to learn it all. I've never been asked to encrypt a file in my life (programmer for 15 years), because no single company that I have worked for has cared that much about securing files being sent out. (the ones that did, just sent password protected zip files). Typically the things that need to be secure are behind firewalls, or the encryption is handled for you by other systems you are using.
Now, how do you find a good developer? Those are hard to define intangibles.
Being a quick study is one. I don't know how to do that today, but give me a day and I'll tell you all about it. I have enough of the background to learn the detail quickly and retain them. So, if the developer in question doesn't know the particular information you consider critical, ask them where they will go to figure it out.
Now, I have litmus tests as well, typically they involve a developer's knowledge of the languages (e.g. C#, Java, SQL, JavaScript, etc), because no developer is going to be writing encryption code all the time, where they are going to be writing in languages all the time.
Writing good code. That is really hard, but basically they can write code that they can easily understand and modify over time with minimal errors. That is the heart of the craft.
Don't worry about job skill, you will bore the crap out of them with that.
Focus on exploration, discovery, and fun.
I'd suggest you look at Scratch from MIT. NoStarch Press has a nice comic book style book on Scratch that worked for my kids.
There are also good resources on JavaScript and Python for kids. Khan Academy has JavaScript tutorial that are pretty good as well.
From what I've seen, not if it doesn't run Excel and Outlook. Doesn't matter if you have an open office alternative, if it doesn't say Excel, Word, and Outlook you aren't getting anyway. Yes, those applications are still that entrenched.
I've used Linux for longer than that...I can't think you are doing much with it. I've crashed linux plenty of times, just like I've crashed Windows plenty of times. All comes down to hardware. If you have bad hardware (like ram), the system will crash. If you have good hardware, it will stay up.
To that point, I've been running WinXP and Win7 for years now, on good hardware, and not a single BSOD.
And my linux systems don't crash when running on good hardware either.
All RAID levels protect against loss of data due to failure of individual drive(s), port(s), or data cable(s).
RAID 0 is not RAID.
RAID is not backup.
It also isn't a backup if the data isn't offsite...which is beyond the scope of any individual hard drive.
Better link for you: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/5/18/
I would concentrate more on language breadth (learn a lot of them).
If you already have a grasp on C languages, try some non-C languages that do things very differently.
Namely, functional and dynamic languages. You've already covered procedural and OO (Java).
Lisp, Perl, Ruby, Python, F#, Scala, OCaml, JavaScript (JavaScript looks like a C language, but really isn't).
Outside of languages, more than likely you haven't learned OO concepts very well yet. Not your fault, colleges are notorious for teaching bad OO practices (I've only been proven wrong on this once). Design Patterns are another good topic to investigate.
The key to Microsoft's fortunes are in the Business Market, not the Consumer Market. Businesses buy Office, Exchange, SharePoint, SQL Server, and Server products. Businesses pay for support agreements and the like. There just isn't as much money for them in the consumer market. So Microsoft doesn't put as much energy there.
Apple loves the consumer market.
Linux loves the business market.
Therefore: Linux is their biggest competitor.
Yes, because in .Net C++ is a waist of time.
You don't get a speed advantage with C++, C++ is much harder to read and much easier to screw up.
Plus you can just write the code much faster in C# and VB.Net.
This post has a very misleading title. .Net Framework.
Microsoft is deliberately NOT open sourcing the
They are releasing it as SHARED SOURCE.
Read more here: http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/10/03/releasing-the-source-code-for-the-net-framework-libraries.aspx
And slashdot, please fix the title.
I've used Google maps because of the more favorable licensing terms with google (you get more for less).
But I would look around for an asp.net control that wraps the api. There was one on the code project that doesn't work anymore.
Microsoft Live Maps might have a wrapped api for you that could reduce the development time.
I can make an install for ANY windows machine that has no uninstall -- this has been trivial since the days of Win95.
Just because a program has an installer is NO guarantee that it will have an uninstaller. And frankly, this is not Microsoft's fault. Some programs have a legitimate reason to not be uninstallable (DirectX is a good example of a program NOT to uninstall) because it would destabilize the machine.
Code Complete 2 by Steve McConnel. An invaluable book for the beginner.
Mythical Man Month. Another good one.
Learn another language or three. C++ is a good language, really. But there are other languages that are used more often. Java, C#, Visual Basic.NET (pick 2, preferable Java being one of them). Also a good scripting language or two (perl, Ruby, Python, JavaScript, VBScript) never hurts.
Also, figure out the whole relational database thing. Means you need to learn SQL. Microsoft SQL Server Express, Oracle Express, MySQL, and Postgres are all good places to start.
The key is versatility, and coming out of college you have none.
Finally, if open source has done one thing for all of us, and you, it has contributed tons of code for you to read thru. Find a project on source forge that you find interesting in a language that you know and download the source.
BTW, as soon as you are done with this list, there will be a new one. Programming is all about being willing to learn.
Better interest rate than a typical savings plan, and you still have access to your cash.
I got mine thru CitiGroup.
Never thought I would say this, but if documents, images, and security for a web site are your main consern: Lotus Notes.
Easy to use with a little bit of training, and works wonders with documents (suppost to be better at it than sharepoint)
First off, cows sleep laying down. I lived on a dairy for 15 years and had to wake them up.
So, if the cow is standing, it is awake.
Next, a good sized dairy cow weighs in at over 1000 lbs.
Standing, feet average width apart -- you, scrawny programmer boy (or me, an almost athetic 200 lbs) aint just gonna nock the thing over. Head start or no.
But, it was a fun joke to pull on the city kids.
1. Standard date functions and handling.
2. Allow for SELECT statement reordering. I should be able to have the FROM first. This would be a BIG help to SQL editors!
3. Column aliases. So if I have a column in the select that is ColA+ColB as "My Value", I can use the "My Value" in the WHERE, GROUP BY, and ORDER BY instead of having to restate the equation every time.
Do you really want to add a 24 MB merge module to you install for "just in case"?
Actually, most installs take care of that for you anymore, automatically downloading and installing the framework for you.
Or are you using an antiquated installer?
I agree, we can't just do away with the blasted thing, but...
.NET and ActiveX run thru the thing at one level or another.
.NET), that is what makes writing apps on windows do-able, and a lot more fun than Linux.
Even Microsoft is telling people not to use it anymore to store app setting. They actually do recomend using ini or xml files for that. Case in point, the default place to store app settings in ASP.NET and WinForms is in an xml file (either web.config or app.config).
Now, completely doing away with the registry? Impossible. There are too many things that the registry does for Windows that the blowhards on this list dont even know about. All of
And as much as the people of slashdot hate ActiveX (and its big brother
Thats right, because of the restistry, stuff just works. We have installs that just work. We have programs that can talk to eachother, and it just works. Linux, not so much.
Depending on what you plan writing for.
But if you plan on going the (evil) Microsoft route: MSDN and Dr Dobbs.
Not that Dr Dobbs has any real Windows connections, it is just a good mag.
And, if you dont like the idea of giving Micro$oft any more of you cash, just read it online at msdn.microsoft.com.
--let the flames being
You dont have to be for this book. I dont think he has a single article in it.
Btw: there is an essay in there by Rory Blyth, if you dont think it is funny you have never worked in the real world. But the great thing is, the essay is a blog post. you can read it here.
http://neopoleon.com/blog/posts/434.aspx
This will go into the archives of -- posted too late for anyone to read. oh well.
Let remember what Creationists and Inteligent design proponents are really fighting over: how life began.
Now remember one other small fact: neither group has proven ANYTHING to that end. If an evolutionist tells you they have proof for how life began, they are eithe lieing or selling you something.
Now, do things change over time? Absolutily. Can you call it evolution? Yes. Does evolution have scientific proof as to how life began? Not even close.
So, in that context, Evolution and Inteligent Design are equals and both have as much footing at the other.
Now, as to what happened AFTER life began...Evolutionist have a pretty good story.
Oh ya, that first time we got Doom2 loaded on 2 computers, and connected them via a Null Serial cable.
Hmmmmmm