Blame the ancient Romans. They were responsible for setting the number of days in each month to such odd values. Apparently it was a combination of tradition, religion and Emperor's egos. The problem with lunar calendars is the requirement to observe the New Moon, at least in the Muslim and early Jewish calendars.
After all, if I always have to remember to set objects to NULL then I might as well just always remember to call delete!
Somewhat off-topic. I like to set pointers to NULL after their objects have been freed or are no longer valid. This helps prevent the nasty situation of code referring to an object that is now a chunk of memory on the free list, or worse, allocated to some other use.
I've used dynamic memory allocation in embedded real-time systems which required deterministic behaviour. Instead of garbage collection, all buffers had reference counts to control when they were put back on free lists. During program initialization, the free memory pool was chopped up into the appropriate number and sizes of buffers for the program and placed on free lists. Each type of buffer had its own free list. Each buffer had a magic number in its header to allow type and validity checks. This prevented common bugs such as freeing bogus pointers, using buffers after they were freed and freeing a buffer twice. It wasn't as flexible as the typical malloc/free implementation but it was fast, reliable and deterministic.
Yes, when digital breaks, it definately breaks (although checksums and duplication of data can reduce the chances of losing data), but the level that you can push the degredation of a digital device too before it breaks is really quite high.
One major problem with digital formats is the absence of error recovery in common hardware and software. 99.9% of the data may be intact but one bad block at the beginning of a magnetic tape can make all of the data unrecoverable.
One problem that I've noticed with certain programs is that they let you import data from old or competing file formats but they do not let you export the data to other file formats. What happens when the program and/or computer becomes obsolete?
One of the email programs that I use stores everything in a database file. Short of saving messages to files, one at a time, there is no way to extract the messages from the database.
As far as I know, there is no copyright protection for file formats. You can copyright a document that describes a file format, but not the file format itself.
The 80186 and 80188 were Intel chips. 8086 class CPUs with timers, I/O ports, DMA controllers and an interrupt controller on a single chip. The sequence is also missing the 8080/8080A, the chips that put Intel on the map in the 8-bit era.
Zilog had the Z8, Z80, Z800, Z8000 and Z80000. Then the company suffered a fatal arithmetic overflow trap.
Try pckeyboard.com. They are the descendant of the IBM/Lexmark keyboard division. This page lists the classic 42H1292 AT PS/2 clicky keyboard. I bought one and really like it. As a bonus, it doesn't have those stupid Windows keys.
Microsoft Word won. WordPerfect is irrelevant. Open source is irrelevant.
I don't like it but I have to deal with reality, not the world as it should be. Microsoft's market share of word processors and spreadsheets is over 90%.
Intel is already handing out prototype Merced chips to selected developers and vendors. Even if it does not meet Intel's performance expectations, I expect that Intel will release it and market it for high-end servers that need a 64-bit CPU.
Borland's C/C++ compilers used to be very popular with the DOS and Windows programmers that I know. Somehow Borland pissed it all away and now they all use WATCOM (discontinued) or Visual C++. I doubt that the release of a free version of Borland C++ is going to make a difference. The lack of an IDE is a big minus.
Gary Kildall, the author of CP/M, was in the Naval Reserve and was on the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School. Bill Gates was a young college dropout from a wealthy family. I think the NSA would have been more comfortable working with Kildall and Digital Research.
And with the proliferation of cell phones, sat phones, global positioning devices, wireless lans, etc., it would be interesting what the radio/x-ray interference will do to folks, especially since we've become so dependent on this technology.
Almost all of these devices use UHF or microwave frequencies that shouldn't be affected by ionospheric disturbances. You might see some long distance propagation on VHF frequencies (lower TV channels and FM broadcast band).
What if I designed a car that looked just like the new Volkswagen Beetle, except that it didn't have a VW emblem on the body. I think Volkswagen would have a legitimate case that I had ripped off their design and was confusing potential Volkswagen customers.
The problem is that Office is heavily dependent on OLE, COM and the registry. Do you really want to port that junk from Windows to your operating system?
They are both pretty old. I wrote some code to support SASI (Shugart Associates Standard Interface) disk drives, the predecessor of SCSI, in the early 1980s. PCs were using ST-506/412 drives. This was before NCR had developed SCSI chips and you talked to the drive with software and a parallel interface connected to the cable. Even back then, SASI/SCSI presented a clean, high-level interface. No heads, cylinders or sectors, you sent the drive a command packet telling it to read/write a logical block number. It started out at a 5 megabyte/second asynchronous transfer rate and was enhanced many times since then.
You have to look at the interface between the motherboard or I/O card and the drive as an RF transmission line. You want constant impedance, correct termination and shielding. With parallel interfaces you have to also worry about timing skew, skew is when the signals do not arrive at the receiver at the same time, some are a little early or late. Ribbon cables introduce problems of crosstalk between adjacent wires in the cable. The ribbon cable's impedance may vary depending on how the cable is routed in the chassis. One way to deal with this is to double the number of wires in the ribbon cable and alternate between signal and ground. Each signal/ground pair can be twisted, like in twisted pair LAN cable. An external shield can also be wrapped around the ribbon cable. There are also problems with high power consumption in the driver chips that are connected to the cable. Higher signalling speeds increase power consumption, EMI and crosstalk. Termination becomes more critical as speed and length are increased. What worked at 10 MHz may be totally inadequate at 40 MHz. High speed parallel cables can get very expensive.
I hope this "standard" goes down in flames. We have the opportunity to ditch the decrepit kludge known as ATA/IDE and what does Intel do? They scrape off some of the rust and add chrome mud flaps. They should be ashamed of themselves. Serial ATA is register compatible with the WD1003 disk controller. If you don't know what that is, ask your parents. It was introduced for the IBM PC/AT when 40 MB disk drives were hot stuff. All this "standard" does is to replace a parallel cable with a serial cable. It intentionally leaves all the accumulated crud of the ATA interface in place. There is no reason to drag this baggage into the future. ATA should be deprecated and replaced with a modern I/O interface such as IEEE-1394 or SCSI over a high speed, hot pluggable, serial interface.
This page lets you look at individual stamps. The blue is the bottom side of the brim of a boonie hat, which is on the head of the guy with the arm. It doesn't look like a real GI boonie hat.
The images are created from C-band and X-band radar signals, not from visible light or infrared. Water vapor will slightly attenuate the signals but not reflect them.
Canadians are evil, evil right down to their cold black hearts, which pump, not blood like yours and mine, but rather a thick vomitous oil that oozes through their rotten veins and clots in their pea-sized brains, which becomes the cause of their Nazi-esque patterns of violent behavior. Do you understand?
Slashdot Mirror
The lunar month is approximately 29.53059 days.
Somewhat off-topic. I like to set pointers to NULL after their objects have been freed or are no longer valid. This helps prevent the nasty situation of code referring to an object that is now a chunk of memory on the free list, or worse, allocated to some other use.
I've used dynamic memory allocation in embedded real-time systems which required deterministic behaviour. Instead of garbage collection, all buffers had reference counts to control when they were put back on free lists. During program initialization, the free memory pool was chopped up into the appropriate number and sizes of buffers for the program and placed on free lists. Each type of buffer had its own free list. Each buffer had a magic number in its header to allow type and validity checks. This prevented common bugs such as freeing bogus pointers, using buffers after they were freed and freeing a buffer twice. It wasn't as flexible as the typical malloc/free implementation but it was fast, reliable and deterministic.
One major problem with digital formats is the absence of error recovery in common hardware and software. 99.9% of the data may be intact but one bad block at the beginning of a magnetic tape can make all of the data unrecoverable.
One of the email programs that I use stores everything in a database file. Short of saving messages to files, one at a time, there is no way to extract the messages from the database.
As far as I know, there is no copyright protection for file formats. You can copyright a document that describes a file format, but not the file format itself.
Zilog had the Z8, Z80, Z800, Z8000 and Z80000. Then the company suffered a fatal arithmetic overflow trap.
Try pckeyboard.com. They are the descendant of the IBM/Lexmark keyboard division. This page lists the classic 42H1292 AT PS/2 clicky keyboard. I bought one and really like it. As a bonus, it doesn't have those stupid Windows keys.
I don't like it but I have to deal with reality, not the world as it should be. Microsoft's market share of word processors and spreadsheets is over 90%.
Intel is already handing out prototype Merced chips to selected developers and vendors. Even if it does not meet Intel's performance expectations, I expect that Intel will release it and market it for high-end servers that need a 64-bit CPU.
Borland's C/C++ compilers used to be very popular with the DOS and Windows programmers that I know. Somehow Borland pissed it all away and now they all use WATCOM (discontinued) or Visual C++. I doubt that the release of a free version of Borland C++ is going to make a difference. The lack of an IDE is a big minus.
Gary Kildall, the author of CP/M, was in the Naval Reserve and was on the faculty of the Naval Postgraduate School. Bill Gates was a young college dropout from a wealthy family. I think the NSA would have been more comfortable working with Kildall and Digital Research.
I think the NRO handles the visible light and radar reconnaissance satellites and the NSA handles the SIGINT/COMINT eavesdropping satellites.
Almost all of these devices use UHF or microwave frequencies that shouldn't be affected by ionospheric disturbances. You might see some long distance propagation on VHF frequencies (lower TV channels and FM broadcast band).
$ gpslookup makemoneyfast.com | launch-tlam
missile launched...
$ ping makemoneyfast.com
host is unreachable
$ exit
It isn't going to be very useful in reducing compromising emanations. That requires a shielded cable, shielded case and a well filtered power supply.
What if I designed a car that looked just like the new Volkswagen Beetle, except that it didn't have a VW emblem on the body. I think Volkswagen would have a legitimate case that I had ripped off their design and was confusing potential Volkswagen customers.
The problem is that Office is heavily dependent on OLE, COM and the registry. Do you really want to port that junk from Windows to your operating system?
They are both pretty old. I wrote some code to support SASI (Shugart Associates Standard Interface) disk drives, the predecessor of SCSI, in the early 1980s. PCs were using ST-506/412 drives. This was before NCR had developed SCSI chips and you talked to the drive with software and a parallel interface connected to the cable. Even back then, SASI/SCSI presented a clean, high-level interface. No heads, cylinders or sectors, you sent the drive a command packet telling it to read/write a logical block number. It started out at a 5 megabyte/second asynchronous transfer rate and was enhanced many times since then.
You have to look at the interface between the motherboard or I/O card and the drive as an RF transmission line. You want constant impedance, correct termination and shielding. With parallel interfaces you have to also worry about timing skew, skew is when the signals do not arrive at the receiver at the same time, some are a little early or late. Ribbon cables introduce problems of crosstalk between adjacent wires in the cable. The ribbon cable's impedance may vary depending on how the cable is routed in the chassis. One way to deal with this is to double the number of wires in the ribbon cable and alternate between signal and ground. Each signal/ground pair can be twisted, like in twisted pair LAN cable. An external shield can also be wrapped around the ribbon cable. There are also problems with high power consumption in the driver chips that are connected to the cable. Higher signalling speeds increase power consumption, EMI and crosstalk. Termination becomes more critical as speed and length are increased. What worked at 10 MHz may be totally inadequate at 40 MHz. High speed parallel cables can get very expensive.
I hope this "standard" goes down in flames. We have the opportunity to ditch the decrepit kludge known as ATA/IDE and what does Intel do? They scrape off some of the rust and add chrome mud flaps. They should be ashamed of themselves. Serial ATA is register compatible with the WD1003 disk controller. If you don't know what that is, ask your parents. It was introduced for the IBM PC/AT when 40 MB disk drives were hot stuff. All this "standard" does is to replace a parallel cable with a serial cable. It intentionally leaves all the accumulated crud of the ATA interface in place. There is no reason to drag this baggage into the future. ATA should be deprecated and replaced with a modern I/O interface such as IEEE-1394 or SCSI over a high speed, hot pluggable, serial interface.
This page lets you look at individual stamps. The blue is the bottom side of the brim of a boonie hat, which is on the head of the guy with the arm. It doesn't look like a real GI boonie hat.
SCO XENIX would run on the original IBM PC with a hard disk. I remember playing with it on an Altos 8086 system. It was slow but it was a real UNIX.
The images are created from C-band and X-band radar signals, not from visible light or infrared. Water vapor will slightly attenuate the signals but not reflect them.
Canadians are evil, evil right down to their cold black hearts, which pump, not blood like yours and mine, but rather a thick vomitous oil that oozes through their rotten veins and clots in their pea-sized brains, which becomes the cause of their Nazi-esque patterns of violent behavior. Do you understand?