Heh, but not enough scrabble to realize that you could play a 7 letter word and use all of your tiles even if it isn't the first word played. As a matter of fact, at least a third of my scrabble turns usually make at least two words if not three or more.
Still no way around the capitalization thing though.
Interesting point that you made me think of; With all of this IPO hype lately do you suppose that soon the most popular company names will be the ones that match or closely match their stock symbols?
However, picking on spelling and grammar in a slashdot article is like randomly clicking on ad banners at a porn web site. (The web equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel.)
I will give them this, at least. This is one that wouldln't have been caught by spellcheck.
After getting picked on regularly most "hacks" will shape up or ship out.
When hiring new people, ask to see a sample of their code. Discuss it with them to make sure they really wrote it. (Usually just asking them why they did something in the code is enough.) If it looks like crap then you know what you are getting into. If it's beautiful then you know they have the potential... and frequent code reviews will keep them on their toes.
Because it's an operator like == != && ||, etc. It requires that the compiler do some magic to the second argument to turn it into the appropriate byte codes for the test. That's why it isn't a method.
If it really bothers you then there is a method(ical [heh]) equivalent:
if( MyClass.class.isInstance( myObj ) )...
Which is oodles less efficient than:
if( myObj instanceof MyClass )...
Or, sure, why not allow instanceOf? And since it breaks the keyword convention of being all lower case then lets just throw keyword case sensitivity out the window altogether. Just because it's the only two-word keyword shouldn't matter.
Then we could do some really interesting obfuscation.:)
A little off topic, but if your funds tank just because MS tanks then you really need a different fund manager. If MS stock tanks there will be a hundred other tech companies on the rise.
Re:What about the lemmings in modern-day USA?
on
The Year 1000
·
· Score: 1
"After all, how old was I from from June 10, 1968 (my date of birth) to June 10, 1969?"
Ah, yes, but that was the _first_ year of your existence. The next year being your _second_, etc.. Much the same as in _first_ year of our Lord, _second_ year, one thousand nine hundred and ninetyninth year, etc.. It's not age.
There are better reasons for ambiguity. This is not one of them.
Heh. I think it's funny when people insult other people for doing something wrong and then turn out to be wrong. It's sort of like picking on someone for having toilet paper stuck to their shoe only to look down and discover you forgot to put "it" away.
It doesn't amaze me when people are wrong, but it definitely does amaze me when they are wrong but so absolutely sure they are right.
"Looking through all your comments I find this quite surprising. I thought that you guys/gals in the US were all on $80-$100K, but it seems that that isn't the case. It makes me feel slightly happier about my situation here in the UK."
Don't forget that this is a big country. Cost of living and salaries vary everywhere. For the record I live in Northern Virginia and it is quite typical to find programmers making between $80-$100k.
However, in June I just paid $300,000 for a house here. Don't get me wrong, this is a big house. But if I moved out to South Dakota or something I probably couldn't buy a house for that much if I wanted to. I doubt they make them big enough; the cost of living there is much lower. They also don't make as much though.
What I would be interested in seeing is a national or global chart of ratios of cost of living vs. average income. This would be very telling.
For example, supposedly Fairfax County, VA and Orange County, CA keep swapping places for highest average income. However, based on my limited research, the cost of living here in Fairface County is much lower.
Warning: Chances are that if the company doesn't have you interview with one of their technical people (ie: one of your future co-workers) then you don't want to work for them.
This usually says one of two things about a company. A) they don't want you talking to that level because you'd somehow figure out how crappy it is to work there, or B) they aren't clueful enough to have the people who know what you are talking about interview you. You know the old joke about "I don't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member." Well, not quite that bad, but I don't want to belong to any company that would summarily give me a job without a little scrutiny. It's a sure sign that I'm going to be working with a few incompetent people.
Anyway, if you get to talk to these people then it's important for you to find out about working conditions. At some point I started approaching the situation as me interviewing them rather than vice versa. In addition to learning about the company and working environment it will also put you in a position of confidence.
Good luck in your search, -Paul
P.S.: I also live and work in VA. (Northern VA to be exact) Fortunately, I've been able to consistently find work that I enjoy doing and still get paid big money. I even have time to spend it. (Sometimes I wish I didn't.:) )
Wow, I'm not going to touch any of those specific issues with a ten foot pole.
However, isn't it nice that you have the freedom to draw your own boundaries between the different "I am's" and "I'm not's"?
A little bit of censorship is very much the same as alot if you use your definition of little and my definition of alot. And that's really the point. All of these things are really grey issues and I'd rather not have someone else arbitrarily decide which is black and which is white. Especially when a particular issue really falls at both ends of the scale.
When in doubt, I say opt for more freedom not less. We really need to start making people responsible for their own actions again. Freedom comes with responsibilities.
Oh, and about the meat analogy, it just doesn't work. Meat != information. Bad meat can make you sick or kill you. Bad information is just useless at best or misleading at worst. Consumers of information have a responsibility to use that information appropriately. If we do not have the freedom to read whatever material we choose then we will end up being a bunch of sheep led around by whatever moral majority happens to be in power. No thank you.
Bubblekick pays the stores so they can stand around in various places. The store decides where they are allowed to stand, but in the end it might be based on how much Bubblekick is willing to pay.
The Bubblekick representative does indeed ask every customer that walks by if they would like to carry an ID badge. Most customers say yes. Some even just reach out and grab the badge without being asked.
Now, this badge is basically nothing but a number. The other Bubblekick representatives have scanners that read the number and associate it with a location.
So, does this sound particularly bad? Not really. If someone asked me if I wanted to carry a badge around the store then I'd probably just say no. However, if based on where I had been they held up signs telling me about other things I might want to look at... well, I'm not so sure... I might say yes.
If I decide to dump that tracking information then all I have to do is throw the badge away. Suddenly the trail ends.
Now, where the breach of privacy comes in is when Bubblekick, without asking me, associates that number with my real name. Suddenly I no longer have control of the trail. And that's bad.
I have all of these Linux programs that are not compatable with Linux. What a crappy operating system. I'm supposed to have a more stable system and I can't even run my new programs on an old version. (sarcasm off)
Write once, run anywhere means that I can write it once and run it on any compatable JVM on any hardware that happens to have a compatable JVM.
Interpretting the sentence as anything else is just ludicrous. It's flamebait of the highest order.
But in a servlet environment the JVM has already been started. So that nullifies the startup time difference except in cases where a new process has to be launched to run the perl script or CGI. And then we probably shouldn't even compare, should we?
One nice thing servlets has going for it is that all of the session management is handled for you. This is a big benefit.
Usually the only people that complain about Java's speed in a server-type environment have never even compaired it. Sort of like all of those Windows users who think Linux sucks but can't hardly spell it.
I've done both CGI (even in C) and Servlet development. And although I would be dragged kicking and screaming into full-time web development, I would still recommend Java servlets in the right situation.
My (stagnating) progeeks.com web site uses servlets and I was able to code the entire thing in one weekend. (Well, the parts I have finished anyway.) The company I actually work for is switching all of their web apps to servlets.
I think it's interesting that the slashdot community is so quick to point out all 100 errors in any story about Linux put forth by the mainstream media and yet we take this story completely at face value.
We have no idea what really happened and we won't have any hope of knowing for several months.
I wish there were still news publications that could be trusted to deliver real facts and research.
Slashdot Mirror
Heh, but not enough scrabble to realize that you could play a 7 letter word and use all of your tiles even if it isn't the first word played. As a matter of fact, at least a third of my scrabble turns usually make at least two words if not three or more.
:)
Still no way around the capitalization thing though.
I loves me some scrabble.
Interesting point that you made me think of; With all of this IPO hype lately do you suppose that soon the most popular company names will be the ones that match or closely match their stock symbols?
Could happen.
Always reminds me of "Battle of the Planets". It was a cartoon that I watched religiously at a younger age. Ah, those were the days... "G-Force!"
Heh, first off I agree.
However, picking on spelling and grammar in a slashdot article is like randomly clicking on ad banners at a porn web site. (The web equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel.)
I will give them this, at least. This is one that wouldln't have been caught by spellcheck.
I don't know either, but among the people I hang with it is common to say:
"I laughed, I cried, it became a part of me. I'd see it again and again."
It's important to say it completely dead-pan.
Ah... you say: "Oh, I see! Your implementation of a perl-script to get your beer is cunning!"
;)
And then, because I'm in a particularly wierd mood I read it as sarcasm and feel really insulted.
It's the subtle nuances that text lacks. Thus the emoticon... you big loser.
Three words:
Frequent code reviews.
After getting picked on regularly most "hacks" will shape up or ship out.
When hiring new people, ask to see a sample of their code. Discuss it with them to make sure they really wrote it. (Usually just asking them why they did something in the code is enough.) If it looks like crap then you know what you are getting into. If it's beautiful then you know they have the potential... and frequent code reviews will keep them on their toes.
Because it's an operator like == != && ||, etc. It requires that the compiler do some magic to the second argument to turn it into the appropriate byte codes for the test. That's why it isn't a method.
:)
If it really bothers you then there is a method(ical [heh]) equivalent:
if( MyClass.class.isInstance( myObj ) )...
Which is oodles less efficient than:
if( myObj instanceof MyClass )...
Or, sure, why not allow instanceOf? And since it breaks the keyword convention of being all lower case then lets just throw keyword case sensitivity out the window altogether. Just because it's the only two-word keyword shouldn't matter.
Then we could do some really interesting obfuscation.
A little off topic, but if your funds tank just because MS tanks then you really need a different fund manager. If MS stock tanks there will be a hundred other tech companies on the rise.
"After all, how old was I from from June 10, 1968 (my date of birth) to June 10, 1969?"
Ah, yes, but that was the _first_ year of your existence. The next year being your _second_, etc.. Much the same as in _first_ year of our Lord, _second_ year, one thousand nine hundred and ninetyninth year, etc.. It's not age.
There are better reasons for ambiguity. This is not one of them.
Heh. I think it's funny when people insult other people for doing something wrong and then turn out to be wrong. It's sort of like picking on someone for having toilet paper stuck to their shoe only to look down and discover you forgot to put "it" away.
It doesn't amaze me when people are wrong, but it definitely does amaze me when they are wrong but so absolutely sure they are right.
Anyway, good call,
-Paul
Maybe everyone should adopt my .sig line... ;)
Ummm... I hate to do this but since I'm not the only one mentioning it... see .sig line.
I think they started the company to get enough money to leave! :)
"Looking through all your comments I find this quite surprising. I thought that you guys/gals in the US were all on $80-$100K, but it seems that that isn't the case. It makes me feel slightly happier about my situation here in the UK."
Don't forget that this is a big country. Cost of living and salaries vary everywhere. For the record I live in Northern Virginia and it is quite typical to find programmers making between $80-$100k.
However, in June I just paid $300,000 for a house here. Don't get me wrong, this is a big house. But if I moved out to South Dakota or something I probably couldn't buy a house for that much if I wanted to. I doubt they make them big enough; the cost of living there is much lower. They also don't make as much though.
What I would be interested in seeing is a national or global chart of ratios of cost of living vs. average income. This would be very telling.
For example, supposedly Fairfax County, VA and Orange County, CA keep swapping places for highest average income. However, based on my limited research, the cost of living here in Fairface County is much lower.
The ratios would be very telling.
-Paul
Warning: Chances are that if the company doesn't have you interview with one of their technical people (ie: one of your future co-workers) then you don't want to work for them.
:) )
This usually says one of two things about a company. A) they don't want you talking to that level because you'd somehow figure out how crappy it is to work there, or B) they aren't clueful enough to have the people who know what you are talking about interview you. You know the old joke about "I don't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member." Well, not quite that bad, but I don't want to belong to any company that would summarily give me a job without a little scrutiny. It's a sure sign that I'm going to be working with a few incompetent people.
Anyway, if you get to talk to these people then it's important for you to find out about working conditions. At some point I started approaching the situation as me interviewing them rather than vice versa. In addition to learning about the company and working environment it will also put you in a position of confidence.
Good luck in your search,
-Paul
P.S.: I also live and work in VA. (Northern VA to be exact) Fortunately, I've been able to consistently find work that I enjoy doing and still get paid big money. I even have time to spend it. (Sometimes I wish I didn't.
Wow, I'm not going to touch any of those specific issues with a ten foot pole.
However, isn't it nice that you have the freedom to draw your own boundaries between the different "I am's" and "I'm not's"?
A little bit of censorship is very much the same as alot if you use your definition of little and my definition of alot. And that's really the point. All of these things are really grey issues and I'd rather not have someone else arbitrarily decide which is black and which is white. Especially when a particular issue really falls at both ends of the scale.
When in doubt, I say opt for more freedom not less. We really need to start making people responsible for their own actions again. Freedom comes with responsibilities.
Oh, and about the meat analogy, it just doesn't work. Meat != information. Bad meat can make you sick or kill you. Bad information is just useless at best or misleading at worst. Consumers of information have a responsibility to use that information appropriately. If we do not have the freedom to read whatever material we choose then we will end up being a bunch of sheep led around by whatever moral majority happens to be in power. No thank you.
-Paul
You've still got the analogy wrong.
Bubblekick pays the stores so they can stand around in various places. The store decides where they are allowed to stand, but in the end it might be based on how much Bubblekick is willing to pay.
The Bubblekick representative does indeed ask every customer that walks by if they would like to carry an ID badge. Most customers say yes. Some even just reach out and grab the badge without being asked.
Now, this badge is basically nothing but a number. The other Bubblekick representatives have scanners that read the number and associate it with a location.
So, does this sound particularly bad? Not really. If someone asked me if I wanted to carry a badge around the store then I'd probably just say no. However, if based on where I had been they held up signs telling me about other things I might want to look at... well, I'm not so sure... I might say yes.
If I decide to dump that tracking information then all I have to do is throw the badge away. Suddenly the trail ends.
Now, where the breach of privacy comes in is when Bubblekick, without asking me, associates that number with my real name. Suddenly I no longer have control of the trail. And that's bad.
-Paul
I have all of these Linux programs that are not compatable with Linux. What a crappy operating system. I'm supposed to have a more stable system and I can't even run my new programs on an old version. (sarcasm off)
Write once, run anywhere means that I can write it once and run it on any compatable JVM on any hardware that happens to have a compatable JVM.
Interpretting the sentence as anything else is just ludicrous. It's flamebait of the highest order.
This is almost worthy of being its own feature article. Perhaps this is an issue that slashdot should explore further.
But in a servlet environment the JVM has already been started. So that nullifies the startup time difference except in cases where a new process has to be launched to run the perl script or CGI. And then we probably shouldn't even compare, should we?
One nice thing servlets has going for it is that all of the session management is handled for you. This is a big benefit.
Usually the only people that complain about Java's speed in a server-type environment have never even compaired it. Sort of like all of those Windows users who think Linux sucks but can't hardly spell it.
I've done both CGI (even in C) and Servlet development. And although I would be dragged kicking and screaming into full-time web development, I would still recommend Java servlets in the right situation.
My (stagnating) progeeks.com web site uses servlets and I was able to code the entire thing in one weekend. (Well, the parts I have finished anyway.) The company I actually work for is switching all of their web apps to servlets.
Fun stuff,
-Paul (pspeed@progeeks.com)
I think it's interesting that the slashdot community is so quick to point out all 100 errors in any story about Linux put forth by the mainstream media and yet we take this story completely at face value.
We have no idea what really happened and we won't have any hope of knowing for several months.
I wish there were still news publications that could be trusted to deliver real facts and research.
Oh, well...
-Paul
I can't help thinking that these guys trying to publish books for dummies is sort of like the blind leading the blind.
Good Lord! Wow, I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever feel drawn to the SF Bay area. And I thought No. VA was bad.
Phew.
Master of Puppets said, "Screw wookies..."
Talk about getting your arms ripped off...