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User: koh

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  1. Re:A conundrum on Bugzilla Delivered to the Desktop · · Score: 4, Informative

    They use an older, stable version of Bugzilla to track issues in newer releases. Just like gcc folks use the current version of gcc to compile the next one. No magic here.

  2. Play once ? on Microsoft Invents A 'Play-Once Only' DVD · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Play once == Read once
    Read once == Rip once
    Rip once == Play forever

  3. Successful strategy on Successful Strategies for Commenting Your Code · · Score: 1

    /*
    * FIXME - Should handle slashdotting better.
    */

  4. Re:I liked Internet Explorer 7 the first time... on IE7 Bugs and Reviews · · Score: 4, Funny

    Did I forget anybody?

    You forgot Protoss zealots.

  5. Re:Nice try, Darl, but... on SCO Says Email Is Inaccurate · · Score: 1

    Okay. I've seen so many people troubled by the prefix/postfix operators semantics that I'll try giving an explanation. Just remember that you owe me the karma points for "Offtopic" moderations ;)

    In C (and C++), the increment and decrement operators come in two flavors : postincrement (decrement) foo++ (foo--) and preincrement (decrement) ++foo (--foo).

    The difference between the two is that preincrement (decrement) means in machine code : increment (decrement) foo then evaluate, whereas postincrement (decrement) means : evaluate foo, then increment (decrement).

    It does not seem to be that important, and actually it isn't, especially with optimizing compilers, and especially in C.

    However, even in C, when translated to, say, 32-bit x86 machine code, the instructions are quite different.

    Assuming this simple loop :

    for (i = 666 ; i != 0 ; i--) ;

    With 'i' at adress [bar] and optimized as ECX, the x86 machine code generated for condition resolution may look like :

    MOV ECX, [bar]
    DEC [bar]
    OR ECX, ECX
    JZ end_loop

    But with the loop :

    for (i = 666 ; i != 0 ; --i) ;

    It becomes :

    DEC [bar]
    JZ end_loop

    or

    DEC ECX
    JZ end_loop

    if the loop if fully register-optimized.

    But in C++ the difference becomes obvious (and sometimes deadly) because of constructors and operator overloading.

    There is no way to guess machine code from C++ code like in C, but in pseudo-code, this may look like, depending on the type of 'i' (remember 'i' maybe a non-trivial STL iterator) :

    Let's say 'i' is of type 'baz' :

    for (i = 666 ; i != 0 ; --i) ;

    Condition resolution gives :

    - Call baz::operator --() on 'i',
    - Call baz::operator !=() on 'i' and '0' (this may be even trickier, but you get the picture),
    - End loop if previous result is true.

    Fair enough. But with the loop :

    for (i = 666 ; i != 0 ; i--) ;

    Since postdecrement means "evaluate, then decrement", condition resolution gives :

    - Find storage for temporary object 'quux' of type 'baz',
    - Call baz::operator --(int) on 'i',
    - operator --(int) usually creates a second temporary object 'fred' and calls copy constructor baz::baz(i) on 'fred',
    - Store result in 'quux', which usually means assignment operator baz::operator =(fred) is called on 'quux',
    - Call baz::operator !=() on 'quux' and '0' (with the same warning as before, namely operator bool(), operator void*(), etc., if 'baz' does not define 'operator !='),
    - End loop if previous result is true.

    Wow. Now you know why people always say C++ is made to shoot yourself in the foot.

    So, the conclusion is :
    - In C, with a reasonably good compiler, you do not have to care whether you use 'foo++' or '++foo'. Remember to always use '++foo' though, since you do not know if somebody, someday, would want to compile your code to an obsolete machine using a non-optimizing compiler ;)
    -In C++, always use preincrement (++foo). Always. Trust me. Especially when using STL iterators. Especially when you don't know your platform's standard library by heart (that is, always).

    (This message is sponsored by the "Why did they add a postincrement operator" movement :)

  6. Hoods are back ! on 3D Face Cameras · · Score: 3, Funny

    From the article :

    Mr. Duron adds, "At BlueBear Network, we are dedicated to helping law enforcement keep our neighborhoods safe by providing the best biometric identification and information sharing technology available in a way that is easily deployed, totally integrated to existing systems and affordable for all police services from small detachments to large metropolitan police forces."

    Yup, I hear you. And how is this device supposed to help identify muggers hiding behind, say, an old-fashioned hood ? You know, like in those '80s movies, where muggers were real muggers and were easily recognized by their black hoods and mean attitude ? (besides, a good hood keeps you warm in winter).

    Though I suppose hooded people may now be sued in the US under the DMCA... "biometric information concealing using a hood -> they must have reverse engineered our devices !!"

  7. Re:Ive used for some time on Adobe Releases Acrobat Client for Linux · · Score: 1

    They don't live _that_ long, and some people lick them without good reasons ;p

    Then again I guess it's still better than what he'll get in this life... sheesh.

  8. Re:Ive used for some time on Adobe Releases Acrobat Client for Linux · · Score: 1

    Having a good memory and "stepping" outside are not mutually exclusive :)

    To link to it, a simple <a> tag is sufficient... unless you meant "how to get an URL to the original post" ?

    If that's the case, may I suggest you try using google harder ? It does not take that much time :)

    In the meantime, here's a quizz for you : will you be able to find from which post he stole his other post in this thread ?

    Cheers,

  9. Re:Ive used for some time on Adobe Releases Acrobat Client for Linux · · Score: 1

    [OT, mod me accordingly]

    Plagiarists represent a complex problem.

    Forget mod points for a moment, we don't really care about those. After all, there are people who didn't read the original comment and are well served by seeing it reinstated afterwards.

    IMHO the inappropriate thing here is to copy someone else's post and take credit for it. So the aim is to keep the information here and break the link between the information and the moron who copied it.

    The best way I can think of (yet) is :
    - provide a link to the original post,
    - provide a link to original poster's account,
    - let the mods do their job.

  10. Re:Ive used for some time on Adobe Releases Acrobat Client for Linux · · Score: 5, Informative

    Nice try, you miserable cut&paste clod.

    For the record, your post is basically a complete rip of this post by El Cubano with a couple of lines stacked in front of it. Moderators, please act accordingly.

    I do not think behavior such as yours should be encouraged. Actually, I hope you'll reincarnate into some exotic frog, SCO techie, or worse.

  11. Re:WS2K3 SP1 on Microsoft Releases Eight Security Updates · · Score: 4, Informative

    (Incidentally, I'm in favor of really paranoid IE settings, but since by using it you're implicitly trusting MS, the Office update site could probably have been automatically added to that list. I think that's why the gp noted it.)

    Indeed.

    Amusingly, I tried the Acid2 Test on IE with "enhanced security" turned on and it warned me the page may not render correctly because it "required an ActiveX control" that "was being blocked".

    An ActiveX control ? On the Acid test page ? Turns out the page contains 3 <object> tags used to check cascaded content... Of course we all know an <object> tag always is an ActiveX control, do we ?

    That's what I meant by "paranoid" :)

  12. Re:WS2K3 SP1 on Microsoft Releases Eight Security Updates · · Score: 4, Informative

    After 1 day of use :

    IIS (HTTP, FTP) works (after tweaking the firewall of course), at least for the minimal use I have of it.

    Exceed works too after registering it with the firewall.

    IE's "enhanced security" makes it _really_ paranoid, but I use it only for updates so I couldn't care less (had to add Office Update to the trusted sites though).

    IMHO the real thing here is to check how in-house developped server components will behave under SP1... since we don't have that many customers using it, bug reports won't come until a few weeks I hope.

  13. WS2K3 SP1 on Microsoft Releases Eight Security Updates · · Score: 4, Informative

    Windows Server 2003 SP1 is also available. Apparently it's a kind of XP SP2 but for Server 2003. With the firewall, security center, IE "enhanced security", spyware removal tool that doesn't run, etc.

    I just hope it doesn't break as many apps...

  14. Re:Don't feed the troll on GNOME Ignoring its Own Users? · · Score: 1

    Yup. And she's not even sexy. And many people say her Slashdot trigger finger is too cranky (no pun intended).

    Let's have a (-1, Eugenia) moderation. Hell, let's boycott all stories she submits! Eugenia writes, blah, blah, 0 comments!

    Sorry. Been a terrible week.

  15. Re:Don't panic. on France National Library Attacks Google Book Effort · · Score: 4, Informative

    Disclaimer: IAAFM (I am a Frenchman)

    French government has no power over the langage

    Not quite right. The currently applied Toubon law forces e.g. every advertisement material using non-French language to provide a translated version somewhere in the ad (even as a footnote, that's why so many ads in France have footnotes ;) Thus they do have some power over the language used after all...

    The government wants its administration to speak French, and so wants it to use the word "courriel" which was declared French by the Academie Française - so it's logical.

    The word "courriel", though official French, is never used, either in administrative circles or other circles. That word is just too ugly. Everybody says "email" or "mail" like everyone else. The Académie Française can scream all they want, they won't change that one, just as they couldn't turn "bowling" into "boulodrome"or "week-end" into "fin de semaine".

    Languages are doomed to evolve. French is a language that does not want to evolve very much, but it is hopeless. It is never a good thing to try and resist evolution :)

  16. Re:"Hardware accelerated PDF viewers'' ? on Next-Gen X Window Rendering For Linux · · Score: 1

    I stand corrected :) Fact is I have not investigated xkb very much, but isn't this XFree86/XOrg specific ? Does it work on every platform ?

  17. Re:"Hardware accelerated PDF viewers'' ? on Next-Gen X Window Rendering For Linux · · Score: 0, Troll

    Once again, good points :)

    But then I ask the question, why not?

    Windows is able to map your Alt key to a "real" key instead of a modifier because it uses key scan codes and traps keyboard events in a very low-level way (port 0x60 IIRC, x86-specific).

    Traditionally, *NIX systems like Linux, which can run on very different hardware, use a software layer to communicate with devices and cannot use those tricks. As of now, of course. This may change in the future. But it would probably require installing and configuring a keyboard driver.

    Just imagine, right now you still have to choose a keymap if not using a US keyboard. Do you really want to have to choose a keyboard type as well, like "SUN Workstation XXX", "MS Natural keyboard v2" or "ACER laptop keyboard series 1350" ? There are *many* keyboard types out there :)

    For ex. another windows thing I'm used to is windows key. I tried setting up the same thing in gnome but it won't let you use the windows key as a modifier.

    You can configure your X server (nontrivial, I know) to map the Windows key to e.g. the "Super" modifier. You can then tell Gnome about this in its configuration panel (just tried on my wife's machine and the key sequence appears as <Mod4>E for <Windows>E. And it works fine :)

    Regarding launching something and leave it. Hmm I do some system intensive things like vid capture/encoding and gasp! some gaming in linux like enemy territory and doom3. So I'm not going to leave a bunch of apps when these apps need all the resources you can give them.

    No, of course not. As for video capture, just lay the window out the way that suits you best and leave it here. When you're not using the capture/encoding feature, the application should consume almost no resources (if not, this may be a bug in the application itself) so you can leave it open.

    As of games like ET and D3, you usually run these fullscreen. So just close them and it won't change a thing, right ? ;)

    That said, don't think I'm trying to explain to you how to make without the features you need. On the contrary, I do think it is only a matter of using the computer in a different way... actually thinking about the computer in a different way, when switching from a Windows system to a *NIX one.

    And your point about the Alt key is valid, it's just technical limitations there :)

    Cheers

    ko

  18. Re:"Hardware accelerated PDF viewers'' ? on Next-Gen X Window Rendering For Linux · · Score: 4, Informative

    You're raising some interesting points here. Your Windows background does show, but you may be quite representative of what new Gnome users will stumble on their first time around.

    I'll try to address these points, while avoiding being too technical (which is a pain sometimes :)

    1) Remembering windows size/positions. This drives me nuts.

    Okay, okay. You're probably right on this one. However, please consider that a linux desktop is not used like a Windows one, specifically :
    - people generally use several workspaces and lay out their windows on multiple "screens", so to say,
    - you're not supposed to reboot an X terminal as often as a Windows workstation - you just lock it and leave it as is. This comes from older times, but still shows,
    - typically, people just arrange their windows *once* and leave them that way. For a very, very long time. When time comes to reboot, they save their session, preserving their windows' position (okay, this does not work all the time) then log back in again later.

    Indeed, the X Window System was not supposed to be used like an MS Windows desktop, and the differences still bite us from time to time (why does evolution remember the active pane but not its window position across sessions ? WHY ? Answer : because it's the window manager's business, not his, and e.g. Metacity doesn't support this quite right yet).

    2) Hot keys. For the love of god can someone fix hotkeys in gnome! I was used to the alt key toggling the menu of whatever is the active app.

    The Alt key is a modifier. It is not a "real" key. It is meant to be used in combination with another "real" key, just like Shift, Control, Super, Hyper, Fn, Apple, etc. It is not cross-platform. It is not standard. It is usually mapped to the Meta key under Linux, which was once used to set the high bit on characters you typed on older terminals. You don't expect something to happen when you press the Control key alone, right ? The same applies to the Alt key.

    Use F10. One press of F10 activates the main menu, both on Linux and Windows. Another press dismisses the menu. I don't know about Macs (do they have an F10 key ?) but a real (though nonstandard) key like F10 is much easier to code for than a modifier like Alt.

    Hope this helps,

    Cheers

    ko

  19. Re:Danger on Consensus on Global Warming · · Score: 1

    So wait, not one but two other people posted similiar ideas to mine at the exact same minute?

    Absolutely. Coincidences like this are mind-bending but, due to the number of posters here, bound to happen from time to time.

    Do you think the planet just used us to express its feelings at the same time, or is it just Pavlovian ? ;)

  20. Danger on Consensus on Global Warming · · Score: 1

    Earth is in serious, imminent, unavoidable danger ? You gotta be kidding. What they mean is that human beings on Earth are in serious, unavoidable danger.

    The planet has seen worse, it will just route around us and be fine with it.

  21. Re:First impressions on Titanic Director to Make Battle Angel Movie · · Score: 1

    Also, speaking of CG -- I have nothing against CG in general, but the idea of a CG main character fills me with a vague boredom and distaste rather than excitement.

    I suppose this can be an attempt to emphasize the main character even more... in addition, the Panzer Kunst technique that Gally (Alita) uses in the manga cannot possibly be rendered on screen without using CG IMHO.

    On the other hand, one of the greatest assets of the manga was to underline the deeper feelings of the character and put them in contrast with her crude mechanical body. CG will not be able to render that, but then again, itwould take a really good actor to impersonate Gally on the big screen.

    Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, T2 was not so bad in that respect. Wait and see...

  22. Re:I've never had IE malware on Malware: Fighting Malicious Code · · Score: 1

    Wow, wow. Have to reply here.

    In case you didn't notice it, my post was a would-be humourous duplication of my parent post, my point being that using Proxomitron/Privoxy and surfing with IE security set to high prevents many pages from loading properly and is not well-suited for the casual user.

    That humourous duplication obviously went belly-up. No offense, I'll try again next year :)

  23. Re:I've never had IE malware on Malware: Fighting Malicious Code · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    I've been using IE since Win95 (with the Proxomitron and with security/privacy set to high). And I've *NEVER* had a single nontrivial web page load properly. When people talk about modern, interesting web pages, I visit them to see what it's like, and nothing happens. All the complaints about IE security? I reckon they can be solved by the user not wanting to browse the web. And that common sense is to keep using IE, not to install Firefox.

  24. Re:Discount. on Online Gaming Ad Network Launches · · Score: 1

    So this means that instead of paying $50 to Valve so I can play play Counter Strike over Steam or $50 to Ubi (+15/mo) to play one of their MMORPGs, I'm going to get it for free - or at the worst, a significant discount, right?

    Actually, no.

    Advertisement on the web is already significantly crippled by filtering proxies, AdBlock, etc. Since the same techniques can be applied to PC game ads (and console game ads, provided you put a box between your console and the internet), profits from those ads will probably not be good enough to justify a discount... if those damn marketroids planned on offering one in the first place, which I highly doubt.

  25. Re:It's a tremendous achievement on George Lucas to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Okay, okay, so why isn't it called the "shitload of money achievement" ? Would be more to the point, don't you think ? :)