NASM was a good effort, but in the end its just a simple assembler with a few preprocessor features bolted on. Nobody points to NASM and declares "thats a great feature other assemblers should have" aside from its open source nature.
There are many other x86 assemblers that are in the same boat as NASM. They are just simple assemblers.
MASM is all about the macro language. While terribly hard to learn to do more advanced macro stuff due to the way it evolved (feature creep while maintaining compatibility), it is extremely powerful and in many ways (other than syntax) it is like having javascript for a preprocessor language (for instance, a macro can return another macro that was completely generated at assemble-time)
Most assembly programmers mix with high level languages. They are essentially library programmers in asm land and application programmers in high level language land.
cwd isnt obscure.. well, it wasnt in the 16-bit days.
The modern equivalent in 32-bit mode is cdq..
These is absolutely necessary instruction when performing division, because on the x86 line division takes a double wide numerator from dx:ax in 16-bit, or edx:eax in 32-bit.
Wait a moment.. you are a Yahoo user who is complaining about slashdot including two small iconified links to Facebook and Twitter on a couple of profile pages?
The x64 version of IE is an afterthought. For example, last I checked IE8(x64) still didn't work with Windows Update.
Some browsers (such as Opera) do not have 64-bit versions for the Windows platform. This is to be expected for many reasons, such as (a) browsers do fine with the amount of memory that a 32-bit process has access to (b) 32-bit plugins can't be loaded into 64-bit processes (c) any sort of javascript compiler (IE doesnt have one, but..) would require both a 32-bit and 64-bit codegen due to the incompatibilities.
The 64-bit version of IE is essentially just a "me too!" compile. Last I checked on XP, IE8-x64 still didn't even work with Windows Update, and required that you close the 64-bit version and run the 32-bit version.
Personally, I don't consider netbooks to be true "general purpose" computers
If I sent a netbook back in time 20 years and you got yourself a hold of it, what would you have to say back then?
I think that you have confused yourself into thinking that if its not comparable to a modern desktop, then its not a general purpose computer. 20 years ago the Atom CPU in most netbooks would have been considered a military secret. A literal supercomputer on your lap with more memory than was imaginable back then, and a storage device many thousands of times bigger than the RLL/MFM drives of the time.
The rest of the picture is similar. Creative Labs had just released the SoundBlaster Pro in 1990 with its 8-bit 22khz stereo DAC, while this netbook sports 16-bit 44.1khz stereo and possibly even 5.1 surround sound. IBM had just introduced 1024x768 XGA graphics which was only 256 colors, while that Netbook does 24-bit color at similar resolutions.
Was my 386/40 running DOS 5 not a general purpose computer? These netbooks kick the snot out of it in every. single. way.
As you see, General Purpose is not some moving metric that follows whatever the current desktop standard is. General Purpose means unrestricted.
People rage about various versions of Windows autorun'ing applications on USB devices when they are plugged in. That of course was a terrible software design flaw..
..but the design flaw in Firewire is that any Firewire devices gets arbitrary read/write access to any and all system memory, by design. Its a hardware flaw and we are all much better off with Firewire behind us. I recall one talk at a security conference being titled "Hacked by an iPod, owned by Firewire" or something like that. This effected both Mac's and PC's and there wasnt a damn thing the OS could do about it.
Next you are going to say that in spite of the iPhone being able to do pretty much anything that a regular computer can (first person shooter games, document editing, photo manipulation, web browsing, and on and on) that it still wouldnt be a general purpose computing device even if it wasnt locked down.
The reason the iPhone is not a general computing device is not because it cannot perform general computing, because "there is an app for that", but only because I am not allowed to install or author arbitrary software on my terms.
You state that the government shouldn't regulate everything, but then give an example of a benefit of such regulation. Interesting.
As an aside to TFA topic, I will add my two cents to this.
Contracts are already burdened with government intervention. Breaking a contract is a civil offense, while engaging in fraud to get citizens to sign contracts that have terms they would not have knowingly agreed to is a criminal offense.
It is because the government already intervenes that many people sign hard to understand contracts, because after all, its supposed to be criminal to fuck people over with intentionally confusing bits.
Apple fanboy sees all negative observations as complaints, and ends his post with a question where he is wondering why anyone would ever publicly make negative observations about Apple or Apple Products.
No, there's a large amount of energy inside, but it's all in the form of a high temperature, and there's no colder heat reservoir available to anyone down there that would try to extract useful work from it. (Since nothing outside the singularity is reachable once you're there.)
There you go with that singularity stuff. Did you even read what I wrote?
There is no rule that black holes must contain singularities. The rule is the exact opposite, that singularities must be contained in black holes. Feel free to try to find a reference to your version of it, and you wont find one. Its just not part of any theory.
This is a common mistake made by laymen such as yourself. I realize that you have probably been schooled in some physics, but you have been mislead somewhere along the way because nobody felt it was important enough to stress this very basic fact to you.
Please use your skills to calculate the density of a black hole the size of the observable universe (hint: the density is nearly that of the vacuum of space), and then look up the actual estimated density of the universe. Disturbingly close, isn't it? Within an order of magnitude, right? We simply cannot rule out the possibility that you are in a black hole right now, which blows your assumptions and thus conclusions right out of the water.
Singularities are not a requirement of black holes. Until about 25 years ago, the entire universe was theorized to maybe have the critical density necessary to be a black hole itself (with an inevitable "big crunch" producing a singularity in the very distance future), and obviously the universe isnt a singularity right now.
Black holes can contain lots of usable energy, for those that might be in the black holes.
Consider the PC release of GTA4. If you purchased the retail copy then it requires Games For Windows Live and Rockstar Social Club/b>...
... but the fucking punchline is that this fucker also installs SecuROM.
..and no. Steam users are not off the hook. With the steam version you get all that, and also a Steam dependency!
With that said.. I like Steam. Of the the nice things about steam is that they disclose the existence of any other DRM (besides Steamworks) prior to purchase. Steamworks is the least obnoxious of all the mainsteam DRM's out there, and you get a good bit of added value (unlimited downloads, no digging around for CD keys and the like..) for the trouble of dealing with it.
Are you paying $0.99 cents per track, or are you buying CD's? Pick a theory.
If you are paying $0.99 cents per track, then you dont get them encoded with extreme bit-rates. You know that, right?
If they are CD's, did you know that the average album length is only about 45 minutes?
I think that you have seriously underestimated the amount of music that you have pirated, because you would know that 200 actual CD's would fit on that 16GB player which is the low range these days (can't retail a Touch with less than 32GB, even the Nano is 16GB now, the smallest Classic is between 80GB and 160GB, and the smallest Zune is now 16GB)
There are more than a few mp3 players with 160GB now, which will easily hold 2500 average length CD's at 192kbps VBR, which is less compression than I suspect that you are encoding at.
MP3 players have not had what would be described as 'limited space' for a very long time. Most people have MP3 players that can hold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of music, and those are the small ones.
By licensing and including H.264, the downstream users of the software that do not get it directly from Mozilla will hot have the same experience as those that do, since the licence will not be transferrable down the chain.
Mozilla has not negotiated a license for H.264 so you cannot make a claim about what rights would or would not be transferable under it.
(suggestion: please use a browser that has a spell checker)
Slashdot Mirror
It is modded down because the author of TFA had some mod points.
NASM was a good effort, but in the end its just a simple assembler with a few preprocessor features bolted on. Nobody points to NASM and declares "thats a great feature other assemblers should have" aside from its open source nature.
There are many other x86 assemblers that are in the same boat as NASM. They are just simple assemblers.
MASM is all about the macro language. While terribly hard to learn to do more advanced macro stuff due to the way it evolved (feature creep while maintaining compatibility), it is extremely powerful and in many ways (other than syntax) it is like having javascript for a preprocessor language (for instance, a macro can return another macro that was completely generated at assemble-time)
Most assembly programmers mix with high level languages. They are essentially library programmers in asm land and application programmers in high level language land.
cwd isnt obscure.. well, it wasnt in the 16-bit days.
..
The modern equivalent in 32-bit mode is cdq
These is absolutely necessary instruction when performing division, because on the x86 line division takes a double wide numerator from dx:ax in 16-bit, or edx:eax in 32-bit.
I need development tools on the device, including an assembler as well as a simple high level RAD language that can call that assembler code.
So for me, I pretty much need Windows or Linux.
Wait a moment.. you are a Yahoo user who is complaining about slashdot including two small iconified links to Facebook and Twitter on a couple of profile pages?
Well shit.. don't that beat all.
The x64 version of IE is an afterthought. For example, last I checked IE8(x64) still didn't work with Windows Update.
Some browsers (such as Opera) do not have 64-bit versions for the Windows platform. This is to be expected for many reasons, such as (a) browsers do fine with the amount of memory that a 32-bit process has access to (b) 32-bit plugins can't be loaded into 64-bit processes (c) any sort of javascript compiler (IE doesnt have one, but..) would require both a 32-bit and 64-bit codegen due to the incompatibilities.
The 64-bit version of IE is essentially just a "me too!" compile. Last I checked on XP, IE8-x64 still didn't even work with Windows Update, and required that you close the 64-bit version and run the 32-bit version.
Personally, I don't consider netbooks to be true "general purpose" computers
If I sent a netbook back in time 20 years and you got yourself a hold of it, what would you have to say back then?
I think that you have confused yourself into thinking that if its not comparable to a modern desktop, then its not a general purpose computer. 20 years ago the Atom CPU in most netbooks would have been considered a military secret. A literal supercomputer on your lap with more memory than was imaginable back then, and a storage device many thousands of times bigger than the RLL/MFM drives of the time.
The rest of the picture is similar. Creative Labs had just released the SoundBlaster Pro in 1990 with its 8-bit 22khz stereo DAC, while this netbook sports 16-bit 44.1khz stereo and possibly even 5.1 surround sound. IBM had just introduced 1024x768 XGA graphics which was only 256 colors, while that Netbook does 24-bit color at similar resolutions.
Was my 386/40 running DOS 5 not a general purpose computer? These netbooks kick the snot out of it in every. single. way.
As you see, General Purpose is not some moving metric that follows whatever the current desktop standard is. General Purpose means unrestricted.
Anyway, $25k is not an enormous life ruining debt. Yes, it is not trivial, but it is surmountable.
What it is, is unconstitutional.
Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
Whether that's your private key, your password, or your stool sample.
Anyone who wants to sample my stool deserves what they get.
Firewire was never OK.
..but the design flaw in Firewire is that any Firewire devices gets arbitrary read/write access to any and all system memory, by design. Its a hardware flaw and we are all much better off with Firewire behind us. I recall one talk at a security conference being titled "Hacked by an iPod, owned by Firewire" or something like that. This effected both Mac's and PC's and there wasnt a damn thing the OS could do about it.
People rage about various versions of Windows autorun'ing applications on USB devices when they are plugged in. That of course was a terrible software design flaw..
Lacking in mouse and keyboard? There's an App for that!
Next you are going to say that in spite of the iPhone being able to do pretty much anything that a regular computer can (first person shooter games, document editing, photo manipulation, web browsing, and on and on) that it still wouldnt be a general purpose computing device even if it wasnt locked down.
The reason the iPhone is not a general computing device is not because it cannot perform general computing, because "there is an app for that", but only because I am not allowed to install or author arbitrary software on my terms.
So your logic is full of shit, fanboy.
The iPad is not a general-purpose computing device.
Only because its locked down. Remember that. Only because its locked down.
It cannot be compared to, nor can it show the direction of, the market for general-purpose computers.
Yes, because general-purpose computers aren't arbitrarily locked down.
You state that the government shouldn't regulate everything, but then give an example of a benefit of such regulation. Interesting.
As an aside to TFA topic, I will add my two cents to this.
Contracts are already burdened with government intervention. Breaking a contract is a civil offense, while engaging in fraud to get citizens to sign contracts that have terms they would not have knowingly agreed to is a criminal offense.
It is because the government already intervenes that many people sign hard to understand contracts, because after all, its supposed to be criminal to fuck people over with intentionally confusing bits.
One could argue that with the number of automobile related fatalities every year, that they are already population control devices.
If eBikes are the way forward, then I'm turning this boat around.
I am not complaining that you are an idiot. Its just an observation.
Translation:
Apple fanboy sees all negative observations as complaints, and ends his post with a question where he is wondering why anyone would ever publicly make negative observations about Apple or Apple Products.
/signed
Unlike every other form of DRM, steam actually offers me useful features as part of the compromise.
No, there's a large amount of energy inside, but it's all in the form of a high temperature, and there's no colder heat reservoir available to anyone down there that would try to extract useful work from it. (Since nothing outside the singularity is reachable once you're there.)
There you go with that singularity stuff. Did you even read what I wrote?
There is no rule that black holes must contain singularities. The rule is the exact opposite, that singularities must be contained in black holes. Feel free to try to find a reference to your version of it, and you wont find one. Its just not part of any theory.
This is a common mistake made by laymen such as yourself. I realize that you have probably been schooled in some physics, but you have been mislead somewhere along the way because nobody felt it was important enough to stress this very basic fact to you.
Please use your skills to calculate the density of a black hole the size of the observable universe (hint: the density is nearly that of the vacuum of space), and then look up the actual estimated density of the universe. Disturbingly close, isn't it? Within an order of magnitude, right? We simply cannot rule out the possibility that you are in a black hole right now, which blows your assumptions and thus conclusions right out of the water.
Singularities are not a requirement of black holes. Until about 25 years ago, the entire universe was theorized to maybe have the critical density necessary to be a black hole itself (with an inevitable "big crunch" producing a singularity in the very distance future), and obviously the universe isnt a singularity right now.
Black holes can contain lots of usable energy, for those that might be in the black holes.
The biggest sinner of all is rockstar games.
...
... but the fucking punchline is that this fucker also installs SecuROM.
..and no. Steam users are not off the hook. With the steam version you get all that, and also a Steam dependency!
Consider the PC release of GTA4. If you purchased the retail copy then it requires Games For Windows Live and Rockstar Social Club/b>
With that said.. I like Steam. Of the the nice things about steam is that they disclose the existence of any other DRM (besides Steamworks) prior to purchase. Steamworks is the least obnoxious of all the mainsteam DRM's out there, and you get a good bit of added value (unlimited downloads, no digging around for CD keys and the like..) for the trouble of dealing with it.
Are you paying $0.99 cents per track, or are you buying CD's? Pick a theory.
If you are paying $0.99 cents per track, then you dont get them encoded with extreme bit-rates. You know that, right?
If they are CD's, did you know that the average album length is only about 45 minutes?
I think that you have seriously underestimated the amount of music that you have pirated, because you would know that 200 actual CD's would fit on that 16GB player which is the low range these days (can't retail a Touch with less than 32GB, even the Nano is 16GB now, the smallest Classic is between 80GB and 160GB, and the smallest Zune is now 16GB)
There are more than a few mp3 players with 160GB now, which will easily hold 2500 average length CD's at 192kbps VBR, which is less compression than I suspect that you are encoding at.
MP3 players have not had what would be described as 'limited space' for a very long time. Most people have MP3 players that can hold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of music, and those are the small ones.
By licensing and including H.264, the downstream users of the software that do not get it directly from Mozilla will hot have the same experience as those that do, since the licence will not be transferrable down the chain.
Mozilla has not negotiated a license for H.264 so you cannot make a claim about what rights would or would not be transferable under it.
(suggestion: please use a browser that has a spell checker)