What you say about how well-maintained the old software is, is true. Good programming can extend the life of programs a lot.
But the ideas about "throwing away the old stuff" have been around at least since Assembler language, and it is often an excuse for lazyness. When anyone encounters something really new to them, it causes what the psychologists call "Learning Frustration". People that can't endure frustration will clutch at any way to avoid learning things, and they often have the idea that if they write it new it will be less frustrating.
This can result in the loss of the only documentation of what really needs to be done, i.e., the old source code. The "specs" are never correct and seldom even updated to the last version of the software. The managers seldom know exactly what is being done. The specs you are given new, are wrong. The only way to detect the errors, is to know what is being done in the old program.
Bottom line: You have to learn the old code just to be able to successfully write new code. And by then it is usually less time to update the old code. (If the term "update" includes perhaps converting to new languages.) Or at least, then you can make a rational decision about whether to use the old code.
Sometimes, the hard way is actually the easy way! 8-)
Isn't limestone relatively easy washed out by water? (Which is major cave building mechanism)
Good question. But that process in caves is not so easy and happens very slowly. If our buildings last ten thousand years, that is probably enough... 8-)
I think that had more to do with their use of Lead for piping and the aqueduct.
Lead piping and such is not that much of a danger. If it was we would all show lead levels in our blood, and we don't.
The Romans discovered this really neat artificial sweetner, though. It was a lead compound and they used it in many their wines. -That- is what caused the problems!!
"If Engineers built buildings the way Programmers write programs, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization!"
If you think computers would be better than truck drivers, you not only don't know driving, you don't know computers. Computers -can- make mistakes and it does not always cause a crash. Sometimes, it leaves the computer running with corrupted data. Quite aside from bugs in the programs.
This sounds like salesmen and college professors looking for grants.
But it is true that technological changes can cause disruptions in the economy...
Most likely, something that has not been invented yet. And that we probably would not recognise or even understand.
A good bet would be an engineered intellegent organism. Whether mechanical or organic would probably be a moot point, since advanced forms of either would be indistiguishable from the other.
... I would guess 99% of the haters never actually used AOL.
Actually, they had good reasons. AOL wanted to be the first Google but didn't know how. They wanted to be the IBM of the internet. It was impossible to cancel your account once it was started. They just kept charging you forever. It was years before they got sued enough to finally cancel some accounts.
Plus, they made so much on Dial-Up that they refused to move to highspeed. You had to get a new account with a different ISP for faster connection. So you paid for both!!! 8-(
They straightened up later, after enough competition, but it was too late.
Ok, but how did it become fashionable to tie an onion to your belt?
It keeps insects away. And partly covers up the smell of farts.
Believe it or not, keeping insects away before repellant spray was a big thing. The alternative was something like rancid bear grease, which smelled terrible but worked.
You think AOL is old? My current email address uses "CompuServe.com"!! I got it before there was AOL and it was Dial-Up and they were the biggest company on the web.
Of course it doesn't go there any more, it was bought by a newer company.... wait for it... now it's actually AOL. 8-)
On the other hand, if you go to "compuserve.com" you will see the website, and it is still updated. Nothing on the Internet really dies...
It is not. It is almost always "save a penny lose a million". The problem is that the million (or usually quite a bit more) is lost later and somebody else has to pay. This is both exceptionally bad management and exceptionally bad engineering.
I believe that the term for that is "Bureaucracy". A disease that afflicts large organizations of many types, and is often fatal eventually.
The problem is that the issues tend to pile up over time, and at some point, the only sane thing would be to throw the whole mess away and start over....
The trouble with stating over, is that there is huge amounts of knowledge that is only recorded in the old source code. When an old program is thrown away and a bright new program is created, much functionality is lost. This type of new project has about an even chance of being rejected by the users. And they go back to the old program for years afterward, traumatised too much to start again.
And yes, I make my living "raking through trash piles for diamonds" ! It can be done. And it is often faster than the alternatives. But it is not always fun.
Like writing books: "It is not fun to write, but it is fun to have written."
Plenty of carpenters pin back the shield on their skill saw. I sure wouldn't. I'd cut off my leg.
Yes, you really do want the protections. They need a way to disable them, but don't. Unless there is really no other way.
Seriously. Two students fell off of a mountain overlook near here, this spring, and were killed because there was no guard rail at the edge. It can happen with your software, too. (And yes, some software can kill.)
Good languages have automatic safety checks, but also have a way to bypass them if really necessary.
It's not a matter of windows, it's a matter of the citizen's freedom. There are a lot of people that hate freedom (at least for others) and will try to "stamp it out" at the first chance they get. And personal automobiles are the essence of freedom.
What is really wanted, by some, is to ship the passengers in a packing crate! Yikes! 8-)
Using "good" words instead of "bad" words just causes the innocent good words to -become- bad. Look up "euphemism" ! Many modern bad words -are- the good words of a few years ago. Look up what they used before those. And consider the word "Special" as a pejorative.
On the other hand, there is no need to be rude if you can avoid it...
I have a drip coffee machine with a programmable timer. I just prepare everything and have a (couple of) perfect cup(s) in the morning for me and the missus \o/
I also have a drip coffee machine, and I like the coffee it makes. But I also have a thermos caraff, with the old style vacume bottle for insulation. Pour the remaining coffee immediatly into that and have fresh coffee anytime over the next 6 hours or so, even easier than the Kureg. But does get a bit cooler before quitting time. 8-)
Ok, so there is a 1600s era verb form of "sheer" referring to navigating a ship that was probably an incorrectly used "shear" anyway. Still not relevant to an action one can do to a sheep.
For the ship, thats a word from a different language that only sounds the same.
When you use a pair of "shears" to cut the wool from a sheep, it is refered to as "shearing the sheep". The sheep usually survive! 8-)
Just because you learned differently, does not mean that what you are accustomed to is either right or universal.
I think any PR person, CEO, and other mouthpiece who says this stuff is perfectly safe should be forced to drink it....
If you think your nice city water is any better, then you should check the latest report from your water authority.
When I lived "up north", one of the nearby towns issued a "boil order" to the citizens. There was a big news event and much screaming about "what happened?".
The head of the local water authority came on TV and said that there was no need to worry. "The levels have been just below the limits for years, so it has not changed much." "Um... What?" 8-}
It could even come from cleaning brushes properly in a sink as the grey water would tend to go into a drainage field which eventually feeds back into the well.
Known for 100 years, as a bad problem. Wells now days are much deeper and sealed from surface contamination.
However, you could have an important point. If the homeowner's well is leaking at the top, contamination could drain -down- into the well. Which is very dangerous, even without any fracking. If the company spills liquid on the ground, it could move with the water table to the leaking well, but so could anything else! Not good!
Is "well water" (drill hole into water table, pump out water) always used raw and unfiltered? Has it traditionally always been safe to drink anywhere you can sink a well, or is there some history of bad wells due to natural contamination?...
Usually used raw, even now. No it has not always been safe, but much better these days.
You have hit most of the points, but there is one thing. Before WWI wells were often down to the water table, like the stone wells with the bucket and crank handle. But more recently most water wells are much deeper, usually below a layer of rock, so that they are protected from surface contamination. I think the wells around here go down 500 to 1000 feet. (?)
Mineral content tasts bad and makes build-up on things, but is not usually harmful. See "Artesian Well". Bacteria, which can be harmful, is not usual that deep. And it can be harder to remove from the water, unless you boil it. I think Reverse Osmosis is to remove minerals, not bacteria. (But maybe both?)
Liberals MADE this country. They made the constitution, they won WW2 after the conservative Great Depression, and they helped create the greatest economy and standard of living, which conservatives have spent the last 30 years screwing up.
The founders of this nation were not conservatives. The conservatives were the ones supporting King George....
That is true, if you go by the original meaning of "Liberal" at the time.
The mistake is in thinking that "Liberal" still means the same thing now.
Back in the late 60's, when the Russians and North Vietnamese had agents here trying to sway public opinion against the war, many people were influenced by them and the methods that were taught. When they realised that such methods, where the "end justified the means", could get them power and money, then they adopted those methods of controlling the public. I was there and watched it.
I used to consider myself a liberal, but I could not go along with that. So now I am sort of stuck in the middle...
An old saying: "Anyone who is a republican before the age of 30 has no heart. But, anyone who is democrat after the age of 30 has no brain!" (Probably wrongs both parties.)
People still do water that way...wells on their property??
If so...I'd guess it would have to be a very small minority these days, eh?
Don't be silly. Just because everyone that you know lives in a big city, does not mean that everyone does, or even wants to.
Where I live, only the people in the middle of town have "city water". All else have wells and septic tanks. In other places known as "green living". 8-) Some are pretty high-tech, too.
Of course, they don't have to pay as much to the local government. But have you seen how much repairing a septic tank costs? Ick!! I was glad to get a house in town...
If you can do more than one, then you will know how to learn others as necessary. If you only know one, then you can get "stuck in a corner". And vulnerable to "if all you have is a hammer, then every thing you meet looks like a nail."
And anyway, knowing something others do not can be, with a little luck, quite valuable. 8-)
The human mind codes memory by keying to the items already in memory. If your memory does not include the needed items, it will use similar ones or just "not see" them.
You are describing the "not see" problem. But the keying to similar items is even worse, sometimes. We can remember things that were never there! Or that were quite different.
Slashdot Mirror
From what ya'll are saying, it sounds like big beauracracy all over again! Only the names have been changed, to "protect the guilty".
Note that using new words, does not guarantee a new outcome...
What you say about how well-maintained the old software is, is true. Good programming can extend the life of programs a lot.
But the ideas about "throwing away the old stuff" have been around at least since Assembler language, and it is often an excuse for lazyness. When anyone encounters something really new to them, it causes what the psychologists call "Learning Frustration". People that can't endure frustration will clutch at any way to avoid learning things, and they often have the idea that if they write it new it will be less frustrating.
This can result in the loss of the only documentation of what really needs to be done, i.e., the old source code. The "specs" are never correct and seldom even updated to the last version of the software. The managers seldom know exactly what is being done. The specs you are given new, are wrong. The only way to detect the errors, is to know what is being done in the old program.
Bottom line: You have to learn the old code just to be able to successfully write new code. And by then it is usually less time to update the old code. (If the term "update" includes perhaps converting to new languages.) Or at least, then you can make a rational decision about whether to use the old code.
Sometimes, the hard way is actually the easy way! 8-)
Isn't limestone relatively easy washed out by water? (Which is major cave building mechanism)
Good question. But that process in caves is not so easy and happens very slowly. If our buildings last ten thousand years, that is probably enough... 8-)
I think that had more to do with their use of Lead for piping and the aqueduct.
Lead piping and such is not that much of a danger. If it was we would all show lead levels in our blood, and we don't.
The Romans discovered this really neat artificial sweetner, though. It was a lead compound and they used it in many their wines.
-That- is what caused the problems!!
"If Engineers built buildings the way Programmers write programs, the first woodpecker that came along would destroy civilization!"
If you think computers would be better than truck drivers, you not only don't know driving, you don't know computers. Computers -can- make mistakes and it does not always cause a crash. Sometimes, it leaves the computer running with corrupted data. Quite aside from bugs in the programs.
This sounds like salesmen and college professors looking for grants.
But it is true that technological changes can cause disruptions in the economy...
Most likely, something that has not been invented yet. And that we probably would not recognise or even understand.
A good bet would be an engineered intellegent organism. Whether mechanical or organic would probably be a moot point, since advanced forms of either would be indistiguishable from the other.
... I would guess 99% of the haters never actually used AOL.
Actually, they had good reasons. AOL wanted to be the first Google but didn't know how. They wanted to be the IBM of the internet. It was impossible to cancel your account once it was started. They just kept charging you forever. It was years before they got sued enough to finally cancel some accounts.
Plus, they made so much on Dial-Up that they refused to move to highspeed. You had to get a new account with a different ISP for faster connection. So you paid for both!!! 8-(
They straightened up later, after enough competition, but it was too late.
Ok, but how did it become fashionable to tie an onion to your belt?
It keeps insects away. And partly covers up the smell of farts.
Believe it or not, keeping insects away before repellant spray was a big thing. The alternative was something like rancid bear grease, which smelled terrible but worked.
You think AOL is old? My current email address uses "CompuServe.com"!! I got it before there was AOL and it was Dial-Up and they were the biggest company on the web.
Of course it doesn't go there any more, it was bought by a newer company. ... wait for it ... now it's actually AOL. 8-)
On the other hand, if you go to "compuserve.com" you will see the website, and it is still updated. Nothing on the Internet really dies...
Now you kids get off of my lawn! 8-{
It is not. It is almost always "save a penny lose a million". The problem is that the million (or usually quite a bit more) is lost later and somebody else has to pay. This is both exceptionally bad management and exceptionally bad engineering.
I believe that the term for that is "Bureaucracy". A disease that afflicts large organizations of many types, and is often fatal eventually.
The problem is that the issues tend to pile up over time, and at some point, the only sane thing would be to throw the whole mess away and start over. ...
The trouble with stating over, is that there is huge amounts of knowledge that is only recorded in the old source code. When an old program is thrown away and a bright new program is created, much functionality is lost. This type of new project has about an even chance of being rejected by the users. And they go back to the old program for years afterward, traumatised too much to start again.
And yes, I make my living "raking through trash piles for diamonds" !
It can be done. And it is often faster than the alternatives. But it is not always fun.
Like writing books: "It is not fun to write, but it is fun to have written."
Plenty of carpenters pin back the shield on their skill saw.
I sure wouldn't. I'd cut off my leg.
Yes, you really do want the protections. They need a way to disable them, but don't. Unless there is really no other way.
Seriously. Two students fell off of a mountain overlook near here, this spring, and were killed because there was no guard rail at the edge. It can happen with your software, too. (And yes, some software can kill.)
Good languages have automatic safety checks, but also have a way to bypass them if really necessary.
It's not a matter of windows, it's a matter of the citizen's freedom. There are a lot of people that hate freedom (at least for others) and will try to "stamp it out" at the first chance they get. And personal automobiles are the essence of freedom.
What is really wanted, by some, is to ship the passengers in a packing crate! Yikes! 8-)
Using "good" words instead of "bad" words just causes the innocent good words to -become- bad. Look up "euphemism" !
Many modern bad words -are- the good words of a few years ago. Look up what they used before those. And consider the word "Special" as a pejorative.
On the other hand, there is no need to be rude if you can avoid it...
Where do you think the abacus was made? Its rocks in a bag for me, one per sheep, count them all out, count them all back.
As an Engineer, I can only say if it works, it works! 8-)
I have a drip coffee machine with a programmable timer. I just prepare everything and have a (couple of) perfect cup(s) in the morning for me and the missus \o/
I also have a drip coffee machine, and I like the coffee it makes. But I also have a thermos caraff, with the old style vacume bottle for insulation. Pour the remaining coffee immediatly into that and have fresh coffee anytime over the next 6 hours or so, even easier than the Kureg. But does get a bit cooler before quitting time. 8-)
Ok, so there is a 1600s era verb form of "sheer" referring to navigating a ship that was probably an incorrectly used "shear" anyway. Still not relevant to an action one can do to a sheep.
For the ship, thats a word from a different language that only sounds the same.
When you use a pair of "shears" to cut the wool from a sheep, it is refered to as "shearing the sheep". The sheep usually survive! 8-)
Just because you learned differently, does not mean that what you are accustomed to is either right or universal.
I think any PR person, CEO, and other mouthpiece who says this stuff is perfectly safe should be forced to drink it. ...
If you think your nice city water is any better, then you should check the latest report from your water authority.
When I lived "up north", one of the nearby towns issued a "boil order" to the citizens. There was a big news event and much screaming about "what happened?".
The head of the local water authority came on TV and said that there was no need to worry. "The levels have been just below the limits for years, so it has not changed much." "Um... What?" 8-}
It could even come from cleaning brushes properly in a sink as the grey water would tend to go into a drainage field which eventually feeds back into the well.
Known for 100 years, as a bad problem. Wells now days are much deeper and sealed from surface contamination.
However, you could have an important point. If the homeowner's well is leaking at the top, contamination could drain -down- into the well. Which is very dangerous, even without any fracking. If the company spills liquid on the ground, it could move with the water table to the leaking well, but so could anything else! Not good!
Is "well water" (drill hole into water table, pump out water) always used raw and unfiltered? Has it traditionally always been safe to drink anywhere you can sink a well, or is there some history of bad wells due to natural contamination? ...
Usually used raw, even now. No it has not always been safe, but much better these days.
You have hit most of the points, but there is one thing. Before WWI wells were often down to the water table, like the stone wells with the bucket and crank handle. But more recently most water wells are much deeper, usually below a layer of rock, so that they are protected from surface contamination. I think the wells around here go down 500 to 1000 feet. (?)
Mineral content tasts bad and makes build-up on things, but is not usually harmful. See "Artesian Well". Bacteria, which can be harmful, is not usual that deep. And it can be harder to remove from the water, unless you boil it. I think Reverse Osmosis is to remove minerals, not bacteria. (But maybe both?)
Liberals MADE this country. They made the constitution, they won WW2 after the conservative Great Depression, and they helped create the greatest economy and standard of living, which conservatives have spent the last 30 years screwing up.
The founders of this nation were not conservatives. The conservatives were the ones supporting King George. ...
That is true, if you go by the original meaning of "Liberal" at the time.
The mistake is in thinking that "Liberal" still means the same thing now.
Back in the late 60's, when the Russians and North Vietnamese had agents here trying to sway public opinion against the war, many people were influenced by them and the methods that were taught. When they realised that such methods, where the "end justified the means", could get them power and money, then they adopted those methods of controlling the public. I was there and watched it.
I used to consider myself a liberal, but I could not go along with that. So now I am sort of stuck in the middle...
An old saying:
"Anyone who is a republican before the age of 30 has no heart. But, anyone who is democrat after the age of 30 has no brain!"
(Probably wrongs both parties.)
People still do water that way...wells on their property??
If so...I'd guess it would have to be a very small minority these days, eh?
Don't be silly. Just because everyone that you know lives in a big city, does not mean that everyone does, or even wants to.
Where I live, only the people in the middle of town have "city water". All else have wells and septic tanks. In other places known as "green living". 8-)
Some are pretty high-tech, too.
Of course, they don't have to pay as much to the local government. But have you seen how much repairing a septic tank costs? Ick!!
I was glad to get a house in town...
... Once people believed rockets would not work in space. Because: there is no medium to push against.
Thats quite true. However the problem was not with the "push", but rather with the idea that they must push against the whole world to get anywhere.
If the scientists of the time had just explaned it as "pushing against the exhaust", I think things would have been a lot easier! 8-)
The first rule is: Learn more than one language!
If you can do more than one, then you will know how to learn others as necessary.
If you only know one, then you can get "stuck in a corner". And vulnerable to "if all you have is a hammer, then every thing you meet looks like a nail."
And anyway, knowing something others do not can be, with a little luck, quite valuable. 8-)
The human mind codes memory by keying to the items already in memory. If your memory does not include the needed items, it will use similar ones or just "not see" them.
You are describing the "not see" problem. But the keying to similar items is even worse, sometimes. We can remember things that were never there! Or that were quite different.