Main Entry: easel
Pronunciation: 'E-z&l
Function: noun
Etymology: Dutch ezel, literally, ass, from Middle Dutch esel; akin to Old English esol ass; both from a prehistoric East Germanic-West Germanic word borrowed from Latin asinus ass
Date: 1596
: a frame for supporting something (as an artist's canvas)
It's good to know it's not just a play on "easy", don't you think:-)
Java has a few oddities that I think may make it worse than C++ and possibly encourage sloppiness among the students.
Yes of course, we don't want to encourage sloppiness among students. We want to make it as hard as possible, so they learn it right. They should all be programming in a really difficult programming language. How about Intercal? Befunge? Rube? Maelstroem? Dis? Unlambda? BrainF**k?
Knuth used a funky self-modifying assembler in his book. I don't see how to easily extend that to OO, and I see absolutely no purpose. The reason he used assembler, was to avoid high-level languages so the reader could count instructions and get a feel for efficiency. As OO-assemblers are quite uncommon, that would be against the idea of Knuth's books. And it would be extremely stupid to use a 60's inspired nonexistent assembler with enormously stupid OO additions by someone who can't even spell Knuth correctly (se earlier post by garoush) to teach basic programming.
Java is actually quite nice for teaching basic programming. Get over it.
Of all the languages, they pick a closed source language.
There is no such thing as a closed source language. A language specification can be open or proprietary. Sun's language specification is open (i.e anyone can read it). There do exist at least on closed source java implementation, but there does exist lots of closed source implementation of C too. Do you consider C a closed source language?
If they aren't going to be language agnostic and just accept pseudo-code (or straight C), I'd rather see a standard free language. For an AP exam,
one of the functional languages would probably be a much better choice, because programming in those requires that you know how to think.
Most functional languages aren't standardized that much either. And although java doesn't have a formal standard approved by a standardisation body, that doesn't mean that it doesn't have a formal standard (although it is subject to change, and probably not that formal for anyone who knows how to formally specify programming languages). You can read the formal standard yourself here.
As for the comment about programming in functional languages requires that you know how to think. Of course it does. But do you think that programming in other languages does not require that you know how to think?
As a current high school student, and one who will probably be taking AP compsci sometime in the next few years, I would just like to voice my concern.
Concern about what? Actually this sounds like good news. If I understand correctly, they used to use C++, which is a horrible language for teaching programming. Java is a lot cleaner and therefore more suitable.
Is Java really the language of the future?
Unless you've got a time-machine that's not possible to tell. But a good guess would be "yes", since it certainly is the language of the present.
Isn't C++ more widespread than java anyway?
Yes, and C is even more widespread than C++. And Cobol is even more widespread than C. There is absolutely no correspondence between quality and quantity. But asking for the more widespread language is relatively useless. There are room for more than one language in the world. And there certainly is room for both C, C++ and Java. And if you intend to be a professional programmer, you will probably have to learn all three.
Maybe they're trying to
standardize Java like C++...
Sun tried to, but then they realized it was too early and bailed out. So now Java is controlled by Sun only.
Isn't this a bad thing? Sun is still having trouble getting java running efficiently on their own specialized hardware...
What is a bad thing? I didn't know sun had specialized java hardware. But java runs very efficiently on normal x86's and sparc's, so you shouldn't worry too much about that.
All I have to say is, I'm not taking my stupid AP compsci class if I have to do it in java. Why... I get all jumpy after 2 cups of regular coffee. A year's worth
of java would turn me into a nervous wreck, in so many ways.;)
Well, it's your loss. I think java is one of the most suitable computer languages for basic educational purposes.
At first I thought you were merely misspelling Knuth, but since he uses assembly code for the fictionary computer MIX that can't be the case. MIXAL is not a nice language suitable for beginners, and it is not at all clear how to "extend to OO" any assembly language...
Well, how about a book on algorithms and datastructures, or one on patterns or one on graphics or one on signal processing or one on AI or one on operating systems or one on OO design or one on theory of computing or one on...
You shouldn't have problems with this unless you are not looking. Have you ever looked at amazon.com's catalog. There are quite a few books there you know.
Yes, but it is still being used in those markets where it was succesfull, so that doesn't change a single bit. Beta is not dead, neither has it died in the past.
Don't spend time making nice binaries if you don't want to. If you are happy hacking, by all means, go on. And there is absolutely no point in creating binaries unless you have a sizeable population of users. If they ask for it, ask one of those asking they could take care of it for you. Then make a link on your webpage to the happy user providing binaries.
Regarding screen shots. This has started to become silly. Every project should have a screen shot. Where's the screen shot for gcc? I'm sure it's coming soon. But there is a very good reason to provide them. At least they provide some visual cue to what the program is supposed to do, and what it's current status is. Many programmers seems to be to busy coding to just write down a few words about what the application is supposed to be doing. Instead they churn out Changelogs, with messages useless for a prospective user of the type: "Rewritten conl.c - Amiga compatibility", "Removed segfault in apli_susd() when receiving new susd's" and even posts them to the front page (as if someone were interested, if they wanted that information, they would probably get it from CVS). So, if you are too lazy to tell what the hell your program is supposed to do, then at least supply a screenshot!
Quite the opposite, I would say. The Beta never really took off. Therefore it has never died. However all those inventions mentioned in the article has completely dominated the world for some period of time.
If it weren't for the proprietary hardware, it would have Ruled The Earth.
Oh, please! If it weren't for the proprietary hardware there wouldn't be any Amiga at all. While the software was pretty innovative too, it was the hardware that made it a real killer.
Electric Trolley - I guess there are still some cities using them in Europe, but ok, mostly dead. Although I know of some experiments with battery powered trolley bus, so they might come back.
Pneumatic Post - Well, as even the article mentions, they are still in use a number of places. And quite practical too.
Amiga - well, just don't tell any Amiga owners, or they'll kill you.
Ribbon microphone - well, what do I know, I guess some people are using them. If they have that "warm" sound, I would be very surprised if there weren't audio people insisting on them all over the world.
WordStar - Well, until now, I thought it was dead, but the user group looks quite real. Not like your average PDP-11 user group.
Edison Vax Cylinder - Long dead.
Slide rule - Dead.
Reel Mower - It never occured to me that it was dead. We have a reel mower at my parents house and it works beautyfully. Never needed anything else.
Automatic watch - Perhaps not as common as digital watches, but certainly not dead.
Airship - Still used for fun by some people, and for adverticing purposes by others (and for both by some lucky few I guess).
Well, for your information, amazon.com uses pop-up ads. And I believe amazon.com is supposed to have their income from customers (although they haven't had any net income yet).
Slashdot is a bad comparison, because it's not intended for Joe Sixpack. And any other analogy would probably be just as flawed because there just isn't that much to compare common websites such as yahoo.com, msn.com, mp3.com, and schoolgirls.com with in real life. Museum? No. Exhibition? No. Magazine? No. TV? No. See...
You mean you are getting ads without even being surfing? That's more than just plain rude. That's evil!
However, it's not completely uncommon. The phenomenon is called adware, or since some also track your actions on your computer and sends it to the advertising agency it is also called spyware. There are a number of programs which will help you clean your computer from this mess.
Just do a single search on google for adware/spyware and removal and I'm sure you will get rid of it.
Imagine walking into a grocery shop. Upon arrival an ugly looking salesman dressed in tasteless clothin with strong colors approaches you, pushes his face about 3 inches away from your nose, breathes his bad breath on you and then screams: "BUY THREE SALADS THIS WEEKEND AND RECEIVE A FREE COUPON FOR ONE FREE TIRE AT AUTO-EQUIPMENT.
You push him away, but a small boy dressed in annoying colors grabs on to your shirt and holds on to you throughout the shop. Every time you pick a new item from the shelf and put in your basket, he starts jumping up and down in front of you and screams with an annoying pinchy voice: "POKEMON CARDS. GET NEW POKEMON CARDS!"
When you finally reach the cashier, the little boy is gone. You hand the cashier your groceries, and he sums up the total and ask you to pay. You show him your credit card, but he shakes his head, looks upon you with a stupid smile, and insists that you have to read the numbers up load for him. As you don't want everyone in the shop to hear this, you object, but he insists on it being perfectly safe.
As you leave the shop, the annoying salesman you saw on arrival violently grabs your arm, turns you around and screams (this time right into your left ear): "BE SURE TO VISIT OUR PARTNER SHOP TIE-HEAVEN. PLEASE VOTE FOR THIS SHOP AT THE MALL INFORMATION DESK. HAVE A GOOD DAY SIR!". After screaming this, he doesn't let go of your arm. He just stands there with a glassy look in his eyes completely silent. You carefully remove his grip by bending away his fingers.
There are two exits. One of them lead to the main hall, but it is just a small hole you have to crawl through beside the main exit. The other door which is big and wide leads directly to other "partner" shops. As most other customers there, you have no interest in this, so along with all the others, you choose to crawl on your knees through the little hole in the wall.
As you are about to drive out of the parking lot, each time you set your car in reverse, a guy jumps up on your car, and tapes a large poster to your front window. You don't even care looking at the poster, just get out and tears it off. This happens six times before you are finally able to drive out of there.
Thank God! And people wonder why dotcoms are failing...
Annoying pop-ups have been here for years. Anyone who has surfed for porn, warez or mp3's should be aware of that.
It usually doesn't make the websurfer too happy, and usually web-surfers go somewhere else unless there is no competition to speak of.
Even altavista has those annoying pop-ups now. That's one reason I've stopped using them.
I think advertisers should keep this in mind (and many do). Just because it is possible to annoy the user more doesn't necessarily mean it is going to bring more profits. If a site uses pop-ups, that usually causes me to go somewhere else. And I think a lot of surfers feel the same way.
There is a limit to how much annoyance a web-surfer is willing to tolerate, and when you cross that border, it is very difficult to get back. Because, when profits drop, what do you do? Advertise less? That means you will get even lower profits, because old users will not come running back now that they've found some other site. So you have little choice but to annoy the users even more, which in the end means you will go the way of so many other dotcoms has done before; straight down.
Yes, exactly... and they're not really "free" now, because they've lost their freedom to be enslaved.
Well, if anyone feel that they have lost their right to be enslaved, feel free to slave for me. I will be happy to enslave you all. In fact, now that I think of it, having a bunch of negroes (or white or whatever, I'm not racist) working for me with no pay, no rights whatsoever, and no obligation from me (I may have to feed you in order to keep you for more than a few weeks, however) sounds like a pretty good idea. Please, you have not lost your rights, I'll take you all.
Ahh, unlambda... Unlambda is undoubtably the most important innovation for the last 10 years in obfuscated programming languages. So wonderfully obscure, and yet based on some of the finest and most elegant concepts of traditional computer science. It makes my heart sing with joy!
According to their whitepaper, they have made a Universal Turing Machine in software, running on conventional microprocessors. They are then writing (what?) Turing machine programs for this Turing machine instead of writing normal assembly or C code. This can't be true. Anyone who has ever taken a course on Turing machines know that they are very impractical devices. Any non-trivial program (such as multiplication of two numbers) will take an inordinate amount of time, and if you want to use your multiplication routine in more than one place in your program, then you have to copy it verbatim. This usually leads to a combinatorial explotion in the size of Turing-machine programs. And that is certainly not a way of saving space.
Furthermore, Turing machines are extremely unpractical computing devices. They are not allowed to have any kind of I/O during computation. All input must reside on the tape at input, and any output must be written to tape before termination. I think such a view of computing would be one of the most useless things ever to use in embedded computing where side-effects is usually all that matters.
Now, there are ways around these limitation, such as using more than one tape which can often reduce a Turing machine design dramatically. But these reductions are usually only conceptually. If you take the time to write up all the state-transitions and so on in one large table as you eventually will have to, if you are to implement it in software, it doesn't really matter. There is also the concept of an Oracle Turing Machine, where you could have special states, and if the machine decided to enter one of those states, magic would happen, and the tape would suddenly be changed in accordance with the procedure associated with that state (e.g, a special state for multiplication of two 32-bit numbers). It could also be used as a way to fake polling I/O. But it still would be nowhere as convenient or practical as just doing normal assembly programming.
I'm not sure what they are trying to get us to believe here. Ok, they've made a small Java VM (only 5 times bigger than TinyVM). They do, however also claim to have revolutionized computing by reinventing the Turing Machine. Given the lack of technical details on exactly what this means, it's impossible to know whether it is correct. But, considering the alternative of a hoax, marketing madness, or some other unknown reason for them to mislead us, I find it hard to believe that it can be true.
I also thought Norway has rockets as I was reading how the Russians freaked and thought it was a U.S.A nuclear launch when Norway launched
something once.
I think most of them never go into orbit, but are launched to study atmospheric conditions in high altitude over polar areas (read: northern lights (aurora borealis)).
But if they really want to, they are probably capable of launching satellites as well. Note that there would be little reason for Norway to do this for military purposes, as we are just a puppet in the arms of NATO^H^H^H^HUSA when it comes to the military. You can read more about the launching facility at www.rocketrange.no.
Slashdot Mirror
Main Entry: easel
:-)
Pronunciation: 'E-z&l
Function: noun
Etymology: Dutch ezel, literally, ass, from Middle Dutch esel; akin to Old English esol ass; both from a prehistoric East Germanic-West Germanic word borrowed from Latin asinus ass
Date: 1596
: a frame for supporting something (as an artist's canvas)
It's good to know it's not just a play on "easy", don't you think
Yes of course, we don't want to encourage sloppiness among students. We want to make it as hard as possible, so they learn it right. They should all be programming in a really difficult programming language. How about Intercal? Befunge? Rube? Maelstroem? Dis? Unlambda? BrainF**k?
Java is actually quite nice for teaching basic programming. Get over it.
There is no such thing as a closed source language. A language specification can be open or proprietary. Sun's language specification is open (i.e anyone can read it). There do exist at least on closed source java implementation, but there does exist lots of closed source implementation of C too. Do you consider C a closed source language?
If they aren't going to be language agnostic and just accept pseudo-code (or straight C), I'd rather see a standard free language. For an AP exam, one of the functional languages would probably be a much better choice, because programming in those requires that you know how to think.
Most functional languages aren't standardized that much either. And although java doesn't have a formal standard approved by a standardisation body, that doesn't mean that it doesn't have a formal standard (although it is subject to change, and probably not that formal for anyone who knows how to formally specify programming languages). You can read the formal standard yourself here.
As for the comment about programming in functional languages requires that you know how to think. Of course it does. But do you think that programming in other languages does not require that you know how to think?
As a current high school student, and one who will probably be taking AP compsci sometime in the next few years, I would just like to voice my concern.
Concern about what? Actually this sounds like good news. If I understand correctly, they used to use C++, which is a horrible language for teaching programming. Java is a lot cleaner and therefore more suitable.
Is Java really the language of the future?
Unless you've got a time-machine that's not possible to tell. But a good guess would be "yes", since it certainly is the language of the present.
Isn't C++ more widespread than java anyway?
Yes, and C is even more widespread than C++. And Cobol is even more widespread than C. There is absolutely no correspondence between quality and quantity. But asking for the more widespread language is relatively useless. There are room for more than one language in the world. And there certainly is room for both C, C++ and Java. And if you intend to be a professional programmer, you will probably have to learn all three.
Maybe they're trying to standardize Java like C++... Sun tried to, but then they realized it was too early and bailed out. So now Java is controlled by Sun only.
Isn't this a bad thing? Sun is still having trouble getting java running efficiently on their own specialized hardware...
What is a bad thing? I didn't know sun had specialized java hardware. But java runs very efficiently on normal x86's and sparc's, so you shouldn't worry too much about that.
All I have to say is, I'm not taking my stupid AP compsci class if I have to do it in java. Why... I get all jumpy after 2 cups of regular coffee. A year's worth of java would turn me into a nervous wreck, in so many ways. ;)
Well, it's your loss. I think java is one of the most suitable computer languages for basic educational purposes.
BlueJ!
At first I thought you were merely misspelling Knuth, but since he uses assembly code for the fictionary computer MIX that can't be the case. MIXAL is not a nice language suitable for beginners, and it is not at all clear how to "extend to OO" any assembly language...
So who is Kanuth?
You shouldn't have problems with this unless you are not looking. Have you ever looked at amazon.com's catalog. There are quite a few books there you know.
Yes, but it is still being used in those markets where it was succesfull, so that doesn't change a single bit. Beta is not dead, neither has it died in the past.
Regarding screen shots. This has started to become silly. Every project should have a screen shot. Where's the screen shot for gcc? I'm sure it's coming soon. But there is a very good reason to provide them. At least they provide some visual cue to what the program is supposed to do, and what it's current status is. Many programmers seems to be to busy coding to just write down a few words about what the application is supposed to be doing. Instead they churn out Changelogs, with messages useless for a prospective user of the type: "Rewritten conl.c - Amiga compatibility", "Removed segfault in apli_susd() when receiving new susd's" and even posts them to the front page (as if someone were interested, if they wanted that information, they would probably get it from CVS). So, if you are too lazy to tell what the hell your program is supposed to do, then at least supply a screenshot!
Quite the opposite, I would say. The Beta never really took off. Therefore it has never died. However all those inventions mentioned in the article has completely dominated the world for some period of time.
Oh, please! If it weren't for the proprietary hardware there wouldn't be any Amiga at all. While the software was pretty innovative too, it was the hardware that made it a real killer.
Pneumatic Post - Well, as even the article mentions, they are still in use a number of places. And quite practical too.
Amiga - well, just don't tell any Amiga owners, or they'll kill you.
Ribbon microphone - well, what do I know, I guess some people are using them. If they have that "warm" sound, I would be very surprised if there weren't audio people insisting on them all over the world.
WordStar - Well, until now, I thought it was dead, but the user group looks quite real. Not like your average PDP-11 user group.
Edison Vax Cylinder - Long dead.
Slide rule - Dead.
Reel Mower - It never occured to me that it was dead. We have a reel mower at my parents house and it works beautyfully. Never needed anything else.
Automatic watch - Perhaps not as common as digital watches, but certainly not dead.
Airship - Still used for fun by some people, and for adverticing purposes by others (and for both by some lucky few I guess).
I've used a reel mower too, when I lived at home. Now, I just use a normal scissor. I guess my lawn is even smaller than yours.
Slashdot is a bad comparison, because it's not intended for Joe Sixpack. And any other analogy would probably be just as flawed because there just isn't that much to compare common websites such as yahoo.com, msn.com, mp3.com, and schoolgirls.com with in real life. Museum? No. Exhibition? No. Magazine? No. TV? No. See...
However, it's not completely uncommon. The phenomenon is called adware, or since some also track your actions on your computer and sends it to the advertising agency it is also called spyware. There are a number of programs which will help you clean your computer from this mess. Just do a single search on google for adware/spyware and removal and I'm sure you will get rid of it.
You push him away, but a small boy dressed in annoying colors grabs on to your shirt and holds on to you throughout the shop. Every time you pick a new item from the shelf and put in your basket, he starts jumping up and down in front of you and screams with an annoying pinchy voice: "POKEMON CARDS. GET NEW POKEMON CARDS!"
When you finally reach the cashier, the little boy is gone. You hand the cashier your groceries, and he sums up the total and ask you to pay. You show him your credit card, but he shakes his head, looks upon you with a stupid smile, and insists that you have to read the numbers up load for him. As you don't want everyone in the shop to hear this, you object, but he insists on it being perfectly safe.
As you leave the shop, the annoying salesman you saw on arrival violently grabs your arm, turns you around and screams (this time right into your left ear): "BE SURE TO VISIT OUR PARTNER SHOP TIE-HEAVEN. PLEASE VOTE FOR THIS SHOP AT THE MALL INFORMATION DESK. HAVE A GOOD DAY SIR!". After screaming this, he doesn't let go of your arm. He just stands there with a glassy look in his eyes completely silent. You carefully remove his grip by bending away his fingers.
There are two exits. One of them lead to the main hall, but it is just a small hole you have to crawl through beside the main exit. The other door which is big and wide leads directly to other "partner" shops. As most other customers there, you have no interest in this, so along with all the others, you choose to crawl on your knees through the little hole in the wall.
As you are about to drive out of the parking lot, each time you set your car in reverse, a guy jumps up on your car, and tapes a large poster to your front window. You don't even care looking at the poster, just get out and tears it off. This happens six times before you are finally able to drive out of there.
Thank God! And people wonder why dotcoms are failing...
It usually doesn't make the websurfer too happy, and usually web-surfers go somewhere else unless there is no competition to speak of.
Even altavista has those annoying pop-ups now. That's one reason I've stopped using them.
I think advertisers should keep this in mind (and many do). Just because it is possible to annoy the user more doesn't necessarily mean it is going to bring more profits. If a site uses pop-ups, that usually causes me to go somewhere else. And I think a lot of surfers feel the same way.
There is a limit to how much annoyance a web-surfer is willing to tolerate, and when you cross that border, it is very difficult to get back. Because, when profits drop, what do you do? Advertise less? That means you will get even lower profits, because old users will not come running back now that they've found some other site. So you have little choice but to annoy the users even more, which in the end means you will go the way of so many other dotcoms has done before; straight down.
Just my thoughts...
The program ssh2 is non-free. The protocol is not and is already implemented in openssh. Just use the command "ssh -2" if you are using openssh.
Well, if anyone feel that they have lost their right to be enslaved, feel free to slave for me. I will be happy to enslave you all. In fact, now that I think of it, having a bunch of negroes (or white or whatever, I'm not racist) working for me with no pay, no rights whatsoever, and no obligation from me (I may have to feed you in order to keep you for more than a few weeks, however) sounds like a pretty good idea. Please, you have not lost your rights, I'll take you all.
Ahh, unlambda... Unlambda is undoubtably the most important innovation for the last 10 years in obfuscated programming languages. So wonderfully obscure, and yet based on some of the finest and most elegant concepts of traditional computer science. It makes my heart sing with joy!
Thank you for clearing this up!
Furthermore, Turing machines are extremely unpractical computing devices. They are not allowed to have any kind of I/O during computation. All input must reside on the tape at input, and any output must be written to tape before termination. I think such a view of computing would be one of the most useless things ever to use in embedded computing where side-effects is usually all that matters.
Now, there are ways around these limitation, such as using more than one tape which can often reduce a Turing machine design dramatically. But these reductions are usually only conceptually. If you take the time to write up all the state-transitions and so on in one large table as you eventually will have to, if you are to implement it in software, it doesn't really matter. There is also the concept of an Oracle Turing Machine, where you could have special states, and if the machine decided to enter one of those states, magic would happen, and the tape would suddenly be changed in accordance with the procedure associated with that state (e.g, a special state for multiplication of two 32-bit numbers). It could also be used as a way to fake polling I/O. But it still would be nowhere as convenient or practical as just doing normal assembly programming.
I'm not sure what they are trying to get us to believe here. Ok, they've made a small Java VM (only 5 times bigger than TinyVM). They do, however also claim to have revolutionized computing by reinventing the Turing Machine. Given the lack of technical details on exactly what this means, it's impossible to know whether it is correct. But, considering the alternative of a hoax, marketing madness, or some other unknown reason for them to mislead us, I find it hard to believe that it can be true.
I think most of them never go into orbit, but are launched to study atmospheric conditions in high altitude over polar areas (read: northern lights (aurora borealis)).
But if they really want to, they are probably capable of launching satellites as well. Note that there would be little reason for Norway to do this for military purposes, as we are just a puppet in the arms of NATO^H^H^H^HUSA when it comes to the military. You can read more about the launching facility at www.rocketrange.no.
Speaking of silly comments, you've made one yourself as well.
Do you have a proof of this statement, or is it just your opinion?
It just so happens that no one has been able to prove factoring to be intractable yet. That doesn't mean that no such proof can exist.