You're assuming that the system will be used to give the most frustrated callers priority. If you can quantify their anger quotient, you can route their call differently depending on how angry they are. EG: If you're very calm, you go through the normal call routing. If you're moderately angry, you get a slightly higher priority. But if you're *really* pissed, you get disconnected with a message "Our system has detected that you are very angry. Please call back after you've calmed down some."
The original Star Wars was made before the PG-13 rating was created. In order to maximize toy sales, George wants the Star Wars universe to be solidly PG,
If you recall, the PG-13 rating was actually created in response to that other classic Lucas series. Early on, people often referred to PG-13 as "The Indiana Jones Rating". There was a big push to create a new rating between PG and R because many people were upset over the fact that Raiders of the Lost Ark really pushed the edges of PG.
they still don't need the real data in order to develop code
Mostly, that's true. However, sometimes you absolutely must use production data to debug or reproduce an elusive problem. For example: these 5 people's records are munged and we can't seem to reproduce the problem. Figure out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again. Or: the system crashes when we run this process on dataset A but not on dataset B. Find out what's making it crash and fix it.
You could easily have a 250% increase in record count without adding any new information simply by normalizing or partitioning a couple of tables. Unless you have the schema sitting in front of you, total record count is almost totally meaningless as a way of describing how much real information is in a database.
I've always done this, and never had a lawyer. Simply cross out the offending clauses, initial them, and have the HR director initial & sign the changes. If you are just striking clauses and not adding anything, there's little need for a lawyer.
If you're going to start adding new clauses, then it might be worth hiring a lawyer, depending on how closely related your outside projects are to your employer's line of business and how valuable you think your creations might be. You really only need to hire a lawyer once to construct your I-own-anything-I-create-outside-of-work clause, and plug it in wherever it's needed. As the parent said, if they aren't willing to agree to this, then that should be a huge red flag telling you RUN for the nearest exit.
Depends on the dialect of BASIC. IIRC, one of the really archaic versions of BASIC I used back in the mesolithic used didn't have a THEN... it was just IF (condition) Linenumber.
My point was that VB sucks far less as a tool for teaching programming concepts than languages like C, Perl, Java, or JavaScript. VB is far from perfect but there are few languages that are both as widespread and as beginner-friendly as VB.
I call bullshit. Who's fault is it that it's easy to write viruses:
People who teach kids to program
Programmers who write insecure software that's prone to viral infection
Megacorporations that sell software that is inherently insecure because of intentional design choices
Parents who don't teach their children to respect the rights of other people
Blaming viruses on people who teach programming is like blaming grafitti on people who teach art.
Blaming viruses on the people who write the tools is like blaming grafitti on the people who make spray paint.
Blaming viruses on the people who make & sell insecure software is like blaming grafitti on the people who make & sell buildings that aren't grafitti-proof.
Learning how to program and releasing a virus are very different things, just as learning marksmanship and shooting people at random are very different things. Put the blame where it belongs: on people and not the technology.
Any task that requires on-site physical presence can't be outsourced to Elbonia. Any physical trade which requires real skill and/or craftsmanship is pretty safe. You expect the CEO to fix a leaky pipe or install a new circuit breaker panel? Do you expect the CEO to do the custom woodworking for his executive washroom himself? Do you think the CEO is going to diagnose and resolve a network outage at 3AM?
There's a big difference between teaching someone how to write VB programs, and using VB as a tool to teach someone general programming concepts.
If you're using VB as an instructional tool, you don't have to teach the student drag-and-drop programming; you teach them the features you want them to learn. VB programs do not have to have to use forms, you know.
There are few languages worse than old-school BASIC for teaching programming. For example, in many primitive dialects your only control structures were GOTO, GOSUB, IF (with no ELSE!) and FOR / NEXT. It taught a lot of bad habits which had to be unlearned, and left you clueless about constructs like CASE statements, WHILE loops and user-defined functions. However, most programmers who got started in the late 70's and early 80's learned BASIC as their first language. Most of them who went on to program professionally were able to overcome this early handicap:-)
VB is actually a non-sucky choice as a teaching language. It's pretty beginner-friendly, has practical applicability, and (in the form of VBA) is already available on most computers. Most importantly, you can use the same language to teach both procedural and object-oriented concepts, something that you can't do in Java. VB/VBA is far from perfect but there are far worse languages to chose as a teaching tool.
Chosing the first language to teach a fledgling programmer is pretty difficult. The ideal language has lots of different qualities:
It has to be easy to learn and use. In order to build the novice's confidence, it should encourage early successes. It should be easy to debug.
The tools have to be accessable to the student. Ideally, you want to use a language which is already installed on their computer, or at worse be a free download which will run on all major platforms.
It has to be practical. If the student can't use it to do something which is useful TO THEM fairly early on in the learning process, they probably won't stick with it.
It has to provide a good foundation for future learning. This means that it should support all the standard code constructs and have a syntax similar to other more advanced languages. It also means that it shouldn't teach them any bad habits they'll have to unlearn later.
I'm sure there are other qualities, but this is a pretty good starting list. On the basis of this simple list we can eliminate a lot of potential candidates as first language.
I'd disagree with on the key point: it's not good enough: it's either too good or not good enough.
Everything that can be done with MySQL can be done better using something else. If you need a real multiuser ACID-compliant relational database, MySQL doesn't cut it. If you need a lightweight high-performance data store, MySQL is overkill. All MySQL is good for is teaching people bad habits.
Well, sporks might be OK as long as there are background checks and waiting periods before you can buy one. Oh and to prevent "straw man" purchases, you can only buy one spork a month. It's the only way our children will be safe.
The most credible studies done in this area have been conducted post-mortem. Everyone dies, and when you're on the coroner's slab it's not likely that you're going to object to a quick measurement.
And those pieces of metal could be sharpened and used as weapons for criminal and terrorist acts! We must have strict metal control laws. Clearly we won't be safe until the general public is forbidden to own any weapon technology more dangerous than a plastic spork.
The message "There are no plans to reduce staff following the merger" is a meaningful piece of information. You just need to know how to translate it from managereese into English.
In most cases, the proper translation is "We haven't made plans to lay anyone off yet because upper managment is still fighting it out. Once we figure out who won the power struggle, anyone hired by the losing side gets the axe." The other possible intrepretation is "We're so incompetent that we can't even figure out what redundant positions exist in the two organizations. Once we grow a clue we might be able to make some plans, if we can find someone with enough balls to actually make a decision."
A little fascism, communism, capitalism, racism, etc all exist everywhere, so stop going nuts when something resembles one in some way.
On the contrary, it is the duty of all free people to cry foul when their government starts pulling fascist stunts like this. Every evil, great or small, must be opposed; otherwise, people become accustomed to the incremental degredation of their freedom.
Remember the adage about boiling a frog: if you want to boil a frog, don't dump it in a pot of boiling water -- it will jump right out. Put it in a pot of cold water and gradually turn up the heat so he doesn't notice that it's being cooked until it's too late.
It's a private entity given the right to force their way into your home because you MIGHT have something that belongs to them
Someone trying this stunt in Texas would find that they owned a nice set of lead pellets, which were returned to them at high velocity. Unfortunatly for them, the Aussies let themselves be talked into surrendering their right to keep and bear arms, so now they have no choice but to roll over and take it.
Firearms in the hands of private citizens are the final line of defence against out of control government. Stock up while you still can.
Me first. Company second. Anyone who believes otherwise is delusional.
More or less exactly what I told my ex-boss in my exit interview. He was using the tight job market to force the developers to work 60+ hour weeks for below-average salaries (which had been frozen for two years) for the good of the company (of which he was part owner). That would have been fine IF there was some profit-sharing plan ON PAPER, not just some nebulous promise that maybe sometime in the future there might be some bonuses if the partners felt like it.
If you have a comp engineering degree, you have a whole lot of an advantage over someone with just a Comp Sci or MIS degree. Recent CompE grads are taking the lower-end programming jobs that would previously have gone to people with CS degrees, forcing the CS majors into whatever job they can find. It's a tough time to be a code slinger.
you do not need to go get overhyped Sun hardware when standard PC hardware will work just fine
I'll still maintain that refurbished datacenter grade hardware is a better investment than new desktop grade hardware for a server, especially when you can pick it up for 2 or 3 cents on the dollar.
Comparing a real server to a desktop PC is like comparing a truck to a sports car: they both may both have the similar gross statistics (EG same engine displacement and horsepower, have 4 wheels, same cost, etc), but they're built to do very different jobs. Just because a Corvette has more horsepower than a Suburban, that doesn't make it a better choice for towing than a Suburban. Sure, you can get away with using a Vette to tow a trailer, but the Suburban will do that job better in the long run.
To generalize, desktop hardware is optimized for a small number of CPU-bound tasks, while server hardware is optimized for large numbers of predominantly IO-bound tasks. Just because you *can* run Email, DNS, and Squid on a desktop grade box, doesn't mean that it's *better* than a machine that's been specifically engineered to excel at that kind of task. Likewise, while you could use a datacenter server to play Quake, it's not going to do it as well as a desktop box would. Understand what the hardware is designed to do, and use it appropriately.
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You're assuming that the system will be used to give the most frustrated callers priority. If you can quantify their anger quotient, you can route their call differently depending on how angry they are. EG: If you're very calm, you go through the normal call routing. If you're moderately angry, you get a slightly higher priority. But if you're *really* pissed, you get disconnected with a message "Our system has detected that you are very angry. Please call back after you've calmed down some."
The original Star Wars was made before the PG-13 rating was created. In order to maximize toy sales, George wants the Star Wars universe to be solidly PG, If you recall, the PG-13 rating was actually created in response to that other classic Lucas series. Early on, people often referred to PG-13 as "The Indiana Jones Rating". There was a big push to create a new rating between PG and R because many people were upset over the fact that Raiders of the Lost Ark really pushed the edges of PG.
You could easily have a 250% increase in record count without adding any new information simply by normalizing or partitioning a couple of tables. Unless you have the schema sitting in front of you, total record count is almost totally meaningless as a way of describing how much real information is in a database.
If you're going to start adding new clauses, then it might be worth hiring a lawyer, depending on how closely related your outside projects are to your employer's line of business and how valuable you think your creations might be. You really only need to hire a lawyer once to construct your I-own-anything-I-create-outside-of-work clause, and plug it in wherever it's needed. As the parent said, if they aren't willing to agree to this, then that should be a huge red flag telling you RUN for the nearest exit.
Depends on the dialect of BASIC. IIRC, one of the really archaic versions of BASIC I used back in the mesolithic used didn't have a THEN... it was just IF (condition) Linenumber.
- People who teach kids to program
- Programmers who write insecure software that's prone to viral infection
- Megacorporations that sell software that is inherently insecure because of intentional design choices
- Parents who don't teach their children to respect the rights of other people
Blaming viruses on people who teach programming is like blaming grafitti on people who teach art.Blaming viruses on the people who write the tools is like blaming grafitti on the people who make spray paint.
Blaming viruses on the people who make & sell insecure software is like blaming grafitti on the people who make & sell buildings that aren't grafitti-proof.
Learning how to program and releasing a virus are very different things, just as learning marksmanship and shooting people at random are very different things. Put the blame where it belongs: on people and not the technology.
If you're using VB as an instructional tool, you don't have to teach the student drag-and-drop programming; you teach them the features you want them to learn. VB programs do not have to have to use forms, you know.
VB is actually a non-sucky choice as a teaching language. It's pretty beginner-friendly, has practical applicability, and (in the form of VBA) is already available on most computers. Most importantly, you can use the same language to teach both procedural and object-oriented concepts, something that you can't do in Java. VB/VBA is far from perfect but there are far worse languages to chose as a teaching tool.
- It has to be easy to learn and use. In order to build the novice's confidence, it should encourage early successes. It should be easy to debug.
- The tools have to be accessable to the student. Ideally, you want to use a language which is already installed on their computer, or at worse be a free download which will run on all major platforms.
- It has to be practical. If the student can't use it to do something which is useful TO THEM fairly early on in the learning process, they probably won't stick with it.
- It has to provide a good foundation for future learning. This means that it should support all the standard code constructs and have a syntax similar to other more advanced languages. It also means that it shouldn't teach them any bad habits they'll have to unlearn later.
I'm sure there are other qualities, but this is a pretty good starting list. On the basis of this simple list we can eliminate a lot of potential candidates as first language.Everything that can be done with MySQL can be done better using something else. If you need a real multiuser ACID-compliant relational database, MySQL doesn't cut it. If you need a lightweight high-performance data store, MySQL is overkill. All MySQL is good for is teaching people bad habits.
I thought that's why you put notches on the headboard of your bed.
Well, sporks might be OK as long as there are background checks and waiting periods before you can buy one. Oh and to prevent "straw man" purchases, you can only buy one spork a month. It's the only way our children will be safe.
The most credible studies done in this area have been conducted post-mortem. Everyone dies, and when you're on the coroner's slab it's not likely that you're going to object to a quick measurement.
And those pieces of metal could be sharpened and used as weapons for criminal and terrorist acts! We must have strict metal control laws. Clearly we won't be safe until the general public is forbidden to own any weapon technology more dangerous than a plastic spork.
In most cases, the proper translation is "We haven't made plans to lay anyone off yet because upper managment is still fighting it out. Once we figure out who won the power struggle, anyone hired by the losing side gets the axe." The other possible intrepretation is "We're so incompetent that we can't even figure out what redundant positions exist in the two organizations. Once we grow a clue we might be able to make some plans, if we can find someone with enough balls to actually make a decision."
Remember the adage about boiling a frog: if you want to boil a frog, don't dump it in a pot of boiling water -- it will jump right out. Put it in a pot of cold water and gradually turn up the heat so he doesn't notice that it's being cooked until it's too late.
Firearms in the hands of private citizens are the final line of defence against out of control government. Stock up while you still can.
Comparing a real server to a desktop PC is like comparing a truck to a sports car: they both may both have the similar gross statistics (EG same engine displacement and horsepower, have 4 wheels, same cost, etc), but they're built to do very different jobs. Just because a Corvette has more horsepower than a Suburban, that doesn't make it a better choice for towing than a Suburban. Sure, you can get away with using a Vette to tow a trailer, but the Suburban will do that job better in the long run.
To generalize, desktop hardware is optimized for a small number of CPU-bound tasks, while server hardware is optimized for large numbers of predominantly IO-bound tasks. Just because you *can* run Email, DNS, and Squid on a desktop grade box, doesn't mean that it's *better* than a machine that's been specifically engineered to excel at that kind of task. Likewise, while you could use a datacenter server to play Quake, it's not going to do it as well as a desktop box would. Understand what the hardware is designed to do, and use it appropriately.