> It's already there. You've committed a crime that can be used to blackmail you.
Smoking a joint in the US set you up for blackmail?
Or is that a case of "we *have* to fire people we discover have smoked a joint, because if someone else discover that they smoked a joint they would be vulnerable for blackmail, since they would be fired if it was discovered"?
(Such perfect circular logic used to be used for keeping homosexuals out of some jobs back in the dark age).
One would think that it was obvious that a scientist (or any other employee) who do a good job should keep his or her job, and someone who does a poor job should be fired. It is the responsibility of the management to determine who belong to each category. For small companies, where management is typically close to or equivalent with the owner, this is also how it works.
For large organizations, for some reason management is often afraid to fire people with the explanation that they do a poor job. They want some kind of objective criteria. This is why productivity in large organizations tend to suffer under all kinds of silly metrics, and why management there can think personality tests, drug testing, horoscopes, or polygraphs can be useful tools.
* garbage collection (although you can manage your own memory if you want)
Point granted, even though C and C++ arguably have optional garbage collection as well (if you link to the right library).
* OOP - by reference only, easy initialization, always virtual
Only value semantic? Meyer had to accept that value semantic was useful, and add it to Eiffel eventually, and C# added it over Java.
And no way to specify that a function will always be the one specific. Good luck doing any kind of reasoning there.
Bragging about missing features, that are essential to many tasks.
* cleaner template metaprogramming syntax, more powerful templates, as well
*More* powerful templates? The usual complaint is that C++ templates are too powerful (a Turing-equivalent compile time language).
* built-in dynamic and associative arrays, array slicing
Not exactly a recommendation that the core language apparently is so weak that these can't be put into libraries.
* versioning (no preprocessor madness)
I'm guessing he meant variants here, the preprocessor is often used for variants, rarely for versioning.
* link-compatibility with C
Which C and C++ of course lacks?
* nested functions
Point.
* class delegates / function pointers
Obviously both C and C++ have function pointers.
* module system
More preprecessor replacement here.
The C#/Java list:
* similar syntax
But totally different from C++?
* No virtual machine or interpreter
You can compile Java and C# to native code as well, so this is just another case of bragging about a missing feature.
* built-in unit testing and design-by-contract
I'm a C++ programmer, and this is by far the most interesting aspect of the D language (and of Eiffel before that). Don't know why it should be in the Java/C# list.
Linux is hobbyist OS, a server OS, and an embedded OS. The next natural step would be to make it a corporate desktop OS (which is quite ready for), and then the continuation as a casual home user desktop OS would follow naturally (cause dad want the same software at home as at work).
Linux is not yet ready as a small office, gadget lover or gamer OS, that would require more support from application and hardware producers. But this should come as soon as Linux win the corporate desktop. Which will happen when Microsoft screws up. And they will, sooner or later.
Spam is also the main problem I have with switching to gmail. My old filters (mostly a highly trained bogofilter) let perhaps one spam through on a bad day. GMails tend to let 10 spams through.
> Might as well complain that the last EA game I bought came with a flyer advertising other games, > but *gasp*, they were ALL EA GAMES! Actually, no, that's worse. Quite a bit worse.
And you believe that, because EA's business depend on people trusting that their flyers are unbiased?
Well, more people were able to "torture" something they knew was a computer character, than something they thought was a real person. Conclude what you want from this.
The main target audience of the first Harry Potter books were kids just a few years younger than the average/. reader. That breeds resentment, and a need to distance themselves from the subject matter.
Most people I knew who read the books are old enough not to have to worry about being taken for kids (they have kids of their own), and they all love the books (especially the start of the series).
Reading the US constitution is interesting, the most obvious thing is that the federal government has far more power than the constitution grants it. It is really the job of the supreme court, not congress, to correct that error.
The Polio vaccine was not invented by the (patent-powered) medical industry, but by a doctor on a childrens hospital. The HIV drugs are from the medical industry, and something you have to take for the rest of your life.
Mother Nature constantly tries small changes in the blueprints of life, and some of these results in life that is more fit to the environment.
This is microoptimization, and if you keep it up long enough you will reach a local optimum (or would, if the environment didn't constantly change). But there is no guarantee this will also be a global optimum.
Thus, the "if it could have been improved, it would already have been done" mantra is as wrong in Nature, as it is wrong (and damaging) in man made systems.
> The problem with this is that there is not enough OSS hackers to be found that have the skill to > do the work.
Being an "OSS hacker" is not something that is encoded into your genes. Very few programmers would refuse a good salary just because they are asked to work on free software.
> On top of that, I would think that it would be safe to say that it would be MORE expensive to > hire a hacker to write and maintain the code than the cost of the software produced from > "insert monopolistic empire name here".
This is where the GPL comes in, it ensures that multiple commercial entities can work on the same project and share the improvements, so you only have to pay a fraction of the total development cost. Same with a proprietary program, except that you won't have to pay their shareholders.
Of course you can still leach on the work made by the others, but then you won't have an influence on the direction of the project.
How about a MMORPG that, as an option from the character creation screen, allowed users to create a max-level avatars with any items and stats that are possible to achieve in the game?
Then the only players who would go through the low level content would be those who thought it was fun to build a character by playing the game.
A free Ryzom would make it easier to try out new concepts like that.
The original company should pay both for the running cost, and interest on the development cost in order to be viable. The development cost for a MMORPG of the class of Ryzom is huge.
With the new company, all the dept is gone, so only the running cost has to be financed. The original investors have lost their money (almost all of it, apart from some fraction of the 200000 Euro), but to continue running the game may be viable for the new company.
Isn't it just to enter your domain (IP) in a form, and press "submit for testing"?
I vaguely remember doing that once, after my ISP refused to accept my outgoing mail, because they had assigned me an IP that had previously been used for an open relay.
So your point is that it require more than just basic education to realize that cost is rarely linear? Providing 100% of the power in Denmark would be much more than 5 times as expensive than providing 20%. Does that concept really require a higher level of education to understand?
Anyway, EU could probably get its entire energy supply covered cheaply by buying gas from Russia. Somebody whose level of intellect is on pair with a 1D linear program might think that would be a good idea.
The 200k Euro will be initial funding for a new company to develop, run and maintain the game. Not just to free the software and arts (the software is actually already free). They will start with the current user base.
The French bankruptcy law is different from American, a judge is deciding for which plan for the company is going to win, and he will take into consideration such issues as keeping French jobs. Not just paying the debt.
Most of the player base is French, and seems to be large enough to keep the game going. The company went bankrupt due to some bad business decisions.
In Denmark around 20% of our power come from wind, expected to grow to 25%. That is probably the maximum, as you need power when the wind isn't blowing as well. Wind power is not the answer, or an answer, but can be a significant part of answer.
I wonder why so many people (in particular Americans for some reason) feel that such a complex issue as energy supply need a single source as an answer. Some even dismiss all discussion of conservation with the "argument" that you can't totally eliminate the need of energy that way. Even though just going to EU/Japan level of conservation would eliminate 50% of the energy consumption. Maybe it is because people have been brought up in a world where only answers that can be expressed as sound bites are considered relevant by the media.
Slashdot Mirror
The anecdotes were edited from taped conversations Feynman had with his close friend and drumming partner, Ralph Leighton. (Wikipedia).
This is great! Now we can go back to feeding the cows a healthy diet of dead sheep, which was how the whole "mad cow" thing started.
> It's already there. You've committed a crime that can be used to blackmail you.
Smoking a joint in the US set you up for blackmail?
Or is that a case of "we *have* to fire people we discover have smoked a joint, because if someone else discover that they smoked a joint they would be vulnerable for blackmail, since they would be fired if it was discovered"?
(Such perfect circular logic used to be used for keeping homosexuals out of some jobs back in the dark age).
His unauthorized tests of the security system (safe-cracking, letters to his wife) would have landed him in jail today.
I don't believe he his written any books about his youth. A non-scientist friend of his wrote
- Surely you are joking, mister Feynmann
- What do you care what other people think
based on conversation with Feynmann, those two books were very popular in college.
One would think that it was obvious that a scientist (or any other employee) who do a good job should keep his or her job, and someone who does a poor job should be fired. It is the responsibility of the management to determine who belong to each category. For small companies, where management is typically close to or equivalent with the owner, this is also how it works.
For large organizations, for some reason management is often afraid to fire people with the explanation that they do a poor job. They want some kind of objective criteria. This is why productivity in large organizations tend to suffer under all kinds of silly metrics, and why management there can think personality tests, drug testing, horoscopes, or polygraphs can be useful tools.
From the compared to C/C++ list:
* native code speed
As opposed to C/C++.
* extremely fast compilation times
Point granted (compared with most C++ compilers).
* garbage collection (although you can manage your own memory if you want)
Point granted, even though C and C++ arguably have optional garbage collection as well (if you link to the right library).
* OOP - by reference only, easy initialization, always virtual
Only value semantic? Meyer had to accept that value semantic was useful, and add it to Eiffel eventually, and C# added it over Java.
And no way to specify that a function will always be the one specific. Good luck doing any kind of reasoning there.
Bragging about missing features, that are essential to many tasks.
* cleaner template metaprogramming syntax, more powerful templates, as well
*More* powerful templates? The usual complaint is that C++ templates are too powerful (a Turing-equivalent compile time language).
* built-in dynamic and associative arrays, array slicing
Not exactly a recommendation that the core language apparently is so weak that these can't be put into libraries.
* versioning (no preprocessor madness)
I'm guessing he meant variants here, the preprocessor is often used for variants, rarely for versioning.
* link-compatibility with C
Which C and C++ of course lacks?
* nested functions
Point.
* class delegates / function pointers
Obviously both C and C++ have function pointers.
* module system
More preprecessor replacement here.
The C#/Java list:
* similar syntax
But totally different from C++?
* No virtual machine or interpreter
You can compile Java and C# to native code as well, so this is just another case of bragging about a missing feature.
* built-in unit testing and design-by-contract
I'm a C++ programmer, and this is by far the most interesting aspect of the D language (and of Eiffel before that). Don't know why it should be in the Java/C# list.
Linux is hobbyist OS, a server OS, and an embedded OS. The next natural step would be to make it a corporate desktop OS (which is quite ready for), and then the continuation as a casual home user desktop OS would follow naturally (cause dad want the same software at home as at work).
Linux is not yet ready as a small office, gadget lover or gamer OS, that would require more support from application and hardware producers. But this should come as soon as Linux win the corporate desktop. Which will happen when Microsoft screws up. And they will, sooner or later.
Spam is also the main problem I have with switching to gmail. My old filters (mostly a highly trained bogofilter) let perhaps one spam through on a bad day. GMails tend to let 10 spams through.
You ever seen a transmission from the British Parliament?
/..
The comparison does a great disservice to
> Might as well complain that the last EA game I bought came with a flyer advertising other games,
> but *gasp*, they were ALL EA GAMES! Actually, no, that's worse. Quite a bit worse.
And you believe that, because EA's business depend on people trusting that their flyers are unbiased?
Well, more people were able to "torture" something they knew was a computer character, than something they thought was a real person. Conclude what you want from this.
The main target audience of the first Harry Potter books were kids just a few years younger than the average /. reader. That breeds resentment, and a need to distance themselves from the subject matter.
Most people I knew who read the books are old enough not to have to worry about being taken for kids (they have kids of their own), and they all love the books (especially the start of the series).
Reading the US constitution is interesting, the most obvious thing is that the federal government has far more power than the constitution grants it. It is really the job of the supreme court, not congress, to correct that error.
The Polio vaccine was not invented by the (patent-powered) medical industry, but by a doctor on a childrens hospital. The HIV drugs are from the medical industry, and something you have to take for the rest of your life.
Mother Nature constantly tries small changes in the blueprints of life, and some of these results in life that is more fit to the environment.
This is microoptimization, and if you keep it up long enough you will reach a local optimum (or would, if the environment didn't constantly change). But there is no guarantee this will also be a global optimum.
Thus, the "if it could have been improved, it would already have been done" mantra is as wrong in Nature, as it is wrong (and damaging) in man made systems.
According to this EU sponsored report", more than half the free software developers make money on their free software work one way or another.
> The problem with this is that there is not enough OSS hackers to be found that have the skill to
> do the work.
Being an "OSS hacker" is not something that is encoded into your genes. Very few programmers would refuse a good salary just because they are asked to work on free software.
> On top of that, I would think that it would be safe to say that it would be MORE expensive to
> hire a hacker to write and maintain the code than the cost of the software produced from
> "insert monopolistic empire name here".
This is where the GPL comes in, it ensures that multiple commercial entities can work on the same project and share the improvements, so you only have to pay a fraction of the total development cost. Same with a proprietary program, except that you won't have to pay their shareholders.
Of course you can still leach on the work made by the others, but then you won't have an influence on the direction of the project.
I could read mail on my ISP mail account (pop3), but I could not use them as my mail relay (smtp).
How about a MMORPG that, as an option from the character creation screen, allowed users to create a max-level avatars with any items and stats that are possible to achieve in the game?
Then the only players who would go through the low level content would be those who thought it was fun to build a character by playing the game.
A free Ryzom would make it easier to try out new concepts like that.
The original company should pay both for the running cost, and interest on the development cost in order to be viable. The development cost for a MMORPG of the class of Ryzom is huge.
With the new company, all the dept is gone, so only the running cost has to be financed. The original investors have lost their money (almost all of it, apart from some fraction of the 200000 Euro), but to continue running the game may be viable for the new company.
Isn't it just to enter your domain (IP) in a form, and press "submit for testing"?
I vaguely remember doing that once, after my ISP refused to accept my outgoing mail, because they had assigned me an IP that had previously been used for an open relay.
So your point is that it require more than just basic education to realize that cost is rarely linear? Providing 100% of the power in Denmark would be much more than 5 times as expensive than providing 20%. Does that concept really require a higher level of education to understand?
Anyway, EU could probably get its entire energy supply covered cheaply by buying gas from Russia. Somebody whose level of intellect is on pair with a 1D linear program might think that would be a good idea.
They could enjoy life playing Ryzom...
The 200k Euro will be initial funding for a new company to develop, run and maintain the game. Not just to free the software and arts (the software is actually already free). They will start with the current user base.
The French bankruptcy law is different from American, a judge is deciding for which plan for the company is going to win, and he will take into consideration such issues as keeping French jobs. Not just paying the debt.
Most of the player base is French, and seems to be large enough to keep the game going. The company went bankrupt due to some bad business decisions.
In Denmark around 20% of our power come from wind, expected to grow to 25%. That is probably the maximum, as you need power when the wind isn't blowing as well. Wind power is not the answer, or an answer, but can be a significant part of answer.
I wonder why so many people (in particular Americans for some reason) feel that such a complex issue as energy supply need a single source as an answer. Some even dismiss all discussion of conservation with the "argument" that you can't totally eliminate the need of energy that way. Even though just going to EU/Japan level of conservation would eliminate 50% of the energy consumption. Maybe it is because people have been brought up in a world where only answers that can be expressed as sound bites are considered relevant by the media.