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User: ashultz

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  1. Re:No worse than OS X on Programs Cannot Be Uninstalled In Vista? · · Score: 1

    You're so correct: two wrongs do make a right!

  2. Why is rumble a feature and not a bug? on SIXAXIS Rumble Version Strongly Suggested · · Score: 1

    Because nothing makes a fight game realistic like a vibrator in your hand.

    Oh well, back to rumble=off being the first thing I do with any new game.

  3. Re:Unfortunately I'm a Java developer... on Celebrate the XML Decade · · Score: 1

    That gets my goat too.

    Nothing makes a set of code harder to deal with than taking half of it and writing it in a variety of XML config files and then scattering them throughout the distribution. That way you ensure that anyone doing something foolish like trying to understand it through javadoc or use their IDE to learn it gets nowhere.

    I'm going to go cry now.

  4. 4 semesters of C++? on Software Dev Cycle As Part of CS Curriculum? · · Score: 1

    Yes, because no one learned to program before there was C++. And certainly every language guy I know loves it like their own mother.

  5. Re:Service Oriented Architecture on No More Coding From Scratch? · · Score: 1

    Because everyone loves services. There's nothing you wouldn't send out to a random web service - decryption, intensive renders, GUI interaction, file access, event monitoring...

    And the guys in accounting will be thrilled to find out you're crushing their currency exchange web service by converting the prices of the entire stock market once every ten seconds. Thrilled! They'll probably publish all their web services so you can do the same thing to all of them.

  6. Re:Completely Agree on PS3's Lack of Rumble May Disappoint · · Score: 1

    ...because your hand going numb is a desirable thing in a game, and not at all suggestive of doing your nerves permanent damage.

  7. Re:Be thankful that Bush was elected on State of Ohio Establishes "Pre-Crime" Registry · · Score: 1


    I can barely contain myself for the laughing.

  8. Re:Free Wi-Fi Equals Cencorship.... on Non-Profit to Run Boston Wi-Fi? · · Score: 1


    Well, good thing that we have corporations, who provide us internet access with no controls whatsoever and would never, ever, restrict what we do with it.

  9. Re:The great whopper fiasco on Great Hacks and Pranks Of Our Time · · Score: 1


    Well, if it were a prank, it would be surprising, but taking a whole lot of freely available papers isn't much of a prank.

  10. Re:Java? on Best Language for Beginner Programmers? · · Score: 1


    That's pretty funny, and I think Python might in fact be a better starter language...

    But if they don't like using various wierd punctuation, you should just slap their face and tell them to get another line of work as soon as possible. Being daunted by braces (ampersands, at signs, periods, brackets, or all of them at once) is not a good sign for a productive programming career.

  11. Re:Why I comment code... on Successful Strategies for Commenting Your Code · · Score: 1


    Two years down the line? I comment code so I remember it two DAYS down the line.

    I've lost my train of thought.

  12. Re:Even more annoying... on Comments are More Important than Code · · Score: 1

    Um, since about .2 seconds before I needed somewhere behind which code smugglers would hang out.

  13. Re:Even more annoying... on Comments are More Important than Code · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can't tell if this is a real comment or a joke.

    gg=G to indent C code? The only way to learn a command like that is to have it whispered to you in the alley behind the Bang and Bracket pub at midnight by a Romanian Documentation Smuggler.

  14. Re:Those who forget Tony Hoare... on Optimizations - Programmer vs. Compiler? · · Score: 1

    Well, eventually everyone will have the same personal experience and come around to your side. No need to work too hard in optimizing their attitudes prematurely... eventually you can just profile them and see who the holdouts are, and take away their keyboards.

  15. Re:Getters/setters bad? on Holub on Patterns · · Score: 1


    Well, there is no difference in functionality in this version, but when I later want to change it so that m_value is actually MValueService.getWidgetCount() in the simpler version I can't unless I control every single class that uses this class and accesses the variable I now want to hide.

    Plan for the future, and don't expose instance variables except in private inner classes and other very limited use containers.

  16. Re:Thoughts of Python... on Dive Into Python · · Score: 1


    Well, the indentation is always meaningful.

    I mean, almost anywhere I put the close bracket on my if statement is syntactically correct. It's just that most of them result in code that doesn't actually do what I want.

  17. Re:Thoughts of Python... on Dive Into Python · · Score: 1


    Huh. Interesting to know. It's one of those things that seems very scary, and all the various posts about how you can use various indent commands are like saying that you can always move your foot when you point the gun at the ground, not actually helpful. It's good to here from someone who had The Whitespace Fear and now just doesn't care.

    Python will have to go next on the list.

  18. Re:Thoughts of Python... on Dive Into Python · · Score: 3, Interesting


    I tend to use emacs, which can handle indenting in any of twenty different ways, but anyway...

    My conceptual problem is that when I cut and paste a block of code to a new place, there is no acceptible default indent level - I might want to end the previous block and start a new one, or I might want to stick this under the if, or maybe it should go outside it, and there's no way for the editor to automatically know and do the right thing. I often in emacs select the whole file and tell it to correct the identation... which is impossible in python?

  19. Re:Thoughts of Python... on Dive Into Python · · Score: 1


    Interesting to hear this, because that is exactly my reaction to python.

    "Wow, sounds interesting but when you cut and paste chunks of don't you run the risk of shooting a hole in your foot and then somehow choking to death on the fountain of blood?"

    I'd be interested to know whether you still dislike the significant whitespace, or have somehow come to like it. And if so, why?

  20. A trusted name in searching.. trusted to be slow. on Microsoft Challenges Google · · Score: 1

    Since cygwin grep is nearly always faster when looking for something in documents on my windows machine, why in the world would I ever think microsoft knows how to search anything?

    Trivial search tasks take forever with windows find for no discernable reason.

  21. free advertising on Democratic Convention Computer Security Threat? · · Score: 1


    I hope Hiawatha and the Globe paid for the primo advertising spot.

    This is even a self-admitted attempt to get more traffic to his own article, which is an article he wrote for pay for a news organization that wants more page traffic. Never mind that he gets paid depending on how many people have heard of him.

    So, how much does it cost to buy a slashdot story? Is there a discount for frequent buyers?

  22. Re:The best tool for WHAT job? on Two Takes on the Java Dilemma · · Score: 1


    Quick answer based on projects I've worked on:

    genetic algorithm scheduler

    innovative and damn complicated multithreaded storage runtime

    complicated database backed web thingie

    xml security gateway

    Really anything where the complexity was very high and benefitted from a lot of organization. All of these projects could have been done in C or C++ or another serious dev language, but they weren't, they worked fine, and using Java allows the company to develop much faster and with more confidence.

    Speed was definitely an issue for some of these, but not something that Java couldn't do fine.

    Any job a sane person would consider perl for probably doesn't benefit from Java... it takes a lot of code before it pays for itself. But then it does, and pays off big.

  23. Maybe when AI is done on Opera Promises Voice-Operated Web Browser · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The only reason that voice is a good interface to other humans is that humans are very very good at filling in the missing pieces, making inferences, and generally making up for things that are unheard, misheard, or unsaid. And even so we have misunderstandings.

    Once we have a computer that can do this, we'll have great interfaces - it will be like robo-butler. But we're not there yet, and robo-idiot-child - "I thought you said Quick Bananas, so I googled and we're at the Dole website" - is only going to make things annoying.

    It will be a boon to those who can't use point and click for whatever reason, and ignored by everyone else.

  24. "American" companies on The Full Outsourcing Discussion · · Score: 5, Informative

    It certainly works out for the American companies selling the products.

    Except whoops, they aren't American, turns out their headquartered in the Caymans for tax reasons. And their products are manufactured in China or Malaysia, and their customer support is in India.

    But it does boost their executives, who live in the U.S. Though not legally, they also legally live offshore for tax reasons.

    There are lots of good arguments for free trade, but Friedman doesn't know them.

  25. Re:Drove through this morning. on Boston's Big Dig Finally Open · · Score: 1

    Hear hear. It's annoying to hear people from corn-subsidy states complaining about projects in other states. At least we weren't paid not to grow something.