I meant Bookmarks in the IDE, not the web browser.
I use all of the available tools, including scroll bars. I like scroll bars. I like the wheel even more.
Years ago, we used to joke that VI is the only text editor approved for use by the Turkish Penal System as a torture device. Seriously, it feels like going back in time to the 70s. Why not go all the way back to punch cards?
If I was forced to use VI, I would quit programming.
In the 90's I worked with Sony, and had access to the cool stuff before it was publicly available.
I designed a telepresence robot for Sony Wonder in New York. It had video cameras in its eyeballs that fed what was then a state of the art high res headmount display prototype.
A motion sensor was mounted to the operator's head, so when the operator moved his head, the robot moved in sync. It was given the name "BB Wonderbot" and became a very popular attraction.
When the operators first put on the headset, they were excited and thought that it looked really cool. But after days of operating it for several hours a day, problems appeared. Operaters complained of headaches, dizzieness and feeling sick. We first tried limiting operator time, but later abandoned the entire idea.
Even though the display was excellent for the time, it was still a bit fuzzy. The motion control system had a little delay, and the stereoscopy was not perfect.
We suspect that there is a phenomenon similar to the "uncanny valley" at work here. To be comfortable, a headmount display must be perfect, or really, really close. If it is a little bit off, the brain won't tolerate it for long.
If you REALLY need wireless, you put up with the limitations.
But wired is always better.
I see absolutely no reason for wireless where a computer sits on one desk all day. In that case, wired is better. If it is constantly on the move, wireless is necessary.
So...if we adopt and enforce some standard now, we might cripple future battery developers.
If we don't enforce standards, every electric car will have a battery with different size, shape, voltage and connector placement. Kinda like mobile phones, or portable computers.
IF...and that's a big if, I was going to install Windows 7, I would do a clean install on a new disk. I would keep my old XP disk on the shelf, just in case.
If I was in charge of the Microsoft department of recommended practices, I would strongly recommend this method.
I would NEVER, EVER take my one and only XP disk and try to upgrade it, EVER. Upgrades in-place are just way to risky for me.
That being said, I will stick with XP until it is absolutely necessary to switch.
OS's are becoming less relevant as computing becomes more browser-centric.
This sounds like a Netscape marketiod from the 90s...
The OS is, and will always be, relevant.
Many people, especially non-technical people, think of the OS as the visual presentation of the GUI.
It's the guts of the OS that is important. Even if all you needed was a browser, something has to be responsible for the filesystem, device drivers, process and thread scheduling, locks and semaphores, etc.
With multi-core processors clearly the future of hardware, the ability to accurately and efficiently manage multiple processes and threads becomes even more critical.
If anything, OS design is going to become more critical in the future.
Like a football player lifting weights to build his muscles, training your mind with a difficult subject is always good, even if you don't become a mathematician or physicist.
There is a growing backlash against the MBA degree. Many people believe it is the cause of the current economic crisis.
Among the groups I have worked with, the CS degree gets little respect. It may be a rigorous, demanding field of study at some colleges, but at many it is way too easy.
Smudging your screen and tiring your arm, all while accidentally choosing the wrong option because the developer made the button too small, or the sensor is mis-adjusted.
A few years ago, the tech press became infatuated with the idea of pen based computing. It seemed like every article talked about it. At every press conference, the rep was asked "what's your pen strategy".
Nobody seemed to notice that it was a bad idea that never quite worked correctly.
Now, the tech press seems to be focusing on the "cloud".
It's also a bad idea that doesn't work very well.
I can imagine a niche where cloud computing fits perfectly, but only a small one.
Here are my objections...
Lets say that you depend on a cloud app, or cloud data storage for something important. What could possibly go wrong.
The provider could go out of business.
The provider could get hacked.
The provider could change their pricing or other restrictions.
The provider could add nasty adware or other annoying stuff.
The provider could dramatically change the behavior of the app.
Features you depend on could be removed, or made useless.
I imagine the nightmare scenario. The deadline is approaching, you go to your cloud app and find out that it operates in a completely different way, requiring several hours of learning, only to find out that it no longer does what you need.
Unfortunately, employee quality is something that is currently NOT quantifiable.
Co-workers all have an intuitive sense of who is useful and who is not. But trying to measure it with today's crude tools is an exercise in futility. Kinda like measuring productivity by lines of code, or scientific value by number or articles published.
This will end up benefiting those who skillfully learn to play by the new rules, and punish those who may be excellent, but don't fit the standards expected by the measurement methods.
Slashdot Mirror
Sounds to me like the first move in a series of negotiations.
"Give us more money, or we drop it in the ocean".
This is not the last article on the subject that we will see...
I meant Bookmarks in the IDE, not the web browser.
I use all of the available tools, including scroll bars. I like scroll bars. I like the wheel even more.
Years ago, we used to joke that VI is the only text editor approved for use by the Turkish Penal System as a torture device. Seriously, it feels like going back in time to the 70s. Why not go all the way back to punch cards?
If I was forced to use VI, I would quit programming.
Scroll wheel
Scroll bars
Select for cut/copy and paste
Menu options
Setting and going to bookmarks
Navigating the various browsers and dropdowns
Hovering over a variable in the debugger to see its value
Many more..
Yes...they all probably have keyboard equivalents, I just consider them awkward workarounds.
Remember, you can pound in a screw with a wrench if you really want to...
A mouse is sometimes the right tool for the job
I have been programming since 1971.
Back them I used punch cards.
Then, teletypes.
Now, I use a mouse and keyboard.
I definitely consider myself a "real" programmer.
Times change, so do tools.
I want a phone that's optimized to be a phone
I want a GPS that's optimized to be a GPS
Combo devices require compromise
Like they say about a duck
It doesn't walk well, swim well or fly well, but it walks, swims and flies.
Are you good at management?
Do you like it?
Remember, It requires a completely different set of skills.
I have never understood why companies insist that a proper career path progresses from engineering to management.
Many people become engineers because they have a talent and a passion for it.
Along the way, I have met many managers who were forced into management, believing it was the only sensible decision.
They always told me they missed engineering a lot.
Me...I have been engineer all my life.
It's not just what I do, it's who I am.
I would avoid management at all costs.
I would probably suck at it...
Years ago, when I was a system administrator, we spent a lot of money on a RAID box for our Sun machine.
It came in a really pretty cabinet, and looked VERY impressive.
Some time later, the controller failed, resulting in complete, unrecoverable data loss.
Yes, we had backup, but the array was toast.
In the 90's I worked with Sony, and had access to the cool stuff before it was publicly available.
I designed a telepresence robot for Sony Wonder in New York. It had video cameras in its eyeballs that fed what was then a state of the art high res headmount display prototype.
A motion sensor was mounted to the operator's head, so when the operator moved his head, the robot moved in sync. It was given the name "BB Wonderbot" and became a very popular attraction.
When the operators first put on the headset, they were excited and thought that it looked really cool. But after days of operating it for several hours a day, problems appeared. Operaters complained of headaches, dizzieness and feeling sick. We first tried limiting operator time, but later abandoned the entire idea.
Even though the display was excellent for the time, it was still a bit fuzzy. The motion control system had a little delay, and the stereoscopy was not perfect.
We suspect that there is a phenomenon similar to the "uncanny valley" at work here. To be comfortable, a headmount display must be perfect, or really, really close. If it is a little bit off, the brain won't tolerate it for long.
It works OK, and sometimes a little less than OK.
If you REALLY need wireless, you put up with the limitations.
But wired is always better.
I see absolutely no reason for wireless where a computer sits on one desk all day. In that case, wired is better. If it is constantly on the move, wireless is necessary.
I have always hated, and immediately deactivated autorun.
I think autorun was one of those Mac ideas that Microsoft copied.
I want to be in control of what my computer does.
Swapping requires standardization.
Electric car development is still in its infancy.
So...if we adopt and enforce some standard now, we might cripple future battery developers.
If we don't enforce standards, every electric car will have a battery with different size, shape, voltage and connector placement. Kinda like mobile phones, or portable computers.
What's the need for "power management software"
Users have a finger.
The computer has a button.
How hard can it be to push the damn button?
Freezing my ass off.
Forklifts, air compressors, air tools and loud metal working machines operating all the time.
And...a crappy chair
IF...and that's a big if, I was going to install Windows 7, I would do a clean install on a new disk. I would keep my old XP disk on the shelf, just in case.
If I was in charge of the Microsoft department of recommended practices, I would strongly recommend this method.
I would NEVER, EVER take my one and only XP disk and try to upgrade it, EVER. Upgrades in-place are just way to risky for me.
That being said, I will stick with XP until it is absolutely necessary to switch.
Teaching children religion is child abuse.
Unfortunately, it is also a parent's right.
In order to be philosophically consistent, I am forced to defend that right.
OS's are becoming less relevant as computing becomes more browser-centric.
This sounds like a Netscape marketiod from the 90s...
The OS is, and will always be, relevant.
Many people, especially non-technical people, think of the OS as the visual presentation of the GUI.
It's the guts of the OS that is important. Even if all you needed was a browser, something has to be responsible for the filesystem, device drivers, process and thread scheduling, locks and semaphores, etc.
With multi-core processors clearly the future of hardware, the ability to accurately and efficiently manage multiple processes and threads becomes even more critical.
If anything, OS design is going to become more critical in the future.
Study something intellectually demanding.
Like a football player lifting weights to build his muscles, training your mind with a difficult subject is always good, even if you don't become a mathematician or physicist.
There is a growing backlash against the MBA degree. Many people believe it is the cause of the current economic crisis.
Among the groups I have worked with, the CS degree gets little respect. It may be a rigorous, demanding field of study at some colleges, but at many it is way too easy.
I am skeptical about our ability to accurately predict the future using current mathematical models.
They can't even accurately predict the weather a week in advance.
That being said, I am an environmentalist. I strongly believe that we should stop burning coal and oil. I am also a big supporter of renewable energy.
I even write songs on the subject...
http://loudroundrecords.com/Light.htm
http://loudroundrecords.com/Oil.htm
Being a skeptic about predicting the future does NOT automatically mean that one believes in the philosophy of "drill baby drill".
It is possible to be an environmentalist AND be skeptical about our ability to predict the future.
Smudging your screen and tiring your arm, all while accidentally choosing the wrong option because the developer made the button too small, or the sensor is mis-adjusted.
A few years ago, the tech press became infatuated with the idea of pen based computing. It seemed like every article talked about it. At every press conference, the rep was asked "what's your pen strategy".
Nobody seemed to notice that it was a bad idea that never quite worked correctly.
Now, the tech press seems to be focusing on the "cloud".
It's also a bad idea that doesn't work very well.
I can imagine a niche where cloud computing fits perfectly, but only a small one.
Here are my objections...
Lets say that you depend on a cloud app, or cloud data storage for something important. What could possibly go wrong.
The provider could go out of business.
The provider could get hacked.
The provider could change their pricing or other restrictions.
The provider could add nasty adware or other annoying stuff.
The provider could dramatically change the behavior of the app.
Features you depend on could be removed, or made useless.
I imagine the nightmare scenario. The deadline is approaching, you go to your cloud app and find out that it operates in a completely different way, requiring several hours of learning, only to find out that it no longer does what you need.
And...what happens when the net goes down?
I want my phone to be a phone.
I want my camera to be a camera.
I want my remote to be a remote.
I like things that perform one, and only one, function perfectly. Multi-function devices are always a compromise.
That it is easier to program Artificial Intelligence than Artificial Stupidity?
Intelligence has been studied a lot.
Has anybody really seriously studied stupidity?
Might it be true that stupidity is complex, in its own stupid way?
If I was designing digital camera sensors, I would aim for greater dynamic range.
I have often wondered if it would be possible to use 2 cells per pixel, one with an ND filter. I wonder if anybody is doing something like this?
Especially when shooting outdoors, greater dynamic range is much more important than more resolution.
Unfortunately, employee quality is something that is currently NOT quantifiable.
Co-workers all have an intuitive sense of who is useful and who is not. But trying to measure it with today's crude tools is an exercise in futility. Kinda like measuring productivity by lines of code, or scientific value by number or articles published.
This will end up benefiting those who skillfully learn to play by the new rules, and punish those who may be excellent, but don't fit the standards expected by the measurement methods.
To me, that kind of stuff is not music.
There may be some sort of creativity involved, and it might possibly be defined as some form of abstract art, but it's definitely not music.
If this is the future of music, I will be really sad.
When rap got popular, I asked myself, can anything ever be worse than that?
I guess now we have the answer.
As I see it, we have had a steady downward progression
Music reached its peak with 19th and 20th century orchestral, jazz and progressive rock.
Then rock got a little simpler and less interesting.
Then punk got a lot simpler and less interesting.
Then rap decided to remove the melody and harmony and just leave the beat and the lyrics.
Now this stuff requires absolutely no musical ability at all, it's just cut and paste.
I wonder how the next generation can get even worse. Maybe we have finally hit the bottom, and the next generation will actually get better.