My programming language has the speed of C, regex of perl, portability of Java, and every goodie of every language before it. Better learn it because it makes development SO fast and intuitive. So many programmers are flocking to it.
But doesnt that make my language LESS faster than C, LESS portable than Java etc??
The market is so variable, new niches are created and old ones destroyed. Cobol WAS a good language for what people did once upon a time. That entire niche has disappeared, automated and all its tasks fully programmed into other libraries that are simply imported and used. Software structures have changed so Cobol is no longer needed. Yet the pressure on/bin/sh grew so much even bash and zsh weren't sufficent. Perl came in at the right time and for the lifetime of this niche.. as long as people will be trying to automate tasks in UNIX, perl will live a good life. Should everything evolve into GUIS perl might be replaced with another language that tends to those needs better...
C will sit tight. Even C++'s use is shaky and its market has had huge lumps bitten off by java and now C#. But C is the very basic language over the assembly and everyone and his grandfather knows it. It is so simple as a language, its like riding a bycicle, you dont forget it.
But what is Ruby?? Where does THAT come in? Make a language as pretty as you want, market it better than C# but that doesnt change the markets needs. Pythons found a small foothold next to perl, partly into installations part in GUIS using QT, but is Ruby trying to nudge Python now to hold on one toe?? I can already see Ruby in freefall... screaming... screaming stories of its goodness on slashdot.
or rather where can it be placed. python and perl are fighting so hard for the place, and if you step out to real compiled languages, the dominance of c, c++ and java cannot be shaken. Languages like LISP and cobol and fortran have been mercilessly killed, but the remnant diehards will still insist its alive in some remote forest. So where does Ruby fit in... what is it anyway?
Some projects are simply on the right spot. Good examples are X11, SDL and Mesa. There was overwhelming need for it, so more developers quickly joined ranks.
Some projects are outright glamorous in a geeky way. Anyone working on the Linux kernel enjoys the respect of any geek for instance. Stuff like drivers and VM are supposedly tough subjects and anyone involved in ANY way is much more kool than someone making widow managers, no matter how complex.
Some projects provide the much needed high of bashing the Goliath. Wine and Samba fall in this category. Look ma! No windows. And seeing Bill Goates and Balmer try and pull the rug under a project that makes no money is just glorious.
Projects really attract various developers for various collections of reasons. The best reason is the most original.. to scratch that geeky itch. Thats how Linus started the kernel and how others like Alan Cox joined in. Thats how UNIX was originally created and BSD nurtured in the universities. Being so big now, the opensource world has other reasons kicking in, like a smart student seeing the market is kaput, realises he needs something big put on his resume fast. Thusly security and networking projects boom! Included here are also java-related projects.
The most popular projects reach there because theyre there at the right time. Apache didnt quite start out with the best design, but a good webserver was NEEDED, and apache most of the time had more features than the rest.
How do popular projects maintain their status?? Momentum of course. Both apache and the Linux kernel are good examples. FreeBSDers fume on why dont teen hackers flock to BSD. Everyone knows Linux, and once its in the upper parts of the corporate, everone needs to learn it. The media follows it and the natural positive feedback keeps it going. True also for proprietary software, like the most used OS out there for example. Bad quality but who can stop THIS momentum easy??
Yet some softwares quality and design are simply good. They have the power to dethrone the champion. Qmail simple came and is gradually removing sendmail from its position. Proftpd is removing wu-ftpd, and we can only hope Linux or FreeBSD does the same to Windows.
Thats funny. Imagine the faces and dresses and office politics and wasted time and sex behind the desk.. Whats Bill Gates doing there? Oh its Microsoft.
Absolutely! They functioned perfectly as pancreases. And thats the new problem.
The liver functionality will be taking SOME hit as at least part of it is converted to a different functionality. If it has the same redundancy as kidneys, things could work, but I doubt its easy to use medication to convert PART of one organs functionality... and an important organ too
You sound so like Gates when he said 1MB ram should be enough for everyone.
Apart from the addressing space, theres also the wider IO, and replacing say MMX which is a hack to widen the bus. I know I cant think of much on how to use a 128bit CPU right now, but moores law has been evasive.
Funny my other window has exactly that... sleepycat.com. The close niches of larger and smaller apps... to MySQL are PostgreSQL and db3. mSQL is smaller still, I would have gone with it if I had discovered it first.
Like most web app developers, I started with the easy and nimble MySQL, and then spread the experience to cover the rest.
It was basically an initdb, if I remember right, then createdb. One of those commands needed a path for the data. Then you run pg_ctl start. Once the database was created and started you use psql to login and create users with permissions, which I'd assume has to be done on any database. Then create tables and go at it. </i>
Seems easy after youre well-versed with it, just like MySQL, so I should assume MySQL is easier. But most new users use mysql, and thats not just a community momentum. MySQLs simplicity is its strength in THAT niche. I knew some theory about databases before I first powered up MySQL.. but the preliminary docs were so understandable. Much later now, handling some serious data, I can see and measure the benefits of Postgre against it, but I couldnt before I first ran my first relational database.
Believe me I tried Postgre first, but quickly gave up. The newsgroups said it was a better DBMS, but the docs, and the setup later was such a headache for someone who didnt even know SQL yet.
nVidia has already released drivers for FreeBSD, while ATI is just starting out. They claim weird reasons like non-manageability of code... but hasnt nVidia solved that outside of X? And they claim some specs secrets will be spilled out if they opensource the thing... I wonder if those secrets would be that obvious. They should really try to make more money off their hardware rather than selling information on howto operate their hardware.
I've been trying to learn Postgre's useage and try it on production systems. I started out with the MySQL that the developers were sarcastic about, but realized the very different applications that need databases.. Ever since, I've been delving into db3 for lower end data management (for dbase-replacement apps) and Postgresql for higher end.
I dont think its fair to compare Postgre with MySQL. Postgres developers work so hard to point at their features, but not all web backends require transactions or even subqueries. The basic Postgresql installation is a bit of a pain to get up and running with a basic database, which keeps pushing new users to MySQL, and the feature list gets repulsive there too.. But for applications like managing the.ORG tld registry, MySQL would not be preferred.
I like to think Postgre as a middle to large-scale database, with DB2 and Oracle taking the 'large' end of the spectrum and mysql,minisql and the sleepycat way of dealing with data, at the 'small' end. Mysql's niche happens to be at a sweet spot where developers seek ease, speed, simplicity and functionality with PHP, Perl, C and scripts.
Now the mice will have to deal with a brand new problem.. dysfunctional livers, which will then be augumented with normal livers from other 'failed' mice. I'm sure most diabetics patients will prefer the frequent needle.
If youve worked in a CPU fab plant, I wonder why you would hate apple, with their PowerPC choice over x86......does Intel still monitor your slashdot posts?:)
And so does including memory and GPU with the CPU. You could imagine the desktop computer market for these babies.... if released with Linux.
Thinking of that, I wonder if they would allow hookup to a DVI connector, or replacing the BIOS, or adding PCI/ISA slots, or even producing whole chips for third party taiwanese boards that would then be built into workstations. If the chip is up to the spec, on time and reasonably priced, theres already a big Linux-based market for it, meself included. Saddams gotta steal only a FEW of these to build nukes. Wonder if an anarchist teen could do that with this christmas present.
No I'm trying Mesa OpenGL using SDL. The riva drivers of standard XFree4 will work for a Geforce, but not take the full advantage. On a Geforce3, theres a programmable GPU, that can be used to support the GUI code too.
IDE drives have large caches. I suppose if the control to the caches could be programmable, it could be used by a driver to achieve this on a regular PC, but then, we'd lose the cache speedup. Better still, move part of the Conquest FS functionality to the south bridge of the chipset, in the IDE wirings, using part of the RAM.
What have you been smoking? If the energy comes out of the battery to run the vibration motor?? How can that save energy by using a generator to recharge??
The only way this can be used is to have the motor used also as a generator when its NOT vibrating.. maybe on an untuned car or a jogging user.
I wonder if a resonating spring and a weight can be attached to the generator inside the cell phone. The user could then whack the phone a few times on concrete for several seconds of talk time... would work best on titanium/carbon fibre phones... with absolutely no warranties.
The BIOS could (1) Set aside a certain section of RAM and offer it as a drive. Well ok so this could be speeded up by the chipset (seems both north and south bridges involved, so SiS can work this out well).
(2) The BIOS can map a specified portion of the RAM to a DOS-based RAMDISK, and copy windows and Program Files to it. This should be nice for Windows 9x, but the first option should apply well to all OSes.
Will work well with the present allowance of 4GB for a 32bit based system, use 256MB for RAM, the rest, as a temp storage.
That reminds me of an idea I had a while ago. AMD should make Athlons with the RAM on the chip at possible L1 speeds. Most Athlons out there have 128-256 MB ram. So they can put 128MB ram, no L2 cache, and any additional RAM will append to this 128MB, but will be slower.
Kernel developers will be quick to put most accessed functions in the first 128MB depending on the CPUID. This is different from this threads faster-secondary-storage but it should push the Athlon real world benchmarks to exceed the latest Pentium-4, shouldnt cost TOO much more and should tempt gamers and server people to spend for it.
Hey sounds great. I think I'll push my system ram to 512 MB and try the older win95, which being DOS based, can be started after the RAMDISK has been created and files copied. Not quite fast, since all the WINDOWS and Program Files directories have to be copied, but I anticipate good speeds there.. hmmmmm..
I dont know.. the maxtor 7200 drives on the computers I build are PRETTY quite compared to ANY of the 2 fans in the system. Maybe I should invest in the ball bearing CPU fans and power supplies.
Slashdot Mirror
Language Bigot!!
Well said!
My programming language has the speed of C, regex of perl, portability of Java, and every goodie of every language before it. Better learn it because it makes development SO fast and intuitive. So many programmers are flocking to it.
But doesnt that make my language LESS faster than C, LESS portable than Java etc??
The market is so variable, new niches are created and old ones destroyed. Cobol WAS a good language for what people did once upon a time. That entire niche has disappeared, automated and all its tasks fully programmed into other libraries that are simply imported and used. Software structures have changed so Cobol is no longer needed. Yet the pressure on
C will sit tight. Even C++'s use is shaky and its market has had huge lumps bitten off by java and now C#. But C is the very basic language over the assembly and everyone and his grandfather knows it. It is so simple as a language, its like riding a bycicle, you dont forget it.
But what is Ruby?? Where does THAT come in? Make a language as pretty as you want, market it better than C# but that doesnt change the markets needs. Pythons found a small foothold next to perl, partly into installations part in GUIS using QT, but is Ruby trying to nudge Python now to hold on one toe?? I can already see Ruby in freefall... screaming... screaming stories of its goodness on slashdot.
or rather where can it be placed. python and perl are fighting so hard for the place, and if you step out to real compiled languages, the dominance of c, c++ and java cannot be shaken. Languages like LISP and cobol and fortran have been mercilessly killed, but the remnant diehards will still insist its alive in some remote forest. So where does Ruby fit in... what is it anyway?
Some projects are simply on the right spot. Good examples are X11, SDL and Mesa. There was overwhelming need for it, so more developers quickly joined ranks.
Some projects are outright glamorous in a geeky way. Anyone working on the Linux kernel enjoys the respect of any geek for instance. Stuff like drivers and VM are supposedly tough subjects and anyone involved in ANY way is much more kool than someone making widow managers, no matter how complex.
Some projects provide the much needed high of bashing the Goliath. Wine and Samba fall in this category. Look ma! No windows. And seeing Bill Goates and Balmer try and pull the rug under a project that makes no money is just glorious.
Projects really attract various developers for various collections of reasons. The best reason is the most original.. to scratch that geeky itch. Thats how Linus started the kernel and how others like Alan Cox joined in. Thats how UNIX was originally created and BSD nurtured in the universities. Being so big now, the opensource world has other reasons kicking in, like a smart student seeing the market is kaput, realises he needs something big put on his resume fast. Thusly security and networking projects boom! Included here are also java-related projects.
The most popular projects reach there because theyre there at the right time. Apache didnt quite start out with the best design, but a good webserver was NEEDED, and apache most of the time had more features than the rest.
How do popular projects maintain their status?? Momentum of course. Both apache and the Linux kernel are good examples. FreeBSDers fume on why dont teen hackers flock to BSD. Everyone knows Linux, and once its in the upper parts of the corporate, everone needs to learn it. The media follows it and the natural positive feedback keeps it going. True also for proprietary software, like the most used OS out there for example. Bad quality but who can stop THIS momentum easy??
Yet some softwares quality and design are simply good. They have the power to dethrone the champion. Qmail simple came and is gradually removing sendmail from its position. Proftpd is removing wu-ftpd, and we can only hope Linux or FreeBSD does the same to Windows.
Thats funny. Imagine the faces and dresses and office politics and wasted time and sex behind the desk.. Whats Bill Gates doing there? Oh its Microsoft.
I thought its the EOL for OpenBSD.
And I was just gettin interested with all the OpenBSD stories in slashdot these days.
I wonder when Theo can say they have removed ALL occurrences of these functions??
But more importantly, why wasnt it possible to replace the functions in the library with something (if a bit slower) robust?
Are we witnessing the evolution of the New Libc(tm) ?? Can I patent it?
Absolutely! They functioned perfectly as pancreases. And thats the new problem.
The liver functionality will be taking SOME hit as at least part of it is converted to a different functionality. If it has the same redundancy as kidneys, things could work, but I doubt its easy to use medication to convert PART of one organs functionality... and an important organ too
You sound so like Gates when he said 1MB ram should be enough for everyone.
Apart from the addressing space, theres also the wider IO, and replacing say MMX which is a hack to widen the bus. I know I cant think of much on how to use a 128bit CPU right now, but moores law has been evasive.
Funny my other window has exactly that... sleepycat.com. The close niches of larger and smaller apps... to MySQL are PostgreSQL and db3. mSQL is smaller still, I would have gone with it if I had discovered it first.
Like most web app developers, I started with the easy and nimble MySQL, and then spread the experience to cover the rest.
It was basically an initdb, if I remember right, then createdb. One of those commands needed a path for the data. Then you run pg_ctl start. Once the database was created and started you use psql to login and create users with permissions, which I'd assume has to be done on any database. Then create tables and go at it.
</i>
Seems easy after youre well-versed with it, just like MySQL, so I should assume MySQL is easier.
But most new users use mysql, and thats not just a community momentum. MySQLs simplicity is its strength in THAT niche. I knew some theory about databases before I first powered up MySQL.. but the preliminary docs were so understandable. Much later now, handling some serious data, I can see and measure the benefits of Postgre against it, but I couldnt before I first ran my first relational database.
Believe me I tried Postgre first, but quickly gave up. The newsgroups said it was a better DBMS, but the docs, and the setup later was such a headache for someone who didnt even know SQL yet.
nVidia has already released drivers for FreeBSD, while ATI is just starting out. They claim weird reasons like non-manageability of code... but hasnt nVidia solved that outside of X? And they claim some specs secrets will be spilled out if they opensource the thing... I wonder if those secrets would be that obvious. They should really try to make more money off their hardware rather than selling information on howto operate their hardware.
I think OpenBSD has been at it with such efforts for a while. Why is FreeBSD shifting its niche, or nudgeing OpenBSD out of the ring?
I've been trying to learn Postgre's useage and try it on production systems. I started out with the MySQL that the developers were sarcastic about, but realized the very different applications that need databases.. Ever since, I've been delving into db3 for lower end data management (for dbase-replacement apps) and Postgresql for higher end.
I dont think its fair to compare Postgre with MySQL. Postgres developers work so hard to point at their features, but not all web backends require transactions or even subqueries. The basic Postgresql installation is a bit of a pain to get up and running with a basic database, which keeps pushing new users to MySQL, and the feature list gets repulsive there too.. But for applications like managing the
I like to think Postgre as a middle to large-scale database, with DB2 and Oracle taking the 'large' end of the spectrum and mysql,minisql and the sleepycat way of dealing with data, at the 'small' end. Mysql's niche happens to be at a sweet spot where developers seek ease, speed, simplicity and functionality with PHP, Perl, C and scripts.
Now the mice will have to deal with a brand new problem.. dysfunctional livers, which will then be augumented with normal livers from other 'failed' mice. I'm sure most diabetics patients will prefer the frequent needle.
If youve worked in a CPU fab plant, I wonder why you would hate apple, with their PowerPC choice over x86... ...does Intel still monitor your slashdot posts? :)
And so does including memory and GPU with the CPU. You could imagine the desktop computer market for these babies.... if released with Linux.
Thinking of that, I wonder if they would allow hookup to a DVI connector, or replacing the BIOS, or adding PCI/ISA slots, or even producing whole chips for third party taiwanese boards that would then be built into workstations. If the chip is up to the spec, on time and reasonably priced, theres already a big Linux-based market for it, meself included. Saddams gotta steal only a FEW of these to build nukes. Wonder if an anarchist teen could do that with this christmas present.
No I'm trying Mesa OpenGL using SDL. The riva drivers of standard XFree4 will work for a Geforce, but not take the full advantage. On a Geforce3, theres a programmable GPU, that can be used to support the GUI code too.
IDE drives have large caches. I suppose if the control to the caches could be programmable, it could be used by a driver to achieve this on a regular PC, but then, we'd lose the cache speedup. Better still, move part of the Conquest FS functionality to the south bridge of the chipset, in the IDE wirings, using part of the RAM.
What have you been smoking? If the energy comes out of the battery to run the vibration motor?? How can that save energy by using a generator to recharge??
The only way this can be used is to have the motor used also as a generator when its NOT vibrating.. maybe on an untuned car or a jogging user.
I wonder if a resonating spring and a weight can be attached to the generator inside the cell phone. The user could then whack the phone a few times on concrete for several seconds of talk time... would work best on titanium/carbon fibre phones... with absolutely no warranties.
The BIOS could
(1) Set aside a certain section of RAM and offer it as a drive. Well ok so this could be speeded up by the chipset (seems both north and south bridges involved, so SiS can work this out well).
(2) The BIOS can map a specified portion of the RAM to a DOS-based RAMDISK, and copy windows and Program Files to it. This should be nice for Windows 9x, but the first option should apply well to all OSes.
Will work well with the present allowance of 4GB for a 32bit based system, use 256MB for RAM, the rest, as a temp storage.
That reminds me of an idea I had a while ago. AMD should make Athlons with the RAM on the chip at possible L1 speeds. Most Athlons out there have 128-256 MB ram. So they can put 128MB ram, no L2 cache, and any additional RAM will append to this 128MB, but will be slower.
Kernel developers will be quick to put most accessed functions in the first 128MB depending on the CPUID. This is different from this threads faster-secondary-storage but it should push the Athlon real world benchmarks to exceed the latest Pentium-4, shouldnt cost TOO much more and should tempt gamers and server people to spend for it.
Hey sounds great. I think I'll push my system ram to 512 MB and try the older win95, which being DOS based, can be started after the RAMDISK has been created and files copied. Not quite fast, since all the WINDOWS and Program Files directories have to be copied, but I anticipate good speeds there.. hmmmmm..
A few minutes?? Your RAM must be PC-1. What do you do with it?? and how much ram do you have?
I dont know.. the maxtor 7200 drives on the computers I build are PRETTY quite compared to ANY of the 2 fans in the system. Maybe I should invest in the ball bearing CPU fans and power supplies.