If python werent so bedraggledly slow, and had a sane context-free grammar, I'd use it in a heartbeat.
No matter what the argument, having INVISIBLE characters of indeterminate size be syntax significant seems too rigid for my taste.
Being so inflexible in even the most trivial of things seems to be the foundation for the whole language, and is probably the number one reason why python hasnt taken the world by storm.
I shouldn't use the features supported by Sun, Blackdown and IBM because the GNU Java Compiler hasn't caught up with the pack?
If you dont care about having a 100% free O/S, running no proprietary software whatsoever, then his article is NOT AIMED AT YOU.
He is NOT trying to convince the pragmatic masses to stick to a substandard implementation. He's calling upon those who do want a Free environment, that if they think Java is the future of programming (at least for themselves), to either contribute to Free implementations or to adhere to them.
There is really nothing radical, objectionable, or unusual in his article. The fact that is is a conservative, simple, and logic position shows me that the extremist, based upon your reaction, is YOU.
Most people dont believe that copyright is a moral issue, and they dont have any qualms about downloading.
(its certainly not just an anarchist few that download- its most everyone)
A law that most people dont believe in is bound to fail eventually. I dont see anything wrong with that- the would will be a better place for it.
Re:Viruses spread by stupidity not OS'es.
on
Linux in Canada
·
· Score: 1
>I'm not saying passwords are going away, just that >switching contexts, passworded or not, is an >artificial barrier.
Not necessarily- thats only true in a closed single-user world.
Remember: the user is not just the user, hes also all the other processes to whom he's delegated authority. In this case, the "artificial" barrier is quite real and useful.
Think of it this way: you may want to run a neat screen saver bob just emailed to you. You want it to be able to draw to the screen and make sound, but you dont want to let it open network connections or delete files from your disk.
You must delegate to it authority to your screen and sound.(you cant give it powers you dont possess). But you dont want to delegate to it ALL of your authority.
Thats where these little barriers come in.
Re:Viruses spread by stupidity not OS'es.
on
Linux in Canada
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
Trust me, passwords are NEVER EVER going to go away.
Even sci-fi recognizes that.
A wildly optimistic sci-fi show such as star trek, which uses biometric identification with the computer for most things, still asks for a password to enable the self-destruct sequence.
Also, biometrics are a lot easier to steal than most people recognize. The problem is- once your biometric data is compromised, its kinda hard to change your auth tokens isnt it?
If everyone was willing to settle for older or slower hardware, demand for it, and thus prices, would be higher. Did you ever stop to wonder why older or lower-end stuff is so cheap? The people buying the new stuff at much higher prices are essentially subsidizing it.
Openssl is coded in highly optimized C, with many components in assembly, and its still considered a high-overhead resource hog and is often the target of hardware acceleration.
If you seriously think "Java" is even in the running for that workload- then you are seriously deluded. VM's have this peculiar BIG problem: they are slow and resource-intensive. They dont play well with other processes, they cannot swap out to share ram, and they encourage memory bloat.
If anyone seriously wanted to use a programming language as a tool that lets you hide memory allocation and validate input- then they could choose C++. Java, et al, is just not a serious option.
How many digits are in a phone number? How much gas does your tank hold? What's your car's top speed? How many minutes are on your cell phones calling plan? How much milk comes in a typical jug?
I'm sorry, but not knowing what bandwidth is is like a driver not knowing what his speedometer measures. And heck, most people figure out how to set the time on their microwave or alarm clock.
Why should it be any different with computers?
Sure, we can't all be experts, but can we all not be drooling idiots at least?
>Therefore Anandtech makes sure the information of >value is also in flash, to ensure that they are >compensated for your viewing of their material. >So please, when you find that cluestick - make sure >to give yourself a good whack with it.
That justification can be (and often is) used for making everything suck.
Pay cable channels with more ads than show (not even counting content-embedded ads), DVDs with non-skippable "previews", DRM, Trusted computing, Windows in general, poorly documented proprietary media formats, nagware, popup ads, websites with hostile flash graphics, etc etc...
When is someone going to come up with a way to make money by making thing better? Where is the free capital market when you need it- or does it just not apply to bit and bytes at all?
The more I see, the more I'm beginning to think copyright was a bad idea from the start...
The main problem people have using bittorrent is regressive internet connections. (Until IPv6 becomes ubiquitous this is going to be a problem for many of the internet's designed uses, not just swarming media.)
Im not so hot about RSS, but for things such a multicast or bittorrent- it really helps to get the content when everyone else is. So having a running subscription to a show you like, then have the download automatically kick-in as soon as it becomes available would be the ideal setup for using your computer as a media center.
Getting this working right could make even tivo seem quaint...
>If I have Windows, I download a Windows binary and >USE it (ok, I might have to choose the Windows >version, but that's all).
Thats why your typical windows machine is a teeming hive of virii, spyware, adware, trojans, worms, and general cruft.
I also seem to have a much quicker time of finding/installing software for my distro using its preffered install/update tool (I only have to know the name of what I want!) Than any windows chump who has to jump through hoops on various websites to find what theyre looking for.
What's worse is that C forces you into a certain way of thinking....I don't write much software...
Well, I *do* write lots of software, and I find C/C++ to be the least limiting in terms of programming style, and the most flexible. For example, I dont normally worry much about memory, but when I need to I can.
Reexaminig VonNeumann? Discarding the packet based design that is the core of the internets success?
If instead of idiotic quotes like that, if the article had discussed scalability changes to TCP (such as allowing it to perform better over highloss/highletency links) I might have taken it seriously. Even then, I would have expected IPv6 extension headers, not a total replacement...
Gee- thats funny. I work a a satellite internet company, and we use Turbo-codes in our FPGA's. The delay from TPC is in the low milisecond range- trust me.
Anything close to one second would have been unacceptable.
If you watch it with subtitles, the whole ending sequence was wildly redone for the english dub.
The english version left me somewhat confused- it didnt really sync up well with what the characters were doing. I had to rewatch it with subtitles.
I think disney had a problem with the ending: perhaps they didnt like the way that the good guys and bad guys werent clearly delineated towards the end, so they chose to make yubaba seem more spiteful and adversarial to the last. (and chihiro strangely overbold)
Wine is a cocktail of ingredients. (The ethyl alchohol and other trace ingredients are also considered beneficial in the current thought-trend)
Further studies have shown that, contrary to our naive scientific understanding, it not just a single bulk ingredient that you can stamp out in pill form that has the desired potent beneficial effect.
Snake poisons, foods, and herbal medicines etc are all relatively complex mixtures. The general trend in evolution is to simplify things to their most efficient form, so you have to imagine that at least some of that complexity is there for a reason.
For a format thats so highly tied to the printed page, I'm not sure what the fuss is about online readers for PDF's.
Its nice to be able to preview before you print, but if you really want to read online you should probably use a format that looks good on screen, and can adapt to your preferences and settings.
For my purposes, HTML has always been far superior to PDF format. I hardly print anything out anymore- it gets obsoletted too quick and becomes unsearcheable.
So, for my purposes, as long as I can get a vague preview and print well, any pdf reader will do.
I remember having a windows box where the virus scanner crap was installed and ring 0 so even with admin priv's I couldnt turn it off or unistall it.
The problem was that the damn thing would kick in right around 1pm everyday, then proceed to make the computer useless for the next 2 hours. The IT guys refused to turn it off, saying it was against policy.
It turns out that if you rename certain files that you are otherwise not allowed access to, then on the next reboot the scanner wont be able to start up. (windows security is always good for a laugh)
When you work with windows, no virus scanner is going to stop a worm, so theres really no point in running them. Ditch anything IE related, and your about as safe as you can reasonably get.
(I did my own source code backups as well, wisely it turns out, not trusting the company backup system for anything.)
I have had to spend more hours than I care to count fixing something some developer broke because his manaager forced us to give him administrative access on his machine.
Riiight, its so easy to develop drivers when you dont have root...
Anyway- I'm not saying your dev's not dumb- perhaps he is. If he was good enough he wouldnt have to ask you for root, he'd take it.( single user mode- or use one of the infinite windows local privilege escalation exploits )
I just wanted to say though, that having run into stingy netadmins before, what good are they if they prevent work from getting done? Your job is supposed to be providing facilities- not denying access to them.
Slashdot Mirror
http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
RMS's use of the word "free" is precise and accurate.
Your definition of "free" is Orweillian and defeatist, and an attempt to lump together such clearly different concepts is little better than FUD.
If python werent so bedraggledly slow, and had a sane context-free grammar, I'd use it in a heartbeat.
No matter what the argument, having INVISIBLE characters of indeterminate size be syntax significant seems too rigid for my taste.
Being so inflexible in even the most trivial of things seems to be the foundation for the whole language, and is probably the number one reason why python hasnt taken the world by storm.
Blackdown and IBM because the GNU Java Compiler
hasn't caught up with the pack?
If you dont care about having a 100% free O/S, running no proprietary software whatsoever, then his article is NOT AIMED AT YOU.
He is NOT trying to convince the pragmatic masses to stick to a substandard implementation. He's calling upon those who do want a Free environment, that if they think Java is the future of programming (at least for themselves), to either contribute to Free implementations or to adhere to them.
There is really nothing radical, objectionable, or unusual in his article. The fact that is is a conservative, simple, and logic position shows me that the extremist, based upon your reaction, is YOU.
Most people dont believe that copyright is a moral issue, and they dont have any qualms about downloading.
(its certainly not just an anarchist few that download- its most everyone)
A law that most people dont believe in is bound to fail eventually. I dont see anything wrong with that- the would will be a better place for it.
>I'm not saying passwords are going away, just that
>switching contexts, passworded or not, is an
>artificial barrier.
Not necessarily- thats only true in a closed single-user world.
Remember: the user is not just the user, hes also all the other processes to whom he's delegated authority. In this case, the "artificial" barrier is quite real and useful.
Think of it this way: you may want to run a neat screen saver bob just emailed to you. You want it to be able to draw to the screen and make sound, but you dont want to let it open network connections or delete files from your disk.
You must delegate to it authority to your screen and sound.(you cant give it powers you dont possess). But you dont want to delegate to it ALL of your authority.
Thats where these little barriers come in.
Trust me, passwords are NEVER EVER going to go away.
Even sci-fi recognizes that.
A wildly optimistic sci-fi show such as star trek, which uses biometric identification with the computer for most things, still asks for a password to enable the self-destruct sequence.
Also, biometrics are a lot easier to steal than most people recognize. The problem is- once your biometric data is compromised, its kinda hard to change your auth tokens isnt it?
The GPL is called copyleft for a reason: its designed to fly in the face of normal copyright.
Typical copyrights take away rights from the public. The GPL is designed to preserve the rights of the public.
So while the two actions are *legally* equivalent, they are morally opposite.
If everyone was willing to settle for older or slower hardware, demand for it, and thus prices, would be higher. Did you ever stop to wonder why older or lower-end stuff is so cheap? The people buying the new stuff at much higher prices are essentially subsidizing it.
To contrast with your point, I know a 50 year old programmer who recently picked up two new programming languages just to complete one project.
Sure, most people lose their motivation way before that, but it doesnt have to be that way...
In English, verbing nouns is perfectly cromulent.
The problem with VM's is that they are pigs.
Openssl is coded in highly optimized C, with many components in assembly, and its still considered a high-overhead resource hog and is often the target of hardware acceleration.
If you seriously think "Java" is even in the running for that workload- then you are seriously deluded. VM's have this peculiar BIG problem: they are slow and resource-intensive. They dont play well with other processes, they cannot swap out to share ram, and they encourage memory bloat.
If anyone seriously wanted to use a programming language as a tool that lets you hide memory allocation and validate input- then they could choose C++. Java, et al, is just not a serious option.
Better analogies:
How many digits are in a phone number?
How much gas does your tank hold?
What's your car's top speed?
How many minutes are on your cell phones calling plan?
How much milk comes in a typical jug?
>We can't all be experts at *everything.*
I'm sorry, but not knowing what bandwidth is is like a driver not knowing what his speedometer measures. And heck, most people figure out how to set the time on their microwave or alarm clock.
Why should it be any different with computers?
Sure, we can't all be experts, but can we all not be drooling idiots at least?
>Therefore Anandtech makes sure the information of
>value is also in flash, to ensure that they are
>compensated for your viewing of their material.
>So please, when you find that cluestick - make sure
>to give yourself a good whack with it.
That justification can be (and often is) used for making everything suck.
Pay cable channels with more ads than show (not even counting content-embedded ads), DVDs with non-skippable "previews", DRM, Trusted computing, Windows in general, poorly documented proprietary media formats, nagware, popup ads, websites with hostile flash graphics, etc etc...
When is someone going to come up with a way to make money by making thing better? Where is the free capital market when you need it- or does it just not apply to bit and bytes at all?
The more I see, the more I'm beginning to think copyright was a bad idea from the start...
It may seem complicated but its not really.
The main problem people have using bittorrent is regressive internet connections. (Until IPv6 becomes ubiquitous this is going to be a problem for many of the internet's designed uses, not just swarming media.)
Im not so hot about RSS, but for things such a multicast or bittorrent- it really helps to get the content when everyone else is. So having a running subscription to a show you like, then have the download automatically kick-in as soon as it becomes available would be the ideal setup for using your computer as a media center.
Getting this working right could make even tivo seem quaint...
>If I have Windows, I download a Windows binary and
>USE it (ok, I might have to choose the Windows
>version, but that's all).
Thats why your typical windows machine is a teeming hive of virii, spyware, adware, trojans, worms, and general cruft.
I also seem to have a much quicker time of finding/installing software for my distro using its preffered install/update tool (I only have to know the name of what I want!) Than any windows chump who has to jump through hoops on various websites to find what theyre looking for.
Your perception couldnt be any more backwards.
What's worse is that C forces you into a certain way of thinking.
Well, I *do* write lots of software, and I find C/C++ to be the least limiting in terms of programming style, and the most flexible. For example, I dont normally worry much about memory, but when I need to I can.
Reexaminig VonNeumann?
Discarding the packet based design that is the core of the internets success?
If instead of idiotic quotes like that, if the article had discussed scalability changes to TCP (such as allowing it to perform better over highloss/highletency links) I might have taken it seriously. Even then, I would have expected IPv6 extension headers, not a total replacement...
Gee- thats funny. I work a a satellite internet company, and we use Turbo-codes in our FPGA's. The delay from TPC is in the low milisecond range- trust me.
Anything close to one second would have been unacceptable.
I dont know where you got your numbers from.
If you watch it with subtitles, the whole ending sequence was wildly redone for the english dub.
The english version left me somewhat confused- it didnt really sync up well with what the characters were doing. I had to rewatch it with subtitles.
I think disney had a problem with the ending: perhaps they didnt like the way that the good guys and bad guys werent clearly delineated towards the end, so they chose to make yubaba seem more spiteful and adversarial to the last. (and chihiro strangely overbold)
So its not the wine, its an ingredient thereof.
Wine is a cocktail of ingredients.
(The ethyl alchohol and other trace ingredients are also considered beneficial in the current thought-trend)
Further studies have shown that, contrary to our naive scientific understanding, it not just a single bulk ingredient that you can stamp out in pill form that has the desired potent beneficial effect.
Snake poisons, foods, and herbal medicines etc are all relatively complex mixtures. The general trend in evolution is to simplify things to their most efficient form, so you have to imagine that at least some of that complexity is there for a reason.
For a format thats so highly tied to the printed page, I'm not sure what the fuss is about online readers for PDF's.
Its nice to be able to preview before you print, but if you really want to read online you should probably use a format that looks good on screen, and can adapt to your preferences and settings.
For my purposes, HTML has always been far superior to PDF format. I hardly print anything out anymore- it gets obsoletted too quick and becomes unsearcheable.
So, for my purposes, as long as I can get a vague preview and print well, any pdf reader will do.
I remember having a windows box where the virus scanner crap was installed and ring 0 so even with admin priv's I couldnt turn it off or unistall it.
The problem was that the damn thing would kick in right around 1pm everyday, then proceed to make the computer useless for the next 2 hours. The IT guys refused to turn it off, saying it was against policy.
It turns out that if you rename certain files that you are otherwise not allowed access to, then on the next reboot the scanner wont be able to start up. (windows security is always good for a laugh)
When you work with windows, no virus scanner is going to stop a worm, so theres really no point in running them. Ditch anything IE related, and your about as safe as you can reasonably get.
(I did my own source code backups as well, wisely it turns out, not trusting the company backup system for anything.)
I have had to spend more hours than I care to count fixing something some developer broke because his manaager forced us to give him administrative access on his machine.
Riiight, its so easy to develop drivers when you dont have root...
Anyway- I'm not saying your dev's not dumb- perhaps he is. If he was good enough he wouldnt have to ask you for root, he'd take it.( single user mode- or use one of the infinite windows local privilege escalation exploits )
I just wanted to say though, that having run into stingy netadmins before, what good are they if they prevent work from getting done? Your job is supposed to be providing facilities- not denying access to them.
You will be taken more seriously if you can spell: nickel, missile, lose, solely, amendment, speech, kernel, probably
Please add "rediculous" to that list. I see it at least twice a day on this site, and thats reading with a +4 and up filter.