And that applies to their employees, too. Medicare is cheaper than providing real health insurance.
Hahahaha. Walmart employees can't get sick. Sucks for them!
Every project has a set of goals that guide it through the meandering path of development. For some projects, these goals are unspoken, seen only in the primary style of the code, or in the size and shape of its APIs. When Autrijus Tang started the Pugs project to create a Perl 6 compiler, he had an explicit goal: optimize for fun. Fondly referred to as -Ofun -- a typical compiler writer's joke, referring to the standard -O flag used to tell a compiler what its primary optimization goal should be -- optimizing for fun is probably the most important decision Autrijus made.
Optimizing for fun has had tremendous benefits. In just 8 months, the Pugs project has gained well over 100 committers, averaging about 30 commits a day for the life of the project. Unlike many projects, these commits do not all come from a handful of people. In fact, the 3 busiest developers can only claim about half the commits; the rest are well spread, with 50% of the developers able to claim 9 or more, 25% having 24 or more, and 10% having over 150 commits each!
The team is not just productive, it's also creative. Starting with just a single interpreted backend written in Haskell, Pugs has added compiled backends for JavaScript, Parrot, and Perl 5. Dozens of modules have been written or ported, ranging from encryption algorithms to IRC bots. Various developers have experimented with concepts ranging from continuations and coroutines to self-referential preludes and efficient type inferrence, with working code often leading the official specs.
Of course, this should come as no surprise. As any cognitive science expert will tell you, fun is a great way to focus the mind. Developers that aren't enjoying themselves will slow down, write buggy code, make poor decisions, and eventually leave the project (even one that pays). Conversely, rampant fun will bring coders in droves, and give them a passion for their work that shows in quality, quantity, and goodwill. It's a pretty good bet that optimizing for fun will produce a better product than almost any other method.
So what's Autrijus's secret for -Ofun? As he puts it, "the essence of fun boils down to instant gratification and a sense of wonder and discovery." Or as chromatic calls it, imagineering. It turns out there's quite a bit that goes into that:
* Make -Ofun your primary goal (there can be only one). Next time you're forced to come up with a vision or mission statement, try that one on for size. (If management agrees, you've chosen a good place to work.) Every other goal chosen for the project should either flow from that one, or be secondary to it.
* Use modern, decentralized version control. If you're not already using a version control system, shame on you. If you are still using an old system such as CVS, RCS, or SourceSafe, you're really missing out. Modern systems offer atomic changesets (so all edits relating to a single conceptual change can be captured together), full versioning of directories and symbolic links (so that files can be moved, copied, or renamed and still maintain full history), fast tags and branches, and more. Most important, modern version control systems offer decentralized, offline operation. Every developer can keep a local copy of the repository on their laptop, editing and committing locally to their heart's content, even when network access is unavailable. When ready for a merge, the developer can push changes to other developers or to a central "master" repository. Some systems, such as darcs and the git family are decentralized at their core; the excellent SVK client layers decentralization on top of a modern centralized system, Subversion.
* Embrace anarchy. One of the key realizations of modern Internet projects (the oft-quoted Web 2.0) is that on the whole, your users can be trusted. The key is that the users also need to have the tools needed to repair any damage the tiny minority may cause. For a development project, modern version control systems can give you "anarchy with an audit trail". If something does go wrong (intentionally or more l
Yet countless articles provide evidence of results changing from moment to moment, pages appearing and disappearing. This has already been documented. Behold, the Google Dance.
and, now. for all you people that know it doesn't really begin until 1. not like our current year 2000 which is not the beginning of a new miillenium... FIRST> FIRST!!!!!!!! scientific first!
Slashdot Mirror
And that applies to their employees, too. Medicare is cheaper than providing real health insurance. Hahahaha. Walmart employees can't get sick. Sucks for them!
Or, just make more money, so you barely notice the prices.
We, too, are glad you don't live here, green-skinned one.
Yeah, I'm also glad that blue-skinned guy doesn't live here.
There's no Icelandic Windows? What do they use over there?
Every project has a set of goals that guide it through the meandering path of development. For some projects, these goals are unspoken, seen only in the primary style of the code, or in the size and shape of its APIs. When Autrijus Tang started the Pugs project to create a Perl 6 compiler, he had an explicit goal: optimize for fun. Fondly referred to as -Ofun -- a typical compiler writer's joke, referring to the standard -O flag used to tell a compiler what its primary optimization goal should be -- optimizing for fun is probably the most important decision Autrijus made. Optimizing for fun has had tremendous benefits. In just 8 months, the Pugs project has gained well over 100 committers, averaging about 30 commits a day for the life of the project. Unlike many projects, these commits do not all come from a handful of people. In fact, the 3 busiest developers can only claim about half the commits; the rest are well spread, with 50% of the developers able to claim 9 or more, 25% having 24 or more, and 10% having over 150 commits each! The team is not just productive, it's also creative. Starting with just a single interpreted backend written in Haskell, Pugs has added compiled backends for JavaScript, Parrot, and Perl 5. Dozens of modules have been written or ported, ranging from encryption algorithms to IRC bots. Various developers have experimented with concepts ranging from continuations and coroutines to self-referential preludes and efficient type inferrence, with working code often leading the official specs. Of course, this should come as no surprise. As any cognitive science expert will tell you, fun is a great way to focus the mind. Developers that aren't enjoying themselves will slow down, write buggy code, make poor decisions, and eventually leave the project (even one that pays). Conversely, rampant fun will bring coders in droves, and give them a passion for their work that shows in quality, quantity, and goodwill. It's a pretty good bet that optimizing for fun will produce a better product than almost any other method. So what's Autrijus's secret for -Ofun? As he puts it, "the essence of fun boils down to instant gratification and a sense of wonder and discovery." Or as chromatic calls it, imagineering. It turns out there's quite a bit that goes into that: * Make -Ofun your primary goal (there can be only one). Next time you're forced to come up with a vision or mission statement, try that one on for size. (If management agrees, you've chosen a good place to work.) Every other goal chosen for the project should either flow from that one, or be secondary to it. * Use modern, decentralized version control. If you're not already using a version control system, shame on you. If you are still using an old system such as CVS, RCS, or SourceSafe, you're really missing out. Modern systems offer atomic changesets (so all edits relating to a single conceptual change can be captured together), full versioning of directories and symbolic links (so that files can be moved, copied, or renamed and still maintain full history), fast tags and branches, and more. Most important, modern version control systems offer decentralized, offline operation. Every developer can keep a local copy of the repository on their laptop, editing and committing locally to their heart's content, even when network access is unavailable. When ready for a merge, the developer can push changes to other developers or to a central "master" repository. Some systems, such as darcs and the git family are decentralized at their core; the excellent SVK client layers decentralization on top of a modern centralized system, Subversion. * Embrace anarchy. One of the key realizations of modern Internet projects (the oft-quoted Web 2.0) is that on the whole, your users can be trusted. The key is that the users also need to have the tools needed to repair any damage the tiny minority may cause. For a development project, modern version control systems can give you "anarchy with an audit trail". If something does go wrong (intentionally or more l
That says something about Microsoft's reputation.
Yet countless articles provide evidence of results changing from moment to moment, pages appearing and disappearing.
This has already been documented. Behold, the Google Dance.
You're a stupid ho.
Support partial birth incestuous facials!
DON'T eat me! put me down your pants!! pour hot grits down your pants; OOG!
-hot grits-
Insure your cherries from fire, floods, and nigerian scams. aetna snoopy life long buddha certificate holders are eligible.
chinese moon base.
not one joke in all the slashdot comments with this phrase.
i feel betrayed.
for great justice.
this is the new fuckedcompany.com--only they aren't fucked. And they're doing the fucking...
we can't colocate anal anthem 2000, can we?
wow. a troll got +5.
Anonymous Cowards sometimes make the best points. This is one of those times. I think (+5, Funny) would fit here.
I was walking down the street the other day, but it hurt. why? BECAUSE /I/ WAS IN MY PANTS
3 != B
If I was Russion, I'd drown myself in vodka, too.
I'm American; that doesn't stop me.
and, now. for all you people that know it doesn't really begin until 1. not like our current year 2000 which is not the beginning of a new miillenium... FIRST> FIRST!!!!!!!! scientific first!
FIRST I'M FIRST I'M FIRST I'M FIRST YAY.
that's it. you're really starting to piss the fuck off out of me. How about you suck my pale white cock?
doesn't matter. you're still a dick head. nyah nyah!
yeah, well maybe if you stopped talking to yourself and making both of us look stupid, i'd let you give it a shot.
go ahead. I'm only the driver. thanks a lot, dick head.