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User: Murdoch5

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Comments · 2,207

  1. Re:Hardware is essential on Crossing the Divide From Software Dev To Hardware Dev · · Score: 1

    Software Engineering courses need to be updated to include hardware based design and understanding courses. Like you clearly pointed out, you need to understand what goes on under the hood to be a good programmer.

  2. Re:Hardware is essential on Crossing the Divide From Software Dev To Hardware Dev · · Score: 2

    I would venture that if you ask any modern computer science student about things like, CPU / MPU state, I/O load, Pipeline state, Memory allocation at the byte level, CPU / MPU interruption and more, they couldn't answer you. All of these and more need to be actively in your head well you code. It doesn't matter if you are writing a music player like iTunes of an Embedded Firmware, you need to approach the problem from the bare metal up.

    I have a friend taking a Software Engineering degree right now and when I look at his code I shutter. Well his code is pretty and utilizes managed run-times and style, it's generally a resource disaster and he's admitted to me they don't even have a course on resource management. He can't tell me how many bytes of memory his program will use, how to optimize the pipeline for better run-time, how to save I/O loading through DMA requests and etc... Basically he can't answer any of the questions that determine if his program will actually be optimized or just a standard sluggish, not responding windows program.

    If he had a good understanding of hardware and thought more like an embedded developer he would be able to answer questions like this and instead of using X resources he would able to put a number down and measure aspects like run-time performance, register allocation, DMA access and more. It's not just him, his entire class is like this and from what I know about the profs it's not going to get better anytime soon.

    Desktop programmers need to understand hardware in order to become good programmers because all the modern concepts of software development don't mean jack if you can't at the end of the day express the state of the system you're work on.

  3. Hardware is essential on Crossing the Divide From Software Dev To Hardware Dev · · Score: 2

    Without having a good understanding of hardware development you can not be a good Desktop or Embedded level developer.

  4. Re:Amazing on Ask Slashdot: What Are the Hardest Things Programmers Have To Do? · · Score: 1

    I had to once walk out of the room and I was still so mad I just went home mid day. The next day when I came back to the room the guy that made me mad still hadn't corrected his mistake and still hadn't finished his work.

  5. Re:Amazing on Ask Slashdot: What Are the Hardest Things Programmers Have To Do? · · Score: 0

    LOL! I don't care about mod points, I just care that force one a realistic list on programming problems finally got posted.

  6. Amazing on Ask Slashdot: What Are the Hardest Things Programmers Have To Do? · · Score: 2, Informative

    I actually agree with that list.

  7. Re:Good! It's not a religion on Scientology's Fraud Conviction Upheld In France · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You're right, I'm in completely agreement, which is why I don't subscribe to any one theological context. However I mention mormonism because one of it's staple proofs is that the Native Americans will have blood ties back to Israel and this has been tested and totally proven not to exist, hence proving one of the main "proofs" of the church false.

  8. Good! It's not a religion on Scientology's Fraud Conviction Upheld In France · · Score: 4, Informative

    Scientology is a cult, it's entire story is based off a science fiction novel written by man who wanted to make a religion! All of that would be fine but then to charge your members fees to read from books is kind of messed up, that would be like the library charging you based on every book you took out. I don't see how any logical adult can honestly see Scientology as anything but a joke, it's only slightly more a joke then the Mormon based religion, both of which have near 0 evidence for what they take as fact.

  9. Bullshit on Shutdown Cost the US Economy $24 Billion · · Score: 1

    I would garnish the wages of everyone who works in congress until that is repaid.

  10. Re:Really on Oracle Attacks Open Source; Says Community-Developed Code Is Inferior · · Score: 1

    Okay granted but compared to crap like Windows and Mac, Linux shines over them. Oracle made a blanket comment but it doesn't hold as two of the biggest common place desktop level operating systems both pail in comparison.

  11. Linux is the most secure and stable OS. Windows freezes, crashes and is inferior in all stability and security comparisons. So Oracle is just trolling.

  12. Web and Embedded on How To Develop Unmaintainable Software · · Score: 1, Informative

    I work on a lot of web / embedded development and without a shadow of a doubt the worst aspects of most developers are:

    1) Comments - 98% of programmers can't write a decent comment.
    2) Object Oriented - This term usually means the code is structured like a child got let loose on the code and it can't be managed. Not always but usually if you hear object oriented design the code will be crap.
    3. Formatting - Don't use spaces, use tabs! I should be able to open your code on Linux, Mac or Windows in any editor without issue.
    4. Ansi / Posix - Don't lock your code to any one platform, it should be portable so just forget crap like .NET
    5. In code documentation - if I have to decode your logic it sucks.
    6. Bad structures - Don't use massive loops and flow when a simple goto might be a better solution, being a smart-ass makes you look like an idiot.

    I could keep going but I think it's a good inital list, make sure I can work on your bloody code easily.

  13. Qualification on UK Court Orders Two Sisters Must Receive MMR Vaccine · · Score: 1

    I'm so glad that the everyday person is so overly qualified to know the benefits / harm of vaccinations. I don't care what your person reasons are for not getting vaccinated, the fact is vaccinations are good and in 99.9999999% of all cases harmless. I keep reading posts on Facebook, ABC News, MSN and etc.... about why parents should be careful about vaccinating there kids. I also read posts about parents who speak to the wealth of incorrect information about the link between vaccinations and autism and other mental disorders. The fact is 99.999% of the parents who decide to not vaccinate are completely and udderly unqualified to make that decision, unqualified from the standpoint of evidence, knowledge, research and intelligence.

    I'm extremely glad that a court stepped in and forced this vaccination, I think more courts need to be stepping in and forcing vaccinations. The point is if you are going to decide not to vaccinate a child then please present your research that will clearly show the negative effects, when you can't do that then please stop playing doctor and listen to the real experts. If a child is hurt from the effects of not being vaccinated then it's child abuse and negligence and I don't see why we should hold the parents responsible.

  14. Don't do Micro-USB on Nokia Design Guru Urges Apple To End Cable Chaos · · Score: 1

    Mini-USB is the smallest connector that anyone should reasonably consider.

  15. Haha fail on BlackBerry Founders May Try To Take Over the Company · · Score: 1

    He already ran the company into this situation. The problems at Blackberry are so bad that even a child could spot them, I know a few of the staff being laid off and they with out even trying can pick out the issues. If you never meet deadlines, never innovate, copy the market and become stale, you fail.

  16. What? on 90% of Nuclear Regulators Sent Home Due To Shutdown · · Score: 1

    Okay I don't think allowing nuclear plants to remain understaffed is a good idea, this isn't walmart, if things go wrong its a game over scenario.

  17. Almost a complete list on What Are the Genuinely Useful Ideas In Programming? · · Score: 1

    I would say then do that list in Java, C and ASM.

  18. Throw the book out on What Developers Can Learn From Healthcare.gov · · Score: 1

    From my experience the way you write bad code is to follow the "accepted" practices. Modern software engineering, and I use engineering very reluctantly, does not teach good coding practices. A rule which is never taught, at least I've never seen taught, is how to test your code properly. You need to do things like load testing, refresh testing, sequence testing and pattern testing. There is a reason why any good development company will have a full testing department because you really do need that level of attention to it.

    The other practice that is often overlooked is to hire programmers and not software engineers. A programmer is the guy / girl who can sit down and bang out a tasty script or program to do a task with out needing to pseudo code or flow chart it or use big bulky IDE's or do code reviews and etc, they literally program. Engineering software is like trying to engineer baking, you can put the all the theory you want behind it but in the end I just want an apple pie. You'll get better code 95% of the time if you don't hire the software engineer. I can't even tell you how many times I've had to ask the professional software engineer to rewrite his / her code because it sucked.

    Finally don't go live until you know the code is mostly flawless, you'll never get all the bugs out but you can get most of them out. When a website or program is released and it's full of bugs / issues, it just shows that the people behind it, management included, should not be involved with programming. If we went back to the old days, the 90's, then we'd see better code across the board. The only thing software engineer has done is brake good coding and turned it into a joke.

  19. It wasn't a revelation on Security After the Death of Trust · · Score: 0

    If you actually though that you could use a mobile phone, mobile computer or the internet with out being tracked then you deserved to surprised by the NSA leak. Why would a government not take the effort to look into what people do on a daily basis when they have the technology . For most people it is really not an issue, you only have to worry when you have something to hide. It's funny how people whine and freak out about privacy but they don't really have a point, only the assumed guilty act like they must hid what they do. People who know they aren't breaking the law and don't intend to aren't afraid of just letting people see what they do on a daily basis.

    Personally I think it's funny that this entire thing has grown so out of proportion. If you actually thought you had security and privacy online then you have the problem, not the group that was looking at you.

  20. Re:don't on Ask Slashdot: Suitable Phone For a 4-Year Old? · · Score: 1

    A cell phone can be useful but I just think as a society we've come to dependant on them. We've gotten to the point that people won't even call when they need something they will just text. I think back to when I was a teenage like 10 years ago an I didn't have a phone and I wouldn't of missed one.

  21. don't on Ask Slashdot: Suitable Phone For a 4-Year Old? · · Score: 4, Insightful

    A 4 year old shouldnt have a phone, a 14 year old shouldn't have a phone. We really need as a society to get off the cell phone kick. Very few of the people who have a phone need one.

  22. Re:Interesting Concept on How Early Should Kids Learn To Code? · · Score: 1

    Which I never said, glad the school system still focuses on reading comprehension.

  23. Interesting Concept on How Early Should Kids Learn To Code? · · Score: 1

    I think around grade 4 is where kids should get tested for if they should be taught programming or foreign language. A programming language should be taught of as a real language just like french, german or russian. If some kids can easily grasp foreign languages ( polyglots ) and some kids can pick up computer programming easily, then why teach them the same. I think we're entering a time when we need to start tailoring the education system into groups. Kids who can learn languages easily should take languages, where as kids that want to program and play with computers should be given computers. Forcing a kids to learn something like french when they will never understand it or teaching them C when they will never understand it is pointless, I think in grade 4 it's time to start figuring out what kind of stream kids should be in, computing, music, english, languages and etc.... Specializing the elementary school system could lead to much smarter kids.

  24. But good parenting will over come what any video game will give her.

  25. I think you should be exposing your kids to this kind of violence through video games because it will improve character and strengthen a child so they're ready for real life. When I was a kid my dad took the stance that ya I'm going to get scared, I'm going to get hurt and I'm going to be fun of and joked at so I can either deal with it and take it or cry and run away. Of course he was ready to step in if needed but it never had to happen, thanks to me being exposed to violence in video games and not over protective parenting I've developed into a great man today that is ready for the world. I have friends and family who were raised very protected and blocked off from video games and TV and videos that could "hurt", "offend" them or had violence and they are cry babies who need to be hand held to do anything. To be clear I'm not saying it's a dry and clean cut case but from my personal experience and the people I know it certainly has become at least in my view that kids exposed to movies, tv and video games with violence in them turn out better off in the long run.