gcc isn't just a compiler it is an entire philosophy based on supporting computing language grammar.
If you just want a C compiler then perhaps it isn't what you need.
But if you want:
1) Cross platform support of a variety of computer grammars. 2) Very simple, highly modular architecture to facilitate building extensions and finding bugs. 3) The most sophisticated support tools for debugging and optimization of code. 4) A much better license that fosters community contribution and growth without cost. 5) Multi-threaded huge compilation capabilities with tools to do clustered compilations of massive code trees. 6) CPU independant code generation and optimization capabilities. 7) GCC is tried and true and has compiled more code than any compiler EVER has. Beat those stats. [....list too long due to the limited storage capacity of Slashdot servers.]
With respect to 4, unlike a BSD based license which encourages corporate theft of everyones hard work might I add.
What they are saying is simply impossible.
pcc cannot take over gcc's job because if it did it would be just as large and have the exact same problems as gcc.
One of gcc's job's is to turn C code into binary form, which sure, then maybe.
But gcc does way way WAY too many things to simply be replaced outright by this little C "and thats it" compiler.
"He doesn't get summarily executed. His wife doesn't get raped at gunpoint. His child doesn't get burned in an oven."
Mmmm....mighty fine line there what you describe.
How many times in history can we define where governments take small steps up to the above, and each time citizens proclaim it fascism?
Right now in the USA, the constitution of our country is looked upon a merely a "historical" document, nothing really practical to base a government on.
I mean, right now you have people arguing that the right to bear arms is really not needed anymore, and that it causes too many problems for example. Even arguing that the only people who should have the right to arms is the military or police.
These people honestly believe that the USA government couldn't possibly turn on its citizens, or its systems of law and justice could not either.
I point this out because the government has already marginalized most of the population in this country as both the democratic and republican parties themselves are widely known to be corrupt and simply corporate fronts to tame the populace. (i.e. as long as the population THINKS voting is making a difference and they THINK they are choosing candidates, they will not interested in what is really going on.)
Small steps to fascism do not need to be compared against its extremes. History shows us they are all the same and have the same tragic results.
Almost all of it is due to human greed, and the lust for power.
The only sure thing we can count on, is that in the end all governments, with no exceptions, crumble to dust and the tyranny they leave behind form better lessons for us to begin again.
"This isn't directed entirely at you, but I do find these "I don't trust Windows Update" type comments quite ridiculous. So you trust Microsoft to write your computer's entire operating system, but you're afraid that a patch might contain something nefarious?"
MMmmm...lets apply that reasoning SHALL WE?
Trust implies I have a decision to make. So, from your statement above, your saying that my ERP system that runs on Windows, because it doesn't really have any other choice due to the fact:
1) It is an ancient system, company can't change it without huge losses. 2) Contains all of my employee data on it. 3) No other system we have found on the market will migrate easily or even cheaply.
implies that trust is a choice, when I put to you in the context of your statement above, patches ARE a choice.
The OS platform isn't a choice, not for us anyway.
The patches ARE NOT trusted because of the OS issues outstanding in the first place. A direct result do to the disregard for anti-trust, anti racketeering and anti monopoly laws that currently leaves me with NO CHOICE in your argument.
Trust has NOTHING to do with the OS platform in most cases. Applications drive that, so you do not have a choice, so trust is pointlessly emphasized.
Patches are entirely different as many have pointed out, Microsoft has in the past patched thier operating system to prevent certain 3rd party software from working. Partciulalry if Microsoft feels the market share that 3rd party has, it now wants ALL TO ITSELF.
Case and Point: Novell Netware's Network Login Client.
To obtain the TRUST part BACK in the operating system platform area, we need to eliminate any OS that doesn't publish its source code.
That day is already here (Linux). But for some companies, due to the lock in issue, the APPLICATIONS don't exist.....
It is amazing you are the only one that sees the issues surrounding cases like these.
Most of the posts here entirely miss the point that just because a private entity exists, does not give it the right to break our laws by signing something on paper.
These same people that marked me down as a Troll will now no doubt, bitch moan and complain they cannot get Wireless drivers for their Linux machines!
Exactly. The whole point about the risk is not that using Open Source software eliminates it entirely, it is more to the point you can make the risk assessment yourself with hands on the source code.
That is something you cannot make any determination about with closed source software.
The idea that closed source offers better security through obscurity then becomes a complete fallacy. Lack of choice in making these determinations doesn't make closed source software more secure, it makes it LESS secure.
Secure networks, software and computing systems are based on understanding all of the facts. If someone hides facts from you in source code you cannot make an informed decision, you also cannot take steps to prevent any security issues you believe are a problem in the source code.
I have written about this before on Slashdot, and what the future holds for publishing in general, and any practical learning aid: Don't have Cash or Employed? Too bad, so sad because if you do not have either, your going to go to jail if you attempt to do research yourself.
Its all about controlling information just like it was back in the Dark Ages when lowly surfs caught trying to learn how to read where harshly dealt with, unless of course they had the permission of the Church or the Nobles.
The majority of information in the United States government is now owned and managed by the vast corporate military industrial complex in the name of "Homeland Security and Defense Secrets."
Its just part of our "transition" from a republic into an Empire.
"With Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell acknowledging that the 'private sector' had a hand in assisting the president's warrantless wiretapping initiative"
So, if this argument is then accepted, we can now consider any corporate entity in the USA a part of the United States government.
So, this is JUST what corporations want. It goes, same to same, that is a coporation can enjoin itself and become an arm of the government, acting on enforcing a governments whishes, then this corporation then has all of the powers of said government.
This is the next step in turning the USA from a republic into an empire in my opinion.
Once corporations are granted that sort of legal power, which they technically already do have, its called your CREDIT RATING, then the last two pieces fall into place:
1) First abridge and control the government laws on credit and trade and put it under the "watchful" eye of just 3 corporations, which hold a trinity of economic power greater than the government itself. Have those entities draw "taxes" from its "citizens" if they wish to buy sell or trade.
You do this every time you check your credit history on a yearly basis. Its is almost required now to do so because if you don't you could seriously injure yourself economically.
Then they have you by the gonads because they want that credit check "tax" to buy borrow or trade as frequently as possible.
Thats why it is so easy to steal identities. For the credit agencies, its BIG business to incompetently manage everyones credit history.
Yes, that would be Equifax, Trans Union, and that other guy.
2) Next step is to generalize corporate law, and insure it is enforced by the government by making it one and the same entity.
Thats what this case is about. I hear a ton of people here crying about separation of church and state, while the merging of government and business gets the BIG GREEN LIGHT with every election that flies by.
3) Final step in this process of becoming an empire is to require citizenship based on employment. If you lose your JOB, your technically NOT A citizen of the Empire of the United States.
That is what happens next: You don't vote anymore, because states will cease to exist. The only states are corporations, and the larger the corporation you belong too, the more power you will wield in privs.
Question: These people allowed all of our technology such as computers...etc....out of the country and NOW they have a problem with simple storage devices?
Whats wrong with this picture?
China already owns Taiwan all nice and legal like.
The Chinese already HAVE everything they need to build anything they want.
The Chinese OWN the United States. China has been buying our treasury bills to float the home mortgages everyone has for christ sake, along with those credit cards everyone on average owes like $5K on!
NOW they have a problem with moving a relatively simple technology like drive storage out of the country?
Use a ticket system. I help customers setup RT. (http://bestpractical.com/rt/)
How does that help?
Well, it allows coordination within a group, or shifted workgroups to identify and track changes in systems, and the status on certain things.
For example, did you change the iptables entries on the router for the primary hub in the network?
You then write a RT ticket entry on why, and what you changed.
Then everyone in your group gets a copy.
That way if something stoped working, or you made a typo people know "Ok, things stopped working, what has changed in the past 8 hours?"
You can use RT to track stuff like that.
If your a "Bean Counter from Hell", you can use it to track labor, and what was done over a given period of time and why.
At the end of the year, you can do some pretty interesting reviews of the what types of jobs were most in demand, what stuff likes to break all the time. (i.e. MMmmm...lots of windows problems on the desktops/servers. I think we should probably put more Linux boxes in this year to reduce our workload.):-)
1) Sony from what I can tell is a backer of SecureROM, but not directly related to 2K, which made the game.
I am not sure why there are posts about not buying Sony products, but in keeping with the over all "stupidity" that is going on in the industry, I am not at all surprised Sony backs SecureROM.
2) Regardless of the accuracy of the initial Blog, the level of "ALARM" that should be acknowledged about this SecureROM software is highly justified.
Putting software on a computer that bypasses security in a cloaked fashion as SecureROM does, and then at the same time putting a "Happy Smiley" face on the EULA for someone that is not qualified to understand the implications of installing the service on the computer, to sign off on is unforgivable.
2K knows damn well that the average person playing games on their home PC probably also does their Quicken, Web based banking, etc on the same computer.
The security implications are obvious.
You know, when I bought Supreme Commander it didn't take long time find out that the initial releases of the games DRM controls was really screwing the games ability to run on a wide variety of different PC configurations.
What was the vendors response? They issued an update to remove it from the game. Amazingly, a large number of people reported that the game doesn't crash anymore, they can make backups of their data again because they could burn CD's reliably once more.
Imagine that?
3) What is needed is a good lawsuit against these sorts of companies that puts them out of business, not the little "pinch" on the wrist that Sony got, with as much fanfare as possible.
I mean, come on. There has to be some really vile blood sucking lawyers out there that can think in really BIG class action terms! This is your chance to not only be the king of blood suckers, but actually do some good for a change and put these idiots out of business.
Probably the only time I will ever ask for a lawyers help in my lifetime.
4) What I cannot understand is why companies feel they can install this software and defeat the security of the OS and third party applications, in the context of the DMCA and get away with such small fines?
Yet, if you make a copy or defeat a copy mechanism for a movie or mp3 you can literally as a private citizen go to jail for years and pay 6 figures in restitution just because you want to make copies of your stuff you rightfully purchased, or paid to view at a later date because you have a job, and have to pay taxes?
The best thing that the community can do is write to 2K here:
622 Broadway New York, New York 10012 Tel: 646 723 4200
inquiries@2kgames.com
and let them know it is NOT alright to install SecureROM or any software that attempts to circumvent security placed on customers machines. Make sure you tell them that you WILL hold them liable for any software that happens to come along and take advantage of the holes SecureROM provides on your machine and SUE them.
I will have to chime in here and say you raise some really good points.
Most women especially hate the on call part.
I.T. is not a fun job, lets face it if you are in any level of authority, you have lots of responsibility.
I spend half my time trying to avoid disasters by planning infrastructure, and the other half of my time going to school and climbing the academic latter, and I am 40 years old now.
I do not see this changing anytime soon.
When I was a CIO I was under huge gorilla sized amounts of stress, and as the technical leader for my organization everyone turned to me as the "answer guy".
That much attention and responsibility and dedication to ones job in all facets is not something the typical women likes to do.
I think this is a social issue though, not a genetic one.
Western society is trying to equalize that but it will be a couple more generations before women are born and are educated with the mindset required to really want to do I.T. work at the dame depth as males right now.
Not a bad thing, women just are more interested in contributing in different areas at the moment than in the scientific or technical areas.
Furthermore, I don't see it as a "shame" or a bad thing.
"The problem isn't that there isn't anyone else out there. With so many billions of stars and planets, the odds that there are other intelligent beings out there are astronomically large. (Pun slightly intended.) The problem is that the distances required to travel to reach them and also astronomically large, and the odds that there is life on any given planet are infinitesimally small."
I do not believe distance is a problem.
Increasingly we are finding physical solutions in the laboratory that suggest distance isn't a problem, particularly with quantum teleportation.
Modern physics is great if you want to construct a nuclear aircraft carrier, or a atomic bomb. The laws we have created from observation will build these things just fine. Also note, all major advances in humans beings knowledge has so far been ONLY from the fact we are hateful, selfish creatures in these areas and love to blow our fellow creatures away in every means possible. EVERY major advance in physics in the 20th century was from building the A Bomb/Hydrogen bomb.
Same in aerodynamics, build better airplaces that can fly further to "Drop those bombs".
But I digress....
But, say if you want to create a interstellar drive or propulsion system, our physics is EXTREMELY primitive. But that is because we don't WANT TO.
We are too busy seeing how big of a house we can get and pack it full of worthless crap. Exploring space is the last thing we have on our minds, so the physics to do it is not yet available in a practical sense. (i.e. we use the same physics to power space exploration as we do with airplanes...etc.).
I would like to remind everyone here that we still do not know how gravity works in the standard model.
I mean, take for example how we CALCULATE gravimetric equations, such as using Runge Kutta 5 methodologies.
The greatest break through in calculus was finding the instantaneous solution to a average problem.
For example take speed. You can get MPH which is d/t=speed, but in a 1 hour trip how do you find the speed at time 45 minutes, 23 seconds?
??
The derivative answers those sorts of questions.
The problem of course, physics has a hard time reconciling an "instantaneous moment" with everything that has a speed limit of light.
Which of course, is how we plot the course of ALL planetary probes. It is a VERY odd thing to suggest gravity travels at only the speed of light when the mathematical methodology your using requires you to use instantaneous moments to make course corrections in a 10 body problem.
Last time I looked, there was no propogation corrections for gravity in any astro mechanics textbook I have ever read. For astro physics this is a common thing to do, but then, you are measuring the light of objects reaching you, not gravity. In fact when communicating with the mars rovers, we have to compensate for the speed of light any action we take with the rover.
Just because a Probe is say 93 Million miles from the sun, we do not compensate thrusters because the course in direction in a gravity field as to "propagate" back to the sun in 4 minutes or so. It is instantaneous.
Which is my point.
Of course it "just works" so here we sit, still not understanding why? My guess is, that the standard model is probably about 20% there. There are other forces, and energies in the universe that comprise our physical space. If I told you there was a form of energy that permeates the entire universe, you would probably have called me nuts a few years ago.
But now, we know there is yet another force we do not understand how it works, besides gravity. (i.e. Google "Dark Energy").
No, that isn't correct, THREE forces. (Google Dark Matter).
Can you make a propulsion system out of these forces? (i.e. Gravity, Dark Matter, Dark Energy). Who knows!
Now for the shocker: "We are absolutely bathed in the stuff all the time Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Actual matter, you know the
"Sex does not map onto procreation one-to-one. Even if you discount contraceptives as completely untrustworthy, there are plenty of ways to have sex - both homo- and hetero-sexual - that carry no risk of pregnancy."
Errr..no. If that was true we wouldn't have 6 Billion people. Your statement is a contradiction in terms, typical of elitist bull people like you foster on poor developing nations which do not have the cash to buy your "many different ways to have sex with no procreation." Sorry if the lack of compassion shown in your response makes me a tad angry.
"Conflating sex with procreation is what various religions have done for much of human history - which is exactly what got us into the 6-billion-plus population mess we've got right now. Please don't perpetuate this idea."
Now I get it! Overpopulation is all due to religion!! How simple?!
DESTROY ALL RELIGION. That will save us!
Err, no. Perhaps your fear of religion is just a insecurity reflected in the fact you can't solve all questions of strictly with "Hypothesis, Experimentation, Conclusion"?
How about this one: Over population is due to the religious practice of science and technology, increasing peoples life spans, killing diseases and other various natural things that keep everything in balance like it has for thouands of years. Might I add it does so with no increase in wisdom, or understanding which has given a us a world ruled by the super elite, nuclear wars such as WWII and object materialism that is destroying biological ecosystems on a massive scale.
KILL ALL SCIENTISTS, that will save us!!
Err, no. That would be bad of course.
So what to do?
If you would care to read, almost all of the population growth is in the poor developing countries, NOT in modern western countries. Most modern countries in fact have almost 0 population growth. USA is basically growing because Mexico is annexing the southern half of the USA by unlimited immigration, for example.:-)
The problem is human beings and the divorce of science and religion from each other.
If the problem of over population really is the cause of either religion, perhaps some of it, and science because of advances in medical areas, perhaps combined science and religion really can save us.
Religion teaches some of the more fundamental disclined uses of existing beyond the consumption of material things. This attends to the needs of the human spirits happines.
If you think having all the money in the world will make you happy, no it will not. I hope this is obvious.
Science provides us with material things, tending to our material wants and needs. That gives you a level of happiness. But then if your not searching for food all the time, that means you have time on your hands..the mind begins to wander and you can find yourself bored. When you reach that point, its time to get religion.
It would seem that a world where people are divorced from religion, and science has the upper hand, materialism and all of the human misery that goes with it rules as well.
Science doesn't teach things like compassion, kindness, helping the poor. These things cannot be weighed, analyzed, or measured. Science is powerless. Religion provides whole systems of knowledge that help you understand the consequences of not doing these things and what the consequences are.
Likewise, a world ruled by religion without tempered reason yields the same. Both worlds have come to be and both will pass.
I doubt, as long as we discuss sex, its uses both responsible and not so responsible, IMHO are problematic in a world where religion and science are divorced from each other and not united.
Humans spirit and material needs are both at issue with sex, but we refuse to embrace BOTH of the tools required to bring us happiness and wisdom. Sex is very much like this.
Science and religion I think would solve over population. I swear sometimes people are just
A public instituion such as a University doesn't pay its members $500 Million dollar parachutes!
When a representative of a research institution such as a public university, pleads for money, the individual there isn't going to get the money he is pleading for. The institution gets it.
Please!
I think the disconnect is on the other side of the fence here if you don't mind me saying so.
When I say sinister, I mean self interested greed, and thats what is different between a public institution and a corporation.
Well, the situation is different, I am not sure where you go to school.
But, I can tell you this is not a minor issue today with kids.
Take University Wisconsin Madison as an example. The average time to complete a 4 year degree program there is now for over half, is 6 years some even more than that, 7 or 8. The other half do it in less than 6 years.
The University Wisconsin has instituted in some years as much as a 10-15% tution increase year to year. Average that out over day 6 years, and you have quite an increase.
What is the reasons why the University Wisconsin is seeing those sorts of increases in time for graduation?
Almost all of it is due to life circumstances of some sort, around cash restrictions.
Some students I have talked with say they do not want to take out loans for that THAT much of their education, so they only took 9 credits a semester for a year or two so they could work.
Loans and credit debt is killing this country as is. I don't think it is fair that someone who wants to go to school has to be in debt 40K out of the gate just so they can study and obtain academic credentials to work in a desired profession.
There are other horror stories of course, students getting ill for example and wiping them out financially, then trying to go back to school to get loans only to find that they cannot get them as their credit is wiped out from a 2 year bout with cancer.
Education should be something that allows people to move ahead, and challenge individuals to see how far they can go.
Not stop them dead in their tracks because of a money restriction.
I am glad to see you were not subjected to this common malady, but a lot of people are from what I can tell from the statistics.
To change this, I am wondering how much education should be subsidized by society and how much should not be?
If there are answers, it will have to come from congress or sweeping changes in how we pay for education in this country.
I would like to see more corporate sponsorship of the University system and allow students to use journeyman like curricula to pay for college. Some sort of requirement by law for engineering firms for example to keep maybe 4-5 students on their payroll working, as well as taking classes for proper academic credentials.
This would allow students a better salary than working at McDonalds and Wong's Wok and Best Buy while trying to go to school. We (in my CIO days...) experimented with paying students $10-$12 an hour for work programming real, carefully supervised work for our customers while working with the University placement services to find the person a job in our company after graduation.
This worked out very well. But this isn't a requirement right now for companies, and it should be. The company benefits from cheaper labor, the student benefits because he received class credit, and real work experience. Plus, you get a decent wage so you don't have to work 3 jobs, just one. For a chosen major, this should be a requirement. This also leaves students more time to work on their liberal arts studies too, for a nice well rounded individual.
I gave a talk at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh on the "so called" engineering shortage "propaganda" a vast majority of the CEO's and colleges today put out today. Colleges I can understand, because with a larger student enrollment they can get more state dollars. So, they can and often do say whatever they want to, to get more state funding.
What CEO's say, is downright sinister in my opinion and nothing short of pure GREED.
I gave a couple of examples about the trends in off shoring of jobs, but the real question isn't, "How many engineers do we need." I think the markets are willing to manage their own demand.
Besides, American CEO's are not interested in that question, they are more interested in a similar question. Certainly not that one though.
So I explained to my audience, that when you hear these CEO's in front of congress preaching they need more off shore help because there is a "shortage" of qualified engineers, keep in mind they are not asking your congressional reps the full "question".
Certainly I can assure you all hear, when they mean "qualified" they do not mean academic credentials.
What they really mean is, there is not enough fully qualified engineers willing to work for $5 bucks and hour in software, industrial design and architecture, and they cannot find them anywhere in the United States.
Furthermore, I think the educational system in general in this country is way over priced as is, for what you get anyway.
You are practically asking a person to become a financial serf unless of course your wealthy enough to actually go to a University, get through in 4 years (i.e. because you don't have to work and go to school at the same time.).
Particularly if you are in an engineering program which is very very challenging in the number of hours you have to dedicate yourself in.
People are screwed because if it takes you about 6 years to complete a engineering degree, your going to endure a much larger increase in educational expenses, at a much lower living wage.
This can make FINISHING school a VERY hard challenge for a vast majority of students out there, who thought the hardest part of getting into a University institution was just a SAT score, or good grades in high school.
Many are finding, that PALES in comparison to actually STAYING in school and finishing it while working 2-3 jobs while paying for yearly expenses.
Which in the end, you have to ask yourself how much depth you put into that education with a C+ average was really worth it after 6 years, because you could barely find enough time to study while maintaining 2 jobs and going to school.
A what? 40K investment for a C+ average? What depth were you actually able to study the material?
Since grades can be a job entrance factor, todays young people are REALLY squeezed between a rock and hard place.
I see many very bright people never given the chance to get that A simply because it is impossible to sustain a 18 hour work day and compete with "the silver spoon" kids which all they have to do is go to school, and basically do their home work.
I drew a picture of "Johnny" and "Rick" both computer science students. "Johnny" I would say was actually a more intelligent kid than "Rick". But Johnny consistently got lower grades, and had a few late assignments which cost him grade points. "Johnny" had to use the computer lab for most of his work because he had no computer in his dorm. The computers in the computer lab though were not kept up well, slow and very difficult to get on during normal hours. So labs had waiting lists and you had to sign up for computer use.
"Rick" however, not only had a computer, but a laser printer and internet access in his private apartment the old man bought him. Write a compiler? No problem, in a nice quiet apartment with no noisy neighbors, Rick worked deep into the night all through the semester, finishing the project on time, no problem.
Lets take a look at the last 50 or so years of computing, with regards to software development to answer this question.
You have to sit back and ask just one question: Has software advances changed the reliability, cost or efficiency of writing software in the past 50 years?
I don't think it has. Why is that?
Well, I still have my old "Dragon" book from computer science class I took in 1991 at UW Madison. In it much of the same is still the same for example, today as it was 30 some years before I took the class.
The same algorithms in that book can be used on a IBM 360 to compile Fortran or COBOL as today, which you could use the same algorithms to compile Java or C++.
Even the optimization tricks we used during the linking cycle to "Peephole" optimization on the code haven't really changed.
This IS the mathematics part by the way. What I mean by that is, well, we still do integration and differentiation since the 1900's but that doesn't mean thats a bad thing.
Whats important is that in this case we have made advances in computer hardware to solve some important problems in mathematics since then.
Software however is a different story. Although mathematics can point to a body of problems that have been solved, or new methods that have been developed, software engineers today still use the same methods without any tangible advances in the field. We still have efficiency problems, huge cost problems and lots of bugs.
I can still remember in the early 1989..1990's most of my instructors were telling me, by the time I reach my age now, people would no longer be "coding". Everyone would be using "case tools" and that everything would be drag N drop and you would program using "objects" and just connect them together.:-)
I have a private consulting practice. One of the services I offer right now is the "get out of Visual Studio Wizard Jail" services to my customers.
These are the people who actually took this idea and ran with it today. Only to find that the code generated isn't readable by any human being. The tool when its upgraded, will not import their old projects. Furthermore attempt to modify such a brittle environment results in huge time delays to finish.
Thats usually when my phone rings.:-)
So, I come in an scrap the tool framework (i.e. one of the issues I have with visual studio is that many of the wizards assume only Microsoft exists.), replace it with a open standards framework like Apache AXIS for example, and then HAND CODE everything so that is is documentable, and human beings can understand it.
I then tell the customer that they need to hire a well organized object design engineer to manage code reuse and stop using proprietary tool frameworks because they are nothing more than a revenue stream for the vendor. Use open frameworks and set up your own private internal intellectual property. Be your OWN framework provider and YOU decide how much money your going to spend.
But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and academics nor industry can take the credit for it.
It's called open source. Specifically, the social structures that form when the GPL is enforced and software is built that brings to the table a solution that industry nor academics can solve: Scale of forced contribution back into the closed loop system of the development process when MILLIONS of developers and users come together.
I kind of like to think of it as a "quantum" development science. As in quantum mechanics, there is a "fuzzy" boundry between laws that work in the big, but do not seem to have any connection with the laws of the small. Well, we have been stuck for the past 40 years in the "small" because no industry or academic institution could do what the internet has done, in a software development sense.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, sure I will believe that when I see it.
gcc isn't just a compiler it is an entire philosophy based on supporting computing language grammar.
If you just want a C compiler then perhaps it isn't what you need.
But if you want:
1) Cross platform support of a variety of computer grammars.
2) Very simple, highly modular architecture to facilitate building extensions and finding bugs.
3) The most sophisticated support tools for debugging and optimization of code.
4) A much better license that fosters community contribution and growth without cost.
5) Multi-threaded huge compilation capabilities with tools to do clustered compilations of massive code trees.
6) CPU independant code generation and optimization capabilities.
7) GCC is tried and true and has compiled more code than any compiler EVER has. Beat those stats.
[....list too long due to the limited storage capacity of Slashdot servers.]
With respect to 4, unlike a BSD based license which encourages corporate theft of everyones hard work might I add.
What they are saying is simply impossible.
pcc cannot take over gcc's job because if it did it would be just as large and have the exact same problems as gcc.
One of gcc's job's is to turn C code into binary form, which sure, then maybe.
But gcc does way way WAY too many things to simply be replaced outright by this little C "and thats it" compiler.
-Hack
"He doesn't get summarily executed.
His wife doesn't get raped at gunpoint.
His child doesn't get burned in an oven."
Mmmm....mighty fine line there what you describe.
How many times in history can we define where governments take small steps up to the above, and each time citizens proclaim it fascism?
Right now in the USA, the constitution of our country is looked upon a merely a "historical" document, nothing really practical to base a government on.
I mean, right now you have people arguing that the right to bear arms is really not needed anymore, and that it causes too many problems for example. Even arguing that the only people who should have the right to arms is the military or police.
These people honestly believe that the USA government couldn't possibly turn on its citizens, or its systems of law and justice could not either.
I point this out because the government has already marginalized most of the population in this country as both the democratic and republican parties themselves are widely known to be corrupt and simply corporate fronts to tame the populace. (i.e. as long as the population THINKS voting is making a difference and they THINK they are choosing candidates, they will not interested in what is really going on.)
Small steps to fascism do not need to be compared against its extremes. History shows us they are all the same and have the same tragic results.
Almost all of it is due to human greed, and the lust for power.
The only sure thing we can count on, is that in the end all governments, with no exceptions, crumble to dust and the tyranny they leave behind form better lessons for us to begin again.
The USA will not be any different.
-Hack
"This isn't directed entirely at you, but I do find these "I don't trust Windows Update" type comments quite ridiculous. So you trust Microsoft to write your computer's entire operating system, but you're afraid that a patch might contain something nefarious?"
MMmmm...lets apply that reasoning SHALL WE?
Trust implies I have a decision to make. So, from your statement above, your saying that my ERP system that runs on Windows, because it doesn't really have any other choice due to the fact:
1) It is an ancient system, company can't change it without huge losses.
2) Contains all of my employee data on it.
3) No other system we have found on the market will migrate easily or even cheaply.
implies that trust is a choice, when I put to you in the context of your statement above, patches ARE a choice.
The OS platform isn't a choice, not for us anyway.
The patches ARE NOT trusted because of the OS issues outstanding in the first place. A direct result do to the disregard for anti-trust, anti racketeering and anti monopoly laws that currently leaves me with NO CHOICE in your argument.
Trust has NOTHING to do with the OS platform in most cases. Applications drive that, so you do not have a choice, so trust is pointlessly emphasized.
Patches are entirely different as many have pointed out, Microsoft has in the past patched thier operating system to prevent certain 3rd party software from working. Partciulalry if Microsoft feels the market share that 3rd party has, it now wants ALL TO ITSELF.
Case and Point: Novell Netware's Network Login Client.
To obtain the TRUST part BACK in the operating system platform area, we need to eliminate any OS that doesn't publish its source code.
That day is already here (Linux). But for some companies, due to the lock in issue, the APPLICATIONS don't exist.....
Yet.
-Hack
It is amazing you are the only one that sees the issues surrounding cases like these.
Most of the posts here entirely miss the point that just because a private entity exists, does not give it the right to break our laws by signing something on paper.
These same people that marked me down as a Troll will now no doubt, bitch moan and complain they cannot get Wireless drivers for their Linux machines!
Kiss my open source code.
-Hack
Exactly. The whole point about the risk is not that using Open Source software eliminates it entirely, it is more to the point you can make the risk assessment yourself with hands on the source code.
That is something you cannot make any determination about with closed source software.
The idea that closed source offers better security through obscurity then becomes a complete fallacy. Lack of choice in making these determinations doesn't make closed source software more secure, it makes it LESS secure.
Secure networks, software and computing systems are based on understanding all of the facts. If someone hides facts from you in source code you cannot make an informed decision, you also cannot take steps to prevent any security issues you believe are a problem in the source code.
-Hack
"It's AMD's own right to have such a strickt NDA, if you do not agree with it then you just don't go there, it's that simple."
I am sorry. But in a free society corporate fascism is not permissable.
You are also forgetting the NDA is excluding basic human rights organized by the constitution, one of which is the freedom of the press.
Since when does a corporate entity have the right to abridge/amend the constitution?
These companies are out of control claiming they have any and all rights that exceed anything so long as you sign on the dotted line.
This is NOT legal, and they cannot enforce this in a court of law.
(Correction, they cannot enforce it in a court that hasn't been bought off.)
-Hack
This is not surprising.
I have written about this before on Slashdot, and what the future holds for publishing in general, and any practical learning aid: Don't have Cash or Employed? Too bad, so sad because if you do not have either, your going to go to jail if you attempt to do research yourself.
Its all about controlling information just like it was back in the Dark Ages when lowly surfs caught trying to learn how to read where harshly dealt with, unless of course they had the permission of the Church or the Nobles.
The majority of information in the United States government is now owned and managed by the vast corporate military industrial complex in the name of "Homeland Security and Defense Secrets."
Its just part of our "transition" from a republic into an Empire.
Nothing to see here, move along.
-Hack
Not likely to happen anytime soon.
As everyone knows, and for those that do not, infra red wavelengths are absorbed by water vapor.
Keeps us toasty at night, but sadly blocks the infra red for observations at the same time.
-Hack
"With Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell acknowledging that the 'private sector' had a hand in assisting the president's warrantless wiretapping initiative"
So, if this argument is then accepted, we can now consider any corporate entity in the USA a part of the United States government.
So, this is JUST what corporations want. It goes, same to same, that is a coporation can enjoin itself and become an arm of the government, acting on enforcing a governments whishes, then this corporation then has all of the powers of said government.
This is the next step in turning the USA from a republic into an empire in my opinion.
Once corporations are granted that sort of legal power, which they technically already do have, its called your CREDIT RATING, then the last two pieces fall into place:
1) First abridge and control the government laws on credit and trade and put it under the "watchful" eye of just 3 corporations, which hold a trinity of economic power greater than the government itself. Have those entities draw "taxes" from its "citizens" if they wish to buy sell or trade.
You do this every time you check your credit history on a yearly basis. Its is almost required now to do so because if you don't you could seriously injure yourself economically.
Then they have you by the gonads because they want that credit check "tax" to buy borrow or trade as frequently as possible.
Thats why it is so easy to steal identities. For the credit agencies, its BIG business to incompetently manage everyones credit history.
Yes, that would be Equifax, Trans Union, and that other guy.
2) Next step is to generalize corporate law, and insure it is enforced by the government by making it one and the same entity.
Thats what this case is about. I hear a ton of people here crying about separation of church and state, while the merging of government and business gets the BIG GREEN LIGHT with every election that flies by.
3) Final step in this process of becoming an empire is to require citizenship based on employment. If you lose your JOB, your technically NOT A citizen of the Empire of the United States.
That is what happens next: You don't vote anymore, because states will cease to exist. The only states are corporations, and the larger the corporation you belong too, the more power you will wield in privs.
-Hack
Question: These people allowed all of our technology such as computers...etc....out of the country and NOW they have a problem with simple storage devices?
Whats wrong with this picture?
China already owns Taiwan all nice and legal like.
The Chinese already HAVE everything they need to build anything they want.
The Chinese OWN the United States. China has been buying our treasury bills to float the home mortgages everyone has for christ sake, along with those credit cards everyone on average owes like $5K on!
NOW they have a problem with moving a relatively simple technology like drive storage out of the country?
Gimme a beak!
-Hack
Simple.
:-)
Use a ticket system. I help customers setup RT.
(http://bestpractical.com/rt/)
How does that help?
Well, it allows coordination within a group, or shifted workgroups to identify and track changes in systems, and the status on certain things.
For example, did you change the iptables entries on the router for the primary hub in the network?
You then write a RT ticket entry on why, and what you changed.
Then everyone in your group gets a copy.
That way if something stoped working, or you made a typo people know "Ok, things stopped working, what has changed in the past 8 hours?"
You can use RT to track stuff like that.
If your a "Bean Counter from Hell", you can use it to track labor, and what was done over a given period of time and why.
At the end of the year, you can do some pretty interesting reviews of the what types of jobs were most in demand, what stuff likes to break all the time. (i.e. MMmmm...lots of windows problems on the desktops/servers. I think we should probably put more Linux boxes in this year to reduce our workload.)
Give it a try!
-Hack
I guess a couple of points:
1) Sony from what I can tell is a backer of SecureROM, but not directly related to 2K, which made the game.
I am not sure why there are posts about not buying Sony products, but in keeping with the over all "stupidity" that is going on in the industry, I am not at all surprised Sony backs SecureROM.
2) Regardless of the accuracy of the initial Blog, the level of "ALARM" that should be acknowledged about this SecureROM software is highly justified.
Putting software on a computer that bypasses security in a cloaked fashion as SecureROM does, and then at the same time putting a "Happy Smiley" face on the EULA for someone that is not qualified to understand the implications of installing the service on the computer, to sign off on is unforgivable.
2K knows damn well that the average person playing games on their home PC probably also does their Quicken, Web based banking, etc on the same computer.
The security implications are obvious.
You know, when I bought Supreme Commander it didn't take long time find out that the initial releases of the games DRM controls was really screwing the games ability to run on a wide variety of different PC configurations.
What was the vendors response? They issued an update to remove it from the game. Amazingly, a large number of people reported that the game doesn't crash anymore, they can make backups of their data again because they could burn CD's reliably once more.
Imagine that?
3) What is needed is a good lawsuit against these sorts of companies that puts them out of business, not the little "pinch" on the wrist that Sony got, with as much fanfare as possible.
I mean, come on. There has to be some really vile blood sucking lawyers out there that can think in really BIG class action terms! This is your chance to not only be the king of blood suckers, but actually do some good for a change and put these idiots out of business.
Probably the only time I will ever ask for a lawyers help in my lifetime.
4) What I cannot understand is why companies feel they can install this software and defeat the security of the OS and third party applications, in the context of the DMCA and get away with such small fines?
Yet, if you make a copy or defeat a copy mechanism for a movie or mp3 you can literally as a private citizen go to jail for years and pay 6 figures in restitution just because you want to make copies of your stuff you rightfully purchased, or paid to view at a later date because you have a job, and have to pay taxes?
The best thing that the community can do is write to 2K here:
622 Broadway
New York, New York
10012
Tel: 646 723 4200
inquiries@2kgames.com
and let them know it is NOT alright to install SecureROM or any software that attempts to circumvent security placed on customers machines. Make sure you tell them that you WILL hold them liable for any software that happens to come along and take advantage of the holes SecureROM provides on your machine and SUE them.
-Hack
Good Luck with that.
-Hackus
I have a bad habit of writing words as I hear them, not as they are spelled.
:-)
I apologize.
-Hack
1) Gravity is finally figured out as a force.
:-)
We engineer devices to nullify it and usher in a new age of transportation, at ANY speed.
Instantaneous speed now has an entirely NEW meaning.
2) Dark Energy is found to be something you can actually tap into.
New forms of electrical generation result in unlimited amounts of energy as we tap into the local universe and use as much as we want.
3) New materials are manufactured from Dark Matter. Buildings 10 miles high, space elevators ala Space 3001.
It could happen.
-hack
I will have to chime in here and say you raise some really good points.
Most women especially hate the on call part.
I.T. is not a fun job, lets face it if you are in any level of authority, you have lots of responsibility.
I spend half my time trying to avoid disasters by planning infrastructure, and the other half of my time going to school and climbing the academic latter, and I am 40 years old now.
I do not see this changing anytime soon.
When I was a CIO I was under huge gorilla sized amounts of stress, and as the technical leader for my organization everyone turned to me as the "answer guy".
That much attention and responsibility and dedication to ones job in all facets is not something the typical women likes to do.
I think this is a social issue though, not a genetic one.
Western society is trying to equalize that but it will be a couple more generations before women are born and are educated with the mindset required to really want to do I.T. work at the dame depth as males right now.
Not a bad thing, women just are more interested in contributing in different areas at the moment than in the scientific or technical areas.
Furthermore, I don't see it as a "shame" or a bad thing.
-Hack
Mmmm.....well almost.
Driver support isn't a question of well, Lenovo is selling laptops with linux preinstalled, maybe we should make a driver!
Historically, the open source community has been very resourceful at making their own drivers, very good ones too.
My response to this would be, "So what!".
What has to change, is patent law before we get great linux drivers for video cards say.
That way, Nvidia and ATI can't sue each other when they find out both are using the others patents.
That won't ever happen, because they have everything locked up tighter than a drum.
My point is, all the manufacturers have to do is open up their hardware.
The open source community can do the rest.
Really we can.
-Hack
"The problem isn't that there isn't anyone else out there. With so many billions of stars and planets, the odds that there are other intelligent beings out there are astronomically large. (Pun slightly intended.) The problem is that the distances required to travel to reach them and also astronomically large, and the odds that there is life on any given planet are infinitesimally small."
I do not believe distance is a problem.
Increasingly we are finding physical solutions in the laboratory that suggest distance isn't a problem, particularly with quantum teleportation.
Modern physics is great if you want to construct a nuclear aircraft carrier, or a atomic bomb. The laws we have created from observation will build these things just fine. Also note, all major advances in humans beings knowledge has so far been ONLY from the fact we are hateful, selfish creatures in these areas and love to blow our fellow creatures away in every means possible. EVERY major advance in physics in the 20th century was from building the A Bomb/Hydrogen bomb.
Same in aerodynamics, build better airplaces that can fly further to "Drop those bombs".
But I digress....
But, say if you want to create a interstellar drive or propulsion system, our physics is EXTREMELY primitive. But that is because we don't WANT TO.
We are too busy seeing how big of a house we can get and pack it full of worthless crap. Exploring space is the last thing we have on our minds, so the physics to do it is not yet available in a practical sense. (i.e. we use the same physics to power space exploration as we do with airplanes...etc.).
I would like to remind everyone here that we still do not know how gravity works in the standard model.
I mean, take for example how we CALCULATE gravimetric equations, such as using Runge Kutta 5 methodologies.
The greatest break through in calculus was finding the instantaneous solution to a average problem.
For example take speed. You can get MPH which is d/t=speed, but in a 1 hour trip how do you find the speed at time 45 minutes, 23 seconds?
??
The derivative answers those sorts of questions.
The problem of course, physics has a hard time reconciling an "instantaneous moment" with everything that has a speed limit of light.
Which of course, is how we plot the course of ALL planetary probes. It is a VERY odd thing to suggest gravity travels at only the speed of light when the mathematical methodology your using requires you to use instantaneous moments to make course corrections in a 10 body problem.
Last time I looked, there was no propogation corrections for gravity in any astro mechanics textbook I have ever read. For astro physics this is a common thing to do, but then, you are measuring the light of objects reaching you, not gravity. In fact when communicating with the mars rovers, we have to compensate for the speed of light any action we take with the rover.
Just because a Probe is say 93 Million miles from the sun, we do not compensate thrusters because the course in direction in a gravity field as to "propagate" back to the sun in 4 minutes or so. It is instantaneous.
Which is my point.
Of course it "just works" so here we sit, still not understanding why? My guess is, that the standard model is probably about 20% there. There are other forces, and energies in the universe that comprise our physical space. If I told you there was a form of energy that permeates the entire universe, you would probably have called me nuts a few years ago.
But now, we know there is yet another force we do not understand how it works, besides gravity. (i.e. Google "Dark Energy").
No, that isn't correct, THREE forces. (Google Dark Matter).
Can you make a propulsion system out of these forces? (i.e. Gravity, Dark Matter, Dark Energy). Who knows!
Now for the shocker: "We are absolutely bathed in the stuff all the time Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Actual matter, you know the
"Sex does not map onto procreation one-to-one. Even if you discount contraceptives as completely untrustworthy, there are plenty of ways to have sex - both homo- and hetero-sexual - that carry no risk of pregnancy."
:-)
Errr..no. If that was true we wouldn't have 6 Billion people. Your statement is a contradiction in terms, typical of elitist bull people like you foster on poor developing nations which do not have the cash to buy your "many different ways to have sex with no procreation." Sorry if the lack of compassion shown in your response makes me a tad angry.
"Conflating sex with procreation is what various religions have done for much of human history - which is exactly what got us into the 6-billion-plus population mess we've got right now. Please don't perpetuate this idea."
Now I get it! Overpopulation is all due to religion!! How simple?!
DESTROY ALL RELIGION. That will save us!
Err, no. Perhaps your fear of religion is just a insecurity reflected in the fact you can't solve all questions of strictly with "Hypothesis, Experimentation, Conclusion"?
How about this one: Over population is due to the religious practice of science and technology, increasing peoples life spans, killing diseases and other various natural things that keep everything in balance like it has for thouands of years. Might I add it does so with no increase in wisdom, or understanding which has given a us a world ruled by the super elite, nuclear wars such as WWII and object materialism that is destroying biological ecosystems on a massive scale.
KILL ALL SCIENTISTS, that will save us!!
Err, no. That would be bad of course.
So what to do?
If you would care to read, almost all of the population growth is in the poor developing countries, NOT in modern western countries. Most modern countries in fact have almost 0 population growth. USA is basically growing because Mexico is annexing the southern half of the USA by unlimited immigration, for example.
The problem is human beings and the divorce of science and religion from each other.
If the problem of over population really is the cause of either religion, perhaps some of it, and science because of advances in medical areas, perhaps combined science and religion really can save us.
Religion teaches some of the more fundamental disclined uses of existing beyond the consumption of material things. This attends to the needs of the human spirits happines.
If you think having all the money in the world will make you happy, no it will not. I hope this is obvious.
Science provides us with material things, tending to our material wants and needs. That gives you a level of happiness. But then if your not searching for food all the time, that means you have time on your hands..the mind begins to wander and you can find yourself bored. When you reach that point, its time to get religion.
It would seem that a world where people are divorced from religion, and science has the upper hand, materialism and all of the human misery that goes with it rules as well.
Science doesn't teach things like compassion, kindness, helping the poor. These things cannot be weighed, analyzed, or measured. Science is powerless. Religion provides whole systems of knowledge that help you understand the consequences of not doing these things and what the consequences are.
Likewise, a world ruled by religion without tempered reason yields the same. Both worlds have come to be and both will pass.
I doubt, as long as we discuss sex, its uses both responsible and not so responsible, IMHO are problematic in a world where religion and science are divorced from each other and not united.
Humans spirit and material needs are both at issue with sex, but we refuse to embrace BOTH of the tools required to bring us happiness and wisdom. Sex is very much like this.
Science and religion I think would solve over population. I swear sometimes people are just
Way overrated, and not might I add a smart thing to do.
Humanity has become a blight upon the earth, with 6 Billion and counting.
Heres hoping a little "correction" happens soon.
We have entirely too many people here who shouldn't be here.
-Hack
Now wait a minute here....
A public instituion such as a University doesn't pay its members $500 Million dollar parachutes!
When a representative of a research institution such as a public university, pleads for money, the individual there isn't going to get the money he is pleading for. The institution gets it.
Please!
I think the disconnect is on the other side of the fence here if you don't mind me saying so.
When I say sinister, I mean self interested greed, and thats what is different between a public institution and a corporation.
-Hack
Well, the situation is different, I am not sure where you go to school.
But, I can tell you this is not a minor issue today with kids.
Take University Wisconsin Madison as an example. The average time to complete a 4 year degree program there is now for over half, is 6 years some even more than that, 7 or 8. The other half do it in less than 6 years.
The University Wisconsin has instituted in some years as much as a 10-15% tution increase year to year. Average that out over day 6 years, and you have quite an increase.
What is the reasons why the University Wisconsin is seeing those sorts of increases in time for graduation?
Almost all of it is due to life circumstances of some sort, around cash restrictions.
Some students I have talked with say they do not want to take out loans for that THAT much of their education, so they only took 9 credits a semester for a year or two so they could work.
Loans and credit debt is killing this country as is. I don't think it is fair that someone who wants to go to school has to be in debt 40K out of the gate just so they can study and obtain academic credentials to work in a desired profession.
There are other horror stories of course, students getting ill for example and wiping them out financially, then trying to go back to school to get loans only to find that they cannot get them as their credit is wiped out from a 2 year bout with cancer.
Education should be something that allows people to move ahead, and challenge individuals to see how far they can go.
Not stop them dead in their tracks because of a money restriction.
I am glad to see you were not subjected to this common malady, but a lot of people are from what I can tell from the statistics.
To change this, I am wondering how much education should be subsidized by society and how much should not be?
If there are answers, it will have to come from congress or sweeping changes in how we pay for education in this country.
I would like to see more corporate sponsorship of the University system and allow students to use journeyman like curricula to pay for college. Some sort of requirement by law for engineering firms for example to keep maybe 4-5 students on their payroll working, as well as taking classes for proper academic credentials.
This would allow students a better salary than working at McDonalds and Wong's Wok and Best Buy while trying to go to school. We (in my CIO days...) experimented with paying students $10-$12 an hour for work programming real, carefully supervised work for our customers while working with the University placement services to find the person a job in our company after graduation.
This worked out very well. But this isn't a requirement right now for companies, and it should be. The company benefits from cheaper labor, the student benefits because he received class credit, and real work experience. Plus, you get a decent wage so you don't have to work 3 jobs, just one. For a chosen major, this should be a requirement. This also leaves students more time to work on their liberal arts studies too, for a nice well rounded individual.
-Hack
I gave a talk at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh on the "so called" engineering shortage "propaganda" a vast majority of the CEO's and colleges today put out today. Colleges I can understand, because with a larger student enrollment they can get more state dollars. So, they can and often do say whatever they want to, to get more state funding.
What CEO's say, is downright sinister in my opinion and nothing short of pure GREED.
I gave a couple of examples about the trends in off shoring of jobs, but the real question isn't, "How many engineers do we need." I think the markets are willing to manage their own demand.
Besides, American CEO's are not interested in that question, they are more interested in a similar question. Certainly not that one though.
So I explained to my audience, that when you hear these CEO's in front of congress preaching they need more off shore help because there is a "shortage" of qualified engineers, keep in mind they are not asking your congressional reps the full "question".
Certainly I can assure you all hear, when they mean "qualified" they do not mean academic credentials.
What they really mean is, there is not enough fully qualified engineers willing to work for $5 bucks and hour in software, industrial design and architecture, and they cannot find them anywhere in the United States.
Furthermore, I think the educational system in general in this country is way over priced as is, for what you get anyway.
You are practically asking a person to become a financial serf unless of course your wealthy enough to actually go to a University, get through in 4 years (i.e. because you don't have to work and go to school at the same time.).
Particularly if you are in an engineering program which is very very challenging in the number of hours you have to dedicate yourself in.
People are screwed because if it takes you about 6 years to complete a engineering degree, your going to endure a much larger increase in educational expenses, at a much lower living wage.
This can make FINISHING school a VERY hard challenge for a vast majority of students out there, who thought the hardest part of getting into a University institution was just a SAT score, or good grades in high school.
Many are finding, that PALES in comparison to actually STAYING in school and finishing it while working 2-3 jobs while paying for yearly expenses.
Which in the end, you have to ask yourself how much depth you put into that education with a C+ average was really worth it after 6 years, because you could barely find enough time to study while maintaining 2 jobs and going to school.
A what? 40K investment for a C+ average? What depth were you actually able to study the material?
Since grades can be a job entrance factor, todays young people are REALLY squeezed between a rock and hard place.
I see many very bright people never given the chance to get that A simply because it is impossible to sustain a 18 hour work day and compete with "the silver spoon" kids which all they have to do is go to school, and basically do their home work.
I drew a picture of "Johnny" and "Rick" both computer science students. "Johnny" I would say was actually a more intelligent kid than "Rick". But Johnny consistently got lower grades, and had a few late assignments which cost him grade points. "Johnny" had to use the computer lab for most of his work because he had no computer in his dorm. The computers in the computer lab though were not kept up well, slow and very difficult to get on during normal hours. So labs had waiting lists and you had to sign up for computer use.
"Rick" however, not only had a computer, but a laser printer and internet access in his private apartment the old man bought him. Write a compiler? No problem, in a nice quiet apartment with no noisy neighbors, Rick worked deep into the night all through the semester, finishing the project on time, no problem.
"Johnny" had to sleep outs
I review the NAGIOS reports for my lame arse Windows boxes.
I have to otherwise they will tank.
-Hack
This is a pretty good question.
:-)
:-)
:-)
of course I have a really good answer.
Lets take a look at the last 50 or so years of computing, with regards to software development to answer this question.
You have to sit back and ask just one question: Has software advances changed the reliability, cost or efficiency of writing software in the past 50 years?
I don't think it has. Why is that?
Well, I still have my old "Dragon" book from computer science class I took in 1991 at UW Madison. In it much of the same is still the same for example, today as it was 30 some years before I took the class.
The same algorithms in that book can be used on a IBM 360 to compile Fortran or COBOL as today, which you could use the same algorithms to compile Java or C++.
Even the optimization tricks we used during the linking cycle to "Peephole" optimization on the code haven't really changed.
This IS the mathematics part by the way. What I mean by that is, well, we still do integration and differentiation since the 1900's but that doesn't mean thats a bad thing.
Whats important is that in this case we have made advances in computer hardware to solve some important problems in mathematics since then.
Software however is a different story. Although mathematics can point to a body of problems that have been solved, or new methods that have been developed, software engineers today still use the same methods without any tangible advances in the field. We still have efficiency problems, huge cost problems and lots of bugs.
I can still remember in the early 1989..1990's most of my instructors were telling me, by the time I reach my age now, people would no longer be "coding". Everyone would be using "case tools" and that everything would be drag N drop and you would program using "objects" and just connect them together.
I have a private consulting practice. One of the services I offer right now is the "get out of Visual Studio Wizard Jail" services to my customers.
These are the people who actually took this idea and ran with it today. Only to find that the code generated isn't readable by any human being. The tool when its upgraded, will not import their old projects. Furthermore attempt to modify such a brittle environment results in huge time delays to finish.
Thats usually when my phone rings.
So, I come in an scrap the tool framework (i.e. one of the issues I have with visual studio is that many of the wizards assume only Microsoft exists.), replace it with a open standards framework like Apache AXIS for example, and then HAND CODE everything so that is is documentable, and human beings can understand it.
I then tell the customer that they need to hire a well organized object design engineer to manage code reuse and stop using proprietary tool frameworks because they are nothing more than a revenue stream for the vendor. Use open frameworks and set up your own private internal intellectual property. Be your OWN framework provider and YOU decide how much money your going to spend.
But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and academics nor industry can take the credit for it.
It's called open source. Specifically, the social structures that form when the GPL is enforced and software is built that brings to the table a solution that industry nor academics can solve: Scale of forced contribution back into the closed loop system of the development process when MILLIONS of developers and users come together.
I kind of like to think of it as a "quantum" development science. As in quantum mechanics, there is a "fuzzy" boundry between laws that work in the big, but do not seem to have any connection with the laws of the small. Well, we have been stuck for the past 40 years in the "small" because no industry or academic institution could do what the internet has done, in a software development sense.
Now we see "conflicting" seemingly IMP