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User: gatkinso

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  1. Perhaps ethically worse, but... on Omand Warns of "Ethically Worse" Spying If Unbreakable Encryption Is Allowed · · Score: 1

    ...by definition such tactics will be far more targeted.

    Which is a good thing.

  2. Get a copyright and donate it to CC on Why We Still Can't Really Put Anything In the Public Domain · · Score: 1

    Seems like the best way to go about it in the framework of current law.

    However there is nothing that is stopping CC from becoming evil, so you take your chances.

  3. The best cheese... on SpaceX, US Air Force Settle Spy Sat Dispute · · Score: 1

    ...is government cheese.

  4. Re:"Slightly uncomfortable" is a pedagocial advant on Ask Slashdot: Is Pascal Underrated? · · Score: 1

    It is easy as piss to read - which makes it great for beginners and for algorithm prototyping (that you can actually compile and run).

  5. Re:Delphi is dead, just accept it. on Ask Slashdot: Is Pascal Underrated? · · Score: 1

    Not much to think about - at one point the Borland tools were head and shoulders better than Microsoft's. Then MS came along and in a classic and well documented debacle, poached all of Borland's talent, copied their tools... ...and gave the world the autistic encephalitic mutant that is MFC.

  6. Re:A couple of things missing on Ask Slashdot: Is Pascal Underrated? · · Score: 2

    Pascal was not an OO language - never claimed to be.

    Some of that was addressed by Borland Object Pascal.

  7. Re:Pascal is awesome, but... on Ask Slashdot: Is Pascal Underrated? · · Score: 1

    True - the march of science is never ending - and current language design owes much to Pascal.

    I guess it would be more precise to ask what is the point of resurrecting an old language that doesn't extend current languages capabilities? One thing about Pascal.... that stuff compiles FAST!

    True it would let me recompile all of my undergrad work - all of which I would have to scan/OCR or fat finger in as it is all hard copy. Not sure how the world of CS advanced without access to that corpus of cutting edge work.

  8. Re:Java is Pascal++ on Ask Slashdot: Is Pascal Underrated? · · Score: 1

    That stuff was even before my time - but IIRC that was more akin to an interpreter than a VM... this was running on the PDP-11 where I went to college and I only had access to the VAX... so I cannot say for certain. However there **was** what we would these days call a just in time compiler that generated object (or something ?) code (this must be the P-Code you mention) for the interpreter so I will give you points for that as that is definitely Java like.

  9. Re:Turbo Pascal was the "dangliest danglies" on Ask Slashdot: Is Pascal Underrated? · · Score: 1

    OMG! OWL... on Object Pascal. What a blast from the past!

  10. Re:Java is Pascal++ on Ask Slashdot: Is Pascal Underrated? · · Score: 1

    I used Pascal extensively back in the day... and I really don't remember Pascal ever generating byte code, nor was there a Pascal virtual machine. Plus Pascal supports pointers, doers not have garbage collection, and is very strongly typed.

    Wait... can you state again just how Pascal and Java are similar?

  11. Pascal is awesome, but... on Ask Slashdot: Is Pascal Underrated? · · Score: 2

    ...these days, what's the point of yet another language?

    Don't get me wrong, Pascal was the first language I did serious development in and I really like(d) it. However I am struggling to figure out what I could accomplish in Pascal that I could not accomplish in a myriad of other languages.

  12. Re:Flash? on By the Numbers: The Highest-Paying States For Tech Professionals · · Score: 1

    The "culture" you speak of many times are viewed as rural and backward in the land that they come from - hence the reason those people are leaving. But once it gets here it is "cultured" and "diverse."

    For the most part it isn't the affluent who are beating down the doors to get into this country (same goes for Europe - they just have a different group of third world hicks banging at their door).

  13. Re:Salary versus cost of living in each city on By the Numbers: The Highest-Paying States For Tech Professionals · · Score: 2

    To be fair, TX is so large that the climate varies greatly, and I note that you omit fat meccas like Palmdale, Sacramento, and Barstow from your comparison.

  14. Re:Salary versus cost of living in each city on By the Numbers: The Highest-Paying States For Tech Professionals · · Score: 1

    Home is where the heart is.

  15. "A normal version of Windows" on Surface RT Devices Won't Get Windows 10 · · Score: 1

    Not very PC.. or maybe it is 100% PC.

  16. The facts of life... on New Advance Confines GMOs To the Lab Instead of Living In the Wild · · Score: 1

    ...to make an alteration in the evolvement of an organic life system is fatal. A coding sequence cannot be revised once it's been established.

  17. Re:Foreign it is then! on Fake Engine Noise Is the Auto Industry's Dirty Little Secret · · Score: 1

    So much for your anti American rant. From the article:

    Volkswagen uses what’s called a “Soundaktor,” a special speaker that looks like a hockey puck and plays sound files in cars such as the GTI and Beetle Turbo. Lexus worked with sound technicians at Yamaha to more loudly amplify the noise of its LFA supercar toward the driver seat.

    Some, including Porsche with its “sound symposer,” have used noise-boosting tubes to crank up the engine sound inside the cabin. Others have gone further into digital territory: BMW plays a recording of its motors through the car stereos, a sample of which changes depending on the engine’s load and power.

  18. Re:Noisy cars are good. on Fake Engine Noise Is the Auto Industry's Dirty Little Secret · · Score: 1

    Because people never get hit by cars in parking lots, or by drivers who are not paying attention.

  19. Now, read this short story from 1951 on Fake Engine Noise Is the Auto Industry's Dirty Little Secret · · Score: 1

    It wasn't meant to be frightening, it just turned out that way.

    http://mysite.du.edu/~treddell...

  20. Re:Marching Morons on Fake Engine Noise Is the Auto Industry's Dirty Little Secret · · Score: 1

    Also, the speedometers would read "150" when you were really going like 40 IIRC.

    The moronic quote "I'll buy that for a quarter!" which appeared in Robocop in the form "I'll buy that for a dollar!"

    Definitely a seminal work of Science Fiction. Sadly it is also turning out to be a harbinger.

  21. Re:This has been going on for years on Fake Engine Noise Is the Auto Industry's Dirty Little Secret · · Score: 1

    While your point is valid at least what you were hearing on both cases was sound produced by the engine. Hell back in the 50's motorheads were putting on glasspack mufflers.

  22. Marching Morons on Fake Engine Noise Is the Auto Industry's Dirty Little Secret · · Score: 1

    Fake wind and engine noise in so called "rocket cars" was a plot point in this short story IIRC.

  23. Oh yes, I forgot that Facebook was above the law.

  24. Re:12345? on The Most Popular Passwords Are Still "123456" and "password" · · Score: 1

    12345....7

  25. Re:qwerty? on The Most Popular Passwords Are Still "123456" and "password" · · Score: 1

    I used qwerty on /. for about 9 years before I finally changed it. Funny thing - it was also my hotmail password for even longer.