Re:Flash?
on
Opencroquet
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
Oh, I have no problem with the concept of flash. I think that it's great that web designers have a tool like that, to provide nifty animations.
Personally, I just find it annoying and distracting, so, even though I've heard it's now possible to get a plugin for linux/mozilla, I haven't bothered. I have java turned off for the same reason, even though I make a living coding it.
The reason I complain is that (as I mentioned) they make it a requirement, in order to access the site's navigation panel. Even with 77% penetration, that means 23% of visitors will be unable to do anything except stare at the index page (which contains only a meaningless image).
Even when you're using a relatively reliable technology like images in an integral area of the site, it's standard practice to provide an alterative for those who can't or won't see them (hence the "alt" attribute).
I'm dubious of any supposedly revolutionary new OS that uses Shockwave-Flash for its site navigation. Since I don't allow that crap in my browser, all I see is a bunch of grey boxes on the left, rendering the site totally useless.
The extra bandwidth required probably isn't helping it survive a slashdotting right now, either.
I had to write a project management & time tracking app for in-house use, a couple years ago. Since I hate the idea of recording every second of my time, I decided to call it Personal Interface for the Graphical Control Of Projects, an homage to Duke Nukem.
Unfortunately, the Duke Nukem reference would become a curse, as it's still in development, with no specified release date (when it's done, damnit!). It also spawned a slimmer web-based cousin called PORKCHOP, but I'd have to hunt through some documentation to remember what that was supposed to stand for;)
Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature, Dude. It's Asian-American.
Esoteric references aside, that actually sounds a bit more like Engrish to me, which I believe is traditionally Japanese.
Wait, I guess Engrish is also a pretty esoteric reference. Oh well, this is slashdot. The only thing that's esoteric here is the human vagina.;)
Re:So how is it better than a cappuccino pc?
on
Barebones Notebook
·
· Score: 1
It has a keyboard, pointing device, and space to mount and LCD. All things the cap doesn't have. The cappuccine, OTOH, has everything else. I'm seeing a beautiful friendship, here.
I'm not sure if this is technically permitted with licensing agreements, but speaking purely theoretically for informational purposes only:
Many games only require the CD to be in the drive to actually launch (as long as you did a full install), so you can launch it on one PC, toss the CD to your friend, and let him launch it. I'm not specifically telling you that you can do this with Civ3:PTW.
Yeah, except for those obscure titles from that unknown company... what's their name again? I think they're called Id?:)
That's exactly the problem with the MS stranglehold on game development. You need to be Id to be able to develop with anything else.
Because DirectX has been so effectively put in place as the standard, there has been very little work in creating an alternative. Consequently, a small game shop can't get a title out the door without making serious sacrifices in graphics.
This is not really Microsoft's fault, but they fully exploited it. DirectX was the first graphics programming library to really make it easy to create complex graphics. It's also very versatile, so a programmer who's learned how to use it can reuse those skills to write any kind of game they want... as long as it runs on Windows.
There are now some of free tools that could compete (SDL, in particular), but it's going to be tough to work against the developer momentum that MS has created. DirectX developers are almost as easy to come by as MCSE's, so anyone can hire them, cheap.
What map size are you playing? I have a PII 300 w/ 128M RAM, and it's usually 10 seconds or so between turns on a standard size map, unless I'm at war, and have to watch units shuffle around, in which case it's still only a minute or so. I also have unit animations turned off.
If you play on the bigger map sizes, then, yes, turns will take a long time, but you can always throw more RAM at it, to speed things up.
There it is: gmoo - a GTK+ based MOO (and MUD) client
Hmmm... don't know what that "MUD" thing is that they're talking about, but it looks like MOO has already been included in debian stable, and it's built with GTK+, no less! Wow, you rock, Infogrames!
Oooh, gotta go, I just noticed a moon lander implementation for X!
Portable light? I think I've seen that before ...
on
Thin, Flat LEDs
·
· Score: 3, Funny
... the "flat light source" will be positioned to realize future unrestricted illumination such as "wall-mounted light" and "portable light."...
Wow, science never ceases to amaze me! Maybe next, they'll find a way to put lights on the ceiling, too, and, OOOH! Maybe attach a fan to it, to increase air circulation in my house! I'll have to see if Omron is developing a "flat fan technology" to make this possible.
I code both, and I agree with the columnist, although the column was a bit lacking in useful information or original opinion (although he did give a decent analogy), so here's my take on the subject.
When I have to decide what language(s) to use in a project, there are many factors entering the decision, beyond a simple analysis of mile hike vs. Mt Everest. As he touched on, some languages have specific strengths and weaknesses. I wouldn't use java for parsing large text files unless I had other really good reasons to do so.
The only place this breaks down is maintenence. I think that, and the low entry point actually one of the big reasons scripting laguages are looked down upon. You end up with a lot of scripts in place that were poorly written by inexperienced programmers, which have gotten even worse as other programmers applied patches and bug fixes. ASP is particularly offensive in this way, as, while it is possible to write clean & readable code with it, most people will find it much easier to write nightmarish spaghetti code.
What the initial programmer expected to be a mile hike, turned out to be something much longer, as scope creep and unforseen bugs turned it into an expedition. Rather than turn back and resupply, the stubborn programmer kept going, marvelling at how clever he was to keep himself alive with only a swiss army knife. Unfortunately, this lack of sufficient tools carries over to every other trip up the mountain to fix a bug or add a feature, and clever hacks turn into brutal kluges.
There's not always a right answer, but everything has its strengths & weaknesses, and refactoring or restarting from scratch is an often overlooked option at any stage in development.
I absolutely agree with this, but it's not neccesary that every single developer have this knowlege. In a proper OO development environment, only the team-leader (or equivalent role) needs the low-level knowledge. The basic coders should just worry about their tasks, as long as someone else knows what they're doing, and how it relates to the system beneath it. It's not only cheaper to not have to train them all, but it avoids confusion.
Someone with an incorrect understanding of the underlying system will be drastically more dangerous than someone who knows that they know nothing.
Of course, in a smaller group, everyone is basically the leader of their own team, so almost everyone would need that knowlege.
Has anyone else noticed that the hardware industry is slowly drifting back to designs from 1985? This thing is identical to a lightweight luggable computer, just without a handle on it.
Personally, I think this i a great thing. Most people who own laptops never take them out of the house, they just like the convenience of setting it up in any room, and stashing it out of sight, when not in use. The main reason I have on, is to take it back and forth between work and home (and client sites), but I always plug it in when I use it. The only time I use the battery, is to take it from room to room.
Why can't they bring back true luggable systems? The advantage of these, over a laptop, would be a larger size would allow for non-proprietary components. The new small form-factor motherboards make a system like this completely practical. Does anyone know of a company selling cases like this? Basically something relatively small & light, with an lcd and keyboard mounted on the unit.
can any of you imagine using a keyboard that was bolted to the bottom of your monitor?
Actually, yes, I use one every time I turn on my laptop, and it works out just fine. The only drawback, here, is that this thing wouldn't sit comfortably on your lap, but a laptop is still perfectly usable on a table.
Absolutely, that changes everything. I didn't take that possibility into account in my post because, well, this is slashdot;)
Ignore what I said, and do your best to take care of you daughter, until she's old enough to return the favor. Luckily, the possibility of a combined income in your situation is helpful, too. Maybe you can get a job in the non-profit sector that allows you to work within your ethics, and provides your family with enough to get by.
and on the third hand, if the position is "over the road 18 wheel truck driver", or "airline pilot", I would *hope* that they do drug screening.
Really? Why? Let's say I hold one of those jobs, and I decide to smoke a joint with my friends Friday night. How does that make me unable to perform my job, when I come in on monday? The only danger I see, is if they were using drugs on the job, or immediately before work, and they're more likely to do exactly that with alcohol, which is practically undetectable with urine testing.
Poverty is underrated. Adapt to the country's current economic situation, and you'll be much happier. The trick is to free yourself from debt, as that's the only thing that will trap you into a steady income. If you have little or no debt hanging over your head, you can get a shittp apartment in the city, eat cheaply (easy to do, and you can still eat tasty food if you're willing to cook), and sneak your own liquor into bars.
It's actually thrilling, in a way. And, as long as you're not ruining your credit, there's nothing stopping you from returning to affluence, when you have the opportunity.
I've encountered this same dilemma, but with drug screening. I was offered a job, but informed that I would have to pass a urinalysis test, before being hired. It would have come up clean, but I still refused.
Even if I could have talked them out of it, I still wouldn't have wanted the job. A company policy like that tells me that I disagree with the comany's sense of "ethics." If they can value an employee's freem so little as to care if they smoke pot, then what other violations of my privacy might I encounter, upon working there?
You obviously disagree with the attitudes of the company. If you take the job, even if they let you bypass the credit check, you will be unhappy for other reasons.
OTOH, the economy sucks, so you obviously have to way your sense of moral integrity against the prospect of ramen & coffee three times a day.
> That would be because programmers have become the Wizards and Necromancers of our modern society. They have inherited the fantanstic ability to do the impossible. They also have a tendency to go a little loopy, and hallucinate too.
Lisa: Dad, we did something very bad! Homer: Did you wreck the car? Bart: No. Homer: Did you raise the dead? Lisa: Yes. Homer: But the car's okay? Bart & Lisa: Uh-huh. Homer: All right then.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, I have no problem with the concept of flash. I think that it's great that web designers have a tool like that, to provide nifty animations.
Personally, I just find it annoying and distracting, so, even though I've heard it's now possible to get a plugin for linux/mozilla, I haven't bothered. I have java turned off for the same reason, even though I make a living coding it.
The reason I complain is that (as I mentioned) they make it a requirement, in order to access the site's navigation panel. Even with 77% penetration, that means 23% of visitors will be unable to do anything except stare at the index page (which contains only a meaningless image).
Even when you're using a relatively reliable technology like images in an integral area of the site, it's standard practice to provide an alterative for those who can't or won't see them (hence the "alt" attribute).
I'm dubious of any supposedly revolutionary new OS that uses Shockwave-Flash for its site navigation. Since I don't allow that crap in my browser, all I see is a bunch of grey boxes on the left, rendering the site totally useless.
The extra bandwidth required probably isn't helping it survive a slashdotting right now, either.
I had to write a project management & time tracking app for in-house use, a couple years ago. Since I hate the idea of recording every second of my time, I decided to call it Personal Interface for the Graphical Control Of Projects, an homage to Duke Nukem.
;)
Unfortunately, the Duke Nukem reference would become a curse, as it's still in development, with no specified release date (when it's done, damnit!). It also spawned a slimmer web-based cousin called PORKCHOP, but I'd have to hunt through some documentation to remember what that was supposed to stand for
Oh god, I'd never manage to refuel the thing to capacity!
..."
"... And one fur the doktuuur
On second thought, a laptop battery would be much more covert than a flask, for sneaking liquor into a club.
I'm guessing that you haven't seen The Big Lebowski? I hope you didn't misinterpret that as a flame, as it was just an excuse for a movie quotation ;) .
FYI, the correct response would have been "We're not talking about the guys that built the railroads, man."
Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature, Dude. It's Asian-American.
;)
Esoteric references aside, that actually sounds a bit more like Engrish to me, which I believe is traditionally Japanese.
Wait, I guess Engrish is also a pretty esoteric reference. Oh well, this is slashdot. The only thing that's esoteric here is the human vagina.
It has a keyboard, pointing device, and space to mount and LCD. All things the cap doesn't have. The cappuccine, OTOH, has everything else. I'm seeing a beautiful friendship, here.
-1 Redundant
Didn't you read the article? They have that exact same picture up.
I'm not sure if this is technically permitted with licensing agreements, but speaking purely theoretically for informational purposes only:
Many games only require the CD to be in the drive to actually launch (as long as you did a full install), so you can launch it on one PC, toss the CD to your friend, and let him launch it. I'm not specifically telling you that you can do this with Civ3:PTW.
Everything game-wise is written in DirectX.
:)
... as long as it runs on Windows.
Yeah, except for those obscure titles from that unknown company... what's their name again? I think they're called Id?
That's exactly the problem with the MS stranglehold on game development. You need to be Id to be able to develop with anything else.
Because DirectX has been so effectively put in place as the standard, there has been very little work in creating an alternative. Consequently, a small game shop can't get a title out the door without making serious sacrifices in graphics.
This is not really Microsoft's fault, but they fully exploited it. DirectX was the first graphics programming library to really make it easy to create complex graphics. It's also very versatile, so a programmer who's learned how to use it can reuse those skills to write any kind of game they want
There are now some of free tools that could compete (SDL, in particular), but it's going to be tough to work against the developer momentum that MS has created. DirectX developers are almost as easy to come by as MCSE's, so anyone can hire them, cheap.
What map size are you playing? I have a PII 300 w/ 128M RAM, and it's usually 10 seconds or so between turns on a standard size map, unless I'm at war, and have to watch units shuffle around, in which case it's still only a minute or so. I also have unit animations turned off.
If you play on the bigger map sizes, then, yes, turns will take a long time, but you can always throw more RAM at it, to speed things up.
Did you try:
... don't know what that "MUD" thing is that they're talking about, but it looks like MOO has already been included in debian stable, and it's built with GTK+, no less! Wow, you rock, Infogrames!
#apt-cache search moo
There it is:
gmoo - a GTK+ based MOO (and MUD) client
Hmmm
Oooh, gotta go, I just noticed a moon lander implementation for X!
... the "flat light source" will be positioned to realize future unrestricted illumination such as "wall-mounted light" and "portable light." ...
Wow, science never ceases to amaze me! Maybe next, they'll find a way to put lights on the ceiling, too, and, OOOH! Maybe attach a fan to it, to increase air circulation in my house! I'll have to see if Omron is developing a "flat fan technology" to make this possible.
I code both, and I agree with the columnist, although the column was a bit lacking in useful information or original opinion (although he did give a decent analogy), so here's my take on the subject.
When I have to decide what language(s) to use in a project, there are many factors entering the decision, beyond a simple analysis of mile hike vs. Mt Everest. As he touched on, some languages have specific strengths and weaknesses. I wouldn't use java for parsing large text files unless I had other really good reasons to do so.
The only place this breaks down is maintenence. I think that, and the low entry point actually one of the big reasons scripting laguages are looked down upon. You end up with a lot of scripts in place that were poorly written by inexperienced programmers, which have gotten even worse as other programmers applied patches and bug fixes. ASP is particularly offensive in this way, as, while it is possible to write clean & readable code with it, most people will find it much easier to write nightmarish spaghetti code.
What the initial programmer expected to be a mile hike, turned out to be something much longer, as scope creep and unforseen bugs turned it into an expedition. Rather than turn back and resupply, the stubborn programmer kept going, marvelling at how clever he was to keep himself alive with only a swiss army knife. Unfortunately, this lack of sufficient tools carries over to every other trip up the mountain to fix a bug or add a feature, and clever hacks turn into brutal kluges.
There's not always a right answer, but everything has its strengths & weaknesses, and refactoring or restarting from scratch is an often overlooked option at any stage in development.
How much do you think it would cost to put 128MB of flash directly on the motherboard (or simply provide a CompactFlash slot next to the BIOS)?
You can already add one yourself, for about $25. It works just like any other bootable IDE drive.
http://store.ituner.com/ituner/emstcfl.html
My favorite Massive Multiplayer Role-Playing Game is Slashdot. You get competition, very intelligent opponents ... How can EverQuest compete with that?
...
Very intelligent opponents? Where? Oh, well, I suppose, compared to EverQuest
I absolutely agree with this, but it's not neccesary that every single developer have this knowlege. In a proper OO development environment, only the team-leader (or equivalent role) needs the low-level knowledge. The basic coders should just worry about their tasks, as long as someone else knows what they're doing, and how it relates to the system beneath it. It's not only cheaper to not have to train them all, but it avoids confusion.
Someone with an incorrect understanding of the underlying system will be drastically more dangerous than someone who knows that they know nothing.
Of course, in a smaller group, everyone is basically the leader of their own team, so almost everyone would need that knowlege.
Has anyone else noticed that the hardware industry is slowly drifting back to designs from 1985? This thing is identical to a lightweight luggable computer, just without a handle on it.
Personally, I think this i a great thing. Most people who own laptops never take them out of the house, they just like the convenience of setting it up in any room, and stashing it out of sight, when not in use. The main reason I have on, is to take it back and forth between work and home (and client sites), but I always plug it in when I use it. The only time I use the battery, is to take it from room to room.
Why can't they bring back true luggable systems? The advantage of these, over a laptop, would be a larger size would allow for non-proprietary components. The new small form-factor motherboards make a system like this completely practical. Does anyone know of a company selling cases like this? Basically something relatively small & light, with an lcd and keyboard mounted on the unit.
can any of you imagine using a keyboard that was bolted to the bottom of your monitor?
Actually, yes, I use one every time I turn on my laptop, and it works out just fine. The only drawback, here, is that this thing wouldn't sit comfortably on your lap, but a laptop is still perfectly usable on a table.
Absolutely, that changes everything. I didn't take that possibility into account in my post because, well, this is slashdot ;)
Ignore what I said, and do your best to take care of you daughter, until she's old enough to return the favor. Luckily, the possibility of a combined income in your situation is helpful, too. Maybe you can get a job in the non-profit sector that allows you to work within your ethics, and provides your family with enough to get by.
and on the third hand, if the position is "over the road 18 wheel truck driver", or "airline pilot", I would *hope* that they do drug screening.
Really? Why? Let's say I hold one of those jobs, and I decide to smoke a joint with my friends Friday night. How does that make me unable to perform my job, when I come in on monday? The only danger I see, is if they were using drugs on the job, or immediately before work, and they're more likely to do exactly that with alcohol, which is practically undetectable with urine testing.
Poverty is underrated. Adapt to the country's current economic situation, and you'll be much happier. The trick is to free yourself from debt, as that's the only thing that will trap you into a steady income. If you have little or no debt hanging over your head, you can get a shittp apartment in the city, eat cheaply (easy to do, and you can still eat tasty food if you're willing to cook), and sneak your own liquor into bars.
It's actually thrilling, in a way. And, as long as you're not ruining your credit, there's nothing stopping you from returning to affluence, when you have the opportunity.
s/freem/freedom
I've encountered this same dilemma, but with drug screening. I was offered a job, but informed that I would have to pass a urinalysis test, before being hired. It would have come up clean, but I still refused.
Even if I could have talked them out of it, I still wouldn't have wanted the job. A company policy like that tells me that I disagree with the comany's sense of "ethics." If they can value an employee's freem so little as to care if they smoke pot, then what other violations of my privacy might I encounter, upon working there?
You obviously disagree with the attitudes of the company. If you take the job, even if they let you bypass the credit check, you will be unhappy for other reasons.
OTOH, the economy sucks, so you obviously have to way your sense of moral integrity against the prospect of ramen & coffee three times a day.
> That would be because programmers have become the Wizards and Necromancers of our modern society. They have inherited the fantanstic ability to do the impossible. They also have a tendency to go a little loopy, and hallucinate too.
Lisa: Dad, we did something very bad!
Homer: Did you wreck the car?
Bart: No.
Homer: Did you raise the dead?
Lisa: Yes.
Homer: But the car's okay?
Bart & Lisa: Uh-huh.
Homer: All right then.