Oh, and as far as "man hours wasted", that same software also works with MySQL, PostgreSQL, mSQL, Pervasive SQL, and Informix, with very little extra effort.
If you saw thousands of man-hours wasted on database independence, you saw a badly architected system. Try using a class factory and listed templates. If a new database came out with a unique dialect of SQL, I could program in support for it in two to three days, tops. And since there was no SQL hardcoded anywhere in the applications that used the toolkit, all one had to do was recompile.
Bingo. Database independence.
Last but not least, I run the Anti-Ford page, so don't get me started about what Ford's engine designers lay awake at night doing....
To get your free transcript of tonight's program, dial 1-976-MAD-SKLZ. Operators are standing by, have your Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diner's Club, Chevron, or library card ready....
I have, or more to the point, I have come across situations where one of our customers decided they were standardizing on a database the rest of our customer didn't have. For example, our software was designed to work with SQL Server, but one of our larger customers standardized on Oracle. It happens, and the way I architected the software allowed for an easy customization. In fact, we didn't have to touch 98% of the code. Not bad, huh?
They should be tattooed onto the forehead of every OO programmer, so when they're "pair programming" they can read it off each other.
OHMIGOD that's funny! It's too bad my moderator points expired yesterday or I'd kick down some karma. I'm making that my Scathing Critique For The Week.
As for making objects that wrap around database concepts, those objects suffice to give RDMS the "relational" aspects they lack. By putting data into objects and using only those objects, they abstract the source of the data from the rest of the program -- a highly desirable application of EJBs. By doing this, the database can be altered dramatically, swapped out with another database, the dialect of SQL in each database can be accounted for, etc., without any modification to the code dependent on those EJBs.
Perhaps some happy coder will create a truly relational layer to sit atop all these databases with all their quirks to smooth out the differences and provide the functionality that the databases don't. Allowed to control the implementation of schemas and made smart enough to optimize those schemas for each type of database it supports, this might even help with data flow bottlenecks.
Just an idea. Feel free to get rich off it. Just be sure to thank me in the about box...
Look, you guys are all whining about how they don't do, make, create, or serve anything. I see a number of long-winded posts going on about CEOs, open markets, democracies, etc. Let's cut through all that for a moment and focus on the generalities, and in so doing, see it from the "aggressive asshole"'s side.
Everyone is a resource, unless they are at the top of the food chain. Kernigan, Ritchie, Torvalds, these guys are resources. They make, they create, they do. Someone further down the line consumes the fruits of their efforts, their time and sweat, and they create other things. These folks also make, create, and do. And so on until you reach a point where someone collects the fruits of all the resources, lives off it, and gives little or nothing back that can be quantified except through sales pitch. These guys are the top of the food chain. You don't like Darl? Guess what -- he doesn't like you either. But where you probably have some kind of respect for his position, he has none for yours. You are food. You are a resource. You exist to serve him, even indirectly and/or unwillingly. Get it?
Having the money behind a pheumatic tube does not hurt the throughput any, and is a HUGE cost savings on insurance because there is NO MONEY a wood-be robber can grab. It's all in a locked room. Unless they have trained attack ferrets to go through the tubes... a guy with a gun is only going to get what's in the people's wallets.
AH! Finally, a use for my trained attack ferrets! Skilled in the most aggressive of martial arts, Weasel Te, and wearing clingey black body suits that my Aunt Bea knits for them, they will be able to penetrate the puny defenses of you bank and steal all the money! Today, The First National Bank of MooseBreath, Montana, tomorrow, THE WORLD!!!! bwuhahaHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!
(waiting... waiting... has it been 20 seconds yet? waiting.... hmmmm, hmmm, hm, hm, hmmmmmm.... crap, now I have to wait another minute because I already posted? crap..... waiting... waiting... humming the Jeopardy tune... waiting... scraping a jam-covered crumb from my toast off the desk... sipping my coffee... waiting.... )
Actually, the theater staff can't confiscate your camcorder. How old are you people, anyway? This isn't high school, the teacher can't take your slingshot away until after class. What they'd do is call the police and let them sort it out. The police would escort your sorry butt out of the theater and arrest you. At some point, if you're lucky and don't piss anyone off terribly, they might give you a chance to explain yourself and show that there's nothing on the tape. And even then, if the law is vague enough, you might have to do that explaining to the judge and not just the cops.
I've got better things to do with my time than defend theft.
You're right though, it's disturbing that an industry that employs millions of people would have any pull with the government that they expect to protect their jobs.
And you're an idiot if, after reading that last sentence, you still think that stealing is a victimless crime.
You *could* disable your camcorder (cover the lens or whatnot) and proceed to pretend to "film" the movie while watching it. It's quite legal, even if it might drive theater managers nuts. It also makes enforcement of this infeasible, if done widely enough.
Ok, yea, sure. I can see it now. A grassroots movement in which thousands -- nay, millions -- of people flock to the theaters and begin setting up camcorders set to record, but with the lens caps on. One theater manager is quoted as saying, "They're driving us NUTS!" Another mutters, "We'd have enforced that new law, if it weren't for those meddling kids..." Finally, shamed into admitting that copyright-ism is wrong, the Congress passes a new Stealing Rights Bill, and the U.S. is the first nation in history to recognize the rights of the people to bilk anyone they want out of any money that can be stolen by electronically copying a given work that is sold for money and giving it away for free!! The nations of the world rejoice, and the name of OxOdOa, referred to lovingly by groupies as "CR/LF", is praised as the saviour of all humanity!!!
To hell with that. You call the police, you file a complaint. You send the story to the local paper. You call the TV stations. One thing the mob does not handle well is attention.
And once you've gotten some attention, the next time you find that van, break the window, throw a little gasoline in, toss in a match. Bing, bang, no more van. And no one is going to touch you because now you're in the public eye.
Exactly what I thought. It actually took me a minute when I saw the name before I put it together that this was the same guy I used to fire off emails to about various parts of the hyperreal site. A darned informative site, too... Somehow, I wouldn't have pictured him as a CTO, and I had no idea he was one of the founders of ASF.
I actually rented one of these networks. It was a "Portal of Doom 8" compromised, all broadband, 10,000 node net with single-point-of-command control. I was going to use it to take over all the financial institutions' traffic, slowly siphoning off billions into various Nigerian bank accounts (I would worry about how to get the money out of those accounts later). Then I would use the network to control the minds of the populace by sneaking spoofed CNN stories into their browsers accusing the politicians of the world of being one brotherhood dedicated to raping the world's resource just to impress the Olsen twins. Once the politicians understood that I held the key to their utter destruction, I would RULE THE WORLD!!!! bwuHAHAHAH!!!!
Just as I completed my "WorldDomination.scr" script, my wife maxed out our bank account shopping at Ross Dress For Less, the rent check bounced, and I was looking at "access denied."
Yahoo's Neighborhood Profiles [yahoo.com] section, searchable by zip code, has lots of nice data if you're pricing a job.
I'm not sure I trust that page. For every area, it states that people spend more on retail consumer items than they earn.
I'm mean, sure, maybe *I* do that, and we all know Gee Dub Bush's government does it to the extreme, but the whole country can't be doing that.... can they?
I have no doubt whatsoever that this worm is RIAA sponsored. Why else would it hit P2P *and* copyright protection circumvention software? Using Occam's Razor and all that, it's an open and shut case.
Now the question is, when is someone going to create a worm that backtracks to the RIAA computers and anyone affiliated with them? Not long, I would imagine.
Suggestion: just have it delete solitaire.exe and block access to all pr0n sites. The screams will be audible thousands of miles away.
Are you out of your f!@#$ing mind? What McDonald's manager do you know that makes 125k/y? What Trump Tower McDonald's, golden-spatula slinging, diamond studded salt shaker shaking, spit polished and custom fitted uniform wearing mother!%^&* are you talking about and where do I find him so I can kill him, skin him, and wear his face like a mask so I can collect his paycheck? That's complete crap! If you're writing any kind of code at all and you're not getting paid more than a McD's manager, you suck at salary negotiations and you are obviously too stupid to realize you're being overworked and underpaid.
I actually knew a guy whose name was Steve Seven. I asked him how he got his name. Apparently he grew up on an orphanage. They kept things straight by giving the kids that didn't have last names a number. As far as I know, he was never formally adopted, so his last name was never changed. He was Stephen #7, or Steve Seven.
I suggested he change his name to Oliver O. Seven. He'd heard that one before....
Complete crap. The speed of sound is affected by density and pressure, not temperature. On the other hand, the density and pressure are affected by temperature, and thus the speed of sound can be affected secondarily by temperature.
A side note: why did scientists first postulate the existance of black holes? Because beyond a certain density of matter, sound waves would necessarily be able to travel faster than the speed of light. Since that's not supposed to be possible they conjectured that at a certain density neutron stars must collapse even further, etc.
I too am thankful that, by fate's whim, I was born in a country where healthcare, food, and other necessities are plentiful. But maintaining a trade balance and job protections is not equivalent to isolationism. I fully expect my President and his administration to protect the common welfare. Or perhaps this portion of his oath of office only applied to those who would fill his pockets and reward him with further political clout?
Yeah, that's a flamebait, or more accurately, flame-response. Don't tell me how saddened you are or how ashamed you are. Take off your rose-colored glasses and leave your pitying hugs at the door. I had to change careers because any job was better than nothing and I'm now making a quarter of what I was making before. I didn't sit on my ass for a pretty penny at my old job; I busted it days, evenings, weekends, and the occasional all-nighter because I take pride in my work and my contribution to my company. And to what end? None that I can see. The last company I was at is barely scraping by with its key people laid off and its ability to compete severely hampered by decisions poorly timed with the off-shoring boom. I hold my old boss blameless; he couldn't have seen something of this magnitude coming.
What couldn't he see coming? Off-shoring? No, it was the current administration's determination to pretend that, since the jobs lost didn't belong to anyone they were personally beholden to, those now scrambling to rebuild their lives don't count. Out of (media) sight, out of (public) mind.
Do I feel bad for the destitute of the world, the starving, the unclothed, unwashed, diseased of the world? Hell yes, I do. Does that mean the President should sit idly by while his constituents watch the money taken from their pockets and tossed upon the shores of a foreign land? Hell no, he shouldn't. Mr. Bush is derelict in his duties for doing so. If I feel bad enough about the folks that have it so rough in India, I'll contribute to charity, but damn it, don't tell me that I should smile as my financial life crashes to the ground knowing that some schmoe in India is yucking it up over a Guiness with his other buddies because, if I hadn't been ground underfoot, he'd be having it hard instead. I refuse to be a hero about this.
I believe the nation should take a page from "The Apprentice" and say, "You're fired," at election time.
Next step: applying the DMCA to software such that software companies must register with Microsoft or some government agency before they are allowed to sell any software that *could* circumvent or be used to replace DRM technologies.
Imagine: Windows will stop running any software that isn't certified --- oh wait, they already have that......
I completely agree. I find it easier to believe in MOND, in a quanta of gravity that is usually lost in the rounding error except when the distances involved are great enough. In fact, I'd even believe that virtual particles, zipping in and out of existence, are exerting hit-and-run gravitation. The idea of particles that float around without interacting with anything except through gravitational force just smacks of "ether". MOND and dark matter are, at least for now, calculation crutches, but MOND makes more sense to me than dark matter.
Slashdot Mirror
Oh, and as far as "man hours wasted", that same software also works with MySQL, PostgreSQL, mSQL, Pervasive SQL, and Informix, with very little extra effort.
If you saw thousands of man-hours wasted on database independence, you saw a badly architected system. Try using a class factory and listed templates. If a new database came out with a unique dialect of SQL, I could program in support for it in two to three days, tops. And since there was no SQL hardcoded anywhere in the applications that used the toolkit, all one had to do was recompile.
Bingo. Database independence.
Last but not least, I run the Anti-Ford page, so don't get me started about what Ford's engine designers lay awake at night doing....
To get your free transcript of tonight's program, dial 1-976-MAD-SKLZ. Operators are standing by, have your Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Diner's Club, Chevron, or library card ready....
I have, or more to the point, I have come across situations where one of our customers decided they were standardizing on a database the rest of our customer didn't have. For example, our software was designed to work with SQL Server, but one of our larger customers standardized on Oracle. It happens, and the way I architected the software allowed for an easy customization. In fact, we didn't have to touch 98% of the code. Not bad, huh?
I tried putting a number of sites in, including slashdot.org, and they ALL came out as "Not a valid transitional blah blah blah."
BAD SLASHDOT! No biscuit!
They should be tattooed onto the forehead of every OO programmer, so when they're "pair programming" they can read it off each other.
OHMIGOD that's funny! It's too bad my moderator points expired yesterday or I'd kick down some karma. I'm making that my Scathing Critique For The Week.
As for making objects that wrap around database concepts, those objects suffice to give RDMS the "relational" aspects they lack. By putting data into objects and using only those objects, they abstract the source of the data from the rest of the program -- a highly desirable application of EJBs. By doing this, the database can be altered dramatically, swapped out with another database, the dialect of SQL in each database can be accounted for, etc., without any modification to the code dependent on those EJBs.
Perhaps some happy coder will create a truly relational layer to sit atop all these databases with all their quirks to smooth out the differences and provide the functionality that the databases don't. Allowed to control the implementation of schemas and made smart enough to optimize those schemas for each type of database it supports, this might even help with data flow bottlenecks.
Just an idea. Feel free to get rich off it. Just be sure to thank me in the about box...
Oh blah, blah, blah. Waa, Waa...
Look, you guys are all whining about how they don't do, make, create, or serve anything. I see a number of long-winded posts going on about CEOs, open markets, democracies, etc. Let's cut through all that for a moment and focus on the generalities, and in so doing, see it from the "aggressive asshole"'s side.
Everyone is a resource, unless they are at the top of the food chain. Kernigan, Ritchie, Torvalds, these guys are resources. They make, they create, they do. Someone further down the line consumes the fruits of their efforts, their time and sweat, and they create other things. These folks also make, create, and do. And so on until you reach a point where someone collects the fruits of all the resources, lives off it, and gives little or nothing back that can be quantified except through sales pitch. These guys are the top of the food chain. You don't like Darl? Guess what -- he doesn't like you either. But where you probably have some kind of respect for his position, he has none for yours. You are food. You are a resource. You exist to serve him, even indirectly and/or unwillingly. Get it?
Having the money behind a pheumatic tube does not hurt the throughput any, and is a HUGE cost savings on insurance because there is NO MONEY a wood-be robber can grab. It's all in a locked room. Unless they have trained attack ferrets to go through the tubes... a guy with a gun is only going to get what's in the people's wallets.
AH! Finally, a use for my trained attack ferrets! Skilled in the most aggressive of martial arts, Weasel Te, and wearing clingey black body suits that my Aunt Bea knits for them, they will be able to penetrate the puny defenses of you bank and steal all the money! Today, The First National Bank of MooseBreath, Montana, tomorrow, THE WORLD!!!! bwuhahaHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!
OW! The little sh*t bit me....
Amen!
(waiting... waiting... has it been 20 seconds yet? waiting.... hmmmm, hmmm, hm, hm, hmmmmmm.... crap, now I have to wait another minute because I already posted? crap..... waiting... waiting... humming the Jeopardy tune... waiting... scraping a jam-covered crumb from my toast off the desk... sipping my coffee... waiting.... )
Actually, the theater staff can't confiscate your camcorder. How old are you people, anyway? This isn't high school, the teacher can't take your slingshot away until after class. What they'd do is call the police and let them sort it out. The police would escort your sorry butt out of the theater and arrest you. At some point, if you're lucky and don't piss anyone off terribly, they might give you a chance to explain yourself and show that there's nothing on the tape. And even then, if the law is vague enough, you might have to do that explaining to the judge and not just the cops.
I've got better things to do with my time than defend theft.
It's a stupid idea.
You're right though, it's disturbing that an industry that employs millions of people would have any pull with the government that they expect to protect their jobs.
And you're an idiot if, after reading that last sentence, you still think that stealing is a victimless crime.
You *could* disable your camcorder (cover the lens or whatnot) and proceed to pretend to "film" the movie while watching it. It's quite legal, even if it might drive theater managers nuts. It also makes enforcement of this infeasible, if done widely enough.
Ok, yea, sure. I can see it now. A grassroots movement in which thousands -- nay, millions -- of people flock to the theaters and begin setting up camcorders set to record, but with the lens caps on. One theater manager is quoted as saying, "They're driving us NUTS!" Another mutters, "We'd have enforced that new law, if it weren't for those meddling kids..." Finally, shamed into admitting that copyright-ism is wrong, the Congress passes a new Stealing Rights Bill, and the U.S. is the first nation in history to recognize the rights of the people to bilk anyone they want out of any money that can be stolen by electronically copying a given work that is sold for money and giving it away for free!! The nations of the world rejoice, and the name of OxOdOa, referred to lovingly by groupies as "CR/LF", is praised as the saviour of all humanity!!!
Or not.
To hell with that. You call the police, you file a complaint. You send the story to the local paper. You call the TV stations. One thing the mob does not handle well is attention.
And once you've gotten some attention, the next time you find that van, break the window, throw a little gasoline in, toss in a match. Bing, bang, no more van. And no one is going to touch you because now you're in the public eye.
Exactly what I thought. It actually took me a minute when I saw the name before I put it together that this was the same guy I used to fire off emails to about various parts of the hyperreal site. A darned informative site, too... Somehow, I wouldn't have pictured him as a CTO, and I had no idea he was one of the founders of ASF.
What a funny world...
If it's any consolation, it's not so much their clothing as the dorky mustaches.. ^_^
30 years from now they'll be talking about our "dorky goatees."
Yeah, so what.
I actually rented one of these networks. It was a "Portal of Doom 8" compromised, all broadband, 10,000 node net with single-point-of-command control. I was going to use it to take over all the financial institutions' traffic, slowly siphoning off billions into various Nigerian bank accounts (I would worry about how to get the money out of those accounts later). Then I would use the network to control the minds of the populace by sneaking spoofed CNN stories into their browsers accusing the politicians of the world of being one brotherhood dedicated to raping the world's resource just to impress the Olsen twins. Once the politicians understood that I held the key to their utter destruction, I would RULE THE WORLD!!!! bwuHAHAHAH!!!!
Just as I completed my "WorldDomination.scr" script, my wife maxed out our bank account shopping at Ross Dress For Less, the rent check bounced, and I was looking at "access denied."
Dang it.
I hate it when that happens....
Yahoo's Neighborhood Profiles [yahoo.com] section, searchable by zip code, has lots of nice data if you're pricing a job.
I'm not sure I trust that page. For every area, it states that people spend more on retail consumer items than they earn.
I'm mean, sure, maybe *I* do that, and we all know Gee Dub Bush's government does it to the extreme, but the whole country can't be doing that.... can they?
Lindows and Borland have joined forces. The new name?
Linprise.
Yeah, it's a dumb name, but so is Linspire. Sounds like an online motivational sound bites page.
I have no doubt whatsoever that this worm is RIAA sponsored. Why else would it hit P2P *and* copyright protection circumvention software? Using Occam's Razor and all that, it's an open and shut case.
Now the question is, when is someone going to create a worm that backtracks to the RIAA computers and anyone affiliated with them? Not long, I would imagine.
Suggestion: just have it delete solitaire.exe and block access to all pr0n sites. The screams will be audible thousands of miles away.
So why isn't someone developing something that can use the kinetic energy from rain and turn it into electricity?
Hmmmm..... hold the phone...
The climate is harsh, the population is sparse and the terrain is impassable in many areas (both in North America and Asia).
Impassable for who? Not for the guy that bought the tunnel borer...
"That mountain is an obstacle? HAH!! Only on the surface! I laugh at your puny mountain!!"
Are you out of your f!@#$ing mind? What McDonald's manager do you know that makes 125k/y? What Trump Tower McDonald's, golden-spatula slinging, diamond studded salt shaker shaking, spit polished and custom fitted uniform wearing mother!%^&* are you talking about and where do I find him so I can kill him, skin him, and wear his face like a mask so I can collect his paycheck? That's complete crap! If you're writing any kind of code at all and you're not getting paid more than a McD's manager, you suck at salary negotiations and you are obviously too stupid to realize you're being overworked and underpaid.
Geez frikkin' louise....
I actually knew a guy whose name was Steve Seven. I asked him how he got his name. Apparently he grew up on an orphanage. They kept things straight by giving the kids that didn't have last names a number. As far as I know, he was never formally adopted, so his last name was never changed. He was Stephen #7, or Steve Seven.
I suggested he change his name to Oliver O. Seven. He'd heard that one before....
Complete crap. The speed of sound is affected by density and pressure, not temperature. On the other hand, the density and pressure are affected by temperature, and thus the speed of sound can be affected secondarily by temperature.
A side note: why did scientists first postulate the existance of black holes? Because beyond a certain density of matter, sound waves would necessarily be able to travel faster than the speed of light. Since that's not supposed to be possible they conjectured that at a certain density neutron stars must collapse even further, etc.
And we're ashamed of you, or at least I am.
I too am thankful that, by fate's whim, I was born in a country where healthcare, food, and other necessities are plentiful. But maintaining a trade balance and job protections is not equivalent to isolationism. I fully expect my President and his administration to protect the common welfare. Or perhaps this portion of his oath of office only applied to those who would fill his pockets and reward him with further political clout?
Yeah, that's a flamebait, or more accurately, flame-response. Don't tell me how saddened you are or how ashamed you are. Take off your rose-colored glasses and leave your pitying hugs at the door. I had to change careers because any job was better than nothing and I'm now making a quarter of what I was making before. I didn't sit on my ass for a pretty penny at my old job; I busted it days, evenings, weekends, and the occasional all-nighter because I take pride in my work and my contribution to my company. And to what end? None that I can see. The last company I was at is barely scraping by with its key people laid off and its ability to compete severely hampered by decisions poorly timed with the off-shoring boom. I hold my old boss blameless; he couldn't have seen something of this magnitude coming.
What couldn't he see coming? Off-shoring? No, it was the current administration's determination to pretend that, since the jobs lost didn't belong to anyone they were personally beholden to, those now scrambling to rebuild their lives don't count. Out of (media) sight, out of (public) mind.
Do I feel bad for the destitute of the world, the starving, the unclothed, unwashed, diseased of the world? Hell yes, I do. Does that mean the President should sit idly by while his constituents watch the money taken from their pockets and tossed upon the shores of a foreign land? Hell no, he shouldn't. Mr. Bush is derelict in his duties for doing so. If I feel bad enough about the folks that have it so rough in India, I'll contribute to charity, but damn it, don't tell me that I should smile as my financial life crashes to the ground knowing that some schmoe in India is yucking it up over a Guiness with his other buddies because, if I hadn't been ground underfoot, he'd be having it hard instead. I refuse to be a hero about this.
I believe the nation should take a page from "The Apprentice" and say, "You're fired," at election time.
Next step: applying the DMCA to software such that software companies must register with Microsoft or some government agency before they are allowed to sell any software that *could* circumvent or be used to replace DRM technologies.
Imagine: Windows will stop running any software that isn't certified --- oh wait, they already have that......
hmmm....
I completely agree. I find it easier to believe in MOND, in a quanta of gravity that is usually lost in the rounding error except when the distances involved are great enough. In fact, I'd even believe that virtual particles, zipping in and out of existence, are exerting hit-and-run gravitation. The idea of particles that float around without interacting with anything except through gravitational force just smacks of "ether". MOND and dark matter are, at least for now, calculation crutches, but MOND makes more sense to me than dark matter.