The point I was making about the while(true) statement was the unnecessary comment that went along with it. I could go for while(true) or while(1), I just prefer while(1), but a comment explaining what it is doing seems silly.
When I was in University about 25 years ago, the 101 classes were guys about 80% and girls about 20%
Each year the classes thinned out, and only the people who could stand the onslaught of project after project were able to keep going.
There were some girls left, but the percentage changed to about 95% guys and only 5% girls.
The girls that were left were (in my opinion) very good programmers, the guys that were left were from average to good programmers.
So I'm not sure what you would take from this, but it seems that girls that have the mindset to persevere in this type of work, are fewer, but are the cream of the crop. Whereas more guys will preserver even if they are just scraping by.
However my experience in the workforce has not matched my university experience. So perhaps it is just too small a sample to draw any conclusions from.
In a course I had taken there was discussion of coding style. This was a fairly advanced course and everyone in it was a programmer at some point in their life.
I showed some of the techniques that I use and most people felt they were cryptic. To me they were as clear as day.
They are useful because they make the code smaller, and therefore you have less to read to see what is happening. The girls in the class tended to be more long winded with more explanations of things that to me would be obvious. I've been criticized for not commenting enough, but I tend to write code that self comments (feeling it is more accurate, because comments lie, code doesn't).
for example,
int value = test ? result1 : result2
vs
int value;
if (test)
value = result1;
else
value = result2;
or
while(1) {... }
vs while(true)// always repeat until a break or return occurs {... }
My experience with women coders was a contract where there were two parts. The first part dealt with a radio interface to a time scheduler which scheduled cement trucks going out to various jobs and timings based on the type of job and time feed back from previous trips out to the jobs. The second half of the first part was getting the various recipes for the cement to be mixed.
The girls half of the job was to do a database which would track what jobs had been done and various other things. (All database work).
We had 3 months to do it in. My hard disk died 2 months in, and the backup proved to be corrupted, so I had to restart two months into the project. My half was a week overdue, but worked flawlessly.
I remember the girls doing "data flow charts" at this time, and I asked what they were doing. They replied that every project should have a data flow chart... Their half never got done, and they ended up losing the contract. (Grr).
Jim Prentice the Minister of Industry today released a Copyright Bill. Some commentary on the legislation is contained on Michael Geist's blog (a University of Ottawa law professor and Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law) here: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/
A grass roots campaign has been started to send letters to Members of Parliament to ensure this legislation doesn't move forward without substantive input from Canadians.
I'd really appreciate your support in filling out the following:
I run a fairly busy site that has the following stats: 1. Internet Explorer 97,589 75.07% 2. Firefox 26,383 20.30% 3. Safari 4,844 3.73% 4. Opera 500 0.38% 5. Netscape 329 0.25% 6. Mozilla 270 0.21% 7. Konqueror 37 0.03% 8. Camino 21 0.02% 9. Mozilla Compatible Agent 6 > 0.00% 10. Playstation 3 5 > 0.00%
What is interesting to note is that this site is for stock investors so think middle aged, none-technical crowd. (Com-on Konqueror!)
I've long thought that this type of system would be useful for speech. Things like "Stop" before a country stop sign where they just have grooves in the road before. Or "Hidden Driveways ahead", or "Prison area, don't pick up hitchhikers". Things you normally see on signs, but give the audio clue as well.
Then of course we would get the hackers who modify them. Causing the roads to talk dirty to you.:)
I had a similar experience with gateway computers. I was having a problem with vista sound, but the sound worked fine under linux. I went to the customer support chat thing (while using vista) and talked to them about it. The conversation went something like this: "I'm having problems with sound in Vista, the sound works fine after I install knoppix"
connection died.
I tried again, this time avoiding linux until I got to the second teer help. As soon as I mentioned it works under Linux, the connection died again.
I think that a certain monopoly is using it's monopolistic muscles to make computer companies not support competing operations systems.
I know that gcc is a great compiler, and vi and emacs are wonderful, but I really miss the convenience of select and drop gui development. I also like IDE's, with context sensitive help, and class completion and all the other things they do.
It seems to me that windows development tools are ahead of Linux in these regards, and it would behoove Linux developers to make development as easy as possible.
Free Software/Open source is a global idea. So yes, the US could cut off open source projects with "a stroke of the pen" however I think they would find that first, the projects would be carried on anyways, just not in their backyard, and second the education that Free Software/Open source gives would be lost to the American public, and third, the ideal of free speech would make this "stroke of the pen" very hard to do.
www.term4sale.com Isn't affiliated with any particular insurance company and has the rates for (almost) all the companies in North America. You can see how much you are paying compared to current prices....
(please reply with your own, and why you like it).
My favorite lug is the KWLug at kwlug.org This lug was created several years ago, and has a large number of very bright people in it. The topics are always well researched, and members are encouraged to do presentations themselves. Some people never present, others present often, but it's always interesting. We've even had some minor celebrities giving talks there.
In addition we've started a fund where people can (voluntarily) contribute to free software, as a way of saying thank you. The funds get collected and are given to the particular project of the month.
After news, topics and questions are done, people usually head over to a local restaurant/bar for food and beer. A good time is had by all, and as a bonus, a bunch of business seems to happen as well. The business is not always Linux related, but it usually involves people who are know how to plug a computer in.:)
Movies are expensive to make. However that doesn't change the public's interest half life. It's like saying that because I spent a ton of money on my business it should make money for me, and be enforced by law.
Looking at http://www.fast-rewind.com/ for movies in the 80's I can't see one that if spoofed on/added to/ cut up/ redone/ couldn't be given a fresh life. How about a new genre where a movie played in the corner of a screen is re-created from other movies scene by scene. Imagine Back to the Future recreated with dozens of horror flicks. This is impossible under the current copyright laws.
I don't understand your last comment. Scenes from the original could be plastered on fast food soda cups all over the world just in time for the next movie release. Isn't that what normally happens anyways? Or are you saying that anyone could do it? (Why not?).
I still don't see why the Slashdot crowd cares one way or the other about the length of copyright terms
It's because the slashdot crowd is concerned about freedoms, and freedoms lost. It's because many in the slashdot crowd believe in standing on the shoulder's of giants to make their own works. (which can't be done with the current copyright).
Most books (not talking about the superstars here) are out of print within 3 years. Most publishers, maintain the copyright on the book until it is no longer in print (or something like that). Then the copyright reverts back to the original author. However most publishers won't admit it is no long in print for years and years after it is long gone.
Most authors have no problem with making copyright much shorter. I've heard values as low as 3 years, with 5 to 10 being the usual suggestion. It's only the Disney's and other superstars of the publishing world that want copyright longer then the normal human lifespan.
I don't think that diversity itself is necessarily a good thing. As the number of bad genes goes up, the more often they will combine to produce a very sick puppy. I don't see this as a good thing.
I've long wondered what the effects of modern medicine have on natural selection. People who would normally die of natural genetic defects are living and breeding, which is causing the gene pool to retain these genetic defects.
If the results from this article are correct, then people who have these genetic defects may be able to "turn off" the genes. (Maybe I'm reading that into the article). If this is the case, then my above worries are groundless, and my faith in modern medicine has gained some ground.
Corporations at one time tried to make money for their shareholders, then they began to realize that if they instead working on controlling the public, in what the public bought and thought, the money would come as a consequence. Governments have always worked on controlling the public, in what they thought and in some governments what they bought.
The difference is that corporations and governments are now vying for positions in how to best control the public. If a corporation allows the government to control it, it can get access to the population and thereby have some influence. If the corporation doesn't allow the government to control it, it will ether be shut down or shut out.
You can see this behavior in music, literature, web searches, museums, copyright, trademarks, patents and on and on and on.
Publishing companies are not ignoring their own history. They are just repeating it. The reason they are doing that is because they don't give a flying f*ck about the tabs , musicians, or even the money involved.
They care about control. They want to control the industry. This will automagically give them money and all the rest.
In the corporate world it is often more about following the control, then following the money.
Slashdot Mirror
The point I was making about the while(true) statement was the unnecessary comment that went along with it. I could go for while(true) or while(1), I just prefer while(1), but a comment explaining what it is doing seems silly.
When I was in University about 25 years ago, the 101 classes were guys about 80% and girls about 20%
Each year the classes thinned out, and only the people who could stand the onslaught of project after project were able to keep going.
There were some girls left, but the percentage changed to about 95% guys and only 5% girls.
The girls that were left were (in my opinion) very good programmers, the guys that were left were from average to good programmers.
So I'm not sure what you would take from this, but it seems that girls that have the mindset to persevere in this type of work, are fewer, but are the cream of the crop. Whereas more guys will preserver even if they are just scraping by.
However my experience in the workforce has not matched my university experience. So perhaps it is just too small a sample to draw any conclusions from.
Just an observation.
I don't understand your point. The two are nearly equivalent.
In a course I had taken there was discussion of coding style. This was a fairly advanced course and everyone in it was a programmer at some point in their life.
...
// always repeat until a break or return occurs ...
I showed some of the techniques that I use and most people felt they were cryptic. To me they were as clear as day.
They are useful because they make the code smaller, and therefore you have less to read to see what is happening. The girls in the class tended to be more long winded with more explanations of things that to me would be obvious. I've been criticized for not commenting enough, but I tend to write code that self comments (feeling it is more accurate, because comments lie, code doesn't).
for example,
int value = test ? result1 : result2
vs
int value;
if (test)
value = result1;
else
value = result2;
or
while(1)
{
}
vs
while(true)
{
}
My experience with women coders was a contract where there were two parts. The first part dealt with a radio interface to a time scheduler which scheduled cement trucks going out to various jobs and timings based on the type of job and time feed back from previous trips out to the jobs. The second half of the first part was getting the various recipes for the cement to be mixed.
The girls half of the job was to do a database which would track what jobs had been done and various other things. (All database work).
We had 3 months to do it in. My hard disk died 2 months in, and the backup proved to be corrupted, so I had to restart two months into the project. My half was a week overdue, but worked flawlessly.
I remember the girls doing "data flow charts" at this time, and I asked what they were doing. They replied that every project should have a data flow chart... Their half never got done, and they ended up losing the contract. (Grr).
Jim Prentice the Minister of Industry today released a Copyright Bill. Some commentary on the legislation is contained on Michael Geist's blog (a University of Ottawa law professor and Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law) here: http://www.michaelgeist.ca/
A grass roots campaign has been started to send letters to Members of Parliament to ensure this legislation doesn't move forward without substantive input from Canadians.
I'd really appreciate your support in filling out the following:
http://www.copyrightforcanadians.ca/action/firstlook/
Thank you for your consideration!
I run a fairly busy site that has the following stats:
1. Internet Explorer 97,589 75.07%
2. Firefox 26,383 20.30%
3. Safari 4,844 3.73%
4. Opera 500 0.38%
5. Netscape 329 0.25%
6. Mozilla 270 0.21%
7. Konqueror 37 0.03%
8. Camino 21 0.02%
9. Mozilla Compatible Agent 6 > 0.00%
10.
Playstation 3 5 > 0.00%
What is interesting to note is that this site is for stock investors so think middle aged, none-technical crowd.
(Com-on Konqueror!)
I've long thought that this type of system would be useful for speech. Things like "Stop" before a country stop sign where they just have grooves in the road before.
:)
Or "Hidden Driveways ahead", or "Prison area, don't pick up hitchhikers". Things you normally see on signs, but give the audio clue as well.
Then of course we would get the hackers who modify them. Causing the roads to talk dirty to you.
I had a similar experience with gateway computers. I was having a problem with vista sound, but the sound worked fine under linux.
I went to the customer support chat thing (while using vista) and talked to them about it.
The conversation went something like this:
"I'm having problems with sound in Vista, the sound works fine after I install knoppix"
connection died.
I tried again, this time avoiding linux until I got to the second teer help. As soon as I mentioned it works under Linux, the connection died again.
I think that a certain monopoly is using it's monopolistic muscles to make computer companies not support competing operations systems.
No, I'd rather have something like CodeGear (Borland's) C++Builder.
I've used VB once. It was an interesting half hour...
I'm a C++ programmer, and I've tried eclipse, for C++ it isn't that good. If I was into Java I'm sure I'd turn straight to eclipse.
I know that gcc is a great compiler, and vi and emacs are wonderful, but I really miss the convenience of select and drop gui development. I also like IDE's, with context sensitive help, and class completion and all the other things they do.
It seems to me that windows development tools are ahead of Linux in these regards, and it would behoove Linux developers to make development as easy as possible.
Free Software/Open source is a global idea. So yes, the US could cut off open source projects with "a stroke of the pen" however I think they would find that first, the projects would be carried on anyways, just not in their backyard, and second the education that Free Software/Open source gives would be lost to the American public, and third, the ideal of free speech would make this "stroke of the pen" very hard to do.
www.term4sale.com Isn't affiliated with any particular insurance company and has the rates for (almost) all the companies in North America. You can see how much you are paying compared to current prices....
Don't lugs usually have mailing lists as well. The two aren't mutually exclusive, and actually go quite well hand in hand.
(please reply with your own, and why you like it).
:)
My favorite lug is the KWLug at kwlug.org
This lug was created several years ago, and has a large number of very bright people in it. The topics are always well researched, and members are encouraged to do presentations themselves. Some people never present, others present often, but it's always interesting. We've even had some minor celebrities giving talks there.
In addition we've started a fund where people can (voluntarily) contribute to free software, as a way of saying thank you. The funds get collected and are given to the particular project of the month.
After news, topics and questions are done, people usually head over to a local restaurant/bar for food and beer. A good time is had by all, and as a bonus, a bunch of business seems to happen as well. The business is not always Linux related, but it usually involves people who are know how to plug a computer in.
Movies are expensive to make. However that doesn't change the public's interest half life. It's like saying that because I spent a ton of money on my business it should make money for me, and be enforced by law.
Looking at http://www.fast-rewind.com/ for movies in the 80's I can't see one that if spoofed on/added to/ cut up/ redone/ couldn't be given a fresh life. How about a new genre where a movie played in the corner of a screen is re-created from other movies scene by scene. Imagine Back to the Future recreated with dozens of horror flicks. This is impossible under the current copyright laws.
I don't understand your last comment. Scenes from the original could be plastered on fast food soda cups all over the world just in time for the next movie release. Isn't that what normally happens anyways? Or are you saying that anyone could do it? (Why not?).
I still don't see why the Slashdot crowd cares one way or the other about the length of copyright terms
It's because the slashdot crowd is concerned about freedoms, and freedoms lost.
It's because many in the slashdot crowd believe in standing on the shoulder's of giants to make their own works. (which can't be done with the current copyright).
Most books (not talking about the superstars here) are out of print within 3 years. Most publishers, maintain the copyright on the book until it is no longer in print (or something like that). Then the copyright reverts back to the original author. However most publishers won't admit it is no long in print for years and years after it is long gone.
Most authors have no problem with making copyright much shorter. I've heard values as low as 3 years, with 5 to 10 being the usual suggestion. It's only the Disney's and other superstars of the publishing world that want copyright longer then the normal human lifespan.
I don't think that diversity itself is necessarily a good thing. As the number of bad genes goes up, the more often they will combine to produce a very sick puppy. I don't see this as a good thing.
A film maker's job is to create an alternate reality and make it believable. They've just done that in real life.
Good point.
I've long wondered what the effects of modern medicine have on natural selection. People who would normally die of natural genetic defects are living and breeding, which is causing the gene pool to retain these genetic defects.
If the results from this article are correct, then people who have these genetic defects may be able to "turn off" the genes. (Maybe I'm reading that into the article). If this is the case, then my above worries are groundless, and my faith in modern medicine has gained some ground.
Corporations at one time tried to make money for their shareholders, then they began to realize that if they instead working on controlling the public, in what the public bought and thought, the money would come as a consequence.
.....
Governments have always worked on controlling the public, in what they thought and in some governments what they bought.
The difference is that corporations and governments are now vying for positions in how to best control the public. If a corporation allows the government to control it, it can get access to the population and thereby have some influence. If the corporation doesn't allow the government to control it, it will ether be shut down or shut out.
You can see this behavior in music, literature, web searches, museums, copyright, trademarks, patents and on and on and on.
As far as the public is concerned,
good luck
Publishing companies are not ignoring their own history. They are just repeating it. The reason they are doing that is because they don't give a flying f*ck about the tabs , musicians, or even the money involved.
They care about control. They want to control the industry. This will automagically give them money and all the rest.
In the corporate world it is often more about following the control, then following the money.