I think most languages are the same. There is a productivity vs. speed tradeoff, but:
A functional programming style, can be done in C if you just accept that minimizing global variables and pass functions by their pointers. Learning a functional language is likely to improve your C style and pointer management faster than how you might develop a functional style out of your own assumptions of what it might mean.
Class based OOP programming can also be done with C implementations. The only benefit of OOP is that it lets you write more without thinking first. Defining data types first and data organization, and then later simply patching them together. Its very similar to relational DB models. Most programming is done this way, because it is the most accessible to people to write code before understanding the problem. Its very useful when the problem comes from someone else and not perfectly specified.
One exceptionally highly productive language that still fits both of the above paradigms but also expands your solution processes is J (Jsoftware.com).
Regardless of how popular it is, this language can be the best tool for some to most applications. If you were paying for your own time, you might use it if you know it. But even if you only care about employability, J will make your programming in any language better, because a consise J solution tends to map to a consise solution in other languages.
Theoretically, you could need install media for win 3.1, 95,98 etc... if you kept getting the upgrade versions of MS OSs.
They've always created annoyances. And it shouldn't be anything new to anyone who's been around that Vista upgrade version continues with the harassment, though activated SP2 version of XP does raise the bar.
The real dealbreaker against any version of Vista is the repurchase on hardware upgrades. I require a minimum 5 year life expectancy from my OS, and cling to the option of upgrading or replacing (broken) components without OS repurchase.
The fact that there is no value added over XP is also a factor.
I installed linux on loopback FAT system 10 years ago. It seemed a bit slow, but not outrageously so, and for most applications, just load time was affected.
I do wonder if there are data integrity and major speed issues with loopback on ntfs, and if there has been any improvements over the last 10 years in this regard.
IE upgrades in the past have caused serious system troubles that required 5-10 hours to fix. I believe MS leaves semi-intentionally bugs that affect out of date OSs (XP fits MS's definition).
IE 6 works fine for sites that have been designed as it is the only browser in existance, which still exists. Hosing IE 6 with IE 7 is the stupidest thing anyone could do, considering that firefox/opera are at least as good.
I may wait for a 2.01 firefox, but there's no question what my main browser will be.
turns out practical speeds for these things are 180-200 km/h, which pretty much makes the thether friction a slowing force with no help "holding up" the climber, and so if powering by lasers/microwaves from the ground is the needed breakthrough, then the thether part isn't needed.
Considering the innefficiency of lasers multiplied by the innefficiency of solar panels, if a thether is useful, then an electrically conductive power transmitting thether is necessary. Powered in part by slowly falling (braking) climbers on the other end.
1 m/s takes 34+ days to go up 125000 meters. 35,786 km is the altitude this link (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_ 1.htm) gives. That would take almost 10000 hours(416 days) at 1 m/s. A reasonably practical 8 days at 50 m/s (180km/h).
It takes a ton of energy to climb alot of weight. Going slowly can help cut down air drag, and so can not having to lift the energy source and motor, but anchoring to the rope is probably antithetical to going up fast, and it will need some speed (~180 kmh) in order to have any practical value.
In terms of energy required, it takes the same amount of energy to climb at 1 m/s as it does at 1km/s. The difference is in air resistance that is very high at high speed (function of v ^2).
The only benefit of the thether system is that it allows slow speed climbing. For some reason, we don't value trains that go 1 m/s, and if they can't have climbing bots go up and down on the same thether, which would indeed seem like a big complication, and there's no room in space to store a bunch of robots so you can send them all back down at the same time, then you can only bring a small payload up to space every 10 days. The reason trains don't go 1 m/s even if it saves fuel is that efficient track utilization is important too.
It might take decades in order to get sufficient payload totals up there to justify (as in break even on) the energy savings of building the thethers, and its not clear that these cables will last decades.
excellent point. If you plan to ever make income through games, then all games you ever bought and the computer costs to play them improved your earning potential. Just being able to write off your computer software and subscription costs will cover most people's profits.
If anything, I've always thought of accounts as a capital transaction. You are reselling the game, the account is free. There is a capital gain equal to sale - accumulated costs.
I was very impressed with the video. Actors will be able to create desired facial annimations/expressions directly much faster and cheaper than animators, probably with no compromise at all to the directors vision.
I'm also guessing that tweaks long after the actor finished the session are still possible.
In a top movie, How many animator hours does it take to produce 1 second of facial animation?
Im on my 3rd HD, 3rd cpu and 2nd MB with my XP installation and never had validation problems.
It would be a huge reason to avoid Vista if MS doesn't guarantee that they will not validate the OS transfer provision.
Hard drive crashes are a huge event, that usually accompany MS bashing. Just as important though, CPUs and MBs around the $100 price point, have provided great value for the last 7 years, and upgrading often at the low end can make sense. Anything that creates potential uncertainty about events that would auto-invalidate Vista down the road simply makes it too expensive.
If the client finds a way to break my sofware, I owe him $1000???? MORE? Even if it was $10/bug per client, I would never sell software for less than $10000, and I would want all customers to undergo a credit check.
It would kill all software, not free software. If one country in the world exempted from the treaty or exempted OSS from liability, then all software would be produced in that country.
I would guess there's a volume setting for it. I guess there's a problem if you have to listen to the game in headphones, and "need" to hear ur nunchuck:P
As I was watching the PS3 conf last night, and figuring out that I was unlikely to be shelling out for it and an HDTV at the same time, the familly (past N64 owners) kept shouting back "wait until the games before you decide what to buy"... I wasn't allowed to say "but this thing is $600 minimum... there's no way"... I heard a "need FFXII" comment, but I plan on undermining PS3 requests at home for the next 2 years.
I think the 3 in 1 sports game at launch is gonna be a great title for wii. Spastic sports fun that could make mediocre sports titles fun, and a must buy, if they are packaged together, and their individual simulation value is overlooked.
The family will definitely drool over zelda. And I expect a good mario-party like title with fun mini-games.
So even if the controller response is going to underwhelm the hype, I'm pretty sure the wii will be fun enough to buy, and the family will enjoy it.
quicktime versions of the demos could make the games look more interesting. There showed quite a bit, so its probably unfair to dismiss PS3 as impossible to program. They gave the impression of quickly porting GT4 over, for example.
I got a PS2 around when it came out (maybe it was the following year, i forget) because it included a DVD player basically for the cost of DVD player. At the time, a DVD showed nice quality movies on the TVs we all had. I hooked it up to the kids TV and everyone was happy.
Its ridiculous to consider Blueray without an HD set. We have fairly large screen working TVs that are hard to get rid of, not to mention, that we'd prefer the console go on the 2nd TV.
Basically, what's different this time around for Sony, is that most consumers don't have the TVs to make the PS3 an attractive value.
I think Nintendo is overhyping the new game aspects. They have a cool concept that will appeal to plenty of bored gamers.
My big problem with PS3 is that the cost is nuts. Not only the $599, but the HDTV that you have to put in the familly room... I don't even have HDTV near my PC or bedroom yet.
The design is to let you type with 2 thumbs. Its probably inputable while walking too. I like this design a lot. good subway, bathroom, and meeting computer. Not so great if you just want something to take from office to home to hotel, or need something more pocketable and forgettable.
I've only looked into this game for the last 30 minutes or so.
Basically, it appears as though your expected networth gains are slightly lower than the cost of playing. I don't know by how much, but this is very different than most other RPGs, where the costs are fixed monthly fees, and its pretty straight forward (even if time intensive, and you possibly need to have been playing since launch date) to progress your character past the point where its market value is higher than what you've spent.
I would guess that its easier to maximize net worth in WoW or FFXI because most other players are not explicitly looking to do the same. Cashing out on the other hand has a murkier legal process.
Between the 770 and the pepperpad http://www.pepper.com/products/pepper.html there's no appeal for the origami. The 770 is actually pocketable, and much cheaper. The pepperpad is cheaper than the samsung, has built in hardware keyboard with the same concept, has useful battery life, other input hardware. 256mb ram and 20gb space is useful enough.
Having a faster processor, and XP, is not even close to worth the extra cost and low battery life
I would run pickup ZG groups before I quit. By pickup, I mean, just have 7-8 from guild with rest plucked from others. It was fun but draining at the same time.
The ZG boss referenced I think is the blood lord. One technique involves standing casters on a ledge. Never could figure out if that strat was an old wives tale though, as you can do him without the trick.
Slashdot Mirror
I think most languages are the same. There is a productivity vs. speed tradeoff, but:
A functional programming style, can be done in C if you just accept that minimizing global variables and pass functions by their pointers. Learning a functional language is likely to improve your C style and pointer management faster than how you might develop a functional style out of your own assumptions of what it might mean.
Class based OOP programming can also be done with C implementations. The only benefit of OOP is that it lets you write more without thinking first. Defining data types first and data organization, and then later simply patching them together. Its very similar to relational DB models. Most programming is done this way, because it is the most accessible to people to write code before understanding the problem. Its very useful when the problem comes from someone else and not perfectly specified.
One exceptionally highly productive language that still fits both of the above paradigms but also expands your solution processes is J (Jsoftware.com).
Regardless of how popular it is, this language can be the best tool for some to most applications. If you were paying for your own time, you might use it if you know it. But even if you only care about employability, J will make your programming in any language better, because a consise J solution tends to map to a consise solution in other languages.
Theoretically, you could need install media for win 3.1, 95,98 etc... if you kept getting the upgrade versions of MS OSs.
They've always created annoyances. And it shouldn't be anything new to anyone who's been around that Vista upgrade version continues with the harassment, though activated SP2 version of XP does raise the bar.
The real dealbreaker against any version of Vista is the repurchase on hardware upgrades. I require a minimum 5 year life expectancy from my OS, and cling to the option of upgrading or replacing (broken) components without OS repurchase.
The fact that there is no value added over XP is also a factor.
I installed linux on loopback FAT system 10 years ago. It seemed a bit slow, but not outrageously so, and for most applications, just load time was affected.
I do wonder if there are data integrity and major speed issues with loopback on ntfs, and if there has been any improvements over the last 10 years in this regard.
IE upgrades in the past have caused serious system troubles that required 5-10 hours to fix. I believe MS leaves semi-intentionally bugs that affect out of date OSs (XP fits MS's definition).
IE 6 works fine for sites that have been designed as it is the only browser in existance, which still exists. Hosing IE 6 with IE 7 is the stupidest thing anyone could do, considering that firefox/opera are at least as good.
I may wait for a 2.01 firefox, but there's no question what my main browser will be.
turns out practical speeds for these things are 180-200 km/h, which pretty much makes the thether friction a slowing force with no help "holding up" the climber, and so if powering by lasers/microwaves from the ground is the needed breakthrough, then the thether part isn't needed.
Considering the innefficiency of lasers multiplied by the innefficiency of solar panels, if a thether is useful, then an electrically conductive power transmitting thether is necessary. Powered in part by slowly falling (braking) climbers on the other end.
1 m/s takes 34+ days to go up 125000 meters. 35,786 km is the altitude this link (http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2000/ast07sep_ 1.htm) gives. That would take almost 10000 hours(416 days) at 1 m/s. A reasonably practical 8 days at 50 m/s (180km/h).
It takes a ton of energy to climb alot of weight. Going slowly can help cut down air drag, and so can not having to lift the energy source and motor, but anchoring to the rope is probably antithetical to going up fast, and it will need some speed (~180 kmh) in order to have any practical value.
In terms of energy required, it takes the same amount of energy to climb at 1 m/s as it does at 1km /s. The difference is in air resistance that is very high at high speed (function of v ^2).
The only benefit of the thether system is that it allows slow speed climbing. For some reason, we don't value trains that go 1 m/s, and if they can't have climbing bots go up and down on the same thether, which would indeed seem like a big complication, and there's no room in space to store a bunch of robots so you can send them all back down at the same time, then you can only bring a small payload up to space every 10 days. The reason trains don't go 1 m/s even if it saves fuel is that efficient track utilization is important too.
It might take decades in order to get sufficient payload totals up there to justify (as in break even on) the energy savings of building the thethers, and its not clear that these cables will last decades.
excellent point.
If you plan to ever make income through games, then all games you ever bought and the computer costs to play them improved your earning potential. Just being able to write off your computer software and subscription costs will cover most people's profits.
If anything, I've always thought of accounts as a capital transaction. You are reselling the game, the account is free. There is a capital gain equal to sale - accumulated costs.
The NYT link has a video with it all apparently running in real time. The actors should be able to "look in the mirror" to do it.
I was very impressed with the video. Actors will be able to create desired facial annimations/expressions directly much faster and cheaper than animators, probably with no compromise at all to the directors vision.
I'm also guessing that tweaks long after the actor finished the session are still possible.
In a top movie, How many animator hours does it take to produce 1 second of facial animation?
Im on my 3rd HD, 3rd cpu and 2nd MB with my XP installation and never had validation problems.
It would be a huge reason to avoid Vista if MS doesn't guarantee that they will not validate the OS transfer provision.
Hard drive crashes are a huge event, that usually accompany MS bashing.
Just as important though, CPUs and MBs around the $100 price point, have provided great value for the last 7 years, and upgrading often at the low end can make sense. Anything that creates potential uncertainty about events that would auto-invalidate Vista down the road simply makes it too expensive.
This is one of the stupidest ideas ever.
If the client finds a way to break my sofware, I owe him $1000???? MORE?
Even if it was $10/bug per client, I would never sell software for less than $10000, and I would want all customers to undergo a credit check.
It would kill all software, not free software. If one country in the world exempted from the treaty or exempted OSS from liability, then all software would be produced in that country.
I'm waiting for the VIA chipsets. I expect they will support AGP, and will be cheaper due to not having features I'm uninterested in.
On the other hand, I may just get a 754 chipset sempron in a month, instead of waiting.
I would guess there's a volume setting for it. I guess there's a problem if you have to listen to the game in headphones, and "need" to hear ur nunchuck :P
As I was watching the PS3 conf last night, and figuring out that I was unlikely to be shelling out for it and an HDTV at the same time, the familly (past N64 owners) kept shouting back "wait until the games before you decide what to buy"... I wasn't allowed to say "but this thing is $600 minimum... there's no way"... I heard a "need FFXII" comment, but I plan on undermining PS3 requests at home for the next 2 years.
I think the 3 in 1 sports game at launch is gonna be a great title for wii. Spastic sports fun that could make mediocre sports titles fun, and a must buy, if they are packaged together, and their individual simulation value is overlooked.
The family will definitely drool over zelda. And I expect a good mario-party like title with fun mini-games.
So even if the controller response is going to underwhelm the hype, I'm pretty sure the wii will be fun enough to buy, and the family will enjoy it.
the 3Dness of the sound is that its actually comming from close to you :P
The game score will still play through your hifi system.
quicktime versions of the demos could make the games look more interesting.
There showed quite a bit, so its probably unfair to dismiss PS3 as impossible to program.
They gave the impression of quickly porting GT4 over, for example.
I got a PS2 around when it came out (maybe it was the following year, i forget) because it included a DVD player basically for the cost of DVD player. At the time, a DVD showed nice quality movies on the TVs we all had. I hooked it up to the kids TV and everyone was happy.
Its ridiculous to consider Blueray without an HD set. We have fairly large screen working TVs that are hard to get rid of, not to mention, that we'd prefer the console go on the 2nd TV.
Basically, what's different this time around for Sony, is that most consumers don't have the TVs to make the PS3 an attractive value.
I think Nintendo is overhyping the new game aspects. They have a cool concept that will appeal to plenty of bored gamers.
My big problem with PS3 is that the cost is nuts. Not only the $599, but the HDTV that you have to put in the familly room... I don't even have HDTV near my PC or bedroom yet.
The design is to let you type with 2 thumbs. Its probably inputable while walking too.
I like this design a lot. good subway, bathroom, and meeting computer. Not so great if you just want something to take from office to home to hotel, or need something more pocketable and forgettable.
I've only looked into this game for the last 30 minutes or so.
Basically, it appears as though your expected networth gains are slightly lower than the cost of playing. I don't know by how much, but this is very different than most other RPGs, where the costs are fixed monthly fees, and its pretty straight forward (even if time intensive, and you possibly need to have been playing since launch date) to progress your character past the point where its market value is higher than what you've spent.
I would guess that its easier to maximize net worth in WoW or FFXI because most other players are not explicitly looking to do the same. Cashing out on the other hand has a murkier legal process.
which is it?,
" do the above will not possibly work"
or
" if MA learned what you were up to, they'd probably ban your account."
ballots in boxes counted in front of public when polls close.
If you want to use computers to improve the system, let computers print out the ballots that the voter shoves into the ballot box.
Between the 770 and the pepperpad http://www.pepper.com/products/pepper.html
there's no appeal for the origami.
The 770 is actually pocketable, and much cheaper.
The pepperpad is cheaper than the samsung, has built in hardware keyboard with the same concept, has useful battery life, other input hardware. 256mb ram and 20gb space is useful enough.
Having a faster processor, and XP, is not even close to worth the extra cost and low battery life
I would run pickup ZG groups before I quit. By pickup, I mean, just have 7-8 from guild with rest plucked from others. It was fun but draining at the same time.
The ZG boss referenced I think is the blood lord. One technique involves standing casters on a ledge. Never could figure out if that strat was an old wives tale though, as you can do him without the trick.