I'm concerned that when the (interesting) parent post speaks of "POS system" above, some readers will think this refers to a "Point of Sale system". Please be advised, in this context it means "Piece of Shit system".
the scientific answer is "we don't know yet" a reasonable answer if not a "good explanation" as of yet... there are a few hints as to how and why it's possible.
The creationist's have a great explanation in comparison, "and it had a big bushy grey beard too!"
The thing is, the the relativism of uncertainty, while you cannot prove any explanation 100% correct, you can identify things at 0% correct.
e.g. the probability function for a particle. Nowhere can the probability be 100% (the 100% is spread out), but in most points in the univers the value of that probability function is 0 and even at certain points within the packet interval, the function can and will probably be 0.
The probability that life was created by a lightning bolt in an acient sea may be near zero. The probablility of a metaphysical being that is somehow man-like, being omniscient, but judging people on their inevitable fate... is zero.
I don't know, but it looks a bit like people used to getting the smokey-room deal... the product just has to sit there inert for the right cigar and the right poker game to come along, then ????, profit!
it's a theory. I doubt it has much to do with mormanism, but perhaps something with the back room happens-to-be-run-by-mormans way Utah is run.
>This seems like it will be about as successful as the whole GIF ordeal a few years back. Where is UNISYS today? Is SCO litigating itself into irrelevance?"
oh great, we all know how well that turned out.
And BTW: Unisys, pos that it is, makes over a Billion Dollars in Revenue a year still. If this turns out anything like the GIF controversy, Linux is screwed major.
How dare we hate that company and hope ill will for it. How dare we want to prove to the the slavering Microphants that Microsoft takes Linux seriously. That like with DR-DOS their internal view of Linux is that's it's a serious industrial platform, unlike their public stance that's it's an unworkable double plus ungood cancer kept running by hobbyists with duct tape.
How dare we decide to hate Microsoft. We should love our master. Ingrates!
>If anyone can come along and write an OS that has $ as its prompt and you can type ls to get a list of files, does that make it a Unix? No, there's more to it than that. And that's why the Unix(r) brand exists.
now that's just ridiculous! You need grep and awk too, then it's unix.
btw, Kstars looks cool thanks for the info (via your sig).
Have you checked out stellarium and celestia? Both are interesting GPLed astro programs, the first being a planetarium project not unlike Kstars, and celestia being a solar system/galactic simulator of great coolness. If not, I recommend a quick look.
why alas... this was the promise of the internet and the "you don't have to listen" theory.
this is the populist goal and result, the "democratization" of media. And now it's complaints? We'd be better off if people would just shut up? I don't think so.
and in software engineering it's possible to get stuck and face some problems you simply cannot solve. Traditionally you try anyway to generate a spectacular effect near the end.
this is true except for an extra problem. The people that hire software engineers cannot tell when they are getting a good one. And since it's largely a team activity, you can get people from good teams that turn out to not have apparently been the good ones. Or maybe it's your organization which is not optimal and they find it hard to contribute as they are accustomed to the good sense of a quality software development methodology.
Because so many that hire cannot tell who is good, there are older programmers that produce bugs. They need to recognize the older programmers that have been learning good habits that whole time.
Having said that, the key question is whether the older programmer generates enough value for the company, compared to a younger programmer. Programmer A with five years of experience might get something done (by that I mean debugged and ready to ship) in half the time than programmer B fresh out of school.
basically the older programmer just can't expect to ask for any more money than the younger programmer, the market price is being driven from the bottom... after all, it makes sense for it to change.
The question is, in the end, what will the going rate be for people really disposed to being procedural logicians.
the net boom started in the late 90's, it was common for 20 somethings to fill a company. It wasn't because 20 is like the prime of your logical abilities in life! It was because there were damn few programmers older! There had been few jobs, especially for totally self taught people... and oh, there were few self taught people because there was no PC around if you were older than say 10-15 circa 1980. We were the first wave of computers programmers in any popular sense... the idea of "personal" computer software and consumer software such as games.
I learned computers on the school computer in the closet somewhere, the schools I was in got computer labs just as I left them, and that was still a couple years before other schools were getting them (there were dilligent pro-computer math teachers at my junior and high school).
I'm used to being and old timer. When I was 27 I was already an old timer at these startups. It's like being the oldest sibling, you are oldest even when you are 7 and the little brother is 4.
So we're still here ten years later (7=10 true enough for software engineering purposes), don't be suprised. In ten years you'll notice the ages go up to the 40's. When were 60+... well you get the idea.
Computers are not a thing of the youth. The Startups might still have 20 year olds becuase they can risk more... but many companies or well funded startups will continue to have ages that rise to my generations level with a few baby boomer guru's flitting about (if they are not busy buying the Seattle Seahawks or something).
In places where computers have existed for fifty years (like science, banking, government, universities etc.) you see the full age range. Not because those places are more conservative. It's because the semi-specialized employees hang around where they know how to make a living.
Young executives and managers are another thing entirely.
fsck you, the point is that the 6502 laid it all out quite simply.
there is a finite amount of memory, it's laied out end to end and numbered sequentially. the number points to the correct location. and don't worry, to tell the truth I've only ever looked at my monitor that way.
I really think the pointer concept is more or less as obvious as air. Perhaps you underestimate the complexity of realizing that there is air in the empty space between you and me.
Slashdot Mirror
$200 lindows machine (no monitor, of course)
finally, some support! thanks.
I'm concerned that when the (interesting) parent post speaks of "POS system" above, some readers will think this refers to a "Point of Sale system". Please be advised, in this context it means "Piece of Shit system".
no need to thank me.
"Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing" has nothing to do with good code writing... it's entirely PR.
the scientific answer is "we don't know yet" a reasonable answer if not a "good explanation" as of yet... there are a few hints as to how and why it's possible.
The creationist's have a great explanation in comparison, "and it had a big bushy grey beard too!"
The thing is, the the relativism of uncertainty, while you cannot prove any explanation 100% correct, you can identify things at 0% correct.
e.g. the probability function for a particle. Nowhere can the probability be 100% (the 100% is spread out), but in most points in the univers the value of that probability function is 0 and even at certain points within the packet interval, the function can and will probably be 0.
The probability that life was created by a lightning bolt in an acient sea may be near zero. The probablility of a metaphysical being that is somehow man-like, being omniscient, but judging people on their inevitable fate... is zero.
I don't know, but it looks a bit like people used to getting the smokey-room deal... the product just has to sit there inert for the right cigar and the right poker game to come along, then ????, profit!
it's a theory. I doubt it has much to do with mormanism, but perhaps something with the back room happens-to-be-run-by-mormans way Utah is run.
sorry, I should have said over a billion dollars in revenue a Quarter (actually 1.3 Bill for over 5 Billion a year).
>This seems like it will be about as successful as the whole GIF ordeal a few years back. Where is UNISYS today? Is SCO litigating itself into irrelevance?"
oh great, we all know how well that turned out.
And BTW: Unisys, pos that it is, makes over a Billion Dollars in Revenue a year still. If this turns out anything like the GIF controversy, Linux is screwed major.
How dare we hate that company and hope ill will for it. How dare we want to prove to the the slavering Microphants that Microsoft takes Linux seriously. That like with DR-DOS their internal view of Linux is that's it's a serious industrial platform, unlike their public stance that's it's an unworkable double plus ungood cancer kept running by hobbyists with duct tape.
How dare we decide to hate Microsoft. We should love our master. Ingrates!
>It's sure starting to look like Syria is queued up for the next liberation.
and now, if someone spills beer on you in a bar you say, "Hey buddy, let's take this outside where I can drop a little liberation on your ass!"
yes.
>If anyone can come along and write an OS that has $ as its prompt and you can type ls to get a list of files, does that make it a Unix? No, there's more to it than that. And that's why the Unix(r) brand exists.
now that's just ridiculous! You need grep and awk too, then it's unix.
I like Unix for old-and-proprietary unix, and unix for everything (including the old proprietary Unix).
Andy666... and you got a 666xxx UID... holy shit I'm talking to the devil!
Yes, your's is a much better example.
>The best Requirements Document [constitution.org] ever written.
it's a bitch to impliment.
Message: don't believe Microsoft at any time of year.
Yes I'm bitter. I was looking forward to the home version.
btw, Kstars looks cool thanks for the info (via your sig).
Have you checked out stellarium and celestia? Both are interesting GPLed astro programs, the first being a planetarium project not unlike Kstars, and celestia being a solar system/galactic simulator of great coolness. If not, I recommend a quick look.
Then I assume LMC means Large Megellanic Cloud.
why alas... this was the promise of the internet and the "you don't have to listen" theory.
this is the populist goal and result, the "democratization" of media. And now it's complaints? We'd be better off if people would just shut up? I don't think so.
>you can never again know what on earth is going on when you see x = y + z, unless you are aware of every operator overload which was used.
You just have to know the types of the variables, a reasonable requirement in making any data manipulation.
and in software engineering it's possible to get stuck and face some problems you simply cannot solve. Traditionally you try anyway to generate a spectacular effect near the end.
this is true except for an extra problem. The people that hire software engineers cannot tell when they are getting a good one. And since it's largely a team activity, you can get people from good teams that turn out to not have apparently been the good ones. Or maybe it's your organization which is not optimal and they find it hard to contribute as they are accustomed to the good sense of a quality software development methodology.
Because so many that hire cannot tell who is good, there are older programmers that produce bugs. They need to recognize the older programmers that have been learning good habits that whole time.
Having said that, the key question is whether the older programmer generates enough value for the company, compared to a younger programmer. Programmer A with five years of experience might get something done (by that I mean debugged and ready to ship) in half the time than programmer B fresh out of school.
basically the older programmer just can't expect to ask for any more money than the younger programmer, the market price is being driven from the bottom... after all, it makes sense for it to change.
The question is, in the end, what will the going rate be for people really disposed to being procedural logicians.
the net boom started in the late 90's, it was common for 20 somethings to fill a company. It wasn't because 20 is like the prime of your logical abilities in life! It was because there were damn few programmers older! There had been few jobs, especially for totally self taught people... and oh, there were few self taught people because there was no PC around if you were older than say 10-15 circa 1980. We were the first wave of computers programmers in any popular sense... the idea of "personal" computer software and consumer software such as games.
I learned computers on the school computer in the closet somewhere, the schools I was in got computer labs just as I left them, and that was still a couple years before other schools were getting them (there were dilligent pro-computer math teachers at my junior and high school).
I'm used to being and old timer. When I was 27 I was already an old timer at these startups. It's like being the oldest sibling, you are oldest even when you are 7 and the little brother is 4.
So we're still here ten years later (7=10 true enough for software engineering purposes), don't be suprised. In ten years you'll notice the ages go up to the 40's. When were 60+... well you get the idea.
Computers are not a thing of the youth. The
Startups might still have 20 year olds becuase they can risk more... but many companies or well funded startups will continue to have ages that rise to my generations level with a few baby boomer guru's flitting about (if they are not busy buying the Seattle Seahawks or something).
In places where computers have existed for fifty years (like science, banking, government, universities etc.) you see the full age range. Not because those places are more conservative. It's because the semi-specialized employees hang around where they know how to make a living.
Young executives and managers are another thing entirely.
sometimes.
fsck you, the point is that the 6502 laid it all out quite simply.
there is a finite amount of memory, it's laied out end to end and numbered sequentially. the number points to the correct location. and don't worry, to tell the truth I've only ever looked at my monitor that way.
I really think the pointer concept is more or less as obvious as air. Perhaps you underestimate the complexity of realizing that there is air in the empty space between you and me.