Make is fantastic for organizational purposes. makefiles are basically a language for describing dependencies. If you have a directory-based structure, it works wonderfully. You just have to make sure your stuff is orthogonal:-)
short answer: always check. What you do depends on whether it's realistic to expect it to fail.
If there's no chance of failure, the response is to exit with a message and leave it at that. That way, if it ever happens it will be an easy-to-find bug.
Otherwise, take the time to handle error gracefully:-)
D/A converters are quite cheap, compared to musical instruments and recording equipment.
Couple of hundred $$ for the kind that plugs into your PC, is good for audio frequency signals, lets you record a bunch of channels. Couple of thousand $$ if you are stupid about setting volume on your instruments/amps/effects and you need ridiculous dynamic range to compensate for that.
It is not, a desktop OS. The X server is really quite terrible, the screen shots look ok, but the "usability" sucks, it's glitchy and unreliable.
Simply not true. I haven't seen or heard of X problems on since about 3 years ago. X systems are quite usable- Gnome, KDE, Wmaker, icewm just to name a few. All of them let me get my work done and get in the way about the same as windows and about the same as mac. I think I know all three equally well.
But that brings me to the main point- It doesnt matter. Design really doesnt matter that much compared to what people are used to. If 90% of people out there know about windows and know about its quirks and weird drag-and-drop or right-click behaviors, the easiest thing to do is stick with it.
Classic example of this is the qwerty keyboard- dvorak is proven to be more efficient, but everyone knows qwerty and uses it. Happily.
Now there are some instances where there is terrible design, when some big principles are violated in GUI (e.g., using the edge of the screen to "pin" things, or having unnecessary layers of clicking).
As for artistic design, who gives a shit if your windows are transparent, or if your title-bars are color-coordinated. It has no relationship to getting work done. Its just there to make mac users feel good about themselves, or so that their friends are aware that they're the creative type.
As for Linux Desktop? It could easily 100% emulate either windows or mac, but for intellectual property limitations. Big Whoop. Let it be the "generic" version. Let the world be divided into those who buy "Advil" and those who buy "Rite Aid" brand ibuprofen for half the price.
Anyone close enough to scan your "tire chips" could just write down or photograph your license plate anyway (thouse red light cameras come pretty close)
If they only wanted it to work at close range, they could've used barcodes for much cheaper. (supermarket checkout counter technology)
If RFID is for implementing hand-inspection ID, then its some congressional pork in the standards process... Otherwise they want drive-by ID of your tires (why the tires and not the car? I dont know)
The 5 hour drivers license course in NY state is there to pound it into everyone's head (1) to use seatbelts and (2) not to drink and drive.
Which is fine with me. If the typical person is too stupid to use their seatbelt, or to plan ahead when drinking, there SHOULD be a 5 hour course to indoctrinate them with proper safety practices.
Um, Actually New York is the exception. There's classical music. Theres jazzy stuff on 80-something Mhz. THeres a Columbia U's radio station (Hi Eugene!) There's that radio station that has the 2600 show.
Theres Z100 which is crap for little kids. But then KTU's ok, and so is hot 97.
So there! Of course college radio stations, esp in small towns are always 1000000 times better. But hey.
Firewire is great. I have some hopes that it will win out eventually though. For one thing, it's pretty well entrenched as a multimedia standard (think DV cams). This should give it the longevity to survive as a standard.
Of course Mac users have been enjoying external firewire HD's for a while now- theyre pretty sweet. Not sure if mac's use firewire inside the box (theres no reason not to though)
Separating out the useful components of sewage (perhaps waste cellulose in human fecal matter... ewwww) to produce energy probably would undoubtedly use a lot more energy than you could extract from it.
Not Necessarily. You dilute the poop in water, and grow algae in it. The algae perform photosynthesis and produce sugars. Additional bacteria do a little organic chem to process the output of the algae into a form that automobiles can eat. Actually, you hardly need any poop at all, most of the algae's biomass comes from atmospheric CO2.
All that's required is lots of surface area to catch sunlight for the photosynthesis, so essentially, this is mother nature's form of solar energy:-)
I agree- The difference between windows and KDE/GNOME is less than the difference between windows and Mac, and most people manage that changeover with no problems
thats pretty funny. I've had a number of such experiences on the phone on both ends (not 911 thankfully). Its incredibly embarassing to the party whose system crashes. But thats life- some people put up with it, some people dont.
Absolutely true! I went to Cornell, which is in Ithaca, New York, and I listened to Ithaca College's WICB is one of the best radio stations ever.
The key is that they don't have to get huge numbers of listeners to listen to commercials (there are no commercials), so they can play good music. And the DJ's are cool so the music is good and they try to introduce people to some less-well known stuff.
yah, but a network with fewer higher-quality nodes are often more useful than many crappy nodes. For lots of reasons.
If you break down the 650 million files, mostly these are the same ones - there is huge redundancy in like the top 1000 files. This is your benefit in exchange for the network being loaded with 3.5 million users.
Example of small high-quality network: back with napster, the smaller openNap networks had a MUCH better signal-to-noise ratio, and as a result were much more useful. The reason was that it was fairly obscure, users were anal-retentive about having "correct" filenames, and tended to have fat connections. P2P heaven:-)
Slashdot Mirror
sweet, mod that up!
Word!
:-)
Make is fantastic for organizational purposes. makefiles are basically a language for describing dependencies. If you have a directory-based structure, it works wonderfully. You just have to make sure your stuff is orthogonal
short answer: always check. What you do depends on whether it's realistic to expect it to fail.
:-)
If there's no chance of failure, the response is to exit with a message and leave it at that. That way, if it ever happens it will be an easy-to-find bug.
Otherwise, take the time to handle error gracefully
LoL! :-)
What a load of bull.
D/A converters are quite cheap, compared to musical instruments and recording equipment.
Couple of hundred $$ for the kind that plugs into your PC, is good for audio frequency signals, lets you record a bunch of channels. Couple of thousand $$ if you are stupid about setting volume on your instruments/amps/effects and you need ridiculous dynamic range to compensate for that.
Bah!
It is not, a desktop OS. The X server is really quite terrible, the screen shots look ok, but the "usability" sucks, it's glitchy and unreliable.
Simply not true. I haven't seen or heard of X problems on since about 3 years ago. X systems are quite usable- Gnome, KDE, Wmaker, icewm just to name a few. All of them let me get my work done and get in the way about the same as windows and about the same as mac. I think I know all three equally well.
But that brings me to the main point- It doesnt matter. Design really doesnt matter that much compared to what people are used to. If 90% of people out there know about windows and know about its quirks and weird drag-and-drop or right-click behaviors, the easiest thing to do is stick with it.
Classic example of this is the qwerty keyboard- dvorak is proven to be more efficient, but everyone knows qwerty and uses it. Happily.
Now there are some instances where there is terrible design, when some big principles are violated in GUI (e.g., using the edge of the screen to "pin" things, or having unnecessary layers of clicking).
As for artistic design, who gives a shit if your windows are transparent, or if your title-bars are color-coordinated. It has no relationship to getting work done. Its just there to make mac users feel good about themselves, or so that their friends are aware that they're the creative type.
As for Linux Desktop? It could easily 100% emulate either windows or mac, but for intellectual property limitations. Big Whoop. Let it be the "generic" version. Let the world be divided into those who buy "Advil" and those who buy "Rite Aid" brand ibuprofen for half the price.
All newborns will be protected with a tiny chip installed under their skin in the palm of their hand
Doh! cant fix that one with the microwave
EZPASS is the mark of the beast
Anyone close enough to scan your "tire chips" could just write down or photograph your license plate anyway (thouse red light cameras come pretty close)
If they only wanted it to work at close range, they could've used barcodes for much cheaper. (supermarket checkout counter technology)
If RFID is for implementing hand-inspection ID, then its some congressional pork in the standards process... Otherwise they want drive-by ID of your tires (why the tires and not the car? I dont know)
Grandma's toasted tire transmitter recipe:
:-)
(1) find big microwave (or enlarge your microwave with shop tools)
(2) pop tire in microwave
(3) don't cook for too long or you'll smell your house up
what's up with the multi-hour training?
Safety.
The 5 hour drivers license course in NY state is there to pound it into everyone's head (1) to use seatbelts and (2) not to drink and drive.
Which is fine with me. If the typical person is too stupid to use their seatbelt, or to plan ahead when drinking, there SHOULD be a 5 hour course to indoctrinate them with proper safety practices.
Yup. I have to agree. Creed sucks.
The only time I've ever hit another human being in anger is when my roommate walked into my room, the Ramones was on, and he said "is this creed?".
Um, Actually New York is the exception. There's classical music. Theres jazzy stuff on 80-something Mhz. THeres a Columbia U's radio station (Hi Eugene!) There's that radio station that has the 2600 show.
Theres Z100 which is crap for little kids. But then KTU's ok, and so is hot 97.
So there! Of course college radio stations, esp in small towns are always 1000000 times better. But hey.
Firewire is great. I have some hopes that it will win out eventually though. For one thing, it's pretty well entrenched as a multimedia standard (think DV cams). This should give it the longevity to survive as a standard.
Of course Mac users have been enjoying external firewire HD's for a while now- theyre pretty sweet. Not sure if mac's use firewire inside the box (theres no reason not to though)
Yeah, for a fixed set of specifications (speed+size) they will buy the CHEAPEST product. Thus consumers PREFER the less reliable :-)
Actually, their crappy implementation turns this into a classic case of 'security through obscurity' vs DMCA. :-(
Separating out the useful components of sewage (perhaps waste cellulose in human fecal matter... ewwww) to produce energy probably would undoubtedly use a lot more energy than you could extract from it.
:-)
Not Necessarily. You dilute the poop in water, and grow algae in it. The algae perform photosynthesis and produce sugars. Additional bacteria do a little organic chem to process the output of the algae into a form that automobiles can eat. Actually, you hardly need any poop at all, most of the algae's biomass comes from atmospheric CO2.
All that's required is lots of surface area to catch sunlight for the photosynthesis, so essentially, this is mother nature's form of solar energy
that has to do with the type of fuel and engine, so really its a matter of filtering (i.e., an engineering problem which can be solved)
what about when you're trying to discover what goes on inside some piece of other people's code, or library code
I agree- The difference between windows and KDE/GNOME is less than the difference between windows and Mac, and most people manage that changeover with no problems
thats pretty funny. I've had a number of such experiences on the phone on both ends (not 911 thankfully). Its incredibly embarassing to the party whose system crashes. But thats life- some people put up with it, some people dont.
Absolutely true! I went to Cornell, which is in Ithaca, New York, and I listened to Ithaca College's WICB is one of the best radio stations ever.
The key is that they don't have to get huge numbers of listeners to listen to commercials (there are no commercials), so they can play good music. And the DJ's are cool so the music is good and they try to introduce people to some less-well known stuff.
Uh, BSD kicks ass. And it has a sizeable install base where it matters - on servers.
yah, but a network with fewer higher-quality nodes are often more useful than many crappy nodes. For lots of reasons.
:-)
If you break down the 650 million files, mostly these are the same ones - there is huge redundancy in like the top 1000 files. This is your benefit in exchange for the network being loaded with 3.5 million users.
Example of small high-quality network: back with napster, the smaller openNap networks had a MUCH better signal-to-noise ratio, and as a result were much more useful. The reason was that it was fairly obscure, users were anal-retentive about having "correct" filenames, and tended to have fat connections. P2P heaven
Lastly, newspapers remain a worthwhile news source - some have even improved...wish I could say that for TV news.
True. Although newspapers tend to have much more focused biases.