With the ridiculous fines being handed down on censorship, I'd like to know where our new FCC chief stands. Are we to continue being the ass backwards country when it comes to censorship (nudity is bad, but violence is ok!), or will he take steps to allow parents to determine what their kids can and cannot see?
well, as the title of the article says, this is a gaming box. Quad isn't used in gaming, so you can get a duo with a higher clock speed at that price. They are spending like $200 on an AMD quad. With that price, you can get a top of the line intel at 2.4 or 2.6GHz that you can overclock the crap out of. For games, you need 2 cores and major clock speed, not a quad core and mediocre clock speed.
Budget machine has a quad core? And is almost a grand?
Tom's Hardware does these, and the budget is usually closer to the $600 mark, with the mid range around $1200.
And the fact that they put two optical BD burners on the extreme one (one on each page) makes me think that this article was slapped together instead of fully investigated. Where's the benchmarks? The proof that you built a good machine?
Looks like a buncha kids opened up newegg and built themselves machines in their head...
Here's your best bet. Granted, I don't expect you to come up with the next big idea while learning to develop code, if you work on your stuff on your own resources and time, they have no rights to your code.
While I agree with parent and GameMaster's comments, I must also ask you to proceed with caution. Most companies have it in the contract you sign with them to not do outside work that is similar to your current work without permission. Talk to your boss about doing outside development work... just 'trying it out' can get you fired from the stable job you have now.
If you really want to try contract work, get in a contract company. If you live in the midwest, I can get you a job with my contracting firm. Usually the job is pretty stable, and they handle your insurance and other headaches that freelance work brings...
I could use the same rationalization as to why I called kids names when I was in elementary school... but when you become an adult, you tend to realize that calling people/companies names is entirely juvenile and makes you come across as a tool.
But, hey, if you want to come across as an ass, by all means... just don't try to rationalize it to me.
Best manager I ever worked under asked me my pain points, and what I wanted to do in the job and how I wanted to grow. He then proceeded to help me in those three areas.
That's it. Pretty simple, eh?
If they are seasoned, keep out of their way, help them when they are frustrated, and make sure they are doing stuff they enjoy and keep them happy. They find a new technology they want to use? You make sure they get the opportunity to use it. They want a managerial job? You make sure they get the classes/seminars/education/opportunities they need. Your job is simply to remove obstacles that get in there way...
Like the bi-line suggests... Unless you are coding in something like vi or emacs, I don't use the command line for my source control. IDE Integration means a lot... most of the items that git 'claims' to be better on is something IDE plugins fix. So the maturity of the plugin and the comfort with using it is a big thing for me. As such, I'm usually using CVS or Subversion.
I thought I wanted to become an IT manager... I still may do it in the future, but I've found that Project Management (especially during the implementation phase) is exactly where I want to stay for a while. I get to somewhat keep my geek hat, converse with the developers daily, interact with the customer and establish business relationships, and make recommendations to the decision makers and my recommendations actually carry weight...
IT managers is a lot of meetings and a lot of paperwork. Even switching to a project manager was a very, very difficult process. You don't get the immediate feedback that developers get. You can work months on a project for it to be scrapped. Its about long term results and profits vs cost. You take away the techie stuff, and it may not be that exciting to come to work...
The other good piece of advice that was already given, but worth reiterating is that you need to talk to your boss or resource manager. There should be someone responsible for your career options. They need to know you are interested. Its really good to get a chance to lead a project or two just to see if you enjoy it or not before you make the plunge. If you move around from company to company to get promoted and don't like the job? You can really screw yourself...
I agree entirely with this post. With some of the addons (SS2 Rebirth, etc...), it can even be made to look a little better than the original graphics...
Don't you want to do something else? Being stuck in basically a 'hobby' job for 10 years would drive me nuts. Aren't you itching to get onto something new? I'm guessing/. won't last forever, so what's next? Have you planned anything??
All I can say is when people started using C and C++, I bet the assembly programmers thought the same thing.
I can see your point, as I have a co-op who asks me questions, and I ask him something like "do you know what a reference is?" and he gives me a blank stare. And this is just Java we are talking about, not even VB...
You are talking about the 'dumbing down' of IT, as if you are the high and mighty 'intelligent' IT person. Then you write the post as if you were in the 'dumb IT' crowd you are complaining about. I figured your post was sarcasm or ironic. I took it as ironic.
The problem wuth VB as a language is exactly the same as Windows as a server platform.
What Microsoft has done is de-steepened (not a word, I know) the lurning curve to such an extent that even the shittiest of coders (and admins, for Windows) can push a product 'just barely good enough' out the door...
The dumbing down of IT has resulted in an unfortunately large percentage of dumb IT people.
(Emphasis mine)
Either you are a VB developer poking fun at yourself, or you are part of that 'dumb IT percentage' that you bitch about. For the record, your spelling is 'just barely good enough' to read.
I accept most of your arguments, except for TDD, which I have used to success...
...The test driven development mentality (write tests instead of design, write unit tests before coding)- bad. It leads to a lot of wasted time, completely rewritten test suites, and throw away work. Thinking about testing early is useful, it may cause you to think about corner cases. But writing them first causes 2 problems- you end up writing the code to solve the tests (rather than solving the problem) and/or you end up throwing away half the test suite in the middle when you refactor the design.
TDD (for me, at least) helps with the design. You can't just start writing test cases, it forces you to 'stub out' your entire design. In this process, I can immediately start seeing problems and reworking it. Its only after I have a good design that I start writing test cases. And refactoring of the design may kill some test cases, but it keeps a good portion alive, which can be almost a 'regression' test of the refactored code, so it all still passes the tests that are still valid...
That has to be the worst written article on cleaning up your code I've ever read.
This looks like it was written for (and BY) freshmen CS majors.
Comment your code smartly? No shit?
Use #defines everywhere? Honestly, I find that having a config file (or DB table) is a lot better, as I can change global variables without even a recompile...
I'm not saying its BAD advice, its just advice that anyone in the real world already knows.
How about something new?
1.) Use test driven development
2.) Write complete unit tests, including bad input
3.) If any piece of code is complex enough to require a comment, make it its own function and comment the function. I believe the only thing that REQUIRES comments are classes and methods. Not pieces of code...
I code go on, but I'm not a writer...
And neither is the author of that pile of trash...
BattleField 2 does this. If the map has 32 players, its smaller, but if it has like 64 players, its giant. The maps are pretty big to begin with, honestly (there are vehicles from tanks to jets, so the maps, even small, are pretty large), but they can get giant if there are a ton of people on...
There are COUNTLESS open source projects that even make it to alpha. Open up a project at, say, sourceforge, and start coding. Don't worry about doing it the corporate way, as that really doesn't buy you anything unless you know what you are doing.
If you don't know how to code, or can't get what you want done with your knowledge, you are in a heap of hurt. Cause your job now becomes finding a good developer willing to code your project, has the time to do so, and you have to motivate him/her to work on it. Once you get to the point where you can release the code, publicize it as best you can, and if you get a small following, you have support for years.
But, 9 times out of 10, it'll fall flat on its face and fail somewhere in the middle. I'm not trying to discourage you, but you HAVE to have the motivation from start to finish, or it will fail...
Too soon, I'm guessing. I thought about it... a Jack The Ripper game wouldn't be horrible to us, because none of us had to deal with it happening in our lifetime. WWII didn't happen in my lifetime, yet I love WWII games, and still study WWII after school.
I loovved playing DK2 in the middle of the night. At like 1 or 2am, the game master would say: Due to your late night digilence, you have uncovered a secret gaming tip! GO TO BED!
Heh... always caught me off guard. Fun game, hard to go back to cause it was soooo buggy, but still damn fun (especially converting fairies and stuff to your side).
Anywho, my suggestion??
SYSTEM SHOCK 3!!! The second one is still easily one of my top 3 favorite games of all time.
I could argue this, heavily.
Installing JBoss involves unzipping a file, and the URL mapping is taken care of in your web.xml file. All you really need to do is upload a war (or ear) file into a directory, and you've just deployed a web application.
Yes, there is a touch of configuration to get a web server, like apache, to connect to JBoss, but its about as difficult as getting something like mod_perl running...
Deus Ex is a fine game, but its spiritual predecessor, System Shock 2 is a better game IMHO. Still pop it in and play it from time to time. There are even graphical upgrades to make the game feel a little more updated!
While in color and better drawn, I still think the old one is better (and, IIRC, it was originally made in like the 70s, so its held true for soooo long).
The real advantage to Agile...
on
You Call This Agile?
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
... isn't the whole issue with interuptions. That can be handled differently depending on the work (if you are making life-saving heart monitor software, you had better fix a bug the moment it comes up... if you are making some tool that other developers use once a week, a bug isn't that big of a deal)
The real advantage is illustrated in the age old swing cartoon. By using scrumm and delivering sprint demos often to the user, they can see how their money is being spent, and can present requirement changes to the user faster, thus eliminating the need to make resounding changes right away... Agile development anticipates requirement changes, instead of ignoring it like past methodologies. Is it the best? Probably not... is it a step in the right direction? You bet your ass...
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With the ridiculous fines being handed down on censorship, I'd like to know where our new FCC chief stands. Are we to continue being the ass backwards country when it comes to censorship (nudity is bad, but violence is ok!), or will he take steps to allow parents to determine what their kids can and cannot see?
well, as the title of the article says, this is a gaming box. Quad isn't used in gaming, so you can get a duo with a higher clock speed at that price. They are spending like $200 on an AMD quad. With that price, you can get a top of the line intel at 2.4 or 2.6GHz that you can overclock the crap out of. For games, you need 2 cores and major clock speed, not a quad core and mediocre clock speed.
Budget machine has a quad core? And is almost a grand?
Tom's Hardware does these, and the budget is usually closer to the $600 mark, with the mid range around $1200.
And the fact that they put two optical BD burners on the extreme one (one on each page) makes me think that this article was slapped together instead of fully investigated. Where's the benchmarks? The proof that you built a good machine?
Looks like a buncha kids opened up newegg and built themselves machines in their head...
Here's your best bet. Granted, I don't expect you to come up with the next big idea while learning to develop code, if you work on your stuff on your own resources and time, they have no rights to your code.
;)
Just don't turn it in as a homework assignment
While I agree with parent and GameMaster's comments, I must also ask you to proceed with caution. Most companies have it in the contract you sign with them to not do outside work that is similar to your current work without permission. Talk to your boss about doing outside development work... just 'trying it out' can get you fired from the stable job you have now.
If you really want to try contract work, get in a contract company. If you live in the midwest, I can get you a job with my contracting firm. Usually the job is pretty stable, and they handle your insurance and other headaches that freelance work brings...
I could use the same rationalization as to why I called kids names when I was in elementary school... but when you become an adult, you tend to realize that calling people/companies names is entirely juvenile and makes you come across as a tool.
But, hey, if you want to come across as an ass, by all means... just don't try to rationalize it to me.
Best manager I ever worked under asked me my pain points, and what I wanted to do in the job and how I wanted to grow. He then proceeded to help me in those three areas.
That's it. Pretty simple, eh?
If they are seasoned, keep out of their way, help them when they are frustrated, and make sure they are doing stuff they enjoy and keep them happy. They find a new technology they want to use? You make sure they get the opportunity to use it. They want a managerial job? You make sure they get the classes/seminars/education/opportunities they need. Your job is simply to remove obstacles that get in there way...
Like the bi-line suggests... Unless you are coding in something like vi or emacs, I don't use the command line for my source control. IDE Integration means a lot... most of the items that git 'claims' to be better on is something IDE plugins fix. So the maturity of the plugin and the comfort with using it is a big thing for me. As such, I'm usually using CVS or Subversion.
I came in here to say this.
I thought I wanted to become an IT manager... I still may do it in the future, but I've found that Project Management (especially during the implementation phase) is exactly where I want to stay for a while. I get to somewhat keep my geek hat, converse with the developers daily, interact with the customer and establish business relationships, and make recommendations to the decision makers and my recommendations actually carry weight...
IT managers is a lot of meetings and a lot of paperwork. Even switching to a project manager was a very, very difficult process. You don't get the immediate feedback that developers get. You can work months on a project for it to be scrapped. Its about long term results and profits vs cost. You take away the techie stuff, and it may not be that exciting to come to work...
The other good piece of advice that was already given, but worth reiterating is that you need to talk to your boss or resource manager. There should be someone responsible for your career options. They need to know you are interested. Its really good to get a chance to lead a project or two just to see if you enjoy it or not before you make the plunge. If you move around from company to company to get promoted and don't like the job? You can really screw yourself...
I agree entirely with this post. With some of the addons (SS2 Rebirth, etc...), it can even be made to look a little better than the original graphics...
Don't you want to do something else? Being stuck in basically a 'hobby' job for 10 years would drive me nuts. Aren't you itching to get onto something new? I'm guessing /. won't last forever, so what's next? Have you planned anything??
All I can say is when people started using C and C++, I bet the assembly programmers thought the same thing.
I can see your point, as I have a co-op who asks me questions, and I ask him something like "do you know what a reference is?" and he gives me a blank stare. And this is just Java we are talking about, not even VB...
You are talking about the 'dumbing down' of IT, as if you are the high and mighty 'intelligent' IT person. Then you write the post as if you were in the 'dumb IT' crowd you are complaining about. I figured your post was sarcasm or ironic. I took it as ironic.
The problem wuth VB as a language is exactly the same as Windows as a server platform. What Microsoft has done is de-steepened (not a word, I know) the lurning curve to such an extent that even the shittiest of coders (and admins, for Windows) can push a product 'just barely good enough' out the door...
The dumbing down of IT has resulted in an unfortunately large percentage of dumb IT people.
(Emphasis mine)
Either you are a VB developer poking fun at yourself, or you are part of that 'dumb IT percentage' that you bitch about. For the record, your spelling is 'just barely good enough' to read.
I accept most of your arguments, except for TDD, which I have used to success...
...The test driven development mentality (write tests instead of design, write unit tests before coding)- bad. It leads to a lot of wasted time, completely rewritten test suites, and throw away work. Thinking about testing early is useful, it may cause you to think about corner cases. But writing them first causes 2 problems- you end up writing the code to solve the tests (rather than solving the problem) and/or you end up throwing away half the test suite in the middle when you refactor the design.
TDD (for me, at least) helps with the design. You can't just start writing test cases, it forces you to 'stub out' your entire design. In this process, I can immediately start seeing problems and reworking it. Its only after I have a good design that I start writing test cases. And refactoring of the design may kill some test cases, but it keeps a good portion alive, which can be almost a 'regression' test of the refactored code, so it all still passes the tests that are still valid...
That has to be the worst written article on cleaning up your code I've ever read.
This looks like it was written for (and BY) freshmen CS majors.
Comment your code smartly? No shit?
Use #defines everywhere? Honestly, I find that having a config file (or DB table) is a lot better, as I can change global variables without even a recompile...
I'm not saying its BAD advice, its just advice that anyone in the real world already knows.
How about something new?
1.) Use test driven development
2.) Write complete unit tests, including bad input
3.) If any piece of code is complex enough to require a comment, make it its own function and comment the function. I believe the only thing that REQUIRES comments are classes and methods. Not pieces of code...
I code go on, but I'm not a writer...
And neither is the author of that pile of trash...
BattleField 2 does this. If the map has 32 players, its smaller, but if it has like 64 players, its giant. The maps are pretty big to begin with, honestly (there are vehicles from tanks to jets, so the maps, even small, are pretty large), but they can get giant if there are a ton of people on...
There are COUNTLESS open source projects that even make it to alpha. Open up a project at, say, sourceforge, and start coding. Don't worry about doing it the corporate way, as that really doesn't buy you anything unless you know what you are doing.
If you don't know how to code, or can't get what you want done with your knowledge, you are in a heap of hurt. Cause your job now becomes finding a good developer willing to code your project, has the time to do so, and you have to motivate him/her to work on it. Once you get to the point where you can release the code, publicize it as best you can, and if you get a small following, you have support for years.
But, 9 times out of 10, it'll fall flat on its face and fail somewhere in the middle. I'm not trying to discourage you, but you HAVE to have the motivation from start to finish, or it will fail...
Then you disagree that the grandparents assumption that Columbine and WWII are similar.
Too soon, I'm guessing. I thought about it... a Jack The Ripper game wouldn't be horrible to us, because none of us had to deal with it happening in our lifetime. WWII didn't happen in my lifetime, yet I love WWII games, and still study WWII after school.
I loovved playing DK2 in the middle of the night. At like 1 or 2am, the game master would say:
Due to your late night digilence, you have uncovered a secret gaming tip! GO TO BED!
Heh... always caught me off guard. Fun game, hard to go back to cause it was soooo buggy, but still damn fun (especially converting fairies and stuff to your side).
Anywho, my suggestion??
SYSTEM SHOCK 3!!! The second one is still easily one of my top 3 favorite games of all time.
I could argue this, heavily.
Installing JBoss involves unzipping a file, and the URL mapping is taken care of in your web.xml file. All you really need to do is upload a war (or ear) file into a directory, and you've just deployed a web application.
Yes, there is a touch of configuration to get a web server, like apache, to connect to JBoss, but its about as difficult as getting something like mod_perl running...
Deus Ex is a fine game, but its spiritual predecessor, System Shock 2 is a better game IMHO. Still pop it in and play it from time to time. There are even graphical upgrades to make the game feel a little more updated!
While in color and better drawn, I still think the old one is better (and, IIRC, it was originally made in like the 70s, so its held true for soooo long).
... isn't the whole issue with interuptions. That can be handled differently depending on the work (if you are making life-saving heart monitor software, you had better fix a bug the moment it comes up... if you are making some tool that other developers use once a week, a bug isn't that big of a deal)
The real advantage is illustrated in the age old swing cartoon. By using scrumm and delivering sprint demos often to the user, they can see how their money is being spent, and can present requirement changes to the user faster, thus eliminating the need to make resounding changes right away... Agile development anticipates requirement changes, instead of ignoring it like past methodologies. Is it the best? Probably not... is it a step in the right direction? You bet your ass...