You'll prolly have longer than 20 minutes in line to just grab tickets, if you'll see it the next day... I'd imagine plenty of repeat performers, as well as a fresh load of geeks who weren't willing to wait *before* the movie is out, but very willing once it is being shown =)
The RIAA thinks that MP3s will be the death of the industry and are a bad thing.
MP3 pundits and supporters think that MP3 will fundamentally change the industry, but will not hamper or harm it.
Lucas makes some really awesome products.
Give that the MP3s of the Phantom Menace are out, and will probably flood the internet before the CDs get kicked into the mainstream channels, this is the true test of what the MP3 will do to the industry:
Will Lucas sell a tremendous amount of CDs despite everyone having heard it?
I think so. I agree with the RIAA that the death of the industry as it stands is emminent, because it isn't the right way to do things.
People will listen to the music, be in awe, and go to buy the CDs...
Lucas will not lose money...
In the end, only people who produce good products will make money, and bands/artist/distributors cannot get away with mediocre goods.
This is a complex and manifold problem, with multiple approach paths.
Parents and role models cannot be ignored in the development of children. However, they help to form the behavior of the bullies and the popular conformist crowd as well as the geek crowd, so any solution that targets parents will need to deal with the 'problem' children as well.
We can't say it's okay; it isn't because it is hurting our children. Do you have children? Are they tormented? Is it okay to torment them, as long as you are there in order to comfort and guide them afterwards? That sounds like the attitude you are espousing.
It's something I think we can and should be dealing with, and not just passing off. You talk about freedom of expression, but fail to see that many children and people seem to think that the school system itself is tyrannical and facsist, denying the children the rights and freedoms we as adults take for granted, online and outside in real life.
It's really tough having to live through all the persecution, and I can really relate and I feel sympathy for every one else who had to suffer the same. It's easy to blame the schools, because they turned their backs, looked the other way, were understaffed, and were too jaded to care. It's not that they didn't care, actually, but that there were too many issues, too many problems, and no real solutions for them to do anything but give up.
I don't want to justify their behavior in creating this kind of situation, but I would like to explain some of the their reasoning in all this.
At least in my schools, there were overcrowded classrooms, aged and retiring teachers who just didn't have the energy or youth to deal with us, and and not enough funds to do anything they would have liked. In order to handle and deal with a class, conformity was stressed over performance, individuality, or creativeness. How could a teacher handle 20 wildly independent, unique, creative, inquisitive students? Whether intentional or not, they managed to convey to us the idea of conforming, of not rocking the boat. They were happy and excited whenever one of us showed initiative or intelligence, but they did not actively try to push us towards that goal.
Kids picked up really quick; they became the enforcers of the norm, and if you were different of race, of behavior, of attitude, of anything, they'd target you for this.
This was a school system which actively recruited for GATE students, but didn't have the resources to actually do anything with/for us once we were identified. They actually used us to gain more funding for stuff such as books, repairs, maintanence, etc. They didn't have the training or resources to manage a handful of gifted students, so we were left to our own devices, and then resented for it by all the other children.
This goes on all the way up to high school, in which I finally figured out how to look cool, how to act cool, how to be cool. I also happened to gain a foot in height and 40 pounds of bulk, so I guess people didn't figure I was such an easy target either.
Something does need to be done to change the system. We live in a society that does reward innovative unique and creative people, but the system we use to train and manage the kids tries to destroy and contain these things because they cause too much trouble.
I was talking to my dad about this, and he mentioned that even private schools have this fascist need to maintain conformity, except that they raise the bar and expectations much higher than in our public school. Are there any real solutions available?
AS
IBM offers black monitors, mice, yadda, yadda...
on
Translucent PC Cases
·
· Score: 2
Check out IBM's website. They definitely offer black PCS, as well as black monitors, keyboards, mice, LCDs, and black printers.
Their Aptiva line comes in black as well...
Of course, there is the premium that comes with IBM...
Yeah, but if given the choice, wouldn't everyone want to be an information engineer over a grunt coder? Leave the grunt coders for technical institutes who want to teach VBA, Excel macros, Access database language, SQL, C, C++, Java, as technical and rudimentary skills, and leave the CS degree fairly high level; The same way EE is taught in colleges, with electrical and technical skills available in technical institutes and such.
It's not that grunt coders aren't necessary or useful, but it does muddy up the CS degree when one cannot differentiate a grunt coder from a software engineer from a information engineer with just the letters CS.
Why should they be only for MS or BS honors? Is it expecting too much of CS people to know about their tools? Their medium, while ostensibly computers, is actually data and information, with their computers just there to help manipulate it. Thus a strong grounding in the math and information theory would elevate a grunt programmer into the ranks of information engineer, as well as having the skills to actually implement it.
It's really tough having to live through all the persecution, and I can really relate and I feel sympathy for every one else who had to suffer the same. It's easy to blame the schools, because they turned their backs, looked the other way, were understaffed, and were too jaded to care. It's not that they didn't care, actually, but that there were too many issues, too many problems, and no real solutions for them to do anything but give up.
I don't want to justify their behavior in creating this kind of situation, but I would like to explain some of the their reasoning in all this.
At least in my schools, there were overcrowded classrooms, aged and retiring teachers who just didn't have the energy or youth to deal with us, and and not enough funds to do anything they would have liked. In order to handle and deal with a class, conformity was stressed over performance, individuality, or creativeness. How could a teacher handle 20 wildly independent, unique, creative, inquisitive students? Whether intentional or not, they managed to convey to us the idea of conforming, of not rocking the boat. They were happy and excited whenever one of us showed initiative or intelligence, but they did not actively try to push us towards that goal.
Kids picked up really quick; they became the enforcers of the norm, and if you were different of race, of behavior, of attitude, of anything, they'd target you for this.
This was a school system which actively recruited for GATE students, but didn't have the resources to actually do anything with/for us once we were identified. They actually used us to gain more funding for stuff such as books, repairs, maintanence, etc. They didn't have the training or resources to manage a handful of gifted students, so we were left to our own devices, and then resented for it by all the other children.
This goes on all the way up to high school, in which I finally figured out how to look cool, how to act cool, how to be cool. I also happened to gain a foot in height and 40 pounds of bulk, so I guess people didn't figure I was such an easy target either.
Something does need to be done to change the system. We live in a society that does reward innovative unique and creative people, but the system we use to train and manage the kids tries to destroy and contain these things because they cause too much trouble.
I was talking to my dad about this, and he mentioned that even private schools have this fascist need to maintain conformity, except that they raise the bar and expectations much higher than in our public school. Are there any real solutions available?
You're absolutely right that the Caltech CS is uninspiring. It's the fastest growing major, and currently occupies the most undergrads, but there are only like 8 or 9 profs in any official CS related departments, mostly to do with distributed computing, parallel computation, 3d vision, advanced graphics, and an instructor who handles C/C++/Java, VHDL, microprocessor stuff, and operating stuff.
That being the case, it has forced those interested in CS at Caltech to borrow courses from Math(statistics, information theory, representations of data and information digitally, etc), EE(encryption/encoding/compression, error recovery, sampling theory, more information theory), CNS(vision, artificial intelligence, artificial life), APh(optics, optical computing, semiconductor physics, semiconductor devices, fabrication/synthesis), as well as the core CS stuff(predicate calculus, program correctness/reasoning, distributed computation, parallel computation, computer graphics, and the normal C/C++/Java OOP/OOD lab classes).
Luckily, they plan to add an ECE major next year, though I don't know that they plan to add any more CS profs... stuff like operating systems, compilers, I guess, but not having these courses, I wouldn't know I think.
So it's a little of both, then, theory, abstraction, and utilization.
From the article, and many comments on this thread, it seems most think all a CS degree is coding, and while very useful, in of itself knowing languages and data structures and analysis of algorithms isn't enough, I think, especially since the computing and digital information age changes so fast and is 24/7.
Err a little on the side of caution, because I think learning code and stuff is easier to pick up than say information theory or predicate calculus, since you can practice coding and programming and debugging, but it's very difficult to 'figure out' how to generalize a problem, to figure out if it's NP complete or not, etc.
It would seem that the general view and description of what constitutes High Tech, and the CS majors that are taught in preparation for a High Tech career seem to be no more than highly skilled laborers or technicians. It seems to involve coding, debugging, and some degree of problem solving.
Computer Science(note the term, Science) is much more than being able to do Verilog, C++, OOP, Un*x, or TCP/IP. At least here, at Caltech(Woohoo! I graduate this year, finally), there is much more Science and much less Computer, since all that Computer crap can be essentially learned by picking up a book at Amazon or your local bookstore. Once you've figured out the underlying principles, the major abstractions, then one language is as useful to learn as another, a set of grammars and production rules that is used to describe a computer and how it works.
Are there any CS degrees that do more than just learn:
C/C++/Java Object oriented programming/design Data structures Algorithms Operating systems Compilers
Caltech is actually deficient in not offering a real operating systems course, or compilers, or a bunch of other things, but instead offer much more abstract and science/math things that are of much more use to a computer scientist, rather than to just a programmer.
For example, the nature of computation and computability: How to represent problems and systems in a computer? Is it computable? Can it be solved? What order and complexity is it? How much 'data' is sufficient, and necessary?
Can you reason about a program or algorithm's correctness? Can you prove that it terminates, or that it is correct, or that it occurs in finite time? Can you prove that it doesn't fail, or break? Or that if it does, that it only does so in specified ways?
Or information theory: Data encoding and representations, and how it can be applied to data encryption, error recovery, data compression, and transformation into other representations without loss or in an efficient manner.
Or other things, such as grammers and production rules, Turing machines and how to describe the entire set of computable problems with a language and a grammer, and how to reason about the language and what kind of issues there are with non-deterministic programs or algorithms, or with distributed parallel multi-process algorithms and dealing with data integrety, locks, exclusion, sharing, write protection, non-deadlocking algorithms, efficient, fair, or priority based schedulers?
A lot of this stuff may be mentioned in passing when dealing with OSes, threads, OOP/OOD, languages, compilers, and such, but I would imagine that for a Computer Scientist, in which the stuff that you work in is data and information, math and theory is much more vital than the languages you know, the hardware you can work in, the network protocols you can code in, etc. While these are important, they are also fairly well documented and picked up in a book, right?
This sounds really snobby, but I hope your 'And a whole lot more' covers even deeper stuff.
There's even more to CS, such as information theory and math, than assembly, data structures, algorithms, circuit design, etc. Those are all fairly concrete when compared to such concepts as:
Program correctness, being able to reason effectively about program's complexity, being able to prove that an algorithm or program is correct, that it terminates, and that it is efficient.
Information encoding, how much data and processing is required to convey information, and alongside with such issues as data compression, data encryption, data error recovery, and efficient data usage.
Computability theory, or can a problem be represented, can it be solved, can it be reasoned about, can it be abstracted into a class of problems, what order and complexity a problem or program is, etc.
This kind of information separates the technically skilled laborers from the creative engineers, in which information and data is the stuff you are working with, and the computers, the hardware, the OSes, and the network is all ancillary stuff. Not to say they aren't important, but that data theory and such is largely independent of the transport mechanisms and protocals that they exist on, and as such are important if we want to be able to switch to optical computing, analogue computing, asychronous computing, quantum computing, or even things such as neural networks and adaptive computing.
I don't think that will stop people from seeing the real thing, however, and if Lucas were feeling especially cruel, could probably leak some almost real version, edited in such a way as to confuse the heck out of pirates =)
My usage of the term 'closed source development' is intended to reflect the fact that Apple's MacOSX did not nor does not use the massively distributed parallel development and debugging model that is, for example, Linux. It may be based off of open source products and in the future will be open source, but right now the MacOSX is definitely been closed source development
Do you trust Carmack's beliefs, as a developer, geek, and genius?
He evidently likes the NeXTStep environment, and sees MacOSX/Server as a very good thing. He seems to think the performance is fine, it's graphical capabilities good, and the OS itself not a hindrance.
Honestly, I believe it will be a better OS than MacOS. That's easy to believe, right?
I also think it will be better than Win9x, on it's Unix heritage. User Interface is always a preference thing, so as always, YMMV, but I've always liked the MacUI over the WinUI anyhow.
I also think it will be better than WinNT, thought it may be very close, because of it's Unix heritage and because of it's descendence from NeXTStep. Ditto as above on the UI.
Did you want to compare it to Linux? It may very well suffer on several accounts, as it is a product of a closed source development cycle, but then again it is a Unix. It's look and feel and UI will be much more mature and advanced than Linux's, but again tastes vary, so that may not matter. It has access to more hardware than Linux right now, though that may be changing soon with everyone jumping on the Linux bandwagon.
Unless Apple screws up horrendously, in marketing(they do have the VW Beetle guy on their side, however), MacOSX should be a big hit this year, as compared to WinNT5/Win2k. It is also quite a bit more mature than Linux in many(not all) ways, and best of all, it's designed to pass the Mom test too.
So here's a question for you, in response to your statement:
The bands whose CDs fall in the upper end of the "mediocre" catagory I listen to on mp3
Why would you spend your recreation time listening to music you wouldn't think worth owning?
For example, you could listen to music you do think is worth owning, right?
I agree with your habits, however; I grab an album or somes songs from an artist, find that I like it, and grab the CD, and proceed to make a better quality set of MP3s for myself. Perhaps different value of time? If it's worth my time to listen to, I usually qualify that as being worth my money to own, and to help encourage the artist/band/group to continue making more music I want to listen to in the future.
I get angry over people who pirate software, video games, and yes, VCDs.
However I myself have also been guilty of pirate oftware, and only once, a VCD of the Matrix. I really hope this won't get me burned =)
I don't believe in pirating video games because I can and do rent them. I don't believe in pirating software, but I do *try* before I buy. It's taken a while, on a student's budget, but I own almost everything now except Adobe Photoshop, which is really expensive but definitely worth the price, and WinZIP, which I just keep forgetting to pay for. Everything else I use on a daily basis, I own. I usually borrow a game from a friend, though these friends seem to have less compunction about pirating vs intelligent consumerism. If a demo exists or it is a well known game, I don't have to borrow at all.
The Matrix seems to be the only real violation of my moral code. Why? Because it's not available yet. If a legal DVD, VCD, or VHS existed for it, I would have bought one the moment I stepped out of the theatre. Why don't I just go back in and watch it again? I would, just for sheer entertainment value, but I especially want to be able to re-watch specific scenes, specific lines, to see the special effects and the fight scenes, the choreography and the dialogue.
There is no spoon.
For those who 'legitamately' pirate, there is hope. There is less need to borrow or steal a copy when more and more online demos and trial versions for games and software exist. Most games are rentable at Blockbusters, so the need to try a console game illegally before buying it is also negligent. Anyone who actually pirates a game has a much different reason, most likely wrong. I think there is one game I'm willing to pirate, and that is an older PSX game that I haven't been able to find, and I've been looking all over the state of CA for the last 2 years. What choice do I have but to pirate at that point?
The problem of pirating video is not as bright. I'd imagine the turnaround time between release and DVD should be shortened as more film goes digital. Would it ruin the movie experience? I don't know, but I would definitely see good movies on a big screen several times, even if I owned it on DVD as well. I don't know that I can speak for anyone else however. I'd imagine the market for the Matrix VCDs is pretty good, and it would be interesting to see if the box office receipts for the Matrix suffer for it. I don't think so, personaly =)
Likewise for the upcoming Star Wars. The day of or after it's release, I'd imagine a VCD would get leaked. Probably a pre-release copy on VCD, from some crafty cinema student at USC or something, what with USC's ties to Lucas, and it's cinema school.
I don't condone pirating or stealing. If you like something, pay for it. If you don't like it, why would you waste the time and effort to download a 2 CD VCD? Same goes for software and games. If you don't like it, don't keep it; it just wastes HD space and CDs.
I get just as angry over people who pirate software, video games, and yes, VCDs.
However I myself have also been guilty of pirate software, and only once, a VCD of the Matrix.
I really hope this won't get me burned =)
I don't believe in pirating video games because I can and do rent them. I don't believe in pirating software, but I do *try* before I buy. It's taken a while, on a student's budget, but I own almost everything now except Adobe Photoshop, which is really expensive but definitely worth the price, and WinZIP, which I just keep forgetting to pay for. Everything else I use on a daily basis, I own. I usually borrow a game from a friend, though these friends seem to have less compunction about pirating vs intelligent consumerism. If a demo exists or it is a well known game, I don't have to borrow at all.
The Matrix seems to be the only real violation of my moral code. Why? Because it's not available yet. If a legal DVD, VCD, or VHS existed for it, I would have bought one the moment I stepped out of the theatre. Why don't I just go back in and watch it again? I would, just for sheer entertainment value, but I especially want to be able to re-watch specific scenes, specific lines, to see the special effects and the fight scenes, the choreography and the dialogue.
There is no spoon.
For those who 'legitamately' pirate, there is hope. There is less need to borrow or steal a copy when more and more online demos and trial versions for games and software exist. Most games are rentable at Blockbusters, so the need to try a console game illegally before buying it is also negligent. Anyone who actually pirates a game has a much different reason, most likely wrong. I think there is one game I'm willing to pirate, and that is an older PSX game that I haven't been able to find, and I've been looking all over the state of CA for the last 2 years. What choice do I have but to pirate at that point?
The problem of pirating video is not as bright. I'd imagine the turnaround time between release and DVD should be shortened as more film goes digital. Would it ruin the movie experience? I don't know, but I would definitely see good movies on a big screen several times, even if I owned it on DVD as well. I don't know that I can speak for anyone else however. I'd imagine the market for the Matrix VCDs is pretty good, and it would be interesting to see if the box office receipts for the Matrix suffer for it. I don't think so, personaly =)
Likewise for the upcoming Star Wars. The day of or after it's release, I'd imagine a VCD would get leaked. Probably a pre-release copy on VCD, from some crafty cinema student at USC or something, what with USC's ties to Lucas, and it's cinema school.
I don't condone pirating or stealing. If you like something, pay for it. If you don't like it, why would you waste the time and effort to download a 2 CD VCD? Same goes for software and games. If you don't like it, don't keep it; it just wastes HD space and CDs.
But wouldn' it be funny if this guy logged on to eBay and offered this javascript for sale? Include a snippet of code, with the guarantee that the script isn't active, and sell to the highest bidder?
eBay would really have to get their butts in gear quick!
I hope he doesn't have to suffer for his service to humanity.
I can actually get playback with QT3, but there's no sound. I wonder if QT4 will make it both smoother and enable the sound, because it's sorta jerky right now, on my PPro200
Slashdot Mirror
You'll prolly have longer than 20 minutes in line to just grab tickets, if you'll see it the next day... I'd imagine plenty of repeat performers, as well as a fresh load of geeks who weren't willing to wait *before* the movie is out, but very willing once it is being shown =)
AS
Don't geeks have higher incomes than teenyboppers or Minnesota house wives?
Besides, I know geeks here who's goal is to make sure Phantom Menace beats every single box office record they have on record =)
AS
The RIAA thinks that MP3s will be the death of the industry and are a bad thing.
MP3 pundits and supporters think that MP3 will fundamentally change the industry, but will not hamper or harm it.
Lucas makes some really awesome products.
Give that the MP3s of the Phantom Menace are out, and will probably flood the internet before the CDs get kicked into the mainstream channels, this is the true test of what the MP3 will do to the industry:
Will Lucas sell a tremendous amount of CDs despite everyone having heard it?
I think so. I agree with the RIAA that the death of the industry as it stands is emminent, because it isn't the right way to do things.
People will listen to the music, be in awe, and go to buy the CDs...
Lucas will not lose money...
In the end, only people who produce good products will make money, and bands/artist/distributors cannot get away with mediocre goods.
Maybe I'm being too simplistic though?
AS
This is a complex and manifold problem, with multiple approach paths.
Parents and role models cannot be ignored in the development of children. However, they help to form the behavior of the bullies and the popular conformist crowd as well as the geek crowd, so any solution that targets parents will need to deal with the 'problem' children as well.
We can't say it's okay; it isn't because it is hurting our children. Do you have children? Are they tormented? Is it okay to torment them, as long as you are there in order to comfort and guide them afterwards? That sounds like the attitude you are espousing.
It's something I think we can and should be dealing with, and not just passing off. You talk about freedom of expression, but fail to see that many children and people seem to think that the school system itself is tyrannical and facsist, denying the children the rights and freedoms we as adults take for granted, online and outside in real life.
No one deserves persecution or abuse.
AS
It's really tough having to live through all the persecution, and I can really relate and I feel sympathy for every one else who had to suffer the same. It's easy to blame the schools, because they turned their backs, looked the other way, were understaffed, and were too jaded to care. It's not that they didn't care, actually, but that there were too many issues, too many problems, and no real solutions for them to do anything but give up.
I don't want to justify their behavior in creating this kind of situation, but I would like to explain some of the their reasoning in all this.
At least in my schools, there were overcrowded classrooms, aged and retiring teachers who just didn't have the energy or youth to deal with us, and and not enough funds to do anything they would have liked. In order to handle and deal with a class, conformity was stressed over performance, individuality, or creativeness. How could a teacher handle 20 wildly independent, unique, creative, inquisitive students? Whether intentional or not, they managed to convey to us the idea of conforming, of not rocking the boat. They were happy and excited whenever one of us showed initiative or intelligence, but they did not actively try to push us towards that goal.
Kids picked up really quick; they became the enforcers of the norm, and if you were different of race, of behavior, of attitude, of anything, they'd target you for this.
This was a school system which actively recruited for GATE students, but didn't have the resources to actually do anything with/for us once we were identified. They actually used us to gain more funding for stuff such as books, repairs, maintanence, etc. They didn't have the training or resources to manage a handful of gifted students, so we were left to our own devices, and then resented for it by all the other children.
This goes on all the way up to high school, in which I finally figured out how to look cool, how to act cool, how to be cool. I also happened to gain a foot in height and 40 pounds of bulk, so I guess people didn't figure I was such an easy target either.
Something does need to be done to change the system. We live in a society that does reward innovative unique and creative people, but the system we use to train and manage the kids tries to destroy and contain these things because they cause too much trouble.
I was talking to my dad about this, and he mentioned that even private schools have this fascist need to maintain conformity, except that they raise the bar and expectations much higher than in our public school. Are there any real solutions available?
AS
Check out IBM's website. They definitely offer black PCS, as well as black monitors, keyboards, mice, LCDs, and black printers.
Their Aptiva line comes in black as well...
Of course, there is the premium that comes with IBM...
AS
I see...
Yeah, but if given the choice, wouldn't everyone want to be an information engineer over a grunt coder? Leave the grunt coders for technical institutes who want to teach VBA, Excel macros, Access database language, SQL, C, C++, Java, as technical and rudimentary skills, and leave the CS degree fairly high level; The same way EE is taught in colleges, with electrical and technical skills available in technical institutes and such.
It's not that grunt coders aren't necessary or useful, but it does muddy up the CS degree when one cannot differentiate a grunt coder from a software engineer from a information engineer with just the letters CS.
AS
Why should they be only for MS or BS honors? Is it expecting too much of CS people to know about their tools? Their medium, while ostensibly computers, is actually data and information, with their computers just there to help manipulate it. Thus a strong grounding in the math and information theory would elevate a grunt programmer into the ranks of information engineer, as well as having the skills to actually implement it.
AS
It's really tough having to live through all the persecution, and I can really relate and I feel sympathy for every one else who had to suffer the same. It's easy to blame the schools, because they turned their backs, looked the other way, were understaffed, and were too jaded to care. It's not that they didn't care, actually, but that there were too many issues, too many problems, and no real solutions for them to do anything but give up.
I don't want to justify their behavior in creating this kind of situation, but I would like to explain some of the their reasoning in all this.
At least in my schools, there were overcrowded classrooms, aged and retiring teachers who just didn't have the energy or youth to deal with us, and and not enough funds to do anything they would have liked. In order to handle and deal with a class, conformity was stressed over performance, individuality, or creativeness. How could a teacher handle 20 wildly independent, unique, creative, inquisitive students? Whether intentional or not, they managed to convey to us the idea of conforming, of not rocking the boat. They were happy and excited whenever one of us showed initiative or intelligence, but they did not actively try to push us towards that goal.
Kids picked up really quick; they became the enforcers of the norm, and if you were different of race, of behavior, of attitude, of anything, they'd target you for this.
This was a school system which actively recruited for GATE students, but didn't have the resources to actually do anything with/for us once we were identified. They actually used us to gain more funding for stuff such as books, repairs, maintanence, etc. They didn't have the training or resources to manage a handful of gifted students, so we were left to our own devices, and then resented for it by all the other children.
This goes on all the way up to high school, in which I finally figured out how to look cool, how to act cool, how to be cool. I also happened to gain a foot in height and 40 pounds of bulk, so I guess people didn't figure I was such an easy target either.
Something does need to be done to change the system. We live in a society that does reward innovative unique and creative people, but the system we use to train and manage the kids tries to destroy and contain these things because they cause too much trouble.
I was talking to my dad about this, and he mentioned that even private schools have this fascist need to maintain conformity, except that they raise the bar and expectations much higher than in our public school. Are there any real solutions available?
AS
You're absolutely right that the Caltech CS is uninspiring. It's the fastest growing major, and currently occupies the most undergrads, but there are only like 8 or 9 profs in any official CS related departments, mostly to do with distributed computing, parallel computation, 3d vision, advanced graphics, and an instructor who handles C/C++/Java, VHDL, microprocessor stuff, and operating stuff.
That being the case, it has forced those interested in CS at Caltech to borrow courses from Math(statistics, information theory, representations of data and information digitally, etc), EE(encryption/encoding/compression, error recovery, sampling theory, more information theory), CNS(vision, artificial intelligence, artificial life), APh(optics, optical computing, semiconductor physics, semiconductor devices, fabrication/synthesis), as well as the core CS stuff(predicate calculus, program correctness/reasoning, distributed computation, parallel computation, computer graphics, and the normal C/C++/Java OOP/OOD lab classes).
Luckily, they plan to add an ECE major next year, though I don't know that they plan to add any more CS profs... stuff like operating systems, compilers, I guess, but not having these courses, I wouldn't know I think.
AS
This is an undergrad degree?
Maybe I should go to Cambridge for my grad studies then =)
AS
So it's a little of both, then, theory, abstraction, and utilization.
From the article, and many comments on this thread, it seems most think all a CS degree is coding, and while very useful, in of itself knowing languages and data structures and analysis of algorithms isn't enough, I think, especially since the computing and digital information age changes so fast and is 24/7.
Err a little on the side of caution, because I think learning code and stuff is easier to pick up than say information theory or predicate calculus, since you can practice coding and programming and debugging, but it's very difficult to 'figure out' how to generalize a problem, to figure out if it's NP complete or not, etc.
AS
It would seem that the general view and description of what constitutes High Tech, and the CS majors that are taught in preparation for a High Tech career seem to be no more than highly skilled laborers or technicians. It seems to involve coding, debugging, and some degree of problem solving.
Computer Science(note the term, Science) is much more than being able to do Verilog, C++, OOP, Un*x, or TCP/IP. At least here, at Caltech(Woohoo! I graduate this year, finally), there is much more Science and much less Computer, since all that Computer crap can be essentially learned by picking up a book at Amazon or your local bookstore. Once you've figured out the underlying principles, the major abstractions, then one language is as useful to learn as another, a set of grammars and production rules that is used to describe a computer and how it works.
Are there any CS degrees that do more than just learn:
C/C++/Java
Object oriented programming/design
Data structures
Algorithms
Operating systems
Compilers
Caltech is actually deficient in not offering a real operating systems course, or compilers, or a bunch of other things, but instead offer much more abstract and science/math things that are of much more use to a computer scientist, rather than to just a programmer.
For example, the nature of computation and computability:
How to represent problems and systems in a computer? Is it computable? Can it be solved? What order and complexity is it? How much 'data' is sufficient, and necessary?
Can you reason about a program or algorithm's correctness? Can you prove that it terminates, or that it is correct, or that it occurs in finite time? Can you prove that it doesn't fail, or break? Or that if it does, that it only does so in specified ways?
Or information theory: Data encoding and representations, and how it can be applied to data encryption, error recovery, data compression, and transformation into other representations without loss or in an efficient manner.
Or other things, such as grammers and production rules, Turing machines and how to describe the entire set of computable problems with a language and a grammer, and how to reason about the language and what kind of issues there are with non-deterministic programs or algorithms, or with distributed parallel multi-process algorithms and dealing with data integrety, locks, exclusion, sharing, write protection, non-deadlocking algorithms, efficient, fair, or priority based schedulers?
A lot of this stuff may be mentioned in passing when dealing with OSes, threads, OOP/OOD, languages, compilers, and such, but I would imagine that for a Computer Scientist, in which the stuff that you work in is data and information, math and theory is much more vital than the languages you know, the hardware you can work in, the network protocols you can code in, etc. While these are important, they are also fairly well documented and picked up in a book, right?
AS
This sounds really snobby, but I hope your 'And a whole lot more' covers even deeper stuff.
There's even more to CS, such as information theory and math, than assembly, data structures, algorithms, circuit design, etc. Those are all fairly concrete when compared to such concepts as:
Program correctness, being able to reason effectively about program's complexity, being able to prove that an algorithm or program is correct, that it terminates, and that it is efficient.
Information encoding, how much data and processing is required to convey information, and alongside with such issues as data compression, data encryption, data error recovery, and efficient data usage.
Computability theory, or can a problem be represented, can it be solved, can it be reasoned about, can it be abstracted into a class of problems, what order and complexity a problem or program is, etc.
This kind of information separates the technically skilled laborers from the creative engineers, in which information and data is the stuff you are working with, and the computers, the hardware, the OSes, and the network is all ancillary stuff. Not to say they aren't important, but that data theory and such is largely independent of the transport mechanisms and protocals that they exist on, and as such are important if we want to be able to switch to optical computing, analogue computing, asychronous computing, quantum computing, or even things such as neural networks and adaptive computing.
AS
Well, this is a message to those who have Macs and are lucky enough to have played the test.
How is it? Does it live up to hype? Anyone grabbing screenshots to show us particularly neat and cool things? Any reviews or something?
I hope this little post manages to be seen through all the noise in this channel.
Sigh
AS
No doubt the pirate version will show up first...
I don't think that will stop people from seeing the real thing, however, and if Lucas were feeling especially cruel, could probably leak some almost real version, edited in such a way as to confuse the heck out of pirates =)
AS
My usage of the term 'closed source development' is intended to reflect the fact that Apple's MacOSX did not nor does not use the massively distributed parallel development and debugging model that is, for example, Linux. It may be based off of open source products and in the future will be open source, but right now the MacOSX is definitely been closed source development
AS
Do you trust Carmack's beliefs, as a developer, geek, and genius?
He evidently likes the NeXTStep environment, and sees MacOSX/Server as a very good thing. He seems to think the performance is fine, it's graphical capabilities good, and the OS itself not a hindrance.
Honestly, I believe it will be a better OS than MacOS. That's easy to believe, right?
I also think it will be better than Win9x, on it's Unix heritage. User Interface is always a preference thing, so as always, YMMV, but I've always liked the MacUI over the WinUI anyhow.
I also think it will be better than WinNT, thought it may be very close, because of it's Unix heritage and because of it's descendence from NeXTStep. Ditto as above on the UI.
Did you want to compare it to Linux?
It may very well suffer on several accounts, as it is a product of a closed source development cycle, but then again it is a Unix. It's look and feel and UI will be much more mature and advanced than Linux's, but again tastes vary, so that may not matter. It has access to more hardware than Linux right now, though that may be changing soon with everyone jumping on the Linux bandwagon.
Unless Apple screws up horrendously, in marketing(they do have the VW Beetle guy on their side, however), MacOSX should be a big hit this year, as compared to WinNT5/Win2k. It is also quite a bit more mature than Linux in many(not all) ways, and best of all, it's designed to pass the Mom test too.
AS
So here's a question for you, in response to your statement:
The bands whose CDs fall in the upper end of the "mediocre" catagory I listen to on mp3
Why would you spend your recreation time listening to music you wouldn't think worth owning?
For example, you could listen to music you do think is worth owning, right?
I agree with your habits, however; I grab an album or somes songs from an artist, find that I like it, and grab the CD, and proceed to make a better quality set of MP3s for myself. Perhaps different value of time? If it's worth my time to listen to, I usually qualify that as being worth my money to own, and to help encourage the artist/band/group to continue making more music I want to listen to in the future.
AS
I get angry over people who pirate software, video games, and yes, VCDs.
However I myself have also been guilty of pirate oftware, and only once, a VCD of the Matrix. I really hope this won't get me burned =)
I don't believe in pirating video games because I can and do rent them. I don't believe in pirating software, but I do *try* before I buy. It's taken a while, on a student's budget, but I own almost everything now except Adobe Photoshop, which is really expensive but definitely worth the price, and WinZIP, which I just keep forgetting to pay for. Everything else I use on a daily basis, I own. I usually borrow a game from a friend, though these friends seem to have less compunction about pirating vs intelligent consumerism. If a demo exists or it is a well known game, I don't have to borrow at all.
The Matrix seems to be the only real violation of my moral code. Why? Because it's not available yet. If a legal DVD, VCD, or VHS existed for it, I would have bought one the moment I stepped out of the theatre. Why don't I just go back in and watch it again? I would, just for sheer entertainment value, but I especially want to be able to re-watch specific scenes, specific lines, to see the special effects and the fight scenes, the choreography and the dialogue.
There is no spoon.
For those who 'legitamately' pirate, there is hope. There is less need to borrow or steal a copy when more and more online demos and trial versions for games and software exist. Most games are rentable at Blockbusters, so the need to try a console game illegally before buying it is also negligent. Anyone who actually pirates a game has a much different reason, most likely wrong. I think there is one game I'm willing to pirate, and that is an older PSX game that I haven't been able to find, and I've been looking all over the state of CA for the last 2 years. What choice do I have but to pirate at that point?
The problem of pirating video is not as bright. I'd imagine the turnaround time between release and DVD should be shortened as more film goes digital. Would it ruin the movie experience? I don't know, but I would definitely see good movies on a big screen several times, even if I owned it on DVD as well. I don't know that I can speak for anyone else however. I'd imagine the market for the Matrix VCDs is pretty good, and it would be interesting to see if the box office receipts for the Matrix suffer for it. I don't think so, personaly =)
Likewise for the upcoming Star Wars. The day of or after it's release, I'd imagine a VCD would get leaked. Probably a pre-release copy on VCD, from some crafty cinema student at USC or something, what with USC's ties to Lucas, and it's cinema school.
I don't condone pirating or stealing. If you like something, pay for it. If you don't like it, why would you waste the time and effort to download a 2 CD VCD? Same goes for software and games. If you don't like it, don't keep it; it just wastes HD space and CDs.
AS
I get just as angry over people who pirate software, video games, and yes, VCDs.
However I myself have also been guilty of pirate software, and only once, a VCD of the Matrix.
I really hope this won't get me burned =)
I don't believe in pirating video games because I can and do rent them. I don't believe in pirating software, but I do *try* before I buy. It's taken a while, on a student's budget, but I own almost everything now except Adobe Photoshop, which is really expensive but definitely worth the price, and WinZIP, which I just keep forgetting to pay for. Everything else I use on a daily basis, I own. I usually borrow a game from a friend, though these friends seem to have less compunction about pirating vs intelligent consumerism. If a demo exists or it is a well known game, I don't have to borrow at all.
The Matrix seems to be the only real violation of my moral code. Why? Because it's not available yet. If a legal DVD, VCD, or VHS existed for it, I would have bought one the moment I stepped out of the theatre. Why don't I just go back in and watch it again? I would, just for sheer entertainment value, but I especially want to be able to re-watch specific scenes, specific lines, to see the special effects and the fight scenes, the choreography and the dialogue.
There is no spoon.
For those who 'legitamately' pirate, there is hope. There is less need to borrow or steal a copy when more and more online demos and trial versions for games and software exist. Most games are rentable at Blockbusters, so the need to try a console game illegally before buying it is also negligent. Anyone who actually pirates a game has a much different reason, most likely wrong. I think there is one game I'm willing to pirate, and that is an older PSX game that I haven't been able to find, and I've been looking all over the state of CA for the last 2 years. What choice do I have but to pirate at that point?
The problem of pirating video is not as bright. I'd imagine the turnaround time between release and DVD should be shortened as more film goes digital. Would it ruin the movie experience? I don't know, but I would definitely see good movies on a big screen several times, even if I owned it on DVD as well. I don't know that I can speak for anyone else however. I'd imagine the market for the Matrix VCDs is pretty good, and it would be interesting to see if the box office receipts for the Matrix suffer for it. I don't think so, personaly =)
Likewise for the upcoming Star Wars. The day of or after it's release, I'd imagine a VCD would get leaked. Probably a pre-release copy on VCD, from some crafty cinema student at USC or something, what with USC's ties to Lucas, and it's cinema school.
I don't condone pirating or stealing. If you like something, pay for it. If you don't like it, why would you waste the time and effort to download a 2 CD VCD? Same goes for software and games. If you don't like it, don't keep it; it just wastes HD space and CDs.
AS
This is a serious problem eBay has to deal with..
But wouldn' it be funny if this guy logged on to eBay and offered this javascript for sale? Include a snippet of code, with the guarantee that the script isn't active, and sell to the highest bidder?
eBay would really have to get their butts in gear quick!
I hope he doesn't have to suffer for his service to humanity.
AS
You're right!
The video itself should be like 178 times larger, but the filesize difference is insignificant.
Under QT3, both the new and old (640 vs 480) files list their video codec as Sorensen, while the sound format was unrecognized..
However, the sound format was now 44kHz, as opposed to 22kHz in the older file.
So not only is there more video, there's twice as much audio; no surprise then it takes such horsepower to uncompress it, perhaps...
AS
Did you try just dl-ing the trailer without QT4?
I can actually get playback with QT3, but there's no sound. I wonder if QT4 will make it both smoother and enable the sound, because it's sorta jerky right now, on my PPro200
AS
Can't we use Slashdot itself as a benchmark system?
Record daily usage, average usage, and maybe set up a specific day and web page on Slashdot to see how much traffic it takes to Slashdot Slashdot?
We have pretty well documented, and Rob may know the rest, about the OS, it's tweaks, the hardware, etc.
And other Linux servers that take a daily beating could also do this, to refute MindCraft's test.
Perhaps Slashdot isn't indicative? It isn't representative or useful for such purposes? I don't know.
AS