If you've not read any non-SF Banks stuff, this is not the best place to start. Try the Wasp Factory, Whit or -- preferably -- Complicity. All are much better than this one.
Which is not to say that The Business isn't entertaining, just that it's some way from his best. And it has his usual problem: the female characters are just not very well formed (they're just men with breasts). Unfortunately, a female character is the hero...
In 1981 the Sinclair ZX81 had an external power supply. You reset the machine by pulling the plug from the back and reinserting it, or you could just wobble the 16K RAM pack for the same effect.
I can't wait for my new PC to have the same feature.
You need to think in terms of ecconomies of scale to get a real idea of cost in the PC industry.
When the PSU on my PC went a few months ago I found I could get a new PSU for 40 quid or a new case, with a better PSU, for 30 quid. Nobody buys PC PSU's without case or uses X-Terminals, hence the high price.
If Intel decided that an external PSU was required for ATX2, prices would plumet.
Buying new hardware is much cheaper than training or recruiting new staff.
And if your site is very data driven, ColdFusion is a better option than PHP or raw JSP (use an application server like Enhydra, Dynamo or Websphere if you really want to use Java).
I don't see what right an employer has to control what I do outside work (unless it affects my ability to do my job).
If I work on Apache while I'm at work, then sure, they own the rights. If I do it in my own time and in such a way that it doesn't affect my performance at work, why should they have any right to my code?
A cheap new 35mm compact camera will cost you maybe $50 (probably less) so what's the point?
Buy a decent camera instead, it does make a difference (I just upgraded to a Rebel2000/EOS300 from a Canon compact; my new pictures are *so* much better.).
As subject... I tried beta 3 after being happy with Mandrake 7 and 7.1, but found the installer to be very buggy. Half the time it would stop with a random error message, sometimes it would miss questions out, and I never got X working properly.
Is the release version okay? (Although I'm reluctant to change now I have Debian working okay!)
I tend to think of these methodologies as an excuse for sloppy thinking. They tend to force you to solve problems in a particular way which can certainly cramp your style.
Often tools like Rose also make you concentrate on the wrong things, trying to make a diagram fit onto a single sheet of paper for example. I prefer a pencil and paper (and word processor when I'm done). I also have reservations about how maintainable the design is and how scalable the software (not methodology) is.
However, a team "thinking" and documenting things in the same way *is* a huge benefit and shouldn't be underestimated. UML is becoming more and more popular (by management mainly) and you'll probably have to learn and use it regardless of whether you like it. May as well get used to it...
Although what you say is absolutely true, I don't think proof by contradiction really works here.
Does the fact that information theory was invented by Claude Shannon make Einstein any less of a genius? Similarly, the spreadsheet being invented on an Apple II doesn't detract from what Unix has brought to modern computing.
PARC invented a lot of what we take for granted in a modern computer system, but much of it was hardware (as I understand it).
The main things that I'm aware of being invented at PARC are Ethernet, the laser printer and the personal computer (they built workstations with bitmapped displays while everyone else was using timeshare machines). The obvious exception is the WYSIWYG display and certain GUI elements as you mentioned.
Unix contributions are probably more subtle and low-level. TCP/IP was first implemented at Berkeley I believe, as were most of the original networking programs. The "small, well defined tools" and the "everything is a file" approaches were both popularised by Unix. I think a lot of innovations come from these, few features. Networking is key to modern computers and the ability to quickly write new code made it easy to experiment.
C, on the other hand, popularised the segmentation fault by making it easy to write bad code.
I'm tempted to consider that flame-bait, but on the offchance that it's serious...
You're dead wrong. Mobile phones put you in charge. They generally have CLI so you can see who's calling and you get the option to reject the call (don't try that with people that work for cell phone companies; they can probably see that you didn't want to speak to them!) .
Combine that with the fact that you can switch them into silent/vibrate/discrete/whatever mode and still switch them off if you want some peace and quiet and they aren't a pain.
Some *people* are a pain: the loud "I'm on the train" commuter, people who leave their phone switched on during meetings... But these are not faults of the technology which is tremendously useful.
It's the same problem with all commercial software: they have to pretend that their software is perfect.
If they have to distribute patches for *anything* they are saying that they made a mistake. That's like admitting liability, and what would an insurance company say about that?
Microsoft has tried to cover it up by including enhancements (service packs) and making it automatic (Windows update) but we all know these don't work properly either.
I recommend you read Neal Stephensons "In the begining..." as he talks about all of this in much more detail.
We didn't have all these new-fangled colour screens, 32-bit processors or email when I was young. We had a cardboard box with "Computer" written on the side, but we were happy.
For a parent not wanting their kid to access indecent material on the internet, having other people monitoring content -- losing privacy -- seems fairly pragmatic. By using AOL you're agreeing that people can do this. I'd assume (hope) that the author changed the names to protect the guilty...
It's not a compromise I'd currently be happy with, but then I don't have kids. And at least AOL is open about it. It has official policies, which is more than can be said for my ISP (who say they can teminate my account if they ever get the urge and little more).
I have to say, I don't really see the point of Python. It's a fairly nice language and, as you say, even someone that know little about the language can read a program without too much trouble.
However, if I'm writing a script (which I'd define as something that's disposable or less than 500 lines long), Perl's There's More Than One Way To Do It philosophy and Unix background makes it much more immediately useful. You're free to hack without agonising over the 'right' way to do it.
On the other hand, if I want to write a 'proper' program I'd want to use a correspondingly 'proper' language -- something with strong types and other 'heavy' software engineering concepts that get in the way when scripting. Java is probably my favorite language for this at the moment, but that's not ideal.
Python is nearly a 'proper' language useful for scripting which, for my purposes, means it fills a very small niche.
I don't think that RedHat were blamed for using alpha quality code -- AFAIK no-one has said that RH7 is especially unstable. It's the fact that the code wasn't an official release.
GRUB seems to be pretty stable to me, regardless of its 'official' state (and, let's face it, the GNU web site isn't the most frequently updated site). I have it installed here, by Mandrake, on my laptop. Any software that can survive a laptop is, by definition, not alpha:)
I really don't think that it's a good idea for people to do interviews if they've not been trained, especially in the states where there are pretty strict discrimination laws.
However, assuming that you'll have to do it anyway...
Technical questions about particular technologies are easy, I'm sure you can manage that. (Just make sure you know the answer and can tell if they're bluffing!)
More important is to test their problem solving skills and their 'fit' into the companies culture, but that's also more difficult. Putting them on the spot might not be a good idea -- we all get nervous -- so you need to ask stuff about what they've done. Ask them about their current job, problems they've had and how they solved them. If you focus in on enough details you can find out if they're making stuff up.
It's also important not to ask about hypothetic situations (unless there's no alternative). Would they do what they say, or is that just what they think you want to hear?
You're right. Choosing which programming language to use is the *last* thing you do before starting to code. Designs tend to work better when you think generically and are not constrained by the features of a particular environment.
Of course, sometimes you're forced to use a particular language. I did a fantastic design for a datawarehouse load, but found that you couldn't implement it cleanly in PL/SQL:(
Microsoft hasn't got where it is today by being stupid. They have the unpopular MS-Tax thing covered.
They're planning on moving over to annual charges for using their software, which should see the prices of OEM licences dropping. Okay, it's being replaced by another, even less popular tax but they need to keep Gates in beige trousers somehow.
Of course, people will probably end up paying more in total, but this kind of give-with-one-hand-take-with-the-other trick has worked successfully for governments for years.
Slashdot Mirror
If you've not read any non-SF Banks stuff, this is not the best place to start. Try the Wasp Factory, Whit or -- preferably -- Complicity. All are much better than this one.
Which is not to say that The Business isn't entertaining, just that it's some way from his best. And it has his usual problem: the female characters are just not very well formed (they're just men with breasts). Unfortunately, a female character is the hero...
In 1981 the Sinclair ZX81 had an external power supply. You reset the machine by pulling the plug from the back and reinserting it, or you could just wobble the 16K RAM pack for the same effect.
I can't wait for my new PC to have the same feature.
You need to think in terms of ecconomies of scale to get a real idea of cost in the PC industry.
When the PSU on my PC went a few months ago I found I could get a new PSU for 40 quid or a new case, with a better PSU, for 30 quid. Nobody buys PC PSU's without case or uses X-Terminals, hence the high price.
If Intel decided that an external PSU was required for ATX2, prices would plumet.
Buying new hardware is much cheaper than training or recruiting new staff.
And if your site is very data driven, ColdFusion is a better option than PHP or raw JSP (use an application server like Enhydra, Dynamo or Websphere if you really want to use Java).
I don't see what right an employer has to control what I do outside work (unless it affects my ability to do my job).
If I work on Apache while I'm at work, then sure, they own the rights. If I do it in my own time and in such a way that it doesn't affect my performance at work, why should they have any right to my code?
Write your own programming language and call it the new industry standard.
Might work.
A cheap new 35mm compact camera will cost you maybe $50 (probably less) so what's the point?
Buy a decent camera instead, it does make a difference (I just upgraded to a Rebel2000/EOS300 from a Canon compact; my new pictures are *so* much better.).
Oh yes it is:
I predict that the Oracle database server itself will be open source within ten yearsAs subject... I tried beta 3 after being happy with Mandrake 7 and 7.1, but found the installer to be very buggy. Half the time it would stop with a random error message, sometimes it would miss questions out, and I never got X working properly.
Is the release version okay? (Although I'm reluctant to change now I have Debian working okay!)
It's great that this event is being commemorated. Personally I thought Laika was more photogenic :)
However, it annoys me that Gagarin is remembered but the scientists that made it all possible are all but unknown.
Still, engineers doing all the work and someone else claiming all the credit is the way things always seem to go...
I tend to think of these methodologies as an excuse for sloppy thinking. They tend to force you to solve problems in a particular way which can certainly cramp your style.
Often tools like Rose also make you concentrate on the wrong things, trying to make a diagram fit onto a single sheet of paper for example. I prefer a pencil and paper (and word processor when I'm done). I also have reservations about how maintainable the design is and how scalable the software (not methodology) is.
However, a team "thinking" and documenting things in the same way *is* a huge benefit and shouldn't be underestimated. UML is becoming more and more popular (by management mainly) and you'll probably have to learn and use it regardless of whether you like it. May as well get used to it...
Although what you say is absolutely true, I don't think proof by contradiction really works here.
Does the fact that information theory was invented by Claude Shannon make Einstein any less of a genius? Similarly, the spreadsheet being invented on an Apple II doesn't detract from what Unix has brought to modern computing.
PARC invented a lot of what we take for granted in a modern computer system, but much of it was hardware (as I understand it).
The main things that I'm aware of being invented at PARC are Ethernet, the laser printer and the personal computer (they built workstations with bitmapped displays while everyone else was using timeshare machines). The obvious exception is the WYSIWYG display and certain GUI elements as you mentioned.
Unix contributions are probably more subtle and low-level. TCP/IP was first implemented at Berkeley I believe, as were most of the original networking programs. The "small, well defined tools" and the "everything is a file" approaches were both popularised by Unix. I think a lot of innovations come from these, few features. Networking is key to modern computers and the ability to quickly write new code made it easy to experiment.
C, on the other hand, popularised the segmentation fault by making it easy to write bad code.
I'm tempted to consider that flame-bait, but on the offchance that it's serious...
You're dead wrong. Mobile phones put you in charge. They generally have CLI so you can see who's calling and you get the option to reject the call (don't try that with people that work for cell phone companies; they can probably see that you didn't want to speak to them!) .
Combine that with the fact that you can switch them into silent/vibrate/discrete/whatever mode and still switch them off if you want some peace and quiet and they aren't a pain.
Some *people* are a pain: the loud "I'm on the train" commuter, people who leave their phone switched on during meetings... But these are not faults of the technology which is tremendously useful.
It's the same problem with all commercial software: they have to pretend that their software is perfect.
If they have to distribute patches for *anything* they are saying that they made a mistake. That's like admitting liability, and what would an insurance company say about that?
Microsoft has tried to cover it up by including enhancements (service packs) and making it automatic (Windows update) but we all know these don't work properly either.
I recommend you read Neal Stephensons "In the begining..." as he talks about all of this in much more detail.
If you only ever key in the wrong password, no-one else will be able to get in either. True, it may reduce your productivity but it is more secure.
You might also want to consider using a slide-rule rather than a computer.
If you use Intercal, all this discussion of number bases will be irrelevant. Assuming, of course, that you know Georgian and Roman Numerals.
We didn't have all these new-fangled colour screens, 32-bit processors or email when I was young. We had a cardboard box with "Computer" written on the side, but we were happy.
Everything is a compromise.
For a parent not wanting their kid to access indecent material on the internet, having other people monitoring content -- losing privacy -- seems fairly pragmatic. By using AOL you're agreeing that people can do this. I'd assume (hope) that the author changed the names to protect the guilty...
It's not a compromise I'd currently be happy with, but then I don't have kids. And at least AOL is open about it. It has official policies, which is more than can be said for my ISP (who say they can teminate my account if they ever get the urge and little more).
I have to say, I don't really see the point of Python. It's a fairly nice language and, as you say, even someone that know little about the language can read a program without too much trouble.
However, if I'm writing a script (which I'd define as something that's disposable or less than 500 lines long), Perl's There's More Than One Way To Do It philosophy and Unix background makes it much more immediately useful. You're free to hack without agonising over the 'right' way to do it.
On the other hand, if I want to write a 'proper' program I'd want to use a correspondingly 'proper' language -- something with strong types and other 'heavy' software engineering concepts that get in the way when scripting. Java is probably my favorite language for this at the moment, but that's not ideal.
Python is nearly a 'proper' language useful for scripting which, for my purposes, means it fills a very small niche.
...is the main difference.
More seriously, they're just titles and the exact meaning varies depending on the company. Just as the title "developer" varies.
I don't think that RedHat were blamed for using alpha quality code -- AFAIK no-one has said that RH7 is especially unstable. It's the fact that the code wasn't an official release.
:)
GRUB seems to be pretty stable to me, regardless of its 'official' state (and, let's face it, the GNU web site isn't the most frequently updated site). I have it installed here, by Mandrake, on my laptop. Any software that can survive a laptop is, by definition, not alpha
I really don't think that it's a good idea for people to do interviews if they've not been trained, especially in the states where there are pretty strict discrimination laws.
However, assuming that you'll have to do it anyway...
Technical questions about particular technologies are easy, I'm sure you can manage that. (Just make sure you know the answer and can tell if they're bluffing!)
More important is to test their problem solving skills and their 'fit' into the companies culture, but that's also more difficult. Putting them on the spot might not be a good idea -- we all get nervous -- so you need to ask stuff about what they've done. Ask them about their current job, problems they've had and how they solved them. If you focus in on enough details you can find out if they're making stuff up.
It's also important not to ask about hypothetic situations (unless there's no alternative). Would they do what they say, or is that just what they think you want to hear?
You're right. Choosing which programming language to use is the *last* thing you do before starting to code. Designs tend to work better when you think generically and are not constrained by the features of a particular environment.
:(
Of course, sometimes you're forced to use a particular language. I did a fantastic design for a datawarehouse load, but found that you couldn't implement it cleanly in PL/SQL
Microsoft hasn't got where it is today by being stupid. They have the unpopular MS-Tax thing covered.
They're planning on moving over to annual charges for using their software, which should see the prices of OEM licences dropping. Okay, it's being replaced by another, even less popular tax but they need to keep Gates in beige trousers somehow.
Of course, people will probably end up paying more in total, but this kind of give-with-one-hand-take-with-the-other trick has worked successfully for governments for years.