COBOL does what it does and does it well enough that it's not been unseated, but it sure as heck isn't cool.
How tough would it be to write a COBOL-to-C parser? (Or COBOL-to-yourlanguagehere.) (Here's a COBOL-to-Java attempt...)
I'd love to see COBOL programs ported to Perl. They could then be made into web services, or just continue to run as-is (but possibly on a different machine, if the old machine that's running COBOL doesn't support Perl).
Your made-up-name reminded me of HomeStarRunner's "fhqwhgads". (Google is so cool; I couldn't remember how to spell it, and typed in "fqwggads", and it suggested the proper spelling for this totally arbitrary mass of mostly consonants. Awesome.)
i know funny mods don't help your karma, so i don't really care, but i just wanted to say to the mods that this was in better off dead when the french foreign exchange student was working on lane's car (the 'auto cocoon in my front yard' car). she's asking, in french, 'how are you' and he totally misinterprets it making it funny.
'it's a real shame when folks be throwing away a perfectly good white boy like that.'
'gee ricky, i'm real sorry your mom blew up, i guess she won't be able to eat any spicy foods for a while.'
'do you know what the street value of this mountain would be?'
(brandishing a whippit) 'greendale is a bodaciously small town, lane--i can't even get real drugs here!'
'i've been going to this high school for six and a half years, lane--i'm no dummy.'
'seeyalater' (lane says to the ducks falling out of his car)
'i'll tell you what everybody wants!'
'hi lane, i know it's real awkward me being a cartoon character and all, but i was just wondering if you'd mind if i took out beth?' (barney rubble to lane)
'my grandmother dropped acid and hijacked a schoolbus full of penguins, so it's kind of a family crisis, come back later okay?'
How would YOU personally propose that a private education system would ensure that EVERY child in this country will get a quality education with no difference in quality regardless of living in a slum or in a gated community?
I smell a straw man. We don't currently give EVERY child a quality education. So there's no reason to assume that a replacement would do so.
A replacement would be worth it if it saved as little as 1 penny over what we're currently spending, and got the same educational results.
A much better replacement would get better educational results while presenting a savings in the double-digit percentages (i.e., over 10%).
Personally, I don't know what's perfect but I do know that what we have is broken, so it is worth it to explore other methods.
I meta-modded your post; I said it was accurately Offtopic, but only for the following reason:
Whenever I post here, and the post already has replies, I read them all before adding mine.
Filter settings are for reading, not communicating.
I use Mozilla, and middle-click the post's link (i.e., the #10234469 above, to the right of the original poster's name). Then I switch to that page, middle-click on the "X replies beneath your current threshold" link (to open that in another tab) and then left-click on "Reply to This".
Then I switch to the newest tab, and read all the replies.
Only then, if what I had to say is original, do I switch back to the link I click "Reply" in and start typing.
Yeah, it's a bit more work, but it tends to avoid the Offtopic mods.
Occasionally I'll "go upstream" to see what all the fuss is about, and in fact that's what I just did and found that my comment is barely worth posting since it doesn't describe what you did: you posted a top-level comment, not a reply. However, you could still achieve what I described by changing your threshold to "-1" and the comments to "Threaded" which will only show the top-level comments, so I'll hit Submit anyway.
Who in their right minds is going to buy a new PC and put such an old OS on it?
We do it all the time at work. It's called Ghost. We don't have to install DOS, but we do have to be able to boot a DOS floppy. I guess there are Linux solutions available that'll boot from a CD or a floppy perhaps, but we standardized on Ghost...
No, it doesn't make it meaningless. Under the current plan, in most states, it doesn't matter whether you beat your opponent(s) for President by 1% or 20%, as long as you beat them. It's a winner take all situation [...]
I like where you're going with this, taking Colorado one step further: instead of just one president winning the entire 4 year term, perhaps it should be divided up among the various candidates in proportion to the amount of votes they won! I would subscribe to that newsletter...
However, when I said "I" could purchase a $200 STM, what I meant was anyone can purchase a $200 STM.
There are a lot of citizens (hell, a lot of Earth inhabitants!) with $200 to spare. I don't think they can throw people in jail fast enough to prevent at least one person from achieving an assembler.
And once there's one, it's trivial to replicate it to every human on the planet.
Yes, dictators are to be feared. No, I don't think they'll ultimately win. Maybe, I'll die finding out.
I don't disagree with you. However, technology will be the power-hungry's downfall. For under $200, I can build an STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscope). With that, I can (given adequate blueprints) move atoms around to create an assembler.
So all we need are open-source blueprints, which The Foresight Institute is working towards developing.
So I agree that those in power can, in the short term, end up violating more than my rights by sending me to Guantanamo; however, in the medium and long terms, they are irrelevant.
Sorry about the guilt, I was just pointing out that it's difficult to be anonymous and purchase a domain name at the same time.;-)
'Course, the mods aren't really interested in what I have to say because I was modded off-topic for this; in fact:
50% Offtopic 30% Overrated 20% Informative
I'm not sure how that breaks down now that Slashcode has moved away from absolutes; I believe it's something like 2 Informative, 3 Overrated, and 5 Offtopic, but that seems like a ton of moderating to my stupid little post. I can't see any other way to break it down, though, that would arrive at those percentages...
No offense intended; I know I'm easy to find as well.
The 2nd revolution is long over due, before the "American experiment" fails, and its remains fall into hardcore socialism.
I'm not so sure. Nanotechnology is well on its way here, and in 5 to 20 years we'll have full-blown nanotech which will provide all of us with everything we could ever desire, including (essentially) unlimited lifetimes. (You can off yourself whenever you choose to; the universe won't be able to do it for you any more.)
So my take on this is that we should support any "welfare" ideas that will keep the fringe elements (not wackos, I mean the people who might die in the next 5 to 20 years) alive until we see the future arrive. Even if it means going from 15% to 50% of my paycheck, I would support it, as long as we also are increasing the funding to develop future technologies.
I don't find socialism as abhorrent as the next guy, and I'm a die-hard libertarian (small-l) who is also versed in coming technology. But I can see a future in which money doesn't matter ("as much" is perhaps a valid qualifier but I actually don't agree with it), so I don't really care how much of my money is taken at gunpoint to support those who choose not to work, as we'll all be not working once the singularity arrives and "computers" can work more efficiently and faster than us humans.
Heard that happened once, would love to see it with my own eyes.
I wonder what the residents of that now-ex-solar system thought? And perhaps that'd be a good section of the sky to look for messages in? Perhaps they saw it coming, and could only save "themselves" by broadcasting their technology to any civilization that could make use of it.
Slashdot Mirror
How tough would it be to write a COBOL-to-C parser? (Or COBOL-to-yourlanguagehere.) (Here's a COBOL-to-Java attempt...)
I'd love to see COBOL programs ported to Perl. They could then be made into web services, or just continue to run as-is (but possibly on a different machine, if the old machine that's running COBOL doesn't support Perl).
Nanotechnology is less than 20 years away.
There's an excellent song "Everybody to the Limit" starring FHQWHGADS. Enjoy! (It's Flash.)
(PS TLA is "Three Letter Acronym", but since SOCOM is longer it's a "Five Letter Acronym". There, I defined mine.)
I've also done the research, and can tell you that SOCOM stands for "Special Operations Command".
'it's a real shame when folks be throwing away a perfectly good white boy like that.'
'gee ricky, i'm real sorry your mom blew up, i guess she won't be able to eat any spicy foods for a while.'
'do you know what the street value of this mountain would be?'
(brandishing a whippit) 'greendale is a bodaciously small town, lane--i can't even get real drugs here!'
'i've been going to this high school for six and a half years, lane--i'm no dummy.'
'seeyalater' (lane says to the ducks falling out of his car)
'i'll tell you what everybody wants!'
'hi lane, i know it's real awkward me being a cartoon character and all, but i was just wondering if you'd mind if i took out beth?' (barney rubble to lane)
'my grandmother dropped acid and hijacked a schoolbus full of penguins, so it's kind of a family crisis, come back later okay?'
'I WANT MY TWO DOLLARS!'
i rest my case.
"Comment allez vous?"
"No thanks, I already had breakfast."
Me.
He gets a lot of coverage on Nanodot as well. (4 of the front page articles are his.)
I smell a straw man. We don't currently give EVERY child a quality education. So there's no reason to assume that a replacement would do so.
A replacement would be worth it if it saved as little as 1 penny over what we're currently spending, and got the same educational results.
A much better replacement would get better educational results while presenting a savings in the double-digit percentages (i.e., over 10%).
Personally, I don't know what's perfect but I do know that what we have is broken, so it is worth it to explore other methods.
Whenever I post here, and the post already has replies, I read them all before adding mine.
Filter settings are for reading, not communicating.
I use Mozilla, and middle-click the post's link (i.e., the #10234469 above, to the right of the original poster's name). Then I switch to that page, middle-click on the "X replies beneath your current threshold" link (to open that in another tab) and then left-click on "Reply to This".
Then I switch to the newest tab, and read all the replies.
Only then, if what I had to say is original, do I switch back to the link I click "Reply" in and start typing.
Yeah, it's a bit more work, but it tends to avoid the Offtopic mods.
Occasionally I'll "go upstream" to see what all the fuss is about, and in fact that's what I just did and found that my comment is barely worth posting since it doesn't describe what you did: you posted a top-level comment, not a reply. However, you could still achieve what I described by changing your threshold to "-1" and the comments to "Threaded" which will only show the top-level comments, so I'll hit Submit anyway.
We do it all the time at work. It's called Ghost. We don't have to install DOS, but we do have to be able to boot a DOS floppy. I guess there are Linux solutions available that'll boot from a CD or a floppy perhaps, but we standardized on Ghost...
I like where you're going with this, taking Colorado one step further: instead of just one president winning the entire 4 year term, perhaps it should be divided up among the various candidates in proportion to the amount of votes they won! I would subscribe to that newsletter...
I've been seeing 666 a lot more (almost daily) since the year 2000.
That, and light posts keep turning themselves off when I drive under them. Not quite daily, but at least 3 times a week.
I love the subtle signs of the apocalypse. ;-)
And:
Make a neat juxtaposition.
From "Pirate's Cove" minitaure golf in Bar Harbor, ME's animatronic parrot:
"What's a pirate's favorite letter?"
"Arrrrrr!"
However, when I said "I" could purchase a $200 STM, what I meant was anyone can purchase a $200 STM.
There are a lot of citizens (hell, a lot of Earth inhabitants!) with $200 to spare. I don't think they can throw people in jail fast enough to prevent at least one person from achieving an assembler.
And once there's one, it's trivial to replicate it to every human on the planet.
Yes, dictators are to be feared. No, I don't think they'll ultimately win. Maybe, I'll die finding out.
These are not teh films you are looking for...
So all we need are open-source blueprints, which The Foresight Institute is working towards developing.
So I agree that those in power can, in the short term, end up violating more than my rights by sending me to Guantanamo; however, in the medium and long terms, they are irrelevant.
'Course, the mods aren't really interested in what I have to say because I was modded off-topic for this; in fact:
I'm not sure how that breaks down now that Slashcode has moved away from absolutes; I believe it's something like 2 Informative, 3 Overrated, and 5 Offtopic, but that seems like a ton of moderating to my stupid little post. I can't see any other way to break it down, though, that would arrive at those percentages...
No offense intended; I know I'm easy to find as well.
I'm not so sure. Nanotechnology is well on its way here, and in 5 to 20 years we'll have full-blown nanotech which will provide all of us with everything we could ever desire, including (essentially) unlimited lifetimes. (You can off yourself whenever you choose to; the universe won't be able to do it for you any more.)
So my take on this is that we should support any "welfare" ideas that will keep the fringe elements (not wackos, I mean the people who might die in the next 5 to 20 years) alive until we see the future arrive. Even if it means going from 15% to 50% of my paycheck, I would support it, as long as we also are increasing the funding to develop future technologies.
I don't find socialism as abhorrent as the next guy, and I'm a die-hard libertarian (small-l) who is also versed in coming technology. But I can see a future in which money doesn't matter ("as much" is perhaps a valid qualifier but I actually don't agree with it), so I don't really care how much of my money is taken at gunpoint to support those who choose not to work, as we'll all be not working once the singularity arrives and "computers" can work more efficiently and faster than us humans.
They obviously don't get the whole point of open source, then...
And what guarantee do we have that they will "eventually" open the source?
"Whether you suffer from glaucoma, or you've just rented the Matrix, medical marijuana can make things fabulous ... medically!"
But ... I already enjoyed those moquitoes!
I wonder what the residents of that now-ex-solar system thought? And perhaps that'd be a good section of the sky to look for messages in? Perhaps they saw it coming, and could only save "themselves" by broadcasting their technology to any civilization that could make use of it.