Surprising he doesn't have his own domain, or at least a fixed email address (linus AT kernel.org?). IMO no point relying on protecting your email with NOSPAM etc (although that can help) and keep changing every few months, you're gonna get stung if it's out there, so you may as well set up some decent spam-thrashing software (eg spambuster) and get on with life.
This is a great comparison, but I want to clarify one point:
Things like ref and out parameters, boxing, and attributes are things that are quite simply missing from Java. They are needed, and they aren't there.
Yes, they are needed. And version 1.5 (betas already available) will include boxing, attributes (ie meta tags), as well as the long-awaited template facility.
Just as MS haven't acknowledged Java as an inspiration (I've heard C++ mentioned several times, never Java), Sun seems to have done the same back regarding 1.5 features (at least according to recent interviews with Sun engineer Josh Bloch). But no matter what they say, each language development will push the other one along.
This goes for the languages (C*/Java) as well as the platforms (CLI/J2EE containers,JVMs).
MS is going through what happened to IBM years ago. "No-one ever got sacked for buying IBM". Decision makers like to run with MS (whether for desktop, development, whatever) because if things go wrong, they at least can't be accused of using "weird" stuff like Linux.
But when others start having the courage to adopt Linux, it becomes less of an excuse. Indeed, if other governments are successful with Linux, decision makers who play conservative will even have to justify why they chose Microsoft when there are other viable alternatives.
If years of gluttony have eroded product and service quality, as IBM discovered, a monopolistic empire can quickly crumble.
This is good for software all round. I am pleased to see Linux getting some action in conservative quarters. I am also pleased that Microsoft will be forced to innovate. Flame if you must, but I think they have always been very good in responding to challenges. Yes, some of that had involved questionable tactics. But they have also made some top innovations over the years, or at least commercialised cutting edge research and ideas which were formerly obscure (e.g. Windows 95 interface - Start Menu, Taskbar etc... Pocket PC interface... Tablet PCs). Current activities will give provide needed funds to Linux development and also provide an impetus to MS to get its act together. Good news all round.
Atari Keypads - Been There, Done That
on
One-Thumb Keyboard
·
· Score: 1
Yeah these japanese teens might do some IMing and write a few essays, but how about cutting some serious Atari 2600 BASIC code with a numeric keypad (circa 1978).
In one sentence, they're complaing about how much space CRTs take up on your desk and the next is about 29" of LCD goodness.
Well yeah they don't say it too clearly.
But they do have a point buried in there somewhere... if you've got to have a 29 inch screen, you'll save half your desk space by plumping for LCD rather than a CRT, assuming you have a big enough desk to fit either!
Too true, it was zammechat how much dobby Nadsat was learned while reading "A Clockwork Orange". I once saw some real foreign language books start in English and gradually incorporate another language, wish I could get hold of something like that now.
Another novel about software engineering is The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management by Tom De Marco, author of the classic text, Peopleware. As the title indicates, it's a novel that not-so-subtly illustrates certain points about project management. I haven't read it as rumours indicate the romantic aspects are a bit average, but amazon reviewers seem positive.
Further afield, another educational book is The Richest Man in Babylon, a fable which attempts to demonstrate, albeit in a crude way, the how and why of saving $$$.
Any others?
Re:The hunt for lib files
on
Ximian's Back
·
· Score: 1
Maybe this is stupid, but... with storage basically free, why don't we just build static binaries again and stop worrying about dependencies?
Storage isn't free if developers continue to use all the excess. More and more binaries in high-level languages, more graphics etc. Although fortunately it hasn't scaled as quickly as storage space though.
Moreover, and sadly, bandwidth is far from free. Many users still on 56k. Even broadband users would find it impossible to download an entire distro if it were all static bniaries.
Having said all that, I don't think it's stupid at all. It would certanily be nice if you could easily get hold of static RPMs. Sometimes I just need a friggin app and could care less if the static version's going to cost me a few more meg.
why would anyone design a keyboard like this? In one simple word, comfort.
There are also other reasons why keyboard alternatives like this are cool. Disabled users, obviously. Also for typing where you can't be very accurate, e.g. while riding a bike.
Hmmm wonder if you could type with your feet while surfing during lunch...
That'll cover 45% of the population, according to the 1945 census
So not the entire population, but a lot more than the top 3 in the 1990 US census (Smith, Johnson, Williams) - about 8 million total, somewhere under 3%.
Compiling while you sleep wouldn't be so bad if you didn't get problems, but the quote above indicates those problems can happen. Also OpenOffice + Mozilla + Apache +... a week of sleeping for a basic setup.
How does it then handle a combination of binaries and source? Would that be something like the dependence mess of installing mandrake, polish etc on a redhat install, or is it manageable?
According to the article, the big ticket items would be a showstopper for most serious users. I've been thinking about setting up gentoo for a while, but after reading about the length of time to download anything significant, I think I'll pursue a life instead.
To be specific, this part of the article is scary:
OpenOffice took at least two days to finish building. Gentoo fans will no doubt point to the fact that this process is hands-off, but that isn't always true. The OpenOffice installation warns you that OpenOffice is sensitive to some compiler optimizations, which means it may fail. If so, you may have to modify your build options and install it again.
Two days for one app? Yes, a big app! But two days??!!! He didn't say what PC he's using, but if it's even close to that, it would spoil all the "point and click" fun of installing stuff with linux.
I've worked on large projects that used an OO language, and an OO design, where there were _11_ different abstract "linked list" base classes (huge project started in 1992 before the STL was around, but still being worked on 11 years later in its maintanance phase).
Doesn't your comment answer itself? If STL *had* been around, or *gasp* Java, then every competent developer would know there is a single solution that fits their needs. Without even so much as a common standard, there would only be one linked list class instead of 11. That's reuse.
OO as a technology facilitates reuse, but it's only with comprehensive APIs like J2SE, J2EE, STL, and yes.NET that industry-wide reuse is possible.
When you take out factors of infant mortality, wartime fatalities, and other sad statistics of medieval life, life expectancy is not too different. I read a while ago that a 40 year-old now has the same life expectancy as a 40 year-old in 1800.
But.
But does a 40 year old from 200 years ago have the same capacity for work as now. I'd guess he doesn't. If he's reasonably well-off (ie the sort of guy who'd be most likely to live to 40 in 1800 and be a mathematician), then I'm guessing he's not as physically fit. I agree your typical modern-day 40 year old maths professor isn't starring in the latest action blockbuster, but they're probably much fitter and will have many more years ahead of them to come up with their research. "40 is the new 30" and all that.
Why express "two" when you already have "one"? Why (virtually) antonyms... small/big? live/die? Temporal versions of quantities - some/some time, big/long time.
Taking a recorded track and using it in your own recording in a studio is called sampling. I call it theft.
I call it art.
What happened to the idea that copyright law is in society's interest. It was supposed to provide an incentive to content creators - protecting the upside that typically motivates them to create content.
BUT is it in society's interest to restrict works which build on other work? That's progress and should be encouraged at all costs.
Not only is USA more spread out, but Korea is full of high-density housing. I mean, Seoul looks like something out of a profitable Sim City, with entire clusters of high-density houses. And then theres the net cafes for LAN games for when the kiddies want to leave their broadband home connections and go outside.
Koreas definitely at the forefront - subway has cell phone access, mainstream TV shows feature live gaming... like in Japan, but with less bullshit bureaucracy. If anything, Id say Korea is fast becoming Japans technophile dream.
For a medium-sized content ste like useit.com, it is very easy to seek out relevant content. And when you fnd it, it's easy to read it. That must be the main criterion for a site of that nature, and Neilsen's pulled it off well.
Anyway what I really wanted to say was that some student did a Jakob-like review of useit.com:
http://users.cwnet.com/adunn/Other/CDES%20215/us ei t_analysis.html
This guy didn't follow Jakob's inverted pyramid guideline, so you need to click through a bit for the summary. Anyway, of 36 relevant guidelines, he gave 27 thumbs up and 9 thumbs down.
It may be smaller, but in the age of 200 Gb harddrives for $200 size is no longer an issue.
I agree with most of your comments regarding the unfortunate uselessness of Ogg, but I don't think the size argument holds up; many solid-state players are currently 128MB; a 20% capacity increase makes a big difference at that end.
Slashdot Mirror
Surprising he doesn't have his own domain, or at least a fixed email address (linus AT kernel.org?). IMO no point relying on protecting your email with NOSPAM etc (although that can help) and keep changing every few months, you're gonna get stung if it's out there, so you may as well set up some decent spam-thrashing software (eg spambuster) and get on with life.
Now if only the watch was color and use a peephole display...
Peephole idea is awesome, but methinks using it on a palm would lead to some new strain of RSI.
You want a clock that runs 24x7 ? What next, a hi-fi that plays music?
This is a great comparison, but I want to clarify one point:
Things like ref and out parameters, boxing, and attributes are things that are quite simply missing from Java. They are needed, and they aren't there.
Yes, they are needed. And version 1.5 (betas already available) will include boxing, attributes (ie meta tags), as well as the long-awaited template facility.
Just as MS haven't acknowledged Java as an inspiration (I've heard C++ mentioned several times, never Java), Sun seems to have done the same back regarding 1.5 features (at least according to recent interviews with Sun engineer Josh Bloch). But no matter what they say, each language development will push the other one along.
This goes for the languages (C*/Java) as well as the platforms (CLI/J2EE containers,JVMs).
Notice A Trend?
... Pocket PC interface ... Tablet PCs). Current activities will give provide needed funds to Linux development and also provide an impetus to MS to get its act together. Good news all round.
Ballmer Does!
MS is going through what happened to IBM years ago. "No-one ever got sacked for buying IBM". Decision makers like to run with MS (whether for desktop, development, whatever) because if things go wrong, they at least can't be accused of using "weird" stuff like Linux.
But when others start having the courage to adopt Linux, it becomes less of an excuse. Indeed, if other governments are successful with Linux, decision makers who play conservative will even have to justify why they chose Microsoft when there are other viable alternatives.
If years of gluttony have eroded product and service quality, as IBM discovered, a monopolistic empire can quickly crumble.
This is good for software all round. I am pleased to see Linux getting some action in conservative quarters. I am also pleased that Microsoft will be forced to innovate. Flame if you must, but I think they have always been very good in responding to challenges. Yes, some of that had involved questionable tactics. But they have also made some top innovations over the years, or at least commercialised cutting edge research and ideas which were formerly obscure (e.g. Windows 95 interface - Start Menu, Taskbar etc
Yeah these japanese teens might do some IMing and write a few essays, but how about cutting some serious Atari 2600 BASIC code with a numeric keypad (circa 1978).
In one sentence, they're complaing about how much space CRTs take up on your desk and the next is about 29" of LCD goodness.
... if you've got to have a 29 inch screen, you'll save half your desk space by plumping for LCD rather than a CRT, assuming you have a big enough desk to fit either!
Well yeah they don't say it too clearly.
But they do have a point buried in there somewhere
Damnit! When I read the Zaurus had "English conversion", I thought we had entered the era of the babelfish.
Too true, it was zammechat how much dobby Nadsat was learned while reading "A Clockwork Orange". I once saw some real foreign language books start in English and gradually incorporate another language, wish I could get hold of something like that now.
Another novel about software engineering is The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management by Tom De Marco, author of the classic text, Peopleware. As the title indicates, it's a novel that not-so-subtly illustrates certain points about project management. I haven't read it as rumours indicate the romantic aspects are a bit average, but amazon reviewers seem positive.
Further afield, another educational book is
The Richest Man in Babylon, a fable which attempts to demonstrate, albeit in a crude way, the how and why of saving $$$.
Any others?
Having said all that, I don't think it's stupid at all. It would certanily be nice if you could easily get hold of static RPMs. Sometimes I just need a friggin app and could care less if the static version's going to cost me a few more meg.
From the article:
...
why would anyone design a keyboard like this? In one simple word, comfort.
There are also other reasons why keyboard alternatives like this are cool. Disabled users, obviously. Also for typing where you can't be very accurate, e.g. while riding a bike.
Hmmm wonder if you could type with your feet while surfing during lunch
That's a coincidence - most recruiters use /dev/urandom to choose the best CV for the job.
That'll cover 45% of the population, according to the
1945 census
So not the entire population, but a lot more than the top 3 in the 1990 US census (Smith, Johnson, Williams) - about 8 million total, somewhere under 3%.
Compiling while you sleep wouldn't be so bad if you didn't get problems, but the quote above indicates those problems can happen. Also OpenOffice + Mozilla + Apache + ... a week of sleeping for a basic setup.
Isn't compiling the point of gentoo?
How does it then handle a combination of binaries and source? Would that be something like the dependence mess of installing mandrake, polish etc on a redhat install, or is it manageable?
"My commute to school leaves a smile on my face"?
Do you ride your segway on Astroturf?
According to the article, the big ticket items would be a showstopper for most serious users. I've been thinking about setting up gentoo for a while, but after reading about the length of time to download anything significant, I think I'll pursue a life instead.
To be specific, this part of the article is scary:
OpenOffice took at least two days to finish building. Gentoo fans will no doubt point to the fact that this process is hands-off, but that isn't always true. The OpenOffice installation warns you that OpenOffice is sensitive to some compiler optimizations, which means it may fail. If so, you may have to modify your build options and install it again.
Two days for one app? Yes, a big app! But two days??!!! He didn't say what PC he's using, but if it's even close to that, it would spoil all the "point and click" fun of installing stuff with linux.
I've worked on large projects that used an OO language, and an OO design, where there were _11_ different abstract "linked list" base classes (huge project started in 1992 before the STL was around, but still being worked on 11 years later in its maintanance phase).
.NET that industry-wide reuse is possible.
Doesn't your comment answer itself? If STL *had* been around, or *gasp* Java, then every competent developer would know there is a single solution that fits their needs. Without even so much as a common standard, there would only be one linked list class instead of 11. That's reuse.
OO as a technology facilitates reuse, but it's only with comprehensive APIs like J2SE, J2EE, STL, and yes
Yes.
When you take out factors of infant mortality, wartime fatalities, and other sad statistics of medieval life, life expectancy is not too different. I read a while ago that a 40 year-old now has the same life expectancy as a 40 year-old in 1800.
But.
But does a 40 year old from 200 years ago have the same capacity for work as now. I'd guess he doesn't. If he's reasonably well-off (ie the sort of guy who'd be most likely to live to 40 in 1800 and be a mathematician), then I'm guessing he's not as physically fit. I agree your typical modern-day 40 year old maths professor isn't starring in the latest action blockbuster, but they're probably much fitter and will have many more years ahead of them to come up with their research. "40 is the new 30" and all that.
I don't get it. This could be reduced further.
... small/big? live/die? Temporal versions of quantities - some/some time, big/long time.
Why express "two" when you already have "one"?
Why (virtually) antonyms
Seems to be lots of redundancy, ne? Just curious.
"x++" is noun-verb, which feels strange to me. "++x" reads as "increment X", while "x++" reads as "x. increment it".
True, noun-verb is not like English, but if you fnid it strange, I suggest avoiding Object Oriented languages altogether!
x++ is probably the most object-oriented piece of C syntax around, ie it is semantically equivalent to x.increment().
Taking a recorded track and using it in your own recording in a studio is called sampling. I call it theft.
I call it art.
What happened to the idea that copyright law is in society's interest. It was supposed to provide an incentive to content creators - protecting the upside that typically motivates them to create content.
BUT is it in society's interest to restrict works which build on other work? That's progress and should be encouraged at all costs.
Not only is USA more spread out, but Korea is full of high-density housing. I mean, Seoul looks like something out of a profitable Sim City, with entire clusters of high-density houses. And then theres the net cafes for LAN games for when the kiddies want to leave their broadband home connections and go outside.
... like in Japan, but with less bullshit bureaucracy. If anything, Id say Korea is fast becoming Japans technophile dream.
Koreas definitely at the forefront - subway has cell phone access, mainstream TV shows feature live gaming
For a medium-sized content ste like useit.com, it is very easy to seek out relevant content. And when you fnd it, it's easy to read it. That must be the main criterion for a site of that nature, and Neilsen's pulled it off well.
s ei t_analysis.html
Anyway what I really wanted to say was that some student did a Jakob-like review of useit.com:
http://users.cwnet.com/adunn/Other/CDES%20215/u
This guy didn't follow Jakob's inverted pyramid guideline, so you need to click through a bit for the summary. Anyway, of 36 relevant guidelines, he gave 27 thumbs up and 9 thumbs down.
It may be smaller, but in the age of 200 Gb harddrives for $200 size is no longer an issue.
I agree with most of your comments regarding the unfortunate uselessness of Ogg, but I don't think the size argument holds up; many solid-state players are currently 128MB; a 20% capacity increase makes a big difference at that end.