Except there's a small problem, our esteemed President Jimmy Carter made fuel reprocessing illegal, citing non-proliferation concerns. Or maybe fears of giant killer rabbits, idunno. So, whoever got the contract would need to get a waiver. Or secede. And with nukes, they could get away with it. All even sentences of this paragraph are spoken in jest. Or are they?
Didn't Heinlein suggest advertising? Let's go for it. Set up an array of frickin' lasers and prisms to display the Coca Cola logo. Or the Pepsi logo...
To answer your question, ask how many old engineers you've met. Generally, an Engineering career lasts how long? When I got my Masters' in Computer Science people were talking about "structured programming" and things like OO and XP didn't exist. If you're going to go into Engineering, you'll have to spend a lot of thought keeping current. This probably true of medicine and law, too, but it seems that the human body and human nature are pretty much the same as they were a thousand years ago.
You don't hear as much about age discrimination, but I figure it's real in Engineering (illegality notwithstanding) more so than other professions. Given this, it makes more sense to invest the extra time and money of post-graduate education in something that'll pay back in a longer career.
Last week at XP West Michigan, the speaker advanced the theory that a company with an older codebase is invariably a competitive disadvantage and that anyone who builds a new system that does the same thing will eat their lunch. He went so far as to claim that this mechanism would result in Microsoft's doom. And I partially agree because "technical debt" in a codebase behaves just like this.
I think that an existing codebase may occasionally NOT be a mess or a competitive drag on a company. I'm not claiming this is frequent, but that it is possible.
Now, let's suppose I'm a young, hungry company who wants to eat a big, established company's lunch. If I know his codebase is chock full of "technical debt," I'll know he's at a disadvantage because everything he does to respond to me will have to carry along the burden of that technical debt. This means I have a better chance of beating him than if he's got clean code. BUT if I don't know if his codebase is crufty or not, that'll sew doubt into my analysis. That doubt will give me pause and provide a barrier to entry into that market.
You'll note that I made no mention of IP heretofore.
Thus, the company with a codebase that is ashamed of its codebase will be keep the extent of its cruftiness secret, to discourage competitors. Conversely, if a company knows its codebase rocks may consider IP to keep things mum, but if it buys into the line of thinking above, it may show off its codebase to warn off potential competitors.
I hope that aburt's magic piracy detector script (the one that decides that all texts containing the words "Asimov" or "Silverberg" are pirated) doesn't see the archive, or they might send a DMCA take-down notice to UC-Santa Cruz.
I think this is a very pertinent slashdot topic. The fellow in question is a Computer Science prof. If he were a humanities prof, I'd feel less so. Sure, the story is a tear-jerker and contemplating the imminent demise of someone who's a nice guy is a downer.
But I'd rather see this story on slashdot than something political. And I've seen far too much political bull on slashdot. If you wear a t-shirt that says Rush is Right or Impeach Cheney First, there's a 50% chance you'll end up nattering on about stuff that may be life-and-death stuff (yeah sure) but it won't be "news for nerds, stuff that matters." Right now, I'm wearing a t-shirt with Maxwell's equations on the back. And if yours says, Code Poet, we'll probably end up nattering on about stuff the poly sci types find boring.
Dr. Pausch is an accomplished technologist and as a technologist I'll appreciate his views on career and personal goals. I'm also a cancer survivor and I hope he''ll do the impossible and beat the disease.
if you live in Michigan you may recall the gas price swings of May as well as during this last week. I heard on the radio that this is because all our gasoline comes from one refinery and when that refinery sneezes the motorist gets pneumonia.
It's a bad thing that there's a single point of failure like this refinery. But given news coverage like this, I can't imagine a businessman eager to build another.
I enjoyed the snarky and smart tone of the article. And I largely agreed with everything he said. However, I implied from his remarks (and comments here) that he could count the Xtreme Programming and agile methods among the false promises of the silver bullet. And I have heard them referred to by people I trust as silver bullets.
Before we start a religious war on whether XP/agile are silver bullets or not, let's step back and ask whether we're talking about different things. I think there is no silver bullet that will kill a software monster created by Big Up Front Design (BUFD).
It's a good thing to put serious, deep thought into what must be done before one starts work. You have to do your homework and you have to write down everything you know for certain up front. Trouble happens because after some point up-front design becomes mere speculation. You have to somehow confirm early design decisions made when you're ignorant.
In the old days before computers, Engineers built prototypes to do that. Nowadays, Engineeers (or the pointy-haired bosses who lead them) are addicted to the notion of "shipping the prototype."
I personally favor the notion of capturing "user stories" because stories have a way of separating "what" from "how" and stories are an effective way to communicate pertinent details between customer and developer while skipping over one's ignorance.
A trouble with BUFD is that it becomes a "proclamation" about software from the developer (or customer, depending upon the power-relationship). If we were gods, that would not be a problem, but we have limited knowledge and we have sort our our ignorance. But we're not and I think a "conversation" between the two is a more effective way to sort out what's wanted and what's possible.
In a "conversation" the software monster never grows so big that the ammunition in our clip (UML, agile/xp methods, high-level languages, today's microsoft buzzword) can't kill it.
I heard a story that the space ship, Discovery, in the movie 2001 was originally concepted to have an Orion-type nuclear propulsion system. Trouble was that Stanley Kubrick had just made a big splash with Dr. Strangelove. He decided that it was just too many nukes.
A quick google netted this web site that supports the story.
If memory serves, when networks broadcast movies on television, they take out the naughty bits. Since Hollywood is anxious to preserve the artistic integrity of its product, they'll no doubt take this court ruling to the television networks and forbid them from censoring said naughty bits. Right?
I think that something published anonymously lacks the gravitas of something a man will put his own name upon. If memory serves, slashdot terms unattributed posts to "anonymous coward." This is fitting.
If you are to speak with the authority of Socrates, you should make the case against yourself, accept the Athenians' verdict, treat thoughts of escape with contempt, and then manfully deal with the consequences. Centuries ago in England, Hugh Latimer told his friend Nicolas Ridley, "play the man Master Ridley," before they were both burned at the stake.
There are dead lions and there are living dogs. Centuries later, we know the lions' names and are moved by their words.
I'd like a little euro law lesson here. By my lights, the person bought the laptop as-is, including its hard disk and the data it carried. Doesn't he get the rights to whatever's written thereon? For instance, if buy Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks their worth is significantly greater than blank sheets of paper. That's factored into the price. The seller is not bound to erase them before vending. The buyer did not receive anything he didn't pay for in the purchase price of the laptop.
Lacking any agreement in place to the contrary, I believe the seller of a hard disk loses any claim its contents--even if the laptop arrived in pristine condition. Just because embarassing data wasn't an explicitly stated part of the bargain does not exclude it from the transaction. The buyer who now owns that data, by my lights, can do whatever he jolly well pleases therewith.
Any Star Trek fan knows that evolution will result in small boned guys with expanded craniums, like the Talosians. And then a few million years later, we'll evolve into those glowing light energy beings, like the Organians.
NO wait, in Voyager Janeway and Paris go thru evolvo-tronic rays and ends up a slug.
I suppose that between the '60s and the '90s, our notion of evolution has devolved.
I've never read it, which is why I let folks walk over me. Maybe it'll help. Folks I respect recommend it.
Main thing is to clearly define what you can and can't do right now. If your situation has changed, share with your friend the nature of the change. Set forth all the details, all the details, in triplicate, share your pain with your demanding end-user friend. If it isn't a career-limiting move, tears might be useful. If every time your friend calls with a support question, s/he gets an earful of all your problems--so much so that you never get around to answering the question, your problem will solve itself.
Note to self, if I ever want to see something splashed on the front of the New York Times (and thereby repeated endlessly), claim that chimpybushitler is trying to suppress it.
Someone should write up a grant proposal to the Public Awareness of Science and Engineering (PAWS) Drama Fund for a heartwarming story of a boy and his tractor trying to meet quota on his collective farm for the glorious Five-Year Plan. He can be inspired by the icon of Josef Stalin he keeps pinned to his bunkhouse wall.
i suggest that you tread carefully around the stereotype of the backwoods hick bigot lest you play into the city-slicker know-it-all stereotype. you have every right to disagree with the faith and values of Snakeville, KS and/or Islamabad, Afghanistan. but you would be wise to offer them the benefit of some doubt.
you can find competent knowledge workers among every race, creed, and sexual proclivity. i know some excellent software engineers who are "young earth creationists." their rational skills have been honed by virtue of defending their right to breath against eye-rolling Darwinists. in fact, out-groups are often the source of highly competent experts. it takes zero brainpower to roll the eyes and affirm conventional wisdom. and unless you're going to reengineer the Origin of the Species unconventional personal notions do not get in the way of the work.
i hope the a post-geographic society of smart folks collaborating where each person's talents are exercized regardless of their personal context. i tend to agree with you about Joliette and/or Gary (Grand Rapids, MI is quite comfortable), but if one can't work with a team-member from Snakenavel (and i'm not suggesting you can't), i won't want him on my team.
But we are talking past each other a little. I've focused on the local boy who chooses to telecommute from Hickville to the Big Apple, and you're talking about the city slicker who moves to Green Acres. If Snakeville, KS wants to prosper by attracting city slickers, then it had better make them comfy, otherwise they'll just up and move to Bugtussle. This dynamic could make for some interesting satellite communities...
I had a friend, a physics prof at Hope College, who said he saw Lunar Transcient Phenomena when he was a student at Caltech. In the years afterwards I've never heard any more about LTP. Now I'm wondering if LTP is the same thing as these asteroid collisions we're hearing about.
I had a huge laugh tonight after I read about the US Army's plans to invade CANADA! Seems that back in the 1930s we made plans just in case we went to war with Britain. And back then the Canucks had a plan to invade the US. Let's see, where's the link...
I figure the Canadians will never forgive US for neglecting to conquer them.
Years back, I went to Tijuana and looked around and thought, "this place needs adult supervision." And a few years after that, I went to Sault Ste. Marie and saw the perfectly manicured lawns, clean streets, and perfect order. And I thought, "this place has a bit too much adult supervision."
Ender need not be a "teen with a love interest" to succeed as a movie. Narnia has enjoyed a good box office despite the lack of teenage romance.
Maybe Ender's Game can be the "Mormon"'s Narnia, like Battlefield Earth was the "Scientologist"'s... uh, oh, wait. Yeah, Mr. Card had better hold out for the right screenplay.
Thanks for the stats. I recall from reading my NRA magazine that the term "magnum" refers to the large load and is named after the supersized champaigne bottle.
Slashdot Mirror
+1
Except there's a small problem, our esteemed President Jimmy Carter made fuel reprocessing illegal, citing non-proliferation concerns. Or maybe fears of giant killer rabbits, idunno. So, whoever got the contract would need to get a waiver. Or secede. And with nukes, they could get away with it. All even sentences of this paragraph are spoken in jest. Or are they?
Didn't Heinlein suggest advertising? Let's go for it. Set up an array of frickin' lasers and prisms to display the Coca Cola logo. Or the Pepsi logo...
To answer your question, ask how many old engineers you've met. Generally, an Engineering career lasts how long? When I got my Masters' in Computer Science people were talking about "structured programming" and things like OO and XP didn't exist. If you're going to go into Engineering, you'll have to spend a lot of thought keeping current. This probably true of medicine and law, too, but it seems that the human body and human nature are pretty much the same as they were a thousand years ago.
You don't hear as much about age discrimination, but I figure it's real in Engineering (illegality notwithstanding) more so than other professions. Given this, it makes more sense to invest the extra time and money of post-graduate education in something that'll pay back in a longer career.
Last week at XP West Michigan, the speaker advanced the theory that a company with an older codebase is invariably a competitive disadvantage and that anyone who builds a new system that does the same thing will eat their lunch. He went so far as to claim that this mechanism would result in Microsoft's doom. And I partially agree because "technical debt" in a codebase behaves just like this.
I think that an existing codebase may occasionally NOT be a mess or a competitive drag on a company. I'm not claiming this is frequent, but that it is possible.
Now, let's suppose I'm a young, hungry company who wants to eat a big, established company's lunch. If I know his codebase is chock full of "technical debt," I'll know he's at a disadvantage because everything he does to respond to me will have to carry along the burden of that technical debt. This means I have a better chance of beating him than if he's got clean code. BUT if I don't know if his codebase is crufty or not, that'll sew doubt into my analysis. That doubt will give me pause and provide a barrier to entry into that market.
You'll note that I made no mention of IP heretofore.
Thus, the company with a codebase that is ashamed of its codebase will be keep the extent of its cruftiness secret, to discourage competitors. Conversely, if a company knows its codebase rocks may consider IP to keep things mum, but if it buys into the line of thinking above, it may show off its codebase to warn off potential competitors.
I hope that aburt's magic piracy detector script (the one that decides that all texts containing the words "Asimov" or "Silverberg" are pirated) doesn't see the archive, or they might send a DMCA take-down notice to UC-Santa Cruz.
I think this is a very pertinent slashdot topic. The fellow in question is a Computer Science prof. If he were a humanities prof, I'd feel less so. Sure, the story is a tear-jerker and contemplating the imminent demise of someone who's a nice guy is a downer.
But I'd rather see this story on slashdot than something political. And I've seen far too much political bull on slashdot. If you wear a t-shirt that says Rush is Right or Impeach Cheney First, there's a 50% chance you'll end up nattering on about stuff that may be life-and-death stuff (yeah sure) but it won't be "news for nerds, stuff that matters." Right now, I'm wearing a t-shirt with Maxwell's equations on the back. And if yours says, Code Poet, we'll probably end up nattering on about stuff the poly sci types find boring.
Dr. Pausch is an accomplished technologist and as a technologist I'll appreciate his views on career and personal goals. I'm also a cancer survivor and I hope he''ll do the impossible and beat the disease.
wouldn't it be a more accurate headline to say, "steam powered bionic arm successfully tested" ?
if you live in Michigan you may recall the gas price swings of May as well as during this last week. I heard on the radio that this is because all our gasoline comes from one refinery and when that refinery sneezes the motorist gets pneumonia.
It's a bad thing that there's a single point of failure like this refinery. But given news coverage like this, I can't imagine a businessman eager to build another.
The End
I enjoyed the snarky and smart tone of the article. And I largely agreed with everything he said. However, I implied from his remarks (and comments here) that he could count the Xtreme Programming and agile methods among the false promises of the silver bullet. And I have heard them referred to by people I trust as silver bullets.
Before we start a religious war on whether XP/agile are silver bullets or not, let's step back and ask whether we're talking about different things. I think there is no silver bullet that will kill a software monster created by Big Up Front Design (BUFD).
It's a good thing to put serious, deep thought into what must be done before one starts work. You have to do your homework and you have to write down everything you know for certain up front. Trouble happens because after some point up-front design becomes mere speculation. You have to somehow confirm early design decisions made when you're ignorant.
In the old days before computers, Engineers built prototypes to do that. Nowadays, Engineeers (or the pointy-haired bosses who lead them) are addicted to the notion of "shipping the prototype."
I personally favor the notion of capturing "user stories" because stories have a way of separating "what" from "how" and stories are an effective way to communicate pertinent details between customer and developer while skipping over one's ignorance.
A trouble with BUFD is that it becomes a "proclamation" about software from the developer (or customer, depending upon the power-relationship). If we were gods, that would not be a problem, but we have limited knowledge and we have sort our our ignorance. But we're not and I think a "conversation" between the two is a more effective way to sort out what's wanted and what's possible.
In a "conversation" the software monster never grows so big that the ammunition in our clip (UML, agile/xp methods, high-level languages, today's microsoft buzzword) can't kill it.
I heard a story that the space ship, Discovery, in the movie 2001 was originally concepted to have an Orion-type nuclear propulsion system. Trouble was that Stanley Kubrick had just made a big splash with Dr. Strangelove. He decided that it was just too many nukes.
A quick google netted this web site that supports the story.
If memory serves, when networks broadcast movies on television, they take out the naughty bits. Since Hollywood is anxious to preserve the artistic integrity of its product, they'll no doubt take this court ruling to the television networks and forbid them from censoring said naughty bits. Right?
I think that something published anonymously lacks the gravitas of something a man will put his own name upon. If memory serves, slashdot terms unattributed posts to "anonymous coward." This is fitting.
If you are to speak with the authority of Socrates, you should make the case against yourself, accept the Athenians' verdict, treat thoughts of escape with contempt, and then manfully deal with the consequences. Centuries ago in England, Hugh Latimer told his friend Nicolas Ridley, "play the man Master Ridley," before they were both burned at the stake.
There are dead lions and there are living dogs. Centuries later, we know the lions' names and are moved by their words.
I'd like a little euro law lesson here. By my lights, the person bought the laptop as-is, including its hard disk and the data it carried. Doesn't he get the rights to whatever's written thereon? For instance, if buy Leonardo Da Vinci's notebooks their worth is significantly greater than blank sheets of paper. That's factored into the price. The seller is not bound to erase them before vending. The buyer did not receive anything he didn't pay for in the purchase price of the laptop.
Lacking any agreement in place to the contrary, I believe the seller of a hard disk loses any claim its contents--even if the laptop arrived in pristine condition. Just because embarassing data wasn't an explicitly stated part of the bargain does not exclude it from the transaction. The buyer who now owns that data, by my lights, can do whatever he jolly well pleases therewith.
IANAL, but I'd sure like an opinion on this.
Any Star Trek fan knows that evolution will result in small boned guys with expanded craniums, like the Talosians. And then a few million years later, we'll evolve into those glowing light energy beings, like the Organians.
NO wait, in Voyager Janeway and Paris go thru evolvo-tronic rays and ends up a slug.
I suppose that between the '60s and the '90s, our notion of evolution has devolved.
I've never read it, which is why I let folks walk over me. Maybe it'll help. Folks I respect recommend it.
Main thing is to clearly define what you can and can't do right now. If your situation has changed, share with your friend the nature of the change. Set forth all the details, all the details, in triplicate, share your pain with your demanding end-user friend. If it isn't a career-limiting move, tears might be useful. If every time your friend calls with a support question, s/he gets an earful of all your problems--so much so that you never get around to answering the question, your problem will solve itself.
I wonder if research will disclose that all Calvinists have more of these brain cells and all Arminians have fewer. Or vice versa.
it seems the concept of "fair use" needs to be refined somewhat
Note to self, if I ever want to see something splashed on the front of the New York Times (and thereby repeated endlessly), claim that chimpybushitler is trying to suppress it.
Someone should write up a grant proposal to the Public Awareness of Science and Engineering (PAWS) Drama Fund for a heartwarming story of a boy and his tractor trying to meet quota on his collective farm for the glorious Five-Year Plan. He can be inspired by the icon of Josef Stalin he keeps pinned to his bunkhouse wall.
i suggest that you tread carefully around the stereotype of the backwoods hick bigot lest you play into the city-slicker know-it-all stereotype. you have every right to disagree with the faith and values of Snakeville, KS and/or Islamabad, Afghanistan. but you would be wise to offer them the benefit of some doubt.
you can find competent knowledge workers among every race, creed, and sexual proclivity. i know some excellent software engineers who are "young earth creationists." their rational skills have been honed by virtue of defending their right to breath against eye-rolling Darwinists. in fact, out-groups are often the source of highly competent experts. it takes zero brainpower to roll the eyes and affirm conventional wisdom. and unless you're going to reengineer the Origin of the Species unconventional personal notions do not get in the way of the work.
i hope the a post-geographic society of smart folks collaborating where each person's talents are exercized regardless of their personal context. i tend to agree with you about Joliette and/or Gary (Grand Rapids, MI is quite comfortable), but if one can't work with a team-member from Snakenavel (and i'm not suggesting you can't), i won't want him on my team.
But we are talking past each other a little. I've focused on the local boy who chooses to telecommute from Hickville to the Big Apple, and you're talking about the city slicker who moves to Green Acres. If Snakeville, KS wants to prosper by attracting city slickers, then it had better make them comfy, otherwise they'll just up and move to Bugtussle. This dynamic could make for some interesting satellite communities...
I had a friend, a physics prof at Hope College, who said he saw Lunar Transcient Phenomena when he was a student at Caltech. In the years afterwards I've never heard any more about LTP. Now I'm wondering if LTP is the same thing as these asteroid collisions we're hearing about.
Anybody know?
I had a huge laugh tonight after I read about the US Army's plans to invade CANADA! Seems that back in the 1930s we made plans just in case we went to war with Britain. And back then the Canucks had a plan to invade the US. Let's see, where's the link...
Raiding The Icebox
I figure the Canadians will never forgive US for neglecting to conquer them.
Years back, I went to Tijuana and looked around and thought, "this place needs adult supervision." And a few years after that, I went to Sault Ste. Marie and saw the perfectly manicured lawns, clean streets, and perfect order. And I thought, "this place has a bit too much adult supervision."
Ender need not be a "teen with a love interest" to succeed as a movie. Narnia has enjoyed a good box office despite the lack of teenage romance.
... uh, oh, wait. Yeah, Mr. Card had better hold out for the right screenplay.
Maybe Ender's Game can be the "Mormon"'s Narnia, like Battlefield Earth was the "Scientologist"'s
uh, you knew i was quoting Dirty Harry, right?
Thanks for the stats. I recall from reading my NRA magazine that the term "magnum" refers to the large load and is named after the supersized champaigne bottle.