And I almost forgot my favorite BASIC pet peeve: non-determinate line endings. Instead of sensibly ending a line with a particular character (e.g.;), BASIC ends a line when it finds a CR unless it finds a special line-continuation character. Granted, that's a personal preference, but it feels wishy-washy to me. Also, sometimes I might put multiple (simple) statements on a single line. Can't do that in BASIC.
Oh yeah, and VB array handling is simply aggravating. Why can't I define an array and populate it at the same time? Why does it take two statements? Why doesn't the language support push and pop operators?!
Give me a break, I'd expect better from a DeVry senior project, much less the biggest software manufacturer in the world.
Dude, I've been programming since about 1985, and started off with BASIC on a C64. My offhanded comment didn't really go into depth on why I don't like it, but if you're interested in my rational it's because:
1) It's too wordy
2) It doesn't encapsulate code blocks or expressions using simple, easy to read and modify characters like {} or ()
3) Case insensitivity makes baby Jeebus cry
4) Frikkin' stupid variable naming conventions
5) Wordy operators (or, and, is, isNot,..)
Of course, that's just for starters..
I know it's trendy to bash people who bash BASIC these days, but seriously. BASIC was invented to teach people to program, not to accomplish actual work. Let's move on already.
If I get the gist of this right, PivotTables turn Excel into a kind of pretend-RDBMS? I imagine this would be good for the SQL-impaired, but I don't see any compelling reason personally..
Cedega is not GPL licensed as a whole. I believe that parts of it are, but other parts (such as copy protection code) are licensed from other companies, and are not open source or redistributable.
Are you referring to the conversation you can have with the bartender in Hong Kong? Although the game's storyline is generally about how corporations have taken over the "free world". (and the government of China/Hong Kong actually offered more freedom in comparison)
Another thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft now offers patent (and other IP) indemnification for their volume customers. From the latest Ballmergram:
Today, when a volume licensing customer - a business or organization ranging from as few as five computers to many thousands - licenses a Microsoft product, we provide uncapped protection for legal costs associated with a patent, copyright, trademark or trade secret claim alleging infringement by a Microsoft product.
That's their Linux strategy, folks. Our crooked (US) patent system favors big business, and Microsoft will use their patent portfolio to try to bury open source software. At the very least they can say, "We have indemnification and they don't!" (Although Novell, for one, is now offering this service. And I wonder if Microsoft is willing to put their money where their mouth is.)
All I'm saying is that they could include at least one compiled program in the benchmarking, such as oggenc or lame to demonstrate the "raw capability of each processor." Of course, different types of programs will naturally be stronger on different platforms, (I.E. gaming, audio encoding, video encoding, etc) so this is not a silver bullet. It would, however, reduce the problem of benchmarking processors with code optimized for another architecture.
I would like to see more benchmarking of software compiled and optimized for each processor. While it is useful to compare how CPUs execute identical code, that doesn't tell the whole story.
The main problem is that precompiled binaries may have been optimized for one processor or another, introducing bias into the study. I'm not saying we should get rid of this kind of benchmarking, but to see the big picture, we also need results from programs compiled from source and optimized for each processor.
When I was young, I cut my teeth on paperclip and that processor out of compute's gazette (I'm sure someone will chime in and say it's name) on my c64.
Oh, come on. A friend of mine just bought a very nice two bedroom condo in Uptown recently for < 300. Or are you trying to influence your property value?;)
Those problems are because you (apparently) live in the 'burbs. Not all cities are livable, but I'm much happier living in Chicago than I was out in the suburbs. I take the El to work, it's within walking distance. No driving, no traffic jams. I put on my headphones, or study, or play GBA, and I'm at work before I know it.
Last year I had a contract out in Schaumburg. Talk about a pain in the ass commute! I probably wasted 3 hours a day sitting in traffic. No, I'm much happier working downtown.. lots of places to eat lunch, great views, the hustle and bustle.. I love it.:)
But it's certainly not required in order to use a computer, and I don't think it's even being taught any more except in the most general sense of "this is RAM, this is disk, any questions?"
I agree with your assessment, and I would find the "wiring core memory"-type dissertation appropriate for expert texts of that era, such as what a programmer would use. The part that stikes me as funny, is that they have this low-level information in a lot of introductory texts. Sure, this is a line-printer, here's a punch card, and here's how to build your own core memory! Hilarious:)
While many of the concepts (such as CPU registers, shift registers, binary notation, and general CPU architecture) are still relevant, it's funny how much emphasis texts from this era put into explaining specific implentations of technology (I/O, storage, output), which have changed radically since then.
For example, introductory computer courses these days don't spend 50% of the class explaining how SDRAM or LCD flat panels work, or the details of GMR HDD technology. Why the focus on core memory, punch cards, and magnetic drum storage?:)
How I miss the EA of old, before EA Sports, before the dark times.
Back in the days of home computers, EA proudly called themselves a group of "electronic artists," and produced innovative titles like Hard Hat Mack, M.U.L.E., Realm of Impossibility, Archon, Battle Chess, The Bard's Tale, Modem Wars, Neuromancer, Wasteland, Project Firestart, etc. Now they're crank out sequel after sequel, and treat their talent like oxen. EA needs a wake up call.
Allow me to relate a personal anecdote about IE. I used to use Netscape back in the day, versions 1-4. I switched to IE 5 when it came out, seeing how Netscape 4.x was thoroughly outclassed.
Now this was about 1999, and Flash advertisements were starting to become a problem. Annoyed, I uninstalled the Flash plugin only to have the installer pop up whenever I visited those sites. Since a pop-up window was also annoying, I dug deeper, discovering that the Flash installer uses a technology called ActiveX. No problem, I thought, I'll just disable that.
Was I ever in for a surprise! Disabling ActiveX did stop the Flash installer from popping up, yes. But now I got a warning every time a site tried to use ActiveX! Try that setting sometime -- I bet you'll be surprised at the number of sites that try to load software on your machine via ActiveX. The worst part is that there's no way to disable the warning message. This tells me that Microsoft wants users to keep ActiveX enabled, and uses the warning messages to annoy users into keeping it enabled.
It was about this time that I discovered the Mozilla project. They were at about version 0.98 (Netscape 6 was out, but honestly, it sucked), and I didn't really have high expectations. But oh my! Options to selectively enable Javascript? No annoying ActiveX warnings? A built-in pop-up blocker?! (I don't think tabs were in the main trunk at that point) Needless to say, I was sold, and continue to use Mozilla (now Firefox) to this day.
IE has earned nothing but contempt from me in the last five years, as they fail to make anything but the most minor improvements. Not that I care anymore, except that as a web developer, I must continue to support IE's bugs.
Slashdot Mirror
I think a more relevant question is how a Congressional Representative knows personally the addictiveness Crack(tm) cocaine..
And I almost forgot my favorite BASIC pet peeve: non-determinate line endings. Instead of sensibly ending a line with a particular character (e.g. ;), BASIC ends a line when it finds a CR unless it finds a special line-continuation character. Granted, that's a personal preference, but it feels wishy-washy to me. Also, sometimes I might put multiple (simple) statements on a single line. Can't do that in BASIC.
Oh yeah, and VB array handling is simply aggravating. Why can't I define an array and populate it at the same time? Why does it take two statements? Why doesn't the language support push and pop operators?!
Give me a break, I'd expect better from a DeVry senior project, much less the biggest software manufacturer in the world.
Dude, I've been programming since about 1985, and started off with BASIC on a C64. My offhanded comment didn't really go into depth on why I don't like it, but if you're interested in my rational it's because:
..)
1) It's too wordy
2) It doesn't encapsulate code blocks or expressions using simple, easy to read and modify characters like {} or ()
3) Case insensitivity makes baby Jeebus cry
4) Frikkin' stupid variable naming conventions
5) Wordy operators (or, and, is, isNot,
Of course, that's just for starters..
I know it's trendy to bash people who bash BASIC these days, but seriously. BASIC was invented to teach people to program, not to accomplish actual work. Let's move on already.
If I get the gist of this right, PivotTables turn Excel into a kind of pretend-RDBMS? I imagine this would be good for the SQL-impaired, but I don't see any compelling reason personally..
Cedega is not GPL licensed as a whole. I believe that parts of it are, but other parts (such as copy protection code) are licensed from other companies, and are not open source or redistributable.
Why oh why do companies still develop anything using BASIC, "visual" or otherwise?
Just looking at constructs like "If Not (objThisControl Is objTheControlICareAbout) Then" makes my stomach churn..
If the feds have any money in the project these little scrotum suckers will get their asshole buddies in congress to let them on.
Please don't tarnish our image by comparing us the MPAA and members of Congress!
Thanks,
Scrotum suckers & Asshole buddies Local #415
Are you referring to the conversation you can have with the bartender in Hong Kong? Although the game's storyline is generally about how corporations have taken over the "free world". (and the government of China/Hong Kong actually offered more freedom in comparison)
Another thing to keep in mind is that Microsoft now offers patent (and other IP) indemnification for their volume customers. From the latest Ballmergram:
That's their Linux strategy, folks. Our crooked (US) patent system favors big business, and Microsoft will use their patent portfolio to try to bury open source software. At the very least they can say, "We have indemnification and they don't!" (Although Novell, for one, is now offering this service. And I wonder if Microsoft is willing to put their money where their mouth is.)
I thought the standard measurement of speed was now Football Fields per Second (FF/s)..
All I'm saying is that they could include at least one compiled program in the benchmarking, such as oggenc or lame to demonstrate the "raw capability of each processor." Of course, different types of programs will naturally be stronger on different platforms, (I.E. gaming, audio encoding, video encoding, etc) so this is not a silver bullet. It would, however, reduce the problem of benchmarking processors with code optimized for another architecture.
I would like to see more benchmarking of software compiled and optimized for each processor. While it is useful to compare how CPUs execute identical code, that doesn't tell the whole story.
The main problem is that precompiled binaries may have been optimized for one processor or another, introducing bias into the study. I'm not saying we should get rid of this kind of benchmarking, but to see the big picture, we also need results from programs compiled from source and optimized for each processor.
So that's what Intel means by "Extreme Edition". Extreme power consumption, exteme temperatures, extreme cooling solutions..
When I was young, I cut my teeth on paperclip and that processor out of compute's gazette (I'm sure someone will chime in and say it's name) on my c64.
Speedscript
What, no Moops?
Did you ever play Ultima VIII and try to use the morphing cube/sphere/triangle? "This gives you a headache.." heheh..
I grew up in Nebraska, and it's amazing what kind of a beautiful home and acreage you can get for $250,000.
On the downside, you have to live in Nebraska..
I'll be here all week, try the salmon!
Condos in UPTOWN are going for 550K now.
Oh, come on. A friend of mine just bought a very nice two bedroom condo in Uptown recently for < 300. Or are you trying to influence your property value? ;)
Those problems are because you (apparently) live in the 'burbs. Not all cities are livable, but I'm much happier living in Chicago than I was out in the suburbs. I take the El to work, it's within walking distance. No driving, no traffic jams. I put on my headphones, or study, or play GBA, and I'm at work before I know it.
Last year I had a contract out in Schaumburg. Talk about a pain in the ass commute! I probably wasted 3 hours a day sitting in traffic. No, I'm much happier working downtown.. lots of places to eat lunch, great views, the hustle and bustle.. I love it. :)
But it's certainly not required in order to use a computer, and I don't think it's even being taught any more except in the most general sense of "this is RAM, this is disk, any questions?"
I agree with your assessment, and I would find the "wiring core memory"-type dissertation appropriate for expert texts of that era, such as what a programmer would use. The part that stikes me as funny, is that they have this low-level information in a lot of introductory texts. Sure, this is a line-printer, here's a punch card, and here's how to build your own core memory! Hilarious :)
For example, introductory computer courses these days don't spend 50% of the class explaining how SDRAM or LCD flat panels work, or the details of GMR HDD technology. Why the focus on core memory, punch cards, and magnetic drum storage? :)
How I miss the EA of old, before EA Sports, before the dark times.
Back in the days of home computers, EA proudly called themselves a group of "electronic artists," and produced innovative titles like Hard Hat Mack, M.U.L.E., Realm of Impossibility, Archon, Battle Chess, The Bard's Tale, Modem Wars, Neuromancer, Wasteland, Project Firestart, etc. Now they're crank out sequel after sequel, and treat their talent like oxen. EA needs a wake up call.
Classic EA games
C64 EA games
Somebody tell Groklaw that eval is bad, mmmkay?
(Choice quote: "If eval() is the answer, you're almost certainly asking the wrong question. -- Rasmus Lerdorf, BDFL of PHP")
With common sense, is IE _really_ that dangerous?
Allow me to relate a personal anecdote about IE. I used to use Netscape back in the day, versions 1-4. I switched to IE 5 when it came out, seeing how Netscape 4.x was thoroughly outclassed.
Now this was about 1999, and Flash advertisements were starting to become a problem. Annoyed, I uninstalled the Flash plugin only to have the installer pop up whenever I visited those sites. Since a pop-up window was also annoying, I dug deeper, discovering that the Flash installer uses a technology called ActiveX. No problem, I thought, I'll just disable that.
Was I ever in for a surprise! Disabling ActiveX did stop the Flash installer from popping up, yes. But now I got a warning every time a site tried to use ActiveX! Try that setting sometime -- I bet you'll be surprised at the number of sites that try to load software on your machine via ActiveX. The worst part is that there's no way to disable the warning message. This tells me that Microsoft wants users to keep ActiveX enabled, and uses the warning messages to annoy users into keeping it enabled.
It was about this time that I discovered the Mozilla project. They were at about version 0.98 (Netscape 6 was out, but honestly, it sucked), and I didn't really have high expectations. But oh my! Options to selectively enable Javascript? No annoying ActiveX warnings? A built-in pop-up blocker?! (I don't think tabs were in the main trunk at that point) Needless to say, I was sold, and continue to use Mozilla (now Firefox) to this day.
IE has earned nothing but contempt from me in the last five years, as they fail to make anything but the most minor improvements. Not that I care anymore, except that as a web developer, I must continue to support IE's bugs.