Well, I would *hope* that goes without saying. The idea that Nintendo would just give away what amounts to a nearly infinite back catalogue is, to say the least, silly.
Sony needs to take a page from what Microsoft did today and open the PSP up to the indie and homebrew community with some good development tools at no cost or low cost.
ROFL, I love comments like this... I mean, you actually believe that there's a significant percentage of the video game consumer market that is savvy enough to even consider writing their own games, so much so that you think this will boost sales.
Well, here's a hint: the closest your average gamer has come to programming is probably "coding HTML" on their MySpace page. Face it, the percentage of the market out there who would be enticed to buy a PSP because of homebrew possibilities is probably in the single digits. Now, I know *you* want to hack your PSP, and as such, you'd like to believe everyone else does too, but face it, the majority of people *don't care*.
As for your idea that homebrew on the PSP will somehow result in "killer titles", you should be aware that producing games for the PSP likely requires the same level of capital expenditure as creating a title for the PS2 (in particular, generating creatives for such a platform can be very expensive... it takes a lot of time and money to create all those 3D models, textures, etc). As such, I *really* doubt you'd see anything revolutionary coming out of your neighbour's basement.
The exact same thing happened in my office. My boss picked up a DS. Then I did. After the lite launch, two of my co-workers picked one up, as did one of their buddies.
And in the end, I suspect the price point has a lot to do with that. People are going to think twice about dropping a couple hundred bucks on a device before they've even started buying games. The DS and it's library, on the other hand, are perfectly positioned for folks who are willing to engage in the occasional impulse buy.
So you have a console with good hardware that died in the market (PSP), hardware that was OK that did great in the market (PS2).
And the difference? The PS2 was price competative with a decent game library, assisted by a large back catalog of previous-generation titles. The fact that it was the first of that generation to market probably helped, too.
Well, there is FCKeditor. Tie that together with a decent wiki, and you have a pretty good CMS, IMHO. I know Oddmuse supports this kind of integration, and I'm sure other wiki's do, as well (I know MediaWiki has got experimental integration).
Canada. Diverse immigrant population. Hybrid economic system. Thriving economy. Sure, the country isn't perfect (what country is?), but by most measures, we're doing pretty well.
such as the arcane multi-button circular saws that made it very difficult to operate one handed from the top of a ladder, making you much more likely to fall and slice yourself.
This may be a dumb question, not being a framer, but... how on earth did you find yourself operating a circular saw, one handed, on the top of a ladder?
Umm... if it meets legal requirements but is "cheap" (as in, doesn't work), then you need to fix the legal requirements.
I mean, you don't hear about people making shoddy bicycle helmets or light bulbs that happen to match safety requirements. Why? Because, if you meet the safety requirements, then the product implicitely cannot be shoddy.
Why is this surprising? When those same upper-management-types were climbing the ladder, they probably succeeded in a very visible fashion because they were willing to totally f*ck anyone else who got in their way (kiss ass up, kick ass down, as I've observed so many times). The result is that the people above them observed their success and promoted them. The fact is, in corporate America, the important thing is results (preferably quarterly results). If you're willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get those results, you will succeed more quickly than someone who goes about things honestly.
Incidentally, this is why I find anarcho-capitalists/libertarians/etc so amusing. The idea that "the market" will cause corporations and the people who operate them to act in any morally-acceptable fashion is, to say the least, laughable.
Not to mention making it impossible for the incompetant baggage handlers to lose your stuff. My wife and I already lost > $1000 worth of stuff thanks to airlines. I'm never letting that happen again. Now, I travel very light, one overhead carry-on, one small backpack under the seat. That's it, that's all. It's the only way to fly, IMHO.
No, really, they don't. The majority of people buying PSPs and DSs don't give a shit about home brew. In fact, I bet most have never even heard of the term. Yes yes, I know *you* care, and I know a significant percentage of the Slashdot population cares (as evidenced by your "Insightful" rating), but both you and the rest of us geeky tech folks are very much in the minority, here.
You know what people care about?
1) Cost 2) Games 3) Image
That's it. If they can get a portable that doesn't cost a lot, has a decent (preferably varied, to cover more demographics) game library, and makes them look cool, they'll buy it. And guess what? That pretty well describes the DS, which is why it's so successful.
1) find decent batteries (not the no-name trash normally bundled) 2) plug wireless basestation in usb 3) load drivers 4) click next until it goes away (possibly waiting for system restore points and driver warnings) 5) press the connect buttons on both the base station and keyboard 6) find out why mouse has dropped off
Of course, if this was a decent manufacturer like Dell or Apple, step 2 would go away because the machine would already be Bluetooth-equipped, steps 3 and 4 would already be done, and step 5 would happen largly automagically.
All of which is entirely immaterial to the GP's point, which is simple:
If you can't get people to vote, how can you possibly get them to rebel?
If you don't get that, consider this: Let's say you started a massive campaign aimed at all those disenfranchised voters that you somehow think will revolt given the opportunity. Your message is simple: "vote my party in, and we'll change the way the system works". Now, all you need is > 50% of the voting public in each district to respond. What do you think the odds are of winning? I'd say pretty low, wouldn't you? And yet you somehow think you can mobilize these people to revolt? Yeah... right.
The reason the existing system doesn't change is simple: for the most part, a given citizen a) doesn't see anything wrong with the way things are, so they vote for the incumbent. b) They do see something wrong but blame it on the incumbant party and believe "the other guys" will fix things (in all probably, swayed by one or two key issues which are, in reality, not that important... you know, gay marriage, flag burning, etc). Or c) they don't actually give a damn... not because they're disenfranchised, but because they genuinely don't care.
Uhh, the effect isn't the same. A memory leak results in memory regions that are no longer available to the program, because the reference to the original region is gone. Thus, the memory can no longer be reclaimed. Clearly, that's not the case in the situation you described. You said yourself that the GC eventually reclaimed the memory... it just didn't do it when you wanted.
Oh, and BTW, your use of "sonny" is unsurprising, given your last experience with the Java GC was version 1.2. Maybe try updating your experiences and try again.
The problem with Java is that once you allocate an object and then deallocate ( eg. assign null to it ) you are not gaurenteeing that it will be cleaned up.
As long as the object does not have a reference held on it, it will eventually be cleaned up. The GC may wait, but the memory isn't leaked, in that it will be reclaimed at some point (at worst, when the memory manager has run out of heap).
but so many other parts of the windowing code in Java will keep a reference to it(FocusManager for example) that it will stay in memory even after i am no longer actively using it.
Which is exactly what I said! There are longer lived references to the object kicking around, and thus it isn't getting gc'd. It's still not a memory leak.
Meanwhile, I wonder, why on earth would windowing code hold references to your program data? That sounds like a serious MVC breakage to me.
[... snip article links...]
And, surprise surprise, every example in those articles are places where the programmer has squirreled away a reference to an object in a global (or, at least, longer scoped) variable, and not null'd it, thus proving the original point.
Now, I agree, a programmer must develop with the GC in mind. And, yes, idiot programmers need to be reminded that objects referenced in long-lived variables can't be garbage collected. But that doesn't change the fact that memory leaks as found in C and C++ simply aren't possible in Java.
Well, first off, Java doesn't have closures. It has anonymous inner classes which maintain a reference to their containing class, and can access it's member variables, but that's definitely not a closure. Though, I sure wish it did... I tend to program in a functional style, and I've lamented the lack of lexical closures in Java on a number of occasions.
Secondly, I challenge you to describe a situation in which you can leak memory in Java despite throwing away the reference to the object in question. I'm willing to bet you can't.
How many times does it have to be said? The fact that the earth is warming is not, by itself, without precedent. It's the *rate* at which the earth is warming that's so alarmingly unusual.
Well, I think it's a step in the right direction. Consider that the PTO is overwhelmed with patent applications. Changing to a first-to-file model makes the job of evaluating the initial validity of the patent easier, as you don't need to worry about prior art searches. Consequently, this *might* give the PTO a little more time to validate the actual claims in the patent.
Not that I expect this will actually happen, but it's a nice idea in theory.:)
Oh bullshit. Any company working on potentially patentable ideas will simply be smart enough to keep that work secure and under wraps until the patents are filed. Companies are already used to protecting trade secrets (eg, the recipe for Coke) so this is hardly without precedent. Meanwhile, this change is easier both on the patent office, and the companies who are doing the work (since you no longer need to keep a detailed log book, just in case an idea turns out to be patentable).
Uhh... why one earth would the *entertainment* industry give a damn about the *patent* system? Or do you just not understand the different between patents and copyrights?
Slashdot Mirror
Well, I would *hope* that goes without saying. The idea that Nintendo would just give away what amounts to a nearly infinite back catalogue is, to say the least, silly.
Sony needs to take a page from what Microsoft did today and open the PSP up to the indie and homebrew community with some good development tools at no cost or low cost.
ROFL, I love comments like this... I mean, you actually believe that there's a significant percentage of the video game consumer market that is savvy enough to even consider writing their own games, so much so that you think this will boost sales.
Well, here's a hint: the closest your average gamer has come to programming is probably "coding HTML" on their MySpace page. Face it, the percentage of the market out there who would be enticed to buy a PSP because of homebrew possibilities is probably in the single digits. Now, I know *you* want to hack your PSP, and as such, you'd like to believe everyone else does too, but face it, the majority of people *don't care*.
As for your idea that homebrew on the PSP will somehow result in "killer titles", you should be aware that producing games for the PSP likely requires the same level of capital expenditure as creating a title for the PS2 (in particular, generating creatives for such a platform can be very expensive... it takes a lot of time and money to create all those 3D models, textures, etc). As such, I *really* doubt you'd see anything revolutionary coming out of your neighbour's basement.
The exact same thing happened in my office. My boss picked up a DS. Then I did. After the lite launch, two of my co-workers picked one up, as did one of their buddies.
And in the end, I suspect the price point has a lot to do with that. People are going to think twice about dropping a couple hundred bucks on a device before they've even started buying games. The DS and it's library, on the other hand, are perfectly positioned for folks who are willing to engage in the occasional impulse buy.
So you have a console with good hardware that died in the market (PSP), hardware that was OK that did great in the market (PS2).
And the difference? The PS2 was price competative with a decent game library, assisted by a large back catalog of previous-generation titles. The fact that it was the first of that generation to market probably helped, too.
Funny, that sounds familiar...
Well, there is FCKeditor. Tie that together with a decent wiki, and you have a pretty good CMS, IMHO. I know Oddmuse supports this kind of integration, and I'm sure other wiki's do, as well (I know MediaWiki has got experimental integration).
Meh, that's what Vi is for. ;)
Canada. Diverse immigrant population. Hybrid economic system. Thriving economy. Sure, the country isn't perfect (what country is?), but by most measures, we're doing pretty well.
such as the arcane multi-button circular saws that made it very difficult to operate one handed from the top of a ladder, making you much more likely to fall and slice yourself.
This may be a dumb question, not being a framer, but... how on earth did you find yourself operating a circular saw, one handed, on the top of a ladder?
Umm... if it meets legal requirements but is "cheap" (as in, doesn't work), then you need to fix the legal requirements.
I mean, you don't hear about people making shoddy bicycle helmets or light bulbs that happen to match safety requirements. Why? Because, if you meet the safety requirements, then the product implicitely cannot be shoddy.
Why is this surprising? When those same upper-management-types were climbing the ladder, they probably succeeded in a very visible fashion because they were willing to totally f*ck anyone else who got in their way (kiss ass up, kick ass down, as I've observed so many times). The result is that the people above them observed their success and promoted them. The fact is, in corporate America, the important thing is results (preferably quarterly results). If you're willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get those results, you will succeed more quickly than someone who goes about things honestly.
Incidentally, this is why I find anarcho-capitalists/libertarians/etc so amusing. The idea that "the market" will cause corporations and the people who operate them to act in any morally-acceptable fashion is, to say the least, laughable.
Not to mention making it impossible for the incompetant baggage handlers to lose your stuff. My wife and I already lost > $1000 worth of stuff thanks to airlines. I'm never letting that happen again. Now, I travel very light, one overhead carry-on, one small backpack under the seat. That's it, that's all. It's the only way to fly, IMHO.
No, really, they don't. The majority of people buying PSPs and DSs don't give a shit about home brew. In fact, I bet most have never even heard of the term. Yes yes, I know *you* care, and I know a significant percentage of the Slashdot population cares (as evidenced by your "Insightful" rating), but both you and the rest of us geeky tech folks are very much in the minority, here.
You know what people care about?
1) Cost
2) Games
3) Image
That's it. If they can get a portable that doesn't cost a lot, has a decent (preferably varied, to cover more demographics) game library, and makes them look cool, they'll buy it. And guess what? That pretty well describes the DS, which is why it's so successful.
1) find decent batteries (not the no-name trash normally bundled)
2) plug wireless basestation in usb
3) load drivers
4) click next until it goes away (possibly waiting for system restore points and driver warnings)
5) press the connect buttons on both the base station and keyboard
6) find out why mouse has dropped off
Of course, if this was a decent manufacturer like Dell or Apple, step 2 would go away because the machine would already be Bluetooth-equipped, steps 3 and 4 would already be done, and step 5 would happen largly automagically.
So, in reality, the steps are:
1) plug in batteries
2) press connect button
Yeah, you're right. That's *way* too hard.
All of which is entirely immaterial to the GP's point, which is simple:
If you can't get people to vote, how can you possibly get them to rebel?
If you don't get that, consider this: Let's say you started a massive campaign aimed at all those disenfranchised voters that you somehow think will revolt given the opportunity. Your message is simple: "vote my party in, and we'll change the way the system works". Now, all you need is > 50% of the voting public in each district to respond. What do you think the odds are of winning? I'd say pretty low, wouldn't you? And yet you somehow think you can mobilize these people to revolt? Yeah... right.
The reason the existing system doesn't change is simple: for the most part, a given citizen a) doesn't see anything wrong with the way things are, so they vote for the incumbent. b) They do see something wrong but blame it on the incumbant party and believe "the other guys" will fix things (in all probably, swayed by one or two key issues which are, in reality, not that important... you know, gay marriage, flag burning, etc). Or c) they don't actually give a damn... not because they're disenfranchised, but because they genuinely don't care.
Uhh, the effect isn't the same. A memory leak results in memory regions that are no longer available to the program, because the reference to the original region is gone. Thus, the memory can no longer be reclaimed. Clearly, that's not the case in the situation you described. You said yourself that the GC eventually reclaimed the memory... it just didn't do it when you wanted.
Oh, and BTW, your use of "sonny" is unsurprising, given your last experience with the Java GC was version 1.2. Maybe try updating your experiences and try again.
The problem with Java is that once you allocate an object and then deallocate ( eg. assign null to it ) you are not gaurenteeing that it will be cleaned up.
...]
As long as the object does not have a reference held on it, it will eventually be cleaned up. The GC may wait, but the memory isn't leaked, in that it will be reclaimed at some point (at worst, when the memory manager has run out of heap).
but so many other parts of the windowing code in Java will keep a reference to it(FocusManager for example) that it will stay in memory even after i am no longer actively using it.
Which is exactly what I said! There are longer lived references to the object kicking around, and thus it isn't getting gc'd. It's still not a memory leak.
Meanwhile, I wonder, why on earth would windowing code hold references to your program data? That sounds like a serious MVC breakage to me.
[... snip article links
And, surprise surprise, every example in those articles are places where the programmer has squirreled away a reference to an object in a global (or, at least, longer scoped) variable, and not null'd it, thus proving the original point.
Now, I agree, a programmer must develop with the GC in mind. And, yes, idiot programmers need to be reminded that objects referenced in long-lived variables can't be garbage collected. But that doesn't change the fact that memory leaks as found in C and C++ simply aren't possible in Java.
Do you even know what a memory leak is? What you've described is a poorly performing GC, not a memory leak.
Well, first off, Java doesn't have closures. It has anonymous inner classes which maintain a reference to their containing class, and can access it's member variables, but that's definitely not a closure. Though, I sure wish it did... I tend to program in a functional style, and I've lamented the lack of lexical closures in Java on a number of occasions.
Secondly, I challenge you to describe a situation in which you can leak memory in Java despite throwing away the reference to the object in question. I'm willing to bet you can't.
How many times does it have to be said? The fact that the earth is warming is not, by itself, without precedent. It's the *rate* at which the earth is warming that's so alarmingly unusual.
So you're telling me money != speech? But that's the American way!
Which would by why you file for your patent before putting anything on the market.
Well, I think it's a step in the right direction. Consider that the PTO is overwhelmed with patent applications. Changing to a first-to-file model makes the job of evaluating the initial validity of the patent easier, as you don't need to worry about prior art searches. Consequently, this *might* give the PTO a little more time to validate the actual claims in the patent.
:)
Not that I expect this will actually happen, but it's a nice idea in theory.
Oh bullshit. Any company working on potentially patentable ideas will simply be smart enough to keep that work secure and under wraps until the patents are filed. Companies are already used to protecting trade secrets (eg, the recipe for Coke) so this is hardly without precedent. Meanwhile, this change is easier both on the patent office, and the companies who are doing the work (since you no longer need to keep a detailed log book, just in case an idea turns out to be patentable).
Uhh... why one earth would the *entertainment* industry give a damn about the *patent* system? Or do you just not understand the different between patents and copyrights?
If an idea is arrived at independently by two parties working on the same problem, the idea is, ipso facto, an obvious one.
So by your standard, Calculus is obvious?