Self education is a wonderful thing, but people want some assurance beyond your word that you know what you say you do. Otherwise, everyone would say, "Yes, I know all about [whatever you just asked about]! Where did I learn? I taught myself!"
That's where universities come in to play. Employers don't have time to exhaustively test every applicant for their skill set, a resume can be padded with false experience (ask George O'Leary) and code from "previous projects" can be copied from the internet. "See, I've designed my own multi-user OS..."
If you, as an employer, want to hire someone who has been trained in an area, you also want some independent verification of that persons skills in said area. That's where degrees and certifications come in. The afore mentioned clept and Dantes tests also fall into this category for college students. You can't get credit for saying, "I taught myself Calc I." because most people would say it to avoid the class. Some employers and schools may be small enough or have enough HR people to sit down and spend several hours with each prospecitve student or hire and discuss their self-gained erudition at length, but most of the HR people I know don't have that luxury and even if they did, they'd consider it a waste of time when they already have an intake system in place. The same goes for most schools, I'm sure.
I'm not saying that it's right, that's just how it is.
Besides, the self-educating person you describe would kick @$$ in a college/university setting. You can attend school and be autodidactic at the same time you know. The two aren't mutually exclusive.
Probably a reason for that...
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Uplink
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Can you imagine the increased legal liability, not to mention the tremendous negative press, that would come from an "accurate" game of this nature? It would make all the concerns about the FPS genre pale in comparison.
"The has announced that they are seeking an injunction against the 'Hacker Training Tool' known as
Uplink. They claim that this game could be used by terrorists, anarchists and nerdy high school kids who get beat up by football players to abuse and cripple our national information infrastructure.
Concerned parents groups "We Don't Act, We Knee-Jerk React" and "Why Won't Pop Culture Raise Our Kids For Us?" issued a joint statement outlining a plan to file a law suit against computers in general. "It's the only way to keep our children safe", said a spokesperson.
Seriously, any commercial game that promoted itself as helping you develop "real-world" cracking or industrial espionage skills would first be sued from here to the 5th Ring of Hell, then promptly banned from here to the 7th Ring.
Of course, now that I've said that, someone will provide at least 3 counter examples...
I'm curious about this myself, as I don't have a TV...just two monitors...a pair of Trinitrons (17" and a used 15"). I can't tell you about other consoles, but I do know about the Dreamcast.
I got a Dreamcast a couple of months ago and Soul Calibur and Shenmue look and play just fine on both of them, thanks to my VGA box.
You might want to check GameStop and Electronics Boutique if they have stores near you. I got my DC used from GameStop when I used to work there (nice discount). A quick search of the Gamestop web site didn't turn up anything, but a search using "vga" as the search term at EB turned up 3 adapters for the Dreamcast, including the one I have (the one at the bottom).
Both stores carry used stuff, which might save you a few bucks. The GameStop return policy on Used items is better than on new ones! Someone at one of the stores might also have info about adaptors for other systems. At GameStop, if they don't have one in stock, ask them to do an "Availability Request". That will search all the stores to see who has one and get it sent to the store near you. That's how I got my DC VGA box.
As an aside, I also got a connector for my DC that lets you connect a Playstation/Saturn controller, as well as a standard PS/1 PC keyboard to the DC. Haven't used it yet, but it seems pretty cool. Only $4.99 used!
Sorry, I got caught up replying to the "Why Perl" comment, and then I realized I should have just posted this link.
Greenspun has a PhD from MIT (good paper credentials) and has made a hojillion dollars building websites (real world success). Sadly, the company he started was taken over my Sinister Venture Capitalists (TM).
Great book, and it's free. You can also buy a copy if you want. It's big and pretty. That's important.
:-)
Seriously, the book includes a good bibliography, and links to books he's written on SQL and other things. They're also free. You really can't go wrong starting here.
Now, go get yourself a Linux box (I plan to get an extra one free Saturday from my beloved Hal-PC at their giveaway), set up a webserver and a database and get to work!!
:-)
I've found PHP to a lot easier to learn and understand and have not found a time (yet) when it couldn't meet my needs as a web developer
Well, Perl is a general programming language, not just a web development languge, so it will take you further. You never know when you might want to get out of web development...or get forcibly removed from it (Dot.Com.Crash).
Also, since it excels at text handling (and the most important stuff on a web site is text...Content is King), it's quite good for web development.
If you find yourself having to be the Web Developer/Sysadmin/Web Server Maintainer/Etc., the sysadmining and general "Swiss Army Chain Saw" nature of the language can help you get a lot of things done quickly and efficiently. If you end up being "only" the Web Developer, well, it never hurts to have the flexibility to do more, as the recent change in the Hi-Tech job market has shown. Perl can also let you do more as a web developer. Philip Greenspun has a review of "Mastering Regular Expressions" on Amazon where he talks about how Perl and Regular Expresions helped him save a client $10K by changing a ton of.html files in an automated fashion.
That sort of thing is what causes people to emphsize Perl for web development. It lets you do more with less. Not to mention all the modules out there waiting to be put to work for you...
So I finally decided to
learnLinux, after a year of putting it off. I've got an old P2 266 that I'm going to use. Now the next question is what distro do I get? What's a good starter version? I'm just looking to get the feel of it and to play around a little."
I'll ignore the 'learn' part, as that's been addressed. Slackware does have an advantage that I haven't seen mentioned yet (although I may have missed it) and fewer distributions have these days; You can run it from the CD. Even with X. This minimizes the whole 'Slack is hard to install' problem, and provides an excellent way to 'get the feel' of the system and 'play around a little' with it. Use the 'slaktest' installation option and it runs the system from the CD. Does it run slower? Yes, but it's also easier to get started, so you can see if you'll like it. A fast OS you hate is useless.
There's also the ZipSlack option, that lets you put Slack on and run it from a Zip/LS-120 disk (needs about 100 meg of space). It can also be run from a Windows partition. It's a 32 meg download, so even over a modem, it's not bad (I just did it a couple of days ago). Both of these options could get him started with Linux quickly and more easily than just about anything else, not to mention with less risk.
I plan to set up ZipSlack myself in the next couple of days (my CD-Rom died and I'm broke at the moment).
Well, it would seem I actually am an idiot, as I was incapable of replying to my own posting correctly...
Anyway, I put my keyboard where my mouth is (or something like that) and sent Miguel the Wired link. I wonder how many others did? I know I'm not that original. Hope it helps the folks in Mexico.
Yes, I feel like an idiot replying to my own posting.
Anyway, I put my keyboard where my mouth is (or something like that) and sent Miguel the Wired link. I wonder how many others did? I know I'm not that original. Hope it helps the folks in Mexico.
...
Luis Miguel Ibarra, who prepared a customized distribution of the open-source operating system...Finding enough capable programmers and system administrators proved to be the primary obstacle for the project..."We need a lot of people trained in Linux here in Mexico," Ibarra said
Wouldn't this be a good time to contact Miguel "Ximian GNOME" de "Hey! I'm from Mexico" Icaza? Am I the only one who read this story and instantly thought of a phrase like:
"I started an entire Free Software Project while working at the largest University in my Home Country of Mexico, so I'd know a little something about Linux and might know 1 or 2 other people in Mexico who do too!"
or
"Hey! Didn't one of those GNOME guys come from Mexico? Maybe we should call him and see if he knows anyone..."
Since experts had not predicted a meteor shower for Monday, whatever was responsible for the sightings was probably small, he said.
"We would have tracked a big one, and known it was coming," he said.
The smallest size the lab can detect is 10 to 20 meters in diameter, but Monday's was probably much smaller than 10 meters, he said.
Hmm...small, seemingly innocent meteors striking our planet. Too small for we humans to detect or be concerned about (if you think a 10 meter object is 'small').
Isn't this how the Gamilons put the Smack Down on Earth in "Star Blazers"?!? Small meteors that we didn't pay attention to at first, until their radiation began killing us off?!?
Sound the alarms!!!
Ready the Argo!!! (or Yamato for those in Japan)
Prepare to fire...the Waaaave Motion Gun!!! Onward to Iscandar!!!
Yes, this is the same comment I posted at NewsForge. I have been absorbed by the sinister OSDN keiretsu!!
First, let me say I really enjoyed this article (Good Job Tina!). I'm starting a CS degree in the fall (I'm changing careers), so I've been looking for a 'guide' to contributing to Free Software and Open Source projects when I become more skilled. I'll be learning C programming in Unix as part of my curriculum (duh), so this article was very helpful to me. Lots of useful pointers for the chyrsalic (is that a word?) CS major wanting to give back.
My only concern with the article is that it seems to suggest that you can't make contributions without being a "hard-core" programmer. This seems to contradict much of what I've heard from other Free and Open Source projects. They generally take the position that if you can write a decent bug report (what happened and under what circumstances, not 'it broke!'), or create documentation, you can be helpful too by using the software and doing the above.
True, this may not make you a "developer" in the strictest sense, but it could be the starting point for people who don't want to or cant' "learn C or C++". Also, while I realize C/C++ are the core languages for GNOME/KDE, I've also seen many different language bindings (Python, Perl,etc) for both projects. As these languages may already be known to casual programmers or are easier to learn for first-timers, I don't think they should be overlooked.
Finally, although this article focuses on DESKTOP development, I'm sure there are quite a few things not related to the two dominant desktops that could use some help as well. I'm not sure if Tina G. has written another article dealing with that, but it would also be helpful.
Getting people involved in helping develop the desktop may be the best way to bring new users to GNU/Linux. Newer users tend to want to use a desktop instead of a CLI, and showing them relatively easy ways to 'scratch their own itch', or at least be involved in getting someone else to scratch it (an option not truly available under proprietary OS's) brings home the advantages of Free and Open Source software. My perception (I have no data to back this up) is that most people, especially newer/less computer literate users, don't see the point of having access to the source code or the freedom to change a program. They're used to the proprietary software model. Drawing more people into the various phases of development (including bug reports and docs) could raise the level of awareness. Imagine the pride of someone who considers themselves "non-technical" who sees a bug they reported get fixed or their documentation being used. "I am 31337 4ax0r!!"
:-)
That is, when the different word processors from the different desktop environments save, they should save to the same file format.
Another advantage of this approach would be that all the word processors could use the same (or a very similar) filter to and from other non-*nix software. Sounds like a good idea to me.
BTW, doesn't Open Office use a compressed XML file to store it's documents? I thought I read something about Word2K using XML as well, but I could be wrong there. All that being said to say this: Isn't one of the promises of XML supposed to be improved sharing of data? This could be a good use...
Don't believe it? Try (snip) asking a 'newbie' question...
Try asking Tom Christisen anything about perl...
Try being Jon Katz and writing...oh, anything?
At the risk of looking like Jon Katz's mom, Slash readers (not all, but more than I would have expected) do seem to revel in shouting down most of what he has to say, largely due to the fact that he said it.
Now, I am happy that we have this forum so that all opinions can be shared, but DAMN!!, sometimes it seems like Katz-Bashing is second only to M$-Bashing.
Am I the only person to notice that the logo for this is essentially the Texas state flag rotated 90 degrees? Check here for a comparison. Is this thing going to be manufactured in Austin?:-) Thanks and Gig 'Em!!
Now, I'm not an industry expert, but Tim Sweeney lost me somwhere with his comments on Evil Avatar...
What's really holding back PC gaming...it's harder than it should be to make a game work with your 3D card, drivers, etc. That's not really Microsoft's fault; it's a natural result of having a huge ecosystem of independent PC makers, 3D card makers, and sound card makers working together.
Ok, I agree with that...lots of different people can lead to compatiblity problems. This doesn't mean that they can't be overcome, but problems can and do occur. But then...
In all, Microsoft has done a pretty good job of making PC's work. They have forced 3D hardware makers to adopt common standards with DirectX. That is good. They did the same for printer drivers, sound drivers, and PCMCIA. Their implementation isn't perfect, but it's pretty damn good.
Jigga-What?!? Ok, this is were he losses me. First, isn't MS in trouble for exactly that...forcing software makers to do things that MS wanted them to do? What about choosing standards based on technical merit...you know, robustness, interoperability, that sort of thing...instead of standards based on their ability to tie developers to a single platform?
What ever happened to Open Standards? You know, like the ones used to build the Internet and make email work? Again, I'm no expert, but they seem to work pretty well. Don't look now, but your soaking in them! I realize some of the Open Standards may not have developed as quickly or as well as some of the MS 'standards', but how much of that was due to MS marketing muscle?
I'm not trying to bash MS or Tim Sweeney, but I don't know that dominating a market can be compared to 'setting standards'. If there's something I'm overlooking, someone please fill me in.
Well said. As much as I enjoy my "free" internet access through my current university, you are correct. Universities are not ISP's. Students should stop whining.
That said, it is difficult to 'monitor' what's being done with a network and what's a good use. Hey! An experiment just came to mind...let's see if I can use Napster to find educational material...
***Fires up Napster, tries to find something of educational value***
Well, no luck, but I'm new to Napster and may not be searching in an optimal fashion. It is something to think about though. I just put Napster on my home machine over the weekend and most of what I've gotten has been comedy stuff. I do know that a decent amount of "self-help" type stuff exists in MP3 format, and a Stat class I took last semester was done in a distance learning format, so all the classes were viewable through streaming video the next day. It seems like Napster could be used to find educational audio too...if it exists. Perhaps an "Education" channel? Just a thought
The link to daemonnews.org is spelled 'dea...' The story link is fine, but the link to the site is misspelled. Not a big deal, and probably mentioned at a lower score, but I tend to skim at a score of 4, and was confused for a moment...but just a moment. :-)
Re:Why I never learnt LISP
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RMS The Coder
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· Score: 1
I don't know how familiar you are with programming, but I just picked up a copy of Structure and Interepretation of Computer Programs from our university library. It uses Scheme. It focuses more on teaching you how to program, and you learn Scheme along the way. I'm on page 12 or so and I already feel as if I've learned a lot. (More about programming than Scheme, but hey, it's only page 12.)
Keep in mind I'm not a CS type. I learned Basic and Pascal in JH/High School (82-87), but haven't done much since then. I was forced to learn some Fortran this summer, along with SAS. I'll probably have to use Fortran again, and I know I'll be using SAS for the next 3 1/2 yrs...no, make that the rest of my life.
I decided I wanted to get back into coding in general (so much useful stuff you can do) and all my digging on the net told me SICP was the best book to learn how to PROGRAM, not learn a certain language. I'm planning to start learning Python, but I got SICP to help me learn to be a better programmer. Some people will say, "No Book Can Do That!" Ok, whatever. My time to waste, so I'll see what happens.
From what I've read so far, I can already see that learning these other languages will be easier, as I've got some higher level ideas about how a computer language is supposed to work (primitive/combinations/abstractions). I was able to see how all these things existed in my brief exposure to other languages, so I'm thinking,"12 pages and I'm already learning...looking good".
As in all things, YMMV.
BTW, sorry I didn't include links to Bookstores. Amazon has the best list of reader comments, but don't buy from them. They are evil patent mongers. At least, that's what some would say. Actually, Bestbookbuys.com had the lowest price I found. Better than Dealpilot. I plan to buy it soon.
Most of us started life as babies, didn't we? Well, after reading this , it's no wonder so many of us are crazy. It's a wonder any of us survived to adult-hood, considering how badly we all started off. ;-P
This may be slightly off topic, but I know I'm not the only one to notice the sudden growth of the UNIX section in most bookstores. Not to mention the new Linux Magazine and Maximum Liunux (which I have yet to find a copy of...)
My point being: people keep saying that the 'Net and computers are going to make books obsolete. Well, Linux seems to be having just the opposite effect.
I first found out about Linux right during Spring Break of 1998 in Orlando (Honda Campus All-Stars). That's when I started going to bookstores looking for Unix/Linux books. Slim pickin's. A few ancient Unix tomes, the Classic FreeBSD book, and maybe a RedHat 5.0 Oh yeah, and the O'Reilly books...and that was only at the bigger stores.
Fast forward to today...I can't find a bookstore that hasn't
Flooded their shelves with every O'Reilly Book they could find (normally arranging them in pretty color patterns...)
Started to carry a copy of any and every new book with 'Linux' in the title
Dug up all the old Unix/Linux books they could find in the back room and put them on the shelves (What's that? Why it's the sound of dusty warehouses being emptied!!)
Some combination of all of the above.
Granted, some of these are classics (K&R, K&Pike, Unix Philosophy, etc.), but it looks like Linux is going to help keep publishing in business into the new Lillenium...Big Penguin Style!
Maybe some of the dying mags mentioned in the article should replace the PC in their names with Linux. I'd read Linux Byte...how about you?
Maybe They'll work better...
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LinModems?
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· Score: 0
A software modem working under Linux? I wonder if we'll see the appropriate improvements. I should go read the article.
BTW, It's my birthday!! and it looks like I got the first post.
After all, just about any
competent admin is going to ditch the (usually crappy) tools that ship with their OS of choice and install the GNU tools...not...many unix-types that don't know about the GNU tools... So, to me, since GNU already has the respect of its users / peers, who are they trying to get...with...cheerleading? Emphasis by Kojo
I think the point is this: The popularity of Linux has brought the GNU tools and software to a whole new audience. Most of these new people are not Unix types or Sys Admins. These are Windows people and Linux is being presented as a viable desktop alternative to Windows. These people normally don't know or care about who wrote their software. The GNU tools come from the Unix tradition, and a large part of that includes sharing source code and free (as in speech) software. This philosophy is something completely foreign to the largest new audiences for Linux: Corporations, used to buying whatever MS and it's competition put out for them and Personal users who think their only choices in software must be purchased. One of the reasons the FSF exists to give people options when it comes to software. Unix types have always known these options existed. The newcomers are having to be introduced to this concept. As one of the main promoters of this idea, I think the FSF feels the need to make people aware of who and what they are, what they stand for, what they have to offer and how users can benefit from it. This may sound a little 'Pollyanna', but I think FSF is a good thing that people should know about. In the media explosion surrounding Linux, the GNU project, and more importantly the choices it provides, seems to get lost in the sauce.
It's good to be out of school for a few weeks. I can actually participate in/. Only 13 days until the PhD program begins. I'll be using GPL'd software and GNU tools there too.
I love this essay by ESR. I'm just suprised it' the first time it's being mentioned here. I found it almost exactly one year ago. It's how I learned about Linux in the first place. My research on Linux eventually led me hear. Now my life is better. :-)
It may seem a bit simple for some, and others my not agree with everything ESR said. but I think it's a good starting point.
Slashdot Mirror
That's where universities come in to play. Employers don't have time to exhaustively test every applicant for their skill set, a resume can be padded with false experience (ask George O'Leary) and code from "previous projects" can be copied from the internet. "See, I've designed my own multi-user OS..."
If you, as an employer, want to hire someone who has been trained in an area, you also want some independent verification of that persons skills in said area. That's where degrees and certifications come in. The afore mentioned clept and Dantes tests also fall into this category for college students. You can't get credit for saying, "I taught myself Calc I." because most people would say it to avoid the class. Some employers and schools may be small enough or have enough HR people to sit down and spend several hours with each prospecitve student or hire and discuss their self-gained erudition at length, but most of the HR people I know don't have that luxury and even if they did, they'd consider it a waste of time when they already have an intake system in place. The same goes for most schools, I'm sure.
I'm not saying that it's right, that's just how it is.
Besides, the self-educating person you describe would kick @$$ in a college/university setting. You can attend school and be autodidactic at the same time you know. The two aren't mutually exclusive.
Of course, now that I've said that, someone will provide at least 3 counter examples...
I got a Dreamcast a couple of months ago and Soul Calibur and Shenmue look and play just fine on both of them, thanks to my VGA box.
You might want to check GameStop and Electronics Boutique if they have stores near you. I got my DC used from GameStop when I used to work there (nice discount). A quick search of the Gamestop web site didn't turn up anything, but a search using "vga" as the search term at EB turned up 3 adapters for the Dreamcast, including the one I have (the one at the bottom).
Both stores carry used stuff, which might save you a few bucks. The GameStop return policy on Used items is better than on new ones! Someone at one of the stores might also have info about adaptors for other systems. At GameStop, if they don't have one in stock, ask them to do an "Availability Request". That will search all the stores to see who has one and get it sent to the store near you. That's how I got my DC VGA box.
As an aside, I also got a connector for my DC that lets you connect a Playstation/Saturn controller, as well as a standard PS/1 PC keyboard to the DC. Haven't used it yet, but it seems pretty cool. Only $4.99 used!
HTH,
Here's the link.
HTH,
Sorry, I got caught up replying to the "Why Perl" comment, and then I realized I should have just posted this link.
Greenspun has a PhD from MIT (good paper credentials) and has made a hojillion dollars building websites (real world success). Sadly, the company he started was taken over my Sinister Venture Capitalists (TM).
Great book, and it's free. You can also buy a copy if you want. It's big and pretty. That's important.
:-)
Seriously, the book includes a good bibliography, and links to books he's written on SQL and other things. They're also free. You really can't go wrong starting here.
Now, go get yourself a Linux box (I plan to get an extra one free Saturday from my beloved Hal-PC at their giveaway), set up a webserver and a database and get to work!!
:-)
HTH,
Well, Perl is a general programming language, not just a web development languge, so it will take you further. You never know when you might want to get out of web development...or get forcibly removed from it (Dot.Com.Crash).
Also, since it excels at text handling (and the most important stuff on a web site is text...Content is King), it's quite good for web development.
If you find yourself having to be the Web Developer/Sysadmin/Web Server Maintainer/Etc., the sysadmining and general "Swiss Army Chain Saw" nature of the language can help you get a lot of things done quickly and efficiently. If you end up being "only" the Web Developer, well, it never hurts to have the flexibility to do more, as the recent change in the Hi-Tech job market has shown. Perl can also let you do more as a web developer. Philip Greenspun has a review of "Mastering Regular Expressions" on Amazon where he talks about how Perl and Regular Expresions helped him save a client $10K by changing a ton of .html files in an automated fashion.
That sort of thing is what causes people to emphsize Perl for web development. It lets you do more with less. Not to mention all the modules out there waiting to be put to work for you...
Anyway, just my $.0.0002 Benjamin,
There's also the ZipSlack option, that lets you put Slack on and run it from a Zip/LS-120 disk (needs about 100 meg of space). It can also be run from a Windows partition. It's a 32 meg download, so even over a modem, it's not bad (I just did it a couple of days ago). Both of these options could get him started with Linux quickly and more easily than just about anything else, not to mention with less risk.
I plan to set up ZipSlack myself in the next couple of days (my CD-Rom died and I'm broke at the moment).
Anyway, I put my keyboard where my mouth is (or something like that) and sent Miguel the Wired link. I wonder how many others did? I know I'm not that original. Hope it helps the folks in Mexico.
Anyway, I put my keyboard where my mouth is (or something like that) and sent Miguel the Wired link. I wonder how many others did? I know I'm not that original. Hope it helps the folks in Mexico.
"I started an entire Free Software Project while working at the largest University in my Home Country of Mexico, so I'd know a little something about Linux and might know 1 or 2 other people in Mexico who do too!"
or
"Hey! Didn't one of those GNOME guys come from Mexico? Maybe we should call him and see if he knows anyone..."
Just a thought...
Hmm...small, seemingly innocent meteors striking our planet. Too small for we humans to detect or be concerned about (if you think a 10 meter object is 'small').
Isn't this how the Gamilons put the Smack Down on Earth in "Star Blazers"?!? Small meteors that we didn't pay attention to at first, until their radiation began killing us off?!?
Sound the alarms!!!
Ready the Argo!!! (or Yamato for those in Japan)
Prepare to fire...the Waaaave Motion Gun!!!
Onward to Iscandar!!!
Yes, this is the same comment I posted at NewsForge. I have been absorbed by the sinister OSDN keiretsu!!
First, let me say I really enjoyed this article (Good Job Tina!). I'm starting a CS degree in the fall (I'm changing careers), so I've been looking for a 'guide' to contributing to Free Software and Open Source projects when I become more skilled. I'll be learning C programming in Unix as part of my curriculum (duh), so this article was very helpful to me. Lots of useful pointers for the chyrsalic (is that a word?) CS major wanting to give back.
My only concern with the article is that it seems to suggest that you can't make contributions without being a "hard-core" programmer. This seems to contradict much of what I've heard from other Free and Open Source projects. They generally take the position that if you can write a decent bug report (what happened and under what circumstances, not 'it broke!'), or create documentation, you can be helpful too by using the software and doing the above.
True, this may not make you a "developer" in the strictest sense, but it could be the starting point for people who don't want to or cant' "learn C or C++". Also, while I realize C/C++ are the core languages for GNOME/KDE, I've also seen many different language bindings (Python, Perl,etc) for both projects. As these languages may already be known to casual programmers or are easier to learn for first-timers, I don't think they should be overlooked.
Finally, although this article focuses on DESKTOP development, I'm sure there are quite a few things not related to the two dominant desktops that could use some help as well. I'm not sure if Tina G. has written another article dealing with that, but it would also be helpful.
Getting people involved in helping develop the desktop may be the best way to bring new users to GNU/Linux. Newer users tend to want to use a desktop instead of a CLI, and showing them relatively easy ways to 'scratch their own itch', or at least be involved in getting someone else to scratch it (an option not truly available under proprietary OS's) brings home the advantages of Free and Open Source software. My perception (I have no data to back this up) is that most people, especially newer/less computer literate users, don't see the point of having access to the source code or the freedom to change a program. They're used to the proprietary software model. Drawing more people into the various phases of development (including bug reports and docs) could raise the level of awareness. Imagine the pride of someone who considers themselves "non-technical" who sees a bug they reported get fixed or their documentation being used. "I am 31337 4ax0r!!"
:-)
Another good article by Tina G.
Another advantage of this approach would be that all the word processors could use the same (or a very similar) filter to and from other non-*nix software. Sounds like a good idea to me.
BTW, doesn't Open Office use a compressed XML file to store it's documents? I thought I read something about Word2K using XML as well, but I could be wrong there. All that being said to say this: Isn't one of the promises of XML supposed to be improved sharing of data? This could be a good use...
Don't believe it? Try (snip) asking a 'newbie' question...
Try asking Tom Christisen anything about perl...
Try being Jon Katz and writing...oh, anything?
At the risk of looking like Jon Katz's mom, Slash readers (not all, but more than I would have expected) do seem to revel in shouting down most of what he has to say, largely due to the fact that he said it.
Now, I am happy that we have this forum so that all opinions can be shared, but DAMN!!, sometimes it seems like Katz-Bashing is second only to M$-Bashing.
I'm done.
Am I the only person to notice that the logo for this is essentially the Texas state flag rotated 90 degrees? Check here for a comparison. Is this thing going to be manufactured in Austin? :-) Thanks and Gig 'Em!!
Ok, I agree with that...lots of different people can lead to compatiblity problems. This doesn't mean that they can't be overcome, but problems can and do occur. But then...
Jigga-What?!? Ok, this is were he losses me. First, isn't MS in trouble for exactly that...forcing software makers to do things that MS wanted them to do? What about choosing standards based on technical merit...you know, robustness, interoperability, that sort of thing...instead of standards based on their ability to tie developers to a single platform?
What ever happened to Open Standards? You know, like the ones used to build the Internet and make email work? Again, I'm no expert, but they seem to work pretty well. Don't look now, but your soaking in them! I realize some of the Open Standards may not have developed as quickly or as well as some of the MS 'standards', but how much of that was due to MS marketing muscle?
I'm not trying to bash MS or Tim Sweeney, but I don't know that dominating a market can be compared to 'setting standards'. If there's something I'm overlooking, someone please fill me in.
Well said. As much as I enjoy my "free" internet access through my current university, you are correct. Universities are not ISP's. Students should stop whining.
That said, it is difficult to 'monitor' what's being done with a network and what's a good use. Hey! An experiment just came to mind...let's see if I can use Napster to find educational material...
***Fires up Napster, tries to find something of educational value***
Well, no luck, but I'm new to Napster and may not be searching in an optimal fashion. It is something to think about though. I just put Napster on my home machine over the weekend and most of what I've gotten has been comedy stuff. I do know that a decent amount of "self-help" type stuff exists in MP3 format, and a Stat class I took last semester was done in a distance learning format, so all the classes were viewable through streaming video the next day. It seems like Napster could be used to find educational audio too...if it exists. Perhaps an "Education" channel? Just a thought
The link to daemonnews.org is spelled 'dea...'
:-)
The story link is fine, but the link to the site is misspelled. Not a big deal, and probably mentioned at a lower score, but I tend to skim at a score of 4, and was confused for a moment...but just a moment.
I don't know how familiar you are with programming, but I just picked up a copy of Structure and Interepretation of Computer Programs from our university library. It uses Scheme. It focuses more on teaching you how to program, and you learn Scheme along the way. I'm on page 12 or so and I already feel as if I've learned a lot. (More about programming than Scheme, but hey, it's only page 12.)
Keep in mind I'm not a CS type. I learned Basic and Pascal in JH/High School (82-87), but haven't done much since then. I was forced to learn some Fortran this summer, along with SAS. I'll probably have to use Fortran again, and I know I'll be using SAS for the next 3 1/2 yrs...no, make that the rest of my life.
I decided I wanted to get back into coding in general (so much useful stuff you can do) and all my digging on the net told me SICP was the best book to learn how to PROGRAM, not learn a certain language. I'm planning to start learning Python, but I got SICP to help me learn to be a better programmer. Some people will say, "No Book Can Do That!" Ok, whatever. My time to waste, so I'll see what happens.
From what I've read so far, I can already see that learning these other languages will be easier, as I've got some higher level ideas about how a computer language is supposed to work (primitive/combinations/abstractions). I was able to see how all these things existed in my brief exposure to other languages, so I'm thinking,"12 pages and I'm already learning...looking good".
As in all things, YMMV.
BTW, sorry I didn't include links to Bookstores. Amazon has the best list of reader comments, but don't buy from them. They are evil patent mongers. At least, that's what some would say. Actually, Bestbookbuys.com had the lowest price I found. Better than Dealpilot. I plan to buy it soon.
Most of us started life as babies, didn't we? Well, after reading this , it's no wonder so many of us are crazy. It's a wonder any of us survived to adult-hood, considering how badly we all started off.
;-P
This nerd greatly enjoyed her work on Cosby , in addition to the earlier works mentioned. She will be missed.
This may be slightly off topic, but I know I'm not the only one to notice the sudden growth of the UNIX section in most bookstores. Not to mention the new Linux Magazine and Maximum Liunux (which I have yet to find a copy of...)
My point being: people keep saying that the 'Net and computers are going to make books obsolete. Well, Linux seems to be having just the opposite effect.
I first found out about Linux right during Spring Break of 1998 in Orlando (Honda Campus All-Stars). That's when I started going to bookstores looking for Unix/Linux books. Slim pickin's. A few ancient Unix tomes, the Classic FreeBSD book, and maybe a RedHat 5.0 Oh yeah, and the O'Reilly books...and that was only at the bigger stores.
Fast forward to today...I can't find a bookstore that hasn't
Granted, some of these are classics (K&R, K&Pike, Unix Philosophy, etc.), but it looks like Linux is going to help keep publishing in business into the new Lillenium...Big Penguin Style!
Maybe some of the dying mags mentioned in the article should replace the PC in their names with Linux. I'd read Linux Byte...how about you?
A software modem working under Linux? I wonder if we'll see the appropriate improvements. I should go read the article.
BTW, It's my birthday!! and it looks like I got the first post.
I bought myself Suse 6.1. What a day...
:-)
I think the point is this: The popularity of Linux has brought the GNU tools and software to a whole new audience. Most of these new people are not Unix types or Sys Admins. These are Windows people and Linux is being presented as a viable desktop alternative to Windows. These people normally don't know or care about who wrote their software. The GNU tools come from the Unix tradition, and a large part of that includes sharing source code and free (as in speech) software. This philosophy is something completely foreign to the largest new audiences for Linux: Corporations, used to buying whatever MS and it's competition put out for them and Personal users who think their only choices in software must be purchased. One of the reasons the FSF exists to give people options when it comes to software. Unix types have always known these options existed. The newcomers are having to be introduced to this concept. As one of the main promoters of this idea, I think the FSF feels the need to make people aware of who and what they are, what they stand for, what they have to offer and how users can benefit from it.
This may sound a little 'Pollyanna', but I think FSF is a good thing that people should know about. In the media explosion surrounding Linux, the GNU project, and more importantly the choices it provides, seems to get lost in the sauce.
It's good to be out of school for a few weeks. I can actually participate in /. Only 13 days until the PhD program begins. I'll be using GPL'd software and GNU tools there too.
I love this essay by ESR. I'm just suprised it' the first time it's being mentioned here. I found it almost exactly one year ago. It's how I learned about Linux in the first place. My research on Linux eventually led me hear. Now my life is better.
:-)
It may seem a bit simple for some, and others my not agree with everything ESR said. but I think it's a good starting point.
Kojo