I've found it very difficult to write good tests on applications that were web-based, and highly dependent on the data. Does this book have good solutions for these problems?
Sounds interesting
on
Debugging
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Teaching people how to debug isn't that easy. It requires some experience before they get the hang of it.
I'm a stickler for labeling code often, and tracking changes released to production. Because of this, I often seem to be a stick in the mud when it comes to refactoring.
Heavy refactoring makes your code nicer. But when you have to do a lot of debugging on something that worked be refactoring, you can start to appreciate that keeping the change set managable is a 'good thing'. (I do financial apps, so this may not work for everyone.)
The things I see people fail at most is the ability to 'bracket' the problem. Go between code that works and doesn't work, filtering the problem down to something simple.
The second thing is the inability of some people to go 'deep' in their debugging. Decompile the java/C#/whatever code, trace through the library calls, whatever.
Its nice to see another good book on the market that seems to cover these topics.
I wrote a letter to a DA once about a slashdot story. I was really irritated that the DA would prosecute someone who was just demonstrating how a security hole worked for a company.
Several months later, I got a letter from the DA. Now she could talk about it, as the case was over. Turns out the guy pleaded guilty. He not only had demonstrated the hole, but before he had been running all over the company network doing stuff that was clearly not legal. I felt like such a heel writing a letter of support for this sod.
This story, of course, was never posted by Slashdot to my knowledge.
So while I do not discount the story, I'll start by asking for more information, and not by calling the FBI a bunch of jerks. (I'll do that later when I have more info, and am reasonably sure I won't stick my foot in my mouth.)
A lot of this has to do with impacts of the administration on research. People without advanced degrees typically do not go through the pain of submitting to peer-reviewed research journals.
I would compare it to a petition that only asks professional software developers to sign, rather than hobbiests. Yes, the hobbiests may understand computers, but the people who develop software for a living would carry more weight on a petition about software development. No insult intended to the hobbiests.
How about we just outsource it to India? It would be a lot cheaper that way.
Re:Bill Gates, Hall of Fame Hacker? (P.S. First Po
on
Hackers Hall of Fame
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· Score: 1, Interesting
Not really. Bill's first pushes into computers were totally in the 'hack' world. He later graduated from that to business. Their BASIC interpreter was written totally by hand. They didn't have a computer. They took it to IBM and sweating bullets they put it in the computer and it ran. Can you imagine demo'ing a software product to the 900 pound IBM gorilla, but never actually getting a chance to run it first?
I can't stand Microsoft and Bill really irritates me. But the work they did at first was truly in the hacker's work. I mean 8.3 file names, tell me that isn't a hack?
Personally, I just don't see grid computing work where you ship your stuff out to 3rd party computers. There is the network latency, and the security aspects. But it might work for a company to maintain their own grid. That I could see. Maybe.
...created Orkut.com in the past several months by working on it about one day a week--an amount that Google asks all of its engineers to devote to personal projects
Ok, that is a cool company. I wish I was working at Google. But they haven't opened a software development office in Iowa yet.
I worked in a place where we consultants were placed in a long narrow gap between cubicles. If the person on the end wanted to go to the bathroom, we had to all stand up so he could get out.
When we complained enough, we were moved to our own cubes...in the middle of the customer service call center.
Personally I don't understand the logic of hiring expensive people and cramming them in a small environment. If you put two people into the same cube, I'd bet you aren't getting the work out of those two people that one undisturbed person would manage to get done.
Peoplesoft is still the best book on the subject. Buy one and leave it on your manager's desk.
The problem is controlling the altitude in day vs night scenarios. During the night, you'll be much closer to the weather. The balloon can't fly nearly as high then, unless you want to control altitude by adding/dumping gas a lot.
Star Trek's usually don't really catch on until the later seasons. DS9 was really good when they started doing long story arcs in seasons 6 and 7. TNG was better after the first couple seasons.
Well, the idea of government it not to compete with private enterprise.
Back when I worked for USGS, our goal was to maintain the data, not distribute it free of charge. (We weren't given enough money to do a great job of keeping it up to date anyway.)
Private companies usually rendered the pretty maps, distributed the datasets, etc. You paid for the service and ease of use those companies gave you.
I think Mars is premature until we have something like a space elevator going to get stuff into orbit. Or something to get the cost of getting to orbit under control.
With that, we can afford to take a big ship there. We can put in some infrastructure on Mars ahead of the astronauts getting there.
To send a person to Mars doesn't make sense to me. Spend the money on the space program, but not for this project please.
Slashdot Mirror
Dude, I'm so old every time I hear PS2 I still think of IBM's old PS/2. Anyone else remember those?
I've found it very difficult to write good tests on applications that were web-based, and highly dependent on the data. Does this book have good solutions for these problems?
All your base belong to us!
Teaching people how to debug isn't that easy. It requires some experience before they get the hang of it.
I'm a stickler for labeling code often, and tracking changes released to production. Because of this, I often seem to be a stick in the mud when it comes to refactoring.
Heavy refactoring makes your code nicer. But when you have to do a lot of debugging on something that worked be refactoring, you can start to appreciate that keeping the change set managable is a 'good thing'. (I do financial apps, so this may not work for everyone.)
The things I see people fail at most is the ability to 'bracket' the problem. Go between code that works and doesn't work, filtering the problem down to something simple.
The second thing is the inability of some people to go 'deep' in their debugging. Decompile the java/C#/whatever code, trace through the library calls, whatever.
Its nice to see another good book on the market that seems to cover these topics.
Wow, with such an excellent command of the English language, I don't see how anyone would fire you. Which college did you go to again?
I wrote a letter to a DA once about a slashdot story. I was really irritated that the DA would prosecute someone who was just demonstrating how a security hole worked for a company.
Several months later, I got a letter from the DA. Now she could talk about it, as the case was over. Turns out the guy pleaded guilty. He not only had demonstrated the hole, but before he had been running all over the company network doing stuff that was clearly not legal. I felt like such a heel writing a letter of support for this sod.
This story, of course, was never posted by Slashdot to my knowledge.
So while I do not discount the story, I'll start by asking for more information, and not by calling the FBI a bunch of jerks. (I'll do that later when I have more info, and am reasonably sure I won't stick my foot in my mouth.)
Which one? I must have missed it.
Dude, I'm with you there. TortoiseCVS, now that is nice integration. Isn't there a subversion version of it somewhere?
"Talk Hard!" --Pump up the volume.
I love that movie. Always made me want to get my own little FM broadcast station.
A lot of this has to do with impacts of the administration on research. People without advanced degrees typically do not go through the pain of submitting to peer-reviewed research journals.
I would compare it to a petition that only asks professional software developers to sign, rather than hobbiests. Yes, the hobbiests may understand computers, but the people who develop software for a living would carry more weight on a petition about software development. No insult intended to the hobbiests.
How about we just outsource it to India? It would be a lot cheaper that way.
Not really. Bill's first pushes into computers were totally in the 'hack' world. He later graduated from that to business. Their BASIC interpreter was written totally by hand. They didn't have a computer. They took it to IBM and sweating bullets they put it in the computer and it ran. Can you imagine demo'ing a software product to the 900 pound IBM gorilla, but never actually getting a chance to run it first?
I can't stand Microsoft and Bill really irritates me. But the work they did at first was truly in the hacker's work. I mean 8.3 file names, tell me that isn't a hack?
(Ok, I defended Bill Gates, there goes my karma.)
Well, the article was about grids, not p2p systems.
Here's one toolkit for creating grid programs with java.
Personally, I just don't see grid computing work where you ship your stuff out to 3rd party computers. There is the network latency, and the security aspects. But it might work for a company to maintain their own grid. That I could see. Maybe.
Pay off student loans? A car? Put it in an IRA? Just because it is easy come, doesn't mean it should be easy go.
You could try making a sandwich and bringing it with you. I don't spend $7 on my lunch unless I go out to eat.
Things in my pocket have to survive me bending over and such.
Um, maybe you shouldn't bend over so much.
Actually I did do this for an assignment. I'll see how it turns out.
...created Orkut.com in the past several months by working on it about one day a week--an amount that Google asks all of its engineers to devote to personal projects
Ok, that is a cool company. I wish I was working at Google. But they haven't opened a software development office in Iowa yet.
Too bad we can't go back and give him mod points for 'insightful' now.
I worked in a place where we consultants were placed in a long narrow gap between cubicles. If the person on the end wanted to go to the bathroom, we had to all stand up so he could get out.
When we complained enough, we were moved to our own cubes...in the middle of the customer service call center.
Personally I don't understand the logic of hiring expensive people and cramming them in a small environment. If you put two people into the same cube, I'd bet you aren't getting the work out of those two people that one undisturbed person would manage to get done.
Peoplesoft is still the best book on the subject. Buy one and leave it on your manager's desk.
The problem is controlling the altitude in day vs night scenarios. During the night, you'll be much closer to the weather. The balloon can't fly nearly as high then, unless you want to control altitude by adding/dumping gas a lot.
Star Trek's usually don't really catch on until the later seasons. DS9 was really good when they started doing long story arcs in seasons 6 and 7. TNG was better after the first couple seasons.
Well, the idea of government it not to compete with private enterprise.
Back when I worked for USGS, our goal was to maintain the data, not distribute it free of charge. (We weren't given enough money to do a great job of keeping it up to date anyway.)
Private companies usually rendered the pretty maps, distributed the datasets, etc. You paid for the service and ease of use those companies gave you.
Do you really want to let that man and woman be the 'Adam and Eve' of a whole new planet?
I think Mars is premature until we have something like a space elevator going to get stuff into orbit. Or something to get the cost of getting to orbit under control.
With that, we can afford to take a big ship there. We can put in some infrastructure on Mars ahead of the astronauts getting there.
To send a person to Mars doesn't make sense to me. Spend the money on the space program, but not for this project please.