I have to agree that ESR's incessant self-promotion is a drag. And after flipping through this, his latest infomercial, its title seems a bit off-the-mark. It probably should be "The Philosophy of Linux", since it combines the history and design of Unix with the rise of open source (of course), and of the intersection of the two... i.e., Linux.
In fact, a better book on the history of Unix already exists -- Peter Salus' "A Quarter Century of Unix".
But the saving grace of ESR's book is... IT'S FREE:
http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/
So I guess we really shouldn't complain too much.
Re:Try Thinking in Java 3rd Edition
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Head First Java
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· Score: 2
I too am a fan of Eckel's books. They emphasize the big picture that leads you to thinking in the language's "paradigm" while still fully covering the details.
It's true that Eckel's books are less than ideal as reference texts -- he's too conversational. But in introducing not only 1) the semantics of a language and 2) its syntax, his strength best lies in 3) teaching the way the language expresses programming design concepts -- helping the reader to appreciate that language's fundamental design patterns.
And of course, his books are FREE. What more could you ask for?
I second "Spiritual". While I disagree with Kurzweil's optimistic evaluation of the uninterruptible ever-increasing horsepower of the next-gen CPU, his logic is otherwise faultless.
"When demand for their manufactured goods or services drops off in the lucrative market of the US because consumers cannot afford them because they have insufficient income or no jobs, then that economy will become restimulated."
This makes no sense. When demand drops, product lines are terminated, jobs are lost, corporations shrink, and they're consumed by more successful competitors. Economies are definitely *not* stimulated (any more than the current economy is stimulated).
The more likely consequence is that US corporations will be sold to more successful foreign competitors, just as Chrysler was sold to Daimler-Benz. In time, we can expect the same to happen to Microsoft, IBM, and HP, unless 1) their products are superior and/or 2) their products are affordable.
Right now, the emphasis has shifted toward #2, and it doesn't bode well for US employment in the short- or long-term.
Exactly!!! We're not talking about just software, but all of technology -- all of the engineerings, all the biological, pharmaceutical, and of course, all manufacturing jobs. Eventually, that has to include all of the management, marketing, and sales jobs as well. No matter the job title, if it's cheaper to hire Indians/ Chinese, (either due to lower wages, or because they can avoid US employment/benefits laws), then the employment (and the skill base) will depart the US. For as long as the wage and benefits differential persists -- probably for 50 years or more.
What will be the consequence? The money, the economic growth, and the profits will all flow between the producers and the consumers, neither of whom will be US.
What do we do about it? First we logically follow the chain of consequences from the present to the likely future. THEN we decide if that's the way we want to live. If not, then we damn well better do something now to prevent it, even if it means protectionism or unions, or even a redefinition of "free trade". Remember that Europe still has an economy, even if their protectionism and regulations fly in the face of America's adoration for individualism and libertarian fundamentalism. Better to have some economy than none at all.
However, if the US does nothing to interfere with this likely course of events over the next 20 years, I think we'll not only have no high-tech economy left, we'll have have no economy.
Slashdot Mirror
I have to agree that ESR's incessant self-promotion is a drag. And after flipping through this, his latest infomercial, its title seems a bit off-the-mark. It probably should be "The Philosophy of Linux", since it combines the history and design of Unix with the rise of open source (of course), and of the intersection of the two... i.e., Linux.
In fact, a better book on the history of Unix already exists -- Peter Salus' "A Quarter Century of Unix".
But the saving grace of ESR's book is... IT'S FREE:
http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/
So I guess we really shouldn't complain too much.
I too am a fan of Eckel's books. They emphasize the big picture that leads you to thinking in the language's "paradigm" while still fully covering the details.
It's true that Eckel's books are less than ideal as reference texts -- he's too conversational. But in introducing not only 1) the semantics of a language and 2) its syntax, his strength best lies in 3) teaching the way the language expresses programming design concepts -- helping the reader to appreciate that language's fundamental design patterns.
And of course, his books are FREE. What more could you ask for?
YES. This is the book that got me my first job in computing. My boss-to-be had just read it, and we mentally connected through its pages.
It's *outstanding* coverage of the founding of the hacker culture. A wonderful book.
I second "Spiritual". While I disagree with Kurzweil's optimistic evaluation of the uninterruptible ever-increasing horsepower of the next-gen CPU, his logic is otherwise faultless.
As futurism goes, this is some of the best.
You were doing so well until you said:
"When demand for their manufactured goods or services drops off in the lucrative market of the US because consumers cannot afford them because they have insufficient income or no jobs, then that economy will become restimulated."
This makes no sense. When demand drops, product lines are terminated, jobs are lost, corporations shrink, and they're consumed by more successful competitors. Economies are definitely *not* stimulated (any more than the current economy is stimulated).
The more likely consequence is that US corporations will be sold to more successful foreign competitors, just as Chrysler was sold to Daimler-Benz. In time, we can expect the same to happen to Microsoft, IBM, and HP, unless 1) their products are superior and/or 2) their products are affordable.
Right now, the emphasis has shifted toward #2, and it doesn't bode well for US employment in the short- or long-term.
Exactly!!! We're not talking about just software, but all of technology -- all of the engineerings, all the biological, pharmaceutical, and of course, all manufacturing jobs. Eventually, that has to include all of the management, marketing, and sales jobs as well. No matter the job title, if it's cheaper to hire Indians/ Chinese, (either due to lower wages, or because they can avoid US employment/benefits laws), then the employment (and the skill base) will depart the US. For as long as the wage and benefits differential persists -- probably for 50 years or more.
What will be the consequence? The money, the economic growth, and the profits will all flow between the producers and the consumers, neither of whom will be US.
What do we do about it? First we logically follow the chain of consequences from the present to the likely future. THEN we decide if that's the way we want to live. If not, then we damn well better do something now to prevent it, even if it means protectionism or unions, or even a redefinition of "free trade". Remember that Europe still has an economy, even if their protectionism and regulations fly in the face of America's adoration for individualism and libertarian fundamentalism.
Better to have some economy than none at all.
However, if the US does nothing to interfere with this likely course of events over the next 20 years, I think we'll not only have no high-tech economy left, we'll have have no economy.
Sure, but you'll work for $15,000/year -- the prevailing global wage -- which applies regardless of where you live.
Planning on moving the family to India, are you?