Unskilled coders are a hard thing to fix quickly (let's face it, what you're looking is an instant extra few years of experience) but motivation is something that can be addressed a bit more quickly.
First off, you need to start coding *less*. This is very difficult when you can see deadlines looming and you know you are the most skilled coder there, but if you want to get more out of the rest of the team, you need to adopt a more managerial style. This means spend your time planning the work, doing or reviewing design, and breaking the project out into packages of work you can give out to other people.
Hold regular meetings - daily is best, at least weekly. These meetings have two purposes.
Set goals for each person, to be achieved by the next meeting. It's perfectly ok if they are setting their own goals, as long as goals are being set.
Each person has to report on their achievements since the last meeting. It gets embarrassing to say, 'Well actually I haven't done anything' every time, and most people will make an effort to have something to report. If they won't, they're beyond all hope.
Do code reviews, post them to the whole team if you can (don't tear people to shreds) This will help you set project-wide coding standards, and is one of the best ways to mentor people.
Set milestones within the project and make sure you celebrate hitting them!
Even if it's just a long lunch and pizza. See your line manager and find out if you can get a budget for that sort of thing. In my experience any project that recognises work done with a bit of a party now and again gets a whole lot more out of its coders. You need that positive reinforcement.
Over-communicate By this I mean hold a meeting and discuss your goals/milestones/requirements/etc. Make sure everyone understands them. Then send round a summary in an email to the whole team. Then print it out on a big piece of paper and pin it to the wall during all your meetings. Make sure it's at the fore-front of people's minds all the time.
I think in designing a source control system you have to be aware that there are two different usage models.
A small team, working in the building or room, with strong lines of communication, using source control ans integral part of a larger formal development process.
An open source or widely distributed project where many or any people can contribute to the project, the lines of communication are weak, and the development process is largely ad hoc.
CVS has been designed and mostly used for the latter. Tools like SourceSafe and Clearcase were designed, and are almost exclusively used for the former. One of the obvious differences in approach is file locking on checkout. Obviously there are others as well.
I don't see any reason why one tool could address both models, with suitable ruleset configuration for the administrator. But you have to recognise, and design for, one or the other or both models from the start.
I have to mention it, even though they don't actually sell them, just because they are out and away the sexiest electric car you can imagine (if you can imagine such a thing.) I'm talking about the Zytek Electric Lotus Elise, of course.
Power to the people! I don't care whether this guy particularly succeeds as long as the idea does. I think it would be the supreme poetic justice if internet radio was transformed and transmogrified into a format that corporate interests could never have any control over. They've done their best to kill a beautiful, barely nascent digital sub-culture, and it's up to us to make sure they don't succeed. If they can't play nice, we won't let them play at all.
This is bang on the money. NZ is a first world country with a third world economy. (i.e. most of our GDP is primary produce, little or know value added by human skill or knowledge.)
...Sharon's behaviour was a deliberate attempt to incite a violent reaction which he calculated would be to his personal political advantage.
Quite possible; but last I checked mind-reading hadn't become reality as yet so I at least must refrain from making statements such as yours.
Actually you just did.
...Second, that mosque is built on the remains of the Jewish temples.. If it were the other way around, I can guarantee you that the Muslims would have torn it down.
This report is freely downloadable, but I can't remember where I downloaded it from. Search for OM-Europarl.pdf. Or email me and I'll send it back to you if you like, nut@clear.net.nz
The European parliament set up a committee to investigate the existence and actions of Echelon, the USA/UK/AUS/NZ/CAN electronic communications interception network. There conclusions included:
1. That it existed (surprise, surprise)
2. That there is some evidence that the network is used for industrial espionage in some instances.
It goes on to recommend that the only way to protect against the use of this system for industrial espionage is if everybody in Europe, or at least all commercial entities, routinely encrypt all electronic communications.
The point is that in a capitalist society, commercial entities at least often have things to hide for perfectly reasonable and legitimate reasons to do with competition.
It's interesting, and also a sad indictment of human nature, that of all the people here (lots of whom probably used Napster's service when it was free) I don't see one comment in support of them. People's memories are short I guess.
Napster weren't going to survive in their original form. They had to deal with record companies in some manner, and they've certainly cut the best deal they could to provide a useful service now. And yes, in a very real way the have just paid the royalties on all those songs you downloaded with their service. They have in fact put in a lot of work to give you a useful service, AND THEN paid out millions of dollars so that it could be free for you (after the fact.)
Everybody who benefitted from their service owes them some thanks at least, myself included. Anybody who wanted to show their appreciation of the gift they gave us might show them a bit of loyalty now, when they need customer loyalty.
I've seen a lot of comments along the lines of, "This is an act of war and we must respond in kind," or "This is an act of war, but we must not act rashly." Both possibly valid responses, but nobody has observed that there is most probably not a nation or state here to go to war with. All the most likely suspects are representatives of dispossessed peoples. What nation will you declare war upon?
To a large extent what GUI tools, visual application builders etc. do is GENERATE code. This means they allow you to generate a lot of working code quickly, but it WILL be of a particular style, and aimed at a certain problem space. I would say they are better for MOST of the problems we solve but not all. I think it's also probable that they encourage us to write a certain type of application, simply by making it easier to write that type of application.
ALWAYS learn to program using CL tools, but don't be scared to use GUI tools, because they can make life so much easier for run-of-the-mill, bread-and-butter programming.
I realise GUI tools do other things as well as generate code, they often incorporate really useful debugging tools etc. But my argument is that a lot of the productivity increase comes from the code generation aspect.
I'm not an astronomer either, but I suspect that part of what makes a planet a planet is its orbit. All the planets orbit the sun in the same plane and the same direction, because they were formed from eddies in the original dust cloud. I guess this means you could also say that what makes a planet a planet is also its method of formation. There is also a definite ratio between the radii of the orbits of the planets, pointed out by some astronomer about a hundred years ago or so, but I don't think it is part of the definition of a planet, just an intersting property that all currently known planets have.
I believe that this has been demonstrated mathematically by someone (possibly Heisenberg?) Someone has at least attempted to prove that it is impossible to model the universe with any model that is in itself smaller than the universe. Or something.
A little bit of natural language processing of a basic nature (look for "reply to this address" type phrases) could also be done if you wanted. But probably any email address in the email would be fair game. Set Eliza up with it's own email address, and see how much traffic you can generate...
I don't think it's the original coffee pot, there have actually been several over the years. This is supposed to have been the longest-serving though. Can't find the reference for this fact, it was somewhere on either the Cambridge University site or on Ebay though...
Yeah, CDs are too expensive, but copying music illegally isn't going to change that in a hurry
Actually copying music illegally can cause change, as it indicates a substantial demand, but an unwillingness to pay the current price.
the two most reasonable conclusions from this are that these consumers aren't prepared to pay at all, or that they're not prepared to pay quite so much. It's more than likely that record companies will experiment with the latter conclusion if illegal copying continues to expand.
Russia will
put anyone in space (well at 80, 000 feet, not much air up there) for about somewhere around US$15 000 I think. I couldn't verify that, that's from memory. The will to do this is clearly present in Russia, and certainly not being blocked by their government. The standard-bearer of communism will probably the nation to open up space commercially.
This is the interesting thing about the definition of AI. Someone, such as Alan Turing, comes up with a provable definition of AI, and someone else manages to write software that meets the proof. Of course, as soon as the software is written, we immediately discard the proof as invalid, because, "We understand how it works," and the software is, "Just a set of rules."
Eliza broke the Turing test , and Deep Blue beat our best chess player. Meanwhile as psychologists study how our brain works, it begins more and more to look like a computer. One quote I like from psychology, "At first we studied the soul, then we studied the mind, now there is only behaviour."
I see a lot of comments along the lines of, "Tito was just a tourist pleb, what would he know." But the article mentions that he was actually a rocket scientist for NASA at one time, I would have thought that would qualify him fairly well to comment.
I also find it interesting that the Russians put him up there cheaper and easier than NASA could have, in fact their whole space program seems more money efficient. I think the problem NASA has at the moment, is that is used to having too much money, and have learnt mostly just how to burn money.
I predict that serious commercial colonisation of space will take place mainly with Russian technology, as they seem to manage budgets better and have more incentive to make their program work with commercial interests.
I take it these probes are mostly metallic, does our solar system have magnetic field? i.e. the combination of the magnetic fields of all the bodies in it.
...Slashdot is mostly about all talk and no action.
This is a point that could be more often here I think. I think the secretary's question, "What is a Slashdot?" should tell us what it is easy to forget when you live on the net, that is that while this is major forum for discussion in internet terms, most of the world never hears what we say. Slashdot is actually a very small and insular clique in world terms.
... True, some pornography is legal in the us, and other countries, but certain content is almost universally recognized as being obscene.
This is your assertion, all you now need is some evidence, anecdotal or otherwise to back it up.
For instance, some Muslim countries would consider a photo of a woman showing her bare face or ankles to be pornography, while some asian countries consider prepubescent girls engaged in sex acts to be allowable.
??? You've just tried to back up your assertion of a universal moral position with an example of a difference in moral position. I'm afraid your logic is completely broken.
This is precisely why we need to define the boundaries of what can and cannot be displayed on the internet.
Why? So you can impose your version of morality on a world that has evidently differing standards of morality by your own example?
Your argument is consistent except the instance you've chosen to illustrate your first assertion actually demonstrates the opposite of assertion.
This has real artificial intelligence applications, essentially your "teaching" your robot to remember a route. More interesting if it can find it's way back where it came from, as that is both learning a pattern and then processing it to find a point of origin. This allows possiblity of a feedback loop if you want to get that clever.
Quite frankly there hasn't been a single conclusive study showing that there is any risk from GM crops.
Don't you think it might be worth having some conclusive studies showing that there is NOT a risk from GM crops before we start experimenting with the worlds food supplies? A lack of a proof of existence is not the same thing as proof of non-existence. Please read the Ghost Not.
Slashdot Mirror
Unskilled coders are a hard thing to fix quickly (let's face it, what you're looking is an instant extra few years of experience) but motivation is something that can be addressed a bit more quickly.
First off, you need to start coding *less*. This is very difficult when you can see deadlines looming and you know you are the most skilled coder there, but if you want to get more out of the rest of the team, you need to adopt a more managerial style.
This means spend your time planning the work, doing or reviewing design, and breaking the project out into packages of work you can give out to other people.
Hold regular meetings - daily is best, at least weekly. These meetings have two purposes.
It gets embarrassing to say, 'Well actually I haven't done anything' every time, and most people will make an effort to have something to report. If they won't, they're beyond all hope.
Do code reviews, post them to the whole team if you can (don't tear people to shreds) This will help you set project-wide coding standards, and is one of the best ways to mentor people.
Set milestones within the project and make sure you celebrate hitting them! Even if it's just a long lunch and pizza. See your line manager and find out if you can get a budget for that sort of thing.
In my experience any project that recognises work done with a bit of a party now and again gets a whole lot more out of its coders. You need that positive reinforcement.
Over-communicate
By this I mean hold a meeting and discuss your goals/milestones/requirements/etc. Make sure everyone understands them. Then send round a summary in an email to the whole team. Then print it out on a big piece of paper and pin it to the wall during all your meetings. Make sure it's at the fore-front of people's minds all the time.
Hope some of this is useful.
I think in designing a source control system you have to be aware that there are two different usage models.
CVS has been designed and mostly used for the latter. Tools like SourceSafe and Clearcase were designed, and are almost exclusively used for the former.
One of the obvious differences in approach is file locking on checkout. Obviously there are others as well.
I don't see any reason why one tool could address both models, with suitable ruleset configuration for the administrator. But you have to recognise, and design for, one or the other or both models from the start.
I have to mention it, even though they don't actually sell them, just because they are out and away the sexiest electric car you can imagine (if you can imagine such a thing.)
I'm talking about the Zytek Electric Lotus Elise, of course.
Power to the people! I don't care whether this guy particularly succeeds as long as the idea does. I think it would be the supreme poetic justice if internet radio was transformed and transmogrified into a format that corporate interests could never have any control over. They've done their best to kill a beautiful, barely nascent digital sub-culture, and it's up to us to make sure they don't succeed. If they can't play nice, we won't let them play at all.
Remember this is a war, or it's them or us.
This is bang on the money. NZ is a first world country with a third world economy. (i.e. most of our GDP is primary produce, little or know value added by human skill or knowledge.)
Quite possible; but last I checked mind-reading hadn't become reality as yet so I at least must refrain from making statements such as yours.
Actually you just did.
This report is freely downloadable, but I can't remember where I downloaded it from. Search for OM-Europarl.pdf. Or email me and I'll send it back to you if you like, nut@clear.net.nz
1. That it existed (surprise, surprise)
2. That there is some evidence that the network is used for industrial espionage in some instances.
It goes on to recommend that the only way to protect against the use of this system for industrial espionage is if everybody in Europe, or at least all commercial entities, routinely encrypt all electronic communications.
The point is that in a capitalist society, commercial entities at least often have things to hide for perfectly reasonable and legitimate reasons to do with competition.
Napster weren't going to survive in their original form. They had to deal with record companies in some manner, and they've certainly cut the best deal they could to provide a useful service now. And yes, in a very real way the have just paid the royalties on all those songs you downloaded with their service. They have in fact put in a lot of work to give you a useful service, AND THEN paid out millions of dollars so that it could be free for you (after the fact.)
Everybody who benefitted from their service owes them some thanks at least, myself included. Anybody who wanted to show their appreciation of the gift they gave us might show them a bit of loyalty now, when they need customer loyalty.
I've seen a lot of comments along the lines of, "This is an act of war and we must respond in kind," or "This is an act of war, but we must not act rashly." Both possibly valid responses, but nobody has observed that there is most probably not a nation or state here to go to war with. All the most likely suspects are representatives of dispossessed peoples. What nation will you declare war upon?
To a large extent what GUI tools, visual application builders etc. do is GENERATE code. This means they allow you to generate a lot of working code quickly, but it WILL be of a particular style, and aimed at a certain problem space. I would say they are better for MOST of the problems we solve but not all. I think it's also probable that they encourage us to write a certain type of application, simply by making it easier to write that type of application.
ALWAYS learn to program using CL tools, but don't be scared to use GUI tools, because they can make life so much easier for run-of-the-mill, bread-and-butter programming.
I realise GUI tools do other things as well as generate code, they often incorporate really useful debugging tools etc. But my argument is that a lot of the productivity increase comes from the code generation aspect.
I'm not an astronomer either, but I suspect that part of what makes a planet a planet is its orbit. All the planets orbit the sun in the same plane and the same direction, because they were formed from eddies in the original dust cloud. I guess this means you could also say that what makes a planet a planet is also its method of formation. There is also a definite ratio between the radii of the orbits of the planets, pointed out by some astronomer about a hundred years ago or so, but I don't think it is part of the definition of a planet, just an intersting property that all currently known planets have.
I believe that this has been demonstrated mathematically by someone (possibly Heisenberg?) Someone has at least attempted to prove that it is impossible to model the universe with any model that is in itself smaller than the universe. Or something.
A little bit of natural language processing of a basic nature (look for "reply to this address" type phrases) could also be done if you wanted. But probably any email address in the email would be fair game. Set Eliza up with it's own email address, and see how much traffic you can generate...
I don't think it's the original coffee pot, there have actually been several over the years. This is supposed to have been the longest-serving though. Can't find the reference for this fact, it was somewhere on either the Cambridge University site or on Ebay though...
Actually copying music illegally can cause change, as it indicates a substantial demand, but an unwillingness to pay the current price. the two most reasonable conclusions from this are that these consumers aren't prepared to pay at all, or that they're not prepared to pay quite so much. It's more than likely that record companies will experiment with the latter conclusion if illegal copying continues to expand.
Russia will put anyone in space (well at 80, 000 feet, not much air up there) for about somewhere around US$15 000 I think. I couldn't verify that, that's from memory. The will to do this is clearly present in Russia, and certainly not being blocked by their government. The standard-bearer of communism will probably the nation to open up space commercially.
This is the interesting thing about the definition of AI. Someone, such as Alan Turing, comes up with a provable definition of AI, and someone else manages to write software that meets the proof. Of course, as soon as the software is written, we immediately discard the proof as invalid, because, "We understand how it works," and the software is, "Just a set of rules." Eliza broke the Turing test , and Deep Blue beat our best chess player. Meanwhile as psychologists study how our brain works, it begins more and more to look like a computer. One quote I like from psychology, "At first we studied the soul, then we studied the mind, now there is only behaviour."
Read the book NO LOGO by Naomi Klein, if this story interests you at all.
I also find it interesting that the Russians put him up there cheaper and easier than NASA could have, in fact their whole space program seems more money efficient. I think the problem NASA has at the moment, is that is used to having too much money, and have learnt mostly just how to burn money.
I predict that serious commercial colonisation of space will take place mainly with Russian technology, as they seem to manage budgets better and have more incentive to make their program work with commercial interests.
I take it these probes are mostly metallic, does our solar system have magnetic field? i.e. the combination of the magnetic fields of all the bodies in it.
...Slashdot is mostly about all talk and no action.
This is a point that could be more often here I think. I think the secretary's question, "What is a Slashdot?" should tell us what it is easy to forget when you live on the net, that is that while this is major forum for discussion in internet terms, most of the world never hears what we say. Slashdot is actually a very small and insular clique in world terms.... True, some pornography is legal in the us, and other countries, but certain content is almost universally recognized as being obscene.
This is your assertion, all you now need is some evidence, anecdotal or otherwise to back it up.
For instance, some Muslim countries would consider a photo of a woman showing her bare face or ankles to be pornography, while some asian countries consider prepubescent girls engaged in sex acts to be allowable.
??? You've just tried to back up your assertion of a universal moral position with an example of a difference in moral position. I'm afraid your logic is completely broken.
This is precisely why we need to define the boundaries of what can and cannot be displayed on the internet.
Why? So you can impose your version of morality on a world that has evidently differing standards of morality by your own example?
Your argument is consistent except the instance you've chosen to illustrate your first assertion actually demonstrates the opposite of assertion.
This has real artificial intelligence applications, essentially your "teaching" your robot to remember a route. More interesting if it can find it's way back where it came from, as that is both learning a pattern and then processing it to find a point of origin. This allows possiblity of a feedback loop if you want to get that clever.
Quite frankly there hasn't been a single conclusive study showing that there is any risk from GM crops.
Don't you think it might be worth having some conclusive studies showing that there is NOT a risk from GM crops before we start experimenting with the worlds food supplies? A lack of a proof of existence is not the same thing as proof of non-existence. Please read the Ghost Not.