"Unix for the impatient" is probably one of the finest books I have. I bought on a friends recommendation when I first touch a UNIX box. An now... years later as a seasoned Systems Administrator, I still occasionally pull the thumbed through copy of the shelf.
I used to work at a university, where there was a big push towards Java. This was right as i was finishing my Masters. I did some tutoring while I late during my Undergrad and into my graduate degree. I noticed how the ability of those tutored changed as they switched from Pascal to C to C++ to Java. In general, I found those who knew C and/or assembly to be much more aware of abstractions. It's my believe that this is because when you write code in C or assembly you need to connect the pieces yourself and make abstractions. Languages like Java and such, which eliminitate the need to understand memory allocation, lists and hashes tend to make the programmers lazy. I have to admit that it appeals to me to just have a widget to include which does what I want, but I also remember playing with GUI generators which churn out stubs. Vitually every time was I able to make the design better. I think it is precisely because I had to know what was under the hood that allowed me to write tight code and optimize better than the GUI generator.
The thing is that it's another 'new' technology. The problem is the Microsoft is implementing it. Once an idea is out there it's hard to say you can't use it. This has become all to clear with the atom bomb. Now, I'll conceed that smart tags aren't actually a weapon, but it is a technology that just opens itself up the being abused. I'll grant you that closed sites are horrible, and I'll even agree that smart tags could be cool, but I just don't trust Microsoft in using a technology in ethical ways. They probably won't come out and replace every word with a link to their site, but those who fall out of favor with the regime will certainly not have their site smart-linked. I personally feel Microsoft just found another big stick to flail...
I agree fully. Imagine a mass-mailing from, oh say big Telcom A, and big Telcom B manages to have a lacky stand at every mailbox and slap on one of their stickers. And that's just for advertisments. I have couple of Poems on my Homepage. I don't want anyone to alter the appearance (even purple squigglies), because they look the way I wan't them to look. The publisher/creator of content (whether it is traditional or digital) should have control over their content, however the end-user will always be able to make changes (I've underline passages in a book). The difference is that M$ in essence can look over you shoulder and alter the content (yes, it is an alteration). Whether they use it initially or not doesn't matter. The fact that they control the entire environment makes it harder for average end-users... everything requires an extra step (switch OS, download another browser, disable a feature that was accidentally turned on). I'll stick with my other OS and make plugs for it as often as I can!
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"Unix for the impatient" is probably one of the finest books I have. I bought on a friends recommendation when I first touch a UNIX box. An now ... years later as a seasoned Systems Administrator, I still occasionally pull the thumbed through copy of the shelf.
I used to work at a university, where there was a big push towards Java. This was right as i was finishing my Masters. I did some tutoring while I late during my Undergrad and into my graduate degree. I noticed how the ability of those tutored changed as they switched from Pascal to C to C++ to Java. In general, I found those who knew C and/or assembly to be much more aware of abstractions. It's my believe that this is because when you write code in C or assembly you need to connect the pieces yourself and make abstractions. Languages like Java and such, which eliminitate the need to understand memory allocation, lists and hashes tend to make the programmers lazy. I have to admit that it appeals to me to just have a widget to include which does what I want, but I also remember playing with GUI generators which churn out stubs. Vitually every time was I able to make the design better. I think it is precisely because I had to know what was under the hood that allowed me to write tight code and optimize better than the GUI generator.
The thing is that it's another 'new' technology. The problem is the Microsoft is implementing it. Once an idea is out there it's hard to say you can't use it. This has become all to clear with the atom bomb. Now, I'll conceed that smart tags aren't actually a weapon, but it is a technology that just opens itself up the being abused. I'll grant you that closed sites are horrible, and I'll even agree that smart tags could be cool, but I just don't trust Microsoft in using a technology in ethical ways. They probably won't come out and replace every word with a link to their site, but those who fall out of favor with the regime will certainly not have their site smart-linked. I personally feel Microsoft just found another big stick to flail ...
I agree fully. Imagine a mass-mailing from, oh say big Telcom A, and big Telcom B manages to have a lacky stand at every mailbox and slap on one of their stickers. And that's just for advertisments. I have couple of Poems on my Homepage. I don't want anyone to alter the appearance (even purple squigglies), because they look the way I wan't them to look. The publisher/creator of content (whether it is traditional or digital) should have control over their content, however the end-user will always be able to make changes (I've underline passages in a book). The difference is that M$ in essence can look over you shoulder and alter the content (yes, it is an alteration). Whether they use it initially or not doesn't matter. The fact that they control the entire environment makes it harder for average end-users ... everything requires an extra step (switch OS, download another browser, disable a feature that was accidentally turned on). I'll stick with my other OS and make plugs for it as often as I can!