Science, math, and engineering education and professions are disrespected by the educational system (we'd rather fund our sports teams), the government (your scientific results don't support our politics), businesses (your work is critical to us but we can't pay you more than your overseas competition), and media (entertainers are cool, geeks drool).
Most compiled programs don't need any optimization from the compiler or programmer because their performance is just not that important.
If the program must be fast your first concern should be getting the right answer. I can make any program lightning fast as long as it doesn't have to return the right answer. This may seem trivially obvious but you'd be surprised by how many times optimization attempts end up optimizing away the right answer.
Pick the right algorithm and implement it clearly.
If it's too slow, break out the profiler and optimize.
If it's still too slow, you screwed yourself by not including performance requirements at the very beginning. Maximum performance must be designed in from the start (e.g., look at high performance matrix multiply libraries)
I had already done the mind-expanding study of classical and modern philosphy, Eastern religion, and touchy-feely stuff:). "Zen..." was the book that provided a unified theory for all of it, and at a personal level, rationalized my attraction to technology.
I admit I'm not an expert on philosophy so there may be logical issues with Pirsig's idea of "Quality" that better-read critics have found, but for me, at the time, it didn't matter because it just felt right. "Zen..." put the soul back into my work.
This book is an amazing work for any engineer of any age to study: it interleaves an incredile set of personal, engineering, and philosophical issues into a very readable, consistent story line.
This book turned my life around in college when I was on the edge of total meltdown. After I read it I realized that it's OK to immerse myself in technology and that engineers aren't supposed to follow a recipe and become mindless robots (as we are often depicted). Good engineers must fully engage themselves with each individual problem and only then can create an insightful, clean, and inspiring work.
The point isn't about whether downloading a CD is right or wrong: it's about which "crime" you want the DOJ to spend your tax dollars on during investigation and prosecution.
I guess going after the WorldCom and Enron executives who perpetrated massive fraud and theft on their shareholders, employees, and customers is just too hard for the DOJ. It's much easier to surf the internet for tunes, subpoena an ISP for personal records (thereby avoiding doing any work), and bust a 14 year-old kid who can't afford a new CD since his Dad was was swindled out of his job and pension by the economic damage resulting from widespread, unprosecuted corporate fraud.
I'm using DriveCrypt on my 16MB USB pendrive to store private/sensitive data in a virtual encrypted drive. I like this product because you can install the encryption drivers right on the USB pendrive itself and use it on any system without installing the encryption drivers. When mounting the the encrypted drive the driver asks for the password and I'm AOK as long as I don't share the encrypted drive.
If my pendrive is stolen I at least know that my private data is unusable.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the USB Pen Drive as an alternative to DiskOnKey. The form factor is similar to DiskOnKey and Pendrive claims to plug and play: no drivers required (absolutely required for me). The pen drive also costs less per MB: $31 for 16MB at vs. $30 for an 8MB diskonkey).
I just ordered one so I'll soon find out if it lives up to it's claims.
One for the floating cube and one enclosing "cube" for each face. Granted, the enclosing cubes aren't really cubes anymore, they're actually truncated pyramids (frustrums). An interesting property of this arrangement is that the set of enclosing cubes forms a larger cube. In fact, if you didn't want to allow player ships to occupy the interior of the center cube you could delete it, texture the opposing faces of the enclosing frustrums and only use 6 cubes total. People did this in order to reduce the number of cubes required.
A leading newline to separate the prompt from the previous command's output. usr@host so i know what user i'm logged in as and on what machine (i chop off any trailing domains). I include the tty so if the shell gets hosed i can find it with "ps" in another window and kill it. Round it out with the last component of the directory to remind me where i am (roughly) in the directory tree and I've got all i need.
--
The article mentions that IT workers are not recognized for their true value to the organization and I'll have to agree: too many upper level managers don't realize that their IT investment is a *stategic* investment as opposed to a cost center.
In an information-based economy your IT staff are crucial to the success (or failure) of your fundamental business. Treating IT as a cost-center classifies it as "something to reduce": hence the reluctance to train staff or increase base pay.
The real solution? Increase pay rates and put your brightest technical people at the same decision making level as their managers. When top performing IT architects/designers/coders (not managers!) receive pay rates on the same scale as their management counterparts (because they *produce* results), you'll see the best/brightest flock to the field.
I'm not expecting this to happen anytime soon due
to the general cluelessness of old-line, non-technical, entrenched management PHB's but to hear them cry about their self-created IT shortage is just a bit too much when all they have to do is get out of our way.
This was an interesting post, with interesting follow ups. I can see the benefit of "flat" contact between the heatsink and thermal plate but I also can see the point of the critics w.r.t temperature differences and screw-down mounting deformations.
What I'd really like to see is before and after temperature measurements. I think that's the only way to gauge the effectiveness of any lapping procedures.
I suppose you could also solve the heat-transfer equations for various partial/full contact ratios to get a feel for how much improvement is possible but I'm just not up to it right now.
I looked over most of the reviews and my spin is that the inexpensive hardware routers trade flexibility for size, convenience, and power consumption. I'm personally looking at the Linksys Cable/DSL router since it's inexpensive, does NAT/IPmasq, and contains a built-in 10/100 switch. Downsides are that it only can forward a limited number of ports, the firewall is primitive, and the reporting/logging functions are minimal or missing.
I been doing UNIX software development for almost 17 years, both as a contractor and as an employee, and I've rarely had to do over 40 hours a week. Yes there are exceptions when during critical project phases, but you (and your employer) are asking for burned out, defect-generating zombies if the staff is continously working 60 hour weeks.
Most suits don't get this since all they see is a never ending stream of schedules and deadlines for technology projects they don't understand. Just don't fall for it yourself. Remember you're in this profession because you like it and presumably in it for the long haul. Burning yourself out for a suit that doesn't understand or appreciate the difficulties of challenging technical work is simply self-destructive.
If you're thinking "This lazy old slacker can't compete and obviously doesn't understand new technology or the 'speed of the internet'." you'd be dead wrong. Our startup company *can* compete and our projects are extremely challenging and fun. Don't buy into the falacy that working harder, smarter, and faster is a matter of putting in extra hours.
Working better is a matter of thinking clearly and no one can do that under constant pressure and physical fatigue caused by too many hours. Take a walk during work hours. Do some excercise when normally you'd be coding. Take your kids to an afternoon ball game. Reflect on why it is you're here in the first place -- to slave away in a zombie existence or to live a full life every day.
Probably because I learned vi cold when I first started programming. I like vim because it's relatively small, has a GUI version, and runs on winbloze. The ctags support, syntax coloring, help system, and mouse support meet my needs very well. Every time I've noticed that I'm in "the zone" while editing source code I'm using vi or vim.
I have used emacs (short for Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift) quite a bit but 1) it's modelessness got in the way, at least for me, and 2). it's a kitchen sink editor/email/news/browser/... application and I prefer my applications to be focused on one thing. I know lots of people love emacs and that's AOK with me.
The bottom line is you use what works for you. For me it's vim.
Compare the number of top players using sticks, keys, or mouse on any of the Descent ladders and I think you'll find that the stick is preferred hands down.
Mouselook in D3, btw, doesn't count as a controller option -- mouselook has been universally condemned by the core Descent community since it eliminates the fundamental tactic of getting behind your opponent.
Slashdot Mirror
Science, math, and engineering education and professions are disrespected by the educational system (we'd rather fund our sports teams), the government (your scientific results don't support our politics), businesses (your work is critical to us but we can't pay you more than your overseas competition), and media (entertainers are cool, geeks drool).
I doubt this will change until it's too late.
Most compiled programs don't need any optimization from the compiler or programmer because their performance is just not that important.
If the program must be fast your first concern should be getting the right answer. I can make any program lightning fast as long as it doesn't have to return the right answer. This may seem trivially obvious but you'd be surprised by how many times optimization attempts end up optimizing away the right answer.
Pick the right algorithm and implement it clearly.
If it's too slow, break out the profiler and optimize.
If it's still too slow, you screwed yourself by not including performance requirements at the very beginning. Maximum performance must be designed in from the start (e.g., look at high performance matrix multiply libraries)
I had already done the mind-expanding study of classical and modern philosphy, Eastern religion, and touchy-feely stuff :). "Zen ..." was the book that provided a unified theory for all of it, and at a personal level, rationalized my attraction to technology.
..." put the soul back into my work.
I admit I'm not an expert on philosophy so there may be logical issues with Pirsig's idea of "Quality" that better-read critics have found, but for me, at the time, it didn't matter because it just felt right. "Zen
--
I'm glad to see "Zen ..." at the top of your list.
This book is an amazing work for any engineer of any age to study: it interleaves an incredile set of personal, engineering, and philosophical issues into a very readable, consistent story line.
This book turned my life around in college when I was on the edge of total meltdown. After I read it I realized that it's OK to immerse myself in technology and that engineers aren't supposed to follow a recipe and become mindless robots (as we are often depicted). Good engineers must fully engage themselves with each individual problem and only then can create an insightful, clean, and inspiring work.
--
Those things look *way* too much like "matrix pods" for me. No way I'm sitting down in that.
The point isn't about whether downloading a CD is right
or wrong: it's about which "crime" you want the DOJ to spend
your tax dollars on during investigation and prosecution.
I guess going after the WorldCom and Enron executives who
....
perpetrated massive fraud and theft on their shareholders,
employees, and customers is just too hard for the DOJ. It's
much easier to surf the internet for tunes, subpoena an ISP for
personal records (thereby avoiding doing any work), and bust a
14 year-old kid who can't afford a new CD since his Dad was
was swindled out of his job and pension by the economic
damage resulting from widespread, unprosecuted corporate fraud.
A troll?
I'm using DriveCrypt on my 16MB USB pendrive to store private/sensitive data in a virtual encrypted drive. I like this product because you can install the encryption drivers right on the USB pendrive itself and use it on any system without installing the encryption drivers. When mounting the the encrypted drive the driver asks for the password and I'm AOK as long as I don't share the encrypted drive.
If my pendrive is stolen I at least know that my private data is unusable.
I just ordered one so I'll soon find out if it lives up to it's claims.
---
One for the floating cube and one enclosing "cube" for each face. Granted, the enclosing cubes aren't really cubes anymore, they're actually truncated pyramids (frustrums). An interesting property of this arrangement is that the set of enclosing cubes forms a larger cube. In fact, if you didn't want to allow player ships to occupy the interior of the center cube you could delete it, texture the opposing faces of the enclosing frustrums and only use 6 cubes total. People did this in order to reduce the number of cubes required.
in my .bashrc:
.../\W> '
HOSTNAME=`uname -n`
TTY=`tty`
PS1='\n\u@${HOSTNAME%%.*} $TTY
A leading newline to separate the prompt from the previous command's output. usr@host so i know what user i'm logged in as and on what machine (i chop off any trailing domains). I include the tty so if the shell gets hosed i can find it with "ps" in another window and kill it. Round it out with the last component of the directory to remind me where i am (roughly) in the directory tree and I've got all i need.
--
The article mentions that IT workers are not recognized for their true value to the organization and I'll have to agree: too many upper level managers don't realize that their IT investment is a *stategic* investment as opposed to a cost center.
In an information-based economy your IT staff are crucial to the success (or failure) of your fundamental business. Treating IT as a cost-center classifies it as "something to reduce": hence the reluctance to train staff or increase base pay.
The real solution? Increase pay rates and put your brightest technical people at the same decision making level as their managers. When top performing IT architects/designers/coders (not managers!) receive pay rates on the same scale as their management counterparts (because they *produce* results), you'll see the best/brightest flock to the field.
I'm not expecting this to happen anytime soon due to the general cluelessness of old-line, non-technical, entrenched management PHB's but to hear them cry about their self-created IT shortage is just a bit too much when all they have to do is get out of our way.
This was an interesting post, with interesting follow ups. I can see the benefit of "flat" contact between the heatsink and thermal plate but I also can see the point of the critics w.r.t temperature differences and screw-down mounting deformations.
What I'd really like to see is before and after temperature measurements. I think that's the only way to gauge the effectiveness of any lapping procedures.
I suppose you could also solve the heat-transfer equations for various partial/full contact ratios to get a feel for how much improvement is possible but I'm just not up to it right now.
--
I looked over most of the reviews and my spin is that the inexpensive hardware routers trade flexibility for size, convenience, and power consumption. I'm personally looking at the Linksys Cable/DSL router since it's inexpensive, does NAT/IPmasq, and contains a built-in 10/100 switch. Downsides are that it only can forward a limited number of ports, the firewall is primitive, and the reporting/logging functions are minimal or missing.
choices, choices....
I been doing UNIX software development for almost 17 years, both as a contractor and as an employee, and I've rarely had to do over 40 hours a week. Yes there are exceptions when during critical project phases, but you (and your employer) are asking for burned out, defect-generating zombies if the staff is continously working 60 hour weeks.
Most suits don't get this since all they see is a never ending stream of schedules and deadlines for technology projects they don't understand. Just don't fall for it yourself. Remember you're in this profession because you like it and presumably in it for the long haul. Burning yourself out for a suit that doesn't understand or appreciate the difficulties of challenging technical work is simply self-destructive.
If you're thinking "This lazy old slacker can't compete and obviously doesn't understand new technology or the 'speed of the internet'." you'd be dead wrong. Our startup company *can* compete and our projects are extremely challenging and fun. Don't buy into the falacy that working harder, smarter, and faster is a matter of putting in extra hours.
Working better is a matter of thinking clearly and no one can do that under constant pressure and physical fatigue caused by too many hours. Take a walk during work hours. Do some excercise when normally you'd be coding. Take your kids to an afternoon ball game. Reflect on why it is you're here in the first place -- to slave away in a zombie existence or to live a full life every day.
mkg
I have used emacs (short for Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift) quite a bit but 1) it's modelessness got in the way, at least for me, and 2). it's a kitchen sink editor/email/news/browser/... application and I prefer my applications to be focused on one thing. I know lots of people love emacs and that's AOK with me.
The bottom line is you use what works for you. For me it's vim.
mkg
FYI... Although the press release mentions Linux as a supported OS, I don't see it listed in the preliminary specs on Elsa's page.
Hopefully this is an oversight or I just missed it.
Compare the number of top players using sticks, keys, or mouse on any of the Descent ladders and I think you'll find that the stick is preferred hands down.
Mouselook in D3, btw, doesn't count as a controller option -- mouselook has been universally condemned by the core Descent community since it eliminates the fundamental tactic of getting behind your opponent.
This is great news. The Descent series has been driving my hardware upgrade budget for 4 years now ;). I now have yet another reason to dump windows.