Do Slashdot readers think that the theories used to teach (and learn) programming lead to programmers that tend to approach problems with a 'black box', or 'virtual machine' mentality without considering the entire system? That, in and of itself, would explain a lot of security issues, as well as things as simple as user interface nightmares. Comments?"
But isn't that exactly how we are able to use abstraction and make large, complex systems? A good programmer and engineer is naturally going to want how their piece of the system fits in with the overall machine, but usually it simply isn't practical.
The best case scenario will always be for each member of a development team to understand every nuance of the system and every detail of its interface with the underlying hardware. However, it simply isn't practical (and for some systems it might not even be possible).
I swear to god we need to get republicans out of the white house. I mean, Bush was the best they could come up with? And what idiots chose Bush at the winner of the primaries? OH, the republicans..
Yes, Bush was so inferior compared to the brilliant minds of Al Gore and Ralph Nader. Quit making yourself look stupid with all of this knee-jerk nonsense devoid of any sound rationale.
That's what happens when you sit idly by watch the Nine Gavelers in Black give the Ring of Power to George Orwell Bush....
At this point I have to wonder if some of the more ultra right-wingers like Ashcroft are arranging global annihilation so they can see their biblical end game fantasies come true.
A post with this comment gets an Interesting mod? Oh my what retard has mod points. This is one of the dumbest comments ever made in the history of the world as it has no foundation in reality on any level.
Your rights aren't going anywhere and you know it, so quit with all the doomsday, Orwellian scare tactics. If you are that scared, take your ignorant act to one of those utopian societies like France or Denmark.
This is, by far, the worst book review ever on Slashdot. The book gets a 2/10 from someone who obviously has no use for Visual C++, which tens of thousands of professionals use daily. His primary gripe seems to be that the cover misrepresented what was inside. What kind of idiot spends $50 on technical book without examining its contents? I'm likely to read at least 20-30 pages of the book before purchasing to make sure it fits my needs and most programmers I know are the same way. I think the primary problem here is that the reviewer wasn't a member of the authors' intended audience and thus it had no value to him. I haven't even heard of the book before seeing this review and the reviewer might be right, it might totally suck. The point is though, noone should take his word for it because he didn't have any use for the book in the first place.
There are dozens of books that are more than suitable for the reviewer and his expectations. When the reviewer fails to properly identify the book's audience and it's value to that audience, they aren't doing anyone any favors. What kind of review do you think a romance novelist would give to Stroustrop's C++ book? They obviously aren't the audience the author intended and as a result, their review isn't worth the paper they wrote it on. If you get a book and find that you aren't in the intended audience, you are doing a severe injustice by providing a review. You won't be able to fully ascertain how useful the book actually is and thus won't be able to provide an insightful review. I don't ask my wife for her opinion on programming books and she doesn't ask for my opinion when it comes to interior decorating. In the same vein, I don't want Chris Thompson's opinion on this book.
You missed the point. If you rip music to your X-Box HD, you can use that music in games that support that feature. For example, I've got NIN when playing Project Gotham Racing.
I just went downtown to see the piece many of you have seen on the Internet or on various news broadcasts. It's about the size of the hood of a car, maybe a little bigger. It is mostly burned, but still intact. A long line of flowers and roses sit just inside the yellow police tape and everyone just kind of stares at this charred hunk of metal as if they're hoping it will disappear and all of this will go away.
There are at least 35 large newsvans, some local, some regional, others international. Some opportunistic college students put together a few ill-thought out or poorly drawn signs hoping to get their 15 seconds of fame on television. Others stand alone and silent, only to have a reporter thrust their microphone into their face. They often ablige and offer their two-cents, but they don't insist their point-of-view is any more important than anyone else's. Others reject the opportunity to make a local newscast, seemingly embarrassed that people want to hear what they have to say.
Some people don't speak well and sound ignorant on television, others sound intelligent and genuine, although they might be a little nervous. They are all though, save for the select few attention-mongers, sincere and they most certainly sense that this is all something much bigger than themselves, which it is.
This is a surreal experience for many of us, almost like reading a book. Nacogdoches has around 30,000 residents. It's likely considered a very small town to most of you. We sit about 2 hours due north of Houston and not much happens here. People like it that way. Stephen F. Austin State University is the centerpiece of the town. It's a nice school with about 12,000 students, a number that has been more or less steady for the last decade.
To see people mention Nacogdoches in every other breathe on television is something I never thought I'd see, unless it was some race-baiting Ted Koppel-esque reporter who wants to drag up the demons of racial division from generations past. It's something noone I've encountered is remotely proud of, but it's also a part of our local history, as it is throughout most of the South. I develop software here as a member of a small company. We do good work. We do challenging work. We sometimes do work noone has ever done before. Our business is very much out of place in an area dominated by the timber industry, but it makes us no better or worse than the average Joe who carries his lunchpail into the woods every day.
The thing I'm going to remember most from these last couple of days isn't how the space shuttle, the most recognized symbol of American technological prowess, exploded on what seemed to be a routine re-entry. What I'll remember is how ordinary, everyday people who probably can't name the 9 planets and really aren't all that concerned about it either, looked at a piece of burned metal and felt an intense sadness and pride at the same time. It's very similar to the feeling I got on September 11th, but like I said before, it's one thing to see it on TV and another to have it take place in your own backyard.
I live in Nacogdoches, Texas, which is near where some of the debris fell. At around 8 this morning, I heard a low rumble, almost like an earthquake or something. Then the house starting shaking off and on for about 20-30 seconds. My first thought was to check the major appliances in the house (heat pump, hot water heater, etc.) simply because we don't get earthquakes in this neck of the woods. My wife also got up and said the house was shaking and it woke her up (and it is no small feat to wake her up early on a Saturday morning).
I ruled out any problems with the house and went online hoping maybe to find seismic information or news about an explosion or something. Within a few minutes, I saw the alert on CNN.com suggesting they'd lost contact with Columbia. I instantly knew that's what the rumbling was and I started to fear the worst.
It's not terribly uncommon to hear sonic booms when the shuttle goes over (we seem to be in the path when the shuttles land at Cape Canaveral) but it also isn't uncommon to have low flying B-52s and B-2s. Needless to say, this is a horrible tragedy. Personally though, it's one thing to see it on TV. It's quite another to have it take place in your back yard.
Re:Life Without the Internet
on
Ask Kevin Mitnick
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I don't have any mod points but I'd like to add my two cents in on this question. What kind of answer exactly do you expect? He has no frame of reference (he's never been on the Internet as we know it) so how can he make a decent comparison?
I think the question, in general, is a good one, but I don't think Mr. Mitnick will be able to give an insightful answer.
Like most development shops, we do a great deal of development for multiprocessor machines so we write a lot of multithreaded code. Multithreaded code creates a whole host of new debugging pitfalls that don't show up if the developer is debugging on a single processor workstation. As John Robbins says in his terrific Debugging Applications book, if you are developing a multithreaded application, you better be certain you are doing your debugging in a multiprocessor environment.
From a development standpoint, will a hyperthreaded chip provide an adequate environment in duplicating the behavior of a multi-processor PC well enough that shops can buy cheaper, one CPU machines for development and still be confident in their results? I'm guessing nothing will replace the real thing but I'd be interested in any commentary.
With the Internet, it becomes more and more difficult to keep shows like this on the air. Once upon a time, 'Tomorrow's World' gave you a glimpse of things you'd otherwise never know existed (at least at the time of viewing). With the Internet, anything heralded on television has been already discussed on the web a thousand times.
It's well hashed out how easy it to to fool fingerprinting biometrics, so let's not have at that again. It's a neat concept, but flawed system. To easy to fool and not bulletproof enough
That's why it'll never be a viable consumer product. However, Kroger is able to control both the biometric hardware and methods of bypassing the hardware, so it then becomes more viable in that atmosphere. It also allows them to become their own check verification clearinghouse, so no more outsourcing fraud prevention.
If Kroger can cut down on payment fraud while also making it easier to get in and out of the store, everyone wins (assuming you aren't paranoid about them having your fingerprint biometric). A perfect solution would be nice but they'd be happy with just something better than what they currently have.
My wife is pre-med. I'm the one who's hoping to be driving the Lincoln SUV carting kids back and forth to soccer practice (pulling a Bass boat as well). You've just got to pick 'em right.
[sexist rant]...and there's some poor sap working his ass off to fund her little self-glorification mission as a critic queen.
You know all of those Lincoln SUVs you see driving around with some 40-ish woman carting her kids back and forth to soccer practice? Yep, some poor bastard is slaving to pay for her hair appointments too.[/sexist rant]
The majority of automobile accidents were "caused" by cars that were legally bought as well. Should we get rid of automobiles too? Trees have fallen on people before without warning. Should we cut down all of the trees to prevent such tragedies?
Guns very, very, very rarely cause accidents. If a gun explodes into your face, that's an accident caused by a gun. If a hunter accidentally shoots another hunter, that's an accident caused by a human.
Why, because they thought it was one step closer to taking the guns away! I don't even understand that. It's not like the prints are even that accurate after the gun has been broken in!
Then you agree with the same conclusion the NRA arrived at and, if I remember correctly, they cited exactly what you mentioned as a reason for their opposition.
one of the groups that hold extreme viewpoints on the subject, e.g. the NRA
I am not a member of the NRA and have no immediate intentions of becoming one, but I cannot see how their position can be labeled "extreme". As far as I can tell, they simply want to maintain the status quo and uphold the second amendment. Their position is painted by their opponents as extreme because our culture deems a "moderate" position as being intellectually superior to an "extreme" position. Their opponents have tried all sorts of word gymnastics to diminish the NRA's interpretation of the second amendment, yet the NRA's position has remained consistent and firm.
I remember reading that the majority of crimes were committed with guns obtained illegally (i.e. stolen or bought off of the black market) so I'm unsure what anti-gun advocates intend to accomplish (other than eventually disarming those that abide by the law).
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Oink! Oink!
Must have been originally coded by a Frenchman.
Thanks for the postmodern version of the story.
The best case scenario will always be for each member of a development team to understand every nuance of the system and every detail of its interface with the underlying hardware. However, it simply isn't practical (and for some systems it might not even be possible).
I swear to god we need to get republicans out of the white house. I mean, Bush was the best they could come up with? And what idiots chose Bush at the winner of the primaries? OH, the republicans..
Yes, Bush was so inferior compared to the brilliant minds of Al Gore and Ralph Nader. Quit making yourself look stupid with all of this knee-jerk nonsense devoid of any sound rationale.
That's what happens when you sit idly by watch the Nine Gavelers in Black give the Ring of Power to George Orwell Bush. ...
At this point I have to wonder if some of the more ultra right-wingers like Ashcroft are arranging global annihilation so they can see their biblical end game fantasies come true.
A post with this comment gets an Interesting mod? Oh my what retard has mod points. This is one of the dumbest comments ever made in the history of the world as it has no foundation in reality on any level.
Your rights aren't going anywhere and you know it, so quit with all the doomsday, Orwellian scare tactics. If you are that scared, take your ignorant act to one of those utopian societies like France or Denmark.
This is, by far, the worst book review ever on Slashdot. The book gets a 2/10 from someone who obviously has no use for Visual C++, which tens of thousands of professionals use daily. His primary gripe seems to be that the cover misrepresented what was inside. What kind of idiot spends $50 on technical book without examining its contents? I'm likely to read at least 20-30 pages of the book before purchasing to make sure it fits my needs and most programmers I know are the same way. I think the primary problem here is that the reviewer wasn't a member of the authors' intended audience and thus it had no value to him. I haven't even heard of the book before seeing this review and the reviewer might be right, it might totally suck. The point is though, noone should take his word for it because he didn't have any use for the book in the first place.
There are dozens of books that are more than suitable for the reviewer and his expectations. When the reviewer fails to properly identify the book's audience and it's value to that audience, they aren't doing anyone any favors. What kind of review do you think a romance novelist would give to Stroustrop's C++ book? They obviously aren't the audience the author intended and as a result, their review isn't worth the paper they wrote it on. If you get a book and find that you aren't in the intended audience, you are doing a severe injustice by providing a review. You won't be able to fully ascertain how useful the book actually is and thus won't be able to provide an insightful review. I don't ask my wife for her opinion on programming books and she doesn't ask for my opinion when it comes to interior decorating. In the same vein, I don't want Chris Thompson's opinion on this book.
You're still playing that? Oh, yeah, right. You don't have anything else to play.
I bought my X-Box a few months ago. And yeah, I am still playing it.
I can count the "Great" exclusive Xbox titles on one hand.
That must be quite a hand. I think I saw you on Ripley's a few weeks ago.
You missed the point. If you rip music to your X-Box HD, you can use that music in games that support that feature. For example, I've got NIN when playing Project Gotham Racing.
MS bought Rare in late Sept. for $375 million. I wonder how much of the $348 million reported as losses can be attributed to that acquisition.
Like them or not, MS is in the console business for the long haul whether they turn a profit within the next 3 years or not.
I'd like to make a reply to my initial comment.
I just went downtown to see the piece many of you have seen on the Internet or on various news broadcasts. It's about the size of the hood of a car, maybe a little bigger. It is mostly burned, but still intact. A long line of flowers and roses sit just inside the yellow police tape and everyone just kind of stares at this charred hunk of metal as if they're hoping it will disappear and all of this will go away.
There are at least 35 large newsvans, some local, some regional, others international. Some opportunistic college students put together a few ill-thought out or poorly drawn signs hoping to get their 15 seconds of fame on television. Others stand alone and silent, only to have a reporter thrust their microphone into their face. They often ablige and offer their two-cents, but they don't insist their point-of-view is any more important than anyone else's. Others reject the opportunity to make a local newscast, seemingly embarrassed that people want to hear what they have to say.
Some people don't speak well and sound ignorant on television, others sound intelligent and genuine, although they might be a little nervous. They are all though, save for the select few attention-mongers, sincere and they most certainly sense that this is all something much bigger than themselves, which it is.
This is a surreal experience for many of us, almost like reading a book. Nacogdoches has around 30,000 residents. It's likely considered a very small town to most of you. We sit about 2 hours due north of Houston and not much happens here. People like it that way. Stephen F. Austin State University is the centerpiece of the town. It's a nice school with about 12,000 students, a number that has been more or less steady for the last decade.
To see people mention Nacogdoches in every other breathe on television is something I never thought I'd see, unless it was some race-baiting Ted Koppel-esque reporter who wants to drag up the demons of racial division from generations past. It's something noone I've encountered is remotely proud of, but it's also a part of our local history, as it is throughout most of the South. I develop software here as a member of a small company. We do good work. We do challenging work. We sometimes do work noone has ever done before. Our business is very much out of place in an area dominated by the timber industry, but it makes us no better or worse than the average Joe who carries his lunchpail into the woods every day.
The thing I'm going to remember most from these last couple of days isn't how the space shuttle, the most recognized symbol of American technological prowess, exploded on what seemed to be a routine re-entry. What I'll remember is how ordinary, everyday people who probably can't name the 9 planets and really aren't all that concerned about it either, looked at a piece of burned metal and felt an intense sadness and pride at the same time. It's very similar to the feeling I got on September 11th, but like I said before, it's one thing to see it on TV and another to have it take place in your own backyard.
I live in Nacogdoches, Texas, which is near where some of the debris fell. At around 8 this morning, I heard a low rumble, almost like an earthquake or something. Then the house starting shaking off and on for about 20-30 seconds. My first thought was to check the major appliances in the house (heat pump, hot water heater, etc.) simply because we don't get earthquakes in this neck of the woods. My wife also got up and said the house was shaking and it woke her up (and it is no small feat to wake her up early on a Saturday morning).
I ruled out any problems with the house and went online hoping maybe to find seismic information or news about an explosion or something. Within a few minutes, I saw the alert on CNN.com suggesting they'd lost contact with Columbia. I instantly knew that's what the rumbling was and I started to fear the worst.
It's not terribly uncommon to hear sonic booms when the shuttle goes over (we seem to be in the path when the shuttles land at Cape Canaveral) but it also isn't uncommon to have low flying B-52s and B-2s. Needless to say, this is a horrible tragedy. Personally though, it's one thing to see it on TV. It's quite another to have it take place in your back yard.
I don't have any mod points but I'd like to add my two cents in on this question. What kind of answer exactly do you expect? He has no frame of reference (he's never been on the Internet as we know it) so how can he make a decent comparison?
I think the question, in general, is a good one, but I don't think Mr. Mitnick will be able to give an insightful answer.
Like most development shops, we do a great deal of development for multiprocessor machines so we write a lot of multithreaded code. Multithreaded code creates a whole host of new debugging pitfalls that don't show up if the developer is debugging on a single processor workstation. As John Robbins says in his terrific Debugging Applications book, if you are developing a multithreaded application, you better be certain you are doing your debugging in a multiprocessor environment.
From a development standpoint, will a hyperthreaded chip provide an adequate environment in duplicating the behavior of a multi-processor PC well enough that shops can buy cheaper, one CPU machines for development and still be confident in their results? I'm guessing nothing will replace the real thing but I'd be interested in any commentary.
With the Internet, it becomes more and more difficult to keep shows like this on the air. Once upon a time, 'Tomorrow's World' gave you a glimpse of things you'd otherwise never know existed (at least at the time of viewing). With the Internet, anything heralded on television has been already discussed on the web a thousand times.
If Kroger can cut down on payment fraud while also making it easier to get in and out of the store, everyone wins (assuming you aren't paranoid about them having your fingerprint biometric). A perfect solution would be nice but they'd be happy with just something better than what they currently have.
make new stuff primarily because it's fun, because it's useful, and because they can. ...and to impress a bunch of nameless 15-year-olds on IRC.
About 10% of geeks are in it to challenge and entertain themselves. The other 90% are in it for the pissing contest.
This is Slashdot isn't it?
My wife is pre-med. I'm the one who's hoping to be driving the Lincoln SUV carting kids back and forth to soccer practice (pulling a Bass boat as well). You've just got to pick 'em right.
[sexist rant]...and there's some poor sap working his ass off to fund her little self-glorification mission as a critic queen.
You know all of those Lincoln SUVs you see driving around with some 40-ish woman carting her kids back and forth to soccer practice? Yep, some poor bastard is slaving to pay for her hair appointments too.[/sexist rant]
Disclaimer: I'm just kidding?
The majority of automobile accidents were "caused" by cars that were legally bought as well. Should we get rid of automobiles too? Trees have fallen on people before without warning. Should we cut down all of the trees to prevent such tragedies?
Guns very, very, very rarely cause accidents. If a gun explodes into your face, that's an accident caused by a gun. If a hunter accidentally shoots another hunter, that's an accident caused by a human.
Why, because they thought it was one step closer to taking the guns away! I don't even understand that. It's not like the prints are even that accurate after the gun has been broken in!
Then you agree with the same conclusion the NRA arrived at and, if I remember correctly, they cited exactly what you mentioned as a reason for their opposition.
one of the groups that hold extreme viewpoints on the subject, e.g. the NRA
I am not a member of the NRA and have no immediate intentions of becoming one, but I cannot see how their position can be labeled "extreme". As far as I can tell, they simply want to maintain the status quo and uphold the second amendment. Their position is painted by their opponents as extreme because our culture deems a "moderate" position as being intellectually superior to an "extreme" position. Their opponents have tried all sorts of word gymnastics to diminish the NRA's interpretation of the second amendment, yet the NRA's position has remained consistent and firm.
I remember reading that the majority of crimes were committed with guns obtained illegally (i.e. stolen or bought off of the black market) so I'm unsure what anti-gun advocates intend to accomplish (other than eventually disarming those that abide by the law).
You got it wrong. Instead, it just proves that corporations are as dumb as warez communities think they are.