You guys gotta remember what CS really is... it's a theoretical subject. It's a branch of mathematics, basically. I do agree that CS profs should at least be familiar with current technology, but a PhD in CS doesn't mean that he's some Linux junkie. This guy could sit in his office all day writing proofs and contribute more to the more of computer science (not to be confused with the computer industry) than all the developers of KDE and Gnome.
That being said, it would make more sense for them to call a witness who is an expert on current operating systems. And that is no reason to go on bashing MIT... it's a great school that has made countless contributions to both computer science and the computer industry.
Second, how can we be proud of creating a weapon that caused such destruction and left our country (and the world) on the edge of destruction for nearly 50 fucking years (and currently, moving closer to the edge than ever before).
Of course such weapons are very very bad, BUT we can be proud of creating such a weapon. Look at the world at that time. The Germans were working on such a weapon, as well as other countries (our allies AND out enemys). Using the bomb was of course a horrible thing, BUT it did save an huge number of American lives. Just based on how many lives were lost fighting in the pacific, imagine how many thousands of Americans would be lost invading mainland Japan? It did bring a quicker end to a horrible war and forced the surrender of a brutal enemy. The "cold war" that followed was a scary time, but at least there was a balance that has prevented the use of such weapons for over 50 years.
Hey guys, seriously, if the schools want to use Windows, they should pay for it.
They do pay for it. What they DON'T pay for is the extra resources they need to use when MS comes beating down their doors and demanding to search the schools. MS gave them an unreasonable amount of time to prepare. I personally don't see how they can justify doing this without going through court first. Shouldn't "Innocent until proven guilty" apply when fighting against a corporation too?
One thing that I noticed while I was in school (1995-2001) was a large increase in the number of people using free software (especially Linux). Also, in 1999 my school started a deal with MS to provide "educational" versions of their software to students. Its much easier to walk over to the computer lab and borrow a legal copy of windows (or VS, etc.) than it is to download a copy, especially with the increase of monitoring on the dorm networks.
Many navies have tallships to train cadet recruits in seamanship. Why wouldn't computer students have to write a program or two on punch cards and feed them to an old CDC pile of blinkenlights, and also toggle-in a bootstrap loader on a PDP-8 front-panel?
Well, the navy is a bit different than the computer science field. Navies are filled with tradition, which is an important part of how the navy functions. It wouldn't be worth it for a school to maintain the ancient historial computer equipment just so that students can know what it was like back in the day. Not to mention that the time spent learning to program on punch cards can be used to learn a modern language that they can use in real life.
I am deffinitly for a history of computing requirement. I would have loved to have heard more about the history of the field, even if I will never have the opportunity to work with most of the old school machines.
Garbage collection is not by definition slow [iecc.com] and is generally the same as new/malloc
But you have to admit there would be much more overhead. Its a matter of keeping track of what memory is not referenced, and that takes a lot of work for a machine, where most other languages the programmer would take care of all that in the code (hopefully).
Occasionally you'll find stuff at pricewatch and other searches for cheaper but I've also noticed a large increase in bait and switch where you'll see something advertised as one price there, but when you get to their site to order it, its price is jacked back up
What I've noticed with pricewatch is that some places have a special price for pricewatch customers. When you click the "Buy Online" link it takes you to their online shopping system but gives you the regular price and you gotta either enter a code someplace or leave a comment saying that you're from pricewatch. I order a good percentage of my stuff from companies I see on pricewatch and I've always got good deals.
Yes, that's exactly how it's supposed to work - just ask any civil rights marchers from the Deep South, for instance. Once the government realizes that they can't throw everyone in jail, the laws get changed. Or sometimes you get a new government.
Not always. That's why our jails are jammed packed full of marijuana smokers with no chance of drug law reform in sight.
I don't think I'm reading too slow, but it appears that you are reading too fast. That comment does not imply that it took me 3 minutes to read 2 lines. It simply states that since I was able to figure out that "Jon's not even trying to make an article look interesting anymore" after reading 2 lines, I don't feel as bad when I stop reading his articles after 3 minutes.
Well, I made it about 2 lines into this article. It's nice to know that Jon's not even trying to make an article look interesting anymore so I don't feel as bad when I stop reading after 3 minutes.
Well, after our previous speculation about what Sega would do after they got out of the hardware biz, it appears we have our answer. CNN is reporting that they will be producing motherboards
Looks to me like that means they're still in the "hardware biz"
What do you guys think: should he stay for the hearing or escape someway back to Russia?. I think he can ask for asylum or something over an Russian embassy.
He's better off staying here. If he did make it back home, then the feds might make a big stink of it and get the Russian government to arrest him and extradite (sp?) him back to us. Then he'll have some more charges on top of what he's got now and he'll deffinitly spend some time in jail for fleeing the country.
Reg Right. You're in. Listen. The only people we hate more than the
Romans are the fucking Judean People's Front.
PFJ Yeah
Judith Splitters.
Francis And the Judean Popular Peoples Front.
PFJ Oh yeah. Splitters.
Loretta And the peoples Front of Judea.
PFJ Splitters.
Reg What?
Loretta The Peoples front of Judea. Splitters.
Reg We're the Peoples front of Judea.
Loretta Oh. I thought we were the Popular Front.
Reg Peoples Front.
Francis Whatever happened to the Popular Front, Reg?
Reg He's over there.
--------[A single old man sits on a lower seat.]
--------{Some POPULAR front, eh?}
PFJ [To the old man.] SPLITTER!
Its pretty sad that things have come to this. But, (preparing to get flamed) its still the people with the overall power over the corrupt politicans. No amount of money will "buy" a law if we elect people who can't be bought. The American system isn't as corrupt as everyone thinks it is, we just tend to elect corrupt people and keep them in office for many many years. The only problem with this is it will require keeping everyone in the country informed, getting people to vote, and getting people to think about who they're voting for, rather than just voting for whoever promises the largest tax cut...
I see your point... I guess its all about how you think about it. PCs and PS2s both have the components that (at least as far as I'm concerned) make up a computer. CPU, memory, I/O. While there is the argument that a PS2 was designed for only one task (games) and isn't very good at things that a 'computer' is good it, one could also argue that the PC wasn't designed for games (more for office work) and has evolved into a game machine (over many many years).
I should also remind you that a computer is also defined by the presence or absence of an operating system
Another good point... but I tend to think of a computer more in terms of the hardware than the software. In this case, if you load the same software (Linux) on a PS2 and a PC, is the PC still a computer and the PS2 still a game machine?
And then again, On the other hand PS2+Linux, well, I don't see the interest of the thing... I don't know if I see the point of it either >:D
In the long run, Japan is going to prove to the United States of Armed-erica that not having to support a pork-barrel military has its advantages. The Japanese are able to divert their funds and ingenuity to real science and productivity
Well, actually quite a bit of our technology has been developed for the military. For example, look at how air travel came to be. It started off as some people tinkering around on their own time (like the Wright brothers), and was eventually adopted by the military and the technology advanced very rapidly. Fighter planes and bombers were designed for the military and because of WWII our planes started using jet propulsion (this had been worked on before the war, but development was really pushed along during WWII). That is the same technology that was used to design the commercial aircraft currently available.
Also, look at the history of rockets. While the Chinese did invent fireworks many thousands of years ago, most modern rocketry comes from inventions like the German V2 rocket (invented by Von Braun if my memory serves me correctly). While those rockets were mostly used for things like bombarding England, they were the same design used later for space exploration and I'm sure are pretty similar to the Japanese rocket mentioned above.
That's just my opinion... now let the flaming begin...
Slashdot Mirror
Dedicated to Cowboy Neal
This guy is supposed to teach CS?
You guys gotta remember what CS really is... it's a theoretical subject. It's a branch of mathematics, basically. I do agree that CS profs should at least be familiar with current technology, but a PhD in CS doesn't mean that he's some Linux junkie. This guy could sit in his office all day writing proofs and contribute more to the more of computer science (not to be confused with the computer industry) than all the developers of KDE and Gnome.
That being said, it would make more sense for them to call a witness who is an expert on current operating systems. And that is no reason to go on bashing MIT... it's a great school that has made countless contributions to both computer science and the computer industry.
Second, how can we be proud of creating a weapon that caused such destruction and left our country (and the world) on the edge of destruction for nearly 50 fucking years (and currently, moving closer to the edge than ever before).
Of course such weapons are very very bad, BUT we can be proud of creating such a weapon. Look at the world at that time. The Germans were working on such a weapon, as well as other countries (our allies AND out enemys). Using the bomb was of course a horrible thing, BUT it did save an huge number of American lives. Just based on how many lives were lost fighting in the pacific, imagine how many thousands of Americans would be lost invading mainland Japan? It did bring a quicker end to a horrible war and forced the surrender of a brutal enemy. The "cold war" that followed was a scary time, but at least there was a balance that has prevented the use of such weapons for over 50 years.
Is his book as bad as his slashdot articles?
Hey guys, seriously, if the schools want to use Windows, they should pay for it.
They do pay for it. What they DON'T pay for is the extra resources they need to use when MS comes beating down their doors and demanding to search the schools. MS gave them an unreasonable amount of time to prepare. I personally don't see how they can justify doing this without going through court first. Shouldn't "Innocent until proven guilty" apply when fighting against a corporation too?
One thing that I noticed while I was in school (1995-2001) was a large increase in the number of people using free software (especially Linux). Also, in 1999 my school started a deal with MS to provide "educational" versions of their software to students. Its much easier to walk over to the computer lab and borrow a legal copy of windows (or VS, etc.) than it is to download a copy, especially with the increase of monitoring on the dorm networks.
It takes a lot of guts to put out a book with such a stupid name.
Many navies have tallships to train cadet recruits in seamanship. Why wouldn't computer students have to write a program or two on punch cards and feed them to an old CDC pile of blinkenlights, and also toggle-in a bootstrap loader on a PDP-8 front-panel?
Well, the navy is a bit different than the computer science field. Navies are filled with tradition, which is an important part of how the navy functions. It wouldn't be worth it for a school to maintain the ancient historial computer equipment just so that students can know what it was like back in the day. Not to mention that the time spent learning to program on punch cards can be used to learn a modern language that they can use in real life.
I am deffinitly for a history of computing requirement. I would have loved to have heard more about the history of the field, even if I will never have the opportunity to work with most of the old school machines.
you people are scary.
No, just angry.
Garbage collection is not by definition slow [iecc.com] and is generally the same as new/malloc
But you have to admit there would be much more overhead. Its a matter of keeping track of what memory is not referenced, and that takes a lot of work for a machine, where most other languages the programmer would take care of all that in the code (hopefully).
Occasionally you'll find stuff at pricewatch and other searches for cheaper but I've also noticed a large increase in bait and switch where you'll see something advertised as one price there, but when you get to their site to order it, its price is jacked back up
What I've noticed with pricewatch is that some places have a special price for pricewatch customers. When you click the "Buy Online" link it takes you to their online shopping system but gives you the regular price and you gotta either enter a code someplace or leave a comment saying that you're from pricewatch. I order a good percentage of my stuff from companies I see on pricewatch and I've always got good deals.
Yes, that's exactly how it's supposed to work - just ask any civil rights marchers from the Deep South, for instance. Once the government realizes that they can't throw everyone in jail, the laws get changed. Or sometimes you get a new government.
Not always. That's why our jails are jammed packed full of marijuana smokers with no chance of drug law reform in sight.
I don't think I'm reading too slow, but it appears that you are reading too fast. That comment does not imply that it took me 3 minutes to read 2 lines. It simply states that since I was able to figure out that "Jon's not even trying to make an article look interesting anymore" after reading 2 lines, I don't feel as bad when I stop reading his articles after 3 minutes.
Well, I made it about 2 lines into this article. It's nice to know that Jon's not even trying to make an article look interesting anymore so I don't feel as bad when I stop reading after 3 minutes.
Nevertheless, everyone and their mothers in the US know that the really darn good cars are produced in Germany.
I really don't care what my mother knows... I'll stick to my chevy, thank you..
I never understood where this comes from.
Its one of those puzzles that no one will never figure out, kinda like why people find Norm Macdonald funny in the first place.
Well, after our previous speculation about what Sega would do after they got out of the hardware biz, it appears we have our answer. CNN is reporting that they will be producing motherboards
Looks to me like that means they're still in the "hardware biz"
What do you guys think: should he stay for the hearing or escape someway back to Russia?. I think he can ask for asylum or something over an Russian embassy.
He's better off staying here. If he did make it back home, then the feds might make a big stink of it and get the Russian government to arrest him and extradite (sp?) him back to us. Then he'll have some more charges on top of what he's got now and he'll deffinitly spend some time in jail for fleeing the country.
He's gonna have a lot of e-mail to catch up on. Wasn't he in jail for the whole SirCam bit?
Not to mention all the slashdot articles he's gonna have to read about himself...
Reg Right. You're in. Listen. The only people we hate more than the
Romans are the fucking Judean People's Front.
PFJ Yeah
Judith Splitters.
Francis And the Judean Popular Peoples Front.
PFJ Oh yeah. Splitters.
Loretta And the peoples Front of Judea.
PFJ Splitters.
Reg What?
Loretta The Peoples front of Judea. Splitters.
Reg We're the Peoples front of Judea.
Loretta Oh. I thought we were the Popular Front.
Reg Peoples Front.
Francis Whatever happened to the Popular Front, Reg?
Reg He's over there.
--------[A single old man sits on a lower seat.]
--------{Some POPULAR front, eh?}
PFJ [To the old man.] SPLITTER!
and that really nasty way they come round with sticks and force you to buy.
Exactly! Who the hell wants to buy a stick from them anyway!
Money buys laws.
Its pretty sad that things have come to this. But, (preparing to get flamed) its still the people with the overall power over the corrupt politicans. No amount of money will "buy" a law if we elect people who can't be bought. The American system isn't as corrupt as everyone thinks it is, we just tend to elect corrupt people and keep them in office for many many years. The only problem with this is it will require keeping everyone in the country informed, getting people to vote, and getting people to think about who they're voting for, rather than just voting for whoever promises the largest tax cut...
I see your point... I guess its all about how you think about it. PCs and PS2s both have the components that (at least as far as I'm concerned) make up a computer. CPU, memory, I/O. While there is the argument that a PS2 was designed for only one task (games) and isn't very good at things that a 'computer' is good it, one could also argue that the PC wasn't designed for games (more for office work) and has evolved into a game machine (over many many years).
... I don't know if I see the point of it either >:D
I should also remind you that a computer is also defined by the presence or absence of an operating system
Another good point... but I tend to think of a computer more in terms of the hardware than the software. In this case, if you load the same software (Linux) on a PS2 and a PC, is the PC still a computer and the PS2 still a game machine?
And then again, On the other hand PS2+Linux, well, I don't see the interest of the thing
buy/build an f'ing computer
Isn't the PS2 a computer? It might look a little different than a typical "Personal Computer", but inside its very similar.
In the long run, Japan is going to prove to the United States of Armed-erica that not having to support a pork-barrel military has its advantages. The Japanese are able to divert their funds and ingenuity to real science and productivity
Well, actually quite a bit of our technology has been developed for the military. For example, look at how air travel came to be. It started off as some people tinkering around on their own time (like the Wright brothers), and was eventually adopted by the military and the technology advanced very rapidly. Fighter planes and bombers were designed for the military and because of WWII our planes started using jet propulsion (this had been worked on before the war, but development was really pushed along during WWII). That is the same technology that was used to design the commercial aircraft currently available.
Also, look at the history of rockets. While the Chinese did invent fireworks many thousands of years ago, most modern rocketry comes from inventions like the German V2 rocket (invented by Von Braun if my memory serves me correctly). While those rockets were mostly used for things like bombarding England, they were the same design used later for space exploration and I'm sure are pretty similar to the Japanese rocket mentioned above.
That's just my opinion... now let the flaming begin...