While I do like Python, it doesn't have the support behind it that Perl does. Thats why I use Perl, and not Python.
You can hardly compare Python with Perl. Perl excels at trivial tasks (simple sysadmin things) while Python delivers stuff that software engineers need (excellent OO, dynamic (but not loose) typing, and scalability).
Actually, the formatting isn't that big of a problem and you will learn to like it with time. And BTW, you not using Python is your own loss, and possibly also a loss for the company you are working for.
The Media Terminal computer can function as a video games player, MP3 digital music player, internet web browser, digital TV recorder and digital TV set-top box
I find all these features more interesting than games. Why do people whine about "will there be games"? Don't you ever get it? I don't care about games, I want an open, hackable heart for the living room. Plus, I will need to get a digital Tv set-top box anyway. Nokia is smarter than Indrema - it doesn't overhype the gaming part.
I think people prefer perl because, given all its intricacies and built-in features, programming in perl is fun. It's an adventure.
Have you tried Python? I'm a sucker for the fun-factor in programming languages, and Pythons straight, clean syntax and straightforward implementation of object-oriented ideas (totally dynamic binding is a bliss for Quick-and-Dirty stuff) makes it every bit as fun as perl. Python "just feels right", while Perl is "everything for everyone" .
Ever tried doing object oriented development in Perl? Used lots of references (Python uses references all the time), typeglobs? Fun? Well, perhaps it's fun but some people don't have time to learn all that stuff just to learn the kludges of one programming language.
The founder has found employment with a Japanese electronics company, and plans to create a similar device, without game support.
But this is *good* news! What I was really expecting from Indrema was not games, but an open set-top box. We need DVB, program recording functionality, broadcast code cracking, real-time info screens (stock prizes, slashdot), and whatever all the krazy d00ds around the world come up with.
This makes sense, but it would require implementing everything as a Corba server. Perhaps Gnome might be going for something like this?
And please don't refer to Visual Basic while discussing OO methodology. The mere character sequence (VB) instantly fills everybody with mindless rage, thus preventing them from considering what they just read.
The keyboard interface HAS been implemented (on X), just not standardized. Win + T launches an xterm, why can't they make similar shortcuts for all the apps?
Also, it should be possible to use longer sequences of keys a' la emacs. Win + w + s should open up a web browser and navigate to slashdot instantly. Similarly, Win + f + h should open up the home directory browser (of konqueror/explorer (not "view-as-web page") type, not the gmc point & drool krap), win + f + r root directory, win + f + e should open/etc and so on... everyone get the idea?
Why fight over something like this? Why not make all the code compile on all the platforms out-of-the-box (both use gcc, anyway). All of us should support Unix in general, and don't let the fragmentation eat it up & make it unapproachable by the uninitiated.
And BTW, FreeBSD can't be installed on a Ez-Drive'd HD. Even Slinky could do that.
(As a side note: I'm downloading NetBSD pkg-iso:s 1 & 2 now...)
Encrypt everything. And send more bogus messages than real ones (a 10:1 ratio seems right).
Sounds like a plan (why is this not modded up?). A future version of emacs should include an option to send M-x spook through UK. There truly is more of us than them... the only problem is disposing of that garbage mail without govt identifying it as garbage.
plutonium strategic FSF Noriega Cocaine Khaddafi nuclear $400 million
in gold bullion Ortega cracking Delta Force domestic disruption BATF
Albanian South Africa
GTK supports an automatic keyboard shortcut feature -- highlight any menu item with the mouse and hit the key combo that you want to be the shortcut.
Interesting - I have to test this when I get home (I've never heard of tha tbefore). I'm running XFce which (I think) uses GTK.
Other suggestions:
Make apps launchable by pressing win + a, [appletter] (e=emacs, n = netscape, r=root filemanager, h = home dir filemanager. When used from file manager, launch the app for that file.
In any case, the good thing about both Gnome and KDE is that if anyone wants any of those windows features, they can be coded in in a night.
Perhaps. And I am looking forward to some developer to spend that night doing all the "uncool" and "trivial" alterations that would boost the usability by 400 percent.
Let me guess, you're an Unix zealot. Only someone who's been completely indoctrinated to the New Jersey Cause would honestly think that Unix is "natural".
Unix is "natural" when compared to windows (which are the 2 OSen that a high school kid will be most familiar with). Unix has a programmer-friendly approach - simple apis, all the dev tools are handy, free & documented. Yes, "worse" is actually better, especially for kids. We should let them be playful, curious, and enthusiastic - not make them start developing apps in corporate setting immediately.
If you got out of your coccoon for a while, you'd see that not everyone thinks like you, not everyone worships Unix.
At work, I program with windows, for windows.
Unix isn't in itself any less proprietary or commercial than Windows.
Non-proprietary versions of *nix are available.
I still think Unix is more educational than windows. It is more fun, and that should be enough. Smart kids don't think that "if I learn this, I will get a good job". They think along the lines of "that seems like a smart and elegant implementation" or "Wow, I could do some really nifty stuff with that construct/system call/widget".
Like anyone ever learned to be a good programmer in school...
We don't need to worry - unix has the "natural appeal" for aspiring programmers. And, with unix,they get all the necessary tools for free. This microsoft program might teach programming to someone who will never really be a good programmer - good programmers are "natural" (at least they have the "programmers drive"), and don't wait for school to teach them something they would learn much earlier if they just bothered to read some books.
This seems kinda desperate. Is microsoft really losing ALL the interest among developers?
Hey 1.4Ghz means that the buttons on Java GUIs will go up and down almost in *real-time*. Wow. those wierdos in the Java development camp will be dancing in the air!
There actually is some kind of point there. Icreasing processor speeds allows developers to use safer, easier and more elegant methods/languages in program development, and ignore speed concerns (apart from using good algorithms, of course).
Why do ppl keep on whining about how games is what is important, and everything else is trivial? I, for one, want to have a console whose hardware (HD, memory, display, net connection) can be exerted to the fullest extent by the software, and OSS is the one way to guarantee it. If/when Indrema goes "out", there will still be software coming for it - from independent developers. Not so with X-Box and PS2.
And, with the damn thing you can do whatever you want (hopefully, at least at some point of time... after someone h4x0ring if nothing else). You can make this the control center of your living room/spare time, or whatever. Why can't people see the beauty behind this scheme?
It would be cool, if somebody could tweak this box to make x-box games work. i am sure that a lot of games will come out for the x-box first... we could make microsoft whine...
Yeah, microsoft would whine all the way on the road to bank, to cash in the license payments for the games sold. It wouldn't have to sell as many consoles at loss that way.
Nah. Ultima IX runs quite well on my PII/266, 64M, Voodoo2. And it's a beautiful game, taking place in a beautiful surroundings and with a moody soundtrack. It was interesting to see what all those places we have learned to know and love (new magincia, paws) look like.
I wonder what Ultima V would been like in a setting like this. *sigh*
I bet the copy protected games will be cracked in a due time, and released as nonprotected versions... just as in PC market. Which is what gives Indrema a certain edge over PS2 and X-Box (which probably require hardware modifications). I hope this doesn't turn away the developers, though...
I would also guess there will be a huge market for all kinds of open-sourced creative ways to utilize/abuse the television. With any luck this will be the set-top box to end all set-top boxes.
And the port of Angband for this thing will obviously bring linux gaming to the masses.
The process of disclosing false or unverified information about other products with functional similarity that, while not proven to be correct, creates scaredness, insecurity and hesitation within the administrative organs of a corporation - thus causing them to favor the product of the corporation having the license of this patent.
Slashdot Mirror
Care to be a bit more technical?
You can hardly compare Python with Perl. Perl excels at trivial tasks (simple sysadmin things) while Python delivers stuff that software engineers need (excellent OO, dynamic (but not loose) typing, and scalability).
Actually, the formatting isn't that big of a problem and you will learn to like it with time. And BTW, you not using Python is your own loss, and possibly also a loss for the company you are working for.
Kinda surprising that it's ok to use the word "Monopoly" on MSNBC. Let's just wait until this article get's withdrawn from the site.
Or LISP trauma. Perl strives to avoid orthogonality at all costs.
They are not trying to compete with Sony. PS2 can't do most of the stuff this Media Terminal does.
I find all these features more interesting than games. Why do people whine about "will there be games"? Don't you ever get it? I don't care about games, I want an open, hackable heart for the living room. Plus, I will need to get a digital Tv set-top box anyway. Nokia is smarter than Indrema - it doesn't overhype the gaming part.
Have you tried Python? I'm a sucker for the fun-factor in programming languages, and Pythons straight, clean syntax and straightforward implementation of object-oriented ideas (totally dynamic binding is a bliss for Quick-and-Dirty stuff) makes it every bit as fun as perl. Python "just feels right", while Perl is "everything for everyone" .
Ever tried doing object oriented development in Perl? Used lots of references (Python uses references all the time), typeglobs? Fun? Well, perhaps it's fun but some people don't have time to learn all that stuff just to learn the kludges of one programming language.
Obviously, perl rocks for awk/sed style stuff.
But this is *good* news! What I was really expecting from Indrema was not games, but an open set-top box. We need DVB, program recording functionality, broadcast code cracking, real-time info screens (stock prizes, slashdot), and whatever all the krazy d00ds around the world come up with.
*drool*
Errr.. What? There ís no connection between xml and http (excluding SOAP), you could as well send any arbitrary ascii-based format.
This makes sense, but it would require implementing everything as a Corba server. Perhaps Gnome might be going for something like this?
And please don't refer to Visual Basic while discussing OO methodology. The mere character sequence (VB) instantly fills everybody with mindless rage, thus preventing them from considering what they just read.
Also, it should be possible to use longer sequences of keys a' la emacs. Win + w + s should open up a web browser and navigate to slashdot instantly. Similarly, Win + f + h should open up the home directory browser (of konqueror/explorer (not "view-as-web page") type, not the gmc point & drool krap), win + f + r root directory, win + f + e should open /etc and so on... everyone get the idea?
No, I'm not going to implement this.
And BTW, FreeBSD can't be installed on a Ez-Drive'd HD. Even Slinky could do that.
(As a side note: I'm downloading NetBSD pkg-iso:s 1 & 2 now...)
Sounds like a plan (why is this not modded up?). A future version of emacs should include an option to send M-x spook through UK. There truly is more of us than them... the only problem is disposing of that garbage mail without govt identifying it as garbage.
plutonium strategic FSF Noriega Cocaine Khaddafi nuclear $400 million in gold bullion Ortega cracking Delta Force domestic disruption BATF Albanian South Africa
Interesting - I have to test this when I get home (I've never heard of tha tbefore). I'm running XFce which (I think) uses GTK.
Other suggestions:
Perhaps. And I am looking forward to some developer to spend that night doing all the "uncool" and "trivial" alterations that would boost the usability by 400 percent.
Hint: Keyboard shortcuts!
Unix is "natural" when compared to windows (which are the 2 OSen that a high school kid will be most familiar with). Unix has a programmer-friendly approach - simple apis, all the dev tools are handy, free & documented. Yes, "worse" is actually better, especially for kids. We should let them be playful, curious, and enthusiastic - not make them start developing apps in corporate setting immediately.
If you got out of your coccoon for a while, you'd see that not everyone thinks like you, not everyone worships Unix.
At work, I program with windows, for windows.
Unix isn't in itself any less proprietary or commercial than Windows.
Non-proprietary versions of *nix are available.
I still think Unix is more educational than windows. It is more fun, and that should be enough. Smart kids don't think that "if I learn this, I will get a good job". They think along the lines of "that seems like a smart and elegant implementation" or "Wow, I could do some really nifty stuff with that construct/system call/widget".
We don't need to worry - unix has the "natural appeal" for aspiring programmers. And, with unix,they get all the necessary tools for free. This microsoft program might teach programming to someone who will never really be a good programmer - good programmers are "natural" (at least they have the "programmers drive"), and don't wait for school to teach them something they would learn much earlier if they just bothered to read some books.
This seems kinda desperate. Is microsoft really losing ALL the interest among developers?
There actually is some kind of point there. Icreasing processor speeds allows developers to use safer, easier and more elegant methods/languages in program development, and ignore speed concerns (apart from using good algorithms, of course).
Why do ppl keep on whining about how games is what is important, and everything else is trivial? I, for one, want to have a console whose hardware (HD, memory, display, net connection) can be exerted to the fullest extent by the software, and OSS is the one way to guarantee it. If/when Indrema goes "out", there will still be software coming for it - from independent developers. Not so with X-Box and PS2.
And, with the damn thing you can do whatever you want (hopefully, at least at some point of time... after someone h4x0ring if nothing else). You can make this the control center of your living room/spare time, or whatever. Why can't people see the beauty behind this scheme?
Yeah, microsoft would whine all the way on the road to bank, to cash in the license payments for the games sold. It wouldn't have to sell as many consoles at loss that way.
Nah. Ultima IX runs quite well on my PII/266, 64M, Voodoo2. And it's a beautiful game, taking place in a beautiful surroundings and with a moody soundtrack. It was interesting to see what all those places we have learned to know and love (new magincia, paws) look like.
I wonder what Ultima V would been like in a setting like this. *sigh*
M$ X-box => MSX-box is a natural name choice for the follow-up to the previous legendary Microsoft effort.
I would also guess there will be a huge market for all kinds of open-sourced creative ways to utilize/abuse the television. With any luck this will be the set-top box to end all set-top boxes.
And the port of Angband for this thing will obviously bring linux gaming to the masses.
The process of disclosing false or unverified information about other products with functional similarity that, while not proven to be correct, creates scaredness, insecurity and hesitation within the administrative organs of a corporation - thus causing them to favor the product of the corporation having the license of this patent.