...I would have one command that couldn't be overridden, which resets the firmware to the known state that the Rover launched with. So even if a well-meaning NASA engineer bricks it, it could be made operational again and re-flashed with corrected firmware.
NASA has some pretty smart folks on staff: I imagine this feature already exists.
Regardless of what Google may have said about its "biggest threat", search engines are the backbone of many other interesting services anyway. Nowadays it's how we get everywhere. Most of the time I barely bother with bookmarks: if I want to find a locksmith in West Fooville, I might google "locksmith in west fooville kentucky" or I might speak it into a phone, but it's the search engine that's doing the heavy lifting. I suspect that the targeted ads in gmail are built on top of their search engine in some fashion, and not just a natural language understanding engine (anybody out there know for certain?).
By the way, if you want a Google [and Amazon] insider's perspective on services and platforms, you must check out Steve Yegge's classic rant on the topic: http://steverant.pen.io/
Agreed, that's the only realistic approach. Build support for URNs into browsers, get the caching infrastructure in place so that URN'ed data migrates seamlessly to follow demand, and finally get people to migrate from URLs to URNs.
And while we're at it, get rid of the "TLD" concept altogetherm, com vs. org vs. net vs whatever. Names should be doled out to match the jurisdiction of regional naming authorities,with a special "top level". So you might have:
*/i/google internationally-registered name
*/us/tomshardware -- nationally-registered trademark/servicemark in the US (similar for/ca,/fr,/de, etc.)
*/us/gov/fbi -- federal-level US agencies
*/us/ny/empirestatebagels -- businesses registered at the state level only
*/us/ny/gov/dmv -- state-level US agencies (New York Dept of Motor Vehicles)
For example: urn:isbn:0451450523 is the URN for The Last Unicorn (1968 book), identified by its [ISBN] book number.
Of course [as the dept. notes] you still need to figure out how to get the bits from place to place, which requires a network of some kind, and protocols built on that network which are not so slavishly tied to one model of data organization that we can't evolve it forward.
Right now, I'm only comfortable setting up autopayment of bills if I've got a nice webpage that makes it absolutely clear how much will be deducted, and when, and from which account, and who it's going to, and for how long, and how I can stop it. With a nice "Are you really sure you want to do this?" confirmation dialog at the end.
I'm sure that could be done verbally, but it seems like that would be a much larger PITA than via a user interface.
Some mistakes should be hard to make accidentally. Generally ones involving health and money.
I would argue that the predominant perception of patents is that they exist to secure the privileges of the inventor. Nowadays they seem to serve as the fulcrum by which litigators pry large sums of money away from alleged violators of their clients' dubiously-granted rights. Whatever the original intent of patents, it was obscured by virtual mountains of cash a long time ago.
Fundamentally, many programming languages are very similar. C++, C#, Java, and even scripting languages like Python and Perl all deal with the same basic concepts and constructs: objects, classes, methods, for-loops, while-loops. What differs is the specifics, and the available libraries.
Now, suppose you were going to the gym for the first time in years after an accident. Your ultimate goal may be to deadlift 250 pounds, but you certainly shouldn't start there.
If your ability to memorize new information has been compromised, then you'll want to start with a language that has very simple rules and syntax. So, avoid C++ and Perl for now. You could start with plain ANSI C -- very straightforward -- but then you'd have no formal object-oriented programming constructs, which is bad in this day and age. Java or C# will both be good formal languages to learn. And if you're into instant gratification, don't want to learn an IDE, and don't mind running things from the command-line for now, consider Python.
But above all, give yourself time. With practice you'll get there. Simple stuff now, games and graphics eventually.
I've been called in to work on a number of software projects over the years, some of which I was dismayed to find were bloated monstrosities. I refuse to leave a mess behind, even if it's not my mess... and if I don't know how long I'll have to work on that code, the sooner I start cleaning the better. Here's my strategy, more or less:
1. Come up with a package or module structure which is reasonable, and not too far off what currently exists. Keep it around as a target, something to work towards, but don't start reorganizing things just yet.
2. Find the lowest-level code and consolidate it into sensible utility classes -- string utils, date/time utils, etc -- conforming to the planned module structure. Get rid of duplication throughout the codebase. Write unit tests first so you can be certain that the migrated code behaves like the original.
3. Whenever you have to work in one specific area of the code base, focus on refactoring that and that alone. Start by documenting what it does and how it works: otherwise you WILL screw it up. If you find something that doesn't make sense, flag it with a TODO comment but don't screw around with it until you understand what it's doing. Write unit tests beforehand to avoid breakage. Repeat.
4. When time allows, delve into neighboring areas of code once you become familiar with them. Prioritize by considering frequency of use and degree of messiness: think "bang for the buck".
But for pity's sake, don't just leave the mess as a mess.
Assuming our universe is the 3-dimensional surface of a 4-sphere, then yes -- just wait long enough, and photons from our galaxy will come zinging back from every direction in the sky. Of course, our sun will have burned out long before then, so we'll probably cease to care...
Experienced and senior individuals should spend at least some time each week reviewing the work of junior developers and helping to bring them up to speed. I do it, and the results are incredibly worth it.
Sadly, some senior individuals prefer to treat the juniors like crap simply *because* they don't know as much.
...that you're new to programming. Visual programming is fun to play with until you try to get a lot of interesting things done very quickly. Language (specifically, the non-graphical sort) still rules the world.
(Curiously, the link in my sig is strangely relevant today.)
Even TFA says that they only claim it's more efficient:
"Here, Microsoft is leading the way, claiming that IE9 is the most energy-efficient browser. Of course, there's no easy way to test this assertion, even with an electrical meter because the computer could be burning electricity on some background task."
Slashdot Mirror
...I would have one command that couldn't be overridden, which resets the firmware to the known state that the Rover launched with. So even if a well-meaning NASA engineer bricks it, it could be made operational again and re-flashed with corrected firmware.
NASA has some pretty smart folks on staff: I imagine this feature already exists.
Regardless of what Google may have said about its "biggest threat", search engines are the backbone of many other interesting services anyway. Nowadays it's how we get everywhere. Most of the time I barely bother with bookmarks: if I want to find a locksmith in West Fooville, I might google "locksmith in west fooville kentucky" or I might speak it into a phone, but it's the search engine that's doing the heavy lifting. I suspect that the targeted ads in gmail are built on top of their search engine in some fashion, and not just a natural language understanding engine (anybody out there know for certain?).
By the way, if you want a Google [and Amazon] insider's perspective on services and platforms, you must check out Steve Yegge's classic rant on the topic: http://steverant.pen.io/
Agreed, that's the only realistic approach. Build support for URNs into browsers, get the caching infrastructure in place so that URN'ed data migrates seamlessly to follow demand, and finally get people to migrate from URLs to URNs.
And while we're at it, get rid of the "TLD" concept altogetherm, com vs. org vs. net vs whatever. Names should be doled out to match the jurisdiction of regional naming authorities,with a special "top level". So you might have:
* /i/google internationally-registered name
* /us/tomshardware -- nationally-registered trademark/servicemark in the US (similar for /ca, /fr, /de, etc.)
* /us/gov/fbi -- federal-level US agencies
* /us/ny/empirestatebagels -- businesses registered at the state level only
* /us/ny/gov/dmv -- state-level US agencies (New York Dept of Motor Vehicles)
* /us/ny/nyc/gov/cityhall -- city-level agencies
The wrangling over the specifics would be fun. :-)
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_resource_name . This is a very old [and good] idea.
For example: urn:isbn:0451450523 is the URN for The Last Unicorn (1968 book), identified by its [ISBN] book number.
Of course [as the dept. notes] you still need to figure out how to get the bits from place to place, which requires a network of some kind, and protocols built on that network which are not so slavishly tied to one model of data organization that we can't evolve it forward.
Right now, I'm only comfortable setting up autopayment of bills if I've got a nice webpage that makes it absolutely clear how much will be deducted, and when, and from which account, and who it's going to, and for how long, and how I can stop it. With a nice "Are you really sure you want to do this?" confirmation dialog at the end.
I'm sure that could be done verbally, but it seems like that would be a much larger PITA than via a user interface.
Some mistakes should be hard to make accidentally. Generally ones involving health and money.
I would argue that the predominant perception of patents is that they exist to secure the privileges of the inventor. Nowadays they seem to serve as the fulcrum by which litigators pry large sums of money away from alleged violators of their clients' dubiously-granted rights. Whatever the original intent of patents, it was obscured by virtual mountains of cash a long time ago.
Fundamentally, many programming languages are very similar. C++, C#, Java, and even scripting languages like Python and Perl all deal with the same basic concepts and constructs: objects, classes, methods, for-loops, while-loops. What differs is the specifics, and the available libraries.
Now, suppose you were going to the gym for the first time in years after an accident. Your ultimate goal may be to deadlift 250 pounds, but you certainly shouldn't start there.
If your ability to memorize new information has been compromised, then you'll want to start with a language that has very simple rules and syntax. So, avoid C++ and Perl for now. You could start with plain ANSI C -- very straightforward -- but then you'd have no formal object-oriented programming constructs, which is bad in this day and age. Java or C# will both be good formal languages to learn. And if you're into instant gratification, don't want to learn an IDE, and don't mind running things from the command-line for now, consider Python.
But above all, give yourself time. With practice you'll get there. Simple stuff now, games and graphics eventually.
So, by the way, is patenting something. The moment any big tech company files for a patent, hordes of onlookers start speculating on what's behind it.
Don't let the AC get to you. If I'd created a new Linux distro I'd want people to know about it too. Your post was ok in my book.
I've been called in to work on a number of software projects over the years, some of which I was dismayed to find were bloated monstrosities. I refuse to leave a mess behind, even if it's not my mess... and if I don't know how long I'll have to work on that code, the sooner I start cleaning the better. Here's my strategy, more or less:
But for pity's sake, don't just leave the mess as a mess.
Ssssssss!!! The Windows, it burns us, it does!!!! Nasty Ballmerses!!!
Another breakthrough is the transparent conductor made of a mixture of silver nanowire and titanium dioxide nanoparticles
Sounds nifty, but I'm still holding out for transparent aluminum. :-)
"So what you're saying, Percy, is that some number you've never calculated might be ten times larger than some other number you've never calculated."
Arthritis? Can't log in. Too much caffeine? Can't log in. Too little? Can't...
When Facebook goes the way of MySpace and Friendster, the Bing results will look incredibly dated and dumb.
Oh, but don't let me stop you, Microsoft. Please go right ahead. :-)
Assuming our universe is the 3-dimensional surface of a 4-sphere, then yes -- just wait long enough, and photons from our galaxy will come zinging back from every direction in the sky. Of course, our sun will have burned out long before then, so we'll probably cease to care...
...the Decabet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRtyBBiyYhI . 10 characters = fewer keys = fewer keystroke errors.
Actually we could make it simpler and enter things in binary, so we'd only need two keys: 0 and 1.
Or maybe cycle through a conventional alphabet with two keys: "Next Character" and "Yeah, That One"....
...Facebook is its own negative-PR department.
Mod parent up, please. Damn but that's perfect.
Experienced and senior individuals should spend at least some time each week reviewing the work of junior developers and helping to bring them up to speed. I do it, and the results are incredibly worth it.
Sadly, some senior individuals prefer to treat the juniors like crap simply *because* they don't know as much.
...that you're new to programming. Visual programming is fun to play with until you try to get a lot of interesting things done very quickly. Language (specifically, the non-graphical sort) still rules the world.
(Curiously, the link in my sig is strangely relevant today.)
Money. She didn't *give* her books away...
Ones and zeroes. Lots of them.
...but that doesn't mean you're going to collect one thin dime from it.
Even TFA says that they only claim it's more efficient:
"Here, Microsoft is leading the way, claiming that IE9 is the most energy-efficient browser. Of course, there's no easy way to test this assertion, even with an electrical meter because the computer could be burning electricity on some background task."
So why did they even bother putting it in there?