Comments are useful if kept up to date with the code. Otherwise they turn into bald faced lies or wishful thinking.
Code that follows a logical structure, proper use of white-space, well-name variables and methods, etc is far easier to read and debug than code that has a lot of comments. Comments are non-standard and difficult to search for when looking for a problem.
Comments are best reserved for things which are non-trivial to figure out by reading and following the code.
If you don't want devs turning off virus scanning then don't have it aggressively scanning constantly and don't use bloated junk that takes over the system. Virus scanners are huge productivity killers when not properly configured as they make systems crawl. Check on write and nightly scans are sufficient.
I turn that crap off too if it's preventing me from doing my job. It can be turned back on at night before I go home so it can do it's thing when it's not affecting my work.
Home security systems rely on a land line. If we didn't have the security system we'd get rid of the home phone. It would cost several hundred to get a cellular box for the security system which just isn't worth it. Instead we have a MagicJack for long distance calling and basic land line service. For cellular service we just use TracFone. It's very rare that a phone call must be made and no regular phone is available. An internet connection is a must anyway so I don't consider that into the cost of a MagicJack.
If VOIP were really that great the market forces would just naturally phase out landlines. It's actually being phased out by cell phones. In another generation or two there will be no question whether or not to cut the wire and use the resources for something else.
While it sounds like a fantastic idea, the ability to give out loans is limited to banks. Verizon would have to start up a new business or outsource that end of the business to someone else, thereby increasing the price further. Because phones are technology which is obsolete as soon as it gets in your hands, good luck getting companies to finance a $600 phone for three years when it'll be worth less than a hundred within a year or two. In practice it's worth zero within six months because there will be no buyers for your old phone when the new shiney comes out.
People do horrible things to their houses when they get repossessed. How do banks plan on getting the phone back from people who don't pay their bill? What are the odds it'll still be working and in resellable condition?
Banks only want to finance things which retain their value longer than the loan.
An additional problem is that anything less than $1500 in most states is small claims. So the bank would have to send out a lawyer to deal with you in small claims court which costs more than the phone is worth. The plane ticket to make the court date would cost more than the phone.
It's a good idea in theory but there's just no way it's going to happen. It's simply not worth the hassle.
Electricity is not a right. It will get cut off if you don't pay the bill.
If electricity is a right like free speech then at some point maybe we'll get to cut off free speech because it's a right just like electricity. Forget to pay your free speech bill and off it goes.
We have inalienable rights endowed by a creator. In other words, not given to us by men and as such cannot be taken away by men.
We must be pretty well off in this country when we can start calling commodities and the inventions of men "rights."
"Materialism" is not a right. You do not have a right to stuff. Free speech, the right to bear arms, a common trait of all things that are actually rights is that they do not cost money. They are intangible.
You do not have a right to tangible things. They cost money. All you can do is help lower costs so you can afford them.
Why wouldn't a jury believe you had no intention of downloading kiddie porn when you were the one who reported it to the cops? Calling the cops sends it up the line to who you got it from.
The summary states that if you accidentally download kiddie porn you need to call the cops asap. Typically, people who are guilty or trying to hide something don't call the cops on themselves.
came out long before this global warming nonsense.
Environmental responsibility was a legitimate issue that was hijacked by global warming alarmism. Recycling programs have been around long before global warming.
Global Warming and Environmentalism are two distinct issues. It's pretty sad that you feel a need to tell people that pollution is bad just because "global warming" might not be real.
That's like getting presents for 20 years from your parents, suddenly finding out about Santa and then being afraid that you won't get presents if Santa isn't real.
If you're going to be "scripting" in C on Windows you might as well go fully compiled with IIS (free with any Windows OS you'd be running on a server) and C# (Express version also free). Get MySQL with ODBC and you're all set.
I use PHP on Apache for flexibility. If I wanted to use C I'd compile it.
What was created here could probably be extended to look at two web cams simultaneously to calculate the 3D space rather then relying on two separate images from one camera.
What this software is doing is looking at the rotation of an object rather than displacement. So it may need some other adjustments besides just using two cameras to get two source images at once.
It may help the modeling process if chroma keying could be used to make the camera ignore supporting objects like a turn table or a hand that's holding the object. Another improvement could be to automatically cut out excess vectors and triangles. It wouldn't be too difficult (for someone who can make this type of software) to determine that the plane that makes up the side of the demo building is virtually flat and reduce the complexity to two triangles.
One of the key limiting factors to amateurs making mods for popular games is the expense and complexity of 3D modeling software. Few good coders are also artists. And few good artists are also coders.
Back in the day anyone could put Barney in DooM or Wolf3D. Now it takes expensive software and a lot of time to shoot up your favorite character you love to hate.
Curing the disease is just another form of rehabilitation. However, it should never be looked at as way to excuse behavior. Humans have the unique ability to act contrary to their natural impulses. The person may have a disease but that does not excuse their inability to restrain themselves and they still must suffer the consequences for their actions. A person is responsible for determining their own triggers and learning to deal with them.
The advantage to a curable disease is that the person can more easily be "rehabilitated." Remove the tumor or whatever and the person can be confident they will not have to fight so hard to restrain themselves from doing the bad behavior in the future.
The only crime that should not bother with any form of rehabilitation is murder. Society should not care why you did it (as long as it was not accidental or self defense), only that you did and we can't risk more lives by hoping that you're "cured."
Unless you have power problems or financial restrictions you're better off with dedicated boxes. I currently run 3 old computers. Ubuntu, Windows XP, Windows 2003 with Apache on XP running PHP sites and doing reverse proxy for the IIS server on the 2003 box. Ubuntu handles memcache. Because I'm not made out of money I'm going to virtualize all three systems onto one quad core system which will cost around $600 rather than $1800 for three new systems. It'll also cut down on power usage.
Slowness can be caused by any number of issues. An old harddrive can cause a system to be sluggish. Just imaging the existing systems onto brand new drives could make things better. Upgrading the network to 1Gbit or just making sure the switches you have are performing could help. Putting more memory into existing systems could also speed things up.
Make sure the power supplies are running well, fans aren't clogged with dust, and that proper cooling is in place.
If all else is not sufficient, progressively purchase new systems to replace old ones and give the old ones to charity after 6 months to make sure everything is good.
When Arizona State called asking for money I told them to tell Michael Crow I hope he's happy with his tuition hikes because he's never getting another dime from me. The way I see it, he already stole about $6000 dollars from me (they violated the state constitution to make those increases). I'm not going to voluntarily give more and my daughter will most likely not attend ASU. We're putting away money so she can go anywhere.
Students get a higher eduction, get better jobs, make more money, and pay more taxes which gets put back into the schools.
If we want to focus on "fair" then homeowners with children who don't go to public school need to be except from public school related taxes.
If the government wants their money "now" they better be prepared to lose money later.
If you're an amature looking to turn professional then doing impressive projects (even if they're not widely used) is a good way to beef up your resume. There are plenty of companies looking for Drupal people so if you want to learn Drupal doing a social networking site is a good way to do that. Put it on your resume and list a link so potential employers can see what you're capable of.
Even if you're a professional doing things on your own time is a good way to learn new things that can be brought back into your workplace to help move you up in the company.
I've historically listed several projects I've done on my own time on my resume and at every interview I get asked about them. Showing an initiative to use your own time to learn a skill is a quality companies are looking for.
...better distribution of funds. The majority of money for schools is put into special ed instruction which leaves scraps for everyone else. The public school system is a money pit. Whenever funds are cut the administration inevitably takes it out on teachers to extort tax payers. If people would stop giving into that game and demand that schools make better use of the money they do have our eduction system would be better off.
this is probably wrong on a couple of levels. First, teachers don't really have money to spend. And second, at every job I've had the employers own my work. If the teachers were doing things above and beyond what was required to do their job then maybe.
http://2sa.me/ is my own URL shortener service I just whipped up.
It's running off a GoDaddy account.
It's using a two hash method of storing and retrieving URLs quickly. The URL is stored once based on the MD5 hash of the URL (for finding URLs that are being submitted) and once based on the MD5 of the short code (for fast lookup when redirecting). Given one you can find the other. URLs are stored across 4096 tables.
We'll see if it manages to earn $9 over the next year.
The main feature (redirecting) is trivial and capable of being handled with a GoDaddy account. The economy package (free with domain) gives you 300GB per month of transfer and 10GB of space to work with. GoDaddy claims to limit the size of your DB to hundreds of megs or so but the real limit is several GB.
I can see that the additional features of tracking clicks and what not (which should be handled on the individual sites, not by the url redirector) would result in far more resources being needed.
If these sites don't want to go out of business due to increasing costs then the issue is trying to offer more than they need to. Cut features and stick to the core functionality.
But, I guess some people would rather drive themselves into the ground than look for ways to save money and resources.
Years ago I ran a web server off a home connection using Windows Me and Apache.
I logged over 1 million page views in a month.
As someone else mentioned, it's (possibly) all the click tracking and storing of links perpetually which will eat up database space which results is lower response time without more or better hardware.
$6.99 a year for the domain with free standard hosting from GoDaddy and you're set.
It's not like it's a particularly difficult task to create and run these types of sites. With a simple cron script to clear out links which haven't been clicked in X amount of days you won't even have to worry about your DB ballooning out of control.
Throw up Google AdSense on the user facing side to draw in funds and point both GoDaddy and Google at the same bank account. Google giveth and GoDaddy taketh away. Throw in a hundred to start and you're good to go for a decade.
Slashdot Mirror
"Fun" is not the means to an education it is the primary function of it.
I use my education to do a lot of fun things. I do not use fun to get an education.
Comments are useful if kept up to date with the code. Otherwise they turn into bald faced lies or wishful thinking.
Code that follows a logical structure, proper use of white-space, well-name variables and methods, etc is far easier to read and debug than code that has a lot of comments. Comments are non-standard and difficult to search for when looking for a problem.
Comments are best reserved for things which are non-trivial to figure out by reading and following the code.
If you don't want devs turning off virus scanning then don't have it aggressively scanning constantly and don't use bloated junk that takes over the system. Virus scanners are huge productivity killers when not properly configured as they make systems crawl. Check on write and nightly scans are sufficient.
I turn that crap off too if it's preventing me from doing my job. It can be turned back on at night before I go home so it can do it's thing when it's not affecting my work.
Home security systems rely on a land line. If we didn't have the security system we'd get rid of the home phone. It would cost several hundred to get a cellular box for the security system which just isn't worth it. Instead we have a MagicJack for long distance calling and basic land line service. For cellular service we just use TracFone. It's very rare that a phone call must be made and no regular phone is available. An internet connection is a must anyway so I don't consider that into the cost of a MagicJack.
If VOIP were really that great the market forces would just naturally phase out landlines. It's actually being phased out by cell phones. In another generation or two there will be no question whether or not to cut the wire and use the resources for something else.
While it sounds like a fantastic idea, the ability to give out loans is limited to banks. Verizon would have to start up a new business or outsource that end of the business to someone else, thereby increasing the price further. Because phones are technology which is obsolete as soon as it gets in your hands, good luck getting companies to finance a $600 phone for three years when it'll be worth less than a hundred within a year or two. In practice it's worth zero within six months because there will be no buyers for your old phone when the new shiney comes out.
People do horrible things to their houses when they get repossessed. How do banks plan on getting the phone back from people who don't pay their bill? What are the odds it'll still be working and in resellable condition?
Banks only want to finance things which retain their value longer than the loan.
An additional problem is that anything less than $1500 in most states is small claims. So the bank would have to send out a lawyer to deal with you in small claims court which costs more than the phone is worth. The plane ticket to make the court date would cost more than the phone.
It's a good idea in theory but there's just no way it's going to happen. It's simply not worth the hassle.
They're going to integrate Facebook Connect with XBox live so they can grab all your details.
Seriously, Facebook has everything but IQ. Everything else you can put in there.
Electricity is not a right. It will get cut off if you don't pay the bill.
If electricity is a right like free speech then at some point maybe we'll get to cut off free speech because it's a right just like electricity. Forget to pay your free speech bill and off it goes.
We have inalienable rights endowed by a creator. In other words, not given to us by men and as such cannot be taken away by men.
We must be pretty well off in this country when we can start calling commodities and the inventions of men "rights."
"Materialism" is not a right. You do not have a right to stuff. Free speech, the right to bear arms, a common trait of all things that are actually rights is that they do not cost money. They are intangible.
You do not have a right to tangible things. They cost money. All you can do is help lower costs so you can afford them.
Why wouldn't a jury believe you had no intention of downloading kiddie porn when you were the one who reported it to the cops? Calling the cops sends it up the line to who you got it from.
The summary states that if you accidentally download kiddie porn you need to call the cops asap. Typically, people who are guilty or trying to hide something don't call the cops on themselves.
was a stinking hand grenade...
Some girls get all the luck.
came out long before this global warming nonsense.
Environmental responsibility was a legitimate issue that was hijacked by global warming alarmism. Recycling programs have been around long before global warming.
Global Warming and Environmentalism are two distinct issues. It's pretty sad that you feel a need to tell people that pollution is bad just because "global warming" might not be real.
That's like getting presents for 20 years from your parents, suddenly finding out about Santa and then being afraid that you won't get presents if Santa isn't real.
If you're going to be "scripting" in C on Windows you might as well go fully compiled with IIS (free with any Windows OS you'd be running on a server) and C# (Express version also free). Get MySQL with ODBC and you're all set.
I use PHP on Apache for flexibility. If I wanted to use C I'd compile it.
What was created here could probably be extended to look at two web cams simultaneously to calculate the 3D space rather then relying on two separate images from one camera.
What this software is doing is looking at the rotation of an object rather than displacement. So it may need some other adjustments besides just using two cameras to get two source images at once.
It may help the modeling process if chroma keying could be used to make the camera ignore supporting objects like a turn table or a hand that's holding the object. Another improvement could be to automatically cut out excess vectors and triangles. It wouldn't be too difficult (for someone who can make this type of software) to determine that the plane that makes up the side of the demo building is virtually flat and reduce the complexity to two triangles.
One of the key limiting factors to amateurs making mods for popular games is the expense and complexity of 3D modeling software. Few good coders are also artists. And few good artists are also coders.
Back in the day anyone could put Barney in DooM or Wolf3D. Now it takes expensive software and a lot of time to shoot up your favorite character you love to hate.
Curing the disease is just another form of rehabilitation. However, it should never be looked at as way to excuse behavior. Humans have the unique ability to act contrary to their natural impulses. The person may have a disease but that does not excuse their inability to restrain themselves and they still must suffer the consequences for their actions. A person is responsible for determining their own triggers and learning to deal with them.
The advantage to a curable disease is that the person can more easily be "rehabilitated." Remove the tumor or whatever and the person can be confident they will not have to fight so hard to restrain themselves from doing the bad behavior in the future.
The only crime that should not bother with any form of rehabilitation is murder. Society should not care why you did it (as long as it was not accidental or self defense), only that you did and we can't risk more lives by hoping that you're "cured."
Unless you have power problems or financial restrictions you're better off with dedicated boxes. I currently run 3 old computers. Ubuntu, Windows XP, Windows 2003 with Apache on XP running PHP sites and doing reverse proxy for the IIS server on the 2003 box. Ubuntu handles memcache. Because I'm not made out of money I'm going to virtualize all three systems onto one quad core system which will cost around $600 rather than $1800 for three new systems. It'll also cut down on power usage.
Slowness can be caused by any number of issues. An old harddrive can cause a system to be sluggish. Just imaging the existing systems onto brand new drives could make things better. Upgrading the network to 1Gbit or just making sure the switches you have are performing could help. Putting more memory into existing systems could also speed things up.
Make sure the power supplies are running well, fans aren't clogged with dust, and that proper cooling is in place.
If all else is not sufficient, progressively purchase new systems to replace old ones and give the old ones to charity after 6 months to make sure everything is good.
When Arizona State called asking for money I told them to tell Michael Crow I hope he's happy with his tuition hikes because he's never getting another dime from me. The way I see it, he already stole about $6000 dollars from me (they violated the state constitution to make those increases). I'm not going to voluntarily give more and my daughter will most likely not attend ASU. We're putting away money so she can go anywhere.
Students get a higher eduction, get better jobs, make more money, and pay more taxes which gets put back into the schools.
If we want to focus on "fair" then homeowners with children who don't go to public school need to be except from public school related taxes.
If the government wants their money "now" they better be prepared to lose money later.
If you're an amature looking to turn professional then doing impressive projects (even if they're not widely used) is a good way to beef up your resume. There are plenty of companies looking for Drupal people so if you want to learn Drupal doing a social networking site is a good way to do that. Put it on your resume and list a link so potential employers can see what you're capable of.
Even if you're a professional doing things on your own time is a good way to learn new things that can be brought back into your workplace to help move you up in the company.
I've historically listed several projects I've done on my own time on my resume and at every interview I get asked about them. Showing an initiative to use your own time to learn a skill is a quality companies are looking for.
...better distribution of funds. The majority of money for schools is put into special ed instruction which leaves scraps for everyone else. The public school system is a money pit. Whenever funds are cut the administration inevitably takes it out on teachers to extort tax payers. If people would stop giving into that game and demand that schools make better use of the money they do have our eduction system would be better off.
this is probably wrong on a couple of levels. First, teachers don't really have money to spend. And second, at every job I've had the employers own my work. If the teachers were doing things above and beyond what was required to do their job then maybe.
http://2sa.me/ is my own URL shortener service I just whipped up.
It's running off a GoDaddy account.
It's using a two hash method of storing and retrieving URLs quickly. The URL is stored once based on the MD5 hash of the URL (for finding URLs that are being submitted) and once based on the MD5 of the short code (for fast lookup when redirecting). Given one you can find the other. URLs are stored across 4096 tables.
We'll see if it manages to earn $9 over the next year.
Bit.ly is currently the number one URL shortener because Twitter automatically uses them when a non-shortened URL is sent.
The main feature (redirecting) is trivial and capable of being handled with a GoDaddy account. The economy package (free with domain) gives you 300GB per month of transfer and 10GB of space to work with. GoDaddy claims to limit the size of your DB to hundreds of megs or so but the real limit is several GB.
I can see that the additional features of tracking clicks and what not (which should be handled on the individual sites, not by the url redirector) would result in far more resources being needed.
If these sites don't want to go out of business due to increasing costs then the issue is trying to offer more than they need to. Cut features and stick to the core functionality.
But, I guess some people would rather drive themselves into the ground than look for ways to save money and resources.
Years ago I ran a web server off a home connection using Windows Me and Apache.
I logged over 1 million page views in a month.
As someone else mentioned, it's (possibly) all the click tracking and storing of links perpetually which will eat up database space which results is lower response time without more or better hardware.
running these things?
$6.99 a year for the domain with free standard hosting from GoDaddy and you're set.
It's not like it's a particularly difficult task to create and run these types of sites. With a simple cron script to clear out links which haven't been clicked in X amount of days you won't even have to worry about your DB ballooning out of control.
Throw up Google AdSense on the user facing side to draw in funds and point both GoDaddy and Google at the same bank account. Google giveth and GoDaddy taketh away. Throw in a hundred to start and you're good to go for a decade.