Racist much? IBM is not somehow a triumph of Western civilisation, whatever that is. IBM is a triumph of 20th century America, a melting-pot of people from all over the world.
I kinda-sorta give you a pass because it appears you are US. But the US is not the only country that is hire and fire at-will. It's not a USA vs. the rest of the world situation as you make it out to be.
If you're coding in lots of explicit memory reference deletes, what you're writing is not C++ but C. A C++ codebase would use RRID and automatic memory management to obviate the need for any explicit memory management. My last C++ project at work contained zero (yes, zero) calls to delete/free() out of around 20000 lines of code and a year of development/testing.
You're making the same mistake you're accusing C++ developers of making - you're viewing C++ through Java lenses.
Well, you need to take GP's point to its logical conclusion - use references everywhere. The problem with C pointers is that they have overloaded semantics - they're used for pointing to heap memory (which is the only place you need NULL) as well as for call-by-reference (for performance). C++ obviates the need for pointers in both instances. No, I'm not saying I never use pointers in C++, but they're rare, as rare as say, the "static" keyword.
> In theory they can't lay off a ton of people in the US without pushing the H1B's out the door first Wrong. Only applies if the more than 15% of the company is on an H1B.
> their most cost effective workers Wrong. Microsoft does not (and cannot) pay employees differently based on visa status. In fact, thanks to annual visa renewal fees, visa-stamping travel reimbursements, green-card processing fees, "premium processing" fees (where do you think USCIS gets its money from?), H1B employees are per capita more expensive to hire.
I've never heard that one before - is that your own? Sure, the New World is America, but the Old World is everything that was known prior, which includes India, of course. Do you have a reference for your definition?
H1B wages are depressed precisely because the visa holder will be deported if they quit.
Really? Citation please?
In fact, there's a standard procedure to transfer an H1B visa, something you could have found out with a minute's Google search. Takes 15 days if your employer pays a premium fee of $1000, otherwise takes ~3 months. And your old employer will not come to know until you tell them.
Ugh. Please repeat after me - locale has nothing to do with location. I want BrE spelling and temperatures in Celsius, so I choose en-IN. But my location is the US, and I can't change that simply by changing my locale.
Your point's well taken, but I see quite a few websites making this mistake, and it drives me nuts.
I think you misunderstood GP. "Supposed to" did not mean legally obligated to. It meant rational shareholders would do so, i.e. in a rational world (which is the only kind where most economics arguments make sense), they're expected to.
Sorry, but I stopped reading when you said "C/C++". Well-written C++ is nothing like C, and should not be. And while C has its place (OS kernels etc.), even Java is more suitable than C for most purposes. Of course, C++ beats them all hollow.
True about electronics, but not in general. 20 years ago a visionary individual could create brilliant PC software. Lotus 1-2-3? Doom? 5 years ago it was all about web start-ups. The party's just moved elsewhere.
In fact, this is my primary usage model. I use IE 7.0 for most general browsing since it's "good enough" and it's actually more reliable than FF (crashes less often). But Firefox tabs are just way faster (actually, it's the other way around - IE tabs are horrendously slow). So for my morning-news scenario, I launch my RSS aggregator through FF and middle-click away.
Because companies like Google and Microsoft are not "Western" companies anymore ever since they became public. I'm sure China (govt. + people) own a substantial part of such companies (either directly or through other instruments like mutual funds).
Sure. But notice that outsourcing and the H1-B programme are completely different things. You said (or atleast you implied) you like open markets. Labour is also a commodity, and an open market entails that companies should be free to source labour from wherever; in other words, outsourcing.
The H1-B program is a different animal. There may be some theoretical merit in it, but in practice it's been abused in the way you describe above. But that's not what we were talking about at all.
Sure, that's the state of affairs today, and I'm not taking any position for or against it. All I'm saying is the OP think he/she believes in the open market but really believes only in the parts that don't affect him/her.
The companies are being consistent; you're the one that's not.
Part of the premise of an open market is free movement of labour. And that's exactly consistent with outsourcing labour to where the labour is cheapest.
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Racist much? IBM is not somehow a triumph of Western civilisation, whatever that is. IBM is a triumph of 20th century America, a melting-pot of people from all over the world.
Eh, neither. RAID != backup.
The only way out is backups, at which point RAID doesn't give you any extra data security.
RAID is for performance.
I kinda-sorta give you a pass because it appears you are US. But the US is not the only country that is hire and fire at-will. It's not a USA vs. the rest of the world situation as you make it out to be.
First, learn to spell, and then maybe people will take your seriously. "Airbii" only makes you look stupid.
If you're coding in lots of explicit memory reference deletes, what you're writing is not C++ but C. A C++ codebase would use RRID and automatic memory management to obviate the need for any explicit memory management. My last C++ project at work contained zero (yes, zero) calls to delete/free() out of around 20000 lines of code and a year of development/testing.
You're making the same mistake you're accusing C++ developers of making - you're viewing C++ through Java lenses.
Well, you need to take GP's point to its logical conclusion - use references everywhere. The problem with C pointers is that they have overloaded semantics - they're used for pointing to heap memory (which is the only place you need NULL) as well as for call-by-reference (for performance). C++ obviates the need for pointers in both instances. No, I'm not saying I never use pointers in C++, but they're rare, as rare as say, the "static" keyword.
Allow me to elaborate.
> In theory they can't lay off a ton of people in the US without pushing the H1B's out the door first
Wrong. Only applies if the more than 15% of the company is on an H1B.
> their most cost effective workers
Wrong. Microsoft does not (and cannot) pay employees differently based on visa status. In fact, thanks to annual visa renewal fees, visa-stamping travel reimbursements, green-card processing fees, "premium processing" fees (where do you think USCIS gets its money from?), H1B employees are per capita more expensive to hire.
Yes, I used to work for Microsoft on an H1B.
I've never heard that one before - is that your own? Sure, the New World is America, but the Old World is everything that was known prior, which includes India, of course. Do you have a reference for your definition?
H1B wages are depressed precisely because the visa holder will be deported if they quit.
Really? Citation please?
In fact, there's a standard procedure to transfer an H1B visa, something you could have found out with a minute's Google search. Takes 15 days if your employer pays a premium fee of $1000, otherwise takes ~3 months. And your old employer will not come to know until you tell them.
So I REALLY understand your point, but please UNDERSTAND MINE.
I've seen that people usually understand one better if one shouts less.
Er, last I heard, India's part of Asia. And Mandarin won't help you in Israel either, which is also part of Asia.
Erm, while I agree that free speech is a wonderful thing, it has nothing to do with democracy.
Ugh. Please repeat after me - locale has nothing to do with location. I want BrE spelling and temperatures in Celsius, so I choose en-IN. But my location is the US, and I can't change that simply by changing my locale.
Your point's well taken, but I see quite a few websites making this mistake, and it drives me nuts.
I think you misunderstood GP. "Supposed to" did not mean legally obligated to. It meant rational shareholders would do so, i.e. in a rational world (which is the only kind where most economics arguments make sense), they're expected to.
Sorry, but I stopped reading when you said "C/C++". Well-written C++ is nothing like C, and should not be. And while C has its place (OS kernels etc.), even Java is more suitable than C for most purposes. Of course, C++ beats them all hollow.
Why one or the other? Why not do both? Why should we stop blaming video games just because news media doesn't stop glorifying violence?
True about electronics, but not in general. 20 years ago a visionary individual could create brilliant PC software. Lotus 1-2-3? Doom? 5 years ago it was all about web start-ups. The party's just moved elsewhere.
I can and have done so a few times. And I agree with GP. Did you have a point to make (other than insulting GP)?
In fact, this is my primary usage model. I use IE 7.0 for most general browsing since it's "good enough" and it's actually more reliable than FF (crashes less often). But Firefox tabs are just way faster (actually, it's the other way around - IE tabs are horrendously slow). So for my morning-news scenario, I launch my RSS aggregator through FF and middle-click away.
Because companies like Google and Microsoft are not "Western" companies anymore ever since they became public. I'm sure China (govt. + people) own a substantial part of such companies (either directly or through other instruments like mutual funds).
Sure. But notice that outsourcing and the H1-B programme are completely different things. You said (or atleast you implied) you like open markets. Labour is also a commodity, and an open market entails that companies should be free to source labour from wherever; in other words, outsourcing.
The H1-B program is a different animal. There may be some theoretical merit in it, but in practice it's been abused in the way you describe above. But that's not what we were talking about at all.
Sure, that's the state of affairs today, and I'm not taking any position for or against it. All I'm saying is the OP think he/she believes in the open market but really believes only in the parts that don't affect him/her.
The companies are being consistent; you're the one that's not.
Part of the premise of an open market is free movement of labour. And that's exactly consistent with outsourcing labour to where the labour is cheapest.
And your point, other than repeating GP, being?
And what I'm from Bangalore myself? Insensitive clod.