I loved using the Google API as the basis of one of my data structures programming assignments. It's a great way to have my student tackle the use of another party's API, as well as a useful way to grab a ton of data and play with it (say in a binary search tree or hash table). Now I need to find something else that will let us do the same, or come up with something else.
Yeah, that story is retold by Andy Hertzfeld in Triumph of the Nerds. I show that excellent PBS special in my operating systems course when I teach it.
Steve was upset that the Mac took too long to boot to boot up when you first turned it on so he tried motivating Larry Kenyon by telling him well you know how many millions of people are going to buy this machine - it's going to be millions of people and let's imagine that you can make it boot five seconds faster well that's five seconds times a million every day that's fifty lifetimes, if you can shave five seconds off that you're saving fifty lives. And so it was a nice way of thinking about it, and we did get it to go faster.
Oh but he is using their resources... He's using their facilities to record the lecture, their power to drive the camcorder, possibly their network to upload the lecture, etc... and that's assuming he's using his own equipment (possibly a big assumption here). Technically, it might be argued that he's a resource that the state pays for as well... then again, that arguement breaks down when we talk about him going out and receiving an honorarium to give invited talks and such.
Let's see how the state legislature reacts to one of the their profs (it's a state school, right? He's a state employee, reselling his services that they already pay for...) doing this. I'll bet a buck they shut him down under the guise of mis-use of state resources to make a buck on the side.
What a unique opportunity for any terrorists. Want to bring part of the US infrastructure to its knees? You don't need a dirty bomb... A few well placed dudes and some shovels can do the trick and create widespread havoc. Quick, someone call Homeland Security and tell them to start a watch list for suspicious individuals purchasing shovels or backhoes in large quantities.
Since I'm about to purchase a new system I've been comparing Dell models and configuring a number of systems/options. When I log in to Dell via my Univeristy Employee Purchase Program interface, the n-series machines are not listed as options. That kinda sucks since I can obtain a licensed copy of Vista, XP, etc. through my institution, so I don't need *another* copy via Dell.
I have it on good authority that the real cause was due to the high volume of jobs being sucked overseas and the amount of code being squeezed off shore.
This sounds like a good idea, until passengers end up watching live TV coverage of the next 9/11 and then start hunting in the plane they are riding in for assumed "terrorists" causing a riot in-flight.
We really should think about having less of this technology for the passengars in the air. I'd rather fly without people around me watching TV or doing AIM on their laptops from 35K feet.
We should force folks to read a damned book and keep the plane(s) quiet.
I am the reader of our official department email address. We've been receiving spams at the rate of about 100 per day. I'm tired of sorting through that in the event that one potential student is in search of information about our department.
Now, I reject all emails with a polite message indicating the new address in a slightly obfusicated form. To date, I have had no problems and the true email queries are getting through and spammers don't (since they don't tend to read the email rejections [yet!]).
If I need to change the message again and point the true address to a different folder (we use the +foldername) to autodirect emails to a folder, I can do so easily.
This is so true. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak in 1996 and he was amazing. I'm currently attempting to complete a project that was on his 'wish list' back then and I'm still surprised no one has (apparently) attempted it.
When I ask my students if they know who he is, 99% of the time it draws a blank stare. This happens with other techies of an older age as well. It's really a shame. He is the father of a great change in computing and a new business paradigm when you think about it.
Then again, he did get knighted....
(In case no one says it, and he reads this.... Thank you TIM!)
It's obvious, then, that you have no idea how much college costs the average student now
Oh really. As it happens, I teach Computer Science at a college where most of our students work part time jobs to pay for their schooling. This affects me in a variety of ways: as faculty advisor to a number of campus groups, I have a hard time finding students to volunteer for things (they are out working). I also have similar difficulty gettings students to do research work. Some of my students struggle to purchase their textbooks.
Next time, don't assume you know me or my background.
As a young(er) Master's student in Computer Science back in 1996, I noted that many of my international colleagues (grad students) photocopying their textbooks and sharing the copies from semester to semester and student to student.
I brought this up at a department meeting I was a student-rep for, and the grad program chair said something like "why should we care?"
I was shocked at this attitude and lack of concern about the actions of those doing the copying. Yes, it is/was illegal and something should have been done/said about it. However, since I knew that several tenured professors didn't care, me saying anything to anyone wasn't going to change the situation. Perhaps, in hindsight, I should have alerted the book companies.
Does your campus have a 'net-based BB or some such...<snip>
Not exactly. I do run a public web-based BB for my students and the CS department at large (UPE chapter, ACM chapter, tech help, etc.). However, since I'm tenure-track (not tenured), I can't rock the boat too much trying to change the culture and infra-structure at my school.
We did just roll out Thunderbird as the default mail client for staff, faculty, and students. However they still support IE like it's the only thing out there (some apps won't work with Mozilla, etc.). I guess it's a start.
I'll be really curious to see how the licensing will be handled. While this model of "services" may be OK for corporate and home use, I wonder how it will go for educational settings.
Currently many of my students have Office on their "home" PCs. They can also use it in the labs, since we have a campus site license.
However, if the software moves to the web and is licensed by campus, will the software's access be limited by (campus) IP address? What happens to the kid that goes home for break and needs to use Word or Excel?
Sure, the campus can add some kind of password system to let the kid access the software via the campus license from home, but now you are adding work to overworked (and underfunded) IT departments.
Yeah, this is going to be interesting to watch.
OK, I'd love to see OpenOffice or some other option take off, but our campus is so bound to Word (hell, I get three line memos in a Word doc attached to an email), I can't see the secretarial force even open to considering a platform change to other software.
How about a show that just explores life on earth in the 'utopian' society ST created? What's life like for everyone else on the ground? What about a CSI or NYPD Blue type of show set in the ST world. We get to see life in the future and see something like a cop show, etc.
Jesus, even I can be more original than some of their "writers".
Plus, what is Kirk going to do? Come back in time as an old man (as he is now) and tell the first enterprise to do this and that? Or will they have him play Kirk's great great grandfather?
Yeah, but does Software Update check to see if there's an update to itself? It's an application to, so if Apple is going to add this to all of their applications, they should add it to S/U.
I would think that Karel or one of its derivatives would give her a nice foundation in a simplified setting. Once comfortable, she can progress from there.
Another option might be trying Pascal. It depends on her background (math, reasoning, problem solving, etc.) She might also wish to take an intro programming course at her local community college.
I skimmed the article but saw nothing about.edu pricing. I would think it would be interesting to see what they are going to do with schools.
My department has been wary of Sun's long term stability and is thinking of getting into different *NIX boxen. I'm pushing Apple, others like moving to Linux. The latter we can do by recycling our older PCs as they come out of the labs.
If Sun starts subscription pricing in the acaemic markets, they may lose some of their installed base in the university setting.
My students and I are buidling a filter for the web. We're really not ready to tlak about it yet, but it is working well and we hope to get something "out there" soon (next year?).
Slashdot Mirror
I heard this on the CNET podcast Buzz Out Loud a few weeks ago...
I loved using the Google API as the basis of one of my data structures programming assignments. It's a great way to have my student tackle the use of another party's API, as well as a useful way to grab a ton of data and play with it (say in a binary search tree or hash table). Now I need to find something else that will let us do the same, or come up with something else.
Oh but he is using their resources... He's using their facilities to record the lecture, their power to drive the camcorder, possibly their network to upload the lecture, etc... and that's assuming he's using his own equipment (possibly a big assumption here). Technically, it might be argued that he's a resource that the state pays for as well... then again, that arguement breaks down when we talk about him going out and receiving an honorarium to give invited talks and such.
Let's see how the state legislature reacts to one of the their profs (it's a state school, right? He's a state employee, reselling his services that they already pay for...) doing this. I'll bet a buck they shut him down under the guise of mis-use of state resources to make a buck on the side.
What a unique opportunity for any terrorists. Want to bring part of the US infrastructure to its knees? You don't need a dirty bomb... A few well placed dudes and some shovels can do the trick and create widespread havoc. Quick, someone call Homeland Security and tell them to start a watch list for suspicious individuals purchasing shovels or backhoes in large quantities.
Since I'm about to purchase a new system I've been comparing Dell models and configuring a number of systems/options. When I log in to Dell via my Univeristy Employee Purchase Program interface, the n-series machines are not listed as options. That kinda sucks since I can obtain a licensed copy of Vista, XP, etc. through my institution, so I don't need *another* copy via Dell.
It sounds to me like you work AT Microsoft and have all finally seen the light!
Best of luck dude. Be sure to post your solution on the web so we can all learn from your experience (if you can).
I have it on good authority that the real cause was due to the high volume of jobs being sucked overseas and the amount of code being squeezed off shore.
If Fortran 95 was released in '95, and it's now 2005, isn't it a decade old language? Let's not get ahead of ourselves here....
This sounds like a good idea, until passengers end up watching live TV coverage of the next 9/11 and then start hunting in the plane they are riding in for assumed "terrorists" causing a riot in-flight.
We really should think about having less of this technology for the passengars in the air. I'd rather fly without people around me watching TV or doing AIM on their laptops from 35K feet.
We should force folks to read a damned book and keep the plane(s) quiet.
I am the reader of our official department email address. We've been receiving spams at the rate of about 100 per day. I'm tired of sorting through that in the event that one potential student is in search of information about our department.
Now, I reject all emails with a polite message indicating the new address in a slightly obfusicated form. To date, I have had no problems and the true email queries are getting through and spammers don't (since they don't tend to read the email rejections [yet!]).
If I need to change the message again and point the true address to a different folder (we use the +foldername) to autodirect emails to a folder, I can do so easily.
Try that. It might be a better solution for you.
This is so true. I had the pleasure of hearing him speak in 1996 and he was amazing. I'm currently attempting to complete a project that was on his 'wish list' back then and I'm still surprised no one has (apparently) attempted it.
When I ask my students if they know who he is, 99% of the time it draws a blank stare. This happens with other techies of an older age as well. It's really a shame. He is the father of a great change in computing and a new business paradigm when you think about it.
Then again, he did get knighted....
(In case no one says it, and he reads this.... Thank you TIM!)
It's obvious, then, that you have no idea how much college costs the average student now
Oh really. As it happens, I teach Computer Science at a college where most of our students work part time jobs to pay for their schooling. This affects me in a variety of ways: as faculty advisor to a number of campus groups, I have a hard time finding students to volunteer for things (they are out working). I also have similar difficulty gettings students to do research work. Some of my students struggle to purchase their textbooks.
Next time, don't assume you know me or my background.
As a young(er) Master's student in Computer Science back in 1996, I noted that many of my international colleagues (grad students) photocopying their textbooks and sharing the copies from semester to semester and student to student.
I brought this up at a department meeting I was a student-rep for, and the grad program chair said something like "why should we care?"
I was shocked at this attitude and lack of concern about the actions of those doing the copying. Yes, it is/was illegal and something should have been done/said about it. However, since I knew that several tenured professors didn't care, me saying anything to anyone wasn't going to change the situation. Perhaps, in hindsight, I should have alerted the book companies.
When did you stop trusting sponsored 'research'?
When I started doing it.
Actually, as I started my Ph.D., someone I knew completed his. At the party we held after his defense, he said something that has stuck with me:
True story.Not exactly. I do run a public web-based BB for my students and the CS department at large (UPE chapter, ACM chapter, tech help, etc.). However, since I'm tenure-track (not tenured), I can't rock the boat too much trying to change the culture and infra-structure at my school.
We did just roll out Thunderbird as the default mail client for staff, faculty, and students. However they still support IE like it's the only thing out there (some apps won't work with Mozilla, etc.). I guess it's a start.
I'll be really curious to see how the licensing will be handled. While this model of "services" may be OK for corporate and home use, I wonder how it will go for educational settings.
Currently many of my students have Office on their "home" PCs. They can also use it in the labs, since we have a campus site license.
However, if the software moves to the web and is licensed by campus, will the software's access be limited by (campus) IP address? What happens to the kid that goes home for break and needs to use Word or Excel?
Sure, the campus can add some kind of password system to let the kid access the software via the campus license from home, but now you are adding work to overworked (and underfunded) IT departments.
Yeah, this is going to be interesting to watch.
OK, I'd love to see OpenOffice or some other option take off, but our campus is so bound to Word (hell, I get three line memos in a Word doc attached to an email), I can't see the secretarial force even open to considering a platform change to other software.
How about a show that just explores life on earth in the 'utopian' society ST created? What's life like for everyone else on the ground? What about a CSI or NYPD Blue type of show set in the ST world. We get to see life in the future and see something like a cop show, etc.
Jesus, even I can be more original than some of their "writers".
Plus, what is Kirk going to do? Come back in time as an old man (as he is now) and tell the first enterprise to do this and that? Or will they have him play Kirk's great great grandfather?
Yeah, but does Software Update check to see if there's an update to itself? It's an application to, so if Apple is going to add this to all of their applications, they should add it to S/U.
Ok, so now it's recursive!
I would think that Karel or one of its derivatives would give her a nice foundation in a simplified setting. Once comfortable, she can progress from there.
Another option might be trying Pascal. It depends on her background (math, reasoning, problem solving, etc.) She might also wish to take an intro programming course at her local community college.
I skimmed the article but saw nothing about .edu pricing. I would think it would be interesting to see what they are going to do with schools.
My department has been wary of Sun's long term stability and is thinking of getting into different *NIX boxen. I'm pushing Apple, others like moving to Linux. The latter we can do by recycling our older PCs as they come out of the labs.
If Sun starts subscription pricing in the acaemic markets, they may lose some of their installed base in the university setting.
I have a short answer. Yes.
My students and I are buidling a filter for the web. We're really not ready to tlak about it yet, but it is working well and we hope to get something "out there" soon (next year?).
Creating nuclear weapons is not NP complete. Improving society is.
Will they be the Longhorns? Windows? Desktops? Gateses?
This was also discussed even earlier.... on Slashdot in July in a discussion of grid computing....