Despite its relatively short lifetime, Gnome's been really great about embracing all sorts of different technologies -- gtk, ORBit, bonobo and now Mono. However, it's sometimes difficult trying to figure out how this all ties together (if it's supposed to at all). Generally speaking, if someone's going to want to develop for Gnome in the future, how should they prepare themselves? What should they want to learn?
I don't understand all the criticism...
on
e-Denounce
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· Score: 1
...this sort of thing seems double-plus good to me.
The basic idea (dumbed down) that Joseph Campbell puts forward is that the human race exhibits patterns in its myth-making. Certain symbols and motifs crop up everywhere (eg: Seizing the sword, in the Belly of the Whale, etc.), although Campbell himself admitted that these symbols often play out differently depending upon the value judgements of the culture. It's just a theory. Nothing to be afraid of.
Meanwhile, this writer is trying to downplay the Belly of the Whale aspect of Skywalker's experience in the garbage compactor, saying that Skywalker didn't free himself from it, but R2D2 did, and that nullifies the entire theory. If this guy split any more hairs he'd be a barber. The point is that Skywalker faced death, and after emerging from it discovered a new confidence and feeling of power -- hence why Skywalker's no longer just a tag-along after that incident.
The movie is full of this sort of symbolism, and if he cheated and borrowed off his peers in the sci-fi pulp genre, then he didn't do it any different than ANY writer borrows off ANY other genre. We could even go into R2D2's role as being an embodiment of Skywalker's subconscious in much the same way that Toto is to Dorothy in Wizard of Oz... Or we could just shut the hell up and enjoy the friggin' movie, and keep our jealousies to ourselves.
The world is full of frauds who don't deserve what they have, but without Lucas, Star Wars wouldn't have been made. You don't have to like the guy, you don't even have to like his other films (eg: Episode 1, Howard the Duck), but don't disrespect a classic film because of it.
It's funny to me when a critic thinks they know more about a writer's creative process than the writer himself.
George Lucas once gave a speech at a shindig for Joseph Campbell and said that he wouldn't have been able to write Star Wars without having read Campbell's Hero With A Thousand Faces. So much for trying to discount Campbell's influence.
As for the pulp aspect, in an intro to one of the Star Wars tapes, Lucas also says he was trying to recreate the feeling he got from the serialized Westerns of his youth. Maybe the pulp style figured into that subconsciously, but he seemed pretty explicit about what he was going for...
Microsoft has never tried to make GPL illegal. They dont like it. They do like the idea of free code though. They make it plainly clear that they support the BSD style license.
And I can bet you ANYTHING that if it was one of the BSDs that was threatening to take over their marketshare, they'd be singing a different tune about the BSD license.
I think that's the more interesting question. Keyboards can handle 100 wpm, and there's no filter between the process of writing a character and the computer interpreting the character. Pen and voice would both need this.
But even assume the computers are so fast that there's no slowdown with that interpretation. Will it ever be easy to manipulate a UI with your voice? Possibly for some things, but about more content-focus software like a word processor? How about if you're writing a manual about how to manipulate a UI? Could you imagine the amount of escape characters at work in your dialog at that point?
And even if that first draft was easy enough to do, how about all subsequent drafts? "Computer, go to line 135 and replace the second occurence of 'there' with 'their', and that's 't - h - e - I - r'." Sounds a little clunky to me...
But I suppose the folks at Dragon et al. have already run into these issues and found solutions for them...
It's great to see JBoss win the 'Best Java Application Server' category, beating both BEA's WebLogic and IBM's WebSphere! Read the article at JavaWorld.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is rubbing their hands together that.NET's major competitor as a platform isn't having their award-winning products spearheaded by corporations.
Just a thought.
OT - What are the most common ones in use
on
Deep Algorithms?
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· Score: 1
Sorry, this stuff is all super-Greek to me. I thought I was pretty smart for finally getting the Quicksort algorithm, but even then I needed the pretty Java applet to show how it worked.
What I'm wondering is, what sorts of algorithms are in use all the time that we don't really know about? That article about the top-ten algorithms of all time listing some pretty exotic-sounding things, claimed that many of those algorithms were probably in use on the computer right now. Is that really the case? Are there many algorithms in use for the Linux kernel, for instance?
Re:2 Good Sites
on
Beginning SQL?
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· Score: 2, Informative
I second the recommendation of these two sites. Great quick guides to the syntax.
Another good way to learn SQL (don't laugh) is to practice using Access databases queries. You can design the query visually, and then switch views into SQL view to see what code you end up with. There's some inevitable mangling that goes on, but I regularly do this when I've got several tables and I can't remember where the brackets need to go for all those inner joins. I'm sure others offer this ability too, but if they don't, at least you have that one.
There are a few free database engines out there that have command line interfaces, so that'll force you to learn the language.
Also, if you're hoping to get into SQL in general, learn it for two different engines. That'll give you some idea of what to prepare for, since invariably every SQL implementation is a little bit different (the way they handle strings, escape characters or wildcards, or certain features available in one that aren't SQL-compliant, etc.).
Finally, if you're hoping to learn an API with it, get into PHP. It has very clean interfaces with several different databases.
"Thank you for participating in the required MS Passport sign-up verification to get your latest reinstall of XP2005 to work. We're sorry, but the image of a closed fist lifting the middle finger has already been taken. Others you may want to consider: You lifting your middle finger while wearing gloves; you lifting your middle finger while wearing a Cracker Jack ring..."
If you like that, you might like this: Europa Universalis 2. The game is bloody fantastic. It's already gone to the sweet spot pricing between new release and bargain bin, but if you like a deep RTS, the game is very worth it.
We've sent our soldiers into Afghanistan with camouflage uniforms. Great idea, right?
They're GREEN camouflage uniforms.
Just you wait. When we decide WE want anime-based uniforms you'll be seeing a bunch of Canucks running around at super-slow speeds with blue streaks blazing behind them to let the enemy know right where to shoot.
This site has exceeded its limit of 3 Gigabytes of transfer for the month. You may buy extra Gigabytes of transfer by logging in to the user menu and choosing "upgrade".
I can just see it now:
"You've currently run out of track for this roller coaster. You may purchase new track by screaming bloody murder at the top of your lungs."
Mandrake and other Linux-based products won't get far if we start treating the companies that produce them like charities. Why not show the software industry that the product has worth and buy one?
Think of it. You're a potential investor. Which company are you going to invest in? One that survives off product sales, or one that survives off subscriptions? From our point of view, one can rationalize either way which is truly better, but in the end, let's face it, sales are a pretty tangible indicator of success.
Plus, it keeps the company honest. If Mandrake is forced to continually push a product out the door, they have to be proactive to continue earning money. This is good for everybody in the long run.
On the stuff I've been reading about finding and fixing buffer overflows, it seems like it's generally not too hard to spot where these things could potentially happen.
My question is this: How feasible would it be for someone to take a computer and have it do nothing but pattern-matching through all the source code in a typical Linux distribution, looking specifically for problem areas like these? Obviously we couldn't rely on it as a foolproof audit, but has something like this ever been considered?
Slashdot Mirror
Despite its relatively short lifetime, Gnome's been really great about embracing all sorts of different technologies -- gtk, ORBit, bonobo and now Mono. However, it's sometimes difficult trying to figure out how this all ties together (if it's supposed to at all). Generally speaking, if someone's going to want to develop for Gnome in the future, how should they prepare themselves? What should they want to learn?
...this sort of thing seems double-plus good to me.
As a person worried about the future with .NET, this is a bit of a relief.
.NET in its banner ads?
I assume that since this story wasn't rejected, that somehow the editors of Slashdot agree with this sentiment as expressed in the submission.
My question is this: if Slashdot editors really feel this way, then why is Slashdot advertizing Visual Studio
Just curious.
Totally agree.
The basic idea (dumbed down) that Joseph Campbell puts forward is that the human race exhibits patterns in its myth-making. Certain symbols and motifs crop up everywhere (eg: Seizing the sword, in the Belly of the Whale, etc.), although Campbell himself admitted that these symbols often play out differently depending upon the value judgements of the culture. It's just a theory. Nothing to be afraid of.
Meanwhile, this writer is trying to downplay the Belly of the Whale aspect of Skywalker's experience in the garbage compactor, saying that Skywalker didn't free himself from it, but R2D2 did, and that nullifies the entire theory. If this guy split any more hairs he'd be a barber. The point is that Skywalker faced death, and after emerging from it discovered a new confidence and feeling of power -- hence why Skywalker's no longer just a tag-along after that incident.
The movie is full of this sort of symbolism, and if he cheated and borrowed off his peers in the sci-fi pulp genre, then he didn't do it any different than ANY writer borrows off ANY other genre. We could even go into R2D2's role as being an embodiment of Skywalker's subconscious in much the same way that Toto is to Dorothy in Wizard of Oz... Or we could just shut the hell up and enjoy the friggin' movie, and keep our jealousies to ourselves.
The world is full of frauds who don't deserve what they have, but without Lucas, Star Wars wouldn't have been made. You don't have to like the guy, you don't even have to like his other films (eg: Episode 1, Howard the Duck), but don't disrespect a classic film because of it.
It's funny to me when a critic thinks they know more about a writer's creative process than the writer himself.
George Lucas once gave a speech at a shindig for Joseph Campbell and said that he wouldn't have been able to write Star Wars without having read Campbell's Hero With A Thousand Faces. So much for trying to discount Campbell's influence.
As for the pulp aspect, in an intro to one of the Star Wars tapes, Lucas also says he was trying to recreate the feeling he got from the serialized Westerns of his youth. Maybe the pulp style figured into that subconsciously, but he seemed pretty explicit about what he was going for...
Minnesota, eh? I can just see it now...
"Failure to comply with the terms of this legislation will result in you being thrown over the ropes and body-slammed into the announcer's desk."
Microsoft has never tried to make GPL illegal. They dont like it. They do like the idea of free code though. They make it plainly clear that they support the BSD style license.
And I can bet you ANYTHING that if it was one of the BSDs that was threatening to take over their marketshare, they'd be singing a different tune about the BSD license.
I think that's the more interesting question. Keyboards can handle 100 wpm, and there's no filter between the process of writing a character and the computer interpreting the character. Pen and voice would both need this.
But even assume the computers are so fast that there's no slowdown with that interpretation. Will it ever be easy to manipulate a UI with your voice? Possibly for some things, but about more content-focus software like a word processor? How about if you're writing a manual about how to manipulate a UI? Could you imagine the amount of escape characters at work in your dialog at that point?
And even if that first draft was easy enough to do, how about all subsequent drafts? "Computer, go to line 135 and replace the second occurence of 'there' with 'their', and that's 't - h - e - I - r'." Sounds a little clunky to me...
But I suppose the folks at Dragon et al. have already run into these issues and found solutions for them...
Here's a warning label for you:
"Warning! Everquest won't be able to stop your children from committing suicide."
Now there's an april fools joke.
This is my kind of April Fool's joke.
At first you laugh.
Then you crap your pants.
Here's today's kernel mailing list joke.
Now that's an april fool's joke. Makes you laugh and scares the crap out of you at the same time.
It's great to see JBoss win the 'Best Java Application Server' category, beating both BEA's WebLogic and IBM's WebSphere! Read the article at JavaWorld.
.NET's major competitor as a platform isn't having their award-winning products spearheaded by corporations.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is rubbing their hands together that
Just a thought.
Sorry, this stuff is all super-Greek to me. I thought I was pretty smart for finally getting the Quicksort algorithm, but even then I needed the pretty Java applet to show how it worked.
What I'm wondering is, what sorts of algorithms are in use all the time that we don't really know about? That article about the top-ten algorithms of all time listing some pretty exotic-sounding things, claimed that many of those algorithms were probably in use on the computer right now. Is that really the case? Are there many algorithms in use for the Linux kernel, for instance?
...and put each game onto thirty disks. :)
I second the recommendation of these two sites. Great quick guides to the syntax.
Another good way to learn SQL (don't laugh) is to practice using Access databases queries. You can design the query visually, and then switch views into SQL view to see what code you end up with. There's some inevitable mangling that goes on, but I regularly do this when I've got several tables and I can't remember where the brackets need to go for all those inner joins. I'm sure others offer this ability too, but if they don't, at least you have that one.
There are a few free database engines out there that have command line interfaces, so that'll force you to learn the language.
Also, if you're hoping to get into SQL in general, learn it for two different engines. That'll give you some idea of what to prepare for, since invariably every SQL implementation is a little bit different (the way they handle strings, escape characters or wildcards, or certain features available in one that aren't SQL-compliant, etc.).
Finally, if you're hoping to learn an API with it, get into PHP. It has very clean interfaces with several different databases.
"Thank you for participating in the required MS Passport sign-up verification to get your latest reinstall of XP2005 to work. We're sorry, but the image of a closed fist lifting the middle finger has already been taken. Others you may want to consider: You lifting your middle finger while wearing gloves; you lifting your middle finger while wearing a Cracker Jack ring..."
Was SSSCA, is now CBDTPA, will be...?
Keep changing the damn name, then people won't know what to protest.
If you like that, you might like this: Europa Universalis 2. The game is bloody fantastic. It's already gone to the sweet spot pricing between new release and bargain bin, but if you like a deep RTS, the game is very worth it.
There's only one possible explanation between the continued jabbing back and forth between the KDE and GNOME camps.
Two words.
"Sexual tension".
I am appalled. Is nothing sacred ?!
We've sent our soldiers into Afghanistan with camouflage uniforms. Great idea, right?
They're GREEN camouflage uniforms.
Just you wait. When we decide WE want anime-based uniforms you'll be seeing a bunch of Canucks running around at super-slow speeds with blue streaks blazing behind them to let the enemy know right where to shoot.
This site has exceeded its limit of 3 Gigabytes of transfer for the month. You may buy extra Gigabytes of transfer by logging in to the user menu and choosing "upgrade".
I can just see it now:
"You've currently run out of track for this roller coaster. You may purchase new track by screaming bloody murder at the top of your lungs."
Mandrake and other Linux-based products won't get far if we start treating the companies that produce them like charities. Why not show the software industry that the product has worth and buy one?
Think of it. You're a potential investor. Which company are you going to invest in? One that survives off product sales, or one that survives off subscriptions? From our point of view, one can rationalize either way which is truly better, but in the end, let's face it, sales are a pretty tangible indicator of success.
Plus, it keeps the company honest. If Mandrake is forced to continually push a product out the door, they have to be proactive to continue earning money. This is good for everybody in the long run.
On the stuff I've been reading about finding and fixing buffer overflows, it seems like it's generally not too hard to spot where these things could potentially happen.
My question is this: How feasible would it be for someone to take a computer and have it do nothing but pattern-matching through all the source code in a typical Linux distribution, looking specifically for problem areas like these? Obviously we couldn't rely on it as a foolproof audit, but has something like this ever been considered?