It might be a more useful way to evaluate "patterns" by asking what it (they) allow good programmers to do.
My background is that I had been using C++ for several years and even had a graduate level OO class (text was Booch) before I read the Design Patterns book. Though a fairly intelligent guy, perhaps I do solve problems a little slowly, but in any case DP was like pulling the scales off my eyes.
DP provided thorough discussion and examples of how OO language features co1uld be put to good use. It answered the question, What is oo good for?
Nowadays, I recommend to anyone learning C++ to read DP so that actually can understand the usefulness of OO languages.
Many many programmers don't get exposed or trained in the way OO. STL code is one way they can get exposed to the possiblities of oo design (though the STL is probably a bit overwhelming and limited). The most popular oo framework, MFC, is written as though the implementers didn't (don't) understand oo and many of the people teaching C++ courses don't understand it either.
Patterns seems to me the most effective way of teaching the possibilities for real-world problem solving with oo. IMHO, of course.
The only minorities that get left alone by the government are those with enough resources (money, connections, public prestige) to be able to sway some politico. Just ask any racial minority how wonderful the government is to them.
This post has one thing correct, the often
touted idea of a constitutional republic is inimical to democracy. I don't why some folks chortle with glee when they advocate a political system similar to Ancient Rome (which btw had slavery!, another class of citizens our government failed to protect - what idiocy)
H.L. Mencken once wrote favorably of predujice (in the sense of being opinionated) because he thought indicated a person cared enough about an issue to give it some consideration.
The above comments and a couple of others make me wonder just how thoughtful consideration Katz engages in.
1. The web will democratize society. Both Cuba society and your average high school student government can conduct wide-ranging, open discussions of issue, but the participants in either have little formal power and I wouldn't call either democratic. In fact, it is the discussion which is cynically used (in both cases) to give the illusion of power, accountability, democracy etc.
2. The rise of corporate power within capitalism has been going on a long time (the legal foundations for it were laid during Reconstruction) and has nothing to do with the Internet (and they don't even coincide historically). Furthermore, moneyed-interest have been corrupting American government since the beginning and before the rise of the modern corporation as even a cursory reading of history reveals.
Re:Something any US citizen can do tomorr... NO to
on
Volunteer Work Abroad?
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· Score: 1
Yeah, like the way to end to end the Vietnam War was to write letters to your Congressman.
Having a fairly in-depth knowledge of the political system in the US, I can say with some confidence, almost anything you do to help development in the poorer nations will probably bear more fruit than trying to work for change in the American political system. I wish it weren't true, but it is relatively easily to demonstrate
(and it something that many american progressives/liberals have no clue of)
Avoiding the issue of cheesecake... If you want to include fantasy in with SciFi, Buffy and Angel are some the best writing on TV (even when compare to the Sopranos).
Though I enjoyed watching it and was caught in the entire Star Trek phenom, the truth is that as sci-fi ST:TNG has some real problems. Bogus unrealistic science (totally contrived for the plots), predictable plots, deux-ex-machina endings, plots that were derivative from the original series, unrealistic "feel good" relationships between the main characters, very little short trajectories in the development of the characters (except for data). Great writing it is not, even by sci-fi standards. Ex. The episode on which Scotty appears involves a Dyson sphere, one of the most interesting concepts of futuristic speculation, and it did absolutely nothing with it!
Re:Lord of Light as CIA ruse?
on
Lord of Light
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· Score: 1
Zelazny was known to work in some mysterious government job, i.e., in the intelligence community. A friend of mine, an ungrad at U. of C., once did some translating work for the NSA and was in contact with his supervisor only by mail. His name: R. Zelazny.
BTW. Michael Dirda, the books editor at the W. Post writes about one of his prize books being a copy of some novel owned by Z, picked up in an area used-bookstore.
Slashdot Mirror
It might be a more useful way to evaluate "patterns" by asking what it (they) allow good programmers to do.
My background is that I had been using C++ for several years and even had a graduate level OO class (text was Booch) before I read the Design Patterns book. Though a fairly intelligent guy, perhaps I do solve problems a little slowly, but in any case DP was like pulling the scales off my eyes.
DP provided thorough discussion and examples of how OO language features co1uld be put to good use. It answered the question, What is oo good for?
Nowadays, I recommend to anyone learning C++ to read DP so that actually can understand the usefulness of OO languages.
Many many programmers don't get exposed or trained in the way OO. STL code is one way they can get exposed to the possiblities of oo design (though the STL is probably a bit overwhelming and limited). The most popular oo framework, MFC, is written as though the implementers didn't (don't) understand oo and many of the people teaching C++ courses don't understand it either.
Patterns seems to me the most effective way of teaching the possibilities for real-world problem solving with oo. IMHO, of course.
The only minorities that get left alone by the government are those with enough resources (money, connections, public prestige) to be able to sway some politico. Just ask any racial minority how wonderful the government is to them.
This post has one thing correct, the often
touted idea of a constitutional republic is inimical to democracy. I don't why some folks chortle with glee when they advocate a political system similar to Ancient Rome (which btw had slavery!, another class of citizens our government failed to protect - what idiocy)
H.L. Mencken once wrote favorably of predujice (in the sense of being opinionated) because he thought indicated a person cared enough about an issue to give it some consideration.
The above comments and a couple of others make me wonder just how thoughtful consideration Katz engages in.
1. The web will democratize society. Both Cuba society and your average high school student government can conduct wide-ranging, open discussions of issue, but the participants in either have little formal power and I wouldn't call either democratic. In fact, it is the discussion which is cynically used (in both cases) to give the illusion of power, accountability, democracy etc.
2. The rise of corporate power within capitalism has been going on a long time (the legal foundations for it were laid during Reconstruction) and has nothing to do with the Internet (and they don't even coincide historically). Furthermore, moneyed-interest have been corrupting American government since the beginning and before the rise of the modern corporation as even a cursory reading of history reveals.
Yeah, like the way to end to end the Vietnam War was to write letters to your Congressman.
Having a fairly in-depth knowledge of the political system in the US, I can say with some confidence, almost anything you do to help development in the poorer nations will probably bear more fruit than trying to work for change in the American political system. I wish it weren't true, but it is relatively easily to demonstrate
(and it something that many american progressives/liberals have no clue of)
Very insightful (though it promises to pull down the who edifice of geek status down upon itself like Sampson in the Temple)
Avoiding the issue of cheesecake... If you want to include fantasy in with SciFi, Buffy and Angel are some the best writing on TV (even when compare to the Sopranos).
Though I enjoyed watching it and was caught in the entire Star Trek phenom, the truth is that as sci-fi ST:TNG has some real problems. Bogus unrealistic science (totally contrived for the plots), predictable plots, deux-ex-machina endings, plots that were derivative from the original series, unrealistic "feel good" relationships between the main characters, very little short trajectories in the development of the characters (except for data). Great writing it is not, even by sci-fi standards. Ex. The episode on which Scotty appears involves a Dyson sphere, one of the most interesting concepts of futuristic speculation, and it did absolutely nothing with it!
Zelazny was known to work in some mysterious government job, i.e., in the intelligence community. A friend of mine, an ungrad at U. of C., once did some translating work for the NSA and was in contact with his supervisor only by mail. His name: R. Zelazny. BTW. Michael Dirda, the books editor at the W. Post writes about one of his prize books being a copy of some novel owned by Z, picked up in an area used-bookstore.