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User: gbjbaanb

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  1. Re:Not Ready Yet... on Famo.us: Do We Really Need Another JavaScript Framework? · · Score: 1

    true, but all those HTML elements tend to get laid out in increasingly complex divs, with a whole heap of CSS added.

    I was really referring to the javascript "controls" that are html elements with a huge heap of javascript behind them providing functionality.

    I'd like to see webgl + native code running in the browser as a standard, probably based on a superset of C so anything else can be implemented in it.

  2. Re:HTML5 & JS should just crawl away and die on Famo.us: Do We Really Need Another JavaScript Framework? · · Score: 1

    but if your browser+js+html5 is so good at providing fast, standards-based 3D... why can't it run Crysis?

  3. Re:Not Ready Yet... on Famo.us: Do We Really Need Another JavaScript Framework? · · Score: 1

    3d is more accelerated than 2d - its faster simply becuase the graphics cards practically only do 3d stuff now. 2d, there for desktop windows as almost an afterthought.

    Some systems (eg Direct2d) are built on top of 3d graphics stacks, you just have a flat projection and no depth co-ordinates to give the impression of a 2d graphics surface.

    So you see WebGL is significantly faster than HTML drawing, which is why it might be a good thing overall... the problem comes with replacing a well known standard with god-knows-what graphics drawing. Hopefully it'll settle down, and maybe one day we'll get a C-style logic that draws WebGL graphics in a browser as a standard.

    And then someone will replace it with something else.

  4. Re:syntax on Damian Conway On Perl 6 and the Philosophy of Programming · · Score: 2

    TBH I'd rather have a small language that is a lot of small, well defined building blocks and make what I need out of it (maybe I played with lego too much as a kid), than a language that has the kitchen sink in it somewhere - or worse, has 3 kitchen sinks in it because they kept on adding them in different versions. (yes .NET, you)

    So I'd say perl or C are better languages than C# because they are small. Once you know the basics, you can do anything in them. With C# I'm forever finding new things I didn't know it could do or things it does if only I had the newer version.

    With a small language, you can build self-contained libraries that fulfil your need for expansion of new features as they are invented, and replace them if needed.

    I think this is the best, a language should be like an kernel, not a full OS with minesweeper, notepad and media player just because they could be added to it.

    So I think I agree with you :-)

  5. Re:syntax on Damian Conway On Perl 6 and the Philosophy of Programming · · Score: 2

    rubbish. Each element of a language is something you write down. It can be a symbol or it can be a word (or in Java it can be aReallyLongSetOfDescriptiveWords.In.Namespaces)

    The point is that once you've learned the sigils, its no longer a mess, its perfectly understandable and concise. There's no scatter-brainedness there or urban sprawl of design.

    Think of it this way - if you took any language and converted it to a set of machine-readable numbers, they'd all look the same. The difference is that you want something humans can understand. Perl manages this - _but_ you have to take the time to learn what those symbols mean. In more wordy languages, you get the understanding from the English names they use instead. The trouble with that is that many people read the English words and assume they fully know what they mean, when they don't necessarily do.

    We've all seen people who'll use a list when an array would be more appropriate. Even though the code works, they haven't learned the difference between the collection classes and so pick the wrong one. In perl you can't accidentally make that mistake because there is no 'array' or 'list' there's just 2 squiggles.
    Learn the squiggles, you learn which one to use, your code becomes correct.

  6. syntax on Damian Conway On Perl 6 and the Philosophy of Programming · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now, the problem with that is that it only works if you know the distinction in the syntax. So people coming into Perl get lost in this sea of ampersands and stars and all sorts of other symbols that we use in the language. And until you get past and it sort of goes into your hind brain and it just translates immediately, âah yes, thatâ(TM)s a scalar variableâ(TM), âah yes, thatâ(TM)s a type blah, blah, blahâ(TM), it doesnâ(TM)t make sense. It looks like line noise, and I fully agree.

    and he's quite right, because the alternative is COBOL or Visual Basic where every syntax element is spelled out in big words.

    There's a reason Windows developers like C# and not VB.NET (even though its the same thing) and that's the syntax. With C# you get to use a few symbols for various bits that are otherwise spelled out in VB. Perl just takes it to the limit - which means you have to understand what those symbols mean, and if you don't it looks like garbage. Which, I guess, C# looks like to my mum.

    So in other words: learn your shit guys, you can't criticise perl for looking like crap unless you have taken the time to learn the language. And then you'll think it looks correct.

  7. Re:Just 15 minutes? on Study: People Would Rather Be Shocked Than Be Alone With Their Thoughts · · Score: 1

    dodgy, not doggy.

    you've been doing something so long its starting to affect your eyesight :-)

  8. Re:Just 15 minutes? on Study: People Would Rather Be Shocked Than Be Alone With Their Thoughts · · Score: 1

    probably... you'd be shocked if you know what my thoughts were when I was alone.

    Or maybe not, yours probably revolve around dodgy sex too :-)

  9. Re:A good idea, but... on European Commission Spokesman: Google Removing Link Was "not a Good Judgement" · · Score: 1

    and today Google has reinstated some links

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/tech...

    "We are learning as we go," Peter Barron, head of communications for Google in Europe, told the BBC.

    Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, he dismissed claims made on Thursday that the company was simply letting all requests through in an attempt to show its disapproval at the ruling.

    uh-huh.

  10. Re:A good idea, but... on European Commission Spokesman: Google Removing Link Was "not a Good Judgement" · · Score: 1

    The ruling only refers to information that is no longer "inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant" - so if its still relevant it should not be unlinked.

    Maybe you should write to Google to inform them of this and to get the link re-instated.

  11. Re:Well, duh... on European Commission Spokesman: Google Removing Link Was "not a Good Judgement" · · Score: 5, Interesting

    in this particular case, the guy the article was about didn't make the 'forgetme' request, it was some Joe Schmoe who was objecting to a comment he posted in the comment section under it.

    I don't know if the guy's comment is irrelevant now, I doubt it as it was just some feeble comment he wrote - not an article directly about that user. It could be he wrote something he is now embarrassed about, but more likely it is just some dick who wanted to try the system out.

  12. we could dress it up as some social coding bollocks and they'd never realise until it was too late.

  13. Not necessarily required - perl doesn't need the dictator to put all the library code in the language, instead you have CPan.

    I agree a common library for C would be awesome. Think of all the linked lists that are created every project :( I think this is one reason why C++ is more heavily used than C - even if you just write C code, you get to use the STL.

    Maybe there's the opportunity for a website here... any VCs about want to spend their money on something really useful to humanity?!!?!

  14. Re:why? on Goldman Sachs Demands Google Unsend One of Its E-mails · · Score: 1

    or let me put it this way, they offer you $1000, and you say "no way dudes, I want $10,000 or the puppy gets exposed to the world". Next thing you're up on blackmail charges. They have their own lawyers already paid for, so using them against you is just business as usual for them.

    Take the $1000 and don't be a dick about it.

  15. I've heard Shakespeare in the original brummy though - mostly at school :)

    All languages can be unambiguous, however terse and unambiguous is not generally possible. So all the coders who want to write a couple of characters will be disappointed if they have to explain what they want in terms that make it very clear.

    I thought assembly might be compared to a math style language, maybe it is. Maybe that's what we need more of- clear, simple, exactly defined instructions. Its when we start to build on that and make routines and "ease of use features that things start to get fuzzy.

    Or how about small libraries. I compare Linux to Windows and we all know Linux is much easier to administer (from a serious, PoV, not cheap and easy to click things), the reason is that its built from a lot fo small components that do 1 simple thing. Then its easier to build a bigger solution from these bricks. The interdependancy isn't built into them, like Windows which can be nasty sometimes.

    Maybe a language like lego is the ideal programming then!

  16. fair point, but if we got rid of the "richness" of a language we would lose a lot more.

    Nobody ever made a joke in Esperanto for example, yet the very internally inconsistent English gives us the greatest literature and humour there ever was.

    Maybe the problem lies with us then, to express ourselves in ways that are clear and unambiguous when needed (which is certainly possible) without turning ourselves into robots.

    That said, if we did want a programming language that was as clear as he wanted, none of the incumbents are good enough. It would have to based on mathematics to be exact, and then.. everyone would complain that it was too difficult to code in.

  17. so you're saying you should only have a language that allows you to code in, say, metric.

    For safety, right.

    Then what happens when you come across a 3rd party system, written in a different system, that only supports imperial. This is why having the flexibility is a benefit.

    You can't fix stupid, so don't try to straitjacket everyone just because some people cannot code or design properly.

  18. Re:Avoid Frameworks. on Ask Slashdot: Choosing a Web Language That's Long-Lived, and Not Too Buzzy? · · Score: 1

    TBH I think C++ is very overlooked as a web development system. If you're any good with it (ie not some n00b who thinks PHP is the best, or a javascript dev who thinks its the only language there is) then you can do very well in it.

    There are many web servers written in C++ that are designed to run the server code as well (often used for embedded systems to provide a GUI, but strangely always get hammered in benchmarks to show how fast they are - maybe its an efficiency thing for small devices, but has a side-effect of being very fast for larger-scale systems).

    Sure, there's no built-in code for handling common web use-cases, but there's many a library for everything in C/C++ land.

    If not, you can still write a service in C++ and call it from any web serve front-end, that's the way you get scalability and security and everyone should do it (after all those cases of hacked webservers allowing the attacker to dump all passwords from the database - wtf did the web server have any access to the DB server.. oh yeah, lazy architecture choices)

    I'd have a look at Mongoose for an example. Trivially easy to code a web site with - I used it to embed a web server in existing code that needed to serve a new GUI.

  19. Re:Avoid Frameworks. on Ask Slashdot: Choosing a Web Language That's Long-Lived, and Not Too Buzzy? · · Score: 1

    Don't forget Erlang - designed for uptime.

    Personally, I think the C++ option is still the best, only you write your application tier in it, and access it from a ... well whatever you care to use, web server front end. The point is the serious logic goes in the app tier and the presentation tier can be any old crap you can get a junior to write cheaply.

  20. Re:Perl still works, and PHP is fine on Ask Slashdot: Choosing a Web Language That's Long-Lived, and Not Too Buzzy? · · Score: 1

    erm... you mean support like this. LTS for 5 years, could be worse.

  21. no, he's not. He's saying what if he has circumstances that mean the traditional or cookie-cutter bridges do not fit the situation he finds himself in.

    Then there are also areas where you want to innovate somewhat. I mean, imagine an upside-down suspension bridge... that'd be so far stupid no-one would consider making anything like it, and any language that let you was brain-dead..... but someone went and made one anyway (even though it did suffer teething problems - such is the curse of making something new).

    Sometimes you need the power to express yourself differently, and whilst there is a lot to be said for standardised systems that let you build standardised products, I'm not convinced the stuff that lets you build such standard sites are all they should be (esp. re security).

  22. Re:One non-disturbing theory on Ninety-Nine Percent of the Ocean's Plastic Is Missing · · Score: 1

    depends what you dump in there. Heavy metals don't get processed to anything else and tend to be poisonous to most organisms. Some plastics are so stable they only get processed after many decades.

    And all that said, the Earth doesn't care about you or I, so we have to be a little more sensible about doing a dump. Eventually there's no places left that you haven't shat on and you end up having to sit in it.

  23. Re:And here I'm hoping... on Windows 9 To Win Over Windows 7 Users, Disables Start Screen For Desktop · · Score: 1

    i actually agree there - Win8 should have been touchscreen mandatory.

    but.. that means they'd have had to keep Windows 7 running in parallel for all the non-touchscreens out there. I think this wouldn't be such a bad thing (as its the status quo after all) and if MS released a servicepack to update the components to the same Win8 codebase, they'd have little extra maintenance work.

    But then, why not just simply make Win8 into 2 different GUI based OSes - after all, Window Server can be run headless, so why not split Win8 into base OS and then slap different GUIs on it.

    And at this point we've gone full circle and end up with Windows 9. Desktop and Metro in one OS. I imagine they have to do this as they created that new programming API for metro apps and you can't really have 2 OSes with different programming models.

  24. Re:One non-disturbing theory on Ninety-Nine Percent of the Ocean's Plastic Is Missing · · Score: 5, Insightful

    yeah, its almost certainly not the fish, it must be the micro-organisms.

    Now, if I can only think.. what eats the micro-organisms in the oceans?

    Of course its in the fucking food supply. You shit in the ocean, something eats it and we end up eating that. If we're lucky its only shit which is a naturally bio-degradable food source for plants. If we're unlucky, its the various poisons we dumped in there too, 'cos it was cheaper than processing them.

  25. Re:And here I'm hoping... on Windows 9 To Win Over Windows 7 Users, Disables Start Screen For Desktop · · Score: 1

    but that's what they did with Vista - all the old hardware needed new drivers to support the new driver model, and if the manufacturer didn't support the old kit... too bad, time to buy a replacement.