Science fiction writers are, by and large, writers and not technologists. They use technology metaphorically in the same way ancient poets evoked the gods and goddesses of the Greek Pantheon. They do tend to be more educated about science than writers in other fields, but science fiction really isn't science.
> Two peices of code which look exactly the same > in most text editorsand in hard-copy should > be exectly the same.
In python, they are. You may be thinking of Fortran or something like that. I was skeptical of python's whitespace syntax at first, but after using it a little bit, I think it's ingenious. It actually enforces exactly the kind of consistency you're talking about, far better than pnuctuation-delited schemes.
I remember when Intel announced that the fabled 586 would be called "Pentium". We (the hacker community) thought it was a dumb name at the time, and I remember saying that everyone would probably call it 586 anyway.
So, maybe five years from now, we will be talking about the glory of the Itanium name.
Imagine picking up a pen every time you want to move your mouse pointer. The act of moving my right hand from keyboard to mouse and back is annoying enough. I would hate to have to actually pick something up and situate it in a proper writing grip.
XFS is certainly not yet supported under Linux, and probably won't be for awhile (though reiserfs, another journaling filesystem, is due in the 2.4 kernels and is currently available as a quite-stable patch).
Also, the 4 gig file size limit is _not_ filesystem dependent. The 4 gig limit is in the VFS layer, which _all_ filesystems use. The VFS layer on 64-bit platforms supports 64-bit file sizes, though.
The small office I worked in named machines after Middle Eastern capitals. The gateway router was suez. Other machines were telaviv, baghdad, etc, etc. A lot of available names, most of which are short and easy to type. They also sound vaguely professional.
AceDB, which is the OO database used by the Human Genome Project is Open Source _and_ supported on Linux. There's an article in the latest Perl journal about it, and this is the faq.
That was good, but the _best_ gag of the show, and the most Slashdot-relavent, was the scene in the bar where Bender throws back a bottle of Olde Fortran Malt Liquor. Yeah.
PCs spend most of their time waiting for disk drives. Watch your CPU usage on a PC sometime, and you'll notice that its usually 90+% idle, even under load.
A lot of Sparcs these days have gigabit backplanes, so they don't spend 90% of their time waiting for the IO subsystem.
Why do you want to use Linux so badly? Is it just religion?
As long as somebody else is footing the bill, I'd be delighted to work with Solaris over Linux, just because Sun hardware is cooler reliable than PC stuff.
Slashdot Mirror
Science fiction writers are, by and large, writers and not technologists. They use technology metaphorically in the same way ancient poets evoked the gods and goddesses of the Greek Pantheon. They do tend to be more educated about science than writers in other fields, but science fiction really isn't science.
Well, you know how dumb the average person is, right? By definition, half the people out there are even dumber than that.
I think you're confusing 'average' with 'median'.
You need DBD::Multiplex, which is part of Perl's
DBI. It allows you to do round-robin connections,
among other things.
> Two peices of code which look exactly the same
> in most text editorsand in hard-copy should
> be exectly the same.
In python, they are. You may be thinking of
Fortran or something like that. I was skeptical
of python's whitespace syntax at first, but
after using it a little bit, I think it's
ingenious. It actually enforces exactly the
kind of consistency you're talking about, far
better than pnuctuation-delited schemes.
Method Man's Wu name turns out to be:
Vangellic Surgeon
And, if Busta Rhymes was in the Clan, his name would be:
My Cousin the Wife Beatah
Thank you.
Historical perspective
I remember when Intel announced that the
fabled 586 would be called "Pentium". We (the hacker community) thought it was a dumb name at
the time, and I remember saying that everyone
would probably call it 586 anyway.
So, maybe five years from now, we will be talking
about the glory of the Itanium name.
Imagine picking up a pen every time you want to move your mouse pointer. The act of moving my right hand from keyboard to mouse and back is annoying enough. I would hate to have to actually pick something up and situate it in a proper writing grip.
XFS is certainly not yet supported under
Linux, and probably won't be for awhile (though reiserfs, another journaling
filesystem, is due in the 2.4 kernels and is
currently available as a quite-stable patch).
Also, the 4 gig file size limit is _not_
filesystem dependent. The 4 gig limit is in the VFS layer, which _all_ filesystems use. The VFS layer on 64-bit platforms supports 64-bit
file sizes, though.
The small office I worked in named machines after
Middle Eastern capitals. The gateway router was
suez. Other machines were telaviv, baghdad, etc, etc. A lot of available names, most of which are short and easy to type. They also sound vaguely professional.
In base 5, for example, this guy is 34, which
makes him more than old enough to get into
Comdex.
AceDB, which is the OO database used by the Human Genome Project is Open Source _and_ supported on Linux. There's an article in the latest Perl journal about it, and this is the faq.
One word: algore
That was good, but the _best_ gag of the show, and the most Slashdot-relavent, was the scene in the bar where Bender throws back a bottle of Olde Fortran Malt Liquor. Yeah.
I like the changes, 'taco. I actually look
forward to reading comments now, thanks
to highlight threshold. Fun fun. Thank you.
Its not about the chips, its about the IO.
PCs spend most of their time waiting for disk
drives. Watch your CPU usage on a PC sometime,
and you'll notice that its usually 90+% idle,
even under load.
A lot of Sparcs these days have gigabit
backplanes, so they don't spend 90% of their
time waiting for the IO subsystem.
Yeah, but what's the point of that?
I'v actually used Solaris x86, and I found it
silly.
Okay, so if they want to use PC hardware,
make them use Linux.
If they're willing to shell out for Sparc
boxes, Solaris will be fine.
Why do you want to use Linux so badly?
Is it just religion?
As long as somebody else is footing the bill,
I'd be delighted to work with Solaris over
Linux, just because Sun hardware is cooler
reliable than PC stuff.