Except for the 1-in-a-1000 exceptional genius programmers, you are best off building the foundation for a career in software development by getting some formal post-secondary education.
Personally when hiring for a developer position, normally there are so many applicants that we throw out all the no (4 year) degree resumes or non related degrees (a degree in history doesn't help). That is simply a numbers game, we receive 200 resumes per day that a given position is advertised (online only at a single job web site). Last time we had about 400 potential applicants, and that is a small a pool of resumes. While we might be able to find an exceptional candidate without a degree, but the chances are so slim it isn't worth the time to look through every piece of garbage resume and interview the many very unlikely candidates to find a hidden gem.
A few things I expect a good candidate to learn from their education are:
Programming Languages, should know enough about computers to be able to write a simple program in assembly, and then learn a couple "simple" high level languages e.g. Perl, Python, Ruby, followed by C, then Java (or C++), and then a not so common language (aka "languages that make you think") like Haskell, ML, Lisp, or Scheme. Plus a basic/general history of programming languages. Suggested reading: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
Software engineering. From making sure programs work, correctly, to programming in the large (not everything can be written as a 1000 line Perl script), and software development as a profession (ethics, legalities, future). Two good references are Code Complete by Steven McConnell, and The Mythical Man-Month by Fred Brooks.
I also like employees who can work well with others, can communicate - both ask questions and answer them, and mature enough and socially well adjusted to realize there is more to life than just computers.
I would hesitate to hire someone right from high school, that does not plan to take their education further. There is too much to learn about in order to be a good, well-rounded software developer to get it all from reading a few books or simply contributing to an open source project (though that can be a big plus on someone's resume IMHO).
We do hire summer students who are in (or plan to enter, in one case) Computer Science (or related such as Computer Engineering) 4 year university degree programs. Often CS students can find part-time work on campus, from being computer lab assistances, to support and PC technician for the university's computing services, to programming for professors doing research (in CS and other fields).
If you cannot afford to go to school full-time, then go part-time and find a job as well. Education combined with experience is a great mix.
A cursory google search turned up a class action suit against Glaxo and a whole slew of links associated with it and Paxil. Mostly lawyers attempting to cash in, but the link above was one that wasn't lawsuit-oriented. I think. TBH I didn't read any of it but the headline.
So plenty of claims, many involving money, but no evidence.
With a google search I think you can also find class actions suits against Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
I would be interested in comparsions to Dopamine and SSRI's and will be looking around for them.
Most GP / family doctors are still using SSRI as a first line of choice for prescribing, psychatrists are most often prescribing SNRI, and atypical anti-depressants depending on the patient.
Wellbutrun, Effexor (sorry, US brand names) are the biggest two (market share) non-SSRI with others available as well (~8-10 in total I think).
Don't expect dopamine pills, these are still re-uptake inhibitors that appear to work on a different neuro-transmitter chemical.
Lots of side effects from Paxil/Prozac/et al and they're ALL addictive. Even when they say they're not.
I'd love to see your evident to back that claim. I don't know of any psychological addictions to any anti-depressant. Anti-anxiety drugs are a different matter (e.g. tranquilizers). Any claim to physical addiction is easily "defeated" through a simple straight forward "weaning" process.
Finally, a more reliable way to increase your seratonin levels is through eating right and daily exercise.''
In healthy, unstressed people.
Be careful how this statement is read, there is no evidence that depression is brought on by a poor diet or lack of exercise, and I don't know if an occurance of depression is considered less likely through diet and exercise (it is not 100% preventable by diet and exercise alone).
Wellbutrin (bupropion) is not a SSRI, it affects, wait for it. . . dopamine.
It is a reuptake inhibitor for both dopamine and norepinephrine. I don't remember if it is doage specific (some dual action reuptake inhibitors act differently with different dosage amounts).
More knowledge and skills is just about always a good thing, but to most technical managers that have been doing their job long to have lived throught at least one failed project, knows that actually experience is worth more.
The next most important thing is to understand the hiring process. If you are employed, look at the process itself about how you got hired, and how they hire others in the IT department. HR people hire differently than a IT manager, start-ups have different priorities than Fortune 500 companies. For a resume to get past a HR desk on an advertised job, realise it is one of hundreds if not thousands of resumes in the pile. The first cut is a broad quick cut intended to weed out the random and boiler plate submissions. Most IT managers want to look at no more than 20-50 resumes to make their own short list of who to interview. If you get an interview in my experience it tends to come down to making sure you did not lie, and seeing if you would be a good fit with the existing staff and manager. I've seen good candidates not hired because they were more like a hippie and the group had a bunch of ex-military employees already, so the manager wasn't confident that they would gel. A 40 year old security expert with a MBA may be past over by a 32 year old security manage who is self-taught, if he feels his job security threatened.
I prefer (4 year) university degrees for two reasons: a) commited 4 years to learning about one subject, this weeds out a lot of people who just expect to be paid lots of money because they say they are in IT - for a career level job I want someone with a passion for technology. b) They have more general (theorical) knowledge which makes migrating to new technology easier / quicker for because in my experience they have a better understanding of the foundations of what the change is about, and are more experienced at learning as a skill onto itself. The candidate is not as limited to button-ology style learning. Neither of these are exclusive to university education, but in my own experience more frequently found in someone with a four year degree in Computer Science or similar area (Math, Physics, Pre-Law, Philosophy, Music, Engineering).
For a computer security career, I would seriously recommend a degree, because it is a rapidlly changing field, including some programming experience, some business or management knowledge / skills, and you need on-the-job IT experience to form a well tuned BS detector (from vendors, managers, users, and infrequent attackers).
For certificates, look at the SANS' various certs for an idea of what people are looking for, but whether they are worth the cost is another question I can't answer.
Worse, if you DIDN'T use a credit card, you have no credit. So then you can't get a credit card....
I had a coworker who makes over $54,000 for five years at the same job, no debt, monthly expenses of $500 month (that's including rent), and was turned down on his first credit card application for a "gold" credit card.
He wanted a card with a decent limit so he could buy domestic airline tickets (his old travel agent stopped accepting cheques) and very sweet computer upgrades (his last system was $7000).
As far as we can figure it was simply turned down because of he didn't have a credit history.
Carphone Warehouse is normally packed with sales people in their early 20s working primarily for commissions (e.g. for selling extended warranty, and some manufactorers pay a commission for selling their new high end models). Their technical knowledge is normally about the same as the kid who doesn't shave yet working at Radio Shack, althought I've personally known a couple of knowledgeable sales people from Carphone Warehouse.
They most likely created the policy after too many complaints of pressuring older people into buying a fancy but complicated phone or expensive cell/mobile phone contract.
Real servers are rackable, in 19 inch wide, 42U (~72 inches I think ) high racks.
One UPS, hot swapable batteries are nice, but we fry as many APC brand controllers as we kill batteries. I like to have an independent AC line conditioner, on a serperate AC mains circuit (i.e. different 15A circuit breaker) so that those real servers with dual power supplies (hot swappable of course) go one to UPS, one to the line conditioner (for UPS failures). Have enough circuits (not just more plugs) to accomidate future growth. A Watts Up? or Kill-A-Watt meter are nice to measuring your electrical consumption.
Honestly with how swappable hardware RAID-5 disks, hot swappable power supplies, sensible power distribution, and practicing regular backup hygenie, downtime can be minimized to mere hours per year range or less with care and planning of the administrator(s).
I also love KVM over IP (I use an ) or ILO (Intergrated Lights Out management) for headless servers, and have a backup AC available for server rooms/closets.
For servers ideas look at HP Proliant DL380 or Dell PowerEdge 2850 series.
Some books have a limited market, so even if the writing is at the professional level, the size of the market means the books end up being obscenely expensive, like that 4th year textbook for Mathematics majors specializing in Pure Mathematics end up with a $200 textbook (300 pages hardcover only) because the only decent alternative has been out of print for the past ten years.
The first thing to realise there are plenty of technology related hobbyists around the world, although most are not high profile and some may be different very different demographics than yourself.
Some (hobby) groups to consider looking towards for ideas and help include: woodworkers, metalworkers (hobbyists using micromills and mini-lathes from TaigTools and Sherline, etc.), model railroads, model aircrafts (static and RC), robotics, amateur radio (ham), 2600, LUGs, and Artist Run Centres/Communities
Last year I was invoved in hiring two summer students (we paid our student employees, 50-100% more than any of their classmates) from a local college at the end of their second year. It was basically a disaster, we were not prepared, and other then getting a pay cheque the students had about 25-50% of their time that was useful or educational to them, and less than 25% of time was useful to us beyond the time it took to describe a task to them.
How to stand out from a crowd of resumes? Be interesting to a geek, without offending any HR people who might read it before forwarding it. Something like, "Contributed patches to codefoo script version 2.3 to work under perl 5.9" is a 100 times more interesting than the one resume that said the applicant was a self-described "computer nut". Tell me build model rockets and save money by mixing your own fuel (really paid attention in chemistry class), don't tell you too first year computer science, chemistry and physics. Point me to your favourite programs that you wrote yourself (class assignment/project, useful shell script 'hacks', anything), don't tell me that you know C++, Perl, and PHP. Write a short web tutorial about how to do a task (or fix a common problem) using Linux, like what you had to do to get your sound card or printer to work using Linux.
Other random thoughts: If I call you, I want to speak to you, not your mother. Get your own damn email address and check it, and a website of useful material (sample code, copy of resume in various formats (points for ASCII and OpenDocument)). Consider getting your own vanity domain and website (~$10/month) from some place like DreamHost.com (no financial interest, my friend love them). Compare your own resume with your friends', then try to figure how to express what makes you different to me (remember I'm selfish).
Grandparent comment: You can't (simply) transform DC voltage to a different voltage.
Parent comment: Actually transforming DC is way cheaper and more efficient than transforming AC...
You can simply transform AC voltage using the simple and low-tech electronic device called a transformer. Just a bounce of wire wound a metal core.
I assume you are referring to solid state DC-DC converters which can be (far) more efficient (less waste, less heat) than a linear power convert, but they are not simplier.
Distribution to businesses and houses will remain AC because AC is easier to distribute over long distance. High power (wattage) is easier (more efficient) to distribute (power transmission) with a high AC voltage than high voltage DC. This goes back to the famouse Edision vs. Telsa fight over DC / AC power distribution near the previous turn of the century.
It is possible to distribute low voltage AC (say 12 VAC) within a house for electronic usage. Using high efficiency power supplies (i.e.: don't waste a lot of engery producing wasted heat as a by-product of the conversion process) such as found in newer laptop power supplies would be another positive step. Otherwise I don't know if we'll see the elimimation of inefficient wall-warts.
To the submitter: Don't forget about electric applicants that are high power (e.g. 1000W or higher), in my case that includes: electric force air heating, electric stove (aka range/oven) for cooking, air conditioning, refridgerator, microwave, toaster, hair dryer, and coffee maker. These devices would not work (easily) at a lower voltage without a large increase of current. Remember or learn Ohm's Law: Power (Watts) = Voltage (Volts) times Current (Amperes).
AFAIK the practice of using a high-percentage of recycled obsolete electronics in building robots is often called JunkBots. The word taken from the book title of Junkbots, Bugbots, and Bots on Wheels.
Chessmaster 9000 or 10th edition by Ubisoft should be available for less than $20 at your local computer game store (I saw Chessmaster 10th for $20 Cdn at Staples).
I went from just knowing the rules on how to move the pieces, to being able to give my adult friends a decent game.
Ask any government that supports multiple official languages (Canada, Switzerland,...). You translate into the other language(s) using professional translators. Period. You can give them the most powerful automatic translation tools available, and multiple language dictionarys (e.g. English-French) but in the end you need a human professional translator to make translations worth reading.
-without having to write a complete localized version for each language.
You need to make the content management system (CMS) language aware, and you need to localize all your templates. Then you need to add a key to your article database for language, so the user can retrieve article 101 in either english or french. (think a long the lines of http://localhost/cms/display.php?article=101&lang= en ).
I know nothing about PHP programming, so I cannot comment on that, or MySQL (main gotcha I expect is datatype, UTF-8, iso8859-1, vs. windowspage1574). Two articles I found useful in general about internationalization are
I'm not sure what the question is. Is it, how do we allow users to select a language? Is it, how to implement i18n in PHP based code? Is it, how to manage multiligual databases?
We're all confident that you guys have benefitted from NetBSD
I'm not with Microsoft. I don't know of any NetBSD code in microsoft, of course there is some BSD code in Microsoft's products (tcp/ip stack), at least there was once upon a time.
Because a real full weather feed has data and images from multiple satellites, over a large footprint and requires more than a 1MHz (or 1Mbps) of bandwidth.
Since I am not located in the Meteosat's footprint, I don't know off-hand what it provides, but I strongly suspect that it's best products are not avilable via 137-138MHz downlink. You most likely only get the poor quality WEFAX (WEather FAX) images.
Needless to say, you can DIY a simple downlink if you want to directly get weather data but it is not a complete source, but can be a lot of fun.
Seriously look at going to Waterloo University rather Wilfrid Laurier, it is the MIT (or CalTech if you prefer) of Canada. I have been impressed with BMath Computer Science graduates of Waterloo, and I have heard nothing but excellent things from their engineering programs.
A small defence contractor I use to worked for, employed exclusively from Waterloo for their new graduates.
As to which programme to study, what can you do for 12 hours a day 6 days a week?
I was recently looking to hire 2 students in Ontario, Canada and the available calibre of students was sadly disappointing. One self-described "computer nut" only had skills from his college courses, and did not display any passion for understanding technology. Good luck, we need more good CS / CEng types.
It appears that Mozilla needs volunteers, more volunteers across the board for development work, QA, and user support. Does the employment of Mozilla staff or Google hiring Mozilla (and/or Firefox) developers help or hinder the process of recruiting more active volunteers?
What I am wondering do the unpaid contributors feel that they are working for free while other people are being paid to do similar work?
My personal view is that you should be true to yourself first. Not for any feel-good metaphysical reasons, but to avoid work being constant dudgery and more important avoid stress, high blood pressure, depression or other health conditions that may be caused by your work/job/career.
What Should I Do with My Life? by Po Bronson is worth a read if only to make you stop and think about what is personally important to you. Success is a personal goal, on your deathbed you will not give a toss about what other people (the general public, co-workers; I don't mean family or close friends) think of you, but how you feel about yourself.
There is no sense of starting an MBA if it is not you. Of course education is to get you the skills and knowledge to get an entry level job (above mail room boy and coat check girl hopefully) from which you will derive experience which is what hirinig managers really like to see on a resume.
Slashdot Mirror
Personally when hiring for a developer position, normally there are so many applicants that we throw out all the no (4 year) degree resumes or non related degrees (a degree in history doesn't help). That is simply a numbers game, we receive 200 resumes per day that a given position is advertised (online only at a single job web site). Last time we had about 400 potential applicants, and that is a small a pool of resumes. While we might be able to find an exceptional candidate without a degree, but the chances are so slim it isn't worth the time to look through every piece of garbage resume and interview the many very unlikely candidates to find a hidden gem.
A few things I expect a good candidate to learn from their education are:
I also like employees who can work well with others, can communicate - both ask questions and answer them, and mature enough and socially well adjusted to realize there is more to life than just computers.
I would hesitate to hire someone right from high school, that does not plan to take their education further. There is too much to learn about in order to be a good, well-rounded software developer to get it all from reading a few books or simply contributing to an open source project (though that can be a big plus on someone's resume IMHO).
We do hire summer students who are in (or plan to enter, in one case) Computer Science (or related such as Computer Engineering) 4 year university degree programs. Often CS students can find part-time work on campus, from being computer lab assistances, to support and PC technician for the university's computing services, to programming for professors doing research (in CS and other fields).
If you cannot afford to go to school full-time, then go part-time and find a job as well. Education combined with experience is a great mix.
A cursory google search turned up a class action suit against Glaxo and a whole slew of links associated with it and Paxil. Mostly lawyers attempting to cash in, but the link above was one that wasn't lawsuit-oriented. I think. TBH I didn't read any of it but the headline.
So plenty of claims, many involving money, but no evidence.
With a google search I think you can also find class actions suits against Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.
I would be interested in comparsions to Dopamine and SSRI's and will be looking around for them.
Most GP / family doctors are still using SSRI as a first line of choice for prescribing, psychatrists are most often prescribing SNRI, and atypical anti-depressants depending on the patient.
Wellbutrun, Effexor (sorry, US brand names) are the biggest two (market share) non-SSRI with others available as well (~8-10 in total I think).
Don't expect dopamine pills, these are still re-uptake inhibitors that appear to work on a different neuro-transmitter chemical.
Lots of side effects from Paxil/Prozac/et al and they're ALL addictive. Even when they say they're not.
I'd love to see your evident to back that claim. I don't know of any psychological addictions to any anti-depressant. Anti-anxiety drugs are a different matter (e.g. tranquilizers). Any claim to physical addiction is easily "defeated" through a simple straight forward "weaning" process.
Finally, a more reliable way to increase your seratonin levels is through eating right and daily exercise.''
In healthy, unstressed people.
Be careful how this statement is read, there is no evidence that depression is brought on by a poor diet or lack of exercise, and I don't know if an occurance of depression is considered less likely through diet and exercise (it is not 100% preventable by diet and exercise alone).
Wellbutrin (bupropion) is not a SSRI, it affects, wait for it. . . dopamine.
It is a reuptake inhibitor for both dopamine and norepinephrine. I don't remember if it is doage specific (some dual action reuptake inhibitors act differently with different dosage amounts).
More knowledge and skills is just about always a good thing, but to most technical managers that have been doing their job long to have lived throught at least one failed project, knows that actually experience is worth more.
The next most important thing is to understand the hiring process. If you are employed, look at the process itself about how you got hired, and how they hire others in the IT department. HR people hire differently than a IT manager, start-ups have different priorities than Fortune 500 companies. For a resume to get past a HR desk on an advertised job, realise it is one of hundreds if not thousands of resumes in the pile. The first cut is a broad quick cut intended to weed out the random and boiler plate submissions. Most IT managers want to look at no more than 20-50 resumes to make their own short list of who to interview. If you get an interview in my experience it tends to come down to making sure you did not lie, and seeing if you would be a good fit with the existing staff and manager. I've seen good candidates not hired because they were more like a hippie and the group had a bunch of ex-military employees already, so the manager wasn't confident that they would gel. A 40 year old security expert with a MBA may be past over by a 32 year old security manage who is self-taught, if he feels his job security threatened.
I prefer (4 year) university degrees for two reasons: a) commited 4 years to learning about one subject, this weeds out a lot of people who just expect to be paid lots of money because they say they are in IT - for a career level job I want someone with a passion for technology. b) They have more general (theorical) knowledge which makes migrating to new technology easier / quicker for because in my experience they have a better understanding of the foundations of what the change is about, and are more experienced at learning as a skill onto itself. The candidate is not as limited to button-ology style learning. Neither of these are exclusive to university education, but in my own experience more frequently found in someone with a four year degree in Computer Science or similar area (Math, Physics, Pre-Law, Philosophy, Music, Engineering).
For a computer security career, I would seriously recommend a degree, because it is a rapidlly changing field, including some programming experience, some business or management knowledge / skills, and you need on-the-job IT experience to form a well tuned BS detector (from vendors, managers, users, and infrequent attackers).
For certificates, look at the SANS' various certs for an idea of what people are looking for, but whether they are worth the cost is another question I can't answer.
Worse, if you DIDN'T use a credit card, you have no credit. So then you can't get a credit card....
I had a coworker who makes over $54,000 for five years at the same job, no debt, monthly expenses of $500 month (that's including rent), and was turned down on his first credit card application for a "gold" credit card.
He wanted a card with a decent limit so he could buy domestic airline tickets (his old travel agent stopped accepting cheques) and very sweet computer upgrades (his last system was $7000).
As far as we can figure it was simply turned down because of he didn't have a credit history.
Carphone Warehouse is normally packed with sales people in their early 20s working primarily for commissions (e.g. for selling extended warranty, and some manufactorers pay a commission for selling their new high end models). Their technical knowledge is normally about the same as the kid who doesn't shave yet working at Radio Shack, althought I've personally known a couple of knowledgeable sales people from Carphone Warehouse.
They most likely created the policy after too many complaints of pressuring older people into buying a fancy but complicated phone or expensive cell/mobile phone contract.
Real servers are rackable, in 19 inch wide, 42U (~72 inches I think ) high racks.
One UPS, hot swapable batteries are nice, but we fry as many APC brand controllers as we kill batteries. I like to have an independent AC line conditioner, on a serperate AC mains circuit (i.e. different 15A circuit breaker) so that those real servers with dual power supplies (hot swappable of course) go one to UPS, one to the line conditioner (for UPS failures). Have enough circuits (not just more plugs) to accomidate future growth. A Watts Up? or Kill-A-Watt meter are nice to measuring your electrical consumption.
Honestly with how swappable hardware RAID-5 disks, hot swappable power supplies, sensible power distribution, and practicing regular backup hygenie, downtime can be minimized to mere hours per year range or less with care and planning of the administrator(s).
I also love KVM over IP (I use an ) or ILO (Intergrated Lights Out management) for headless servers, and have a backup AC available for server rooms/closets.
For servers ideas look at HP Proliant DL380 or Dell PowerEdge 2850 series.
Sometime the economics suck.
Some books have a limited market, so even if the writing is at the professional level, the size of the market means the books end up being obscenely expensive, like that 4th year textbook for Mathematics majors specializing in Pure Mathematics end up with a $200 textbook (300 pages hardcover only) because the only decent alternative has been out of print for the past ten years.
The first thing to realise there are plenty of technology related hobbyists around the world, although most are not high profile and some may be different very different demographics than yourself.
= tools
Some (hobby) groups to consider looking towards for ideas and help include: woodworkers, metalworkers (hobbyists using micromills and mini-lathes from TaigTools and Sherline, etc.), model railroads, model aircrafts (static and RC), robotics, amateur radio (ham), 2600, LUGs, and Artist Run Centres/Communities
Random list of some I use or know of:
Make magazine http://www.makezine.com/
Instructables http://www.instructables.com/
ARRL http://www.arrl.org/
http://www.sparkfun.com/ (check out their tutorials)
http://www.fpga4fun.com/ / http://www.knjn.com/
QRP-L http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/qrp-l/>
GQRP http://www.gqrp.com/
http://www.pololu.com/ (cheap stencils laser cut, e.g. 3x4 for $32)
http://www.diyaudio.com/
http://www.digikey.com/ (if you're still buying electronics from Radio Shack, get these 3 catalogs now!)
http://www.mouser.com/
http://www.jameco.com/
the ton of various surplus/NOS dealers online
http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/
http://www.seattlerobotics.org/
http://www.chibots.org/index.php
DorkBot
http://eyebeam.org/production/production.php?page
MIT CBA FAB http://fab.cba.mit.edu/
http://www.leevalley.com/
http://www.smallparts.com/
http://www.danssmallpartsandkits.net/
http://www.wmberg.com/
http://www.acklandsgrainger.com/
http://www.grainger.com/
http://www.onlinemetals.com/
http://www.amqrp.com/
http://www.princessauto.com/
http://www.sherline.com/
http://www.taigtools.com/
Last year I was invoved in hiring two summer students (we paid our student employees, 50-100% more than any of their classmates) from a local college at the end of their second year. It was basically a disaster, we were not prepared, and other then getting a pay cheque the students had about 25-50% of their time that was useful or educational to them, and less than 25% of time was useful to us beyond the time it took to describe a task to them.
How to stand out from a crowd of resumes? Be interesting to a geek, without offending any HR people who might read it before forwarding it. Something like, "Contributed patches to codefoo script version 2.3 to work under perl 5.9" is a 100 times more interesting than the one resume that said the applicant was a self-described "computer nut". Tell me build model rockets and save money by mixing your own fuel (really paid attention in chemistry class), don't tell you too first year computer science, chemistry and physics. Point me to your favourite programs that you wrote yourself (class assignment/project, useful shell script 'hacks', anything), don't tell me that you know C++, Perl, and PHP. Write a short web tutorial about how to do a task (or fix a common problem) using Linux, like what you had to do to get your sound card or printer to work using Linux.
Other random thoughts: If I call you, I want to speak to you, not your mother. Get your own damn email address and check it, and a website of useful material (sample code, copy of resume in various formats (points for ASCII and OpenDocument)). Consider getting your own vanity domain and website (~$10/month) from some place like DreamHost.com (no financial interest, my friend love them). Compare your own resume with your friends', then try to figure how to express what makes you different to me (remember I'm selfish).
Grandparent comment: You can't (simply) transform DC voltage to a different voltage.
Parent comment: Actually transforming DC is way cheaper and more efficient than transforming AC...
You can simply transform AC voltage using the simple and low-tech electronic device called a transformer. Just a bounce of wire wound a metal core.
I assume you are referring to solid state DC-DC converters which can be (far) more efficient (less waste, less heat) than a linear power convert, but they are not simplier.
Distribution to businesses and houses will remain AC because AC is easier to distribute over long distance. High power (wattage) is easier (more efficient) to distribute (power transmission) with a high AC voltage than high voltage DC. This goes back to the famouse Edision vs. Telsa fight over DC / AC power distribution near the previous turn of the century.
It is possible to distribute low voltage AC (say 12 VAC) within a house for electronic usage. Using high efficiency power supplies (i.e.: don't waste a lot of engery producing wasted heat as a by-product of the conversion process) such as found in newer laptop power supplies would be another positive step. Otherwise I don't know if we'll see the elimimation of inefficient wall-warts.
To the submitter: Don't forget about electric applicants that are high power (e.g. 1000W or higher), in my case that includes: electric force air heating, electric stove (aka range/oven) for cooking, air conditioning, refridgerator, microwave, toaster, hair dryer, and coffee maker. These devices would not work (easily) at a lower voltage without a large increase of current. Remember or learn Ohm's Law: Power (Watts) = Voltage (Volts) times Current (Amperes).
The other word used is BEAM (Biology Electronics Aesthetics Mechanics) from Mark Tilden's early efforts (circa 1990-4) from isn't explicited junk / recycled focused.
Chessmaster 9000 or 10th edition by Ubisoft should be available for less than $20 at your local computer game store (I saw Chessmaster 10th for $20 Cdn at Staples).
I went from just knowing the rules on how to move the pieces, to being able to give my adult friends a decent game.
Also look at: http://www.danheisman.com/
-without using some crappy 'BabelFish' layer
...). You translate into the other language(s) using professional translators. Period. You can give them the most powerful automatic translation tools available, and multiple language dictionarys (e.g. English-French) but in the end you need a human professional translator to make translations worth reading.
= en ).
m l
Ask any government that supports multiple official languages (Canada, Switzerland,
-without having to write a complete localized version for each language.
You need to make the content management system (CMS) language aware, and you need to localize all your templates. Then you need to add a key to your article database for language, so the user can retrieve article 101 in either english or french. (think a long the lines of http://localhost/cms/display.php?article=101&lang
I know nothing about PHP programming, so I cannot comment on that, or MySQL (main gotcha I expect is datatype, UTF-8, iso8859-1, vs. windowspage1574). Two articles I found useful in general about internationalization are
UTF-8 and Unicode FAQ for Unix/Linux by Markus Kahn
How do I have to modify my software?
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html#mod
The Absolute Minimum Every Software Developer Absolutely, Positively Must Know About Unicode and Character Sets (No Excuses!)
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Unicode.ht
I'm not sure what the question is. Is it, how do we allow users to select a language? Is it, how to implement i18n in PHP based code? Is it, how to manage multiligual databases?
I'm not sure what the question(s) is.
www.microsoft.com
We're all confident that you guys have benefitted from NetBSD
I'm not with Microsoft. I don't know of any NetBSD code in microsoft, of course there is some BSD code in Microsoft's products (tcp/ip stack), at least there was once upon a time.
While I don't use NetBSD directly, I am confident that I have benefited from the NetBSD project.
I've already donated $20.00 US, and if 2 in 1000 slashdot readers did the same, they would met their goal and we won't see this story again.
Because a real full weather feed has data and images from multiple satellites, over a large footprint and requires more than a 1MHz (or 1Mbps) of bandwidth.
Since I am not located in the Meteosat's footprint, I don't know off-hand what it provides, but I strongly suspect that it's best products are not avilable via 137-138MHz downlink. You most likely only get the poor quality WEFAX (WEather FAX) images.
Needless to say, you can DIY a simple downlink if you want to directly get weather data but it is not a complete source, but can be a lot of fun.
That because a bunch of Nokia engineers are amateur radio operators.
One guy, I think VP of Engineering, has been a major player in getting amateur radio technology to 3rd world countries and getting them on the air.
Seriously look at going to Waterloo University rather Wilfrid Laurier, it is the MIT (or CalTech if you prefer) of Canada. I have been impressed with BMath Computer Science graduates of Waterloo, and I have heard nothing but excellent things from their engineering programs.
A small defence contractor I use to worked for, employed exclusively from Waterloo for their new graduates.
As to which programme to study, what can you do for 12 hours a day 6 days a week?
I was recently looking to hire 2 students in Ontario, Canada and the available calibre of students was sadly disappointing. One self-described "computer nut" only had skills from his college courses, and did not display any passion for understanding technology. Good luck, we need more good CS / CEng types.
It appears that Mozilla needs volunteers, more volunteers across the board for development work, QA, and user support. Does the employment of Mozilla staff or Google hiring Mozilla (and/or Firefox) developers help or hinder the process of recruiting more active volunteers?
What I am wondering do the unpaid contributors feel that they are working for free while other people are being paid to do similar work?
My personal view is that you should be true to yourself first. Not for any feel-good metaphysical reasons, but to avoid work being constant dudgery and more important avoid stress, high blood pressure, depression or other health conditions that may be caused by your work/job/career.
What Should I Do with My Life? by Po Bronson is worth a read if only to make you stop and think about what is personally important to you. Success is a personal goal, on your deathbed you will not give a toss about what other people (the general public, co-workers; I don't mean family or close friends) think of you, but how you feel about yourself.
There is no sense of starting an MBA if it is not you. Of course education is to get you the skills and knowledge to get an entry level job (above mail room boy and coat check girl hopefully) from which you will derive experience which is what hirinig managers really like to see on a resume.