I haven't had any luck with programs using OpenGL or with compositing, but then again I haven't tried all that hard, so there might be a way to do these things. Wayland supports remote desktops, which I find more useful than remoting individual applications, but I can see why network transparency matters to some people.
I completely agree with this. When I went to school we were introduced a topic and a language to demonstrate the topic. The purpose of the course was to teach programming concepts, not languages. I can still remember some of my course titles (Structured Programming with Pascal, Data Structures with Pascal, Systems Programming with C, Object Orientation with C++, GUI Programming with Delphi, AI Programming with Lisp and Prolog, and so on). The languages weren't always ideal for the course (Smalltalk would have been better than C++ for introducing Object Orientation) but for the most part this approach worked well.
There were also 1 credit hour 200 level courses for specific languages (I remember Java, Perl, COBOL, and FORTRAN) but CS students could only get credit for a few of these (though CIS students were expected to take a lot more).
I prefer/tmp to use tmpfs, but that may be my Solaris background talking.
One potential downside to having/var on a separate drive is that you now have two drives that can prevent you from booting instead of one. This isn't that big of a deal, but it is something you should plan for.
I bought mine to be an e-reader, and I couldn't be happier. The screen is fantastic, unless you try to read in direct sunlight (but then, anything not e-ink will do poorly there). The Play Books app only supports epub and PDF, but I prefer epub anyway. The Kindle app isn't optimized for the 7" screen, but it works well enough. The 8 hours of battery life that is advertised seems to be accurate.
A quality e-reader that I can use to read mail, surf the web, and run Android apps for only $200? Sign me up!
The lack of arrows and broken tab completion was a problem with ksh, no matter what Unix variant you ran it on. Ksh can be fixed to provide both features using some hacks in your kshrc, but they aren't obvious. Or, you can just use bash like you do on Linux.
Of course, the version of bash on Solaris 10 is ancient, but that's a consequence of the philosophy of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it." This philosophy pervades the entire toolchain and the core libraries. This focus on stability is great for servers, but sucks for workstations. Of course, Sun abandoned the workstation market long before the Oracle takeover.
I have a coworker whose theory is that Azure was made by creating a cluster of old Zunes.
Think about it. Microsoft has a butt-load of unsold Zunes, Zunes had a leap year bug, Microsoft keeps Azures hardware configuration a secret, and now Azure has a leap year bug. Sure, it's a different bug, but as a programmer I have had bug fixes that introduced other bugs, so it's entirely plausible.
I really, really love the extension support. Vanilla GNOME Shell is annoying and doesn't fit me very well, but with a few extensions I have something that is much better for me than GNOME 2 ever was. And it look like extensions are pretty easy to create too, though I haven't played with this yet.
The one click enabling of extensions only seems to work in Firefox. Last time I tried them in Chrome, it would complain that I wasn't running a valid version of GNOME Shell. Hopefully they will get this fixed soon (if they haven't already, can't check right now).
You are doing a SELECT *, so when you use the JOIN you are getting more columns back then when you are using IN. Rewrite to specify which columns you want back, and I suspect they will perform equally.
"Finally, Linux is ready for the desktop" is almost always said in a sarcastic fashion. It's a joke, and has been for quite some time. It's great for workstations, but it's been a while since a significant number of people believed that Linux could overtake even the Mac for desktop marketshare.
Personally, I use Linux and Solaris for servers and workstations at work, Linux for my home server, and Windows for my desktop and my laptop. If I didn't want to play games, then I would consider replacing my Windows boxes with Macs (which I almost did last time I bought a laptop). Use the best tool for the job, and all that.
Having been a contractor in Iraq, I understand this sentiment. There are some who happily sit on the FOB and boast about the money they make in front of the soldiers. Personally, I found that to be rather tacky. It isn't fair that I got paid more for an easier job, so I tried to not rub it in and not get offended when someone was a little resentful. I didn't always succeed (money and taxes are a natural topic of conversation), but some people didn't even bother trying. The soldiers and marines who went outside the wire deserve respect, and the EOD guys deserve even more.
Working in a war zone is not for everyone. The money is great, the weather is terrible, the hours are almost as bad as the weather, and not everyone can handle the stress of the occasional rocket hitting the FOB (Forward Operating Base). The good news is that you will probably never leave the FOB except to get in and out of country, so you are almost as safe as in the US. When I worked at Camp Victory, the joke was that it was safer there than Detroit, but I don't know if that was true. The biggest cause of death was traffic accidents, so it could have been true. Keep in mind that it's one thing to know that intellectually, but another thing to experience it.
Iraq is being spun down, so you will get to miss out on 130F heat (only 110 at night!), the most bizarre rainy season I've ever seen (the mud is unbelievable), and dust storms must be experienced to be believed. I've only spent a few weeks total in Afghanistan, but my impression is that Khandahar was like Iraq but a little milder and with mountains. Bagram is even milder and seemed like a decent place to be.
The facilities will vary wildly depending on where you live. Major bases like Khandahar and Bagram have very good facilities, but smaller bases will be much more primitive. The food is surprisingly good but the internet even worse than you think it will be.
Bring a durable laptop, preferable with a large screen. This will probably be your only computer. You will make good money, so don't focus on price and just get the best one you can. Not every place can have a TV, I had to use a USB TV-in to hook up my XBox to my laptop, which worked surprisingly well. Don't bring anything you truly care about, as the dust ruins everything. When I came back I opened up both my laptop and XBox and they were so caked with dust I'm surprised the 1st gen XBox survived (it had heat problems in the best of situations). Find the lightest, coolest shirts you can, cargo pants, good sturdy boots, and a good pair of sunglasses. I also found a large, floppy hat to be useful. I looked like a dork, but I was a cool dork whose head was always in the shade.
If you have ever been in the military or worked for them, then you know a little of what to expect. If not, then be prepared for a very different office experience than exists anywhere else. Even if you are familiar with the military culture, a war zone is unlike anything else. Everyone is armed and there is a level of intensity that doesn't exist here in the states. It's very different, but I have found that people can get used to almost anything and even a war zone can become eventually become routine. The days will drag on forever, but the weeks will fly by.
The money is great, but you only make it while over there. I suggest getting some investment advice, set up a plan, and follow it. That is what I did, but unfortunately 2007 wasn't the best year for throwing over a hundred thousand dollars at the stock market. Even the best plan can be sabotaged by poor timing. Even with the bad stock market, I'm still looking at cutting several years off my retirement age.
Consider the tax benefits of staying a whole year. 330 days out of the US, and your first $85,000 (guess, I don't know what it currently is) is tax free. Less than 330 days, you don't get the tax break. Some shady or misinformed tax preparers have been known to try to pro-rate the break, but I've known a few people who got in trouble with the IRS for this.
I mentioned the stress of constant attack, but it bears repeating. I still jump when I hear a dumpster lid shut (it sounds spookily like a mortar hitting), and I've been home for four years now. Just relax, and remind yourself that you are inside the wire, the bad guys are outside it, and treat those soldiers and marines who go out on patrol with the respect they deserve.
Good luck! You are considering something that very, very few people will ever have the opportunity to do. I think of my time as an adventure and I'm very glad I went. If you have a security clearance, getting over there should be easy, but I'm not sure how things look if you don't.
While it is true that you are the supplicant, it is important to remember that an interview has two purposes. First (and most obvious), is for the employer to determine if they want to consider you for a job. Second, is for the employer to convince you that you want to accept any job offer they send you. If the tone of the interview moves from the first topic to the second, that is the time to start asking these kinds of questions. If it doesn't, then they probably don't want you, and you probably don't want them either.
I have a friend who quit because he was asked to do some Windows development. He interviewed with another company, didn't ask many questions, and accepted their first offer. It turns out that the position was a Windows programmer and he didn't know that until he started. He didn't last long.
I went through several wireless routers (Linksys, D-Link, Trendnet) before getting the Netgear WNDR3700 and I love it. It wasn't cheap, but where the previous routers would occasionally fail, this one hasn't failed once since day one. And the features! IPv6, gigabit ethernet, true (not draft) N, dual bands, and I can plug in an external USB drive and make it a NAS. The firmware is slightly tweaked OpenWRT (little more than the branding) and updates come fairly regularly. The only downside was the cost, but it was cheaper than what I paid for all the crappy, failed routers I had before.
What content can you not display in Chrome without an extension that you can in Firefox?
What content will Firefox and Opera protect you from that Chrome won't? As far as I know their content protection is about equal, and Firefox and Chrome us the list of malware to block provided by Google.
Both Opera and Chrome have extensions. Maybe not the ones you want, but all three browsers allow you to enhance their abilities. And it is worth pointing out that Chrome is rapidly catching up to Firefox in this area.
I made the switch from Firefox to Chrome and I couldn't be happier. The only thing I miss is the FlashGot extension.
I would want it to allow the current tab sounds to play, but by default to disallow other tabs. This should be customizable, of course, since I want my Pandora chrome app to work in a background tab.
Now that I think about it, this should apply to video content as well as sounds. Nothing should autostart unless it is in the current tab. I have started several YouTube videos and had to quickly pause them after opening the link in a tab. It's pretty annoying.
Actually, I have found that Google searches parts of Microsofts site better. Google works well with all kinds of technical searches, but Bing gives embarrassingly poor results, even when searching MSDN.
I think Microsoft spent a lot of effort into getting good results for common searches (products, travel, and so on), but didn't spend as much effort on rarer searches. In other words, when they developed Bing, they focused on competing with Google on popular searches, but they ignored the long tail. It looks like they are paying more attention to this now, if my last side by side comparison is anything to go by. Google still leads, but Bing isn't as hopeless as it once was at these kinds of searches.
I use Cox and only pay for internet. $45 a month for 15Mb isn't a bad deal. I haven't paid for cable TV in over two years. I'm in southern Arizona FWIW.
Getting back on topic I use Netflix, Hulu, and a few station websites like Adult Swim. The quality of the station websites always suck compared to Netflix or Hulu. There are only a few things I can't stream. For some, I wait until the DVDs are available and either buy them or Netflix them. If I know I'll buy the DVDs, I'll downloading torrents, but I prefer to get things legitimately whenever possible.
The only thing that I miss these days is baseball and the Superbowl. MLB.tv would be a great service if it weren't for the draconian blackout rules. $120 for the premium service is a little steep but I would gladly pay it if I didn't have to worry about blackout rules. Since I can't, MLB has lost a paying customer. I'll give them another chance in the future if they change their policy.
Everything in Java is passed by value. And every object variable is a reference.
Those two statements are mutually exclusive:-)
All object variables are references. When passing the object to a method, the reference is passed by value. You can change it object if it is mutable, but you cannot change the reference (which is why you can't create a swap method to swap two values).
Slashdot Mirror
I haven't had any luck with programs using OpenGL or with compositing, but then again I haven't tried all that hard, so there might be a way to do these things. Wayland supports remote desktops, which I find more useful than remoting individual applications, but I can see why network transparency matters to some people.
I completely agree with this. When I went to school we were introduced a topic and a language to demonstrate the topic. The purpose of the course was to teach programming concepts, not languages. I can still remember some of my course titles (Structured Programming with Pascal, Data Structures with Pascal, Systems Programming with C, Object Orientation with C++, GUI Programming with Delphi, AI Programming with Lisp and Prolog, and so on). The languages weren't always ideal for the course (Smalltalk would have been better than C++ for introducing Object Orientation) but for the most part this approach worked well.
There were also 1 credit hour 200 level courses for specific languages (I remember Java, Perl, COBOL, and FORTRAN) but CS students could only get credit for a few of these (though CIS students were expected to take a lot more).
I prefer /tmp to use tmpfs, but that may be my Solaris background talking.
One potential downside to having /var on a separate drive is that you now have two drives that can prevent you from booting instead of one. This isn't that big of a deal, but it is something you should plan for.
Probably no correlation at all. Those who can, do. Those who can't, write (or teach).
I bought mine to be an e-reader, and I couldn't be happier. The screen is fantastic, unless you try to read in direct sunlight (but then, anything not e-ink will do poorly there). The Play Books app only supports epub and PDF, but I prefer epub anyway. The Kindle app isn't optimized for the 7" screen, but it works well enough. The 8 hours of battery life that is advertised seems to be accurate.
A quality e-reader that I can use to read mail, surf the web, and run Android apps for only $200? Sign me up!
Yes, but is /dev/null is webscale? If it is, I'm so using it.
The lack of arrows and broken tab completion was a problem with ksh, no matter what Unix variant you ran it on. Ksh can be fixed to provide both features using some hacks in your kshrc, but they aren't obvious. Or, you can just use bash like you do on Linux.
Of course, the version of bash on Solaris 10 is ancient, but that's a consequence of the philosophy of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it." This philosophy pervades the entire toolchain and the core libraries. This focus on stability is great for servers, but sucks for workstations. Of course, Sun abandoned the workstation market long before the Oracle takeover.
I have a coworker whose theory is that Azure was made by creating a cluster of old Zunes.
Think about it. Microsoft has a butt-load of unsold Zunes, Zunes had a leap year bug, Microsoft keeps Azures hardware configuration a secret, and now Azure has a leap year bug. Sure, it's a different bug, but as a programmer I have had bug fixes that introduced other bugs, so it's entirely plausible.
I really, really love the extension support. Vanilla GNOME Shell is annoying and doesn't fit me very well, but with a few extensions I have something that is much better for me than GNOME 2 ever was. And it look like extensions are pretty easy to create too, though I haven't played with this yet.
The one click enabling of extensions only seems to work in Firefox. Last time I tried them in Chrome, it would complain that I wasn't running a valid version of GNOME Shell. Hopefully they will get this fixed soon (if they haven't already, can't check right now).
You are doing a SELECT *, so when you use the JOIN you are getting more columns back then when you are using IN. Rewrite to specify which columns you want back, and I suspect they will perform equally.
"Finally, Linux is ready for the desktop" is almost always said in a sarcastic fashion. It's a joke, and has been for quite some time. It's great for workstations, but it's been a while since a significant number of people believed that Linux could overtake even the Mac for desktop marketshare.
Personally, I use Linux and Solaris for servers and workstations at work, Linux for my home server, and Windows for my desktop and my laptop. If I didn't want to play games, then I would consider replacing my Windows boxes with Macs (which I almost did last time I bought a laptop). Use the best tool for the job, and all that.
Sufficiently advanced technology.
A, E, I, O, U, sometimes Y, rarely W, and even more rarely H.
This rule covers every word in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Crwth is great example of a word with W as a vowel.
Having been a contractor in Iraq, I understand this sentiment. There are some who happily sit on the FOB and boast about the money they make in front of the soldiers. Personally, I found that to be rather tacky. It isn't fair that I got paid more for an easier job, so I tried to not rub it in and not get offended when someone was a little resentful. I didn't always succeed (money and taxes are a natural topic of conversation), but some people didn't even bother trying. The soldiers and marines who went outside the wire deserve respect, and the EOD guys deserve even more.
Working in a war zone is not for everyone. The money is great, the weather is terrible, the hours are almost as bad as the weather, and not everyone can handle the stress of the occasional rocket hitting the FOB (Forward Operating Base). The good news is that you will probably never leave the FOB except to get in and out of country, so you are almost as safe as in the US. When I worked at Camp Victory, the joke was that it was safer there than Detroit, but I don't know if that was true. The biggest cause of death was traffic accidents, so it could have been true. Keep in mind that it's one thing to know that intellectually, but another thing to experience it.
Iraq is being spun down, so you will get to miss out on 130F heat (only 110 at night!), the most bizarre rainy season I've ever seen (the mud is unbelievable), and dust storms must be experienced to be believed. I've only spent a few weeks total in Afghanistan, but my impression is that Khandahar was like Iraq but a little milder and with mountains. Bagram is even milder and seemed like a decent place to be.
The facilities will vary wildly depending on where you live. Major bases like Khandahar and Bagram have very good facilities, but smaller bases will be much more primitive. The food is surprisingly good but the internet even worse than you think it will be.
Bring a durable laptop, preferable with a large screen. This will probably be your only computer. You will make good money, so don't focus on price and just get the best one you can. Not every place can have a TV, I had to use a USB TV-in to hook up my XBox to my laptop, which worked surprisingly well. Don't bring anything you truly care about, as the dust ruins everything. When I came back I opened up both my laptop and XBox and they were so caked with dust I'm surprised the 1st gen XBox survived (it had heat problems in the best of situations). Find the lightest, coolest shirts you can, cargo pants, good sturdy boots, and a good pair of sunglasses. I also found a large, floppy hat to be useful. I looked like a dork, but I was a cool dork whose head was always in the shade.
If you have ever been in the military or worked for them, then you know a little of what to expect. If not, then be prepared for a very different office experience than exists anywhere else. Even if you are familiar with the military culture, a war zone is unlike anything else. Everyone is armed and there is a level of intensity that doesn't exist here in the states. It's very different, but I have found that people can get used to almost anything and even a war zone can become eventually become routine. The days will drag on forever, but the weeks will fly by.
The money is great, but you only make it while over there. I suggest getting some investment advice, set up a plan, and follow it. That is what I did, but unfortunately 2007 wasn't the best year for throwing over a hundred thousand dollars at the stock market. Even the best plan can be sabotaged by poor timing. Even with the bad stock market, I'm still looking at cutting several years off my retirement age.
Consider the tax benefits of staying a whole year. 330 days out of the US, and your first $85,000 (guess, I don't know what it currently is) is tax free. Less than 330 days, you don't get the tax break. Some shady or misinformed tax preparers have been known to try to pro-rate the break, but I've known a few people who got in trouble with the IRS for this.
I mentioned the stress of constant attack, but it bears repeating. I still jump when I hear a dumpster lid shut (it sounds spookily like a mortar hitting), and I've been home for four years now. Just relax, and remind yourself that you are inside the wire, the bad guys are outside it, and treat those soldiers and marines who go out on patrol with the respect they deserve.
Good luck! You are considering something that very, very few people will ever have the opportunity to do. I think of my time as an adventure and I'm very glad I went. If you have a security clearance, getting over there should be easy, but I'm not sure how things look if you don't.
What did it get you that Kubuntu didn't?
Is this like that tree falling in the woods riddle?
Da. But Soviet mikrochip has limited window with which to communicate with satellite. Also, have problems with interference with cell phones.
If you don't get the joke, you should start watching Archer.
While it is true that you are the supplicant, it is important to remember that an interview has two purposes. First (and most obvious), is for the employer to determine if they want to consider you for a job. Second, is for the employer to convince you that you want to accept any job offer they send you. If the tone of the interview moves from the first topic to the second, that is the time to start asking these kinds of questions. If it doesn't, then they probably don't want you, and you probably don't want them either.
I have a friend who quit because he was asked to do some Windows development. He interviewed with another company, didn't ask many questions, and accepted their first offer. It turns out that the position was a Windows programmer and he didn't know that until he started. He didn't last long.
I went through several wireless routers (Linksys, D-Link, Trendnet) before getting the Netgear WNDR3700 and I love it. It wasn't cheap, but where the previous routers would occasionally fail, this one hasn't failed once since day one. And the features! IPv6, gigabit ethernet, true (not draft) N, dual bands, and I can plug in an external USB drive and make it a NAS. The firmware is slightly tweaked OpenWRT (little more than the branding) and updates come fairly regularly. The only downside was the cost, but it was cheaper than what I paid for all the crappy, failed routers I had before.
What content can you not display in Chrome without an extension that you can in Firefox?
What content will Firefox and Opera protect you from that Chrome won't? As far as I know their content protection is about equal, and Firefox and Chrome us the list of malware to block provided by Google.
Both Opera and Chrome have extensions. Maybe not the ones you want, but all three browsers allow you to enhance their abilities. And it is worth pointing out that Chrome is rapidly catching up to Firefox in this area.
I made the switch from Firefox to Chrome and I couldn't be happier. The only thing I miss is the FlashGot extension.
I would want it to allow the current tab sounds to play, but by default to disallow other tabs. This should be customizable, of course, since I want my Pandora chrome app to work in a background tab.
Now that I think about it, this should apply to video content as well as sounds. Nothing should autostart unless it is in the current tab. I have started several YouTube videos and had to quickly pause them after opening the link in a tab. It's pretty annoying.
Actually, I have found that Google searches parts of Microsofts site better. Google works well with all kinds of technical searches, but Bing gives embarrassingly poor results, even when searching MSDN.
I think Microsoft spent a lot of effort into getting good results for common searches (products, travel, and so on), but didn't spend as much effort on rarer searches. In other words, when they developed Bing, they focused on competing with Google on popular searches, but they ignored the long tail. It looks like they are paying more attention to this now, if my last side by side comparison is anything to go by. Google still leads, but Bing isn't as hopeless as it once was at these kinds of searches.
I use Cox and only pay for internet. $45 a month for 15Mb isn't a bad deal. I haven't paid for cable TV in over two years. I'm in southern Arizona FWIW.
Getting back on topic I use Netflix, Hulu, and a few station websites like Adult Swim. The quality of the station websites always suck compared to Netflix or Hulu. There are only a few things I can't stream. For some, I wait until the DVDs are available and either buy them or Netflix them. If I know I'll buy the DVDs, I'll downloading torrents, but I prefer to get things legitimately whenever possible.
The only thing that I miss these days is baseball and the Superbowl. MLB.tv would be a great service if it weren't for the draconian blackout rules. $120 for the premium service is a little steep but I would gladly pay it if I didn't have to worry about blackout rules. Since I can't, MLB has lost a paying customer. I'll give them another chance in the future if they change their policy.
Those two statements are mutually exclusive :-)
All object variables are references. When passing the object to a method, the reference is passed by value. You can change it object if it is mutable, but you cannot change the reference (which is why you can't create a swap method to swap two values).