You are correct. HPFS was developed as part of LanMan 386 (Pinball), a 32-bit server that ran underneath OS/2 1.2x (which used i286 addressing, even on i386 processors). That was 20 years ago, but I think I still have the t-shirt...
The tickets were from the '90s, and the firm that has employed me for the last six years has ~$3B under investment (including some from Allen personally). Credit reports are a stupid way to evaluate a worker, especially a programmer.
This has been going on for a long time. In 2001, Vulcan (Paul Allen's company) withdrew an offer because I had too many parking tickets (~$1000) on my credit report (parking tickets are a fact of life if you work in downtown Seattle). Paying the tickets wasn't enough, and the offer was withdrawn.
There is a long history of font design copying, and unless something has changed recently, all of the case law says that it's legal. Because fonts (particularly type-metal fonts) are directly useful, they cannot be protected by copyright (which protects expression, not useful items). Because they are 'obvious', they cannot be patented. What does that leave? The name. Why are fonts called 'swiss' or 'Geneva' when they are obviously Hevletica? Because the copyright on the name is held by a type foundry. That is the only part of a font that is covered by patent, copyright or trademark law. I would expect that it is possible to treat the code behind a Postscript or TrueType font as a trade secret, but the principles of utility and obviousness will still get in the way of other types of IP protection. --
How many kids are there that don't care what other people think of them?
My daughter is 10, likes Britney Spears (and Monk, and 'trane - she's 10, not stupid), and got her first computer at 8 (just as her brother did). She's annoyed that *she* is stereotyped as a geek just because she's good with math and can use a computer better than most of her class. The social pressures start early and don't let up.
I told her that most of people that are on top in school peak shortly after, but geek girls just get better with age. I'm very happy that she has some examples of great women that like geeks and/or are geeks. --
There is a very interesting paper called The Fable of the Keys that gives some of the history of this debate, and talks about the (lack of) solid evidence that Dvorak is objectively better. Some people may well find they type faster with a Dvorak layout, but I think that part of the improvement is that they had to make an effort (along with an emotional investment) in learning to type with a new layout. How many of those people made that kind of effort when they started on QWERTY? I suspect that there are a lot of folks out there that learned to type only becase computers can't hear very well. --
This book uses C and Java and AWK to illustrate many good ideas about programming. It is NOT a book about C or Java or AWK. It is about showing how two very experienced programmers think about how they work.
The themes of the book are: Simplicity, Clarity, Generality, Evolution, Interfaces, Automation, and Notation. You're ready to dismiss some very important thinking about how to write programs that work (and keep on working) because of some religious idea about notations.
If functional programming is so much better than standard languages (which it is, in many ways), then it is all the more impressive to be able to show how to use abstraction and mental flexibility with the less-helpful languages K & P have chosen. I'm sure they would agree with you that FP and scheme are very powerful tools. They also have enough experience to know that there is no one language that is good for all uses. The last chapter is devoted to the implications of that fact, with sections like "Programmable Tools", and "Programs that Write Programs".
If you don't read this book, you won't learn anything. Your loss. Anyone that takes the time to read it and think about what it says, will learn.
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You are correct. HPFS was developed as part of LanMan 386 (Pinball), a 32-bit server that ran underneath OS/2 1.2x (which used i286 addressing, even on i386 processors).
That was 20 years ago, but I think I still have the t-shirt...
The tickets were from the '90s, and the firm that has employed me for the last six years has ~$3B under investment (including some from Allen personally).
Credit reports are a stupid way to evaluate a worker, especially a programmer.
This has been going on for a long time. In 2001, Vulcan (Paul Allen's company) withdrew an offer because I had too many parking tickets (~$1000) on my credit report (parking tickets are a fact of life if you work in downtown Seattle). Paying the tickets wasn't enough, and the offer was withdrawn.
There is a long history of font design copying, and unless something has changed recently, all of the case law says that it's legal. Because fonts (particularly type-metal fonts) are directly useful, they cannot be protected by copyright (which protects expression, not useful items). Because they are 'obvious', they cannot be patented. What does that leave? The name. Why are fonts called 'swiss' or 'Geneva' when they are obviously Hevletica? Because the copyright on the name is held by a type foundry. That is the only part of a font that is covered by patent, copyright or trademark law. I would expect that it is possible to treat the code behind a Postscript or TrueType font as a trade secret, but the principles of utility and obviousness will still get in the way of other types of IP protection.
--
How many kids are there that don't care what other people think of them?
My daughter is 10, likes Britney Spears (and Monk, and 'trane - she's 10, not stupid), and got her first computer at 8 (just as her brother did). She's annoyed that *she* is stereotyped as a geek just because she's good with math and can use a computer better than most of her class. The social pressures start early and don't let up.
I told her that most of people that are on top in school peak shortly after, but geek girls just get better with age. I'm very happy that she has some examples of great women that like geeks and/or are geeks.
--
There is a very interesting paper called The Fable of the Keys that gives some of the history of this debate, and talks about the (lack of) solid evidence that Dvorak is objectively better. Some people may well find they type faster with a Dvorak layout, but I think that part of the improvement is that they had to make an effort (along with an emotional investment) in learning to type with a new layout. How many of those people made that kind of effort when they started on QWERTY? I suspect that there are a lot of folks out there that learned to type only becase computers can't hear very well.
--
This book uses C and Java and AWK to illustrate many good ideas about programming.
It is NOT a book about C or Java or AWK.
It is about showing how two very experienced programmers think about how they work.
The themes of the book are: Simplicity, Clarity, Generality, Evolution, Interfaces, Automation, and Notation.
You're ready to dismiss some very important thinking about how to write programs that work (and keep on working) because of some religious idea about notations.
If functional programming is so much better than standard languages (which it is, in many ways), then it is all the more impressive to be able to show how to use abstraction and mental flexibility with the less-helpful languages K & P have chosen. I'm sure they would agree with you that FP and scheme are very powerful tools. They also have enough experience to know that there is no one language that is good for all uses. The last chapter is devoted to the implications of that fact, with sections like "Programmable Tools", and "Programs that Write Programs".
If you don't read this book, you won't learn anything. Your loss.
Anyone that takes the time to read it and think about what it says, will learn.
--