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User: dkh2

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Comments · 398

  1. Practical application of comments on If the Comments Are Ugly, the Code Is Ugly · · Score: 1

    The group I work with views code commentary as a requirement of the job of the go-coder.

    Initial development of a new method (procedure, function, whatever a discreet unit of functional code is called in your language of choice) begins with inclusion of a summary comment of the specification. This puts the spec where the developer is working and can use it. This comment block gets tweaked and resequenced to fit the logical and technical demands of delivering the specified result and to segregate each logical step into distinct comments.

    Once functional code has been implemented and unit tested the comments are reduced or eliminated along side a focused and targeted walk through variable and method names to produce final code that is as self documenting as possible.

    Comments remaining in the code are there as bookmarks/breadcrumbs, or provide insight into why a particular logical approach was taken. As for the variant spellings issue - we are a small shop in the U.S. so we tell our international employees that we use EN-US spellings. ("There is no 'U' in 'honor.' and it's 'aluminum' (4 syllables) not 'aluminium' (5 syllables).")

  2. Re:Help Me Understand .... on MPAA Shuts Down Town's Municipal WiFi Over 1 Download · · Score: 1

    In the case of bars - the premise is that by serving you drinks, or making them available to you the bar assumes a certain level of responsibility for what you might do while drunk.

    In the case of an open WiFi gateway - the same premise applies. The gateway provider is perceived to have assumed some responsibility for what users do with the service.

    I ain't sayin' it's right... that's just the argument that is getting people in trouble.

  3. Re:Geneva Conventions on MPAA Shuts Down Town's Municipal WiFi Over 1 Download · · Score: 1

    The War on Sanity finished decades ago. Unfortunately, we all lost.

  4. Re:Geneva Conventions on MPAA Shuts Down Town's Municipal WiFi Over 1 Download · · Score: 1

    So the MPAA is clearly then allowed to treat civilians worse than people being occupied in wartime...

    You can bet your ass they can.

    As the preceding Anonymous Coward response points out - your state and local police force may be permitted to use weapons your national militia may not.

    There are certain unspoken legal advantages to NOT being a branch of any sovreign national government. Take note that many (not all) of the atrocities at Abu Ghraib were committed by private contractors. That doesn't excuse the official government personnel who were supposed to have control but the penalties for the contractors are very different.

  5. Re:I'm sorry, what? on Microsoft Patents Sudo's Behavior · · Score: 1

    I can only imagine the legal battles between Newton and Liebnitz over what ultimately became the Calculus we use today.

  6. Re:Penalties on Microsoft Patents Sudo's Behavior · · Score: 1

    Thank you! This just became one of the random quips in my instance of Bugzilla.

  7. It's Still Windows on Microsoft Plugs "Drive-By" and 14 Other Holes · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No wonder my home system was such a dog this morning. It was pulling the latest patches and updates.

    Meanwhile, it's still Windows. There's only so much improvement you can make when the manufacturer insists on packing so much into the "kernel." I was always taught that the OS kernel is the one piece that provides the interface between all software and all hardware. File systems, GUIs, internet browsers and lesbian Pr0n are all just forms of software that should be clients to the ultimately optimized but minimalist kernel.

  8. Leverage your issue tracking and cvs on How Do You Manage Dev/Test/Production Environments? · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If you're able to script deployments from a configuration management host you can script against your CVS (SVN, SourceSafe, whatever-you're-using).

    There are a lot of ways to automate the management of what file version is in each environment but a smart choice is to tie things to an issue tracking system. My company uses MKS (http://mks.com) but BugTracker or BugZilla will do just as well.

    Your scripted interface can check-out/export the specified version from controlled source and FTP/SFTP/XCOPY/whatever to the specified destination environment. For issue-tracker backed systems you can even have this processes driven by issue-id to automatically select the correct version based on issues to be elevated. Additionally, the closing task for the elevation process can then update the issue tracking system as needed.

    Many issue tracking systems will allow you to integrate your source management and deployment management tools. It's a beautiful thing when you get it set up.

  9. Pulp Fiction moment on Woman Fired For Using Uppercase In Email · · Score: 1

    We're gonna have to go statutory on your ass.

  10. Re:Oh great on Marine Corps Wants a Throwable Robot · · Score: 1

    I keep envisioning those annoying toaster droids. Anybody got any bread?

  11. Re:Worst ask slashdot ever on Suitable Naming Conventions For Workstations? · · Score: 1

    If you are running a business of any size you should already have addressed the ERM (Enterprise Resource Management) system. That gives you discreet, unique, asset tags which are perfectly useful as machine names.

    Using this information in your LDAP, Active Directory, whatever to tie physical asset to employee should be elementary.

  12. Re:Worst ask slashdot ever on Suitable Naming Conventions For Workstations? · · Score: 1

    I don't know. What about Bruce? Is he a poofdah?

  13. Re:Worst ask slashdot ever on Suitable Naming Conventions For Workstations? · · Score: 1

    System board replacement can be treated as equivalent to system replacement. Sure you have to register the new name but that's the least of your worries.

  14. Re:Worst ask slashdot ever on Suitable Naming Conventions For Workstations? · · Score: 1

    Name them by some unique identifying hardware id (i.e. the MAC address on the nic) and tie it to the user via LDAP or AD.

  15. Re:Our old sys admin on Suitable Naming Conventions For Workstations? · · Score: 1

    Naming any networked machine 'localhost' is a guaranteed way to hose your network useability. We actually had that happen and any application that looks for localhost gets a DNS conflict.

  16. Re:This happens a lot on Man Accuses Cat of Downloading Child Porn · · Score: 1

    That's Fat Freddy Scat to YOU mister! Now, where's that stash!?

  17. Re:5 words for Microsoft on SFLC Says Microsoft Violated the GPL · · Score: 1

    If we couldn't laugh about it we might have to cry. After all, Microsoft has a laughable history of spinning its FUDspeak and other P R chatter to make themselves sound all honorable and altruistic.

    For years Microsoft pushed its own non-compatible JRE with the spin that "customers want a choice." Really? I just want it to work and the non-compatible MS JRE doesn't help that happen.

    I could go on for hours...

  18. 5 words for Microsoft on SFLC Says Microsoft Violated the GPL · · Score: 1

    Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!

    Yeah, like anybody really believes they have been for several months on the path toward full GPL v.2 compliance.

  19. Re:Magnetic Field Issues on NASA Suggests Nano Robots To Explore Mars · · Score: 1

    Just caught the double entendre. LOL!

    Yes, a sufficient number of magneto driven devices might have an impact on the planetary magnetic field (magnetosphere).

    Perhaps we should just send the villain from the X-Men series and save two worlds at once!

  20. Magnetic Field Issues on NASA Suggests Nano Robots To Explore Mars · · Score: 1

    One of the real problems with sending a colony of air breathers to Mars is that the atmosphere there is thin. The atmosphere is thin because the planetary magnetosphere is not a strong enough protective shield to protect it from being eroded by solar wind. We underestimate the benefits to us here on Earth with regard to our own planetary magnetic field.

    Ironically, it may take only a minor improvement in the strength of the Martian magnetosphere to provide sufficient protection to allow us to harvest atmospheric gasses from interplanetary space and effectively terraform the planet.

  21. POV-Ray on Most Complete Topographical Map of Earth Complete · · Score: 1

    How many raytracing nerds will pull this into POV-Ray as source data for a spherically warped height field?

  22. Re:Seattle area is the 1% not mapped on Most Complete Topographical Map of Earth Complete · · Score: 1

    Must be a problem scheduling sat fly-overs of Seattle.

  23. Remarkable domestic news coverage on Most Complete Topographical Map of Earth Complete · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Did anybody else notice that the report of a newsworthy task by U.S. and Japanese agencies was reported by the BBC? Not ABC, NBC, CNN, or any other U.S. based news agency and certainly not by a Japan based agency. It's coverage like this that keeps me going back to the BBC.

  24. Re:"Automated" on Automated Migration From Cobol To Java On Linux · · Score: 1

    ... I left IT because I found it impossible to get a COBOL job after Y2K.

    Never fear my friend. We'll need you COBOL geeks again on 19-Jan-2038 when the UNIX system clock rolls over. Hope you're still available then.

  25. Re:Learn to dance on Where Does a Geek Find a Social Life? · · Score: 1

    Unfortunately, after reading this dancing thread I can't get 'Dancing with myself' by Billy Idol out of my head.