I just hope that they don't try to pull what Nintendo did with the N64. Nintendo made it sound like the N64 was the same hardware as the arcade games for Cruisin' USA and a couple of other games. Far from it.
To me, it always seemed like deceptive advertising.
I agree with what you are saying. But I don't agree that LISP should be taught as a functional language to ALL CS students. LISP is nice, but not very practical (in my experience).
I did take a class in AI where we learned LISP and I really enjoyed it. I consider a one-page peice of code that I wrote for that class to be one of the hardest projects in my college career. Unfortunately, I was laughed at by an interviewer for saying that.
I also disagree that "If the student can't pick up another language in a few days after learning all of this then there is something wrong with them.". You may be able to understand the basics of a language after that, but not how to really use it to its' full potential.
Please, let's not start advocating VB as a learning language. VB allows such lousy structure. I wrote VB for about 4 years. I really enjoy the language, but too many people are focused on the RAD of it. Look, I can generate a form, put some code behind it, and I'm done. This is not how to code.
VB allows you to bypass all formal design (yes, you can do this in any language) and go right to designing the look & feel. I have always felt that VB apps get developed in reverse. Very few people take the time to write a VB app starting with a structure or plan.
Let's leave VB to community colleges, training classes, and for you to learn on your own.
I feel that Java is a great intro to OO-programming. Teaching OO is completely relevant to computer science courses. Hardware is such a minor part of CS. Hardware should be focused on for Electrical Engineering much more than CS.
To me, CS is about understand how computer logic works. To do so, you need to understand programming, logic, math, science, and to a lesser degree hardware. But, I don't want to abandon hardware. I'm just saying that a CS course should focus on theory more than practice. That is why Java would be a great way to learn OO.
If I were teaching a class on OO, I would start with some C, move to C++, and finally Java. Java makes it very simple to understand OO. You don't have to deal with malloc and pointers are handled in a much higher level.
Just because you learn a language in a CS course doesn't mean you are stuck using that language forever. I graduated from the University of Dayton in 1995 with a BS in CS. We learned Ada. Unless you are working for the DoD, you problem will never see Ada again. But, Ada is object-based (newer versions are OO) and is a great language to start with. Making the transition from Ada to Java is easier than from Pascal or some other basic language.
Java could also be taught with C++ so that students can learn the best of both languagues. The more you know, the easier it is to switch to other languagues and methodologies.
Microsoft is not the only company to use Smart Tags. UPS and LexisNexis are both going to use them. LexisNexis is going to use Smart Tags to provide LexisNexis users instant access to law cases, statutes, and other information. This is a service provided to their customers. It is not changing the content of a site, it is enhancing it for those who want it enhanced.
I realize that this new feature has been created by Microsoft, but that doesn't make it bad. I think it sounds pretty cool. It will allow companies to add functionality to their users. What is wrong with that?
If I view all websites from within a frameset, does that constitue a deriative work? I don't think so. It sounds to me like those objecting to this new feature are objecting to Microsoft earning a buck. Damn them for adding new features.
From my experience, maturity matters a lot more than age. I have worked with people younger than me who I truly respect and listen to. But, there are some that I have worked with whom I don't respect because they act like five-year-olds.
I had a manager 15 years older than me who through a temper tantrum because I didn't ask his permission before making a decision (ah, the joys of being a consultant). He yelled, screamed, and stamped his feet. He lost my respect right there.
Personally, I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I work will all college grads, but within about a 20 year age span. The more mature people are the leaders, the less are the slackers.
I own a Palm VII (I didn't buy it, I was part of the developer seeding group). But, I don't really use it. To me, it's nothing more than a toy. I use the cheapest plan available ($10 a month for 50 KB) and rarely come close to 50 KB. I think the VII is a nice device, but not really practical. I have taken it on trips but never used it for anything more than checking my e-mail.
Wireless net access is a cool concept. The problem is that most people could care less. If I'm at work, I can surf via my desktop machine. Same thing at home. When I'm away from the office, I don't want to get e-mail, voicemail, or even phone calls. I only give out my cell phone number to friends and family.
Wireless is definately overrated. Why limit yourself to low-bandwidth, small-screen devices when you can use a real PC to connect to the net. I'm sure that business travellers would disagree with me, but most of them carry laptops and can get land-line access to the net.
One of these days, wireless might take off, but I'm not going to hold my breath. There are too many hurdles to get past right now.
Whether PDF is good or not for a handheld (I think it's NOT), it's been done. I've used the converter and the reader, and it's all really lame. I was not impressed. But, if you think of all of the text documents in PDF, it's not so bad.
Voting is one of those rights that we all need to exercise. It's not just about picking a candidate, it's about showing this country that we are responsibile citizens. I am so tired of hearing about apathy in Gen X. I vote, I go to civic meetings, and care about my community. It's time that we, as americans, show what we stand for and vote for our candidates. If you don't have a particular candidate, vote for the issues. There are more things up this time than just the presidential race.
OK, I can't be the only who feels this way, but... I don't see anything wrong with placing filters in libraries, schools, etc. But, those filters need to be to stop porn and not information on such controversial topics as abortion. Given that public money does pay for these types of places, it is OK to specify what can and can be seen from them.
I am all for free speech, but there have to be limits and/or controls. As Americans, we do not have the right to view porn whenever and wherever we want.
I do not, however, endorse filters on the web in general. If a user wants to see blocked sites at home, fine. But, if I (as a taxpayer) am footing the bill, I should have some say in what they can view.
OK, there is a strange connection between M:I 2 and the game Rollercoaster Tycoon. Around the middle of the movie, Tom Cruise and "the love interest" are on a balcony. In the background, you can hear someone say "Tara, Tara, Tara". This is the same sound that you hear from the crowd in Rollercoaster Tycoon.
Trademarks have to be enforced in order for the owner to keep them. If Linus doesn't go after those trying to take Linux from him, he loses the name.
This happened to Thermos. They didn't go after anyone using their name for years. Then, when they finally did, they were told that they had no right to keep the name. So, Thermos can now be used by anyone with no repercussions.
This has to be Katz's strangest article to date. Re rambles on about Disney's utopia like it is the Lost Ark. I think that Walt Disney was a great man, innovator, and dreamer. I think that Katz has missed who Walt really was.
A dreamer is a person who comes up with new ideas. That person would love to see those come true, but ultimately knows that they may not. What Disney created in his EPCOT was a perfect future world. No man can expect such a thing to actually come true.
Take a look at Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry made up a wonderful world where money and power have little or no value. Do we get all misty-eyed when we watch an old episode? I hope not.
Dreams are just that. I applaud Disney and his team of imagineers. But, I do not feel a loss that his EPCOT never became a reality. I instead feel love to see what he came up with and cherish his ideas as one of the greatest men of the twentieth century.
Oh, and one point of clarification. Disney was not alive to see the completion of Walt Disney World, but he was there to oversee the early stages of the project.
I installed both Win 98 and RedHat 5.2 on my Celeron 400 system. RedHat was simple. The only trouble that I had was with my video card. But, that was easy to get past. Win 98 however, was really difficult. In order to install the upgrade version, you have to have some MS OS on your system already. The Win 98 instructions say to create a Win 98 boot disk to start the install. To create it, in Win 98 click on Control Panel... WHAT! I worked around this problem by creating a DOS boot disk. Then, I had to verify that I owned a previous version of Windows. What a pain! Linux installations are not perfect, but I have found them to be much easier than ANY Windows installation.
Lately, Palm has been subject to a lot of rumors. First, 3Com was going to sell the unit off. Next, Apple was going to guy it. Now, 3Com spins it off.
This is a great move for 3Com and Palm. 3Com has no real interest in the handheld market. So, it is a win for them. Palm now has more freedom and marketability. They win too.
I hope that this will end the rumors about the future of Palm. Many people have criticized 3Com for "holding them back". Jeff and Donna who started Palm have moved on to Handspring (which is debuting their new device tomorrow). Palm may now be able to keep good people. The corporate structure has been strange.
So, let's see what happens with this. I know that it is a good move. I just hope that Palm can focus on developing new and innovative PDAs rather than just resting on its laurels.
I could have a planet instead? Wow, I wish that I had known that. That would make the feature so much better! Yeah, right.....
OK, thousands of people probably complained to Microsoft that they didn't like the paperclip. So, they probably launched an initiative to come up with more popular alternatives. Hence, the planet.
Of course, if Microsoft had listened to what people were REALLY saying about the paper clip, professor, planet, cat, whatever, they would have eliminated the entire "feature".
These make Office worse to use than even whatever problem I'm having lately that GPFs Word every couple of hours.
Your idea is definately interesting. I'd rather not see something like this though. There are just too many problems with it.
This is not the best way to get money to programmers. It's kind of like a strange lottery. My fear is that smaller problems that don't seem to be a big deal would be overlooked. Developers would try to fix the big, prominent bugs instead of the smaller ones. But, small ones are often the hardest to fix.
Outlook itself does not work with the Palm. Let me clarify that. Outlook does not have the synchronization functionality built into it. But, 3Com does supply a conduit between the Palm and Outlook.
So, yes Outlook does work with the Palm via this conduit. What does this mean for OpenMail? I don't know. If someone wants to write a conduit, it will work the the Palm. It depends on how open OpenMail will be. If it is clearly defined how to interface with it via text files or calls, it will be easy to make this conduit.
That's not what I meant. I meant that the development model for Mozilla is flawed. That was one of the points of this article.
It's not a flaw in Open Source, it's a flaw in how Netscape interpreted it. You can do any type of development with Open Source. How you manage it is the key.
Well, considering that IE does not run on Linux, of course we still need Netscape, Mozilla, and other projects. Mozilla is not perfect. In fact, it's quite flawed. But, it is a step in the right direction.
As the Open Source community, we need to promote and applaud such efforts. Every bit helps. Especially one that has gotton such coverage. We have to be careful about predicting the failure of Mozilla. It will be seen as a blow to Open Source whether anyone really cares or not.
This article was just... strange. It's like he's trying to kiss up to Rob while bashing him at the same time. I think that Leonard has spent too much time at Salon. Maybe he should find a more reputable company to work for.
I also don't see what is so bad about PR firms. PR is a part of business. Leonard should know that by now. I wonder how many times similar things have gone out about him.
The best thing about this is SGI "giving back" to the Open Source community. SGI has written some great software over the years. If we get just a piece of that, we should be grateful. It wouldn't take that much work to integrate SGI technology into something like the GIMP, or other great Open Source software.
What's especially great about this is that SGI seems willing to participate in Open Source advancement. It will be a great boon to see such a powerful name behind Open Source.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, that would be cool. Or, you could just buy this:
9 4& showComments=true
http://www.bargainpda.com/default.asp?newsID=13
It's an app that works like Tivo for the radio.
I just hope that they don't try to pull what Nintendo did with the N64. Nintendo made it sound like the N64 was the same hardware as the arcade games for Cruisin' USA and a couple of other games. Far from it.
To me, it always seemed like deceptive advertising.
I agree with what you are saying. But I don't agree that LISP should be taught as a functional language to ALL CS students. LISP is nice, but not very practical (in my experience).
I did take a class in AI where we learned LISP and I really enjoyed it. I consider a one-page peice of code that I wrote for that class to be one of the hardest projects in my college career. Unfortunately, I was laughed at by an interviewer for saying that.
I also disagree that "If the student can't pick up another language in a few days after learning all of this then there is something wrong with them.". You may be able to understand the basics of a language after that, but not how to really use it to its' full potential.
Please, let's not start advocating VB as a learning language. VB allows such lousy structure. I wrote VB for about 4 years. I really enjoy the language, but too many people are focused on the RAD of it. Look, I can generate a form, put some code behind it, and I'm done. This is not how to code.
VB allows you to bypass all formal design (yes, you can do this in any language) and go right to designing the look & feel. I have always felt that VB apps get developed in reverse. Very few people take the time to write a VB app starting with a structure or plan.
Let's leave VB to community colleges, training classes, and for you to learn on your own.
I feel that Java is a great intro to OO-programming. Teaching OO is completely relevant to computer science courses. Hardware is such a minor part of CS. Hardware should be focused on for Electrical Engineering much more than CS. To me, CS is about understand how computer logic works. To do so, you need to understand programming, logic, math, science, and to a lesser degree hardware. But, I don't want to abandon hardware. I'm just saying that a CS course should focus on theory more than practice. That is why Java would be a great way to learn OO. If I were teaching a class on OO, I would start with some C, move to C++, and finally Java. Java makes it very simple to understand OO. You don't have to deal with malloc and pointers are handled in a much higher level. Just because you learn a language in a CS course doesn't mean you are stuck using that language forever. I graduated from the University of Dayton in 1995 with a BS in CS. We learned Ada. Unless you are working for the DoD, you problem will never see Ada again. But, Ada is object-based (newer versions are OO) and is a great language to start with. Making the transition from Ada to Java is easier than from Pascal or some other basic language. Java could also be taught with C++ so that students can learn the best of both languagues. The more you know, the easier it is to switch to other languagues and methodologies.
Microsoft is not the only company to use Smart Tags. UPS and LexisNexis are both going to use them. LexisNexis is going to use Smart Tags to provide LexisNexis users instant access to law cases, statutes, and other information. This is a service provided to their customers. It is not changing the content of a site, it is enhancing it for those who want it enhanced.
I realize that this new feature has been created by Microsoft, but that doesn't make it bad. I think it sounds pretty cool. It will allow companies to add functionality to their users. What is wrong with that?
If I view all websites from within a frameset, does that constitue a deriative work? I don't think so. It sounds to me like those objecting to this new feature are objecting to Microsoft earning a buck. Damn them for adding new features.
From my experience, maturity matters a lot more than age. I have worked with people younger than me who I truly respect and listen to. But, there are some that I have worked with whom I don't respect because they act like five-year-olds.
I had a manager 15 years older than me who through a temper tantrum because I didn't ask his permission before making a decision (ah, the joys of being a consultant). He yelled, screamed, and stamped his feet. He lost my respect right there.
Personally, I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt. I work will all college grads, but within about a 20 year age span. The more mature people are the leaders, the less are the slackers.
I own a Palm VII (I didn't buy it, I was part of the developer seeding group). But, I don't really use it. To me, it's nothing more than a toy. I use the cheapest plan available ($10 a month for 50 KB) and rarely come close to 50 KB. I think the VII is a nice device, but not really practical. I have taken it on trips but never used it for anything more than checking my e-mail.
Wireless net access is a cool concept. The problem is that most people could care less. If I'm at work, I can surf via my desktop machine. Same thing at home. When I'm away from the office, I don't want to get e-mail, voicemail, or even phone calls. I only give out my cell phone number to friends and family.
Wireless is definately overrated. Why limit yourself to low-bandwidth, small-screen devices when you can use a real PC to connect to the net. I'm sure that business travellers would disagree with me, but most of them carry laptops and can get land-line access to the net.
One of these days, wireless might take off, but I'm not going to hold my breath. There are too many hurdles to get past right now.
Whether PDF is good or not for a handheld (I think it's NOT), it's been done. I've used the converter and the reader, and it's all really lame. I was not impressed. But, if you think of all of the text documents in PDF, it's not so bad.
http://www.creativepro.com/story/news/3908.html
Voting is one of those rights that we all need to exercise. It's not just about picking a candidate, it's about showing this country that we are responsibile citizens. I am so tired of hearing about apathy in Gen X. I vote, I go to civic meetings, and care about my community. It's time that we, as americans, show what we stand for and vote for our candidates. If you don't have a particular candidate, vote for the issues. There are more things up this time than just the presidential race.
OK, I can't be the only who feels this way, but... I don't see anything wrong with placing filters in libraries, schools, etc. But, those filters need to be to stop porn and not information on such controversial topics as abortion. Given that public money does pay for these types of places, it is OK to specify what can and can be seen from them.
I am all for free speech, but there have to be limits and/or controls. As Americans, we do not have the right to view porn whenever and wherever we want.
I do not, however, endorse filters on the web in general. If a user wants to see blocked sites at home, fine. But, if I (as a taxpayer) am footing the bill, I should have some say in what they can view.
OK, there is a strange connection between M:I 2 and the game Rollercoaster Tycoon. Around the middle of the movie, Tom Cruise and "the love interest" are on a balcony. In the background, you can hear someone say "Tara, Tara, Tara". This is the same sound that you hear from the crowd in Rollercoaster Tycoon.
Is there a conspiracy here? I think so...
Trademarks have to be enforced in order for the owner to keep them. If Linus doesn't go after those trying to take Linux from him, he loses the name.
This happened to Thermos. They didn't go after anyone using their name for years. Then, when they finally did, they were told that they had no right to keep the name. So, Thermos can now be used by anyone with no repercussions.
This has to be Katz's strangest article to date. Re rambles on about Disney's utopia like it is the Lost Ark. I think that Walt Disney was a great man, innovator, and dreamer. I think that Katz has missed who Walt really was.
A dreamer is a person who comes up with new ideas. That person would love to see those come true, but ultimately knows that they may not. What Disney created in his EPCOT was a perfect future world. No man can expect such a thing to actually come true.
Take a look at Star Trek. Gene Roddenberry made up a wonderful world where money and power have little or no value. Do we get all misty-eyed when we watch an old episode? I hope not.
Dreams are just that. I applaud Disney and his team of imagineers. But, I do not feel a loss that his EPCOT never became a reality. I instead feel love to see what he came up with and cherish his ideas as one of the greatest men of the twentieth century.
Oh, and one point of clarification. Disney was not alive to see the completion of Walt Disney World, but he was there to oversee the early stages of the project.
I installed both Win 98 and RedHat 5.2 on my Celeron 400 system. RedHat was simple. The only trouble that I had was with my video card. But, that was easy to get past. Win 98 however, was really difficult. In order to install the upgrade version, you have to have some MS OS on your system already. The Win 98 instructions say to create a Win 98 boot disk to start the install. To create it, in Win 98 click on Control Panel... WHAT! I worked around this problem by creating a DOS boot disk. Then, I had to verify that I owned a previous version of Windows. What a pain! Linux installations are not perfect, but I have found them to be much easier than ANY Windows installation.
Lately, Palm has been subject to a lot of rumors. First, 3Com was going to sell the unit off. Next, Apple was going to guy it. Now, 3Com spins it off.
This is a great move for 3Com and Palm. 3Com has no real interest in the handheld market. So, it is a win for them. Palm now has more freedom and marketability. They win too.
I hope that this will end the rumors about the future of Palm. Many people have criticized 3Com for "holding them back". Jeff and Donna who started Palm have moved on to Handspring (which is debuting their new device tomorrow). Palm may now be able to keep good people. The corporate structure has been strange.
So, let's see what happens with this. I know that it is a good move. I just hope that Palm can focus on developing new and innovative PDAs rather than just resting on its laurels.
I could have a planet instead? Wow, I wish that I had known that. That would make the feature so much better! Yeah, right.....
OK, thousands of people probably complained to Microsoft that they didn't like the paperclip. So, they probably launched an initiative to come up with more popular alternatives. Hence, the planet.
Of course, if Microsoft had listened to what people were REALLY saying about the paper clip, professor, planet, cat, whatever, they would have eliminated the entire "feature".
These make Office worse to use than even whatever problem I'm having lately that GPFs Word every couple of hours.
Your idea is definately interesting. I'd rather not see something like this though. There are just too many problems with it.
This is not the best way to get money to programmers. It's kind of like a strange lottery. My fear is that smaller problems that don't seem to be a big deal would be overlooked. Developers would try to fix the big, prominent bugs instead of the smaller ones. But, small ones are often the hardest to fix.
Nice idea, but I don't think it will work.
Outlook itself does not work with the Palm. Let me clarify that. Outlook does not have the synchronization functionality built into it. But, 3Com does supply a conduit between the Palm and Outlook.
So, yes Outlook does work with the Palm via this conduit. What does this mean for OpenMail? I don't know. If someone wants to write a conduit, it will work the the Palm. It depends on how open OpenMail will be. If it is clearly defined how to interface with it via text files or calls, it will be easy to make this conduit.
I always thought that NT stands for New Technology. Interesting tidbit:
Take WNT and change each letter to the previous in the alphabet. You get: VMS. There is a connection between NT and VMS.
Of course, this could all be bunk like Arthur C. Clarke's HAL rolled to IBM. He denies that this was intentional.
That's not what I meant. I meant that the development model for Mozilla is flawed. That was one of the points of this article.
It's not a flaw in Open Source, it's a flaw in how Netscape interpreted it. You can do any type of development with Open Source. How you manage it is the key.
Well, considering that IE does not run on Linux, of course we still need Netscape, Mozilla, and other projects. Mozilla is not perfect. In fact, it's quite flawed. But, it is a step in the right direction.
As the Open Source community, we need to promote and applaud such efforts. Every bit helps. Especially one that has gotton such coverage. We have to be careful about predicting the failure of Mozilla. It will be seen as a blow to Open Source whether anyone really cares or not.
This article was just... strange. It's like he's trying to kiss up to Rob while bashing him at the same time. I think that Leonard has spent too much time at Salon. Maybe he should find a more reputable company to work for.
I also don't see what is so bad about PR firms. PR is a part of business. Leonard should know that by now. I wonder how many times similar things have gone out about him.
The best thing about this is SGI "giving back" to the Open Source community. SGI has written some great software over the years. If we get just a piece of that, we should be grateful. It wouldn't take that much work to integrate SGI technology into something like the GIMP, or other great Open Source software.
What's especially great about this is that SGI seems willing to participate in Open Source advancement. It will be a great boon to see such a powerful name behind Open Source.
Rush Limbaugh even commented on this today. He spoke for about 5 minutes on how terrible it would be if this comes to pass.
His argument was that it is very simple to step up from monitoring to invading.