Everybody seems to have a killer app, GPL'd or not, or a magic USB-something to keep the passwords safe. But how can you be sure that your specific technology is not flawed? Crypto-math is strong (or so we suppose) but methods, procedures and people are less so.
Is much better to resort to a different mechanism that would require the intruder both technological knowledge AND physical access. So, write down the darn password!
Even in the 'obvious' attacks of co-workers or angry ex-wives, by using a written media you limit greatly the number of people with access to your stuff (No packet sniffer can read that paper on your desk). Those attackers will be likely be deterred by the fact that a break in would quickly connect to an specific group of people.
Is good to have a light-weight language handy for all those general tasks you encounter, being either perl or Python.
You can learn just enough Python for the specific task at hand and keep on building on top of that knowledge later. Just choose it as your preferred tool and when a task comes, learn how to do it in Python, the libraries available are extensive enough to encompass most of the needs you can think of.
Python includes some neat new ideas on programming, borrowed from more advanced languages that are still in research stage. generators is the prime example and it helps to learn about it if anything just to keep up with the technology.
You might save time in the future by using Python now, as IMHO is easier to mantain than bash or perl.
Finally, If you combine Python with C, specially in a *nix environment, you get a lot of raw power (C) with a powerful and easy interface (Python) and can do lots of fun things.
In the early 90's you had to pay M$ for every developing tool you got, no matter if you were helping M$ make money. The entry barrier to the market was not how good/creative you were but the US$3-10k you had to fork just start developing. Pretty stiff for a folk out of school, to not mention of those wanting to do the same on less developed countries! plus you would get the development tool, realized that it was a piece of crap and couldn't return it because "the CD seal was broken".
Then GPL/BSD/Linux et al became commercially viable and not only helped forcing companies to give away their development suites but allowed us to develop pretty sophisticated applications with tools as good or better as the best money can buy. So the LoneCoder could do software with less upfront investment and can brag that his code runs the same in a NASA cluster or a humble home PC. Sure, no one is going to pay you to write GCC again, but that's exactly the idea, not to reinvent the wheel.
And as no one owns the application anymore you don't get shun just because 'KillerCert(tm) certified engineers' are the only ones that know the KillerApp(tm) and they happen to work for KillerSoft(tm).
Of course that lowers the entry barrier so much that anyone can compete with you, including people in other timezones with smaller bills and mortgages to pay... sorry LoneCoder, seems you're not alone in the planet! but the competition was meant to be global anyway, so at least be grateful that the dominant language in software is english (no, many of us didn't learn english to read Shakespeare, but just to make a living).
Still, You have the advantage of being able to have a real face with the client and run to his/her office when something goes wrong, no videoconference/telepresence system will ever replace that.
The variety of electronics parts out there make salmost impossible to RadioShack to carry a stock wide enough to keep you coming. Plus with Internet you can never run out of places to find stuff to order by mail.
And this is true for basically any serious hobby. like climbing? no store has all the brands nor all the new gear. a movie buff? better use the internet to find that hard foreign film. As long as is not perishable and weigths less than 20lbs, you're better of ordering by mail
Sadly the instant gratification and personal interaction is lost.
Let's use Napalm wherever cocaine is consumed.. ups! that would wipe out the map most american cities!! sorry, I forgot all those sacred American lifes.
There's a big percentage of us that are sure Bush is fucking up this country, and that those 58 millions that voted for him are just morons. But they happen to have the right to vote and have elected the idiot again and we have to live with that. If you raise against them they would do the same if your smarty pants candidate wins, and the chaos perpetuates itself. now, if you don't believe in the system, why did you vote in the first place?
Re:Nader's place is in the Democratic primary
on
Pre-Election Discussion
·
· Score: 2, Insightful
I have never understood why someone as smart as Nader does not run for the senate, where he would become important as an independant, and in a close vote would get to cast the decisive vote answering only to his own conscience and probably advancing the cause of the independant parties.
In countries where real multipartidism exists, the minority parties never get to elect the president or prime minister but almost always manage to tie him/her to part of their agenda in exchange for their support.
Or is it that Nader's party is too arrogant, and that makes him no different than democrats and republicans?
If you like good analysis of current events with a liberal flavor, no one beats The New Yorker ' talk of the town'. You learn a lot about writing and argumentation just by reading their articles plus their cartoons have a well deserved fame. Too bad they almost never write about technology.
To follow current technological trends, you can turn to the MIT technology review is not as watered down as popular science but still is broad on coverage.
Finally, for bad algorithms and outdated programming techniques, you can waste your time with Dr. Dobbs Journal. I don't know if it's not what it used to be or if it has always been bad.
Re:Do younger minds absorb quicker?
on
Ageism in IT?
·
· Score: 1
A comparison with piano playing is no totally correct. A lot of the piano technical ability is hand-eye coordination, related to the developmental stage of the person, the younger the better. Au contraire programming has never needed fast typing (as QWERTY users can testify) and should be related mostly to mental ability. We should think of more stablished fields like mathematics or general science where innovation is driven by the newcomers that work their butts off and come with a fresh set of mind but where the fields are anyway dominated by the older players, that have made enduring contributions and lifelong commitments to their ideas and work, in despite of having wife and three kids.
Hollywood relentlessly release incredible stories about the world where Americans are heroes (Both in reality and fantasy) and everybody else is after them for no reason whatsoever. Sometimes I wonder if Americans actually believe it!
Those soldiers that are now in Afghanistan, in a clear and powerful cause, are, to the eyes of many nothing more that thirsty murderers that do not know the difference between an enemy, a friend, a woman and a child. I guess they look blurry on their infrared googles.
No matter how many OO books or code you read, adapting those to your specific need is never straightforward (I guess that's what engineering is all about) don't mention if the kind of problems you are trying to solve are rather procedural as opposed to the more classic OO examples, usually based on modeling interactions between objects in the real world.
You have to come up with your own ways to apply OO to hide complexity and increase reusability, in fact some of those solutions are so devishly clever the got a name of their own: design patterns. Some research into patterns is likely to give you ideas on how to scratch your own itch.
Slashdot Mirror
Everybody seems to have a killer app, GPL'd or not, or a magic USB-something to keep the passwords safe. But how can you be sure that your specific technology is not flawed? Crypto-math is strong (or so we suppose) but methods, procedures and people are less so.
Is much better to resort to a different mechanism that would require the intruder both technological knowledge AND physical access. So, write down the darn password!
Even in the 'obvious' attacks of co-workers or angry ex-wives, by using a written media you limit greatly the number of people with access to your stuff (No packet sniffer can read that paper on your desk). Those attackers will be likely be deterred by the fact that a break in would quickly connect to an specific group of people.
Is good to have a light-weight language handy for all those general tasks you encounter, being either perl or Python.
You can learn just enough Python for the specific task at hand and keep on building on top of that knowledge later. Just choose it as your preferred tool and when a task comes, learn how to do it in Python, the libraries available are extensive enough to encompass most of the needs you can think of.
Python includes some neat new ideas on programming, borrowed from more advanced languages that are still in research stage. generators is the prime example and it helps to learn about it if anything just to keep up with the technology.
You might save time in the future by using Python now, as IMHO is easier to mantain than bash or perl.
Finally, If you combine Python with C, specially in a *nix environment, you get a lot of raw power (C) with a powerful and easy interface (Python) and can do lots of fun things.
In the early 90's you had to pay M$ for every developing tool you got, no matter if you were helping M$ make money. The entry barrier to the market was not how good/creative you were but the US$3-10k you had to fork just start developing. Pretty stiff for a folk out of school, to not mention of those wanting to do the same on less developed countries! plus you would get the development tool, realized that it was a piece of crap and couldn't return it because "the CD seal was broken".
Then GPL/BSD/Linux et al became commercially viable and not only helped forcing companies to give away their development suites but allowed us to develop pretty sophisticated applications with tools as good or better as the best money can buy. So the LoneCoder could do software with less upfront investment and can brag that his code runs the same in a NASA cluster or a humble home PC. Sure, no one is going to pay you to write GCC again, but that's exactly the idea, not to reinvent the wheel.
And as no one owns the application anymore you don't get shun just because 'KillerCert(tm) certified engineers' are the only ones that know the KillerApp(tm) and they happen to work for KillerSoft(tm).
Of course that lowers the entry barrier so much that anyone can compete with you, including people in other timezones with smaller bills and mortgages to pay... sorry LoneCoder, seems you're not alone in the planet! but the competition was meant to be global anyway, so at least be grateful that the dominant language in software is english (no, many of us didn't learn english to read Shakespeare, but just to make a living).
Still, You have the advantage of being able to have a real face with the client and run to his/her office when something goes wrong, no videoconference/telepresence system will ever replace that.
The variety of electronics parts out there make salmost impossible to RadioShack to carry a stock wide enough to keep you coming. Plus with Internet you can never run out of places to find stuff to order by mail.
And this is true for basically any serious hobby. like climbing? no store has all the brands nor all the new gear. a movie buff? better use the internet to find that hard foreign film. As long as is not perishable and weigths less than 20lbs, you're better of ordering by mail
Sadly the instant gratification and personal interaction is lost.
Let's use Napalm wherever cocaine is consumed.. ups! that would wipe out the map most american cities!! sorry, I forgot all those sacred American lifes.
There's a big percentage of us that are sure Bush is fucking up this country, and that those 58 millions that voted for him are just morons. But they happen to have the right to vote and have elected the idiot again and we have to live with that. If you raise against them they would do the same if your smarty pants candidate wins, and the chaos perpetuates itself. now, if you don't believe in the system, why did you vote in the first place?
I have never understood why someone as smart as Nader does not run for the senate, where he would become important as an independant, and in a close vote would get to cast the decisive vote answering only to his own conscience and probably advancing the cause of the independant parties.
In countries where real multipartidism exists, the minority parties never get to elect the president or prime minister but almost always manage to tie him/her to part of their agenda in exchange for their support.
Or is it that Nader's party is too arrogant, and that makes him no different than democrats and republicans?
I've used my computer to try to find a Girlfriend on the internet... and it survived!
If you like good analysis of current events with a liberal flavor, no one beats The New Yorker ' talk of the town'. You learn a lot about writing and argumentation just by reading their articles plus their cartoons have a well deserved fame. Too bad they almost never write about technology.
To follow current technological trends, you can turn to the MIT technology review is not as watered down as popular science but still is broad on coverage.
Finally, for bad algorithms and outdated programming techniques, you can waste your time with Dr. Dobbs Journal. I don't know if it's not what it used to be or if it has always been bad.
A comparison with piano playing is no totally correct. A lot of the piano technical ability is hand-eye coordination, related to the developmental stage of the person, the younger the better.
Au contraire programming has never needed fast typing (as QWERTY users can testify) and should be related mostly to mental ability. We should think of more stablished fields like mathematics or general science where innovation is driven by the newcomers that work their butts off and come with a fresh set of mind but where the fields are anyway dominated by the older players, that have made enduring contributions and lifelong commitments to their ideas and work, in despite of having wife and three kids.
Hollywood relentlessly release incredible stories about the world where Americans are heroes (Both in reality and fantasy) and everybody else is after them for no reason whatsoever. Sometimes I wonder if Americans actually believe it!
Those soldiers that are now in Afghanistan, in a clear and powerful cause, are, to the eyes of many nothing more that thirsty murderers that do not know the difference between an enemy, a friend, a woman and a child. I guess they look blurry on their infrared googles.
Anyway, who cares if it's just collateral damage.
No matter how many OO books or code you read, adapting those to your specific need is never straightforward (I guess that's what engineering is all about) don't mention if the kind of problems you are trying to solve are rather procedural as opposed to the more classic OO examples, usually based on modeling interactions between objects in the real world.
You have to come up with your own ways to apply OO to hide complexity and increase reusability, in fact some of those solutions are so devishly clever the got a name of their own: design patterns. Some research into patterns is likely to give you ideas on how to scratch your own itch.