Sigh. Take all the programmers working on a project which hasn't been carefully profiled, round them up in a meeting room and ask them whey their project is slow. You will get five different reasons, and odds are none of them are correct.
You can tell someone is an expert at optimization when they refuse to make any kind of guess.
Finally, comparing the value of different implementations on the basis of elegance is a worthwhile hint about their potential, but comparing them *after* they have both been carefully optimized is the only thing that means anything.
So yeah, I also saw red the moment I saw "probably" and "performance" in the same sentence.
Thats exactly it. The outcome of the suit is not what matters, it is the bad press of yet another "end user burned by Vista" story. Another nail in Vista's PR coffin, cementing Vista's reputation as the OS version we took because of Microsoft's OEM relationship. And I'd thought they were finally getting on target when they released XP.
Re:when they say "lightweight"... they mean it
on
Beginning Lua Programming
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· Score: 2, Informative
Did you just get modded up for not being able to type "MIT license" into google?
MIT is BSD-style without any clause that would stop it from being re-used in a commercial product. And sorry guys, this is a requirement for use in games right now.
Some publishers seem to not understand the relationship between packaging and sales. If you look at a game that was given shelf space but then proceeded to fail spectacularly, it usually has stupid box art and badly done screen-shots. I have worked in games and this has become a peeve of mine, you do everything you can slaving to make the best possible game, and then the publisher creates the one thing it is responsible for: the box the game goes in, and turns out some embarrassing little surprise. Gamers do "judge the book by it's cover."
I just saw this story: "How Microsoft can make the Zune a Success"
And right below it: "Dvorak to Apple: Stop the iPhone"
Logically, you would need to s/Microsoft/Apple, s/Zune/iPhone, s/Apple/Microsoft, s/iPhone/Zune to have proper Slashdot-conforming headlines
But the existing headlines are controversial opinion pieces aimed at generating page views by provoking readers. Sounds like perfect Slashdot material to me.
Oh yeah, and while I'm on the topic -- working with the Olympic Commission at the same time is pure brilliance. People who don't normally watch sports tend to get sucked into the Olympics media frenzy. Which fits perfectly with Nintendo's current direction of creating a new casual market. I bet the Nintendo execs are falling all over themselves congratulating each other on this one.
My read on this is that Nintendo is cozying up to Sega, as a prelude to buying them. This kind of "lets just work closely together first" move is typical of cooperate buyouts. In this case Nintendo gets to see how Sega's IP library sells in a Nintendo/Sega mash-up.
And think for a second about Nintendo, with the recent popularity of the Wii and DS, they would be crazy to not be trying to buy Sega.
I'm planning switch my existing XP licences to new hardware if I decide to get a new machine. Arguably Microsoft should have to pay early adopter for the risk associated with a new Windows release, when you consider the TCO disadvantage.
Does anyone know if there is progress being made on this?
The GPUs will ship with C compilers soon enough. They are already supporting limited forms of C. Actually we will see hybrid CPUs (the cell being a first example) which are capable of massive amounts of parallel math operations stacked in along side some of your CPU cores in time. As the number of cores grows, room is made for specialized processors where that makes sense in the market.
why don't we just put spin locks in there so your CPU usage shoots up and it looks like I'm using it to its full potential?
I heard stories of this being done by games companies when their publishers complained they weren't using the VU1 on the PS2 enough. That was the VU which was really hard to utilize because had no access to the rendering hardware. And yes, publishers ran the diagnostic tools available when you submitted builds.
1. Replace types: The developer replaces numerical types representing floating point numbers and integers with the equivalent RapidMind platform types.
2. Capture computations: While the user's application is running, sequences of numerical operations invoked by the user's application can be captured, recorded, and dynamically compiled to a program object by the RapidMind platform.
3. Stream execution: The RapidMind platform runtime is used for managed parallel execution of program objects on the target hardware platform, which can be a GPU, the Cell processor, or a multicore CPU.
Man thats some funny stuff. Wow that cracked me up. A *games* company using a tool that has this level of indirection?!? I sure hope these guys got a lot of money from their sucker VC to roll in.
Look guys. There is no multi-processing silver bullet. It isn't even such a hard problem, *if you stop trying to solve it at such a low level*. Break your application into separate pieces that, *don't need to communicate very often.* Then this is the same kind of problem scalable websites like Google, MySpace, Hotmail and so on, have already, just without having to factor in the reliability issues. Finer grained multi-threading just leads to deadlocks and is really hard to debug. If you *really must* render the same sphere on 100 processors at the same time, then you need the speed of a custom coded solution. But you don't so let it go. The main loop of your program will be just fine as a single threaded implementation, 1 processor will do, and farm the 10% code / 90 % heavy lifting out in big clean chunks to other processors. If you find yourself writing some bizzare multi-threaded message passing system so that you can have 100s of threads all modifying the same live object model at the same time -- you are fucked, just forget about it 'cause you will never be able to debug that one killer bug that you know is going to get you right as you go to ship.
No, I get the feeling from the original post that the backup drive was in the same machine as the original, that the tape was kept in the admins desk next to his portable speakers, and that the paper copies were in a locker next to the paper recycling area.
The only project Adobe has not completely destroyed is Photoshop
Flash is possibly one of the most important technologies out there. It is available in *almost any* web browser, and allows you to do non-trivial things without jumping through mind numbing browser-compatibility hoops, and does them at a speed that a browser cannot even dream about. Neither Microsoft, due to it's insecurities about becoming irrelevant, nor Mozilla and Apple with their limited market shares have been able to archive this holy grail of cross platform, install-free computing.
What they are doing is trying to extend this *very enviable* position into enabling a richer range of applications. And even if it does seem a little risky, *if they succeed* they may well transform client side computing. And as far as I can tell, all they have to do is package Apollo with Flash, and they will have the most installed middle-ware ever.
As for your legal concerns, they are very real. However, it isn't going to keep them from succeeding on the desktop where this is headed. The reason for the restrictions, I assume is so that they cam make a buck selling those versions. However it seems reasonable to assume that if they succeed the Mozilla/XUL codebase can be made to run Apollo apps if the need arises.
Um? Using gdb is like surfing the web by connecting to port 80 with telnet. Probably there is a decent gui interface to it out there, but the last time I tried finding one, it didn't go well for me. I'd also want it to have a nice stable edit-and-continue integration, so I can iterate on code at the same speed as someone working with script...
The only great thing about Microsoft development is the tools you have to do it with.
It's sad, and I'm sure to get ripped to shreds for this, but VC8's debugger is the main reason I haven't switched to Linux on the desktop. Forget editors, conciseness of programming language, little penguins running in hamster wheels, whatever, it's only the debugger that matters when it comes to the hard part.
I slave full time but still study for a BSc part time and, as I've been at the school for longer than your average undergraduate, know quite a few PhDs, Professors, and the like.
Sounds like you are just what the recruiters want. Cheap slave labour that doesn't know better.
...but.. Blu-Ray isn't DVD. Blu-Ray is Blu-Ray. Just like DVD isn't CD, it's DVD. That's like saying that this USB pen drive is the best CD-ROM format thus far.
Your analogy is pretty weak. Most people consider Blu-Ray to be new format of "DVD." Probably has something to do with them having identical form factors and serving the same purpose, which is to be a "digital video disk." That and Blu-Ray players playing DVDs. If you could play a CD-ROM with a USB port, your analogy would be a little closer to the mark.
Meaning that there's STILL no way for a hobbyist developer to make anything like full use of the hardware?
Look. They *make their money* selling the right to run games on their hardware. You know that half a billion dollars they sunk into developing the thing? They plan to get it back with a fee of about $10 per-title.
They are not being jerks, it's just the reality of the business model. You know making up your loss on selling the razor back on selling the razor blades. If you want an open development environment -- buy a PC. You'll be able to get the same graphics and processing horsepower, just not subsidized by Sony.
A little disappointed to see Canada on there, but at least we didn't x the "signature without reservation as to ratification" box like the US did.
Anyway from my attempt at reading the treaty, it seems like all it *requires* is a country to make it possible for it's "competent authorities" to be able to record data when requested to do so. It doesn't say service providers are required to do more than facilitate this recording. See Article 20 and Article 21. This is still a pretty major loss of privacy, but not something we haven't seen before.
As for enforcing foreign laws and cooperate liability? I'm not seeing what the author claims on this one either. It looks like the country is expected to enact certain laws (nothing to do with Nazis), and make sure that there is always an entity responsible, even if it is a cooperation. Check your facts slashdot!!!
Ahh well, this whole thing, if it gets implemented, it will immediately cease to be that important as everyone rolls out strong end to end encryption in response. And thats probably a good thing if you think about it.
A scientist, an engineer and a programmer are on a road trip. Their car goes out of control on a steep hill and they barely make it to the bottom alive.
The scientist tries to calculate the distance to the nearest repair shop, the engineer suggests checking the wiring and brake pads, and the programmer suggests driving to the top and seeing if it happens again.
My point? Programmers and engineers are different. The best way to solve their problems is different. I trust this CTO more because he doesn't have engineering certification. In the same way a person with a music degree is less specialized as a programmer.
My advice to anyone thinking of trying something new technically? Go home and and do it. Just start. In this case, get old computers, install Linux on them and set up a network with a proxy, web and mail servers. Or get a book on programming and install a compiler. There is a world of free tools and information out there, just actively explore instead of sitting on your ass fretting about your dead end job. You'll probably find something that inspires you, and that will be the force that will pull you into doing it. A good education is best if you can get it, but you can also make good money if you take the time to teach yourself, for example how to set up office networking. *Actually having done it* and fiddled with it until you really understood it is what is going to translate into success. For example, the person who's post I'm replying to will be more impressed if you tell him you figured it out yourself. Then you can volunteer to get experience or get certs if you have to. You should at least be able to find something that makes it easier to pay off your loans and get back into school.
Disclaimer: it's easy for me to say this as I have a degree and am a senior engineer. However, I'd equate what you gain from one university course to taking on a new kind of project or reading a good technical book. And I have worked with a senior kernel engineer who'd graduated with a music degree, and an artist who became one of the best Maya programmers, recognized as a Maya Master by Alias. I also recently changed specialities by taking this advice. Try before you buy, and if you like it, it suddenly gets a lot easier to switch.
Slashdot Mirror
Sigh. Take all the programmers working on a project which hasn't been carefully profiled, round them up in a meeting room and ask them whey their project is slow. You will get five different reasons, and odds are none of them are correct.
You can tell someone is an expert at optimization when they refuse to make any kind of guess.
Finally, comparing the value of different implementations on the basis of elegance is a worthwhile hint about their potential, but comparing them *after* they have both been carefully optimized is the only thing that means anything.
So yeah, I also saw red the moment I saw "probably" and "performance" in the same sentence.
Thats exactly it. The outcome of the suit is not what matters, it is the bad press of yet another "end user burned by Vista" story. Another nail in Vista's PR coffin, cementing Vista's reputation as the OS version we took because of Microsoft's OEM relationship. And I'd thought they were finally getting on target when they released XP.
Did you just get modded up for not being able to type "MIT license" into google?
MIT is BSD-style without any clause that would stop it from being re-used in a commercial product. And sorry guys, this is a requirement for use in games right now.
Some publishers seem to not understand the relationship between packaging and sales. If you look at a game that was given shelf space but then proceeded to fail spectacularly, it usually has stupid box art and badly done screen-shots. I have worked in games and this has become a peeve of mine, you do everything you can slaving to make the best possible game, and then the publisher creates the one thing it is responsible for: the box the game goes in, and turns out some embarrassing little surprise. Gamers do "judge the book by it's cover."
But the existing headlines are controversial opinion pieces aimed at generating page views by provoking readers. Sounds like perfect Slashdot material to me.
Oh yeah, and while I'm on the topic -- working with the Olympic Commission at the same time is pure brilliance. People who don't normally watch sports tend to get sucked into the Olympics media frenzy. Which fits perfectly with Nintendo's current direction of creating a new casual market. I bet the Nintendo execs are falling all over themselves congratulating each other on this one.
This can't be real.
My read on this is that Nintendo is cozying up to Sega, as a prelude to buying them. This kind of "lets just work closely together first" move is typical of cooperate buyouts. In this case Nintendo gets to see how Sega's IP library sells in a Nintendo/Sega mash-up.
And think for a second about Nintendo, with the recent popularity of the Wii and DS, they would be crazy to not be trying to buy Sega.
I'm planning switch my existing XP licences to new hardware if I decide to get a new machine. Arguably Microsoft should have to pay early adopter for the risk associated with a new Windows release, when you consider the TCO disadvantage.
Does anyone know if there is progress being made on this?
The GPUs will ship with C compilers soon enough. They are already supporting limited forms of C. Actually we will see hybrid CPUs (the cell being a first example) which are capable of massive amounts of parallel math operations stacked in along side some of your CPU cores in time. As the number of cores grows, room is made for specialized processors where that makes sense in the market.
why don't we just put spin locks in there so your CPU usage shoots up and it looks like I'm using it to its full potential?
I heard stories of this being done by games companies when their publishers complained they weren't using the VU1 on the PS2 enough. That was the VU which was really hard to utilize because had no access to the rendering hardware. And yes, publishers ran the diagnostic tools available when you submitted builds.
From the site:
Man thats some funny stuff. Wow that cracked me up. A *games* company using a tool that has this level of indirection?!? I sure hope these guys got a lot of money from their sucker VC to roll in.
Look guys. There is no multi-processing silver bullet. It isn't even such a hard problem, *if you stop trying to solve it at such a low level*. Break your application into separate pieces that, *don't need to communicate very often.* Then this is the same kind of problem scalable websites like Google, MySpace, Hotmail and so on, have already, just without having to factor in the reliability issues. Finer grained multi-threading just leads to deadlocks and is really hard to debug. If you *really must* render the same sphere on 100 processors at the same time, then you need the speed of a custom coded solution. But you don't so let it go. The main loop of your program will be just fine as a single threaded implementation, 1 processor will do, and farm the 10% code / 90 % heavy lifting out in big clean chunks to other processors. If you find yourself writing some bizzare multi-threaded message passing system so that you can have 100s of threads all modifying the same live object model at the same time -- you are fucked, just forget about it 'cause you will never be able to debug that one killer bug that you know is going to get you right as you go to ship.
You've just changed the way you watch digital media.
Yeah, I can no longer watch it, because most of it is encoded with xvid, divx and vcd.
No, I get the feeling from the original post that the backup drive was in the same machine as the original, that the tape was kept in the admins desk next to his portable speakers, and that the paper copies were in a locker next to the paper recycling area.
The only project Adobe has not completely destroyed is Photoshop
Flash is possibly one of the most important technologies out there. It is available in *almost any* web browser, and allows you to do non-trivial things without jumping through mind numbing browser-compatibility hoops, and does them at a speed that a browser cannot even dream about. Neither Microsoft, due to it's insecurities about becoming irrelevant, nor Mozilla and Apple with their limited market shares have been able to archive this holy grail of cross platform, install-free computing.
What they are doing is trying to extend this *very enviable* position into enabling a richer range of applications. And even if it does seem a little risky, *if they succeed* they may well transform client side computing. And as far as I can tell, all they have to do is package Apollo with Flash, and they will have the most installed middle-ware ever.
As for your legal concerns, they are very real. However, it isn't going to keep them from succeeding on the desktop where this is headed. The reason for the restrictions, I assume is so that they cam make a buck selling those versions. However it seems reasonable to assume that if they succeed the Mozilla/XUL codebase can be made to run Apollo apps if the need arises.
I wonder how much sco.com will be sold for. Somebody should make it point to kernel.org, just as a lesson to the patent trolls.
Um? Using gdb is like surfing the web by connecting to port 80 with telnet. Probably there is a decent gui interface to it out there, but the last time I tried finding one, it didn't go well for me. I'd also want it to have a nice stable edit-and-continue integration, so I can iterate on code at the same speed as someone working with script...
The only great thing about Microsoft development is the tools you have to do it with.
It's sad, and I'm sure to get ripped to shreds for this, but VC8's debugger is the main reason I haven't switched to Linux on the desktop. Forget editors, conciseness of programming language, little penguins running in hamster wheels, whatever, it's only the debugger that matters when it comes to the hard part.
I slave full time but still study for a BSc part time and, as I've been at the school for longer than your average undergraduate, know quite a few PhDs, Professors, and the like.
Sounds like you are just what the recruiters want. Cheap slave labour that doesn't know better.
Your analogy is pretty weak. Most people consider Blu-Ray to be new format of "DVD." Probably has something to do with them having identical form factors and serving the same purpose, which is to be a "digital video disk." That and Blu-Ray players playing DVDs. If you could play a CD-ROM with a USB port, your analogy would be a little closer to the mark.
Has the software development industry stabilized to an off-the-self commodity?
The US department of labour predicts the industry will "grow more slowly than average." That is hardly dead.
It is 2007 and we are still writing code using text editors, not giving verbal commands to sentient machines. Nothing to see here, move along.
Meaning that there's STILL no way for a hobbyist developer to make anything like full use of the hardware?
Look. They *make their money* selling the right to run games on their hardware. You know that half a billion dollars they sunk into developing the thing? They plan to get it back with a fee of about $10 per-title.
They are not being jerks, it's just the reality of the business model. You know making up your loss on selling the razor back on selling the razor blades. If you want an open development environment -- buy a PC. You'll be able to get the same graphics and processing horsepower, just not subsidized by Sony.
Well, here is the list of suckers so far.
A little disappointed to see Canada on there, but at least we didn't x the "signature without reservation as to ratification" box like the US did.
Anyway from my attempt at reading the treaty, it seems like all it *requires* is a country to make it possible for it's "competent authorities" to be able to record data when requested to do so. It doesn't say service providers are required to do more than facilitate this recording. See Article 20 and Article 21. This is still a pretty major loss of privacy, but not something we haven't seen before.
As for enforcing foreign laws and cooperate liability? I'm not seeing what the author claims on this one either. It looks like the country is expected to enact certain laws (nothing to do with Nazis), and make sure that there is always an entity responsible, even if it is a cooperation. Check your facts slashdot!!!
Ahh well, this whole thing, if it gets implemented, it will immediately cease to be that important as everyone rolls out strong end to end encryption in response. And thats probably a good thing if you think about it.
Wow. I'm seriously thinking of filtering kdawson. I mean at least Jon Katz... err nevermind...
A scientist, an engineer and a programmer are on a road trip. Their car goes out of control on a steep hill and they barely make it to the bottom alive.
The scientist tries to calculate the distance to the nearest repair shop, the engineer suggests checking the wiring and brake pads, and the programmer suggests driving to the top and seeing if it happens again.
My point? Programmers and engineers are different. The best way to solve their problems is different. I trust this CTO more because he doesn't have engineering certification. In the same way a person with a music degree is less specialized as a programmer.
My advice to anyone thinking of trying something new technically? Go home and and do it. Just start. In this case, get old computers, install Linux on them and set up a network with a proxy, web and mail servers. Or get a book on programming and install a compiler. There is a world of free tools and information out there, just actively explore instead of sitting on your ass fretting about your dead end job. You'll probably find something that inspires you, and that will be the force that will pull you into doing it. A good education is best if you can get it, but you can also make good money if you take the time to teach yourself, for example how to set up office networking. *Actually having done it* and fiddled with it until you really understood it is what is going to translate into success. For example, the person who's post I'm replying to will be more impressed if you tell him you figured it out yourself. Then you can volunteer to get experience or get certs if you have to. You should at least be able to find something that makes it easier to pay off your loans and get back into school.
Disclaimer: it's easy for me to say this as I have a degree and am a senior engineer. However, I'd equate what you gain from one university course to taking on a new kind of project or reading a good technical book. And I have worked with a senior kernel engineer who'd graduated with a music degree, and an artist who became one of the best Maya programmers, recognized as a Maya Master by Alias. I also recently changed specialities by taking this advice. Try before you buy, and if you like it, it suddenly gets a lot easier to switch.