Run fiber or at least Cat6 copper. It costs more, and the Cat6 will work with much cheaper hardware, but if you really want to plan ahead, go with fiber and expect to pay some serious dollars for the networking gear that works with it.
Realistically, one of the things you need to look at is bottlenecks. If you want a very fast in-house network, fine. But if you expect to be using the kind of bandwidth that requires fiber to connect to the 'Net, you'll have to wait until the telcos start running fiber to people's homes as a matter of routine unless you want to spend a lot of $$$. I expect fiber to the house to be
fairly common within 5 to 10 years, but right now it tends to cost a fortune. Make sure to use tubing for any data cabling, copper or fiber, because it makes it much easier to pull out old cable and install newer stuff in a few years.
Knowing how to think like a real computer
scientist will enable you to do lots of other
things well in life, many of which have nothing
to do with C.S.
It's a state of mind. You observe. You analyze.
You evaluate. You do some problem solving or
creative work. Then, if you have your act
together, you get paid for all of the above...
quite well!
I majored in C.E. then switched to C.S. I'm short
one thesis for an M.S. in C.S. My experience has
been that C.S. students hate subjects such as
computer architecture and assembly language
programming. I happen to like those subjects...
go figure! What you really ought to ask yourself
is how close to the hardware you like to work. I
enjoy programming right down to the bare metal.
Most C.S. types do not, AFAIK. Unless you really
want to build machines right out of school, I'd
suggest getting a C.S. degree (especially from a
fine school such as CMU) and concentrating on
computer architecture as much as possible. If, on
the other hand, you like designing chips or ciruit
boards, forget C.S. and go the C.E. route. Either
way, you can make a pile of money if you display
any talent. I will point out that there are a
lot more companies hiring software geeks than
hardware geeks.
Get real folks!
English rules. In the world of linguistic
Darwinism, English is conquering all the 1st
World nations.
I wasted years studying French in grade school and
high school and finally got my college degree by
taking and passing two semesters of Spanish, a
very few words of which I remember, mostly because
they are so completely irrelevant to modern,
technological society. Maybe I'm what you'd call
an "ugly American", but I figure that anyplace
I can't get by in by speaking English is
insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
By sheer force of numbers, one would think that
Chinese (one or more dialects) would be the most
useful language, but the fact is that if you need
to communicate in today's world, English can't be
beat. It is the universal language of
tecnological society. What language is the
standard for aviation, for example?
So, these days, I concentrate on English and fool
around with Yiddish as a lark... (My knowledge of
Yiddish sucks, but it is a *fun* language!)
Regards,
Oing!
Slashdot Mirror
Run fiber or at least Cat6 copper. It costs more, and the Cat6 will work with much cheaper hardware, but if you really want to plan ahead, go with fiber and expect to pay some serious dollars for the networking gear that works with it.
Realistically, one of the things you need to look at is bottlenecks. If you want a very fast in-house network, fine. But if you expect to be using the kind of bandwidth that requires fiber to connect to the 'Net, you'll have to wait until the telcos start running fiber to people's homes as a matter of routine unless you want to spend a lot of $$$. I expect fiber to the house to be
fairly common within 5 to 10 years, but right now it tends to cost a fortune. Make sure to use tubing for any data cabling, copper or fiber, because it makes it much easier to pull out old cable and install newer stuff in a few years.
Best regards,
Oing!
Knowing how to think like a real computer
scientist will enable you to do lots of other
things well in life, many of which have nothing
to do with C.S.
It's a state of mind. You observe. You analyze.
You evaluate. You do some problem solving or
creative work. Then, if you have your act
together, you get paid for all of the above...
quite well!
Regards,
Oing!
Hey! Let's have the USAF jam Canadian Air
Traffic Control. The resulting chaos ought to
prove truly profitable for the U.S. media outlets.
;-)
I majored in C.E. then switched to C.S. I'm short
one thesis for an M.S. in C.S. My experience has
been that C.S. students hate subjects such as
computer architecture and assembly language
programming. I happen to like those subjects...
go figure! What you really ought to ask yourself
is how close to the hardware you like to work. I
enjoy programming right down to the bare metal.
Most C.S. types do not, AFAIK. Unless you really
want to build machines right out of school, I'd
suggest getting a C.S. degree (especially from a
fine school such as CMU) and concentrating on
computer architecture as much as possible. If, on
the other hand, you like designing chips or ciruit
boards, forget C.S. and go the C.E. route. Either
way, you can make a pile of money if you display
any talent. I will point out that there are a
lot more companies hiring software geeks than
hardware geeks.
Oing!
Get real folks! English rules. In the world of linguistic Darwinism, English is conquering all the 1st World nations. I wasted years studying French in grade school and high school and finally got my college degree by taking and passing two semesters of Spanish, a very few words of which I remember, mostly because they are so completely irrelevant to modern, technological society. Maybe I'm what you'd call an "ugly American", but I figure that anyplace I can't get by in by speaking English is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. By sheer force of numbers, one would think that Chinese (one or more dialects) would be the most useful language, but the fact is that if you need to communicate in today's world, English can't be beat. It is the universal language of tecnological society. What language is the standard for aviation, for example? So, these days, I concentrate on English and fool around with Yiddish as a lark... (My knowledge of Yiddish sucks, but it is a *fun* language!) Regards, Oing!
Intel Pentium III/IV -- you can get better, but you can't pay more! Hehehehehe!