Windows 7 is a wonderful improvement on Microsoft's previous operating systems. I have been using the beta for over a month on my main PC after previously using XP. There is no way I want to go back to XP.
I didn't care about Vista but finally with Windows 7 there is enough of an improvement over XP to be worth my money.
Tried FreeBSD recently and gave up on it due to the difficulty getting Java working. On a machine of limited capabilities trying to compile it is too much. It claimed to need 1.7GB of space for the compile! I didn't believe it until the system slowed to a crawl and I found the build directory eating all free space on the partition.
Too bad, seemed good otherwise. I'm falling back to good old Gentoo for now.
Patents don't have to be about using them to make money. Companies can also use them for protection from other patents. Protective patents help avoid situations where someone patents something close to what you already do and then sues you. If you already have a patent on what you are doing then you have some amount of legal protection. Without one you have to go the route of invalidating their patent. Searching for prior-art would be a pain.
The VB compiler makes very efficient compiled code. The reason why your program was slow is that string operations become extremly expensive on large strings. Namely building a large string from many different small pieces in a loop is murder. Some examples:
Sloooow: For lIndex = 1 to 10000
sLarge = sLarge & sSmall1 & sSmall2 & sSmall3 Next lIndex
As sLarge grows copying it gets more and more expensive. In this example sLarge will be copied three times as each small string gets appended in turn.
2-3x faster: For lIndex = 1 to 10000
sLarge = sLarge & (sSmall1 & sSmall2 & sSmall3) Next lIndex
Using parens to group the small strings means the three small ones will be first formed into one string before being appended to sLarge, meaning space for sLarge is only reallocated once.
The really fast way to build large strings in VB is to keep them in small chunks in an array of fixed size strings and when done assembling do a Join.
Re:That has a genius to it
on
PeltierBeer
·
· Score: 1
Not if you put the glass in the shadow cast by the solar panel.
This problem is easy to fix technically, without using the refferal address. By putting no system in place to protect against deep linking in a medium designed for extensive linking they put themselves in harms way.
BTW, technical solution is to use session tracking. The homepage sets up a flag in the user session which article pages can check for. If not found send the user to a landing page for incoming outside links.
If someone steals your credit card number you will only pay at most $50 by law.
If someone steals your debit card number as time passes without it being reported your protection decreases. After a certain period you no longer have any protection and the theft can clean out your account.
Re:Hello? Fermi Paradox!
on
Rare Earth
·
· Score: 1
So since we haven't seen them, they must not exist then? I must have missed that part of the scientific method.
The underlying problem with this and many other ET discussions is that they assume all life requires parameters similar to our own. Once the possibility of life taking forms completely alien to our own is accepted almost all current debates on the matter have their scope changed. No longer is it a debate about the existence of complex life, it is a debate about the existance of complex life as we know it.
What this argument misses, when I hear it, is that a lot of people who considering building their own system are people who make computers their hobby and enjoy working on them.
Something like that. It would need to archive the current setup so if the upgrade fails there is a fallback. Also it would have to be limited to minor revisions ie x.y.z to x.y.z+1. It would also impose limits on developers like not being able to change the configuration of the app in a x.y.z+1 release.
A project that provides librarys other Open Source projects can use to enable automatic code updates would be way cool. Then admins could opt-in to have programs auto-update without user intervention. Proper security and checkpointing would be required, though, to prevent an app from breaking without a recourse to return to full functionality.
Slashdot Mirror
Windows 7 is a wonderful improvement on Microsoft's previous operating systems. I have been using the beta for over a month on my main PC after previously using XP. There is no way I want to go back to XP.
I didn't care about Vista but finally with Windows 7 there is enough of an improvement over XP to be worth my money.
Tried FreeBSD recently and gave up on it due to the difficulty getting Java working. On a machine of limited capabilities trying to compile it is too much. It claimed to need 1.7GB of space for the compile! I didn't believe it until the system slowed to a crawl and I found the build directory eating all free space on the partition.
Too bad, seemed good otherwise. I'm falling back to good old Gentoo for now.
I'm busy that week.
Patents don't have to be about using them to make money. Companies can also use them for protection from other patents. Protective patents help avoid situations where someone patents something close to what you already do and then sues you. If you already have a patent on what you are doing then you have some amount of legal protection. Without one you have to go the route of invalidating their patent. Searching for prior-art would be a pain.
Seriously, have you played Star Wars: KOTOR yet? best game in years.
The VB compiler makes very efficient compiled code. The reason why your program was slow is that string operations become extremly expensive on large strings. Namely building a large string from many different small pieces in a loop is murder. Some examples:
Sloooow:
For lIndex = 1 to 10000
sLarge = sLarge & sSmall1 & sSmall2 & sSmall3
Next lIndex
As sLarge grows copying it gets more and more expensive. In this example sLarge will be copied three times as each small string gets appended in turn.
2-3x faster:
For lIndex = 1 to 10000
sLarge = sLarge & (sSmall1 & sSmall2 & sSmall3)
Next lIndex
Using parens to group the small strings means the three small ones will be first formed into one string before being appended to sLarge, meaning space for sLarge is only reallocated once.
The really fast way to build large strings in VB is to keep them in small chunks in an array of fixed size strings and when done assembling do a Join.
Not if you put the glass in the shadow cast by the solar panel.
Ack!
/. eats pointy brackets for lunch
"My life for [protoss homeworld's name]"
Forgot
"Auire" (sp?), not "hire"!
"My life for "
Turn your computer off at night. Saves you trouble about building a quiet PC and money on electricity.
Master of Orion II!
www.newegg.com
Good prices, good rep, good shipping!
Well you can get pubic lice from public toilets.
This problem is easy to fix technically, without using the refferal address. By putting no system in place to protect against deep linking in a medium designed for extensive linking they put themselves in harms way.
BTW, technical solution is to use session tracking. The homepage sets up a flag in the user session which article pages can check for. If not found send the user to a landing page for incoming outside links.
If someone steals your credit card number you will only pay at most $50 by law.
If someone steals your debit card number as time passes without it being reported your protection decreases. After a certain period you no longer have any protection and the theft can clean out your account.
So since we haven't seen them, they must not exist then? I must have missed that part of the scientific method.
The underlying problem with this and many other ET discussions is that they assume all life requires parameters similar to our own. Once the possibility of life taking forms completely alien to our own is accepted almost all current debates on the matter have their scope changed. No longer is it a debate about the existence of complex life, it is a debate about the existance of complex life as we know it.
What this argument misses, when I hear it, is that a lot of people who considering building their own system are people who make computers their hobby and enjoy working on them.
You can't choose a higher level of optimization nor can you choose (usually) Intel/AMD optimized builds.
Next I edit /etc/make.conf, here I can choose compiler settings. I optimize everything for i686.
It is being optimized if you wish it to be.
Something like that. It would need to archive the current setup so if the upgrade fails there is a fallback. Also it would have to be limited to minor revisions ie x.y.z to x.y.z+1. It would also impose limits on developers like not being able to change the configuration of the app in a x.y.z+1 release.
A project that provides librarys other Open Source projects can use to enable automatic code updates would be way cool. Then admins could opt-in to have programs auto-update without user intervention. Proper security and checkpointing would be required, though, to prevent an app from breaking without a recourse to return to full functionality.
Open Source is about not forcing you to do anything. Besides the code could just be removed. Who is a developer to say how I should administer my box.
These projects are open source, put your coding where your mouth is and start optimizing.
http://www.openbsd.org/faq/index.html
I was able to get a fully functional OpenBSD firewall going by following their FAQ. There were other resources but the FAQ was the most helpful.
My machine? A 486/33 16MB RAM (I've since upgraded to a 486/66 woo hoo!)