Ugly code should be tolerated only if it is the only alternative to getting the code to work before the deadline. And even then, it should only be tolerated if you've tried and failed to move the deadline back. And then it should be removed as soon as possible.
Ugly code, left unchecked, spreads like crazy because you have to code around it which makes more ugly code that has to be coded around.
Competition from Linux has prevented MS from leveraging a desktop monopoly into a server monopoly. So, while it may not have topled an existing monopoly, it has prevented a new one and by doing so, has forced MS to play nicer on desktops even though they still have a monopoly there.
I am just speculating here, but I would be willing to bet that the XBox division would be a lot closer to being in the black if the XBox didn't tank in Japan.
There's a tautology for you: "If they had sold more of it, they would have made more money selling it"
Seriously, they never expected to make serious money with the original XBox. The whole idea was to lose as little money as possible while getting the mindshare to allow the XBox successor (which turns out to be the 360) to make serious money. The real question here is whether a 4-billion loss is a reasonable loss for what they've accomplished, and we won't know that until we see how successful the 360 is.
Assuming that you're refering to PostgreSQL, vacuuming is now a background process that doesn't interfere with normal database operations. It's not like the old days when you had to stop using the database to vacuum it.
In PostgreSQL, you can write your stored procedures in Python, Perl, and a couple of other languages. It probably won't be too long before MySQL allows the same thing. With any luck, you won't need to learn a new language at all.
I bought my wife an iBook before our chance to use the education discount ran out. I don't like OSX, but based on my wife's experience using it and my experience supporting her using it, it would have been worth getting her that laptop even if it had cost twice as much.
I guess the point of that anecdote is that even if you think Macs are too expensive, you might be doing yourself a disfavor by not trying one. I don't like using it, but it was still the best computer purchase I've ever made.
I now recommend Macs to all my non-technical friends and family.
Even if the servers are infected, the ISOs I download from them will be clean as long as the build machine isn't infected. Or, if it's a source distribution, it doesn't matter as long as my own build machine isn't infected.
All of the programmers I know are far more motivated to work on their pet projects than they are to work on company projects, so my intuition and anecdotal evidence would seem to disagree with your assertion that corporate programmers have more motivation than OSS programmers.
Have there been any studies on this that anyone knows about?
I disagree with your characterization. I live in Tennessee where they pronounce Linus as "line-us", but Linux is always pronounced "lin-nucks" ("lin" rhymes with "chin"). I know it's the same in the Mid-west 'cuz that's where I'm from.
Since the IBM commercials pronounce Linux the same way, I would expect that that's how they do it on the East Coast.
The only people I've ever met who tried to pronounce Linux and Linus similarly were both from India. Draw whatever conclusions you feel comfortable with.
I'm in the process of migrating from Opera to FF. I love opera if I've got a fat pipe, but at home, things like adblock and flashblock are required to make browsing speeds bearable by removing bandwidth hogs from the web pages.
Now that I've got FF configured to handle gestures and tabs like opera, the only thing I miss is the super fast back/forward between pages (yes, I know that FF 1.5 will have that).
If this is so it just leads to the question: Why should people use Firefox now then? Lets wait until 2010 when it will actually be better and stick to IE which is better now.>/i>
It's already better than IE now. Both security and user experience are far superior to IE. It's true that there have been several vulnerabilities found in FF recently, but none have been exploited in the wild. IE exploits are plentiful.
Out of curiosity, what makes you claim that IE is better than FF?
A BIOS password is easily defeated if you have access to the hardware (usually a jumper for a desktop, often a switch under the keyboard for a laptop).
The laptops at work come locked down and you can't do anything until a tech visits. Rather than wait for days until a tech comes, some people wipe the drive and reinstall windows, thus negating any benefit of locking the machine down in the first place.
The moral of the story is if you have access to the hardware, then the machine isn't really locked down.
The post you are responding to is probably thinking about applying power to the stirling engine to create a heat differential. This technique is one of the major commercial applications of stirling engines today (do a google search on cryocoolers).
I don't think the author meant that patching was bad, I think he was saying that relying on penetration and patching to expose and correct vulnerabilities is bad.
You can design for security and still make mistakes that need patching. I don't think the author would disagree with that.
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Ugly code should be tolerated only if it is the only
alternative to getting the code to work before the deadline.
And even then, it should only be tolerated if you've tried
and failed to move the deadline back. And then it should be
removed as soon as possible.
Ugly code, left unchecked, spreads like crazy because you
have to code around it which makes more ugly code that has
to be coded around.
Don't write ugly code.
You should take a look at gnumeric. I find it to be better
than calc for most things.
Competition from Linux has prevented MS from leveraging a
desktop monopoly into a server monopoly. So, while it may
not have topled an existing monopoly, it has prevented a
new one and by doing so, has forced MS to play nicer on
desktops even though they still have a monopoly there.
It's better than nothing.
I believe that the courts recently ruled that Lemuelson's
patents are catagorically unenforceable.
Google News might turns something up if you looked for it.
I am just speculating here, but I would be willing to bet that the XBox division would be a lot closer to being in the black if the XBox didn't tank in Japan.
There's a tautology for you: "If they had sold more of it,
they would have made more money selling it"
Seriously, they never expected to make serious money with
the original XBox. The whole idea was to lose as little
money as possible while getting the mindshare to allow the
XBox successor (which turns out to be the 360) to make
serious money. The real question here is whether a
4-billion loss is a reasonable loss for what they've
accomplished, and we won't know that until we see how
successful the 360 is.
Oh vacuuming a database sucks as well!
Assuming that you're refering to PostgreSQL, vacuuming
is now a background process that doesn't interfere with
normal database operations. It's not like the old days
when you had to stop using the database to vacuum it.
In PostgreSQL, you can write your stored procedures in
Python, Perl, and a couple of other languages. It probably
won't be too long before MySQL allows the same thing. With
any luck, you won't need to learn a new language at all.
I bought my wife an iBook before our chance to use the education discount ran out.
I don't like OSX, but based on my wife's experience using it and my experience
supporting her using it, it would have been worth getting her that laptop even
if it had cost twice as much.
I guess the point of that anecdote is that even if you think Macs are too expensive,
you might be doing yourself a disfavor by not trying one. I don't like using it,
but it was still the best computer purchase I've ever made.
I now recommend Macs to all my non-technical friends and family.
Besides the missing ads at the top, I haven't noticed any differences between
Opera 8.5 and 8.02.
Why is 3.4.x masked on x86? I've been running it for some time now on a test
machine and have noticed no problems at all.
Won't Ubuntu inherit compliance from Debian?
Even if the servers are infected, the ISOs I download from them will be clean
as long as the build machine isn't infected. Or, if it's a source distribution, it doesn't matter as long as my own build machine isn't infected.
Did I misunderstand you?
All of the programmers I know are far more motivated to work on their pet projects than they are to work on company projects, so my intuition and anecdotal evidence would seem to disagree with your assertion that corporate programmers have more motivation than OSS programmers.
Have there been any studies on this that anyone knows about?
After years of playing nethack, I'm sometimes confused when I can't
move diagonally in vim.
Out of curiosity, what is the advantage of running emace in viper mode over
simply running an actual vi clone like vim?
I disagree with your characterization. I live in Tennessee where they pronounce Linus as "line-us", but Linux is always pronounced "lin-nucks" ("lin" rhymes with "chin"). I know it's the same in the Mid-west 'cuz that's where I'm from.
Since the IBM commercials pronounce Linux the same way, I would expect that that's
how they do it on the East Coast.
The only people I've ever met who tried to pronounce Linux and Linus similarly were both from India. Draw whatever conclusions you feel comfortable with.
Is this for real?
What college are you talking about?
What is the origin of such a policy?
I feel so sorry for you.
Maybe I just got lucky.
I'm in the process of migrating from Opera to FF. I love opera if I've got
a fat pipe, but at home, things like adblock and flashblock are required to
make browsing speeds bearable by removing bandwidth hogs from the web pages.
Now that I've got FF configured to handle gestures and tabs like opera, the
only thing I miss is the super fast back/forward between pages (yes, I know
that FF 1.5 will have that).
If this is so it just leads to the question: Why should people use Firefox now then? Lets wait until 2010 when it will actually be better and stick to IE which is better now.>/i>
It's already better than IE now. Both security and user experience are far
superior to IE. It's true that there have been several vulnerabilities found
in FF recently, but none have been exploited in the wild. IE exploits are
plentiful.
Out of curiosity, what makes you claim that IE is better than FF?
A BIOS password is easily defeated if you have access to the
hardware (usually a jumper for a desktop, often a switch under
the keyboard for a laptop).
The laptops at work come locked down and you can't do anything until a tech
visits. Rather than wait for days until a tech comes, some people wipe the
drive and reinstall windows, thus negating any benefit of locking the machine
down in the first place.
The moral of the story is if you have access to the hardware, then the machine
isn't really locked down.
Tab Mix Plus allows you to reorder your tabs.
The post you are responding to is probably thinking about applying
power to the stirling engine to create a heat differential. This
technique is one of the major commercial applications of stirling
engines today (do a google search on cryocoolers).
I don't think the author meant that patching was bad, I think he was saying that relying on penetration and patching to expose and correct vulnerabilities is bad.
You can design for security and still make mistakes that need patching. I don't think the author would disagree with that.