as long as they trust the editor to catch their mistakes, they'll never actually learn to avoid them; they'll simply let the IDE be their guide and never learn it.
Why shouldn't the editor help out if possible?
Hell, why shouldn't the language itself? Very few applications need optimized code for speed, and the compiler will probably do a better job of it anyway. Let the language initialize pointers and worry about deferencing them. Better yet, hide pointers entirely -- the programmer works with structures, which always exist, and never with pointers to structures.
"But the OS has many API functions that take pointers to structures."
Yes, that's a flaw of the OS design.
Eh, just as everybody should get trained in an assembly language, so too in LISP. The beauty of a simplified, built-in data structure is beyond compare. Everything you write handles arbitrary data type inputs, including lists of data. Very orthogonal and robust. But you all run off to Java because that's what someone shoved in front of your face and said, "Jump, froggy!" Nevermind that it translates to C++ about as readily as an "easy" cryptogram in a crossword puzzle translates to English.
Well, in the US, safe and effective speedlike drugs for weight loss, available in Europe, are illegal because addicts might illegally get ahold of them.
In the folds of flesh back by your tonsils or eustachean tube openins, that kind of thing. Eating cheese helps generate it, though why it's always white I don't know, unless the gentle acid in your saliva bleaches it out.
Klingons - black skin, brutish, unintelligent, hyper-aggressive, extremely athletic and possessed of a mystical earthy wisdom that's a direct rip of the "magic negro" phenomenon. They're a condensed version of every stereotype about Africans.
That's funny, I always thought the were a condensed version of every stereotype about the Soviets, with some quasi-Chinese weaponry and mysticism and feudal Japan-esque philosophy thrown in for flavour.
They were. This guy's on crack.
Actually, I think he's a masterful troll. The Ferenghi were a parody of a leftist's outdated view of capitalism. "Women and makeup", help me Jebus.
Thus we may close the etymological trail. "Gankers" in MMORPGs overwhelm others for the thrill of causing stress. This includes typically taking all the items they can from the victim's corpse. Hence "ganking".
> but a lot of the technology depicted in the game is faulty or untrustworthy.
Like a creature with arms thicker than a human torso wielding a sword that looks like it weighs 200 pounds, not cleaving in half instantly a level one million character, his armor, and his weapon?
Ya, I'd say the technology is faulty! See also: horses that only run 1.5x the speed of a person, animals that face that which is causing them the most pain instead of running away, etc.
No, that's in City of Heroes, with truly fantastical hip-to-waist ratios, skimpy, highly customizable outfits, and several extradimensional rave areas.
Seriously.
Plus you get high speed travel at 14 instead of 40, and it's free, instead of the cost of an aircraft carrier, and it's truly high speed, not like 1.5x run speed.
My 16 year old kid bragged about tricking a younger kid out of 10g he was given to buy a guild tabbard, telling him (some plain old shirt) was better.
Off the computer for a week he went. But I wonder if he took it to heart, or took it like a dog, who doesn't pick at the trash or poop inside only when you're around.
> Contrast with the Alliance, where the culture is very similar to our Western culture.
I noticed that, with the obviously ungodly expensive indoor lava moat around the core of the major city, but with nets over it to stop invading orc armies from falling to their deaths.
Sounds like western government in action, allright.
I winced when I read his post, too. He'd be right at home alongside those 35 year old nerds in that D&D/Star Wars viral distribution movie a few months ago, or next to the "Dragonmaster" in front of Triumph.
It scares me that someone didn't recognize it as a joke. As bad as a drooling Republican who thought that way is, a drooling Democrat who honestly believes Replblicans think that way is just as bad.
> I agree completely. The seller agreed to the price, automated or not.
There is an assumption in the automation that the rules are as they are, not as someone who found a little trick can bend them.
A few years back, people were buying cars for $5 because someone found out the price was inside the HTML for the web page, so they edited the page on their machine to the price they wanted to pay, hit "send", and the servers at the dealership had no clue about anything, and processed the transaction without batting an eye.
Just because it's in a person's interest to padlock their wallet doesn't mean it's legal for you to pickpocket them if they don't. People should be able to leave their money lying around all over the place without fear of people taking it. That's not the real world, but that doesn't make it legal.
I've had "popup blocker" turned on for over a year now, with automatic security updates enabled.
I notice "popup blocker" is about as useless as tits on a bull. It doesn't block automatic popups -- they've found ways around it.
Worse, it does block links that open a new window -- which I don't want disabled. The code should be able to tell whether the window is popping up because I clicked on a link or because I typed in a URL and hit enter.
Meh, these brainiacs still think they should redraw the browser window because I turned on or off "hide invisible files".
A better handle on the concept might be gleaned by considering encryption, where algorithms can be assigned a time weight, as in an estimate of how long it would take a well-funded operation to crack the code. Thus you could be reasonably guaranteed of maintaining security for that long. A 60 bit or whatever encryption method might be "8 hours", while a longer one, one month. The value of this time weighting would change as faster computers, and better algorithms (including how to recognize a potentially encrypted message) are developed.
> Think the ACM contest, but shorter time, [b][i]and no teams . . . [/i][/b]
As far as you know.
In countries where the prize money could let you live like a king, who's to say they don't gather together a bunch of people from their programming club and [b]XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXtreme[/b] program their way to a wonderful prize? Heck, that may apply anywhere, for that matter.
That's true. From our point of view, this is like the NIT basketball tournament, a bunch of people trying to be the 66th best team in the nation.
There was a study last year that showed the top programmers were 4x as productive as the average programmer, [i]and the top programmers could do things the average ones could not, no matter how much time they were given[/i]. Now that's a competition that might open my eyes to participation.
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as long as they trust the editor to catch their mistakes, they'll never actually learn to avoid them; they'll simply let the IDE be their guide and never learn it.
Why shouldn't the editor help out if possible?
Hell, why shouldn't the language itself? Very few applications need optimized code for speed, and the compiler will probably do a better job of it anyway. Let the language initialize pointers and worry about deferencing them. Better yet, hide pointers entirely -- the programmer works with structures, which always exist, and never with pointers to structures.
"But the OS has many API functions that take pointers to structures."
Yes, that's a flaw of the OS design.
Eh, just as everybody should get trained in an assembly language, so too in LISP. The beauty of a simplified, built-in data structure is beyond compare. Everything you write handles arbitrary data type inputs, including lists of data. Very orthogonal and robust. But you all run off to Java because that's what someone shoved in front of your face and said, "Jump, froggy!" Nevermind that it translates to C++ about as readily as an "easy" cryptogram in a crossword puzzle translates to English.
> because they could be used by hackers
Well, in the US, safe and effective speedlike drugs for weight loss, available in Europe, are illegal because addicts might illegally get ahold of them.
In the folds of flesh back by your tonsils or eustachean tube openins, that kind of thing. Eating cheese helps generate it, though why it's always white I don't know, unless the gentle acid in your saliva bleaches it out.
It sounds like someone needs to publish a paper on yeast and rosacea. ...but I'm doubting it'll ever come to that, as this is an anecdote.
Mmmmm...some jerk Tauren would go down real nice right about now.
They were. This guy's on crack.
Actually, I think he's a masterful troll. The Ferenghi were a parody of a leftist's outdated view of capitalism. "Women and makeup", help me Jebus.
I've been to Jamaica. There are people exactly like stereotypical Rastafarians.
Mock away with a clear conscience!
Thus we may close the etymological trail. "Gankers" in MMORPGs overwhelm others for the thrill of causing stress. This includes typically taking all the items they can from the victim's corpse. Hence "ganking".
> but a lot of the technology depicted in the game is faulty or untrustworthy.
Like a creature with arms thicker than a human torso wielding a sword that looks like it weighs 200 pounds, not cleaving in half instantly a level one million character, his armor, and his weapon?
Ya, I'd say the technology is faulty! See also: horses that only run 1.5x the speed of a person, animals that face that which is causing them the most pain instead of running away, etc.
Is raping a baby in the ass until they die, being wrong, an assumption?
Are my desire to enslave you and your desire to be free merely equally arbitrary, equally valid worldviews?
Is my taking that which you labored hard to create an equally arbitrary, equally valid position to you keeping it for yourself?
No, that's in City of Heroes, with truly fantastical hip-to-waist ratios, skimpy, highly customizable outfits, and several extradimensional rave areas.
Seriously.
Plus you get high speed travel at 14 instead of 40, and it's free, instead of the cost of an aircraft carrier, and it's truly high speed, not like 1.5x run speed.
My 16 year old kid bragged about tricking a younger kid out of 10g he was given to buy a guild tabbard, telling him (some plain old shirt) was better.
Off the computer for a week he went. But I wonder if he took it to heart, or took it like a dog, who doesn't pick at the trash or poop inside only when you're around.
> Contrast with the Alliance, where the culture is very similar to our Western culture.
I noticed that, with the obviously ungodly expensive indoor lava moat around the core of the major city, but with nets over it to stop invading orc armies from falling to their deaths.
Sounds like western government in action, allright.
Well that comment made as much sense as tits on a bull.
Er, Tauren.
I winced when I read his post, too. He'd be right at home alongside those 35 year old nerds in that D&D/Star Wars viral distribution movie a few months ago, or next to the "Dragonmaster" in front of Triumph.
You kept saying "saber-tooted limes", so I went there, intrigued as to what the hell that was. A lime wielding some kind of light-saber?
It's sabertoothed limes! >:(
> Er, Europe doesn't seem to be affected by hypocritical
> politicians (in regard to videogames)...
Last time I checked most major games released German versions (and other countries?) where lots of bloody gibbing was removed because of The Law.
I'd like to see a politician somewhere lose their job because they restricted games or the Internet or something.
It scares me that someone didn't recognize it as a joke. As bad as a drooling Republican who thought that way is, a drooling Democrat who honestly believes Replblicans think that way is just as bad.
> I agree completely. The seller agreed to the price, automated or not.
There is an assumption in the automation that the rules are as they are, not as someone who found a little trick can bend them.
A few years back, people were buying cars for $5 because someone found out the price was inside the HTML for the web page, so they edited the page on their machine to the price they wanted to pay, hit "send", and the servers at the dealership had no clue about anything, and processed the transaction without batting an eye.
Just because it's in a person's interest to padlock their wallet doesn't mean it's legal for you to pickpocket them if they don't. People should be able to leave their money lying around all over the place without fear of people taking it. That's not the real world, but that doesn't make it legal.
> There is no natural moral code
Then give me all your money, dig a hole, climb in, and let me cover you up to provide fertilizer for my marigolds.
You have no moral objection to this. What? You do? Hmmmm.
Maybe you're wrong then.
I swear to god, if my Kazaa/Bearshare/whatever'd copy of Julie Strain in the hottest soft core scene ever filmed disappears, someone's gonna get hurt!
I've had "popup blocker" turned on for over a year now, with automatic security updates enabled.
I notice "popup blocker" is about as useless as tits on a bull. It doesn't block automatic popups -- they've found ways around it.
Worse, it does block links that open a new window -- which I don't want disabled. The code should be able to tell whether the window is popping up because I clicked on a link or because I typed in a URL and hit enter.
Meh, these brainiacs still think they should redraw the browser window because I turned on or off "hide invisible files".
A better handle on the concept might be gleaned by considering encryption, where algorithms can be assigned a time weight, as in an estimate of how long it would take a well-funded operation to crack the code. Thus you could be reasonably guaranteed of maintaining security for that long. A 60 bit or whatever encryption method might be "8 hours", while a longer one, one month. The value of this time weighting would change as faster computers, and better algorithms (including how to recognize a potentially encrypted message) are developed.
> Think the ACM contest, but shorter time, [b][i]and no teams . . . [/i][/b]
As far as you know.
In countries where the prize money could let you live like a king, who's to say they don't gather together a bunch of people from their programming club and [b]XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXtreme[/b] program their way to a wonderful prize? Heck, that may apply anywhere, for that matter.
That's true. From our point of view, this is like the NIT basketball tournament, a bunch of people trying to be the 66th best team in the nation.
There was a study last year that showed the top programmers were 4x as productive as the average programmer, [i]and the top programmers could do things the average ones could not, no matter how much time they were given[/i]. Now that's a competition that might open my eyes to participation.