You mean guinea pig tech support offers that are limited time while they work the bugs out of their system?
While this may be mildly helpful- especially in the latter portion of the trial, how helpful will it really be? Techs fumbling around for an answer, problems transferring calls, long queue times? Either way, those of us who know what we're doing- if the problem is bad enough that we need to call, is our problem going to happen during their short trial?
do they hardwire some kind of network? Ive never seen a cable running into the door via the hinge?
do they walk up to each door and update it?
One thing I did notice at one hotel was what looked like either an infrared sensor or emitter embedded knee level in the doorjam facing the hallway.. is this related somehow?
ive never seen the data stripe, but i always assumed they encoded an expiration date/time on the card and the lock had an RTC in it and it made the determination of when to let you in or out.
also, AFAIK the read head length is so short that the torque on it is nowhere near that of a full sized drive, thus much higher shock tolerances (in addition to tighter construction and other factors)
I should add, we may see the rebirth of an age of sneakernet piracy (like handing off tapes to your friends).
1) Remove DRM or make analog recording 2) Record on some digital media (cd, minidisc, zip, whatever) 3) Give to friend
Virtually untraceable.
Hell, maybe the audio tape will rise again. I have a professional tape deck and cd player at home and when I've made recordings, even I have trouble hearing the difference given a nice EQ setup.
Forget an iPod, a walkman is a couple of bucks at your local wal mart- most of which don't have any slurring while jogging as long as your batteries are good.
Truth is, digital copying is definately the easiest and fastest way to copy.. but as long as a home/pro audio cd player can play the music, there will always be piracy.
Ultimately, even if it takes hours and hours to get something to a piratable form, someone will have the time and means to do it and get the release out there eventually- much like it used to be with vcd's/vivo's, etc.
Even some consumer grade cd players have 24bit burr-brown dac's. Someone with a really nice cd player and a really nice sound card could probably make a rip that is almost indistinguishable from its digital brethren.
The other truth is that there are copyright bit removers you can buy for S/PDIF digital connections that will allow you to record digitally on your soundcard. Some soundcards supposedly have drivers/hacks that allow you to record copyright bit set streams.
Even if we get to the point where speakers are digital and have some sort of DRM in them (you never know...), a nice sound room with all the right foam and what not and some expensive mics and recording equipment would get a copy.
The point is, as long as you can listen to the music physically, there will always be a way to rip it.
You're both technically correct. Often times people with things like ADD or ADHD for example can focus extremely well on things that theyre interested in and have a very hard time focusing on things theyre less interested in.
For me, programming is something that just comes to me, its easy, I don't have to think. Sometimes when a program is so huge and takes into acount so many factors, I basically get panic attacks trying to get started because of the enormity of it.. it just gets too overwhelming.. But ultimately, my knowledge of programming kicks in and after some procrastination, I manage to start attacking things a piece at a time and let the overall picture cometogether.
Math, and basic memory of things like what i ate for breakfast, peoples' birthdays, shopping lists, etc... those things all elude me.. Often times, if I work 10 times harder than everyone else, I can remember something long enough to pass a test about it and forget it the next day... but only when I truly understand how something works and I can see it in my mind, can I truly remember it and make it work for me. Even things that click like that, still have a limited halflife in my head unless they're used often.
So, ultimately, I'm a really forgetful person who happens to be able to do computer related tasks very well. Whether that's a learning diability, I don't know. What I do know is that certain things like math require me to work harder than everyone around me just to get by. Am I stupid? Definately not. Am I employable? Sure, I just make lots and lots of lists and diagrams and use email to keep track of projects, etc.
If I get a professor who can take the convoluted explanations from the textbook, and teach it to me in plain english from a couple of different angles so I can see how it works, I do fine- but coming across a professor that speaks perfect english, let alone can really -teach-, is far more difficult than one would think from a top 20 engineering school.
These ePaper screens will be a great advantage.. Make eBook readers in various form factors like paperback books, large paperbacks, hardbacks and large hardbacks.. throw a microdrive and some electronics in the back few 'pages' which would be fake, the middle of the book would all be real pages except for the middle pages which would be ePaper.
It might be a little weird, but it would be the closest thing to reading a real book.
when you only have a few minutes and only so much space on the paper, comments are something i do last if I have time.
btw, the documentation supplied was mostly things like 'this function can take 3 arguments, blah, blah, and blah'... things I shouldn't have to comment about for builtins and library functions.
but yes, commenting code in a homework or in the real world helps a lot!
About the salary thing, I'm a little hung up on it because the degree is the only difference between what I'm making and what I could make. I'm doing what I want to be doing. I guess I only mentioned it to point out I'm not a numbskull or a freshman who thinks they know everything (not that I do either).
I didn't intend it as a bragging point (it most certainly is nothing to brag about), as I mentioned, it's mostly a frustration that the these math classes are the only thing in the way of the piece of paper that makes $20-$30k of difference to a guy with a son and a wife trying to support his family.
About the books at ISU, textbooks generally don't seem to be kept, as far as I know, anywhere but the media reserve downstairs and only for on-site use. I've got two or three different calc books from the different years Ive taken the same courses, and all seem to have the same failing point- too few examples and too complicated explanations involving 'thus'es and 'therefore's and 'it follows that's which somehow make zero sense and should just be memorized rather than understood. Plus many of the examples seem to have the 'god step' as we called it where they go from one place to another without any explanation and somehow the numbers get all nice.
Somehow I've survived Calc I, Calc II, Diff Eq and Discrete Math by taking each twice (except Discrete Math which I passed with a 79% A- *FAT CURVE*, but now I've been working for almost 2 full years and had a couple of semesters off a year or two before due to my health and family issues.. So now the math I already had trouble with is that much more distant and the new stuff I have to tackle is dependant on the stuff I have trouble with.
Ideally someone would re-teach me everything I'm supposed to know.
My original point in this whole discussion is that somehow I find hope in this new book.. He sounds like a guy who can come at something from a completely new angle (no pun intended) and find a way that makes sense. Maybe with this, I can understand what's really happening and apply it to traditional calculus/trig.
I wouldn't drive on a bridge I designed, nor would I let anyone else.. Fortunately I'm not designing bridges!;o)
I just want to do what I'm already doing, network administration and coding.. I do a lot of PHP, ASP.NET for the web and a lot of c/c++/scripting for system administration type stuff. One of my big projects has been developing a PT Server replacement for OpenAFS that works with OpenLDAP for Active Directory integration.
I'm making ~$40k/year, but if I had a degree, I could certainly increase that and guarantee myself a job past a couple of years.
oddly enough, I worked 10 times harder than everyone else and figured things out well enough to pass the class. But I'll be damned if I remembered any of it a week after the test.
Indeed- some of my profs have been utter geniuses and have a creativity I can only imagine.. yet they cannot explain even simple things to someone without using complicated language or examples.
For instance something as simple as a^2 + b^2 + c^2 can be made more complicated looking by replacing a b and c with alpha, beta and gamma. Do this throughout a huge equation and you lose focus on the math and start focusing on keeping track of whether thats a theta or something else.
I worked for a steel processing (coiled steel cutting) company for a while and wrote some billing software that needs formulas for calculating lengths and weights of steel based on coil size, density, etc... I made it all work and didn't lose the company any money and was quite proud of myself.. I was always afraid of a phone call one morning that my software had been off by a penny or three for several years and cost them millions which I was expected to pay back..
Anyway, that was the most math I've ever used in programming, and that was far simpler than the crap they're trying to cram in me now.
I should add, about the out code part.. I tend to write code for a test/homework that gets marked incorrect, yet if they run the code it yields the expected results. In a number of cases, I've found that I know more about a function or better ways of doing things than they use, teach, or sometimes even know themselves. (E.g. that a particular function can also take 3 arguments instead of 2, or 1 instead of 3)..
On one of my com sci tests, I got graded as 70 something percent, and submitted a 10 page explanation/run through of my code and the functions i used, and got re graded to a 98%. This happened for the first 2 tests, and i got so frustrated by the 3rd test that I didnt even bother to have them regrade it. So with my to 90 somethings, my homework score (which was nearly 100%), and the final test, I got in high 70's (the tests were worth a -lot-).
Thats the 'short' explanation anyway. So no, I'm not a beginning coder or just 'think' i know more than the professor. (And I don't think I know more than all professors, or even more about everything than particular professors. I do know more about some things from some professors).
I've been programming in some fashion or another since 1985, i've been programming professionally since 1996 and in c/c++ since around the same time.
I'm definately not a beginner and am 90% self-taught despite being a junior at ISU (I started in 2000 and took a lot of time off for health and family problems)
My failing is that I have real difficulty finding professors that a) speak english well b) can take the texts written by phd's and made more complicated than they have to be and simplify them and explain them in multiple ways and c) similar to b, finding someone who understands that people learn differently...
I can't tell you how many instructors/professors I've had know their stuff insanely well, yet when asked a simple question scratch their heads and point to the board and essentially not say anything new.
Anyway, for what I want to do (coding/system administration), I don't imagine myself ever really needing math above what i've already learned (through diff eq. and calc 2).. Yet I cannot seem to complete courses that require anything substantially dependant on integrals, differentiation and/or trig.
How is engineering not for me when programming is what i live and breathe and make ~$40k/year doing?
Slashdot Mirror
You mean guinea pig tech support offers that are limited time while they work the bugs out of their system?
While this may be mildly helpful- especially in the latter portion of the trial, how helpful will it really be? Techs fumbling around for an answer, problems transferring calls, long queue times? Either way, those of us who know what we're doing- if the problem is bad enough that we need to call, is our problem going to happen during their short trial?
Either way, hope what catches on again?
dangle it on a fishing line?
do they hardwire some kind of network? Ive never seen a cable running into the door via the hinge?
do they walk up to each door and update it?
One thing I did notice at one hotel was what looked like either an infrared sensor or emitter embedded knee level in the doorjam facing the hallway.. is this related somehow?
ive never seen the data stripe, but i always assumed they encoded an expiration date/time on the card and the lock had an RTC in it and it made the determination of when to let you in or out.
Well, it's dead now.. Thanks /. =)
And in international waters, who's to say the ship wasn't abandoned? =)
That reminds me, it be talk like a pirate day! Yarrr!
Well, I did say 'forget the iPod' ;o)
also, AFAIK the read head length is so short that the torque on it is nowhere near that of a full sized drive, thus much higher shock tolerances (in addition to tighter construction and other factors)
I should add, we may see the rebirth of an age of sneakernet piracy (like handing off tapes to your friends).
1) Remove DRM or make analog recording
2) Record on some digital media (cd, minidisc, zip, whatever)
3) Give to friend
Virtually untraceable.
Hell, maybe the audio tape will rise again. I have a professional tape deck and cd player at home and when I've made recordings, even I have trouble hearing the difference given a nice EQ setup.
Forget an iPod, a walkman is a couple of bucks at your local wal mart- most of which don't have any slurring while jogging as long as your batteries are good.
Truth is, digital copying is definately the easiest and fastest way to copy.. but as long as a home/pro audio cd player can play the music, there will always be piracy.
Ultimately, even if it takes hours and hours to get something to a piratable form, someone will have the time and means to do it and get the release out there eventually- much like it used to be with vcd's/vivo's, etc.
Even some consumer grade cd players have 24bit burr-brown dac's. Someone with a really nice cd player and a really nice sound card could probably make a rip that is almost indistinguishable from its digital brethren.
The other truth is that there are copyright bit removers you can buy for S/PDIF digital connections that will allow you to record digitally on your soundcard. Some soundcards supposedly have drivers/hacks that allow you to record copyright bit set streams.
Even if we get to the point where speakers are digital and have some sort of DRM in them (you never know...), a nice sound room with all the right foam and what not and some expensive mics and recording equipment would get a copy.
The point is, as long as you can listen to the music physically, there will always be a way to rip it.
well, technically its not an 'end if', just an end =)
has no real advantages over '}'
PASCAL:
program demo3;
var x:byte;
begin
x:=5;
if x=5 then
writeln('It is 5') (*no ; here*)
else
writeln(It isn''t');
writeln('So there.');
end.
if you build it, they will come?
Try Crossover Office, works via Wine.
Never had a female math professor in as many math classes as ive taken...
that'd have to be one -biiiiig- beer.
You're both technically correct. Often times people with things like ADD or ADHD for example can focus extremely well on things that theyre interested in and have a very hard time focusing on things theyre less interested in.
For me, programming is something that just comes to me, its easy, I don't have to think. Sometimes when a program is so huge and takes into acount so many factors, I basically get panic attacks trying to get started because of the enormity of it.. it just gets too overwhelming.. But ultimately, my knowledge of programming kicks in and after some procrastination, I manage to start attacking things a piece at a time and let the overall picture cometogether.
Math, and basic memory of things like what i ate for breakfast, peoples' birthdays, shopping lists, etc... those things all elude me.. Often times, if I work 10 times harder than everyone else, I can remember something long enough to pass a test about it and forget it the next day... but only when I truly understand how something works and I can see it in my mind, can I truly remember it and make it work for me. Even things that click like that, still have a limited halflife in my head unless they're used often.
So, ultimately, I'm a really forgetful person who happens to be able to do computer related tasks very well. Whether that's a learning diability, I don't know. What I do know is that certain things like math require me to work harder than everyone around me just to get by. Am I stupid? Definately not. Am I employable? Sure, I just make lots and lots of lists and diagrams and use email to keep track of projects, etc.
If I get a professor who can take the convoluted explanations from the textbook, and teach it to me in plain english from a couple of different angles so I can see how it works, I do fine- but coming across a professor that speaks perfect english, let alone can really -teach-, is far more difficult than one would think from a top 20 engineering school.
These ePaper screens will be a great advantage.. Make eBook readers in various form factors like paperback books, large paperbacks, hardbacks and large hardbacks.. throw a microdrive and some electronics in the back few 'pages' which would be fake, the middle of the book would all be real pages except for the middle pages which would be ePaper.
It might be a little weird, but it would be the closest thing to reading a real book.
when you only have a few minutes and only so much space on the paper, comments are something i do last if I have time.
btw, the documentation supplied was mostly things like 'this function can take 3 arguments, blah, blah, and blah'... things I shouldn't have to comment about for builtins and library functions.
but yes, commenting code in a homework or in the real world helps a lot!
About the salary thing, I'm a little hung up on it because the degree is the only difference between what I'm making and what I could make. I'm doing what I want to be doing. I guess I only mentioned it to point out I'm not a numbskull or a freshman who thinks they know everything (not that I do either).
I didn't intend it as a bragging point (it most certainly is nothing to brag about), as I mentioned, it's mostly a frustration that the these math classes are the only thing in the way of the piece of paper that makes $20-$30k of difference to a guy with a son and a wife trying to support his family.
About the books at ISU, textbooks generally don't seem to be kept, as far as I know, anywhere but the media reserve downstairs and only for on-site use. I've got two or three different calc books from the different years Ive taken the same courses, and all seem to have the same failing point- too few examples and too complicated explanations involving 'thus'es and 'therefore's and 'it follows that's which somehow make zero sense and should just be memorized rather than understood. Plus many of the examples seem to have the 'god step' as we called it where they go from one place to another without any explanation and somehow the numbers get all nice.
Somehow I've survived Calc I, Calc II, Diff Eq and Discrete Math by taking each twice (except Discrete Math which I passed with a 79% A- *FAT CURVE*, but now I've been working for almost 2 full years and had a couple of semesters off a year or two before due to my health and family issues.. So now the math I already had trouble with is that much more distant and the new stuff I have to tackle is dependant on the stuff I have trouble with.
Ideally someone would re-teach me everything I'm supposed to know.
My original point in this whole discussion is that somehow I find hope in this new book.. He sounds like a guy who can come at something from a completely new angle (no pun intended) and find a way that makes sense. Maybe with this, I can understand what's really happening and apply it to traditional calculus/trig.
I wouldn't drive on a bridge I designed, nor would I let anyone else.. Fortunately I'm not designing bridges! ;o)
I just want to do what I'm already doing, network administration and coding.. I do a lot of PHP, ASP.NET for the web and a lot of c/c++/scripting for system administration type stuff. One of my big projects has been developing a PT Server replacement for OpenAFS that works with OpenLDAP for Active Directory integration.
I'm making ~$40k/year, but if I had a degree, I could certainly increase that and guarantee myself a job past a couple of years.
oddly enough, I worked 10 times harder than everyone else and figured things out well enough to pass the class. But I'll be damned if I remembered any of it a week after the test.
Indeed- some of my profs have been utter geniuses and have a creativity I can only imagine.. yet they cannot explain even simple things to someone without using complicated language or examples.
For instance something as simple as a^2 + b^2 + c^2 can be made more complicated looking by replacing a b and c with alpha, beta and gamma. Do this throughout a huge equation and you lose focus on the math and start focusing on keeping track of whether thats a theta or something else.
I worked for a steel processing (coiled steel cutting) company for a while and wrote some billing software that needs formulas for calculating lengths and weights of steel based on coil size, density, etc... I made it all work and didn't lose the company any money and was quite proud of myself.. I was always afraid of a phone call one morning that my software had been off by a penny or three for several years and cost them millions which I was expected to pay back..
Anyway, that was the most math I've ever used in programming, and that was far simpler than the crap they're trying to cram in me now.
I should add, about the out code part.. I tend to write code for a test/homework that gets marked incorrect, yet if they run the code it yields the expected results. In a number of cases, I've found that I know more about a function or better ways of doing things than they use, teach, or sometimes even know themselves. (E.g. that a particular function can also take 3 arguments instead of 2, or 1 instead of 3)..
On one of my com sci tests, I got graded as 70 something percent, and submitted a 10 page explanation/run through of my code and the functions i used, and got re graded to a 98%. This happened for the first 2 tests, and i got so frustrated by the 3rd test that I didnt even bother to have them regrade it. So with my to 90 somethings, my homework score (which was nearly 100%), and the final test, I got in high 70's (the tests were worth a -lot-).
Thats the 'short' explanation anyway. So no, I'm not a beginning coder or just 'think' i know more than the professor. (And I don't think I know more than all professors, or even more about everything than particular professors. I do know more about some things from some professors).
I've been programming in some fashion or another since 1985, i've been programming professionally since 1996 and in c/c++ since around the same time.
I'm definately not a beginner and am 90% self-taught despite being a junior at ISU (I started in 2000 and took a lot of time off for health and family problems)
My failing is that I have real difficulty finding professors that a) speak english well b) can take the texts written by phd's and made more complicated than they have to be and simplify them and explain them in multiple ways and c) similar to b, finding someone who understands that people learn differently...
I can't tell you how many instructors/professors I've had know their stuff insanely well, yet when asked a simple question scratch their heads and point to the board and essentially not say anything new.
Anyway, for what I want to do (coding/system administration), I don't imagine myself ever really needing math above what i've already learned (through diff eq. and calc 2).. Yet I cannot seem to complete courses that require anything substantially dependant on integrals, differentiation and/or trig.
How is engineering not for me when programming is what i live and breathe and make ~$40k/year doing?
Now -that's- an interesting idea...
*fires up vi*