I'm a 40-something programmer with over 20 years experience. My last job was a dot-com with free soda and stuff, and the one before that had a foosball table. I don't know why but one place is out of business and the other one has laid off from 100 down to 20 or so, and is probably not going to make it because of the September 11th thing.
What I really miss about those places is working with talented young architects. I used to get lots of cool Javascript tips and hints from the 22-year old CTO but now I have to read O'Reilly books (blah). My experience is mainly with lame old-fashioned stuff no one uses anymore, like SQL and C, so I need to work with Extreme XP younger architects so I can understand Java and patterns and other new stuff I didn't learn in my PL/I class back in the 1970s.
Someday I want to be an architect, but mainly I get stuck doing lame requirements and specification work, and writing code. I'm pretty good at finishing programs the younger programmers start on when they get pulled off to something even more rad, or when they get stuck with some stupid detail from the old days when old people like me designed everything wrong.
Now I work at a boring monolith place where all they think about is profit. I don't know how, because almost everyone is old like me, and they are using old-fashioned stuff. We are looking at Linux and PHP and MySQL for a new web site but without an architect to tell us what to do we have to do all this testing and stuff--I keep saying I KNOW it works because I read it on slashdot, but there are programmers and managers even older than me that want to see prototypes before they commit their business to new tools. No wonder they couldn't cut it at a bitchin' dot-com!
Anyway if you decide to be an architect please email me so I can apply for a job and learn some of those hints and tips--I really want to learn Java but I keep getting confused by the CLASSPATH concept.
Good luck dude!
Old guy
P.S. A few years ago I worked with some younger guys who knew lots of C++ tricks, and they had "Wizard" and "Scientist" in their title. Is that like an architect? And after the Rogaine starts to work what kind of haircut should I have (or should I just leave it bald)? What about a goatee or some kind of unusual beard? Will that help?
Schools can only offer resources you can learn from; they can't teach you anything unless you actively participate. Schools have to accommodate lots of students per class, so you can't expect a personalized curriculum.
If you have the luxury of four to six years with someone else (parents, government, whatever) supporting you, AND you can spend that time at a place that has easy access to teachers, other students, libraries, labs, computers, and everything else a college has to offer, take full advantage of it. Don't expect the school to magically bestow knowledge and skills on you.
You'll find that learning to read, write, and speak as fluently as possible will take you a long way whatever you do after school.
For a view of education and learning that you probably aren't familiar with, read John Holt's two books, "How Children Fail" and "How Children Learn." You don't have to be a parent or child to get a lot from those books.
Charm wrote: "The real problem is that the web is 'stateless' without Java, ActiveX."
Not true. The web (actually the HTTP protocol) is stateless unless the web programmer does something to maintain state. Cookies are the most common solution. Session keys passed around in URLs or hidden form variables are another (these can be thought of as server-side cookies). You don't need Java, ActiveX, JavaScript, or any other client-side scripting to maintain session state.
It seems like a majority of people commenting don't know much about real web programming, judging from the number of comments that go out into the weeds. For example, URLs for banner ads don't usually resolve to an actual GIF or JPG file on the server; they invoke a server-side program that tracks the banner ad impressions, makes sure a single user doesn't see the same ad over and over again (try refreshing the page and see how they change), etc. The only requirement for the url in an IMG tag is that it retrieves a valid GIF or JPG or PNG image; it doesn't have to be the actual name of a GIF or JPG file.
Here's one way to determine if visitors are downloading banner ads:
1. When a visitor first shows up issue a cookie or session id (passed around in the URL). You can tell when they first show up on the site because they won't have a cookie or session id. All subsequent requests to the site will include the cookie or session id.
2. If cookies aren't enabled on the client browser, make the server-side code embed the session id in all URLs, including all links to pages in the same site, all GIF/JPG images, etc.
3. Whenever a page is requested the server logs a hit for that session id & page. Whenever a graphic is requested the URL actually resolves to a server-side script or CGI that logs the session id & requested graphic (banner ad), then sends the actual graphic back to the browser.
4. Any time the client requests a page the server can check that previous page requests were accompanied by requests for the banner ads that go on the page. If the user is blocking ads you can cut them off, threaten them, whatever.
Of course this kind of server-side agression will quickly be countered with client-side proxies that request the ads but discard the resulting graphic.
Without any client-side scripting the server can only determine what requests were made; it can't determine if the browser received the graphics or if the user ever saw them.
As for the analogies offered to justify one position or another, equating banner ad removal with theft is off-base. Instead think of a web site as a store. You can freely visit the store, read the magazines, wander around and read labels, sit down and rest, etc. You are under no obligation to buy anything. However the bookstore owner can bombard you with as much advertising as they like. Some people will tolerate a lot of advertising (like what you get in a Wal-Mart store). Others will walk out and shop somewhere else. If you had some way to browse the store without seeing or hearing any advertising, I think the store owner would be justified if he asked you to buy something or leave.
I hope you pursue learning to spell while you're studying the Java books. I won't read a resume past the second misspelling or grammatical error, and a lot of recruiters and hiring managers feel the same way. Communicating with other people is the most important skill. Communicating with computers is secondary.
Learning computer languages is easy. Learning to program well is hard. Expect to be humbled for a few years. Identify the talented programmers you work with and learn from them.
My grandmother had her cable TV service disconnected because she believed "they" could watch her through her TV. The more extreme worries about security and privacy that come up periodically on slashdot are in the same vein.
Unless you are a real spy, diplomat, or someone with real secrets to protect why do you think the CIA or whatever gives a shit about sniffing your cordless keyboard? If they really wanted your secret passwords they would just get a thug to threaten to beat you up--much cheaper and less time consuming.
Stop reading Tom Clancy novels. No one cares about your keystrokes.
What are the actual advantages of girls over the free or low-priced solutions? Is it worth getting a girlfriend, when you can do (as far as I know) everything it can by using Playboy, "American Pie," alt.binaries.*, or a cantaloupe? Is there a considerable speed increase, or is there enough more functionality to warrant the outrageous costs? Are some of the technologies more suited to different tasks? Any time I have needed a girl, my hand has worked just fine, so I am skeptical.
What are the actual advantages of cars over the free or low-priced solutions? Is it worth paying the 10 to 30 thousand dollars (or more) for a car, when you can do (as far as I know) everything it can by using a big wheel, a skateboard, a bicycle, or any number of free or cheap public transportation options? Is there a considerable speed increase, or is there enough more functionality to warrant the outrageous costs? Are some of the technologies more suited to different tasks? Any time I have needed to use a car, my Razor scooter has worked just fine, so I am skeptical.
You never say what the database is for, what load (simultaneous open connections) you expect, if and how it will need to scale, etc. etc. Which tool you choose won't matter if you haven't clearly defined your requirements. None of the tools you mention are inherently "better" than any other; it all depends on what you are trying to do.
I suggest you define your requirements and architecture first, without regard to specific tools or platforms unless those are requirements that can't be changed. Only when all requirements are agreed on should you be out shopping for tools and platforms.
pobox.com offers SMTP access for $5 one-time setup fee. It's not obvious from their services but they will set it up if you ask them.
Frankenstein was published in 1831...
on
Planet Gattaca
·
· Score: 1
...not "over 200 years ago." The moral dilemma of the story is not whether it is right to create the creature, or whether it was wrong for Dr Frankenstein to reject his creation. The moral question is whether man should "play at" the role of god. The subtitle of the book, "A Modern Prometheus," pretty much gives it away.
I signed up for the Qwest deal last week. I got two CDs in the mail with clear instructions. Everything worked as advertised and I've been using Qwest for a few days now. The software on the CD is a straight Netscape Communicator 4.5 (128-bit version) install. The only thing that is specific to Qwest! is the registration application, which appears to be at least partially Java-based. It does the actual sign-up with Qwest, then configures Dial Up Networking and the browser. Once the sign-up process is completed, you can connect to Qwest using either their dialer or Windows Dial-Up Networking. You can use another browser. You can use the "free" Netscape Netcenter account Qwest creates for you, or not use it. You can look at the various settings and duplicate them under Linux, MacOS, etc. If Qwest was in Microsoft's thrall or partially owned by Microsoft or whatever, why would they be giving away Netscape Communicator and setting uses up by default on the Netscape Netcenter portal? It is of course possible that nefarious purposes are at work here, but I think it's more likely that Qwest decided to put their efforts into attracting and supporting the 90+% of home PC users who are already running Windows 95/98. NT, Linux, and even MacOS don't have anything close to Windows' installed base in the home. It's the same reason my local auto parts store has lots of Ford parts but nothing for Fiats -- it's not a Ford conspiracy to keep Fiat owners down, it's just common-sense market economics. The Qwest package is a good deal for me, and their ISP service is at least as good as the others I have used in Portland. I'm getting no busy signals, and fast connections every time. Greg Jorgensen
At least until Adobe's GoLive is available for both Mac and Windows. Dreamweaver is very productive, writes fairly clean HTML, and comes with Allaire's HomeSite (Windows) or BBEdit (Mac), both of which are very nice complementary text editors.
I'm in charge of a group of developers, and we put together four or five live commercial web sites every week. We use Dreamweaver and HomeSite, with either PHP3 or ASP on the back end, depending on the client and the project.
Hand-crafted HTML is great, but in the real world developers are paid for working, finished web SITES, not perfect HTML. Dreamweaver lets you change the HTML and it then redisplays your changes; it's "round-trip HTML" feature give you the best of generated and hand-written HTML.
Macho webmasters coding in Notepad are the modern equivalent of assembly language programmers railing against the morons coding in Fortran or C. Please, I don't need anyone telling me I'm not a real web developer, or how the web should and should not be used, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm a 40-something programmer with over 20 years experience. My last job was a dot-com with free soda and stuff, and the one before that had a foosball table. I don't know why but one place is out of business and the other one has laid off from 100 down to 20 or so, and is probably not going to make it because of the September 11th thing.
What I really miss about those places is working with talented young architects. I used to get lots of cool Javascript tips and hints from the 22-year old CTO but now I have to read O'Reilly books (blah). My experience is mainly with lame old-fashioned stuff no one uses anymore, like SQL and C, so I need to work with Extreme XP younger architects so I can understand Java and patterns and other new stuff I didn't learn in my PL/I class back in the 1970s.
Someday I want to be an architect, but mainly I get stuck doing lame requirements and specification work, and writing code. I'm pretty good at finishing programs the younger programmers start on when they get pulled off to something even more rad, or when they get stuck with some stupid detail from the old days when old people like me designed everything wrong.
Now I work at a boring monolith place where all they think about is profit. I don't know how, because almost everyone is old like me, and they are using old-fashioned stuff. We are looking at Linux and PHP and MySQL for a new web site but without an architect to tell us what to do we have to do all this testing and stuff--I keep saying I KNOW it works because I read it on slashdot, but there are programmers and managers even older than me that want to see prototypes before they commit their business to new tools. No wonder they couldn't cut it at a bitchin' dot-com!
Anyway if you decide to be an architect please email me so I can apply for a job and learn some of those hints and tips--I really want to learn Java but I keep getting confused by the CLASSPATH concept.
Good luck dude!
Old guy
P.S. A few years ago I worked with some younger guys who knew lots of C++ tricks, and they had "Wizard" and "Scientist" in their title. Is that like an architect? And after the Rogaine starts to work what kind of haircut should I have (or should I just leave it bald)? What about a goatee or some kind of unusual beard? Will that help?
Schools can only offer resources you can learn from; they can't teach you anything unless you actively participate. Schools have to accommodate lots of students per class, so you can't expect a personalized curriculum.
If you have the luxury of four to six years with someone else (parents, government, whatever) supporting you, AND you can spend that time at a place that has easy access to teachers, other students, libraries, labs, computers, and everything else a college has to offer, take full advantage of it. Don't expect the school to magically bestow knowledge and skills on you.
You'll find that learning to read, write, and speak as fluently as possible will take you a long way whatever you do after school.
For a view of education and learning that you probably aren't familiar with, read John Holt's two books, "How Children Fail" and "How Children Learn." You don't have to be a parent or child to get a lot from those books.
Charm wrote: "The real problem is that the web is 'stateless' without Java, ActiveX."
Not true. The web (actually the HTTP protocol) is stateless unless the web programmer does something to maintain state. Cookies are the most common solution. Session keys passed around in URLs or hidden form variables are another (these can be thought of as server-side cookies). You don't need Java, ActiveX, JavaScript, or any other client-side scripting to maintain session state.
It seems like a majority of people commenting don't know much about real web programming, judging from the number of comments that go out into the weeds. For example, URLs for banner ads don't usually resolve to an actual GIF or JPG file on the server; they invoke a server-side program that tracks the banner ad impressions, makes sure a single user doesn't see the same ad over and over again (try refreshing the page and see how they change), etc. The only requirement for the url in an IMG tag is that it retrieves a valid GIF or JPG or PNG image; it doesn't have to be the actual name of a GIF or JPG file.
Here's one way to determine if visitors are downloading banner ads:
1. When a visitor first shows up issue a cookie or session id (passed around in the URL). You can tell when they first show up on the site because they won't have a cookie or session id. All subsequent requests to the site will include the cookie or session id.
2. If cookies aren't enabled on the client browser, make the server-side code embed the session id in all URLs, including all links to pages in the same site, all GIF/JPG images, etc.
3. Whenever a page is requested the server logs a hit for that session id & page. Whenever a graphic is requested the URL actually resolves to a server-side script or CGI that logs the session id & requested graphic (banner ad), then sends the actual graphic back to the browser.
4. Any time the client requests a page the server can check that previous page requests were accompanied by requests for the banner ads that go on the page. If the user is blocking ads you can cut them off, threaten them, whatever.
Of course this kind of server-side agression will quickly be countered with client-side proxies that request the ads but discard the resulting graphic.
Without any client-side scripting the server can only determine what requests were made; it can't determine if the browser received the graphics or if the user ever saw them.
As for the analogies offered to justify one position or another, equating banner ad removal with theft is off-base. Instead think of a web site as a store. You can freely visit the store, read the magazines, wander around and read labels, sit down and rest, etc. You are under no obligation to buy anything. However the bookstore owner can bombard you with as much advertising as they like. Some people will tolerate a lot of advertising (like what you get in a Wal-Mart store). Others will walk out and shop somewhere else. If you had some way to browse the store without seeing or hearing any advertising, I think the store owner would be justified if he asked you to buy something or leave.
I hope you pursue learning to spell while you're studying the Java books. I won't read a resume past the second misspelling or grammatical error, and a lot of recruiters and hiring managers feel the same way. Communicating with other people is the most important skill. Communicating with computers is secondary.
Learning computer languages is easy. Learning to program well is hard. Expect to be humbled for a few years. Identify the talented programmers you work with and learn from them.
My grandmother had her cable TV service disconnected because she believed "they" could watch her through her TV. The more extreme worries about security and privacy that come up periodically on slashdot are in the same vein.
Unless you are a real spy, diplomat, or someone with real secrets to protect why do you think the CIA or whatever gives a shit about sniffing your cordless keyboard? If they really wanted your secret passwords they would just get a thug to threaten to beat you up--much cheaper and less time consuming.
Stop reading Tom Clancy novels. No one cares about your keystrokes.
What are the actual advantages of girls over the free or low-priced solutions? Is it worth getting a girlfriend, when you can do (as far as I know) everything it can by using Playboy, "American Pie," alt.binaries.*, or a cantaloupe? Is there a considerable speed increase, or is there enough more functionality to warrant the outrageous costs? Are some of the technologies more suited to different tasks? Any time I have needed a girl, my hand has worked just fine, so I am skeptical.
What are the actual advantages of cars over the free or low-priced solutions? Is it worth paying the 10 to 30 thousand dollars (or more) for a car, when you can do (as far as I know) everything it can by using a big wheel, a skateboard, a bicycle, or any number of free or cheap public transportation options? Is there a considerable speed increase, or is there enough more functionality to warrant the outrageous costs? Are some of the technologies more suited to different tasks? Any time I have needed to use a car, my Razor scooter has worked just fine, so I am skeptical.
You never say what the database is for, what load (simultaneous open connections) you expect, if and how it will need to scale, etc. etc. Which tool you choose won't matter if you haven't clearly defined your requirements. None of the tools you mention are inherently "better" than any other; it all depends on what you are trying to do.
I suggest you define your requirements and architecture first, without regard to specific tools or platforms unless those are requirements that can't be changed. Only when all requirements are agreed on should you be out shopping for tools and platforms.
pobox.com offers SMTP access for $5 one-time setup fee. It's not obvious from their services but they will set it up if you ask them.
...not "over 200 years ago." The moral dilemma of the story is not whether it is right to create the creature, or whether it was wrong for Dr Frankenstein to reject his creation. The moral question is whether man should "play at" the role of god. The subtitle of the book, "A Modern Prometheus," pretty much gives it away.
I signed up for the Qwest deal last week. I got two CDs in the mail with clear instructions. Everything worked as advertised and I've been using Qwest for a few days now. The software on the CD is a straight Netscape Communicator 4.5 (128-bit version) install. The only thing that is specific to Qwest! is the registration application, which appears to be at least partially Java-based. It does the actual sign-up with Qwest, then configures Dial Up Networking and the browser. Once the sign-up process is completed, you can connect to Qwest using either their dialer or Windows Dial-Up Networking. You can use another browser. You can use the "free" Netscape Netcenter account Qwest creates for you, or not use it. You can look at the various settings and duplicate them under Linux, MacOS, etc. If Qwest was in Microsoft's thrall or partially owned by Microsoft or whatever, why would they be giving away Netscape Communicator and setting uses up by default on the Netscape Netcenter portal? It is of course possible that nefarious purposes are at work here, but I think it's more likely that Qwest decided to put their efforts into attracting and supporting the 90+% of home PC users who are already running Windows 95/98. NT, Linux, and even MacOS don't have anything close to Windows' installed base in the home. It's the same reason my local auto parts store has lots of Ford parts but nothing for Fiats -- it's not a Ford conspiracy to keep Fiat owners down, it's just common-sense market economics. The Qwest package is a good deal for me, and their ISP service is at least as good as the others I have used in Portland. I'm getting no busy signals, and fast connections every time. Greg Jorgensen
At least until Adobe's GoLive is available for both Mac and Windows. Dreamweaver is very productive, writes fairly clean HTML, and comes with Allaire's HomeSite (Windows) or BBEdit (Mac), both of which are very nice complementary text editors.
I'm in charge of a group of developers, and we put together four or five live commercial web sites every week. We use Dreamweaver and HomeSite, with either PHP3 or ASP on the back end, depending on the client and the project.
Hand-crafted HTML is great, but in the real world developers are paid for working, finished web SITES, not perfect HTML. Dreamweaver lets you change the HTML and it then redisplays your changes; it's "round-trip HTML" feature give you the best of generated and hand-written HTML.
Macho webmasters coding in Notepad are the modern equivalent of assembly language programmers railing against the morons coding in Fortran or C. Please, I don't need anyone telling me I'm not a real web developer, or how the web should and should not be used, etc.