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User: pascalb3

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  1. Re:Books like this? on The Bug · · Score: 0

    This book sounds like it has an underlying relation to 'Adaptaion'. That was an excellent -- not to mention -- funny movie about a screenwriter who is obsessed with who he is and what he's doing; he never seems to be happy. Obviously, this is a different plot, but I expect that it is more of a commentary on how everyone has a 'Jester' in his/her life and it is up to us to determine how much control our 'Jester' has over our lives.

  2. Re:Would be nice... on U.S. DoD Commits To IPv6 · · Score: 0

    Actually, it was originally called DARPANet in 1969; but you are correct in saying that it was an idea originally conceived by the DoD. ARPANet came slightly later in 1972, but evolved from DARPANet -- actually, ARPANet was phased out in the 1980s into NSFNet (funded by NSF) and Defense Data Network. NSFNet is what actually turned into the backbone of the Internet. (www.whatis.com).

    This slight misunderstanding also rings true when it comes to the first computer. Although ENIAC is universally known, Colossus could technically be considered ENIAC's predecessor, but it was kept secret for so long, no one ever really heard about it (http://computerlab.tripod.com/ComputerHistoryWebQ uest.htm).

    Just some useless facts =)

  3. Re:The rule on The Enemy Within: Firewalls and Backdoors · · Score: 1

    Piggy-backing off of the last article, it is a matter of a well-rounded security policy. You need to know your network, systems, and requirements to truly have a good idea of what needs to be done where. This starts at the physical security level and covers everything, no matter how insignificant: segmenting user domains (so internal Bob has to go through an internal FW/IDS to access to reach internal Jane or internal server, either for normal operations or an attack); strong password enforcement; routinely wardialing your company for any rogue modems; implementing VLANs; DMZ; log servers; firewalls; IDSes; as well as many other measures.

    Even if you have all this in place -- or want to put them in place -- you need to have an active and efficient system of gathering and analyzing the data. Once again, this requires the security and/or system admin to know their network in order to tune all of the systems to reduce the false pos/neg results. Depending how complex your network is, assigning compartementalized security personnel would be a good idea so that one person is responsible for one network/system area of the whole with a hierarchial system to the top security person looking at everything.

    This model is rarely seen anywhere in the real world since (as usual) 99% of companies see outside threats as being the more serious of the two. This leaves one security person (or a dual role for a system admin) just securing external firewalls and DMZ systems while they should be focusing on 'can Joe from Receiving see/access the Accouting systems?' and other internally-related threats. Something to think about if you're in this situation.

  4. Re:Sun Doesn't appeal to me on Sun's Last Stand · · Score: 1

    I agree. I would love to have had a Sparc right next to my MS system in high school, for nothing more than to learn it. My dad has worked with UNIX, and specifically Sun, since I was born and I knew it would be a good platform to learn. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to obtain one before the advent of Ebay; even now, my decision rests in '$300 (plus or minus) for a Sparc or use that money on beer/ new GeFroce/ RAM/ vacation/ (insert favorite item here)?'

    Once in college we used Suns for C++ programming, but not much more; something that could have been done just as easily with Linux or MS. It gave more experience with basic UNIX commands and CL compiling, but that was it. Now graduated, I find myself surrounded by Suns at my current company. It's not that I feel lost, but I'm definitely at the bottom of the curve playing catch-up to learn the intricacies of the system.

    Sun is a company that still has potential if they modified their business objectives and looked to entice more people. Usually, however, this results in a trade-off with profit so that people get a feel for the systems before jumping all the way in. Yes, Java is free, but it is basically completely separate from Sun's core business, whereas giving people a taste of the core components will mean more dollars overall. It's not so much their attracting young people as it their attracting as many people as they can to regain their stature as a major OS and hardware provider!

  5. Re:Do younger minds absorb quicker? on Ageism in IT? · · Score: 3, Funny

    I tried to learn the piano, but I was getting errors with #include.

  6. Re:Pair Programming on Motivating Your Co-Developers? · · Score: 1

    From the other side of the tracks, as an intern in a company for the summer, this is really the best way. While we may not be 'pair programming' per say, each of the interns is assigned a mentor who provides assistance when necessary. At the beginning of the summer, this was multiple times a day, but after about a week or two, our productivity soared once we had a hold on what was going on.

    Of course, the first two weeks and change were used to train us in the language and its syntax that we would be using, the tools to accomplish our tasks, and the methodology. Besides the training and mentors, we (and everyone else on projects here) go through peer reviews of everything from the initial project requirements to the code and its QA/maintenance. This process is extremely helpful for us (the interns) because it gives us a foundation to go out on our own and do the programming and know we have support and that what we produce will be evaluated and (hopefully) improved by others.

    I kind of ranted here, and this is a retroactive solution to your post, but I believe this works. With the three parts above (training, mentoring, and peer reviews) we have gone from wide-eyed college students to productive corporate members. I doubt many HR people read /., but take note on how improve the quality of your hirees before and during their work on projects.

  7. Relation to AI on Better Networking Through Nature · · Score: 1

    While obviously not AI in the sense of robots on a human level, this article does bring up the idea of artifical learning. There was an article a little bit ago-- maybe someone can recall and post a link-- about an Israeli institution creating a machine that passed the Turing Test, albeit it was only perceived to be a 6 year old.

    What I see in common, and have often thought about as a progression for AI, is their ability not to be programmed everything we know, but start as a child and have the ability to learn as they "grow"; the similarity is in how these "ants" have the ability to learn what the shortest path to a destination is. They can then give that path the most "pheremones" for easy location and also be able to dynamically change the shortest path based on a change in, as the article suggests, a different starting point or loss of nodes (hopefully).

    Brand me offtopic, but I believe that this part of internet study could go hand-in-hand with some developments in AI, and vice versa.