As someone who saw the original MTV series, I actually liked the film. I realized that it was not going to be identical and once accepting that, it was enjoyable. I give it a 7/10.
Looking back at the series, there was definitely more bizarre behavior, sexual ambiguity, and such. They briefly hit on these points, but if you never saw the series you might not even notice. I'm kinda glad they didn't try to replicate the tall, anorexic species. It's much more enjoyable watching Charlize instead of some 7' tall freak.:-)
BTW, I didn't RTFA. The title said talk amongst yourselves. Based on the comments, it looks like I saved myself some time.
Uh... Peter Chung was not involved. He reviewed the movie just before it came out and had your exact comment. He didn't like the backstory.
I guess back when the MTV series was playing late at night, Peter Chung was glad to get paid anything. MTV owned the rights and made the movie. It still sucks that they left him out of it. MTV +10 roll for chaotic evil.
The problem isn't with HDTV. It always sets the right mode for HDTV.
It is component video (like from a DVD player) that is problematic. My Sony KD-34XBR2 will attempt to auto-adjust, but is more of a problem than it is worth. Sometimes while watching a DVD, it will randomly jump from Full to Wide Zoom and back again. My only solution is to manually force the setting, which requires cycling through the modes.
My parents are convinced that they are watching HD in their very rural home town. But then again these are the people who were equally convinced that letterbox cuts off the top and bottom of the picture.
I was watching Monday Night Football at my brother-in-laws place. I said, "Too bad you don't have the show in High Def." He says, "What do you mean? It's a plasma TV." Yes, it was a very nice plasma, showing lots of chubby football players.
Sigh.
What really pisses me off is how difficult it is. I'm uber-geek, yet I have to spend a minute adjusting my HDTV every time I watch a DVD. My Sony has Normal, Full, Zoom, Wide Zoom. The choice depends on how the DVD was encoded, but of course it isn't automatic. Worse - older DVDs encoded the menus 4:3 and then switched to 16:9 when the movie starts.
Such is the life of the geek. I can't go round to anybody's parents' house without being asked to help with their TV/Computer/DVD/Phone/Broadband. And no matter how many times you explain it, next time you'll be back there again telling them how to do it all over again. My dad now religously records my advice in little lists and keeps them in a folder because I snapped at him after he asked me one too many times.
Heh! I hear ya man. I snapped at my Mom after she couldn't find the Junk button in Thunderbird. She was so afraid to ask questions after that, she didn't tell me that her Internet connection wasn't working.:-)
This is really weird. Just before reading this article, I came up with the idea of a "CrapTop" - a laptop computer for the bathroom. I was reading an article and had the urge to purge, but I couldn't bring my 'puter with me.
Of course, if you have seen the Seinfeld episode at the bookstore, you know the dangers of having your CrapTop "tagged" as infected.:-)
Weird. I always point out azureus as a fast Java program. I guess I need to downgrade my RAM. I've never thought of it as a resource hog. I monitor things pretty closely with TaskInfo and Bandwidth Monitor Pro. I guess unless I run out of RAM, I don't look at how much my apps are using.
Java fails to make a lot of optimizations either statically or at runtime that any decent static optimizing compiler would perform. This is in part because in many cases the time taken to perform the optimizations is acceptable for a static compilation, but completely untenable for runtime compilation. It also doesn't really matter to someone whose execution model doesn't rely upon a virtual machine fetish if assembly is used to implement pieces of a kernel or a standard library.
What compiler did you work on for ten years, btw?
It was always my impression that Sun wanted to give a reference implementation, with the expectation (hope?) that 3rd party vendors would build high-performance JVMs. It is very expensive to build a team of talanted optimization experts. Sun has them, but they prefer that they make SPARC compilers go faster. Things may have changed at Sun. I got out of the system software biz 7 years ago. Now I build webapps. And I run on whatever software or hardware platform I choose.:-)
I worked in a compiler group for 11 years. 4 years at Wang. 7 years at Apollo/HP. I spent the early years on Ada, and the later years on C++, with lots of other languages sprinkled in. I spent all of the years working on Debuggers. I was kind of jack of all trades. For example, I'm not an optimizer guru. Those guys are a "rare breed". I was, however, exposed to their research. I even helped out with generating plots for call graphs.:-)
Been there. Done that. Sure, it was really swell to build our compiler (Alsys Ada) on our native platform (Wang VS). Does it prove anything? Maybe. Is it necessary for all languages and all compilers? IMHO - no.
While this has been common practice for most high-level languages, I don't think of it as a requirement.
The only reason it served as a major milestone is because a compiler, linker, etc. were good examples of complex applications. In essence, it was a good test suite.
I recall in the days of working on Alsys Ada, some of the competition (names escape me) bragged about being written in C. Guess why? Performance.
Of course, you could argue about how Ada was just as bloated and useless a language as Java.
The point is, self-compiling a compiler is not a truism in my book.
So, your saying favoring security and stability is a bad thing?
I'm sure all the virus/worm/trojan-horse writers out there would agree with you. God knows we don't want to check those array bounds. How else am I supposed to hack into your system with root privs?
Ok, so you might argue something like Quake 4 doesn't need this? What happens when Q4 gets hit with a virus? Would you change your mind then?
The problem is, C and the like has fed our addiction to speed. It's like a race bike. You can scream like a banshee, but watch out for those bridge abuttments.
Finally, with regards to garbage collection, from what I've read, the latest versions are very efficient. I won't compare it to C/C++ for fear of a new flame-thread. All I know is I've been coding for 20+ years and I've never met an engineer who is perfect. Of all the bugs I've chased down, memory errors were the most prevalent and most painful. Sure, you can still make memory mistakes in Java and other GC languages. But, you can make a lot less of them and the mistakes are usually less fatal than the more traditional memory errors in non-GC languages.
You call these things training wheels. I call them features. Good features.
I don't know if you are asking too much, but why are you asking?
Why is it important that the JVM be written in Java?
The whole intent of the Java language was to build a platform for applications so that the application writers didn't have to worry so much about the platform underneath. Hence, the JVM's very purpose is to encapsulate the nuances of each platform, while adhering to the multi-platform APIs, etc.
I don't know that any Java application writer really cares what language the JVM is written in.
If your comments are leading to the point that the JVM is non-portable... Well, it wasn't meant to be. The JVM is like an operating system. It just so happens to be layered on top of our traditional concept of operating systems.
I tend to knee-jerk react to the "Java is slow" comments, because I have heard them since Java 1.0. Yes, in the old days Java was slow. It still CAN be slow in certain situations. It quite often IS slower than traditional languages like C and C++. When anyone presents any hint that Java might be fast, a backlash of "bullsh*t" comments come flying.
If I wanted to jump on the C/C++ side of the argument, I would point out that a lot of the runtime libraries are written in C/C++. Thus, one could argue that Java could not be fast without the native underpinnings.
Of course, this same argument could be made about Assembly level code with respect to C/C++. When I worked in the HP compiler group, we had a visit from some HP Labs researchers. There was one guy working on a floating point math function for 2 years! He had developed assembly code to get the absolute fastest performance out of the function. I'm glad there are people out there willing to do that, because I sure couldn't.:-)
I guess I should wear my asbestos pajamas when reading/. articles about Java. I would guess that Microsoft advocates have to do the same.
Right on, brother! The C/C++ bigots just can't accept that a Java program might run as fast as, or (gasp!) faster then a C/C++ program.
I worked in a compiler group for 10+ years. Profiling was definitely the best way to optimize a program. The challenge was that the compile-profile-compile loop was cumbersome and was hard to account for all use cases. JIT profiling deals with YOUR use case. If it's really good, it will even adapt and re-profile as your use pattern changes.
Why did Barney the Dinosaur become so huge? Marketing. Do you think a parent who cares about their child would subject their child to the mind numbing antics of a purple dinosaur? Do parents who subject their children to Barney even watch and see what they are showing their children?
The funny thing is, I felt the same way as you, until... I saw "The Wiggles". I have 5 kids (youngest is 2 years old), so I have seen just about every kids show out there. The new crop is downright disturbing. It has left be BEGGING for Barney. While Barney is a little creepy, the content of the show is relevant and pragmatic for the target age group.
In contrast, shows like The Wiggles, Boohbah, and LazyTown demonstrate bizarre, atypical behavior. As a parent, I don't feel comfortable letting my 2 year old watch these shows. They are stupid, disturbing, and vapid of any educational value. It has given me a much better appreciation for Barney.
Slashdot Mirror
So you've used IBM Websphere? :-)
Thanks for stating the obvious. Any Software Engineer with half a soul has the same guidelines.
My motto is: "If you strive for perfection, then the end result will always be better than settling for mediocrity."
Who was it that said a test system can never be perfect because it must be at least as complex, or more complex than the system being tested?
I wonder if those music studios have industrial strength paper shredders or full fledged burn rooms at their corporate headquarters?
Nowadays, I think large magnets are more useful.
Why won't those hard drives crash when you want them to?
Perhaps not so ironic.
Viral marketing?
Bueller?
Meh. I've got a dual core brain. Multitasking is baby food.
Watch me chew gum and walk.
As someone who saw the original MTV series, I actually liked the film. I realized that it was not going to be identical and once accepting that, it was enjoyable. I give it a 7/10.
:-)
Looking back at the series, there was definitely more bizarre behavior, sexual ambiguity, and such. They briefly hit on these points, but if you never saw the series you might not even notice. I'm kinda glad they didn't try to replicate the tall, anorexic species. It's much more enjoyable watching Charlize instead of some 7' tall freak.
BTW, I didn't RTFA. The title said talk amongst yourselves. Based on the comments, it looks like I saved myself some time.
Uh... Peter Chung was not involved. He reviewed the movie just before it came out and had your exact comment. He didn't like the backstory.
I guess back when the MTV series was playing late at night, Peter Chung was glad to get paid anything. MTV owned the rights and made the movie. It still sucks that they left him out of it. MTV +10 roll for chaotic evil.
The problem isn't with HDTV. It always sets the right mode for HDTV.
It is component video (like from a DVD player) that is problematic. My Sony KD-34XBR2 will attempt to auto-adjust, but is more of a problem than it is worth. Sometimes while watching a DVD, it will randomly jump from Full to Wide Zoom and back again. My only solution is to manually force the setting, which requires cycling through the modes.
My parents are convinced that they are watching HD in their very rural home town. But then again these are the people who were equally convinced that letterbox cuts off the top and bottom of the picture.
I was watching Monday Night Football at my brother-in-laws place. I said, "Too bad you don't have the show in High Def." He says, "What do you mean? It's a plasma TV." Yes, it was a very nice plasma, showing lots of chubby football players.
Sigh.
What really pisses me off is how difficult it is. I'm uber-geek, yet I have to spend a minute adjusting my HDTV every time I watch a DVD. My Sony has Normal, Full, Zoom, Wide Zoom. The choice depends on how the DVD was encoded, but of course it isn't automatic. Worse - older DVDs encoded the menus 4:3 and then switched to 16:9 when the movie starts.
You would think they could have made it easier.
Such is the life of the geek. I can't go round to anybody's parents' house without being asked to help with their TV/Computer/DVD/Phone/Broadband. And no matter how many times you explain it, next time you'll be back there again telling them how to do it all over again. My dad now religously records my advice in little lists and keeps them in a folder because I snapped at him after he asked me one too many times.
:-)
Heh! I hear ya man. I snapped at my Mom after she couldn't find the Junk button in Thunderbird. She was so afraid to ask questions after that, she didn't tell me that her Internet connection wasn't working.
This is really weird. Just before reading this article, I came up with the idea of a "CrapTop" - a laptop computer for the bathroom. I was reading an article and had the urge to purge, but I couldn't bring my 'puter with me.
:-)
Of course, if you have seen the Seinfeld episode at the bookstore, you know the dangers of having your CrapTop "tagged" as infected.
Make sure you take care of all things you are concerned about BEFORE you resign.
:-)
Like, download all the pr0n off the corporate servers.
Aw! C'mon! Let all us unqualified geeks pontificate in ignorance.
W00t! Now they can put those low-power tracking devices in our necks.
Weird. I always point out azureus as a fast Java program. I guess I need to downgrade my RAM. I've never thought of it as a resource hog. I monitor things pretty closely with TaskInfo and Bandwidth Monitor Pro. I guess unless I run out of RAM, I don't look at how much my apps are using.
Very funny! :-)
Jikes RVM, which is the descendent of Jalapeno.
:-)
:-)
Java fails to make a lot of optimizations either statically or at runtime that any decent static optimizing compiler would perform. This is in part because in many cases the time taken to perform the optimizations is acceptable for a static compilation, but completely untenable for runtime compilation. It also doesn't really matter to someone whose execution model doesn't rely upon a virtual machine fetish if assembly is used to implement pieces of a kernel or a standard library.
What compiler did you work on for ten years, btw?
It was always my impression that Sun wanted to give a reference implementation, with the expectation (hope?) that 3rd party vendors would build high-performance JVMs. It is very expensive to build a team of talanted optimization experts. Sun has them, but they prefer that they make SPARC compilers go faster. Things may have changed at Sun. I got out of the system software biz 7 years ago. Now I build webapps. And I run on whatever software or hardware platform I choose.
I worked in a compiler group for 11 years. 4 years at Wang. 7 years at Apollo/HP. I spent the early years on Ada, and the later years on C++, with lots of other languages sprinkled in. I spent all of the years working on Debuggers. I was kind of jack of all trades. For example, I'm not an optimizer guru. Those guys are a "rare breed". I was, however, exposed to their research. I even helped out with generating plots for call graphs.
Been there. Done that. Sure, it was really swell to build our compiler (Alsys Ada) on our native platform (Wang VS). Does it prove anything? Maybe. Is it necessary for all languages and all compilers? IMHO - no.
While this has been common practice for most high-level languages, I don't think of it as a requirement.
The only reason it served as a major milestone is because a compiler, linker, etc. were good examples of complex applications. In essence, it was a good test suite.
I recall in the days of working on Alsys Ada, some of the competition (names escape me) bragged about being written in C. Guess why? Performance.
Of course, you could argue about how Ada was just as bloated and useless a language as Java.
The point is, self-compiling a compiler is not a truism in my book.
So, your saying favoring security and stability is a bad thing?
I'm sure all the virus/worm/trojan-horse writers out there would agree with you. God knows we don't want to check those array bounds. How else am I supposed to hack into your system with root privs?
Ok, so you might argue something like Quake 4 doesn't need this? What happens when Q4 gets hit with a virus? Would you change your mind then?
The problem is, C and the like has fed our addiction to speed. It's like a race bike. You can scream like a banshee, but watch out for those bridge abuttments.
Finally, with regards to garbage collection, from what I've read, the latest versions are very efficient. I won't compare it to C/C++ for fear of a new flame-thread. All I know is I've been coding for 20+ years and I've never met an engineer who is perfect. Of all the bugs I've chased down, memory errors were the most prevalent and most painful. Sure, you can still make memory mistakes in Java and other GC languages. But, you can make a lot less of them and the mistakes are usually less fatal than the more traditional memory errors in non-GC languages.
You call these things training wheels. I call them features. Good features.
I don't know if you are asking too much, but why are you asking?
Why is it important that the JVM be written in Java?
The whole intent of the Java language was to build a platform for applications so that the application writers didn't have to worry so much about the platform underneath. Hence, the JVM's very purpose is to encapsulate the nuances of each platform, while adhering to the multi-platform APIs, etc.
I don't know that any Java application writer really cares what language the JVM is written in.
If your comments are leading to the point that the JVM is non-portable... Well, it wasn't meant to be. The JVM is like an operating system. It just so happens to be layered on top of our traditional concept of operating systems.
So how do you feel about assembly code in libc, or the kernel?
I tend to knee-jerk react to the "Java is slow" comments, because I have heard them since Java 1.0. Yes, in the old days Java was slow. It still CAN be slow in certain situations. It quite often IS slower than traditional languages like C and C++. When anyone presents any hint that Java might be fast, a backlash of "bullsh*t" comments come flying.
:-)
/. articles about Java. I would guess that Microsoft advocates have to do the same.
If I wanted to jump on the C/C++ side of the argument, I would point out that a lot of the runtime libraries are written in C/C++. Thus, one could argue that Java could not be fast without the native underpinnings.
Of course, this same argument could be made about Assembly level code with respect to C/C++. When I worked in the HP compiler group, we had a visit from some HP Labs researchers. There was one guy working on a floating point math function for 2 years! He had developed assembly code to get the absolute fastest performance out of the function. I'm glad there are people out there willing to do that, because I sure couldn't.
I guess I should wear my asbestos pajamas when reading
Right on, brother! The C/C++ bigots just can't accept that a Java program might run as fast as, or (gasp!) faster then a C/C++ program.
I worked in a compiler group for 10+ years. Profiling was definitely the best way to optimize a program. The challenge was that the compile-profile-compile loop was cumbersome and was hard to account for all use cases. JIT profiling deals with YOUR use case. If it's really good, it will even adapt and re-profile as your use pattern changes.
Why did Barney the Dinosaur become so huge? Marketing. Do you think a parent who cares about their child would subject their child to the mind numbing antics of a purple dinosaur? Do parents who subject their children to Barney even watch and see what they are showing their children?
The funny thing is, I felt the same way as you, until... I saw "The Wiggles". I have 5 kids (youngest is 2 years old), so I have seen just about every kids show out there. The new crop is downright disturbing. It has left be BEGGING for Barney. While Barney is a little creepy, the content of the show is relevant and pragmatic for the target age group.
In contrast, shows like The Wiggles, Boohbah, and LazyTown demonstrate bizarre, atypical behavior. As a parent, I don't feel comfortable letting my 2 year old watch these shows. They are stupid, disturbing, and vapid of any educational value. It has given me a much better appreciation for Barney.