Actually, just to make sure I didn't make an ass of myself I looked up "human being" in the dictionary...
"a man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, power of articulate speech, and upright stance."
I've always thought my posture needed a little work.
You know actually that definition makes for a fantastic Bush joke as it is!
Absolute utter crap! Despite my general dislike for all things Windows, it's ludicrous to claim an OS is no good because it doesn't work on every custom piece of laptop hardware on the planet.
What a looser... I sometimes wonder why these "tech columnists" have these jobs? They probably earn twice what a typical programmer does too.
Absolute. Utter. Crap.
Yes, and Coolio ripped off Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder. Nothing irritates me more than these pop hip-hop artists that make their millions by ripping off lesser known classics (at least to their audience) and rapping about how rich and badass they are over the top. I cringe every time I'm in the unfortunate situation where I'm forced to sit through one of these songs.
I wonder whether or not Coolio got permission from Stevie Wonder to make such a lousy cover of his song, and turn it from something meaningful about the problems of race relations in America into some BS gansta rap? And do you ever hear these artists actually acknowledge their song is a cover? I certainly haven't.
And then he has the audacity to take action against Weird Al!
Put it this way... you can write good software with nothing more than simple arithmetic but you can often write great software with a better understanding of math. When you see some code based on a math principle, it's often short, to the point, elegant and efficient. As an example, I can imagine someone with no math knowledge, but still a being good coder, create a tree data structure for storing something-or-other that requires this type of structure and be able to write code that walks it and does something useful. They may even use a vistor design pattern for this and bask in glow of their own intelligence. But there's no guarantee that this code is as good as it could be. A programmer that understands trees and graph theory might be able to come up with efficient ways to deal with this data structure that a programmer who doesn't understand this math can not.
I have to admit, my maths skills are horrible but I'm doing my best these days to re-educate myself and try and retain it this time! Unfortunately, like many other programmers, I couldn't see the applicability of this math when I was studying it! I'm sure my high school and university teachers/lecturers must have tried to tell me this at the time but I just didn't get it.
Perhaps someone with more maths skills than I can verify that I'm not fill of it? I wouldn't want to be the blind man leading the blind here!
What kind of fantasy land to you live in? If you could easily skip the commercials (and in that case everybody would) then how would you get advertisers to pay for this? Advertising supported content means that in return for getting your content for free you have to sit through a certain amount of advertising.
At least the ABC is providing something reasonable here - free content that works cross-platform. In exchange for this free content you have to stream it, rather than download it, and watch commercials before (and possibly during) the show. Those are the breaks.
At least congratulate them for doing that much, and not a) charging you for the content or b) like AOL has done, require Windows XP!
Really, I just can't understand your beef. No content provider in their right mind would provide you with shows that you can download for free and skip the commercials. No advertiser would agree to such conditions, and it would be all cost for them with absolutely nothing to gain.
And that comment about actors flogging the products mid-show 1950's-style is abso-fragin-lutely ridiculous!
I think this is a great idea! Article submitters could sumit email addresses etc. when there is a single relevant contact, or perhaps in the case where you should contact your local member Slashdot could figure this out from your profile (if that information is there...). Anyway, however it's implemented be it simple or complex, it is a good concept.
Some have mentioned that if readers really cared about the issue they would hunt down the relevant contacts themselves and write paper letters - however, I think there's nothing wrong in making it easier for people to take action. Slashdot users with jobs would understand this; anything that can help us get our opinion heard without requiring hours of our free time means we might actually get around to voicing that opinion. A recent email campain for a workers rights issue in Australia saw something like 85,000 people submit their protest on the issue - a lot of this had to do with the fact that all they had to do was fill in a web form to get their ideas heard. I'd be willing to bet if they have of required people invest the time to find out where to submit their letters by post, and then write them, they wouldn't have gotten anywhere near that number of responses. The campaign made news apparently, and the email campaign had the desired effect, so it's not like these emails sit in an inbox and get ignored.
Programming isn't modelling or professional sports - you don't hit 30 and then find you can't code so well any more! The 16 year old programmer whiz-kid might be good, but I'd sure like to see what that same person can do once they've graduated and had 20 years experience!
I really didn't think people actually believed the best programmers were all under 25, ate pizza, and drank Mountain Dew!
If you're really worried about your age, take for example someone like Donald Knuth, a highly respected computer scientist now in his 60's, and I'm pretty sure he could code the pants off most of us young whipper snappers worrying that 27 is a little too old!
Regarding your job, if you love programming, pursue that - loving your work is far more important than a raise in pay or an inflated ego from your new position. And it's a good idea to continue studying if you enjoy coding as much as you say. You're probably the kind of person who could really get a lot out of studying, and it will help you in your work. In my experience, I've found those programmers that don't think uni is nessecary often come up with solutions to problems that look incredibly inefficient or silly once you've learned a little computer science. It's not that these people are stupid, they are often very talented, but could really benifit from early computer science studies.
Having said that, my CS grades sucked - oh if I could only turn back time and do it again, and actaully study harder this time!
You'll find this listed as one of the technologies used in the inflatable modules:
"Windows, a difficult integration and seal challenge."
Yes, it certainly is!
On the contrary, I think it's totally fine to complain about the quality of articles on Slashdot! Without this feedback, how will Slashdot realise that more and more of their articles are sub-par?
For all we know, this could be a plug for the case manufacturer!
I find there are some fantastic and interesting articles (I liked the recent one about the Global Consciousness Project) and others that are just totally useless - for example this one, since there are far better case modifcations out there such as the ones you can see on http://mini-itx.com/.
Also, is it really nessecary to post news for things such as a new book on a particular programming language (e.g. Python (or any other language) programmers are probably aware when a new, and good, Python book gets published. Non-Python programmers won't care.
To be quite honest, if the quality of articles continue to be inconsistent, or generally decline, then yes I probably won't bother reading Slashdot. If enough readers do this then yes it will be a problem for Slashdot. And I'm definitely not saying this to be cool!
I'd just like to say that I don't believe this to true in the slightest! As a case in point, I have a friend who now has been working as a successfull web designer for years, and his graphic art/web design work DOES look good (he came from a background in commerce, so had no formal training in being a web designer, apart from those things relating to commerce) even though when be began his work looked like what you'd expect a complete beginners work to look like.
There seems to be this fallacy in the artistic world that graphic design skills, or some other artistic skills you "just have" and can not be learned no matter how hard you try. As far as I know this is unfounded, and alienates those who might like to have a go at improving their design skills. My friend proves that this is not always the case, and I'd like to believe that if I applied myself I could also become a good graphic designer (I don't have the need nor desire to right now).
All too often I hear from artistic types that they are "gifted", "special", "have it" and refer to intangible reasons why they have skill and simply alienate those, like the original poster, who have the desire to learn.
I say, instead, if this is a direction your work is taking, and you want to become a programmer/artist then DO IT. Yes, paying others is an option but there is nothing more satisfying than doing it for yourself. And the artists should come back down to Earth and have think about the difficulty of the work that they are doing - yes, it takes skill and talent, I definately agree - but if this person is a computer programmer and has managed to learn how to do that, do you really think that they can not learn to design artwork for their applications? Is learning how to design really that much harder than learning anything else?
Quite frankly, I wouldn't want anyone telling me I simply can't do something - at least encourage this person to try.
Slashdot Mirror
102,138 Euro. For some reason if you enter the Euro symbol into your comment (or at least if you use the character from TFA), it gets stripped out.
Actually, just to make sure I didn't make an ass of myself I looked up "human being" in the dictionary...
"a man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, power of articulate speech, and upright stance."
I've always thought my posture needed a little work.
You know actually that definition makes for a fantastic Bush joke as it is!
Me too.
Yes, that is great advice. I wish I could get back all the years I wasted on PHP.
Is that the one with the nougat centre covered in peanuts and chocolate?
Absolute utter crap! Despite my general dislike for all things Windows, it's ludicrous to claim an OS is no good because it doesn't work on every custom piece of laptop hardware on the planet. What a looser... I sometimes wonder why these "tech columnists" have these jobs? They probably earn twice what a typical programmer does too. Absolute. Utter. Crap.
Yes, and Coolio ripped off Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder. Nothing irritates me more than these pop hip-hop artists that make their millions by ripping off lesser known classics (at least to their audience) and rapping about how rich and badass they are over the top. I cringe every time I'm in the unfortunate situation where I'm forced to sit through one of these songs.
I wonder whether or not Coolio got permission from Stevie Wonder to make such a lousy cover of his song, and turn it from something meaningful about the problems of race relations in America into some BS gansta rap? And do you ever hear these artists actually acknowledge their song is a cover? I certainly haven't.
And then he has the audacity to take action against Weird Al!
Put it this way... you can write good software with nothing more than simple arithmetic but you can often write great software with a better understanding of math. When you see some code based on a math principle, it's often short, to the point, elegant and efficient. As an example, I can imagine someone with no math knowledge, but still a being good coder, create a tree data structure for storing something-or-other that requires this type of structure and be able to write code that walks it and does something useful. They may even use a vistor design pattern for this and bask in glow of their own intelligence. But there's no guarantee that this code is as good as it could be. A programmer that understands trees and graph theory might be able to come up with efficient ways to deal with this data structure that a programmer who doesn't understand this math can not.
I have to admit, my maths skills are horrible but I'm doing my best these days to re-educate myself and try and retain it this time! Unfortunately, like many other programmers, I couldn't see the applicability of this math when I was studying it! I'm sure my high school and university teachers/lecturers must have tried to tell me this at the time but I just didn't get it.
Perhaps someone with more maths skills than I can verify that I'm not fill of it? I wouldn't want to be the blind man leading the blind here!
What kind of fantasy land to you live in? If you could easily skip the commercials (and in that case everybody would) then how would you get advertisers to pay for this? Advertising supported content means that in return for getting your content for free you have to sit through a certain amount of advertising.
At least the ABC is providing something reasonable here - free content that works cross-platform. In exchange for this free content you have to stream it, rather than download it, and watch commercials before (and possibly during) the show. Those are the breaks.
At least congratulate them for doing that much, and not a) charging you for the content or b) like AOL has done, require Windows XP!
Really, I just can't understand your beef. No content provider in their right mind would provide you with shows that you can download for free and skip the commercials. No advertiser would agree to such conditions, and it would be all cost for them with absolutely nothing to gain.
And that comment about actors flogging the products mid-show 1950's-style is abso-fragin-lutely ridiculous!
Reminds me of the sketch John Cleese did for LiveVault http://www.backuptrauma.com/video/default2.aspx.
:)
I specifically remember there being something in there about leaving tapes on the seat of a car
I think this is a great idea! Article submitters could sumit email addresses etc. when there is a single relevant contact, or perhaps in the case where you should contact your local member Slashdot could figure this out from your profile (if that information is there...). Anyway, however it's implemented be it simple or complex, it is a good concept.
Some have mentioned that if readers really cared about the issue they would hunt down the relevant contacts themselves and write paper letters - however, I think there's nothing wrong in making it easier for people to take action. Slashdot users with jobs would understand this; anything that can help us get our opinion heard without requiring hours of our free time means we might actually get around to voicing that opinion. A recent email campain for a workers rights issue in Australia saw something like 85,000 people submit their protest on the issue - a lot of this had to do with the fact that all they had to do was fill in a web form to get their ideas heard. I'd be willing to bet if they have of required people invest the time to find out where to submit their letters by post, and then write them, they wouldn't have gotten anywhere near that number of responses. The campaign made news apparently, and the email campaign had the desired effect, so it's not like these emails sit in an inbox and get ignored.
Programming isn't modelling or professional sports - you don't hit 30 and then find you can't code so well any more! The 16 year old programmer whiz-kid might be good, but I'd sure like to see what that same person can do once they've graduated and had 20 years experience!
I really didn't think people actually believed the best programmers were all under 25, ate pizza, and drank Mountain Dew!
If you're really worried about your age, take for example someone like Donald Knuth, a highly respected computer scientist now in his 60's, and I'm pretty sure he could code the pants off most of us young whipper snappers worrying that 27 is a little too old!
Regarding your job, if you love programming, pursue that - loving your work is far more important than a raise in pay or an inflated ego from your new position. And it's a good idea to continue studying if you enjoy coding as much as you say. You're probably the kind of person who could really get a lot out of studying, and it will help you in your work. In my experience, I've found those programmers that don't think uni is nessecary often come up with solutions to problems that look incredibly inefficient or silly once you've learned a little computer science. It's not that these people are stupid, they are often very talented, but could really benifit from early computer science studies.
Having said that, my CS grades sucked - oh if I could only turn back time and do it again, and actaully study harder this time!
You'll find this listed as one of the technologies used in the inflatable modules: "Windows, a difficult integration and seal challenge." Yes, it certainly is!
On the contrary, I think it's totally fine to complain about the quality of articles on Slashdot! Without this feedback, how will Slashdot realise that more and more of their articles are sub-par? For all we know, this could be a plug for the case manufacturer! I find there are some fantastic and interesting articles (I liked the recent one about the Global Consciousness Project) and others that are just totally useless - for example this one, since there are far better case modifcations out there such as the ones you can see on http://mini-itx.com/. Also, is it really nessecary to post news for things such as a new book on a particular programming language (e.g. Python (or any other language) programmers are probably aware when a new, and good, Python book gets published. Non-Python programmers won't care. To be quite honest, if the quality of articles continue to be inconsistent, or generally decline, then yes I probably won't bother reading Slashdot. If enough readers do this then yes it will be a problem for Slashdot. And I'm definitely not saying this to be cool!
I'd just like to say that I don't believe this to true in the slightest! As a case in point, I have a friend who now has been working as a successfull web designer for years, and his graphic art/web design work DOES look good (he came from a background in commerce, so had no formal training in being a web designer, apart from those things relating to commerce) even though when be began his work looked like what you'd expect a complete beginners work to look like.
There seems to be this fallacy in the artistic world that graphic design skills, or some other artistic skills you "just have" and can not be learned no matter how hard you try. As far as I know this is unfounded, and alienates those who might like to have a go at improving their design skills. My friend proves that this is not always the case, and I'd like to believe that if I applied myself I could also become a good graphic designer (I don't have the need nor desire to right now).
All too often I hear from artistic types that they are "gifted", "special", "have it" and refer to intangible reasons why they have skill and simply alienate those, like the original poster, who have the desire to learn.
I say, instead, if this is a direction your work is taking, and you want to become a programmer/artist then DO IT. Yes, paying others is an option but there is nothing more satisfying than doing it for yourself. And the artists should come back down to Earth and have think about the difficulty of the work that they are doing - yes, it takes skill and talent, I definately agree - but if this person is a computer programmer and has managed to learn how to do that, do you really think that they can not learn to design artwork for their applications? Is learning how to design really that much harder than learning anything else?
Quite frankly, I wouldn't want anyone telling me I simply can't do something - at least encourage this person to try.