For the uninitiated, there's a few things going on there.
First, you have your obligatory move reference to Terminator 2. (Follow the link for the quote in mind along with others.) But, if you understand geometric series and growth, you'll see that a geometric rate is, at its essence, an exponential rate.
I'm not much myself on the idea of font changes and such in an XML-commented source file, but programming itself is much more than "communicating instructions to the computer." This is especially important in the eyes of literate programmers, who emphasize the fact that programs are primarily meant to be read by fellow human beings and secondarily by computers.
Communicating instructions to the computer is easy enough. Lights, switches, and papertape can do that well. Communicating a complex process to people is difficult. Object-orientation and literate programming can help that process.
Tricked? Where did that happen? Try reading Job 1:12, where God consciously endows Satan with power over Job. There is no textual witness in the book of Job to imply that God was deceived. God seemed to know what was going on.
Use the source, Luke. Don't ridicule a holy text based upon a cursory reading of a fraction of its content.
That makes me wonder: we're often told about how the Bible is the best selling book of all time, but would it really top the charts of books sold at Waldenbooks, Barnes and Noble, and other retail outlets? My wondering is that a huge number of Bibles are not bought through retail venues, but through groups like Christian Book Distributors that mass produce Bibles and then are placed en masse into Churches, hotels, given for free on street corners and missions, et cetera.
It might be interesting to see how the Bible holds up (or doesn't hold up) against sci-fi and other titles among American retail bookstores.
Alternatively, if you'd like a more philosophical approach, rather than a sci-fi literary approach, try just reading Plato. Plato's Timaeus and Republic (especially the metaphors of the Sun, Line, and Cave) provide the basis for the Matrix's philosophy.
Diogenes Allen has a book titled "Philosophy for Understanding Theology" that gives an easily understandable treatment of Plato.
Also, the book of Hebrews in the New Testament is all about the earthly temple (Zion) being "sketch and shadow" of the heavenly temple. More of the same goodness, more source.
In high school, we had the same paranoia as well regarding the TI-81s some folks had. Before a test, our calculus teacher would stroll up and down each row and make sure that each TI read "Mem cleared" on it before we could start the test. It's really an easy problem to handle in the classroom. (But HS teachers are likely more willing to do this procedure than PhD professors.)
But for my four years as a comp sci and math double major, I can't really even think of an occasion where we needed a calculator at all in class, with the exception of a Numerical Methods class. Most of the time, by calc sat in the back of a desk drawer.
Though I can't think of any "emergency engineering situations," I worked for a mechanical-electrical-plumbing engineering firm, and being able to think on your feet was a much more prized ability than knowing which menu has the function you are looking for. If you are on a site visit with a client or competing for a contract, saying "Hang on a minute" while you punch away on you HP and flip though your standards books is seriously bad form and demonstrates that you don't really know what you're talking about.
It's not really an emergency situation, but just the day to day business of some engineers.
Slashdot Mirror
For the uninitiated, there's a few things going on there.
First, you have your obligatory move reference to Terminator 2. (Follow the link for the quote in mind along with others.) But, if you understand geometric series and growth, you'll see that a geometric rate is, at its essence, an exponential rate.
HTH. HAND.
[jason:~] jawells% gcc -Wall sex.c
sex.c: In function `sex':
sex.c:3: warning: statement with no effect
No effect? Drat, foiled again!
I'm not much myself on the idea of font changes and such in an XML-commented source file, but programming itself is much more than "communicating instructions to the computer." This is especially important in the eyes of literate programmers, who emphasize the fact that programs are primarily meant to be read by fellow human beings and secondarily by computers.
A lot of the articles on literateprogramming.com can expand on this theme.
Communicating instructions to the computer is easy enough. Lights, switches, and papertape can do that well. Communicating a complex process to people is difficult. Object-orientation and literate programming can help that process.
Tricked? Where did that happen? Try reading Job 1:12, where God consciously endows Satan with power over Job. There is no textual witness in the book of Job to imply that God was deceived. God seemed to know what was going on.
Use the source, Luke. Don't ridicule a holy text based upon a cursory reading of a fraction of its content.
It might be interesting to see how the Bible holds up (or doesn't hold up) against sci-fi and other titles among American retail bookstores.
Alternatively, if you'd like a more philosophical approach, rather than a sci-fi literary approach, try just reading Plato. Plato's Timaeus and Republic (especially the metaphors of the Sun, Line, and Cave) provide the basis for the Matrix's philosophy.
Diogenes Allen has a book titled "Philosophy for Understanding Theology" that gives an easily understandable treatment of Plato.
Also, the book of Hebrews in the New Testament is all about the earthly temple (Zion) being "sketch and shadow" of the heavenly temple. More of the same goodness, more source.
Jason
But for my four years as a comp sci and math double major, I can't really even think of an occasion where we needed a calculator at all in class, with the exception of a Numerical Methods class. Most of the time, by calc sat in the back of a desk drawer.
Though I can't think of any "emergency engineering situations," I worked for a mechanical-electrical-plumbing engineering firm, and being able to think on your feet was a much more prized ability than knowing which menu has the function you are looking for. If you are on a site visit with a client or competing for a contract, saying "Hang on a minute" while you punch away on you HP and flip though your standards books is seriously bad form and demonstrates that you don't really know what you're talking about.
It's not really an emergency situation, but just the day to day business of some engineers.