Back in the late 80's, there were couple of "Bag Of Tricks" series of books, for C and C++, and for Programming in general.
There were extremely helpful.
I am sorry if I can't remember the exact title, someone borrowed my books and never return them.
If anyone still remember the title of those books ( something like "101 Programming Tips" ), please post them so I can go and search for them in used book stores.
Thanks to Online Books
on
Think Python
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Thanks to Copylefted Online Books, I now can read the books before I buy.
On my bookshelf, seven of the books were bought after I read their online version.
I live in a third world country where there is no Towers bookstore, nor Borders, nor Barnes - there is NO WAY for you to know how good a book is without first buying the book - the bookstore here do NOT allow you to read the book !
The idea of Copylefted books really help me, and many others who are in the situation of buying books not knowing if the books are good or not.
Thanks again !
Ways to make tons of $$$ to aid Slashdot / LWN !
on
LWN.net Closing Down
·
· Score: 2
Things don't look good for entities like Slashdot and / or LWN (and others).
So, to help out, we must make tons of moolah.
Way to do it ?
Imitate what Global Crossing did... squandered tons and tons of $$$ and then go to WhiteHouse and tell Bush and Co. to bailout the company for the sake of "National Security".
Or we can learn a chapter or two from the Enron / WorldCom / ImClone / Xerox folks - COOK THE DAMN BOOKS !
Slashdot and LWN sure can use some of the "excess" from the "book-cooking extravaganzas" and all the other slashdotters / lwnners will definitely looouuurrrrvvvveees you to death.
"Linux didn't start out as an alternative to Windows.
It started out as an alternative to Minix and proprietary unices."
As far as the history goes, the reason for Linus to release "Linux" (at that time, it wasn't even known as "linux") was that it was an experiment.
Linux was NOT meant to be an alternative to anything. It's just an experiment that caught the fancy of many, who in turn, contributed suggestions, codes, fixes, extensions, et cetera and (almost) 11 years later we have Linux as we know it.
I hope that next time people says Linux, they take Linux as the original thing, rather than an "alternative" to XXX or YYY.
If the ACLU is so concerned about the "freedom" of the Net, and if ACLU think that the broadband providers are a threat to the "freedom", well...
As the adage goes - If you can't beat 'em, join 'em !
The sure win-win-win way for the ACLU and "freedom-of-the-net" and broadband net access is for ACLU to provide broadband net access to the public !
That way, ACLU will make sure that FREEDOM survives on the net, while people will continue to enjoy the broad bandwidth, and ACLU will become an organization which no longer needs to raise funds to fight for freedom - because THEY ARE THE PROVIDER OF FREEDOM on the net !
"The basic problem is that a computer is wrong for technophobes."
Are you living in a real world, or are you just seeing things with your geeky scope ?
Look around, and you will see that COMPUTERS ARE EVERYWHERE, and THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD ARE TECHNOPHOBES !
Translation: MANY TECHNOPHOBES ARE USING COMPUTERS, whether you like it or not !
MS Windows become so popular because of this one fact - that it covers up (most of) the things the technophobes are afraid of - techno-goobledegooks.
The customer base is the PEOPLE OUT THERE, not the geeks who are using Linux. If we are too make Linux a successful OS, we must acknowledge that we can NO LONGER make Linux to suit only ourselves.
We must also consider the needs of the people who have no idea what FileSystem means, or how to scan their own ports, or the difference between the ROOT and all the other accounts.
"But Until Kylix is more than just Delphi, it
will remain a very niche product"
See the title above ?
"Niche products" such as MS Windows has all its "niches" and Bill Gates is laughing all the way to the bank with all that "niches" !
Don't put down Kylix or other "niche products". If you are a good programmer, you can use ANY "niche product" to create GREAT apps that the end users can use.
But of course, there are people such as you who will complain that Kylix (and others) are "niche products" and you will not use it because it's not "up to your standard".
Why don't you try a "non-niche product", such as a Borne Shell, to create nice end-user app for Linux, eh ?
Just that it's not heading in the right direction.
Lots of things have been said about the ease of use thingy, but that's just scratching the surface.
What's important, looking at the larger picture, is that Linux is filled with programmers wearing beany caps.
Translation : Linux programs are wonderful, but it's just NOT the world needs.
Look at Windows. Lots of clumpsy and over bloated programs, but at least, they do what the world wants, and buys !
We have put too much emphasis on SOURCE CODE, because we wear beany caps - that is, we are the people who almost always CHANGE THE PROGRAM BEHAVIOR OURSELVES, that's why we demand the source code to the program.
But the world outside of us is that people do NOT want or need or know how to change the program's behavior, all they want is that the program does what they want - whatever they want.
That's why we have NORTON UTILITIES for Windows, and there's none of Linux.
That's why we have so much MUSIC, MP3, STREAMING, VIDEO, MULTIMEDIA utilities for Windows... many of them are buggy like hell, but at least they ARE available.
On the other hand, what do we have here ?
KDE, GNOME, ENLIGHTENMENT, yeah, big deal !
The users need MORE THAN WINDOWING ENVIRONMENTS, they need UTILITIES that do stuffs for them !
That's what we fall short on.
That's what we need to double and tripple our efforts on.
Not that we do not have the knowhow to do it, nor that we don't have the programmer-aid to do it.
We have Kylix from Borland (FREE !) and how many of us are using Kylix to develop USEFUL UTILITIES for the users ?
Do something about this problem and we will see the Desktop Linux comes alive.
If all the Turbo Linux codes are GPLed, (I'm assuming, so don't sue me, please !) then is it possible for another entity to pick up the entire T-Linux codes and move on ?
Although I am all for letting the users (buyers / market) to decide whether or not something is worth to be purchased, methinks it will be a VERY BAD LAW if there is any restriction on the selling of the "copy-protected" CDs.
Why ?
Simply because, in the spirit of "FAIR USE", the producers of the CDs should have the right to enjoy the "FAIR USE" of the technology employed in the "copy protected CD".
The only thing that I think is important in all these things is that THERE SHOULD NOT BE ANY LAW PROHIBITING ANYONE FROM rendering the very technology that have been employed in the "copy protection" scheme useless.
And that's the gist of DCMA - it makes EVERYTHING, or EVERY IDEA of creating NEW TECHNOLOGIES making existing ones useless ILLEGAL.
Copy-protected CDs are NOT the culprit. It's the BAD LAW (DCMA and friends) that is hurting everyone.
One bad law doesn't deserve another. We have enough bad laws already.
One time my system was invaded by Gator's spyware. I searched my system and found that the spyware had sprung at least 2 new directories, beneath the "Program Files" folder.
96 files were residing under those two directories alone.
There might be some other directories and/or files ( dll, dvx and other system files) from Gator's spyware in my system, but those two directories were the main ones.
I downloaded AdAware and ran it, AdAware searched my system and in the first run reported that it found 24 files. I told AdAware to delete them.
Then I ran AdAware again. In the second run AdAware found another two files. I delete those files too.
On the third and subsequent runs, AdAware found nothing.
And I checked my system, those two directories were still there. Some of the files were still there.
I went to DOS and did a "deltree" on those two directories. But I am still worry.
There might be some other files from Gator's spyware sprinkled around my system. How to locate them ?
Not only written tests, but almost ALL THE examinations that I've taken, regarding computers, are not only irrelevant to the subject of the exam, but also OUTDATED.
Take the "Linux Certification" exams, for example, under the "syllabus" of "Linux distributions", the "Stampede Linux" which has closed up shop, is STILL listed as one of the "Major Linux Distributions", and the test modules STILL carry that item !
The best way to REALLY TEST the ability of a person regarding the specific computer subject is to get the person to JUST DO THE THING.
If it's about C, then list a problem, and then give the guy a computer with a C compiler and then get that guy to code up a program that solve that problem.
What counts in the computer field is WHAT WORKS, not what one can put down on the paper, or what's in the syllabus.
While we criticize China, Saudi Arab, and Singapore for their "Net Censorship", the fact is that the US government also wants to censor the Net.
It's just that there are LAWS in the United States that guarantee freedom, such as Free Speech and such, and Uncle Sam can't do what China or Singapore have done - direct censorship.
Therefore, to achive their goal of censoring Internet, the US government uses another tact - Censorship Through Monopolies.
You see, if you have LOTS AND LOTS of Internet Providers, it is next to impossible to have any meaningful censorship, for anything that ISP A censors, ISP B can provide, and so on.
But if you have MONOPOLY controlling the access of the Net, then censorship will comes easy. As long as the Monopoly controls the access for ALL Americans, whatever the Monopoly provides, the Americans, no matter who they are, have NO OTHER CHOICE !
Difficult times awaiting the Americans, in term of FREEDOM OF ACCESS.
Let's hope that someone from America, be it individuals or groups, stand up in opposing this slowly but surely encrouching censorship.
It is said that if you throw a live frog into a pot of boiling water, the frog will jump out of the boiling water.
But if you put a frog into a pot of cool water, and you slowly turn up the heat, the frog won't know the difference, and before it realizes, the frog gets cooked.
While we might think that we are equipped to carry out the beta test on Einstein's theory, methinks we may not yet be ready.
Practically, what we understand from the Theory of Relativity is what we BELIEVE we understand, and that will influence what type of outcome we are searching for.
Plus, the equipments that we think are ready may not be ready.
Take the Atomic Clocks for instant... so far, the way we test the atomic clock is under normal condition, and we have NO IDEA how the atomic clock will behave under the relativity condition - that is, the very basic function of the atomic clock, the vibration of the atoms itself, may CHANGE if time itself is change.
After all, the "ticks" of the atomic clock, no matter which type of "atoms" we base it on, still depends on the variable TIME - as "ticks per second".
In a business climate such as this, where the US will bail out Global Crossing just to ensure that the business won't "fall into foreign hands", I think we, the slashdotters who are out to make a buck or two, should sit up and take attention !
1. Go set up your own underwater fibre cable laying / operating company.
2. Go to the banks and take BILLIONS and BILLIONS of loans.
3. Either by some existing money loosing underwater fiber cable operation, or lay some more cable on the already saturated routes.
4. If your business loose one USD on the operation, cook the book so that it looks like it's making one USD, and so on.
5. In the meantime, make yourself rich by pocketing a portion of the "difference", between the actual accounting, and the one the "cooked book" is showing. The rest of the difference, you can always invite Dick Cheney or whoever is from the Bush adminstration, to join your "Board of Directors", and let them pocket the rest of the loot.
6. Sooner or later, the "cookery" will be exposed. By that time, you would have BILLIONS in reserve, and you will have Dick Cheney and/or others from the Bush adminstration working FOR you, and covering up all your criminal act.
7. Under the guise of "national security", with the reason that your company is "too important to fall into foreign hands", the Bush adminstration will BUY UP YOUR CRUMBLED COMPANY, and they will PAY YOU A HANDSOME PROFIT too !
8. When you done all that, please don't forget www.slashdot.org. Donate some of your loot here, so all of us can continue to enjoy/.
Thank you very much for your attention.
PS: The above is for educational purpose only. Neither Slashdot nor I will assume any liability on anything, if you are stupid enough to do what I've just written above.
PPS: But of course, if you become richer than God, then, please, share your loot with all of us, thank you!
Slashdot Mirror
Back in the late 80's, there were couple of "Bag Of Tricks" series of books, for C and C++, and for Programming in general.
There were extremely helpful.
I am sorry if I can't remember the exact title, someone borrowed my books and never return them.
If anyone still remember the title of those books ( something like "101 Programming Tips" ), please post them so I can go and search for them in used book stores.
Thanks in advance !
I only find two versions - Java and Python.
Where can I find the C++ version ?
Thanks in advance !
Thanks to Copylefted Online Books, I now can read the books before I buy.
On my bookshelf, seven of the books were bought after I read their online version.
I live in a third world country where there is no Towers bookstore, nor Borders, nor Barnes - there is NO WAY for you to know how good a book is without first buying the book - the bookstore here do NOT allow you to read the book !
The idea of Copylefted books really help me, and many others who are in the situation of buying books not knowing if the books are good or not.
Thanks again !
Things don't look good for entities like Slashdot and / or LWN (and others).
So, to help out, we must make tons of moolah.
Way to do it ?
Imitate what Global Crossing did
Or we can learn a chapter or two from the Enron / WorldCom / ImClone / Xerox folks - COOK THE DAMN BOOKS !
Slashdot and LWN sure can use some of the "excess" from the "book-cooking extravaganzas" and all the other slashdotters / lwnners will definitely looouuurrrrvvvveees you to death.
Will NSA's Security Enhanced Linux stops the Ruskies from hacking into my systems?
I'm tired of searching high and low for security tips, applying patches and such, and still having the Ruskies prying open my systems with no problem.
Methinks there's a list of "undocumented Linux vulnerabilities" out there, and the Ruskies (amongst the others) are using it to hack Linux systems.
If there's such a list, I'd like to take a look at them. I'd like to close all those holes.
Anyone has the list ?
May I borrow it, please ?
Believe it or not, I do lock the computer room door.
But the Ruskies still hack into my systems !
Looks like the do know some (undocumented ?!)BACKDOORS of Linux systems.
Where to find the info on those (undocumented ?!) backdoors in Linux ?
I am interested to know !
Kylix 3 is NOT yet available for downloaded.
If you go to this page
http://borland.com/products/downloads/download_ky
you will see that the latest version of Kylix (open version) is version 2.
So, who has the url for downloading Kylix 3 ?
Care to share ?
You sez:
"Linux didn't start out as an alternative to Windows.
It started out as an alternative to Minix and proprietary unices."
As far as the history goes, the reason for Linus to release "Linux" (at that time, it wasn't even known as "linux") was that it was an experiment.
Linux was NOT meant to be an alternative to anything. It's just an experiment that caught the fancy of many, who in turn, contributed suggestions, codes, fixes, extensions, et cetera and (almost) 11 years later we have Linux as we know it.
I hope that next time people says Linux, they take Linux as the original thing, rather than an "alternative" to XXX or YYY.
Thank you !
If the ACLU is so concerned about the "freedom" of the Net, and if ACLU think that the broadband providers are a threat to the "freedom", well
As the adage goes - If you can't beat 'em, join 'em !
The sure win-win-win way for the ACLU and "freedom-of-the-net" and broadband net access is for ACLU to provide broadband net access to the public !
That way, ACLU will make sure that FREEDOM survives on the net, while people will continue to enjoy the broad bandwidth, and ACLU will become an organization which no longer needs to raise funds to fight for freedom - because THEY ARE THE PROVIDER OF FREEDOM on the net !
You sez:
"The basic problem is that a computer is wrong for technophobes."
Are you living in a real world, or are you just seeing things with your geeky scope ?
Look around, and you will see that COMPUTERS ARE EVERYWHERE, and THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD ARE TECHNOPHOBES !
Translation: MANY TECHNOPHOBES ARE USING COMPUTERS, whether you like it or not !
MS Windows become so popular because of this one fact - that it covers up (most of) the things the technophobes are afraid of - techno-goobledegooks.
The customer base is the PEOPLE OUT THERE, not the geeks who are using Linux. If we are too make Linux a successful OS, we must acknowledge that we can NO LONGER make Linux to suit only ourselves.
We must also consider the needs of the people who have no idea what FileSystem means, or how to scan their own ports, or the difference between the ROOT and all the other accounts.
Go to
www.borland.com/products/downloads/download_kylix
to dl Kylix, for free !
You sez:
"But Until Kylix is more than just Delphi, it
will remain a very niche product"
See the title above ?
"Niche products" such as MS Windows has all its "niches" and Bill Gates is laughing all the way to the bank with all that "niches" !
Don't put down Kylix or other "niche products". If you are a good programmer, you can use ANY "niche product" to create GREAT apps that the end users can use.
But of course, there are people such as you who will complain that Kylix (and others) are "niche products" and you will not use it because it's not "up to your standard".
Why don't you try a "non-niche product", such as a Borne Shell, to create nice end-user app for Linux, eh ?
Desktop Linux is far from dead. It's NOT dead.
Just that it's not heading in the right direction.
Lots of things have been said about the ease of use thingy, but that's just scratching the surface.
What's important, looking at the larger picture, is that Linux is filled with programmers wearing beany caps.
Translation : Linux programs are wonderful, but it's just NOT the world needs.
Look at Windows. Lots of clumpsy and over bloated programs, but at least, they do what the world wants, and buys !
We have put too much emphasis on SOURCE CODE, because we wear beany caps - that is, we are the people who almost always CHANGE THE PROGRAM BEHAVIOR OURSELVES, that's why we demand the source code to the program.
But the world outside of us is that people do NOT want or need or know how to change the program's behavior, all they want is that the program does what they want - whatever they want.
That's why we have NORTON UTILITIES for Windows, and there's none of Linux.
That's why we have so much MUSIC, MP3, STREAMING, VIDEO, MULTIMEDIA utilities for Windows
On the other hand, what do we have here ?
KDE, GNOME, ENLIGHTENMENT, yeah, big deal !
The users need MORE THAN WINDOWING ENVIRONMENTS, they need UTILITIES that do stuffs for them !
That's what we fall short on.
That's what we need to double and tripple our efforts on.
Not that we do not have the knowhow to do it, nor that we don't have the programmer-aid to do it.
We have Kylix from Borland (FREE !) and how many of us are using Kylix to develop USEFUL UTILITIES for the users ?
Do something about this problem and we will see the Desktop Linux comes alive.
If all the Turbo Linux codes are GPLed, (I'm assuming, so don't sue me, please !) then is it possible for another entity to pick up the entire T-Linux codes and move on ?
It's the Italians who carried out the deed.
The Vatican has NO authority over what the Italians did.
And the Italian gummint is "famous" for the intoleration of cyber-anything.
Back in the golden days of Fido-Net, the Italian gummint sent their fully-armed jackboots forcefully broke into sysops' homes in the name of "peace".
Although I am all for letting the users (buyers / market) to decide whether or not something is worth to be purchased, methinks it will be a VERY BAD LAW if there is any restriction on the selling of the "copy-protected" CDs.
Why ?
Simply because, in the spirit of "FAIR USE", the producers of the CDs should have the right to enjoy the "FAIR USE" of the technology employed in the "copy protected CD".
The only thing that I think is important in all these things is that THERE SHOULD NOT BE ANY LAW PROHIBITING ANYONE FROM rendering the very technology that have been employed in the "copy protection" scheme useless.
And that's the gist of DCMA - it makes EVERYTHING, or EVERY IDEA of creating NEW TECHNOLOGIES making existing ones useless ILLEGAL.
Copy-protected CDs are NOT the culprit. It's the BAD LAW (DCMA and friends) that is hurting everyone.
One bad law doesn't deserve another. We have enough bad laws already.
The url is at
http://linuxpr.com/releases/4175.html
The word "Kanji" in Japanese actually means "Han Characters". That is, Kanji is Han (Chinese) writing.
Nobody can say how many Kanji are there because nobody can really determined how many Han Characters are actually out there !
The estimations ranges from 70,000 to more than 200,000.
One time my system was invaded by Gator's spyware. I searched my system and found that the spyware had sprung at least 2 new directories, beneath the "Program Files" folder.
96 files were residing under those two directories alone.
There might be some other directories and/or files ( dll, dvx and other system files) from Gator's spyware in my system, but those two directories were the main ones.
I downloaded AdAware and ran it, AdAware searched my system and in the first run reported that it found 24 files. I told AdAware to delete them.
Then I ran AdAware again. In the second run AdAware found another two files. I delete those files too.
On the third and subsequent runs, AdAware found nothing.
And I checked my system, those two directories were still there. Some of the files were still there.
I went to DOS and did a "deltree" on those two directories. But I am still worry.
There might be some other files from Gator's spyware sprinkled around my system. How to locate them ?
Not only written tests, but almost ALL THE examinations that I've taken, regarding computers, are not only irrelevant to the subject of the exam, but also OUTDATED.
Take the "Linux Certification" exams, for example, under the "syllabus" of "Linux distributions", the "Stampede Linux" which has closed up shop, is STILL listed as one of the "Major Linux Distributions", and the test modules STILL carry that item !
The best way to REALLY TEST the ability of a person regarding the specific computer subject is to get the person to JUST DO THE THING.
If it's about C, then list a problem, and then give the guy a computer with a C compiler and then get that guy to code up a program that solve that problem.
What counts in the computer field is WHAT WORKS, not what one can put down on the paper, or what's in the syllabus.
That's all I will say, for now.
As a support to the Open Source community, I am gonna do my part, by watching the Weather Channel now.
Yeah, call me a brown-nose, but that's the least I can do, right ?
I always have admiration towards the Sicillians.
They're Italians but they are NOT part of italy.
They speak Italians, but they are NOT as lazy and as inept as the average Italians.
That is why Sicillians have Mafia, and Italians can only "mama mia" over it.
No, I am not in love with the violence, what I like about Mafia is that they have GUTS, which the Italians can never find within themselves.
And now comes the bridge, the bridge that will make Sicilly a part of Italy.
Doom will the unique tradition of Sicilly. And as far as Mafia goes, they will become as complacent as the Italian government.
Sigh !
While we criticize China, Saudi Arab, and Singapore for their "Net Censorship", the fact is that the US government also wants to censor the Net.
It's just that there are LAWS in the United States that guarantee freedom, such as Free Speech and such, and Uncle Sam can't do what China or Singapore have done - direct censorship.
Therefore, to achive their goal of censoring Internet, the US government uses another tact - Censorship Through Monopolies.
You see, if you have LOTS AND LOTS of Internet Providers, it is next to impossible to have any meaningful censorship, for anything that ISP A censors, ISP B can provide, and so on.
But if you have MONOPOLY controlling the access of the Net, then censorship will comes easy. As long as the Monopoly controls the access for ALL Americans, whatever the Monopoly provides, the Americans, no matter who they are, have NO OTHER CHOICE !
Difficult times awaiting the Americans, in term of FREEDOM OF ACCESS.
Let's hope that someone from America, be it individuals or groups, stand up in opposing this slowly but surely encrouching censorship.
It is said that if you throw a live frog into a pot of boiling water, the frog will jump out of the boiling water.
But if you put a frog into a pot of cool water, and you slowly turn up the heat, the frog won't know the difference, and before it realizes, the frog gets cooked.
Let's hope that the Americans won't get cooked.
While we might think that we are equipped to carry out the beta test on Einstein's theory, methinks we may not yet be ready.
Practically, what we understand from the Theory of Relativity is what we BELIEVE we understand, and that will influence what type of outcome we are searching for.
Plus, the equipments that we think are ready may not be ready.
Take the Atomic Clocks for instant
After all, the "ticks" of the atomic clock, no matter which type of "atoms" we base it on, still depends on the variable TIME - as "ticks per second".
I believe I have seen the light.
In a business climate such as this, where the US will bail out Global Crossing just to ensure that the business won't "fall into foreign hands", I think we, the slashdotters who are out to make a buck or two, should sit up and take attention !
1. Go set up your own underwater fibre cable laying / operating company.
2. Go to the banks and take BILLIONS and BILLIONS of loans.
3. Either by some existing money loosing underwater fiber cable operation, or lay some more cable on the already saturated routes.
4. If your business loose one USD on the operation, cook the book so that it looks like it's making one USD, and so on.
5. In the meantime, make yourself rich by pocketing a portion of the "difference", between the actual accounting, and the one the "cooked book" is showing. The rest of the difference, you can always invite Dick Cheney or whoever is from the Bush adminstration, to join your "Board of Directors", and let them pocket the rest of the loot.
6. Sooner or later, the "cookery" will be exposed. By that time, you would have BILLIONS in reserve, and you will have Dick Cheney and/or others from the Bush adminstration working FOR you, and covering up all your criminal act.
7. Under the guise of "national security", with the reason that your company is "too important to fall into foreign hands", the Bush adminstration will BUY UP YOUR CRUMBLED COMPANY, and they will PAY YOU A HANDSOME PROFIT too !
8. When you done all that, please don't forget www.slashdot.org. Donate some of your loot here, so all of us can continue to enjoy
Thank you very much for your attention.
PS: The above is for educational purpose only. Neither Slashdot nor I will assume any liability on anything, if you are stupid enough to do what I've just written above.
PPS: But of course, if you become richer than God, then, please, share your loot with all of us, thank you!