I think he mentioned revision control because the diffs showing how the code logic has changed should also include the diffs of updated comments to reflect those changes. Commit time is the best point to ensure that all accepted changes have been properly documented.
Djikstra said, "Always debug the code, not the comments". No one updates the comments. Including me.
A guy above said that their team treats incorrect comments as a bug, and they're right in that approach. The whole point of high-level languages is to communicate with the programmer as well as with the machine; if the source code contains inconsistent instructions for the human and the computer, the program's current internal logic is flawed. Even if the binary executes without errors, changed the code won't be smooth because of those contradictions.
While the school of 'weave' and 'tangle' from literate programming proved to be too heavyweight to be practical, the future of comments is not to ignore them, but to better integrate with the IDE. Documentation generators like Javadoc or Doxygen were a big hit because they simplified building rich sets of deep, easy-to-navigate comments. Also coding features like design-by-contract and unit testing can be thought as forms of executable comments - they don't contribute to the program business logic, but they tell the programmers about its inner stable structure.
Programmers ignore comments not because it's the right thing to do, but because it's hard to do well. As tools for engineering comments along with code get better, we'll find programmers using them more and more during the early programming stages instead of an afterthought.
But it's much better than the current situation, where devices are created with goals that clearly harm their users to the benefit of the manufacturer.
So there's room for improvement even if the result is not exactly what was present in the old SF stories; which is the point of TFA.
"10â/month" should be "10 euros / month"; which I pay for a SIM card that is integrated in my low-end tablet, that nevertheless is enough for browsing without Flash.
I have a cell phone, but it's barely a feature phone (with most features unused) - and I like it that way; I don't need internet access in a 2-to-4 inches screen, and I love having battery life measured in days not hours.
One's man corner case is another's man core usage. I want a tablet with cellular connectivity, because I want to connect to the internet from the big screen of a tablet. And I don't have wifi in the commuter rail, which is the primary use I want to give to the tablet; nor at the beach, the park, or in the car when I'm in the copilot seat. Those are the places where I use my current tablet most, that's why I need the 3G. Given that it's my only 3G device, it's not an additional data service but the only one. I got a 10â/month service 500Gb (no extra charges for exceeding it, just reduced speed if I ever hit the limit), which is more than enough for a month of light internet browsing.
You don't need AI to have an automaton that does no harm. You just need a designer willing to create a design that avoids doing harm to the full designer's ability, intead of a designer creating a deliberately harmful desig.
As others have pointedout, so far the four freedoms of Free Software are the closest thing we have to Asimov's laws, because they're deliberately designed to protect the user.
Sadly, no news of when they plan to release the 3G version in Europe, if at all. I suppose it will arrive later in the year as it happened with previous models.
The form factor is perfect, the price seems about right, but they offer no mobile connectivity. This is a deal breaker is I want it precisely for browsing during the commute as a tablet, with the added flexibility of the keyboard and extra battery everywhere else.
Unfortunately ASUS has been reluctant to offer 3G connectivity in all the Transformer line, first announcing that it wouldn't be a 3G version and later offering it delayed after several months. Come on guys, the high-end line should come with 3G from the beginning.
The plant was not brought down by the tsunami, or at least, not sufficiently bad to cause the disaster by itself. Human stupidit had to help, and of course there was more than enough of that to be found.
That looks like a very good reason not to build power plants that may blow up as dirty bombs if not handed properly.
Hear, hear! Programmers usually don't get this, but there will always be a need for languages that allow non-programmers to create simple automated behavior without using a formal language with strict grammar.
Hypercard was the first to allow this, VB6 and Mosaic were its natural successors for desktop and web applications respectively, and Excel fills-in the gaps for data modelling and storage. Actually the spreadsheet is a really good programming language for this purpose, even when its automation features are limited to filters, the drag-and-increment copy, and recorded macros.
But there is a chance that we will soon have a new successor language for this purpose. Now that Bret Victor's ideas are gaining traction and have entered conscious, having been noticed by the Slashdot crowd and Kickstarter projects, they could be the basis for a language targeted to this audience. The instant feedback loop and superposition of abstract and concrete layers are a good basis for an "everyman language".
It's the only reasonable position for the case that you yourself get bad luck in the future. It also happens to be how our society evolved from the lower life forms.
Slashdot Mirror
I think he mentioned revision control because the diffs showing how the code logic has changed should also include the diffs of updated comments to reflect those changes. Commit time is the best point to ensure that all accepted changes have been properly documented.
Djikstra said, "Always debug the code, not the comments". No one updates the comments. Including me.
A guy above said that their team treats incorrect comments as a bug, and they're right in that approach. The whole point of high-level languages is to communicate with the programmer as well as with the machine; if the source code contains inconsistent instructions for the human and the computer, the program's current internal logic is flawed. Even if the binary executes without errors, changed the code won't be smooth because of those contradictions.
While the school of 'weave' and 'tangle' from literate programming proved to be too heavyweight to be practical, the future of comments is not to ignore them, but to better integrate with the IDE. Documentation generators like Javadoc or Doxygen were a big hit because they simplified building rich sets of deep, easy-to-navigate comments. Also coding features like design-by-contract and unit testing can be thought as forms of executable comments - they don't contribute to the program business logic, but they tell the programmers about its inner stable structure.
Programmers ignore comments not because it's the right thing to do, but because it's hard to do well. As tools for engineering comments along with code get better, we'll find programmers using them more and more during the early programming stages instead of an afterthought.
Where are mod points when you need them?
I'd certainly watch that olympic discipline...
Entire app=web page. This one doesn't require more complexity than that, nor needs more resources.
Beware of the Grammar Huguenots.
Are you proud of your country?
But that moment is AO-rated!
You don't want to reverse the first and second laws, because you'd end up with a Literal Genie.
(I linked to TV Tropes from Slashdot. Woot!)
But it's much better than the current situation, where devices are created with goals that clearly harm their users to the benefit of the manufacturer.
So there's room for improvement even if the result is not exactly what was present in the old SF stories; which is the point of TFA.
"10â/month" should be "10 euros / month"; which I pay for a SIM card that is integrated in my low-end tablet, that nevertheless is enough for browsing without Flash.
I have a cell phone, but it's barely a feature phone (with most features unused) - and I like it that way; I don't need internet access in a 2-to-4 inches screen, and I love having battery life measured in days not hours.
One's man corner case is another's man core usage. I want a tablet with cellular connectivity, because I want to connect to the internet from the big screen of a tablet. And I don't have wifi in the commuter rail, which is the primary use I want to give to the tablet; nor at the beach, the park, or in the car when I'm in the copilot seat. Those are the places where I use my current tablet most, that's why I need the 3G. Given that it's my only 3G device, it's not an additional data service but the only one. I got a 10â/month service 500Gb (no extra charges for exceeding it, just reduced speed if I ever hit the limit), which is more than enough for a month of light internet browsing.
You don't need AI to have an automaton that does no harm. You just need a designer willing to create a design that avoids doing harm to the full designer's ability, intead of a designer creating a deliberately harmful desig.
As others have pointedout, so far the four freedoms of Free Software are the closest thing we have to Asimov's laws, because they're deliberately designed to protect the user.
Sadly, no news of when they plan to release the 3G version in Europe, if at all. I suppose it will arrive later in the year as it happened with previous models.
You can use advertisements and press release for that, where everything is awesome!
The form factor is perfect, the price seems about right, but they offer no mobile connectivity. This is a deal breaker is I want it precisely for browsing during the commute as a tablet, with the added flexibility of the keyboard and extra battery everywhere else.
Unfortunately ASUS has been reluctant to offer 3G connectivity in all the Transformer line, first announcing that it wouldn't be a 3G version and later offering it delayed after several months. Come on guys, the high-end line should come with 3G from the beginning.
That looks like a very good reason not to build power plants that may blow up as dirty bombs if not handed properly.
You must be old school, Madonna is in decline - it's all Lady Gaga now.
Hear, hear!
Programmers usually don't get this, but there will always be a need for languages that allow non-programmers to create simple automated behavior without using a formal language with strict grammar.
Hypercard was the first to allow this, VB6 and Mosaic were its natural successors for desktop and web applications respectively, and Excel fills-in the gaps for data modelling and storage. Actually the spreadsheet is a really good programming language for this purpose, even when its automation features are limited to filters, the drag-and-increment copy, and recorded macros.
But there is a chance that we will soon have a new successor language for this purpose. Now that Bret Victor's ideas are gaining traction and have entered conscious, having been noticed by the Slashdot crowd and Kickstarter projects, they could be the basis for a language targeted to this audience. The instant feedback loop and superposition of abstract and concrete layers are a good basis for an "everyman language".
It has to be sad, to see the world and all meanings only in terms of true and false. You have never enjoyed evocation?
No and yes.
It's the only reasonable position for the case that you yourself get bad luck in the future. It also happens to be how our society evolved from the lower life forms.
I read the title as someone using radiation to detect an Android Phone that is coming to Japan.
If everybody were homosexual, sperm dontation and inseminations would be sacred. Think about it.
And this is the optimal most efficient possible solution that a free market creates, how again?
So your position is than anyone who has bas luck of any kind should drown in shit?