The fact that you have source code doesn't mean you own it.
Isn't this awfully familiar to what the closed-source companies say?
"The fact that you have the software doesn't mean you own it."
While I agree that some software works well when it's free as in speech, there is also a need for developers to make money. The GPL is overly restrictive, as it requires any project that contains any GPLd code to release all their code. That is ridiculous. I will give credit where credit is due, but I will never release any of my code under the GPL, because I believe in capitalism.
I disagree. If it were simply a craft, then anyone with a reasonable amount of intellegence could learn to code well and quickly.
Programmers -- *good* programmers -- know the craft of programming, but are also able to do more then someone who is simply a craftsman. The best programmers do create art of a form.
It is amazing how much people favor their own talents over those of others. Here you say that programming is something more than a craft. It is not. A craft is the knowledge to apply a set of tools to create something that is useful or beautiful. The art comes in applying that knowledge to create something superb within your field. Certainly not all programs written are art, but some of them could certainly qualify as such due to their elegance and novelty.
The grandparent comment appears to have used the term artist synonymously with craftsman, and he is correct in doing so. Not everything an artist creates could be considered art. Only those works that speak some hidden truth beyond the surface of the medium, those that are truly beautiful, even if that beauty is not in an asthetic sense, can be called art.
Furthermore, anyone with a reasonable level of intelligence CAN learn to code well and quickly, however just as there are painters and sculptors, there are the Michaelangelos. Some craftsmen will more fully develop their ability than others.
This is an important result, if only because it simulates the physics of an event in 3-D for a rather complex situation. Many major improvements in technology have come about simply because someone needed a better way to kill someone, and these technologies often find peaceful applications as well. Remember that the early work with nuclear reactions was solely to create a bomb, and from that research we now have safe nuclear reactors that produce very cheap power.
At the very least, this simulation shows that computers can be used to predict the results of very complex interactions between matter and energy. Surely these same supercomputers can be used to simulate other equally complex phenomena, and these tests break the ice for simulations to come.
On another note, the United States does not test any physical nuclear devices anymore, underground or otherwise.
Well, you can't actually talk about a high-gain attenna in a cellphone application unless you want to require that the handset be constantly pointed in the direction of the tower. Of course, you can hope for higher efficiency antennas that will radiate more of the input power as useful energy.
The only gain an antenna can provide is if it directs the outgoing radiation into a non-omnidirectional path, thus favoring certain directions to others. An antenna is a passive device, and cannot provide any kind of omnidirectional gain whatsoever. Of course, an antenna that only loses 1dB of input power over one that loses 3dB of input power is certainly still better.
Re:Subject to the ``Skating Force'' of LP days
on
Perpetual Skislope
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· Score: 1
Actually, according to Einstein's theories of Special and General Relativity, a gravitational field is indistinguishable from an accelerationin the direction opposite the apparent field.
This has to do with propagation of the data along the bus. Mainly that when a set of parallell traces goes around a corner, the inner traces are shorter unless the extra zig-zags are added. By equalizing the length of all the traces, then each of the pulses arrives at the end of the line at the same time. Also, even though the wavelength of 333 MHz electro-magnetic radiation in a vacuum is slightly less that one meter, emr travels through pcb materials at much slower speeds, ranging from 1/3 to about 3/4 the speed of light in a vacuum. Furthermore, any transmission line that is longer than one-hundredth of a wavelength (clearly true in this case) needs to have timing effects taken into consideration.
So to recap, the wiggly traces on the pcb are to ensure proper timing of the signals traveling along the bus, due to a shorter path around the inside of a corner than the outside.
i believe the FCC limits these 2.4Ghz signals to 100dB
100 dB above what reference? A certain number of dBs of signal doesn't mean anything unless you specify a reference level, like 1 mW or such. Decibel readings are a relative measurement only. They are based on the base-10 logarithm of the ratio of two absolute measurements. I can't imagine that the ratings that you may quote are in dBmW, because 100 dBmW is 10 megawatts!
Actually, most any process running on a heavily loaded computer is "hibernated" potentially many times per second, during the course of normal context switches by a preemptive multitasking kernel. Though the process data is not written to disk, there is a certain amount of time during which the processor knows absoulutely nothing about any process that is not currently running. All of this is managed during the call for a context switch, and it would be relatively simple (as simple as kernel programming gets, anyway) to make a call that would stop a process and write all the relevent data out to a file on disk, which would be able to be read and re-inserted into the process table without incident.
A more interesting note with this would be security. What would happen if someone froze a process, altered the dump file, then restarted it to possibly gain privileges beyond their normal user class? Obviously, such a freeze/restore call should only be allowed by trusted users, and even then perhaps some kind of checksumming should be done to identify that the process was not tampered with during its downtime.
The U.S. Constitution has survived some 225 years with only 26 amendments. As is stated above, one of these was to allow Congress to levy income taxes. That an amendment was required to allow a TAX to be levied is amazing to me. The Constitution was written to enumerate the limits of the Federal Government. An amendment to allow the income tax was required because it is a violation of due process to require citizens to divulge information about their income. There are other taxes that could be levied in the place of the Federal income tax that would not violate any of our rights as citizens of the United States. For example, a property tax levied on the total market value of all one's several possessions. It is not the government's place to know how much I make or where my income is sourced.
They might have to put some kind of repeater on the surface of the moon or perhaps in orbit around the moon. This would be a pretty simple procedure, but would likely add significantly to the probably huge cost of any project like this.
Now that there is a non-MS C# compiler, the dotGNU project gets a big boost.
The dotGNU project is a viable way to take on Microsoft in a new market that they don't yet have complete control over. I encourage all developers to pitch in whatever time and code they can to this worthwhile project. Here's a quote from their webpage:
The DotGNU project was originally started in reaction to Microsoft's.NET strategy, for which it will be a complete replacement (and not just a Free Software implementation). The part of.NET strategy about which we are most concerned is Hailstorm (recently renamed ".NET My Services"), which is in fact Microsoft's attempt to gain control of the internet and its users. In contrast, the goal of DotGNU is to give computer users full freedom to use the internet as they want. For example, the DotGNU approach to "web services" will make it possible for end users to run webservice software on their own PC, so that the users are not forced to migrate their data to the webservice servers.
Not trying to flame here, just some info... turning the wheels in or out is called toe-in or toe-out, and it can change the performance of the vehicle, especially in braking, acceleration, and turning... spoilers almost never reduce drag, they are designed to add downforce, or aerodynamic force pushing the car into the ground to increase traction at high speed. Lastly, there is no such thing as a turbo supercharger, they are two very different devices , both used to add horsepower and/or torque to an engine.
To start enhancing the performance of a car, you should first add a programmable Engine Control Unit (ECU) to alter the torque and horsepower curves for the stock engine. Next, the exhaust system should be replace for less pumping loss, and then a turbo or supercharger.
I'm sure that other *nix-like OS's have been doing it as well, but FreeBSD has had this for years. On each failed password attempt, the time before the login prompt is put up doubles. It starts out at about an half a second or so, but gets to be a pretty significant wait pretty fast, thanks to the wonders of exponential growth.
It's really amazing how far we've come in worldwide communications since Marconi's first transatlantic broadcast... I wonder what people will be saying when/. runs a story titled "100 years since first computer network."
Slashdot Mirror
"The fact that you have the software doesn't mean you own it."
While I agree that some software works well when it's free as in speech, there is also a need for developers to make money. The GPL is overly restrictive, as it requires any project that contains any GPLd code to release all their code. That is ridiculous. I will give credit where credit is due, but I will never release any of my code under the GPL, because I believe in capitalism.
It is amazing how much people favor their own talents over those of others. Here you say that programming is something more than a craft. It is not. A craft is the knowledge to apply a set of tools to create something that is useful or beautiful. The art comes in applying that knowledge to create something superb within your field. Certainly not all programs written are art, but some of them could certainly qualify as such due to their elegance and novelty.
The grandparent comment appears to have used the term artist synonymously with craftsman, and he is correct in doing so. Not everything an artist creates could be considered art. Only those works that speak some hidden truth beyond the surface of the medium, those that are truly beautiful, even if that beauty is not in an asthetic sense, can be called art.
Furthermore, anyone with a reasonable level of intelligence CAN learn to code well and quickly, however just as there are painters and sculptors, there are the Michaelangelos. Some craftsmen will more fully develop their ability than others.
This is an important result, if only because it simulates the physics of an event in 3-D for a rather complex situation. Many major improvements in technology have come about simply because someone needed a better way to kill someone, and these technologies often find peaceful applications as well. Remember that the early work with nuclear reactions was solely to create a bomb, and from that research we now have safe nuclear reactors that produce very cheap power.
At the very least, this simulation shows that computers can be used to predict the results of very complex interactions between matter and energy. Surely these same supercomputers can be used to simulate other equally complex phenomena, and these tests break the ice for simulations to come.
On another note, the United States does not test any physical nuclear devices anymore, underground or otherwise.
Well, you can't actually talk about a high-gain attenna in a cellphone application unless you want to require that the handset be constantly pointed in the direction of the tower. Of course, you can hope for higher efficiency antennas that will radiate more of the input power as useful energy.
The only gain an antenna can provide is if it directs the outgoing radiation into a non-omnidirectional path, thus favoring certain directions to others. An antenna is a passive device, and cannot provide any kind of omnidirectional gain whatsoever. Of course, an antenna that only loses 1dB of input power over one that loses 3dB of input power is certainly still better.
Actually, according to Einstein's theories of Special and General Relativity, a gravitational field is indistinguishable from an accelerationin the direction opposite the apparent field.
This has to do with propagation of the data along the bus. Mainly that when a set of parallell traces goes around a corner, the inner traces are shorter unless the extra zig-zags are added. By equalizing the length of all the traces, then each of the pulses arrives at the end of the line at the same time. Also, even though the wavelength of 333 MHz electro-magnetic radiation in a vacuum is slightly less that one meter, emr travels through pcb materials at much slower speeds, ranging from 1/3 to about 3/4 the speed of light in a vacuum. Furthermore, any transmission line that is longer than one-hundredth of a wavelength (clearly true in this case) needs to have timing effects taken into consideration.
So to recap, the wiggly traces on the pcb are to ensure proper timing of the signals traveling along the bus, due to a shorter path around the inside of a corner than the outside.
100 dB above what reference? A certain number of dBs of signal doesn't mean anything unless you specify a reference level, like 1 mW or such. Decibel readings are a relative measurement only. They are based on the base-10 logarithm of the ratio of two absolute measurements. I can't imagine that the ratings that you may quote are in dBmW, because 100 dBmW is 10 megawatts!
The actual speed of the signal in a cable has a lot to do with the relative dielectric constant of the cable, generally in the range 4-15 for coax.
Actually, most any process running on a heavily loaded computer is "hibernated" potentially many times per second, during the course of normal context switches by a preemptive multitasking kernel. Though the process data is not written to disk, there is a certain amount of time during which the processor knows absoulutely nothing about any process that is not currently running. All of this is managed during the call for a context switch, and it would be relatively simple (as simple as kernel programming gets, anyway) to make a call that would stop a process and write all the relevent data out to a file on disk, which would be able to be read and re-inserted into the process table without incident.
A more interesting note with this would be security. What would happen if someone froze a process, altered the dump file, then restarted it to possibly gain privileges beyond their normal user class? Obviously, such a freeze/restore call should only be allowed by trusted users, and even then perhaps some kind of checksumming should be done to identify that the process was not tampered with during its downtime.
The U.S. Constitution has survived some 225 years with only 26 amendments. As is stated above, one of these was to allow Congress to levy income taxes. That an amendment was required to allow a TAX to be levied is amazing to me. The Constitution was written to enumerate the limits of the Federal Government. An amendment to allow the income tax was required because it is a violation of due process to require citizens to divulge information about their income. There are other taxes that could be levied in the place of the Federal income tax that would not violate any of our rights as citizens of the United States. For example, a property tax levied on the total market value of all one's several possessions. It is not the government's place to know how much I make or where my income is sourced.
A good point...
They might have to put some kind of repeater on the surface of the moon or perhaps in orbit around the moon. This would be a pretty simple procedure, but would likely add significantly to the probably huge cost of any project like this.
The dotGNU project is a viable way to take on Microsoft in a new market that they don't yet have complete control over. I encourage all developers to pitch in whatever time and code they can to this worthwhile project. Here's a quote from their webpage:
Not trying to flame here, just some info... turning the wheels in or out is called toe-in or toe-out, and it can change the performance of the vehicle, especially in braking, acceleration, and turning... spoilers almost never reduce drag, they are designed to add downforce, or aerodynamic force pushing the car into the ground to increase traction at high speed. Lastly, there is no such thing as a turbo supercharger, they are two very different devices , both used to add horsepower and/or torque to an engine. To start enhancing the performance of a car, you should first add a programmable Engine Control Unit (ECU) to alter the torque and horsepower curves for the stock engine. Next, the exhaust system should be replace for less pumping loss, and then a turbo or supercharger.
I'm sure that other *nix-like OS's have been doing it as well, but FreeBSD has had this for years. On each failed password attempt, the time before the login prompt is put up doubles. It starts out at about an half a second or so, but gets to be a pretty significant wait pretty fast, thanks to the wonders of exponential growth.
It's really amazing how far we've come in worldwide communications since Marconi's first transatlantic broadcast... I wonder what people will be saying when /. runs a story titled "100 years since first computer network."