I am not an economist, but many third world countries use US dollars as a de facto currency within the country e.g. Cambodia. The Euro in Europe replaced a lot of individual European currencies. What you will see in-game is the same thing that occurs in those two examples - prices in-game will fluctuate as the US dollar value fluctuates.
Normally when the currency value goes up within a country with a floating exchange rate, the local prices stay numerically the same, but imports/exports change. If you peg the in-game currency to the US dollar, in-game prices will fluctuate with changes to the US dollar, but the prices of imports/exports (to the US) will numerically stay the same.
Fixing a currency to the US dollar has a similar intent to adopting a gold standard - you are trying to ensure confidence in the currency.
I want to be the guy that gets paid $150 to put in the right-braces lines. I could put in a few hundred in the morning, then go fishing for the rest of the day.
I don't fish, but at $150 per character I could learn:-)
It is certainly different for me nowadays. I used to always carry around boot discs and driver discs of various descriptions. Installation of software is a much less risky process since the advent of Win2K/XP, and with safe mode, the likelihood of not being able to boot a computer is much reduced.
Also, with near-ubiquitous internet access these days, the chances of not having a critical driver is almost zero. And any particularly hard to get drivers I keep on my laptop.
So now I pretty much just keep blank CDs/DVDs with me, and make backups of important data if I'm installing hardware.
"The software giant is entering perhaps the greatest upheaval in its 30-year history."
Yeah, right. Like the upheaval when they announced a top-to-bottom-all-new-strategy named.NET, and the upheaval when they decided this Internet thing was really important and reorganized themselves top-to-bottom to take advantage of it, and the upheaval in 1995 when Bill Gates said that the "social interface" was the future of computing and introduced the all-new revolutionary Microsoft BOB.
While this criticism is justified, I can vouch that VS.NET is an enormous change from previous versions of Visual Studio. It's much more open (CLS allows Mono for example), and much easier to use *and* more powerful (very hard to do both of those).
In fact I think of it as the "Developers! Developers! Developers!" edition...:-)
He banked the proceeds in Japan, ergo he worked in Japan.
If he'd banked the proceeds in China, and got his parents to wire him the money from there, he probably would have been okay. As long as he paid his taxes in China, I guess.
I have an old extended ASCII table that I scanned in about a decade ago and reprint on a regular basis. Over the years I've added other stuff to it (hexadecimal conversion tables, colour tables etc).
It's getting a bit less useful in these Unicode days, but it is the longest lived technical document I still use.
What the hell version of Troopers did you see (or read)? The movie was a travesty -- it seemed like they couldn't make up their minds to make fun of Heinlein's source story or follow along with it. I admit that part of the problem was Heinlein's story -- it was a shoot-em up, but with a lot of subtext as baggage. The movie ignored the subtext and did the shoot-em up part poorly.
Obviously you didn't read the opening credits closely enough, where it said "Same title as the book by Robert A Heinlein":-)
I love both the movie and the book, but I consider them different stories.
"Starship troopers the movie" will teach you all you need to know about deconstructing films, to whit: One decapitation = horror, two decapitations = comedy
The movie also wins the award for Best-cast-against-type with Doogie Howser as a member of the SS.
Heh, but twenty years ago most of a programmer's time was spent coding. Now most of a programmer's time is spent reading documentation (whether it be webpages, online help, API documentation, whatever).
I think there will always be some equilibrium where a programmer has to compare estimates of (coding time + testing time + documentation time) of coding from scratch versus (research time + API learning time + hacking/patching/wrapping time) for using someone elses library/code.
Also the ongoing maintenance is an issue. For closed source, this generally means that coding from scratch is the more attractive option because if something fails in six months time, you'll have the code to fix it.
I don't know about open source. I've heard that documentation on open source stuff is pretty sketchy. This doesn't surprise me, because a closed source third-party library has to be pretty freakingly amazingly well documentated and reliable for me even to consider using it - because I don't have the source code. Even with source code, reading someone else's code is often time consuming and I dislike putting code into an app that I haven't checked line-by-line. And if I check line-by-line, I may as well write it myself. Unless it is something that I don't know how to do (in which case I learn by reading the third party code line-by-line then re-write it anyway!:-)
``CE 6.0 supports up to 32,000 processes with 2 GB of virtual memory per process, versus CE 5.0's maximum of 32 processes having a maximum of 32 MB virtual memory each That's a huge leap.
What kind of portable or industrial machine is going to need those kinds of capabilities, much less have the onboard hardware to fully utilize 'em?''
Yeah, no-one is going to need more than 640Kb of RAM:-)
On the other hand, if Google were to adjust its algorithm, or begin quashing "Google bombs," the free-speech squad would go nuts, claiming that Google's actions are quashing the freedom of expression of online lynch-mobs. The EFF would go to court. Slashdot's YRO section would be packed with cyberlibertarians bitching about censorship and bringing up the legendary, mythical (and fictional) "neutrality" of the Internet.
Google is not a government organisation, so "free speech" is not an issue.
In the end, Googlebombing will get squashed if the googlebombers don't pump up useful sites.
If I type "Sally Red" into Google, I want to see the most relevant site on Sally Red. If I get some dodgy anti-Sally-Red site that is of no use to me, then Google's algorithms have not done their job, and should be changed.
Now obviously, the exact type of site I'm after might be totally different to that sought by some other user whom types in "Sally Red", but Google works based on site popularity; the assumption that most people that type in a particular search term are looking for the same thing.
Bottom line: if the majority of searchers aren't clicking on the top link of a google-bombed search phrase, then Google SHOULD change their algorithms, and are perfectly justified in doing so.
Unlike an engine, software doesn't "wear out". You write it once, you write it well, and it works, and keeps working.
Let me take the opportunity to welcome you to planet Earth. Things work a bit different here.
As a programmer that is still supporting MSDOS programs I "wrote well" in the early 90s, I feel I am entitled to comment.
You've forgotten that things change. Business needs change. The third party apps you integrate with change. The programming languages change. Hell, even the operating system changes with relative frequency.
Application Software is the roof on a house where the bricks are replaced weekly, the timbers are replaced monthly, and the foundations are replaced yearly.
This is a serious problem and we need to change, and change now. I propose that instead of "Access Standby" mode we IMMEDIATELY redesign ALL electronic items to have a "Mode Execute Ready" state which uses less power.
No language offers 100% security. Some offer features that are easy to misuse in such a way as to inadvertently introduce security holes, but there is no such thing as a "secure" programming language; bad/inexperienced coders will produce dross whatever language they use.
I would go one step further and say that "secure coding" is not a solvable problem, it's an arms race. It is a question of preventing all the well-known vulnerabilities (such as SQL injection) so that it is too expensive for a cracker to attack your program. It depends on the app too - a simple blog program deserves less "securing" than an online banking program, for example.
I don't know if I like the idea of a complete replacement of the behind the scenes Trek crew. Sure I'm glad that B&B are gone, but what about folks like Mike Okuda? The man behind the TNG techincal manual and the Star Trek Encyclopedia? Who is reported to have the entire continuity in his head?
I think it is a good thing. With any franchise, "continuity" or "canon" enhances the enjoyment only up to a certain point. After a while, the writers start having to ditch good stories because they would mess up the continuity too much. At that point the franchise needs to be rebooted.
This is not necessarily bad - look at the new version of "Battlestar: Galactica". Enough homage for fans of the original series, but a totally different approach to the original concept. (And Richard Hatch is far better utilized as Tom Zarek than he ever could have been as an ageing Apollo!).
What Trek needs is a new crew that has a reverence for the TOS->Enterprise universe, but can start with a fresh slate.
>US history books make it out like they were rabid, crazed defenders of their almighty >emperor that would have fought to the last man, and that our atomic bombs "shocked" them >back to "reason" and "saved lives". It's all a blatant lie.
Whether or not what you say is true, consider this:
If WWII had ended without nuclear fission weapons being used, nuclear fusion weapons might have been used during the Cold War. The horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have at the very least scared the bejeezus out of everyone with respect to nuclear weapons.
Slashdot Mirror
It's like parfait. Who doesn't like parfait?
I am not an economist, but many third world countries use US dollars as a de facto currency within the country e.g. Cambodia. The Euro in Europe replaced a lot of individual European currencies. What you will see in-game is the same thing that occurs in those two examples - prices in-game will fluctuate as the US dollar value fluctuates.
Normally when the currency value goes up within a country with a floating exchange rate, the local prices stay numerically the same, but imports/exports change. If you peg the in-game currency to the US dollar, in-game prices will fluctuate with changes to the US dollar, but the prices of imports/exports (to the US) will numerically stay the same.
Fixing a currency to the US dollar has a similar intent to adopting a gold standard - you are trying to ensure confidence in the currency.
... REBEL scum.
I for one am happy to serve as a snifferhuman for our new dog overlords.
I want to be the guy that gets paid $150 to put in the right-braces lines. I could put in a few hundred in the morning, then go fishing for the rest of the day.
:-)
I don't fish, but at $150 per character I could learn
That's $150 per line of code! I reckon the Microsoft devs have been playing WoW on company time
Q: Do no evil?
A: They're an advertising company!
It is certainly different for me nowadays. I used to always carry around boot discs and driver discs of various descriptions. Installation of software is a much less risky process since the advent of Win2K/XP, and with safe mode, the likelihood of not being able to boot a computer is much reduced.
Also, with near-ubiquitous internet access these days, the chances of not having a critical driver is almost zero. And any particularly hard to get drivers I keep on my laptop.
So now I pretty much just keep blank CDs/DVDs with me, and make backups of important data if I'm installing hardware.
This was all predicted by Douglas Adams.
The time has definitely come for "Mode Execute Ready"
While this criticism is justified, I can vouch that VS.NET is an enormous change from previous versions of Visual Studio. It's much more open (CLS allows Mono for example), and much easier to use *and* more powerful (very hard to do both of those).
In fact I think of it as the "Developers! Developers! Developers!" edition...
He banked the proceeds in Japan, ergo he worked in Japan.
If he'd banked the proceeds in China, and got his parents to wire him the money from there, he probably would have been okay. As long as he paid his taxes in China, I guess.
Didn't they also try this in one of the 'Highlander" films?
I have an old extended ASCII table that I scanned in about a decade ago and reprint on a regular basis. Over the years I've added other stuff to it (hexadecimal conversion tables, colour tables etc).
It's getting a bit less useful in these Unicode days, but it is the longest lived technical document I still use.
CHA
(obscure The Tick reference)
Obviously you didn't read the opening credits closely enough, where it said "Same title as the book by Robert A Heinlein"
I love both the movie and the book, but I consider them different stories.
"Starship troopers the movie" will teach you all you need to know about deconstructing films, to whit: One decapitation = horror, two decapitations = comedy
The movie also wins the award for Best-cast-against-type with Doogie Howser as a member of the SS.
Vampires in spaceships.
Dunno if that's going to work.
Spaceships in vampires, though, that has some legs. It's the kind of out-of-the-box-man-bites-dog thinking we need around here.
Heh, but twenty years ago most of a programmer's time was spent coding. Now most of a programmer's time is spent reading documentation (whether it be webpages, online help, API documentation, whatever).
:-)
I think there will always be some equilibrium where a programmer has to compare estimates of (coding time + testing time + documentation time) of coding from scratch versus (research time + API learning time + hacking/patching/wrapping time) for using someone elses library/code.
Also the ongoing maintenance is an issue. For closed source, this generally means that coding from scratch is the more attractive option because if something fails in six months time, you'll have the code to fix it.
I don't know about open source. I've heard that documentation on open source stuff is pretty sketchy. This doesn't surprise me, because a closed source third-party library has to be pretty freakingly amazingly well documentated and reliable for me even to consider using it - because I don't have the source code. Even with source code, reading someone else's code is often time consuming and I dislike putting code into an app that I haven't checked line-by-line. And if I check line-by-line, I may as well write it myself. Unless it is something that I don't know how to do (in which case I learn by reading the third party code line-by-line then re-write it anyway!
Yeah, no-one is going to need more than 640Kb of RAM
Microsoft has learned from history. Have you?
Google is not a government organisation, so "free speech" is not an issue.
In the end, Googlebombing will get squashed if the googlebombers don't pump up useful sites.
If I type "Sally Red" into Google, I want to see the most relevant site on Sally Red. If I get some dodgy anti-Sally-Red site that is of no use to me, then Google's algorithms have not done their job, and should be changed.
Now obviously, the exact type of site I'm after might be totally different to that sought by some other user whom types in "Sally Red", but Google works based on site popularity; the assumption that most people that type in a particular search term are looking for the same thing.
Bottom line: if the majority of searchers aren't clicking on the top link of a google-bombed search phrase, then Google SHOULD change their algorithms, and are perfectly justified in doing so.
Let me take the opportunity to welcome you to planet Earth. Things work a bit different here.
As a programmer that is still supporting MSDOS programs I "wrote well" in the early 90s, I feel I am entitled to comment.
You've forgotten that things change. Business needs change. The third party apps you integrate with change. The programming languages change. Hell, even the operating system changes with relative frequency.
Application Software is the roof on a house where the bricks are replaced weekly, the timbers are replaced monthly, and the foundations are replaced yearly.
Dude. Switch to decaf. Seriously. :-)
This is a serious problem and we need to change, and change now. I propose that instead of "Access Standby" mode we IMMEDIATELY redesign ALL electronic items to have a "Mode Execute Ready" state which uses less power.
I would go one step further and say that "secure coding" is not a solvable problem, it's an arms race. It is a question of preventing all the well-known vulnerabilities (such as SQL injection) so that it is too expensive for a cracker to attack your program. It depends on the app too - a simple blog program deserves less "securing" than an online banking program, for example.
I think it is a good thing. With any franchise, "continuity" or "canon" enhances the enjoyment only up to a certain point. After a while, the writers start having to ditch good stories because they would mess up the continuity too much. At that point the franchise needs to be rebooted.
This is not necessarily bad - look at the new version of "Battlestar: Galactica". Enough homage for fans of the original series, but a totally different approach to the original concept. (And Richard Hatch is far better utilized as Tom Zarek than he ever could have been as an ageing Apollo!).
What Trek needs is a new crew that has a reverence for the TOS->Enterprise universe, but can start with a fresh slate.
>US history books make it out like they were rabid, crazed defenders of their almighty
>emperor that would have fought to the last man, and that our atomic bombs "shocked" them
>back to "reason" and "saved lives". It's all a blatant lie.
Whether or not what you say is true, consider this:
If WWII had ended without nuclear fission weapons being used, nuclear fusion weapons might have been used during the Cold War. The horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have at the very least scared the bejeezus out of everyone with respect to nuclear weapons.