FYI, the grandparent's meaning for 'optimal' was ambiguous, it didn't necessarily refer to efficiency. Could also be referring to bugs in the system strtod(). OTOH I agree that efficiency is the more likely interpretation, just about.
To everyone recommending CMake: have you actually viewed a reasonably-sized CMakeLists file? It's disgusting, at least as bad as configure.ac. CMake's only selling point is that it supports Windows better. (I can't comment on if it supports it particularly well.) And from the GNU folks POV, why should they support a non-free OS that more than doubles the maintenance load?
The real reason the registry is an example of bad design is because it is stored entirely in one file. Hence, it can be wiped out by an even mildly idiotic user manoevre. GNOME, and probably KDE, have things similar to the registry, but done right (subdirectories and XML).
I would welcome some uniformity in the configuration arena. But I don't think that's going to happen, unless Linux developers decide to use one programming language for everything, and the chances of that happening are less than zero.
It is useful for the user to keep a clear mental division between the name of a file and its contents, since there is no intrinsic link between the two. More association simply leads to more "metaphor shear", as Neal Stephenson puts it.
Programming has become such a complex subject, that there is no way the majority of users could ever hope to achieve the level of proficiency needed to even code the simplest of applications
No? Shell scripts written by people who have been immersed in the Unix environment only a few weeks seem to suggest otherwise. If you put the time in and use the right form, programming - i.e. logic - isn't mentally taxing; it can be universal.
This lets the users concentrate on using the applications that were written to perform other business needs that they will spend their time studying.
This is newspeak for "shackling the users to what you think they want".
Out of the 40 people that started a Java class in my college, only 6 of us finished it. 34 couldn't keep pace and couldn't understand it.
That was Java. Imagine if programming was as simple as hooking together a few pre-written components - like a graphical Unix shell, if you like. Once the user had become naturalized with the components, they could begin to write their own in whatever language they felt capable of; there would still be applications, but they would be infinitely extensible by the user.
Isn't that better than being chained to an inflexible GUI? It makes me wonder why someone hasn't done it, because it certainly is technically feasible.
Half of these things are unfeasible, since GTK+ is a toolkit and has to avoid having state that would tie it to a given environment.
And tree view with completable boxes is clearly the best approach to file selection. More importantly, the widgets have to be programmer-extensible (like Java's are, IIRC).
Yes, the article was a troll. Occasionally, trolls make good points. This time, the point made was: it is useless to review an operating system while expecting it to work in exactly the same way as the operating system you are used to; people do this constantly when reviewing desktop Linux.
And I must say you're a fine one to talk about trolling, since virtually all of your comments are trolls. You and roblimo both have massive agendas.
Its just that shitloads can't, and as a musician in the latter category, I have to worry a little more about putting food on the table than becoming as cultured as you apparently are. Smirk.
Apologies if I sounded slightly holier-than-thou there. I was not suggesting that all electronic music could be performed live. (However, I would suggest to you that most can; whether you get any takers for live performances depends on you.)
but I don't think I'm being unfair that I receive *some* limited compensation (certainly not as much as the labels want) such that I can make a living wage and continue to create more music.
I was certainly not suggesting that you should have no right to that, and not supporting the idea that all music profits should be taken from live performances either. My comment is what its text says, and implies nothing more.
In summary: you seem a little touchy. Check yourself next time before you jump on someone.
development tools more sophisticated than vi and grep
I don't think users of vi and grep are to blame for the abomination that is Hungarian Notation. I believe we have MS to blame for that one. (I'm not sure about this - corrections welcome.)
Particularly composers of electronic music, in which the music cannot be 'performed' live
Electronic music can be performed live, and often is. Broaden your horizons.
Re:mplayer's option syntax annoys me
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Mplayer Revisited
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· Score: 1
Maybe they don't want to have an option for every character in alphabet. If so the extra dash is just extra typing.
All real geeks shorten all options to the point where they're one character.:-)
It's hard to debate what is ugly
True. But if anything, the double dash is more intuitive to the untrained eye, because of its use in quotation attribution and such. Prefixing things with a single minus sign makes no sense to people unraised on Unix.
And people wonder why this shit isn't mainstream yet?
Joe User isn't expected to use the command line. Anyway, even if he does, the syntax to do simple things is simple: mplayer -dvd 1 to play a DVD.
mplayer's option syntax annoys me
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Mplayer Revisited
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· Score: 4, Interesting
Why did they pointlessly violate the established (and useful) double-dash for long options convention in favour of an ugly and irregular one dash for all options? I'm aware that it's probably an imitation of the X standard, but in this day and age that's probably not a good thing to imitate. Also, it doesn't allow you to abbreviate with one-character options.
I'm not part of YOUR community. Learn to live without me, however hard you may find this.
I like how your argument changes from "There is no cabal (open source community)!" to "I'm not a part of it", with the implied suffix "...but it does exist". Just as us wishing that you were a part of the community doesn't make you one, you not being a part of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
This show is for the UK, which tends not to be quite so conflicted about sex as the US.
Hahahah! I'm sorry, look at the front page of any red-top paper in the UK and you'll find sex scandals all over the place; this is the primary reason people read them. The majority of our comedy is based around sexual awkwardness; our uptightness about sex is famed, as well as our inability to speak emotionally, et cetera (I'm happy to say the latter is mostly mythical). Our society witchhunts paedophiles daily and moans about the teenage pregnancy rate regularly while refusing to address it apart from with sneers. We're "less conflicted"? (Admittedly, the US is almost as bad, with its religion-heavy slant.)
Still, I'm interested in this:
2. Pedophiles are those interested in pre-pubescent children. Go look at DSM-IV, or even a decent dictionary.
I didn't know that, although I've always held that opinion. This will be nice to throw in people's faces in arguments, thanks.
True. And it's doubly weird, since Unix's lack of limitations on characters in filenames would solve the problems of the grandparent, and remain elegant.
Slashdot Mirror
FYI, the grandparent's meaning for 'optimal' was ambiguous, it didn't necessarily refer to efficiency. Could also be referring to bugs in the system strtod(). OTOH I agree that efficiency is the more likely interpretation, just about.
Just FYI this story is actually a total lie. I would tag it as 'lies' if I could figure out how.
Citation needed
To everyone recommending CMake: have you actually viewed a reasonably-sized CMakeLists file? It's disgusting, at least as bad as configure.ac. CMake's only selling point is that it supports Windows better. (I can't comment on if it supports it particularly well.) And from the GNU folks POV, why should they support a non-free OS that more than doubles the maintenance load?
polished
CS4 is one of the buggiest pieces of software I've ever seen, it was actually pretty shocking.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor's_New_Mind Be aware of this, at least...
Brings a new meaning to the term "savegame"!
Reading the links might help you understand.
The language/class library itself is Microsoft all the way through. Look at some C# code and weep.
The real reason the registry is an example of bad design is because it is stored entirely in one file. Hence, it can be wiped out by an even mildly idiotic user manoevre. GNOME, and probably KDE, have things similar to the registry, but done right (subdirectories and XML).
I would welcome some uniformity in the configuration arena. But I don't think that's going to happen, unless Linux developers decide to use one programming language for everything, and the chances of that happening are less than zero.
It is useful for the user to keep a clear mental division between the name of a file and its contents, since there is no intrinsic link between the two. More association simply leads to more "metaphor shear", as Neal Stephenson puts it.
No? Shell scripts written by people who have been immersed in the Unix environment only a few weeks seem to suggest otherwise. If you put the time in and use the right form, programming - i.e. logic - isn't mentally taxing; it can be universal.
This is newspeak for "shackling the users to what you think they want".
That was Java. Imagine if programming was as simple as hooking together a few pre-written components - like a graphical Unix shell, if you like. Once the user had become naturalized with the components, they could begin to write their own in whatever language they felt capable of; there would still be applications, but they would be infinitely extensible by the user.
Isn't that better than being chained to an inflexible GUI? It makes me wonder why someone hasn't done it, because it certainly is technically feasible.
Half of these things are unfeasible, since GTK+ is a toolkit and has to avoid having state that would tie it to a given environment.
And tree view with completable boxes is clearly the best approach to file selection. More importantly, the widgets have to be programmer-extensible (like Java's are, IIRC).
Yes, the article was a troll. Occasionally, trolls make good points. This time, the point made was: it is useless to review an operating system while expecting it to work in exactly the same way as the operating system you are used to; people do this constantly when reviewing desktop Linux.
And I must say you're a fine one to talk about trolling, since virtually all of your comments are trolls. You and roblimo both have massive agendas.
.Apologies if I sounded slightly holier-than-thou there. I was not suggesting that all electronic music could be performed live. (However, I would suggest to you that most can; whether you get any takers for live performances depends on you.)
I was certainly not suggesting that you should have no right to that, and not supporting the idea that all music profits should be taken from live performances either. My comment is what its text says, and implies nothing more.
In summary: you seem a little touchy. Check yourself next time before you jump on someone.
I don't think users of vi and grep are to blame for the abomination that is Hungarian Notation. I believe we have MS to blame for that one. (I'm not sure about this - corrections welcome.)
Electronic music can be performed live, and often is. Broaden your horizons.
All real geeks shorten all options to the point where they're one character. :-)
True. But if anything, the double dash is more intuitive to the untrained eye, because of its use in quotation attribution and such. Prefixing things with a single minus sign makes no sense to people unraised on Unix.
Joe User isn't expected to use the command line. Anyway, even if he does, the syntax to do simple things is simple: mplayer -dvd 1 to play a DVD.
Why did they pointlessly violate the established (and useful) double-dash for long options convention in favour of an ugly and irregular one dash for all options? I'm aware that it's probably an imitation of the X standard, but in this day and age that's probably not a good thing to imitate. Also, it doesn't allow you to abbreviate with one-character options.
I like how your argument changes from "There is no cabal (open source community)!" to "I'm not a part of it", with the implied suffix "...but it does exist". Just as us wishing that you were a part of the community doesn't make you one, you not being a part of it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
Hahahah! I'm sorry, look at the front page of any red-top paper in the UK and you'll find sex scandals all over the place; this is the primary reason people read them. The majority of our comedy is based around sexual awkwardness; our uptightness about sex is famed, as well as our inability to speak emotionally, et cetera (I'm happy to say the latter is mostly mythical). Our society witchhunts paedophiles daily and moans about the teenage pregnancy rate regularly while refusing to address it apart from with sneers. We're "less conflicted"? (Admittedly, the US is almost as bad, with its religion-heavy slant.)
Still, I'm interested in this:
I didn't know that, although I've always held that opinion. This will be nice to throw in people's faces in arguments, thanks.
And code a classic race condition? No thanks.
I feel this ancient filk needs some repetition (courtesy of fortune):
True. And it's doubly weird, since Unix's lack of limitations on characters in filenames would solve the problems of the grandparent, and remain elegant.