How many web sites are going to require Windows Internet Explorer 8 the month it comes out?
None, because Microsoft is implementing an open standard, rather than someone implementing a Microsoft technology.
To "stick to" something implies that something has an opposite from which one should abstain. As I understood it, the opposite of "free APIs" is "non-free APIs".
Sorry, I thought I spelt it out enough the second time around. Lets try again: They should stick to providing access to APIs for Free software, where the important point is the "access to Free software" part, not the API.
GNU got started by implementing AT&T's UNIX APIs. Inventing new APIs to be deliberately incompatible with non-free software smacks of NIHism.
Dude, you need to check your reading comprehension skills. I said "access to Free software", I didn't say "reinvent crazy new shit to replace stuff that already exists". I even gave the explicit example of GTK+ and Qt. How is this NIH? Hint: it's not.
So, yes, Mono's VM is great, C# is a great language, Mono's implementation of the ECMA standards is great (assuming deployers don't get sued for any submarine patent encumberance, like those GPS guys (Garmin?) recently did) and so is the fact you can write great GTK+ and Qt apps using it.
However whenever they implement something to make it easier for people to justify the use proprietary software elsewhere, for example, Moonlight, then they are harming the Free software community in the long run.
If a publisher tests its Silverlight app on Moonlight, then how is it not cross-platform?
Then great! But I would suggest that the majority of publishers won't, since if they are deploying a silverlight app they are going to be Windows-based anyway and not care.
Also, unless Mono's implementation is 100% up to date with Microsoft's, you're going to lose anyway since effectively no one is going to not use the latest and greatest version of Microsoft's technology, as soon as it is released.
"To view this site you need Silverlight 2.0, click here for a free download from Microsoft."
What makes an API itself non-free, as opposed to its implementation?
I didn't talk about "non-free APIs", why are you asking about them?
I said they should stick to providing access to APIs for Free software, rather than helping to increase Microsoft's market share and harming users of Free software in the long run by implementing Microsoft's APIs and technologies.
Of course, this is why Mono's support of the.NET APIs in general, and Moonlight in particular, is bad for Linux: it is encouraging services to deploy Windows-specific technologies under the guise that it's actually "cross platform".
Mono is a nice VM and C# is a reasonable language, but they should stick to implementing Free APIs, like Qt and GTK+.
Yeah, this is the problem. While it is certainly possible to get part time employment as a software engineer (I've been doing it for some years now), it's impossible to rise out of the ranks of code monkey. You might make it to senior code monkey but would never become a project leader, for example.
I think this is mainly because the more senior positions need to be across the whole project, available for whenever a decision/problem/whatever comes up and if you're only the 0.5 or 0.6 of the time, you're not going to be very useful.
As noted elsewhere, consulting is perhaps a little different but that has its own pitfalls.
This isn't true at all. I've been working part time as a software engineer for a few years while I study. There are places that will take on a part time developer, not many, but they exist.
Actually, the whole point of OpenGL was to provide software- and hardware- vendor agnostic API for writing applications that perform 3D rendering. You've clearly been living in a monoculture too long if you can't see that.
Software fallback is nice to have but, it's certainly not the reason OGL exists.
Rubbish! if you could remember the signature of every POSIX function, would that make you a good UNIX geek? No. Knowing what to do with them and having something to do with them does.
Man pages are there for a reason - so we don't have to remember what the 14 parameters for XmbufCreateStereoWindow(3) are.
Few people need to have the same level of mental agility as a geek involved with creating something useful out of a few wispy ideas, uncertain laws of computing and foggy requirements specifications. On top of that they need a set of toolkits, one for say algorithms, one for good coding practice, one for all the calls and defines in this application, one for each language being coded and one for project management. AND they have to flip between all of them all the time. AND, even within the realm of a bit of straight code there will be nests of issues, side-effects, diversions and breakpoints.
Whatever you elitist notions of what a geek are - none of the above has anything to do with remembering where you put your underwear.
This isn't the sort of thing that goes on the hard driver or internet.
Right - it's called "experience", it's not about remembering where you put your underwear.
However there are two ways to mitigate the undoubted problem of brain ageing and mental fatigue: (1)Do less. (2)Restructure, or apply a structure where before you could busk-it, tasks - typically making notes or checklists to suit.
Ahahah ahahahaha hahah ha ha. Oh man, nice troll. You had me going there.
Look up any psyc paper about aging and cognitive function and you'll see that people who do more experience less of a decline as they get older. This is why for example, politicians academics and business leaders tend to still be going strong well past retirement.
My advice to the OP is (a)work in an environment that is distraction-free as possible. (b) Recognise there are some times it is best to go for a walk and try again an hour later. (c) When you get a really good session going, ask yourself what could be the influencing factors.
Wow, that's even less helpful than "wear sunscreen".
Remembering stuff isn't what makes you a geek - remembering stuff is what your hard drive and the Internet is for. Being a geek is all about applying your one-eyed devotion to [hardware|software|cameras|games|knitting|etc] to the fullest extent and doing nifty things with it.
It's pretty well known that young people are better at raw ability where older people are better at anything that requires experience. So don't worry about forgetting stuff too much, concentrate on kicking arse with your experience.
If you are forgetting stuff, write it down. But keep on being a geek and stay fit, because mental and physical activity are two primary factors in retaining cognitive ability in old age.
Yeah, religions just can't take a joke. Imagine the outrage from fundie christians if there was a burning cross or something in it. It'd get banned in the US.
Slashdot Mirror
How many web sites are going to require Windows Internet Explorer 8 the month it comes out?
None, because Microsoft is implementing an open standard, rather than someone implementing a Microsoft technology.
To "stick to" something implies that something has an opposite from which one should abstain. As I understood it, the opposite of "free APIs" is "non-free APIs".
Sorry, I thought I spelt it out enough the second time around. Lets try again: They should stick to providing access to APIs for Free software, where the important point is the "access to Free software" part, not the API.
GNU got started by implementing AT&T's UNIX APIs. Inventing new APIs to be deliberately incompatible with non-free software smacks of NIHism.
Dude, you need to check your reading comprehension skills. I said "access to Free software", I didn't say "reinvent crazy new shit to replace stuff that already exists". I even gave the explicit example of GTK+ and Qt. How is this NIH? Hint: it's not.
So, yes, Mono's VM is great, C# is a great language, Mono's implementation of the ECMA standards is great (assuming deployers don't get sued for any submarine patent encumberance, like those GPS guys (Garmin?) recently did) and so is the fact you can write great GTK+ and Qt apps using it.
However whenever they implement something to make it easier for people to justify the use proprietary software elsewhere, for example, Moonlight, then they are harming the Free software community in the long run.
/Mike
If a publisher tests its Silverlight app on Moonlight, then how is it not cross-platform?
Then great! But I would suggest that the majority of publishers won't, since if they are deploying a silverlight app they are going to be Windows-based anyway and not care.
Also, unless Mono's implementation is 100% up to date with Microsoft's, you're going to lose anyway since effectively no one is going to not use the latest and greatest version of Microsoft's technology, as soon as it is released.
"To view this site you need Silverlight 2.0, click here for a free download from Microsoft."
What makes an API itself non-free, as opposed to its implementation?
I didn't talk about "non-free APIs", why are you asking about them?
I said they should stick to providing access to APIs for Free software, rather than helping to increase Microsoft's market share and harming users of Free software in the long run by implementing Microsoft's APIs and technologies.
/Mike
Of course, this is why Mono's support of the .NET APIs in general, and Moonlight in particular, is bad for Linux: it is encouraging services to deploy Windows-specific technologies under the guise that it's actually "cross platform".
Mono is a nice VM and C# is a reasonable language, but they should stick to implementing Free APIs, like Qt and GTK+.
/Mike
What values of "don't install solitare" don't you understand? How much easier does it get than that?
/Mike
We're not evil! Honest injun!
Fucking racist whiteys.
I guess that's what happens when you buy proprietary software - you're screwed if the vendor pulls the plug on you.
/Mike
Can someone please pass this on to the Australian Federal Government, in particular the Minister for Censoring the Internet, the Hon Stephen Conroy.
kthnkxbye
/Mike
Yeah, this is the problem. While it is certainly possible to get part time employment as a software engineer (I've been doing it for some years now), it's impossible to rise out of the ranks of code monkey. You might make it to senior code monkey but would never become a project leader, for example.
I think this is mainly because the more senior positions need to be across the whole project, available for whenever a decision/problem/whatever comes up and if you're only the 0.5 or 0.6 of the time, you're not going to be very useful.
As noted elsewhere, consulting is perhaps a little different but that has its own pitfalls.
/Mike
This isn't true at all. I've been working part time as a software engineer for a few years while I study. There are places that will take on a part time developer, not many, but they exist.
/Mike
+1, Correct.
Actually, the whole point of OpenGL was to provide software- and hardware- vendor agnostic API for writing applications that perform 3D rendering. You've clearly been living in a monoculture too long if you can't see that.
Software fallback is nice to have but, it's certainly not the reason OGL exists.
/Mike
"Novel method for rasterizing three dimensional scenes in absence of specific hardware support."
/Mike
Yes, the battery life is awesoNOCARRIER
Geekiness IS about remembering.
Rubbish! if you could remember the signature of every POSIX function, would that make you a good UNIX geek? No. Knowing what to do with them and having something to do with them does.
Man pages are there for a reason - so we don't have to remember what the 14 parameters for XmbufCreateStereoWindow(3) are.
Few people need to have the same level of mental agility as a geek involved with creating something useful out of a few wispy ideas, uncertain laws of computing and foggy requirements specifications. On top of that they need a set of toolkits, one for say algorithms, one for good coding practice, one for all the calls and defines in this application, one for each language being coded and one for project management. AND they have to flip between all of them all the time. AND, even within the realm of a bit of straight code there will be nests of issues, side-effects, diversions and breakpoints.
Whatever you elitist notions of what a geek are - none of the above has anything to do with remembering where you put your underwear.
This isn't the sort of thing that goes on the hard driver or internet.
Right - it's called "experience", it's not about remembering where you put your underwear.
However there are two ways to mitigate the undoubted problem of brain ageing and mental fatigue: (1)Do less. (2)Restructure, or apply a structure where before you could busk-it, tasks - typically making notes or checklists to suit.
Ahahah ahahahaha hahah ha ha. Oh man, nice troll. You had me going there.
Look up any psyc paper about aging and cognitive function and you'll see that people who do more experience less of a decline as they get older. This is why for example, politicians academics and business leaders tend to still be going strong well past retirement.
My advice to the OP is (a)work in an environment that is distraction-free as possible. (b) Recognise there are some times it is best to go for a walk and try again an hour later. (c) When you get a really good session going, ask yourself what could be the influencing factors.
Wow, that's even less helpful than "wear sunscreen".
/Mike
Remembering stuff isn't what makes you a geek - remembering stuff is what your hard drive and the Internet is for. Being a geek is all about applying your one-eyed devotion to [hardware|software|cameras|games|knitting|etc] to the fullest extent and doing nifty things with it.
It's pretty well known that young people are better at raw ability where older people are better at anything that requires experience. So don't worry about forgetting stuff too much, concentrate on kicking arse with your experience.
If you are forgetting stuff, write it down. But keep on being a geek and stay fit, because mental and physical activity are two primary factors in retaining cognitive ability in old age.
/Mike
PS: wear sunscreen
It couldn't have been too hard, Microsoft clearly just stole "Azure" from me: http://web.vee.net/projects/azure/
Hmph.
/Mike
I remember seeing a thread on planet gnome that the majority of GTK perf problems were caused by (bad) themes.
So, try changing themes and see what difference that makes. Or better yet, get out a profiler like sysprof and see precisely where the difference is.
/Mike
Heh heh heh. Yeah. Just when you think it couldn't get any worse...
Still, this gives me new hope that human creativity hasn't yet reached its limit - it's not easy finding such new depths.
/Mike
For want of mod points: LOL
The GPL is restrictive as it is /because/ it ensures freedom for users. It is the /developers/ that the GPL bugs.
Bring on the GPL, I say! Boo to Sun for being anti-users.
/Mike
Yeah, religions just can't take a joke. Imagine the outrage from fundie christians if there was a burning cross or something in it. It'd get banned in the US.
Once again, atheism is the only sane choice.
/Mike
Just to get this out of the way, for everyone that suggests "we don't need no IPv6, just use NAT!", the answer is "down boy, bad doggie".
NAT is a horrible joke that has gone on far too long.
/Mike
Can someone please mod this up further? Geeze, talk about most misleading story of the day.
/Mike
Didn't we stuff this up once before? With the release of halo 3 or something similarly boring?
In Soviet Australia... oh. nevermind.
/Mike
If you're a career programmer - sure. Those COBOL guys are making a lot cash these days (all 12 of them).
"I've been writing PHP apps for 43 years son, don't gimme no nonsense about yer newfangled programmin' languages."
/Mike