I used to work at British Aerospace many years ago, and once got to go and see their lovely red Cray 1.
Unfortunately, I was stopped from sitting on it as the machine-room guys said that even though it looked rather comfy it wasn't really designed for that sort of thing.
Can you get them on eBay yet? I really, really want to sit on one.
My boss asked me to help him write a couple of patents a few months ago. The process turns what can a fairly simple description into endless pages of double-talk, with sentences the size of paragraphs and countless numbered references to other paragraphs and diagrams.
If someone were to write a patent for hammering a nail into a piece of wood it would run to thirty pages of dense legalese and if you read through it all you'd still have no idea what it was describing.
A conventional 24-bit image file will have eight bits for red, green and blue for each pixel.
Shouldn't it also have alpha, for transparent things like glass and water?
They're clearly just trawling the net for certain filenames.
Perhaps thousands of us should create plain text files containing rude/amusing messages to these people, and give them names that their bots will pick up.
They'd soon start looking stupid (well, *more* stupid) sending out thousands of automated letters to ISPs that were supposedly hosting "Return of the King" and "Spiderman 2" in twenty-byte files.
They may try to poison the P2P file-sharers with duff files, so why not do the same to them to stop them using these bully-boy legal tactics against innocent people?
As a professional programmer, I've worked in FORTRAN, C/C++, etc. for 20 years, and personally find Java to be a blessed relief. It may not be perfect, but what language is?
Modern JVMs (like Hotspot) run code almost as fast as native code, and for GUIs that's fine. You might not want to write a wind-tunnel simulater in Java, but for general purpose GUI work, knocking together a neat application, or client-server net code it's great.
I I can develop code on one machine and know that it will run perfectly on any other system that has the same JVM.
The C++ application I'm involved with at work is a hideous mess of #ifdef WINDOWS/LINUX/APPLE #include this else include that nonsense.
I find that Java code is easier to maintain, more robust and generally just nicer to work with than other languages.
I think it's perceived as "uncool" because the emphasis is often on database/middleware apps (which are, frankly, tedious in any language). People seem to forget that it's a damn fine all-purpose language as well.
That was my first thought when I saw the screenshots - Amiga Power Windows!
I know the Amiga isn't quite dead (sort of a shambling zombie at the moment), but the ability to pull entire screens (or different resolutions) up and down at will was one of the things I loved most about it. It would be great to see that properly implemented in a modern UI.
ACHTUNG! Alles touristen und non-technischen peepers!
Das machine control is nicht fur gerfinger-poken und mittengrabben. Oderwise is easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowen fuse, und poppencorken mit spitzensparken.
Der machine is diggen by experten only. Is nicht fur geverken by das dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken sightseenen keepen das cotten picken hands in das pockets, so relaxen und watchen das blinkenlights.
Anyone playing Counterstrike at anything less than 1024 frames per second is clearly a n00b!
I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, only a tiny number of games require anything like this sort of horsepower. But on the other hand, These sorts of expensive, high-end systems will be commonplace in 2-3 years time. I bought a GeForce FX 5900 when it was the top-end card, and now it's (kind-of) obsolete!
I was having trouble with my Sky Digibox (satellite TV set-top-box) crashing or freezing a lot. I called Sky tech support and explained the problem, and asked if it could be faulty hardware.
They said, no, it wasn't the hardware.
Aha, I thought, then maybe the software needs upgrading. Could that be it, I asked.
They said, no, it wasn't the software either.
Umm... what does that leave, then?
Yes indeed, that's the place. I guess it's fame has spread far and wide.:)
The oddest thing about it was that 90% of the staff seemed to be contracters, on 3-6 month contracts. Yet they were expected to do the sort of jobs that permies should be doing. I was supposed to learn how the massive customer help system worked, and be available to answer questions and deal with problems. The guy I was taking over from had been there for over three years and knew it inside-out.
People would come to me on a daily basis, and for the first two months I could only answer "I don't know", because it was impossible to gain the experience required in such a short time. Luckily, my contract came up for renewal and I bailed out (which is the first time I've ever turned down an offer for a renewal).
Some other poor sap would have then had to spend months saying "I dunno" in my place, as he tried to figure out what was going on.
I worked a six month contract for a water company in the UK. They'd had the Androids in, and I've never seen such a fucked-up beuraucratic nightmare in my life. Everything about the various systems was controlled by god-awful propietary Anderson software, which (when it worked at all) worked badly.
If you want to completely screw up your company, call in the consultants!
I'm convinced my boss is quite insane.
I was originally hired for a very specific purpose, to write an MPEG decoder in software. Before I was hired, he spent ages on the phone to me explaining how they needed this software, how it was vital to the product etc. etc.
So I spent three months learning the (huge and horrible) MPEG spec, writing the software, sending weekly updates, demos and progress reports to the boss, which he usually commented on or asked questions about.
Then, one Sunday afternoon, he calls me and says
Boss: "Why are you writing this decoder? We don't need it. It's of no use to us at all. You've wasted all this time writing stuff we don't need. What's going on? Why did you do this?"
Me: "Erm... because that's what you hired me to do. That's what it clearly states in my contract."
Boss: "What? What?!? Why are you getting so defensive? Just tell me why you've wasted all this timing on something that's no use to us!"
After about an hour of this I realised my boss is insane.
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I used to work at British Aerospace many years ago, and once got to go and see their lovely red Cray 1.
Unfortunately, I was stopped from sitting on it as the machine-room guys said that even though it looked rather comfy it wasn't really designed for that sort of thing.
Can you get them on eBay yet? I really, really want to sit on one.
My boss asked me to help him write a couple of patents a few months ago. The process turns what can a fairly simple description into endless pages of double-talk, with sentences the size of paragraphs and countless numbered references to other paragraphs and diagrams. If someone were to write a patent for hammering a nail into a piece of wood it would run to thirty pages of dense legalese and if you read through it all you'd still have no idea what it was describing.
Shouldn't it also have alpha, for transparent things like glass and water?
(j/k)
They're clearly just trawling the net for certain filenames. Perhaps thousands of us should create plain text files containing rude/amusing messages to these people, and give them names that their bots will pick up. They'd soon start looking stupid (well, *more* stupid) sending out thousands of automated letters to ISPs that were supposedly hosting "Return of the King" and "Spiderman 2" in twenty-byte files. They may try to poison the P2P file-sharers with duff files, so why not do the same to them to stop them using these bully-boy legal tactics against innocent people?
...the dog ate my computer.
I'm waiting for the Logitech Nuclear Mouse.
So now I'll have to watch out for idiots coming from above as well.
The roads are filled with morons who can't drive safely. Please don't fill the sky with them as well.
88.2% of statistics are made up on the spot.
As a professional programmer, I've worked in FORTRAN, C/C++, etc. for 20 years, and personally find Java to be a blessed relief. It may not be perfect, but what language is?
Modern JVMs (like Hotspot) run code almost as fast as native code, and for GUIs that's fine. You might not want to write a wind-tunnel simulater in Java, but for general purpose GUI work, knocking together a neat application, or client-server net code it's great.
I I can develop code on one machine and know that it will run perfectly on any other system that has the same JVM.
The C++ application I'm involved with at work is a hideous mess of #ifdef WINDOWS/LINUX/APPLE #include this else include that nonsense.
I find that Java code is easier to maintain, more robust and generally just nicer to work with than other languages.
I think it's perceived as "uncool" because the emphasis is often on database/middleware apps (which are, frankly, tedious in any language). People seem to forget that it's a damn fine all-purpose language as well.
That was my first thought when I saw the screenshots - Amiga Power Windows! I know the Amiga isn't quite dead (sort of a shambling zombie at the moment), but the ability to pull entire screens (or different resolutions) up and down at will was one of the things I loved most about it. It would be great to see that properly implemented in a modern UI.
Didn't they used to call them Tamagotchi?
ACHTUNG! Alles touristen und non-technischen peepers!
Das machine control is nicht fur gerfinger-poken und mittengrabben. Oderwise is easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowen fuse, und poppencorken mit spitzensparken.
Der machine is diggen by experten only. Is nicht fur geverken by das dummkopfen. Das rubbernecken sightseenen keepen das cotten picken hands in das pockets, so relaxen und watchen das blinkenlights.
I'm sure Microsoft are already working on it.
"Hi, I want refund on this, it won't work under Windows XP."
Well, he could've been "Silkworm Man" instead.
I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand, only a tiny number of games require anything like this sort of horsepower. But on the other hand, These sorts of expensive, high-end systems will be commonplace in 2-3 years time. I bought a GeForce FX 5900 when it was the top-end card, and now it's (kind-of) obsolete!
Just think, 250Mb of spam to deal with when you come back from holiday.
I used to get about 500 spams a day until my ISP started using Brightmail filtering, now I just get a handful.
However, a few months ago I got 11000 spams (all for colonic irrigation) in one day. It took several hours just to delete them all.
I was having trouble with my Sky Digibox (satellite TV set-top-box) crashing or freezing a lot. I called Sky tech support and explained the problem, and asked if it could be faulty hardware. They said, no, it wasn't the hardware. Aha, I thought, then maybe the software needs upgrading. Could that be it, I asked. They said, no, it wasn't the software either. Umm... what does that leave, then?
The Alan Turing Story, starring Will Smith as Turing, showing how this plucky young American invented computers and saved the girl!
I think I'll wait for D++.
That document says it was "Originally presented 1 March 1998". Java has changed quite a bit since '98.
Yes indeed, that's the place. I guess it's fame has spread far and wide. :)
The oddest thing about it was that 90% of the staff seemed to be contracters, on 3-6 month contracts. Yet they were expected to do the sort of jobs that permies should be doing. I was supposed to learn how the massive customer help system worked, and be available to answer questions and deal with problems. The guy I was taking over from had been there for over three years and knew it inside-out.
People would come to me on a daily basis, and for the first two months I could only answer "I don't know", because it was impossible to gain the experience required in such a short time. Luckily, my contract came up for renewal and I bailed out (which is the first time I've ever turned down an offer for a renewal).
Some other poor sap would have then had to spend months saying "I dunno" in my place, as he tried to figure out what was going on.
I worked a six month contract for a water company in the UK. They'd had the Androids in, and I've never seen such a fucked-up beuraucratic nightmare in my life. Everything about the various systems was controlled by god-awful propietary Anderson software, which (when it worked at all) worked badly. If you want to completely screw up your company, call in the consultants!
So I spent three months learning the (huge and horrible) MPEG spec, writing the software, sending weekly updates, demos and progress reports to the boss, which he usually commented on or asked questions about.
Then, one Sunday afternoon, he calls me and says
Boss: "Why are you writing this decoder? We don't need it. It's of no use to us at all. You've wasted all this time writing stuff we don't need. What's going on? Why did you do this?"
Me: "Erm... because that's what you hired me to do. That's what it clearly states in my contract."
Boss: "What? What?!? Why are you getting so defensive? Just tell me why you've wasted all this timing on something that's no use to us!"
After about an hour of this I realised my boss is insane.