I agree with an above commenter that the discussion has been extremely sensible.
There is an issue with Oracle that affects the the choice of a database for a new system: Larry Ellison is widely reputed to be psychologically unbalanced. He is a billionaire who doesn't have to work, and that also affects everything that he does.
If you can use PostgreSQL, then you have the advantage of not dealing with factors that could cause your database system to become much less attractive in the future. Companies like Novell, WordPerfect, Corel, Powerbuilder and many others have been remarkably self-destructive. They were big players 5 years ago, much smaller now. An now, unbelievably, Microsoft seems to be getting ready for a big fall: Windows XP
Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.
Open Source has a BIG advantage that it is not tied to any one person's ego.
I think there could be a special category on Slashdot for the easier, but still difficult and well-researched, questions. If someone did not like that category, they could block it in preferences.
An alternative is that there could be an askSlashdot.org site. Formula for success: Give people what they want. There are numerous computer-related problems that don't immediately concern me, but that I would like to understand better. There are numerous problems that I have already solved; I can easily give help on those.
I submitted an Ask Slashdot question. I want to know how to do low-cost web host load balancing/failure protection. Asking Google doesn't work in cases like this where there are many methods, and you need to know which is best to pursue. The Ask Slashdot question was rejected.
At present, Slashdot is too focused on games and science and TV programs, I think. Changing preferences doesn't work to block science stories, because some are concerned with computer issues and some aren't.
Some games stories on Slashdot are interesting because they raise issues about advances in computing. Most, however, are just fan stories.
There are other web sites that are good for games. The games stories attract teenagers with a huge amount of time on their hands. Those with too much time available create havoc for the editors and the rest of us by posting junk.
I've used IndigoStar's Perl2Exe for one 600-line CGI program that runs under
FreeBSD. It works fine. The program I wrote provides a specialized form with
lots of error-checking. Several people have access to the web site, including
the customer's employees and all the employees of the web hosting provider. I
didn't want someone changing or taking the code, so I wanted to compile the
program.
De-Compile? I was told that it is difficult to decompile a Perl2Exe
executable. I'm interested in hearing from anyone with experience with this.
Hide Perl Code? The HOT
Ice "compiler" offers to obfuscate Perl code. Price: $3,995. As you might
guess, I have no experience with this. Note that it does NOT compile the code.
You don't always want to give away your source code. How do you hide your
Perl source code?
Other Perl Compilers? I'm very interested in hearing about other ways
of compiling Perl programs. Perl2Exe is expensive, and tied to only one user.
I've tried PerlCC and, as another comment poster said, was not able to get it
to work. Apparently Perl2Exe is a cleaned-up version of a free Perl compiler.
Is that correct?
Indy Singh is IndigoStar. Apparently the only person in the IndigoStar
company is Indy Singh. He is friendly enough, but not always available for
technical support. He sometimes hires help, I was told, but that person was
not able to give tech support. I was told to wait two weeks until Indy Singh
returned from vacation.
Philosophical question: On Slashdot it is politically correct to think
that Perl is wonderful. However, it seems to me that every language should
have both a compiler and interpreter. (CInt is a C/C++ interpreter.)
Several years ago, Perl was a quick and dirty way of doing simple things. Now
Perl is a big language with all of the problems of other big languages, but is
lacking in some of the tools. (For example, check out Perl IDE. But, it is Windows
only.) Perl debugging is primitive, too, it seems to me. I'd be interested in
seeing an article that gives an overview of Perl debugging methods.
Wouldn't it have been better to put energy into a C interpreter, giving it the
functions that are needed, rather than make a new language? Aren't some of the
quick and dirty features of Perl now looking messy and dirty?
On the other hand, Bob, if you are reading this, and you are serious about doing Feynman, I will coach you in how to act like a scientist. The training will take up to five years, and when it is finished, you will be a scientist, so it won't be difficult to act like one.
De Niro is obviously not a scientist, and obviously could not play one. It is possible to play someone more stupid convincingly, but not someone smarter. Give it up, Bob, don't make a stupid movie. Stay with what you know.
Slashdotting. Don't worry. It was probably just a little
Slashdotting. Works fine now.
Another topic -- The U.S. government, Microsoft: Before you support the
U.S. government in invading Iraq, you should know that the U.S. government has
been (mostly secretly) causing violence in numerous countries. See What should be the response to
violence?. (The article takes a long time to load, and is badly in
need of updating.)
My research indicates that the U.S. government support for violence
and Microsoft's inability to treat its customers well are related. They are
both are part of a social breakdown caused by a kind of low-level mental
disturbance in which people become progressively insensitive to themselves and
others. See Windows XP
Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.
For testing the HTML itself: Amazingly great software finds HTML errors, and edits HTML:
HTML Tidy works best as a plug-in to HTML Kit. (The command-line software is used as the plugin.) HTML kit
positions the editor at each line with an HTML error when you click on the
error.
Thank you, Mozilla team. I'm typing this into the 31st tab of one instance of Mozilla 1.0.1. I have two other instances of Mozilla running with a total of 14 tabs.
"Of course, half of the values in this file violate some part of the ELF standard, and it's a wonder than Linux will even consent to sneeze on it, much less give it a process ID. This is not the sort of program to which one would normally be willing to confess authorship."
LOL. This guy should edit everyone else's documentation. A good quick quide to the mechanics of getting started with ASM.
The guy who wrote the original story is correct. After handling "tons" of electronic gear, he has found no problem.
People who handle electronics a lot develop the habit of contacting the ground or case first, anyway. The resistance of your skin lowers the current of any low voltage discharge. Considerable energy is needed to damage semiconductors, and it is just not there in mildly humid environments.
The equipment manufacturer mentioned in the story was not lying.
Slashdot Mirror
I agree with an above commenter that the discussion has been extremely sensible.
There is an issue with Oracle that affects the the choice of a database for a new system: Larry Ellison is widely reputed to be psychologically unbalanced. He is a billionaire who doesn't have to work, and that also affects everything that he does.
If you can use PostgreSQL, then you have the advantage of not dealing with factors that could cause your database system to become much less attractive in the future. Companies like Novell, WordPerfect, Corel, Powerbuilder and many others have been remarkably self-destructive. They were big players 5 years ago, much smaller now. An now, unbelievably, Microsoft seems to be getting ready for a big fall: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.
Open Source has a BIG advantage that it is not tied to any one person's ego.
We are also crying: Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.
Sorry, BSD and Stephen King are dead. Haven't you been reading Slashdot?
Oh, and that Elvis guy. He is really dead.
A better question: How fast would it run on a FreeBSD compiled just to do that particular job?
What you said is true, in my experience.
LOL!!!
I think there could be a special category on Slashdot for the easier, but still difficult and well-researched, questions. If someone did not like that category, they could block it in preferences. An alternative is that there could be an askSlashdot.org site. Formula for success: Give people what they want. There are numerous computer-related problems that don't immediately concern me, but that I would like to understand better. There are numerous problems that I have already solved; I can easily give help on those.
I submitted an Ask Slashdot question. I want to know how to do low-cost web host load balancing/failure protection. Asking Google doesn't work in cases like this where there are many methods, and you need to know which is best to pursue. The Ask Slashdot question was rejected.
At present, Slashdot is too focused on games and science and TV programs, I think. Changing preferences doesn't work to block science stories, because some are concerned with computer issues and some aren't.
Some games stories on Slashdot are interesting because they raise issues about advances in computing. Most, however, are just fan stories.
There are other web sites that are good for games. The games stories attract teenagers with a huge amount of time on their hands. Those with too much time available create havoc for the editors and the rest of us by posting junk.
Don't need to give up anything... In Portland, Oregon, DSL by Hevanet is wonderful.
Unfortunately, Perlapp does not seem to support BSD, and supports only x86 architecture RedHat and Debian Linux. See Perl Dev Kit
But, it is good to know PerlApp is available.
"Rivers ran with gold three billion years ago"
Nature magazine has decided to trash its formerly good reputation by giving a sensational title to a mildly interesting article.
I've used IndigoStar's Perl2Exe for one 600-line CGI program that runs under FreeBSD. It works fine. The program I wrote provides a specialized form with lots of error-checking. Several people have access to the web site, including the customer's employees and all the employees of the web hosting provider. I didn't want someone changing or taking the code, so I wanted to compile the program.
De-Compile? I was told that it is difficult to decompile a Perl2Exe executable. I'm interested in hearing from anyone with experience with this.
Hide Perl Code? The HOT Ice "compiler" offers to obfuscate Perl code. Price: $3,995. As you might guess, I have no experience with this. Note that it does NOT compile the code.
You don't always want to give away your source code. How do you hide your Perl source code?
Other Perl Compilers? I'm very interested in hearing about other ways of compiling Perl programs. Perl2Exe is expensive, and tied to only one user. I've tried PerlCC and, as another comment poster said, was not able to get it to work. Apparently Perl2Exe is a cleaned-up version of a free Perl compiler. Is that correct?
Indy Singh is IndigoStar. Apparently the only person in the IndigoStar company is Indy Singh. He is friendly enough, but not always available for technical support. He sometimes hires help, I was told, but that person was not able to give tech support. I was told to wait two weeks until Indy Singh returned from vacation.
Philosophical question: On Slashdot it is politically correct to think that Perl is wonderful. However, it seems to me that every language should have both a compiler and interpreter. (CInt is a C/C++ interpreter.) Several years ago, Perl was a quick and dirty way of doing simple things. Now Perl is a big language with all of the problems of other big languages, but is lacking in some of the tools. (For example, check out Perl IDE. But, it is Windows only.) Perl debugging is primitive, too, it seems to me. I'd be interested in seeing an article that gives an overview of Perl debugging methods.
Wouldn't it have been better to put energy into a C interpreter, giving it the functions that are needed, rather than make a new language? Aren't some of the quick and dirty features of Perl now looking messy and dirty?
Excellent explanation. Mod parent up!!!!
On the other hand, Bob, if you are reading this, and you are serious about doing Feynman, I will coach you in how to act like a scientist. The training will take up to five years, and when it is finished, you will be a scientist, so it won't be difficult to act like one.
De Niro is obviously not a scientist, and obviously could not play one. It is possible to play someone more stupid convincingly, but not someone smarter. Give it up, Bob, don't make a stupid movie. Stay with what you know.
Slashdotting. Don't worry. It was probably just a little Slashdotting. Works fine now.
Another topic -- The U.S. government, Microsoft: Before you support the U.S. government in invading Iraq, you should know that the U.S. government has been (mostly secretly) causing violence in numerous countries. See What should be the response to violence? . (The article takes a long time to load, and is badly in need of updating.)
My research indicates that the U.S. government support for violence and Microsoft's inability to treat its customers well are related. They are both are part of a social breakdown caused by a kind of low-level mental disturbance in which people become progressively insensitive to themselves and others. See Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.
For testing the HTML itself:
Amazingly great software finds HTML errors, and edits HTML:
HTML Tidy (Win 32 version) finds HTML errors and corrects them automatically if possible. See the configuration options for HTML Tidy at HTML Tidy Quick Reference
HTML Tidy works best as a plug-in to HTML Kit. (The command-line software is used as the plugin.) HTML kit positions the editor at each line with an HTML error when you click on the error.
Truly awesome free software!
Read the new section, Deliberately designed to crash, in my article, Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going. The article tries to document a few of Microsoft's abuses and limitations.
I was using Windows XP when I had all those tabs open.
Be sure you are using Mozilla 1.0.1 or later. Version 1.0.1 is very different from 1.0, as the Mozilla web site says.
Thank you, Mozilla team. I'm typing this into the 31st tab of one instance of Mozilla 1.0.1. I have two other instances of Mozilla running with a total of 14 tabs.
And, if you live in the U.S., get your government to stop secretly contributing to the causes of war: What should be the Response to Violence?
Picture frame? Save the dollar they cost at a garage sale.
Slow news day, I guess. Didn't anything important happen in the entire world of computing?
Don't forget Firewire. You can get a Firewire external enclosure for $120. This will make your hard drive hot-pluggable.
Google search on "Hate Microsoft": "Results 1 - 10 of about 303,000. Search took 0.14 seconds."
Did I understand you? Microsoft fired the good engineers. Maybe that's why the products are so poor. Yup. Poor management.
Webster -- The Place on the Net to Learn Assembly Language Programming
See The Art of Assembly Language Programming
"Of course, half of the values in this file violate some part of the ELF standard, and it's a wonder than Linux will even consent to sneeze on it, much less give it a process ID. This is not the sort of program to which one would normally be willing to confess authorship."
LOL. This guy should edit everyone else's documentation. A good quick quide to the mechanics of getting started with ASM.
The guy who wrote the original story is correct. After handling "tons" of electronic gear, he has found no problem.
People who handle electronics a lot develop the habit of contacting the ground or case first, anyway. The resistance of your skin lowers the current of any low voltage discharge. Considerable energy is needed to damage semiconductors, and it is just not there in mildly humid environments.
The equipment manufacturer mentioned in the story was not lying.
Yes there is carpet with metal fibers. However, the anti-static material is just a lightly conducting compound in the carpet.
Often people who comment on Slashdot are very certain and extremely negative, and wrong.