We call it Computer Science, but not one of my teachers or professors through the 8ish long years of highschool and college advocated for using anything that resembled the scientific method. I'm sure I'm not the only one in that boat. I wonder why that is.
I don't see why you need to hide your ID under a bushel to post that. I spent decades working with computers (as a mainframe operator, apps programmer, then systems programmer), but never once called my craft a Science.
However, having gone back to school (again) to re-skill in molecular biology has reminded me of what science (and its Method) is about, and I see myself as vindicated.
Pascal programming to demonstrate those concepts, along with good coding techniques...
Oh dear. You obviously have no idea how much ridicule to which you've exposed yourself by mentioning "Pascal" and "good coding techniques" in the same sentence.;-)
Here you go: Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal. It's old, but some of the ideas would be worth at least bringing up in modern CS courses.
My first experience with a computer keyboard was with a teletype-age master console on a Burroughs mainframe I operated back in the late '70s.
Not even God could have ever touch-typed on that machine, so I evolved a technique (that I still use) involving thumb and two fingers of both hands, plus (rather more recently) the little pinkies for shift, ctrl and enter keys.
Sure, I don't rattle out 800 words per minute (or whatever the standard is), but I don't need to, so I get by. I spend much more time thinking about what I am going to type than I spend actually doing so, and my accuracy approaches 100%.
...and of course, all combat zones are within range of a cellphone tower these days. After all, we wouldn't want our troops to have to do without Facebook.
Even for most of the calculations that matter, unless there are specific reasons to be more than usually picky, we can usually get away with adopting the integer masses for the elements that we learned in Chemistry 101.
I thought of that too, but the volume scale on my amplifier is calculated in dB. Confuses the hell out of people that the number gets "smaller" as it gets noisier, but people just don't notice that "-" sign...;-)
Just to clarify my earlier point: we (in Australia) pay the same 10% GST on everything, it's just that books, CDs and DVDs attract a huge rate of import duty which the ultimate purchaser doesn't see, but which forms a large portion of the price, so we pay a tax on another tax.
That kind of thing supposedly wasn't meant to happen when the government introduced the GST, but of course they lied as usual, and now we're stuck with it.
...and even simpler still: anything you don't want someone else to see (ever) should not be left on a computer that is in any way accessible to someone you don't want it to. Encrypted or not, the fact that the data is there might be sufficient to do enough damage.
It's just a matter of being thorough. Just imagine you are guilty of some major crime - say murder, treason or whatever. (My academic background is in molecular forensics, so I might have more than usual interest in this.) You need to be damn thorough in covering your tracks, which means paying attention to detail. We will never know how many such crimes remain unsolved (or pinned on the wrong person), but it is (at least theoretically) possible to avoid being caught if you pay enough attention.
However, most of us can strike some sort of middle ground. The police can take a good look at my Visa card records (if they have nothing better to do) and find that I spend a bit more than I can really afford on CDs, but so be it. But that doesn't mean I'm about to paint my account number on a railway bridge for everybody to see.
I don't know if you have amazon prime down under...but we do up in the US (free 2-day shipping on everything...
Nope. That would be an unspeakable luxury here, where shipping tends to comprise the largest part of the total bill, and nobody is breathing a word about changing that.
how long until a store tries charging for entry to the changing rooms?
I guess they might try that, but not for long if they want to stay in business. In my case, I would simply drop whatever goods I was holding on to the floor, turn on my heel and walk straight out of the shop.
Despite my earlier positive remarks in favour of Amazon, I often find that shopping for some goods (especially electronic devices) is better done in bricks-and-mortar shops. I do sometimes scan the barcode to take a quick look at the competition, but often find the two factors of having to wait for delivery and being gouged for postage are enough to pursuade me to just buy the product there and then.
But here in Australia, taxation on books, CDs and DVDs is so heavy as to amount to daylight robbery, so I almost never buy those locally unless I have a voucher to spend.
On the other hand, it is in pristine condition (unlike the last books I ordered from Amazon, which were significantly damaged due to careless packaging) and it is here (unlike my order full of Christmas DVDs from Amazon, which is now five days overdue, and my other half's similar order, which is now more than a week late).
To be fair, Amazon is good about replacing defective or damaged goods. In the case of CDs and DVDs, they usually don't even ask you to return the faulty items - though I'm willing to admit that the fact that I live in Australia might have some bearing on that. It might be a different story for denizens of the US.
You can't really blame Amazon for the vagaries of your postal service, however. On a couple of occasions when goods I have ordered have been late enough for me to wonder if something has happened to them, Amazon have re-shipped the goods at no charge, so I ultimately got left with two copies of everything.
Have you tried contacting their customer support? I have found them unfailingly willing to help.
Everything's there, but, if you want to see more "interesting" illustrations, one might suggest you use that well-known search utility to look elsewhere.
Re:"The Firefox 4 beta seems to work fine."
on
Browsing the Body
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· Score: 1
Works fine for me here, but I never had to reset that switch, since it's "true" by default.
Fair enough, up to a point: I didn't use a calculator at all for any of my maths courses at Uni. In fact, it would have got in the way.
However, since my degree was in biotechnology, I had to do a lot of data crunching in lab situations, and that's where having a decent calculator really shines.
Most calculator hackers I know also own HP calculators (or more commonly smartphones) and prefer those devices for math.
The trouble with phones, however, is that they are rarely acceptable during any kind of examination at undergrad level, and there are courses where you could put yourself at a serious disadvantage if you disdain to use a reasonably powerful calculator.
They do a good job of being as complex as needed, but not more.
Exactly. Which is why my TI-89 spent so much time being carried around everywhere in my bag, while my much heavier computers remained at home. Besides, computers are often at some risk in lab situations where bench space is at a premium and liquids are being handled. The TI spreadsheet and stats applications are perfect for such portable use.
I have a real one in a drawer and it still works (from the days when HP still meant quality hardware)
I had one too for a while, and I loved the nice clicky keys and that big fat "Enter" button just in the right place. I had to let it go, though, because the damn thing kept letting me down with random lockups and spack-attacks during assessments in the course of my undergrad degree.
I replaced it with a TI-89 which is much faster and more functionally powerful at the expense of poorer build and lack of RPN.
As a matter of interest, do your friends use Wikipedia's services at all?
Thought so. And in fact (truth be told) I am just as guilty. But I hate advertising too. And I despise begging. All very contradictory, but the bottom line is that either Wikipedia must find a sponsor with a bottomless wallet, or it must come up with some other funding arrangement.
I would really hate to see Wikipedia founder for lack of a pragmatic means of maintaining its existence.
Does Sony deserve a second chance if their ebook readers are more open?
It's up to you. I take each case on its merits: the CD rootkit thingy involved (IIRC) a recording of Celine Dion, where being rooted (in any sense of the word) might be preferable to having to listen to that inane drivel.
When I was looking for an e-reader device for my wife, the Sony PRS650 ended up at the top of the list because it was superior in every way to its competitors, and eventually I will get one for myself.
Slashdot Mirror
We call it Computer Science, but not one of my teachers or professors through the 8ish long years of highschool and college advocated for using anything that resembled the scientific method. I'm sure I'm not the only one in that boat. I wonder why that is.
I don't see why you need to hide your ID under a bushel to post that. I spent decades working with computers (as a mainframe operator, apps programmer, then systems programmer), but never once called my craft a Science.
However, having gone back to school (again) to re-skill in molecular biology has reminded me of what science (and its Method) is about, and I see myself as vindicated.
Then start the class off doing proofs on discreet math.
;-)
Is that the kind that you don't need to tell anyone about? But then, I guess if it saves you from having to learn English, then go for it.
Pascal programming to demonstrate those concepts, along with good coding techniques...
;-)
Here you go: Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal. It's old, but some of the ideas would be worth at least bringing up in modern CS courses.
Oh dear. You obviously have no idea how much ridicule to which you've exposed yourself by mentioning "Pascal" and "good coding techniques" in the same sentence.
My first experience with a computer keyboard was with a teletype-age master console on a Burroughs mainframe I operated back in the late '70s.
Not even God could have ever touch-typed on that machine, so I evolved a technique (that I still use) involving thumb and two fingers of both hands, plus (rather more recently) the little pinkies for shift, ctrl and enter keys.
Sure, I don't rattle out 800 words per minute (or whatever the standard is), but I don't need to, so I get by. I spend much more time thinking about what I am going to type than I spend actually doing so, and my accuracy approaches 100%.
...and of course, all combat zones are within range of a cellphone tower these days. After all, we wouldn't want our troops to have to do without Facebook.
Maybe it is a silly game after all.
Of course it's a silly game. That's sort of the whole point.
Even for most of the calculations that matter, unless there are specific reasons to be more than usually picky, we can usually get away with adopting the integer masses for the elements that we learned in Chemistry 101.
I thought of that too, but the volume scale on my amplifier is calculated in dB. Confuses the hell out of people that the number gets "smaller" as it gets noisier, but people just don't notice that "-" sign... ;-)
Yes, but it's the most numerically advanced browser.
Just to clarify my earlier point: we (in Australia) pay the same 10% GST on everything, it's just that books, CDs and DVDs attract a huge rate of import duty which the ultimate purchaser doesn't see, but which forms a large portion of the price, so we pay a tax on another tax.
That kind of thing supposedly wasn't meant to happen when the government introduced the GST, but of course they lied as usual, and now we're stuck with it.
xkcd is never obligatory.
Especially where it is redundant. The same link was posted earlier.
You don't need a quantum blowtorch to perform thermorectal cryptanalysis.
...and even simpler still: anything you don't want someone else to see (ever) should not be left on a computer that is in any way accessible to someone you don't want it to. Encrypted or not, the fact that the data is there might be sufficient to do enough damage.
It's just a matter of being thorough. Just imagine you are guilty of some major crime - say murder, treason or whatever. (My academic background is in molecular forensics, so I might have more than usual interest in this.) You need to be damn thorough in covering your tracks, which means paying attention to detail. We will never know how many such crimes remain unsolved (or pinned on the wrong person), but it is (at least theoretically) possible to avoid being caught if you pay enough attention.
However, most of us can strike some sort of middle ground. The police can take a good look at my Visa card records (if they have nothing better to do) and find that I spend a bit more than I can really afford on CDs, but so be it. But that doesn't mean I'm about to paint my account number on a railway bridge for everybody to see.
I don't know if you have amazon prime down under...but we do up in the US (free 2-day shipping on everything...
Nope. That would be an unspeakable luxury here, where shipping tends to comprise the largest part of the total bill, and nobody is breathing a word about changing that.
how long until a store tries charging for entry to the changing rooms?
I guess they might try that, but not for long if they want to stay in business. In my case, I would simply drop whatever goods I was holding on to the floor, turn on my heel and walk straight out of the shop.
Despite my earlier positive remarks in favour of Amazon, I often find that shopping for some goods (especially electronic devices) is better done in bricks-and-mortar shops. I do sometimes scan the barcode to take a quick look at the competition, but often find the two factors of having to wait for delivery and being gouged for postage are enough to pursuade me to just buy the product there and then.
But here in Australia, taxation on books, CDs and DVDs is so heavy as to amount to daylight robbery, so I almost never buy those locally unless I have a voucher to spend.
On the other hand, it is in pristine condition (unlike the last books I ordered from Amazon, which were significantly damaged due to careless packaging) and it is here (unlike my order full of Christmas DVDs from Amazon, which is now five days overdue, and my other half's similar order, which is now more than a week late).
To be fair, Amazon is good about replacing defective or damaged goods. In the case of CDs and DVDs, they usually don't even ask you to return the faulty items - though I'm willing to admit that the fact that I live in Australia might have some bearing on that. It might be a different story for denizens of the US.
You can't really blame Amazon for the vagaries of your postal service, however. On a couple of occasions when goods I have ordered have been late enough for me to wonder if something has happened to them, Amazon have re-shipped the goods at no charge, so I ultimately got left with two copies of everything.
Have you tried contacting their customer support? I have found them unfailingly willing to help.
Everything's there, but, if you want to see more "interesting" illustrations, one might suggest you use that well-known search utility to look elsewhere.
Works fine for me here, but I never had to reset that switch, since it's "true" by default.
Fair enough, up to a point: I didn't use a calculator at all for any of my maths courses at Uni. In fact, it would have got in the way.
However, since my degree was in biotechnology, I had to do a lot of data crunching in lab situations, and that's where having a decent calculator really shines.
Most calculator hackers I know also own HP calculators (or more commonly smartphones) and prefer those devices for math.
The trouble with phones, however, is that they are rarely acceptable during any kind of examination at undergrad level, and there are courses where you could put yourself at a serious disadvantage if you disdain to use a reasonably powerful calculator.
They do a good job of being as complex as needed, but not more.
Exactly. Which is why my TI-89 spent so much time being carried around everywhere in my bag, while my much heavier computers remained at home. Besides, computers are often at some risk in lab situations where bench space is at a premium and liquids are being handled. The TI spreadsheet and stats applications are perfect for such portable use.
I have a real one in a drawer and it still works (from the days when HP still meant quality hardware)
I had one too for a while, and I loved the nice clicky keys and that big fat "Enter" button just in the right place. I had to let it go, though, because the damn thing kept letting me down with random lockups and spack-attacks during assessments in the course of my undergrad degree.
I replaced it with a TI-89 which is much faster and more functionally powerful at the expense of poorer build and lack of RPN.
As a matter of interest, do your friends use Wikipedia's services at all?
Thought so. And in fact (truth be told) I am just as guilty. But I hate advertising too. And I despise begging. All very contradictory, but the bottom line is that either Wikipedia must find a sponsor with a bottomless wallet, or it must come up with some other funding arrangement.
I would really hate to see Wikipedia founder for lack of a pragmatic means of maintaining its existence.
It doesn't mean that much when you consider that Chrome can't be trusted not to pass information about you to Google.
Does Sony deserve a second chance if their ebook readers are more open?
It's up to you. I take each case on its merits: the CD rootkit thingy involved (IIRC) a recording of Celine Dion, where being rooted (in any sense of the word) might be preferable to having to listen to that inane drivel.
When I was looking for an e-reader device for my wife, the Sony PRS650 ended up at the top of the list because it was superior in every way to its competitors, and eventually I will get one for myself.