actually, the problem is that schools arent teaching children to text.. look at how many 40year olds struggle to get out a paragraph in 15 minutes.
Texting would be the far more appropriate skill to teach.
Anyway, don't 26-year-olds still fall under "Generation X"?
ok,, genX ends at the class that graduated High School in spring 1999, GenZ is the next year of students.
so the youngest GenX-er is 27yrs 10 months old. Grade skippers dont count, four year old kindergardners dont count.
Storm
p.s. cursive was a waste of time for Gen-X as well.
When a person moves from one language to another, they map the now language to the old with "exceptions" so from pascal to c you realize the exception of asign is now = instead of:= and compare is == instead of =...
Now since my first few programming languages were = comparitors I slip up on if (x=y) from time to time.
going from c to perl.. I sometimes skip one line mandatory bracing, because it's optional in c. then I scream a homer doh on compile time.
from python to java you dont think about the.isequal() for a string
With java, you hunt an import if you want to deal with a large integer. with python you ignore it, it loves them from the start.
Anyway, start a person on a very clean language python, ruby, or perhaps smallbasic. Personally I'd go ruby, as it is close to the C and java syntactic form. Making the transition quite a bit smoother. ruby has a nice set of object functions that work very well. Ruby gives you a bunch of power, and can keep a person excited..
smallbasic may keep a less interested person interested, as it is a very graphical system.
Python is the change of pace used to dicipline insolent students who lack the good graces to properly indent.
ok, if someone were really on the ball this could be Do-able.
Step 1. Get a Powered USB hub
Step 2. Weld it to a USB External CD-rom..
go with a 12V input on the hub it will make life simple.
Step 3 Go with a Bluetooth (or wireless) keyboard mouse and sound system.
Step 4. get a USB video card
Plug it into the usb jack on your monitor and into the vga cord, all neatly attached to the monitor.
well if you welded the cdrom-- why not the monitor.
plug the monitor into the USB hub.
ok if all goes well you have 2 cables to your pc, 3 to the cd-rom beast. and 2 to the monitor.
and plug in a usb wireless adaptor to the monitor, or cd-rom.
Plus side is that you can hide the main box most of the time..
And you could post the project online for fame and lack of profit.
1. He was a decent programmer, pascal and c.
2. He played MUD's and built quite a bit of adventure stuff.
3. He played a decent chunk of DND.
4. he still managed to play some of the decent 3d stuff out there.
So at the minimum learn c and c++, game theory (minimax and game-state stuff).. Play enough of the MUD's to grasp some of the ways simple objects are used to make complex systems. Try and pervert the rules...... a subset of the players will always look for a way to hack the system in a way that rocks (for them anyway). If you dont think it out it will ruin a game. A few security courses might add some background to grasping the hack methods available.
oh, make some friends with people who really bend the rules in games, to that point where it is now quite fun. Learn to be a harsh game master who can set down the hard and fast rules.
While My friend had a poor GPA, he went into the interview, nearly bombed, until the interviewer asked about his free time.. and he mentioned that he played in muds far too much. luckily the interviewer was a fan of the adventures my friend had built. He's been a game designer for 14-ish years now.
If you have padawan coders, or coders from another corporation.. code reviews matter.. stylistically they wont mesh, they may have some foreign habits that you need to either squash or embrace. These may be the people who do a C++ style for loop in perl when it is not appropriate. These may be best-practices nazis. These all warrant code review.
If you are modifying byzantine code from the people who write HP office-jet software.. you need code review.
If youre hooking up to an airplane or nuclear reactor.. you better know the answer.
If you have grizzled coders who are stylistically homogenized, doing work that can have bugs... IE microsoft checkers (which allows you to change checkers in mid-double jump).. code review isnt so nessisary..
ok, coders and their ilk dont want to let you into peerage. You're the workstation monkey. You're above the janitor unless the janitor can make a decent joke. So during some painful install make fun of "people" public servants-- ticket takers -- union workers -- lawyers -- accountants, people who dress funny, smell funny, imbibe too much.. or have nasty dirty keyboards..
The psychological goal is for them to want to be your friend, as you are a discerning person whose friends are well vetted. Watch your audience.. as the wrong person can be quite offended by a drunk joke.
Next is have some items ready that do your job for you. Make an account that allows the user to install one application only, with a lockout of everything else. Giving them the ability to click next all by themselves.. This gives the user a sense that they're trusted to some degree. if data needs to be entered.. have a photocopy instructions ready for them. Reserve this for your buddies.. "the guys who hastily (quietly) cleaned their keyboards after a good laugh about those infidels who would type on an unclean device".
Go to lunch with the guys, and dont talk business. just work the banter. oh, and stick to the guys who understand polite conversation, religion, politics, and income.. all taboo. Those are for people you dont work with.
oh, as far as work goes be absurdly honest (just for tech stuff) if you arent sure, and need to google, and hope for the right keyword.. say it. It comes across as confident once you feel comfortable saying it. Coders are usually on the spot and often sugar coat it, freaky honesty will drop their jaw.
So how about a degree that says "Master of Science in Engineering" for Computer Science? Does that count as an engineering degree?
Nope... nice degree, but the degree must say engineering too..
and Engineers still dont consider software engineering to be engineering.
And this from someone who nearly has that exact plaque on my wall.
Storm
English is a big ugly language that has been borrowing and adapting for a long time now. The flexibility of the language is impressive, and it continues to grow like a weed.
It needs some gentle guidance. The language has too many words which have the same sound or spelling, or spellings that have nothing to do with the sound. The language lacks gender neutral pronouns, except possesives. the ending --ough.. pick a sound we have maybe 6ish cough hiccough through brough...
America needs to do some clean up on the language in a careful manner that makes the spelling and meaning of the language clearer.
The Dennis Leary part of my brain is compelled to add the last parcel.
Worcester mass.. BITE the Bullet, Either spell it Wooster, or say it WHORK-Ester --sounds like some violent crime against Ester--.
Ok I'll admit many 2d games blew.
But the good 2d games had some good points..
no odd lag, because it was dedicated. Crisp use of the monitor.
in Donkey-kong knowing when to acsend a ladder is critical.
in Battlezone (3d but extra-old).. using the blocks right was a monster.
in Super Mario.. knowing that you will land on ground was a trick.
oh.. and death was usually one mistake away..
"Pac-Man Fever" was only a song, not a medical diagnosis.
Now theyre not world of warcraft... but imagine WOW with oldschool latency.
----of course the quarter-usage might bankrupt people.
My friend was showing it off to me. Explaining the whole multitasking thing, while I was wholly unimpessed. We fired up some IRC and I was impressed again.. it wasnt laggy. (sure it was on a good ethernet line at the time.. and the os didnt matter.. what did I know) Then I played with Vi.. and command mode scarred me pretty bad.. I had to walk away from such a godforsaken method of editing. Clearly wordperfect was the ultimate, never to be truly superceded. Then I was shown a jpeg... for the first time.. but the hardware and the algorithms were slow. so I waited about 3 minutes for it to "render" this wasnt in X.. it was like cshow for dos.. it changed into graphics mode.
I hope he pulls through too. Because if he dies he will do so without being having accepted his gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. God is not going to ask Stephen Hawking what his GPA was, or how many department chairs he has held, or how many papers he has published. No, there is only one question that Mr. Hawking will be asked... Did you believe upon my Son for the forgiveness of your sins?
ok.. Any intelligence which is that conceited, petty and needy has no buisness being worshipped. Actually such an intelligence wouldnt even have my respect.
Do it.
Enjoy the whole process of having knowledge going in. Enjoy that you feel assured enough to consider the teachers your equals. That the current events from your jr high years are history to the freshmen. That they were born after the fall of the Berlin wall. Enjoy the girls who are put off by boys who are still trying to show off. Talk with authority from actual life. Youre going to be 4 years older in 4 years anyway. If your looking to have more things, skip college. If your looking to have more memmories that rock, and more options.. college...
ok.. I'll admit it's my MS at 35. Still I wouldnt change it.
Have you looked at small basic? It is absurdly low brow, the commands are easy, no varDecl's, Python block structure and SIMPLE GRAPHICS, which should get excitement up.
I don't mind competing on a level.
What I dont care for is competing with someone with his sweet and tenders in a vice. They are stuck with no power in the employer-employee relationship.. This means I am competing with someone who is scared to ask for a raise, or to quit, or say shove it when asked to do a 90 hour week.
As an employer... I want the slave. Why bother with someone who will complain "these fumes are toxic" or "I think I need an ambulance"
I've always disliked the whole H1-B, figuring it as a way to undermine the value of my education. Really this has changed my attitude,, I'd much rather have the H1-B's fast tracked to green card or citizenship. With a green card they can work for real cash which is good all around.. sure its a bit more cash they send back home. But it doesn't undermine my ability to charge for my skills as much.
But really it's the fairness to the H1-B's. We should care about the conditions of the workers which produce our goods. Our purchases make us complicit in their treatment.
This will require a little legwork.. and some networking..
Find some underfunded community college, then find a department that wants to get their feet wet with a cluster.. get on good terms with whoever they make the admin..
Donate it with some provisos... that you get access to the machine. and that your not going to use it for illegal or buisness activities.
Dont give it to IT..
your giving people the chance to learn to use a cluster.. and you can play around on it anytime without a power bill.
And it can give you a nice online storage capability via ssh/scp/sftp
Storm
I could render a machine unresponsive.. but it was rough. I needed to open a bunch of quicktime movies multiple times all at once. and then the system would be really hurtin. but my 95 box couldnt even come close.. 2 quicktime windows at the same time.. and they were takin turns. on faster hardware.
The filesystem makes me want to throw my vista box through the window. BeFS was so fast finding files-- as I typed in a name it narrowed down the list. so as fast as i can type a unique id.. it found the file. or imperceptibly thereafter.. it may have been engineered so well as to predict my next keystroke.. and be there instantly.. as beforehand creeps out the user too much...
Storm
Stark has been in office since Nixon.. 1973.
He is riding incumbent effect on a seat that is not under real contention.
And he switched in a district that is known for tolerance.
He is on the ways and means comittee.. he brings in the money.
I'm betting a bunch of senators are closet agnostics/athiests/bunnykillers/homosexuals/bdsm fetishists/johns but closet doesnt count.
Show me an athiest being freshly elected to House or senate in Texas-Arkansas-Missisippi-Alabama-Georgia-Louisiana-or the Carolinas.. Then I will think that the bias is lowering.
As it is.. Stark is 77 and might not be too worried about retiring.
Storm
Ok, a molecular biologist*(titles may vary)-computer scientist that can hold their own on both sides of the table, it's a bit harder for people to give you the idiot look. But having a crossover skill does give you a wicked edge, the further from math-centric fields get, the stronger it gets.
People will do an amazing amount of work by hand rather than figure out a good solution. For instance, a friend was looking at her data from a device, which spit out excel spreadsheets, and determining what readings were junk, and which were legit, about 20 minutes per run with a few hundred runs. After figuring out the parameters of what she wanted, I popped up a spreadsheet that she could cut and paste all her data into, and get her results in about 15 seconds. It took about an hour to get it set up.
Still with a cosc degree your employable, the biology degree allows you to request some major cash for some projects, and most of the job is going to be explaining what the bio people are really looking for, rather than what they were asking for. And explaining back to the bio people why something is infeasible, and how to make it more feasible.
For instance:: Biologist.. take this soup of thousands of chemicals, and do binary combinations on them in all conformations to determine the possible agents which build up the other molecules in the soup.
Computationally this is a mess, 100k *100k * (400 conformations per molecule) * (ln 100k(search for molecule))) == a whole bunch of work.
However if you invert the problem, it gets much better results.. Break each molecule apart in a binary fashion, and determine if the left and right side molecules are in there. computationally 100k * 20 * ((ln 100k) * 2 )
Anyway, your garden variety biologist isn't going to find these optimizations. It's not their way.
Baseline is that bio folks need computer folks more than they realize, and the amount of incoming data isnt something that can be handled easily anymore.
Anyway, this rant is brought to you by a tech that fixed machines for 10 years before going back to school for degrees in Molecular Bio, and Computer Science. Figured fixing machines all my life would be a waste.
Slashdot Mirror
Texting would be the far more appropriate skill to teach.
Storm
ok,, genX ends at the class that graduated High School in spring 1999, GenZ is the next year of students. so the youngest GenX-er is 27yrs 10 months old. Grade skippers dont count, four year old kindergardners dont count.
Storm
p.s. cursive was a waste of time for Gen-X as well.
Now since my first few programming languages were = comparitors I slip up on if (x=y) from time to time.
going from c to perl.. I sometimes skip one line mandatory bracing, because it's optional in c. then I scream a homer doh on compile time.
from python to java you dont think about the .isequal() for a string
With java, you hunt an import if you want to deal with a large integer. with python you ignore it, it loves them from the start.
Anyway, start a person on a very clean language python, ruby, or perhaps smallbasic. Personally I'd go ruby, as it is close to the C and java syntactic form. Making the transition quite a bit smoother. ruby has a nice set of object functions that work very well. Ruby gives you a bunch of power, and can keep a person excited..
smallbasic may keep a less interested person interested, as it is a very graphical system.
Python is the change of pace used to dicipline insolent students who lack the good graces to properly indent.
Storm
well the box is large and shiny.. should be a reasonable standing rifle target at 100 yards.
Step 1. Get a Powered USB hub
Step 2. Weld it to a USB External CD-rom..
go with a 12V input on the hub it will make life simple.
Step 3 Go with a Bluetooth (or wireless) keyboard mouse and sound system.
Step 4. get a USB video card
Plug it into the usb jack on your monitor and into the vga cord, all neatly attached to the monitor.
well if you welded the cdrom-- why not the monitor.
plug the monitor into the USB hub. ok if all goes well you have 2 cables to your pc, 3 to the cd-rom beast. and 2 to the monitor.
and plug in a usb wireless adaptor to the monitor, or cd-rom.
Plus side is that you can hide the main box most of the time..
And you could post the project online for fame and lack of profit.
Storm
2. He played MUD's and built quite a bit of adventure stuff.
3. He played a decent chunk of DND.
4. he still managed to play some of the decent 3d stuff out there.
So at the minimum learn c and c++, game theory (minimax and game-state stuff).. Play enough of the MUD's to grasp some of the ways simple objects are used to make complex systems. Try and pervert the rules...... a subset of the players will always look for a way to hack the system in a way that rocks (for them anyway). If you dont think it out it will ruin a game. A few security courses might add some background to grasping the hack methods available.
oh, make some friends with people who really bend the rules in games, to that point where it is now quite fun. Learn to be a harsh game master who can set down the hard and fast rules.
While My friend had a poor GPA, he went into the interview, nearly bombed, until the interviewer asked about his free time.. and he mentioned that he played in muds far too much. luckily the interviewer was a fan of the adventures my friend had built. He's been a game designer for 14-ish years now.
Storm
If you have padawan coders, or coders from another corporation.. code reviews matter.. stylistically they wont mesh, they may have some foreign habits that you need to either squash or embrace. These may be the people who do a C++ style for loop in perl when it is not appropriate. These may be best-practices nazis. These all warrant code review.
If you are modifying byzantine code from the people who write HP office-jet software.. you need code review.
If youre hooking up to an airplane or nuclear reactor.. you better know the answer.
If you have grizzled coders who are stylistically homogenized, doing work that can have bugs... IE microsoft checkers (which allows you to change checkers in mid-double jump).. code review isnt so nessisary..
Storm
Next is have some items ready that do your job for you. Make an account that allows the user to install one application only, with a lockout of everything else. Giving them the ability to click next all by themselves.. This gives the user a sense that they're trusted to some degree. if data needs to be entered.. have a photocopy instructions ready for them. Reserve this for your buddies.. "the guys who hastily (quietly) cleaned their keyboards after a good laugh about those infidels who would type on an unclean device".
Go to lunch with the guys, and dont talk business. just work the banter. oh, and stick to the guys who understand polite conversation, religion, politics, and income.. all taboo. Those are for people you dont work with.
oh, as far as work goes be absurdly honest (just for tech stuff) if you arent sure, and need to google, and hope for the right keyword.. say it.
It comes across as confident once you feel comfortable saying it. Coders are usually on the spot and often sugar coat it, freaky honesty will drop their jaw.
Storm
Nope... nice degree, but the degree must say engineering too..
and Engineers still dont consider software engineering to be engineering.
And this from someone who nearly has that exact plaque on my wall.
Storm
It needs some gentle guidance. The language has too many words which have the same sound or spelling, or spellings that have nothing to do with the sound. The language lacks gender neutral pronouns, except possesives. the ending --ough.. pick a sound we have maybe 6ish cough hiccough through brough...
America needs to do some clean up on the language in a careful manner that makes the spelling and meaning of the language clearer.
The Dennis Leary part of my brain is compelled to add the last parcel.
Worcester mass.. BITE the Bullet, Either spell it Wooster, or say it WHORK-Ester --sounds like some violent crime against Ester--.
Storm
But the good 2d games had some good points..
no odd lag, because it was dedicated. Crisp use of the monitor.
in Donkey-kong knowing when to acsend a ladder is critical.
in Battlezone (3d but extra-old).. using the blocks right was a monster.
in Super Mario.. knowing that you will land on ground was a trick.
oh.. and death was usually one mistake away..
"Pac-Man Fever" was only a song, not a medical diagnosis.
Now theyre not world of warcraft... but imagine WOW with oldschool latency.
----of course the quarter-usage might bankrupt people.
Storm
Storm
ok.. Any intelligence which is that conceited, petty and needy has no buisness being worshipped. Actually such an intelligence wouldnt even have my respect.
Storm
If in fact you can easily handle 3 bots + expert + no hacks/glitching. then hats off 2 you.
Storm
ok.. I'll admit it's my MS at 35. Still I wouldnt change it.
Storm
you sir have made a fan.
Storm
I don't mind competing on a level. What I dont care for is competing with someone with his sweet and tenders in a vice. They are stuck with no power in the employer-employee relationship.. This means I am competing with someone who is scared to ask for a raise, or to quit, or say shove it when asked to do a 90 hour week.
As an employer... I want the slave. Why bother with someone who will complain "these fumes are toxic" or "I think I need an ambulance"
Let me fight on the level
Storm
But really it's the fairness to the H1-B's. We should care about the conditions of the workers which produce our goods. Our purchases make us complicit in their treatment.
Find some underfunded community college, then find a department that wants to get their feet wet with a cluster.. get on good terms with whoever they make the admin..
Donate it with some provisos... that you get access to the machine. and that your not going to use it for illegal or buisness activities.
Dont give it to IT..
your giving people the chance to learn to use a cluster.. and you can play around on it anytime without a power bill.
And it can give you a nice online storage capability via ssh/scp/sftp
Storm
I could render a machine unresponsive.. but it was rough. I needed to open a bunch of quicktime movies multiple times all at once. and then the system would be really hurtin. but my 95 box couldnt even come close.. 2 quicktime windows at the same time.. and they were takin turns. on faster hardware. The filesystem makes me want to throw my vista box through the window. BeFS was so fast finding files-- as I typed in a name it narrowed down the list. so as fast as i can type a unique id.. it found the file. or imperceptibly thereafter.. it may have been engineered so well as to predict my next keystroke.. and be there instantly.. as beforehand creeps out the user too much... Storm
Stark has been in office since Nixon.. 1973. He is riding incumbent effect on a seat that is not under real contention. And he switched in a district that is known for tolerance. He is on the ways and means comittee.. he brings in the money. I'm betting a bunch of senators are closet agnostics/athiests/bunnykillers/homosexuals/bdsm fetishists/johns but closet doesnt count. Show me an athiest being freshly elected to House or senate in Texas-Arkansas-Missisippi-Alabama-Georgia-Louisiana-or the Carolinas.. Then I will think that the bias is lowering. As it is.. Stark is 77 and might not be too worried about retiring. Storm
ymmv this might mess up some sound during heavy downloads.. so far I havent had a problem.
Storm
http://hardware.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=404030&cid=21888056
yea. we need smarter power..
of course, do we want to have every lamp have a full automator circuit? or still let kids build classic lamps in JR High?
Storm
Ok, a molecular biologist*(titles may vary)-computer scientist that can hold their own on both sides of the table, it's a bit harder for people to give you the idiot look. But having a crossover skill does give you a wicked edge, the further from math-centric fields get, the stronger it gets. People will do an amazing amount of work by hand rather than figure out a good solution. For instance, a friend was looking at her data from a device, which spit out excel spreadsheets, and determining what readings were junk, and which were legit, about 20 minutes per run with a few hundred runs. After figuring out the parameters of what she wanted, I popped up a spreadsheet that she could cut and paste all her data into, and get her results in about 15 seconds. It took about an hour to get it set up. Still with a cosc degree your employable, the biology degree allows you to request some major cash for some projects, and most of the job is going to be explaining what the bio people are really looking for, rather than what they were asking for. And explaining back to the bio people why something is infeasible, and how to make it more feasible. For instance:: Biologist.. take this soup of thousands of chemicals, and do binary combinations on them in all conformations to determine the possible agents which build up the other molecules in the soup. Computationally this is a mess, 100k *100k * (400 conformations per molecule) * (ln 100k(search for molecule))) == a whole bunch of work. However if you invert the problem, it gets much better results.. Break each molecule apart in a binary fashion, and determine if the left and right side molecules are in there. computationally 100k * 20 * ((ln 100k) * 2 ) Anyway, your garden variety biologist isn't going to find these optimizations. It's not their way. Baseline is that bio folks need computer folks more than they realize, and the amount of incoming data isnt something that can be handled easily anymore. Anyway, this rant is brought to you by a tech that fixed machines for 10 years before going back to school for degrees in Molecular Bio, and Computer Science. Figured fixing machines all my life would be a waste.