Programming is a form of art.
Not only is elegance and beauty possible in programming computers,
these are at the core of a good programmer's value system.
Computers present to mankind the first opportunity to do what religions all
over the world have failed to present: the ability to receive unambiguous
answers to incantations and prayers -- computers are the man-made gods who
listen.
I am, of course, talking metaphorically about instructing computers to
create what we want to exist.
Like other information should be available to those who want to learn and
understand, program source code is the only means for programmers to learn
the art from their predecessors.
It would be unthinkable for playwrights not to allow other playwrights to
read their plays, only be present at theater performances where they would
be barred even from taking notes.
Likewise, any good author is well read, as every child who learns to write
will read hundreds of times more than it writes.
Programmers, however, are expected to invent the alphabet and learn to
write long novels all on their own.
Programming cannot grow and learn unless the next generation of programmers
have access to the knowledge and information gathered by other programmers
before them.
..and while the U.S. finally get widespread GSM, several European countries have awarded UMTS licenses and expect to see commercial launch by 2001. At least we'll have a market for our obsolete GSM phones..:D
1. An e-mail program that will offer the ability to easily execute file attachments (this could be a simple shell script).
2. This program could modify the unfortunate users.bash_profile to include some command that would do great evil (parse an address list and distrubute the virus)
One could easily implement something like this with a shell script. What's keeping virii like this from spreading is basically well-designed e-mail software (and to a certain degree users with a small amount of common sense).
I don't think this is a Universal Truth about technology today. How about the Pavoni Europiccola, or the TacT Millennium (Although it DOES have LEDs, both its design and technology is still quite impressive) Morgan +8 (These are still made today, and they are VERY fun to drive) Even though there's a lot of crap around, one can still find technological excellence today. It's just like the music industry - the fact that Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys are selling huge amounts of records, doesn't neccesarily mean that there is no good music being made out there. Hmm? -K
I don't know if they use on-chip webserver mentioned here, but as far as I know all HP JetDirect print servers have an embedded web server. Once you have assigned an IP address, either through a supported printer or included software, the print server can be configured through http or telnet.
I think that there are a lot of applications for this and similar products. Wouldn't it be very nice to be able to program the VCR through a web page, instead of pressing the tiny buttons on the remote, or your company's PBX or central heating system).... and these are only some of the more obvious ideas..
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Programming is a form of art. Not only is elegance and beauty possible in programming computers, these are at the core of a good programmer's value system. Computers present to mankind the first opportunity to do what religions all over the world have failed to present: the ability to receive unambiguous answers to incantations and prayers -- computers are the man-made gods who listen. I am, of course, talking metaphorically about instructing computers to create what we want to exist.
Like other information should be available to those who want to learn and understand, program source code is the only means for programmers to learn the art from their predecessors. It would be unthinkable for playwrights not to allow other playwrights to read their plays, only be present at theater performances where they would be barred even from taking notes. Likewise, any good author is well read, as every child who learns to write will read hundreds of times more than it writes. Programmers, however, are expected to invent the alphabet and learn to write long novels all on their own. Programming cannot grow and learn unless the next generation of programmers have access to the knowledge and information gathered by other programmers before them.
~K..and while the U.S. finally get widespread GSM, several European countries have awarded UMTS licenses and expect to see commercial launch by 2001. At least we'll have a market for our obsolete GSM phones.. :D
One would need:
.bash_profile to include some command that would do great evil (parse an address list and distrubute the virus)
1. An e-mail program that will offer the ability to easily execute file attachments (this could be a simple shell script).
2. This program could modify the unfortunate users
One could easily implement something like this with a shell script. What's keeping virii like this from spreading is basically well-designed e-mail software (and to a certain degree users with a small amount of common sense).
Correct me if I'm wrong.
_K
I don't think this is a Universal Truth about technology today. How about the Pavoni Europiccola, or the TacT Millennium (Although it DOES have LEDs, both its design and technology is still quite impressive) Morgan +8 (These are still made today, and they are VERY fun to drive) Even though there's a lot of crap around, one can still find technological excellence today. It's just like the music industry - the fact that Spice Girls and Backstreet Boys are selling huge amounts of records, doesn't neccesarily mean that there is no good music being made out there. Hmm? -K
I don't know if they use on-chip webserver mentioned here, but as far as I know all HP JetDirect print servers have an embedded web server. Once you have assigned an IP address, either through a supported printer or included software, the print server can be configured through http or telnet.
I think that there are a lot of applications for this and similar products. Wouldn't it be very nice to be able to program the VCR through a web page, instead of pressing the tiny buttons on the remote, or your company's PBX or central heating system).... and these are only some of the more obvious ideas..