Hields said: "It turned out the bullet had smashed a rib and gone out of me again without touching any internal organs which was very lucky. It was just a flesh wound really."
King Arthur: Now stand aside, worthy adversary.
Black Knight: 'Tis but a scratch.
King Arthur: A scratch?! Your arm's off!
Black Knight: No it isn't.
King Arthur: Well what's that then? [Pointing to the knight's arm lying on the ground.]
Black Knight: I've had worse.
King Arthur: You liar!
Black Knight: Come on then, you pansy! [Charges Arthur, who chops the knight's remaining arm off.]
King Arthur: Victory is mine! [kneels and starts to pray...] We thank thee Lord, that in thy -- [is kicked in the head by the armless knight.]
Black Knight: Come on then!
King Arthur: What?
Black Knight: Have at you! [Kicks Arthur]
King Arthur: You are indeed brave, good Sir Knight, but the fight is mine.
Black Knight: Oooohhh, had enough, eh?
King Arthur: Look, you stupid bastard, you've got no arms left!
Black Knight: Yes I have.
King Arthur: Look!!!
Black Knight: Just a flesh wound. [Continues to kick and taunt Arthur]
The reason they'll be using MUMPS (or its successor Intersystems Caché) is because it's extremely fast, scales very well and has a record of success in projects of this scale. They will be using MUMPS primarily for the built-in database. They might even be using it only as a database, and the fastest and most scalable database is only as fast to the user as the software that delivers the data to your screen - Java, C# or whatever, and the network infrastructure.
A better comparison than between MUMPS and Java would be between MUMPS and Oracle. Mumps is faster, scales better, needs less sysadmin attention and has less downtime on average.
"Conservative, old-school IT management. In my opinion, these organizations are very unwilling to use new technologies. MUMPS? That was archaic when I was in college in the 80s."
MUMPS in fact scales extremely well, better than any "modern" technology anyway, which is the reason why they'll be using it. It's more likely to be the infrastructure and middleware that's causing the problems - that's if there really are any significant problems, discounting the power outages the downtime looks pretty good for a system of this size and complexity.
"Foucault's Pendulum" is my favourite book by him. It starts slowly, but when it gets going it's gripping. Also he was interested in computers back then too.
Maybe they never get anything out because the rest of the IT industry moves on faster than they can implement their ideas.
e.g. One day someone at Amiga has an idea that seems 2-3 years ahead of it's time. 6 months later they're still working on it, but now it only seems 1 year ahead of it's time. Another 6 months on and they're ready to implement it but there's already stuff out there just as good. In another 6 months - 1 year they might get a product out but by then it would look pretty lame...
You've "almost definitely" never been involved in using Linux to host applications with hundreds or thousands of users simultaneously for a large company, where transactions running into millions of dollars take place every day, and you'd be "almost definitely" laughed out of the shop if you suggested it. You've also "almost definitely" never used SCO for anything. That was "definitely" one of the most stupid statements I've ever read.
'Perhaps the post-Microsoft world began between when Linus Torvald began his software experiment...'
The Microsoft world never was - without Unix the internet wouldn't work, without Microsoft the internet would be chugging along just fine. And just look at the money being poured into developing mobile phone systems that are capable of browsing and using email. The internet is going to become the main interface between human beings and all the information and knowledge that human beings have accumulated in our history.
As for Linux, how on earth is it in any way relevant to the bigger picture beyond your personal Intel/AMD deskbound solution?
If programming standards have dropped it's probably due to powerful computers and "Visual" type programming languages e.g. VBasic, rather than programmers reading too many books. It's amazing how much crap goes unnoticed nowadays, like graphics that needlessly redraw themselves multiple times, or inefficient coded mathematical processes gobbling up CPU time, that would have been obvious on an early Apple or PC.
I've never had so much fun as when I first started programming, in FORTRAN of course. Since then I've tried C, C++, VB (Bollocks), Java, a couple of 4GLs. The only one that didn't leave me with a hollow feeling inside was FORTH - it was a bit too structured for my liking, but it had possibilities nonetheless, especially the arithmetic operators. But nothing can bring back those early FORTRAN days (and nights).
I also propose the banning of the tabs key and the parentheses keys for all languages - there should be no need for block indentation of code and cheating with operator precedence.
Unix was very important for computing, and so was Apple's GUI. But in the same way that the Windows GUI is not innovative but rather based on Apple's, isn't Linux based on Unix? Windows market share dwarfs that of the MacOS and it's quite possible that Linux will dwarf the market share of Unix, but Linux will never be innovative in the revolutionary sense that Unix was.
Does anybody know if this screws up the Polar Lander mission? I read that the Orbiter was to be used to relay data back to Earth from the Lander on the Mars surface, but though I assume the Lander can operate independently if need be I haven't been able to find info on this yet on the Nasa sites.
I had the unfortunate experience of spending 5 months at a company working on a project to replace their old IT systems with a SAP R/3 implementation. The whole thing was a nightmare from start to finish, the process of transferring data into SAP was ludicrously complicated and time-consuming, and SAP itself is a slow, inflexible and non-intuitive application with a clunky early-nineties style user interface.
The project came in way over budget and time, but the saddest thing was the end-users were all very disappointed with what they got.
Yes, SAP consultants DO get LOTS and LOTS of money, though why escapes me (Disclaimer - I am jealous), but I've heard that SAP's revenues are on the way down, and their reputation is in the mud.
I'm writing this from a British/European perspective so can't criticise too much as my tax bill doesn't help NASA, but this is incredibly sad news.
NASA is probably the only government-linked organisation - American, European or otherwise - which many people over here have any respect for, and it really cuts when something you believe in gets shafted like this.
NASA is also the only organisation, public or private, which is doing anything meaningful in space at the moment, the ESA trails NASA by decades, and the Russians are crippled financially. Very disappointing.
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The reason they'll be using MUMPS (or its successor Intersystems Caché) is because it's extremely fast, scales very well and has a record of success in projects of this scale. They will be using MUMPS primarily for the built-in database. They might even be using it only as a database, and the fastest and most scalable database is only as fast to the user as the software that delivers the data to your screen - Java, C# or whatever, and the network infrastructure.
A better comparison than between MUMPS and Java would be between MUMPS and Oracle. Mumps is faster, scales better, needs less sysadmin attention and has less downtime on average.
"Conservative, old-school IT management. In my opinion, these organizations are very unwilling to use new technologies. MUMPS? That was archaic when I was in college in the 80s."
MUMPS in fact scales extremely well, better than any "modern" technology anyway, which is the reason why they'll be using it. It's more likely to be the infrastructure and middleware that's causing the problems - that's if there really are any significant problems, discounting the power outages the downtime looks pretty good for a system of this size and complexity.
"push broadband penetration rates to the extreme."
pr0n!
"Foucault's Pendulum" is my favourite book by him. It starts slowly, but when it gets going it's gripping. Also he was interested in computers back then too.
Maybe they never get anything out because the rest of the IT industry moves on faster than they can implement their ideas. e.g. One day someone at Amiga has an idea that seems 2-3 years ahead of it's time. 6 months later they're still working on it, but now it only seems 1 year ahead of it's time. Another 6 months on and they're ready to implement it but there's already stuff out there just as good. In another 6 months - 1 year they might get a product out but by then it would look pretty lame...
"almost definitely Linux"
You've "almost definitely" never been involved in using Linux to host applications with hundreds or thousands of users simultaneously for a large company, where transactions running into millions of dollars take place every day, and you'd be "almost definitely" laughed out of the shop if you suggested it. You've also "almost definitely" never used SCO for anything. That was "definitely" one of the most stupid statements I've ever read.
'Perhaps the post-Microsoft world began between when Linus Torvald began his software experiment...'
The Microsoft world never was - without Unix the internet wouldn't work, without Microsoft the internet would be chugging along just fine. And just look at the money being poured into developing mobile phone systems that are capable of browsing and using email. The internet is going to become the main interface between human beings and all the information and knowledge that human beings have accumulated in our history.
As for Linux, how on earth is it in any way relevant to the bigger picture beyond your personal Intel/AMD deskbound solution?
If programming standards have dropped it's probably due to powerful computers and "Visual" type programming languages e.g. VBasic, rather than programmers reading too many books. It's amazing how much crap goes unnoticed nowadays, like graphics that needlessly redraw themselves multiple times, or inefficient coded mathematical processes gobbling up CPU time, that would have been obvious on an early Apple or PC.
God bless you all
I've never had so much fun as when I first started programming, in FORTRAN of course. Since then I've tried C, C++, VB (Bollocks), Java, a couple of 4GLs. The only one that didn't leave me with a hollow feeling inside was FORTH - it was a bit too structured for my liking, but it had possibilities nonetheless, especially the arithmetic operators. But nothing can bring back those early FORTRAN days (and nights).
I also propose the banning of the tabs key and the parentheses keys for all languages - there should be no need for block indentation of code and cheating with operator precedence.
Wood-fired pizza oven in THE CANTEEN!!!! I want to work for Apple, even if all they make are multi-coloured suicide booths.
Unix was very important for computing, and so was Apple's GUI. But in the same way that the Windows GUI is not innovative but rather based on Apple's, isn't Linux based on Unix? Windows market share dwarfs that of the MacOS and it's quite possible that Linux will dwarf the market share of Unix, but Linux will never be innovative in the revolutionary sense that Unix was.
You can spin it any way you like but sending your daughter off to a convent at any age in any time for whatever reason is a pretty shoddy thing to do.
Does anybody know if this screws up the Polar Lander mission? I read that the Orbiter was to be used to relay data back to Earth from the Lander on the Mars surface, but though I assume the Lander can operate independently if need be I haven't been able to find info on this yet on the Nasa sites.
Sorry about this rant but I've got the scars.
I had the unfortunate experience of spending 5 months at a company working on a project to replace their old IT systems with a SAP R/3 implementation. The whole thing was a nightmare from start to finish, the process of transferring data into SAP was ludicrously complicated and time-consuming, and SAP itself is a slow, inflexible and non-intuitive application with a clunky early-nineties style user interface.
The project came in way over budget and time, but the saddest thing was the end-users were all very disappointed with what they got.
Yes, SAP consultants DO get LOTS and LOTS of money, though why escapes me (Disclaimer - I am jealous), but I've heard that SAP's revenues are on the way down, and their reputation is in the mud.
I'm writing this from a British/European perspective so can't criticise too much as my tax bill doesn't help NASA, but this is incredibly sad news.
NASA is probably the only government-linked organisation - American, European or otherwise - which many people over here have any respect for, and it really cuts when something you believe in gets shafted like this.
NASA is also the only organisation, public or private, which is doing anything meaningful in space at the moment, the ESA trails NASA by decades, and the Russians are crippled financially. Very disappointing.
If we got sterilised we'd have to clone ourselves to keep the human race going...