Wire wrap. You can be not so good at soldering and still get some pretty complex circuits working - and changes/repairs are often easier than soldering, especially on prototypes.
Interesting technique, but I think the correct term would be "wick" to the iron. Sorry, just having flashbacks to my days in Mil-spec electrical assembly.:)
The command "which uselessapp" is a pretty painless way to find out where it is located.
There are flags for rpm that will explain where things go if you're interested - try the command "man rpm" from a terminal window to see them.
However, if you're really not interested in being in control of your system and believe that the companies selling the software have your best interests at heart (like Intuit's TurboTax and their spyware), then by all means stick with Windows. What you don't know can't hurt you, right?:)
I'm talking about normal applications. Yeah, some get carried away with sharing all the tiny libraries - obviously recent Windows converts. Unless you're writing a daemon - which would be really rare - you've no need to messing around in the init scripts. See the General response
Gee, after reading all the responses, I have to apologize for being so subtle. Let me try harder, since you all missed the point. I also apologize for the delay in responding - I was unable to connect to Slashdot yesterday.
/usr/local/bin/uselessapp is not a directory or *snicker* folder, as some of you called it. As its name implies, it is an application. Under *nix, it does not need an extension to be an executable.
The whole point was that properly written and linked *nix apps have no need for either an *installer* or *uninstaller*. There is no dll snake pit. There is no registry to be screwed up, corrupted, or constantly overwritten. The OS does not need to be rebooted for completion, nor do strange, arcane entries need to be written somewhere to delete the uninstaller. For most *nix applications, even using rmp is overkill - it's just accepted.
I have written dozens of *nix apps, and by judicial use of static linking, the only installation required is the permission to copy the file to the correct directory (which is often the user's bin directory). Uninstall is nothing more than deleting it. Applications written in Tcl/Tk, Perl/Tk, etc., are just scripts that can be copied or deleted at will.
The whole Windows installer/uninstaller requirement is simply a result of the DOS/Windows legacy poor design. I hope that clarifies things, and I hope you consider coming over from the dark side. All that wasted time and effort spent on installers and uninstallers could be used for writing productive code. Flame on!
I've spent the last two years being subjected to biased slashdot propaganda. I couldn't hack into a properly configured windows system if my life depended on it
Absolutely right. Microsoft's latest patches are unbeatable. If you can't boot the OS, ain't nobody gonna crack the box.
That simply can't be. Its a trivial exercise. Store some information in your software's own HKLM\Software\[App Name] folder. Anything you need to uninstall the software. When you are nearly done installing, add a key to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uni nstall that contains the path to your software unintaller. Then your uninstaller will load, re-read the registry keys it wrote when it installed itself, and undo the changes as needed (which should be as simple as removing the location under %SYSDRIVE%\Program Files and clearing the HKLM\Software\[App Name] key). Then you simply add an item in the RunOnce key of the registry to remove the uninstaller when the system next reboots.
Thanks for showing how trivial it is to uninstall an unwanted app in Windows. Under Linux it goes something like this:
rm/usr/local/bin/uselessapp
Certainly, I can see why many people prefer Windows.:)
Why the hell would you have a link to the uninstall in the start menu? How often do you have to run the uninstaller?
Just once, but when I want to uninstall TurboTax (which is pretty much all I use Windows for), I want to do it now - and I did. I expect Windows programs to offer an easy-to-find way to remove all the groty hacks done during installation.
Are you kidding? In software development that requires highly qualified people, it is never easy to replace them. It can take months to dive into a new codebase; every day spent on grokking a new project means less constructive work done on it.
Sure, you and I know that, but management is not willing to believe it. They would much rather believe that programmers are plug-and-play widgets that can be replaced at will.
We once had a coder (call him Joe) who received an offer from another company and gave our employer a chance to match it. They told him no, so he took the other job. Jane was chosen to take over Joe's projects, and she was skilled but had no experience with the projects. A few weeks later, there was a minor-version OS upgrade for security reasons, and a critical application broke. The latest version wouldn't even compile any longer.
From my office, which was very close to management row, I was able to hear the (very loud) wisdom of the top IT manager. He ranted at length about how it was unforgiveable that things stopped working just because some guy name Joe was gone. He yelled about how if we had proper documentation (which we did) anyone should be able to walk in and perform Joe's tasks. He shouted about having proper processes and how that would make individuals irrelevant. It was quite an eye-opener for me.
At any rate, Jane called Joe, and he was nice enough to walk her through far enough that she was able to prove it was a problem with COTS software and have it resolved. The end result: four days down-time on a critical application and a whole slew of useless new rules on project documentation that waste a great deal of time. Management is generally clueless.
You're right, but it still happens. We have an incompetent coder who spent a lot of time kissing management butt and was finally promoted to project lead. Now he spends his days telling people who know how to do their jobs how to do their jobs. What makes me want to puke is when I hear him offer to "share some management insight" with some poor soul on his project. Oh, well, at least he isn't writing bad code any more.
Where are you going with that? I never mentioned race, just H-1B holders. And, IIRC, Indians are caucasians. There are H-1Bs from countries other than India, including Canada, Russia, China, etc.
To repeat, the H-1Bs I've worked with have not been above average in talent, so according to the regulations, they should not be here.
Given that reality, how some people can blame the Republicans just goes to show how blind people can be when they want to be.
I don't want to get into a Democrat vs Republican thing because it's bigger than that. Neither party is willing to stand up for American IT workers, and neither party has been willing to fund enforcement of the H-1B regulations.
There was a provision in the H-1B bill that required companies using H-1Bs to contribute money to retrain displaced American workers. Bush decided that wasn't working and dismantled it. That was just adding insult to injury. It's quite obvious that politicians care only about themselves and how much they can skim from *contributors* regardless of party.
If I hadn't already posted here (a number of times) I'd mod that up. It has become more and more obvious recently that American corporate management is only concerned with American corporate management. They insist that employees attend ethics training while they're being replaced by foreign workers (who haven't attended the ethics training). That's the MBA approach to business ethics.
If they are not hiring american workers then let them move their asses over seas. Then they can get import tariffs placed on all their goods and we can start buying products from and American company with American staff.
Agreed, as long as the companies have to move their headquarters and top management out of the country also. The problem is, the managers will claim they ARE hiring American residents . . . for the mail room and as janitors -- just not IT work. I think I'm beginning to understand Dilbert's garbage man character.
You see, this isn't a social problem, it's an economic one. Talented Indian workers are willing to work for less than American workers.
Talent's got nothing to do with it. I've worked with H-1Bs and only a few have been talented. Management can't tell a good coder from a bad one, and they can't understand any coder or what they do, American or foreign. So they like to think IT people are widgets, and a cheap widget is better because more money goes into management bonuses - until the company tanks because it needs twice as many widgets. Got it?
The petitioning company is expected to pay them the salary they would pay a normal US worker. If the company fails on their obligations they are fined by the INS.
Funny. Neither the Clinton or Bush administration has ever provided funding for enforcement of the H-1B reguations, and the companies know it. And anyone who thinks the INS could ever catch a wrongdoer hasn't read the news in years.
Slashdot Mirror
Am I leaving anything out?
Wire wrap. You can be not so good at soldering and still get some pretty complex circuits working - and changes/repairs are often easier than soldering, especially on prototypes.
The excess solder will "sweat" to the iron.
Interesting technique, but I think the correct term would be "wick" to the iron. Sorry, just having flashbacks to my days in Mil-spec electrical assembly. :)
The command "which uselessapp" is a pretty painless way to find out where it is located.
:)
There are flags for rpm that will explain where things go if you're interested - try the command "man rpm" from a terminal window to see them.
However, if you're really not interested in being in control of your system and believe that the companies selling the software have your best interests at heart (like Intuit's TurboTax and their spyware), then by all means stick with Windows. What you don't know can't hurt you, right?
I'm talking about normal applications. Yeah, some get carried away with sharing all the tiny libraries - obviously recent Windows converts. Unless you're writing a daemon - which would be really rare - you've no need to messing around in the init scripts. See the General response
General response
General response
General response
Gee, after reading all the responses, I have to apologize for being so subtle. Let me try harder, since you all missed the point. I also apologize for the delay in responding - I was unable to connect to Slashdot yesterday.
/usr/local/bin/uselessapp is not a directory or *snicker* folder, as some of you called it. As its name implies, it is an application. Under *nix, it does not need an extension to be an executable.
The whole point was that properly written and linked *nix apps have no need for either an *installer* or *uninstaller*. There is no dll snake pit. There is no registry to be screwed up, corrupted, or constantly overwritten. The OS does not need to be rebooted for completion, nor do strange, arcane entries need to be written somewhere to delete the uninstaller. For most *nix applications, even using rmp is overkill - it's just accepted.
I have written dozens of *nix apps, and by judicial use of static linking, the only installation required is the permission to copy the file to the correct directory (which is often the user's bin directory). Uninstall is nothing more than deleting it. Applications written in Tcl/Tk, Perl/Tk, etc., are just scripts that can be copied or deleted at will.
The whole Windows installer/uninstaller requirement is simply a result of the DOS/Windows legacy poor design. I hope that clarifies things, and I hope you consider coming over from the dark side. All that wasted time and effort spent on installers and uninstallers could be used for writing productive code. Flame on!
I've spent the last two years being subjected to biased slashdot propaganda. I couldn't hack into a properly configured windows system if my life depended on it
Absolutely right. Microsoft's latest patches are unbeatable. If you can't boot the OS, ain't nobody gonna crack the box.
rpm -i uselessapp (for the install) is just as easy Mr. Coward!!! :)
That simply can't be. Its a trivial exercise. Store some information in your software's own HKLM\Software\[App Name] folder. Anything you need to uninstall the software. When you are nearly done installing, add a key to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uni nstall that contains the path to your software unintaller. Then your uninstaller will load, re-read the registry keys it wrote when it installed itself, and undo the changes as needed (which should be as simple as removing the location under %SYSDRIVE%\Program Files and clearing the HKLM\Software\[App Name] key). Then you simply add an item in the RunOnce key of the registry to remove the uninstaller when the system next reboots.
Thanks for showing how trivial it is to uninstall an unwanted app in Windows. Under Linux it goes something like this:
Certainly, I can see why many people prefer Windows. :)
Why the hell would you have a link to the uninstall in the start menu? How often do you have to run the uninstaller?
Just once, but when I want to uninstall TurboTax (which is pretty much all I use Windows for), I want to do it now - and I did. I expect Windows programs to offer an easy-to-find way to remove all the groty hacks done during installation.
Remember when Windows development was halted for a month to find and fix security issues last February?
Yeah. A whole month to search and repair twenty years of accumulated bad hackery. And look at how well it worked!
Well, it didn't work. Mandrake is just about to release 9.1 - they win.
Are you kidding? In software development that requires highly qualified people, it is never easy to replace them. It can take months to dive into a new codebase; every day spent on grokking a new project means less constructive work done on it.
Sure, you and I know that, but management is not willing to believe it. They would much rather believe that programmers are plug-and-play widgets that can be replaced at will.
We once had a coder (call him Joe) who received an offer from another company and gave our employer a chance to match it. They told him no, so he took the other job. Jane was chosen to take over Joe's projects, and she was skilled but had no experience with the projects. A few weeks later, there was a minor-version OS upgrade for security reasons, and a critical application broke. The latest version wouldn't even compile any longer.
From my office, which was very close to management row, I was able to hear the (very loud) wisdom of the top IT manager. He ranted at length about how it was unforgiveable that things stopped working just because some guy name Joe was gone. He yelled about how if we had proper documentation (which we did) anyone should be able to walk in and perform Joe's tasks. He shouted about having proper processes and how that would make individuals irrelevant. It was quite an eye-opener for me.
At any rate, Jane called Joe, and he was nice enough to walk her through far enough that she was able to prove it was a problem with COTS software and have it resolved. The end result: four days down-time on a critical application and a whole slew of useless new rules on project documentation that waste a great deal of time. Management is generally clueless.
You're right, but it still happens. We have an incompetent coder who spent a lot of time kissing management butt and was finally promoted to project lead. Now he spends his days telling people who know how to do their jobs how to do their jobs. What makes me want to puke is when I hear him offer to "share some management insight" with some poor soul on his project. Oh, well, at least he isn't writing bad code any more.
And "Tracker" isn't nearly as bad as "John Edwards". If only it were legal to put a bounty on his head.
Hmm. Maybe they could get Stark to do Crossing Over.
Where are you going with that? I never mentioned race, just H-1B holders. And, IIRC, Indians are caucasians. There are H-1Bs from countries other than India, including Canada, Russia, China, etc.
To repeat, the H-1Bs I've worked with have not been above average in talent, so according to the regulations, they should not be here.
Given that reality, how some people can blame the Republicans just goes to show how blind people can be when they want to be.
I don't want to get into a Democrat vs Republican thing because it's bigger than that. Neither party is willing to stand up for American IT workers, and neither party has been willing to fund enforcement of the H-1B regulations.
There was a provision in the H-1B bill that required companies using H-1Bs to contribute money to retrain displaced American workers. Bush decided that wasn't working and dismantled it. That was just adding insult to injury. It's quite obvious that politicians care only about themselves and how much they can skim from *contributors* regardless of party.
If I hadn't already posted here (a number of times) I'd mod that up. It has become more and more obvious recently that American corporate management is only concerned with American corporate management. They insist that employees attend ethics training while they're being replaced by foreign workers (who haven't attended the ethics training). That's the MBA approach to business ethics.
Damn! Excellent rant.
If they are not hiring american workers then let them move their asses over seas. Then they can get import tariffs placed on all their goods and we can start buying products from and American company with American staff.
Agreed, as long as the companies have to move their headquarters and top management out of the country also. The problem is, the managers will claim they ARE hiring American residents . . . for the mail room and as janitors -- just not IT work. I think I'm beginning to understand Dilbert's garbage man character.
You see, this isn't a social problem, it's an economic one. Talented Indian workers are willing to work for less than American workers.
Talent's got nothing to do with it. I've worked with H-1Bs and only a few have been talented. Management can't tell a good coder from a bad one, and they can't understand any coder or what they do, American or foreign. So they like to think IT people are widgets, and a cheap widget is better because more money goes into management bonuses - until the company tanks because it needs twice as many widgets. Got it?
Thanks for the clarification.
The petitioning company is expected to pay them the salary they would pay a normal US worker. If the company fails on their obligations they are fined by the INS.
Funny. Neither the Clinton or Bush administration has ever provided funding for enforcement of the H-1B reguations, and the companies know it. And anyone who thinks the INS could ever catch a wrongdoer hasn't read the news in years.