I have read through a whole lot of responses, and it seems that a whole lot of people here just do not know the Apple MacBook.
I bought one last year for my wife, because she was tired to be dependent upon me for her computing needs. I do use Linux, I do not want to touch Windows with a ten-foot pole if I can avoid it.
Price of the Mac : 1000EUR. Yes, I know you can get cheaper laptops, but then you are stuck with Windows, or I have to reinstall Linux, which I wanted to avoid (btw. my first laptop from 1999 also cost 999EUR, with 32M RAM, and a 233MHz Pentium II processor, so I don't consider 1000EUR for a MacBook expensive).
Value of the Mac : priceless. I haven't had to explain anything to my wife, and the photo software that comes standard with the system is the best I have ever seen. I never get any whining about why something does not work. My 4 year old daughter can log in without password and knows how to find her way with Firefox.
Did I do some customisation ? Not much. I added NeoOffice and Firefox, and for myself ports and MzScheme.
With a Windows system, you would have to buy all the software you needed, or pirate it.
When I stick my spade in the ground to do a little digging, then the worms come crawling out too.
When I just stick it in the ground to and move it back and forth, even then the worms come crawling out. Probably due to the fact that friction of the spade with the ground creates other noises than only the thud from the spade.
Well, I save up to 2ltr of fuel per 100km by changing my way of driving. Mostly engine braking and trying to run in lowest rpm possible, on the way to my work about 1500-1750 rpm. So I now have a regular economy of 5.5 l/100km, instead of 7.5l/100km. If I would drive a VW (Golf, Passat) I would probably have even lower figures (now Renault Scenic).
I need fork(), even on Windows, because all my programs are constrained by our VCS (Continuus, which is very slow). When I am doing builds, I create processes which work in parallel with the builds themselves, to save time. All these processes are related to the build.
ActiveState Perl has fork(), it works, but... not always.
Cygwin + Perl does fork() well, I use it every day.
However, for all those people here who do not know Perl, but still think they should comment...
I am using Perl since 8 years, and all of my programs and modules can be used on Win32, cygwin, solaris and linux. For me, Perl is the ultimate in portability (even GUI's, with Perl/Tk). Its footprint is many times smaller than Java, you have a nice namespace system, object-oriented programming when you need, and very good functional programming support : lexical environment, closures, anonymous functions.
You cannot fathom the possibilities of Perl if you haven't read "How To Design Programs".
People should learn to make a difference between an ideal and ideology. Ideology is an ideal gone wrong.
In ideal should be like a touchstone : measure how far you sometimes need to stray, but try to get back on the ideal path. Practicality sometimes trumps ideals (but do not become a pragmatic, because that is also an ideal gone wrong).
I find this a much better way of reconciling my ideals with the real world, and it makes me live with the contradictions that society creates.
I seem to remember that with the advent of Windows NT, Microsoft bet heavily upon threads, because at the same time there where also rumors from Intel about threads being the next big thing in computing, as it was easy to balance threads in multiprocessor system. We are talking about the first half of the nineties here.
Long time since I seen a/. response containing the word 'grok'. I do have the impression that the general newsfeed is not that interesting anymore, and probably not to the other./'ers who would use this.
I find it unbelievable how much crap people are willing to put up with, especially over the last 18 years with all versions of Windows available.
I got burned by Windows 2.0 and 3.0 in 1990, and vowed to never use anything from Microsoft again. Although it was my first job, I did have experience with more stable things.
I only once ran Windows 95 for some time, when I got my first CD-burner (back in 1998), but that was all I ever have used it for. I first used DR-DOS, then OS/2, then finally Linux (and my wife has a Mac now).
That was just what kept me a little bit longer on OS/2. (until 1999). I could run all my favorite Free Software and Open Source programs on it (latex, literate programming tools, gcc, Python, Perl).
Slashdot Mirror
I think you are right. SICP is not only a CS book, but a rather practical one at that, once you get past the mathematical exercises.
Well, as a build manager in a certain large European electronics manufacturer, I can say that we indeed do have a software production line.
It consists of 5 steps :
Druids are specific to the Celts only, who only appeared around 700BC. At that moment, the time of megalith building was already long gone.
I have read through a whole lot of responses, and it seems that a whole lot of people here just do not know the Apple MacBook.
I bought one last year for my wife, because she was tired to be dependent upon me for her computing needs. I do use Linux, I do not want to touch Windows with a ten-foot pole if I can avoid it.
Price of the Mac : 1000EUR. Yes, I know you can get cheaper laptops, but then you are stuck with Windows, or I have to reinstall Linux, which I wanted to avoid (btw. my first laptop from 1999 also cost 999EUR, with 32M RAM, and a 233MHz Pentium II processor, so I don't consider 1000EUR for a MacBook expensive).
Value of the Mac : priceless. I haven't had to explain anything to my wife, and the photo software that comes standard with the system is the best I have ever seen. I never get any whining about why something does not work. My 4 year old daughter can log in without password and knows how to find her way with Firefox.
Did I do some customisation ? Not much. I added NeoOffice and Firefox, and for myself ports and MzScheme.
With a Windows system, you would have to buy all the software you needed, or pirate it.
When I stick my spade in the ground to do a little digging, then the worms come crawling out too.
When I just stick it in the ground to and move it back and forth, even then the worms come crawling out. Probably due to the fact that friction of the spade with the ground creates other noises than only the thud from the spade.
Three : portability of programs between Linux, Solaris, Unix, cygwin and Win32.
Concerning Drupal : Dries Buytaert IS a computer scientist, so he should be able to do anything with any language in a structured way.
Well, I save up to 2ltr of fuel per 100km by changing my way of driving. Mostly engine braking and trying to run in lowest rpm possible, on the way to my work about 1500-1750 rpm. So I now have a regular economy of 5.5 l/100km, instead of 7.5l/100km. If I would drive a VW (Golf, Passat) I would probably have even lower figures (now Renault Scenic).
You're a developer to my heart.
As is the response below.
I need fork(), even on Windows, because all my programs are constrained by our VCS (Continuus, which is very slow). When I am doing builds, I create processes which work in parallel with the builds themselves, to save time. All these processes are related to the build.
ActiveState Perl has fork(), it works, but... not always.
Cygwin + Perl does fork() well, I use it every day.
However, for all those people here who do not know Perl, but still think they should comment...
I am using Perl since 8 years, and all of my programs and modules can be used on Win32, cygwin, solaris and linux. For me, Perl is the ultimate in portability (even GUI's, with Perl/Tk). Its footprint is many times smaller than Java, you have a nice namespace system, object-oriented programming when you need, and very good functional programming support : lexical environment, closures, anonymous functions.
You cannot fathom the possibilities of Perl if you haven't read "How To Design Programs".
I concur. And if you really want to program powerful in Perl, you should first learn how to design program.
Perl is Lisp, but without the macro facility.
People should learn to make a difference between an ideal and ideology. Ideology is an ideal gone wrong.
In ideal should be like a touchstone : measure how far you sometimes need to stray, but try to get back on the ideal path. Practicality sometimes trumps ideals (but do not become a pragmatic, because that is also an ideal gone wrong).
I find this a much better way of reconciling my ideals with the real world, and it makes me live with the contradictions that society creates.
Commander Vimes : If you find a good reason to do this, you will also find a bad reason.
And you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear!
Here in Belgium we have cases where citizens have seized state property using a magistrate and a court order.
Pitr, stop teasing the botnets!!
I thought about 'kilt'...
Bill Gates, blowing the bagpipe, in traditional Scottish clothes...
Why not just call it an IC and leave the unwashed masses in the dark ?
I seem to remember that with the advent of Windows NT, Microsoft bet heavily upon threads, because at the same time there where also rumors from Intel about threads being the next big thing in computing, as it was easy to balance threads in multiprocessor system. We are talking about the first half of the nineties here.
+2 Very Funny
Long time since I seen a /. response containing the word 'grok'. I do have the impression that the general newsfeed is not that interesting anymore, and probably not to the other ./'ers who would use this.
You are extremely lucky if you have such an organisation. Our IT department can hardly find its own nose to poke in.
I find it unbelievable how much crap people are willing to put up with, especially over the last 18 years with all versions of Windows available.
I got burned by Windows 2.0 and 3.0 in 1990, and vowed to never use anything from Microsoft again. Although it was my first job, I did have experience with more stable things.
I only once ran Windows 95 for some time, when I got my first CD-burner (back in 1998), but that was all I ever have used it for. I first used DR-DOS, then OS/2, then finally Linux (and my wife has a Mac now).
That was just what kept me a little bit longer on OS/2. (until 1999). I could run all my favorite Free Software and Open Source programs on it (latex, literate programming tools, gcc, Python, Perl).