"If a chance of failure of one element in the device is one to billion, in a device with a billion components something HAS TO fail."
Reminds me of the improbability drive (in HHGG); with an improbability drive, even the most improbable things are very likely to happen as soon you turn it on. (or something to that effect).
The issue is with secure and contained execution environments.
I'd just like to point out that you *can* properly secure and isolate native code on modern processors. That's how the Kernel manages to protect itself from userland processes.
Just because no OS does it, doesn't mean it can't be done (ie: natively executing a process - with certain permissions or none at all).
The Pentium has quite fine controls on what a processor is or is not allowed to do.
So in the end, it's not about C/C++, or Java or C#. It's the basic design of the system. If you want to build a secure system, it doesn't really matter what language you use, or what VM, etc.
If Microsoft is found liable for it's crappy software, then Free software projects will too.
Guess who can afford to keep putting out crappy software in this situation.. that's right.. MICROSOFT!
I think the lawsuit should say something along the lines of a "refund". Thus, if free software is found defective, you get a refund (ie: nothing). If some commercial (Microsoft) software is found defective, you get a refund (a few hundred bucks in case of most of Microsoft software).
Even if you factor in one Chernobyl meltdown per year, you will wind up with far less environmental impact than you would by burning coal.
That's what most people don't realize. These things don't just 'go away' after a few years. Chernobyl is just as toxic now as it was 10-15 years ago. Once one blows, you can't utilize that land for hundreds of years, and we're not talking about 'small radius' either. We're talking about an area the size of texas being radioactive (and people *still* dying from all sorts of weird cancers related to radiation poisoning).
There is a whole generation of people who fled Chernobyl area whose life expectancy is about 40 years. Most people who were in the immediate area (millions of them) died in the first few years after the 'accident'.
My point being is that these things are freaking dangerous!
I wouldn't mind building more of these power plants if they're *safe*. Like building them inside a mountain, totally sealed off from the outside (except for electric wires going out). (and an internal cooling system, etc.,)
In DOS you could capture ctrl-alt-del without any issues. It's when you moved to running your program under Windows (95), that's when the Windows thing would pop-up.
Well, with Pi being proved as infinite and non-repeating, then Lord of the Rings was actually sitting there encoded in Pi forever and would have been sitting there un-discovered had it not been for Tolkien finding it.
I wonder if SCO can claim to own Pi then...
Re:Sorry, but I cannot recommend Perl.
on
Perl 5.8.1 Released
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· Score: 4, Insightful
trying to get the meaning of some Perl gibberish
This confirms my solid belief that those who complain about Perl are the ones who do not know Perl.
Those folks who bothered to learn Perl, usually find it readable, easy to maintain, quite robust, and easy to work with.
The fact that it takes a "wild mix" (your words) of other languages to simulate similar behavior should say something about the expressive power of Perl, and the limitations of said in other languages.
...I remember you needed roughly twice the electricity to make the Hydrogen than you get back...
I was wondering that too... but I'd consider things like vast arrays of floating solar cells, you can pepper miles upon miles of ocean with'em (not enough for a person to walk on, just enough to capture the sun light), and have them somehow grid the generated elecriticy to where it will be used to generate hydrogen.
So 90% of the population, instead of getting a Windows message will now get a verisign message.
C is faster than Java, C#, etc.
on
Does C# Measure Up?
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· Score: 2, Insightful
No matter what you say, C is *always* faster. You *cannot* write a loop in C#, and claim that it will run faster than a comprable loop in C. For one, the interpreter for Java or C# is very likely written in C itself.
Does the speed matter? Does anyone care? No. Well, not for a vast majority of applications. Most of the time the I/O speed is the bottle-neck, not the "code" speed. So if you write a word processor, or some database app in C#, or C++, or C, or Java, more often than not, their 'apparent speed' will be comprable to each other.
A better question to ask is: Would you do numerical analysis, or number crunching/factoring algorithms in Java or C#? Would you even do them in C? (or would you go for Fortran or distributed Haskell?)
Ok, so the only "content" worth serving on the ever-evolving net is text/pictures?
Well, that's the one they're planning on charging for with Micropayments. I see no problems charging for music downloads (if that ever works out). I think fileplanet.com (or something) charges for file downloads.
You can always try to sell banner space; if getting a lot of hits those could actually bring in the needed capital.
Otherwise yes, I'd agree that basically you are the one who has to fork over the money. It's not a 'major' expensive though (at least not in my case). A few hundred dollars (per year) is a reasonable price to pay to host your own site and having an outlet for your own opinions...
Also, for large popular donwloads, we have BitTorrent:-)
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone get the impression that the manufacturers are hitting the limit on how much they can cram into a single core?
The 10Ghz computer of the future, may just be 4-core CPUs running at 2.5Ghz.
GAIM v0.70 works fine. (yey, my Linux box is still on MSN!, Mwahaha :-)
(I'm surprised nobody mentioned this (this being slashdot and all))
Don't worry, their 'record' is still 'slow' in comparison to a 747 stuffed with DVDs flying the same distance.
Let's face it, the company is rather dodgy and I have a hard time trusting them.
Especially if now they'll have user's credit card, info, etc., which could be subject to fall into the hands of the RIAA in future legal battles.
the network should pay users for uploads of new songs. or would that be illegal all over again?
:-)
Heh. Not unless users sing the songs themselves
How about showing people where the "Any" key is? [uncoveror.com] I hope that is O.K. because I just did.
Hmm... someone needs to come up with a program that displays: "press any key to rip this disk" as part of its UI.
"If a chance of failure of one element in the device is one to billion, in a device with a billion components something HAS TO fail."
Reminds me of the improbability drive (in HHGG); with an improbability drive, even the most improbable things are very likely to happen as soon you turn it on. (or something to that effect).
The issue is with secure and contained execution environments.
I'd just like to point out that you *can* properly secure and isolate native code on modern processors. That's how the Kernel manages to protect itself from userland processes.
Just because no OS does it, doesn't mean it can't be done (ie: natively executing a process - with certain permissions or none at all).
The Pentium has quite fine controls on what a processor is or is not allowed to do.
So in the end, it's not about C/C++, or Java or C#. It's the basic design of the system. If you want to build a secure system, it doesn't really matter what language you use, or what VM, etc.
Hmm... when Windows crashes, it won't be enough to just reboot - you'll have to reflash the BIOS.
:-)
Then again, some upstart company may do the same to Phoenix as they did to IBM when they 'made' BIOS
unless of course it ends where the first Martix began.
:-)
Or... it will end with a "To be continued."
Imagine the world-wide riot when in the end of the 'final' matrix it says: "To be continued..."
Or... Find that person before you even knew you were looking for them...
Or... Changing the results of the search by observing them!
Lawsuits aren't going to do anything but make lawyers richer.
And who do you think spins these things up in the first place???
- Or better yet, lets have a class action suit against Microsoft; were every user gets $0.50, and a lawyer doing the case gets a few cool million.
If Microsoft is found liable for it's crappy software, then Free software projects will too.
.. that's right.. MICROSOFT!
Guess who can afford to keep putting out crappy software in this situation
I think the lawsuit should say something along the lines of a "refund". Thus, if free software is found defective, you get a refund (ie: nothing). If some commercial (Microsoft) software is found defective, you get a refund (a few hundred bucks in case of most of Microsoft software).
You ever read an End User License Agreement, son? You DO have to agree to those.
:-)
And waving your hands and screaming "NO! NO! Never!" declares your agreement with the EULA, and is legally binding
On a plus side, those who do enter the CS world, are much more dedicated (and are actually interested) in this subject than they were a few years ago.
Even if you factor in one Chernobyl meltdown per year, you will wind up with far less environmental impact than you would by burning coal.
That's what most people don't realize. These things don't just 'go away' after a few years. Chernobyl is just as toxic now as it was 10-15 years ago. Once one blows, you can't utilize that land for hundreds of years, and we're not talking about 'small radius' either. We're talking about an area the size of texas being radioactive (and people *still* dying from all sorts of weird cancers related to radiation poisoning).
There is a whole generation of people who fled Chernobyl area whose life expectancy is about 40 years. Most people who were in the immediate area (millions of them) died in the first few years after the 'accident'.
My point being is that these things are freaking dangerous!
I wouldn't mind building more of these power plants if they're *safe*. Like building them inside a mountain, totally sealed off from the outside (except for electric wires going out). (and an internal cooling system, etc.,)
In DOS you could capture ctrl-alt-del without any issues. It's when you moved to running your program under Windows (95), that's when the Windows thing would pop-up.
Well, with Pi being proved as infinite and non-repeating, then Lord of the Rings was actually sitting there encoded in Pi forever and would have been sitting there un-discovered had it not been for Tolkien finding it.
I wonder if SCO can claim to own Pi then...
trying to get the meaning of some Perl gibberish
This confirms my solid belief that those who complain about Perl are the ones who do not know Perl.
Those folks who bothered to learn Perl, usually find it readable, easy to maintain, quite robust, and easy to work with.
The fact that it takes a "wild mix" (your words) of other languages to simulate similar behavior should say something about the expressive power of Perl, and the limitations of said in other languages.
I was wondering that too... but I'd consider things like vast arrays of floating solar cells, you can pepper miles upon miles of ocean with'em (not enough for a person to walk on, just enough to capture the sun light), and have them somehow grid the generated elecriticy to where it will be used to generate hydrogen.
There are many facts I fail to realize :-)
So 90% of the population, instead of getting a Windows message will now get a verisign message.
No matter what you say, C is *always* faster. You *cannot* write a loop in C#, and claim that it will run faster than a comprable loop in C. For one, the interpreter for Java or C# is very likely written in C itself.
Does the speed matter? Does anyone care? No. Well, not for a vast majority of applications. Most of the time the I/O speed is the bottle-neck, not the "code" speed. So if you write a word processor, or some database app in C#, or C++, or C, or Java, more often than not, their 'apparent speed' will be comprable to each other.
A better question to ask is: Would you do numerical analysis, or number crunching/factoring algorithms in Java or C#? Would you even do them in C? (or would you go for Fortran or distributed Haskell?)
Ok, so the only "content" worth serving on the ever-evolving net is text/pictures?
:-)
Well, that's the one they're planning on charging for with Micropayments. I see no problems charging for music downloads (if that ever works out). I think fileplanet.com (or something) charges for file downloads.
You can always try to sell banner space; if getting a lot of hits those could actually bring in the needed capital.
Otherwise yes, I'd agree that basically you are the one who has to fork over the money. It's not a 'major' expensive though (at least not in my case). A few hundred dollars (per year) is a reasonable price to pay to host your own site and having an outlet for your own opinions...
Also, for large popular donwloads, we have BitTorrent