SS2 was and is Awesome, for getting scared by a video game.
Yeah, System Shock 2 rocks and is still one of my all-time favorites. It's creepy, scary and has a great story.
Rails rocks (but isn't a silver bullet)
on
Exploring Active Record
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· Score: 5, Informative
I've been playing around with Rails and AR quite a bit lately, and it has changed the way I think about programming in many (positive) ways. I come from a heavy Java / J2EE background (do that for a living, serverside systems), and Ruby + Rails is a breath of fresh air. Ruby is simply a wonderful language, there is something very "zen" about it, and Rails is inspired. Sure, it builds on a lot of old concepts, but the brilliance is where it leverages the power of the Ruby language to do things in very efficient and nice ways.
Yes, there is a lot of "black automagic" involved in Rails. It's where the power is, and you can override pretty much everything is you want to. If you're uncomfortable with magic stuff happening behind the scenes and don't want to learn Ruby so you really understand that magic, Rails might not be for you.
I'd claim that pretty much every serious programmer (VB scripters don't count:) should learn Ruby, at least the basics. It might not become your new favorite language (like it has for me), but it will give you a fresh new perspective on how to code stuff.
Ruby does have a few downsides:
There is no Unicode support. For a language coming from Japan that's surprising (and sucks). I'm given to understand that fixing this is in the roadmap for Ruby(?).
It's an interpreted language (like Perl, Python etc), so if speed really is an issue for you then it's not a good choice (for most things nowadays, Ruby is more than fast enough)
The scoping of variables in blocks is a bit funky.
Some of the organization in the standard libraries is a bit weird, and there is some repetition of functionality. I think this is due to historical reasons (std lib code has evolved over the years)
(there are probably more, but I'm still only learning the language)
As for Rails, well, again there are downsides. Nothing is perfect.
No Unicode support (inherits Ruby weakness). For web apps, this really sucks.
Poor localization support in general (again, sucks).
ActiveRecord is nice, but works best for from-the-ground-up projects. Integrating with a legacy schema might get ugly, a mapping layer (like Java's Hibernate) would work better there.
No support for clustering and other heavy-lifting technologies. If you're building a seriously big app, Rails might not be the optimal choice. But face it, 99% of web apps don't need stuff like that. Right tool for the job, and all that
Still a young framework, and evolving. This is both good and bad. Bad, since the framework is changing while you code. Good, since it means that bugs (and maybe the above weaknesses, too) are getting fixed.
So: it's not a silver bullet. Nothing is. But for a large majority of the modern-day web app use cases, it's very nice, productive and, well, elegant. It lets you to do quick prototypes and keep your code clean, you don't end up with the insecure and ugly mess most PHP apps end up being.
Tastes differ, I guess, but I'm liking this stuff a lot. In fact, I just ordered the physical album. Reminds me of a mix of XTC, Death Cab For Cutie, old R.E.M. and several other sources. Very nice.
To most people, smoking a few joints and drinking alcohol isn't "doing drugs", even though they of course both are drugs. Hell, I'm "doing drugs" while I drink this coffee right here, but still popular word usage would not have me saying that.
Re:A very technological experience indeed
on
The Tech of Burning Man
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Agreed.
The thing that has struck me both the times I've been to Burning Man has been how nice everyone was. In today's all too cynical world, it's surprisingly refreshing to spend a week in a community that encourages people to be friendly and helpful to each other. Maybe it's the fact that the place is just so weird and the desert to hostile, people have more need than usual to be social. Or maybe it's a just an ongoing cultivated culture thing. Whatever, it works, and I like it.
Burning Man is one of those things that's very hard to describe, mainly because it's pretty unique. Trying to stereotype it into a "naked hippies" thing is sort of like stereotyping Slashdot into "geeks who can't get laid" -- probably accurate for a small percentage, but not all that illuminating.
This year was my second time there. It was different, calmer, but that's because of me not the event. Last year was mind-blowing -- and no, I didn't do drugs there (apart from a few random joints and lots of alcohol). This year I spent a lot more time socializing at camps and less time with the art, which left me feeling a bit art-deprived (but not too much).
My impressions of this year? Less dust storms, I almost missed the constant whiteouts. Great art, better than last year. Cool stuff -- a small dome in the middle of the playa with a microphone and software that played harmonics based on the feedback. Hard to describe but very cool. A huge 3d cube "screensaver". Burning windmills. A very moving & emotional Temple, proving size does not matter. Lots of very cool people. The Group W bench (and Math Camp). The Moroccan double-decker bus from the always wonderful Bee People. The Barbie Death Camp & Wine Bistro.
In other words: total gibberish to people who haven't been there. That's the way it is. It doesn't translate, even through pictures.
It's an experience. Most people will hate it, it's not an easy "entertain us!" event for idle spectators and attention-deficit mindsets... and hey, camping for a week in the desert can get tough. At times you could scream about the playa dust getting everywhere. But for the people who love it, it's worth it many times over.
Things I would change: the fucking motorized scooters. Annoying and they raise dust. Get rid of them. Also get rid of the tourists, the people who arrive just before the burn with videocams for shots of naked chicks. I'd tar & feather the bunch of them if I could. Spend the whole week there and get involved or keep out. It's not supposed to be an easy, convenient weekend experience.
Oh, and Center Camp should only sell ice, not coffee. Dammit.:)
Can you legally sell your iTunes songs to someone else if you grow tired of them? If not, you don't really own the music.
There's also the angle that with DRM, the seller controls how the item can be used *after you've bought it*. Kind of like a book that suddenly stopped working after a while because the publisher decided to change their usage terms. You wouldn't buy a book like that, I'm guessing.
Not trying to troll here, just a bit puzzled. What do people use this sort of software for? I can't honestly figure out any use for me, personally.
I'm in Finland, and I have online access to my bank account - so I get the bank account reports from that. My VISA bill/account is also visible online. Cheques haven't been used here since, dunno, the 1960s or something. Most of my bills are on auto-pay at the bank. In other words, I already have online access to a snapshot of my current financial situation and upcoming scheduled transactions, and the online bank account transaction reports go back a fw months - beyond that I have to actually visit a bank physically, gasp:).
So I have to presume that either the banking systems in other countries are seriously behind Finland (would be no surprise), or that there's some other use people have for this sort of thing. Must be, since it's a popular class of software.
Ummm, if you consider Snow Crash a "hard" scifi book then you mush have read a different book than me. I mean come on, Cosa Nostra Pizza delivery, a main character named Hiro Protagonist!:).
Snow Crash is a fantastic book, but it does not even try to be "hard" cyberpunk in the Neuromancer vein.
I miss Farscape and I'm still very pissed off that it got cancelled...
But I'm fast getting addicted to Firefly. Probably the best first season of any show I've ever seen, it's had me giggling out loud at times - not a pretty sight:). I seriously hope Fox gives this show a chance, it's a huge potential hit. Every episode seems to be better than the last one. I was a bit put off by the genre-mixing at first (western/scifi) but it grew on me fast. This is original stuff.
...as was Farscape. And look what happened to it. Sigh.
I miss Farscape and I'm still very pissed off that it got cancelled...
But I'm fast getting addicted to Firefly. Probably the best first season of any show I've ever seen, it's had me giggling out loud at time - not a pretty sight:). I seriously hope Fox gives this show a chance, it's a huge potetential hit. Every episode seems to be bettet than the last one. I was a bit put off by the genre-mixing at first (western/scifi) but it grew on me fast. This is original stuff.
...as was Farscape. And look what happened to it. Sigh.
If this is an "excellent" sc-fi show nowadays, then I fear the entire genre has gone to hell and back. This show was pure crap.
Frankly... what the hell is your problem? You've posted N messages here saying that you think the show is crap. Fine, we heard you the first time. Now go away. You don't like it fine, but a lot of other people love it and want to see it continue.
It didn't even seem like sci-fi at all, more like a soap-opera in a giant tin can.
Ah, I see. You're one of those people who equate "sci-fi" with technobabble, special effects and machines that go "beep". Fine, go watch Star Trek. Personally I like shows that put a bit more emphasis on character development and, you know, the story.
The terribly ironic part of this is that most people unanimously agree that the show got MUCH better as it went along. Lets face it, the first few episodes were mildly amusing at best, but the last 4 or so have kicked all sorts of ass.
Yeah. The original pilot (which they didn't show) kicks ass. The first two episodes they showed were mediocre - not bad, but not great. Then comes "Our Mrs. Reynolds", which made me go whaaaat? at one point and for good makes it clear that this is not Star Trek. Trek would never dare to do the things that this episode did. So now I have a problem, I'm really starting to like the show and now it's possibly getting cancelled. First Farscape, now this..
To people who didn't like the first few episodes... watch the third episode. If you don't like that fine, the series is not your cup of tea. But don't judge it on the basis of the first few eps, they don't do the show justice.
It's clear that this is a series that mixes genres, and if you want your science fiction in the squeaky clean Star Trek fashion you will not like this. But please don't go around spouting nonsense like "it's not science fiction, it has some low-tech in it!". Go to the library, read a pile of good science fiction - start with Ken MacLeod if you will - then come back and discuss.
My big gripe is that the dialogue was horrible, and the plots, despite the fact that the show made a painfully obvious effort to not be Star Trek, were so obviously lifted from Star Trek.
Ummm, I don't know what you have been watching, but it can't have been Firefly. That show has excellent dialogue and could almost be described as an "anti-StarTrek". Just watched the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds" last night, and it was excellent. I'm really hoping Fox gives this show a chance.
It does seem that all intelligent and original sf shows get killed off nowadays. First Farscape, now Firefly. I guess if you do anything that requires any sort of attention span or that (gasp!) mixes genres you will be in trouble. Thing is, a lot of the big hit tv-shows have been risk-takers. I doubt that the original X-Files would survive nowadays, it would get cancelled after a few episodes. Same with B5 (which had to struggle for its existence even way back then). Sigh.
It is fun to read all these things but seriously has anyone ever thought whether all these games etc on a cell phone is all that important?
Well, yes. Of course a laptop is better for gaming, but that's not the point. At least here in snowy old Finland, you always have your phone with you, but carrying a laptop is more of a chore. In a typical scenario, you go to the bank and there's a 30-person line in front of you. Instead of grumbling and getting bored silly, you take out your phone and play some games while you wait. They don't need to be equivalent to laptop / PC games, the use case scenario is totally different.
The same argument could go for laptops vs. desktops... of course desktops are much better game platforms, but when you're on the road you have a laptop and not the decktop along with you:).
Just saw this at the Love & Anarchy film festival here in Finland. Excellent, easily one of the best - if not the best - animated films I've ever seen. Maybe a bit too complicated and dark for very young children, but otherwise... if you can, do yourself a favor and go see this.
Here in the U.S. you will often see kids who constantly show off their expensive Nextel cellular phones, make sure everyone has their phone number, and constantly talk to each other or even worse use the Nextel "Direct Connect" feature which allows them to talk to each other, but LOUDLY and with the addition of constant annoying beeps.
We had this phenomenon over here in Finland something like 8-10 years ago when mobile phone were still rare. The people who did have them tended to show off and talk into the (loudly) in a bus, and whatnot. Nowadays it would be like going "look people, I have a wristwatch, aren't I cool!":)
It's nice to see the U.S. take notice of something that's an old phenomenon over here in wireless-happy Finland (and other parts of Europe). I remember first talking about this issue with friends years and years back. Practically everyone has had a mobile phone for so many years now that a lot of people don't even notice how much it has changed things. Little kids have mobile phones. Soon my cats will probably have one;)
For example, nobody agrees on an exact place/time to meet anymore. People just take a bus to the city center, and hook up with people while they're on the move. Likewise, people are totally used to being reachable all the time, and actually feel a bit cut off from society if their phone breaks or something. The same thing as with the Net and email, I guess. If you don't want to be available you turn your phone off or switch it to silent mode, but you want the option of being reachable to there.
Quite amusing to see the States now start to reach this level and notice it. Not intended as a putdown, just as a statement - mobile tech is one area where many parts of Europe are still way ahead, very much due to GSM. Things will probably even out in the future.
I write software for mobile messaging systems, so I have some idea of what I'm talking about, btw;)
Offtopic, but seems to me that the picture that gurulabs is using as background for their web page is ripped from the cover artwork of the album "Rally of Love" by the Finnish band 22-Pistepirkko. Wonder if they have permission for that?
Of course, could be that the album cover is a copy of something that is in the public domain...
The "cost = X * $$$$" (X = number of different browsers) formula only applies if you want to support broken browsers (especially Netscape 4.x).
For modern browsers, if you follow the w3c standards you almost automatically get sites that display on X browsers (including future ones), at little or no extra cost.
The thing is, you need to know (X)HTML, CSS, and other stuff fairly well in order to do this. Most so-called "web designers" don't, they just know how to use Frontpage/Dreamweaver/whatever - apologies here to the designers who actually know their stuff.
Another barrier is the "graphic designer" mentality, the need to specify on a pixel-level exactly how a page should look. That's usually a bad idea and fails totally for users with mobile devices and/or non-standard browsers, but that does not stop some people from trying to use the web as a print medium. It's not.
Slashdot Mirror
SS2 was and is Awesome, for getting scared by a video game.
Yeah, System Shock 2 rocks and is still one of my all-time favorites. It's creepy, scary and has a great story.
I've been playing around with Rails and AR quite a bit lately, and it has changed the way I think about programming in many (positive) ways. I come from a heavy Java / J2EE background (do that for a living, serverside systems), and Ruby + Rails is a breath of fresh air. Ruby is simply a wonderful language, there is something very "zen" about it, and Rails is inspired. Sure, it builds on a lot of old concepts, but the brilliance is where it leverages the power of the Ruby language to do things in very efficient and nice ways.
Yes, there is a lot of "black automagic" involved in Rails. It's where the power is, and you can override pretty much everything is you want to. If you're uncomfortable with magic stuff happening behind the scenes and don't want to learn Ruby so you really understand that magic, Rails might not be for you.
I'd claim that pretty much every serious programmer (VB scripters don't count :) should learn Ruby, at least the basics. It might not become your new favorite language (like it has for me), but it will give you a fresh new perspective on how to code stuff.
Ruby does have a few downsides:
(there are probably more, but I'm still only learning the language)
As for Rails, well, again there are downsides. Nothing is perfect.
So: it's not a silver bullet. Nothing is. But for a large majority of the modern-day web app use cases, it's very nice, productive and, well, elegant. It lets you to do quick prototypes and keep your code clean, you don't end up with the insecure and ugly mess most PHP apps end up being.
Tastes differ, I guess, but I'm liking this stuff a lot. In fact, I just ordered the physical album. Reminds me of a mix of XTC, Death Cab For Cutie, old R.E.M. and several other sources. Very nice.
I think you know what I mean. :)
To most people, smoking a few joints and drinking alcohol isn't "doing drugs", even though they of course both are drugs. Hell, I'm "doing drugs" while I drink this coffee right here, but still popular word usage would not have me saying that.
Agreed.
The thing that has struck me both the times I've been to Burning Man has been how nice everyone was. In today's all too cynical world, it's surprisingly refreshing to spend a week in a community that encourages people to be friendly and helpful to each other. Maybe it's the fact that the place is just so weird and the desert to hostile, people have more need than usual to be social. Or maybe it's a just an ongoing cultivated culture thing. Whatever, it works, and I like it.
Burning Man is one of those things that's very hard to describe, mainly because it's pretty unique. Trying to stereotype it into a "naked hippies" thing is sort of like stereotyping Slashdot into "geeks who can't get laid" -- probably accurate for a small percentage, but not all that illuminating.
This year was my second time there. It was different, calmer, but that's because of me not the event. Last year was mind-blowing -- and no, I didn't do drugs there (apart from a few random joints and lots of alcohol). This year I spent a lot more time socializing at camps and less time with the art, which left me feeling a bit art-deprived (but not too much).
My impressions of this year? Less dust storms, I almost missed the constant whiteouts. Great art, better than last year. Cool stuff -- a small dome in the middle of the playa with a microphone and software that played harmonics based on the feedback. Hard to describe but very cool. A huge 3d cube "screensaver". Burning windmills. A very moving & emotional Temple, proving size does not matter. Lots of very cool people. The Group W bench (and Math Camp). The Moroccan double-decker bus from the always wonderful Bee People. The Barbie Death Camp & Wine Bistro.
In other words: total gibberish to people who haven't been there. That's the way it is. It doesn't translate, even through pictures.
It's an experience. Most people will hate it, it's not an easy "entertain us!" event for idle spectators and attention-deficit mindsets... and hey, camping for a week in the desert can get tough. At times you could scream about the playa dust getting everywhere. But for the people who love it, it's worth it many times over.
Things I would change: the fucking motorized scooters. Annoying and they raise dust. Get rid of them. Also get rid of the tourists, the people who arrive just before the burn with videocams for shots of naked chicks. I'd tar & feather the bunch of them if I could. Spend the whole week there and get involved or keep out. It's not supposed to be an easy, convenient weekend experience.
Oh, and Center Camp should only sell ice, not coffee. Dammit. :)
Can you legally sell your iTunes songs to someone else if you grow tired of them? If not, you don't really own the music. There's also the angle that with DRM, the seller controls how the item can be used *after you've bought it*. Kind of like a book that suddenly stopped working after a while because the publisher decided to change their usage terms. You wouldn't buy a book like that, I'm guessing.
Not trying to troll here, just a bit puzzled. What do people use this sort of software for? I can't honestly figure out any use for me, personally.
I'm in Finland, and I have online access to my bank account - so I get the bank account reports from that. My VISA bill/account is also visible online. Cheques haven't been used here since, dunno, the 1960s or something. Most of my bills are on auto-pay at the bank. In other words, I already have online access to a snapshot of my current financial situation and upcoming scheduled transactions, and the online bank account transaction reports go back a fw months - beyond that I have to actually visit a bank physically, gasp :).
So I have to presume that either the banking systems in other countries are seriously behind Finland (would be no surprise), or that there's some other use people have for this sort of thing. Must be, since it's a popular class of software.
Ummm, if you consider Snow Crash a "hard" scifi book then you mush have read a different book than me. I mean come on, Cosa Nostra Pizza delivery, a main character named Hiro Protagonist! :).
Snow Crash is a fantastic book, but it does not even try to be "hard" cyberpunk in the Neuromancer vein.
...but we're getting off-topic here :)
I miss Farscape and I'm still very pissed off that it got cancelled...
But I'm fast getting addicted to Firefly. Probably the best first season of any show I've ever seen, it's had me giggling out loud at times - not a pretty sight :). I seriously hope Fox gives this show a chance, it's a huge potential hit. Every episode seems to be better than the last one. I was a bit put off by the genre-mixing at first (western/scifi) but it grew on me fast. This is original stuff.
...as was Farscape. And look what happened to it. Sigh.
I miss Farscape and I'm still very pissed off that it got cancelled...
But I'm fast getting addicted to Firefly. Probably the best first season of any show I've ever seen, it's had me giggling out loud at time - not a pretty sight :). I seriously hope Fox gives this show a chance, it's a huge potetential hit. Every episode seems to be bettet than the last one. I was a bit put off by the genre-mixing at first (western/scifi) but it grew on me fast. This is original stuff.
...as was Farscape. And look what happened to it. Sigh.
If this is an "excellent" sc-fi show nowadays, then I fear the entire genre has gone to hell and back. This show was pure crap.
Frankly... what the hell is your problem? You've posted N messages here saying that you think the show is crap. Fine, we heard you the first time. Now go away. You don't like it fine, but a lot of other people love it and want to see it continue.
It didn't even seem like sci-fi at all, more like a soap-opera in a giant tin can.
Ah, I see. You're one of those people who equate "sci-fi" with technobabble, special effects and machines that go "beep". Fine, go watch Star Trek. Personally I like shows that put a bit more emphasis on character development and, you know, the story.
The terribly ironic part of this is that most people unanimously agree that the show got MUCH better as it went along. Lets face it, the first few episodes were mildly amusing at best, but the last 4 or so have kicked all sorts of ass.
Yeah. The original pilot (which they didn't show) kicks ass. The first two episodes they showed were mediocre - not bad, but not great. Then comes "Our Mrs. Reynolds", which made me go whaaaat? at one point and for good makes it clear that this is not Star Trek. Trek would never dare to do the things that this episode did. So now I have a problem, I'm really starting to like the show and now it's possibly getting cancelled. First Farscape, now this..
To people who didn't like the first few episodes... watch the third episode. If you don't like that fine, the series is not your cup of tea. But don't judge it on the basis of the first few eps, they don't do the show justice.
It's clear that this is a series that mixes genres, and if you want your science fiction in the squeaky clean Star Trek fashion you will not like this. But please don't go around spouting nonsense like "it's not science fiction, it has some low-tech in it!". Go to the library, read a pile of good science fiction - start with Ken MacLeod if you will - then come back and discuss.
My big gripe is that the dialogue was horrible, and the plots, despite the fact that the show made a painfully obvious effort to not be Star Trek, were so obviously lifted from Star Trek.
Ummm, I don't know what you have been watching, but it can't have been Firefly. That show has excellent dialogue and could almost be described as an "anti-StarTrek". Just watched the episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds" last night, and it was excellent. I'm really hoping Fox gives this show a chance.
It does seem that all intelligent and original sf shows get killed off nowadays. First Farscape, now Firefly. I guess if you do anything that requires any sort of attention span or that (gasp!) mixes genres you will be in trouble. Thing is, a lot of the big hit tv-shows have been risk-takers. I doubt that the original X-Files would survive nowadays, it would get cancelled after a few episodes. Same with B5 (which had to struggle for its existence even way back then). Sigh.
Well, yes. Of course a laptop is better for gaming, but that's not the point. At least here in snowy old Finland, you always have your phone with you, but carrying a laptop is more of a chore. In a typical scenario, you go to the bank and there's a 30-person line in front of you. Instead of grumbling and getting bored silly, you take out your phone and play some games while you wait. They don't need to be equivalent to laptop / PC games, the use case scenario is totally different.
The same argument could go for laptops vs. desktops... of course desktops are much better game platforms, but when you're on the road you have a laptop and not the decktop along with you :).
Just saw this at the Love & Anarchy film festival here in Finland. Excellent, easily one of the best - if not the best - animated films I've ever seen. Maybe a bit too complicated and dark for very young children, but otherwise... if you can, do yourself a favor and go see this.
We had this phenomenon over here in Finland something like 8-10 years ago when mobile phone were still rare. The people who did have them tended to show off and talk into the (loudly) in a bus, and whatnot. Nowadays it would be like going "look people, I have a wristwatch, aren't I cool!" :)
It's nice to see the U.S. take notice of something that's an old phenomenon over here in wireless-happy Finland (and other parts of Europe). I remember first talking about this issue with friends years and years back. Practically everyone has had a mobile phone for so many years now that a lot of people don't even notice how much it has changed things. Little kids have mobile phones. Soon my cats will probably have one ;)
For example, nobody agrees on an exact place/time to meet anymore. People just take a bus to the city center, and hook up with people while they're on the move. Likewise, people are totally used to being reachable all the time, and actually feel a bit cut off from society if their phone breaks or something. The same thing as with the Net and email, I guess. If you don't want to be available you turn your phone off or switch it to silent mode, but you want the option of being reachable to there.
Quite amusing to see the States now start to reach this level and notice it. Not intended as a putdown, just as a statement - mobile tech is one area where many parts of Europe are still way ahead, very much due to GSM. Things will probably even out in the future.
I write software for mobile messaging systems, so I have some idea of what I'm talking about, btw ;)
Offtopic, but seems to me that the picture that gurulabs is using as background for their web page is ripped from the cover artwork of the album "Rally of Love" by the Finnish band 22-Pistepirkko. Wonder if they have permission for that?
Of course, could be that the album cover is a copy of something that is in the public domain...
The "cost = X * $$$$" (X = number of different browsers) formula only applies if you want to support broken browsers (especially Netscape 4.x).
For modern browsers, if you follow the w3c standards you almost automatically get sites that display on X browsers (including future ones), at little or no extra cost.
The thing is, you need to know (X)HTML, CSS, and other stuff fairly well in order to do this. Most so-called "web designers" don't, they just know how to use Frontpage/Dreamweaver/whatever - apologies here to the designers who actually know their stuff.
Another barrier is the "graphic designer" mentality, the need to specify on a pixel-level exactly how a page should look. That's usually a bad idea and fails totally for users with mobile devices and/or non-standard browsers, but that does not stop some people from trying to use the web as a print medium. It's not.