I have to tell you, I LOVE Cocoa/Objective-C. There are a million benefits to both - Cocoa ( in combination with Interface Builder) gives you fantastically easy GUI creation and control.
The Objective-C language has got to be the coolest language I have ever used. I love being able to add a method like -encryptWithKey: to the NSData class without subclassing it.
The automatic memory management with -retain and -autorelease is great, too. Almost never have to worry about it.
Besides all this, you can use straight ANSI C code (and C++, too, in Objective-C++) right in the same source file.
In short, give Cocoa a look. If it doesn't meet your needs, try using one of the other solutions. The only thing I can come up with where you would need to not employ Cocoa is if you desire easy portability.
I'm in GA, and my Net access has been very bad for the past day and a half or so. Download speeds dropping well below 2Kbps, sometimes below 1 k per second. No fun!
What if you've got something in PPC assembly? Or something which depends on big-endian architecture?
It was hard enough going from 68K to PPC, and there was no Classic issues, no endian issues. Guess what? There is a not insignificant number of packages which are STILL 64K only. Why? They're abandoned and the source is not available. If Apple switches to Intel, there will be a tremendous amount of orphaned software, or they will need to write a (slow) emulator for PowerPC on Intel.
You know, if we are referring to Orson Scott Card, the Buggers invented the ansible - not the military. The IF stole it from the Bugger ships, I believe after the Second Invasion.
Hogwash. Take any Mac G4, double the MHz, and that's about the speed of the equivalent Pentium. I've got a G4/400, and it's nice. The only thing holding back that speed is lack of RAM (only 128, which is not much with 5 apps going).
Do some research before making assertions like that. I can play Civilization III just fine.
Try one of the new 1.25Ghz, dual processor G4s if you want to see some serious speed.
I have a hard time believing this. Apple makes a lot of money because they sell their own hardware. If they only make it run on Apple x86 hardware, everybody still has to rewrite the darn apps to run (especially if it uses Carbon, Classic or is endian-dependant). Otherwise, they lose some hardware money and people _STILL_ have to rewrite apps. I just don't see how this could make any sense for Apple. MS will port Windoze first. (heaven forbid!)
Some games will run in VPC with absolutely excruciating speed. In terms of slowness, that is. An example: after installing VPC on my G4-400, tried to run Jeopardy and an old kid's game called Logic Quest. Result: Jeopardy ran, but the video was awful and it had insane problems with the mouse. Logic Quest also ran, but so slowly it was completely unplayable. Not just obnoxious, but actually unplayable.
VPC is nice for some things, but games are not one of them,
People's religion is their own business. So what if they want to call themselves Jedi? I'd personally rather be a Jedi than Christian, Jew or Muslim. The concept of the Force and the Jedi is a very elegant and spiritual system, and if that is what anyone chooses as their belief no one should say it is false simply because it is taken from a movie.
If you've got Mac OS X, try using OmniWeb. It can block ads and off-site cookies, and you can block all images from any site matching a regular expression (VERY cool).
How is DoubleClick going to cause any problems if their ads don't load and their cookies don't take?
I agree with you that such a system has benefits - but only if there are strong laws preventing abuse, and more importantly only if you trust your government to follow those laws. Sounds like it wouldn't be too hard to steal an identity, so there need to be laws dealing with that. There also would need to be laws to prevent 1984-style monitoring of everything you do. The big problem with any ID system is the Big Brother possibilities. I want to see an ID system that uses cryptographic zero knowledge proof of identity before I use it.
Why not pick up an old copy of Civ II? With III out, I've seen Civ II for 10 bucks in stores. That's one game you can play forever. As for free/shareware, there are some nice arcade games: Glypha III homepage.mac.com/quirinus Cyclone (?) Asteroid Storm homepage.mac.com/zarkonnen Glider is fun too, as are MacChess and SigmaChess (if you're into chess, obviously). have fun!
If they're going to get to do DoS attacks, who has to carry the traffic? ISPs! I wonder what they are going to be saying about this bill - perhaps the Net industry might enter the legal battle against the MPAA/RIAA. Were I an ISP, I'd be screaming at my local representative right now.
I didn't know this, but it is interesting to note that in Pullman's The Golden Compass, Mrs. Coulter, in Lyra's world, refers to hot chocolate as 'chocolatl'. Perhaps Philip Pullman speaks Aztec?
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Read the article -- it indicates the game will carry a "Mature" rating, which I believe means 17 and up only.
I have to tell you, I LOVE Cocoa/Objective-C. There are a million benefits to both - Cocoa ( in combination with Interface Builder) gives you fantastically easy GUI creation and control.
The Objective-C language has got to be the coolest language I have ever used. I love being able to add a method like -encryptWithKey: to the NSData class without subclassing it.
The automatic memory management with -retain and -autorelease is great, too. Almost never have to worry about it.
Besides all this, you can use straight ANSI C code (and C++, too, in Objective-C++) right in the same source file.
In short, give Cocoa a look. If it doesn't meet your needs, try using one of the other solutions. The only thing I can come up with where you would need to not employ Cocoa is if you desire easy portability.
Ever read Asimov's "Nemesis"? It has the same scenario, though five thousand years in the future.
It cracks me up that this article on the US CONGRESS is on theregister.co.uk...
I'm in GA, and my Net access has been very bad for the past day and a half or so. Download speeds dropping well below 2Kbps, sometimes below 1 k per second. No fun!
What if you've got something in PPC assembly? Or something which depends on big-endian architecture?
It was hard enough going from 68K to PPC, and there was no Classic issues, no endian issues. Guess what? There is a not insignificant number of packages which are STILL 64K only. Why? They're abandoned and the source is not available. If Apple switches to Intel, there will be a tremendous amount of orphaned software, or they will need to write a (slow) emulator for PowerPC on Intel.
These guys need one of those awesome dual 1.25 Ghz G4's. Now that is speed. Why ruin a good Mac?
You know, if we are referring to Orson Scott Card, the Buggers invented the ansible - not the military. The IF stole it from the Bugger ships, I believe after the Second Invasion.
Are you saying we are not ramen? :)
Hogwash. Take any Mac G4, double the MHz, and that's about the speed of the equivalent Pentium. I've got a G4/400, and it's nice. The only thing holding back that speed is lack of RAM (only 128, which is not much with 5 apps going).
Do some research before making assertions like that. I can play Civilization III just fine.
Try one of the new 1.25Ghz, dual processor G4s if you want to see some serious speed.
Mac OS X already has chess. You can find it as /Applications/Chess.app.
For Classic try SigmaChess or MacChess.
Note the BSD section includes the fact that Python 2.1.1 is installed with Mac OS X. This ought to make some folks happy (myself included).
Actually, it's Barad-du^r, and Sauron built it. The Numenorians of Gondor built Orthanc, I believe.
I have a hard time believing this. Apple makes a lot of money because they sell their own hardware. If they only make it run on Apple x86 hardware, everybody still has to rewrite the darn apps to run (especially if it uses Carbon, Classic or is endian-dependant). Otherwise, they lose some hardware money and people _STILL_ have to rewrite apps. I just don't see how this could make any sense for Apple. MS will port Windoze first. (heaven forbid!)
Some games will run in VPC with absolutely excruciating speed. In terms of slowness, that is. An example: after installing VPC on my G4-400, tried to run Jeopardy and an old kid's game called Logic Quest. Result: Jeopardy ran, but the video was awful and it had insane problems with the mouse. Logic Quest also ran, but so slowly it was completely unplayable. Not just obnoxious, but actually unplayable.
VPC is nice for some things, but games are not one of them,
People's religion is their own business. So what if they want to call themselves Jedi? I'd personally rather be a Jedi than Christian, Jew or Muslim. The concept of the Force and the Jedi is a very elegant and spiritual system, and if that is what anyone chooses as their belief no one should say it is false simply because it is taken from a movie.
If you've got Mac OS X, try using OmniWeb. It can block ads and off-site cookies, and you can block all images from any site matching a regular expression (VERY cool).
How is DoubleClick going to cause any problems if their ads don't load and their cookies don't take?
I agree with you that such a system has benefits - but only if there are strong laws preventing abuse, and more importantly only if you trust your government to follow those laws. Sounds like it wouldn't be too hard to steal an identity, so there need to be laws dealing with that. There also would need to be laws to prevent 1984-style monitoring of everything you do.
The big problem with any ID system is the Big Brother possibilities. I want to see an ID system that uses cryptographic zero knowledge proof of identity before I use it.
Why not pick up an old copy of Civ II? With III out, I've seen Civ II for 10 bucks in stores. That's one game you can play forever.
As for free/shareware, there are some nice arcade games:
Glypha III homepage.mac.com/quirinus
Cyclone (?)
Asteroid Storm homepage.mac.com/zarkonnen
Glider is fun too, as are MacChess and SigmaChess (if you're into chess, obviously).
have fun!
Does it have the Genuine People Personalities feature?
Share and enjoy!
And hope they don't have blasters. :)
If they're going to get to do DoS attacks, who has to carry the traffic? ISPs! I wonder what they are going to be saying about this bill - perhaps the Net industry might enter the legal battle against the MPAA/RIAA. Were I an ISP, I'd be screaming at my local representative right now.
"According to the latest official figures, 63% of all statistics are made up." :)
I didn't know this, but it is interesting to note that in Pullman's The Golden Compass, Mrs. Coulter, in Lyra's world, refers to hot chocolate as 'chocolatl'. Perhaps Philip Pullman speaks Aztec?
You seem to have an ad in your sig. Now I need a bigger monitor.