Good memory is definitely important, but having a good set of organized notes/sources/bookmarks/etc is almost equally so. There are plenty of things that fall into the "sorta remember but don't quite recall the exact syntax/wording" that have come up and then had the good ol' bookmark-to-a-snippet save my bacon.
Of course, modularizing in many cases happens to help here too... in that case the snippet might be your own. Naming the module something useful is a good idea though:-)
In the event that you happen to be watching this thread, send me a message. I've always wanted to get together with people of similar interests and trade notes, hopefully to come up with a good book/wiki/etc on how to get to various places from scratch but without the complications/assumptions made in some of the bigger books.
In some cases, yes. However, some of the most widely successful games are also simple in concept and not so complicated in code either. Of course the GP is talking about OpenGL, so from experience I'd have to agree that some of the more "useful" things tend to fall into the arena of complication.
My own background is in IT. I work as a sysadmin, but also have an education in programming, and do well enough with perl/PHP/etc to understand some of the more prevalent apps written in those languages and/or code for work as needed (which is actually still fairly often). My C/C++ is definitely a bit rusty, but I've been doing OpenGL stuff as an aside.
I'm still at a fairly base level (building an overall set of objects into an engine, which at this point does render and allow a camera walkthrough) as I tinker with it for the general experience of things, but it seems to me that the amount of information is sometimes excessive. Half the time when I search google for a particular piece of information, I run across tons and tons of SPAM sites.
This especially true of those that seem to do nothing but aggregate the newsgroups/lists from OTHER sites in order to troll keywords and appear to be some definitive source of information. Unfortunately, more than half the results on these sites are clipped, meaning you get the original question and a few answers, but not all of those since the topic was aggregated. You then spend an extensive amount of time sorting through all the other spammy sites of the same genre trying to find the *original* submission in hopes that there *was* in fact an answer in there somewhere.
Now some lists/forums/etc I've used have been very helpful and friendly. Others seem to be full of posturing egotards that can't stoop from explaining their latest meaning-of-life-transform to answer a more simplistic question with something other than "AHA, behold the noon."
From the friendly responses, the best and most useful answers I've gotten are actually more a "check here and here", with URL's being very helpful, or even a "try chapter X in book Y."
And yes, I do have the red book already, and understand the concepts up to where I am at the moment.
"They are not thronged by those hordes of sign-waving hippies that most of you seem to think are keeping nuclear power down."
Actually, it's not the sign-waving hippies that are the concern. It's the government petitioning NIMBYs that have the attitude "nuclear power, sounds good,but... OMG WAIT, DON'T PUT THE REACTOR NEAR MY CITY"
The problem is that we - as geeks - understand that just because you tack on "on the internet" to something it doesn't change the fundamentals in many cases.
However, those in the legal system may or may not have as much understanding of the internet as those with technical knowledge. For example, posting a couple of nasty things during an argument on an online chat or whatever is not really different from doing so during a playground scuffle, and can probably be quickly forgotten as such unless the "bully" is continually following somebody around online for the purposes of said harassment.
Starting a fake blog that indicates that person X has a fetish for little boys or some other such thing is much more serious, more akin to putting up leaflets or something of the like.
Having something in law that might address the differences between different mediums might not be such a bad thing. The problem is the rate at which new mediums spring up and which category they fall under. Perhaps an actual "panel of experts" might be needed in such cases if those in law lack the technical knowledge to differentiate them, so that proper precedents can be set.
If just writing "John C is a c*** s*****" in a heated moment of gaming is enough to get you put in jail... that's not good, and courts do need to recognise the differences between both situations and media of communication.
At the moment you have a 50-50 chance that a serious issue is going to be overlooked (no enforcement), or a non-serious issue is going to be overstated (excessive/unnecessary enforcement), because things aren't really understood in an internet venue.
But not to seriously f*** up in ways that can cause life-threatening damage, that should be the goal. Sure, having some nice little GUI that looks like windows that lets you change the settings at will is a good idea, but if you can make such a thing, then there really is NO reason no to have something as simple as a big red box that pops up and says "the current radiation setting is 8x normal and can have potentially lethal side effects. are you sure you wish to use this setting.
Heck, if it's really dangerous and not needed in-an-instant for life-SAVING purposes,then require anything above a certain threshold to require a special authorization (perhaps a set of keys in the hands of seniors, or passwords, or whatever). Being able to DEFAULT the fricking thing to a dangerous setting makes no sense at all, and shouldn't be possible.
This is a double screw-up. The first was on the part of the manufacturers/programmers who - assumedly - didn't put in adequate safety warnings or prevention methods. The second was on the part of whomever decided to tinker with such a device without properly consulting the manufacturer. As the parent mentions, doctors and pilots etc go through tons of training, and still have vastly automated systems to handle to massive amount of simultaneous data needed to do their jobs.Most of them also know not to play techie and screw with the equipment though. (I would hope that) you don't see a pilot saying "gee, maybe this would work better if I just tweak setting X", that's for the engineers to decide.
It doesn't really seem like an improvement in window-management for me either. Sure, window overlays are a bit cluttered, but then again there's only so much information one can process at a given instant.
I tend to have a *lot* of items running as I multitask. A web-browser, document, several terminals, perhaps a coding window, and others. Having windows aligned horizontally it going to be a PITA if I have to zoom out every time I need to jump from #1 to #15. In that event, a taskbar really is quite a nice thing and "just works". Perhaps rather than having a left (contextual) and right (global) menu, they could also have a bottom/top (taskbar) menu.
I don't know the specifics, but last time I checked the Canadian system did make allowances for getting a little side-income while on EI. Of course, it just ends up deducting from what you get in benefits. So you don't get screwed quite as badly (having benefits cut off entirely), but there's not much incentive to "do a little, get a little" in side work while trying to find a better job, best to just keep on that hunt for a real job.
One thing I seem to remember though is if you find another job that's significantly less pay than your last, you can get some supplemental income to even the difference...
I am quite happy to have a world with fewer programmers. The profession itself is evidence that computers are too complex.
Your parallel is amusing, but there is no outside force that necessarily requires you to use a computer (or need a tech). On the other hand, you may be imprisoned wrongly, be sued unjustly, or many other such things that require a lawyer.
Now granted, computer use is definitely becoming more prevalent in society, but the potential monetary and/or life-damaging consequences of not knowing how to use one pale in comparison to law.
Yes again, you could get screwed if you decide to do banking/gambling/etc online and don't take care of your PC, but none of those are a requirement at the moment. The closest thing I could think of would be having a computer hijacked and used for downloading illegal pr0n or some other such thing, but then we're back to the realm of law, and lawyers...
It seems that a lot of games get murdered in the name of making things "better"
Previously I had played a lot of "Supreme Commander" (which, if you're a C&C fan and like to LAN, is very fun and the queuing system is awesome). As finding internet competition became less easy, I bought the expansion (Forged Alliance). The gameplay mechanics got completely screwed up. Instead of a game with 3-4 tech levels and decent-length, semi-intelligent volleys back and forth, the while became "build massive army of basic units, grab resources, overrun enemy). In other words, it's all one big rush, which used to be the plague of C&C.
Seriously, is it too much to hope for that companies won't screw the mechanics of a game to make it a lame noob rushfest? They're called Realtime STRATEGY for a reason.
I'm fairly sure than none of my software on my PC is illegitimate either. I do, however, have a lot of software that is installed from a download,for two reasons: a) The download tends to have less crap attached b) It doesn't require CD/DVD-swapping, so I can leave the original in a safe place after I get the CD-key from my box c) Sometimes I order a game/etc, and - being in a slightly remote location - it can take quite awhile to arrive, so I download while waiting for the box to arrive
As I have already bought and paid for a fully legit copy of the software, I have no problem doing this, and the BSA can go shove it up their backside after counting my boxes of original discs/licenses/etc For normal users, usually the most commonly copied software I saw was office, mainly because MS creamed the competition so there wasn't a decently compatible alternative. Nowadays I have seen OO replacing the pirated copies, and recommend it when I still run across others.
And to any other "bosses" that happen to read slashdot. THIS is the type of thing that garners employee loyalty.Not necessarily the raise, but the willingness to defend an employee when he/she has been wronged (in relation to work) and thus showing loyalty in turn.
The best jobs I've had had little to do with pay and a lot to do with attitude. I had two bosses that were memorable in the fact that they went to bat for me when things were going sour. One was a work-related issue, and another was actually a personal issue (I had recently moved into a sublet and courtesy of my landlord ended up with a new "roomate" about a month in who was a dealer, the boss helped me in looking for a better location).I'm not sure if there was any statistical significance, but both bosses were female. I found that overall they seemed more aggressive than my male bosses, but also more willing to "fight for the team".
Call me paranoid, but while I'd likely be OK with having nuclear batteries in more common items (my laptop, maybe my car), having a nuclear power cell implanted inside my chest doesn't sound like such a great idea...
Of course, it's a bit disturbing that the head of a major law enforcement agency can be scammed that easily
The type of person who will easily fall for a run-of-the-mill bank-phishing scam is also rather likely to fall for others. How about a a little social networking? "Hello, Mr. Director. This is John from the IT Department. We need to do some security updates on your laptop. Oh yes, and we'll need your password to login and apply the updates"
Forget the "solar flares", maybe next few decade's excuse could be something like:
"Sorry, but the holosite is unavailable due to a large meteor. No ma'm, it didn't strike earth, our datacenter was on the moon."
As a Dojo user, and not ExtJS
on
Learning Ext JS
·
· Score: 1
I have to say that I've been very disappointed with the documentation/APIs/examples on the webs, but fairly happy with the mailing-list support.
As things go, a well-supported mailing-list is nice, but I still would prefer better docs.
My main complains have been: * Sparse documentation on significant portions of the recent API (especially trees/grids and data stores) * A lot of major changes over the last few years, with not-so-good forward documentation (replacements for functions/methods) * Features that have been removed or seem to be broken in newer versions (stylesheet application to widgets, etc)
In the good things: * Powerful and versatile templating engine * Useful debugging tools * Helpful people on the mailing list (no "RTFM stupid noob!" types) * Strong AJAX tools
I'm not sure how many of these "companies" have a solid US presence, but there are plenty of scummy ones like those "antivirus 2009" and the like (which fake an infection to then sell you fake antivirus software to remove it). I believe a lot of these are run by offshore outfits from Russia, etc but I wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of local companies complicit with them as well.
Somebody nailing them would make me a very happy person, more than when I managed to catch them trying to spoof my own site(s) with URLs for their infectoware products and got a few high-level domain names yanked away from them...
I'm guessing you didn't watch the premier for the current season of heroes then. I have never seen so many fricking commercials in my life. The two hours could likely have gone down under one if they'd been cut out.
Now mind you, I'm not an official developer by profession these days, but I spend a good deal of time at work doing web-dev and at home coding C++ apps for personal amusement, but here's my 2c:
a) As mentioned, definitely drop that floppy in favor of a few USB sticks or (even better if you have a cardreader) the built-in cardreader and some SD cards. One additional note though, if your projects are big or you anticipate lots of storage may be needed, make sure the card-reader does SDHC. If you need floppies for legacy, a USB floppy drive works nicely
b) 17" can be a bit much, and definitely adds weight. If you're going for more portability, try a 15" supporting higher resolutions. Heck, even my TX2500 with a 12" screen at 1280x800 is OK. When sitting, have an external LCD, and make sure you have a video card that can manage multiple screens with a higher-res external nicely (randr, twinview, or some other). Some cards don't do anything other than "clone" mode nicely...
c) Extra hard drive? An external drive works quite well on an as-needed, and cuts down on power consumption and bulk. Having extra USB ports and ones that deliver good power is very helpful there (some machines require a dual-USB connector to sufficiently power an external 3.5" USB drive).
d) An extra battery may or may not be needed depending on how you trim up with the above.
e) RAM, 4GB is not uncommon or unaffordable, and really can make a performance difference when you have large projects and many apps open
f) A decent (and decently supported) graphics card is important if you're doing 3d work. Newer ATI's seem to be OK since AMD took over (mine works just find in 'nix), but some stuff still seems more Nvidia-centric in linux-land.
g) If a CD/DVD drive isn't always essential, one can dump that for additional savings on bulk/battery and opt for a slim external (or just pop it out when not in use if you can do so).
From what I read, it displays data as you're typing it out, rather than after you "post"
I could see a lot of problems around this. Even with IM you have a few seconds to look over something before you hit "submit", whereas you can't really "retract" something once somebody else has read it. Yes, you could backspace and retype, but if they've already read "Bob the boss is a big Jerk" then you're out-of-luck.
Um, yeah, because I'm sure that prior to Obama there were no infectees in Washington. They all moved there or started having promiscuous AIDS sex in the last year or so...
Ah, but there is a distinct difference between harm and competition. I know many people who are *extremely* competitive with siblings, for example. In terms of LAN games, I have friends who prefer the "band together/teamplay" group, whereas others are more of the "prove yourself against your friends/FFA deathmatch" type. The latter - IMHO - seem to be more competitive with friends.
Skipping video-games, the same could be said for the two old codgers who regularly play chess. Competition at some point gets so deep that you'd think that they almost hate each other, rather than being friends outside the game.
Though I'm not "high on the food chain" myself, I think that up in that echelon it's also likely to be less offensive. VP's have private offices with doors that can be closed/locked. Unless they leave "dirtybabes.com" up on their browser when somebody comes in, it's much less likely to be bothersome to co-workers.
Bodily fluids are generally viewed as unclean, regardless of which orifice they happen to emerge from. Viewing porn generally brings up a mental picture of somebody engaging in more than just viewing, thus involving bodily fluids.
Assumedly people wash their hands between engaging in such activities at home and coming to work, however there is the stigma of shaking the hand of somebody who's been surfing pr0n at work all day. For IT people there's also the factor of having to touch others' keyboards semi-regularly to fix computer issues.
Overall though, it's just a matter of visibility and courtesy. Viewing a truck forum or slashdot isn't always so visibly apparent from other web-browsing. Surfing pictures of full-on nudes with insertions that would baffle even a gynaecologist is quite visible and rather obvious in that it is very, very far from being work-related (unless one works in that industry, of course). My previous employer had quite a number of guys with way too much testosterone, and as it became apparent to my female co-workers would not so comfortable venturing past the varieties of inappropriate content towards the corner where I worked.
Slashdot Mirror
Good memory is definitely important, but having a good set of organized notes/sources/bookmarks/etc is almost equally so. There are plenty of things that fall into the "sorta remember but don't quite recall the exact syntax/wording" that have come up and then had the good ol' bookmark-to-a-snippet save my bacon.
Of course, modularizing in many cases happens to help here too... in that case the snippet might be your own. Naming the module something useful is a good idea though :-)
In the event that you happen to be watching this thread, send me a message. I've always wanted to get together with people of similar interests and trade notes, hopefully to come up with a good book/wiki/etc on how to get to various places from scratch but without the complications/assumptions made in some of the bigger books.
Game programming is a very difficult field
In some cases, yes. However, some of the most widely successful games are also simple in concept and not so complicated in code either. Of course the GP is talking about OpenGL, so from experience I'd have to agree that some of the more "useful" things tend to fall into the arena of complication.
My own background is in IT. I work as a sysadmin, but also have an education in programming, and do well enough with perl/PHP/etc to understand some of the more prevalent apps written in those languages and/or code for work as needed (which is actually still fairly often). My C/C++ is definitely a bit rusty, but I've been doing OpenGL stuff as an aside.
I'm still at a fairly base level (building an overall set of objects into an engine, which at this point does render and allow a camera walkthrough) as I tinker with it for the general experience of things, but it seems to me that the amount of information is sometimes excessive. Half the time when I search google for a particular piece of information, I run across tons and tons of SPAM sites.
This especially true of those that seem to do nothing but aggregate the newsgroups/lists from OTHER sites in order to troll keywords and appear to be some definitive source of information. Unfortunately, more than half the results on these sites are clipped, meaning you get the original question and a few answers, but not all of those since the topic was aggregated. You then spend an extensive amount of time sorting through all the other spammy sites of the same genre trying to find the *original* submission in hopes that there *was* in fact an answer in there somewhere.
Now some lists/forums/etc I've used have been very helpful and friendly. Others seem to be full of posturing egotards that can't stoop from explaining their latest meaning-of-life-transform to answer a more simplistic question with something other than "AHA, behold the noon."
From the friendly responses, the best and most useful answers I've gotten are actually more a "check here and here", with URL's being very helpful, or even a "try chapter X in book Y."
And yes, I do have the red book already, and understand the concepts up to where I am at the moment.
"They are not thronged by those hordes of sign-waving hippies that most of you seem to think are keeping nuclear power down."
Actually, it's not the sign-waving hippies that are the concern. It's the government petitioning NIMBYs that have the attitude "nuclear power, sounds good,but... OMG WAIT, DON'T PUT THE REACTOR NEAR MY CITY"
The problem is that we - as geeks - understand that just because you tack on "on the internet" to something it doesn't change the fundamentals in many cases.
However, those in the legal system may or may not have as much understanding of the internet as those with technical knowledge. For example, posting a couple of nasty things during an argument on an online chat or whatever is not really different from doing so during a playground scuffle, and can probably be quickly forgotten as such unless the "bully" is continually following somebody around online for the purposes of said harassment.
Starting a fake blog that indicates that person X has a fetish for little boys or some other such thing is much more serious, more akin to putting up leaflets or something of the like.
Having something in law that might address the differences between different mediums might not be such a bad thing. The problem is the rate at which new mediums spring up and which category they fall under. Perhaps an actual "panel of experts" might be needed in such cases if those in law lack the technical knowledge to differentiate them, so that proper precedents can be set.
If just writing "John C is a c*** s*****" in a heated moment of gaming is enough to get you put in jail... that's not good, and courts do need to recognise the differences between both situations and media of communication.
At the moment you have a 50-50 chance that a serious issue is going to be overlooked (no enforcement), or a non-serious issue is going to be overstated (excessive/unnecessary enforcement), because things aren't really understood in an internet venue.
Well, being that 16 still counts as a "minor" would the charges not reflect that, and/or the record be expunged/sealed when she becomes an adult?
But not to seriously f*** up in ways that can cause life-threatening damage, that should be the goal.
Sure, having some nice little GUI that looks like windows that lets you change the settings at will is a good idea, but if you can make such a thing, then there really is NO reason no to have something as simple as a big red box that pops up and says "the current radiation setting is 8x normal and can have potentially lethal side effects. are you sure you wish to use this setting.
Heck, if it's really dangerous and not needed in-an-instant for life-SAVING purposes,then require anything above a certain threshold to require a special authorization (perhaps a set of keys in the hands of seniors, or passwords, or whatever). Being able to DEFAULT the fricking thing to a dangerous setting makes no sense at all, and shouldn't be possible.
This is a double screw-up. The first was on the part of the manufacturers/programmers who - assumedly - didn't put in adequate safety warnings or prevention methods. The second was on the part of whomever decided to tinker with such a device without properly consulting the manufacturer. As the parent mentions, doctors and pilots etc go through tons of training, and still have vastly automated systems to handle to massive amount of simultaneous data needed to do their jobs.Most of them also know not to play techie and screw with the equipment though. (I would hope that) you don't see a pilot saying "gee, maybe this would work better if I just tweak setting X", that's for the engineers to decide.
It doesn't really seem like an improvement in window-management for me either. Sure, window overlays are a bit cluttered, but then again there's only so much information one can process at a given instant.
I tend to have a *lot* of items running as I multitask. A web-browser, document, several terminals, perhaps a coding window, and others. Having windows aligned horizontally it going to be a PITA if I have to zoom out every time I need to jump from #1 to #15. In that event, a taskbar really is quite a nice thing and "just works". Perhaps rather than having a left (contextual) and right (global) menu, they could also have a bottom/top (taskbar) menu.
I don't know the specifics, but last time I checked the Canadian system did make allowances for getting a little side-income while on EI. Of course, it just ends up deducting from what you get in benefits. So you don't get screwed quite as badly (having benefits cut off entirely), but there's not much incentive to "do a little, get a little" in side work while trying to find a better job, best to just keep on that hunt for a real job.
One thing I seem to remember though is if you find another job that's significantly less pay than your last, you can get some supplemental income to even the difference...
I am quite happy to have a world with fewer programmers. The profession itself is evidence that computers are too complex.
Your parallel is amusing, but there is no outside force that necessarily requires you to use a computer (or need a tech). On the other hand, you may be imprisoned wrongly, be sued unjustly, or many other such things that require a lawyer.
Now granted, computer use is definitely becoming more prevalent in society, but the potential monetary and/or life-damaging consequences of not knowing how to use one pale in comparison to law.
Yes again, you could get screwed if you decide to do banking/gambling/etc online and don't take care of your PC, but none of those are a requirement at the moment. The closest thing I could think of would be having a computer hijacked and used for downloading illegal pr0n or some other such thing, but then we're back to the realm of law, and lawyers...
It seems that a lot of games get murdered in the name of making things "better"
Previously I had played a lot of "Supreme Commander" (which, if you're a C&C fan and like to LAN, is very fun and the queuing system is awesome).
As finding internet competition became less easy, I bought the expansion (Forged Alliance). The gameplay mechanics got completely screwed up. Instead of a game with 3-4 tech levels and decent-length, semi-intelligent volleys back and forth, the while became "build massive army of basic units, grab resources, overrun enemy). In other words, it's all one big rush, which used to be the plague of C&C.
Seriously, is it too much to hope for that companies won't screw the mechanics of a game to make it a lame noob rushfest? They're called Realtime STRATEGY for a reason.
I'm fairly sure than none of my software on my PC is illegitimate either. I do, however, have a lot of software that is installed from a download,for two reasons:
a) The download tends to have less crap attached
b) It doesn't require CD/DVD-swapping, so I can leave the original in a safe place after I get the CD-key from my box
c) Sometimes I order a game/etc, and - being in a slightly remote location - it can take quite awhile to arrive, so I download while waiting for the box to arrive
As I have already bought and paid for a fully legit copy of the software, I have no problem doing this, and the BSA can go shove it up their backside after counting my boxes of original discs/licenses/etc
For normal users, usually the most commonly copied software I saw was office, mainly because MS creamed the competition so there wasn't a decently compatible alternative. Nowadays I have seen OO replacing the pirated copies, and recommend it when I still run across others.
And to any other "bosses" that happen to read slashdot. THIS is the type of thing that garners employee loyalty.Not necessarily the raise, but the willingness to defend an employee when he/she has been wronged (in relation to work) and thus showing loyalty in turn.
The best jobs I've had had little to do with pay and a lot to do with attitude. I had two bosses that were memorable in the fact that they went to bat for me when things were going sour. One was a work-related issue, and another was actually a personal issue (I had recently moved into a sublet and courtesy of my landlord ended up with a new "roomate" about a month in who was a dealer, the boss helped me in looking for a better location).I'm not sure if there was any statistical significance, but both bosses were female. I found that overall they seemed more aggressive than my male bosses, but also more willing to "fight for the team".
Call me paranoid, but while I'd likely be OK with having nuclear batteries in more common items (my laptop, maybe my car), having a nuclear power cell implanted inside my chest doesn't sound like such a great idea...
Of course, it's a bit disturbing that the head of a major law enforcement agency can be scammed that easily
The type of person who will easily fall for a run-of-the-mill bank-phishing scam is also rather likely to fall for others. How about a a little social networking?
"Hello, Mr. Director. This is John from the IT Department. We need to do some security updates on your laptop. Oh yes, and we'll need your password to login and apply the updates"
Forget the "solar flares", maybe next few decade's excuse could be something like:
"Sorry, but the holosite is unavailable due to a large meteor. No ma'm, it didn't strike earth, our datacenter was on the moon."
I have to say that I've been very disappointed with the documentation/APIs/examples on the webs, but fairly happy with the mailing-list support.
As things go, a well-supported mailing-list is nice, but I still would prefer better docs.
My main complains have been:
* Sparse documentation on significant portions of the recent API (especially trees/grids and data stores)
* A lot of major changes over the last few years, with not-so-good forward documentation (replacements for functions/methods)
* Features that have been removed or seem to be broken in newer versions (stylesheet application to widgets, etc)
In the good things:
* Powerful and versatile templating engine
* Useful debugging tools
* Helpful people on the mailing list (no "RTFM stupid noob!" types)
* Strong AJAX tools
I'm not sure how many of these "companies" have a solid US presence, but there are plenty of scummy ones like those "antivirus 2009" and the like (which fake an infection to then sell you fake antivirus software to remove it). I believe a lot of these are run by offshore outfits from Russia, etc but I wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of local companies complicit with them as well.
Somebody nailing them would make me a very happy person, more than when I managed to catch them trying to spoof my own site(s) with URLs for their infectoware products and got a few high-level domain names yanked away from them...
I'm guessing you didn't watch the premier for the current season of heroes then. I have never seen so many fricking commercials in my life. The two hours could likely have gone down under one if they'd been cut out.
Now mind you, I'm not an official developer by profession these days, but I spend a good deal of time at work doing web-dev and at home coding C++ apps for personal amusement, but here's my 2c:
a) As mentioned, definitely drop that floppy in favor of a few USB sticks or (even better if you have a cardreader) the built-in cardreader and some SD cards. One additional note though, if your projects are big or you anticipate lots of storage may be needed, make sure the card-reader does SDHC. If you need floppies for legacy, a USB floppy drive works nicely
b) 17" can be a bit much, and definitely adds weight. If you're going for more portability, try a 15" supporting higher resolutions. Heck, even my TX2500 with a 12" screen at 1280x800 is OK. When sitting, have an external LCD, and make sure you have a video card that can manage multiple screens with a higher-res external nicely (randr, twinview, or some other). Some cards don't do anything other than "clone" mode nicely...
c) Extra hard drive? An external drive works quite well on an as-needed, and cuts down on power consumption and bulk. Having extra USB ports and ones that deliver good power is very helpful there (some machines require a dual-USB connector to sufficiently power an external 3.5" USB drive).
d) An extra battery may or may not be needed depending on how you trim up with the above.
e) RAM, 4GB is not uncommon or unaffordable, and really can make a performance difference when you have large projects and many apps open
f) A decent (and decently supported) graphics card is important if you're doing 3d work. Newer ATI's seem to be OK since AMD took over (mine works just find in 'nix), but some stuff still seems more Nvidia-centric in linux-land.
g) If a CD/DVD drive isn't always essential, one can dump that for additional savings on bulk/battery and opt for a slim external (or just pop it out when not in use if you can do so).
From what I read, it displays data as you're typing it out, rather than after you "post"
I could see a lot of problems around this. Even with IM you have a few seconds to look over something before you hit "submit", whereas you can't really "retract" something once somebody else has read it. Yes, you could backspace and retype, but if they've already read "Bob the boss is a big Jerk" then you're out-of-luck.
Yep, doing fine. Gobama!
Um, yeah, because I'm sure that prior to Obama there were no infectees in Washington. They all moved there or started having promiscuous AIDS sex in the last year or so...
Ah, but there is a distinct difference between harm and competition. I know many people who are *extremely* competitive with siblings, for example. In terms of LAN games, I have friends who prefer the "band together/teamplay" group, whereas others are more of the "prove yourself against your friends/FFA deathmatch" type. The latter - IMHO - seem to be more competitive with friends.
Skipping video-games, the same could be said for the two old codgers who regularly play chess. Competition at some point gets so deep that you'd think that they almost hate each other, rather than being friends outside the game.
Though I'm not "high on the food chain" myself, I think that up in that echelon it's also likely to be less offensive. VP's have private offices with doors that can be closed/locked. Unless they leave "dirtybabes.com" up on their browser when somebody comes in, it's much less likely to be bothersome to co-workers.
Still inappropriate, but less visibly so.
Bodily fluids are generally viewed as unclean, regardless of which orifice they happen to emerge from.
Viewing porn generally brings up a mental picture of somebody engaging in more than just viewing, thus involving bodily fluids.
Assumedly people wash their hands between engaging in such activities at home and coming to work, however there is the stigma of shaking the hand of somebody who's been surfing pr0n at work all day. For IT people there's also the factor of having to touch others' keyboards semi-regularly to fix computer issues.
Overall though, it's just a matter of visibility and courtesy. Viewing a truck forum or slashdot isn't always so visibly apparent from other web-browsing. Surfing pictures of full-on nudes with insertions that would baffle even a gynaecologist is quite visible and rather obvious in that it is very, very far from being work-related (unless one works in that industry, of course). My previous employer had quite a number of guys with way too much testosterone, and as it became apparent to my female co-workers would not so comfortable venturing past the varieties of inappropriate content towards the corner where I worked.