Worse, sharding and other such solutions usually end up requiring the application to know way, way too much about the back end structure, how tables are split, where they are split, and so on.
And your solution to improving the storage engine doesn't help. At some point in a RDBMS you need to do joins and so forth, and that assumes that the machine doing the join is capable of doing so AND of handling the load and the number of transactions being tossed at it. Hence we start getting into clusters and other solutions that again need to be understood and managed.
The NoSQL solution let's you toss your request out to the "cloud" and get an answer without needing to know clusters, shards, tables, or really anything on the physical implementation side of the fence.
"If Apple was okay with jailbreaking, and just interested in closing security holes, they would work on those holes, rather than on preventing jailbreaking altogether."
Ah, color me confused. Jailbreaking takes place through security holes. If they close the holes, as you suggest, then the phone can no longer be jailbroken. Or are they supposed to leave a backdoor specifically for jailbreaking?
In which case, you've now left a (known) hole in your system for someone (anyone) to exploit.
"Apple should just drop the cliff pricing on the Server version of MacOS."
Why? Compared to, say, Windows? You realize that for $499 you get a stable commercial OS that supports an unlimited number of users for mail and file system storage? No Windows server 5-CAL-this and 25-CAL-that.
"None. No two people have the same experiences and opportunities."
Which invalidates the GP's original argument, in that "thousands of people" in the same position could do the same thing. Thanks.
"It just may be that Joe has a quality or did something that you could not have."
True. It may also be that Joe did in fact work harder or smarter, or studied longer, and as such earned the promotion.
"Edison... had aptitude in a number of areas that most people don't."
Fine. What's yours?
"No it's marketing."
Just marketing. Right. They didn't actually make products people wanted. They didn't integrate new technologies into cool new devices. They didn't design and create products that featured award-winning industrial design. Nope. "Just marketing." Sorry, but "just" marketing and $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks, and even then they're going to want the cash up front. Plenty of companies have tried to get by on "just" marketing.
"Spending all your time at work and neglecting them while persuing some foolish dream of fame and fortune isn't the way to go."
Nice straw man, but I wasn't advocating that. But sitting around and waiting for some mystical magical opportunity to walk up and knock on your front door isn't the way to go either.
"Keep working yourself into the ground doing things that aren't likely to make you rich or famous."
Duh. Work simply for the sake of work isn't a panacea. Never said it was.
And of course there's some luck involved in practically any endeavor. But time and again it's been shown that certain people tend to create their own luck.
And to insist, as did the GP, that it's ALL luck and that nothing else matters... well, you might as well hand over all your money to the nice man sitting at the poker table and not bother even sitting down, because you've already lost the game.
"...but instead lucky men. Thousands of people could have been in their places and done the same thing..."
And thousands WERE in their place, and did not. How many people were in the homebrew computer scene at the time? How many dinked around and wrote their own versions of BASIC? How many started their own companies? How many succeeded? How many had the same exact background and opportunities... and did nothing?
Attributing such to "luck" translates into refusing to take responsibility for your own actions and your own choices. "It's not me, it's luck." "Joe got the promotion and not me, the lucky bastard." And so on, and so on.
Many people have been at the helm of Apple, and only one has driven it to success. Twice. Is that luck? Would just anyone have made the same choices? Would just anyone have had the same insights? Would just anyone have the same vision and commitment and drive?
"...if we just think harder, network more, or spend a few more hours in the lab, we'll be successful too. That's bullshit."
Really? Perhaps someone should have mentioned that to Edison? Who definitely made a success out of spending just a "few more hours in the lab".
"The best we can do is to pursue opportunities to the utmost when they do appear and make the most of the luck we get in life."
No, the best you can do is to create your own opportunities, and leave luck, chance, and the vagarities of fate out of the equation altogether.
But you're not capable of believing that, are you? So go home after work, why don't you? Go home and sit on the couch, or go down to the corner bar. Have a beer, and bitch and moan and complain about how "unlucky" you are. And definitely don't try to "do" anything about it. That's too hard, and with your luck, why bother?
Actually, you're half right. For you, it is luck, because in this case the prophecy is definitely self-fullfilling.
Please. Lasso a group of your own units with a finger and tap another point on the pad. They go there. Tap an enemy unit or formation and they attack it. Tap and hold on a unit and a context menu pops up.
Tap a unit and drag your finger across the board in a random zig-zag motion, and the unit takes off and follows that path.
Use a little imagination, if you will. Games like Command & Conquer and Starcraft would thrive on direct manipulation.
Don't forget the archaic parsing system that requires all variables, even those in script assignments and function parameters, to be prefixed with dollar signs. Looking at a PHP script makes me feel like I'm back in the '70s writing BASIC programs. ($A=$B vs A$=B$)
Or PHP object methods ignoring the standard dot reference convention in favor of C's pointer convention. ( obj.function() vs $obj->function() )
I know I just love typing three special characters for each and every method reference when one would do.
And you mentioned function names, but what about function parameter order? Some take the target first (arsort(array,sorttype)), and others place the target second (array_key_exists(key,array)).
Or array function names, for example, some of which start with ARRAY_map, others with Asort, and still others like CURRENT() which one can only assume does something with an array, as it could just as easily be the current time.
Or the fact that decent object support came so late to the game that 95% of all PHP code extant is still an embedded procedural spaghetti mess? Rarely does a language work so hard against writing good code. Yes, you can do it, but the odds of actually doing so pretty much equate to the chances of the Mets winning the 2009 World Series. (grin)
Ah. That explains then, Dell's new Latitude Z ultra-thin notebook with gesture trackpad, solid state drives, etc.. Premium case construction, accessories, components and, oh yeah, a premium price to match. Even more than the 15" MBP, in fact.
Funny how when you build a nice machine the price starts climbing...
"...as the owners of the latter still need a Windows machine by their side..."
No, it's because the silly thing is rotting away in the closet and it's not worth the trouble to wipe it, reinstall Windows, and try to get $50 for it off Craig's list.
"It's all in the game you want to play.... The choice isn't quite as clear as you'd think."
That's obvious. Check out the difference in stock price and valuation for HP and Dell vs. Apple.
Every one of these stupid couch potato analysts start with the same stupid premise, "If Apple wants to increase market share, they need to..."
But market share isn't everything. Apple sells a high-quality well-designed premium product to people that want it. They have a retail presence like no other. They offer in-store support and training with qualified non-minimum-wage employees that actually speak english as a first language. Like it or not, all of those things have value.
Dell and HP went the "market share" route, offering "competitive" hardware and prices... to the point where they're now primarily competing against each other on cost, and with razor thin profit margins to show for it.
Then, of course, there's the small matter of using and maintaining Windows, paying your annual protection fee to Symantec, and suffering through day by day with that under-powered, under-equipped $300 computer. Not to mention replacing it a year later because the lowest-bidder capacitors used on the motherboard died, corrupting the data on your hard drive and negating half your "savings" in the process.
Are you nuts? A 32GB Zune HD costs $289 on Amazon. A 32GB iPod Touch costs $279, also on Amazon.
Large high-quality touch screens cost money. Large amounts of flash RAM cost money. Good processors and WiFi and so on cost money. With a Zune right at the same price point, how is Apple's price for a 32GB Touch "ridiculous"?
Of course, if it's a bargin you want you can also go to Apple's web site and buy refurbished Macs and save 10-20%.
On the flip side, like certain cars Macs also have a fairly high resale value. After a year or so you might be able to resell that Mac for half (or more) of what you paid for it. Whereas after the same period of time you might be lucky to get 20-30% of your purchase price for that Dell off eBay or Craig's list. (And you had to use a Dell, to boot!)
"You don't have to be an ass about it, but politely and firmly letting them know you are unhappy..."
Better politely and PLEASENTLY letting them know that there's a problem. Mistakes and accidents happen, and most businesses (as well as the restaurant in your wine example) will do what they can to set things right... if, as you say, you're not being a jerk about it.
Was at a Wendy's last week and a well-dressed woman came storming in, demanding to see the manager. Turns out she go extra tomato instead of lettuce and she went ballistic over it. The manager was exceedingly polite, asked what she wanted and what he could do to fix the problem, and did so. Bombastic female grabbed the bag, loosed a few final parting shots, and stormed out of the restaurant in a huff.
Have no idea how he kept his cool like that. Me, I would have shot the *****, as I can't stand people so self-important that they think the world must stop in it's tracks and accede to their every whim....
"...and are willing take measures to get what you paid for..."
By all means, but try the above first. Too many people wheel out the canons at the first hint of trouble. Usually, however, they're not needed and the sight of them will only serve to escalate the issue and destroy any goodwill the person on the other side may have had or felt regarding your problem.
This is ESPECIALLY true if you're dealing with someone who fields complaints or sevice calls all day long. Be polite and pleasant, discuss the problem calmly and rationally, and you'll stand out like a breath of freash air. And even better, they'll usually go out of their way to help you out.
Be rude and obnoxious out of the gate, and you'll be in voice mail hell so fast it will make your head spin.
Or as Paula Poundstone said when she was waitressing long ago at IHOP, "He made me so mad that, in the back... I touched his eggs!"
Perl dominated the web back in the early days not so much because of its power or ability to do "heavy lifting", but because it was darn near your only choice for server-side development and scripting. This was pre-ASP, pre-CF, pre-PHP, and Ruby wasn't even a gleam in anyone's eye.
Perl is powerful, yes, but it's also complex, obtuse, and far surpases C in the obfusication department. The "smart and experienced people" abandoned it in droves the second easier to use and more productive tools became available.
I personally know of exactly one company that uses Perl at the moment, and that's only for text cleanup.
I can buy a PS3 now for $200 cheaper than when it was initially released.
It's still a PS3.
Same SKU. Same box. Same components. Same functionality. The. Same. Model.
But if you want to complain about pricing, go bitch at Sprint and Palm regarding the Pre. Same exact phone, priced dropped $100 from $300 to $200 (not counting rebate) not even three months after it was launched.
'Course, that's because no one wants one, but that's another story...
"Or did you mean that I am actually missing a couple?"
I meant what I said. Please reread for comprehension. There have been three iPhone models introduced, one each summer since 2008: the original (2.5G), the 3G, and the 3GS. And each was available in various RAM configurations (4/8/16, 8/16, 16/32) and the later two in two colors (white/black).
Slashdot Mirror
"There's a large, officially supported homebrew scene on XBL."
And you don't have to mod your box to participate. Which means that the intent is, as you say, to zap cheaters and thieves.
"...a novel relaxed approach to Object Orientation..."
No inheritance? Yeah, that's a "relaxed" approach all right...
Worse, sharding and other such solutions usually end up requiring the application to know way, way too much about the back end structure, how tables are split, where they are split, and so on.
And your solution to improving the storage engine doesn't help. At some point in a RDBMS you need to do joins and so forth, and that assumes that the machine doing the join is capable of doing so AND of handling the load and the number of transactions being tossed at it. Hence we start getting into clusters and other solutions that again need to be understood and managed.
The NoSQL solution let's you toss your request out to the "cloud" and get an answer without needing to know clusters, shards, tables, or really anything on the physical implementation side of the fence.
"If Apple was okay with jailbreaking, and just interested in closing security holes, they would work on those holes, rather than on preventing jailbreaking altogether."
Ah, color me confused. Jailbreaking takes place through security holes. If they close the holes, as you suggest, then the phone can no longer be jailbroken. Or are they supposed to leave a backdoor specifically for jailbreaking?
In which case, you've now left a (known) hole in your system for someone (anyone) to exploit.
"Apple should just drop the cliff pricing on the Server version of MacOS."
Why? Compared to, say, Windows? You realize that for $499 you get a stable commercial OS that supports an unlimited number of users for mail and file system storage? No Windows server 5-CAL-this and 25-CAL-that.
"None. No two people have the same experiences and opportunities."
Which invalidates the GP's original argument, in that "thousands of people" in the same position could do the same thing. Thanks.
"It just may be that Joe has a quality or did something that you could not have."
True. It may also be that Joe did in fact work harder or smarter, or studied longer, and as such earned the promotion.
"Edison ... had aptitude in a number of areas that most people don't."
Fine. What's yours?
"No it's marketing."
Just marketing. Right. They didn't actually make products people wanted. They didn't integrate new technologies into cool new devices. They didn't design and create products that featured award-winning industrial design. Nope. "Just marketing." Sorry, but "just" marketing and $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks, and even then they're going to want the cash up front. Plenty of companies have tried to get by on "just" marketing.
"Spending all your time at work and neglecting them while persuing some foolish dream of fame and fortune isn't the way to go."
Nice straw man, but I wasn't advocating that. But sitting around and waiting for some mystical magical opportunity to walk up and knock on your front door isn't the way to go either.
"Keep working yourself into the ground doing things that aren't likely to make you rich or famous."
Duh. Work simply for the sake of work isn't a panacea. Never said it was.
And of course there's some luck involved in practically any endeavor. But time and again it's been shown that certain people tend to create their own luck.
And to insist, as did the GP, that it's ALL luck and that nothing else matters... well, you might as well hand over all your money to the nice man sitting at the poker table and not bother even sitting down, because you've already lost the game.
"...but instead lucky men. Thousands of people could have been in their places and done the same thing..."
And thousands WERE in their place, and did not. How many people were in the homebrew computer scene at the time? How many dinked around and wrote their own versions of BASIC? How many started their own companies? How many succeeded? How many had the same exact background and opportunities... and did nothing?
Attributing such to "luck" translates into refusing to take responsibility for your own actions and your own choices. "It's not me, it's luck." "Joe got the promotion and not me, the lucky bastard." And so on, and so on.
Many people have been at the helm of Apple, and only one has driven it to success. Twice. Is that luck? Would just anyone have made the same choices? Would just anyone have had the same insights? Would just anyone have the same vision and commitment and drive?
"...if we just think harder, network more, or spend a few more hours in the lab, we'll be successful too. That's bullshit."
Really? Perhaps someone should have mentioned that to Edison? Who definitely made a success out of spending just a "few more hours in the lab".
"The best we can do is to pursue opportunities to the utmost when they do appear and make the most of the luck we get in life."
No, the best you can do is to create your own opportunities, and leave luck, chance, and the vagarities of fate out of the equation altogether.
But you're not capable of believing that, are you? So go home after work, why don't you? Go home and sit on the couch, or go down to the corner bar. Have a beer, and bitch and moan and complain about how "unlucky" you are. And definitely don't try to "do" anything about it. That's too hard, and with your luck, why bother?
Actually, you're half right. For you, it is luck, because in this case the prophecy is definitely self-fullfilling.
Please. Lasso a group of your own units with a finger and tap another point on the pad. They go there. Tap an enemy unit or formation and they attack it. Tap and hold on a unit and a context menu pops up.
Tap a unit and drag your finger across the board in a random zig-zag motion, and the unit takes off and follows that path.
Use a little imagination, if you will. Games like Command & Conquer and Starcraft would thrive on direct manipulation.
"$var isn't bad at all compared to ".var.""
So? Try #var# or %var%
Which also makes for easy subtitution of functions inline, as in #now()#
"It's one extra letter and makes it much easier to read the code sometimes..."
It's one extra letter each and every single friggin' time you want to type a variable name.
Most every development environment on the planet already colorizes variable names and function names anyway.
Look at the following function, for example.
function IDDF_search($array, $var, $depth=100)
{
for($i=0; $i$depth; $i++)
if($temp = RestrictedDF_search($array, $var, $i))
return $temp;
}
11 of the 185 characters typed is a "null" dollar sign. That's 6% of the code. And for what? You think the above is more legible than this?
function IDDF_search(array, var, depth=100)
{
for (i = 0; i depth; i++)
if (temp = RestrictedDF_search(array, var, i))
return temp;
}
So I only need smartphone coverage where the majority of smartphones reside?
In that case, I guess AT&T's 3G coverage map doesn't look that bad after all... (grin)
Don't forget the archaic parsing system that requires all variables, even those in script assignments and function parameters, to be prefixed with dollar signs. Looking at a PHP script makes me feel like I'm back in the '70s writing BASIC programs. ($A=$B vs A$=B$)
Or PHP object methods ignoring the standard dot reference convention in favor of C's pointer convention. ( obj.function() vs $obj->function() )
I know I just love typing three special characters for each and every method reference when one would do.
And you mentioned function names, but what about function parameter order? Some take the target first (arsort(array,sorttype)), and others place the target second (array_key_exists(key,array)).
Or array function names, for example, some of which start with ARRAY_map, others with Asort, and still others like CURRENT() which one can only assume does something with an array, as it could just as easily be the current time.
Or the fact that decent object support came so late to the game that 95% of all PHP code extant is still an embedded procedural spaghetti mess? Rarely does a language work so hard against writing good code. Yes, you can do it, but the odds of actually doing so pretty much equate to the chances of the Mets winning the 2009 World Series. (grin)
"odern Apples are dual-boot as well but they don't come that way..."
Excuse me? Just run the Bootcamp installer. Or install Parallels or VMWare and skip the "dual boot" altogether.
Ah. That explains then, Dell's new Latitude Z ultra-thin notebook with gesture trackpad, solid state drives, etc.. Premium case construction, accessories, components and, oh yeah, a premium price to match. Even more than the 15" MBP, in fact.
Funny how when you build a nice machine the price starts climbing...
"...along with the belief that apple has that much better reliability..."
Yeah, that's why Apple consistently has the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the industry.
"...as the owners of the latter still need a Windows machine by their side..."
No, it's because the silly thing is rotting away in the closet and it's not worth the trouble to wipe it, reinstall Windows, and try to get $50 for it off Craig's list.
Seriously.
"It's all in the game you want to play. ... The choice isn't quite as clear as you'd think."
That's obvious. Check out the difference in stock price and valuation for HP and Dell vs. Apple.
Every one of these stupid couch potato analysts start with the same stupid premise, "If Apple wants to increase market share, they need to..."
But market share isn't everything. Apple sells a high-quality well-designed premium product to people that want it. They have a retail presence like no other. They offer in-store support and training with qualified non-minimum-wage employees that actually speak english as a first language. Like it or not, all of those things have value.
Dell and HP went the "market share" route, offering "competitive" hardware and prices... to the point where they're now primarily competing against each other on cost, and with razor thin profit margins to show for it.
Then, of course, there's the small matter of using and maintaining Windows, paying your annual protection fee to Symantec, and suffering through day by day with that under-powered, under-equipped $300 computer. Not to mention replacing it a year later because the lowest-bidder capacitors used on the motherboard died, corrupting the data on your hard drive and negating half your "savings" in the process.
TANSTAAFL
Are you nuts? A 32GB Zune HD costs $289 on Amazon. A 32GB iPod Touch costs $279, also on Amazon.
Large high-quality touch screens cost money. Large amounts of flash RAM cost money. Good processors and WiFi and so on cost money. With a Zune right at the same price point, how is Apple's price for a 32GB Touch "ridiculous"?
Of course, if it's a bargin you want you can also go to Apple's web site and buy refurbished Macs and save 10-20%.
On the flip side, like certain cars Macs also have a fairly high resale value. After a year or so you might be able to resell that Mac for half (or more) of what you paid for it. Whereas after the same period of time you might be lucky to get 20-30% of your purchase price for that Dell off eBay or Craig's list. (And you had to use a Dell, to boot!)
"You don't have to be an ass about it, but politely and firmly letting them know you are unhappy..."
Better politely and PLEASENTLY letting them know that there's a problem. Mistakes and accidents happen, and most businesses (as well as the restaurant in your wine example) will do what they can to set things right... if, as you say, you're not being a jerk about it.
Was at a Wendy's last week and a well-dressed woman came storming in, demanding to see the manager. Turns out she go extra tomato instead of lettuce and she went ballistic over it. The manager was exceedingly polite, asked what she wanted and what he could do to fix the problem, and did so. Bombastic female grabbed the bag, loosed a few final parting shots, and stormed out of the restaurant in a huff.
Have no idea how he kept his cool like that. Me, I would have shot the *****, as I can't stand people so self-important that they think the world must stop in it's tracks and accede to their every whim....
"...and are willing take measures to get what you paid for..."
By all means, but try the above first. Too many people wheel out the canons at the first hint of trouble. Usually, however, they're not needed and the sight of them will only serve to escalate the issue and destroy any goodwill the person on the other side may have had or felt regarding your problem.
This is ESPECIALLY true if you're dealing with someone who fields complaints or sevice calls all day long. Be polite and pleasant, discuss the problem calmly and rationally, and you'll stand out like a breath of freash air. And even better, they'll usually go out of their way to help you out.
Be rude and obnoxious out of the gate, and you'll be in voice mail hell so fast it will make your head spin.
Or as Paula Poundstone said when she was waitressing long ago at IHOP, "He made me so mad that, in the back... I touched his eggs!"
Perl dominated the web back in the early days not so much because of its power or ability to do "heavy lifting", but because it was darn near your only choice for server-side development and scripting. This was pre-ASP, pre-CF, pre-PHP, and Ruby wasn't even a gleam in anyone's eye.
Perl is powerful, yes, but it's also complex, obtuse, and far surpases C in the obfusication department. The "smart and experienced people" abandoned it in droves the second easier to use and more productive tools became available.
I personally know of exactly one company that uses Perl at the moment, and that's only for text cleanup.
"Most of the time, when people object to metered usage it's because they're in the top 1% of users, and want to continue being subsidized by others."
Or to translate: BitTorrent parasites.
I can buy a PS3 now for $200 cheaper than when it was initially released.
It's still a PS3.
Same SKU. Same box. Same components. Same functionality. The. Same. Model.
But if you want to complain about pricing, go bitch at Sprint and Palm regarding the Pre. Same exact phone, priced dropped $100 from $300 to $200 (not counting rebate) not even three months after it was launched.
'Course, that's because no one wants one, but that's another story...
"Or did you mean that I am actually missing a couple?"
I meant what I said. Please reread for comprehension. There have been three iPhone models introduced, one each summer since 2008: the original (2.5G), the 3G, and the 3GS. And each was available in various RAM configurations (4/8/16, 8/16, 16/32) and the later two in two colors (white/black).
So, three models, two options.
"Most FOSS is written by its author to scratch an itch."
And dies once the itch has been scratched. SourceForge is dominated by abandoned, unsupported, and worse, totally undocumented projects.