I took APCS A in 11th grade as part of a class; I completed APCS AB through independent study under the same instructor in 12th grade. That was the extent of my formal computer education in high school.
In middle school, I completed our district-wise computer requirement, which focused entirely on typing skill. I had a computing elective for about eight weeks in 6th grade and a similar course in 7th grade. Beyond improving my typing, I didn't learn anything useful--and what improved my typing even more was email, chatting, and IM, all things I did at home and not on some ancient Apple IIe at school.
One of my elementary school teachers used computer time as a reward, but we didn't have any sort of ongoing computer class.
The vast majority of what I learned in middle and high school was learned at home, not in the classroom. Not that we didn't have fun playing Counter-Strike in the APCS lab at lunchtime, but I wouldn't call it a spectacular computing education. Our curriculum was considered stronger than most other schools in our county at the time.
For that matter they could have removed the caps lock key entirely since there's no reason to have it. You could argue data entry, but not on a sub-notebook. But then my grandmother would have to work to write every single email in all caps!
I don't have the Nature article, so I don't know what it discusses...it might mention this, and the costs presented in this particular case might outweigh it, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
I suspect the antibiotic's fate depends on what all it can be used to treat. If it proves useful for a wide variety of illnesses, especially illnesses that require a longer course of treatment, then it might become more common. Immunodeficiency diseases make antibiotics significantly more important now than, say, 25 years ago, and if HIV/AIDS organizations decide that this antibiotic is important for some opportunistic infection striking those patients, it becomes increasingly likely that the drug will be produced. They have played a huge role in drug production over the last 20 years or so.
If it's only helpful for one disease already treatable with a different medication and a few diseases prevalent only in Africa, then it's unlikely to be produced. There needs to be a clear market in the United States first - but depending on how effective it is, the possibility exists.
You're talking about MTBE (I think). It was banned in California because it was polluting groundwater, which is rather a problem in places that don't have a ton of water to begin with. The federal government didn't step in, as one of the replies above stated better than I can - the state enacted the ban.
Seriously, I would rather put my extra energy towards ethanol additives than to finding more water from distant areas of the state or outside the state altogether. I don't know enough about MTBE vs. ethanol or methanol emissions, but I'd rather have slightly more polluted air and drinkable water as opposed to cleaner air but few (or no) clean local water sources, as a general rule.
IIRC, the C++ exam was used from 1999 to 2003 - the College Board switched to it the year before I took any APCS (I took A in 2000 and AB in 2001) and continued apparently through last year. I actually thought they'd intended to change it last year? I guess it didn't happen.
Anyway, that's definitely longer than one year. Considering I took exams two different years and they were both in C++, I'm pretty sure the "one year" is wrong.
Question for Raven, since I noticed you're reading
on
Hackers: Under The Hood
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
I noticed that in the article you gave some suggestions for what people should learn about.. I'm not nearly advanced enough to delve into any of that, though. I'm not as interested right now in security (just because I don't have the knowledge to approach it at the moment) but I am interested in learning more in general.
I tried studying CS at my university and found it didn't interest me as much as it did when I studied it on my own (hence my becoming a sociology major;) - perhaps because I'm much better with projects than tests, and the classes I took were centered mostly around tests. I'm still interested in learning more about programming and "how things work" in general, however.
Do you have any suggestions for studying on my own? Would it be best to learn one programming language very well and then apply it to others, or is there a better approach? (One of the things I found frustrating in classes was learning a new language in every class I took, when I don't know any language well at all.) What advice can you give someone who would like to learn more, but doesn't do as well in a traditional CS/EECS/etc academic environment - books, good websites, anything? You also said that you were studying "an unrelated field," so I was curious as to how you went about learning more..
(Personally, I know little bits of C, C++, Python, Perl, and Java, but not enough to do anything significant in any of those.. I also have written a few little shell scripts that don't do much. Otherwise, I'm pretty clueless - but I'd really like to increase my knowledge.)
Thank you in advance to Raven and/or anyone else who gives me some advice.
I too have found problems with DOS games not working on my newer systems. Another problem I've encountered is that when older games do work, they sometimes run extremely fast - I'm no expert, but I suppose they weren't designed with anything faster than a 486 in mind (if that, in many cases). I have never run DOSBox, however.
Simple solution: My family still has a 386 running DOS and Windows 3.11, so we play older games on that machine. We use a slightly newer machine (a Pentium 166) with Windows 95 to run some games. Everything else has been upgraded too much to play the DOS games I have.
Unfortunately, I suspect that there will never be an absolutely perfect solution aside from running an old box. There are so many games designed in so many different ways that it seems it would be difficult to design an emulator that runs everything perfectly. But it doesn't mean that I wouldn't love to see one!
(I wish I could run the DOS games of my childhood again - mostly written between 10 and 15 years ago - but I don't have a 5.25" drive to stick the disks in anymore, and I have the feeling they would be corrupt by now anyway. Sigh. I loved the first-generation Learning Company games, and Stickybear games, and Sesame Street games, and endless others.. does anyone know where I can get a drive so that I can try on the 386? It would at least keep me occupied some afternoon to try dozens of ancient floppies..!)
I intern at a record label that has several bands playing SXSW. Glancing at the other bands on the list, I can see that a number of others are doing the same. Understandable, considering that the festival has been going on since the 1980s. Even ASCAP is sponsoring bands.
While I don't know off the top of my head how royalties are being paid out, I can guarantee that the problem HAS been worked out. CBGB's has been streaming live and archived shows for some time now. This isn't a new concept - only the 802.11 aspect is new. The fact they are only playing live streams at SXSW makes life a little easier (royalty-wise, at least).
"High performance software bundle included The MPD-AP20U comes with everything needed to start recording your own CDs, including a suite of high performance software for Windows® systems:...Cyberlink PowerDVD(TM) DVD-Video decoder software"
Now, they might just be including the software for the hell of it, but including that software makes me think it also plays DVD videos..
Slashdot Mirror
I took APCS A in 11th grade as part of a class; I completed APCS AB through independent study under the same instructor in 12th grade. That was the extent of my formal computer education in high school.
In middle school, I completed our district-wise computer requirement, which focused entirely on typing skill. I had a computing elective for about eight weeks in 6th grade and a similar course in 7th grade. Beyond improving my typing, I didn't learn anything useful--and what improved my typing even more was email, chatting, and IM, all things I did at home and not on some ancient Apple IIe at school.
One of my elementary school teachers used computer time as a reward, but we didn't have any sort of ongoing computer class.
The vast majority of what I learned in middle and high school was learned at home, not in the classroom. Not that we didn't have fun playing Counter-Strike in the APCS lab at lunchtime, but I wouldn't call it a spectacular computing education. Our curriculum was considered stronger than most other schools in our county at the time.
I don't have the Nature article, so I don't know what it discusses...it might mention this, and the costs presented in this particular case might outweigh it, but I felt it was worth mentioning.
I suspect the antibiotic's fate depends on what all it can be used to treat. If it proves useful for a wide variety of illnesses, especially illnesses that require a longer course of treatment, then it might become more common. Immunodeficiency diseases make antibiotics significantly more important now than, say, 25 years ago, and if HIV/AIDS organizations decide that this antibiotic is important for some opportunistic infection striking those patients, it becomes increasingly likely that the drug will be produced. They have played a huge role in drug production over the last 20 years or so.
If it's only helpful for one disease already treatable with a different medication and a few diseases prevalent only in Africa, then it's unlikely to be produced. There needs to be a clear market in the United States first - but depending on how effective it is, the possibility exists.
You're talking about MTBE (I think). It was banned in California because it was polluting groundwater, which is rather a problem in places that don't have a ton of water to begin with. The federal government didn't step in, as one of the replies above stated better than I can - the state enacted the ban.
Seriously, I would rather put my extra energy towards ethanol additives than to finding more water from distant areas of the state or outside the state altogether. I don't know enough about MTBE vs. ethanol or methanol emissions, but I'd rather have slightly more polluted air and drinkable water as opposed to cleaner air but few (or no) clean local water sources, as a general rule.
IIRC, the C++ exam was used from 1999 to 2003 - the College Board switched to it the year before I took any APCS (I took A in 2000 and AB in 2001) and continued apparently through last year. I actually thought they'd intended to change it last year? I guess it didn't happen.
Anyway, that's definitely longer than one year. Considering I took exams two different years and they were both in C++, I'm pretty sure the "one year" is wrong.
I noticed that in the article you gave some suggestions for what people should learn about.. I'm not nearly advanced enough to delve into any of that, though. I'm not as interested right now in security (just because I don't have the knowledge to approach it at the moment) but I am interested in learning more in general.
;) - perhaps because I'm much better with projects than tests, and the classes I took were centered mostly around tests. I'm still interested in learning more about programming and "how things work" in general, however.
I tried studying CS at my university and found it didn't interest me as much as it did when I studied it on my own (hence my becoming a sociology major
Do you have any suggestions for studying on my own? Would it be best to learn one programming language very well and then apply it to others, or is there a better approach? (One of the things I found frustrating in classes was learning a new language in every class I took, when I don't know any language well at all.) What advice can you give someone who would like to learn more, but doesn't do as well in a traditional CS/EECS/etc academic environment - books, good websites, anything? You also said that you were studying "an unrelated field," so I was curious as to how you went about learning more..
(Personally, I know little bits of C, C++, Python, Perl, and Java, but not enough to do anything significant in any of those.. I also have written a few little shell scripts that don't do much. Otherwise, I'm pretty clueless - but I'd really like to increase my knowledge.)
Thank you in advance to Raven and/or anyone else who gives me some advice.
I too have found problems with DOS games not working on my newer systems. Another problem I've encountered is that when older games do work, they sometimes run extremely fast - I'm no expert, but I suppose they weren't designed with anything faster than a 486 in mind (if that, in many cases). I have never run DOSBox, however. Simple solution: My family still has a 386 running DOS and Windows 3.11, so we play older games on that machine. We use a slightly newer machine (a Pentium 166) with Windows 95 to run some games. Everything else has been upgraded too much to play the DOS games I have. Unfortunately, I suspect that there will never be an absolutely perfect solution aside from running an old box. There are so many games designed in so many different ways that it seems it would be difficult to design an emulator that runs everything perfectly. But it doesn't mean that I wouldn't love to see one! (I wish I could run the DOS games of my childhood again - mostly written between 10 and 15 years ago - but I don't have a 5.25" drive to stick the disks in anymore, and I have the feeling they would be corrupt by now anyway. Sigh. I loved the first-generation Learning Company games, and Stickybear games, and Sesame Street games, and endless others.. does anyone know where I can get a drive so that I can try on the 386? It would at least keep me occupied some afternoon to try dozens of ancient floppies..!)
SXSW is at least partially label-supported.
I intern at a record label that has several bands playing SXSW. Glancing at the other bands on the list, I can see that a number of others are doing the same. Understandable, considering that the festival has been going on since the 1980s. Even ASCAP is sponsoring bands.
While I don't know off the top of my head how royalties are being paid out, I can guarantee that the problem HAS been worked out. CBGB's has been streaming live and archived shows for some time now. This isn't a new concept - only the 802.11 aspect is new. The fact they are only playing live streams at SXSW makes life a little easier (royalty-wise, at least).
From the Sony info page:
"High performance software bundle included
The MPD-AP20U comes with everything needed to start recording your own CDs, including a suite of high performance software for Windows® systems:...Cyberlink PowerDVD(TM) DVD-Video decoder software"
Now, they might just be including the software for the hell of it, but including that software makes me think it also plays DVD videos..