Software engineers actually do write applications that can kill people, or cause much harm otherwise (be it financial, etc). And we do have to conform to standards and regulations, whether government or corporate. Unfortunately, the discipline is so new there aren't nearly as many, or as well-defined, or as well-enforced. But eventually, when more and more systems fail because of poor software, software development will need to be formally recognized as an engineering discipline. Or we can do that now, and prevent bad software from happening in the first place.
Just because software isn't tangible doesn't mean it isn't critical to the well-being of man-kind.
Indeed it can. [shameless-plug] EmperorLinux offers the laptop pre-installed with any of the major Linux distros and full hardware support under the name Raven. [/shameless-plug]
In fact, you are very badly prepared for much graduate work in computer science if you have it as your undergraduate major. For some things, like research in complexity theory, you really need a math degree. For research in, say, machine learning, a physics degree is probably preferable.
I'd have to disagree almost completely, at least based on my experience. Sure, some universities offer java certificates disguised as degrees, but any decent university computer science curriculum should understand that computer science IS A BRANCH OF MATHEMATICS and should treat it as such. I'm an undergraduate senior at Georgia Tech, and here they require Calc I, II, III (w/ Linear Alg), Combo, and Prob Stat, as well as Design and Analysis of Algorithms (which is, as you said, very mathy). Furthermore, there are plenty of offered classes that are cross-listed at the undergrad and graduate levels, which I have taken advantage of (natural language processing, machine learning, hci, ui software, among others). After I entered they started a new curriculum called the Threads program that, from the looks of it, requires even more high level mathematics courses based on the specialization chosen.
All and all, I personally agree with Georgia Tech's curriculum (although I can't say I'm doing spectacularly well). It provides the student a choice of specializations (graphics, software engineering, intelligent systems, etc) and appropriately mixes academia and practicality (that is, theory and real-world programming). It is difficult to graduate GT's CS program without the ability to both develop -- understand the most important factors of the theory behind programming -- AND to design -- understand the important theoretical factors behind design. There is NO reason why a CS undergrad from a good university should not do well in a graduate program (based solely on educational underpinnings, not will/effort).
Just as universities shouldn't output mere "construction workers", they shouldn't output architects that don't know the basics of putting two pieces of wood or brick or stone or whatever together (I mean this both metaphorically for the CS profession and literally - GT also has a great arch program!).
But then, again, everything I've said refers to a good university. Which is the entire point of this entire/. forum topic: unfortunately there is no consistency in quality within the american (and apparently indian) educational systems.
I understand your point, and cheer on such a change.
However....
We all complain when we get bombarded with ads, or when they use our data to learn about our demographics (to better bombard us with ads); I do. But, I also realize that I want to continue using their service. I also don't want to hop from one site to another (basically similar) site just because the old one had too many ads. To prevent this, to continue offering the services that we seem to love (or at least use), they need MONEY. How else can they get money without charging the users? I'm actually not a conservative (or even, somewhat, capitalist) guy, but this makes sense to me.
Am I wrong?
1) Coming here to ask your question is a bad idea. Not necessarily because of the quality of most answers, but rather because/. readers represent such a miniscule portion of the real population.
2) Which brings me to my next point. Hire HCI experts, or take some classes on HCI. Testing OSS interfaces isn't any different than testing those of commercial software. You can do either user evaluations or predictive evaluations (w/o users). In fact, doing the latter first AND then the former is [usually] the best option. A cognitive walkthrough or heuristic evaluation can eliminate ~75% of the problems if done by around 4-6 evaluators. Then design an evaluation plan to be executed w/ users. Decide on benchmark tasks. Since you're comparing KDE with Gnome, and I bet those with Windows and/or Mac, you'll want benchmark numbers for all. Look for # of errors, time to completion, etc. These are easily quantifiable and thus comparable metrics.
Just off the top of my head, make sure to study these basic principles (not exhaustive): Learnability, Retainability, Predictability, Familiarity, Consistency, Dialog Initiative, Customizability, Generalizability, Observability, Responsiveness, Efficiency, Error Prevention, Error Recovery, Feedback.
Jakob Nielson and Don Norman are 2 of the most popular experts on HCI. Read Norman's "Design of Everyday Things" and Nielson's Usability Engineering.
Unfortunately, people also don't realize CS != IT. Software Engineering is actually a good field. Programming (Code Monkey) and IT support are not as much - but they also don't require reputable CS degrees.
Actually, the finger print scanner _DOES_ work. EmperorLinux, Inc sells the machine as the "Raven". For information about the tablet functionality, go here. The finger print scanner is actually tied into GDM!
The SD card, unfortunately, does not work.
I've also thought of something along these lines. However, my ideal alarm would give me a calc or linear alg problem. Of course, eventually it would have to ask tougher questions as my math skills get better (bad thing in this case - good thing otherwise!) - I guess in the end I would have to manually find the inverse of some arbitrarily sized matrix, or something.
Actually, EmperorLinux fills the niche you speak of. They not only sell laptops with complete Linux compatibility, but also offer email and phone support. Even the ipw2100 and ipw2200 chipsets are supported. Emperor has been in business since 1999 and has been quite successful. And, Linux Journal seems to like their stuff. Check them out.
(PS: I do work there, but I'm not getting paid for this).
In other news: 1) Slashdot.com is a Website! 2) Apple makes computers! 3) Chickens are just birds! 4) Microsoft is a company! 5) Water is wet!
I don't know what's funnier. That post or the fact that it was mod'd "insightful":-/
I was a victim of this at defcon, but since I was using lynx, I really didn't see any of the images mentioned. Actually, most of the surfing I did at defcon was using links or w3m over ssh (on a home box).
First Linux store? There used to be a Linux General Store here in Atlanta, GA (home of the wonderful LUG@GT). I remember buying a mouse pad there and even a bumper sticker (which is still on my car). They also had weekly meetings, and Linux-related classes. Unfortunately they closed down a couple years ago or more, for reasons unknown. I've heard through the grapevine that the owner fled the country:-/
Can we move along now ? why do we have to read the same Microsoft articles with world-domination overtones over and over again ?
Good point. To answer your question, we read such news because Microsoft makes this news possible. OSS people might move along when Microsoft moves along and stops trying to destruct the OSS infrastructure. You flaim the community for being to anti-microsoft, but yet everyone knows this is what/. is known for. Don't like it? Stop reading/. If you would rather read a story from a pro-Microsoft source go ahead.
If in time of war and the newspapers kept printing articles about soldiers being killed or places being bombed, would you say move on?
Do you not analyze any events? Do you just read a completely unbiased story, then move on to the next story?
I have recently thought about the significant consequences a world would experience if teleportation were to be perfected and economically feasible. The infrastructure of the entire world as we know it would be useless (roads, garages/parking decks, mass transit, etc). The most we'll need would be sidewalks. Car manufactorers, insurance companies, etc would be out of business. How would the government or (god help us) a private corporation bill us for such transportation? What about insurance companies for teleportation? Heh.
I do a lot of internet research first then I goto the store. Unfortunately, the store's don't do a good job of showing you the real quality of the monitors. My current monitor (Viewsonic VX900), which I bought sight-unseen, is incredible. The same one at stores doesnt look as good.
Know your specs, read user reviews, and then goto the store.
Slashdot Mirror
Computer Science / Software Engineering != Computer Programming.
Software engineers actually do write applications that can kill people, or cause much harm otherwise (be it financial, etc). And we do have to conform to standards and regulations, whether government or corporate. Unfortunately, the discipline is so new there aren't nearly as many, or as well-defined, or as well-enforced. But eventually, when more and more systems fail because of poor software, software development will need to be formally recognized as an engineering discipline. Or we can do that now, and prevent bad software from happening in the first place.
Just because software isn't tangible doesn't mean it isn't critical to the well-being of man-kind.
maybe ... but the chimp-ugly ones were lying; they remembered your number, but were out of your league. :-)
... Why Slashdot wastes your time. This and more at 6.
Indeed it can. [shameless-plug] EmperorLinux offers the laptop pre-installed with any of the major Linux distros and full hardware support under the name Raven. [/shameless-plug]
In fact, you are very badly prepared for much graduate work in computer science if you have it as your undergraduate major. For some things, like research in complexity theory, you really need a math degree. For research in, say, machine learning, a physics degree is probably preferable.
I'd have to disagree almost completely, at least based on my experience. Sure, some universities offer java certificates disguised as degrees, but any decent university computer science curriculum should understand that computer science IS A BRANCH OF MATHEMATICS and should treat it as such. I'm an undergraduate senior at Georgia Tech, and here they require Calc I, II, III (w/ Linear Alg), Combo, and Prob Stat, as well as Design and Analysis of Algorithms (which is, as you said, very mathy). Furthermore, there are plenty of offered classes that are cross-listed at the undergrad and graduate levels, which I have taken advantage of (natural language processing, machine learning, hci, ui software, among others). After I entered they started a new curriculum called the Threads program that, from the looks of it, requires even more high level mathematics courses based on the specialization chosen.
All and all, I personally agree with Georgia Tech's curriculum (although I can't say I'm doing spectacularly well). It provides the student a choice of specializations (graphics, software engineering, intelligent systems, etc) and appropriately mixes academia and practicality (that is, theory and real-world programming). It is difficult to graduate GT's CS program without the ability to both develop -- understand the most important factors of the theory behind programming -- AND to design -- understand the important theoretical factors behind design. There is NO reason why a CS undergrad from a good university should not do well in a graduate program (based solely on educational underpinnings, not will/effort).
Just as universities shouldn't output mere "construction workers", they shouldn't output architects that don't know the basics of putting two pieces of wood or brick or stone or whatever together (I mean this both metaphorically for the CS profession and literally - GT also has a great arch program!).
But then, again, everything I've said refers to a good university. Which is the entire point of this entire /. forum topic: unfortunately there is no consistency in quality within the american (and apparently indian) educational systems.
That way, if one site has too many ads, you can just move over to another site, and keep all of your same friends.
I'm sorry, but how is this better?
Again, I'm not arguing your ideals, just this particular (as I see it) non-solution.
I understand your point, and cheer on such a change. However ....
We all complain when we get bombarded with ads, or when they use our data to learn about our demographics (to better bombard us with ads); I do. But, I also realize that I want to continue using their service. I also don't want to hop from one site to another (basically similar) site just because the old one had too many ads. To prevent this, to continue offering the services that we seem to love (or at least use), they need MONEY. How else can they get money without charging the users? I'm actually not a conservative (or even, somewhat, capitalist) guy, but this makes sense to me.
Am I wrong?
1) Coming here to ask your question is a bad idea. Not necessarily because of the quality of most answers, but rather because /. readers represent such a miniscule portion of the real population.
2) Which brings me to my next point. Hire HCI experts, or take some classes on HCI. Testing OSS interfaces isn't any different than testing those of commercial software. You can do either user evaluations or predictive evaluations (w/o users). In fact, doing the latter first AND then the former is [usually] the best option. A cognitive walkthrough or heuristic evaluation can eliminate ~75% of the problems if done by around 4-6 evaluators. Then design an evaluation plan to be executed w/ users. Decide on benchmark tasks. Since you're comparing KDE with Gnome, and I bet those with Windows and/or Mac, you'll want benchmark numbers for all. Look for # of errors, time to completion, etc. These are easily quantifiable and thus comparable metrics.
Just off the top of my head, make sure to study these basic principles (not exhaustive): Learnability, Retainability, Predictability, Familiarity, Consistency, Dialog Initiative, Customizability, Generalizability, Observability, Responsiveness, Efficiency, Error Prevention, Error Recovery, Feedback.
Jakob Nielson and Don Norman are 2 of the most popular experts on HCI. Read Norman's "Design of Everyday Things" and Nielson's Usability Engineering.
Unfortunately, people also don't realize CS != IT. Software Engineering is actually a good field. Programming (Code Monkey) and IT support are not as much - but they also don't require reputable CS degrees.
Actually, the finger print scanner _DOES_ work. EmperorLinux, Inc sells the machine as the "Raven". For information about the tablet functionality, go here. The finger print scanner is actually tied into GDM! The SD card, unfortunately, does not work.
.... but does the phone support music on hold? :)
Am I the only one that thinks the girl in the video (face rec and imitation scenes) is cute?
The last item is the kicker (when combined with 16bit color). http://www.tekgear.com/index.cfm?pageID=2§ion= 83&function=viewproducts&nodelist=1,83 has some cool stuff, though.
My AI professor at GaTech, Thad Starner, who is one of the leading pioneers in wearable computing (or so he says), uses the MicroOptical CV-3, iirc. He even wears it while teaching.
or even .... webcam porn from the crapper on the plane!
I've also thought of something along these lines. However, my ideal alarm would give me a calc or linear alg problem. Of course, eventually it would have to ask tougher questions as my math skills get better (bad thing in this case - good thing otherwise!) - I guess in the end I would have to manually find the inverse of some arbitrarily sized matrix, or something.
Actually, EmperorLinux fills the niche you speak of. They not only sell laptops with complete Linux compatibility, but also offer email and phone support. Even the ipw2100 and ipw2200 chipsets are supported. Emperor has been in business since 1999 and has been quite successful. And, Linux Journal seems to like their stuff. Check them out.
(PS: I do work there, but I'm not getting paid for this).
In other news: 1) Slashdot.com is a Website! 2) Apple makes computers! 3) Chickens are just birds! 4) Microsoft is a company! 5) Water is wet! I don't know what's funnier. That post or the fact that it was mod'd "insightful" :-/
I was a victim of this at defcon, but since I was using lynx, I really didn't see any of the images mentioned. Actually, most of the surfing I did at defcon was using links or w3m over ssh (on a home box).
First Linux store? There used to be a Linux General Store here in Atlanta, GA (home of the wonderful LUG@GT). I remember buying a mouse pad there and even a bumper sticker (which is still on my car). They also had weekly meetings, and Linux-related classes. Unfortunately they closed down a couple years ago or more, for reasons unknown. I've heard through the grapevine that the owner fled the country :-/
Man.....I was getting 2.5 MBps. Props!
Can we move along now ? why do we have to read the same Microsoft articles with world-domination overtones over and over again ? Good point. To answer your question, we read such news because Microsoft makes this news possible. OSS people might move along when Microsoft moves along and stops trying to destruct the OSS infrastructure. You flaim the community for being to anti-microsoft, but yet everyone knows this is what /. is known for. Don't like it? Stop reading /. If you would rather read a story from a pro-Microsoft source go ahead.
If in time of war and the newspapers kept printing articles about soldiers being killed or places being bombed, would you say move on?
Do you not analyze any events? Do you just read a completely unbiased story, then move on to the next story?
It's about time!
I have recently thought about the significant consequences a world would experience if teleportation were to be perfected and economically feasible. The infrastructure of the entire world as we know it would be useless (roads, garages/parking decks, mass transit, etc). The most we'll need would be sidewalks. Car manufactorers, insurance companies, etc would be out of business. How would the government or (god help us) a private corporation bill us for such transportation? What about insurance companies for teleportation? Heh.
Yahooligans!
I do a lot of internet research first then I goto the store. Unfortunately, the store's don't do a good job of showing you the real quality of the monitors. My current monitor (Viewsonic VX900), which I bought sight-unseen, is incredible. The same one at stores doesnt look as good. Know your specs, read user reviews, and then goto the store.