My mother cannot go to the bookstore and pick up a book that will make her understand the strange language that we IT people speak, or why her computer would be susceptible to a virus. So, I intend to write such a book.
You say the book is aimed at people like you're mother, why don't you spend a weekend/week/month/whatever teaching her about computers (assuming she wants to - if not find someone who wants to). Make notes about the type of questions she asks you, what topics she finds easy to understand, what she finds most challenging, maybe even record your sessions so that you can so you can analyse it retrospectively.
I recently spent some time explaining networking and the internet to my mum, she uses computers daily and did a Post-degree computing course, and used to write software herself (back in the days of computers being room-sized) however, as that was very much pre-networking, I had to start from square 1. It was very different explaining it to someone who was actually quite interested in understanding the details of how it all works - compared with teaching people who need to know (I used to support/train people to use web-based CMS systems, and many related tools for a large company). Don't be afraid to use Jargon, make sure it's explained on it's first use (possibly even it's first use in each chapter if the book likely to be read unsequentially) and make sure there is a very good glossary (with page numbers where the concept/background is explained in more details). Don't be afraid to use a word, and then explain what it means afterwards. (This sounds strange, but giving someone a context the word will be used in before a definition, will get people thinking about it more, and help with the understanding of the concept.
I've contemplated offering training on this topic before, encouraging people to understand computers, but still being at university, I spend enough time explaining things to my fellow students/family/friends/etc... I'd rather just stick to my own education at the moment. Maybe when I'm unemployed later in life
Don't be afraid of examples! Examples that get people using their computers are very good. Get people to open a command prompt (or Terminal for Mac users - I assume you're not aiming at linux-heads!) explain how you can use it to tell the computer to do something (run a command), then you could use it to explain a bit about networking, get them to do "ping www.somehost.net", explain how it looks up the IP address, explain what some of the numbers mean, and what their significance is. If you do this properly, and explain it clearly, people will gain in confidence (and consequently like your book) if they can understand something cryptic very quickly (ping output is very cryptic if you've never seen it before!)
A few other people have posted about users not needing to know about the workings of a computer. Keeping these things hidden from them is for their own good - while on some level this is true, I think that this line of thinking breeds its own problems. Lack of understanding causes curious people to investigate. To go poking around on their hard-drive and deleting system files, configuring applicaitions, then not knowing how to get it back the way they had. It breeds the frame of mind which mean people are only able to use certain programs. If people have a better understanding of what it is they are doing, they're more likely to go exploring in the places where it is GOOD to explore. Such as exploring features of the program they are currently using - exploring options which could help them configure the computer in better/more productive ways. You're probably an OSS advocate (you read slashdot -it's a given), want people to start using firefox/other OSS app? Who's going to do that if the message they're constantly given from the geeks of the world, is "Don't touch that - you don't know what you're doing". Yes it runs the risk of people getting too happy go lucky with the things that they install, collecting crap on their compu
I'm an eclipse user, and I have been now for over a year. I think it's awesome, yes it takes a bit of getting used to, but I find that the way I work, eclipse just speeds everything up.
However, it's clear that the Eclipse/IDEA argument is another vi/emacs war, and nearly everyone is going to have a strong opinion either way. I guess it's down to which fits the way you work best. I suggest trying IDEA out, if it works better for you, switch. If it's just as confusing as eclipse, don't bother, stick with the free alternative.
I have a MythTV box, and having an accurate time on that really helps when recording programs **, also if your motherboard is old and the battery is beginning to fade into non-existence (as mine is) and the hwclock cannot be guaranteed to be going when the machine is off, syncing the time on startup is very useful.
** Yes I know you can set it to start recording early and finish late, but when recording consecutive programs on different channels this is not an option.
I live in the UK, the DOT here doesn't give a shit about time at all, most of the busses I used to take would arrive anywhere within a 15minute window. Even now I live in a city, they aren't much better. I generally walk everywhere (or drive when I go home during the holidays)
12 seconds early sounds fucking amazing as far as I'm concerned. Or maybe I missed some sarcasm?
Chances are it's possible you're using the onboard sound from your motherboard anyway. What I did a while ago is buy myself a nice SoundBlaster, mostly because I wanted surround sound and my previous card didn't do it, My default sound device is my onboard card, and all "approved" apps have their ouput set to use the SoundBlaster which is hooked up to a nice surround sound set of speakers, the onboard sound is plugged into the shitty speakers built into my monitor (which are usually muted).
This provides a nice way of having two different levels for different kinds of input, muting unwanted (unexpected) sounds, however, if you're using linux, it can take a bit of fiddling to set up in ALSA. YMMV
And you care if the police know your location... why?
You make the fatal assumption that everyone who works for the police, is law abiding themselves, and that the information will remain ONLY in the hands of the police. In a perfect world, tracking everyone and then using that information to solve crimes, is the perfect solution, BUT the potential for mis-use is too big.
Never trust anyone, apart from those who trust you.
Try watching Star Wars and working at the same time!
That's not as crazy as you might think. I too have a dual headed computer (the machine itself isn't much of a monster anymore though! - I'm poor!). I quite frequently run MythTV on one of the monitors, and work on the other one. With actually very little productivity hit. In fact, now i have a laptop as well, I do this even more, just using the laptop instead of the second screen.
It takes a little while, but it's fairly easy to learn how to watch something in the background like that. Eventually you get to treat it the same way as background music.
I've used a wide variety of Thinkpads (they were the standard where I used to work), and I really used to like the nipple thing, once you get used to it, it's much more useful than the trackpad. The newer thinkpads (the newest one I've played with was the T43 - I don't work there anymore) have the option to turn either of the pointing devices off, so that you can turn whichever one you don't use off. Personally I think there's no reason to turn the nipple off, I never used to find it getting in the way, however, turning the trackpad off does prevent all those annoying times where you manage to move the mouse while typing.
fairly cheap, small, has a fullsize keyboard, and uses a touchpad.
I have a 12" powerbook, and it has all those features. Well, I'm not sure if you'd class it as cheap really, but it certainly isn't expensive. If you wanted a cheaper one you could choose the iBook instead.
I would suggest one of the following:
Wait for an intel iBook and buy the 12" version. Is the fact that they are still PPC really that much of a problem? you could wait and get a cheap PPC one shortly before/just after the intel ones come out.
Go for a Thinkpad, it sounds like the X series probably best fits what you want. If you're a linux person, you could even get one from emporer linux (or do it yourself)
Currently, The thinkpads and the power/iBooks IMO are the best notebooks on the market at the moment, nothing quite matches them, ESPECIALLY in the smaller sizes. I've seen a lot of the laptops from other manufacturers and they look OK, but if I'm spending that much money on something, it's sure as hell going to have look like it's worth that much.
The windows people aren't kept "happy", they're kept neutral, they expect it to work, they would only ever give a shit if you didn't provide them.
Linux people on the other hand give you respect, recommendations, future purchases (possibly large ones, it's entirely possible that some of these people are in charge of IT buying decisions at companies). Word will spread quickly amongst the linux community, and other linux users (knowing drivers exist) are more likely to choose your product over others with reverse-engineered drivers.
Linux may seem like a small market now, but it's a vicious circle, and hopefully some manufacturers will have the balls soon to embrace it, hopefully improving hardware support and disposing of the "but my hardware won't work" excuse for staying with windows.
A standard (or oversized) keyboard with a guidance grid (key-/finger-sized holes) mounted a few mm above the keys. Hand and fingers can rest and tremble until the correct key(hole) is found and pressed. Inhibits accidentally pressing the wrong key and is comparatively cheap. Hazardous for finger joints for people with too forceful tremor or spastic jerks, though. See e.g. http://www.keytools.com/keyboards/guarded.asp (found trough google). Decreasing or disabling autotype/repeat will help here as will anti-repetition keyboard drivers.
My grandad has one of these (he suffers from something I can't remember the name of which basically makes him very clumsy, and often unable to control his movements). It's bigger than the one you link to, and coloured to help with poor eyesight, but the principle is the same. However, it solves the problem of getting your finger caught during a tremor/jerk by having the guard closer to the keyboard, and being touch sensitive. If the person involved is susceptable to large uncontrollable movements, I suggest attaching it to the table, so that they don't knock it to the floor (possibly yanking cables).
They work well for people who have very little control over their hand movements, as they can seperate the movements required to get their finger in the right place and push the button.
I recommend though, if you get her one of these with the delayed keypresses, you take your own keyboard with you when you visit and need to fix things. They're not easy to use if you have full speed fingers!!!
Whatever you decide to introduce kids to, let the learn and explore for themself. Sure, introduce them to things, but don't tell them what to do, let them figure that out themselves, kids have an incredible capacity for learning, and using their naturally high curiosity to drive this, is one of the most satisfying ways to watch a child learn (and also satisfying for the child).
"I let him be exposed to more and more as his maturity level grew with him."
This is the trick, don't shield your children from things, teach them how to deal with them. Trust them, and let them know that you trust them, teach them that breaking that trust has consequences.
I may not be a parent myself, but it's still not that long since I was a child.
My parents never said "Don't do drugs" or "Don't drink", they simply sat me down one morning and said "you have choices, just think about things first" (paraphrased).
Maturing is about making all your own mistakes and dealing with them yourself, not just ignoring them, and knowing when you're out of your depth. It's about that point in life when you realise in a lot of matters you DON'T know best.
If you're a good parent, you shouldn't need to control your children that much at all, just guide them.
(Disclaimer: these are my views as someone who has been parented in a way I feel was best, YMMV)
It depends, if your students will be doing a wide variety of different projects, then Java is probably a good choice, however, if they will be concentrating on one main project, then choose the best language for that specific project.
What kind of message is this going to give to kids really? It seems the issue is this:
"There's no problem with a game containing large amounts of violence and illegal activity, PROVIDING there's no sex in it!"
Really, if I was a parent (which currently I'm not) I'd be much more worried about the violence and stuff in GTA, than any amount of sex. Maybe if it was rape, then I'd be a little more sympathetic to their point of view.
I don't pretend to understand the ratings system in america, but in good old Blighty, GTA is rated 18, which means you can't buy it if you're under 18, yet you're allowed to have sex in real life at the age of 16. (which brings up an interesting debate as to why porn films are also rated 18 - but thats not the topic)
Really, this is a non issue, and the world could do with lightening up a bit on the whole sex issue. There really is nothing offensive about it, and depending upon your religion (if any), can be viewed as a good healthy (if you are sensible) recreational activity...
If you're anything like me, your browser runs more or less the entire time anyway, I've not looked into it at all, but I guess there's an option allowing you to share after you have finished downloading as well as during.
Clippy says, "I see you're trying to install Malware. Let me help you..."
Wow, this might actually be how they are going to do it? Think about it, did clippy ever actually get anything right, or did it just irritate you, get in the way, and generally make things harder? If clippy makes installing malware harder, I'm all for it!
The Cube engine is open source, I'm not sure how well it would fit your requirements, but its probably worth a look. It runs really well on lots of older hardware as well!!
Slashdot Mirror
My mother cannot go to the bookstore and pick up a book that will make her understand the strange language that we IT people speak, or why her computer would be susceptible to a virus. So, I intend to write such a book.
You say the book is aimed at people like you're mother, why don't you spend a weekend/week/month/whatever teaching her about computers (assuming she wants to - if not find someone who wants to). Make notes about the type of questions she asks you, what topics she finds easy to understand, what she finds most challenging, maybe even record your sessions so that you can so you can analyse it retrospectively.
I recently spent some time explaining networking and the internet to my mum, she uses computers daily and did a Post-degree computing course, and used to write software herself (back in the days of computers being room-sized) however, as that was very much pre-networking, I had to start from square 1. It was very different explaining it to someone who was actually quite interested in understanding the details of how it all works - compared with teaching people who need to know (I used to support/train people to use web-based CMS systems, and many related tools for a large company). Don't be afraid to use Jargon, make sure it's explained on it's first use (possibly even it's first use in each chapter if the book likely to be read unsequentially) and make sure there is a very good glossary (with page numbers where the concept/background is explained in more details). Don't be afraid to use a word, and then explain what it means afterwards. (This sounds strange, but giving someone a context the word will be used in before a definition, will get people thinking about it more, and help with the understanding of the concept.
I've contemplated offering training on this topic before, encouraging people to understand computers, but still being at university, I spend enough time explaining things to my fellow students/family/friends/etc... I'd rather just stick to my own education at the moment. Maybe when I'm unemployed later in life
Don't be afraid of examples! Examples that get people using their computers are very good. Get people to open a command prompt (or Terminal for Mac users - I assume you're not aiming at linux-heads!) explain how you can use it to tell the computer to do something (run a command), then you could use it to explain a bit about networking, get them to do "ping www.somehost.net", explain how it looks up the IP address, explain what some of the numbers mean, and what their significance is. If you do this properly, and explain it clearly, people will gain in confidence (and consequently like your book) if they can understand something cryptic very quickly (ping output is very cryptic if you've never seen it before!)
A few other people have posted about users not needing to know about the workings of a computer. Keeping these things hidden from them is for their own good - while on some level this is true, I think that this line of thinking breeds its own problems. Lack of understanding causes curious people to investigate. To go poking around on their hard-drive and deleting system files, configuring applicaitions, then not knowing how to get it back the way they had. It breeds the frame of mind which mean people are only able to use certain programs. If people have a better understanding of what it is they are doing, they're more likely to go exploring in the places where it is GOOD to explore. Such as exploring features of the program they are currently using - exploring options which could help them configure the computer in better/more productive ways. You're probably an OSS advocate (you read slashdot -it's a given), want people to start using firefox/other OSS app? Who's going to do that if the message they're constantly given from the geeks of the world, is "Don't touch that - you don't know what you're doing". Yes it runs the risk of people getting too happy go lucky with the things that they install, collecting crap on their compu
I'm an eclipse user, and I have been now for over a year. I think it's awesome, yes it takes a bit of getting used to, but I find that the way I work, eclipse just speeds everything up.
However, it's clear that the Eclipse/IDEA argument is another vi/emacs war, and nearly everyone is going to have a strong opinion either way. I guess it's down to which fits the way you work best. I suggest trying IDEA out, if it works better for you, switch. If it's just as confusing as eclipse, don't bother, stick with the free alternative.
I have a MythTV box, and having an accurate time on that really helps when recording programs **, also if your motherboard is old and the battery is beginning to fade into non-existence (as mine is) and the hwclock cannot be guaranteed to be going when the machine is off, syncing the time on startup is very useful.
** Yes I know you can set it to start recording early and finish late, but when recording consecutive programs on different channels this is not an option.
I live in the UK, the DOT here doesn't give a shit about time at all, most of the busses I used to take would arrive anywhere within a 15minute window. Even now I live in a city, they aren't much better. I generally walk everywhere (or drive when I go home during the holidays)
12 seconds early sounds fucking amazing as far as I'm concerned. Or maybe I missed some sarcasm?
Chances are it's possible you're using the onboard sound from your motherboard anyway. What I did a while ago is buy myself a nice SoundBlaster, mostly because I wanted surround sound and my previous card didn't do it, My default sound device is my onboard card, and all "approved" apps have their ouput set to use the SoundBlaster which is hooked up to a nice surround sound set of speakers, the onboard sound is plugged into the shitty speakers built into my monitor (which are usually muted).
This provides a nice way of having two different levels for different kinds of input, muting unwanted (unexpected) sounds, however, if you're using linux, it can take a bit of fiddling to set up in ALSA. YMMV
And you care if the police know your location... why?
You make the fatal assumption that everyone who works for the police, is law abiding themselves, and that the information will remain ONLY in the hands of the police. In a perfect world, tracking everyone and then using that information to solve crimes, is the perfect solution, BUT the potential for mis-use is too big.
Never trust anyone, apart from those who trust you.
I say, the Internet should be run by apes.
So you're someone who wants to see the US Government keep control of the internet then?
There's something wrong up there though.... what could it be ??????
You wrote $100B, it should actually be $100M
That's what makes being a student, and having a job which requires me to work from home, oh so sweet!
Try watching Star Wars and working at the same time!
That's not as crazy as you might think. I too have a dual headed computer (the machine itself isn't much of a monster anymore though! - I'm poor!). I quite frequently run MythTV on one of the monitors, and work on the other one. With actually very little productivity hit. In fact, now i have a laptop as well, I do this even more, just using the laptop instead of the second screen.
It takes a little while, but it's fairly easy to learn how to watch something in the background like that. Eventually you get to treat it the same way as background music.
fairly cheap, small, has a fullsize keyboard, and uses a touchpad.
I have a 12" powerbook, and it has all those features. Well, I'm not sure if you'd class it as cheap really, but it certainly isn't expensive. If you wanted a cheaper one you could choose the iBook instead.
I would suggest one of the following:
Currently, The thinkpads and the power/iBooks IMO are the best notebooks on the market at the moment, nothing quite matches them, ESPECIALLY in the smaller sizes. I've seen a lot of the laptops from other manufacturers and they look OK, but if I'm spending that much money on something, it's sure as hell going to have look like it's worth that much.
EtchaMac have been doing this for a while
http://www.etchamac.com/
The windows people aren't kept "happy", they're kept neutral, they expect it to work, they would only ever give a shit if you didn't provide them.
Linux people on the other hand give you respect, recommendations, future purchases (possibly large ones, it's entirely possible that some of these people are in charge of IT buying decisions at companies). Word will spread quickly amongst the linux community, and other linux users (knowing drivers exist) are more likely to choose your product over others with reverse-engineered drivers.
Linux may seem like a small market now, but it's a vicious circle, and hopefully some manufacturers will have the balls soon to embrace it, hopefully improving hardware support and disposing of the "but my hardware won't work" excuse for staying with windows.
Soon the newspapers will be beating you.
Soon? I live in Bristol (where Aardman animations is based) and this was in the papers at the local shop a good 6 hours ago!
With any luck this will be developed by the same people as Duke Nukem Forever...
I couldn't resist pointing out the rather obvious irony in refering to a mouse as any kind of "pointless".
A standard (or oversized) keyboard with a guidance grid (key-/finger-sized holes) mounted a few mm above the keys. Hand and fingers can rest and tremble until the correct key(hole) is found and pressed. Inhibits accidentally pressing the wrong key and is comparatively cheap. Hazardous for finger joints for people with too forceful tremor or spastic jerks, though. See e.g. http://www.keytools.com/keyboards/guarded.asp (found trough google). Decreasing or disabling autotype/repeat will help here as will anti-repetition keyboard drivers.
My grandad has one of these (he suffers from something I can't remember the name of which basically makes him very clumsy, and often unable to control his movements). It's bigger than the one you link to, and coloured to help with poor eyesight, but the principle is the same. However, it solves the problem of getting your finger caught during a tremor/jerk by having the guard closer to the keyboard, and being touch sensitive.
If the person involved is susceptable to large uncontrollable movements, I suggest attaching it to the table, so that they don't knock it to the floor (possibly yanking cables).
They work well for people who have very little control over their hand movements, as they can seperate the movements required to get their finger in the right place and push the button.
I recommend though, if you get her one of these with the delayed keypresses, you take your own keyboard with you when you visit and need to fix things. They're not easy to use if you have full speed fingers!!!
Whatever you decide to introduce kids to, let the learn and explore for themself. Sure, introduce them to things, but don't tell them what to do, let them figure that out themselves, kids have an incredible capacity for learning, and using their naturally high curiosity to drive this, is one of the most satisfying ways to watch a child learn (and also satisfying for the child).
"I let him be exposed to more and more as his maturity level grew with him."
This is the trick, don't shield your children from things, teach them how to deal with them. Trust them, and let them know that you trust them, teach them that breaking that trust has consequences.
I may not be a parent myself, but it's still not that long since I was a child.
My parents never said "Don't do drugs" or "Don't drink", they simply sat me down one morning and said "you have choices, just think about things first" (paraphrased).
Maturing is about making all your own mistakes and dealing with them yourself, not just ignoring them, and knowing when you're out of your depth. It's about that point in life when you realise in a lot of matters you DON'T know best.
If you're a good parent, you shouldn't need to control your children that much at all, just guide them.
(Disclaimer: these are my views as someone who has been parented in a way I feel was best, YMMV)
It depends, if your students will be doing a wide variety of different projects, then Java is probably a good choice, however, if they will be concentrating on one main project, then choose the best language for that specific project.
What kind of message is this going to give to kids really? It seems the issue is this:
"There's no problem with a game containing large amounts of violence and illegal activity, PROVIDING there's no sex in it!"
Really, if I was a parent (which currently I'm not) I'd be much more worried about the violence and stuff in GTA, than any amount of sex. Maybe if it was rape, then I'd be a little more sympathetic to their point of view.
I don't pretend to understand the ratings system in america, but in good old Blighty, GTA is rated 18, which means you can't buy it if you're under 18, yet you're allowed to have sex in real life at the age of 16. (which brings up an interesting debate as to why porn films are also rated 18 - but thats not the topic)
Really, this is a non issue, and the world could do with lightening up a bit on the whole sex issue. There really is nothing offensive about it, and depending upon your religion (if any), can be viewed as a good healthy (if you are sensible) recreational activity...
If you're anything like me, your browser runs more or less the entire time anyway, I've not looked into it at all, but I guess there's an option allowing you to share after you have finished downloading as well as during.
Clippy says, "I see you're trying to install Malware. Let me help you..." Wow, this might actually be how they are going to do it? Think about it, did clippy ever actually get anything right, or did it just irritate you, get in the way, and generally make things harder? If clippy makes installing malware harder, I'm all for it!
Excel is one of many spreadsheet applications I am capable of using...
Word is one of many word processing applications I am capable of using...
you get the idea
The Cube engine is open source, I'm not sure how well it would fit your requirements, but its probably worth a look. It runs really well on lots of older hardware as well!!
http://cube.sourceforge.net/