There are many times when I think about some of the things that I do on computers today, and sometimes it seems like they aren't much faster than years ago.
Well, yeah, you don't need that much computing power to run a GUI word processor and a spreadsheet and an email program: "good enough" happened around 1987.
But you know, whenever I want to be reminded I'm living in the future, I set up Xaos to run at 1600x1200, 16-bit color (it's a little jerky on my laptop in 24-bit color), and autopilot... and remember I used to let my Atari 800 run overnight to get a 160x200, 4-color Mandelbrot/Julia set image.
Unix read is not always what you want, and the error handling leaves things to be desired, and you end up with having to make choices like this, that aren't covered in too many books (and just try explaining the trade-offs involved to a knuckle-headed mediocrity):
My favorite AOLserver story starts in the seventh-floor lounge of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. I was asking Robert Thau, primary author of the Apache server program, why the Netscape 1.1 server was so slow. He said "Oh that's because those guys don't understand Unix. They're actually using the read system call to read files." Everyone in the room laughed except me. What? What's wrong with that? I asked. He replied, "Everyone knows you can't use read; you have to use memory-mapped I/O."
I knew that the NaviSoft guys were about to release a new version so I thought I'd give the naifs in Santa Barbara the benefit of some hard-core MIT engineering knowledge. I told them the story and asked them what NaviServer, as it was then called, did. They replied "NaviServer uses memory-mapped file I/O on single-processor machines but automatically configures itself to use operating system read on multi-CPU machines so as to reduce shared memory contention."
Ah.
--Philip Greenspun
But yeah, for the kinds of things I'd use a scripting language for today, Unix file i/o is OK and all.
Sure, it's Why I Am Not A Writer: none of the ideas I come up with are really original or compelling enough to force me to hone my craft to a professional level, though I made vague, undisciplined, and mostly misguided attempts when I was younger.
one of the most-repeated bits of advice for aspiring science-fiction and fantasy authors is to read as much of the genre as possible, especially short stories, because ideas get repeated so often, and magazine editors are desperate for original material.
That said, I'm not sure how feasible acquiring an encyclopaedic knowledge of short fiction is, in any genre, or how one would go about it.
The article seems to be rather narrowly from a computer hobbyists' point of view.
It fails to point out that compile times are a fairly critical factor in programmer productivity. Yes, we should care that compile times with the Intel compilers look to be over 25% shorter than with gcc on average. (very rough eyeball estimate)
I am amused, also, at how perplexed the author seems that IBM would ship Eclipse 2.x (and CDT 1.x, its associated C/C++ plugins) with the compiler. The CDT plug-ins for Eclipse 3.x were only ready a couple of months ago, so this is plainly a matter of how much time and money the Intel team had to test them with ICC. Or maybe they weren't available yet at all: when WAS the Intel 8.1 compiler released, anyway?
but see if you can find pdfs of whatever they're using for APh 9 at Caltech these days.
They whip freshmen through most of what you'd learn better in a junior-level class on semiconductor physics and have them fab their own devices in a simple but effective laboratory. Carver Mead designed the course. Fun class!
Indeed, and it's occasionally argued that the power supply for the Apple II was the most, even the only, technical advance on the state-of-the-art in its design. Not that there weren't plenty of clever hacks in the Apple II design---I've been tempted to go dig up a red book lately, for inspiration on microcontroller and CPLD hacks...
I dunno, I like tk, but the times I've used it I've written my GUI in tcl, with the rest of my app as tcl extensions in C. So I don't think of it as an "API", in the sense that I've never tried calling tk from C or any other language besides tcl. It is indeed a little inflexible, but easy things are very easy and hard things can be written in C. What was "horrible" about it to you?
It runs native on Windows and older versions of Mac OS, I'd have to look up whether it runs native on MacOS X.
Fragile? Properly stored, Kodachrome Super-8 is an archival medium. Ektachrome can fade badly if not stored properly. And Super-8 film still has more "resolution" than current consumer video formats. It's worth preserving if it has important stuff on it.
Your projector might be at more fault than the film's mechanical fragility: if you're going to project your movies, get the projector cleaned and lubricated by a good camera technician every couple-three years or so. Consider finding a better projector than your dad probably bought back when.
Or spend the money to get the transfer done by a professional who knows what he or she is doing. Google on "super-8 telecine". And then store the originals carefully. A professional-grade telecine setup would probably run you a lot more than $1000.
I'm doing some work with Bluetooth, using the CSR modules, "Casira" programmer, and the Bluecore programming tools. For simple stuff like headsets and RS232 links, you can run all the necessary code on the module.
For stuff based on CSR silicon, if I were doing things over, I'd go with the Siemens dev kit for their Siemo or Siemo2 modules. Same tools, more or less, but you're working with modules right away that you can spec into a final product. I didn't find them until I was looking for prequalified modules based on CSR's chipset...
just get a Dell Precision M-series laptop with everything as maxed out as you can afford.
I didn't imagine such a no-compromise laptop existed before a colleague insisted I buy one when I was looking for a laptop. My m40 (single configuration, now they let you choose how much RAM etc you get, like other laptops) was worth every penny, although it's very dated now. I think the current model is the m60.
in the meantime, also, I highly recommend Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" for basic people-handling stuff. You might also be able to get good stuff out of Covey's "Seven Habits" books.
They're especially nice on tape (get the unabridged 8-tape versions): listen to them on your commute or in the hot tub or...
Also, for help on basic scheduling, check out http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog000 00002 45.html
It's written for software developers, not IT support people, but it should still be useful.
If you're that underfunded and understaffed, a large part of your job description is "scapegoat".
In the meantime, become the most disciplined and effective employee they've ever seen, do a bang-up job on everything you have time and funding for, keep written records of what you did when etc, all that good stuff. No personal email, no slashdot, no cnn.com with your coffee first thing in the morning. Use your coffee time to plan everything you do, write it down, write down how you will do it, write down how you're doing it, write down how you did it, write down how you'd do it next time.
Constantly negotiate priorities. Find a way to track tasks and priorities: a Palm organizer can be a godsend.
Work hard and cover your ass, so the hammer doesn't fall before you find another job. But start looking now, because that hammer will eventually knock you on your ass.
A set of nut drivers. These are screwdrivers for nuts, especially those little nut-screws on the back of the PC that hold the serial and video connectors on.
Get hollow-shafted ones. If you do anything more than fiddle with PCs, these are the Right Tool for removing and installing pots, rotary switches, etc...
Klein makes a nice set than most Sears stores carry.
I'll echo the recommendation for a power screwdriver (Milwaukee and Panasonic supposedly make the best, I like my Milwaukee)---I never realized that turning a screwdriver was tedious until I got a power screwdriver.
Another gadget that's nice for working with any kind of electronics, especially in the field, is made by Ideal: it's a electrical outlet tester with a socket for a grounding plug. So you know that the socket is wired correctly before you ground yourself to it. Model 61-051. 10x the price of an outlet tester without the socket, though. If you're frugal and competent, you know what to do.
Combine with the 3M 8501 field service kit, and you're about as ESD-safe as you're likely to be.
Also, for general electronics work, there's usually a good list of tools in the ARRL Handbook.
Get a catalog from Techni-Tool, there's all kinds of stuff in there you didn't know you needed...
I think Blu-tak/Blue-tack is a trademark, other tacky gooey things in different shades of colours are available!
Bostik Blu-Tack is indeed a trademark. Some of the other brands seem like they're made of melty chewing gum, so I've learned to be picky and seek out the original...
In fact if success isn't optional, I have been known to unplug my machine from the network, insuring that I couldn't fire up and of the distractions 'just for a second' even if so inclined.
Slashdot Mirror
There are many times when I think about some of the things that I do on computers today, and sometimes it seems like they aren't much faster than years ago.
Well, yeah, you don't need that much computing power to run a GUI word processor and a spreadsheet and an email program: "good enough" happened around 1987.
But you know, whenever I want to be reminded I'm living in the future, I set up Xaos to run at 1600x1200, 16-bit color (it's a little jerky on my laptop in 24-bit color), and autopilot... and remember I used to let my Atari 800 run overnight to get a 160x200, 4-color Mandelbrot/Julia set image.
Yes, it's tricky at an "intermediate C programming" level to do fast multidimensional arrays in C, but it's not at all impossible.
Look at how cblas does it, if you can't figure it out on your own like I had to back in the day.
But yeah, for the kinds of things I'd use a scripting language for today, Unix file i/o is OK and all.
And, remembering that sin(theta) ~= theta for small theta:
.007 degrees.
20cm / 1 mile in degrees is about
That's about 1/1000 the field of of a typical pair of binoculars: it's not surprising that yours resolve it as a point.
Sure, it's Why I Am Not A Writer: none of the ideas I come up with are really original or compelling enough to force me to hone my craft to a professional level, though I made vague, undisciplined, and mostly misguided attempts when I was younger.
one of the most-repeated bits of advice for aspiring science-fiction and fantasy authors is to read as much of the genre as possible, especially short stories, because ideas get repeated so often, and magazine editors are desperate for original material.
That said, I'm not sure how feasible acquiring an encyclopaedic knowledge of short fiction is, in any genre, or how one would go about it.
The article seems to be rather narrowly from a computer hobbyists' point of view.
It fails to point out that compile times are a fairly critical factor in programmer productivity. Yes, we should care that compile times with the Intel compilers look to be over 25% shorter than with gcc on average. (very rough eyeball estimate)
I am amused, also, at how perplexed the author seems that IBM would ship Eclipse 2.x (and CDT 1.x, its associated C/C++ plugins) with the compiler. The CDT plug-ins for Eclipse 3.x were only ready a couple of months ago, so this is plainly a matter of how much time and money the Intel team had to test them with ICC. Or maybe they weren't available yet at all: when WAS the Intel 8.1 compiler released, anyway?
Shakespeare isn't ancient.
Not only is it completely portable, but both "wired" and "wireless" networks for the format have been available for decades.
but see if you can find pdfs of whatever they're using for APh 9 at Caltech these days.
They whip freshmen through most of what you'd learn better in a junior-level class on semiconductor physics and have them fab their own devices in a simple but effective laboratory. Carver Mead designed the course. Fun class!
Indeed, and it's occasionally argued that the power supply for the Apple II was the most, even the only, technical advance on the state-of-the-art in its design. Not that there weren't plenty of clever hacks in the Apple II design---I've been tempted to go dig up a red book lately, for inspiration on microcontroller and CPLD hacks...
Is that the same James Hague that wrote articles for ANTIC and Analog back in the era of the Atari 8-bits?
So we know easily what WM libraries a package requires without looking at the depends...
Jesus wept.
I never thought I'd hear a rationalization for using Hungarian notation to name applications.
I dunno, I like tk, but the times I've used it I've written my GUI in tcl, with the rest of my app as tcl extensions in C. So I don't think of it as an "API", in the sense that I've never tried calling tk from C or any other language besides tcl. It is indeed a little inflexible, but easy things are very easy and hard things can be written in C. What was "horrible" about it to you?
It runs native on Windows and older versions of Mac OS, I'd have to look up whether it runs native on MacOS X.
There's a book:
The Permanence and Care of Color Photographs
Ziploc bags sound like a really bad idea. (Plastics outgas, if there's moisture in there it's trapped, etc)
The fungus damage is probably not repairable, but hang on to those films anyway.
Google around for preservation tips: I found this page but there's probably more out there.
Fragile? Properly stored, Kodachrome Super-8 is an archival medium. Ektachrome can fade badly if not stored properly. And Super-8 film still has more "resolution" than current consumer video formats. It's worth preserving if it has important stuff on it.
Your projector might be at more fault than the film's mechanical fragility: if you're going to project your movies, get the projector cleaned and lubricated by a good camera technician every couple-three years or so. Consider finding a better projector than your dad probably bought back when.
Or spend the money to get the transfer done by a professional who knows what he or she is doing. Google on "super-8 telecine". And then store the originals carefully. A professional-grade telecine setup would probably run you a lot more than $1000.
Maxima and Axiom are the heavy hitters. Good luck getting Axiom to build.
There are some others: I think there's one in Scheme and I think YACAS comes with a lot of Linux distributions but I've never tried it.
I'm doing some work with Bluetooth, using the CSR modules, "Casira" programmer, and the Bluecore programming tools. For simple stuff like headsets and RS232 links, you can run all the necessary code on the module.
For stuff based on CSR silicon, if I were doing things over, I'd go with the Siemens dev kit for their Siemo or Siemo2 modules. Same tools, more or less, but you're working with modules right away that you can spec into a final product. I didn't find them until I was looking for prequalified modules based on CSR's chipset...
oh, it was kind of cool once. In 1992 or so...
just get a Dell Precision M-series laptop with everything as maxed out as you can afford.
I didn't imagine such a no-compromise laptop existed before a colleague insisted I buy one when I was looking for a laptop. My m40 (single configuration, now they let you choose how much RAM etc you get, like other laptops) was worth every penny, although it's very dated now. I think the current model is the m60.
in the meantime, also, I highly recommend Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" for basic people-handling stuff. You might also be able to get good stuff out of Covey's "Seven Habits" books.
0 00002 45.html
They're especially nice on tape (get the unabridged 8-tape versions): listen to them on your commute or in the hot tub or...
Also, for help on basic scheduling, check out
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog00
It's written for software developers, not IT support people, but it should still be useful.
seriously.
If you're that underfunded and understaffed, a large part of your job description is "scapegoat".
In the meantime, become the most disciplined and effective employee they've ever seen, do a bang-up job on everything you have time and funding for, keep written records of what you did when etc, all that good stuff. No personal email, no slashdot, no cnn.com with your coffee first thing in the morning. Use your coffee time to plan everything you do, write it down, write down how you will do it, write down how you're doing it, write down how you did it, write down how you'd do it next time.
Constantly negotiate priorities. Find a way to track tasks and priorities: a Palm organizer can be a godsend.
Work hard and cover your ass, so the hammer doesn't fall before you find another job.
But start looking now, because that hammer will eventually knock you on your ass.
A set of nut drivers. These are screwdrivers for nuts, especially those little nut-screws on the back of the PC that hold the serial and video connectors on.
Get hollow-shafted ones. If you do anything more than fiddle with PCs, these are the Right Tool for removing and installing pots, rotary switches, etc...
Klein makes a nice set than most Sears stores carry.
I'll echo the recommendation for a power screwdriver (Milwaukee and Panasonic supposedly make the best, I like my Milwaukee)---I never realized that turning a screwdriver was tedious until I got a power screwdriver.
Another gadget that's nice for working with any kind of electronics, especially in the field, is made by Ideal: it's a electrical outlet tester with a socket for a grounding plug. So you know that the socket is wired correctly before you ground yourself to it. Model 61-051. 10x the price of an outlet tester without the socket, though. If you're frugal and competent, you know what to do.
Combine with the 3M 8501 field service kit, and you're about as ESD-safe as you're likely to be.
Also, for general electronics work, there's usually a good list of tools in the ARRL Handbook.
Get a catalog from Techni-Tool, there's all kinds of stuff in there you didn't know you needed...
I think Blu-tak/Blue-tack is a trademark, other tacky gooey things in different shades of colours are available!
Bostik Blu-Tack is indeed a trademark. Some of the other brands seem like they're made of melty chewing gum, so I've learned to be picky and seek out the original...
In fact if success isn't optional, I have been known to unplug my machine from the network, insuring that I couldn't fire up and of the distractions 'just for a second' even if so inclined.
success is never optional.