NTFS on Linux has no legal problems. It's all reverse-engineered using only a hex editor (i.e. without the use of copyrighted code or patened algorithms), and Red Hat is the only distro not to include it by default.
Formal logic -- especially the boolean logic central to coding -- is a branch of discrete mathematics.
There is no calculus/Eigen/matrices in presentation (UI)
Well, if you use vector graphics (SVG, Flash etc) for your presentation, obviously you're using vectors there. If you use raster graphics (bitmaps, gifs etc), you're using matrices. And hopefully you can see that the presentation for something like Doom 3 involves quite a bit of mathematics.
Further, while talking to databases may not require calculus, it definitely uses set theory and boolean logic. And parsing XML requires some type of finite state machine. Again, discrete maths.
You can write programs without having studied mathematics formally, but even one ungraduate discrete maths subject will make you a better developer. Do yourself a favour.
Pikmin is a cross between Lemmings and a real time strategy game. For my money, Pikimin 1 is better because it's actually quite difficult; I can't see a kid getting too far with it.
I've just tried Linux for the first time, using the SLAX LiveCD (Slackware with a KDE desktop), after years of using Windows, and I had the following thoughts:
Pros:
There are some apps I know from Windows
that I can use in Slackware. Firefox, Thunderbird, Citrix etc.
There are some bundled KDE apps that are pretty self explanatory: a CD player, mp3 player, instant messenger etc. They're all easy to find and labelled clearly.
The K menu widget is easy to use if you've used the Windows start menu.
Fast autodetection and set up my video card and all drives. Nice.
I can open.doc,.pdf files sent to me by my colleagues.
I can cutomise the wallpaper, theme the menus etc. This means a lot to most people.
Cons:
I had to configure my network and soundcard from the command line. The soundcard was easy to to configure though alsaconf, though.
I'm still not sure how to get access to the network printer... CUPS has offered to portscan the company network, but that makes me look like an attacker.
There's no one way to copy and paste, which is confusing.
The different KDE panel widgets have different context menus; some can be removed from the context menu, some cannot.
I think Linux is at the point where it's a viable desktop for a power user willing to invest some time in it, or for a company with an IT department willing to set it up and lock it down for their users. But I definitely don't think it's ready for my parents to use yet. The terminal is the clincher; it's got to be totally GUI configureable to be ready for the home user.
I avoid using $_ and other magic variables because, while they are useful when writing the program, they are a kick in the head when reading the program a month or two later.
Have you tried the built-in English module? Just add this line to your script:
use English;
Then you get verbose aliases for the magic variables. So $. becomes $INPUT_LINE_NUMBER, $" becomes $LIST_SEPARATOR, etc.
There are a lot of cranks in AI, especially those trying to pass the Turing test. But I'm speaking specifically about the field of neural networks, which is probably the most scientific aspect of AI and machine vision research. This where the more respectable AI folk (e.g. Minsky) are doing their research.
So yah, I agree with you in general about AI research, but I think that the research centred around classification is the most promising because it's the least ambitious and the most mathematically rigorous.
The classic example of US citizens bearing arms against their government was Waco. Needless to say, despite various people's interpretation of the consitution, the government won.
That's with external input from the real world, via cameras and mics. TV shows are likely to have well recorded audio, clear well-lit closeups of faces, follow conventions of shot composition etc.
Then there's other things that can be examined: the number of colours could distinguish anime from film, the amount of audio compression / background noise etc.
I imagine the best way to do it would be using a neural net approach. Get someone to sit with the computer and play human-categorised content to it all day, and let the software infer the rules of genre incrementally.
One self-discipline strategy that helps is using a variable naming scheme that includes a notation for type and scope. For example, a phone number could be meaningfully stored as an integer or a string or a object, so a variable called $phone isn't very helpful. But you could use something like $liPhone to remind yourself that you're working with a local integer.
This obviously doesn't stop your colleagues getting an integer from a method then dynamically casting it into a float, but it's a start. You could always use notation with the method names as well. Or you could go all the way into Hungarian noataion.
If you like games from the good old days (Lemmings is my favourite, but Star Control etc is in there somewhere also), Game Boy Advance is worth a look. You can get plenty of old games (Phantasy Star 1-3, Lost Vikings, Worms, original Zelda & Mario Bros), plus lots of pixel art strategy and shooter games (even Metal Slug).
Slashdot Mirror
There's some info at the spyware guide. Firefox didn't display the prompt, so I'm guessing it's yet another IE-specific bit of malware.
NTFS on Linux has no legal problems. It's all reverse-engineered using only a hex editor (i.e. without the use of copyrighted code or patened algorithms), and Red Hat is the only distro not to include it by default.
You can get NTFS RPMs fro the latest Fedora here.
Check out the pictures of the new Settlers game... the hexes are fully painted sculpted 3D pieces the size of your hand!
And the marquee read:
MARK HAMILL is NATHAN DETROIT
PEPPER STEAK is THE ENTREE
Programming requires logic, not math.
Formal logic -- especially the boolean logic central to coding -- is a branch of discrete mathematics.
There is no calculus/Eigen/matrices in presentation (UI)
Well, if you use vector graphics (SVG, Flash etc) for your presentation, obviously you're using vectors there. If you use raster graphics (bitmaps, gifs etc), you're using matrices. And hopefully you can see that the presentation for something like Doom 3 involves quite a bit of mathematics.
Further, while talking to databases may not require calculus, it definitely uses set theory and boolean logic. And parsing XML requires some type of finite state machine. Again, discrete maths.
You can write programs without having studied mathematics formally, but even one ungraduate discrete maths subject will make you a better developer. Do yourself a favour.
Yah, likewise. In the meantime I am making do with this JavaScript 1.5 reference
Ah well. Maybe next time I will RTFA.
And maybe I'm a Chinese jet pilot.
You could probably build this from the RSS feed without too much trouble.
There's an excellent FTP client that does everythign you need: psftp. It's highly scriptable, and scripting info is available here.
If you're using Firefox, can block these with AdBlock.
Pikmin is a cross between Lemmings and a real time strategy game. For my money, Pikimin 1 is better because it's actually quite difficult; I can't see a kid getting too far with it.
I've got a write up on Pikmin 2 in my journal.
You have made my adblocking day with this tip.
Pros:
- There are some apps I know from Windows
that I can use in Slackware. Firefox, Thunderbird, Citrix etc.
- There are some bundled KDE apps that are pretty self explanatory: a CD player, mp3 player, instant messenger etc. They're all easy to find and labelled clearly.
- The K menu widget is easy to use if you've used the Windows start menu.
- Fast autodetection and set up my video card and all drives. Nice.
- I can open
.doc, .pdf files sent to me by my colleagues.
- I can cutomise the wallpaper, theme the menus etc. This means a lot to most people.
Cons:- I had to configure my network and soundcard from the command line. The soundcard was easy to to configure though alsaconf, though.
- I'm still not sure how to get access to the network printer... CUPS has offered to portscan the company network, but that makes me look like an attacker.
- There's no one way to copy and paste, which is confusing.
- The different KDE panel widgets have different context menus; some can be removed from the context menu, some cannot.
I think Linux is at the point where it's a viable desktop for a power user willing to invest some time in it, or for a company with an IT department willing to set it up and lock it down for their users. But I definitely don't think it's ready for my parents to use yet. The terminal is the clincher; it's got to be totally GUI configureable to be ready for the home user.I avoid using $_ and other magic variables because, while they are useful when writing the program, they are a kick in the head when reading the program a month or two later.
Have you tried the built-in English module? Just add this line to your script:
use English;
Then you get verbose aliases for the magic variables. So $. becomes $INPUT_LINE_NUMBER, $" becomes $LIST_SEPARATOR, etc.
A complete list of the aliases can be found here.
There's something out there that hunts down and eats Wookies?
You should see the hairballs it coughs up.
Clicky.
Is the EFF involved, they need to be.
The EFF brought the original suit against the FCC.
"You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."
There are a lot of cranks in AI, especially those trying to pass the Turing test. But I'm speaking specifically about the field of neural networks, which is probably the most scientific aspect of AI and machine vision research. This where the more respectable AI folk (e.g. Minsky) are doing their research.
So yah, I agree with you in general about AI research, but I think that the research centred around classification is the most promising because it's the least ambitious and the most mathematically rigorous.
The classic example of US citizens bearing arms against their government was Waco. Needless to say, despite various people's interpretation of the consitution, the government won.
That's with external input from the real world, via cameras and mics. TV shows are likely to have well recorded audio, clear well-lit closeups of faces, follow conventions of shot composition etc.
Then there's other things that can be examined: the number of colours could distinguish anime from film, the amount of audio compression / background noise etc.
I imagine the best way to do it would be using a neural net approach. Get someone to sit with the computer and play human-categorised content to it all day, and let the software infer the rules of genre incrementally.
Haha, nice one.
One self-discipline strategy that helps is using a variable naming scheme that includes a notation for type and scope. For example, a phone number could be meaningfully stored as an integer or a string or a object, so a variable called $phone isn't very helpful. But you could use something like $liPhone to remind yourself that you're working with a local integer.
This obviously doesn't stop your colleagues getting an integer from a method then dynamically casting it into a float, but it's a start. You could always use notation with the method names as well. Or you could go all the way into Hungarian noataion.
If you like games from the good old days (Lemmings is my favourite, but Star Control etc is in there somewhere also), Game Boy Advance is worth a look. You can get plenty of old games (Phantasy Star 1-3, Lost Vikings, Worms, original Zelda & Mario Bros), plus lots of pixel art strategy and shooter games (even Metal Slug).
Here's some games I'm still wating for [...] Star Control II!
Here you go, it's open source now: http://sc2.sourceforge.net/