"It was capable of carrying up to 137 tons (270,000 pounds) of troops and equipment—including as many as six nuclear missiles—at speeds up to 350 MPH as far as 1,080 nmi—albeit only 16 feet off the surface of the water." http://gizmodo.com/this-caspia...
"It was capable of carrying up to 137 tons (270,000 pounds) of troops and equipment—including as many as six nuclear missiles—at speeds up to 350 MPH as far as 1,080 nmi—albeit only 16 feet off the surface of the water."
Yes, the MD-160 was neither amphibious (it's water-only) or an airplane (it's an Ekranoplan surface-effect vehicle).
The allegations against him and the plane were politically motivated; Senator Owen Brewster was "bought" by competitor Juan Trippe of Pan Am.
"In 1947, the Senate War Investigation Committee, led by Maine Senator Owen Brewster. The committee alleged that government funds had been misused in both the XF-11 and Spruce Goose Projects, siting the fact that neither project had resulted in a single aircraft delivered to the Air Force. Hughes maintained that there had been no wrong doing, and that Senator Brewster had taken contributions from Juan Tripp, President of Pan Am, a major competitor of Hughes' TWA. Although the hearings featuring Hughes' testimony electrified the nation, the committee disbanded without making a report." http://www.otrcat.com/howard-h...
If only we were purchasing a license for the content, and not the media itself, this wouldn't be a problem. Bad disc, or disc got stolen? Pay a nominal fee (50c?) for a new one. Want to sell your license? Find a way to let the DRM allow it. Want to 'rent' or 'pay-per-play' rather than own the media? Use the appropriate license. When new media technology comes out, we should not have to pay to replace our libraries.
"Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill"
New programmers may have skills with new software, but they may not have skills and experience with organizational politics, system design, product architecture, code reviews, QA, all the rest of what makes great programmers great.
This was a fine article; I'm a long-time burner and I see no problem with your methods (or your posting here!). I can't imagine getting everything I needed into three suitcases; I usually bring a trailer! Hooking up with an existing camp is great advice, also because you've got a built in set of default friends. Hooking up with an art project, like the CORE groups, is even better! Burning Man is best when you become one of the creators, not just one of the consumers.
With one exception, that is still ancient Burner lore: rebar. Don't use rebar. It's hard to get in, hard to get out, and injury-prone. Buy large stakes from Home Depot -the yellow/orange plastic ones - or 12" nails, if they have them. Or buy large spade stakes (10" or so) at the surplus store. And be sure someone in your camp has a small sledge to drive them in (and lever to remove them).
The two-week "knowledge transfer" period can really suck. "We need you to write down everything that you know that we will ever need, and then brain-dump on these other less-qualified people who were never any help before, and won't be any help after you left except to blame you for anything that goes wrong."
If it's not documented well enough that you could walk out today, two weeks won't help.
Think of it - you could send a sandwich from the kitchen to the den. You could send the mail from the office to the front door. Route laundry and garbage to their appropriate destinations.
This book taught me more about coding (and recursion, and all sorts of other concepts) than any language-specific book I've read. I carried it around for a couple of years, making my way through as I could. Highly recommended.
I'm learning to use Twitter Bootstrap, and the documentation is really sparse, so I turn to Google to find me other people's examples of, in my case, how to implement site menus.
The biggest problem I find is companies that jump from "here's how to install the software" to "here's an exhaustive list of all the functions", and a few sample apps, without delving into conceptual issues like architecture or implementation. This is where the O'Reilly style documentation helps, as they step through the product conceptually rather than the functions alphabetically.
One issue I rarely see discussed are the different types of comments. Most languages and editors don't seem to differentiate between these common types of comments.
-Standard, inline comments//check for out-of-bounds/* send the user an email * to let them know they've * done something wrong */ int fritz = 0;//0 indicates no fritz at all
-Autodoc (or autodoc-style) comments, usually in class/function headers - whether or not autodoc is actually used/** Given foo and bar object, produce woofObject by transmogrification input foo int input bar barObject output woof woofObject **/ function transmogrifyFooBarToWoof...
-Comment-out - code that is disabled by commenting/* here is some code we don't use anymore, but is here for reference
if (whatever) do something; */
-Todo comments (I tend to style these with #! or #? in php or//#? in other languages) #!if the result is negative this will fail #?should we be bounds-checking
Another annoyance with my editor (Eclipse, in my case, but most others I've tried also have this issue) is that I like to left-align my comment-out and todo comments for visibility - a habit that comes from COBOL, I guess.
This sounds like it could be revolutionary - lack of fresh or clean water is one of the world's biggest problems. I'm assuming pathogens are larger than a molecule of water? Wonder what the cost would be, if it would be cheap enough to just churn out sheets of the stuff, or custom-made filters. The biggest problems aside from production would be clogging/cleaning and accidental contamination of the output stream.
Hire actual QA to report and process bugs. Put at least one of the QA people on the project of processing user emails into bug/enhancement/etc.
User testing is great - it's a wonderful way to observe how end-users might interact with the product. But it isn't the same as QA - professional, systematic defect testing, reporting, analysis.
I'm a developer. Most of the time QA annoys me with issues like "if you enter more than 256 characters into the name field, what should happen?" and "If I'm in IE6 and I use the back button then repeatedly click submit, I get an error." These are usually things no user will ever encounter, but they're also things that should be tracked and checked, at least to be sure they don't corrupt the database or hang the system if the one user in 10,000 (usually a hacker "having fun") does try them.
I live in Carlsbad, CA, where one of their facilities is, I've seen them (or maybe just one) driving down El Camino now and then. Looks like a disembodied small aircraft fuselage. Seems utterly un-crash-worthy. Very pretty, not very practical.
I remember when (last year) they were turned down for government assistance, because they had three wheels not four; wondered why they didn't just drag a bicycle wheel so they'd qualify.
Hoping to go by their offices next week and see if there's any evidence of getting rid of stuff.
This doesn't fit most of your critieria ("handwriting" being the most obvious, but also textbook storage), but it's what I've used and it works great for me.
iPhone (or any smartphone) Bluetooth keyboard (I use Apple's) Evernote
Evernote automatically uploads content to its cloud so you can edit and use from your computer without having to sync.
All you have to buy/carry in your purse is the keyboard - I'd chose a usable one that's a bit larger, like the Apple, rather than a small one that's harder to type on, since the main point will be to type notes quickly. Apple's keyboard is $70 or so, but compared to buying a barely usable netbook, I think it's worth it. Batteries in the kb last forever.
You could use a tablet instead but I find the iPhone screen big enough to read what I'm typing, which is enough.
Another benefit of the phone, is less temptation to multi-task.
Personally, I put the keyboard about a foot in front of me, with the phone in between me and the keyboard - easier to see, works better for touch-typing, less distracting to others I'm listening to.
I dislike handwritten notes, because they're barely legible and non-searchable.
As a PHP developer, I'm used to writing code manually rather than trying to use a GUI code creator.
Having been through several editors on several platforms, lately I like Aptana Studio 3 (version of Eclipse), mainly because of its FTP deployment, and the fact that it works identically on OSX and Windows.
(Biting tongue to avoid the troll response, Microsoft Word.)
I'm sold on the concept, but the store sells (and will undoubtedly sell more) apps that I've already paid for and have license/serial/whatever. I'm wondering what the process will be for letting Apple know I've purchased these? I would guess that (with Apple's help) the manufacturer would offer a "coupon" to existing users that lets them download the app for free or upgrade fee if it's already been registered? BBEdit, for example?
I'm also wondering why they didn't roll the iOS apps into this process - iTunes is really poorly suited to apps.
I code to spec. The product and marketing departments write the spec (what little there is); the QA department amends the spec with overly specific test cases. I suggest that the spec is incomplete and won't handle...but I'm told, just code it to spec. I recommend changed, but we don't have time for edge cases. I point out potential problems, but we're unlikely to get any of those. I warn of potential compatibility problems but we don't care. Are you just trying to be difficult? If there's a problem QA will catch it. The project is overdue already, and by the way here are some new requirements that need to make it in, and we can't change the release date because we already promised the stockholders. Why is your code so complicated, my twelve-year-old kid could write this.
When you enter the working world, you have to use whatever operating system (or other equipment) your employer has arbitrarily chosen, and frequently you'll have to pay for your own equipment.
Of course, I'm a fanboy/apologist, so I think the Macbook is a great choice since it can run OSX, Windows, or several flavors of *ux, either with BootCamp or Parallels. Then again, so can a hackintosh - and that's an even more valuable lesson (don't let arbitrary rules by distant companies get in the way of your education aka if you don't get caught it must not be illegal).
This (and other reasons) is why I believe public school textbooks should be free/open source (as in speech, as well as as in beer, aside from a nominal small printing/distribution charge - which will not be needed once all schoolchildren own iPads or other e-readers) and wiki-editable with review before publishing. Get the textbook companies out of the business of making massive profits off the backs of our school system, and involve the public in the education process. Find a way to review that will weaken agenda-driven edits.
Slashdot Mirror
"...KM Ekranoplan..." I thought they were the same thing. I only know from the source I cited.
"It was capable of carrying up to 137 tons (270,000 pounds) of troops and equipment—including as many as six nuclear missiles—at speeds up to 350 MPH as far as 1,080 nmi—albeit only 16 feet off the surface of the water."
http://gizmodo.com/this-caspia...
It's no Caspian Sea Monster.
http://gizmodo.com/this-caspia...
"It was capable of carrying up to 137 tons (270,000 pounds) of troops and equipment—including as many as six nuclear missiles—at speeds up to 350 MPH as far as 1,080 nmi—albeit only 16 feet off the surface of the water."
Yes, the MD-160 was neither amphibious (it's water-only) or an airplane (it's an Ekranoplan surface-effect vehicle).
The allegations against him and the plane were politically motivated; Senator Owen Brewster was "bought" by competitor Juan Trippe of Pan Am.
"In 1947, the Senate War Investigation Committee, led by Maine Senator Owen Brewster. The committee alleged that government funds had been misused in both the XF-11 and Spruce Goose Projects, siting the fact that neither project had resulted in a single aircraft delivered to the Air Force. Hughes maintained that there had been no wrong doing, and that Senator Brewster had taken contributions from Juan Tripp, President of Pan Am, a major competitor of Hughes' TWA. Although the hearings featuring Hughes' testimony electrified the nation, the committee disbanded without making a report."
http://www.otrcat.com/howard-h...
If only we were purchasing a license for the content, and not the media itself, this wouldn't be a problem. Bad disc, or disc got stolen? Pay a nominal fee (50c?) for a new one. Want to sell your license? Find a way to let the DRM allow it. Want to 'rent' or 'pay-per-play' rather than own the media? Use the appropriate license. When new media technology comes out, we should not have to pay to replace our libraries.
"Age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill"
New programmers may have skills with new software, but they may not have skills and experience with organizational politics, system design, product architecture, code reviews, QA, all the rest of what makes great programmers great.
This was a fine article; I'm a long-time burner and I see no problem with your methods (or your posting here!). I can't imagine getting everything I needed into three suitcases; I usually bring a trailer! Hooking up with an existing camp is great advice, also because you've got a built in set of default friends. Hooking up with an art project, like the CORE groups, is even better! Burning Man is best when you become one of the creators, not just one of the consumers.
With one exception, that is still ancient Burner lore: rebar. Don't use rebar. It's hard to get in, hard to get out, and injury-prone. Buy large stakes from Home Depot -the yellow/orange plastic ones - or 12" nails, if they have them. Or buy large spade stakes (10" or so) at the surplus store. And be sure someone in your camp has a small sledge to drive them in (and lever to remove them).
The two-week "knowledge transfer" period can really suck. "We need you to write down everything that you know that we will ever need, and then brain-dump on these other less-qualified people who were never any help before, and won't be any help after you left except to blame you for anything that goes wrong."
If it's not documented well enough that you could walk out today, two weeks won't help.
Every house needs a serious series of tubes.
Think of it - you could send a sandwich from the kitchen to the den. You could send the mail from the office to the front door. Route laundry and garbage to their appropriate destinations.
Why send electrons when you can send atoms?
(Example, there are lots of others:)
http://aerocom-usa.com/profitability/where_to_install_pneumatic_tube_systems.shtml
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
http://www.amazon.com/G%C3%B6del-Escher-Bach-Eternal-Golden/dp/0465026567
This book taught me more about coding (and recursion, and all sorts of other concepts) than any language-specific book I've read. I carried it around for a couple of years, making my way through as I could. Highly recommended.
I'm learning to use Twitter Bootstrap, and the documentation is really sparse, so I turn to Google to find me other people's examples of, in my case, how to implement site menus.
The biggest problem I find is companies that jump from "here's how to install the software" to "here's an exhaustive list of all the functions", and a few sample apps, without delving into conceptual issues like architecture or implementation. This is where the O'Reilly style documentation helps, as they step through the product conceptually rather than the functions alphabetically.
One issue I rarely see discussed are the different types of comments. Most languages and editors don't seem to differentiate between these common types of comments.
-Standard, inline comments //check for out-of-bounds /* send the user an email //0 indicates no fritz at all
* to let them know they've
* done something wrong
*/
int fritz = 0;
-Autodoc (or autodoc-style) comments, usually in class/function headers - whether or not autodoc is actually used /**
Given foo and bar object, produce woofObject by transmogrification
input foo int
input bar barObject
output woof woofObject
**/
function transmogrifyFooBarToWoof...
-Comment-out - code that is disabled by commenting /* here is some code we don't use anymore, but is here for reference
if (whatever) do something;
*/
-Todo comments (I tend to style these with #! or #? in php or //#? in other languages)
#!if the result is negative this will fail
#?should we be bounds-checking
Another annoyance with my editor (Eclipse, in my case, but most others I've tried also have this issue) is that I like to left-align my comment-out and todo comments for visibility - a habit that comes from COBOL, I guess.
This sounds like it could be revolutionary - lack of fresh or clean water is one of the world's biggest problems. I'm assuming pathogens are larger than a molecule of water? Wonder what the cost would be, if it would be cheap enough to just churn out sheets of the stuff, or custom-made filters. The biggest problems aside from production would be clogging/cleaning and accidental contamination of the output stream.
Hire actual QA to report and process bugs. Put at least one of the QA people on the project of processing user emails into bug/enhancement/etc.
User testing is great - it's a wonderful way to observe how end-users might interact with the product. But it isn't the same as QA - professional, systematic defect testing, reporting, analysis.
I'm a developer. Most of the time QA annoys me with issues like "if you enter more than 256 characters into the name field, what should happen?" and "If I'm in IE6 and I use the back button then repeatedly click submit, I get an error." These are usually things no user will ever encounter, but they're also things that should be tracked and checked, at least to be sure they don't corrupt the database or hang the system if the one user in 10,000 (usually a hacker "having fun") does try them.
I live in Carlsbad, CA, where one of their facilities is, I've seen them (or maybe just one) driving down El Camino now and then. Looks like a disembodied small aircraft fuselage. Seems utterly un-crash-worthy. Very pretty, not very practical.
I remember when (last year) they were turned down for government assistance, because they had three wheels not four; wondered why they didn't just drag a bicycle wheel so they'd qualify.
Hoping to go by their offices next week and see if there's any evidence of getting rid of stuff.
This doesn't fit most of your critieria ("handwriting" being the most obvious, but also textbook storage), but it's what I've used and it works great for me.
iPhone (or any smartphone)
Bluetooth keyboard (I use Apple's)
Evernote
Evernote automatically uploads content to its cloud so you can edit and use from your computer without having to sync.
All you have to buy/carry in your purse is the keyboard - I'd chose a usable one that's a bit larger, like the Apple, rather than a small one that's harder to type on, since the main point will be to type notes quickly. Apple's keyboard is $70 or so, but compared to buying a barely usable netbook, I think it's worth it. Batteries in the kb last forever.
You could use a tablet instead but I find the iPhone screen big enough to read what I'm typing, which is enough.
Another benefit of the phone, is less temptation to multi-task.
Personally, I put the keyboard about a foot in front of me, with the phone in between me and the keyboard - easier to see, works better for touch-typing, less distracting to others I'm listening to.
I dislike handwritten notes, because they're barely legible and non-searchable.
As a PHP developer, I'm used to writing code manually rather than trying to use a GUI code creator.
Having been through several editors on several platforms, lately I like Aptana Studio 3 (version of Eclipse), mainly because of its FTP deployment, and the fact that it works identically on OSX and Windows.
(Biting tongue to avoid the troll response, Microsoft Word.)
Yep, and it detected my copy of iPhoto - but I think Apple apps are as far as it gets.
I'm sold on the concept, but the store sells (and will undoubtedly sell more) apps that I've already paid for and have license/serial/whatever. I'm wondering what the process will be for letting Apple know I've purchased these? I would guess that (with Apple's help) the manufacturer would offer a "coupon" to existing users that lets them download the app for free or upgrade fee if it's already been registered? BBEdit, for example?
I'm also wondering why they didn't roll the iOS apps into this process - iTunes is really poorly suited to apps.
Because you're racing a cargo truck in the Dakar? In which case you need more like 1000bhp.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatra_T815
And vice-versa. If they do give you access to their server - FAIL.
I code to spec. The product and marketing departments write the spec (what little there is); the QA department amends the spec with overly specific test cases. I suggest that the spec is incomplete and won't handle...but I'm told, just code it to spec. I recommend changed, but we don't have time for edge cases. I point out potential problems, but we're unlikely to get any of those. I warn of potential compatibility problems but we don't care. Are you just trying to be difficult? If there's a problem QA will catch it. The project is overdue already, and by the way here are some new requirements that need to make it in, and we can't change the release date because we already promised the stockholders. Why is your code so complicated, my twelve-year-old kid could write this.
It's not my fault. I code to spec.
When you enter the working world, you have to use whatever operating system (or other equipment) your employer has arbitrarily chosen, and frequently you'll have to pay for your own equipment.
Of course, I'm a fanboy/apologist, so I think the Macbook is a great choice since it can run OSX, Windows, or several flavors of *ux, either with BootCamp or Parallels. Then again, so can a hackintosh - and that's an even more valuable lesson (don't let arbitrary rules by distant companies get in the way of your education aka if you don't get caught it must not be illegal).
This (and other reasons) is why I believe public school textbooks should be free/open source (as in speech, as well as as in beer, aside from a nominal small printing/distribution charge - which will not be needed once all schoolchildren own iPads or other e-readers) and wiki-editable with review before publishing. Get the textbook companies out of the business of making massive profits off the backs of our school system, and involve the public in the education process. Find a way to review that will weaken agenda-driven edits.
"PC LOAD LETTER"??? What the f does that mean??
Oh, there it is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_LOAD_LETTER