And in all honesty, the most important aspect of a science education is teaching the method through which one should derive his or her information and opinions.
Okay, it's a new C-like and Java-like language. But WTF is this:
Simple Operations should be Simple
A common and simple operation, like writing an array of bytes to a file, should be simple to code. I haven't seen a class library yet that simply and efficiently implemented common, basic file I/O operations.
What, writing an array of bytes to a file is difficult in Java?
I'm not sure about the whole hoo-hah about "is-expressions"/conditional compilation. Personally, I've always hated the infinitely regressive #ifdefs in C. Operator overloading -- you can keep it. Causes more trouble than goto.
In the end, what I'm looking for in a language is increased productivity, increased ability to architect changes, and increased understandability. I want to be able to pick up a printout of program X in this hypothetical language, understand what it does without a manual, help from the original developer, or reverse-engineering sessions (the code is the description is the code, and not in the RTFS sense), and be able to add stuff or modify it easily, and recompile without having to set up crazy environments.
I wish language researchers would pick up today's programs, and try to figure out what they could do to make things easier.
Correct me if I'm wrong -- the problem is that the firmware doesn't come preloaded on the hardware. So basically you have a hardware platform with no driving software -- essentially one big, blank programmable ASIC with specialty hardware depending on what the card is.
One of the major complaints seems to be that the loadable firmware is not redistributable, and anyway it's full of bugs and other crazy stuff. It occurs to me that maybe these cards are like CPU platforms -- lots of hardware, no driving software. For one particular piece of hardware -- Intel CPU's -- some bright guy named Linus wrote some "firmware" to make that platform run.
So couldn't some bright people get together, use the programmable hardware as a starting point, and develop their own firmware? I guess you wouldn't have to develop firmware for every blank hardware platform that was manufactured. Just the ones with the neatest hardware features.
Where are the safeguards? In your home. In your school, and in your church if you believe in that. The behavior of your children is YOUR responsibility. Not mine, and nor it should be the Government's
I've often wondered if future shock renders parenting obsolete. It may not be possible for a parent to keep up with all the changes in a child's world. In this case, what would be needed is some kind of professional parenting. This would naturally create a cultural conflict between the impulse to have and own children, and the impulse to teach them. Fun times ahead.
What we appear to be running into is too much "own the children" and not enough ability to "teach the children".
An anonymous reader writes to point out the Washington News's analysis of this year's spike in telemarketers gulling lonely old people, such as lonely old men and lonely old women, out of their life's savings.
"Experts worry that older people will be slow to switch to the [old folk's home]. And even if consumers rush to put in a home existing old people or purchase new ones that include no life's savings, younger folks will continue to battle security holes in legacy versions of the Old version of People, which are expected to remain in widespread use, and even grow, for the next 5-10 years."
As long as there is prey, there will be predators. Stamping out the predators is a game of whack-a-mole, so the best solution is to try to educate the prey. And if you can't, well, what are you going to do? Legislate against it? Pfft!
Pay a huge premium for the privilege of using the plane's cell, or...
What a scam! The airline could leave the local cell on after the plane is on the ground. Last flight I was on, at least a third of the passengers pulled out a cellphone to let their family/friends/corporate masters know that they were about to exit the aircraft. Think of the money the airline can make!
This is why I *always* bring earplugs. They help, mostly. Personally, I'd *much* rather listen to cellphone chatter than high-pitched informationless shrieking.
Well, about this "slimmed-down OS" thing. Back in the day (1996), that was all you could do on a 16 MHz processor with 512kB or less memory. But enter Moore's Law type advances, and your cool, hip, "think small" OS is now a POS. So, what does Palm do? Bump the revision number, keep the same shitty old API's, turn their noses up at multitasking, and implement backwards-compatibility in a backwards way.
I'm speaking from experience. I've developed Palm applications. Three times. Once on a Pilot, and twice on a Treo 650. They were all nightmares, and these were simple applications. Yes, I'm aware of the arguments that I probably wanted an application that didn't really fit on the Palm platform. But guess what: those are the interesting applications. Not Yet Another Address Book.
That said, I'm surprised at how the zombie corpse of Palm OS *just* *won't* *die*!
Executive #1: Hey, I just got an Internet! Executive #2: Who from? Executive #1: Some guy named Jeremy. Isn't this caviar good? Executive #2: Sure is. Who's Jeremy? Executive #1: I think he's some greasy coder. Executive #2: Ha ha, they are *so* *guh-ross!* Executive #1: You said it! Here, have a small, autonomous Micronesian island, complete with 143 nubile slaves and an offshore account.
This means that humans have the ability to distinguish between their own farts and the farts of everyone else. Now there are three obvious classes of mechanism for this...
I notice you didn't include the obvious:
4) I *know* that I didn't fart, therefore I *know* it's some else dealt it.
Very interesting -- where does one find "junk silver" coins?
I collect wheat-ears and pre-WWII pennies just for the heck of it. Back when I was a wee lad working the register, one of the pennies someone paid with was a 1910 penny. I replaced it with a "modern" penny and gleefully kept the 1910.
Microsoft Research! More computer science papers come out of us than from the top universities! We present them at numerous prestigious conferences around the world!
Now, in partnership with Microsoft Marketing, we are proud to announce... Research4All!
Yes, Research4All is a unique product designed to meet not only the needs of researchers around the world, but also the corporations that feed, clothe, and entertain them! For only $1299.99, you get access to three -- count 'em, three! -- research papers published by Microsoft Research! But wait, there's more!
You may read each paper a total of five times, on a total of one computer! And if you should choose to purchase our Paper Edition (for an additional $499 charge), the ink will degrade after six months. And, as an added bonus, the paper is microprinted so that copying and scanning won't work! We are also working with graphics imaging and word processing vendors to recognize certain unique, secret, and patented characteristics of both the microprinting, as well as the sentence structure!
Why am I being monitored? why does the State have to keep records of who I talk to and when I talk to them and where I am when I talk to them? am I suspected of something? I'm not. So why? because I *might* do something? that's outrageous! and in fact it's proper tantamout to suspecting me of something - it is suspected that I *might* commit a crime, which is just a weaker version of we *do* suspect you comitted a crime.
Meanwhile, in a software development shop somewhere in deepest America...
Application 1: The calls I make to the kernel have the time of the call and the call data recorded.
Application 2: Uh huh.
Application 1: The calls I make out to the network have the time of the call, my IP address, and the destination data.
Application 2: A-yup.
Application 1: All the files I visit, have the filenames recorded.
Application 2: Yeah, look. Your log file is getting seriously big, and...
Application 1: Why am I being monitored? why does the Developer have to keep records of who I talk to and when I talk to them and where I am when I talk to them? am I suspected of something? I'm not. So why? because I *might* do something? that's outrageous! and in fact it's proper tantamout to suspecting me of something - it is suspected that I *might* crash, which is just a weaker version of we *do* suspect you crashed.
Application 2: (scribble)
Application 1: *crash*
They come with this "convenient" string at the top that you're supposed to pull to open the bag. Half the time, the string breaks as you pull. Sometimes the string slides right out, leaving you with a string in one hand and the still unopened bag in the other! In the meantime, your cat is yowling like mad for some food, and you can't tell a kitty that she has to wait while Big Cat struggles to open the bag.
Damn, I wish I had mod points. Very, very cool. The Nixie-tube project takes 2nd place, 'cuz nixie tubes are ubercool, too:)
Not bad for someone who graduated with a 2.5 GPA.
I failed half my classes in high school (mainly because they were in a certain language that I didn't understand, used by a certain religion that I didn't believe in), but I was able to sell myself to the admissions board of two prestigious universities in Manhattan by talking about all the projects that I had worked on in the extracurricular direction related to the major I wanted to take. The colleges let me enroll in both at the same time. Now, some 15 years later, I have a great income working a job I love doing.
So yeah, GPA counts pretty much for shyte, unless you don't have anything else to show.
Reading over this post, it occurs to me that it could be construed as arrogant, but I don't really know any other way to tell the story.
Slashdot Mirror
They don't call them method actors for nothing! :)
--Rob
Okay, it's a new C-like and Java-like language. But WTF is this:
What, writing an array of bytes to a file is difficult in Java?
I'm not sure about the whole hoo-hah about "is-expressions"/conditional compilation. Personally, I've always hated the infinitely regressive #ifdefs in C. Operator overloading -- you can keep it. Causes more trouble than goto.
In the end, what I'm looking for in a language is increased productivity, increased ability to architect changes, and increased understandability. I want to be able to pick up a printout of program X in this hypothetical language, understand what it does without a manual, help from the original developer, or reverse-engineering sessions (the code is the description is the code, and not in the RTFS sense), and be able to add stuff or modify it easily, and recompile without having to set up crazy environments.
I wish language researchers would pick up today's programs, and try to figure out what they could do to make things easier.
Yeah, I know, I'm probably dreaming.
--Rob
Correct me if I'm wrong -- the problem is that the firmware doesn't come preloaded on the hardware. So basically you have a hardware platform with no driving software -- essentially one big, blank programmable ASIC with specialty hardware depending on what the card is.
One of the major complaints seems to be that the loadable firmware is not redistributable, and anyway it's full of bugs and other crazy stuff. It occurs to me that maybe these cards are like CPU platforms -- lots of hardware, no driving software. For one particular piece of hardware -- Intel CPU's -- some bright guy named Linus wrote some "firmware" to make that platform run.
So couldn't some bright people get together, use the programmable hardware as a starting point, and develop their own firmware? I guess you wouldn't have to develop firmware for every blank hardware platform that was manufactured. Just the ones with the neatest hardware features.
--Rob
This is a cat-related article! The correct grammar is "Yes, but sheez takin' all ur stuff!"
--Rob
Awesome, another thing I can blame on the cats, right next to breaking that glass and hiding the remote!
--Rob
I've often wondered if future shock renders parenting obsolete. It may not be possible for a parent to keep up with all the changes in a child's world. In this case, what would be needed is some kind of professional parenting. This would naturally create a cultural conflict between the impulse to have and own children, and the impulse to teach them. Fun times ahead.
What we appear to be running into is too much "own the children" and not enough ability to "teach the children".
--Rob
Most... insightful... double... misspelling... evar!
(head explodes)
--Rob
An anonymous reader writes to point out the Washington News's analysis of this year's spike in telemarketers gulling lonely old people, such as lonely old men and lonely old women, out of their life's savings.
As long as there is prey, there will be predators. Stamping out the predators is a game of whack-a-mole, so the best solution is to try to educate the prey. And if you can't, well, what are you going to do? Legislate against it? Pfft!
--Rob
What a scam! The airline could leave the local cell on after the plane is on the ground. Last flight I was on, at least a third of the passengers pulled out a cellphone to let their family/friends/corporate masters know that they were about to exit the aircraft. Think of the money the airline can make!
--Rob
What planet are you on? Here's a replay of my last flight:
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
This is why I *always* bring earplugs. They help, mostly. Personally, I'd *much* rather listen to cellphone chatter than high-pitched informationless shrieking.
--Rob
The Fraunhofer Institute: now you can get your patented and licensed MP3's even faster!
--Rob
Well, about this "slimmed-down OS" thing. Back in the day (1996), that was all you could do on a 16 MHz processor with 512kB or less memory. But enter Moore's Law type advances, and your cool, hip, "think small" OS is now a POS. So, what does Palm do? Bump the revision number, keep the same shitty old API's, turn their noses up at multitasking, and implement backwards-compatibility in a backwards way.
I'm speaking from experience. I've developed Palm applications. Three times. Once on a Pilot, and twice on a Treo 650. They were all nightmares, and these were simple applications. Yes, I'm aware of the arguments that I probably wanted an application that didn't really fit on the Palm platform. But guess what: those are the interesting applications. Not Yet Another Address Book.
That said, I'm surprised at how the zombie corpse of Palm OS *just* *won't* *die*!
--Rob
Ha ha only serious?
--Rob
I notice you didn't include the obvious:
4) I *know* that I didn't fart, therefore I *know* it's some else dealt it.
How about The Dresden Files: Stargate Undead.
--Rob
Very interesting -- where does one find "junk silver" coins?
I collect wheat-ears and pre-WWII pennies just for the heck of it. Back when I was a wee lad working the register, one of the pennies someone paid with was a 1910 penny. I replaced it with a "modern" penny and gleefully kept the 1910.
--Rob
Apparently some people want this guy as the next "President of the United States, Leader of the Free World"...
--Rob
Microsoft Research! More computer science papers come out of us than from the top universities! We present them at numerous prestigious conferences around the world!
Now, in partnership with Microsoft Marketing, we are proud to announce... Research4All!
Yes, Research4All is a unique product designed to meet not only the needs of researchers around the world, but also the corporations that feed, clothe, and entertain them! For only $1299.99, you get access to three -- count 'em, three! -- research papers published by Microsoft Research! But wait, there's more!
You may read each paper a total of five times, on a total of one computer! And if you should choose to purchase our Paper Edition (for an additional $499 charge), the ink will degrade after six months. And, as an added bonus, the paper is microprinted so that copying and scanning won't work! We are also working with graphics imaging and word processing vendors to recognize certain unique, secret, and patented characteristics of both the microprinting, as well as the sentence structure!
Research was never this fun!
--Rob
I, for one, welcome our new feudal overlords and overladies.
--Rob
--Rob
Meanwhile, in a software development shop somewhere in deepest America...
Application 1: The calls I make to the kernel have the time of the call and the call data recorded.
Application 2: Uh huh.
Application 1: The calls I make out to the network have the time of the call, my IP address, and the destination data.
Application 2: A-yup.
Application 1: All the files I visit, have the filenames recorded.
Application 2: Yeah, look. Your log file is getting seriously big, and...
Application 1: Why am I being monitored? why does the Developer have to keep records of who I talk to and when I talk to them and where I am when I talk to them? am I suspected of something? I'm not. So why? because I *might* do something? that's outrageous! and in fact it's proper tantamout to suspecting me of something - it is suspected that I *might* crash, which is just a weaker version of we *do* suspect you crashed.
Application 2: (scribble)
Application 1: *crash*
--Rob
--Rob
I failed half my classes in high school (mainly because they were in a certain language that I didn't understand, used by a certain religion that I didn't believe in), but I was able to sell myself to the admissions board of two prestigious universities in Manhattan by talking about all the projects that I had worked on in the extracurricular direction related to the major I wanted to take. The colleges let me enroll in both at the same time. Now, some 15 years later, I have a great income working a job I love doing.
So yeah, GPA counts pretty much for shyte, unless you don't have anything else to show.
Reading over this post, it occurs to me that it could be construed as arrogant, but I don't really know any other way to tell the story.
--Rob
--Rob