That's a pretty interesting site. I don't have a problem admitting to programming and liking to use PHP and find it interesting that clicking on the "I would use this for a web project" comes up with PHP in the list (along with Javascript; which isn't what I was looking for) with a couple that I wouldn't have considered (Scala?). One of the reasons I do like it is it's very similar to C which I've done in the past. If you look at my perl code, it looks very C like:)
The problem seems like everyone wants to knock PHP but not provide an alternative that's somewhat easy to use. I'm a self taught programmer starting with Color Computer BASIC back in the early 80's. I've programmed in several different types of BASIC and then C. I tried C++ but didn't like it, although I liked the ideas. I've also done lots of scripting and Perl. Now I'm doing pretty well with PHP scripting having done a bunch of personal type coding over the past 4 years or so. I did poke at python 15 years ago but was working a lot with perl and they seemed to be two camps; perl or python. And since perl was on all our systems, that's about as far as I got.
But the comparisons really don't give me a good reason to go to python, heck some of them are even reasons not to move such as it's a general scripting language (like perl) vs a web specific one and I need to use modules to write web code (same as perl).
So, is there another language I should be looking at? If I'm going to go with a general purpose type scripting language, why not perl which I'm already pretty familiar with?
That's fine. How about they provide a working OpenView agent for Ubuntu. Until then, we're not using it.
While not HP, we have the same issue with NetBackup. Until there's a working agent, we're using Red Hat.
Or any other software that may not have a working Debian based agent.
(That's not to say there may not be a more current version that what we currently have installed that does support Ubuntu/Debian but our current install doesn't support it.)
I spec'd out a cloud server a few months ago to replace my physical server and the yearly cost of the Amazon cloud server that matched my physical box was just about double (it cost more to get a 64bit system vs a 32bit system).
That's my problem. I have older Dell hardware that requires a specific version of Java or we can't get console access. I have an old laptop that I use to maintain the older versions so I can still get that access.
Excellent, appreciate the link. $2,500 for the dev kit was crazy at the time, heck it's crazy now. I had Turbo C and didn't really think much about multi tasking at the time.
I had two experiences with IBM. Back around 1984, I went to a job fair after going to Computer Learning Center to learn how to program. I was doing part time BASIC programming on Franklin (Apple ][ clone), Leading Edge, and Tandy TRS-80 Model 4 computers. I'd been writing my own programs since 80 on a Sinclair, then Radio Shack Color Computer and then an IBM PC as well as the Leading Edge when the boss would let me schlep it home.
Anyway, I wanted to improve my skills and could only afford to hit CLC. They promised to get me a job programming when I graduated (which they didn't do).
So there I am at the job fair with 9 years in the military, the last 7 as a graphic artist, 3 years working on personal programming projects and a year working as a part time programmer on my resume as well as graduating with very good grades at CLC. I presented it to an IBM representative who upon looking at it, abruptly turned on his heel and walked away. Puzzled, and a little embarrassed, I went checking out other tables and came back to give my resume to a lady who was there who also turned and walked away after looking at my resume.
I was a tad annoyed when the spacy blond woman in our class who had a degree in Animal Husbandry got a job with IBM as a programmer even though I helped her (and the rest of the class including giving an extra credit programming class myself). Turns out after checking with the rest of the class that as long as you had a college degree, you were pretty assured of getting a job at IBM.
The funny thing was when I started looking outside of CLC for a programming job, I was turned down many times before a nice lady at one biotech company gave me the best advise. "Take CLC off of your resume, it's hurting you." I removed it and got a job at the very next place I applied (maintaining a Funeral Home software package as well as a couple of junk yard POS systems).
The second time was more recent. I got a contracting position at IBM in Global Services. The problem was the employees were just cogs in the machine. Every once in a while some guy would walk through and tell 2 or 3 guys that they had 2 days to clean out their desks because there was a cutback in the budget. It got to be a little scary but it was worse when they tapped the woman who was the interface to our customer to be gone in 2 days. And there was no way to influence the decision by being good at your job or even by kissing someone's ass. Higher ups would call the contracting company and say, "drop headcount by 5%". The contracting company had no idea what we did so they didn't have any way of knowing what the impact was of letting someone or another go. It took two different contracts before I found a better job and man, I was glad to go.
Technically it was an awesome place to work aside from the severe siloing of the skill set. I worked on a nice side project with a team in England that really took advantage of my skills but the environment was toxic.
Yea, mine was I could write code for Windows (and DOS) without paying fees but the OS/2 API was $2,000 (or something silly like that; it's been a few years).
That's just it. I enjoy the process of learning how to get something done by programming. And I believe a good sysadmin can program since there are many tasks that can and should be automated. While most SysAdmins can throw a few lines into a file, a programmer creates maintainable and reuseable scripts. Mine have comments (header blocks and in the script), error checking, manage timeouts due to servers that are inaccessible for one reason or another, and run on multiple platforms. I have other scripts that retrieve the data and either create reports or update the inventory. My enjoyment of programming is what keeps my sysadmin skills fresh and relevant.
Shoot, I didn't realize I wasn't logged in so here it is again, properly attributed:)
That why I'm a SysAdmin instead of a programmer. As as sysadmin, I can write programs (scripts) that do what I want vs working in an environment where folks tell me what to do. I started out learning to program back on the Sinclair (writing programs that assist with my gaming) then got jobs as a programmer. I found that being told what to do made programming boring and tedious (and a little frustrating). The nice thing about being a sysadmin is a good portion of the time is spent looking for problems (at least for me as I'm very proactive). So when I find something, I script up a solution and push it out to all servers to see if something else has the same problem. It gives me a creative outlet and I look good because I found all the servers with failing cache batteries that are only reported in the logs. The number of reactive problems drops significantly and we all look good for staying on top of things.
A couple of years ago when I started here, I converted an excel spreadsheet of our equipment list into a php front ended mysql backended database. From there, as I wanted to add new things, I'd research how to do what I wanted to do and implement it. As I improved in writing php, javascript, and mysql code, I'd keep adding features that scratch my itch as well as others to the point that the inventory program is being used by quite a lot of people and I spend a portion of my time either working on enhancements (recently added a network map) and even adding modules that provide non-inventory related enhancements. Right now I think I found the right code to create multi-layer PNG images so I can use javascript to hide layers for the network map. And heck, I'm about ready to step up and get a php or mysql cert along with my CCNP and Solaris certs and a coveted 3Wizard cert I earned way back in the day:)
I just switched to my Firefox on Windows box and it worked just fine. Created my account, confirmed it, and signed the petition. Then posted it to my Facebook page:)
Interestingly it seems I can't create an account with Firefox or Safari on a Mac, not sure why or I'd have signed it as well. It comes up as a blank Blue slide-up. I'll try from the Windows box in a few.
She wasn't passing by. She was in the rec-center with her 3yo kid and she's African-American so the offensive SSID was targeted at her race as well as the Jews.
70's as well. I took Mechanical Drafting classes as part of a series of classes designed to see where you'd fit best. There was a woodworking class, automotive, and electrical class in the series. I went from Mechanical Drafting on to Architectural Drawing classes and then got a job as a graphics artist. From there I moved to a computerized typesetter (CompuGraphic Editwriter) and then to computers and programming.
And LAN Manager and 3+Open. The worst thing was when they finally put some of the cli stuff into a GUI app, many of us LAN Man admins were pretty pleased with how much easier it was to manage the stupid servers. Tacking 3+Open on top of LAN Manager and OS/2 was just a mess.
I do like all sorts. I have the Zombie books (World War Z, Feed, and the Trilogy of short stories from Eden Studios; All Flesh Must Be Eaten). I have Harry Turtledove and his Alternate History series. I have most of Terry Pratchett's books and especially like the Wee Free Men books; Crivens! HP Lovecraft's complete works although I have to pick through a little to get to the ones I like best (not a fan of the more other-worldly stuff). I have the Tom Clancy books for something thicker and in lots of detail. The classics are great; Issac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. Ann McCaffery's Pern books are a fun read.
Actually you misunderstand. If you're using your own equipment and spending extra hours and your productivity is high, then you're just hurting yourself. You need to cut back on your extra, unpaid hours (assuming nothing's broken and needs to be fixed of course) and quit bringing your equipment in. Naturally your productivity will drop because you don't have the needed personnel or equipment.
If you quit and took your extra hours and equipment home (or to the next job), the next guy's going to be wondering how you did all this fricking work in the office with just stone knives and bearskins.
Either management will understand _before_ you depart and get you the gear you need or they'll certainly understand _after_ you leave (or they'll just blame the poor productivity on the bad hires until they get the guy doing extra hours on his own equipment again).
And extra hours hurts more because you could use them to justify a new hire.
I don't recall the exact name but it was the Volume Managment class (vxvm). The next contract was working in an environment where vxvm was heavily in use. Unfortunately it was a pretty static environment with little changes and proactive work was frowned upon. I left after a year.
Slashdot Mirror
That's a pretty interesting site. I don't have a problem admitting to programming and liking to use PHP and find it interesting that clicking on the "I would use this for a web project" comes up with PHP in the list (along with Javascript; which isn't what I was looking for) with a couple that I wouldn't have considered (Scala?). One of the reasons I do like it is it's very similar to C which I've done in the past. If you look at my perl code, it looks very C like :)
[John]
The problem seems like everyone wants to knock PHP but not provide an alternative that's somewhat easy to use. I'm a self taught programmer starting with Color Computer BASIC back in the early 80's. I've programmed in several different types of BASIC and then C. I tried C++ but didn't like it, although I liked the ideas. I've also done lots of scripting and Perl. Now I'm doing pretty well with PHP scripting having done a bunch of personal type coding over the past 4 years or so. I did poke at python 15 years ago but was working a lot with perl and they seemed to be two camps; perl or python. And since perl was on all our systems, that's about as far as I got.
I found this: http://wiki.python.org/moin/PythonVsPhp
But the comparisons really don't give me a good reason to go to python, heck some of them are even reasons not to move such as it's a general scripting language (like perl) vs a web specific one and I need to use modules to write web code (same as perl).
So, is there another language I should be looking at? If I'm going to go with a general purpose type scripting language, why not perl which I'm already pretty familiar with?
[John]
That's fine. How about they provide a working OpenView agent for Ubuntu. Until then, we're not using it.
While not HP, we have the same issue with NetBackup. Until there's a working agent, we're using Red Hat.
Or any other software that may not have a working Debian based agent.
(That's not to say there may not be a more current version that what we currently have installed that does support Ubuntu/Debian but our current install doesn't support it.)
[John]
I spec'd out a cloud server a few months ago to replace my physical server and the yearly cost of the Amazon cloud server that matched my physical box was just about double (it cost more to get a 64bit system vs a 32bit system).
[John]
That's my problem. I have older Dell hardware that requires a specific version of Java or we can't get console access. I have an old laptop that I use to maintain the older versions so I can still get that access.
[John]
Excellent, appreciate the link. $2,500 for the dev kit was crazy at the time, heck it's crazy now. I had Turbo C and didn't really think much about multi tasking at the time.
[John]
Or even gay bashing
"Find Nearby Gays and Beat Them Up!" :rolleyes:
[John]
I had two experiences with IBM. Back around 1984, I went to a job fair after going to Computer Learning Center to learn how to program. I was doing part time BASIC programming on Franklin (Apple ][ clone), Leading Edge, and Tandy TRS-80 Model 4 computers. I'd been writing my own programs since 80 on a Sinclair, then Radio Shack Color Computer and then an IBM PC as well as the Leading Edge when the boss would let me schlep it home.
Anyway, I wanted to improve my skills and could only afford to hit CLC. They promised to get me a job programming when I graduated (which they didn't do).
So there I am at the job fair with 9 years in the military, the last 7 as a graphic artist, 3 years working on personal programming projects and a year working as a part time programmer on my resume as well as graduating with very good grades at CLC. I presented it to an IBM representative who upon looking at it, abruptly turned on his heel and walked away. Puzzled, and a little embarrassed, I went checking out other tables and came back to give my resume to a lady who was there who also turned and walked away after looking at my resume.
I was a tad annoyed when the spacy blond woman in our class who had a degree in Animal Husbandry got a job with IBM as a programmer even though I helped her (and the rest of the class including giving an extra credit programming class myself). Turns out after checking with the rest of the class that as long as you had a college degree, you were pretty assured of getting a job at IBM.
The funny thing was when I started looking outside of CLC for a programming job, I was turned down many times before a nice lady at one biotech company gave me the best advise. "Take CLC off of your resume, it's hurting you." I removed it and got a job at the very next place I applied (maintaining a Funeral Home software package as well as a couple of junk yard POS systems).
The second time was more recent. I got a contracting position at IBM in Global Services. The problem was the employees were just cogs in the machine. Every once in a while some guy would walk through and tell 2 or 3 guys that they had 2 days to clean out their desks because there was a cutback in the budget. It got to be a little scary but it was worse when they tapped the woman who was the interface to our customer to be gone in 2 days. And there was no way to influence the decision by being good at your job or even by kissing someone's ass. Higher ups would call the contracting company and say, "drop headcount by 5%". The contracting company had no idea what we did so they didn't have any way of knowing what the impact was of letting someone or another go. It took two different contracts before I found a better job and man, I was glad to go.
Technically it was an awesome place to work aside from the severe siloing of the skill set. I worked on a nice side project with a team in England that really took advantage of my skills but the environment was toxic.
Carl
Yea, mine was I could write code for Windows (and DOS) without paying fees but the OS/2 API was $2,000 (or something silly like that; it's been a few years).
[John]
That's just it. I enjoy the process of learning how to get something done by programming. And I believe a good sysadmin can program since there are many tasks that can and should be automated. While most SysAdmins can throw a few lines into a file, a programmer creates maintainable and reuseable scripts. Mine have comments (header blocks and in the script), error checking, manage timeouts due to servers that are inaccessible for one reason or another, and run on multiple platforms. I have other scripts that retrieve the data and either create reports or update the inventory. My enjoyment of programming is what keeps my sysadmin skills fresh and relevant.
[John]
Shoot, I didn't realize I wasn't logged in so here it is again, properly attributed :)
That why I'm a SysAdmin instead of a programmer. As as sysadmin, I can write programs (scripts) that do what I want vs working in an environment where folks tell me what to do. I started out learning to program back on the Sinclair (writing programs that assist with my gaming) then got jobs as a programmer. I found that being told what to do made programming boring and tedious (and a little frustrating). The nice thing about being a sysadmin is a good portion of the time is spent looking for problems (at least for me as I'm very proactive). So when I find something, I script up a solution and push it out to all servers to see if something else has the same problem. It gives me a creative outlet and I look good because I found all the servers with failing cache batteries that are only reported in the logs. The number of reactive problems drops significantly and we all look good for staying on top of things.
A couple of years ago when I started here, I converted an excel spreadsheet of our equipment list into a php front ended mysql backended database. From there, as I wanted to add new things, I'd research how to do what I wanted to do and implement it. As I improved in writing php, javascript, and mysql code, I'd keep adding features that scratch my itch as well as others to the point that the inventory program is being used by quite a lot of people and I spend a portion of my time either working on enhancements (recently added a network map) and even adding modules that provide non-inventory related enhancements. Right now I think I found the right code to create multi-layer PNG images so I can use javascript to hide layers for the network map. And heck, I'm about ready to step up and get a php or mysql cert along with my CCNP and Solaris certs and a coveted 3Wizard cert I earned way back in the day :)
It's loads of fun.
[John]
I can parse it but yea, I have the same problem with my "smart" phone and fat fingers :)
[John]
Yea, I'm in the US so I was going by my experience when I owned one back in 1980 or so.
[John]
2kb actually. And you could get a 16k memory module.
[John]
Yea, I was thinking Niven and not Heinlein. And Footfall for the falling tanker bars.
[John]
It was a test. Did you mention it to them?
[John]
I just switched to my Firefox on Windows box and it worked just fine. Created my account, confirmed it, and signed the petition. Then posted it to my Facebook page :)
[John]
Interestingly it seems I can't create an account with Firefox or Safari on a Mac, not sure why or I'd have signed it as well. It comes up as a blank Blue slide-up. I'll try from the Windows box in a few.
[John]
She wasn't passing by. She was in the rec-center with her 3yo kid and she's African-American so the offensive SSID was targeted at her race as well as the Jews.
[John]
Don't make it your SSID.
[John]
70's as well. I took Mechanical Drafting classes as part of a series of classes designed to see where you'd fit best. There was a woodworking class, automotive, and electrical class in the series. I went from Mechanical Drafting on to Architectural Drawing classes and then got a job as a graphics artist. From there I moved to a computerized typesetter (CompuGraphic Editwriter) and then to computers and programming.
Fun stuff.
[John]
And LAN Manager and 3+Open. The worst thing was when they finally put some of the cli stuff into a GUI app, many of us LAN Man admins were pretty pleased with how much easier it was to manage the stupid servers. Tacking 3+Open on top of LAN Manager and OS/2 was just a mess.
[John]
I do like all sorts. I have the Zombie books (World War Z, Feed, and the Trilogy of short stories from Eden Studios; All Flesh Must Be Eaten). I have Harry Turtledove and his Alternate History series. I have most of Terry Pratchett's books and especially like the Wee Free Men books; Crivens! HP Lovecraft's complete works although I have to pick through a little to get to the ones I like best (not a fan of the more other-worldly stuff). I have the Tom Clancy books for something thicker and in lots of detail. The classics are great; Issac Asimov and Robert Heinlein. Ann McCaffery's Pern books are a fun read.
Is there a Pandora for books somewhere?
[John]
Actually you misunderstand. If you're using your own equipment and spending extra hours and your productivity is high, then you're just hurting yourself. You need to cut back on your extra, unpaid hours (assuming nothing's broken and needs to be fixed of course) and quit bringing your equipment in. Naturally your productivity will drop because you don't have the needed personnel or equipment.
If you quit and took your extra hours and equipment home (or to the next job), the next guy's going to be wondering how you did all this fricking work in the office with just stone knives and bearskins.
Either management will understand _before_ you depart and get you the gear you need or they'll certainly understand _after_ you leave (or they'll just blame the poor productivity on the bad hires until they get the guy doing extra hours on his own equipment again).
And extra hours hurts more because you could use them to justify a new hire.
[John]
I don't recall the exact name but it was the Volume Managment class (vxvm). The next contract was working in an environment where vxvm was heavily in use. Unfortunately it was a pretty static environment with little changes and proactive work was frowned upon. I left after a year.
[John]