You cannot know for sure (unless you want to develop code by mathematical proof, which requires a considerable amount of effort). However, you can do some things to help prevent buffer overflows and security problems in general:
- encapsulate all buffer access, and make the interface overflow-safe. Then you need only ensure your encapulation is secure.
- use a static code analysis tool that detects buffer overflows. I do not know of any open source ones off the top of my head, but I remember seeing an article on slashdot a few months ago about a new open source static analysis tool
- avoid unsafe functions. Nearly all standard C functions that deal with buffers are unsafe (that is, a typo or oversight can give you a difficult to detect buffer overflow). Sprintf and strcpy are common culprits off the top of my head. If you're writing for Windows, the Microsoft extensions to the standard library have equivalent 'secure' functions (usually postfixed with _s). I do not know if there is an open source equivalent.
- Use your compiler's buffer overrun detection. I think this is -fmudflap for gcc.
That's all I can think of for now.
Why, exactly, did you link to your own thorougly refuted post as justification? You could at least link to something like Apache vs IIS for some reasonable evidence.
This is a ridiculous thing to say, as it is purely a matter of perspective. I visited newegg and looked at the reviews, and most of them talked about how the Zune was far better looking than the iPod. I personally do not particularly care what my player looks like -- they both look attractive enough to me.
has a clumsier interface
This is also a ridiculous thing to say, as it is also purely a matter of perspective. I tend to think the clickwheel is a gimmick at best. Not only does it make navigating through music slower than if there was properly designed button, but it is nigh impossible to use the thing if you are wearing gloves or trying to change songs without taking it out of your pocket. I can't say for myself about the Zune interface, but the Wall Street Journal cited the Zune's interface as one of the few advantages it had over the iPod.
has poorer audio fidelity
Well, a matter of perspective as well, though from just the raw specs the Zune higher fidelity audio than the iPod. In fact, audiophiles have long decried the iPod for it's rather poor audio fidelity. Not that anything but the highly trained ear of an audiophile could tell the difference, though.
doesn't even support Microsoft's own previous DRM schemes
Neither does the iPod?
The iPod is a nice device, but you are really reaching here for some of your points. Is it really that difficult to admit that the iPod is a only a marginally better device, and the Zune actually has a couple things (wireless, FM radio) that the iPod does not offer? Here's to hoping that my iPod does not break, but if it does I will definitely be considering a Zune as one of my options.
Except you need an elevated command prompt, so there will be a warning dialog that pops up asking for elevated privledges. Granted, most users will see it and click OK anyway, but in theory the user would be able to prevent this from happening.
Even more interesting is the XNA Racer game that renders at 1080p with 2x antialiasing and 30 fps. Granted, the environment is not incredibly detailed, but I was surprised to see managed code do that.
How are you going to execute it? I'm fairly certain WMP does not execute code on the heap at all, much less a try and execute a character string.
And then, where are you going to jump to? You're in WMP's address space, what in WMP's address space will give you any sort of control over the system? Maybe you could jump to a function that deletes a song from their playlist?
Ten million is considered important because analysts have said that the first system to ten million sales will be the top next generation console. This is based on there being a certain point of no return where a console simply has so much momentum that nearly every third party developer makes games for it. Analysts point to the PS2 becoming dominant right after it sold 8 million consoles to justify this. Of course, analysts are often wrong, but fifty million is way too high for the point of no return. Considering no non-first place console has ever sold more than fifty million consoles, you are only saying 'whoever is the dominant console will be the dominant console'. There is a point before that, just like in a race, where one can say 'wow, that one is so far ahead and has so much momentum that the only way they will lose is if something goes horribly wrong.' Whether that is ten million or thirty million is anyone's guess but fifty million is the finish line.
I was basing that on this slashdot posting: WiiConnect24 Causing Issues for Wii Owners. The linked article uses the term 'breaking systems', which may not mean that they were fully broken, but that was my impression. The article is rather scant on details, so it's hard to say for sure. Comments on the article seem to indicate varying degrees of malfunction, from what you described, to being able to boot to the menu but not being able to play any games. Either way, I understand this is a fairly rare problem, I was citing it as an example of how the little bad press there is about the Wii does actually make it on to slashdot.
If you go back about nine months to a year ago, you'd see plenty of negative stories about the Xbox 360. Consoles being bricked due to overheating, short supply, and abysmal sales in Japan would be the major topics. Except for the abysmal sales in Japan, these problems have been fixed. There is no longer much in the way of negative press about the 360.
Similarly, the Wii has had few problems. There was a recent article on Slashdot about how the Wiimote was inaccurate, but the consensus seemed to be that the guy did not calibrate it, or whatever you have to do. There was also a recent article on the Wii update bricking some consoles, which seems to be the worst problem for the Wii since launch.
Neither the Wii or the 360 have the number of problems that the PS3 has. It is unreasonable to expect there to be as many negative articles about the Wii and 360 as for the PS3
Yes, I agree. The equivalent iPod is now $50 cheaper thanks to the Zune. I also think that indicates that Apple considers the Zune to be a far greater threat than their fanboys will admit, or Apple would not need to drop the price to remain competitive.
This is known as the attach rate. PS3's attach rate has been 1.5, the Wii's attach rate has been 3.0, and the Xbox 360's attach rate at launch was about 4.0 (now it is around 5.0).
Vista doesn't handle symlinks properly. It used to be "c:\documents and settings" but now in vista it is c:\users. I see a clever little "C:\documents and settings" shortcut on my C drive. OOOOoo is this a symlink? No? I get Access Denied when trying to double-click. Opening the path via an API however works fine. Go figure.
The shortcut is hidden; the only way you can even show it is by going to the options menu and clicking through the 'advanced users only' warning. It works for APIs because it is solely there for compatibility with applications that hardcode "documents and settings" as the user path folder.
Often on XP, 2000, NT and 95 I would hit control-esc then R for run and type frequently used programs into run. I would say this is just an odd quirk about me and how I think menus take too long and too much work to do something, but now the run area has been replaced with a little place you type in stuff and through the magic of windows desktop search it finds whatever you type in the area above that normally occupied by program icons. The bug? You have to let it search. No matter what. Yeah, WTF? This works great on a home PC where you maybe have maybe 10,000 files. Network drives? Oh no. You can't just type n:\ then hit enter. You have to physically wait a sec for it to pull up n:\ in the list of programs above the start menu THEN hit enter. WOW, WHAT A GREAT FEATURE. No more control-esc n:\ enter for me. It is nowctrl+esc n:\ wait..wait..wait.. enter. Otherwise I get some random program like Notepad. Or Flash. Or Firefox.
The real shortcut for the run dialog is Windows key+R and that still works fine. Even then, the rest of this seems to be BS. I can go to the search bar, type in Z:\ for a network drive and hit enter, and immediately the drive explore window pops up.
Yes, they can choose from the long lines of people waiting to get into teaching. They're all over the place, really. Just... invisible or something. Yeah.
You said that theists have set back science more than any token advances they may have done. I just made up some equally preposterous bull for atheists. Einstein, Newton, Descartes, Kepler, Galileo, Pasteur, Maxwell, Copernicus, Heisenburg, Lavoisier, LaGrange, Faraday, Dalton, Planck, Fermi, Euler, Bohr, Schrodinger, Born. Just a short list of theist scientists. Comparing accomplishments objectively is nigh impossible, but I would feel relatively safe saying that the advances made by those on this short list outweigh the advances made by every athest scientist who ever lived. Not that this justifies theism or unjustifies atheism, but it certainly rebukes your claim.
Likewise, athiests have set back science much more than they have advanced it with any token efforts. The main mechanism for this is keeping the majority of people in a state of ignorant despair, as there is no reason for scientific advancement if life is purposeless and meaningless. This has given rise to a culture where scientists are rare, and many scientists have to fight against society to be heard. Imagine if the majority of people in history believed in rational thought and science, instead of a select few. Without atheists, humanity would be far more advanced than it is today, and it's also likely we wouldn't have had so many terrible wars, or as much racism, terrorism, etc.
Imagine a world without atheism...
Isn't making up facts to justify bigotry fun? I think it is telling that your post reads like a white supremacist's would read about black people.
Wikipedia says otherwise
According to wikipedia, there are four major events that could have led to the destruction of the library of Alexandria, and none of them had anything to do with Christians.
Middle ages advances in science. Europe was sent into a depression due to the fall of the Roman empire. It was the rise of Christianity throuhgout the continent that ended the depression and triggered scientific achievement and stability.
Galileo ended up under house arrest because he made the assertion that individuals can interpret the Bible, which was (is) a big no-no under the Catholic dogma. Sad, to be sure, but that does not change that he made considerable scientific progress under the umbrella of the church.
Incorrect. Churches have funded much of the scientific advancement we have seen up until the modern age. Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus, Brahe, and Newton were all funded by the church, among many others. Also, note that the most advanced nations today (US, Europe) are Christian in heritage, while considerably less advanced nations (see most countries in Asia) were not.
Non-religious people of pretty much any flavour seem to be normal people until you hit that one spot where the gears seem to just mash into each other and they killmillions of people. Boy, generalizations are fun, aren't they?
To counter-balance this monopoly position, the EU has asked Microsoft to supply its competitors -- including many European companies -- with the necessary documentation. That documentation was required to open Microsoft files (.WMV, for instance) and communicate with machines running Windows system (SMB protocol). Microsoft refused and was fined a lot of money. Microsoft said it was going to comply, then delivered the required documentation. End of story.
This is a bit of an innaccurate story. The EU informed Microsoft they needed to provide "complete and accurate specifications" on how to interoperate with Windows. When prompted by Microsoft to be more specific on what needed to be documented, the commission refused to respond. So Microsoft delivered substantial documentation to the EU, which at that point they arbitrarily decided was not sufficient. Finally they set someone up to work with Microsoft to determine what needed to be documented, but not before fining them a couple hundred million for noncompliance despite Microsoft's good faith effort to comply with a vague order. After discussion with the commission's representative, Microsoft was quickly able to identify what documenation would comply with the commission's order, and delivered the required documentation. The end result may be a Good Thing(tm), but the means by which it was accomplished were poor and underhanded.
Also, ASF (.WMV,.WMA) specifications have been available for years, long before the EU's order. And speaking of things we can thank the EU for, how about that version of Windows without the media player? That's been selling real well.
The reason why fans and foes alike are complaining about the backwards compatibility problems is because it has seemed to hit the more popular games. For example, the Final Fantasy series is apparently all broken to one degree or another, with XI not even playable.
The police weren't checking IDs, the student library monitors were. The kid refused to show his ID when the student monitor asked, as is school policy after 11pm. Then the kid refused to leave when asked by the student monitor, so the student monitor called in the campus police to have him removed. There is not any information or video that I know of on what happened between then and when the police arrived, but I imagine when the police walked out the door the kid had an "oh shit" moment and tried to get up and leave. The police grabbed his arm on the way out to escort him and make sure he left the building, and the kid spazzed out. Cue tasering and more spazzing. Five taserings later the campus police decide to carry him out, as they should have done as soon as they got him cuffed.
Agreed. But he could have said something to the order of "I can't move my legs, you idiots" rather than "fuck you" when the police asked him to stand. Of course, there are a lot of things the kid could have done to avoid getting shocked altogether. Idiot kid + idiot cops makes for trouble.
Slashdot Mirror
You cannot know for sure (unless you want to develop code by mathematical proof, which requires a considerable amount of effort). However, you can do some things to help prevent buffer overflows and security problems in general: - encapsulate all buffer access, and make the interface overflow-safe. Then you need only ensure your encapulation is secure. - use a static code analysis tool that detects buffer overflows. I do not know of any open source ones off the top of my head, but I remember seeing an article on slashdot a few months ago about a new open source static analysis tool - avoid unsafe functions. Nearly all standard C functions that deal with buffers are unsafe (that is, a typo or oversight can give you a difficult to detect buffer overflow). Sprintf and strcpy are common culprits off the top of my head. If you're writing for Windows, the Microsoft extensions to the standard library have equivalent 'secure' functions (usually postfixed with _s). I do not know if there is an open source equivalent. - Use your compiler's buffer overrun detection. I think this is -fmudflap for gcc. That's all I can think of for now.
Why, exactly, did you link to your own thorougly refuted post as justification? You could at least link to something like Apache vs IIS for some reasonable evidence.
Except you need an elevated command prompt, so there will be a warning dialog that pops up asking for elevated privledges. Granted, most users will see it and click OK anyway, but in theory the user would be able to prevent this from happening.
Even more interesting is the XNA Racer game that renders at 1080p with 2x antialiasing and 30 fps. Granted, the environment is not incredibly detailed, but I was surprised to see managed code do that.
How are you going to execute it? I'm fairly certain WMP does not execute code on the heap at all, much less a try and execute a character string.
And then, where are you going to jump to? You're in WMP's address space, what in WMP's address space will give you any sort of control over the system? Maybe you could jump to a function that deletes a song from their playlist?
Ten million is considered important because analysts have said that the first system to ten million sales will be the top next generation console. This is based on there being a certain point of no return where a console simply has so much momentum that nearly every third party developer makes games for it. Analysts point to the PS2 becoming dominant right after it sold 8 million consoles to justify this. Of course, analysts are often wrong, but fifty million is way too high for the point of no return. Considering no non-first place console has ever sold more than fifty million consoles, you are only saying 'whoever is the dominant console will be the dominant console'. There is a point before that, just like in a race, where one can say 'wow, that one is so far ahead and has so much momentum that the only way they will lose is if something goes horribly wrong.' Whether that is ten million or thirty million is anyone's guess but fifty million is the finish line.
I don't know. Robin Hood was usually considered to be a heroic character.
I was basing that on this slashdot posting: WiiConnect24 Causing Issues for Wii Owners. The linked article uses the term 'breaking systems', which may not mean that they were fully broken, but that was my impression. The article is rather scant on details, so it's hard to say for sure. Comments on the article seem to indicate varying degrees of malfunction, from what you described, to being able to boot to the menu but not being able to play any games. Either way, I understand this is a fairly rare problem, I was citing it as an example of how the little bad press there is about the Wii does actually make it on to slashdot.
If you go back about nine months to a year ago, you'd see plenty of negative stories about the Xbox 360. Consoles being bricked due to overheating, short supply, and abysmal sales in Japan would be the major topics. Except for the abysmal sales in Japan, these problems have been fixed. There is no longer much in the way of negative press about the 360. Similarly, the Wii has had few problems. There was a recent article on Slashdot about how the Wiimote was inaccurate, but the consensus seemed to be that the guy did not calibrate it, or whatever you have to do. There was also a recent article on the Wii update bricking some consoles, which seems to be the worst problem for the Wii since launch. Neither the Wii or the 360 have the number of problems that the PS3 has. It is unreasonable to expect there to be as many negative articles about the Wii and 360 as for the PS3
Yes, I agree. The equivalent iPod is now $50 cheaper thanks to the Zune. I also think that indicates that Apple considers the Zune to be a far greater threat than their fanboys will admit, or Apple would not need to drop the price to remain competitive.
As Stephen Colbert might say, reality has an anti-PS3 bias.
This is known as the attach rate. PS3's attach rate has been 1.5, the Wii's attach rate has been 3.0, and the Xbox 360's attach rate at launch was about 4.0 (now it is around 5.0).
Yes, they can choose from the long lines of people waiting to get into teaching. They're all over the place, really. Just... invisible or something. Yeah.
You said that theists have set back science more than any token advances they may have done. I just made up some equally preposterous bull for atheists. Einstein, Newton, Descartes, Kepler, Galileo, Pasteur, Maxwell, Copernicus, Heisenburg, Lavoisier, LaGrange, Faraday, Dalton, Planck, Fermi, Euler, Bohr, Schrodinger, Born. Just a short list of theist scientists. Comparing accomplishments objectively is nigh impossible, but I would feel relatively safe saying that the advances made by those on this short list outweigh the advances made by every athest scientist who ever lived. Not that this justifies theism or unjustifies atheism, but it certainly rebukes your claim.
Likewise, athiests have set back science much more than they have advanced it with any token efforts. The main mechanism for this is keeping the majority of people in a state of ignorant despair, as there is no reason for scientific advancement if life is purposeless and meaningless. This has given rise to a culture where scientists are rare, and many scientists have to fight against society to be heard. Imagine if the majority of people in history believed in rational thought and science, instead of a select few. Without atheists, humanity would be far more advanced than it is today, and it's also likely we wouldn't have had so many terrible wars, or as much racism, terrorism, etc.
Imagine a world without atheism...
Isn't making up facts to justify bigotry fun? I think it is telling that your post reads like a white supremacist's would read about black people.
Wikipedia says otherwise According to wikipedia, there are four major events that could have led to the destruction of the library of Alexandria, and none of them had anything to do with Christians.
Middle ages advances in science. Europe was sent into a depression due to the fall of the Roman empire. It was the rise of Christianity throuhgout the continent that ended the depression and triggered scientific achievement and stability.
Galileo ended up under house arrest because he made the assertion that individuals can interpret the Bible, which was (is) a big no-no under the Catholic dogma. Sad, to be sure, but that does not change that he made considerable scientific progress under the umbrella of the church.
Incorrect. Churches have funded much of the scientific advancement we have seen up until the modern age. Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus, Brahe, and Newton were all funded by the church, among many others. Also, note that the most advanced nations today (US, Europe) are Christian in heritage, while considerably less advanced nations (see most countries in Asia) were not.
Agreed on the license revoked, however.
Also, ASF (.WMV, .WMA) specifications have been available for years, long before the EU's order. And speaking of things we can thank the EU for, how about that version of Windows without the media player? That's been selling real well.
The reason why fans and foes alike are complaining about the backwards compatibility problems is because it has seemed to hit the more popular games. For example, the Final Fantasy series is apparently all broken to one degree or another, with XI not even playable.
The police weren't checking IDs, the student library monitors were. The kid refused to show his ID when the student monitor asked, as is school policy after 11pm. Then the kid refused to leave when asked by the student monitor, so the student monitor called in the campus police to have him removed. There is not any information or video that I know of on what happened between then and when the police arrived, but I imagine when the police walked out the door the kid had an "oh shit" moment and tried to get up and leave. The police grabbed his arm on the way out to escort him and make sure he left the building, and the kid spazzed out. Cue tasering and more spazzing. Five taserings later the campus police decide to carry him out, as they should have done as soon as they got him cuffed.
Agreed. But he could have said something to the order of "I can't move my legs, you idiots" rather than "fuck you" when the police asked him to stand. Of course, there are a lot of things the kid could have done to avoid getting shocked altogether. Idiot kid + idiot cops makes for trouble.