PINE works great for me. I write myself a todo list and "Postpone" it (Ctrl-O). This way PINE asks me if I want to continue my Postponed message, or write a new one. That acts as a gentle reminder everytime I send a new message - which is often enough.
Here're a couple of screen shots: PINE 4.58 MESSAGE INDEX Folder: INBOX Message 2,444 of 2,444 ANS . . Continue postponed composition (answering "No" won't erase it)? Y [Yes] ^C Cancel N No
Look at what they had for lunch on 06/17:
Aztec Tortilla Soup
Hot Italian Sub $4.75
Chicken Picata $3.75
Thai Beef $3.75
Roast Beef Cheddar on Kaiser Roll $4.75
Beef Strombolis $2.85
Marinated or Cajun Chicken Caesar Salads $4.75
The Induce Act stands for "Inducement Devolves into Unlawful Child Exploitation Act," a reference to Capitol Hill's frequently stated concern that file-trading networks are a source of unlawful pornography. Hatch is a conservative Mormon who has denounced pornography in the past and who suggested last year that copyright holders should be allowed to remotely destroy the computers of music pirates.
and industry puppet. I wish the CNet story pointed out that Orrin Hatch's official website was found to be running unlicensed software a few days after his acclaimed suggestion to destroy "pirates'" machines.
Amusingly, an AC discovered that one of the links on the website was linked to a pr0n website as some/.arrs may remember.
inducement is defined as "aids, abets, induces, counsels, or procures" and can be punished with civil fines and, in some circumstances, lengthy prison terms.
While they're going so enthusiastically about crushing "piracy", I suggest they add "creation" to that list. The only way they'll ever be happy is when there "IP" (hate that term) left to copy.
I'll take the liberty to recommend the 3D IMAX Nascar movie for likeminded 3D/slashdot buffs.
That movie's the next best thing to experiencing the joys of 250mph+ car racing, and an absolute must if you're into car racing games (TD, NFS, etc). I also learnt a couple of neat facts like driving in quick succession (about 5ft apart) helps the successive cars to avoid drag, and the air flow from the following car helps push the leading car along.
Anyway, enough ranting...here's hoping for a 3-D car racing game for the PC.
The article's misleading - or maybe it's our point-of-view has changed.
When I read the headline, I expected it to describe an *actual* 3-D display as Sharp/etal have been putting on their laptops - and *not* an age old technology used in most graphics cards to generate 3-D graphics on a 2-D display.
Granted, putting high-end, power efficient graphics cards into a cellphone is nice, but it's nothing new - desk/laptops have been using the same technology for a few years now.
Maybe it's just that my expectation of what the word "3-D" actually means has changed, or maybe it's the slew of *real* 3-D (sans goggles) display technology that is beginning to develop lately, but I certainly wasn't impressed by this story.
and that's a topic that gets me all worked up (my Master's Thesis touch on Program Profiling).
So, if the JIT computes Hot/Cold Paths, and optimizes the Hot paths, then it should work better and better on successive runs (as more and more profiling information is gathered). On the other hand, there will be cases where it performs worse, as profiles are gathered for specific inputs.
That means that if an average of say 5 runs (on the same input) is taken, it will have an unfair advantage (since gcc did NOT have the advantage of profiling information (see man gprof or similar)). Using Profiling as an optimization tool is *always* unfair unless both tools are provided with the advantage of the same profiling information. This is a valid question for the author then: if the JIT/javac/JVM uses profiling information, gcc should too, for fair comparison.
PS: I have seen this argument being made by my Professor and audiences at compiler conferences.
The results are very non-intuitive. An extra layer between the program -> CPU implies an extra amount of overhead - be it any layer (VM at the Application layer, VM at the OS layer, or even at the CPU layer (hyperthreading)).
I looked at his results page quite extensively, but failed to find a good analysis/justification of the results. Just saying that the Server JVM is better than the Client JVM is *not* enough.
I want to know where the C++ overhead comes from, which Java manages to avoid - does the JVM do better optimization because it is given a better intermediate code (bytecode)? Is it better at doing back/front end optimizations (unlikely given gcc's maturity).
I tried to look for possible discrepancies in the results, but the analysis will definitely take more time - and I think it's the job of the experimenter to do a proper analysis of the results. Liked his choice of benchmarks though.
with added insight, examples, explanations and suitable dumbing down for the intended audience of the book.
The best books are written (IMHO) by professors/instructors (AS Tanenbaum comes to mind) with ample experience in understanding the subject matter and explaining it effectively to potentially ignorant readers.
Writing a book is an art - just like technical writing is. That's one reason the documentation in OSS projects is seldom at par with documentation written by professional technical/document writers.
Anybody working towards contributed/open work is doing a Good (TM) thing, but I'm not sure the quality of books will be upto par with published books written by established authors. Note that I'm *not* questioning the intentions/knowledge/experience of the contributors - they may be the best in the field - but putting the knowledge down into words requires a certain amount of skill which I'm not sure many of them (us) possess.
Note that an encyclopedia (wikipedia) is different in this respect because it is essentially just a statement/collection of facts. Textbooks IMHO require more than a mere statement of facts.
They've discovered the magic of the microprocessor
on
Big Bang of Convergence
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
A microprocessor is general enough to perform a variety of operations. It provides this functionality by providing a flexible set of basic operations called it's instruction set.
Given such a generalized processor, we do away with the need to manufacture dedicated electronic hardware - and provide the functionality in specialized software which instructs the general-purpose microprocessor to perform a specific task. This is cheaper since software is easily reproduced/copied at a minimal cost.
A capable generic microprocessor can perform the functions of most electronic devices (calculations, DSP, gaming device, prototyping etc) as long as software/peripherals is available for it. No wonder then that we're seeing electronic companies jumping on the idea of writing firm/software for generic microprocessors in an effort to expand their range of products at reduce costs.
I predict that in a few years, we will have a single cheap generic microprocessor which will be found in most (or all) consumer electronic devices. Electronic companies will be largely reduced to software companies dedicated to writing software instead.
In addition to the WayBack Machine that we all know and love, the website also contains an extensive audio archive of Open Source Audio/Music Presidential Recordings, Political commentaries, Scientific recordings and Conference Proceedings.
That alone should keep you busy for a while.
Also check out their video archive containing (Moving Images: Prelinger Archives | Computer Chronicles | SIGGRAPH | Net Café | Open Source Movies | MSRI Lectures | Independent News | Feature Films | Election 2004 | Open Mind | Machinima | Youth Media | Brick Films | Shaping San Francisco | Speed Runs).
Seriously. Not even 5 minutes up, and the site's melting. If they plan to have an audience in addition to the competitors, they better beef up their machines/connection.
Gateway Timeout
The following error occurred:
A gateway timeout occurred. The server is unreachable. Retry the request. (GATEWAY_TIMEOUT)
Please contact the administrator.
even *moreso* than efficiency, functionality and flexibility is that it enables you to delve into the innermost functionality of a computer.
Master Assembly, and you've mastered computer organization, computer architecture, compiler construction basics, logic, code optimization, and ofcourse programming (I may have missed a few).
It's no coincidence that every good programmer/compiler engineer I've met (I'm one too) has had a strong grasp of Assembly.
Naah, I don't think this news item qualifies for the SCO News Page which is supposed to contain:
SCO in the NEWS
Recent SCO Headlines
News About The SCO Group
As far as SCO is concerned, only FUD like:
SCO beefs up user identity management, vnunet.com
Green Hills Sparks Embedded Linux Security Row, Computer Business Review Online
MoD opts for SCO identity system, vnunet.com
SCO Could Win: Week Two, eWeek.com
Red Hat's case against SCO put on hold, cnet news
IBM ordered to provide SCO with code, documents, ComputerWorld
SCO Should Win, eWeek.com
SCO wins Linux License payments, BBC News
SCO suits target two big Linux users, cnet news
Judge accepts expanded lawsuit, MSNBC
It may be useful at this point to take a look at this report titled "Multinational Corporations in the Third World: Predators or Allies in Economic Development?".
For a good part of the latter half of the last century, MNCs (which are incidentally mostly US owned corporations) have been trying to *market* their goods to third world countries with an aim to get their earnings up (expanding markets = more money). This has often resulted in loss of local jobs and industry and made the countries more dependent on foreign corporations, and local unions/organization have often opposed opening up local economies for this reason - but mostly to no avail.
Lately, we've seen that corporations have figured out that the skill/education levels in these so called developing countries have been increasing, and it's more cost effective to shift their manufacturing/services divisions abroad. This has caused widespread annoyance due to loss of jobs in the developed countries.
But really, is it the people's fault anywhere? Is it fair for people living in developing nations which have been invaded be these megacorps to just serve as profitable markets for the MNCs while being denied economic benefit from them? A bit of pondering may reveal that it's profit minded corporations which have been sucking peoples from both sides for their benefit (and for their parent countries' since the profit trickles down in the form of jobs/cashflow).
I think it's just the completion of a circle. Not flamebait - sincere concerns.
Some quotes:
Multinational corporations (MNCs) engage in very useful and morally defensible activities in Third World countries for which they frequently have received little credit. Significant among these activities are their extension of opportunities for earning higher incomes as well as the consumption of improved quality goods and services to people in poorer regions of the world. Instead, these firms have been misrepresented by ugly or fearful images by Marxists and "dependency theory" advocates. Because many of these firms originate in the industrialized countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Germany, France, and Italy, they have been viewed as instruments for the imposition of Western cultural values on Third World countries, rather than allies in their economic development. Thus, some proponents of these views urge the expulsion of these firms, while others less hostile have argued for their close supervision or regulation by Third World governments.
Incidents such as the improper use in the Third World of baby milk formula manufactured by Nestle, the gas leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, and the alleged involvement of foreign firms in the overthrow of President Allende of Chile have been used to perpetuate the ugly image of MNCs. The fact that some MNCs command assets worth more than the national income of their host countries also reinforces their fearful image. And indeed, there is evidence that some MNCs have paid bribes to government officials in order to get around obstacles erected against profitable operations of their enterprises.
They're clearly just trying to avoid trouble. This is what happens when policy descisions are made among the lower strata of an organization.
Individual employees just want to save their skin and not have to take the responsibility of taking a wrong decision and being held responsible.
They will continue to do this until the "other path" becomes the path of least resistance, and THAT will only happen when citizens (or consumers in today's parlance) start asserting their rights and bringing companies to boot for unfair suppression of rights.
Scotty: "..I should bloody well hope so.....and anyway..Federation Standard
Landing Party Procedure states that tricorder readings of atmospheric
content should take place BEFORE we set foot on the planet"
Spock: "That's Federation bureaucrats for you....Someone should point out
to them that it's only possible to take a tricorder reading once
you're actually there..."
Scotty: "but...but...but what happens if the atmosphere wasn't breathable?"
Spock: "It always is...."
Jim: "Anything else on the tricorder Spock?"
Spock: "Yes I'm picking up some primitive radio frequency signals......here listen..."
[...it's a brand new dance now...come on baby..do the locomotion...]
Jim: "..primitive indeed..."
Spock: "I bet she's got nice legs though.."
Jim: "Spock!..what's wrong with you...that was Scotty's line..."
The once-cute robot now looks like an animated corpse. Our warm feelings, which had been rising the more vivid the robot became, abruptly plunge downward.
Slashdot Mirror
First creative, seriously funny joke I've seen around /. in a long time.
PINE works great for me. I write myself a todo list and "Postpone" it (Ctrl-O). This way PINE asks me if I want to continue my Postponed message, or write a new one. That acts as a gentle reminder everytime I send a new message - which is often enough.
Here're a couple of screen shots:
PINE 4.58 MESSAGE INDEX Folder: INBOX Message 2,444 of 2,444 ANS
.
.
Continue postponed composition (answering "No" won't erase it)?
Y [Yes]
^C Cancel N No
N 127 Jun 18 xxx xxxx (4422) To Do list
Look at what they had for lunch on 06/17:
Aztec Tortilla Soup
Hot Italian Sub $4.75
Chicken Picata $3.75
Thai Beef $3.75
Roast Beef Cheddar on Kaiser Roll $4.75
Beef Strombolis $2.85
Marinated or Cajun Chicken Caesar Salads $4.75
It's a wonder they got any work done that day...
and industry puppet. I wish the CNet story pointed out that Orrin Hatch's official website was found to be running unlicensed software a few days after his acclaimed suggestion to destroy "pirates'" machines.
Amusingly, an AC discovered that one of the links on the website was linked to a pr0n website as some /.arrs may remember.
While they're going so enthusiastically about crushing "piracy", I suggest they add "creation" to that list. The only way they'll ever be happy is when there "IP" (hate that term) left to copy.
*glub* *glub* *glub*
"The driver presses this to deliver a drink to his helmet via a tube".
come to think of it, where's the "Pee" button? I could use that too *sigh*.
That movie's the next best thing to experiencing the joys of 250mph+ car racing, and an absolute must if you're into car racing games (TD, NFS, etc). I also learnt a couple of neat facts like driving in quick succession (about 5ft apart) helps the successive cars to avoid drag, and the air flow from the following car helps push the leading car along.
Anyway, enough ranting...here's hoping for a 3-D car racing game for the PC.
Enjoy!
/ob
When I read the headline, I expected it to describe an *actual* 3-D display as Sharp/etal have been putting on their laptops - and *not* an age old technology used in most graphics cards to generate 3-D graphics on a 2-D display.
Granted, putting high-end, power efficient graphics cards into a cellphone is nice, but it's nothing new - desk/laptops have been using the same technology for a few years now.
Maybe it's just that my expectation of what the word "3-D" actually means has changed, or maybe it's the slew of *real* 3-D (sans goggles) display technology that is beginning to develop lately, but I certainly wasn't impressed by this story.
So, if the JIT computes Hot/Cold Paths, and optimizes the Hot paths, then it should work better and better on successive runs (as more and more profiling information is gathered). On the other hand, there will be cases where it performs worse, as profiles are gathered for specific inputs.
That means that if an average of say 5 runs (on the same input) is taken, it will have an unfair advantage (since gcc did NOT have the advantage of profiling information (see man gprof or similar)). Using Profiling as an optimization tool is *always* unfair unless both tools are provided with the advantage of the same profiling information. This is a valid question for the author then: if the JIT/javac/JVM uses profiling information, gcc should too, for fair comparison.
PS: I have seen this argument being made by my Professor and audiences at compiler conferences.
I looked at his results page quite extensively, but failed to find a good analysis/justification of the results. Just saying that the Server JVM is better than the Client JVM is *not* enough.
I want to know where the C++ overhead comes from, which Java manages to avoid - does the JVM do better optimization because it is given a better intermediate code (bytecode)? Is it better at doing back/front end optimizations (unlikely given gcc's maturity).
I tried to look for possible discrepancies in the results, but the analysis will definitely take more time - and I think it's the job of the experimenter to do a proper analysis of the results. Liked his choice of benchmarks though.
Update: 06/15 15:15 GMT by M: You may remember we mentioned this earlier today.
Helpfully yours
*bow*
The best books are written (IMHO) by professors/instructors (AS Tanenbaum comes to mind) with ample experience in understanding the subject matter and explaining it effectively to potentially ignorant readers.
Writing a book is an art - just like technical writing is. That's one reason the documentation in OSS projects is seldom at par with documentation written by professional technical/document writers.
Anybody working towards contributed/open work is doing a Good (TM) thing, but I'm not sure the quality of books will be upto par with published books written by established authors. Note that I'm *not* questioning the intentions/knowledge/experience of the contributors - they may be the best in the field - but putting the knowledge down into words requires a certain amount of skill which I'm not sure many of them (us) possess.
Note that an encyclopedia (wikipedia) is different in this respect because it is essentially just a statement/collection of facts. Textbooks IMHO require more than a mere statement of facts.
Given such a generalized processor, we do away with the need to manufacture dedicated electronic hardware - and provide the functionality in specialized software which instructs the general-purpose microprocessor to perform a specific task. This is cheaper since software is easily reproduced/copied at a minimal cost.
A capable generic microprocessor can perform the functions of most electronic devices (calculations, DSP, gaming device, prototyping etc) as long as software/peripherals is available for it. No wonder then that we're seeing electronic companies jumping on the idea of writing firm/software for generic microprocessors in an effort to expand their range of products at reduce costs.
I predict that in a few years, we will have a single cheap generic microprocessor which will be found in most (or all) consumer electronic devices. Electronic companies will be largely reduced to software companies dedicated to writing software instead.
Also check out their video archive containing (Moving Images: Prelinger Archives | Computer Chronicles | SIGGRAPH | Net Café | Open Source Movies | MSRI Lectures | Independent News | Feature Films | Election 2004 | Open Mind | Machinima | Youth Media | Brick Films | Shaping San Francisco | Speed Runs).
Archive.org rocks.
Gateway Timeout
The following error occurred:
A gateway timeout occurred. The server is unreachable. Retry the request. (GATEWAY_TIMEOUT)
Please contact the administrator.
Master Assembly, and you've mastered computer organization, computer architecture, compiler construction basics, logic, code optimization, and ofcourse programming (I may have missed a few).
It's no coincidence that every good programmer/compiler engineer I've met (I'm one too) has had a strong grasp of Assembly.
SCO in the NEWS
Recent SCO Headlines
News About The SCO Group
As far as SCO is concerned, only FUD like:
SCO beefs up user identity management, vnunet.com
Green Hills Sparks Embedded Linux Security Row, Computer Business Review Online
MoD opts for SCO identity system, vnunet.com
SCO Could Win: Week Two, eWeek.com
Red Hat's case against SCO put on hold, cnet news
IBM ordered to provide SCO with code, documents, ComputerWorld
SCO Should Win, eWeek.com
SCO wins Linux License payments, BBC News
SCO suits target two big Linux users, cnet news
Judge accepts expanded lawsuit, MSNBC
qualifies for their "News" page.
The article is an example of how reprehensible activities are turned around to sound like a Good Thing(TM).
For a good part of the latter half of the last century, MNCs (which are incidentally mostly US owned corporations) have been trying to *market* their goods to third world countries with an aim to get their earnings up (expanding markets = more money). This has often resulted in loss of local jobs and industry and made the countries more dependent on foreign corporations, and local unions/organization have often opposed opening up local economies for this reason - but mostly to no avail.
Lately, we've seen that corporations have figured out that the skill/education levels in these so called developing countries have been increasing, and it's more cost effective to shift their manufacturing/services divisions abroad. This has caused widespread annoyance due to loss of jobs in the developed countries.
But really, is it the people's fault anywhere? Is it fair for people living in developing nations which have been invaded be these megacorps to just serve as profitable markets for the MNCs while being denied economic benefit from them? A bit of pondering may reveal that it's profit minded corporations which have been sucking peoples from both sides for their benefit (and for their parent countries' since the profit trickles down in the form of jobs/cashflow).
I think it's just the completion of a circle. Not flamebait - sincere concerns.
Some quotes:
Multinational corporations (MNCs) engage in very useful and morally defensible activities in Third World countries for which they frequently have received little credit. Significant among these activities are their extension of opportunities for earning higher incomes as well as the consumption of improved quality goods and services to people in poorer regions of the world. Instead, these firms have been misrepresented by ugly or fearful images by Marxists and "dependency theory" advocates. Because many of these firms originate in the industrialized countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Germany, France, and Italy, they have been viewed as instruments for the imposition of Western cultural values on Third World countries, rather than allies in their economic development. Thus, some proponents of these views urge the expulsion of these firms, while others less hostile have argued for their close supervision or regulation by Third World governments.
Incidents such as the improper use in the Third World of baby milk formula manufactured by Nestle, the gas leak from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, and the alleged involvement of foreign firms in the overthrow of President Allende of Chile have been used to perpetuate the ugly image of MNCs. The fact that some MNCs command assets worth more than the national income of their host countries also reinforces their fearful image. And indeed, there is evidence that some MNCs have paid bribes to government officials in order to get around obstacles erected against profitable operations of their enterprises.
Individual employees just want to save their skin and not have to take the responsibility of taking a wrong decision and being held responsible.
They will continue to do this until the "other path" becomes the path of least resistance, and THAT will only happen when citizens (or consumers in today's parlance) start asserting their rights and bringing companies to boot for unfair suppression of rights.
Spock: "Atmosphere: breathable oxygen/nitrogen mixture..."
Scotty: "..I should bloody well hope so.....and anyway..Federation Standard Landing Party Procedure states that tricorder readings of atmospheric content should take place BEFORE we set foot on the planet"
Spock: "That's Federation bureaucrats for you....Someone should point out to them that it's only possible to take a tricorder reading once you're actually there..."
Scotty: "but...but...but what happens if the atmosphere wasn't breathable?"
Spock: "It always is...."
Jim: "Anything else on the tricorder Spock?"
Spock: "Yes I'm picking up some primitive radio frequency signals... ...here listen..."
[...it's a brand new dance now...come on baby..do the locomotion...]
Jim: "..primitive indeed..."
Spock: "I bet she's got nice legs though.."
Jim: "Spock!..what's wrong with you...that was Scotty's line..."
WHAT happened next?)
Next Week: Episode 4.
Shamelessly reproduced from: Vax Trek V, the movie, The Crunchy Bits 2.
Hope Darryl clarified on this during their 11am EDT conference today.
Michel Ja...uh...Jefferson.