C is a high level language, meant to relate to english enough so that a reader unfamiliar with the syntax of the language should be able to grasp the intent of the code. In english grammar, in a conditional statement it makes more sense to say "If the userid equals zero" than to say "If zero equals the userid." Now, the two statements carry the same meaning, but one conveys the meaning to the reader more fluidly (checking the value of a variable) than the other (comparing a number to an unknown variable). I agree that skilled programmers should be able to figure it out either way, and most geeks don't really speak the same language as the rest of society anyway. The whole issue could have been avoided with a value->variable or let variable=value or variable:=value assignment statement in the c standard. However, coding in c is for men (or women) with hair on their chests. You should pretty much expect a few root exploits lurking in there somewhere. If you want safety go use java or something. Kernel devs are gods.
Interesting mental imagery. I wouldn't recommend doing that sober either, there's a reason they call it a RAM. Sounds like a good story though. How did you say you ended up at the zoo?
Just a thought, but if you can get to Control Panel, did you try disabling the intended device using the Device Manager under System->Hardware? Not the applet, but I would think it works, and the point of using desktop-lockdown seems somehow defeated by allowing arbitrary hardware access. This is the OS that refuses to allow you raw access to your parallel port without 3rd party drivers, last time I checked. If you can't be trusted to see the Start menu, you really shouldn't be safely removing anything. You shouldn't be allowed to pick your nose without permission in an environment like that. Go safely remove your USB key from your own PC. Or just bring back the taskbar if it is in fact your PC.
I've never felt so accepted in all my life. These people look deep within my soul and assign me a number based on the order in which I joined. (666114)
As a politician, I'm pretty sure he's mastered the art of getting the weak minded to believe something they wouldn't otherwise want to, also known as the Jedi Mind Trick.
Well, you are right about people's desire to fall into line. It seems the people around us have an uncontrollable urge to follow. As an example, I went to an art exhibition a few weeks ago. Upon entering the gallery, there was a person standing at the door explaining to everyone how this was an open exhibition and there was no need to follow a line or view the artwork in any particular order. As absurd and obvious a statement as this seemed to me, approximately 90% of the people there walked quietly single-file in a crowded line along the wall from one end to the other, and left in the same order they had arrived. I was suddenly reminded of the scene in Pink Floyd's The Wall where the school children march into the meat grinder (spoiler I know, sorry, if you haven't seen the movie don't read the previous sentence). Is consious thought and free will that much of a burden that most people will simply refuse to participate in their own lives? More importantly, if human exploitation is so easy then why am I not making money doing exactly that?
This has cost me, as I had a class in public speaking that required powerpoint.ppts saved on floppies for use in class presentations. I wonder how much of the problem is in floppy drive manufacturing. I'd take a nice TEAC from the early 90s and an AOL disk or three (thanks!) any day over most consumer grade media/drives these days.
I like this analogy. You ask MS for a wheel, so they give you a hexagon, with gear teeth, made of lead, gold plated, and (somehow) flammable. Can you use it? Yes, but is it useful? Why can't you just have a wheel? Why does it only accept metric sized axels? Why does it have your social security number etched on it? Must it really leave holes in the road? And you think you get how it works, but what are the 3 seashells for?
CDs can be nice, but I'm really sick of losing media to scratches. DVDs doubly so. I still have most of my VHS and audio cassettes from the mid eighties that work fine. Of course, its not like you had to carry a wad of tape to feed into a player, and manually wind it onto spools (most of the time). I'd like just one good reason why optical media has to be handled and exposed to the elements like this.
It would be better, sure, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. My last house was physically in 2 different counties. The line ran through the living room in the front, and out the kitchen in the back. We had to pay 2 different (proportional) property taxes, but it comes with other advantages, like choice of school district. The zip code serviced both counties (it was mainly by proximity to the post office). We paid sales tax to the cheaper of the two counties, for bigger purchases.
Who said he gets the ice from his freezer? Do what I did in college for any party, storm the freshman dorms large ice machines with garbage bags in hand. Free Ice! (Hint: Dont drink beverages containing said ice, as drunk freshmen are apt to pee in dorm ice machines late at night. Its best used for cooling kegs, bottles, and cans of your favorite beverage, and apparently your apartment too.)
One almost wants to say "revolution," but then that would make you the "T" word wouldn't it?
Could be, but what happens when the "T" words nearly outnumber the regular Bob-fearing people, that go butter side down? Call them what you want, but I think that revolutionaries are only called terrorists if they lose, by those who stand to lose power by them.
Troll I know... whatever, I'll bite. When I want to use a desktop linux, I just put the CD in the drive and press the power button. Why waste time repartitioning (linux or Windows) when you can be up and running in 2 minutes? Malware? Spyware? Trojan? Just reboot from CD. Store your workspace and files on . You can still reboot windows if you need to play minesweeper or try out the latest virus. Just protect your data, it is your baby, you wouldn't put your baby in a cage with wild apes that fling poo. Don't put your data on a system partition. Stay OS independent, only then are you truly free.
I actively reject all websites that actively reject my computing environment. Maybe its not compatible with my browser? Fine, let that be my problem. Otherwise, a competitive website is just a Google (in the built-in search bar) away.
The difference here is instant gratification. When you buy iTunes, you get the reward as soon as you spend the money, that's the advantage of downloadable goods (is there such a thing? lets assume an mp3 is a real object). Indeed, when I buy something at a store, I usually have it out of its packaging before I leave the store or the mall, and certainly by the time I get to the car. If I buy something online, it takes days to get here. So I better make damn well sure I want it and for the price I'm spending, otherwise its more convenient to go to the store. Its hard to be impulsive and plan to get something next week.
Slashdot Mirror
Really? I have been missing out on this baby eating all along? I work for a corporation. Mmm... boobies, I mean... babies.
C is a high level language, meant to relate to english enough so that a reader unfamiliar with the syntax of the language should be able to grasp the intent of the code. In english grammar, in a conditional statement it makes more sense to say "If the userid equals zero" than to say "If zero equals the userid." Now, the two statements carry the same meaning, but one conveys the meaning to the reader more fluidly (checking the value of a variable) than the other (comparing a number to an unknown variable). I agree that skilled programmers should be able to figure it out either way, and most geeks don't really speak the same language as the rest of society anyway. The whole issue could have been avoided with a value->variable or let variable=value or variable:=value assignment statement in the c standard. However, coding in c is for men (or women) with hair on their chests. You should pretty much expect a few root exploits lurking in there somewhere. If you want safety go use java or something. Kernel devs are gods.
Plato? Aristotle? Morons!
Don't try to reseat RAM while drunk.
Interesting mental imagery. I wouldn't recommend doing that sober either, there's a reason they call it a RAM. Sounds like a good story though. How did you say you ended up at the zoo?
Just a thought, but if you can get to Control Panel, did you try disabling the intended device using the Device Manager under System->Hardware? Not the applet, but I would think it works, and the point of using desktop-lockdown seems somehow defeated by allowing arbitrary hardware access. This is the OS that refuses to allow you raw access to your parallel port without 3rd party drivers, last time I checked. If you can't be trusted to see the Start menu, you really shouldn't be safely removing anything. You shouldn't be allowed to pick your nose without permission in an environment like that. Go safely remove your USB key from your own PC. Or just bring back the taskbar if it is in fact your PC.
I've never felt so accepted in all my life. These people look deep within my soul and assign me a number based on the order in which I joined. (666114)
I agree
As a politician, I'm pretty sure he's mastered the art of getting the weak minded to believe something they wouldn't otherwise want to, also known as the Jedi Mind Trick.
Well, as long as they're not claiming to be Yoda, there's hope...
Backwards your grammar is. Last in a sentence, the verb must be.
Well, you are right about people's desire to fall into line. It seems the people around us have an uncontrollable urge to follow. As an example, I went to an art exhibition a few weeks ago. Upon entering the gallery, there was a person standing at the door explaining to everyone how this was an open exhibition and there was no need to follow a line or view the artwork in any particular order. As absurd and obvious a statement as this seemed to me, approximately 90% of the people there walked quietly single-file in a crowded line along the wall from one end to the other, and left in the same order they had arrived. I was suddenly reminded of the scene in Pink Floyd's The Wall where the school children march into the meat grinder (spoiler I know, sorry, if you haven't seen the movie don't read the previous sentence). Is consious thought and free will that much of a burden that most people will simply refuse to participate in their own lives? More importantly, if human exploitation is so easy then why am I not making money doing exactly that?
This has cost me, as I had a class in public speaking that required powerpoint .ppts saved on floppies for use in class presentations. I wonder how much of the problem is in floppy drive manufacturing. I'd take a nice TEAC from the early 90s and an AOL disk or three (thanks!) any day over most consumer grade media/drives these days.
I like this analogy. You ask MS for a wheel, so they give you a hexagon, with gear teeth, made of lead, gold plated, and (somehow) flammable. Can you use it? Yes, but is it useful? Why can't you just have a wheel? Why does it only accept metric sized axels? Why does it have your social security number etched on it? Must it really leave holes in the road? And you think you get how it works, but what are the 3 seashells for?
How can a reply to yourself(a retraction at that) be flamebait?
CDs can be nice, but I'm really sick of losing media to scratches. DVDs doubly so. I still have most of my VHS and audio cassettes from the mid eighties that work fine. Of course, its not like you had to carry a wad of tape to feed into a player, and manually wind it onto spools (most of the time). I'd like just one good reason why optical media has to be handled and exposed to the elements like this.
It would be better, sure, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. My last house was physically in 2 different counties. The line ran through the living room in the front, and out the kitchen in the back. We had to pay 2 different (proportional) property taxes, but it comes with other advantages, like choice of school district. The zip code serviced both counties (it was mainly by proximity to the post office). We paid sales tax to the cheaper of the two counties, for bigger purchases.
Who said he gets the ice from his freezer? Do what I did in college for any party, storm the freshman dorms large ice machines with garbage bags in hand. Free Ice! (Hint: Dont drink beverages containing said ice, as drunk freshmen are apt to pee in dorm ice machines late at night. Its best used for cooling kegs, bottles, and cans of your favorite beverage, and apparently your apartment too.)
oranges.
One almost wants to say "revolution," but then that would make you the "T" word wouldn't it?
Could be, but what happens when the "T" words nearly outnumber the regular Bob-fearing people, that go butter side down? Call them what you want, but I think that revolutionaries are only called terrorists if they lose, by those who stand to lose power by them.
Give me liberty or give me death - anonymous Terrorist suicide bomber, 1775.
I don't know, as I delete all slashdot threads as soon as I get them. I figure if its important I'll get a crapflood of spam.
Troll I know... whatever, I'll bite. When I want to use a desktop linux, I just put the CD in the drive and press the power button. Why waste time repartitioning (linux or Windows) when you can be up and running in 2 minutes? Malware? Spyware? Trojan? Just reboot from CD. Store your workspace and files on . You can still reboot windows if you need to play minesweeper or try out the latest virus. Just protect your data, it is your baby, you wouldn't put your baby in a cage with wild apes that fling poo. Don't put your data on a system partition. Stay OS independent, only then are you truly free.
Spending is better than mending.
True, kinda sucks for text-browsers though.
Well, there goes posting drunk! Those letters are hard to read.
I actively reject all websites that actively reject my computing environment. Maybe its not compatible with my browser? Fine, let that be my problem. Otherwise, a competitive website is just a Google (in the built-in search bar) away.
The difference here is instant gratification. When you buy iTunes, you get the reward as soon as you spend the money, that's the advantage of downloadable goods (is there such a thing? lets assume an mp3 is a real object). Indeed, when I buy something at a store, I usually have it out of its packaging before I leave the store or the mall, and certainly by the time I get to the car. If I buy something online, it takes days to get here. So I better make damn well sure I want it and for the price I'm spending, otherwise its more convenient to go to the store. Its hard to be impulsive and plan to get something next week.