tldr: make stuff and put it on the web so hiring managers and interviewers can see it.
Longer version:
I just had the pleasure of interviewing an older applicant for a job. In this case he was a whip-smart C programmer. I would guess mid 50's of age, with a resume saying he'd been in the industry for nearly 30 years.
The job he was applying for was a web developer position for my shop, a Ruby/JS outfit.
While he hadn't coded JS or Ruby professionally, he mentioned he had done many little side projects with those tools. I asked to see them, and he said they may be on his computer at home, but he wasn't sure: that hurt his prospects. A lot.
The ideal thing would be putting his web apps up on Heroku (free), and any other code on Github (also free). These things speak to me almost more than anything.
So, yeah, it's easy for us to point and laugh at this and say it's just a useless farce.. but this effects us all actually.
The brief filed states that Teller is suing because the rival's trick supposedly violates a 1983 Copyright he filed for the trick. What is important here is that the Copyright filing DOES NOT describe how the trick functions, but instead HOW IT LOOKS. On those ground, Teller is suing.
I believe this is important. Why? Because I think it is similar to SOFTWARE PATENTS.
Of course, obviously PATENT != COPYRIGHT, but the similarities in this case are still apparent. Unlike every other kind of working patent, software patents generally describe the outcome/result of something instead of the actual mechanism (patents of physical things are based on the WAY it works, not what it produces, SW patents are generally based i the end product).
If suit is upheld it means software patents *could* have an extra life, and indeed if a vendor wants to squeeze out competition they could simply file for a COPYRIGHT on the visible result of the software too.
Post signs that your parking lot stating it is "Private Property" and "Parking by Permission Only" or control the access via a gate or something, you are then (generally, varies by country and state) allowed to set parking however you see fit. Very many pay-parking-lots in my area do not have accessible spaces and are allowed to do this because they are not technically "public". (Yes, I actually asked city hall and that's what they said).
UNLESS you are also an employer in the US. In which case you must follow ADA guidelines and provide spaces based on the size of your lot and/or workforce size.
This is, of couse, all academic to argue about since once you are in a position to actually NEED those space (really, physically need them) you don't care how much other people are annoyed by them.
He didn't have to. Have you SEEN the ANIME that has been coming out of Japan for decades? Thousands of Manga authors already predicted it! Let's hope the predictions of two-wheel-drive electric motorcycles and sexy, sexy robots also come true.
I believe you mean 'fiat', not "FIAT". Fiat currency is legal tender that has value backed by decree of a policymaker; The FIAT Currency is the new hatchback from the Italian automaker.
You have no equity? If they haven't offered any to you in exchange for this, frankly, ridiculous effort you should say the following:
Dear Mr Bossman.
Kindly piss up a flagpole. If you do not have a convenient flagpole, I can direct you to one. If you have no piss, I will happily furnish you with as much as is required.
Most of us are Americans(TM) anyway, and have no idea where this "Essex" or "Finnish" you speak of is located. Likely they're both next to other countries we don't know the location of, like Myanmar, Quebec and Idaho.
There is a difference between "not knowing math", "not understanding math" and "not doing well at math."
I am horrible at math, and I've been bad at it all my life. I failed Pre-Algebra THREE TERMS IN A ROW in High School. I suck at math, period.
But, I am a successful programmer and developer and I've written a lot of code that does really complicated math... so how does that square?
The difference is that even though I can't do math, I know *what I can do* with it. I know what an Interquartarial Mean will do for me, but I have to look it up in a book every time I use it to know *how* to do it. In this case, yes, it is obvious that I would have a _better_time_ if I knew how to do this stuff without looking in a book, but I've fared pretty well. Lacking math skills doesn't mean I'm a suck programmer, it just means I may have a harder time with code that uses a lot of math.
Someone above posted "Two candidates, one knows math and one doesn't, you want the one who knows math"; that's true if all else is equal, but you never have two candidates for a job you are identical except for one thing. You buy the whole package and if you think their other qualities outweigh their lack of math skills then that's one you choose.
The oldies among us may remember this is also the same problem that Windows CE had in the beginning, mid 1990's. There were at least three different CPU platforms, four form factors with at least as many distinct input methods and an array of mutually incompatible screen setups.
In the early 2000's then Microsoft Decreed several standards for the hardware and the rom customisations. The OEMs whined but in the end it allowed the devices to unify somewhat, albeit painfully. The fact Windows Mobile 7 exists at all is because of this decision.
Yes, you can argue that Windows Mobile (the direct descendant of WinCE) is a failed state, but I think it would also be agree'd that it would have been dead long, long ago had MS not done what it did.
Google has the additional "problem" (if you will) of Android being open-source. With WinCE, Microsoft could be the ultimate gatekeeper but there is nothing stopping any device manufacturer from doing whatever the hell they want with Android. They may try to initiate some kind of "Google Certified" plan to signify that an OS variant meets certain interopability standards... but the LSB has tried to do that on the desktop and, well, has it had the traction everyone hoped?
This becomes one of the larger arguments for the 'Walled Garden' approach Apple has taken and I guess that's the choice you make: stability, predictability that comes with restrictions or variability and instability that comes with openness.
Before commenting, please complete this form
on
Ruby In Practice
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Before commenting, please complete this form:
Sec. 1 Ruby v Python
[ ] I am a Ruby/Python fanboy/fangirl [ ] I already have a positive/negative entrenched opinion of Python or Ruby [ ] I cannot tell the difference between the two languages
Sec. 2 Ruby on Rails
[ ] I assume Ruby == Ruby on Rails
Sec. 3 Other
[ ] I program in PHP for it's robust design, consistent syntax and architectural soundness [ ] I do not understand sarcasm
Scoring: If you answered any of the above questions in the affirmative, your comments may be dismissed out of hand.
In William Gibson's novel "Pattern Recognition", one of the incidental characters is an antique trader who specializes in famous technological pieces. At one point of the story he is in negotiation to buy the Wang word processor that Steven King used early in his career.
"Yes," says Ngemi, with quiet pride, "but now I am negotiating to buy Stephen King's Wang."
Cayce stares at him.
"The provenance," Ngemi assures her, "is immaculate, the price high, but, I believe, reasonable. A huge thing, one of the early dedicated word processors. Shipping alone will require the funds I had earmarked for the scaffolding, and more."
"I think a lot of the extreme people are much too extreme, like Richard Stallman; He's a very extreme person, and while I admire a lot of his ideals, I don't admire him because he is so extreme that he can't relate to other people; and that's a limitation."
No taking sides for me, just pointing out that RMS has his own issues.
This is not all that meaningful unless you also completely correlate the uptime info with the number of users/requests/whatnot the site does.
The report doesn't explore that sufficiently enough for me. I can make an app that has 100% uptime if it has one request an hour. Downtime is largely caused (directly or indirectly) by load, so in most cases downtime usually increases as user load (defined as user interaction and amounts of user data, and the actions of those users on that data) increases.
Painting with a broad brush you could say, yes, Xanga has the best uptime but they also probably have the lowest user load as well whereas twitter probably has one of the highest (current) user loads and thus lowest downtime.
"the question is: why would anyone want to pay for proprietary hardware and a limited selection of a few hundred stations all controlled by one company?"
The answer is: because it works.
When I'm charging down an interstate at 65mph I don't need to dicking with a phone to figure out why my TCP connection is timing out.
What the hell do you do all day?
on
Ask Rob Malda
·
· Score: 5, Interesting
Ever since GiS went away you've become a sort of man-behind-the curtain type persona, and we don't see much in the way of journal updates or news posts about Slashdot or you yoyrself much. One of the last things most of us knew about the "Real Rob Malda" was the article in Wired years ago regarding the Andover-cum-VALinux-cum-OSDN-cum-Death-keiretsu IPO.
Slashdot Mirror
"I'm a hack hacker who hacks Hack."
tldr: make stuff and put it on the web so hiring managers and interviewers can see it.
Longer version:
I just had the pleasure of interviewing an older applicant for a job. In this case he was a whip-smart C programmer. I would guess mid 50's of age, with a resume saying he'd been in the industry for nearly 30 years.
The job he was applying for was a web developer position for my shop, a Ruby/JS outfit.
While he hadn't coded JS or Ruby professionally, he mentioned he had done many little side projects with those tools. I asked to see them, and he said they may be on his computer at home, but he wasn't sure: that hurt his prospects. A lot.
The ideal thing would be putting his web apps up on Heroku (free), and any other code on Github (also free). These things speak to me almost more than anything.
So, yeah, it's easy for us to point and laugh at this and say it's just a useless farce.. but this effects us all actually.
The brief filed states that Teller is suing because the rival's trick supposedly violates a 1983 Copyright he filed for the trick. What is important here is that the Copyright filing DOES NOT describe how the trick functions, but instead HOW IT LOOKS. On those ground, Teller is suing.
I believe this is important. Why? Because I think it is similar to SOFTWARE PATENTS.
Of course, obviously PATENT != COPYRIGHT, but the similarities in this case are still apparent. Unlike every other kind of working patent, software patents generally describe the outcome/result of something instead of the actual mechanism (patents of physical things are based on the WAY it works, not what it produces, SW patents are generally based i the end product).
If suit is upheld it means software patents *could* have an extra life, and indeed if a vendor wants to squeeze out competition they could simply file for a COPYRIGHT on the visible result of the software too.
IANAL, but food for thought.
The problem with calling it "a Ferrari without a paintjob" is that it's not a Ferrari of a movie. Hell, it's not even an Hyundai Elantra of a movie.
At least watching the workprint made it fun: "Claws Grow".
Post signs that your parking lot stating it is "Private Property" and "Parking by Permission Only" or control the access via a gate or something, you are then (generally, varies by country and state) allowed to set parking however you see fit. Very many pay-parking-lots in my area do not have accessible spaces and are allowed to do this because they are not technically "public". (Yes, I actually asked city hall and that's what they said).
UNLESS you are also an employer in the US. In which case you must follow ADA guidelines and provide spaces based on the size of your lot and/or workforce size.
This is, of couse, all academic to argue about since once you are in a position to actually NEED those space (really, physically need them) you don't care how much other people are annoyed by them.
The leads are weak!
I mean, of course, a T.J. Hooker reunion show?
I would be playing the World's Smallest Violin for Apple right now, except someone already has the patent for it and has threatened to sue me over it.
2001: Record labels sue my.mp3.com in to oblivion.
2011: Record labels can't wait to suck on the iTunes Cloud teat.
He didn't have to. Have you SEEN the ANIME that has been coming out of Japan for decades? Thousands of Manga authors already predicted it! Let's hope the predictions of two-wheel-drive electric motorcycles and sexy, sexy robots also come true.
So the "Too long; Didn't read" of this basically is:
"It's too hard to write portable code."
"FIAT currency tends to be.."
I believe you mean 'fiat', not "FIAT". Fiat currency is legal tender that has value backed by decree of a policymaker; The FIAT Currency is the new hatchback from the Italian automaker.
You have no equity? If they haven't offered any to you in exchange for this, frankly, ridiculous effort you should say the following:
Cold, dead digestive tract?
That's my favourite kind of sushi! How did you know?
Most of us are Americans(TM) anyway, and have no idea where this "Essex" or "Finnish" you speak of is located. Likely they're both next to other countries we don't know the location of, like Myanmar, Quebec and Idaho.
There is a difference between "not knowing math", "not understanding math" and "not doing well at math."
I am horrible at math, and I've been bad at it all my life. I failed Pre-Algebra THREE TERMS IN A ROW in High School. I suck at math, period.
But, I am a successful programmer and developer and I've written a lot of code that does really complicated math... so how does that square?
The difference is that even though I can't do math, I know *what I can do* with it. I know what an Interquartarial Mean will do for me, but I have to look it up in a book every time I use it to know *how* to do it. In this case, yes, it is obvious that I would have a _better_time_ if I knew how to do this stuff without looking in a book, but I've fared pretty well. Lacking math skills doesn't mean I'm a suck programmer, it just means I may have a harder time with code that uses a lot of math.
Someone above posted "Two candidates, one knows math and one doesn't, you want the one who knows math"; that's true if all else is equal, but you never have two candidates for a job you are identical except for one thing. You buy the whole package and if you think their other qualities outweigh their lack of math skills then that's one you choose.
The oldies among us may remember this is also the same problem that Windows CE had in the beginning, mid 1990's. There were at least three different CPU platforms, four form factors with at least as many distinct input methods and an array of mutually incompatible screen setups.
In the early 2000's then Microsoft Decreed several standards for the hardware and the rom customisations. The OEMs whined but in the end it allowed the devices to unify somewhat, albeit painfully. The fact Windows Mobile 7 exists at all is because of this decision.
Yes, you can argue that Windows Mobile (the direct descendant of WinCE) is a failed state, but I think it would also be agree'd that it would have been dead long, long ago had MS not done what it did.
Google has the additional "problem" (if you will) of Android being open-source. With WinCE, Microsoft could be the ultimate gatekeeper but there is nothing stopping any device manufacturer from doing whatever the hell they want with Android. They may try to initiate some kind of "Google Certified" plan to signify that an OS variant meets certain interopability standards... but the LSB has tried to do that on the desktop and, well, has it had the traction everyone hoped?
This becomes one of the larger arguments for the 'Walled Garden' approach Apple has taken and I guess that's the choice you make: stability, predictability that comes with restrictions or variability and instability that comes with openness.
Before commenting, please complete this form:
Sec. 1 Ruby v Python
[ ] I am a Ruby/Python fanboy/fangirl
[ ] I already have a positive/negative entrenched opinion of Python or Ruby
[ ] I cannot tell the difference between the two languages
Sec. 2 Ruby on Rails
[ ] I assume Ruby == Ruby on Rails
Sec. 3 Other
[ ] I program in PHP for it's robust design, consistent syntax and architectural soundness
[ ] I do not understand sarcasm
Scoring: If you answered any of the above questions in the affirmative, your comments may be dismissed out of hand.
obligatory explanation:
In William Gibson's novel "Pattern Recognition", one of the incidental characters is an antique trader who specializes in famous technological pieces. At one point of the story he is in negotiation to buy the Wang word processor that Steven King used early in his career.
From a interview with Torvalds many years ago:
"I think a lot of the extreme people are much too extreme, like Richard Stallman; He's a very extreme person, and while I admire a lot of his ideals, I don't admire him because he is so extreme that he can't relate to other people; and that's a limitation."
No taking sides for me, just pointing out that RMS has his own issues.
This is not all that meaningful unless you also completely correlate the uptime info with the number of users/requests/whatnot the site does.
The report doesn't explore that sufficiently enough for me. I can make an app that has 100% uptime if it has one request an hour. Downtime is largely caused (directly or indirectly) by load, so in most cases downtime usually increases as user load (defined as user interaction and amounts of user data, and the actions of those users on that data) increases.
Painting with a broad brush you could say, yes, Xanga has the best uptime but they also probably have the lowest user load as well whereas twitter probably has one of the highest (current) user loads and thus lowest downtime.
"We have persistent objects, they're called files." -- kt
"the question is: why would anyone want to pay for proprietary hardware and a limited selection of a few hundred stations all controlled by one company?"
The answer is: because it works.
When I'm charging down an interstate at 65mph I don't need to dicking with a phone to figure out why my TCP connection is timing out.
Ever since GiS went away you've become a sort of man-behind-the curtain type persona, and we don't see much in the way of journal updates or news posts about Slashdot or you yoyrself much. One of the last things most of us knew about the "Real Rob Malda" was the article in Wired years ago regarding the Andover-cum-VALinux-cum-OSDN-cum-Death-keiretsu IPO.
Just what the hell do you do all day now, anyway?
"Secondly it's a Mercedes"
The last generation was -- and I'll do you one better, it was a MID-ENGINE Mercedes -- but this current is made in large part by Mitsubishi.