If congressmen had the assembly-writer's mentality, laws would be written one sentence at a time, in EXCRUCIATING detail, and probably with quill & parchment.
Yes, I write assembly from time to time. It's kind of relaxing after days of C. Vote me in '08!
I have serious issues with some modern fantasy stuff that seems written by decent enough imaginations but clearly shows a lack for a true love and curiosity for language. Not to mention the hypersexuality of that crap--but that's a different cigarette butt for another drought-stricken forest floor.
Couldn't agree more. I've basically stopped reading fantasy because I couldn't take it anymore. I read LotR about every year or so, the Silmarillion every once in a while, and that's it--oh, ok, I break out Zelazny's "Amber" books once in a while because despite being lighter on background than Tolkien's works, they're a pretty quick yet satisfying read. Your comment on sexuality in fantasy... well, I find it in S.F. too. It wouldn't bother me at all if the author managed to give it some importance to the story, but usually it's just "Well, I felt like tossing in a few pages of sex, who cares if it actually furthers the plot". Extra points if it's a male author writing about sex from a woman's perspective. Urgh.
I've actually been fine with Tolkien's names because they somehow feel less like he pulled a bunch of syllables out of his ass--because he didn't, unlike a lot of fantasy authors seem to do. Reading biographies and commentaries on his work, it looks like he took a lot of names from English/Germanic/Norse literature and adapted them a bit to fit with his languages... he was a philologist (sp?) and thus should have been able to put together names that evoke a certain "feel". It's hard to explain but hopefully some of my intent comes across.
That's a patent lie. Studies to show a clear link. That aside, it show a complete lack of logic to expect otherwise.
According to the 10-year WHO study completed a few years back, spouses of smokers (most likely to get heavy exposure) have a lung cancer risk factor of something like 1.2 +-.3, IIRC, where a risk factor of 1 is for those who are not exposed to second hand smoke. So heavy exposure to second hand smoke will give you maybe a 50% (high end of uncertainty) greater chance of getting lung cancer; this sounds like a lot until you think about the actual frequency of lung cancer among non-smokers who are not exposed to second hand smoke. A 200% increase might be significant; something like 400% or 500% would be better.
That said, please don't smoke cigarettes. There's a lot of nasty crap that gets put into them, and a good portion of that is going into *you*. Once it's been exhaled and mixed with air and then finally re-inhaled as SHS, the risk is much less... but smoking cigarettes yourself, while your choice, is definitely a high risk activity. Cigars and pipes tend to use very pure tobacco, without all the 'enhancing' chemicals of cigarettes--smoke them instead, you won't get addicted either.
Oh, and source for the study is at http://www.obscurious.co.uk/componants/smoking1440.pdf and summarized at the publisher's site here. They quickly issued a press release saying "DON'T BELIEVE THEM, SECOND HAND SMOKE REALLY IS DANGEROUS (despite what our own study showed)" and the original paper wasn't available on their site last time I looked.
Are you seriously suggesting that there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY you can walk past a smoker? Look, that little bit of smoke that wafts into your nose as you go past is NOT going to cause lung cancer. It's not some terrible acid, it's not a contact poison--secondhand smoke has only shown a statistically insignificant risk increase *for people who are constantly exposed*; the danger is really in smoking the cigarettes yourself.
I wish my uni. didn't start students out with Java for CS 1, 2, and 3. We didn't hit pointers until CS 4, and it was pretty tough for a lot of people. Learning them from the start would be nice. Luckily, as a Comp. Engineer, I've had several more classes in C and I'm currently writing C for my job, so I've figured it out since then, but I know quite a few CS/SE people who don't know what pointers are all about.
The attrition rate tends to be even worse in my major, Computer Engineering. My school has a really low retention rate in that program for two reasons; the first is that it's just a tough subject. The second is that, being a conglomeration of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, a lot of people find that they really don't care for one or the other, and end up switching to the subject they do like.
Back in my day we programmed on grid paper and were glad to have it! It was an upgrade from the wax tablets of the previous version. Kids these days and their fancy screen editors and automated compilers.
Well, I haven't seen many conversations where somebody says, "Our company really invested heavily in C, but we've realized our mistake now and will be moving back to assembly where we can." That's why I was asking people who know more about managed code than I do to share their experiences.
Waterloo has always fancied itself an industry supplier of productive bodies. My brother the EE went there and benefited from their work-term model. He got lots of practical experience which helped him land a job, although he took longer to get his degree than me.
My university, RIT, tends toward the same kind of thing. According to Wikipedia, we have the fourth oldest co-op program in the world (started 1912); it's currently the fifth largest in the nation. Although we're expanding into more and more research, RIT was basically created to provide good engineers and technicians for the (then huge) industry in Rochester. Somewhere along the line we've picked up more science majors, a big art college, and one of the nation's most respected film colleges:)
You can get a Ph.D. in some programs, but mostly you go for a bachelor's or a master's. We even have a BS/MS program (which I'm taking) where you complete the Master's within 6 years of freshman enrollment (if you don't get it done, they matriculate you with a BS after 6 years).
Apropos of nothing I worked briefly with a software engineer from Waterloo... he had no idea of what a stack frame was (in the context of procedure calls) or how you might use the call stack to debug a program.
That's not just a UW thing. I've met plenty of SE students who don't really know anything about a stack except for that data structure they made in Java during CS 1. The idea that there is a chunk of memory called a 'stack' in their programs is foreign to them.
To hear my Microsoft-employed friend talk about it, going to all managed code was a Mistake (yes, with a capital M). Here's what he said to me some time ago:
[MS-employee]: C++ has warts, but it is also insanely powerful, and the good far outweighs the bad
I would not give up lots of power to have slightly fewer warts
The only things I envy in C# are its libraries
Sucky, managed libraries, but they do some cool stuff
[me]: like which ones?
[MS-employee]: Interop is freaking obnoxious, though
All the new UI stuff is managed because MS forgot about native code for about 5 years
We're awake now, but it's going to suck for a while before it gets better
[me]: So are you moving back to native, or fixing managed?
[MS-employee]: I have never done managed
If "you" means MS, then it seems like we're trying to do both
We're supporting managed for the VBers and native for the big software development places
Which is really should it should be
Any other opinions on managed code out there? Preferably from people who have actually used it?
Here's an idea--instead of giving African kids laptops and teaching them C, why don't you focus on some more basic stuff? God knows roads, medicine, sanitation, water, better farming techniques, industrial techniques, etc. are nowhere near as geek-tastic as getting these kids to write code, but which do you think will be more useful?
In other news, enrollment at the University of Tennessee has dropped off sharply this year. The U of T cites the cause as "damn kids these days", while assuring the public that it has nothing to do with their recent network changes.
Yes, the embedded reporters...
"I'm here in a bunker outside of Baghdad, and while I don't really know anything about military operations, I can assure you that there is a lot of noise out here. Let me sketch a little map in the sand to show you where we're gonna move next..."
Slashdot Mirror
Ok, you're a cook!
I'd be more offended to be called a kook.
If congressmen had the assembly-writer's mentality, laws would be written one sentence at a time, in EXCRUCIATING detail, and probably with quill & parchment.
Yes, I write assembly from time to time. It's kind of relaxing after days of C. Vote me in '08!
No one has ever thought to use paper as a storage medium. Nope.
DISCLAIMER: Yeah, I know the technology is totally different. Sue me.
I have serious issues with some modern fantasy stuff that seems written by decent enough imaginations but clearly shows a lack for a true love and curiosity for language. Not to mention the hypersexuality of that crap--but that's a different cigarette butt for another drought-stricken forest floor.
Couldn't agree more. I've basically stopped reading fantasy because I couldn't take it anymore. I read LotR about every year or so, the Silmarillion every once in a while, and that's it--oh, ok, I break out Zelazny's "Amber" books once in a while because despite being lighter on background than Tolkien's works, they're a pretty quick yet satisfying read. Your comment on sexuality in fantasy... well, I find it in S.F. too. It wouldn't bother me at all if the author managed to give it some importance to the story, but usually it's just "Well, I felt like tossing in a few pages of sex, who cares if it actually furthers the plot". Extra points if it's a male author writing about sex from a woman's perspective. Urgh.
I suggest storing the iPhone in your pants pocket... the less reproduction among Apple users, the better ;)
I've actually been fine with Tolkien's names because they somehow feel less like he pulled a bunch of syllables out of his ass--because he didn't, unlike a lot of fantasy authors seem to do. Reading biographies and commentaries on his work, it looks like he took a lot of names from English/Germanic/Norse literature and adapted them a bit to fit with his languages... he was a philologist (sp?) and thus should have been able to put together names that evoke a certain "feel". It's hard to explain but hopefully some of my intent comes across.
That's a patent lie. Studies to show a clear link. That aside, it show a complete lack of logic to expect otherwise.
According to the 10-year WHO study completed a few years back, spouses of smokers (most likely to get heavy exposure) have a lung cancer risk factor of something like 1.2 +- .3, IIRC, where a risk factor of 1 is for those who are not exposed to second hand smoke. So heavy exposure to second hand smoke will give you maybe a 50% (high end of uncertainty) greater chance of getting lung cancer; this sounds like a lot until you think about the actual frequency of lung cancer among non-smokers who are not exposed to second hand smoke. A 200% increase might be significant; something like 400% or 500% would be better.
That said, please don't smoke cigarettes. There's a lot of nasty crap that gets put into them, and a good portion of that is going into *you*. Once it's been exhaled and mixed with air and then finally re-inhaled as SHS, the risk is much less... but smoking cigarettes yourself, while your choice, is definitely a high risk activity. Cigars and pipes tend to use very pure tobacco, without all the 'enhancing' chemicals of cigarettes--smoke them instead, you won't get addicted either.
Oh, and source for the study is at http://www.obscurious.co.uk/componants/smoking1440.pdf and summarized at the publisher's site here. They quickly issued a press release saying "DON'T BELIEVE THEM, SECOND HAND SMOKE REALLY IS DANGEROUS (despite what our own study showed)" and the original paper wasn't available on their site last time I looked.
Are you seriously suggesting that there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY you can walk past a smoker? Look, that little bit of smoke that wafts into your nose as you go past is NOT going to cause lung cancer. It's not some terrible acid, it's not a contact poison--secondhand smoke has only shown a statistically insignificant risk increase *for people who are constantly exposed*; the danger is really in smoking the cigarettes yourself.
D5 96 4B (encoded in EBCDIC for your pleasure)
Ah, you must be a fan of Paul Graham... you were obviously coding in Arc
The legislation enacted was almost EXACTLY what was requested by Gov. Schwarzenegger... and STILL they cry 'Blame Canada!'
It's the Canadians' fault, with their beady little eyes and flapping heads so full of lies.
I wish my uni. didn't start students out with Java for CS 1, 2, and 3. We didn't hit pointers until CS 4, and it was pretty tough for a lot of people. Learning them from the start would be nice. Luckily, as a Comp. Engineer, I've had several more classes in C and I'm currently writing C for my job, so I've figured it out since then, but I know quite a few CS/SE people who don't know what pointers are all about.
The attrition rate tends to be even worse in my major, Computer Engineering. My school has a really low retention rate in that program for two reasons; the first is that it's just a tough subject. The second is that, being a conglomeration of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, a lot of people find that they really don't care for one or the other, and end up switching to the subject they do like.
Back in my day we programmed on grid paper and were glad to have it! It was an upgrade from the wax tablets of the previous version. Kids these days and their fancy screen editors and automated compilers.
Well, I haven't seen many conversations where somebody says, "Our company really invested heavily in C, but we've realized our mistake now and will be moving back to assembly where we can." That's why I was asking people who know more about managed code than I do to share their experiences.
Waterloo has always fancied itself an industry supplier of productive bodies. My brother the EE went there and benefited from their work-term model. He got lots of practical experience which helped him land a job, although he took longer to get his degree than me.
My university, RIT, tends toward the same kind of thing. According to Wikipedia, we have the fourth oldest co-op program in the world (started 1912); it's currently the fifth largest in the nation. Although we're expanding into more and more research, RIT was basically created to provide good engineers and technicians for the (then huge) industry in Rochester. Somewhere along the line we've picked up more science majors, a big art college, and one of the nation's most respected film colleges :)
You can get a Ph.D. in some programs, but mostly you go for a bachelor's or a master's. We even have a BS/MS program (which I'm taking) where you complete the Master's within 6 years of freshman enrollment (if you don't get it done, they matriculate you with a BS after 6 years).
Apropos of nothing I worked briefly with a software engineer from Waterloo... he had no idea of what a stack frame was (in the context of procedure calls) or how you might use the call stack to debug a program.
That's not just a UW thing. I've met plenty of SE students who don't really know anything about a stack except for that data structure they made in Java during CS 1. The idea that there is a chunk of memory called a 'stack' in their programs is foreign to them.
... Change? You got any... chaaaaaaange? Chaaaaaaaaaaange.
Pilsner bear! Guaranteed NOT to rip your face off when you open the bottle!
Any other opinions on managed code out there? Preferably from people who have actually used it?
Admiral Ackbar would be cautious.
Here's an idea--instead of giving African kids laptops and teaching them C, why don't you focus on some more basic stuff? God knows roads, medicine, sanitation, water, better farming techniques, industrial techniques, etc. are nowhere near as geek-tastic as getting these kids to write code, but which do you think will be more useful?
In other news, enrollment at the University of Tennessee has dropped off sharply this year. The U of T cites the cause as "damn kids these days", while assuring the public that it has nothing to do with their recent network changes.
Yes, the embedded reporters...
"I'm here in a bunker outside of Baghdad, and while I don't really know anything about military operations, I can assure you that there is a lot of noise out here. Let me sketch a little map in the sand to show you where we're gonna move next..."
would throw this out. But it's filed in California, maybe it has a chance?