Perhaps we are *not* their intended audience, even if, at the moment, we ARE the only Firefox audience. Perhaps the writer was doing trying to mimic the "undocumented windows tricks" articles that run rampant (and errant) through the user world.
Delivering lectures is a small part of what a professor does, especially in a top university. For that matter, "the curriculum" is a small part of the value of a university education.
Professors in general are glad of being relieved of routine lecturing. This frees them to do more research, and to interact with students in more fulfilling ways.
I have just moved from a large University, where the above attitude prevails, to another and smaller university, where I hope it doesn't. This sort of pomposity by the profs (and the poster) is what led me to vote with my feet. I am a part-time evening CS student. Of the last 7 classes, 2 were taught by grad. students, 2 by "industry" phd's and 3 by full-time profs. Only one of the above even bothered to find out the names of the people in the class. (Only one classes was over 30 people.) In only two classes did the "teacher" even bother to prepare the actual lecture him/herself. The rest depended on canned slides and lectures prepared by the course book's publisher! (Ex: I had to drop one course late in the semester due to an unexpected increase in responsibility and travel at work. I re-took the course the next semester under a different "industry" prof and, yup, he used the same slides and lectures, as supplied by course book's publisher, as the previous prof.) Lastly, only one prof. actually interacted *at all* with the students. The univesity used graduate Training Assistants (TA's). They were all (understandably) too @#$%ed busy with their own schoolwork to give much help, even though they were paid (not very much) to do so. To say that they were "generally poor and unhelpful" is generous
I think the poster and the referenced profs. rather regret the need for students in a university. We just muddle up their little kingdom with irritating questions and that damned need to actually teach students something. They are pretty much the geek equivalents of the pampered athletes. I am very tired of having to pay these people while having to teach myself the material.
I will continue to try to get knowledge, knowing full well that these people are in my way. Life is full of people like these, but we all know that. I hereby evoke these people's right to use the title of "geek". There, now I feel better.
Lao Xuesheng
Lions, tigers, and professors, OH, MY!
ps. University classes are like American 401k accounts. They both help me where my discipline is weak. I have transferred to Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, which offers a complete CS degree program on-line, though it is not free. (In-state tuition is $165/hr.) I should clarify by saying that the all CS courses are available over the Internet. Not all the General Ed. requirements are, as yet, on-line. They do, of course, accept all Gen. Ed. credits earned elsewhere prior to or while enrolled at ODU.
And you are asking US?
on
GPS on Mars?
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· Score: 0
Man, what were you thinking? Now the hounds are loose!
The underlying truth is that information is universal
I think the above phrase is not, at this time, true. If you mean "should be" universal, that's another argument. Whether I agree with that statement or not, the statement above in italics is not true. (I did not say "wrong".) Information, at this time, has economic value and, therefore, is now hoarded, where possible, to extract that value, where possible. There may come a time when "information is univeral", but it will be a long time arriving, as long as the witholding of any such information can be economicallly rewarding to the holder.
I, personally, think a universe where all information is available to everyone would be best, but that is the idealist in me talking. I suspect that in order for information to become "universal", there will need to be a wholesale acceptance of the idea that no person actually "owns" anything while on this earth and, conversely, has no rights to anything. That will require the acceptance of the idea by all humans that all humans are equal and should have equal access to all things, as far as that access is non-harmful to other humans. I am not hopeful of this ever happening. At least, not any time soon. Trying to change anyone's mind on any subject via any sort of argument is pretty much wasted effort.
To be honest, this is really not too much fun, anymore. My new goal, after years of making my living as an app. developer in whatever envrionment the boss darned-well-wanted, is to get out of app. dev. and into simulation/modeling/graphics or something lower-level. Don't know how I am gonna do it. Well, I do have a clue in that I am getting a CS degree, concentrating, eventually, in simulation modeling and/or anything dealing with stuff under the hood. I'll probably finally learn enough to actually do something worthwhile right about the time I retire (5-10 year), but then I'll be in a position to do what I want -- have some fun and maybe some consulting. It's good to have a goal. (Sometimes, I'd like to shoot the guy who introduced me to my first mini-computer...) Ah,well. Lessons learned well are lessons well paid for. Cheers.
Or maybe they are just the adjectives, connectives, or articles in the DNA dictionary. (OK, so I have no idea what I am talking about. This is/., isn't it?)
Watch carefully as we all slowely turn into ---- HAMS!!! The line between Geek and Ham is fading fast! Can't somebody do SOMETHING to help us?!!! Otherwise, the Gam or the Heek (certainly not a GEM) is about to become a reality. We have GOT to start leaving stuff at home! (Or at work, at least.) geez... (Say, I do have outlets in the back of my SUV...)
Relax, it's a teaching tool...
on
High Level Assembly
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· Score: 3, Informative
HLA was created to help make teaching assembly language easy (for both instructors and students). This paper describes the features of HLA that make it suitable for teaching assembly language programming.
Kinda like MIPS/SPim. Assembly: The Anti-Java language. (Haven't decided if that is a comment or compliment...)
Check out the parent of this message. (SOMEbody mod parent UP, please!) It's exactly the method I am using to learn Mandarin Chinese. The Pimsleur CD's teach you how to speck the language very well, phonetically. I am in the middle of the Set II of Mandarin Chinese. Back in the 80's, I tried the Berlitz stuff. It (and I) was not too good. Pimsleur, if you do the 30-min lessons daily, will teach you enough to navigate the language, the country, and the people without embarassment. It will also show you how much more there is to learn. I reluctantly put up the initial $160 for Set 1. After doing it, I raced to plunk down ~$220 for Set 2. (You can also get the courses on the Internet at about half the suggested retail price. There are many reputable sites, such as LingoShop.
To learn how to write your chosen language, check out the University web sites for your language. For example USC has an excellent Mandarin links area USC Chinese Language program , mostly pointing to free stuff. Fortunately, many Chinese teachers in the US have started using the Integrated Chineses Program ICP , an amazingly easy way to learn Chinese, if you do the homework. As the man in the parent post says, "dedication and commitment" are required.
I am having such fun that I have enrolled in evening Mandarin classes at GMU which does use ICP. It's my new way of gaming, learning how to read, write and speak Chinese.
Pun aside, my daughter does the DDR for PE credit for middle school. Granted I am really old, but the songs on the disc are pretty much all the same and very boring. Drives me nuts. (Aha! Perhaps THAT'S her game! Anyway, us Geeks don't dance. If you have seen us dance, you know why.) If you enjoy it and it helps you in any way, do it. Have fun.
Lao Xuesheng.
ps. The best new game in town: Learn a really hard Foreign Language that does not use the English alphabet. Amazingly relaxing, while learning a little something.
Exactly. For example: When WorldCom/MCI decided to layoff ~2k - ~5k people, they had to give a notice to all of the ~70K people that work there. Having said that, I could "see" the end of TechTV coming. Cox Comm, when they moved to digital, if I remember right, made TechTV part of the "upgrade" package, which considering the price (don't remember) and the content, wasn't worth upgrading to. At least, I could never find TechTV after the digital upgrade. Ah, well, live and learn, sometimes.
I really hate to bust the Math balloon, but imho the majority of programming work is not in engineering, where math is so necessary. For non-graphical application programming in commercial and government app. dev. work, little advanced math is ever, ever used. Sorry that I can't keep the party line here, but even the boolean algebra I learned was only ever needed using when AND and OR. (I've been doing this for 28 years and fare me well, thank you.)
cragen
ps. I had an office-mate once who was a research scientist at NIH, researching the AIDS virus's mechanisms of attack in the 90's. I asked him the same question. He reluctantly admitted he never used the Calculus he had to take in undergrad school. He always called it "the initiation process".
(Insert 1., 2., 3. Profit!!! code here) Unlike Commercial institutions, Information organizations are not focused on money; we view money as simply a means to an end. Our ethic includes building a solid reputation, being known according to our work, and being distinguished by our unique contributions. And YOUR contributions will help greatly appreciated, too!! (last sentence inserted by me...)
Well, it's a good thing they don't need money cuz I read publications like POPULAR SCIENCE and have a perty good idea how often predictions like these come true. Oh, wait, maybe by contributing to these guys, WE WILL ALL BE SAVED!!!! not.
/. should have a section that lists what publications like "Popular Science", "Scientific American", etc., predicted back "X number of years ago" things that would be available today, commercially or otherwise like they do with "X years ago, today, content was...". That would be interesting.
cragen
ps. Lots of great ideas go pfft for reasons that were once thought not to be a problem -- like the hovercrafts that were once predicted to cause roads to be obsolete. Noise, cost, etc., ended that little dream.
My universty email address gets as much spam as any of my other addresses. In my school's case, I am willing to bet that a someone either sold or hacked the email db. That someone could be a student, Uni. employee, or whatever. Giving a University any data about me voluntarily does not seem like a good idea. Good source or not.
The biggest employer, the US Govt., for many years, had written in its IT contracts that the IT personnel, listed in the contractor's final bid, had to have BSc degrees and X amount of experience for the contractor, period. The rule was relaxed a few years ago (not sure how few), but the practice is still in place in many places. Go get the degree, any degree. It's worth 4 or 5 certifications. Has been for me, anyhoo. Good luck.
cragen
Cygwin has helped JOE
on
JOE Hits 3.0
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· Score: 1
The first time I installed Cygwin (circa 2001), JOE was included in the basic install. It was perfect for a beginning C++ class. The environment was/is modifiable via the.joerc file or via the.joexx file for your own language. JOE supports beaucoup language syntaxes. Lastly, FREE is good. I will forever be indebted to Cygwin, JOE & g++ for getting me through the C++ CS classes. Holy Joe!
cragen
ps. I now mostly use TextPad for the syntax highlighting, but if JOE has that now, I may be switching back.
I have a very similar problem. I went to the best neurologist in the area and he prescribed good stuff, but when I had exhausted the drugs, it came back. I switched to a trackball, which "deletes" movement of the wrist, and the pain went away. The first time I switched jobs after the switch to a trackball, I tried using the supplied mouse. The wrist pain started again. Getting my employer to spring for a trackball (~$49 - ~$89 US) was a no-go so I just went a bought my own. I use a trackball at work and at home. My wrist has not bothered me since. Hope this idea fixes your problem, too. Good luck.
What about using the analogy of paper letters delivered via snail mail? I never need to ask if I can save or copy anything from that letter. (I assume...) Using this point of view, IM is just passing the equivalent of snail-letters, just very quickly. No rights a'tall for the sending to his/her sendings. Howzat?
Slashdot Mirror
Cragen
Sorry. I can never remember clever jokes or sigs.
Professors in general are glad of being relieved of routine lecturing. This frees them to do more research, and to interact with students in more fulfilling ways.
I have just moved from a large University, where the above attitude prevails, to another and smaller university, where I hope it doesn't. This sort of pomposity by the profs (and the poster) is what led me to vote with my feet. I am a part-time evening CS student. Of the last 7 classes, 2 were taught by grad. students, 2 by "industry" phd's and 3 by full-time profs. Only one of the above even bothered to find out the names of the people in the class. (Only one classes was over 30 people.) In only two classes did the "teacher" even bother to prepare the actual lecture him/herself. The rest depended on canned slides and lectures prepared by the course book's publisher! (Ex: I had to drop one course late in the semester due to an unexpected increase in responsibility and travel at work. I re-took the course the next semester under a different "industry" prof and, yup, he used the same slides and lectures, as supplied by course book's publisher, as the previous prof.) Lastly, only one prof. actually interacted *at all* with the students. The univesity used graduate Training Assistants (TA's). They were all (understandably) too @#$%ed busy with their own schoolwork to give much help, even though they were paid (not very much) to do so. To say that they were "generally poor and unhelpful" is generous
I think the poster and the referenced profs. rather regret the need for students in a university. We just muddle up their little kingdom with irritating questions and that damned need to actually teach students something. They are pretty much the geek equivalents of the pampered athletes. I am very tired of having to pay these people while having to teach myself the material.
I will continue to try to get knowledge, knowing full well that these people are in my way. Life is full of people like these, but we all know that. I hereby evoke these people's right to use the title of "geek". There, now I feel better.
Lao Xuesheng
Lions, tigers, and professors, OH, MY!
ps. University classes are like American 401k accounts. They both help me where my discipline is weak. I have transferred to Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, which offers a complete CS degree program on-line, though it is not free. (In-state tuition is $165/hr.) I should clarify by saying that the all CS courses are available over the Internet. Not all the General Ed. requirements are, as yet, on-line. They do, of course, accept all Gen. Ed. credits earned elsewhere prior to or while enrolled at ODU.
Man, what were you thinking? Now the hounds are loose!
that they would already have a book. (What?)
I think the above phrase is not, at this time, true. If you mean "should be" universal, that's another argument. Whether I agree with that statement or not, the statement above in italics is not true. (I did not say "wrong".) Information, at this time, has economic value and, therefore, is now hoarded, where possible, to extract that value, where possible. There may come a time when "information is univeral", but it will be a long time arriving, as long as the witholding of any such information can be economicallly rewarding to the holder.
I, personally, think a universe where all information is available to everyone would be best, but that is the idealist in me talking. I suspect that in order for information to become "universal", there will need to be a wholesale acceptance of the idea that no person actually "owns" anything while on this earth and, conversely, has no rights to anything. That will require the acceptance of the idea by all humans that all humans are equal and should have equal access to all things, as far as that access is non-harmful to other humans. I am not hopeful of this ever happening. At least, not any time soon. Trying to change anyone's mind on any subject via any sort of argument is pretty much wasted effort.
Still, one has hope.
(IANA/BIPOIRF: I am not a /.'er but I play one in real life.)
Lions, Tigers, and Gods! Oh, MY!
that he doesn't do it by email...
To be honest, this is really not too much fun, anymore. My new goal, after years of making my living as an app. developer in whatever envrionment the boss darned-well-wanted, is to get out of app. dev. and into simulation/modeling/graphics or something lower-level. Don't know how I am gonna do it. Well, I do have a clue in that I am getting a CS degree, concentrating, eventually, in simulation modeling and/or anything dealing with stuff under the hood. I'll probably finally learn enough to actually do something worthwhile right about the time I retire (5-10 year), but then I'll be in a position to do what I want -- have some fun and maybe some consulting. It's good to have a goal. (Sometimes, I'd like to shoot the guy who introduced me to my first mini-computer...) Ah,well. Lessons learned well are lessons well paid for. Cheers.
Or maybe they are just the adjectives, connectives, or articles in the DNA dictionary. (OK, so I have no idea what I am talking about. This is /., isn't it?)
Watch carefully as we all slowely turn into ---- HAMS!!! The line between Geek and Ham is fading fast! Can't somebody do SOMETHING to help us?!!! Otherwise, the Gam or the Heek (certainly not a GEM) is about to become a reality. We have GOT to start leaving stuff at home! (Or at work, at least.) geez... (Say, I do have outlets in the back of my SUV...)
Apparently, there are a whole bunch of us that think it smart *not* to watch Futurama. I *get* it. I just don't think it's funny. These things happen.
Lao Xuesheng
Kinda like MIPS/SPim. Assembly: The Anti-Java language. (Haven't decided if that is a comment or compliment...)
Oldbie.
To learn how to write your chosen language, check out the University web sites for your language. For example USC has an excellent Mandarin links area USC Chinese Language program , mostly pointing to free stuff. Fortunately, many Chinese teachers in the US have started using the Integrated Chineses Program ICP , an amazingly easy way to learn Chinese, if you do the homework. As the man in the parent post says, "dedication and commitment" are required.
I am having such fun that I have enrolled in evening Mandarin classes at GMU which does use ICP. It's my new way of gaming, learning how to read, write and speak Chinese.
Have fun, Lao Xuesheng (Old Student)
ps. I am not sure but there may be a Integrated Japanese Program, USC Japanese Language Center. I found it at the " USC Japanese Dept. page . Have fun.
Lao Xuesheng.
ps. The best new game in town: Learn a really hard Foreign Language that does not use the English alphabet. Amazingly relaxing, while learning a little something.
cragen
cragen
ps. I had an office-mate once who was a research scientist at NIH, researching the AIDS virus's mechanisms of attack in the 90's. I asked him the same question. He reluctantly admitted he never used the Calculus he had to take in undergrad school. He always called it "the initiation process".
Well, it's a good thing they don't need money cuz I read publications like POPULAR SCIENCE and have a perty good idea how often predictions like these come true. Oh, wait, maybe by contributing to these guys, WE WILL ALL BE SAVED!!!! not.
Boy, am I getting cynical in my old age. Cragen.
cragen
ps. Lots of great ideas go pfft for reasons that were once thought not to be a problem -- like the hovercrafts that were once predicted to cause roads to be obsolete. Noise, cost, etc., ended that little dream.
cragen
cragen
cragen
ps. I now mostly use TextPad for the syntax highlighting, but if JOE has that now, I may be switching back.
cragen.
cragenw
cragen