It isn't tough at all - that may be part of the problem. I am not averse to a challenge now and then:)
I would like to be able to include methods I have for making an app simpler, but there are some constructs which are just banned (for example, lev 88, EVALUATE) You'll see why below:)
In terms of the standard application programmer on mainframes today, you can take it, rewrite it and eliminate 50%-75% of it simply because they don't know much about efficiency, just "does it work?"
I hear that - most of the people here who call themselves programmers are fresh off a 3-week training course. "Does it work?" is the primary consideration. The fact that I have some previous experience is purely coincidental.
Say what you will about COBOL, but you have to admit it's verboseness does make it pretty self-documenting. Or maybe that's just the way we were forced to learn it. You could practically read our source code like it was a comment.
Forced to learn it... Hmmm... Sums it up, really:) Thing is, verbosity does not denote efficiency or ease of use. Yes, it's very easy to read but it's a bloody trial to write and debug.
Cobol fingers? But we are in XXI centure and do not need to type all this clueless staff in - we have text editor or two which do completion for us
A fine point, but I have to write this code on a clucky OS/390 editor. I would use an editor on this Windows host (another bane of my job) but the transfer facilities for transferring files from the host to the mainframe simply do not work.
I have. It's my job. For those of you who have not encountered COBOL, its reputation is warranted. It is actually designed for clueless suits and it will damage you, both mentally and physically. This is true.
I do not wear a suit. I am not totally clueless. I am just doing this job to get some cash together to go to university next year.
The thing is, this place (like most COBOL houses) has a set of standards which may or may not match best practice (when they don't it makes things harder - you may be required to use GO TO!) Any opportunity for hackishness or clever code, small as this opportunity is anyway, is precluded by the necessity to adhere to standards so that the next drone that takes your place will understand your code. No amount of commenting inline on how your nice, elegant piece of code works will sway your manager on this topic. This leads to verbose, inelegant code and an acute difficulty in getting things done in a simple and timely manner.
This is why I love C, C++, Perl, bash, JavaScript, BASIC, HTML, Brainf*ck - hell, I even prefer VB - anything but fscking COBOL!
Well, you'd want to be a right nut to trust software from most nets. BitTorrent tends to be used more legitimately than, say, Kazaa or ED2K.
You takes your chances, I suppose but I don't get my tarballs from p2p anyway:)
Re:What will it take?
on
3D Mouse
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
As with all technologies: A killer app.
Perhaps a desktop environment like Sun's Project Looking Glass in conjunction with a 3D output device (like a VR helmet or 3D monitor) could make such an input device feel more natural.
I haven't used Looking Glass yet so I'm not sure how well suited it would be...
Too easy for some crackpot to put up a compromised copy, wait a while, then sell his new spamming network to Ralsky or someone like him
Not easy at all. He'd have to sort out a tracker, have a decent amount of bandwidth to get seeds out there and get his md5 sums and torrents onto a trusted source. That's apart from creating a version of a Linux distro with a spyware/spamming component that nobody will notice. How many slackware users do you know who don't notice massive increases in processing or traffic?
If you don't go to official sources for your distro you take this very small risk, but then why would you be getting your distro from ED2K or suprnova? There are legitimate, free sources!
I don't think "For once" is a fair phrase myself. I have been using peer-to-peer technology for a few years now legitimately.
I use bittorrent to download Linux ISOs. I use ED2K to get community films and videos (Like the Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years for example.) Even my home network could be described as peer to peer as I have no server for 4 client machines.
Yeah, but what about the people who drive Ferraris?
Those poor bastards are at crotch height... They look out the window while they're cruising through town and see crotches.
As many of you well know, most of the crotches out there are distinctly unattractive. Give me my bicycle any day - let Ferrari guy see my ass fly by while he's stuck in traffic;)
I'm 26 and I'm half a fucking idiot, but I never thought it was a good idea to drive while under the influence of any drug - hell, I won't even cycle a bike after a cigarette.
Yes, drugs can affect your judgment but if your judgment is poor to begin with then it doesn't matter if you're stoned, drunk, high, whatever. You're destined to do stupid shit through your lack of ability to think.
Not as flawed as this (page renders like shit in moz - scroll to the bottom...) How did this one get around?
NAME: Simpsons ALIAS: Trojan.BAT.Simpsons
This is a simple BAT trojan that deletes all files on C:, A:, B: and D: drives. The trojan uses 'DELTREE/Y' DOS command to delete the files. The trojan then tries to delete SIMPSONS.* files, but there are no more files on affected drives after the DELTREE command.
The trojan is distributed as a self-extracting WinZip package that displays standard WinZip message after being run and then extracts the trojan and spawns it.
This trojan was reported to be in the wild in late June, 2000. However, it does not seem to be significantly widespread (as it does not replicate further by itself).
It might be a cheap shot, but the parent argument was just another "Think of the children!" non-argument. OK, so it's his child, but there's no analysis there - only raw emotional respone.
Thing is, when it comes to peoples' kids I'm pretty cold. I just don't care about them and it grates my raw nerves when they affect my life (I gotta pay for HBO just to hear a comic say "Fuck" - Doug Stanhope...) I gotta stop quoting that guy:) RFID on the kids is the thin end. The first straw - well, your pets were the first straw. What's next? Repeat offenders? Known dissidents? Radical thinkers? One of these labels might apply to you some day.
There's also incredible hypocrisy in most parents. They underestimate their children - lie to them to "protect" them. Then what? The kids find out the truth (Wow. I smoked pot and I didn't end up a crackhead. Conformity is bullshit. Fitting in is for dicks - you know, the same shit we all discovered in our teens) and they say "Fuck you, Mom. Fuck you Dad. You're just full of shit." Almost all of them do. A secret RFID tag would be the icing on the deception cake - knives and guns time! Good thing my folks were a little more liberal than my friends' - I'm maladjusted AND uninhibited!:)
Thing is, I hear people say "Hey, it'd be different if it was your kid. You're not a parent, how could you know?" Well, guess what folks - I think we've got enough mewling brats fucking up the planet already so I'm not planning to cumshot my way into ruining my life just yet. I guess I'll never know the joy of opressing, lying to and generally messing up a little version of me. What a fucking tragedy. Then again, I could have a few kids, stick RFID on them and race them around the block, watching the little coloured dots make their way around the map on my computer monitor. "Come on green! I bet a 20 on you!"
My girlfriend is on the pill, but I still wear a rubber - and only because she keeps talking me out of that vasectomy for some reason.
Now, there it is - my unreasoned emotionally loaded argument... How does it match up to "Think of the children"?:)
"He said the concept of carrying around film and music on little silver discs to stick them into a computer was ridiculous. He moaned that DVDs could get scratched or get lost."
I wouldn't be opposed to a chip on a tooth, or a bracelet that required a key
Don't be surprised if your son suddenly picks up some amateur dentistry and develops a strong distrust of you if you allow this to happen.
Guess what... I am willing to bet nobody here has a chip in their tooth (unless that charlatan Kevin Warwick is reading) but we're all here! We all made it!
Guess what... no amount of embedded chips is going to stop a determined individual doing what he thinks is a good idea. Thing is, the attacker might also have a touch of the amateur dentist in him, so the attack could be all the more devastating.
How about, instead of tracking your son, how about some parenting? Keep an eye on him, you know? The sort of thing this species has been at for more years than historically recorded, you know?
Hey, who better to do drugs than kids? What are you gonna fuck up at age 16 that you can't bounce back from - what, you going to get a F?
I can't do drugs any more - At my age I have shit to do. I can't go on a 2 day acid binge cos I have to move my car on street sweeping day. Drugs are for kids.
I know - I just gave it to him in slightly more colourful language than he's used to from my day to day discourse:) I think it got the point across just fine.
Obviously anyone who hasn't made all their Windows 'friends' switch to FireFox needs to do so now.
I did. One of my friends took some serious effort - Next time I spoke to him I asked him how FireFox was going: "It was wrecking my head so I went back" Me: "Don't come crying to me when the Russian mafia have your credit card numbers!" I think he's gone back to the fox...:)
Slashdot Mirror
I was .co.uk - .ie addresses weren't available on Yahoo at the time - not that this was a major concern :)
You are.
HINT: joke
I'm so old-school my Yahoo account had (still has, actually) free POP3 and SMTP access.
And I'm not that old-school.
It isn't tough at all - that may be part of the problem. I am not averse to a challenge now and then
I would like to be able to include methods I have for making an app simpler, but there are some constructs which are just banned (for example, lev 88, EVALUATE) You'll see why below
I hear that - most of the people here who call themselves programmers are fresh off a 3-week training course. "Does it work?" is the primary consideration. The fact that I have some previous experience is purely coincidental.
Well, like is a little strong. I certainly prefer it to COBOL
Forced to learn it... Hmmm... Sums it up, really
Thing is, verbosity does not denote efficiency or ease of use. Yes, it's very easy to read but it's a bloody trial to write and debug.
A fine point, but I have to write this code on a clucky OS/390 editor. I would use an editor on this Windows host (another bane of my job) but the transfer facilities for transferring files from the host to the mainframe simply do not work.
I have. It's my job. For those of you who have not encountered COBOL, its reputation is warranted. It is actually designed for clueless suits and it will damage you, both mentally and physically. This is true.
I do not wear a suit. I am not totally clueless. I am just doing this job to get some cash together to go to university next year.
The thing is, this place (like most COBOL houses) has a set of standards which may or may not match best practice (when they don't it makes things harder - you may be required to use GO TO!) Any opportunity for hackishness or clever code, small as this opportunity is anyway, is precluded by the necessity to adhere to standards so that the next drone that takes your place will understand your code. No amount of commenting inline on how your nice, elegant piece of code works will sway your manager on this topic. This leads to verbose, inelegant code and an acute difficulty in getting things done in a simple and timely manner.
This is why I love C, C++, Perl, bash, JavaScript, BASIC, HTML, Brainf*ck - hell, I even prefer VB - anything but fscking COBOL!
Well, you'd want to be a right nut to trust software from most nets. BitTorrent tends to be used more legitimately than, say, Kazaa or ED2K.
:)
You takes your chances, I suppose but I don't get my tarballs from p2p anyway
Perhaps a desktop environment like Sun's Project Looking Glass in conjunction with a 3D output device (like a VR helmet or 3D monitor) could make such an input device feel more natural.
I haven't used Looking Glass yet so I'm not sure how well suited it would be...
Not easy at all. He'd have to sort out a tracker, have a decent amount of bandwidth to get seeds out there and get his md5 sums and torrents onto a trusted source. That's apart from creating a version of a Linux distro with a spyware/spamming component that nobody will notice. How many slackware users do you know who don't notice massive increases in processing or traffic?
If you don't go to official sources for your distro you take this very small risk, but then why would you be getting your distro from ED2K or suprnova? There are legitimate, free sources!
I don't think "For once" is a fair phrase myself. I have been using peer-to-peer technology for a few years now legitimately.
I use bittorrent to download Linux ISOs. I use ED2K to get community films and videos (Like the Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years for example.) Even my home network could be described as peer to peer as I have no server for 4 client machines.
All legitimate uses, no "For once" required.
Those poor bastards are at crotch height... They look out the window while they're cruising through town and see crotches.
As many of you well know, most of the crotches out there are distinctly unattractive. Give me my bicycle any day - let Ferrari guy see my ass fly by while he's stuck in traffic
I'm 26 and I'm half a fucking idiot, but I never thought it was a good idea to drive while under the influence of any drug - hell, I won't even cycle a bike after a cigarette.
Yes, drugs can affect your judgment but if your judgment is poor to begin with then it doesn't matter if you're stoned, drunk, high, whatever. You're destined to do stupid shit through your lack of ability to think.
That's not a drug problem, that's an intelligence problem - if he does something like that he's a fuckup, high or not.
With firefox 0.9x for Windows at work it rendered terribly - the content far down the page.
With mozilla 1.7x here on Linux it's fine.
Not as flawed as this (page renders like shit in moz - scroll to the bottom...) How did this one get around?
/Y' DOS command to delete the files. The trojan then tries to delete SIMPSONS.* files, but there are no more files on affected drives after the DELTREE command.
NAME: Simpsons
ALIAS: Trojan.BAT.Simpsons
This is a simple BAT trojan that deletes all files on C:, A:, B: and D: drives. The trojan uses 'DELTREE
The trojan is distributed as a self-extracting WinZip package that displays standard WinZip message after being run and then extracts the trojan and spawns it.
This trojan was reported to be in the wild in late June, 2000. However, it does not seem to be significantly widespread (as it does not replicate further by itself).
[Eugene Kaspersky, KL]
It might be a cheap shot, but the parent argument was just another "Think of the children!" non-argument. OK, so it's his child, but there's no analysis there - only raw emotional respone.
:) RFID on the kids is the thin end. The first straw - well, your pets were the first straw. What's next? Repeat offenders? Known dissidents? Radical thinkers? One of these labels might apply to you some day.
:)
:)
Thing is, when it comes to peoples' kids I'm pretty cold. I just don't care about them and it grates my raw nerves when they affect my life (I gotta pay for HBO just to hear a comic say "Fuck" - Doug Stanhope...) I gotta stop quoting that guy
There's also incredible hypocrisy in most parents. They underestimate their children - lie to them to "protect" them. Then what? The kids find out the truth (Wow. I smoked pot and I didn't end up a crackhead. Conformity is bullshit. Fitting in is for dicks - you know, the same shit we all discovered in our teens) and they say "Fuck you, Mom. Fuck you Dad. You're just full of shit." Almost all of them do. A secret RFID tag would be the icing on the deception cake - knives and guns time! Good thing my folks were a little more liberal than my friends' - I'm maladjusted AND uninhibited!
Thing is, I hear people say "Hey, it'd be different if it was your kid. You're not a parent, how could you know?" Well, guess what folks - I think we've got enough mewling brats fucking up the planet already so I'm not planning to cumshot my way into ruining my life just yet. I guess I'll never know the joy of opressing, lying to and generally messing up a little version of me. What a fucking tragedy. Then again, I could have a few kids, stick RFID on them and race them around the block, watching the little coloured dots make their way around the map on my computer monitor. "Come on green! I bet a 20 on you!"
My girlfriend is on the pill, but I still wear a rubber - and only because she keeps talking me out of that vasectomy for some reason.
Now, there it is - my unreasoned emotionally loaded argument... How does it match up to "Think of the children"?
article from the Inquirer this morning...
"He said the concept of carrying around film and music on little silver discs to stick them into a computer was ridiculous. He moaned that DVDs could get scratched or get lost."
My personal favourite of this ilk is Not Proud
Don't be surprised if your son suddenly picks up some amateur dentistry and develops a strong distrust of you if you allow this to happen.
Guess what... I am willing to bet nobody here has a chip in their tooth (unless that charlatan Kevin Warwick is reading) but we're all here! We all made it!
Guess what... no amount of embedded chips is going to stop a determined individual doing what he thinks is a good idea. Thing is, the attacker might also have a touch of the amateur dentist in him, so the attack could be all the more devastating.
How about, instead of tracking your son, how about some parenting? Keep an eye on him, you know? The sort of thing this species has been at for more years than historically recorded, you know?
Shit, if my neck's going to explode I could kick my mother to death.
</exaggerated opinion for sake of humour>
Hey, who better to do drugs than kids? What are you gonna fuck up at age 16 that you can't bounce back from - what, you going to get a F?
I can't do drugs any more - At my age I have shit to do. I can't go on a 2 day acid binge cos I have to move my car on street sweeping day. Drugs are for kids.
Paraphrased from a piece by the guy in my sig
I know - I just gave it to him in slightly more colourful language than he's used to from my day to day discourse :)
I think it got the point across just fine.
I did. One of my friends took some serious effort - Next time I spoke to him I asked him how FireFox was going:
"It was wrecking my head so I went back"
Me: "Don't come crying to me when the Russian mafia have your credit card numbers!"
I think he's gone back to the fox...