Mod previous down, unescaped < killed a section:(
It really depends on what level you're at, and what you're aiming for, but I will say one thing however, if you are into programming do not separate the two - they can be done together to great effect.
Obviously this is only really for someone who can program, as that's the only viewpoint I have. Whilst I was young and had only just begun algebra I got into raytracing and similar computer graphics issues, and after a short time of reading what you will discover is that maths and computers graphics are integrally linked on so many levels.
To warm up, begin by programming the equivalent to a graphical calculator for 2D graphs - something that'll plot x^2 + y^2 < 5^2 (a sphere) or similar, and play around with simple Cartesian geometry (divide or multiply the x or y axis in the sphere's algorithm to stretch it etc). Then it's time to move on to the fun stuff, and where you really start to appreciate Cartesian geometry - a simple 3D raytracer.
Even the simplest 3D raytracer still means you have to learn and fully understand ray-sphere intersection (basically, whether or not a line intersects a sphere, and if so where) and that requires a respectable amount of math. By the end of it you may end up with something as simple looking as this but to see your math serve a purpose and come to life is really something.
By programming the math it actually forces you to understand what you're doing intimately, and whilst it can't necessarily replace the pen and paper in teaching it is certainly more interactive and more fun, and you'll never forget it =]
It really depends on what level you're at, and what you're aiming for, but I will say one thing however, if you are into programming do not separate the two - they can be done together to great effect.
Obviously this is only really for someone who can program, as that's the only viewpoint I have. Whilst I was young and had only just begun algebra I got into raytracing and similar computer graphics issues, and after a short time of reading what you will discover is that maths and computers graphics are integrally linked on so many levels.
To warm up, begin by programming the equivalent to a graphical calculator for 2D graphs - something that'll plot x^2 + y^2
Even the simplest 3D raytracer still means you have to learn and fully understand ray-sphere intersection (basically, whether or not a line intersects a sphere, and if so where) and that requires a respectable amount of math. By the end of it you may end up with something as simple looking as this but to see your math serve a purpose and come to life is really something.
By programming the math it actually forces you to understand what you're doing intimately, and whilst it can't necessarily replace the pen and paper in teaching it is certainly more interactive and more fun, and you'll never forget it =]
Where does it end?
This doesn't directly effect me as I don't live in the UK, but sure enough these same undercurrents are affecting my country as well. Terrorism is pushing rationality to breaking point. When I was 12 or 13 I read the Anarchist's Cookbook as well - curiosity gets you at that age. I had no plans to actually use anything from it, and it's unlikely that this kid did either. It's the same interests that lead me to the summer camp that taught us how to make gun powder (shock horror you say in this post 9/11 world!) - science, chemistry and that little pyromaniac who lives inside of every one of us.
The real worry that is brought forth here is that in this case merely the possession of knowledge is a crime. I'm sorry, but a chemistry book I have lists gunpowder and some pretty volatile reactions too - will they charge me with possession of that? I have another Manifesto - am I now a political dissident too? As they whittle down the prerequisites to treated as criminals we shall soon discover more and more of us come under scrutiny...
"In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me."
PS. Sorry to Godwin this, but in this case it's actually relevant. =]
I'm glad that this is being serialized, Douglas Adams' work lives well in an audio form, and I'm sure the BBC will do it justice as they have his works in the past. I read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency some time ago and it held up to all the expectations I had from Douglas Adams. If you've enjoyed any of his past works, or enjoy the kind of humour found in Terry Pratchett you'd find this fun.
This is honestly quite tailored to the scientific individual - the story focuses around a computer programmer (Richard MacDuff), an ongoing dilemma of Dirk Gently's great difficulty trying to track down a missing cat (Schrödinger's cat), an issue with the moving sofa problem (and how it was impossible for the sofa to actually become stuck in the first place) and for those who know of Coleridge's poetry (specifically The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan) you'll be in for quite a few twisting and entertaining surprises. There's also a time machine in there for kicks =]
Honestly, if the concept of a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunnit-time-travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic" interests you in any way, do yourself a favour and either listen in or buy the book - you won't be disappointed =]
PS. I'm Australian (but with a strong grounding in American culture) and I didn't find too many 'Britishisms' in Dirk Gently... Maybe you're looking too hard? ^_^
First off, the name is a tad misleading, it's more "Major 3D Applications Comparison (including Blender)" as opposed to a focused against Blender - but that can be easily forgiven. What is good is that the author has used a wide range of industry standard tools (Maya, 3ds max and Lightwave etc) in everyday tasks, so it's not a fanboy style review where the outcome was and always would be 'Blender best'.
Blender is maturing well, especially considering if you look at the progress they've made since the code was first open sourced, and I'm confident that they will be able to continue this progress in to the future. I won't comment on the feature to feature comparison, I will just reiterate what the author said early on in the article - it's the artist not the tools - and in this case the an open source and free tool is sufficient to create some stunning art. Check out Elephant's Dream to see an example.
And my one note to those commenting later - the interface. Many people complain about the interface, how it's difficult to learn. Unfortunately, many of these people are trying to 'learn 3D' over the weekend - and I'm sorry, that won't happen, regardless of the package. To become truly proficient in any 3D software package takes a long time.
I also see many people compare the UI disaster to that of GIMP - I don't think that's really an accurate comparison. Read reviews of people who have actually mastered the Blender UI and they will confess that once learned it is very effective. The author in the article also states this, with him saying that it's a "Fast workflow, (but) can be more intuitive". I'm not saying the Blender user interface is perfect, or that improvement can't be made, merely that even in its current state, once learned and mastered it is a powerful tool.
Overall however, I'm glad that Blender has progressed so well, and look forward to seeing it's progress in the future. Without it I would never have begun my exploration into 3D at all.
The PSP went (and still is going) through many of the same throes as the iPhone. I used to do some homebrew in the PSP scene as it was a great device, capable of so much, but the back and forth near war between Sony and homebrew developers, the annoyances of having to code around specific versions of the firmware, every little annoyance, it eventually just broke my will.
When Apple said they didn't mind the unlocked versions, I thought great, at least they're not going to purposely break compatibility like Sony did - there would at least have been hope for homebrew to develop then.
Not anymore...
I'm sorry, standard users can't deal with multiple firmware versions, multiple unlocks, and even the experienced users grow tired of it rapidly. Whilst the iPhone has more penetration and arguably more dedicated users than the PSP, this fact still does not change. If Apple want to, they will break the iPhone's compatibility, and it will eventually stay broken. The one advantage in the PSP community is you don't explicity need the latest firmwares for a fully functional PSP, but with the iPhone I fear that some of the firmware upgrades may become necessary to retain a fully operational phone. The PSP homebrew community did some amazing exploits to get homebrew access (the TIFF buffer overrun exploit for example), and for that I respect them all, but it will eventually all fall apart regardless.
We can all hope Apple come to their senses, but I fear it's unlikely...
Whilst a shame they had to change the project's name, the tenet of "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" still holds. It remains one of the best IM programs available across platforms.
Good name change too! Reminiscent of Perl - small, simple and altered just enough to distinguish itself from a common noun.
Just wandering, couldn't this be construed as fraud? Taken as an attempt to intentionally deceive people?
Obviously I hope and doubt that anything like that would happen, but I'm just curious if John McCain tries to make an example of this - as so many politicians try to do.
Isn't that an overly complicated solution? I haven't checked if this will work fully as I don't have access to working sendmail, but basically this Python script cronjobbed would do the same...
With all due respect to the man ...
on
Steve Irwin Dead
·
· Score: 1
With all due respect to the man, and all the sympathy to the family, I really won't miss Steve Irwin as an 'Australian symbol'.
As an Australian, he represents nothing of the life of an ordinary citizen, all he represented was a stereotypical archetype of what other people saw Australia as, not as a real Australian...
As I said, I give all due respect to the passing of a fellow man, but that dosen't mean I have to respect him as an 'Australian symbol'
A major site goes down, and not only does it make it as a front page article on Slashdot (fair enough I guess), but it's pretty much teased. I'm not here to preach about whether or not Myspace have a ridiculous setup, or whether they did have redundant servers and they could have been using the same power grid or anything of the sort, but I just have to ask...
Why is it so much fun to laugh at Myspace?
This is fabulous news. I own an early WRT54G which I use as a bridged PPPoE connection, and also as a router (both wireless and wired), and with custom firmware it performs a blindingly good job. As of right now, it has an uptime of just over a month, and I believe that was because of a powerout.
The original firmware was by no means pitiful, but it lacked a huge number of features that coders have 'rereleased', such as QoS, more advanced scripting abilities, better performance with BT and so on.
When I heard that they had moved to VxWorks, with no backwards compatibility with the custom firmware, I thought it was a stupid move. The firmware has improved immensely from the countless iterations created by outside coders, why not let that process continue?
Yes, I can see the advantage of it being a GPS receiver. In the right hands, it can mean a lot more safety. I'd even consider it!
The thing that got me was allows parents to decide who their children can call and when...
This isn't teaching your child anything, it's imposing it on them. They're limited by numbers as opposed to their common sense!
It's like my friend who was sent to bed by a (scarily) authoritive mother every night at 10pm. When he left home, he quickly hit a point of insomnia from his 'freedom' after staying up for days on end...
I'm just waiting for the chaos when these kids suddenly get these limits turned off...
While yes, your uncle being laid off is certainly not good, it's really not IBM's call at the moment.
My mum works at IBM and the IBM/Lenovo split is a very short time off now. This is the main transition point for the company. Your uncle losing his job most likely is that Lenovo is unwilling to hire him, not IBM 'firing' him.
IBM has been making hairline profits on their PCD section for years and years, under very heavy competition. They're changing their whole buisness setup. Losses are to be expected...
From what I read on the last Slashdot Mozilla/Firefox article, people thought that there were too many coders in Firefox, thus creating bloated code...
I guess that's a myth, eh? Community misconception?
As I heard at the AEAF (Australian Effects and Animation Festival), games sales may be higher, but the rights for Hollywood are much more flexible, for example.
Mainly, Hollywood can release a movie, get box office, sell the DVD, license the movie to networks, and sell other rights (for a TV show based on it, sequels), while a game sells and if it doesn't sell well, it's dead in the water
Mark Tilden, the designer of Robosapien (and of BEAM robotics for any of you who have heard of it) purposely left the Robosapien open for modification (god bless his soul ^_^) More people/companies should do this! =)
I'm actually quite interested in this, as I'm in the Australian Robocup Junior atm (Year 9) and this is a great platform to begin experimenting in bipedal robots. Heck, it could even begin it's own competition section (the robotic AIBO dogs have their own soccer competition)
Mark Tilden is also heavy researcher in the
biomorphic robotics field, and through his experiments he has essentially created the BEAM robotics field.
If you haven't ever looked at BEAM robots, DO! They're can be amazingly simple (start here) and can then lead up to quite advanced and fun projects in robotics! And did I mention they're cheap =)
Solarbotics, one of the best resources for BEAM robots I know of
Slashdot Mirror
Mod previous down, unescaped < killed a section :(
It really depends on what level you're at, and what you're aiming for, but I will say one thing however, if you are into programming do not separate the two - they can be done together to great effect.
Obviously this is only really for someone who can program, as that's the only viewpoint I have. Whilst I was young and had only just begun algebra I got into raytracing and similar computer graphics issues, and after a short time of reading what you will discover is that maths and computers graphics are integrally linked on so many levels.
To warm up, begin by programming the equivalent to a graphical calculator for 2D graphs - something that'll plot x^2 + y^2 < 5^2 (a sphere) or similar, and play around with simple Cartesian geometry (divide or multiply the x or y axis in the sphere's algorithm to stretch it etc). Then it's time to move on to the fun stuff, and where you really start to appreciate Cartesian geometry - a simple 3D raytracer.
Even the simplest 3D raytracer still means you have to learn and fully understand ray-sphere intersection (basically, whether or not a line intersects a sphere, and if so where) and that requires a respectable amount of math. By the end of it you may end up with something as simple looking as this but to see your math serve a purpose and come to life is really something.
By programming the math it actually forces you to understand what you're doing intimately, and whilst it can't necessarily replace the pen and paper in teaching it is certainly more interactive and more fun, and you'll never forget it =]
It really depends on what level you're at, and what you're aiming for, but I will say one thing however, if you are into programming do not separate the two - they can be done together to great effect.
Obviously this is only really for someone who can program, as that's the only viewpoint I have. Whilst I was young and had only just begun algebra I got into raytracing and similar computer graphics issues, and after a short time of reading what you will discover is that maths and computers graphics are integrally linked on so many levels.
To warm up, begin by programming the equivalent to a graphical calculator for 2D graphs - something that'll plot x^2 + y^2
Even the simplest 3D raytracer still means you have to learn and fully understand ray-sphere intersection (basically, whether or not a line intersects a sphere, and if so where) and that requires a respectable amount of math. By the end of it you may end up with something as simple looking as this but to see your math serve a purpose and come to life is really something.
By programming the math it actually forces you to understand what you're doing intimately, and whilst it can't necessarily replace the pen and paper in teaching it is certainly more interactive and more fun, and you'll never forget it =]
Where does it end?
This doesn't directly effect me as I don't live in the UK, but sure enough these same undercurrents are affecting my country as well. Terrorism is pushing rationality to breaking point. When I was 12 or 13 I read the Anarchist's Cookbook as well - curiosity gets you at that age. I had no plans to actually use anything from it, and it's unlikely that this kid did either. It's the same interests that lead me to the summer camp that taught us how to make gun powder (shock horror you say in this post 9/11 world!) - science, chemistry and that little pyromaniac who lives inside of every one of us.
The real worry that is brought forth here is that in this case merely the possession of knowledge is a crime. I'm sorry, but a chemistry book I have lists gunpowder and some pretty volatile reactions too - will they charge me with possession of that? I have another Manifesto - am I now a political dissident too? As they whittle down the prerequisites to treated as criminals we shall soon discover more and more of us come under scrutiny...
"In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, but I didn't speak up because I was a protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak for me."
PS. Sorry to Godwin this, but in this case it's actually relevant. =]
I'm glad that this is being serialized, Douglas Adams' work lives well in an audio form, and I'm sure the BBC will do it justice as they have his works in the past. I read Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency some time ago and it held up to all the expectations I had from Douglas Adams. If you've enjoyed any of his past works, or enjoy the kind of humour found in Terry Pratchett you'd find this fun.
This is honestly quite tailored to the scientific individual - the story focuses around a computer programmer (Richard MacDuff), an ongoing dilemma of Dirk Gently's great difficulty trying to track down a missing cat (Schrödinger's cat), an issue with the moving sofa problem (and how it was impossible for the sofa to actually become stuck in the first place) and for those who know of Coleridge's poetry (specifically The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan) you'll be in for quite a few twisting and entertaining surprises. There's also a time machine in there for kicks =]
Honestly, if the concept of a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunnit-time-travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic" interests you in any way, do yourself a favour and either listen in or buy the book - you won't be disappointed =] PS. I'm Australian (but with a strong grounding in American culture) and I didn't find too many 'Britishisms' in Dirk Gently... Maybe you're looking too hard? ^_^
First off, the name is a tad misleading, it's more "Major 3D Applications Comparison (including Blender)" as opposed to a focused against Blender - but that can be easily forgiven. What is good is that the author has used a wide range of industry standard tools (Maya, 3ds max and Lightwave etc) in everyday tasks, so it's not a fanboy style review where the outcome was and always would be 'Blender best'.
Blender is maturing well, especially considering if you look at the progress they've made since the code was first open sourced, and I'm confident that they will be able to continue this progress in to the future. I won't comment on the feature to feature comparison, I will just reiterate what the author said early on in the article - it's the artist not the tools - and in this case the an open source and free tool is sufficient to create some stunning art. Check out Elephant's Dream to see an example.
And my one note to those commenting later - the interface. Many people complain about the interface, how it's difficult to learn. Unfortunately, many of these people are trying to 'learn 3D' over the weekend - and I'm sorry, that won't happen, regardless of the package. To become truly proficient in any 3D software package takes a long time.
Overall however, I'm glad that Blender has progressed so well, and look forward to seeing it's progress in the future. Without it I would never have begun my exploration into 3D at all.I also see many people compare the UI disaster to that of GIMP - I don't think that's really an accurate comparison. Read reviews of people who have actually mastered the Blender UI and they will confess that once learned it is very effective. The author in the article also states this, with him saying that it's a "Fast workflow, (but) can be more intuitive".
I'm not saying the Blender user interface is perfect, or that improvement can't be made, merely that even in its current state, once learned and mastered it is a powerful tool.
The PSP went (and still is going) through many of the same throes as the iPhone. I used to do some homebrew in the PSP scene as it was a great device, capable of so much, but the back and forth near war between Sony and homebrew developers, the annoyances of having to code around specific versions of the firmware, every little annoyance, it eventually just broke my will.
When Apple said they didn't mind the unlocked versions, I thought great, at least they're not going to purposely break compatibility like Sony did - there would at least have been hope for homebrew to develop then.
Not anymore...
I'm sorry, standard users can't deal with multiple firmware versions, multiple unlocks, and even the experienced users grow tired of it rapidly. Whilst the iPhone has more penetration and arguably more dedicated users than the PSP, this fact still does not change. If Apple want to, they will break the iPhone's compatibility, and it will eventually stay broken. The one advantage in the PSP community is you don't explicity need the latest firmwares for a fully functional PSP, but with the iPhone I fear that some of the firmware upgrades may become necessary to retain a fully operational phone. The PSP homebrew community did some amazing exploits to get homebrew access (the TIFF buffer overrun exploit for example), and for that I respect them all, but it will eventually all fall apart regardless.
We can all hope Apple come to their senses, but I fear it's unlikely...
Whilst a shame they had to change the project's name, the tenet of "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" still holds. It remains one of the best IM programs available across platforms.
Good name change too! Reminiscent of Perl - small, simple and altered just enough to distinguish itself from a common noun.
Just wandering, couldn't this be construed as fraud? Taken as an attempt to intentionally deceive people?
Obviously I hope and doubt that anything like that would happen, but I'm just curious if John McCain tries to make an example of this - as so many politicians try to do.
Isn't that an overly complicated solution? I haven't checked if this will work fully as I don't have access to working sendmail, but basically this Python script cronjobbed would do the same...
msg = header+slashdot
#!/usr/bin/env python
import os, urllib
MAIL = "/usr/bin/sendmail"
header = """To: user@china.com
From: server@usa.com
Subject: Slashdot
"""
slashdot = urllib.urlopen("http://www.slashdot.org").read()
p = os.popen("%s -t" % MAIL, 'w')
p.write(msg)
p.close()
Sendmail code referenced from Sending email in Python
With all due respect to the man, and all the sympathy to the family, I really won't miss Steve Irwin as an 'Australian symbol'.
As an Australian, he represents nothing of the life of an ordinary citizen, all he represented was a stereotypical archetype of what other people saw Australia as, not as a real Australian...
As I said, I give all due respect to the passing of a fellow man, but that dosen't mean I have to respect him as an 'Australian symbol'
A major site goes down, and not only does it make it as a front page article on Slashdot (fair enough I guess), but it's pretty much teased. I'm not here to preach about whether or not Myspace have a ridiculous setup, or whether they did have redundant servers and they could have been using the same power grid or anything of the sort, but I just have to ask...
Why is it so much fun to laugh at Myspace?
This is fabulous news. I own an early WRT54G which I use as a bridged PPPoE connection, and also as a router (both wireless and wired), and with custom firmware it performs a blindingly good job. As of right now, it has an uptime of just over a month, and I believe that was because of a powerout.
The original firmware was by no means pitiful, but it lacked a huge number of features that coders have 'rereleased', such as QoS, more advanced scripting abilities, better performance with BT and so on.
When I heard that they had moved to VxWorks, with no backwards compatibility with the custom firmware, I thought it was a stupid move. The firmware has improved immensely from the countless iterations created by outside coders, why not let that process continue?
Yes, I can see the advantage of it being a GPS receiver. In the right hands, it can mean a lot more safety. I'd even consider it!
The thing that got me was allows parents to decide who their children can call and when... This isn't teaching your child anything, it's imposing it on them. They're limited by numbers as opposed to their common sense!
It's like my friend who was sent to bed by a (scarily) authoritive mother every night at 10pm. When he left home, he quickly hit a point of insomnia from his 'freedom' after staying up for days on end...
I'm just waiting for the chaos when these kids suddenly get these limits turned off...
While yes, your uncle being laid off is certainly not good, it's really not IBM's call at the moment.
My mum works at IBM and the IBM/Lenovo split is a very short time off now. This is the main transition point for the company. Your uncle losing his job most likely is that Lenovo is unwilling to hire him, not IBM 'firing' him.
IBM has been making hairline profits on their PCD section for years and years, under very heavy competition. They're changing their whole buisness setup. Losses are to be expected...
That's strange...
From what I read on the last Slashdot Mozilla/Firefox article, people thought that there were too many coders in Firefox, thus creating bloated code...
I guess that's a myth, eh? Community misconception?
Mainly, Hollywood can release a movie, get box office, sell the DVD, license the movie to networks, and sell other rights (for a TV show based on it, sequels), while a game sells and if it doesn't sell well, it's dead in the water
You've got other things to do than read Slashdot... Right? *cough cough*
Mark Tilden, the designer of Robosapien (and of BEAM robotics for any of you who have heard of it) purposely left the Robosapien open for modification (god bless his soul ^_^) More people/companies should do this! =)
I'm actually quite interested in this, as I'm in the Australian Robocup Junior atm (Year 9) and this is a great platform to begin experimenting in bipedal robots. Heck, it could even begin it's own competition section (the robotic AIBO dogs have their own soccer competition)
Mark Tilden is also heavy researcher in the biomorphic robotics field, and through his experiments he has essentially created the BEAM robotics field.
If you haven't ever looked at BEAM robots, DO! They're can be amazingly simple (start here) and can then lead up to quite advanced and fun projects in robotics! And did I mention they're cheap =)Solarbotics, one of the best resources for BEAM robots I know of
Robocup Official Website
Mark Tilden at WIKI