What are the advantages/disadvantages of Eiffle compared to languages such as Ruby or Python?
Eiffel is designed for large-scale programming. For that purpose it has strong typing, generics (roughly: C++ templates done right), a good module system, design by contract (rougly: assertions on class members). All in all it is a well-designed language with two big flaws: it has a quirky syntax (sometimes different for the sake of it), and it is not popular; the price of the official compiler doesn't help.
Python is in its own way also a well-designed language, but you don't want to write large programs in it, i.e. software that requires a team to implement. I don't know Ruby, but I suspect the same applies.
Eiffel is also interesting in that the designer has never released a really free version of the compiler. Usually that is deadly for an obscure language. After all who would be mad enough to pay for a compiler without knowing the language? Somehow Mr. Meyer has earned his living all these years selling Eiffel compilers. I don't know any other language designers that have managed this.
The 64-bit version used about 15% more memory than the 32-bit version. But it was also 20% percent faster. That still puzzles me, because the server does not perform any 64-bit operations.
One posibility is that the 64-bit version had better instruction-cache behaviour, because fewer `hot' code segments were fighting for the same cache lines.
What is this country coming to! A company should have every right to defend its trademark against confusion. This website has serious potential to confuse the highly illiterate market segment that Microsoft aims for!
Come on, be reasonable. Even slashdotters can spell better than this.
The hinge fault and the motherboard fault are more frequently reported, but my previous iBook had a third variant of the problem: the video chip got partially disconnected by a motherboard that flexed too much. Distinguishing this problem from the hinge problem is easy: if wiggling the lid makes the problem appear or disappear, it's probably the hinge, if applying pressure to bottom of the iBook under the left palm rest helps, it's probably the video chip. I don't know how to recognize any other motherboard problems, but if it can be fixed with a bypass it must be a third version of the problem: the loose video chip can only be repaired by resoldering, but since it's a BGA chip that is impossible to do with ordinary tools.
I tried to repair it, but the only thing that fixed it permanently was forcing the control signal of the backlight (a PCM signal) to maximum by soldering a pullup resistor at a strategic point in the lid. I deliberately leave it as vague as this: you really should know what you're doing when you try this, and you should be able to fill in the details yourself. Google is your friend.
Have any of you iBook-owning Slashdot readers had to repair your iBook like this? Any hints? If my repair is successful I'll surely snap a bunch of pictures and make a website, as this is a problem that affects a lot of iBook owners."
Some repairs are documented online, but more are always welcome.
Disassembling an iBook is hard; reassembling it is even harder. Unless you really, really, REALLY know what you're doing, you're shouldn't try this. Even professional repairmen consider it a difficult machine to work on.
If you still want to do it, the procedure is roughly: remove bottom case, bottom shield, top case, top shield to expose the motherboard. Illustrations can be found online, but be prepared for surprises, in particular lots of sticky tape and screws at weird places. Most importantly: carefully document the origin of every screw you remove. I find it helpful to keep the screws from different disassembly steps separate, so that a sanity check can be done for each step of reassembly.
The video chip is located on the bottom side of the motherboard, under the harddisk, but again, resoldering a loose chip requires professional equipment. The wire loom to the display starts roughly under the 's' key, and goes through the left side of the hinge.
On the other hand, if your loved ones got killed just because they boarded the wrong bus at the wrong time you'd contemplate bulldozering some houses as well. That doesn't mean it is a good idea.
The problem with Israel and the Palestinians is that there are two very sad stories: the inhuman treatment of the Palestinians by the Israelis, and the inhuman treatment of the Israelis by the Palestinians.
Anyone who ignores the suffering of one of these sides deserves contempt. That goes for fanatics on both sides, and for anyone shouting cheap slogans in favor of one side.
Wide-eyed idealism? Perhaps, but this mess will only ever get solved when enough people on both sides have the courage to protest against the inhumanities of their own side.
Copyright infringement is wrong, just because its not having a negative affect on sales doesnt mean its ok to continue copying
Yes, but lying is also wrong. Even if it is about the causes of declining CD sales.
What always gets me is the stupidity of the lies. They always sound only marginally plausible, and you just know things are not as simple as all that. Do these people realize how narrow-minded and insincere they sound? Do they even realize they are lying, or do they believe their own spin?
I could now mention SCO and WMD, but those are just extreme examples of the same principle.
Simple math, but how much of the 300 watts is used for an idling PC, and what's the average cost per kwh?
My pretty average 700MHz Athlon box running Linux consumes rougly 90W when idle, and 110W when doing something useful (e.g. compiling). It can also enter a sleep mode from which it can wake instantaneously (20W), and a powered `off' mode (5W).
So my box consumes nearly 880KWh per year in idle mode, 175KWh in sleep mode, and 43KWh in powered `off' mode.
Of course this is very much dependent on the components that you use. Processor power consumption is obviously important, but harddisks, video cards and even memory also require quite some power.
Ooooh, that's a tough one. I must choose between a government that wants to provide good health care, medicine and social welfare, and one that wants to provide for the corporations with the largest bribing^Wlobbying budget. Yeah, real tough choice. Give me a second here, will you?
Capitalism is rapidly becoming a monopoly, so competition from other economical systems is good. And for software the socialist system evidently works very well.
I always find it ironic that for a lot of people competition at the product level is a Good Thing, but at a more abstract level (between economical systems themselves), it is suddenly Evil.
It's like Saab, Volvo, Rover, and Bang & Olufssen.
Either you keep on raving about how good, comfortable, and well-designed the computer/car/stereo is, or you keep on raving about how idiots with too much money keep falling for the same con job again and again.
Put another way: with products like this, you also buy a piece of art. Some people see that as an excellent way to make life more enjoyable, others see it as an embarrasing waste of money.
Slashdot Mirror
Eiffel is designed for large-scale programming. For that purpose it has strong typing, generics (roughly: C++ templates done right), a good module system, design by contract (rougly: assertions on class members). All in all it is a well-designed language with two big flaws: it has a quirky syntax (sometimes different for the sake of it), and it is not popular; the price of the official compiler doesn't help.
Python is in its own way also a well-designed language, but you don't want to write large programs in it, i.e. software that requires a team to implement. I don't know Ruby, but I suspect the same applies.
Eiffel is also interesting in that the designer has never released a really free version of the compiler. Usually that is deadly for an obscure language. After all who would be mad enough to pay for a compiler without knowing the language? Somehow Mr. Meyer has earned his living all these years selling Eiffel compilers. I don't know any other language designers that have managed this.
One posibility is that the 64-bit version had better instruction-cache behaviour, because fewer `hot' code segments were fighting for the same cache lines.
Or perhaps the equivalent in the data cache.
Come on, be reasonable. Even slashdotters can spell better than this.
I tried to repair it, but the only thing that fixed it permanently was forcing the control signal of the backlight (a PCM signal) to maximum by soldering a pullup resistor at a strategic point in the lid. I deliberately leave it as vague as this: you really should know what you're doing when you try this, and you should be able to fill in the details yourself. Google is your friend.
Have any of you iBook-owning Slashdot readers had to repair your iBook like this? Any hints? If my repair is successful I'll surely snap a bunch of pictures and make a website, as this is a problem that affects a lot of iBook owners."
Some repairs are documented online, but more are always welcome.
Disassembling an iBook is hard; reassembling it is even harder. Unless you really, really, REALLY know what you're doing, you're shouldn't try this. Even professional repairmen consider it a difficult machine to work on.
If you still want to do it, the procedure is roughly: remove bottom case, bottom shield, top case, top shield to expose the motherboard. Illustrations can be found online, but be prepared for surprises, in particular lots of sticky tape and screws at weird places. Most importantly: carefully document the origin of every screw you remove. I find it helpful to keep the screws from different disassembly steps separate, so that a sanity check can be done for each step of reassembly.
The video chip is located on the bottom side of the motherboard, under the harddisk, but again, resoldering a loose chip requires professional equipment. The wire loom to the display starts roughly under the 's' key, and goes through the left side of the hinge.
The problem with Israel and the Palestinians is that there are two very sad stories: the inhuman treatment of the Palestinians by the Israelis, and the inhuman treatment of the Israelis by the Palestinians. Anyone who ignores the suffering of one of these sides deserves contempt. That goes for fanatics on both sides, and for anyone shouting cheap slogans in favor of one side.
Wide-eyed idealism? Perhaps, but this mess will only ever get solved when enough people on both sides have the courage to protest against the inhumanities of their own side.
Yes, but lying is also wrong. Even if it is about the causes of declining CD sales.
What always gets me is the stupidity of the lies. They always sound only marginally plausible, and you just know things are not as simple as all that. Do these people realize how narrow-minded and insincere they sound? Do they even realize they are lying, or do they believe their own spin?
I could now mention SCO and WMD, but those are just extreme examples of the same principle.
My pretty average 700MHz Athlon box running Linux consumes rougly 90W when idle, and 110W when doing something useful (e.g. compiling). It can also enter a sleep mode from which it can wake instantaneously (20W), and a powered `off' mode (5W).
So my box consumes nearly 880KWh per year in idle mode, 175KWh in sleep mode, and 43KWh in powered `off' mode.
Of course this is very much dependent on the components that you use. Processor power consumption is obviously important, but harddisks, video cards and even memory also require quite some power.
Ooooh, that's a tough one. I must choose between a government that wants to provide good health care, medicine and social welfare, and one that wants to provide for the corporations with the largest bribing^Wlobbying budget. Yeah, real tough choice. Give me a second here, will you?
I always find it ironic that for a lot of people competition at the product level is a Good Thing, but at a more abstract level (between economical systems themselves), it is suddenly Evil.
It's like Saab, Volvo, Rover, and Bang & Olufssen.
Either you keep on raving about how good, comfortable, and well-designed the computer/car/stereo is, or you keep on raving about how idiots with too much money keep falling for the same con job again and again.
Put another way: with products like this, you also buy a piece of art. Some people see that as an excellent way to make life more enjoyable, others see it as an embarrasing waste of money.