The same can be said about any language. If you're worried about writing applications and not scripts, read up on using modules in perl. They're a bit wordier than C++ and Java style classes, but they can also be used as non-oop libraries or used to extend other modules without repeating yourself or building a huge class tree.
You'll also be much happier if you start using DBIx::Class instead of pure DBI; it's the best object-relational mapping I've found in any language thus far.
I agree that the previous guy's code is always worse than your own (I fully expect my replacement to curse my name), but in at least my current situation, I can point at solid evidence to support my claim. Examples:
* magic numbers throughout, like using 99 to indicate some sort of failure or returning -6 on a particular sort of error * lack of documentation on said magic numbers, leaving the next coder to figure out wtf they're for * variable names like "string" * a series of variable names called "email1", "email2", "email3", and so on * global variables *everywhere*. * 500 line function named "process". * display code mixed with business logic mixed with DB calls * no code branching, files were copied and pasted, generally without changing the description at the top (which included filename and purpose)
So yes, while I know my code certainly has its own problems, I am 100% sure that my code is more readable, more maintainable, and more correct than the previous guy's. This is not arrogance on my part, this is a solid knowledge of good programming practice and the ability to see systemic disregard for them.
On the topic of TFA, I have actually introduced separate development and release branches in source control, forced the use of an auditable/reversible process to deploy code, and am working on retiring a lot of legacy crap in favour of a third-party MVC framework. So it can be done, if your managers are open minded and you can make a decent business case for doing so.
Re:Couple Thoughts
on
Where are Wii?
·
· Score: 1, Informative
Let's compare apples to apples:
xbox360 bundle with forza 2 and marvel ultimate alliance: $350 3 additional wireless controllers: $50 x 3 = $150 wireless network adaptor: $100 xbox LIVE subscription: $50/y
And you're at $570 without buying any meaningful games, at regular retail price. Toss in sales tax and a handful of games, you've already broken $700. So it's not like 360s or ps3s are cheap to start with, at least not the way most people set them up.
Apparently everyone you know is writing JS the way they learned on internet forums in 1998. Ecmascript is actually a wonderfully consistent and logical language. Once you get over a fear of prototype-based OOP, and once you quit using global variables, it's awesome. How many other languages let you extend the behaviour of the built-in data types?
As for browser incompatibilities, you're free to write your own code to abstract that away, or you could use any one of prototype.js, mootools, scriptaculous, yahoo uilibs, dojo, ajaxtk, and so on. Using a library like these is equivalent to using the C++ STL; while you *can* reimplement all of that from scratch, you're much better off using a well-supported and cross-browser library to do it.
You certainly have your troll hat on today! Some comparisons with XP:
* plug in a USB memory stick, make some changes, rady to take it out. In Ubuntu, "Safely remove" is one click away in the context menu, and does exactly what you would expect. XP pops up some unintelligble menu of USB root devices and it's 3 clicks until you get to remove it. * plug in a USB printer. In Ubuntu 7.10, it appears in your printer list automatically. In XP, you have to find the drivers, install the drivers, finish the "new hardware wizard"... * need more multimedia codecs? In ubuntu, it'll prompt you to install them, then do so. In XP, you have to search the web for them, install some third-party software, repeat until you find some that work. * want to edit a.doc or a.ppt? In ubuntu, OpenOffice is installed by default. In XP, you have to go buy a retail box of Office 2003/2007/etc. * install/update/remove thousands of third party applications. In ubuntu, it's all in the package manager, there's a "new updates notifier", and there's no reboot unless you upgrade to the newest version of the OS. In windows, you only get updates for Microsoft products, and those all require a reboot (and upgrading to the latest OS requires $400 and yet more CDs). * 3d desktop effects - ubuntu 7.10 has 3d desktop effects enabled by default, where your virtual desktops are on a spinning cube, windows can be consumed by flames when you close them, and there's 3 or 4 alternatives to boring old alt-tab. Windows Vista can give you an orthographic view of your windows when you hit alt-tab and that's about it. XP doesn't have such effects(a small percentage of which improve productivity) and it never will. * migration - Ubuntu can find and import many settings and files from your windows drive during install. XP just barely acknowledges that other OSes exist, and will blow away other partitions unless you've partitioned in a very particular way.
For all purposes other than games, Ubuntu has long since been surpass XP in usability and user friendliness. "Average users" are not doing those things that require XP; average users surf the net, send email, and write word documents.
The main reason not to add more TLDs is because they make phishing easier. It's like the old whitehouse.com versus whitehouse.gov thing; people are more likely to go to the wrong site if the link differs only by a TLD.
This likely won't be an issue with dot-asia domains, but it is a reason not to add a bunch more TLDs to the already fairly meaningless list.
Changes in physical characteristics as an individual ages are entirely unrelated to evolution, which is tied to reproduction in groups (as already pointed out). Because individuals (even reptiles) generally reproduce when young, anything that happens to them after that is basically ignored by evolution.
Windows is still less stable than any other modern OS; while it's more stable than any previous MS offering, that's hardly saying much. My linux computers stay on for months at a time with no issues; I have to reboot my windows computers once a week or they slow to a crawl (never mind patch-and-reboot tuesdays!).
XP is *not* really good, it is merely good *enough*.
All of the best programmers I know are lazy; it's the well-meaning hard-working ones who duplicate functionality, write large fragile functions to solve a single case of a generic problem, and who create difficult and obscure interfaces. Laziness encourages you to let the computer do those things that it is good at, encourages code re-use, and encourages using built-in features wherever possible.
The only case where you should be managing your own memory is in embedded programming or high-performance applications. Since TFM is about a *web browser*, neither of those apply. It doesn't really matter to the average person whether firefox leaks memory or not; they care if it is able to correctly render their homepage. It's a smart move for FF to have concentrated on Getting It Working first, since that's the constraint that will actually determine their product's success or failure.
It won't hit "Aroused Aardvark" for another 20 releases, since the first letter is incrementing sequentially through the alphabet. "Horny Hippo" is still a possibility though!
Agreed - the OS talks to the hardware, and javascript can't. While it might be a window manager, it's not an OS. Claiming otherwise is like claiming that the 1/40 scale model of a plane you have in your carry-on is the reason you are flying through the air.
It appears that the manual for Unix "First Edition" (1971) makes no mention of the password being encrypted in/etc/passwd, so it may have been stored in plaintext at that time.
However, the manual for 7th edition Unix (1979) specifically states that/etc/passwd contains the encrypted passwords. So, Unix had been encrypting passwords on disk for at least 12 years before Linux existed. The GP appears to be making things up.
Getting to a console and editing xorg.conf should *always* be the primary means of configuration for a desktop machine! However, it should not be the *only* means of configuring things. It's great to have a GUI for noobs and lazy people (myself included), but human-editable config files mean that you can still fix things when even "safe mode" fails.
Not only that -- these new tags can greatly reduce the bloat in a website by neatly summing up what used to be done in crappy nested tables with a single new tag.
I would love to buy one for my parents, because then they will have someone to call with support questions other than me. They don't want to learn linux, they want a usable computer. So yes, these *are* the same as any OEM OS, which is a very good thing for linux.
(I am waiting impatiently for dell to offer them in canada).
Whenever I am replying to an idiotic user request and I'm worried that my sarcasm levels might set off some alarms, I add a smiley. It keeps the user off-guard, and allows me to get away with being a bastard. Example:
We've successfully restored the 20Gigs of files that you accidentally deleted. Feel free to let me know if it happens again!:)
You may want to re-read some of those communications without the smileys, and see if they take on a more ominous tone.
"SSH is great but it's available for Windows. There no Remote Desktop equivalent for Linux in terms of accessibility and usability. VNC lags, terminal isn't the ideal solution either."
"available for" and "installed by default and easily enabled" are entirely different things. I have tried many methods of running an ssh server in windows XP, and it is painful no matter which method you use.
As another reply states, the NoMachine remote desktop solution is an excellent remote desktop solution. It is basically compressed/optimised X11, and it is much faster than bitmap-based windows Remote Desktop. (I am aware that there is some new version of RDP that addresses at least some of the performance/latency problems, but I haven't used it yet).
"Google it? At the consumer level I don't think you can argue that Linux is ahead of Windows in terms of hardware discovery."
Googling for a driver is not user-friendly; my statement about linux having already autodetected the hardware and enabled it *without user intervention* still stands.
/ posting from an Acer laptop running ubuntu without hibernate/suspend issues, without random freezes, and with functioning multimedia keys.
There's also a lot of bad stuff in windows, which is what is being dismissed. Meanwhile, you are too quick to dismiss linux:
a) but linux has ssh, which is far easier than having to remote desktop in to do most tasks. Forcing users to run a full GUI to copy a file is terrible design. b) and windows 95 borrowed heavily from Mac OS and OS/2. Vista is borrowing heavily from OSX and Beryl/Compiz. Not an argument. c) see b) above. d) the power of X11 comes from a separation between what is being drawn and the hardware involved; remote X11 connections are just an instance of this. GDI is a different way of abstracting that information. Besides, regular users don't care *how* it's being drawn. e) From it's inception, directX was considered inferiour to openGL by all of the big gaming houses. DirectX's popularity is a product of marketing. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_OpenGL_ and_Direct3D for some background). f) it is now 2007, and linux is far ahead of windows in hardware discovery, and with a few exceptions doesn't even require you to install drivers (now where's the win98 driver floppy for my printer?). g) you haven't used adept or any of the other modern package managers, clearly. I can install thousands of packages with just a few clicks (and then walk away to have a coffee), or a single command line if I prefer. Windows still requires manual downloading, inserting CDs, clicking through msis and installshields, manual dependency resolution, manual package updating... Kubuntu has a "new package notifier" in the system tray that will not only tell me what OS components need updating, but also which games/office suites/perl modules/utilities/etc can be updated, and which still gives me complete control over what I want to install.
Your FUD is several years out of date. Please try a modern linux distro and come back with some valid complaints.
Your average computer user doesn't go to the store to pick up windows; windows comes on the computer they just bought, and they don't know that they have any other options. The problem is not the number of distros; the problem is the lack of distros pre-installed on OEM computers.
Plus, if you're not happy with a particular distro, you can try another one, for free, and with a minimum of effort. I've gone through 3 or 4 over the years before sticking with Kubuntu.
As a web developer, the only browser share stat I care about is the decline of IE6. I can develop a website that works in safari, opera, firefox, and IE7 without pain or suffering. I then have to take 10 times as long to get it to work in IE6. Hoping for "standard browser engine" is stupid because we already *have* standards that all of the other major browsers are obeying; all we need to do is get rid of the non-standards-conformant browser that currently has ~40% market share. This is why any decline in IE, especially IE6, is stuff that matters to me.
I'm curious, which wii games are you basing these statements on? I can only assume that you do own a wii, since you are commenting as if that is the case...
Slashdot Mirror
The same can be said about any language. If you're worried about writing applications and not scripts, read up on using modules in perl. They're a bit wordier than C++ and Java style classes, but they can also be used as non-oop libraries or used to extend other modules without repeating yourself or building a huge class tree.
You'll also be much happier if you start using DBIx::Class instead of pure DBI; it's the best object-relational mapping I've found in any language thus far.
I agree that the previous guy's code is always worse than your own (I fully expect my replacement to curse my name), but in at least my current situation, I can point at solid evidence to support my claim. Examples:
* magic numbers throughout, like using 99 to indicate some sort of failure or returning -6 on a particular sort of error
* lack of documentation on said magic numbers, leaving the next coder to figure out wtf they're for
* variable names like "string"
* a series of variable names called "email1", "email2", "email3", and so on
* global variables *everywhere*.
* 500 line function named "process".
* display code mixed with business logic mixed with DB calls
* no code branching, files were copied and pasted, generally without changing the description at the top (which included filename and purpose)
So yes, while I know my code certainly has its own problems, I am 100% sure that my code is more readable, more maintainable, and more correct than the previous guy's. This is not arrogance on my part, this is a solid knowledge of good programming practice and the ability to see systemic disregard for them.
On the topic of TFA, I have actually introduced separate development and release branches in source control, forced the use of an auditable/reversible process to deploy code, and am working on retiring a lot of legacy crap in favour of a third-party MVC framework. So it can be done, if your managers are open minded and you can make a decent business case for doing so.
Let's compare apples to apples:
xbox360 bundle with forza 2 and marvel ultimate alliance: $350
3 additional wireless controllers: $50 x 3 = $150
wireless network adaptor: $100
xbox LIVE subscription: $50/y
And you're at $570 without buying any meaningful games, at regular retail price. Toss in sales tax and a handful of games, you've already broken $700. So it's not like 360s or ps3s are cheap to start with, at least not the way most people set them up.
Apparently everyone you know is writing JS the way they learned on internet forums in 1998. Ecmascript is actually a wonderfully consistent and logical language. Once you get over a fear of prototype-based OOP, and once you quit using global variables, it's awesome. How many other languages let you extend the behaviour of the built-in data types?
As for browser incompatibilities, you're free to write your own code to abstract that away, or you could use any one of prototype.js, mootools, scriptaculous, yahoo uilibs, dojo, ajaxtk, and so on. Using a library like these is equivalent to using the C++ STL; while you *can* reimplement all of that from scratch, you're much better off using a well-supported and cross-browser library to do it.
http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2006/02/16/javascript-libraries-and-patterns-yahoo-does-ajax/
You certainly have your troll hat on today! Some comparisons with XP:
.doc or a .ppt? In ubuntu, OpenOffice is installed by default. In XP, you have to go buy a retail box of Office 2003/2007/etc.
* plug in a USB memory stick, make some changes, rady to take it out. In Ubuntu, "Safely remove" is one click away in the context menu, and does exactly what you would expect. XP pops up some unintelligble menu of USB root devices and it's 3 clicks until you get to remove it.
* plug in a USB printer. In Ubuntu 7.10, it appears in your printer list automatically. In XP, you have to find the drivers, install the drivers, finish the "new hardware wizard"...
* need more multimedia codecs? In ubuntu, it'll prompt you to install them, then do so. In XP, you have to search the web for them, install some third-party software, repeat until you find some that work.
* want to edit a
* install/update/remove thousands of third party applications. In ubuntu, it's all in the package manager, there's a "new updates notifier", and there's no reboot unless you upgrade to the newest version of the OS. In windows, you only get updates for Microsoft products, and those all require a reboot (and upgrading to the latest OS requires $400 and yet more CDs).
* 3d desktop effects - ubuntu 7.10 has 3d desktop effects enabled by default, where your virtual desktops are on a spinning cube, windows can be consumed by flames when you close them, and there's 3 or 4 alternatives to boring old alt-tab. Windows Vista can give you an orthographic view of your windows when you hit alt-tab and that's about it. XP doesn't have such effects(a small percentage of which improve productivity) and it never will.
* migration - Ubuntu can find and import many settings and files from your windows drive during install. XP just barely acknowledges that other OSes exist, and will blow away other partitions unless you've partitioned in a very particular way.
For all purposes other than games, Ubuntu has long since been surpass XP in usability and user friendliness. "Average users" are not doing those things that require XP; average users surf the net, send email, and write word documents.
How many people do you think even read the fucking article? Like hell they're going to read the actual release.
The main reason not to add more TLDs is because they make phishing easier. It's like the old whitehouse.com versus whitehouse.gov thing; people are more likely to go to the wrong site if the link differs only by a TLD.
This likely won't be an issue with dot-asia domains, but it is a reason not to add a bunch more TLDs to the already fairly meaningless list.
Changes in physical characteristics as an individual ages are entirely unrelated to evolution, which is tied to reproduction in groups (as already pointed out). Because individuals (even reptiles) generally reproduce when young, anything that happens to them after that is basically ignored by evolution.
Windows is still less stable than any other modern OS; while it's more stable than any previous MS offering, that's hardly saying much. My linux computers stay on for months at a time with no issues; I have to reboot my windows computers once a week or they slow to a crawl (never mind patch-and-reboot tuesdays!).
XP is *not* really good, it is merely good *enough*.
All of the best programmers I know are lazy; it's the well-meaning hard-working ones who duplicate functionality, write large fragile functions to solve a single case of a generic problem, and who create difficult and obscure interfaces. Laziness encourages you to let the computer do those things that it is good at, encourages code re-use, and encourages using built-in features wherever possible.
The only case where you should be managing your own memory is in embedded programming or high-performance applications. Since TFM is about a *web browser*, neither of those apply. It doesn't really matter to the average person whether firefox leaks memory or not; they care if it is able to correctly render their homepage. It's a smart move for FF to have concentrated on Getting It Working first, since that's the constraint that will actually determine their product's success or failure.
It won't hit "Aroused Aardvark" for another 20 releases, since the first letter is incrementing sequentially through the alphabet. "Horny Hippo" is still a possibility though!
Agreed - the OS talks to the hardware, and javascript can't. While it might be a window manager, it's not an OS. Claiming otherwise is like claiming that the 1/40 scale model of a plane you have in your carry-on is the reason you are flying through the air.
It appears that the manual for Unix "First Edition" (1971) makes no mention of the password being encrypted in /etc/passwd, so it may have been stored in plaintext at that time.
/etc/passwd contains the encrypted passwords. So, Unix had been encrypting passwords on disk for at least 12 years before Linux existed. The GP appears to be making things up.
However, the manual for 7th edition Unix (1979) specifically states that
Refs:
http://www.cs.bell-labs.com/who/dmr/
http://plan9.bell-labs.com/7thEdMan/v7vol1.pdf
Getting to a console and editing xorg.conf should *always* be the primary means of configuration for a desktop machine! However, it should not be the *only* means of configuring things. It's great to have a GUI for noobs and lazy people (myself included), but human-editable config files mean that you can still fix things when even "safe mode" fails.
Not only that -- these new tags can greatly reduce the bloat in a website by neatly summing up what used to be done in crappy nested tables with a single new tag.
I would love to buy one for my parents, because then they will have someone to call with support questions other than me. They don't want to learn linux, they want a usable computer. So yes, these *are* the same as any OEM OS, which is a very good thing for linux.
(I am waiting impatiently for dell to offer them in canada).
yes, they are that clueless.
You may want to re-read some of those communications without the smileys, and see if they take on a more ominous tone.
Um, blizzard uses bittorrent, they did not embrace-and-extend their own protocol.
"SSH is great but it's available for Windows. There no Remote Desktop equivalent for Linux in terms of accessibility and usability. VNC lags, terminal isn't the ideal solution either."
"available for" and "installed by default and easily enabled" are entirely different things. I have tried many methods of running an ssh server in windows XP, and it is painful no matter which method you use.
As another reply states, the NoMachine remote desktop solution is an excellent remote desktop solution. It is basically compressed/optimised X11, and it is much faster than bitmap-based windows Remote Desktop. (I am aware that there is some new version of RDP that addresses at least some of the performance/latency problems, but I haven't used it yet).
"Google it? At the consumer level I don't think you can argue that Linux is ahead of Windows in terms of hardware discovery."
Googling for a driver is not user-friendly; my statement about linux having already autodetected the hardware and enabled it *without user intervention* still stands.
/ posting from an Acer laptop running ubuntu without hibernate/suspend issues, without random freezes, and with functioning multimedia keys.
There's also a lot of bad stuff in windows, which is what is being dismissed. Meanwhile, you are too quick to dismiss linux:
_ and_Direct3D for some background).
a) but linux has ssh, which is far easier than having to remote desktop in to do most tasks. Forcing users to run a full GUI to copy a file is terrible design.
b) and windows 95 borrowed heavily from Mac OS and OS/2. Vista is borrowing heavily from OSX and Beryl/Compiz. Not an argument.
c) see b) above.
d) the power of X11 comes from a separation between what is being drawn and the hardware involved; remote X11 connections are just an instance of this. GDI is a different way of abstracting that information. Besides, regular users don't care *how* it's being drawn.
e) From it's inception, directX was considered inferiour to openGL by all of the big gaming houses. DirectX's popularity is a product of marketing. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_OpenGL
f) it is now 2007, and linux is far ahead of windows in hardware discovery, and with a few exceptions doesn't even require you to install drivers (now where's the win98 driver floppy for my printer?).
g) you haven't used adept or any of the other modern package managers, clearly. I can install thousands of packages with just a few clicks (and then walk away to have a coffee), or a single command line if I prefer. Windows still requires manual downloading, inserting CDs, clicking through msis and installshields, manual dependency resolution, manual package updating... Kubuntu has a "new package notifier" in the system tray that will not only tell me what OS components need updating, but also which games/office suites/perl modules/utilities/etc can be updated, and which still gives me complete control over what I want to install.
Your FUD is several years out of date. Please try a modern linux distro and come back with some valid complaints.
Depends which side you're on...
Your average computer user doesn't go to the store to pick up windows; windows comes on the computer they just bought, and they don't know that they have any other options. The problem is not the number of distros; the problem is the lack of distros pre-installed on OEM computers.
Plus, if you're not happy with a particular distro, you can try another one, for free, and with a minimum of effort. I've gone through 3 or 4 over the years before sticking with Kubuntu.
As a web developer, the only browser share stat I care about is the decline of IE6. I can develop a website that works in safari, opera, firefox, and IE7 without pain or suffering. I then have to take 10 times as long to get it to work in IE6. Hoping for "standard browser engine" is stupid because we already *have* standards that all of the other major browsers are obeying; all we need to do is get rid of the non-standards-conformant browser that currently has ~40% market share. This is why any decline in IE, especially IE6, is stuff that matters to me.
I'm curious, which wii games are you basing these statements on? I can only assume that you do own a wii, since you are commenting as if that is the case...