In my experience, the clickers give an unfair advantage to people with more friends in the class. Since professors usually use it to mandate attendance (making it worth some portion of the grade), a group of friends who take turns bringing each other's clickers to class (it happens all the time) can get all the attendance points without going to class as often. And they're slow to register with everyone trying to click at once, so in a class of 100, it takes more than 5 minutes for everyone to be able to answer one question with them. And the devices are expensive, and some of the companies also charge you for each semester that you use them.
Not virii! Viruses! Though there are no known uses of the plural of virus in Latin, it is believed to have been fourth declension, which would make the Latin plural, if it existed, virus. Regardless, since the Latin definition is not the same as the English definition, it is correct to use the regular English plural.
Ability to learn a language was found to be independent of childhood trauma. Children exposed to a language before puberty, regardless of abuse and other conditions, were all able to acquire a language, and those not exposed until later in life were not.
Also, language acquisition was found to be independent of ability to learn other skills, such as arithmetic. Language seems to be uniquely affected by a critical period.
The critical period theory, that a child can only acquire a first language until the beginning of puberty, has been confirmed in many case studies. For obvious ethical reasons, these experiments cannot be set up intentionally, but in cases such as a severely abused child who was never exposed to language until about age 10, a woman who was deaf until a surgery when she was 30, the peopl e who have not yet reached puberty are still able to learn a language normally, and the rest are not. I strongly recommend reading The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker if you are interested. Pinker also discusses differences between learning a language and learning other things. For example, in most other things children learn, they see exactly what is done and then mimic it. However, learning language also gives a child the ability to create a sentence he has never heard before. Additionally, language is learned with no formal instruction, whereas other skills must be taught actively.
Perhaps, someone can explain why the Department of Defense is still allowing overseas military personnel to cast their ballots by Internet on servers without any paper trail.
Unless more people start demanding that their rights be protected, the government isn't going to have enough care to do anything for them. And many people in the military probably don't even know that their rights are being violated, since people with technical knowledge are less likely to be in the military. Even though the sketchiness of it all is pretty obvious to most of us, the average person trusts their voting system to be secure. It's up to us to inform people otherwise.
All about programming, in the strictest sense of the word
Ignore messages
Compilers, operating systems, etc. generate error messages designed only to be read by their creators (maybe to justify their salaries). Precious time is wasted reading these messages; time that could be better spent... writing code, of course! Error messages make us less productive. Don't fall into the trap. Ignore them.
As for warning messages, ignoring them makes you feel like a professional programmer who's not scared of computers. What better way of showing one's experience as a programmer than delivering a program that generates dozens, no, hundreds of warning messages when it compiles without its author feeling the slightest bit concerned? Everyone can see that you're an experienced, laid-back programmer who is too busy to waste time on drivel.
Don't stop to think
Let's not kid ourselves here. What are we building? A program. What is the only thing that really matters in a program? Code. What really works? Code. Why use outdated resources like pencils, pens or paper? You are a paid-up member of the SMS generation; you don't make a fool of yourself writing time-consuming syllables, right? Then, stop messing around thinking about nothing when there's so much code to write.
You should never stop coding. We all know that error messages are an unacceptable interruption, a pointless obstacle as we go about our work. So what do you do if you get a compiler error message? As you should know by now, reading and understanding it is just not an option.
You can try making some random change to the source code. You never know, you might pull the wool over the compiler's eyes. But if this doesn't work, don't waste any more time. NO, don't be tempted by trying to read the message or understanding it. Just keep churning out code - that's the only way of finishing off this horrendous assignment. You'll get to sort the error out later on. And as we all know, errors tend to disappear by themselves if they're ignored. At the end of the day you'll compile, you'll run, and even if you had tested (not that you needed to) you'd have seen that everything was OK.
If the code compiles but does something wrong, it doesn't really matter; sort it out later, when it's finished. Anyway, you might get lucky and find out that the lecturers have changed the assignment outline and that it fits in with your program after all. So don't take the risk of fixing programs that seem to be off track - you might be wasting your time.
I don't want any trouble
If your program contains a bug that crops up every now and again, it will be difficult to find and it won't probably show up during the exam demo. Maybe it will disappear by itself. Don't worry. But if the bug comes up again and again, change things at random until it disappears. We've already said that pausing for thought is not an option. If you decide to get rid of the bug - simply because the urge takes you - just write the same code in different ways. Maybe the problem will disappear; something you'll have achieved without 1) understanding what caused it, and 2) having to stop writing code. Clearly, this is the most professional approach.
Don't compile on a regular basis, don't tiptoe your way forward. You're a professional and professionals take giant steps. Write thousands of lines of code first and leave the compiling for later; it will be far more entertaining and worthwhile to look for compiling errors.
The same rule applies for runtime errors. If you try to keep your program correct as it grows, it will be too easy to pinpoint a new bug. Only cowards do that. A real programmer writes the entire program and then digests it whole like a boa constrictor. Looking for a bug hidden in the last 10,000 lines is exciting but if there are only 10 or 20 lines, well, what fun is there in that?
And... why use debuggers? It's up to the lecturer to look for your bugs. Programming errors are the except
Maintaining and deploying useful FAQs can be a very tedious process. Luckily there are a number of open source FAQ generation and management tools out there that exist to try and make it a bit easier.
FAQs. No matter how you slice 'em up and package them, at the end of the day are all about content. That's where it gets a bit interesting to try and see what tool (if any) you should consider for your FAQ as there are obviously a number of different type of tools that exist to help manage content. Many of the popular open source content management will have rudimentary FAQ capabilities. That is, they'll have a module/block/content unit that is allocated in its structure for the admin to populate with content. On the other end of the spectrum are Wikis that are usually more general purpose and not specifically geared for FAQs, though often are used for that purpose.
Then of course there are the tools that supposedly have been specifically developed for FAQs, remarkably enough, these tend to have the word FAQ in their title. Projects, like FAQ-IT, Faq-O-Matic, piFAQ, makefaq and phpMyFaq populate the landscape.
For the most part though many of them are only simple page based content management tools that allow the admin to post their own list of questions and answers. Makefaq, for example, is a Python based tool that takes a text file and generates a nicely formatted FAQ page. PiFaq allows users a basic login functionality to update the FAQ remotely but it's still quite simple and basic.
FAQ-O-Matic is a bit more sophisticated in that it has a 'slicker' UI and a very usability-friendly default template, but still it's essentially a glorified text editor. Simple enough though I suppose it's still easier than manually coding pages and uploading, but who does that anymore anyway?
FAQs are of course, Frequently Asked Questions, so wouldn't it make sense for a FAQ application to be a collection of questions, user submitted or admin driven, with a top 5 listing of the most recently asked questions and a top 10 listing of the most actively viewed list of questions. That's where the "frequently" comes in.
PhpMyFAQ
That's the general idea behind phpMyFAQ which, in my opinion, stands out from the rest of the tools that claim to be FAQ focused. The version that I'm using at the time of writing this article is 1.4.1 and is licensed under the Mozilla Public License. phpMyFAQ runs on either Apache 1.3.x or 2.x, IIS, PHP 4.3.8 or greater (including PHP 5) and utilizes a MySQL database of 3.23.x or higher. Installation of phpMyFAQ is relatively straight forward, unpack the archive, set up the MySQL database and then run the included install script. It's that easy.
Setting up a FAQ in phpMyFAQ is a bit different than just a simple text file with a question and answer. This application is all about FAQ's and is, for lack of a better term, a content management system for question management. You'll notice this from the very first interface, the default template homepage, that literally shows visitors the most frequently asked and viewed questions on the site.
Users can add content, ask a question, and view open questions, as well as, search through the FAQ. Basic bread and butter stuff right? Don't worry it gets better, for the actual FAQ detail users can send the FAQ detail to a friend, view/save as a PDF, view a printer friendly version, export as XML, rate the FAQ detail and, based partially on the permission set-up by the admin, provide inline comments.
The admin interface is also jammed packed with features including user administration and tracking, database backup, export of your top 5 latest records and top 10 viewed entries to
It is unfair for tax money to pay for a service that is useless for most of its constituents. Only the people who can afford laptops will benefit from this. Do you really think that people living in poverty should have their taxes raised so rich people can get internet access in more public areas?
It seems like a Bad Idea to hire him right away, but it is unfair to assume that people never change. Maybe in a few years, if he gains some maturity, he could be trusted and could provide some important insights about security.
What similarities? That it is used to communicate (isn't it how one defines language)?
No. There are ways to communicate that are not considered a language by linguists. To be a language, it must be flexible enough to describe new concepts, not just repeat a few sentences over and over. It must have a grammar defining how the words interact with one another, and it must be abstract. Also, structural complexity is important.
Do they tend to put the subject in front of everything else? Every language does that (for obvious reasons...)
There is a difference between just coming up with a method of communication and a fully grammatical system. Being able to make enough gestures that someone can figure out what you want is not the same as having a consistent way to express complete sentences and convey abstract information. Holding your arms up for a hug is one thing; being able to explain completely new ideas is another. This article is more useful.
Emoticons and animated "emotions" inherently make people less able to convey their actual emotions. If you just use the best approximation out of a collection of pictures or animations to express yourself, you are limiting yourself much more. With words, you can say something that has never been said before to describe precisely what you're feeling. I don't see pictures doing that. While people who know you closely might be able to make correct inferences about your state of mind based on your use of these icons, the redundancy caused by everyone else in the world using them too makes this difficult for people who don't know you as well. Also, if the animations are actually supposed to be important in the context, the program is demanding a lot more of your attention, which would make many of us more reluctant to use it.
It seems like tracking eye movements would be a lot more effective, since you have a lot more control over which way you're looking than over whether you blink or sneeze. I used to volunteer at a summer school for disabled kids, and there was one child who couldn't speak or move his hands. He had a strip of paper with the letters on it and pictures of some commonly used words, and he was remarkably good at conveying information by looking at the words or letters he needed to use. And it's much easier to distinguish where a person's eyes are focused than to tell an intentional blink from an unintentional one. Tongue movements might also work, since most people have a high level of tongue mobility.
Everything they say about vegetables is wrong. When I was a kid, my mom always said if I ate my vegetables, I would grow up to be big and strong. Now I am 4'11 and I can bench press the bar. If spinach isn't good enough for me, then it's not good enough for my computer. Someone needs to find a way to power it with beef.
Yes, Ed Ryan, of KGB, gave him a Knoppix CD while other members of the organization held a Linux convention downstairs. How would they keep him away? They needed an audience and had no way of knowing which potential audience members would try something like that.
And I have had a CS class at CMU which forced me to use windows.
Of course people go to the recruitment events. Free food!
A handful of people actually go because they want to work for Microsoft, but most of the people are there to heckle and get free stuff. Microsoft shirts make great rugs. I always wanted to win a laptop in one of their raffles just so I could say I got a free laptop from Microsoft and put Linux on it.
At last year's recruiting speech, one of the people asked "How many of you have heard of the Blaster virus?" Everyone raised their hand. "How many of you hate Microsoft because of the Blaster virus?" The guy sitting next to me: "Just because of that?" Applause.
Yes. My friend and I tried that a bit, but it wasn't very successful, because you can't drag with the touchsceen. We just ended up with a bunch of different colored dots. It did not have minesweeper. And it didn't have any of the settings protected at all. I changed the date, time, color scheme, and background.
Slashdot Mirror
In my experience, the clickers give an unfair advantage to people with more friends in the class. Since professors usually use it to mandate attendance (making it worth some portion of the grade), a group of friends who take turns bringing each other's clickers to class (it happens all the time) can get all the attendance points without going to class as often. And they're slow to register with everyone trying to click at once, so in a class of 100, it takes more than 5 minutes for everyone to be able to answer one question with them. And the devices are expensive, and some of the companies also charge you for each semester that you use them.
Not virii! Viruses! Though there are no known uses of the plural of virus in Latin, it is believed to have been fourth declension, which would make the Latin plural, if it existed, virus. Regardless, since the Latin definition is not the same as the English definition, it is correct to use the regular English plural.
Arlen Specter
711 Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-4254
Dianne Feinstein
331 Hart Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-3841
Mike DeWine
140 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-231
Joe Biden
201 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-5042
Ability to learn a language was found to be independent of childhood trauma. Children exposed to a language before puberty, regardless of abuse and other conditions, were all able to acquire a language, and those not exposed until later in life were not.
Also, language acquisition was found to be independent of ability to learn other skills, such as arithmetic. Language seems to be uniquely affected by a critical period.
The critical period theory, that a child can only acquire a first language until the beginning of puberty, has been confirmed in many case studies. For obvious ethical reasons, these experiments cannot be set up intentionally, but in cases such as a severely abused child who was never exposed to language until about age 10, a woman who was deaf until a surgery when she was 30, the peopl e who have not yet reached puberty are still able to learn a language normally, and the rest are not. I strongly recommend reading The Language Instinct by Steven Pinker if you are interested. Pinker also discusses differences between learning a language and learning other things. For example, in most other things children learn, they see exactly what is done and then mimic it. However, learning language also gives a child the ability to create a sentence he has never heard before. Additionally, language is learned with no formal instruction, whereas other skills must be taught actively.
Perhaps, someone can explain why the Department of Defense is still allowing overseas military personnel to cast their ballots by Internet on servers without any paper trail. Unless more people start demanding that their rights be protected, the government isn't going to have enough care to do anything for them. And many people in the military probably don't even know that their rights are being violated, since people with technical knowledge are less likely to be in the military. Even though the sketchiness of it all is pretty obvious to most of us, the average person trusts their voting system to be secure. It's up to us to inform people otherwise.
All about programming, in the strictest sense of the word
... writing code, of course! Error messages make us less productive. Don't fall into the trap. Ignore them.
Ignore messages
Compilers, operating systems, etc. generate error messages designed only to be read by their creators (maybe to justify their salaries). Precious time is wasted reading these messages; time that could be better spent
As for warning messages, ignoring them makes you feel like a professional programmer who's not scared of computers. What better way of showing one's experience as a programmer than delivering a program that generates dozens, no, hundreds of warning messages when it compiles without its author feeling the slightest bit concerned? Everyone can see that you're an experienced, laid-back programmer who is too busy to waste time on drivel.
Don't stop to think
Let's not kid ourselves here. What are we building? A program. What is the only thing that really matters in a program? Code. What really works? Code. Why use outdated resources like pencils, pens or paper? You are a paid-up member of the SMS generation; you don't make a fool of yourself writing time-consuming syllables, right? Then, stop messing around thinking about nothing when there's so much code to write.
You should never stop coding. We all know that error messages are an unacceptable interruption, a pointless obstacle as we go about our work. So what do you do if you get a compiler error message? As you should know by now, reading and understanding it is just not an option.
You can try making some random change to the source code. You never know, you might pull the wool over the compiler's eyes. But if this doesn't work, don't waste any more time. NO, don't be tempted by trying to read the message or understanding it. Just keep churning out code - that's the only way of finishing off this horrendous assignment. You'll get to sort the error out later on. And as we all know, errors tend to disappear by themselves if they're ignored. At the end of the day you'll compile, you'll run, and even if you had tested (not that you needed to) you'd have seen that everything was OK.
If the code compiles but does something wrong, it doesn't really matter; sort it out later, when it's finished. Anyway, you might get lucky and find out that the lecturers have changed the assignment outline and that it fits in with your program after all. So don't take the risk of fixing programs that seem to be off track - you might be wasting your time. I don't want any trouble
If your program contains a bug that crops up every now and again, it will be difficult to find and it won't probably show up during the exam demo. Maybe it will disappear by itself. Don't worry. But if the bug comes up again and again, change things at random until it disappears. We've already said that pausing for thought is not an option. If you decide to get rid of the bug - simply because the urge takes you - just write the same code in different ways. Maybe the problem will disappear; something you'll have achieved without 1) understanding what caused it, and 2) having to stop writing code. Clearly, this is the most professional approach.
Don't compile on a regular basis, don't tiptoe your way forward. You're a professional and professionals take giant steps. Write thousands of lines of code first and leave the compiling for later; it will be far more entertaining and worthwhile to look for compiling errors.
The same rule applies for runtime errors. If you try to keep your program correct as it grows, it will be too easy to pinpoint a new bug. Only cowards do that. A real programmer writes the entire program and then digests it whole like a boa constrictor. Looking for a bug hidden in the last 10,000 lines is exciting but if there are only 10 or 20 lines, well, what fun is there in that?
And... why use debuggers? It's up to the lecturer to look for your bugs. Programming errors are the except
It's slowing down, so here's the text:
Maintaining and deploying useful FAQs can be a very tedious process. Luckily there are a number of open source FAQ generation and management tools out there that exist to try and make it a bit easier.
FAQs. No matter how you slice 'em up and package them, at the end of the day are all about content. That's where it gets a bit interesting to try and see what tool (if any) you should consider for your FAQ as there are obviously a number of different type of tools that exist to help manage content. Many of the popular open source content management will have rudimentary FAQ capabilities. That is, they'll have a module/block/content unit that is allocated in its structure for the admin to populate with content. On the other end of the spectrum are Wikis that are usually more general purpose and not specifically geared for FAQs, though often are used for that purpose.
Then of course there are the tools that supposedly have been specifically developed for FAQs, remarkably enough, these tend to have the word FAQ in their title. Projects, like FAQ-IT, Faq-O-Matic, piFAQ, makefaq and phpMyFaq populate the landscape.
For the most part though many of them are only simple page based content management tools that allow the admin to post their own list of questions and answers. Makefaq, for example, is a Python based tool that takes a text file and generates a nicely formatted FAQ page. PiFaq allows users a basic login functionality to update the FAQ remotely but it's still quite simple and basic.
FAQ-O-Matic is a bit more sophisticated in that it has a 'slicker' UI and a very usability-friendly default template, but still it's essentially a glorified text editor. Simple enough though I suppose it's still easier than manually coding pages and uploading, but who does that anymore anyway?
FAQs are of course, Frequently Asked Questions, so wouldn't it make sense for a FAQ application to be a collection of questions, user submitted or admin driven, with a top 5 listing of the most recently asked questions and a top 10 listing of the most actively viewed list of questions. That's where the "frequently" comes in.
PhpMyFAQ
That's the general idea behind phpMyFAQ which, in my opinion, stands out from the rest of the tools that claim to be FAQ focused. The version that I'm using at the time of writing this article is 1.4.1 and is licensed under the Mozilla Public License. phpMyFAQ runs on either Apache 1.3.x or 2.x, IIS, PHP 4.3.8 or greater (including PHP 5) and utilizes a MySQL database of 3.23.x or higher. Installation of phpMyFAQ is relatively straight forward, unpack the archive, set up the MySQL database and then run the included install script. It's that easy.
Setting up a FAQ in phpMyFAQ is a bit different than just a simple text file with a question and answer. This application is all about FAQ's and is, for lack of a better term, a content management system for question management. You'll notice this from the very first interface, the default template homepage, that literally shows visitors the most frequently asked and viewed questions on the site.
Users can add content, ask a question, and view open questions, as well as, search through the FAQ. Basic bread and butter stuff right? Don't worry it gets better, for the actual FAQ detail users can send the FAQ detail to a friend, view/save as a PDF, view a printer friendly version, export as XML, rate the FAQ detail and, based partially on the permission set-up by the admin, provide inline comments.
The admin interface is also jammed packed with features including user administration and tracking, database backup, export of your top 5 latest records and top 10 viewed entries to
It is unfair for tax money to pay for a service that is useless for most of its constituents. Only the people who can afford laptops will benefit from this. Do you really think that people living in poverty should have their taxes raised so rich people can get internet access in more public areas?
It seems like a Bad Idea to hire him right away, but it is unfair to assume that people never change. Maybe in a few years, if he gains some maturity, he could be trusted and could provide some important insights about security.
What similarities? That it is used to communicate (isn't it how one defines language)?
No. There are ways to communicate that are not considered a language by linguists. To be a language, it must be flexible enough to describe new concepts, not just repeat a few sentences over and over. It must have a grammar defining how the words interact with one another, and it must be abstract. Also, structural complexity is important.
Do they tend to put the subject in front of everything else? Every language does that (for obvious reasons...)
False. Tagalog puts the predicate first.
There is a difference between just coming up with a method of communication and a fully grammatical system. Being able to make enough gestures that someone can figure out what you want is not the same as having a consistent way to express complete sentences and convey abstract information. Holding your arms up for a hug is one thing; being able to explain completely new ideas is another. This article is more useful.
Emoticons and animated "emotions" inherently make people less able to convey their actual emotions. If you just use the best approximation out of a collection of pictures or animations to express yourself, you are limiting yourself much more. With words, you can say something that has never been said before to describe precisely what you're feeling. I don't see pictures doing that. While people who know you closely might be able to make correct inferences about your state of mind based on your use of these icons, the redundancy caused by everyone else in the world using them too makes this difficult for people who don't know you as well. Also, if the animations are actually supposed to be important in the context, the program is demanding a lot more of your attention, which would make many of us more reluctant to use it.
How do I find one of those people who will tell their passwords for chocolate?
It seems like tracking eye movements would be a lot more effective, since you have a lot more control over which way you're looking than over whether you blink or sneeze. I used to volunteer at a summer school for disabled kids, and there was one child who couldn't speak or move his hands. He had a strip of paper with the letters on it and pictures of some commonly used words, and he was remarkably good at conveying information by looking at the words or letters he needed to use. And it's much easier to distinguish where a person's eyes are focused than to tell an intentional blink from an unintentional one. Tongue movements might also work, since most people have a high level of tongue mobility.
Everything they say about vegetables is wrong. When I was a kid, my mom always said if I ate my vegetables, I would grow up to be big and strong. Now I am 4'11 and I can bench press the bar. If spinach isn't good enough for me, then it's not good enough for my computer. Someone needs to find a way to power it with beef.
Yes, Ed Ryan, of KGB, gave him a Knoppix CD while other members of the organization held a Linux convention downstairs. How would they keep him away? They needed an audience and had no way of knowing which potential audience members would try something like that.
And I have had a CS class at CMU which forced me to use windows.
Of course people go to the recruitment events. Free food! A handful of people actually go because they want to work for Microsoft, but most of the people are there to heckle and get free stuff. Microsoft shirts make great rugs. I always wanted to win a laptop in one of their raffles just so I could say I got a free laptop from Microsoft and put Linux on it. At last year's recruiting speech, one of the people asked "How many of you have heard of the Blaster virus?" Everyone raised their hand. "How many of you hate Microsoft because of the Blaster virus?" The guy sitting next to me: "Just because of that?" Applause.
Incorrect. But I probably know who you think I am.
Seriously, there are no steam tunnels. But there are some really long broom closets. You can go in one and come out in a different building.
There are no steam tunnels at Carnegie Mellon.
It didn't have Minesweeper or Solitaire! Was much entertaining though.
Yes. My friend and I tried that a bit, but it wasn't very successful, because you can't drag with the touchsceen. We just ended up with a bunch of different colored dots. It did not have minesweeper. And it didn't have any of the settings protected at all. I changed the date, time, color scheme, and background.
More at http://midnightspaghetti.com/news.htm.