Perhaps the more important question is: How important is your education to you? If you're just doing it to get a certification / something to put on your resume, that's a vastly different area than if you *really are* serious about your education. If time isn't a big concern, I'd recommend bribing your local perl guru with a 12-pack of his beverage of choice to get him to go with you to the bookstore and pick something out he feels covers the material well and you like it's style (some people like the * for dummies series, others like the thick tech reference books). Honestly, the most efficient and effective way to learn computers, IMO is to bug somebody who already knows what you want to know... and ask them to help you. Don't be afraid to ask for help - believe me, it will save YEARS off your education!!! I am always milking anyone I know for info about their college, where they went, what they liked / disliked... I trade books with people... I am constantly swapping information. As a result, I can pick things up alot quicker than the people who just read the book and then think they know it. I'm talking to the people who do know it.. they can tell me what's important, and what's not. They can tell me where to look for information, and how to conceptualize complex things (try learning object oriented programming from a book if you wanna know what the definition of "hell" is).
Really.. I picked up C++ in about 4 months (the basics now, people) and went on to write a 1500 line program (mp3db - get it @ freshmeat). How'd I do that? Simple.. I bugged the crap out of all my programmer friends for algorithm books, I literally inhaled C++ Primer Plus, etc.
I have a linux-based toilet. It's fully open-source, although it sometimes crashes, requiring unclog.sh (it's equivalent of fsck) to be run. We're having trouble finding developers. The code base is still alittle messy, but we're certain once we make the system boot cleanly that'll change....
*groan* How many "linux-based" products can we have that have little to do with linux but are, infact riding the "open source / free software paradigm"(tm)(c)(r)??
=) Something I once read about engineering - "too much reality can doom an otherwise worthwhile design". Maybe it'll work, maybe not. I can tell you the program can map out simple algebra pretty quick (about a minute or so).. and even if it can't factor primes, it'll likely raise cain on alot of other things! We've fed it a list of primes and let it run overnight. It's been making small improvements. It started at a fitness of 8 and slid down to a 4.7 over a 24 hour period. I wish we had some time on a supercomputer to run this - we could find out right away whether it would work or not.:(
No matter what, it'll be a crazy ride, and useful to somebody out there!
Okay... I inserted my foot firmly into my mouth there. But still, I'm looking forward to doing this via the GPL - I think it'll be a blast.. even if the whole thing fails miserably due to some of the problems you outlined on the link you provided. =) May my code compile cleanly, my fingers move deftly, and the whole thing segfault quickly.
*groan* distributed.net has been running closed clients for awhile now. What I wouldn't give to know what makes those things tick. Well, time for a shameless plug... a friend of mine (and myself!) are working on a program that has some rather, ummm, interesting features. Namely it's distributed processing (hence the post under this thread!). What makes it cool is that a) we're releasing it under GPL, and b) has never been done before.
You see, my friend has thrown some genetic programming together with some math syntax checking / validation and created a novel program that can reverse-engineer algorithms. You give it the inputs you fed the "black box" and the output(s) it produced, and it divines what algorithm was used to do it. You can immediately see the benefits here. So I thought I'd plug it - it's a helluva lot more flexible than distributed.net (anybody can run a server - you got the source!), it's free, and it may be one of the first so-called 'software patents' to be licensed under GPL (as soon as I have some spare $$$, I might just do that too!). Oh yes... did I mention we're cooking some algorithms right now that'll hopefully let you find primes on a linear timescale instead of exponential? *evil grin* Noooo Mr. NSA... that's not *my* algorithm.... =)
If anybody's interested in pitching in, we could use a few extra hands getting the code all nice and prrrty and out into the hands of fellow slashdotters. =) mail me!
Rarely? I aced a Access 97 intermediate course, I know all the shortcuts in MS-Word, I routinely give advice to people using excel... I've created powerpoint presentations for vice presidents. Yeah. I know nothing about Office. Look, it ain't the greatest program ever. It's a bloated, slow, and unstable suite of software (when working with large and/or complex documents - simple ones don't count).
But it's still the standard, and since our company standardized on it, I got no choice but to learn it, and use it. But don't tell me for a second I don't know anything about it!
Patent everything. If you can use a mouse with it - patent it.
If your product sucks, blame Microsoft. Even if it doesn't, Microsoft is the reason nobody knows about it.
Use atleast seven of the following buzzwords in any promotional material. Super PHBs comb for this stuff via keywords, and you DO want your website to show up, right? Paradigm, proactive, "think outside the box", revolutionary, third-wave, interactive, multimedia, 3D, any word with i, e, or x in it. For example: iBrain, e-data, or Xtreme.
Your HTML code should suck - amazon.com, microsoft.com, networksolutions.com, yahoo.com - all their HTML sucks. Yours should too.
Get vulture capital, and then immediately go to IPO (see this example) without creating a product. Claim your business is riding the 'bleeding edge' of technology, and products are obsolete - you sell ideas, not products!
Run linux. Hey, with Microsoft on the out-and-out, it helps to run an OS loved by millions. Try to get it linked to slashdot too. Get an interview if they won't post it and convince them you have a new "open source" methodology to designing websites!
Marketing, marketing, marketing. You can't go wrong with huge banners proclaiming you're THE hip business to do business with on the 'net. Just don't claim you invented the internet unless you're running for president. Everything else is 'OK'.
Whatever you lack in content - make up for it in huge flashing banner ads and broken HTML that only renders correctly once in a blue moon. Web surfers love to see people using technology so new they can't even view it!
I'm sorry if my opinions are popular.. and that I'm often right. If this hurts your feelings, that's just a damn shame. And if my karma is really getting on your nerves, you'd probably really be pissed to know I honestly don't care about karma. Really. Just ask Kitsume (Hey, I know you're out there reading this!). And this one's really gonna blow your skirt up - I'm not even posting that often! Go see for yourself - I only post about 3 times a day!
And also why they're partnering with Cisco - a popular brand in corporations... and why they've filed numerous patents over directory tech... and why... Yeah.. the writing's on the wall, but the linux nuts have been so focused on the "internet" they forgot about all the related technology. There was a protocol called DAV I believe which Apache has begun implimenting. This is part of the MS push to dominate the intranet market. Working with MS is like playing a chess game.. you don't know what's gonna happen in 10 moves...
To answer another slashdot reader's question about who Japan would be in O'Reilly's analogy, I believe that would be Intel.
Back to my comments now - he's right about everything except one. Microsoft is winning hand over fist in the intranet market. By standardizing on one browser, one OS, and one platform, companies can more easily deploy things onto the intranet - add hooks to MS-word documents, place Powerpoint presentations and Excel worksheets about company performance on the intranet, and do collaborative projects.
By combining "directory" functionality into NT5 and W2K like LDAP only a thousand-fold more complex, Microsoft will gain in the intranet market what it lost in the internet market - control over the protocols and clients. They have a solid browser now... a full-featured office suite that blows the competition out of the water (hey - I don't care what you think about Microsoft; MSO is a damn good product, minus that damned Clippy guy).
The war is very much still on. We can't keep the internet open forever if all the networks connecting to it have Microsoft as their gatekeeper.
Minneapolis,MN -- In a suprising show of force today, over 35,000 linux users in the Twin Cities turned out to protest what they believe is unfair use of intellectual property. Several members were arrested for indecency after, quote: "using a higher grade of toilet paper to show them we care". The situation has piqued several news sites, including a "nerds for news" site owned by bendover.net(NASDAQ: BOVR). However, not everybody is upset about it. The Montana Freemen, a radical right militia organization announced that they now had, quote: "plenty of things to do". Microsoft spokesmen were not available for comment, although several burned ties were found at the site of the demonstration, as well as a "crud puppy".
Thank you, that was very informative. I wish I could score you to +5, you deserve it. And I will e-mail you off slashdot - I find such material facinating in the extreme. Kudos!
Facinating. Most founders don't make the transition so quickly to let somebody take over. Either Redhat is moving far ahead of schedule, or something forced him out of the spot early.
Slashdot Mirror
Really.. I picked up C++ in about 4 months (the basics now, people) and went on to write a 1500 line program (mp3db - get it @ freshmeat). How'd I do that? Simple .. I bugged the crap out of all my programmer friends for algorithm books, I literally inhaled C++ Primer Plus, etc.
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I'm starting to wonder if a few well-known OSS projects aren't in dire need of a few featurectomies (case in point: emacs)....
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*groan* How many "linux-based" products can we have that have little to do with linux but are, infact riding the "open source / free software paradigm"(tm)(c)(r)??
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Umm, I know it's censured and wasn't posted, but hey.. the unaltered photo is here. If this offends - tough.
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Insert your foot into your mouth. Witness this. Search freshmeat for mp3db for more info. =)
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No matter what, it'll be a crazy ride, and useful to somebody out there!
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Okay... I inserted my foot firmly into my mouth there. But still, I'm looking forward to doing this via the GPL - I think it'll be a blast.. even if the whole thing fails miserably due to some of the problems you outlined on the link you provided. =) May my code compile cleanly, my fingers move deftly, and the whole thing segfault quickly.
--
*groan* distributed.net has been running closed clients for awhile now. What I wouldn't give to know what makes those things tick. Well, time for a shameless plug... a friend of mine (and myself!) are working on a program that has some rather, ummm, interesting features. Namely it's distributed processing (hence the post under this thread!). What makes it cool is that a) we're releasing it under GPL, and b) has never been done before.
You see, my friend has thrown some genetic programming together with some math syntax checking / validation and created a novel program that can reverse-engineer algorithms. You give it the inputs you fed the "black box" and the output(s) it produced, and it divines what algorithm was used to do it. You can immediately see the benefits here. So I thought I'd plug it - it's a helluva lot more flexible than distributed.net (anybody can run a server - you got the source!), it's free, and it may be one of the first so-called 'software patents' to be licensed under GPL (as soon as I have some spare $$$, I might just do that too!). Oh yes... did I mention we're cooking some algorithms right now that'll hopefully let you find primes on a linear timescale instead of exponential? *evil grin* Noooo Mr. NSA... that's not *my* algorithm.... =)
If anybody's interested in pitching in, we could use a few extra hands getting the code all nice and prrrty and out into the hands of fellow slashdotters. =) mail me!
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As an official Satanic Solution Provider (SSP), I'd like to interest you in our line of UpYours software products...
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Sounds like an industrial-sized LART. Perfect. =)
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Yeah, I was just making reference to the inevitable "oh boy, wouldn't it be great if we could make a beowulf of x?!" AC comments. =)
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Had to be said.... BEOWULF! Okay, mark me down now. =)
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But it's still the standard, and since our company standardized on it, I got no choice but to learn it, and use it. But don't tell me for a second I don't know anything about it!
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Hi! Thanks for viewing my user info. I know you hate me for my karma, my good looks, my comments, whatever. I'm just too sexy for my shell.
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I've already suggested it, several times!!!!
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*pause* BUWHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!
I'm sorry if my opinions are popular.. and that I'm often right. If this hurts your feelings, that's just a damn shame. And if my karma is really getting on your nerves, you'd probably really be pissed to know I honestly don't care about karma. Really. Just ask Kitsume (Hey, I know you're out there reading this!). And this one's really gonna blow your skirt up - I'm not even posting that often! Go see for yourself - I only post about 3 times a day!
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Office is the standard.
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And also why they're partnering with Cisco - a popular brand in corporations... and why they've filed numerous patents over directory tech... and why... Yeah.. the writing's on the wall, but the linux nuts have been so focused on the "internet" they forgot about all the related technology. There was a protocol called DAV I believe which Apache has begun implimenting. This is part of the MS push to dominate the intranet market. Working with MS is like playing a chess game.. you don't know what's gonna happen in 10 moves...
--
Back to my comments now - he's right about everything except one. Microsoft is winning hand over fist in the intranet market. By standardizing on one browser, one OS, and one platform, companies can more easily deploy things onto the intranet - add hooks to MS-word documents, place Powerpoint presentations and Excel worksheets about company performance on the intranet, and do collaborative projects.
By combining "directory" functionality into NT5 and W2K like LDAP only a thousand-fold more complex, Microsoft will gain in the intranet market what it lost in the internet market - control over the protocols and clients. They have a solid browser now... a full-featured office suite that blows the competition out of the water (hey - I don't care what you think about Microsoft; MSO is a damn good product, minus that damned Clippy guy).
The war is very much still on. We can't keep the internet open forever if all the networks connecting to it have Microsoft as their gatekeeper.
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Minneapolis,MN -- In a suprising show of force today, over 35,000 linux users in the Twin Cities turned out to protest what they believe is unfair use of intellectual property. Several members were arrested for indecency after, quote: "using a higher grade of toilet paper to show them we care". The situation has piqued several news sites, including a "nerds for news" site owned by bendover.net(NASDAQ: BOVR). However, not everybody is upset about it. The Montana Freemen, a radical right militia organization announced that they now had, quote: "plenty of things to do". Microsoft spokesmen were not available for comment, although several burned ties were found at the site of the demonstration, as well as a "crud puppy".
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Thank you, that was very informative. I wish I could score you to +5, you deserve it. And I will e-mail you off slashdot - I find such material facinating in the extreme. Kudos!
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Facinating. Most founders don't make the transition so quickly to let somebody take over. Either Redhat is moving far ahead of schedule, or something forced him out of the spot early.
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My only question is why? Will he be stepping down from other projects (the MAPS RBL?) as well? More details! More details!
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All I gotta say is that if the RIAA doesn't approve it.. I won't buy it. =)
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