This is why computer programming in school needs to be carefully targeted and introduced, not applied to every single student like history or math. As I've stated elsewhere, programming is art, not science. You don't require every last student to be a musician, so why require them to be a programmer? You want to expose every student to some sort of music, just in case they might like it and be good at it, but not everyone's cut out for it. Good programmers think differently from other people. They find the challenge of "thinking like a computer" isn't a challenge at all, but comes naturally. In the words of an old pop song by Al Stewart, "If it doesn't come naturally, leave it."
Bought a C-64 and 1541 disk drive back when they first came out and taught myself BASIC and Assembly Language with the help of books and articles from RUN magazine. Eventually wrote a few articles and programs (Runterm was one of mine) for RUN, as well as a couple of small commercial programs (Colorez was one of mine as well). Even to this day, I'm at my best when I teach myself a new computer language and start using it for a project, whether that language is Object Pascal (aka "Delphi"), C++ or C#. Today, I do work for state governments and large international corporations. I think I've got the whole programming thing down.
Programming, IMHO, isn't science. It isn't math (I'm terrible at math), it's art. You can't really learn to be a musician or an artist in a classroom. Sure, a teacher can instruct you in the techniques, but your heart and soul has to be in it first. Oh, sure, expose kids to computer programming early so they can see if it interests them, but don't ruin the experience by reducing it to "name the five..." or "what is the difference between..." questions. You either learn something to know and master it, or you learn something to take a test on it. You can't do both.I know that from personal experience.
You don't need any special tools or programs to disable Windows Update in Windows 10 Home. Just go into Services and disable the Windows Update service itself. Best plan is to keep it disabled until a few weeks after each major update (when you know that the update won't bork your system), turn it back on, do the update manually, then turn it off again until after the next month's Patch Tuesday. Put an icon for Services on the desktop to make life easier. In addition, make sure you enable setting a restore point during a Windows Update in case something still goes wrong. Remember: Paranoia means never having to say you're sorry!
I disable the Windows Update service until about a week or so after the release of a major update. Then, as long as I haven't seen any reports of people complaining about their machines breaking, I turn the service back on, get the update, and turn it back off again. It's a PITA, but it's better than the alternative.
Oh, I also changed the default setting in Windows 10 to create a restore point automatically prior to applying an update. Windows 10 has that turned off for some reason.
Ah, no, that's not our future. In ten years global conflict, greed, and social pushback will cause civilization to collapse, reducing the world to an agrarian economy similar to the mid-nineteenth century. Technology of all sorts will be condemned as the cause of our problems, to which the solution will be ignorance, intolerance, and cultural isolation. Anyone who disagrees with the opinion of the majority will be purged from society. As a result, all digital Timelines will simply... end.
On a more positive note, at least the Net Neutrality debate will end as well.
No violence, no meanness, no cruelty. Teach kids that the world doesn't revolve around them. If they're polite, considerate of others, say "please" and "thank you", then the world may give them some of what they want. If, on the other hand, they're demanding, insulting, and inconsiderate of others, they end up kissing an unyielding brick wall. Sort of like the golden rule turned on its side: you get what you give, no exceptions. And you know what the hardest part of this principle is? Mom and Dad have to practice it themselves every day. Kids imitate the parents, so if you spank and yell at them, well, guess what? You're teaching them that violence is perfectly okay. You can do whatever you want to others as long as you're bigger or are in a position of authority. Cause... meet Effect.
The first question to come to my mind is who has the patents on this animal, and how long will it be before the lawsuits begin? They'll probably wait until the new format is firmly established on the Internet before springing the "gotcha" on folks.
My personal favorite is from "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival: "There's a bathroom on the right" instead of "There's a bad moon on the rise."
I'm with you on this. As a programmer, the thing I hate the most is "Gee, Mom, look what I can do!" code -- obtuse code written to impress rather than be simple, obvious and functional. And yes there are indeed times when something mind-bendingly complex is needed to achieve the required goal, but by and large, the KISS principle applies. As to the article's main point, I have to ask what is the purpose of breaking backward compatibility: Making it faster to produce readable, easily maintainable code, being the first one on the block to use something new and shiny, or simply to appear to be one of the Elite? Always keep in mind, however, that programing is more an art than a science, and creativity often comes from the simplest of tools, not the most expensive or the trendiest. And creativity is why we fiddle with all these bits, right?
As a wise old woman once said to me: "It ain't so old when you get there." Never give up and never give in. I have plans to go bungee jumping on my 100th birthday. Geronimo!
Bur how often do you need to understand those things to implement a typical computer program that helps a user get something done? Oftentimes, you simply need to know one is better than another and get on with it. Of course, you'd need that understanding to, for example, work on the TrueCrypt sourcecode. But generally? I don't think so/
Programming isn't, strictly speaking, math. Not like calculus or algebra is math. It's something else entirely.
I have a rather annoying learning disability, and have suffered from it since I was in first grade: I have a great difficulty memorizing things. Now, even with that rather annoying problem, I managed to be near the top of the class in both grade school and high school. What happened is I learned early on how to analyze the patterns behind the subjects I was expected to memorize and when test-time came was able to reconstruct most of the required information based on those patterns. Perfect example of this is spelling. I figured out what phoenetic combinations ruled English, and used them to pass tests. Armed with those rules, I only had to remember one or two odd words per week. In history, I found myself being able to understand and explain historical trends and influences. Names and Dates, on the other hand, gave me (literally) a headache. Simple math was easy (just a small number of consistent rules, after all). Sort of. Word problems in math, on the other hand, were difficult at best.
After I graduated college, I bought myself a Commodore 64 (they were just on the market) and dove right into both Basic and Assembly language. Both were easy for me to analyze and comprehend. Logic may be a branch of mathematics, but to me it's more obvious than anything in the math textbooks. Calculus is (for me) as obtuse and illogical as it gets. "If a water tank with a height of 15 feet and a circumference of 20 feet is 2/3 full of water, with a 1/8 inch hole a foot above the bottom, how long will it take the water level to drop to the hole?" Just plug the hole, whydoncha? Jeez!
Interestingly enough, I also have problems with computer word problems. Just give me the code (any code -- C, C++, C#, pascal, basic, assembler, SQL) and a little time, and I'll tell you what's causing the bug you're seeing. Now, after all these years, I'm the one everyone comes to when faced with an intractable computer problem that no one else seems able to solve. And I still don't like math.
I'll do you one better. My dumbphone costs me $100 US a year for voice and messages (I turn text messages off, though -- the phone's too small to type on with my fat thumbs), and any money I don't spend on calls gets rolled over to the next year. The phone doesn't use data, and I don't need it to. Email and Internet's what my laptop is for. Why would I want to spend $35 each month when what I've got now is more than I need? Oh, and that $35 is just the starting point. After you add state and federal fees, it's more like $50 a month.
I'd file this under the "Gee, mom, look what I can do" school of programming. It makes the assumption that every Linux user in the known universe has a smartphone and enough data minutes left in the month to play around with a QR code and a web page. I'm a great believer in the "KISS" principle: Keep It Simple! Your powerful computer just fell down and can't get up, so now you want to make it create and display a fancy bit of graphics? This sort of error is too important to rely on playing "stupid computer tricks"! What if it's a text-only server installation and there *is* no GUI available to display the QR? What if displaying the QR code *itself* causes an error? I'd hate to be using version 1 of *this* change! Besides, this sort of fancy error display belongs in User space, not the Kernel (IMHO). Simplifying the error message with ordinary, everyday language the user can actually write down with (gasp) pencil and paper is a much better approach than trying to impress people with how 1337 you are./rant
When I was a teenager, I made copies of streaming audio all the time... using a reel-to-reel tape recorder and a pair of alligator clips attached to the speakers of a table radio -- all to capture the latest "top 40" pop tunes in glorious monophonic sound. That was back in the sixties, and the music world didn't come to an end because I didn't spend money I didn't have in the first place, nor did the huge multinational music companies crash and burn in bankruptcy. However, later on, when I *did* have money to spend I collected thousands of record albums and 45's. Even later, I re-purchased everything on CD's.
Tell me again why this sort of recording activity is *costing* companies money? Seems to me that it's more of an investment in the future.
Until the 1990's, the main route between Philadelphia and Atlantic City had at least two Roundabouts. The earliest time I remember seeing them was during the late 1950's as a passenger in my parent's car. So, this is not a new invention this side of the Pond, but an old one that has been tried and abandoned after decades of use. I had the opportunity to drive this route before they were both redesigned, and I can tell you that the design is only effective when traffic is very minimal. It's extremely hazardous with high traffic volume.
The State of New Jersey clearly knows this, as does any American driver who has experienced what I believe is a misguided attempt at a "Can't we all get along" society. If you've ever seen the original Death Race 2000 movie, or played the Carmageddon series of video games, then you know what the highways are like in the Philadelphia area.
Properly configured traffic lights are much preferred to the risk of physical harm the Roundabout represents.
Everybody's supposed to be using a touch-screen tablet or smartphone these days. Didn't you get the tweet? Why else do you think Gnome 3 and Unity were invented? Next up, Windows 8 with an enlarged version of the Win Phone 7 tile interface to replace that old computer-desktop GUI.
Blu-Ray is pretty much useless for me, and not just because of the high disk cost or DRM-created issues.
First, all the televisions in my house are standard definition, the largest being 32 inches diagonal, the remainder 12 inches. Without large high-def screens, there's just no point as up-converted DVD's look fine. I suspect a lot of people are in the same boat.
Second, my son and I watch all our TV/movies on our computer screens, in a tiny window while we're doing something else. Now, what is the advantage of Blu-Ray once again?
Blu-Ray was invented by electronic companies to get us to re-purchase all of our movies, nothing more. If that works, they'll re-release them again in 3D. If it doesn't work, they'll blame piracy for the failure.
I'm reminded of the Tram Cars that traverse the boardwalk in Wildwood, N.J.. Anyone who has ever vacationed there knows well the sound of a woman calling out (via a recording) "Watch the Tram Car, please", since they've been doing that (with the same woman's voice) for at least 50 years now. Since the woman is still alive that recorded it all those years ago, it'd be a hoot to hear her voice coming out of every Prius that passes by.
I'm still on 2000, you insensitive clod! I'm planning to *upgrade* to XP in the next year or so. Provided my hardware can run it, that is. Everyone knows that XP is a resource hog.:)
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This is why computer programming in school needs to be carefully targeted and introduced, not applied to every single student like history or math. As I've stated elsewhere, programming is art, not science. You don't require every last student to be a musician, so why require them to be a programmer? You want to expose every student to some sort of music, just in case they might like it and be good at it, but not everyone's cut out for it. Good programmers think differently from other people. They find the challenge of "thinking like a computer" isn't a challenge at all, but comes naturally. In the words of an old pop song by Al Stewart, "If it doesn't come naturally, leave it."
Bought a C-64 and 1541 disk drive back when they first came out and taught myself BASIC and Assembly Language with the help of books and articles from RUN magazine. Eventually wrote a few articles and programs (Runterm was one of mine) for RUN, as well as a couple of small commercial programs (Colorez was one of mine as well). Even to this day, I'm at my best when I teach myself a new computer language and start using it for a project, whether that language is Object Pascal (aka "Delphi"), C++ or C#. Today, I do work for state governments and large international corporations. I think I've got the whole programming thing down.
Programming, IMHO, isn't science. It isn't math (I'm terrible at math), it's art. You can't really learn to be a musician or an artist in a classroom. Sure, a teacher can instruct you in the techniques, but your heart and soul has to be in it first. Oh, sure, expose kids to computer programming early so they can see if it interests them, but don't ruin the experience by reducing it to "name the five ..." or "what is the difference between ..." questions. You either learn something to know and master it, or you learn something to take a test on it. You can't do both.I know that from personal experience.
You don't need any special tools or programs to disable Windows Update in Windows 10 Home. Just go into Services and disable the Windows Update service itself. Best plan is to keep it disabled until a few weeks after each major update (when you know that the update won't bork your system), turn it back on, do the update manually, then turn it off again until after the next month's Patch Tuesday. Put an icon for Services on the desktop to make life easier. In addition, make sure you enable setting a restore point during a Windows Update in case something still goes wrong.
Remember: Paranoia means never having to say you're sorry!
To disable forced updates, go into Services and set Windows Update to Disabled. Then put an icon for Services on the task bar
I disable the Windows Update service until about a week or so after the release of a major update. Then, as long as I haven't seen any reports of people complaining about their machines breaking, I turn the service back on, get the update, and turn it back off again. It's a PITA, but it's better than the alternative.
Oh, I also changed the default setting in Windows 10 to create a restore point automatically prior to applying an update. Windows 10 has that turned off for some reason.
Repeat after me: Orwell's 1984 is *not* an instruction manual!
Ah, no, that's not our future. In ten years global conflict, greed, and social pushback will cause civilization to collapse, reducing the world to an agrarian economy similar to the mid-nineteenth century. Technology of all sorts will be condemned as the cause of our problems, to which the solution will be ignorance, intolerance, and cultural isolation. Anyone who disagrees with the opinion of the majority will be purged from society. As a result, all digital Timelines will simply ... end.
On a more positive note, at least the Net Neutrality debate will end as well.
No violence, no meanness, no cruelty. Teach kids that the world doesn't revolve around them. If they're polite, considerate of others, say "please" and "thank you", then the world may give them some of what they want. If, on the other hand, they're demanding, insulting, and inconsiderate of others, they end up kissing an unyielding brick wall. Sort of like the golden rule turned on its side: you get what you give, no exceptions. And you know what the hardest part of this principle is? Mom and Dad have to practice it themselves every day. Kids imitate the parents, so if you spank and yell at them, well, guess what? You're teaching them that violence is perfectly okay. You can do whatever you want to others as long as you're bigger or are in a position of authority. ... meet Effect.
Cause
The first question to come to my mind is who has the patents on this animal, and how long will it be before the lawsuits begin? They'll probably wait until the new format is firmly established on the Internet before springing the "gotcha" on folks.
My personal favorite is from "Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival: "There's a bathroom on the right" instead of "There's a bad moon on the rise."
I'm with you on this. As a programmer, the thing I hate the most is "Gee, Mom, look what I can do!" code -- obtuse code written to impress rather than be simple, obvious and functional. And yes there are indeed times when something mind-bendingly complex is needed to achieve the required goal, but by and large, the KISS principle applies. As to the article's main point, I have to ask what is the purpose of breaking backward compatibility: Making it faster to produce readable, easily maintainable code, being the first one on the block to use something new and shiny, or simply to appear to be one of the Elite? Always keep in mind, however, that programing is more an art than a science, and creativity often comes from the simplest of tools, not the most expensive or the trendiest. And creativity is why we fiddle with all these bits, right?
As a wise old woman once said to me: "It ain't so old when you get there." Never give up and never give in. I have plans to go bungee jumping on my 100th birthday. Geronimo!
Bur how often do you need to understand those things to implement a typical computer program that helps a user get something done? Oftentimes, you simply need to know one is better than another and get on with it. Of course, you'd need that understanding to, for example, work on the TrueCrypt sourcecode. But generally? I don't think so/
Programming isn't, strictly speaking, math. Not like calculus or algebra is math. It's something else entirely.
I have a rather annoying learning disability, and have suffered from it since I was in first grade: I have a great difficulty memorizing things. Now, even with that rather annoying problem, I managed to be near the top of the class in both grade school and high school. What happened is I learned early on how to analyze the patterns behind the subjects I was expected to memorize and when test-time came was able to reconstruct most of the required information based on those patterns. Perfect example of this is spelling. I figured out what phoenetic combinations ruled English, and used them to pass tests. Armed with those rules, I only had to remember one or two odd words per week. In history, I found myself being able to understand and explain historical trends and influences. Names and Dates, on the other hand, gave me (literally) a headache. Simple math was easy (just a small number of consistent rules, after all). Sort of. Word problems in math, on the other hand, were difficult at best.
After I graduated college, I bought myself a Commodore 64 (they were just on the market) and dove right into both Basic and Assembly language. Both were easy for me to analyze and comprehend. Logic may be a branch of mathematics, but to me it's more obvious than anything in the math textbooks. Calculus is (for me) as obtuse and illogical as it gets. "If a water tank with a height of 15 feet and a circumference of 20 feet is 2/3 full of water, with a 1/8 inch hole a foot above the bottom, how long will it take the water level to drop to the hole?" Just plug the hole, whydoncha? Jeez!
Interestingly enough, I also have problems with computer word problems. Just give me the code (any code -- C, C++, C#, pascal, basic, assembler, SQL) and a little time, and I'll tell you what's causing the bug you're seeing. Now, after all these years, I'm the one everyone comes to when faced with an intractable computer problem that no one else seems able to solve. And I still don't like math.
I'll do you one better. My dumbphone costs me $100 US a year for voice and messages (I turn text messages off, though -- the phone's too small to type on with my fat thumbs), and any money I don't spend on calls gets rolled over to the next year. The phone doesn't use data, and I don't need it to. Email and Internet's what my laptop is for. Why would I want to spend $35 each month when what I've got now is more than I need? Oh, and that $35 is just the starting point. After you add state and federal fees, it's more like $50 a month.
Extra points for the Guru Meditation Error! C=
And suppose you don't have a smartphone?
I'd file this under the "Gee, mom, look what I can do" school of programming. It makes the assumption that every Linux user in the known universe has a smartphone and enough data minutes left in the month to play around with a QR code and a web page. I'm a great believer in the "KISS" principle: Keep It Simple! Your powerful computer just fell down and can't get up, so now you want to make it create and display a fancy bit of graphics? This sort of error is too important to rely on playing "stupid computer tricks"! What if it's a text-only server installation and there *is* no GUI available to display the QR? What if displaying the QR code *itself* causes an error? I'd hate to be using version 1 of *this* change! Besides, this sort of fancy error display belongs in User space, not the Kernel (IMHO). Simplifying the error message with ordinary, everyday language the user can actually write down with (gasp) pencil and paper is a much better approach than trying to impress people with how 1337 you are. /rant
When I was a teenager, I made copies of streaming audio all the time ... using a reel-to-reel tape recorder and a pair of alligator clips attached to the speakers of a table radio -- all to capture the latest "top 40" pop tunes in glorious monophonic sound. That was back in the sixties, and the music world didn't come to an end because I didn't spend money I didn't have in the first place, nor did the huge multinational music companies crash and burn in bankruptcy. However, later on, when I *did* have money to spend I collected thousands of record albums and 45's. Even later, I re-purchased everything on CD's.
Tell me again why this sort of recording activity is *costing* companies money? Seems to me that it's more of an investment in the future.
(Obligatory reference to Carl Sagan)
Until the 1990's, the main route between Philadelphia and Atlantic City had at least two Roundabouts. The earliest time I remember seeing them was during the late 1950's as a passenger in my parent's car. So, this is not a new invention this side of the Pond, but an old one that has been tried and abandoned after decades of use. I had the opportunity to drive this route before they were both redesigned, and I can tell you that the design is only effective when traffic is very minimal. It's extremely hazardous with high traffic volume.
The State of New Jersey clearly knows this, as does any American driver who has experienced what I believe is a misguided attempt at a "Can't we all get along" society. If you've ever seen the original Death Race 2000 movie, or played the Carmageddon series of video games, then you know what the highways are like in the Philadelphia area.
Properly configured traffic lights are much preferred to the risk of physical harm the Roundabout represents.
IMHO, YMMV
Everybody's supposed to be using a touch-screen tablet or smartphone these days. Didn't you get the tweet? Why else do you think Gnome 3 and Unity were invented? Next up, Windows 8 with an enlarged version of the Win Phone 7 tile interface to replace that old computer-desktop GUI.
Bandwagon, anyone?
Blu-Ray is pretty much useless for me, and not just because of the high disk cost or DRM-created issues.
First, all the televisions in my house are standard definition, the largest being 32 inches diagonal, the remainder 12 inches. Without large high-def screens, there's just no point as up-converted DVD's look fine. I suspect a lot of people are in the same boat.
Second, my son and I watch all our TV/movies on our computer screens, in a tiny window while we're doing something else. Now, what is the advantage of Blu-Ray once again?
Blu-Ray was invented by electronic companies to get us to re-purchase all of our movies, nothing more. If that works, they'll re-release them again in 3D. If it doesn't work, they'll blame piracy for the failure.
I'm reminded of the Tram Cars that traverse the boardwalk in Wildwood, N.J.. Anyone who has ever vacationed there knows well the sound of a woman calling out (via a recording) "Watch the Tram Car, please", since they've been doing that (with the same woman's voice) for at least 50 years now. Since the woman is still alive that recorded it all those years ago, it'd be a hoot to hear her voice coming out of every Prius that passes by.
I'm still on 2000, you insensitive clod! I'm planning to *upgrade* to XP in the next year or so. Provided my hardware can run it, that is. Everyone knows that XP is a resource hog. :)