I certainly agree with what you've said. My comment about "No one understands the FORTRAN" was just that the people assigned to the project have a tough time reading the VB, so the chances at getting the FORTRAN are pretty slim;)
It is actually easier to maintain the FORTRAN than the VB. Since no one understands the FORTRAN, no one changes it. The VB was written by the company, so the VB is open season.
Sometimes.
I know a company (ugh, ok, I work for them - but the company is not Verium Systems in my url) that has written several train simulators that use FORTRAN as a back-end for calculations. It is quite the beast. Appearently, several engineers spent man-years coding this thing up years ago, and no one knows what it really means or does.
As an aside, the rest of the simulator is written in VB, and uses about 5-6 PCs.
Re:Important points of a good manager
on
Geeks in Management?
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
I certainly agree with this. I was in charge of a group (about 5) of developers on a project.
Some of them were simply not capable of performing 'higher level' tasks, so those are the ones you honestly cannot push - and they don't want to be pushed. They are good at mundane tasks, and enjoy those tasks. Give the higher risk - higher reward tasks to those that want to do it.
As far as 'knowing what is going on' with each person and 'manage your planning', I found it beneficial and useful to have a meeting with each person individually. This allowed me to help them work through any problems they were having, as well as get an idea of the progress they were making. If there was something that affected the entire group, then I called a 'real' meeting. But, otherwise, the one-on-one meetings worked out better for me. (Yes, unless of course they are pair programming - but you get the idea).
Ideally, as a manager, one of your main tasks is to remove obstacles to progress for those working underneath you. Sometimes that means re-arranging furniture. Sometimes it means talking extensively to the customer. It rarely means working 18 hours a day to correct one of your workers poor results. As it has been said elsewhere, your overall picture is to make sure the job/project gets done. Late night heroics usually don't get the job done - but a manager that can tell when a task is falling behind and can at least do something to change it has a much better chance of getting it done.
BTW, I also have no formal management training - but I have worked for really stupid people, and really smart people. Choose what works, discard the rest.
I also tried Dragon in the past, and it did not support "New York" accent very well either. It seemed to just not get the words unless the speaker pronounced the word with dictionary precision.
I posted the original topic and read through many of the comments that have been made. Some of you asked for more info, so here are a couple of my return comments.
I initially wrote a couple classes to perform some messaging, and maintain some states of objects. The code was to integrate into an existing system. I was to write the logic of the new feature, and (as a pair) we were going to integrate the new code into the system. However, the other half of the pair didn't bother to read any of the code prior to us meeting - instead, he just waited for me to tell him.
My partner was essentially put in charge of the integration from our boss - he drove the couple of days we worked together. However, even though he asked for guidance, he wouldn't actually listen to what I had said, until multiple failed attempts on his own.
As far as the obvious issues (hey, you smell bad!), they really didn't come up. And I'm sure we could all take the high road and inform the boss of the incompatibility between us, but, in the end, the code needs to get done. My pair was a competent person, but seemed to wrap his brain around the problem at hand late in the game.
In case anyone was wondering, the completed system did work successfully.
Actually, I would ask to extend it even further to also include any major OS. Windows, Linux, OS X, etc. Let's see a real comparison of multiple OSes, and not just bashing of any one OS.
Also, it would be interesting to see the progression of stability over different releases of the OS - for example, how does Win 3.X stack up to XP? It might provide some useful metrics regarding the relative progress of each OS in stability.
I am so disappointed in you geeks - with a picture like Leia and her stunt double sunbathing in *the* outfit (at the Time magazine link), you guys are worried about who shot who first. Shouldn't we all be talking about whether or not that footage is included in the special edition?
I suppose that NASA has done a good job, but don't you think that with all that we know so far about spaceflight, we could have dreamed up a better recovery strategy than this one?
Ok, so when the probe re-enters the atmosphere, we can get these 2 stunt copter pilots to go up there and grab it! And then, they will gently let the probe down to safety!
It's a good thing our astronauts don't return this way...
In my area of my state (PA), we vote the old fashioned way - a pencil tied to a string (to prevent theft) and a sheet of paper. Laugh if you will, but the paper trail remains. The forms are the standardized test-type (fill in the oval, make the mark dark, no stray marks, ugh), but they are hand counted.
I've thought about these automated voting machines alot. Our method, although laughable upon an initial look, is fairly open in the sense that anyone that can count can verify the results of our town. No complicated machines with closed source code.
Perhaps a low-tech answer is what we really need...
I for one welcome our new killbot robotic killing overlords! I would like to remind them that I can be useful in rounding up the other humans to toil in your underground killing mines.
There are a number of issues that play a part in the Green Hills argument. First of all, let me say that I have had the experience of using Green Hills products (non-military) for the past few years now.
First of all, coming from a company that charges *a lot* of money for an OS stands *a lot* to lose from a free OS. Therefore, GH would be expected to say that a GH product is better.
The fact that GH source code is not open source does not mean that no one ever sees it. I have access to the entire source, and, if so inclined, could use that information to create an attack myself or provide the source to someone else. Remember, even though the company signed a release for the source, that doesn't mean that money talks more.
GH has, up till this point, maintained a 'top dog' status in this area. In fact, when we asked for a driver for USB mass storage, the response was 'Well, where else would you get it? It is going to cost you.'
IMHO, GH has had a bit of a mini-Microsoft status within the military embedded world. This has certainly mirrored the PC OS world - one leading OS, some neat features, but when you really look at, how many ways are there to create a GUI or an OS. Let's be honest - an OS has queues, semaphores, a file system (replaceable, in GH), etc. So we are not talking about 'rocket surgery'.
The idea of Linux not being 'military grade' would really need to be made from an independent group. This is akin to MS saying that it has the best browser or GUI. Of course they are going to say that.
In other news, the SCO is creating a class action suit against everyone, claiming that they had copyrighted breathing, and there, the average citizen is not allowed to breathe any longer.
Slashdot Mirror
What part freaks out the 60 year old electricians?
- The part about the robots moving car parts around automatically
or
- The part about it running Linux
I certainly agree with what you've said. My comment about "No one understands the FORTRAN" was just that the people assigned to the project have a tough time reading the VB, so the chances at getting the FORTRAN are pretty slim ;)
It is actually easier to maintain the FORTRAN than the VB. Since no one understands the FORTRAN, no one changes it. The VB was written by the company, so the VB is open season.
Sometimes.
I know a company (ugh, ok, I work for them - but the company is not Verium Systems in my url) that has written several train simulators that use FORTRAN as a back-end for calculations. It is quite the beast. Appearently, several engineers spent man-years coding this thing up years ago, and no one knows what it really means or does.
As an aside, the rest of the simulator is written in VB, and uses about 5-6 PCs.
I certainly agree with this. I was in charge of a group (about 5) of developers on a project.
Some of them were simply not capable of performing 'higher level' tasks, so those are the ones you honestly cannot push - and they don't want to be pushed. They are good at mundane tasks, and enjoy those tasks. Give the higher risk - higher reward tasks to those that want to do it.
As far as 'knowing what is going on' with each person and 'manage your planning', I found it beneficial and useful to have a meeting with each person individually. This allowed me to help them work through any problems they were having, as well as get an idea of the progress they were making. If there was something that affected the entire group, then I called a 'real' meeting. But, otherwise, the one-on-one meetings worked out better for me. (Yes, unless of course they are pair programming - but you get the idea).
Ideally, as a manager, one of your main tasks is to remove obstacles to progress for those working underneath you. Sometimes that means re-arranging furniture. Sometimes it means talking extensively to the customer. It rarely means working 18 hours a day to correct one of your workers poor results. As it has been said elsewhere, your overall picture is to make sure the job/project gets done. Late night heroics usually don't get the job done - but a manager that can tell when a task is falling behind and can at least do something to change it has a much better chance of getting it done.
BTW, I also have no formal management training - but I have worked for really stupid people, and really smart people. Choose what works, discard the rest.
And I for one welcome our new Nanobot, gray goo dwelling overlords!
Sorry. I couldn't help it.
And never tell your date it requires special Fly Paper in order to work.
Sure. Just imagine a Beowulf cluster of razors....
I also tried Dragon in the past, and it did not support "New York" accent very well either. It seemed to just not get the words unless the speaker pronounced the word with dictionary precision.
...welcome our new nude female aliens with magical powers overlords.
No, really, I do.
Or, the superhero cyborg schoolgirls would also do.
My $$ is on Klingon - I bet the Klingon version surfaces (decloaks?) before the Yiddish version.
welcome our new web indexing Red Chinese overlords.
Did anyone else go to that guys' (old?) company, Lawson Software, just to see if there were any jobs available? Or was I the only one?
You Insensitive Clod!!!
I posted the original topic and read through many of the comments that have been made. Some of you asked for more info, so here are a couple of my return comments.
I initially wrote a couple classes to perform some messaging, and maintain some states of objects. The code was to integrate into an existing system. I was to write the logic of the new feature, and (as a pair) we were going to integrate the new code into the system. However, the other half of the pair didn't bother to read any of the code prior to us meeting - instead, he just waited for me to tell him.
My partner was essentially put in charge of the integration from our boss - he drove the couple of days we worked together. However, even though he asked for guidance, he wouldn't actually listen to what I had said, until multiple failed attempts on his own.
As far as the obvious issues (hey, you smell bad!), they really didn't come up. And I'm sure we could all take the high road and inform the boss of the incompatibility between us, but, in the end, the code needs to get done. My pair was a competent person, but seemed to wrap his brain around the problem at hand late in the game.
In case anyone was wondering, the completed system did work successfully.
Actually, I would ask to extend it even further to also include any major OS. Windows, Linux, OS X, etc. Let's see a real comparison of multiple OSes, and not just bashing of any one OS.
Also, it would be interesting to see the progression of stability over different releases of the OS - for example, how does Win 3.X stack up to XP? It might provide some useful metrics regarding the relative progress of each OS in stability.
I am so disappointed in you geeks - with a picture like Leia and her stunt double sunbathing in *the* outfit (at the Time magazine link), you guys are worried about who shot who first. Shouldn't we all be talking about whether or not that footage is included in the special edition?
*I hang my head in shame.*
I suppose that NASA has done a good job, but don't you think that with all that we know so far about spaceflight, we could have dreamed up a better recovery strategy than this one?
Ok, so when the probe re-enters the atmosphere, we can get these 2 stunt copter pilots to go up there and grab it! And then, they will gently let the probe down to safety!
It's a good thing our astronauts don't return this way...
In my area of my state (PA), we vote the old fashioned way - a pencil tied to a string (to prevent theft) and a sheet of paper. Laugh if you will, but the paper trail remains. The forms are the standardized test-type (fill in the oval, make the mark dark, no stray marks, ugh), but they are hand counted.
I've thought about these automated voting machines alot. Our method, although laughable upon an initial look, is fairly open in the sense that anyone that can count can verify the results of our town. No complicated machines with closed source code.
Perhaps a low-tech answer is what we really need...
It has been found that the sky is blue, and E=mc^2 in most situations.
I for one welcome our new killbot robotic killing overlords! I would like to remind them that I can be useful in rounding up the other humans to toil in your underground killing mines.
There are a number of issues that play a part in the Green Hills argument. First of all, let me say that I have had the experience of using Green Hills products (non-military) for the past few years now.
First of all, coming from a company that charges *a lot* of money for an OS stands *a lot* to lose from a free OS. Therefore, GH would be expected to say that a GH product is better.
The fact that GH source code is not open source does not mean that no one ever sees it. I have access to the entire source, and, if so inclined, could use that information to create an attack myself or provide the source to someone else. Remember, even though the company signed a release for the source, that doesn't mean that money talks more.
GH has, up till this point, maintained a 'top dog' status in this area. In fact, when we asked for a driver for USB mass storage, the response was 'Well, where else would you get it? It is going to cost you.'
IMHO, GH has had a bit of a mini-Microsoft status within the military embedded world. This has certainly mirrored the PC OS world - one leading OS, some neat features, but when you really look at, how many ways are there to create a GUI or an OS. Let's be honest - an OS has queues, semaphores, a file system (replaceable, in GH), etc. So we are not talking about 'rocket surgery'.
The idea of Linux not being 'military grade' would really need to be made from an independent group. This is akin to MS saying that it has the best browser or GUI. Of course they are going to say that.
In other news, the SCO is creating a class action suit against everyone, claiming that they had copyrighted breathing, and there, the average citizen is not allowed to breathe any longer.
Tibco gets sued by Buick, which has a car named Rendezvous.