Ogg Vorbis, for example, works very well, and its APIs are easy to use. I don't know very much about Theora, but, if the same people are behind it, it's probably pretty good.
Another proof of concept: Ogg support in OpenAL + big-name game developers using it for cross-platform sound. This is really neat stuff.
Your post is a bit too pessimistic. We're talking about city government, here, not a 3rd world dictatorship. Fighting the city needs only a lawyer and a good case.
it was in how the flying populace was trained to react to a hijacking. Five guys with box cutters will not be able to take over an airplane again.
Also, I think the installation of locking cockpit doors was a good fundamental thing to do. Simple physical security: low-tech, extremely effective, and actually does make people feel better.
Not unless every seat on the airplane is covered in anti-septic paper or something. Allowing people to fly nude actually poses a greater risk to others than any terrorist, because of simple public health reasons: hepatitis, various parasites, etc. I certainly wouldn't want to wear a stranger's underwear...sharing an open-cell foam cloth-covered seat cushion is no better.
The cash lanes are getting fewer and slower all the time.
They can never dissappear. On public roads run by city and county governments, I don't see how the government can discriminate based on method of payment. If I am a person without much money, but I at least have a car and a few dollars in my pocket, then I should have every right to use the toll road, if I choose. It is still a public road, right?
Say "mooooooooo" all you chattel. Uncle Sam wants to record it for a voice analysis program.
I watched Gattaca the other night. I'd rank it among the better sci-fi movies ever made. Ambition and idealism don't always lead to a better life, because human nature always intervenes.
the next generation of movie houses will use video projection and the WMV file format
This doesn't really matter, IMO. Movie theatres are already so expensive that I end up going only once per year, and, then, I'm still dissapointed (people kicking my seat, looking through big hair, $5 popcorn, and all the other reasons why watching movies at home is 1000% better--and cheaper--than going to a theatre). If next-generation video discs go to WMA, then I'll most likely just stop watching new movies altogether (at least there's 50+ years of good movies already made).
One thing that is nice about having the "real deal" is some of the perks that come along with it. For example, a Sun or SGI workstation makes a nice reference platform for OpenGL apps, because they ship native optimized GL libraries for their graphics cards. You also get a different take on UNIX standardization, which helps with writing portable software.
...I don't see how writing any part of your display routines in Java is a good idea when you're working on a 3d app.
One thing I learned recently is that Java is only one part of the performance recipe. I had really good luck with Java 2D and Swing on a Sun Ultra 30 with a UPA graphics card but very poor luck under Linux and Windows with a PCI graphics card. My general conclusion was that raw bandwidth was a huge factor which was compounded by varying levels of optimization in Java for each platform.
One thing that impressed me, though, was that with absolutly no platform-specific Java code, my little test app worked truly consistently on each platform, aside from the performance differences.
Another thing, without hardware acceleration, pretty much all graphics is going to be slow, no matter the OS or development environment du jour.
This is easily said, but not easily done for many people. Imagine a person rowing up to New York City in a grass boat from a primitive island-nation having never seen such a city before. It is reasonable for me to say "Yeah, you just get on the subway, go to XYZ street, take a cab to QRS square, don't look homeless people in the eye, stay out of suspicous alleyways, etc." and actually expect that person to make it?!?
The people who are good at networking typically got that way over the course of their entire lifetimes, and the people who are not good at it have an uphill battle ahead of them.
For kids in school, this is what summer jobs and co-ops are for. I worked one summer for a university networking department pulling Ethernet and telephone cable, installing switches in closets, etc. It was a lot of fun and paid a little better than most other summer jobs. Also, big corporations, such as Oracle, Motorola, IBM, etc. generally have very good internship programs for various disciplines...some pay very well, too ($18/hour is a gold mine to a college student).
Other people I've known pulled whole semester-long stints at a job through a co-op program. A college degree plus co-op experience makes a really great resume and gives you enough experience to hold a conversation during interviews.
Remember that companies interviewing you right out of school are not expecting 3+ years of hard-core experience with C++ or Cisco or whatever. However, they are expecting that you at least have some foundation beyond "Computer Science", because they know that pure CS is not sufficient for being productive in a professional private-sector setting.
Also, I hope you didn't leave your personality at the door when taking on a technical degree program...
In a spreadsheet program, the same thing would take me much less time...
Are you sure? If you re-use the generic data-loading and array-populating code and simply insert the routines you need for a given task, custom C code really might be the fastest way. You can then have a really small and fast program that probably is very bug-free and is actually more reliable (you can be sure it is 64-bit safe, etc.). Keep it small with some basic documentation, and even your colleagues could use it.
Apart from SF movies, books and tv shows, can anyone suggest other technology predicted by video/computer games that we might actually see in the near future?
I'd estimate that 99% of the really good ideas we have today come from a few visionary scientists and philosophers who have fallen into relative obscurity. The games generally are not the origin of these ideas, unless we should expect a personal portable BFG at the gun counter at Wal-Mart some day.
The lowest-end laptop at the Dell Store at the moment is $999.
It has a 2.66 Ghz P4, a 14.1" screen and a wireless card.
Due to the nature of the article above, the Dell is irrelevant at any price if it will run Windows. The only OS for that Dell to get out of the university's IT totalitarianism is Linux/*BSD. If someone doesn't want Linux or BSD, then that leaves the iBook.
I said Mac initially because the article said it was a liberal arts school. However, I had missed "CS", so there's no reason to avoid Linux, either...it depends on what dancedance's priorities are. For a person who just wants to plug in and go, a Mac would probably be the better option, and $2,000 is nothing if it's the right tool to get work done before the due date.
it is requiring all Windows-based computers to install software which will allow the school to automatically update virus software, apply windows patches, install software 'deemed necessary' for network security, and 'report on the status of your computer'.
Just get a freakin' Mac. I'm serious. When a bureaucracy starts doing heavy-handed stuff like this, it means they are backed into a corner and will not be any fun to live with. Escape now.
I think we should be in agreement then that someone should make a lawnmower that dries the grass before the blades try to cut it.
Say it takes 4 to 6 HP to drive the blade confidently. If the typical hairdryer uses about 2HP (1500W), then driving a generator attached to the engine at, say, 50% efficiency would need another 8HP to drive two grass-drying units (aka, hairdryers + ducts). Thus, a 21" push lawn mower needs only a 14HP V-twin engine. I estimate the cost at about $1000. The model with the integrated beer cooler will sell for $1150.
By the same token, once I see the folks at SEI use CMM or their "Personal Software Process" to actually produce a decent piece of software I might actually be convinced that said processes are worthwhile. Until then, it's all just hot air.
I attented a presentation by a CMM expert once, and someone in the audience asked why the CMM specification documents were not themselves under a change management system. It was a very good question.
One thing I know from experience is that very very large specification documents pretty much have to be in a text-based format like SGML. I have seen what happens when hundreds of changes between two revisions aren't itemized by the author, and there is no way to diff a binary word processor format. The resulting spectrum of emotions going through the programmer's head is not pretty at all.
...the average PC was inoperable due to a virus nine days a year.
Do they include all sources for down time or just the PC? For example, a PC can go down due to a local virus/worm issue, or it can go down because an important server on the network is down due to a virus/worm issue. If the e-mail server is overwhelmed with scanning, even if it isn't infected itself, then that is effectively a DOS for every PC on the network (everyone just sits there staring at a blank e-mail client).
One thing about dealing with SPAM is that filtering programs that quarantine suspicious e-mail and then send another e-mail to the intended recipient are worse than all SPAM itself. I'd rather click "delete" on some obviously rediculous e-mail about fun things to do with animals rather than have to read a cryptic quarantine notice and determine whether I need to contact the system administrator about it.
culturally we're breaking into distinct groups with very little cross-over and intermingling
Well, I think one difference now is that people more often choose to segregate themselves into a particular group rather than society making their choice for them. The various sub-cultures I see now are primarily delineated by fashion and language than law or fear, and relatively few people today believe that any particular human sub-species is better or worse than any other.
I actually know quite a bit about lawn care, but I also know it has rained every day for the last week and a half. The first day I get that's less than a 30% chance of rain, my lawn gets mowed, no questions asked.
Slashdot Mirror
Ogg Vorbis, for example, works very well, and its APIs are easy to use. I don't know very much about Theora, but, if the same people are behind it, it's probably pretty good.
Another proof of concept: Ogg support in OpenAL + big-name game developers using it for cross-platform sound. This is really neat stuff.
Your post is a bit too pessimistic. We're talking about city government, here, not a 3rd world dictatorship. Fighting the city needs only a lawyer and a good case.
it was in how the flying populace was trained to react to a hijacking. Five guys with box cutters will not be able to take over an airplane again.
Also, I think the installation of locking cockpit doors was a good fundamental thing to do. Simple physical security: low-tech, extremely effective, and actually does make people feel better.
Then even a nudist can fly...
Not unless every seat on the airplane is covered in anti-septic paper or something. Allowing people to fly nude actually poses a greater risk to others than any terrorist, because of simple public health reasons: hepatitis, various parasites, etc. I certainly wouldn't want to wear a stranger's underwear...sharing an open-cell foam cloth-covered seat cushion is no better.
The cash lanes are getting fewer and slower all the time.
They can never dissappear. On public roads run by city and county governments, I don't see how the government can discriminate based on method of payment. If I am a person without much money, but I at least have a car and a few dollars in my pocket, then I should have every right to use the toll road, if I choose. It is still a public road, right?
Say "mooooooooo" all you chattel. Uncle Sam wants to record it for a voice analysis program.
I watched Gattaca the other night. I'd rank it among the better sci-fi movies ever made. Ambition and idealism don't always lead to a better life, because human nature always intervenes.
the next generation of movie houses will use video projection and the WMV file format
This doesn't really matter, IMO. Movie theatres are already so expensive that I end up going only once per year, and, then, I'm still dissapointed (people kicking my seat, looking through big hair, $5 popcorn, and all the other reasons why watching movies at home is 1000% better--and cheaper--than going to a theatre). If next-generation video discs go to WMA, then I'll most likely just stop watching new movies altogether (at least there's 50+ years of good movies already made).
...when the verdict is in doubt (it's being appealled), you shouldn't be punished.
What about all the prisoners out there who are "innocent"?
...do you know anybody who owns a Sparc machine?
Yes.
One thing that is nice about having the "real deal" is some of the perks that come along with it. For example, a Sun or SGI workstation makes a nice reference platform for OpenGL apps, because they ship native optimized GL libraries for their graphics cards. You also get a different take on UNIX standardization, which helps with writing portable software.
...I don't see how writing any part of your display routines in Java is a good idea when you're working on a 3d app.
One thing I learned recently is that Java is only one part of the performance recipe. I had really good luck with Java 2D and Swing on a Sun Ultra 30 with a UPA graphics card but very poor luck under Linux and Windows with a PCI graphics card. My general conclusion was that raw bandwidth was a huge factor which was compounded by varying levels of optimization in Java for each platform.
One thing that impressed me, though, was that with absolutly no platform-specific Java code, my little test app worked truly consistently on each platform, aside from the performance differences.
Another thing, without hardware acceleration, pretty much all graphics is going to be slow, no matter the OS or development environment du jour.
Every time I've bought an HP product I've regreted it.
Are these pre-HPaq-makeover products or post-HPaq-makeover products?
NETWORK, NETWORK, and NETWORK
This is easily said, but not easily done for many people. Imagine a person rowing up to New York City in a grass boat from a primitive island-nation having never seen such a city before. It is reasonable for me to say "Yeah, you just get on the subway, go to XYZ street, take a cab to QRS square, don't look homeless people in the eye, stay out of suspicous alleyways, etc." and actually expect that person to make it?!?
The people who are good at networking typically got that way over the course of their entire lifetimes, and the people who are not good at it have an uphill battle ahead of them.
For kids in school, this is what summer jobs and co-ops are for. I worked one summer for a university networking department pulling Ethernet and telephone cable, installing switches in closets, etc. It was a lot of fun and paid a little better than most other summer jobs. Also, big corporations, such as Oracle, Motorola, IBM, etc. generally have very good internship programs for various disciplines...some pay very well, too ($18/hour is a gold mine to a college student).
Other people I've known pulled whole semester-long stints at a job through a co-op program. A college degree plus co-op experience makes a really great resume and gives you enough experience to hold a conversation during interviews.
Remember that companies interviewing you right out of school are not expecting 3+ years of hard-core experience with C++ or Cisco or whatever. However, they are expecting that you at least have some foundation beyond "Computer Science", because they know that pure CS is not sufficient for being productive in a professional private-sector setting.
Also, I hope you didn't leave your personality at the door when taking on a technical degree program...
In a spreadsheet program, the same thing would take me much less time...
Are you sure? If you re-use the generic data-loading and array-populating code and simply insert the routines you need for a given task, custom C code really might be the fastest way. You can then have a really small and fast program that probably is very bug-free and is actually more reliable (you can be sure it is 64-bit safe, etc.). Keep it small with some basic documentation, and even your colleagues could use it.
Apart from SF movies, books and tv shows, can anyone suggest other technology predicted by video/computer games that we might actually see in the near future?
I'd estimate that 99% of the really good ideas we have today come from a few visionary scientists and philosophers who have fallen into relative obscurity. The games generally are not the origin of these ideas, unless we should expect a personal portable BFG at the gun counter at Wal-Mart some day.
The lowest-end laptop at the Dell Store at the moment is $999.
It has a 2.66 Ghz P4, a 14.1" screen and a wireless card.
Due to the nature of the article above, the Dell is irrelevant at any price if it will run Windows. The only OS for that Dell to get out of the university's IT totalitarianism is Linux/*BSD. If someone doesn't want Linux or BSD, then that leaves the iBook.
I said Mac initially because the article said it was a liberal arts school. However, I had missed "CS", so there's no reason to avoid Linux, either...it depends on what dancedance's priorities are. For a person who just wants to plug in and go, a Mac would probably be the better option, and $2,000 is nothing if it's the right tool to get work done before the due date.
it is requiring all Windows-based computers to install software which will allow the school to automatically update virus software, apply windows patches, install software 'deemed necessary' for network security, and 'report on the status of your computer'.
Just get a freakin' Mac. I'm serious. When a bureaucracy starts doing heavy-handed stuff like this, it means they are backed into a corner and will not be any fun to live with. Escape now.
Hardware encryption is good.
Application encryption is also good.
Thus, 802.11i plus SSH is doubly good?
I think we should be in agreement then that someone should make a lawnmower that dries the grass before the blades try to cut it.
Say it takes 4 to 6 HP to drive the blade confidently. If the typical hairdryer uses about 2HP (1500W), then driving a generator attached to the engine at, say, 50% efficiency would need another 8HP to drive two grass-drying units (aka, hairdryers + ducts). Thus, a 21" push lawn mower needs only a 14HP V-twin engine. I estimate the cost at about $1000. The model with the integrated beer cooler will sell for $1150.
...ask that Twinkies and Coke be left outside the door. They didn't see him for a week...
Beware of the bucket in the corner.
By the same token, once I see the folks at SEI use CMM or their "Personal Software Process" to actually produce a decent piece of software I might actually be convinced that said processes are worthwhile. Until then, it's all just hot air.
I attented a presentation by a CMM expert once, and someone in the audience asked why the CMM specification documents were not themselves under a change management system. It was a very good question.
One thing I know from experience is that very very large specification documents pretty much have to be in a text-based format like SGML. I have seen what happens when hundreds of changes between two revisions aren't itemized by the author, and there is no way to diff a binary word processor format. The resulting spectrum of emotions going through the programmer's head is not pretty at all.
...the average PC was inoperable due to a virus nine days a year.
Do they include all sources for down time or just the PC? For example, a PC can go down due to a local virus/worm issue, or it can go down because an important server on the network is down due to a virus/worm issue. If the e-mail server is overwhelmed with scanning, even if it isn't infected itself, then that is effectively a DOS for every PC on the network (everyone just sits there staring at a blank e-mail client).
One thing about dealing with SPAM is that filtering programs that quarantine suspicious e-mail and then send another e-mail to the intended recipient are worse than all SPAM itself. I'd rather click "delete" on some obviously rediculous e-mail about fun things to do with animals rather than have to read a cryptic quarantine notice and determine whether I need to contact the system administrator about it.
culturally we're breaking into distinct groups with very little cross-over and intermingling
Well, I think one difference now is that people more often choose to segregate themselves into a particular group rather than society making their choice for them. The various sub-cultures I see now are primarily delineated by fashion and language than law or fear, and relatively few people today believe that any particular human sub-species is better or worse than any other.
If you knew about lawn care...
I actually know quite a bit about lawn care, but I also know it has rained every day for the last week and a half. The first day I get that's less than a 30% chance of rain, my lawn gets mowed, no questions asked.