If they haven't done modifications to BusyBox (or other GPLed software), they don't need to provide the source themselves. They can simply point people to the homepage (counts as 3rd party server).
I'm going to quote John Stewart at Crossfire on this one, aimed at Slashdot: Please, please, please... STOP. You're hurting us.
We all know ignorance spurs fear. And granted, we should all somehow fear this Novell/MS deal. But a sensationalist headline like this, is not just F, it's not just U and it's not just D. It's a capital I, of Ignorance. PLEASE, if you're going to post something that is going to be read by thousands of people, at least try look into it before you slam a title like this.
If you actually looked around a bit, you'd see that what has been submitted is something that has been lying around for some months now, which is actually already present in other distros. I know this is Slashdot... but again, this IS Slashdot, and it is not acceptable.
There is a saying along the lines of "don't give a starving man a fish, give him a pole and teach him how how to fish".
This tiny laptop might be an excelent way for people in developing areas to get some education and release themselves from the hunter-gatherer thinking. People have to eat in order to survive, it's a fact. But either they evolve through the means of some education, or they remain stagnant as a population, and they will continue to require being fed.
There are already food programs. We need to invest in making those people more self suficient. Give them the tools to evolve their social patterns, and they might actually be able to do so! But bear in mind that it is not in everyone's best interest that it happens that way. There are many things and many people who rely, for instance, in the fact that the indigenous populations of the largest part of Angola and Mozambique remain ignorant and fighting for the most basic needs. Remove those shackles and they might actually start thinking of higher purposes, like quality of life. And that is a big, big threat.
The 100$ laptop program is something never attempted before, and it's also something that threatens to improve the status quo in the developing areas of the world. I wouldn't be surprised if some groups actively fought it, and we can already see something like that in the media.
Unsurprisingly, some people disagree. Read this one at Business 2.0 to see Linus listed in the "List of 10 people that DON'T matter". Funny enough, Slashdot's own Rob Malda is in there, together with Steve Jobs, etc.:)
It's a good thing the world is full of contradictions.:)
I'll try not to earn Troll points, while still pointing out that while Linus might be a symbol he is definitly not a hero. Linus is the face of Linux, but Linux is actually the cooperative effort of thousands of people (wikipedia points out that about 2% of Linux code is from Linus). Where's Alan Cox in that equation?
It is generaly a widely accepted characteristic of a hero the "willingness to sacrifice the self for the greater good". Sharing the initial skeleton of a computer program, even one as important as Linux has become (but which was irrelevant back then), hardly qualifies someone as a hero. In comparison, take RMS, who gave up his job at MIT, who gave up a lot of things for what he believes. Now, I'm not the man's greatest fan, but I'm sure that comparing the biographies of Linus and RMS you'll find it hard to find Linus a hero (or even RMS tbh). Linus is definitly a very successful engineer, and worthy of some admiration, yes, but a hero? Together with Nelson Mandela?! Margaret Thatcher?!? C'mon... get real.
So, is Linus a symbol? Hell yes! Worthy of admiration for his accomplishments? Yeah. A hero? Er... no?
We've gone through a similar experience when we grew from a team of 2 to a team of 8 in 3 months. Things we learned to be helpful in the way of tools:
- A Subversion repository for every project, and one repository per person, to host "private" projects. Also, TortoiseSVN for a windows shell integration with Subversion.
- Install Trac for every subversion project. Use it for writing documentation, and for following up on issues by posting Tickets. Tickets help a lot in maintaining the focus on problems and future developments. The integration with Subversion changesets and milestones is bliss.
- Install the appropriate modules for Trac for permission management, and allow your customers and testers to post tickets themselves. Eases up a LOT in the way of issue tracking and fixing bugs fast. It's a great way to have other people build your to-do list dynamically.
- Use frameworks for development. If you're programming with PHP use Symfony for real programming (and not just random code bits).
- Have a shared folder for files.
- Use an appropriate database backend and install common tools for database access (phpMyAdmin, pgpPgAdmin).
- Use the right tools for the job. As an example, remmember that MySQL works well as a fast database backend. But if you stick to MySQL for real applications where integrity and object mapping is relevant, you won't be doing real DB development unless you use views, functions and stored procedures. If you don't have these features, you'll never use them. If you use them, use PostgresSQL.
- Buy a billboard, a big one, and have a handy set of markers available. Do not underestimate the power of a billboard.
These are just things that worked and still work for us. There are plenty more things you can do, but first step is realizing the NEED for change, and getting everyone to work towards that.
Sorry, but your argument of geographical dispersion and population density is not enough, it should be countered by the technological advance the US have over the rest of the world. I live in Portugal, a small country, considered to be on the "tail of europe". Portugal is full of mountains, and there are entire villages up north with less than 1000 inhabitants. But we get ADSL everywhere we have a phone line ( -> everywhere we have light -> everywhere), minimum speed is 1mbps, average is 4mbps, with speeds up to 16mbps (been hearing of 20mbps recently).
It would seem almost deliberate that the US are holding back on broadband. Afterall, information is power, and a population detached from the rest of the world is easier to influence. Other countries use different kinds of information control, sometimes far less subtle (although a distant comparison, I wonder if I'll get a troll point for the appropriate reference to China?). I'm not saying the government has an active part in delaying broadband adoption, but it certainly doesn't have an active part in promoting it.
It's sad that we've had this very same discussion here at Slashdot over 1 year ago, that time it was still about how the US were so far behind in broadband adoption. Back then we were happy with our bleeding edge ADSL lines at 1mbps... and I often refered to how France and Sweden had T1s, or even Germany. Now come and tell me Germany is small.:p
Consider two facts: 1) The US is a country that doesn't maintain its power grid 2) You resist the introduction of free wifi in towns. Seems to me that someone over there is more concerned with having money in their own pockets than making the country grow.
But then again, what do I know? I live in a country where the minimum wage is about 300$. But we still get ADSL everywhere.:)
Well,
a) If I paid for the right to listen to it, it's already my music
b) If I didn't pay for the right to use it, someone that did pay should be able to give it to me, should they want to
c) If I did pay for it, I should be able to give it away. Or sell it even (not that anyone would buy it)
What this would do is that as companies released music, more and more people would be sharing it, and with time, the value for that music would go down to zero. And companies would have to come up with more music, not just sell more of the same. They'd be paying musicions, generating money for themselves and do the world a favour, while having profit. Why isn't such a win-win scenario a good thing? So why don't we go for a free market in music?:)
But no, DRM is not inherently evil. There are legit applications to it, that kinda derive from the same basic reason that makes you put doors at home. But you should never be without your keys home, or being stopped from going home.;)
Funny to get my first Troll moderation by stating what I believe are facts. Maybe it's a distinction that noone really cares for, the one between fiction and storytelling. There is a lot of interactive fiction in games, even books that let you choose some actions to take. But there is a huge difference between taking a role in a story, being an actor... or taking part in shaping the story itself, because it would not exist otherwise.
Interactive fiction is NOT interactive storytelling. Also present in TFA, which apparently, as usual, noone bothers reading before posting headlines.:=) This is./ as usual. For the difference, just ask anyone who's played both a computer RPG like any of the Elder Scrolls series or sat by a table late night, playing Vampire the Masquerade, Paranoia, Cyberpunk, Fallen, Kult or Call of Cthulhu. Those people will be able to tell you the difference.
Time to go and undig my free AO account to see that new wonder of technology: in-game ads.
Actually, this is not a bad model at all: at least in a futuristic setting like AO, it fits in nicely. But I'd love to see them try showing ads in a game with a medieval theme... now that'd be a real treat.
You might want to consider using a glove - although they're not cheap. There are also some projects that work with a camera and a set of colorerd markers on your head (such as glasses) so that you move the pointer by moving your head, the so called Head-Pointers. Examples:
- You're under 18, and have plenty of spare time
- Your friends come over and play with you
- Your girlfriend also plays
OR
- You're still learning to handle girls, but can take the distraction
So, put that in perspective. I was a Spectrum addict when I was 12-16 (and friends came over), I was a 386 addict up to 18, and I'm 28 now, with my 3rd long term relationship (and hopefully the last one) and an healthy dose of attempts in between.
Aye, seems I misunderstood, thanks. That "despite" word in there makes a difference.:)
Still, it would seem that Cell is 1.75x (14/8) times slower for double precision (although on average it's 8x times faster (which makes sense, because its single precision speed is enough to raise the average).
On average, Cell is eight times faster and at least eight times more power efficient than current Opteron and Itanium processors, despite the fact that Cell's peak double precision performance is fourteen times slower than its peak single precision performance.
So, that means that the cell in it's current design is 14/8= 1.75x times slower for double precision than an Opteron/Itanium is for single precision. I searched around byt couldn't find a good answer on what is the ratio between an Opteron/Itanium single and double power precision performances? If it's actually just 50% slower (as I think it is) then the cell is still slower (currently 75%).
So, anyone knows for sure what is the ratio between an Opteron/Itanium single and double power precision performances?
Actually, here in Portugal we were ok before the EU. Now we are a lot better, but we also have lots more complaints pointing to the EU. Mainly it's the small business that suffers, the one run by people who've done the same for ages now and can't adapt.
But joining the EU also generates MANY good changes. Broader markets for one, not having to carry a passport and always using the same currency wherever you go. I co-own an IT company, we're expandind to other countries, and frankly, it's great. I know lots of other small companies that don't even have business in Portugal, they just happened to be born from ideas here.
"Stick together" is a good moto. I wish those dumbasses in the UK and Denmark would just agree and actually adhere to everything.
It seems like an awful risk for Wired News, opening themselves to being sued by AT&T. I sincerely hope nothing wrong comes out of this to them. But knowing the US... they just placed a sign reading "sue us"!:)
We've had national ID cards in Portugal for decades now. They're a very convenient way to identify people, specially for contracts. Hopefully we'll soon merge driver's license and health care into them aswell.
As for privacy concerns... c'mon! Privacy concerns stem from an intrusive and over-controlling government, not the methods that it has available, rather the way in which they are used. If you, as a population, are worried, then consider WHO you are voting for on the next elections. You ARE a democracy, right?
Chess is all about strategy, and strategy earns tremendously from foresight and planning ahead.
>> what in the world would a physics coprocessor have to do with a chess game?
Think in terms of metaphores. Real world physics are mainly a matter of particles, gravity and kinetics, which are functions of space, time and mass.
Now think Chess.
It's also a function of particles (pieces), space (position), time (playing turn) and you could encode its rules as physics too (the way pieces move). If you can get the engine to calculate where the pieces will be in later turns following chess rules (and not real-world physics rules) you will gain tremendous foresight.
I remmember sometime back developing a particle simulation system (using C++/OpenGL for display), in which velocity/gravity where just callback functions of the enviroment (actually, methods of the World:: object). You could add for instance "wind" by adding a function that affected velocity.
The same system could be used for totally different simulations.
In the end, seems like an excelent idea. Just because it's called "physics", doesn't mean it has to be real-world physics. If the system is generic enough to allow for your own rules (and it should, so you can mimic water, space, etc), then its implications reach WELL beyond realism, and can be used for AI processing aswell.
I would think that trading puns is harmless, it's called "dark humour". There is noone forcing you to read it all or even reply. I honestly believe the comments and puns above are funny, basically because humans have this huge ability to abstract themselves from what is being said and have fun with HOW it's being said.
Hopefully you live in the US, China, North-Corea, and your comment makes sense considering the lack of liberties your society is currently experimenting. But if you live in the free-world, I'd expect more of you, much like you seem to imply you expect more out of Slashdot.
And no, rape isn't funny. But so isn't death, and there'r lots of jokes about it. Same thing with sex, marriage, etc...
Maybe you shouldn't aim to have the program crash free. If you assume that crashes will occur, and put in place mechanisms to deal with that, you will have a far more reliable system than if you use a more optimistic approach.
Smart use of signal handlers and threads should go a long way to ensure the system keeps running. As an example, I'll mention a server I worked on for a couple years, that used the following approach:
- All subsystems would run inside a try/except block, with exceptions being caught on the upper level
- A backgroud thread catching signals and ensuring that the subsystems are running
The server would run the main loop and ensure that the state was recorded at the end of each loop. It could handle even segfaults by resuming operation at the last known state (previous loop). Deterministic errors in an iteration would be dealt with by notifying the admin (only happened in the test versions of course, which had experimental stuff).
I guess it's more a matter of method than language itself or libraries.:)
My regular doctor for the last 8 years or so has training in analysing the retina (oriental practices, she also does acupunture). Besides (and before) the usual medicine, she always performs a visual exam that lasts from 5 to 10 minutes, comparing the retina on both eyes to a couple eye-charts. She usually detects signs of problems that way, and then proceeds to treating them with a combination of either standard or homeopatic pharmaceuticals.
This article seems to support the idea that there is scientific a basis for that oriental venue of medicine afterall. Thounsands of years of empiric knowledge being proven by science?:)
Thanks for echoing my thoughts on the "Troll" issue - I'll never understand how this whole moderation thing works in./:) It's a stain in my profile though!;)
I didn't quite understand your comment "it uses 64bit file access". Were you talking about Wine or about Delphi's capabilities?
There is no reason whatsoever to use VB, unless you like a poor and dinosaur syntax. I encourage you to try Delphi, or even Borland's C++ Builder. You can get a personal edition of Delphi. You can then choose to target.NET or Win32 as you prefer. If you feel like Java you can download Borland's JBuilder Foundation edition for free as well.
Explore your options. I find Delphi to be real easy for GUIs, mainly due to the power of Borland's VCL (Visual Control Library). And you won't be throwing away your time if you later want to move to any other language (I use BC++ now, I prefer C++ syntax), because the IDE, the tools, the graphical elements (controls) and the libraries are the same (C++Builder, C#Builder, etc).
Slashdot Mirror
If they haven't done modifications to BusyBox (or other GPLed software), they don't need to provide the source themselves. They can simply point people to the homepage (counts as 3rd party server).
I'm going to quote John Stewart at Crossfire on this one, aimed at Slashdot:
Please, please, please... STOP. You're hurting us.
We all know ignorance spurs fear. And granted, we should all somehow fear this Novell/MS deal. But a sensationalist headline like this, is not just F, it's not just U and it's not just D. It's a capital I, of Ignorance. PLEASE, if you're going to post something that is going to be read by thousands of people, at least try look into it before you slam a title like this.
If you actually looked around a bit, you'd see that what has been submitted is something that has been lying around for some months now, which is actually already present in other distros. I know this is Slashdot... but again, this IS Slashdot, and it is not acceptable.
There is a saying along the lines of "don't give a starving man a fish, give him a pole and teach him how how to fish".
This tiny laptop might be an excelent way for people in developing areas to get some education and release themselves from the hunter-gatherer thinking. People have to eat in order to survive, it's a fact. But either they evolve through the means of some education, or they remain stagnant as a population, and they will continue to require being fed.
There are already food programs. We need to invest in making those people more self suficient. Give them the tools to evolve their social patterns, and they might actually be able to do so! But bear in mind that it is not in everyone's best interest that it happens that way. There are many things and many people who rely, for instance, in the fact that the indigenous populations of the largest part of Angola and Mozambique remain ignorant and fighting for the most basic needs. Remove those shackles and they might actually start thinking of higher purposes, like quality of life. And that is a big, big threat.
The 100$ laptop program is something never attempted before, and it's also something that threatens to improve the status quo in the developing areas of the world. I wouldn't be surprised if some groups actively fought it, and we can already see something like that in the media.
Unsurprisingly, some people disagree. Read this one at Business 2.0 to see Linus listed in the "List of 10 people that DON'T matter". Funny enough, Slashdot's own Rob Malda is in there, together with Steve Jobs, etc. :)
:)
It's a good thing the world is full of contradictions.
I'll try not to earn Troll points, while still pointing out that while Linus might be a symbol he is definitly not a hero. Linus is the face of Linux, but Linux is actually the cooperative effort of thousands of people (wikipedia points out that about 2% of Linux code is from Linus). Where's Alan Cox in that equation?
It is generaly a widely accepted characteristic of a hero the "willingness to sacrifice the self for the greater good". Sharing the initial skeleton of a computer program, even one as important as Linux has become (but which was irrelevant back then), hardly qualifies someone as a hero. In comparison, take RMS, who gave up his job at MIT, who gave up a lot of things for what he believes. Now, I'm not the man's greatest fan, but I'm sure that comparing the biographies of Linus and RMS you'll find it hard to find Linus a hero (or even RMS tbh). Linus is definitly a very successful engineer, and worthy of some admiration, yes, but a hero? Together with Nelson Mandela?! Margaret Thatcher?!? C'mon... get real.
So, is Linus a symbol? Hell yes! Worthy of admiration for his accomplishments? Yeah. A hero? Er... no?
We've gone through a similar experience when we grew from a team of 2 to a team of 8 in 3 months. Things we learned to be helpful in the way of tools:
- A Subversion repository for every project, and one repository per person, to host "private" projects. Also, TortoiseSVN for a windows shell integration with Subversion.
- Install Trac for every subversion project. Use it for writing documentation, and for following up on issues by posting Tickets. Tickets help a lot in maintaining the focus on problems and future developments. The integration with Subversion changesets and milestones is bliss.
- Install the appropriate modules for Trac for permission management, and allow your customers and testers to post tickets themselves. Eases up a LOT in the way of issue tracking and fixing bugs fast. It's a great way to have other people build your to-do list dynamically.
- Use frameworks for development. If you're programming with PHP use Symfony for real programming (and not just random code bits).
- Have a shared folder for files.
- Use an appropriate database backend and install common tools for database access (phpMyAdmin, pgpPgAdmin).
- Use the right tools for the job. As an example, remmember that MySQL works well as a fast database backend. But if you stick to MySQL for real applications where integrity and object mapping is relevant, you won't be doing real DB development unless you use views, functions and stored procedures. If you don't have these features, you'll never use them. If you use them, use PostgresSQL.
- Buy a billboard, a big one, and have a handy set of markers available. Do not underestimate the power of a billboard.
These are just things that worked and still work for us. There are plenty more things you can do, but first step is realizing the NEED for change, and getting everyone to work towards that.
Sorry, but your argument of geographical dispersion and population density is not enough, it should be countered by the technological advance the US have over the rest of the world. I live in Portugal, a small country, considered to be on the "tail of europe". Portugal is full of mountains, and there are entire villages up north with less than 1000 inhabitants. But we get ADSL everywhere we have a phone line ( -> everywhere we have light -> everywhere), minimum speed is 1mbps, average is 4mbps, with speeds up to 16mbps (been hearing of 20mbps recently). :p
:)
It would seem almost deliberate that the US are holding back on broadband. Afterall, information is power, and a population detached from the rest of the world is easier to influence. Other countries use different kinds of information control, sometimes far less subtle (although a distant comparison, I wonder if I'll get a troll point for the appropriate reference to China?). I'm not saying the government has an active part in delaying broadband adoption, but it certainly doesn't have an active part in promoting it.
It's sad that we've had this very same discussion here at Slashdot over 1 year ago, that time it was still about how the US were so far behind in broadband adoption. Back then we were happy with our bleeding edge ADSL lines at 1mbps... and I often refered to how France and Sweden had T1s, or even Germany. Now come and tell me Germany is small.
Consider two facts: 1) The US is a country that doesn't maintain its power grid 2) You resist the introduction of free wifi in towns. Seems to me that someone over there is more concerned with having money in their own pockets than making the country grow.
But then again, what do I know? I live in a country where the minimum wage is about 300$. But we still get ADSL everywhere.
Well, a) If I paid for the right to listen to it, it's already my music b) If I didn't pay for the right to use it, someone that did pay should be able to give it to me, should they want to c) If I did pay for it, I should be able to give it away. Or sell it even (not that anyone would buy it) What this would do is that as companies released music, more and more people would be sharing it, and with time, the value for that music would go down to zero. And companies would have to come up with more music, not just sell more of the same. They'd be paying musicions, generating money for themselves and do the world a favour, while having profit. Why isn't such a win-win scenario a good thing? So why don't we go for a free market in music? :)
But no, DRM is not inherently evil. There are legit applications to it, that kinda derive from the same basic reason that makes you put doors at home. But you should never be without your keys home, or being stopped from going home. ;)
Funny to get my first Troll moderation by stating what I believe are facts. Maybe it's a distinction that noone really cares for, the one between fiction and storytelling. There is a lot of interactive fiction in games, even books that let you choose some actions to take. But there is a huge difference between taking a role in a story, being an actor... or taking part in shaping the story itself, because it would not exist otherwise.
Interactive fiction is NOT interactive storytelling. Also present in TFA, which apparently, as usual, noone bothers reading before posting headlines. :=) This is ./ as usual. For the difference, just ask anyone who's played both a computer RPG like any of the Elder Scrolls series or sat by a table late night, playing Vampire the Masquerade, Paranoia, Cyberpunk, Fallen, Kult or Call of Cthulhu. Those people will be able to tell you the difference.
Time to go and undig my free AO account to see that new wonder of technology: in-game ads.
Actually, this is not a bad model at all: at least in a futuristic setting like AO, it fits in nicely. But I'd love to see them try showing ads in a game with a medieval theme... now that'd be a real treat.
Hi,
Here's a big list of pointer device alternatives:
http://www.billbuxton.com/InputSources.html
You might want to consider using a glove - although they're not cheap. There are also some projects that work with a camera and a set of colorerd markers on your head (such as glasses) so that you move the pointer by moving your head, the so called Head-Pointers. Examples:
http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/headpointer
Cheers, - J
> Reasons to turn on your 360?
:)
- You're under 18, and have plenty of spare time
- Your friends come over and play with you
- Your girlfriend also plays
OR
- You're still learning to handle girls, but can take the distraction
So, put that in perspective. I was a Spectrum addict when I was 12-16 (and friends came over), I was a 386 addict up to 18, and I'm 28 now, with my 3rd long term relationship (and hopefully the last one) and an healthy dose of attempts in between.
Playing games is good for you.
Aye, seems I misunderstood, thanks. That "despite" word in there makes a difference. :)
Still, it would seem that Cell is 1.75x (14/8) times slower for double precision (although on average it's 8x times faster (which makes sense, because its single precision speed is enough to raise the average).
So, that means that the cell in it's current design is 14/8= 1.75x times slower for double precision than an Opteron/Itanium is for single precision. I searched around byt couldn't find a good answer on what is the ratio between an Opteron/Itanium single and double power precision performances? If it's actually just 50% slower (as I think it is) then the cell is still slower (currently 75%).
So, anyone knows for sure what is the ratio between an Opteron/Itanium single and double power precision performances?
Actually, here in Portugal we were ok before the EU. Now we are a lot better, but we also have lots more complaints pointing to the EU. Mainly it's the small business that suffers, the one run by people who've done the same for ages now and can't adapt.
But joining the EU also generates MANY good changes. Broader markets for one, not having to carry a passport and always using the same currency wherever you go. I co-own an IT company, we're expandind to other countries, and frankly, it's great. I know lots of other small companies that don't even have business in Portugal, they just happened to be born from ideas here.
"Stick together" is a good moto. I wish those dumbasses in the UK and Denmark would just agree and actually adhere to everything.
It seems like an awful risk for Wired News, opening themselves to being sued by AT&T. I sincerely hope nothing wrong comes out of this to them. But knowing the US... they just placed a sign reading "sue us"! :)
We've had national ID cards in Portugal for decades now. They're a very convenient way to identify people, specially for contracts. Hopefully we'll soon merge driver's license and health care into them aswell.
As for privacy concerns... c'mon! Privacy concerns stem from an intrusive and over-controlling government, not the methods that it has available, rather the way in which they are used. If you, as a population, are worried, then consider WHO you are voting for on the next elections. You ARE a democracy, right?
Chess is all about strategy, and strategy earns tremendously from foresight and planning ahead.
>> what in the world would a physics coprocessor have to do with a chess game?
Think in terms of metaphores. Real world physics are mainly a matter of particles, gravity and kinetics, which are functions of space, time and mass.
Now think Chess.
It's also a function of particles (pieces), space (position), time (playing turn) and you could encode its rules as physics too (the way pieces move). If you can get the engine to calculate where the pieces will be in later turns following chess rules (and not real-world physics rules) you will gain tremendous foresight.
I remmember sometime back developing a particle simulation system (using C++/OpenGL for display), in which velocity/gravity where just callback functions of the enviroment (actually, methods of the World:: object). You could add for instance "wind" by adding a function that affected velocity.
The same system could be used for totally different simulations.
In the end, seems like an excelent idea. Just because it's called "physics", doesn't mean it has to be real-world physics. If the system is generic enough to allow for your own rules (and it should, so you can mimic water, space, etc), then its implications reach WELL beyond realism, and can be used for AI processing aswell.
I would think that trading puns is harmless, it's called "dark humour". There is noone forcing you to read it all or even reply. I honestly believe the comments and puns above are funny, basically because humans have this huge ability to abstract themselves from what is being said and have fun with HOW it's being said.
Hopefully you live in the US, China, North-Corea, and your comment makes sense considering the lack of liberties your society is currently experimenting. But if you live in the free-world, I'd expect more of you, much like you seem to imply you expect more out of Slashdot.
And no, rape isn't funny. But so isn't death, and there'r lots of jokes about it. Same thing with sex, marriage, etc...
Hi,
:)
Maybe you shouldn't aim to have the program crash free. If you assume that crashes will occur, and put in place mechanisms to deal with that, you will have a far more reliable system than if you use a more optimistic approach.
Smart use of signal handlers and threads should go a long way to ensure the system keeps running. As an example, I'll mention a server I worked on for a couple years, that used the following approach:
- All subsystems would run inside a try/except block, with exceptions being caught on the upper level
- A backgroud thread catching signals and ensuring that the subsystems are running
The server would run the main loop and ensure that the state was recorded at the end of each loop. It could handle even segfaults by resuming operation at the last known state (previous loop). Deterministic errors in an iteration would be dealt with by notifying the admin (only happened in the test versions of course, which had experimental stuff).
I guess it's more a matter of method than language itself or libraries.
My regular doctor for the last 8 years or so has training in analysing the retina (oriental practices, she also does acupunture). Besides (and before) the usual medicine, she always performs a visual exam that lasts from 5 to 10 minutes, comparing the retina on both eyes to a couple eye-charts. She usually detects signs of problems that way, and then proceeds to treating them with a combination of either standard or homeopatic pharmaceuticals.
:)
This article seems to support the idea that there is scientific a basis for that oriental venue of medicine afterall. Thounsands of years of empiric knowledge being proven by science?
Hi,
./ :) It's a stain in my profile though! ;)
Thanks for echoing my thoughts on the "Troll" issue - I'll never understand how this whole moderation thing works in
I didn't quite understand your comment "it uses 64bit file access". Were you talking about Wine or about Delphi's capabilities?
Hi,
.NET or Win32 as you prefer.
:)
There is no reason whatsoever to use VB, unless you like a poor and dinosaur syntax. I encourage you to try Delphi, or even Borland's C++ Builder. You can get a personal edition of Delphi. You can then choose to target
If you feel like Java you can download Borland's JBuilder Foundation edition for free as well.
Explore your options. I find Delphi to be real easy for GUIs, mainly due to the power of Borland's VCL (Visual Control Library). And you won't be throwing away your time if you later want to move to any other language (I use BC++ now, I prefer C++ syntax), because the IDE, the tools, the graphical elements (controls) and the libraries are the same (C++Builder, C#Builder, etc).
Good luck!
64 kbytes. And then again, nevermind. :)