It is, but it is the kind of thing which will persist for a long time. Why aren't mechanical watches obsolete? My wife has a wind up watch. It is a beautifully made antique boys watch.
I'd love to see some speculation on what skills you'd expect to be obsoleted by 2029.
I can't honestly think of anything. Most old skills are still used in the third world. Most modern skills will still be used in 20 years time.
Any skill that an engineer who can't pay the mortgage has is obviously an obsolete technical skill. It couldn't be that the economy is run by a bunch of imbeciles.
Actually I think less common skills are better at paying the mortgage than common skills. I would hate to be a generic java or VB programmer. Too easy to ship offshore.
His job was pretty crappy by the time he retired. But he is always looking for things to tinker with. I am mainly thinking of it as a way for him to stay mentally active. I would hate to see him gardening all day or something.
I had a compiler on CP/M which generated assembly and sent the output to an assembler. I don't think GCC works that way. It probably generates machine code directly. Maybe it has a symbolic "assembly" layer inside.
DEC C on alpha/OpenVMS had an option to output assembly. I don't think it generated it otherwise.
So - predicting the future is not that hard for the most part - for example, C - will it survive or not? I'd say that seeing linux popularity and the things people do with C today its going to stick around for at least the time it takes to build a new open source OS - something like 4 years at least. C++ - some people like it, others hate it, if Java will continue getting better, who knows?
Everything which is written in Java uses C.
Everything which is written in C uses Assembler.
Everything which is written in Assembler uses machine code.
Assembler on 68k, powerpc, risc, cell, hell, anything but intel is still very doable.
I taught myself 6502 when I was a teenager. It had a nice, logical instruction set. Much later I had a look at the alpha assembly output from a DEC C compiler. Very nice code. Easy to relate to C source.
Every programmer should know something about assembly.
Two hundred million VB, PHP and Ruby programmers want to disagree with you. But you are right. Assembly is as much a part of the system as transistors and stack pointers. My first system had a 6502 with a BASIC interpreter in ROM. The back page of the instruction book had the 6502 instruction set printed on it (lucky it wasn't a Z80). That was much more interesting for a 13 year old than basic.
A co-worker of mine here in Australia has an iPhone. He uses it with his Australian SIM and a hardware unlocking device. He bought it on eBay. I can't see him going to jail for theft any time soon. He hasn't signed any contracts with US phone companies and is not obligated to them.
As for your assertion that the software isn't as good as Ubuntu, I'll say when Ubuntu works out of the box with my hardware I'll agree with you. Until then, I'll keep considering OS X a better solution. No it's not a fair comparison, since Ubuntu can't control all the hardware, but fact is OS X simply works and is generally more simple and intuitive.
Linux on my Asus eee is a lot like the Mac. It is very well integrated. Much better than Ubuntu on the same device. The more I think about it, Asus seem to have been inspired by the approach of Apple in designing this machine.
Once vendor supplied Linux takes off, distributions like Ubuntu may have to change their approach. This makes the deals with Dell look like a lost opportunity because the distribution was not significantly tailored for the hardware.
For good measure, they'll apply it twice -- after all, twice is better than once.
Its no joke. The IT group where I work have failed to provide a low latency link to a new system and proposed a compression box to install in the link. When I complained that this wouldn't work they suggested putting a second compressor in series to make the most of the bandwidth.
And yes I know that latency has little to do with bandwidth. Thats a different story.
An airplane needs an engine to fly, and when that engine is destroyed and crashes somewhere near where you shot it down. A satellite needs no engine to fly, and when you shoot at it, it becomes thousands of little satellites, all of which continue to "fly" at 25,000 miles per hour.
They might be counting on transferring enough momentum to the object for it to deorbit half an orbit later. That would put it over Africa, Asia and (possibly) Europe in longitude. I am not sure about latitude. I know that USA193 has an inclination of 60 degrees but that just ensures that it will be over land when crossing the longitude of Africa.
I bought mine about three weeks ago. I think this device will set a new benchmark for a basic home PC. Asus should sell a headless version. It will do very well.
My asus eee came with the non-free codecs installed. This unit is selling very well at the moment. Before Christmas it was impossible to get one in the stores.
The codecs are nothing to do with the OS. You can sell a system with them if you want.
Re:Must be why rsync over ssh is much faster
on
Multi-Threaded SSH/SCP
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· Score: 4, Interesting
There is definitely something funny(strange) about the way scp does bulk copies. It stops and starts. Other applications happily stream through encrypted ssh connections.
And in my experience rsync is faster.
Must be why rsync over ssh is much faster
on
Multi-Threaded SSH/SCP
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· Score: 4, Insightful
I get a lot of use out of ssh for moving files around and rsync is definitely the best way to do heavy lifting in this area. Improving scp would be good to. I can't wait to hear what Theo thinks about this. I don't see him as a fan of adding complexity to improve performance.
Big scp copies through my wifi router used to cause kernel panics under netbsd current of about a year ago. I never had that problem running rsync inside ssh.
I can't see it working well in shallow waters. I don't think it would have much scope for navigation either, as it spends most of its time at depth away from GPS signals.
For a drug mule you want something you can deploy and collect at a precise location on a beach, which for me, means a solar powered UAV which will sit just below the surface. Not that I have tried to build any such thing of course.
Last I checked submarines had air tanks for buoyancy control, and newer subs are not motorized, but nuclear-powered. Something change in the past few hours while I was sleeping?
Submarines don't use changes in depth to push them horizontally. This device is a bit like a sailplane.
Reading users email?
on
Ethics In IT
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Anyone who has time to read peoples email obviously isn't busy enough (and is easily amused).
Somewhere I saw a map of submarine cable routes and many of them follow coastlines. It must be much cheaper to lay cable in water, despite the cost of repairs. So cables comes to shore near population centres because it is cheaper than doing the last 50 or 100 km on land.
Slashdot Mirror
I think I am saying that the whole stack is still there, like the genes we share with crocodiles.
It is, but it is the kind of thing which will persist for a long time. Why aren't mechanical watches obsolete? My wife has a wind up watch. It is a beautifully made antique boys watch.
I'd love to see some speculation on what skills you'd expect to be obsoleted by 2029.I can't honestly think of anything. Most old skills are still used in the third world. Most modern skills will still be used in 20 years time.
Actually I think less common skills are better at paying the mortgage than common skills. I would hate to be a generic java or VB programmer. Too easy to ship offshore.
Well not reputable web programming anyway.
His job was pretty crappy by the time he retired. But he is always looking for things to tinker with. I am mainly thinking of it as a way for him to stay mentally active. I would hate to see him gardening all day or something.
I had a compiler on CP/M which generated assembly and sent the output to an assembler. I don't think GCC works that way. It probably generates machine code directly. Maybe it has a symbolic "assembly" layer inside.
DEC C on alpha/OpenVMS had an option to output assembly. I don't think it generated it otherwise.
I am sure my six year old son would find it hilarious, and need help using one for the first time.
Everything which is written in Java uses C.
Everything which is written in C uses Assembler.
Everything which is written in Assembler uses machine code.
And so on.
I taught myself 6502 when I was a teenager. It had a nice, logical instruction set. Much later I had a look at the alpha assembly output from a DEC C compiler. Very nice code. Easy to relate to C source.
Two hundred million VB, PHP and Ruby programmers want to disagree with you. But you are right. Assembly is as much a part of the system as transistors and stack pointers. My first system had a 6502 with a BASIC interpreter in ROM. The back page of the instruction book had the 6502 instruction set printed on it (lucky it wasn't a Z80). That was much more interesting for a 13 year old than basic.
My Dad started out working on valve amplifiers in the 1950's. Now that he has retired I want to start a business with him fixing valve amplifiers.
A co-worker of mine here in Australia has an iPhone. He uses it with his Australian SIM and a hardware unlocking device. He bought it on eBay. I can't see him going to jail for theft any time soon. He hasn't signed any contracts with US phone companies and is not obligated to them.
Linux on my Asus eee is a lot like the Mac. It is very well integrated. Much better than Ubuntu on the same device. The more I think about it, Asus seem to have been inspired by the approach of Apple in designing this machine.
Once vendor supplied Linux takes off, distributions like Ubuntu may have to change their approach. This makes the deals with Dell look like a lost opportunity because the distribution was not significantly tailored for the hardware.
Its no joke. The IT group where I work have failed to provide a low latency link to a new system and proposed a compression box to install in the link. When I complained that this wouldn't work they suggested putting a second compressor in series to make the most of the bandwidth.
And yes I know that latency has little to do with bandwidth. Thats a different story.
They might be counting on transferring enough momentum to the object for it to deorbit half an orbit later. That would put it over Africa, Asia and (possibly) Europe in longitude. I am not sure about latitude. I know that USA193 has an inclination of 60 degrees but that just ensures that it will be over land when crossing the longitude of Africa.
.I bought mine about three weeks ago. I think this device will set a new benchmark for a basic home PC. Asus should sell a headless version. It will do very well.
My asus eee came with the non-free codecs installed. This unit is selling very well at the moment. Before Christmas it was impossible to get one in the stores.
The codecs are nothing to do with the OS. You can sell a system with them if you want.
There is definitely something funny(strange) about the way scp does bulk copies. It stops and starts. Other applications happily stream through encrypted ssh connections.
And in my experience rsync is faster.
I get a lot of use out of ssh for moving files around and rsync is definitely the best way to do heavy lifting in this area. Improving scp would be good to. I can't wait to hear what Theo thinks about this. I don't see him as a fan of adding complexity to improve performance.
Big scp copies through my wifi router used to cause kernel panics under netbsd current of about a year ago. I never had that problem running rsync inside ssh.
I can't see it working well in shallow waters. I don't think it would have much scope for navigation either, as it spends most of its time at depth away from GPS signals.
For a drug mule you want something you can deploy and collect at a precise location on a beach, which for me, means a solar powered UAV which will sit just below the surface. Not that I have tried to build any such thing of course.
Human drug mules are cheaper anyway.
Submarines don't use changes in depth to push them horizontally. This device is a bit like a sailplane.
Anyone who has time to read peoples email obviously isn't busy enough (and is easily amused).
Somewhere I saw a map of submarine cable routes and many of them follow coastlines. It must be much cheaper to lay cable in water, despite the cost of repairs. So cables comes to shore near population centres because it is cheaper than doing the last 50 or 100 km on land.
My wife loves tetris. Maybe it is something to do with packing things neatly away.
So the I/O stack in the host will be built to only transmit data which it can parse and which it knows is legit.