Someone already mentioned TAOCP, SICP and "Introduction to Algorithms". They are all great.
I'll add "Types and Programming Languages" by Benjamin Pierce to that list, or alternatively "Practical Foundations for Programming Languages" by Robert Harper.
If I were you I'd bring some ebooks on Haskell (+ a cache of libs with their API docs): "Programming in Haskell" by Graham Hutton, "Real World Haskell" by by Don Stewart, Bryan O'Sullivan, and John Goerzen.
A previous comment suggests that the lifetime of most FORTRAN code is not necessarily that long (requiring scientists to publish their code might change that). If this is indeed the case, you have a point. However, most programs live very long indeed (several decades is not at all exceptional), so the productivity of the original author is not that important. If we would look at the cost over the lifetime of the code (including testing, debugging and operational cost of bugs), I think there are significant differences between languages.
Denton's opinion tell us a lot about the kind of web site he visits. The internet is a heterogenous place, and this is reflected in the quality of comments posted to various online forums, just like it is in the quality of the content posted by web site editors (CNN.com is throwing stones in glass houses posting an article like this).
Look at a web site like Lambda The Ultimate. The quality of posts there is often on par with peer-reviewed journal articles. The Haskell subreddit also often has incredibly valuable discussions, all provided for free by the readers themselves.
Automatic law enforcement is cheap but it's not the way to go. Make it illegal and slap offenders with a hard punishment to deter people. It works well enough with all other reasonable laws, so why do it differently with this one?
Management consulting is a great career path for someone like you. They will teach you everything you need on top of your IT skills and given your long experience you should be able to get into some interesting work right away.
Take a gander at some of the companies in this list, look for jobs for "experienced professionals":
http://www.vault.com/nr/consulting_rankings/consul ting_rankings.jsp?consulting2007=2&ch_id=252
Exactly the same in my case. I am locked into the Windows platform mostly (also to a certain extent by the massive collection of software licenses I own) by my Windows Mobile Smartphone which synchs with Outlook using ActiveSync and is an absolute necessity. I have seen some third party tools for Mac that can do the same thing but if I am going to ditch Office, that will only be for an integrated, open-source solution with functionality at part or exceeding the Microsoft equivalent (this is why I am now using Firefox and not IE).
What interests me about this article is that it mentions Microsoft will make Hotmail more similar to OWA. If this means that, in the long run, they will add Outlook synchronization or at least ActiveSync synchronization I would be very happy since this is something I'm paying for now. Services like mail2web already offer this kind of service today so I can imagine Microsoft is feeling jealous...
Wallace and Gromit and Aardman's other work are such uniquely funny creations (notably, with the exception of the horrid Flushed Away) that I am very happy to see them separate from the marketing machine of Dreamworks. Hopefully this means we will be getting more of that subtle, relaxed British humor as opposed to try-hard material based on focus-group approval ratings that you can expect from a U.S. behemoth like Dreamworks.
Not to say that the latter doesn't have its place in the entertainment industry, because it does - as has been proven by the many excellent achievements of this company - but coupled together with Aardman, there is no synergy, just mutual deprecation.
Octave - Matlab minus the GUI and extra toolboxes Macaulay 2 - advanced algebra GAP - general algebra
C'mon hax0r people - no-one needs another web server / window manager. I'm missing an OS replacement for Mathemetica. One would think this would be of high priority to the OS community...
You mean Richard Stallman? Cosidering he made Linux even remotely possible I think he deserves more credit than Linus, who has got more than enough glory for his little crashy hack kernel.
Invented the algorithm, he did not. In fact, algorithmic mathematics is the oldest form of math and was developed independenty by most ancient civilizations. If anyone deserves to be in the list as the inventor of the computer algorithm, it should be Ada Byron, as Wikipedia writes. She developed a algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers in - 1842!
Slashdot Mirror
Someone already mentioned TAOCP, SICP and "Introduction to Algorithms". They are all great. I'll add "Types and Programming Languages" by Benjamin Pierce to that list, or alternatively "Practical Foundations for Programming Languages" by Robert Harper. If I were you I'd bring some ebooks on Haskell (+ a cache of libs with their API docs): "Programming in Haskell" by Graham Hutton, "Real World Haskell" by by Don Stewart, Bryan O'Sullivan, and John Goerzen.
A previous comment suggests that the lifetime of most FORTRAN code is not necessarily that long (requiring scientists to publish their code might change that). If this is indeed the case, you have a point. However, most programs live very long indeed (several decades is not at all exceptional), so the productivity of the original author is not that important. If we would look at the cost over the lifetime of the code (including testing, debugging and operational cost of bugs), I think there are significant differences between languages.
Denton's opinion tell us a lot about the kind of web site he visits. The internet is a heterogenous place, and this is reflected in the quality of comments posted to various online forums, just like it is in the quality of the content posted by web site editors (CNN.com is throwing stones in glass houses posting an article like this). Look at a web site like Lambda The Ultimate. The quality of posts there is often on par with peer-reviewed journal articles. The Haskell subreddit also often has incredibly valuable discussions, all provided for free by the readers themselves.
Automatic law enforcement is cheap but it's not the way to go. Make it illegal and slap offenders with a hard punishment to deter people. It works well enough with all other reasonable laws, so why do it differently with this one?
Management consulting is a great career path for someone like you. They will teach you everything you need on top of your IT skills and given your long experience you should be able to get into some interesting work right away. Take a gander at some of the companies in this list, look for jobs for "experienced professionals": http://www.vault.com/nr/consulting_rankings/consul ting_rankings.jsp?consulting2007=2&ch_id=252
Exactly the same in my case. I am locked into the Windows platform mostly (also to a certain extent by the massive collection of software licenses I own) by my Windows Mobile Smartphone which synchs with Outlook using ActiveSync and is an absolute necessity. I have seen some third party tools for Mac that can do the same thing but if I am going to ditch Office, that will only be for an integrated, open-source solution with functionality at part or exceeding the Microsoft equivalent (this is why I am now using Firefox and not IE).
What interests me about this article is that it mentions Microsoft will make Hotmail more similar to OWA. If this means that, in the long run, they will add Outlook synchronization or at least ActiveSync synchronization I would be very happy since this is something I'm paying for now. Services like mail2web already offer this kind of service today so I can imagine Microsoft is feeling jealous...
Wallace and Gromit and Aardman's other work are such uniquely funny creations (notably, with the exception of the horrid Flushed Away) that I am very happy to see them separate from the marketing machine of Dreamworks. Hopefully this means we will be getting more of that subtle, relaxed British humor as opposed to try-hard material based on focus-group approval ratings that you can expect from a U.S. behemoth like Dreamworks. Not to say that the latter doesn't have its place in the entertainment industry, because it does - as has been proven by the many excellent achievements of this company - but coupled together with Aardman, there is no synergy, just mutual deprecation.
Octave - Matlab minus the GUI and extra toolboxes
Macaulay 2 - advanced algebra
GAP - general algebra
C'mon hax0r people - no-one needs another web server / window manager. I'm missing an OS replacement for Mathemetica. One would think this would be of high priority to the OS community...
The only reason UNIX isn't totally forgeotten by now is the enormous free software base provided by GNU.
You mean Richard Stallman? Cosidering he made Linux even remotely possible I think he deserves more credit than Linus, who has got more than enough glory for his little crashy hack kernel.
Invented the algorithm, he did not. In fact, algorithmic mathematics is the oldest form of math and was developed independenty by most ancient civilizations. If anyone deserves to be in the list as the inventor of the computer algorithm, it should be Ada Byron, as Wikipedia writes. She developed a algorithm for Babbage's Analytical Engine to compute Bernoulli numbers in - 1842!