I picked up the deep discounted HD+ last weekend. Pretty awesome deal - $179 for a 9" 32G ($149 for the 16G version if you can find them) tablet w/ 1920x1080 screen. No camera, no microUSB, no uHDMI out...but does have GPS, a uSD slot, and can sideload real Android, and purportedly Ubuntu. Wifi seems pretty solid, and the screen is very crisp. Biggest downside is the old/slow CPU - things can get a bit laggy - but for what I use it for (books, email, web surfing) its a helluva deal. A few apps I've tried to load from the playstore won't install, but nothing thats a deal breaker. I've had an iPad, an overpriced POS from Toshiba, and lately a 7" Tab 2 thats very flaky; the Nook HD+ beats them all either on readability, stability, or price.
Alas I don't know if BN can turn the business side around without stripping the Nook down to a basic B&W reader, and locking folks down to the BN store.
Timely post. I've been struggling w/ the same situation, and just wandered around HomeDepot awhile until I found the parts. I looked for an actual storebought solution, but didn't find anything that can support 27" monitors.
(Long version)
I've been working from home for 15+ years, big laptop on a big lapdesk, in a recliner. Decadent, yes, but productive.
About 6 months ago, I built myself a standup workstation to force me off my big arse, and added a 27" monitor above my 18.5" laptop. Loved it: more screen, felt more awake, back felt much better (highly recommend the standup to anyone having weight/back/etc issues from sitting all day)
Then I started jogging on the treadmill 30-45min a day. For all its great benefits, working at the standup tired my legs before my jog, so I went back to the recliner, but missed the 2nd screen. So I took another spin around HomeDepot and grabbed some parts and built what I needed...though it took several iterations.
Hints: don't use cheap aluminum braces, the weight of the monitor torques it too much. I'm picking up a beefy steel brace today. Unless your stand will be attached to some other furniture, and be fairly short, use metal (1.5" conduit or similar), rather than wood for the poles. I used a wooden closet rod, and it definitely bends a bit. I've been able to compensate, but will probably upgrade to metal in future.
And as a base for the whole. thing, look for a hefty patio umbrella stand. I happened to have an old one lying around that does the trick, but it may need more weight.
This probably sounds like a lot more effort than you had in mind, but sometimes the best solution is homebrewed.
Having installed both BOBJ and Oracle (and numerous other "Enterprise" software packages), I can confidently say that setting up even a small Informatica system is by far the most painful, error prone, and infuriating experience I've ever had in my 2+ decades of experience.
I usually start the process by crawling into a corner in the fetal position and sobbing uncontrollably for 30 minutes, cuz I know the next week of my life will be complete hell. Then I throw away the docs, since I know they're a work of fiction. 5-7 days of random typing and button pressing later, I may finally have a functional Informatica system.
If the current system is failing, why would we want to give kids even more of it ?
Much learning occurs *outside* of classrooms. Learning to be a good person, how to camp, swim, fish, etc. and enjoy life.And how to work, btw. I'm not aware of any curriculum that includes those classes. Are we going to add them in those 3 more months of failed public schooling ?
Our school system has many issues (starting w/ the NEA and - ironically - underpaid teachers). Turning it into a 12 year long death march isn't going to fix it. In the "land of the free", its important for kids to know what freedom is.
Massive doses of B vitamins, purified water (you know fish breed in that stuff ?), yeast hulls, and reduced stress levels.
Alas, as a Libertarian, Mssr. Obama's socialist leanings disallow me from voting for him, but I applaud his choice of quality beverage. Perhaps a good pint of Pliney, or a Firestone Parabola, or Black Butte XXIV, will clear his mind. I'd be happy to volunteer a pint of my excellent Saison or Belgian Quad if it will end America's perpetual war on "whoever we're trying to kill at the moment:"
(Have no fear, I have no such delusions that Mssr. Romney will be swayed by a friendly magic pint - mores the pity...)
Seems to me someone just announced a new electronic buggy whip. I've been wearing multifocal contacts for 2 years and love them. They're less than $200/yr if you know where to look, and if you've got decent insurance, they're basically free. So why would I want some huge electonic goggles perched on my nose again ?
Seriously, if you need to worry about "seating arrangements", you probably need a housecleaning. If the work is so mindnumbing that where/how a developer sits is important, maybe offshoring it would be doing the employees a favor...
Not sure I understand the fixation w/ COBOL here...I'm well past 40, and have only wrangled a bit of COBOL in my 30 year career. Lots of C/C++, Java, Perl, Python, Javascript, etc., but damn little COBOL.
As stated elsewhere, one cause is probably just burning out and moving on to something else. Or moving to the position of manager who's making those hiring decisions. Or, if you're actually good at software engineering, moving into consulting.
ftm, if you're a great developer w/ lots of experience, you probably also have a pretty wide network. The last 16+ years of my career, CV's have been just a formality (if required at all), cuz I already knew the hiring manager.
Code reviews are highly subjective, human endeavors. I've certainly wasted more than a little of my life in "reviews" that were nothing more than
personality driven, agenda laden time-wasters that usually surfaced little more than grammatical erros in comments. *If* the reviewers actually
bother to look at the code before making comments.
Here's a little exersize you might want your boss to be involved in:
Grab an arbitrary piece of code from outside your organization.
Inject 10 or so errors or other issues into it
Divide your usual review crew into 2 groups to review the code separately.
Tell one group that the code was written by a new intern, so you'd like them to eyeball it.
Tell the other group that the code was written by your most senior developer (preferably, one w/ a big ego),
and they need to review it "cuz the boss says we have to"
Compare how many issues each group finds/reports.
I suspect you already have a good idea what the outcome will be. That should be enough to tell you how effective code reviews are.
Automated code formatters/code inspectors, along with decent compilers/linkers (or interpreters) will surface most of the
issues that code reviews find.
Instead of pissing away valuable developer time, put those reviewers to work writing and executing tests. Right away, you'll discover
whether the code is testable. And then you'll discover whether its actually correct.
Tests don't have egos, agendas, personal axes to grind, or coworkers they don't want to piss off. They don't take vacations or sick days.
They don't have opinions about the author of the code. They usually don't leave the company. They generally don't have an opinion about
how many/few comments there are, or if the code has been formatted to corporate spec (unless those tests are executed as part of the
automated tools mentioned above). Sure they can be drudgery to write, but its the only real way to know if the code actually does
whats its supposed to.
I was surprised that Groovy didn't appear anywhere in the article. If there's a dynamic language poised to convert the enterprise crowd, its Groovy. Able to compile into Java bytecode, compile Java code, and directly exploit the huge base of Java, but without the cumbersome Java syntax. I wouldn't be surprised to see Python and Ruby supplanted by Groovy in a couple of years.
Interesting the term never surfaced in the article...perhaps the author
needs some. OTOH, the number of misspelled, grammatically flawed entries
here would indicate many of us could use a little mental boost.
As someone who was bitten by the bug fixed in 2.0.0.11, I think the terse/. description
needs a little backstory.
2.0.0.10 f*cked up a lot of AJAXy web apps, and, frankly,
Mozilla's initial response
was less than "customer oriented". The "shoot the messanger" attitude exhibited
in some of those early Bugzilla posts - despite there being numerous random URLs provided to point out the flaw -
is a bit troubling.
As is the fact that Firefox's release process seems to be either lacking basic
tests for std. API's, or is choosing to skip those tests.
And of course, the lack of an easy 1-click "Revert" menu item/button to back down
versions when an auto-updater introduces such a bug further compounds
the impact of these sort of bugs.
Of course, the/. crowd are somehow spinning this serious failure of both
software and processes into proof of Firefox's superiority, due to
the quick turnaround time. However, those of us that were
actually bitten by this - and esp. had customers bitten by this (see the Bugzilla link above)
- are having to rethink the usual practice of recommending FF over IE/Opera/etc.
How is that different/better than, say, Dojo? Or Google Web Toolkit, or Yahoo UI Library?
The IDE. And the set of widgets is (imnsho) more consistent and more complete. Accordians,
fades, and round corners are swell and all, but grids, trees, text, and forms is where the work
gets done. I've tried the kits you mentioned, plus a couple others (jQuery, Ext),
and then tried Aptana (ugh, an Eclipse based tool for building browser apps ?)
but once I started using GI, I was hooked. Just run it in a browser, and start
dragging and dropping widgets, then wire them up to the model or web service.
But if you prefer handcrafting your GUIs in a text editor, you probably won't like
GI.
Eats its own dogfood: It runs in the browser! (No Java, no activeX,
no flying pig aka Eclipse, just DHTML)
And.. (drumroll, please) NO FLASH!
I've only been kicking it around for a few weeks, but its
a fantastic tool. The learning curve is a bit steep,
but now that I got my head around it, I'm not looking anywhere
else.
Unfortunately, STM is very resource heavy and very slow. Yes, it abstracts away lots of
issues, but that abstraction comes at a significant cost. In most instances,
STM is slower than "classic" locking schemes until 10+ cores are available.
(FYI:
University of Rochester has a nice bibliography for STM info)
If/when the CPU designers currently screaming "more threads, more threads!"
at us coders get around to implementing efficient h/w transactional memory,
painless fine grain parallelism may become a reality. Until then, STM
may be fine for very large applications on systems with huge
memories and lots of cores, but probably isn't an option for the average desktop.
But STM does present some intriguing possibilities for distributed
parallel environments (think STM + DSM).
And they also showed the pricetag...ouch. So my earlier estimate of
2.5x more for a UMPC is now closer to about 1.8x more. Which makes the UMPC
an even more attractive choice.
While I wish them the best, I fear it may be another Zaurus debacle
(I personally got burned by that one). I know when I was researching the 770
last year, I had the same reaction as when I was using the Z...info was scattered everywhere...except on the manufacturer's own site. Getting basic info about what s/w was on it, what s/w was available, and how to configure the thing was a very painful, time consuming experience. And not something I'd want to endure again.
Slashdot Mirror
I picked up the deep discounted HD+ last weekend. Pretty awesome deal - $179 for a 9" 32G ($149 for the 16G version if you can find them) tablet w/ 1920x1080 screen. No camera, no microUSB, no uHDMI out...but does have GPS, a uSD slot, and can sideload real Android, and purportedly Ubuntu. Wifi seems pretty solid, and the screen is very crisp. Biggest downside is the old/slow CPU - things can get a bit laggy - but for what I use it for (books, email, web surfing) its a helluva deal. A few apps I've tried to load from the playstore won't install, but nothing thats a deal breaker. I've had an iPad, an overpriced POS from Toshiba, and lately a 7" Tab 2 thats very flaky; the Nook HD+ beats them all either on readability, stability, or price.
Alas I don't know if BN can turn the business side around without stripping the Nook down to a basic B&W reader, and locking folks down to the BN store.
BASIC ? Compilers ? pffft, whatta bunch of pussies...
But if they added Warby Parker frames, the poseur nerds would presumably wear them...tho I guess thats just a slightly different brand of dork.
(Long version)
I've been working from home for 15+ years, big laptop on a big lapdesk, in a recliner. Decadent, yes, but productive.
About 6 months ago, I built myself a standup workstation to force me off my big arse, and added a 27" monitor above my 18.5" laptop. Loved it: more screen, felt more awake, back felt much better (highly recommend the standup to anyone having weight/back/etc issues from sitting all day)
Then I started jogging on the treadmill 30-45min a day. For all its great benefits, working at the standup tired my legs before my jog, so I went back to the recliner, but missed the 2nd screen. So I took another spin around HomeDepot and grabbed some parts and built what I needed...though it took several iterations.
Hints: don't use cheap aluminum braces, the weight of the monitor torques it too much. I'm picking up a beefy steel brace today. Unless your stand will be attached to some other furniture, and be fairly short, use metal (1.5" conduit or similar), rather than wood for the poles. I used a wooden closet rod, and it definitely bends a bit. I've been able to compensate, but will probably upgrade to metal in future.
And as a base for the whole. thing, look for a hefty patio umbrella stand. I happened to have an old one lying around that does the trick, but it may need more weight.
This probably sounds like a lot more effort than you had in mind, but sometimes the best solution is homebrewed.
I usually start the process by crawling into a corner in the fetal position and sobbing uncontrollably for 30 minutes, cuz I know the next week of my life will be complete hell. Then I throw away the docs, since I know they're a work of fiction. 5-7 days of random typing and button pressing later, I may finally have a functional Informatica system.
Much learning occurs *outside* of classrooms. Learning to be a good person, how to camp, swim, fish, etc. and enjoy life.And how to work, btw. I'm not aware of any curriculum that includes those classes. Are we going to add them in those 3 more months of failed public schooling ?
Our school system has many issues (starting w/ the NEA and - ironically - underpaid teachers). Turning it into a 12 year long death march isn't going to fix it. In the "land of the free", its important for kids to know what freedom is.
Alas, as a Libertarian, Mssr. Obama's socialist leanings disallow me from voting for him, but I applaud his choice of quality beverage. Perhaps a good pint of Pliney, or a Firestone Parabola, or Black Butte XXIV, will clear his mind. I'd be happy to volunteer a pint of my excellent Saison or Belgian Quad if it will end America's perpetual war on "whoever we're trying to kill at the moment:"
(Have no fear, I have no such delusions that Mssr. Romney will be swayed by a friendly magic pint - mores the pity...)
Seems to me someone just announced a new electronic buggy whip. I've been wearing multifocal contacts for 2 years and love them. They're less than $200/yr if you know where to look, and if you've got decent insurance, they're basically free. So why would I want some huge electonic goggles perched on my nose again ?
You're just holding it wrong!
(or maybe China)
Seriously, if you need to worry about "seating arrangements", you probably need a housecleaning. If the work is so mindnumbing that where/how a developer sits is important, maybe offshoring it would be doing the employees a favor...
As stated elsewhere, one cause is probably just burning out and moving on to something else. Or moving to the position of manager who's making those hiring decisions. Or, if you're actually good at software engineering, moving into consulting.
ftm, if you're a great developer w/ lots of experience, you probably also have a pretty wide network. The last 16+ years of my career, CV's have been just a formality (if required at all), cuz I already knew the hiring manager.
Here's a little exersize you might want your boss to be involved in:
I suspect you already have a good idea what the outcome will be. That should be enough to tell you how effective code reviews are.
Automated code formatters/code inspectors, along with decent compilers/linkers (or interpreters) will surface most of the issues that code reviews find.
Instead of pissing away valuable developer time, put those reviewers to work writing and executing tests. Right away, you'll discover whether the code is testable. And then you'll discover whether its actually correct.
Tests don't have egos, agendas, personal axes to grind, or coworkers they don't want to piss off. They don't take vacations or sick days. They don't have opinions about the author of the code. They usually don't leave the company. They generally don't have an opinion about how many/few comments there are, or if the code has been formatted to corporate spec (unless those tests are executed as part of the automated tools mentioned above). Sure they can be drudgery to write, but its the only real way to know if the code actually does whats its supposed to.
Of course, TFA's author apparently couldn't be bothered to do that either...
Clue for the TFA'a author: there are lots of very interesting open source projects that don't have a damn thing to do with Linux!
(Note to self: use Edit->Find... before commenting)
But I still think its important enough to deserve more than a single passing comment.
Dynamic Languages Jobs Barometer
I was surprised that Groovy didn't appear anywhere in the article. If there's a dynamic language poised to convert the enterprise crowd, its Groovy. Able to compile into Java bytecode, compile Java code, and directly exploit the huge base of Java, but without the cumbersome Java syntax. I wouldn't be surprised to see Python and Ruby supplanted by Groovy in a couple of years.
Interesting the term never surfaced in the article...perhaps the author needs some. OTOH, the number of misspelled, grammatically flawed entries here would indicate many of us could use a little mental boost.
2.0.0.10 f*cked up a lot of AJAXy web apps, and, frankly, Mozilla's initial response was less than "customer oriented". The "shoot the messanger" attitude exhibited in some of those early Bugzilla posts - despite there being numerous random URLs provided to point out the flaw - is a bit troubling.
As is the fact that Firefox's release process seems to be either lacking basic tests for std. API's, or is choosing to skip those tests.
And of course, the lack of an easy 1-click "Revert" menu item/button to back down versions when an auto-updater introduces such a bug further compounds the impact of these sort of bugs.
Of course, the /. crowd are somehow spinning this serious failure of both
software and processes into proof of Firefox's superiority, due to
the quick turnaround time. However, those of us that were
actually bitten by this - and esp. had customers bitten by this (see the Bugzilla link above)
- are having to rethink the usual practice of recommending FF over IE/Opera/etc.
The IDE. And the set of widgets is (imnsho) more consistent and more complete. Accordians, fades, and round corners are swell and all, but grids, trees, text, and forms is where the work gets done. I've tried the kits you mentioned, plus a couple others (jQuery, Ext), and then tried Aptana (ugh, an Eclipse based tool for building browser apps ?) but once I started using GI, I was hooked. Just run it in a browser, and start dragging and dropping widgets, then wire them up to the model or web service. But if you prefer handcrafting your GUIs in a text editor, you probably won't like GI.
- Open source (BSD license)
- Free as in beer.
- Free as in liberty.
- Great UI composer
- Built for web service integration
- Lots of nifty online tutorial videos
- Eats its own dogfood: It runs in the browser! (No Java, no activeX,
no flying pig aka Eclipse, just DHTML)
- And.. (drumroll, please) NO FLASH!
I've only been kicking it around for a few weeks, but its a fantastic tool. The learning curve is a bit steep, but now that I got my head around it, I'm not looking anywhere else.If/when the CPU designers currently screaming "more threads, more threads!" at us coders get around to implementing efficient h/w transactional memory, painless fine grain parallelism may become a reality. Until then, STM may be fine for very large applications on systems with huge memories and lots of cores, but probably isn't an option for the average desktop.
But STM does present some intriguing possibilities for distributed parallel environments (think STM + DSM).
And they also showed the pricetag...ouch. So my earlier estimate of 2.5x more for a UMPC is now closer to about 1.8x more. Which makes the UMPC an even more attractive choice.
While I wish them the best, I fear it may be another Zaurus debacle (I personally got burned by that one). I know when I was researching the 770 last year, I had the same reaction as when I was using the Z...info was scattered everywhere...except on the manufacturer's own site. Getting basic info about what s/w was on it, what s/w was available, and how to configure the thing was a very painful, time consuming experience. And not something I'd want to endure again.