There are a few replies to your post about merits of a base index of zero. But I wanted to elaborate on the collections framework thing.
Lua, being a new language, should have right away very heavily discouraged the use of anything but abstracted opaque collection types such as unordered sets and collections and iterators. Sure, those seem a little clunky and slow compared to the iconic for(int i = 0; i < n; i++) but they actually allow for faster and more streamlined implementations when the traditional convention of a gap-less ordered array is dropped. And since embedded scripts (Lua's domain) are supposed to be very minimal, self-documenting "to-the-point" code, it would only help if the collections focus was more pervasive from day zero (heh).
I pity whoever has to walk for 10 miles (and thus ends up driving) even to get basic food items. Suburbia and rural areas are depressing to me because there is no other human presence, no other sociable beings for miles around. Everyone is locked up in their hut, cherishing their precious privacy like some nutty anti-social hermit.
I like a nice starry sky just like anyone else, but day-to-day I don't really give a damn about it, I care more about doing the work I love and enjoying the company of people I know and I don't know. Save the "oh, it's beatiful" moment for the weekend, because otherwise you'd get bored and sick of nature the same way you are bored and sick of the convenient, clean and productive living space of the city.
Mind you, my experiences with US cities have not been enjoyable, but that just because US cities are their own special beast.
Precisely. Internet streaming works specifically to prevent the traditional "brain drain" that Canadian creative industry has had to deal with so far. With YouTube and the upcoming paid content streaming solutions you don't have to go to Los Angeles to be able to distribute you awesome new show to a wider audience. Too bad that this would also mean directly competing with content industries that are *not* spoon-fed by the government and are leaner and meaner that way.
I'm sure I'm not the only one to point it out, but
on
Beginning Lua Programming
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· Score: 2, Informative
What's with the "base index of 1" array conventions in their standard library?
I love Lua, and have played around with it quite a bit, but that part of their specs always annoyed me. Interestingly, it is flexible enough to allow custom "standard lib" code that uses base index of zero. Also, custom scriptable objects can define their own conventions, including relying more on the iterator interfaces, which forces things to be theoretically cleaner.
But still, just having that even as a possibility irks me.
One of my friends suggested this scenario, though:
Verizon stops liking YouTube. So they slow down their customers' traffic that is to/from YouTube. That is what is feared with this whole issue, right? Well, think about the next step. Verizon's customers go "man, YouTube is getting slow to download". Their friends, who are with a competitor of Verizon's go "nope, works fine for me, I think it's because your ISP intentionally slows down traffic". Verizon's customers go "hmm, maybe it's time to switch". Do you think Verizon would like that? If not, how likely does the low-QOS "blackmail" seem then?
Basically, *natural* competition could still keep things fair, without extra regulation. If an ISP feels like it's under-charging Google and raises its prices to it under threat of lower QOS, then another ISP with lower prices would win the contract. If it actually genuinely costs more to pump Google's packets through the pipes, isn't it fair to let an ISP recoup that expense?
IBM's OS/2-native Web Explorer browser was also at all times at least one full major release behind Netscape, feature-wise.
I fail to see what Netscape's innovation has to do with Microsoft's tech reputation.
OS/2 required you to spend an extra $80
I was not talking about marketing/pricing prowess. I was talking about technological advancement, pure and simple.
Bill Gates made a brilliant move, business wise. But it was not based on genius technicians in lab coats generating cutting-edge technology. It was all done in board-rooms and vendor agreements and emulating existing products, shoddily, at that. There is a place for teaching that, but not in a so-called "high-tech highschool". Gates is a business icon, not an engineering/science one.
Bill Gates is a shining example of the kind of competitiveness we do not want. His empire was built on undercutting the right enemy at the right time and cramming technological mediocrity down consumers' throats. And this is not me being a frothy-mouthed anti-Microsoft zealot; anyone can compare, say, OS/2 with Windows 95 and agree with that statement, grudgingly or not.
And so, is this the man we want as an example of technological brilliance? He should be inspiring young kids in MBA school, not the future engineers and programmers. His business sense goes against the entire philosophy of having a high tech school - it seems that he made his money by preventing technological advancement.
Not to repeat the same argument over and over, but you represent an odd 0.001% of population. Does that warrant cutting the rest of people's genitals?
People seem to want to justify their existing condition... Feels eerily like Stockholm syndrome to me. Just like was pointed out before, it's probably not that big of a deal either way; however for all the respect we have for human rights, why is cutting a tiny baby penis justified by something that is "not a big deal"?
Youtube accepts content generated and submitted by a huge community of regular people, assumes copyright ownership for itself, earns money based on that content, and never passes those profits to the community who created the content.
I'm biting a troll, but ah well. It is an entirely voluntary decision to submit content to Youtube or Digg or whatever else. If you want your copyright, you can keep it all you want, just don't deal with those companies. If you want to make your own money with your content, neither Youtube nor Digg is stopping you. Comparing them to authoritarian government systems is silly and irrelevant at best. The negative connotations that are associated with the latter only stem from the overall lack of freedom that they bring.
A well secured system would be nearly impossible for an attacker to circumvent in a minute with the resources he would have available.
The fear is that there is systematic tampering from the officials' side, not a particular voter left alone with the machine.
Not if you let people see what their vote was read as after it read.
Again, the point is that someone could tamper with ballots hours after the voters have left the building.
with one tenth the population
One tenth? At those numbers the system scales well - actual counting is done per-geographical-unit anyway, it just means that there are more of them doing concurrent work. And overall, isn't it worth to sacrifice ten hours more delay to get a trusted voting system for a country that touts itself to be the bulwark of democracy for the world?
Meh. I don't think that that addresses all types of procrastination.
I have a huge hierarchical TODO list (that serves as a note-book at the same time due to the tree-like nature). I think that the above reasoning is very spot-on in the sense that because I record every little thought and proceeding about any one of the tasks and sub-tasks I feel very organized and able to focus on tasks better.
But at the same time the procrastination remains. It is still the anxiety of taking on a specific task - the anxiety of having to deal with a frustrating and arduous task, even filtered out from others. That's why some TODO items still sit there for days and weeks, even though they are pretty well documented.
To be a successful capitalist, you need *surprise* capital to start with. Not everyone is born with a silver spoon in their mouths.
Mmm, enough investment sharks will be more than happy to dump money into ideas, provided they actually makes sense. Work at a McDonalds, get enough money to pay for Internet access for basic education and a dinky business suit so as not to put off people when talking to them - the world is your oyster; all after one or two years of actual focused effort to build up the basics. The McDonalds job will give you an insight into how a franchise or a small business in general is run - working in a fast-food place is surprisingly informative, provided you actually care to talk to the owner and ask questions.
small private spaces with no distractions for deep solo concentration The room is generally tiled and has a row of tiny offices equipped with porceline chairs.
Er, there definitely are distractions in the washroom; in fact, I'd prefer regular office noises to the bathroom kind.
I so agree with the comment about Blizzard reusing same model for a hundred different bosses!
I think that a proper MMORPG should continually add new content - items, events, whatever. Substantial amounts of it; and do it every week if not day. It doesn't have to be too elaborate - just new quests, books, etc.
I know I was hooked on WoW because there was just so much of it to discover. I found it very much like reading an interesting book, that kept you wanting to discover what's waiting in that next zone, after the next quest, or with the next level's abilities. That's why hitting level 60 was such a disappointment, and that's why rerolling on a different faction made it all fun again.
A lot of us casual players are after that, Blizzard; I'm sure the cash that you guys rake in would be enough to hire a few pulp writers to keep several fresh storylines going! That, and a few 3D artists to make some more beastie models.
Oh, so in other words the store gives you money to aggregate your information. Yep, you didn't make a point at all. Just letting you know.
No, the store takes away money by not giving people a discount if they don't use the silly little brand cards. Then, as an incentive, they give a part of that money back to the folks that give in. Yep, I didn't make my point easy to understand at all.
My apologies, I obviously didn't follow the link (even though I saw the story on the main page earlier):).
To continue being the devil's advocate, though: both stories show the "patent pending" silverware icon. And I would interpret the justice icon in the other story as pointing out that there is a chance to strike down Visto's patents, especially with a well-paid lawyer team such as Microsoft's.
Shame on me, though, for clicking "Submit" before thinking:).
...when Microsoft wins a patent lawsuit, patents are evil, but when Microsoft loses a patent lawsuit, justice is being served.
Er, this journalistic prejudice is not about Microsoft, but about patents themselves. The justice icon you mentioned refers to the fact that there is one less patent to worry about when doing our daily work. This is not limited to MS stories alone.
Bashing Slashdot for bashing MS is getting pretty cliche...;)
Slashdot Mirror
There are a few replies to your post about merits of a base index of zero. But I wanted to elaborate on the collections framework thing.
Lua, being a new language, should have right away very heavily discouraged the use of anything but abstracted opaque collection types such as unordered sets and collections and iterators. Sure, those seem a little clunky and slow compared to the iconic for(int i = 0; i < n; i++) but they actually allow for faster and more streamlined implementations when the traditional convention of a gap-less ordered array is dropped. And since embedded scripts (Lua's domain) are supposed to be very minimal, self-documenting "to-the-point" code, it would only help if the collections focus was more pervasive from day zero (heh).
I pity whoever has to walk for 10 miles (and thus ends up driving) even to get basic food items. Suburbia and rural areas are depressing to me because there is no other human presence, no other sociable beings for miles around. Everyone is locked up in their hut, cherishing their precious privacy like some nutty anti-social hermit.
I like a nice starry sky just like anyone else, but day-to-day I don't really give a damn about it, I care more about doing the work I love and enjoying the company of people I know and I don't know. Save the "oh, it's beatiful" moment for the weekend, because otherwise you'd get bored and sick of nature the same way you are bored and sick of the convenient, clean and productive living space of the city.
Mind you, my experiences with US cities have not been enjoyable, but that just because US cities are their own special beast.
Precisely. Internet streaming works specifically to prevent the traditional "brain drain" that Canadian creative industry has had to deal with so far. With YouTube and the upcoming paid content streaming solutions you don't have to go to Los Angeles to be able to distribute you awesome new show to a wider audience. Too bad that this would also mean directly competing with content industries that are *not* spoon-fed by the government and are leaner and meaner that way.
What's with the "base index of 1" array conventions in their standard library?
I love Lua, and have played around with it quite a bit, but that part of their specs always annoyed me. Interestingly, it is flexible enough to allow custom "standard lib" code that uses base index of zero. Also, custom scriptable objects can define their own conventions, including relying more on the iterator interfaces, which forces things to be theoretically cleaner.
But still, just having that even as a possibility irks me.
Verizon stops liking YouTube. So they slow down their customers' traffic that is to/from YouTube. That is what is feared with this whole issue, right? Well, think about the next step. Verizon's customers go "man, YouTube is getting slow to download". Their friends, who are with a competitor of Verizon's go "nope, works fine for me, I think it's because your ISP intentionally slows down traffic". Verizon's customers go "hmm, maybe it's time to switch". Do you think Verizon would like that? If not, how likely does the low-QOS "blackmail" seem then?
Basically, *natural* competition could still keep things fair, without extra regulation. If an ISP feels like it's under-charging Google and raises its prices to it under threat of lower QOS, then another ISP with lower prices would win the contract. If it actually genuinely costs more to pump Google's packets through the pipes, isn't it fair to let an ISP recoup that expense?
IBM's OS/2-native Web Explorer browser was also at all times at least one full major release behind Netscape, feature-wise.
I fail to see what Netscape's innovation has to do with Microsoft's tech reputation.
OS/2 required you to spend an extra $80
I was not talking about marketing/pricing prowess. I was talking about technological advancement, pure and simple.
Bill Gates made a brilliant move, business wise. But it was not based on genius technicians in lab coats generating cutting-edge technology. It was all done in board-rooms and vendor agreements and emulating existing products, shoddily, at that. There is a place for teaching that, but not in a so-called "high-tech highschool". Gates is a business icon, not an engineering/science one.
Bill Gates is a shining example of the kind of competitiveness we do not want. His empire was built on undercutting the right enemy at the right time and cramming technological mediocrity down consumers' throats. And this is not me being a frothy-mouthed anti-Microsoft zealot; anyone can compare, say, OS/2 with Windows 95 and agree with that statement, grudgingly or not.
And so, is this the man we want as an example of technological brilliance? He should be inspiring young kids in MBA school, not the future engineers and programmers. His business sense goes against the entire philosophy of having a high tech school - it seems that he made his money by preventing technological advancement.
Not to repeat the same argument over and over, but you represent an odd 0.001% of population. Does that warrant cutting the rest of people's genitals?
People seem to want to justify their existing condition... Feels eerily like Stockholm syndrome to me. Just like was pointed out before, it's probably not that big of a deal either way; however for all the respect we have for human rights, why is cutting a tiny baby penis justified by something that is "not a big deal"?
I'm biting a troll, but ah well. It is an entirely voluntary decision to submit content to Youtube or Digg or whatever else. If you want your copyright, you can keep it all you want, just don't deal with those companies. If you want to make your own money with your content, neither Youtube nor Digg is stopping you. Comparing them to authoritarian government systems is silly and irrelevant at best. The negative connotations that are associated with the latter only stem from the overall lack of freedom that they bring.
Yeah, but Tim Hortons is the only source of coffee that people should care about...
The fear is that there is systematic tampering from the officials' side, not a particular voter left alone with the machine.
Not if you let people see what their vote was read as after it read.
Again, the point is that someone could tamper with ballots hours after the voters have left the building.
with one tenth the population
One tenth? At those numbers the system scales well - actual counting is done per-geographical-unit anyway, it just means that there are more of them doing concurrent work. And overall, isn't it worth to sacrifice ten hours more delay to get a trusted voting system for a country that touts itself to be the bulwark of democracy for the world?
Meh. I don't think that that addresses all types of procrastination.
I have a huge hierarchical TODO list (that serves as a note-book at the same time due to the tree-like nature). I think that the above reasoning is very spot-on in the sense that because I record every little thought and proceeding about any one of the tasks and sub-tasks I feel very organized and able to focus on tasks better.
But at the same time the procrastination remains. It is still the anxiety of taking on a specific task - the anxiety of having to deal with a frustrating and arduous task, even filtered out from others. That's why some TODO items still sit there for days and weeks, even though they are pretty well documented.
Mmm, enough investment sharks will be more than happy to dump money into ideas, provided they actually makes sense. Work at a McDonalds, get enough money to pay for Internet access for basic education and a dinky business suit so as not to put off people when talking to them - the world is your oyster; all after one or two years of actual focused effort to build up the basics. The McDonalds job will give you an insight into how a franchise or a small business in general is run - working in a fast-food place is surprisingly informative, provided you actually care to talk to the owner and ask questions.
It seems that you have, though...
I think the real reason for this post was to let the world know you have a girlfriend. Well, congratulations.
Between the buttcheeks?
Misspelled "amateur"?
small private spaces with no distractions for deep solo concentration
The room is generally tiled and has a row of tiny offices equipped with porceline chairs.
Er, there definitely are distractions in the washroom; in fact, I'd prefer regular office noises to the bathroom kind.
I so agree with the comment about Blizzard reusing same model for a hundred different bosses!
I think that a proper MMORPG should continually add new content - items, events, whatever. Substantial amounts of it; and do it every week if not day. It doesn't have to be too elaborate - just new quests, books, etc.
I know I was hooked on WoW because there was just so much of it to discover. I found it very much like reading an interesting book, that kept you wanting to discover what's waiting in that next zone, after the next quest, or with the next level's abilities. That's why hitting level 60 was such a disappointment, and that's why rerolling on a different faction made it all fun again.
A lot of us casual players are after that, Blizzard; I'm sure the cash that you guys rake in would be enough to hire a few pulp writers to keep several fresh storylines going! That, and a few 3D artists to make some more beastie models.
No, the store takes away money by not giving people a discount if they don't use the silly little brand cards. Then, as an incentive, they give a part of that money back to the folks that give in. Yep, I didn't make my point easy to understand at all.
If you want my personal information, buy it.
Sadly, nowadays we have to pay extra to not give out personal information - because of stores' loyalty/market-research discount cards.
Er, U2 is an Irish band, as far as I know. Maybe they're represented by a US-based RIAA member, but the joke still doesn't work.
To continue being the devil's advocate, though: both stories show the "patent pending" silverware icon. And I would interpret the justice icon in the other story as pointing out that there is a chance to strike down Visto's patents, especially with a well-paid lawyer team such as Microsoft's.
Shame on me, though, for clicking "Submit" before thinking :).
Er, this journalistic prejudice is not about Microsoft, but about patents themselves. The justice icon you mentioned refers to the fact that there is one less patent to worry about when doing our daily work. This is not limited to MS stories alone.
Bashing Slashdot for bashing MS is getting pretty cliche... ;)