I'd disagree - I never learned assembler, and I am a very competent programmer - I program in 11 languages, 3 professionally. I know how a computer works, as far as registers and such, yet have little desire to learn to code that myself.
It's kinda the difference between a computer science major and computer systems engineering major. The compeng major needs to know how the hardware works - the compsci needs to know how to make use of the hardware through software. Knowing that your byte is stored in register X isn't going to matter to them in the slightest, unless they're writing for embedded systems or such.
I'd like to learn assembly someday, but just so that I could do nifty stuff with my TI calculator. Other than that, I don't see the reason to know it. I don't think its necessary - certainly, it's a feather in your cap, but it's not a critical step.
Java shouldn't be the teaching language. I've done minimal java development, but I try to avoid it nowadays because it sucks resources like none other.
I'd recommend that the teaching language be C/C++ - once you know that, you can learn Java, Perl, PHP, etc. with little effort. True, Java's cross-platform, but if today's AP computer science classes were anything like mine, you'll be developing on a single machine, writing code that serves little practical purpose other than to learn. Teach them C/C++.
My AP compsci classes (2 yrs ago) used the old 25mHz Macs - God help us if they try to run Java on one of those beasts.
Just because you exclusively use a machine at work doesn't make it "yours", nor give you a right to the data stored on it. It's owned by the company - it's their right to check your computer if they want to. Granted, it makes us a bit more nervous to think we're being monitored, but at least it keeps productivity up. Well, that, and a surplus of Mountain Dew.
Don't like it, don't store anything sensitive on your work computer.
Demanding a slightly more visceral approach to space is "Rocket Guy" Brian Walker, who plans in the near future to launch himself to around 30 miles up in a home-brewed rocket.
All I can think is that this guy is setting himself up the bomb...
It seems that a large portion of the "typical" population does indeed follow this trend of "corporate coolness" - but I think that the geek community is a bit different. We don't like something because it's "cool to like it" (With the possible exception of *NIX, and even then, it has a great deal of functional value) - I believe that we, as a trend, tend to like what we like. That's one of the things that made Napster so popular - we weren't limited to what the Suits determined we were to like. It was like opening a floodgate - give people the chance to buy based on what they like, as opposed to what we're told to like ("Where would Microsoft like to take you today?") and they're gonna respond.
I, for one, do not like music because it's popular. There are a lot of popular bands that I like, but I like them based on their music, not the size of their contract. Coincidentally, there are a lot of popular bands within my preferred genres that I'm told I should like that I don't. Uh-oh. Rebel alert.
Some of my favorite music is by bands that I've never heard of that I found through Napster. The geek culture, or really all "outcast" cultures are more likely to follow their own likes, instead of those of a $25 million/year marketing guru. And I'm grateful for that - without that mentality, there would probably be no Linux, no Napster, no Slashdot, because the geek culture would have been absorbed by "normal" culture.
And I do think that's the longest comment I've ever written.
You know, why don't we just do away with all technology as it is? I mean, it all makes life easier, and so much of it explains the mysteries of our world, leaving nothing for the curious. I mean, come on, I wanted to discover pennicillin, but no, somebody else has to go and discover it, and then proceed to make it available to the rest of the world! That pisses me off to no end! Down with technology! It's making life so much more boring!
Seriously though, do you really think we're so badly off with GPS's? If you don't like them, don't use them. But don't decry them as evil just because you like getting lost:)
Actually, I expect this will probably cause a drop in casual burning (Geez, I make it sound like drug use). Joe Schmoe suddenly discovers he has to pay to burn a CD, so what's he do? 1) Give up, or 2) Talk to a geek and find out how to get around it. Either way, it's a minor stumbling block to the average user. I don't expect it will be too effective, though. I imagine that those who know how to cirvumvent this account for a large majority of the cd-burning population, so all you do is fend off the dumb users.
My only complaint is that all my non-techie friends are suddenly going to be asking me to burn CDs for them, seeing as they can't anymore without a credit card number. As if I needed more to do.
On the contrary, I watch almost none at all. But my point is that it can't be too hard to fake the fingerprint of someone you live with, especially since you leave fingerprints all over the place. It's just a matter of being clever enough to do it.
If it's on the net, minors will find it and gain access to it. Any kid that's reasonably determined will be able to find his way in - have they not learned this by now?
Ok, so you have biometrics. Get a piece of tape, take your parent's fingerprint off their cereal bowl. Big deal.
The point is, the net affords a certain level of anonyminity to its users, and no matter what protection measures they implement, there's no way to stop everything.
This code circumvents the obfuscation put in place by the Romans way back when by allowing the masses to find the weekday equivalents of any day in history! This must be stopped! Why, if this information leaks to the masses, we'll have rebellion and revolution, and it's only a matter of time before calendar makers' proprietary secrets are laid bare, depriving them of their hard-earned money! Rest assured that we will be filing a lawsuit against the author of this code, and any who distribute it. Such criminal "crowbars" cannot be allowed to proliferate to the masses!
Radioactive material can give off 3 types of rays. Alpha, beta, and gamma. Look up the details for Americium and you will find that it gives off alpha rays which are very very weak. You can probably stop them with a single sheet of newspaper.
Actually, alpha and beta emissions are particles - gamma's a ray. That's why unstable isotopes degenerate into stable ones - they're giving off particles, not just energy.
Gamma's the energy radiation. And yeah, it's nasty.
There's a library out there called Magpie for game programmers that helps to match model animation or textures to speech, basically allowing programmers to create on-the-fly speech with animation from straight text, provided they've already defined all the actions associated with the phenomes. I wouldn't be suprised if Deus Ex uses something similar.
The reason they can't use something like that for Final Fantasy is the level of realism involved. There's a lot more to it than just a re-render with different motion paths. If you wanted, you could probably do motion capture on the face for a japanese and english speaker, but that's like filming the same film twice in two languages. Dubbing or subtitling is a heck of a lot easier, and much cheaper.
This case is going to set a tremendous precedent for future proceedings. Sad thing is, I'm not so sure that 2600 will win it. They have been painted as criminals and theives, and the average judge is probably going to side with the rightous corporations that are only looking out for the good of civilization as we know it, not with the "low, common theives".
I dearly hope that 2600 does win. But I don't think it very likely.
The fact of the matter is, there is no such thing as absolute security/privacy on the internet. If an entity is determined enough, they can, and will, gain access to information X. It's only a matter of time. Information cannot be exchanged without the possibility of it being intercepted or accessed by someone other than the intended recipient. The RIAA and MPAA are certainly examples of that: despite their best efforts, if one is determined to illegally obtain a copy of media product Y, they will, and there's very little they can do to prevent it. If information can be legally viewed/accessed, it can be illegally, as well.
That said, does that make it right for the government to monitor our communications? Sure, they do it in the name of national security, but honestly, how often do you think they're going to use it to prevent a terrorist attack, as opposed to, say, browsing through your email? Echelon is an invasion of privacy, clear and simple. It's just one the general public doesn't know about, and the government can pretty much get away with - for now. It's kinda the equivalent of the postal office opening all your mail, reading it, then repackaging it and sending it to you.
[sarcasm] Never mind that there was sensitive or personal information in that letter - by God, it's their right to know! And besides they're doing it for our own good! I mean, where would we be if we didn't have the government to protect us from ourselves?[/sarcasm]
Well, if by some miracle, Unisys does manage to enforce this, what implications will that have for personal web page builders, like me? I recently checked my pages - I have over 7 MB of GIF images on my sites. When you are talking about 4-20K images, this translates to a ton of images to convert. So, what is to happen? Are the free web space providers just going to nuke any site that contains "unliscensed" GIFs? That would definately spark a massive cyber-war...and this one would be fought OUTSIDE the Quake III arenas...
Also, how is Unisys going to prosecute violators? There are hundreds of thousands of web pages that utilize GIFs. Not to mention that they will find it difficult to prosecute non-US based servers. I know about international trade laws and such, but if they honestly think that they are going to get more than 2 licenses from this move, then someone in charge is on crack.
Its laws like these that make criminals out of honest, law-abiding citizens.
Slashdot Mirror
I'd disagree - I never learned assembler, and I am a very competent programmer - I program in 11 languages, 3 professionally. I know how a computer works, as far as registers and such, yet have little desire to learn to code that myself.
It's kinda the difference between a computer science major and computer systems engineering major. The compeng major needs to know how the hardware works - the compsci needs to know how to make use of the hardware through software. Knowing that your byte is stored in register X isn't going to matter to them in the slightest, unless they're writing for embedded systems or such.
I'd like to learn assembly someday, but just so that I could do nifty stuff with my TI calculator. Other than that, I don't see the reason to know it. I don't think its necessary - certainly, it's a feather in your cap, but it's not a critical step.
Java shouldn't be the teaching language. I've done minimal java development, but I try to avoid it nowadays because it sucks resources like none other.
I'd recommend that the teaching language be C/C++ - once you know that, you can learn Java, Perl, PHP, etc. with little effort. True, Java's cross-platform, but if today's AP computer science classes were anything like mine, you'll be developing on a single machine, writing code that serves little practical purpose other than to learn. Teach them C/C++.
My AP compsci classes (2 yrs ago) used the old 25mHz Macs - God help us if they try to run Java on one of those beasts.
So...basically we're saying that the majority of computers shipped ship with Windows on them?
Wow, news flash!
The "duh" factor here is astounding.
Just because you exclusively use a machine at work doesn't make it "yours", nor give you a right to the data stored on it. It's owned by the company - it's their right to check your computer if they want to. Granted, it makes us a bit more nervous to think we're being monitored, but at least it keeps productivity up. Well, that, and a surplus of Mountain Dew.
Don't like it, don't store anything sensitive on your work computer.
Demanding a slightly more visceral approach to space is "Rocket Guy" Brian Walker, who plans in the near future to launch himself to around 30 miles up in a home-brewed rocket.
All I can think is that this guy is setting himself up the bomb...
Slashdot's getting to me.
It seems that a large portion of the "typical" population does indeed follow this trend of "corporate coolness" - but I think that the geek community is a bit different. We don't like something because it's "cool to like it" (With the possible exception of *NIX, and even then, it has a great deal of functional value) - I believe that we, as a trend, tend to like what we like. That's one of the things that made Napster so popular - we weren't limited to what the Suits determined we were to like. It was like opening a floodgate - give people the chance to buy based on what they like, as opposed to what we're told to like ("Where would Microsoft like to take you today?") and they're gonna respond.
I, for one, do not like music because it's popular. There are a lot of popular bands that I like, but I like them based on their music, not the size of their contract. Coincidentally, there are a lot of popular bands within my preferred genres that I'm told I should like that I don't. Uh-oh. Rebel alert.
Some of my favorite music is by bands that I've never heard of that I found through Napster. The geek culture, or really all "outcast" cultures are more likely to follow their own likes, instead of those of a $25 million/year marketing guru. And I'm grateful for that - without that mentality, there would probably be no Linux, no Napster, no Slashdot, because the geek culture would have been absorbed by "normal" culture.
And I do think that's the longest comment I've ever written.
You know, why don't we just do away with all technology as it is? I mean, it all makes life easier, and so much of it explains the mysteries of our world, leaving nothing for the curious. I mean, come on, I wanted to discover pennicillin, but no, somebody else has to go and discover it, and then proceed to make it available to the rest of the world! That pisses me off to no end! Down with technology! It's making life so much more boring!
:)
Seriously though, do you really think we're so badly off with GPS's? If you don't like them, don't use them. But don't decry them as evil just because you like getting lost
He puts the site back up. Article is posted on Slashdot. Boom, site goes down again.
We're doing Geocaching's job for them.
Actually, I expect this will probably cause a drop in casual burning (Geez, I make it sound like drug use). Joe Schmoe suddenly discovers he has to pay to burn a CD, so what's he do? 1) Give up, or 2) Talk to a geek and find out how to get around it. Either way, it's a minor stumbling block to the average user. I don't expect it will be too effective, though. I imagine that those who know how to cirvumvent this account for a large majority of the cd-burning population, so all you do is fend off the dumb users.
My only complaint is that all my non-techie friends are suddenly going to be asking me to burn CDs for them, seeing as they can't anymore without a credit card number. As if I needed more to do.
On the contrary, I watch almost none at all. But my point is that it can't be too hard to fake the fingerprint of someone you live with, especially since you leave fingerprints all over the place. It's just a matter of being clever enough to do it.
If it's on the net, minors will find it and gain access to it. Any kid that's reasonably determined will be able to find his way in - have they not learned this by now?
Ok, so you have biometrics. Get a piece of tape, take your parent's fingerprint off their cereal bowl. Big deal.
The point is, the net affords a certain level of anonyminity to its users, and no matter what protection measures they implement, there's no way to stop everything.
This is asking for some BIG legal battles.
This code circumvents the obfuscation put in place by the Romans way back when by allowing the masses to find the weekday equivalents of any day in history! This must be stopped! Why, if this information leaks to the masses, we'll have rebellion and revolution, and it's only a matter of time before calendar makers' proprietary secrets are laid bare, depriving them of their hard-earned money! Rest assured that we will be filing a lawsuit against the author of this code, and any who distribute it. Such criminal "crowbars" cannot be allowed to proliferate to the masses!
Have a nice day,
Calendar Makers Association of America.
Ah...point taken. I'd just never seen dsam - only fsck. And the A and S are in close proximity to each other.
:)
But yet, it was intended to be humorous.
...The boy can't spell worth a dsmn...
Anyone else find this statement the tiniest bit ironic?
It appears that someone has successfully set themselves up the bomb.
Ironic.
Actually, alpha and beta emissions are particles - gamma's a ray. That's why unstable isotopes degenerate into stable ones - they're giving off particles, not just energy.
Gamma's the energy radiation. And yeah, it's nasty.
...how long till we have a SETI@home@home client to do this research on a distributed level...?
> PS2 $200
> External Hard Drive ~$250
> External Floppy Drive ~$50
> Mouse & Keyboard ~$35
Geek factor: priceless.
The reason they can't use something like that for Final Fantasy is the level of realism involved. There's a lot more to it than just a re-render with different motion paths. If you wanted, you could probably do motion capture on the face for a japanese and english speaker, but that's like filming the same film twice in two languages. Dubbing or subtitling is a heck of a lot easier, and much cheaper.
I dearly hope that 2600 does win. But I don't think it very likely.
That said, does that make it right for the government to monitor our communications? Sure, they do it in the name of national security, but honestly, how often do you think they're going to use it to prevent a terrorist attack, as opposed to, say, browsing through your email? Echelon is an invasion of privacy, clear and simple. It's just one the general public doesn't know about, and the government can pretty much get away with - for now. It's kinda the equivalent of the postal office opening all your mail, reading it, then repackaging it and sending it to you.
[sarcasm] Never mind that there was sensitive or personal information in that letter - by God, it's their right to know! And besides they're doing it for our own good! I mean, where would we be if we didn't have the government to protect us from ourselves?[/sarcasm]
Well, if by some miracle, Unisys does manage to enforce this, what implications will that have for personal web page builders, like me? I recently checked my pages - I have over 7 MB of GIF images on my sites. When you are talking about 4-20K images, this translates to a ton of images to convert. So, what is to happen? Are the free web space providers just going to nuke any site that contains "unliscensed" GIFs? That would definately spark a massive cyber-war...and this one would be fought OUTSIDE the Quake III arenas...
Also, how is Unisys going to prosecute violators? There are hundreds of thousands of web pages that utilize GIFs. Not to mention that they will find it difficult to prosecute non-US based servers. I know about international trade laws and such, but if they honestly think that they are going to get more than 2 licenses from this move, then someone in charge is on crack.
Its laws like these that make criminals out of honest, law-abiding citizens.