I see what you are saying, but I still think F=mxa/x is bad code even for the special case you describe because you still have to test for x=0.// If x0 then F=ma else DoThis// There is no point in including it in the equation that I can see. Including it in the equation just makes it look like a poorly formed equation. If you want something else special to happen when x=0, this should be made explicitly clear since it defies basic math.
>>Uh, you have a physics degree and think that 0/0 is infinity or one??? It's neither! It is an indeterminate form.
I'm not really addressing 0/0 directly - everybody else is trying to make it about that. I'm saying that in equation form, x/x = 1. Mathematically I'm saying that F=ma=max/x, but people are trying to argue that F=ma=max/x iff x 0. I'm utilizing 8th grade algebra here, but since I appear to be in the minority maybe there is some higher math going on that I do not understand.
>>Amusingly, this whole thread actually supports the original poster's point
I agree.
It is kind of disheartening though that people are "insightfully" rejecting the "beautiful code" because it does not have the same flaws as the poorly written, buggy code.
Just to reiterate-
There is no "special case". There is a bug in the 1st equation because it is poorly formed. The 2nd equation rewrites the code to remove the bug. The first equation requires an error handler to work properly. The bug is a result of poor programming - it is not a fundamental property of the math that needs to be duplicated to ensure that the equations are identical.
I guess I'm saying that the first equation is poorly formed - F is truly independent of x no matter how the equation is written. The first equation will cause *run-time problems* at x=0, but *mathematically* x=0 is irrelevant.
If you are in a math class and someone tells you to graph y=x/x, you don't have a spike to infinity at x=0 or some sort of undefined region. You graph it as y=1. If you tried to code y=x/x without properly forming the equation you will get a runtime error when x = 0.
You are honestly saying in a math class that you can't multiply either side of the equation F=ma by (x/x) without creating an undefined region at 0? You need to ask one of your professors about this if you think so.
I'm not a professional programmer, and I have a physics degree not a CS degree, (and I have been drinking heavily) but to me it seems obvious that F is independent of x.
I didn't have time to find a link to the actual program (it was 20/20 I believe) but below is a link to a Salon article that discusses the study that prompted the show.
The gun was placed in the children's regular daycare facility, and that was a critique of the experiment - it was argued that it was a too comfortable setting. The original researcher chose a daycare setting because she had seen a news story about kids finding a gun near their daycare. They notified an adult, but they picked up the gun and carried it to the adult.
You could have at least been a jerk on one of the posts where the poster did not understand percentages but was bashing the public school system for not understanding basic math.
I heard about a show once that explored this pretty well - kids telling adults what they want to hear.
I didn't see it, but someone was telling me about it. They interviewed these kids about what they would do if they were to find a gun. They said stuff like they would never touch it and they would immediately tell an adult. They then put the kids in a room without adults and with a see thru mirror and left a gun laying around. Their parents were on the other side of the mirror watching them. Of course, the kids picked up the gun and starting playing it.
Do the editors affect the color rating in the firehose, for example if they see a story they are not that interested in then immediately turn it to indigo - that sort of thing.
My experience has been that if it is interesting I will click to read it first. The subject lines are kind of short and you want to make sure what they are talking about. If the subject line is interesting, you want to go ahead and read it instead of hoping it will show up on the main page someday.
I think it is more likely someone writing a poor subject line and getting clicked down automatically instead of being giving the benefit of the doubt.
I'm one of those 9% - I still see color, I just see red and green differently than normal color vision people do. Firehose uses only a handful of different colors and is no problem.
I differentiate red and green fine as long as the tint isn't too light, but as the tint gets lighter and lighter it turns gray for me quicker than it does for people with normal color vision.
The Firehouse has been active for months now - have you noticed any good or bad effect?
People might pay more attention to their subject line and try to do a better job of selling the story. Or they could post leading and inflammatory headlines to get extra attention...that's kind of staple around here anyways...
Maybe an employee stopped her before the cops got there. It seems like a reasonable thing to do if they saw someone engaging in unauthorized activity.
Anyways, she was not arrested for infringement, which would be a civil matter anyways, she was arrested for the criminal act of illegally recording a motion picture. I doubt fair use comes into play because she is not being charged with "using" it, fair or otherwise.
20 seconds might have been all she was able to record before they stopped her. Anyways, she will probably just get a slap on the wrist if her story is true.
Not many people pay to see propaganda documentaries to begin with, and file sharing is such an exciting topic...War in Iraq, National Health-care Crisis, File Sharing...
Lord of the Rings Online is actually the game I'm playing now, and I like it. It does have a good hook being set in the Tolkien universe.
It looks like Conan and Warhammer will be coming out sometime, and I wonder how these and LOTRO will cannibalize each other. Warhammer does look like it will have interesting PvP though. But they are all seem to have a medieval European-type setting.
>>How many MMORPG's with a sword and sorcery theme can the market bear?
Are their any good MMORPG's that are not so dreary/medieval, but not as cartoonish WoW. I don't mind sword and sorcery, but I would like to see something other than medieval peasants and medieval architecture covering the landscape. How about scantiliy clad amazons, crystal palaces floating on clouds, etc...
Slashdot Mirror
And toys covered with lead-based paint and food contaminated with toxins and drugs without any real drugs in them...
...doesn't like "left-bracket right-bracket" even in plain text...
//Hey Something Special Here!
If x!=0 then F=ma else DoThis
I see what you are saying, but I still think F=mxa/x is bad code even for the special case you describe because you still have to test for x=0. // If x0 then F=ma else DoThis // There is no point in including it in the equation that I can see. Including it in the equation just makes it look like a poorly formed equation. If you want something else special to happen when x=0, this should be made explicitly clear since it defies basic math.
>>Uh, you have a physics degree and think that 0/0 is infinity or one??? It's neither! It is an indeterminate form.
I'm not really addressing 0/0 directly - everybody else is trying to make it about that. I'm saying that in equation form, x/x = 1. Mathematically I'm saying that F=ma=max/x, but people are trying to argue that F=ma=max/x iff x 0. I'm utilizing 8th grade algebra here, but since I appear to be in the minority maybe there is some higher math going on that I do not understand.
>>Amusingly, this whole thread actually supports the original poster's point
I agree.
It is kind of disheartening though that people are "insightfully" rejecting the "beautiful code" because it does not have the same flaws as the poorly written, buggy code.
Just to reiterate-
There is no "special case". There is a bug in the 1st equation because it is poorly formed. The 2nd equation rewrites the code to remove the bug. The first equation requires an error handler to work properly. The bug is a result of poor programming - it is not a fundamental property of the math that needs to be duplicated to ensure that the equations are identical.
I guess I'm saying that the first equation is poorly formed - F is truly independent of x no matter how the equation is written. The first equation will cause *run-time problems* at x=0, but *mathematically* x=0 is irrelevant.
If you are in a math class and someone tells you to graph y=x/x, you don't have a spike to infinity at x=0 or some sort of undefined region. You graph it as y=1. If you tried to code y=x/x without properly forming the equation you will get a runtime error when x = 0.
You are honestly saying in a math class that you can't multiply either side of the equation F=ma by (x/x) without creating an undefined region at 0? You need to ask one of your professors about this if you think so.
I'm not a professional programmer, and I have a physics degree not a CS degree, (and I have been drinking heavily) but to me it seems obvious that F is independent of x.
I didn't have time to find a link to the actual program (it was 20/20 I believe) but below is a link to a Salon article that discusses the study that prompted the show.
d y/?pn=1
The gun was placed in the children's regular daycare facility, and that was a critique of the experiment - it was argued that it was a too comfortable setting. The original researcher chose a daycare setting because she had seen a news story about kids finding a gun near their daycare. They notified an adult, but they picked up the gun and carried it to the adult.
http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/hot/1999/06/02/har
Two-shay
You could have at least been a jerk on one of the posts where the poster did not understand percentages but was bashing the public school system for not understanding basic math.
It's funny how people bashing the public school system don't understand how percents work themselves.
I heard about a show once that explored this pretty well - kids telling adults what they want to hear.
I didn't see it, but someone was telling me about it. They interviewed these kids about what they would do if they were to find a gun. They said stuff like they would never touch it and they would immediately tell an adult. They then put the kids in a room without adults and with a see thru mirror and left a gun laying around. Their parents were on the other side of the mirror watching them. Of course, the kids picked up the gun and starting playing it.
>>Am I right?
No. Vista is pretty irrelevant to Linux.
>>In Soviet Russia, this stupid joke fucking hates YOU!
I think that's the funniest use of that joke I've seen.
Do the editors affect the color rating in the firehose, for example if they see a story they are not that interested in then immediately turn it to indigo - that sort of thing.
My experience has been that if it is interesting I will click to read it first. The subject lines are kind of short and you want to make sure what they are talking about. If the subject line is interesting, you want to go ahead and read it instead of hoping it will show up on the main page someday.
I think it is more likely someone writing a poor subject line and getting clicked down automatically instead of being giving the benefit of the doubt.
I'm one of those 9% - I still see color, I just see red and green differently than normal color vision people do. Firehose uses only a handful of different colors and is no problem.
I differentiate red and green fine as long as the tint isn't too light, but as the tint gets lighter and lighter it turns gray for me quicker than it does for people with normal color vision.
The Firehouse has been active for months now - have you noticed any good or bad effect?
People might pay more attention to their subject line and try to do a better job of selling the story. Or they could post leading and inflammatory headlines to get extra attention...that's kind of staple around here anyways...
Maybe an employee stopped her before the cops got there. It seems like a reasonable thing to do if they saw someone engaging in unauthorized activity.
Anyways, she was not arrested for infringement, which would be a civil matter anyways, she was arrested for the criminal act of illegally recording a motion picture. I doubt fair use comes into play because she is not being charged with "using" it, fair or otherwise.
Fair Use might not apply since she is not being charged with infringement, she is being charged for a crime - illegaly recording a motion picture.
She's just going to get a slap on the wrist if her story is true; so much drama over nothing.
20 seconds might have been all she was able to record before they stopped her. Anyways, she will probably just get a slap on the wrist if her story is true.
She still gets her day in court, and a judge and/or jury will determine the punishment. She will probably get a slap on the wrist.
Not many people pay to see propaganda documentaries to begin with, and file sharing is such an exciting topic...War in Iraq, National Health-care Crisis, File Sharing...
Lord of the Rings Online is actually the game I'm playing now, and I like it. It does have a good hook being set in the Tolkien universe.
It looks like Conan and Warhammer will be coming out sometime, and I wonder how these and LOTRO will cannibalize each other. Warhammer does look like it will have interesting PvP though. But they are all seem to have a medieval European-type setting.
>>How many MMORPG's with a sword and sorcery theme can the market bear?
Are their any good MMORPG's that are not so dreary/medieval, but not as cartoonish WoW. I don't mind sword and sorcery, but I would like to see something other than medieval peasants and medieval architecture covering the landscape. How about scantiliy clad amazons, crystal palaces floating on clouds, etc...