I know its popular to trash PHP, but as someone who has been using PHP for 2.5 years now I can honestly say that something like PHP5 is actually quite a good language when used properly. And that means applying proper design patterns yourself - the downside of PHP is that it does not force you to do things right, but it does allow you do things right. The turning point for me was probably when I took a break to learn C++, then came back to PHP- suddenly I had picked up a whole new load of practices which made things significantly "better".
My argument against Perl is that it is WAY too strange for a first language - the syntax is nothing like any other language. If you learn something like PHP first (like I did), the syntax is pretty much portable to 2 of the "big" languages (C++ and Java). As for the other 2, they are on my todo list, but from what I have seen the significance of whitespace in Python could get irritating...
I would agree with you there - and not just college! While the government is busy breeding a nation of sheep who do what they are told to do and think what they are told to think, those of us motivated enough to put some effort in have a much better guarentee of job security. I'm 18, I finished what is essentially college here in the UK (A-levels) and I am starting a degree in Software Engineering this October, and I look at the rest of my generation and below with a mixture of despair and confidence. The nation is going down the drain - but I'm not going with it!
With the way things are going, the world 25 years from now is going to be a very different place, as us "developed" Western nations no longer produce or invent to any reasonable degree, and are, on the whole, becoming less capable of managing our own lives, leaving it to the governments to decide what is best for us. Other nations are working on ways to make things better for themselves, while we are working on ways to keep things the same to stop sections of our economy from becoming obsolete.
I am with you on that one. I have already got rid of anything to do with Microsoft, and encouraged others to do the same - I do not trust them, and I do not trust their market practices. This would just add another thing to the list.
Luckily though, on the Internet we have something very close to a free market, in that the entry cost to start a business is not very high, and almost anyone can do so. With that in mind, I can see a viable alternative to eBay/PayPal being created. Sure, I doubt it will be as popular as its predecessors to start with, as most users of them will not care about Microsoft being the owner, but I think over time, and as more public opinion becomes levelled against Microsoft (most likely from very public dangerous mistakes, as they are prone to having), the market share will shift.
Remember, the eventuality of an unregulated free market is one or 2 companies owning everything - there is always a buyer, therefore everyone and everything is for sale. Company directors do not care about what is "right" and the fact that selling out damages the economy as a whole - they care about profits, because that is their job.
Actually, I thought the exact same thing about the angle the US gov't was playing when there was an article here about a gov't fund to replace people's TVs for the analog switchoff... Nice to know taxpayers' dollars go to a good cause...
but they are literally afraid of having to learn something new
Welcome to the rest of the human race! Enjoy your stay! On the left side of the hall, you will find a huge display of history changing at a snail's pace, and pretty much the same on the right side of the hall. At the very end of the hall is the future, but good luck getting to it - someone put another history display in the way.
As I read in a Terry Pratchett book (badly paraphrased, as I suck at remembering things) - "what people want more than anything is for tomorrow to be pretty much like yesterday". People do not like big changes. They don't even like small ones. They just want to do things "the way its always been done". Thats why you have all these people over 55 bitching about "these damned computers".
The only way change ever happens is when people are given no other choice - if there is an opportunity to minimise change, it will be taken.
... is WHY the hell is it possible for a WORD PROCESSOR DOCUMENT to do this? I find it hard to beleive that any individual programmer can be incompetent enough or loyal enough to implement such a pile of shite. Last time I checked, most programmers take pride in what they create...
I agree entirely - there seems to be a prevailing attitude that "suspects" now have the same lack of rights that actual "criminals" have. I think that the "Western Empire" is getting ready for its demise. The populations of the major player in said empire are becoming stupider and more gullible, and the politicians have crippled economies with their greed. There is nothing left but the promises and IOUs that account for the amount that countries like the US and the UK are going further into debt by each day.
But not to worry - those of us who see what is happening before it happens can prepare. Everyone else will only find out when it is too late.
Next would be to have your students and your "brain power" catch up, this is either done by sending your students abroad or by hiring high class teachers. China will most likely opt for the latter.
Actually, they are already doing the former - there are quite a lot of Chinese higher education students here in the UK, and they do very well because they seem to be obsessed with doing their best (unlike most of the native students here...).
Then I remembered that I use web based email from a well known search engine who are based in the US. Isn't my data already within US jurisdiction?
Which is why i use and account on my home mailserver for any important/sensitive e-mails, preferably PGP-encrypted too - It is a lot harder (AFAIK) to obtain warrants to search the premesis of an individual than it is to subpoena (sp?) a corporation for information they hold. Also, i am not obliged to keep records in any way - once its gone, its gone ( GNU shred:) )
Of course, "fighting terrorism" these days is doing everything within their power to blur the line between "terrorism" and normal "political dissent". Remember, if you are against the system, you are un-American, and therefore a potential danger to them. Their idea of a perfect world is one where they don't actually have to campaign to win elections - its just illegal to think about voting for someone else.
I keep trying to tell people the same thing - for example, the last time I flew to the US I could have got at least 3 different simple but effective weapons through BOTH security checks. They spend too much time expecting people to do what has already been done. Successful terrorists, and criminals as a whole, are successful by doing something nobody has thought of, and therefore not prepared for.
A perfect example is that fact that everyone has to have their shoes checked for explosives residue during the security screening after the failed "shoe bomber" attempt on an aircraft. What we end up with is a big patchwork of "single-case" checks. The only way you are ever going to stop attacks successfully is to stop everyone from being human. The "intelligence" our race possesses (I use the term loosely) is what has resulted in all the inventions we see around us, including some very ingenious weapons. Do they really think they can control that?
If only everybody could make that distinction - too many are believing that the gov't has the nations best interests at heart. Just look at obvious manipulations like the "USA PATRIOT Act". Give something a name that people will think is a good thing, and you're all clear. Some people really believe that to disagree with the gov't is unpatriotic.
The real Patriots are stocking up on ammunition right now.
The exact same views can be applied to music and movies - if you buy a music CD, you have to get around their DRM and whatever other crap they install on your computer for you to play it on your own computer... Download it, and you can play it on your CD player AND your computer without any problems. Sure, there is the argument about quality, but most people cant tell the difference between 192kbps and CD quality, and hey, its not like you're paying for it...
(Those who can afford sound systems good enough to make 512kbps or whatever CD quality is worthwhile can afford the CDs anyway)
When will you people stop thinking in terms of "Republican or Democrat"?
If people as a whole had any intelligence, they would see what was happening, and vote in a 3rd party instead. Unfortunately, they don't - as a whole people are predictable, and do not like change. We are all fscked until the MAJORITY get some brains and some balls, and realise they are being led down a very dark road...
Unfortunately, I don't think that would simulate "normal" users too well - most non-techs do not update their anti-virus, do not download patches (unless they have a computer that was pre-installed with SP2 and they accepted default update settings, which isn't as many as you would think) etc etc. Unpatched browsers and operating systems are usually a good simulation.
I suppose it depends on what you are aiming to do - if you want to test for what can get through latest revision browsers, then yes, patch them. But if you are trying to show how vulnerable an average user is, don't.
I would agree. They copied the wrong "feature" there. Who in their right mind browses the net like that?
Of course in MS Money it was worse, considering the browser is IE-based, and therefore shares the security holes... Might as well just mass-mail your financial details...
Ah yes, reminds me of the trick that supermarket chains pull. They often use the exact same product, branded and priced differently, and marketed to different slices of society. They may make very little profit on the 8p cans of beans, but when they are selling the others at 42p, they aren't doing too badly...
While you sit there and say "well it will all be ok because someone will sort it out" ?
Newsflash: Thats what everyone else is doing too! Yes there is uproar from a select few - but it doesn't get anywhere. People say their piece, and go back to their nice little corporation-run lives.
Someone with a little sense, and not afraid to show it! I keep trying to tell people, all that these new measures succeed in doing is criminalising the normal people who hate what their government is doing. How long before "political dissent" becomes "terrorist activities" in the US?
Admittedly, they might catch a couple of terrorists occasionally, but when that happens, if they were stupid enough to get caught like that, they weren't much of a threat in the first place.
"Hey, why does this Anthrax taste like sugar?"
Also there is the possibility that the ones that are caught are decoys for the real operations to keep the DHS occupied, but just a wild guess there - its what I would do if success was important.
You forgot end-to-end encryption. (As far as I know) encrypting data is not a crime. If you intercept the communication, you have nothing without being able to decrypt it. Why do people keep thinking they can catch terrorists with methods that would only catch a normal non-techinal person unawares.
I envisage a point where terrorists post openly on blogs because the government has stopped looking there because its too obvious. Then again, maybe not any time soon...
Terrorists don't deserve due process or privacy.. nobody will dispute that. The problem is that the innocent do
I almost took you seriously up until that point. Without due process, all you have is a "terrorist suspect". They are not guilty. You are assuming that a terrorist suspect is already guilty, just because they are being detained under one law instead of another.
I hereby sentance you to deprivation of your "Constitutional rights" soapbox.
Slashdot Mirror
Welcome to Windows! You're not in control, you're just the passenger!
I know its popular to trash PHP, but as someone who has been using PHP for 2.5 years now I can honestly say that something like PHP5 is actually quite a good language when used properly. And that means applying proper design patterns yourself - the downside of PHP is that it does not force you to do things right, but it does allow you do things right. The turning point for me was probably when I took a break to learn C++, then came back to PHP- suddenly I had picked up a whole new load of practices which made things significantly "better".
My argument against Perl is that it is WAY too strange for a first language - the syntax is nothing like any other language. If you learn something like PHP first (like I did), the syntax is pretty much portable to 2 of the "big" languages (C++ and Java). As for the other 2, they are on my todo list, but from what I have seen the significance of whitespace in Python could get irritating...
I would agree with you there - and not just college! While the government is busy breeding a nation of sheep who do what they are told to do and think what they are told to think, those of us motivated enough to put some effort in have a much better guarentee of job security. I'm 18, I finished what is essentially college here in the UK (A-levels) and I am starting a degree in Software Engineering this October, and I look at the rest of my generation and below with a mixture of despair and confidence. The nation is going down the drain - but I'm not going with it!
With the way things are going, the world 25 years from now is going to be a very different place, as us "developed" Western nations no longer produce or invent to any reasonable degree, and are, on the whole, becoming less capable of managing our own lives, leaving it to the governments to decide what is best for us. Other nations are working on ways to make things better for themselves, while we are working on ways to keep things the same to stop sections of our economy from becoming obsolete.
I am with you on that one. I have already got rid of anything to do with Microsoft, and encouraged others to do the same - I do not trust them, and I do not trust their market practices. This would just add another thing to the list.
Luckily though, on the Internet we have something very close to a free market, in that the entry cost to start a business is not very high, and almost anyone can do so. With that in mind, I can see a viable alternative to eBay/PayPal being created. Sure, I doubt it will be as popular as its predecessors to start with, as most users of them will not care about Microsoft being the owner, but I think over time, and as more public opinion becomes levelled against Microsoft (most likely from very public dangerous mistakes, as they are prone to having), the market share will shift.
Remember, the eventuality of an unregulated free market is one or 2 companies owning everything - there is always a buyer, therefore everyone and everything is for sale. Company directors do not care about what is "right" and the fact that selling out damages the economy as a whole - they care about profits, because that is their job.
Actually, I thought the exact same thing about the angle the US gov't was playing when there was an article here about a gov't fund to replace people's TVs for the analog switchoff... Nice to know taxpayers' dollars go to a good cause...
but they are literally afraid of having to learn something new
Welcome to the rest of the human race! Enjoy your stay! On the left side of the hall, you will find a huge display of history changing at a snail's pace, and pretty much the same on the right side of the hall. At the very end of the hall is the future, but good luck getting to it - someone put another history display in the way.
As I read in a Terry Pratchett book (badly paraphrased, as I suck at remembering things) - "what people want more than anything is for tomorrow to be pretty much like yesterday". People do not like big changes. They don't even like small ones. They just want to do things "the way its always been done". Thats why you have all these people over 55 bitching about "these damned computers".
The only way change ever happens is when people are given no other choice - if there is an opportunity to minimise change, it will be taken.
... is WHY the hell is it possible for a WORD PROCESSOR DOCUMENT to do this? I find it hard to beleive that any individual programmer can be incompetent enough or loyal enough to implement such a pile of shite. Last time I checked, most programmers take pride in what they create...
I agree entirely - there seems to be a prevailing attitude that "suspects" now have the same lack of rights that actual "criminals" have. I think that the "Western Empire" is getting ready for its demise. The populations of the major player in said empire are becoming stupider and more gullible, and the politicians have crippled economies with their greed. There is nothing left but the promises and IOUs that account for the amount that countries like the US and the UK are going further into debt by each day.
But not to worry - those of us who see what is happening before it happens can prepare. Everyone else will only find out when it is too late.
Next would be to have your students and your "brain power" catch up, this is either done by sending your students abroad or by hiring high class teachers. China will most likely opt for the latter.
Actually, they are already doing the former - there are quite a lot of Chinese higher education students here in the UK, and they do very well because they seem to be obsessed with doing their best (unlike most of the native students here...).
Then I remembered that I use web based email from a well known search engine who are based in the US. Isn't my data already within US jurisdiction?
:) )
Which is why i use and account on my home mailserver for any important/sensitive e-mails, preferably PGP-encrypted too - It is a lot harder (AFAIK) to obtain warrants to search the premesis of an individual than it is to subpoena (sp?) a corporation for information they hold. Also, i am not obliged to keep records in any way - once its gone, its gone ( GNU shred
Of course, "fighting terrorism" these days is doing everything within their power to blur the line between "terrorism" and normal "political dissent". Remember, if you are against the system, you are un-American, and therefore a potential danger to them. Their idea of a perfect world is one where they don't actually have to campaign to win elections - its just illegal to think about voting for someone else.
I keep trying to tell people the same thing - for example, the last time I flew to the US I could have got at least 3 different simple but effective weapons through BOTH security checks. They spend too much time expecting people to do what has already been done. Successful terrorists, and criminals as a whole, are successful by doing something nobody has thought of, and therefore not prepared for.
A perfect example is that fact that everyone has to have their shoes checked for explosives residue during the security screening after the failed "shoe bomber" attempt on an aircraft. What we end up with is a big patchwork of "single-case" checks. The only way you are ever going to stop attacks successfully is to stop everyone from being human. The "intelligence" our race possesses (I use the term loosely) is what has resulted in all the inventions we see around us, including some very ingenious weapons. Do they really think they can control that?
I love my country, not my gov't.
If only everybody could make that distinction - too many are believing that the gov't has the nations best interests at heart. Just look at obvious manipulations like the "USA PATRIOT Act". Give something a name that people will think is a good thing, and you're all clear. Some people really believe that to disagree with the gov't is unpatriotic.
The real Patriots are stocking up on ammunition right now.
The exact same views can be applied to music and movies - if you buy a music CD, you have to get around their DRM and whatever other crap they install on your computer for you to play it on your own computer... Download it, and you can play it on your CD player AND your computer without any problems. Sure, there is the argument about quality, but most people cant tell the difference between 192kbps and CD quality, and hey, its not like you're paying for it...
(Those who can afford sound systems good enough to make 512kbps or whatever CD quality is worthwhile can afford the CDs anyway)
When will you people stop thinking in terms of "Republican or Democrat"?
If people as a whole had any intelligence, they would see what was happening, and vote in a 3rd party instead. Unfortunately, they don't - as a whole people are predictable, and do not like change. We are all fscked until the MAJORITY get some brains and some balls, and realise they are being led down a very dark road...
Wow man, you're about to get your front door Slashdotted!
Someone caught the right mods today :P
Any other day that would have been Troll or Flamebait
Unfortunately, I don't think that would simulate "normal" users too well - most non-techs do not update their anti-virus, do not download patches (unless they have a computer that was pre-installed with SP2 and they accepted default update settings, which isn't as many as you would think) etc etc. Unpatched browsers and operating systems are usually a good simulation.
I suppose it depends on what you are aiming to do - if you want to test for what can get through latest revision browsers, then yes, patch them. But if you are trying to show how vulnerable an average user is, don't.
I would agree. They copied the wrong "feature" there. Who in their right mind browses the net like that?
Of course in MS Money it was worse, considering the browser is IE-based, and therefore shares the security holes... Might as well just mass-mail your financial details...
Ah yes, reminds me of the trick that supermarket chains pull. They often use the exact same product, branded and priced differently, and marketed to different slices of society. They may make very little profit on the 8p cans of beans, but when they are selling the others at 42p, they aren't doing too badly...
While you sit there and say "well it will all be ok because someone will sort it out" ?
Newsflash: Thats what everyone else is doing too! Yes there is uproar from a select few - but it doesn't get anywhere. People say their piece, and go back to their nice little corporation-run lives.
Someone with a little sense, and not afraid to show it! I keep trying to tell people, all that these new measures succeed in doing is criminalising the normal people who hate what their government is doing. How long before "political dissent" becomes "terrorist activities" in the US?
Admittedly, they might catch a couple of terrorists occasionally, but when that happens, if they were stupid enough to get caught like that, they weren't much of a threat in the first place.
"Hey, why does this Anthrax taste like sugar?"
Also there is the possibility that the ones that are caught are decoys for the real operations to keep the DHS occupied, but just a wild guess there - its what I would do if success was important.
You forgot end-to-end encryption. (As far as I know) encrypting data is not a crime. If you intercept the communication, you have nothing without being able to decrypt it. Why do people keep thinking they can catch terrorists with methods that would only catch a normal non-techinal person unawares.
I envisage a point where terrorists post openly on blogs because the government has stopped looking there because its too obvious. Then again, maybe not any time soon...
Terrorists don't deserve due process or privacy .. nobody will dispute that. The problem is that the innocent do
I almost took you seriously up until that point. Without due process, all you have is a "terrorist suspect". They are not guilty. You are assuming that a terrorist suspect is already guilty, just because they are being detained under one law instead of another.
I hereby sentance you to deprivation of your "Constitutional rights" soapbox.