When I have to use a Microsoft O/S, I feel I'm flying blind with one hand tied behind my back with the undercarriage still deployed. Microsoft O/S's are slow, cumbersome, lacking in customisability, and inherently insecure - I first started using a box with a Microsoft O/S back in the early days of MS-DOS, and I've seen Microsoft Windows 8.
Linux is the most widely used O/S on embedded devices and servers. It is also growing on the desktop.
In our household we have: 2 Linux desktops 2 Linux laptops 1 Linux phone (Android 4.2) 1 Linux gaming console (wii) 1 iPhone 1 Apple Mac desktop (Note absence Microsoft O/S, and I suspect we will not get another Mac!)
I once deleted a crucial directory required by my operating system thinking it was not needed. After the 'Oh, SHIT!' moment, I realized my son's computer had exactly the same version of Linux I had, and simply copied his. Fortunately, there were only a couple of trivial hiccups as a result.
At the time I had over 20 years professional IT experience, and about 10 with Linux - so even experienced people can stuff up!
Dangerous things should not be allowed for normal users, but okay for admins - like in Linux, some things are reserved for root. Although, I _WAS_ root when I stupidly deleted the directory above. However, when I'm in root, I'm automatically more cautious. For things like 'rm -rf *', I always (see note 1) check VERY CAREFULLY!
If you use Linux, and other open source software, you can do a lot of learning and paid work in the software industry without having to pay expensive licences - while still being strictly legal!
Where the belt goes around the buckle spindle it splits in to 2 narrow parts and each part is then riveted back. One of those narrow parts finally snapped due to wear. Was my favourite belt.
Probably the saddest part is not keeping a copy of the first belt I made with a lot more elaborate design. I almost throw the original away, as I had made so many mistakes in the design I had put on it, but I sold 6 copies making it my most successful design.
I made belts for a couple of months before Christmas in the summer holidays while at University in Auckland, about 1970. A friend had set up a workshop and had all the gear. Unfortunately, he never continued after Christmas. I made very little money, but I really enjoyed making the leather belts, starting with a strip of leather!
Professionally and personally, I avoid Microsoft like a plague! It is history, it is a dead man stumbling... The 2 most dominant operating systems in the mobile market are either based on Linux, or an Apple O/S. All eBooks are based on Linux, smart TV's are based on Linux, most servers run Linux, and over 90% of the top 500 hundred super computers run Linux (most of the rest run a version of Unix). So for some people, skills in Microsoft technologies might be useful now, but they will unlikely to be widely used in 5 years time. Microsoft is busy innovating new ways to piss people off, like the Metro interface - and alienating OEM's by making their own hardware platforms. Both me and my son (aged 15) have Linux laptops, and I have 2 Linux desktops at home, plus my desk at the University has a work station running Linux - I develop software for the university.
Probably one of the best databases to know is PostgreSQL, it now has version 9.4 in Beta. Companies have been converting from Oracle to PostgreSQL since at least version 8. Guess, it runs both on Linux, and also on Microsoft boxen.
If you are serious about web development you should know how to run Apache httpd, even if you don't now it in detail.
In this field you keep having to learn new things. I took 3 days off when I was a COBOL programmer in the early 1980's, to put myself on a course to learn C at my own expense, then spent time at home writing C programs for fun. Several years later I got paid to teach C to experienced programmers, and when I went to university when I was 40 to get a post graduate diploma (about half the value of an MSc) I could do the assignments as they required C skills.
I am currently learning SPARQL, very different to the SQL I've used for over 20 years. In the early 1970's our development mainframe had 128KB (even the biggest mainframe had no more than 16MB, and processor was not greater than 2MHz), and I programmed in COBOL. Now I use Java on a Linux box with 16GB and a quad core 64 bit processor running at 3.4GHz.
Yes, it is not practical to be fluent in depth in half a dozen software fields. But you have to know how to RTFM.
Simply having a manned station where people have to maintain things under space conditions, and react successfully to unexpected problems - is a necessary learning experience that is required, if we are ever to be successful in space.
If Mankind is to survive and proper in the long term, we have to have a viable population that can thrive off planet.
The ISS also does useful science, which is a bonus.
I maintain current plus previous 4 kernels on my Linux boxen. At the moment the last 2 kernels do not allow me to bring up the desktop on my laptop, but all work fine on my 2 desktops. When I have time I'll raise a bug report.
About 10 years ago a kernel upgrade stopped my box being able to use the modem, as I was on dial up then I raised a bug report and a fix was available within 24 hours - though I waited a few days more for my distribution to provide an upgrade.
AFAIK under Apple & Microsoft, you do not have the option to boot for old kernels as standard - I'm not even sure it is possible outside of the proprietary development regime. Yet another reason to prefer Linux.
880 yards in half a mile, that's 1760 yards in a full mile a yard is 3 feet long, so a mile is 5280 feet.
Why do Americans cling to such an awkward measurement system?
Not sure about the USA, but here in NZ an inch is defined as exactly 25.4 mm. So since a foot is 12 inches, a foot is 304.8 mm so a mile is exactly 1,609,344 mm, or 1,609.344 metres, or 1.609344 km
Metric is a lot easier to deal with than the American Imperial System!
What do you actually mean by the width of the USA (see below!)? I think 2,892 miles is the width most appropriate here, as we want the land to be contiguous (ignoring lakes & rivers!).
2,892 * 1,609,344 mm = 4,654,222,848 mm 4,654,222,848 mm / 78000 = 59,669.53 mm 59,669.53 / 304.8 =195.77
So there would be about 200 feet or about 60 metres person.
From Virgina Beach, Va. to San Jose, Ca. it is about 2,990 miles. From Jacksonville, Fl. to Aberdeen, Wa. it is 3,087 miles. From Augusta, Maine to Los Angeles, Ca it is 3,148 miles. This gives you an average of 3,075 miles. [...]
Measured from the farthest points west and east in the conterminous United States, meaning the 48 states that have a common boundary, which are West Quoddy Head, Maine, and Point Arena, California, the United States is 2,892 miles (4,656 km) wide.
Measured between the farthest points between the eastern United States and Alaska, Soldier Key, Florida, and Cape Wrangell, Alaska, the distance is 5,503 miles (8,860 km).
From Soldier Key, Florida, to Kure Island, Hawaii, the distance is 5,859 miles (9,433 km). [...]
Since native American solders are too expensive, perhaps the US should off shore satisfying its military requirements - I hear that Chinese Generals are quite cheap!
Well you would need to drastically increase the proportion of fertile women in these subs and bases.
I think you will find that women are in the minority, whereas to repopulate the Earth: you would need possible about 90% females - as 1 man can impregnate over a 100 women, but most women would have less than 10 babies.
You need a few men to improve genetic diversity, so having only one man per group of women would not be a good idea.
The start up graphics is pointless, it is not interesting, nor does it tell you anything useful, and it just makes the boot process seem very slow.
One of the first things I do with a new fedora system is to disable the start up graphics, and display the boot up messages. So the boot process appears faster (may take exactly the same wall clock time, never measured it), and there is something at least vaguely interesting to look at. Plus, if it freezes for some reason, I've got some hint as to where the problem occurred.
I like that in Python you don't need to use curly brackets and semicolons like Java requires, and I am a Java developer (when I'm not pretending to be a Software Architect!).
There appears to me to be no reason why an IDE could not automatically line up indentation when copying blocks of python code - though sometimes it might need to ask for guidance.
I have taught C to experienced developers, and I had fun teaching a 10 year old to code in C. However, I think that Python & Java are better languages to start with. A couple of months ago a ten year old boy (we know his parents) phoned and said he wanted me to teach him Java - he had already got some Java books and had been reading them and trying out some GUI code.
To become as Master Programmer, you need to be fluent in at least 3 computer languages - I have written code in at least 20. I started with BASIC 45 years ago, since then I've done FORTRAN & COBOL amongst others. I also had fun with LISP and Perl (but I was never fluent in them).
Slashdot Mirror
Hmm...
For Spreadsheets, have you had a look at:
http://www.libreoffice.org/features/calc
and
http://projects.gnome.org/gnumeric
For a Desktop Environment:
http://mate-desktop.org/
When I have to use a Microsoft O/S, I feel I'm flying blind with one hand tied behind my back with the undercarriage still deployed. Microsoft O/S's are slow, cumbersome, lacking in customisability, and inherently insecure - I first started using a box with a Microsoft O/S back in the early days of MS-DOS, and I've seen Microsoft Windows 8.
Linux is the most widely used O/S on embedded devices and servers. It is also growing on the desktop.
In our household we have:
2 Linux desktops
2 Linux laptops
1 Linux phone (Android 4.2)
1 Linux gaming console (wii)
1 iPhone
1 Apple Mac desktop
(Note absence Microsoft O/S, and I suspect we will not get another Mac!)
Metro, is a good reason to switch to Linux.
What you say is true WHEN x = y = z and x is a positive integer, but what if x, y, z are not all the same and greater than 2???
Many people are migrating from Oracle to Postgres...
http://www.postgresql.org/
I had already got them using Firefox in preference to IE.
On my mothers computer, I banned 'ask.com' stuff every which way I could, having noscript helped.
When I visit her, I now never see the Ask toolbar!
I once deleted a crucial directory required by my operating system thinking it was not needed. After the 'Oh, SHIT!' moment, I realized my son's computer had exactly the same version of Linux I had, and simply copied his. Fortunately, there were only a couple of trivial hiccups as a result.
At the time I had over 20 years professional IT experience, and about 10 with Linux - so even experienced people can stuff up!
Dangerous things should not be allowed for normal users, but okay for admins - like in Linux, some things are reserved for root. Although, I _WAS_ root when I stupidly deleted the directory above. However, when I'm in root, I'm automatically more cautious. For things like 'rm -rf *', I always (see note 1) check VERY CAREFULLY!
Note 1: Almost always!
If you use Linux, and other open source software, you can do a lot of learning and paid work in the software industry without having to pay expensive licences - while still being strictly legal!
word processor & other office software:
http://www.libreoffice.org/
database:
http://www.postgresql.org/
compilers:
http://gcc.gnu.org/
operating system & sufficient software to do useful things (2 of over 100 offerings, pick one that suites you best!):
https://fedoraproject.org/
http://www.debian.org/
network diagnostic: ... and many others ...
http://www.wireshark.org/
Where the belt goes around the buckle spindle it splits in to 2 narrow parts and each part is then riveted back. One of those narrow parts finally snapped due to wear. Was my favourite belt.
Probably the saddest part is not keeping a copy of the first belt I made with a lot more elaborate design. I almost throw the original away, as I had made so many mistakes in the design I had put on it, but I sold 6 copies making it my most successful design.
I made belts for a couple of months before Christmas in the summer holidays while at University in Auckland, about 1970. A friend had set up a workshop and had all the gear. Unfortunately, he never continued after Christmas. I made very little money, but I really enjoyed making the leather belts, starting with a strip of leather!
Up until yesterday, I could wear a leather belt I made 40 years ago! Mind you, I did not use every single day...
I am about 2 years younger.
I remember learning FORTRAN IV on an IBM 1130 (64 KB & less than 1MHz!), never realized they could run Unix!
Now I am learning to program SPARQL in Java run on a Linux box with 16GB and a 64 bit quad core processor chip running at 3,400MHz.
"... and everything else the Microsoft has ..."
Hmm...
I am 62 now.
Professionally and personally, I avoid Microsoft like a plague! It is history, it is a dead man stumbling... The 2 most dominant operating systems in the mobile market are either based on Linux, or an Apple O/S. All eBooks are based on Linux, smart TV's are based on Linux, most servers run Linux, and over 90% of the top 500 hundred super computers run Linux (most of the rest run a version of Unix). So for some people, skills in Microsoft technologies might be useful now, but they will unlikely to be widely used in 5 years time. Microsoft is busy innovating new ways to piss people off, like the Metro interface - and alienating OEM's by making their own hardware platforms. Both me and my son (aged 15) have Linux laptops, and I have 2 Linux desktops at home, plus my desk at the University has a work station running Linux - I develop software for the university.
Probably one of the best databases to know is PostgreSQL, it now has version 9.4 in Beta. Companies have been converting from Oracle to PostgreSQL since at least version 8. Guess, it runs both on Linux, and also on Microsoft boxen.
If you are serious about web development you should know how to run Apache httpd, even if you don't now it in detail.
In this field you keep having to learn new things. I took 3 days off when I was a COBOL programmer in the early 1980's, to put myself on a course to learn C at my own expense, then spent time at home writing C programs for fun. Several years later I got paid to teach C to experienced programmers, and when I went to university when I was 40 to get a post graduate diploma (about half the value of an MSc) I could do the assignments as they required C skills.
I am currently learning SPARQL, very different to the SQL I've used for over 20 years. In the early 1970's our development mainframe had 128KB (even the biggest mainframe had no more than 16MB, and processor was not greater than 2MHz), and I programmed in COBOL. Now I use Java on a Linux box with 16GB and a quad core 64 bit processor running at 3.4GHz.
Yes, it is not practical to be fluent in depth in half a dozen software fields. But you have to know how to RTFM.
Adapt or die!
Simply having a manned station where people have to maintain things under space conditions, and react successfully to unexpected problems - is a necessary learning experience that is required, if we are ever to be successful in space.
If Mankind is to survive and proper in the long term, we have to have a viable population that can thrive off planet.
The ISS also does useful science, which is a bonus.
I maintain current plus previous 4 kernels on my Linux boxen. At the moment the last 2 kernels do not allow me to bring up the desktop on my laptop, but all work fine on my 2 desktops. When I have time I'll raise a bug report.
About 10 years ago a kernel upgrade stopped my box being able to use the modem, as I was on dial up then I raised a bug report and a fix was available within 24 hours - though I waited a few days more for my distribution to provide an upgrade.
AFAIK under Apple & Microsoft, you do not have the option to boot for old kernels as standard - I'm not even sure it is possible outside of the proprietary development regime. Yet another reason to prefer Linux.
.
Hmm...
880 yards in half a mile,
that's 1760 yards in a full mile
a yard is 3 feet long,
so a mile is 5280 feet.
Why do Americans cling to such an awkward measurement system?
Not sure about the USA, but here in NZ an inch is defined as exactly 25.4 mm.
So since a foot is 12 inches, a foot is 304.8 mm
so a mile is exactly 1,609,344 mm, or 1,609.344 metres, or 1.609344 km
Metric is a lot easier to deal with than the American Imperial System!
What do you actually mean by the width of the USA (see below!)?
I think 2,892 miles is the width most appropriate here, as we want the land to be contiguous (ignoring lakes & rivers!).
2,892 * 1,609,344 mm = 4,654,222,848 mm
4,654,222,848 mm / 78000 = 59,669.53 mm
59,669.53 / 304.8 =195.77
So there would be about 200 feet or about 60 metres person.
http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/uslandst.htm
[...]
Horizontal Width: 2,680 miles
[...]
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_width_of_the_US_from_coast_to_coast
[...]
The precise distance depends on the exact latitude where you make the measurement but it is approximately 3,000 miles.
It is roughly 3,400 miles at its widest point
From Virgina Beach, Va. to San Jose, Ca. it is about 2,990 miles. From Jacksonville, Fl. to Aberdeen, Wa. it is 3,087 miles. From Augusta, Maine to Los Angeles, Ca it is 3,148 miles. This gives you an average of 3,075 miles.
[...]
http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/how-wide-is-the-united-states-in-miles-from-point-arena-california-to-west-quoddy-head-maine
[...]
The width of the United States depends on whether Alaska or Hawaii is included.
Measured from the farthest points west and east in the conterminous United States, meaning the 48 states that have a common boundary, which are West Quoddy Head, Maine, and Point Arena, California, the United States is 2,892 miles (4,656 km) wide.
Measured between the farthest points between the eastern United States and Alaska, Soldier Key, Florida, and Cape Wrangell, Alaska, the distance is 5,503 miles (8,860 km).
From Soldier Key, Florida, to Kure Island, Hawaii, the distance is 5,859 miles (9,433 km).
[...]
F = 4 ==> C = -15.5 (to one decimal place)
Forgot the sign... Duh!!!
C = 5(F - 32)/9
F = 4 ==> C = 15.5 (to one decimal place)
Since native American solders are too expensive, perhaps the US should off shore satisfying its military requirements - I hear that Chinese Generals are quite cheap!
Well you would need to drastically increase the proportion of fertile women in these subs and bases.
I think you will find that women are in the minority, whereas to repopulate the Earth: you would need possible about 90% females - as 1 man can impregnate over a 100 women, but most women would have less than 10 babies.
You need a few men to improve genetic diversity, so having only one man per group of women would not be a good idea.
Well I have commissioned at least 3 machines this century, where I had time to read the messages...
But even whizzing past at speed, like my latest machine with SSD, still beats looking at the fedora logo being filled in - IMHO! :-)
The start up graphics is pointless, it is not interesting, nor does it tell you anything useful, and it just makes the boot process seem very slow.
One of the first things I do with a new fedora system is to disable the start up graphics, and display the boot up messages. So the boot process appears faster (may take exactly the same wall clock time, never measured it), and there is something at least vaguely interesting to look at. Plus, if it freezes for some reason, I've got some hint as to where the problem occurred.
Well perhaps the jobs won't go back to the USA, but they might move to Wales! :-)
I think Wales probably has fewer Fundamentalist Christians trying to suppress science than the USA has!
You can actually specify how much heap you want Java to use via the -Xms & -Xmx flags, if you the defaults are too big for machine .
For Eclipse on my 16GB development box (Linux) I use:
-Xms2g -Xmx2g
I like that in Python you don't need to use curly brackets and semicolons like Java requires, and I am a Java developer (when I'm not pretending to be a Software Architect!).
There appears to me to be no reason why an IDE could not automatically line up indentation when copying blocks of python code - though sometimes it might need to ask for guidance.
I have taught C to experienced developers, and I had fun teaching a 10 year old to code in C. However, I think that Python & Java are better languages to start with. A couple of months ago a ten year old boy (we know his parents) phoned and said he wanted me to teach him Java - he had already got some Java books and had been reading them and trying out some GUI code.
To become as Master Programmer, you need to be fluent in at least 3 computer languages - I have written code in at least 20. I started with BASIC 45 years ago, since then I've done FORTRAN & COBOL amongst others. I also had fun with LISP and Perl (but I was never fluent in them).
To program Hallo World in Java only requires the creation of one file which contains one class, there is no need to create a package for it!
public class HalloWorld
{
public static void main(String[] args)
{
System.out.println("Hallo World");
}
}
## Now to compile and run the program:
$ javac HalloWorld.java
$ java HalloWorld
Hallo World
$
But we are nor descended from apes, but we do share common ancestors.