I would not put up GNOME 3 as a good example to follow, I was using GNOME 2 and fled first to xfce and I am now using the Mate desktop environment. Note that Mate was originally a fork of GNOME 2 with the good bits that GNOME had already dropped added back in.
I found that GNOME 3 was a Triumph of Fashion over functionality. I have heavily customised panels and have many useful applets in my panels, can't do that with GNOME 3!
Mind you, almost any modern desktop environment is better than Microsoft's Metro interface, even Ubuntu's Unity!
For large enterprise apps Java beats C & C++. And it is in this area I claim Java is King.
For some things C and/or C++ is superior, but I suspect many commercial Apps written in C & C++ would have been better off in Java. As Java eliminates most problems associated with managing memory & dangling pointers etc. which consume a lot of time chasing in C & C++ projects.
No one sane would attempt to write a production O/S in Java! Also anything that is usually running for less than a few seconds, and is time critical, are better written in C or C++ than Java. For programs that run for many minutes, the Java JIT will usually make the Java App run more efficiently than a carefully coded C or C++ App.
I have used C, and have taught C to experienced programmers (it was fun!). Actually my first languages I got paid to write programs in were FORTRAN & COBOL.
Do have any references to back the claim that C usage is gaining faster than Java usage? I know that some projects (like gcc) have switched to using C++. This http://readwrite.com/2014/01/0... claims that there are at least 4 times as many job opportunities for Java than for C.
Ceylon is a language to watch (runs in both JVM's & JavaScript engines), I suspect it will overtake Java in the longer term.
I have heard from reliable sources that.Net is easier to develop in than Java.
However, Java has a much big set of libraries, is cross platform, and has a very effective Just-in-Time complier (that compiles frequently used code into native machine code based on the current run time profile) that comes free. It also can effectively use large quantities of memory and multiple cores. So in practice, Java is better suited to large enterprise applications than.Net - especially as.Net does not run on Linux which is what most servers use (in fact many more devices run Linux than all other operating systems combined).
So with Java you can develop on Linux, and run the resulting program on far more platforms than.Net can.
So for enterprise development: Java is King, not.Net!
You might want to look at http://www.postgresql.org/ - I've done at least 5 intensive searches on the Internet over the last 14 years, and each time it postgres has come ahead of MySQL in performance, reliability, ease of use etc. I did some DBA & Java programming in MySQL in one job, and have a client with MySQL.
Actually I was keen on metric before New Zealand formally adopted it.
The irony is that it was an American text book (on Physics) that fully converted me to the Metric Fold - at school in Form 6 (now year 12)! About 48 years ago.
The height in metres is more useful - as almost everyone knows metres, and feet is an archaic measurement that is fading away (except where there is an American influence).
I was brought up in the Imperial system of feet & pounds etc. in England - now, I never use the Imperial system, as metric is far easier to deal with and is what everyone around me uses.
These words tend to undermine the validity, if any, of the rest of your comment - to put it politely. Also gives the impression that you are uneducated, and probably never really looked at the issue under discussion in any more than very superficially.
If you really want to make a comment to be taken seriously, please repost with a more appropriately phrased comment. Otherwise, you merely come a across as some kind of troll.
Just look at the long term trend of sea ice in the Arctic, it is noticeably decreasing! Most glaciers are substantially retreating.
There is overwhelming evidence of Global Warming, besides the above.
A consequence of global Warming is more extreme weather, some places ARE expected to get more colder weather, but this is more than offset by other places get even more warmer weather - Global Warming means the GLOBAL AVERAGE temperature goes up, not that everywhere will get warmer at the same rate.
For example the extent of sea ice around the North pole, and the fact that most glaciers are retreating big time - all support global warming. But there is far more evidence than just the above, that supports global warming.
Note global warming does not mean everywhere will get hotter, rather the arithmetic mean over the whole Earth will be hotter.
In practice the weather patterns will become more extreme, some places will have more cold weather (also colder), and some places will have more hot weather (also hotter).
I once went to a seminar where I was able to tell an expert in the field what he was not sure of. Does that make me an equal or better expert in his field? No! He knows tons more than me, I just happened to be reading up in that area shortly before. Same with weather, just because it snows more heavily, it does not mean that global warming is false. In fact the Gulf Stream appears to be slowing down due to global warming, which is likely to make Europe a lot colder - look how cold it gets in North America at the same latitude!
When I was a teenager, a neighbour knocked on the door to say our car had rolled down a bank in their garden - the handbrake had failed (probably not quite tight enough).
Well the 5 ton tow truck could not budge it.
The 7 ton tow truck could not budge it.
So they called in a 10 ton tow truck. They ended up with the 7 ton tow truck helping to anchor the 10 ton tow truck, and the car was successfully rescued!
Our carport was on a slight slope, and the drive way leading to it was steeper.
The concept of Gravity appears to be consistent with what I have observed, but I have no evidence Gravity that falls off as the inverse square of distance. I could in practice verify the inverse square business more accurately, but I do know the Moon takes longer to orbit the Earth than a satellite does.
I don't believe in Evolution either, but it appears to be far more consistent with Reality than does Creationism. I know that Evolution does not explain all the variation in species we see, but we know of other mechanisms (that are not supernatural) that supplement rather than replace the effects of Evolution.
Actually, strictly speaking, I neither believe nor disbelieve in Gravity & Evolution - as belief is an arbitrary decision to insist something is true. Since the notions Gravity & Evolution are so useful in understanding the relevant observations, I simply find them the most useful concepts to use in their areas of applicability. Whereas, Creationism explains nothing convincingly and lacks any useful evidence to support it.
Asking if one believes in God is essentially the same as asking if you believe in the Tooth Fairy, Fairies, or Keyboard Gremlins (the ones that elicit typo's) - though there is more evidence for Keyboard Gremlins than there is for a 'Creator of the Universe'!
Linus Torvalds knew about Mercurial (though it was started at about the same time s git), but he still chose to complete the implementation of git. You can be sure Linus thought very carefully about he needed for the Linux Kernel before he did so. So git was superior to Mercurial for his needs. Now many more projects chose git for large projects with a distributed user base, so a large number of other developers find it best for them too. Amongst other things, git handles branches, and branch merging, a lot better & far faster than anything else.
Actually there is likely to be a positive correlation between attractiveness & intelligence, because we have evolved to look for healthy mates who are like to reproduce well. For example lack of symmetry tends (so there are plenty of counter examples, but they do not undermine the argument) to be associated with an underlying health problem. Also around the world men tend to consider women with a particular hip to waist ratio as being the most attractive - research found that more that women deviated from that ratio then the less likely they would be able to conceive, carry a baby successfully to term, or have a safe vaginal birth.
In the second world war the British found that the most effective way of determining if a young woman would be good at the job of evaluating reconnaissance taken by RAF planes was by looking at the girls's ankles - the work involved intense concentration for long hours. At the time they did not know why. I suspect now, it was because a shapely ankle correlate well with health and stamina - but feminists would be predisposed to jump to the wrong conclusions.
Certainly, when I was working at at with lots of PhD students, the girls seemed to be generally of above average beauty! (No I didn't attempt to date any of them, as I'm married and old enough to be their grandfather!)
The GUI in acorn Risc OS in the early 1980's was more advanced than anything Microsoft had in the early 1990's. I had an Archimedes 440, it was such a joy to use. So likely had more influence on good GUI design than anything from Microsoft!
I've used the "original windows 95" - GNOME 2 & Mate, are both very different to it!
Mate is far more customisable and functional than the "original windows 95", and in fact Mate is far better than any Apple or Microsoft DE that I've seen. .
don't knock old Paradigm's they are not necessarily bad or something that needs to be replaced - I still like to walk even though I can travel through Space & Time in my TARDIS (sorry, too much Dr Who!).
I still design computer systems with pen & paper, even though I use a 30" monitor on a reasonably up-to-date dev box with 32GB RAM & 64 bit quad core Haswell CPU! Though I'm more than happy to scan my diagrams in using a scanner and then send them using email - rather than using snail mail. I started professional life in the age of paper tape and punch cards - quite frankly, I'm more than happy to now use sophisticated terminals. So some new paradigms I embrace with alacrity, but only when they confer definite advantages!
However, GNOME 3 and similar DE's are atrocious - unless your requirements are fairly minimal and you prefer fashion to functionality!
The main problem is that GNOME 3 implies it is an upgrade on GNOME 2, which it certainly is not. If they had given it a new name like Fashionita, or something and had had a real GNOME 3 which built on GNOME 2 - I would not be too concerned. However, I was using GNOME 2 extensively and hence for my purposes GNOME 3 was a complete disaster!
One of the beauties of Linux is that we have multiple desktop environments to choose from, unlike the offerings from Micosoft & Apple.
GNOME 3 is essentially unusable, I want a Desktop Environment that helps rather than hinders me. GNOME 3 tries to dictate how I do things, and lacks the customisability of Mate. Also a GNOME 3 desktop is cluttered - my normal desktop is blank with a bland background, until I place the windows I want in it, and my 2 panels don't appear unless I need them. GNOME 3 is too much in your face.
I had fond memories of KDE from the now distant past, but I found that too had been nobbled. Mate has about the right feel, though of course it could be better.
It is a pity that the people who prefer fashion over functionality don't stick to Apple (perhaps I'm being a tad over harsh?)!
I spend over 10 hours a day in front of my screen. I like a Desktop Environment like http://mate-desktop.org/ that allows me to get on with things, rather than get in the way.
Try GNOME 3, it was the most depressing & irritating 'upgrade' ever for me!
I was moderately happy with GNOME 2, but GNOME 3 is a triumph of Fashion over Functionality. So now I use the Mate Desktop Environment (started off as a fork of GNOME 2 with a lot of the dropped useful functionality added back in).
One of the big advantages of Linux: is that if you don't like one Desktop Environment, you can install another without having to even reboot your machine, and you have considerable choice. Plus most Desktop Environments on Linux allow you to use multiple Virtual Desktops, the standard is 4, but I've got 35, about 2/3 in use.
Even the older Microsoft Desktop Environments made me feel like I was flying blind. Window 8 and later are far worse (they make GNOME 3 seem even usable by comparison!). Not to mentioning the lack of customisability in Microsoft, compared to Linux Desktop Environments, is stultifying.
It depends where you are in New Zealand and what routes you need. In Wellington in peak times there were buses every 10 minutes going to the CBD from near where we lived in Hataitai, some routes had more frequent buses.
In Wellington, even when the schools were served by buses we could use, it was still quicker to walk direct to the school - after allowing time to walk to the bus stop and average waiting times.
I now live near Albany on the North Shore of Auckland, the bus frequency is close to abysmal. Every 45 minutes off peak, and buses stop running early on Saturday night.
No doubt that the public transport in NZ could be vastly improved!
Slashdot Mirror
I would not put up GNOME 3 as a good example to follow, I was using GNOME 2 and fled first to xfce and I am now using the Mate desktop environment. Note that Mate was originally a fork of GNOME 2 with the good bits that GNOME had already dropped added back in.
I found that GNOME 3 was a Triumph of Fashion over functionality. I have heavily customised panels and have many useful applets in my panels, can't do that with GNOME 3!
Mind you, almost any modern desktop environment is better than Microsoft's Metro interface, even Ubuntu's Unity!
For large enterprise apps Java beats C & C++. And it is in this area I claim Java is King.
For some things C and/or C++ is superior, but I suspect many commercial Apps written in C & C++ would have been better off in Java. As Java eliminates most problems associated with managing memory & dangling pointers etc. which consume a lot of time chasing in C & C++ projects.
No one sane would attempt to write a production O/S in Java! Also anything that is usually running for less than a few seconds, and is time critical, are better written in C or C++ than Java. For programs that run for many minutes, the Java JIT will usually make the Java App run more efficiently than a carefully coded C or C++ App.
I have used C, and have taught C to experienced programmers (it was fun!). Actually my first languages I got paid to write programs in were FORTRAN & COBOL.
Do have any references to back the claim that C usage is gaining faster than Java usage? I know that some projects (like gcc) have switched to using C++. This http://readwrite.com/2014/01/0... claims that there are at least 4 times as many job opportunities for Java than for C.
Ceylon is a language to watch (runs in both JVM's & JavaScript engines), I suspect it will overtake Java in the longer term.
Hmm...
I have heard from reliable sources that .Net is easier to develop in than Java.
However, Java has a much big set of libraries, is cross platform, and has a very effective Just-in-Time complier (that compiles frequently used code into native machine code based on the current run time profile) that comes free. It also can effectively use large quantities of memory and multiple cores. So in practice, Java is better suited to large enterprise applications than .Net - especially as .Net does not run on Linux which is what most servers use (in fact many more devices run Linux than all other operating systems combined).
So with Java you can develop on Linux, and run the resulting program on far more platforms than .Net can.
So for enterprise development: Java is King, not .Net!
Have you had a look at http://ceylon-lang.org/ ?
I've been tempted to get into Ceylon, it runs in both the JVM & JavaScript Engines.
I think Red Hat are positioning it to replace Java in the long term...
I got into Java in the late 1990's. I started with FORTRAN & COBOL in the early 1970's, and have taught C to professional programmers...
I find Java the language I like most, but also just about the language I hate most!
For large projects that need to be scalable in terms of both complexity and workload - nothing beats Java, Java is King!
I use Java on Linux, so I don't use Oracle's version 'directly'.
If you want to get into Java, you will find plenty of work, provided you are competent, or have the gift of the gab!
So go for it, and damn the torpedoes!
You might want to look at http://www.postgresql.org/ - I've done at least 5 intensive searches on the Internet over the last 14 years, and each time it postgres has come ahead of MySQL in performance, reliability, ease of use etc. I did some DBA & Java programming in MySQL in one job, and have a client with MySQL.
Where I have a free choice, I use postgres.
Actually I was keen on metric before New Zealand formally adopted it.
The irony is that it was an American text book (on Physics) that fully converted me to the Metric Fold - at school in Form 6 (now year 12)! About 48 years ago.
The height in metres is more useful - as almost everyone knows metres, and feet is an archaic measurement that is fading away (except where there is an American influence).
I was brought up in the Imperial system of feet & pounds etc. in England - now, I never use the Imperial system, as metric is far easier to deal with and is what everyone around me uses.
I suggest you look at the evidence.
Your rude words, insults, and insults, suggest strongly that you don't know what you are talking about.
For a meaningful discussion, give examples - seems like that you don't actually like to think, being rude is so much easier for you.
Your statements seems to much more appropriately applied to the global warming denialists:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/01/08/climate_change_the_north_polar_vortex_and_global_warming.html
Hmm...
You said "... fucking ... So shut it."
These words tend to undermine the validity, if any, of the rest of your comment - to put it politely. Also gives the impression that you are uneducated, and probably never really looked at the issue under discussion in any more than very superficially.
If you really want to make a comment to be taken seriously, please repost with a more appropriately phrased comment. Otherwise, you merely come a across as some kind of troll.
Just look at the long term trend of sea ice in the Arctic, it is noticeably decreasing! Most glaciers are substantially retreating.
There is overwhelming evidence of Global Warming, besides the above.
A consequence of global Warming is more extreme weather, some places ARE expected to get more colder weather, but this is more than offset by other places get even more warmer weather - Global Warming means the GLOBAL AVERAGE temperature goes up, not that everywhere will get warmer at the same rate.
For example the extent of sea ice around the North pole, and the fact that most glaciers are retreating big time - all support global warming. But there is far more evidence than just the above, that supports global warming.
Ah! You upgraded her to a Real Operating System!
Great!
Did you upgrade her to the ONE TRUE LINUX DISTRO (the one I use)???
Note global warming does not mean everywhere will get hotter, rather the arithmetic mean over the whole Earth will be hotter.
In practice the weather patterns will become more extreme, some places will have more cold weather (also colder), and some places will have more hot weather (also hotter).
I once went to a seminar where I was able to tell an expert in the field what he was not sure of. Does that make me an equal or better expert in his field? No! He knows tons more than me, I just happened to be reading up in that area shortly before. Same with weather, just because it snows more heavily, it does not mean that global warming is false. In fact the Gulf Stream appears to be slowing down due to global warming, which is likely to make Europe a lot colder - look how cold it gets in North America at the same latitude!
When I was a teenager, a neighbour knocked on the door to say our car had rolled down a bank in their garden - the handbrake had failed (probably not quite tight enough).
Well the 5 ton tow truck could not budge it.
The 7 ton tow truck could not budge it.
So they called in a 10 ton tow truck. They ended up with the 7 ton tow truck helping to anchor the 10 ton tow truck, and the car was successfully rescued!
Our carport was on a slight slope, and the drive way leading to it was steeper.
I don't believe in Gravity!
Why should I believe in Gravity?
The concept of Gravity appears to be consistent with what I have observed, but I have no evidence Gravity that falls off as the inverse square of distance. I could in practice verify the inverse square business more accurately, but I do know the Moon takes longer to orbit the Earth than a satellite does.
I don't believe in Evolution either, but it appears to be far more consistent with Reality than does Creationism. I know that Evolution does not explain all the variation in species we see, but we know of other mechanisms (that are not supernatural) that supplement rather than replace the effects of Evolution.
Actually, strictly speaking, I neither believe nor disbelieve in Gravity & Evolution - as belief is an arbitrary decision to insist something is true. Since the notions Gravity & Evolution are so useful in understanding the relevant observations, I simply find them the most useful concepts to use in their areas of applicability. Whereas, Creationism explains nothing convincingly and lacks any useful evidence to support it.
Asking if one believes in God is essentially the same as asking if you believe in the Tooth Fairy, Fairies, or Keyboard Gremlins (the ones that elicit typo's) - though there is more evidence for Keyboard Gremlins than there is for a 'Creator of the Universe'!
Linus Torvalds knew about Mercurial (though it was started at about the same time s git), but he still chose to complete the implementation of git. You can be sure Linus thought very carefully about he needed for the Linux Kernel before he did so. So git was superior to Mercurial for his needs. Now many more projects chose git for large projects with a distributed user base, so a large number of other developers find it best for them too. Amongst other things, git handles branches, and branch merging, a lot better & far faster than anything else.
see also:
http://felipec.wordpress.com/2011/01/16/mercurial-vs-git-its-all-in-the-branches
http://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/96933/why-did-git-get-so-much-hype-while-others-dont
http://beta.slashdot.org/story/85783
Actually there is likely to be a positive correlation between attractiveness & intelligence, because we have evolved to look for healthy mates who are like to reproduce well. For example lack of symmetry tends (so there are plenty of counter examples, but they do not undermine the argument) to be associated with an underlying health problem. Also around the world men tend to consider women with a particular hip to waist ratio as being the most attractive - research found that more that women deviated from that ratio then the less likely they would be able to conceive, carry a baby successfully to term, or have a safe vaginal birth.
In the second world war the British found that the most effective way of determining if a young woman would be good at the job of evaluating reconnaissance taken by RAF planes was by looking at the girls's ankles - the work involved intense concentration for long hours. At the time they did not know why. I suspect now, it was because a shapely ankle correlate well with health and stamina - but feminists would be predisposed to jump to the wrong conclusions.
Certainly, when I was working at at with lots of PhD students, the girls seemed to be generally of above average beauty! (No I didn't attempt to date any of them, as I'm married and old enough to be their grandfather!)
The GUI in acorn Risc OS in the early 1980's was more advanced than anything Microsoft had in the early 1990's. I had an Archimedes 440, it was such a joy to use. So likely had more influence on good GUI design than anything from Microsoft!
I've used the "original windows 95" - GNOME 2 & Mate, are both very different to it!
Mate is far more customisable and functional than the "original windows 95", and in fact Mate is far better than any Apple or Microsoft DE that I've seen.
.
don't knock old Paradigm's they are not necessarily bad or something that needs to be replaced - I still like to walk even though I can travel through Space & Time in my TARDIS (sorry, too much Dr Who!).
I still design computer systems with pen & paper, even though I use a 30" monitor on a reasonably up-to-date dev box with 32GB RAM & 64 bit quad core Haswell CPU! Though I'm more than happy to scan my diagrams in using a scanner and then send them using email - rather than using snail mail. I started professional life in the age of paper tape and punch cards - quite frankly, I'm more than happy to now use sophisticated terminals. So some new paradigms I embrace with alacrity, but only when they confer definite advantages!
However, GNOME 3 and similar DE's are atrocious - unless your requirements are fairly minimal and you prefer fashion to functionality!
I wouldn't exactly call GNOME 3 forward looking!
The main problem is that GNOME 3 implies it is an upgrade on GNOME 2, which it certainly is not. If they had given it a new name like Fashionita, or something and had had a real GNOME 3 which built on GNOME 2 - I would not be too concerned. However, I was using GNOME 2 extensively and hence for my purposes GNOME 3 was a complete disaster!
One of the beauties of Linux is that we have multiple desktop environments to choose from, unlike the offerings from Micosoft & Apple.
GNOME 3 is essentially unusable, I want a Desktop Environment that helps rather than hinders me. GNOME 3 tries to dictate how I do things, and lacks the customisability of Mate. Also a GNOME 3 desktop is cluttered - my normal desktop is blank with a bland background, until I place the windows I want in it, and my 2 panels don't appear unless I need them. GNOME 3 is too much in your face.
I had fond memories of KDE from the now distant past, but I found that too had been nobbled. Mate has about the right feel, though of course it could be better.
It is a pity that the people who prefer fashion over functionality don't stick to Apple (perhaps I'm being a tad over harsh?)!
I spend over 10 hours a day in front of my screen. I like a Desktop Environment like http://mate-desktop.org/ that allows me to get on with things, rather than get in the way.
Try GNOME 3, it was the most depressing & irritating 'upgrade' ever for me!
I was moderately happy with GNOME 2, but GNOME 3 is a triumph of Fashion over Functionality. So now I use the Mate Desktop Environment (started off as a fork of GNOME 2 with a lot of the dropped useful functionality added back in).
One of the big advantages of Linux: is that if you don't like one Desktop Environment, you can install another without having to even reboot your machine, and you have considerable choice. Plus most Desktop Environments on Linux allow you to use multiple Virtual Desktops, the standard is 4, but I've got 35, about 2/3 in use.
Even the older Microsoft Desktop Environments made me feel like I was flying blind. Window 8 and later are far worse (they make GNOME 3 seem even usable by comparison!). Not to mentioning the lack of customisability in Microsoft, compared to Linux Desktop Environments, is stultifying.
It depends where you are in New Zealand and what routes you need. In Wellington in peak times there were buses every 10 minutes going to the CBD from near where we lived in Hataitai, some routes had more frequent buses.
In Wellington, even when the schools were served by buses we could use, it was still quicker to walk direct to the school - after allowing time to walk to the bus stop and average waiting times.
I now live near Albany on the North Shore of Auckland, the bus frequency is close to abysmal. Every 45 minutes off peak, and buses stop running early on Saturday night.
No doubt that the public transport in NZ could be vastly improved!