But places like Myspace and Flickr seem eerily similar to the basic concept of the internet circa 1994-95.
Actually Flickr's business model is different; they offer a very limited account for free and charge to remove the limitations. (A "pro account" on flickr is 24USD per year).
Do kids today that are interested in soccer not think it's fun because they can't bend it like Beckham the first time they kick the ball? Do people who like woodworking stop because they can't build a perfectly constructed table and chairs, and instead can only build a crappy bird house? I don't think that's really the problem here.
I know that doesn't seem to be an issue, but it is. The problem comes from the fact that you have to know a lot of information, for the subtle differences to make sense (and unless you know those, the code you write doesn't get past mediocre).
It's the same in all activities that require speciffic detailed knowledge: for photography for example, most people go around for the next +XX Mpixels camera and belive a more expensive camera will make them take amasing photographs. On the other hand a good photographer will get excelent results with a consumer camera also.
Good coding takes time, but programming wannabees don't want to know about that.
Ummm... maybe I should have been more speciffic: I am an international viewer, and my cable company doesn't provide SciFi channel. I am also in no position to purchase a satelite receiver at the moment.
It would have been nice if I had access to it, but I don't, and I'm sure there are others in the same situation.
As such, my point of view stil stands: it's local news.
I don't think rewriting from the ground up is the solution (just look at what netscape did).
That said, I agree that IE should go through a rewriting/redesign process but I see that more as major refactoring than a complete rewrite.
Also, putting a shield infront of an insecure application will not work. It is bound to fail as spectacularily as those "secure our windows 95" solutions, where the explorer didn't let you access a directory, but you could right click it and choose "open" on anything, from the "Save As..." dialog in Notepad.
Security is as strong as the weakest link, and you can put whatever you want infront of it: unless you change the weakest link, security does not improve.
We'll probably just see other and other methods of <getting past the shield, into IExplorer> start to float around.
I think the next step for me would be an enhanced extensions and themes manager.
The browser is good as it is (yes, we should keep it simple), but I'd like to see the folowing:
download and install predefined a set of extensions ("Business", "Blogger", "Casual browser", "Web2.0" (as much as some may hate the term)
multiple look-and-feel choices (same as above but for themes and functionality - button and toolbar placement etc.) - like "maximize screen real-estate", "maximize buttons" and so on)
a marketing campaign marching on this, as having firefox "for the whole family" or "optimized for business use" or whatever else, at the click of a button
All these enhancements I would put one or two clicks away (maybe in the Tools menu, without cluttering the interface) with the possible exception of a wizard run for the first time when opening firefox asking to "choose preferences" or "stop bothering me".
Do you think windows intel PCs use more power than mac intel PCs? (or 'nix intel PCs?)
They might; I have an ACER laptop and had some problems with the CPU fan getting dirty;
I was using dual boot with WinXP and SUSE and under WinXP the machine was shutting down after around 30 minutes of doing nothing, due to CPU overheating (with one browser or explorer open for example).
Under Linux I had no overheating problems unless I was watching movies or something equaly CPU consuming.
Somebody correct me on this, but I think this shows a bigger processor use in "idle" mode for the XP machine, and more heat to the CPU means more consummed power; I also think this could equally apply to DELL machines.
That said, the difference is probably negligible in day-to-day use.
I'll agree, unless someone can give me an example of what C++ is best suited for. I've tried every language that I can find at least twice, and I can't find anything that C++ is the best at, or even a reasonable middle-ground.
Let me try my hand at an answer for you, altwough we're "a bit" offtopic here:).
C is much easier to read, and if I want objects, Objective-C allows me to reuse my C code. At least then, I get an object oriented language. C++ is some weird class and template based language, that requires I either taxonimize everything, or degenerate into a slower and hard to read C.
When properly written C++ can be very easy to read (but then again, one can write unreadable code in any language).
Also, you can write C++ code completly without either classes or templates.
C++ also fixes (or offers alternatives to) a lot of problems unresolved in C like namespaces, extensible IO library, a typesafe alternative to C macros, extensible type system etc. All of these can be easily abused (so one could argue that it only adds complications) but that's more of a matter of writing good code than a C++ problem.
I'm still unclear why we need four different casts, and I'm still unclear why it's a good idea to have two functions with the same name and data types (save the const or signed keywords, which aren't really supposed to modify the data type)- lest the evil C++ genies make my code call the wrong one.
The four casts state intent much better than the C cast; It's also easier to grep/search through the code to locate casts.
I'm completely lost as to why it's a good idea making: if (a << 1) mean anything but to check if anything but the highest bit is set, or a[0] mean anything different than *a.
iostreams are a decent answer for the first example (B. Stroustrup explained in his book why the shift operator was chosen and it seemed like a good enough reason for me).
The iostreams design is among the most powerfull and flexible input/output interfaces I've ever seen.
Regarding your second example, how about accessing custom container elements by key, like for example:
std::map<int,string> m; m[-1] = "invalid";
I think the only reason not to see these is coming to C++ with a C/other language mind-frame and saying "I can progam C just fine in C; why would I do it in C++"?
I can't figure out exactly how to control deallocation order when calling destructors during stack unwinds, and I can't figure out how to control allocation order before main().
Static functions allowing access to global resources? Used like this, the pointers are allocated upon first access and deallocated in reverse order.
I don't know why C++ insisted on being completely forwards and backwards incompatible with C, and adopt its name. It isn't a better C, it isn't even a logical extension of C.
Actually I think C++ bent over backwards to remain (mostly) compatible with C (this is why the macros-as-functions were not completely eliminated for example).
I think it is a better C in the sense that it can do what C does (and much more), using safer code and avoiding C's pitfalls (although unfortunately C++ comes with pitfalls of it's own).
I might be able to wrap my head around C++ better if I didn't know C, and expect C semantics, but damnit, that's awful hard to do when it's called C++.
Then you're not really evaluating C++, but (again), writing C code in C++ (which is a different matter alltogether); It's not really the best frame of mind for evaluating the strengths of a language, as it ignores all advantages C++ would provide that are not there in C.
For some examples of C++ advantages over C (out of the top of my head):
If people are worried about people posting too much info on the net, and they're also worried about big brother style data mining of their details, why don't the sites respond by turning the typed text into graphics, displaying it as bitmaps, so that it can't be cut and pasted etc. You could use a subtle form of CAPCHA (or whatever it's called) encryption perhaps - nothing too hard to read - but even without it it would thwart casual searchability.
Turning the typed text into graphics is not a solution. Once enough sites would do it, there would appear a need for specialized tools to process that data (just like there appeared a need for CAPCHA readers).
The solution should not be in making the data more difficult to access, but making sure the data is not in the system, or considered out of bounds (by using strong encryption if you really MUST publish your data for example).
I do agree with your implication towards the poster who somewhat blithely replied that Tel Aviv was doing OK. For one thing, a good bit of northern Israel isn't doing so hot (witness the shelling of Haifa), and it's a bit crass of him to ignore his own countrymen.
It seems I came out wrong. I don't see the situation as ok; All I wanted to say was that what I see in the street is completely different from what I perceive on the news. I realize I don't have an accurate perception of it, since I cannot watch the israeli news (I don't understand the language) but from CNN I get a strong message I'm in a warzone, and outside nothing changed: I come to office as usual, people are not more sober around me and my israelian coleagues behave completely normal.
I think it's a bit crass to let lines on a map change your empathy for another human being.
Again, sorry if I came out that way.
I wanted to say that the conflict is distorted by the media. I've had my family looking for me on the net all day (probably after each news report) to ask me if I need to get out of the country, if there were bombings, if I am safe and so on - and it's strikingly different from what I see around me.
I am also on two minds about the current situation:
on one hand, the conflict is escalated by Hezbollah (and was started by them); Israel told the Lebanese to stop them since they were on the Lebanese territory and the Lebanese did not. I also think if they start giving in to Hezbollah demands they are sending the message they can be manipulated by the taking of hostages.
on the other hand, Israel are bombing, they are attacking and killing pople.
I am also thankfull that the bombings didn't reach this place.
No need to worry about bird flu any more, just the incipient WWIII brewing in the Middle East...
Ummm... no, not really, at least not for Israel. I've been in Tel Aviv for two months now, and it's - for lack of a better term - "business as usual".
If it was by what you get on CNN, I'd have expected to crawl under debris by now; In truth, life goes on unaffected in 90% of the country, but that's nothing sensational, so it won't probably appear on the news.
"has the goal of bringing together people from diverse political perspectives who may not share much else, but who share the idea that they would rather see democratic politics be about engaging with the serious ideas of intelligent opponents, about activating and motivating ordinary people to get involved and really care about politics beyond the television soundbites."
Call me cynical, but this sounds idealistic to me. It is my opinion that in most parts of the world politics stopped being about "serious ideas of inteligent oponents" to transform into:
"give me your votes"
"how to look good in front of the voters in X easy steps"
so on...
you are sheep! let me/us/our group lead you
In a word, mostly propaganda.
Also, I think arguments, hovever intelligent they may be, don't change anything by themselves, but only if people listening to them are actually willing to listen (and I wouldn't bet much on that willingness).
Maybe I'm of this opinion only because I'm coming from one of the countries that was behind the iron curtain; Who knows?
Ahh, but there is an alternative punishment - something we can do to corporations that we can't do to people. Cut them in half!
Ummm... I'm not sure it would work like that; Microsoft is an american company, so american laws should have to impose this on them. I just don't think EU has that kind of power over MS.
I wonder if this could be used to recreate perfume. imagine a $200 bottle of the stinky stuff being cheaply cloned by this device.
It shouldn't be hard to hack it up for mass production.
I don't know if it's that simple. For example, rose essential oil contains around a hundred chemical compounds composing it's fragrance. This is why it is usually obtained naturally for use in perfumes, instead of artificially. I'm not sure it can be synthesised actually.
I don't think they are actually, not at the level that Oracle really cares about.
In the past five years I've worked for two corporations, and the software we developed was targetted at Oracle, MsSQL and Sybase (more or less in that order). The software was for other large corporations in the telecom and finance industries and most enhancements/bugs/so on were coming on the Oracle side.
Business entities at that level pay lots of money for (Oracle) software and I'm not sure they even look at MySql as a viable alternative.
Maybe that's just the ones I've come in contact with, though...
It's the same story that happened when DES algorithm appeared:
They created a set of values to be used for the S and P values and when they submited it to the NSA, they got back the S and P values completely changed.
It couldn't be proved that the new values were unsafe to use and both the creators and the NSA argued they'd rather use their values because the other party could have known some weak point in the values they offered.
Slashdot Mirror
Actually Flickr's business model is different; they offer a very limited account for free and charge to remove the limitations. (A "pro account" on flickr is 24USD per year).
I know that doesn't seem to be an issue, but it is. The problem comes from the fact that you have to know a lot of information, for the subtle differences to make sense (and unless you know those, the code you write doesn't get past mediocre).
It's the same in all activities that require speciffic detailed knowledge: for photography for example, most people go around for the next +XX Mpixels camera and belive a more expensive camera will make them take amasing photographs. On the other hand a good photographer will get excelent results with a consumer camera also.
Good coding takes time, but programming wannabees don't want to know about that.
Ummm ... maybe I should have been more speciffic: I am an international viewer, and my cable company doesn't provide SciFi channel. I am also in no position to purchase a satelite receiver at the moment.
It would have been nice if I had access to it, but I don't, and I'm sure there are others in the same situation.
As such, my point of view stil stands: it's local news.
Not to flame or anything, but I don't get the Sci-Fi Channel (wherever that is).
How exactly is this news? ... I understand it's cool and everything, but this to me is more local news than slashdot front page.
I mean
I'm sure I'm not the only one having no contact whatsoever with Sci-Fi Channel.
I don't think rewriting from the ground up is the solution (just look at what netscape did).
That said, I agree that IE should go through a rewriting/redesign process but I see that more as major refactoring than a complete rewrite.
Also, putting a shield infront of an insecure application will not work. It is bound to fail as spectacularily as those "secure our windows 95" solutions, where the explorer didn't let you access a directory, but you could right click it and choose "open" on anything, from the "Save As ..." dialog in Notepad.
Security is as strong as the weakest link, and you can put whatever you want infront of it: unless you change the weakest link, security does not improve.
We'll probably just see other and other methods of <getting past the shield, into IExplorer> start to float around.
I think the next step for me would be an enhanced extensions and themes manager.
The browser is good as it is (yes, we should keep it simple), but I'd like to see the folowing:
All these enhancements I would put one or two clicks away (maybe in the Tools menu, without cluttering the interface) with the possible exception of a wizard run for the first time when opening firefox asking to "choose preferences" or "stop bothering me".
They might; I have an ACER laptop and had some problems with the CPU fan getting dirty;
I was using dual boot with WinXP and SUSE and under WinXP the machine was shutting down after around 30 minutes of doing nothing, due to CPU overheating (with one browser or explorer open for example).
Under Linux I had no overheating problems unless I was watching movies or something equaly CPU consuming.
Somebody correct me on this, but I think this shows a bigger processor use in "idle" mode for the XP machine, and more heat to the CPU means more consummed power; I also think this could equally apply to DELL machines.
That said, the difference is probably negligible in day-to-day use.
Well then, let me be the first to patent the toilet with bycicle pedals: good for fitness, keeping you in shape _AND_ generating it's own electricity!
I'll be rich!
Where's a mod point when I need it? :)
... the article for you:
The desirability of a website is not given by how search engines rank it but by it's actual content.
Well ... yeah!
Let me try my hand at an answer for you, altwough we're "a bit" offtopic here :).
When properly written C++ can be very easy to read (but then again, one can write unreadable code in any language).
Also, you can write C++ code completly without either classes or templates.
C++ also fixes (or offers alternatives to) a lot of problems unresolved in C like namespaces, extensible IO library, a typesafe alternative to C macros, extensible type system etc. All of these can be easily abused (so one could argue that it only adds complications) but that's more of a matter of writing good code than a C++ problem.
The four casts state intent much better than the C cast; It's also easier to grep/search through the code to locate casts.
iostreams are a decent answer for the first example (B. Stroustrup explained in his book why the shift operator was chosen and it seemed like a good enough reason for me).
The iostreams design is among the most powerfull and flexible input/output interfaces I've ever seen.
Regarding your second example, how about accessing custom container elements by key, like for example:
I think the only reason not to see these is coming to C++ with a C/other language mind-frame and saying "I can progam C just fine in C; why would I do it in C++"?
Static functions allowing access to global resources? Used like this, the pointers are allocated upon first access and deallocated in reverse order.
Actually I think C++ bent over backwards to remain (mostly) compatible with C (this is why the macros-as-functions were not completely eliminated for example).
I think it is a better C in the sense that it can do what C does (and much more), using safer code and avoiding C's pitfalls (although unfortunately C++ comes with pitfalls of it's own).
Then you're not really evaluating C++, but (again), writing C code in C++ (which is a different matter alltogether); It's not really the best frame of mind for evaluating the strengths of a language, as it ignores all advantages C++ would provide that are not there in C.
For some examples of C++ advantages over C (out of the top of my head):
It seems I came out wrong. I don't see the situation as ok; All I wanted to say was that what I see in the street is completely different from what I perceive on the news. I realize I don't have an accurate perception of it, since I cannot watch the israeli news (I don't understand the language) but from CNN I get a strong message I'm in a warzone, and outside nothing changed: I come to office as usual, people are not more sober around me and my israelian coleagues behave completely normal.
Again, sorry if I came out that way.
I wanted to say that the conflict is distorted by the media. I've had my family looking for me on the net all day (probably after each news report) to ask me if I need to get out of the country, if there were bombings, if I am safe and so on - and it's strikingly different from what I see around me.
I am also on two minds about the current situation:
on one hand, the conflict is escalated by Hezbollah (and was started by them); Israel told the Lebanese to stop them since they were on the Lebanese territory and the Lebanese did not. I also think if they start giving in to Hezbollah demands they are sending the message they can be manipulated by the taking of hostages.
on the other hand, Israel are bombing, they are attacking and killing pople.
I am also thankfull that the bombings didn't reach this place.
Ummm ... no, not really, at least not for Israel. I've been in Tel Aviv for two months now, and it's - for lack of a better term - "business as usual".
If it was by what you get on CNN, I'd have expected to crawl under debris by now; In truth, life goes on unaffected in 90% of the country, but that's nothing sensational, so it won't probably appear on the news.
Call me cynical, but this sounds idealistic to me. It is my opinion that in most parts of the world politics stopped being about "serious ideas of inteligent oponents" to transform into:
In a word, mostly propaganda.
Also, I think arguments, hovever intelligent they may be, don't change anything by themselves, but only if people listening to them are actually willing to listen (and I wouldn't bet much on that willingness).
Maybe I'm of this opinion only because I'm coming from one of the countries that was behind the iron curtain; Who knows?
Ummm ... I'm not sure it would work like that; Microsoft is an american company, so american laws should have to impose this on them. I just don't think EU has that kind of power over MS.
IANAL
well... that's easy: the mine moves under your home floor to ask "What do you mean by DEACTIVATE?"
not to be picky or anything, but I feel that while war is a powerful force and it drives many things, civilization is not one of them.
I gues you could say that war drives research, but if you have more sofisticated technology, that does not make you any more civilized.
I don't think they are actually, not at the level that Oracle really cares about.
In the past five years I've worked for two corporations, and the software we developed was targetted at Oracle, MsSQL and Sybase (more or less in that order). The software was for other large corporations in the telecom and finance industries and most enhancements/bugs/so on were coming on the Oracle side.
Business entities at that level pay lots of money for (Oracle) software and I'm not sure they even look at MySql as a viable alternative.
Maybe that's just the ones I've come in contact with, though...
"First, they ignore you;
Then, they laugh at you;
Then, they fight you;
Then, you win."
I don't remember who said it, but apparently MS is not someone Redhat is ignoring.
It's the same story that happened when DES algorithm appeared:
They created a set of values to be used for the S and P values and when they submited it to the NSA, they got back the S and P values completely changed.
It couldn't be proved that the new values were unsafe to use and both the creators and the NSA argued they'd rather use their values because the other party could have known some weak point in the values they offered.
I think it's the same, all over again.
How has Flickr made you a better photograper?? I thought it just hosted your pictures?
For me it was the critique. With minimal fuss you can make sure to get constructive (or not) criticism to your photos and suggestions for improvement.
I guess they'll finally be able to see the microscopic chance of the average Slashdot reader getting laid.
now, now, let's not jump to conclusions here ...
"Yo' momma's so fat she has an uncompressed Chile telescope picture on her T-shirt!"