The government has been violating the constitution in spirit and word for so long that nobody seems phased by this sort of nonsense. It sadly gives weight to Trump's phrase "so-called judge": Forcing anyone to incriminate themselves by compelling them to give information in their mind is blatant violation of the 5th amendment. It's upon burden of prosecution to provide evidence BEFORE trial, not compel someone being tried to give evidence during the trial. As has be proven many times, there are a various number of ways investigators can get around encryption with a little planning (the was that guy running the drug trading service from a library I remember, they did it smart and the charged individual was a bit smug/laid back). If you can't prosecute with out that data, it shouldn't have been brought to trial. and if you have proper evidence already, don't need anyone's password. It's creating a culture where proper policework is not done, but prosecution says "to blazes with proper evidence, we'll use circumstantial evidence and wing it in court because it's convenience to try to compel someone being tried to waive their 5th amendment rights. you give us everything we need to prosecute you, or we'll lock you up for contempt charges. That's just wrong. And given the huge data dragnet we already have controlled by the CIA (another unconstitutional program confirmed by the courts). they have other tools (even if unconstitutional less so) for using data in a court case. Putin claims our system is no better than Russia, and if we keep violating our supposedly most precious standards like this, we'll prove him right.
To quote the film, "Men in Black". "1500 Years ago everybody KNEW the Earth was the centre of the universe, 500 years ago everybody KNEW the Earth was flat. and 15 minutes ago you knew people were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll KNOW tomorrow".
I remember when I was taught that Christopher Columbus was NOT the first European to visit North America. people in my class told me I was crazy/stupid. We have so much misinformation in our school for various political (and even economic reasons). We are VERY slow in correcting misinformation. Governments had long believed (as said in Men in Black) people done want [a clue] or need one they think they have a good beat on things.".
Brings another quote from Oscar Wilde in "The Importance of Being Earnest" to mind:
"I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever"
It would be cool if we could actually try to truly education even if against popularity so we can actually learn to think and strive for better information.
Basically, MS found people taking control of their updates using the metered connection feature. This of course is the problem with auto updates, especially run by control freaks: they can ensure control over your operating system. Funny thing is...you PAY them for it. (See Mark Tawin, Tom Sawyer, Whitewash chapter...) If this isn't proof that MS cannot be trusted with updates I don't know what will. You can still turn the Windows Update service off in the services panel (under administrative tools in the control panel). And given that MS wants to in effect hijack your operating system, I'd keep it turned off, switch to a Linux distro (Linux Mint is nice) and drop Windows 10 in essence telling MS to F*** off.
So basically, they figured that 3/5 starts is a "thumbs up" and there will be more positive ratings (and making their offerings look better) while abstracting (hiding) the "meh" factor. Gotta love marketing.. I remember an old phrase from my math tutors: Statistics can lie.:D
It's not like they companies actually lose money with people leaving POTS. The phone lines are still used for DSL and people have dry DSL. The telecommunications company are seeing an opportunity to take advantage of the less informed and saying "because of lower usage of POTS the cost of maintaining the entire infrastructure is up" while they make money on DSL subscribers and take advantage of people still on POTS which are increasingly the older population. Seriously, if a corporation has an excuse they can use to get away with actions based on pure greed, they will do it. As communications is now basically an essential service (especially if you have a physical disability), they should be under some price regulation.
Once I worked at a place where a new bank manager was brought in to help grow the company. This guy tried to pit me against a good friend who was my supervisor by claiming he had made a comment about me in a peer review. Fortunately I had the sense to ask my friend about it. Turned out he was trying to undermine my supervisor because he had more influence over the company owner than he did. I got another job shortly after talking to my friend (through another friend) after coming to the conclusion this manager was toxic. The company was sold a year later and the majority of staff laid off 6 months after that. My friend left the company to work abroad after the buyout. That manager was the most manipulative I'd ever known but Iearned a lot from the experience
Wonder if it will drive down the price of marketing data from other firms knowing that there is a set of data out there. It will go out of date eventually, but even old data can be good for updating.
It will probably get leaked by concern citizen, just like the rest. Of course what could be next are the tools that the CIA uses to KEEP secrets in general. That could get interesting. what is also interesting, is we don't hear about this happening in Russia or China. At least not in our mainstream news.
Oh, yes, I THINK that if you turn off the Windows Update server in the "Services" that should still work. I always do this by reflex so I forgot to mention that. My bad. Thanks community for filling in my missing info.
And see where it gets us. BTW, it's VERY hard to disable the automatic updates (which are sometimes disruptive or take far longer than many anticipate) but it is possible:
In Home edition you have to set the connection to "metered" mode:
Note; the new "surface" edition keeps you from stopping it this way. It appears that MS doesn't want a potential lawsuit for running up Internet overages so they have this safeguard against litigation.
In Win 10 professional they give the standard "turn off automatic updates" they had in ALL previous versions of Windows. (funny how you are getting less in Windows 10).
This trying to force automatic updates in home edition is in my opinion quite dangerous and this isn't the first update to have serious issue pushed on on suspecting people.
Best thing to do in my opinion is to give MS the "finger" by switching to Linux: Linux Mint, ElementaryOS, or Debian are my top choices.
we discovered that Netflix offering was a subset of the USA offering in Canada. I actually tried to subscribe to the HBO web service in Canada and discovered that I could not get "Game of Thrones" without paying an extortion fee to Bell Canada who has exclusive rights to distribute HBO content which adds an extra $60/month by forcing people to go cable or satellite services.So..I wait for DVD's from the library.
But Trump doesn't exactly respect or even follow laws or legal procedures even before he was president, so this is not exactly surprising. What is interesting is he seems to have gotten his whole family mixed up on a number of this schemes.
Yes, Trump is making history in all sorts of interesting ways:.
The first president to use Twitter as his primary platform, the first president to not reveal his taxes, and the first president to be certified by the American courts (see opinion issued on what is now labelled the "Anti-Muslim bill") as being eligible for an honour shared by only one other president in US history: The "Honour" of Impeachment.
And no, I'm not accepting the reality of it. It's kind of like rolling over and dying which I'm not prepared to do. Nor are other heroic whistle blowers out there. I'm pretty sure many people said "accept the reality" of thing like racial segregation, gay rights, and women's right to vote. If you accept it, it's true. Only by not accepting what the forces at large tell you do things actually improve.
Actually, you don't need a court order to search private data as Snowden revealed. The so called "Fisa Court" is actually a rubber stamp. So there is no due process in fact for searching anyone's data. Yes People in the USA probably gave up their basic constitutional rights since they allow the initial version of the so-called "Patriot Act" to go forth, which Obama expanded every year he was in office. As Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who give up their civil liberties for a little extra safety deserve neither". And here we are proving it.
We accuse people of hacking our systems, but we are doing it in turn. No surprise. And what do we expect the Chinese to say with these finding? Of course they are doing it, and we are doing it. Everybody's doing it now. We seem to be like children: "Why can't I, everybody else is?". It's like the arms race with nuclear weapons, expect we are using these weapons and they are easy to make publicly accessible. (As the frequent leaks are proving).
What I'd really like to know is why aren't US citizens showing their outrage at having their basic constitutional right to privacy as well as due process to search of private data (which often resides in their home) violated on a daily (more likely many. many times per day) basis. Americans' need to stand up for what they say they believe in.
Don't think TiVo makes a big different here. Most companies like Netflix will offer the ability to see things at any time of day. Plus most people the convenience of just selecting their show rather than manage a DVR. DVR's are somewhat expensive (I can build one for around $300 CAD). While I can get onto free TV web streams (people can get more using worldwide VPNs to other TV stations) legally getting much selection of movies is not really doable. People sometimes borrow DVD's from libraries these days so people can do that but it's all at least 6-12 months old.I'd probably look into netflix if Canada would allow the same selection the USA did, but we get only a subset up here so I don't do Netflix until that changes.
Apples and oranges....I think not. The Average users is not using the desktop as much as tablets and phones due to portability and convenience. Desktop was the old mass market. Now portable/light devices is the new mass market. Certainly MS has bragged being the largest used OS platform worldwide. They knew they would lose that title if the iOS or Android took root. Unfortunately too little to late.
I remember when there were reports of Samsung Smart TV's sending pictures to Samsung unknown to the owners. The problem with any "black box" device is you have no idea what it's doing.
The IoT "revolution" is a technological dark age in my opinion: Companies adding eyes and ears to devices that can be accessed by anyone in the world and giving them out like candy. and of course things like OnStar in your car...anyone see the movie "Minority Report"? We are already there and our best defence is to say "no" to all the promises of convenience through operating your home over a smart phone. I remembering reading two things:
1. Necessity = Convenience + Time
2. Convenience comes at the price of security.
Scary isn't it?
It's great that we "conspiracy theorists" are vindicated by people like WikiLeaks. It's only Paranoia until it's proved, right?
I beg to differ. If the architecture of all OS's matched in a standardized way (Like say, Debian based distros, or RedHat based distros) it would be FAR less of an issue. HTML hasn't come to a standstill from all our different browsers because they all adhere to a standard. Only one Browser really fails at this (just like the OS)..you all know who that is:MS. They set back HTML/Javascript back at least 7 years with their VBScript, JScript and other MS only crap. Even theirweb scripting language, ASP 1-3.0, was a disaster.(Ask anyone who had to write using that platform..) Their OS I feel is also setting us back in many ways. But with Android and web based application a lot of this will be academic.Most servers in the business word are using Linux so we are getting there. Slowly (due to MS trying to win a desktop battle their will eventually fail due to the changing nature of the "Desktop") but it is happening. Let's all watch!:D
I once looked into taking work in San Francisco before it got this bad. My research indicated I could have a higher quality of living in Toronto than San Francisco at that time. Glad I made that decision because I would have been strained financially and been working like a dog to stay that way...like many people there now. Toronto will get to San Fran's level soon if we aren't careful, as we are already rated at the 13th more expensive city in the WORLD with Canadian tech job concentration here and foreign investment inflating real estate speculation which then in turn inflates the cost of everything else here. (as you have to reside somewhere...). The problem with a free reign economic system is that everyone is trying to charge everyone else more if they perceive opportunity. The result: Salaries that look really high until you look at what it costs to live there. Most people see 6 figures as upper class, and for most of the USA/Canada that is true, but in San Francisco, Vancouver and increasingly Toronto, it's middle class, AT BEST. The article has some interesting comments: People aren't indifferent, but they do feel helpless. If $100k+ is middle class, how is it for people making, say , $40-60k who can't afford to live there, or have to commute distances to the point where they work, travel and sleep..period. That is basically a form of economic slavery. We seem to be importing the quality of living of lower economic standing into high profile areas, pay higher numbers but give them lower quality of life. Salaries alone no longer seem to mean anything in such places. Unless you are at THE top of the food chain you are fodder. what people need to do is say "enough" and leave. If the tech people leave, the companies will have to take action, by either leaving or forcing land owners to come down to earth or lose their income from corporate tenants. The biggest problem is nobody wants to sacrifice ("should I leave my 6 figure job?"). Tech workers don't want to give up the high salaries, land owners don't want to give up crazy rent revenue, and the consequence is stores/retailers have to charge more to stay in the area. It's a classic scenario: when no one sacrifices, everyone does, and nobody is happy. The irony is that people are "financially stressed" with 6 figure salaries. It's true that some may be big spenders, but most of these I don't believe are the case. And that picture of the homeless woman....her clothes were not those of someone who has been on the street for a long duration and San Fran is not a huge city. It's at crisis levels. If enough talented tech people say "no" to this lifestyle, it will come back down to earth. Hopefully soon before it all comes crashing violently. (people trapped in a corner tend to get very vicious...)
Let's look at 2 basic facts:
1. Programming is at least partially an art. Along with interpreting human requirements which are often the most difficult part of the any software designer's job. An AI can make basic shell classes, but after that, well, even user friendly language constructs have been found lacking after months or years of human involvement. So an AI doing that job for anything other than basic junior level tasks, is not going to be able to do the job at a professional level. Not for quite some time. If ever. (Probably a few sci-fi books on the dangers of this)
2. This is MICROSOFT. Come on. Them make a good AI? They have trouble making a good operating system. If this came from, say, the University of Rochester I might have more faith, but MS? The people who gave us Visual Basic (the worst programming language for quality code), Windows ME, Windows 8, Windows Mobile edition (with a memory manager so bad 3rd parties made money writing software to check your code to be sure yours didn't make it crash) and most recently Windows 10 (still being rewritten, and will be again with the EU "concerns" on privacy)? . No....just...no.
we used to get some of the worst coders in some places that started their career with VB 5.0/6.0. So many bad coding habits. Although VB.net is infinitely better, the very word "VB" sends shivers down my spine. For Ms, C# all the way.:D (sorry VB guys, I had to rewrite too much of your code..). Three cheers for "option explicit"!
I feel your confusion. This may be "old school" but I feel it's solid (or has been for me). Start with learning the basic rules.
A lot of people like Python but because most languages use certain characters to enclose blocks of code (and python only uses indents) I would suggest starting with Java or C/C++. Many here will say Python is easier (ruby is probably easiest for many), but your goal will be to have room to grow. You'll find more languages conform to the C/C++ or Java syntax style rules than Python or Ruby. I find it easier to ready than Python myself.
Do yourself a favor and skip VB.net. If you want pure Microsoft (and I would advise against that, would have saved me much grief early in my career) you can do C# and you'll be better prepared for languages with more platforms.
Java, for example you can use in many enterprise system and embedded systems, including Android. C/C++ you can use for robotic controllers, IPhones (objective-c), real-time critical applications (and gaming!!).
Some may suggest starting with scripting languages like PHP, Python or Ruby. there is faster "joy", but I'd sooner suggest starting with MIT's Scratch https://scratch.mit.edu/ (GUI language for teaching children basic of programming). It's a great teaching tool for anyone I think. Hey, it's still valid basics which converts the GUI instructs into 'C'. the reason
I'm so "hung up" on starting with C/C++ or Java is most newer languages take a lot of their cues from the concepts widely used in C/C++/Java. once you learn one of these (especially C++/Java) you can step into any other language out there with relative ease. Some good sites to start would include:
the courses as udemy are a little light so I'd only go there for review.
I've given many options here although I've stated my preference. The other advantage to using C/C++ or Java is they make using these invaluable books easier to read:
Writing Solid Code: Microsoft Techniques for Developing Bug-free C. Programs (Microsoft Programming Series) by Maguire, Steve
Code Complete by Steve McConnell
Yes, these books are from MS and old, but I found them invaluable (and I wish MS had actually practice what came from their own publishing companies when writing the code for W2K and XP). Was required reading at one workplace. You'll want to learn about Object-Oriented approaches as well as syntax. It's a lot to take in and this is just the beginning, but it's fun journey. Oh, I would agree, don't bother with Basic. You are better off with Python or Ruby.:D Again, to reduce your learning curve later on, I'd start with C/C++/Java. You'll be glad you did.
Slashdot Mirror
The government has been violating the constitution in spirit and word for so long that nobody seems phased by this sort of nonsense. It sadly gives weight to Trump's phrase "so-called judge": Forcing anyone to incriminate themselves by compelling them to give information in their mind is blatant violation of the 5th amendment. It's upon burden of prosecution to provide evidence BEFORE trial, not compel someone being tried to give evidence during the trial. As has be proven many times, there are a various number of ways investigators can get around encryption with a little planning (the was that guy running the drug trading service from a library I remember, they did it smart and the charged individual was a bit smug/laid back). If you can't prosecute with out that data, it shouldn't have been brought to trial. and if you have proper evidence already, don't need anyone's password. It's creating a culture where proper policework is not done, but prosecution says "to blazes with proper evidence, we'll use circumstantial evidence and wing it in court because it's convenience to try to compel someone being tried to waive their 5th amendment rights. you give us everything we need to prosecute you, or we'll lock you up for contempt charges. That's just wrong. And given the huge data dragnet we already have controlled by the CIA (another unconstitutional program confirmed by the courts). they have other tools (even if unconstitutional less so) for using data in a court case. Putin claims our system is no better than Russia, and if we keep violating our supposedly most precious standards like this, we'll prove him right.
To quote the film, "Men in Black". "1500 Years ago everybody KNEW the Earth was the centre of the universe, 500 years ago everybody KNEW the Earth was flat. and 15 minutes ago you knew people were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll KNOW tomorrow".
I remember when I was taught that Christopher Columbus was NOT the first European to visit North America. people in my class told me I was crazy/stupid. We have so much misinformation in our school for various political (and even economic reasons). We are VERY slow in correcting misinformation. Governments had long believed (as said in Men in Black) people done want [a clue] or need one they think they have a good beat on things.". Brings another quote from Oscar Wilde in "The Importance of Being Earnest" to mind:
"I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever" It would be cool if we could actually try to truly education even if against popularity so we can actually learn to think and strive for better information.
Basically, MS found people taking control of their updates using the metered connection feature. This of course is the problem with auto updates, especially run by control freaks: they can ensure control over your operating system. Funny thing is...you PAY them for it. (See Mark Tawin, Tom Sawyer, Whitewash chapter...) If this isn't proof that MS cannot be trusted with updates I don't know what will. You can still turn the Windows Update service off in the services panel (under administrative tools in the control panel). And given that MS wants to in effect hijack your operating system, I'd keep it turned off, switch to a Linux distro (Linux Mint is nice) and drop Windows 10 in essence telling MS to F*** off.
So basically, they figured that 3/5 starts is a "thumbs up" and there will be more positive ratings (and making their offerings look better) while abstracting (hiding) the "meh" factor. Gotta love marketing.. I remember an old phrase from my math tutors: Statistics can lie. :D
It's not like they companies actually lose money with people leaving POTS. The phone lines are still used for DSL and people have dry DSL. The telecommunications company are seeing an opportunity to take advantage of the less informed and saying "because of lower usage of POTS the cost of maintaining the entire infrastructure is up" while they make money on DSL subscribers and take advantage of people still on POTS which are increasingly the older population. Seriously, if a corporation has an excuse they can use to get away with actions based on pure greed, they will do it. As communications is now basically an essential service (especially if you have a physical disability), they should be under some price regulation.
Once I worked at a place where a new bank manager was brought in to help grow the company. This guy tried to pit me against a good friend who was my supervisor by claiming he had made a comment about me in a peer review. Fortunately I had the sense to ask my friend about it. Turned out he was trying to undermine my supervisor because he had more influence over the company owner than he did. I got another job shortly after talking to my friend (through another friend) after coming to the conclusion this manager was toxic. The company was sold a year later and the majority of staff laid off 6 months after that. My friend left the company to work abroad after the buyout. That manager was the most manipulative I'd ever known but Iearned a lot from the experience
Wonder if it will drive down the price of marketing data from other firms knowing that there is a set of data out there. It will go out of date eventually, but even old data can be good for updating.
It will probably get leaked by concern citizen, just like the rest. Of course what could be next are the tools that the CIA uses to KEEP secrets in general. That could get interesting. what is also interesting, is we don't hear about this happening in Russia or China. At least not in our mainstream news.
Oh, yes, I THINK that if you turn off the Windows Update server in the "Services" that should still work. I always do this by reflex so I forgot to mention that. My bad. Thanks community for filling in my missing info.
And see where it gets us. BTW, it's VERY hard to disable the automatic updates (which are sometimes disruptive or take far longer than many anticipate) but it is possible: In Home edition you have to set the connection to "metered" mode:
https://www.cnet.com/au/how-to...
http://www.thewindowsclub.com/...
Note; the new "surface" edition keeps you from stopping it this way.
It appears that MS doesn't want a potential lawsuit for running up Internet overages so they have this safeguard against litigation.
In Win 10 professional they give the standard "turn off automatic updates" they had in ALL previous versions of Windows. (funny how you are getting less in Windows 10).
This trying to force automatic updates in home edition is in my opinion quite dangerous and this isn't the first update to have serious issue pushed on on suspecting people.
Best thing to do in my opinion is to give MS the "finger" by switching to Linux: Linux Mint, ElementaryOS, or Debian are my top choices.
we discovered that Netflix offering was a subset of the USA offering in Canada. I actually tried to subscribe to the HBO web service in Canada and discovered that I could not get "Game of Thrones" without paying an extortion fee to Bell Canada who has exclusive rights to distribute HBO content which adds an extra $60/month by forcing people to go cable or satellite services.So..I wait for DVD's from the library.
But Trump doesn't exactly respect or even follow laws or legal procedures even before he was president, so this is not exactly surprising. What is interesting is he seems to have gotten his whole family mixed up on a number of this schemes.
Yes, Trump is making history in all sorts of interesting ways:.
The first president to use Twitter as his primary platform, the first president to not reveal his taxes, and the first president to be certified by the American courts (see opinion issued on what is now labelled the "Anti-Muslim bill") as being eligible for an honour shared by only one other president in US history: The "Honour" of Impeachment.
And no, I'm not accepting the reality of it. It's kind of like rolling over and dying which I'm not prepared to do. Nor are other heroic whistle blowers out there. I'm pretty sure many people said "accept the reality" of thing like racial segregation, gay rights, and women's right to vote. If you accept it, it's true. Only by not accepting what the forces at large tell you do things actually improve.
Actually, you don't need a court order to search private data as Snowden revealed. The so called "Fisa Court" is actually a rubber stamp. So there is no due process in fact for searching anyone's data. Yes People in the USA probably gave up their basic constitutional rights since they allow the initial version of the so-called "Patriot Act" to go forth, which Obama expanded every year he was in office. As Benjamin Franklin said, "Those who give up their civil liberties for a little extra safety deserve neither". And here we are proving it.
We accuse people of hacking our systems, but we are doing it in turn. No surprise. And what do we expect the Chinese to say with these finding? Of course they are doing it, and we are doing it. Everybody's doing it now. We seem to be like children: "Why can't I, everybody else is?". It's like the arms race with nuclear weapons, expect we are using these weapons and they are easy to make publicly accessible. (As the frequent leaks are proving).
What I'd really like to know is why aren't US citizens showing their outrage at having their basic constitutional right to privacy as well as due process to search of private data (which often resides in their home) violated on a daily (more likely many. many times per day) basis. Americans' need to stand up for what they say they believe in.
Don't think TiVo makes a big different here. Most companies like Netflix will offer the ability to see things at any time of day. Plus most people the convenience of just selecting their show rather than manage a DVR. DVR's are somewhat expensive (I can build one for around $300 CAD). While I can get onto free TV web streams (people can get more using worldwide VPNs to other TV stations) legally getting much selection of movies is not really doable. People sometimes borrow DVD's from libraries these days so people can do that but it's all at least 6-12 months old.I'd probably look into netflix if Canada would allow the same selection the USA did, but we get only a subset up here so I don't do Netflix until that changes.
Apples and oranges....I think not. The Average users is not using the desktop as much as tablets and phones due to portability and convenience. Desktop was the old mass market. Now portable/light devices is the new mass market. Certainly MS has bragged being the largest used OS platform worldwide. They knew they would lose that title if the iOS or Android took root. Unfortunately too little to late.
I remember when there were reports of Samsung Smart TV's sending pictures to Samsung unknown to the owners. The problem with any "black box" device is you have no idea what it's doing.
The IoT "revolution" is a technological dark age in my opinion: Companies adding eyes and ears to devices that can be accessed by anyone in the world and giving them out like candy. and of course things like OnStar in your car...anyone see the movie "Minority Report"? We are already there and our best defence is to say "no" to all the promises of convenience through operating your home over a smart phone. I remembering reading two things:
1. Necessity = Convenience + Time
2. Convenience comes at the price of security.
Scary isn't it? It's great that we "conspiracy theorists" are vindicated by people like WikiLeaks. It's only Paranoia until it's proved, right?
I beg to differ. If the architecture of all OS's matched in a standardized way (Like say, Debian based distros, or RedHat based distros) it would be FAR less of an issue. HTML hasn't come to a standstill from all our different browsers because they all adhere to a standard. Only one Browser really fails at this (just like the OS)..you all know who that is:MS. They set back HTML/Javascript back at least 7 years with their VBScript, JScript and other MS only crap. Even theirweb scripting language, ASP 1-3.0, was a disaster.(Ask anyone who had to write using that platform..) Their OS I feel is also setting us back in many ways. But with Android and web based application a lot of this will be academic .Most servers in the business word are using Linux so we are getting there. Slowly (due to MS trying to win a desktop battle their will eventually fail due to the changing nature of the "Desktop") but it is happening. Let's all watch! :D
Why on earth would anyone in their right mind allow a system to "randomly" reboot in the first place...
I once looked into taking work in San Francisco before it got this bad. My research indicated I could have a higher quality of living in Toronto than San Francisco at that time. Glad I made that decision because I would have been strained financially and been working like a dog to stay that way...like many people there now. Toronto will get to San Fran's level soon if we aren't careful, as we are already rated at the 13th more expensive city in the WORLD with Canadian tech job concentration here and foreign investment inflating real estate speculation which then in turn inflates the cost of everything else here. (as you have to reside somewhere...). The problem with a free reign economic system is that everyone is trying to charge everyone else more if they perceive opportunity. The result: Salaries that look really high until you look at what it costs to live there. Most people see 6 figures as upper class, and for most of the USA/Canada that is true, but in San Francisco, Vancouver and increasingly Toronto, it's middle class, AT BEST. The article has some interesting comments: People aren't indifferent, but they do feel helpless. If $100k+ is middle class, how is it for people making, say , $40-60k who can't afford to live there, or have to commute distances to the point where they work, travel and sleep..period. That is basically a form of economic slavery. We seem to be importing the quality of living of lower economic standing into high profile areas, pay higher numbers but give them lower quality of life. Salaries alone no longer seem to mean anything in such places. Unless you are at THE top of the food chain you are fodder. what people need to do is say "enough" and leave. If the tech people leave, the companies will have to take action, by either leaving or forcing land owners to come down to earth or lose their income from corporate tenants. The biggest problem is nobody wants to sacrifice ("should I leave my 6 figure job?"). Tech workers don't want to give up the high salaries, land owners don't want to give up crazy rent revenue, and the consequence is stores/retailers have to charge more to stay in the area. It's a classic scenario: when no one sacrifices, everyone does, and nobody is happy. The irony is that people are "financially stressed" with 6 figure salaries. It's true that some may be big spenders, but most of these I don't believe are the case. And that picture of the homeless woman....her clothes were not those of someone who has been on the street for a long duration and San Fran is not a huge city. It's at crisis levels. If enough talented tech people say "no" to this lifestyle, it will come back down to earth. Hopefully soon before it all comes crashing violently. (people trapped in a corner tend to get very vicious...)
Let's look at 2 basic facts: 1. Programming is at least partially an art. Along with interpreting human requirements which are often the most difficult part of the any software designer's job. An AI can make basic shell classes, but after that, well, even user friendly language constructs have been found lacking after months or years of human involvement. So an AI doing that job for anything other than basic junior level tasks, is not going to be able to do the job at a professional level. Not for quite some time. If ever. (Probably a few sci-fi books on the dangers of this) 2. This is MICROSOFT. Come on. Them make a good AI? They have trouble making a good operating system. If this came from, say, the University of Rochester I might have more faith, but MS? The people who gave us Visual Basic (the worst programming language for quality code), Windows ME, Windows 8, Windows Mobile edition (with a memory manager so bad 3rd parties made money writing software to check your code to be sure yours didn't make it crash) and most recently Windows 10 (still being rewritten, and will be again with the EU "concerns" on privacy)? . No....just...no.
we used to get some of the worst coders in some places that started their career with VB 5.0/6.0. So many bad coding habits. Although VB.net is infinitely better, the very word "VB" sends shivers down my spine. For Ms, C# all the way. :D (sorry VB guys, I had to rewrite too much of your code..). Three cheers for "option explicit"!
I feel your confusion. This may be "old school" but I feel it's solid (or has been for me). Start with learning the basic rules.
:D Again, to reduce your learning curve later on, I'd start with C/C++/Java. You'll be glad you did.
A lot of people like Python but because most languages use certain characters to enclose blocks of code (and python only uses indents) I would suggest starting with Java or C/C++. Many here will say Python is easier (ruby is probably easiest for many), but your goal will be to have room to grow. You'll find more languages conform to the C/C++ or Java syntax style rules than Python or Ruby. I find it easier to ready than Python myself.
Do yourself a favor and skip VB.net. If you want pure Microsoft (and I would advise against that, would have saved me much grief early in my career) you can do C# and you'll be better prepared for languages with more platforms.
Java, for example you can use in many enterprise system and embedded systems, including Android. C/C++ you can use for robotic controllers, IPhones (objective-c), real-time critical applications (and gaming!!).
Some may suggest starting with scripting languages like PHP, Python or Ruby. there is faster "joy", but I'd sooner suggest starting with MIT's Scratch https://scratch.mit.edu/ (GUI language for teaching children basic of programming). It's a great teaching tool for anyone I think. Hey, it's still valid basics which converts the GUI instructs into 'C'. the reason
I'm so "hung up" on starting with C/C++ or Java is most newer languages take a lot of their cues from the concepts widely used in C/C++/Java. once you learn one of these (especially C++/Java) you can step into any other language out there with relative ease. Some good sites to start would include:
http://lifehacker.com/five-bes...
Note: These are all free or have free options
http://www.learn-c.org/
http://landofcode.com/programm...
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/el...
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/el...
https://www.codecademy.com/lea...
http://www.coursera.org/ (real university level courses, a little intimidating at first, but worth it)
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/t...
For python:
https://www.python.org/
For Ruby:
https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
the courses as udemy are a little light so I'd only go there for review.
I've given many options here although I've stated my preference. The other advantage to using C/C++ or Java is they make using these invaluable books easier to read:
Writing Solid Code: Microsoft Techniques for Developing Bug-free C. Programs (Microsoft Programming Series) by Maguire, Steve
Code Complete by Steve McConnell
Yes, these books are from MS and old, but I found them invaluable (and I wish MS had actually practice what came from their own publishing companies when writing the code for W2K and XP). Was required reading at one workplace. You'll want to learn about Object-Oriented approaches as well as syntax. It's a lot to take in and this is just the beginning, but it's fun journey. Oh, I would agree, don't bother with Basic. You are better off with Python or Ruby.