Slashdot Mirror


User: chromatic

chromatic's activity in the archive.

Stories
0
Comments
2,306
First seen
Last seen
Profile
(view on slashdot.org)

Comments · 2,306

  1. Re:XP is a cult on When Agile Projects Go Bad · · Score: 1

    Also Tom Lehrer. Unfortunately, neither he nor anyone from Monty Python worked on the anti-XP book.

  2. Re:XP is a cult on When Agile Projects Go Bad · · Score: 1

    This book gives a good overview of the case against XP.

    I've rarely found that writing silly songs is a sign of intellectual rigor.

  3. Not the Same Author! on When Agile Projects Go Bad · · Score: 1

    James Turner and James Shore are two very different authors.

  4. Re:So, what would you pick? on Why Developers Are Switching To Macs · · Score: 1

    As an aside, I'm still trying to figure out exactly what is being lost by not being able to have files named file, File, fIle, fiLe, filE, etc...

    That's not the problem. One problem is when you have some file called myawesomefile and the application tries to open MyAwesomeFile. Another problem is when you use the name of the file as the name of a symbol within that file, and the latter lookup is case-sensitive.

    Are Adobe's programming practices the fault of Apple, the OS and the file system?

    Clearly this is Adobe's bug, but the case-insensitive nature of HFS+ plus didn't help, nor did Adobe's apparent inability to test this code on a case-sensitive filesystem.

  5. Re:So, what would you pick? on Why Developers Are Switching To Macs · · Score: 1

    Honestly, if you do, you are an idiot.

    What's idiotic about wanting my software to run on case-sensitive filesystems too?

    The fact that you didn't apparently know that you could format HFS to be case sensitive (I use Linux for development and even I knew that) should qualify you for dismissal due to ignorance.

    I'm sure you can find lots of software developers who don't know configuration details about filesystems they don't use on platforms they don't use, especially when those configuration details have a good chance of rendering plenty of software written for that platform unusable... unless I missed the latest edition of the Super Sekrit Awesome Programmers Club for Cool People Oh Yeah! Newsletter with that specific trivia shibboleth. We're putting cover sheets on them. I'll forward you the memo.

  6. Re:So, what would you pick? on Why Developers Are Switching To Macs · · Score: 1

    Do you mean that your software must use a case sensitive file system to work or simply that your software can run on a case sensitive file system if need be?

    The latter, of course. I've seen a fair few mistakes caused by code written by people using case-insensitive filesystems. For a silly example, take Perl code running on Windows. You can write use Strict; and Perl will happily load the file from the case-insensitive filesystem (as the interface to the filesystem is through system calls), but that statement will have no effect other than compiling the code.

  7. Re:So, what would you pick? on Why Developers Are Switching To Macs · · Score: 1

    I'm not most people. I'm just me. Like at least some of the "developers" mentioned in the title of this article I develop software that has to run on case-sensitive filesystems. HFS+ does me no favors.

  8. Re:So, what would you pick? on Why Developers Are Switching To Macs · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't use a Mac anymore, but a colleague tried to use a case-sensitive filesystem and at least one application broke. I don't remember exactly which one it was, but it was part of Adobe's creative suite.

  9. Re:So, what would you pick? on Why Developers Are Switching To Macs · · Score: 2, Informative

    The Mac file system is HFS+, which is perfectly fine for anything you might want to do.

    ... as long as case-insensitivity is fine.

  10. Re:Please keep me informed on Second World of Warcraft Expansion Launched, Conquered · · Score: 2, Interesting

    When your DM allows it.

    I saw a recent session where a third level wizard used Burning Hands to set some cots on fire in an enclosed room. The party closed the door and left... only to run into an ambush. The rogue character lured some enemies back to the room and used the smoke for superior cover, allowing several sneak attacks.

    This was not a planned fire; the wizard is a pyro.

  11. Re:Featuring on Multiple Upcoming Games, Movies Based On Jordan's Wheel of Time · · Score: 1

    Multiple WarioWare incarnations already having covered sniffing in detail....

  12. Re:Oh, not this. on Philosophy and Computer Science Revisited · · Score: 1

    So roles are basically interfaces...

    No.

    But it's basically a small improvement on interface specifications....

    Read it again. Interfaces in Java are a sop to the fact that singly-rooted hierarchies are ineffective at modeling relationships. Interfaces are a degenerate case of roles, in the sense that you can provide interfaces with roles but not vice versa. (You can model inheritance relationships with roles, but not vice versa, unless you hack in anonymous class generation and derivation.)

    Why do you Perl folk like to talk about every simple thing....

    Hey look, a hasty generalization and a stereotype!

  13. Re:I Think You're Reaching There on Philosophy and Computer Science Revisited · · Score: 1, Insightful

    [Where] has a major application of Philosophy developed in Computer Science in the last 2.5 years?

    Sometimes I like to think of roles (or Smalltalk traits) as an exploration of Platonic ideals and Kantian noumena, in the idea that our means of interaction between objects depends solely on our understanding of their phenomena.

  14. Re:When someone doesn't say anything... on Press Favored Obama Throughout Campaign · · Score: 1

    If you have watched the campaigns of both McCain and Obama....

    Based on media reports? There's an epistemological problem.

  15. Re:Political harrassment pander on How Social Software Can Improve Democracy · · Score: 1

    Can we PLEASE stop using the content-free scare word "pander".

    Is the word "pimp" more accurate? Read your Chaucer (Troilus, not Canterbury).

  16. Re:Footnote on NYCL Responds to RIAA Accusations · · Score: 1

    In the classic sense of tragedy/comedy the Greeks called it a comedy if the ending was happy, a tragedy if the ending was sad.

    I prefer Neil Gaiman's take. In a tragedy, the characters get what they deserve. In a comedy, they get what they need.

  17. Re:Counting votes only small part of the problem on The State of Electronic Voting In the 2008 US Elections · · Score: 1

    Obviously, most people would have to change their mindset before it could happen.

    If you learn nothing else from the 20th century, human nature doesn't change to make socialism, communism, objectivism, utopianism, or enlightened anarchy workable.

  18. Re:Is it that hard? on The State of Electronic Voting In the 2008 US Elections · · Score: 1

    Nor are election machines stored in church basements and volunteers garages.

    You should alert Dr. Simons; she's under the apparent delusion that this happens.

  19. Re:Is it that hard? on The State of Electronic Voting In the 2008 US Elections · · Score: 1

    I hope that I'm exceedingly dense, and that was a joke. If not, please list casinos which allow slot machines that spend 360 days of the year in church basements and the garages of volunteers. I don't gamble, but that might tempt me to start.

  20. Re:Is it that hard? on The State of Electronic Voting In the 2008 US Elections · · Score: 1

    Casinos seem to manage.

  21. Re:Wrong Question on Reuse Code Or Code It Yourself? · · Score: 1

    That would be a nightmare.

    No, that's a false dilemma.

    Nothing will stop the customer from changing their mind about what they want, but getting enough information ahead of the planning stage will save you a world of hassle later.

    That depends on what you mean by "enough". In my experience, the type of people which believes that "enough" is possible often tends to lock customers into "what you told me before I started designing".

  22. Re:Wrong Question on Reuse Code Or Code It Yourself? · · Score: 1

    There have been formal methods for over half a century that are perfectly applicable for whatever mess you might encounter in the future.

    Have you ever personally seen those work on any project?

  23. Re:The new requests coming in involve capabilities on Reuse Code Or Code It Yourself? · · Score: 5, Funny

    Any project should start with a complete specification of the final product.

    Slowly though, as they are IDIOTS!!! Did you find it out yet? They are MORONS!

    You're the liason between programmers and customers, because you're good with people. Did I get it right?

  24. Re:Wrong Question on Reuse Code Or Code It Yourself? · · Score: 1

    But I have headed off innumerable problems by asking probing questions, clarifying what the customer wants (in his head and mine) and, thereby, minimizing dead-ends and unacceptable implementations.

    Before you drew one little box or cloud on a whiteboard as part of the design process? Before your customer had a prototype to say "Oh, I don't like this at all"?

    Are you asking if digging for requirements has turned every project I've touched into a paragon of ahead-of-schedule under-budget success?

    No; I believe that ahead-of-schedule and under-budget have very little to do with success, unless there's no way in which you can delight the customer. In that case, I've seen projects cling to the budget and schedule, so they'll have delivered something.

  25. Re:I don't know why, but we're doing something rig on Linux Supports More Devices Than Any Other OS · · Score: 1

    Wait, are you talking about MSDN?