Some studies even show that corn yields only 0.8 unit of energy, resulting in a net loss of energy.
So that's why I never got that A in physics in high school! You see, I wrote on the final exam that you can never gain nor lose any energy under any circumstances. Today, my friends, I stand corrected!
This is the one time I wish "utilizing a Wiki as a means for collaboration" would be patented by someone. Then that someone would sue the USPTO for infringing a patent they granted in the first place! Talk about COOL!!!:)))
OK, I'm VERY aware that this didn't make any sense. Nothing to flame here, please move along.
First of all I'm not trying to troll - Summer of Code is a great initiative! Please take this as a question, not as critique.
I see a small potential problem however: In some 3 months, one is supposed to implement a project. Fair enough, but doesn't that usually require significant familiarity with the code of that project? How is a student expected to have this familiarity? Does he/she get it while working on the project or is he/she supposed to already have it?
This is a point that has stopped many enthusiasts. They are afreaid that, while they are experienced coders, they have no idea how Program X works, and are afraid to even try to extend it.
Unless I'm misunderstanding something, immutable object solve the problem only in the case where you odn't need to modify an object after creation. But what about all those times when an object changes over time?
I feel so humiliated, oh, dear Seasoned Java Programmer!
Look, I wrote the whole example using String instead of ArrayList, until I realised that String has no method which modifies the object (but only methods that create new Strings instead). Then I changed String to ArrayList but forgot to change it in a few places. I'm not used to programming in a Slashdot textbox.
Obviously String should be replaced with ArrayList everywhere. Not too difficult to figure out, is it?
But then again, it's much easier and more fun to just laugh at others and their small mistakes, isn't it?
Well, the ecode tag is less then perfect, but that's the best I can do:
public class Wtf { private ArrayList<String> untouchable; public Wtf () { untouchable = new ArrayList<String> (); untouchable.add ("Can't touch this"); } public String getUntouchable () { return untouchable; } }
Simple, right? Well, let's have fun:
public static void main (String[] arg) { Wtf myWtf = new Wtf (); String ptr = myWtf.getUntouchable (); ptr.clear (); ptr.add ("0wn3d!"); }
The list has now been modified. The getter assignes ptr (essentially a pointer) to point to the list itself, and thus I can do anything to the "private" list. The only current way to prevent this is to modify the getter to make a copy of that string:
public String getUntouchable () { return new String (untouchable); }
This works well for small Strings, but is brutally inefficient for large complex classes. Besides, you must implement a copy constructor, which is not necessarily trivial, and finally, you have to remember to do this every time.
In C++, you would return a constant reference to untouchable instead. Then the clone() and add() calls would fail because they are not const methods, while something like get() would work because it is declared as const and by definition does no modify any members of its instance. Simple and efficient.
1) A free software license (GPL?) to allow for fast, active development, quick fixes of current problems, and license purity. Plus, imagine the boost if all those talented GCJ people put their efforts into the already rich Sun codebase!
2) Constant references! Please! Java's encapsulation is about as secure as Internet Explorer. A harmless getter method for a private member variable allows you to replace that variable with anything of your choice, because you effectively get a pointer to the member. The only current solution is to copy everything in the getter, which is unacceptably awkward and slow. So much for design by contract.
3) Sane memory requirements. Right now coding an inherently memory-intensive app in Java is very very difficult. I tried it once, and had to rewrite in C++ to get anywhere.
because in a bathroom, you normally want to zoom in on your face
Ah, you're assuming too much here;)
But anyway, I see another use for this:
1. Get girl X over your place for a movie.
2. Have sex with girl X after the movie.
3. "Forget" to turn off the "TV"...
4. Enjoy a quality home production!:D
Will it be called iTelescreen, ship with drivers version 1.9.84 and a manual titled "The Principles of Ingsoc"? Will play content that's not region-coded to Oceania?
But most importantly, will it run Linux? It would be doubleplusungood if it does not!!!
Think of it as self-irony, coming from the mouth (alright, coming from the keyboard) of a devoted Gentoo user. It's a little tasteless, I admit, but considering the amount of sleep I've been getting lately relative to normal geeks, it's one hell of a good joke.
I guess the console is too cheap... for Microsoft. The hardware in that thing probably costs quite some more than $400. I think the big console makers are simply making a shift in business model. Lose a little on the hardware once; make a little on game licensing costs many many times.
That would also explain their paranoid devotion to keeping the system locked away from any non-signed / non-approved software, from Linux, to third-party-"licensed" games.
Besides providing a testing ground for trusted/trecherous computing, of course.
Why is a company allowed to design a law in the first place? Why is there a government at all then? Is anyone else getting a strage feeling in the stomach area?
With Dell and the like looking into Linux more seriously because XP licenses drive up the costs of bargin-basement systems astronomically, we could well see a much bigger percentage of users running Linux at home (provided, of course, that Dell invests some serious cash to make Linux more home-user friendly, particularly in the compatibility department).
Unfortunately this sounds like wishful thinking. Dell, in its seemingly endless loyalty to Wintel, will just pressure Microsoft to release a dumbed-down Windows edition for much less money, for those bargain systems. Microsoft are not stupid and would eventually succumb to that, rather than face Dell offering Linux. Of course they would keep all the "normally functional" editions just as ridiculousy expensive as ever. Here Dell's power works in Microsoft's advantage, because Dell would not be able to pressure MS if they didn't have that power, and would simply go with Linux.
It's the same reason why Dell pressured intel to Release 64-bit Xeons rather than just switch to AMD64. This Wintel loyalty is also the reason why I won't ever buy a Dell again.
Google Shmoogle
on
Google's DNA
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
[BEGIN Angry Rant]
I really wish Slashdot would stop being the place to get Google advertising. Come on, every forth article on Slashdot these days is not about Google. I'm surpried it hasn't got its own category on Shashdot - GoogleStuff or something.
I understand Google is a big and important company, but that's too much. I don't want to know every time Google farts.
Slashdot Mirror
WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!
:)
I was joking! You didn't really believe I meant that seriuosly, did you? Please, please tell me you dind't
Well, it is true I didn't get an A in physics, but that had more to do with a major game release 2 days before the final exam.
Some studies even show that corn yields only 0.8 unit of energy, resulting in a net loss of energy.
So that's why I never got that A in physics in high school! You see, I wrote on the final exam that you can never gain nor lose any energy under any circumstances. Today, my friends, I stand corrected!
This is the one time I wish "utilizing a Wiki as a means for collaboration" would be patented by someone. Then that someone would sue the USPTO for infringing a patent they granted in the first place! Talk about COOL!!! :)))
OK, I'm VERY aware that this didn't make any sense. Nothing to flame here, please move along.
Aha! So I can actually perform DoS attacks on vehicles! Cool!!! ;))
I mean, it's not like the car has a firewall to stop me...
Remember, its not over until the fat penguin sings.
Oh, but it already does! It's called "xine-lib"!
Very well put. Thank you for clarifying and extending my point.
First of all I'm not trying to troll - Summer of Code is a great initiative! Please take this as a question, not as critique.
I see a small potential problem however: In some 3 months, one is supposed to implement a project. Fair enough, but doesn't that usually require significant familiarity with the code of that project? How is a student expected to have this familiarity? Does he/she get it while working on the project or is he/she supposed to already have it?
This is a point that has stopped many enthusiasts. They are afreaid that, while they are experienced coders, they have no idea how Program X works, and are afraid to even try to extend it.
Has this been adressed in any way?
Unless I'm misunderstanding something, immutable object solve the problem only in the case where you odn't need to modify an object after creation. But what about all those times when an object changes over time?
I feel so humiliated, oh, dear Seasoned Java Programmer!
Look, I wrote the whole example using String instead of ArrayList, until I realised that String has no method which modifies the object (but only methods that create new Strings instead). Then I changed String to ArrayList but forgot to change it in a few places. I'm not used to programming in a Slashdot textbox.
Obviously String should be replaced with ArrayList everywhere. Not too difficult to figure out, is it?
But then again, it's much easier and more fun to just laugh at others and their small mistakes, isn't it?
Ah, stupid me, in the last paragraph by "clone()" I obviously meant "clear()", sorry about that.
Simple, right? Well, let's have fun:
The list has now been modified. The getter assignes ptr (essentially a pointer) to point to the list itself, and thus I can do anything to the "private" list. The only current way to prevent this is to modify the getter to make a copy of that string:
This works well for small Strings, but is brutally inefficient for large complex classes. Besides, you must implement a copy constructor, which is not necessarily trivial, and finally, you have to remember to do this every time.
In C++, you would return a constant reference to untouchable instead. Then the clone() and add() calls would fail because they are not const methods, while something like get() would work because it is declared as const and by definition does no modify any members of its instance. Simple and efficient.
In decreasing order of importance:
1) A free software license (GPL?) to allow for fast, active development, quick fixes of current problems, and license purity. Plus, imagine the boost if all those talented GCJ people put their efforts into the already rich Sun codebase!
2) Constant references! Please! Java's encapsulation is about as secure as Internet Explorer. A harmless getter method for a private member variable allows you to replace that variable with anything of your choice, because you effectively get a pointer to the member. The only current solution is to copy everything in the getter, which is unacceptably awkward and slow. So much for design by contract.
3) Sane memory requirements. Right now coding an inherently memory-intensive app in Java is very very difficult. I tried it once, and had to rewrite in C++ to get anywhere.
because in a bathroom, you normally want to zoom in on your face ;)
:D
Ah, you're assuming too much here
But anyway, I see another use for this:
1. Get girl X over your place for a movie.
2. Have sex with girl X after the movie.
3. "Forget" to turn off the "TV"...
4. Enjoy a quality home production!
Will it be called iTelescreen, ship with drivers version 1.9.84 and a manual titled "The Principles of Ingsoc"? Will play content that's not region-coded to Oceania?
But most importantly, will it run Linux? It would be doubleplusungood if it does not!!!
Think of it as self-irony, coming from the mouth (alright, coming from the keyboard) of a devoted Gentoo user. It's a little tasteless, I admit, but considering the amount of sleep I've been getting lately relative to normal geeks, it's one hell of a good joke.
Oh cut it out, both stealth and mode are obviously package.mask-ed, ye bloody n00b!!! RTFM! Go back to whatever BSD you came from!
l337 haxx0r hates n00bz!!!
P.S. The next time you post attach 'emerge --info'.
What, are you suggesting they call the community version "Freexxxx"? But that already exists! It's all over the Internet!!
I guess the console is too cheap... for Microsoft. The hardware in that thing probably costs quite some more than $400. I think the big console makers are simply making a shift in business model. Lose a little on the hardware once; make a little on game licensing costs many many times.
That would also explain their paranoid devotion to keeping the system locked away from any non-signed / non-approved software, from Linux, to third-party-"licensed" games.
Besides providing a testing ground for trusted/trecherous computing, of course.
10 If everyone read that article, then everyone would start leaving late, and the problem would remain.
20 Now, how long would it take before someone came up with the astonishing discovery that "Leaving work on time instead of late saves you time"?
30 That would work too, until someone would come up with... wait, do you see that perpetual cycle too..?
40 GOTO 10
So MySQL is keeping up to Oracle's increasing power - that's good! What about PostgreSQL though? What are they doing to keep up? Anyone know?
It doesn't matter who's on each side of the argument - but any outcome in favor of a software patent is bad. Very bad.
Why is a company allowed to design a law in the first place? Why is there a government at all then? Is anyone else getting a strage feeling in the stomach area?
It's not just garbage, but it sounds like anti-Intel FUD garbage to me...
With Dell and the like looking into Linux more seriously because XP licenses drive up the costs of bargin-basement systems astronomically, we could well see a much bigger percentage of users running Linux at home (provided, of course, that Dell invests some serious cash to make Linux more home-user friendly, particularly in the compatibility department).
Unfortunately this sounds like wishful thinking. Dell, in its seemingly endless loyalty to Wintel, will just pressure Microsoft to release a dumbed-down Windows edition for much less money, for those bargain systems. Microsoft are not stupid and would eventually succumb to that, rather than face Dell offering Linux. Of course they would keep all the "normally functional" editions just as ridiculousy expensive as ever. Here Dell's power works in Microsoft's advantage, because Dell would not be able to pressure MS if they didn't have that power, and would simply go with Linux.
It's the same reason why Dell pressured intel to Release 64-bit Xeons rather than just switch to AMD64. This Wintel loyalty is also the reason why I won't ever buy a Dell again.
[BEGIN Angry Rant]
I really wish Slashdot would stop being the place to get Google advertising. Come on, every forth article on Slashdot these days is not about Google. I'm surpried it hasn't got its own category on Shashdot - GoogleStuff or something.
I understand Google is a big and important company, but that's too much. I don't want to know every time Google farts.
There I've said it. Now go ahead, mod me down.
[END Angry Rant]