I expect to see copious suggestions from the all l33t hax0rs who tell us it isn't necessary to comment code, and good code is self-commenting, and anyone with any skill can figure out what the code does without comments.
*waiting*
Well, until those guys show up, see the above comments regarding stepping through the code in a debugger. From personal experience I'll say, the larger the application the smaller your initial scope should be.
Don't attempt to grok the whole code base at one. Start with a particular feature or method. Process in small bites and move out form there. As you go, you'll get a better handle on the context to inform your understanding of the parts you've reviewed. And hopefully there's some consistency of methodology to help ease the process as you go.
Also, talk to the last guy. Even if he/she is no longer with the company, if you can get an email address or phone number, 15-30 minutes could save you hours. If the last dev left on good terms/is concerned about burning bridges, they'll have no problem giving you some time. If they left on not so good terms, you'll have their sympathy.
I'm nearing the end of an upgrade to a customization of an off-the-shelf system. The last guy had to make some unconventional design decisions to work around some quirks in the application. A half hour on the phone saved me days of rediscovering the same issues and reinventing the same solutions.
I'm doing my PhD, and pretty much everything that I need for my research is a google search away.
Did you happen to find this degree-granting institution on the back of a match book? I was under the impression PhD meant ORIGINAL research. If it's in Google, it's not original. (Unless Goggle is the subject of your reseach.)
Those companies that lobbied to get the bankruptcy laws changed? They're the ones getting it in the butt by the sub-prime mortgage market.
Now instead of defaulting on $10,000 of unsecured credit card debt, folks are walking away from $250,000 loans and leaving the banks on the hook for property taxes. Sometimes you do get a happy ending in real life:)
I'm sure there are many more. Point is, you don't see stories about folks being forced to vote a certain way BECAUSE we have the secret ballot--there's no way to check the coerceee followed through as the coercer wishes. However, given the abuses we see for things that can be checked--employers coercing employees to make donations or volunteer time--there should be no doubt this would change if there was a way to check up on how someone voted.
You might want to read the Groklaw interview. It is said there that her new company is licensing the tech she developed for OLPC from OLPC.
/. poster RTFA? Unpossible!
But it does fall in line with my past modding experience. When I try for informative/insightful I usually get modded 'funny'. When I try for funny I get 'troll' or 'flamebait'.
And apparently when I talk out of my arse without the facts, I get 'interesting'. Go figure.
OLPC is non-profit. You can't really leave and get into "competition" with an charitable organization.
It's up to the OLPC folks if they wish to make an issue of it, but yes, you can get into "competition" with a charitable organization. 1) You can compete for donors, if donations are part of your 'business' model. (Not in the for-profit sense of a model of how to turn some resource into profit, but the model of how you're going to get done what it is you are trying to get done.)
2) You can compete for IP. If OLPC has patents on any novel hardware developments, perhaps part of the plan is to license those patents to futher the charitable goals.
3) Didn't we just have a story about Intel being in competition with OLPC for contracts? Granted, that case is for-profit Intel vs non-profit OLPC, where as I gather this new company is also non-profit.
This first occurred to me when the story first broke regarding the CTO of OLPC leaving to form her own company...
Doesn't any specific knowledge she has regarding the engineering of an inexpensive laptop targeted towards students in emerging economies belong to OLPC?
There have been many discussions on/. regarding non-compete agreements, IP, works-for-hire, etc. At the very least anything we wage slaves do for the company belongs to the company. At the most, companies try to claim ownership of stuff we do on our own time with our own resources, in addition to stuff we may have done before coming to the company or may do after leaving.
It would seem to me Mary Lou is free to take to her new company any general experience and knowledge she has, but in this case the new company is entirely based on IP that belongs to OLPC.
Or is this another standard that only applies to us wage slaves? What would happen to any of us if we so boldly left our employers to start a new company in direct competition?
"The accused's chance of winning is higher than in a criminal case, because in civil litigation the burden of proof is lower."
If you go to court accused to downloading something bad, you have a better chance of winning (not guilty) in criminal court. The burden of proof is lower is civil litigation. Think OJ--not convicted of murder in criminal court, but still found libel in civil.
I freaking LOVE slashdot comments like this. I'm a goddamn nerd and the only time I hear about orbital mechanics is here. At work it's a never ending stream of fart jokes and stories about people defecating, and shitting, and crapping their pants, and drinking and crapping their pants, or drinking and crapping on the shower curtains, or eating and crapping on tables. I kid you not.
And as a NASA employee, can you give us an insider's take on the mission?
Most of the claims of that patent involve a networked version of a card game, where users play simultaneously with a "computer opponent".
It's Solitaire. As in, solitary. As in, ONE PERSON GAME. You can't have a networked version of solitaire. If you're networked, you're not playing alone any more, then it's NOT SOLITAIRE!
If you attempt to patent networked solitaire, you deserve to die. If you approved the patent for networked solitaire, you deserve to die. If you're the lawyer taking the case of someone suing over a patent on networked solitaire, you deserve to die.
Every three months, HP, Dell, Toshiba and the rest release new models in step. You try explaining to someone the difference between three notebooks that all have the same 15" screen, processor, hard drive and RAM.
Okay, I'll have a go. HP, Dell, Toshiba: I can't tell you if one is more reliable than the others, but I can tell you if your Dell or HP has an issue and needs service, you will be S.O.L. Those are two of the worst companies to deal with, in terms of customer service. If you buy a laptop from either, assume there is no warranty and any repairs will be cash out of pocket. You're better off just spending the money than trying to get something fixed by HP or Dell.
So if those are your only choices, go with the Toshiba.
While I know a LOT of people shop there, it is a subset of the public, and out of that subset they aren't all Eagles fans. So, by going solely through WM....they're losing what I'd think were a great deal of potential sales. People with a good deal of disposable income to buy dvd's and cd's.....aren't necessarily going to be shopping at a discount store with a lot of merchandise of questionable quality. Isn't WM's customer mostly on the lower end of the wage scale?
I'd debate you on several points. You don't shop at Walmart; I don't shop at Walmart. But when we say 'a lot' of people do shop there, keep in mind that lot make Walmart (in the USA) the #1 retailer of groceries, the #1 retailer of toys, in the top 5 of retailers of clothes and books, and without seeing the numbers, I'll make a wild guess and say it's likely close to the top for CDs and DVDs as well.
If we think of the Walmart customer as mostly on the lower end of the wage scale, that's a big lower end. And it's at the ends where our society is growing. Walmart hasn't refused to stock CDs from the traditional record companies (yet), but if you had a CD to sell and the choice of all the record stores in the US and all the Walmarts, I figured you'd do better (sales-wise) with Walmart. (Soul-wise is another matter;)
But even to that point, don't be so fast to poo poo your average Walmart customer. Most financially well-off folks aren't rock stars or famous athletes. Most rich folk got there the slow-and-steady route--modest income paired with savings, investments, and modest spending. I think we'd both be surprised at how many millionaires regularly shop at Walmart.
(As an aside, I don't shop at Walmart 1) because of its business tactics, but also 2) the few Walmarts in my area (Northeast US) I have visited were dumps. They were dirty, ill lit, and disheveled. But those seem to be the exceptions. I have been to Walmarts in other parts of the country that were clean and pleasant places to shop, if you didn't think about how the prices were kept as low as they are.)
And point is...hmmm, do I have a point? Well, Walmart is too big to dismiss. And that the record companies have more to worry about than Bit Torrent and CD-R. Banks freaked out when Walmart wanted to get into check processing, even just to process the checks Walmarts accepts from customers. And banks are not in the habit of freaking out.
In the past year, we've had McCartney jump to a new label, Radiohead release their own album, NIN doing their thing, and Prince bucking the trends, signing a deal that is unheard of from a record label, and distributing his cd in a way that pissed all the industry folks off.
I had a similar thought in regards to Radiohead, NIN, Prince, et al and the traditional record labels.
But then you have folks like the Eagles who released their lastest through Wal*mart and who ever does exclusive releases through Starbucks. The record company gives the artist access a distribution network that is hard to rival, even with the internet and www.
One trend to move to the internet, but another trend is to work directly with the giants of brick and mortar distribution. Sign a deal with Wal*mart and you're in all the largest retail spots across the country. Sign a deal with Starbucks and your CD is available in 15,000 points of sale world wide. I suppose the next step is musicians signing exclusive deals with McDonalds.
You give Google your private data, while they keep it private.
Are the folks at Google like the magical elves that come out at night and fix shoes? No, Google is a business. The folks who own Google do it for the money. You give Google your private data, and they mine the stuff out of it. There's nothing private about it. Your private data, after you give it to Google, isn't private any more.
Slashdot Mirror
They'll be closed by the time the dupe runs.
That is awesome!
I expect to see copious suggestions from the all l33t hax0rs who tell us it isn't necessary to comment code, and good code is self-commenting, and anyone with any skill can figure out what the code does without comments.
*waiting*
Well, until those guys show up, see the above comments regarding stepping through the code in a debugger. From personal experience I'll say, the larger the application the smaller your initial scope should be.
Don't attempt to grok the whole code base at one. Start with a particular feature or method. Process in small bites and move out form there. As you go, you'll get a better handle on the context to inform your understanding of the parts you've reviewed. And hopefully there's some consistency of methodology to help ease the process as you go.
Also, talk to the last guy. Even if he/she is no longer with the company, if you can get an email address or phone number, 15-30 minutes could save you hours. If the last dev left on good terms/is concerned about burning bridges, they'll have no problem giving you some time. If they left on not so good terms, you'll have their sympathy.
I'm nearing the end of an upgrade to a customization of an off-the-shelf system. The last guy had to make some unconventional design decisions to work around some quirks in the application. A half hour on the phone saved me days of rediscovering the same issues and reinventing the same solutions.
Did you happen to find this degree-granting institution on the back of a match book? I was under the impression PhD meant ORIGINAL research. If it's in Google, it's not original. (Unless Goggle is the subject of your reseach.)
Just wait until the Tic-Tac-Toe folks find out about Hollywood Squares.
Those companies that lobbied to get the bankruptcy laws changed? They're the ones getting it in the butt by the sub-prime mortgage market.
:)
Now instead of defaulting on $10,000 of unsecured credit card debt, folks are walking away from $250,000 loans and leaving the banks on the hook for property taxes. Sometimes you do get a happy ending in real life
Isn't that redundant? The GP already stated,
When districts are redrawn after the next census, if your state has a population calling for 4 and 9/13th seats in House of Reps...
[scene: 5 representatives from state X being sworn in.]
Congratulations! Now Mr. Representative #5, your honor, if you would just step this way...
[off stage: chain saw noises]
A Federal administrative judge ruled today that three housing authority officials in Akron, Ohio, coerced subordinates into making political contributions in violation of Federal law and recommended that the officials be removed from their jobs. (Though from 1987. Not quite recent)
An employee of a prominent developer said she was forced to give $2,000 to the campaign of Lohra Miller, Republican candidate for Salt Lake County district attorney. (2006. I think that counts as recent.)
Rep. Joe Baca (D-Calif.) sent six of his Washington staff members to California in February 2004 to campaign for his son, Joe Baca Jr., who at the time was locked in an intense primary battle for a seat in the California Assembly...."It was basically forced volunteering," one former staffer said. "Personally, I had problems with it. I felt uncomfortable going out there. ... I felt a little taken advantage of."(Another 2006.)
I'm sure there are many more. Point is, you don't see stories about folks being forced to vote a certain way BECAUSE we have the secret ballot--there's no way to check the coerceee followed through as the coercer wishes. However, given the abuses we see for things that can be checked--employers coercing employees to make donations or volunteer time--there should be no doubt this would change if there was a way to check up on how someone voted.
But it does fall in line with my past modding experience. When I try for informative/insightful I usually get modded 'funny'. When I try for funny I get 'troll' or 'flamebait'.
And apparently when I talk out of my arse without the facts, I get 'interesting'. Go figure.
It's up to the OLPC folks if they wish to make an issue of it, but yes, you can get into "competition" with a charitable organization. 1) You can compete for donors, if donations are part of your 'business' model. (Not in the for-profit sense of a model of how to turn some resource into profit, but the model of how you're going to get done what it is you are trying to get done.)
2) You can compete for IP. If OLPC has patents on any novel hardware developments, perhaps part of the plan is to license those patents to futher the charitable goals.
3) Didn't we just have a story about Intel being in competition with OLPC for contracts? Granted, that case is for-profit Intel vs non-profit OLPC, where as I gather this new company is also non-profit.
Thank you, yes. I had a feeling 'libel' wasn't what I wanted in that space.
This first occurred to me when the story first broke regarding the CTO of OLPC leaving to form her own company...
/. regarding non-compete agreements, IP, works-for-hire, etc. At the very least anything we wage slaves do for the company belongs to the company. At the most, companies try to claim ownership of stuff we do on our own time with our own resources, in addition to stuff we may have done before coming to the company or may do after leaving.
Doesn't any specific knowledge she has regarding the engineering of an inexpensive laptop targeted towards students in emerging economies belong to OLPC?
There have been many discussions on
It would seem to me Mary Lou is free to take to her new company any general experience and knowledge she has, but in this case the new company is entirely based on IP that belongs to OLPC.
Or is this another standard that only applies to us wage slaves? What would happen to any of us if we so boldly left our employers to start a new company in direct competition?
We already have the $10 laptop
If you go to court accused to downloading something bad, you have a better chance of winning (not guilty) in criminal court. The burden of proof is lower is civil litigation. Think OJ--not convicted of murder in criminal court, but still found libel in civil.
I don't have a microwave. I have a clock that occasionally heats stuff up.
And as a NASA employee, can you give us an insider's take on the mission?
Those cookies...they're not made from real girl scouts.
It's Solitaire. As in, solitary. As in, ONE PERSON GAME. You can't have a networked version of solitaire. If you're networked, you're not playing alone any more, then it's NOT SOLITAIRE!
If you attempt to patent networked solitaire, you deserve to die. If you approved the patent for networked solitaire, you deserve to die. If you're the lawyer taking the case of someone suing over a patent on networked solitaire, you deserve to die.
Okay, I'll have a go. HP, Dell, Toshiba: I can't tell you if one is more reliable than the others, but I can tell you if your Dell or HP has an issue and needs service, you will be S.O.L. Those are two of the worst companies to deal with, in terms of customer service. If you buy a laptop from either, assume there is no warranty and any repairs will be cash out of pocket. You're better off just spending the money than trying to get something fixed by HP or Dell.
So if those are your only choices, go with the Toshiba.
I'd debate you on several points. You don't shop at Walmart; I don't shop at Walmart. But when we say 'a lot' of people do shop there, keep in mind that lot make Walmart (in the USA) the #1 retailer of groceries, the #1 retailer of toys, in the top 5 of retailers of clothes and books, and without seeing the numbers, I'll make a wild guess and say it's likely close to the top for CDs and DVDs as well.
If we think of the Walmart customer as mostly on the lower end of the wage scale, that's a big lower end. And it's at the ends where our society is growing. Walmart hasn't refused to stock CDs from the traditional record companies (yet), but if you had a CD to sell and the choice of all the record stores in the US and all the Walmarts, I figured you'd do better (sales-wise) with Walmart. (Soul-wise is another matter ;)
But even to that point, don't be so fast to poo poo your average Walmart customer. Most financially well-off folks aren't rock stars or famous athletes. Most rich folk got there the slow-and-steady route--modest income paired with savings, investments, and modest spending. I think we'd both be surprised at how many millionaires regularly shop at Walmart.
(As an aside, I don't shop at Walmart 1) because of its business tactics, but also 2) the few Walmarts in my area (Northeast US) I have visited were dumps. They were dirty, ill lit, and disheveled. But those seem to be the exceptions. I have been to Walmarts in other parts of the country that were clean and pleasant places to shop, if you didn't think about how the prices were kept as low as they are.)
And point is...hmmm, do I have a point? Well, Walmart is too big to dismiss. And that the record companies have more to worry about than Bit Torrent and CD-R. Banks freaked out when Walmart wanted to get into check processing, even just to process the checks Walmarts accepts from customers. And banks are not in the habit of freaking out.
I had a similar thought in regards to Radiohead, NIN, Prince, et al and the traditional record labels.
But then you have folks like the Eagles who released their lastest through Wal*mart and who ever does exclusive releases through Starbucks. The record company gives the artist access a distribution network that is hard to rival, even with the internet and www.
One trend to move to the internet, but another trend is to work directly with the giants of brick and mortar distribution. Sign a deal with Wal*mart and you're in all the largest retail spots across the country. Sign a deal with Starbucks and your CD is available in 15,000 points of sale world wide. I suppose the next step is musicians signing exclusive deals with McDonalds.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Are the folks at Google like the magical elves that come out at night and fix shoes? No, Google is a business. The folks who own Google do it for the money. You give Google your private data, and they mine the stuff out of it. There's nothing private about it. Your private data, after you give it to Google, isn't private any more.
Yeah, but now it's 2:59! See, time is slowing!
:(
At this rate, we'll never get to go home
No water, no sun, and no air. Dude, time to move out of your mother's basement.