Having had "physical labor" jobs and "thinking" jobs I find I need much more breaks when doing "thinking" jobs. I also require more sleep. Back in the days of physical labor I could work 12-14 hour days, get 4-5 hours of sleep and be back on my feet no problem. I'm capable of having 10-12 hour days doing work that requires a lot of mental focus but that's not something I can sustain for more than about a week. And after that I need a bit of a recovery period before I'm back to normal.
I'm glad someone said it. The United States manufactures more today than it has at any time in history. It's just that technology improvements mean we do it with a LOT less people. Slave wages mean anything that's not easily automated is outsourced. The primary reason manufacturing has shrunken so much as a percentage of our economy is due to the financialization of the economy that started in the late 80s/early 90s.
Outsourcing has been pretty good for us in the short term. In the short term it meant we all got gadgets to play with a cheap cost. In the long run though, without jobs that produce wealth, we won't be able to afford even the cheaply produced outsourced goods.
The energy costs alone make it unfeasible to meaningfully mine minerals or grow crops on another planet/moon and ship it back to the Earth. Energy would have to become practically free for it to be worthwhile and I honestly don't ever see that happening.
... you get into situations where two objects you are finished with are referencing each other (or themselves) and thus trick the garbage collector into keeping them around.
I can't speak for other managed languages but in Java two objects that reference each other but nothing else references them will still be garbage collected.
Given two developers of equal talent the developer using.NET or Java is likely to outproduce the developer using C/++ in nearly every meaningful measurement to a business. There are exceptions, of course, in places where managed languages don't fit well (or at all) such as device drivers, real time software, etc. Developers keep forgetting how expensive their time is, and more importantly their real role within the business.
On top of that, unfortunately we'll always be working alongside poor quality developers and in spite of our arrogance will occasionally make "poor quality" code even if we're pretty good developers. Personally, I'd rather deal with the aftermath of some poorly written Java code than some poorly written C code.
I think most people view C++ as C with mystical object-y things. C (imho) is really easy to get. C++, that is, *real*, modern C++ is quite complex to use and isn't something "any decent programmer could read a book and understand it in a few weeks." Of course, I don't feel that way about Java either and it appears the/. crowd still views Java as a toy.
It's the signal to noise ratio. So far, in my experience, FB has more over-all content, and even more "good" content numerically, but I have to filter through so much garbage to get to it. It's too much work. With G+ the noise level hasn't gotten that high yet, even though G+ has less content.
I personally think Google has been disappointed with what the hardware manufacturers have done to their software platform. Also, this puts them in a position to protect the other Android OEMs. Google can just as easily use their new power for good or evil. Frankly I don't think Google is stupid enough to cannibalize their partners. It could wind up making them more receptive since they'll be eating their own dog food on the manufacturing front.
While I agree with you that HTML is not "coding" in my experience it's harder to find someone who can provide meaningful input to user interface design and provide "pretty graphics" than it is to find a decent coder.
I'm imagining you trying to get through the US security check with 4,999 coins in your pockets. Also, with the price of carry-on these days you might not quite break even.
For companies of this size it will take a year or two before we start seeing meaningful changes. It would be painful (and silly, imho) for Google to have Motorola can any WP7 products mid-stride. Google also has to be careful about not cannibalizing its Android business partners which it will awkwardly need to compete with...
Great, I already have to keep having to hear the mantra about "Apple is not a software company, it's a hardware company." So now I get to hear "Google is not a hardware/software company, it's an ad company."
When people speak of the post-PC era I don't envision it as PCs becoming nonexistent. For example, a lot of us live in the post-land line era. I still have a land line for my security alarm and for emergencies but I can't remember the last time I used it to actually make a phone call. I think the PC will still be there, like my land line, but its use will continually get marginalized over time. As a programmer I'll make more use of it than average joe, but even for me I do pretty much all of my non-work on non-PC devices.
I feel the same way about people who claim that since they know C and/or C++ they could learn Java in a snap. Yes, it's very likely that you will not have great difficulty picking up the Java syntax, since it's C-esque. That doesn't mean you'll be a "Java programmer" in 6 months.
Rumor has it MSFT is about to ditch.net developers in favor of HTML 5 + Javascript for "native" applications. Windows 8 allows you to run HTML 5 + Javascript "natively" (at least, as native as.net). The conferences MSFT has thrown lately have been light on.net love. So I expect the MS programmer base to grow, but not C++. C++ and likely always will but that place is shrinking.
It takes a long time for "common knowledge" to change. Take for example American cars. Whether you think they're on par or not they have made a lot of progress in catching up with foreign manufacturers but are still largely considered inferior products.
I disagree. Everything should rely on natural resources. Any invention that will prolong the frequency of the biological cycle for those materials should be welcomed with open arms. If at any time during the process the product becomes "not" a naturally occurring biodegradable substance (or something that at least degrades into that) should be shunned like Quasimoto bearing the black plague. We don't need products that last forever. We have that now, it's called plastic.
I have a crazy idea. Let's make paper out of a reusable and renewable product instead. That way, when you're done with the paper you could just toss it on the ground and wait for it to biodegrade, or perhaps process it back into its original condition.
Slashdot Mirror
Having had "physical labor" jobs and "thinking" jobs I find I need much more breaks when doing "thinking" jobs. I also require more sleep. Back in the days of physical labor I could work 12-14 hour days, get 4-5 hours of sleep and be back on my feet no problem. I'm capable of having 10-12 hour days doing work that requires a lot of mental focus but that's not something I can sustain for more than about a week. And after that I need a bit of a recovery period before I'm back to normal.
I'm glad someone said it. The United States manufactures more today than it has at any time in history. It's just that technology improvements mean we do it with a LOT less people. Slave wages mean anything that's not easily automated is outsourced. The primary reason manufacturing has shrunken so much as a percentage of our economy is due to the financialization of the economy that started in the late 80s/early 90s.
Slavery, it gets stuff done. [pyramids.png]
Outsourcing has been pretty good for us in the short term. In the short term it meant we all got gadgets to play with a cheap cost. In the long run though, without jobs that produce wealth, we won't be able to afford even the cheaply produced outsourced goods.
Except a falling rock the size of a meaningful mining project would destroy a city.
The energy costs alone make it unfeasible to meaningfully mine minerals or grow crops on another planet/moon and ship it back to the Earth. Energy would have to become practically free for it to be worthwhile and I honestly don't ever see that happening.
TARP cost $850 Billion. It's not that we can't afford to do amazing things, it's that we've decided to put our resources to other uses.
Excellent post. I would like to add that the $850 Billion bank bailout (TARP) is greater than the entire combined 50 year operating expense of NASA.
... you get into situations where two objects you are finished with are referencing each other (or themselves) and thus trick the garbage collector into keeping them around.
I can't speak for other managed languages but in Java two objects that reference each other but nothing else references them will still be garbage collected.
Given two developers of equal talent the developer using .NET or Java is likely to outproduce the developer using C/++ in nearly every meaningful measurement to a business. There are exceptions, of course, in places where managed languages don't fit well (or at all) such as device drivers, real time software, etc. Developers keep forgetting how expensive their time is, and more importantly their real role within the business.
On top of that, unfortunately we'll always be working alongside poor quality developers and in spite of our arrogance will occasionally make "poor quality" code even if we're pretty good developers. Personally, I'd rather deal with the aftermath of some poorly written Java code than some poorly written C code.
I think most people view C++ as C with mystical object-y things. C (imho) is really easy to get. C++, that is, *real*, modern C++ is quite complex to use and isn't something "any decent programmer could read a book and understand it in a few weeks." Of course, I don't feel that way about Java either and it appears the /. crowd still views Java as a toy.
It's the signal to noise ratio. So far, in my experience, FB has more over-all content, and even more "good" content numerically, but I have to filter through so much garbage to get to it. It's too much work. With G+ the noise level hasn't gotten that high yet, even though G+ has less content.
I personally think Google has been disappointed with what the hardware manufacturers have done to their software platform. Also, this puts them in a position to protect the other Android OEMs. Google can just as easily use their new power for good or evil. Frankly I don't think Google is stupid enough to cannibalize their partners. It could wind up making them more receptive since they'll be eating their own dog food on the manufacturing front.
While I agree with you that HTML is not "coding" in my experience it's harder to find someone who can provide meaningful input to user interface design and provide "pretty graphics" than it is to find a decent coder.
Apple tried to provide one to the court but those things are crazy hard to get ahold of these days.
I'm imagining you trying to get through the US security check with 4,999 coins in your pockets. Also, with the price of carry-on these days you might not quite break even.
For companies of this size it will take a year or two before we start seeing meaningful changes. It would be painful (and silly, imho) for Google to have Motorola can any WP7 products mid-stride. Google also has to be careful about not cannibalizing its Android business partners which it will awkwardly need to compete with...
For a company the size of MSFT with only 5-10% of the shares you can get your way on most decisions. Buying 51% would be a huge waste of money.
Great, I already have to keep having to hear the mantra about "Apple is not a software company, it's a hardware company." So now I get to hear "Google is not a hardware/software company, it's an ad company."
When people speak of the post-PC era I don't envision it as PCs becoming nonexistent. For example, a lot of us live in the post-land line era. I still have a land line for my security alarm and for emergencies but I can't remember the last time I used it to actually make a phone call. I think the PC will still be there, like my land line, but its use will continually get marginalized over time. As a programmer I'll make more use of it than average joe, but even for me I do pretty much all of my non-work on non-PC devices.
I feel the same way about people who claim that since they know C and/or C++ they could learn Java in a snap. Yes, it's very likely that you will not have great difficulty picking up the Java syntax, since it's C-esque. That doesn't mean you'll be a "Java programmer" in 6 months.
Rumor has it MSFT is about to ditch .net developers in favor of HTML 5 + Javascript for "native" applications. Windows 8 allows you to run HTML 5 + Javascript "natively" (at least, as native as .net). The conferences MSFT has thrown lately have been light on .net love. So I expect the MS programmer base to grow, but not C++. C++ and likely always will but that place is shrinking.
It takes a long time for "common knowledge" to change. Take for example American cars. Whether you think they're on par or not they have made a lot of progress in catching up with foreign manufacturers but are still largely considered inferior products.
I disagree. Everything should rely on natural resources. Any invention that will prolong the frequency of the biological cycle for those materials should be welcomed with open arms. If at any time during the process the product becomes "not" a naturally occurring biodegradable substance (or something that at least degrades into that) should be shunned like Quasimoto bearing the black plague. We don't need products that last forever. We have that now, it's called plastic.
I have a crazy idea. Let's make paper out of a reusable and renewable product instead. That way, when you're done with the paper you could just toss it on the ground and wait for it to biodegrade, or perhaps process it back into its original condition.