As someone who studied both philosophy and psychology in college, I think that psychology was more useful in the practical application of computer science. Logic is useful, but not really a philosophy IMHO (more of an interdisciplinary subject, like the scientific method). And human "logic" and computer logic are very different subjects, to the point of having almost nothing to do with each other except some concepts and syntax.
Psychology helps with understanding team dynamics, what motivates different kinds of people, dealing with interpersonal politics, how to get customer buy-in, how to influence people, how to cope with people whose roles are beyond their skills, etc. I have found developmental psychology to be especially useful in teaching others about technology.
What specifically does philosophy help with in rolling out a system? Maybe some AI stuff, but I can't think of how it's helped me get anything done in the real world. How does philosophy help me build a control system for a nuclear reactor?
I agree that McAfee and Symantec both really slow down a PC, and I've worked for both of those vendors. I don't think ESET NOD32 makes my computer significantly slower, though you have to turn off the annoyances (outlook rescan and toolbar, splash screen, other junk). I am not sure about TrendMicro.
How the hell are these jackasses going to have the resources? And what are they going to do if they find something they don't like?
Some time ago on a trip from the US to Canada a Canadian agent asked me to search my hard drive for all media (I think he was looking for child porn). I complied, but it felt very funny, plus there are so many ways to hide things. Are they going to frisk and cavity search me to copy every USB key? And what if I just put the data on a server before crossing to download after? What a hassle and waste of resources; there's no way to plug the holes.
My choice on the whole Apple/Commodore/Radio Shack/etc. argument is probably reflected in my handle (I was borne in 1973). My brothers and I saved up about $200 to buy a C64 when I was something between the ages of 10 and 12. They were interested in the games but this machine is really what got me into programming. I also worked with Apple things and TRS80s but for me there was sopme special charm in the Commodore platform for which I still long during my everyday technical tasks on modern PCs. Maybe it's just that for me, being an IT professional has taken away some of the fun of working with computers - I don't want to spend evening time at a keyboard after a whole day in front of a keyboard. Peeking and poking was a great way to understand how the system really worked at the bare metal level, which is generally extremely abstracted in today's environments.
Working with the relatively constrained resources was challenging in a fun way (actually more challenging on the Commodore VIC20 - Tic Tac Toe is possible in BASIC on that platform but for me at least Connect4 could not fit in the available memory), and retyping hundreds of lines of hex code from a magazine in order to play a game taught me to save cautiously. And when the machine started to experience issues, I just turned it off, unscrewed the case, blew the dust off some components and started working again.
> unless the planet has spawned beings that are at least as clever as we are.
This implies that human beings are clever, which may be a false assumption.
Back in the 90s "Tasty Bits from the Technology Front" was a great source of tech news. I can't remember the owner's name - Keith Dawson or something? Just curious if the person posting this story is the same guy.
Slashdot Mirror
Ever heard of FPGAs?
Spaghetti coding begat them all.
As someone who studied both philosophy and psychology in college, I think that psychology was more useful in the practical application of computer science. Logic is useful, but not really a philosophy IMHO (more of an interdisciplinary subject, like the scientific method). And human "logic" and computer logic are very different subjects, to the point of having almost nothing to do with each other except some concepts and syntax.
Psychology helps with understanding team dynamics, what motivates different kinds of people, dealing with interpersonal politics, how to get customer buy-in, how to influence people, how to cope with people whose roles are beyond their skills, etc. I have found developmental psychology to be especially useful in teaching others about technology.
What specifically does philosophy help with in rolling out a system? Maybe some AI stuff, but I can't think of how it's helped me get anything done in the real world. How does philosophy help me build a control system for a nuclear reactor?
The Russian government has probably just temporarily pointed their botnets at Georgia.
I agree that McAfee and Symantec both really slow down a PC, and I've worked for both of those vendors. I don't think ESET NOD32 makes my computer significantly slower, though you have to turn off the annoyances (outlook rescan and toolbar, splash screen, other junk). I am not sure about TrendMicro.
Damn it feels good to be a nerdster
AOL something. Pronounced remarkably similarly to a "A'ole".
How the hell are these jackasses going to have the resources? And what are they going to do if they find something they don't like? Some time ago on a trip from the US to Canada a Canadian agent asked me to search my hard drive for all media (I think he was looking for child porn). I complied, but it felt very funny, plus there are so many ways to hide things. Are they going to frisk and cavity search me to copy every USB key? And what if I just put the data on a server before crossing to download after? What a hassle and waste of resources; there's no way to plug the holes.
Can I print pictures of a book I own? Can I print pictures of source code of a licensed .NET application as exposed by Reflector?
My choice on the whole Apple/Commodore/Radio Shack/etc. argument is probably reflected in my handle (I was borne in 1973). My brothers and I saved up about $200 to buy a C64 when I was something between the ages of 10 and 12. They were interested in the games but this machine is really what got me into programming. I also worked with Apple things and TRS80s but for me there was sopme special charm in the Commodore platform for which I still long during my everyday technical tasks on modern PCs. Maybe it's just that for me, being an IT professional has taken away some of the fun of working with computers - I don't want to spend evening time at a keyboard after a whole day in front of a keyboard. Peeking and poking was a great way to understand how the system really worked at the bare metal level, which is generally extremely abstracted in today's environments. Working with the relatively constrained resources was challenging in a fun way (actually more challenging on the Commodore VIC20 - Tic Tac Toe is possible in BASIC on that platform but for me at least Connect4 could not fit in the available memory), and retyping hundreds of lines of hex code from a magazine in order to play a game taught me to save cautiously. And when the machine started to experience issues, I just turned it off, unscrewed the case, blew the dust off some components and started working again.
> unless the planet has spawned beings that are at least as clever as we are. This implies that human beings are clever, which may be a false assumption.
People, look at Sitecore. If not Sitecore, look at IIS7. Apache can't compete.
Back in the 90s "Tasty Bits from the Technology Front" was a great source of tech news. I can't remember the owner's name - Keith Dawson or something? Just curious if the person posting this story is the same guy.
http://science.slashdot.org/science/06/04/08/20172 46.shtml