So ok, I know it's contentious - but when I started in the biz back in the late 70s my contempories were people without CS degrees. I worked with a guy with a geography degree, someone with an Archaeology degree and as for me - I didn't (and don't) have a degree at all. My highest qualification is a local exam that gave me some credits towards a Classical Studies degree.
What the profession needed - and still needs - are people who can communicate effectively. The subjects that are taught in a CS course - imho - are not always that. I've worked with CS graduates who can't present a technical subject to an audience, can't put together a design paper, can't explain their thoughts. BUT - they could write a mean compiler, explain (badly) NAND gates, etc...
IMHO. There are a range of spoken languages out there. Each one is best used by it's adherents and some devotees who usually speak another language, but chose the second language to make the point better. The French Voila, for example, has no English equivalent. I know a few other examples in Italian, and doubtless there are others in any other language you care to name.
For computer languages, everyone has their own favourite - we just need a way to get one to talk to the other without any confusion. OO was the solution for this.
This seems to be a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.
I've been coding, supporting, operating, managing this and that in IT since the late 70s. I've never written anything cool (well, that depends on your definition of cool). No flight sims, no emulators, no compilers. What I have written is a swag of the same old stuff: batch overnight processing (in two or three different languages. One of them Italian. Really). And file compares. And database unloads, scans... you know, business requirements.
I have been consistently employed though.
I think that you need to accept that we can't all work on the space program, design the next big MMORPG, the next console. As Slartibartfast said, hang the sense of it all and try to be happy. So, my advice is, be realistic in your expectations. Learn, yes - but learn stuff that people will want to use. Good practices are among those skills.
And welcome to the profession.
11.30am Tuesday November 21, 2006
By Joanna Hunkin
New Zealand director Peter Jackson will not be making The Hobbit or a second Lord of the Rings prequel, according a letter posted on LOTR website Theonering.net.
The letter, from Jackson and partner Fran Walsh was posted this morning and states that New Line are actively seeking another director.
A spokesperson from Wingnut Films confirmed to nzherald.co.nz this morning that the letter was genuine.
"Last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken [Kamins, Jackson's manager] and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on The Hobbit and the LOTR 'prequel'. This was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects," wrote Jackson.
The announcement comes after an ongoing dispute between Jackson's Wingnut Films and New Line, regarding differing accounting practices, revealed during an audit of the income from The Fellowship of the Ring.
While New Line suggested Jackson agree to make The Hobbit in order to settle the lawsuit, the director refused.
I'd be skeptical. Ok, dammit, I am skeptical. If there was a brain anomaly that caused this, the genes would have died out yonks ago back shortly after we came out of the trees. The children who had this anomaly wouldn't have been around to pass on their genes to the next generation.
Here in NZ cot death (to call it the old-fashioned name) is a big problem. I believe some research a while back found that it was linked to (mildly) toxic fumes out of mattresses. What happened to that idea?
And BTW there's nothing funny about the subject. I'm a father. I have a friend whose child died in cot death. Any research is good - but don't forget to cast a critical eye over it.
Is there anyone left in our industry that hasn't heard of Ajax, the ultimate client-side technology for web developers?
Interesting comment. I hosted a meeting here last week and someone mentioned Ajax. Several people hadn't heard of it. Main contenders were either a domestic cleaner or a Trojan war hero.
"should a government-chosen domain registry be allowed to enforce their own moral code on the public?"
Make this..
"should a government.....be allowed to enforce their own moral code on the public?"
and it's more suitable for debate.
And whether the answer is yes, or no, the fact is that they do. Nazi Germany enforced their moral code on the rank and file Germans. Fundeamentalist Afghanistan on casual muslims. Your government on you. Take your pick.
So how to stop them?
I played (well, still play) boardgames, long before they were versions of popular PC games. OK, most were wargames. But the point of the story is that once back in (about) 1977, 1978, there was a convention for local anoraks (I didn't go - busy doing something else) for a chance to play the big, multi-player wargames. Avalon Hill's "Civilization", SPI's "Empires of the Middle Ages", etc. I think it took place in a school hall one Saturday afternoon.
It was picketed - some locals believed that we were glorifying and trivializing war. Petitions, banners, etc.
So this sort of thing has been going on for ages, long before PCs. But we all knew that, right?
Down here in NZ, an Afghan is a type of biscuit - sorry, "cookie". It's chocolate, has chocolate icing on the top and the topping of the chocolate is a walnut. Rumour has it that the walnut resembles an Afghan's (Sikh's) turban, hence the name.
I guess in the US of A that would have been a "freedom cookie" or something.
.. may be relevant. Zeus (aka Jupiter in the Roman pantheon) had several children to Human mothers. If Zeus = superhuman and assuming that the ancient greek fallopian tubes were roughly similar to Lois Lanes, then I think they have a chance.
Debating Greek mythological reproduction is no less stupid than debating comic book hero reproduction. Well, IMHO.
(There's also cases of Zeus turning into a swan, or bull. Let's see Superman try that).
Bit of a worry really. McKinnon is a British subject, found guilty of a crime against nationals of a foreign country. Why is he being extradited rather than sentenced and imprisoned in the UK?
Another case is Richard Read - the "shoe bomber" from a few years back. He was a British subject (admittedly they didn't want him) and is held prisoner somewhere in the US (or you-know-where in Cuba).
Does holding a passport, or nationality mean nothing? No matter what your nationality when you do a crime against the US, they get to do what they want with you.
I think I read something of his once (Broca's Brain?) that said the dolphins would have evolved a lot further up the chain of intelligence if they had been able to discover fire.
Makes you wonder how many times they tried before they gave up.
I've been gainfully employed on Mainframes (mainly) for about 25 years now. I wrote yet another ALGOL program this morning. I've done UNIX and some Windows on the way down the road, and am still waiting for the college graduates who know my job backwards to come in and put me out to stud. Hasn't happened yet.
Slashdot Mirror
What the profession needed - and still needs - are people who can communicate effectively. The subjects that are taught in a CS course - imho - are not always that. I've worked with CS graduates who can't present a technical subject to an audience, can't put together a design paper, can't explain their thoughts. BUT - they could write a mean compiler, explain (badly) NAND gates, etc ...
1: Advise of availability of new OS.
2: Listen to lots of people say that they won't upgrade to new OS until SP1 is available.
3: Release new operating system. Some people buy it. Bank the cheques.
4: Release SP1 shortly after. Everyone else who would buy it, buys it now.
5: Profit !!
For computer languages, everyone has their own favourite - we just need a way to get one to talk to the other without any confusion. OO was the solution for this.
This seems to be a solution for a problem that doesn't exist.
For FTL drives, warp drives, star drives, look under 'Science Fiction', not Science.
So all I need to do is move to Bangalore and get a 14% pay rise.
Oh, wait ...
I have been consistently employed though.
I think that you need to accept that we can't all work on the space program, design the next big MMORPG, the next console. As Slartibartfast said, hang the sense of it all and try to be happy. So, my advice is, be realistic in your expectations. Learn, yes - but learn stuff that people will want to use. Good practices are among those skills. And welcome to the profession.
From the NZ Herald story. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid =00055C1C-29AC-1562-A69383027AF1002A
Jackson dumped from future Tolkien projects
11.30am Tuesday November 21, 2006 By Joanna Hunkin
New Zealand director Peter Jackson will not be making The Hobbit or a second Lord of the Rings prequel, according a letter posted on LOTR website Theonering.net.
The letter, from Jackson and partner Fran Walsh was posted this morning and states that New Line are actively seeking another director.
A spokesperson from Wingnut Films confirmed to nzherald.co.nz this morning that the letter was genuine.
"Last week, Mark Ordesky called Ken [Kamins, Jackson's manager] and told him that New Line would no longer be requiring our services on The Hobbit and the LOTR 'prequel'. This was a courtesy call to let us know that the studio was now actively looking to hire another filmmaker for both projects," wrote Jackson.
The announcement comes after an ongoing dispute between Jackson's Wingnut Films and New Line, regarding differing accounting practices, revealed during an audit of the income from The Fellowship of the Ring.
While New Line suggested Jackson agree to make The Hobbit in order to settle the lawsuit, the director refused.
-- Are they surprised????
Here in NZ cot death (to call it the old-fashioned name) is a big problem. I believe some research a while back found that it was linked to (mildly) toxic fumes out of mattresses. What happened to that idea?
And BTW there's nothing funny about the subject. I'm a father. I have a friend whose child died in cot death. Any research is good - but don't forget to cast a critical eye over it.
Interesting comment. I hosted a meeting here last week and someone mentioned Ajax. Several people hadn't heard of it. Main contenders were either a domestic cleaner or a Trojan war hero.
"should a government-chosen domain registry be allowed to enforce their own moral code on the public?" Make this ..
"should a government .....be allowed to enforce their own moral code on the public?"
and it's more suitable for debate.
And whether the answer is yes, or no, the fact is that they do. Nazi Germany enforced their moral code on the rank and file Germans. Fundeamentalist Afghanistan on casual muslims. Your government on you. Take your pick.
So how to stop them?
It was picketed - some locals believed that we were glorifying and trivializing war. Petitions, banners, etc.
So this sort of thing has been going on for ages, long before PCs. But we all knew that, right?
Wasn't it Phineas T. Barnum who said that no-one ever lost money by underestimating human intelligence?
Not to mention
1: Moon forms
2: Moon develops bulge
3: ????
4: Profit!!!
Down here in NZ, an Afghan is a type of biscuit - sorry, "cookie". It's chocolate, has chocolate icing on the top and the topping of the chocolate is a walnut. Rumour has it that the walnut resembles an Afghan's (Sikh's) turban, hence the name.
I guess in the US of A that would have been a "freedom cookie" or something.
Not essential, but interesting nonetheless.
.. may be relevant. Zeus (aka Jupiter in the Roman pantheon) had several children to Human mothers. If Zeus = superhuman and assuming that the ancient greek fallopian tubes were roughly similar to Lois Lanes, then I think they have a chance. Debating Greek mythological reproduction is no less stupid than debating comic book hero reproduction. Well, IMHO. (There's also cases of Zeus turning into a swan, or bull. Let's see Superman try that).
and the Left spin produces the Left Stuff?
Bit of a worry really. McKinnon is a British subject, found guilty of a crime against nationals of a foreign country. Why is he being extradited rather than sentenced and imprisoned in the UK?
Another case is Richard Read - the "shoe bomber" from a few years back. He was a British subject (admittedly they didn't want him) and is held prisoner somewhere in the US (or you-know-where in Cuba).
Does holding a passport, or nationality mean nothing? No matter what your nationality when you do a crime against the US, they get to do what they want with you.
I think I read something of his once (Broca's Brain?) that said the dolphins would have evolved a lot further up the chain of intelligence if they had been able to discover fire.
Makes you wonder how many times they tried before they gave up.
And also why the chimps don't have it yet.
I've been gainfully employed on Mainframes (mainly) for about 25 years now. I wrote yet another ALGOL program this morning. I've done UNIX and some Windows on the way down the road, and am still waiting for the college graduates who know my job backwards to come in and put me out to stud. Hasn't happened yet.
Mainframes are industrial strength. Full stop.