Yeah. Why teach the applications practical to 95% of white collar jobs instead of programming, which most kids won't be interested in, fewer will 'get' and hardly any will ever do professionally?
I typeset with LaTeX, (which, by the way, also does presentations). Such "practical" applications as word processors and PowerPoint are just cumbersome in comparison. I shan't comment on spreadsheets since I seldom, if ever, touch them.
I have never taken a CS course in high school, since I knew it all already.
Yep, the article got it right. Odd, though, to mention mathematics, since high school math courses suffer much the same problem.
... some teenagers... wrote in their diaries some fantasy story about blowing up their school
That's thinking small. I have fantasies of blowing up the entire Ministry of Education with a TTC subway car laden with explosives, on November Fifth, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, playing the 1812 overture.
As far as I can tell (and correct me if I'm wrong) these systems merely inspect public data on the Internet, as any ISP (or perhaps even individual) could, so the only people who should be affected are those who make false and foolish assumptions of security. Obviously, nothing is safe on the Internet in the clear, but it seems to me that this system could well be thwarted by encryption and proxy.
The question of course is "Is 4000 good, average or bad?" can't be answered because closed source companies just aren't going to publish this sort of information.
This is part of the reason that OSS is better than closed-source competitors - the bugs are widely-known, and therefore can be more readily fixed.
This is also part of the reason that the quality of OSS is trending upwards.
It's not the CSI effect, it's the "most Americans are stupid" effect.
Honestly, Most can not tell the difference between Fantasy on TV and reality. this is why a jury in a technical case is not a "jury of your peers" unless the jury is compromised of IT and CS people.
Seconded. I am the hacker type, but I generally need a gentle introduction to any particular program or system, before I can become proficient with it. Good tutorials would be especially helpful - highly in-depth technical documentation is useless if I can't tell a widget from a dongle.
Specifically, this applies to source code documentation - one of the key advantages of open source is serviceability, since the source is, er, open (go figure). However, often one has no idea in which file or directory to find a particular function or piece of code, or how it works, or what it in turn uses, &c. Comments are nice, but real, dedicated documentation (like the Documentation directory in the Linux kernel tree, say) would be nicer.
While I am generally quite wary of anything which may invade my privacy, in this case, I am not terribly concerned. Everyone seems to be working themselves into a righteous frenzy over what amounts essentially to a trifle. With no warrant, this bill only allows the acquisition of specific pieces of general information such as name and address, for which there is no reasonable expectation of confidentiality - indeed, little more than could be expected from a telephone directory. A telephone directory is not a wiretap. Likewise, this bill would not allow the acquisition of content without a court order. That said, I am not completely indifferent as to the passing of this bill - I believe that, as always when privacy is concerned, we should proceed cautiously, but not immediately and indignantly strike this bill down as an affront to our privacy.
If you are worried, try: - IPsec - Tor - SSH - SSL - GnuPG etc, etc.
P.S. Mr. Van Loan: A rotary telephone sits atop my desk. I use it regularly.
Slashdot Mirror
adoption and buy in from a huge company...means you'll always be around.
A GPL project will forever "be around"; it can't be sunk by its owner as a proprietary project can.
Probably a majority of US students dislike math and science classes because they are viewed as "hard".
Then a majority of US students should not be mathematicians/scientists. Rigour is essential to science and, especially, math.
Yeah. Why teach the applications practical to 95% of white collar jobs instead of programming, which most kids won't be interested in, fewer will 'get' and hardly any will ever do professionally?
I typeset with LaTeX, (which, by the way, also does presentations). Such "practical" applications as word processors and PowerPoint are just cumbersome in comparison. I shan't comment on spreadsheets since I seldom, if ever, touch them.
I have never taken a CS course in high school, since I knew it all already.
Yep, the article got it right. Odd, though, to mention mathematics, since high school math courses suffer much the same problem.
...in case the value of pi ever changes!
you can't control a child screaming
I can, but the parents would take exception. (Rather, they ought to take heed, and control their young.)
And, then they have the luxury of spending their time on something more beneficial.
...like Slashdot.
I don't think that people keep getting married and having children just to keep the human species from extinction.
Actually, that is exactly why they do so -- because, well, Darwinism.
Pussy will throw itself at you left and right.
Catnip.
Other means, same end.
Mind the claws.
That's why the appearance of 64-bit processors took so long in this solar system - never before necessary!
Yes, the frigid, desolate wastelands of the North.
... some teenagers ... wrote in their diaries some fantasy story about blowing up their school
That's thinking small. I have fantasies of blowing up the entire Ministry of Education with a TTC subway car laden with explosives, on November Fifth, wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, playing the 1812 overture.
This is an entirely original idea, by the way.
As far as I can tell (and correct me if I'm wrong) these systems merely inspect public data on the Internet, as any ISP (or perhaps even individual) could, so the only people who should be affected are those who make false and foolish assumptions of security. Obviously, nothing is safe on the Internet in the clear, but it seems to me that this system could well be thwarted by encryption and proxy.
The question of course is "Is 4000 good, average or bad?" can't be answered because closed source companies just aren't going to publish this sort of information.
This is part of the reason that OSS is better than closed-source competitors - the bugs are widely-known, and therefore can be more readily fixed.
This is also part of the reason that the quality of OSS is trending upwards.
I thought that I would have to re-design all of my amplifiers.
It's not the CSI effect, it's the "most Americans are stupid" effect.
Honestly, Most can not tell the difference between Fantasy on TV and reality. this is why a jury in a technical case is not a "jury of your peers" unless the jury is compromised of IT and CS people.
This is late, yes, but I couldn't resist: http://xkcd.com/553/
Well, I ordered a new computer in a cardboard case on my mother's credit card, and wound up grounded, so there's no worry.
Several hundred dollars, not worth the Windows Genuine Advantage (tm)? Gasp! Surely you jest.
5. A plethora of linux distibutions affords a user a great freedom of choice.
There, fixed that for you.
One simply must consider which distribution fits one's needs, and make a decision. I have done so on several occasions and I regret it not.
Seconded. I am the hacker type, but I generally need a gentle introduction to any particular program or system, before I can become proficient with it. Good tutorials would be especially helpful - highly in-depth technical documentation is useless if I can't tell a widget from a dongle.
Specifically, this applies to source code documentation - one of the key advantages of open source is serviceability, since the source is, er, open (go figure). However, often one has no idea in which file or directory to find a particular function or piece of code, or how it works, or what it in turn uses, &c. Comments are nice, but real, dedicated documentation (like the Documentation directory in the Linux kernel tree, say) would be nicer.
Not a big M$ fan but who decides which browsers get to be on the ballot?
Point. Any browsers included on the ballot would gain the same distinct advantage that IE had, albeit to a lesser degree.
Stallman Says Pirate Party Hurts HIS VERSION OF Free Software
Which, being licenced under the GPL or some other such free software licence, is also my version.
That's the sexiest thing to come from the Linux community in forever.
By the way, this is from Microsoft - as in, the company who employs this guy. Still, I suppose there is no accounting for (sexual) taste.
as if the electrons are trying to go in **ZOMG!** both directions or something!
Gasp! Edison surely rolls in his grave. Knights of Direct Current, Unite!
Silence the Alarms, I say.
While I am generally quite wary of anything which may invade my privacy, in this case, I am not terribly concerned. Everyone seems to be working themselves into a righteous frenzy over what amounts essentially to a trifle. With no warrant, this bill only allows the acquisition of specific pieces of general information such as name and address, for which there is no reasonable expectation of confidentiality - indeed, little more than could be expected from a telephone directory. A telephone directory is not a wiretap. Likewise, this bill would not allow the acquisition of content without a court order. That said, I am not completely indifferent as to the passing of this bill - I believe that, as always when privacy is concerned, we should proceed cautiously, but not immediately and indignantly strike this bill down as an affront to our privacy.
If you are worried, try:
- IPsec
- Tor
- SSH
- SSL
- GnuPG
etc, etc.
P.S. Mr. Van Loan: A rotary telephone sits atop my desk. I use it regularly.
We have WYSIWYG editors.
Edit with (vi, emacs, other visual editor); browse in source mode. WYSIWYG.