There are two main reasons that I know of to develop software for free 1) You have some other source of money and you are developing a tool to make you life easier. Free maintenance by strangers is appealing - Apache for example 2) You give the software away and then sell your expertise using the software either as an advertisement or as the platform for your services - Linux for example
Someone always pays in the end. Either with money or with time. If you decide that the benifits of free software (Kudos, support, community, advertising) outweigh the costs (time, salary) then do it!
You are correct, I could easily tell my little children's cries from any strangers. Unfortunately for you, you are broadcasting the sound of your babies crying to all the surrounding houses.
I could just record your baby's cries and then play them back to you. More likely (if your monitor was a problem) I would buy you a good baby monitor on a different frequency from my Wifi and then arrange playdates and share tea.
If you want a wysiwyg editor for CSS, I think that Stylizer comes pretty close. I am a happy owner of this software. As a fulltime C++ programmer / part-time DJango developer I don't have time to learn / edit CSS any other way.
See the CDC page (copied below):
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm
For up to the minute data: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/whatsnew.htm?s_cid=tw_epr_68http://twitter.com/CDCemergency
CDC page pasted into comment: What is swine flu?
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people.
Are there human infections with swine flu in the U.S.?
In late March and early April 2009, cases of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas. Other U.S. states have reported cases of swine flu infection in humans and cases have been reported internationally as well. An updated case count of confirmed swine flu infections in the United States is kept at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm CDC and local and state health agencies are working together to investigate this situation.
Is this swine flu virus contagious?
CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it not known how easily the virus spreads between people.
What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.
How does swine flu spread?
Spread of this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.
How can someone with the flu infect someone else?
Infected people may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.
What should I do to keep from getting the flu? First and most important: wash your hands. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food. Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Are there medicines to treat swine flu?
Yes. CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with these swine influenza viruses. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body. If you get sick, antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within 2 days of symptoms).
As you said, there is no point trying to explain something complex (us) by creating something more complex (god) and then calling it a day. You need to understand by leaving god unexplained you leave us unexplained too.
He then compares this to Darwin's theory of evolution, where every entity is explained by a simpler entity (its genetic parent) until you get to an entity so simple everyone can agree that it doesn't need explaining.
Perhaps because most tests are more geared towards performance in a wide range of tasks (what you are geared for out of school) as opposed to performance in very specific, specialised tasks (what you do in most jobs).
If this is an explanation or a bias is up for interpretation.
You are an inspiration. Well done! I hope that you go far.
I had a similar background, starting with batch file hacking at a very early age (I created a boot menu to choose games and developed from there).
When I was 13 I started working for my father's small company Technman Electronics as a programmer. Now I have a Computer Science and Management degree under by belt and have had several fulltime jobs, none of which I have found hard enough. I still do a lot of programming on the side and have a simple consultancy - Widget 5
It has been my experience that only about 1 in 20 programmers really understands their job and knows how to do it really really well. Everyone else works so much slower you can spot them from a mile away. A really good programmer tends to have less code to maintain because they simply make maintance free code!
Hopefully I can grow the list of people who know me directly and are looking for custom software. I also hope that I don't look like an arrogant person in the process, because sometimes I feel like one.
If you want to allow others to build on your work and force them to allow you to build on theirs you use GPL.
Without a license like GPL, your customers are not allowed to build on your work and re-distribute.
If you receive source someone else provided to you under GPL (i.e linux), the fact that you can modify and re-distribute it is a favor to you from them. If you then distribute changes, your contributions benifit everyone, especially the origional authors.
GPL is best used for tools that are not your key products, i.e don't work on Apache if you make webserver software - only if you use it a lot.
Although I love the idea of a core designed specifically for parallel processing, it is another case where you are asking all programmers to switch to your model before you can make any money. Just like the x86->Arm switch, it is going to be very very very hard.
I prefer the approach currently taken by Intel and AMD to process x86 instuctions out of order, with multiple instructions per clock and then reorder the results. Split this over a small enough number of cores to comprehend and throw some great tools at it and everything works fine.
There are some awesome tricks being used to make serial x86 instructions parallel, and I imagine there is a lot more room to improve in that area before we need to reinvent the entire instruction set. Compilers are getting better and better at enabling this parallelism. Don't give up on x86 / x64 just yet!
Grid Tie systems still use a battery to store generated power. However, they "Buy" power from the grid when you are using more than you are generating and your batteries are quite flat. If you have full batteries and you are generating, they "Sell" extra power. To "Sell" power and get paid, you need a special meter.
If the grid gets turned off, in your house it is business as usual. However, buying power is no longer an option. If you turn off the fridge and the A/C, you might be just fine for a couple of days without the grid.
Grid tie lets you save on batteries (which are really expensive)
As far as I am concerned, political correctness is the act of phrasing your own speech in a less offensive manner. Censorship is muzzling someone else's speech which you don't like.
As I understand it, the difference is in the nature of the battle.
RTT games are those where you start with a certian set of troops and have to guide those troops through an engagement. You don't normally get any more, and the game is usually over when that one battle is won or lost.
RTS games are larger, or longer - they are made up of many battles. You build a base, create armies and have several battles.
Slashdot Mirror
Do you know for sure that you wouldn't have done as well or better without this sort of punishment?
There are two main reasons that I know of to develop software for free
1) You have some other source of money and you are developing a tool to make you life easier. Free maintenance by strangers is appealing - Apache for example
2) You give the software away and then sell your expertise using the software either as an advertisement or as the platform for your services - Linux for example
Someone always pays in the end. Either with money or with time. If you decide that the benifits of free software (Kudos, support, community, advertising) outweigh the costs (time, salary) then do it!
You are correct, I could easily tell my little children's cries from any strangers. Unfortunately for you, you are broadcasting the sound of your babies crying to all the surrounding houses.
I could just record your baby's cries and then play them back to you. More likely (if your monitor was a problem) I would buy you a good baby monitor on a different frequency from my Wifi and then arrange playdates and share tea.
If you want a wysiwyg editor for CSS, I think that Stylizer comes pretty close. I am a happy owner of this software. As a fulltime C++ programmer / part-time DJango developer I don't have time to learn / edit CSS any other way.
A 6-million core Beowulf cluster? ;)
http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/whatsnew.htm?s_cid=tw_epr_68 http://twitter.com/CDCemergency
CDC page pasted into comment:
What is swine flu?
Swine Influenza (swine flu) is a respiratory disease of pigs caused by type A influenza viruses that causes regular outbreaks in pigs. People do not normally get swine flu, but human infections can and do happen. Swine flu viruses have been reported to spread from person-to-person, but in the past, this transmission was limited and not sustained beyond three people.
Are there human infections with swine flu in the U.S.?
In late March and early April 2009, cases of human infection with swine influenza A (H1N1) viruses were first reported in Southern California and near San Antonio, Texas. Other U.S. states have reported cases of swine flu infection in humans and cases have been reported internationally as well. An updated case count of confirmed swine flu infections in the United States is kept at http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/investigation.htm CDC and local and state health agencies are working together to investigate this situation.
Is this swine flu virus contagious?
CDC has determined that this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is contagious and is spreading from human to human. However, at this time, it not known how easily the virus spreads between people.
What are the signs and symptoms of swine flu in people?
The symptoms of swine flu in people are similar to the symptoms of regular human flu and include fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting associated with swine flu. In the past, severe illness (pneumonia and respiratory failure) and deaths have been reported with swine flu infection in people. Like seasonal flu, swine flu may cause a worsening of underlying chronic medical conditions.
How does swine flu spread?
Spread of this swine influenza A (H1N1) virus is thought to be happening in the same way that seasonal flu spreads. Flu viruses are spread mainly from person to person through coughing or sneezing of people with influenza. Sometimes people may become infected by touching something with flu viruses on it and then touching their mouth or nose.
How can someone with the flu infect someone else?
Infected people may be able to infect others beginning 1 day before symptoms develop and up to 7 or more days after becoming sick. That means that you may be able to pass on the flu to someone else before you know you are sick, as well as while you are sick.
What should I do to keep from getting the flu?
First and most important: wash your hands. Try to stay in good general health. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids, and eat nutritious food. Try not touch surfaces that may be contaminated with the flu virus. Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
Are there medicines to treat swine flu?
Yes. CDC recommends the use of oseltamivir or zanamivir for the treatment and/or prevention of infection with these swine influenza viruses. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaler) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing in your body. If you get sick, antiviral drugs can make your illness milder and make you feel better faster. They may also prevent serious flu complications. For treatment, antiviral drugs work best if started soon after getting sick (within 2 days of symptoms).
How long can an infected person spread swine
The CDC actually advises to use a tissue and throw away as a preference, and the sleeve only if you don't have tissues available.
"Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it. "
See: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm
Sorry this is offtopic, but I love this stuff...
The argument you so elegantly summarise is similar what Dawkins (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UX5lc80YzKk) calls a "Skyhook".
As you said, there is no point trying to explain something complex (us) by creating something more complex (god) and then calling it a day. You need to understand by leaving god unexplained you leave us unexplained too.
He then compares this to Darwin's theory of evolution, where every entity is explained by a simpler entity (its genetic parent) until you get to an entity so simple everyone can agree that it doesn't need explaining.
Perhaps because most tests are more geared towards performance in a wide range of tasks (what you are geared for out of school) as opposed to performance in very specific, specialised tasks (what you do in most jobs).
If this is an explanation or a bias is up for interpretation.
Wicked post dude. +1 Inspirational
Focus your attention and passion on what really counts.
You are an inspiration. Well done! I hope that you go far.
I had a similar background, starting with batch file hacking at a very early age (I created a boot menu to choose games and developed from there).
When I was 13 I started working for my father's small company Technman Electronics as a programmer. Now I have a Computer Science and Management degree under by belt and have had several fulltime jobs, none of which I have found hard enough. I still do a lot of programming on the side and have a simple consultancy - Widget 5
It has been my experience that only about 1 in 20 programmers really understands their job and knows how to do it really really well. Everyone else works so much slower you can spot them from a mile away. A really good programmer tends to have less code to maintain because they simply make maintance free code!
Hopefully I can grow the list of people who know me directly and are looking for custom software. I also hope that I don't look like an arrogant person in the process, because sometimes I feel like one.
If you want to allow others to build on your work and force them to allow you to build on theirs you use GPL.
Without a license like GPL, your customers are not allowed to build on your work and re-distribute.
If you receive source someone else provided to you under GPL (i.e linux), the fact that you can modify and re-distribute it is a favor to you from them. If you then distribute changes, your contributions benifit everyone, especially the origional authors.
GPL is best used for tools that are not your key products, i.e don't work on Apache if you make webserver software - only if you use it a lot.
*I'm not a GPL expert, just a user*
Although I love the idea of a core designed specifically for parallel processing, it is another case where you are asking all programmers to switch to your model before you can make any money. Just like the x86->Arm switch, it is going to be very very very hard.
I prefer the approach currently taken by Intel and AMD to process x86 instuctions out of order, with multiple instructions per clock and then reorder the results. Split this over a small enough number of cores to comprehend and throw some great tools at it and everything works fine.
There are some awesome tricks being used to make serial x86 instructions parallel, and I imagine there is a lot more room to improve in that area before we need to reinvent the entire instruction set. Compilers are getting better and better at enabling this parallelism. Don't give up on x86 / x64 just yet!
The main advantage of AC is the ability to use AC-AC transformers for cheap voltage changes.
Grid Tie systems still use a battery to store generated power. However, they "Buy" power from the grid when you are using more than you are generating and your batteries are quite flat. If you have full batteries and you are generating, they "Sell" extra power. To "Sell" power and get paid, you need a special meter. If the grid gets turned off, in your house it is business as usual. However, buying power is no longer an option. If you turn off the fridge and the A/C, you might be just fine for a couple of days without the grid. Grid tie lets you save on batteries (which are really expensive)
As far as I am concerned, political correctness is the act of phrasing your own speech in a less offensive manner. Censorship is muzzling someone else's speech which you don't like.
As I understand it, the difference is in the nature of the battle.
_ Red_Alert
RTT games are those where you start with a certian set of troops and have to guide those troops through an engagement. You don't normally get any more, and the game is usually over when that one battle is won or lost.
RTS games are larger, or longer - they are made up of many battles. You build a base, create armies and have several battles.
A good example of a RTS is Red alert, A good example of a RTT is Myth.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_(computer_game)