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| JOS Statistics - Recent Comments (Comments added for week ending Sun 29 Dec 2002) | View Other Weeks |
| programming games | Sat 28 Dec | deeskrad |
| I have always been interested in programming and computer science but ultimately ended up pursuing economics in college...I have one semester left. Basically I have a renewed interest in programming (at least as a hobby). I would like to understand what goes into programming games and GUI design. Actually I am pretty much interested in any aspect but I figure games would at least keep it somewhat fun for a while. If anyone could direct me towards a starting point I would aprreciate it greatly. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Eric Debois | www.Gamedev.net ... especially this page -> http://www.gamedev.net/reference/start_here/ If you feel like thats to heavy for you, take a look at blitzbasic. Its a basic compiler with built in DirectX functions. It has speed and features enough for most things. http://www.blitzbasic.com and http://www.blitzcoder.com |
| Sat 28 Dec | pac man | www.pygame.org Alot of games are useing more and more popular scripting languages for there logic...python being one of them. Python is simple and you can do some cool stuff with the pygame library. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Dan Maas | You might enjoy looking at the source code for some popular games. id Software releases the source to its games a few years after they come out. Dig around on ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com and you will find the complete source for Wolfenstein 3D, DOOM, Quake I, and Quake II... |
| Sun 29 Dec | deeskrad | thanks for the help!! |
| Living and Working in a Techie Backwater? | Sat 28 Dec | Dissatisfied in Deliveranceville |
| Greetings, my first post here. I live in a part of the midwestern US that doesnt exactly support a world class technology scene. I guess my overall question is, is it possible to be location-independent in the IT industry as a technology producer and stay sane AND make a decent living, and to cope with a tech hostile local business culture? A brief history: I grew up here, went to a local college that my parents couldnt afford on scholarship, and took my first professional job in the Bay Area because my other local offers around here were so incredibly lame. My degree was BSEE, but I moved into software early in my career a few years later. I graduated in the early 80s. Due to personal and family issues I rambled in several parts of the country for a few years (as an FTE, not a road whore). I moved back to my home area in the late 80s and I have been here since, again because of family and personal issues. I was laid off or fired from a succession of three different jobs at really crappy local companies, in the period in the late 80s and early 90s, and I have only contracted since that time - mostly to protect myself from the local scene. Heres what I have encountered in making these moves. This area (where I now live) is extremely blue collar (auto worker dominated.) I can just about guarantee you that if I tried to explain to a company owner or manager around here that I develop Win32 applications using Delphi and C++ their eyes will glaze over and they ask DO YOU DO WEB PAGES? No, I write the kind of programs that run on your PC in Windows! Oh, you mean SOMEONE does those? Uh... do you do web pages? Worker mobility in CS or Computer Engineering jobs is very low here. When people here find a decent development job that pays more than $50K they stay until theyre laid off or the company folds. Almost all techies here are FTEs. Contracting (my preferred mode of operation) is unknown here. The FTEs I know here are generally, absolute *pussies* (pardon the language), accepting any steaming plate of crap that is thrown their way as long as they get to build their little widgets. Many companies and managements around here pride themselves internally on being *extraordinarily* abusive toward techies. Example: a client I had before this gig essentially let a lifetimer techie employee hound a friend of mine out of that company in a shouting match. Ive been threated with death and/or financial ruin at one startup. Ive had several clients and headhunters make snotty and unfounded allegations about my character based on superficial comments in interviews. Getting pushed around and being treated like a 5 year old is the norm for most techies in this area. On longevity and business wisdom, etc: this area is littered with the ruins ofmany technology companies that collapsed because they either implemented an idea poorly or were completely mismanaged. In my span as a contractor (since the early 90s) I have outlived half the companies Ive worked with. The local chambers try to put a high tech gloss on the region but most companies here are sweatshops for those who code or engineer. On the quality of co-workers around here: extremely low. (sic: anyone decent who could make the choice has already left the area, as I once did.) I just gave a reference for a guy that did help desk support for a client for his entire term there, who believes that he is a programmer. He is being considered for a team lead position. (I smashed his illusions to size in a private exchange and I gave him a decent reference that sidestepped any consideration of his development abilities at all. Ick.) What Ive done: Ive specialized in working with smaller, ugly, high turnover companies that world class developers wouldnt flick boogers on. Example: my current client company has *NEVER* used internet email, so if I send them files I have to physically phone call someone in the company to check their FTP account. I suspect that the ultimate answer is to keep doing what Ive already been doing; form my own plans; perhaps look at developing my own product(s); dont do anything more than humor the employer or client du jour, and always keep a perspective on how absurd the situation is. Oh, yeah, and I DONT want to live on the road. I did it once. Right now, my wife and her family is here, so making a move is logistically impossible. Thanks for reading... commiseration and strategies welcome. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Ian Stallings | I worked in Las Vegas for a few months as a contractor and found the same kind of attitude amongst the locals. Basically they were all coming from other fields and would accept any job thrown at them. Although I wanted to stay because I loved the desert and Las Vegas itself I couldn't see myself working in a place where the IT community consists of a few tech companies, one game company and hundreds of small sleazy porno establishments. I came back east to Northern VA and have stayed in the area since. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Ed the Millwright | Dissatisfied (in Detroit?), The situation you describe sounds very similar to that of myself and colleagues in the San Diego area, which I don't think is considered a backwater. A friend in Portland reports that the situation there is worse than San Diego and Portland is supposed to be one of those up and coming tech centers. I suspect your experiences are not related to your being in a backwater but are average for the industry as a whole. Perhaps the valley and the research triangle in NC are different, but i think what you describe is what you'll find just about anywhere. I don't know the solution. I got out of VLSI design and into machinist work which pays more and offers more respect and job security though my wife still works in tech, although she is developing her own products on the side. The idea about developing your own products sounds like a good one. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Mitch & Murray (from downtown) | I'm guessing maybe Lansing, Michigan. Maybe Ann Arbor. |
| Sat 28 Dec | well cat | You're in Wichita too? Maybe we should hook up. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Ozzie | Midwestern US ? Sounds like Australia to me. |
| Sun 29 Dec | ac | For not being American: What's FTE? Tried to google, but without success. |
| Sun 29 Dec | Marc | FTE = Full Time Employee |
| Sun 29 Dec | | Cry me a river. It's funny. On tech sites people complain about their jobs. On finance sites people complain about their jobs. On sales sites people complain about their jobs. |
| Sun 29 Dec | crusty admin | On jobless sites people... oh!, wait, no they don't |
| Instant Messenger Services | Fri 27 Dec | Rasmus Grunnet |
Joel once wrote this text in an article called
Strategy Letter I: Ben and Jerrys vs. Amazon
Another extremely strong network effect is proprietary chat systems like ICQ or AOL Instant Messenger. If you want to chat with people, you have to go where they are, and ICQ and AOL have the most people by far. Chances are, your friends are using one of those services, not one of the smaller ones like MSN Instant Messenger. With all of Microsofts muscle, money, and marketing skill, they are just not going to be able to break into auctions or instant messaging, because the network effects there are so strong.I started out using ICQ when it just came out. It was great. A year later or so, when the whole IM thing took off, all my family members and friends that didnt use computers that much started to use MSN. In the end I was forced to use MSN Instant Messenger, or else I wouldnt be able to communicate with them. These days, I dont even have ICQ installed anymore. I do use Gaim though, but thats on Linux, and thats mostly because I want to be able to use MSN IM on Linux. It seems to my that Microsoft did infact manage to compete in a market, that was totally controlled by ICQ and AOL. Or maybe it was because they started out by taking all the new users, the once that didnt have an IM client. Since I dont use online auctions I dont know about the MSN Auctions, but you only hear about Ebay, so Im guessing that they didnt succed in the auctions sector. But still... What about the rest of you? Do you use MSN, ICQ, AOL or Yahoo!? Is it true that Microsoft also has taken over that sector or is it just my family and friends? Rasmus |
| Fri 27 Dec | Jan Derk | I don't chat (or SMS). Tried both once and found it a highly inefficient way to communicate. The main conclusion probably is that I am getting really old. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Slava | ICQ... and MSN a bit, but just because we have to use MSN at work (temporary need it for testing). You`ve seen my ICQ UIN, Rasmus, it`s rather old, so I`ve started to use ICQ several years ago. Tried out other messengers, but they all sux, especially Yahoo! - awful UIs, lack of features, etc. (of course, ICQ is a bit overloaded by features:) All my friends use ICQ, my contact list has about 150 entries... I`ve found that ICQ is very useful at work. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Stephen Jones | I use ICQ; beats the others hands down. What I really liked was the ability to send SMS messages for free from the messenger client and from the web. The trouble is that the phone company I sent the SMS messages to, Dialog GSM in Sri Lanka is no longer one of the partners - and that's after I got my regular contacts to change mobile provider to it! And I know I've said this somewhere before, but SMS allows people from third world countries to keep in touch with their relatives iback home without breaking the bank, and ithus has saved and will save more heartbreak than the whole internet revolution combined. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Better than being unemployed.... | I've been using a really old text / telnet based BBS system at http://mono.org since 1992, which preceeded all GUI based chat and discussion rooms, and it somehow seems to have survived well. Never used ICQ, AOL or MSN. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Napoleon Hill :-) | I used ICQ for several years, until I finally got tired of its UI and all its 'bell and whistles'... I was delighted by MSN's simple and useful UI, with only the features that I wanted, plus a few more buried where they don't hinder (and it's already installed). All my friends, family, and colleagues use MSN, so that's all I use. I expected ICQ to become simpler to use, and more slick... Or that another company would do it, but I never thought it would be MS, lol. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Sam Gray | I use MSN, AIM, ICQ, and Yahoo Messenger, thanks to Trillian. Won't catch me on IRC, though -- while I like keeping in contact with friends even when they're halfway around the planet, I'm strictly a one-to-one communicator. Group chat drives me bonkers. Frankly, I find the fragmentation annoying. I realize that each one probably has unique features, but I rather expected that various IM protocols would have become interoperable by now. Instead, the only solution is the rather kludgey method of using a multilingual client. |
| Fri 27 Dec | pb | AIM continues to appear to have a stranglehold but I expect MSN to take over since it is the platform likely to be used for business. |
| Fri 27 Dec | dmooney | It seems to me that everyone people I know use AOL and also may use their email provider's IM client (Yahoo or MSN) because of the email notification feature. I know one person using Yahoo just for that reason but he also often uses AOL. I know a few people w/ Hotmail accounts or MSN as an ISP so they are also on both AOL and MSN. I use Trillian also so I am on all four major networks. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Martin Schultz | I use ICQ as all my friends use it. |
| Fri 27 Dec | anon | I use jabber. It's an open protocol, and my friends use it. I especially like how all the implementations I've used have the 'debug xml' option, so I can send around the xml and see what it does, all in a nice gui interface. I've used corp icq, and didn't like how it was so obstrusive; nor did the file transfers work very well. Other than that, icq did its job with some nice features. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Lach | I used to use ICQ, since that's where my friends were. I was never very easy with the way it worked from the start, and each release just made it feel bulkier, slower and more stupid. Their introduction of ad banners was the final straw, but I doubt I would have stayed on it much longer anyway. I also used to use Yahoo... that stopped with their stupid gimmicky INVironments feature... I could see where that was going to lead. Now I use MSN. All the friends that I talked to on the old services and still want to talk to use MSN, and it doesn't have nearly as many annoyances as the other IM systems I've tried. That said, as the version number increases it's starting to annoy me more also. As for Trillian and such... I tried Trillian once, and gaim once and the UIs of both were foul enough to warrant almost instant removal. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Rasmus Grunnet | Personally I liked (or like) a lot of the features in ICQ, e.g. the SMS sending feature, but it's just too complicated for a lot of people, e.g. my little sister. MSN on the other hand is REALLY simple to use. You can do that many fancy things with it, but some people don't really care. I think the simplicity is one of the reasons that MSN got that big a market share. Although it sounds like a lot of people are still using the other clients. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Ian Stallings | I stopped using MSN because none of my friends use it. I mostly use Yahoo, AIM, and I also linger on IRC (undernet) as I have for years simply because I have come know people there. It's kind of funny knowing people for so long but never meeting them because they are on the other side of the world. |
| Sun 29 Dec | Lach | A lot of people seemed to like the SMS feature... this is probably something that would have made me like ICQ more (though certainly not enough to put up with the ads) if it had actually worked. Out of about 7 or 8 attempted SMS messages I only ever got one through. Didn't anyone else have these problems? Is it that ICq only works properly for SMS in North America? |
| Sun 29 Dec | Stephen Jones | You must check to see which companies accept the ICQ SMS feature. It works for my brother's telco in the UK and his ex-wife's. It also worked perfectly for Dialog in Sri Lanka until they went off the feature. For Saudi it appears to depend on the prefix. In general though the feature is excellent; moreover you can access it from the web so you can send SMS messages from any computer free of charge. |
| Sun 29 Dec | Stephen Jones | By the way? What ads on ICQ? I have never seen any using the control center and SMS feature: ditto for using the web site. |
| Sun 29 Dec | Lach | What ads? The ads on the actual message windows. Don't tell me they've removed them now or something? As for the SMS.. this was with a partner they had. Those 7 or 8 or however many messages I went to send were all to the same number, all sent while the person was in their house. Only one got through. |
| Sun 29 Dec | Trillian is the best | I actually like the trillian interface a lot. I find it as simple as any other IM to do straight chat, and it includes most of the useful features that are specific to each environment. I started out by using ICQ, but it quickly became slow and bulky, so me and all my online friends switched to MSN. However, all my college friends used YM (you can see where this is going ...), and for a while I actually had 3 messengers sitting on the taskbar. Now trillian does everything in a great way, and I like its UI the best, so I would have probably used it even if I was only on one service. In linux, its gaim, mainly for the multiprotocol support. |
| God and Computers | Thu 26 Dec | PC |
| Speaking of Christmas: Have you heard Donald Knuths lectures on God and Computers? If I were not a believer already I dont think he would have converted me. However, he doesnt seem interested in convincing anyone. I like most of his ideas, maybe because they resemble my own (even though Im not a Christian). He estimates that the vast majority of computer scientists are NOT believers. I wonder if thats true (and based on everything Ive read on cognitive science I think so), and if it is, I wonder why. Well I could guess, but I would like to see what you think. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Nathan | i read his book 'things a computer scientist rarely talks about.' it was an interesting read - it was a series of lectures he did on a random sampling of all the '3:16' verses from the Bible. interesting read. |
| Thu 26 Dec | PC | He talks about the 3:16 verses in the God and Computer lectures, and also other things. He mentions digital physics. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Ian Stallings | I just found them on Dr Dobbs Technetcast: http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_play_stream.html?stream_id=190 |
| Thu 26 Dec | Matthew Lock | I know of a few Christian computer scientists, and am a believer myself: - Larry Wall (Perl) - Fredrick P. Brooks (author of Mythical Man-Month) |
| Thu 26 Dec | Matthew Lock | I forgot, also one of the fathers of computer science Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662) was a Christian: http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps002.shtml |
| Fri 27 Dec | Alberto | Charles Babbage the man who arguably started the whole IT box and dice was a Christian and wrote papers trying to reconcile science and God. |
| Fri 27 Dec | PC | I knew that Larry Wall is Christian, but I didn't know about Brooks. The others mentioned don't count, in this context, because they lived way before modern atheism (which began after Darwin, late 19th c). And I don't mean Christianity, specifically. People in natural, social or cognitive sciences are less likely to believe in God, maybe because of the traditional conflicts between science and religion. I don't think there is any real intellectual reason for a scientist not to believe in God -- if there were, people like Wall and Knuth would be atheists. So one of my questions is: why do you think most computer scientists are non-religious (if Knuth is correct about that)? From what I've read, about half of physicists are atheists -- that's much higher than the rate of atheism in the general population, but still would not be considered 'most.' I don't actually remember Knuth's exact words but he either said 'most' or '99%' or something like that, of his colleagues do not believe in God. I think it was only his impression, though, not a real statistic. I also wonder what you think of Knuth's ideas expressed in the lectures. Near the end he briefly mentioned digital physics, which I happen to be interested in --I only wish I knew more about physics so I could understand it better. Digital physics doesn't necessarily lead to belief in God (I don't know if Fredkin is religious). But if the universe is a computer program, then it's reasonable to think somebody programmed it. And DP, if proven, would make materialism obsolete (if it isn't already). |
| Fri 27 Dec | sceptick | I suspect believers are in a minority in most sciences; certainly the proportion is probably lower than in other occupational groups. Personally, I've always found God to be a little like the big American cars like the Chevrolet Caprice - comfortable and useful for some no doubt, but hugely wasteful of resources and pretty irrelevant to real life |
| Fri 27 Dec | BDKR | >>> Personally, I've always found God to be a little like the big American cars like the Chevrolet Caprice - comfortable and useful for some no doubt, but hugely wasteful of resources and pretty irrelevant to real life <<< Most interesting! However, I feel this is more appropriate an analogy to religion as opposed to God. I believe in God, not religion. Cheers, BDKR |
| Fri 27 Dec | Phibian | 'People in natural, social or cognitive sciences are less likely to believe in God' I actually disagree with this statement. An alternate view: as you become a greater and greater expert in x scientific field, it becomes clearer how little we know about the way the world works and how unlikely it is that it all works this way by chance. It's like the various folk who spend their lives attempting to prove the non-existence of God/Jesus / whatever. Historically speaking, not only have they all failed (unlike those who 'debunked' the flat earth or the body consisting of four humours), but a significant number ended up as believers. I once read (from a fairly reputable source, although alas I did not write it down) that 80% of all scientists are believers. Granted, this was roughly 10 years ago - but still. The point was that there is (was) a much higher percentage of believers in science than in the general population - a contention that is certainly accurate in my personal observations. I'm going to try and track down that source again. Actually (and interestingly), most of my non-believing acquaintances have poor critical thinking skills and believe pretty much anything they see on TV or read (as long as it fits their world view). In an earlier age, they would probably be Christian - because that's what 'everyone' believed, and what people were told to believe. Nowadays, people who believe in God are 'not scientific', ignoring the 'conflicts between science and religion' or using their belief system as a crutch. In a 'me first' culture where belief is considered weak and inferior, it doesn't surprise me at all that my acquaintances with poor critical thinking skills are the most likely not to believe. Furthermore, it's very dangerous to make assumptions about the belief systems of other people. Just because someone is a 'scientist' doesn't mean that they don't believe in God (nor vice versa), nor that they are 'more likely' not to believe. Just because someone doesn't talk about their faith, doesn't mean that they don't believe in God. Heck, these days, just because someone is a priest high up on the hierarchy doesn't mean they believe the basic tenets of their faith (the Canadian United Church is a good example of this). Really, blanket statements like 'scientists are less likely to believe in God' should either go unuttered (because they prove nothing) or you should have a respected source to back up the speculation. |
| Fri 27 Dec | PC | [as you become a greater and greater expert in x scientific field, it becomes clearer how little we know about the way the world works and how unlikely it is that it all works this way by chance.] I absolutely agree with you about this. I had read survey results showing scientists to be less likely to believe in God. But maybe they just meant the traditional view of God. I hope you are right, and that people with good thinking skills are likely to believe, while most of the atheists are just going along with the crowd. My own observations confirm your theory. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Matt H. | I earned my undergrad degree in Mathmatics. For what I saw, an incredibly large percentage of mathmeticians are theists - they believe in _SOMEBODY_. Mostly because the design of the universe is so elegant. You see this grand architecture enough, and you have to start to believe in an architect. Just look at the fibonacci sequence. Once you believe in Natural Law or Meta-Physics, you have to have someone that wrote the law. Enter God. Just my $0.02. I saw a LOT of athiests in Biology, mostly because of the influence of Darwin and the idea that theism is 'unscientific.' JMHO. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Ian Stallings | I personally believe in god because he(?) has touched my life in so many ways and continues to bless me every day. It's not something that I would argue with someone over but it does provide me strength to continue when the going gets tough. Maybe it's all just an illusion I fool myself with. But if so, it's a good one and I'd rather hedge my bets just in case ;-) I don't see why science and god can't coexist. But I can see why religion and it's control over thought strike fear in a scientists heart. I certainly like to consider myself a free thinker and anyone or anything imposing on that I oppose. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Tim Sullivan | [as you become a greater and greater expert in x scientific field, it becomes clearer how little we know about the way the world works and how unlikely it is that it all works this way by chance.] See, as a programmer you should know that this doesn't pass logical tests. Just because you don't know how something works does not mean that it must be some greater power. I don't know how my DVD player works, but I'm pretty sure it's not a divine mystery. I find it shocking that people jump to these huge conclusions (read: God) because 'we don't have any better answer'. Well, if you don't have a better answer, keep looking until you get one. Just giving up, and saying 'it must be because of God' is a weak answer, at best. You might as well start saying that they Fey have taken your keys, and that ogres live under the bridge. Look harder, Homer. :-) |
| Fri 27 Dec | PC | Saying it must be because of God is not giving up. It's just an acknowledgement that it didn't happen by chance. Being a scientist and trying to understand things better can be a way of appreciating God. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Tim Sullivan | 'Didn't happen by chance?' The only reason to acknowledge that is because you've given up on other answers. Just because you don't have a solution doesn't mean the solution is God. It's a cop out, and simple one at that. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Matthew Lock | > I knew that Larry Wall is Christian, but I didn't know > about Brooks. > The others mentioned don't count, in this context, > because they lived way before modern atheism (which > began after Darwin, late 19th c). I understand what you mean in that before the 19th most people considered themselves Christian by default, but Pascal was more than just a nominal Christian. 'What a vast distance there is between knowing God and loving him . . . Human things must be known to be loved: but Divine things must be loved to be known. ' [http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps002.shtml] |
| Fri 27 Dec | PC | I agree with that. We have no way to perceive God unless our heart is open. You can't perceive God with the physical senses. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Tim Sullivan | > You can't perceive God with the physical senses. *sigh*. That's awfully convienent. So, science has to prove its theories, but religion gets off with 'I feel it'. That doesn't cut it. If I were to tell you that I just 'feel' that there are 200 Gods, and they war among each other, and that's what causes the weather, you'd think I was crazy. Is it impossible? No. Not at all. However, there is no evidence of one or more Gods, other than things that human beings have written, or said. So until I see something, anything that provides evidence that there is a God (and don't tell me I need to 'feel' it, because feelings are not hard evidence), I'll remain skeptical. Just as I remain skeptical that there are ghosts, space aliens, ESP, Loch Ness' monster, Bigfoot and magical cult cloners from Quebec. However, unlike you, I'm open to the possibility that I'm wrong. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Tim Sullivan | [However, unlike you, I'm open to the possibility that I'm wrong. ] Sorry, that wasn't fair. I don't know if you're open to the possiblility of being wrong or not. :-) |
| Fri 27 Dec | Scot | I think there is enough evidence that if someone wants to believe they can reasonably do so. And there's enough lack of evidence that not everyone is compeled (sp?) to believe. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Tim Sullivan | Scot: What evidence is that? |
| Fri 27 Dec | PC | [You can't perceive God with the physical senses. That's awfully convienent. So, science has to prove its theories, but religion gets off with 'I feel it'.] No, there are lots of things you can't perceive with the physical senses, but science is still able to prove them. Physicists already have evidence that higher dimensions exist. And, of course, physics has evidence for many strange things we can't perceive. There is nothing to prevent science from finding evidence for the existence of 'supernatural' beings. Aside from lack of funding, that is. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Tim Sullivan | [There is nothing to prevent science from finding evidence for the existence of 'supernatural' beings. Aside from lack of funding, that is.] Unless, of course, if there isn't one. Like I said, I'm open to the possibility that there IS a God (or Gods), however I've yet to see or hear anything that shows that there MIGHT be. Without this, I have to maintain my position that I won't just believe something because you (or someone else) tells me that they believe it. Think about this very long and very hard: besides what you've been told, or read, how do you know there is a God? |
| Fri 27 Dec | Matt H. | Think about this very long and very hard: besides what you've been told, or read, how do you know there is a God? ------ Can you catch the wind? See a Breeze? It's presence is revealed by the leaves on a tree. An image of my faith in the unseen ... |
| Fri 27 Dec | Jan Derk | This must be discussion 100,000,001 about God(s) existing or not. Can be fun nonetheless, but it is a discussion on auto-reverse. Some believe in Donar, Buddha, Allah, Zeus, God, Shiva and some don't. A far more interesting topic would be: Why is religion so often misused to justify violence? and what can the we do about it to solve that? Now go and answer those questions and the world will be a better place. It's like the Israelian/Palestinian conflict: Everybody thinks that the conflict is between Muslims and Jews. That's not at all the case. It is between those who want to peacefully coexist and those who want to drive the others into the sea. Religion is being misused by extremists to justify their violence. Until a majority of people notices that, we are condemned to repeating history. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Tim Sullivan | > Can you catch the wind? >See a Breeze? > It's presence is revealed by the leaves on a tree. >An image of my faith in the unseen ... So you believe in something you can't see or understand, simply because you also believe in the wind? :-) I understand it's a simile, but you're not comparing it to anything, so you've given me nothing to work with. It also seems a little like groping to me, and is nothing like evidence. It also doesn't answer the question I asked (that you quoted): what causes you to believe in God, besides that which you were told or read. |
| Fri 27 Dec | PC | [Think about this very long and very hard: besides what you've been told, or read, how do you know there is a God?] I have already thought about it long and hard, for most of my life. My belief does not come from what I was told. I was told there is no God. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Tim Sullivan | PC - [I have already thought about it long and hard, for most of my life. My belief does not come from what I was told. I was told there is no God.] See, I find this particularly interesting! What is it that caused you to move from atheism to theism (I'm assuming Christianity - cirrect me if I'm wrong)? What is your logic for embracing God over, say, Budda, or Zeus? |
| Fri 27 Dec | PC | The word 'God' doesn't mean a Christian God. |
| Fri 27 Dec | robert | ' The only reason to acknowledge that is because you've given up on other answers. Just because you don't have a solution doesn't mean the solution is God. It's a cop out, and simple one at that. ' Or, a definition, if you like. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Matt H. | Wow. I'll post something more on monday. One thing though: Do you believe that lincoln lived and signed the emancipation proclimation? What about Julius Ceaser? Did he invade Gaul? Why? The documents that 'prove' this are over a thousand years old, and have numerous translation errors and omissions. Somehow, you've got to weigh the evidence on such matters and come to a conclusion. I came to mine. 1,000 years ago, Thomas Aquinas argued very eloquently that God can be discovered through reason. (This is the renesseance explanation of truth - that is is 'self evident' - the classical definition of Truth is that it is an attribute of God's Character shown through divine releavion. Because that's arguably circular logic, I'll stick to the 'newer' definition.) I have a very good friend who wrote her philosophy thesis on reconciling Christian Ethics with Artistotilan ethics. One of her conclusions was that, had Artistotle been born a bit later, he'd have been a Christian. In other words, she argued that the world-views are compatible because they started with an honest search for truth - and Truth is a REAL THING (TM), that can actually be found. (This is contradictory to the modern definition of truth, that truth is whatever you believe it to be. I never did like relativism ...) Sooner or later, when your start looking at the universe, you see a designer. You see a plan, you need a planner. You see a miracle - you need a God. (When you hit meta-physics it seems pretty simple: In order for the Nazis to be bad, we need a universal standard of good and evil. In hearts, we mostly believe in this standard ... who wrote it?) Not to add too much, but in my searching and research, I came to the conclusion that Jesus Christ was a real person who claimed to be God in the flesh. My choices were simple: Either he was a lunatic, a liar, or the Lord. A bit more research, a few more things (11 disciples died for thier faith; they died because they believe they had seen this man rise from the dead; who would die to protect a lie?) and I made my choice. Whew. I've borrowed pretty heavily from CS Lewis so far. I'll stop here for now ... |
| Fri 27 Dec | Matt H. | PS: Ceaser is more like 2,000 years old. Lincoln is more like 100. So I averaged ... :-) |
| Fri 27 Dec | Matt H. | Heh. BTW, most of those arguments I was told or read. Are you asking for the 'personal experience' end of it? I've never heard the voice of God, but I have had a few experiences. I'll think on it over the weekend ... |
| Fri 27 Dec | Scot | Tim, there are different types of evidence. However, in order to find evidence for something as specific as Chistianity I think you would have to examine the historical record. Maybe we could limit the scope of the question? |
| Fri 27 Dec | Tj | The main thing is that even if god existed, what does it matter? It's a conceptual leap from believing in a god to worshipping god. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Lach | 'But if so, it's a good one and I'd rather hedge my bets just in case ;-)' If a god lets someone into 'heaven' for hedging their bets but excludes someone else because they passionately believe in something different, is that a god that's worth believing in? 'Sooner or later, when your start looking at the universe, you see a designer. You see a plan, you need a planner. You see a miracle - you need a God. (When you hit meta-physics it seems pretty simple: In order for the Nazis to be bad, we need a universal standard of good and evil. In hearts, we mostly believe in this standard ... who wrote it?) ' Right.. so who made God, then? A bigger God? And who made him? 'Turtles all the way down' As for good and evil, purely human creations... torture causes pain in people, and I don't like being in pain, therefore torture is bad. Start from there and it's amazing what you can work your way towards.... I'd argue some more here, but having recently read the Salmon of Doubt, I'd mostly just be repeating the arguments of Douglas Adams hereon. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Scot | I agree Tj. It seems to me we would need to know alot of other stuff about the god. Is it good, evil, or simply disinterested. Does it care what we do? Why did it create me? |
| Fri 27 Dec | Tim Sullivan | PC: You seem like you're not interested in discussion, so I won't try to force you to actually participate by providing answers. Matt: Historically, yes, I believe in Jesus. I also believe in Mohommad, and I believe in Budda, and I believe in Ceasar. But do I believe any of them are god, sons of gods, or second cousins of gods? No. Hundreds of people died for David Koresh, and at Jonestown. Were those leaders gods? No. People sacrifice themselves for things they believe. What they believe isn't always correct. [Sooner or later, when your start looking at the universe, you see a designer.] Just because there is a pattern, doesn't mean there is a designer. It just means that there are rules. And rules do not necessarily imply a designer, either. If there needs to be a designer in order for there to be rules, why do we need to animate the designer as a God that is worshiped and loved? I also agree with the concept of a pure truth. However, the only way to discern truth is through facts. Your conclusions are drawn though perception, not fact (notably: seeing a designer where there may not be one, and assuming that the designer is God). |
| Fri 27 Dec | Scot | Lach, I understand where you are coming from on the torture argument. In regard to the origin of god, why does there have to be one? One of the names for god in the old testament is 'I am that I am'. Or as jesus said, 'Before Abraham was, I am.' |
| Sat 28 Dec | Lach | 'In regard to the origin of god, why does there have to be one? One of the names for god in the old testament is 'I am that I am'. Or as jesus said, 'Before Abraham was, I am.'' Well, the reason a lot of people believe in God is that they ask how else could the Universe have come to be, without realising that the circular logic there is how did God come to be. If God can just be there, then why can't the Universe just be there? |
| Sat 28 Dec | PC | Human beings are not capable of understanding what the universe is, ultimately, or how or why it was created. Those questions are beyond us and none of the arguments for either side are very persuasive. Believing that there is an ultimate God who created everything, and who is infinitely wise and loving and good, is mostly a personal choice. Donald Knuth doesn't try to persuade anyone in his lectures, maybe because he recognizes the limits of human intelligence. However, I do think it's possible to provide logic and evidence in favor of 'supernatural' levels of existence. It is also possible to point out the holes in the reasoning of Darwinists (who claim everything was created by chance and evolved by chance). (I DO believe in evolution, by the way, but I don't think it happens entirely by chance). Knuth does talk about randomness, which is an interesting concept and we often forget to question what it really means. I am completely confident that strict Darwinism will go the way of the flat earth theory, eventually. Science will discover some surprising things about the physics of the brain, for example. There's a lot of alternative and 'fringe' science going on, which will eventually become mainstream. You don't learn it in school but thanks to the web now it's easy to find information. But long before the web I used to find interesting stuff right in the public library, none of it taught in school. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Tim Sullivan | [Human beings are not capable of understanding what the universe is, ultimately, or how or why it was created.] This sounds an awful lot like 'It is impossible to ever run the four minute mile.' This is a statement, not of fact, but of belief. You say it as if you know it is true, but offer no evidence that it is true. Just because we don't know something now does not mean that we will never know it. [It is also possible to point out the holes in the reasoning of Darwinists (who claim everything was created by chance and evolved by chance).] Chance has nothing to do with evolution. Evolution is based on what mutations are more successful than others over a long term. Most fail, some succeed. [a lot of alternative and 'fringe' science going on, which will eventually become mainstream.] Again, a statement of fact that is not necessarily true. Just because it's fringe or alternative does not mean that it will eventually become mainstream. This is a prediction, not a fact. And alternative medicines, while they may have great benefits, must prove themselves. A great example is St. John's Wort. In clinical studies, it works just as well as a sugar pill. It's a worthless choice for seriously treating depression. However, that doesn't stop thousands of people from using it every year. Just because someone says it works does not mean it works. PC, you need to stop accepting things blindly without questioning them first. You make wide, sweeping general statements without any facts to back them up. There must be a reason you believe them - that's what I want to know. WHY do you believe that alt medicine will become mainstream? WHY did you make a choice to believe in Odin (or whatever non-Christian god you chose to believe)? 'Because I do' isn't a good enough answer. There is a source of all belief, and that's what I'm trying to figure out. |
| Sat 28 Dec | sceptick | 'It is also possible to point out the holes in the reasoning of Darwinists (who claim everything was created by chance and evolved by chance). (I DO believe in evolution, by the way, but I don't think it happens entirely by chance). ' This is total nonsense! Living beings do not evolve randomly. Mutations are random but which mutations become dominant is decided by their respective rates of reproduction which are not random but related to their fitness to the environment aka natural selection. You are presuming that things either had to be created according to a plan or evolved by chance; this is a false dichotomy. If you want a clear guide to traditiional Darwinist theory order 'The Blind Watchmaker' by Richard Dawkins. Why is it that when it comes to dealing with evolution (or language for that matter) that people think they can spout off all kinds of unsubstantiated rubbish when they would never dream of doing the same thing about physics or computer science? |
| Sat 28 Dec | Scot | Lach, I see what you're saying. There's a debate about that currently, IIRC... will the universe collapse in on itself and repeat the big bang ad infinitum, or is the universe expanding at an accelerating rate, indicating that it won't collapse? If the universe is in an endless cycle, why is the question of first cause relevant? In my mind it's relevant because of its observed nature. There is no observed phenomena (sp?) of something being created from nothing. Granted one could argue that the universe may fall into this category. Man... my brain hurts just thinking about it :-) |
| Sat 28 Dec | PC | [You are presuming that things either had to be created according to a plan or evolved by chance; this is a false dichotomy.] I said evolution doesn't occur entirely by chance. Evolution is more than natural selection. And in reply to someone else, I never said ALL alternative science will become mainstream. Obviously I don't have time to explain the reasons for all my beliefs here, so maybe I shouldn't have said anything. I read A LOT about evolution, alternative theories, etc. Anyway, some people get awfully mad if you question Darwinism, so I'm getting back to work now. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Tim Sullivan | [[You are presuming that things either had to be created according to a plan or evolved by chance; this is a false dichotomy.] I said evolution doesn't occur entirely by chance. Evolution is more than natural selection.] You said that Darwinists believe that evolution occurs entirely by chance. This is not true. [I never said ALL alternative science will become mainstream] And I never claimed you did. However, you never specify which ones will or won't, and made a sweeping and unproven statement. As I said before, PC, it seems like you're not interested in actually discussing anything, and I won't try to force you to. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Martin Schultz | God is real unless declared an integer. |
| Sat 28 Dec | PC | [You said that Darwinists believe that evolution occurs entirely by chance. This is not true.] The source of all beneficial mutations, according to Darwinism, is random. I am not questioning natural selection -- it's an easily observable fact. I'm questioning the assumption that the mutation process is never guided by intelligence. In other words, I more or less believe in the 'intelligent design' theory. Intelligent design, or theories like that (and some of them preceded Darwinism) says that evolution occurs, and that natural selection occurs. However, Darwinism says that random mutations plus natural selection, and nothing else, are the cause of all evolution. It's true that there is randomness involved in the creation of mutations, and it's also true that some evolution is caused by natural selection (when we use the word 'evolution' to mean any kind of change, not necessarily progress). However, the tendency (which is easily observed) of natural systems to evolve in the direction of greater complexity and greater intelligence results from the fact that the universe is intelligent. People can call the intelligent universe God or they can call it whatever they want. |
| Sun 29 Dec | F. Nietzsche | 'However, the tendency (which is easily observed) of natural systems to evolve in the direction of greater complexity and greater intelligence results from the fact that the universe is intelligent. ' That the universe is intelligent is not a fact, it is a statement. You are equating the universe with intelligence, this doesn't make sense. What does that even mean? Natural systems evolve towards greater complexity simply because those organisms that exhibited greater complexity as a result of random mutations proved more successful at producing offspring than less complex competitors. Nothing mystical there. 'The Demon Haunted World' by the late Carl Sagan is a great read dealing with Sagan's views on religion and god. |
| Sun 29 Dec | PC | [Natural systems evolve towards greater complexity simply because those organisms that exhibited greater complexity as a result of random mutations proved more successful at producing offspring than less complex competitors.] Yes, Darwinism depends on that premise. Hardly anyone questions it, whether or not they agree with Darwinism. But if you think about different species with different levels of complexity you will eventually see that less complex species are often the most successful at surviving and reproducing. Human beings are the only highly intelligent species that has succeeded in over-running the planet, but that's just because of our technology. Other highly intelligent species remained small in numbers over millions of years. And some of the least intelligent species have done extremely well. There are many other problems with Darwinist logic, but it's Sunday and I have a lot of work to do. (How come all the religious people have left this discussion?) |
| Sun 29 Dec | a | '(How come all the religious people have left this discussion?) ' It was Sunday, maybe they were all busy reading the Bible. |
| Sun 29 Dec | b.g. | 'It was Sunday...' a, where are you posting from this early (it's 08:49 AM EDT), to be saying that it *Was* Sunday? let us see: you're either in eastern australia, far eastern russia, new zealand, fiji, kiritimati, nauru, tonga, etc. |
| Sun 29 Dec | sceptick | ' Yes, Darwinism depends on that premise. Hardly anyone questions it, whether or not they agree with Darwinism. But if you think about different species with different levels of complexity you will eventually see that less complex species are often the most successful at surviving and reproducing. Human beings are the only highly intelligent species that has succeeded in over-running the planet, but that's just because of our technology. Other highly intelligent species remained small in numbers over millions of years. And some of the least intelligent species have done extremely well. There are many other problems with Darwinist logic, but it's Sunday and I have a lot of work to do. (How come all the religious people have left this discussion?) ' Nonsense once again! You haven't defined what you mean by over-running the planet, or given the remotest clue as to what you mean by 'have done extremely well'. Intelligent species will always be much smaller in numbers than less intelligent species because intelligence necessitates a lot of bio-mass. A worm can gorge himelf and his whole family off your corpse for generations, but you would need to eat hundreds of worms just for breakfast. Greater complexity does not evolve over time because of any evolutionary advantage over less complex forms. It simply needs not to be completly disadvantaged. It will automatically develop over time. Think of a massive field in which people go along periodically laying down bricks. As time goes on you will see some higher and higher wals develop because the law of averages states that as time goes on some bricks will be placed on top of other bricks. |
| Sun 29 Dec | sceptick | 'whether or not they agree with Darwinism' Can people also choose to agree or not with Copernican astronomy, Newtonian Physics, Boolean algebra and the periodic table? |
| Sun 29 Dec | PC | [Greater complexity does not evolve over time because of any evolutionary advantage over less complex forms. It simply needs not to be completly disadvantaged. It will automatically develop over time.] Right. Complexity automatically develops, and that should make you think. If the universe were not self-organizing, that would not happen. |
| Sun 29 Dec | PC | [Can people also choose to agree or not with Copernican astronomy, Newtonian Physics, Boolean algebra and the periodic table?] Well they could (and should) say that Newtonian physics does not completely explain physics. Similarly, I can say that Darwinism does not completely explain evolution. Science can progress after all. |
| Sun 29 Dec | sceptick | Newtonian physics doesn't explain all phenomena - the factor of scale is important. But no one goes around denying the existence of the force of graviy because Newtonian mechanics doesn't work at the quantum level. Or claim that the earth goes round the sun because of 'intelligent design'. Yet we hear the equivalent daily from people who haven't even bothered to grasp the basics of the theory of evolution. |
| Sun 29 Dec | sceptick | ' Right. Complexity automatically develops, and that should make you think. If the universe were not self-organizing, that would not happen. ' What on earth does this mean! If the universe is self-organizing then there is obviously no need for any supernatural being to organize it And what has the fact that local hotspots can contradict global entropy got to do with 'self-organizing universes' in the first place? |
| Sun 29 Dec | PC | [But no one goes around denying the existence of the force of graviy because Newtonian mechanics doesn't work at the quantum level. Or claim that the earth goes round the sun because of 'intelligent design'.] And I don't deny that evolution or natural selection occur, or that randomness (whatever that means) is involved. Newtonian physics doesn't explain everything physical, and Darwinism doesn't explain everything about evolution. But you're one of those 'skeptics' who can't be skeptical about the things you've been taught, only about the things you have been taught to question. |
| Sun 29 Dec | sceptick | ' But you're one of those 'skeptics' who can't be skeptical about the things you've been taught, only about the things you have been taught to question. ' Strange (or maybe not so strange) that you always end up by making personal criticisms of the person you are arguing with. You haven't bothered to give one example to back up your points. In fact if we did a search for all your posts I doublt if we would ever actually be able to find a single fact to back up your ideas. How about giving us a few examples of where in your opinion 'darwinism doesn't explain the whole of evolution' (though the phrase is as meaningless as everything else you have been saying in this thread!) |
| Sun 29 Dec | crusty admin | One day you non-believers will come to realize overclocked processors aren't that hot, relatively speaking. That's unfortunate. Yet most of you probably love the hell out of science fiction. Go figure. |
| Version control system in a one-man project? | Wed 25 Dec | Vladimir Golovin |
| Is using a version control system in a one-man project a good idea? Two years ago I transferred my project (a learning app written in Authorware) to another developer. And the first thing he did after I copied the project files to his PC was put everything into SourceSafe. I didnt use a version control system when working on that project -- every time I made important changes I created a copy of the entire project folder and named it accordingly, for example, Copy 09 -- fixed the main menu. When I needed to rollback, I simply replaced the working folder with the backup copy. Now Im facing the same question: use VCS or not. The project Im about to start will be a one-man project that will include text files, excel tables, pictures and Delphi and CPP sources. Should I bother using SourceSafe for this project if Im not going to add extra developers? Any thoughts will be appreciated. |
| Wed 25 Dec | Mitch & Murray (from downtown) | Yes, it is a good idea. I think SourceSafe is probably overkill for a small single person project though. Here's one that I like that is free for single developers: http://www.componentsoftware.com/products/rcs/ There's also a FreeVCS product specifically for Delphi that is going open source. The Delphi guys like it alot: http://freevcs-client.sourceforge.net/ |
| Wed 25 Dec | X. J. Scott | I vote yes. Sure it will be the same as your folder copying system but will have the added advantage of ease in checking differences between versions. Also, it's nice to be able to document the changes with the system rather that be constrained to what you can type in a file name field. |
| Wed 25 Dec | Frederic Faure | I didn't know about FreeVCS. Anybody knows how well it compares to CS-RCS and Perforce for small teams? Thx |
| Wed 25 Dec | mb | Absolutely. You already understand and use versioned backup systems. Why not let the computer do the work for you? Plus the computer can then do other work for you--create branches, mirror source on build machines (or another directory on your machine), let someone else help you for a bit with automated merging, etc. I'm trying out CVSNT (server & command line client) + TortoiseCVS (client) right now. Tortoisecvs integrates into the windows Explorer which makes it very easy to use. There are lots of other CVS clients too, mostly (like these) open source. The one drawback of CVSNT is that they reccomend running it (the server) on its own machine; I'm running it on a server which runs a whole bunch of services but isn't used as a workstation. I haven't looked much at the other tools mentioned here, though I think Perforce is good. Can anyone compare the tools mentioned so far? |
| Wed 25 Dec | Troy King | QVCS is excellent for one-person projects; I use it myself: http://www.qumasoft.com/ |
| Wed 25 Dec | GiorgioG | I believe Perforce allows 2 user-licenses for free. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Nitin Bhide | Strange that no one mentioned CVS. There is good quality CVS server on NT now (CVSNT check it on cvsnt.org) and WinCVS very good GUI client. Setting the server is bit tedious. But you have to do it only once. Also there is lot of help available on the Internet to setup the server |
| Thu 26 Dec | Jeff MacDonald | I highly recommend it, even for a one-peron shop (like the one I'm in). I use VSS because that's what I know, but I'm sure the other systems mentioned here offer the same benefits I've come to enjoy/need: 1. File/Project Commenting 2. Backup & Archive files & projects (just in case you don't totally trust your SysAdmin or their backup software). 3. Branching/Versioning - Separate 'demo' or 'limited release' versions for the boss(es), so you can keep coding the next/current version of the project while they view an isolated codebase. 4. Timestamping - For situations like 'so what changed on Monday that might have broken things?' 5. History, Rollback & Diff - Compare files against old versions, grab an old version of a file, what's the difference between A and B, etc. 6. Organization - Keep all files for the 'Get A Big Raise Project' in one location...Helps with the 'so where did I put that damn DLL I modified 4 moths ago' issues. I could go on...None of the above are specific to a multi-developer shop. Granted, it's definitely more work to integrate using SC into your build/deployment routines. I've found, however, that it's saved my ass on more than one occasion. In a one-person shop, you're probably working on about 40 different things at once. SC really helps with (a) keeping track of the things you've done, and (b) providing a safety net if something hits the fan (especially Diff & Rollback). I've found that the risks of the 'oops' factor are greatly reduced by using a SC system. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Simon Lucy | Other than saying yes, I'd use the following criteria when deciding which system to use. If its mostly a Microsoft shop, and its a single platform and remote working isn't an issue I'd choose Visual Sourcesafe because it integrates well with their developer platforms. There is a remote client available, and server but I haven't tried it in earnest enough to say yay or nay. If its a mixed platform shop and people are happy with using command line utilities and scripts then I'd use CVS. Personally I don't like WinCVS and I've not found it necessary to use a graphical interface to CVS. Remote use should use ssh. If there are a great many products with interlocking sources then I might well consider Perforce but that shouldn't be necessary for a single developer. Its worth bearing in mind that if you're an MS developer that the MSDN Universal Subscription gives you Visual Source Safe along with the rest of the development and target OS's. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Joe Grossberg | And don't forget -- projects that start off as 'one-man' don't always stay that way (e.g. PHP). Do what's a balance between flexibility (maybe you'll have other developers. later) and convenience (you don't want to spend too much time on project administration). Joe http://josephgrossberg.blogspot.com |
| Thu 26 Dec | w.h. | I use SourceSafe for projects at home and it works perfectly well. One or two users is about all that you want to have with SourceSafe, sadly enough, because otherwise you will rapidly discover how much it sucks. OTOH, Perforce has 2 user editions for free, so that's always a good option that will save you headaches if you want to upgrade, as perforce is quite a nice system. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Jeff MacDonald | Quick question to the PerForce users out there....Is there a decent GUI for it on a Windows platform? I'm using VSS and looking for a little more from my SC solution. I usually prefer a command line tool, but I'm currently wrestling with a syntax-overload issue (so many languages, so little time). A GUI that will get me up to speed quickly would be nice. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Troy King | Jeff -- try QVCS. It has a GUI and a command line, and even has an SCCS provider in the pro version. QVCS has been around for like a decade... it's quite mature. It's also very inexpensive compared to the other guys. |
| Thu 26 Dec | bdw | For a one man on windows I use winCVS. If the team gets a little bigger then switch CVS to a unix box as a server. Bigger still then buy something because CVS does have draw backs and no CYA via support. I have been using CVS for the past 6 or so years and it has held up. Also, I think a GUI or web view of the repository is good so others can critique even though the criticisim is usually useless. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Alberto | I think version control is essential, it's ingrained in me now to use it for all development, single developer or multi developer. Put your VSS database on another drive/server to your development box and sleep well at night, knowing that it's all backed up. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Vladimir Golovin | Wow. I didn't expect so many replies, thanks everyone! To sum things up, a version control system will be helpful even for a one-man shop. But what version control policy would you recommend? That is, how often should I check in and check out files, how to handle interlinked files, when to branch etc. My old folder copying system was quite simple: 1. I always 'checked in' the ENTIRE project (copied all its files to the new backup folder) to avoid problems with file dependencies. 2. I always 'checked in' the project BEFORE making big changes, for example, rewriting a core function that is used everywhere. 3. I also 'checked in' AFTER the changes I made were tested. 4. And finally, I 'checked in' MILESTONES, for example 'Copy 16 -- Alpha version for approval by the boss'. What policy would you recommend? |
| Fri 27 Dec | Robert Chevallier | You check in for each discrete piece of work (a new function, a bug fix, a successful refactoring -- can be more than 1 file). If you do continuus integration, you'll do it after and only after you made locally a build and tested the change, and you check in the unit test at the same time! You label your tree for each major step (alpha, beta, ... 1.0, 1.1) and if necessary you branch out (eg: patch for 1.0 when 2.0 is already underway) That is simple and it works for me. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Wayne | I never used a versioning system before I came here and found out that I'm sloppy. Anyway, after looking around, I decided on Perforce because it's 2 user version is free, it's got a nice GUI, the setup took about 5 minutes, and it took me all of 30 minutes to figure out the basics of it. Also, I've read that the general concensus is that CVS sucks for Windows and that it's a pain to setup. I havent' tried all of the Windows CVS solutions mentioned here, but after trying Perforce one time and seeing how easy it is, I don't feel like going back to Google to search for the latest hack to get CVS running on Windows, I just want something that works. Perforce just worked for me with the least amount of hassle. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Ken Klose | There are two ways to setup CVS on Windows, one IS a pain in the ass (the CVSNT server) and the other (using the filesystem) is simple and most appropriate to the one man project you are talking about. It will even scale to a few people if you put the cvs files on a shared drive. Get the CVS command-line exe from http://www.cvshome.org/dev/codewindow.html. Create the file based repository: cvs -d /some/dir/or/another init Create your project within the repository: cvs -d /some/dir/or/another import -m 'A description' projectDirName yourName projectName From then on in manipulate it with the command-line tool or GUI of your choice (WinCVS works best for me). Get the CVS manual at http://www.cvshome.org/docs/manual/ and refer to sections 2.6 and 3.1.1 for more info on the steps above. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Slava | Nobdoy mentioned StarTeam...looks strange. We have evaluated CVS and VSS, but StarTeam is by far the best, in my opinion. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Marc | Here is the problem with StarTeam: $2,499 for the server $799 per user 18% per year for support For a very small shop like ours (2 developers), we can't swing $4,100. Not when we get VSS as part of MSDN. StarTeam is the best product I've seen. But until they offer a low-price entry for 5 users or less, I can't use them. |
| Sun 29 Dec | mb | What is hard to set up about CVSNT? As mentioned above, I'm using it. I don't remember there being anything hard about setting it up, though the installer UI wasn't particularly good. (Same installer server and client.) Am I missing something? Also can anyone compare wincvs to tortoisecvs, in terms of how you actually use them? I really like having explorer integration and haven't needed any sophisticated management yet. (It is after all a one or two person project right now; in the future i'll probably want wincvs.) As for checking in, since it's just me and I haven't hit a stable release point, I check in whenever I have reached a good 'stopping point', typically a feature working, even if it's buggy. I try never to break my own build. I also build on two different platforms, so whenever I switch platforms I check everything in. With multiple people, the rules become different; in fact I'll contradict what I said elsewhere about the foolishness of a branch per developer if a developer likes checking in all the time like I am right now. But on a more mature product, you don't need to check in nearly as often. |
| Sun 29 Dec | Slava | Well, I was just wondering why I`ve never seen StarTeam users on this forum. Now I know why:) I know about the price so I wasn`t trying to recommend ST for one-man project. |
| No more "printer friendly" links.... 8-( | Sat 28 Dec | Denis Barmenkov |
| So, early i could see printer friendly version link at the top of each news page, but now i missed. Is there a new feature of CityDesk, or someone there clear check button [ ] Insert printer-friendly link with handler, and this appkied to entire site? But I dont like print these printer-unfriendly web pages, where 50% and more page area is white space under menues/banners/etc. Thank you. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Just specualatin' | Well, I think Joel removed them for one reason: In his recent posting he wrote, he'll publish his second book with exactly these articles. So, maybe it should boost the sales of the book. I mean, you call still print it, but due to a lot 'white space' you lose a few pages. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Joel Spolsky | Printer friendly links are still there, on every article. Not sure what you're talking about, here. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Just speculatin' | Oooops! Sorry Joel... I must addmit I was wrong. |
| Office space specifications. | Fri 27 Dec | mackinac |
| >>> easy commute to the Upper West Side (of New York City), windowed private offices (not easy to find in this city), and cool. <<< Joel, its great to hear there is still at least one company out there concerned about providing usable office space for developers. But I encourage you to include one more very important adjective in the description: quiet. The problem with quiet is that its a bit harder to measure. You can walk in to an office and see immediately that it has a window and door or is an appropriate size for a private one person office. To determine if an office is quiet, you have to sit quietly and listen for a while. You may have to get the HVAC turned on or off to hear its effects. Problems may not be immediately obvious. I have had just about every combination of office features. If I couldnt get them all, Id rate the order of importance as (1) quiet, (2) private, and (3) window (outside awareness as the Santa Teresa reports puts it). You cant really have quiet without private since an officemate is a significant source of annoying sounds. I had the importance of quiet impressed on me when I was working at a customer site in a shared windowless office with the desks shaking from the HVAC system. One day, when I needed to concentrate on a document for a couple of hours, I decided to borrow a temporarily vacant developer office. It was a private office with a door and window. Ideal, I thought at first. I gave up after about 15 minutes and went back to my own office. The constant howling from the air vent in the private office was worse than any problem in my shared windowless office. OTOH, I have worked in offices that met all three specifications and they are great to work in. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Joel Spolsky | Good point! Although I don't think I'm going to be able to convince the leasing agents of 70 story skyscrapers in New York to turn on the air conditioning in the dead of winter so I can check if they are too loud ;) |
| Fri 27 Dec | w.h. | Also, decibel meeters are cheap at Radio Shack and provide a good way to quantify noise levels and accoustic isolation. |
| Sat 28 Dec | mackinac | Finding quiet quarters may be difficult, but that doesn't mean you should just assume that it is impossible and give up on making the effort. HVAC systems are probably going to be running continuously, so you don't have to wait till summer to find out how much noise it is going to make. Central air distribution systems make some noise, but, in my experience, most only produce a low level rushing noise and are tolerable. But some can produce quite a howl, so you need to listen to check them out. In room heat exchangers are usually terribly noisy, but they have local controls so you can check them. Noise meters may be useful, but I have not yet tried one. The human ear is probably the best measuring device since that is what is going to have to put up with the noise. Just sit or stand quietly in a room and listen. It is important to let the leasing agent know that quiet is important to you. One reason office space for software developers is so bad is that everyone complains about it, but only among ourselves. We need to tell leasing agents, employers, recruiters, etc. that it is important. |
| Software Catalogs? | Thu 26 Dec | d00dmaster |
| Joel mentions that hes writing a column for a software catalog. Who looks at printed software catalogs these days? When I want software, I usually know exactly what I want, and if I dont, I can easily do research online. I can then search for the lowest price online, or just drive 5 minutes to CompUSA and buy it. I think the last time I ever found a printed software catalog useful was when it came from Beagle Brothers, and there was no web. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Dave | I agree with you wholeheartedly. Printed software catalogs are a waste of natural resources. There is absolutely no need to have a little booklet with pretty pictures of software boxes and write-ups. The same information is presentable via the Web, with the added benefit of actually being able to find what you want without flipping through pages of stuff you don't care about! |
| Thu 26 Dec | GiorgioG | The only time I find them useful is when I'm in the can or on an airplane, etc. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Troy King | Yep, I read them just to see what's out there. Most catalog websites suck and push you to the top sellers. The catalogs at least have those nice lists in them showing everything they sell. I've discovered a couple really nice products that way. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Joel Spolsky | That's why the catalogs are starting to have more 'editorial' content -- things that make them worth reading on the can. Thus the new outlet for Joel on Software. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Mister | The best thing for the can is an iBook with 802.11. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Jeff | I remember back when most software catalogs had some articles (this was back in the late 80's, early 90's). I assume it was so you'd actually read the catalog and hang on to it for longer. The articles eventually seemed to go away and the catalogs became just a listing of software for sale. I still have, in one of my many article piles, an article from a catalog about starting your own consulting company. It included advice on naming (i.e. 'never name it after yourself or family'), getting an accountant, etc. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Diego | I never read software catalogs before, but I subscribed just for Joel articles. I feel a little guilty since I wouldn't be able to afford 99.999% of the software there. Neverthless, I want to see what Joel writes. |
| Do you work this time of year? | Wed 25 Dec | Fat But Happy |
| Over here in Britain, its Christmas, and most of us are joining a gym today to work off the 40 pounds weve put on over the last week. I dont see any mention of the time of the year on your website. Are you all still crunching out code at this time of year in the states? The work ethic for countries that celebrate Christmas is pretty average about this time of year, is it the same over there? |
| Wed 25 Dec | Wei | nope over in Singapore I had a half-day on the 24th and full-day's leave on X'mas... no gym sessions for me though |
| Wed 25 Dec | Mitch & Murray (from downtown) | Own your own shop and you can work any 80 hours of each week you want, Holidays included. Hell yes. |
| Thu 26 Dec | kick | Non of your [expletive] business! |
| Thu 26 Dec | Jeff MacDonald | A lot of people take time off this time of year, so it's a great time to try to catch up at the office. I've always thought that (for me, anyway) taking time off at this time of year is a waste of good vacation time. Vacation is much more appropriate, say, sometime in March when everyone's in the office & barking at you and you're really high-strung and ready to check yourself into an institution. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Siddharta Govindaraj | Yep, I'm in singapore too, and we also get half day on 24 and a day off on 25..... but I'm working both days anyway :) |
| Thu 26 Dec | Howard | I'm with Jeff. I never take time off around Christmas or Thanksgiving (in the US). Nobody is around bugging you, nobody in their right mind schedules something during that week, it's easy work. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Sarain H. | I worked 16 hours on the 24th and 8 hours on Christmas yesterday. Yeah, it was pretty quiet and I got a lot done. Seems typical. Today, we'll see. Also, it's not OK to call it Christmas in some parts as that is considered to be evidence of intolerant western oppresion, etc. Here, people are still allowed to wear religious symbols to work but some companies have policies banning some types of religious expression. |
| Thu 26 Dec | fool for python | Absolutely!...I get more done the last two weeks of December than during any two months during the year. No interruptions. The phone doesn't ring. That guy who always talks to everyone about everything all the time endlessly spewing forth whatever pops into his head ad infinitum (you know the guy) is working his magic on the captive Holiday visitors at home. I can think. I can complete a three hour task in three hours. Impossible any other time of year. It is sheer joy to be a programmer! |
| Thu 26 Dec | Troy King | Sarain> Also, it's not OK to call it Christmas in some parts as that is considered to be evidence of intolerant western oppresion, etc. In other words, some parts are intolerant of calling it Christmas? How tolerant of them. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Sarain H. | Troy, Yeah I think it's kind of ironic too. |
| Thu 26 Dec | PC | I always work on holidays because it's a chance to catch up. But I take a few hours off to celebrate a little. And there were several office parties. |
| Sat 28 Dec | LuckyMe | Made enough cash this year to have 3 weeks of vacation, enjoying myself and thinking about life, goals and what to do in 2003. I can say that it is a great time since other family members are available and spending quality time with loved ones is great. |
| Sat 28 Dec | programmer | I work for a university, and I get almost two weeks off during Christmas, without having to take vacation time. I love it. |
| Protecting shareware | Sun 22 Dec | sudarshan |
| Hi I need some advice regarding good strategies to protect coping of shareware. Is there any software out there that provides this? |
| Mon 23 Dec | Slava | No problem, man, unless you want to have a 100% bulletproof software. It`s impossible, but you can built a good defence. I know a guy that programs the protection for several well-known shareware products. His protection module supports up to 256-bits encoding and each copy of the software only works on the computer where it was installed, i.e. the registration code will only work for the one computer, and will not work for others. Of course, I think someone could crack this protection, bit it`s not easy. Ask me directly, if needed. GL |
| Mon 23 Dec | Evgeny Goldin | As many other people will tell you - there's no and will not ever be a 100% defense. One friend of mine once told me his company invented a one person-year to protect their application which took a couple of month to some Russian hacker to break it. If you're application is popular so that many people will need it - it will be eventually broken. Period. I honestly didn't see it otherwise for the last 5 years. If it's not that popular so that only couple of fellows are familiar with it - then you may have some chance to stop breaking it, but I doubt that you're interested in this scenario .. If I'll have to deal with this problem some day - I'll use some simple 'serial number' approach and invest all my efforts into the product rather than it's protection. |
| Mon 23 Dec | Slava | Heh:) Well, the guy that wrote the protection module mentioned above, hacks a lot of others` protections in his free time, just for fun, he doesn`t distribute hacks. And he`s Russian:) I`ve used his protection myself for one of the shareware projects. Worked ok. Also I know that at least one of the products that use his protection is not hacked yet (Just made a search at one of well-known hack sites for the hack for the product`s new version -no results). So I think you need to make you software too hard to be hacked by thousands of newbie hackers, and update the versions (and protection) often, so advanced hackers will be always a step behind with their hacks. P.S. Evgeny, aren`t you Russian too?:) |
| Mon 23 Dec | Evgeny Goldin | 'Evgeny, aren`t you Russian too?:) ' Of course, I am. And pretty proud of it :) |
| Mon 23 Dec | Evgeny Goldin | Talking about hacks - breaking Java applications is a real fun, if one's interested. Obfuscators just make it more entertaining. |
| Mon 23 Dec | Evgeny Goldin | 'the guy that wrote the protection module mentioned above, hacks a lot of others` protections in his free time' Definitely, the best way to protect the software is to study how one can break it. 'Also I know that at least one of the products that use his protection is not hacked yet' Like I said - if it's not highly popular, it will be probably left alone. But if it is - it has no chance and nothing will change my mind. I didn't see any popular product that you couldn't get a keygen or patch somehow (forums are usually the best way). Nero, Total Commander, ReGet, TheBat!, OfflineExplorer, XML Spy .. just to name a few. (Just made a search at one of well-known hack sites for the hack for the product`s new version -no results). So I think you need to make you software too hard to be hacked by thousands of newbie hackers, and update the versions (and protection) often, so advanced hackers will be always a step behind with their hacks. |
| Mon 23 Dec | Evgeny Goldin | Oh, just before somebody will start flaming about Russians stealing 'our intellectual proprty' (I've heard enough of it) - I've bought most of the software installed on my PC (especially, those I'm using for years and waiting for every new build). |
| Mon 23 Dec | smm | You can take a look at http://www.aspack.com. |
| Mon 23 Dec | Slava | >Like I said - if it's not highly popular, it will be probably left alone. But if it is - it has no chance and nothing will change my mind. I didn't see any popular product that you couldn't get a keygen or patch somehow (forums are usually the best way). Nero, Total Commander, ReGet, TheBat!, OfflineExplorer, XML Spy .. just to name a few. Well, the only purpose of the protection is to buy some time for the software author, so he/she can sell several copies of the newest version before it will be hacked (and at this time you must have a new version ready:). About the popularity of the software...well, drop me a line in the personal mail, and i`ll tell you the name of the product, so you`ll be able to see if it is popular or not. |
| Mon 23 Dec | Jan Derk | Trying to protect your application against crackers can be really fun to do. You have to think like a cracker to protect against them. But remember that all the time you spend on implementing your protection is time wasted on implementing cool new features. So chances are you'll loose more than you'll win. Also, the more you annoy your legal users with arcane registration systems, phoning home and hardware locking the less you will sell. But if you want to learn more: http://www.inner-smile.com/nocrack.phtml Oh and be flattered if you get cracked, because it means that your application is worth cracking ;) At a certain period in time I worked really hard to protect a shareware application against crackers. The new protection managed to keep the cracks away for 6 months. We were a bit surprised that sales kept growing even after the cracks were out. My theory is that people that don't want to pay, won't pay. Another problem is that better protection will attract better crackers. For many crackers, cracking is like what's playing Doom to others. So make it really tough and the best crackers will have a go at your protection. There are also a few commercial protection tools which you can buy: http://www.siliconrealms.com/armadillo.htm http://www.aspack.com/ The problem with these commercial packages is that you share the same protection with lots of other applications. One of those gets cracked and your application is toast too. At least that's how it used to be. The last time I checked (which is some time ago) there were cracks or cracking tutorials around for all these commercial tools. But things might have changed. |
| Mon 23 Dec | Leonardo Herrera | BS. Don't put stuff in the way of your potential customers. If you are small, try with some 'honor' system. Many business have succeeded with this schema. |
| Wed 25 Dec | Vladimir Golovin | >> The problem with these commercial packages is that you share the same protection with lots of other applications. Registered users of AsProtect (www.aspack.com) can receive personal builds of AsProtect to make protection for every executable different from others. This prevents hackers from creating a universal AsProtect unpacker. Also, you can use AsProtect SDK to check whether the wrapper is present or not. Using the SDK functions you can make a really sophisticated protection. We've been using AsProtect for 2 years, and it has been great. I can recommend it to everyone. |
| Sat 28 Dec | Tony E | >>Don't put stuff in the way of your potential customers. If you are small, try with some 'honor' system. Many business have succeeded with this schema. Do this and you will get about 20% of the potential revenue. |
| Pie Splitting in a new venture | Tue 17 Dec | Philippe Back |
| Maybe do you have some field-proven methods for the following situation: Name: Pie Splitting Context: A new venture is to be started with people from different backgrounds, let say: - a technical kind of person (w/ good knowledge of the technical issues like platforms, tech team management etc) - a marketing kind of person (w/ a view on the market and good ability to spot opportunities) - a business kind of person (w/ appropriate contacts in the market segment, good background in the field (like 20 years experience) There is a product to be developed and be pitched to prospects, which have to be shown demos, being turned into customers etc. So, a first phase of investment on the 3 perspectives has to be done. Several expenses will be incurred during the development of the product/solution/service offering. When the product will be available, recurring sales will be done. Also, support operations will be provided for customers. It may also happen that money being collected from customers should be paid as advances to the investors as part of the ROI. To put ideas, the ROI period is expected to be something like 1 year - the venture being expected to be a quick growth businesS. Problem: How is the pie to be split between the 3 profiles ? Forces: - every profile is different and cannot be estimated rationally since there is a significant background in their respective domains. This is more or less goodwill. - There is an investment in time, devlopment effort, marketing and consciousness raising for quite a while when the product is being developed, meaning that this investment should be translated in dollar figures in order to be fairly compensated for each party. - Expenses can occur during the course of the development of the product (e.g. buying computers, printing advertising etc) - Sales can occur and the product of the sale (once material costs of sales and making have been accounted for) has to be splitted between the parties. - All parties want to be fair because they believe that it is the basis for a quick growth where everyone is committed to the success of the venture. Solutions: - We tought of splitting the investment in 3 x 1/3 on a time and material basis and then, split the product of the sales with repspect to sales (X%), technology (Y%), making of (Z%) and support (Q%). Each of those parts can then be splitted between the parties being involved in the phase (e.g; for Sales, the business person and the tech person work together, gathering prospects and building up a demo --> X% =n is splitted again in a % and b%). The splitting is decided on a per project basis. The first sales are used to refund the investment. But this is not as easy a we wanted because product development, sales, research etc are all occuring simultaneously in an iterative way. This is basically the same kind of thing as RUP in practice w/ lots of interwined workflows. Resulting Context: A documented compensation scheme is established and the involved parties are satisfied w/ the deal. Thanks for your toughts on this. |
| Mon 23 Dec | dunno wair | IANAL? I hope that's not a COM component. |
| Sat 28 Dec | tapiwa | IANAL= I am not a lawyer |
| Your favorite research projects. | Thu 26 Dec | Beka Pantone |
| Just for fun and as a source of inspiration, post here your favorite research projects. Software should be involved somehow. Unusual software ideas are also welcome. (Anything to help us all get our minds off J2EE and/or .NET as if they were the only software in existence, as the press and local bookshop would have us believe) Networking protocols for 3D Data http://www.web3d.org/WorkingGroups/vrtp/ http://www.m3d.org http://verse.sf.net Parallel computing http://www.nas.nasa.gov/NAS/Tools/ Image Based Rendering http://www.debevec.org Augmented Reality for architects http://www.cs.columbia.edu/graphics/projects/archAnatomy/architecturalAnatomy.html Digital document format for electronic distribution http://djvu.sourceforge.net P2P networking http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/chord/ http://kademlia.scs.cs.nyu.edu/ http://research.microsoft.com/~antr/Pastry/ Post yours. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Alex Chernavsky | Neural networks (real ones): http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/12/021223084110.htm |
| Fri 27 Dec | Wei | Eclipse: www.eclipse.org |
| Fri 27 Dec | Wei | Adaptive Communications Environment: http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/ACE.html |
| Fri 27 Dec | Alberto | My code bible. http://mindprod.com/unmain.html |
| Technical Writing Resources | Thu 26 Dec | Yaniv |
| Can you point me to some good online resources for technical writing? Guides to write specifications, requirements, user guides etc. What modules these documents should contain? What are the steps to follow? Any web sites where I can start? Thanks in advance for your inputs. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Matthew Lock | check out http://www.joelonsoftware.com |
| Thu 26 Dec | Alex Chernavsky | I don't know, but if you ever have a usage question, you can post it to alt.usage.english. Lots of very smart people on that Usenet group. For more information, see: http://alt-usage-english.org/ |
| Fri 27 Dec | Yoav | There's a Yahoo! Group called 'Techshoret' that is *the* resourse for English-speaking technical writers in Israel: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/techshoret/ (One doesn't need to be living in Israel, or understand Hebrew, to appreciate it.) |
| New Year Resolution | Wed 25 Dec | Andy |
| What will be your new year resolution? Other than watching the Matrix sequels ? :) |
| Wed 25 Dec | J. D. Trollinger | I resolve to become the kind of person my dog thinks I am. |
| Wed 25 Dec | Brad Siemens | Develop multiple personalities so I can live vicariously through myself. |
| Wed 25 Dec | Carl Sagan | Take over the world. And find a girlfriend.... |
| Wed 25 Dec | kick | kick some ass! |
| Wed 25 Dec | Nathan | marry my girlfriend. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Jeff MacDonald | Work to become a better programmer without forgetting what makes me a better person. |
| Thu 26 Dec | kick | what lousy resolutions you people have!! |
| Thu 26 Dec | Warren Henning | - Spend less time on AOL Instant Messenger - Get an internship at Microsoft - Spend more time with friends |
| Thu 26 Dec | w.h. | DNS resolution. Couldn't resist. Sory. |
| Fri 27 Dec | Alberto | To stop wasting my time reading this site :-) |
| Listing directory via Win32, C++ | Wed 25 Dec | Curious |
| I would be most grateful if someone can enlighten me on
how to do this. I can find nothing on google, and after
checking MSDN I tried the following code snippet, but it falls
over:
#include |
| Wed 25 Dec | Mike Swieton | I don't have any experiance with Win32 (Well I do, but so long ago as it not mattering and I don't have a windows dev box around), but I can take a stab at it. Take with a grain or 10e6 of salt, though. My guess is this: that cout<< line causes an error because one of myResults or myResults->cFileName is NULL. Some error checking is in order, I think. A quick look at MSDN makes me think that you need to search for the pattern 'C:\\*' instead of 'C:\\'. I'm guessing that you're just not finding any files and the FindFirstFile call is just failing because there are zero matches. But the MSDN page on that function seems unclear to me on the behavior when no files are present. A slight aside: Even when writing quick tests or quick 'n dirty hacks like this, use some error checking. I have often fallen into the trap of not using it because 'Well, it has to work!', and then been busted into writing the code anyway because I get errors. Merry Christmas, if you celebrate it. And have a merry today anyway, even if you don't! |
| Wed 25 Dec | Too-Many Windows Books | This line: LPWIN32_FIND_DATA myResults; allocates a pointer to a WIN32_FIND_DATA structure. You should change it to: WIN32_FIND_DATA myResults; and then change the function call to: myList = FindFirstFile('C:\\', &myResults); |
| Wed 25 Dec | The Anti-Bella | This is covered very clearly in MSDN, including sample source: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/fileio/base/findfirstfile.asp?frame=true The other guys have already pointed out some of the errors in your code. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Chris Tavares | Also, when asking for code help, just saying 'This causes errors' doesn't help. Please say WHAT the errors are. Compile errors? If so, what are they? Runtime errors? What happens? |
| Thu 26 Dec | Curious | Many thanks for your advice! |
| Thu 26 Dec | Dan Maas | In the spirit of Christmas, here is my directory-listing-on-Win32 code, feel free to use it. I use custom Array/String classes but it should be easy to figure out :)
void lsdir(const char *path, Array |
| Fri 27 Dec | Curious | Wow! Thanks! |
| Why all the flame wars? | Tue 24 Dec | Erik Lickerman |
| Im not sure that flame war is the correct term here, but everyone must have noticed that many developers and administrators are far too into their preferred tools, and way way too against other peoples favorite tools. You see it in this forum occasionally. Linux users claim windows always crashes. Windows fanatics attack any Linux bugs which hit the web. I had one guy trying to convince me that Java breaks the object oriented paradigm because it allows inheritence of data (in contrast to Perl, his favorite language which therefore had to be the most object oriented. I even found an hilarious, if somewhat sad, site called linuxisforbitches. My question is, why is this? My initial thought is that once a developer takes the time to learn a language and/or an OS, he is somewhat terrified that his system will go away because of lack of popular support. Another possibility is that humans are just naturally like this as exemplified by our views on sports and politics. Personally I think we are better off having two or three prominent worlds (If I understand Joels use of the term. Competition is just good, on balance. I do concede, though, that for an individual company, it is important to pick a world and stick to it. I dont know- maybe weve been over this before. thoughts? |
| Tue 24 Dec | Chi Lambda | I think the reason for all the 'flame wars' in computer technology has to do with the proportionally high level of intelligence in this community. I used to work with a professor for 2 1/2 years doing research. I had to deal with a lot of Ph.Ds, professors and university administrators in my job. And I can tell you that I've never seen such pettiness, stubborness, back-stabbing and the like as when I was employed in the academic community. You see, these people devote their lives to a topic of study. They become so proficient in their subjects (experts, in fact) that they can become like horses with blinders on. And when someone dares to refute their life's work so help them! My two cents..... |
| Tue 24 Dec | X. J. Scott | 'exemplified by our views on sports' I think this accounts for the most part of it. Us vs. Them. Human instinct. |
| Tue 24 Dec | Mike Swieton | I'm not sure why, but I think there are some important things to note: 1) It's not just techies. People are very often fanatical fans of XYZ company, team, product, etc. One of my friends is a fan of foreign cars over U.S.-made ones, for example. Another poster pointed out academic pettiness. 2) There isn't as much, it's just the more religious arguments tend to boil over more often and you SEE more of these flame wars. 3) There's usually a kernel of truth behind the arguments. I say I hate Windows and like Unix, because Unix doesn't automate the same thing, provides some better scripting facilities, etc. Windows has its own advantages, but you can't deny that Unix does too: It's just a *different* set of advantages. The issue here is that I tend to use one environment more, so I am more aware of the advantages of my environment. This isn't to say that all of these positions are true, but only that there is a reason people fight so much about XYZ being better. It's something to consider when you see such an argument. |
| Tue 24 Dec | Nick Hebb | Age, maturity, anonymity, and distance. Most people wouldn't flame someone face-to-face, but some use the internet as an excuse to eschew civility. It's Lord of the Flies in cyberspace. I don't mind the OS and language wars. It's a matter of people's livelihoods, and things are likely to get personal. I just avoid those discussions. The flames that bother me are the ones where someone is earnestly seeking help, and someone interjects a roast. The worst I've seen were on the linuxnewbie.org forum, where I've seen people flamed for being, well uh ... newbies. |
| Tue 24 Dec | BDKR | >>>> The flames that bother me are the ones where someone is earnestly seeking help, and someone interjects a roast. The worst I've seen were on the linuxnewbie.org forum, where I've seen people flamed for being, well uh ... newbies. <<<< These are the ones that are the most troubling to me as well. It's one thing to turn the burners on someone that is generally being a tosser, but the new guys don't deserver it. On another message board, which is unusually civil by internet standards, there is none of that RTFM garbage. We do 'suggest' that people become accustomed to using the manual and Google (which is almost as good!), but try to do so in a non-confrontational manner. When I worked for the Dept. of Corrections, there was a term for the con (convict) that sat in his locked cell and talked on and on about what he was going to do to so and so at such and such time with what. It was 'cell soldier'. In this arena, perhaps the term should be 'Keyboard Soldier'? It's allways easy to open that mouth when there is no threat of being 'tuned up'! Cheers, BDKR |
| Tue 24 Dec | Mike Swieton | About the flames where people are seeking help, I think it's worth pointing out that there are times (I'll say nothing about the percentage that these make up) when the RTFM and google answers (callous and arrogant as they may be) are indisputably correct. The canonical example of this is when people ask a question on /.'s 'Ask Slashdot' section, and the exact answer they are looking for is the first thing that shows up on google. There seem's to be a lot of these, too. Check out Eric S. Raymond's 'How To Ask Questions The Smart Way': http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html I don't mean to defend some of these people, because many are assholes. But at the same time, I hate looking at the FAQ for a product, and seeing the exact question the person's asked answered there in great detail. I know these types of questions aren't the types you're thinking about, but these are the types that *will* get you flayed alive any time you post a message, and I can at least to a point agree with the policy. It's one thing to be an asshole to a newbie because he's confused, but it's another thing for a newbie to be such an asshole as to ask questions without ever even attempting to get them answered themselves. I realize I am defending some of the real pricks a lot here, and I hate to take that perspective, but as an example: I spent several hours writing documentation for an OSS project of mine (note that I've got few users and no usage questions). I expect people to read the manual before asking me questions, and I would feel extremely annoyed if I did write it and people repeatedly refuse to use it. I admit that volunteers (because most of the support for e.g. OSS products at least, Linux forums, etc) often are very confrontational, but despite this post's meanderings, I think it is important to look at the other side of it. 'There are three sides to every argument: Your side, their side, and the truth' How true. Dunno who said it. |
| Tue 24 Dec | Mitch & Murray (from downtown) | I just think a certain kind of person just likes to argue. Insecure maybe? |
| Tue 24 Dec | Troy King | I'm someone that hands out both help and Google/RTFM answers (I never actually say RTFM, but I do hand out Google links). I do it because I think it's rude for someone to expect the effort it requires to answer when it is obvious that they haven't even tried to find an answer themselves. When pasting their question verbatim into Google provides many answers, along with debate and pro/con lists (like several questions that have been asked on JoS lately), why should someone else have to type that when it is so easy to find the answer with the tiniest effort? I love helping people, and ran a free programmer's newsletter for a few years, and had a site with hundreds of code samples, tutorials, and projects (all written by myself). I quit doing it for a few reasons, not the least of which was people that would write in questions for which I'd already posted answers, and most irritatingly, those that would ask for ready-made solutions to their homework problems. I even enjoy answering newbie questions, because sometimes it's helping someone understand that one sticking point that reveals the great programmer in them. But -- for someone to ask a question that reveals they're not a newbie, and at the same time reveals their complete lack of effort to find the answer themselves -- that just ticks me off. |
| Tue 24 Dec | Albert D. Kallal | What do you mean by all the flame wars? Do you mean in general, or in this discussions board? Looking at the last 20 messages…I don’t even see one flame. (and I am talking about the message root here) In fact, as more and more people use the net and discussion boards, I actually see less flames. There is always that initial boo ha ha into the first few months of a board. After that, people either learn some net skills, or learn their way around the problem people, or the problem people simply leave. Or the quality people just leave and you are left with a bunch of noise that no one cares about. I see in fact a marked decrease in flames these days. And the reason for this is simply that more people are learning net skills. It is a very good thing. Also, I see nothing wrong with some one claiming one system, or OS is better then another. There is no moral evil in that kind of claim. The real problem is making a claim without using the brain…that I do have a problem with! Gee, should I start a flame over this issue ;) (hehe…a flame war on the issue about flame wars.!!). Best of the season, and Merry Christmas to all. Albert D. Kallal Edmonton, Alberta Canada Kallal@msn.com |
| Wed 25 Dec | Erik Lickerman | Albert: Actually I consider this forum far more civilized than most, but even here you get a bit of it. It seems to me that Joel rips into Java on a regular basis (Java is my current preferred language/platform so of course I spend my days and nights plotting most horrible and bloody vengeance). Maybe it is going down lately. difficult to say. I was just getting at the point that some people seem to muster far more passion and specifically hatred, than the topics would warrant (my opinion of course. Maybe we should issue firearms to the Linux and Windows parisans and let them have at). |
| Wed 25 Dec | Mike Swieton | Erik: on the issuing firearms to zelots, check out the Vi vs. Emacs paintball match: http://www.linuxgazette.com/issue30/raymond.html :) Not quite firearms, but still pretty good! |
| Wed 25 Dec | mb | Maybe the linuxnewbie forum (never really looked so I can't say what it looks like) should add a disclaimer. ' Please email your question to yourself, then post it here an hour later.' Or something like that. Why? Because elucidating the question sometimes provides answers. Isn't there a story of some CS department where there's a stuffed animal outside of the TA's office, and before you go in the office you must first ask your question to the stuffed animal. Apparently the animal helps answer the question something like half the time. |
| Thu 26 Dec | Dr. No | But American cars do suck! Well, in some ways. I've owned lots of cars, from brand new Cadillacs and Corvettes, to brand new Nissans and Mitsubishis. The American cars, while completely bad-ass, always had something or other wrong with them, and always stupid things like broken cupholders or warning lights that came on for no reason. I haven't had a single problem with any foreign car I've owned, but every American car I've owned has been in the shop plenty of times. I once bought a brand new DTS, and I had to wait two weeks while they fixed it. It wouldn't run, and it would have taken forever to order one with the options I wanted. Of course, it was an awesome car. That is, until the leather cracked, the rear door locks broke, and the driver seat heater refused to turn off. Now I just drive Infinitis and am happier than ever. |
| Fri 27 Dec | pb | What annoys me is that many posters are poor at constructing replies that are relevant to the original post. For example, a novice will ask about something basic in ASP and someone will reply with an obscure Linux technique. People invariably fail to put themselves in the questioner's shoes. |
| 2 stories about impossible bugs | Tue 24 Dec | Evgeny Goldin |
| http://seanm.ca:70/0/nerd/500mileemail.txt I was working in a job running the campus email system some years ago when I got a call from the chairman of the statistics department. Were having a problem sending email out of the department. Whats the problem? I asked. We cant send mail more than 500 miles, the chairman explained. I choked on my latte. Come again? We cant send mail farther than 500 miles from here, he repeated. A little bit more, actually. Call it 520 miles. But no farther. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And another one: http://use.perl.org/~godoy/journal/9361 |
| Tue 24 Dec | S.C. | Evgeny: Great stories. All of my bugs now seem too easy to exterminate. The last hard bug I had: everything was fine but the frame displaced itself in a strange way. It took me quite long to figure out that I accidentally overrode the setLocation() method so everytime the object (subclassed Frame) changed the location of something else, the position of the frame changed too. I now know it's stupid, but for an inexperienced programmer learning Java back then, how would I know every method signatures of the Component class? *** No matter what that radar jam thing is, will it really affect the server, but not the other devices like watches, etc.? Even if it does, is it so sensitive that moving up or down by a couple of feet will change the power? I admit that I have no idea how much tide changes the water level and how the radar jam thing works. |
| Tue 24 Dec | J. D. Trollinger | Remember the story (back in 1994) about Dr. Thomas Nicely, the guy who found the bug in the Intel processor? He was calculating prime numbers on his PC, and noticed some incorrect results. Eventually, he figured out that it was a hardware problem with the Pentium. |
| Tue 24 Dec | Steve Wheeler | I read one of my favorite 'impossible bugs' stories many years ago, and no longer remember many of the details. It may have happened at Bell Labs. The bug report was, 'I can log into my terminal when I'm sitting down, but not when I'm standing up.' What it eventually turned out to be was that his keyboard had been cleaned a short time before, and some of the relevant keycaps had been replaced in the wrong locations. Sitting down, the user was a touch-typist, and hit the correct keys without looking. Standing up, he did hunt-and-peck typing, and got the wrong password. |
| Tue 24 Dec | Matt Foley | Don't forget the one about the guy who stopped for ice cream, but his car would only start if he bought vanilla. http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/icecream.htm |
| Wed 25 Dec | Mike Swieton | Not entirely in the same vein, but nevertheless interesting: A Story About Magic: http://tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/A-Story-About-Magic.html |
| Wed 25 Dec | Wei | wow... =) |
| Thu 26 Dec | Simon Lucy | I think most people that have built any kind of electronics or electrical circuit have come across the 'finger' effect. It works, or conversely doesn't work, if a finger is placed just ------> The broadcast version is the critical listening position to an FM radio when you have a poor signal. Tracy Kidder in 'The Soul of a New Machine' described how the Eagle worked fine when its boards were pulled out with all the circuit probes in, but failed when pushed back together as a product. And then the software versions: 'it works if I use the Debugger' and other Heisenbugs. They are all of the same class of problem, the thing is almost broken unless something smears over the top of it; like the conductance of a finger, the performance of the body as noise filter, shorts in one layer of a circuit board annealed by the steel runners and debuggers that massage the stack to be larger in order to work with their probes. |
| Fri 27 Dec | runtime | My initial hypothesis for the 500 mile email bug was that a different network route was used for 'long distance' email and that network link got backhoed. :) |
| Your opinion on the situation in the valley | Mon 23 Dec | Stude |
| This forum seems to attract guys slightly above the average IQ. So i would like your valued opinion on two questions 1) Is the software industry coming out of the doldrums.? Is the situation getting better, than say what it was an year ago. 2) If i need a job in the valley and have around 4 years experience, what is the best way to go about it?. What websites should i visit or what has worked for you? |
| Mon 23 Dec | Stude | Aaaah. Forgive me!., I did not mean the 'Slightly above part' !!!, I meant much higher IQ. Sorry . need to get some sleep. Too much worries and too much of unsuccesffull job hunts !!!! |
| Mon 23 Dec | Mark Bessey | I'd say that the job market in Silicon Valley (that is the valley you meant, right?) is about as bad as its ever been. There are a whole lot of people out of work here right now. If you subtract out the results of the dot-com meltdown, it's not nearly so bad, I think. An awful lot of the unemployed people around here seem to be 'Web Engineers', people with little to no development experience before the boom, so they're just not (percieved as) employable right now. Still, I do know of a few developers with real experience looking for jobs. It's not the bonanza it was when I first moved out here, that's for sure. As far as how to find a job? Make sure as many people as possible have your resume. Do put it up on dice.com, monster.com, hotjobs.com, etc. But you'll have a much better chance if you can get your resume into a company through somebody who works there. Ask everybody you know who might know somebody who's hiring. Visit the websites of any company that might interest you, and search their online job listings. You'll have a lot better chance if you take the initiative of finding a job you would be a good fit in and applying directly, rather than submitting your resume to a huge database cluttered with dot-com refugees. -Mark |
| Tue 24 Dec | James | Along the same lines ... What about the housing situation in the Valley? My wife and I were thinking about moving out there at the height of the dot-com boom (we're in Austin), but the cost of living there was insane at the time ... and we chickened out. I've heard housing prices have dropped, as you'd expect, but how MUCH have they dropped? What would a decent two-bedroom apartment in Silicon Valley go for these days? What about a decent small house? |
| Tue 24 Dec | John C. | James: I no longer live in the Bay Area, so I'm basing this on the experience of friends and family who still do -- take it with a grain of salt. My understanding of the situation is that prices for houses have come down very little, if at all, in the entry-level to midrange segments of the market. In general, you will still find it difficult to find a habitable single-family house in a close-in location for much under $500k. The competition in this price range may be less intense than it used to be, but it's still expensive. Condos, of course, may be cheaper. Here are some numbers: http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/living/community/3906657.htm OTOH, I have heard that *rents* in some areas are actually coming down quite a bit from their peaks. I'd expect you can probably get a decent 2-bedroom place for around $2K a month these days. Don't forget that there are other cost of living factors you'll have to consider if you move from Texas -- taxes being a big one. CA has quite high income and sales taxes (and possibly property taxes too, I don't know). |
| Tue 24 Dec | Daniel Shchyokin | In SF you can find 2 bedrooms in the 1800 range, in decent neighberhood, check renttech.com or craigslist.org for specifics |
| Tue 24 Dec | Anonymous Coward | House prices are about the same. There are a lot of houses for sale but most sellers are choosing to not to sell rather than cut prices. Sellers are going to hang on until the bitter end. It will take a long time for them to get desperate and real |