Posts by AndrueC

Re: @AC - Sossij inna bun

Ah yes, The Illusion of Control. Either as you say 'better suicide than execution' but could also be 'I can't control the virus but I can control the vaccination'.

On a related note I think managers often suffer from this illusion. 'I can't control our sales but I can force my staff to come into the office'. From that article:

Wyatt Mann hypothesized a basic competence motive that people satisfy by exerting control.

And:

Self-regulation theory offers another explanation. To the extent that people are driven by internal goals concerned with the exercise of control over their environment, they will seek to reassert control in conditions of chaos, uncertainty or stress. One way of coping with a lack of real control is to falsely attribute oneself control of the situation

Re: Isnt all of this due to evaluating input strings?

Yeah, next time it might be bad enough to trigger a Lo4J bug :)

Re: Pronouncing...

The yolks on us.

Re: What is the point ?

Yes, it is boring

Not if you're paying attention. I like to drive efficiently and for the most part that means minimising my use of the brakes. To do that requires good acceleration sense and an awareness of what's going on around me so that I can predict the actions of others.

I find driving to be interesting. It's like a never ending soap opera. I sometimes go out for a drive because I'm bored and want something to do.

Re: No advance on 1953

Yes my problem with panspermia is that it seems to be a violation of Occam's Razor. We know that life exists on Earth but claiming that it came from space means we have to make an assumption about life that is without evidence. Not only that but the idea of life 'floating around in space' actually goes against what we know about life.

It now appears clear that there are organic molecules all over the universe and I can accept that they are sometimes delivered to locations that are conducive to life forming.

But without knowing how you get from 'some organic molecules' to 'it lives!' it's impossible to guess how often life arises. From Earth we can tell that life isn't as delicate as might be thought. It appears to be everywhere including places that must once have been sterile. So I'm inclined to think that life will arise anywhere and everywhere it can.

How often it gets as far as intelligent life is anyone's guess. I sometimes think it's yet to achieve that on Earth.

But this is fundamentally how humans advance. Almost everything is just an older idea better wrapped or used differently. If we had to reinvent everything every single time we'd never get anywhere.

Worth looking at this documentary series.

True 'blue-sky' inventions are uncommon.

As computer systems get more and more complex we have to rely more and more on pre-existing solutions. It is not reasonable for me to have to re-invent a trace/logging system every time I start a new project. Whether it's truly new or I'm just joining an established team there is far too much value in me being able to say 'Oh yes, I know that package'. The cost of me having to learn a proprietary library or help develop it is unreasonable for most projects.

The answer is not to shy away from utilising external code. The answer is to learn how to do so safely.

Re: In the bad old days of WordStar, WordPerfect, DisplayWrite, MultiMate

Me too. I liked the editing keys although they were easier to use on an old keyboard that had the ctrl on the middle row. But still I always claimed I was faster with WS keys because it kept your hands on the home row - no need to break off and reach for the arrow cluster.

The full map update takes an hour and a quarter for Toyota but if you only opt for the UK maps (available over the air for later versions) it's quicker. But it's a ridiculously tortuous process via their website and does nothing to encourage me to start paying from next year. Quite the opposite.

We can also edit our maps because they use Here maps but I've yet to see any major benefits to that.

Meh, if your only target is to retire at 55 the best thing you can do is not start a family. My programming career started in the very early 90s and the highest I've ever got is senior software engineer. I've mostly worked for small companies that have nothing to do with finance but I paid off my mortgage at age 45, could've retired any time after 50 and will probably do so at age 56 in 2023 having finally got fed up of the idiocy that pervades today's toolsets and frameworks.

Re: I swear it was unintentional...

Hence why the Honda Fit is sold as the Honda Jazz in Europe. 'Fit' is apparently too close to fitta which is a rude word for lady parts in some Scandinavian countries.

A logging system should take what it's given and store it somewhere. It has no need to interpret/evaluate that input and definitely no hint of a reason to execute it.

Yeah thinking about it if something needs to act on it then a separate utility should be parsing the output and doing so. Separation of concerns and all that.. Still a potential security hole but at less likely to be included by default and one can hope that concentrating the developer's mind on a smaller scope might help them realise the risk.

Re: Scrodinger's Shredder

My shredder began to misbehave last year. It would start automatically but wouldn't shut off. So I took it apart and cleaned it.

Now it runs continuously and I have to switch it off at the mains when I'm done with it.

Re: Electric should be cheaper, gas more expensive

It's true that most gas central heating won't work without electricity, but you can at least light a gas hob to make hot drinks/food. Electric only? Screwed.

This is why houses that have gas central heating should also have a gas fire. I paid a rather eye wateringly large amount to have my old balanced flue gas fire replaced (£1,400 if I remember(*)) but as long as there is gas flowing to my property I have a source of heat. Although it's in the living room the heat flows surprisingly well throughout the house. It does have electric ignition but it uses 2 AA batteries so I'm not dependant on the mains supply.

(*)That did include a new surround, new mantlepiece and flue relocation. The new fire is sunk into the wall.

Re: Notepad++

Not much help if you are just setting a new computer up or you are otherwise without a network connection. Unless you're suggesting that Notepad++ should be part of the Windows install.

Probably a Tesco Express..

I think I mis-phrased that. I'm only peripherally aware of our installer but I know that we build both an .EXE and an MSI because some sites need one, other sites need the other. I can see that large sites will want an MSI because it makes it easier to roll it out but I confess that I don't know why we continue supplying EXEs. It be related to our update process. I vaguely recall that an MSI is incompatible with our update process for some reason.

There are some other thoughts here. This comment seems interesting:

"An msi could check for required software, it would just be a bit more complicated to code. Depending on what tools were used to make the installer, the Setup.exe can be generated automatically by some of MS's development tools, making life easier for the coder."

Also this:

"A single MSI file can only have one single locale for the install wizard (details).

This can be a reason for distributing an app as .exe, which is more flexible.

So, if the language of the install wizard is important, you might have better luck with the .exe"

Re: Physical key

Those little screws won't live long if they are run in and out too many times.

Screws? You obviously drive a luxury vehicle. My Corolla fob relies on plastic clips and you can open it to get at the battery just using your fingers.

Re: Accurate

If you are fluent in WPF you can develop a form as quickly as WinForms and if you follow MVVM practice (which you can do in WinForms but you have to be more disciplined) it will be more maintainable. Complex forms are a lot easier to code in WPF because inter-dependant controls are generally a non-issue.

In both cases I'd recommend DevExpress to smooth things along. Well..mostly. Some of their stuff can be a bit weird at times but familiarity solves most problems and their technical support is excellent.

The trick is not to use the visual designer because that tends to be a slow and iterative process. It's quick for simple forms but not for anything complicated. WinForms without the designer is ugly and difficult. WPF without the designer is only slightly ugly and is fairly easy to read and understand.