Posts by bombastic bob

Re: So it's official. Rust is no longer hip.

At one time the U.S gummint was pushing for the use of ADA. Never went there. No regrets (unlike those who DID).

Re: Happily, I pragmatically stuck with C, assembler, Cobol and Fortran :-)

I have, but it was a VERY long time ago. Only had to maintain it a couple of times on an HP3000.

On that system, most everything else was in FORTRAN or a report writer language called 'QUIZ'.

Re: Happily, I pragmatically stuck with C, assembler, Cobol and Fortran :-)

"Happily, I pragmatically stuck with buffer overflows, uninitialized memory, type confusion, and use-after-free "

Not if you know how to code...

Re: Bull

"occasional spasms when the garbage collector kicks in"

EXACTLY!!!

Do that in a game, watch gamers SCREAM at the *LAG*

Re: Bull

C-pound. HA. HA. HA. HA. HA.

that's all I'll say about "Micros~1 Pseudo-Java".

garbage collection memory management is highly overrated

"That memory safe code is floating ontop of a cesspit of rot."

True.

and as I point out in the title, using a GC model memory/object management scheme gives you the boiler plate inefficiency you deserve.

As a general rule, experienced C and C++ coders can bang out reliable code without too much difficulty. Evidence, the Linux and BSD kernels.

No thanks on the GC stuff. Properly written code avoids these problems.

Re: There's an error in the main article

"I thought the cats already did rule the planet?"

Yes, but they want us to have brain implants (to be invented in 2024) so we can better understand their commands.

Re: Donald 'Stop the Steal', 'I did win the election' Trump

where's the IT angle?

and now, for something completely different.

In 2024 the Python programming language is updated (aka rewritten from scratch) to support pointers and pre-allocated memory buffers, making it possible to use Python for Linux device drivers, thus supplanting Rust which has definitely fallen off of the TIOBE index as of late...

In 2024 scientists will discover that the Windows kernel for Windows 8 was actually re-written by starting with Linux, then getting a bunch of developers to drink a lot of coolaid-based punch spiked with multiple bottles of scotch and some "edibles", after which they spent most of their time flipping the '/' to '\' and disabling case sensitivity. Then some bright bulb decided they needed better legacy driver support so they borrowed some of the glue code from "NDIS wrapper" and some old XBox code they had laying about, while at least 2 or 3 of them chanted and burned incense to ensure success. Then they carefully changed the word 'Linux' to 'Xenix to get around any copyright infringment and handed the whole thing off to a couple of programming sweat chops in China and India. Once that step was complete they buried it for a month, dug it up, buried it again, and held an actual exorcism to drive out the blue meanies (left over from when everything Micros~1 did was for IBM).

FINALLY they foisted this mess onto some unsuspecting beta testers, slapped on the "modern TIFKAM" userland, and hurriedly rushed it out the door as a production release.

So yeah, it's already been "Linux on the desktop" for YEARS.

push the build to be tested on the beta channel by unsuspecting 'Home' users

Fixed it for ya.

Re: Beware the law of unintended consequences

Cat-brain may have been a joke, or maybe not (it was old and had been left unused for hundreds of years on that planet as I recall).

The title of the episode was "Miri" from the name of the "teenage" girl that fell in love with Captain Kirk. That same actress also played a leading role in 'True Grit', the one with John Wayne.

geek factor: 8

Re: Idaho National laboratory

That lab, I think,l was also involved with the SL-1 project - the first major nuclear disaster.

Re: Idaho National laboratory

I heard that another one is named 'Greta'

Re: All new. All exciting. All fresh!

"If you can, ditch Windows ASAP."

I let my Visual Studio (formerly known as MSDN) subscription expire. The keys I already claimed for Win 7 VMs (etc.) remain valid.

If I need an 11 box in the future (let's say to do taxes) I can buy the cheapest piece o' crap with 11 pre-installed for less than HALF of what it costs per year.

I'm too old to switch gears and have PLENTY of embedded opportunities with Linux, etc.. No need to maintain it.

Saving $800/yr is something I have to do because of the economic situation degrading since 2021. I chose NOT to burden my main customer by raising rates 20% to compensate. I think I get more work that way, as they've been seeing cash flow issues from the economic stupidity that's mostly created by gummints.

So saving money by NOT renewing MSDN/Visual Studio makes TOTAL sense. Not like I've had it for over 20 years or anything...

(and if I occasionally do windows dev it's always a 7-compatible EXE with *NO* ''.Not' entanglements, and I use the 2010 DevStudio 'cause everything after that was oriented towards TIFKAM etc.)

That's right. They LOST me as a customer. Buh-Bye Micros~1. *hork* *spit*

number one missing feature in wayland

The #1 missing feature in Wayland is the use of the DISPLAY environment variable, either from the SAME machine (which lets me use multiple user contexts) or from across the network (which lets me do EMBEDDED DEVELOPMENT).

A kludge layer is insufficient as far as I am concerned.

Wasting time re-inventing the desktop to be more like MICROS~1 has lost us 10+ YEARS of what COULD have become X11R8 or even R9, with even more built-in enhancements (let's say some or all of the OpenGL and Cairo features) and dynamically loaded legacy support for ONLY when it is actually needed (to reduce memory footprint). Keeping the client/server model, then enhancing it with multi-core awareness, can ONLY make the desktop more efficient, maybe even better than Wayland PROMISES to be.

I *HATE* so many of these "it is OUR turn now" "features" being done by INEXPERIENCED developers. This not only includes Gnome, Windows, KDE, and Wayland but this ENTIRE paradigm shift from ACTUAL 3D skeuomorphic displays into "New Shiny" with MISSING features, and 2D FLATTY FLATSO UNSHADED CHEAP PHONE-LIKE UIs, using light blue on white (aka 'unreadable') FLAT BOXES instead of buttons, too much white space, and light grey on bright white text. You know, like CHROME.

It's as bad as ViDEOS TAKEN IN TALL-SKINNY ASPECT, apparently the way in which "4 inchers" (aka those who view the universe through a 4 inch phone screen) narrowly view EVERYTHING.

So while putting their NARROW focus on Wayland, FLATSO interfaces, hamburger menus, AdWaita, and phone-like appearance with UNREADABLE color combinations, these same "developers" spend the last 10+ years unnecessarily re-inventing something that WORKS, and instead of an evolutionary change (like mempry mapping and X video and OpenGL and so forth) seek to REPLACE it with what THEY *FEEL* (not THINK) is "superior" and eventually FORCE the REST of us to get on board THEIR train, because "their turn now".

systemd was unfortunately just a warning sign of "more to come".

Obviously these "developers" either did NOT read or did not understand Aurthur C. Clarke's 'Superiority'.

I have to wonder how much of this CHANGE (for the sake of change) is being driven by RH, Google, and Micros~1 funding...

Re: No MATE

"the sheer persistence of the holes in its feature list leaves me worried."

This is why Wayland can NOT just 'take over' in place of XOrg

#1 feature: remote execution, perfect for embedded development, and the VERY thing X was designed to do. Wayland FAILS.

And so far that is reason ENOUGH for ME to NEVER install Wayland.

Re: Don't worry folks...

I prefer the EXISTENT "big reactor" industry. We should be producing at least half of electricity with nuclear power, and use carbon-based fuel plants, hydro plants, and so-called "renewables" to handle the variable demand. Often the constant demand is handled by coal plants, but I think that replacing them with nuclear is better in the long run.

Not to say that coal is NOT the right choice in a lot of cases, just that its up/down sides have to be weighed against similar up/down sides for Nuclear.

[actually coal plants could be adapted to burn plastic waste if you mix it with the coal, as so much plastic never actually gets recycled]

Re: Don't worry folks...

I guess I should add that Chernobyl was a disaster BECAUSE the Soviet design had no containment vessel. It was a sloppy design and that's why it caught on fire and contaminated the area around it.

.

But, that's COMMUNISM for ya...

Re: Don't worry folks...

Seeing as I once worked with RADIOACTIVE ASBESTOS (in a full anti-contamination suit with forced air) I can most certainly agree with you.

Re: Don't worry folks...

Are you talking about Charnobyl? That particular cold war accident was pretty bad, and yet the effect on surrounding populations (to the best of my knowledge) does not appear to be significant.

Animals currently live there. The forest is taking over the site. It's "habitable" although I would not want to live there. Most of the problematic radiation appears to be from Cs-137 but that's a group I metal and would form a salt (or a hydroxide deposit) and eventually wash away with rain. 30 year half life suggests that 150-200 years of "uninhabitability" is about the worst you can expect.

Most of the 2009 survey results were in the area of 1uSv/hr (0.1 mrem/hr). I regularly got 80-100mrem/year just being at sea level, without being around an operating reactor, when I was in the Navy (while underway under water we got LESS radiation from the reactor than people get from the sun). At 2.4mrem/day (or about 1 rem/year) you are actually BELOW the legal limit for being a radiation worker in the USA. So after 5 or 6 half lives (2^-5 to 2^-6) you can project the radiation rate will be 1.5% to 3% of that. Habitable.

Lots of info here including 2009 radiation measurements

http://www.chernobylgallery.com/chernobyl-disaster/radiation-levels/

Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine got most of the radiation. A lot went to Sweden but apparently did not cause any well known health effects

The best examples we have on serious fallout and habitability are Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both cities are basically normal with no indications of radioactive contamination nearly 80 years later.

Re: Don't worry folks...

Does experience working with nuclear reactors and health physics qualify me? It's a bit out of date but certainly better than WIkipedia.

MUCH of what you are saying smacks of anti-Nuke hysteria. Those who dislike carbon fuels SHOULD embrace nuclear power but they usually do NOT. This is because (In My Bombastic Opinion) it is NOT about the environment or people's lives; it is INSTEAD about power, control, and the usual separation of the have's from the have-not's in a totalitarian system where upward mobility is heavily restricted for the average individual.

Flying on an airplane at 30,000 feet and getting an annual dental exam probably irradiates you MORE than any environmental effect from nuclear power plants, because the containment vessels have been carefully designed. I did a research paper on them once, back in 1979. The design included hurricane force winds flinging logs directly at them, and NOT having the inner wall crack from the impact.

Re: How did they find out?

it would depend on what is being calibrated. Let's say you have a specific secondary vibration limit (like a resonant harmonic) that cannot be exceeded. Measuring that secondary vibration would require a calibrated instrument. Or it could just be a total accelerometer signal level when vibration is induced. Anyway, THAT kind of thing.

(this based on my U.S, Navy nuclear power experience)

Once (nearly a decade ago) I took a 9 axis IMU and made it into a vibration sensor with an Arduino. It measured harmonics on a piece of material that was 'thumped' while weight was being applied as stress. The weight had the vibration sensor attached to it. This was a concept thought up by a materials guy who (as I recall) was working on his doctorate at the time.

Re: How did they find out?

either that or under-bidding every other contractor/company/whatever bidding for the work

Re: How bad can it be?

"surely there have never been accidents because nuclear fuel got dropped accidentally?"

[and now I get to say it - "and don't call me Shirley" - heh]

Just do not accidentally form a supercritical mass when it lands... although without a casing it would go "ploothhh" instead of "boom" and maybe the containment vessel would keep it out of the surrounding environment, but that's similar to what SL-1 had happen (accidental supercriticality) and it's not good.

(yeah you would hope things were already designed to prevent such catastrophes, but when you compound procedural sloppiness and design issues you sometimes get catastrophes, RIGHT Three Mile Island?)

Re: to make Redis "more like your classic database,"

"A hash table is a simple form of a key-value store but i wouldn't call it a type of database."

That is my preference, and I normally just pound out the code directly when it's needed (rather than shoe-horning in some 3rd party dependency).

A [scaled] CRC makes for a nice hash method. COPYPASTA a 20 line function and that part's done. Then you just need a simple structure array to store it in. A few more minutes and you've got a class or handful of simple management utility functions. Done. Serial lookup or hashed index (as needed).