Posts by jake

Re: Just another day

From what I remember of the 9-5 grind, it was more loping through *****.

Obviously never worked in a high-pressure job that used hospital humo(u)r as a pressure relief valve.

Lucky you.

Re: Trust but verify...

"I run source code through something that checks for swearwords"

I can assure you that the English language is quite flexible enough to get objectionable phrases past any rules that they choose to implement. That kind of filtering is worse than useless in that it takes time to implement, doesn't work, provides a false sense of security, and opens the company up to lawsuit should an employee accidentally see something that they think was missed by the filters.

_{Student: "You wont find a single word in my paper that one couldn't say on Radio 4!"}

_{Master: "Yeah, but not in that particular order ..."}

Re: FALSE

Elvis is not dead, elvis is merely not currently in need of updating.

Re: Other languages....

A program loader (ex. MS-DOS) is not an operating system (ex. TOPS-20). In a program loader, the user can fully control all of the hardware without requiring permissions to be set. An OS has complete control of the hardware (pace root/administrative access capabilities, of course).

Both have their place in computing.

Re: Other languages....

"For one thing, what's the difference between a scripting language and a non-scripting language."

Conventionally, the former is interpreted and usually quite slow, and the latter is compiled and comparatively fast. This is not a hard and fast rule, there are plenty which straddle the line to one degree or another.

Re: I think I have the problem

I've been using the z shell (zsh) in appropriate places since ... what ... 1990?

Re: Nothing new, kinda pathetic really

"Even one of the biggest C projects out there - the Linux kernel - is moving to accomodate Rust..."

Is it? Are you sure of that? When talking about Rust, Linus uses words like "we might" and "maybe we will" and "perhaps" and "eventually", and "drivers, probably" etc. etc. Nowhere does he say "Let's do it" or "We are going to" or "It will be soon".

He also is on record as saying ""I don't think Rust will take over the core kernel, but doing individual drivers (and maybe whole driver subsystems) in it doesn't sound entirely unlikely." ... but again, he's not entirely enthusiastic. He has also said "It might not be rust", which to me is a death knell.

I've been reading the LKML for as long as it;s been around, and from my perspective it looks like Linus isn't really interested in any language that isn't C for kernel use ... not C++, just good old C ... and seeing as Rust is a replacement for C++, not C ... well, do the math.

I think he's throwing the yowling, baying fanbois a bone just to shut them up. We might get a few drivers & the like written in rust over the next few years, but the vast majority of the kernel will still be in C long after the next language du jour takes the place of rust in the fanboi's fancy.

Re: How many COBAL programmers love COBAL?

captain veg writes:

"so far as I can tell COBAL is not, in fact, a programming language,"

PDNFTT

Re: Umm

A computer language with GOTOs is totally Wirthless.

Re: C int

"there are so-called "programmers" out there who don't know what a "register" is."

Round about 2000 I started interviewing "programmers" fresh out of school who didn't know what the heap and the stack are (much less how the compiler uses them) on a fairly regular basis. Nowadays it's normal for the youngsters to have many gaps of that nature in their education. I fear we are losing something very important that is going to prove to be almost impossible to get back.

Re: Oh, boy ...

About 20 years ago, I tried to shake up my sysadmin/syssecurity class by bringing in an ancient DEC machine running TOPS-10 and a bunch of dumb terminals[0]. My texts were mostly Tannenbaum. Several of the class complained to the administration, and a ruling came down that my "teaching platform was archaic and irrelevant in the modern world". Keep in mind I was trying to teach CONCEPTS, not applications.

I replaced the DEC with donated/salvaged PCs running BSD (servers & routers) and Slackware/KDE (desktops). Didn't cost the school a dime. The same group of students complained. Out went the free system, and in came a Windows based network. The mind absolutely boggles.

[0] IMO, DEC kit is hands-down the best platform for teaching computers and networking ever invented.

Re: Oh, boy ...

"protected mode DOS compiler while writing SCSI drivers for a telephone call center data base server."

I think I see your problem.

Re: Gotta disagree that

"The imperfect or inexpert use of C was at the heart of decades of root exploits and late nights patching systems."

The imperfect or inexpert use of screwdrivers was the heart of decades of broken cars and late nights and weekend work for expert mechanics.

Do you blame the screwdriver, or the teenager wielding it, for the broken car?

Re: Oh, _that_ rabbit hole

"It's also not unknown for someone caring for a sick child to explain that "we" have not been feeling very well."

To be fair, as any parent dealing with under-the-weather sprog can tell you, the "we" is usually a fully justified plural.

Re: Bad definition

"You aren't going to see people running raw like that much past the microchip level anymore."

We didn't run raw like that much past the microchip level back then, either. Simple I/O, to be sure (how else are you going to control a greenhouse?), but other than that ...

Availability of multi-core CPUs and gigabytes of memory doesn't mean one has to make use of them, you know. Sometimes less is better ... and much, much less is much, much better. Why on Earth would I want (for example) Microsoft Windows on/on my fridge or coffee pot (or in my car)? Far too much to go wrong with what should be a simple user interface.

Re: Bad definition

I don't use COBOL, Fortran, C, perl and bash to annoy anybody ... I use them because they do the job I ask them to do quite nicely. Annoying the younglings is just gravy.

Re: Nothing new...

I don't actually love any particular programming language ... but I do like COBOL and Fortran. And I generally reach for C (and sometimes a little assembler), because I know I can get the job done in it. Likewise BASH and perl.

If I were to code for a more commercial line of software, or much larger projects, I might use other options. Maybe.

Re: Nothing new...

"So in some respects it isn't 'C' that has aged or been out-grown, but the worldview behind Linux/Unix as they currently stand."

It's not the language or the OS that is the problem, rather it is the expectations of the humans using the tools. Kids today expect, nay DEMAND that the computer does all the thinking for them. Any language that requires you to pay attention to what you are doing is "hard", and hard is bad because computers are supposed to make life easy.

Sadly, easy is as easy does ... programming a kernel or a compiler isn't supposed to be hard, it actually IS hard! No amount of whining is going to ever change that.

I place the blame squarely on Apple, with its "ease of use" myth.

Re: Nothing new...

"we live in an age of 8 bit and 16 bit (simple microcontrollers), 32 bit (older kit), and 64 bit (newer kit)"

Each of which (at least on my personal systems) have their own, individually kitted out environments geared to making my life easier.

"and when 128 bit rolls around"

It's here, and has been ... The IBM System/360 Model 85 could handle 128-bit floating point arithmetic back in 1968.

"will we have long long longs?"

At DEC, the VAX line called 'em octawords and HFLOATs, using four consecutive registers ("four longwords").

From little acorns ...

Re: Bad definition

Rare? 20 years ago? Shit, it;s not rare today!

I can think of any number of bits & bobs that require their own special code running on bare metal in order to operate, from the clock on the wall (synced to the Master Clock downstairs), to the equatorial mount under the telescope in the corner, to the garage door opener and it's remote, to the greenhouses in the distance and the gate to the main road beyond that. Need I go on?

Re: Bad definition

When you consider that MS-DOS isn't actually an Operating System (it is just a glorified program loader), your comment makes even more sense.

Re: Genuinely thanks

It's in the Barrister's bookcase over my left shoulder ... A couple years ago, the Wife etched the top glass panel with the words "In case of retirement, Break Glass" in a rather lovely embellished copperplate.

"The result was Ada and it didn't have a happy ending."

Sadly, it hasn't ended yet.

Re: Nothing new...

Considering the base units of the human concept of time (the day and year), I rather suspect it originated quite a few millennia before that ... Certainly by the advent of farming, some 12,000 years ago, it would have been something that most people paid attention to.

The manufacture of bread (~14.5Kya), beer (~14K ya), cheese (~10Kya) and mead/wine (~8Kya) would have started the naming of multiple day-units and sub-day units, at least among the set of people producing these items. Yes, you can ferment things for human consumption without a clock or calendar, but getting the timing right nearly always helps.

Re: Stupid

I was born ugly, so I intend to live forever.

_{Or die trying ...}

Re: No rude but I always laughed

Wiki, the well known bastion of all that is true in the world, suggests he is currently CEO of Shout TV Inc., whatever the hell that is. Not even Wiki knows, from the look of it. Sounds like a good place for him.

Re: No rude but I always laughed

The source for false is the same as the code for true. Only the names are changed.

To be more precise, the code for false.c consists of two lines:

#define EXIT_STATUS EXIT_FAILURE

#include "true.c"

_{Well, it would be two lines if it weren't for ElReg's dismal handling of whitespace.}

Making their mark ...

Many HP and TI calculators had hidden embedded mini-games. Likewise, many HP printers had "design team" type easter-eggs as well as the normal test page. My HP 54600B oscilloscope has a tetris game built into it. My HP 54622D 'scope has Asteroids. My HP 54645D 'scope has the design team alongside a picture of a badger (!!), and also a game called BUGS! as well as a hidden hardware hacking menu.

Tektronix test equipment has all kinds of weird easter eggs. I had a logic analyzer with a pong game, and another with breakout. Both are long gone, and I don't remember the model numbers. My 2232 oscilloscope has a wizard riding a skateboard, and my 1751 digital 'scope can display fish swimming.

As I don't go out of my way to collect kit with such 'eggs, I rather suspect that such distractions are quite common ... perhaps the rule rather than the exception. I even have a fscking coffeepot (Mr. Coffee PRX30) that'll display the designer's name, and has a hidden "diagnostic" mode that displays the temperature in degrees C. The mind boggles ...

Re: On a very old website..

That's not geekcode, that's leetspeak.

_{It's arguable which is the least useful ...}

Re: Stupid

"but I now just mash the keyboard or write “test-test” repeated for the length required, it comes the same as putting something ‘daring’ in there"

Personally, I put in something explicitly relevant to whatever it is I am doing at that point in the code. Might as well make it useful, instead of nonsense.

_{Yes, I actually make use of meaningful comments, too. How'd ya guess?}

Re: No rude but I always laughed

Not really. It's written in straight forward C with minimal embellishment. You can read it for yourself, it's included in the Coreutils package. Here's the archive going back to 5.0, when Fileutils, Shellutils, and Textutils merged back in '03..

Re: No rude but I always laughed

"And this is why Linux ended up with train wrecks like systemd."

Linux (the kernel) has absolutely nothing to do with the systemd-cancer. Various brain-dead distributions of GNU+Linux, on the other hand, choose to use it (for reasons that they have never satisfactorily explained).

Thankfully, there are plenty of GNU+Linux distributions that run better/smaller/faster and less buggy inits with much, much less feaping creaturism than the systemd-cancer.

Re: how did that escape?

"Temporary code was not reviewed as it was not shipped."

I think I see your problem ...

When I die ...

... if I get sent to the place where they write code, I'll tell 'em to fuck off and send me to the other place. I've done more than my fair share in this plane of existence.

A programmer writes code to make the hardware do what it is supposed to do.

A developer writes code that his management tells him to.

Re: "Best" error messages, etc.

Thus leading to the name of the open source BeOS clone.

Server's poor response

Not quick enough for browser.

Timed out, plum blossom.

Comments, too.

I damn near killed an idiot who insisted on commenting in Klingon, but only on bits of inline assembler embedded in C ... I wouldn't have cared, but the comments popped up during a surprise visit from the CEO with a couple clients in tow looking to see how their customized version of the code was coming along.