Posts by Doctor Syntax

Re: The AI Effect

"consciousness requires architecture flexibility"

I suspect massively parallel processing helps as well.

Re: Newton - MessagePad

In my case it would be magical.

"Assange doesn't give up sources."

In this case he might. I think it would be reasonable for anyone visiting the blessed broom cupboard to assume that anything they said might be recorded and not for purposes of staff training.

Re: Something seems wonky in that sentence

I remember years ago some functionary from Sheffield bragging about bagging some new industrial project that was going to bring so many more jobs into the city. Then a couple of weeks later another moaning about traffic. Total disconnect.

Re: How about...?

"Milk floats usually travelled at roughly walking speed, just like a bin lorry."

When they're actually collecting, yes. But to and from the depot is another matter.

I went to a talk by a pathologist from Sheffield back in the '80s. His standard opening was "Greetings from the People's Republic of South Yorkshire".

Re: "personalized advertising can deliver a better customer experience."

Of course it does. Personalized to customer's choice. My choice is NONE.

You set up an account just so you could post that garbage?

We all know what not to do. The problem is that sometimes our fingers think they know better.

Re: As usual ...

"He still hasn't worked out how I know. Even if he does discover my edit, he would still have to discover the slight modification to a standard cron job that replaces my code every night "

Are you sure he doesn't know about el Reg? If he doesn't, by the time he's worked out what you've done he'll be up to speed.

Re: "Thinking back to 2002-2005,"

"Their previous attempt to deliver a Linux tool failed too"

Kylix. Forget all the other reasons - it failed because it didn't work. IIRC it just ceased to work about the time the 2.6 kernel rolled in. Again IIRC there was some amended GPLed component in there but, of course, the amended source wasn't. And I remember trying to get some database driver code to compile which it insisted had syntax errors in but yet, oddly, compiled fine in Delphi. Then FPC and Lazarus came along and it no longer mattered whether Kylix was any good or not.

Re: "Pascal was a horrible language for real work"

"Don't know about the UCSD version, because I never used it."

An OS written in a high level interpreted language was pretty neat. Yes it compiled down to p-code but p-code was then interpreted.

I don't know how novel its UI features were but coming after cards on mainframe and CP/M (even CP/M with FORTRAN) they seemed pretty innovative. There was a ton of clever stuff in there.

Re: A great product that is too expensive now..

"The cheapest option is now £1399 initial payment with £399 per year after that using the, now popular, subscription model."

Buy and subscribe!

The Borland model IIR was buy it and install wherever you need so if you had an office desktop and a laptop you could install it on both. And no fuss about how distributing the compiled application. What times we lived in!

Yes, Free Pascal Compiler, the language product and Lazarus both deserve a mention.

Re: Some things just need to be done properly

But...but..but. It's so not 21st century.

Re: Nicky Morgan

It seems an extreme measure to get her away from the PAC but I can see any PM would want to do that. Gamekeeper turned poacher.

"Boris is talking about another few dozen billion for a bridge"

He needs somewhere to put the customs point that he insists won't happen. If anybody seriously wants to improve traffic between Britain & N Ireland they should upgrade the A75 to dual carriageway all the way - and with no more roundabouts in the entire length than they currently have around Dumfries.

"The department for digital, culture media and for some reason also sport"

I like absence of a comma between culture and media.

Re: Selectively shooting them is the only thing that will work.

"in UK coastal towns for a great example of this"

If only they'd stay in the coastal towns. Or at least, just on the coast.

Even if they got on even terms they'd likely just herd them. Years ago when the farmers wife kept hens in the field behind us if the collies were at a loose end they'd round them up, apparently just for fun.

Re: Anonymous Contractor

"Getting paid way more than a permy doing the same job, just pay more tax and be done with it, or go permy and get paid the same as your peers, simple."

Usual reply: If it's as simple as that why are you permie (it's obvious from your comment that you are)? Is it that you don't fancy the risks you were so quick to dismiss?

Re: It's not just IR35 though

Out of that list VAT isn't really a cost for the freelancer. It might be for some classes of client.

Re: re: contractors are not prepared to be unfairly treated

"You sound bitter that you're not a contractor."

He sounds bitter that he's not being paid the same as a contractor without having actually troubled to think about the risks and responsibilities.

"I binge-listened at the weekend"

I know the weather was bad but that seems like a pretty miserable way to spend a seekend.