Posts by stephanh

Re: So they tell us version 2 and 3 are already on the way?

Telling your customers a much better product is just around the corner is always a great idea, just ask Adam Osborne.

Re: Interesting but ugly

Case-insensivity was a necessity in a time when many systems where UPPER CASE ONLY, so for interop reasons you either had to KEEP SHOUTING or settle on a case-insensitive system.

That's the reason many "old" languages (Lisp, Pascal) did it.

Everybody sane tries to spell identifiers with consistent capitalization anyway, since otherwise code becomes a complete mess. Given that, case-insensitivity bears no practical advantages anymore.

In a Unicode world, correct case normalization is incredibly complicated and language dependent, see https://www.w3.org/International/wiki/Case_folding for an overview of some issues. For extra fun, the case folding rules are updated with each Unicode version so make sure to keep your software up-to-date.

Re: Another reason do disable javascript

Fortunately in-browser JavaScript does not allow arbitrary TCP connections. The "port scan" is done by making HTTP requests and timing how long it takes to error.

So this cannot be used to connect to an unsecured X server running locally, although it may be able to *detect* such a server.

(Note that the link was to a Node module, which *can* create arbitrary TCP connections.)

Re: Not legally binding...

"So what you are saying is that we may end up with a separate EU internet segment, without access to sites in the US, Russia, China, etc."

More likely a set of regional, independent DNS roots which have some peering arrangements between them. Except when they don't, and URLs start resolving to different sites in different countries because of some political spat.

Not the end of the world, but also far from ideal.

Re: so installing critical security patches

@MrReal

"Some of the computers that run these fabs are stuck on obsolete versions of Windows NT"

Earlier reporting on WannaCry indicated that it could not infect Windows XP, only Windows 7. I assume NT is then also not "supported".

Based on this, I would assume that the infected computers are Windows 7 which means that a patch was available (for a long time). I realise there is always a risk in patching in an industrial system, but as we have learned many times before and now again, *not* patching also comes with a risk.

Re: Over on eBay

Now all we need is a port of "E.T." to the Vega.

Re: Last time I checked Spain was in Europe...

Many Caucasian Americans identify as Irish-American or Italian-American. Others do not.

Many African-Americans don't know precisely from which African nation their ancestors came.

Finally, African-American is a label people choose to apply to themselves. If they do so, one should respect that choice.

Re: Linus should really learn from Microsoft

Unix won because worse is better.

https://www.jwz.org/doc/worse-is-better.html

"...especially worthless is consistency of interface."

Re: definition of "rape" in this case is a broken condom

"That is rape according to British law."

Indeed, and note that the UK will only allow extradition if the accusation is also a crime under UK law, and that the receiving country (Sweden) is not allowed to bring additional charges unless approved by the UK.

There wouldn't be a case if the accusation was not considered a crime under UK law.

Re: Facebook?

My thinking about (JS) frameworks is basically as stated here (I am NOT the author):

https://bitworking.org/news/2014/05/zero_framework_manifesto

Tldr: reusable libraries good, frameworks bad.

Re: Punishment in proportion.

"... the better sentence would have been to assign a number of C.S. hours for EACH proven incidence of infection."

The 240 hours is in fact the maximum community service which can be given under Dutch law.

Note that under Dutch law infecting multiple computers would be considered a single "strafbaar feit" ("punishable event"), hence limits apply to the whole punishment. This is the principle of the "meerdaadse samenloop".

Re: Fearmongering, Uncertainty and Doubt

FYI, the Japanese, Dutch and Taiwanese government have their own CA.

Re: Once Upon A Time......

You forgot the most famous one: they bought 86-DOS and re-badged as MS-DOS

explaining Jedi

Jedi is a autocompletion/static analysis engine which is widely used in the Python ecosystem. For example, by IPython/Jupyter notebook, and also by Vim's YouCompleteMe plugin. And so far by Visual Studio Code.

That's why you *disable* Jedi to get the new thing.

I suppose it is sad but unsurprising that Microsoft chose to roll their own thing rather than contribute to Jedi.

I 've got the Power

Looked at the "Talos™ II Desktop Development System".

At $5,120.00 for the entry-level model, it is almost conceivable to own one.

Re: Just do what my company's IT folks do...

After all, it's Windows, you were probably due for a reboot anyway.

[ducks]

linux on android

You can nowadays run a complete Linux distribution on Android.

https://github.com/sp4rkie/debian-on-termux/blob/master/README.md

This does NOT require root.

Desktop is provided through the "Xserver SDL" app.

Re: Mainframe?

"So what is it that's new again?"

Well the *claim* is that, unlike a VT100, the chromebook is still somewhat useful when the network goes down, because stuff is cached locally.

How well this works out in practice, I have no idea, having managed to avoid Chromebooks so far.

But 4/3 is not equal to 1.33

You are 1/300 short.

If we use repeating decimal notation, I am OK: 1.3̅

Gas wasn't used much *on the battlefield* in WWII because it had already lost its effectiveness during WWI once suitable protective measures were developed.

Of course, gas saw plenty of use in murdering unprotected civilians.

Re: Been there, done that

"If only HTML were XML structured data."

That would have been nice. But since XHTML went nowhere, it isn't.

pickle

"While the Python language has very few known vulnerabilities"

What do you consider a known vulnerability?

From Python docs:

"The pickle module is not secure against erroneous or maliciously constructed data. Never unpickle data received from an untrusted or unauthenticated source.Unpickling data from an untrusted source, allows an attacker arbitrary code execution."

And of course, tons of other modules use pickle under the hood.

Re: Does not run Fortnite?

Fortnite runs on the ipad. So do tons of other games. Ipad has much more GPU oomph than the Intel HD 615 in the Go.

Re: Why use Edge?

There exists nowadays even Edge for Android, and it is surprisingly good. Although I don't see how I can install an adblocker, which is the reason I normally use Firefox on Android.

Posted from Edge for Android.

Re: "Citrix Cloud"

"It's not-yours all the way down."

*Especially* when it is down.

Re: Docker for Windows - bit of a fail

You can use Docker Toolbox instead on Windows Home (uses VirtualBox instead of HyperV).

Re: Windows 10 S...

Apparently you can switch to Windows 10 Home at zero cost. (According to winfuture.de.)