|
Marc Clifton wrote: I remember in 8th grade being taught by the chemistry teacher how to enter the bootstrap code into the PDP/11 with toggle switches.
Did he deliberately not have a serial line to a terminal?
What a bastard.
|
|
|
|
|
dusty_dex wrote: Did he deliberately not have a serial line to a terminal?
The machine was hooked up to a teletype with a good old punch tape for saving programs. Which wouldn't work until you booted the computer.
Marc
|
|
|
|
|
Terrence Dorsey wrote: How did you learn machine code?
"Z80 machine code (or assembly language) for the absolute beginner" and Devpac[^] for ZX Sinclair Spectrum
|
|
|
|
|
|
City & Guilds Assembler - a training language implemented via an interpreter on a Mainframe at Manchester University. It was only for learning the concepts and not used for "real" programming. We had to write the code out on coding sheets and then transcribe it onto a paper tape punch (using "run-out", and post processing using a hand punch, scissors and sticky tape for error correction) then connect the Teletype via an acoustic coupler (after school at 6 PM when the telephone rates were cheaper) and send the code through. The teacher did all the logging on and setting up for our code, we then each got to run our little length of tape through, one at a time - and got the results back within seconds (occasionally minutes) - amazing!
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
|
|
|
|
|
C++11 feels like a new language. I write code differently now than I did in C++98. The C++11 code is shorter, simpler, and usually more efficient than what I used to write. This poses challenges: How do you present C++? What techniques do you recommend? What language features and libraries do you emphasize? Presenting C++11 as a layer on top of C++98 would be as bad as representing C++98 as a layer on top of C. C++ must be presented as a whole, as the powerful tool for design and implementation that it is, rather than a set of independent features. The Fourth Edition of The C++ Programming Language attempts that and should become available in a few months. Bjarne Stroustrup's personal tour of C++11 and a preview of his book's 4th edition.
|
|
|
|
|
Most people understand that Windows is used by a variety of people who have a variety of needs, ranging from corporate server to workstation to POS terminals to home PC and beyond. Most people accept that whenever Microsoft updates Windows, it has to balance the competing requirements to find some kind of workable compromise. There is however another set of competing requirements that many do not really register, even those that call themselves power users or are IT admins. It is a conflict between developers/programmers and Microsoft itself. Developers are ultimately the ones who write applications used by users whereas Microsoft develops the OS these applications run on. A common shared goal between the two is the desire that applications previously written continue to work. Is Modern API the clean break Microsoft needed from Win32 (and Silverlight and WPF and...)?
|
|
|
|
|
The "modern" API doesn't seem to be a "clean break" since it doesn't replace anything -- it provides no solution for desktop applications. Its something new which is currently limited to only windows store apps. Am I missing something here? Maybe I just don't understand the "modern" API well enough?
|
|
|
|
|
As many programmers gain experience, they start to learn more and more about what happens behind the facade, about Garbage Collecting and overall memory management. Sadly, I see many programmers filled with half right knowledge and wrong conclusions especially in the field of Garbage Collection and Performance. I saw attempts to "optimize" C# code, which did, if anything, slow down the program. So let us take a closer look at the modern Garbage Collectors, how they work and what problems they want to solve. I am going to explain the specific Java implementation, but don't worry, most of them work fairly similar. If GC really worked, it would throw out most of my code.
|
|
|
|
|
Google allegedly assigns version numbers late in the process, but what is known is that this next release will implement upcoming API level 18. If you follow the progression there’s a likelihood this will be Jelly Bean MR2 (Management Release 2), where Android 4.2 was management release 1. Based on some other discussions and sources I also suspect this might be Jelly Bean MR2. All of that is really just semantics however, what really matters are what specific features are coming and which of those Google touched on during I/O. What new features do you want to see in Android?
|
|
|
|
|
Working features
Faster Facebook app
Updates that wont reset all you settings and Icons
Possibility to uninstall apps that you don't want (and haven't installed yourself)
That's all, then I'll be a happy trooper!
Why can't I be applicable like John? - Me, April 2011 ----- Beidh ceol, caint agus craic againn - Seán Bán Breathnach ----- Da mihi sis crustum Etruscum cum omnibus in eo! ----- Just because a thing is new don’t mean that it’s better - Will Rogers, September 4, 1932
|
|
|
|
|
"Faster Facebook App" - go hassle FarceBook then, that's not an Android feature.
Personally, I'd never trust facebook with anything on my phone. Any company that thinks hosting videos of baby-battering is cool can go to hell:
http://www.channel4.com/news/facebook-news-provider-or-social-network[^]
I understand a snippet may be acceptable as "News", but leaving the whole 4 1/2 minutes up makes even the tabloids over here look responsible.
For the last one, you need to hassle your phone provider - they're usually responsible for this, or just go for a vanilla Android phone such as the Nexus.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
|
|
|
|
|
And if your lucky, you might get to be one of a few people to ever get the update!
.-.
|o,o|
,| _\=/_ .-""-.
||/_/_\_\ /[] _ _\
|_/|(_)|\\ _|_o_LII|_
\._. |\_/|"` |_| ==== |_|
|_|_| ||" || ||
|-|-| ||LI o ||
|_|_| ||'----'||
/_/ \_\ /__| |__\
|
|
|
|
|
Let’s try to find all possible ways to visualize a ludicrously small data set of two numbers. Afterwords, let’s try to pick the best visualization. With such a tiny dataset, you would think we would complete both exercises in less than 5 minutes. Yet, we spent more than two hours without having actually accomplished either of the two tasks. Not only was the number of possible ways to visualize two values far higher than expected, but also each single visualization method admitted multiple and interesting variations and opened new questions and discussions. The unit, meaning, interpretation and context of the values often determines the best visualization.
|
|
|
|
|
Three months ago, celebrated video game publisher Valve did something completely out of character: it fired up to 25 workers, in what one employee dubbed the "great cleansing." At the time, co-founder Gabe Newell quickly reassured gamers that the company wouldn't be canceling any projects, but it just so happens that one project managed to get away. Valve was secretly working on a pair of augmented reality glasses... and those glasses are still being built by two Valve employees who lost their jobs that day. Jeri Ellsworth and Rick Johnson created Technical Illusions to make illusions reality.
|
|
|
|
|
With WWDC just a few weeks away, I thought it’d be beneficial to the Internet at large to compile a working list of everything that is expected of Apple during their Keynote and subsequent “State of the Union” addresses in order to appease the Internet. Failure to introduce each and every one of these features and updates will result in another stock price plummet, calls for Tim Cook’s ouster and an infinite amount of comments on tech blogs decrying that Android is superior to Apple’s iOS. 50 serious suggestions for improving Mac/iOS development. What would you ask for?
|
|
|
|
|
I'm with him.
|
|
|
|
|
A $15m computer that uses "quantum physics" effects to boost its speed is to be installed at a Nasa facility. It will be shared by Google, Nasa, and other scientists, providing access to a machine said to be up to 3,600 times faster than conventional computers. Unlike standard machines, the D-Wave Two processor appears to make use of an effect called quantum tunnelling. This allows it to reach solutions to certain types of mathematical problems in fractions of a second. Effectively, it can try all possible solutions at the same time and then select the best. Some skeptics say this isn't real quantum computing. What do you think?
|
|
|
|
|
I am an ASP.NET MVP, author of an O'Reilly title "Building a Web 2.0 portal with ASP.NET 3.5". I have written 48 articles on CodeProject. In this installment we talk to Omar Al Zabir, a four time MVP legend on CodeProject.
|
|
|
|
|
In this series of articles, I'm going to go through some of the mistakes I frequently see people making who are attempting to write benchmarks in C#.... If you reward people for making a measurable improvement in memory usage, don't be surprised if time performance gets worse, and vice versa. If you reward improvement rather than achieving a goal then you can expect that they'll keep trying to make improvements even after the goal has been achieved (or worse, even if it is never achieved!) Eric Lippert thinks you're probably doing it wrong. Here's what you should be measuring.
|
|
|
|
|
A memory allocator's responsibility is to manage free blocks of memory. If you've never read a malloc implementation, you may have assumed that calling free simply causes memory to be released to the operating system. But acquiring memory from the OS has a cost, so allocators tend to keep free chunks around for a while for possible re-use before deciding to release them. Inside a very basic malloc implementation.
|
|
|
|
|
Today I got caught up reading a back and forth in twitter about a proposed assertion syntax for Ruby testing frameworks. It was interesting, but yet again it was about how to make tests 'read well.' It's hard to disagree with that, right? Well, I don't in principle, I just think about the amount of time we spend trying to warp programming syntax into English and I wonder whether it is really worth it.... The thing I wanted to blog about is the clash between this natural language style of programming and the other sorts of programming we do. The code should tell a story. Often, it's a tale of woe.
|
|
|
|
|
In this post, I’m going to show you how I made a Lisp to Javascript compiler. I really enjoy programming in Clojure but have often thought that the JVM isn’t always the best platform for scripts due to the slow JVM start-up. So, I decided to implement a simple version of Clojure that compiles to Javascript and can be run on top of nodejs. Compilers are notoriously hard to understand and therefore make for great mind-bending exercises. Exactly my idea of weekend fun. Let's compile all the things to JavaScript... the language everyone claims to hate.
|
|
|
|
|
As a die hard refactorer, but also pragmatic programmer, I often have a tough time articulating to other developers when a refactor is important and when it is gratuitous. I can imagine many people look at decisions I've made about when it is and isn't appropriate and think it's simply a whim or "when I feel like it". To clarify this for both myself and any future victims/co workers involved with refactoring decisions I may make, I submit this 10 item checklist. Note, writing test cases is a form of refactoring.
|
|
|
|
|
You should only ever refactor when you look at your code and think: that stinks.
"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair.
Those who seek perfection will only find imperfection
nils illegitimus carborundum
me, me, me
me, in pictures
|
|
|
|