Decide for Yourself

http://www.quora.com/What-do-the-top-1-of-software-engineers-do-that-the-other-99-do-not

Computer science is a deep field, and to be good at it, you need at least a working understanding of everything. If you think assembly code or linear algebra or strong static typing is "scary" or "too deep" you'll never reach 2.0. That doesn't mean you need to be an expert in everything because you can't. You can't have "I won't go there" areas. You probably don't want to be hand-writing assembly code very often, but if you take the attitude that it's "black magic" or "grunt work" or "unclean", then it will hinder your learning. (You see some Java programmers take this attitude toward manual-memory languages like C.) I would probably use Haskell (a high-level language with strong static typing) given a clean slate; but I've exposed myself to Clojure, C, and even Python (data science libraries) because they cover important topics from computer science. You can't have the "Will this be on the test?" mentality. You have to be curious about everything CS-related. (Mathematical curiosity helps.) You also need to learn about the industry itself. Why do so many software projects fail? What mistakes (technical and nontechnical) lead to that and how might they be prevented? What makes a good startup CTO? What things are worth building, and what patterns betray a death march?

How to GIve the Gift of Lumosity

Problem : My friend has a Lumosity subscription. But, she can't use it cause her laptop runs Win XP and is super slow. It may not be Windows' fault - it could be the hardware has quit -

Assuming Linux is the answer, what flavour of Linux will you use, considering the hardware ain't so great, to provide the optimal user experience - i.e., the computer shouldn't limit speed - so that Lumosity apps function flawlessly?

Unix Sort and Man

This reeks of "M$ and AAPL" trying to kill off linux :

Noticed the new distribution at work gives you the manpage in a new *ing window? Who the hell asked for that? The font is so tiny I have to do ctrl-scroll to magnify it. Goodbye productivity from getting where I want with keyboard only.

Please : how can I get a manpage to display in the terminal?

Your second challenge of the day :

How do you get a unix sort command to behave as before, but pretend it's reading Hebrew or Arabic? You get my meaning - start numbering fields from the right...

Please... How?

I tried these searches in vain :

how to prevent manpages from opening in new window
unix sort starting with fields from the right
how to unix sort based on columns starting from the right

Times that I Wish I Were a Software Guy

This would be a no-brainer for a CS type :

Firefox sucks - you go to a directory (i.e., no index.htm(l) file, so you get the listing of files) and you see all files are image files.

You click on one of the files and it displays the image. Good.

But, it could be better (think of Windows). A smart browser can see that the majority (maybe all) the files are image files and give you a thumbnails, and, when you're viewing one, depending on its position, give Previous and Next buttons to let you navigate easily.

How?

Why Linux Can Only Try

Someone said Java swing is worth considering for building GUIs. Here's how my fair trial went :

~/LEARN/swing/ 67> java HelloWorldFrame
Exception in thread "GtkMain" java.lang.UnsatisfiedLinkError: gtkInit
at _Jv_LookupJNIMethod (/usr/lib64/libgcj.so.5.0.0)
at _Jv_JNIMethod.call(ffi_cif, void, ffi_raw, void) (/usr/lib64/libgcj.so.5.0.0)
at gnu.java.awt.peer.gtk.GtkMainThread.run() (Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run() (/usr/lib64/libgcj.so.5.0.0)
at _Jv_ThreadRun(java.lang.Thread) (/usr/lib64/libgcj.so.5.0.0)
at GC_start_routine (/usr/lib64/libgcj.so.5.0.0)
at __clone (/lib64/tls/libc-2.3.4.so)

IOW : Utter crap!

Insert a Tree Object Into Your Word or OOD Document

Is this possible? Where the reader sees the first (settable) few nodes and branches and has to click on nodes to make other nodes/branches visible. Maybe this is one place OpenO can leapfrom M$.

Die Meister sagt es ist moeglisch, but probably takes some VB hacking even in a Word doc :

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.office.tools.word.controls.treeview(VS.80).aspx

I say, OOD should make this much easier.

At the end of the day, OpenO still sucks in LAF compared to M$ Office. You get what you pay for. Fair enough. For $25, you can't beat what you can get from M$.

Why You Should Not Buy the Samsung EPIC 4G Phone from Sprint

1) After searching, I could not find a way to capture Audio. With my Moto W490, it was 2 menus and about 5 button presses in all, and I thought THAT one was a crappy phone

2) I don't know how to terminate an application. There doesn't seem to be a way.

3) This whole idea of a gmail phone is a bit risky. On gmail, you enter a strong password each time. But, with your phone, once you've set your account up, anyone can get into your gmail if they know the 4 digit pin to unlock your phone. Nuts!

4) You send 2 emails each time you send one from your phone. Go figure. Obviously the geniuses at Google don't work in the marketing department.

5) I could not find a way to use the "Call phone" feature that gmail has. Obviously, the geniuses at Google don't work in the marketing department. If the phone is being marketed as a gmail phone or a google phone, you'd expect them to delight the customer with this thing up and ready. Go figure.

6) I cannot select text (like a phone number) in the Email application or the gmail app.

7) When using the gmail app, you don't get email address completion - which is ridiculous - on the PC, if you're using gmail, that's one of the best things about it. WTF? Really? WTF are they trying to prove to the world?

8) In the mail application, the delete button doesn't delete the email. Go figure. Should you make your stuff intuitively easy to use or what?

9) Sprint cannot import your contacts from your SIM card you used with an older phone.

10) After umpteen attempts, this phone has failed to pair with my Plantronics 233 bluetooth headset. With my Moto W490, it takes about 5 seconds. Also, the EPIC SPH-D700 doesn't find my Moto when looking for devices. It looks like it can only pair with Sprint devices. WTF?

11) It's not clear how to sign out of the email. I've got gmail and Email running and now, each one has an orgasm when a new email arrives.

12) With the gmail app, you can't zoom in. You can with the Email app though.

13) The phone is delivered to you (if you're as unlucky as me) with the USB Debugging enabled. Somehow, this doesn't prevent Linux from accessing the SD card. But, Windows has no clue what to do unless you put on your geek had and go into Notifications and turn USB Debugging off, so that, next time you plug in the cable, you can select the Mass Storage option.

14) There is no way to rightclick. With the advanced technology available, you'd expect they'd have figured out a way (like Apple) to use multitouch to implement this, but no. In fact, it seems like multitouch only applies to zooming.

15) Blogspot does not work cleanly. I could not tap in the post area and start entering text. It was terrible.

Go iPhone guys! Go iPhone!