it's probably in a cardboard box in cupboard somewhere, between some smallpox virus and the Ark of the Covenant.

there is no such thing as an error in indentation in other languages. Indentation is simply whitespace added as a guide for the programmer and is entirely optional.

So

if (a) do_b();

is exactly the same as

if (a)
    do_b();

which is exactly the same as

if (a)
\tdo_b();

I think python as an introductory language is good as it forces the learner to understand indentation as a good thing, but in the real world its less useful and more a straitjacket that can be bad. For example, when adding some new code I will often put it at the beginning of the line (ie with no indent) so I can see it more clearly whilst coding (usually this is for temporary tracing lines), and only indent it before commit. Sometimes a big block of switches is much more clearly laid out like my first example.

None of these causes errors in readability of the code, which is really what indentation should be all about. Good for python enforcing this, but bad of python for not offering the curly-brace alternative when you need it.

which college was that as it seems to have grasped the concept of teaching.

what do you mean, picking up steam - Enterprise (those who are Windows shops of course) use C# extensively.

However - think of it like this. Ten years ago, you'd be the one saying Visual Basic is the most widely used language in enterprise, so we should be teaching kids that. And today, those kids would be coming out of college knowing all about VB6 (note, schools don't change curriculums overnight, it takes a long time for them to realise, and even longer to implement change - Java was popular in 1996 which is when it started to gain traction in university departments).

So, I hope this shows you the fallacy of teaching using "what enterprise wants now". You need to teach what will stand the kids in good stead for the future, that teaches them fundamental programming concepts that they can use their knowledge to apply to other languages. Personally I think they should teach a language that no-one uses in industry. Pascal (or Oberon) or something dedicated for teaching.

Oh, and that only applies to Windows shops, non-windows people don't use C#.

true, but all those HTML elements tend to get laid out in increasingly complex divs, with a whole heap of CSS added.

I was really referring to the javascript "controls" that are html elements with a huge heap of javascript behind them providing functionality.

I'd like to see webgl + native code running in the browser as a standard, probably based on a superset of C so anything else can be implemented in it.

but if your browser+js+html5 is so good at providing fast, standards-based 3D... why can't it run Crysis?

3d is more accelerated than 2d - its faster simply becuase the graphics cards practically only do 3d stuff now. 2d, there for desktop windows as almost an afterthought.

Some systems (eg Direct2d) are built on top of 3d graphics stacks, you just have a flat projection and no depth co-ordinates to give the impression of a 2d graphics surface.

So you see WebGL is significantly faster than HTML drawing, which is why it might be a good thing overall... the problem comes with replacing a well known standard with god-knows-what graphics drawing. Hopefully it'll settle down, and maybe one day we'll get a C-style logic that draws WebGL graphics in a browser as a standard.

And then someone will replace it with something else.

TBH I'd rather have a small language that is a lot of small, well defined building blocks and make what I need out of it (maybe I played with lego too much as a kid), than a language that has the kitchen sink in it somewhere - or worse, has 3 kitchen sinks in it because they kept on adding them in different versions. (yes .NET, you)

So I'd say perl or C are better languages than C# because they are small. Once you know the basics, you can do anything in them. With C# I'm forever finding new things I didn't know it could do or things it does if only I had the newer version.

With a small language, you can build self-contained libraries that fulfil your need for expansion of new features as they are invented, and replace them if needed.

I think this is the best, a language should be like an kernel, not a full OS with minesweeper, notepad and media player just because they could be added to it.

So I think I agree with you :-)

rubbish. Each element of a language is something you write down. It can be a symbol or it can be a word (or in Java it can be aReallyLongSetOfDescriptiveWords.In.Namespaces)

The point is that once you've learned the sigils, its no longer a mess, its perfectly understandable and concise. There's no scatter-brainedness there or urban sprawl of design.

Think of it this way - if you took any language and converted it to a set of machine-readable numbers, they'd all look the same. The difference is that you want something humans can understand. Perl manages this - _but_ you have to take the time to learn what those symbols mean. In more wordy languages, you get the understanding from the English names they use instead. The trouble with that is that many people read the English words and assume they fully know what they mean, when they don't necessarily do.

We've all seen people who'll use a list when an array would be more appropriate. Even though the code works, they haven't learned the difference between the collection classes and so pick the wrong one. In perl you can't accidentally make that mistake because there is no 'array' or 'list' there's just 2 squiggles.
Learn the squiggles, you learn which one to use, your code becomes correct.

and he's quite right, because the alternative is COBOL or Visual Basic where every syntax element is spelled out in big words.

There's a reason Windows developers like C# and not VB.NET (even though its the same thing) and that's the syntax. With C# you get to use a few symbols for various bits that are otherwise spelled out in VB. Perl just takes it to the limit - which means you have to understand what those symbols mean, and if you don't it looks like garbage. Which, I guess, C# looks like to my mum.

So in other words: learn your shit guys, you can't criticise perl for looking like crap unless you have taken the time to learn the language. And then you'll think it looks correct.

dodgy, not doggy.

you've been doing something so long its starting to affect your eyesight :-)

probably... you'd be shocked if you know what my thoughts were when I was alone.

Or maybe not, yours probably revolve around dodgy sex too :-)

and today Google has reinstated some links

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/tech...

uh-huh.

The ruling only refers to information that is no longer "inadequate, irrelevant, or no longer relevant" - so if its still relevant it should not be unlinked.

Maybe you should write to Google to inform them of this and to get the link re-instated.

in this particular case, the guy the article was about didn't make the 'forgetme' request, it was some Joe Schmoe who was objecting to a comment he posted in the comment section under it.

I don't know if the guy's comment is irrelevant now, I doubt it as it was just some feeble comment he wrote - not an article directly about that user. It could be he wrote something he is now embarrassed about, but more likely it is just some dick who wanted to try the system out.