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Comment Re:Pattern Paralysis (Score 2) 296

by Traf-O-Data-Hater (#62653254) Attached to: Are Today's Programmers Leaving Too Much Code Bloat?
A couple years ago I went for a C# job interview. One of the questions on the test involved a simple class depicting a light bulb. I recall it went something like this:

class LightBulb
{
public bool On;
}

They wanted me to "improve" this code. I changed the On to an automatic get/set property but apart from that I left it as-is. Explained to the interviewer at the end that it was so simple I honestly couldn't see where it needed "improvement" beyond that. It would just be a time wasted exercise.
To which, the guy looked at me disparagingly. "What do you want? An interface extracted from it? Why?" I said. The guy looked at me with (what I gather) a look of tacit agreement.
Needless to say I did not get that job.

Comment Two things (Score 4, Insightful) 317

by Traf-O-Data-Hater (#62626540) Attached to: The Collapse of Complex Software
35 years as a code monkey here. Maybe 40, who cares.
Two things annoy me in software:

1) lack of comments. Not useless comments that say "this adds one to x". Rather, comments that detail the rationale for this thing. What uses it.
I shouldn't have to use a tool (or a brute-force grep) and ten minutes just to get an appreciation of what I'm looking at. I want to know WHY this code exists, not how it works. Maybe give me an extra line of your thoughts at the top if there are any gotchas

2) the phrase "Code Smells". Whoever came up with that stupid condescending arrogant put-down had better be the smartest rockstar developer that ever lived. I've seen a lot of code. Good stuff, not-as-good stuff. I marvel at the clever stuff but I don't diss the imperfect stuff.
Everyone writes and thinks differently. Someone wrote that code and it solved a problem at that time. Maybe they weren't aware of this or that technique, or library. Or didn't handle an exception. So what.

Everything else I can live with.

Submission + - 'I Love the Linux Desktop, But That Doesn't Mean I Don't See Its Problems' (theregister.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Recently, The Register's Liam Proven wrote tongue in cheek about the most annoying desktop Linux distros. He inspired me to do another take. Proven pointed out that Distrowatch currently lists 270 – count 'em – Linux distros. Of course, no one can look at all of those. But, having covered the Linux desktop since the big interface debate was between Bash and zsh rather than GNOME vs KDE, and being the editor-in-chief of a now-departed publication called Linux Desktop, I think I've used more of them than anyone else who also has a life beyond the PC. In short, I love the Linux desktop. Many Linux desktop distros are great. I've been a big Linux Mint fan for years now. I'm also fond, in no particular order, of Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, and MX Linux. But you know what? That's a problem right there. We have many excellent Linux desktop distros, which means none of them can gain enough market share to make any real dent in the overall market.
[...]
Besides over 200 distros, there are 21 different desktop interfaces and over half-a-dozen different major ways to install software such as the Debian Package Management System (DPKG), Red Hat Package Manager (RPM), Pacman, Zypper, and all too many others. Then there are all the newer containerized ways to install programs including Flatpak, Snap, and AppImage. I can barely keep them all straight and that's part of my job! How can you expect ordinary users to make sense of it all? You can't. None of the major Linux distributors – Canonical, Red Hat, and SUSE – really care about the Linux desktop. Sure, they have them. They're also major desktop influencers. But their cash comes from servers, containers, the cloud, and the Internet of Things (IoT). The desktop? Please. We should just be glad they spend as many resources as they do on them.

Now, all this said, I don't want you to get the impression that I don't think the conventional Linux desktop is important. I do. In fact, I think it's critical. Microsoft, you see, is abandoning the traditional PC-based desktop. In its crystal ball, Microsoft sees Azure-based Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) as its future. [...] That means that the future of a true desktop operating system will lie in the hands of Apple with macOS and us with Linux. As someone who remembers the transition from centrally controlled mainframes and minicomputers to individually empowered PCs, I do not want to return to a world where all power belongs to Microsoft or any other company.

Submission + - SPAM: James Webb telescope hit by large micrometeoroid

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: NASA’s new powerful space observatory, the James Webb Space Telescope, got pelted by a larger than expected micrometeoroid at the end of May, causing some detectable damage to one of the spacecraft’s 18 primary mirror segments. The impact means that the mission team will have to correct for the distortion created by the strike, but NASA says that the telescope is “still performing at a level that exceeds all mission requirements.”

Despite the strike, NASA remained optimistic in its post about JWST’s future. “Webb’s beginning-of-life performance is still well above expectations, and the observatory is fully capable of performing the science it was designed to achieve,” according to the blog. Engineers can also adjust the impacted mirror to help cancel out the data distortion. The mission team has done this already and will continue to tinker with the mirror over time to get the best results. It’s a process that will be ongoing throughout JWST’s planned five to 10 years of life as new observations are made and events unfold. At the same time, NASA warns that the engineers will not be able to completely cancel out the impact of the strike.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - SPAM: Microplastics Found In Freshly Fallen Antarctic Snow For First Time

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Microplastics have been found in freshly fallen snow in Antarctica for the first time, which could accelerate snow and ice melting and pose a threat to the health of the continent’s unique ecosystems. The tiny plastics — smaller than a grain of rice — have previously been found in Antarctic sea ice and surface water but this is the first time it has been reported in fresh snowfall, the researchers say. The research, conducted by University of Canterbury PhD student, Alex Aves, and supervised by Dr Laura Revell has been published in the scientific journal The Cryosphere.

Aves collected snow samples from the Ross Ice Shelf in late 2019 to determine whether microplastics had been transferred from the atmosphere into the snow. Up until then, there had been few studies on this in Antarctica. “We were optimistic that she wouldn’t find any microplastics in such a pristine and remote location,” Revell said. She instructed Aves to also collect samples from Scott Base and the McMurdo Station roadways – where microplastics had previously been detected — so “she’d have at least some microplastics to study,” Revell said. But that was an unnecessary precaution – plastic particles were found in every one of the 19 samples from the Ross Ice Shelf. “It’s incredibly sad but finding microplastics in fresh Antarctic snow highlights the extent of plastic pollution into even the most remote regions of the world,” Aves said.

Aves found an average of 29 microplastic particles per litre of melted snow, which is higher than marine concentrations reported previously from the surrounding Ross Sea and in Antarctic sea ice. Samples taken from immediately next to the scientific bases on Ross Island, Scott Base and McMurdo Station threw up larger concentrations – nearly three times that of remote areas. There were 13 different types of plastic found, with the most common being PET – the plastic commonly used to make soft drink bottles and clothing. Atmospheric modelling suggested they may have travelled thousands of kilometres through the air, however it is equally likely the presence of humans in Antarctica has established a microplastic ‘footprint’, Revell said.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Giant Deep Ocean Turbine Trial Offers Hope of Endless Green Power (yahoo.com)

Submitted by AmiMoJo
AmiMoJo writes: Power-hungry, fossil-fuel dependent Japan has successfully tested a system that could provide a constant, steady form of renewable energy, regardless of the wind or the sun. For more than a decade, Japanese heavy machinery maker IHI Corp. has been developing a subsea turbine that harnesses the energy in deep ocean currents and converts it into a steady and reliable source of electricity. The giant machine resembles an airplane, with two counter-rotating turbine fans in place of jets, and a central ‘fuselage’ housing a buoyancy adjustment system. Called Kairyu, the 330-ton prototype is designed to be anchored to the sea floor at a depth of 30-50 meters (100-160 feet). The advantage of ocean currents is their stability. They flow with little fluctuation in speed and direction, giving them a capacity factor — a measure of how often the system is generating — of 50-70%, compared with around 29% for onshore wind and 15% for solar.

Submission + - SPAM: Next-Generation Apple CarPlay Will Be a Whole Car OS

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The next generation of CarPlay will be compatible with a variety of aspect ratios — from portrait to landscape — and can even adapt to multidisplay dashboards, including vehicles with digital instrument clusters or with ultrawide pillar-to-pillar displays. CarPlay will be more integrated with all the host vehicle's systems. Beyond its current navigation and media consumption functionalities, Apple CarPlay will handle traditional instrumentation like speedometer, tachometer, temperature gauges and fuel or EV battery level displays. Users will be able to adjust their climate controls, activate seat heaters, monitor air quality and even tie into Apple's smart home technologies directly from the CarPlay interface.

As with the next generation of iOS on the phone, Apple is also giving CarPlay users the ability to customize how CarPlay looks with selectable themes, backgrounds and widgets. From loud pink analog-style gauges to slick numerical displays and bar graphs, CarPlay will be able to match a wide range of vehicle interior designs and personal aesthetic tastes. Perhaps most interestingly, Apple says that this new full-fat approach to CarPlay as a complete vehicle interface will continue to be powered entirely by the connected iPhone, giving Apple an unprecedented amount of control over the vehicle's operation as well as access to data generated by each host vehicle.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - SPAM: UK Four-Day Week Pilot Begins: Employees Get 100% of the Pay For 80% of the Time

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The biggest ever four-day working week pilot is set to begin in the UK, with over 70 companies and 3,300 workers ready to take part. The trial will result in no loss of pay for employees, based on the principle of the 100:80:100 model. Employees will receive 100 percent of the pay for 80 percent of the time in exchange for a commitment to maintaining 100 percent productivity.

An impressive list of companies are taking part in the trial from a wide range of sectors including banking, care, online retail, IT software training, housing, animation studios, hospitality and many more. The pilot is running for six months and is being organized by 4 Day Week Global in partnership with leading think tank Autonomy, the 4 Day Week UK Campaign and researchers at Cambridge University, Oxford University and Boston College. [...] Researchers will work with each participating organization to measure the impact on productivity in the business and the wellbeing of its workers, as well as the impact on the environment and gender equality. Government-backed four-day week trials are also due to begin later this year in Spain and Scotland.
Link to Original Source

Submission + - Biden Waives Solar Panel Tariffs, Seeks To Boost Production (apnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: President Joe Biden ordered emergency measures Monday to boost crucial supplies to U.S. solar manufacturers and declared a two-year tariff exemption on solar panels from Southeast Asia as he attempted to jumpstart progress toward his climate change-fighting goals. His invoking of the Defense Production Act and other executive actions comes amid complaints by industry groups that the solar sector is being slowed by supply chain problems due to a Commerce Department inquiry into possible trade violations involving Chinese products. The Commerce Department announced in March that it was scrutinizing imports of solar panels from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, concerned that products from those countries are skirting U.S. anti-dumping rules that limit imports from China.

White House officials said Biden’s actions aim to increase domestic production of solar panel parts, building installation materials, high-efficiency heat pumps and other components including cells used for clean-energy generated fuels. They called the tariff suspension affecting imports from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia a bridge measure while other efforts increase domestic solar power production — even as the administration remains supportive of U.S. trade laws and the Commerce Department investigation. [...]

The use of executive action comes as the Biden administration’s clean energy tax cuts, and other major proposals meant to encourage domestic green energy production, have stalled in Congress. The Defense Production Act lets the federal government direct manufacturing production for national defense and has become a tool used more commonly by presidents in recent years. The Trump administration used it to produce medical equipment and supplies during the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic. Biden invoked its authority in April to boost production of lithium and other minerals used to power electric vehicles.

Submission + - Are the world's most powerful supercomputers operating in secret? (newscientist.com)

Submitted by MattSparkes
MattSparkes writes: A new supercomputer called Frontier has been widely touted as the world’s first exascale machine – but was it really? Although Frontier, which was built by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, topped what is generally seen as the definitive list of supercomputers, others may already have achieved the milestone in secret.

Some owners prefer not to release a benchmark figure, or even publicly reveal a machine’s existence. Simon McIntosh-Smith at the University of Bristol, UK points out that not only do intelligence agencies and certain companies have an incentive to keep their machines secret, but some purely academic machines like Blue Waters, operated by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, are also just never entered.

Submission + - Tesla latest company to end work at home (cnn.com)

Submitted by Billly Gates
Billly Gates writes: Elon Musk threatened to fire everyone who does not return to the office . In another story Elon went on further also is mandating a minimum 40 hour work week regardless of performance so managers. While many employers off work at home to retain and attract top talent Elon believes not one of them has made a top product. Every great product from a company came from those who worked together in an office and not over a remote connection.

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