In the USA and Canada, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum did not exist.

In the U.S. I had a Timex-Sinclair 2068, which was basically the Spectrum but with some improvements.

It was a lot nicer to use and program for than the Timex-Sinclair 1000 (ZX-81), really a pretty solid machine and nice to program for.

It absolutely was a classic in every sense that the C64 was, just for a smaller group of people.

I agree that is some companies - I worked on things like that also.

But there are many, many smaller companies that need programmers where life is nothing like that. The great thing is that a competent programmer really can choose the kind of life that fits them best - some people actually fit in and like the environment you describe, but you can escape if not.

I posted what I did because I want younger developers to ponder the freedom they have and take advantage of it while it exists, and to really take themselves in a direction they want to go.

That's the really hard part though - getting an idea of where you want to go, and sometimes sitting at company for a while until you work that out makes sense.

If Apple had moved to a whitespace-active language I seriously would have switched to Android development.

Not even joking. I have used a lot of languages professionally and for fun, but I could not get past that aspect of Python and I can't see why such an insane design flaw would be any more tolerable in Nimrod.

It has so many dangers in terms of correctness and overlooked bugs...

There was one other language that bugged me in... Fortran... but at least there is only affected what was a comment, it didn't oversee control flow.

You are playing the ignorant doofus, seemingly you are not a programmer or you would realize the truth of what I say...

I'll let you have the last response so we can all laugh at you further, honestly you aren't worth any more time replying to.

pretty much presumes that you are an executive-level employee who sets his/her own hours

All coders do in reality, and there are enough job options you can control the flexibility you desire.

You just need to take advantage of the power you have.

Note that although many executives have power to "set hours" they also generally work a LOT of overtime too. I really see them as being similar to coders, more than most people realize.

So 1,800 "cyber-warriors" crash 48,000 machines. Or ... each "cyber-warrior" crashes 27 machines. Yeah. Big threat there.

And crashing 48,000 machines? What is "elite" about that?

This sounds less like "a sophisticated cyber-warfare cell" and more like a few script-kiddies. If you want to cause damage then you search for Excel files and you make a few, random changes to the numbers. Do the same with any database files you can find.

And, lastly, you NEVER crash a machine. You want to maintain control for as long as possible.

So, yeah, it reads like bullshit propaganda. It probably is.

in Apple's case, particularly

That is exactly backwards.

Apple needed to go forward with a new language, but no other language offers the kind of interoperability that Swift does, nor would any existing language designers have been willing to bend to make that happen.

In Apple's case they designed a modern language that you can use to the fullest, while at the same time having easy bridging to Objective-C so that developers (including Apple's developers!!) can chose a transition timeline that makes sense for what they are doing.

I know that increased productivity should in theory make life better for everybody, in practice wealth has been increasingly concentrated over the last few decades.

Having been to Africa and other really poor parts of the world, what you think of as "concentrated" looks like quality of living spread remarkably well over first world countries. So what if some people have an absurd amount of money?

In fact if you think about it, the stuff most people enjoy day to day, you aren't going to have a much better experience if you are rich. If you want an awesome laptop you can easily afford the same laptop a billionaire would use. If you want an iPhone you can max it out on a minimal salary.

You can have decent shelter, good food and a good life without a ton of money in most first world countries, in large part thanks to extensive infrastructure and rule of law. That looks pretty far from a model where all death is truly isolated and the well off are living in castles while you shovel pig shit and die of plague.

First rule of crowd moderation: flagging as abusive/trolling/offtopic will be used as 'I don't agree'.

Yep. Which is why /. should require that every down-mod be accompanied by a short explanation of WHY it fit "abusive/trolling/offtopic".

Up-mods don't matter. If you want to mod something up then no explanation is necessary since they don't "bury" unpopular opinions.

What kind of people are those going to be who volunteer to do a corporation's job?

That would be those people who already have an agenda that they believe could be furthered by restricting other people's accounts.

Tyranny of the majority.

And that isn't counting hiring people to do that. For just $X a day, you can down-vote post opposing Y and up-vote posts supporting Y. Think about whatever political position you don't like and imagine those people doing that.

Bennett Haselton is an idiot. That's okay.

The fact that Bennett Haselton's idiotic ideas get front page posting on /. is a problem. Why did samzenpus feel that this was worth posting?

The first two root comments posted are both ad-hominem attacks on 60 Minutes.

Why would you not expect that when the summary questions the credibility of the person speaking against 60 minutes, while treating that organization as if they are utterly trustworthy?

People respond to lopsided arguments with corrections. Someone who agreed with the spin of the summary would not feel as compelled to post.

As winter hits the nation, more and more people will be activating wipers to clear off road spray... if "they" manage to get this virus into the mag-chloride solution it could mean millions are impacted.

They'll know where you live anyways. In the US, at least, you're required to keep your car's current registration card in the vehicle

I keep that in my wallet also, along with insurance.

DO NOT KEEP ADDRESSES IN YOUR CAR.

Since the AI will probably be a computer ... doesn't the exact nature of the threat come down to what that computer is connected to?

AI + tank is a different issue than AI + colour printer.

And if he keeps his driver's license in the car glove compartment, 90% of the time he doesn't need to carry that, either.

Very bad idea - if someone breaks into your car they know (a) you are not at home, (b) may have your garage door opener, and (c) thanks you your idea know where you live.

Do not keep anything with a home address in your car.