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Comment Re:This is ridiculous (Score 0) 373

by nebulus4 (#26999841) Attached to: Google Joins EU Antitrust Case Against Microsoft
As I see it, if you're given a choice you decide which browser you want to use. If you're not, which is the case here, you might not bother. Many IE users I have talked to said that the reason they used IE was simply because it was there and they didn't want to bother installing other browsers. Or they simply didn't know they had a choice.

Comment Re:Cheaters? (Score 0) 182

by nebulus4 (#26004099) Attached to: Automated Scripts Overrun eBay Holiday Contest

Yeah, and it shouldn't be illegal to try to rob a bank. If they don't want it, it's their problem to stop it. It's a much faster way of winning money than just working your ass off.

And that's what they did, making it illegal to try to rob the bank. You need to come up with a better example than that.

Using scripts like these could be considered unethical, but I can hardly see it as a scam.

Comment Re:That's Easy (Score 0) 166

by nebulus4 (#25865475) Attached to: Google Sorts 1 Petabyte In 6 Hours
Consider a data set of just one number, about 1 petabyte in size, then it shouldn't really take much time to sort it, since we already know the data is sorted. Perfect excuse for using 4000 computers to beta-test Duke Nukem Forever.
Space

Submission + - Japanese Satellite Promises 1.2 GBps Net Access (cnn.com) 1

Submitted by ZeldorBlat
ZeldorBlat writes: CNN is reporting that the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have launched the WINDS satellite which promises internet access at speeds far surpassing that of current cable and DSL systems. From the article: "If the technology proves successful, subscribers with small dishes will connect to the Internet at speeds many times faster than what is now available over residential cable or DSL services. The Associated Press said the satellite would offer speeds of up to 1.2 gigabytes per second. The service initially would focus on the Asia-Pacific region close to Japan, a JAXA news release said."
The Almighty Buck

Submission + - Perl guy looks to stay employed 2

Submitted by Not Old yet Perl Guy
Not Old yet Perl Guy writes: So I'm a guy who has been hacking code non-stop Perl since 1996. I never got around to making any CPAN contributions. I used to know C and other nifty things like that but all those skills have aged out in light of do-or-die year after year Perl hacking. I'm wondering how employable I am? What new skill should I add to my tool box if I want to keep employed for the next 10 years? What skills other than Perl do slashdotters find that they need? What hot new projects are rolling out in Perl. (Pretend I've been under a rock for five years.) And, where have all the Perl jobs gone?
Programming

Submission + - Practical Rails Projects (seancribbs.com)

Submitted by
Sean Cribbs
Sean Cribbs writes: "There are many beginning and advanced Ruby on Rails books available, from the authoritative Agile Web Development with Rails to the cookbook-style Rails Recipes. However, healthy guidance for intermediate-level developers is lacking at best. Ironically, this is the most crucial stage in the process of becoming proficient with Rails because one must begin to learn why, not just how. Eldon Alameda's Practical Rails Projects (Apress, 2007) effectively fills that gap. I know Alameda from our local Ruby User Group and spoke with him frequently while he wrote this book. His expertise with Rails definitely shines through in the hefty 621-page volume.

Practical Rails Projects has a unique and effective approach. Instead of spoon-feeding contrived code snippets, Alameda teaches by example, leading the reader step-by-step through the design, creation, enhancement, and analysis of several full-fledged projects. Each project introduces new techniques to the intermediate Rails developer carefully and with plenty of explanation — from caching to generating graphs to RESTful application design and much more. Rather than regurgitating documentation that is occasionally unclear or misleading, each application begins with a clean Rails project and is built up step-by-step with detailed commentary on how and why each step is taken. Alameda's format reflects the reality that real-life projects never have a straight development path; at each step one must make tough decisions, watch for pitfalls and take risks. There are no leaps-of-faith or "just trust me" moments, everything is explained. In the final chapter of each project, Alameda also suggests ways that the project could be improved and how to apply the newly learned techniques to previous projects in the book.

The text is clear and uncomplicated with an approachable style. Projects even makes Rails' least fun framework, ActionWebService (which helps you create SOAP and XML-RPC services), easy to understand. While there are some glaring proofing mistakes, such as "Ruby" uncapitalized and some malformed URLs to external resources, the code snippets are practically error-free and all source and binary resources are available via the Apress website.

One controversial decision made by Alameda was to use the ExtJS Javascript library extensively in one project to build an administration interface for a legacy site. ExtJS is a powerful high-level library that simplifies the creation of desktop-like interfaces in the web browser. Instead of spending a lot of time hand-crafting HTML/ERb templates and CSS, Alameda quickly creates an interface in ExtJS and uses Rails to generate XML and JSON that drives the almost entirely client-side application. While some may find this outside the spectrum of what should be in a Rails book, many developers are now creating their interfaces in Flex, SilverLight, and other client-side technologies. With the recent official release of ActiveResource, I believe we will see more web-service-focused Rails applications as time goes on. Alameda's choice is also practical; with a small number of users having access to the interface, he can place greater requirements on them in order to deliver the application more quickly.

Overall, I believe Practical Rails Projects is a strong book for the intermediate Rails developer. It provides an introduction to more advanced concepts of the framework without being preachy or obtuse. It lacks any discussion of test- or behavior-driven development with Rails, but the breadth and depth of the topics it covers makes up for this weakness. Like any book that covers a rapidly-changing open-source project like Ruby on Rails, Projects will date quickly, but in the near-term it should be of great help to developers looking to gain constructive experience."

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