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Submission + - Breaking into the C++ programming field

Submitted by on Tuesday February 13, 2007 @09:09AM

An anonymous reader writes: Does anyone have any advice for breaking into the C++ programming field? I graduated college with a bachelors in CS in 2002, but after being unemployed for a year I took whatever job I could get (SQL Server/Some VB.NET). About a year ago I changed jobs at last, but the only people who looked at me seriously were for SQL Server skills, no one looked at me as a developer at all. Now, deciding that DBA is not really what I want to do, I am unable to even get the time of day for anyone recruiting for Software Engineering jobs. To be honest, I agree that there is a certain skillset I am missing and that is the skills of working on a gigantic project in one of these procedural languages. At my current job database work and development is completely separate, so I can't even touch any source code (mostly in C# anyway). In my previous job there were some web front ends coded in .NET but it was a start up and emphasis was on getting the job done...not proper software engineering. Also, all the .NET code was relatively small. Unfortunately, I cannot find a company to let me start doing real development where I can be introduced to a gigantic project in an imperative (C/C++/Java/C#) language. I would really like to do C++, but even just learning C++ is not enough. Most of the C++ jobs I see also require Java or Java Web Services, or Oracle. As much as I would like to learn all these things, I can't go around learning everything I see in job ads just to get a job, because by the time I do, the next job ad might have something different. Also, at home I just don't have a need for much power, even C++ is usually overkill for the typical home project. I just want to know how I can break into the programming field and without taking a huge paycut (since I have to support a family). Even in my current job as a DBA I am exposed to the software development process, and stored procedures are similar to developing for a procedural language (loops, variables, etc.). So surely somehow my experience must translate into real programming? C++ is my favorite language because of its raw power, but most jobs I see with C++ require 5+ years of work experience with "C/C++", which unfortunately I will never get since no one will hire me to do either.

Submission + - Hollywood to delay Canadian Release Dates.

Submitted by oglsmm on Tuesday February 13, 2007 @09:06AM

oglsmm writes: http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=b 3001d7a-a969-4b92-89a9-6a7ce4f31c90

Tories will not act to curb movie piracy
Camcorder bootlegging: Government cites stiff copyright laws already in place

Janice Tibbetts
CanWest News Service

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

OTTAWA — The Conservative government appears in no hurry to bring forward a new law to crack down on camcorded movie bootlegging, despite lobbying from theatres and a threat from Hollywood to delay film distribution in Canada.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said in an interview that there is already a stiff copyright law in Canada to catch people who sneak camcorders into movie theatres for the purposes of filming for commercial distribution.

"I do point out to people that the country is not completely bereft of laws in this area," he said.

The maximum fine under the federal Copyright Act is $1-million and five years in jail for camcording a movie for commercial distribution.

Hollywood is pressing for more expansive laws and one studio, 20th Century Fox, has threatened to withhold movie distribution in Canada.

The industry charges that Canada has become a major source of film piracy worldwide and has been cited on a U.S. watchlist, along with China and Russia, for three straight years.

The umbrella group for the country's movie theatres, the Canadian Motion Picture Theatre Associations, recently wrote to Mr. Nicholson to lobby for a new law.

Mr. Nicholson said that he is willing "to look at any suggestion that comes forward."

But the new justice minister also noted that he already has a lot on his plate in the coming months, centred around the Conservative government's aggressive law-and-order agenda.

"I don't want to get into the situation that you may have seen in this town where certain ministers or certain governments had a different priority every day of the week and every time a new problem came up that was a new priority and ultimately nothing gets done," said Mr. Nicholson.

The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association says movie pirating in Canada accounted for 20 per cent of camcorded copies of DVDs worldwide in 2005 and was responsible for $118-million in losses.

"What we're dealing with here is organized crime," said Doug Frith, the president of the association, which represents the American film industry's interests in Canada.

The way that the most sophisticated piracy works, explained Mr. Frith, is that the ill-gotten movie is put into a hard drive minutes after leaving a theatre and it is available on the Internet within hours of the film's release.

Mr. Frith said that the federal copyright law is not enough because it puts the onus on the Crown to prove that the camcording is being done for commercial purposes.

Michael Geist, a law professor at University of Ottawa, says he is not convinced of Hollywood's claims that Canada is a leading source of movie piracy.

"I think we need far better evidence to suggest that there is a problem," said Geist, adding that the industry's data on the matter is "all over the place."

A bigger problem, he said, is industry insiders bootlegging DVDs before the movies are even released in theatres, he said.

"This is an issue that is far more complex than "Canada is a haven for pirates and we need tougher laws to deal with this issue"," said Mr. Geist.

Howard Knopf, an Ottawa copyright lawyer, said there could be potential problems in making it illegal to use a camcorder in a theatre if it causes problems for movie-goers who carry their cellphones or other gadgets with film-making capability.

"I don't have a problem with it being illegal to use a camcorder," he said, "but I don't think we should criminalize gadgets. More and more companies are coming up with gadgets that do pretty well everything and it shouldn't be a crime to carry one around."
© National Post 2007