Comment Why not? (Score 2, Insightful) 450
Because they can
Submission + - Sabotage At Energy Department Facility (acs.org)
wjousts writes: Chemical and Engineering News is reporting that more than 3,500 protein crystal samples were destroyed in a deliberate act of vandalism at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, CA. The laboratory performs x-ray crystallography to elucidate protein structures and although at least some data had be collected on most of the samples, about 120 samples had were new and had not be analyzed yet. It may take weeks to months to recreate the lost samples.
Both the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating.
Both the Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating.
Submission + - BitTorrent Speaks & Corrects Net Neutrality Re
An anonymous reader writes: BitTorrent has entered the net neutrality fray by speaking out
in Canada's net neutrality hearings. The company corrects
misconceptions from ISPs about the real-time nature of the application,
the importance of upload speeds, and typical usage patterns. It also
highlights the impact of traffic throttling in Canada, stating that
movie executives say that P2P usage has declined dramatically.
Submission + - Smart vs Wise: Always Something There To Remind Me (blogspot.com)
BT writes: "Always Something There To Remind Me
I have come to a conclusion. Millions of human beings are convinced that they were placed on earth to share their divine wisdom with poor, unruly, ignorant, slugs like me and lead them away from their pitiful life right into a perfect utopia.
I agree, it is wonderful to receive guidance from someone who is a true mentor or be educated by teachings that are of an obvious higher mind. I know, for anyone who knows me, it is a miracle that I can actually wake up, swing my feet to the floor, and start my day without smashing my toe on the coffee table. I think I've got the logistics of being a human being down to a science. I may not be a wise man, but I'm smart enough to dodge the slings and arrows of my outrageous, but fortunate life without needing a map, a cigarette or a backseat driver.
There are many people out there in the vapor who actually think that the whole world depends their constant words of intelligence blowing into the face of humankind during every waking moment. I'm not referring to the sharing of intelligent dialog, melding creative ideas or even debating political or religious viewpoints. Nope, that is not my point. I speak of the those who constantly state the obvious, preach to the converted or feel that there is no future without their keen way of thinking or earth shattering ideas. Truthfully, I think the amount of people in the world who can actually serve in this capacity could fit in the frozen food section of your neighborhood market OR be stacked like cord wood in the women's restroom at your local J.C Penny's. Simply speaking, there are not too many. I believe those who are truly wise and who honestly qualify to save the world, are the last to proclaim their wisdom and offer it to every mouth breather who has a pulse. These people do not own a soap box, have a TV show, run for public office, preach a Sunday sermon or have a designed social agenda. They have bigger and better ways to spend their time. In truth, there are not as many wise and logical people left in the world as we think, but we sure could use their help.
So, are smart people becoming extinct? No, not at all, but I'm not talking about smart. We have plenty of them. Smart investors, smart voters, smart shoppers, smart dressers and smart asses. They are everywhere. The smart are the ones that are flushing the little intelligence left in the world right down the toilet. Being smart and being wise are two totally different things if you have a true grasp of their meanings. They are as different as apples and oranges. Both are fruit but each have a different flavor and texture. Smart has a very temporary connotation. Doesn't it feel better to be referred to as a wise investor than just a smart investor? Hmmm?
Wise decisions give the impression that all the pros and cons were considered over long periods of time, thought of carefully, and established after much experience and computation was leveraged. The wise don't need to remind you of their wisdom or submit their resume. Unfortunately for the rest of us, the smart ones have inherited the earth. If you don't feel that this is true, just take a look around at many of the decision makers, movers and shakers of the time. Experiencing some of their rules, regulations and guidelines should quickly confirm that a new standard of brilliance is at the helm of modern day society and we're heading for an iceberg. The proof can be seen in the simplest of every day scenarios.
A wave of extreme hot weather has been torturing our region of the country for the past few weeks. When it is too hot to play outside because of the dangers of heat related hallucinations and stroke, all kids want to do is swim and swim.
One day my wife decided to take the youngest child and visit one of the many public swimming pools in our community. These pools are generally well maintained, supervised and managed by the neighborhood association who is responsible for the subdivision where the pool is located. It was a Monday morning and the pool was not very busy. The collection of people who were actually in attendance consisted of about eight children and six adults including my wife and the "teen dream" life guard on duty. On arrival, my wife quickly noticed an exhausted young mother with three kids sun bathing on a lounge chair while her children quietly and surprisingly swam and splashed in the shallow water. An overly enthused and chipper grandfather played at the far end with his two middle school-ish grandkids while a young dad sat reading the newest Stephen King novel while his two boys shot at each other with small plastic squirt guns. Also, unclear from her perspective at that time, another couple sat side by side on the far end of the pool. She was unable to see their faces but just assumed that they were enjoying the day, and possibly half asleep. Evidently, the pool was mostly being enjoyed by the children in attendance and not really seen as a place for relaxation by the adults. From her experience a community pool is not an easy substitute for the Kaman Islands, Cancun or the deep blue surf of the Bahamas. It is a place where you can silence your whining kids for a couple of hours with chlorine and city water and briefly escape into a good book, a quick bath in the sun, or thoughts of the night's schedule of prime time TV. On this day the children ruled this wet, fun world.
As mentioned, community swimming holes are generally managed by group of smart people who develop a set of rules that they feel essential to maintain the ultimate in safety and enjoyment at their facility. One rule may read "No belly flops or canon balls permitted". Another may dictate that "No one under the age of sixteen shall be allowed to swim without an adult guardian present". Some may be more specific and read clearly: "Urinating in pool is strickly prohibited." What ever the rule, guideline, or policy may be, we assume that much thought was invested by the brain-trust of smart individuals who have chiseled them in stone. Most of the rules contain a flavor of "child safety" and "child awareness" since most of the pools do not meet International Olympic standards. They are shallow and not something an adult would enjoy. It's all about the kids and a day of cool fun. At this pool, someone felt it important to include another rule that would only amplify the level of enjoyment and make swimming here fun for the entire family.
After an hour into their stay, roughly at 11am, the young David Hasselhoff stationed atop the tall, authoritative, lifeguard chair, stands proudly and blows his whistle. "Adult Swim!" he bellows as he continues to instruct the children in attendance to remove themselves quickly from the pool. "Adult Swim for the next fifteen minutes!" he says again as he carefully monitors the mass exodus of the now six little bodies that were actually swimming. Like a retirement home during "Wheel of Fortune", the small population of adults stuck to their programs of "one eye on junior the other on my watch", not giving much attention to the special time put aside for the adults today. My wife, the only adult who seemed to question the reasoning behind this decree, waited patiently to see who would take the offer.
As many of the children danced restlessly after the first minute of landfall, our boy asked the expected question. "Can I go back in the pool now?" he said with a hint of desperation. My wife thought, with normal logic, that since no adults were taking advantage of this privilege, the young guard would surely let those children return to the happiness of the pool. "Well, why don't you ask the lifeguard if you can get back in the pool, ok?" she asked. He quickly trots across the hot cement surface to the base of the tall tower and quietly poses his question. Mouthing some words in his native, aquatic tongue causes our boy to return in disappointment. "We have to wait fifteen minutes. That's the rule." he whimpered.
My wife looked at the empty pool then looked at the life guard. She looked again and back again. She repeated this several times as if she was watching the world championships at Wimbelton. With disbelief and a huge degree of confusion concerning the logic behind the seriousness of the rule, she walked the perimeter to see if anyone had moved toward or showed interest in the pool. No one stirred. True, in the lifeguard's defense, a large tour bus of hot, exhausted, city workers could arrive at any minute, so it is extremely urgent to adhere to this rule and it's placement in time. I mean a rule like this, if broken, could unravel the very fabric of the entire community pool system. Then comes anarchy, revolt, and finally utter chaos. It would be the end of the civilized world as we know it today.
As she scanned the outer edges of the pool, the mysterious couple that she was unable to view earlier, came into clear focus. Laying lifeless, they both seemed to be half asleep as she suspected. As she looked harder, she noticed that each were actually in a drunken haze, each cradling their own can of America's cheapest alcoholic beverage, Miller Light. What? Beer? At a public pool? Again, my wife looked at the empty pool, now at the beer, then at the life guard. She looked back and forth, again and back again. She repeated this several times as she began to wonder if Homer Simpson, Larry the Cable Guy, and the marketing team from Hooters were the actual smart people behind the neighborhood association that governs the rules behind this community pool. Have they set additional guidelines with the adult swimmers in mind? As the day passes, will the lifeguard-boy give his whistle another blow and announce "Open Bar!", "20 minutes until the Hawaiian Tropic Bikini Contest!" or "Nude Bathing starts in 10 minutes!" Maybe to show their solidarity with children and family, they will declare: "Children under the age of ten may now shit in the pool!" No compromise on the swimming time for the kids, but by golly, Richard Burton and Liz Taylor can have all the vodka and tonic they want.
You see my friends, the Smart people of the world attempt to make decisions, set rules, give advice, and direct the course of society based on where they went to college, who they play golf with on a Sunday afternoon, and who they know at city hall. Wise people make their choices based on what is best for all involved, their experience with the actual subject matter, and an accurate knowledge of the people their decision will effect. It is easy to tell who sets rules by the way they are written, administered and enforced. Whether it be letting adults drink or not letting kids swim at a community kiddie pool, the folks in charge will always be the smartest people they know and in turn the most qualified. Between motorcycle riders without helmets, twenty year prison terms for first time pot smokers, and probation for child rapists, there seems to be real wisdom and nothing but balanced thinking left in the world. Hell, it can be as funny or disturbing as you choose, but I choose to strive to be wisest one on my block. If I just settle for being smart, I may be doomed to a future in politics, religious leadership, law enforcement, education, middle management, customer service or the justice system.
Honestly, I would much rather continue to just be a wise ass. Just being smart is over rated."
I have come to a conclusion. Millions of human beings are convinced that they were placed on earth to share their divine wisdom with poor, unruly, ignorant, slugs like me and lead them away from their pitiful life right into a perfect utopia.
I agree, it is wonderful to receive guidance from someone who is a true mentor or be educated by teachings that are of an obvious higher mind. I know, for anyone who knows me, it is a miracle that I can actually wake up, swing my feet to the floor, and start my day without smashing my toe on the coffee table. I think I've got the logistics of being a human being down to a science. I may not be a wise man, but I'm smart enough to dodge the slings and arrows of my outrageous, but fortunate life without needing a map, a cigarette or a backseat driver.
There are many people out there in the vapor who actually think that the whole world depends their constant words of intelligence blowing into the face of humankind during every waking moment. I'm not referring to the sharing of intelligent dialog, melding creative ideas or even debating political or religious viewpoints. Nope, that is not my point. I speak of the those who constantly state the obvious, preach to the converted or feel that there is no future without their keen way of thinking or earth shattering ideas. Truthfully, I think the amount of people in the world who can actually serve in this capacity could fit in the frozen food section of your neighborhood market OR be stacked like cord wood in the women's restroom at your local J.C Penny's. Simply speaking, there are not too many. I believe those who are truly wise and who honestly qualify to save the world, are the last to proclaim their wisdom and offer it to every mouth breather who has a pulse. These people do not own a soap box, have a TV show, run for public office, preach a Sunday sermon or have a designed social agenda. They have bigger and better ways to spend their time. In truth, there are not as many wise and logical people left in the world as we think, but we sure could use their help.
So, are smart people becoming extinct? No, not at all, but I'm not talking about smart. We have plenty of them. Smart investors, smart voters, smart shoppers, smart dressers and smart asses. They are everywhere. The smart are the ones that are flushing the little intelligence left in the world right down the toilet. Being smart and being wise are two totally different things if you have a true grasp of their meanings. They are as different as apples and oranges. Both are fruit but each have a different flavor and texture. Smart has a very temporary connotation. Doesn't it feel better to be referred to as a wise investor than just a smart investor? Hmmm?
Wise decisions give the impression that all the pros and cons were considered over long periods of time, thought of carefully, and established after much experience and computation was leveraged. The wise don't need to remind you of their wisdom or submit their resume. Unfortunately for the rest of us, the smart ones have inherited the earth. If you don't feel that this is true, just take a look around at many of the decision makers, movers and shakers of the time. Experiencing some of their rules, regulations and guidelines should quickly confirm that a new standard of brilliance is at the helm of modern day society and we're heading for an iceberg. The proof can be seen in the simplest of every day scenarios.
A wave of extreme hot weather has been torturing our region of the country for the past few weeks. When it is too hot to play outside because of the dangers of heat related hallucinations and stroke, all kids want to do is swim and swim.
One day my wife decided to take the youngest child and visit one of the many public swimming pools in our community. These pools are generally well maintained, supervised and managed by the neighborhood association who is responsible for the subdivision where the pool is located. It was a Monday morning and the pool was not very busy. The collection of people who were actually in attendance consisted of about eight children and six adults including my wife and the "teen dream" life guard on duty. On arrival, my wife quickly noticed an exhausted young mother with three kids sun bathing on a lounge chair while her children quietly and surprisingly swam and splashed in the shallow water. An overly enthused and chipper grandfather played at the far end with his two middle school-ish grandkids while a young dad sat reading the newest Stephen King novel while his two boys shot at each other with small plastic squirt guns. Also, unclear from her perspective at that time, another couple sat side by side on the far end of the pool. She was unable to see their faces but just assumed that they were enjoying the day, and possibly half asleep. Evidently, the pool was mostly being enjoyed by the children in attendance and not really seen as a place for relaxation by the adults. From her experience a community pool is not an easy substitute for the Kaman Islands, Cancun or the deep blue surf of the Bahamas. It is a place where you can silence your whining kids for a couple of hours with chlorine and city water and briefly escape into a good book, a quick bath in the sun, or thoughts of the night's schedule of prime time TV. On this day the children ruled this wet, fun world.
As mentioned, community swimming holes are generally managed by group of smart people who develop a set of rules that they feel essential to maintain the ultimate in safety and enjoyment at their facility. One rule may read "No belly flops or canon balls permitted". Another may dictate that "No one under the age of sixteen shall be allowed to swim without an adult guardian present". Some may be more specific and read clearly: "Urinating in pool is strickly prohibited." What ever the rule, guideline, or policy may be, we assume that much thought was invested by the brain-trust of smart individuals who have chiseled them in stone. Most of the rules contain a flavor of "child safety" and "child awareness" since most of the pools do not meet International Olympic standards. They are shallow and not something an adult would enjoy. It's all about the kids and a day of cool fun. At this pool, someone felt it important to include another rule that would only amplify the level of enjoyment and make swimming here fun for the entire family.
After an hour into their stay, roughly at 11am, the young David Hasselhoff stationed atop the tall, authoritative, lifeguard chair, stands proudly and blows his whistle. "Adult Swim!" he bellows as he continues to instruct the children in attendance to remove themselves quickly from the pool. "Adult Swim for the next fifteen minutes!" he says again as he carefully monitors the mass exodus of the now six little bodies that were actually swimming. Like a retirement home during "Wheel of Fortune", the small population of adults stuck to their programs of "one eye on junior the other on my watch", not giving much attention to the special time put aside for the adults today. My wife, the only adult who seemed to question the reasoning behind this decree, waited patiently to see who would take the offer.
As many of the children danced restlessly after the first minute of landfall, our boy asked the expected question. "Can I go back in the pool now?" he said with a hint of desperation. My wife thought, with normal logic, that since no adults were taking advantage of this privilege, the young guard would surely let those children return to the happiness of the pool. "Well, why don't you ask the lifeguard if you can get back in the pool, ok?" she asked. He quickly trots across the hot cement surface to the base of the tall tower and quietly poses his question. Mouthing some words in his native, aquatic tongue causes our boy to return in disappointment. "We have to wait fifteen minutes. That's the rule." he whimpered.
My wife looked at the empty pool then looked at the life guard. She looked again and back again. She repeated this several times as if she was watching the world championships at Wimbelton. With disbelief and a huge degree of confusion concerning the logic behind the seriousness of the rule, she walked the perimeter to see if anyone had moved toward or showed interest in the pool. No one stirred. True, in the lifeguard's defense, a large tour bus of hot, exhausted, city workers could arrive at any minute, so it is extremely urgent to adhere to this rule and it's placement in time. I mean a rule like this, if broken, could unravel the very fabric of the entire community pool system. Then comes anarchy, revolt, and finally utter chaos. It would be the end of the civilized world as we know it today.
As she scanned the outer edges of the pool, the mysterious couple that she was unable to view earlier, came into clear focus. Laying lifeless, they both seemed to be half asleep as she suspected. As she looked harder, she noticed that each were actually in a drunken haze, each cradling their own can of America's cheapest alcoholic beverage, Miller Light. What? Beer? At a public pool? Again, my wife looked at the empty pool, now at the beer, then at the life guard. She looked back and forth, again and back again. She repeated this several times as she began to wonder if Homer Simpson, Larry the Cable Guy, and the marketing team from Hooters were the actual smart people behind the neighborhood association that governs the rules behind this community pool. Have they set additional guidelines with the adult swimmers in mind? As the day passes, will the lifeguard-boy give his whistle another blow and announce "Open Bar!", "20 minutes until the Hawaiian Tropic Bikini Contest!" or "Nude Bathing starts in 10 minutes!" Maybe to show their solidarity with children and family, they will declare: "Children under the age of ten may now shit in the pool!" No compromise on the swimming time for the kids, but by golly, Richard Burton and Liz Taylor can have all the vodka and tonic they want.
You see my friends, the Smart people of the world attempt to make decisions, set rules, give advice, and direct the course of society based on where they went to college, who they play golf with on a Sunday afternoon, and who they know at city hall. Wise people make their choices based on what is best for all involved, their experience with the actual subject matter, and an accurate knowledge of the people their decision will effect. It is easy to tell who sets rules by the way they are written, administered and enforced. Whether it be letting adults drink or not letting kids swim at a community kiddie pool, the folks in charge will always be the smartest people they know and in turn the most qualified. Between motorcycle riders without helmets, twenty year prison terms for first time pot smokers, and probation for child rapists, there seems to be real wisdom and nothing but balanced thinking left in the world. Hell, it can be as funny or disturbing as you choose, but I choose to strive to be wisest one on my block. If I just settle for being smart, I may be doomed to a future in politics, religious leadership, law enforcement, education, middle management, customer service or the justice system.
Honestly, I would much rather continue to just be a wise ass. Just being smart is over rated."
Submission + - Stupid UNIX man tricks
An anonymous reader writes: UNIX has hundreds if not thousands of commands, and it's impossible to remember every option and nuance. But, happily, you don't have to: man, UNIX's built-in, online reference system, is man's best friend. Take a look at this shortcut guide to the UNIX man pages system.
Submission + - Microsoft's urgent patch precedes BlackHat session (wordpress.com)
Julie188 writes: "Mystery solved! Microsoft's latest emergency out-of-band patch was weird beyond belief. A notice was sent to journalists and researchers late Friday evening that the patch was coming Tuesday, but Microsoft refused to explain the flaw and even put a cone of silence around researchers who would have otherwise talked about it. But finally, one researcher broke rank and explained that the patch was caused by a flaw introduced in Microsoft's own development tools. This flaw was also the source of the emergency ActiveX patch, which took about 18 months to complete and which supposedly fixed the problem by turning off ActiveX (setting a 'killbit' on the control). Researchers at Black Hat on Wednesday will be demonstrating how to override the killbit controls and get access to vulnerabilities supposedly stopped with a killbit. What's really scary is that Microsoft has issued 175 killbits fixes so far."
Submission + - Free Spirit: Stuck Between a Rock and a Soft Place (wired.com) 1
Dave Bullock writes: "NASA's Spirit rover is stuck in a pile of silty sand and high-centerd on a rock millions of miles away on the surface of Mars. Here on Earth, JPL is working on getting the rover unstuck. They've built a giant sandbox, filled it with simulated Martian soil and driven in a near duplicate rover which is also now stuck. I took a few trips to JPL and photographed NASA's attempts to free Spirit for Wired.com."
Submission + - Blue M&Ms can lessen the damage from spinal in
SydShamino writes: Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found that the dye used in blue M&Ms and other foods can, when given to a patient shortly after a spinal injury, minimizing secondary damage caused by the body when it kills off nearby healthy cells. Given that 85% of spinal injury patients are currently untreated (and some doctors don't trust the treatment given to the other 15%), a relatively safe treatment like this could help preserve some function for thousands of patients. The best part? In lab rats the subjects given the treatment turn blue.
Comment 'People' don't understand computers (Score 5, Interesting) 432
This shouldn't come as a surprise, since most people still don't understand how viewing a website can affect their computer.
Comment PR (Score 1) 4
No matter what your take on the feasibility of 'true' AI, they make a good point in saying that we need to educate people about the realities of these technologies to avoid a public outcry to ban AI and machine learning research.
Submission + - Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man 4
Strudelkugel writes: The NY Times has an article about a conference during which the potential dangers of machine intelligence were discussed. " Impressed and alarmed by advances in artificial intelligence, a group of computer scientists is debating whether there should be limits on research that might lead to loss of human control over computer-based systems that carry a growing share of society's workload, from waging war to chatting with customers on the phone. Their concern is that further advances could create profound social disruptions and even have dangerous consequences. " The money quote: "Something new has taken place in the past five to eight years," Dr. Horvitz said. "Technologists are replacing religion, and their ideas are resonating in some ways with the same idea of the Rapture."
Submission + - iPhone 3Gs Encryption Cracked in 2 Minutes
An anonymous reader writes: In a Wired News article, iPhone Forensics expert Jonathan Zdziarski explains how the much touted hardware encryption of the iPhone 3Gs is but a farce, and demonstrates how both the passcode and backup encryption can be bypassed in about 2 minutes. Zdziarski also goes on to say that all data on the iPhone — including deleted data — is automatically decrypted by the iPhone when it's copied, allowing hackers and law enforcement agencies alike access the device's raw disk as if no encryption were present. A second demonstration features the recovery of the iPhone's entire disk while the device is still passcode-locked. According to a similar article in ARS Technica, Zdziarski describes the iPhone's hardware encryption as, "like putting privacy glass on half your shower door," he told Ars. "What, pray tell, is the advantage in that?" with the iPhone being sold into 20% of Fortune-100s and into the military, just how worried should we be with such shoddy security?
Submission + - Russia sees Skype as economic & security thre
NotBornYesterday writes: It appears that Skype's growing popularity in Russia is causing concern among big business and government types alike.
"Infringing the interests" was clarified by Vitaly Kotov, Vice President of TTK, a telecoms unit of state-owned Russian Railways, who called on regulators to stop VoIP services from causing "a likely and uncontrolled fall in profits for the core telecom operators."
In addition to corporate interests, Skype is alleged to be a security risk for Russia, because it is not controlled by the state. VoIP applications like Skype are not connected to the SORM telephone conversation wiretapping system, and according to Vedomosti business daily on Friday, "Delegates at the meeting also warned that it has been impossible for police to spy on VoIP conversations".
Interestingly, authorities in Italy (according to a Russian News site) are voicing a similar concern, but with what sounds like an Open Source twist: "The encryption system used in this computer program is not being uncovered by a developer which strongly complicates the work of law-enforcement agencies." Are they just looking for the source code? Or are they looking for developer cooperation in making the crypto crackable? The likely Italian-to-Russian-to-English translation makes it hard for me to guess the answer.
One wonders how available Skype services are in Iran.
Submission + - Ants More Rational Decision Makers Than Humans
Hugh Pickens writes: "Humans and animals often make irrational choices when faced with very challenging decisions, but researchers in collective robotics have recently found that is that for ants making collective decisions, the lack of individual options translated into more accurate outcomes by minimizing the chances for individuals to make mistakes. The conclusions arose from an examination of the process of nest selection in the ant, Temnothorax curvispinosus, where the challenge before the colony was to "choose" a nest, when offered two options with very similar advantages. "Rationality in this case should be thought of as meaning that a decision-maker, who is trying to maximize something, should simply be consistent in its preferences." says Stephen Pratt, an assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. "For animals trying to maximize their fitness, for example, they should always rank options, whether these are food sources, mates, or nest sites, according to their fitness contribution. Typically we think having many individual options, strategies and approaches are beneficial," Pratt adds, "but irrational errors are more likely to arise when individuals make direct comparisons among options." Studies of how or why irrationality arises can give insights into cognitive mechanisms and constraints, as well as how collective decision making occurs. "A key idea in collective robotics is that the individual robots can be relatively simple and unsophisticated, but you can still get a complex, intelligent result out of the whole group," says Pratt. "The ability to function without complex central control is really desirable in an artificial system and the idea that limitations at the individual level can actually help at the group level is potentially very useful.""
Submission + - The Best First Language For A Young Programmer (infoworld.com)
snydeq writes: "Fatal Exception's Neil McAllister questions whether Scheme, a dialect of Lisp taught as part of many first-year C.S. curricula and considered by some to be the 'latin of programming,' is really the best first language for a young programmer. As McAllister sees it, the essentially write-only Scheme requires you to bore down into the source code just to figure out what a Scheme program is trying to do — excellent for teaching programming but 'lousy for a 15-year-old trying to figure out how to make a computer do stuff on his own.' And though the 'hacker ethic' may in fact be harming today's developers, McAllister still suggests we encourage the young to 'develop the innate curiosity and love of programming that lies at the heart of any really brilliant programmer' by simply encouraging them to fool around with whatever produces the most gratifying results. After all, as Jeff Atwood puts it, 'what we do is craftmanship, not engineering,' and inventing effective software solutions takes insight, inspiration, deduction, and often a sprinkling of luck, McAllister writes. 'If that means coding in Visual Basic, so be it. Scheme can come later.'"
