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Submission + - Apple posts $18B quarterly profit, highest ever by any company

Submitted by jmcbain
jmcbain writes: Today, Apple reported its financial results for the quarter ending December 31, 2014. It posted $18 billion in profit (on $74 billion in revenue), the largest quarterly profit by any company ever. The previous record was $16 billion by Russia’s Gazprom (the largest natural gas extractor in the world) in 2011. Imagine how much better Apple could be if they open-sourced their software.

Submission + - Computer chess created in 487 bytes, breaks 32-year-old record (geek.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The record for smallest computer implementation of chess on any platform was held by 1K ZX Chess, which saw a release back in 1983 for the Sinclair ZX81. It uses just 672 bytes of memory, and includes most chess rules as well as a computer component to play against.

The record held by 1K ZX Chess for the past 32 years has just been beaten this week by the demoscene group Red Sector Inc. They have implemented a fully-playable version of chess called BootChess in just 487 bytes.

Comment Re:Poor Alan Kay (Score 1) 200

by UnknownSoldier (#48916343) Attached to: Bjarne Stroustrup Awarded 2015 Dahl-Nygaard Prize

> Inline specifically means "export this as a weak symbol".

Oh gee, and here I thought it meant merge basic blocks. Do you know _anything_ how C++ compilers even work??

>> I can chose between Microsoft's __inline or GCC god-awful __attribute__((always_inline)) syntax.
> Yes, but why are you trying to do that? You're fighting the optimizer and you're almost certain to lose.

You love to constantly make incorrect and incomplete assumptions.

1. I want to write ONE directive not clutter my code up with hacks PER compiler. _Why_ do standards exist ? To make everyone's live _easier_.

2. Gee, why do things like _Profiling_ exist. The *compiler* doesn't have access to *run-time* performance. The optimizer is dealing with a _subset_ of data. It doesn't know the "function temperature".

But go on keeping making excuses. You really don't have a clue.

Submission + - What Makes a Great Software Developer? (dice.com)

Submitted by Nerval's Lobster
Nerval's Lobster writes: What does it take to become a great—or even just a good—software developer? According to developer Michael O. Church’s posting on Quora (later posted on LifeHacker), it's a long list: great developers are unafraid to learn on the job, manage their careers aggressively, know the politics of software development (which he refers to as 'CS666'), avoid long days when feasible, and can tell fads from technologies that actually endure... and those are just a few of his points. Over at Salsita Software’s corporate blog, meanwhile, CEO and founder Matthew Gertner boils it all down to a single point: experienced programmers and developers know when to slow down. What do you think separates the great developers from the not-so-fantastic ones?

Submission + - Australia-wide recall of Saints Row 4: Re-elected (playerattack.com)

Submitted by dotarray
dotarray writes: Censorship dramas continue for Australia, as an uncensored version of Saints Row IV: Re-Elected for PS4 makes it onto local shelves.
Retailers have been asked to remove all copies from sale, while customers are asked to return their copies for a full refund.

Submission + - Comcast Ghost-writes Politician's Letters to Support Time Warner Mega-Merger

Submitted by WheezyJoe
WheezyJoe writes: As the FCC considers the merger between Comcast/Universal and Time-Warner Cable, which would create the largest cable company in the U.S. and is entering the final stages of federal review, politicians are pressuring the FCC with pro-merger letters actually written by Comcast. According to documents obtained through public records requests politicians are passing letters nearly word-for-word written by Comcast as their own, politicians are passing letters nearly word-for-word written by Comcast as their own. "Not only do records show that a Comcast official sent the councilman the exact wording of the letter he would submit to the FCC, but also that finishing touches were put on the letter by a former FCC official named Rosemary Harold, who is now a partner at one of the nation’s foremost telecom law firms in Washington, DC. Comcast has enlisted Harold to help persuade her former agency to approve the proposed merger."

Ars Technica had already reported that politicians have closely mimicked Comcast talking points and re-used Comcast's own statements without attribution. The documents revealed today show just how deeply Comcast is involved with certain politicians, and how they were able to get them on board.

Comment Re:Ship of Theseus (Score 1) 135

> How many usable DirectX bindings do you know for Java?
1. And who's job is that to support DirectX?
2. If Microsoft was _serious_ about DirectX they would add D3D bindings to Java.

> they can as well rewrite Minecraft from the scratch in C++
That was _already_ done for the PS3 and XBox360 versions.

Comment Re:Poor Alan Kay (Score 1) 200

by UnknownSoldier (#48901317) Attached to: Bjarne Stroustrup Awarded 2015 Dahl-Nygaard Prize

Do you _actually_ use different compiles on different platforms at all ????

'inline' is only a hint

I can chose between Microsoft's __inline or GCC god-awful __attribute__((always_inline)) syntax.

This the reason #define macro's haven't died. 100% guarantee inlining.

Do you even understand the point of having "standards" ??

You're constantly complaining about "breaking things." Gee, if only there was a way to migrate, mitigate, and deploy change ...

* http://www.volvoclub.org.uk/hi...

This isn't rocket science -- let alone basic computer science. A dead-line is set, we inform people, and we make the switch. It's not fucking hard.

>> Standardized error messages
> doing something that no one else has ever done.

Gee, why does Microsoft provide a _specific_ number for _each_ warning ???

* https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-...

Do you even code in C++??

>> *"A Proposal to Add 2D Graphics Rendering and Display to C++"
> The C++ committee have their heads up their asses because they discuss a proposal submitted according to the correct procedure??

This is a solution in search of a problem.

Do you even _understand_ the term: Kitchen Sink or Over-engineering??

We already have graphics libraries, OpenGL / OpenGL ES, DirectX, etc. We don't need more shit in an already bloated language.

People like you are precisely part of the problem with C++.

1. Completely failing to understand _practical_ matters.
2. Continue to make excuses for why their tools are crap.
3. And then post blatantly false information that gets modded up to Insightful without a clue.

Comment Re: DirectX is obsolete (Score 5, Informative) 135

> I can't think of a single game today that uses OpenGL.

Uh, HELLO McFly; Minecraft. That "insignificant" game that "only" sold 54+ million copies. ~18 MILLION on PC.

> Why is that?

Because you didn't even be bothered to spend 2 seconds to look

Gee, what is Valve using on OSX, and Linux !?!? ... It sure as hell isn't Microsoft's Not-Inventered-Here RenderMorph's Reality Lab which they renamed to Direct3D

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