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Programming

Ask Slashdot: Do Coding Standards Make a Difference? 430

Posted by Soulskill from the everybody-do-it-wrong-the-right-way dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Every shop I've ever worked in has had a 'Coding Style' document that dictates things like camelCase vs underscored_names, placement of curly braces, tabs vs spaces, etc. As a result, I've lost hundreds of hours in code reviews because some pedant was more interested in picking nits over whitespace than actually reviewing my algorithms. Are there any documents or studies that show a net productivity gain for having these sorts of standards? If not, why do we have them? We live in the future, why don't our tools enforce these standards automagically?"

Comment Any Weapon is Inherently Dangerous (Score 1) 1013

by jessecurry (#42348429) Attached to: Using Technology To Make Guns Safer
Any weapon will be inherently dangerous, attempting to "protect" consumers from danger doesn't really apply to something that is meant to be dangerous. The loaded chamber indicator on my SR9c is my least favorite feature; I treat guns as if they are always loaded so it doesn't make a difference in how I handle the gun, it only sticks up and gets snagged on my clothes or in my holster. I'd argue that the loaded chamber indicator actually makes my gun less safe, although it is by such a small margin it is mostly inconsequential.
Firefox

The Shumway Open SWF Runtime Project 99

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the now-there-are-four dept.
theweatherelectric writes "Mozilla is looking for contributors interested in working on Shumway. Mozilla's Jet Villegas writes, 'Shumway is an experimental web-native (Javascript) runtime implementation of the SWF file format. It is developed as a free and open source project sponsored by Mozilla Research. The project has two main goals: 1. Advance the open web platform to securely process rich media formats that were previously only available in closed and proprietary implementations. 2. Offer a runtime processor for SWF and other rich media formats on platforms for which runtime implementations are not available.'" See also: Gnash and Lightspark.
Social Networks

Ask Slashdot: What Is the Best Way To Add Forums To a Website? 259

Posted by samzenpus from the let-my-people-post dept.
First time accepted submitter DustyMurray writes "I am considering adding forums to my website, and am just getting confused by all the options. My first reaction is always DIY. You get better website integration, and it looks and feels 100% how you want it to look and feel. However looking at things like phpBB and Vanilla forums, I will be hard pressed to build a better user experience in a reasonable amount of time. Also these out-of-the-box solutions seem to be shouting 'Easy to integrate with your website.' So, considering this, how easy are these ready build forums really to integrate? I want to be able to insert stuff on certain pages, so it's not either the forums, or my site... It must be a mix. I do not want a second login system on my site. And last but not least, I definitely don't want to have this typical generic look that most forums sport. Can all that be delivered with the out-of-the-box forums that exist today? Which one is the most flexible regarding these wishes?"
The Military

New Technology May Cut Risk of Giving Syrian Rebels Stinger Missiles 279

Posted by Unknown Lamer from the solution-to-the-wrong-problem dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "PBS reports on a proposal of arming Syrian rebels with a force equalizer to make a decisive blow against Bashar al-Assad's ruling regime — an idea that has so far failed to take hold inside the Obama administration because of serious concerns about flooding a troubled region with dangerous weapons that someday might fall into the wrong hands. Could sophisticated weapons, such as anti-aircraft missile systems, be outfitted with mechanisms that would disable them if they fell into the wrong hands? According to military analyst Anthony Cordesman the U.S. could modify Stinger anti-aircraft missiles and anti-tank weapons with batteries that cease functioning in a few weeks or months or the weapons could be built to require authentication codes before they are enabled to work. "I think it would be relatively decisive," says Cordesman. ... Another idea is to install GPS-disabling devices so that Stinger missiles only worked in a designated geographic area, such as only in Syria. Such weapons, it is believed, might tip the balance in favor of the rebels in the same way that Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, provided by the United States to the Afghan Mujahedeen, helped expel the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. Cordesman stressed that this type of weapon would have to be thoroughly tested to make sure the controls work and could not be undone. 'You could not transfer these types of weapons without these types of protections. You simply have no way to know where they would end up, how they would be transferred, what would happen to them.'"

Comment Re:PCs for Kids (Score 1) 291

by jessecurry (#41817159) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: What To Do With Over 500 Used DIMMs?
It's not going to allow them to upgrade for free, just reduce their taxable income.

For a simplified example assume that someone has $100,000 of taxable income, in the US they'll be taxed roughly 25% paying $25,000.

If this person is able to write off $2,000 of old equipment when they purchase new equipment they will now have a taxable income of $98,000 still taxed at roughly 25% paying $24,500, a $500 savings.

If they are able to replace $2,000 worth of equipment for $500 then they would, in essence, get the upgrade for free; otherwise they are only able to save some money by donating their old equipment to someone in need.

This person couldn't "donate" their old equipment to a friend, it has to be to a registered non-profit.
Data Storage

Ask Slashdot: Personal Tape Drive NAS? 268

Posted by timothy from the can-tape-actually-be-that-fast? dept.
New submitter hey_popey writes "I would like to piggyback on a previous Ask Slashdot question. Do you know of any realistic way to use a tape drive solution at home, not as a backup, but as a regular NAS? I would like, for example, to save the torrents of my Linux distributions on it, and at the same time, play the family videos on a computer. It would seem at a first glance that the transfer rates and capacity of Linear Tape-Open (1.5TB, 280MB/s in 2010) and the functionality of LTFS would allow me to do that, but I don't know the details, or whether this would be economically viable."

Comment Re:It's called "Get A Grip!" (Score 1) 1127

by jessecurry (#40784807) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Preempting Sexual Harassment In the Workplace?
So there is one person who is getting positive feedback from the rest of their team (presumably improving the work environment for almost everyone) and one person who doesn't feel as effective as they could be? Why doesn't the person who feels ineffective find another job?
No matter how many laws we create the underlying feelings that lead to sexually offensive (or otherwise insensitive) language or acts will not go away. By outlawing offensive statements and actions in the workplace you are sanctioning discrimination against people who enjoy making or hearing those type of things. If a the majority of people at a particular employer enjoy that type of humor why would we restrict it? No one is forced to work anywhere these days, they always have the choice to find employment at a firm that is more in line with their character.
If a non-offensive workplace is the ideal state most workplaces will move towards being non-offensive on their own.

Comment Re:It's called "Get A Grip!" (Score 0) 1127

by jessecurry (#40781397) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Preempting Sexual Harassment In the Workplace?
Why not just let the "market" handle it? If some place is really so bad for , then they can choose not to accept the position or leave after accepting the position... if a lack of diversity is really a negative in their industry, then the team will not be do top quality work and will eventually move towards obsolescence. I really dislike that the US has laws making it illegal to offend others.

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