Forgot your password?

typodupeerror

Comment: Re:A stupid question... (Score 1) 304

by 1110110001 (#31008604) Attached to: Facebook's HipHop Also a PHP Webserver

In the integer case the type doesn't matter. '7' == 7 == ('7' + 0) == (7 . ''). If you look at how arrays are stored use an int as key isn't such a bad idea.

If you have '07' you would lose the leading zero.

BTW: I used 07 instead of 08 as numbers written as literal are treated as octal if they start with a zero.

Comment: Re:An unemployed LAWYER was perhaps.... (Score 1) 554

by rantingkitten (#29739213) Attached to: Blogger Loses Unemployment Check Because of Ads
Most people I know spend every minute they're at the computer wishing that the software they have to use was better, smarter, more efficient and more adapted to their way of working.

Actually most people I know either go "I'm just not a computer person" and leave it at that, or think they are already experts, but have no desire to improve the software they're using, just to brag about how good they are for assigning static IPs on a Windows machine, and are happy that they know how to do those things.

But regardless, it is still a choice. It's completely up to them if they want to invest the time and effort into learning programming and making a difference. Most people do the cost-benefit calculation, decide it's not worth it, and that's fine.

In fact, there's nothing that says people have to use computers at all. They make life a lot easier for most of us, but there are plenty of people who don't care, and get along fine without them.

People do not have this luxury when it comes to matters of law. You must comply, whether you like it or not. Educated or not, we're all supposed to obey the law.

Finally, failure to understand programming means some idle whining that the menus on this program suck, or that application takes too long to load. Failure to understand law means you get trapped with severe penalties for not abiding by rules you didn't even know existed. Be realistic.
Businesses

Unpaid Contributors Provide Corporate Tech Support 221

Posted by kdawson
from the and-when-you're-done-there's-this-fence-to-paint dept.
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times writes about Justin McMurry of Keller, TX, who spends up to 20 unpaid hours per week helping Verizon customers with high-speed fiber optic Internet, television and telephone service. McMurry is part of an emerging corps of Web-savvy helpers that large corporations, start-up companies, and venture capitalists are betting will transform the field of customer service. Such enthusiasts are known as lead users, or super-users, and their role in contributing innovations to product development and improvement — often selflessly — has been closely researched in recent years. These unpaid contributors, it seems, are motivated mainly by a payoff in enjoyment and respect among their peers. 'You have to make an environment that attracts the Justin McMurrys of the world, because that's where the magic happens,' says Mark Studness, director of e-commerce at Verizon. The mentality of super-users in online customer-service communities is similar to that of devout gamers, according to Lyle Fong, co-founder of Lithium Technologies whose web site advertises that a vibrant community can easily save a company millions of dollars per year in deflected support calls' and whose current roster of 125 clients includes AT&T, BT, iRobot, Linksys, Best Buy, and Nintendo. Lithium's customer service sites for companies offer elaborate rating systems for contributors, with ranks, badges and kudos counts. 'That alone is addictive,' says Fong. 'They are revered by their peers.' Meanwhile McMurry, who is 68 and a retired software engineer, continues supplying answers by the bushel, all at no pay. 'People seem to like most of what I say online, and I like doing it.'"

The first duty of a revolutionary is to get away with it. -- Abbie Hoffman

Working...