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BTW, If we get rid of publishers, we lose the editor. Get ready for 1,000 page epics about cats.
http://www.amazon.com/WARRIORS-BOOKS-Complete-List-Updated/lm/R3OL3CAN7KYOVI
Just saying. Been there, done that.
Python has always been trivial to get started in. I taught my 9 year old to program in python in a few hours.
Java is easy to use, and the syntax is clean.
C# is basically a clone of java, so the same applies there.
You don't need to learn object orientation to use any of these languages. Sure, you probably SHOULD, but you can learn java programming solely in the main() if you just want to learn the basics. Even moreso with python, you can program in the interpreter at first, then move to running the code from files, then later migrate into an object oriented approach.
Paying for yourself not practical? I don't smoke and I'm not overweight, and I pay $150/mo for full coverage. If I stay in the hospital, I'm never on the hook for more than $1500; my insurance pays the rest. Granted I am single and young, but I'm not exactly going bankrupt here. I'm sure if you have a large family or are otherwise unhealthy it can be a a huge burden, but if you can't afford that then it pays to not have kids and just take care of yourself.
I'm married with kids, 37 years old, and a non-smoker. I've never had surgery or any serious medical claim, nor has anyone in my family.
My insurance is roughly $14,000 per year, if you count what my employer pays, and the coverage isn't even that good. Tell me how that's reasonable. The only reason to have insurance anymore is to avoid catastrophic illness, to be honest, and if you do have that your insurance company will probably just try to drop you anyway. It's the most corrupt, immoral, evil institution in the business world.
Reminds me that Americans are assholes when it comes to labor rights.
Labor rights exist to prevent exploitation of workers, not to allow workers to screw over their employers and get unfair compensation.
Honestly, if you want to see labor unions in action, look at what happened to GM. They overcompensated their workers until they went bankrupt and nearly took the US economy with them.
Aside from jobs like mine and steel workers, there are hardly any good reasons for unions to exist in the US anymore.
The only people I ever hear say something like that are people who don't install AV software and thus have no idea they're infected. They rely on the fact that their computer works to tell them that everything's honky dory. Not saying you're one of those people, but if you're not, you're the first, and I'd say your success is more attributable to luck than skill, like avoiding STDs by only having sex with people who appear to be upstanding citizens.
Either that or you avoid Windows. I had a virus on an old Mac IIsi running System 6, but I've never had one since. I've never gotten viruses on Linux or MacOS X, and it's not because I'm oblivious to the threats. It's because I made a conscious decision to avoid an insecure platform.
But for a big company with many lower-end users and the virus situation under control, it's hard for me to understand how TCO could be lower - though 3-4 years is a long time to make up a few hundred bucks.
But yeah, if I were setting up a bunch of new computers at a real estate office or something similar in scale, I might try Macs.
I work for a huge company (50k+ employees). We're all issued Windows laptops. In the 3.5 years I've worked here, I've had to have my laptop replaced or re-imaged 7 times. I don't run any nonstandard software, I don't download stuff off the internet, and honestly, I mostly use it for email, because I do my real work on a Linux desktop. These aren't some offbrand either, they're Lenovo and HP enterprise machines.
It's no wonder Apple is doing well in the enterprise. The few people who got Macs during one manager's brief stay never have issues with them, ever. If I could get one and run Parallels or VMWare Fusion, I'd do so in a heartbeat.
Of course, now I have a Nokia N8 with the free Joiku Hotspot app, so I just use that as my Wi-Fi to 3G bridge now.
Have you considered making it light enough that your arm doesn't ache after 5 minutes?
Have you considered developing some muscle tone? My 4 year old can use the iPad for as long as I will let him with no complaints, and I have the heavier old model.
Tomorrow's computers some time next month. -- DEC