Comment Re:Source code (Score 0) 211
Hate to reply to myself, but I forgot /?
Comment Re:Source code (Score 3, Informative) 211
-h? Next time, use all three of these: -?, -help, --help. I'm probably not going to try throwing -h at a program without having a clue what it might do.
Comment Re:Documentation vs Tutorial (Score 2) 211
One problem I encounter all the time is what level of competence should be assumed? If I write "try ping host xyz" should I assume they can successfully pingtest something and interpret the results? For ping, yes maybe I should assume that, but what about grep? Grep isn't officially supported by the organization so...
I feel like I'm wasting my time writing instructions for simple tasks, but I also feel that I have to write as I though a monkey is the intended audience. I hate to say it, but it's the godawful truth, that there are too many people in IT that can only read-and-do.
I feel like I'm wasting my time writing instructions for simple tasks, but I also feel that I have to write as I though a monkey is the intended audience. I hate to say it, but it's the godawful truth, that there are too many people in IT that can only read-and-do.
Comment Regular Expressions. (Score 1) 121
Get some computers with Notepad++ installed on them and a file that has some various lines of text. Teach them about pattern matching and regular expressions. It doesn't really require any previous knowledge, and it makes you kind of think like a programmer. It's very useful even if you only have a basic knowledge of it, especially when tearing through log files with grep. Some of the students might not find it interesting at all, but I think you'll find that regardless of what you do.
Open Source Licensing Debate Has Positive Effect On GitHub 96
New submitter Lemeowski writes "Critics have been pounding GitHub recently, claiming it is hosting tons of code with no explicit software license. The debate was thrust into the limelight last year when James Governor of RedMonk issued an acclaimed tweet about young developers being 'about POSS — post open source software,' meaning they disliked or avoided licensing and governance. Red Hat's IP attorney Richard Fontana explores the complaint saying there is a positive aspect of the POSS and GitHub phenomenon: Developers are, for the first time in the history of free software, helping inform each other about licensing and aiding in the selection process. The result is that it's becoming easier to suggest legal improvements to GitHub-hosted repositories."
Comment Re:Good Idea, or Not? (Score 1) 196
We are calling out every day with both omnidirectional broadcasts and high intensity beams that are aimed at satellites.
Comment Re:why transmit drivel? (Score 2) 196
How would an alien decode the .jpeg, .bmp, or whatever else we send them.
I think we should send a message like in contact. Groups of pulses arranged in prime number sequences. It's distinct, it's easy to decode, and it would be near impossible to be natural.
Comment Re:Thanks Slashdot. (Score 1) 366
100 octane. If I ever had a rally car (modified AWD turbo) avgas would be perfect!
MIT President Tells Grads To 'Hack the World' 86
theodp writes "On Friday, MIT President L. Rafael Reif exhorted grads to 'hack the world until you make the world a little more like MIT'. A rather ironic choice of words, since 'hack the world' is precisely what others said Aaron Swartz was trying to do in his fateful run-in with MIT. President Reif presumably received an 'Incomplete' this semester for the promised time-is-of-the-essence review of MIT's involvement in the events that preceded Swartz's suicide last January. By the way, it wasn't so long ago that 2013 commencement speaker Drew Houston and Aaron Swartz were both welcome speakers at MIT."
Chicago Sun Times Swaps iPhone Training For Staff Photographers 316
frdmfghtr notes (via Cult of Mac) that "the reporters of the Chicago Sun-Times are being given training in iPhone photography, to make up for the firing of the photography staff. From the CoM story: 'The move is part of a growing trend towards publications using the iPhone as a replacement for fancy, expensive DSLRs. It's a also a sign of how traditional journalism is being changed by technology like the iPhone and the advent of digital publishing.'"
Drones: Coming Soon To the New Jersey Turnpike? 249
redletterdave writes "The FAA predicts 30,000 drones will patrol the US skies by 2020, but New Jersey drivers could see these unmanned aerial vehicles hovering above the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway much sooner than that. New Jersey lawmakers from both Republican and Democratic parties have introduced a number of bills to tackle the drones issue before the federal government starts issuing the first domestic drone permits in September 2015."
France Demands Skype Register As a Telco 209
jfruh writes "Skype made a name for itself by largely bypassing the infrastucture — and the costs, and the regulations — of the legacy telecommunications industry. But now the French telecom regulator wants to change that, at least in France. At issue is not the service's VoIP offering, but rather the Skype Out service that allows users to dial phones on traditional networks. Regulators say that this service necessitates that Skype face the same regulations as other telecoms."
Comment Re:They're certainly free to do this... (Score 5, Interesting) 217
Hmm... That is rather interesting. Can you illegally circumvent a digital lock through inaction? By not running this script, or if we remember back to the Sony fiasco, by not running the autoplay root-kit, is that criminal?
Are you supposed to wrap yourself in the chains that bind you?
Are you supposed to wrap yourself in the chains that bind you?
Comment Re:Don't hack the page..there's no need to. (Score 1) 217
Shatner, is that you?
Comment Re:Just disable Javascript (Score 1) 217
I hope i'm not being wooshed here....
Firstly, HTML and javascript are seperate. To use a car analogy, think of a gas can. You have a gas can, and then you have the gas in it. The HTML is just a delivery mechanism and container for the javascript. Both HTML and javascript are based on standards, and there is nothing in either of the standards trying to screw the user out of copy/pasting text.
Go to maps.google.com. Right Click on the map. See how it presents you with a few options? Now, instead of presenting that menu, display nothing, and pop up a ransom box. Delselect text, and bam! done! Do the same for ctrl+c, and you have defeated 95% of the public.
So, this is not a javascript problem or an HTML problem. If this is a problem (I personally don't know), then it it a management being greedy problem.
Firstly, HTML and javascript are seperate. To use a car analogy, think of a gas can. You have a gas can, and then you have the gas in it. The HTML is just a delivery mechanism and container for the javascript. Both HTML and javascript are based on standards, and there is nothing in either of the standards trying to screw the user out of copy/pasting text.
Go to maps.google.com. Right Click on the map. See how it presents you with a few options? Now, instead of presenting that menu, display nothing, and pop up a ransom box. Delselect text, and bam! done! Do the same for ctrl+c, and you have defeated 95% of the public.
So, this is not a javascript problem or an HTML problem. If this is a problem (I personally don't know), then it it a management being greedy problem.
