Comment Re:Real Programmers don't use GC (Score 1) 637
You can actually have auto closing resources since Java 7, which is not really the same as a destructor, but will remove that pain in your ass.
Comment Re:Very old news. (Score 1) 393
Except that car travels at 2.85 times the speed of the wind, when directly downwind, ie. when the boat and wind velocity vectors are on the same axis.
Of course, since the "sails" (the propeller blades) are moving on a different trajectory, their apparent wind is not directly downwind.
Zombie Pigs First, Hibernating Soldiers Next 193
ColdWetDog writes "Wired is running a story on DARPA's effort to stave off battlefield casualties by turning injured soldiers into zombies by injecting them with a cocktail of one chemical or another (details to be announced). From the article, 'Dr. Fossum predicts that each soldier will carry a syringe into combat zones or remote areas, and medic teams will be equipped with several. A single injection will minimize metabolic needs, de-animating injured troops by shutting down brain and heart function. Once treatment can be carried out, they'll be "re-animated" and — hopefully — as good as new.' If it doesn't pan out we can at least get zombie bacon and spam."
Comment Re:Some, not all... (Score 1) 731
That would be merge sort, not quicksort.
Quicksort is (basically) :
- choose a pivot value
- quicksort the list of elements with a value lower than the pivot value (list 1)
- quicksort the list of elements with a value higher than the pivot value (list 2)
- add the pivot and list 2 to list 1
Max Payne 3 Announced For Next Winter 73
tordavis writes with news that Rockstar Games has announced Max Payne 3 is in the works for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. It's currently planned for this coming winter. Quoting the news release:
"'We're starting a new chapter of Max's life with this game,' said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. 'This is Max as we've never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation.' Since leaving the NYPD and New York itself behind, Max has drifted from bad to worse. Double-crossed and a long way from home, Max is now trapped in a city full of violence and bloodshed, using his weapons and instincts in a desperate search for the truth and a way out."
Inventor Open Sources "TV-B-Gone," and Why 340
ptorrone writes "Inventor Mitch Altman explains why he open-sourced his TV-B-Gone kit, the original stealth keychain fob for defeating TVs in public places. The title of the article is 'Patent-B-Gone' and perhaps the most interesting fact is that Mitch's brother is a patent attorney, but he still decided to release an open source hardware version of the TV-B-Gone, with pretty impressive results."
Comment Re:That's because... (Score 1) 450
Raven killed people saying he was an Eskimo instead of an Aleut... Check your back!
Comment Re:Mathematically provably secure? (Score 1) 234
There are several "provably secure" computer systems. As in you can demonstrate they fulfil certain mathematical constraints and those constraints are absolute. Then you have to write the code and prove the code, then you have to hope the prover is correct and the hardwareis correct. Nothing is 100%.
As to the randomisation stuff - yes I've got examples, and we've hit the same thing in Linux with randomisation. You get cases where memory scribbles cause a problem only if the layout happens to be a specific variant (especially with stack randomisation). From "either it dies or it works" you get "1 in 10,000 times xyz app blows up". That does make debugging much much harder. Of course a good reply to that is "so improve the debugging tools".
As to the randomisation stuff - yes I've got examples, and we've hit the same thing in Linux with randomisation. You get cases where memory scribbles cause a problem only if the layout happens to be a specific variant (especially with stack randomisation). From "either it dies or it works" you get "1 in 10,000 times xyz app blows up". That does make debugging much much harder. Of course a good reply to that is "so improve the debugging tools".
