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  • Need a Better Cleanup Tool [Humorous Image]

    - by Asian Angel
    Obviously some cleanup tools work better than others…and sometimes common sense cleanup is the best tool of all! Note: Notice the timeline in the image… View the Full-Size Version of the Image Got a sales guys laptop back… Note the times. [via Fail Desk] The Best Free Portable Apps for Your Flash Drive Toolkit How to Own Your Own Website (Even If You Can’t Build One) Pt 3 How to Sync Your Media Across Your Entire House with XBMC

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  • Why has C prevailed over Pascal?

    - by Konrad Morawski
    My understanding is that in the 1980s and perhaps in the 1990s, too - Pascal and C were pretty much head-to-head as production languages. Is the ultimate demise of Pascal only due to Borland's neglection of Delphi? Or was there more of such bad luck; or perhaps something inherently wrong with Pascal (any hopes for its revival?). I hope it's not an open, unanswerable question. I'm interested in historical facts and observations one can back up, rather than likes and dislikes. I also failed to find a duplicate question, which actually surprised me somewhat.

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  • Books and stories on programming culture, specifically in the 80's / early 90's

    - by Ivo van der Wijk
    I've enjoyed a number of (fiction/non-fiction books) about hacker culture and running a software business in the 80's, 90's. For some reason things seemed so much more exciting back then. Examples are: Microserfs (Douglas Coupland) Accidental Empires (Robert X. Cringely Almost Pefect (W.E. Peterson, online!) Coders at Work (Peter Seibel) Today I'm an entrepeneur and programmer. Back in the 80's a I was a young geek hacking DOS TSR's and coding GWBasic / QBasic. In the 90's I was a C.S. university student, experiencing the rise of the Internet world wide. When reading these books running a software business seemed so much more fun than it is nowadays. Things used to be so much simpler, opportunities seemed to be everywhere and the startups seemed to work with much more real problems (inventing spreadsheets, writing word processors in assembly on 6 different platforms) than all our current web 2.0 social networking toys. Does anyone share these feelings? Does anyone have any good (personal) stories from back then or know of other good books to read?

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  • Is it true that first versions of C compilers ran for dozens of minutes and required swapping floppy disks between stages?

    - by sharptooth
    Inspired by this question. I heard that some very very early versions of C compilers for personal computers (I guess it's around 1980) resided on two or three floppy disks and so in order to compile a program one had to first insert the disk with "first pass", run the "first pass", then change to the disk with "second pass", run that, then do the same for the "third pass". Each pass ran for dozens of minutes so the developer lost lots of time in case of even a typo. How realistic is that claim? What were actual figures and details?

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  • Why is the sudden increase in number of Git submitters on Debian popcon graph in 2010-01?

    - by Jungle Hunter
    Almost every article I've read 1 comparing Git and Mercurial it seems like Mercurial has a better command line UX with each command being limited to one idea only (unlike say git checkout). But at some point Git suddenly became looking super popular and number of Git submitters on Debian popcon graph (see graph image below) literally exploded. Source: Debian What happened in 2010-01 that things suddenly changed. Looks like GitHub was founded earlier than that - 2008.

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  • Don Knuth and MMIXAL vs. Chuck Moore and Forth -- Algorithms and Ideal Machines -- was there cross-pollination / influence in their ideas / work?

    - by AKE
    Question: To what extent is it known (or believed) that Chuck Moore and Don Knuth had influence on each other's thoughts on ideal machines, or their work on algorithms? I'm interested in citations, interviews, articles, links, or any other sort of evidence. It could also be evidence of the form of A and B here suggest that Moore might have borrowed or influenced C and D from Knuth here, or vice versa. (Opinions are of course welcome, but references / links would be better!) Context: Until fairly recently, I have been primarily familiar with Knuth's work on algorithms and computing models, mostly through TAOCP but also through his interviews and other writings. However, the more I have been using Forth, the more I am struck by both the power of a stack-based machine model, and the way in which the spareness of the model makes fundamental algorithmic improvements more readily apparent. A lot of what Knuth has done in fundamental analysis of algorithms has, it seems to me, a very similar flavour, and I can easily imagine that in a parallel universe, Knuth might perhaps have chosen Forth as his computing model. That's the software / algorithms / programming side of things. When it comes to "ideal computing machines", Knuth in the 70s came up with the MIX computer model, and then, collaborating with designers of state-of-the-art RISC chips through the 90s, updated this with the modern MMIX model and its attendant assembly language MMIXAL. Meanwhile, Moore, having been using and refining Forth as a language, but using it on top of whatever processor happened to be in the computer he was programming, began to imagine a world in which the efficiency and value of stack-based programming were reflected in hardware. So he went on in the 80s to develop his own stack-based hardware chips, defining the term MISC (Minimal Instruction Set Computers) along the way, and ending up eventually with the first Forth chip, the MuP21. Both are brilliant men with keen insight into the art of programming and algorithms, and both work at the intersection between algorithms, programs, and bare metal hardware (i.e. hardware without the clutter of operating systems). Which leads me to the headlined question... Question:To what extent is it known (or believed) that Chuck Moore and Don Knuth had influence on each other's thoughts on ideal machines, or their work on algorithms?

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  • Programmer + Drugs =? [closed]

    - by sytycs
    I just read this quote from Steve Jobs: "Doing LSD was one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life." Now I'm wondering: Has there ever been a study where programmers have been given drugs to see if they could produce "better" code? Is there a programming concept, which originated from people who where drug-users? Do you know of a piece of code, which was written by someone under the influence? EDIT So I did a little more research and it turns out Dennis R. Wier actually documented how he took LSD to wrap his head around a coding project: "At one point in the project I could not get an overall viewpoint for the operation of the entire system. It really was too much for my brain to keep all the subtle aspects and processing nuances clear so I could get a processing and design overview. After struggling with this problem for a few weeks, I decided to use a little acid to see if it would enable a breakthrough, because otherwise, I would not be able to complete the project and be certain of a consistent overall design"[1] There is also an interesting article on wired about Kevin Herbet, who used LSD to solve tough technical problems and chemist Kary Mullis even said "...that LSD had helped him develop the polymerase chain reaction that helps amplify specific DNA sequences." [2]

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  • What is the oldest living piece of unaltered production code? [closed]

    - by user1598390
    It's come to my mind that parts of the code in, say, Unix, has maybe passed unaltered from one version or flavor into another. Maybe some pieces of the source code of the ls command is the same, unaltered, than was written years ago. Have any of you read or learn about this ? What would be the oldest living piece of unaltered production code still running, passing from version through version of a program or system ? Will the code we write outlive us for decades ?

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  • My Big Break - this is my story and I am sticking to it ;)

    - by dbasnett
    The value of undertaking new and difficult tasks can have many wonderful consequences, don't you agree? Here is the story of my big break. Remember yours? During the mid 70's I was in the Navy and worked as a computer operator at the CNO's Command and Control computer system (WWMCCS) in the Washington Navy Yard. I was a tape ape, but knew that I wanted to be a systems programmer. One day the Lieutenant in charge of the OS group was running a test that required the development system to be re-booted, and I was politely hinting that I wanted out of computer operations. As he watched the accounting tape rewind to BOT and then search for where it had just been (severalminutes) he told me if I would fix "that" he would have me transferred. I couldn't say "Deal" fast enough. Up until then my programming experience had been on Edsger Dijkstra's favorite computer (sic), an IBM 1620. It took almost 6 months of learning the assembler for the Honeywell 6000 and finding the code responsible for rewinding the tape and then forwarding it. After much trial and error at o’dark thirty I succeeded. The tape barely moved and my “patch” was later adopted by many other sites. Lieutenant Jack Cowan kept his promise and I have gone on to have a varied and enjoyable career. To Jack, and the rest of the crew (Ken, Stu, Neil, Tom, Silent W, Mr. Jacobs, Roy, Rocco, etc.) I’d like to thank you all.

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  • Is there any evidence that drugs can actually help programmers produce "better" code? [closed]

    - by sytycs
    I just read this quote from Steve Jobs: "Doing LSD was one of the two or three most important things I have done in my life." Also a quote from that article: He was hardly alone among computer scientists in his appreciation of hallucinogenics and their capacity to liberate human thought from the prison of the mind. Now I'm wondering if there's any evidence to support the theory that drugs can help make a "better" programmer. Has there ever been a study where programmers have been given drugs to see if they could produce "better" code? Is there a well-known programming concept or piece of code which originated from people who were on drugs? EDIT So I did a little more research and it turns out Dennis R. Wier actually documented how he took LSD to wrap his head around a coding project: "At one point in the project I could not get an overall viewpoint for the operation of the entire system. It really was too much for my brain to keep all the subtle aspects and processing nuances clear so I could get a processing and design overview. After struggling with this problem for a few weeks, I decided to use a little acid to see if it would enable a breakthrough, because otherwise, I would not be able to complete the project and be certain of a consistent overall design"[1] There is also an interesting article on wired about Kevin Herbet, who used LSD to solve tough technical problems and chemist Kary Mullis even said "...that LSD had helped him develop the polymerase chain reaction that helps amplify specific DNA sequences." [2]

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  • How was programming done 20 years ago?

    - by Click Upvote
    Nowadays we have a lot of programming aids that make it easier to work, including: IDEs Debuggers (line by line, breakpoints, etc) Ant scripts, etc for compiling Sites like Stackoverflow to help if you're too stuck on a bug. 20 years ago none of these things were around, which tools did people use to program and how did they make do without these tools? I'm interested in learning more about how programming was done back then.

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  • Where does the term "Front End" come from?

    - by Richard JP Le Guen
    Where does the term "front-end" come from? Is there a particular presentation/talk/job-posting which is regarded as the first use of the term? Is someone credited with coining the term? The Merriam-Webster entry for "front-end" claims the first known use of the term was 1973 but it doesn't seem to provide details about that first known use. Likewise, the Wikipedia page about front and back ends is fairly low quality, and cites very few sources.

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  • Why Are Dial-up Modems so Noisy?

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Throughout the 1990s the majority of internet users began their session with the noisy handshake of a dial-up modem, but what exactly was all that electronic chatter about? Read on as we investigate one of the more iconic sounds of the burgeoning Internet age. Today’s Question & Answer session comes to us courtesy of SuperUser—a subdivision of Stack Exchange, a community-drive grouping of Q&A web sites. While dial-up modem use might be down from the nearly 100% market saturation in the 1990s to only 10% of current US internet users, the sound of a dial-up modem connecting lives on in the memories of geeks everywhere. This week we’re taking a look at the technology behind the noisy process and what exactly was going on when you dialed in for your internet session. Why Enabling “Do Not Track” Doesn’t Stop You From Being Tracked HTG Explains: What is the Windows Page File and Should You Disable It? How To Get a Better Wireless Signal and Reduce Wireless Network Interference

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  • Literature in programming and computer science

    - by Peter Turner
    I hope, gentle programmers, that you'll forgive me for not asking a "Soft Question" on theoreticalCS.SE and asking this here. It has recently come to my attention that bigendian came from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. I was pretty surprised when listening to the book on my commute to hear something I'd only heard before in Comp Sci / Engineering classes. I thought it was some sort of nouveau-politically incorrect piece of holdover jargon like Master and Slave drives or Polish Notation. Are there any other incidents, not of politically incorrect jargon, but of literature influencing aspects of computers, programming or software development?

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  • Make Your Own Paper-Craft Enigma Machine [DIY Project]

    - by Asian Angel
    If you love tinkering around with ciphers and want a fun DIY project for the upcoming weekend, then we have just the thing for you. Using common household items you can construct your own personal Enigma machine that will be completely compatible with all the settings of a real Enigma machine (models I, M1, M2 and M3). Visit the second link below for the step-by-step instructions and enjoy putting together this awesome DIY project! PDF Templates for the Enigma Machine Note: This is a direct link for the PDF file itself and the templates are sized for printing on 2 A4 sheets of paper. Enigma/Paper Enigma Instruction Homepage [via BoingBoing] HTG Explains: What Is RSS and How Can I Benefit From Using It? HTG Explains: Why You Only Have to Wipe a Disk Once to Erase It HTG Explains: Learn How Websites Are Tracking You Online

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  • 50 Years After The Jetsons

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    The Jetsons, the future-oriented animated cartoon series from the 1960s, turned 50 this week. The Smithsonian takes a look at what the show meant, then and now. At the Smithsonian blog Paleofuture, Matt Novak looks back at the last 50 years and the impact that The Jetsons had. He writes: It’s important to remember that today’s political, social and business leaders were pretty much watching ”The Jetsons” on repeat during their most impressionable years. People are often shocked to learn that “The Jetsons” lasted just one season during its original run in 1962-63 and wasn’t revived until 1985. Essentially every kid in America (and many internationally) saw the series on constant repeat during Saturday morning cartoons throughout the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Everyone (including my own mom) seems to ask me, “How could it have been around for only 24 episodes? Did I really just watch those same episodes over and over again?” Yes, yes you did. But it’s just a cartoon, right? So what if today’s political and social elite saw ”The Jetsons” a lot? Thanks in large part to the Jetsons, there’s a sense of betrayal that is pervasive in American culture today about the future that never arrived. We’re all familiar with the rallying cries of the angry retrofuturist: Where’s my jetpack!?! Where’s my flying car!?! Where’s my robot maid?!? “The Jetsons” and everything they represented were seen by so many not as a possible future, but a promise of one. Hit up the link below for the full article–prepare to be surprised at just how few episodes of the show were ever animated and aired. 8 Deadly Commands You Should Never Run on Linux 14 Special Google Searches That Show Instant Answers How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates

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  • First languages with generic programming support

    - by oluies
    Which was the first language with generic programming support, and what was the first major staticly typed language (widely used) with generics support. Generics implement the concept of parameterized types to allow for multiple types. The term generic means "pertaining to or appropriate to large groups of classes." I have seen the following mentions of "first": First-order parametric polymorphism is now a standard element of statically typed programming languages. Starting with System F [20,42] and functional programming lan- guages, the constructs have found their way into mainstream languages such as Java and C#. In these languages, first-order parametric polymorphism is usually called generics. From "Generics of a Higher Kind", Adriaan Moors, Frank Piessens, and Martin Odersky Generic programming is a style of computer programming in which algorithms are written in terms of to-be-specified-later types that are then instantiated when needed for specific types provided as parameters. This approach, pioneered by Ada in 1983 From Wikipedia Generic Programming

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  • Historical origins of Scala implicits

    - by Frank
    Scala has been called complex with its rich feature set by many of my colleagues and some even blamed all those new features of it. While most programmers are aware of the OO-features, and at least the decent ones also know about functional programming, there is one feature in particular in Scala for which I am not aware of its historical origins. Given that a major mantra of our profession is to not reinvent the wheel, I am rather confident, that Scala does not have any actual unheard-of-before features, but I stand to be corrected on this one if necessary. To get to the actual question, while I am aware of the origins of most of Scala's features I have never seen something like its implicit declarations before. Are there other (older!) languages out there which also provide this feature? Does it make sense to distinguish the different cases of implicits (as they may originate from different sources), namely implict conversions and implicit parameters?

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  • Origins of code indentation

    - by Daniel Mahler
    I am interested in finding out who introduced code indentation, as well as when and where it was introduced. It seems so critical to code comprehension, but it was not universal. Most Fortran and Basic code was (is?) unindented, and the same goes for Cobol. I am pretty sure I have even seen old Lisp code written as continuous, line-wrapped text. You had to count brackets in your head just to parse it, never mind understanding it. So where did such a huge improvement come from? I have never seen any mention of its origin. Apart from original examples of its use, I am also looking for original discussions of indentation.

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  • What was the first consumer-oriented hardware/software solution?

    - by Maksee
    We all know the story of the personal computer as a consumer-oriented product. But I just thought that real end user solution should have appeared before that time. So a product that was probably expensive, but allowed using it as a service charging for it, for example computer-terminal for transport time-table access or game machine. On the other site, the video terminals as we know them appeared not so long ago. So if there was something like this, this could be hardware/software most likely offering no interactivity, but probably printing some information based on user actions.

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  • The Island of Lost Apple Products

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    While Apple has has a mountain of commercial successes, every once in awhile the crew in Cupertino strikes out. Here are some of the less successful and prematurely retired Apple products from the last two decades. Courtesy of Wired, we find nine of the least favorably received products in the Apple portfolio. Pictured here, the QuickTake Camera: Life Span: 1994 – 1997 Back in 1994, Apple was actually at the forefront of digital photography. The QuickTake Camera’s photos (640 x 480 at 0.3 megapixels) were borderline unusable for anything other than your Geocities homepage. But technology has to start somewhere. Still, Apple killed the line after just three years. And while the iPhone and other smartphones have replaced most people’s digital cameras, Apple could have had a reaped the benefits of the digital point-and-shoot salad years. 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

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  • Classic UFO Identification Chart from March 1967 [Retro Image]

    - by Asian Angel
    If you love classic sci-fi goodness, then you will definitely enjoy looking through the various ‘alien’ starcraft featured in this classic chart from yesteryear! View the Full-Size Version (914*1280 pixels) UFO Identification Chart – Stargods Blog [via Cheezburger.com] Java is Insecure and Awful, It’s Time to Disable It, and Here’s How What Are the Windows A: and B: Drives Used For? HTG Explains: What is DNS?

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  • Visit the Museum of Endangered Sounds for a Bit of Nostalgic Sound-Based Fun

    - by Asian Angel
    Are you ready for a trip down memory lane? Then you will definitely want to visit the Museum of Endangered Sounds where you can have fun listening to the classic sounds of yesteryear! Enjoy listening to the sound of dial-up, the login sound of Windows 95, that classic Nokia ringtone, and more at the Museum. Click on a picture to play the sound, then click on the picture again to stop it. The sounds will continue to play until you click on the chosen picture… Museum of Endangered Sounds [via Neatorama] Browse on over to another of our ETC posts for more nostalgic sound fun: Hack Your Kindle for Easy Font Customization HTG Explains: What Is RSS and How Can I Benefit From Using It? HTG Explains: Why You Only Have to Wipe a Disk Once to Erase It

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  • What platform were old TV video games developed on?

    - by Mihir
    I am very eager to know how TV video games (which we all used to play in our childhood) were developed and on which platform. I know how games are developed for mobile devices, Windows PC's and Mac but I'm not getting how (in those days) Contra, Duck Hunt and all those games were developed. As they have high graphics and a large number of stages. So how did they manage to develop games in such a small size environment and with lower configuration platform?

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  • Retro Ad – 10 MB Hard-Drive for $3398 [Image]

    - by Asian Angel
    This is definitely one hard-drive (and price) that you will not be feeling nostalgic over! View the Full-Size Version of the Ad (Image) The Hard Disk you’ve been waiting for. [via Fail Desk] Why Enabling “Do Not Track” Doesn’t Stop You From Being Tracked HTG Explains: What is the Windows Page File and Should You Disable It? How To Get a Better Wireless Signal and Reduce Wireless Network Interference

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