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Comment Re:I completely agree (Score 1) 567

by 0xC0FFEE (#22912060) Attached to: Stroustrup Says C++ Education Needs To Improve
Stroustrup's book has passed the test of time. It's the only C++ book I own and I can say (without modesty) that I'm a fairly proficient C++ programmer. The book is the right mix of examples and is a very adequate reference.

I come from a scientific/engineering background and generally, when you truly want to understand and get the scope of something, going to the initial author or visionary helps a lot. Not only is their explanation simpler and more consistent than later development, it stays relevant as time goes. Especially when it comes to software engineering, one of the major problem to be solved is one of trying to simplify and generalize. So anything that isn't achieving that has probably failed.

I think C++ is simple enough and powerful enough for most needs. There are some quirks, but the language itself is sound and manageable. Most of the problems generally show up with libraries, they generally don't help to solve a problem (at all). While it may be different for other languages, it certainly isn't for C++ and once you remove libraries from your considerations, C++ becomes a very neat way of expressing solutions. It could be more concise, it could be even more generic, but I think a fair balance as been reached. Now if we could just have some half decent refactoring tools, that would be far more useful than this c++1x crap. Yes it's c++1x, I certainly remember how long it took compiler writers to get templates working right.

C# Memory Leak Torpedoed Princeton's DARPA Chances 560

Posted by Zonk from the omg-a-tumbleweed dept.
nil0lab writes "In a case of 20/20 hindsight, Princeton DARPA Grand Challenge team member Bryan Cattle reflects on how their code failed to forget obstacles it had passed. It was written in Microsoft's C#, which isn't supposed to let you have memory leaks. 'We kept noticing that the computer would begin to bog down after extended periods of driving. This problem was pernicious because it only showed up after 40 minutes to an hour of driving around and collecting obstacles. The computer performance would just gradually slow down until the car just simply stopped responding, usually with the gas pedal down, and would just drive off into the bush until we pulled the plug. We looked through the code on paper, literally line by line, and just couldn't for the life of us imagine what the problem was.'"
Science

Penguins Disappearing From Southern Hemisphere 218

Posted by Zonk from the space-penguins-gotta-be dept.
The Scotsman is running a piece looking at the mysterious disappearance of penguins from all around the world. A biologist who studies the rockhopper penguin characterizes the population crash as 'sinister', as scientists are still baffled as to why almost 30% of the birds have vanished. From the article: "Grant Munro, the director of Falklands Conservation, said there were fears that rockhoppers might become extinct. 'If the present situation were to carry on then it's not a particularly great forecast. It doesn't look like they are suddenly going to start increasing in numbers ... In the Falklands, they are part of everyday life. If you head down to the beach you are going to see penguins.'"
XBox (Games)

Fallout From the November Console Wars 182

Posted by Zonk from the whew-i-can-finally-take-off-this-helmet dept.
All three 'next generation' consoles are out, and we can finally stop using that term. The NPD numbers for last month have been released, and there's plenty of information there to discuss. Analysts have already made some observations, with brandintel specifically pointing out the Xbox 360's 'surprising' role in last month's fight. For some more well-reasoned thought, Dean Takahashi's take is the place to turn: "At this rate, Microsoft isn't going to hit its goal of 10 million units by year end ... Sony's number is consistent with its warnings, but 197,000 is worse than what many expected ... the fair fight is really going to be what happens in the year 2007, when all three console makers should be able to ship as many consoles as consumers want. To me, this looks like consumers are hit with a case of sticker shock. The mass market is paying for cheap PS2s, DS Lites, and GBAs." Despite the Wii's success last month, it should be noted that Nintendo is no longer bragging of 1 Million units in the U.S. by the end of the year. So, essentially, it looks like all three companies will fail to hit their console goals for the year.

Diebold Disks May Have Been For Testers 182

Posted by Zonk from the concientious-tester dept.
opencity writes "The Washington Post reports on the two Diebold source disks that were anonymously sent to a Maryland election official this past week. Further investigation has lead individuals involved to believe the disks came from a security check demanded by the Maryland legislature sometime in 2003." From the article: "Critics of electronic voting said the most recent incident in Maryland casts doubt on Lamone's claim that Maryland has the nation's most secure voting system. "There now may be numerous copies of the Diebold software floating around in unauthorized hands," said Linda Schade, co-founder of TrueVoteMD, which has pressed for a system that provides a verifiable paper record of each vote."

CEO of Amiga, Inc. Interviewed 225

Posted by CowboyNeal from the momentum-still-going dept.
vlangber submitted an interview with Bill McEwen about the current state of Amiga, Inc. and their plans for the future. Bill says, "[W]e established the concept and vision of a scalable, embeddable, multi-threaded, memory protected operating system or digital environment that would run from a cell phone to a server. This is what you are going to see us deliver." While Amiga OS4 has been in pre-release since 2004, a final release is planned for later this year.

The Physics of a Good Store Location 72

Posted by kdawson from the move-over-feng-shui dept.
Roland Piquepaille writes, "In 'Atomic Physics Predicts Successful Store Location,' LiveScience reports that a French physicist has applied methods used to study atomic interactions for another task: to 'help business owners find the best places to locate their stores.' Pablo Jensen has used his method for the city of Lyon and is now developing software with the local Chamber of Commerce to help future business owners. Read more for additional references and maps of the city of Lyon showing for example the best locations to open a bakery, according to atomic physics." Jensen says that more research is needed to know if this method would work in other cities.

FCC Levies Record Indecency Fine 577

Posted by CowboyNeal from the pay-to-play dept.
Carl Bialik from WSJ writes "The FCC proposed a record $3.6 million fine against a single TV show, penalizing CBS and its affiliates for an episode of 'Without a Trace' that suggested a teenage sexual orgy, in the first batch of indecency fines proposed in more than a year, the Wall Street Journal reports. 'Overall, the FCC's action didn't provide a broad sweeping vision for broadcasters about what is appropriate for television,' the WSJ says. 'Notably, the FCC backed away from an effort to impose higher fines by holding all network affiliates responsible for a broadcast, instead of just the stations that had been flagged by a viewer in a complaint.'"

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