interval1066 - Slashdot User

Submission + - Ruby GEM Extensions with Rust

Submitted by interval1066 on Tuesday October 13, 2015 @11:48AM

interval1066 writes: I've heard of rust from various sources around the net for a few years and never paid it much mind, there are so many new languages out now since my early days doing C programming, which what I've stuck to and made me my career. Now I'm heading a project that uses a RoR application to control a large series of sensors and controls in a manufacturing process. Naturally I want to talk to the hardware using a GEM extension written in C, as I've done before.

But another engineer who is not a fan of C (seems few younger engineers are) said he could write the extensions needed easily in Rust. Seems like this is a thing. I took a closer look at rust and it looks to me like another attempt at "C" without pointers, except rust does have a kind of pointer, it appears. I like its ranking on a list of fastest languages, and it seems pretty simple with an initial tool footprint that is quite small.

But what are the trade offs? Another language, and one that few engineers know (much like Vala, which I like very much but has the same small user base). What if I need another engineer to work on the code? I pretty much know what I can expect from C/C++, rust is a huge unknown, what if I run onto a roadblock? The engineer pushing for rust is emphatic, should I bulldoze him or take the plunge?

Submission + - Card Pleads 'Tolerance' for Film Adaptation (wired.com) 2

Submitted by interval1066 on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @07:13PM

interval1066 writes: A story in Wired describes Orson Scott Card's quest for tolerance in response to a boycot for Gavin Hood's film adaption of "Ender's Game", saying that "The gay marriage issue is moot" in a statement to Entertainment Weekly. Card is a long time anti-gay and defense of marriage activist. I guess he didn't see this film and the box-office importance of wide appeal coming, did he?

Submission + - Electrostatic Contamination in Your Devices (control.com)

Submitted by

interval1066

on Thursday March 21, 2013 @02:46PM

interval1066 writes: "I noticed earlier my Vizio lcd monitor output suddenly getting brighter, then dimming back down to "normal" after a second. I've generally made it a practice to blow the dust out of my devices 1) when I remember to do so 2) after about 3 or so years of use 3) when I can get inside the case. My monitor is very thin and difficult to open. When I did finally crack it open I didn't really notice a whole lot of dust, but I blew the thing out anyway and put it back together, and its doing ok, as far as I can tell.

I'd be interested in knowing other slashdotter's experience with maintaining their devices in this way and where possible. And I actually extending the life of my devices, or am I just wasting my time?"

Submission + - And the Noose Tightens (dropbox.com)

Submitted by

interval1066

on Thursday December 13, 2012 @12:43PM

interval1066 writes: "In a breathtaking new move by (another) little-known national security agency, the personal information of all US citizens will be available for casual perusal. The "National Counterterrorism Center" (I've never heard of this org) may now "examine the government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to suspect them." This is different from past bureaucratic practice (never mind due process) in that a government agency not in the list of agencies approved to to certain things without due process may completely bypass due process and STORE (for up to 5 years) these records, the org doesn't need a warrant, or have any kind of over-site of any kind. They will be sifting through these records looking for "counter-insurgency activity", supposedly with an eye to prevention. If this doesn't wake you up and chill you to your very bone, not too sure there is anything that will anyway.
The story is behind a pay wall that I have access too so I copied the web page from the WSJ and put it in my public drop box folder."

Submission + - New Frog Species Found in NYC (wired.com)

Submitted by

interval1066

on Wednesday March 14, 2012 @04:14PM

interval1066 writes: "Ars Technica reports that a paper by biologists Catherine E. Newmana, Jeremy A. Feinbergb, Leslie J. Risslerc, Joanna Burgerb, & H. Bradley Shaffer, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution, describes a new subspecies of leopard frog has been found living exclusively in New York City. The researchers describe in the paper that the new frog has a distinctive croak, quite different from the two existing species of leopard frogs on the East Coast. The new frog is also stand-offish and tends to impotently honk their horns when stuck in traffic."

Submission + - Japan team says stem cells made paralysed monkey j (inquirer.net)

Submitted by interval1066 on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @03:07PM

interval1066 writes: This is huge news in the world of stem cell research; restoring some muscular control to a simian is a huge step. This means that stem cell therapy is a demonstrably viable path to restoring motility for millions of accident victims, palsy and ms sufferers, the list just goes on.

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