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Comment Pseudo code it. (Score 1) 254

by lscoughlin (#44027927) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: How To Start Reading Other's Code?

Pseudo code it.

Read the major blocks of the application in what ever editor makes you happy, with a text editor next to it ( preferably one that does arbitrary text folding ) and just psuedo code the hell out of it. The more of this you do, the more you'll be able to look back at your own pseudocode for a definition of some obscure thing, and the more a pattern will appear as you notice yourself typing the same things over and over again.

Also works as sl/hack documentation when you're done.
Businesses

Should Gaming Worlds Join the Workplace? 68

Posted by Soulskill from the gotta-farm-those-tps-reports dept.
destinyland writes "A Stanford professor argues that gaming worlds can keep workers engaged, and advocates elements of World of Warcraft or Second Life to hone workplace skills like teamwork, leadership, and data analysis. An IBM report also argues games like World of Warcraft teach leadership and that 'there is no reason to think the same cannot be done in corporate settings of various sizes.' The professor even suggests putting online gaming experiences into your resume. ('There's just so much that gets done [in a virtual world] that's just right on target with what happens in real business.') And Google's CEO also claims that multiplayer gaming also provides good career training, especially for technology careers. 'Everything in the future online is going to look like a multiplayer game. If I were 15 years old, that's what I would be doing right now... It teaches players to build a network, to use interactive skills and thinking.'"

Comment the first question (Score 4, Interesting) 54

by lscoughlin (#28627347) Attached to: Jazz Technical Lead Erich Gamma Answers Your Questions

The first question, was the best question, and the rest is pretty fluffy.

"Free for up to three users" means "useless for all intents and purposes, unless you pay up."

It's a neat space, and it's neat to see people interested in it, and i'm sure someone will learn some valuable lessons from jazz.

It'll probably only get used exclusively by IBM though.
Privacy

EU Investigates Phorm's UK ISP Advertising System 90

Posted by timothy from the ebay-bids-from-cubicle-81773(d) dept.
MJackson writes "The European Commission has opened an infringement proceeding against the UK after a series of complaints by Internet users, and extensive communication with UK authorities, about the use of Phorm's behavioural advertising system, which uses Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology, by internet service providers. Phorm works with UK ISPs to monitor what websites you visit for use in targeted advertising campaigns, though its methods have raised more than a few fears about invasions of privacy. Similar services in the USA have caused an equal level of controversy."

Thinkpad X60 — the Tablet Goes Ultraportable 122

Posted by CmdrTaco from the send-review-units-no-return-postage-necessary dept.
Rovi writes "Lenovo had a gift for Thinkpad fans this season- they finally released the successor to the X41 Tablet. The Thinkpad X60 Tablet weighs in at about three and a half pounds and has great tablet functionality. The updates from the older model include a 2.5" hard drive (the X41 used a 1.8"), automatic screen orientation, and an Intel Core Duo processor. For performance seekers some serious upgrades are available, such as a 120GB 5400RPM hard drive, 100GB 7200RPM drive, SXGA+ monitor, or up to 4GB of RAM."
Linux

ESR's Desktop Linux 2008 Deadline 535

Posted by CmdrTaco from the might-be-a-couple-years-late dept.
jesboat noted Eric S. Raymond and Rob Landley's essay about what the Linux community must do to achieve dominance entitled "World Domination 201". It says "Idealism about open formats will not solve our multimedia problem in time; in fact, getting stuck on either belief in the technical superiority of open source or free-software purism guarantees we will lose. The remaining problems aren't technical ones, and none of the interesting patents will expire before the end of 2008. We've got to ship something that works now. If we let this be a blocking issue preventing overall Linux adoption during the transition window, we won't have the userbase to demand changes in the laws to untangle the screwed up patent system, or even prevent it from getting worse. It's a chicken and egg problem, demanding a workaround until a permanent solution can be achieved. We can't set the standards until after we take over the world."

Comment Re:Mathematically provably secure? (Score 1) 234

by Alan Cox (#15289011) Attached to: Computer Security, The Next 50 Years
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".

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