|
xkcd: Old Days 2[^] 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Punch cards? Your RAM was so static that you had to fill it manually with toggle switches or hex keyboard. And then they made the mistake to make it dynamic, which caused it to charge at you when it missed its refresh. You had to take the bump, all RAM would be wiped clean and you had to start all over again, but at least it would behave like it was static again. For a while.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
|
|
|
|
|
At least if you had knitting needles and some ferrite cores you could make your own RAM. Nowadays, my hands aren't steady enough to manually make a DDR3 module ... 
But the kids of today? They don't even try.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
OriginalGriff wrote: But the kids of today? They don't even try.
Why should they? Tenderly stroking a smearscreen all day instantly makes you an expert on everything, especially if you are only on Youtube and Twatter all day. Knowledge induction through electromagnetic fields.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
|
|
|
|
|
You wouldn't believe how many young computer professionals who think I am joking when I tell them I will show them the 1152 bits core dump I've got at home. Well, strictly speaking it isn't a core dump, but a block of core. Nine out of ten youngsters who regularly refer to "core dumps" think that "core" simply refers to the "most central parts" of the machine, the memory. They never heard of "ferrite core", and sometimes refuse to believe that this nitwork of tiny little rings is the origin of the termo "core dump".
|
|
|
|
|
Great!
One funny thing is that lots of it is true, it is just seen from a surprising angle:
"Early mainframes would produce a sweater every time you ran your code"
Well, some small details may be incorrect, but the main idea is about right.
"It was on the state landline, so the whole industry paused when the governor had to make a phone call"
One of the ISDN marketing points (giving you two 64 kbps channels) was that you could continue working on the internet while someone else made a phone call, or if you wanted to make a phone call, you no longer had to ask your teenager to disconnect the modem.
The cloud was called a "mainframe" located near Sacraento - I wish people would understand that the cloud is no more magic than that. That's the thing with XKCD: To the passer-by it may be "funny" and stop at that, but to professionals in the trade there is a deeper layer, revealing "inside" elements. (Like good children's books: When you read them to your kids, you know that they will only pick up the action part, while you as an adult see the personality differences, complex interaction patterns and conflicts.)
|
|
|
|
|
Of course, we didn't have GIT when I got started, so I never got to drive the truck.
All our code had to be printed out, wrapped in waterproof plastic, and thrown in the lake where the sub HMS Version would collect it. That's where the original "Waterfall Model" came from, as you know.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
OriginalGriff wrote: All our code had to be printed out, wrapped in waterproof plastic, and thrown in the lake where the sub HMS Version would collect it. That's where the original "Waterfall Model" came from, as you know.
No, no, no, you have it all wrong. The Waterfall Model was invented as a joke by the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The code was flushed with water down the toilet (AKA "loo"), and then travelled with the rest of the sewage to Lake Ontario, where it eventually fell over the Niagara Falls.
Various researchers, all American, actually suggested using this model for software development.  
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
|
I'm getting old, but not that old yet, so I only half believe you 
|
|
|
|
|
Which half do you believe?
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
|
|
|
|
|
Epic Games: Stranger Things 3[^]
Currently free - and probably to remind us that there will be a ST4 is Covid ever ends - it's an isomeric platformer sort of thing, I think: I haven't played it yet. ST2 was pretty good, in an "8-bit retro" kinda way, so this may be good as well.
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
|
Epic still hasn't been forgiven for giving away GTA5 a few weeks ago. Since then there's been a sudden influx of noobs or worse, people who already had the game but now use a second account to act like jackasses with no fear of getting booted out.
|
|
|
|
|
Is GTA5 MMO?
Didn't know it...
I will have a try when the dumb activity settles down. I don't want to get pissed off by jerks at the beginning.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
GTA 5 has an online component to it. I've ignored it for years.
There's always jerks, and I don't think it'll ever go away (or at least I don't think waiting for any period of time will make any difference).
Best thing you can do - help others and have them join their crew. Then join their sessions to play the game, even if you intend to do you own thing and play solo. When random people show up and start killing others pointlessly, leave the session and join another.
|
|
|
|
|
dandy72 wrote: When random people show up and start killing others pointlessly, leave the session and join another.
I have done that in other games since I play online...
the amount of morons is an universal variable that tend to infinite.
M.D.V.
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
|
|
|
|
|
I am not trying to ignite an old war, I prefer Desktop App dev, but the wave caught me, doing web dev now, and at peace with it (sort of)...
But as I was looking at our app, it suddenly struck me... however bad is your javascript, html, server code, seldom will the browser freeze. Maybe the page will be stuck loading but you can close it, ignore it, open another tab...
However, if you write ugly bad desktop code, with humongous calculation in your UI thread, your app can easily freeze. For example I wouldn't trust one of the developer here where I am to work with me on any app... this guy... makes me sad..
[EDIT] To summarise the point above concisely: An awful web app coded by stupid developers will fail more gracefully than an awful desktop app coded by other stupid developer!
Anyway, it even happen to me, I often read multiple PDFs at home with Foxit, and I noticed lately Foxit tend to freeze easily. The whole application freeze, can't even navigate to another PDF / tab, this is annoying...
--
Which makes me think... Any PDF reader recommendation?
[EDIT]
Just checked Adobe Acrobat Reader, it's better that it used to be, might use that!
But Foxit has an easy edit of Bookmarks, still great for that!
modified 26-Jun-20 6:59am.
|
|
|
|
|
Browsers these days do a pretty good job rendering PDFs. At least the Chromium-based ones. (My default for PDF is Brave on Ubuntu.) But then I don't have a need to bookmark pages within PDFs...
Cheers,
Peter
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
|
|
|
|
|
Browser is barely sufficient..
Yes it renders but it's unusable... I do need the bookmark pane on the side permanently open and pointing to my current location... Those PDF I am using have like 200~400 pages...
modified 25-Jun-20 22:17pm.
|
|
|
|
|
16 GB of ram and 8 cores: no Foxit issues.
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
|
|
|
|
|
Sure it's not a crypto-miner in disguise?
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
|
|
|
|
|
Yes but... do you have multiple 400 pages PDF that you let open in the background for a while and check every now and then?!
Because I also have 16GB and 8 cores! 
In fact I regret it, should have installed 32GB
|
|
|
|
|
Maybe one of these: pdf-viewers-for-windows[^]
I always used the Edge browser as it could also read ePub files, and guess what?
Since the last update that functionality has been lost 
|
|
|
|
|
Yep, that annoyed me as well - the one thing Edge did well, and they removed it ... 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
|
|
|
|
General 
News 
Suggestion 
Question 
Bug 
Answer 
Joke 
Praise 
Rant 
Admin 
Submit an article or tip
