Posts by Glen 1 971 publicly visible posts • joined 17 Jun 2009
"They are getting desperate in their negotiating/begging"
Talk about alternative facts!
The EU saying repeatedly they're not going to renegotiate (and sticking to it) and the UK having to *ask" for extension after extension tells you where the desperation lies.
The only thing the EU is desperate to do is protect the four freedoms.
They were not digging *at* pascal, but at people who are not familiar with pascal.
"Too many code typists are so full of themselves, gleefully exercising their buzzing-with-excitement brains all day, never realizing that they forgot to take any formal training on subjects such as Algorithm Design or Data Structures."
I take the point about lack of broadness in people's knowledge, but let's face it, when was the last time a web dev needed to know big O notation? Sorting algorithms beyond data_structure.sort()?
All the interesting problems have either been solved or are being worked on by Real Programmers™ . All the nuances are hidden behind library function calls. There is money to be made in the harder maths side of things, but thats called 'data science' or 'research'.
The jobbing programmer making yet another CRUD app might well the know the bullshit interview question on how to swap 2 variables without using a third, but have the common sense never to use it.
You see it a lot of the Real Programmers™ bullshit in books and academic papers where the maths is the point, not the actual implementation (which is all a programmer will care about). The arena where single letter variable names - with superscripts and subscripts - are considered essential. The sheer unreadability of it seems targeted to exclude rather than educate.
Example:
What is the sum total of the contents of an array?
Not-Code™:
For each element of array, add contents to running total.
Maths speak:
Sigma something something McSquiggle
TL;DR Theres a difference between the 'if all you have is a hammer' saying and not hiring someone because they don't know web assembly when the job spec is for angular.
"They think Pascal is a unit of air pressure"
It is.
Slightly more seriously, an obsolete language rarely used in anger this century is not on my list of demands from employees. Sure, Pascal was the Python of it's day, but that day was 30 years ago.
The anticipated retort is "It's not about the language, it's about learning/understanding blah blah" to which I reply:
Then why the dig about Pascal if it's not about the language?
"20c a kwh for home use amounts"
Aproximate electricity prices in the UK
Spoiler: 12-14p per Kwh (16-18c)
So comparable then.
I think the main one is outlook/exchange (and by implication office365)
If anyone knows of a Linux equivalent that requires the same or less amount of admin, I'm listening.
I would also include active directory, as paying someone to learn about LDAP is not exactly a high priority for most windows shops.
I would make a distinction between a government dossier being "sexed up" for political ends and a foreign power killing on British soil with apparent impunity (although international sanctions have upped the ante a little)
"The Government" is a many headed hydra. It's not so much "The Government" I believe, but the news reporting on the government - and I mean actual journalists holding politicians to account, not tweet bots, not disposable domains running click bait headlines over facebook. That would seem to make me (and many others here) different from the huddled masses.
I mean, I only have the news' word that Vladimir Putin actually exists. I've never met the man - or met anyone who has - but between the video footage, and eyewitness accounts (all coming from the news), I'm prepared to believe that he exists.
There is *slightly* less evidence about the above attacks. Between the death of Dawn Sturgess and interviews with Yulia Skripal, Charlie Rowley etc there is certainly more than a single primary source. The thoroughly unconvincing interview on Russian media with the suspects only adds fuel to the fire. Not to mention the Russian agents getting caught outside the swiss lab that was testing the Novichok samples.
However, I view those sources through the filter of the news just like everyone else.
There are the small matters of the recent Novichok (sp) attack, and the slightly longer ago assassination of Alexander Litvinenko. The bloke who (allegedly) did the latter is now a Russian MP.
It is *well* within the UK's ability to respond in kind (perhaps not the polonium), but I put it to you that while escalating things would be a bad idea, doing NOTHING lets the bully get away with it.
My parents were unsure (context: this was in the early eighties), came down on what they thought was the side of caution. Didn't vaccinate me.
...
I got measles when I was 5, was one of the 1 in 20 who also got pneumonia. I nearly died. Spent time on the isolation ward (thank you NHS).
If/when I ever have kids you can be damn sure that they will be vaccinated.
Only the Older Millennials (like me) will probably remember Damon Hill as a driver, as he retired in 1999 (20 years ago)
For Historical context:
Phill Hill retired in 1967 - over 50 years ago, and a few years before Apollo 11
I'm all for the standard 'Kids today' grumblings, but when you use 'Millenials' to mean 'young people' when the eldest of us are pushing 40...
It's like listening to people complain about that new fangled 'Internet' or that rock music is far too modern.
I mean, it's amusing, but I dont think it's always the effect you're going for.
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