daly

79 ms·

811.
by daly 8y ago
Scripting. I have 100 files that need the same operation on them. If they are GUI-only I have to fire up a GUI 100 times. If the changes can be made from a command line it will take me about 60 seconds.
812.
by daly 8y ago
I got my undergraduate degree with zero debt (1971-1974). Tuition was $2000/year plus dorm and meal fees. I worked several jobs every summer to earn the money. It used to be possible.
813.
by daly 8y ago
You have a problem to solve. You can state the problem in your native language (e.g. English). You need a computer program that solves it. You can use a low-level programming language (e.g. assembler) which is very close to the machine. Or
814.
by daly 9y ago
The thing that open source lacks is a funding source. Is someone here in a position to know people who have money and want to change the world? Consider the idea of "open source accounting". Here's the idea in more detail and
815.
by daly 9y ago
1) What are the proper switch settings for the last disk drive in a chain? 2) What are the proper flyback time and front porch settings for a 60Hz 480/320 display? 3) What is the latency of fetches from your plated wire memory? 4) What
816.
by daly 9y ago
Stephen Fry is such a joy to listen to. I've watched the documentary that details his struggles with illness and yet it only seems to make him more interesting. Stephen is in the ever-so-small group of truly intelligent and entertainin
817.
by daly 9y ago
ML. You're probably not aware of it but the next generation of programmers are learning how to write provably correct programs. Just in time for self-driving cars/trucks/planes.
818.
by daly 9y ago
Interesting. So your claim would be that if the president was compromised due to money laundering, the special council would not be allowed to investigate the financial crime?
819.
by daly 9y ago
I am also childless these days and doing research. Research is like skin. You never get away from it. But, then, who would want to?
820.
by daly 9y ago
I've been programming for 47 years. I've been offered (and refused) management positions 8 times. I know nothing about management, although I've had it done to me all my life. Being a programmer all your life is like being a
821.
by daly 9y ago
This is so sad. Real latex: \documentclass{article} \begin{document} All your words \end{document} Is that so hard?
822.
by daly 9y ago
I can't recall ever having worked with a junior programmer. All of the jobs I've had involved working with people who were amazingly good at programming. My career probably underlies the old joke... "1 in 3 people can't
823.
by daly 9y ago
IBM used to have a no-layoff policy. Managers used to have Acrylic desk paperweights. People were loyal as children to IBM back then. in 1995 they hired a non-IBM president (the cookie-monster). Layoffs followed. People stopped being loyal.
824.
by daly 9y ago
I wrote my first program in 1971. I'm still actively programming ( http://daly.axiom-developer.org ). Not the oldest knot in the tree but I'm not dead yet.
825.
by daly 9y ago
The Mythical Man Month
826.
by daly 9y ago
I've been programming for 47 years and I love it. There have been bad times, like the 3 times I fought compiler errors, or the 2 times the hardware bugs made life difficult. But it's been a constant learning experience. I've
827.
by daly 9y ago
Nope. Emacs lets you do one thing well: Use a computer.
828.
by daly 9y ago
You'd better HOPE it is not a compiler error. I have found 4 compiler errors in my career. Each one cost me about a week to isolate and prove. One pushed the project deadline out and nearly got me fired. They do happen but it is extrem
829.
by daly 9y ago
I was with my female co-author at a conference. She was asked what she wanted to do while her "husband" gave his talk. She was the presenter, not me.
830.
by daly 9y ago
If you have ever tried to do research you know how vital libraries are. Once you leave the University environment you lose a lot of access to fundamental results. Industry needs to keep up with the leading edge but is denied access. Hopeful
831.
by daly 9y ago
Ah, how times seem to change. My primary criteria for a hire is "they get the job done". All I ever want is someone who can take a task and finish it properly. Most tasks are not about age ('senior developer'), social ab
832.
by daly 9y ago
I sit in class and watch the people around me. Today the person on my left was txting on their phone under the table. The person on my right was getting txts on her screen every minute or so (which she read). One of the three people in fron
833.
by daly 9y ago
Nope. GUI emacs is sensitive to the mouse/trackpad, for example. I often switch windows and most of those windows are running emacs on remote machines. Using the mouse to select a GUI emacs moves the point. Doing the same in a terminal
834.
by daly 9y ago
Can you hire temp work to do data cleaning? (Aka, solve it with money? with mechanical turk?). If so, don't waste my time. If the data cleaning requires judgement then that's fine. Every job has dog work. I have to chase reference
835.
by daly 9y ago
Working these hours at Google would be stupidity. But startups are different. I've worked for a few. You basically sell your soul to try to make it succeed. If you love the idea the work hours are not the issue. Things go sour when the
836.
by daly 9y ago
This isn't a job you take for the pay. You ask for enough money that you no longer care about it (e.g. you just throw money at problems. If your car won't start, call a towtruck and a cab to get to work). You can't do this ki
837.
by daly 9y ago
I'd need to be convinced that they had a really interesting problem, one that would keep me awake at night. I'd also need to be convinced they understand the idea that "anything we can solve by throwing money at the problem i
838.
by daly 9y ago
Since the job description includes 70-80 hours I expect that they are paying more. It would be normal to assume a 70/40 or 80/40 pay rate, that is, about twice the normal rate for a leading edge programmer. So, base salary should
839.
by daly 9y ago
I routinely work those hours. I love what I do, which is self-directed research in computer algebra. I'm retired, though, so I probably don't count.
840.
by daly 9y ago
Sadly that was almost exactly the scene in both of my Google interviews.

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