paulajohnson

24 ms·

1.
by paulajohnson 8mo ago
A formal specification language is a programming language that we don't know how to compile. If we can use AI to automatically implement a formal spec, then that formal specification language has just become a programming language.
2.
by paulajohnson 1y ago
This reads like a case study from "The Innovator's Dilemma" by Clayton Christensen. TL;DR: big incumbents (e.g. IBM) get out-innovated and replaced by scrappy startups even when the incumbent sees it coming and tries to reac
3.
by paulajohnson 1y ago
This has much the same design philosophy as the original Land Rover: tough, reliable, simple and maintainable. It was originally developed as the UK answer to the Jeep, but rapidly became the standard utility vehicle for anyone with an outd
4.
by paulajohnson 1y ago
Gentrification doesn't reduce segregation, it just moves the boundaries of the segregated areas. Poor people mostly rent because they can't afford or can't get a mortgage. When an area gentrifies those people are forced out b
5.
by paulajohnson 1y ago
This is the Paradox of Tolerance. If you tolerate intolerance then intolerance wins, and you don't have tolerance any more. Intolerance isn't just "causing offence", it is the creation of an environment which is threaten
6.
by paulajohnson 3y ago
I think the parent comment is about the likelihood of recovering enough money to make the exercise worthwhile, rather than the propriety of getting ripped off.
7.
by paulajohnson 6y ago
Yet another reason why not to be a sharecropper.
8.
by paulajohnson 7y ago
The 10 LOC/day includes the entire project, including analysis, requirements, design, documentation (user and tech), test, management etc, in a large project. Saying (as many do) that an individual programmer has produced hundreds of L
9.
by paulajohnson 7y ago
If you are ever in Stockholm do go and see the Vasa. The picture does not do it justice. Seriously amazing.
10.
by paulajohnson 7y ago
Taking care of the elderly is a labour intensive business. Automation doesn't clean an old person's glasses (real life example), make their bed or cook their meals.
11.
by paulajohnson 7y ago
And what happens when your consultant bills you for a big but vaguely described fee?
12.
by paulajohnson 8y ago
In Roe vs Wade the Supreme Court found a right to privacy. The fact that this is not in the Bill of Rights is irrelevant, as per the Ninth Amendment.
13.
by paulajohnson 8y ago
Makes Kim Yong Un look like a minor nuisance.
14.
by paulajohnson 8y ago
The point is that option types let you explicitly state which values are nullable, but null references mean that every value is potentially null even if it doesn't make sense.
15.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
But today we have people paying for high quality content streamed over the net. Its the business model of Netflix and Amazon.
16.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
Aleynikov was charged with stealing trade secrets, which does not apply to GPL software.
17.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
Cease and desist selling your core product until you replace the GPL bits, or else make your core produt open source.
18.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
I think you are erecting a straw man here. The article 1: identifies a set of social norms which it names "thar". 2: Asserts that these norms tend to occur together (i.e. a society in which individuals primary allegience is to a f
19.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
The way it was explained to Joel Spolsky in the article linked earlier is that Gates just pokes away at increasingly fine details until he finds some question you can't answer, and uses that to make you look dumb. Its actually just a f
20.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
3a) If research doesn't exist, find some impecunious person with a PhD and pay them to create some.
21.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
Other governments take note: this is what good electronic security looks like.
22.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
For those who don't know, the Robert T. Morris quoted in the text turned out to be the author of the worm, and the R. H. Morris also quoted was his father (who also did a lot of work with the NSA). https://en.m.wikipedia.org
23.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
That doesn't make sense. As soon as the developer wrote the code (I.e. fixed it in tangible form) he had copyright in it. Copyright cannot be transferred except by a specific written transfer, which doesn't exist in this case.
24.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
Neal Stephenson, not even you could have invented this!
25.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
I love the statement “Humans violate the rules in a safe and principled way”. Really sums up the problem. So when you break the rules, what principles (i.e. rules) are you following?
26.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
As they say oop north, where there's muck there's money. Although I don't think its meant quite so literally.
27.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
"If I have a friend who squanders their money while I save and build up wealth, are they stupid?" No, they are probably "helpless". If they actually have a more fulfilling life then they may be "intelligent". T
28.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
I wouldn't take Capers Jones' estimates of SLOC/function point as evidence of anything. In most cases (including these two) this seems to be Jones taking a look at the language Wikipedia page and guessing a number.
29.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
#3 bugs me. It gets asked every time there is a breach, but its irrelevant. Encryption at rest is only useful if the only way to access the data is to type in the key. But for Equifax there are going to be hundreds or thousands of accesses
30.
by paulajohnson 9y ago
Same here. So what is chrony doing differently? Is it just that the developer(s) are really clever, or are they using static analysis, or a better coding standard, or what? This is important. We don't often get the chance to compare si

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