Hacker News: xradionut

New comment by xradionut in "Why Pascal is Not My Favorite Programming Language (1981)"

xradionut — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 14:57:58 +0000

Wirth also created successors to Pascal and co-created an operating system and the hardware it ran/runs on.

New comment by xradionut in "MIPS Strikes Back: 64-bit Warrior I6400 Arrives"

xradionut — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 20:14:34 +0000

It's currently unobtainium, it can't be purchased.

New comment by xradionut in "Ask HN: I have to analyze 100M lines of Java – where do I start?"

xradionut — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 19:40:26 +0000

Here's a suggestion I haven't seen: Unless you have full management support, a skilled team, valid business reasons for this conversion, and expectations of succeeding, consider moving to another company/job.

You've been given the task of digital archeology/septic cleanup. Unless you like the tedium and stank, it's not going to bode well...

New comment by xradionut in "MIPS Strikes Back: 64-bit Warrior I6400 Arrives"

xradionut — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 19:13:37 +0000

MIPS hasn't gone anywhere. You can get PIC32 chips and boards based on them for various projects include the Open Source TenTec 506 Rebel radio.

While there's more tools and chips for ARM on small systems, I still prefer MIPS due to lower complexity/insanity of the tool chain.

It's hard to get any of the large system boards and multiprocessor chips without being an OEM.

New comment by xradionut in "Learn regular expressions in about 55 minutes"

xradionut — Mon, 10 Mar 2014 10:38:10 +0000

I comment them at the time of creation and add them to my snippets file with the comment.

New comment by xradionut in "Open Data Stack Exchange"

xradionut — Sat, 08 Mar 2014 12:37:13 +0000

There's a lot of open data available, depending on what you are looking for. If I had time, I could probably spend it on this SE and earn points, count coup, or whatever. Instead I'm working with a couple of user groups helping local programmers analysts learn how to dig into it. We have a few specific data sets that we use for different types of analysis, demographic, mapping and financial.

New comment by xradionut in "TypeScript included with Visual Studio 2013 Update 2"

xradionut — Fri, 28 Feb 2014 17:59:03 +0000

The first hit/dose is free.

On the other hand you do have companies that do make millions that are bailing on certain aspects of Microsoft tools and servers due licensing costs and increases. I've been involved in IT budgeting for almost two decades and the CFOs don't always sign the check just because it's an IBM/Microsoft/Oracle solution.

Software cost for my side projects: $0

New comment by xradionut in "Ruby 2.1.1 is released and Ruby turns 21"

xradionut — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 18:23:14 +0000

Lua 1994 Icon 1977

New comment by xradionut in "Throwing in the towel on becomming a programmer"

xradionut — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 22:26:35 +0000

I recommends Zed's to the absolute beginners. If they can handle LPTHW, they are on a good track for the future.

New comment by xradionut in "Throwing in the towel on becomming a programmer"

xradionut — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 22:19:14 +0000

The OP has "dabbled", he hasn't committed himself to a single language nor a good regimen/project to succeed. Let's look at this quote:

"On top of that, there’s a constant din of “Python’s not for you, it’s for them ({scientists, academics, hackers, statisticians, someone else})” out there if you look up stuff about Python."

Really? Sounds like a bad excuse to me. There's a fuck-ton of tutorials and books for Python beginners of all ages and backgrounds. It's one of the few languages I recommend to newbies for that reason, beside the fact it's easy to be productive in. We have a full spectrum of users at local meetups and I chat with the scientist and tutor the beginners. Python users are diverse as a crowd at a state fair.

And coding isn't programming. There's a lot more to know than the syntax of a few languages and APIs. It's a whole universe to explore and learn how to control and leverage. You can find a cool project, then drop down the rabbit hole the rest of your life, enjoying the beauty...

New comment by xradionut in "The anonymity I know"

xradionut — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 17:24:08 +0000

Having been "online" since the '80s, I respectfully disagree. Relative anonymity in "real" life leads to antisocial activity and rudeness since there's little chance of identity or recourse. Consider the behavior of automobile drivers.

Anonymity online can't fully be achieved except by a small few, but the positive benefits can be simulated for many by careful operators of BBS or internet forums.

New comment by xradionut in "Back To My Roots"

xradionut — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 22:27:21 +0000

This is similar to what I would do in the same situation. If I didn't need the income of my day job, I'd spend the time on public service or charity of some sort. I can't see myself spending money like a trust fund dilettante nor funding yet another startup.

New comment by xradionut in "Why Don't Schools Teach Debugging?"

xradionut — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 14:24:09 +0000

It's not debugging as much as what us old timers call troubleshooting. At the university I had an insane advantage over those folks that had never seen a Simpson multimeter nor soldered a component nor seen a schematic. I had spent my teenage years building radios and computers followed by formal training in the military. And the Navy taught us how to troubleshoot large systems down to the component level. So college was mostly easy and extra beer money was earned fixing other students electronic devices and tutoring.

New comment by xradionut in "Today is The Day We Fight Back"

xradionut — Tue, 11 Feb 2014 11:39:59 +0000

If the organizers really want to make a difference, the site should replace the words "call and email" with "buy and pay".

New comment by xradionut in "Investors want Microsoft’s new CEO to kill Xbox, Bing and Surface"

xradionut — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 11:25:33 +0000

I refused to install Skype for work, pointing out that it's not as secure as it's alternatives. Plus the fact it's disrupting, crappy software and you still can reach me by email, phone, VPN or walk down the hall to my office.

New comment by xradionut in "Don't Learn to Code, Learn to Program – But Come Back in 10 Years"

xradionut — Wed, 05 Feb 2014 23:52:30 +0000

I agree with the author in regards to coding web sites. It's not enough to know a just a few languages, there's a whole frickin' vocabulary of crap piled on layers of services and frameworks frosted by the JS flavor of the week.

Or just configuration. Everybody wants to reinvent Make and they all do it wrong...

New comment by xradionut in "Mystery signal from a helicopter"

xradionut — Sat, 01 Feb 2014 12:53:03 +0000

While I love the blog and the very clear explanations, none of this is new nor amazing to the experienced RF engineer, enthusiast, or practitioner. What's awesome is that the hardware and software are currently cheap enough that more people can discover and enjoy the larger spectrum around them. Welcome!

Now go build some antennas! :)

New comment by xradionut in "Poll: Do you actually use the product you are working on?"

xradionut — Sun, 26 Jan 2014 18:41:38 +0000

I used to repair KLA wafer steppers and loaders back in the day as ppart of my job. Not something you would find outside a fab, lab or test facility.

New comment by xradionut in "Bro pages: like man pages, but with examples only"

xradionut — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 18:19:55 +0000

No. "brow" is short for browse. Cookie if you know what language.

New comment by xradionut in "Keyboard innovation is making them worse"

xradionut — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 14:41:14 +0000

I chose my laptop mainly on the quality and layout of the keyboard. Unlike the OP, I don't travel as much so I had more choices due to the fact I have 17.3" laptop.