Channel 9 - Discussions by jj5

Coffeehouse - What is your favorite search engine: And why?

jj5 — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 19:38:09 GMT

I use Mamma.

I get excellent results from this tool.

I made a deliberate decision to stop using google, because it is regulated in a country that passed the Patriot Act, and I'm concerned about the motivation behind services such as g-mail and orkut. To me, they seem to gather a vast amount of information about human networks and the content of human communications. Google seems particularly interested in this, and whether the motivation is 'commercial', 'evil', or 'otherwise', I'm not interested in supporting their success.

Call me paranoid, I don't use google.

John.

Tech Off - Bad OOD in MS .NET Framework 1.1 ?!

jj5 — Mon, 07 Jun 2004 05:12:52 GMT

The Liskov Substitution Principle is broken in many places in the framework.

This is a problem that generics might help to solve?

Coffeehouse - Microsoft granted patent on double-click

jj5 — Thu, 03 Jun 2004 18:11:04 GMT

Two words: MORSE CODE.

John.

Coffeehouse - What is Microsoft doing about GMail?

jj5 — Thu, 20 May 2004 04:58:07 GMT

MS is probably just waiting patiently for google to set the precident that it's OK to spy on people by reading their e-mail, then start doing it themselves.

Gmail is evil. Big Brother is watching you, etc.

John.

Tech Off - Tough SQL Server XML Challenge

jj5 — Thu, 20 May 2004 04:54:31 GMT

Erm, who is Rumpi Gravenstein and how do they feel about you posting this information to this forum?

John.

Tech Off - C# dice Roller

jj5 — Thu, 20 May 2004 04:16:22 GMT

St23aM wrote:

You said "on each loop add the current roll to the end of the string, and then tack the total on after the loop exits" This is exactly what im trying to figure out how to do. Could you make a suggestion in code?

This is pretty much what the code I posted does. I guess I should have commented it for you..

This time with comments.

John.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class EntryPoint {

    [STAThread]
    public static void Main(string[] args) {

      // roll two die with 6 faces
      Console.WriteLine(Dice.Roll(2, 6));

      // roll 4 die with 8 faces
      Console.WriteLine(Dice.Roll(4,);

      Console.Write("Press ENTER to exit.");
      Console.ReadLine();

    }
}

public class Dice {

    ///

    /// Rolls the specified number of die each with the specified number of
    /// sides and returns the result as a string, including the total.
    ///

    /// The number of die to roll.
    /// The number of faces on each dice rolled.
    /// A string containing the result of the roll.
    public static String Roll(Int32 numberOfDice, Int32 numberOfSides) {

      // don't allow a Number of Dice less than or equal to zero
      if (numberOfDice <= 0) {
        throw new ApplicationException("Number of die must be greater than zero.");
      }

      // don't allow a Number of Sides less than or equal to zero
      if (numberOfSides <= 0) {
        throw new ApplicationException("Number of sides must be greater than zero.");
      }

      // Create the random class used to generate random numbers.
      // See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfSystemRandomClassTopic.asp
      Random rnd = new Random((Int32)DateTime.Now.Ticks);

      // Create the string builder class used to build the string
      // we return with the result of the die rolls.
      // See: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/cpref/html/frlrfsystemtextstringbuilderclasstopic.asp
      StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();

      // Declare the integer in which we will keep the total of the rolls
      Int32 total = 0;

      // repeat once for each number of dice
      for (Int32 i = 0; i < numberOfDice; i++) {

        // Get a pseudo-random result for this roll
        Int32 roll = rnd.Next(1, numberOfSides);

        // Add the result of this roll to the total
        total += roll;

        // Add the result of this roll to the string builder
        result.AppendFormat("Dice {0:00}:\t{1}\n", i + 1, roll);

      }

      // Add a line to the result to seperate the rolls from the total
      result.Append("\t\t--\n");

      // Add the total to the result
      result.AppendFormat("TOTAL:\t\t{0}\n", total);

      // Now that we've finished building the result, get the string
      // that we've been building and return it.
      return result.ToString();

    }
}

Tech Off - C# dice Roller

jj5 — Wed, 19 May 2004 21:34:10 GMT

Or, if you're not planning to eventually do something with that array, you could just do it this way. You could seed the random class with something more exotic (if you really care, if you're an online casino then you *really* care).

John.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class EntryPoint {

    [STAThread]
    public static void Main(string[] args) {

      Console.WriteLine(Dice.Roll(2, 6));
      Console.WriteLine(Dice.Roll(4,);
      Console.Write("Press ENTER to exit.");
      Console.ReadLine();

    }
}

public class Dice {

    public static String Roll(Int32 numberOfDice, Int32 numberOfSides) {

      if (numberOfDice <= 0) {
        throw new ApplicationException("Number of die must be greater than zero.");
      }

      if (numberOfSides <= 0) {
        throw new ApplicationException("Number of sides must be greater than zero.");
      }

      Random rnd = new Random((Int32)DateTime.Now.Ticks);
      StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
      Int32 total = 0;

      for (Int32 i = 0; i < numberOfDice; i++) {

        Int32 roll = rnd.Next(1, numberOfSides);
        total += roll;
        result.AppendFormat("Dice {0:00}:\t{1}\n", i + 1, roll);

      }

      result.Append("\t\t--\n");
      result.AppendFormat("TOTAL:\t\t{0}\n", total);

      return result.ToString();

    }
}

Tech Off - C# dice Roller

jj5 — Wed, 19 May 2004 21:24:06 GMT

How about something like this. You might like to play around with the formatting of the output.

John.

using System;
using System.Text;

public class EntryPoint {

    [STAThread]
    public static void Main(string[] args) {

      Console.WriteLine(Dice.Roll(2, 6));
      Console.Write("Press ENTER to exit.");
      Console.ReadLine();

    }
}

public class Dice {

    public static String Roll(Int32 numberOfDice, Int32 numberOfSides) {

      if (numberOfDice <= 0) {
        throw new ApplicationException("Number of die must be greater than zero.");
      }

      if (numberOfSides <= 0) {
        throw new ApplicationException("Number of sides must be greater than zero.");
      }

      Random rnd = new Random((Int32)DateTime.Now.Ticks);

      Int32[] roll = new Int32[numberOfDice];

      for (Int32 i = 0; i < numberOfDice; i++) {

        roll[i] = rnd.Next(1, numberOfSides);

      }

      StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
      Int32 total = 0;

      for (Int32 i = 0; i < roll.Length; i++) {

        total += roll[i];
        result.AppendFormat("Dice {0:00}:\t{1}\n", i + 1, roll[i]);

      }

      result.AppendFormat("\t\t--\n");
      result.AppendFormat("TOTAL:\t\t{0}\n", total);

      return result.ToString();

    }

}

Tech Off - Error Handling, use exceptions?

jj5 — Wed, 19 May 2004 17:07:11 GMT

For my money all the TryParse functionality should be moved into an 'advanced' class, such as System.Text.FastParser for example.

All the BCL value types that support parsing should have a Parse method that throws and an IsInvalid(String) method. (I like to test for 'invalid' because that tends to be the exceptional case, but I'd be happy enough with IsValid(..)).

Keep the common APIs simple, clean, and consistent. Having TryParse on Int32 is just ugly.

John.

Tech Off - Error Handling, use exceptions?

jj5 — Wed, 19 May 2004 14:03:02 GMT

Hey spod,

spod wrote:

there was a long and interesting argument about this internally. The main reason for not doing
if( IsParsable( String ) )
int i = Int.Parse(string );

is that it's hard to avoid a double parse of the string, which is too much of a perf hit in some cases...

Bah! I knew you'd say that. I think that the wrong decision was made.

I'd prefer to have Boolean Int32.IsInvalid(String) and Int32 Int32.Parse(String).

If you want performance then you wouldn't check for invalid data, you'd assume it was valid and let the exception fall out.

I guess there is a case for TryParse, although every bone in my body wants to deny it. I imagine this would typically be used in UI code (e.g. to get an Int32 value from a TextBox) in this case the performance hit of double parsing is negligable. If you were trying to get an Int32 value out of a text file or what have you, it would be better (in my opinion) to insist that your data was valid and let the exception fall out (so you wouldn't check at all).

What are the cases where TryParse(String, ref Int32) significantly helps performance?

Why not support all methods? I.e. have an IsInvalid/IsValid/IsParseable query, a Parse method that throws and TryParse as is?

John.

Tech Off - Error Handling, use exceptions?

jj5 — Tue, 18 May 2004 21:44:36 GMT

spod wrote:

You are right that the base class librarys throw in common cases. Some of these behaviors are wrong imo in .net 1.0 /1.1 ( Int32.Parse( "cat" ) shouldn't throw for example ). Most of these are addressed in Whidbey with the addition of TryParse() etc.

Where can I find the doco for the Whidbey APIs? Or, what is the TryParse() signature?

I'd rather have an IsParseable(String) or IsValid(String) method, and have Parse(String) throw.

I don't like methods that return status codes, and prefer to avoid default values (which I'm guessing TryParse will accept?) when possible.

John.

Tech Off - null + null = ?

jj5 — Thu, 06 May 2004 04:26:46 GMT

I think I jumped the gun a little too quick on this one. I didn't look at the IL. Obviously what happened here is that C# compiler decided that null + null was a constant expression and substitued it with an empty string.

So it was the C# compiler that decided that the type of the null references concatenation was 'string'. I'm not sure where this behavior would be documented, but I'm sure it would be..

You can't compile something like this:

      object a = null;
      object b = null;
      Console.WriteLine((a + b).GetType());

Nor can you compile something like this:

public class MyType {
    public static MyType operator + (object a, object b) {
      // ..
    }
}

I can't imagine any other 'null + null' case that the CLR might actually see at runtime (i.e. where the type information was missing). With the type information present there are rules for determining which operator overload will get called..

So, this is a C# language feature it would seem. I wonder what happens in other .NET languages..

John.

Tech Off - null + null = ?

jj5 — Thu, 06 May 2004 00:12:53 GMT

The reason for null + null == String.Empty will be because the + operator is defined on string and takes two string references. It would seem that concatenation of two null strings has been defined as an empty string.

It's an interesting observation. I guess somewhere it's probably defined that the string operators will always be called in this case. I tried to create a class that also defined a + overload but the string overload was always called..

There're tonnes of little things like this in framework. Try casting null to a SqlBinary for example, then try casting null to SqlBoolean.. they're both nullable types..

Did you know that true is an operator..?

John.

Tech Off - .NET Framework, Excel Object Library reference

jj5 — Fri, 23 Apr 2004 17:30:00 GMT

Did you figure out that you need to create a COM interop assembly?

Check out the .NET Framework Type Library to Assembly Converter: tlbimp.exe

John.

Coffeehouse - Don Box's Spoutlet

jj5 — Fri, 23 Apr 2004 17:20:08 GMT

scobleizer wrote:

Well, Barry Bonds fails 70% of the time. It's just that when he doesn't fail he's so freaking amazing.

If he were to come up to you and say "I'm the best player in baseball right now" would that be arrogant? Or the truth?

I don't know who Barry Bonds is.

I thought that article was pretty cool.

I think it's funny that this thread demonstrates how easy it is to embed scripts in posts. I've been resisting the temptation all night to write a script that changed the Avatars for 'The Crew' to something that I deemed more amusing. Would I get sued for that?

What's the go with /Msgs/Default.aspx?MessageID=999 ??

John.

Coffeehouse - Channel 9 needs

jj5 — Fri, 23 Apr 2004 17:16:03 GMT

I'm not interested in T-shirts.

John.

Coffeehouse - Don Box's Spoutlet

jj5 — Fri, 23 Apr 2004 04:46:16 GMT

DiegoV wrote:

By the way, I liked my musings so much I will publish them on my own blog. Next time we can discuss why the only valid way to asses ones right to be arrogant is thru extensive external feedback. We can also analyze the concept of "relative stupidity" and why I should never post anything past midninght.

Cool. I'll check it out.

DiegoV wrote:

P.S.: Who is gonna tell Don Box his comments feed is here?

Bags not me! He might come over here and tear me to shreds with scathing comments!

John.

Coffeehouse - Show us your workspace

jj5 — Fri, 23 Apr 2004 02:08:39 GMT

Gabba wrote:

Do you think you can find some pics? How was it set up?

There is only one photo that I know of that I have of it. Which is a shame. I have no idea where that photo is, but assuming it hasn't been lost it'll be at my parents place somewhere, which isn't anywhere near where I am right now..

Unfortnately, I had a bulky 17" CRT that I needed to install. I had removed the dashboard, etc. and installed my own framework. I had a plank where the gear stick used to be which is where my mouse was, and I had a wooden framework where my keyboard sat (where the glove box used to be) inclined towards me. I had punched out the front window, and angle grinded off the bonnet and built a housing for my computer in there, with an area for my monitor to sit above it. I used old cardboard boxes (fridge boxes) to seal off the area infront of the car and above the windscreen, so the front looked kind of boxy and awkward as a result, but I painted it, so it still looked cool.

For the subsonic attentuator I just got an old 'game backpack' from the bargain big at Jaycar (they were a bad idea, they were supposed to make the games more 'exciting' but all they really did was ruin your back, they came out price at $300, but I got one for $10 when everyone realised that they sucked) and I ripped out the driver (basically it was similar to a normal speaker). I drilled four holes in it around the edges, got some sturdy bolts and bolted it to the bottom of the car, immediately under the front passenger seat. It bought new meaning to the word 'bass'. Heh, heh. Basically because it was so firmly attached to the car body, when it hammered the entire car shook. I went to great lengths to make sure that everything was a 'sturdy' as I could make it, to avoid crappy fuzzy noises that you can get as a result of low frequency sounds (like rattling windows, etc.). The shot-gun in Quake II was the worst, if I picked up one of those in a game my entire neighborhood knew about it.

I just had the four tires from the car laid sideways on the ground and sat the entire car body on that. This was good too, because it sat on 'solid rubber' which meant it could shake properly, without vibrating too much. Because everything was sealed and painted black (inlucding the windows), it was always pitch-black in there except for the glow of the monitor (so it didn't matter if it was day or night or whatever).

It was pretty cool. I used to pretty much live in there. It was really comfortable too, because car seats are basically designed well, and you can really *recline* in them. Definitely the best 'work space' I've ever had. It wasn't very portable though. I used to live in the garage, so it was basically 'in my bedroom' as it were. (oh, and I had a drum kit too, no pool table though! I used to collect old gaming consoles, I think I had, um, all of them?

John.

Coffeehouse - Show us your workspace

jj5 — Fri, 23 Apr 2004 01:03:22 GMT

Gabba wrote:

The company runs from my Garage, we have a pool table, a drum kit, a bitchin mp3 server/player, lots of games and we somehow manage to do some work occaisionally.

That's cool.

When I was in high-school I got a broken down Dihatsu Charade that I had to tow to my house. I ripped everything out except the front passenger seat (that's on the left in my country) and sat it on its old tires. I installed all my computers and sound system in there (quite a few, my PII, an old Amiga, a really old IBM-JX, a TV, etc.). The grand-daddy of them all was the subsonic attenuator that I bolted to the bottom of the car, so when I got hit with a rocket in Quake II I *really* knew about it.

Oh, and I painted it black, including the windows, and spray painted 'The Machine' over the side doors in high-gloss red paint (that dripped a little to look extra intimidating). Most awesome car EVER!

If only I could find a picture..

John.

Coffeehouse - Show us your workspace

jj5 — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 22:56:51 GMT

My web-cam sux for taking good pictures, but here is where I spend my days (and nights) working (ok, ok, blogging and working on my caffeine addiction) with my sh1t keyboard. When I'm tired I sleep.

John.

Coffeehouse - Don Box's Spoutlet

jj5 — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 22:23:23 GMT

innes wrote:

Unfortunately in my experience, arrogance is rarely a predictor of intelligence.

The question was about preferring stupidity or arrogance. I didn't really want to get into the answer, but I tried to comment on arrogance. Implicitly it should have been evident that I think you should hire 'smart' people, and I was really thinking in terms of the IT industry (specifically programmers).

I didn't say anything about arrogance being an indicator of intelligence. I said that smart people can either be arrogant or not arrogant.

I listed some reasons why smart people might be arrogant (like honesty, or 'emotional problems'), and hinted that I wouldn't necessarily trust a smart person that didn't appear to be arrogant. I also tried to comment on why 'smart and arrogant' people can get results. Put them in a room together and they probably won't like each other very much, but you can get all sorts of valuable results.

Arrogant people get in your face and challenge you. They say: I'm am right, you are wrong. If they are also smart there is a high chance they are actually correct. If you can't understand why they are saying that then you'll probably consider their claims to 'presumptuous', or their attitude to be 'overbearing'.

My complaint was with the use of the term arrogance. I don't think that it should be considered a synonym for obnoxious.

If, for example, you consider the tone of Don's posts, I reckon you can see at least a hint of intellectual elitism and a subtle contempt for 'stupidity'. This is a sign of arrogance (the implication is other people are stupid, but I am not because I can see their stupidity). Even the author of the article that was linked to was arrogant. He says "if you don't see me handing out sample copies of our magazines on the show floor, please feel free to accuse me of arrogance". But I would say that not handing out magazines would just be complacency, not arrogance. Arrogance is beleiving that your magazines are the best (rightly or wrongly) and letting others know that this is what you think. The author then goes on to talk about himself, and how he is right, and how he sees other people fail, and how he doesn't fail, and how he's had a totally kick arse carreer, and how he's successful, and how he's learned from other totally kick arse people, etc. The entire article demonstrates his arrogance. He's not complacent though, and he may well deserve his arrogance. It is arrogance nevertheless.

innes wrote:

Arrogance is a form of laziness in interaction with others and thus is disrespectful and anti-social.

I don't agree with this. I gave my definition for arrogance. Mine was from an English dictionary.

innes wrote:

Some arrogant people think that they have earned the right to be arrogant as a result of their evident (to themselves, of course) superiority.

These people just think they are being 'honest'.

Ouch. Come on, keep the shots above the belt. I don't agree with you anyway, I don't think we share a common understanding (English perhaps?).

innes wrote:

Because of their very arrogance they cant see the arrogance of their excuses for their own arrogance.
How ironic!

Irony: incongruity between what might be expected and what actually occurs.

innes wrote:

Arrogant pricks.

I'm glad at least you didn't say 'stupid and arrogant' pricks..

As for the cute comment about remaining silent. I think that is possibly one of the most harmful menalities that a person can have. If you don't engage in communication you won't learn or discover anything new, or even if you do, you won't be able to share it with the rest of your species. I don't think a person should be taught to fear paticipation because others might think that they are a fool. What about the little gem about being thought a fool for a minute rather than remaining a fool forever..?

John.

Coffeehouse - Best Way to avoid SPAM?

jj5 — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 02:01:42 GMT

SpamBayes.

John.

Coffeehouse - MSN Messenger, MS Office Spell-Checker?

jj5 — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 00:56:12 GMT

RobChartier wrote:

I dumped MSN a long time ago.

I use Miranda.

John.

Coffeehouse - MSN Messenger, MS Office Spell-Checker?

jj5 — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 00:10:29 GMT

Why stop at an IM client?

I'd like to see spell checking built in to all text boxes in Windows, right there on the context menu with 'Cut', 'Copy' and 'Paste'. I'm surprised we don't have this feature already.

I'd also like it if I could get IE to write a log file with all post data before it sends it to the server so that:

1) It's easy for me to see what is actually being sent
2) If the server fails I don't lose my work
3) I have a record of the data that I have given to any given web site.

John.

Coffeehouse - Don Box's Spoutlet

jj5 — Wed, 21 Apr 2004 15:42:09 GMT

So, Don Box asks questions on his blog, but he doesn't have any comment facility. Well not any more my friends.

I guess not having a comment section is a form of arrogance in and of itself, isn't it Don?

Anyway, Don asks Which is more toxic? Arrogance or Stupidity?

Specifically I guess wrt to the kind of people that are going to help a company succeed (or fail).

I'm not really sure what the answer is, partly because I don't have a moral basis for determining 'success', but here's a few musings:

I don't like the way people use the word arrogance. In the same way I don't like the way they use egotistic (and the rest of the English language).

Arrogance: a feeling or an impression of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or presumptuous claims

Egotistic: an exaggerated sense of self-importance

These are really used to describe 'behavioural' patterns. Compare 'self-esteem':

Self-esteem: a confidence and satisfaction in oneself
This is not a 'behavioural' pattern, not in the sense that it is 'externalised' at any rate. It's about a state of consciousness, or belief.

Now, popularly "arrogance bad, self-esteem good". In junior school your teachers and family will tell you "it's important to have high self-esteem", or "we don't like bullies because they hurt children's self-esteem". Basically, it's OK to be me, I'm worthwhile, and it's OK to succeed. On the other hand, if you did well at something, many of your peers might make comments like "oh, you think you're soooo good! Don't you?", or other nasty comments, basically excluding you for standing out and succeeding. Typical mob mentality, most honestly witnessed among school children. But, erm, you *are* good, you just proved it... Adults learn to hide it, which brings me to my next point:

If you are smart (or successful) after a while you can't help but know it. Being smart (or successful) is a 'good thing', so you can feel good about this, and gain some self-esteem. This is all very 'good' (TM). However, under no circumstances can you let anyone else know that you realise this, because that my friend is arrogance, and arrogance is all very 'bad' (TM).

What I tend to realise is that smart people who are arrogant are really just 'honest'. Smart people who are not arrogant are much more of a worry in my opinion, for a whole heap of reasons.

So, I don't want to answer the question (stupid people upset me in a bad way, arrogant people do it in a good way , but I did want to gripe about the use of the term arrogance. Arrogance is not a bad thing, it is the result of someone 'externalising' their self-esteem. When they are smart, it's generally deserved. Certainly, arrogance 'is involved in' social problems, but I don't think it should be singled out as the 'cause'.

A real geek defines their sense of worth around how clever they are. They want to be the smartest and when they are they want you to know it. If you rub their tummy and tell them how clever they are, they'll do *anything* for you. If they won't do something for you, then tell them that someone else would be able to do it. If you don't tell them how clever they are, THEY WILL TELL YOU. A geek will not lie down in the face of people just like them. They *, and whine and try to get to the top of the "everyone thinks I'm the smartest" heap. To the 'normal' person, this is cute, but it is this raw motivation that keeps the common geek awake until 2am trying to figure out [insert whatever your working on here]. They just need everyone to know they are the best (it's probably a phycological 'problem', but it tends to get results).

The real risk with arrogance is that you actually start to believe your own publicity. The truth is, there are lots of clever people out there, and if you become complacent they'll crawl over you into your spot on the 'smart people heap'. But I reckon arrogance is at least honest, and honest is doubleplusgood.

The trick is just a little bit of doublethink, you *know* you are the smartest, but your never *completely* beleive it. Of course every now and again you have to remind everyone that you are.

John.