On Sunday, January 15, 2012 02:27:41 PM Kent A. Reed did opine: > On 1/15/2012 1:41 PM, gene heskett wrote: > > I also play the canary in the coal mine part on the amanda list, using > > a script that never forgets the many ./configure options so each > > succeeding alpha release is built with all the same options each > > time. All of this of course is my attempt to compensate for the > > failing short term memory of oldtimers. Generally, I get by with > > it.:) > > Gene: > > The best way to delay the ravages of old-timers disease is to exercise > the mind. I choose to solve Sudoku and crossword puzzles (in ink, still) > but I suppose wrestling with Java jar paths would work in a pinch. > > I was going to say "remember, the best way to delay..." but of course > that would unnecessary because if you couldn't remember, there would be > no point in saying it :-) > > Like my dad used to quip, "They say three things happen as you grow > older. The first is that your memory goes, and the second is, uh, ...." > And that one probably entertained Adam & Eve. ;-)
> As an aside, I actually liked using Java in production environments when > I was still working, but I hate using it in occasional one-off > applications where I end up spending more time remembering how it works > than writing code. > > Of course, our PCs are Turing machines, and it doesn't matter to them > which programming language we use to make them run, but it sure matters > to the programmer. > > To each his own but I settled on Python. From a cold start, I can > usually understand someone else's Python code well enough in a few hours > to bend it to my own purpose without working up a sweat. Not that this > observation helps you dig out of your hole. > > Regards, > Kent > > PS - your closing lines the other day made me think you could be a > charter member of the "Conan the Barbarian" fan club. The general asks > "what is best in life?" and Conan replies "to crush your enemies, to see > them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women." Spot on. I have never been bashful about walking in where angels don't go, trying to put up the good fight for what is right, and still manage to keep my skin more or less intact. It has of course collected a few scars in 77 years. As for languages, I probably speak assembly on a 6309 about as well as any other. A 6309 is a motorola 6809, but cmos & on steroids, by Hitachi. But I cut my computer teeth on an RCA 1802 without an assembler, I looked up the nemonic and entered its hex code into a hex monitor to write my first program ever in about 1978. I also hand built all the I/O the board needed to do that job, including the video. And that program was still in several times a day use at that tv station 13 years later, the last time I checked. That is very hard to claim in today's much faster moving software arena. But, as I've said before, that, and USD $1.42 will get you a 16 oz cup of coffee to go at my neighborhood 7-11. :) Cheers, Gene -- "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed Howdershelt (Author) My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> It isn't an optical illusion. It just looks like one. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ RSA(R) Conference 2012 Mar 27 - Feb 2 Save $400 by Jan. 27 Register now! http://p.sf.net/sfu/rsa-sfdev2dev2 _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
