Computer Technology

[Nodda Duma]

What I've found lacking is a comprehension of large system architecture / enterprise amongst good coders, and fundamental coding skills amongst architectural types ... mostly because that vertical development of skillsets takes decades to properly form. There's plenty in both camps, but that's not what I see a need for in my day job.

Fortunately people with an understanding of continuous integration / continuous development are starting to make inroads into the industries I work in...that sort of helps alleviate the "vertical skillset" issue I mention above.

Not unique to s/w platforms and embedded systems.

[jp]

Bryan, you might want to befriend some people at a metal recycling yard.. The one near here takes computer boards/parts in and there is always interesting vintage things businesses have retired. We go because we sell computer parts we recycle to them.. Nothing super interesting; mostly customers' computers a little too old to refurbish are what we recycle.

I studied computer science in college 1993-1995. One could get a degree in that without ever opening a computer or terminating a network cable. It was about software and algorithms and ways of doing things such as teamwork, HCI, etc... That's great if one can specialize like that. They sorta figured we were curious and well rounded enough that we'd tinker with hardware on our own or work with people that did the hardware.

No serious programming for me.. I happily regressed to making bash scripts and a little bit of mysql/web work as needed.

[Tin Can]

Bryan, you might want to befriend some people at a metal recycling yard.. The one near here takes computer boards/parts in and there is always interesting vintage things businesses have retired. We go because we sell computer parts we recycle to them.. Nothing super interesting; mostly customers' computers a little too old to refurbish are what we recycle.

I studied computer science in college 1993-1995. One could get a degree in that without ever opening a computer or terminating a network cable. It was about software and algorithms and ways of doing things such as teamwork, HCI, etc... That's great if one can specialize like that. They sorta figured we were curious and well rounded enough that we'd tinker with hardware on our own or work with people that did the hardware.

No serious programming for me.. I happily regressed to making bash scripts and a little bit of mysql/web work as needed.

I worked in a old style factory, we punched holes and formed metal sheets by stamping. I was in testing. The best job in the place.

The family owned company came up with an ingenious method of getting the workforce ready for computers. 1997 they introduced a computer purchase program for all 2500 employees. They specified certain retail vendors to get a written quote from. Take that to HR and they cut a check made out to the vendor. The smart part was it was an interest free loan paid bimonthly from your paycheck and paid in off 18 months. Cost them very little in the long run and they got computers into every home. The workforce trained themselves on their time. I bought a $3500 Compaq Laptop. That was the loan limit. They did this for years and as prices droped they dropped the max loan to $2000. Every 18 months I paid one off and bought another better, bigger. I don't have any of those 'clunkers' now but I learned a bit and I still have every hard drive from them.

The coolest one I bought was a Vaio PCG-C1X PictureBook. Hard to get. Very small 2 Lbs. It could do anything in a very tiny device even for now. Reversable camera, Firewire that actually worked well at video editing with my grey market Firewire Sony Camcorder. At that time i was in school and this Sony gear blew away anything Apple in the 'Video Edit' Labs, Macs always crashed. I never used them. Junk.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Vaio_C1_series

Sony Vaio was better than Apple for a while. Now i use iOS and WIN, always updated asap.

[Corran]

Good suggestion jp. I will look around at what is available.

Randy, I wish I could remember what my first laptop was. This was late 90's, and the silly thing was like a build-your-own computer kit. Each component inside fit together like Lego, and the inside was easily accessible by lifting up the keyboard. I wrote a lot of music when I was learning composition on that laptop, on some MIDI program my parents found at a software expo. I stupidly threw it away at some point when cleaning out my stuff when my parents were moving.

[Tin Can]

Good suggestion jp. I will look around at what is available.

Randy, I wish I could remember what my first laptop was. This was late 90's, and the silly thing was like a build-your-own computer kit. Each component inside fit together like Lego, and the inside was easily accessible by lifting up the keyboard. I wrote a lot of music when I was learning composition on that laptop, on some MIDI program my parents found at a software expo. I stupidly threw it away at some point when cleaning out my stuff when my parents were moving.

I have given up on clearing out stuff.

As soon as I get rid of anything including even the 'junk drawer' stuff I gave to my good friend for her Bots, I remember a use and a right now need for a 'whatever'. A mechanic needs a near photograghic memory to get anything done or he/she spends a lifetime searching...

I have a rule, from the factory. If I send my helper for the special bolt I need right now, I train them to always get 3 or 5. Some take a while to understand why. It was a 10-minute walk in the million sq ft factory. I know some of my helpers wanted to get away from me. I can be real intense on a dangerous project. They also hate it when I say failure is not an option. LOL. It was not considering what we were making.

But when the one bolt is found defective, the helper better have 2 more to use. Bolts are peanuts compared to our billing time. I had one genius complain about the cost of hose clamps. He found out I never reused one and always used 2 at time. 100's a week. Then I showed him the cost of a fire...that happened from his cost savings. And not on my watch. Bean counters.

[Corran]

I was matting this print and thought of Jac. This one's for you, RIP.



Also I updated all my photo links to fix missing photos after switching hosting.

[Tin Can]

Yes, RIP Jac

Your comment below the pic may be impossible for many

I will be changing host soon

The Internet is not forever, Prints may be...

I was matting this print and thought of Jac. This one's for you, RIP.



Also I updated all my photo links to fix missing photos after switching hosting.

[Corran]

The change in the forum to allow indefinite editing of posts is helpful in that regard.

[Tin Can]

You have posted a lot of images, didn't that take a whole of time to change?

My problem is I have used Flickr and that is the problem

I will be making a website, sooner or later...

[Corran]

Since I upload directly, including my own filenames which don't change as I do keep the edited small files for web posting, all I had to do was copy & paste the changed www address in the post. Took me a few minutes to do all of them in this thread (according to time stamps, under 4 minutes).

Yes, updating Flickr links would probably take much longer.