The Whiteboard

user20683

12:47 AM

anyone have any idea what a "Technical Data Controller" does?

user41796

1:06 AM

@WorldEngineer technically control data?

user41796

<--- Not helpful

user20683

@GlenH7 it's a job for an airline

user15026

@GlenH7 I dunno, I am sure that helps someone ;)

user20683

I think it's someone who manages the updating and processing of technical manuals and the like

user41796

probably responsible for coordinating flight details and passenger information then.

user20683

1:07 AM

@GlenH7 it's specifically in maintenance

user41796

Hmmmm

user20683

so probably maintenance schedules

user41796

True; there you go. Maintenance records have to be filed with the FAA & whoever else.

user41796

So the TDC is likely a comptroller that reviews the information before it's sent over to the regulating body.

user15026

I'd like to work for an airline. Or the train people. Or the transit people.

user15026

1:09 AM

(aka people moving people/things is very fascinating to me)

user41796

@AshleyNunn airline work can be quite stressful. Most airlines aren't very profitable, so that translates to a world of hurt for the employees.

user15026

@GlenH7 yeah, I know.

user15026

I just like things that get things and people places in a weird obsessive sort of way

user41796

Not so sure about trains or other forms of transit. Mass transit in the US is treated even more poorly than the stereotypical "red-headed step-child at the family reunion" (to borrow a semi-crude colloquialism.)

user41796

@AshleyNunn It's the Canadian train thing, isn't it?

Duga

1:19 AM

Stack Overflow is not a code-writing service. Show us what you've tried and tell us what you're struggling with. — PakkuDon 40 secs ago

user41796

For the record, I hope to take my kids across Western Canada via train. Epcot's Oh Canada! and a few other documentaries regarding trains have all of us hooked on seeing the countryside.

user15026

@GlenH7 I just love trains. Always have.

user15026

I live 4 houses from the tracks and it is the BEST.

user15026

I get really excited when they go by

user15026

@GlenH7 VIA does a cross-Canada train trip that I would LOVE to do

rolfl

1:21 AM

You see the video of the CN loco blowing a turbine at night?

user15026

@rolfl no! Share please!

user41796

@AshleyNunn link?

user41796

And how bad is my wallet going to cry?

user41796

@AshleyNunn OMG, that's too close. Used to live in an apartment almost right next to the tracks. Took a little while to get over it, but wouldn't want to go back to that.

rolfl

►

user15026

1:24 AM

@GlenH7 I like it, but it isn't a very frequent train

user15026

@GlenH7 About 5k a person.

user41796

Oh my! An 18 night ride? Wow... That's expensive, but reasonable given the duration

user41796

Would have to do that during the summertime

user15026

@GlenH7 I want to do it so much

user15026

@rolfl That was amazing

user41796

1:33 AM

@AshleyNunn And it covers so many of the bucket list items; that's amazing. Going to have to figure out a way to afford that one.

user15026

@GlenH7 Take me with you. :)

user41796

I'd be happy to. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll win the lottery tomorrow night. :-P

user41796

Heck, if I win the lottery tomorrow night then we'll have a cupcake party on that train!

user15026

Yes, this sounds like an excellent idea

user41796

Who needs kickstarter when you win the lottery, right?

user15026

1:42 AM

Precisely

user41796

The one thing I hate the most about coaching a soccer team is the administrivia. I've got 2 players who haven't registered yet, despite having been asked repeatedly for 5 weeks to do so. All I'm getting is crickets in response from their parents. Aggravating that is there are two other players who have already paid and registered so they are waiting for a team to play on.

Duga

People come on Stackoverflow because they need help getting some of their code to work. Experienced programmers gather together to look at your code and sometimes they can spot the problem immediately. Other times, they plug the code into their compiler, debug it and spend a little time on trying to figure out the problem. When you don't post any code though, it makes it real hard to spot the problem in your code or debug your code. — Icemanind 36 secs ago

user15026

@GlenH7 Oh, that is frustrating

user41796

@AshleyNunn Just about ready to say "register by Thursday or I'll be in touch regarding fall ball." So annoyed.

user15026

@GlenH7 I don't blame you

Duga

5:43 AM

stackoverflow.com/questions/28314055/…

Duga

5:53 AM

stackoverflow.com/questions/28314297/…

Duga

6:15 AM

Regarding 'flow control with exception' the original code you posted made a recursive call from catch block; which is not advised. catch blocks are meant to terminate execution gracefully, perform clean-up and logging; which is I posted i.e. cancel the task. You can read further here and here (if not already) — Bond - Java Bond 1 min ago

Duga

7:13 AM

@GlenH7 software licensing questions were asked and answered on Programmers in the past. And the question above fits into Q&A form perfectly, it's not a discussion. — Eugene Mayevski 'EldoS Corp 52 secs ago

Duga

7:45 AM

SO is for actual programming questions. Try programmers.stackexchange.com or even cs.stackexchange.com for more general discussion — greg-449 1 min ago

Duga

8:49 AM

@LiuGuangxuan This seems to be an error in the original book too. It should probably read either "1024" or "1024.0f". (Possibly, an ambitiuous proofreader thought "hey, 1024.0 and 1024 are the same, so I'll remove the unnecessary '.0'. Stupid programmers, they know nothing about math.") — molbdnilo 40 secs ago

Stack Exchange

10:04 AM

Lambda the Ultimate - Programming Languages Weblog: A theory of changes for higher-order languages — incrementalizing λ-calculi by static differentia…

posted on February 04, 2015

The project Incremental λ-Calculus is just starting (compared to more mature approaches like SAC), with a first publication last year. A theory of changes for higher-order languages — incrementalizing λ-calculi by static differentiation Paolo Giarusso, Yufei Cai, Tillmann Rendel, and Klaus Ostermann. 2014 If the result of an expensive computation is invalidated by a small change to the input…

Duga

10:25 AM

Off-topic, IMHO. Maybe it could be moved to programmers.stackexchange.com ? — Mints97 42 secs ago

Duga

10:37 AM

Semantically speaking, the table tag is meant for listing tabular data. It is not optimized to build structure. The lack of response to your question is due to the fact that most decent web programmers know and agree with the above statement and will be reluctant to help you find a fix/workaround for your issue even though it is technically achievable. — Andrei Gheorghiu 30 secs ago

@Mints97 Have you seen the number of questions in this question? I can bet you that this would get closed as "too broad" on programmers. — Simon André Forsberg 51 secs ago

Simon André Forsberg

most horrible suggestion I've seen in a while to post that on programmers ^^

Duga

12:01 PM

The fact that you haven't been able to find this very basic information yourself speaks volumes - please remember that this site is for professional and enthusiast programmers, not absolute beginners. Learn the very basics of the language you're working in first, then start trying to use it — Clive 27 secs ago

MetaFight

1:27 PM

@Duga Yay, the new bot catches people being dicks too :)

Duga

1:49 PM

One approach is writing code, this technique is used by many programmers around the world. — Maroun Maroun 1 min ago

2

user55340

5

Q: How to get pine sap off my teeth

I wanted to emulate old sap gum but it seems I have chewed some sap that was premature. Now it has covered my gums and teeth. How on earth do I remove this stuff? What I have tried: Brushing (slow, damages brush) Isopropyl Alcohol (too painful) Ethanol Alcohol (negligible effect) Picking (work...

health

2

Yannis Rizos

2:06 PM

Heh, someone just told me they'll continue re-posting the same question if we keep closing it. He's in for a surprise: "blocked from asking: yes".

Duga

SQL Injection continues to be a common form of vulnerability, too many "programmers" cut and paste from examples and don't fix them. Therefore my policy is that non-parametrised queries are never acceptable, even in the simplest of examples. The next break in might be your personal data. — Richard 52 secs ago

.mdf files are Microsoft SQL Server Database files that are used for Programmers. — user3044096 1 min ago

and spaghetti is food eaten by programmers, yet you don't see cooking questions here. you're not asking for programming help. you're asking for what boils down to systems administration/recovery, which is offtopic. — Marc B 1 min ago

@SamuelGerges I wrote a bit about it over on P.SE: programmers.stackexchange.com/a/234678/40980 - select * is bad for many reasons. — MichaelT just now

Anger management isn't programming either, though some programmers could benefit from it :) — MetaFight 1 min ago

Duga

2:55 PM

@Mints97 - Please don't recommend asking questions like this on Programmers. It would be quickly closed as too broad and possibly heavily down voted. — GlenH7 49 secs ago

user55340

1

Q: How fast does poop fall?

Some building are really tall, if you flush the toilet and the contents go into a pipe and straight down, there could be a lot of energy, potentially enough to cause harm to the sewer pipe at the end of the fall. I know that in my home, the pipe goes straight down and then there is just a 90 deg...

building-physics

user55340

Hot questions whee!

user41796

Did it really get to the hot questions page?

user41796

I'd love to get a recap in on Engineering

user55340

@GlenH7 we know you're just after graduation swag.

user41796

3:05 PM

Yep!!!

Yannis Rizos

> "dns: tor-exit.***"

Ah, a level 2 troll.

user41796

At least they're trying

durron597

@GlenH7 Hey I'm trying to find that profit center vs cost center article so i can send it to someone

But I'm having trouble searching the chat logs

user41796

Thinking.... brain not fully engaged yet today.

durron597

There's no link here:

yesterday, by GlenH7

@durron597 Yeah, but we don't care about you. You're a cost center. Those customers are profit centers.

user41796

3:15 PM

Oh, the room has chatted about cost centers and profit centers multiple times before. Trying to recall if there was a really good link to a summary of that. I suspect it's on c2?

durron597

@GlenH7 kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-programmer

I think it was that (posted by @enderland )

user41796

yes that's an epic one. I believe we actually have a community ad in place for it

user55340

I'd be tempted to do an advertisement for Programming Sucks- but can't figure out a work safe logo for it.

enderland

I've posted it a few times here yes

durron597

3:42 PM

This ever happened to any of you?

in Vi and Vim, 14 mins ago, by Gilles

Several times I tried to vote on an answer and was surprised to see that I couldn't because past me had posted it. Both upvotes and downvotes.

Unrelated:

againstcronycapitalism.org/2015/02/…

user41796

@durron597 That's hilarious

durron597

@GlenH7 forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2015/02/03/…

Wee pin hacking

user41796

@durron597 That's just anti-authoritarianism run amuck. Get over it and move along already. Those "protest" payments do nothing constructive.

user41796

That said, I once had someone pay for a gameboy (yes, this was a while ago) in quarters. I made him stack them all out and align them so they could be counted.

durron597

@GlenH7 It's still hilarious.

user41796

3:54 PM

Oh, it's funny. And the guy deserved to be arrested. I'm sure the folk involved didn't think it was all that funny though.

user41796

The amount of time he had to put into folding those bills....

durron597

@GlenH7 They will, on Friday, when they break out the good-booze

user55340

Cider boys!

Jimmy Hoffa

4:06 PM

-6

Q: is Robert Harvey really a faggot

Robert Harvey you are so annoying, and depressing...next time you think twice before harassing other people. Robert Harvey you are so annoying, and depressing...next time you think twice before harassing other people. Robert Harvey you are so annoying, and depressing...next time you think twice b...

source-code

2

...just wow...

and the user name too...?? heh

vtc unclear what you are asking...as well as flagging...

user41796

It's Andy. He's back.

Jimmy Hoffa

at -9 if everybody was flagging and vtc it would probably be gone by now

that's hilarious

not the post, just that this is what Andy's next step is

user55340

I've flagged.

user41796

it's gone

durron597

Aww, I can't see deleted posts yet

Matt S.

4:14 PM

@durron597 I saw a similar one where a guy paid his parking ticket in dollar bills folded into origami pigs.

durron597

Somebody wrote a post about how they're learning FORTRAN

that's the new up-and-coming language of the next generation of programmers!

user55340

COBOL and I'm serious

user55340

Mid 90s, college students were learning it to fix y2k. But they're in their 40s now. Places are still hiring cobol

user55340

But few out of school have the skills for more than java(script).

Duga

My teacher told me I can not use the first because it is frowned upon by the community of programmers, that's why Im asking. — Fran 1 min ago

@fran depends on the community. One return vs guard statements - each have their proponents. See also programmers.stackexchange.com/q/18454/40980 — MichaelT 1 min ago

Robert Harvey

4:44 PM

@JimmyHoffa AWESOME!

39 minutes ago? It's been hours since I've harassed someone.

user41796

Isn't it though?

rolfl

@MichaelT We had a recent question posted to Code Review (not answered yet), but the fool was introducing a Y2K1 problem... seriously, when will COBOL programmers learn: codereview.stackexchange.com/questions/79000/…

   FILE SECTION.
   FD DATVAL02.
   01 SALES-RECORD.
       05 RECORD-CODE   PIC XX.
       05 FILLER        PIC X.
       05 VEND-NUM      PIC 9(8).
       05 YEAR-DUE      PIC 99.
       05 MONTH-DUE     PIC 99.
       05 DAY-DUE       PIC 99.

Robert Harvey

@rolfl You know how the teacher sounds in those Charlie Brown cartoons? WAH WAH.... WAH WA WA WAH.... WAH WAH [BOOM] (head explodes)

rolfl

Yeah, I don't miss my COBOL days..... (they were very few.... but I did learn it, briefly). I managed to escape from COBOL in to the database side, before the mid 90's, and Y2K was more survivable as a result.

Robert Harvey

I actually failed my Cobol class from sheer boredom.

user55340

4:57 PM

I know 4 companies (large) hiring cobol coders now. Insurance, government, banking. Training a new hire for a year is expensive.

Robert Harvey

Want to know if some institution is generally clueless? See if they still use COBOL.

Insurance? Government? Banking? Check.

By the way, NASA still uses FORTRAN.

rolfl

I'm not convinced by that statement.

user55340

COBOL today isn't cobol of 70's

rolfl

Object COBOL anyone (yes, it exists...).

Robert Harvey

@rolfl Nevertheless, it's hard to disagree with the correlation.

If not the causation.

rolfl

5:00 PM

> Insurance? Government? Banking?

Those are also the same orgs that are pioneering low-latency networks, low-level communications, big data analysis, etc.

Generally very clued in as well.

Robert Harvey

I'm just joking. I like to poke fun at COBOL because it is so wordy, and because it was invented to allow business people to write code in their own business domain, more or less. That never happened, of course.

rolfl

Yeah, and I work/worked in insurance, banking (but not govt.) so I am sensitive ;-)

I have done some super-cool things though.

durron597

Wheee: select * from Posts a inner join Posts q on a.ParentId = q.Id where a.Score > 19 and q.score = -4

Robert Harvey

I worked in government for 7 years until October, when the downturn and Congress finally took their toll.

rolfl

There was a stretch for about 8 years where I went to work in a 3-piece suite and had a barber and a tailor.

Used to travel the central line reading the financial times in London... crap, that feels like a long time ago.

durron597

5:05 PM

Heh. @RobertHarvey stackoverflow.com/help/badges/95/reversal?userid=102937

Robert Harvey

Whee

rolfl

That may be one of the last ones awarded... congrats!

durron597

@rolfl stackoverflow.com/help/badges/95/reversal

Robert Harvey

Why? Are they retiring it?

rolfl

It's in discussion, yes.

user55340

5:08 PM

I still like mine on meta - reversal on a self answer.

Robert Harvey

Presumably because the community would really prefer that downvoted questions not get answered at all.

rolfl

28

Q: Should we make the Red Baron hat trigger a permanent badge?

During Winterbash 2014, there was a hat called Red Baron, which was earned by giving an answer scoring 5 or better to question that had a score of −3 or worse at the time of answering and later rose to a score of +3 or better. I’ve already shared the Red Baron hats earned on Stack Overflow. Thos...

feature-request badge-request winterbash-2014

durron597

@MichaelT It looked for a little while the other day I would get reversal on a self answer on SO main

only got to -2/+7 though

user55340

@nicael yes. — MichaelT Nov 11 '14 at 1:17

durron597

@rolfl Personally, I think we should leave reversal and have a silver Red Baron (or whatever) badge

Duga

5:17 PM

Yeah you are right @Anonymous, I didn't read the question deeply enough. The issue actually seems to be the subjective nature of the question, which would be a better fit for programmers.stackexchange.com, not math. — Andrew Odri 1 min ago

user41796

^^^ is about Big O notation. I don't think it would be welcome on Progs, but I thought I'd kick it around here and see what everyone else thinks.

user41796

I think it would get closed with an "unclear what you're asking" since it's a do my homework for me type question.

Duga

@AndrewOdri: What makes you think this question would be suitable for Programmers? — Robert Harvey ♦ 27 secs ago

Robert Harvey

Oof.

D U G A C E P T I O N

user55340

That type of big o goes beyond our pragmatic nature and cd would be better - though they'd dup it in no time flat to a canonical question which tells you how to do it in general.

user55340

5:23 PM

Cd - cs

durron597

GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD PEOPLE, CRAPPY QUESTIONS DO NOT BELONG ANYWHERE ON SE WHETHER THEY'RE MORE ON TOPIC SOMEWHERE ELSE OR NOT

Robert Harvey

They probably already have a canonical question on CS.

durron597

Of course I yell that in the one place where everyone in the room is guaranteed to know that already :)

How often does the script that awards badges like Electorate run? Once a day?

user55340

If it involves Greek (or Greeks?) it is likely off topic.

Robert Harvey

teh greekz

user55340

5:30 PM

Yannis is off topic. Migrate all php to codereview or so.

rolfl

cough cough

enderland

@durron597 SE should make a new site that is "cesspool.stackexchange.com" where you can always migrate bad questions people want to keep for some reason

user55340

@enderland that keeps showing up on MSO. Ask Lance for his archive.

2

user41796

@rolfl C'mon now, you know we're going to setup that migration path to CR any day now.... Anything that's unclear will just auto-migrate there....

rolfl

That's OK, we can reciprocate.... somehow.

user55340

5:32 PM

-13

A: Why not move off-topic questions instead of closing?

I believe in the idea with the caveat of a modification as we have a 133 communities in SE and in essence we could build a "Bunny Hill" community in StackExchange. Sometimes questions are closed but it is clear some users are getting value. Upvotes on closed questions show people are clearly get...

user55340

You may wish to read meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/254381/… and the associated dups. — MichaelT Jan 20 at 14:58

user55340

@rolfl how about we just migrate Yannis there?

durron597

Migration Wars™

user55340

He'll close all your Haskell questions

user41796

@MichaelT Oh hell no. We're not giving Yannis up like that. Things would be so boring without him.

user41796

5:36 PM

3 hours ago, by Yannis Rizos

Heh, someone just told me they'll continue re-posting the same question if we keep closing it. He's in for a surprise: "blocked from asking: yes".

rolfl

I see we have a problem here... and there's no easy solution.

user55340

Need to introduce Andy to codereview? Think of all the troll code he can produce.

rolfl

We have such a nice community on CR that there's noone that we can send your way that will make both our sites better....

user55340

@rolfl glen wants to be a mod on a site about falling poop.

durron597

@MichaelT That sounds like a good Engineering.SE question. Oh it actually is an E.SE question, lol

rolfl

5:37 PM

Huh, engineering.... obviously that should have been posted to physics.... right?

user41796

@MichaelT Poop at terminal velocity, no less.

durron597

@GlenH7 what-if.xkcd.com/28

user55340

3

Q: How fast does poop fall?

Some building are really tall, if you flush the toilet and the contents go into a pipe and straight down, there could be a lot of energy, potentially enough to cause harm to the sewer pipe at the end of the fall. I know that in my home, the pipe goes straight down and then there is just a 90 deg...

building-physics

rolfl

Though, if I want to write a COBOL program to calculate it, I am sure I can phrase the question in an on-topic way on Programmers.se

user55340

10

A: How fast does poop fall?

Please note: I'm not a building designer by trade, but I have had to investigate related questions for other reasons. I'll let you in on a dirty secret about sanitation lines within buildings - The biggest concern is not about how fast things are flying, it's about maintaining air pressure and...

durron597

5:39 PM

Ugh I hate registering on sites I know I'll never go to. I want to put that whatif as a comment though

Simon André Forsberg

@rolfl I guess we'll have to send @Nobody

user55340

@rolfl it's applied - thus engineering

Robert Harvey

@MichaelT A perfect application for COBOL.

user55340

Flushing cobol manuals?

rolfl

or, how about php oop ?

user41796

5:41 PM

I really need more scatalogical humor for that answer

user55340

Watch out. Might get migrated to the workplace.

enderland

6:45 PM

►

user41796

@enderland I'd make a comment about plane acrobatics but given that people died in that accident... :-(

user41796

Can't imagine how the people in that car in front of the recording felt. I probably would have soiled myself.

enderland

@GlenH7 my very educated background makes it look like that pilot did a really good job crashing all things considered... (lack of background)

@GlenH7 the plane actually clipped them, too

I didn't notice that the first time I watched it

user41796

I've been in accidents where you can see the splatter from the fan coming your way. It's not a pleasant experience.

Erik Johnson

So I asked a question over on Programmers (programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/272125/…) and it got shot down pretty quickly, I'm not sure exactly why it was off-topic as I was under the impression that Programmers.SE was specifically for high-level design questions as per (meta.programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/171/…).

The reasons given were that I was asking 'what language, technology, or project one should take up next', but I believed I was asking more of a 'what's the right tool for this job' style question. I don't want to step on any toes, so I would appreciate some direction.

durron597

6:56 PM

@ErikJohnson There are lots of right tools

Your question, were it left open, would get a lot of opinions

but not a lot of facts.

enderland

@ErikJohnson this might be very helpful to skim over: programmers.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic

user41796

@ErikJohnson And thank you for asking for clarification here in chat

user41796

What languages do you know well currently?

Erik Johnson

C++ and C# were my first languages and my usual goto for projects (my job involves a lot of embedded systems running C/C++) I have done several large web projects in PHP/MySQL, and I have used Python and Ruby a fair bit, but only on the client side of things.

Zach Leighton

Have any of you been on the wrong end of this type of situation? programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/105326/…

user41796

7:06 PM

Go with C# then. That kind of locks you into a windows system for the server though. Not necessarily a bad thing either. Bootstrap is fine. Most of the larger known javascript frameworks for the moment are fine as well. There's a learning curve with them, so don't underestimate that.

user41796

If you're really wanting to run it on the cheap, you could go with linux servers

user41796

I'm loathe to recommend ruby or PHP

user41796

python is tolerable if you understand its quirks

user41796

But the important part is to make sure you're not adding risk to your project by tackling an essentially new language

Zach Leighton

Do it in perl! jk

durron597

7:08 PM

@ZachLeighton Oh look @GlenH7 another person wanting to talk about Profit Centers vs Cost Centers

The legacy application is being used by customers! Profit center. Migrating to C#: lots of hours for a product that we business types have no idea why it's better: Cost center

user41796

@ZachLeighton It does happen; yes

user41796

And it does suck to be on the wrong end of that equation. Regrettably, all you can do is find another job pronto.

durron597

@ZachLeighton kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-programmer

Zach Leighton

Unfortunately I guess I showed too much aptitude with vb6 from my days back as a teenager..

durron597

@ZachLeighton At Employer^ I ended up being a VB6 programmer for 3 years. 2005-2008

user41796

7:11 PM

@ZachLeighton Unless there's a sweet pair of golden handcuffs around your wrists.... it's worth looking elsewhere then. Ultimately, it's about job satisfaction and apparently it's really not happening at the moment.

Zach Leighton

@durron597 thanks for the link

durron597

> Mainstream Support for Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 ended on March 31, 2005. Extended support ended in March 2008.[23] In response, the Visual Basic user community expressed its grave concern and lobbied users to sign a petition to keep the product alive.

user41796

@ErikJohnson - strongly consider the advice that Doc Brown provided as well. Setting up an already built email system will teach you a lot about what you're wanting to know.

durron597

Visual Basic

Visual Basic is a third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model first released in 1991. Microsoft intended Visual Basic to be relatively easy to learn and use. Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access to databases using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data Objects, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects. A programmer can create an application using the components provided by...

Zach Leighton

1.0 / 6.0 vs 1 / 6 says it all

user41796

7:12 PM

They never should have called VB.Net as VB

Erik Johnson

@GlenH7 I am trying to avoid hosting this whole thing on Windows, which is why I wanted to get the opinion of the community. What I'll do is try and get further with the design, and then come back when I have more specific and concrete questions

durron597

@ErikJohnson If I were going to do the project you describe, I would do it on a LAMP stack using postfix as the email server

Zach Leighton

+1 on the LAMP stack

user41796

@ErikJohnson Excellent idea. BTW, you can always go back and edit that question once you have a specific question to address. Drop a copy of that link in here and we can get it re-opened or help guide you to making it more constructive. Likewise, the down votes can get reversed after the edit.

user41796

And don't worry if it gets deleted. We usually have enough users here in the room to quickly get something undeleted if the edit merits that.

Zach Leighton

7:15 PM

@durron597 as far as finding a new job, how do I make sure I find something that isn't the same thing?

user41796

@ZachLeighton ask lots of questions during the interview

user41796

have them show you the code or application

durron597

@GlenH7 This

Erik Johnson

@durron597 That's the direction my research was leading me. The user management is a big hurdle that I'm trying to get my head around - LDAP? Database? Magical unicorns keeping lists of usernames?

user41796

@ErikJohnson Yes! :-)

user41796

7:16 PM

setup postfix as @durron597 suggested and then come back to that question

user55340

LDAP = hierarchical nosql database of old. Very good for lots of reads.

Zach Leighton

I wrote some LDAP today for this vb6 monster ;)

durron597

@ErikJohnson "How do I manage users for an email server running LAMP and Postfix?" is a better question (but not quite good enough). Do you see why it's better than the original, though?

It's STILL too broad. But it's a step in the right direction

Erik Johnson

@durron597 definitely. Starting to see where I went wrong with my assumptions re: the scope of programmers.SE

durron597

The bottom line is this: these platforms would not exist if some people didn't like them

All of the technologies will work

Just pick what you're familiar with based on the requirements you have. Example: I don't want to marry myself to Windows, so I guess I'm not going to write it in C#!

I've written PHP before, but I've never written Ruby, so I guess I'll write it in PHP!

Oh man, I went to the Wikipedia comparison of email servers, there were too many But the people in the Whiteboard suggested Postfix, I guess I'll go that way!

Because all the answers are probably "good enough", just pick something that appeals to you and try to make it work. Eventually you will hit a more specific roadblock, the scope of which is narrow enough to ask on Programmers or StackOverflow

Erik Johnson

7:22 PM

Haha - I did go there and I was immediately turned off by the size of that comparison matrix

durron597

You know why I'd use Postfix? It's the only one I've ever used before

The guy who runs my companies email server uses Exchange, it works for him. But when I set up an email server for my YouTrack machine, I did it in postfix, because that works for me

Before I had YouTrack, I used Redmine. I bailed on Redmine because it DIDN'T work for me... and that's okay

it's better to do something and change your mind than do nothing

Redmine works great for many other people

The vendor who supplies me with a third party library uses JIRA, which is also used by many people

Eclipse uses Bugzilla... but you get the idea. There's no canonical answer, so it's not appropriate for StackExchange

Erik Johnson

Yep. Makes sense!

user55340

7:39 PM

@ErikJohnson out of curiosity, what did you think the scope was? This is something that we are often confused about what new people are thinking.

rolfl

Any questions asking about good ways to put COBOL to use in a financially attractive way. That, and how to fix bugs in haskell.

Jimmy Hoffa

@rolfl ...there are no bugs in haskell.... O_O

user55340

He meant how to bug Haskell users... By claiming there are bugs. Or they failed a purity test.

Zach Leighton

I had to change something in a COBOL program once.. not a fun experience

user55340

But paycheck...

Erik Johnson

7:44 PM

@MichaelT - I'd be glad to explain. I googled for the difference between SO and Programmers, because I wasn't sure if this was a valid question to post on StackExchange. I came across this: blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/12/… and read the line that says "Programmers is for when you’re in front of a whiteboard working through higher level conceptual programming issues"

That made me think that high-level, conceptual design (such as 'what is the best/most well-supported/least likely to kill kittens if I use it' type questions) were exactly the type of thing that belonged on Programmers.SE

user41796

> Ultimately, with a little extra discipline and moderation, I think the site turned out great. So, go forth and ask your subjective whiteboard questions on programmers.stackexchange.com! Just make sure they’re professional and constructive, please.

user41796

I cried a little when I read that last bit...

rolfl

I once ported a part-COBOL, part-Fortran program to straight SQL. (Sybase stored procedures). It's like Cerberus

user55340

Wonder if we can get @shog9 to put an addendum on that blog post...

user41796

@MichaelT exactly what I was wondering as well

Jimmy Hoffa

7:50 PM

Fortran, Cobol, and Sybase... I'm susprised one of it's heads didn't tear your leg off

user41796

@MichaelT Will that ping him to the room? Or are other measures necessary

user41796

@ErikJohnson Without dragging you into the muck; super big, super subjective questions were once welcome on the site. That dark, dark, dark period was referred to as the NPR days. Site focus shifted sharply in late 2011 and mostly completed by mid 2012. But the site has been dealing with the associated fallout since then.

rolfl

@GlenH7 At some point, he'll get a notification.

user41796

@rolfl OK. I didn't know if pings worked or not if someone had left the room

Duga

Such questions are usually considered off-topic on stackoverflow.com, but they are more or less welcomed on programmers.stackexchange.com. — Dmitry Alexandrov just now

rolfl

7:55 PM

(Only because he's been in this room before).

> I amatourly writed some core libraries using OpenGL with C++

Definitely suited for programmers.se

user41796

@rolfl Oh! absolutely!

user41796

I'm gonna go cry for a bit. brb

Duga

@DmitryAlexandrov some licensing questions are on topic at Programmers but this would likely be closed as "unclear what you're asking." So this type of question wouldn't be welcomed there. — GlenH7 1 min ago

user55340

@GlenH7 it may. He's elsewhere in chat.

rolfl

> To get another user's attention, mention them – type @ and then the first part of their name. Your mention will be highlit on their screen – @someone. This will happen even if they are in a different room. Note that you can only mention @someone who has been in the room at some point. If you need to invite someone to your room, do it from the user's chat profile page or from the user card that pops up when you click on their avatar in a chat room.

Shog9 has been here before, he'll get pinged.

Zach Leighton

7:59 PM

For a personal project if you wanted a REST api with modules available to do fb/social linking what would you use?

rolfl

but he will not necessarily respond

@ZachLeighton Linux.

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