The Whiteboard

Yannis Rizos

6:28 AM

user20683

8:38 AM

I've yet to come across a genuinely bad CS textbook. Physics on the other hand...

user20683

glares at his

Yannis Rizos

9:06 AM

"Brian, The purpose of the above class exercise is to help you to understand application-level access controls. However, this only can happen if you do the assignment for yourself. [your lecturer]" - Poor Brian... ;)

user20683

@YannisRizos ouch

user20683

I bet (s)he had some kind of crawler monitoring the site

Yannis Rizos

@WorldEngineer Well, to be honest, I'm not really sure it's legit, it could be someone master trolling... But nevertheless Brian will now think twice before posting homework assignments on Stack Overflow...

user20683

@YannisRizos either way it's why I don't ask homework questions on SE

Gustavo Bandeira

9:59 AM

Anyone knows how to evaluate a MIT Scheme code?

When on CLISP, i just press Return, but that does not work on MIT Scheme

Rachel

12:50 PM

@YannisRizos Is there an on-topic career development question you could recommend as an example?

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel To clarify, are you asking for on-topic or open?

Rachel

@YannisRizos Preferably both

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Well, if it's open it's on topic, however on-topic doesn't mean open by default.

Rachel

@YannisRizos I'm looking for a good example question for a FAQ proposal, and thought I'd see if you knew of one since you recently cleaned up career questions

I can always leave it out for now

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel To be honest I can't find a "good" [career-development] question.

Rachel

12:57 PM

Hrrrmm ok I'll just pull a random open one with decent upvotes, and we can always change it later

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Before going through the trouble of writing a proposal have you considered investigating if there's actually need for a proposal? What in the FAQ do you feel needs clarifying?

Rachel

@YannisRizos Oh there's a lot :) I'm trying to combine a bunch of changes at once, and you guys can pick what you like out of there

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Don't do that ;)

Rachel

I think the biggest problem is people not familiar with P.SE don't know what the site is about

I've seen that a lot while browsing MSO posts

Yannis Rizos

I think it would be far more valuable to actually ask questions.

For example: "What's the site about?" and then post your answer on what you think the site is about...

Rachel

1:00 PM

That will only settle the issue for MSO users though

Please give the proposal a chance

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel No, I meant on our own Meta.

Rachel

I might not get it done today since I have to start work now, but I'll work on it during my lunch too and hopefully get it up then

That will only settle the issue for our meta users then

I was asking in some other SE chat rooms what people think P.SE is about, and was getting some mixed answers

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel I'm not saying don't do the proposal, just that it would be preferable to keep the Q&A format... for example you could ask: "which parts of the FAQ do you feel need clarifying" and then post your own answer...

Rachel

@YannisRizos Oh yes I'm definitely going to do that

I learned the hard way not to post your own answer in the body of the question itself

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Yes don't do that. Also post distinct issues on separate questions.

Rachel

1:05 PM

@YannisRizos Alright

user20683

3:36 PM

@GustavoBandeira translate.google.com/…

user20683

I fed the Edwin help file into google translate to try and make it easier for you to read.

user20683

groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/ftpdir/scheme-7.5/7.5.17/doc-html/…

user20683

The original

user20683

Basically you hit Ctrl-x and then Ctrl-e

user20683

It inherits a good many things from emacs.

user20683

3:39 PM

in translation C-x will appear as Cx

Rachel

3:57 PM

@CRoss Is it just me, or have you not been around for quite a while?

Yannis Rizos

Dear StackExchange: Will You Be My Valentine?

user20683

@Rachel I see him from time to time so I think it's just you. Unless you mean in chat.

Rachel

@WorldEngineer I meant in chat. I used to see him in here all the time

user20683

@Rachel Hard to say, my usage patterns are subject to school work so his constraints may also correlate to life.

Rachel

oh well, I just wanted to say Hi :)

user20683

4:12 PM

Okay, this is cool: tones.wolfram.com

Yannis Rizos

@WorldEngineer There goes my weekend... <sigh>

user20683

@YannisRizos sorry, I could be even more of a troll and drop in the algorithmic music thing I saw on HN a few months back

user20683

that's much like that but actually code

user20683

how to make noises with C or Javascript

Yannis Rizos

;)

user20683

4:15 PM

@YannisRizos I kinda figured, the generic sigh tipped me off :P

Yannis Rizos

Oh, it needs Quicktime installed... Great, my weekend is free again, I'm not installing that crap for anything...

user20683

@YannisRizos I'm on a mac and you can fake it with VLC though it's made of bugs

user20683

The things you can use Wolfram Alpha for...

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=cubic+lightyear+of+chocolate

Yannis Rizos

TIL that "programmer" has a Scrabble score of 17

C. Ross

@Rachel Busy with work and focusing what little SE time I have on RPG

user20683

4:30 PM

Developers is 15

Rachel

@CRoss I see, I'll have to visit RPG sometime. I just wanted to say hi anyways

user20683

Engineer is 9, Manager is 10 and Executive is 21

Rachel

Wait I had that backwards

Executive > Programmer?

That's not right.... :)

hrrrrm do you think a question get more attention if posted on a Friday or a Monday?

user20683

@Rachel Monday

user20683

though I'm sure you could prove it via the data explorer

Rachel

4:38 PM

@WorldEngineer Why do you say that?

user20683

@Rachel Programmers is a heavily professional site, I generally see more questions during the week when people are at work than when they are at home and not working. Friday has a drop off as a well since a number of people are going to leave earlier to start on their weekend.

Rachel

Hrrrmm matches what I've noticed with technical blog views as well

I'll wait till Monday to post then :)

user20683

Gaming on the other hand

user20683

explodes on the weekends

user20683

well explodes more than normal

Rachel

4:42 PM

lol I love gaming.SE just for it's sense of humor when posting questions

user20683

@Rachel I love it for the generally muppet like levels of derangement whilst still somehow being on topic

user20683

Sci-Fi and RPG tend to have similar levels of "What in the bloody hell?!"

Rachel

I wish I had more time to participate in more sites

user20683

@Rachel I wish I had the discipline not to

user20683

I like helping people

user20683

4:45 PM

I just do

user20683

I'm this weird borderline INTJ with a very weak T that pushes me into Counselor territory much of the time

Rachel

@WorldEngineer I agree, I like helping people too. That's why I put up with so many bad questions on SO and try to provide decent answers

user20683

@Rachel I feel like I need to be better at coding before I really get into SO in any real way

Rachel

I don't like having everything so spread out though. It takes me a few minutes already just to check out the SE sites I'm intersted in

user20683

I tend to do Programmers and History mainly

Rachel

4:48 PM

@WorldEngineer Oh I'm sure I'm terrible at coding, but the only way to get better is try code, so I like to find interesting SO questions and figure out the answers

user20683

gaming and SO sometimes

Rachel

I participate on P.SE and SO mostly, but occasionally browse questions on gaming, dba, code review, productivity, and cooking

user20683

@Rachel I made the decision to apply myself to the Java stack for the time being. Learn Java to the point where I can do most anything in it and then learn Clojure so I can get the same stuff done faster and get access to Javascript and CLR cross compilations.

user20683

and Lisps are much much easier than Haskell

user20683

more C would probably also be good despite my dislike of it

user20683

4:53 PM

and more Python obviously

Rachel

I just learn whatever work throws at me. Unfortunately, that's been MS access lately :(

user20683

@Rachel I've got a little while till I graduate

user20683

I probably should get an internship but it's a hard thing to pull of when you aren't a traditional student and have to actually work for a living.

Rachel

Yeah, I honestly learned most of what I know while working. School doesn't make you an expert at programming, but it does provide a good foundation which you can use to make yourself an expert

user20683

the summer objective is web programming and more math via classes

Rachel

4:56 PM

I was lucky enough to get a tech support job while in school, and started automating stuff I did, so when I graduated they hired me as a programmer

user20683

yeah I'm looking at getting a tech support gig

user20683

I'm tired of retail

Rachel

I like math :)

user20683

I've been doing it 5 years

Rachel

ew retail or service is just not my style

user20683

4:56 PM

and I'm sick of managing the homeless and general inventory

Rachel

I worked selling stuff and waiting tables for a few years, and a receptionist and other various admin tasks for a few more

programming is definitely the way to go :)

user20683

the best parts of my job are the helping people and the solving tech issues so I figured go that direction

user20683

then segue into programming though I can graduate in the fall if I gun it

Rachel

Just be careful or you'll end up solving tech support issues forever.... I still do tech support

user20683

I'll be that guy who does documentation

user20683

4:58 PM

since I am good at and enjoy writing

Rachel

I hate the "will you fix my [insert relative title here]'s computer" questions

Go write some blog articles :) I want a few more so we can start publishing this stuff

user20683

yeah I need to find the time

user20683

physics like gnawing on my time

Rachel

Yeah, time is the worst

user20683

given that I also enjoy things like religion and history and the like, I find much of my interest is split but I consider that a good thing. I see too many of my fellow students consumed by technology

Rachel

5:06 PM

Yeah that's a good thing. I actually wish I had more time for programming-related projects though

Rachel

6:23 PM

hrrmm... so I just got a call from someone fairly high up in the hierarchy asking me to change someone else's caller ID on their phone to "Wanker". Can definitely tell it's friday today

maple_shaft

@Rachel I got you beat, I got reprimanded for a customer finding bugs in software that I single handedly wrote when my manager was too cheap to hire a QA person

I do the work of 10 men but god forbid I make a single mistake

I can tell its friday

user2334

6:42 PM

Friday Friday gotta get down on Friday

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel A silly bug got pushed into production... After being "thoroughly" code reviewed and tested. For the past three hours I've been lecturing the dev team on code reviews and the qa team on testing. I can tell it's friday because no one bothered to check who actually wrote the bug (yeap, yours truly)...

@MarkTrapp It's always Friday in Iceland...

maple_shaft

@YannisRizos At least you got a team to talk to. I am so very alone... :(

Rachel

Mark, do not ever sing Rebecca Black to me again..... >.<

Yannis Rizos

@maple_shaft I remember that feeling... Working with a team is great, even remotely (we are split in four locations).

Rachel

Fridays always feel so unproductive. I don't like to start anything big since I'll forget most of it by Monday, and so after whatever I'm working on is finished, the remainder of the day is full of tedious tasks which I am easily distracted from

user2334

6:55 PM

@Rachel Gotta make up my mind which seat should I taaaaaaaake ♫ ♪

3

Rachel

omg now it's going to be stuck in my head >.<

Actually it's been stuck in my head since your first line.... whoever showed me that youtube video is a bad person

maple_shaft

Aarthi

guess if i want my dose of @MarkTrapp i'm going to have to come in here.

looks around what is this place?

Rachel

@YannisRizos Oh come on, at least give the question a chance after the edit

0

Q: What programming language would be the best fit for small browser games?

I want to make small web apps containing little games (muds, TDs and roguelikes) or talent calculators for MMOs etc. After some research I have had people say that ASP.NET MVC would be perfect for these tasks. After looking at it I am unsure as to whether or not this is the right path to to achi...

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel I'm writing a comment give me a second

Rachel

7:00 PM

Hi @Aarthi :)

Aarthi

What's up, Programmers? :D

Rachel

It's friday...

user2334

@Aarthi It's the Rebecca Black tribute chat room. All Rebecca Black all the time

Aarthi

Gang fight, gang fight, the gang is 'bout to fight! I brought some chicken for us to eat.

user2334

The Assembly

You know those boring town council meetings you never attend? ...

2

user2334

7:02 PM

It's TL, but with me.

Aarthi

awww

so i don't have to come in here?

maple_shaft

@Aarthi LOL that wasn't borderline racist at all

Aarthi

...racist? it's from here: youtu.be/1GaKaGwch0U

maple_shaft

@Aarthi Oh... lol I thought you were mentioning about the Ice Cube Friday movie poster I put up

user2334

►

Aarthi

7:04 PM

:D

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel I've finished writing my comment, check it out and if you disagree with my reasoning let me know...

@Aarthi hey ;)

Rachel

@YannisRizos I disagree and have left a comment :p

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel A good suggestion is not what we are looking for though...

Rachel

@YannisRizos The question was what programming language was best suited to writing small browser applications like MMO talent calculators, muds, roguelikes, etc.

I fail to see how the question translates to "what programming language should I learn next"

At the very least, give it some time to see if the answers are any good or not since the correct answer is to use a technology that is built to run applications inside a browser, not to use a technology that is meant to build a website. It's not asking for a list of everyone's favorite web language

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel It still reads us a generic lang suggestion to me... Need to be a bit more specific... just a little bit

@Rachel I'm looking for ways I could edit it to be more specific...

maple_shaft

7:18 PM

I am on the fence... I wouldn't personally close it, but I wouldn't reopen it either

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/139000/…

Rachel

I fail to see how that would help. She asked the question because she didn't know if ASP.Net MVC was suitable for small browser apps, so why do you expect her to explain it?

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel She claims to have done some research, though, and I want her to share that research with us... Sometimes knowing why foo doesn't fit bar is all you need to find out what actually fits bar.

Rachel

@YannisRizos This is why I said somewhere else that I feel P.SE is losing it's usefulness. Questions need to be generalized so much that they are either not useful to the user, or are so general that the answer becomes one of basic knowledge

psr

Yeah - it's still a very broad question. There are a lot of technologies meant to run applications inside a browser, most of which could cross over into websites (canvas libraries, something like backbone on the client) - and many things similar to MVC - even in C# there is some open-source thing similar to MVC (Phylis?), you could write your own IIS handlers, etc.)

Asking if MVC is appropriate would be more answerable than what she did ask, which is what technology would be best.

Rachel

7:28 PM

I thought that was what this site was for: whiteboard questions

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Language choice is not a whiteboard question.

Rachel

a whiteboard question is what kind of technology should I use to write a small, browser based, application

Now look what we've done, we've scared off @Aarthi

psr

I think it is a whiteboard question, but as asked there is no way to determine if a given answer is correct (though I suppose one could be clearly wrong).

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Not really, a whiteboard question is a question you ask yourself when you are in front of a whiteboard designing a piece of software. What you are actually building is a pre-whiteboard question.

Rachel

You don't use a whiteboard for the entire software development process. It's a metaphor to describe the high-level decisions that get made before sitting down and writing code

Yannis Rizos

7:31 PM

@Rachel I actually use a whiteboard ;)

Rachel

I don't... I use pen and paper

maple_shaft

@Rachel You mention that questions need to be generalized so much that they are not useful to the user... the problem with questions like these is that they are FAR TOO generalized.

If I go to Breakfast.SE and I ask, "I really want to eat something for breakfast that is quick to prepare, delicious and nutritious" Then I will get 20 answers and several flamewars about the merits of Cereal vs. Toast

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel However what exactly you are trying to build is not a whiteboard decision... You first need to give us the exact parameters if we are going to help you make a sane choice...

Rachel

@mapleshaft I feel that is comparing apples to oranges. There are many breakfast items that meet the description, while there are very few technologies which would be suitable for a web-based talent calculator

It's stuff like this that drives away new users and makes people question P.SE's existance

maple_shaft

JSF, ASP, ASP.NET Node.JS+JSON+Ajax, GWT, Flash, Flex, Silverlight, etc...

need I go on?

Rachel

7:34 PM

You don't want something to build a website. That's not a good idea for a browser application.

maple_shaft

I can build a browser application in any of these

Rachel

I also don't think you want something primative like JS

The question is not what language should I use, but which one is ithe best fit

The best fit is Flash, Flex, or Silverlight

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Actually only a handful of people question P.SE's existence, and more people are coming to the site each day...

maple_shaft

@Rachel ... only if you are asking about RIA. There are hundred page papers discussing the merits of that architecture decision

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Plugin based web development is obsolete, those dark days will be over soon...

maple_shaft

7:36 PM

@YannisRizos HTML5 will kill them

Yannis Rizos

All hail canvas...

Rachel

I'm not going to argue about the answer. I disagree because HTML5 doesn't even exist yet

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel ???

maple_shaft

primefaces.org/showcase/ui/fileUploadHome.jsf

Rachel

The point was, I didn't think the question should have been closed as off-topic. I thought the question clearly outlined the projects that the technology was for

I need to get back to work >.<

Yannis Rizos

7:40 PM

@Rachel Did you notice there was another answer?

Rachel

@YannisRizos Did you notice that almost every question on this site has more than one answer?

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Why would that be important?

Rachel

Well why are you pointing out that there is a 2nd answer?

Yes I noticed it, and it makes a good point about the complexities of ASP.Net MVC

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Actually I think it's a very poor answer...

"The learning curve is very long, I mean very long." Yes, it's true because I say it is...

Rachel

I'm just saying, as a programmer browsing the site I would rather see a question asking for the best technology for "small browser-based games like muds, roguelikes, and talent calculators", than a question asking "what technology should I use to make a talent calculator for this mmo"

The question is much more re-usable by other programmers in it's current form

psr

7:44 PM

@Rachel - Only if the answer would be the same in each individual case.

Rachel

@psr The answer is the same.... use a technology that is built for running applications in a web browser. I suppose it might change when HTML5 does get released, but as of right now it's not released. I interjected my own opinion at the end my answer to suggest silverlight to the OP since I thought it would be well suited for her, but it doesn't change the fact that the answer is to use a technology built for running applications in a browser, not one that is built for running websites

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel HTML5 has been around for a while...

and quite well supported in most modern browsers, amazingly...

What is not complete yet is it's standardization. That's a different process, but that doesn't really mean it's not "released"...

maple_shaft

@Rachel What is your definition of a web application then? IMO ASP.NET, JSF, and any Ajax based toolkit could comprise a web application

when I think of a web site I think static HTML, content, and hyperlinks

psr

@Rachel - I probably wouldn't do it that way myself. Also, did you see the Google demo of Doom in a browser? I believe it uses canvas. Anyway, I think your answer is an answer, but not the answer.

Rachel

@YannisRizos I'm looking for a question I saw a while ago stating that HTML 5 isn't complete, and really shouldn't be used for production stuff until it's officially released and supported by all major browsers

maple_shaft

7:49 PM

well yeah... my blackberry won't render it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist yet

Yannis Rizos

@maple_shaft However the fact that my android phone doesn't support flash means that flash is dead ;P

Rachel

@mapleshaft I see a web application as an application run in a browser. For example, TurboTax uses a web application to take data from you and spit out your tax forms. In comparism, a payment website would be a website

A web application usually has a single URL which runs the application, while a website spans multiple URLs

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Where do you get your definitions from? ;P

maple_shaft

Rich Internet application

A Rich Internet Application (RIA) is a Web application that has many of the characteristics of desktop application software, typically delivered by way of a site-specific browser, a browser plug-in, an independent sandbox, extensive use of JavaScript, or a virtual machine. Adobe Flash, JavaFX, and Microsoft Silverlight are currently the three most common platforms, with desktop browser penetration rates around 96%, 76%, and 66% respectively (as of August 2011). Mobile phone penetration of these plugins, however, has remained low even as internet traffic from these devices has grown. Althoug...

Jae

@YannisRizos: The other day you said you had an idea... care to elaborate in the Contest room?

maple_shaft

7:51 PM

You are describing an RIA not a Web Application

Yannis Rizos

@Jae I'd prefer not to right now... I want the STCI to be over first, so we can all join forces at full strength for the contest. Right now my idea is very rough and I don't really have time to research it and see if it's even feasible.

@Jae And with all the mod stuff I've really haven't had any time to work on the blog... And I really want to have the blog ready before even thinking of starting a discussion on a new contest.

Rachel

@YannisRizos Yes, I suppose RIA is another name for it. I wasn't aware there was an actual term for it. But I don't think it changes the fact the question was asking for a suitable technology for a RIA project, even though the OP didn't know of the term RIA

psr

@Rachel - In practice the bits and pieces of "HTML5" (scare quoted because a lot of it is in separate specs) are getting added to major browsers at various speeds, but some of it has been out for a while on major browsers, and could be considered ready for production depending on how broadly you want to support older versions.

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Well some minor research is mandatory... Anyways, not convinced I should re-open and we are going in circles. You'll need 4 reopen votes or to convince another mod... Or the edits I've mentioned in my comments to the question.

psr

8:08 PM

@Rachel - I think it's close to being answerable. I'd even re-open "is there any reason ASP.NET MVC is unsuitable as a choice for these kinds of applications?" Though I think the answer is not that exciting ("no, it can work, though lots of other things would as well").

Yannis Rizos

The Workplace

We just need 54 more people... come on! Let's help end the plague of generic workplace questions on P.SE...

Rachel

@YannisRizos Are you saying it would be on-topic if it asked "What would be the best programming language to use to create a Web-Based Talent Calculator for a MMO?"

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel No. As I wrote in the comment to the question you need to tell us a bit more about the project itself other than a generic label that can mean anything really. For the question in question the trick would be if Alison told us why her researched showed that ASP.Net wouldn't be suitable, which would unravel some of the actual parameters of the project for us... You can build a "Web-Based Talent Calculator for a MMO" in every web oriented platform.

Rachel

Would it help if I decrypted the examples? I think it was TD = Tower Defense, MUD = Multi-User Dungeon, and roguelike is basically an RPG

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Still generic labels, saying nothing about the project themselves.

Rachel

8:19 PM

And specific projects can be written in multiple languages. We're going in circles

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Yes but when we have some parameters we can actually explain why the language we suggest would be suitable.

@Rachel Right now the question has two answers suggesting competing technologies, yours in favour of plugin based technologies and the other one in favour of HTML5 & JS

Rachel

Well I can tell you now that an ASP.Net Tower Defense game would suck

Yannis Rizos

There is nothing in the question to break the tie.

@Rachel Yes but it wouldn't suck if build on HTML5 & JS, or browser based technologies.

Rachel

I don't think HTML5 should be recommended for production anything right now

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel I don't see Stack Exchange suffering much from using HTML5 on production right now ;P

Rachel

8:26 PM

Stack exchange has alternatives for older browsers

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel [citation-needed]

Rachel

I don't see anything on the list of technologies SE uses that say HTML5

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel But you can always view source and check the doctype ;)

Rachel

Do it in an older browser

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel I don't keep older browsers around...

Rachel

8:30 PM

PS. mine says <!DOCTYPE html>

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Which is HTML5 ;)

ejohn.org/blog/html5-doctype

user2334

They use WebSockets for chat and inbox notifications, which is part of the family of HTML5-related specs

psr

Right, so is tower defense going to support older browsers? Do they need to have flash or Silverlight?

Rachel

I still don't understand why you're turning this into an argument.... I don't think SE forgot to account for non-html5 compliant browsers, and my point was if you're doing a web-based game, I wouldn't recommend html5 until it's fully released because you will need HTML5 for game components, and it is not fully supported on older browsers

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel However I'm messing with you a bit ;) Obviously they don't use the parts that would make sense in an online game because there's no need for them, so my point was moot.

@Rachel ;P

Rachel

8:35 PM

Wait, I think you just admitted that something you said wasn't true!

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Yes and you called me out on it just as I was writing that comment...

@Rachel However, that doesn't change my argument on needed quite a few more parameters to make a sensible language choice.

(where can a poor mod troll people, if not in chat... argh, leading by example is harder than I thought)

2

Rachel

tell you what, re-open the question and consider it as having 3 close votes. If it gets two more, close the question. And in return, I'll forget what just happened ;)

If you want, I'll even change my answer to a community wiki. I'm not in this for the rep, I'm in this because I think the question is a decent one, and it's one I can see helping other programmers. I even learned something from it, because I wasn't aware that was the definition of RIAs

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel If it gets 3 re-open votes...

Rachel

@YannisRizos Alright, but I get to make a post on meta about it :)

Darn, my FAQ proposal is taking up my "Ask Question" box on meta....

Yannis Rizos

"@thursdaysgeek I have experienced it, and I'm not saying it's dead, I'm asking if it's dead. It seems to me that it is dead/dying and I'm trying to confirm that hunch through this social media outlet. :)" - Did that guy seriously called us a "social media outlet"???

Rachel

8:44 PM

@YannisRizos He even got an upvote for it...

psr

@Rachel - Never vote to re-open on a Friday! (hope Mark doesn't read this...).

@YannisRizos - I'd like a pint of social media to go please.

Rachel

@YannisRizos Hey, i was interested in the answer to that one!

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Me too! However I'm more interested in keeping crap questions out of the site...

Rachel

too many edits..... lol

SamTheBrand

Hello all!

Maybe you came across (y)our first Programmers syndication installment on Ars Technica:

arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/03/…

We want to do more!

But i'm not all that familiar with your content and what's helpful and still cutting edge

a couple candidates for the next:

20

Q: Moving from windows to linux

I need to reconcile these 2 facts: I don't feel comfortable working on Linux; I need to develop software for Linux. Some background: I have a 10+ years of programming experience on Windows (almost exclusively C/C++, but some .NET as well), I was a user of FreeBSD at home for about 3 years or ...

linux learning education

23

Q: On developing deep programming knowledge

Occasionally I see questions about edge cases and other weirdness on Stack Overflow that are easily answered by the likes of Jon Skeet and Eric Lippert, demonstrating a deep knowledge of the language and its many intricacies, like this one: You might think that in order to use a foreach loop,...

learning

30

Q: How can I find a good open source project to join?

I just started working a year ago, and I want to join an open source project for the same reasons as anyone else: help create something useful and develop my skills further. My problem is, I don't know how to find a project where I'll fit in. How can I find a beginner-friendly project? What at...

learning open-source junior-programmer

Think those are good? (The last is 1.5 years old. still relevant?)

Got any other suggestions?

Rachel

9:01 PM

@YannisRizos Is your first name actually Yannis?

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Yes ;)

Rachel

Ok :)

@SamTheBrand I'm not sure I understand what you're asking...

Shog9

54

Q: How to Mentor a Junior Developer

This title is a little broad but I may need to give a little background before I can ask my question properly. I know that similar questions have been asked here already. But in my case I'm not asking if I should be mentoring someone or if the person is a good fit for being a software developer....

culture mentor

@sam ^^^

@Rachel He's looking for GOOD content for this: arstechnica.com/author/stack-exchange

Like, something that shows off the best of what Progse can offer

SamTheBrand

@Rachel - Well, Ars Technica wants to republish some of the most helpful Programmers content that has been published here

Shog9

Broadly applicable

SamTheBrand

9:04 PM

yup, thx @Shog9

Rachel

@Shog9 Oh, I'd actually have to click stuff :)

@SamTheBrand I like the idea :)

Shog9

BTW, @sam - that page I just linked to looks horrible

user20683

@YannisRizos I want to answer this programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/139024/… with this: Why people keep asking overly broad unanswerable questions about software development.

Yannis Rizos

@WorldEngineer Your close vote would be enough ;)

Rachel

@WorldEngineer I am going to make a FAQ proposal on Monday that I hope will address questions like this

I want to wait for Monday because A) it will get more attention, B) I'll have time to review what I have so far, and C) Maybe yannis won't see it right away? :)

user20683

9:06 PM

questions on SE are like series in calculus, they should converge to a single answer or a small range of answers.

user20683

otherwise you can't do much with them.

Yannis Rizos

@SamTheBrand I could assemble a list of recent questions for you if you can give me a couple of days...

SamTheBrand

@WorldEngineer - you're totally right about that. single answer questions that are answered in a succinct way are probably our most useful content. but it isn't necessarily our most readable or syndicable content

id hate to represent us as a discussion forum or a hey voice your opinion here site

but they want to publish content that is 500+ words

i guess that's the gist

@YannisRizos - that would be very very helpful

Yannis Rizos

@Rachel Nope, Monday's good for me ;)

Rachel

K I need to go, talk to you Monday :) I'm sure you'll have plenty to say about my proposal @YannisRizos

PS: Can we re-open this question? :)

0

Q: Is the Waterfall software development methodology dead?

In my experience, it seems as though the Waterfall model has proven to be too inflexible and non-responsive to requirements changes to be considered a viable method in the modern world of software development. The growth and proven track record of more agile, iterative methods seems to indicate t...

development-methodologies waterfall

Yannis Rizos

9:11 PM

@SamTheBrand Ok then, I was going to go through a lot of questions during the weekend, so Sunday evening I should have a list for you.... I'll ping you here and just post the questions I've found

user20683

@SamTheBrand I've 0 issue with writing 500 word answers if so required.

Yannis Rizos

did my last comment came through? I lost network for a couple of minutes...

@Rachel Of course we can! It will only take 5 re-open votes...

SamTheBrand

@YannisRizos that's great! super helpful.

@world - ha, i hope you don't do it just for that reason, but if you've got an amazing answer or question out there that you think the readers at Ars want to see, pass it along! let's see if it sticks with editorial over there

user20683

@SamTheBrand It will likely be at least a year before that goes down

SamTheBrand

I wait with bated breath

psr

9:19 PM

Hmm, one answer mentions the mythical waterfall process, and it's been years since I've talked to anyone that didn't describe their development process as "agile", even when that's clearly pretty mythical.

@YannisRizos - Would "Which mythical development process should I pretend I'm using" be a good question?

user20683

waterfall is what we did in Software Engineering

Yannis Rizos

@psr If there's a picture of a unicorn in there, I'd probably let it slip through the cracks...

user20683

@YannisRizos rosastef.com/programmers-are-like-unicorns/663

user20683