The Whiteboard

Jimmy Hoffa

1:22 AM

@WorldEngineer my wife told me about this earlier but didn't mention previous roles, what were they?

Jim G.

Does anyone have any close votes left for today?

We just got an influx of ridiculous questions, possibly from @Goma, and I need some help closing them.

user20683

1:45 AM

@JimmyHoffa In Torchwood he played John Frobisher

user20683

@JimG. on it

Jimmy Hoffa

3:13 AM

@WorldEngineer was Frobisher a purposeful modification of Frobnicate from the hitchhikers guide?

user20683

@JimmyHoffa no idea

user20683

@JimmyHoffa checked wiki, no it's a traditional English name

user20683

Frobisher (surname)

Frobisher is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Martin Frobisher (c. 1535 – 1594), English sailor and explorer *Benjamin Frobisher (1742–1787), Canadian fur trader *Joseph Frobisher (1740–1810), Canadian fur trader and politician, brother of Benjamin Frobisher *Benjamin Joseph Frobisher (1782–1821), Canadian fur trader and politician, son of Joseph Frobisher Fictional characters: *Buck Frobisher, character in the television series Due South *Robert Frobisher, composer in the novel Cloud Atlas *Arthur Frobisher, villainous billionaire in the television series Damages

gnat

6:21 AM

@gnat Huh. In that case, this circles back to the immunity bit. While this is tagged support, it also has a feature request undertone "Can we have a tag to [...]". That's what I downvoted. — Manishearth 2 hours ago

those guys at MSO developed a telepathy skill. Downvoting for "undertone", oh my

Downvotes on meta are sometimes used to indicate that you didn't bend out of shape to please readers. In your case, this seems to be just the case (my guess is some simply dislike word karma). Nothing in your post deserves downvote, even if it eventually will get status-declined. It's original, interesting, well intentioned and not actively harmful. A good read... of course for those who bother to read — gnat 2 days ago

gnat

6:34 AM

deja vu? Per my recollection, last week, there was already another asker who said "your opinions are fine to me"...

My question was not "Any ideas folks?" :) --- opinions are fine as well. If I had a specific question I guess I could post it on SO. I need opinions or any ideas here. We are stuck. I have specified the problem space. Need to move into the solution space here. If perfectly valid questions are going to be down-voted then what is the point? — Eben Roux 7 mins ago

Blog - Stack Exchange: Real Questions Have Answers

Jeff Atwood on January 17, 2011

In Good Subjective, Bad Subjective, we made a pretty solid first stab at defining a constructive subjective question, one that I’ve been happy with so far.

Constructive subjective questions:

inspire answers that explain “why” and “how”. tend to have long, not short, answers. have a constructive, fair, and impartial tone. invite sharing experiences over opinions. insist that opinion be backed up with facts and references. are more than just mindless social fun.

tend to have long, not short, answers. have a constructive, fair, and impartial tone. invite sharing experiences over opinions. insist that opinion be backed up with facts and references. are more than just mindless social fun. …

> real questions have answers, not items or ideas or opinions.

Jimmy Hoffa

2:19 PM

sprints and velocity are part of scrum not agile. agilemanifesto.org — Jimmy Hoffa 8 mins ago

Every single time someone writes a question with the word "agile" in it, I find myself needing to say that on almost every answer.

also I should write an answer because agile questions are total lemming bait

Stack Exchange

2:45 PM

Blog - Stack Exchange: Podcast #51 – The Return of CodingHorror

Alex Miller on August 05, 2013

Welcome to Stack Exchange Podcast #51, with special guest Jeff Atwood and the usual suspects Joel Spolsky, David Fullerton, and Jay Hanlon. Today’s show was brought to you by Pan-American World Airways!

We kick off the discussion with a topic not on the agenda… which is reminiscing about who used to prepare the agenda on the old Joel & Jeff podcasts.

Site Milestones! Spaaaace is now in public beta, so you should check it out. We also closed the India proposal, after much discussion about the possibilities for location-based sites. …

Jimmy Hoffa

2:58 PM

Y'know, I could totally abuse the review queue by only opening the questions outside the queue to closevote, ensuring I get to visit every single possible question that shows up in the queue because I'd never run out of queue votes

Is that cheating?

user55340

@JimmyHoffa You won't get a badge for it. And not exactly... 10k tools give you access to close votes cast in recent times and questions that have the most close votes that are still open. So that information is available otherways today.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT I don't use the review queue for the badges

I officially have endless close review queue votes now.

user55340

@JimmyHoffa As a side bit, it means you'll always avoid audits. You may still want to use the 'leave open' from time to time though.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT Yeah, depending on if it keeps re-presenting me the same question when I try to leave it alone

(@gnat did you decide to go on a SOAP vs REST hunting rampage? If not you, then who?)

the queue is brimming with these soap vs rest things and there's even a new soap vs rest Q this morn..

user55340

Often, when you get one "this question is bad" looking at the related questions is a treasure trove of other bad questions.

user55340

3:14 PM

SOAP is deprecated because many of us have moved to shower gel. ;) — FrustratedWithFormsDesigner Jun 21 '11 at 15:56

Jimmy Hoffa

muaha close queue was 31 when I started on it, and I'm going to completely clear it down to 0

Winnarrr

ahhh daily close vote limit reached

6 left in queue

can I close in queue after I hit my daily vote limit?

user55340

Nope. Thats why I'm at only 17 reviews today.

Jimmy Hoffa

(do normal review queue closures count towards my daily limit?)

If not, I need to do 19 queue reviews from now on and then just never use my last one for maximum votes

user55340

3:29 PM

Picked blue berries with parents, brother, niece (3 yo) and nephew (1.5 yo) this weekend. I was watching my nephew mostly and he got blueberried out.

gnat

@JimmyHoffa if two CVs qualify as a rampage then yes. :) On a crusade. Inspired by recent SOAAP question... which turned out a totally different beast

@JimmyHoffa no matter from queue or not, one is not allowed to exceed closures daily limit. Which is actually a good thing, a fundamental feature of SE...

meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/rate-limiting

Jimmy Hoffa

Well I like the queue guiding me to what needs to be closed, though now if I keep working it this way I'm going to start getting annoyed the way you guys do with running out of close votes and seeing crap I want to close (This already happened once)

1

Q: What technologies/patterns should I be looking at for this problem?

I am looking at designing an architecture solution for an eCommerce site and integrating with multiple ERPs and data sources, importing from and exporting to them. I'm looking for opinions, ideas and other things to consider as this will be my first attempt at looking at this kind of thing. My g...

^-- Lot of work went into this question, but even with that I can't get over the fact that it seems like a big "Design my architecture for me"

> I am open to any suggestions, any language, any opinions whatsoever

not really a good starting point for a question

user55340

I think I've seen a few more people in the review queue that I've never seen before.

user55340

Glance at the custodian badge - programmers.stackexchange.com/help/badges/120/custodian

Jimmy Hoffa

This one definitely smells like collider, my dv may help...

1

Q: How do I manage the technical debate over WCF vs. Web API?

I'm managing a team of like 15 developers now, and we are stuck at a point on choosing the technology, where the team is broken into two completely opposite teams, debating over usage of WCF vs. Web API. Team A which supports usage of Web API, brings forward these reasons: Web API is just the ...

wcf decisions web-api

@MichaelT Perhaps your meta post

gnat

3:44 PM

@MichaelT your meta question made the magic :)

4

Q: How to get more people doing reviews?

We're nowhere near the point of Stack Overflow with (at the time of this writing) 65.9k questions in the close queue. I've noticed an uptick in the queue of people flagging questions. In a batch of 20, I often see a question that is not an audit that has no votes on it - this is from a flag. T...

discussion review

Jimmy Hoffa

@gnat First!! I win!! FGITW woot

user55340

I hope so.

Jimmy Hoffa

I remember when I first got review queue privileges I played with it a touch and noticed that 90% of the time it seemed empty or had like 1 thing, so I just stopped bothering pretty quick, but then after a fair bit of a gap I came back and started seeing frequently over 10, did it off and on, but recently it's been commonly over 20 or 30 which is weird

just site traffic being up I suppose

user55340

@JimmyHoffa We're getting more flags in there... and with the new close reasons, people looking at old questions have better guidance for closing questions (and do).

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT The close reasons have been a godsend.

they should be mentioned in the help center if they aren't, that is the specific text of each one with some further detail explaining the purpose and meaning of the close reasons. They define the site scope better than just about anything else it seems

(Admittedly I haven't touched the help center)

0

Q: "What reasons do questions get closed for here?" should be in the help center under the "Asking" heading

Our new off-topic close reasons have come in so handy and been so well used I think they do a good job of giving clear guidance to many on what they can expect they should avoid. Granted they're a subset, but they were chosen due to being such an extremely common subset. Given that, I think we s...

feature-request

user55340

4:31 PM

@user1345260 NFS is one file sharing protocol used by the unix world, you might be able to mount it (I'm really not a windows guy and couldn't say how to do it). CIFS is another that is used in the windows world. I believe it would be easier to mount a cifs share on linux. That said, it is far easier to have a NAS device that stores and shares the files with multiple protocols to make it easy for both. This approach, though moves out of the programming world and into the sysadmin world (thats another stack exchange depending on the system). — MichaelT 8 mins ago

user55340

Thanks. I will create a ticket in the Server Fault. I appreciate your help — user1345260 5 mins ago

user55340

0

Q: Sharing LINUX NFS Folder on Windows Server

I've some CSV files in the LINUX NFS Folder. I would like to ingest them into my SQL Server with a Stored Procedure. I'm looking for a way to share the NFS folder containing those CFS files with my Windows Server. I was wondering if anybody can help me describe the process. I'm a completely newb...

linux windows-server-2008 sql-server nfs-server

user55340

(I hope that goes well)

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT Create a ticket, wow, I'm suddenly imagining some new green face joining a company and asking where to go to request some facility he needs only to be told "Yeah our IT ticketing system is at www.stackexchange.com"

user55340

Hmm... it makes me wonder if one could merge an SE like clone and an issue tracking system for internal company support.

psr

4:54 PM

@JimmyHoffa extreme programming (which I believe predates scrum, has sprints and velocity).

gnat

@MichaelT based on some posts I saw at MSO, that would be rather poor idea

23

Q: Why don't we get responses from bug reports?

Currently we have 1356 bug reports that are not closed, have zero answers and no [status-*] tag. Why aren't we getting feedback from the DEV team about these reports? Has the team even noticed every single bug report? I fear not since not even all bounty questions get noticed by the team certain...

discussion feedback bug-reports

7

Q: Why don't all bugs and feature-requests have moderator status tags?

I'm not too familiar with status-tracking in general, but it seems tags exist to cover all states of these questions: -deferred, -bydesign, -planned, -declined, -completed, -review; -norepro, -reproduced. Yet not every feature-request or bug question has one of these collectively inclusive tags....

discussion status-bydesign meta

38

Q: Does the SE development team regularly check the bounty board?

Typically when I want to bring attention to an older bug or feature request, I place a bounty on it (example 1, example 2). But since the development team is probably the only ones who can provide an answer, I'm not sure if that's a very effective method. Does the SE dev team watch the bounty b...

discussion stackexchange bounty development

in brief, this system kinda sucks for issue tracking

user55340

I'm thinking more of a big company that has a help desk and integrating the two. The question partly assumes that the users are capable of implementing the solution rather than having a tech show up.

gnat

note status-by-design tag at "Why don't all bugs and feature-requests have moderator status tags?" - for any reasonable issue tracker that would mean death in the market

user55340

Most issue tracking systems have a (poorly) integrated knowledge base.

user55340

Just thinking of if that knowledge base / call log would work as an internal SE site.

gnat

4:59 PM

@MichaelT ah. That would make certain sense. Integrated with an issue tracker, Q&A like SE could probably fly. Not alone :)

Jimmy Hoffa

@psr Good point, either way sprints and velocity are not "Agile"

@MichaelT You can pay SE to host a private SE for your company for an internal knowledge base, surely some are using it like a ticketing system in this way

(Unless I'm completely misremembering something...)

iCanLearn

Hey everyone, I have a career-related question... I live in Europe but really want to live in Seattle, so I need to find an employer from Seattle who would be willing to sponsor my visa. I'm close to graduation, I have a job over here but (at the moment) only a few months of experience and my skillset is still not that impressive, meaning that I probably wouldn't be able to find a sponsor right now. On the plus side, I think I'm smart and a fast learner.

Basically, my plan is to find a company that seems ok and ask them which skills they need and would they be willing to sponsor me if I learnt those skills (and, if they say yes, actually learn those skills). I could simply search job-related websites and then send emails to companies that seem interesting, but there might be a better way to do this (or something I should have in mind while doing it). Do you guys have any ideas or advice on how to go on about this?

user55340

@iCanLearn Amazon is hiring quite significantly. They're big enough that I am sure they do vias on a regular basis.

user55340

Have a careers 2.0 profile (I've gotten pinged through there). Certainly have a linked in profile - that seems to be very popular for people looking to hire.

iCanLearn

5:18 PM

@MichaelT Isn't it hard to get a job at Amazon? Careers 2.0 is invitation only. I didn't apply for an invitation because I assumed you needed to have more reputation points than I currently do in order to be accepted. Do you know anything about this, how good do you have to be in order to get an invitation?

user55340

@iCanLearn Dunno how hard it is, but I do know they have pinged me twice in the past month with offers (once via careers, once via linked in).

user55340

5:45 PM

@gnat might want to tweak the link only DE query to find ones that have youtube in there as they are even less helpful than the typical link (many corporate networks block youtube and I really don't want to scan to 24:03 to find where the guy is talking about a given subject)

gnat

6:02 PM

@MichaelT that makes a pretty good sense; youtube links in answers that lack explanation and context look especially troublesome, exactly for the reasons you mention. Hope you will also keep a copy of an old-fashioned query; it still rocks af finding crappy questions...

...and, yeah I mean questions not answers that's not a typo :)

user55340

Revision 1 of this answer (since fixed) was what inspired me to suggest that.

user55340

programmers.stackexchange.com/revisions/207270/1

gnat

in my experience, upvoted link-only answer is 80% if not more an indication of a crappy question (other 20% are just good references with summaries that are easy to edit into the answer)

user55340

(I do like the reinforcement that that user got... +0/-2 to +1/-0 when fixed)

gnat

@MichaelT yeah. That one clearly reminded me a handful of other youtube-only answers that are freaking hard to figure how to improve. Here's an example I am still pondering on, what to do with it...

12

A: What are some tips for avoiding 'Death by PowerPoint' during a technical presentation?

Well, here are a few things of what not to do. Don McMillan: Life After Death by PowerPoint

if memory serves I even flagged it

not I am not alone being unhappy...

Good video, but the answer is not self-standing. — user1249 Apr 5 '11 at 20:04

but OP likely doesn't give a shit

user55340

6:10 PM

Toss a delete on the entire question?

gnat

nope

user55340

"What are some tips for avoiding 'Death by PowerPoint' during a technical presentation?" is very much the same as "What are some tips for avoiding 'Death by PowerPoint' during presentation?"

gnat

@MichaelT I very sparingly VtD on questions like that

historical lock, maybe... I keep it bookmarked to decide what to do

user55340

There's absolutely nothing in that question/answer combination that is applicable to just programmers.

gnat

@MichaelT oh that's absolutely for sure

user55340

6:13 PM

It would be equally at home on PM.SE or Sharepoint.SE or Academia.SE

user55340

Its view count is not substantial. The answers are sub par.

gnat

@MichaelT actually, as a blatant polling for opinions, nowadays it wouldn't be welcome anywhere. Still, I do not feel lightly about "retroactively" applying current criteria to justify deletion...

97

Q: Community-led deletionism: a protocol for sanity

A couple of events in the past few days have caused me to reflect - yet again - on the direction we're headed with regard to deletion on Stack Overflow and Stack Exchange. First, a moderator on one of our larger Stack Exchange sites resigned. This parting was not acrimonious - he just decided he...

discussion deleted-questions

I always try to imagine this applied to myself: next day, rules change so that some of my carefully crafted answers become "not welcome anymore". How would i want them to be dealt with then?

@gnat yeah, I do acknowledge that deletionism and making rep disappear feels a bit like Stalin having executed former comrades removed from historical photographs. But all in all, I think it's the much cleaner and more transparent way. Rep stays connected to actual contributions; what gets removed, gets removed, period. (can you clarify which neighbours you are referring to though? I'm scratching my head. The Austrians? :) — Pekka 웃 Mar 6 '12 at 14:36

user55340

I see one well done answer in there (that received 3 votes).

gnat

@MichaelT The one from Kate? But actually, if you roll-back to the past, when link-only content hasn't been "considered illegal" and adjust your perception accordingly, that very youtube reference would be excellent: presentation is indeed a hit, it's for a reason that it got so much upvotes and accept

user55340

My previous employer had youtube blocked. That answer would have been next to worthless to me.

gnat

6:35 PM

@MichaelT oh that's for sure. If there weren't some good answers there, including that damn/great youtube-only one, I'd cast delete vote in a heartbeat. Good answers there are the only thing that stops me. This is basically what "triggers" historical lock, per MSO tag wiki...

> A good rule of thumb: If the question does not minimally meet Jeff Atwood's 3rd rule in the "We Hate Fun Here" blog post, it's probably not a good candidate for historical locking. The third rule is:

> > Does this question teach me anything that could make me better at my job? Can I learn something from it?

some of the answers there sure "meet Jeff Atwood's 3rd rule"

user55340

@iCanLearn often, when suggesting a site in comments, people tend to repost the question on the other site. This can cause more headaches. Just flagging it for migration should be enough (granted a number of people are out of close votes to migrate quickly at this time of the day).

gnat

@MichaelT oh c'mon. Besides youtube answer, there are a lot of things that wouldn't be tolerated by today standards, starting with the question itself: "What are some tips for keeping users interested in a technical presentation?"

user55340

@gnat Absolutely. Too broad, off topic, and opinion based. I'd flag it for migration to workplace ( workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/presentations )

gnat

@MichaelT it's too old for that, and besides, there's a golden rule...

5

A: To migrate or not to migrate?

You're forgetting the ultimate rule: Don't migrate crap Does it look like crap? If so, don't migrate. No other rules need apply. Good bye. If the chances are high that it would be closed on the destination site, don't shuffle the turds around. Just kill it where it lays. Would the qu...

30 mins ago, by gnat

@MichaelT actually, as a blatant polling for opinions, nowadays it wouldn't be welcome anywhere. Still, I do not feel lightly about "retroactively" applying current criteria to justify deletion...

anyway, I flagged to consider historical lock, let moderators sort it out

user55340

I know... there were some excelent off topic here but appropriate for tech writing of old that I wish could have been migrated.

gnat

6:49 PM

@MichaelT yes when there was no Workplace, Programmers used to be a home for some good questions of their kind

user55340

Hmm... I notice Yannis and WorldEngineer picking up on the quick close votes in the (US) afternoon.

user20683

Better change the URL to 'https' before downloading.

user20683

bahahaha

user55340

(I've got to sit down and write a document on git usage so that I can get all my thoughts about it in one place. I find myself constantly hitting man pages or SE questions to get bits of the workflow down)

Jimmy Hoffa

All, have another look here:

5

Q: "What reasons do questions get closed for here?" should be in the help center under the "Asking" heading

Our new off-topic close reasons have come in so handy and been so well used I think they do a good job of giving clear guidance to many on what they can expect they should avoid. Granted they're a subset, but they were chosen due to being such an extremely common subset. Given that, I think we s...

feature-request close-reasons help-center

Poll answers have been added

vote your mind

user55340

6:54 PM

0

A: "What reasons do questions get closed for here?" should be in the help center under the "Asking" heading

Great idea! Except for most of what you said! This should go on the "What types of questions should I avoid asking?" page, I don't want a new page added to the help center

user55340

That is probably the right answer.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT Interesting how writing things up yourself really makes them stick a lot better than reading about them endlessly

@MichaelT I figure so as well

user55340

Though, I'd still push the idea up to SE itself so that they can consider implemneting it on a cross site basis.

Jimmy Hoffa

It could be a nice canned page across all of SE; each help center has a page which lists that sites custom off-topic reasons

0

Q: What sort of development does Risk Management and Quant related software entail?

I am looking at a position that says "Risk Management and Quant Stuff a plus". I am Python developer that has been working mainly with MVC web frameworks creating simple to complex sites with UIs of varying complexity. What sort of work can I expect from a position that deals with Risk Managemen...

jobs risk

MVC Web UI work -> Quantitative Analysis, yeah; that's a natural transition path.

I think he should dive in with both fe- screw it, his results would be better if he dived in with his head, at least then he might knock himself out and not have to feel the pain of being totally lost

user20683

@JimmyHoffa It'd probably almost as rough as my transition from the humanities.

Jimmy Hoffa

7:02 PM

@WorldEngineer that must have been like trying to breath underwater only to find out you were in a vat of kerosene

user20683

@JimmyHoffa I bootstrapped my way into Calculus

user20683

incidently, coffee + ginger candy = <3

Jimmy Hoffa

anything with ginger is awesome. I used to juice fresh ginger to mix the juice but the ginger's so fibrous it gives a juicer fits, and I found ginger people actually sell ginger juice from their own presses. I pour it in almost anything.

user20683

@YannisRizos ah, Comrade Rizos. How's things? Still economically stupid I assume?

user20683

@JimmyHoffa I think it's something that most programmers, given our often poor diets, should get used to taking lots of.

Yannis Rizos

7:05 PM

@WorldEngineer Your "have a nice day" comments made it into production:

> Environment variables are missing. I'm sorry, but I'll have to crash now. Have a nice day!

iCanLearn

@MichaelT: Ok, thanks for the advice. I gave him the solution so I kind of felt the need to add something like "you got the solution this time, but beware, this was not the correct place to ask for it".

user20683

@YannisRizos which is funny because I don't use them anymore

user20683

@JimmyHoffa

user20683

ratebeer.com/beer/st-ambroise-stout-imperiale-russe/114499

user20683

my favorite beer ever

user20683

7:08 PM

I need to go find some more of it, I've not had it in 3 years

user55340

I'm a cider fan... ratebeer.com/beer/wyders-dry-pear-cider/5329

Jimmy Hoffa

@WorldEngineer Have any of sam smith's stouts. They're all spectacular standards for what stouts should aspire to.

user20683

@MichaelT Ciders typically make me wish I was drinking wine instead.

Jimmy Hoffa

ratebeer.com/findbeer.asp?BeerName=Sam%20Smith%20Stout

Yannis Rizos

Quadrupel

Quadrupel is the brand name of a strong seasonal beer La Trappe Quadrupel brewed by De Koningshoeven Brewery in the Netherlands, one of the two Trappist brewing abbey not in Belgium (the other is the Engelszell Abbey in Austria). In other countries, particularly the United States, 'quadrupel' or 'quad' may refer to an especially strong style of dark ale, with a characteristic spicy, ripe fruit flavor. A quadrupel is intended to be stronger than a Tripel, so the ABV strength will be 10% or more. Beyond that, there is little agreement on the status of Quadrupel as a style. Beer writer Tim...

user55340

7:16 PM

While this one is still fresh...

user55340

-1

Q: Why large projects with big budgets are more likely to fail?

I have heard two reasons why information systems projects fail. Large projects with big budgets are more likely to fail When there are two isolates teams, one doing the software design and the other implementation. These two failure reasons are described as recipes for disaster, but I don't u...

system

user55340

Is it possible to transform it into something appropriate?

user20683

@MichaelT Not without becoming a dupe of "The Mythical Man Month" or similar

Yannis Rizos

Possible? Yes. Probable? No.

user20683

worth the effort? meh

Yannis Rizos

7:21 PM

Right now, both questions (big budgets, isolated teams) are too broad and vague. First thing that needs to be done is get rid of one of them, and try to make the other one a bit more specific.

user55340

I'm more wondering if someone from PM.SE would be interested in it and make it into a better question. There is a question there - "why do big projects fail?" That, by itself, is horribly broad, but is the the question.

Jimmy Hoffa

@YannisRizos @WorldEngineer is flagging for moderator attention an appropriate replacement for close-votes when I'm out of them? Or do I still save flagging for the more problematic scenarios just like when I do have enough close votes?

2.9k to 10k, I can do that..yeah, sure...

user20683

@JimmyHoffa flags should be used as a last resort weapon. Current closes take precedence over maintenance.

user20683

flags by users with close votes are typically used to deal with really urgent problems

user20683

something on the level of this for instance.

Jimmy Hoffa

7:28 PM

@WorldEngineer I'm trying to flag it, but everyone's still getting cancer! I hate this game!

@WorldEngineer I meant I am out of my daily alotment of close votes; I see something I would normally close vote, do I just make a dour face and go on or should I flag it since I can't close vote it? (I presume the former, but what do I know)

2

A: What sort of development does Risk Management and Quant related software entail?

Pure Quant. Finance requires a very solid math foundation, solid as in Math/Statistics/Physics/Quant Finance Ph.D. As you write 'is a plus', I don't think you're looking at a pure Quant position, but rather an implementation only job, so here's what I think is important for that: Stochastic ca...

Awesome answer.

user20683

@JimmyHoffa flag if urgent

user55340

@WorldEngineer Huh? Are you saying ignore the review queue and save your votes for hitting the new questions that pop up?

user20683

@MichaelT not saying ignore, just saying don't flag unless it requires our attention.

user20683

it's not that I mind processing flags

user20683

it's just that we as mods should be a last resort

user55340

7:31 PM

(as an aside... note the increase in custodian badges recently - programmers.stackexchange.com/help/badges/120/custodian - lets hope they stay active reviewers)

user20683

I realize that's a hard line to walk

Jimmy Hoffa

@WorldEngineer and if we're out of close votes, we don't have any other resort... but yeah I'll stick to what I'm doing and only flag if it's important and not just to get around SE's daily-close-vote-limit

user55340

I wish there was a "put this in the queue, I'll close vote it when I have the chance" for >3k and out of close votes.

user20683

@JimmyHoffa I generally run down the page every few hours anyway

user20683

@MichaelT go to M.SO and make your case

user55340

7:33 PM

I'm sure its been suggested and declined in the past.

user55340

I'd still rather see number of reviews available for everyone on the tool bar.

user55340

I think that would get more, long term, benefit rather than tossig it in a "todo" list.

user20683

I mean I can churn through the queue if need be but I try to not do that unless the number is excessive

Jimmy Hoffa

0

Q: To master C programming language is necessary a lot of effort and spent all my day on that or I'm doing wrongs things?

I'm currently studying C from "The C Programming Language" book (from K&R). I've found myself all the day (literally) programming, making tests, thinking in a hard way, and I don't use pen and pencil because I want to improve my mind concentration. I read 1/4 book parts. The fact is, I'm no capab...

libraries

...stick that in your queue and smoke it...

user20683

@JimmyHoffa I don't smoke but I'm looking at it

Yannis Rizos

7:35 PM

@JimmyHoffa If you are running out of close votes, perhaps it's time to take a (small) break from reviewing. I truly enjoy having a not-that-small-anymore group of active close voters on the site, but let's not forget that the main reason we are all here is Qs and As. Reviewing is a secondary activity.

Don't burn out, all I'm saying. Or you'll end up with a diamond next to your username, and you'll know you've hit rock bottom.

user20683

@YannisRizos That's treading water

user20683

Rock Bottom is a diamond next to all your names

Jimmy Hoffa

You're both wrong, rock bottom is a great brewpub chain, based out of downtown denver

user20683

@JimmyHoffa ;p

user20683

-24

Q: How to place a <div> over an <img> (responsive)?

I want to place a <div> over an <img>. The end result is responsive using "Bootstrap" framework. How to use the bootstrap classes in the code bellow? <style> body { background-color: #cCa; } .image { position: relative; background-repeat: no-repeat; } .content { background-colo...

html css css3 twitter-bootstrap

user20683

7:49 PM

lowest ranked SO question

Jimmy Hoffa

@WorldEngineer ...why? It's not a great question but I've seen tons worse..

I don't even really see anything wrong with it, z-index is what he's looking for with position: absolute

user55340

Just as upvoted questions get attention, so do lowest ones. They get piled on even when others are more deserving.

Jimmy Hoffa

@MichaelT Oh no, look at the first version of that question, now I know why it was downvoted so heavily

Ohh he couldn't attach the images because his rep was below 10 I guess?

Yannis Rizos

I do agree though; this does have an abnormally high number of downvotes (it deserves some, but not -19!) — Richard Tingle Jul 5 at 18:06

@RichardTingle, the OP complained on Meta, and I suspect that acted as a lightning rod. — Ernest Friedman-Hill Jul 5 at 20:22

Good old MSO...

user55340

8:27 PM

@YannisRizos '1*10^9' - its easier to write '1e9`... though if you want to have fun with US/UK misunderstandings, write a 'billion'.

Wronski

Hi

Hello World

user55340

@Wronski thecodelesscode.com/case/14

Wronski

Good Bye World

user55340

I fear that @Wronski has now entered into the codeless code and will idle for several more hours (I just realized... there's a new one...)

Wronski

8:42 PM

hehe yes... is an interesting new (for me :P) page. Thanks!

user55340

I found it about a month and a half ago or so. It sucked quite a bit of time.... but there is such knowledge hidden within it.

Wronski

yes, it reminded me to "The Pragmatic Programmer" book

Hey @MichaelT you comment my questions some minutes ago

user55340

That i did.

Wronski

Thanks

user20683

@Wronski I'd recommend the "C Pointers" book from O'Reilly

user20683

8:45 PM

I'd also recommend doing something like graphics programming in OpenGL

user20683

just drawing a simple polyhedra would be a decent project

user55340

As a side note... a question from SO on hello world...

user55340

11

Q: Which programming language first introduced 'Hello World'

Which programming language first introduced 'Hello World' as a first program to code for beginners?

teaching history

Wronski

Thanks @WorldEngineer I will pickup the O'Reilly book, but i have a lot of work with the K&B

user20683

@Wronski another good one to pick up would be a book on Linux Internals

user20683

8:49 PM

much of that stuff is written in C

Wronski

Yes, I alse think OpenGL is a good place to start programming graphics, but it requires mathematical knowledge

user20683

will give you an idea of use cases

Wronski

Linux Internals is better than "The Linux Programming Interface" book?

it has a very bad reputation on Amazon

@MichaelT what similar pages to thecodelesscode.com recommend me?

gnat

1 hour ago, by World Engineer

I realize that's a hard line to walk

yes indeed!

user55340

Codeless code really is the most elegant one that I've seen. There are some that go to other areas... the rootless root for example. The 'related works' section from codeless code is a good bit - thecodelesscode.com/about#related-works

gnat

8:54 PM

►

user55340

If you want a book to make you think about programming... I'd go hunt up a copy of Programming Pearls (thats with an 'a').

user55340

amazon.com/Programming-Pearls-2nd-Edition-Bentley/dp/0201657880

Wronski

Thanks @MichaelT that book is pending on my reading (and also buying) list :/ but I have the "Code Complete" book (is my next goal until i finish K&R) have you ever read "Programming Pealrs" or "Code Complete"?

user55340

I've read both. Pearls is a much smaller and, I'd argue has and will withstand time better.

Wronski

:O it's only 256 pages

$.1/page :/

user55340

8:59 PM

I am very much a fan of Steve McConnell and have read several of his books... though I always get the feeling that he's trying to tell me how to do something rather than show me how to discover something.

Jimmy Hoffa

Anybody know of or heard of this book? I unpacked it after moving just last night, opened it for the first time and stumbled across a section on formal grammars which I didn't expect given that it's an algebra book

amazon.com/Discrete-Mathematics-Applied-Modern-Algebra/dp/…

user55340

@Wronski Its worth much more than that when you read it. It is a book you can read, and reread and find new things each time. You don't need to read it all at once.

Wronski

Thanks @MichaelT

user20683

@JimmyHoffa Grammars sometimes show up in Discrete Math or Modern Algebra

user55340

Safari Online doesn't have it in their library (makes me sad), however, there are scores of books that suggest it as additional reading.

user55340

9:04 PM

When you poke at the Bibliography of Code complete... I count... 6 refrences to the author of Programming Pearls.

user55340

Hmm... there's a fun one:

user55340

Wronski

I have a lot...a lot of things pending (read K&R, "The Programming Practice", "Code Complete", "Clen Code", "Unix Progrgramming Environment", "Programming Pears", "A Mythical Man-Month", "Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Objects" ....) If you could recommend me 3 books (exceptuating "Programming Pears) to be professional developer (i'm not refering to an specific language) which whould it?

gnat

2

A: What about site-specific post notices?

This is already possible - just not by mods or normal users. If you need one, just post a [feature-request] on your meta site with the proposed wording and why you think you need it. However, please keep in mind: these are not canned comments. They require a moderator to add them, and a modera...

woo-hoo, let's have a meta contest on the most weird proposal for Programmers-specific post notice! Example for a start: "Collider lemmings, go away, Jimmy is going to answer" :)

user55340

Mythical Man Month is a great classic, but... what level of programing are you at? College? Freelancer? Contractor? Corporate?

Jimmy Hoffa

9:07 PM

@WorldEngineer apparently monoids show up too, I may just have to actually read that..

Wronski

@MichaelT Who is Blentley and @Jon?

user55340

Jon Bentley is the author if Programming pearls. Last name first sorting for the first name mentioned.

user20683

@JimmyHoffa Category Theory is related to Abstract Algebra

Wronski

I finish the university as "Computer Engineering Systems" an i know a little about html, javascript, c, c++, java, php and mysql

Jimmy Hoffa

There is a category of Algebras

SO actually had the most illucidating post on the definition of "algebra" I've ever seen

Wronski

9:08 PM

ha!! Jon Blentley

user55340

Don't worry about Mythical Man Month. Its a classic, but...

Jimmy Hoffa

now I have to dig it up..

Wronski

but i don't feel as a pro

user55340

Design Patterns... watch out for. Do not start thinking everything is a pattern.

Wronski

and i give some free-weeks to learn all to be a pro

:/

Jimmy Hoffa

9:10 PM

252

A: What does "coalgebra" mean in the context of programming?

Algebras I think the place to start would be to understand the idea of an algebra. This is just a generalization of algebraic structures like groups, rings, monoids and so on. Most of the time, these things are introduced in terms of sets, but since we're among friends, I'll talk about Haskell t...

phenomenal answer that talks about what an algebra is, it's dual, various different things and categorical senses of them

user55340

@Wronski There is one, maybe two essays in there that are ones that you might be able to read without yawning at this point.

user55340

Much of it is written from the perspective of the 1970's (let me check...)

user55340

(1960s... 1995 was the 25th anniversary)

user55340

There is talk in there that only makes sense in the corporate world... programing before programming was something that was taught in college.

user55340

The organization of software teams is probably one of the more useful ones... however much of it is completely counter to today's software development lifecycle. Waterfall was king in those days.

user55340

9:15 PM

It takes some understanding of corporate processess to say "ok, that problem is like this one" - for much of it the experience comes first.

Jimmy Hoffa

@psr look above - you may find this worth reading to understand some more about the terminology you see in Haskell

Yannis Rizos

I should set up a site similar to codingconfessional.com but for SE moderators...

user55340

@Wronski to your question of "3 books" - I'm a book fan, but its difficult to find the right 3.

user55340

@Wronski glance at...

user55340

8

A: How Do I Determine the Value of a Technical book?

The majority of the tech books out there are hopping onto a particular bandwagon. With the rate of change of technology (frameworks, languages, cloud applications, fads of the day), many tech authors write poorly done books trying to get them out there to be sold to the masses who are following ...

user55340

9:21 PM

> Books such as The Mythical Man Month, Programming Perls, and The Art of Computer Programming have been around for decades and are still good reading for a programmer

Wronski

@MichaelT I only read "No Silver Bullet" from mr. Brooks (I read it from Internet before I pickup the book).

psr

@JimmyHoffa I read through it quickly - have it bookmarked.

user55340

There's also this monstrosity of a question...

user55340

1440

Q: What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?

If you could go back in time and tell yourself to read a specific book at the beginning of your career as a developer, which book would it be? I expect this list to be varied and to cover a wide range of things. To search: Use the search box in the upper-right corner. To search the answers of t...

resources

user55340

Its 10x gross.

Wronski

9:23 PM

@MichaelT the Knuth book is A MONSTER for me. Simple, I occupy lifetime to finish it.

user55340

@Wronski Knuth isn't meant to be read in one go. its a lifetime in writing... a lifetime in thought would be a good match for it.

Wronski

@MichaelT for example, if you read the "Code Complete" book how many time it takes you to finish?

user55340

Code complete was about a weeks worth of time. Realize that some of this is a matter of how close you are to the material.

user55340

I had been programming for several years when I read it... so it was an adjustment of thought to "ok, thats a good idea" rather than having many new concepts introduced.

user55340

On the other hand, i bet you would read Knuth faster than I would now... since its more... academic in nature than industrial.

Wronski

9:33 PM

@MichaelT if you were my age (24) what book do you start reading after finishing K&R "Code Complete", "Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tols" (by Aho), "Artificial Intelligence (by Peter Norving)", "The Practice of Programming" (by Kernighan and Pike), "Code Comple", "Clean Code" or the Knuth collection?

user55340

AI is interesting, and fun to play with... and you'll likely never touch it once you get out of college. If you want to read it, read it sooner than later.

Wronski

Ok, that's a big book

but I will seriously consider read it after finishing "K&"

Bjarne Stroutrup Book is destined to be kept under the bed

user55340

@Wronski Where the monsters live?

Wronski

In the brain

user55340

I was trying to suggest that C++ belongs to the class of things of "scary monsters used to frighten children"

Wronski

9:41 PM

Yes

I understand you but in and broad sense, not refering to C++, refering to all the books

C, C++ and others thinks don't frighten me, the TIME scares me

user55340

Just wait till you find yourself in a 1M sLOC codebase of C++... then you will learn the true meaning of fear... (MAWHAWHAWHWA!!!! cough couch cough)

user20683

@Wronski because you feel like you'll never know enough or be "done"?

user55340

(crap... 13 merge conflicts...)

Wronski

hahahaha @MichaelT you have all the reason!

Yannis Rizos

@MichaelT Mergerage?

user55340

9:51 PM

internationlization mixed with code changes on the same page. Its a mess.

user55340

Btw, mod types... there's a flag for you.

user55340

0

Q: Moderator Fabian is refusing to delete my own question

Please, if there is some other moderator than Fabian, delete my question: http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/17202/does-the-increase-of-automation-lead-to-unemployment

model

Wronski

@MichaelT i've finish to read you answer in "How Do I Determine the Value of a Technical book?" question, is a nice anewer

user55340

@Wronski Thank you.

Wronski

quoting to you "the books that are good are the ones that are 'timeless' " is pure wisdom.

Yannis Rizos

9:55 PM

@MichaelT Yeah, that's the second one today. Destroyed the account (it's a sock), but I have a feeling he'll be back.

user55340

If I recall correctly, I was trying to divert a different approach on that question of people giving book reviews. I wanted to do the 'general' book review for all tech books.

Wronski

nice

Yannis Rizos

-3

Q: Please, help me with this request

Moderator with the name Fabian is refusing to delete my question http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/17202/does-the-increase-of-automation-lead-to-unemployment. I have asked him several times, but he is deleting my requests and gave me a ban for 1 year instead. Please, if there is some o...

request

user55340

11:14 PM

-4

Q: I can't open the TIF file!

I'm trying hard to open this file, but no luck so far. Could someone please help me? http://www.sendspace.com/file/9oe30i I apologize for using the sendspace server, but I don't know anything better.

image-processing

user55340

While unlikely, it is possible the file linked is malicious.

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