Computer Talk

Re: It's my first thread, so we talk about computer software

anyone ever remember FORTRAN and ADA? apparently lots of military software were written in those two languages back in the 1980s. I remember one reports saying that all software for the SAR system onboard the E-8 ground surveillance aircraft were written in FORTRAN. Then it was re-written in C in the 1990s.

ADA was called defence language back then, but not too many people are using it now.

Re: It's my first thread, so we talk about computer software

Yeah, I remember ADA, the defence language. Seems no one is using it outside the defence industry. Same to the COBOL language, I havn't met anyone use it, but many people are saying it is important.

I think script languages are getting really useful and powerful now, especially the PHP and Python. Perl has had its high days, but are too complex to use.

In industry, it seems that C programmers on Unix or Windows are still getting highest pay, while J2EE programmer and .NET programmers are behind.

New technologies also create new jobs, such as Flash programmer.

Re: It's my first thread, so we talk about computer software

I've ever heard about FORTRAN and BASIC, they are mentioned even in my C# book. But they are old, old, old languages that almost no people using them now, right?

Scripting languages are getting popular now, right? Like php, asp and so on, the difference is that php is an opened source language, while asp is Microsoft technologies. I prefer using Microsoft's technology (they seem run slower than others) cause we can get more resource and support than opened ones. btw, anybody wanna learn scripting? I know a good site for learning this , this is the site I started my scripting lanugage.

I notice one thing, SDF is written using php, right?

Re: It's my first thread, so we talk about computer software

I agree with Indianfighter that C is the most powerful language. It is much more flexible than C++ and gives you plenty space to achieve what you wish, particularly the control over member allocation, etc. However, it is a heaven for the programme writer but an absolute a nightmare for those who wish to modify the programme written by others. We used try to make some simple modifications on a small programme in C and it took us months to do this.

Re: It's my first thread, so we talk about computer software

SteelBird said:

I've ever heard about FORTRAN and BASIC, they are mentioned even in my C# book. But they are old, old, old languages that almost no people using them now, right?

Scripting languages are getting popular now, right? Like php, asp and so on, the difference is that php is an opened source language, while asp is Microsoft technologies. I prefer using Microsoft's technology (they seem run slower than others) cause we can get more resource and support than opened ones. btw, anybody wanna learn scripting? I know a good site for learning this

Please, Log in or Register to view URLs content!

, this is the site I started my scripting lanugage.

I notice one thing, SDF is written using php, right?

Click to expand...

While it seems like nobody is using BASIC now, unless you count Visual Basic, FORTRAN is still widely used and in fact is the de facto language in scientific computing community.

Scripting languages are really important now. For server side scripting, I think PHP and ASP are equally important, while Perl is fading out. For client side scripting, Java Script Language is universal. Consider the popularity of new technologies such as AJAX, I believe JSP will be much more important than VB Script.

Re: It's my first thread, so we talk about computer software

Dongfeng said:

I agree with Indianfighter that C is the most powerful language. It is much more flexible than C++ and gives you plenty space to achieve what you wish, particularly the control over member allocation, etc. However, it is a heaven for the programme writer but an absolute a nightmare for those who wish to modify the programme written by others. We used try to make some simple modifications on a small programme in C and it took us months to do this.

Click to expand...

I love C and I am most proficient on C, but I also hate C. A C program can be very hard to understand especially when the program uses macro, pointer and function callback extensively. Also, the controvertial conditional compilation in C such as "ifdef-else if" can also make the program less understood.

Computer Talk!!

Many claim that's illegal on microsoft part to black out scheme on its monitor even if the OS is pirated.

I am curious why doesn't China switch to Linux OS. I use Linux. It operates alot like Windows Nowadays. Serving the web and has Open office suite.

Plus it's going to promoe Godson based processors and system. It will help CHina in the long run.

Get rid of Windows and go to Linux.. or at least Minimize it.

Just a matter of getting used to it. If chinese schools promote Linux for its student. Then Windows will be regared as a strange piece of software.

Re: Many Chinese internet users are angry about Microsoft's blackout scheme..

I kinda heard of it, but wasn't aware of a user backlash. Googling yields this .

The way I look at it: if you got the balls to use pirated software, you better be ready to deal with the fact that everyone might know that you are using pirated software.

Filing for lawsuit is even more stupid, now Microsoft has a list of confirmed users of pirated software whom they can sue for infringement of intellectual property rights and software piracy.

To the OP: you are making no distinction between Chinese government and ordinary Chinese citizens in your original post. It's not like the Chinese government can issue an edict and be like "alright, everyone switch to Linux"; or that every single Chinese citizen would wake up one day and spontaneous go "hey, using Linux is good for China, I'll switch to Linux."

At the end of the day, Windows is popular not because it's the best OS around, but because there are tons of applications and games designed for it.

Re: Many Chinese internet users are angry about Microsoft's blackout scheme..

It's Microsoft's code, they can do whatever they please. They have no contractual obligation to users outside their service agreement, and zero contractual obligation to users who pirate their software.

On Linux: it's about the software base and ease of use. It is true now that the main productivity software are available for free in the form of OpenOffice and Google Documents, but the vast majority of useful applications and, perhaps more importantly, popular games, are written for use under Windows. Sure you may not notice it since you are already using Linux, but someone who has always used windows and uses many Windows only programs regularly will not switch.

With Linux, if something goes wrong, you're back at the console and jabbing away at commands with obscure abbreviations and arbitrary shortened words and non-intuitive parameters. It's a jungle of dashes and colons. Sure a technical person would google or browse forums for help, but that is a tiny portion of the computer using population. For the average user, everything needs to be in a GUI, and even the best linux distros have not achieved that, especially for stuff like debugging drivers and network.

Perhaps a nice compromise is a red flag linux OS for office and browsing with a virtualized emulated windows for gaming, or just dualbooting. If I recall, WINE has hardware support if you use a processor with virtualization, so it isn't emulation but direct native code execution. But getting hefty graphics to work with that will be challenging. Maybe for businesses, the lack of gaming and fluff software will actually be an incentive for businesses to switch to linux.

Re: Many Chinese internet users are angry about Microsoft's blackout scheme..

As far as I know, the "black screen nag" doesn't disable Windows or its ability to run apps?




Why the hate? Microsoft is not obliged to provide updates and support to people who bootlegged their software. If you don't want the "black screen nag" on your bootlegged copy of Windows, simply disable automatic update.