Steve Gibson claimed in the podcast Security Now, episode 250, that spool used as a verb (as in printer spooling) is not a normal verb, but is an acronym.
Wikipedia starts with the same information, but note "backronym" in the following from Spooling:
"According to Tanenbaum, "Spool" is an acronym for simultaneous peripheral operations on-line[1] (though others may consider this a backronym), or as for printers: simultaneous peripheral output on line."
I asked about this at iRosetta and Donald Remero disagrees with Steve Gibson in his answer.
2010-05-28
2010-05-26
News on Stack Exchange 2.0
There is news about Stack Exchange 2.0: Interview with Lead Developer David Fullerton.
They are inviting beta testers.
They are inviting beta testers.
2010-05-22
Jump the shark
Updated 2014-09-13
Jump the shark is not yet a meme at The Many Memes of Meta, a page on the meta site for the Stack Overflow family of Q&A sites ("Q&A sites" means "question and answer sites", Wikipedia is useless in this instance).
It is based on Jeff Atwood's blog post Has Joel Spolsky Jumped the Shark? on 2006-09-11.
There are many references both inside and outside the Stack Overflow podcast:
1. 2007-04-26. Episode 232 of the .NET Rocks podcast, 25 min 37 sec - 30 min 15 sec. Joel Spolsky explains/defends the choice of writing their own computer language, Wasabi. MP3 download link (the episode is in two parts, this is the second part). 22.2 MB.
2. 2008-04-29. Episode 3 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 18 min 34 sec (indirect reference to Jump the shark, "wasabi". By Jeff Atwood.). And 20 min 14 sec - 32 min 31 sec. MP3 download link. 21.4 MB.
3. 2008-05-13. Episode 5 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 01 min 02 sec - 03 min 18 sec. Jeff Atwood actually calls it a meme and that several times. MP3 download link. 22.3 MB.
4. 2008-05-27. Episode 7 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 58 min 58 sec - 59 min 44 sec. MP3 download link. 21.9 MB.
5. 2008-06-03. Episode 8 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 06 min 53 sec. Indirect reference to jump the shark by Jeff Atwood: "You are a wasabi guy, it is worse!". MP3 download link. 31.3 MB.
6. 2008-06-03. Episode 8 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 47 min 36 sec. Indirect reference to jump the shark by Jeff Atwood (transcription is difficult): ""I have a mental image of Joel Spolsky like pulling the fridge and being unable to do so. Going "I felt Wasabi would totally solve this problem""". MP3 download link. 31.3 MB.
7. 2008-06-03. Episode 8 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 49 min 50 sec. Indirect reference to jump the shark by Jeff Atwood: "What? You are creating a new language, what, you are crazy. You know what that sounds like, right?, Joel ". MP3 download link. 31.3 MB.
8. 2008-07-22. Episode 13 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 25 min 19 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 30.6 MB.
9. 2008-08-12. Episode 19 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 58 min 48 sec. Joel Spolsky makes an indirect reference to Jump the shark ("... had to have our compiler [wasabi]"). MP3 download link. 32.6 MB.
10. 2008-12-02. Episode 32 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 35 min 28 sec. Jeff Atwood makes indirect/unnamed reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. MP3 download link. 32.7 MB.
11. 2009-04-07. Episode 48 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 02 min 23 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 36.0 MB.
12. 2009-04-14. Episode 158 of Hanselminutes. 2 min 03 secs - about 13 minutes. Scott Hanselman interviews Joel Spolsky. Joel Spolsky explains in depth the story behind Wasabi. Some of the reasons are constraints. And later, at 23 min 30 secs - about 27 minutes Jump the shark is directly discussed. Scott Hanselman asks directly whether Joel Spolsky was insulted by Jeff Atwood's blog post.
13. 2009-05-05. Episode 52 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 42 min 30 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 29.6 MB.
14. 2009-05-26. Episode 55 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 17 min 57 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 30.5 MB.
15. 2009-06-02. Episode 56 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 1 hour 14 min 02 sec. The guest makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 34.7 MB.
16. 2009-10-19. Episode 71 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 1 hour 24 min 30 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Wasabi (origin of Jump the shark). MP3 download link. 30.4 MB.
17. 2009-10-23. Episode XX of Hanselminutes. Hanselminutes on 9 - Spolsky, Atwood, Blyth, Hanselman = Crazy-Delicious || Content-Free?
18. 2009-12-15. Episode 78 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 35 min 25 sec. Jeff Atwood makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 30.4 MB.
19. 2010-01-05. Episode 79 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 56 min 05 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 35.0 MB.
20. 2010-01-26. Episode 81 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 16 min 49 sec. Jeff Atwood makes an indirect reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 32.1 MB.
21. 2010-02-16. Episode 84 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 30 min 34 sec. A member of the Stack Exchange team makes an indirect reference to Jump the shark (Wasabi). MP3 download link. 26.5 MB.
To be continued...
Jump the shark is not yet a meme at The Many Memes of Meta, a page on the meta site for the Stack Overflow family of Q&A sites ("Q&A sites" means "question and answer sites", Wikipedia is useless in this instance).
It is based on Jeff Atwood's blog post Has Joel Spolsky Jumped the Shark? on 2006-09-11.
There are many references both inside and outside the Stack Overflow podcast:
1. 2007-04-26. Episode 232 of the .NET Rocks podcast, 25 min 37 sec - 30 min 15 sec. Joel Spolsky explains/defends the choice of writing their own computer language, Wasabi. MP3 download link (the episode is in two parts, this is the second part). 22.2 MB.
2. 2008-04-29. Episode 3 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 18 min 34 sec (indirect reference to Jump the shark, "wasabi". By Jeff Atwood.). And 20 min 14 sec - 32 min 31 sec. MP3 download link. 21.4 MB.
3. 2008-05-13. Episode 5 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 01 min 02 sec - 03 min 18 sec. Jeff Atwood actually calls it a meme and that several times. MP3 download link. 22.3 MB.
4. 2008-05-27. Episode 7 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 58 min 58 sec - 59 min 44 sec. MP3 download link. 21.9 MB.
5. 2008-06-03. Episode 8 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 06 min 53 sec. Indirect reference to jump the shark by Jeff Atwood: "You are a wasabi guy, it is worse!". MP3 download link. 31.3 MB.
6. 2008-06-03. Episode 8 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 47 min 36 sec. Indirect reference to jump the shark by Jeff Atwood (transcription is difficult): ""I have a mental image of Joel Spolsky like pulling the fridge and being unable to do so. Going "I felt Wasabi would totally solve this problem""". MP3 download link. 31.3 MB.
7. 2008-06-03. Episode 8 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 49 min 50 sec. Indirect reference to jump the shark by Jeff Atwood: "What? You are creating a new language, what, you are crazy. You know what that sounds like, right?, Joel ". MP3 download link. 31.3 MB.
8. 2008-07-22. Episode 13 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 25 min 19 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 30.6 MB.
9. 2008-08-12. Episode 19 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 58 min 48 sec. Joel Spolsky makes an indirect reference to Jump the shark ("... had to have our compiler [wasabi]"). MP3 download link. 32.6 MB.
10. 2008-12-02. Episode 32 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 35 min 28 sec. Jeff Atwood makes indirect/unnamed reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. MP3 download link. 32.7 MB.
11. 2009-04-07. Episode 48 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 02 min 23 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 36.0 MB.
12. 2009-04-14. Episode 158 of Hanselminutes. 2 min 03 secs - about 13 minutes. Scott Hanselman interviews Joel Spolsky. Joel Spolsky explains in depth the story behind Wasabi. Some of the reasons are constraints. And later, at 23 min 30 secs - about 27 minutes Jump the shark is directly discussed. Scott Hanselman asks directly whether Joel Spolsky was insulted by Jeff Atwood's blog post.
13. 2009-05-05. Episode 52 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 42 min 30 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 29.6 MB.
14. 2009-05-26. Episode 55 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 17 min 57 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 30.5 MB.
15. 2009-06-02. Episode 56 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 1 hour 14 min 02 sec. The guest makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 34.7 MB.
16. 2009-10-19. Episode 71 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 1 hour 24 min 30 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Wasabi (origin of Jump the shark). MP3 download link. 30.4 MB.
17. 2009-10-23. Episode XX of Hanselminutes. Hanselminutes on 9 - Spolsky, Atwood, Blyth, Hanselman = Crazy-Delicious || Content-Free?
18. 2009-12-15. Episode 78 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 35 min 25 sec. Jeff Atwood makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 30.4 MB.
19. 2010-01-05. Episode 79 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 56 min 05 sec. Joel Spolsky makes a reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 35.0 MB.
20. 2010-01-26. Episode 81 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 16 min 49 sec. Jeff Atwood makes an indirect reference to Jump the shark. MP3 download link. 32.1 MB.
21. 2010-02-16. Episode 84 of the Stack Overflow podcast, 30 min 34 sec. A member of the Stack Exchange team makes an indirect reference to Jump the shark (Wasabi). MP3 download link. 26.5 MB.
To be continued...
2010-05-18
Top 200 blogs by software developers
Jurgen Appelo published a list of the top 200 blogs by software developers. The ranking is based on a metric developed by him.
Scott Hanselman's blog is number one and Jurgen Appelo's own blog is number 23.
Somewhat surprising the Stack Overflow blog is up at the 15th place despite the infrequent postings and it being used mostly for announcements.
Scott Hanselman's blog is number one and Jurgen Appelo's own blog is number 23.
Somewhat surprising the Stack Overflow blog is up at the 15th place despite the infrequent postings and it being used mostly for announcements.
2010-05-16
This week in Venture Capital mentions Stack Overflow
Episode 6 of This week in Venture Capital (TWiVC) mentions Stack Overflow. The occasion is the Series A round of funding of USD$6 Million.
They speculate that the valuation of Stack Overflow is in the range USD$15 Million to USD$18 Million.
MP3 file. 1 h 06 min 26 secs. 39 MB. Published 2010-05-12.
They speculate that the valuation of Stack Overflow is in the range USD$15 Million to USD$18 Million.
MP3 file. 1 h 06 min 26 secs. 39 MB. Published 2010-05-12.
2010-05-12
.NET idiomatic code snippets for regular expressions
Using regular expressions in .NET is far more verbose than in Perl and the examples on MSDN are not very good.
It is also difficult to find idiomatic code for common things on Stack Overflow. Searching will come up with how to make the regular expressions themselves and not how to implement it in terms of C# or VB.NET.
Here is the idomatic code, in C#
1. Simple to match and extract:
string estr = Regex.Match(inputText, @"/(\d+)/").Groups[1].Value;
Where inputText contains the text to be matched and "/(\d+)/" is a sample regular expression. Note that those are forward slashes and are matched literally. What is inside the parenthesis pair is extracted, in this case "\d+" (one or more digits - effectively an integer number). Namespace System.Text.RegularExpressions must be included for this to work ("using System.Text.RegularExpressions;").
2. Replace matched text with some fixed text (empty in this case, effectively removing the matched text):
Regex rgx = new Regex(@"\D");
IDstr = rgx.Replace(inputText, "");
Where inputText contains the text to be matched and "\D" is a sample regular expression (matching everything but digits).
NB: The answers to Stack Overflow question "Regular expression to retrieve everything before first slash" and "Parse filename from full path using regular expressions in C#" does contain some sample code.
It is also difficult to find idiomatic code for common things on Stack Overflow. Searching will come up with how to make the regular expressions themselves and not how to implement it in terms of C# or VB.NET.
Here is the idomatic code, in C#
1. Simple to match and extract:
string estr = Regex.Match(inputText, @"/(\d+)/").Groups[1].Value;
Where inputText contains the text to be matched and "/(\d+)/" is a sample regular expression. Note that those are forward slashes and are matched literally. What is inside the parenthesis pair is extracted, in this case "\d+" (one or more digits - effectively an integer number). Namespace System.Text.RegularExpressions must be included for this to work ("using System.Text.RegularExpressions;").
2. Replace matched text with some fixed text (empty in this case, effectively removing the matched text):
Regex rgx = new Regex(@"\D");
IDstr = rgx.Replace(inputText, "");
Where inputText contains the text to be matched and "\D" is a sample regular expression (matching everything but digits).
NB: The answers to Stack Overflow question "Regular expression to retrieve everything before first slash" and "Parse filename from full path using regular expressions in C#" does contain some sample code.
2010-05-02
Uncyclopedia
Long live Wikepedia!
However, if you want to relax a bit from all the correctness take a look at Uncyclopedia - a website that parodies Wikipedia. It also exists in other languages than English and with local content. For example Spademanns Leksikon, the Danish version.
Samples:
However, if you want to relax a bit from all the correctness take a look at Uncyclopedia - a website that parodies Wikipedia. It also exists in other languages than English and with local content. For example Spademanns Leksikon, the Danish version.
Samples:
- Question mark. "Do some people place a space between the end of their sentence and the question mark? Could the French language have influenced this extra usage? Why do the French always add a space before question marks, exclamation marks, colons, and semicolons? Then in English is the insertion of this extra blank space generally considered bad form?"
2010-04-30
Joel Spolsky's turn in Hanselminutes
In the latest Hanselminutes podcast, episode 212, Joel Spolsky (of Stack Overflow) discuss with the host about podcasting. It is very much meta - talking about podcasting. Leo Laporte is mentioned.
Published 2010-04-23. MP3 file (47 min 03 secs. 32 MB).
Published 2010-04-23. MP3 file (47 min 03 secs. 32 MB).
2010-04-29
Converting a SWF file
There is a web page with a Flash video demonstrating Campfire. So what do you do if you don't like neither Flash nor JavaScript for security reasons?
In the source for the page there are some comments about the (default) URL for the video being defined in the file cf_introduction_config.xml. There is indeed a reference to the XML file: http://37assets.s3.amazonaws.com/video/campfirenow/cf_introduction_config.xml.
Downloading this file and inspecting it reveals two URLs:
The last file has the file extension normally used for Flash videos, flv. However attempting to download it with Wget results in a 403 error.
The first file, a SWF file (for displaying "animated" vector graphics), can be downloaded, though. It has a length of 9.5 MB. It can be converted to a working MP3 file, so at least it contains audio. I used MediaCoder to get the MP3 file. Could it be played in Gnash and show some animation?
Gnash may be used. From the FAQ, "What operating systems does Gnash run on?" there is this somewhat cryptic statement:
But it is not clear where such builds can be found, if they can be trusted and if they require Mingw to run.
I tried to install Mingw, but it required too much effort. It is not straightforward.
In the end I dragged the SWF file onto Firefox, and it worked! Probably because the plug-in Shockwave Flash was installed. I haven't installed it, and I don't know how it came to be there. Pretty scary. So much for security.
In the source for the page there are some comments about the (default) URL for the video being defined in the file cf_introduction_config.xml. There is indeed a reference to the XML file: http://37assets.s3.amazonaws.com/video/campfirenow/cf_introduction_config.xml.
Downloading this file and inspecting it reveals two URLs:
- http://37assets.s3.amazonaws.com/video/campfirenow/cf_introduction.swf
- http://37assets.s3.amazonaws.com/video/campfirenow/cf_introduction_PIP.flv
The last file has the file extension normally used for Flash videos, flv. However attempting to download it with Wget results in a 403 error.
The first file, a SWF file (for displaying "animated" vector graphics), can be downloaded, though. It has a length of 9.5 MB. It can be converted to a working MP3 file, so at least it contains audio. I used MediaCoder to get the MP3 file. Could it be played in Gnash and show some animation?
Gnash may be used. From the FAQ, "What operating systems does Gnash run on?" there is this somewhat cryptic statement:
Windows builds are available (compiled against Mingw).
But it is not clear where such builds can be found, if they can be trusted and if they require Mingw to run.
I tried to install Mingw, but it required too much effort. It is not straightforward.
In the end I dragged the SWF file onto Firefox, and it worked! Probably because the plug-in Shockwave Flash was installed. I haven't installed it, and I don't know how it came to be there. Pretty scary. So much for security.
2010-04-28
Interview with the creator of .NET
Anders Heilsberg was interviewed on 2010-04-06 in the .NET Rocks podcast, episode 541. Direct link to MP3 file.
2010-04-26
Stack Overflow podcast 87 is out!
After a long hiatus a new Stack Overflow podcast is out! Episode 87.
Direct download MP3 link. 29.1 MB. 1 h 03 min 35 sec.
Direct download MP3 link. 29.1 MB. 1 h 03 min 35 sec.
Interpretor is not a word
I saw interpretor used in a Stack Overflow post. Is it the same as interpreter? Yes, it is. And interpretor is not a word.
I asked at iRosetta and the affirmative answer from Donald Romero was that this word does not exist.
Subsequently I added an entry for interpretor at Wiktionary.
I asked at iRosetta and the affirmative answer from Donald Romero was that this word does not exist.
Subsequently I added an entry for interpretor at Wiktionary.
Jump page for Stack Overflow, etc.
I have a jump page for iRosetta, Stack Overflow, Wikipedia, etc.
Of particular notice: iRosetta is a place where you can ask language related question and get very high quality answers. It is based on the same software as Stack Overflow.
Of particular notice: iRosetta is a place where you can ask language related question and get very high quality answers. It is based on the same software as Stack Overflow.
Using Firefox without a mouse
It is possible to use Firefox without ever touching the mouse, including opening links. For navigating links on a page the first few letters of a link text can be typed and that link will selected so pressing Enter will open it.
It just requires a few changes to Firefox.
From Firefox: non-Vimperator way to do mouseless browsing?:
It just requires a few changes to Firefox.
From Firefox: non-Vimperator way to do mouseless browsing?:
- Set to on: menu Tools/Options/Advanced/tab General/Accessibility/Search for text when I start typing
- Set option to only go to links; in address bar enter: about:config, followed by Enter. Then: press "I'll be careful, I promise", find the line accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly, select it and change the value to True by either hitting Enter or Shift+F10/Toggle (accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly is on line 11 when I tried).
- Turn off case-sensitivity. Set accessibility.typeaheadfind.casesensitive to 0 (same procedure as for accessibility.typeaheadfind.linksonly, see above. When Enter is pressed a dialog box will appear with the current value. Type 0 and press Enter).
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