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From: terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C)
Subject: Re: QIC NEWS response to the special issue.
Message-ID: <1993Apr28.041500.28872@fcom.cc.utah.edu>
Keywords: QIC NEWS
Sender: news@fcom.cc.utah.edu
Organization: Weber State University (Ogden, UT)
References: <jmonroyC5zA1p.M7C@netcom.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 93 04:15:00 GMT
Lines: 122
In article <jmonroyC5zA1p.M7C@netcom.com> jmonroy@netcom.com (Jesus Monroy Jr) writes:
>>> From: terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C)
>>> 2) Without question, these constraints are obvious to all but the most
>>> casual observer of source code projects given the tools available
>>> and the necessity of not including cvs/sccs/rcs or other source code
>>> maintenance archives on target machines due to some users need for
>>> :: [deleted] ::
>>>
> YES, the patchkit work is very difficult.
This was a comment on your apparent ignorance of the constraints on source
code projects given a limited resource set, not a comment on the difficulty
of producing a product which does not exceed the limited resources. Your
statements about "the way it should be" with regard to the release
engineering in particular ignored the constraints imposed by available
resources (including the "diff" and "patch" programs) and implied either
ignorance or incompetence on the part of the producers of the patchkit,
myself included. This is a false impression perpetuated by you glossing
over the fact that the patchkit is a layered application built on existing
software, and I resented your statements.
>>> As to floppy formatting, you obviously missed the following articles:
>>>
> I did not make the statement about the "gurus".
> I only reported it.
>
>>> <1asvcfINN7qu@network.ucsd.edu> (wherein Brian Kantor discusses his approach)
>>> <wutcd.721147077@hadrian> (wherein Joerg Wunsch discusses floppy issues)
>>> <wutcd.721147522@hadrian> (wherein he provides a floppy format program)
>>>
>>> Not suprising, since they were posted in comp.unix.bsd 6 months ago for the
>>> first article and 5 months ago for the second and third. Add the Bruce
>>> Evans hacks for spl problems, and I have been happily formatting for a
>>> long time without problems.
>>>
> Are we speaking about low-level formatting for
> raw unformated diskettes, fresh from the factory?
Yes, that is precisely what we are speaking about; is that not what you
were referring to? Obviously, "newfs" has been working since early on
(as evidenced by the existance of "dist.fs" and "fixit.fs" disks). If
you had checked my references and your logic, this is the conclusion
you would have reached.
>>> This is not a condemnation of your efforts, which may be very real; it is
>>> a condemnation of your admixture of politics and what could otherwise be
>>> a worthwhile technical discussion.
>>>
> I have made no political statements in the QIC NEWS
> about the patchkit efforts.
> I am sorry to report to you only the messages of others.
> Remember, "FLAMES to the editor", this was the intent
> of this special issue.
Your editorial policy implies a stand on an issue, if nothing else... if
you did not agree, it would not have been included, or it would have been
included with a disclaimer or a rebuttal. William Randolph Hearst claimed
(until his death in 1951) that he was not responsible for the Spanish
American War (by way of yellow journalism).
>>> I will go further - by your continued insistence on interleaving
>>> technical facts (of often dubious value),
>>>
> Do you facts to back up your accusations?
I will back this up. Your "cost of i++ vs if( flag)" analysis is a
shining example of dubious technical merit. It is extremely bound to the
architecture in question, ignores the fact that the add may result in an
"add unity to memory" rather than an "add immediate to register" or "add
unity to register" (in increasing order of speed). It also ignores the
effect of internal and external caches, branch prediction algorithms on
architectures such as the DEC Alpha (which incidently needs a PC style
floppy driver on its low end EISA based machines), and the fact that
many branches may be performed without compares based on the condition
codes from the previous operations -- and this is without increasing the
percentace that fall into this category with code reordering compiler
technology.
>>> Please don't baby me. Some of us a very good programmers that can
>>> understand complex subjects, and even understand hardware. So they
>>> are long and terse. That's only a sign of poor documentation anyway.
>>>
> What's a sign of poor documentation?
Terseness. The pronoun "that" refers to "terseness" in the previous
sentence... ie:
1that \(')th_at\ pron, pl those \(')th_o^-z\
[ME, fr. OE thaet, neut. demonstrative pron. & definite article; akin
to OHG daz, neuter demonstrative pron. & definite article, Gk
to, L istud, neut. demonstrative pron.]
(bef. 12c)
[ ...]
3b -- used as a function word immediately before or after a word group
consisting of a verbal auxiliary or a form of the verb be preceded
by there or a personal pronoun subject to indicate emphatic
repetition of the idea expressed by a previous verb or predicate
noun or predicate adjective <is she capable? That she is>
Terry Lambert
terry@icarus.weber.edu
-- Gravely anticipating my inclusion in another piece of experimental
-- fiction whose content includes (in decreasing proportions) 1) as many
-- double entendres and sexual inuendos as can be fit, 2) Explicit
-- comments or editorial policy backing a masked political statement,
-- 3) pseudo-technical information disguised as a tutorial on "how to
-- program", and 4) any information related to the subject which has
-- managed to escape the editors notice.
PS: I wouldn't have to flame you here if you'd let me flame you by email,
something you have refused to do in the past.
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.
--
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