I know that it is helpful at times to realize that invention and innovation could happen in a myriad of ways, but I don't think that is a fair way of looking at things in this case, or in many cases.
Without the invention of the mouse, we might all still be using trackballs. A mouse to me is not an "A ha!" invention. I remember when I first used one that it seemed silly to move a trackball around upside-down like that.
And without laser printing, we might all still be using ribbon cartridges at work, because of time/cost concerns with inkjet.
Everything that happens can have profound effects on the future. Think of the Challenger and Columbia disasters. While it's true that the American public had somewhat lost interest in the shuttle program prior to the Challenger disaster, they didn't think of it as risky or dangerous. Think of the lives that would have been saved and how much farther along we might be in space exploration had greater precaution been taken.
and the examples themselves just look a little crazy, imo. Not crazy because of what you are trying to do, but in how you are trying to do it. What was the intent of calling a method that defines an argument without an argument? That's not a problem of the language; that's just an error in coding. There are all kinds of things in Ruby to handle method definition. Arguments can have defaults. You can use splat and unsplat to handle unspecified arguments and composing arguments of various # on the fly. You can pass in blocks specifically (&something) or optionally (yield, etc.). Procs allow argument sillyness and returning the parent method by explicit return in the proc body, lambdas don't, etc. Ruby is a great language, and you should give it a college try for several months to get the hang of it.
By the same token, I have no clue what you are trying to do here:
def f(x); def g(y); x + y; end; g(2); end; f(2)
# undefined local variable or method `x'
You can define methods on object instances, if that is what you are getting at (define_method/class_eval/etc.), and getting familiar with blocks, procs/lambdas might help. It isn't JavaScript, but I can't think of that much that I couldn't do in Ruby (barring high performance, compile-time type checking, etc.)
> Most “scripting” languages don't support annotations for checking parameters and return values
I coded in Java for many years and Ruby for the last several, the lack of explicit type checking in method signatures or via annotations built into Ruby has not gotten in the way enough where I felt I needed to add something to decorate methods to do some generic form of type checking in Ruby. When I really need to check the type of an object sent into a method, it is typically a method that can handle different types, and in that case, I'll use respond_to?(...) to see that an object passed in as an argument responds to a method, use a case statement, is_a?(...), etc. but that is certainly not on every method- probably more like 1 in 20-30 methods.
Also, in the comparison section of the doc, OCaml and Python were represented, but not Ruby. As of late 2013, there are more jobs containing "Ruby" in the job description than "OCaml": http://www.indeed.com/jobtrends?q=ocaml%2C+ruby&l= So, imo it should give Ruby some love with a comparison.
Though we had a bit of fun in the past when multiple people are merging migrations at once, since it keeps version #s in the bottom of structure.sql and that can get out-of-whack if things aren't handled carefully, using structure.sql (config.active_record.schema_format :sql) is really not a bad way to handle a legacy schema/DB, depending on your process and requirements.
I think Raleigh is the best bang for the buck for tech, food, drink, and residence anywhere in the U.S.
Downtown Raleigh has art festivals, music festivals (Hopscotch, Wide Open Bluegrass), Red Hat amphitheater, and Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts (including Meymandi Concert Hall, Fletcher Opera Theater, Kennedy Theater, Memorial Auditorium), etc. There are a lot of great restaurants within walking distance of some nice/fun bars. You don't even have to walk or ride; they have a Trolley you can ride for free (or rent!), a Trolley Pub (bike bar), rickshaws, etc. There are clubs (various kinds and each age groups), but that's not as much my scene anymore. They are to a saturation point with microbrewing companies in the area, they have so many: http://www.ncbeer.org/brewery-map/ And that's not all of Raleigh, e.g. North Hills has been having great free outdoor concerts with a few great bars (and a great grocery store if you want to be cheap) right next to it, which has been our fav recently. It is basically everything you love about a "small town" (great people, community, lower cost of living) in a well-educated and resourced area (NCSU, UNC-CH, Duke Univ. and too many tech companies to mention) with plenty of great places to eat and things to do.
But, Durham has DPAC, lots of great restaurants, a good startup scene, including areas devoted to startups like the Underground in the American Tobacco District next to DPAC and the Durham Bulls ballpark (where they do concerts, too.), etc.
And for the best hole-in-the-wall places to eat, you just have to ask around enough, like anywhere else. It might be a hot pot Chinese place in some random Morrisville strip mall, etc.
Also fit for livestock, but difficult to bale. And used medicinally (anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial to treat headaches, tinnitus, vertigo, Wei syndrome, alcoholism and hangover), and even for basketry. Unfortunately, the U.S. just considers it a nuisance and doesn't take advantage of it.
Metric time is fun, but why not take it a step further and abandon the metric system, which places too much emphasis on base 10? We used the (21 cm) hydrogen line in the Pioneer plaque; if we don't use metric with our potential cosmic neighbors, isn't that a sign we should reconsider its usage?
This is at once a brilliant and useless post. The brilliance is that of course you should provide something that people need that is risk averse, and using the analogy of making tires during the transitional period of wagon to automobile works well. The uselessness is both that everyone cannot make tires, literally or figuratively, and it is very difficult to know what the modern day "tire" is. Is it long lasting, high output energy source? Is it an internet-independent lifestyle-enhancer? Does it make me more energetic without unwanted side-effects or risk to my long-term health?
"Foxconn stated that they intend to have FFOS running on all categories of the “8 screen” devices, from smartphone to tablets to laptops to TVs and outdoor signage."
Name me another mobile OS that will be running on laptops or outdoor signage. :) This, I think, is the bigger vision of FF OS that is the reason people should get interested and involved.
You can gain back a lot more than you lose, even if you get into a habit of "better" eating and more exercise for months.
You probably think that exercising and eating "better" should be fine, because anything you do for three weeks becomes a habit, right? Well, not exactly. Bad habits can be much harder to break, and you may not have really broken them the way you think you have: http://science.howstuffworks.com/life/form-a-habit.htm
Be really careful before a drastic change to your diet and exercise habits just to lose 10-15 lbs, especially if your doctor and the majority of those close to you don't think you need to lose weight. It can backfire.
However, a gradual change, especially when you can do it in a reasonable, sustainable way, can be a great idea.
"God made natural numbers; all else is the work of man" - Leopold Kronecker. Possibly misquoted by Raymond Ayoub in "Musings of the Masters: An Anthology of Mathematical Reflections".
The first version of anything worthwhile is typically an experiment. I'm excited about the prospect of a great way to write Go apps in the future that is better than what we have now. One of the best ways to kill a project is by trying to be something else.
> We wanted to know if it was possible to use Building Blocks not only for its main purpose, that’s creating phone applications, but also as a base to create a standard web site.
While I've known that the "phone" has been the primary target so far of FF OS, but still I'm a little sad that I'm reading it.
iOS and Android are built for tablets as well as phones. iOS is going to be expanding by allowing more devices to connect in their next version. When I first heard about FF OS, I thought: "Awesome! Now I can start writing HTML5 apps for my phone, my tablet, my desktop, etc." But, then I found out that the goal was just to be a phone. I not only spend a lot more of my day on a laptop/desktop than a phone, but I'd like to live in a future where the software can be written once for desktop, laptop, tablet, phone, "watch", car, or other device, and new hardware can easily be integrated with it (such as a keyboard, printer, car electronics/computer, stereo, etc.).
I think it is awesome that FF OS apps will be easier to develop, but I wish there was something fun to develop in HTML5 and JS that I couldn't do already in Android or iOS. To do this, FF OS has to stop being afraid to really dig into Gonk and make it as easily extensible on the hardware side as it is to develop and share HTML5 apps in FF OS.
Without the invention of the mouse, we might all still be using trackballs. A mouse to me is not an "A ha!" invention. I remember when I first used one that it seemed silly to move a trackball around upside-down like that.
And without laser printing, we might all still be using ribbon cartridges at work, because of time/cost concerns with inkjet.
Everything that happens can have profound effects on the future. Think of the Challenger and Columbia disasters. While it's true that the American public had somewhat lost interest in the shuttle program prior to the Challenger disaster, they didn't think of it as risky or dangerous. Think of the lives that would have been saved and how much farther along we might be in space exploration had greater precaution been taken.