Screened out

I just tried very hard to purchase " ISO/IEC 42010 IEEE Std 1471-2000 Systems and software engineering - Recommended practice for architectural description of software-intensive systems"

I failed.

I need to join IEEE (How much does it cost? That information was not prominent on the home page), and pay further for digital subscriber privileges (How much does that cost?).

Given 40 years of hand-wringing about poor software construction practices, such document probably ought to be issued under a Creative Commons license.

System Modal

In the interest of outstanding user experiences, here are the guidelines Tinobox uses for employing system modal dialog boxes:

• Impending asteroid strike.


• Impending tsunami.

Yes, that's right, if we know you and your computer will be subject to these annoyances, we will certainly break your attention with a system modal dialog box. Otherwise, we assume you have better things to do than be annoyed by poorly designed software.

Java mini-rant

I wrote my first Java code in 1996. Really, I did. You can probably find the applet on the wayback machine. I even wrote a custom Fortran compiler to convert LAPACK to Java source code in 1997.

Eventually, I gave up Java as unworkable on the desktop, too slow in the browser, and too difficult on the server side (Tomcat ca. 1991 anyone? Ugh).

It's now 2008.

I have a choice: use the JRE, or listen to iTunes.

But not both at the same time.

Since I am sure this must be a user error, I'll have to put in a CD and get back to c++.

It's So Unfair!!!

I read this morning the SF Chronicle an article about student loans:

Ackel and other critics say the crux of the problem is that nonprofit guarantors like EdFund are making tens of millions of dollars annually on the backs of struggling defaulted borrowers. And that probably will not change if California sells EdFund -- a private company would be likely to make that money instead.

The idea is that the unfortunate students were duped into borrowing money for higher education, and now they are being unfairly punished with onerous lending terms. That is, they have to pay off the loans, but they can't afford the payments.

Now, of course, we have this:

Education officials at the state and national level have called on the federal government to grant amnesty to borrowers such as Ahrens and Collinge and reduce their debt to the amount they borrowed plus simple interest.

My point is this: I earned my PhD in an area of extremely high cost of living, while borrowing as little as possible. In other words, I lived in poverty. My student loan debt is small. I can pay it off easily. Why should I be expected to relate to someone borrowing more money than they could possibly pay back? Why did they borrow so much anyway?


I have the same feeling about mortgage relief. I rent an apartment because purchasing a home in my area is beyond my current means, unless I take out a ridiculous, punishing mortgage. Why should I be expected to relate to people defaulting on homes they could never afford?


Personally, I feel punished for being fiscally responsible. Apparently, there are few long term consequences for financial irresponsibility. Graduate school would have been much more fun!