E-Cigarette Forum Discussion Thread

[MadmanMacguyver]

Hmm well I suppose so......
Glad I don't have any though!
Clothes that is or bark.
Anyone care to join me?
C.B.

in the woods...nah too self conscious..

 

[hobotivo]

But it soooooo does..... you're ripping my heart out here man. ;-)

I get you, I know where you're coming from. If you're into reverse engineering and breaking software then it's a must though. Which reminds me I have to upgrade my IDA Pro before I pass out. -Magnus

Yes, I agree, assembler IS important...

1) It's the lingua franca of the computer world. Without it you can't read things like Knuth's "The Art of Computer Programming." All the example code in TAOCP is in a sort of crazy generic assembler. No physical machine actually implements Knuth's MIX architecture, but if you can code ASMH, or x86 assembler or, frankly, any assembler you can understand it. It's kind of like the Latin of computer languages, any professional needs a working knowledge. Newton didn't write The Principia in English, did he?

2) It brings you closer to the metal. You really need to understand the difference in execution speed when things like loop control variables are in registers vs. RAM. Sure, a good optimizing compiler will do its best to handle that sort of thing but never as good as *you* can, with your in depth knowledge of just how the variables are being used.

3) Real Life Example: I led the Technical Team responsible for Y2K remediation for a major AU government department. We had 16 programs for which no source code could be found, all we had was the machine code. Because I could understand assembler code I was able to run the machine code through a disassembler, work through the assembler code produced (although it was an absolute pig of a task) and determine if there were any date exposures. How else could this have been handled?

4) In the mainframe world you simply can't be a Systems Programmer (aka God, or possibly analogous to a Sysadmin in the *nix world) without assembler, we use it every day. Database schemas for IMS are written using assembler, sort exits are written in assembler, assembler is simply EVERYWHERE. The average application programmer doesn't know it , but it is.

5) How the hell can you debug without assembler? A single high level language statement might generate dozens, or even hundreds of machine code instructions if you deeply nest functions. Just where in:

DO I = 1 REPEAT I+1 WHILE (I_PTR -> STRUCT.J ^= NULL()) UNTIL (SQRT(P) < 4 | ABS(Q) > 5);

is the error actually occurring? (The above PL/I pseudo-code is just drivel I spewed out, it probably wouldn't even compile so don't bother debugging it. )

6) Assembler's fun. Well, I think it is.

Cheers

 

[nitejanitor]

I'm going to start lurking on boards & maybe when sept 9 rolls around then maybe I'll post again-till then take care & its been educational the things you've brought to lite about e cigs.

 

[renstyle]

Ahem...the correct term is "brats" - rhymes with "pots" (Sorry, had to rib you - I'm a native of beer and brat country! LOL!)

at least he had it right phonetically!

 

[MadmanMacguyver]

thats the problem...I do that sometimes...My mother had a time of convincing me as a 4 yr old that pedestrian wasn't pedastrainian...lol

add dyslexic or aphasia to my list of disabilities...lol

 

[renstyle]

There must be a few of us by the looks of it.

Hey, mainframes have got pretty small now. A z10 isn't much bigger than a (pretty big) fridge/freezer. That's nothing compared with how they used to be. The first really big system I worked on (for AU's biggest bank) the CPUs and core (yes core) took up a whole floor, there was another floor of DASD (disks) another of tape stuff and another of printers and more tape library.


I could never trust anything other than a mainframe with serious work. I'm extremely suspicious of any computer that plugs into a wall! What if somebody tripped over the cord and pulled it out?

I'll never forget my first week assisting the admins at Iowa State U. (work study job). They were preparing to swap out one of the cores in the mainframe (an IBM 360 I believe)? Got an apparatus that looked like a high-tech cherry picker to assist with rolling out the components (looked like they were moving a file cabinet). Swapped in the new core and transferred control to the new for testing. All the while the damn thing kept chugging along!

The thing had redundant memory, redundant power (three different independent circuits, each could run the iron on its own if called to do so), redundant CORES, and scads of disk space/tape. It even had the capability to hook up to an OLD magnetic-core memory bank that was sitting in a lab across campus, and that thing was decommissioned in the Carter years.

They just dont make em like they used to.... <sigh>

 

[jtpjc]

My first ehm... computer was a Sinclair ZX81. It was a bit low on memory, so I bought an extra 16 KB module for it. Which didn't fit very well. You had to be careful pushing the membrane keys, the module may fall out.
After that, the Sinclair QL. Big improvement. It could actually store stuff. It had those weird endless tapes for that.
Then the Atari 1024. Another big improvement. Real keyboard, and a built in floppy drive! Bought an external 10 MB harddisk for it (1000 guilders, in those days something like 500 bucks).
Then you had the 286, 386, Pentiums and the rest is history.
Strange thing is, back in the days I actually used these computers for actual programming. Pascal, C, C+, Basic of course, assembler, you name it. I ran DOS, mac OS, Be OS, Unix, Linux, I don't even know if I remember those names correctly. Now I have a quad core processor, GB's here and TB's there, a giga tower under my desk, even the processor cooler cost me a hundred bucks, in total 2000 euros at my command, and what do I use it for? ECF. We've certainly come a long way.

 

[renstyle]

Hmm, possible death by being crushed by several billion gallons of water, compared with CERTAIN death at the hands of Pharoah...

at least they didn't know about the 40 years of wandering that was ahead of them.....

 

[MadmanMacguyver]

lol My mods are like that...my friend dropped my first mod and then put the batteries in all caddy-wompus it promptly disabled itself...

took it inside put batts in right and hooked up the external PSU...bingo turned back on...triple redundant safeties...

@ r4enstyle yea like me and my gaming rig here and its ticking along on 1 of 8 processors that one at half power me looking at forum threads...

 

[renstyle]

I still maintain access to the SGI Altix gear in MN, WI, and VA and I still don't have a need for it. It's an absurd amount of power. I contemplated getting arrested by running a Bitcoin port across eight or twelve thousand cores and the FPGA farm but I was fairly sure it'd be a Federal offense.

I do miss big iron sometimes though. Nothing like walking ~through~ your computer under the bridge of ccNuma cables and the tray of fiber to the completely gratuitous ultra-low latency networking gear from Force10 and that proprietary evil garbage from Myrinet. And datacenters built into the side of small mountains with missile shields because they're in the line of flight for nearby airports. The absurd has its high points on occasion. -Magnus

Don't forget the EXCELLENT cooling properties those mountain centers can offer. I've been told NORAD never needed to install heating/cooling at Cheyenne Mtn UNTIL they moved out the big iron. Had to put in some aux HEAT because smaller machines didn't warm it up enough!

Never mind the entire complex sits on huge springs, INSIDE A MOUNTAIN!

 

[MadmanMacguyver]

what about the GIANT Vacuum tubes that ran who knows what in there(Radar radios shortwave)...they still there...I do know that would be one of the few things still working after an EMP...they can take the shock...ROFL

 

[renstyle]

From the original Who I'm tied between Baker and Peter Davidson... from new Who I'm firmly in the Smith camp now. -Magnus

Was always Tom Baker #1 for me, then Pertwee. Was just talking to the wife last nite about how I've finally "moved on" from Tennant. Always tough to let your doctor go for a new model... Matt Smith looked funny to me at first (plus the wardrobe seemed a bit odd), but then I watched my dandy (Pertwee) and his goofball successor (Would you like a jellybaby?) and realized that only the exterior of the tardis should stay the same!

 

[renstyle]

I was just starting to like Brad.


Now Katiem, on the other hand, grates on my last functioning nerve.
She is so brainwashed that she actually scares me.

What can you say when you've been taken to "almost stroke-ville" by trying to quit smoking with nic gum? I can understand the way her brain is working, reality as she sees it, but will never agree with it (nor with her insistence either).

 

[MagnusEunson]

Dear Internets,

Please stop breaking links. Kthxbye, -Magnus


---


G'day to all... what's new in the nicotine wars? Any new political prisoners? First time vapers? Members of the Holy Vape? -Magnus

 

[MadmanMacguyver]

no sir but I think I have discovered a way to duplicate the holy hand grenade...

 

[LibertariaNate]

no sir but I think I have discovered a way to duplicate the holy hand grenade...

 

[MadmanMacguyver]

I remember it being messier...oh wait that was shadow warrior...lol me as Lo Wang w a grenade launcher...came up and saw the scene from Monty Python and said ohhh no not that rabbit....emptied all the grenades and somehow missed it...o...k... pulled out the mini nuke launcher...that killed it...

....and me...better to let the rabbit do it...lol

 

[renstyle]

Monty Python will always have a special place in my heart as it is the ONLY place outside of classical greek mythology that I've seen/heard somebody with the name: Jocasta (my wife's name).

That and the robot chick that runs with the avengers.

 

[renstyle]

Do you feel like a failure when you look at a post about cravings on a quit smoking site and all you can think about is what kind of pizza sounds best?

I've not had any urge to smoke an analog in 5 months, day I started vaping. Maybe I'm broken.

 

[MadmanMacguyver]

MMMMMMMMMMMM!!!PIZZA...

dang out of pizza juice gotta make more.....

BTW I have an aunt with that name...in Iowa too...