Posts by Mike Shepherd

Safe harbour?

Dropbox, the company that gave my email address (and many others') to spammers, wants me to trust it with passwords?

"faster and...more maintainable"

TransCoder...could help port a project from Python to C++...It may make the code faster and also more maintainable since code written in strongly-typed languages can be easier to understand.

Get real. Anyone who's maintained human-written code will have experienced wanting to shake its author by the throat, because typical source code is of abysmal quality. We're a long way from any machine that will improve on that. So don't ask me to work on TransCode's output, because it will have to do a lot more than change x=2 to int x=2 (even if it gets that right) to compensate for the general mess with which it will likely start and to which it can only add.

As for speed, there has been very little code worth speeding up for the last 40 years or more. The overwhelming problem, then and still now, is how to write clear and reliable source that reflects the requirements accurately. Making code faster is appropriate in niche cases, which most of us need rarely to address.

Amazon, Microsoft, Google...

These foreign companies are slavering at the thought of getting their hands on NHS data and wheedling their way into NHS contracts. Patients will just be the livestock that came with the farm.

"pseudo-parliament"

What a good name!

"...part of the essential critical infrastructure..."

You have to wonder long these people spend in front of the mirror.

Switzerland as a model

In Switzerland, they say, everything is either forbidden or compulsory. Its compliant citizens are probably not a good model for how apps will be received elsewhere.

Correction

"...due to the unprecedented number of people using the internet for remote work, socialising and streaming porn".

Plus ça change...

Legal framework

Parliament has to quickly issue an adequate legal framework.

With GCHQ, the only legal framework I'd trust is not having installed the app in the first place.

Tough

"...4,000 hours non-stop at 125 Celsius..., withstanding...80 MeV of radiation energy per centimetre square..."

But can it survive being in a kid's video console?

Highly sophisticated

Incompetent data controllers often claim to be victims of "highly sophisticated" attacks, despite taking security "extremely seriously".

An unkind person might suggest that many don't think much about whether a database is private / don't check incoming messages against buffer sizes / never heard of SQL injection. To them, I suppose, any attack is "highly sophisticated".

Hubris

Electricity supply is not affected. We have robust cybersecurity measures across our IT and operational infrastructure to protect against cyber threats.

Let's file that with "No foreign bombs will fall on Germany".

"urged to inject taxpayer dollars"

Fighting Communism with...Communism!

"...we have the best talent in the world"

Well, if drivel and hype work for Trump, why not for India.

Next step

The next step is to announce that "in the public interest", Google and Apple have agreed to install the app automatically, without an option to refuse.

Safe option

The MBAs must be kept occupied, given the risk of leaving them alone with anything important. Having them invent meaningless product names (.NET was one) is the safe option.

Thanks

Many thanks for these (and the earlier) detailed updates on the .NET family. They help as we try to understand the confusion emitted by Microsoft.

"As courts and tribunals slowly join the 21st century..."

Clearly a typing error. This should be "As courts and tribunals slowly join the 20th century...".

Hardy

Given his love of cricket, perhaps even G H Hardy (who expressed disdain for all "applied" mathematics) would have approved.

Illiterate

If you're borderline illiterate, fancy tools can hide that only for a short time. Anyone who needs them should get a job more suited to their ability.

"Microsoft will ship Edge code only when it's ready"

...for customers to start testing it.

High-level

"...high-level languages, such as C/C++, or low-level SystemVerilog and the like"

Verilog / SystemVerilog are high-level languages, just like C and C++.

We know where this is going

Soon, police will shoot dead someone "identified" falsely by automatic recognition. The subsequent recommendation will be to "tighten procedures".

Surely

Surely operators would be happy to use western equipment (supplied at Huawei prices, of course) - when they get around to inventing it.

Be careful what you tell us

Perhaps GP surgeries will begin to post notices Be careful what you tell us, because we're forced to pass it on for use by all departments of government.

Hospitals (and their employees) will be prevented from giving the same warning.

The glorious future

...the American mega-manufacturer plans to announce that within three months...

I think I preferred history done in retrospect. Now we are expected to gaze in awe upon promises. When someone tells me "This will be epoch-making, game-changing or (your own superlative here), I say "Tell me when it's happened, not when all you have is optimistic talk".

De minimis

I think they mean "small".

"Let's put some Latin legal-sounding stuff in so people will be impressed".

Disruptive changes

Disruption - just what customers love.

Jovexit

In a referendum, citizens voted to leave the 27 other planets of the federation and move closer to their star. Switching on his three desk fans, Supreme Leader Boris Zog declared "With our warmer climate, asteroids and moons will be lining up to make tourist deals".

"airborne for a year"

First let me know when one has managed to stay up for a week.

Stand firm

Perhaps if Switzerland stands firm, 5G will fade away, like quartz watches.