struct SLevHeader {
uint32 mUnknown1; //always 0?
uint32 mUnknown2; //might represent a bank or collective size
uint32 mNodeCount; //28 bytes each
uint32 mPlaneCount; //40 bytes each
...
I remember picking filetypes apart by browsing through C header files to 'steal' images and sounds from games.
Which brings me to my question, how did developers manage revisions and migrations of datafiles and code back then? I'd love to hear about some homegrown tools. These days you could just store all the parts of a WAD file in a SQL database!
Looking at what Scot Hanselman is doing, I suspect that broadening the spectrum of who is deemed worthy of being invited to interview is the only way around the presumptions that establish the barriers to presenting a wider range of viewpoints drawn from a wider range of experiences.
Programmers like Fogus are like Fogus and if StackExchange wants to interview programmers like Fogus then they are going to tend to get programmers like Fogus. Or to put it another way, Spolsky's high standards are understandable and reflecting them in the brand is a rational decision, but it is a branding decision. Even if StackExchange handles branding decisions better than Cognitect has with their podcast, the same forces are still in play so long as the objective is branding StackExchange rather than doing what ought to and could be done.
I think its sad that someone can read a couple screen fulls of experiences, technologies, experiments, books, and out of all that cool and interesting stuff, the only thing they can think of is "look at that genitalia".
Aside from looking between his legs, one thing that caught my eye was he listed Bagwell's paper as a book, and maybe it is available in an anthology somewhere, but anyone who wants to read his paper for free can find it at:
Its an old paper, I read it a long time ago and remembered it and when I saw it in the interview list I wasted some time on Amazon guessing that maybe Bagwell wrote a book about data structures or something, and to save the rest of you the time, no he didn't, or more accurately, hasn't yet. As mentioned above maybe the paper made it into an anthology collection somewhere that I couldn't find.
A remarkably bad one line summary of the paper would be something like "Store hashes in something like a filesystem tree where everything is O(1)". I've never used it, I'll probably never use it, and its still pretty cool to think about. Thats probably why it made it on his list of cool books, its like a meme that gets stuck in your head, what a cool idea!
I am sure I will get downvoted to all hell, but I understand the politics of your comment. I am sure it will get de-railed, but it would be awesome if someone can post interviews with well-known female programmers in response here. I would love to read them.
I know one of the authors of Learn Haskell authors, superginbaby, is a mother by reading her about page after her very cool "Teach Haskell to a 10 Year Old" post.
She seems awesome. I would love to read about contemporary programmers, specifically in the open source world (I know, ironic given this in response to Fog Creek).
Maybe something more contemporary than the CMU Ada project, which I just found.
As a beginner, I want to read about anyone who can do this better than me. I would read from anything, but if I could read machine code better I would be busier with that instead of procrastinating on HN.
So I love what you post, jacquesm, but can you give me background? When I wrote my previous post I meant I want to read about their rigs, their programming languages, style, art that inspires them, not corportate melodrama
Granted, I totally only skimmed the article. But once I read the title and checked the first few paragraphs, I decided I'll pass as this is the kind of article I avoid. I know there is a problem, but I know these women are getting shat on in some circles. I want to see how the productive ones handle their craft, not shitty company politics.
But I will re-read in depth. You usually post cool stuff, so I do not want to write you off from the gate.
You asked for an interview, that's what I found, but if you want to know more about what Jeri has been up to in her life then this would be a good starting point.
FWIW, I'm a dude. But I've learned at least as much that affects how I write code over the years from talks, books, and whatnot by women as I have from men, if not more so. People have different life experiences that shape how they learned, and how they communicate. And in my experience, I'm far more likely to hear something new and different from someone who didn't grow up like me than from someone who did.
Assuming your point is "we need more women in panels", here's my take as a consumer: I want to listen to experts, not experts who are women, or experts who are black or experts who are gay or experts who are latino.
And anyway, say we get a 50-50 split for women-men in panels. Then what? A population proportionate mix of asian/latino/black/white women?
How about we listen to what people have to say based on just that? Rather than what your preconceived notions of what constitutes as a disadvantage blah blah that needs to be artificially corrected.
And anyway, that would still be treating the symptom, not the cause.
I think the point is that there are plenty of experts who are women, like Carin Meier. They are underrepresented on panels and in these sort of interview series, for no good reason other than 'its always been that way.'
As an engineer, I'm personally interested in different perspectives.
I think "it's always been that way" is a bit too harsh -- I think it's less about people huddled in a back room making a preconceived intention to be sexist and more often through things like "Well, I'll start by calling my friends". Top that off with a bit of an echo chamber effect, "I'll get people for my panel who I've seen on a panel" and it's pretty easy to accidentally end up with a panel of men.
But the lack of overt intention in the cause doesn't mean it is something to ignore, or that it can't be fixed. But being aware of "My life circumstances have led me to a situation such that if I don't pay attention when putting this panel together, there's a pretty good chance I'm going to end up with a bunch of dudes on stage." is important.
> I think it's less about people huddled in a back room making a preconceived intention to be sexist
Usually it's more of a (usually unnoticed) bias of "he is probably more likely to be an expert than her". With that bias keeping the perpetrator in the dark sexism can masquerade as meritocracy.
I know. But if we make it too easy to blame "the system" or "sexists" or any reasonable definition of "other people", we all forget to look in the mirror.
There are plenty of experts who are women who are not Carin Meier or Sarah Chips or Kathy Sierra, just as there are expert men who are not Uncle Bob, David Hansen, or Paul Graham. The point is that members of the latter group are easy to come up and acceptable. Finding members of the former group requires effort beyond the currently trending level of imagination.
I think something that begins to approach the actual mix of experts in the field would be fine. The point is to add some diversity in perspective not some aimless drive to hit some percentage.
Its just that when all of the people interviewed or on panels are white men, it makes you wonder what kind of interesting people you aren't hearing from.
Which brings me to my question, how did developers manage revisions and migrations of datafiles and code back then? I'd love to hear about some homegrown tools. These days you could just store all the parts of a WAD file in a SQL database!