HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: toma@baritone (Thomas Arneberg  {66642 CF/DEV})
Subject: Re: C specific editor (was Re: C/C++ Speed)
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Date: 25 Jan 93 17:06:03 CST

In article <47740001@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM> elw@hplvec.LVLD.HP.COM (Eddie Williamson) writes:
>----------
>> The net result is that in the *real* real world, efficiency is *always*
>> important.  In the synthetic real world imagined by acedemics, you can wave
>----------
>I agree! (with the second paragraph)
>Most real world customers can't affort to go out and buy the latest
>hardware every time they buy new application software. They live with
>what they already have. Don't make excuses for being lazy. Design your
>software from the beginning with efficiency in mind. You'll end up

Well, I guess you'll have to call me "lazy." Maybe you can say that 
"efficiency is always important"...but sometimes, program development time 
is MORE important! The turnaround time from the idea of writing a program 
to getting working code is also a concern here in the *real* real world. 
Another factor is writing easy-to-debug and easy-to-maintain code.

If I write a program that I know will be run on a given computer (usually
someone's personal workstation with lots of extra cycles), and I know it
will only take a few seconds to run, I have no incentive to make it run as
fast as possible. But I have a huge incentive to get the program running as
SOON as possible, so I can write more of them in a give amount of calendar 
time.

  - Tom A.
---------------------------------------------+------------------------------
;-) I'd rather be ____  Thomas R. Arneberg   | Internet: toma@cray.com
:-) singing in a |____| Senior IC Design Eng.| UUCP: ...!uunet!cray!toma
:-) Barbershop  _|   _| Cray Research, Inc.  | CLAIM TO FAME: Loni Anderson 
:-) Quartet!   (_)  (_) Chippewa Falls, Wisc.|   went to my high school 
---------------------------------------------+------------------------------
From: mgmam@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Mark A. Morrell)
Newsgroups: comp.programming
Subject: Re: Telling if the SHIFT key is down.
Date: 21 Jan 1993 22:27:12 -0600
Organization: Educational Computing Network
NNTP-Posting-Host: uxa.ecn.bgu.edu

In article <1993Jan21.132348.19617@druid.uucp> 
	darcy@druid.uucp (D'Arcy J.M. Cain) writes:
>ooprb@Msu.oscs.montana.edu writes:
>>I'm writting a program that updates numbers by the press
>>of a mouse button.  I would like to change the value by
>>a different amount if the shift key is being pressed when 
>>a mouse button is pressed.
>
>Don't do this.  If you must change the meaning of a mouse button use
>another button to do this.  Your method requires your users to have
>their hands on two different devices in order to do input.  In fact
>why not just make use of the different buttons on the mouse?  You could
>for example increment by 1 on the left, 5 on the right and 3 on the
>middle.  If your user has a two button mouse it still works but with
>less intermediate control.
>
I think that it's perfectly acceptable to use the shift key to modify
the behaviour of a mouse button.  The argument that you need hands on
two devices is kind of silly, since you only need one hand for your
mouse.  There are already several programs which modify the actions of
the mouse depending on keyboard state.  Probably the most in use is
Shift-Clicking to select multiple objects.  

Besides, the other mouse buttons might already have something else to
do.
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark A. Morrell     Disclaimer:  _I_ probably don't even believe it.
Literary Reference:  The introduction to Cervantes' Don Quixote.
From: melby@dove.yk.fujitsu.co.jp (John B. Melby)
Newsgroups: comp.programming
Subject: Re: scalb and rint
Date: 25 Jan 93 11:34:48 GMT
Organization: Open Systems Group, Fujitsu Limited, Yokohama
In-reply-to: mcasal@nyx.cs.du.edu's message of 21 Jan 93 11:25:37 GMT

>moreover i'd like to know how 'NaN' works...

'NaN' stands for "not a number."  In a floating point representation, it
represents a result that is not compatible with the definition of '+Inf'
and '-Inf.'  This is dependent on how the representation defines infinity.

For example, defining positive overflow to be +Inf is inconsistent with
defining +Inf - a to be +Inf (where a is a positive real).  If one is
+Inf, the other must be +NaN or NaN.

I think that the IEEE floating point representation treats the result of
division by zero as infinity, which necessitates the use of an unsigned
NaN.

-----
John B. Melby
Fujitsu Limited, Yokohama
melby@yk.fujitsu.co.jp
From: bsmith@mickey.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Brian Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.programming
Subject: Re: how about PRIME numbers ?
Date: 25 Jan 1993 01:28:26 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: mickey.cs.berkeley.edu

In article <1993Jan24.055343.2392@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu>,
dave@cs.arizona.edu (Dave Schaumann) writes:
|> int is_prime( unsigned long n ) {
|> 
|>   unsigned long i, max = sqrt(n) ;
|> 
|>   if( n <= 3 ) return 1 ;
|> 
|>   if( n % 2 == 0 || n % 3 == 0 ) return 0 ;
|>   for( i = 6 ; i <= max+1 ; i += 6 )
|>     if( n % (i-1) == 0 || n % (i+1) == 0 ) return 0 ;
|> 
|>   return 1 ;

Slight bug.  The for loop should go to max+2, not max+1

Nice trick!

-------
Brian C. Smith				arpa:  bsmith@cs.Berkeley.EDU
University of California, Berkeley	uucp: uunet!ucbvax!postgres!bsmith
Computer Sciences Department		phone: (510)642-9585
From: smith@ctron.com (Lawrence C Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.programming
Subject: Re: Virus Programs 4 Sale  (Virus, Trojans, etc)
Date: 26 Jan 93 21:51:50 GMT
Reply-To: smith@ctron.com
Organization: Cabletron Systems, Inc.

In article <1993Jan26.070707.28320@emr1.emr.ca>, jagrant@emr1.emr.ca (John Grant) writes:
>In article <1k2k6pINNdng@digex.digex.com> alby@access.digex.com (Albatross) writes:
>>                            VIRUS'es    FOR    SALE
>>Cost:            $20.00 per disk
>>Contents:        10 Viri  per disk
>>        I will hold NO responsiblity for such actions,
>>        if incidents are incurred.

>	There are probably many bleeding heart civil libertarians
>	out there who will disagree with me, but I think it's
>	about time we got some new laws that would make it a crime
>	to distribute virus-related material, regardless of any
>	disclaimers or denials of responsibility.

Well, as one of those bleeding-heart civil libertarians, I have to agree
that it certainly bears thought.  Would even the most rabid Libertarian
make it legal for someone to grow an huge anthrax culture and sell it?
I don't think so.

On the other hand, the original poster's suggestion that it be used to test
virus detection software or procedures is a valid one.  It is also easy to
imagine someone with a neat new idea for zapping compuviruses and would like
a few real-life examples to see if it works before taking it to market.  And
I'd much rather he test his new software with _known_ viruses, rather than
writing some to see if it works, if you take my drift...

On some reflection, I have to feel that distributing well-known viruses in
such an above-board manner is probably a fairly neutral activity, whose
benefits most likely weigh in close to the dangers.  On the other hand,
if I spotted someone growing uge anthrax cultures in their basement for
sale, I'd not be so sanguine.  I think there is room for argument on both
sides.

Larry Smith (smith@ctron.com)  No, I don't speak for Cabletron.  Need you ask?
-
Liberty is not the freedom to do whatever we want,
it is the freedom to do whatever we are able.
Newsgroups: comp.programming
From: rmah@panix.com (Robert Mah)
Subject: Re: HELP WANTED: Starting Mac programming in Think Pascal
Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix, NYC
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 11:15:49 GMT

In <1jn34jINNc97@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> bv548@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (David S Weitermann) writes:


>I'm not sure this is the appropriate place to post this, but I thought it's
>worth a shot.  I'm trying to get into programming on the Macintosh in Think

You'll probably get a better responce in comp.sys.mac.programmer than here.

But...I recomend a series entitled "How to Write Macintosh Software". There's
three or four volumes.  Sorry, but I can't remember the author--it was a
long time ago <g>.

And welcome to the world of Mac programming.  I'f you've ever wanted to 
raise your tolerance for frustruation, you've made the right choice!

Cheers,
Rob

-- 
[----------------------------------------------------------------------]
[ Robert S. Mah   | Voice: 212-947-6507   | "Every day an adventure,   ]
[ One Step Beyond | EMail: rmah@panix.com |  every moment a challenge" ]
[----------------------------------------------------------------------]
From: jordi@marsun1.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Steve JORDI)
Subject: Fast pu/getimage in BC/TC++ ???
Reply-To: jordi@scsun.unige.ch
Organization: University of Geneva	
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 17:30:25 GMT


Hello there,
does anybody know if fast getimage/putimage routines exist somewhere.
I would like to use them with Trubo C++ or Borland C++ for fast
DOS Graphics ?

Thanks for any help.

Sincerely,

Steve Jordi                

+-------------------------+----------------------------------------------+
| Dpt of Geophysics       | Fax: + 41 22 320-5732                        |
| University of Geneva    | E-mail: Internet:   jordi@scsun.unige.ch     |
| 13, Rue des Maraichers  |                     jordi@sc2a.unige.ch      |
| 1211 GENEVA 4           |           Bitnet:   jordi@cgeuge52.bitnet    |
| Switzerland             |       Compuserve:   70143,3056               |
+-------------------------+----------------------------------------------+ 


Xref: sparky comp.programming:3547 comp.unix.programmer:6023 comp.unix.misc:4999 rec.games.corewar:1574 rec.games.programmer:5484 comp.org.ieee:630 comp.org.usenix:1359 comp.lang.c:20046 comp.lang.c++:19724 comp.software-eng:5404
From: ahmedh@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (ahmed h al-mehdi)
Newsgroups: comp.programming,comp.unix.programmer,comp.unix.misc,rec.games.corewar,rec.games.programmer,comp.org.ieee,comp.org.usenix,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.c++,comp.software-eng
Subject: IEEE CS National Programming Contest [Addendum3]
Followup-To: comp.programming
Date: 22 Jan 1993 03:19:34 GMT
Organization: IEEE CS Student Branch Chapter at U. of Texas, Austin (USA)
Distribution: world
Reply-To: ahmedh@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (ahmed h al-mehdi)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thumper.cc.utexas.edu
Originator: ahmedh@thumper.cc.utexas.edu

:--------------------------------------------------------------------------:

            1993  IEEE CS  National Programming Contest [Addendum3]

:--------------------------------------------------------------------------:

This an addendum to the IEEE CS National Programming Contest announcement
posting.  We would like to bring the attention of those persons who
are interested in applying to the Programming contest.

The deadline for application to the Programming Contest is Jan 22.
If anyone is unable to meet this deadline, please send an email explaining
your situation to the following address:

              ddt@npc.ece.utexas.edu

Our keynote speaker at the contest will be Richard Garriott.  He is very
famous in the United States, Europe, and Japan for writing the very popular
Ultima series of computer games.  He helped start Origin Systems, a
leading-edge game company that produced the Ultima series, Wing Commander,
and Underworld, each of which pushes the limits of high-speed animation,
rendering, and fast AI on the PC computer.

We have received our prizes for the programming contest, which includes
(in alphabetical order):

-3 Desqview/X Developers kit
-3 HP 48SX scientific calculators
-3 HP Infrared calculator printers
-3 Summagraphics digitizing tablets (12" * 12")
-3 Watcom Compilers


The following is a list of the universities (with the name of the team leader)
whose application we have received: 

Hildesheim University (Germany)        Arnd Gerns
Linkoping University (Sweden)          Per Cederqvist
Rice University                        Sandeep Gupta
Stanford University                    Ralph Melton
University of California, Berkeley.    Jon Blow
University of California, Davis        Paul Franklin
University of California, Davis        Jason Freund
University of California, Los Angeles  David J. Harkness
University of Puerto Rico              Carlos M. Santiago

If someone  had sent an application and his/her university is not listed,
please send it again to the following address
              ahmedh@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu


Thank you.

Sincerely,
Ahmed H. Al-Mehdi,
( ahmedh@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu )
NPC Applications
From: pdc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Paul Crowley)
Newsgroups: comp.programming
Subject: Re: is it possible to find max & next smallest in one pass?
Date: 25 Jan 93 19:55:20 GMT
Reply-To: pdc@dcs.ed.ac.uk (Paul Crowley)
Organization: Edinburgh University

If comparisons are more expensive than other operations and you have to
do this frequently on a big array, there is a standard algorithm that
only uses (n + ceil(lg n) -1)) comparisons.  Supposing, for example,
that the data objects are Word Tennis players and a comparison is a game
of Word Tennis; then comparisons are *very* expensive to do compared to
all other computations.  You play people off against each other in
standard playoffs, like this:

     !
   /   \
  !     ?
 / \   / \
?   ! *   *

Let ! be the player who won (which is why ! is shown at the top of every
triangle because ! wins every game ! plays.)  ! is the maximum element. 
There are two players who could be in second place, and they are marked
with a question mark.  In general, there are ceil(lg n) of them.

I can't think offhand of an efficient way of implementing this, but I'm
sure someone can.

For finding max and min simultaneously, there's a simple optimisation: 
compare elements in pairs before comparing to stored max and min
elements.  This takes floor((3n-4)/2) comparisons.
  __                                  _____
\/ o\ Paul Crowley   pdc@dcs.ed.ac.uk \\ //
/\__/ Trust me. I know what I'm doing. \X/
From: dmb@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu (David Baggett)
Newsgroups: comp.programming
Subject: Re: A PEACHY-KEEN PROGRAM
Date: 28 Jan 93 07:36:21 GMT
Reply-To: dmb@ai.mit.edu
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
NNTP-Posting-Host: rice-chex.ai.mit.edu

In article <249.332.uupcb@filebank.cts.com> richard.vannoy@filebank.cts.com (Richard Vannoy)  writes:
>And the answer to the question above is for you to pick the 
>following tiles:  E I P R S S T
>There are seven different seven letter words you can make 
>from these tiles.  I challenge anyone else to pick a better
>seven letters.

Using a dictionary of 109,000 words (16,883 7-letter words), I got the
same answer, but I only found 6 matches, not 7.  Was your dictionary
55,000 *7-letter* words?

Dave Baggett
__
dmb@ai.mit.edu            Natural Language Processing            MIT AI Lab                                                                                  
ADVENTIONS: We make Kuul text adventures!  Ask about Unnkulian 1, 2, 0, 1/2
  PO Box 851 Columbia, MD 21044 USA / CIS: 76440,2671 / GEnie: ADVENTIONS
Newsgroups: comp.programming
From: gday@sashimi.inde.bc.ca (Gordon Day)
Subject: Re: DISMANTLE MICROSOFT (Was Re: Industry market shares)
Organization: INDE Electronics, Inc.
	<1993Jan21.160142.7877@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca>
	<1993Jan22.073622.21914@reed.edu> <C1F3Kx.267@phage.cshl.org>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 19:50:05 GMT


_______________________________________________________________________________
gordon day, inde electronics, +1-403-430-1446.

>>>"tom" == Tom Boutell <boutell@isis.cshl.org> writes:

tom> Boy howdy I tellya, Microsoft is evil evil evil, yup.

Well, as these things go, I would say yes.

tom> Of course, never mind that for a company without competition to
tom> worry about, they have a strange tendency to keep producing new
tom> and better products.  

E.g. MS-DOS 5.0 -- Just as _good_ as all the previous versions, I
guess.  Mind you they've only had, what, over 10 years to get
filenames longer that 8 characters, a flat memory model, simple
multitasking.  And don't even talk to me about their slow buggy window
system. 

tom> But as it is, they're quite competitive and they're consistently
tom> improving their products. Some of us have our beefs with their
tom> compilers, but it's hard to deny that Excel is the most powerful
tom> spreadsheet yet built.

Why is it hard to deny that?  Have you seen Improv?

tom> I agree that a split of Microsoft might be beneficial to the
tom> industry, but I hope it won't be done ham-fistedly, with the
tom> backing of those who "have it in" for Microsoft. Software is an
tom> unusual market: it's one in which the U.S. holds both a
tom> production and a technological lead. Microsoft, as the spearhead
tom> of that market, is a significant national asset, and if we do
tom> break it up we'd best do it in such a way as not to ruin its
tom> competitiveness.

I think that the point is that Microsoft is stifling development in
the o/s, compiler, and user interface markets because of their
stranglehold on the naive public.  And I, for one living in the rest
of the world would _love_ to see Microsoft lose some of it's
"competitiveness".

Ta,

g.
_______________________________________________________________________________
gordon day, inde electronics, +1-403-430-1446.
Newsgroups: comp.programming
From: pefv700@chpc.utexas.edu (Christopher Phillips)
Subject: hashing floating-point numbers
Organization: The University of Texas System - CHPC
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 93 17:57:23 GMT

What are the usual methods for hashing floating-point numbers
given that numbers "equivalent" to a certain precision should
hash to the same value?

Chris
Newsgroups: comp.society
From: billy@sol.acs.unt.edu (Billy Barron - VAX/UNIX Systems Manager)
Subject: Re: File 7--The BSA, APL BBS, and Anti-Piracy Crackdowns
Organization: University of North Texas
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 03:54:05 GMT

tk0jut2@mvs.cso.niu.edu writes:

>The BSA, founded in 1988, is a coalitionion of eight high-revenue
>software companies:  1) Apple Computer 2) Autodesk 3) Central Point
>Software
>
>Like the
>Software Publishers Association, the group aims to eradicate software
>piracy

Did this strike any ex-Apple II users as being more than a little bit
strange?  It should be noted that Central Point Software was built off
of piracy.  The earliest product of theirs I remember is CopyII+ for
the Apple II.  While it had some PC Tools like functionality, it's most well
known function (and the reason most people purchased it) was
it could copy just about any copyprotected piece of software.  They
kidded themselves in their documentation saying it should be used for only
making legal backups, but they had to know that the main use of the program
was to pirate software.  If it wasn't for pirated Apple II software, my
belief is that Central Point Software would no longer be in business.
It disgusts me to see a company use pirated software to their advantage
and then change their tune when it is no longer to their advantage to
promote piracy.  I think the BSA might be best served by looking at the
early practices of Central Point Software to make sure that they did not
violate copyright law (I have no idea if they did or not, but it is definitely
a question in my mind).  For example, did they own legal copies of all the
software that CopyII+ had copy parameter files for?  (They had to test it
somehow.)

Billy Barron
billy@unt.edu
From: koningj@risc1.unisa.ac.za (Gert Koning)
Newsgroups: comp.society
Subject: When is the next COMDEX?
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 1993 08:47:27 GMT
Organization: University of South Africa

A colleague of mine wants to know when the next COMDEX computer show
is to be held. He also needs the name and address of a contact person for it.

Please reply directly to him at vmazic@unisa.ac.za

Thanks a lot.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Gert Koning (koningj@risc1.unisa.ac.za)
Department of Computer Services
University of South Africa - Pretoria - RSA
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 18 Jan 1993 15:01:02 GMT
From: robert.heuman@rose.com (robert heuman)
Newsgroups: comp.society.privacy
Subject: SSN and new baby
Organization: Rose Media Inc, Toronto, Ontario.
X-Submissions-To: comp-privacy@pica.army.mil
X-Administrivia-To: comp-privacy-request@pica.army.mil
X-Computer-Privacy-Digest: Volume 2, Issue 009, Message 4 of 10


Date Entered: 01-18-93 09:56
 -=> Quoting "m. Adams/starowl" <staro to All <=-

 "A<> According to the IRS, if you wish to claim a child over age 1 as a
 "A<> dependent for tax purposes, that child *must* have a SSN.

 "A<> True, the kid doesn't need a SSN for hirself, but the
 "A<> parent(s)/guardian(s) might need the kid to have a SSN.....

And if the parents are US Citizens abroad, as in Canada, and the children are
born in Canada and are considered Canadian by Canada (and are NOT registered
at the US Consulate, so they will not be in any draft list) but are still
dependents of their US Citizen parents [and, BTW, are considered US
citizens by US Immigration (I know... I have two sons in that situation.)]???

Is a SSN still needed to claim them on the tax return???

And if the hospital is in Canada, and NOT in the US... etc.... etc.... etc...

I fail to see how any other jurisdiction can permit this lunacy to prevail 
over its own laws, or in contradiction to its laws.. (for example European
privacy legislation might make transmission of this information to the US
highly illegal).  What is the US government's position in respect of non-US
residents who are deductable on their US Citizen parents tax returns?
Convoluted, or not, you should understand my concern.

Bob


 ... Twice as Human as anyone else - My Opinions are my Own!  
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12
---
   RoseMail 2.00 : RoseNet<=>Usenet Gateway : Rose Media 416-733-2285
Date: 20 Jan 93 15:39:51 GMT
From: gordon@spot.Colorado.EDU (GORDON ALLEN R)
Newsgroups: comp.society.privacy
Subject: Re: Radar Detector Prohib
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
X-Submissions-To: comp-privacy@pica.army.mil
X-Administrivia-To: comp-privacy-request@pica.army.mil
X-Computer-Privacy-Digest: Volume 2, Issue 009, Message 9 of 10

As one aside from this thread, the radar detector I had in my car was
stolen.  When I informed my insurance company, I was informed that they
are illegal and therefor not covered by my comprehensive policy.  I
told them that there is no law in colorado regarding their illegality.
I was then informed that their purpose was to break the law and was not
covered...  When I mentioned that they were assuming I was guilty and
must prove my innocence, instead of the other way around, the person
kindly told me that it is just their policy.  End of conversation.


-- 
Allen Gordon 		         *If the folly of but one of us was changed to*
Research Associate         	 *intelligence, and divided amongst a thousand*
gordon@spot.colorado.edu   	 *toads, each would be more intelligent than  *
				 *Aristotle				      *