Data Structures is one of the best CS classes I've taken so far. I can now easily solve problems that would have seemed nearly impossible beforehand. I enjoyed it so much that I'm planning on taking an optional class next semester that goes over lesser-known and more advanced algorithms.
Once you know a lot of these algorithms, it becomes painfully obvious which developers haven't learned about them. For instance, I know someone who works as a driver for UPS and they have a piece of software that automatically plans a route to each delivery and pickup. There's a lot of variables such as certain packages that have to be delivered before noon, business deliveries that have to be done before the business closes, etc. The software they are currently using is not efficient at all. It will have them deliver to a building, drive down the street and deliver somewhere else, and then drive back and deliver to the building next to the first one. It's so painful to hear about this software because I've solved a very similar problem in under an hour at a programming competition using Dijkstra's Algorithm and Traveling Salesperson. Obviously, my solution didn't have nearly the same level of variables, nor was it held to "enterprise" standards. However, considering the level of inefficiency the software constantly produces, I'm convinced that it isn't using any standard algorithms but instead some hacked-together solution from a programmer who hadn't learned the established way to solve similar problems.
Mark Rober's dart board was much, much harder to create. The projectile was smaller and faster, and the board had to move to a much more precise location. Shane's backboard only has to track a normal speed basketball and has a decently sized margin of error. Not trying to discount Shane's work at all, it's still very impressive, but not nearly as difficult a problem as what Mark Rober solved.
I've been using Teams at college for over a year now and at work for a couple months. It baffles me that there are simple, obvious bugs that have remained all that time.
For instance, on the Windows desktop app, the word "I've" gets marked as incorrectly spelled. When you click on it to see the spelling suggestions, it suggests "I've". Clicking on the suggestion does nothing and it continues to flag it. This has been an issue in the app for over a year and I refuse to believe that the developers are unaware of it. It's a very common word to be typing.
Another problem is sending files or images. You have to wait for it to finish uploading before it will let you send the message. Not only is it pretty slow (I would estimate 1MB/s, whereas Discord uploads at my full 12MB/s), but sometimes it won't let you send for a couple seconds even after it finishes uploading.
A couple months ago Teams added read receipts, which is really nice, but they don't always work. My work has them globally enabled and everyone is on the latest client, yet each person only sees them for certain other people. I don't see them for anyone, but my coworker sees them for about 50% of our staff.
Notifications are also buggy. Teams will just randomly decide to not give you notifications for messages or calls. I've missed multiple messages in Teams for days because it never alerted me. I had to actually open the specific chat with that person before I saw the message. I've gotten into the habit of checking Teams every 15 minutes because of this. Teams for Android also seems to send notifications a good 30 seconds before the desktop app does, so I usually keep my phone on my desk solely for Teams notifications.
I would also like to point out that Microsoft built a general-purpose notification system into Windows, yet Teams uses a completely custom notification system. This completely baffles me as they aren't even following their own company's best practices.
I'm fine with paying over $60 as long as the game is well made and does not contain non-cosmetic micro-transactions. I think the recent influx of micro-transaction-heavy games and incomplete games is a sign that the current standard triple-A price tag is too low and the developers are having to ship early or use other monetization schemes to support themselves.
If you want a good stepping stone between visual programming and Java, check out mods like ComputerCraft [1] or OpenComputers [2]. They add simple computers into the game that can be programmed with Lua. There is also a version of ComputerCraft that has basic visual programming and a simplified Lua interface [3].
Very true, but the point is that Libra has the potential of being just as corrupt as an unstable government. The country should switch to a cryptocurrency that can't be controlled, not one controlled by corporations.
Depends on your definition of a cryptocurrency. Libra is a blockchain distributed across multiple separate entities. That fits the definition of a cryptocurrency for most people. If your definition of a cryptocurrency requires community control, then no, it's not a cryptocurrency.
If anyone is wondering why this is a big deal, let me explain. All major payment systems currently (PayPal, Venmo, FB Messenger, etc) are still based on government currencies. Libra is different as it is a cryptocurrency, so no government can easily control it. This might seem fine since everyone likes Bitcoin and such, but those cryptocurrencies are controlled by the community, not by a central organization. Libra is controlled by a group of major corporations and organizations, not by the community. Meaning that if those corporations decide to do something with the currency, no person or government could stop them.
That might not sound too bad. They own platform, so they should be able to control it, right? However, you need to consider that if someone controls the economy of a country, they control the government of that country as well. They would be able to control inflation and therefore the boom/bust cycle. If Libra is used by the majority of citizens and businesses in a country, then the group of corporations ruling Libra will be able to manipulate that country's government to do their bidding. I imagine countries with unstable governments will be the first heavy adopters of Libra and those governments are the easiest to manipulate. Libra could spawn the age of global corporatism.
Libra may turn out fine and improve the world, but that is only if its administration remains uncorrupted. Take a look through the list of entities that have joint control of Libra. I doubt you would trust most of them to control the world economy.
But this is the exact reason that Libra is controlled by a diverse group of organizations, right? I don't believe that's going to have much effect. Facebook and similar corporations already bully smaller businesses and organizations, so what prevents them from bullying or deceiving the smaller organizations in the Libra Association to vote for manipulative changes?
One of the best books I ever read in school was "To Kill a Mockingbird." It's filled with racism, n-words, cursing, violence, etc. However, the overall message is extremely positive. It teaches you that just because others are hateful and violent, that doesn't mean you should be too.
It shocks me how few people understand market equilibrium and supply/demand. If demand increases, price goes up. Would you prefer to be able to buy what you want at an increased price or not at all because there is a shortage? I would prefer the higher price because then I can actually get the item.
Btw, I found a typo while registering. The email confirmation page says "Help sharing GitDuck to have earlier access to the platform." The word "sharing" is the wrong tense, "share" or "by sharing" would fix it.