Posts by Reverend Jim

Those guidelines have essentially applied to any software with a user interface over the last fifty years.

Reminds me of a scene from"Third Rock From the Sun". Don (policeman) talking about a cop's life, ends with "and any day you come home alive is a good day." Tommy replies, "isn't that pretty much a good day for everyone?"

Or like saying the key to successful stock investments in 2025 is to buy stocks when they are low and sell them when they are high.

When you want to do a loop a given number of times (e.g. 100) but the loop counter is not used you can do

for _ in range(100):
    # rest of code here

I'm confused. In this thread you recommend creating backlinks, but here you say Google banned them.

That's supposed to be my line 😁 Hello and welcome to Daniweb.

Generally speaking you'll get as much effort in the responses as you put into asking the question. In this case next to none.

Compare this to making cookies. One person's idea of making cookies is

1. open the bag
2. put the cookies on a plate
3. done

The other extreme would involve grinding the flour and harvesting eggs from your own chickens. I prefer something in the middle. I have enjoyed programming as a professional and a hobbyist for more than 45 years, but I never enjoyed the parts where I had to spend hours uselessly searching for how to build the nuts and bolts. I recently needed to spawn an external process in Python and capture stdout in real time. The subprocess docs detail the methods and properties, but not what to do with them. ChatGPT gave me the code, saving me from a day or two of experimentation. That left me free to create the rest of the code to solve my problem.

Similarly I prefer to code in higher level languages, not assembler (although I have done major development in assembler). Coding in Python in fun. Coding in assembler is tedious and mind numbing.

Manitoba Hydro implemented Sharepoint a year or two before I retired. Horrible system if you are expected to manage it without training (as was typical where I worked). I eventually got tired of being told "You're doing it wrong" by the people who DID get the training, while not being told how to do it the right way. I eventually told my boss that I refused to work with it. His big advice from months before was "You're going to get s**t no matter what you do", so I figured I'd rather get s**t for not doing it at all.

Abnormal in what way?

I would imagine high CPU, disk access, or memory usage. Although high disk usage is expected when actively scanning.

If you want to use Malwarebytes, make sure you download it only from the official site. There are hacked versions on other sites that contain nasty things.

In the same vein...

What do you get when you cross the Atlantic with the Titanic?

About half-way.

You betcha. Welcome to Daniweb.

Hello and welcome to Daniweb.

If by "machine language" you mean "actual" machine language then that is Assembler. It is not easy to build applications in machine language.

Example of Dad joke:

How do you think the unthinkable?

With an ithberg.

You didn't specify how long ago this was.

1998-1999

Siri is an abomination

Is it? I've never so much as touched an Apple computer so I have no opinion on that whatsoever.

I faced a similar problem when I created and maintained the corporate side databases to mirror the EMS (AGC/SCADA) real time data. One month of data was roughly 300 meg and it was critical that this be available 24x7. Sometimes databases break and it is important to recover them as quickly as possible. Knowing that around 90% of the queries were on the current month, 5-10% on the previous month, and only rarely on older months, I created a new set of tables for each month, and views that combined the previous, current, and next months. Inserts were only ever done on the current month. Recovering any particular month that got corrupted was a matter of minutes rather than hours. Inserts were done on the base tables, and selects (almost always) on the views.

I wrote scripts to automatically create the new databases and the views. When corporate IT decided to create their own copy I heard that their database people were trash talking my setup behind my back. I sat down with one of them (who had been a part of the Process Control Group which I joined when I was hired) and explained my reasoning. They ended up doing it my way.

Is that list incomplete or straight-up wrong?

I have no way of knowing. If I add a bunch of numbers and get an answer, is it right or wrong? Again, as a guess, if you have enabled the correct flags and let the system run through typical processing, the returned list should be, according to the docs, a list of unused indexes. Worst case scenario, if you delete an index and your processes slow down then you probably deleted an active index. In that case just recreate it. Nothing lost.

See performance-schema-consumer-filtering

Certainly the technology and tools have changed but principles of design and good programming styles have not. Python has, for the most part, replaced (effectively) dead languages like COBOL, and now-niche languages like FORTRAN, but structured programming and modular design are still essential techniques. I have seen too much code written by self-taught programmers who, through ignorance, eschewed good design. People still need to be told what practices may cause grief down the road. There is an old saying about there being two kinds of fools. One says, "because it's old, it's bad". The other says, "because it's new, it's better."

I thought it would be as simple as

DROP INDEX index_name ON table_name;

As for removing only unused indexes, I don't know how MySql would be able to determine if an index is used, or not. You'd have to decide. Since indexes are used to find things quickly I would imagine that if you delete an index and then take a performance hit it's likely not an unused one.

As is typical with Microsoft, their search/find tools work poorly, can hog resources, and are difficult to use. "Everything Indexer" is easy to use, has a small footprint, and has almost no effect on my resources. Search queries show you results as you type, and you can create complex search terms with logical operators, as opposed to the lame wildcarding Windows offers.

I should mention that Everything tracks files (by path & name), not file contents. It isn't grep.

Agreed. But programming basics are still something people need help with, and the basics have not changed appreciably over my career. Dinosaurs have more free time than those many decades younger. I, for one, have a lot and I am willing to spend part of it here.

I agree. Everything is always a definite install after imaging. It's something that should have been built into Windows. I've never found the need for any security software other than what comes with Windows.

(where people abandoned us for sites like Stack Overflow)

But there are still a few dinosaurs around who can answer some programming questions.

Where is everyone?

Most of the posts here seem to be the same words about SEO/digital marketing over and over. That doesn't attract too many eyeballs. There is very little programming content any more.

I still get vertigo at times when sitting (like jumping and landing on the edge of a cliff) but at least I can't fall down and crack my head.

Hello and welcome to Daniweb

I usually put a square tile in the middle of the floor to stand on when playing Beat Saber. Eleven Table Tennis doesn't need it because I orient myself to the VR table. I play In Death Unchained seated because there are too many vertigo-inducing places in the middle world where I could easily fall over. Some of them make my feet tingle.

You probably have a Quest 2. My younger son and I really enjoyed Red Matter 2. My goto game is In Death Unchained but I still do a little Beat Saber now and then. I used to use BigScreen to watch movies but now I find the Oculus TV app better as I can easily change the viewing angle, and the warped/wrapped screen is a plus. I can't imagine the Apple headset would be worth the extra $$$$$. Have you tried both to see how they compare?

Welcome to Daniweb

A guy from New York is driving through the southern bible belt when he sees two men putting up a sign that says "Turn Yourself Around. The End Is Near". He ignores it and drives on. A few moments later the men hear a squeal of brakes followed by a loud splash. One man turns to the other and says, "Maybe it should just read Bridge Out".

BTW I've spoken with a former Microsoft Engineer. He also agrees OneDrive is an abomination.

I'm quite sure that you can, if I remember correctly?

Before OneDrive it was easily done. Not anymore.

Microsoft is slightly brain dead. Locations for shell folders are stored in the registry. You'd think they'd all be under "Shell Folders", but not all of them are. And you'd think they would have consistent names. But here are the relevent entries

1.  My Music        B:\My Music
2.  My Pictures     C:\Users\rjdeg\OneDrive\Pictures
3.  My Video        D:\My Videos
D.  Personal        C:\Users\rjdeg\OneDrive\Documents

Note that I numbered the entries the way Microsoft might. Seriously? What should be "My Documents" is called "Personal"? Not to mention, the shell folder "Downloads" is not there. Here's the kicker. You can select properties for any shell folder and the location tab shows something like

You can change the location for some folders but you get an error for others, even though the change location option is still presented. And the error message makes no sense. It complains about a duplicate folder when none exists. Without creating a local account (I didn't know about this when I last installed Windows) I had to resort to going to C:, renaming the target folder to <folder>.old, then creating a junction (hard link) to my equivalent folder on D:

Unfortunately, when you try to save to My Documents it still thinks you are saving on C:. It actually goes to D: but it is still confusing. Also, the actual folder is named "Documents", not "My Documents" …

Further note: Because Microsoft insists on crammine OneDrive down our throats, moving the My Documents is damn near impossible. I've found the easiuest way is to initially set up my computer using a Microsoft Account (something they have also made it almost impossibole to avoid), then create a local admin account and always log on with that. That results in several plusses:

1. I can always log on to the MS account if the local account goes belly up
2. I can now easily relocate the user folders to D
3. OneDrive no longer runs

My problems with OneDrive are numerous. The reason I put all my user folders on D is so that I can restore an image to C if necessary without losing any user files. With OneDrive active, anything that goes into My Documents gets stored on C. Not only that, but those files get copied to the MS cloud. Not only is the cloud not secure, but online services (particularly MS) have a habit of shrinking the quota or charging for storage after first offering it for free.

First app is Macrium Reflect so I can take an image of the fresh install. Then I repartition to C/D, move my user folders (documents, pictures, etc.) to D. Then I take another image. After that I begin installing my base apps before imaging one more time.

Welcome to Daniweb. What type of Python projects have you done?

Welcome to Daniweb.

Welcome to Daniweb. Please take a moment to read the Daniweb Posting Rules.

There was a man who had three sons. They all lived and worked on a ranch. Well, the old man called it a ranch even though he only raised vegetables. But while profitable, the sons always wished it to be a proper ranch with cattle where they would raise meat instead of turnips. One day the father died and the sons inherited the business. The first thing they did was to bring in some cattle. The second thing was to erect a sign with the new name of the ranch, which was "Focus".

Why did they choose this name?

I bought my friend an elephant for his room.

He said, "thank you."

I said, "Don't mention it."

No, Javascript cannot run/start executables on the client machine.

Technically correct but there are ways around it. For example, save a file in a special folder on the target computer, which has a folder watch on that folder. The watching task could then trigger a local task.

Read The Essentials of User Interface Design by Alan Cooper.

I'll have to ask next time I am at the pharmacy. Thanks for the tip.

I've had close relatives who had that but I don't recall headaches as a symptom. I hope I never get it (I can't get the vaccine because it's a live vaccine). Good luck with recovery now that you have a diagnosis.

1. I thought we didn't have "forums" anymore.
2. Perhaps the OP posted in the wrong place.
3. Regardless, it was clearly a discussion and not a question.

It's moot since the thread has been deleted.

And I disagree with that. The post I was referring to was

In this thread, let's dive into the exciting advancements in the world of audio technology. From spatial audio to AI-driven sound systems, the audio landscape is evolving rapidly. Share your thoughts on the latest innovations, your favorite audio gadgets, or how new tech is shaping your listening experience. Whether you're an audiophile or just someone who loves great sound, let's discuss what's next in audio!

Clearly the OP was starting a discussion, not seeking help with a problem. Please reread my post where I clearly said

posters who are asking for my opinion (as opposed to advice or help)

I will clarify "opinion" as an opinion on a discussion topic as opposed to an opinion on a software or hardware recommendation.

I have a problem with people who start posts about a topic with "let's discuss", but don't actually start the discussion. I have a friend (?) in Toronto who, especially during election season (which seems to be always these days), asking for my opinion on things without ever offering one of her own. I got tired of putting in the effort and getting none in return. IMO posters who are asking for my opinion (as opposed to advice or help) should first offer one of their own. Hopefully an informed opinion.

Yes , that is still an issue...

Many years back a neighbour was taking an evening course to become more computer literate. She was confused one day, telling me that her instructor had tried to explain to the class what "formatting a disk" meant. He talked about magnetic fields, tracks, sectors, etc. but she was still in the dark as to what formatting actually did. In under 60 seconds I explained what formatting was in terms of paving and marking lines in a parking lot. As a bonus, once I was done she also understood fragmentation and file pointers as well as the difference between a full and quick format.

In order to be an effective communicator you have to be aware of your audience.

When I ran into problems with linux I found the online help was less than helpful. The help, when offered, consisted of experts explaining things to other experts, even though I mentioned that I was anything but. All help assumed I had much more knowledge than I did. The explanations sounded like Trek techno-babble.

Don't.