I had been accused of believing that I know more about everything than anyone else. This is an absurd claim, but just to be on the safe side, I'm going to list those things about which I know a great deal and those things about which I know significantly more than the average person on the street, as well as a few things about which I know less than the average person on the street. I do not make any claims about knowing a lot more about anything else than most people do.

Things about which I know a great deal

C++ Object-oriented programming Computer architecture Libertarianism Economics How to explain complex topics simply

Things about which I know significantly more than the average person

Constitutional rights Amateur radio Alternate power generation Physics

Things about which I know less than the average person

Television shows Sports Gossip about celebrities (I'm sure I've missed some here)

I hope this clears up any confusion anyone may have been suffering on this topic.

-- Steve Heller (Steve@SteveHeller.com), June 25, 2000

Answers

give it a rest, Steve. No one cares about what you know or don't know. Try to talk about something other than yourself for a change.

-- JoseMiami (caris@prodigy.net), June 25, 2000.

Close. EY sayeth "I know what I know".

For those who missed it. The critique includes some rather interesting charges which Mr. Perfect seems to prefer to ignore.

http://www.accu.org/bookreviews/public/reviews/o/o001796.htm

<a href="http://www.accu.org/bookreviews/public/reviews/o/o001796.htm"> ; ;LINK</a>

Book Review
------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------
Optimizing C++ by Steve Heller
ISBN: 0 13 977430 0 Publisher: Prentice Hall Pages: pp416C Price: #35-99
 
Categories: beginner's c++ optimization
Reviewed by Francis Glassborow in C Vu 11-2 (Jan 1999)
 
Despite quite liking the author's Whose Afraid of C++ I have long harboured a suspicion that he is not a C++ programmer. This book confirms that suspicion despite the C++ in the title.

For example on page 356 the author starts a version of main that covers three and a half pages (and there is a single comment - one of the author's optimisations seems to be to save time by not providing any). The function starts by declaring 26 variables, most are not initialised and 24 of them are for built-in types (or pointers to such). He defines at least another 14 variables during the rest of the program. He makes unnecessary assumptions about the size of an int (if it cannot store 884736 as a value, one of his loops goes into undefined behaviour).
All that is bad but the biggest indicator is that the only C++ specifics in his code are an ifstream instance, an ofstream instance, four uses of new and one use of delete and a scattering of uses of fstream member functions. He isn't even consistent. Sometimes he uses memset() and sometimes he iterates through an array of int setting each to zero. He does this in a loop that iterates 884736 times and he is writing about optimisation. Granted that the gain may be small but why did he do it that way in side a time critical section and used memset() elsewhere. We will never know. Perhaps a good optimising compiler identifiers what is happening and sets memory anyway.

The other problem that I have is the very concept that underlies the book. Too many programmers waste inordinate amounts of time hand optimising. To give the author credit, he does advise you to think before starting to work. If you run your tax program once a year, halving it execution time is unlikely to ever repay the programming effort involved in making the change.

However the most expensive resources in most programming projects are the human ones and the coding style that permeates this book does nothing to optimise use of that resource. In truth I think your time could be put to better advantage than in reading this book.

By the way, the author seems to think this is his third edition of this book. I think he means that it is derived from an earlier book that was itself derived from a book in C. In my opinion this is still a book in C with a light sprinkling of C++ (he even uses some smart pointers, but he forgets to provide a destructor for class that owns dynamic resources.) In conclusion, there are a few interesting ideas scattered through this book but not enough to repay time spent studying it.

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 25, 2000.

Answered on the other thread.

-- Steve Heller (steve@steveheller.com), June 25, 2000.

I have not been accused of believing that I know more about everything than anyone else. But just to be on the safe side, I'm going to list those things about which I know a great deal and those things about which I know significantly more than the average person on the street, as well as a few things about which I know less than the average person on the street. I do not make any claims about knowing a lot more about anything else than most people do.

Things about which I know a great deal

My height
My weight
What I had for breakfast this morning


Things about which I know significantly more than the average person

The color of my house
My favorite TV programs
How much I paid for my sofa


Things about which I know less than the average person

Quantum Physics
The Nature Of The Universe
The Existence Of God


I hope this clears up any confusion anyone may have been suffering on this topic. I know I feel a lot better now.



-- (hmm@hmm.hmm), June 25, 2000.

Answer? NOT. You didn't answer the JUICY PART where Critic was most specific. Maybe your "fans" can't read it but some of us can.

Critic of Resume & Writer Man... makes a very specific case in one paragraph and points out flaws in your "code". You ignore his charges. I am not a programmer for money (I can hire when I need one) but I know that "undefined behaviour" in C++ can lead to outcomes that are not exactly in the "top down design" or "not"...sometimes "temporary insanity in the CPU as it gets lost.

OTOH,,,does the term "memory leak" still have meaning in C++ even if you are not "afraid" of C++ ??

Now **IF** the critic has overlooked something then clearly this sort of charge should be answered.

Was there another chapter or Procedure that lead to this one that "initialized" perhaps by "osmosis"? In VB, one can name them and that serves the job. Is that in V.C++? A new un-documented feature perhaps? I must look at the book (at Borders or Barnes where I can "preview" and not "invest").

FROM THE CRITIQUE:

For example on page 356 the author starts a version of main that covers three and a half pages (and there is a single comment - one of the author's optimisations seems to be to save time by not providing any). The function starts by declaring 26 variables, most are not initialised and 24 of them are for built-in types (or pointers to such). He defines at least another 14 variables during the rest of the program. He makes unnecessary assumptions about the size of an int (if it cannot store 884736 as a value, one of his loops goes into undefined behaviour).
All that is bad but the biggest indicator is that the only C++ specifics in his code are an ifstream instance, an ofstream instance, four uses of new and one use of delete and a scattering of uses of fstream member functions. He isn't even consistent. Sometimes he uses memset() and sometimes he iterates through an array of int setting each to zero. He does this in a loop that iterates 884736 times and he is writing about optimisation. Granted that the gain may be small but why did he do it that way in side a time critical section and used memset() elsewhere. We will never know. Perhaps a good optimising compiler identifiers what is happening and sets memory anyway.

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 25, 2000.

You do that, CPR. Go read my book in the store, or better still, read it online; it's available free on my WWW site. Then tell me any errors you find, and I'll correct them in the next edition, with an acknowledgement to you (if you don't mind).

-- Steve Heller (steve@steveheller.com), June 25, 2000.

But cpr,

Amazon's advertising copy claims these are great books. And this critic hasn't even written a book. Now, who are you going to believe?

-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), June 25, 2000.

Flint, you will note there is no answer about the Critic's Critique. Last I heard, it was not kosher to dodge the tacklers by running off the field. Typical Resume Man shot. Since Critic also approved one of Resume's other books, we seem ot have both "off the field" and "double Standard" (except that on Planet Heller, the logic system is akin to Orwell's Animal Farm, four legs Good (Heller); Two legs bad (all critics).

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 25, 2000.

If you're referring to this:

The function starts by declaring 26 variables, most are not initialised and 24 of them are for built-in types (or pointers to such)

all he is saying is that the variables aren't initialized when they are declared. This is neither an error nor a source of memory leaks. It is a matter of style.

-- Steve Heller (steve@steveheller.com), June 25, 2000.

He defines at least another 14 variables during the rest of the program. He makes unnecessary assumptions about the size of an int (if it cannot store 884736 as a value, one of his loops goes into undefined behaviour).

You should have kept reading. This was a "matter of style"?

Lets try it "SLOWLY" so you won't miss it:

(if it cannot store 884736 as a value, one of his loops goes into undefined behaviour).

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 26, 2000.

The compiler I use has 32-bit ints, which can represent numbers up to about 2 billion, so his objection is purely theoretical, not actual.

-- Steve Heller (Steve@steveheller.com), June 26, 2000.

And that compiler is included with the book, by the way, so the reader can use it. Also, every modern PC compiler that I know of uses 32-bit ints, so even if they used a different compiler, it would still work.

-- Steve Heller (steve@steveheller.com), June 26, 2000.

God I hoped this was from a Troll,

CPR, remember on the prior post where I said that due to the effort required to produce a half-dozen books SH was deserving of *some* respect? Well, I take it back.

Steve,

Why not get yourself a new handle & post on a topic other than yourself?

Great advice worth at least twice what you paid for it,

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), June 26, 2000.

One other thing:

Steve, if I ever decide to learn C++, I will look up your book. So the continued verbage between you and Cpr has had some useful effect.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), June 26, 2000.

Didnt Mike Tyson say I knows what I knows?

-- Ra (tion@l.1), June 26, 2000.

Steve,

This pissing contest is not going anywhere. Can we give it a rest?

BTW, I am being tasked with re-learning LISP. Are you familiar with it? I would appreciate any recommendation that you (or anyone) could give for a good current handbook. I'm not exactly a novice, but I haven't used it much in several years.

-- Spindoc' (spindoc_2000@yahoo.com), June 26, 2000.

Sorry, I just noticed that I entered my email incorrectly. Shame on me. This one's right.

-- Spindoc' (spindoc_99_2000@yahoo.com), June 26, 2000.

Spindoc,

Try "Learning to Thpeak" by Thally Thrutherth.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), June 26, 2000.

Heller,

You're a pompous windbag. What's less, you don't have much of a sense of humor.

So there.

-- Orangeman (not@there.anymore), June 26, 2000.

It's oftentimes been said that children misbehave because ANY attention is better than no attention at all. Could this be simply a quest for attention?

Insanity on The

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), June 26, 2000.

Its the Broadway /Hollywood "I don't care what they say about me as long as they spell my name right on the Marquee". (Book, Ham operator ID -> Initials of Book, Resume, Links to Book, links to Resume). Its the emulation or iteration of code by EY / GN / HadaTuna /Webster and the rest of them.

Psuedo Code:

Program MeBeWonderful( ) i=1, Do while i =>0,

strHeller ("I am Wonderful, I think I'm grand, when I go to the Movies, I hold my hand.")

println strHeller,

Loop

/* No need for end. Save the keystrokes. */

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 26, 2000.

Hey Steve, Skillet and Bleach are coming to town. Do you want me to pick you up another ticket? Rock on.

-- Rockin' on (let@hair.down), June 26, 2000.

Steve Heller and Bruce Sysman have at least six things in common;

(1). Both appear to be reasonably intelligent people.

(2). Both came forth as experts to tell the world just how bad Y2K would be.

(3). Both were extremely active on the old TB2000 and made sure that no opposing viewpoints went unscathed.

(4). Both were dead wrong about Y2K.

(5). Both are now spending an EXTRORDINARY amount of time on this forum trying to salvage their reputations.

Personally, its number five I dont get. Why would they come to THIS place to argue their case? If they crave attention and need their egos stroked, why not stay at the House of Yourdon?

Whatever you may think about CPR he was dead right and gave a great deal of his time to battle the forces of ignorance. I find it laughable that Heller and Sysman would have the nerve to be on the same thread as Charlie.

-- Ra (tion@l.1), June 26, 2000.

ceeper's here because he's an idiot who JUST CAN'T LET IT GO and has let whatever puny business he ever had die on the vine during all this.

-- (Charlie's Depleted@Bank.Account), June 26, 2000.

ceeper's here because he's an idiot who JUST CAN'T LET IT GO

And you're here because. . .?

-- (hmm@hmm.hmm), June 26, 2000.

Frank:

I'm happy to hear that some good has come out of this. Please let me know how you like my book if you ever decide to read it.

CPR:

Good job picking up my ham call. As for our previous conversation, can I assume that you're satisfied with my answer to your question about the variable size issue?

Spindoc:

I'm sorry, but I really don't know anything about what books would be good for learning (or re-learning) LISP. I've had a little exposure to that language, but it was many years ago, and I haven't kept up with it at all.

Rockin on:

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that group. My tastes tend to run toward folk-rock oriented music (e.g., indigo girls, Joan Osborne, Sheryl Crow) and classical music.

Rational:

I'm happy to see that you can present a position in a relatively civil manner. To answer your question about why I'm spending so much time here: I have a little spare time right now, and it really doesn't take me long to compose messages.

-- Steve Heller (Steve@SteveHeller.com), June 26, 2000.

CPR:

Good job picking up my ham call. As for our previous conversation, can I assume that you're satisfied with my answer to your question about the variable size issue?

HARDLY. I sent your "reply" on to some people for IV & V.

Stay Tuned to the real world not found on your Ham Radio, Ham.

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 26, 2000.

To answer your question about why I'm spending so much time here: I have a little spare time right now, and it really doesn't take me long to compose messages.

Actually, that doesn't answer the question of "why," it answers the question of "how."

-- (hmm@hmm.hmm), June 26, 2000.

hmm, I'm here because it's fun to watch cpr unravel before my very eyes. I've got a few minutes here and there -- unlike The Creeper, who seems to have no function on earth anymore but to beat a dead horse.

-- (Charlie's Depleted@Bank.Account), June 26, 2000.

"I know what I know" leads to "I yam what I yam", the dawn of a thinking man.

Someone posted that Steve doesn't have a sense of humor. Actually I think the post is very humorous. :D

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), June 26, 2000.

Not much humor here Maria:

"Things about which I know less than the average person

Television shows Sports Gossip about celebrities (I'm sure I've missed some here) "

That's just one big snipe his "inferiors" per usual.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), June 26, 2000.

Buddy: "Things about which I know less than the average person Television shows Sports Gossip about celebrities (I'm sure I've missed some here) " That's just one big snipe his "inferiors" per usual.

Not at all, just a statement of fact. Do you think that those things are inferior to the ones I know much more about? If so, it is you who have made that judgement, not me. They're just of no interest to me, regardless of their intrinsic worth or lack thereof. Neither are ballet or opera, regardless of their "highbrow" status. CPR:

HARDLY. I sent your "reply" on to some people for IV & V.

I'll be interested to see their response, assuming you post it. By the way, have you had a chance to look for errors in my book online yet? There's no rush, of course, but I'd be interested to hear about any you find.

-- Steve Heller (steve@steveheller.com), June 26, 2000.

Steve and CPR,

This is only to suggest to y'all, if you're unwilling or unable to confine your disputes to one thread, that you at least attach a prefix-identifier to your threads from now on, so that those of us who aren't interested can more easily skip over them.

Thank you.

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), June 26, 2000.

Hey whatever, it just seems like every time you post about yourself there is some type of backhanded remark of this type.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), June 26, 2000.

Buddy,

I only brought this up because it seems that a great many threads recently have had to do with their dispute, and that it takes time to click into and download threads, and read initial posts. Given that, do you still see something unreasonable in my suggestion?

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), June 26, 2000.

Buddy was talking to Steve.

-- (hmm@hmm.hmm), June 26, 2000.

hmm, thanks for letting me know. Sorry, Buddy. Carry on...

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), June 26, 2000.

Steve,

Movie recommendation for ya....Fightclub.

And it ain't what it appears to be. Do you some good me thinks.

-- Roger Eburt (theb@ttleisinside.yourhead), June 26, 2000.

Helter,

I read a few chapters of your book online. I find your "understanding" of hardware "imaginative."

It reads like your "analyses" of the "Y2k threat."

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), June 26, 2000.

yadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yaddayadda yadda yadda

-- JoseMiami (caris@prodigy.net), June 26, 2000.

best answer i've ever seen, jose.

-- (watching.it@ll.from.afar), June 26, 2000.

Ra (tion@l.1),

I'm still here because people like Andy Ray, cpr, and YOU keep calling me out...

Maybe you're right. Maybe I do spend too much time here. Maybe I should let you folks beat this dead horse into a pile of dust, and just forget about it...

But there are people here, and at EZ, who's opinion I do respect. I have made many friends during the Y2K debate. Yea, I've also made a few enemies, but I have "made up" with most of them over the past few months...

Who knows, maybe some day, even you, and I, will let Y2K be what it is, history. But somehow, I doubt it...

Rock on, Ra...

<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 27, 2000.

Rational 1,

I have emailed you a rather large box of tissues so you can dry your teary eyes becuase of Sysyman's rebuff. I have quite a few boxes here, for the same use. I feel your pain - I know how it feels to be rejected by a pathetic, memetic, non-degreed, "IT expert" with "3+ decades of experience." Do yourself a favour: Obtain the number of a suicide prevention hotline, write it on on of the tissues, and leave it near your telephone...just in case...I want you to be prepared...

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), June 27, 2000.