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I don't know how people get so many blue screens... they're probably just bad at maintaining their PCs. I have never ever gotten a BSOD, and I've used Windows 95-XP. And I do install lots of stuff and mess around with the OS.

Such maintenance would require keeping Windows off the internet, and replacing the hard drive every 6 months. Hard drives have always been as unreliable as a defective automobile. One unsanctioned solution is to install windows on a DVD using the semi-secret Windows PE suite. (However since Vista never worked, MS is starting to allow people to use Vista PE (rumor) ... Shhh! It's still kind of a secret. Ask a geek: "Windows on a DVD? Impossible! oh ... Windows PE? That's only for us 1337s, we aren't licensed to distribute it!") Another... there is a hackup of Windows XP that actually WORKS. (But if you ever clicked "I AGREE" before, using it is a EULA violation, otherwise it's some other infringement.)

Psst!
Windows PE!

That was cute. I particularly liked the shots of Leo Laporte and Brent Spinner facing the blue screens. The Bill Gates demo of Win95's USB feature is always a classic. Cure for the BSoD? Get a Mac! Yea... Like any other computer, they still crash from time to time, but it's so cool to have your computer tell you so in four different languages!

I always hear how Windows is "DLL Hell" and has an outdated registry... so how exactly does a Mac store all the settings and organize all the icons?

DLL files were Windows answer to Mac's old dual-fork file format. Pre-OS X, Macs kept an application's (executable) resources in what what called a resource fork and the code itself in a data fork. The two forks made up the entire application file. The resource fork contained icons, menus, dialogs and such just as DLL files later did for Windows. The link between application and its documents was maintained in a database called "Desktop Database" which also kept track of what icon went with what (similar to the registry). OS X now maintains the resouces as seperate files within a package that represents the application. This is convenient in that all the support files for an application are usually within the application's package and out of view of the user. While there's still a registry of sorts, the link is maintained by the application's package itself. This is similar with most modern OS's (UNIX, Linux, etc.) now. I'm not sure if Vista has abandoned the old DLL system or not. I haven't had much time to examine it.

Maybe we can rouse LV from his self-imposed exile..

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DLL files were Windows answer to Mac's old dual-fork file format.

A DLL (dynamic-link library) is Micro$oft's attempt to implement reentrant libraries, not a response to the Mac's dual-fork format.

Reentrant (shared) libraries are an important part of any multitasking OS, and certainly predate the Mac (which didn't even have multitasking, originally.)

The purpose is simple--why statically link the same functions to each process (loading the same code multiple times and using up memory), when the OS itself can load a single, reusable library instead?

OS X now maintains the resouces as seperate files within a package that represents the application. This is convenient in that all the support files for an application are usually within the application's package and out of view of the user. While there's still a registry of sorts, the link is maintained by the application's package itself. This is similar with most modern OS's (UNIX, Linux, etc.) now.

I'm certain that on a modern Mac (*nix style) the OS does the library management, not the app (the app simply requests the library.) If the library is already loaded (used by the OS or another app) the OS doesn't need to load it, it just supplies the linkage needed by the app.

Same with Linux, same with Windows, too.

Micro$oft pretty effectively messed up their original implementation--either by not allowing multiple library versions, or simply by not having applications check library versions when requesting them...

This was the major Windoz screw up--without an effective version system for libraries, only one copy of a reentrant library could exist. Installing older programs would overwrite newer library versions, crippling programs which needed the newer functionality. They tried to fix with the 'Registry,' which caused a whole new set of problems...

Or Linux >_>

I USE LINUX AND IT'S AWESOME. Macs are awesome too. But that doesn't help any of my poor Windows friends.

Dude, I totally love OSX on the newer Macs. Pure Linux with a straight up console. I'm going to either buy a mac next, or figure out how to port Shake for Mac to a different linux distro.

Convert them :D

for(;;) is the same as while(true), it loops forever! :D

Hey thanks!

Oh, normally it works like this, though:
for(i=0;i>3;i++){
print i;
}

123

the first statement init.s a variable. The second is a conditional, if it is false, the loop stops. The last is a statement that is run at the end of each loop cycle. The above is the same as:
i=0;
while(i<3){
print i;
i++;
}

you typically use the for loop when you are counting something or know the exact number of times that is something is supposed to happen...
i think.

let me check...
from wikipedia:
"Unlike many other kinds of loops, such as the while loop, the for loop is often distinguished by an explicit loop counter or loop variable. This allows the body of the for loop (the code that is being repeatedly executed) to know about the sequencing of each iteration. For loops are also typically used when the number of iterations is known before entering the loop."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_loop

using the for loop in c++:
http://www.hitmill.com/programming/cpp/forLoop.htm

In C++ the for loop looks like this (basically): for(initializing expressions) { statements; // what the loop will do }

i like c better c++ really annoys me maybe becuse imused to perl or im learning vb

I am becoming partial to C# myself....

visual c ,pretty good vb is mucccccccccch better ,try it!

I have a few books on the subject, but I have been working on the C# lately, so once I get it better mastered (in conjunction with .NET) I may look into it.