using other ppl's pcs

jhh · Post by **jhh** » Wed Feb 05, 2003 5:03 pm

I went over to my old city today for java certification, you sit the exam at a pc terminal so they can give you the result straight away.

And man, did that pooter wail! No turbulance noise as such, just a constant, high-pitched screaming noise, not a good environment to be tested at all and I recon worth a few lost percent.

Until the world wakes upto silent computing I guess we'll just have to put up with this. It's the same in my local library, where silence of everything except the computers seems to be a priority :s

quokked · Post by **quokked** » Thu Feb 06, 2003 11:11 pm

if u look at the OEM computer manufacturers like HP, Compaq, Dell etc they do pay a lot of attention to the noise levels of computers these days, the computers built by your local computer store seems to be the one's that sound like jet engines taking off these days and by the fan nuts (I used to be one) that manage to find just ONE more place to stick a fan

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 1:01 am

I dont know about HPs being quiet, my aunt bought a HP (after I begged her not to) and that thing is really really loud, probably about 45+dB from a meter away. Also not all dells are quiet, I know another person that bought one of the cheaper dells, a celeron 2.0Ghz and its quite loud also.

jhh · Post by **jhh** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 6:41 am

I'm guessing it was an older machine with just a 60mm fan on the cpu - man, I hate high pitched 60mm fans more than I hate loud ones!

I still passed though, so I'm now officially a sun certified java 1.4 programmer (90%

) I'm doing the developers exam next month.

Anyone else here use java?

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 10:20 am

no it was a 90mm fan on the loud one, and a 80mm one on the semi loud dell

jhh · Post by **jhh** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 10:53 am

I ment the one I used for the exam.

I also used my dad's PC the other day, a once high-end evesham micros machine. The volume just blew me away after working on my machine for a while, I think it had a standard athlon cooler and single case fan with pressed grill.

I'm really can't believe that my PC used to sound like that!

TheMuffinMan · Post by **TheMuffinMan** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 11:50 am

jhh wrote:I'm guessing it was an older machine with just a 60mm fan on the cpu - man, I hate high pitched 60mm fans more than I hate loud ones!

I still passed though, so I'm now officially a sun certified java 1.4 programmer (90% ) I'm doing the developers exam next month.

Anyone else here use java?

Next year I am taking Java classes... I currently know C++, Basic, and Visual Basic (YUK!).

GamingGod · Post by **GamingGod** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 12:26 pm

I know C++ and basic, and i heard that Visual Basic is pretty easy, although i never tried it.

Gandalf · Post by **Gandalf** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 12:29 pm

Visual basic is easy and completely useless

. I only ever use it (well its VBA subset) when I have to code something ms access (again: yuck).
I'll be starting my IT training next year, taking c++ and java along with massive amounts of networking stuff (including Cisco CCNA!)

jhh · Post by **jhh** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 3:41 pm

The more java I do the more I like it, I don't think I could go back to c now (well maybe c# for native stuff). I think pretty soon we'll see it overtake c as the language of choice for aplication software; the rise of hyperthreading, dulies and 64bit is playing right into it's hands.

Beyonder · Post by **Beyonder** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 8:31 pm

Man, I went over to my parent's house to check on my brother ('rents were out of town, wanted to make sure my brother wasn't misbehaving *ahem*) and I turned on my dad's computer, and good God.

Thing is like a friggin' vaccum cleaner. He has a high speed fan on his athlon 1900+, a loud PS, five or six generic case fans running at full voltage, and this UNBELIEVABLY LOUD Maxtor Atlas 10K-III hard drive (SCSI). When the hard drive would seek, I could feel it in the desk. Sounded like someone blending frozen strawberries.

Needless to say, I couldn't even sit next to the thing. It was too loud for me to even think straight. After working with my computer (fanless, except for the Seatronic PS, and a Seagate 'Cuda IV) which is for all purposes damn near silent, I can't tolerate such a thing.

Maybe I'll help the guy out, because that thing is just hidious.

My roommate's computer also emits this high pitched "whine" and has a lot of fan noise. I have to use headphones to use the thing (the "around the ear" type) - otherwise after a while it gets annoying.

Beyonder · Post by **Beyonder** » Fri Feb 07, 2003 8:36 pm

Gandalf wrote:Visual basic is easy and completely useless . I only ever use it (well its VBA subset) when I have to code something ms access (again: yuck).
I'll be starting my IT training next year, taking c++ and java along with massive amounts of networking stuff (including Cisco CCNA!)

Nonsense - VB is pretty much industry standard for developing quick and dirty applications for a buisness setting. If speed isn't critical, there's no reason to use c++. If banging out a buisness application for enterprise or personal use is your intent, I'm all over VB.

Use the right tool for the job. Sometimes VB is that tool - sometimes it's C++.

jinu117 · Post by **jinu117** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 12:46 am

Gandalf wrote:Visual basic is easy and completely useless . I only ever use it (well its VBA subset) when I have to code something ms access (again: yuck).
I'll be starting my IT training next year, taking c++ and java along with massive amounts of networking stuff (including Cisco CCNA!)

For being in software development industry for last 11 years (and 23 years of background in computing), it seems to be the most verstile tool I have at hand in 90% of situation. I understand there are some bias toward Java, etc for learning students. In real world, corporate environment are run with at least 50% off of VB. (5 different works I've been in was anywhere from 50%-100% VB shop)
Yes, I do know my Java, C++, Assembly, variant of VB (VBA, ASP, .net), etc. Pascal, Cobol (well cobol skill is fading rather quickly as I can't remember more than 5 commands now).
Take my advise, learn the VB as well as java.. (c++ is rather essential for optimized code... but with this huge processing power of current and future machine, I'd rather stick to VB or Java unless you are doing game programming or device driver programming... at which point you should seriously look into assembly)
Good luck with your studying

crisspy · Post by **crisspy** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 1:22 am

OK, since this thread has partially degenerated into a programming language debate

, I'll jump into the fray with this comment: The problem with VB is that it's a M$ product. Bloatware supreme. I can often sense a VB built application by it's heavy feel. Yuk. I agree that a slick basic has it's place, so I suggest PowerBasic 7.0 for Windows. Tight, clean, fast, and very good support. I also spotted a Java to native code compiler the other day, which seemed like a good start at adressing some of that language's weaknesses in some applications.

Bigg · Post by **Bigg** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 12:37 pm

quokked wrote:if u look at the OEM computer manufacturers like HP, Compaq, Dell etc they do pay a lot of attention to the noise levels of computers these days, the computers built by your local computer store seems to be the one's that sound like jet engines taking off these days and by the fan nuts (I used to be one) that manage to find just ONE more place to stick a fan

the more fans you have, the slower they can go, the slower they can go, the silenter they are. the more fans the better.

jhh · Post by **jhh** » Sat Feb 08, 2003 1:12 pm

If you ask me a java to native compiler is a backwards step. A well written VM implements ClassLoader with a Just-in-time compliler rather than run byte-code straight, that way the object code you distribute is independent of OS or CPU and yet aproaching the efficiency of native code.

I agree with the benefits of VB for the moment, but nothing handles concurent programing like java, as parallel procesor machines become more comon that's going to be a very important feature.

Of course java isn't perfect. I write games for mobile phones and just finding out about the platform requires a load of work arrounds, there are also a lot of anomilies and broken rules in the JFC, but these things will be fixed given time.