Of course there is a Visual COBOL. Micro Focus owns it apparently (I think Fujitsu had created it originally).

Only thing that allows Windows to do anything in "realtime" is that machines are far faster than the many minicomputers used for realtime work (Xerox Sigma series, Systems Engineering Labs, Modcomp, Harris, Interdata, etc.). These machines had a variety of hardware features that supported quick context switching (think multiple register sets, multiple memory maps, bit level instructions, etc.), and huge numbers of priority interrupt levels to facilitate realtime processing (at least one machine had 127 levels of priority interrupt). Usually it was a simple matter to use an interrupt to trigger a process to go do something quickly in response to an interrupt. Once the PC came out, these machines quickly died as eventually so did the VAX. market for realtime work was relegated to the embedded processor work and realtime kernels. In their infinite wisdom the NT designers didn't allow Interrupts to do ANY significant processing. They handed that processing off to something called the Dispatch Priority Level, a sort of netherworld between the interrupts and the OS.

We use yubikey as do many secure businesses (think DoD, GOv, etc.). Little USB plug in (many sizes, we use one that virtually disappears into you device when inserted). All you do is enter a PIN to authenticate. https://www.yubico.com/

As some have said, it is in the MSDN. Here's the link to the pricing. https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/pricing/

I got a slightly different (if not simpler) answer. a/(a+b) = c/d a = c/d*(a+b) a*d/c = a+b a*d/c -a = b a*(d/c -1) = b a=b/(d/c-1) Which if you multiply the numerator & denominator by c you'll get the answer the machine reports.

Just compare Spider Solitaire Win10 (UWP) and Win7. Specifically, try re-sizing the windows both up and down. Then ask yourself what is UWP good for.

It isn't just mobile. Why does Outlook give you the choice of these desktop themes on a 1900x1200 color monitor? Dark Gray Light Gray White Really, I spend money for a color monitor and you offer me monochrome?

"basics of how to think like a computer" The language that most closely matches "how computers think" is Assembly language and even that is an abstraction to allow us mortals to approximate thinking like a computer without having to program in machine code. Back when computers had console switches & lights on them (to read out registers, and various other things internal to the computer) you could arguably say you could think like a computer if you could use these things fluently. Yes, there were actually people who could stand at the front console and program the darn things. All of the higher level languages are further abstractions of machine code to bring it into a form that we can more easily express our thoughts in.

What about security? Where I am working, we absolutely need to keep up with the latest versions of the .NET runtime and JVM because of security issues in older versions (yes, and patch the newer versions). I am currently working with VS 2015 update 3 but will move to 2017 as the software engineering organization moves to it.

Do you suppose there's a cause & effect relationship there?

I find it extremely interesting that no one suggested using LinkedIn. I've been gradually refining my LinkedIn page. I sometimes update it before doing the resume update. A web developer should be able present himself (or herself) favorably on a LinkedIn page. I (and I suspect others) would be willing to have a look at it and offer suggestions.

Last year I purchased a SoundBlaster ZXR audio card, Sound Forge S/W, and a computer to run this on. I have something like 600 or so Vinyl records, everything from Peter, Paul, and Mary, Beatles, & Bob Dylan, to Thelonious Monk and even classical. Plan is to use the Yamaha turntable with Ortofon cartridge connected to the Adcom 500 preamp and make some of those 192 KHz, 24-bit depth recordings. I am waiting to see how this all works out. If I live long enough, I may actually be able to get the majority digitized. I will say there's one advantage to CD's; you don't have to flip it over every 15 minutes.

Take a look at: https://kc.mcafee.com/resources/sites/MCAFEE/content/live/PRODUCT\_DOCUMENTATION/24000/PD24871/en\_US/de\_710\_detech\_user\_guide\_en-us\_Rev.B.pdf

I am guessing you must be from the UK. Try googling: soft plastic baseball bat for a child

I mentioned this as a way to improve the quality of software in a post some time ago. https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23331144-500-ai-learns-to-write-its-own-code-by-stealing-from-other-programs/

It would have been possible for someone in 2005 to have had five years experience with .NET. You are forgetting that Microsoft had a beta program for .NET. I was a part of it, and have a vivid memory of being in Redmond, for a week in 1999 for a working session with Microsoft. One of the reasons it is vivid, is because of one session beginning at 4PM where the Microsoft team comes in in flannel shirts and blue jeans carrying a large tub filled with ice & beer. Then we got an impromptu session by the guy who wrote ASP.NET. It was pretty amazing watching him break the cardinal rule of presentations by slinging code in Notepad & not ever having anything break.

UWP APPS = evil There's a very good reason why folks download Win7 CALC & Spider Solitaire. Download the CALC & install on Win10, then run both side-by-side

Have any of you seen that original Star Trek that visited a planet where all wars were done by simulation. The simulation decided who got killed in the war. The unlucky ones were march off to killing chambers. Leaves the planet intact, reduces the population of both sides, etc.

There are some thing machines do better than humans. We built Assembler because we aren't at all good at coding machine language. We built compilers because humans aren't terrific at coding assembly, etc. Thinking about it, that to me seems to be a good place for AI. Teach the AI S/W about the machine architecture & instruction set. Teach it about Assembler, C, C++ and C# (you would want the AI to leave a trail of bread crumbs behind, so we humans could if needed, decipher what the code is doing). Teach the AI about how all the underlying infrastructure (magic) works. Teach the AI about coupling and cohesion. Teach it about the kinds of cyber attacks that EMET deals with. Let the AI take over the construction of the OS software and all the other "magic" stuff. No single human understands all the 100M+ lines of code that constitute the Windows OS these days. Strikes me that done correctly, this could (over time) largely eliminate programing errors that cause security vulnerabilities. Also would yield leaner, faster code

Between cloud & virtualization, a lot of today's developers don't realize they need actual hardware to run on. How many of the younger generation even know how an OS works. How about Dynamic Link Libraries or OLE? Does anyone know of any college that requires their CS degree students to learn Assembly Language? Colleges seem to have left Assembly to the engineers. And yes, I am of the generation where if you needed something (compiler, OS, etc.) you wrote it yourself. Input via paper tape or punched cards.