x = str(3)
y = "3"
print(x+y)

gives me '33'

unless you are saying I want to convert a number to a string, such as

x = 3
y = x
z = str(y)

Your casting it to string to ensure that it is a string:

int x = 3

str y = str(x)

Basically, in strongly typed languages you want to code defensively to avoid type mismatch errors. In weakly typed languages it's not as critical, but is a good reason to learn stricter languages first.

Defensive coding sounds like a good reason to me.

I always get a little worried when i see two possible ways to do something. There always seems to be a great reason to do it one way and stick to it.

For now, I'll use to-string identifiers.

This is so true

http://i.imgur.com/Ig1DD.jpg

Lol, thats really good

similarly, if you've never seen this, prepare to live:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/design_hell

Because the thread with the lame logo design contest got deleted, I figured I'd post one of my favorite craigslist ads here (relevant to that post):

http://www.craigslist.org/about/best...625610355.html

That's brilliant, but the people it's aimed at won't get it.

You lazy graphic designers should be happy you're getting a chance to expand your portfolio with their amazing opportunity! You're lucky you don't need to suck a **** for the $200 job!

the market is always right. if people participate in the contests, its obv worthwhile to let them

I'm wondering if anyone who has experience around here could direct me to a trustworthy and reasonably priced guy who might be interested in building me a websight/forum. I'm in the process of figuring out what I'm looking for, and what kind of arrangements I'm willing to make.

Thanks

Jeremy

I just signed up with Twitter. I never used it before and my first impression is that it is difficult to use.

The first tweet I read:

@Microsoft
Microsoft
It's not often that we encourage you to stop using one of our products, but for#IE6, we'll make an exception: http://*******/g0wt4m

Looks like 2p2 mangled the short link, so I found the twitter post myself and it was linking to this:

http://www.theie6countdown.com/

is this the place to post on 2p2 to solicit some light but of course paid programming work? don't know where else to go and I'm looking for someone experienced with qt (& c++)

What is the value of StackOverflow when learning a new language? For me it's frigging priceless... you are basically guaranteed to never get into one of those stuck holding patterns where it takes 3 hours of research to get past a sticking point. Loveitloveitloveit.

And the best part is there's no stigma or judgement based on asking too many questions.

Wondering about how to handle this. Probably the proper way is to make a WTB marketplace thread, and link it here. not sure yet.

Maybe a dedicated thread in this forum dave?

then please do delete the above post and PM me once you know

This is actually what Juk and I discussed the other day if we get these requests with regularity. The marketplace seems like maybe a bad spot because it isn't hitting the desired audience.

I think a thread here is probably the best solution long term. Probably just need to add a disclaimer similar to the marketplace that 2p2 takes no responsibility. One other thing I wondered about to Juk was if we should only allow posters with a certain age/posts to make requests? Thoughts?

I think the age/posts thing is a good idea. It is a 2p2 forum after all.

"Friends don't let friends use Internet Explorer 6."

Glad Microsoft has a sense of humor. Not sure if the implied force to upgrade would be funny to corporations though.

Neat that they even give you a convenient banner for your site. I'm tempted to change it to less than ie8 though....

Complaint about MIT opencourseware:

First off, this stuff is amazing. It's awesome that I can kinda sorta get a free education from one of the top schools in the world. The intro to programming class uses Python, and I don't like the teacher's attitude toward the language. He makes it pretty clear that he doesn't like it for myriad reasons (mostly what he calls "operator overload.") He describes himself as "an old-school Lisp programmer."

While I appreciate the perspective, I also wish that he would let the students create their own opinion of the language. I do think that using Python for intro is a good idea, since it isn't verbose yet forces you to use structure (even more so that some other languages I am vaguely familiar with), but I don't want to finish this series of classes (now on class 4 out of 24) thinking that Python isn't the best choice for anything. At the same time, I wouldn't want to walk out worshiping the program either.

It's probably too early for this knock. Perhaps later on he will start to talk about why Python is better than Java/Lisp/C++ for x project on a later lecture.

Yeah, I think that's a good way of filtering.

Doesn't have to be massive either: perhaps 2 years and/or 100 posts? That would filter out 99% of the spammers we've had in Software (we have had some who create accounts 6 months to a year before spamming before).

Juk

Not sure if it's the same at MIT, but I know from my own experiences that a lot of "Intro to" courses at Uni aren't necessarily taught by those who really want to be doing it so don't be too hard on him

Juk

Dave,

I wouldn't worry about this. Though I'm not expert in Python, I know it's an extremely well-respected, popular, and award-winning language. If you complete the entire course you will definitely come away with a valuable real-world skill. And then of course you can start Django as well, which is a really nice web framework.

http://langpop.com/

http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/...ce-awards-2010