That seems backwards to me. I put the operator on the previous line so I know the expression has more parts coming.

In your example, I don't know SET BAR = 1 isn't the end until I read the next line.

Different strokes I guess. I've tried both ways and I've found this one pleasant for scanning down an expression.

I mean, it's kind of the SQL analogue to the

  MyObject
  .Child
  .Grandchild
  .ItsMethod(stuff)
  .HeyThatReturnedAnotherObject()
  .MoreObject(moreStuff)

I've always seen UUIDs stored as strings. What's the suspect part? Favoring human readability over optimal machine storage utilization?

Human readability is a concern of a client and is independent of the storage mechanism. Every modern database stores integers in binary format, for instance, but clients display them as a decimal string of characters as opposed to a binary or hexadecimal representation. Timestamps are similarly stored in binary fashion, but often formatted for human readability in the client.

If you're using an SQL database you're presumably doing so so that humans can run ad-hoc reports (otherwise there are better datastores). So the UX they get for that is important. And in mysql (yes, not the best choice these days, but a reasonable one when the decision was made), if you store UUIDs as binary (there's no native UUID type) then you do not provide a good UX.

MySQL itself should not be the main interface; there should be some kind of model layer on top of that which does the translation of things like that, such as (for example) ActiveRecord if you were on a Rails stack. That gets you the best of both worlds.

OR you could store the uuid twice, once "natively" and once as a computed column. Searches on the native field would be faster vs. an index on a string column.

> you're presumably doing so so that humans can run ad-hoc reports (otherwise there are better datastores)

oh dear, someone has drank the NoSQL punch... Storing data relationally is NOT something only suitable for ad-hoc queries by end-users! :O

UUID is not a universally available primitive type like integer or date.

Someone hasn't used Postgres. http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/datatype-uuid.html

And anyway, all a UUID is, ultimately, is a big number. It's a simple transcoding to get it into base-10 integer format and back.

Core Data was based on the Enterprise Object Framework from NeXT.

Only loosely. And I don't believe EOF predates table views either.

Okay, but I"m still not buying that Core Data had no design goals beyond backing store for table views.

Oh yes, I certainly wouldn't try to argue with that. In classic Apple fashion, they seem to try to sell it as the solution for all things data storage.

OS X isn't flat. There is still shading and drop shadows. They just turned down the gloss from 11 to something less overbearing. When the UI gets chromed to the hilt like iOS6 or older OS X versions, it becomes a distraction from the app/content.

We used German scientists to develop our nuclear weapons and the space program. That must count for something.

Stackoverflow has of a lot of terrible answers that get voted up by people who aren't equipped to evaluate them properly, and closed threads when anyone starts actual substantive discussions. It also suffers from lack of decent rewards for contribution. That's not what I would consider a good community.

Stack Overflow could be better net citizens if they'd stop polluting Google's search results with closed discussions.

They're welcome to set whatever rules they want for what's "on topic" or a "good fit". Their site, their rules. No harm, no foul.

It's just irritating as hell to waste your time clicking over there from a Google link and finding a closed discussion at the other end.

Telling Google to not index a topic would be a minor tweak. If they've found the discussion unworthy, why do they want Google to index it anyway?

Well, very often I will click through to SO from Google to a closed thread that got downmodded like crazy, but that nevertheless exactly solves my problem in less than a minute from the first answer.

Perhaps on some level SO knows this, and also knows that their mods are perhaps somewhat overzealous, and therefore has adopted the current state of affairs as a sort of compromise/duct-tape solution.

This.

I too, have found so many downmodded questions to have the exact answer I needed for a particular problem. It's by far the most frustrating part of using Stack Overflow.

The overzealous modding has had a chilling effect on my desire to ask a question on SO, because nobody wants their question to be downmodded as a stupid or pointless question.

It would be quite interesting to know which topics you find this happening. I don't tend to see this kind of toxicity on SO. I'm frequenting C# and .NET. Maybe Jon Skeet drags the C# community up to his level!

I see a lot of this in the web development oriented areas. So mainly in the CSS/JS areas.

The overzealous modding is a feature not bug of SE sites.

I find some of the moderation really frustrating but it's worse when the people closing threads and answers are also the ones leaving zero-content comments.

While I also whine about Stack's broken moderation, I still contribute because its heart's in the right place as a site that genuinely wants to help people learn and get answers. The problems you mention are more like implementation details that are subject to ongoing experimentation and can't be changed overnight.

The good thing about Stack is anything I write there will be as easily accessed as if I'd posted it on my own blog, not re-purposed as SEO-bait and blurred or hidden until the user signs up. Furthermore, it's licensed under Creative Commons instead of serving as a donation to the site owner.

Quora is actually a great site once you're logged-in and I find a lot of the content fascinating, but I also wonder why people continue to contribute to such a closed system.

Whilst StackOverflow also has its failings, it isn't deliberately obstructive.

It isn't the perfect model but it is certainly a better one.

this is absolutely not true, stackoverflow is an invaluable resource and what you say might happen very occasionally, but the vast majority of upvoted answers actually helped a lot of people.

Despite what you claim as lacking rewards it seems to have thrived and attracted contributions. I don't really care what you consider a good community, or even accept the premise that there needs to be any notion of community. Why attribute labels, the model seems to work just fine.

"Apple’s design change [is] one it is legally authorized to make, to be clear."

That's really all that matters to me.

I've heard a few people suggest that with single core performance stagnating we may see more ASICs. I admit I'm skeptical, but this line of development does seem worth exploring.

Something just feels wrong to me about kids being trapped in these closed, proprietary communication systems. It's like things are moving backwards.

Although it appears there's a diverse ecosystem of competing systems. The worst scenario would have be a total domination by a single player.