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you mean the entirety of Oraclesa case? | 438 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
API, package, class, declaration, etc: Do you think that it's unclear what the difference is?
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 27 2012 @ 09:11 AM EDT
I mean, why are they trying to use analogy at all? Why not just use the real thing?

Because there are no laws for the real thing, and the job of the judge is to ultimately apply laws rather than common sense to the case.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

you mean the entirety of Oraclesa case?
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 27 2012 @ 09:16 AM EDT

That confusion?

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

Do you guys think it's confusing?
Authored by: Gringo_ on Friday, April 27 2012 @ 10:39 AM EDT

I'm really not sure why the judge seems to be having so much difficulty with the idea of implementation, methods, declarations, classes, packages and APIs.

I don't think it's confusing, because I have been a programmer for the past twenty years or so, but I think we programmers needs to try to remember back before learned our craft, what it was like when we took our first baby steps.

I entered the "Computer Technology" program as a fully qualified electronics engineering technologist. The program was a cross-over, from hardware to software. We had this old CP/M server with a big Winchester drive, and each of us had a terminal powered by a Z80 running CP/M, networked to the server.

The capabilities of our local terminal was very limited, and our compilers and other resources resided on the server. We first learned to program in Z80 assembler, using "BDOS" calls (same idea as BIOS calls) to output results to the screen, or make a sound via the PIC. In the first few days, I remember struggling with the concepts like where was the boundary of what was on my local terminal and the server, what was a BDOS call - did that do something locally, or did it interact with the server? Since we were working in assembler, we didn't yet know what was a function.

The thing was, there is so much coming at you at once, it is really hard to grasp any single concept, no matter how simple it would seem to me today. It was overwhelming. I remember a little later on, when I had advanced to learning to program in C, how my head felt trying to absorb the new knowledge I was learning at a rapid rate.

I had made the observation back then that computer technology was an alien thing that does not naturally fit comfortably in the human mind. It is like swallowing shards of glass. I remember I would have strange dreams at night even - though unfortunately today I can't remember what they were like.

Today I live and breath computer technology, and it is second nature, but I always feel sympathy for those who don't understand the technology. I feel so sorry for them as they struggle with the simplest thing. There are loved ones in my life who call me when they have a problem with their computer - like - they had an email open they were composing and it disappeared from view, and how can they get it back? One needs to be very patient with such a person. Yelling at them does not seem to help them much, if at all :)

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

API, package, class, declaration, etc: Do you think that it's unclear what the difference is?
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 27 2012 @ 11:56 AM EDT
I think it is in Oracles best interest to keep the judge and jury confused, so
that they don't find the golden nugget. It is something their legal team is
good at.

At this point though, it seems to have failed.

Dave M.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

API, package, class, declaration, etc: Do you think that it's unclear what the difference is?
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, April 27 2012 @ 12:29 PM EDT
I suspect that the judge has a pretty good idea of what the litigants mean by
at least some of the terms, and what he wants them to do is distill the terms
down to something that the jury can hang their hats on. When the litigants
actually do that, and submit it to the judge for his approval, he's certainly
going to apply the "duck test" (based on what he's decided in his
mind), and either approve what the litigants have created, or make some minor
amendments to clarify wording, or send the litigants back to the horror
chamber and make them do it all over again.

Lather, rinse, repeat, until the hair is clean...

It's in everyone's best interests, of course, that the jury is given very
clear definitions of the terms, and then clear (and simple) instructions
on exactly what issues they are to decide. Having been on a couple of
juries for much simpler cases (criminal and civil), I really appreciated it
when the judge explained The Law As It Applies In This Case, knowing
that although it had a lot of facets, it had been hashed out carefully
between the judge and the litigants.

[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]

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