If you are a GNOME user, uou can do a lot worse than using the Humanoid-Dark-OSX theme.

What is astounding is that even if you consciously try NOT to emulate OSX on your GNOME desktop, it still works

Get it here.

A little while ago I blogged about my experiences with the Ruby programming language. I got an email, which I believe raises some valid points (and of course adds a couple more points why you should learn Ruby, which obviously is a Good Thing TM). But before we start, please take a look at the following Paul Graham articles, as he expresses some of my points in a much much more eloquent way.

The Python Paradox

Beating the Averages

Without further ado, let’s see what the reader cared to comment:

One of the reasons people should learn less mainstream languages, such as SmallTalk, Lisp, Haskell and so on is so that they can recognize limitations and capabilities of current mainstream languages. There’s not that much new in Ruby, nor in C#.

I wholeheartedly agree. Although the Amiga Persecution Complex can be quite prevalent (as in “Why we are not programming in Objective-C, after all John Carmack (who shares the same initials as Jesus Christ and when it comes to programming he is probably more important stated that it was his favourite programming language)”?), spending some time and doing some archeology can pay off significant dividends, especially from the fields of functional programming and whatnot, areas that are usually associated with academia and all the false connotations that come with it. So dust-off that Ocaml book today.
Because they never took the time to learn other languages besides mainstream ones, they don’t understand what the fuss is about and dismiss it as open source zealotry.

Here is a point that I wholeheartedly agree. It is quite funny seeing languages such as C# trying to incorporate features (or to put it more colloquially “tack-on”) that have been doing the rounds for years in some not-so-leftfield languages. So, more often than not, a couple of language revisions down the road, they end up using features that were chastising in the first place. Additionally, a pattern that is often observed is that due to lack of exposure to different technologies, they can be sitting at a gold mine and not realizing that ;).

They also don’t understand the power of an open community working around programming tools because they have never experienced it… I like my languages to come with code, a real community and to run everywhere, thank you!

Amen and write back soon!

Before we start, download and install Ruby. This blog post will offer some newly found insights about the programming language and more specifically, the reasons that I enjoy programming in this language more than others. I will not however fall into the trap of promoting Ruby as the solution for every problem or how is the best programming language ever. Rails will not be discussed, even though some view it as the main driving force behind Ruby’s popularity.

After spending some quality time with the language and a few good books, I found myself to be insanely more productive. Once you get your bearings with the language, you find yourself spending more time actually expressing your ideas than fiddling with the language itself. Yukihiro “Matz” Matsumoto set this as an explicit design goal and he succeeded. The syntax is quite freeform and coding in it appears fluid. The price you pay for this fluency is that since there is a variety of ways to achieve the same objectives, so making reading other’s people code difficult if you do not understand all the concepts (however, while the language borrows quite a lot from Perl, it is not write-only code ). A good standard library  takes cares of most of the coder’s needs and there is a substantial amount of free to use code in the form of gems. If you are unlucky enough to be using Windows, the one-click installer comes with a bucketload of goodies that tie-in nicely with the operating system. However, maybe it is a bit retro, but my preferred way of developing in Ruby is under a terminal using vim in any Unix-like operating system

The reflection and meta-programming capabilities of this language are incredible. The price for this is the reportedly slow runtime. I will not attempt to refute this, Perl and Python have faster runtimes, but Ruby was fast enough for my, admiteddly limited, needs. Reflection is an integral part of the language. I realized how advanced Ruby is in this sector, when I had to program in C# and spent some stolen time writing toy reflective programs. On an anecnodal note, having to write a lot of similar C# code, I seriously considered to write a Ruby 20-liner to generate all this code for me (and not doing so given the fact that I had only 3 more classes to go and really wanted to end my part soon). Given the fact that a few years back I had to work with the monstrosity of EJB 2.1, I think you will spare me for not messing around with Java. Reflection, combined with duck typing solve a lot of your problems and appear to have been genuinely thought in the design and not tacked on as an afterthought. The language carries quite a big back of tricks but you can read about them in far greater detail elsewhere.

Ruby’s biggest advantage for me is that is extremely freeform. You want to write a quick-n-dirty #!/usr/bin/ruby script? Go right ahead. Want to create something a bit more complex? The abstractional capabilities are there. If you are willing to sacrifice idiom and the most advanced features, you can write strictly procedural-like code. However, by doing so you will miss the extremely flexible nature of the language. When the more oneself is becomes familiar with the more advanced features, he starts to see the overall elegance of the idiom and the crudeness that one has to bear for the name of CPU efficiency.

It is not that Ruby does not has flaws, like the slow runtime mentioned above, and that you have to be careful with the implementation you are using, as it might introduce some subtle bugs with Threads. And let’s not forget some of the syntax is an acquired taste. However, the biggest drawback is that perhaps is not a begginer’s language both in the way that you have to know at least some of your programming stuff to start appreciating the language and that if this is the first language that you will learn, will have quite a hard time adapting to different (stricter?) paradigms.

Having said all that, I still like Python, another great programming language that should definetely give a shot if for some reason Ruby does not tickle your fancy

How’s that for leaving no stone unturned? I understand that network equipment can be quite heavy but you get extra hiring marks for deadlifting 200 pounds?

Solid understanding of network services provided by Unix/Linux and Windows Server.
Experience with the following applications/tools: Microsoft Office, Visio, Wireshark, Nessus and Nmap.

Ability to relocate and install network equipment.  Ability to lift 50 pounds.

Must also be able to work occasional weekends and on after-hours projects.

I usually do not brag about personal possessions but I bought some high-end headphones and courtecy of some flac encoding later, i was re-enjoying some of my best tracks in a totally new way (like ive been hearing it from some crappy tapes and mp3s)…

Get FLACed!

… when “leaked” exploit source code is

• Cleanly formatted, following a clean proper coding style, proper variable naming conventions, the works
• Properly commented, including “THIS IS PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODE OF JIMBOB HACKING CREW”
• Has a comprehensive listing of members, often including email addresses etc
• (last but not least), the word “PRIVATE” are repeated every 10 lines or so ….

More on the hypocrisy of Information Security to come … Perhaps making fun of the script kids and the fame seekers is an easy target. So, for the next “Isn’t it …” line of posts, we will be making fun of our friends, the IT security industry (to use a cliche, “modern age snake oil merchants”. And yes, it will be a “name and shame” game, so keep watching this space.

When zines and tutorials continue to ignore what has been going on for the past three years or so. and still repackage “smashing the stack for fun and profit” from like 2 gens ago?

Note to the reader: While I have changed the names of the parties involved, the rest is AS IS

——————————

Phrack #65 is out …

[edit:] Although for many reasons it is against me, I wholeheartedly agree with most of the contents of

http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=65&id=13#article

Please take the time to read, I find it to be the sad truth

Shock Rock: borderline musical idiom. The performers usually play something relatively extreme as compared to the mainstream of the contemporary music. The main stimuli is visual, as shown in the various acts live performances (or “shows”). Usually, the music is not that good and most of these bands prove to be nothing more than a one trick pony. The amount of shocking acts in public permitted by law is deterministic, the genre is quite unpopular now as most of what is to be seen has been shown already back in the 80s. “How is this related to the IT Security industry?”, the astute reader might remark?

Today I had the dubious pleasure to use a port scanner made by a known security company. I will give no names but trust me you have heard this one and maybe bought a book from them or two. It is your typical win32 software, version X.Y, with X being much much greater to 1 (therefore, been revised and improved with every iteration. Running a portscan towards a firewalled VM, it reported filtered ports as open, while nmap was displaying them as closed or filtered. At first I thought that there was something wrong with my firewall configuration. Upon further investigation, when the tool was trying to make a simple connect() scan, reporting timed out ports (-j DENY) as open.

If you are familiar with Bruce Schneier, in his “Secrets and Lies” book, introduces the “snake oil” merchants. Unfortunately, even with a slightly more security educated IT community, frauds like them described in the book can often be encountered in the field. Like our pals from [CENSORED]. Hey guys, is it too much to ask that your connect() portscanner (with a version greater than 1, mind you) at least expects the presence of a firewall someplace? I am sure that quite a lot of pimping goes into your books, I would not know. I have bought one of your books back in 2001 something and it was a terrible waste of money and time. To cut a long story short, you have a bunch of clueless posers with a good PR department charging the hell outta their clients and presenting themselves as authorities within the IT security industry. Unfortunately, the shock rock effect of their material, the overestimation of how “them pesky hackers are out there to get YOU“, soon will wear off and those morons will be exposed for the frauds they are.