Saturday, April 27, 2013

Go: Engineered Programming Language

A language designed to be "boring" but effective for Google.
A very informative presentation:

Go at Google: @ InfoQ
"Rob Pike explains how Google designed Go 
to address major development issues they encounter while using other languages: 
long build times, poor dependency management, lack of robustness, etc."

For example, Go programs build 40 times faster than equivalent C++ code!

The Go Programming Language course @ Pliralsight


Even curly brackets are preserved for a reason to keep it look "familiar"
The same reason is stated for JavaScript, as well as Java and C#.
This is to help developers transition from other programming languages.

But there is also a more practical engineering reason:
to avoid hard to detect semantic errors caused by changes in indentation,
observed when embedding Python language, also popular in Google, to other tools.

$99 Android 'Netbook' powered by Intel

'Wintel' on the wane: Intel goes Google | Business Tech - CNET News


Intel needs to re-imagine its market... or the profit is gone.

Chrome:plugins, disable Adobe Flash Player

Adobe Flash Player plug-in - Google Chrome Help:
"Enable or disable Adobe Flash Player

Type chrome:plugins in the address bar to open the Plug-ins page.

On the Plug-ins page that appears, find the "Flash" listing.
To enable Adobe Flash Player, click the Enable link under its name.
To disable Adobe Flash Player completely, click the Disable link under its name."

There is also chrome:about for many more hidden options.

Flash plugin is still a major reason for frequent Chrome crashes,
excessive network usage by annoying ads...
So until they figure out to utilize HTML videos for ads, disabling Flash could help.

Windows 8 tablets: 3 million, 7.5% in 2013Q1

Windows 8 tablets hit 3 million shipped in first quarter | Microsoft - CNET News

"Windows 8 tablets (which include Windows RT) took 7.5 percent of the global tablet market based on operating system (OS) market share in the first quarter...
PC makers (including Microsoft) shipped 3.4 million units worldwide in Q1 2013"

What's New in jQuery 2.0

What's New in jQuery 2.0 - SitePoint
"The second branch of the web’s most popular JavaScript library was released on April 18, 2013. jQuery 2.0 is now available for download but don’t rush off and install it just yet — there is one major change…

No More Support for IE6/7/8
(or IE9 and IE10 if they’re used in “Compatibility View” mode)."



A better approach would be making the library "modular" if possible,
where IE6/7/8 is a module included only when needed...

A Little Graph Theory for the Busy Developer

A Little Graph Theory for the Busy Developer: @ InfoQ

Dr. Jim Webber is Chief Scientist with Neo Technology the company behind the popular open source graph database Neo4j, where he works on graph database server technology and writes open source software.

Presentation.pdf

book: Graph Databases


Graphs could predict social events, including wars,
as well as help with sales and advertising...
Graphs are fast for processing large amounts of data in real time.

A crash course in creativity: Tina Seelig @ Stanford

A crash course in creativity: Tina Seelig at TEDxStanford - YouTube: "

podcast: A Crash Course on Creativity @ Stanford Center for
Social Innovation


person: Dr. Tina Seelig is the Executive Director for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), the entrepreneurship center at Stanford University's School of Engineering

article: @Stanford.edu

book: @ Amazon.com


article: @ MIT Sloan

Innovation:

  • culture,
  • knowledge,
  • imagination,
  • resources,
  • attitude and
  • habitat

blog post: @KUMU

online class: Stanford Online: A Crash Course on Creativity
April 22, 2013 - June 02, 2013


To me, the most interesting insight is that innovation does require knowledge. There are too many cases where people and organizations try random things, and not surprisingly that does not work. Only real practitioners with real knowledge, in right conditions do produce real progress... But this is not too hard...

3-D Printed Car, $0.02/mile to drive

Urbee is a two-passenger hybrid car designed to be incredibly fuel efficient, easy to repair, safe to drive, and inexpensive to own. (200 miles / gallon)

podcast @ IEEE spectrum: What’s Next For 3-D Printing? Car Bodies

3-D Printed Car Is as Strong as Steel, Half the Weight, and Nearing Production | Autopia | Wired.com

3D-Printed Hybrid Uses Sunlight, Ethanol or Gas @Wired #2011