Published in
Engineering, Hacking, Programming
There is a good article on Developers are from Mars, Programmers are from Venus. Comparing the two terms that are often interchanged, but really imply different meanings.
I first noticed this when deciding what I wanted to do in Undergraduate studies. Computer Science was hot stuff in the late ’90’s, but it really seemed like companies weren’t looking for Computer Scientists, they were really looking for Software Engineers, Developers, and Programmers (all different jobs with different skills, personalities, and types of work).
Computer Scientists really should be developing “formal specifications of a programming language”, whereas Software Engineers should be figuring out how to scale out a database, or apply domain specific solutions.
Of course, I ended up doing Aerospace Engineering, but with a Computer Science Minor. The CS minor let me take C++ instead of Fortran, and also have courses where I actually learned how to do requirements documentation, work in a team, design and build large scale systems in a single semester - all skills I didn’t learn in the Aerospace department but have since applied to my work.
I firmly believe that in the near future, all engineers/scientists should/will learn how to program. It is becoming a basic skill necessary to do proper analysis. Given a little bit of programming ability, an engineer can relieve themselves of copying & pasting from Excel to MatLab or other such silly things. Teach them good programming and software design techniques, in a modern and easy to use language with good tools, like Python (and then SciPy and NumPy) and they can be much more effective designers and analyzers. Also, if they learn general, good technique, they can apply that ability to learning other languages that may be specific to their domain.
And no, learning Fortran (or Java) is not going to cut it.
Published in
Geolocation, Google, Hacking, Javascript, Maps, Open-Source, Technology, Web
A couple of days ago I mentioned some Greasemonkey scripts I wrote. One of them, which I didn’t discuss, is particularly devious.
What happens when users have the ability to hijack sites and how they expect to be used? For example, there are scripts to provide mapping functionality within Flickr!, or to compare book prices on Amazon.com with other vendors.
MapThis! overrides the “Map This!” link that shows up in GMail when an address is detected. Instead of linking to just a plain-ol’ googlemap, the link is “hijacked” to provide routing directions from the user’s geolocated position (using HostIP) to the address in the email.
This is useful, for example, if a friend sends you the address of their house, or that cool roller-rink with disco ball that you’re meeting up at and you want to quickly get directions.
It also demonstrates how a user isn’t limited by the interface a site-designer supplied, allowing them to customize and use the site as they wan.
Published in
Gadgets, Hacking, Robotics, Roomba, Technology
After receiving “Spot”, my Roomba last Christmas, I have been really hankering to hack it. After digging around forums/mailing lists/google for awhile, nothing was yet available ready to use.
Several months ago, iRobot, the manufacturers of Roomba, released OSMO Hacking Module for interfacing with the Roomba’s onboard serial port. Since then, there have been some very cool projects that have cropped up; everything from a long serial tether, a bluetooth interface, a programmable plugin module, or a full on-board computer with WiFi access.
I think I’ll go for that latter. AutomationWiki: Roomba Entry
Resources
Published in
Gadgets, Hacking, Open-Source, Programming, TiVo
I missed it, but apparently TiVo released Home Media Engine, an open development kit (SDK) for making applications that run on your TiVo.
There are two parts, the HME itself, and the Bananas UI toolkit for making TiVo-like interfaces.
The HME protocol enables third parties to write applications that display on the TiVo box.
This is more than likely a response to the growing number of MythTV users and enthusiasts. By providing a turn-key hardware setup and solution with near-immediate and assumed SAF (Spousal/Significant-other Approval Factor) it also allows hackers (the good kind) and enthusiasts to satisfy their desire to customize and modify.
An enterprising Indigo user is already developing a TiVo app to control his home automation.
Published in
Books, Hacking, Technology, Web
I’ve been a subscriber to Make since it was announced a little over a year ago. I’ve poured through each article, especially the ones written by friends from college. Several are on my slate to build (one day), since I miss the fun of actual building something physical instead of just all my current digital projects.
To aid in this (hopefully), I just signed up for Make: Digital Edition, which is free for all subscribers. The entire issue is available via a PDF/Zinio type format. Pages are printable, but unfortunately, not selectable. This obviously prevents the easy copyright infringement (be it purposefully or accidental), but also difficult for making private, digital, notebooks. I also imagine this is because of the typesetting involved for making all of the fonts and graphics.
They also have Issues 1 and 2, but oddly enough, not issue 3.
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