Some videos from the Future of Web Design NY 2010 that drop a lot of technology names... Worth a look.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Grab'in Some Vocab 01
Working through the HTML5 Presentation at HTML5Rocks
Reading through the HTML5 Presentation at the HTML5Rocks site and coming across some new vocabulary:
DOM - Document Object Model http://www.roseindia.net/xml/dom/
After the first slide, I just sat back and marveled at what HTML5 can do... wow. Totally impressed and looking forward to learning how to do this stuff.
Definitely check out the slide presentation. I'll be revisiting this often when I get frustrated and need to see the reason for learning this new application development language...
Reading through the HTML5 Presentation at the HTML5Rocks site and coming across some new vocabulary:
DOM - Document Object Model http://www.roseindia.net/xml/dom/
After the first slide, I just sat back and marveled at what HTML5 can do... wow. Totally impressed and looking forward to learning how to do this stuff.
Definitely check out the slide presentation. I'll be revisiting this often when I get frustrated and need to see the reason for learning this new application development language...
Christmas Arrives Early
A Google Chrome OS Cr-48 Laptop Under the Tree
After watching the Google Chrome Event on December 7th, I applied to join the pilot program and test drive a Google Chrome OS Cr-48 laptop by completing the form at http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program.html.
I also used the invitation that appeared along the top of each New Tab in my Chrome Browser that I currently use on top of Win7 and Ubuntu 10.10.
Third, I submitted a reply video to the Event Video posted on the Youtube Google Chrome Channel, explaining my trajectory as an early adopter and technology evangelist. After trying a few takes of me in person in front of the camera, I decided to use xtranormal in the cloud instead. My words, xtranormal actors.
I've been continuing my Journey into learning HTML5. I poked around at the University and also searched online to find out what tools real developers use for HTML, JavaScript and CSS development. It looks like most folks use some version of Eclipse (even though it may not be their personal favorite). Specifically, Eclipse IDE for JavaScript Web Developers. I've grabbed versions for my desktop Win7 system, Ubuntu 10.10 Laptop and my Eeepc Netbook running Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. That should cover my need for development systems.
And then I arrived home from work yesterday. As I passed in front of my house to pull into my driveway, I saw a plain brown UPS box on my porch -- about the size of a laptop. Without any advance notice, I was pretty sure what to expect in the package. It had been sitting outside all afternoon in 27 °F air and I needed a few moments to let the thing warm up before breaking into the package.
Inside the plain outer box was an inner cardboard box with a schematic diagram of a hamster-powered flame-throwing turbocharger. I placed it under our tree while it warmed up. The only identifying information on the box included a Model number of "LC0719AAA00Y", a few serial numbers and a "Product of China" designation. In addition to some standard recycling icons, the only other label was a caution sticker announcing the Lithium-ion Battery contained inside.
After things warmed up, the inner box contained the Cr-48 laptop, a large, thin Lithium-ion battery, charging adapter and three pieces of paper:
1) A business card stating "If you cracked this open, you'd find Intel."
2) A brown tag leaflet that explained how to install the battery, plug in the charger, turn on the computer and regulatory safety notices warning about repetitive stress syndrome while typing, etc.
3) A white card-stock sheet containing a description of the buttons, ports and devices on the unit and a few instructions of how to connect the Cr-48 to the web.
In a very few short moments, I was able to install the battery (which turned it on immediately) and charge it up. After the familiar "smile" to take a profile picture from the webcam and entering my GMail account credentials, I was launched into Google Chrome. I needed to click on the wireless network icon to enter the security key of my wireless network and we were off and running.
The system itself behaved a little quirky for a bit, until I realized that it was downloading the latest update to the Chrome OS software. After the update, everything looked very familiar to my Chrome experience on my other systems...apps, bookmarks and extensions... all synced up.
The first hard road block is using it here at work. Our University wireless system uses Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) for user authentication and that feature is not yet available in this early version of the Chrome OS. I activated the included Free 2-year 100MB per month Verizon 3G radio and got online to log the problem I was having with PEAP, but I don't wish to burn 3G data on casual surfing. Thankfully, the semester is coming to a close and I will be working from my home network until early next year.
Hopefully, the PEAP functionality will be available in early 2011!
After watching the Google Chrome Event on December 7th, I applied to join the pilot program and test drive a Google Chrome OS Cr-48 laptop by completing the form at http://www.google.com/chromeos/pilot-program.html.
I also used the invitation that appeared along the top of each New Tab in my Chrome Browser that I currently use on top of Win7 and Ubuntu 10.10.
Third, I submitted a reply video to the Event Video posted on the Youtube Google Chrome Channel, explaining my trajectory as an early adopter and technology evangelist. After trying a few takes of me in person in front of the camera, I decided to use xtranormal in the cloud instead. My words, xtranormal actors.
I've been continuing my Journey into learning HTML5. I poked around at the University and also searched online to find out what tools real developers use for HTML, JavaScript and CSS development. It looks like most folks use some version of Eclipse (even though it may not be their personal favorite). Specifically, Eclipse IDE for JavaScript Web Developers. I've grabbed versions for my desktop Win7 system, Ubuntu 10.10 Laptop and my Eeepc Netbook running Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition. That should cover my need for development systems.
And then I arrived home from work yesterday. As I passed in front of my house to pull into my driveway, I saw a plain brown UPS box on my porch -- about the size of a laptop. Without any advance notice, I was pretty sure what to expect in the package. It had been sitting outside all afternoon in 27 °F air and I needed a few moments to let the thing warm up before breaking into the package.Inside the plain outer box was an inner cardboard box with a schematic diagram of a hamster-powered flame-throwing turbocharger. I placed it under our tree while it warmed up. The only identifying information on the box included a Model number of "LC0719AAA00Y", a few serial numbers and a "Product of China" designation. In addition to some standard recycling icons, the only other label was a caution sticker announcing the Lithium-ion Battery contained inside.
2) A brown tag leaflet that explained how to install the battery, plug in the charger, turn on the computer and regulatory safety notices warning about repetitive stress syndrome while typing, etc.
3) A white card-stock sheet containing a description of the buttons, ports and devices on the unit and a few instructions of how to connect the Cr-48 to the web.
In a very few short moments, I was able to install the battery (which turned it on immediately) and charge it up. After the familiar "smile" to take a profile picture from the webcam and entering my GMail account credentials, I was launched into Google Chrome. I needed to click on the wireless network icon to enter the security key of my wireless network and we were off and running.
The system itself behaved a little quirky for a bit, until I realized that it was downloading the latest update to the Chrome OS software. After the update, everything looked very familiar to my Chrome experience on my other systems...apps, bookmarks and extensions... all synced up.
The first hard road block is using it here at work. Our University wireless system uses Protected Extensible Authentication Protocol (PEAP) for user authentication and that feature is not yet available in this early version of the Chrome OS. I activated the included Free 2-year 100MB per month Verizon 3G radio and got online to log the problem I was having with PEAP, but I don't wish to burn 3G data on casual surfing. Thankfully, the semester is coming to a close and I will be working from my home network until early next year.
Hopefully, the PEAP functionality will be available in early 2011!
Google Chrome Create an App
Google to the Rescue
www.google.com/chrome/createanapp
Google has posted a site that provides an overview of how to Create an App for Google Chrome. It provides some links to resources on how to build apps for Google Chrome and also points to a list of recommended commercial developers for hire.
Their recommended site to learn more about HTML5 is www.html5rocks.com. It contains a slew of tutorials, examples and even a "code playground" that functions like a sandbox that allows you to write code directly into a browser frame and see the live results.
Absolutely amazing.
www.google.com/chrome/createanapp
Google has posted a site that provides an overview of how to Create an App for Google Chrome. It provides some links to resources on how to build apps for Google Chrome and also points to a list of recommended commercial developers for hire.
Their recommended site to learn more about HTML5 is www.html5rocks.com. It contains a slew of tutorials, examples and even a "code playground" that functions like a sandbox that allows you to write code directly into a browser frame and see the live results.
Absolutely amazing.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Here We Go!
A Journey of One Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step
I've been programming for quite awhile. I first started with BASIC on the Timex Sinclair 1000 computer I received as a gift from my parents for Christmas in 1982 -- coincidentally, also my 17th birthday. It was super awesome and was even purchased with the thermal printer and 16KB memory expansion pack. The rest they say is history... or more to the point my future.
The first program I wrote in Sinclair BASIC was Tic Tac Toe which I didn't so much as write, but copy out of a programming magazine I ordered through the mail. That same year my father's small print shop purchased a Zenith Z-100 Personal Computer to automate the accounting system and I had a chance to take some "computer math" classes in high school that used the school's TRS-80 Lab and a Wang 2200 minicomputer that ran from mark-sense cards. Later in my Junior and Senior years, I was able to take classes that taught FORTRAN and PASCAL on the shiny new IBM 8088 PCs and COBOL on the local college's IBM mainframe using our school's card punching machine.
In college, I took courses in FORTRAN and PASCAL that ran on the PC and the new IBM PS/2s along with applications on the university's IBM 370. In my analog and digital electronics courses we learned interfacing between chip-level UARTs, counters and 8088 chips using Assembly. Later in my senior seminar course we created computer-controlled instrumentation using CommodoreBASIC on a Commodore64. After graduating with a B.S. degree with a double major in Chemistry and Physics I developed a quotation program in Borland QuickBASIC over the summer before entering graduate school at The Ohio State University.
In grad school I used a dialect of FORTH under MS DOS on an IBM PC 386 to develop the control, data acquisition and data analysis software for a new ultrafast laser Raman spectrometer created by our research group. After graduation in 1992 with my Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry, I worked for an on-site defense contractor for the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, developing new laser-based diagnostic systems for the study of fuel stability and combustion research as well as wind-tunnel measurements for air-frames and turbofan jet engines. I created system and data analysis software in ANSI C using the LabWindows/CVI development system from National Instruments.
In 1999, I left industry to accept faculty position at La Salle University to assist in the development of the Integrated Science, Business and Technology (ISBT) Program. I use National Instruments LabVIEW to teach our undergraduates the fundamentals of application programming, data acquisition and analysis, laboratory informatics, artificial intelligence and data mining.
Things have changed a bit in the succeeding twelve years. One major change is the prevalence of mobile computing. The ISBT Program issued Compaq iPAQ Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) handheld computers in the fall of 2001. We expected that eventually professionals would need to carry small computers around to access their growing collection of personal data. While our students looked a bit conspicuous, we soon set up our university's first wireless WiFi Laboratory. With the introduction of Apple iPhone in 2007 we discontinued the program as almost all of our students arrived as freshmen carrying smartphones.
The ISBT Program also worked with our university's IT department in April 2006 to host the school's first installation of Mediawiki so our majors could learn what it means to work in the "cloud". We also experimented with Grid Computing starting in 2001 and eventually donated a total of 76 years, 323 days, 13 hours, 8 min and 51 seconds of computational time to the Grid.org program administered by United Devices until that program's conclusion in April 2007.
In early 2010, ISBT was a beta participant in the National Instruments Web LabVIEW project which developed a cloud version of their award-winning graphical development environment that runs in a browser and utilizes MS Silverlight.
Things have been progressing along nicely with evolutionary improvements in versions of development languages and operating systems. Until Google this week made some major announcements:
Wow! Five (5!) rapid-fire R(e)volutionary technology announcements. It's a good thing its close to Christmas, otherwise I'm not sure how well our shocked systems could handle such great news.
I've been thinking about which programming language/environment should be next on my list to learn. Java has been on the radar for a while -- not the least of which, Java is the language used to program the Livescribe Pulse and Echo Smart Pens which replaced our ISBT PDA program. Java also is the language needed to program for Android. But this week's announcement of the Chrome Web Apps as pointed the way -
- or more completely, HTML5, JavaScript and CSS -- the tools needed to develop Chrome Web Apps.
I'm familiar with these technologies, but not familiar enough to open up a text editor and create an application from scratch. I'm excited to learn new things and thought it would be fun to blog about the journey along the way -- a scrapbook of points along the way. I hope you decide to join me.
I've been programming for quite awhile. I first started with BASIC on the Timex Sinclair 1000 computer I received as a gift from my parents for Christmas in 1982 -- coincidentally, also my 17th birthday. It was super awesome and was even purchased with the thermal printer and 16KB memory expansion pack. The rest they say is history... or more to the point my future.
In college, I took courses in FORTRAN and PASCAL that ran on the PC and the new IBM PS/2s along with applications on the university's IBM 370. In my analog and digital electronics courses we learned interfacing between chip-level UARTs, counters and 8088 chips using Assembly. Later in my senior seminar course we created computer-controlled instrumentation using CommodoreBASIC on a Commodore64. After graduating with a B.S. degree with a double major in Chemistry and Physics I developed a quotation program in Borland QuickBASIC over the summer before entering graduate school at The Ohio State University.
In grad school I used a dialect of FORTH under MS DOS on an IBM PC 386 to develop the control, data acquisition and data analysis software for a new ultrafast laser Raman spectrometer created by our research group. After graduation in 1992 with my Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry, I worked for an on-site defense contractor for the US Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, developing new laser-based diagnostic systems for the study of fuel stability and combustion research as well as wind-tunnel measurements for air-frames and turbofan jet engines. I created system and data analysis software in ANSI C using the LabWindows/CVI development system from National Instruments.
In 1999, I left industry to accept faculty position at La Salle University to assist in the development of the Integrated Science, Business and Technology (ISBT) Program. I use National Instruments LabVIEW to teach our undergraduates the fundamentals of application programming, data acquisition and analysis, laboratory informatics, artificial intelligence and data mining.
Things have changed a bit in the succeeding twelve years. One major change is the prevalence of mobile computing. The ISBT Program issued Compaq iPAQ Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) handheld computers in the fall of 2001. We expected that eventually professionals would need to carry small computers around to access their growing collection of personal data. While our students looked a bit conspicuous, we soon set up our university's first wireless WiFi Laboratory. With the introduction of Apple iPhone in 2007 we discontinued the program as almost all of our students arrived as freshmen carrying smartphones.
The ISBT Program also worked with our university's IT department in April 2006 to host the school's first installation of Mediawiki so our majors could learn what it means to work in the "cloud". We also experimented with Grid Computing starting in 2001 and eventually donated a total of 76 years, 323 days, 13 hours, 8 min and 51 seconds of computational time to the Grid.org program administered by United Devices until that program's conclusion in April 2007.
In early 2010, ISBT was a beta participant in the National Instruments Web LabVIEW project which developed a cloud version of their award-winning graphical development environment that runs in a browser and utilizes MS Silverlight.
- Android Gingerbread 2.3 and the Nexus S phone
- Google eBook service
- Chrome web store
- Chrome OS
- Chrome OS Cr-48 Notebook
Wow! Five (5!) rapid-fire R(e)volutionary technology announcements. It's a good thing its close to Christmas, otherwise I'm not sure how well our shocked systems could handle such great news.
I've been thinking about which programming language/environment should be next on my list to learn. Java has been on the radar for a while -- not the least of which, Java is the language used to program the Livescribe Pulse and Echo Smart Pens which replaced our ISBT PDA program. Java also is the language needed to program for Android. But this week's announcement of the Chrome Web Apps as pointed the way -
HTML5
- or more completely, HTML5, JavaScript and CSS -- the tools needed to develop Chrome Web Apps.
I'm familiar with these technologies, but not familiar enough to open up a text editor and create an application from scratch. I'm excited to learn new things and thought it would be fun to blog about the journey along the way -- a scrapbook of points along the way. I hope you decide to join me.
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