Follow Slashdot blog updates by subscribing to our blog RSS feed

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×

C# Memory Leak Torpedoed Princeton's DARPA Chances 560

Posted by Zonk from the omg-a-tumbleweed dept.
nil0lab writes "In a case of 20/20 hindsight, Princeton DARPA Grand Challenge team member Bryan Cattle reflects on how their code failed to forget obstacles it had passed. It was written in Microsoft's C#, which isn't supposed to let you have memory leaks. 'We kept noticing that the computer would begin to bog down after extended periods of driving. This problem was pernicious because it only showed up after 40 minutes to an hour of driving around and collecting obstacles. The computer performance would just gradually slow down until the car just simply stopped responding, usually with the gas pedal down, and would just drive off into the bush until we pulled the plug. We looked through the code on paper, literally line by line, and just couldn't for the life of us imagine what the problem was.'"
Businesses

Submission + - If you could do it all over, would you choose IT?

Submitted by
An anonymous reader writes: Given some of the complaints against IT and software as careers (long hours, offshoring, visa workers, ageism, boring projects, etc...), what would you do differently if you could do it all over again? Knowing what you know now, would you choose the same college major and the same career?
Announcements

Submission + - DARPA Lays Out Plans for Future Iconic Programs

Submitted by
docinthemachine
docinthemachine writes: "DARPA — the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency is at the core of hundreds of amazing projects with countless future-tech devices produced. Tthe agency has just announced its roadmap for 2007 and beyond. Docinthemachine.com reviews the major areas where they propelled advancement (TCP/IP protocol, Stealth, unmanned vehicles, etc) and a roadmap for their major future target projects- along with an overview of the potential medical offshoots of each. The major future thrust includes chip scale atomic clocks, molecular anti-terrorism sensors, unmanned aerial rovers, new space initialtives, high productivity computing systems, real-time language translation, biolgical warfare defenses, prosthetics, low-cost titanium, alternative energy, and high energy liquid lasers. Docinthemachine boils down the report to the essence of how our military R&D arm will change the future of military and biotech. Details are at http://docinthemachine.com/2007/02/10/darpaachieve ments/"
The Internet

Submission + - Groupthink in Digg: A Suggested Solution

Submitted by
Bob Caswell
Bob Caswell writes: "Think digg doesn't have a severe case of groupthink? And article on the subject, was 'groupthinked' (i.e. buried) off the home page within four minutes of having enough diggs to make it there. Bottom line: diggers don't like articles on digg and groupthink, even if offering a solution to the problem... http://www.computers.net/2007/02/groupthink_in_d.h tml"
Privacy

Submission + - VeriSign implants 222 people with RFID chips

Submitted by
cnet-declan
cnet-declan writes: "Anyone remember VeriChip, a company that came up with the idea of implanting chips in humans for tracking them? They've been behind ideas like RFID tagging immigrant and guest workers at the border, and they've persuaded a former Bush Health Secretary to get himself chipped. In this CNET News.com article, we offer an update on how successful the idea has been. It turns out that, according to IPO documents, 222 people have been implanted, with sales revenue of $100,000."

Comment It's nothing new. Re:Surprised it took this long (Score 2) 106

by abennetts (#1619172) Attached to: Notebooks for Rough People
This kind of stuff has been around for years. I know of a New Zealand power company that have been using panasonic toughbooks for the last couple of years (their faultman use them as a map viewer - field GIS).

also check out the Fujitsu Stylistic series of pen based machines. These are based on mobile pentiums and are also solid as a rock. Mine has been for a swim in the goldfish pond with no problems. Dropped off the roof of the house (3.5 metres) with no problems.

There isn't a very market because of the cost. And that the tech lags behind standard laptops. You can get a 366mhz laptop but I doubt you'll find a 366mhz ruggedised laptop.

In New Zealand a good off the shelf laptop costs about NZ$4000 (US$2000), but a 266mhz toughbook costs about NZ$7000 (US$3500). The price difference is such that many organisations buy normal laptops for their field staff as even though they replace them more often than the ruggedised versions it still works out cheaper.

Cheers,
Adam.

Slashdot Top Deals

Mystics always hope that science will some day overtake them. -- Booth Tarkington

Close