Want to read Slashdot from your mobile device? Point it at m.slashdot.org and keep reading!

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:Not for me, anyway... (Score 1) 709

In case anyone is interested, there is a little known language that is simpler than BASIC and yet allows one to write complex applications or just simple scripts. It can be interpreted or compiled to Java byte code and perhaps to native machine code although I have not yet found any compelling reason to do so. It can be used to write procedural code or OO code. (Sorry - no "GOTO" statements.) "Hello World" is about as simple as you can get:

say "Hello World"

But you can write a functional web browser in a single line not much more complex than that.

There is even a simple IDE available that allows you to write some code in a window and click a start button to interpret the program and see the output in a window.

I personally use this language to write Android applications for the Dalvik VM.

I say "little known" because no one has mentioned it here. The language is called NetRexx and IBM is currently in the process of releasing it as open source code so the language community can maintain and enhance it as needed. I don't think there is a simpler way to learn programming with a language that can produce practical applications at this time. Info: http://kermitkiser.com/NetRexx

Comment Re:But outside the US? (Score 3, Informative) 236

Seems to be some confusion around here. There is a difference between the developers of Android (the OS) and the developers of Android applications.

Even if there are proven to be patent problems with the Dalvik VM, an application developer is not distributing any part of the OS, only byte code which may or may not have been generated by a Java compiler and just happens to run in a Dalvik VM.

Speaking as an Android app developer, I don't even program in Java. (And no, not the App Inventor or NDK either.)

Comment Re:I live in Seattle. (Score 2, Insightful) 650

Ditto. I also live in Washington. We already have one of the highest sales taxes in the country - almost 10% in some areas already.

While Washingtonians may deserve the politicians they elect, we are not totally stupid. I could care less about how this affected Ballmer and a few other people. It was very clear that this was a tricky way to slip an income tax on top of the sales tax and that it would hit everyone before long. The politicians have tried this several times as they desperately want to control more of the citizens money. For our own good of course. ;-)

The problem with "progressive" taxes is that the government only has to inflate our currency to increase our tax rates. No nasty unpopular voting needed...

GUI

Augmented Reality To Help Mechanics Fix Vehicles 81

kkleiner writes "ARMAR, or Augmented Reality for Maintenance and Repair, is a head mounted display unit that provides graphic overlays to assist you in making repairs. An Android phone provides an interface to control the graphics you view during the process. Published in IEEE, and recently tested with the United States Marine Corps on an armored turret, ARMAR can cut maintenance times in half by guiding users to the damaged area and displaying 3D animations to demonstrate the appropriate tools and techniques."

Comment Re:Pick your poison (Score 2, Interesting) 911

I call BS on this post. I know from personal experience that no one gets even a private pilots license without demonstrating multiple times that he can perform the proper response to a stall. I have done it successfully and unsuccessfully (with an instructor along to catch mistakes) and the issue is whether or not you can override the natural instinct in a panic situation where everything inside you is screaming "pull up" or similar completely wrong messages.

On the other hand, I have also had an air traffic controller clear me for solo takeoff on a runway that he had seconds before cleared another pilot to land on from the other direction. This is an obvious error to any pilot when your runway number plus (or minus) 18 equals the other pilots runway number but as an inexperienced pilot I assumed that I had heard something wrong. Fortunately, the other pilot was an experienced CFI and corrected ATC on the problem before it could become life threatening.

Some things are experience. Some things are guts.

Robotics

Robot Warriors Will Get a Guide To Ethics 317

thinker sends in an MSNBC report on the development of ethical guidelines for battlefield robots. The article notes that such robots won't go autonomous for a while yet, and that the guidelines are being drawn up for relatively uncomplicated situations — such as a war zone from which all non-combatents have already fled, so that anybody who shoots at you is a legitimate target. "Smart missiles, rolling robots, and flying drones currently controlled by humans, are being used on the battlefield more every day. But what happens when humans are taken out of the loop, and robots are left to make decisions, like who to kill or what to bomb, on their own? Ronald Arkin, a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech, is in the first stages of developing an 'ethical governor,' a package of software and hardware that tells robots when and what to fire. His book on the subject, Governing Lethal Behavior in Autonomous Robots, comes out this month."
Privacy

National Car Tracking System Proposed For US 563

bl968 writes "The Newspaper is reporting that the leading private traffic enforcement camera vendors are seeking to establish a national vehicle tracking system in the United States using existing red-light and speed enforcement cameras. The system would utilize Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) to track vehicles passing surveillance cameras operated by these companies. If there are cameras positioned correctly the company will enable images and video to be taken of the driver and passengers. The nice thing in their view is that absolutely no warrants are needed. To gain public acceptance, the surveillance program is being initially sold as an aid for police looking to solve Amber Alert cases and locate stolen cars."
Science

Bird's-Eye View May Include Magnetic Fields 86

BoredStiff writes "Heard on NPR and reported in ScienceDaily: a study finding that migratory birds may be able to 'see' magnetic fields. The report comes from a current study by a research group from Oldenburg, Germany. They found that migratory birds use their visual system to perceive the reference compass direction of the geomagnetic field: 'Sensory systems process their particular stimuli along specific brain circuits. Thus, the identification of what sensory system is active during magnetic compass orientation, provides a way to recognize the sensory quality utilized during that specific behavior.'"

Breakdown Forces New Look At Mars Mission Sexuality 528

FloatsomNJetsom writes "Popular Mechanics has up an interesting story, discussing what the long-term implications of the Lisa Nowak incident could mean for Mars Mission crew decisions: With a 30-month roundtrip, that isn't the sort of thing you'd want to happen in space. Scientists have been warning about the problems of sex on long-term spaceflight, and experts are divided as to whether you want a crew of older married couples, or asexual unitard-wearing eunuchs. The point the article makes specifically is that NASA's current archetype of highly-driven, task-oriented people might be precisely the wrong type for a Mars expedition. In addition scientists may use genomics or even functional MRI in screening astronauts, in addition to facial-recognition computers to monitor mental health during the mission." Maybe observers could just deploy the brain scanner to keep track of them?

Slashdot Top Deals

"Aww, if you make me cry anymore, you'll fog up my helmet." -- "Visionaries" cartoon

Working...