lithium100 - Slashdot User

Comment Why not Ruby (or Python)? (Score 1) 962

by lithium100 on Wednesday December 10, 2008 @10:29PM (#26069551) Attached to: Best Introduction To Programming For Bright 11-14-Year-Olds?

Ruby is a fantastic language and is gaining some huge support in the software and web dev industries. It would be a great start for students because it teaches many fundamental concepts in programing whilst being fairly forgiving. You don't need to worry about strong typing or memory management which are things that often trip up early stage programmers. Let the kids focus on building the code and understanding solid programming paradigms first - then let them move to C/C++ or whatever where the language is not so forgiving.

Submission + - Australia Outlaws Incandescent Lightbulb

Submitted by

passthecrackpipe

on Tuesday February 20, 2007 @05:05AM

passthecrackpipe writes: "The Australian Government is planning on making the incandescent ligtbulb a thing of the past. In three years time, standard lightbulbs will no longer be available for sale in the shops in Australia (expect a roaring grey market) and everybody will be forced to switch to more energy efficient Fluorescent bulbs. In this move to try and curb emissions, the incandescent bulb — which converts the majority of used energy to heat rather then light — will be phased out. Environmental groups have given this plan a lukewarm reception. They feel Australia should sign on to the Kyoto protocol first. (Article in Dutch). A similar plan was created together with Phillips, one of the worlds largest lighting manufacturers. What do other slashdotters think? Is this a move in the right direction? Will this boost the development of better fluorescent bulbs? Improve the design and lower the costs of LED lightbulbs? Will this plan make a big difference to the environment at all?"

Light so Fast it Travels Backward 415

Posted by CowboyNeal on Thursday May 11, 2006 @08:27PM from the there-and-back-again dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Slowing down light used to be considered a neat trick for physics wonks. But researchers in New York now say they've pushed light into reverse. And as if to defy common sense, the backward-moving light travels faster than light." While there's not much use to come of it yet, it will be interesting if Einstein himself is proved wrong.

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