July « 2004 « Sub Ubi

Social factors in software engineering

By matt, on July 28th, 2004%

Or is that software factors in social engineering?

Skimming a bit re: AOLserver at Philip Greenspun’s site, I found this bit of text interesting:

Some day you might need to convince a company to open-source a software tool. Companies have seemingly infinite money but the shortage of truly gifted software developers is acute (see Chapter 17 of . . . → Read More: Social factors in software engineering

Print on Demand

By matt, on July 25th, 2004%

I like this.

CafePress provides print-on-demand services. From the website:

No setup fees or minimum quantities.
Black and white books with full color covers.
Choose from Saddle Stitch, Wire-O or Perfect Bound binding options.
Choose from 5 book sizes.

That, I think, is really . . . → Read More: Print on Demand

Digital Bin Men

By matt, on July 21st, 2004%

For the last two days, I had the pleasure of taking part in the MM-Net summer school on garbage collection and memory management. I’ve felt comfortable for quite some time now constructing interpreters and compilers in a variety of contexts, but have always imagined that the garbage collector was a bit of a black art.

(For those . . . → Read More: Digital Bin Men

Library: Locked

By matt, on July 17th, 2004%

I’m not particularly fond of the fact that the academic publishing industry makes money off of the (often) publicly funded research conducted, reviewed, and edited by academics. I believe I’ve said as much before.

Well, I thought I’d rant a bit once again, but I will be brief, as I am tired. I went digging for a . . . → Read More: Library: Locked

Collaborative Robotics with LEGO Mindstorms

By matt, on July 16th, 2004%

I was looking for what kinds of languages have proliferated for the LEGO Mindstorm, and I found a Masters thesis by Andreas Junghans (Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences).

What made this thesis particularly interesting to flip through was the process Andreas went through to enable the playing of football (soccer) autonomously on the LEGO Mindstorm without . . . → Read More: Collaborative Robotics with LEGO Mindstorms

Someone’s compensating

By matt, on July 12th, 2004%

I was talking with an office-mate today about how I knew of no uses for the Firewire 800 port on my Powerbook.

Until now.

The LaCie Bigger Disk Extreme, with the largest hard drive capacity available, is a unique innovation that packs an amazing 1.6 terabyte of storage space in a manageable 5.25-inch 2U format. Featuring . . . → Read More: Someone’s compensating

Buying Toys III: Atomic Death Robots!

By matt, on July 9th, 2004%

Despite the time-zone differences, I’ve spoken now with representatives at both Acroname and Budget Robotics; they’ve both been incredibly helpful in putting together orders that will meet my particular needs:

I want to play with robots, not build them.
I have never used anything bigger than a Mindstorm.
I am making this up as I go along.

Given these initial . . . → Read More: Buying Toys III: Atomic Death Robots!

Buying Toys II: Second thoughts

By matt, on July 8th, 2004%

I still like spending other people’s money.

And, I like the idea of getting as many toys as possible when spending that money.

For example, consider the Timbot project at the Oregon Health and Science University. We can strap a PDA to the top of an RC truck chassis, add a camera and/or range-finder, and we have a . . . → Read More: Buying Toys II: Second thoughts

Buying toys

By matt, on July 7th, 2004%

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Canterbury, Kent, UK

Rarely have I had the opportunity, as a grad student, to spend other people’s money.

I have decided that I like it.

Based on a hint dropped by Brad, I poked Christian, and while I was at ITiCSE 2004 he put together a small bid for some end-of-year funds. As a result of this . . . → Read More: Buying toys

CS Students Excel… News at 11

By matt, on July 4th, 2004%

It’s a bit late to be acknowledging it, but better late than never. Two members of the CSCS group (that I know of) did quite well in year one. Not that anyone was particularly worried, mind you… I mean, if you’ve got enough wits about you to take part in CSCS, you’re probably kicking ass and . . . → Read More: CS Students Excel… News at 11

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