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It has to be an idea so radical that its specific implementation can be patented and licensed in a proprietary manner because it requires the use of extensive parallel back-end processing for each front-end client. In addition to that, it requires a sort of database that is unique to each client--in every way except for the raw materials used to create its shape.

I don't see why this is necessarily just a killer Android app though, as it sounds a lot like you could also easily create the client on an iPhone using Core Data for the storage... totally dynamic and malleable system for data storage with a sqllite backend (on the phone). (For those interested take a look at the Core Data Utility Tutorial that builds a model using only code, then populates the objects it created).

Do I want to try to replicate all the client code in this new curiosity, Objective C?

Objective-C has been around since the early 80's, widely used by NeXT in 88 and on. I was using it (to a small extent) in college in 1990... it's not a "curiosity", because the language has been upgraded to be pretty modern, and the foundation classes Apple includes are at the same level Java's are (and in some cases more advanced, like Core Data or Core Animation).

One well-kept secret is that a ton of developers have shifted over from Java to ObjC development. If you ever do get the urge to learn a little more about the syntax, I highly recommend this document:

From C++ to Objective-C

Even though it states C++, you can easily follow and it contains a number of Java examples too. It doesn't cover the frameworks though.

No there is no garbage collection, but just like Java what you really end up worrying over are the leaks that you aren't reclaiming even though the exact reasons differ between the two languages.

Do I want to put my energy into learning how Objective C compares to C or C++, or is my creativity better spent completing this idea in Java-friendly Android, knowing that all it will take is something really cool that people are talking about and using and that they want assurances from the company that this data structure they've built in it is safe and backed up.

That depends, do you want your creativity to be admired by a few hundred thousand or by potentially tens of millions? If you really think the app that important, shouldn't you make it available to as many people as you can?

As for the backup story, again the iPhone is a perfectly viable platform since all application data is backed up every sync to the computer, and can be restored (along with your app) if the phone dies or the user gets a new one..

I'm not going to attack your idea because who knows, you could in fact have something amazing and you have a bit of that mad scientist vibe about you that might be for real. But a truly amazing idea transcends mere platforms and the iPhone does have the frameworks that make your ideas more than viable to find a home there based on what you have said.

Ack, ack, ack-ack!

What kind of LaTEX do you need to be writing? If it's just mathematics, and you're on linux or osx, you may want to consider LaTeXiT. It renders equations to pdf and image formats, one of which I know for sure you can embed in a google document. It also lets you maintain libraries of equations, so you can modify them later.

I used it recently, in conjunction with Apple keynote for the Mac. It was far easier to deal with just the math LaTEX subset, and only at points where I needed it. I imagine a non-technical audience may agree.

Laequed purports to do something similar for windows. Haven't tried it myself.

One thing to be aware of is that currently, the location services give you positional data but not direction, unless you move - I think that's true of the new GPS phones as well as the old, but it may take more experimenting. I don't know how that would factor into how you are using devices today.

A Macbook should be plenty for development. I have an older Macbook Pro (first Intel model) that I think is slower than the latest Macbooks so speed wise things should be fine. The screen is a little on the small side but if you get used to Spaces you'll probably not notice it much (I do all iPhone programming just on the laptop with no external screen, split into four virtual screens - development, debugging, Interface Builder, and mail/web/documentation section),

The IDE you use is XCode which is free to download, macs ship with it actually (on the install disc) but you have to download an updated version from Apple to develop against the iPhone SDK anyway so just get that. Go to developer.apple.com and you can register to become a free iPhone developer first, so you can browse the API docs and see if it all looks good to you before you even get a computer. You don't have to pay the $99 right away but it can take a little while for that acceptance to go through so you may as well apply as soon as you are sure you want to try that path.

The IDE includes XCode, a decent IDE with a good GUI wrapped around GDB for debugging and some nice performance analysis tools. It also includes Interface Builder which is a little hard to understand at first but well worth the effort as it's very powerful and saves a lot of time in the right ways for building GUI's. More hidden is Shark for performance profiling, and some other tools that get installed in /Developer

I think it's really, really helpful to read through some material on Cocoa programming in general, the bible everyone uses is "Cocoa® Programming for Mac® OS X, Third Edition" by Hildegrass (just updated this year). Cocoa Touch is simpler than full Cocoa but the foundation classes (like collections and URL handling and strings and such ) are all about the same so that would be one of the areas to focus in, along with Interface Builder concepts.

A resource you'll probably fine REALLY helpful going into Objective C is "From C++ to Objective C"" which is basically a rosetta stone from C++ to Objective C concepts. I found it helpful moving from a mostly Java background (it presents a number of Java examples in addition to C++) with a more distant C++ base of experience. I don't know that any book would be more useful since you already know what you are doing and need a conceptual guide more than syntax help.

Also look around for iPhone developer forums, you can use Apple's site but there are others.

I got a couple of details wrong.

BASIC came from Dartmouth - brainfart.

BTW - my first programming experience was an ASR33 in our spare bedroom connected to the GE mainframe.

http://febcm.club.fr/english/gecos_to_gcos8_part_1.htm

"Mark-III and General Electric Information System

In 1964, GE had helped the Dartmouth College NH to develop an interactive system for teaching programming. The hardware was a GE-200 front-ended by a communication processor developed initially for store and forward communication messages the GE Datanet-30. The terminals were AT&T Teletype 33 ASCII typewriters connected through 300 bauds Bell modems.

The Dartmouth College, perhaps inspired from MIT CTSS, had developed a special purpose operating-system including an interpretive processor of the BASIC (Beginner's All Symbolic Instruction Code) language also created for this system, christened GE-265.

General Electric started to market the BASIC service, through a special division that took over the maintenance of the Dartmouth College software. As the hardware perspective of the GE-200 was limited, the Dartmouth College accepted the GE offer of porting the DTSS (Dartmouth Time-Sharing System) to the GE-600. GE started to replace its GE-265 by GE-635 as Mark-III systems.

The hardware of Mark-III system was originally completely standard, but the software was developed and maintained independently from Phoenix. General Electric Computer Division and its affiliates (e.g., Bull General-Electric) were not entitled to license their customers with Mark-III software.

Mark-III systems main center was concentrated in Cleveland OH, but expanded with a center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The customers of the timesharing service were connected transparently to the computer centers.

With Mark-III, the applications were expanded to email and batch applications. Eventually, GE added to the base systems several IBM 370 computers to provide batch services without recompiling applications to the peculiarities of GE-600 code (differences in scientific operations precision in particular.

GE ISD was later instrumental in the evolution of Honeywell Large Systems by pushing Phoenix to use IBM and IBM compatible peripheral subsystems on the DPS-8 product line. GEISD had developed since the early 70s their own versions of peripheral subsystems shared between Honeywell and IBM computers and pressured Honeywell to introduce a standard facility.

After acquisition of the GE computer business by Honeywell in 1970, General Electric kept the timesharing business in an Information Services Division that is still alive. The ISD European Operation was momentarily kept inside Honeywell-Bull, but was retroceded to GE circa 1975."

... she should have worn one of these http://musepat.club.fr/sfair.htm instead of just some plain breadboard. Don't those MIT types have any fashion sense?

Try http://ktd.club.fr/programmation/latexit_en.php .

Yod'm 3D

Beryl-style cube desktop on Windows. Makes using the inferior OS a little better.

Seriously. Re-release it as a kit for kids to learn computers on. I remember getting a 'computer kit' from Radio shack as a kid that was basically a bunch of resistors and transistors and wires. (the 150 in 1 from here - http://musepat.club.fr/sfair.htm ) An Apple II would be a nice modern equivalent....

15 Jan 1973 First shipment of Micral N to INRA Institut National de Recherche Agronomique, a process control computer, the first world microcomputer based on Intel 8008 microprocessor.

What about the original Zelda game?

There was always the Sinclair QL (Quantum Leap). That used microdrives (not the flash memory kind). The best picture I could find is here.

http://cbreysse.club.fr/linux/linux_chicks/linux_c hicks.html/ for sexy linux chicks. please slashdot, let's move on from brittany spears.

What was it that drew you to a life of programming? How old were you when you first used a computer?

I remember seeing this board on tv. Maybe a motherboard for some crappy computer. And I was enchanted. I couldn't have been more than a few years old. And I saw Mr. Wizard's world on Nickelodeon and I liked when they had robots on there. And my brother kept setting himself ablaze with batteries and things you're not supposed to use D-cell batteries with. I was loving it all and couldn't wait to get my hands on a computer.

I finally got my chance when my mother got me a Pocket PC (radio shack, not windows). It had a 1-line display, could be programmed in BASIC, and had an assembler. Then I went to a computer themed middle school, computer-themed high school, and got my degree in Computer Science at University. It always came naturally to me and I didn't need anybody to turn me on to computers.

What pieces of modern software do you think would be a good way to introduce today's kids to the world of computing?

I think Squeak would be good because it's just fun-looking. You get to play with the race car and the mouse's eyes follow your cursor around.

Even better would be a Lego Mindstorms set. Lego has got to be the coolest toy ever and it's programmable. And I don't care how old it is... LogoWriter is big fun. It was compiled, had methods and variables, and we could draw with it. I wish I could find a copy of it.