User: Boatman

Ham Radio use restrictions

On: Build Your Own 10Mbps Microwave Data Link

Be aware that there are restrictions on what you can send over the air while using amateur radio spectrum. Notably:

• No profanity
• No music
• Nothing remotely commercial
• No encryption

After all, it's a privilege to generate an electromagnetic field...

What are your priorities?

On: Best Way to Get Kids Started in Programming?

I was asked that question in a Senior-level CS class a few years ago, regarding the best language to teach in introductory programming classes.

I've concluded that you first must decide what skills you want them to develop. Based on that, then, here are my recommendations:

• General programming skills, esp. for OO programming: Java (and Just Say No to C++!)
• Performance-oriented skills and awareness of memory management issues: C (start with a modern language and they'll dump core the first time they see a malloc())
• General programming skills with a gentle learning curve: Tcl/Tk (the entire grammar can be parsed with about a page of code - trivial GUI app is 3 lines of code - learn the syntax in about 20 minutes - just as portable as Java)

Tallyman's content management

On: On Creating Multilingual Web Sites?

Tallyman may do what you need. It's a GPLed commerce suite with decent content management features. Create a template that has the page layout you want, and Tallyman will help you manage the content. Check out the demo to see what I mean. You'll simply enter the text in each language, and Tallyman will create a .html page for each, with links to all the other languages across the top and bottom.

With appropriately written templates, it can also automatically use the right images for each page. Read the list archives for more info on what has already been done.