The problem is that as many here have pointed out, forcing regulations on corporations isn't going to change anything as long as people's minds aren't changed. People (at least some of us) need to have a different mind set if we're going to survive in the long run. That is, as long as we think of ourselves as outside of "nature" and living in a separate place from it, we'll never realize that we are only making our very own habitat uninhabitable for ourselves.
It will probably take a few generations to change minds (look at civil rights in the U.S.), but it can be done and not all minds need to be changed for a change in the impact we as a culture make on the world to be affected.
For another set of books more on the cultural aspects of this issue, check out any of the following Daniel Quinn books (all quick reads): Ishmael, The Story of B, My Ishmael, and Beyond Civilization.
Teaching about computers or programming shouldn't be about what language makes you feel good inside or what language is cool to like when you're trying to be a part of the slashdot (or any other) crowd.
There are different uses for different languages.
There's no one perfect or best language.
If we are trying to teach the inner workings of a computer then assembly is the best bet.
If we are trying to teach programming languages then we should teach a variety of languages as examples of different types of languages and different language properties:
Imperative languages:
e.g. C, Perl
Functional languages:
e.g. ML, Lisp
Object-Oriented languages:
e.g. Smalltalk, Java
Garbage-collected languages:
e.g. Perl, Lisp, Java
etc.
So, java is fine as a teaching language because it can teach about such things as imperative as well as object oriented programming, etc.
Does that mean it should be the only language taught? - No.
Does that mean that java is some perfect language? - No. The fact is, java's problems aren't because it's not the fastest language (it's plenty fast for many applications), or because it is garbage-collected as many people have posted -- it's problems/annoyances are properties such as covariant arrays, lack of F-bounded polymorphism, invariant arg and return types for methods, lack of pattern matching, etc.
In fact, any language's shortcomings can be used as a teaching tool as well.
Worry more about variety of languages, not specific languages.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (by Miyazaki of Princess Mononoke fame -- in fact, anything by him is good)
Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (actually, most everything in the Universal Century timeline is good when it comes to Gundam -- The Gundam Project has lots of good background info
Patlabor: The Movie (Patlabor 2 is good as well as the Griffin Saga)
Record of Lodoss War
Macross: Do You Remember Love?
A couple others that aren't necessarily "must-see" but are still worth seeing:
Bubblegum Crisis (the prequel, A.D. Police Files, is pretty good as well)
I used to work at Argonne and I remember research being done there with this very same thing about 5 years ago or so. I found a couple of old articles on the Argonne site mentioning it:
Slashdot Mirror
The problem is that as many here have pointed out, forcing regulations on corporations isn't going to change anything as long as people's minds aren't changed. People (at least some of us) need to have a different mind set if we're going to survive in the long run. That is, as long as we think of ourselves as outside of "nature" and living in a separate place from it, we'll never realize that we are only making our very own habitat uninhabitable for ourselves.
It will probably take a few generations to change minds (look at civil rights in the U.S.), but it can be done and not all minds need to be changed for a change in the impact we as a culture make on the world to be affected.
For another set of books more on the cultural aspects of this issue, check out any of the following Daniel Quinn books (all quick reads): Ishmael, The Story of B, My Ishmael, and Beyond Civilization.
Teaching about computers or programming shouldn't be about what language makes you feel good inside or what language is cool to like when you're trying to be a part of the slashdot (or any other) crowd.
There are different uses for different languages. There's no one perfect or best language.
If we are trying to teach the inner workings of a computer then assembly is the best bet.
If we are trying to teach programming languages then we should teach a variety of languages as examples of different types of languages and different language properties:
Imperative languages:
e.g. C, Perl
Functional languages:
e.g. ML, Lisp
Object-Oriented languages:
e.g. Smalltalk, Java
Garbage-collected languages:
e.g. Perl, Lisp, Java
etc.
So, java is fine as a teaching language because it can teach about such things as imperative as well as object oriented programming, etc.
Does that mean it should be the only language taught? - No.
Does that mean that java is some perfect language? - No. The fact is, java's problems aren't because it's not the fastest language (it's plenty fast for many applications), or because it is garbage-collected as many people have posted -- it's problems/annoyances are properties such as covariant arrays, lack of F-bounded polymorphism, invariant arg and return types for methods, lack of pattern matching, etc.
In fact, any language's shortcomings can be used as a teaching tool as well.
Worry more about variety of languages, not specific languages.
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (by Miyazaki of Princess Mononoke fame -- in fact, anything by him is good)
Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (actually, most everything in the Universal Century timeline is good when it comes to Gundam -- The Gundam Project has lots of good background info
Patlabor: The Movie (Patlabor 2 is good as well as the Griffin Saga)
Record of Lodoss War
Macross: Do You Remember Love?
A couple others that aren't necessarily "must-see" but are still worth seeing:
Bubblegum Crisis (the prequel, A.D. Police Files, is pretty good as well)
Bastard!
The Professional (an animated Golgo 13 movie)
Megazone 23
I used to work at Argonne and I remember research being done there with this very same thing about 5 years ago or so. I found a couple of old articles on the Argonne site mentioning it:
3-D Science Scene
VIRTUAL REALITY ENVIRONMENT OFFERS NEW INSIGHTS INTO THE DYNAMICS OF COMPLEX SCIENTIFIC PHENOMENA