Well, as is stated in the article, the intent is not to replace HTTP, but, rather excell is certain areas where it currently falls short, namely robust online applications. HTTP is great for static web pages, but when you really get into coding business applications on the web, the current standard of perl/asp/jsp on-the-fly creation of html, with javascript/dhtml for cool and tricky visual effects, along with applets, and other such things, a project of all but the most minimal scope gets real messy real quick.
I've been waiting for this announcement for a while now. The world wide web just isnt used in the same way it was 5 or 6 years ago. The protocol is out of date. It just doesnt do the job anytmore. When I code a drop-down menu or something with DHTML, I cant help but feel like one of those hack street musicians. I'm just doing a little sleight-of-hand to make it look like a drop down menu, when it's really just a few hidden layers. It's such a mess to do. I knew XML would lead us to the revolution of a truly robust protocol ro make a REAL application a reality on the world wide web, let's hope BXXP is it!
I remember reading about this 7 or 8 months ago. Wasnt it originally supposed to be called COOL (C-like Object Oriented Language, or something)? I have to give it up that C# is a better name than COOL, but, that's like saying Windows NT is more stable than 98.
Well, the reason why there are fewer "clone" laptops, and PDA's (although, technically Compaq, Dell, and Gateway are all IBM "clones", they're more the mainstream nowadays) is the lack of availability of generic hardware. I can go to a computer show and buy a case, board, chip, hard drive, etc, and put together my own computer. These parts can be, individually, from just about any manufacturer.
I cant really do that with a laptop or a PDA, though. That makes it really hard to build a system if you cant manufacture all of the individual components yourself. Considering that making this stuff is pretty difficult to do on your own, and with a small budget, it's not likely that "homebrew" PDA's will be possible until the manufacturers take it upon themselves to put out the hardware.
Now, if this were to ever happen, the possibility for a dramatically changed (and no doubt improved) market would be there. Sun has made some remendous advances in the emedded systems market with their java KVM. Anyone can download this thing and write applications for it fairly easily. I even heard rumors a few months ago of a company (I want to say Motorolla, or a subsidiary, but I'm not sure) that was putting out chips for imbedded systems where you could send them code, and they'd burn it on there for you.
We're still a long way off, but it's nice to think of a future wherewe all have small portable/wearable systems of our own design, that can be customized to do whatever we want/need them to with just a few lines of code. Kind of makes the term "personal digital assistant" seem inappropriate in its current application.
You know, this actually reminds me about one of my major inspirations into the programming world, ZZT. I checked recently, and saw that some people coded an updated game that's similar (although the name escapes me). Are there any projects going on now that take this approach to a more modern gaming environment, though? Maybe something where you could create a fully functional and graphical game with some simple object-oriented scripting? It seems like this would be a great way to teach kids code (I dont think they'd get near ZZT's ASCII graphics).
Java can be an incredibly easy language to learn and work with, if you have a sufficciently functional and well-designed class library. Write some classes that take care of everything they'll need to do, quickly and easily, and focus on teaching them the basics of logic and OOP. That way, they wont have to unlearn all the nasty coding techniques they picked up from BASIC down the line (like I did). AND, you get the advantage of platform independence. They can learn in in win32, but still be able to use it in *nix.
Please dont fall into the number 1 misconception concerning piracy. Yes, piracy is sort of like theft if I was going to buy something, but I decide to pirate it instead, but that's not the case in the majority of situations where piracy is committed. Most of the time, people who pirate things would not have purchased it if it wasnt available for free (cracked). When this happens, those who make money from the sales of these goods lose NOTHING. Think about it, how does me pirating a copy of Software X affect the company that produced it any worse than me not buying it at all?
Yes, it's a terribly thought that someone like Spielberg could butcher the work of such a great man (expecially a project as ambitious as AI), but it could have its advantages. Try to think in terms of the good of the project, not just the good of Kubrick's vision.
Spielberg will bring this movie to the masses, and it will probably get good reviews, and lots of people will watch it. No, it wont be as good of a movie as it would have been if Kubrick was around to make it, but he's not. Spielberg will at least have the capability to provide a good, polished film. The point is that this will bring Kubrick's ideas to the masses. That's a good thing.
[Do we want a bunch of script kiddies running around with their hacked degrees, flooding the job market based on false credentials?] What, exactly, do you think the university situation is now? All a degree means is that you had the money to pay tuition, and managed to stay conscious for 4 years. There are many people in this country who are quite intelligent, but dont have the money to pay tuition, and dont work well enough within the confines of the standard academic system to have what it takes to get a good scholarship. This kind of a thing would be perfect for us. If it's built right, "script kiddies" wont be much of an issue. We've come a long way with security, and many precautions can be taken (such as everything being validated by a human) to prevent such abuse. It's about time they even the playing field for those of us without the money for a decent college, and who dont learn well in the environment community colleges offer.
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I've been waiting for this announcement for a while now. The world wide web just isnt used in the same way it was 5 or 6 years ago. The protocol is out of date. It just doesnt do the job anytmore. When I code a drop-down menu or something with DHTML, I cant help but feel like one of those hack street musicians. I'm just doing a little sleight-of-hand to make it look like a drop down menu, when it's really just a few hidden layers. It's such a mess to do. I knew XML would lead us to the revolution of a truly robust protocol ro make a REAL application a reality on the world wide web, let's hope BXXP is it!
I remember reading about this 7 or 8 months ago. Wasnt it originally supposed to be called COOL (C-like Object Oriented Language, or something)? I have to give it up that C# is a better name than COOL, but, that's like saying Windows NT is more stable than 98.
I cant really do that with a laptop or a PDA, though. That makes it really hard to build a system if you cant manufacture all of the individual components yourself. Considering that making this stuff is pretty difficult to do on your own, and with a small budget, it's not likely that "homebrew" PDA's will be possible until the manufacturers take it upon themselves to put out the hardware.
Now, if this were to ever happen, the possibility for a dramatically changed (and no doubt improved) market would be there. Sun has made some remendous advances in the emedded systems market with their java KVM. Anyone can download this thing and write applications for it fairly easily. I even heard rumors a few months ago of a company (I want to say Motorolla, or a subsidiary, but I'm not sure) that was putting out chips for imbedded systems where you could send them code, and they'd burn it on there for you.
We're still a long way off, but it's nice to think of a future wherewe all have small portable/wearable systems of our own design, that can be customized to do whatever we want/need them to with just a few lines of code. Kind of makes the term "personal digital assistant" seem inappropriate in its current application.
You know, this actually reminds me about one of my major inspirations into the programming world, ZZT. I checked recently, and saw that some people coded an updated game that's similar (although the name escapes me). Are there any projects going on now that take this approach to a more modern gaming environment, though? Maybe something where you could create a fully functional and graphical game with some simple object-oriented scripting? It seems like this would be a great way to teach kids code (I dont think they'd get near ZZT's ASCII graphics).
Java can be an incredibly easy language to learn and work with, if you have a sufficciently functional and well-designed class library. Write some classes that take care of everything they'll need to do, quickly and easily, and focus on teaching them the basics of logic and OOP. That way, they wont have to unlearn all the nasty coding techniques they picked up from BASIC down the line (like I did). AND, you get the advantage of platform independence. They can learn in in win32, but still be able to use it in *nix.
Please dont fall into the number 1 misconception concerning piracy. Yes, piracy is sort of like theft if I was going to buy something, but I decide to pirate it instead, but that's not the case in the majority of situations where piracy is committed. Most of the time, people who pirate things would not have purchased it if it wasnt available for free (cracked). When this happens, those who make money from the sales of these goods lose NOTHING. Think about it, how does me pirating a copy of Software X affect the company that produced it any worse than me not buying it at all?
Spielberg will bring this movie to the masses, and it will probably get good reviews, and lots of people will watch it. No, it wont be as good of a movie as it would have been if Kubrick was around to make it, but he's not. Spielberg will at least have the capability to provide a good, polished film. The point is that this will bring Kubrick's ideas to the masses. That's a good thing.
[Do we want a bunch of script kiddies running around with their hacked degrees, flooding the job market based on false credentials?] What, exactly, do you think the university situation is now? All a degree means is that you had the money to pay tuition, and managed to stay conscious for 4 years. There are many people in this country who are quite intelligent, but dont have the money to pay tuition, and dont work well enough within the confines of the standard academic system to have what it takes to get a good scholarship. This kind of a thing would be perfect for us. If it's built right, "script kiddies" wont be much of an issue. We've come a long way with security, and many precautions can be taken (such as everything being validated by a human) to prevent such abuse. It's about time they even the playing field for those of us without the money for a decent college, and who dont learn well in the environment community colleges offer.