I mean, when I was in high school, the only thing we did in computer science classes was learning how to type and use common software; an optionnal BASIC class would also teach us to make a program to add numbers and such... OK, maybe it wasn't the best high school to learn about programming, but I don't know any school where the average student is ready to build up a graphic engine.
The first academically useful programs I wrote were more instructive in an algorithmic sense: how to make a coffee machine give back the smallest number of coins, making that ever popular contacts or CDs list, etc. etc.
I think at this stage, writing good algorithms is far more important than learning the details of a specific language.
The refractive optical component mentionned in the article is an optical grating. It's an array of fine lines that acts much like the surface of a CD. When light hits this, its different wavelenghts are scattered spatially, which is useful in all-optical switching on systems using WDM (Wavelenght Division Multiplexing). Different channels on a same fiber can thus be separated spatially at the switch.
I'm working in a lab -- a scientific environment where NT and Office are used almost exclusively. It's not your average business office, I admit it, but I think it would be really hard to throw Office out of there. In the 90s', people here switched from Suns and LaTeX to cheaper and easier-to-use PCs with NT, Office, and ScientificWord for the TeX work. I'm trying to push for some Linux workstations to provide users with a choice, but the question of scientific office software is highly relevant here (yes, even graduate students in physics use Excel to draw plots these days). I've come to use at home a combination of software that do everything I want to be done -- but that does not include e-mailing, sorry. I use mainly KLyX/LyX for redaction (which is an almost-WYSIWYG interface for LaTeX) and Canvas7 for drawings, along with StarOffice for compatibility with MSOffice. StarOffice sometimes has better Office-docs-opening capabilities that MSOffice itself (I once was able to open an print a.doc file which was corrupted and un-printable in NT). There is still problems with StarOffice compatibility when it comes to drawings and equations, but I suppose this will go away as new versions of StarOffice come out. I would be interested to know what other people do or would do (what software they use) in a scientific environment that has been "corrupted" by MSOffice.
I'm not American, but seems to me that most of this stuff (DMCA in particular) is unconstitutional. In that case, if this continues, maybe civil disobediance is the answer. If a law doesn't fit the majority, then the majority can just reject it.
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The first academically useful programs I wrote were more instructive in an algorithmic sense: how to make a coffee machine give back the smallest number of coins, making that ever popular contacts or CDs list, etc. etc.
I think at this stage, writing good algorithms is far more important than learning the details of a specific language.
I also know of a company, InSpeck, which makes 3D scanners for objects and humans but without using lasers, just white light.
The refractive optical component mentionned in the article is an optical grating. It's an array of fine lines that acts much like the surface of a CD. When light hits this, its different wavelenghts are scattered spatially, which is useful in all-optical switching on systems using WDM (Wavelenght Division Multiplexing). Different channels on a same fiber can thus be separated spatially at the switch.
I'm working in a lab -- a scientific environment where NT and Office are used almost exclusively. It's not your average business office, I admit it, but I think it would be really hard to throw Office out of there. In the 90s', people here switched from Suns and LaTeX to cheaper and easier-to-use PCs with NT, Office, and ScientificWord for the TeX work. I'm trying to push for some Linux workstations to provide users with a choice, but the question of scientific office software is highly relevant here (yes, even graduate students in physics use Excel to draw plots these days). I've come to use at home a combination of software that do everything I want to be done -- but that does not include e-mailing, sorry. I use mainly KLyX/LyX for redaction (which is an almost-WYSIWYG interface for LaTeX) and Canvas7 for drawings, along with StarOffice for compatibility with MSOffice. StarOffice sometimes has better Office-docs-opening capabilities that MSOffice itself (I once was able to open an print a .doc file which was corrupted and un-printable in NT). There is still problems with StarOffice compatibility when it comes to drawings and equations, but I suppose this will go away as new versions of StarOffice come out. I would be interested to know what other people do or would do (what software they use) in a scientific environment that has been "corrupted" by MSOffice.
I'm not American, but seems to me that most of this stuff (DMCA in particular) is unconstitutional. In that case, if this continues, maybe civil disobediance is the answer. If a law doesn't fit the majority, then the majority can just reject it.