I would also recommend the Field Museum in Chicago, but first see the Museum of Science and Industry. C'mon they have a German U505 sub!
I just got a chance to visit the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos NM and would highly recommend it--if your interest extends to nuclear physics. The museum is somewhat small, but Fat Man and Little Boy replicas were interesting. Seeing the bombs in person made them seem more "real" to me. I always imagined them much bigger. Los Alamos itself is very unique in many ways.
Long ago I took university level classes in Assembler, COBOL, Basic, Fortran, C and Pascal. Pascal was still common as a "teaching language" in the 1970s and 80s. I always preferred Pascal and got hooked when Borland shipped the TurboPascal compilers.
I use a variety of languages now (including Delphi) but I still think that Pascal is a great FIRST language for someone to learn. Sure, C and Perl are powerful, but its hard to claim that they are intuitive to the newbie.
http://www.delphiforfun.org/ is an absolutely awesome resource for young programmers. I don't want to slashdot the poor guy, but this obscure note in the comments shouldn't overwhelm him too much...
He has tons of programs that cover a wide variety of problems and concepts. Many are visually interesting. All have source code and great documentation. I've watched the site grow in content over the years. I think it could provide the majority of content for a beginner's level programming class, but it is also great as a simple resource for a new (or young) programmer to go investigate.
So what do you use to compile these programs?
http://www.turboexplorer.com/free download
I look at this announcement with cautious optimism. I'm part of the crowd that wants Borland to "win" as their new CEO has often recently said. I know that most/.rs are NOT about Pascal at all, so bear with me. I make a very good salary writing Delphi code. I know lots of other guys that do too. Delphi caught on big-time in Europe. There is still a significant group of Delphi developers in the USA, although many have now traded tools.
Delphi has been a consistent revenue source for Borland since it was introduced. But they have shareholders that demand growth and, well, IDEs can only get you so far. Philippe Kahn did great things for Borland, but decided he would go head to head with Microsoft and create a Borland Office suite. He was soon fired for those moves. Then Borland got Del Yocam in the late 90s. He was the freakin' genius responsible for the "Inprise" name change and started the trend toward the "Enterprise Developer." Borland got greedy and began to alienate the Average Joe developer more and more.
Del's impeccable team forced the Delphi 4 timeline and the embarrassing ensuing patches. In fact, it occured to me the other day that the Delphi releases are kind of like the Star Trek movies. Star Trek 2, 4 and 6 were OK. The odd numbers notsomuch.
Conversely, Delphi 4, 6 and 8 (aka Delphi 2005) had serious quality problems. Like many developers, I simply passed on these releases--even after purchasing them. But Delphi 5, 7 and 9 (aka Delphi 2006) are pretty damn good. The team recently posted a roadmap http://bdn.borland.com/article/0,1410,33383,00.htm l (previously unheard of) and seemed to be gathering steam.
IMHO, Delphi still packs a punch. Some of the things often overlooked about Delphi:
Source code. C'mon, everything but the compiler itself is included in every release.
You can write anything (in Windows). Lightweight cmd line EXE, Win Service, CGI, GUI, DLL, n-tier AppServer, 3D game
Fast compiler. I still can't believe the difference when compared to a similar sized C app. sheesh
Object Pascal language. Don't sneer. It's readable. Your kid could comprehend much of it.
Tons of free code, utilities, libraries, components. Others langs have this. Delphi does too
Clear path to.NET for existing code with the VCL
Obviously, that sounds like a commercial, but I'm surprised how often people gloss over or completely miss some of these things.
I've looked at lots of other languages like Java, PHP, Ruby (even Rebol!) and keep coming back to Delphi. Sorry, but I just find C too ugly... Anders certainly carried over a lot of his influence to C# though. Try comparing a Delphi interface section to a C# interface section. DEJA VU!
Delphi works well for me. It makes me money. It helps me make millions of dollars every year for my company. I sincerely hope that Borland can buck the trend of other companies and spin off a developer tools company with focus.
...And your/. name is "jbuilder"??
I'm sensing some sour grapes. Insider? None of what you claim about Anders is substantiated by anything I've ever heard in the newsgroups, Borland conferences, chats with employees, or published interviews with Anders. He was offered a million $$ to work for a company with virtually unlimited resources. What would YOU do with that offer?
OK, I'm not a JBuilder guy, but Blake Stone gives awesome presentations. I remember seeing some of the demos he gave and thinking WHOA, here is a guy that is "bringing it." I felt that Borland suffered a major loss with his departure as well.
I'm sure that many developers that have depended on JBuilder in the past will find news of its demise premature.;) Its still a great tool! But certainly over the long run Eclipse will win out. Borland sees this. Eclipse simply has too much momentum.
I do NOT think the same can be said about Delphi. It is still peerless in the world of Pascal IDEs. Lazarus (free Delphi compiler) has an audience because it is free. Period. Kylix is another story... Nice try Chuck J (former chief architect), but you are not Anders...
that company has been gone since just before they bought Paradox.
Gone since 1987?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corel_Paradox/
You lost credibility with that statement, dude. Delphi has been a mainstay for Borland. In spite of VB market share, Delphi 1, 2 and 3 were far superior to VB 6 (UGGH). Borland went south starting with Del Yocam and the "Inprise" debacle of the late 90s. If I ever cross paths with that dufus Del, I'll have a hard time not punching him in the nose. Delphi has been a consistent revenue source for Borland since it was introduced. But they have shareholders that demand growth and, well, IDEs can only get you so far.
I hope Borland can make this new arrangement work for dedicated group of guys still working to turn out a great IDE.
UGGH. NO. This must be a matter of preference, because I find much of the c2 site to be cluttered and chaotic. I would much rather see the consensus over time on a given topic, then every single thread and comment.
As others have stated here, we use the wiki for department level, internal documentation. Very rarely do we see the need to post feedback with username and topic in a threadlike manner. We just change the content and move on.
The c2 site sums up the different emphasis of c2 like this:
Most of all, this is a forum where people share ideas! It changes as people come and go. If you are looking for a dedicated reference site, try WikiPedia.
Slashdot Mirror
I would also recommend the Field Museum in Chicago, but first see the Museum of Science and Industry. C'mon they have a German U505 sub! I just got a chance to visit the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos NM and would highly recommend it--if your interest extends to nuclear physics. The museum is somewhat small, but Fat Man and Little Boy replicas were interesting. Seeing the bombs in person made them seem more "real" to me. I always imagined them much bigger. Los Alamos itself is very unique in many ways.
Long ago I took university level classes in Assembler, COBOL, Basic, Fortran, C and Pascal. Pascal was still common as a "teaching language" in the 1970s and 80s. I always preferred Pascal and got hooked when Borland shipped the TurboPascal compilers.
I use a variety of languages now (including Delphi) but I still think that Pascal is a great FIRST language for someone to learn. Sure, C and Perl are powerful, but its hard to claim that they are intuitive to the newbie.
http://www.delphiforfun.org/ is an absolutely awesome resource for young programmers. I don't want to slashdot the poor guy, but this obscure note in the comments shouldn't overwhelm him too much... He has tons of programs that cover a wide variety of problems and concepts. Many are visually interesting. All have source code and great documentation. I've watched the site grow in content over the years. I think it could provide the majority of content for a beginner's level programming class, but it is also great as a simple resource for a new (or young) programmer to go investigate.
So what do you use to compile these programs? http://www.turboexplorer.com/ free download
Delphi has been a consistent revenue source for Borland since it was introduced. But they have shareholders that demand growth and, well, IDEs can only get you so far. Philippe Kahn did great things for Borland, but decided he would go head to head with Microsoft and create a Borland Office suite. He was soon fired for those moves. Then Borland got Del Yocam in the late 90s. He was the freakin' genius responsible for the "Inprise" name change and started the trend toward the "Enterprise Developer." Borland got greedy and began to alienate the Average Joe developer more and more.
Del's impeccable team forced the Delphi 4 timeline and the embarrassing ensuing patches. In fact, it occured to me the other day that the Delphi releases are kind of like the Star Trek movies. Star Trek 2, 4 and 6 were OK. The odd numbers notsomuch. Conversely, Delphi 4, 6 and 8 (aka Delphi 2005) had serious quality problems. Like many developers, I simply passed on these releases--even after purchasing them. But Delphi 5, 7 and 9 (aka Delphi 2006) are pretty damn good. The team recently posted a roadmap http://bdn.borland.com/article/0,1410,33383,00.ht
So now Borland is going to divest the developer tools portion of the business. http://www.borland.com/us/company/news/Tod_Nielse
IMHO, Delphi still packs a punch. Some of the things often overlooked about Delphi:
- Source code. C'mon, everything but the compiler itself is included in every release.
- You can write anything (in Windows). Lightweight cmd line EXE, Win Service, CGI, GUI, DLL, n-tier AppServer, 3D game
- Fast compiler. I still can't believe the difference when compared to a similar sized C app. sheesh
- Object Pascal language. Don't sneer. It's readable. Your kid could comprehend much of it.
- Tons of free code, utilities, libraries, components. Others langs have this. Delphi does too
- Clear path to
.NET for existing code with the VCL
Obviously, that sounds like a commercial, but I'm surprised how often people gloss over or completely miss some of these things.I've looked at lots of other languages like Java, PHP, Ruby (even Rebol!) and keep coming back to Delphi. Sorry, but I just find C too ugly... Anders certainly carried over a lot of his influence to C# though. Try comparing a Delphi interface section to a C# interface section. DEJA VU!
Delphi works well for me. It makes me money. It helps me make millions of dollars every year for my company. I sincerely hope that Borland can buck the trend of other companies and spin off a developer tools company with focus.
I'm sensing some sour grapes. Insider? None of what you claim about Anders is substantiated by anything I've ever heard in the newsgroups, Borland conferences, chats with employees, or published interviews with Anders. He was offered a million $$ to work for a company with virtually unlimited resources. What would YOU do with that offer?
OK, I'm not a JBuilder guy, but Blake Stone gives awesome presentations. I remember seeing some of the demos he gave and thinking WHOA, here is a guy that is "bringing it." I felt that Borland suffered a major loss with his departure as well.
I'm sure that many developers that have depended on JBuilder in the past will find news of its demise premature.
I do NOT think the same can be said about Delphi. It is still peerless in the world of Pascal IDEs. Lazarus (free Delphi compiler) has an audience because it is free. Period. Kylix is another story... Nice try Chuck J (former chief architect), but you are not Anders... Gone since 1987?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corel_Paradox/ You lost credibility with that statement, dude. Delphi has been a mainstay for Borland. In spite of VB market share, Delphi 1, 2 and 3 were far superior to VB 6 (UGGH). Borland went south starting with Del Yocam and the "Inprise" debacle of the late 90s. If I ever cross paths with that dufus Del, I'll have a hard time not punching him in the nose. Delphi has been a consistent revenue source for Borland since it was introduced. But they have shareholders that demand growth and, well, IDEs can only get you so far.
I hope Borland can make this new arrangement work for dedicated group of guys still working to turn out a great IDE.