10 Papers Every Programmer Should Read (At Least Twice)

http://blog.objectmentor.com/articles/2009/02/26/10-papers-every-programmer-should-read-at-least-twice

LaTeX Typesetting Language

Ever wanted to write .pdf files? How about typing up math the way it looks in textbooks? Check out LaTeX... it's what the pros use to write those math textbooks, nice looking resumés, and it's super simple to learn!

That sounded like a commercial, huh?

Anyway, details on distributions later... got to get to class!

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The Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb964665.aspx

Awesome HTML5 Canvas Demos!

Someone pointed me toward some really cool apps earlier today.  All of them make use of HTML5 and it's Canvas element.  The Canvas element is accessible by JavaScript, and is supported by most of the major browsers already, although IE8 is not one of them.  Of course, if you use Chrome like I do, you'll have no problems!

The webpage lists 21 Canvas experiments that range from cloth simulations to innovative drawing tools.  Although each of the apps offers something to "ooo and ahhh" at, the drawing tools are particularly interesting.  The app is called Bomomo, and features many different ways of drawing - all of which involve some set of brushes moving in response to your mouse and various physics.

There is far more there than there is space here to write about it, so definitely check out the page that links to all 21 apps!  Also, here is a nice little HTML5 gallery showcasing sites that make use of HTML5 in general.

Cancer Cured Already?

Image via Wikipedia

THC

It would seem that back in the seventies, researchers discovered that several ingredients in the illegal substance marijuana (scientifically known as cannabis), namely delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta9-THC), delta8-tetrahydrocannabinol (delta8-THC), and cannabinol (CBN), reduce the size of cancer tumors!


The research was published in the September 1975 issue of Journal of the International Cancer Institute, which can be found here on PubMed or here in full-text on United Kingdom Cannabis Internet Activist.


Moreover, this article is not alone. In 2010, an article entitled "Cannabinoids reduce ErbB2-driven breast cancer progression through Akt inhibition" was published in the Volume 9 of the Molecular Cancer journal, the full-text of which can be read here.  In summary, the authors conclude that "these results provide a strong preclinical evidence for the use of cannabinoid-based therapies for the management of ErbB2-positive breast cancer."  At the bottom of the article, you'll notice the many articles relating to cannabis and cancer on which the paper was based.

The two articles mentioned here are just a couple of the many that have been written on the subject.  Is it possible that cancer has a cure? Is it possible that the cure has been overlooked or ignored?

Renting a Car Could Be More Dangerous Than You Thought

Image by Old Shoe Woman via Flickr

Apparently, no car rental business is required to "ground" cars currently affected by manufacturer recalls, as reported by Adam Goldfein here.  Yes, you heard correctly: you could rent a car that has been recalled, and it is entirely possible that the renter has not bothered to take the car in to be fixed!

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I Live Next Door... Can I Borrow a Cup of Numerical Recipes?

One thing led to another, and I stumbled across an online copy of "Numerical Recipes in C" (2nd ed., 1992)!  It covers topics ranging from sorting algorithms to numerical integration techniques.  Man I love the internet... not sure what people did before it, though.

Java: Pass by Reference or Value?

Image via Wikipedia

This article explains in clear detail why I've been feeling a trifle bit confused when writing certain Java methods.  Sometimes changes made to an object within a method are retained (or maintained) in the calling method as if Java passes by reference, but sometimes the changes are lost as if Java passes by value.  I've had this question before, and thought that I understood that Java passes by reference.

However, the situation is not as straightforward as that, and this article explains why!  Java does pass by reference, but the reference inside a method is a copy of the reference in the calling method.  Thus changes to the object referenced by the reference will "stick," but try to swap the objects inside a method and nothing is retained outside of the method!  It's because only the references are swapped, but the references are only copies of the original references; thus the original references are unchanged.

Runge Kutta for Game Physics

So I'm working on building a physics simulator in Java.  I did well in the AP physics class back in high school, and aced the algebra-based physics classes at Georgia State, but implementing them into a program was a little different (due to the need to know and update all properties at any time, as opposed to calculating one or two unknowns from a set of known values).  So, of course, I started searching the internet for solutions.

Image via Wikipedia

Anyway, while researching I stumbled across a really neat article on something called Runge Kutta order 4, or simply RK4.  It's a method of approximating the solutions to differential equations, and was invented (or developed, if you rather) around the start of the 1900s by, you guessed it, two mathematicians name Runge and Kutta.  So here is the full article for those of you interested in game physics; check it out!

The article does a wonderful job of explaining how RK4 works by stripping away all of the mathematics that might scare potential learners out there, so if you feel as though you might be in that group, check it out anyway!

Watch Out for Sketchy Apps!

Image by quinn.anya via Flickr

Android and iPhone users may be inadvertently downloading apps that access private information on their phones without good reason! Lookout's App Genome Project warns about sketchy apps you may have already downloaded.

Zemanta

While trying to link Google Blogger and Google Buzz together so that posts to one automatically post to the other, I came across Zemanta!  Zemanta seems to be quite a handy little "assistant" that provides content related to the text of your Blogger post.  This post is serving not only as an informative one, but also a Zemanta test.  As I'm typing this, Zemanta is off to the right suggesting pictures, related articles, and in-text links!

So far, I'm pretty pleased.  Some of the pictures, however, seem rather unrelated, such as a few faces of well-known bloggers about whom I'm not directly writing and one abstract oil painting (okay, other than the fact that the picture exists on a blog, that's not related at all!).  The related articles seem on-point. I'll list a few:

• Bloggers Get More Content with Zemanta (asktheblogster.blogspot.com)
• Zemanta Gets Blog Love From Blogger (centernetworks.com)
• CMOR Weekender #2 - A rising industry, how 2 speel good, and a great source of links. (codemyownroad.com)
• Google's Blogger and Zemanta Team Up on Gadget for Blogger (webpronews.com)
• Blogger Welcomes Zemanta Assistant (webconsuls.com)
• Zemanta Now Native on Blogger.com! (techparade.blogspot.com)

Also, all the in-text links in this post were automatically inserted (disclaimer: I had to click "apply all").  Several settings are changeable, including image alignment (left or right), HTML code style (default HTML or clean xHTML), and which signature image (read: Zemanta icon) is placed at the end of the post (including an invisible image for those who don't desire it's presence).  Apparently, more advanced options are made available by registering with a Zemanta account (appears to be free since the FAQ doesn't list a "how much does it cost?" question).

Overall, I think I'll keep it around as it seems like it could be a useful little tool, although I'll probably choose to use the invisible Zemanta icon!

Froyo for You?

After upgrading to the myTouch Slide from my old G1, I was a tad bit disappointed to see that Froyo, codename for the newest release of the Android OS (version 2.2), wasn't available for it yet.

So, like any good techie consumer, I went searching for an answer... would my new phone be receiving the Froyo update? If so, when?

While the former question seems to have a definitive answer (yes), the latter question remains largely unanswered. Intomobile reports T-Mobile as saying "coming soon" for both the myTouch 3G and the myTouch slide, while PCWorld reports that it should arrive by the end of 2010.

Unlike pure Android phones, the myTouch slide uses a blend of Android 2.1 and HTC's Sense (Wikipedia link... best I could quickly find, but it's a lowly rated article), which gives it a more unique feel, but probably explains the lack of immediate implementation.

Got an Android phone that hasn't received the Froyo update yet? Check out Android 2.2 Upgrade List: Is Your Phone Getting Froyo? and find out if Froyo is in your phone's future!

Scam Alert!

My lovely wife just received an email informing her that she had just won $800,000.00 as some sort of compensation for Facebook's six year mark... do they think we are daft? I mean, all they wanted was a ton of personal information that Facebook.com would have already, and what company shells out almost a million dollars to someone in the name of annaversaries and compensation?

Anyway, if you get the email, just delete it. DON'T send them any personal or contact information!

Now That's Using Your Resources!

Reading through an ACM TechNews from July 23, 2010 I saw a very interesting research story regarding the use of Twitter.  Read the entire article when you get a chance, but basically, researchers used public Twitter updates to map the mood of America!  How awesome is that?

Entering Unicode Characters

Entering Unicode characters can be quite a pain sometimes.  Check out How to enter Unicode character in Microsoft Windows, which provides no less than five methods for doing just that.  At the bottom, you'll find tips and resource links!

CodingBat

CodingBat is a website devoted to teaching Java and Python! The great thing about it is that it's not a tutorial or a collection of tutorials, but a collection of practice problems, which is even better. The site will keep track of the problems you've completed if you create a account (which is free).

Topics covered include Strings, arrays, logic, and recursion. I found it quite valuable when learning Java syntax. After all, as the site says, "Talent is but a rumor, but practice works."

Another Way to Blog

BlogThis! is an extension for Google Chrome (my favorite browser) that allows you to blog without visiting your blog.  Pretty handy... check it out!

Using Email to Post Blog Entries

Yesterday, I started my first blog, and discovered that it was possible to post a blog via email!  Naturally, I posted that little tidbit of knowledge.  Like a silly person, however, I didn't mention how it could be accomplished....

So here's how:

1. Go to Blogger.com.
2. Signing in, or being signed in and following step 1 above should put you at the dashboard. If not, then click "Dashboard" at the very top of the page.
3. To the right of your photo/avatar is a section titled "Manage Blogs" that contains several links along the bottom; click "Settings."
4. Click "Email & Mobile" near the top of the page.
5. Under "Posting Options" is an email address that begins with your username and ends with "@blogger.com" with a text box in between.  Fill in the text box with some unique and hard-to-guess word or words that are easy for you to remember (after all, you probably don't want other people to post a blog entry in your name on your blog, which would be possible if they knew the email address you chose).
6. Choose "Publish emails immediately."
7. Save those settings, and you're done!

All you need to do now is email whatever you wish to post to the email address you chose.  The subject of the email will be the title of the blog entry, and the body of the email will be the body of the entry.  The size of the email (at the time of this entry) is limited to 10 MB, but both text and graphics are permitted.  Now, of course, these steps applies strictly to Blogger.com, but if I were a betting man, I'd bet most other blog sites provide a similar feature.

One caveat I've noticed is that labels (tags) on your posts can't be specified via the email.  I don't know of a way to specify them via the email, which may or may not be a deal-breaker for you.  Either way, however, editing the posts later will permit you to provide any labels, so all is not lost when using this method.

Happy blogging!

Learning Java Syntax

I've found that one of the best ways to learn the syntax of a programming language is by writing short methods (a.k.a., functions).  These methods usually do much of nothing, but then again, the point is to learn the language, not write the next best [insert fancy program here] to compete with [insert very large company]'s latest product release.

Anyway, to this end, I would highly recommend checking out CodingBat.  This site has tons of little programming tasks in both Java and Python, and covers topics like Strings, arrays, logic, and recursion.  Back when I was programming in MatLab but making a shift to Java, the CodingBat programming problems helped to solidify my Java syntax knowledge more quickly than I've experienced from any ordinary tutorial.

Okay, this is pretty handy!

I just found out that it's possible to post text and pictures simply by emailing... brilliant!

How's it looking?

Well, I've been playing around with the design of my new blog.  Only a couple of the predefined templates have struck my fancy, even after customization... I'll have to do some more digging and find something that works!

This is a test!

I'm new to the blogging scene... at least when it comes to having my own blog.  But they say there's no time like the present, and I'm ready to learn!

Speaking of learning, that's what this blog is all about!  I hope to make every visitor wiser today than they were yesterday by sharing with the world all the things I learn.  Since I'm a Computer Science major, most of the posts are sure to be technology related, mainly programming knowledge.  Of course, since my interests are pretty glacial, who knows what you'll find me posting!