eCrane Blogging http://cranehouse.net/blog Eric Crane’s technology and software development blog. Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:11:36 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 Tech Time Warp http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=377 http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=377#comments Wed, 24 Apr 2013 20:11:36 +0000 admin http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=377 Wired has started a series looking back at technology from 20-30+ years ago. It is always interesting to see how much things have changed, and not only the technology, but the people themselves, the style, the culture, etc.

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/category/tech-time-warp-of-the-week/

]]> http://cranehouse.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=377 0 GitEye http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=375 http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=375#comments Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:23:12 +0000 admin http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=375 Here’s a new Git tool that is worth exploring:

http://www.collab.net/giteyeapp

]]> http://cranehouse.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=375 0 How to Create a Mind http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=371 http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=371#comments Thu, 18 Apr 2013 12:52:15 +0000 admin http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=371 I’m reading How to Create a Mind by Ray Kurzweil. Very interesting. I have not yet finished the book, but I read this yesterday and thought it was worth sharing. He is talking about the IBM computer that played on the Jeopardy game show.

“It is amusing and ironic when observers criticize Watson for just doing statistical analysis of language as opposed to possessing the “true” understanding of language that humans have. Hierarchical statistical analysis is exactly what the human brain is doing when it is resolving multiple hypotheses based on statistical inference (and indeed at every level of the neocortical hierarchy).”

Excerpt From: Kurzweil, Ray. “How to Create a Mind.” Viking, 2012-11-13. iBooks.
This material may be protected by copyright.

Check out this book on the iBookstore: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-to-create-a-mind/id520250049?mt=11

]]> http://cranehouse.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=371 0 Programming Language Popularity Chart http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=368 http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=368#comments Fri, 22 Mar 2013 20:41:38 +0000 admin http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=368 I love stuff like this programming language popularity chart:

http://langpop.corger.nl/

Developers with Data!

]]> http://cranehouse.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=368 0 Apple Has Changed the World http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=365 http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=365#comments Sun, 17 Mar 2013 19:34:53 +0000 admin http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=365 http://www.cultofmac.com/219813/how-apple-has-changed-the-world-in-just-7-years-picture-1000-words/

]]> http://cranehouse.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=365 1 Oblong http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=361 http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=361#comments Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:53:26 +0000 admin http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=361 These guys are working on some pretty cool stuff:

http://oblong.com/

Checkout this TED talk that demonstrates some of it.

http://www.ted.com/talks/john_underkoffler_drive_3d_data_with_a_gesture.html

The Mezzanine project looks particularly interesting because it seems that they have something that is actually working. Downside is that there is no price listed which probably means that it is very expensive.

http://oblong.com/what-we-do/mezzanine

]]> http://cranehouse.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=361 0 Build Software Like House http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=357 http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=357#comments Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:15:42 +0000 admin http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=357 Interesting thoughts about writing a spec before building software:
http://www.wired.com/opinion/2013/01/code-bugs-programming-why-we-need-specs/

]]> http://cranehouse.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=357 0 Programming Language Trends http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=353 http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=353#comments Fri, 11 Jan 2013 00:04:27 +0000 admin http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=353 The TIOBE index has always fascinated me. Who doesn’t want to track and analyse trends in programming languages? I’ve followed the TIOBE index for several years now. I just ran across a competing index called PYPL. There is a comparison of the two here. And another review here.

I don’t want to get into a comparison of the indexes or their methodologies. But on a gut level it feels right to say that Objective-C is gaining lots of momentum. In job postings, discussions, articles and just observations about the software development industry it seems true that iOS developers are in demand right now.

Just for fun, I decided to go through the TIOBE index to see how many of the top 20 programming languages I know:
Languages I have used in the course of paid work: C, Java, Objective-C, C#, Visual Basic, JavaScript, Ruby, VB.NET, Pascal
Languages I have learned or tinkered with but not used significant projects in the course of paid work: C++, PHP, Python, Perl, Assembly
Little/No Experience: Lisp, Delphi/Object Pascal, Ada, MATLAB, Lua, Bash

That makes a total of 14 of the top 20 I have had some experience with.

]]> http://cranehouse.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=353 0 Big Data http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=350 http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=350#comments Wed, 26 Dec 2012 23:51:21 +0000 admin http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=350 Here’s a link to some tools to help developers manage “big data”: http://gigaom.com/data/a-programmers-guide-to-big-data-12-tools-to-know/

]]> http://cranehouse.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=350 0 Opa http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=347 http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=347#comments Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:12:20 +0000 admin http://cranehouse.net/blog/?p=347 Most of the web programming I have done has been about imbedding code within HTML. Opa is interesting because it does the reverse. I haven’t spent any time playing with it, but it looks like it builds HTML from within the Opa code. Intriguing. I’m not sure how this would play out for a substantial project. But it might be worth a look.

]]> http://cranehouse.net/blog/?feed=rss2&p=347 0