Topic: Software Development
Colleges and universities need an alternative to traditional data systems so that they may better manage their student prospects and information. In this Stanford university podcast, Matthew Schnittman, president of TopSchool, talks about the organization's new online software that features the latest innovations in student management software. He spoke at the Global Education Conference at Stanford.
Tim Caswell talks about NodeJS and WebKit. Node is a relatively new and open source software system designed for writing scalable internet applications, mostly for web servers. WebKit is an open source web browser engine with a focus on mobile users. Because of the open source nature and widespread experience with JavaScript these two frameworks allow many developers scattered across the globe to collaborate on projects for which they have a shared interest. They are also more easily learned and applied systems than older competitors.
Hook.io has been an important project for Marak Squires since 2006. Charlie Robbins describes it as "a full-featured I/O framework for node.js that enables a simple way to distribute your application across multiple node.js processes using the new EventEmitter2 API and leveraging the power of Crash-only software." In this technical discussion, Marak reviews both the history of hook.io, as well as both how it works and its specifications. Node.js experts and novices will find his discussion most illuminating.
Nicole Sullivan, architect with the Stubbornella Consulting Group, speaks about CSS3 and HTML5. She discusses the current state of CSS3, what issues major browsers might have with its implementation and how current practices might affect outcomes. She also speaks about the relationship between CSS3 and HTML 5 and about the issues that mobile sites are encountering in running web languages.
Computer systems are moving from local to distributed form while growing in complexity. One result is an increased concern about system failure. Justin Sheehy believes the concern is misplaced and we should focus more on recovery. All systems eventually fail. A powerful recovery capability will quickly compensate for this. And while highly distributed systems are increasingly complex, they can and are being developed to be fault-tolerant. A fault-tolerant system provides an early warning to allow timely application of a recovery plan.
The third major semantic web revolution is node.js, following Java and Ruby. One programmer replaced 10,000 lines of production C code with 4,000 lines of node.js, and that's just the beginning. Bryan Cantrill of Joyent, Inc. describes a new class of applications that will further revolutionize the real time web, especially mobile.
For robotics to become ubiquitous, the key is a simple efficient connector. Organic chemistry is a simple self-reconfiguring process which inspired Tom Larkworthy to emulate it in self-reconfigurable robots. Larkworthy's pragmatic work focuses on a lattice arrangement, a hexagonal metamorphical robot with a simple set of local motion constraints. Per Sjöborg and Larkworthy discuss how gender, simplicity and limits contribute to efficiency in self-reconfigurable robots.
Failure happens. But applying a calm, methodical approach to finding solutions after a failed software launch can put you back on track with both customers and the public. According to Kate Matsudaira, VP at SEOmoz, balancing interests between what is needed in the short-term and the longer-term can be tricky. Doing a thorough post-mortem analysis of what went wrong and communicating it broadly can go a long way to restoring confidence and to avoid falling into the same trap.
Technometria co-host Scott Lemon discusses his new experiences with Wovyn, a company that is deeply involved in the Internet of Things. IoT allows users to control all aspects of their digital lives, including their personal devices, appliances, and utilities. He reviews a number of the technical aspects of IoT, beginning with the clear belief of its future importance to the consumer. He also talks about how Wovyn used Kickstarter as a way to help fund the company's projects.
For Patrick Lightbody, sometimes it is entirely appropriate to kill a fly with a sledgehammer. Of course, that was one of Lightbody's breakthrough innovations when he founded Browser Mob. His other was relying upon Amazon Web Services. In this keynote address, Lightbody explains how depending upon AWS allowed him to focus entirely on his core business. He also shares four lessons he gained from growing his startup company on the cloud.
