About C / C++ / C#: New Technology Keeps Coming

C / C++ / C# In the Spotlight | More Topics |   from David Bolton I love my iPhone because it gives me reasonable internet access on the move. Recent innovations such as PowerMat for recharging cell phones, or the Dyson Air multiplier (a desktop fan without blades) show that innovation still continues in the world. But in the programming world have we run out of ideas? Where are the new innovative coding techniques like OOP or radically new programming languages that may replace Java and C#? What used to be exciting seems to be no longer novel. Have a good week!   In the Spotlight A Future Desktop Manager 10/GUI A designer/visionary called R. Clayton Miller has imagined a possible touch based Window Manager and created an excellent 8 minute video demonstrating its features. It clearly draws inspiration from the iPhone multi touch system and uses 2, 3 or 4 fingers to interact on a large multi-touch pad with newly opened application windows sliding in from the edge and being maintained in a movable scrollable and stretchable "Dock" with an edge of each Application (like the top bar of a Windows App only vertical) being visible. Technically there seems no reason why this couldn't be done and on Touch tablets (such as the one that is believed to be in development by Apple) would appear to be an excellent fit. Developing for touch events is already established in iPhone software and Windows 7 has multi-touch capability. Thankfully we are now moving away from a "Minority Report" future type of touch screen where people touch a vertical touch pad (or move arms in a vertical space) to a more sensible ergonomically arm-supported and less arm straining future of horizontal touch pads. Anything to avoid my nightmare visions of future software applications being used in offices with users either shouting instructions to computers (deafening!) or suffering major RSI while holding their arms up in front of them for hours on end. As developers we sometimes have to think of these things!              More Topics Code Library for C, C++ and C# Development Projects from Initial Design to Completed Code Reviews of Software - Tools, Compilers, Editors etc Book Reviews Top Tools, Utilities and Resources About C, C++ and C# C++ for Beginners Are Programming Exams/Qualifications worth the cost? I am somewhat cynical about the various qualifications having lasted 28 years in IT with just a university degree. The exams tend to be more non-programming IT related and in some cases only apply for a few years. I'm thinking Microsoft in that case though whether that's true for the programming qualification I don't know. In the UK you can call yourself a software engineer without a certificate. Some countries and US states require that you have one. Would a degree in Computer Science count? A reader wrote and asked if I could recommend any qualifications and the only two that sprang to mind were Microsoft and Brainbench. I am sure there are others and I'd love to hear from anyone who has taken one. Did it help get you your job? Back in the 80s when home computing first appeared, many programmers were self taught at home and turned that into a job; I got a few jobs on the strength of what I'd learned, not what I was taught. By the 90s things had settled down and then the web came and there was another few years of turmoil. Those turmoil years are when qualifications counted least because technology was changing faster than they could keep up. So apart from college degrees, I still remain a bit skeptical. Link to Link to C++ Tutorials   Sumatra Open Source PDF Reader for Windows Developer Krzysztof Kowalczyk has taken the mupdf library and added code to render the pdf as a bitmap to create and then display it on the screen. Written in C, Sumatra provides a lightweight PDF viewer compared to Adobe's own reader which seems to update itself every time I use it. There's a request list as long as your arm but the developer (who leads a team of five developers) prefers to focus on simplicity than bloating it with lost of features. It's easy to use and small, so that makes it easier to understand the C code. As always, if you see a bug or a feature you'd like to add, fetch the source code and join in. Link to Windows C Code Library     Sponsored Links   Get Ready for Halloween Pumpkin Photos These scary-good jack-o-lanterns include everything from Homer Simpson to the Cat in the Hat to a pumpkin decked out like a hamburger. Check out the photos or submit your own! 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