HACK NIGHT! “Me, My App, and Twitter”,  August 27, 2012 at the IIT IdeaShop, 7 – 9pm
Register: iithacknight.eventbrite.com

Yes! A Hack Night!
A place to learn the magic behind coding. On this night we will have a two hour introduction to APIs and using Twitter to build a simple app.

Who should be there?
Everyone is welcome! Come if you’re interested in building something awesome or want to learn how to make your ideas a reality.

Which means that?
You really need to attend. We have food! No Walk-ins. Please register before coming.

Upcoming Hack Nights:
Aug. 27: Me, My App, and Twitter
Sept. 11: Building a Facebook App
Sept. 27: Karaoke with Twilio!
Oct. 11:  People’s choice
Overnight Hackathon Challenge:
3pm October 20 – 4pm October 21
Over $5,000 in prizes!!!

Windows 8 changes everything. That’s the paradigm Microsoft is pushing and that’s how it seems they want it. But is it what you want? Is it what businesses will want? Personally, I think NOT.  Here’s one person’s take on why they will not run it anymore: “Why I’m uninstalling Windows 8” by Tim Edwards on PCGamesN http://www.pcgamesn.com/article/why-i-m-uninstalling-windows-8. By the way, read the comments too; many people seem to think the article is totally bogus. But I think it is pretty representative of the normal reactions of a typical end user—someone who is not an expert.

So anyone want to guess at how many different programming languages exist? And have been used at least a couple of times? I discovered the following interesting URL:  http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Category:Programming_Tasks. Basically it lists a large number (>100) of different programming tasks and algorithms . You pick your algorithm, then they show you contributions coded in different programming languages. Granted there are occasionally holes in the matrix, yet it is amazing how much programming languages are similar and yet different.

Alternately you can go to the language tab on the left and look at all the algorithms contributed in that language.

Hopefully you find it useful.   —John Emrich

Marc Andreesen, creator of Netscape, discusses in the Wall Street Journal why he believes that the business giants of the future will be whoever has the best software; it’s well worth a read… Marc Andreessen on Why Software Is Eating the World – WSJ.com.