The IMTC is happening on the first week of April in Dublin. More details can be found here. Here is a teaser that Craig Murphy has created for this conference. Craig is also one of the driving forces for DDD Ireland which is happening on May 3rd in GMIT - don't miss it.

As part of our course development, the Department of Mathematics & Computing at GMIT has run a week long course for second level students for the past number of years.  We call this course Digital Transitions.  It is aimed primarily at Transition Year Students and is designed to give them a taste of what life as a computing student can be like.

The week is spent in GMIT, mostly in one of our computer labs.  Features of the week include web design, multimedia work, digital photography, robotics or a combination of any of the above.  For students it is a chance to delve in a see some of the work behind the scenes.  To develop software that they may not have had the chance to work with before.  Many will not have had web design explained, or have had a chance to do work with Flash, Photoshop or other graphics packages. 

This year, we introduced a new element - Robotics.  Using the Lego Mindstorms kits, we created robots.  We built driving robots, creeping robots and even robots that walked upright.  Figuring out the gears, the pulley mechanisms and the mechanics involved can be tricky enough, and then the programming starts.  Luckily, with the Lego programming interface, the programmer can concentrate on the task in hand and not need to get too caught up in the semantics of any given language.  Separating this concept of functionality from language allows the students to concentrate on what the robot should do and the steps required to achieve that task.

Its part of the exploration of computing, building something and seeing the results, whether they be a robot or a web site.  Its a fun week, we build a simple website and the students upload pictures and information about their work for the week on this.  You can see what we did here.

As part of Ireland's Science & Technology Week, a group of 7-10 year olds were brought to GMIT by a parent/uncle/aunt to take part in a session of fun with the Lego Mindstorms kits.  The session was hosted by the Department of Mathematics & Computing on Friday 16th November.  For those of you who don't know, Lego Mindstorms NXT is a set of Lego that goes beyond the Lego Technics range.  Lego Technics introduces mechanics and gears, allowing you to build very realistic models of engines, cranes, race cars, motor bikes and pretty much most machines that you can imagine.  The Mindstorms range goes beyond this and adds a processor, some motors and some sensors.  This means that you can build a robot and then program it to interact with the world around you.

At 3pm, it began.  The looks of concentration, the careful reading of the instructions, determined chins, more determined hands searching for pieces and then building, reading, programming, making sure that the grabber grabs, the robot moves as specified in the challenge.  And if any of that fails, just moving the robot manually to see what it might do (if only the program worked).  throughout the two hours we were there, there were whoops of joy as the robots first moved forwards and backwards, then stopped when it hit a wall and turned around and went in the opposite direction, and finally, the ultimate, to pick up the ball in the grabber at the front of the robot.  That was the achievement, that was the moment that made it worth the time, the effort and the concentration.

And the 7-10 year olds had fun too!

So there we were on a pleasant Thursday afternoon, sitting in the largest lecture theatre in GMIT.  And why were we there?  To listen to Andy Wigley as he gave an insight into mobile applications development.  Being the MVP for Mobile Applications, he is probably best placed to given an introduction the 70 or so students of Computing and Engineering who attended this talk.   Explaining the difference between the devices available from smart phones to mobile PC's, he went on to explain the use of the Compact Framework and managed code for the development of the universal application "Hello World".

Practical demonstrations are always the best.  Andy worked through creating and deploying the application in Orcas, on several devices, showing how easy it is to program for touch screen or button functionality on smart phones.  The emulator makes it easy for the developer to see how the app will look and feel on different models and this makes for a smoother implementation.

You can find information on the .NET Compact Framework here.  This includes downloading and installing, and tutorials for developing with the framework, as well as technical articles.

It was fun, the possibilities for mobile development are limited only by our imagination and the pervasiveness of this technology has still to be explored fully.

You can have a look at some of the pictures here.  Thanks for the talk Andy.

Its a bit late here, but some weeks ago, we had Martha Rotter here at GMIT to give an insightful presentation on Silverlight, XNA and Robotics Studio.

Martha gave a great presentation to a packed house.  We had about 100 students sit in and listen to the latest word about developing in Silverlight, creating games in XNA and how to play educationally with Lego using the NXT systems and Robotics Studio. The presentation showed what can be achieved with Silverlight.  Creating a dynamic, multimedia experience for the user and presenting information in a way not possible before this.

Martha's enthusiasm for the technologies she talks about is obvious.  She presents with an easy manner, connecting with her audience and answering questions with ease.  We look forward to having her back again here at the college.

One other great reason for coming to Tech Ed this year was the shuttle launch that NASA very kindly scheduled to coincide with the end of the week - I have to admit, it was very nice of them. 

Martin and me drove to Cocoa Beach and watched the launch.  Really really cool, its not often that you get the chance to see it, so you can't really not go when you do.

Got the heck out of Tech Ed (After 4pm of course) and headed for the beach.  Got there in perfect time to have a pizza and chill on the beach and watch everyone wait for that moment when the radio is turned up and you hear "Computer has control" and then everybody starts counting all the way down to 1.

10 minutes later, its all over and the sonic boom has shaken us just around the time the shuttle heads into orbit (well, it was going fast).  You could feel the pride and support on the beach for the crew as they headed into space (after sitting on the launch pad, in the shuttle for the previous 3 hours doing preflight checks - must be a lot of them).

Video is on youtube and photos are on flickr.  What an evening.

well, its Friday morning, and here I sit (fingers still cramped and vision a little bleary) at my laptop thinking about the fun last night.  Universal Theme Park - worth a walk around anyway, most of the rides shut because of rain (especially for the Irish - we're used to this) but that didn't matter, we still met the heroes as you can see from the photos.

It was great to walk around and say hi to all the people I met for the first time this week - a great part of Tech Ed that.  The world really is a smaller place, a global village that continues to shrink in many ways.  Still a long walk though.  So far Mick has counted 58000 on his pedometer, so I reckon I am in the same ball park - that's all my exercise for the next 4 months done, off to the couch I go :)

Just got Windows Live Writer and life is so much easier - yippee.   Beware the big bad world of blog.

there are no limits - I will be back

Once upon a midnight dreary, fingers cramped and vision bleary,
System manuals piled high and wasted paper on the floor,
Longing for the warmth of bed sheets, Still I sat there doing spreadsheets.
Having reached the bottom line I took a floppy from the drawer,
I then invoked the SAVE command and waited for the disk to store,
Only this and nothing more.

Deep into the monitor peering, long I sat there wond'ring, fearing,
Doubting, while the disk kept churning, turning yet to churn some more.
But the silence was unbroken, and the stillness gave no token.
"Save!" I said, "You cursed mother! Save my data from before!"
One thing did the phosphors answer, only this and nothing more,
Just, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"

 Was this some occult illusion, some maniacal intrusion?
These were choices undesired, ones I'd never faced before.
Carefully I weighed the choices as the disk made impish noises.
The cursor flashed, insistent, waiting, baiting me to type some more.
Clearly I must press a key, choosing one and nothing more,
From "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"

 With fingers pale and trembling, slowly toward the keyboard bending,
Longing for a happy ending, hoping all would be restored,
Praying for some guarantee, timidly, I pressed a key.
But on the screen there still persisted words appearing as before.
Ghastly grim they blinked and taunted, haunted, as my patience wore,
Saying "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"
 
I tried to catch the chips off guard, and pressed again, but twice as hard.
I pleaded with the cursed machine: I begged and cried and then I swore.
Now in mighty desperation, trying random combinations,
Still there came the incantation, just as senseless as before.
Cursor blinking, angrily winking, blinking nonsense as before.
Reading, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"

 There I sat, distraught, exhausted, by my own machine accosted.
Getting up I turned away and paced across the office floor.
And then I saw a dreadful sight: a lightning bolt cut through the night.
A gasp of horror overtook me, shook me to my very core.
The lightning zapped my previous data, lost and gone forevermore.
Not even, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"

To this day I do not know the place to which lost data go.
What demonic nether world is wrought where lost data will be stored,
Beyond the reach of mortal souls, beyond the ether, into black holes?
But sure as there's C, Pascal, Lotus, Ashton-Tate and more,
You will be one day be left to wander, lost on some Plutonian shore,
Pleading, "Abort, Retry, Ignore?"