CIE SEPT09 Pg42:CIE JUL-AUG09 Pg46 07/09/2009 12:08 Page 42
Who? What? Why? Where? When? and How?
Alice who?
Steve Rogerson’s round-up of last month’s news and events, including some
which may have slipped under the radar
I
have always liked the name Alice. I loved Alice in replaced by “email cliques”. These have the
Wonderland as a kid (and continue to do so), I advantage, say the researchers, that nobody but those
enjoyed Alice’s Restaurant (film and song) when I in the clique know about them so there is no
was a student and I must admit I still have a certain suspicion from those not in the group. So, where’s
fondness for that awful song “Living next door to the fun in that?
Alice”. That is why a press release headed “Alice I felt a little like a watercooler groupie at a recent
finally sent to the Moon” caught my eye when it Avnet Abacus press conference when one of the
landed in my inbox. Which Alice was it? company’s management team sidled up to me over
I had images of a little girl dancing through the Sea lunch to whisper in my ear. No great secrets though,
of Tranquillity meeting smiling cats and croquet he just wanted to tell me that he enjoyed reading
playing queens. Or of a small hippy restaurant tucked 5W1H and couldn’t wait to see what I write about his
away in the Tycho crater. Or even of a bunch of press conference. I’m sorry, but the answer is nothing
drunks in a bar singing – or shouting – “Who the **** as nothing funny happened there, apart of course
is Alice?” from the guy sidling up to me and saying that he
The answer was none of the above because Alice is enjoyed reading this column and couldn’t wait to see
the affectionate name of a custom-engineered what I write about his press conference.
spectrometer from Ocean Optics that was shot into I had another blank on the humour stakes when I
space in June as part of Nasa’s lunar crater travelled to Eindhoven to visit NXP Semiconductors.
observation and sensing satellite mission. Sadly, the While interesting, absolutely nothing funny
press release didn’t reveal why the name Alice was happened at all during the two days I was there. I was
I know it can be pretty rough in Leeds,
chosen, or whether if the mission falls behind time left with no choice but to console myself at The
but does Farnell really need a pair of
someone will start looking at a pocket watch and Baron, a lovely Belgian beer bar on Kleine Berg, just
wolves to guard its UK headquarters?
shouting: “I’m late!” the place to remove those Dutch blues. And if you The clue is in the billboard advertising
The modern day Alice though would probably find visit Eindhoven and want something to bring home
the Murata range of Okami DC-DC
herself at a keyboard with the screen her looking glass with you, do what I did and find a supermarket
and the internet her wonderland, and she would not selling six packs of Hertog Jan Grand Prestige, a
converters because “okami” is also
be alone as more people are living their lives online, gorgeous 10% abv dark bottled beer.
Japanese for “wolf”. What I would like
and I’m not just talking about popular virtual worlds Talking of beer, I hope you all had a good summer
to know is where Farnell’s Alan Paterson
such as Second Life. and maybe the odd barbeque. Well it would have (left) and Murata’s Henry Lee managed
Take the average office, for example. Once upon a been odd if you’d tried the most popular barbeque
to find wolves in Yorkshire. Then again,
time, workers would gather for a chat round the recipe idea from web site ilovemybbq.com. This
watercooler. This, of course, generated suspicion apparently was the ominously named “beer can up
maybe there was more truth to the
among those not in the gathering about what was the bum chicken”. I am afraid I bottled out of reading
opening Yorkshire moor scenes of
being talked about. Not any more, well at least more so I cannot tell you what this consists of but I’d
American Werewolf in London than I
according to researchers at the University of Leicester be interested in hearing from any of my readers on previously thought.
who reckon that the watercooler gatherings are being their experiences with this. Bottoms up! n
Book Review
Elements of Programming. Alexander Stepanov & Paul McJones,
Pearson Education Inc, 2009, ISBN-13 978-0-321-63537-2, ISBN-10: 0-321-63537-X. pp. xii, 262.
Reviewed by Martyn Thomas FREng.
Elements of Programming is a book that all professional software programming examples use a subset of C++ specially designed
engineers will want to study, and ranks alongside seminal by Bjarne Stroustrup and defined in a ten-page Appendix B. The
publications such as Donald Knuth’s The Art of Computer authors explain that “the implementation of the algorithms in a
Programming, Dahl, Dijkstra and Hoare’s Structured real programming language is central to the book. While the
Programming, and Linger, Mills and Witt’s Structured specifications, which are addressed to human beings, should,
Programming, Theory and Practice. Computer programs are and even must, combine rigor with appropriate informality, the
mathematically formal objects but this formality is ignored by code, which is addressed to the computer, must be absolutely
most programmers and they gain limited benefits from it. That is precise even while being general”.
I hate a picture that doesn’t tell the full
a pity, because a deductive approach to programming can yield This is not an easy read, but it is hugely rewarding. The
story. A PR company sent me this picture programs that are efficient, elegant, and demonstrably correct, reader will need to treat it as a professional training course and
and all the attached caption told me was
and most of the costs of software development and support flow dedicate solid time to working through each chapter. A wise
than the man second from the right was
from finding and correcting errors that the deductive approach manager will make copies available free to any members of her
Doug Pulley, CTO at femtocell chipset
would have avoided. The most successful software companies, programming staff who commit to read it. The training budget
such as IBM, Microsoft, Adobe and SAP, have already learnt this could hardly be better spent.
firm Picochip, heading the queue to buy
lesson and started to train their engineers in strong software It is timely, published around the same time as Engineering
the new Vodafone access gateway. I can engineering methods based on mathematics. Values in IT, an important report by the Royal Academy of
only presume that the gateway contains
Elements of Programming grew out of the Foundations of Engineering, and at the end of a decade where software security,
a Picochip chipset, which then begs the
Programming course at Adobe, where both authors work. It safety and reliability have moved to the top of the agenda in
question of why did he have to queue?
explains the mathematical theories that underpin the structures major companies around the world. The programmer who
and operations from which all programs are built: structures works through the book as the authors suggest, from beginning
Couldn’t he have got a freebie? In fact,
such as basic types, procedures, ordered lists and arrays, and to end, proving the lemmas and doing the exercises, will
surely he must have had one to test. I operations such as copying, rearranging, partitioning and emerge a far better programmer, equipped to develop programs
stay bemused.
merging. The specifications are written in a simple mathematical that are efficient and ultra reliable. Elements of Programming has
notation that is described in a short (40 line) Appendix A; the the power to change the reader’s professional life.
42 September 2009 Components in Electronics www.cieonline.co.uk
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