Some details for those of you that asked me off list. There is a free and informal public workshop this Saturday morning at Melbourne Docklands for computer-code noobs like me who are looking to access advice about these new tools. Last month I got some assistance with how to tweak my VMWare settings for an Ubuntu Linux VM I was building for school. For more details, public transport or parking information: <a href="http://tr.im/EMYv" target="_blank">http://tr.im/EMYv</a><br>
<br>It is a good chance to meet other Open Education minded folk with some really nice coffee and breakfast just a hop, skip and registry shift away. Wireless access, warm morning sun, delicious danish scrolls as I lay back and reflect on the reports I could be writing or grass that needs mowing .. ( ahh bliss) :-)<br>
<br>Regards Roland<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2009/11/12 Roland Gesthuizen <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:rgesthuizen@gmail.com">rgesthuizen@gmail.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
Cross posted from the Oz-teachers list from a post by <span dir="ltr">Stephen Loosely <<a href="mailto:stephen@melbpc.org.au" target="_blank">stephen@melbpc.org.au</a>></span>. Background info and some YouTube links below. You are not alone amongst all this buzz. If you need to call upon the
help of some people to help you with this (they accept payment in
chocolates), why not drop past LUV this Saturday 14 Nov in the
Docklands at <a href="http://tr.im/EMYv" target="_blank">http://tr.im/EMYv</a><br><br>'Go' has been described as a cross between C/C++ and Python. To run this you need to install the Python Setup Tools. If you are feeling really brave and pioneering (or foolish like me) and have too many hours to waste until you need to start writing school reports, create a VirtualBox VM, install Ubuntu 9.10 then follow these instructions. Enjoy :-)<br>
<a href="http://blog.eznet.frih.net/?p=121" target="_blank">http://blog.eznet.frih.net/?p=121</a><br><br>Regards Roland<br>
<div class="gmail_quote"><br>---<br><br>Google 'Go' <a href="http://golang.org" target="_blank">http://golang.org</a> is a new systems programming language ..<div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
Go is …<br>
<br>
… simple<br>
<br>
package main<br>
import "fmt"<br>
func main() {<br>
fmt.Printf("Hello, &#19990;&#30028;\n")<br>
}<br>
<br>
… fast<br>
<br>
Go compilers produce fast code fast. Typical builds take a fraction of a<br>
second yet the resulting programs run nearly as quickly as comparable C<br>
or C++ code.<br>
<br>
… safe<br>
<br>
Go is type safe and memory safe. Go has pointers but no pointer<br>
arithmetic. For random access, use slices, which know their limits.<br>
<br>
… concurrent<br>
<br>
Go promotes writing systems and servers as sets of lightweight<br>
communicating processes, called goroutines, with strong support from the<br>
language. Run thousands of goroutines if you want—and say good-bye to<br>
stack overflows.<br>
<br>
… fun<br>
<br>
Go has fast builds, clean syntax, garbage collection, methods for any<br>
type, and run-time reflection. It feels like a dynamic language but has<br>
the speed and safety of a static language. It's a joy to use.<br>
<br>
… open source<br>
<br>
Go for it.<br>
<br>
--<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/Meet_Go__Google_s_New_Programming_Language" target="_blank">http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/Meet_Go__Google_s_New_Programming_Language</a><br>
<br>
<br>
Meet Go, Google’s New Programming Language<br>
<br>
By Scott Gilbertson, November 11, 2009<br>
<br>
Google has released a brand-new programming language it hopes will solve<br>
some of the problems with existing languages such as Java and C++.<br>
<br>
The language is called Go, and it was released under an open source<br>
license Tuesday .. Google has considerably upped its investment in free<br>
software with the release of Go, which is an entirely new programming<br>
language.<br>
<br>
At first glance, Go looks a bit like C++, but borrows some elements, such<br>
as garbage collection, from scripting languages like Python and<br>
JavaScript.<br>
<br>
But Go’s real standout feature is its speed. This (below) demo video<br>
shows the entire language — over 120K lines of code — compiling in under<br>
10 seconds.<br>
<br>
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwoWei-GAPo" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwoWei-GAPo</a><br>
<br>
As a systems language, Go is intended to be used for developer<br>
applications like, for example, web servers.<br>
<br>
In fact, the <a href="http://golang.org" target="_blank">http://golang.org</a> website is being hosted by a Go program.<br>
<br>
But as Go developer Rob Pike says in recent Google Tech talk, "although<br>
Go is designed as a systems language, it has a much broader use than<br>
that." <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKnDgT73v8s" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKnDgT73v8s</a><br>
<br>
One of the most appealing parts of Go is its ability to handle multicore<br>
processors and, as Google’s FAQ explains, "provide fundamental support<br>
for concurrent execution and communication."<br>
<br>
Existing systems languages like C++ evolved long before today’s modern,<br>
and very fast, processors hit the market and make supporting multicore<br>
chips more difficult.<br>
<br>
While Google could have concentrated on writing libraries that can handle<br>
those tasks in C++, the developers behind Go say that, "too many of the<br>
problems — lack of garbage collection, long dependency chains, nested<br>
include files, lack of concurrency awareness — are rooted in the design<br>
of the C and C++ languages themselves," and decided it was time for<br>
something entirely new.<br>
<br>
Like many of Google’s open source projects, Go began life as a 20 percent<br>
time project (the time Google gives its engineers to experiment) and<br>
evolved into something more serious.<br>
<br>
Go has been in development for over two years now, but Google is hoping<br>
that, by releasing Go under a BSD-style license, a community will develop<br>
and build Go into a viable choice for software development.<br>
<br>
At the moment, Go is still very young and experimental.<br>
<br>
Even Google isn’t currently using Go in "large-scale production"<br>
applications. While the site that’s hosting the code is running a server<br>
built with Go as a proof of concept, the primary purpose of this release<br>
is to attract developers and help build a community around Go.<br>
<br>
Despite its fledgling status, Go already supports many of the standard<br>
tools you’d expect from a systems language and even includes support for<br>
other Google tools like Protocol Buffers.<br>
<br>
Also, it’s worth noting that Google’s Go is not to be confused with an<br>
existing language entitled Go! (note explanation point). Google<br>
Blogoscoped reports that Go!’s developer Francis McCabe would like Google<br>
to change the name of Go, but thus far Google has not responded to that<br>
request.<br>
<br>
At the moment Go is only available for Linux and Mac OS.<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
</font></div></div></div><font color="#888888"><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br><a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au" target="_blank">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a><br>
<br>"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead<br>
</font></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Roland Gesthuizen - ICT Coordinator - Westall Secondary College<br><a href="http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au">http://www.westallsc.vic.edu.au</a><br><br>"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret Mead<br>