Computer Association of SIUE - Forums

First, I just want to ask.  Is this board still active?  I see a post I made back in May of 09 and it is 6th from the top lol. 

Anyways, I haven't been on here in a long time.  I have been pretty busy.  Just wanted to share QT Designer for C++ with you guys.  I know when I was at SIUE we learned with mostly C++.  I heard some of that is changing to Java, which is good, but C++ is still used. 

I have been working for Lockheed Martin for 3 years now.  I am currently working in Colorado at the Deer Creek Facility (pretty awesome google it.  Pics don't do it justice!) and on a program who's code is written mostly in C++.  There are over 12 million lines of code (at least).  Anyways, for our GUI work we use QT Designer.  I have only been on this program for about a 2 weeks, but this is pretty interesting.  QT is free and works on both Linux and Windows boxes (I think.  I only use it on a Linux box). 

Since I have been out of college I have had very few job offers with C++ and the ones that did use C++ were all on Linux boxes.  Yeah, I had some classes with a few teachers that required we use Unix, which was a huge help, but not enough imo.  I learned how to make simple Makefiles etc, but it is nothing like a large program like I am on now.  Most companies do not want to pay for stuff like Visual Studio and Windows when they can get a very Cheap version of Linux like Redhat and use free tools like QT Designer.  Windows license are much more expensive for commercial use btw.  It would be amazing if SIUE started teaching their students this way.  Yeah we could start new students with Visual Studio (like CS 140 and 150) but in 240 move to Linux boxes and use tools like this.

I recommend doing this.  Either I didn't know about URCAs as an undergrad or they didn't have them, but these things will really help you expand, especially with what I can imagine for a simulation engine.  If it matters to any of you thinking about it, we use simulation modeling out in the real world all the time.

Dr. Bouvier, Dr. Stefik, Dr. Wang and I have all been given the opportunity to have an undergraduate assistant next semester. Below is a general announcement. If you follow the link to the URCA site, you can view our project details and see all of the others.

I am looking for an undergraduate student to assist in developing a multi-threaded simulation engine. The project involves learning about simulation engines, using UML for design, and a multi-threaded Java implementation. If interested, please email a resume and cover letter to me at gamayer[at]siue[dot]edu.

Regards,

- Dr. Mayer


General Announcement Follows:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


November 5, 2010

Dear Students,

The URCA Assistant program offers exciting opportunities for SIUE undergraduates to work closely with faculty on their research and other creative activity projects!

URCA Assistants work on faculty-led projects for approximately 9 hours per week under the direct guidance of a faculty mentor.  Assistant positions are for a minimum of one semester; some can possibly be renewed. In addition to gaining excellent, hands-on experience for a resume, in-depth knowledge of a field of study, and a close working relationship with a faculty mentor, some of these positions also offer the opportunity to earn course credit.  Also, around 80 Assistants per semester will receive an $800 award for their participation!

Faculty from across the university have applied to be mentors, and there is room for over 100 students to participate this spring.  These positions are posted at http://www.siue.edu/urca/assistantcurrentprojects.shtml - next to each participating professor's name is a description of the position (available as either PDF or Word document) and a link to click to apply if you are interested in that position.  Students apply directly to the faculty member through the website.  The deadline for student applications is December 6, 2010; faculty must select the students to fill their positions by no later than January 10, 2011.  However, faculty may choose to fill their positions earlier, so students are encouraged to apply as soon as possible!  Once you apply, be sure to regularly check your e-mail for a response from the faculty member (even over the holiday break!).

Any student who has a cumulative GPA of 2.3 or above and who will be enrolled as a full-time student (minimum of 12 credit hours) at SIUE for the entire spring 2011 semester may apply.  Students may apply for multiple positions, but are only allowed to accept one position per semester!  Once you have committed to a professor, you cannot accept another professor's offer!  Once selected, all URCA assistants must maintain satisfactory progress as defined by the faculty mentor.

For more information and to apply, please visit our website at www.siue.edu/urca and check out the Assistant Information section on the left of the webpage (in the grey box).  Please note: the URCA program includes both Assistants and Associates.  This letter is in regard to the Assistant program; if you're interested, please make sure you're applying to be an Assistant.  Students are not allowed to hold both an URCA Assistant and an URCA Associate position at the same time. 

One final word: URCA positions are not the only research positions available on campus.  Check with your advisor or department chair for other possible opportunities.

Sincerely,

Laura Pawlow, Ph.D.                                                   
URCA Coordinator
Campus Box 1121
618-650-2608
lpawlow[at]siue[dot]edu 

Ya, I picked up to Pragmatic Bookshelf Clojure book, but haven't really had a chance to look into it yet. I know its become pretty popular for concurrent number crunching; flightcaster uses it for their algorithms.

Quite honestly, I know nothing about clojure other than it is a lisp dialect that works with the JVM.  I plan on picking up "7 languages in 7 weeks" whenever it finally hits the bookstores, so I figure I can learn about it a bit more then. 

Yeah, I've heard about CLojure and have considered it.  I haven't really looked into it yet so am not sure yet.  Does it enforce type immutability or enforce it as an option?  If it does, I can see it leading to highly outward scalable applications, like erlang does.

However, with Oracle's behavior surrounding Java, I'm not so sure about it being a safe platform.  Maybe LLVM or GCC with the next spec of C++ having lambda would be just as good.  Again, I haven't looked into either thing yet.

I'm not sure if they still do, the course is being rewritten. 

On another functional language note, Guy Steele (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_L._Steele,_Jr.) made the suggestion that every programmer should learn Clojure the other day when discussing the future of programming languages.  Josh Blosch (Chief Java Architect at Google) suggested Scheme I believe. 

Hey, you know how the programming languages course at SIUE teaches you Scheme (or did, anyway, when I was there)?  Well, I finally found a direct use for it rather than just conceptual use through things like erlang or lisp: gEDA.  The config files are written in it; maybe the whole system is.

Anyway, thought I'd throw that nerd bit out there.

hahahaha beautiful.