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#51
News and Commentary / Improvements Made To Max Flow ...
Last post by Adam C - 2010-09-27T17:19:18-05:00 (Monday)
Found this on reddit, thought it was worth sharing:
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2010/max-flow-speedup-0927.html
#52
Robotics / Re: Netduino Plus, Arduino Uno...
Last post by Brent Beer - 2010-09-26T19:44:27-05:00 (Sunday)
I'd actually love small projects like this for caos. Encourage students to build things and learn them. Maybe for some month long type of competition?


Thanks for the posts!
#54
Robotics / Netduino Plus, Arduino Uno, Ar...
Last post by William Grim - 2010-09-26T11:15:09-05:00 (Sunday)
I learned yesterday that some new Arduino devices have been created that update the original one quite a lot.  In case you don't know, these 8-bit microcontroller dev boards are good for small-scale robotics or some other physical automation.  I've messed around with them a bit, and they're very hackable, with me writing code for them from FreeBSD using C and assembly.

Now, the new Arduino Uno and Arduino Mega 2560 have been released.  The Uno is basically just a lower price point Arduino but with an upgraded USB speed and driver-less operation on Mac and Linux.  The Mega 2560 also has this upgraded USB speed but costs slightly more than the original Arduino and comes with twice the memory.

As for the Netduino Plus, it looks like it's a fully 32-bit ARM7 processor, compatible with Visual Studio.  This thing has USB and Ethernet onboard, and its firmware supports coding via C# / .NET.

All the new *duino devices are pin-compatible with the older Arduino upgrade "shields" (add-on boards with extra functionality).

As an aside, in my personal opinion, since this the Netduino is an embedded system low on memory, I'd still opt for developing without the weight of the VM, just because there isn't a lot of memory.  I don't know how fast the .NET VM would run on here compared to native code, even though I know the VM can be as fast or faster as native code on "big machines" (i.e. desktops, laptops, etc.).  However, I think it could be fantastic for a place like SIUE for making early robotics more accessible to students.

Related links:

You can also find other Arduino-related development topics on that last link I gave you.  They even have a form of IDE available for it, but I never used it, instead opting for a lower-level approach to save memory.
#55
News and Commentary / Re: Monsanto Meet and Greet (L...
Last post by Mark Sands - 2010-09-23T18:45:27-05:00 (Thursday)
Just now reading this post. I was actually planning on going but I couldn't make it tonight due to last minute conflicts. I'm glad other people are interested though! Maybe I'll see you next time :D
#56
News and Commentary / Re: Monsanto Meet and Greet (L...
Last post by Robert Kennedy - 2010-09-23T13:03:43-05:00 (Thursday)
This is likely the last time I check this post before I leave to head to the meeting, but if anyone can't make it to the meeting and has any questions about employment at Monsanto in general, feel free to ask them here.  I'll do my best to answer them, and if I can't then I'll pass them along to someone here that can.
#57
News and Commentary / Re: Monsanto Meet and Greet (L...
Last post by Brent Beer - 2010-09-23T09:35:15-05:00 (Thursday)
Quote from: Phillip Ray II on 2010-09-22T20:43:44-05:00 (Wednesday)
I want to come, but I have to be at work at 5:45. Are the meetings usually pretty casual? I don't want to seem rude if I am only able to attend for an hour and have to leave while someone is speaking. =/

In my past experience I have found that it's always casual for meet and greets. Hope a good number of people show up regardless of it being last minute
#58
News and Commentary / Re: Monsanto Meet and Greet (L...
Last post by Robert Kennedy - 2010-09-23T07:59:46-05:00 (Thursday)
Absolutely.  They're generally about as casual as a meeting can be. 
#59
News and Commentary / Re: Monsanto Meet and Greet (L...
Last post by Phillip Ray II - 2010-09-22T20:43:44-05:00 (Wednesday)
I want to come, but I have to be at work at 5:45. Are the meetings usually pretty casual? I don't want to seem rude if I am only able to attend for an hour and have to leave while someone is speaking. =/
#60
News and Commentary / Re: Monsanto Meet and Greet (L...
Last post by Robert Kennedy - 2010-09-22T20:32:58-05:00 (Wednesday)
Thatguy is exactly right.  There's really no reason to wait until your junior or senior year to take on an internship or co-op.  I really wish I would have done a co-op at Monsanto earlier in college, as I would have likely taken some different comp sci electives to match what I'm currently interested in. 

I'll also just toss this out there in case anyone is interested, I'm going to head to the St. Louis Mobile Development group meeting after the CAOS meeting concludes.  It is located at the Asynchrony Offices in downtown STL on Washington Street.  They generally have free pizza and soda there.  The talks tomorrow are scheduled to be 1 hour of Iphone Development Unit testing, followed up by an hour demo of the Android App Inventor.  If anyone is interested, feel free to let me know at the meeting, and you can hitch a ride with me if you want.