Thursday, January 14, 2010
Shocking but true interview with Bjarne Stroustrup
I came across this interview on looking for the creation of C++. Reading it blew my mind. It is absolutely hilarious and true. So without further ado go to:IEEE 1998 interview with Bjarne Stroustrup
Friday, January 1, 2010
Creativity Booster Software
brainstorning tools
These tools can be broken down into several groups:
[1] idea generation
[2] Mind Mapping tools
[3] Other Tools
I have tried a bunch of them over the years. I have even purchased one.
The first catagory of software are the hardest to come by,but are the most useful. They do more than just diagram ideas. One such software is :
Axon Idea processor (http://web.singnet.com.sg)
This is a unique software package. This program can do brainstorming . It can do simulation of networks, logic circuits, waiting queues and any situation than can be modeled. Here is an example of a cargo queue.(see above photo) In this photo, queue is actually running, you can see partial readout in the graph:
There are all sorts of other tools. There is a sequencer, analyser and tabulator tools .You can see the dire. Axon also allows you to do all sorts of mapping. You can see the types of mapping it can do at http://web.singnet.com.sg/~axon2000/showcase.htm
One of the more interesting aspects of this software is that is modeless. This means that you do not have to switch into editing mode if you want to write etc. You work in the Axon space a a seemless whole.
Axon comes in a free version called Axon Lite and a paying Version. The Lite version is a limitted version of the paying version
I will discuss mind mapping tools There are a plethora of them out there. The ones I will look at are :
[1] SimpleMind
[2] Personal Brain
[3] MindJet Manage
Simple Mind is a brainstorming tool for the,iphone and PC. I have SimpleMindX. It is basically a diagramming tool. It 's main advantage is if you purchase it for $8 you can transfer you mindmaps to the desktop version. SimpleMindX is the free version. Here is a mindmap I made with SimpleMindX :
You can see what SimpleMind for the PC looks like at http://www.simpleapps.eu/simplemind/desktop
Personal Brain is a Windows program. It is much slicker than Simple Mind. There is a time limitted trial of 30 days. The version you get is the PRO. I am playing around with the trial version. Creating mind maps in this software is snap. There are couple of really neat feautures in this software. The first feature is called Wander. This feature will animate your mindmap and move through all the nodes and the child nodes. The next feature I like is called a jump node. These are nodes don't fit into the main map but nonetheless are important There are many other neat features. The PRO version is $250. The Core version is $150
MindJet Manager is a windows program. I find the interface confusing to use. I have seen this interface in a web editor by Trillian. For a web-editor it is ok, but not for mind-mapping software. It has the usual features of mind mapping software like allowing you to colapse,expand maps. You can connect maps to databases. One thing I do like is the ease of connecting links to nodes. It also comes with many templates which is nice. I created a screen shot of Mindjet manger with non-descript mindmap mad from the templates:
iThoughts is for iPhone. I don't own it yet,but it looks like the best of the mindmapping tool for the iPhone You can see screenshots of it at http://www.ithoughts.co.uk/iThoughts/Screenshots.html
The last item I will discuss is the Creative Whack Pack. It has now come out for the iphone. I used to have the deck and I have read Whack on the Right Side of your head. Here is what it more or less looks like I love the Whack of the Day option, You can email it to a friend or post it to twitter, or but it on Facebook. Each card comes it own sound effect.
These tools can be broken down into several groups:
[1] idea generation
[2] Mind Mapping tools
[3] Other Tools
I have tried a bunch of them over the years. I have even purchased one.
The first catagory of software are the hardest to come by,but are the most useful. They do more than just diagram ideas. One such software is :
Axon Idea processor (http://web.singnet.com.sg)
This is a unique software package. This program can do brainstorming . It can do simulation of networks, logic circuits, waiting queues and any situation than can be modeled. Here is an example of a cargo queue.(see above photo) In this photo, queue is actually running, you can see partial readout in the graph:
There are all sorts of other tools. There is a sequencer, analyser and tabulator tools .You can see the dire. Axon also allows you to do all sorts of mapping. You can see the types of mapping it can do at http://web.singnet.com.sg/~axon2000/showcase.htm
One of the more interesting aspects of this software is that is modeless. This means that you do not have to switch into editing mode if you want to write etc. You work in the Axon space a a seemless whole.
Axon comes in a free version called Axon Lite and a paying Version. The Lite version is a limitted version of the paying version
I will discuss mind mapping tools There are a plethora of them out there. The ones I will look at are :
[1] SimpleMind
[2] Personal Brain
[3] MindJet Manage
Simple Mind is a brainstorming tool for the,iphone and PC. I have SimpleMindX. It is basically a diagramming tool. It 's main advantage is if you purchase it for $8 you can transfer you mindmaps to the desktop version. SimpleMindX is the free version. Here is a mindmap I made with SimpleMindX :
You can see what SimpleMind for the PC looks like at http://www.simpleapps.eu/simplemind/desktop
Personal Brain is a Windows program. It is much slicker than Simple Mind. There is a time limitted trial of 30 days. The version you get is the PRO. I am playing around with the trial version. Creating mind maps in this software is snap. There are couple of really neat feautures in this software. The first feature is called Wander. This feature will animate your mindmap and move through all the nodes and the child nodes. The next feature I like is called a jump node. These are nodes don't fit into the main map but nonetheless are important There are many other neat features. The PRO version is $250. The Core version is $150
MindJet Manager is a windows program. I find the interface confusing to use. I have seen this interface in a web editor by Trillian. For a web-editor it is ok, but not for mind-mapping software. It has the usual features of mind mapping software like allowing you to colapse,expand maps. You can connect maps to databases. One thing I do like is the ease of connecting links to nodes. It also comes with many templates which is nice. I created a screen shot of Mindjet manger with non-descript mindmap mad from the templates:
iThoughts is for iPhone. I don't own it yet,but it looks like the best of the mindmapping tool for the iPhone You can see screenshots of it at http://www.ithoughts.co.uk/iThoughts/Screenshots.html
The last item I will discuss is the Creative Whack Pack. It has now come out for the iphone. I used to have the deck and I have read Whack on the Right Side of your head. Here is what it more or less looks like I love the Whack of the Day option, You can email it to a friend or post it to twitter, or but it on Facebook. Each card comes it own sound effect.
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