Storage B

Having spent a lot of time working with VMS, I have mixed feelings about FreeVMS:

Goals

The VMS (Virtual Memory System) operating system is available only on VAX, Alpha and Itanium processors, and in spite of its undeniable qualities, its future seems uncertain. The FreeVMS project tends to the coding of an operating system under the GPL licence according to the specifications of the VMS systems. This operating system has to function at least on I386 architecture. It is developed using the C language.

I may have to try it out…

(via OpenDDS)

• More QoS features have been implemented
• dispose() notifications have been added
• Added IPv6 support
• Improved memory management
• Multicast transport improvements
• Implemented Changeable QoS policies
• Use multiple DCPSInfoRepos
• Documentation updates
• New tests and examples

See the Release Notes for details.

Back when I was developing shiphandling simulator software, I ran into situations where it was necessary to convert decimal degrees to degrees, minutes, and seconds (for example, nautical types like to express latitude/longitude using degrees, minutes, and seconds while computers prefer decimal degrees).

Here's some C++ functions which handle the conversion between these two formats:

std::string DMS::DegreesMinutesSeconds(double ang,
                                       unsigned int num_dec_places = 2)
std::string DMS::DegreesMinutesSecondsLat(double ang,
                                          unsigned int num_dec_places = 2)
std::string DMS::DegreesMinutesSecondsLon(double ang,
                                          unsigned int num_dec_places = 2)

double DMS::DecimalDegrees(const std::string& dms)

These are inline functions defined in the header file, dms.h:

This site has been upgraded to WordPress 2.5.

(via mit.edu)

Multics (Multiplexed Information and Computing Service) was a mainframe timesharing operating system that began at MIT as a research project in 1965. It was an important influence on operating system development.

…

In order to preserve the ideas and innovations that made Multics so important in the development of computer systems, Bull HN has provided the source code for the final Multics release, MR 12.5 of November 1992 to MIT. It is a generous contribution to computer science knowledge and is provided for academic purposes. Additionally, we intend this site to become a repository for many papers and documents that were created during the Multics development as a complement to the other Multics sites.

Check out: Multics Source and Listings.

Here’s some C++ functions which evaluate Chebyshev polynomials:

T₀(x):
double T0(double x) ;

T₁(x):
double T1(double x) ;

T₂(x):
double T2(double x) ;

T_n(x):
double Tn(unsigned int n, double x) ;

These are inline functions defined in the header file, chebyshev.h:

OpenDDS:

OpenDDS is an open source C++ implementation of the Object Management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Service (DDS). OpenDDS leverages the Adaptive Communication Environment (ACE) to provide a cross platform environment.

OpenDDS is supported by Object Computing, Inc.

Download OpenDDS here.

• X Windows Programming in C++: Part I
• X Windows Programming in C++: Part II

Continuing with our task of creating a C++ version of basicwin.c, we next look at XCreateSimpleWindow. Here’s some code snippets from basicwin.c showing the use of XCreateSimpleWindow:

• X Windows Programming in C++: Part I

Continuing with our task of creating a C++ version of basicwin.c, we next look at XOpenDisplay / XCloseDisplay. Here’s some code snippets from basicwin.c showing the use of these functions:

Years ago, I did quite a bit X Windows programming. When I started developing X Windows software, I was also learning C++ (this was a long time ago). Unfortunately , the X Windows system I was developing software for did not have a C++ compiler. This led to some frustration since using C++ would have made some of my tasks easier.

A fews years later, I worked on another project using X and Motif. It was mandated that this software be written in C leading to same frustration I experience when I first started learning X (by this time I was a seasoned C++ developer, so writing anything in C seemed like a step backward).

I’ve decided to revisit X Windows programming on my own for a few reasons:

• I’m a little rusty when it comes to X Windows programming.
  
  
• I want to use X in a project I’ve been contemplating for the past few years.
  
  
• I’m currently working on Microsoft Windows C++/C# project at work and I want to do some non-Microsoft programming on my own.

My first step in getting back into X Windows programming was to revist the book, Xlib Programming Manual, Rel. 5. The examples in this book are written in C (Kerninghan and Ritchie C, no less). One of these examples, basicwin.c, demonstrates the fundementals of programming with the X library. I figure coming up with a C++ version of basicwin.c would be a useful learning experience for myself and possibly others.

I’ll start out by taking pieces of basicwin.c and converting them to C++. I’ll start with following code fragments showing the use of the structures: XSizeHints, XWMHints, and XClassHint.

SANTA CLAUS comes down a FIRE ESCAPE wearing bright
blue LEG WARMERS.. He scrubs the POPE with a mild
soap or detergent for 15 minutes, starring JANE FONDA!!