Revolution OS

This time I'm going to talk about this video called "Revolution OS", and it's about Operating Systems and free software. This was a very interesting video that shows you both parts of the "problem", so you can take the best of both and judge as you wish. And choose what "kind" of software you want to use.

We all know that developing software it's expensive, so we get why we should pay for them, but in this video they show another part, "free software". A little bit more social, benefit for everyone, all about sharing and improving everything just for a good reason. If you have to pay for hardware, why would you have to pay for software too?

Something that I didn't know about free software that is said on this video is the part that free software is copyrighted, but they call it "copy-left", setting that you can share and improve the code as long as when you do it, the same rights applies for the "new code".

Another important part was the difference between "open source" and "free software". "Open Source" is about letting everyone having a distribution and being helpful with it, respecting the author and allowing everyone to have the code, they mention the definition and points of what makes software to be "open source".

I think that we all have the right to chose what we want, if we want to pay for software or not, but it's important to analyze what we need, and how you get what you want or need, I mean, yes, you can get a free tool and use it, and sometimes even modify it, but if you are going to get private software then you should pay for it and accept what you are going to get. Some people may be comfortable with one and some people with the other.

Code Craft

This time we read about "Software Architecture", even if it sounds kind of obvious for this course, this was a very interesting chapter. We had the chance to know a little bit more about software design.

Specially about the points of view, and how related this is to development. First the conceptual view, sometimes we underestimate this part, and definitely is one of the most important view when designing something. Next, the implementation view, it's always kind of fun when you notice something you planned before, it's not going to work as expected. Then, the process view, even when this is kind of complicated when you are dealing with a lot of communication between your processes, I believe it's crucial to give it the required attention. And finally, the deployment view, where you split and divide the tasks, information and all you have, the best way so you can make a good use for it.

The "worst" part was comparing architecture with pasta. I was wondering why people were posting about pasta. :( (I believe most of us would agree with this.) It helped to understand better what the book was trying to say, but it made me hungry. My favourite pasta - architecture comparison was definitely the Lasagne, maybe because is a common and practical model. But, it gave a plus that they made a relationship with the OSI model. :)

Another pasta - architecture comparison that I liked was the Canned Ravioli, I believe it's really helpful to implement this every once in a while, frameworks are useful, and I think using something that has already been partially done is not that bad, as long as you know what to do with it, how to complement it and most of all, knowing when to use this, and what to use.

Moon machines

Last Tuesday we watched a documental called Moon Machines at one of my classes. Even when the video didn't have our full attention all the time, and we got distracted a little bit, I think it was pretty interesting, I mean I never had the chance to get to know a little bit more about how humans got to the moon.
Those engineers made me realize how complicated is to make a success from a project like that one, it'a not as easy as wanting it, I really think they were insane (I believe that sometimes that's what the world needs), they really had to figure out how to make all that work, I believe one of the most important steps about it, was the "stacking", it was an improvement that even know its useful, because it implies a lot of knowledge.
That makes me analyze the fact that engineers need to think out of the box, innovate and manage to create new useful ideas that actually could help to improve the results you need to get.
Another part that caught my attention was when they talked about the memory of the computers and how they had to deal with that, and they had to take care of it bit by bit, I can't imagine myself doing it like that, it's a really complicated job and I believe that deserves our respect, must of us wouldn't do that. So I would recommend it and actually I would like to watch it again.

Introducing myself

My name is Rosario Madariaga.

What I expect from this class is to learn a lot about Ruby, people say is a great language and it deserves a try, so I think this a great opportunity to learn about it.

I would say my favorite hobby is to dance ballet, even though I don't like dancing, but I truly believe it's different, it requires a lot of discipline, strength and patience. I also like, photography, video games, movies and spending time with my brother.

Recently I've been watching a TV show called Dance Moms, there's nothing special about it, but it's really entertaining. And I've been listening an album called Save Rock and Roll, by Fall Out Boy, it has always been my favorite band.