For the curious, the name of this blog is inspired by the term stress corrosion cracking (SCC), not from your humble host wigging out under duress. :)
(I just thought "stresscrack" sounded cool.)
SCC's a fairly common problem in materials science and nondestructive evaluation, e.g. do a quick search for 6351-T6 and you'll see some effects of SCC. Technically these SCUBA / SCBA ruptures are said to fail because of a different phenomenon, but when you boil it down it's virtually the same thing.
(By the way, if you have 6351-T6 aluminum bottles in your garage, do yourself a favour and pitch 'em. Please.)
SCC's a major issue with oil and gas pipelines too, in fact the Holy Grail of MFL inline inspection (ILI) tools is SCC detection. SCC tends to be very fine and spidery and not easily detectable by MFL; ultrasonics and Remote Field Eddy Current technologies usually have a little more success.
So now you know.
Friday, October 27, 2006
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Untapped Web 2.0 Market
I'm surprised I haven't heard more about this, but in my illustrious opinion there's an untapped Ajax / Web 2.0 market out there, the embedded space.
A fair number of microcontrollers with network interfaces rely on embedded Java applets for their UIs. Check out Zilog's eZ80 Development Kit Application Notes for an example. Applets have been popular because most of the user interface heavy lifting is done by the client device. Which makes sense, particularly if you're using an 8-bit MCU like the eZ80. No sense taxing it when you don't have to.
So a Java applet can help with offloading processing to the end user, but there's still the potential storage issue-your microcontroller has to keep a copy of that applet to serve in the first place. That's where a nice light Ajax UI might come in handy. Not only that, but it'd really help in the design and testing phase-it's just text after all, not a binary blob like an applet.
Right now in my own embedded applications I usually favour the CGI approach. I've been fortunate because my embedded devices usually have a bit of horsepower to them, and so it isn't a big deal to have them do some/all of the UI work. But as Ajax libraries mature, I find myself thinking a lot more about moving everything to the client. That is, once there's some support on handhelds, anyway. :)
So what's the marketable product here? To be honest I'm not quite sure. At first blush I would think that a ISO C library that could auto-generate a GUI would be a viable product, similar in nature to ncurses or perhaps even dialog. As far as customers go you'd probably be looking to sell to MCU consumers rather than the MCU producers, but I could see licensing it to some producers for them to include in their C compiler kits.
A fair number of microcontrollers with network interfaces rely on embedded Java applets for their UIs. Check out Zilog's eZ80 Development Kit Application Notes for an example. Applets have been popular because most of the user interface heavy lifting is done by the client device. Which makes sense, particularly if you're using an 8-bit MCU like the eZ80. No sense taxing it when you don't have to.
So a Java applet can help with offloading processing to the end user, but there's still the potential storage issue-your microcontroller has to keep a copy of that applet to serve in the first place. That's where a nice light Ajax UI might come in handy. Not only that, but it'd really help in the design and testing phase-it's just text after all, not a binary blob like an applet.
Right now in my own embedded applications I usually favour the CGI approach. I've been fortunate because my embedded devices usually have a bit of horsepower to them, and so it isn't a big deal to have them do some/all of the UI work. But as Ajax libraries mature, I find myself thinking a lot more about moving everything to the client. That is, once there's some support on handhelds, anyway. :)
So what's the marketable product here? To be honest I'm not quite sure. At first blush I would think that a ISO C library that could auto-generate a GUI would be a viable product, similar in nature to ncurses or perhaps even dialog. As far as customers go you'd probably be looking to sell to MCU consumers rather than the MCU producers, but I could see licensing it to some producers for them to include in their C compiler kits.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Mini-Review: REALbasic 2006r4
Summary: best Windows GUI development system around, standard library is a little thin.
I've been using RB (the Pro version) for about a year now, and I have to say that it's hands down the best GUI development system you'll ever come across for Windows. That's it. Go buy it now. I'll wait.A little more detail? Alright. The latest versions of Visual Basic.NET and Netbeans both have comparable GUI editors, and to be fair their GUI toolkits (.NET and Java Swing respectively) are both richer than RB's (more controls, etc.). So you couldn't be faulted for choosing either alternative. I use both myself. But if you're looking for something that you can hammer out in an afternoon and email to Mom, you can't beat REALbasic.
I really enjoy using RB for GUI development, which has never been my strong suit. Coming from an embedded background, most of my coding's at the console level in C, C++, or Lua. Sure, I can usually put something together in wxWidgets, FLTK, Swing or TkInter, but it tends to be a little on the homely side. It works, but man is it ugly.
RB makes it difficult to create an ugly GUI. Just like Netbeans' Matisse or good ol' Visual Basic, the GUI editor offers guidelines as you drag and drop components on the window. I find RB's GUI editor to be a little more nimble than its competition, however. It's painless and quick, and so I find myself tending to align components as I create them, worrying about the presentation of the user interface. It's almost like you'd have to go out of your way to make it ugly.Where REALbasic falls behind is in the depth of its standard library, the classes, functions, etc. that come pre-canned with RB. It's got the basics to be sure, but if you're coming from .NET or Java you'll feel naked without all that extra support. Personally, I consider this almost a blessing-it's a lot easier to wrap your brain around a compact library. You'll be up to speed faster than in other development environments. Still, I'd really like to see the image formats supported beefed up-only BMP and PNG files are natively supported in Windows. You could install QuickTime for all the rest, but I don't see that as a selling point.
Of course, you could always write your own extensions to RB to support whatever functionality you require, but that isn't always an option. The good news is that each new release of RB tends to have more "goodies" for your development pleasure.The Pro version offers cross-compilation (write on any of Mac, Win, Linux, and deploy on all three) as well as a few extra niceties. The niceties aren't anything you couldn't code yourself given time and effort, but for many it's worth the price difference to just have them available.
And speaking of deployment, it's dead easy. REALbasic creates a single self-contained app (no DLLs!), and you're done. I haven't tried RB on the Mac yet (possibly due to the fact that I don't have one), but I can confirm that the Linux version is equally painless. When I have to develop one-offs at work, I can't tell you how great it is to just email a single file and know it'll just work without knowing a thing about the user's machine.
All in all I can't recommend REALbasic highly enough. Some developers might feel constrained by the shallow standard library, but all of the building blocks to "roll your own" are there.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Job Opening-Junior Scientist
About once a year or so I post online about a job opening here in Texas, and with exactly the same frequency I don't get any response. So I'm left to assume that the unemployment rate among engineers and scientists in the U.S. is 0.0%.
(I suppose it might be because nobody reads anything I post.)
In this spirit of futility then I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that TRI is looking to hire again. Unfortunately, the job does require U.S. citizenship-the lion's share of our work is for the Government. The last thing the higher ups would want is another alien like me they can't send anywhere. :)
If that one's not up your alley, keep your eyes posted. As I say, I tend to post about once a year for job openings. Previously advertised jobs included...
(I suppose it might be because nobody reads anything I post.)
In this spirit of futility then I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that TRI is looking to hire again. Unfortunately, the job does require U.S. citizenship-the lion's share of our work is for the Government. The last thing the higher ups would want is another alien like me they can't send anywhere. :)
If that one's not up your alley, keep your eyes posted. As I say, I tend to post about once a year for job openings. Previously advertised jobs included...
- Senior NDE Scientist (a.k.a. Chris' New Boss)
- Student Research / Library Assistants
- Linux Hardware Guru
- Linux Device Driver Guru
Monday, October 23, 2006
Why A9?
When I first read Amazon's search engine A9 was dropping retained data, I honestly didn't see the BFD one way or the other. After all, I'm careful enough to only search for fairly innocuous things. At least in anything that can track me, anyway. As long as I kept my precious 1.57% discount on Amazon, I didn't care.
Since then of course it's come to light that the A9 Instant Reward I enjoyed so much was one of the axed features. If you take the time to read the /. story above, you'll see I wasn't the only one using A9 because of the Amazon discount. I'm also not the only one to drop A9 like a bad habit the second the discount evapourated.
So my question is, is anyone using A9 now that the bribe's a thing of the past? If so, why? I'm honestly curious as to what you find compelling over the other search engines currently available.
Since then of course it's come to light that the A9 Instant Reward I enjoyed so much was one of the axed features. If you take the time to read the /. story above, you'll see I wasn't the only one using A9 because of the Amazon discount. I'm also not the only one to drop A9 like a bad habit the second the discount evapourated.
So my question is, is anyone using A9 now that the bribe's a thing of the past? If so, why? I'm honestly curious as to what you find compelling over the other search engines currently available.
Allow me to introduce myself
As promised in the last post, a brief introduction to your inhumble host, Chris Coughlin.
Proud to be Canadian, I've been living and working in the U.S. for seven years and five days. Originally here under the TN-1 visa, then the H1-B, finally became a permanent resident ("green card" holder) a couple of years ago under the National Interest Waiver program. Meaning that it would hurt America if I lived elsewhere. How's that for egocentric? :)
Deciding that "Doctor of Philisophy" didn't sound half as cool as MASTER OF SCIENCE, I opted for a MSc. in Physics. In Canada, unlike the U.S., you don't "lose" the PhD. and settle for the Master's, it's a genuine goal for academic programs up there. Focus of research was on Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL), and how to use it to inspect steel pipelines.
I worked for a company called Pipetronix Ltd. for a year before they were bought out by their arch-rival, Pipeline Integrity International. Which was promptly bought out by General Electric. Before all that buying and selling, though, I was working on a multi-diameter pipeline tool (MDPT) for Statoil's Asgard and Norne-Heidrun North Sea pipelines. My main responsibility was "experimental verification of electromagnetic finite element analysis." Loosely translated, I told the computer jockeys whether or not their models of the MDPT even vaguely resembled reality.
Since then, I've been working for the Texas Research Institute. If you Google me, I'll most likely come up first as formerly of NTIAC, the Nondestructive Testing Information Analysis Center. NTIAC ceased to be in 2005, but I'm still involved with its successor.
These days I don't do much in the way of MFL, most of my time's spent on developing embedded health monitoring systems. I mashed together an immodestly-monikered embedded Linux distro towards this end you might be interested in if you're looking to "roll your own" Linux device.
Well, that's probably enough stalker fodder for now.
Proud to be Canadian, I've been living and working in the U.S. for seven years and five days. Originally here under the TN-1 visa, then the H1-B, finally became a permanent resident ("green card" holder) a couple of years ago under the National Interest Waiver program. Meaning that it would hurt America if I lived elsewhere. How's that for egocentric? :)
Deciding that "Doctor of Philisophy" didn't sound half as cool as MASTER OF SCIENCE, I opted for a MSc. in Physics. In Canada, unlike the U.S., you don't "lose" the PhD. and settle for the Master's, it's a genuine goal for academic programs up there. Focus of research was on Magnetic Flux Leakage (MFL), and how to use it to inspect steel pipelines.
I worked for a company called Pipetronix Ltd. for a year before they were bought out by their arch-rival, Pipeline Integrity International. Which was promptly bought out by General Electric. Before all that buying and selling, though, I was working on a multi-diameter pipeline tool (MDPT) for Statoil's Asgard and Norne-Heidrun North Sea pipelines. My main responsibility was "experimental verification of electromagnetic finite element analysis." Loosely translated, I told the computer jockeys whether or not their models of the MDPT even vaguely resembled reality.
Since then, I've been working for the Texas Research Institute. If you Google me, I'll most likely come up first as formerly of NTIAC, the Nondestructive Testing Information Analysis Center. NTIAC ceased to be in 2005, but I'm still involved with its successor.
These days I don't do much in the way of MFL, most of my time's spent on developing embedded health monitoring systems. I mashed together an immodestly-monikered embedded Linux distro towards this end you might be interested in if you're looking to "roll your own" Linux device.
Well, that's probably enough stalker fodder for now.
Dog's Breakfast
For all zero of you coming here from The Dog's Breakfast, welcome! Please consider this as your home away from home, or at least as a place to gather until I sort out all the bloggy details.
For all zero of you coming here from elsewhere, double welcome! Sadly the link above is probably dead by the time you're reading this, so I'll have to provide you with some sort of introduction. Later. Right now let's just get the DB evacuation centre up and running.
For all zero of you coming here from elsewhere, double welcome! Sadly the link above is probably dead by the time you're reading this, so I'll have to provide you with some sort of introduction. Later. Right now let's just get the DB evacuation centre up and running.
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