Dorchester — Apr 10th 2012
David told us about Dropbox, and explained its benefits, which are complementary to those of iCloud. In summary:
2GB free storage in Cloud. Can work on or offline. Provides safe backup. Can visit earlier versions of docs. Can share photos or documents with anyone else, sending them a link. Can also use Dropbox app on iPad / iPhone to store documents in file structure.
Martin then gave an introduction, or as he put it "a high level talk on basic concepts", to programming for Macs, and iPad / iPhone (OS and iOS).
We were introduced to a myriad of different concepts: What is a Computer? Binary arithmetic, Bits, Bytes and words (32 bits), ASCII code, what a CPU does, Machine Code, Assembler Language, and Computer Languages, including C and UNIX. Our minds were then invited to contemplate Object Orientation, Classes, Methods, and Libraries, Inheritance and Encapsulation. All of these were illustrated by examples, and the Mac's Integrated Development Environment demonstrated.
This was a masterly performance which was appreciated, if not completely understood in detail, by all, and we were told that it was all within our grasp if we would only take advantage of books, university courses, and iTunes U, all of which covered the necessary material.
Martin concluded by mentioning the new Raspberry Pi, a simple and cheap computer with no clever IDE, and which is intended to teach programming concepts. He invited us to consider theRaspberry Pi challenge - can the Mac be used to achieve the same end? We were left with no doubt that it could!
Mark then illustrated the iPad app Plane Finder. This displays maps showing aircraft in flight and details of aircraft types, routes etc, and helps to satisfy your curiosity as to the destination of an aircraft spotted in flight. Mention was also made of www.marinetraffic.com, which does the same thing for ships on the Mac.
SR
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