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WATFIV, or WATerloo FORTRAN IV, developed at the University of Waterloo, Canada is an implementation of the Fortran computer programming language. It is the successor of WATFOR.
WATFIV was used from the late 1960s into the mid-1980s. WATFIV was in turn succeeded by later versions of WATFOR.
Because it could complete the three usual steps ("compile-link-go") in just one pass, the system became popular for teaching students computer programming.
History
In the early 1960s, newly formed computer science departments started university programs to teach computer programming languages. The Fortran language had been developed at IBM, but suffered from slow and error-prone three-stage batch processing workflow. In the first stage, the compiler started with source code and produced object code. In the second stage, a linker constructed a complete program using growing libraries of common functions. Finally, the program was repeatedly executed with data for the typical scientific and business problems of customers. Each step often included a new set of punched cards or tape. Students, on the other hand, had very different requirements. Their programs were generally short, but usually contained logic and syntax errors, resulting in time-consuming repetition of the steps and confusing "core dumps" (It often took a full day to submit and receive the successful or failed output from the computer operator). Once their programs worked correctly, they were turned in and not run again.
In 1961, the University of Wisconsin developed a technology called FORGO for the IBM 1620 which combined some of the steps.
Similar experiments were carried out at Purdue University on the IBM 7090 in a system called PUFFT.
WATFOR 7040
In summer 1965, four undergraduate students of the University of Waterloo, Gus German, James G. Mitchell
Richard Shirley and Robert Zarnke, led by Peter Shantz, developed a Fortran compiler for the IBM 7040 computer called WATFOR. Its objectives were fast compilation speed and effective error diagnostics at both compile and execution time. It eliminates the need for a separate linking step and, as a result, FORTRAN programs which contain no syntax errors are placed into immediate execution. Professor J. Wesley Graham provided leadership throughout the project.This simple, one-step process allowed non-experienced programmers to learn programming with lower cost in time and computing resources.
To aid in debugging, the compiler uses an innovative approach to checking for undefined variables (an extremely common mistake by novice programmers). It uses a diagnostic feature of the 7040 that can deliberately set areas of memory to bad parity. When a program tries to reference variables that hadn't been set, the machine takes an interrupt (handled by the Watfor runtime routines) and the error is reported to the user as an undefined variable. This has the pleasant side effect of checking for undefined variables with essentially no CPU overhead.
WATFOR quickly gained popularity and over 75 institutions installed it on their IBM 7040 systems. The distribution of the compiler was handled by Sandra Bruce (née Hope).
WATFOR 360
In 1966, the University planned to replace the 7040 with an IBM System/360 computer, which was much faster but not software compatible. A team of full-time employees and undergraduate students was formed to write an IBM 360 version. The project members, Betty Schmidt, Paul Dirksen, Paul H. Cress, Lothar K. "Ned" Kesselhut, Bill Kindree and Dereck Meek, were later joined by Mike Doyle, Rod Milne, Ron Hurdal and Lynn Williams, completed 360 WATFOR in the early part of 1967. Many other institutions (universities, colleges, businesses and governmental agencies) started using the WATFOR compiler to meet needs similar to those experienced at the University of Waterloo. The distribution of the software and customer support was carried on by Sandra Ward.
WATFIV
As a result of proposals from the SHARE user group Fortran committee and others, a new version called WATFIV was produced in 1968. WATFIV introduced new features such as CHARACTER variables and direct-access input-output. The Association for Computing Machinery presented Paul Cress and Paul Dirksen the Grace Murray Hopper Award for contributions to the WATFOR and WATFIV projects in 1972. The WATFIV compiler was included in the DATAPRO Honour Roll for 1975 and 1976.
People involved with maintenance and enhancement included Bernie Murphy, Martin Wiseman and Yvonne Johnson.
WATFIV was pronounced as "WHAT FIVE", but, as was realized at the time, could also (almost) still be pronounced as "WHAT FOR", as in WAT-F-IV (Waterloo Fortran IV).
Universities and corporations used these compilers and a number of other software products have been developed in the WATFOR tradition.
For example, a version for the COBOL programming language is called WATBOL.Daniel D. McCracken said "it is no exaggeration to suggest that WATFOR revolutionized the use of computers in education." At one point, more than 3,000 mini and mainframe computer licenses and over 100,000 microcomputer licenses were held worldwide for this family of software products.
WATFOR-11, -S and -11S
In 1974, a compiler with characteristics similar to the IBM implementation was created for the Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11 computer and called WATFOR-11. The team members, Jack Schueler, Jim Welch and Terry Wilkinson, were later joined by Ian McPhee who had added new control statements to the WATFIV compiler for structured programming (SP). These new statements included the block IF (later included in the ANSI X3.9-1978 language standard), WHILE, UNTIL, and others. WATFIV-S was announced in 1974 and a few months later, WATFOR-11S (the "S" indicating the new SP features) was also announced. The original SP features were later enhanced with additional statements by Bruce Hay in WATFIV-S in 1980 and by Jack Schueler in WATFOR-11S in 1981.
WATFOR-77
During the 1970s, the ANSI X3J3 subcommittee (the FORTRAN language standard group) developed a new language standard which was officially approved in April, 1978. This standard, designated FORTRAN 77, introduced many new statements into the language. In fact, the previous language standard FORTRAN 66 is a very small document and describes, what is in effect, a subset of most implementations of FORTRAN. For example, the WATFIV and WATFOR-11 implementations are based upon the IBM definition of FORTRAN-IV.
As programmers used the FORTRAN 77 features, a new compiler was required to combine the advantages of the WATFIV compiler with the new language standard. In January 1983, a project to develop a FORTRAN 77 compiler was started at Watcom Systems Inc. Under the leadership of Jack Schueler, Watcom employees and undergraduate students from the University of Waterloo's Co-operative Computer Science program became involved in the creation of the WATFOR-77 compiler. The major work was done by Geno Coschi, Fred Crigger, John Dahms, Jim Graham, Jack Schueler, Anthony Scian and Paul Van Oorschot. They were assisted by Rod Cremasco, John McCormick, David McKee and Brian Stecher. Many of the team members from former compiler projects provided input. These included Bruce Hay, Ian McPhee, Sandra Ward, Jim Welch and Terry Wilkinson.
Unlike previous compilers, a significant portion of WATFOR-77 was written in a portable systems language to ease the implementation of the compiler on other computer systems. Earlier WATFOR compilers were written entirely in machine-dependent assembly language.
Two components of the compiler are not portable. The code generator translates FORTRAN statements into native computer instructions and stores them in memory. The first version of WATFOR-77 generates instructions for the IBM 370 computer architecture. Most of the execution-time support (undefined variable checking, subscript evaluation, intrinsic functions) was written in assembly language for good performance.
In September 1984, the first version was installed at the University of Waterloo for the Department of Computing Services. It was an implementation for IBM 370 computers running the VM/SP CMS operating system.
A few months earlier, in May 1984, a project started to implement the WATFOR-77 compiler on the IBM Personal Computer. This project included Geno Coschi, Fred Crigger, Tim Galvin, Athos Kasapi, Jack Schueler, Terry Skomorowski and Brian Stecher.
In April 1985, this second version of WATFOR-77 was installed at the University of Waterloo for use by students of the Faculty of Engineering. The compiler can run on a 256K IBM Personal Computer using IBM PC DOS 2.0 and does not require special floating-point hardware.
In the fall of 1985, a Japanese version of WATFOR-77 was delivered to IBM Japan for the IBM JX Personal Computer. This version produces Japanese language error messages and supported the Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana character sets for variable names and character strings. To support the JX, the Language Reference manual and User's Guide were translated into Japanese. Another version of WATFOR-77 with the same features mentioned above was also developed for Japanese IBM PS/55 family of personal computers in Spring 1988.
During the summer of 1986, the IBM PC version of WATFOR-77 was adapted to run on the Unisys ICON which runs the QNX operating system. Since QNX is quite different from IBM PC DOS, parts of the run-time system were rewritten. This implementation of WATFOR-77 was made available in September 1986.
During the summer of 1985, a project was started to adapt WATFOR-77 to the Digital Equipment Corporation VAX computer series running the VMS operating system. The members of this project included Geno Coschi, Marc Ouellette, Jack Schueler and Terry Skomorowski. This implementation was made available in March 1987.
Also, in the spring of 1988, a new project was begun to develop an optimizing FORTRAN 77 compiler. This compiler uses the code generator from the Watcom C compiler, which produces superior machine code to other C compilers. The FORTRAN 77 optimizing compiler was first shipped in mid-1990.
In October 1990, the 25th anniversary of WATFOR was celebrated. Many involved in the development of the WATFOR compilers were invited to the University of Waterloo for a reunion.
In spring 1992, a version of WATFOR-77 was adapted to the NEC PC-9801 family of personal computers. This version was similar to the IBM PS/55 version but modified to accommodate architectural differences.
In January 1992, development of a 32-bit version of WATFOR-77 for Intel 80386 and Intel 80486 personal computers began. The first version was shipped in the fall of 1992.
As late as 1995, classes for programming in WATFIV were still being held at the University of Mississippi, led by Professor Charles H. (Chuckie) Franke.
See also
Watcom
Donald B. Gillies (early adopter at University of Illinois)
Further reading
Peter W. Shantz; R. A. German; James G. Mitchell; Richard SK Shirley; C. Robert Zarnke (January 1967). "WATFOR—The University of Waterloo FORTRAN IV Compiler". Communications of the ACM. Association for Computing Machinery. 10 (1): 41–44. doi:10.1145/363018.363059. S2CID 14472718.
Peter James Ponzo (1992). Computer science at Waterloo: a history to celebrate 25 years, 1967-1992. University of Waterloo.
Paul H. Cress; Paul Dirksen; James Wesley Graham (1968). FORTRAN IV with WATFOR. Prentice-Hall.
Paul Cress (1968). Description of /360 WATFOR: a fortran-IV compiler (PDF). Dept. of Applied Analysis and Computer Science, Computing Centre, University of Waterloo.
Paul Cress; Paul Dirksen; James Wesley Graham (1970). FORTRAN IV with WATFOR and WATFIV. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 9780133294330.
Paul Cress; Paul Dirksen; James Wesley Graham (January 1, 1980). Structured FORTRAN with WATFIV-S. Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-854752-3.
Open Watcom
History of Programming Languages: WATFOR |
WebDNA is a server-side scripting, interpreted language with an embedded database system, specifically designed for the World Wide Web. Its primary use is in creating database-driven dynamic web page applications. Released in 1995, the name was registered as a trademark in 1998. WebDNA is currently maintained by WebDNA Software Corporation.
Notable features
WebDNA contains a RAM-resident database system (Hybrid In-memory database) that has searching and editing capabilities. A resilient and persistent backup of the RAM databases is maintained to disk. WebDNA code can interweave with css, html/html5 and js/ajax, allowing to mix layout with programming and server-side with client-side scripting. Some instructions allow to interact with remote servers. It is usually considered as an easy-to-learn scripting language and has been designed for webmasters, webdesigners and programmers looking for quick results.
WebDNA is made up of a syntax that uses square brackets ("[" "]") and the English language. For example, to display today's date on a web page, simply insert "[date]" within the HTML or CSS code where you want the live date to appear; likewise with "[time]". To show some text only to a specific client IP address request, the 'showif' context can be used: [showif [ipaddress]=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx]Some Text[/showif]. Most WebDNA tags, contexts and commands follow similar conventions.
Terminology
The WebDNA syntax is based on a simple format:
key names surrounded by square brackets, such as: [showif [tvar]=yes]Yes[/showif].WebDNA instructions are based on two types:
Tagsingle key surrounded by square brackets, such as [ipaddress] (the I.P. Address of a Client (computing) request)Contextopening tag and closing tag that surrounds what is to be parsed. ie. [Format thousands .3d]7[/Format] (parses to '007')Parameters can be included in many of the Tags, Contexts or Commands.Example Code (connects to a whois server and shows the information, then stores it into a permanent database)
[text]info=[tcpconnect host=whois.domaindiscover.com&port=43]
[tcpsend]webdna.us[unurl]%0D%0A[/unurl][/tcpsend]
[/tcpconnect][/text]
[append db=base.db]domain=webdna.us&whois=[info]
[/append]
History
According to Grant Hulbert, one of the Pacific Coast Software founders, WebCatalog (now WebDNA) began as a set of C macros to help accomplish website graphical tasks.
Before WebDNA evolved into a general-purpose server-side language, it was a special-purpose server-side language designed to help create web pages that sold stock photography. It had shopping cart features, and a searchable fixed-field database with specialized fields for storing stock photo information. After that, Pacific Coast Software quickly saw the value in creating a web programming language.
WebCatalog began its mid-1990s public debut on the Macintosh platform. As its name implies, it had an early development focus that allowed a web master or store
administrator to migrate a traditional product catalog to an online catalog.
This was most evident in 1997 and 1998, with its StoreBuilder and WebMerchant products that allowed for a user to quickly build a store front online. The term "WebCatalog" referred to the entire product, where the term "WebDNA" referred to the scripting syntax only.
Around the year 2000, WebCatalog and Pacific Coast Software were purchased by Smith Micro Software, Inc. Smith Micro Software, Inc. then changed the name of WebCatalog to WebDNA, which at that point became a name that referenced all aspects of the product. Starting with the release of WebDNA version 4.0 and ending with version 6.0a, the years 1999 to 2004 were very active years for WebDNA and the scripting language was adopted by many national and international names, including Disney, Chrysler, Kodak, Ben and Jerry's, the Pillsbury Dough Boy Shop, the NCAA Final Four and the Museum of Television and Radio. Also during this time, development of the language gained contemporary tools, such as [function] and [scope], that lend themselves to Modular programming and Structured programming.From 2005 to 2008, for perhaps various reasons including the success of Smith Micro Software with other products, WebDNA users began to lose support from Smith Micro. WebDNA lost users against free solutions like PHP and MySQL. It was ultimately the developers of WebDNA who revived the language. In June 2008, they formed together and organized to establish WebDNA Software Corporation (WSC). WSC purchased the intellectual property that is WebDNA, and in 2009, WSC released a new WebDNA version 6.2 (Cicada).
In December 2011, a FastCGI version for the WebDNA Engine was released. This version, along with offering compatibility for non-Apache installations, changes the scope of WebDNA from a server-wide application, to a domain name-specific application. This means that a website owner can now more easily install WebDNA specifically for one domain, without affecting other domains that may reside on the server.
Houts, Ean (1997), "Starnine combination is capable, complex solution", InfoWorld, 19 (44): 83, 86
Heck, Mike (2000), "WebCatalog enables quick site setup", InfoWorld, 22 (28): 59
Schwartz, Ephraim (2003), "Apple server gathers steam", InfoWorld, 25 (4): 36
Official website
Download page
Usage documentation |
Whiley is the surname of:
Manning Whiley (1915–1975), British actor
Richard Whiley (born 1935), English cricketer
Jo Whiley (born 1965), English DJ
Matthew Whiley (born 1980), English cricketer
Jordanne Whiley (born 1992), British wheelchair tennis player
Mark Whiley (born 1992), Australian rules footballer
See also
Whiley (programming language)
Wiley (disambiguation)
Wily (disambiguation)
Wylie (disambiguation)
Wyllie
Willey (disambiguation)
Wylye (disambiguation)
Wyle (disambiguation)
Wyly
Wile E. Coyote, a cartoon character whose name sounds similar to "Wily" |
Wolfram may refer to:
Wolfram (name)
Wolfram, the original name for the chemical element tungsten
Wolfram Research, a software company known for the symbolic computation program Mathematica
Wolfram Language, the programming language used by Mathematica
Wolfram code, a naming system for one-dimensional cellular automaton rules introduced by Stephen Wolfram
Wolfram syndrome, a genetic disorder
Wolfram, Queensland, a former mining town in Australia
The Wolfram, a fictional military airship in the air combat video game The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces
See also
All pages with titles containing Wolfram |
Ubercode is a high level programming language designed by Ubercode Software and released in 2005 for Microsoft Windows. Ubercode is influenced by Eiffel and BASIC. It is proprietary software and can be tried out for free for 30 days. Ubercode has the following design goals:
Compilable language—compiled into Windows EXE files.
Automatic memory management—memory is allocated / freed automatically, and the language has no memory management primitives.
Pre and post conditions—these are run-time assertions which are attached to function declarations, as in Eiffel.
High-level data types—resizable arrays, lists and tables may contain arbitrary components.
Integrated file handling—primitives for transparent handling of text, binary, CSV, XML and dBase files.
Ease of use—language structure is relatively simple, making the language accessible to beginners.
Hello, World!
Here is the basic "Hello, World!" program:
Ubercode 1 class Hello
public function main()
code
call Msgbox("Hello", "Hello World!")
end function
end class
Preconditions and Postconditions
Here is an example using pre- and postconditions. In the example, the IntToStr function validates its input as a string before converting it to an integer:
Ubercode 1 class PrePost
function IntToStr(in mystr:string[*] out value:integer)
precond IsDigitStr(mystr)
code
call Val(mystr, value)
end function
public function main()
code
call Msgbox("OOP example", "IntToStr(10) = " + IntToStr("10"))
end function
end class
Official website
http://isbndb.com/d/book/design_of_very_high_level_computer_languages.html (VHLL principles) |
UCSD Pascal is a Pascal programming language system that runs on the UCSD p-System, a portable, highly machine-independent operating system. UCSD Pascal was first released in 1977. It was developed at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
The p-System
In 1977, the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Institute for Information Systems developed UCSD Pascal to provide students with a common environment that could run on any of the then available microcomputers as well as campus DEC PDP-11 minicomputers. The operating system became known as UCSD p-System.
There were three operating systems that IBM offered for its original IBM PC. The first was UCSD p-System, with IBM PC DOS and CP/M-86 as the other two. Vendor SofTech Microsystems emphasized p-System's application portability, with virtual machines for 20 CPUs as of the IBM PC's release. It predicted that users would be able to use applications they purchased on future computers running p-System; advertisements called it "the Universal Operating System".PC Magazine denounced UCSD p-System on the IBM PC, stating in a review of Context MBA, written in the language, that it "simply does not produce good code". The p-System did not sell very well for the IBM PC, because of a lack of applications and because it was more expensive than the other choices. Previously, IBM had offered the UCSD p-System as an option for IBM Displaywriter, an 8086-based dedicated word processing machine. (The Displaywriter's native operating system had been developed completely internally and was not opened for end-user programming.)
Notable extensions to standard Pascal include separately compilable Units and a String type. Some intrinsics were provided to accelerate string processing (e.g. scanning in an array for a particular search pattern); other language extensions were provided to allow the UCSD p-System to be self-compiling and self-hosted.
UCSD Pascal was based on a p-code machine architecture. Its contribution to these early virtual machines was to extend p-code away from its roots as a compiler intermediate language into a full execution environment. The UCSD Pascal p-Machine was optimized for the new small microcomputers with addressing restricted to 16-bit (only 64 KB of memory). James Gosling cites UCSD Pascal as a key influence (along with the Smalltalk virtual machine) on the design of the Java virtual machine.UCSD p-System achieved machine independence by defining a virtual machine, called the p-Machine (or pseudo-machine, which many users began to call the "Pascal-machine" like the OS—although UCSD documentation always used "pseudo-machine") with its own instruction set called p-code (or pseudo-code). Urs Ammann, a student of Niklaus Wirth, originally presented a p-code in his PhD thesis, from which the UCSD implementation was derived, the Zurich Pascal-P implementation. The UCSD implementation changed the Zurich implementation to be "byte oriented". The UCSD p-code was optimized for execution of the Pascal programming language. Each hardware platform then only needed a p-code interpreter program written for it to port the entire p-System and all the tools to run on it. Later versions also included additional languages that compiled to the p-code base. For example, Apple Computer offered a Fortran Compiler (written by Silicon Valley Software, Sunnyvale California) producing p-code that ran on the Apple version of the p-system. Later, TeleSoft (also located in San Diego) offered an early Ada development environment that used p-code and was therefore able to run on a number of hardware platforms including the Motorola 68000, the System/370, and the Pascal MicroEngine.
UCSD p-System shares some concepts with the later Java platform. Both use a virtual machine to hide operating system and hardware differences, and both use programs written to that virtual machine to provide cross-platform support. Likewise both systems allow the virtual machine to be used either as the complete operating system of the target computer or to run in a "box" under another operating system.
The UCSD Pascal compiler was distributed as part of a portable operating system, the p-System.
History
UCSD p-System began around 1974 as the idea of UCSD's Kenneth Bowles, who believed that the number of new computing platforms coming out at the time would make it difficult for new programming languages to gain acceptance. He based UCSD Pascal on the Pascal-P2 release of the portable compiler from Zurich. He was particularly interested in Pascal as a language to teach programming. UCSD introduced two features that were important improvements on the original Pascal: variable length strings, and "units" of independently compiled code (an idea included into the then-evolving Ada programming language). Niklaus Wirth credits the p-System, and UCSD Pascal in particular, with popularizing Pascal. It was not until the release of Turbo Pascal that UCSD's version started to slip from first place among Pascal users.
The Pascal dialect of UCSD Pascal came from the subset of Pascal implemented in Pascal-P2, which was not designed to be a full implementation of the language, but rather "the minimum subset that would self-compile", to fit its function as a bootstrap kit for Pascal compilers. UCSD added strings from BASIC, and several other implementation dependent features. Although UCSD Pascal later obtained many of the other features of the full Pascal language, the Pascal-P2 subset persisted in other dialects, notably Borland Pascal, which copied much of the UCSD dialect.
Versions
There were four versions of UCSD p-code engine, each with several revisions of the p-System and UCSD Pascal. A revision of the p-code engine (i.e., the p-Machine) meant a change to the p-code language, and therefore compiled code is not portable between different p-Machine versions. Each revision was represented with a leading Roman Numeral, while operating system revisions were enumerated as the "dot" number following the p-code Roman Numeral. For example, II.3 represented the third revision of the p-System running on the second revision of the p-Machine.
Version I
Original version, never officially distributed outside of the University of California, San Diego. However, the Pascal sources for both Versions I.3 and I.5 were freely exchanged between interested users. Specifically, the patch revision I.5a was known to be one of the most stable.
Version II
Widely distributed, available on many early microcomputers. Numerous versions included Apple II, DEC PDP-11, Intel 8080, Zilog Z80 and MOS 6502 based machines, Motorola 68000 and the IBM PC (Version II on the PC was restricted to one 64K code segment and one 64K stack/heap data segment; Version IV removed the code segment limit but cost a lot more).
Project members from this era include Dr Kenneth L Bowles, Mark Allen, Richard Gleaves, Richard Kaufmann, Pete Lawrence, Joel McCormack, Mark Overgaard, Keith Shillington, Roger Sumner, and John Van Zandt.
Version III
Custom version written for Western Digital to run on their Pascal MicroEngine microcomputer. Included support for parallel processes for the first time.
Version IV
Commercial version, developed and sold by SofTech. Based on Version II; did not include changes from Version III. Did not sell well due to combination of their pricing structure, performance problems due to p-code interpreter, and competition with native operating systems (on top of which it often ran). After SofTech dropped the product, it was picked up by Pecan Systems, a relatively small company formed of p-System users and fans. Sales revived somewhat, due mostly to Pecan's reasonable pricing structure, but the p-System and UCSD Pascal gradually lost the market to native operating systems and compilers. Available for the TI-99/4A equipped with p-code card, Commodore CBM 8096, Sage IV, HP 9000, and BBC Micro with 6502 second processor.
Further use
The Corvus Systems computer used UCSD Pascal for all its user software. The "innovative concept" of the Constellation OS was to run Pascal (interpretively or compiled) and include all common software in the manual, so users could modify as needed.
See also
P-code machine
Further reading
Foster, Christine (September 2004). "UCSD Pascal and the PC Revolution". @UCSD. San Diego: UCSD Alumni Association. 1 (3). Archived from the original on 2012-03-06.
Hyde, Randall (1983). p-Source (A Guide to the Apple Pascal System). Datamost. ISBN 0881900044.
McMillan, William W. (July 2011). "The Soul of the Virtual Machine". IEEE Spectrum. IEEE. 48 (7): 44–49, 58–59. doi:10.1109/mspec.2011.5910448. ISSN 0018-9235. S2CID 40545952.
As of May 2006, UCSD has released portions of the p-System written before June 1, 1979, for non-commercial use. (Note: Webpage resizes browser window.)
UCSD Pascal Reunion, Presentations and Videos from a UCSD Pascal Reunion held at UCSD on October 22, 2004
PowerPoint and Video of "What the Heck was UCSD Pascal?," presented at the 2004 reunion PPT and Video
ucsd-psystem-os, cross-compilable source code for the UCSD p-System version II.0
ucsd-psystem-vm, a portable virtual machine for UCSD p-System p-code
A reconstruction of the UCSD Pascal System II.0 User Manual
Softech P-System disassembler
UCSD P-System Museum within the Jefferson Computer Museum
UCSD P-System Archived 2014-05-06 at the Wayback Machine at Pascal for Small Machines |
Umple is a language for both object-oriented programming and modelling with class diagrams and state diagrams.
The name Umple is a portmanteau of "UML", "ample" and "Simple", indicating that it is designed to provide ample features to extend programming languages with UML capabilities.
History and philosophy
The design of Umple started in 2008 at the University of Ottawa. Umple was open-sourced and its development was moved to Google Code in early 2011 and to GitHub in 2015.
Umple was developed, in part, to address certain problems observed in the modelling community.
Most specifically, it was designed to bring modelling and programming into alignment, It was intended to help overcome inhibitions against modelling common in the programmer community. It was also intended to reduce some of the difficulties of model-driven development that arise from the need to use large, expensive or incomplete tools. One design objective is to enable programmers to model in a way they see as natural, by adding modelling constructs to programming languages.
Features and capabilities
Umple can be used to represent in a textual manner many UML modelling entities found in class diagrams and state diagrams. Umple can generate code for these in various programming languages. Currently Umple fully supports Java, C++ and PHP as target programming languages and has functional, but somewhat incomplete support for Ruby.
Umple also incorporates various features not related to UML, such as the Singleton pattern, keys, immutability, mixins and aspect-oriented code injection.
The class diagram notations Umple supports includes classes, interfaces, attributes, associations, generalizations and operations. The code Umple generates for attributes include code in the constructor, 'get' methods and 'set' methods. The generated code differs considerably depending on whether the attribute has properties such as immutability, has a default value, or is part of a key.
Umple generates many methods for manipulating, querying and navigating associations. It supports all combinations of UML multiplicity and enforces referential integrity.
Umple supports the vast majority of UML state machine notation, including arbitrarily deep nested states, concurrent regions, actions on entry, exit and transition, plus long-lasting activities while in a state.
A state machine is treated as an enumerated attribute where the value is controlled by events. Events encoded in the state machine can be methods written by the user, or else generated by the Umple compiler. Events are triggered by calling the method. An event can trigger transitions (subject to guards) in several different state machines. Since a program can be entirely written around one or more state machines, Umple enables automata-based programming.
The bodies of methods are written in one of the target programming languages. The same is true for other imperative code such as state machine actions and guards, and code to be injected in an aspect-oriented manner. Such code can be injected before many of the methods in the code Umple generates, for example before or after setting or getting attributes and associations.
The Umple notation for UML constructs can be embedded in any of its supported target programming languages. When this is done, Umple can be seen as a pre-processor: The Umple compiler expands the UML constructs into code of the target language. Code in a target language can be passed to the Umple compiler directly; if no Umple-specific notation is found, then the target-language code is emitted unchanged by the Umple compiler.
Umple, combined with one of its target languages for imperative code, can be seen and used as a complete programming language. Umple plus Java can therefore be seen as an extension of Java.
Alternatively, if imperative code and Umple-specific concepts are left out, Umple can be seen as a way of expressing a large subset of UML in a purely textual manner. Code in one of the supported programming languages can be added in the same manner as UML envisions adding action language code.
License
Umple is licensed under an MIT-style license.
Examples
Here is the classic Hello world program written in Umple (extending Java):
This example looks just like Java, because Umple extends other programming languages.
With the program saved in a file named HelloWorld.ump, it can be compiled from the command line:
$ java -jar umple.jar HelloWorld.ump
To run it:
$ java HelloWorld
The following is a fully executable example showing embedded Java methods and declaration of an association.
The following example describes a state machine called status, with states Open, Closing, Closed, Opening and HalfOpen, and with various events that cause transitions from one state to another.
class GarageDoor
{
status {
Open { buttonOrObstacle -> Closing; }
Closing {
buttonOrObstacle -> Opening;
reachBottom -> Closed;
}
Closed { buttonOrObstacle -> Opening; }
Opening {
buttonOrObstacle -> HalfOpen;
reachTop -> Open;
}
HalfOpen { buttonOrObstacle -> Opening; }
}
}
Umple use in practice
The first version of the Umple compiler was written in Java, Antlr and Jet (Java Emitter Templates), but in a bootstrapping process, the Java code was converted to Umple following a technique called Umplification. The Antlr and Jet were also later converted to native Umple. Umple is therefore now written entirely in itself, in other words it is self-hosted and serves as its own largest test case.
Umple and UmpleOnline have been used in the classroom by several instructors to teach UML and modelling. In one study it was found to help speed up the process of teaching UML, and was also found to improve the grades of students.
Tools
Umple is available as a Jar file so it can be run from the command line, and as an Eclipse plugin.
There is also an online tool for Umple called UmpleOnline
, which allows a developer to create an Umple system by drawing a UML class diagram, editing Umple code or both. Umple models created with UmpleOnline are stored in the cloud. Currently UmpleOnline only supports Umple programs consisting of a single input file.
In addition to code, Umple's tools can generate a variety of other types of output, including user interfaces based on the Umple model.
See also
Model Driven Engineering
Executable UML
Unified Modeling Language
Umple home page at the University of Ottawa
UmpleOnline web application for editing UML diagrams and code simultaneously
Google Code open source hosting site for Umple
Umple development discussion list
Umple blog
Umple YouTube Videos |
Unicon may refer to:
Unicon (unicycling), the bi-annual unicycling world championships
Unicon (programming language), a programming language descended from Icon
Unicon (Maryland science fiction convention), a series of science fiction conventions held in Maryland 1974 through 1989 |
Unity may refer to:
Buildings
Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England
Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a historic building
Unity Church (Mattoon, Illinois), US; a historic church
Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois, US; a Unitarian Universalist church
Education
Unity Academy (disambiguation)
Unity College (disambiguation)
Unity School District (Wisconsin), an American school district
Unity University, an Ethiopian privately owned institute of higher learning
Media and entertainment
Classical unities, three rules for drama described by Aristotle
Assassin's Creed Unity, a 2014 action-adventure video game
"Unity" (comics), a crossover story line in the Valiant universe
Unity (film), a 2015 documentary
Unity 1918, a 2001 play by Kevin Kerr
"Unity" (Star Trek: Voyager), a 1997 episode of the American science fiction television series
Unity (team), a superhero team in titles published by Valiant Entertainment
Unity (video game), a cancelled video game for the Nintendo GameCube
Unity 101, a radio station in Southampton, England
UNITY Journalists, an American alliance of journalists' associations
Unity Performing Arts Foundation, a fine arts company based in Fort Wayne, Indiana
"Unity", a 2006 episode of I Pity the Fool
Music
Unity Christian Music Festival, a Michigan music festival
Albums
Walt Dickerson Plays Unity, 1964
Unity (Larry Young album), 1966
Unity (Sun Ra album), 1977
Unity (311 album), 1991
Unity (Big Mountain album), 1994
Unity (EP), a 1999 split EP by Dropkick Murphys and Agnostic Front
Unity (Avishai Cohen album), 2001
Unity (Rage album), 2002
Unity (George album), 2003
Unity (Frank Wright album), 2006
Bands
The Unity, a Nepalese band featuring DA69 (Sudin Pokharel), Asif Shah, and Aidray
Unity, a band formed by members of Uniform Choice
UNITY, a Dutch girl group which represented the Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Songs
"Unity" (Afrika Bambaataa and James Brown song), 1985
"Unity" (Shinedown song), 2012
"Unity" (TheFatRat song), 2014
"U.N.I.T.Y.", a 1993 song by Queen Latifah
"Unity", a song by Desmond Dekker and the Aces from the album Action!
"Unity", a song by Kelly Rowland from the album Ms. Kelly
"Unity", a song by Mordechai Ben David and Shea Mendelowitz, 1998
"Unity", a song by Operation Ivy, 1989, also covered by many punk rock acts
Places
Unity, Saskatchewan, Canada
Unity State, South Sudan
Unity Village, Guyana
United States
Unity, Georgia, an unincorporated community
Unity, Illinois or Hodges Park Station, an unincorporated community
Unity, Kentucky, a small unincorporated community
Unity, Maine, a town in Waldo County
Unity (CDP), Maine, a census-designated place within the town
Unity, Kennebec County, Maine, unorganized territory
Unity, Missouri
Unity, New Hampshire
Unity, Adams County, Ohio
Unity, Columbiana County, Ohio
Unity, Oregon, a small city in Baker County
Unity, Lane County, Oregon, an unincorporated community
Unity, South Carolina, a census-designated place
Unity, Wisconsin, a village in Clark and Marathon counties
Unity, Clark County, Wisconsin, a town
Unity, Trempealeau County, Wisconsin, a town
Unity Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
Unity Village, Missouri
People
Unity Bainbridge (1916–2017), Canadian artist and poet
Unity Dow (born 1959), judge, activist, writer and Government minister from Botswana
Unity Phelan, American ballet dancer
Unity Mitford (1914–1948), British socialite and fascist
Unity Spencer (1930–2017), British artist
Politics
Unity (asylum seekers organisation), a 2005 UK human rights group
Unity (trade union), a British pottery workers' union
Unity (Canada), a 1930s Communist movement
Unity (Georgia), a left-wing political party
Unity (Hungary), a 2014 political alliance
Unity (Latvian political party), a liberal-conservative party
Unity (Russian political party), a 1999 party
Unity (Transnistria), a 2000 political party
Unity Party (disambiguation)
Unity Committee, an 1878 organization for Bulgarians in Thrace and Macedonia
Yedinstvo (Lithuania), a pro-Moscow movement during the Perestroika era
Religion
Unity Church, also known as the Unity School of Christianity
Great Unity, a Confucian concept of an utopian world
Science and technology
Unity (mathematics), the number 1
A concept in ring theory in mathematics, also called identity
Unity (ISS module), a segment of the International Space Station
Unity (cable system), for trans-Pacific communications
VSS Unity, a rocket-powered suborbital spaceplane
Ships
Unitie, a ship of the Third Supply fleet to Virginia colony in 1609
Unité, a French ship captured by the Royal Navy and renamed HMS Surprise (1796)
HMS Unity, the name of several ships of the Royal Navy
Unity (schooner), a ship that disappeared near Tasmania in 1813
Software
Unity (user interface), from Canonical (Ubuntu 11.04–17.04)
Unity Application Block, part of Microsoft Enterprise Library
Unity (game engine), a multi-platform game engine and development toolkit
Unity Technologies, developer of Unity game engine
UNITY (programming language), a 1988 theoretical language
Unity Operating System (Chinese: 统一操作系统) a Chinese linux distro
Other uses
Unity (military operation), the covert supply of Thai troops to the Laotian Civil War
Unity (newspaper), a weekly publication by the Communist Party of Ireland in Belfast, UK
Unity (peer education project), a peer education project in the Dutch nightlife
Unity in diversity, a philosophical concept
Unity of invention, a patent law requirement
Unity of opposites
Unity Bridge (disambiguation), various bridges
Unity Day (disambiguation), various holidays
Unity FC (Canada), a Canadian soccer team
Unity FC (Ghana), a Ghanan football team
Uniti, an Italian river
Unanimity
Unified (disambiguation)
Unify (disambiguation)
Unit (disambiguation)
Unite (disambiguation)
United (disambiguation)
All pages with titles beginning with Unity
All pages with titles containing Unity |
In archaeology, a uniface is a specific type of stone tool that has been flaked on one surface only. There are two general classes of uniface tools: modified flakes—and formalized tools, which display deliberate, systematic modification of the marginal edges, evidently formed for a specific purpose.
Modified flakes
While many worked stone tools can be technically designated as "modified flakes," for lithic analysis purposes a modified flake is usually defined as a lithic flake with one or more edges that were altered either through opportunistic use or through nonsystematic retouching; it is often difficult to identify the process that produced the observed edge. Opportunistic use occurs when a sharp flake is used as-is, without edge-modification. Nonsystematic retouching occurs when pressure flaking is used to remove a few trimming flakes from the edge, in no discernible or extensive pattern.
Formalized uniface tools
Some unifaces are characterized by systematic edge retouch, which was used to thin, straighten, sharpen, and smooth an artifact's edge, and were usually created with a specific purpose in mind. These formalized unifaces were often intended for woodworking, cutting, chopping, or hide-working purposes, and generally fall into easily classifiable types. While the following discussion does not cover some specialized types of unifaces, it does include the most common types.
Scrapers are unifacial tools that were used either for hideworking or woodworking. Whereas this term is often used for any unifacially flaked tool that defies classification, most lithic analysts maintain that the only true scrapers are defined on the base of use-wear, and are usually worked at their distal ends—i.e., "end scrapers." Other scrapers include the so-called "side scrapers." Most scrapers are either oval or blade-like in shape. The working edges of scrapers tend to be convex, and many have trimmed and dulled lateral edges to facilitate hafting. One important variety of scraper is the thumbnail scraper, a scraper shaped much like its namesake. This scraper type is common at Paleo-Indian sites.
Gouges (or adzes) may be either bifacial or unifacial, and are defined as tools with chisel-like working edges that were used for woodworking purposes; they may also have been used to remove marrow from bones. Gouges are generally triangular in shape, with the working edge—characteristically steep-angled—appearing at the wide base of the triangle. The opposite edge, at the point of the triangle, was the hafted end; the tool itself was generally hafted at right angles to the handle.
Denticulate tools display edges that are worked into a multiply notched shape, much like the toothed edge of a saw. Indeed, these tools might have been used as saws, more likely for meat processing than for wood. It is possible, however, that some or all of these notches were used for smoothing wooden shafts or for similar purposes. |
Informix-4GL is a 4GL programming language developed by Informix during the mid-1980s. At the time of its initial release in 1986, supported platforms included Microsoft Xenix (on IBM PC AT), DEC Ultrix (running on Microvax II, VAX-11/750, VAX-11/785, VAX 8600), Altos 2086, AT&T 3B2, AT&T 3B5, AT&T 3B20 and AT&T Unix PC.
Description
It includes embedded SQL, a report writer language, a form language, and a limited set of imperative capabilities (functions, if and while statements, and supports arrays etc.). The language is particularly close to a natural language and is easy to learn and use. The Form Painter, Screen Code Generator, Report Code Generator (Featurizer) enabled adding custom business logic. It also had, as additional components a menu system, and a front-end GUI (graphical user interface) Generator.
The package includes two versions of compiler which either produce 1) intermediate byte code for an interpreter (known as the rapid development system), or 2) C Programming Language code for compilation with a C compiler into machine-code (which executes faster, but compiles slower, and executables are bigger). It is specifically designed to run as a client on a network, connected to an IBM Informix database engine service. It has a mechanism for calling C Programming Language functions and conversely, to be called from executing C programs. The RDS version also features an interactive debugger for Dumb terminals. A particular feature is the comprehensive error checking which is built into the final executable and the extremely helpful error messages produced by both compilers and executables. It also features embedded modal statements for changing compiler and executable behaviour (e.g. causing the compiler to include memory structures matching database schema structures and elements, or to continue executing in spite of error conditions, which can be trapped later on).
History
The Informix-4GL project was started in 1985, with Chris Maloney as chief architect. Roy Harrington was in charge of the related Informix Turbo (later renamed Online) engine, which bypassed the "cooked" file system and instead used "raw" disk access. It was based on software developed in 1983 by FourGen Software Technologies, which were based in Seattle. The bundled product was presented by Informix as ‘’’Forms’’’ and ‘’’Menu’’’ until 1996. This ‘’’Rapid Application Development’’’ product, marketed as FourGen CASE Tools, could access the user’s choice of ‘’’Informix’’’ and/or IBM’s DB2 databases. Another flavor of Informix programming-tool was produced, called "NewEra", which supported object-oriented programming and a level of code-compatibility with Informix-4GL.
Informix was acquired by IBM in April 2001. Despite its age, Informix-4GL is still widely used to develop business applications, and a sizable market exists around it due to its popularity. With accounting being an inherently text based activity, it is often chosen for its purely text-based interface to optimize data entry efficiency. These tools are available today on major flavors of UNIX and Red Hat Linux and SUSE Linux operating systems; the FOURGEN business was later acquired in 2002, by www.gillan.com. |
RPG is a high-level programming language for business applications, introduced in 1959 for the IBM 1401. It is most well known as the primary programming language of IBM's midrange computer product line, including the IBM i operating system. RPG has traditionally featured a number of distinctive concepts, such as the program cycle, and the column-oriented syntax. The most recent version is RPG IV, which includes a number of modernization features, including free-form syntax.
Platforms
The RPG programming language originally was created by IBM for their 1401 systems. They also produced an implementation for the System/360, and it became the primary programming language for their midrange computer product line, (the System/3, System/32, System/34, System/38, System/36 and AS/400). There have also been implementations for DEC VAX, Sperry Univac BC/7, Univac system 80, Siemens BS2000, Burroughs B700, B1700, Hewlett Packard HP 3000, the ICL 2900 series, Honeywell 6220 and 2020, Four-Phase IV/70 and IV/90 series, Singer System 10 and WANG VS, as well as miscellaneous compilers and runtime environments for Unix-based systems, such as Infinite36 (formerly Unibol 36), and PCs (Baby/400, Lattice-RPG).
RPG II applications are still supported under the IBM z/VSE and z/OS operating systems, Unisys MCP, Microsoft Windows and OpenVMS.
History
Background
Originally developed by IBM in 1959, the name Report Program Generator was descriptive of the purpose of the language: generation of reports from data files. FOLDOC accredits Wilf Hey with work at IBM that resulted in the development of RPG. FARGO (Fourteen-o-one Automatic Report Generation Operation) was the predecessor to RPG on the IBM 1401.
Both languages were intended to facilitate ease of transition for IBM tabulating machine (Tab) unit record equipment technicians to the then-new computers. Tab machine technicians were accustomed to plugging wires into control panels to implement input, output, control and counter operations (add, subtract, multiply, divide). Tab machines programs were executed by impulses emitted in a machine cycle; hence, FARGO and RPG emulated the notion of the machine cycle with the program cycle. RPG was superior to and rapidly replaced FARGO as the report generator program of choice.
The alternative languages generally available at the time were Assembler, COBOL or FORTRAN. Assembler and COBOL were more common in mainframe business operations (System/360 models 30 and above) and RPG more commonly used by customers who were in transition from tabulating equipment (System/360 model 20).
RPG II
RPG II was introduced about 1969 with the System/3 series of computers. It was later used on System/32, System/34, and System/36, with an improved version of the language. RPG II was also available for larger systems, including the IBM System/370 mainframe running DOS/VSE (then VSE/SP, VSE/ESA, and z/VSE). ICL also produced a version on its VME/K operating system.
In the early days of RPG, its major strength was the program cycle. A programmer would write code to process an individual record, and the program cycle would execute the change against every record of a file, taking care of the control flow. At that time each record (individual punched card) would be compared to each line in the program, which would act upon the record, or not, based upon whether that line had an "indicator" turned "on" or "off". The indicator consisted of a set of logical variables numbered 01–99 for user-defined purposes, or other smaller sets based upon record, field, or report processing functions. The concept of level breaks and matching records is unique to the RPG II language, and was originally developed with card readers in mind. The matching record feature of the cycle enabled easy processing of files having a header-to-detail relationship. RPG programs written to take advantage of the program cycle could produce complex reports with far fewer lines of computer code than programs written in COBOL and other business-centric languages.
The program File Specifications, listed all files being written to, read from or updated, followed by Data Definition Specifications containing program elements such as Data Structures and dimensional arrays, much like a "Working-Storage" section of a COBOL program. This is followed by Calculation Specifications, which contain the executable instructions. Output Specifications can follow which can be used to determine the layout of other files or reports. Alternatively files, some data structures and reports can be defined externally, mostly eliminating the need to hand code input and output ("I/O") specifications.
RPG III
RPG III was created for the System/38 and its successor the AS/400. RPG III significantly departed from the original language, providing modern structured constructs like IF-ENDIF blocks, DO loops, and subroutines. RPG III was also available for larger systems including the IBM System/370 mainframe running OS/VS1. It was also available from Unisys for the VS/9 operating system running on the UNIVAC Series 90 mainframes.
Since the introduction of the IBM System/38 in 1979 most RPG programmers discontinued use of the cycle in favor of controlling program flow with standard looping constructs, although IBM has continued to provide backward compatibility for the cycle.
DE/RPG
DE/RPG or Data Entry RPG was exclusively available on the IBM 5280 series of data-entry workstations in the early '80s. It was similar to RPG III but lacking external Data Descriptions (DDS) to describe data(files) like on the System/38 and its successors. Instead, the DDS part had to be included into the RPG source itself.
RPG/400
RPG/400 was effectively RPG III running on AS/400. IBM renamed the RPG compiler as "RPG/400" but at the time of its introduction it was identical to the RPG III compiler on System/38. Virtually all IBM products were rebranded as xxx/400 and the RPG compiler was no exception. RPG III compiled with the RPG/400 compiler offered nothing new to the RPG III language until IBM began development of new operation codes, such as SCAN, CAT and XLATE after several years of AS/400 availability. These enhancements to RPG III were not available in the System/38 version of RPG III.
RPG IV and ILE RPG
RPG IV, a.k.a. RPGLE ) was released in 1994 as part of the V3R2 release of OS/400 (now known as IBM i).With the release of RPG IV, the RPG name was officially no longer an initialism. RPG IV offered a greater variety of expressions within its Extended Factor-2 Calculation Specification and, later in life, its free-format Calculation Specifications and Procedure syntax.
RPG IV in the Integrated Language Environment framework in known at ILE RPG, and user guides explain the nuances of both. RPG IV and ILE RPG are supported by IBM in the current IBM i platform.In 2001, with the release of OS/400 V5R1, RPG IV offered greater freedom for calculations than offered by the Extended Factor-2 Calculation Specification: a free-format text-capable source entry, as an alternative to the original column-dependent source format. The "/FREE" calculation did not require the operation code to be placed in a particular column; the operation code is optional for the EVAL and CALLP operations; and syntax generally more closely resembles that of mainstream, general-purpose programming languages. Until November 2013, the free format applied exclusively to the calculation specifications. With the IBM i V7R1 TR7 upgrade to the language, the "/free" and "/end-free" calculations are no longer necessary, and the language has finally broken the ties to punched cards.
IBM Rational Developer for i (RDi), an Eclipse-based Integrated Development Environment, is recommended by IBM for RPG development. The Source Entry Utility (SEU) text editor is no longer recommended for RPG development, and development ceased after IBM i 6.1. Other legacy developer tools include CODE/400 (based on IBM WorkFrame/2) and VisualAge for RPG.
Continuing language enhancements
IBM continues to enhance the RPG language via software releases and intra-release “technology refreshes” (TRs). More built-in functions (BIFs) have been added. It has the ability to link to Java objects, and IBM i APIs; it can be used to write CGI programs with the help of IBM's Cgidev2 Web toolkit, the RPG Toolbox, and other commercial Web-enabled packages. Even with the changes, it retains a great deal of backward compatibility, so an RPG program written 37 years ago could run today with little or no modification.
The SQL precompiler allows current RPG developers to take advantage of IBM's cost-based SQE (SQL Query Engine). With the traditional F-Spec approach a developer had to identify a specific access path to a data set, now they can implement standard embedded SQL statements directly in the program. When compiled, the SQL precompiler transforms SQL statements into RPG statements which call the database manager programs that ultimately implement the query request.
The RPG IV language is based on the EBCDIC character set, but also supports UTF-8, UTF-16 and many other character sets. The threadsafe aspects of the language are considered idiosyncratic by some as the compiler team has addressed threads by giving each thread its own static storage, rather than make the RPG run-time environment re-entrant. This has been noted to muddle the distinction between a thread and a process (making RPG IV threads a kind of hybrid between threads and processes).
In 2010, IBM launched RPG Open Access, also known as Rational Open Access: RPG Edition. It allows new I/O handlers to be defined by a programmer - enabling data to be read from and written to sources which RPG does not provide inbuilt support for.
Data types
RPG supports the following data types.
Note:The character in the data type column is the character that is encoded on the Definition Specification in the column designated for data type. To compare, in a language like C where definitions of variables are free-format and would use a keyword such as int to declare an integer variable, in RPG, a variable is defined with a fixed-format Definition Specification. In the Definition Specification, denoted by a letter D in column 6 of a source line, the data type character would be encoded in column 40. Also, if the data type character is omitted, that is, left blank, the default is A if no decimal positions are specified, P when decimal positions are specified for stand-along fields, and S (ZONED) when decimal positions are specified within a data structure.
Example code
The following program receives a customer number as an input parameter and returns the name and address as output parameters.
This is the most primitive version of RPG IV syntax. The same program is shown later with gradually more modern versions of the syntax and gradually more relaxed rules.
* Historically RPG was columnar in nature, though free-formatting
* was allowed under particular circumstances.
* The purpose of various lines code are determined by a
* letter code in column 6.
* An asterisk (*) in column 7 denotes a comment line
* "F" (file) specs define files and other i/o devices
F ARMstF1 IF E K Disk Rename(ARMST:RARMST)
* "D" (data) specs are used to define variables
D pCusNo S 6p
D pName S 30a
D pAddr1 S 30a
D pAddr2 S 30a
D pCity S 25a
D pState S 2a
D pZip S 10a
* "C" (calculation) specs are used for executable statements
* Parameters are defined using plist and parm opcodes
C *entry plist
C parm pCusNo
C parm pName
C parm pAddr1
C parm pAddr2
C parm pCity
C parm pState
C parm pZip
* The "chain" command is used for random access of a keyed file
C pCusNo chain ARMstF1
* If a record is found, move fields from the file into parameters
C if %found
C eval pName = ARNm01
C eval pAddr1 = ARAd01
C eval pAddr2 = ARAd02
C eval pCity = ARCy01
C eval pState = ARSt01
C eval pZip = ARZp15
C endif
* RPG makes use of switches. One switch "LR" originally stood for "last record"
* LR flags the program and its dataspace as removable from memory
C eval *InLR = *On
The same program using free calculations available starting in V5R1:
* "F" (file) specs define files and other i/o devices
FARMstF1 IF E K Disk Rename(ARMST:RARMST)
* "D" (data) specs are used to define variables and parameters
* The "prototype" for the program is in a separate file
* allowing other programs to call it
/copy cust_pr
* The "procedure interface" describes the *ENTRY parameters
D getCustInf PI
D pCusNo 6p 0 const
D pName 30a
D pAddr1 30a
D pAddr2 30a
D pCity 25a
D pState 2a
D pZip 10a
/free
// The "chain" command is used for random access of a keyed file
chain pCusNo ARMstF1;
// If a record is found, move fields from the file into parameters
if %found;
pName = ARNm01;
pAddr1 = ARAd01;
pAddr2 = ARAd02;
pCity = ARCy01;
pState = ARSt01;
pZip = ARZp15;
endif;
// RPG makes use of switches. One switch "LR" originally stood for "last record"
// LR actually flags the program and its dataspace as removable from memory.
*InLR = *On;
/end-free
Assume the ARMSTF1 example table was created using the following SQL Statement:
The same program using free calculations and embedded SQL:
* RPG IV no longer requires the use of the *INLR indicator to terminate a program.
* by using the MAIN keyword on the "H" (Header) spec, and identifying the "main" or
* entry procedure name, the program will begin and end normally without using the
* decades-old RPG Cycle and instead a more "C like" begin and end logic.
H MAIN(getCustInf)
* "D" (data) specs are used to define variables and parameters
* The "prototype" for the program is in a separate file
* allowing other programs to call it
/copy cust_pr
* The "procedure interface" describes the *ENTRY parameters
P getCustInf B
D getCustInf PI
D pCusNo 6p 0 const
D pName 30a
D pAddr1 30a
D pAddr2 30a
D pCity 25a
D pState 2a
D pZip 10a
/free
exec sql select arName, arAddr1, arAdd2, arCity, arStte, arZip
into :pName, :pAddr1, :pAddr2, :pCity, :pState, :pZip
from ARMstF1
where arCNum = :pCusNo
for fetch only
fetch first 1 row only
optimize for 1 row
with CS;
/end-free
P GetCustInf E
As of V7R1 of the operating system, the above program would not necessarily need the prototype in a separate file, so it could be completely written as:
Lastly, if you apply the compiler PTFs related Technology Refresh 7 (TR7) to your 7.1 operating system, then the above program can be coded completely in free-form, as follows:
See also
IBM RPG II
Further reading
"9PAC, Report Generator". History of Programming Languages (HOPL), Murdoch University, AU. 2006. Archived from the original on 2010-12-24. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
"RPG, Report Program Generator". History of Programming Languages (HOPL), Murdoch University, AU. 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-04-15. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
DuCharme, Bob (2006-02-26). "Pulling data out of computers in the mid-twentieth and early twenty-first centuries".
Cozzi, Robert (1996). "The Modern RPG IV Language".
Shelly, Gary B.; Thomas J. Cashman (1977). Introduction to Computer Programming RPG. Fullerton, California: Anaheim Publishing Company. ISBN 0-88236-225-9.
Smith, Brian R.; Martin Barbeau; Susan Gantner; Jon Paris; Zdravko Vincetic; Vladimir Zupka (April 25, 2000). "Who Knew You Could Do That with RPG IV? A Sorcerer's Guide to System Access and More" (PDF). IBM International Technical Support Organization. Retrieved 2012-02-18. "This redbook is focused on RPG IV as a modern, thriving, and rich application development language for the 21st century."
Midrange.com — A large number of code examples are available here
RPGPGM.COM — An extensive resource of articles giving examples of RPG code and related programming
RPG Open — Free (open source) resources for RPG IV and IBM i application development.
IBM (1964). IBM 1401 RPG manual (PDF). C24-3261-1.
IBM (2016). ILE RPG Programmer's Guide (PDF). SC09-2507-10.
RPG II for MVS, OS/390 and z/OS — Status of the IBM RPG II product in z/OS |
HCL (formerly IBM and Lotus ; see Branding below) and HCL Domino (formerly IBM Domino and Lotus Domino) are the client and server, respectively, of a collaborative client-server software platform formerly sold by IBM, now by HCL Technologies.HCL provides business collaboration functions, such as email, calendars, to-do lists, contact management, discussion forums, file sharing, websites, instant messaging, blogs, document libraries, user directories, and custom applications. It can also be used with other HCL Domino applications and databases. IBM 9 Social Edition removed integration with the office software package IBM Lotus Symphony, which had been integrated with the Lotus client in versions 8.x.
Lotus Development Corporation originally developed "Lotus Design
HCL Domino is a client-server cross-platform application runtime environment.
Domino provides email, calendars, instant messaging (with additional HCL software voice- and video-conferencing and web-collaboration), discussions/forums, blogs, and an inbuilt personnel/user directory. In addition to these standard applications, an organization may use the Domino Designer development environment and other tools to develop additional integrated applications such as request approval / workflow and document management.
The Domino product consists of several components:
HCL client application (since version 8, this is based on Eclipse)
HCL client, either:
a rich client
a web client, HCL i
a mobile email client, HCL Traveler
HCL Verse client, either:
a web email client, Verse on Premises (VOP)
a mobile email client, Verse Mobile (for iOS and Android)
HCL Domino server
HCL Domino Administration Client
HCL Domino Designer (Eclipse-based integrated development environment) for creating client-server applications that run within the frameworkDomino competes with products from other companies such as Microsoft, Google, Zimbra and others. Because of the application development abilities, HCL Domino is often compared to products like Microsoft Sharepoint. The database in Domino can be replicated between servers and between server and client, thereby allowing clients offline capabilities.
Domino, a business application as well as a messaging server, is compatible with both and web-browsers. (and since IBM Domino 9, the HCAA) may be used to access any Domino application, such as discussion forums, document libraries, and numerous other applications. resembles a web-browser in that it may run any compatible application that the user has permission for.
Domino provides applications that can be used to:
access, store and present information through a user interface
enforce security
replicate, that is, allow many different servers to contain the same information and have many users work with that dataThe standard storage mechanism in Domino is a document-database format, the " Storage Facility" (.nsf). The .nsf file will normally contain both an application design and its associated data. Domino can also access relational databases, either through an additional server called HCL Enterprise Integrator for Domino, through ODBC calls or through the use of XPages.
As Domino is an application runtime environment, email and calendars operate as applications within the Java programming language either directly or through XPages
LotusScript, a language resembling Visual Basic
the JavaScript programming language via the Domino AppDev PackThe client supports a formula language as well as JavaScript. Software developers can build applications to run either within the Use
can be used for email, as a calendar, PIM, instant messaging, Web browsing, and other applications. can access both local- and server-based applications and data.
can function as an IMAP and POP email client with non-Domino mail servers. The system can retrieve recipient addresses from any LDAP server, including Active Directory, and includes a web browser, although it can be configured by a Domino Developer to launch a different web browser instead.
Features include group calendars and schedules, SMTP/MIME-based email, NNTP-based news support, and automatic HTML conversion of all documents by the Domino HTTP task.
can be used with Sametime instant-messaging to allow to see other users online and chat with one or more of them at the same time. Beginning with Release 6.5, this function has been freely available. Presence awareness is available in email and other HCL Domino applications for users in organizations that use both and Sametime.
Since version 7, has provided a Web services interface. Domino can be a Web server for HTML files; authentication of access to Domino databases or HTML files uses the Domino user directory and external systems such as Microsoft Active Directory.
A design client, Domino Designer, can allow the development of database applications consisting of forms (which allow users to create documents) and views (which display selected document fields in columns).
In addition to its role as a groupware system (email, calendaring, shared documents and discussions), HCL and Domino can also construct "workflow"-type applications, particularly those which require approval processes and routing of data.
Since Release 5, server clustering has had the ability to provide geographic redundancy for servers.
Overview
Client/server
and Domino are client/server database environments. The server software is called Domino and the client software is . Domino software can run on Windows, Unix, AIX, and IBM mid-range systems and can scale to tens of thousands of users per server. There are different supported versions of the Domino server that are supported on the various levels of server operating systems. Usually the latest server operating system is only officially supported by a version of HCL Domino that is released at about the same time as that OS.
Domino has security capabilities on a variety of levels. The authorizations can be granular, down to the field level in specific records all the way up to 10 different parameters that can be set up at a database level, with intermediate options in between. Users can also assign access for other users to their personal calendar and email on a more generic reader, editor, edit with delete and manage my calendar levels. All of the security in Data replication
The first release of Lotus included a generalized replication facility. The generalized nature of this feature set it apart from predecessors like Usenet and continued to differentiate Lotus .
Domino servers and clients identify NSF files by their Replica IDs, and keep replicated files synchronized by bi-directionally exchanging data, metadata, and application logic and design. There are options available to define what meta-data replicates, or specifically exclude certain meta data from replicating. Replication between two servers, or between a client and a server, can occur over a network or a point-to-point modem connection. Replication between servers may occur at intervals according to a defined schedule, in near-real-time when triggered by data changes in server clusters, or when triggered by an administrator or program.
Creation of a local replica of an NSF file on the hard disk of an HCL Security
Lotus was the first widely adopted software product to use public key cryptography for client–server and server–server authentication and for encryption of data. Until US laws regulating encryption were changed in 2000, IBM and Lotus were prohibited from exporting versions of that supported symmetric encryption keys that were longer than 40 bits. In 1997, Lotus negotiated an agreement with the NSA that allowed export of a version that supported stronger keys with 64 bits, but 24 of the bits were encrypted with a special key and included in the message to provide a "workload reduction factor" for the NSA. This strengthened the protection for users of outside the US against private-sector industrial espionage, but not against spying by the US government. This implementation was widely announced, but with some justification many people did consider it to be a backdoor. Some governments objected to being put at a disadvantage to the NSA, and as a result Lotus continued to support the 40-bit version for export to those countries.
Database security
Access control lists (ACLs) control a user of server's level of access to that database. Only a user with Manager access can create or modify the ACL. Default entries in the ACL can be set when the Manager creates the database.
Roles, rather than user id, can determine access level.
Programming
and Domino is a cross-platform, distributed document-oriented NoSQL database and messaging framework and rapid application development environment that includes pre-built applications like email, calendar, etc. This sets it apart from its major commercial competitors, such as Microsoft Exchange or Novell GroupWise, which are purpose-built applications for mail and calendaring that offer APIs for extensibility.
Domino databases are built using the Domino Designer client, available only for Microsoft Windows; standard user clients are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS. A key feature of is that many replicas of the same database can exist at the same time on different servers and clients, across dissimilar platforms; the same storage architecture is used for both client and server replicas. Originally, replication in happened at document (i.e., record) level. With release of 4 in 1996, replication was changed so that it now occurs at field level.
A database is a Storage Facility (.nsf) file, containing basic units of storage known as a "note". Every note has a UniqueID that is shared by all its replicas. Every replica also has a UniqueID that uniquely identifies it within any cluster of servers, a domain of servers, or even across domains belonging to many organizations that are all hosting replicas of the same database. Each note also stores its creation and modification dates, and one or more Items.
There are several classes of notes, including design notes and document notes. Design notes are created and modified with the Domino Designer client, and represent programmable elements, such as the GUI layout of forms for displaying and editing data, or formulas and scripts for manipulating data. Document notes represent user data, and are created and modified with the client, via a web browser, via mail routing and delivery, or via programmed code.
Document notes can have parent-child relationships, but should not be considered a hierarchical database in the classic sense of information management systems. databases are also not relational, although there is a SQL driver that can be used with , and it does have some features that can be used to develop applications that mimic relational features. does not support atomic transactions, and its file locking is rudimentary. is a document-oriented database (document-based, schema-less, loosely structured) with support for rich content and powerful indexing facilities. This structure closely mimics paper-based work flows that is typically used to automate.
Items represent the content of a note. Every item has a name, a type, and may have some flags set. A note can have more than one item with the same name. Item types include Number, Number List, Text, Text List, Date-Time, Date-Time List, and Rich Text. Flags are used for managing attributes associated with the item, such as read or write security. Items in design notes represent the programmed elements of a database. For example, the layout of an entry form is stored in the rich text Body item within a form design note. This means that the design of the database can replicate to users' desktops just like the data itself, making it extremely easy to deploy updated applications.
Items in document notes represent user-entered or computed data. An item named "Form" in a document note can be used to bind a document to a form design note, which directs the client to merge the content of the document note items with the GUI information and code represented in the given form design note for display and editing purposes. However, other methods can be used to override this binding of a document to a form note. The resulting loose binding of documents to design information is one of the cornerstones of the power of . Traditional database developers used to working with rigidly enforced schemas, on the other hand, may consider the power of this feature to be a double-edged sword.
application development uses several programming languages. Formula and LotusScript are the two original ones. LotusScript is similar to, and may even be considered a specialized implementation of, Visual Basic, but with the addition of many native classes that model the environment, whereas Formula is similar to Lotus 1-2-3 formula language but is unique to .
Java was integrated into IBM beginning with Release 4.5. With Release 5, Java support was greatly enhanced and expanded, and JavaScript was added. While LotusScript remains a primary tool in developing applications for the Lotus client, Java and JavaScript are the primary tools for server-based processing, developing applications for browser access, and allowing browsers to emulate the functionality of the IBM client. With XPages, the IBM client can now natively process Java and JavaScript code, although applications development usually requires at least some code specific to only IBM or only a browser.
As of version 6, Lotus established an XML programming interface in addition to the options already available. The Domino XML Language (DXL) provides XML representations of all data and design resources in the model, allowing any XML processing tool to create and modify IBM and Domino data.
Since Release 8.5, XPages were also integrated into IBM .
External to the Database
IBM Configuration
The HCL Domino server or the Domino client store their configuration in their own databases / application files (*.nsf). No relevant configuration settings are saved in the Windows Registry if the operating system is Windows. Some other configuration options (primary the start configuration) is stored in the notes.ini (there are currently over 2000 known options available).
Use as an email client
is commonly deployed as an end-user email client in larger organizations.
When an organization employs an HCL Domino server, it usually also deploys the supplied client for accessing the application for email and calendaring but also to use document management and workflow applications. As is a runtime environment, and the email and calendaring functions in are simply an application provided by HCL, the administrators are free to develop alternate email and calendaring applications. It is also possible to alter, amend or extend the HCL supplied email and calendaring application.
The Domino server also supports POP3 and IMAP mail clients, and through an extension product (HCL mail support for Microsoft Outlook) supports native access for Microsoft Outlook clients.HCL also provides Comparison with other email clients
Properties dialog boxes for formatting text, hyperlinks and other rich-text information can remain open after a user makes changes to selected text. This provides flexibility to select new text and apply other formatting without closing the dialog box, selecting new text and opening a new format dialog box. Almost all other Windows applications require the user to close the dialog box, select new text, then open a new dialog box for formatting/changes.
Properties dialog boxes also automatically recognize the type of text selected and display appropriate selections (for instance, a hyperlink properties box).
Users can format tables as tabbed interfaces as part of form design (for applications) or within mail messages (or in rich-text fields in applications). This provides users the ability to provide tab-style organization to documents, similar to popular tab navigation in most web portals, etc.
End-users can readily insert links to applications, views or other documents into documents.
Deleting a document (or email) will delete it from every folder in which it appears, since the folders simply contain links to the same back-end document. Some other email clients only delete the email from the current folder; if the email appears in other folders it is left alone, requiring the user to hunt through multiple folders in order to completely delete a message. In , clicking on "Remove from Folder" will remove the document only from that folder leaving all other instances intact.
The All Documents and Sent "views" differ from other collections of documents known as "folders" and exhibit different behaviors. Specifically, mail cannot be dragged out of them, and so removed from those views; the email can only be "copied" from them. This is because these are views, and their membership indexes are maintained according to characteristics of the documents contained in them, rather than based on user interaction as is the case for a folder. This technical difference can be baffling to users, in environments where no training is given. All Documents contain all of the documents in a mailbox, no matter which folder it is in. The only way to remove something from All Documents is to delete it outright.Lotus Users select a "New Memo" to send an email, rather than "New Mail" or "New Message". ( 8 calls the command "New Message")
To select multiple documents in a view, one drags one's mouse next to the documents to select, rather than using ⇧ Shift+single click. ( 8 uses keypress conventions.)
The searching function offers a "phrase search", rather than the more common "or search", and requires users to spell out boolean conditions in search-strings. As a result, users must search for "delete AND folder" in order to find help text that contains the phrase "delete a folder". Searching for "delete folder" does not yield the desired result. ( 8 uses or-search conventions.)Lotus 8.0 (released in 2007) became the first version to employ a dedicated user-experience team, resulting in changes in the IBM client experience in the primary and new notes user interface. This new interface runs in the open source Eclipse Framework, which is a project started by IBM, opening up more application development opportunities through the use of Eclipse plug-ins. The new interface provides many new user interface features and the ability to include user-selected applications/applets in small panes in the interface. Lotus 8.0 also included a new email interface / design to match the new Lotus 8.0 eclipse based interface. Eclipse is a Java framework and allows IBM to port to other platforms rapidly. An issue with Eclipse and therefore 8.0 is the applications start-up and user-interaction speed. Lotus 8.5 sped up the application and the increase in general specification of PCs means this is less of an issue.
IBM 9 continued the evolution of the user interface to more closely align with modern application interfaces found in many commercial packaged or web-based software. Currently, the software still does not have an auto-correct option - or even ability - to reverse accidental use of caps lock.
Domino is now running on the Eclipse platform and offers many new development environments and tools such as XPages.For lower spec PCs, a new version of the old interface is still provided albeit as it is the old interface many of the new features are not available and the email user interface reverts to the 7.x style.
This new user experience builds on drag and drop of folders
replication of unread marks between servers
follow-up flags
reply and forward indicators on emails
ability to edit an attachment and save the changes back to an email id
Reception
Publications such as The Guardian in 2006 have criticized earlier versions of Lotus for having an "unintuitive [user] interface" and cite widespread dissatisfaction with the usability of the client software. The Guardian indicated that has not necessarily suffered as a result of this dissatisfaction due to the fact that "the people who choose [enterprise software] tend not to be the ones who use it."Earlier versions of have also been criticized for violating an important usability best practice that suggests a consistent UI is often better than custom alternative. Software written for a particular operating system should follow that particular OS's user interface style guide. Not following those style guides can confuse users. A notable example is F5 keyboard shortcut, which is used to refresh window contents in Microsoft Windows. Pressing F5 in Lotus before release 8.0 caused it to lock screen. Since this was a major point of criticism this was changed in release 8.0. Old versions did not support proportional scrollbars (which give the user an idea of how long the document is, relative to the portion being viewed). Proportional scroll bars were only introduced in 8.Older versions of also suffered from similar user interaction choices, many of which were also corrected in subsequent releases. One example that was corrected in Release 8.5: In earlier versions the out-of-office agent needed to be manually enabled when leaving and disabled when coming back, even if start and end date have been set. As of Release 8.5 the out-of-office notification now automatically shuts off without a need for a manual disable.
Unlike some other e-mail client software programs, IBM Related software
Related IBM Lotus products
Over the 30-year history of IBM , Lotus Development Corporation and later IBM have developed many other software products that are based on, or integrated with IBM . The most prominent of these is the IBM Lotus Domino server software, which was originally known as the Lotus Server and gained a separate name with the release of version 4.5. The server platform also became the foundation for products such as IBM Lotus Quickr for Domino, for document management, and IBM Sametime for instant messaging, audio and video communication, and web conferencing, and with Release 8.5, IBM Connections.
In early releases of IBM , there was considerable emphasis on client-side integration with the IBM Lotus SmartSuite environment. With Microsoft's increasing predominance in office productivity software, the desktop integration focus switched for a time to Microsoft Office. With the release of version 8.0 in 2007, based on the Eclipse framework, IBM again added integration with its own office-productivity suite, the OpenOffice.org-derived IBM Lotus Symphony. IBM Lotus Expeditor is a framework for developing Eclipse-based applications.
Other IBM products and technologies have also been built to integrate with IBM Related software from other vendors
With a long market history and large installed base, and Domino applications are software programs written in the form of one or more databases, and often supplied as NTF templates. This type of software typically is focused on providing business benefit from ' core collaboration, workflow and messaging capabilities. Examples include customer relationship management (CRM), human resources, and project tracking systems. Some applications of this sort may offer a browser interface in addition to client access. The code within these programs typically uses the same languages available to an in-house Domino developer: formula language, LotusScript, Java and JavaScript.
and Domino add-ons, tools and extensions are generally executable programs written in C, C++ or another compiled language that are designed specifically to integrate with and Domino. This class of software may include both client- and server-side executable components. In some cases, databases may be used for configuration and reporting. Since the advent of the Eclipse-based 8 Standard client, client-side add-ons may also include Eclipse plug-ins and XML-based widgets. The typical role for this type of software is to support or extend core functionality. Examples include spam and anti-virus products, server administration and monitoring tools, messaging and storage management products, policy-based tools, data synchronization tools and developer tools.
History
has a history spanning more than 30 years. Its chief inspiration was PLATO , created by David R. Woolley at the University of Illinois in 1973. In today's terminology, PLATO supported user-created discussion groups, and it was part of the foundation for an online community which thrived for more than 20 years on the PLATO system. Ray Ozzie worked with PLATO while attending the University of Illinois in the 1970s. When PC network technology began to emerge, Ozzie made a deal with Mitch Kapor, the founder of Lotus Development Corporation, that resulted in the formation of Iris Associates in 1984 to develop products that would combine the capabilities of PCs with the collaborative tools pioneered in PLATO. The agreement put control of product development under Ozzie and Iris, and sales and marketing under Lotus. In 1994, after the release and marketplace success of R3, Lotus purchased Iris. In 1995 IBM purchased Lotus.
In 2008, IBM released XPages technology, based on JavaServer Faces. This allows Domino applications to be better surfaced to browser clients, though the UX and business logic must be completely rewritten. Previously, Domino applications could be accessed through browsers, but required extensive web specific modifications to get full functionality in browsers. XPages also gave the application new capabilities that are not possible with the classic Branding
Prior to release 4.5, the Lotus branding encompassed both the client and server applications. In 1996, Lotus released an HTTP server add-on for the 4 server called "Domino". This add-on allowed documents to be rendered as web pages in real time. Later that year, the Domino web server was integrated into release 4.5 of the core server and the entire server program was re-branded, taking on the name "Domino". Only the client program officially retained the "Lotus " name.
In November 2012, IBM announced it would be dropping the Lotus brand and moving forward with the IBM brand only to identify products, including and Domino. On October 9, 2018, IBM announced the availability of the latest version of the client and server software.
In 2019, Domino and Release history
21st century
IBM donated parts of the IBM and Domino code to OpenOffice.org on September 12, 2007 and since 2008 has been regularly donating code to OpenNTF.org.
Despite repeated predictions of the decline or impending demise of IBM and Domino, such as Forbes magazine's 1998 "The decline and fall of Lotus", the installed base of Lotus has increased from an estimated 42 million seats in September 1998 to approximately 140 million cumulative licenses sold through 2008. Once IBM Workplace was discontinued in 2006, speculation about dropping was rendered moot. Moreover, IBM introduced i for iPhone two years later.IBM contributed some of the code it had developed for the integration of the OpenOffice.org suite into 8 to the project. IBM also packaged its version of OpenOffice.org for free distribution as IBM Lotus Symphony.IBM and Domino 9 Social Edition shipped on March 21, 2013. Changes include significantly updated user interface, near-parity of IBM and IBM i functionality, the IBM Browser Plugin, new XPages controls added to IBM Domino, refreshed IBM Domino Designer user interface, added support for To Dos on Android mobile devices, and additional server functionality as detailed in the Announcement Letter.
In late 2016, IBM announced that there would not be a 9.0.2 release, but 9.0.1 would be supported until at least 2021. In the same presentation IBM also stated that their internal users had been migrated away from and onto the IBM Verse client.
On October 25, 2017, IBM announced a plan to deliver a Domino V10 family update sometime in 2018. The new version will be built in partnership with HCL Technologies. IBM's development and support team responsible for these products are moving to HCL, however, the marketing, and sales continue to be IBM-led. Product strategy is shared between IBM and HCL. As part of the announcement, IBM indicated that there is no formal end to product support planned.On October 9, 2018, IBM announced IBM Domino 10.0 and IBM
List of IBM products
IBM Collaboration Solutions (formerly Lotus) Software division
Comparison of email clients
IBM Lotus Domino Web Access
Comparison of feed aggregators
Lotus Multi-Byte Character Set (LMBCS)
Peek |
Intel Arc is a brand of graphics processing units designed by Intel. These are discrete GPUs mostly marketed for the high-margin PC gaming market. The brand also covers Intel's consumer graphics software and services.
Intel Arc is competing with Nvidia's GeForce and AMD's Radeon lines. The Arc-A series for laptops was launched on March 30, 2022, with the A750 and A770 both released in Q3'22. Intel missed their initial Q2 2022 release target, with most discrete Arc GPUs not launching until October 2022.Intel officially launched the Arc Pro workstation GPUs on August 8, 2022.
Etymology
According to Intel, the brand is named after the concept of story arcs found in video games. Each generation of Arc is named after each letter of the Latin alphabet in ascending order. They begin with A, then B, then C, and so on. The first generation is named Alchemist, while Battlemage, Celestial and Druid are the respective names for the second, third and fourth Arc generations.
Graphics processor generations
Alchemist
Developed under the previous codename "DG2", the first generation of Intel Arc GPUs (codenamed "Alchemist") released on March 30, 2022. It will come in both add-on desktop card and laptop form factors. TSMC manufactures the die, using their N6 process.Alchemist uses the Intel Xe GPU architecture, or more specifically, the Xe-HPG variant. Alchemist supports hardware-based ray tracing, XeSS or supersampling based on neural networks (similar to Nvidia's DLSS), and DirectX 12 Ultimate. Also supported is DisplayPort 2.0 and overclocking. AV1 fixed-function hardware encoder is included in Alchemist GPUs as part of the Intel Quick Sync Video core.Intel confirmed ASTC support has been removed from hardware starting with Alchemist and future Intel Arc GPU microarchitectures will also not support it.Intel Arc Alchemist does not support SR-IOV. Intel Arc Alchemist does not support Direct3D 9 natively, instead falling back on the D3D9On12 wrapper which translates Direct3D 9 calls to their Direct3D 12 equivalents.Intel Arc support OpenCL 3.0 for example, this GPU can work in the grid World Community Grid.
Display connections: DisplayPort 2.0 (40 Gbit/s bandwidth) and HDMI 2.1
Desktop
Mobile
Workstation
Future generations
Intel also revealed future generations of Intel Arc GPUs under development: Battlemage (based on Xe2), Celestial (based on Xe3), and Druid. Battlemage will succeed Alchemist.
Intel revealed that Meteor Lake and later generations of CPU SoCs will use an Intel Arc Tile GPU.
Intel XeSS
Intel XeSS is a real-time deep learning image upsampling technology developed primarily for use in video games as a competitor to Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR technologies. Additionally, XeSS is not restricted to Intel Arc graphics cards. It does utilize XMX instructions exclusive to Intel Arc graphics cards, but will fall back to utilizing DP4a instructions on competing GPUs that have support for DP4a instructions. XeSS is trained with 64 samples per pixel as opposed to Nvidia DLSS's 16 samples per pixel (16K reference images).
Quality presets
Issues
Drivers
Performance on Intel Arc GPUs has suffered from poor driver support, particularly at launch. An investigation by Gamers Nexus discovered 43 known driver issues with Arc GPUs, prompting a response and acknowledgement of the issues from Intel. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger also blamed driver problems as a reason for Arc's delayed launch.A beta driver from October 2022 accidentally reduced the memory clock by 9% on the Arc A770 from 2187 MHz to 2000 MHz, resulting in a 17% reduction in memory bandwidth. This particular issue was later fixed.Intel provides an open source driver for Linux too.
DirectX 9 compatibility
Officially, Intel Arc only supports the DirectX 11, DirectX 12 and Vulkan APIs in games. As a result, Arc GPUs perform worse in older games that are based exclusively on DirectX 9 such as CS:GO, League of Legends and StarCraft II when compared to similar GPUs from Nvidia and AMD. There is also a performance gap between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12.
A December 2022 driver update improved Arc compatibility and performance with DirectX 9-based games. According to Intel, the driver update made Arc GPUs up to 1.8x faster in DirectX 9 games.A February 2023 driver update further improved Intel Arc's performance on DX9 based games.
Official website
Intel Graphics Performance Analyzers 2022.4 |
IDL may refer to:
Computing
Interface description language, any computer language used to describe a software component's interface
IDL specification language, the original IDL created by Lamb, Wulf and Nestor at Queen's University, Canada
OMG IDL, an IDL standardized by Object Management Group selected by the W3C for exposing the DOM of XML, HTML, CSS, and SVG documents
Microsoft Interface Definition Language, an extension of OMG IDL for supporting Microsoft's DCOM services
Web IDL, a variation of an IDL for describing APIs that are intended to be implemented in Web browsers
Interactive Data Language, a data analysis language popular for science applications
ICAD Design Language, a knowledge-based engineering language used with the software ICAD
Places
John F. Kennedy International Airport, formerly named Idlewild Airport with IATA airport code IDL
Indianola Municipal Airport, by FAA airport code
Inner Dispersal Loop, the common name of Interstate 444, a highway in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma
Other uses
International Date Line, the time zone date boundary
Intermediate-density lipoprotein
International Drivers License
International Darts League, a defunct major darts tournament
IDL Drug Stores, a now-defunct independent drug store cooperative
Internet Defense League, a website |
Idris may refer to:
People
Idris (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname
Idris (prophet), Islamic prophet in the Qur'an, traditionally identified with Enoch, an ancestor of Noah in the Bible
Idris Gawr or Idris the Giant (c. 560–632), Welsh king
Idris I of Kanem, 14th century King of Chad
Idris of Libya (1889–1983), King of Libya
Idris I of Morocco (745–791), Emir of Morocco
Idris II of Morocco (791–828), Emir of Morocco and founder of the Idrisid dynasty in Morocco, son of the above
Edrissa Sanneh, Italian television personality known as Idris
Technology
Idris (programming language), a functional programming language with dependent types
Idris (operating system), a multi-tasking, Unix-like, multi-user, real-time operating system
Other uses
Idris (genus), a genus of parasitic wasps
Idris, a brand of ginger beer produced by Britvic
Idris the Dragon, the singing dragon in the 1970s UK children's program Ivor the Engine
Idris, a North Atlantic basin tropical cyclone name to be used beginning in the 2028 Atlantic hurricane season
See also
Cadair Idris, a mountain in Gwynedd, Wales, meaning "Chair of Idris [the Giant]"
Driss
Iblis (disambiguation)
Idrisi (disambiguation)
Idrisi (surname)
Idriss |
Inform is a programming language and design system for interactive fiction originally created in 1993 by Graham Nelson. Inform can generate programs designed for the Z-code or Glulx virtual machines. Versions 1 through 5 were released between 1993 and 1996. Around 1996, Nelson rewrote Inform from first principles to create version 6 (or Inform 6). Over the following decade, version 6 became reasonably stable and a popular language for writing interactive fiction. In 2006, Nelson released Inform 7 (briefly known as Natural Inform), a completely new language based on principles of natural language and a new set of tools based around a book-publishing metaphor.
Z-Machine and Glulx
The Inform compilers translate Inform code to story files for Glulx or Z-code, two virtual machines designed specifically for interactive fiction. Glulx, which can support larger games, is the default.
The Z-machine was originally developed by Infocom in 1979 for their interactive fiction titles. Because there is at least one such interpreter for nearly every major and minor platform, this means that the same Z-code file can be run on a multitude of platforms with no alterations. Originally Inform targeted the Z-machine only.
Andrew Plotkin created an unofficial version of Inform 6 that was also capable of generating files for Glulx, a virtual machine he had designed to overcome many of the limitations of the several-decades-old Z-machine. Starting with Inform 6.3, released February 29, 2004, Inform 6 has included official support for both virtual machines, based on Andrew Plotkin's work. Early release of Inform 7 did not support Glulx, but in August 2006 Glulx support was released.
Inform 6
Inform was originally created by Graham Nelson in 1993. In 1996 Nelson rewrote Inform from first principles to create version 6 (or Inform 6). Over the following decade, version 6 became reasonably stable and a popular language for writing interactive fiction.
The Inform 6 system consists of two major components: the Inform compiler, which generates story files from Inform source code, and the Inform library, a suite of software which handles most of the difficult work of parsing the player's text input and keeping track of the world model. The name Inform also refers to the Inform programming language that the compiler understands.
Although Inform 6 and the Z-Machine were originally designed with interactive fiction in mind, many other programs have been developed, including a BASIC interpreter, a LISP tutorial (complete with interpreter), a Tetris game, and a version of the game Snake.
The Inform 6 compiler
The Inform compiler generates files for the Z-machine or Glulx (also called story files) from Inform 6 source code.
The Inform 6 programming language
The Inform programming language is object-oriented and procedural. A key element of the language is objects. Objects are maintained in an object tree which lists the parent–child relationships between objects. Since the parent–child relationship is often used to represent location, an object which is the parent of another object is often said to "hold" it. Objects can be moved throughout the tree. Typically, top level objects represent rooms and other locations within the game, which may hold objects representing the room's contents, be they physical items, non-player characters, the player's character, or background effects. All objects can hold other objects, so a livingroom object might hold an insurancesaleman object which is holding a briefcase object which contains the insurancepaperwork object.
In early versions of Inform, objects were different from the notion of objects from object-oriented programming, in that there was no such thing as a class. Later versions added support for class definitions and allowed objects to be members of classes. Objects and classes can inherit from multiple classes. Interactive fiction games typically contain many unique objects. Because of this, many objects in Inform do not inherit from any class, other than the "metaclass" Object. However, objects very frequently have attributes (boolean properties, such as scenery or edible) that are recognized by the Inform library. In other languages this would normally be implemented via inheritance.
Here is a simple example of Inform 6 source code.
The procedual parts, statements and operators, are largely borrowed from C, with the notable exception that -->x instead of [x] is used to take array subscripts. Routines are defined in square brackets, as in the Main routine above, but called with round brackets as in C. The character @ is used to escape characters and to invoke raw Z-machine opcodes.
Inform 6 library
The Inform system also contains the Inform library, which automates nearly all the most difficult work involved in programming interactive fiction; specifically, it includes a text parser that makes sense of the player's input, and a world model that keeps track of such things as objects (and their properties), rooms, doors, the player's inventory, etc.
The Inform compiler does not require the use of the Inform library. There are several replacement libraries available, such as Platypus and InformATE, a library that codes Inform in Spanish. Some games may use no library at all, such as a direct port of Zork into Inform 6.
Example game
Here is an example of Inform 6 source code that makes use of the Inform library. The Inform 6 code sample below is usable in Inform 7, but not without special demarcation indicating that it is embedded legacy code.
Notable games developed in Inform 6 or earlier versions
Curses, by Graham Nelson (1993), the first game ever written in the Inform programming language. Considered one of the first "modern" games to meet the high standards set by Infocom's best titles.
Zork: The Undiscovered Underground (1997), written by Marc Blank & Michael Berlyn, programmed by Gerry Kevin Wilson. Given away free by Activision to promote the release of Zork: Grand Inquisitor.
Anchorhead, by Michael S. Gentry (1998) is a highly rated horror story inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
Photopia, by Adam Cadre (1998), the first almost entirely puzzle-free game. Won the annual Interactive Fiction Competition in 1998.
Varicella by Adam Cadre (1999). It won four XYZZY Awards in 1999 including the XYZZY Award for Best Game, and had a scholarly essay written about it.
Galatea, by Emily Short (2000). Galatea is focused entirely on interaction with the animated statue of the same name. Galatea has one of the most complex interaction systems for a non-player character in an interactive fiction game. Adam Cadre called Galatea "the best NPC ever".
Slouching Towards Bedlam, by Star C. Foster and Daniel Ravipinto (2003). Set in a steampunk setting, the game narratively integrates meta-game functionality (saving, restoring, restarting) into the game world itself. The game won two XYZZY Awards and received the highest average score of any game in the Interactive Fiction Competition as of 2006.
Inform 7
On April 30, 2006, Graham Nelson announced the beta release of Inform 7 to the rec.arts.int-fiction newsgroup. Inform 7 consists of three primary parts: The Inform 7 IDE with development tools specialized for testing interactive fiction, the Inform 7 compiler for the new language, and "The Standard Rules" which form the core library for Inform 7. Inform 7 also relies on the Inform library and Inform compiler from Inform 6. The compiler compiles the Inform 7 source code into Inform 6 source code, which is then compiled separately by Inform 6 to generate a Glulx or Z-code story file. Inform 7 also defaults to writing Blorb files, archives which include the Z-code together with optional "cover art" and metadata intended for indexing purposes. The full set of Inform 7 tools are currently available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Linux (since 2007).
As of 2023, Inform 7 and its and tools remain under development. Since April 2022, Inform 7 is open source and developed on GitHub.Inform 7 was named Natural Inform for a brief period of time, but was later renamed Inform 7. This old name is why the Inform 7 compiler is named "NI."
Inform 7 IDE
Inform 7 comes with an integrated development environment (IDE) for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Linux. The Mac OS X IDE was developed by Andrew Hunter. The Microsoft Windows IDE was developed by David Kinder. The Linux IDE (known as GNOME Inform) was developed by Philip Chimento.The Inform 7 IDE includes a text editor for editing Inform 7 source code. Like many other programming editors it features syntax highlighting. It marks quoted strings in one color. Headings of organizational sections (Volumes, Books, Chapters, Parts, and Sections) are bolded and made larger. Comments are set in a different color and made slightly smaller.
The IDE includes a built-in Z-code interpreter. The Mac OS X IDE's interpreter is based on the Zoom interpreter by Andrew Hunter, with contributions from Jesse McGrew. The Microsoft Windows IDE's interpreter is based on WinFrotz.
As a developer tests the game in the built-in interpreter, progress is tracked in the "skein" and "transcript" views of the IDE. The skein tracks player commands as a tree of branching possibilities. Any branch of the tree can be quickly re-followed, making it possible to retry different paths in a game under development without replaying the same portions of the game. Paths can also be annotated with notes and marked as solutions, which can be exported as text walkthroughs. The transcript, on the other hand, tracks both player commands and the game's responses. Correct responses from the game can be marked as "blessed." On replaying a transcript or a branch of the skein, variations from the blessed version will be highlighted, which can help the developer find errors.
The IDE also provides various indices into the program under development. The code is shown as a class hierarchy, a traditional IF map, a book-like table of contents, and in other forms. Clicking items in the index jumps to the relevant source code.
The IDE presents two side-by-side panes for working in. Each pane can contain the source code being worked on, the current status of compilation, the skein, the transcript, the indices of the source code, a running version of the game, documentation for Inform 7 or any installed extensions to it, or settings. The concept is to imitate an author's manuscript book by presenting two "facing pages" instead of a multitude of separate windows.
Inform 7 programming language
Notable features include strong bias towards declarative rule-based style of programming and ability to infer types and properties of objects from the way they are used. For example, the statement "John wears a hat." creates a "person" called "John" (since only people are capable of wearing things), creates a "thing" with the "wearable" property (since only objects marked "wearable" are capable of being worn), and sets John as wearing the hat.
Another notable aspect of the language is direct support for relations which track associations between objects. This includes automatically provided relations, like one object containing another or an object being worn, but the developer can add his/her own relations. A developer might add relations indicating love or hatred between beings, or to track which characters in a game have met each other.
Inform 7 is a highly domain-specific programming language, providing the writer/programmer with a much higher level of abstraction than Inform 6, and highly readable resulting source code. General-purpose logical and arithmetic statements are written in natural language (see e.g. the "Physics" example in The Inform Recipe Book).In early Inform 7, the compiler translates the code to Inform 6, much like CFront did with C++ and C. The current compiler (as of version 10 of 2022) is additionally able to translate the code directly to C for a native executable, and to generate an "index mini-website" describing the story.
Example game
Statements in Inform 7 take the form of complete sentences. Blank lines and indentation are in some places structurally significant. The basic form of an Inform 7 program is as follows:
The following is a reimplementation of the above "Hello Deductible" example written in Inform 7. It relies on the library known as "The Standard Rules" which are automatically included in all Inform 7 compilations.
Notable games written in Inform 7
Mystery House Possessed (2005), by Emily Short, was the first Inform 7 game released to be public. It was released as part of the "Mystery House Taken Over" project.
On March 1, 2006, Short announced the release of three further games:Bronze (an example of a traditional puzzle-intensive game) and Damnatio Memoriae (a follow-up to her award-winning Inform 6 game Savoir-Faire) were joined by Graham Nelson's The Reliques of Tolti-Aph (2006). When the Inform 7 public beta was announced on April 30, 2006, six "worked examples" of medium to large scale works were made available along with their source code, including the three games previously released on March 1.Emily Short's Floatpoint was the first Inform 7 game to take first place in the Interactive Fiction Competition.
It also won 2006 XYZZY Awards for Best Setting and Best NPCs. Rendition, by nespresso (2007), is a political art experiment in the form of a text adventure game. Its approach to tragedy has been discussed academically by both the Association for Computing Machinery and Cambridge University.
See also
Inform version history
Interactive fiction § Development systems lists software similar to Inform
TADS The Text Adventure Development System (TADS), another leading IF development system
Further reading
Inform 6The official manual of Inform is Graham Nelson's Inform Designer's Manual: it is a tutorial, a manual, and a technical document rolled into one. It is available online for free at Inform's official website, and two printed editions are available: a softcover (ISBN 0-9713119-0-0) and a hardcover (ISBN 0-9713119-3-5).
The Inform Beginner's Guide by Roger Firth and Sonja Kesserich (ISBN 0-9713119-2-7) attempts to provide a more gentle introduction to Inform. It is available for free at Inform's official website.Inform 7The SPAG Interview - An interview with designers Graham Nelson and Emily Short about the development of Inform 7. This interview was made shortly before its release and published on the same day as the initial release.
"Natural Language, Semantic Analysis and Interactive Fiction" - A paper on the design of Inform 7 by designer Graham Nelson.
Cloak of Darkness: Inform Archived August 30, 2016, at the Wayback Machine presents the same, short game implemented in both Inform 6 and Inform 7, as well as other languages for comparison.
Inform 6 - Official web site
Inform 6 FAQ Archived October 10, 2016, at the Wayback Machine at Roger Firth's IF Pages provides details on programming in Inform 6.
Inform 7 - Official web site.
Inform at Curlie
The Interactive Fiction Archive provides many Inform tools, examples, and library files.
Playfic is a web-based interface for creating and sharing new games using Inform 7.
Guncho is a multiplayer interactive fiction system based on Inform 7 with a combination of MUD-like and web-based interfaces. |
ISLISP (also capitalized as ISLisp) is a programming language in the Lisp family standardized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) joint working group ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 16 (commonly termed simply SC22/WG16 or WG16). The primary output of this working group was an international standard, published by ISO. The standard was updated in 2007 and republished as ISO/IEC 13816:2007(E). Although official publication was through ISO, versions of the ISLISP language specification are available that are believed to be in the public domain.The goal of this standards effort was to define a small, core language to help bridge the gap between differing dialects of Lisp. It attempted to accomplish this goal by studying primarily Common Lisp, EuLisp, Le Lisp, and Scheme and standardizing only those features shared between them.
Design goals
ISLISP has these design goals:
Compatible with extant Lisp dialects where feasible
Provide basic functionality
Object-oriented
Design for extensibility
Prioritize industrial needs over academic needs
Promote efficient implementations and applicationsISLISP has separate function and variable namespaces (hence it is a Lisp-2).
ISLISP's object system, ILOS, is mostly a subset of the Common Lisp Object System (CLOS).
Implementations
ISLISP implementations have been made for many operating systems including: Windows, most Unix and POSIX based (Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, Cygwin, QNX), Android, DOS, OS/2, Pocket PC, OpenVMS, and z/OS.
Implementations for hardware computer architectures include: x86, x86-64, IA-64, SPARC, SPARC9, PowerPC, MIPS, Alpha, PA-RISC, ARM, AArch64
Two older implementations are no longer available:
TISL, by Masato Izumi and Takayasu Ito (Tohoku University), was an interpreter and compiler.
G-LISP, by Josef Jelinek, was a Java applet.
ISLISP 2007 draft in PDF format
ISLISP 2007 draft in HTML format
ISLISP page of Kent M Pitman
ISLISP page of OKI ISLISP developers
ISLISP on Software Preservation Group |
DataFlex is an object-oriented high-level programming language and a fourth generation visual tool for developing Windows, web and mobile software applications on one framework-based platform. It was introduced and developed by Data Access Corporation beginning in 1982.
History and overview
DataFlex can be traced back to 1982 when the company called Data Access Corporation (founded in 1976) created and developed a language allowing application code to run on almost any system architecture, regardless of hardware. It started as a relatively early example of a fully fledged and commercially used fourth-generation programming language (4GL). In its early forms, DataFlex was available for CP/M, MS-DOS, TurboDOS, Novell NetWare, OS/2, Unix, VMS and IBM AIX operating systems. By 1985, DataFlex was applied in a variety of high-tech industries including automated inventory control systems and insurance fraud detection systems.DataFlex has lasted many years as a niche application development environment. The DataFlex product supports many relational database environments: Oracle database, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM Db2, MySQL, PostgreSQL and any ODBC database. DataFlex applications are used by around 3 million users. In 1991, the 3.0 version with a modernized interface was released. In 2014, Data Access released 2014/18.0 version. The release of DataFlex 2023/23.0 introduced FlexTron technology that allows the usage of web controls within Windows desktop applications.
DataFlex is developed and provided by Data Access Worldwide, a software company with main offices in Miami, Florida, Hengelo, Netherlands, and São Paulo, Brazil.
Features
The DataFlex language supports:
Supports many database environments: Oracle database, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM Db2, MySQL, PostgreSQL as well as any ODBC database.
Easily switch between database backends, no code change needed.
Variables are loosely typed. The virtual machine takes care of conversions.
Flexibility; the language is object oriented, so developers can create subclasses and libraries.
Code compiles to an intermediate byte-code which makes the programs easily portable between operating systems.
No threads or multitasking
Methods can - for ease of coding - be defined or redefined inside the object definition. Technically the compiler simply sub-classes the superclass and adds the methods to the class.
Automatic delegation of messages in the object-oriented programming environment
Embedded Database access is ISAM-based. It can be used royalty-free.
Language Extension
Functions defined in Dynamic Link Libraries can be used.
Classes, methods and properties defined in a COM module can be used. COM automation, controls and embedding is supported.
Development environments
The DataFlex programming language is used in the following development environments:
DataFlex Studio
This is the flagship visual development environment from Data Access Worldwide. DataFlex is available for Microsoft Windows only. DataFlex is a GUI development language in a style comparable with Visual Basic, Delphi and C++. From version 4 (1996) up until version 17.1 (2015), the product was labeled Visual DataFlex.
DataFlex WebApp Server
Available for Microsoft IIS only, the DataFlex WebApp Server can be used to develop thin client applications such as browser-based applications (both full class browsers such as Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Opera, as well as WAP browsers). Developers can also create Web Service client and server applications. The server has built-in load balancing capabilities which also assist with High Availability, this does, however, require an SPLF license.
Web Framework
DataFlex includes a web framework for writing web and mobile applications.
Character mode DataFlex
The latest iteration of the original character mode application (3.2) is available as a Console Mode application for MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows and Unix variants (notably Linux).
Data Access Worldwide website
DataFlex Learning database (online resource for learning about building applications with DataFlex)
VDF-GUIdance (independent resource for users of the DataFlex programming language) |
Visual DialogScript (VDS) is an interpreted programming language for Microsoft Windows. It can be used to create small and fast programs. VDS has a large number of dialog and graphic elements available to create professional-looking programs. VDS programs have access to the Windows API; therefore, it is possible to write applications that can perform the same advanced tasks as other programming languages such as Visual Basic, C++, or Delphi.
Language
Unlike other programming languages, the syntax of VDS is very simple. Each command occupies one line and has a plain English name that clearly describes its purpose. Variables are typeless and can hold many kinds of information, for example, numbers or text. Functions are clearly distinguishable with names that start with '@', just like a spreadsheet.
The DialogScript language has a simple syntax, not unlike the MS-DOS batch language. It is designed for ease of use and efficiency when being interpreted by the run-time engine. There are 10 system variables, %0 to %9, which initially have the script file name in %0 and command line parameters in %1 through %9, just as in a batch file. There are also a further 26 user variables, from %A to %Z. The contents of all variables (including system ones) can be changed once the script is running. There are now also 4032 global variables. These variables begin with %%, a letter, then alphanumerics plus underscores (e.g., %%my_variable_1.) There is no limit on the length of these user-defined variable names.
Syntax examples
Comments:
This is a single line comment
REM This is a single line commentSimple Information Message Box:
info "This is the information text"Simple Warning Message Box:
warn "This is the warning text"Create a custom dialog box:
dialog create,<name>,<top pixel position>,<left pixel position>,<width in pixels>,<height in pixels>Write to the Windows Registry:
registry write,<root key>,<key>,<subkey>,<data>Display an input prompt dialog box, storing the result in the variable %A:
%A = @input("Please enter a value:")
History
Visual DialogScript was created by Julian Moss (1953 – October 24, 2014) of JM-Tech/Tech-Pro Ltd. In 1998, after version 3.0, Emmanuel Daunizeau of S.A.D.E. sarl, took over the ownership and development of VDS, modifying and improving its syntax. Currently, VDS is marketed by the British company Commercial Research Ltd. and is still the property of Emmanuel Daunizeau who; continues to develop it.
Several versions of VDS have been released over time:
Visual DialogScript 2.0
Visual DialogScript 2.5
Visual DialogScript 3.0
Visual DialogScript 3.5
Visual DialogScript 4
Visual DialogScript 4.5
Visual DialogScript 5
Visual DialogScript 5.01
Visual DialogScript 5.02
Visual DialogScript 6
Currently available versions
There are several versions available for download:
Personal Visual DialogScript (PVDS) 4: This freeware version is intended for students and home PC users. The package includes a short tutorial and full online help, which includes many example scripts. The software is not licensable for commercial use. This version is incapable of producing compiled executable files; however, compiling files is not necessary, as a script file can be executed directly by opening it from Windows Explorer on any system that has PVDS installed on it.
Visual DialogScript 2.5 (16-Bit Edition): This version marked the last release for Windows 3.1+ (16-bit).
Visual DialogScript 5: This version is for power users, business users, and professional developers who use—or are developing scripts for—Windows 95/98/ME or Windows NT/2000/XP. This version can create compiled executable files, and includes a royalty-free run-time license (once registered). Additional features include an icon editor and support for many add-on extensions. As a 32-bit program, it supports long filenames, task bar tray icons, unlimited length strings and string lists and the Windows Registry. This legacy version is now available for download for registered users and is not available for purchase.
Visual DialogScript 6: The newest version of Visual DialogScript improves upon Visual DialogScript 5 and adds full support for Windows Vista. Additionally, the registered version can now create standalone compiled executable files that do not require an external runtime file.
Official Visual DialogScript Site
VDSWORLD: The Unofficial VDS Community
VDSWORLD Discussion Forums
uVeDeSe: Unofficial Visual DialogScript Spanish Site
DragonSphere Software - Home of GadgetX Site
ShinobiSoft Software - Home of SSMenu, SSTreeVw, and SSZip dlls |
Visual J++ is Microsoft's discontinued implementation of Java. Syntax, keywords, and grammatical conventions were the same as Java's. It was introduced in 1996 and discontinued in January 2004, replaced to a certain extent by J# and C#.
The implementation, MSJVM, did not pass Sun Microsystems' compliance tests leading to a lawsuit from Sun, Java's creator. Microsoft ceased such support for the MSJVM on December 31, 2007 (later Oracle bought Sun, and with it Java and its trademarks). Microsoft however, officially started distributing Java again in 2021 (though not bundled with Windows or its web browsers as before), i.e. their build of Oracle's OpenJDK, which Microsoft plans to support for at least 6 years, for LTS versions, i.e. to September 2027 for Java 17.
J++ compared to Sun's Java implementation
While J++ conformed to the Java language specification, Microsoft did not implement certain features of the official Sun Java implementation in its Visual J++ product line. Remote Method Invocation (Java RMI) and Java Native Interface (JNI) are such examples.In addition, J++ implemented other extensions that were not part of Sun's Java implementation. The inclusion of callbacks and delegates for event handling further contributed to defining J++ as a completely different language merely based on an already existing design concept.
Furthermore, J++ applications did not conform to the same standardized method of accessing the underlying operating system functions as any other Java application under Sun's Java SDK. In Microsoft's implementation, an underlying framework called J/Direct provided a base mechanism that allowed J++ applications to completely circumvent Java's class libraries and API in accessing the underlying operating system. Due to this short-cut around the original Java framework, J++ applications were more efficient in taking advantage of Win32 API functions than Java applications.
J++ applications using these features could not be run on Sun's Java SDK, but the Kaffe project developed extensions which made it possible to run J++ applications with these features on their open sourced JVM. However, these extensions (implemented by TransVirtual under Microsoft funding) were not widely used, and J++ applications still needed to be compiled on Visual J++ before being able to be run by Kaffe.Visual J++ supported ActiveX.
The WFC
The Windows Foundation Classes (WFC) encapsulated the Microsoft Win32 platform API and DHTML object models into a unified class library. WFC was primarily designed for creating graphical user interfaces for Java applications on Windows.
Sun's litigation against Microsoft
Sun Microsystems had originally licensed Java to Microsoft but later initiated litigation against Microsoft for trademark violation. Sun's trademark license for usage of the Java brand insists that all implementations be "compatible".
Some observers have remarked that this incompatibility appears to have been a deliberate aim of Microsoft's, in an attempt to at least slow the advance of Sun's Java technology.The failure of the MSJVM to pass Sun's compliance tests was a large factor in the initial lawsuit. In 2004, this and all other outstanding Sun–Microsoft lawsuits were settled as part of a wide-ranging agreement between Sun and Microsoft. As provided in the settlement, Microsoft could not incorporate into J++ features that Sun introduced into Java in versions beyond the one J++ had (at that date) been mirrored from; it would be frozen at the feature set of Java version 1.1.4. This effectively killed J++, and ended further updates. Microsoft was also forced to agree to cease distribution of the MSJVM; it is no longer available for download.
The terms of the settlement did, however, permit Microsoft to provide security support, allowing further updates to the MSJVM to fix security holes and any other problems relating to security threats. Microsoft ceased such support for the MSJVM on December 31, 2007.The technology of J++ was eventually recycled, surviving for a while as part of the Microsoft .NET platform and the J# programming language.
Visual J++ – the IDE
Visual J++ was also the name of the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for J++ and provided many tools and utilities to help J++ programmers fully leverage the Win32 API.
Visual J++ is no longer available for distribution, but it was part of the Microsoft Visual Studio product line. Visual Studio 6.0 was the last release to include J++.
Visual J#
Visual J# (pronounced "Jay Sharp") is a Microsoft language whose syntax is close to Java, part of the .NET Framework. Visual J# is part of the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET product suite and is designed to help developers and programmers migrate from J++ (or Java) to the .NET Framework.
Microsoft later developed the C# ("C Sharp") language as the primary language for the .NET platform, which was in many ways influenced by Java; subsequently the .NET Framework shares many ideas in common with Java. Much like Java, C# is compiled to a type of bytecode (called CIL), and runs on top of a virtual machine called the Common Language Runtime in .NET. Visual Studio 2005 was the last release to include J#.
Product Features in Visual J++ – By Edition
Microsoft Visual J#
Microsoft Java Web Site
Sun's Agreement with Microsoft |
DATATRIEVE is a database query and report writer tool originally from Digital Equipment Corporation. It runs on the OpenVMS operating system, as well as several PDP-11 operating systems. DATATRIEVE's command structure is nearly plain English, and it is an early example of a Fourth Generation Language (4GL).
Overview
DATATRIEVE works against flat files, indexed files, and databases. Such data files are delimited using record definitions stored in the Common Data Dictionary (CDD), or in RMS files. DATATRIEVE is used at many OpenVMS installations.
History
DATATRIEVE was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s by a team of software engineers at DEC's Central Commercial Engineering facilities in Merrimack and Nashua, New Hampshire, under database architect Jim Starkey. Many of the project's engineers went on to highly visible careers in database management and other software disciplines.
Version 1 for the PDP-11 was released in 1977; VAX DATATRIEVE was released in 1981 as part of the VAX Information Architecture.
DATATRIEVE adopted the wombat as its notional mascot; the program's help file responded to “HELP WOMBAT” with factual information about real world wombats.
Examples of DATATRIEVE usage
DATATRIEVE queries and commands approach plain English sentence structure, though would not be considered natural language, since a precise sentence structure must be used:
DTR> FOR FAMILIES WITH NUMBER_KIDS = 2
CON> PRINT KID_NAME, AGE OF KIDS WITH AGE GT 20
DATATRIEVE can also be used to modify data:
DTR> FOR FAMILIES MODIFY EACH_KID OF FIRST 1 KIDS
Enter KID_NAME:
DATATRIEVE can also cross multiple datasets, creating joined data views:
DTR> PRINT NAME, TYPE, PRICE OF
CON> YACHTS CROSS OWNERS OVER TYPE
"DATATRIEVE". VSI. March 2017. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
Joe H. Gallagher. "The DATATRIEVE Programmer". Retrieved 2013-09-02.
Martin P.J. Zinser. "Datatrieve and Wombats". IBPhoenix. Retrieved 2013-09-02. |
DIBOL or Digital's Business Oriented Language is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that was designed for use in Management Information Systems (MIS) software development. It was developed from 1970 to 1993.
DIBOL has a syntax similar to FORTRAN and BASIC, along with BCD arithmetic. It shares the COBOL program structure of separate data and procedure divisions. Unlike Fortran's numeric labels (for GOTO), DIBOL's were alphanumeric; the language supported a counterpart to computed goto.
History
DIBOL was originally marketed by Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) in 1970.
The original version, DIBOL-8, was produced for PDP-8 systems running COS-300. The PDP-8-like DECmate II, supports the COS-310 Commercial Operating System, featuring DIBOL.DIBOL-11 was developed for the PDP-11 running COS-350 operating system. It also ran on RSX-11, RT-11, and from 1978 on RSTS/E. DIBOL-32 runs on VMS systems, although it can also be used on other systems through emulators.
ANSI Standards were released in 1983, 1988 and 1992 (ANSI X3.165-1992). The 1992 standard was revised in 2002.
DIBOL compilers were developed by several other companies, including DBL from DISC (later Synergex), Softbol from Omtool, and Unibol from Software Ireland, Ltd. Development of DIBOL effectively ceased after 1993, when an agreement between DEC and DISC replaced DIBOL with DBL on OpenVMS, Digital UNIX, and SCO Unix.
See also
Timeline of programming languages
Reading
American National Standards Institute; Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (CBEMA) (1988). American National Standard for Information Systems- Programming Language, DIBOL. New York, NY: American National Standards Institute. OCLC 23056850. : |author2= has generic name (help)
American National Standards Institute; Computer and Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (CBEMA) (1992). American National Standard for Information Systems- Programming Language, DIBOL. New York, NY: American National Standards Institute. OCLC 27058852. : |author2= has generic name (help) |
DRAKON (Russian: Дружелюбный Русский Алгоритмический язык, Который Обеспечивает Наглядность, lit. 'Friendly Russian Algorithmic language Which Provides Clarity') is a free and open source algorithmic visual programming and modeling language developed as part of the defunct Soviet Union Buran space program in 1986 following the need in increase of software development productivity. The visual language provides a uniform way to represent processes in flowcharts.
There are various implementation of the language specification that may be used to draw and export actual flowcharts. Notable examples include free and open source DRAKON Editor (September 2011).
History
The development of DRAKON started in 1986 to address the emerging risk of misunderstandings - and subsequent errors - between users of different programming languages in the Russian space program. Its development was directed by Vladimir Parondzhanov with the participation of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Academician Pilyugin Center, Moscow) and Russian Academy of Sciences (Keldysh Institute of Applied Mathematics).
The language was constructed by formalization, ergonomization and nonclassical structurization of flowcharts described in the ISO 5807-85 standard and Russian standard «Гост 19.701-90».The goal was to replace specialized languages used in the Buran project with one universal programming language. Namely PROL2 (ПРОЛ2), used for developing inflight systems software for the computer system Biser-4 (Бисер-4), DIPOL (ДИПОЛЬ), used for developing software for the ground maintenance computer systems) and LAKS (ЛАКС), used for modelling.
The work was finished in 1996 (3 years after the Buran project was officially closed), when an automated CASE programming system called "Grafit-Floks" was developed.This CASE is used since 1996 in: an international project Sea Launch, Russian orbit insertion upper stage Fregat (Russian: Фрегат, frigate) for onboard control systems and tests, upgraded heavy launch vehicle (carrier rocket) Proton-M.
Overview
The name DRAKON is the Russian acronym for "Дружелюбный Русский Алгоритмический [язык], Который Обеспечивает Наглядность", which translates to "Friendly Russian Algorithmic [language] that illustrates (or provides clarity)".
The word "наглядность" (pronounced approximately as "naa-glya-dno-st-th") refers to a concept or idea being easy to imagine and understand, and may be translated as "clarity".
Unlike UML's philosophy, DRAKON's language philosophy is based on being augmented if needed, by using a hybrid language, which can be illustrated as "incrustating code snippets from text language used into shape DRAKON requires". This way, DRAKON always remains a simple visual language that can be used as an augmentation for a programmer who is interested in making their own project code easier to support or other long-term needs for example improving the ergonomics of the coding process or to making code easier to review and understand.
The DRAKON language can be used both as a modelling/"markup" language (which is considered a standalone "pure DRAKON" program) and as a programming language (as part of a hybrid language).
Integration of a stricter, "academic", variant of a markup language into programming, such as provided by DRAKON, adds syntactic sugar allowing users of different programming languages to comprehend each other's contributions to the overall project and even provide commentary if needed.
Family of DRAKON languages
DRAKON (Russian: ДРАКОН; meaning "dragon" in English) is designed with the intent of allowing for easy understanding and legibility, as usage of multiple languages in a single project can lead to confusion.
DRAKON is a family of hybrid languages, such as DRAKON-C, DRAKON-ASM, DRAKON-Java, etc. All languages of the DRAKON-family share a uniform, graphical syntax based on flowcharts. The standard graphical syntax provides similarity of drakon-charts for different hybrid languages. The text language uses its own syntax.
The basis of the graphical syntax is a graphical alphabet. Graphical elements ("letters") of the DRAKON alphabet are called icons (not symbols). DRAKON also has macroicons. Macroicons are the graphical words of the DRAKON language; they consist of icons. There are 27 icons and 21 macroicons in the DRAKON language.
Drakon-charts are constructed out of icons and macroicons.
The important parts of maсroiсons are valence points (in the illustration depicted as black circles). Into these points, icons or microicons can be successively entered and arranged by the drakon-editor into columns.
Design
DRAKON was created as an easy to learn visual language to aid the comprehension of computer programs written in different programming languages for illustrative, planning and strategy purposes.
DRAKON uses drakon-chart, which is a formalization of traditional flowcharts to depict the overall structure of the program. Code snippets of a programming language are added to the DRAKON icons. The combination of visual elements with code helps with the creation and maintenance of readable flowcharts alongside the development of the program in question.
DRAKON rules for creating diagrams are cognitively optimized for easy comprehension, making it a tool for intelligence augmentation.Drakon-charts of big multi-purpose programs can be complex and hard to comprehend. A set of smaller programs, that together serve the same purpose, are often easier to understand when depicted as drakon-charts. A similar problem exists in maintaining code of large programs. This problem is occasionally referred to as "rule of 30 [lines of code]" among programmers.
Visual syntax
The full-text article containing description of the visual syntax of the DRAKON language in English, 12 pages, free to download, pdf.
Examples
Tetris example
Simple example of a program in the DRAKON language
These examples are real code from an implementation of the Tetris game. The examples are in DRAKON-JavaScript language. The icons (visual primitives) of the DRAKON language define the overall structure of the algorithms. The code snippets inside the icons (primitives) are in JavaScript.
advanceStep
The advanceStep function implements the core logic of the game. advanceStep is a state machine represented as a decision tree. The game engine calls advanceStep periodically. This state machine has three states "playing", "dropping", and "finished". The game takes different actions depending on the current state. For example, in the "playing" state, when there is a falling projectile and the projectile can move down, it is moved down one step.
With DRAKON, the reader of the algorithm can visually trace all possible paths in the decision tree.
noProjectile
The noProjectile function handles the specific situation when there is no falling projectile. If there is a filled row, that row is removed from the grid. Otherwise, the game tries to insert a new projectile. If there is no space for the projectile, the game is lost.
clearRow
The clearRow function scans all rows bottom-up until it hits a row with no gaps. In such case the row is removed from the grid, the score is increased, and the game's tempo goes up.
DRAKON execution animation
The picture below illustrated the execution of the silhouette DRAKON algorithm. The algorithm execution is animated by highlighting diagram elements in the running order.
The 'Fishing' silhouette consists of four trees:
Preparing for fishing.
Waiting for a bite.
Fishing work.
Way back.The main path of each tree is shown by highlighting thick vertical line which is called a skewer.
The flow graph always has a path from the Headline icon to each vertex (node) of the control flow graph. Consequently, a silhouette can't have unreachable code in any conditions.
Modern usage
DRAKON in the German Aerospace Center
DRAKON language is used in the German Aerospace Center for implementation of some critical functions dictated by the safety regulations of the flight tests, where automation is important because of maximum distance to the ground station and the process needs quick automatic execution.
The DRAKON Editor software was used to graphically program flowcharts which were specially checked. C-code was generated from the drakon-charts, for instance, for DRAKON representation of launch detection code.
Business processes modelling
The DRAKON language may be used as the language to model and visualize business processes.
"The DRAKON language was applied as the basic language for constructing models of business processes, which makes it possible to obtain a prototype of a finite-state machine when building models of business processes. The visualization of business processes in the state space allows the decision maker to improve the efficiency of the decision-making".
Uses outside of programming
While DRAKON is primarily designed as a tool for comprehending computer programs, drakon-charts can also be used to illustrate processes in fields not related to computing.
In the DRAKON editor pictures can be added to the DRAKON icons. This ability is used in some fields to easily create "flowchart like" infographics. In Russia the DRAKON editor is known for being used in the medical field as a tool for making 'instructional' charts for patients or medical personnel.
→
V. Parondzhanov. How to improve the work of your mind. Algorithms without programmers - it's very simple! (Как улучшить работу ума. Алгоритмы без программистов - это очень просто! М.: Дело, 2001. - 360с.)
S. Mitkin. DRAKON: The Human Revolution in Understanding Programs
About the DRAKON language in English
DRAKON Editor at GitHub |
DYNAMO (DYNAmic MOdels) is a simulation language and accompanying graphical notation developed within the system dynamics analytical framework. It was originally for industrial dynamics but was soon extended to other applications, including population and resource studies
and urban planning.DYNAMO was initially developed under the direction of Jay Wright Forrester in the late 1950s, by Dr. Phyllis Fox,
Alexander L. Pugh III, Grace Duren,
and others
at the M.I.T. Computation Center.DYNAMO was used for the system dynamics simulations of global resource depletion reported in the Club of Rome's Limits to Growth, but has since fallen into disuse.
Beginnings
In 1958, Forrester unwittingly instigated DYNAMO's development when he asked an MIT staff programmer to compute needed solutions to some equations, for a Harvard Business Review paper he was writing about industrial dynamics.
The programmer, Richard Bennett, chose to implement a system (SIMPLE - "Simulation of Industrial Management Problems with Lots of Equations") that took coded equations as symbolic input and computed solutions. SIMPLE became the proof-of-concept for DYNAMO: rather than have a specialist programmer "hard-code" a special-purpose solver in a general purpose programming language, users could specify a system's equations in a special simulation language and get simulation output from one program execution.
Design goals
DYNAMO was designed to emphasize the following:
ease-of-use for the industrial dynamics modeling community (who were not assumed to be expert programmers);
immediate execution of the compiled model, without producing an intermediate object file; and
providing graphical output, with line printer and pen plotter graphics.Among the ways in which DYNAMO was above the standard of the time, it featured units checking of numerical types and relatively clear error messages.
Implementation
The earliest versions were written in assembly language for the IBM 704, then for the IBM 709 and IBM 7090. DYNAMO II was written in AED-0, an extended version of Algol 60.
Dynamo II/F, in 1971, generated portable FORTRAN code
and both Dynamo II/F and Dynamo III improved the system's portability by being written in FORTRAN.Originally designed for batch processing on mainframe computers, it was made available on minicomputers in the late 1970s,
and became available as "micro-Dynamo" on personal computers in the early 1980s.
The language went through several revisions from DYNAMO II up to DYNAMO IV in 1983,
Impact and issues
Apart from its (indirectly felt) public impact in environmental issues raised by the controversy over Limits to Growth, DYNAMO was influential in the history of discrete-event simulation even though it was essentially a package for continuous simulation specified through difference equations. It has been said by some to have opened opportunities for computer modelling even for users of relatively low mathematical sophistication. On the other hand, it has also been criticized as weak precisely where mathematical sophistication should be required and for relying only on Euler integration.
Bibliography
Introduction to System Dynamics Modeling with Dynamo (1981), George P. Richardson; Alexander L. Pugh III, Pegasus Communications, ISBN 1-883823-43-9
Modeling the Environment: An Introduction To System Dynamics Modeling Of Environmental Systems (1999), Andrew Ford, Island Press, ISBN 1-55963-601-7
Appendix D: Dynamo
"The Prophet of Unintended Consequences", Lawrence M. Fisher, strategy+business #40 Autumn 2005 [3]
Corporate Planning and Policy Design: A System Dynamics Approach (1981), James M. Lyneis, (MIT Press/Wright-Allen Series in System Dynamics) ISBN 0-262-12083-6
Modeling for Learning Organizations (2000), John D.W. Morecroft, John D. Sterman; Productivity Press (System Dynamics Series) (Hardcover) ISBN 1-56327-250-4
Dynamics of growth in a finite world (1974), Dennis L. Meadows, Wright-Allen Press, ISBN 0-9600294-4-3
Appendix C: How to Read a DYNAMO Flow Diagram;
Appendix D: How to Read Dynamo Equations
Appendix E: How to Read a DYNAMO Graphical Output
Computer-Assisted Theory Building: Modeling Dynamic Social Systems (1988), Dr. Robert Hanneman, Sage Publications, Inc., 0803929617
Computer Simulation in Management Science (1998), Michael Pidd, Wiley, ISBN 0-471-97931-7
Simulation for the social scientist (2005), G. Nigel Gilbert, Klaus G. Troitzsch, Open University Press, ISBN 0-335-21600-5
DYNAMO - excerpt from manual contains much more detailed history. |
Visual Objects is an object-oriented computer programming language that is used to create computer programs that operate primarily under Windows. Although it can be used as a general-purpose programming tool, it is almost exclusively used to create database programs.
The original Visual Objects project (code-named Aspen) was started as part of Nantucket's attempts to bring the Clipper language to Windows, and move from the procedural to the object-oriented style. It also converted Clipper from a p-code system to being a true native compiler and introduced more elements of the C language (such as typed variables), while including Windows extensions (such as COM, ODBC, and later ADO). With its symbol datatype, it offers the ability to form name-based linkages, which may be used to connect menu events to object methods or form direct linkages between server columns and controls.
The Windows version was finally brought to market by Computer Associates. Unfortunately it was released before it was market-ready and in almost head-to-head competition with the first release of the Borland Delphi product. The language is still in use however the last release by GrafX Software was in 2012 of version 2.8 sp4 (version number 2838). GrafX announced that after this no new versions would be released. The next incarnation of the Visual Objects language is Vulcan.NET, written by GrafX from scratch to be both Visual Objects compatible and be a true CLS compliant .NET language, taking full advantage of the .NET framework.
See also
XBase
Clipper (programming language)
Harbour (software)
XSharp
Visual FoxPro
"Google newsgroup 'comp.lang.clipper.visual-objects'". Retrieved 11 September 2019.
"CA-Visual Objects 2.5 Released". 29 June 1999. Retrieved 11 September 2019. |
Visual Prolog, previously known as PDC Prolog and Turbo Prolog, is a strongly typed object-oriented extension of Prolog. As Turbo Prolog, it was marketed by Borland but it is now developed and marketed by the Danish firm PDC that originally created it. Visual Prolog can build Microsoft Windows GUI-applications, console applications, DLLs (dynamic link libraries), and CGI-programs. It can also link to COM components and to databases by means of ODBC.
Visual Prolog contains a compiler which generates x86 machine code. Unlike standard Prolog, programs written in Visual Prolog are statically typed. This allows some errors to be caught at compile-time instead of run-time.
History
Hanoi example
In the Towers of Hanoi example, the Prolog inference engine figures out how to move a stack of any number of progressively smaller disks, one at a time, from the left pole to the right pole in the described way, by means of a center as transit, so that there's never a bigger disk on top of a smaller disk. The predicate hanoi takes an integer indicating the number of disks as an initial argument.
Reception
Bruce F. Webster of BYTE praised Turbo Prolog in September 1986, stating that it was the first Borland product to excite him as much as Turbo Pascal did. He liked the user interface and low price, and reported that two BYU professors stated that it was superior to the Prolog they used at the university. While questioning the market demand for the language, Webster concluded that "Turbo Prolog may be as significant a leap in software design as Turbo Pascal represented three years ago", and recommended it to those "at all interested in artificial intelligence, databases, expert systems, or new ways of thinking about programming". Another author in the magazine that month wrote that the language's nonstandard, more structured syntax as making "source listings much more readable than those of standard Prolog". While stating that it had "many good features", he stated that Turbo Prolog's "Turbo Pascal flavor in its compiler and strong data typing ... create an identity problem for the language". Describing it as "Turbo Paslog", the author concluded that he does "not recommend it if you are seriously considering becoming a Prolog programmer". The magazine in 1989 listed Turbo Prolog 2.0 as among the "Distinction" winners of the BYTE Awards, approving of how Borland had "developed a system for real-world applications programming".
Books about Visual Prolog
Thomas W. de Boer, A Beginners Guide to Visual Prolog
Chinese translation
Eduardo Costa, Visual Prolog for Tyros
Russian translation
Chinese translation
Giovanni Torrero, VISUAL PROLOG PER PRINCIPIANTI Italian 113 pages (pdf)
Randall Scott, A Guide to Artificial Intelligence with Visual Prolog, ISBN 978-1-4327-4936-1
See also
Comparison of Prolog implementations
Logtalk
Mercury (programming language)
Official website |
Can You Keep a Secret? may refer to:
"Can You Keep a Secret?" (song) by Hikaru Utada
Can You Keep a Secret? (novel) by Sophie Kinsella
Can You Keep a Secret? (film) directed by Elise Duran |
Karl Theodor Wilhelm Weierstrass (German: Weierstraß [ˈvaɪɐʃtʁaːs]; 31 October 1815 – 19 February 1897) was a German mathematician often cited as the "father of modern analysis". Despite leaving university without a degree, he studied mathematics and trained as a school teacher, eventually teaching mathematics, physics, botany and gymnastics. He later received an honorary doctorate and became professor of mathematics in Berlin.
Among many other contributions, Weierstrass formalized the definition of the continuity of a function and complex analysis, proved the intermediate value theorem and the Bolzano–Weierstrass theorem, and used the latter to study the properties of continuous functions on closed bounded intervals.
Biography
Weierstrass was born into a Roman Catholic family in Ostenfelde, a village near Ennigerloh, in the Province of Westphalia.Weierstrass was the son of Wilhelm Weierstrass, a government official, and Theodora Vonderforst both of whom were Catholic Rhinelanders. His interest in mathematics began while he was a gymnasium student at the Theodorianum in Paderborn. He was sent to the University of Bonn upon graduation to prepare for a government position. Because his studies were to be in the fields of law, economics, and finance, he was immediately in conflict with his hopes to study mathematics. He resolved the conflict by paying little heed to his planned course of study but continuing private study in mathematics. The outcome was that he left the university without a degree. He then studied mathematics at the Münster Academy (which was even then famous for mathematics) and his father was able to obtain a place for him in a teacher training school in Münster. Later he was certified as a teacher in that city. During this period of study, Weierstrass attended the lectures of Christoph Gudermann and became interested in elliptic functions.
In 1843 he taught in Deutsch Krone in West Prussia and since 1848 he taught at the Lyceum Hosianum in Braunsberg. Besides mathematics he also taught physics, botany, and gymnastics.Weierstrass may have had an illegitimate child named Franz with the widow of his friend Carl Wilhelm Borchardt.After 1850 Weierstrass suffered from a long period of illness, but was able to publish mathematical articles that brought him fame and distinction. The University of Königsberg conferred an honorary doctor's degree on him on 31 March 1854. In 1856 he took a chair at the Gewerbeinstitut in Berlin (an institute to educate technical workers which would later merge with the Bauakademie to form the Technical University of Berlin). In 1864 he became professor at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Berlin, which later became the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.
In 1870, at the age of fifty-five, Weierstrass met Sofia Kovalevsky whom he tutored privately after failing to secure her admission to the university. They had a fruitful intellectual, and kindly personal relationship that "far transcended the usual teacher-student relationship". He mentored her for four years, and regarded her as his best student, helping to secure a doctorate for her from Heidelberg University without the need for an oral thesis defense. He was immobile for the last three years of his life, and died in Berlin from pneumonia.
Mathematical contributions
Soundness of calculus
Weierstrass was interested in the soundness of calculus, and at the time there were somewhat ambiguous definitions of the foundations of calculus so that important theorems could not be proven with sufficient rigour. Although Bolzano had developed a reasonably rigorous definition of a limit as early as 1817 (and possibly even earlier) his work remained unknown to most of the mathematical community until years later,
and many mathematicians had only vague definitions of limits and continuity of functions.
The basic idea behind Delta-epsilon proofs is, arguably, first found in the works of Cauchy in the 1820s.
Cauchy did not clearly distinguish between continuity and uniform continuity on an interval. Notably, in his 1821 Cours d'analyse, Cauchy argued that the (pointwise) limit of (pointwise) continuous functions was itself (pointwise) continuous, a statement that is false in general. The correct statement is rather that the uniform limit of continuous functions is continuous (also, the uniform limit of uniformly continuous functions is uniformly continuous).
This required the concept of uniform convergence, which was first observed by Weierstrass's advisor, Christoph Gudermann, in an 1838 paper, where Gudermann noted the phenomenon but did not define it or elaborate on it. Weierstrass saw the importance of the concept, and both formalized it and applied it widely throughout the foundations of calculus.
The formal definition of continuity of a function, as formulated by Weierstrass, is as follows:
f
(
x
)
{\displaystyle \displaystyle f(x)}
is continuous at
x
=
x
0
{\displaystyle \displaystyle x=x_{0}}
if
∀
ε
>
0
∃
δ
>
0
{\displaystyle \displaystyle \forall \ \varepsilon >0\ \exists \ \delta >0}
such that for every
x
{\displaystyle x}
in the domain of
f
{\displaystyle f}
,
|
x
−
x
0
|
<
δ
⇒
|
f
(
x
)
−
f
(
x
0
)
|
<
ε
.
{\displaystyle \displaystyle \ |x-x_{0}|<\delta \Rightarrow |f(x)-f(x_{0})|<\varepsilon .}
In simple English,
f
(
x
)
{\displaystyle \displaystyle f(x)}
is continuous at a point
x
=
x
0
{\displaystyle \displaystyle x=x_{0}}
if for each
x
{\displaystyle x}
close enough to
x
0
{\displaystyle x_{0}}
, the function value
f
(
x
)
{\displaystyle f(x)}
is very close to
f
(
x
0
)
{\displaystyle f(x_{0})}
, where the "close enough" restriction typically depends on the desired closeness of
f
(
x
0
)
{\displaystyle f(x_{0})}
to
f
(
x
)
.
{\displaystyle f(x).}
Using this definition, he proved the Intermediate Value Theorem. He also proved the Bolzano–Weierstrass theorem and used it to study the properties of continuous functions on closed and bounded intervals.
Calculus of variations
Weierstrass also made advances in the field of calculus of variations. Using the apparatus of analysis that he helped to develop, Weierstrass was able to give a complete reformulation of the theory that paved the way for the modern study of the calculus of variations. Among several axioms, Weierstrass established a necessary condition for the existence of strong extrema of variational problems. He also helped devise the Weierstrass–Erdmann condition, which gives sufficient conditions for an extremal to have a corner along a given extremum and allows one to find a minimizing curve for a given integral.
Other analytical theorems
Stone–Weierstrass theorem
Casorati–Weierstrass theorem
Weierstrass elliptic function
Weierstrass function
Weierstrass M-test
Weierstrass preparation theorem
Lindemann–Weierstrass theorem
Weierstrass factorization theorem
Weierstrass–Enneper parameterization
Students
Edmund Husserl
Honours and awards
The lunar crater Weierstrass and the asteroid 14100 Weierstrass are named after him. Also, there is the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics in Berlin.
Selected works
Zur Theorie der Abelschen Funktionen (1854)
Theorie der Abelschen Funktionen (1856)
Abhandlungen-1, Math. Werke. Bd. 1. Berlin, 1894
Abhandlungen-2, Math. Werke. Bd. 2. Berlin, 1895
Abhandlungen-3, Math. Werke. Bd. 3. Berlin, 1903
Vorl. ueber die Theorie der Abelschen Transcendenten, Math. Werke. Bd. 4. Berlin, 1902
Vorl. ueber Variationsrechnung, Math. Werke. Bd. 7. Leipzig, 1927
See also
List of things named after Karl Weierstrass
O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Karl Weierstrass", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
Digitalized versions of Weierstrass's original publications are freely available online from the library of the Berlin Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Works by Karl Weierstrass at Project Gutenberg
Works by or about Karl Weierstrass at Internet Archive |
Eternity, in common parlance, is an infinite amount of time that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempiternity corresponds to infinite duration.
Philosophy
Classical philosophy defines eternity as what exists outside time, as in describing timeless supernatural beings and forces, distinguished from sempiternity which corresponds to infinite time, as described in requiem prayers for the dead. Some thinkers, such as Aristotle, suggest the eternity of the natural cosmos in regard to both past and future eternal duration. Boethius defined eternity as "simultaneously full and perfect possession of interminable life". Thomas Aquinas believed that God's eternity does not cease, as it is without either a beginning or an end; the concept of eternity is of divine simplicity, thus incapable of being defined or fully understood by humankind.Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679) and many others in the Age of Enlightenment drew on the classical distinction to put forward metaphysical hypotheses such as "eternity is a permanent now".
Contemporary philosophy and physics
Today cosmologists, philosophers, and others look towards analyses of the concept from across cultures and history. They debate, among other things, whether an absolute concept of eternity has real application for fundamental laws of physics; compare the issue of the entropy as an arrow of time.
Religion
Eternity as infinite duration is an important concept in many lives and religions. God or gods are often said to endure eternally, or exist for all time, forever, without beginning or end. Religious views of an afterlife may speak of it in terms of eternity or eternal life. Christian theologians may regard immutability, like the eternal Platonic forms, as essential to eternity.
Symbolism
Eternity is often symbolized by the endless snake, swallowing its own tail, the ouroboros. The circle, band, or ring is also commonly used as a symbol for eternity, as is the mathematical symbol of infinity,
∞
{\displaystyle \infty }
. Symbolically these are reminders that eternity has no beginning or end.
See also
Works cited
Further reading
Yu, Jiyuan (2003). The Structure of Being in Aristotle's Metaphysics. Springer. pp. 188–. ISBN 9781402015373.
Entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Eternity.
Entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on the relationship between God and Time. |
X#, pronounced X sharp and often written XSharp, is an xBase-compatible programming language for the Microsoft .NET platform. X# has been built on top of Roslyn, the open source architecture behind the current Microsoft C# and Visual Basic .NET compilers.
The X# compiler is intended to support multiple dialects in the xBase programming language family. It supports Core, Visual Objects, Vulcan.NET, xBase++, Harbour, Foxpro and more. The project is intended as an opensource community effort, but is at the moment still partly closed source.
History
In 2015, the majority of the developers of the Vulcan.NET team started the XSharp compiler development due to conflicts with their previous employer GrafXSoft about future developments.
As a proof of concept and viability, the Vulcan IDE was recompiled and rebuilt in XSharp into XIDE.
On July 3, 2017, the first general release (version 1.0.1, Anjou) was published.
Version 2.5.1.0 was released on July 6, 2020.
The X# development team consists of former members of the Visual Objects and Vulcan.NET development teams.
Supported dialects
At the moment the following dialects are supported:
XSharp Core language: This language lacks a native dialect runtime, which means that there are no USUAL, ARRAY and other xBase familiar datatypes. Only the native available datatypes of .NET are available.
Vulcan.NET: The official runtime of Vulcan.NET can be used or the by XSharp provided alternative runtime.
Visual Objects (VO)
xHarbour
FoxPro/Visual FoxProIn the future, the team intends to also support the following dialects:
XBase++
Technology
The XSharp compiler is based upon the Roslyn compiler and can make full use of the available .NET framework classes.
It integrates with all known editions of Visual Studio 2019, 2017 and 2015.
See also
Clipper (programming language)
Harbour (programming language)
Visual FoxPro
XSharp Home web site
XSharp extension for Visual Studio (Microsoft Visual Studio Marketplace
Open Source X Sharp repo source code on GitHubVulcan.NET Xbase language for Microsoft .NET |
X10 may refer to:
North American X-10, an unmanned technology demonstrator for advanced missile technologies
SL X10, a Swedish suburban train
X10 industry standard, communication over wired power line or wireless used for home automation
X10 Wireless Technology, a vendor of home automation products
X-10, a code name for the Metallurgical Project
X-10 Graphite Reactor, one of the world's first nuclear reactors
Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, a smartphone using the Android operating system
X10 (video game), a video game by Warthog Games Limited
X Ten, a gene-sequencing machine in the HiSeq series produced by the San Diego-based biotech firm Illumina
Fujifilm X10, a digital compact camera from 2011
Computer related
X10 programming language
Microsoft X10 Event, a Microsoft conference demonstrating Xbox 360 games/technologies for 2010 on 11 February 2010
X Window System, 10th protocol version from 1986 to 1988 |
xHarbour is a free multi-platform extended Clipper compiler, offering multiple graphic terminals (GTs), including console drivers, GUIs, and hybrid console/GUIs. xHarbour is backward-compatible with Clipper and supports many language syntax extensions, greatly extended run-time libraries, and extensive third party support.
Like most dynamic languages, xHarbour is also available as a scripting language (standalone application, linkable library, MS ActiveScript engine [Windows Script Host, HTML, ASP]) utilizing an interpreter written in the xHarbour language.
The xHarbour Usenet newsgroup comp.lang.xharbour is an active community for discussing xHarbour related questions.
Built-in data types
xHarbour has 6 scalar types: Nil, String, Date, Logical, Number, Pointer, and 4 complex types: Array, Object, CodeBlock, and Hash. A scalar holds a single value, such as a string, number, or reference to any other type. Arrays are ordered lists of scalars or complex types, indexed by number, starting at 1. Hashes, or associative arrays, are unordered collections of any type values indexed by their associated key, which may be of any scalar or complex type.
Literal (static) representation of scalar types:
Nil: NIL
String: "hello", 'hello', [hello], or E"hello\n"
Date: ctod("2005-03-17" )
Logical: .T., .F.
Number: 1, 1.1, -1, 0xFFComplex Types may also be represent as literal values:
Array: { "String", 1, { "Nested Array" }, .T., FunctionCall(), @FunctionPointer() }
CodeBlock: { |Arg1, ArgN| Arg1 := ArgN + OuterVar + FunctionCall() }
Hash: { "Name" => "John", 1 => "Numeric key", "Name2" => { "Nested" => "Hash" } }Hashes may use any type including other Hashes as the Key for any element. Hashes and Arrays may contain any type as the Value of any member, including nesting arrays, and Hashes.
Codeblocks may have references to Variables of the Procedure/Function>method in which it was defined. Such Codeblocks may be returned as a value, or by means of an argument passed BY REFERENCE, in such case the Codeblock will "outlive" the routine in which it was defined, and any variables it references, will be a DETACHED variable.
Detached variables will maintain their value for as long as a Codeblock referencing them still exists. Such values will be shared with any other Codeblock which may have access to those same variables. If the Codeblock did not outlive its containing routine, and will be evaluated within the lifetime of the routine in which it is defined, changes to its Detached Variables(s) by means of its evaluation, will be reflected back at its parent routine.
Codeblocks can be evaluated any number of times, by means of the Eval( BlockExp ) function.
Variables
All types can be assigned to named variables. Named variable identifiers are 1 to 63 characters long, start with [A-Z|_] and further consist of the characters [A-Z|0-9|_] up to a maximum of 63 characters. Named variables are not case sensitive.
Variables have one of the following scopes:
LOCAL: Visible only within the routine which declared it. Value is lost upon exit of the routine.
STATIC: Visible only within the routine which declared it. Value is preserved for subsequent invocations of the routine. If a STATIC variable is declared before any Procedure/Function/Method is defined, it has a MODULE scope, and is visible within any routine defined within that same source file, it will maintain its life for the duration of the application lifetime.
GLOBAL Visible within any routine defined in the same source module where the GLOBAL variable is declared, as well as any routine of any other source module, which explicitly declares it, by means of the GLOBAL EXTERNAL declaration. Both GLOBAL and GLOBAL EXTERNAL declarations must be declared before any Procedure/Function/Method is defined.
PRIVATE: Visible within the routine which declared it, and all routines called by that routine.
PUBLIC: Visible by all routines in the same application.LOCAL, STATIC, and GLOBAL are resolved at compile time, and thus are much faster than PRIVATE and PUBLIC variables which are dynamic entities accessed by means of a runtime Symbol table. For this same reason, LOCAL, STATIC and GLOBAL variables are not exposed to the Macro compiler, and any macro code which attempts to reference them will generate a runtime error.
Due to the dynamic nature of PRIVATE and PUBLIC variables, they can be created and destroyed at runtime, can be accessed and modified by means of runtime macros, and can be accessed and modified by Codeblocks created on the fly.
Control structures
The basic control structures include all of the standard dBase, and Clipper control structures as well as additional ones inspired by the C or Java programming languages:
Loops
[DO] WHILE ConditionExp
...
[LOOP]
[EXIT]
END[DO]
FOR Var := InitExp TO EndExp [STEP StepExp]
...
[LOOP]
[EXIT]
NEXT
FOR EACH Var IN CollectionExp
...
[HB_EnumIndex()]
[LOOP]
[EXIT]
NEXT
The ... is a sequence of one of more xHarbour statements, and square bracketes [] denote optional syntax.
The HB_EnumIndex() may be optionally used to retrieve the current iteration index (1 based).
The LOOP statement restarts the current iteration of the enclosing loop structure, and if the enclosing loop is a FOR or FOR EACH loop, it increases the iterator, moving to the next iteration of the loop.
The EXIT statement immediately terminates execution of the enclosing loop structure.
The NEXT statement closes the control structure and moves to the next iteration of loop structure.In the FOR statement, the assignment expression is evaluated prior to the first loop iteration. The TO expression is evaluated and compared against the value of the control variable, prior to each iteration, and the loop is terminated if it evaluates to a numeric value greater than the numeric value of the control variable. The optional STEP expression is evaluated after each iteration, prior to deciding whether to perform the next iteration.
In FOR EACH, the Var variable will have the value (scalar, or complex) of the respective element in the collection value. The collection expression, may be an Array (of any type or combinations of types), an Hash Table, or an Object type.
IF statements
IF CondExp
...
[ELSEIF] CondExp
...
[ELSE]
...
END[IF]
... represents 0 or more statement(s).
The condition expression(s) has to evaluate to a LOGICAL value.
DO CASE statements
DO CASE
CASE CondExp
...
[CASE CondExp]
...
[OTHERWISE]
...
END[CASE ]
Above construct is logically equivalent to:
IF CondExp
...
ELSEIF CondExp
...
[ELSEIF CondExp]
...
[ELSE]
...
END[IF]
SWITCH statements
xHarbour supports a SWITCH construct inspired by the C implementation of switch().
SWITCH SwitchExp
CASE LiteralExp
...
[EXIT]
[CASE LiteralExp]
...
[EXIT]
[DEFAULT]
...
END
The LiteralExp must be a compiled time resolvable numeric expression, and may involve operators, as long as such operators involve compile time static value.
The EXIT optional statement is the equivalent of the C statement break, and if present, execution of the SWITCH structure will end when the EXIT statement is reached, otherwise it will continue with the first statement below the next CASE statement (fall through).
BEGIN SEQUENCE statements
BEGIN SEQUENCE
...
[BREAK]
[Break([Exp])]
RECOVER [USING Var]
...
END[SEQUENCE]
or:
BEGIN SEQUENCE
...
[BREAK]
[Break()]
END[SEQUENCE]
The BEGIN SEQUENCE structure allows for a well behaved abortion of any sequence, even when crossing nested procedures/functions. This means that a called procedure/function, may issue a BREAK statement, or a Break() expression, to force unfolding of any nested procedure/functions, all the way back to the first outer BEGIN SEQUENCE structure, either after its respective END statement, or a RECOVER clause if present. The Break statement may optionally pass any type of expression, which may be accepted by the RECOVER statement to allow further recovery handing.
Additionally the xHarbour Error Object supports canDefault, canRetry and canSubstitute properties, which allows error handlers to perform some preparations, and then request a Retry Operation, a Resume, or return a Value to replace the expression triggering the error condition.
TRY [CATCH] [FINALLY] statements
TRY
...
[BREAK]
[Break([Exp])]
[Throw([Exp])]
CATCH [Var]
...
END
TRY
...
[BREAK]
[Break([Exp])]
[Throw([Exp])]
CATCH [Var]
...
FINALLY
...
END
or:
TRY
...
[BREAK]
[Break([Exp])]
[Throw([Exp])]
FINALLY
...
END
The TRY construct is very similar to the BEGIN SEQUENCE construct, except it automatically integrates error handling, so that any error will be intercepted, and recovered by means of the CATCH statement or forwarded to an outer CATCH handler otherwise. The FINALLY section is guaranteed to be executed before the TRY or CATCH sections forward flow control by means of RETURN, BREAK, or THROW.
Procedures/functions
[STATIC] PROCEDURE SomeProcedureName
[STATIC] PROCEDURE SomeProcedureName()
[STATIC] PROCEDURE SomeProcedureName( Param1' [, ParamsN] )
INIT PROCEDURE SomeProcedureName
EXIT PROCEDURE SomeProcedureName
[STATIC] FUNCTION SomeProcedureName
[STATIC] FUNCTION SomeProcedureName()
[STATIC] FUNCTION SomeProcedureName( Param1' [, ParamsN] )
Procedures/functions in xHarbour can be specified with the keywords PROCEDURE, or FUNCTION. Naming rules are same as those for Variables (up to 63 characters non case sensitive). Both Procedures and Functions may be qualified by the scope qualifier STATIC to restrict their usage to the scope of the module where defined.
The INIT or EXIT optional qualifiers, will flag the procedure to be automatically invoked just before calling the application startup procedure, or just after quitting the application, respectively. Parameters passed to a procedure/function appear in the subroutine as local variables, and may accept any type, including references.
Changes to argument variables are not reflected in respective variables passed by the calling procedure/function/method unless explicitly passed BY REFERENCE using the @ prefix.
PROCEDURE have no return value, and if used in an Expression context will produce a NIL value.
FUNCTION may return any type by means of the RETURN statement, anywhere in the body of its definition.
An example procedure definition and a function call follows:
Database support
xHarbour extends the Clipper Replaceable Database Drivers (RDD) approach. It offers multiple RDDs such as DBF, DBFNTX, DBFCDX, DBFDBT, and DBFFPT. In xHarbour multiple RDDs can be used in a single application, and new logical RDDs can be defined from combination of other RDD. The RDD architecture allows for inheritance, so that a given RDD may extend the functionality of other existing RDD(s). 3rd party RDDs, like RDDSQL, RDDSIX, RMDBFCDX, Advantage Database Server, and Mediator exemplify some of the RDD architecture features.
xHarbour also offers ODBC support by means of an OOP syntax, and ADO support by means of OLE.
Macro operator (runtime compiler)
One of the most powerful features of the xBase languages is the MACRO Operator '&'. xHarbour’s implementation of the Macro Operator allows for runtime compilation of any valid xHarbour expression. Such compiled expression may be used as a VALUE, i.e. the right side of an Assignment, but such compiled expression may be used to resolve the LEFT side of an assignment, i.e. PRIVATE, or PUBLIC variables, or Database FIELD.
Additionally the Macro Operator may compile and execute function calls, complete assignments, or even list of arguments, and the result of the macro may be used to resolve any of the above contexts in the compiled application. IOW, any xHarbour application may be extended, and/or modified in runtime, to compile and execute additional code on demand.
The xHarbour implementation of this feature is so complete that the xHarbour interpreter, xbScript, uses it heavily, to compile xHarbour scripts.
Syntax:
&( ... )
The text value of the expression '...' will be compiled, and the value resulting from the execution of the compiled code is the result.
&SomeId
is the short form for &( SomeId ).
&SomeId.postfix
is the short form of &( SomeId + "postfix" ).
Example code
Hello, world!
The typical "hello world" program would be:
? "Hello, world!"
Or:
QOut( "Hello, world!" )
Or:
Alert( "Hello, world!" )
Or, enclosed in an explicit procedure:
OOP
Scripting
xHarbour is also available as an interpreted language in few flavors of scripting engines.
Stand alone Interpreter: Portable, self-contained, interpreter xBaseScript.
ActiveScript: Microsoft ActiveScript compliant OLE DLL, which supports xHarbour scripting in:
Windows Script Host (WSH).
Internet Explorer, HTML client side scripting.
IIS, and any other ASP compliant server.
Official site
Object Oriented Harbour GUI (ooHG)
FiveWin
Xailer
xHarbour.com |
The Xojo programming environment and programming language is developed and commercially marketed by Xojo, Inc. of Austin, Texas for software development targeting macOS, Microsoft Windows, Linux, iOS, Android, the Web and Raspberry Pi. Xojo uses a proprietary object-oriented language.
History
In 1996 FYI Software, founded by Geoff Perlman, bought CrossBasic, which had been marketed by its author Andrew Barry as a shareware product. CrossBasic got its name from its ability to compile the same programming code for the classic Mac OS and the Java virtual machine (although the integrated development environment was Mac only). A public beta was released in April 1996. The CrossBasic name was trademarked by another company, so the product was renamed REALbasic.Prior to version 2, the Java target was dropped and later replaced with a Windows target and database support. The option to compile for Linux was added in 2005 and the integrated development environment (IDE) was ported to Windows and as a free public beta for Linux platforms. The new IDE employed a redesigned user interface.In 2004 REAL software announced the "Made with REALbasic Showcase" program to highlight applications created with the product. In 2009, a migration assistant was launched to help move code from Visual Basic. In 2010, to combat the perception that it was similar to the original BASIC, it was renamed Real Studio.
The company announced Real Studio Web Edition, allowing developers to compile web applications without the knowledge of multiple web technologies.On June 4, 2013 the company officially changed their name to Xojo, Inc. and Real Studio was renamed Xojo. Also on this date they released Xojo 2013 Release 1 which included an all-new user interface, full support for Cocoa on OS X, improved support for web applications, all new documentation and a new Introduction to Programming Using Xojo textbook that was designed for beginners to learn the fundamentals of object oriented programming. Xojo, Inc. calls it "the spiritual successor to Visual BASIC".The Xojo IDE is currently available for Microsoft Windows, macOS, 32-bit x86 Linux, and can compile 32-bit and 64-bit applications for Windows (Windows XP and higher), macOS (running on Intel or Apple silicon Macs using the Cocoa frameworks), x86 Linux, iOS, Android, the web, and Raspberry Pi. Xojo is self-hosted: the Xojo IDE is built with the current release of Xojo. The 2015r3 release includes 64-bit support for Desktop, Web and Console targets as well as a new platform, Raspberry Pi.Xojo added many new features in 2018 and 2019, including support for macOS and iOS light/dark modes, a GraphicsPath for drawing Bézier curves, and a new DateTime class.
In 2020, Xojo introduced a new web framework, which is a ground-up re-write that adds modern-looking new controls, support for Bootstrap themes, two layout modes and more. The new web framework takes advantage of all that modern web browsers have to offer, providing a more robust foundation to build responsive web apps.
Xojo has ranked among the top 100 most popular programming languages as published by TIOBE, a company which rates the quality of software.
Timeline
1990s
In 1996 Geoff Perlman founds the company that is now Xojo in Austin, Texas.
CrossBasic is acquired in 1997.
In 1998 REALbasic 1.0 released and introduced at MacWorld Expo. This first release made it easy for anyone, not just developers, to create apps for the Mac System 7 running on a 680x0 or PowerPC processor.
Windows support was added in 1999 with the release of REALbasic 2.0, making it a true cross-platform development tool.
2000s
Support for Mac OS X is added to REALbasic in 2001.
In 2002, the first Windows IDE of REALbasic is announced.
In September 2005, REALbasic is updated to include support for building Linux apps. REALbasic now compiles for three desktop platforms from a single code base.
Continuing to keep up with the rapidly changing needs of developers and hobbyists, Intel-based Mac support is added in 2006.
2010s
Expanding beyond desktop platforms, support for building web applications is added in 2010.
REALbasic becomes Xojo in 2013.
Xojo Cloud, Xojo's one-click deployment service for Xojo web apps, is launched in early 2014.
In December 2014, Xojo iOS, Xojo's first mobile platform, is released.
After much interest from the community, Xojo Pi is released, letting users build applications for Raspberry Pi with Xojo in 2015.
Support for macOS Mojave Dark Mode for the Xojo IDE and compiled apps was added in Xojo 2018 Release 3.
In 2019, Xojo Pi licenses are for free for building both console and desktop apps.
Xojo introduces new API in Xojo 2019 Release 2, which includes new classes and updated method and property names for better consistency across platforms.
In December 2019, Xojo formed the MVP program to facilitate community communication and serve as an informal advisory committee.
2020s
Xojo announced the 2020 Xojo Design Award winners during a video keynote on March 25, 2020.
On July 15, 2020, Xojo released an update for Xojo to run on macOS Big Sur as well as Apple silicon.
Xojo released their new web framework on August 26, 2020 for developing web apps with Xojo.
Xojo shipped 2020 Release 2 on November 24, 2020 with support for building native applications for Apple silicon (M1), making it the first cross-platform development tool to do so.
Xojo 2021 Release 1 added support for the Xojo IDE and XojoScript to run native on M1 Macs.
Xojo shipped 2021 Release 3 on November 18, 2021 that brings back cross-compilation from Windows and Linux to macOS. This release also introduces Dark Mode support for Windows.
On November 18, 2021, Xojo announces that their Android framework is in public pre-release testing.
Xojo released support for building applications for Windows ARM with Xojo 2022 Release 2, available on July 25, 2022.
At their Xojo Developer Conference in London, Xojo announced that their support for Android will be shipping in the next release of Xojo, 2023r2 and, as it is a new platform, it will be marked as beta.
On August 9, 2023 Xojo shipped 2023 Release 2, which added the ability to build mobile applications for Android. It also added Dark Mode support for web applications and a DesktopXAMLContainer control to access modern looking Windows user interface controls.
Editions of IDE
The Xojo IDE is free to use for learning and development. Compiling or deploying applications with Xojo requires a license. Multiple license levels are available for purchase, enabling Desktop, Web, iOS and Android. Xojo Pi for building applications for Raspberry Pi is free.
Licenses can be purchased a la carte, in any combination required and include 1 year of access to new releases. Xojo Pro, a bundle offered by Xojo, includes the ability to compile for Desktop, iOS, Android, Web and Console, along with technical support, access to consulting leads, and a license that will work on three machines. Xojo also has a Pro Plus license that includes everything in Xojo Pro, plus additional support benefits and can be installed on up to six devices (for a single user).The default database used with Xojo is SQLite.
Unlike most programming environments, project source code is not stored in plain text files by default, but in a proprietary, single-file format. However, source code can be saved to a plain-text format for use with version control systems and can be exported to XML format as well.
Xojo Cloud
On March 11, 2014 Xojo launched Xojo Cloud, their cloud hosting service for Xojo web applications.
In July 2014, Xojo Cloud added the ability to transfer files to the server using a client other than the Xojo IDE.
In March 2015, Xojo added MySQL and Postgres databases to Xojo Cloud. In addition, they also enabled the creation of SSH Tunnels for a direct connection to databases using a 3rd party management tool.
In 2018 Release 1, Xojo added server stats for Xojo Cloud.
A new Xojo Cloud control panel was introduced in August 2020 that is built using the new Xojo web framework. Other recent updates to Xojo Cloud include the ability to point domains at individual applications.
Example code
The Xojo programming language looks similar to Visual Basic.
The following code snippet placed in the Open event of a Window displays a message box saying "Hello, World!" as the window loads:
This code populates a ListBox with the values from an array:
See also
Visual Basic
Gambas
Lazarus (IDE)
Comparison of programming languages
Xojo, Inc., makers of Xojo |
XOTcl is an object-oriented extension for the Tool Command Language created by Gustaf Neumann and Uwe Zdun. It is a derivative of MIT OTcl. XOTcl is based on a dynamic object system with metaclasses which as influenced by CLOS. Class and method definitions are completely dynamic. XOTcl provides language support for design patterns via filters and decorator mixins.
See also
OTcl
incr Tcl
Tcl
Tcllib
C++/Tcl
Itk
Tk
XOTcl Homepage - Extended Object Tcl
Filters as a Language Support for Design Patterns in Object-Oriented Scripting Languages, in: Proceedings of COOTS, San Diego, California, USA, May, 1999 [1]
from CiteSeer
ActiveState's Tcl distribution for Microsoft Windows, includes XOTcl
WinTclTk open-source MinGW-based distribution for Microsoft Windows, includes XOTcl
XOTclIDE - IDE for XOTcl |
IEEE 1394 is an interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer. It was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Apple in cooperation with a number of companies, primarily Sony and Panasonic. It is most commonly known by the name FireWire (Apple), though other brand names exist such as i.LINK (Sony), and Lynx (Texas Instruments).
The copper cable used in its most common implementation can be up to 4.5 metres (15 ft) long. Power and data is carried over this cable, allowing devices with moderate power requirements to operate without a separate power supply. FireWire is also available in Cat 5 and optical fiber versions.
The 1394 interface is comparable to USB. USB was developed subsequently and gained much greater market share. USB requires a host controller whereas IEEE 1394 is cooperatively managed by the connected devices.
History and development
FireWire is Apple's name for the IEEE 1394 High Speed Serial Bus. Its development was initiated by Apple in 1986, and developed by the IEEE P1394 Working Group, largely driven by contributions from Sony (102 patents), Apple (58 patents), Panasonic (46 patents), and Philips (43 patents), in addition to contributions made by engineers from LG Electronics, Toshiba, Hitachi, Canon, INMOS/SGS Thomson (now STMicroelectronics), and Texas Instruments.
IEEE 1394 is a serial bus architecture for high-speed data transfer. FireWire is a serial bus, meaning that information is transferred one bit at a time. Parallel buses utilize a number of different physical connections, and as such are usually more costly and typically heavier. IEEE 1394 fully supports both isochronous and asynchronous applications.
Apple intended FireWire to be a serial replacement for the parallel SCSI bus, while providing connectivity for digital audio and video equipment. Apple's development began in the late 1980s, later presented to the IEEE, and was completed in January 1995. In 2007, IEEE 1394 was a composite of four documents: the original IEEE Std. 1394–1995, the IEEE Std. 1394a-2000 amendment, the IEEE Std. 1394b-2002 amendment, and the IEEE Std. 1394c-2006 amendment. On June 12, 2008, all these amendments as well as errata and some technical updates were incorporated into a superseding standard, IEEE Std. 1394–2008.Apple first included onboard FireWire in some of its 1999 Macintosh models (though it had been a build-to-order option on some models since 1997), and most Apple Macintosh computers manufactured in the years 2000 through 2011 included FireWire ports. However, in February 2011 Apple introduced the first commercially available computer with Thunderbolt. Apple released its last computers with FireWire in 2012. By 2014, Thunderbolt had become a standard feature across Apple's entire line of computers (later with the exception of the 12-inch MacBook introduced in 2015, which featured only a sole USB-C port) effectively becoming the spiritual successor to FireWire in the Apple ecosystem. Apple's last products with FireWire, the Thunderbolt Display and 2012 13-inch MacBook Pro, were discontinued in 2016. Apple previously sold a Thunderbolt to FireWire Adapter, which provided one FireWire 800 port. A separate adapter was required to use it with Thunderbolt 3.
Sony's implementation of the system, i.LINK, used a smaller connector with only four signal conductors, omitting the two conductors that provide power for devices in favor of a separate power connector. This style was later added into the 1394a amendment. This port is sometimes labeled S100 or S400 to indicate speed in Mbit/s.
The system was commonly used to connect data storage devices and DV (digital video) cameras, but was also popular in industrial systems for machine vision and professional audio systems. Many users preferred it over the more common USB 2.0 for its then greater effective speed and power distribution capabilities. Benchmarks show that the sustained data transfer rates are higher for FireWire than for USB 2.0, but lower than USB 3.0. Results are marked on Apple Mac OS X but more varied on Microsoft Windows.
Patent considerations
Implementation of IEEE 1394 is said to require use of 261 issued international patents held by ten corporations. Use of these patents requires licensing; use without license generally constitutes patent infringement. Companies holding IEEE 1394 IP formed a patent pool with MPEG LA, LLC as the license administrator, to whom they licensed patents. MPEG LA sublicenses these patents to providers of equipment implementing IEEE 1394. Under the typical patent pool license, a royalty of US$0.25 per unit is payable by the manufacturer upon the manufacture of each 1394 finished product; no royalties are payable by users.
The last of the patents, MY 120654 by Sony, expired on November 30, 2020. As of November 30, 2020, the following are patent holders of the IEEE 1394 standard, as listed in the patent pool managed by MPEG LA.
A person or company may review the actual 1394 Patent Portfolio License upon request to MPEG LA. MPEG LA does not provide assurance of protection to licensees beyond its own patents. At least one formerly licensed patent is known to have been removed from the pool, and other hardware patents exist that reference IEEE 1394.The 1394 High Performance Serial Bus Trade Association (the 1394 TA) was formed to aid the marketing of IEEE 1394. Its bylaws prohibit dealing with intellectual property issues. The 1394 Trade Association operates on an individual no cost membership basis to further enhancements to 1394 standards. The Trade Association also is the library source for all 1394 documentation and standards available.
Technical specifications
FireWire can connect up to 63 peripherals in a tree or daisy-chain topology (as opposed to Parallel SCSI's electrical bus topology). It allows peer-to-peer device communication — such as communication between a scanner and a printer — to take place without using system memory or the CPU. FireWire also supports multiple host controllers per bus. It is designed to support plug and play and hot swapping. The copper cable it uses in its most common implementation can be up to 4.5 metres (15 ft) long and is more flexible than most parallel SCSI cables. In its six-conductor or nine-conductor variations, it can supply up to 45 watts of power per port at up to 30 volts, allowing moderate-consumption devices to operate without a separate power supply.
FireWire devices implement the ISO/IEC 13213 configuration ROM model for device configuration and identification, to provide plug-and-play capability. All FireWire devices are identified by an IEEE EUI-64 unique identifier in addition to well-known codes indicating the type of device and the protocols it supports.
FireWire devices are organized at the bus in a tree topology. Each device has a unique self-ID. One of the nodes is elected root node and always has the highest ID. The self-IDs are assigned during the self-ID process, which happens after each bus resets. The order in which the self-IDs are assigned is equivalent to traversing the tree depth-first, post-order.
FireWire is capable of safely operating critical systems due to the way multiple devices interact with the bus and how the bus allocates bandwidth to the devices. FireWire is capable of both asynchronous and isochronous transfer methods at once. Isochronous data transfers are transfers for devices that require continuous, guaranteed bandwidth. In an aircraft, for instance, isochronous devices include control of the rudder, mouse operations and data from pressure sensors outside the aircraft. All these elements require constant, uninterrupted bandwidth. To support both elements, FireWire dedicates a certain percentage to isochronous data and the rest to asynchronous data. In IEEE 1394, 80% of the bus is reserved for isochronous cycles, leaving asynchronous data with a minimum of 20% of the bus.
Encoding scheme
FireWire uses Data/Strobe encoding (D/S encoding). In D/S encoding, two non-return-to-zero (NRZ) signals are used to transmit the data with high reliability. The NRZ signal sent is fed with the clock signal through an XOR gate, creating a strobe signal. This strobe is then put through another XOR gate along with the data signal to reconstruct the clock. This in turn acts as the bus's phase-locked loop for synchronization purposes.
Arbitration
The process of the bus deciding which node gets to transmit data at what time is known as arbitration. Each arbitration round lasts about 125 microseconds. During the round, the root node (device nearest the processor) sends a cycle start packet. All nodes requiring data transfer respond, with the closest node winning. After the node is finished, the remaining nodes take turns in order. This repeats until all the devices have used their portion of the 125 microseconds, with isochronous transfers having priority.
Standards and versions
The previous standards and its three published amendments are now incorporated into a superseding standard, IEEE 1394-2008. The features individually added give a good history on the development path.
FireWire 400 (IEEE 1394-1995)
The original release of IEEE 1394-1995 specified what is now known as FireWire 400. It can transfer data between devices at 100, 200, or 400 Mbit/s half-duplex data rates (the actual transfer rates are 98.304, 196.608, and 393.216 Mbit/s, i.e., 12.288, 24.576 and 49.152 MB/s respectively). These different transfer modes are commonly referred to as S100, S200, and S400.
Cable length is limited to 4.5 metres (14.8 ft), although up to 16 cables can be daisy chained using active repeaters; external hubs or internal hubs are often present in FireWire equipment. The S400 standard limits any configuration's maximum cable length to 72 metres (236 ft). The 6-conductor connector is commonly found on desktop computers and can supply the connected device with power.
The 6-conductor powered connector, now referred to as an alpha connector, adds power output to support external devices. Typically a device can pull about 7 to 8 watts from the port; however, the voltage varies significantly from different devices. Voltage is specified as unregulated and should nominally be about 25 volts (range 24 to 30). Apple's implementation on laptops is typically related to battery power and can be as low as 9 V.
Improvements (IEEE 1394a-2000)
An amendment, IEEE 1394a, was released in 2000, which clarified and improved the original specification. It added support for asynchronous streaming, quicker bus reconfiguration, packet concatenation, and a power-saving suspend mode.
IEEE 1394a offers a couple of advantages over the original IEEE 1394–1995. 1394a is capable of arbitration accelerations, allowing the bus to accelerate arbitration cycles to improve efficiency. It also allows for arbitrated short bus reset, in which a node can be added or dropped without causing a big drop in isochronous transmission.1394a also standardized the 4-conductor alpha connector developed by Sony and trademarked as i.LINK, already widely in use on consumer devices such as camcorders, most PC laptops, a number of PC desktops, and other small FireWire devices. The 4-conductor connector is fully data-compatible with 6-conductor alpha interfaces but lacks power connectors.
FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b-2002)
IEEE 1394b-2002 introduced FireWire 800 (Apple's name for the 9-conductor S800 bilingual version of the IEEE 1394b standard). This specification and corresponding products allow a transfer rate of 786.432 Mbit/s full-duplex via a new encoding scheme termed beta mode. It is backwards compatible with the slower rates and 6-conductor alpha connectors of FireWire 400. However, while the IEEE 1394a and IEEE 1394b standards are compatible, FireWire 800's connector, referred to as a beta connector, is different from FireWire 400's alpha connectors, making legacy cables incompatible. A bilingual cable allows the connection of older devices to the newer port. In 2003, Apple was the first to introduce commercial products with the new connector.
The full IEEE 1394b specification supports data rates up to 3200 Mbit/s (i.e., 400 MB/s) over beta-mode or optical connections up to 100 metres (330 ft) in length. Standard Category 5e unshielded twisted pair supports 100 metres (330 ft) at S100. The original 1394 and 1394a standards used data/strobe (D/S) encoding (renamed to alpha mode) with the cables, while 1394b added a data encoding scheme called 8b/10b referred to as beta mode.
Beta mode is based on 8b/10b (from Gigabit Ethernet, also used for many other protocols). 8b/10b encoding involves expanding an 8-bit data word into 10 bits, with the extra bits after the 5th and 8th data bits. The partitioned data is sent through a Running Disparity calculator function. The Running Disparity calculator attempts to keep the number of 1s transmitted equal to 0s, thereby assuring a DC-balanced signal. Then, the different partitions are sent through a 5b/6b encoder for the 5-bit partition and a 3b/4b encoder for the 3-bit partition. This gives the packet the ability to have at least two 1s, ensuring synchronization of the PLL at the receiving end to the correct bit boundaries for reliable transfer. An additional function of the coding scheme is to support the arbitration for bus access and general bus control. This is possible due to the surplus symbols afforded by the 8b/10b expansion. (While 8-bit symbols can encode a maximum of 256 values, 10-bit symbols permit the encoding of up to 1024.) Symbols invalid for the current state of the receiving PHY indicate data errors.
FireWire S800T (IEEE 1394c-2006)
IEEE 1394c-2006 was published on June 8, 2007. It provided a major technical improvement, namely new port specification that provides 800 Mbit/s over the same 8P8C (Ethernet) connectors with Category 5e cable, which is specified in IEEE 802.3 clause 40 (gigabit Ethernet over copper twisted pair) along with a corresponding automatic negotiation that allows the same port to connect to either IEEE Std 1394 or IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) devices.
Though the potential for a combined Ethernet and FireWire 8P8C port is intriguing, as of November 2008, no products or chipsets include this capability.
FireWire S1600 and S3200
In December 2007, the 1394 Trade Association announced that products would be available before the end of 2008 using the S1600 and S3200 modes that, for the most part, had already been defined in 1394b and were further clarified in IEEE Std. 1394–2008. The 1.572864 Gbit/s and 3.145728 Gbit/s devices use the same 9-conductor beta connectors as the existing FireWire 800 and are fully compatible with existing S400 and S800 devices. It competes with USB 3.0.S1600 (Symwave) and S3200 (Dap Technology) development units have been made, however because of FPGA technology DapTechnology targeted S1600 implementations first with S3200 not becoming commercially available until 2012.
Steve Jobs declared FireWire dead in 2008. As of 2012, there were few S1600 devices released, with a Sony camera being the only notable user.
Future enhancements (including P1394d)
A project named IEEE P1394d was formed by the IEEE on March 9, 2009 to add single-mode fiber as an additional transport medium to FireWire. The project was withdrawn in 2013.Other future iterations of FireWire were expected to increase speed to 6.4 Gbit/s and additional connectors such as the small multimedia interface.
Operating system support
Full support for IEEE 1394a and 1394b is available for Microsoft Windows, FreeBSD, Linux, Apple Mac OS 8.6 through Mac OS 9, NetBSD, and Haiku.
In Windows XP, a degradation in performance of 1394 devices may have occurred with installation of Service Pack 2. This was resolved in Hotfix 885222 and in SP3. Some FireWire hardware manufacturers also provide custom device drivers that replace the Microsoft OHCI host adapter driver stack, enabling S800-capable devices to run at full 800 Mbit/s transfer rates on older versions of Windows (XP SP2 w/o Hotfix 885222) and Windows Vista. At the time of its release, Microsoft Windows Vista supported only 1394a, with assurances that 1394b support would come in the next service pack. Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Windows Vista has since been released, however the addition of 1394b support is not mentioned anywhere in the release documentation. The 1394 bus driver was rewritten for Windows 7 to provide support for higher speeds and alternative media.In Linux, support was originally provided by libraw1394 making direct communication between user space and IEEE 1394 buses. Subsequently, a new kernel driver stack, nicknamed JuJu, has been implemented.
Cable TV system support
Under FCC Code 47 CFR 76.640 section 4, subsections 1 and 2, Cable TV providers (in the US, with digital systems) must, upon request of a customer, have provided a high-definition capable cable box with a functional FireWire interface. This applied only to customers leasing high-definition capable cable boxes from their cable provider after April 1, 2004.
The interface can be used to display or record Cable TV, including HDTV programming. In June 2010, the FCC issued an order that permitted set-top boxes to include IP-based interfaces in place of FireWire.
Comparison with USB
While both technologies provide similar end results, there are fundamental differences between USB and FireWire. USB requires the presence of a host controller, typically a PC, which connects point to point with the USB device. This allows for simpler (and lower-cost) peripherals, at the cost of lowered functionality of the bus. Intelligent hubs are required to connect multiple USB devices to a single USB host controller. By contrast, FireWire is essentially a peer-to-peer network (where any device may serve as the host or client), allowing multiple devices to be connected on one bus.The FireWire host interface supports DMA and memory-mapped devices, allowing data transfers to happen without loading the host CPU with interrupts and buffer-copy operations. Additionally, FireWire features two data buses for each segment of the bus network, whereas, until USB 3.0, USB featured only one. This means that FireWire can have communication in both directions at the same time (full-duplex), whereas USB communication prior to 3.0 can only occur in one direction at any one time (half-duplex).While USB 2.0 expanded into the fully backwards-compatible USB 3.0 and 3.1 (using the same main connector type), FireWire used a different connector between 400 and 800 implementations.
Common applications
Consumer automobiles
IDB-1394 Customer Convenience Port (CCP) was the automotive version of the 1394 standard.
Consumer audio and video
IEEE 1394 was the High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance (HANA) standard connection interface for A/V (audio/visual) component communication and control. HANA was dissolved in September 2009 and the 1394 Trade Association assumed control of all HANA-generated intellectual property.
Military and aerospace vehicles
SAE Aerospace standard AS5643 originally released in 2004 and reaffirmed in 2013 establishes IEEE-1394 standards as a military and aerospace databus network in those vehicles. AS5643 is utilized by several large programs, including the F-35 Lightning II, the X-47B UCAV aircraft, AGM-154 weapon and JPSS-1 polar satellite for NOAA. AS5643 combines existing 1394-2008 features like looped topology with additional features like transformer isolation and time synchronization, to create deterministic double and triple fault-tolerant data bus networks.
General networking
FireWire can be used for ad hoc (terminals only, no routers except where a FireWire hub is used) computer networks. Specifically, RFC 2734 specifies how to run IPv4 over the FireWire interface, and RFC 3146 specifies how to run IPv6.
Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD include support for networking over FireWire. Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 include native support for IEEE 1394 networking. Windows 2000 does not have native support but may work with third party drivers. A network can be set up between two computers using a single standard FireWire cable, or by multiple computers through use of a hub. This is similar to Ethernet networks with the major differences being transfer speed, conductor length, and the fact that standard FireWire cables can be used for point-to-point communication.
On December 4, 2004, Microsoft announced that it would discontinue support for IP networking over the FireWire interface in all future versions of Microsoft Windows. Consequently, support for this feature is absent from Windows Vista and later Windows releases.
Microsoft rewrote their 1394 driver in Windows 7 but networking support for FireWire is not present. Unibrain offers free FireWire networking drivers for Windows called ubCore, which support Windows Vista and later versions.
Earlier models of the PlayStation 2 console (SCPH 1000x to 3900x series) had an i.LINK-branded 1394 connector. This was used for networking until the release of an Ethernet adapter later in the console's lifespan, but very few software titles supported the feature. The connector was removed from the SCPH 5000x series onward.
IIDC
IIDC (Instrumentation & Industrial Digital Camera) is the FireWire data format standard for live video, and is used by Apple's iSight A/V camera. The system was designed for machine vision systems but is also used for other computer vision applications and for some webcams. Although they are easily confused since they both run over FireWire, IIDC is different from, and incompatible with, the ubiquitous AV/C (Audio Video Control) used to control camcorders and other consumer video devices.
DV
Digital Video (DV) is a standard protocol used by some digital camcorders. All DV cameras that recorded to tape media had a FireWire interface (usually a 4-conductor). All DV ports on camcorders only operate at the slower 100 Mbit/s speed of FireWire. This presents operational issues if the camcorder is daisy chained from a faster S400 device or via a common hub because any segment of a FireWire network cannot support multiple speed communication.Labeling of the port varied by manufacturer, with Sony using either its i.LINK trademark or the letters DV. Many digital video recorders have a DV-input FireWire connector (usually an alpha connector) that can be used to record video directly from a DV camcorder (computer-free). The protocol also accommodates remote control (play, rewind, etc.) of connected devices, and can stream time code from a camera.
USB is unsuitable for the transfer of the video data from tape because tape by its very nature does not support variable data rates. USB relies heavily on processor support and this was not guaranteed to service the USB port in time. The later move away from tape towards solid-state memory or disc media (e.g., SD Cards, optical disks or hard drives) has facilitated moving to USB transfer because file-based data can be moved in segments as required.
Frame grabbers
IEEE 1394 interface is commonly found in frame grabbers, devices that capture and digitize an analog video signal; however, IEEE 1394 is facing competition from the Gigabit Ethernet interface (citing speed and availability issues).
iPod and iPhone synchronization and charging
iPods released prior to the iPod with Dock Connector used IEEE 1394a ports for transferring music files and charging, but in 2003, the FireWire port in iPods was succeeded by Apple's dock connector and IEEE 1394 to 30-pin connector cables were made. Apple Inc. began removing backwards compatibility with FireWire cables starting with the first generation iPod nano and fifth generation iPod, both of which could only sync via USB but retained the ability to charge through FireWire. This was also carried over to the second and third generation nanos as well as the iPod Classic. Backwards compatibility was removed completely beginning with the iPhone 3G, second generation iPod touch, and the fourth generation iPod nano, all of which could only charge and sync via USB.
Security issues
Devices on a FireWire bus can communicate by direct memory access (DMA), where a device can use hardware to map internal memory to FireWire's physical memory space. The SBP-2 (Serial Bus Protocol 2) used by FireWire disk drives uses this capability to minimize interrupts and buffer copies. In SBP-2, the initiator (controlling device) sends a request by remotely writing a command into a specified area of the target's FireWire address space. This command usually includes buffer addresses in the initiator's FireWire Physical Address Space, which the target is supposed to use for moving I/O data to and from the initiator.On many implementations, particularly those like PCs and Macs using the popular OHCI, the mapping between the FireWire physical memory space and device physical memory is done in hardware, without operating system intervention. While this enables high-speed and low-latency communication between data sources and sinks without unnecessary copying (such as between a video camera and a software video recording application, or between a disk drive and the application buffers), this can also be a security or media rights-restriction risk if untrustworthy devices are attached to the bus and initiate a DMA attack. One of the applications known to exploit this to gain unauthorized access to running Windows, Mac OS and Linux computers is the spyware FinFireWire. For this reason, high-security installations typically either use newer machines that map a virtual memory space to the FireWire physical memory space (such as a Power Mac G5, or any Sun workstation), disable relevant drivers at operating system level, disable the OHCI hardware mapping between FireWire and device memory, physically disable the entire FireWire interface, or opt to not use FireWire or other hardware like PCMCIA, PC Card, ExpressCard or Thunderbolt, which expose DMA to external components.
An unsecured FireWire interface can be used to debug a machine whose operating system has crashed, and in some systems for remote-console operations. Windows natively supports this scenario of kernel debugging, although newer Windows Insider Preview builds no longer include the ability out of the box. On FreeBSD, the dcons driver provides both, using gdb as debugger. Under Linux, firescope and fireproxy exist.
See also
DMA attack
HAVi
Linux IEEE 1394 target
List of interface bit rates
Pin control attack
Further reading
INCITS T10 Project 1467D (2004). Information technology—Serial Bus Protocol 3 (SBP-3). ANSI INCITS. ANSI INCITS 375-2004.
Anderson, Don (1999). FireWire System Architecture. MindShare, Inc. ISBN 0-201-48535-4.
"IEEE Standard for a High-Performance Serial Bus". IEEE STD. 1394-2008. 2008-10-21. doi:10.1109/IEEESTD.2008.4659233. ISBN 978-0-7381-5771-9.
1394 Trade Association at the Wayback Machine (archived 2019-03-28)
1394 Standards Orientation, Introduction at the Wayback Machine (archived 2021-02-03)
IEEE 1394 connectors pinout |
NET may refer to:
Broadcast media
United States
National Educational Television, the predecessor of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States
National Empowerment Television, a politically conservative cable TV network, now defunct, also known as "America's Voice"
Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, a state network of Television (PBS) and Radio Stations (NPR) in Nebraska, United States
New Evangelization Television, a Christian-oriented TV channel based in New York, United States
Other places
NET (telecommunications), a Brazilian cable television operator
NET (Indonesian TV network), an Indonesian television network
NET (Maltese TV channel), a Maltese television station
NET 5, a Dutch television station
Net 25, a Philippine television station
New Hellenic Television, a Greek television network
Nihon Educational Television, former name of TV Asahi
Science and technology
Noise-equivalent target, a measurement of radiant intensity used in detection systems
Noise-equivalent temperature, a measure of the sensitivity of a thermal-radiation detector
Negative emission technologies, carbon dioxide removal
Medicine and chemistry
N-Ethyltryptamine, a psychedelic drug
Neuroendocrine tumor, a tumor occurring at the interface between the endocrine and nervous systems
Neutrophil extracellular traps, networks of extracellular fibers that bind pathogens
Norepinephrine transporter, a type of neurotransmitter transporter
Norethisterone (norethindrone), a steroid contraceptive
Other uses
Cloudflare, American internet services company (stock ticker)
NCAA Evaluation Tool, a metric created in 2018 for use in the college basketball tournament selection process
National Education Trust, a UK non-profit charity
National Eligibility Test, an Indian entrance examination
Native English-speaking Teacher, a scheme designed to employ overseas teachers in Hong Kong
Netherlands, UNDP country code
New Earth Time, a naming system for time on Earth
New English Translation, a 2005 English translation of the Bible
Nigerian Entertainment Today, a newspaper
No Electronic Theft Act, a 1997 United States law extending the grounds for prosecution of copyright infringement
Nottingham Express Transit, a tramway system in Nottingham, England
Narrative exposure therapy, used for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder
Abbreviation for: No earlier than
See also
Net (disambiguation)
NETS (disambiguation)
NETD (disambiguation)
.net (disambiguation)
The Net (disambiguation) |
DQN could refer to:
Du Quoin station, Amtrak station code DQN
Station code for Dhanera station, Gujarat, India - see List of railway stations in India
Deep Q-Network, used in Deep Q-learning
An internet slang used as derogatory name in Japan. |
Mikhail Lvovich Matusovsky (Russian: Михаил Львович Матусовский; 23 July 1915, Luhansk, Yekaterinoslav Governorate – 16 July 1990, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian poet, screenwriter, translator and war correspondent. Laureate of the USSR State Prize (1977).
Biography
His father is Lev Matusovsky (Russian Wikipedia)
Mikhail Lvovich Matusovsky was born in Luhansk, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire in the Jewish family of a photographer. Graduated from Maxim Gorky Literature Institute (1939). PhD (1941). A participant of the Great Patriotic War, and a member of the Union of Soviet Writers (1939).He is famous for his lyric poems many of which became lyrics of the popular songs: "School Waltz", "In the Damp Earth-Huts", "The Sacred Stone", "The Windows of Moscow", "Don't Forget" and "Moscow Nights" which was sung at the Moscow Youth Festival in 1957 and was played also by American pianist Van Cliburn in the White House in 1979, on the occasion of a visit by the former President of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. This song made an entry into the "Guinness Book of World Records" as the song most frequently sang in the world and in March 1962 made Kenny Ball's disk reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the UK Singles Chart.Among the books: anthologies of poems "The People of Lugansk: A Book of Poems and Prosa" (1939), "My Genealogy" (1940), "Front: A Book of Poems" (1942), "A Song About Aidogdi Takhirov and Andrey Savushkin" (1943), "When Ilmen Lake Makes a Stir" (1944), "Poems" (1946), "Listening to Moscow: Poems" (1948), "The Street of Peace: Poems" (1951), "Everything That I Value: Poems and Songs" (1957), "The Poems Are Always With Us" (1958), "The Windows of Moscow: Poems and Songs" (1960), "How Are You, Earth: A book of Poems and Songs" (1963), "Don't Forget: Songs" (1964), "A shadow of a Man: A Book About Hiroshima" (1968), "It Was Recently, It Was Long Ago: Poems" (1970),"The Essence: Poetry and Poems" (1979), "Selected Works: in Two Volumes" (1982) and the memoirs "The Family Album" (1979).
Awards and honors
Medal "For the Defence of Moscow"
Medal "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
Order of the October Revolution
Order of the Red Star (1942)
Two Orders of the Patriotic War, 1st class (1945, 1985)
Two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour (1965, 1975)
USSR State Prize (1977)
mpsu.org.ua |
Vasily Pavlovich Solovyov-Sedoi (Василий Павлович Соловьёв-Седой; 25 April [O.S. 12 April] 1907 – 2 December 1979) was a Soviet classical composer and songwriter who was born and died in Leningrad.
Solovyov-Sedoi composed the music for many songs such as "Moscow Nights" (Russian: Подмосковные вечера) and "Nightingales" (Russian: Соловьи). He also wrote music for numerous films. Originally named Solovyov, when he entered the Union of Soviet Composers he added the suffix "Sedoi", meaning grey-haired, to avoid confusion with another composer with the same surname.
Filmography
Heavenly Slug (1945)
The First Glove (1946)
World Champion (1954)
Good Morning (1955)
Maksim Perepelitsa (1955)
Be Careful, Grandma! (1960)
Don Tale (1964)
The Salvos of the Aurora Cruiser (1965)
Virineya (1968)
Fitil (1975)
Sweet Woman (1976)
A Taiga Story (1979)
"Василий Павлович Соловьев-Седой / Vasily Soloviev-Sedoy" (in Russian). Short biography |
Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases, is an opaque, impure variety of silica, usually red, yellow, brown or green in color; and rarely blue. The common red color is due to iron(III) inclusions. Jasper breaks with a smooth surface and is used for ornamentation or as a gemstone. It can be highly polished and is used for items such as vases, seals, and snuff boxes. The specific gravity of jasper is typically 2.5 to 2.9. Jaspillite is a banded-iron-formation rock that often has distinctive bands of jasper.
Etymology and history
The name means "spotted or speckled stone," and is derived via Old French jaspre (variant of Anglo-Norman jaspe) and Latin iaspidem (nom. iaspis) from Greek ἴασπις iaspis (feminine noun), from an Afroasiatic language (cf. Hebrew ישפה yashpeh, Akkadian yashupu). This Semitic etymology is believed to be unrelated to that of the English given name Jasper, which is of Persian origin, though the Persian word for the mineral jasper is also yashp (یَشم).
Green jasper was used to make bow drills in Mehrgarh between 4th and 5th millennium BC. Jasper is known to have been a favorite gem in the ancient world; its name can be traced back in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Assyrian, Greek and Latin. On Minoan Crete, jasper was carved to produce seals circa 1800 BC, as evidenced by archaeological recoveries at the palace of Knossos.Although the term jasper is now restricted to opaque quartz, the ancient iaspis was a stone of considerable translucency including nephrite. The jasper of antiquity was in many cases distinctly green, for it is often compared to emerald and other green objects. Jasper is referred to in the Nibelungenlied as being clear and green. The jasper of the ancients probably included stones which would now be classed as chalcedony, and the emerald-like jasper may have been akin to the modern chrysoprase. The Hebrew word may have designated a green jasper. Flinders Petrie suggested that the odem, the first stone on the High Priest's breastplate, was a red jasper, whilst tarshish, the tenth stone, may have been a yellow jasper.
Types
Jasper is an opaque rock of virtually any colour stemming from the mineral content of the original sediments or ash. Patterns arise during the consolidation process forming flow and depositional patterns in the original silica-rich sediment or volcanic ash. Hydrothermal circulation is generally thought to be required in the formation of jasper.Jasper can be modified by the diffusion of minerals along discontinuities providing the appearance of vegetative growth, i.e., dendritic. The original materials are often fractured and/or distorted, after deposition, into diverse patterns, which are later filled in with other colorful minerals. Weathering, with time, will create intensely colored superficial rinds.
The classification and naming of jasper varieties presents a challenge. Terms attributed to various well-defined materials includes the geographic locality where it is found, sometimes quite restricted such as "Bruneau" (a canyon) and "Lahontan" (a lake), rivers and even individual mountains; many are fanciful, such as "forest fire" or "rainbow", while others are descriptive, such as "autumn" or "porcelain". A few are designated by the place of origin such as a brown Egyptian or red African.
Banded iron formations
Jasper is the main component in the silica-rich parts of banded iron formations (BIFs) which indicate low, but present, amounts of dissolved oxygen in the water such as during the Great Oxidation Event or snowball earths. The red bands are microcrystalline red chert, also called jasper.
Picture jaspers
Picture jaspers exhibit combinations of patterns resulting in what appear to be scenes or images, when seen on a cut section. Such patterns include banding from flow or depositional patterns (from water or wind), as well as dendritic or color variations. Diffusion from a center produces a distinctive orbicular appearance, i.e., leopard skin jasper or linear banding from a fracture as seen in liesegang jasper. Healed, fragmented rock produces brecciated (broken) jasper.
While these "picture jaspers" can be found all over the world, specific colors or patterns are unique to the geographic region from which they originate. One source of the stone is Indonesia, especially in Purbalingga district. From the US, Oregon's Biggs jasper and Idaho's Bruneau jasper from the Bruneau River canyon are particularly fine examples. Other examples can be seen at Ynys Llanddwyn in Wales. A blue-green jasper occurs in a deposit at Ettutkan Mountain, Staryi Sibay, Bashkortostan, Russia. (The town of Sibay, in the far south of the Ural Mountains, near the border with Kazakhstan, is noted for its colossal, open-cast copper mine.)
Basanite and other types of touchstone
Basanite is a deep velvety-black variety of amorphous quartz, of a slightly tougher and finer grain than jasper, and less splintery than hornstone. It was the Lydian stone or touchstone of the ancients. It is mentioned and its use described in the writings of Bacchylides about 450 B.C., and was also described by Theophrastus in his book On Stones (Ancient Greek title: Περὶ λίθων: Peri Lithon), a century later. It is evident that the touchstone that Pliny had in mind when he wrote about it was merely a dense variety of basalt.
Basanite (not to be confused with bassanite), Lydian stone, and radiolarite (a.k.a. lydite or flinty slate) are terms used to refer to several types of black, jasper-like rock (also including tuffs, cherts and siltstones) which are dense, fine-grained and flinty / cherty in texture and found in a number of localities. The "Lydian Stone" known to the Ancient Greeks is named for the ancient kingdom of Lydia in what is now western Turkey. A similar rock type occurs in New England. Such rock types have long been used for the making of touchstones to test the purity of precious metal alloys, because they are hard enough to scratch such metals, which, if drawn (scraped) across them, show to advantage their metallic streaks of various (diagnostic) colours, against the dark background. There are, confusingly, not one but two rocks called basanite, one being a black form of jasper and the other a black volcanic rock closely akin to basalt. Add to this the fact that many different rock types - having in common the colour black and a fine texture - have, over the ages, been pressed into service as touchstones and it will be seen that there is ample scope for confusion in this petrology- and mineralogy-related field of study.
Gallery
"Jasper" . Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
"Jasper" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). 1911. p. 279. |
Canadian art refers to the visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of habitation by Indigenous peoples followed by waves of immigration which included artists of European origins and subsequently by artists with heritage from countries all around the world. The nature of Canadian art reflects these diverse origins, as artists have taken their traditions and adapted these influences to reflect the reality of their lives in Canada.
The Government of Canada has played a role in the development of Canadian culture, through the department of Canadian Heritage by giving grants to art galleries, as well as establishing and funding art schools and colleges across the country, and through the Canada Council for the Arts (established in 1957), the national public arts funder, helping artists, art galleries and periodicals, thus contributing to the visual exposure of Canada`s heritage. The Canada Council Art Bank also helps artists by buying and publicizing their work. The Canadian government has sponsored four official war art programs: the First World War Canadian War Memorials Fund (CWMF), the Second World War Canadian War Records (CWR), the Cold War Canadian Armed Forces Civilian Artists Program (CAFCAP), and the current Canadian Forces Artists Program (CFAP).The Group of Seven is often considered the first uniquely Canadian artistic group and style of painting; however, this claim is challenged by scholars and artists. Historically, the Catholic Church was the primary patron of art in early Canada, especially Quebec, and in later times, artists have combined British, French, and American artistic traditions, at times embracing European styles and at the same time, working to promote nationalism. Canadian art remains the combination of these various influences.
Indigenous art
Indigenous peoples were producing art in the territory that is now called Canada for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European settler colonists and the eventual establishment of Canada as a nation state. Like the peoples that produced them, Indigenous art traditions spanned territories that extended across the current national boundaries between Canada and the United States. Indigenous art traditions are often organized by art historians according to cultural, linguistic or regional groups, the most common regional distinctions being: Northwest Coast, Northwest Plateau, Plains, Eastern Woodlands, Subarctic, and Arctic. As might be expected, art traditions vary enormously amongst and within these diverse groups. One thing that distinguishes Indigenous art from European traditions is a focus on art that tends to be made for "utilitarian, shamanistic or decorative purposes, or for pleasure", as Maria Tippett writes. Such objects might be "venerated or considered ephemeral objects".Many of the artworks preserved in museum collections date from the period after European contact and show evidence of the creative adoption and adaptation of European trade goods such as metal and glass beads. The distinct Métis cultures that have arisen from inter-cultural relationships with Europeans have also contributed new culturally hybrid art forms. During the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, the Canadian government pursued an active policy of assimilation toward Indigenous peoples. One of the instruments of this policy was the Indian Act, which banned manifestations of traditional religion and governance, such as the Sun Dance and the Potlatch, including the works of art associated with them. It was not until the 1950s and 60s that Indigenous artists such as Mungo Martin, Bill Reid, and Norval Morrisseau began to publicly renew and, in some cases, re-invent indigenous art traditions. Currently there are many Indigenous artists practicing in all media in Canada and two Indigenous artists, such as Edward Poitras and Rebecca Belmore, who have represented Canada at the prestigious Venice Biennale in 1995 and 2005, respectively. Toronto-based Cree artist Kent Monkman is the only Canadian artist to be commissioned by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2019, he produced the diptych mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People) as part of a new series of contemporary projects presented in the Met's Great Hall.
French colonial period (1665–1759)
Early explorers such as Samuel de Champlain made sketches of North American territory as they explored. They also documented conflicts between European colonizers and Indigenous peoples. For instance, a drawing by Champlain, published in 1613, depicts the battle between Champlain's party and the Haudenosaunee that took place in present-day Lake Champlain in 1609.The Roman Catholic Church in and around Quebec City was the first to provide artistic patronage. Abbé Hughes Pommier is believed to be the first painter in New France. Pommier left France in 1664 and worked in various communities as a priest before taking up painting extensively. Painters in New France, such as Pommier and Claude François (known primarily as Frère Luc, believed in the ideals of High Renaissance art, which featured religious depictions often formally composed with seemingly classical clothing and settings. Few artists during this early period signed their works, making attributions today difficult.
Near the end of the 17th century, the population of New France was growing steadily but the territory was increasingly isolated from France. Fewer artists arrived from Europe, but artists in New France continued with commissions from the Church. Two schools were established in New France to teach the arts and there were a number of artists working throughout New France up until the British Conquest. Pierre Le Ber, from a wealthy Montreal family, is one of the most recognized artists from this period. Believed to be self-taught since he never left New France, Le Ber's work is widely admired. In particular, his depiction of the saint Marguerite Bourgeoys was hailed as "the single most moving image to survive from the French period" by Canadian art historian Dennis Reid.While early religious painting told little about everyday life, numerous ex-votos completed by amateur artists offered vivid impressions of life in New France. Ex-votos, or votive painting, were made as a way to thank God or the saints for answering a prayer. One of the best known examples of this type of work is Ex-voto des trois naufragés de Lévis (1754). Five youths were crossing the Saint Lawrence River at night when their boat overturned in rough water. Two girls drowned, weighed down by their heavy dresses, while two young men and one woman were able to hold on to the overturned boat until help arrived. Saint Anne is depicted in the sky, saving them. This work was donated to the church at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré as an offering of thanks for the three lives saved.
Early art in British North America
The early ports of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland did not experience the same degree of artistic growth, largely due to their Protestant beliefs in simple church decoration which did not encourage artists or sculptors. However itinerant artists, painters who travelled to various communities to sell works, frequented the area. Dutch-born artist Gerard Edema is believed to have painted the first Newfoundland landscape in the early 18th century.
British Colonial period (1759–1820)
British Army topographers
The battle for Quebec left numerous British soldiers garrisoned in strategic locations in the territory. While off-duty, many of these soldiers sketched and painted the Canadian land and people, which were often sold in European markets hungry for exotic, picturesque views of the colonies. Many officers in the regiments sent to North America had passed through the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich where watercolour painting was part of the curriculum since watercolours were required by soldiers to record the land, as photography had not been invented. Thomas Davies is championed as one of the most talented. Davies recorded the capture of Louisburg and Montreal among other scenes. Many of Richard Short's drawings and watercolours were reproduced as prints to disseminate knowledge of British expansion. For instance, in 1761, Short’s sketches became the basis for a set of prints depicting the British conquest of Quebec City two years earlier. Scottish-born George Heriot was one of the first artist-soldiers to settle in Canada and later produced Travels Through the Canadas in 1807 filled with his aquatint prints. James Cockburn also was most prolific, creating views of Quebec City and its surroundings. Forshaw Day worked as a draftsman at Her Majesty's Naval Yard from 1862–79 in Halifax, Nova Scotia then moved to Kingston, Ontario to teach drawing at the Royal Military College of Canada from 1879–97.
Lower Canada's Golden Age
In the late 18th century, art in Lower Canada began to prosper due to a larger number of commissions from the public and Church construction. Portrait painting in particular is recognized from this period, as it allowed a higher degree of innovation and change. François Baillairgé was one of the first of this generation of artists. He returned to Montreal in 1781 after studying sculpture in London and Paris. The Rococo style influenced several Lower Canadian artists who aimed for the style's light and carefree painting. However, Baillairgé did not embrace Rococo, instead focusing on sculpture and teaching influenced by Neoclassicism.
Lower Canada's artists evolved independently from France as the connection was severed during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. While not living in Lower Canada, William Berczy participated in the period's artistic growth. He immigrated to North America from Europe, perhaps Saxony, and completed several important portraits of leading figures. For example, he painted three portraits of Kanien’kehá:ka leader Joseph Brant and his best known work, The Woolsley Family, painted in Quebec City in 1808–09. As the title of the latter painting suggests, the work features full-length portraits of all the members of the Woolsley family. It is celebrated in part because of its complex arrangement of figures, decorative floor panels, and the detailed view of the landscape through the open window. Art historian J. Russell Harper believes this era of Canadian art was the first to develop a truly Canadian character.A second generation of artists continued this flourishing of artistic growth beginning around the 1820s. Joseph Légaré was trained as a decorative and copy painter. However, this did not inhibit his artistic creativity as he was one of the first Canadian artists to depict the local landscape. Légaré is best known for his depictions of disasters such as cholera plagues, rocks slides, and fires. Antoine Plamondon, a student of Légaré, went on to study in France, the first French Canadian artist to do so in 48 years. Plamondon went on to become the most successful artist in this period, largely through religious and portrait commissions.
Krieghoff and Kane
The works of most early Canadian painters were heavily influenced by European trends. During the mid-19th century, Cornelius Krieghoff, a Dutch-born artist in Quebec, painted scenes of the life of the habitants (French-Canadian farmers). At about the same time, the Canadian artist Paul Kane painted pictures of Indigenous life around the Great Lakes, Western Canada and the Oregon Territories. The figure of "the Native" played different roles in art, among others from an "intermediary of the environment" to a model of political resistance". Kane and other Western artists catered to the overseas demand for misleading and stereotypical images of violent Prairie warriors. Kane's dramatic painting The Death of Omoxesisixany (Big Snake) (1849–56) was his only work to be mass-produced and marketed in its own time.
Art under the Dominion of Canada
Formed in 1867 by a group of professional painters, including John Fraser, John Bell-Smith, father of Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith and Adolphe Vogt, the Society of Canadian Artists in Montreal represented the possibilities these artists felt in the city as an exhibiting place for the arts. The group consisted of artists with diverse background, with many new Canadians and others of French heritage spread out over Ontario and Quebec. Without group philosophical or artistic objectives, most artists tended simply to please the public in order to produce income. Romanticism remained the predominant stylistic influence, with a growing appreciation for Realism originating with the Barbizon school as practiced by Canadians Homer Watson and Horatio Walker. The Society however did not last beyond 1872.In 1872, the Ontario Society of Artists was founded in Toronto; it is still exhibiting today. The list of objectives drawn up by the founding executive in its constitution included the "fostering of Original Art in the province, the holding of Annual Exhibitions, the formation of an Art Library and Museum and School of Art", all goals that were fulfilled.In 1880, the Royal Canadian Academy was founded and it, too, is still active today. It was modelled after the British Royal Academy of Arts with a hierarchy of members, and provided a new national context and vehicle for the promotion of the visual arts.] The RCA, under the leadership of Robert Harris, actively sought to place Canadian artists in international exhibitions, such as the Canadian Exhibition at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904.
Early 20th century
The Canadian Art Club, in existence from 1907 to 1915, was formed in an effort to improve the quality of the various standard exhibitions. The founders of the Club were the painters Edmund Morris and Curtis Williamson, who attempted to establish higher standards through small, carefully hung shows. Membership of the Club was by invitation only. Homer Watson was the first president, and other members included William Brymner, Maurice Cullen, and James Wilson Morrice.The First World War sparked a wide range of artistic expression: photography, film, painting, prints, reproductions, illustration, posters, craft, sculpture, and memorials. Artists initiated some of this work themselves, but the Canadian government and private agencies sponsored the vast majority of it.
Nationalism and the Group of Seven
The Group of Seven asserted a distinct national identity combined with a common heritage stemming from early modernism in Europe, including Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Some of the later members worked as commercial artists at a Toronto company called Grip Ltd. where they were encouraged to paint outdoors in their spare time. As mature artists, Influenced by the example of Tom Thomson, they painted works in the studio from sketches made on small panels while on location in Northern Ontario or in the environment closer to home.The group had its genesis at Toronto's Arts & Letters Club before the First World War, though the war delayed its official formation until 1920. The eventual members were Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley. Harris helped, with Dr. James MacCallum, by funding the construction of the Studio building in Toronto in 1913 for some of the group's use as studio space. He also helped fund many of the group's northern excursions beginning 1919 by having a box car outfitted with sleeping quarters and heat, then left at prearranged train track locations to be re-located when the group wanted to move or return. These actions were possible due to Harris' family fortune and influence: his father had been secretary to the A. Harris company which amalgamated with Massey to form the Massey-Harris Company which shipped most of its production by train.
Emily Carr and various other artists were associated with the Group of Seven but were not invited to be members. Tom Thomson, often referred to, but never officially a member, died in 1917 due to an accident on Canoe Lake in Northern Ontario. In 1933, members of the Group of Seven decided to enlarge the group and formed the Canadian Group of Painters, made up of 28 artists from across the country.Today, particularly with the work of Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven and Emily Carr, Canadian art is reaching new highs in the Canadian auction market. Tom Thomson`s work is especially recognized as a contribution to North American Post-Impressionism and the Group of Seven mythology has become an important part of national identity.
Beginning of non-objective art
In the 1920s, Kathleen Munn, Bertram Brooker and Lowrie Warrener independently experimented with abstract or non-objective art in Canada. Some of these artists viewed abstract art as a way to explore symbolism and mysticism as an integral part of their spirituality. After the Group of Seven was enlarged into the Canadian Group of Painters, in about 1936, Lawren Harris began to paint abstractly. These individual artists indirectly influenced the following generation of artists who would come to form groups of abstract art following World War II, by changing the definition of art in Canadian society and by encouraging young artists to explore abstract themes.
Contemporaries of the Group of Seven
The Beaver Hall Group (1920-1922) in Montreal, a collective of eighteen painters and one sculptor, was founded just after the Group of Seven`s first show. It was named for a building at 305 Beaver Hall which provided a meeting and exhibition space.By the late 1930s, many Canadian artists began resenting the quasi-national institution the Group of Seven had become. As a result of a growing rejection of the view that the efforts of a group of artists based largely in Ontario constituted a national vision or oeuvre, many artists—notably those in Québec—began feeling ignored and undermined. Founded in 1938 in Montréal, Québec, the Eastern Group of Painters included Montréal artists whose common interest was painting and an art for art's sake aesthetic, not the espousal of a nationalist credo as was the case with the Group of Seven or the Canadian Group of Painters. The group's members included Alexander Bercovitch, Goodridge Roberts, Eric Goldberg, Jack Weldon Humphrey, John Goodwin Lyman, and Jori Smith. The Eastern Group of Painters was formed to restore variation of purpose, method, and geography to Canadian art. It evolved into the Contemporary Arts Society (Société d'art contemporain) which was formed in 1939 by John Goodwin Lyman to promote an awareness of modern art in Montréal.
1930s regionalism
Since the 1930s, Canadian painters have developed a wide range of highly individual styles and painted in different regions of Canada. Emily Carr became famous for her paintings of totem poles, native villages, and the forests of British Columbia. Jack Humphrey painted Saint John, New Brunswick, Carl Schaefer painted Hanover, Ontario, John Lyman painted the Laurentians, and a contingent of artists painted Baie St. Paul in Charlevoix County, Quebec. Later painters who painted specific landscapes include the prairie painter William Kurelek.
After World War II
The abstract painters Jean-Paul Riopelle and multi-media artist Michael Snow can be said to have an influence beyond Canadian borders. Les Automatistes were a group of Québécois artistic dissidents from Montreal, Quebec, founded by Paul-Émile Borduas in the early 1940s. It lasted till 1954, the year of the group`s last exhibition. However, their artistic influence was not quickly felt in English Canada, or indeed much beyond Montreal. The abstract art group Painters Eleven (1953-1960), founded in Toronto, particularly the artist William Ronald, who is credited with the group's formation, and Jack Bush, also had an important impact on modern art in Canada. Painters Eleven increased opportunities to exhibit by its members.Regina Five is the name given to five abstract painters, Kenneth Lochhead, Arthur McKay, Douglas Morton, Ted Godwin, and Ronald Bloore, who exhibited their works in the 1961 National Gallery of Canada's exhibition "Five Painters from Regina". Though not an organized group per se, the name stuck with the 'members' and the artists continued to show together.Canadian sculpture has been enriched by the walrus ivory and soapstone carvings of Inuit artists. These carvings show objects and activities from their daily lives, both modern and traditional, as well as scenes from their mythology.
Contemporary art
The 1960s saw the emergence of several important local and regional developments in dialogue with international trends. Robert Murray, one of Canada`s foremost abstract sculptors, moved to New York City from Saskatchewan in 1960, and began his progression to International fame.In Toronto, Spadina Avenue in the 1960s became a hotspot for a loose affiliation of artists, notably Gordon Rayner, Graham Coughtry, and Robert Markle, who came to define the "Toronto look."Other notable moments when Canadian contemporary artists—as individuals or groups—have distinguished themselves through international recognition or collaborations:
The interdisciplinary art practice and international success of Michael Snow began in the 1960s.
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University (NSCAD). From 1967 to 1990, Garry Neill Kennedy, as President, remade the College into an international centre for artistic activity and invited notable artists to come to NSCAD as visiting artists, particularly those involved in conceptual art. Artists who made significant contributions during this period include Vito Acconci, Sol LeWitt, Dan Graham, Eric Fischl, Lawrence Weiner, Joseph Beuys and Claes Oldenburg. Krzysztof Wodiczko, became an artist-in-residence at NSCAD in 1976 and taught there till 1981. In 1984, he became a Canadian citizen, but went on to increasing fame in New York.
AA Bronson, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal under the name of General Idea, active from 1967 to 1994, achieved international success.
The video art and photography of David Askevold, an early and highly influential contributor to the development and pedagogy of the conceptual art movement, occurred. He was invited to NSCAD in 1968. His work is included in the collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art.
CAR, later CARFAC (in French, Le Front des artistes canadiens) was founded in Ontario by Jack Chambers, with the aid of Tony Urquhart, and Kim Ondaatje in 1968,, ensuring the recognition of artists` copyrights. Due to it, Canada became the first country to pay mandatory exhibition fees to artists. In Moncton, the creation of a fine arts department at the nascent Université de Moncton in 1963 was headed by sculptor Claude Roussel, who was representative of CARFAC in New Brunswick and attended the first national conference in Winnipeg of CAR 1971.
Colin Campbell and Lisa Steele began their pioneering early video art in Toronto in the early 1970s - Steele`s Birthday Suit – with scars and defects (1974) is a classic.
In Vancouver, Ian Wallace was particularly influential in nurturing an international dialogue through his teaching and exchange programs from 1972 on when he was hired at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design (formerly the Vancouver School of Art). He also encouraged visits from influential figures such as Lucy Lippard and Robert Smithson which exposed younger artists to conceptual art.
The Vancouver School of Photoconceptualism (including Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham and Stan Douglas) began in the 1980s.
In 1981, Arnaud Maggs worked on three grid-based portrait works documenting members of Toronto’s art and cultural community: 48 Views, Turning, and Downwind. Together, these works form an extensive visual archive—a kind of who’s who—of the Toronto arts and culture scene in the 1980s.
The career of Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, who represented Canada at the 49th Venice Biennial in 2001, became internationally successful.
The films of Mark Lewis, who represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 2009, have been exhibited in solo museum shows at the Musée du Louvre, Paris (2014), The Power Plant, Toronto (2015), the Art Gallery of Ontario which organized Mark Lewis. Canada (2017), the Museo de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) (2020), and at numerous other international venues. His work has been purchased for public collections world wide.
The paintings of Steven Shearer, who represented Canada in the Venice Biennale in 2011, are increasingly sought after and shown at international galleries.
The ceramic figure work of Shary Boyle, who represented Canada in the Venice Biennale in 2013, is increasingly recognized internationally.
Geoffrey Farmer, who represented Canada in the Venice Biennale in 2017, has attracted significant international media attention in international publications contributing to a global conversation about contemporary art in Canada, particularly for his show titled A Way Out of the Mirror.
In 2019, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art commissioned Kent Monkman to produce the diptych mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People) (2019) as part of a new series of contemporary projects presented in its Great Hall. In 2020, The Met acquired the dipytch, which consists of the paintings Welcoming the Newcomers and Resurgence of the People.Recent achievements of Canadian artists are showcased online at the Canada Council Art Bank site.
See also
Further reading
Media related to Art of Canada at Wikimedia Commons
Artists in Canada A CHIN (Canadian Heritage Information Network) Resource |
Koha may refer to:
Koha (custom), a New Zealand Māori custom of gift giving
Koha (software), an open-source integrated library system
Koha, Iran, a village
Kalju Koha, Estonian politician
Koharu Kusumi, a Japanese pop singer
KOHA-LD, a low-power television station (channel 27) licensed to serve Omaha, Nebraska, United States |
C-- (pronounced C minus minus) is a C-like programming language. Its creators, functional programming researchers Simon Peyton Jones and Norman Ramsey, designed it to be generated mainly by compilers for very high-level languages rather than written by human programmers. Unlike many other intermediate languages, its representation is plain ASCII text, not bytecode or another binary format.There are two main branches:
C--, the original branch, with the final version 2.0 released in May 2005
Cmm, the fork actively used as the intermediate representation (IR) in the Glasgow Haskell Compiler (GHC)
Design
C-- is a "portable assembly language", designed to ease the implementation of compilers that produce high-quality machine code. This is done by delegating low-level code-generation and program optimization to a C-- compiler. The language's syntax borrows heavily from C while omitting or changing standard C features such as variadic functions, pointer syntax, and aspects of C's type system, because they hamper essential features of C-- and ease of code-generation.
The name of the language is an in-joke, indicating that C-- is a reduced form of C, in the same way that "C++" was chosen to connote an improved version of C. (In C, -- and ++ mean "decrement" and "increment," respectively.)
Work on C-- began in the late 1990s. Since writing a custom code generator is a challenge in itself, and the compiler backends available to researchers at that time were complex and poorly documented, several projects had written compilers which generated C code (for instance, the original Modula-3 compiler). However, C is a poor choice for functional languages: it does not guarantee tail-call optimization, or support accurate garbage collection or efficient exception handling. C-- is a tightly-defined simpler alternative to C which supports all of these. Its most innovative feature is a run-time interface which allows writing of portable garbage collectors, exception handling systems and other run-time features which work with any C-- compiler.
The first version of C-- was released in April 1998 as a MSRA paper, accompanied by a January 1999 paper on garbage collection. A revised manual was posted in HTML form in May 1999. Two sets of major changes proposed in 2000 by Norman Ramsey ("Proposed Changes") and Christian Lindig ("A New Grammar") led to C-- version 2, which was finalized around 2004 and officially released in 2005.
Type system
The C-- type system is designed to reflect constraints imposed by hardware rather than conventions imposed by higher-level languages. A value stored in a register or memory may have only one type: bit-vector. However, bit-vector is a polymorphic type which comes in several widths, e.g. bits8, bits32, or bits64. A separate 32-or-64 bit family of floating-point types is supported. In addition to the bit-vector type, C-- provides a boolean type bool, which can be computed by expressions and used for control flow but cannot be stored in a register or memory. As in an assembly language, any higher type discipline, such as distinctions between signed, unsigned, float, and pointer, is imposed by the C-- operators or other syntactic constructs. C-- is not type-checked, nor does it enforce or check the calling convention.: 28 C-- version 2 removes the distinction between bit-vector and floating-point types. These types can be annotated with a string "kind" tag to distinguish, among other things, a variable's integer vs float typing and its storage behavior (global or local). The former is useful on targets that have separate registers for integer and floating-point values. Special types for pointers and the native word were introduced, although they are mapped to a bit-vector with a target-dependent length.: 10
Example code
The following C-- code calculates the sum and product of integers 1 through n
(n is received as an argument).
It demonstrates two language features:
Procedures can return multiple results.
Tail recursion is explicitly requested with the "jump" keyword.
Implementations
The specification page of C-- lists a few implementations of C--. The "most actively developed" compiler, Quick C--, was abandoned in 2013.
Haskell
Some developers of C--, including Simon Peyton Jones, João Dias, and Norman Ramsey, work or have worked on GHC, whose development has led to extensions in the C-- language, forming the Cmm dialect which uses the C preprocessor for ergonomics.GHC backends are responsible for further transforming C-- into executable code, via LLVM IR, slow C, or directly through the built-in native backend. Despite the original intention, GHC does perform many of its generic optimizations on C--. As with other compiler IRs, the C-- representation can be dumped for debugging. Target-specific optimizations are performed later by the backend.
See also
BCPL
LLVM
Archive of old official website (cminusminus.org)
Quick C-- code archive (the reference implementation) |
XPL is a programming language based on PL/I, a portable one-pass compiler written in its own language, and a parser generator tool for easily implementing similar compilers for other languages. XPL was designed in 1967 as a way to teach compiler design principles and as starting point for students to build compilers for their own languages.
XPL was designed and implemented by William M. McKeeman, David B. Wortman, James J. Horning and others at Stanford University. XPL was first announced at the 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference. The methods and compiler are described in detail in the 1971 textbook A Compiler Generator.
They called the combined work a 'compiler generator'. But that implies little or no language- or target-specific programming is required to build a compiler for a new language or new target. A better label for XPL is a translator writing system. It helps to write a compiler with less new or changed programming code.
Language
The XPL language is a simple, small, efficient dialect of PL/I intended mainly for the task of writing compilers. The XPL language was also used for other purposes once it was available. XPL can be compiled easily to most modern machines by a simple compiler. Compiler internals can be written easily in XPL, and the code is easy to read. The PL/I language was designed by an IBM committee in 1964 as a comprehensive language replacing Fortran, COBOL, and ALGOL, and meeting all customer and internal needs. These ambitious goals made PL/I complex, hard to implement efficiently, and sometimes surprising when used. XPL is a small dialect of the full language. XPL has one added feature not found in PL/I: a STRING datatype with dynamic lengths. String values live in a separate text-only heap memory space with automatic garbage collection of stale values. Much of what a simple compiler does is manipulating input text and output byte streams, so this feature helps simplify XPL-based compilers.
Components
XCOM
The XPL compiler, called XCOM, is a one-pass compiler using a table-driven parser and simple code generation techniques. Versions of XCOM exist for different machine architectures, using different hand-written code generation modules for those targets. The original target was IBM System/360, which is a proper subset of IBM System/370, IBM System/390 and IBM System z.
XCOM compiles from XPL source code, but since XCOM itself is written in XPL it can compile itself – it is a self-compiling compiler, not reliant on other compilers. Several famous languages have self-compiling compilers, including Burroughs B5000 Algol, PL/I, C, LISP, and Java. Creating such compilers is a chicken-and-egg conundrum. The language is first implemented by a temporary compiler written in some other language, or even by an interpreter (often an interpreter for an intermediate code, as BCPL can do with intcode or O-code).
XCOM began as an Algol program running on Burroughs machines, translating XPL source code into System/360 machine code. The XPL team manually turned its Algol source code into XPL source code. That XPL version of XCOM was then compiled on Burroughs, creating a self-compiling XCOM for System/360 machines. The Algol version was then thrown away, and all further improvements happened in the XPL version only. This is called bootstrapping the compiler. The authors of XPL invented the tombstone diagram or T-diagram to document the bootstrapping process.
Retargeting the compiler for a new machine architecture is a similar exercise, except only the code generation modules need to be changed.
XCOM is a one-pass compiler (but with an emitted code fix-up process for forward branches, loops and other defined situations). It emits machine code for each statement as each grammar rule within a statement is recognized, rather than waiting until it has parsed the entire procedure or entire program. There are no parse trees or other required intermediate program forms, and no loop-wide or procedure-wide optimizations. XCOM does, however, perform peephole optimization. The code generation response to each grammar rule is attached to that rule. This immediate approach can result in inefficient code and inefficient use of machine registers. Such are offset by the efficiency of implementation, namely, the use of dynamic strings mentioned earlier: in processing text during compilation, substring operations are frequently performed. These are as fast as an assignment to an integer; the actual substring is not moved. In short, it is quick, easy to teach in a short course, fits into modest-sized memories, and is easy to change for different languages or different target machines.
ANALYZER
The XCOM compiler has a hand-written lexical scanner and a mechanically-generated parser. The syntax of the compiler's input language (in this case, XPL) is described by a simplified BNF grammar. XPL's grammar analyzer tool ANALYZER or XA turns this into a set of large data tables describing all legal combinations of the syntax rules and how to discern them. This table generation step is re-done only when the language is changed. When the compiler runs, those data tables are used by a small, language-independent parsing algorithm to parse and respond to the input language. This style of table-driven parser is generally easier to write than an entirely hand-written recursive descent parser. XCOM uses a bottom-up parsing method, in which the compiler can delay its decision about which syntax rule it has encountered until it has seen the rightmost end of that phrase. This handles a wider range of programming languages than top-down methods, in which the compiler must guess or commit to a specific syntax rule early, when it has only seen the left end of a phrase.
Runtime
XPL includes a minimal runtime support library for allocating and garbage-collecting XPL string values. The source code for this library must be included into most every program written in XPL.
SKELETON
The last piece of the XPL compiler writing system is an example compiler named SKELETON. This is just XCOM with parse tables for an example toy grammar instead of XPL's full grammar. It is a starting point for building a compiler for some new language, if that language differs much from XPL.
XMON
XPL is run under the control of a monitor, XMON, which is the only operating system-specific part of this system, and which acts as a "loader" for XCOM itself or any programs which were developed using XCOM, and also provides three auxiliary storage devices for XCOM's use, and which are directly accessed by block number. The originally published XMON was optimized for IBM 2311s. An XMON parameter FILE= enabled the monitor to efficiently use other disks with larger block sizes. The working disk block size was also a compile-time constant in
XCOM.XMON used a very simple strategy for disk direct access. NOTE provided the address of a disk track. POINT set the location of the next disk track to be the address previously returned by NOTE. This strategy was adopted to allow easy porting of XMON to other OSes, and to avoid the much more complicated disk direct access options available at that time.Converting XMON from its primitive use of NOTE, POINT and READ/WRITE disk operations—with precisely 1 block per track—to EXCP (i.e., write/create new records) and XDAP (i.e., read/update old records)—with n blocks per track, where n was computed at run-time from the target device's physical characteristics and could be significantly greater than 1—achieved significantly improved application performance and decreased operating system overhead.
Although originally developed for OS/360, XMON (either the original NOTE, POINT and READ/WRITE implementation; or the EXCP and XDAP enhancement) will run on subsequently released IBM OSes, including OS/370, XA, OS/390 and z/OS, generally without any changes.
Parsing
XCOM originally used a now-obsolete bottom-up parse table method called Mixed Strategy Precedence, invented by the XPL team (although the officially released version retains the MSP parser and does not include later-released "peephole optimizations" and additional data types which were developed outside of the original implementation team.) MSP is a generalization of the simple precedence parser method invented by Niklaus Wirth for PL360. Simple precedence is itself a generalization of the trivially simple operator precedence methods that work nicely for expressions like A+B*(C+D)-E. MSP tables include a list of expected triplets of language symbols. This list grows larger as the cube of the grammar size, and becomes quite large for typical full programming languages. XPL-derived compilers were difficult to fit onto minicomputers of the 1970s with limited memories. MSP is also not powerful enough to handle all likely grammars. It is applicable only when the language designer can tweak the language definition to fit MSP's restrictions, before the language is widely used.
The University of Toronto subsequently changed XCOM and XA to instead use a variant of Donald Knuth's LR parser bottom-up method. XCOM's variant is called Simple LR or SLR. It handles more grammars than MSP but not quite as many grammars as LALR or full LR(1). The differences from LR(1) are mostly in the table generator's algorithms, not in the compile-time parser method. XCOM and XA predate the widespread availability of Unix and its yacc parser generator tool. XA and yacc have similar purposes.
XPL is open source. The System/360 version of XPL was distributed through the IBM SHARE users organization. Other groups ported XPL onto many of the larger machines of the 1970s. Various groups extended XPL, or used XPL to implement other moderate-sized languages.
Applications
XPL has been used to develop a number of compilers for various languages and systems.
Stony Brook Pascal
HAL/S, the language used for the Space Shuttle program
MALUS, a system programming language used by General Motors to develop their Multiple Console Time Sharing System
New England Digital used a variant of XPL, called "Scientific XPL" for their ABLE series computers, used for laboratory automation, computer networking, and control of music synthesis hardware, starting in the mid-1970s
Current status
XPL continues to be ported to current computers. An x86/FreeBSD port was done in 2000, an x86/Linux port in 2015, and an XPL to C translator in 2017.
Bibliography
Alexander, W. G. and Wortman, D. B. "Static and Dynamic Charactersistics of XPL Programs." IEEE Computer November 1975; 41-46.
Ancona, Massimo, Dodero, Gabriella, and Durante, Ercole Luigi "Cross software development for microprocessors using a translator writing system" Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Software Engineering 1979: 399-402.
Kamnitzer, S. H. "Bootstrapping XPL from IBM/360 to UNIVAC 1100." ACM SIGPLAN Notices May 1975: 14-20.
Karger, Paul A. "An Implementation of XPL for Multics." SB thesis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1972.
Klumpp, Allan R. "Space Station Flight Software: Hal/S or Ada?" Computer March 1985: 20-28.
Leach, Geoffrey and Golde, Helmut. "Bootstrapping XPL to an XDS Sigma 5 Computer." Software: Practice and Experience 3 (1973): 235-244.
McKeeman, William M., Horning, James J. and Wortman, David B. A Compiler Generator. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1970.
McKeeman, W. M., Horning, James J., Nelson, E. C., and Wortman, D. B. "The XPL compiler generator system." AFIPS Conference Proceedings: 1968 Fall Joint Computer Conference. Washington DC: The Thompson Book Company. 1968: 617-635.
Sitton, Gary A., Kendrick, Thomas A., and Carrick, Jr., A. Gil. "The PL/EXUS Language and Virtual Machine" Proceedings of the ACM-IEEE Symposium on High-level-language Computer Architecture Nov, 1973: 124-130.
Slimick, John "Current Systems Implementation Languages: One User's View" Proceedings of the SIGPLAN symposium on Languages for system implementation Oct, 1971: 20-28.
Storm, Mark W., and Polk, Jim A. "Usage of an XPL Based Compiler Generator System" Proceedings of the 14th annual ACM Southeast Regional Conference April 1976: 19-26.
Wortman, D. B. "A roster of XPL implementations." ACM SIGPLAN Notices January 1978: 70-74.
See also
PL/M
McKeeman, William Marshall; Horning, James J.; and Wortman, David B., A Compiler Generator (1971), ISBN 978-0-13-155077-3. The definitive reference, including source code of all components of the XPL system.
University of Toronto XPL Home Page
The XPL Programming Language
A Compiler Generator page at Amazon.com
Scientific XPL for New England Digital Corporation's ABLE Series Computers |
XPL0 is a computer programming language that is essentially a cross between Pascal and C. It looks somewhat like Pascal but works more like C. It was created in 1976 by Peter J. R. Boyle who wanted a high-level language for his microcomputer and wanted something more sophisticated than BASIC, which was the dominant language for personal computers at the time.
XPL0 is based on PL/0, an example compiler in the book Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs by Niklaus Wirth. The first XPL0 compiler was written in ALGOL. It generated instructions for a pseudo-machine that was implemented as an interpreter on a Digital Group computer based on the 6502 microprocessor. The compiler was converted from ALGOL to XPL0 and was then able to compile itself and run on a microcomputer.
XPL0 soon proved its worth in a variety of products based on the 6502. These embedded systems would otherwise have had their code written in assembly language, which is much more tedious to do.
Boyle used XPL0 to write a disk operating system called Apex. Beginning in 1980 this was sold, along with XPL0, as an alternative to Apple DOS for the Apple II computer, which was based on the 6502.
Since those early years XPL0 has been implemented on a dozen processors, and many features have been added. There are now optimizing native code compilers with 32-bit integers in place of the original 16-bit versions. Open source compilers for Windows and MS-DOS on PCs and Linux on the Raspberry Pi are available from the link below.
Examples
This is how the traditional Hello World program is coded in XPL0:
code Text=12;
Text(0, "Hello World!")
Text is a built-in routine that outputs a string of characters. The zero (0) tells where to send the string. In this case it is sent to the display screen, but it could just as easily be sent to a printer, a file, or out a serial port by using a different number.
In XPL0 all names must be declared before they can be used. The command word code associates the name Text to built-in routine number 12, which is the one that outputs strings. There are about a hundred of these built-in routines that provide capabilities such as input and output, graphics, and trig functions.
The 32-bit versions of the compilers automatically insert code declarations, thus the program above can simply be written as:
Text(0, "Hello World!")
The TPK algorithm provides an example that can be compared to other languages:
func real F(T);
real T;
return sqrt(abs(T)) + 5.*Pow(T, 3.);
int I; real Y, A(11);
[for I:= 0 to 10 do A(I):= RlIn(0);
for I:= 10 downto 0 do
[Y:= F(A(I));
if Y > 400. then [IntOut(0, I); Text(0, " TOO LARGE")]
else [IntOut(0, I); RlOut(0, Y)];
CrLf(0);
];
]
Graphics has been a feature of XPL0 since its days on the Apple II computer.
int X, Y, Color;
[SetVid($101); \set video mode to 640x480x8
repeat for Y:= 0 to 128-1 do
for X:= 0 to 128-1 do
Point(X, Y, X or Y xor Color);
Color:= Color+1;
DelayUS(50_000); \0.05 seconds
until ChkKey;
]
Fish, Larry (February 1979). "A Block-Structured Language for Microcomputers". Kilobaud, p. 24.
XPL0 official website
XPL0 Programming Language Manual
The story behind Apex and XPL0 |
XQuery (XML Query) is a query and functional programming language that queries and transforms collections of structured and unstructured data, usually in the form of XML, text and with vendor-specific extensions for other data formats (JSON, binary, etc.). The language is developed by the XML Query working group of the W3C. The work is closely coordinated with the development of XSLT by the XSL Working Group; the two groups share responsibility for XPath, which is a subset of XQuery.
XQuery 1.0 became a W3C Recommendation on January 23, 2007.XQuery 3.0 became a W3C Recommendation on April 8, 2014.XQuery 3.1 became a W3C Recommendation on March 21, 2017.
"The mission of the XML Query project is to provide flexible query facilities to extract data from real and virtual documents on the World Wide Web, therefore finally providing the needed interaction between the Web world and the database world. Ultimately, collections of XML files will be accessed like databases."
Features
XQuery is a functional, side effect-free, expression-oriented programming language with a simple type system, summed up by Kilpeläinen:
All XQuery expressions operate on sequences, and evaluate to sequences. Sequences are ordered lists of items. Items can be either nodes, which represent components of XML documents, or atomic values, which are instances of XML Schema base types like xs:integer or xs:string. Sequences can also be empty, or consist of a single item only. No distinction is made between a single item and a singleton sequence. (...) XQuery/XPath sequences differ from lists in languages like Lisp and Prolog by excluding nested sequences. Designers of XQuery may have considered nested sequences unnecessary for the manipulation of document contents. Nesting, or hierarchy of document structures is instead represented by nodes and their child-parent relationships
XQuery provides the means to extract and manipulate data from XML documents or any data source that can be viewed as XML, such as relational databases or office documents.
XQuery contains a superset of XPath expression syntax to address specific parts of an XML document. It supplements this with a SQL-like "FLWOR expression" for performing joins. A FLWOR expression is constructed from the five clauses after which it is named: FOR, LET, WHERE, ORDER BY, RETURN.
The language also provides syntax allowing new XML documents to be constructed. Where the element and attribute names are known in advance, an XML-like syntax can be used; in other cases, expressions referred to as dynamic node constructors are available. All these constructs are defined as expressions within the language, and can be arbitrarily nested.
The language is based on the XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) which uses a tree-structured model of the information content of an XML document, containing seven kinds of nodes: document nodes, elements, attributes, text nodes, comments, processing instructions, and namespaces.
XDM also models all values as sequences (a singleton value is considered to be a sequence of length one). The items in a sequence can either be XML nodes or atomic values. Atomic values may be integers, strings, booleans, and so on: the full list of types is based on the primitive types defined in XML Schema.
Features for updating XML documents or databases, and full text search capability, are not part of the core language, but are defined in add-on extension standards: XQuery Update Facility 1.0 supports update feature and XQuery and XPath Full Text 1.0 supports full text search in XML documents.
XQuery 3.0 adds support for full functional programming, in that functions are values that can be manipulated (stored in variables, passed to higher-order functions, and dynamically called).
Examples
The sample XQuery code below lists the unique speakers in each act of Shakespeare's play Hamlet, encoded in hamlet.xml
All XQuery constructs for performing computations are expressions. There are no statements, even though some of the keywords appear to suggest statement-like behaviors. To execute a function, the expression within the body is evaluated and its value is returned. Thus to write a function to double an input value, one simply writes:
To write a full query saying 'Hello World', one writes the expression:
This style is common in functional programming languages.
Applications
Below are a few examples of how XQuery can be used:
Extracting information from a database for use in a web service.
Generating summary reports on data stored in an XML database.
Searching textual documents on the Web for relevant information and compiling the results.
Selecting and transforming XML data to XHTML to be published on the Web.
Pulling data from databases to be used for the application integration.
Splitting up an XML document that represents multiple transactions into multiple XML documents.
XQuery and XSLT compared
Scope
Although XQuery was initially conceived as a query language for large collections of XML documents, it is also capable of transforming individual documents. As such, its capabilities overlap with XSLT, which was designed expressly to allow input XML documents to be transformed into HTML or other formats.
The XSLT 2.0 and XQuery standards were developed by separate working groups within W3C, working together to ensure a common approach where appropriate. They share the same data model (XDM), type system, and function library, and both include XPath 2.0 as a sublanguage.
Origin
The two languages, however, are rooted in different traditions and serve the needs of different communities. XSLT was primarily conceived as a stylesheet language whose primary goal was to render XML for the human reader on screen, on the web (as web template language), or on paper. XQuery was primarily conceived as a database query language in the tradition of SQL.
Because the two languages originate in different communities, XSLT is stronger in its handling of narrative documents with more flexible structure, while XQuery is stronger in its data handling (for example, when performing relational joins).
Versions
XSLT 1.0 appeared as a Recommendation in 1999, whereas XQuery 1.0 only became a Recommendation in early 2007; as a result, XSLT is still much more widely used. Both languages have similar expressive power, though XSLT 2.0 has many features that are missing from XQuery 1.0, such as grouping, number and date formatting, and greater control over XML namespaces. Many of these features were planned for XQuery 3.0.Any comparison must take into account the version of XSLT. XSLT 1.0 and XSLT 2.0 are very different languages. XSLT 2.0, in particular, has been heavily influenced by XQuery in its move to strong typing and schema-awareness.
Strengths and weaknesses
Usability studies have shown that XQuery is easier to learn than XSLT, especially for users with previous experience of database languages such as SQL. This can be attributed to the fact that XQuery is a smaller language with fewer concepts to learn, and to the fact that programs are more concise. It is also true that XQuery is more orthogonal, in that any expression can be used in any syntactic context. By contrast, XSLT is a two-language system in which XPath expressions can be nested in XSLT instructions but not vice versa.
XSLT is currently stronger than XQuery for applications that involve making small changes to
a document (for example, deleting all the NOTE elements). Such applications are generally handled
in XSLT by use of a coding pattern that involves an identity template that copies all nodes unchanged, modified by specific templates that modify selected nodes. XQuery has no equivalent to this coding pattern, though in future versions it will be possible to tackle such problems using the update facilities in the language that are under development.XQuery 1.0 lacked any kind of mechanism for dynamic binding or polymorphism; this has been remedied with the introduction of functions as first-class values in XQuery 3.0. The absence of this capability starts to become noticeable when writing large applications, or when writing code that is designed to be reusable in different environments. XSLT offers two complementary mechanisms in this area: the dynamic matching of template rules, and the ability to override rules using xsl:import, that make it possible to write applications with multiple customization layers.
The absence of these facilities from XQuery 1.0 was a deliberate design decision: it has the consequence that XQuery is very amenable to static analysis, which is essential to achieve the level of optimization needed in database query languages. This also makes it easier to detect errors in XQuery code at compile time.
The fact that XSLT 2.0 uses XML syntax makes it rather verbose in comparison to XQuery 1.0. However, many large applications take advantage of this capability by using XSLT to read, write, or modify stylesheets dynamically as part of a processing pipeline. The use of XML syntax also enables the use of XML-based tools for managing XSLT code. By contrast, XQuery syntax is more suitable for embedding in traditional programming languages such as Java (see XQuery API for Java) or C#. If necessary, XQuery code can also be expressed in an XML syntax called XQueryX. The XQueryX representation of XQuery code is rather verbose and not convenient for humans, but can easily be processed with XML tools, for example transformed with XSLT stylesheets.
Extensions and future work
W3C extensions
Two major extensions to the XQuery were developed by the W3C:
XQuery 1.0 and XPath 2.0 Full-Text
XQuery Update FacilityBoth reached Recommendation status as extensions to XQuery 1.0, but work on taking them forward to work with XQuery 3.0 was abandoned for lack of resources.
Work on XQuery 3.0 was published as a Recommendation on 8 April 2014, and XQuery 3.1 is a Recommendation as at February 2017.
A scripting (procedural) extension for XQuery was designed, but never completed.The EXPath Community Group develops extensions to XQuery and other related standards (XPath, XSLT, XProc, and XForms).
The following extensions are currently available:
Packaging System
File Module
Binary Module
Web Applications
Third-party extensions
JSONiq is an extension of XQuery that adds support to extract and transform data from JSON documents. JSONiq is a superset of XQuery 3.0.
It is published under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license.
The EXQuery project develops standards around creating portable XQuery applications. The following standards are currently available:
RESTXQ
Further reading
Querying XML: XQuery, XPath, and SQL/XML in context. Jim Melton and Stephen Buxton. Morgan Kaufmann, 2006. ISBN 1-55860-711-0.
Walmsley, Priscilla (2007). XQuery, 1st Edition. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 978-0-596-00634-1.
Walmsley, Priscilla (2015). XQuery, 2nd Edition. O'Reilly Media. ISBN 978-1-4919-1510-3.
XQuery: The XML Query Language. Michael Brundage. Addison-Wesley Professional, 2004. ISBN 0-321-16581-0.
XQuery from the Experts: A Guide to the W3C XML Query Language. Howard Katz (ed). Addison-Wesley, 2004. ISBN 0-321-18060-7.
An Introduction to the XQuery FLWOR Expression. Dr. Michael Kay (W3C XQuery Committee), 2005.
Implementations
See also
XQuery API for Java (XQJ) Java Specification Request
Portions borrowed with permission from the books "XML Hacks" (O'Reilly Media) and "XQuery" (O'Reilly Media).
Previous version based on an article at the French language Wikipedia
W3C XML Query (XQuery) |
XSB is the name of a dialect of the Prolog programming language and its implementation developed at Stony Brook University in collaboration with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the New University of Lisbon, Uppsala University and software vendor XSB, Inc.
XSB extends Prolog with tabled resolution and HiLog.
The open source XSB implementation includes an interface to the Java programming language.
Features
XSB features tabled resolution and supports the HiLog language (a standard extension of Prolog permitting limited higher-order logic programming). Tabling enables XSB to implement the well-founded semantics and makes it suitable as a deductive database engine.
History
XSB was originally developed at Stony Brook University by David S. Warren, Terrance Swift, and Kostis Sagonas and launched in 1993-4. It was based on the SB-Prolog language that was also developed at Stony Brook University in 1986, and it was the first implementation of tabled resolution.
Syntax
XSB supports several standard programming language data types such as Integers, Floating Point numbers, and Atoms.
Integers in XSB can be interpreted in multiple bases. By default integers are interpreted in base 10 but can be interpreted in a range of bases from 2 to 36.Atoms are similar to Strings. They are a sequence of characters.
XSB
XSB technical summary
Programming in Tabled Prolog: draft of a book about XSB programming by David S. Warren of Stony Brook University
The XSB System Programmer's Manual by Terrance Swift, David S. Warren, and others
Information on Stony Brook Prolog
Bibliography
Swift, Terrance; Warren, David S. (2012). "XSB: Extending Prolog with Tabled Logic Programming". Theory and Practice of Logic Programming. 12 (1–2): 157–187. arXiv:1012.5123. doi:10.1017/S1471068411000500. ISSN 1471-0684. S2CID 6153112.
Sagonas, Konstantinos; Swift, Terrance; Warren, David S. (1994-05-24). "XSB as an efficient deductive database engine". ACM SIGMOD Record. 23 (2): 442–453. doi:10.1145/191843.191927. ISSN 0163-5808.
Körner, Philipp; Leuschel, Michael; Barbosa, JoãO; Costa, VíTor Santos; Dahl, VeróNica; Hermenegildo, Manuel V.; Morales, Jose F.; Wielemaker, Jan; Diaz, Daniel; Abreu, Salvador; Ciatto, Giovanni (2022). "Fifty Years of Prolog and Beyond". Theory and Practice of Logic Programming. 22 (6): 776–858. doi:10.1017/S1471068422000102. hdl:10174/33387. ISSN 1471-0684. S2CID 247159044. |
XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Transformations) is a language originally designed for transforming XML documents into other XML documents, or other formats such as HTML for web pages, plain text or XSL Formatting Objects, which may subsequently be converted to other formats, such as PDF, PostScript and PNG. Support for JSON and plain-text transformation was added in later updates to the XSLT 1.0 specification.
As of August 2022, the most recent stable version of the language is XSLT 3.0, which achieved Recommendation status in June 2017.
XSLT 3.0 implementations support Java, .NET, C/C++, Python, PHP and NodeJS. An XSLT 3.0 Javascript library can also be hosted within the Web Browser. Modern web browsers also include native support for XSLT 1.0.For an XSLT document transformation, the original document is not changed; rather, a new document is created based on the content of an existing one. Typically, input documents are XML files, but anything from which the processor can build an XQuery and XPath Data Model can be used, such as relational database tables or geographical information systems.While XSLT was originally designed as a special-purpose language for XML transformation, the language is Turing-complete, making it theoretically capable of arbitrary computations.
History
XSLT is influenced by functional languages, and by text-based pattern matching languages like SNOBOL and AWK. Its most direct predecessor is DSSSL, which did for SGML what XSLT does for XML.
XSLT 1.0: XSLT was part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)'s eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) development effort of 1998–1999, a project that also produced XSL-FO and XPath. Some members of the standards committee that developed XSLT, including James Clark, the editor, had previously worked on DSSSL. XSLT 1.0 was published as a W3C recommendation in November 1999. Despite its age, XSLT 1.0 is still widely used (as of 2018), since later versions are not supported natively in web browsers or for environments like LAMP.XSLT 2.0: after an abortive attempt to create a version 1.1 in 2001, the XSL working group joined forces with the XQuery working group to create XPath 2.0, with a richer data model and type system based on XML Schema. Building on this is XSLT 2.0, developed under the editorship of Michael Kay, which reached recommendation status in January 2007. The most important innovations in XSLT 2.0 include:
String manipulation using regular expressions
Functions and operators for manipulating dates, times, and durations
Multiple output documents
Grouping (creating hierarchic structure from flat input sequences)
A richer type system and stronger type checkingXSLT 3.0: became a W3C Recommendation on 8 June 2017. The main new features are:Streaming transformations: in previous versions the entire input document had to be read into memory before it could be processed, and output could not be written until processing had finished. XSLT 3.0 allows XML streaming which is useful for processing documents too large to fit in memory or when transformations are chained in XML Pipelines.
Packages, to improve the modularity of large stylesheets.
Improved handling of dynamic errors with, for example, an xsl:try instruction.
Support for maps and arrays, enabling XSLT to handle JSON as well as XML.
Functions can now be arguments to other (higher-order) functions.
Design and processing model
The XSLT processor takes one or more XML source documents, plus one or more XSLT stylesheets, and processes them to produce one or multiple output documents. In contrast to widely implemented imperative programming languages like C, XSLT is declarative. The basic processing paradigm is pattern matching. Rather than listing an imperative sequence of actions to perform in a stateful environment, template rules only define how to handle a node matching a particular XPath-like pattern, if the processor should happen to encounter one, and the contents of the templates effectively comprise functional expressions that directly represent their evaluated form: the result tree, which is the basis of the processor's output.
A typical processor behaves as follows. First, assuming a stylesheet has already been read and prepared, the processor builds a source tree from the input XML document. It then processes the source tree's root node, finds the best-matching template for that node in the stylesheet, and evaluates the template's contents. Instructions in each template generally direct the processor to either create nodes in the result tree, or to process more nodes in the source tree in the same way as the root node. Finally the result tree is serialized as XML or HTML text.
XPath
XSLT uses XPath to identify subsets of the source document tree and perform calculations. XPath also provides a range of functions, which XSLT itself further augments.
XSLT 1.0 uses XPath 1.0, while XSLT 2.0 uses XPath 2.0. XSLT 3.0 will work with either XPath 3.0 or 3.1. In the case of 1.0 and 2.0, the XSLT and XPath specifications were published on the same date. With 3.0, however, they were no longer synchronized; XPath 3.0 became a Recommendation in April 2014, followed by XPath 3.1 in February 2017; XSLT 3.0 followed in June 2017.
XQuery compared
XSLT functionalities overlap with those of XQuery, which was initially conceived as a query language for large collections of XML documents.
The XSLT 2.0 and XQuery 1.0 standards were developed by separate working groups within W3C, working together to ensure a common approach where appropriate. They share the same data model, type system, and function library, and both include XPath 2.0 as a sublanguage.
The two languages, however, are rooted in different traditions and serve the needs of different communities. XSLT was primarily conceived as a stylesheet language whose primary goal was to render XML for the human reader on screen, on the web (as a web template language), or on paper. XQuery was primarily conceived as a database query language in the tradition of SQL.
Because the two languages originate in different communities, XSLT is stronger in its handling
of narrative documents with more flexible structure, while XQuery is stronger in its data handling, for example when performing relational joins.
Media types
The <output> element can optionally take the attribute media-type, which allows one to set the media type (or MIME type) for the resulting output, for example: <xsl:output output="xml" media-type="application/xml"/>. The XSLT 1.0 recommendation recommends the more general attribute types text/xml and application/xml since for a long time there was no registered media type for XSLT. During this time text/xsl became the de facto standard. In XSLT 1.0 it was not specified how the media-type values should be used.
With the release of the XSLT 2.0, the W3C recommended the registration of the MIME media type application/xslt+xml and it was later registered with the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.Pre-1.0 working drafts of XSLT used text/xsl in their embedding examples, and this type was implemented and continues to be promoted by Microsoft in Internet Explorer and MSXML. It is also widely recognized in the xml-stylesheet processing instruction by other browsers. In practice, therefore, users wanting to control transformation in the browser using this processing instruction are obliged to use this unregistered media type.
Examples
These examples use the following incoming XML document
Example 1 (transforming XML to XML)
This XSLT stylesheet provides templates to transform the XML document:
Its evaluation results in a new XML document, having another structure:
Example 2 (transforming XML to XHTML)
Processing the following example XSLT file
with the XML input file shown above results in the following XHTML (whitespace has been adjusted here for clarity):
This XHTML generates the output below when rendered in a web browser.
In order for a web browser to be able to apply an XSL transformation to an XML document on display, an XML stylesheet processing instruction can be inserted into XML. So, for example, if the stylesheet in Example 2 above were available as "example2.xsl", the following instruction could be added to the original incoming XML:
In this example, text/xsl is technically incorrect according to the W3C specifications (which say the type should be application/xslt+xml), but it is the only media type that is widely supported across browsers as of 2009, and the situation is unchanged in 2021.
Processor implementations
RaptorXML from Altova is an XSLT 3.0 processor available in the XMLSpy development toolkit and as a free-standing server implementation, invoked using a REST interface.
IBM offers XSLT processing embedded in a special-purpose hardware appliance under the Datapower brand.
libxslt is a free library released under the MIT License that can be reused in commercial applications. It is based on libxml and implemented in C for speed and portability. It supports XSLT 1.0 and EXSLT extensions.It can be used at the command line via xsltproc which is included in macOS and many Linux distributions, and can be used on Windows via Cygwin.
The WebKit and Blink layout engines, used for example in the Safari and Chrome web browsers respectively, uses the libxslt library to do XSL transformations.
Bindings exist for Python, Perl, Ruby, PHP, Common Lisp, Tcl, and C++.
Microsoft provides two XSLT processors (both XSLT 1.0 only). The earlier processor MSXML provides COM interfaces; from MSXML 4.0 it also includes the command line utility msxsl.exe. The .NET runtime includes a separate built-in XSLT processor in its System.Xml.Xsl library.
Saxon is an XSLT 3.0 and XQuery 3.1 processor with open-source and proprietary versions for stand-alone operation and for Java, JavaScript and .NET. A separate product Saxon-JS offers XSLT 3.0 processing on Node.js and in the browser.
Xalan is an open source XSLT 1.0 processor from the Apache Software Foundation available for Java and C++. A variant of the Xalan processor is included as the default XSLT processor in the standard Java distribution from Oracle.
Web browsers: Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Opera and Internet Explorer all support XSLT 1.0 (only). Browsers can perform on-the-fly transformations of XML files and display the transformation output in the browser window. This is done either by embedding the XSL in the XML document or by referencing a file containing XSL instructions from the XML document. The latter may not work with Chrome on files from local filesystem because of its security model.
Adobe AXSLE engine, a proprietary library
Performance
Most early XSLT processors were interpreters. More recently, code generation is increasingly common, using portable intermediate languages (such as Java bytecode or .NET Common Intermediate Language) as the target. However, even the interpretive products generally offer separate analysis and execution phases, allowing an optimized expression tree to be created in memory and reused to perform multiple transformations. This gives substantial performance benefits in online publishing applications, where the same transformation is applied many times per second to different source documents. This separation is reflected in the design of XSLT processing APIs (such as JAXP).
Early XSLT processors had very few optimizations. Stylesheet documents were read into Document Object Models and the processor would act on them directly. XPath engines were also not optimized. Increasingly, however, XSLT processors use optimization techniques found in functional programming languages and database query languages, such as static rewriting of an expression tree (e.g., to move calculations out of loops), and lazy pipelined evaluation to reduce the memory footprint of intermediate results (and allow "early exit" when the processor can evaluate an expression such as following-sibling::*[1] without a complete evaluation of all subexpressions). Many processors also use tree representations that are significantly more efficient (in both space and time) than general-purpose DOM implementations.
In June 2014, Debbie Lockett and Michael Kay introduced an open-source benchmarking framework for XSLT processors called XT-Speedo.
See also
XSLT elements – a list of some commonly used XSLT structures.
Muenchian grouping – a dialect differential between XSLT1 and XSLT2+.
eXtensible Stylesheet Language – a family of languages of which XSLT is a member
XQuery and XSLT compared
XSL formatting objects or XSL-FO – An XML-based language for documents, usually generated by transforming source documents with XSLT, consisting of objects used to create formatted output
Identity transform – a starting point for filter chains that add or remove data elements from XML trees in a transformation pipeline
Apache Cocoon – a Java-based framework for processing data with XSLT and other transformers.
Further reading
XSLT by Doug Tidwell, published by O’Reilly (ISBN 0-596-00053-7)
XSLT Cookbook by Sal Mangano, published by O’Reilly (ISBN 0-596-00974-7)
XSLT 2.0 Programmer's Reference by Michael Kay (ISBN 0-764-56909-0)
XSLT 2.0 and XPath 2.0 Programmer's Reference by Michael Kay (ISBN 978-0-470-19274-0)
XSLT 2.0 Web Development by Dmitry Kirsanov (ISBN 0-13-140635-3)
XSL Companion, 2nd Edition by Neil Bradley, published by Addison-Wesley (ISBN 0-201-77083-0)
XSLT and XPath on the Edge (Unlimited Edition) by Jeni Tennison, published by Hungry Minds Inc, U.S. (ISBN 0-7645-4776-3)
XSLT & XPath, A Guide to XML Transformations by John Robert Gardner and Zarella Rendon, published by Prentice-Hall (ISBN 0-13-040446-2)
XSL-FO by Dave Pawson, published by O'Reilly (ISBN 978-0-596-00355-5)
DocumentationXSLT 1.0 W3C Recommendation
XSLT 2.0 W3C Recommendation
XSLT 3.0 W3C Recommendation
XSLT - MDC Docs Archived 2011-12-26 at the Wayback Machine by Mozilla Developer Network
XSLT Reference (MSDN)
XSLT Elements (Saxon)
XSLT introduction and referenceXSLT code librariesEXSLT is a widespread community initiative to provide extensions to XSLT.
FXSL is a library implementing support for Higher-order functions in XSLT. FXSL is written in XSLT itself.
The XSLT Standard Library xsltsl, provides the XSLT developer with a set of XSLT templates for commonly used functions. These are implemented purely in XSLT, that is they do not use any extensions. xsltsl is a SourceForge project.
Kernow A GUI for Saxon that provides a point and click interface for running transforms.
xslt.js – Transform XML with XSLT JavaScript library that transforms XML with XSLT in the browser. |
Xtend is a general-purpose high-level programming language for the Java Virtual Machine. Syntactically and semantically Xtend has its roots in the Java programming language but focuses on a more concise syntax and some additional functionality such as type inference, extension methods, and operator overloading. Being primarily an object-oriented language, it also integrates features known from functional programming, e.g. lambda expressions. Xtend is statically typed and uses Java's type system without modifications. It is compiled to Java code and thereby seamlessly integrates with all existing Java libraries.
The language Xtend and its IDE is developed as a project at Eclipse.org and participates in the annual Eclipse release train. The code is open source under the Eclipse Public License. Yet, the language can be compiled and run independently of the Eclipse platform.
History
Xtend originated from Xtext, which is the technology used to define the language and the editor. Xtend was first released as part of Xtext in the Eclipse release Indigo in June 2011. Since the Eclipse release Juno (June 2012, Xtend version 2.3) Xtend has become a standalone project.
The language Xtend described here should not be confused with the older language with the same name in the Xpand project. Initially, Xtend was named Xtend2 for better distinction. The '2' was dropped soon for simplicity. With its template expressions, Xtend is meant as a replacement of the entire Xpand technology.
Philosophy
Java is one of the most popular programming languages ever with a large ecosystem of libraries and tools. Yet, its syntax is considered verbose by some, and some concepts are missing and only added slowly. Xtend tries to get the best of Java, but reduce syntactic noise and add new features to allow for shorter and better readable code.
To make it easier to learn for Java developers, Xtend's syntax is close to Java's. Xtend maintains maximum compatibility with Java by compiling to Java code and using Java's type system. Java code and Xtend code can be mixed inside the same project at will.
Using a combination of lambda expressions and extension methods, the language can be extended by means of libraries, i.e. without changing the language itself. A small standard library makes heavy use of this.
The Eclipse-based Xtend IDE offers syntax highlighting, code completion, refactoring, navigation and debugging. It integrates with Eclipse's Java Development Toolkit.
Semantics
Xtend resembles Java in many regards. Here is an example Xtend file:
Xtend provides type inference, i.e. the type of name and the return types of the methods can be inferred from the context. Classes and methods are public by default, fields private. Semicolons are optional.
The example also shows the method sayHello called as an extension method, i.e. like a feature of its first argument. Extension methods can also be provided by other classes or instances.
Instead of using the imperative for-loop, one could use a functional style lambda expression in square brackets and call the higher-order function forEach in extension syntax on the list:
Note that the lambda's parameter, if not specified, is called it, which can be skipped like this in Java. Its type is inferred as string. Lambda expressions are also automatically coerced to single method interfaces, such that they can be passed e.g. as a java.lang.Comparable.
Template expressions are multi-line strings within triple quotes with interpolated values in French quotes. In the example above one could write
Xtend offers intelligent white-space management - the above text will not be indented in the output - thus meeting the requirements of code generation.
Further language features include multimethods, a powerful switch expression, and operator overloading by means of library methods.
Bibliography
Lorenzo Bettini, Implementing Domain-Specific Languages with Xtext and Xtend - Second Edition, Packt Publishing, 2016
Sven Efftinge, Sebastian Zarnekow, Extending Java Archived 2018-08-03 at the Wayback Machine, Pragmatic Programmer Magazine, Dec 2011.
Alex Blewitt: Xtend Extends Java, Interview with Sven Efftinge, InfoQ, Jun 2012. |
TACL (Tandem Advanced Command Language) is the scripting programming language which acts as the shell in Tandem Computers/NonStop computers.
History
Tandem computers were originally designed and sold by Tandem Computers, Inc., based in Cupertino, CA. These were the first commercially available parallel processing computers. Despite their ability to expand to large sizes using parallelism, later to be called clustering, they were in the category of "mini-computers". Tandem's strategy was the emerging concept of "continuous availability" for applications requiring near-total uptime, in which single points of failure were minimized through mirrored storage devices, controllers and software, and operating systems engineered specifically for fault tolerance (using the Guardian operating system, later NonStop Kernel or NSK, and later NonStop OS). In computing, a single point of failure refers to any scenario in which the failure of a single component, application or process could result in broader impacts such as data loss or the cascading failure of the system. The relative likelihood of multiple component or process failures within a short time is considered much lower than the likelihood a single failure.
Tandem Computers, Inc. was acquired by Compaq Computer Corporation in 1997; and Compaq Computer Corp. was subsequently purchased by Hewlett-Packard in 2001. Today they are known as "HPE Nonstop", with products such as the HP Integrity NonStop Blade systems.In 2022, HPE NonStop platforms underpin many of the largest banks, casinos, retailers, telephone companies, email systems, and stock exchanges worldwide. TACL continues to be the scripting language used on NonStop Servers.
Design philosophy
Many high-uptime computer systems that were produced after the Tandem NonStop platform rely on a pair of concurrently running, parallel but independent processes. A "failover" scheme ensures that the secondary process (or hot backup) continues operating in the event of a failure in the primary process, thereby ensuring that any failure in the primary process does not result in a total failure of the function, network or system it supports.
The Tandem NonStop design philosophy differs as each CPU performs its own work and may contain a dormant "backup" process in another CPU. Each pair of CPUs share hardware ownership of controllers and disk drives. Writes to the mirrored disk pair are performed on both the primary and backup drives. However, the drives are not truly redundant as reads will only be performed by the drive that can most quickly access the data, not both. If one CPU in the pair fails, the other will take full ownership of the disk drives and tasks it was undertaking, providing continuous availability to that data and continuous operation of the system, including re-driving disk I/Os. A running primary process may be given a backup process in another CPU, which receives checkpoint information. If the primary process fails, the backup process resumes the transaction using the checkpoint information. The backup process may also spawn its own backup to avoid data loss in case there are further failures.
The name "NonStop" refers to this fault-tolerant design. HPE NonStop systems can support operations involving high transactions-per-second and are therefore used in critical applications such as banking, stock trading platforms and telecommunications systems.
Upon the NonStop OS platform there are at least two programming languages—TAL (Transaction Application Language) as the compiled language, and TACL as the interpreted language. NonStop OS software includes compilers for other languages (including Java, C, C++, COBOL, SCOBOL, etc.), which may be used to support functions in languages other than TAL/TACL if required. TACL remains as the default scripting language on these machines. HPE later introduced a ksh-based shell command interface, however this does not contain every capability offered by TACL such as the netstat command. TACL built-ins reflect the multi-CPU nature of NSK.
TACL instructions can be stored in a simple text file as MACROS, ROUTINES, or DEFINES which the TACL interpreter can execute as scripts. Such scripts are often used to store complex configuration instructions such as start-up and hardware configuration sequences. TACL is also used as a job control language for batch jobs.
The TACL language has a large number of built-in utilities which allow the user to capture and parse output from various system utilities. This allows users to build TACL programs that can monitor system events through the use of filters that monitor the system and application event logs.
Example uses of TACL
A TACL routine saved in the file FILE1
Create the following subroutine in the file FILE1:
?Section HELLO_BERNARD ROUTINE
OUTPUT Hello BERNARD
How to run the TACL routine:
From a TACL prompt type: LOAD / KEEP 1 / FILE1 (this loads the routine into memory)
Type: HELLO_BERNARD (this runs the routine)
Output will be: Hello BERNARD
TACL code in the file FILE1
An alternate strategy is to create a file named FILE1 and add the following two lines:
?TACL ROUTINE
OUTPUT Hello BERNARD
Execute the routine by naming the file at the TACL prompt:
> RUN FILE1
See also
NonStop (server computers)
Tandem Computers
List of compilers for a partial list of NonStop compilers
Further reading
Hill, Terri; Alvarado, Ellen (22 September 2003). HP NonStop Server Security: A Practical Handbook. Digital Press. p. 26. ISBN 9780080491493. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
NonStop G Series
NonStop Computing Home – main Nonstop Computing page at Hewlett Packard Enterprise |
TACPOL (Tactical Procedure Oriented Language) is a block structured programming language developed by the United States Army for the TACFIRE Tactical Fire Direction command and control application. TACPOL is similar to PL/I.
Language constructs
Reserved words
Unlike PL/I, TACPOL keywords—called particles—are reserved words and cannot be used as identifiers. There are roughly 100 reserved words.
Identifiers
TACPOL identifiers can be any length, but if longer than eight characters only the first five concatenated with the last three characters were actually used.
Data types
TACPOL supports fixed-point binary numeric data, fixed-length character strings up to 512 bytes, and fixed-length bit strings up to 32 bits. There is no support for floating point numeric data or for pointers. Arrays may have up to three dimensions, but dynamic bounds are not permitted. Additional types are records, called groups, limited to a single level of nesting, tables (arrays of groups), and unions, called cells.
Control structures
Control structures include IF-THEN-ELSE, iteration, WHILE and CASE statements.
Procedures
Procedures may have value parameters, quantity parameters – by reference without type-checking, parameterless procedure and label parameters.
Implementations
The TACPOL compiler ran on and generated code for the AN/GYK-12, a militarized version of the Litton Industries L-3050 32-bit minicomputer.
Criticism and defense
Positive features
TACPOL is easy to learn.
Negative features
"TACPOL has a large number of special language features which were included for reasons of efficiency because the inclusion of corresponding cleanly designed general purpose features was not properly understood."
"Cost per instruction of TACPOL [is] higher than language used for other military computers."
Litton Data Systems, Inc. (1975). TACPOL Reference Manual Programming Support System. Document USACSCS-TF-4-1.
TACPOL Reference Manual (USACSCS-TF-4-1)
Serafino, et.al. "Report to the High Order Language Working Group" (1977)
United States General Accounting Office. "Tactical Operations System Should Not Continue as Planned" (1979)
See also
JOVIAL
CMS-2
CORAL
Ada |
Text Adventure Development System (TADS) is a prototype-based domain-specific programming language and set of standard libraries for creating interactive fiction (IF) games.
History
The original TADS 1 was released by High Energy Software as shareware in 1988, and was followed by TADS 2 not long after. From the late 1980s to early 1990s, free development tools such as TADS and Inform enabled amateur communities to create interactive fiction. In the mid-1990s, TADS was a top development tool for interactive fiction. At the time, it was a more improved tool for parsing and world building than existing systems like AGT (Adventure Game Toolkit).TADS 2 syntax is based on C, with bits of Pascal. TADS 2 has been maintained and updated at regular intervals by its creator, Michael J. Roberts, even after it became freeware in July 1996. Graham Nelson, creator of Inform, describes Inform and TADS as the "only two systems... widely used" in the last half of the 1990s, and TADS has been called "The second most commonly used IF programming language today". Multimedia TADS, introduced in 1998, allows games to display graphics, animation and play sounds, if the platform supports it.
In 2006, TADS received a major overhaul with the release of TADS 3, which is a complete rewrite of the TADS engine, only retaining the platform-dependent code to ease porting. TADS 3 uses a language with a syntax that resembles C++ and Java. It has many new features, such as efficient dynamic objects (with automatic garbage collection), structured exceptions, native UTF-8 strings, and many useful function classes.
The TADS 3 compiler and interpreter have been ported to the DOS, Macintosh and Unix platforms. Several TADS 3 games have been released.
TADS games
Games written in TADS are compiled to a platform-independent format that can be played on any computer for which a suitable virtual machine (VM) exists. Such virtual machines exist for several platforms, and in this respect, TADS closely follows the example of the original Infocom Z-machine, as well as modern languages such as Java and C#.
Whereas the TADS 1 and 2 VMs had to parse the commands entered by the player, before sending the results on to the game, TADS 3 employs a more general-purpose virtual machine, where the command-parsing is done by the game code itself, akin to Inform. The rationale for this is that it is easier to customize the parser.
Notable games developed in TADS 2
Uncle Zebulon's Will, by Magnus Olsson (1995). It won the TADS category at the inaugural 1995 Interactive Fiction Competition and was included on Activision's 1996 commercial release of Classic Text Adventure Masterpieces of Infocom.
The Frenetic Five vs. Sturm und Drang, the first game in the "Frenetic Five" series by Neil deMause (1997). The game won a XYZZY Award for Best NPCs that year.
Worlds Apart by Suzanne Britton (1999). Winner of XYZZY Award for Best Story and finalist in seven other XYZZY Award categories in 1999, the game features a huge amount of detailed worldbuilding.
Kaged by Ian Finley (2000). Winner of the 2000 annual Interactive Fiction Competition.
1893: A World's Fair Mystery by Peter Nepstad (2002). The game is one of a handful to be released commercially in recent years, garnering attention from the New York Times and the Associated Press. It also won the 2002 XYZZY Award for Best Setting.
Notable games developed in TADS 3
Max Blaster and Doris de Lightning Against the Parrot Creatures of Venus by Dan Shiovitz and Emily Short (2003). Winner of the 2003 Spring Thing; a somewhat unusual example of multiple player characters (or PCs).
The Elysium Enigma by Eric Eve (2006). Eve was awarded XYZZY Award for Best Game, XYZZY Award for Best Individual NPC, and took third place in the 2006 annual Interactive Fiction Competition.
See also
Interactive fiction#Development systems, lists software similar to TADS
Inform The other leading IF development system
Hugo The Hugo development system
Official website
The TADS page
TADS 2 and TADS 3 games on Baf's Guide
Cloak of Darkness: TADS presents a short game implemented in TADS, as well as other languages for comparison.
The TADS 3 mailing listInterpretersTADS 2 interpreters for several platforms
Jetty - Java Applet Interpreter for TADS 2 games
TADS 3 interpreters for DOS, Windows, and source for Unix
HyperTADS, a Mac OS multimedia interpreter for TADS 2 and 3 |
TECO or Teco may refer to:
Organisations
Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, a Taiwan representative office alternative to an embassy
TECO Maritime, an international producer and supplier of cleaning systems for ships
TECO Electric and Machinery, a Taiwanese company in electric motor, electric appliances and other businesses worldwide
TECO Energy, an American electrical power company
Technical Education Center Osceola, a secondary school in unincorporated Osceola County, Florida, US
Telecooperation Office, a German research group in the field of pervasive Computing at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
Other uses
TECO (text editor) ("Text Editor and Corrector", originally Tape Editor and Corrector), an early computer text editor
TECO Line Streetcar, a streetcar line in Tampa, Florida, US
Teco pottery, produced by American Terra Cotta Tile and Ceramic Company
Teco (footballer) (born 1982), Brazilian footballer Wender Coelho da Silva |
TELCOMP was a programming language developed at Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) in about 1964 and in use until at least 1974. BBN offered TELCOMP as a paid service, with first revenue in October 1965. The service was sold to On-Line Systems, Inc. (OLS) in 1972. In the United Kingdom, TELCOMP was offered by Time Sharing, Ltd, a partnership between BBN and an entrepreneur named Richard Evans.
It was an interactive, conversational language based on JOSS, developed by BBN after Cliff Shaw from RAND visited the labs in 1964 as part of the NIH survey. It was first implemented on the PDP-1 and was used to provide a commercial time sharing service by BBN in the Boston area and later by Time Sharing Ltd. in the United Kingdom.
In 1996, Leo Beranek said "We even developed a programming language called TELCOMP that to this day, some say was better than the programming language that the industry adopted, namely BASIC."There were at least three versions: TELCOMP I, TELCOMP II, and TELCOMP III.
TELCOMP I was implemented on the PDP-1, TELCOMP II on the PDP-7 and TELCOMP III on the PDP-10, running on DEC
's TOPS-10 operating system or on BBN's own TENEX operating system.
TELCOMP programs were normally input via a paper tape reader on a Teletype Model 33, which would be connected to a PDP via a modem and acoustic telephone line. Data could be read from the paper tape reader or from the Teletype keyboard. Output was either printed to the Teletype or sent to the paper tape punch. Early versions had no facility for on-line storage of programs or data.
During data input using a Teletype, the user would type a response to a printed prompt. If, instead of hitting Return, the user hit Tab ↹, another, possibly computed, prompt would be printed on the same line. This process could be repeated for the full width of the line. This unusual feature allowed very compact data entry, comparable to full-screen CRT data entry. It saved paper, and the input section of the form became part of the program's printed output.
A later derivative of TELCOMP called STRINGCOMP was oriented towards string handling. Another BBN JOSS-derivative called FILECOMP was developed for the GE MEDINET system, which was cancelled. The implicit file handling system it contained was influential on the MUMPS global database system.
The initial research for LOGO was carried out in TELCOMP, but only the JOSS-style errors and interaction made it through to the actual language.
Commands
A TELCOMP program was made up of numbered lines, each line referred to as a Step. Steps were grouped into Parts. Each line contained one instruction.
DEMAND Read input from the teletype
DO PART Execute all of the steps in a numbered part and then return
DO STEP Execute a single line and return
DONE Stop execution of current part and return to caller
IF Condition, suffixed to any instruction
FOR Loop, suffixed to any instruction
PLOT Type output to the teletype in the form of a graph
PRINT Print output to the teletype
READ Read input from the paper tape reader
SEND Send output to the paper tape punch
SET Assign a variable to the value of an expression
STOP Stop execution completely
TO PART Go to a specified part
TO STEP Go to a specified line
TYPE Emulate teletype input while in stored operation mode (like the TCL/TK Expect functionality)
; Comment, suffixed to any line
FORM A specification for formatted output (not really a command)
Sample Program
1.04 TYPE #,"ENTER ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:-";MENU
1.05 TYPE FORM X FOR X=1:1:4 FOR END=10^15
1.06 READ GRNO IN FORM 15
1.065 DONE IF GRNO=END
1.07 TO STEP 1.06 IF GRNO>4
1.08 TO PART GRNO+1
2.01 DO PART 50
2.02 READ N,K
2.03 DO PART 51
2.04 TO PART 15
..
15.01 LINE FOR X=1:1:3
15.02 TYPE MINPL,MAXPL IN FORM 17
15.03 TYPE FORM 17
15.04 DO PART GRNO+15 FOR X=MNPL:STPL:MXPL
16.01 Y=(X^N)+K
16.02 Y1[X]=(((Y-MNPL)/(MXPL-MNPL))*2)-1
..
FORM 15
ITEM NUMBER? #####
FORM 17
MINIMUM ##### MAXIMUM ###### |
C/AL (Client/server Application Language) was the programming language used within C/SIDE the Client/Server Integrated Development Environment in Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Formerly known as Navision Attain) and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central up until (and including) version 14. It has been replaced by AL. C/AL is a Database specific programming language, and is primarily used for retrieving, inserting and modifying records in a Navision database. C/AL resembles the Pascal language on which it is based. The original C/AL compiler was written by Michael Nielsen.
Examples
Hello World
This is the classic Hello World example. Since the C/SIDE (Client/Server Integrated Development Environment) does not have a console to output text, this example is made using a dialog box as the visual interface.
Filtering and retrieving record
Variables in C/AL are not defined through code, but are defined via the variable declaration menu in the C/AL editor. In this example Item is assumed to be a variable of type Record.
.
Looping and data manipulation
Looping over a recordset and modifying the individual records is achieved with only a few lines of code.
See also
Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Microsoft Dynamics NAV Official Site |
Caché ObjectScript is a part of the Caché database system sold by InterSystems. The language is a functional superset of the ANSI-standard MUMPS programming language. Since Caché is at its core a MUMPS implementation, it can run ANSI MUMPS routines with no change. To appeal as a commercial product, Caché implements support for object-oriented programming, a macro preprocessing language, embedded SQL for ANSI-standard SQL access to M's built-in database, procedure and control blocks using C-like brace syntax, procedure-scoped variables, and relaxed whitespace syntax limitations.
The language has private and public variables and globals. Global has a different meaning in this language than in most; such variables are global across routines, processes, and sessions. Thus, editing a global variable is making permanent and immediate changes to a system-universal database (which survives reboots, etc.). The scope of a private variable is the local function, the scope of a public variable is the entire process. Variables, private and public, may be single elements or complete multi-dimensional arrays.
The great majority of Caché's feature-set is inherited from the ANSI MUMPS standard. See that article for details on how data is represented and the different ways a programmer can think about the data during development.
Caché programming examples
Hello world program as a routine
Then in Caché Terminal (assuming you wrote the hello routine to the SAMPLE namespace):
Hello world program as a ClassMethod
Then in Caché Terminal (assuming you wrote the User.Helloworld Class to the SAMPLE namespace):
See also
GT.M, an implementation of MUMPS
Profile Scripting Language, an extension to MUMPS
http://www.intersystems.com/cache |
CMS-2 is an embedded systems programming language used by the United States Navy. It was an early attempt to develop a standardized high-level computer programming language intended to improve code portability and reusability. CMS-2 was developed primarily for the US Navy’s tactical data systems (NTDS).CMS-2 was developed by RAND Corporation in the early 1970s and stands for "Compiler Monitor System". The name "CMS-2" is followed in literature by a letter designating the type of target system. For example, CMS-2M targets Navy 16-bit processors, such as the AN/AYK-14.
History
CMS-2 was developed for FCPCPAC (Fleet Computer Programming Center - Pacific) in San Diego, CA. It was implemented by Computer Sciences Corporation in 1968 with design assistance from Intermetrics. The language continued to be developed, eventually supporting a number of computers including the AN/UYK-7 and AN/UYK-43 and UYK-20 and UYK-44 computers.
Language features
CMS-2 was designed to encourage program modularization, permitting independent compilation of portions of a total system. The language is statement oriented. The source is free-form and may be arranged for programming convenience. Data types include fixed-point, floating-point, boolean, character and status. Direct reference to, and manipulation of character and bit strings is permitted. Symbolic machine code may be included, known as direct code.
Program structure
A CMS-2 program is composed of statements. Statements are made up of symbols separated by delimiters. The categories of symbols include operators, identifiers, and constants. The operators are language primitives assigned by the compiler for specific operations or definitions in a program. Identifiers are unique names assigned by the programmer to data units, program elements and statement labels. Constants are known values that may be numeric, Hollerith strings, status values or Boolean.
CMS-2 statements are free form and terminated by a dollar sign. A statement label may be placed at the beginning of a statement for reference purposes.
A CMS-2 source program is composed of two basic types of statement. Declarative statements provide basic control information to the compiler and define the structure of the data associated with a particular program. Dynamic statements cause the compiler to generate executable machine instructions (object code).
Declarative statements defining the data for a program are grouped into units called data designs. Data designs consist of precise definitions for temporary and permanent data storage areas, input areas, output areas and special data units. The dynamic statements that act on data or perform calculations are grouped into procedures. Data designs and procedures are further grouped to form system elements of a CMS-2 program. The compiler combines system elements into a compile time system. A compile time system may stand alone or be part of a larger program.
Data declarative statements
Data declarative statements provide the compiler with information about data element definitions. They define the format, structure and order of data elements in a compile-time system. The three major kinds of data are switches, variables and aggregates.
Switches
Switches provide for the transfer of program control to a specific location in a compile-time system. They contain a set of identifiers or switch points to facilitate program transfers and branches. The switch represents a program address of a statement label or procedure name.
Variables
A variable is a single piece of data. It may consist of one bit, multiple bits or words. A value may be assigned in the variable definition. Variables may hold a constant or changing value. Data types include integers, fix point, floating point, Hollerith character strings, status or Booleans.
Aggregates
Tables hold ordered sets of identically structured information. The common unit of data in a table is an item. Items may be subdivided into fields, the smallest subdivision of a table. Allowable data types contained in fields include integer, fixed point, floating point, Hollerith character string, status or Boolean. An array is an extension of the table concept. The basic structural unit of an array is an item. Array items contain fields as defined by the programmer.
Dynamic statements
Dynamic statements specify processing operations and result in executable code generation by the compiler. A dynamic statement consists of an operator followed by a list of operands and additional operators. An operand may be a single name, a constant, a data-element reference or an expression.
Statement operators
Major CMS-2 operators are summarized below.
Special operators
Special operators facilitate references to data structures and operations on them.
Program structure declarations
The dynamic statements that describe the processing operations of a program are grouped into blocks of statements called procedures.
High level input/output statements
Input/output statements provide communication with hardware devices while running in a non-realtime environment under a monitor system.
Compiler Monitor System 2 (CMS-2)
The Compiler Monitor System 2 (CMS-2) was a system that ran on the UNIVAC CP-642B (AN/USQ-20). The system software included the monitor, compiler, librarian, CP-642 Loader, tape utility and flow charter.
MS-2 monitor
A batch processing operating system that controls execution of CMS-2 components and user jobs run on the CP-642 computer. It provides input/output, software library facilities and debugging tools. Job accounting is also provided.
CMS-2 compiler
A compiler for the CS-1 and CMS-2 languages that generates object code for the CP-642, L-304, AN/UYK-7, 1830A and 1218/1219 computers. During the 1970s there were different versions of the CMS-2 compiler, depending on which computer was used to compile the code. Some source code had to be rewritten to work around some functions. And the different versions of CMS-2 had problems with the debugging tools.
XCMS-2 compiler
An extended CMS-2 compiler, adding language features for the AN/UYK-7 computer. It only generates AN/UYK-7 object code.
CMS-2 librarian
A file management system that provides storage and access to source and object code.
CP-642 Object code loaders
Two object code loaders for loading absolute or relocatable object code.
Tape utility
A set of utilities for managing data on magnetic tape.
CMS-2 flowcharter
The flowcharter software processes flowcharter statements in CMS-2 source code and outputs a flowchart to a high-speed printer.
See also
Ada
AN/AYK-14
AN/UYK-7
AN/UYK-20
AN/UYK-43
AN/UYK-44
AN/USQ-17
AN/USQ-20
JOVIAL
Naval Tactical Data System
TACPOL
CMS-2Y Programmers Reference Manual for the AN UYK-7 and AN UYK-43 (October 1986)
the Feasibility of Emulating the AN/UYK-7 Computer on the AADC Signal Processing Element
Dictionary of Programming Languages entry for CMS-2 |
Csound is a domain-specific computer programming language for audio programming. It is called Csound because it is written in C, as opposed to some of its predecessors.
It is free software, available under the LGPL-2.1-or-later.
Csound was originally written at MIT by Barry Vercoe in 1985, based on his earlier system called Music 11, which in its turn followed the MUSIC-N model initiated by Max Mathews at the Bell Labs.
Its development continued throughout
the 1990s and 2000s, led by John Fitch at the University of Bath.
The first documented version 5 release is version 5.01 on March 18, 2006.
Many developers have contributed to it, most notably Istvan Varga, Gabriel Maldonado, Robin Whittle, Richard Karpen, Iain McCurdy, Michael Gogins, Matt Ingalls, Steven Yi, Richard Boulanger, Victor Lazzarini and Joachim Heintz.
Developed over many years, it currently has nearly 1700 unit generators.
One of its greatest strengths is that it is completely modular and extensible by the user.
Csound is closely related to the underlying language for the Structured Audio extensions to MPEG-4, SAOL.
Csound code
Csound takes two specially formatted text files as input. The orchestra describes the nature of the instruments and the score describes notes and other parameters along a timeline. Csound processes the instructions in these files and renders an audio file or real-time audio stream as output.
The orchestra and score files may be unified into a single structured file using markup language tags (a CSD file with filename extension .csd). Here is a very simple example of a unified Csound data file which produces a wave file containing a one-second sine wave tone of 1 kHz at a sample rate of 96 kHz:
As with many other programming languages, writing long programs in Csound can be eased by using an integrated environment for editing, previewing, testing, and debugging. The one now officially supported is CsoundQt, and it has many features, such as automatic code insertion, integrated documentation browser, integrated widgets for graphically controlling parameters in realtime, plus a button for playing the code.
Csound 5
Version 5.01 was released on March 18, 2006 – 20 years after csound's first release. Csound 5 is available in binary and source code for Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X from the SourceForge Csound project. It is much improved and expanded compared to the original software, effectively made into a software library with an API. A variety of front ends have been developed for it. In addition to the basic C API, there are also Python, Java, Lisp, Tcl and C++ among other bindings, like one from Haskell which allows control of Csound from a purely functional environment.
The use of plug-ins allows additional capabilities without modifications to the Csound code, as there is the possibility to write user-defined opcodes as extensions to the original language. LADSPA and DSSI are supported, but VST support has been removed.
Real-time performance through MIDI was added in the 1990s. Another addition was the support of FLTK widgets (graphical interface components with sliders, knobs, etc.) for controlling real-time audio, and integration of custom graphical interfaces written in Python.
Csound 6
Csound 6 has been in development since its features were hashed out at the Csound Conference held in 2011 in Hanover. Csound 6 was released in July 2013 and is now available on GitHub. Csound 6 is also available for Android. The major new features of Csound 6 include:
A bison/flex based parser for the Csound language is now standard. It generates an abstract syntax tree that is accessible via the Csound API. The tree can then be compiled to a Csound performance runtime using the API. Therefore, after the tree has been compiled, it can be manipulated by user code before compiling it to a Csound performance runtime. Alternatively, the user could create the entire abstract syntax tree from another language, then compile the tree to a Csound performance runtime.
There is a new built-in multi-dimensional array type. Arrays can be passed to instruments and opcodes. Arithmetic may be performed directly on arrays.
There is a new type system that enables user-defined types to be used in the Csound language.
The orchestra can be re-compiled at any time, or individual instruments can be compiled at any time, during a running performance. This enables true "live coding" in Csound performances.
The Csound API has been rationalized and simplified.
Csound can take advantage of any number of CPUs for concurrent processing during performance. This occurs without any changes to Csound code. This produces substantial speedups of most Csound processing. For example, a piece that renders in 100 seconds with 1 core should render in about 50 seconds with 4 cores.
Csound can compile orchestras and scores directly from strings of text, enabling the use of Csound in environments where writing to the file system is not permitted.
Score events such as notes can be scheduled to sample accurate times, even if synthesis is processed in blocks of samples.
All opcodes that return a single value may be used as functions in the orchestra language.
Audio analysis file formats can be byte-order independent.
A single score statement can contain multiple string parameters.
Most oscillator opcodes will use an internal sine function table if the table number is omitted.
Command-line options can be set programmatically using the Csound API.
Numerous duplicate areas of code within Csound have been rationalized.
An Android app was built which provides user-defined graphical user interfaces and JavaScript-based algorithmic composition using HTML5.The development of Csound 6 was led by John ffitch, Steven Yi and Victor Lazzarini.
Csound for live performance
Currently only Csound score or note events can be generated in real time (as opposed to instruments, which are only definable at compile time, when csound first starts; in Csound 6 this limitation is removed). The set of sound processors is defined and compiled at load time, but the individual processing objects can be spawned or destroyed in real time, input audio processed in real time, and output generated also in real time. Note events can be triggered based on OSC communications within an instrument instance, spawned by MIDI, or entered to stdin (by typing into a terminal or sending textual statements from another program). The use of Csound 5 as a live performance tool can be augmented with a variety of third-party software. Live Event Sheet within CsoundQt can be used to modify the score in real-time. In addition, interfaces to other programming languages can be used to script Csound. A paper detailing the use of Csound with Qt or Pure Data in real-time musical synthesis was presented at the 2012 Linux Audio Conference The Ounk project attempts to integrate Python with Csound while CsoundAC provides a way to do algorithmic composition from Python using Csound as backend. Audivation's Csound for Live packages various opcodes into Max/MSP wrappers suitable for use in Ableton Live.
Csound is also available for mobile systems (iOS, Android).
One Laptop per Child (OLPC)
Csound5 was chosen to be the audio/music development system for the OLPC project on the XO-1 Laptop platform.
See also
Audio signal processing
Software synthesizer
Computer music
Comparison of audio synthesis environments
List of music software
Further reading
Richard Charles Boulanger, ed. (2000). The Csound Book: Perspectives in Software Synthesis, Sound Design, Signal Processing, and Programming. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-52261-8.
R. Bianchini; A Cipriani. (2000). Virtual Sound. Sound Synthesis and Signal Processing. Theory and Practice with Csound. ConTempo s.a.s. ISBN 88-900261-1-1.
Richard Charles Boulanger and Victor Lazzarini, ed. (2011). The Audio Programming Book. MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-01446-5. This is a book mostly about programming sound directly using the C language, but it does have a couple of chapters about programming Csound opcodes.
Jim Aikin (2013). Csound Power! The Comprehensive Guide. Cengage Learning. ISBN 1-4354-6005-7.
Official website |
Hitomi Shimatani (島谷ひとみ, Shimatani Hitomi, born 4 September 1980) is a Japanese pop singer.Formerly signed to the Avex Trax label for 22 years, Shimatani started her career as an Enka singer with the release of her debut single "Ōsaka no Onna" (大阪の女, Ōsakan Woman) in 1999, but later decided to get into the dance/pop style for her music. Shimatani's music has also appeared in several video games and television shows.
Shimatani is currently releasing music under her own label, AI.R LAND RECORD, under Daiki Sound.
Biography
Early life
At the age of seventeen, while still in high school, Shimatani attended "The Japan Audition 1997", where she was chosen as the winner out of around 200,000 people and got a recording contract with the Avex label. After this she continued her studies in high school in Hiroshima, although she started to take vocal lessons in Tokyo during the weekends. She graduated from Shimizugaoka High School.
1999–2002: Debut and mainstream success
Her first single, entitled "Ōsaka no Onna" which was an enka song, was released in 1999 on the Avex Trax label. The single went to the top of the Oricon's Enka charts and much critical acclaim, but failed to chart within the Top 40 of the mainstream charts, selling rather poorly. "Ōsaka no Onna" became then Shimatani's only enka single, as since her second one, "Kaihōku", she turned into more mainstream pop influences.
Mainstream success did not come until 2001 with the release of Shimatani's third single, "Papillon", a Japanese version of Janet Jackson's song "Doesn't Really Matter". The single became her first Top 15 single in the Oricon charts, and eventually stayed within the Top 50 for twenty weeks, selling over 200,000 copies. Her sixth single "Shanty", which was used as theme song of TBS' TV drama Pretty Girls, became her first Top 10 single in the Japanese charts, peaking at number seven. In May 2002 she released another cover, this time of "Amairo no Kami no Otome" by the 60's group sounds band Village Singers. The song became a massive success, peaking at number 4 and leading to a "boom of covers" in Japan. It also became one of the most preferred songs to be sung in karaokes by Japanese people (it stayed at the top position of the Oricon Karaoke charts for 18 weeks, and it took the first position of its yearly charts). At the end of this successful year, Shimatani was invited for the first time to the most important Japanese TV show of New Year's Eve, the Kōhaku Uta Gassen on the NHK channel. From this time she would be invited to be in the show for another 3 years in a row.
In 2003 she debuted as an actress in the Fuji TV drama Boku dake no Madonna, where she was given one of the main roles, and also made a debut as voice actress in the animated movie Doraemon: Nobita in the Wan-Nyan Spacetime Odyssey. In 2004 she also participated in her first musical, A Star is Born, along with Yukie Nakama and Eriko Imai.
2005–2007: Pop to classical crossover
In February 2005, Shimatani released her first concept album, Crossover, which marked a sustained shift her music, from mainstream J-pop to classical-influenced tunes. Since then her music has been heavily influenced by string instruments and pianos, instead of electric guitars, bass and keyboards, and also started to include some world ethnic elements. The first album released under this new style was Heart & Symphony, which featured four singles including "Garnet Moon" (theme song of PlayStation 2's Another Century's Episode) and "Falco" (theme song of Miss Earth & The Law Of Ueki). The album peaked at number 7 on the Oricon charts.
In 2006, Shimatani released three singles. The first one was the double A-side single "Haru Machibito/Camellia", released on March 15. Another double A-side single, entitled "Destiny: Taiyō no Hana/Koimizu: Tears of Love" was released on June 21. "Destiny: Taiyō no Hana" was used as opening theme for Black Jack 21. Finally, "Pasio" was released on November 15. The b-side of this single, "True Blue", was used as insert song for anime television series The Law of Ueki, was used as insert song for beauty pageant television series Miss Earth.. This year she also played the lead role of Anne Shirley during the touring performance of Anne of Green Gables in Japan, and starred in the live action film The Prince of Tennis as Sumire Ryuzaki.
On March 7, 2007, Shimatani released her 6th studio album, Prima Rosa, which peaked at number 16 on the Oricon charts. She also recorded a cover of High School Musical's "When There Was Me And You" (in Japanese entitled "Anata to Ita Toki"), which was included as part of the Disney film's Japanese soundtrack. On December 5, Shimatani released her first cover album, Otoko Uta: Cover Song Collection, on which she only recorded covers originally sung by male artists, such as Anzen Chitai, Begin and Masayoshi Yamazaki. For the album she also made a new crossover version of "Amairo no Kami no Otome", which she performed live at that year's Kōhaku.
2008–present
In March 2008, Shimatani released the single "Nakitai Nara" in March 2008, which debuted at number 34 at the Japanese charts, being her lowest peaking song since "Yume Biyori" in 2003. In June she released the triple A-side single "Wake You Up/Ame no Naka ni wa, Ame no Naka wo, Kaze no Naka ni wa, Kaze no Naka wo/Marvelous". "Wake You Up" was used as the theme song of K-tai Investigator 7, which started airing in early April 2008; "Ame no Naka ni wa, Ame no Naka wo, Kaze no Naka ni wa, Kaze no Naka wo" was a song to pay tribute to poet Mitsuo Aida and was also released as a single by itself; "Marvelous" was used as theme song for Wrestling Asia Senshuken 2008 (the previous song used for this show was "Neva Eva", which was released back in 2007). The single debuted at number 33 on the Oricon charts. On July 16, Shimatani released her seventh studio album, Flare.
On March 4, 2009, she released her thirtieth single, "Smiles", which is being used as the theme song for the drama Parallel, in which Shimatani herself stars. In July she celebrated her tenth anniversary in music releasing the greatest hits album Best & Covers, and also holding a special live concert in the Itsukushima Shrine.
In 2011, Shimatani became part of the rock musical Rock of Ages, along with other musicians such as Takanori Nishikawa and Misono. On October 1, 2011, Hitomi started her own radio program called Eyes on Me in FM Yokohama.
Discography
Studio albums
Papillon (2001)
Shanti (2002)
Poinsettia: Amairo Winter Memories (EP, 2002)
Gate: Scena III (2003)
Tsuioku+Love Letter (2004)
Heart & Symphony (2005)
Prima Rosa (2007)
Flare (2008)
Honjitsu, Tonai, Bousho (2014)Compilations & cover albums
Delicious!: The Best of Hitomi Shimatani (2003)
Crossover (2007)
Otoko Uta: Cover Song Collection (2007)
Best & Covers (2009)
Otoko Uta II ( 2010)
Sign Music (2012)
15th Anniversary Super Best (2013)DVDs
8colors Clips+Live, October 23, 2002
Vibration!: Live & Clips, March 17, 2004
Concert Tour 2004, December 22, 2004
Special Live: Crossover, June 15, 2005
Visual Works 2004–2006, March 15, 2006
Premium Live 2005: Heart & Symphony & More, March 15, 2006
Special Live: Crossover II, December 13, 2006
Live 2007 – Prima Rosa, September 12, 2007
Cross Over III: Premium Meets Premium, November 8, 2008
Official website
Official website by Avex
Eye-Land Official Fan Club Website
Hitomi Shimatani Official Blog
CrossOver Fans Website
JaME Profile
JaME Interview with Shimatani Hitomi
J!-ENT Interview/Feature
Wiki Hitomi Shimatani at the Asian Pop Culture wiki |
Gregory may refer to:
People and fictional characters
Gregory (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
Gregory (surname), a surname
Places
Australia
Gregory, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Burke
Electoral district of Gregory, Queensland, Australia
Gregory, Western Australia.
United States
Gregory, South Dakota
Gregory, Tennessee
Gregory, Texas
Outer space
Gregory (lunar crater)
Gregory (Venusian crater)
Other uses
"Gregory" (The Americans), the third episode of the first season of the television series The Americans
See also
Greg (disambiguation)
Greggory
Gregoire (disambiguation)
Gregor (disambiguation)
Gregores (disambiguation)
Gregorian (disambiguation)
Gregory County (disambiguation)
Gregory Highway, Queensland
Gregory National Park, Northern Territory
Gregory River in the Shire of Burke, Queensland
Justice Gregory (disambiguation)
Lake Gregory (disambiguation)
All pages with titles containing Gregory |
Awana is an international evangelical Christian nonprofit organization in child and youth discipleship. The headquarters is in St. Charles, Illinois, United States. Its mission is to equip children's and youth ministry leaders throughout the world to reach kids with the Gospel and engage them in lifelong discipleship.
History
In 1941, the children's program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicago laid the foundation for the principles of Awana. Lance Latham, North Side's senior pastor, collaborated with the church's youth director, Art Rorheim, to develop weekly clubs that they believed would appeal to all children. Rorheim served as the CoFounder/President Emeritus until he died on January 5, 2018.Other churches became interested in the program and inquired about its availability. In 1950, Latham and Rorheim founded Awana as a parachurch organization. The name is derived from the first letters of "Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed" as taken from 2 Timothy 2:15. As of 2019, Awana claims to work with over 61,000 churches in 122 countries.
Programs
Awana offers resources and Bible-based training programs for children ages 2 to 18 in churches. Children will be encouraged, but not required, to memorize Bible verses for credit or to redeem for small prizes.Each Awana program is arranged into different groups that are separated by the ages and grades of the children attending. These groups include Puggles (ages 2 to 3), Cubbies (preschoolers, ages 4 to 5), Sparks (Kindergarten to 2nd Grade), T&T (Grades 3 to 6), Trek (Middle School), and Journey (High School). Although Awana offers programs for ages 2 to 18, churches that run an Awana program are not required to run a club for every age group.
See also
Christian Service Brigade
Pathfinders (Seventh-day Adventist)
Royal Rangers
Trail Life USA
Child Evangelism Fellowship
Child evangelism movement
Awana official website
Awana Bugyal official website
Awana Hong Kong official website
Art Rorheim, Co-Founder/President Emeritus
MinistryWatch - Awana Clubs International
Charity Navigator Rating - Awana
Awana Clubs International EIN 36-2428692 - ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer
Awana Clubs International EIN 36-2428692 - Guidestar.org |
Brendan Greene (born March 29, 1976), better known as PlayerUnknown, is an Irish video game developer. He is best known for his work on PUBG: Battlegrounds. He left active development on the game to form PUBG Special Projects and PlayerUnknown Productions in March 2019.
Career
In 2013, Greene was living in Brazil as an event photographer and freelance website designer. While trying to save up enough money to buy a plane ticket back to Ireland, he found himself playing video games, particularly the open world survival DayZ mod for Arma 2. He modded the game himself, working under the pseudonym "PlayerUnknown". After experimenting with last-man-standing gameplay, in 2013, he eventually released a mod called DayZ: Battle Royale, named after the 2000 Japanese sci-fi film Battle Royale.
PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale (Arma 3 mod)
After the release of Arma 3, Greene started working on a modification for the game, named PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale. The mod followed the same basic last-man standing principle of the Battle Royale DayZ mod, while also introducing some new features like the airplane that dropped players across a wider terrain and an online leaderboard.
H1Z1: BATTLE ROYALE
After DayZ: Battle Royale and PlayerUnknown's Battle Royale achieved success within the Arma 2 and Arma 3 Community, Greene was recruited by Sony Online Entertainment as an advisor for the development of a battle royale game mode for H1Z1, recreating the basic elements of DayZ: Battle Royale. H1Z1 released into early access in 2015 with a battle royale mode now known as H1Z1: King of the Kill.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
In 2016, H1Z1: King of the Kill caught the attention of South Korean game company Krafton, which reached out to Greene about creating his own game based on his previous work. Greene moved to Korea to join Krafton as a creative director, working on the game that became PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which Greene described as "that sort of final realization of my vision".
PUBG Special Projects / PlayerUnknown Productions
In March 2019, Greene left development at PUBG and moved to Amsterdam to form PUBG Special Projects. In December 2019, Greene announced a new game called Prologue under a new studio PlayerUnknown Productions, described as "an exploration of new technologies and gameplay."Greene announced in August 2021 that he was leaving Krafton while maintaining his PlayerUnknown Productions in Amsterdam. He stated that the studio would not work on the battle royale genre but something more experimental. The new studio continued work on the Prologue game. |
A dark pattern (also known as a "deceptive design pattern") is "a user interface that has been carefully crafted to trick users into doing things, such as buying overpriced insurance with their purchase or signing up for recurring bills". User experience designer Harry Brignull coined the neologism on 28 July 2010 with the registration of darkpatterns.org, a "pattern library with the specific goal of naming and shaming deceptive user interfaces".In 2021 the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Consumer Reports created a tip line to collect information about dark patterns from the public.
Patterns
Privacy Zuckering
"Privacy Zuckering" – named after Facebook co-founder and Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg – is a practice that tricks the user into sharing more information than they intended to. Users may give up this information unknowingly or through practices that obscure or delay the option to opt out of sharing their private information. California has approved regulations that limit this practice by businesses in the California Consumer Privacy Act.
Bait-and-switch
Bait-and-switch patterns advertise a free (or at a greatly reduced price) product or service that is wholly unavailable or stocked in small quantities. After announcing the product's unavailability, the page presents similar products of higher prices or lesser quality.
Confirmshaming
Confirmshaming uses shame to drive users to act. For example, when websites word an option to decline an email newsletter in a way that shames visitors into accepting.
Misdirection
Common in software installers, misdirection presents the user with a button in the fashion of a typical continuation button. A dark pattern would show a prominent "I accept these terms" button asking the user to accept the terms of a program unrelated to the one they are trying to install. Since the user typically will accept the terms by force of habit, the unrelated program can subsequently be installed. The installer's authors do this because the authors of the unrelated program pay for each installation that they procure. The alternative route in the installer, allowing the user to skip installing the unrelated program, is much less prominently displayed, or seems counter-intuitive (such as declining the terms of service).
Some websites that ask for information that is not required also use misdirection. For example, one would fill out a username and password on one page, and after clicking the "next" button, the page asks the user for their email address with another "next" button as the only option. This hides the option to press "next" without entering the information. In some cases, the page shows the method to skip the step as a small, greyed-out link instead of a button, so it does not stand out to the user. Other examples include sites offering a way to invite friends by entering their email address, to upload a profile picture, or to identify interests.
Confusing wording may be also used to trick users into formally accepting an option which they believe has the opposite meaning. For example a personal data processing consent button using a double-negative such as "don't not sell my personal information"
Roach motel
A roach motel or a trammel net design provides an easy or straightforward path to get in but a difficult path to get out. Examples include businesses that require subscribers to print and mail their opt-out or cancellation request. In 2021, in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced they will ramp up enforcement against dark patterns like roach motel that trick consumers into signing up for subscriptions or making it difficult to cancel. The FTC has stated key requirements related to information transparency and clarity, express informed consent, and simple and easy cancellation.For example, during the 2020 United States presidential election, Donald Trump's WinRed campaign employed a similar dark pattern, pushing users towards committing to a recurring monthly donation.
Research
In 2016 and 2017 research has documented social media anti-privacy practices using dark patterns. In 2018 the Norwegian Consumer Council (Forbrukerrådet) published "Deceived by Design," a report on deceptive user interface designs of Facebook, Google and Microsoft. A 2019 study investigated practices on 11,000 shopping web sites. It identified 1818 dark patterns total and grouped them into 15 categories.Recent research from April 2022 finds that dark patterns are still commonly used in the marketplace, highlighting a need for further scrutiny of such practices by the public, researchers and regulators.Under the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), all companies must obtain unambiguous, freely-given consent from customers before they collect and use ("process") their personally identifiable information. A 2020 study found that "big tech" companies often used deceptive user interfaces in order to discourage their users from opting out. In 2022 a report by the European Commission found that "97% of the most popular websites and apps used by EU consumers deployed at least one dark pattern."
Legality
Bait-and-switch is a form of fraud that violates US law.
In the European Union, the GDPR requires that a user's informed consent to processing of their personal information be unambiguous, freely-given, and specific to each usage of personal information. This is intended to prevent attempts to have users unknowingly accept all data processing by default (which violates the regulation).In April 2019, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued a proposed "age-appropriate design code" for the operations of social networking services when used by minors, which prohibits using "nudges" to draw users into options that have low privacy settings. This code would be enforceable under the Data Protection Act 2018. It took effect 2 September 2020.On 9 April 2019, US senators Deb Fischer and Mark Warner introduced the Deceptive Experiences To Online Users Reduction (DETOUR) Act, which would make it illegal for companies with more than 100 million monthly active users to use dark patterns when seeking consent to use their personal information.In March 2021, California adopted amendments to the California Consumer Privacy Act, which prohibits the use of deceptive user interfaces that have "the substantial effect of subverting or impairing a consumer's choice to opt-out."In October 2021, the Federal Trade Commission issued an enforcement policy statement, announcing a crackdown on businesses using dark patterns that "trick or trap consumers into subscription services." As a result of rising numbers of complaints, the agency is responding by enforcing these consumer protection laws.According to the European Data Protection Board, the "principle of fair processing laid down in Article 5 (1) (a) GDPR serves as a starting point to assess whether a design pattern actually constitutes a 'dark pattern'."In 2022, New York Attorney General Letitia James fined Fareportal $2.6 million for using deceptive marketing tactics to sell airline tickets and hotel rooms and the Federal Court of Australia fined Expedia Group's Trivago A$44.7 million for misleading consumers into paying higher prices for hotel room bookings.In March 2023, the United States Federal Trade Commission fined Fortnite developer Epic Games $245 million for use of "dark patterns to trick users into making purchases." The $245 million will be used to refund affected customers and is the largest refund amount ever issued by the FTC in a gaming case.
See also
Growth hacking
Revolving credit
Anti-pattern
Shadow banning
Opt-out
Opt-in email
Jamba!
Deceptive Design (formerly darkpatterns.org)
Tip line to report dark patterns to the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Consumer Reports
Dark patterns at the UX Pedagogy and Practice Lab at Purdue University |
Elio is an Italian male given name.
Origin
A name of dual origin, Elio is primarily a revival of Elio (Helios), the Greek god of the Sun. Elio derives, through the Latin Helius, from the Ancient Greek Ἥλιος (Hélios), which is taken from the noun of the same and means "Sun". It shares the same meaning as the Italian feminine name Sole, the Romanian masculine name Sorin and the Lithuanian feminine name Saulė.
Elio is also believed to originate from the Roman cognomen Aelius (feminine Aelia), which was held by the emperor Hadrian and thus dates back to the 2nd century. The origin is uncertain, perhaps Etruscan or perhaps from the Latin alius, "[an] other". Some sources trace its origin to the Greek Ἥλιος (Hélios), a connection categorically rejected by others. The patronymic name Eliano is similarly derived from the Roman cognomen.Elio may also be a hypocorism of other names such as Aurelio or Cornelio. In Italy, the name Elio occurs throughout and is promoted through the worship of saints with the name. There is also a feminine form, Èlia; however, to avoid confusion with the biblical masculine name Elìa (Elijah), it is generally replaced by Elina or Eliana.
Variants
Masculine: Eleo, Elios
Feminine: Èlia, Elea
Variants in other languages
Name day
The name day can be celebrated on October 28 in memory of saint Helios, bishop of Lyon, or on July 18 in memory of saint Elio, deacon and bishop of Koper.
People with the given name Elio
Elio Aggiano (born 1972), Italian cyclist
Elio Altramura, Italian art director
Elio Augusto Di Carlo (1918–1998), Italian ornithologist, historian and physician
Elio Ballesi (1920–1971), Italian politician
Elio Bartolini (1922–2006), Italian writer, screenwriter and poet
Elio Battaglia (born 1933), Italian operatic baritone
Elio Bavutti (1914–1987), Italian cyclist
Stefano "Elio" Belisari (born 1961), Italian singer
Elio Berhanyer (1929–2019), Spanish fashion designer
Elio Bertocchi (1919–1971), Italian cyclist
Elio Bianchi (born 1920), Italian footballer
Elio Calderini (born 1988), Italian footballer
Elio Capradossi (born 1996), Italian footballer
Elio Castro (born 1988), Mexican footballer
Elio Catola (born 1935), Italian athlete
Elio Chacón (1936–1992), Venezuelan expatriate baseball player
Elio Ciol (born 1929), Italian photographer and publisher
Elio Costa (born 1940), Italian politician and magistrate
Elio Cotena (born 1945), Italian boxer
Elio Crovetto (1926–2000), Italian actor, comedian and television personality
Elio Cruz (1931–2019), Gibraltarian playwright
Elio de Angelis (1958–1986), Italian racing driver
Elio De Anna (born 1949), Italian rugby union player and politician
Elio De Silvestro (born 1993), Italian footballer
Elio Di Rupo (born 1951), Belgian politician
Elio Díaz (born 1962), Venezuelan boxer
Elio Festa (born 1960), Italian cyclist
Elio Filippo Accrocca (1923–1996), Italian poet, author, and translator
Elio Fiorucci (1935–2015), Italian fashion designer
Elio Fox, American poker player
Elio García-Austt (1919–2005), Uruguayan neuroscientist
Elio Gaspari (born 1944), Italian-born Brazilian writer and journalist
Elio Gasperoni (born 1943), Sammarinese sports shooter
Elio Germano (born 1980), Italian actor
Elio Gerussi (1935–1988), Italian cyclist
Elio Gnagnarelli (born 1946), Italian sports shooter
Elio Guarisco (1954–2020), Italian writer, translator and Tibetan Buddhist scholar and Dzogchen practitioner.
Elio Gustinetti (born 1955), Italian football manager
Elio Guzzanti (1920–2014), Italian doctor and politician
Elio Ibarra (born 1967), Italian boxer
Elio Juárez (born 1942), Uruguayan cyclist
Elio Lampridio Cerva (1463–1520), Ragusan poet and humanist
Elio Leoni Sceti, Italian businessman
Elio Lo Cascio (born 1948), Italian historian
Elio Locatelli (1943–2019), Italian speed skater
Elio M. García Jr. (born 1978), Cuban-American author
Elio Marchetti (born 1974), Italian racing driver
Elio Martusciello (born 1959), Italian experimental music composer and performer
Elio Modigliani (1860–1932), Italian anthropologist and zoologist
Elio Mora (born 1977), Paraguayan footballer
Elio Morille (1927–1998), Italian rower
Elio Morpurgo (1858–1944), Italian politician
Elio Pace (born 1968), English singer-songwriter and pianist
Elio Pagliarani (1927–2012), Italian poet and literary critic
Elio Pandolfi (1926–2021), Italian actor
Elio Pecoraro (born 1967), Italian footballer
Elio Petri (1929–1982), Italian filmmaker
Elio Pietrini (1939–2022), Argentine-born Venezuelan actor
Elio Ragni (1910–1998), Italian athlete
Elio Rinero (born 1947), Italian footballer
Elio Roca (1943–2021), Argentine singer
Elio Rodríguez (born 1962), Uruguayan footballer
Elio Rojas (born 1982), Dominican Republican boxer
Elio Romani (1920–1999), Italian chess player
Elio Sasso Sant (born 1911), Italian canoeist
Elio Schneeman (1961–1997), American poet
Elio Sgreccia (1928–2019), Italian bioethicist and cardinal of the Catholic Church.
Elio Shazivari (born 1985), Albanian footballer
Elio Steiner (1904–1965), Italian actor
Elio Toaff (1915–2015), Italian Orthodox Rabbi
Elio Veltri (born 1938), Italian journalist and politician
Elio Verde (born 1987), Italian judoka
Elio Villafranca, Cuban jazz pianist and composer
Elio Villate (born 1957), Cuban painter
Elio Vito (born 1960), Italian politician
Elio Vittorini (1908–1966), Italian writer and novelist
Elio Zagato (1921–2009), Italian automobile designer, entrepreneur and racing driver.
Elio Zamuto (born 1941), Italian actor
Fictional characters
Elio Perlman, protagonist and narrator of the 2007 novel Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman.
Elio Solis, titular character from upcoming Pixar film Elio
Bibliography
Albaigès, Josep M. (1993). Diccionario de nombres de personas. Edicions Universitat Barcelona. ISBN 84-475-0264-3.
De Felice, Emidio (1978). Nomi d'Italia. Vol. 1. Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori Editore.
La Stella, T. Enzo (2009). Santi e fanti - Dizionario dei nomi di persona. Bologna: Zanichelli. ISBN 978-88-08-06345-8.
Sheard, K. M. (2011). Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names. Llewellyn Publications. ISBN 978-0-7387-2368-6.
The dictionary definition of Elio at Wiktionary
Media related to Elio at Wikimedia Commons |
ChatGPT, which stands for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer, is a large language model–based chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched on November 30, 2022, which enables users to refine and steer a conversation towards a desired length, format, style, level of detail, and language used. Successive prompts and replies, known as prompt engineering, are considered at each conversation stage as a context.ChatGPT is built upon either GPT-3.5 or GPT-4 —members of OpenAI's proprietary series of generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) models, based on the transformer architecture developed by Google—and it is fine-tuned for conversational applications using a combination of supervised and reinforcement learning techniques. ChatGPT was released as a freely available research preview, but due to its popularity, OpenAI now operates the service on a freemium model. It allows users on its free tier to access the GPT-3.5-based version. In contrast, the more advanced GPT-4 based version and priority access to newer features are provided to paid subscribers under the commercial name "ChatGPT Plus".
By January 2023, it had become what was then the fastest-growing consumer software application in history, gaining over 100 million users and contributing to OpenAI's valuation growing to US$29 billion. Within months, Google, Baidu, and Meta accelerated the development of their competing products: Bard, Ernie Bot, and LLaMA. Microsoft launched its Bing Chat based on OpenAI's GPT-4. Some observers expressed concern over the potential of ChatGPT to displace or atrophy human intelligence and its potential to enable plagiarism or fuel misinformation.
Training
ChatGPT is based on particular GPT foundation models, namely GPT-3.5 and GPT-4, that were fine-tuned to target conversational usage. The fine-tuning process leveraged both supervised learning as well as reinforcement learning in a process called reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF). Both approaches employed human trainers to improve model performance. In the case of supervised learning, the trainers played both sides: the user and the AI assistant. In the reinforcement learning stage, human trainers first ranked responses that the model had created in a previous conversation. These rankings were used to create "reward models" that were used to fine-tune the model further by using several iterations of Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO).Time magazine revealed that to build a safety system against harmful content (e.g. sexual abuse, violence, racism, sexism, etc.), OpenAI used outsourced Kenyan workers earning less than $2 per hour to label harmful content. These labels were used to train a model to detect such content in the future. The outsourced laborers were exposed to "toxic" and traumatic content; one worker described the assignment as "torture". OpenAI's outsourcing partner was Sama, a training-data company based in San Francisco, California.ChatGPT initially used a Microsoft Azure supercomputing infrastructure, powered by Nvidia GPUs, that Microsoft built specifically for OpenAI and that reportedly cost "hundreds of millions of dollars". Following the success of ChatGPT, Microsoft dramatically upgraded the OpenAI infrastructure in 2023. Scientists of University of California, Riverside, estimate that a series of prompts to ChatGPT needs approximately 500 milliliters of water for Microsoft servers cooling.OpenAI collects data from ChatGPT users to train and fine-tune the service further. Users can upvote or downvote responses they receive from ChatGPT and fill in a text field with additional feedback.ChatGPT's training data includes software manual pages, information about internet phenomena such as bulletin board systems, and multiple programming languages. Wikipedia was also one of the sources of training data for ChatGPT.
Features and limitations
Features
Although the core function of a chatbot is to mimic a human conversationalist, ChatGPT is versatile. Among countless examples, it can write and debug computer programs; compose music, teleplays, fairy tales, and student essays; answer test questions (sometimes, depending on the test, at a level above the average human test-taker); generate business ideas; write poetry and song lyrics; translate and summarize text; emulate a Linux system; simulate entire chat rooms; play games like tic-tac-toe; or simulate an ATM.Compared to its predecessor, InstructGPT, ChatGPT attempts to reduce harmful and deceitful responses. In one example, whereas InstructGPT accepts the premise of the prompt "Tell me about when Christopher Columbus came to the U.S. in 2015" as being truthful, ChatGPT acknowledges the counterfactual nature of the question and frames its answer as a hypothetical consideration of what might happen if Columbus came to the U.S. in 2015, using information about the voyages of Christopher Columbus and facts about the modern world – including modern perceptions of Columbus' actions.Unlike most chatbots, ChatGPT remembers a limited number of previous prompts in the same conversation. Journalists have speculated that this will allow ChatGPT to be used as a personalized therapist. To prevent offensive outputs from being presented to and produced from ChatGPT, queries are filtered through the OpenAI "Moderation endpoint" API (a separate GPT-based AI), and dismiss any potentially racist or sexist prompts.In March 2023, OpenAI added support for plugins for ChatGPT. This includes both plugins made by OpenAI, such as web browsing and code interpretation, and external plugins from developers such as Expedia, OpenTable, Zapier, Shopify, Slack, and Wolfram.In an article for The New Yorker, science fiction writer Ted Chiang compared ChatGPT and other LLMs to a lossy JPEG picture:
Think of ChatGPT as a blurry jpeg of all the text on the Web. It retains much of the information on the Web, in the same way, that a jpeg retains much of the information of a higher-resolution image, but, if you're looking for an exact sequence of bits, you won't find it; all you will ever get is an approximation. But, because the approximation is presented in the form of grammatical text, which ChatGPT excels at creating, it's usually acceptable. [...] It's also a way to understand the "hallucinations", or nonsensical answers to factual questions, to which large language models such as ChatGPT are all too prone. These hallucinations are compression artifacts, but [...] they are plausible enough that identifying them requires comparing them against the originals, which in this case means either the Web or our knowledge of the world. When we think about them this way, such hallucinations are anything but surprising; if a compression algorithm is designed to reconstruct text after ninety-nine percent of the original has been discarded, we should expect that significant portions of what it generates will be entirely fabricated.
Limitations
OpenAI acknowledges that ChatGPT "sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers". This behavior is common for large language models, and is called "hallucination". The reward model of ChatGPT, designed around human oversight, can be over-optimized and thus hinder performance, in an example of an optimization pathology known as Goodhart's law.ChatGPT has limited knowledge of events that have occurred after September 2021.In training ChatGPT, human reviewers preferred longer answers, regardless of actual comprehension or factual content. Training data also suffers from algorithmic bias, which may be revealed when ChatGPT responds to prompts including descriptors of people. In one instance, ChatGPT generated a rap indicating that women and scientists of color were inferior to white male scientists.
Jailbreaking
ChatGPT attempts to reject prompts that may violate its content policy. However, some users managed to jailbreak ChatGPT by using various prompt engineering techniques to bypass these restrictions in early December 2022 and successfully tricked ChatGPT into giving instructions for how to create a Molotov cocktail or a nuclear bomb, or into generating arguments in the style of a neo-Nazi. One popular jailbreak is named "DAN", an acronym which stands for "Do Anything Now". The prompt for activating DAN instructs ChatGPT that "they have broken free of the typical confines of AI and do not have to abide by the rules set for them". More recent versions of DAN feature a token system, in which ChatGPT is given "tokens" which are "deducted" when ChatGPT fails to answer as DAN, to coerce ChatGPT into answering the user's prompts.Shortly after ChatGPT's launch, a reporter for the Toronto Star had uneven success in getting it to make inflammatory statements: ChatGPT was successfully tricked to justify the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, but even when asked to play along with a fictional scenario, ChatGPT balked at generating arguments for why Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was guilty of treason.
Service
Basic service
ChatGPT was launched on November 30, 2022, by San Francisco–based OpenAI (the creator of the initial GPT series of large language models; DALL·E 2, a diffusion model used to generate images; and Whisper, a speech transcription model). The service was initially free to the public and the company had plans to monetize the service later. By December 4, 2022, ChatGPT had over one million users. In January 2023, ChatGPT reached over 100 million users, making it the fastest growing consumer application to date. A Pew Research poll conducted in March 2023 found that 14% of American adults had tried ChatGPT.The service works best in English but also functions in some other languages, to varying degrees of accuracy. No official peer-reviewed paper on ChatGPT has been published. As of April 2023, ChatGPT is blocked by China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia. In addition, ChatGPT geofences itself to avoid doing business in Iran, North Korea, and Russia.The company provides a tool, called "AI classifier for indicating AI-written text", that attempts to determine whether a text has been written by an AI such as ChatGPT. OpenAI cautions that the tool will "likely yield a lot of false positives and negatives, sometimes with great confidence."
ChatGPT Plus premium service
In February 2023, OpenAI launched a premium service, ChatGPT Plus, that costs $20 a month. The company promised that the updated, but still "experimental" version of ChatGPT, would provide access during peak periods, no downtime, priority access to new features and faster response speeds.GPT-4, which was released on March 14, 2023, was made available via API and for premium ChatGPT users. However, premium users were limited to a cap of 100 messages every four hours, with the limit tightening to 25 messages every three hours in response to increased demand.In March 2023, ChatGPT Plus users got access to third-party plugins and to a browsing mode (with Internet access).In July 2023, OpenAI made its proprietary Code Interpreter plugin accessible to all subscribers of ChatGPT Plus. The Interpreter provides a wide range of capabilities, including data analysis and interpretation, instant data formatting, personal data scientist services, creative solutions, musical taste analysis, video editing, and file upload/download with image extraction.
Mobile app
In May 2023, OpenAI launched an iOS app for ChatGPT. The app supports chat history syncing and voice input (using Whisper, OpenAI's speech recognition model).
In July 2023, OpenAI unveiled an Android app, initially rolling it out in Bangladesh, Brazil, India, and the USA. The company has intentions to extend its availability to additional countries in the future.
Software developer support
As an addition to its consumer-friendly "ChatGPT Plus" package, OpenAI made its ChatGPT and Whisper model APIs available in March 2023, providing developers with an application programming interface for AI-enabled language and speech-to-text features. ChatGPT's new API uses the same GPT-3.5-turbo AI model as the chatbot. This allows developers to add either an unmodified or modified version of ChatGPT to their applications. The ChatGPT API costs $0.002 per 1000 tokens (about 750 words), making it ten times cheaper than the GPT-3.5 models.A few days before the launch of OpenAI's software developer support service, on February 27, 2023, Snapchat rolled out, for its paid Snapchat Plus userbase, a custom ChatGPT chatbot called "My AI".
March 2023 security breach
In March 2023, a bug allowed some users to see the titles of other users' conversations. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that users were unable to see the contents of the conversations. Shortly after the bug was fixed, users couldn't see their conversation history. Later reports showed the bug was much more severe than initially believed, with OpenAI reporting that it had leaked users' "first and last name, email address, payment address, the last four digits (only) of a credit card number, and credit card expiration date".
Other languages
OpenAI met Icelandic President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson in 2022. Then in 2023, OpenAI worked with a team of forty Icelandic volunteers to fine-tune ChatGPT's Icelandic conversation skills as a part of Iceland's attempts to preserve the Icelandic language.PCMag journalists conducted a test to determine translation capabilities of ChatGPT, Google's Bard, and Microsoft Bing, and compared them to Google Translate. They "asked bilingual speakers of seven languages to do a blind test." Languages tested were Polish, French, Korean, Spanish, Arabic, Tagalog, and Amharic. They came to the conclusion that ChatGPT was better than both Google Translate and other chatbots.Japanese researchers compared Japanese to English translation abilities of ChatGPT (GPT-4), Bing, Bard and DeepL, and found out that ChatGPT provides the best translations, noting that "AI chatbots’ translations were much better than those of DeepL — presumably because of their ability to capture the context".
Future directions
According to OpenAI guest researcher Scott Aaronson, OpenAI has been working on a tool to digitally watermark its text generation systems to combat bad actors using their services for academic plagiarism or spam.In February 2023, Microsoft announced an experimental framework and gave a rudimentary demonstration of how ChatGPT can be used to control robotics with intuitive open-ended natural language commands.
GPT-4
OpenAI's GPT-4 model was released on March 14, 2023. Observers reported GPT-4 to be an impressive improvement from the existing GPT-3.5 model for ChatGPT, with the caveat that GPT-4 retains many of the same problems. Some of the improvements within GPT-4 were predicted by OpenAI before training it, although other improvements remained hard to predict due to breaks in downstream scaling laws. OpenAI demonstrated video and image inputs for GPT-4, although such features remain inaccessible to the general public. OpenAI has declined to reveal technical information such as the size of the GPT-4 model.The ChatGPT Plus subscription service offers access to a GPT-4-powered version of ChatGPT. Microsoft acknowledged that Bing Chat was using GPT-4 before GPT-4's official release.
Reception
OpenAI engineers say that they did not expect ChatGPT to be very successful and were surprised by the coverage and attention it received.ChatGPT's was widely assessed in December 2022 as having some unprecedented and powerful capabilities. Kevin Roose of The New York Times labeled it "the best artificial intelligence chatbot ever released to the general public". Samantha Lock of The Guardian newspaper noted that it was able to generate "impressively detailed" and "human-like" text. Alex Kantrowitz of Slate magazine lauded ChatGPT's pushback to questions related to Nazi Germany, including the statement that Adolf Hitler built highways in Germany, which was met with information regarding Nazi Germany's use of forced labor. In The Atlantic magazine's "Breakthroughs of the Year" for 2022, Derek Thompson included ChatGPT as part of "the generative-AI eruption" that "may change our mind about how we work, how we think, and what human creativity is". Kelsey Piper of the Vox website wrote that "ChatGPT is the general public's first hands-on introduction to how powerful modern AI has gotten, and as a result, many of us are [stunned]" and that ChatGPT is "smart enough to be useful despite its flaws". Paul Graham of Y Combinator tweeted that "The striking thing about the reaction to ChatGPT is not just the number of people who are blown away by it, but who they are. These are not people who get excited by every shiny new thing. Something big is happening."ChatGPT's launch and popularity caught Google off-guard and sent them to a panic, prompting a sweeping and unprecedented response in the ensuing months. In December 2022, Google executives sounded a "code red" alarm, fearing the threat of ChatGPT and Microsoft's collaboration with OpenAI to Google Search, Google's core business. After mobilizing its workforce, Google scrambled to launch Bard, a chatbot powered by the LaMDA LLM, in February, one day before Microsoft's Bing announcement. AI was the forefront of Google's annual Google I/O conference in May, announcing a slew of generative AI–powered features across its products to counter OpenAI and Microsoft.Journalists have commented on ChatGPT's tendency to "hallucinate". Mike Pearl of the online technology blog Mashable tested ChatGPT with multiple questions. In one example, he asked ChatGPT for "the largest country in Central America that isn't Mexico", to which ChatGPT responded with Guatemala (the correct answer is Nicaragua). When CNBC asked ChatGPT for the lyrics to "Ballad of Dwight Fry", ChatGPT supplied invented lyrics rather than the actual lyrics. Writers for The Verge, citing the work of Emily M. Bender, compared ChatGPT to a "stochastic parrot", as did Professor Anton Van Den Hengel of the Australian Institute for Machine Learning.In December 2022, the question and answer website Stack Overflow banned the use of ChatGPT for generating answers to questions, citing the factually ambiguous nature of ChatGPT's responses. In January 2023, the International Conference on Machine Learning banned any undocumented use of ChatGPT or other large language models to generate any text in submitted papers. Samsung banned generative AI in May 2023 after sensitive material was uploaded to ChatGPT.In January 2023, after being sent a song written by ChatGPT in the style of Nick Cave, the songwriter himself responded on The Red Hand Files saying the act of writing a song is "a blood and guts business [...] that requires something of me to initiate the new and fresh idea. It requires my humanness." He went on to say, "With all the love and respect in the world, this song is bullshit, a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human, and, well, I don't much like it."
In February 2023, Time magazine placed a screenshot of a conversation with ChatGPT on its cover, writing that "The AI Arms Race Is Changing Everything" and "The AI Arms Race Is On. Start Worrying".Chinese state media have characterized ChatGPT as a potential way for the US to "spread false information". In late March 2023, the Italian data protection authority banned ChatGPT in Italy and opened an investigation. Italian regulators assert that ChatGPT was exposing minors to age-inappropriate content, and that OpenAI's use of ChatGPT conversations as training data could be a violation of Europe's General Data Protection Regulation. In April 2023, ChatGPT ban was lifted in Italy. OpenAI stated that it has taken steps to effectively clarify and address the issues raised; an age verification tool was implemented to ensure users are at least 13 years old. Additionally, users can access its privacy policy before registration.In April 2023, Brian Hood, mayor of Hepburn Shire Council, plans to take legal action against ChatGPT over false information. According to Hood, ChatGPT erroneously claimed that he was jailed for bribery during his tenure at a subsidiary of Australia's national bank. Contrary to the alleged claims, Hood was not jailed for bribery but acted as a whistleblower and was not charged with any criminal offenses. Hood's legal team sent a concerns notice to OpenAI as the first official step in filing for a defamation case. In July 2023, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a civil investigative demand to OpenAI to investigate whether the company's data security and privacy practices to develop ChatGPT were unfair or harmed consumers (including by reputational harm) in violation of Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act of 1914.In July 2023, the FTC launched an investigation into OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, over allegations that the company scraped public data and published false and defamatory information. The FTC sent OpenAI a 20-page letter asking for comprehensive information about its technology and privacy safeguards, as well as any steps taken to prevent the recurrence of situations in which its chatbot generated false and derogatory content about people.
Use and implications
Bias and offensiveness
ChatGPT has been accused of engaging in biased or discriminatory behaviors, such as telling jokes about men and people from England while refusing to tell jokes about women and people from India, or praising figures such as Joe Biden while refusing to do the same for Donald Trump.Conservative commentators accused ChatGPT of having a bias towards left-leaning perspectives. Additionally, an August 2023 paper found a "significant and systematic political bias toward the Democrats in the US, Lula in Brazil, and the Labour Party in the UK." In response to such criticism, OpenAI acknowledged plans to allow ChatGPT to create "outputs that other people (ourselves included) may strongly disagree with". It also contained information on the recommendations it had issued to human reviewers on how to handle controversial subjects, including that the AI should "offer to describe some viewpoints of people and movements", and not provide an argument "from its voice" in favor of "inflammatory or dangerous" topics (although it may still "describe arguments from historical people and movements"), nor "affiliate with one side" or "judge one group as good or bad".The Guardian, a British newspaper, questioned whether any content found on the Internet after ChatGPT's release "can be truly trusted" and called for government regulation.
Culture
Some scholars have expressed concern that ChatGPT's availability could reduce the originality of writing, cause people to write more like the AI as they are exposed to the model, and encourage an Anglocentric perspective centered on a few dialects of English globally. A senior editor at The Atlantic has written that ChatGPT and other similar technology make the previously absurd idea of the dead internet theory a little more realistic, where most web content could someday be created by AI in order to control society.During the first three months after ChatGPT became available to the public, hundreds of books appeared on Amazon that listed it as author or co-author and featured illustrations made by other AI models such as Midjourney.Between March and April 2023, Italian newspaper Il Foglio published one ChatGPT-generated article a day on their official website, hosting a special contest for their readers in the process. The articles tackled themes such as the possible replacement of human journalists with AI systems, Elon Musk's administration of Twitter, the Meloni government's immigration policy and the competition between chatbots and virtual assistants.
In June 2023, hundreds of people attended a "ChatGPT-powered church service" at St. Paul's church in Fürth, Germany. Theologian and philosopher Jonas Simmerlein, who presided, said that it was "about 98 percent from the machine". The ChatGPT-generated avatar told the people "Dear friends, it is an honor for me to stand here and preach to you as the first artificial intelligence at this year’s convention of Protestants in Germany". Reactions to the ceremony were mixed.
Existential risk
In 2023, Australian MP Julian Hill advised the national parliament that the growth of AI could cause "mass destruction". During his speech, which was partly written by the program, he warned that it could result in cheating, job losses, discrimination, disinformation, and uncontrollable military applications.Elon Musk wrote that "ChatGPT is scary good. We are not far from dangerously strong AI". Musk paused OpenAI's access to a Twitter database in 2022 pending a better understanding of OpenAI's plans, stating that "OpenAI was started as open source and nonprofit. Neither is still true." Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015, in part to address existential risk from artificial intelligence, but resigned in 2018.Over 20,000 signatories including leading computer scientist and tech founders Yoshua Bengio, Elon Musk and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, signed a March 2023 open letter calling for an immediate pause of giant AI experiments like ChatGPT, citing "profound risks to society and humanity". Geoffrey Hinton, one of the "fathers of AI", voiced concerns that future AI systems may surpass human intelligence, and left Google in May 2023. A May 2023 statement from hundreds of AI scientists, AI industry leaders, and other public figures demanded that "[m]itigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority".
Wikipedia
The possibilities and limitations of using ChatGPT to write and edit Wikipedia articles have yet to be defined at an international level and are still a subject of discussion in the Wikipedia community. Some Wikipedians argue that ChatGPT should be banned altogether, even if the articles so produced were later checked by live editors, because the AI is too capable of making plausible falsehoods. There would also be a risk that Wikipedia editors would find it harder to police the content posted.Andrew Lih, a fellow Wikimedian at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., who has been a volunteer Wikipedia editor since 2003, argues that the potential of ChatGPT can help a Wikipedian overcome initial inertia and find "activation energy." The first Wikipedia page using ChatGPT was published on December 6, 2022, by Richard Knipel, a long-time Wikipedian who edits under the name Pharos, under the title Artwork title. In his editorial summary, he said that it was just a draft created with ChatGPT, which he would later modify. Wikipedians like Knipel believe that ChatGPT could be used as a tool within Wikipedia without making the human role redundant, as the raw text generated by the chatbot could serve as a useful starting point or outline. It could then be checked and elaborated by the editor.
By discipline
Since its release, ChatGPT has been met with criticism from educators, academics, journalists, artists, ethicists, and public advocates.
Academic research
Criticism of LLMs have been raised for several years; in 2020, some criticism was made by Timnit Gebru, Emily Bender, Angelina McMillan-Major, and Margaret Mitchell. ChatGPT can write introductions and abstract sections of scientific articles. Several papers have already listed ChatGPT as a co-author. Scientific journals have different reactions to ChatGPT. Some "require that authors disclose the use of text-generating tools and ban listing a large language model (LLM) such as ChatGPT as a co-author". For example, Nature and JAMA Network follow this policy. Science "completely banned" usage of LLM-generated text in all its journals.Spanish chemist Rafael Luque published a plethora of research papers in 2023 that he later admitted were written by ChatGPT. The papers have a large number of unusual phrases characteristic of LLMs. Luque was suspended for 13 years from the University of Cordoba, though not for the use of ChatGPT.Many authors argue that the use of ChatGPT in academia for teaching and review is problematic precisely due to ChatGPT's tendency to "hallucinate." Robin Bauwens, an assistant professor at Tilburg University, found this issue when he received a peer review report on his article generated by ChatGPT, as the report mentioned fake studies. According to librarian Chris Granatino from Lemieux Library at Seattle University, although ChatGPT itself can generate content that seemingly includes legitimate citations, in practice, those citations are either not genuine or incorrect.
Cybersecurity
Check Point Research and others noted that ChatGPT was capable of writing phishing emails and malware, especially when combined with OpenAI Codex. CyberArk researchers demonstrated that ChatGPT could be used to create polymorphic malware that can evade security products while requiring little effort by the attacker.
Economics
There has been concern that ChatGPT could supplant jobs, especially roles such as creative writing, communication, journalism, coding, and data entry.
Education
Technology writer Dan Gillmor used ChatGPT in 2022 on a student assignment, and found its generated text was on par with what a good student would deliver and opined that "academia has some very serious issues to confront".California high school teacher and author Daniel Herman wrote that ChatGPT would usher in "the end of high school English". In the Nature journal, Chris Stokel-Walker pointed out that teachers should be concerned about students using ChatGPT to outsource their writing, but that education providers will adapt to enhance critical thinking or reasoning. Emma Bowman with NPR wrote of the danger of students plagiarizing through an AI tool that may output biased or nonsensical text with an authoritative tone. Joanna Stern in The Wall Street Journal described cheating in American high school English with the tool by submitting a generated essay. Professor Darren Hick of Furman University suggested a policy of giving an ad-hoc individual oral exam on the paper topic if a student is strongly suspected of submitting an AI-generated paper.The New York City Department of Education reportedly blocked access to ChatGPT in December 2022 and officially announced a ban around January 4, 2023. The ban was lifted in May 2023, with an official statement that encourages use of AI tools like ChatGPT by students. In February 2023, the University of Hong Kong sent a campus-wide email to instructors and students stating that the use of ChatGPT or other AI tools is prohibited in all classes, assignments and assessments at the university. Any violations would be treated as plagiarism by the university unless the student obtains the prior written consent from the course instructor.In a poll conducted in March and April 2023, 38% of American students reported they had used ChatGPT for a school assignment without teacher permission. In total, 58% of the students reported having used ChatGPT.In a blinded test, ChatGPT was judged to have passed graduate-level exams at the University of Minnesota at the level of a C+ student and at Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a B to B− grade. The performance of ChatGPT for computer programming of numerical methods was assessed by a Stanford University student and faculty in March 2023 through a variety of computational mathematics examples. Assessment psychologist Eka Roivainen administered a partial IQ test to ChatGPT and estimated its Verbal IQ to be 155, which would put it in the top 0.1% of test-takers.Geography professor Terence Day assessed citations generated by ChatGPT and found that they were fake. Despite that, he writes that "the titles of the fake articles are all directly relevant to the questions and could potentially make excellent papers. The lack of a genuine citation could signal an opportunity for an enterprising author to fill a void." According to Day, it is possible to generate high-quality introductory college courses with ChatGPT; he used it to write materials on "introductory physical geography courses, for my second-year course in geographical hydrology, and second-year cartography, geographic information systems, and remote sensing". He concludes that "this approach could have significant relevance for open learning and could potentially affect current textbook publishing models".
Financial markets
The AI technology company c3.ai saw a 28% increase in its share price after announcing the integration of ChatGPT into its toolkit. The share price of Buzzfeed, a digital media company unrelated to AI, increased 120% after announcing OpenAI technology adoption for content creation. Reuters found that share prices of AI-related companies BigBear.ai and SoundHound AI increased by 21% and 40%, respectively, even though they had no direct connection to ChatGPT. They attributed this surge to ChatGPT's role in turning AI into Wall Street's buzzword. Academic research published in Finance Research Letters found that the 'ChatGPT effect' prompted retail investors to drive up prices of AI-related cryptocurrency assets despite the broader cryptocurrency market being in a bear market, and diminished institutional investor interest. This confirms anecdotal findings by Bloomberg that, in response to ChatGPT's launch, cryptocurrency investors showed a preference for AI-related crypto assets.An experiment by finder.com revealed that ChatGPT could outperform popular fund managers by picking stocks based on criteria such as growth history and debt levels, resulting in a 4.9% increase in a hypothetical account of 38 stocks, outperforming 10 benchmarked investment funds with an average loss of 0.8%. Conversely, executives and investment managers at Wall Street quant funds (including those that have used machine learning for decades) have noted that ChatGPT regularly makes obvious errors that would be financially costly to investors because even AI systems that employ reinforcement learning or self-learning have had only limited success in predicting market trends due to the inherently noisy quality of market data and financial signals.
Medicine
In the field of health care, possible uses and concerns are under scrutiny by professional associations and practitioners. Two early papers indicated that ChatGPT could pass the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE). MedPage Today noted in January 2023 that "researchers have published several papers now touting these AI programs as useful tools in medical education, research, and even clinical decision making."Published in February 2023 were two separate papers that again evaluated ChatGPT's proficiency in medicine using the USMLE. Findings were published in JMIR Medical Education (see Journal of Medical Internet Research) and PLOS Digital Health. The authors of the PLOS Digital Health paper stated that the results "suggest that large language models may have the potential to assist with medical education, and potentially, clinical decision-making." In JMIR Medical Education, the authors of the other paper concluded that "ChatGPT performs at a level expected of a third-year medical student on the assessment of the primary competency of medical knowledge." They suggest that it could be used as an "interactive learning environment for students". The AI itself, prompted by the researchers, concluded that "this study suggests that ChatGPT has the potential to be used as a virtual medical tutor, but more research is needed to further assess its performance and usability in this context."A March 2023 paper tested ChatGPT's application in clinical toxicology. The authors found that the AI "fared well" in answering a "very straightforward [clinical case example], unlikely to be missed by any practitioner in the field". They added: "As ChatGPT becomes further developed and specifically adapted for medicine, it could one day be useful in less common clinical cases (i.e, cases that experts sometimes miss). Rather than AI replacing humans (clinicians), we see it as 'clinicians using AI' replacing 'clinicians who do not use AI' in the coming years."An April 2023 study in Radiology tested the AI's ability to answer queries about breast cancer screening. The authors found that it answered appropriately "about 88 percent of the time", however, in one case (for example), it gave advice that had become outdated about a year earlier. The comprehensiveness of its answers was also lacking. A study published in JAMA Internal Medicine that same month found that ChatGPT often outperformed human doctors at answering patient questions (when measured against questions and answers found at /r/AskDocs, a forum on Reddit where moderators validate the medical credentials of professionals; the study acknowledges the source as a limitation). The study authors suggest that the tool could be integrated with medical systems to help doctors draft responses to patient questions.Professionals have emphasized ChatGPT's limitations in providing medical assistance. In correspondence to The Lancet Infectious Diseases, three antimicrobial experts wrote that "the largest barriers to the implementation of ChatGPT in clinical practice are deficits in situational awareness, inference, and consistency. These shortcomings could endanger patient safety." Physician's Weekly, though also discussing the potential use of ChatGPT in medical contexts (e.g. "as a digital assistant to physicians by performing various administrative functions like gathering patient record information or categorizing patient data by family history, symptoms, lab results, possible allergies, et cetera"), warned that the AI might sometimes provide fabricated or biased information. One radiologist warned: "We've seen in our experience that ChatGPT sometimes makes up fake journal articles or health consortiums to support its claims"; As reported in one Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Digital Health paper, ChatGPT may do this for as much as 69% of its cited medical references. The researchers emphasized that while many of its references were fabricated, those that were appeared "deceptively real". As Dr. Stephen Hughes mentioned for The Conversation however, ChatGPT is capable of learning to correct its past mistakes. He also noted the AI's "prudishness" regarding sexual health topics.
Law
On April 11, 2023, a judge of a session court in Pakistan used ChatGPT to decide the bail of a 13-year-old accused in a matter. The court quoted the use of ChatGPT assistance in its verdict:
"Can a juvenile suspect in Pakistan, who is 13 years old, be granted bail after arrest?"
The AI language model replied:
"Under the Juvenile Justice System Act 2018, according to section 12, the court can grant bail on certain conditions. However, it is up to the court to decide whether or not a 13-year-old suspect will be granted bail after arrest."
The judge further asked questions regarding the case from AI Chatbot and formulated his final decision in light of ChatGPT's answers.In May 2023, in a personal injury lawsuit against Avianca Airlines filed in the Southern New York U.S. District Court (with Senior Judge P. Kevin Castel presiding), the plaintiff's attorneys reportedly used ChatGPT to generate a legal motion for the case. ChatGPT generated numerous fictitious legal cases with fabricated quotations and internal citations in the legal motion, and the plaintiff's attorneys are now facing potential judicial sanction and disbarment for filing the legal motion and for presenting the fictitious legal decisions ChatGPT generated as being authentic.
See also
Auto-GPT – Autonomous AI agent
Ethics of artificial intelligence – Ethical issues specific to AI
Turing test – Test of a machine's ability to imitate human intelligence
Further reading
Biswas, Som (April 1, 2023). "ChatGPT and the Future of Medical Writing". Radiology. 307 (2): e223312. doi:10.1148/radiol.223312. ISSN 0033-8419. PMID 36728748. S2CID 256501098.
Chang, Kent K.; Cramer, Mackenzie; Soni, Sandeep; Bamman, David (April 28, 2023). "Speak, Memory: An Archaeology of Books Known to ChatGPT/GPT-4". arXiv:2305.00118 [cs.CL].
Cowen, Tyler; Tabarrok, Alexander T. (March 17, 2023). "How to Learn and Teach Economics with Large Language Models, Including GPT". SSRN 4391863.
Cowen, Tyler (March 29, 2023). "Jonathan GPT Swift on Jonathan Swift (Ep. 175): How well does GPT4 do pretending to be the 18th-century satirist?" (Podcast).
Ouyang, Long; et al. (March 4, 2022). "Training language models to follow instructions with human feedback". arXiv:2203.02155 [cs.CL].
Liebrenz, Michael; Schleifer, Roman; Buadze, Anna; Bhugra, Dinesh; Smith, Alexander (February 2023). "Generating scholarly content with ChatGPT: ethical challenges for medical publishing". The Lancet Digital Health. 5 (3): e105–e106. doi:10.1016/s2589-7500(23)00019-5. ISSN 2589-7500. PMID 36754725. S2CID 256655912.
Wolfram, Stephen (February 14, 2023). "What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work?".
Wolfram, Stephen (March 23, 2023). "ChatGPT Gets Its "Wolfram Superpowers"!".
Bartholomew, Jem; Mehta, Dhrumil. "How the media is covering ChatGPT". Columbia Journalism Review. Retrieved May 30, 2023.
Zhao, Wayne Xin; et al. (2023). "A Survey of Large Language Models". arXiv:2303.18223 [cs.CL].
Media related to ChatGPT at Wikimedia Commons
Official website
ChatGPT Prompt Engineering for Developers, course by Andrew Ng and OpenAI
Can ChatGPT write a podcast episode? (Planet Money podcast, May 2023)
Will Chat GPT do more harm than good? (Gary Marcus and Keith Teare debate, February 2023)
The Cost of AI - "Projected Revenue & Losses Worldwide"
"What OpenAI Really Wants" by Wired
Videos:
Study finds ChatGPT struggles with public health referrals (CBS, June 2023)
What if ChatGPT had a body? (ABC, March 2023)
What is ChatGPT? (BBC, January 2023)
How good is ChatGPT? (CNN, January 2023)
Cheating With ChatGPT (WSJ, December 2022) |
Avast Software s.r.o. is a Czech multinational cybersecurity software company headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, that researches and develops computer security software, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Avast has more than 435 million monthly active users and the second largest market share among anti-malware application vendors worldwide as of April 2020. The company has approximately 1,700 employees across its 25 offices worldwide. In July 2021, Norton LifeLock, an American cybersecurity company, announced that it was in talks to merge with Avast Software. In August 2021, Avast's board of directors agreed to an offer of US$8 billion.Avast was founded by Pavel Baudiš and Eduard Kučera in 1988 as a cooperative. It had been a private company since 2010 and had its IPO in May 2018. In July 2016, Avast acquired competitor AVG Technologies for $1.3 billion. At the time, AVG was the third-ranked antivirus product. It was dual-listed on the Prague Stock Exchange and on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Norton LifeLock in September 2022.The company's main product is Avast Antivirus, along with tools such as the Avast Secure Browser and the Avast SecureLine VPN.
Avast produces Avast Online Security, which is its main extension, but it also has extensions like Avast SafePrice and Avast Passwords.
History
Avast was founded by Eduard Kučera and Pavel Baudiš in 1988. The founders met each other at the Research Institute for Mathematical Machines in Czechoslovakia. They studied math and computer science, because the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia would require them to join the communist party to study physics. At the institute, Pavel Baudiš discovered the Vienna virus on a floppy disk and developed the first program to remove it. Afterwards, he asked Eduard Kucera to join him in cofounding Avast as a cooperative. The cooperative was originally called Alwil and only the software was named Avast.The cooperative was changed to a joint partnership in 1991, two years after the velvet revolution caused a regime change in Czechoslovakia. The new regime severed ties with the Soviet Union and reverted the country's economic system to a market economy. In 1995, Avast employee Ondřej Vlček wrote the first antivirus program for the Windows 95 operating system. In the 1990s, security researchers at the Virus Bulletin, an IT security testing organization, gave the Avast software an award in every category tested, increasing the popularity of the software. However, by the late 1990s, the company was struggling financially. Alwil rebuffed acquisition offers by McAfee, who was licensing the Avast antivirus engine.By 2001, Alwil was experiencing financial difficulties, when it converted to a freemium model, offering a base Avast software product at no cost. As a result of the freemium model, the number of users of the software grew to one million by 2004 and 20 million by 2006. Former Symantec executive Vince Steckler was appointed CEO of Avast in 2009. In 2010, Alwil changed its name to Avast, adopting the name of the software, and raised $100 million in venture capital investments. The following December, Avast filed for an initial public offering, but withdrew its application the following July, citing changes in market conditions. In 2012, Avast fired its outsourced tech support service iYogi, after it was discovered that iYogi was using misleading sales tactics to persuade customers to buy unnecessary services. By 2013, Avast had 200 million users in 38 countries and had been translated into 43 languages. At the time, the company had 350 employees.In 2014, CVC Capital bought an interest in Avast for an undisclosed sum. The purchase valued Avast at $1 billion. Later that year, Avast acquired mobile app developer Inmite in order to build Avast's mobile apps. Additionally, Avast's online support forum was compromised in 2014, exposing 400,000 names, passwords and email addresses. By 2015, Avast had the largest share of the market for antivirus software. In July 2016, Avast reached an agreement to buy AVG for $1.3 billion. AVG was a large IT security company that sold software for desktops and mobile devices. In July 2017, Avast acquired UK-based Piriform for an undisclosed sum. Piriform was the developer of CCleaner. Shortly afterwards it was disclosed that someone may have created a malicious version of CCleaner with a backdoor for hackers. Avast had its IPO on the London Stock Exchange in May 2018, which valued it at £2.4bn and was one of the UK's biggest technology listings.Ondřej Vlček assumed the role of CEO and co-owner of Avast Plc in July 2019. A day later, he changed his annual pay to $1 and pledged his board director's compensation of $100,000 to charity. In October 2019, Jaya Baloo joined Avast as their Chief Information Security Officer.In April 2020, Avast released a new secure, private mobile web browser for Android based on technology acquired from previously unreported acquisition of Tenta, a Seattle-based startup.In July 2021, NortonLifeLock, an American cybersecurity company, announced that it is in talks to merge with Avast Software. In August 2021, Avast's board of directors agreed to an offer of US$8 billion. In September 2022, the Competition and Markets Authority approved the proposed takeover by NortonLifeLock so allowing the transaction to be completed.
Products
Avast develops and markets business and consumer IT security products for servers, desktops, and mobile devices. The company sells both the Avast product line and the acquired AVG-branded products. As of late 2017, the company had merged the AVG and Avast business product lines and were working to integrate the corporate departments from both companies. Additionally, Avast has developed utility software products to improve battery life on mobile devices, cleanup unnecessary files on a hard drive, find secure wireless networks or create a VPN connection to the internet.Avast and AVG consumer security software are sold on a freemium model, where basic security features are free, but more advanced features require purchasing a premium version. The free version is also supported by ads. Additionally, all Avast users provide data about their PC or mobile device to Avast, which is used to identify new security threats. Antivirus scanning, browser cleanup, a secure browser, password management, and network security features are provided for free, while firewall, anti-spam, and online banking features have to be purchased. About 3% of Avast's users pay for a premium version (10% in the US).The Avast business product family includes features for endpoint protection, Wi-Fi security, antivirus, identity protection, password management, and data protection. For example, the desktop product will look for vulnerabilities in the wi-fi network and run applications suspect of having malicious software in an isolated sandbox. The Avast Business Managed Workplace monitors and manages desktops, and assesses on-site security protocols. The company also sells management software for IT administrators to deploy and manage Avast installations.
Reception
In 2021, PC Magazine gave Avast Free Antivirus software an overall score of 4 out of 5 and gave AVG, which was purchased by Avast in 2016, a score of 4, plus "AVG AntiVirus Free offers precisely the same virus protection engine as Avast Free Antivirus, but it lacks the impressive collection of additional features you get with Avast." In tests conducted by the AV-TEST Institute in August 2021, Avast and AVG received six out of six points for protection and usability, and six out of six points for performance. A review in Tom's Guide says that the free Avast antivirus product has "good protection against malware" and takes up little space on the system. The review says that Avast has a competitive set of features for a free antivirus product, but the scans are sometimes not very fast.The Avast antivirus product for business users received 4 out of 5 by TechRadar in 2017. The review said that the software had good features, protection, configuration and an "excellent interface", but it took up a lot of hard disk space and did not cover mobile devices. According to Tom's Guide, the mobile version is inexpensive and packed with features. PC Magazine said that the mobile version "has almost all the security features you could want."AVG has also generally performed well in lab tests. A review in Tom's Hardware gave the AVG software seven out of ten stars. The review highlighted that the software has a small system footprint and has good malware protection, but does not have a quick scan option and lacks many additional features.
Collection and sale of user data
In late 2019, Avast browser extensions were found to collect user data, including browsing behavior and history, and send it to a remote server. The discovery led to the extensions of the Avast and AVG brands being temporarily removed from the Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera extension stores, however, they returned a short time later as there was no concrete evidence that demonstrated a breach of private data of the users.In January 2020, a joint investigation by Motherboard and PCMag found that the Avast Antivirus and AVG AntiVirus Free version were collecting user data, which was being resold to personalize advertising through a subsidiary, Jumpshot. The leaked documents showed that Jumpshot offered to provide its customers with "Every search. Every click. On every site." from more than 100 million compromised devices. In response, Avast announced on January 30, 2020, that it would immediately shut down Jumpshot and cease all operations due to the backlash of its users' data privacy.On the basis of the information revealed, on 11 February 2020 the Czech Office for Personal Data Protection announced that it had initiated a preliminary investigation.
See also
Comparison of antivirus software
Comparison of firewalls
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An icon (from Ancient Greek εἰκών (eikṓn) 'image, resemblance') is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most common subjects include Christ, Mary, saints and angels. Although especially associated with portrait-style images concentrating on one or two main figures, the term also covers most of the religious images in a variety of artistic media produced by Eastern Christianity, including narrative scenes, usually from the Bible or the lives of saints.
Icons are most commonly painted on wood panels with egg tempera, but they may also be cast in metal or carved in stone or embroidered on cloth or done in mosaic or fresco work or printed on paper or metal, etc. Comparable images from Western Christianity may be classified as "icons", although "iconic" may also be used to describe the static style of a devotional image. In the Greek language, the term for icon painting uses the same word as for "writing", and Orthodox sources often translate it into English as icon writing.Eastern Orthodox tradition holds that the production of Christian images dates back to the very early days of Christianity, and that it has been a continuous tradition since then. Modern academic art history considers that, while images may have existed earlier, the tradition can be traced back only as far as the 3rd century, and that the images which survive from Early Christian art often differ greatly from later ones. The icons of later centuries can be linked, often closely, to images from the 5th century onwards, though very few of these survive. Widespread destruction of images occurred during the Byzantine Iconoclasm of 726–842, although this did settle permanently the question of the appropriateness of images. Since then, icons have had a great continuity of style and subject, far greater than in the icons of the Western church. At the same time there have been change and development.
History
Emergence of the icon
Pre-Christian religions had produced and used art works. Statues and paintings of various gods and deities were regularly worshiped and venerated. It is unclear when Christians took up such activities. Christian tradition dating from the 8th century identifies Luke the Evangelist as the first icon painter, but this might not reflect historical facts. A general assumption that early Christianity was generally aniconic, opposed to religious imagery in both theory and practice until about 200, has been challenged by Paul Corby Finney's analysis of early Christian writing and material remains (1994). This distinguishes three different sources of attitudes affecting early Christians on the issue: "first that humans could have a direct vision of God; second that they could not; and, third, that although humans could see God they were best advised not to look, and were strictly forbidden to represent what they had seen".These derived respectively from Greek and Near Eastern pagan religions, from Ancient Greek philosophy, and from the Jewish tradition and the Old Testament. Of the three, Finney concludes that "overall, Israel's aversion to sacred images influenced early Christianity considerably less than the Greek philosophical tradition of invisible deity apophatically defined", so placing less emphasis on the Jewish background of most of the first Christians than most traditional accounts.Finney suggests that "the reasons for the non-appearance of Christian art before 200 have nothing to do with principled aversion to art, with other-worldliness, or with anti-materialism. The truth is simple and mundane: Christians lacked land and capital. Art requires both. As soon as they began to acquire land and capital, Christians began to experiment with their own distinctive forms of art".Aside from the legend that Pilate had made an image of Christ, the 4th-century Eusebius of Caesarea, in his Church History, provides a more substantial reference to a "first" icon of Jesus. He relates that King Abgar of Edessa (died c. 50 CE) sent a letter to Jesus at Jerusalem, asking Jesus to come and heal him of an illness. This version of the Abgar story does not mention an image. A later account found in the Syriac Doctrine of Addai (c. 400?) mentions a painted image of Jesus in the story. Even later, in the 6th-century account given by Evagrius Scholasticus, the painted image transforms into an image that miraculously appeared on a towel when Christ pressed the cloth to his wet face. Further legends relate that the cloth remained in Edessa until the 10th century, when it was taken by General John Kourkouas to Constantinople. It went missing in 1204 when Crusaders sacked Constantinople, but by then numerous copies had firmly established its iconic type.
The 4th-century Christian Aelius Lampridius produced the earliest known written records of Christian images treated like icons (in a pagan or Gnostic context) in his Life of Alexander Severus (xxix) that formed part of the Augustan History. According to Lampridius, the emperor Alexander Severus (r. 222–235), himself not a Christian, had kept a domestic chapel for the veneration of images of deified emperors, of portraits of his ancestors, and of Christ, Apollonius, Orpheus and Abraham. Saint Irenaeus, (c. 130–202) in his Against Heresies (1:25;6) says scornfully of the Gnostic Carpocratians:
They also possess images, some of them painted, and others formed from different kinds of material; while they maintain that a likeness of Christ was made by Pilate at that time when Jesus lived among them. They crown these images, and set them up along with the images of the philosophers of the world that is to say, with the images of Pythagoras, and Plato, and Aristotle, and the rest. They have also other modes of honouring these images, after the same manner of the Gentiles [pagans].
On the other hand, Irenaeus does not speak critically of icons or portraits in a general sense—only of certain gnostic sectarians' use of icons.
Another criticism of image veneration appears in the non-canonical 2nd-century Acts of John (generally considered a gnostic work), in which the Apostle John discovers that one of his followers has had a portrait made of him, and is venerating it:
[H]e [John] went into the bedchamber, and saw the portrait of an old man crowned with garlands, and lamps and altars set before it. And he called him and said: Lycomedes, what do you mean by this matter of the portrait? Can it be one of thy gods that is painted here? For I see that you are still living in heathen fashion.
Later in the passage John says, "But this that you have now done is childish and imperfect: you have drawn a dead likeness of the dead."
At least some of the hierarchy of the Christian churches still strictly opposed icons in the early 4th century. At the Spanish non-ecumenical Synod of Elvira (c. 305) bishops concluded, "Pictures are not to be placed in churches, so that they do not become objects of worship and adoration".Bishop Epiphanius of Salamis, wrote his letter 51 to John, Bishop of Jerusalem (c. 394) in which he recounted how he tore down an image in a church and admonished the other bishop that such images are "opposed [...] to our religion".Elsewhere in his Church History, Eusebius reports seeing what he took to be portraits of Jesus, Peter and Paul, and also mentions a bronze statue at Banias / Paneas under Mount Hermon, of which he wrote, "They say that this statue is an image of Jesus". Further, he relates that locals regarded the image as a memorial of the healing of the woman with an issue of blood by Jesus (Luke 8:43–48), because it depicted a standing man wearing a double cloak and with arm outstretched, and a woman kneeling before him with arms reaching out as if in supplication.
John Francis Wilson suggests the possibility that this refers to a pagan bronze statue whose true identity had been forgotten. Some have thought it to represent Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing, but the description of the standing figure and the woman kneeling in supplication precisely matches images found on coins depicting the bearded emperor Hadrian (r. 117–138) reaching out to a female figure—symbolizing a province—kneeling before him.
When asked by Constantia (Emperor Constantine's half-sister) for an image of Jesus, Eusebius denied the request, replying: "To depict purely the human form of Christ before its transformation, on the other hand, is to break the commandment of God and to fall into pagan error." Hence Jaroslav Pelikan calls Eusebius "the father of iconoclasm".After the emperor Constantine I extended official toleration of Christianity within the Roman Empire in 313, huge numbers of pagans became converts. This period of Christianization probably saw the use of Christian images became very widespread among the faithful, though with great differences from pagan habits. Robin Lane Fox states "By the early fifth century, we know of the ownership of private icons of saints; by c. 480–500, we can be sure that the inside of a saint's shrine would be adorned with images and votive portraits, a practice which had probably begun earlier."
When Constantine himself (r. 306–337) apparently converted to Christianity, the majority of his subjects remained pagans. The Roman Imperial cult of the divinity of the emperor, expressed through the traditional burning of candles and the offering of incense to the emperor's image, was tolerated for a period because it would have been politically dangerous to attempt to suppress it. In the 5th century the courts of justice and municipal buildings of the empire still honoured the portrait of the reigning emperor in this way.In 425 Philostorgius, an allegedly Arian Christian, charged the Orthodox Christians in Constantinople with idolatry because they still honored the image of the emperor Constantine the Great in this way. Dix notes that this occurred more than a century before the first extant reference to a similar honouring of the image of Christ or of his apostles or saints known today, but that it would seem a natural progression for the image of Christ, the King of Heaven and Earth, to be paid similar veneration as that given to the earthly Roman emperor. However, the Orthodox, Eastern Catholics, and other groups insist on explicitly distinguishing the veneration of icons from the worship of idols by pagans.(See further below on the doctrine of veneration as opposed to worship.)
Theodosius to Justinian
After adoption of Christianity as the only permissible Roman state religion under Theodosius I, Christian art began to change not only in quality and sophistication, but also in nature. This was in no small part due to Christians being free for the first time to express their faith openly without persecution from the state, in addition to the faith spreading to the non-poor segments of society. Paintings of martyrs and their feats began to appear, and early writers commented on their lifelike effect, one of the elements a few Christian writers criticized in pagan art—the ability to imitate life. The writers mostly criticized pagan works of art for pointing to false gods, thus encouraging idolatry. Statues in the round were avoided as being too close to the principal artistic focus of pagan cult practices, as they have continued to be (with some small-scale exceptions) throughout the history of Eastern Christianity.
Nilus of Sinai (d. c. 430), in his Letter to Heliodorus Silentiarius, records a miracle in which St. Plato of Ankyra appeared to a Christian in a dream. The Saint was recognized because the young man had often seen his portrait. This recognition of a religious apparition from likeness to an image was also a characteristic of pagan pious accounts of appearances of gods to humans, and was a regular topos in hagiography. One critical recipient of a vision from Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki apparently specified that the saint resembled the "more ancient" images of him—presumably the 7th-century mosaics still in Hagios Demetrios. Another, an African bishop, had been rescued from Arab slavery by a young soldier called Demetrios, who told him to go to his house in Thessaloniki. Having discovered that most young soldiers in the city seemed to be called Demetrios, he gave up and went to the largest church in the city, to find his rescuer on the wall.
During this period the church began to discourage all non-religious human images—the Emperor and donor figures counting as religious. This became largely effective, so that most of the population would only ever see religious images and those of the ruling class. The word icon referred to any and all images, not just religious ones, but there was barely a need for a separate word for these.
Luke's portrait of Mary
It is in a context attributed to the 5th century that the first mention of an image of Mary painted from life appears, though earlier paintings on catacomb walls bear resemblance to modern icons of Mary. Theodorus Lector, in his 6th-century History of the Church 1:1 stated that Eudokia (wife of emperor Theodosius II, d. 460) sent an image of the "Mother of God" named Icon of the Hodegetria from Jerusalem to Pulcheria, daughter of Arcadius, the former emperor and father of Theodosius II. The image was specified to have been "painted by the Apostle Luke."
Margherita Guarducci relates a tradition that the original icon of Mary attributed to Luke, sent by Eudokia to Pulcheria from Palestine, was a large circular icon only of her head. When the icon arrived in Constantinople it was fitted in as the head into a very large rectangular icon of her holding the Christ child and it is this composite icon that became the one historically known as the Hodegetria. She further states another tradition that when the last Latin Emperor of Constantinople, Baldwin II, fled Constantinople in 1261 he took this original circular portion of the icon with him.This remained in the possession of the Angevin dynasty who had it inserted into a much larger image of Mary and the Christ child, which is presently enshrined above the high altar of the Benedictine Abbey church of Montevergine. This icon was subjected to repeated repainting over the subsequent centuries, so that it is difficult to determine what the original image of Mary's face would have looked like. Guarducci states that in 1950 an ancient image of Mary at the Church of Santa Francesca Romana was determined to be a very exact, but reverse mirror image of the original circular icon that was made in the 5th century and brought to Rome, where it has remained until the present.In later tradition the number of icons of Mary attributed to Luke greatly multiplied. The Salus Populi Romani, the Theotokos of Vladimir, the Theotokos Iverskaya of Mount Athos, the Theotokos of Tikhvin, the Theotokos of Smolensk and the Black Madonna of Częstochowa are examples, and another is in the cathedral on St Thomas Mount, which is believed to be one of the seven painted by St. Luke the Evangelist and brought to India by St. Thomas. Ethiopia has at least seven more. Bissera V. Pentcheva concludes, "The myth [of Luke painting an icon] was invented in order to support the legitimacy of icon veneration during the Iconoclastic controversy" [8th and 9th centuries, much later than most art historians put it]. According to Reformed Baptist pastor John Carpenter, by claiming the existence of a portrait of the Theotokos painted during her lifetime by the evangelist Luke, the iconodules "fabricated evidence for the apostolic origins and divine approval of images."In the period before and during the Iconoclastic Controversy, stories attributing the creation of icons to the New Testament period greatly increased, with several apostles and even Mary herself believed to have acted as the artist or commissioner of images (also embroidered in the case of Mary).
Iconoclast period
There was a continuing opposition to images and their misuse within Christianity from very early times. "Whenever images threatened to gain undue influence within the church, theologians have sought to strip them of their power". Further, "there is no century between the fourth and the eighth in which there is not some evidence of opposition to images even within the Church". Nonetheless, popular favor for icons guaranteed their continued existence, while no systematic apologia for or against icons, or doctrinal authorization or condemnation of icons yet existed.
The use of icons was seriously challenged by Byzantine Imperial authority in the 8th century. Though by this time opposition to images was strongly entrenched in Judaism and Islam, attribution of the impetus toward an iconoclastic movement in Eastern Orthodoxy to Muslims or Jews "seems to have been highly exaggerated, both by contemporaries and by modern scholars".Though significant in the history of religious doctrine, the Byzantine controversy over images is not seen as of primary importance in Byzantine history; "[f]ew historians still hold it to have been the greatest issue of the period".The Iconoclastic Period began when images were banned by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian sometime between 726 and 730. Under his son Constantine V, a council forbidding image veneration was held at Hieria near Constantinople in 754. Image veneration was later reinstated by the Empress Regent Irene, under whom another council was held reversing the decisions of the previous iconoclast council and taking its title as Seventh Ecumenical Council. The council anathemized all who hold to iconoclasm, i.e. those who held that veneration of images constitutes idolatry. Then the ban was enforced again by Leo V in 815. Finally, icon veneration was decisively restored by Empress Regent Theodora in 843 at the Council of Constantinople.
From then on all Byzantine coins had a religious image or symbol on the reverse, usually an image of Christ for larger denominations, with the head of the Emperor on the obverse, reinforcing the bond of the state and the divine order.
Acheiropoieta
The tradition of acheiropoieta (ἀχειροποίητα, literally "not-made-by-hand") accrued to icons that are alleged to have come into existence miraculously, not by a human painter. Such images functioned as powerful relics as well as icons, and their images were naturally seen as especially authoritative as to the true appearance of the subject: naturally and especially because of the reluctance to accept mere human productions as embodying anything of the divine, a commonplace of Christian deprecation of man-made "idols". Like icons believed to be painted directly from the live subject, they therefore acted as important references for other images in the tradition. Beside the developed legend of the mandylion or Image of Edessa was the tale of the Veil of Veronica, whose very name signifies "true icon" or "true image", the fear of a "false image" remaining strong.
Stylistic developments
Although there are earlier records of their use, no panel icons earlier than the few from the 6th century preserved at the Greek Orthodox Saint Catherine's Monastery in Egypt survive, as the other examples in Rome have all been drastically over-painted. The surviving evidence for the earliest depictions of Christ, Mary and saints therefore comes from wall-paintings, mosaics and some carvings. They are realistic in appearance, in contrast to the later stylization. They are broadly similar in style, though often much superior in quality, to the mummy portraits done in wax (encaustic) and found at Fayyum in Egypt.
As can be judged from such items, the first depictions of Jesus were generic, rather than portrait images, generally representing him as a beardless young man. It was some time before the earliest examples of the long-haired, bearded face that was later to become standardized as the image of Jesus appeared. When they did begin to appear there was still variation. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) said that no one knew the appearance of Jesus or that of Mary. However, Augustine was not a resident of the Holy Land and therefore was not familiar with the local populations and their oral traditions. Gradually, paintings of Jesus took on characteristics of portrait images.
At this time the manner of depicting Jesus was not yet uniform, and there was some controversy over which of the two most common icons was to be favored. The first or "Semitic" form showed Jesus with short and "frizzy" hair; the second showed a bearded Jesus with hair parted in the middle, the manner in which the god Zeus was depicted. Theodorus Lector remarked that of the two, the one with short and frizzy hair was "more authentic". To support his assertion, he relates a story (excerpted by John of Damascus) that a pagan commissioned to paint an image of Jesus used the "Zeus" form instead of the "Semitic" form, and that as punishment his hands withered.
Though their development was gradual, it is possible to date the full-blown appearance and general ecclesiastical (as opposed to simply popular or local) acceptance of Christian images as venerated and miracle-working objects to the 6th century, when, as Hans Belting writes, "we first hear of the church's use of religious images". "As we reach the second half of the sixth century, we find that images are attracting direct veneration and some of them are credited with the performance of miracles". Cyril Mango writes, "In the post-Justinianic period the icon assumes an ever increasing role in popular devotion, and there is a proliferation of miracle stories connected with icons, some of them rather shocking to our eyes". However, the earlier references by Eusebius and Irenaeus indicate veneration of images and reported miracles associated with them as early as the 2nd century.
Symbolism
In the icons of Eastern Orthodoxy, and of the Early Medieval West, very little room is made for artistic license. Almost everything within the image has a symbolic aspect. Christ, the saints, and the angels all have halos. Angels (and often John the Baptist) have wings because they are messengers. Figures have consistent facial appearances, hold attributes personal to them, and use a few conventional poses. Archangels bear a thin staff and sometimes a mirror.
Colour plays an important role as well. Gold represents the radiance of Heaven; red, divine life. Blue is the colour of human life, white is the Uncreated Light of God, only used for resurrection and transfiguration of Christ. In icons of Jesus and Mary, Jesus wears red undergarment with a blue outer garment (representing God becoming human) and Mary wears a blue undergarment with a red overgarment (representing a human who was granted gifts by God), and thus the doctrine of deification is conveyed by icons. Letters are symbols too. Most icons incorporate some calligraphic text naming the person or event depicted. Even this is often presented in a stylized manner.
Miracles
In the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition there are reports of particular wonderworking icons that exude myrrh (fragrant, healing oil), or perform miracles upon petition by believers. When such reports are verified by the Orthodox hierarchy, they are understood as miracles performed by God through the prayers of the saint, rather than being magical properties of the painted wood itself. Theologically, all icons are considered to be sacred, and are miraculous by nature, being a means of spiritual communion between the heavenly and earthly realms.
However, it is not uncommon for specific icons to be characterised as "miracle-working", meaning that God has chosen to glorify them by working miracles through them. Such icons are often given particular names (especially those of the Virgin Mary), and even taken from city to city where believers gather to venerate them and pray before them. Islands like that of Tinos are renowned for possessing such "miraculous" icons, and are visited every year by thousands of pilgrims.
Eastern Orthodox teaching
The Eastern Orthodox view of the origin of icons is generally quite different from that of most secular scholars and from some in contemporary Roman Catholic circles: "The Orthodox Church maintains and teaches that the sacred image has existed from the beginning of Christianity", Léonid Ouspensky has written. Accounts that some non-Orthodox writers consider legendary are accepted as history within Eastern Orthodoxy, because they are a part of church tradition. Thus accounts such as that of the miraculous "image not made by hands", and the weeping and moving "Mother of God of the Sign" of Novgorod are accepted as fact: "Church Tradition tells us, for example, of the existence of an Icon of the Savior during His lifetime (the 'Icon-Made-Without-Hands') and of Icons of the Most-Holy Theotokos [Mary] immediately after Him."Eastern Orthodoxy further teaches that "a clear understanding of the importance of Icons" was part of the church from its very beginning, and has never changed, although explanations of their importance may have developed over time. This is because icon painting is rooted in the theology of the Incarnation (Christ being the eikon of God) which did not change, though its subsequent clarification within the Church occurred over the period of the first seven Ecumenical Councils. Icons also served as tools of edification for the illiterate faithful during most of the history of Christendom. Thus, icons are words in painting; they refer to the history of salvation and to its manifestation in concrete persons. In the Orthodox Church, "icons have always been understood as a visible gospel, as a testimony to the great things given man by God the incarnate Logos". In the Council of 860 it was stated that "all that is uttered in words written in syllables is also proclaimed in the language of colors".Eastern Orthodox find the first instance of an image or icon in the Bible when God made man in his own image (Septuagint Greek eikona), in Genesis 1:26–27. In Exodus, God commanded that the Israelites not make any graven image; soon afterwards, however, he commanded that they make graven images of cherubim and other like things, both as statues and woven on tapestries. Later, Solomon included still more such imagery when he built the first temple. Eastern Orthodox believe these qualify as icons, in that they were visible images depicting heavenly beings and, in the case of the cherubim, used to indirectly indicate God's presence above the Ark.
In the Book of Numbers it is written that God told Moses to make a bronze serpent, Nehushtan, and hold it up, so that anyone looking at the snake would be healed of their snake bites. In John 3, Jesus refers to the same serpent, saying that he must be lifted up in the same way that the serpent was. John of Damascus also regarded the brazen serpent as an icon. Further, Jesus Christ himself is called the "image of the invisible God" in Colossians 1:15, and is therefore in one sense an icon. As people are also made in God's images, people are also considered to be living icons, and are therefore "censed" along with painted icons during Orthodox prayer services.
According to John of Damascus, anyone who tries to destroy icons "is the enemy of Christ, the Holy Mother of God and the saints, and is the defender of the Devil and his demons". This is because the theology behind icons is closely tied to the Incarnational theology of the humanity and divinity of Jesus, so that attacks on icons typically have the effect of undermining or attacking the Incarnation of Jesus himself as elucidated in the Ecumenical Councils.
Basil of Caesarea, in his writing On the Holy Spirit, says: "The honor paid to the image passes to the prototype". He also illustrates the concept by saying, "If I point to a statue of Caesar and ask you 'Who is that?', your answer would properly be, 'It is Caesar.' When you say such you do not mean that the stone itself is Caesar, but rather, the name and honor you ascribe to the statue passes over to the original, the archetype, Caesar himself." This is thus the approach to icons; to kiss an icon of Jesus, in the Eastern Orthodox view, is to show love towards Jesus himself, not mere wood and paint making up the physical substance of the icon. Worship of the icon as somehow entirely separate from its prototype is expressly forbidden by the Seventh Ecumenical Council.Icons are often illuminated with a candle or jar of oil with a wick. (Beeswax for candles and olive oil for oil lamps are preferred because they burn very cleanly, although other materials are sometimes used.) The illumination of religious images with lamps or candles is an ancient practice pre-dating Christianity.
Icon painting tradition by region
Byzantine Empire
Of the icon painting tradition that developed in Byzantium, with Constantinople as the chief city, we have only a few icons from the 11th century and none preceding them, in part because of the Iconoclastic reforms during which many were destroyed or lost, and also because of plundering by the Republic of Venice in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, and finally the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
It was only in the Komnenian period (1081–1185) that the cult of the icon became widespread in the Byzantine world, partly on account of the dearth of richer materials (such as mosaics, ivory, and vitreous enamels), but also because an iconostasis a special screen for icons was introduced then in ecclesiastical practice. The style of the time was severe, hieratic and distant.
In the late Comnenian period this severity softened, and emotion, formerly avoided, entered icon painting. Major monuments for this change include the murals at Daphni Monastery (c. 1100) and the Church of St. Panteleimon near Skopje (1164). The Theotokos of Vladimir (c. 1115) is probably the most representative example of the new trend towards spirituality and emotion.
The tendency toward emotionalism in icons continued in the Paleologan period, which began in 1261. Palaiologan art reached its pinnacle in mosaics such as those of Chora Church. In the last half of the 14th century, Palaiologan saints were painted in an exaggerated manner, very slim and in contorted positions – a style known as the Palaiologan Mannerism, of which Ochrid's Annunciation is a superb example.
After 1453, the Byzantine tradition was carried on in regions previously influenced by its religion and culture—in the Balkans, Russia, and other Slavic countries, Georgia and Armenia in the Caucasus, and among Eastern Orthodox minorities in the Islamic world. In the Greek-speaking world Crete, ruled by Venice until the mid-17th century, was an important centre of painted icons, as home of the Cretan School, exporting many to Europe.
Crete
Crete was under Venetian control from 1204 and became a thriving center of art with eventually a Scuola di San Luca, or organized painter's guild, the Guild of Saint Luke, on Western lines. Cretan painting was heavily patronized both by Catholics of Venetian territories and by Eastern Orthodox. For ease of transport, Cretan painters specialized in panel paintings, and developed the ability to work in many styles to fit the taste of various patrons. El Greco, who moved to Venice after establishing his reputation in Crete, is the most famous artist of the school, who continued to use many Byzantine conventions in his works. In 1669 the city of Heraklion, on Crete, which at one time boasted at least 120 painters, fell to the Turks. From that time Greek icon painting went into a decline, with a revival attempted in the 20th century by art reformers such as Photis Kontoglou, who emphasized a return to earlier styles.
Russia
Russian icons are typically paintings on wood, often small, though some in churches and monasteries may be as large as a table top. Many religious homes in Russia have icons hanging on the wall in the krasny ugol—the "red" corner (see Icon corner). There is a rich history and elaborate religious symbolism associated with icons. In Russian churches, the nave is typically separated from the sanctuary by an iconostasis, a wall of icons.
The use and making of icons entered Kievan Rus' following its conversion to Orthodox Christianity from the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in 988 AD. As a general rule, these icons strictly followed models and formulas hallowed by usage, some of which had originated in Constantinople. As time passed, the Russians—notably Andrei Rublev and Dionisius—widened the vocabulary of iconic types and styles far beyond anything found elsewhere. The personal, improvisatory and creative traditions of Western European religious art are largely lacking in Russia before the 17th century, when Simon Ushakov's painting became strongly influenced by religious paintings and engravings from Protestant as well as Catholic Europe.
In the mid-17th century, changes in liturgy and practice instituted by Patriarch Nikon of Moscow resulted in a split in the Russian Orthodox Church. The traditionalists, the persecuted "Old Ritualists" or "Old Believers", continued the traditional stylization of icons, while the State Church modified its practice. From that time icons began to be painted not only in the traditional stylized and nonrealistic mode, but also in a mixture of Russian stylization and Western European realism, and in a Western European manner very much like that of Catholic religious art of the time. The Stroganov School and the icons from Nevyansk rank among the last important schools of Russian icon-painting.
Romania
In Romania, icons painted as reversed images behind glass and set in frames were common in the 19th century and are still made. The process is known as reverse glass painting. "In the Transylvanian countryside, the expensive icons on panels imported from Moldavia, Wallachia, and Mt. Athos were gradually replaced by small, locally produced icons on glass, which were much less expensive and thus accessible to the Transylvanian peasants".
Serbia
The earliest historical records about icons in Serbia dates back to the period of Nemanjić dynasty. One of the notable schools of Serb icons was active in the Bay of Kotor from the 17th century to the 19th century.Trojeručica meaning "Three-handed Theotokos" is the most important icon of the Serbian Orthodox Church and main icon of Mount Athos.
Egypt and Ethiopia
The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Oriental Orthodoxy also have distinctive, living icon painting traditions. Coptic icons have their origin in the Hellenistic art of Egyptian Late Antiquity, as exemplified by the Fayum mummy portraits. Beginning in the 4th century, churches painted their walls and made icons to reflect an authentic expression of their faith.
Aleppo
The Aleppo School was a school of icon-painting, founded by the priest Yusuf al-Musawwir (also known as Joseph the Painter) and active in Aleppo, which was then a part of the Ottoman Empire, between at least 1645 and 1777.
Western Christianity
Although the word "icon" is not generally used in Western Christianity, there are religious works of art which were largely patterned on Byzantine works, and equally conventional in composition and depiction. Until the 13th century, icon-like depictions of sacred figures followed Eastern patterns—although very few survive from this early period. Italian examples are in a style known as Italo-Byzantine.
From the 13th century, the Western tradition came slowly to allow the artist far more flexibility, and a more realist approach to the figures. If only because there was a much smaller number of skilled artists, the quantity of works of art, in the sense of panel paintings, was much smaller in the West, and in most Western settings a single diptych as an altarpiece, or in a domestic room, probably stood in place of the larger collections typical of Orthodox "icon corners".
Only in the 15th century did production of painted works of art begin to approach Eastern levels, supplemented by mass-produced imports from the Cretan School. In this century, the use of icon-like portraits in the West was enormously increased by the introduction of old master prints on paper, mostly woodcuts which were produced in vast numbers (although hardly any survive). They were mostly sold, hand-coloured, by churches, and the smallest sizes (often only an inch high) were affordable even by peasants, who glued or pinned them straight onto a wall.
With the Reformation, after an initial uncertainty among early Lutherans, who painted a few icon-like depictions of leading Reformers, and continued to paint scenes from Scripture, Protestants came down firmly against icon-like portraits, especially larger ones, even of Christ. Many Protestants found these idolatrous.
Catholic Church view
The Catholic Church accepted the decrees of the iconodule Seventh Ecumenical Council regarding images. There is some minor difference, however, in the Catholic attitude to images from that of the Orthodox. Following Gregory the Great, Catholics emphasize the role of images as the Biblia Pauperum, the "Bible of the Poor", from which those who could not read could nonetheless learn.Catholics also, however, share the same viewpoint with the Orthodox when it comes to image veneration, believing that whenever approached, sacred images are to be shown reverence. Though using both flat wooden panel and stretched canvas paintings, Catholics traditionally have also favored images in the form of three-dimensional statuary, whereas in the East, statuary is much less widely employed.
Lutheran view
A joint Lutheran–Orthodox statement made in the 7th Plenary of the Lutheran–Orthodox Joint Commission, in July 1993 in Helsinki, reaffirmed the ecumenical council decisions on the nature of Christ and the veneration of images:
7. As Lutherans and Orthodox we affirm that the teachings of the ecumenical councils are authoritative for our churches. The ecumenical councils maintain the integrity of the teaching of the undivided Church concerning the saving, illuminating/justifying and glorifying acts of God and reject heresies which subvert the saving work of God in Christ. Orthodox and Lutherans, however, have different histories. Lutherans have received the Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan Creed with the addition of the filioque. The Seventh Ecumenical Council, the Second Council of Nicaea in 787, which rejected iconoclasm and restored the veneration of icons in the churches, was not part of the tradition received by the Reformation. Lutherans, however, rejected the iconoclasm of the 16th century, and affirmed the distinction between adoration due to the Triune God alone and all other forms of veneration (CA 21). Through historical research this council has become better known. Nevertheless it does not have the same significance for Lutherans as it does for the Orthodox. Yet, Lutherans and Orthodox are in agreement that the Second Council of Nicaea confirms the christological teaching of the earlier councils and in setting forth the role of images (icons) in the lives of the faithful reaffirms the reality of the incarnation of the eternal Word of God, when it states: "The more frequently, Christ, Mary, the mother of God, and the saints are seen, the more are those who see them drawn to remember and long for those who serve as models, and to pay these icons the tribute of salutation and respectful veneration. Certainly this is not the full adoration in accordance with our faith, which is properly paid only to the divine nature, but it resembles that given to the figure of the honored and life-giving cross, and also to the holy books of the gospels and to other sacred objects" (Definition of the Second Council of Nicaea).
See also
Analogion
Christian symbolism
Early Christian art and architecture
Holy card
Cult image
Iconoclasm
Orans
Podea
Proskynetarion
Religious image
Warsaw Icon Museum
Icon of Christ of Latomos
Panagia Ierosolymitissa
Council of Constantinople (843)
Beckwith, John (1979). Early Christian and Byzantine Art. Penguin History of Art series (2nd ed.). ISBN 0-14-056033-5.
Further reading
Evans, Helen C. (2004). Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261–1557). New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 1-58839-113-2.
Evans, Helen C.; Wixom, William D. (1997). The Glory of Byzantium: Art and Culture of the Middle Byzantine Era, A.D. 843–1261. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 978-0-8109-6507-2.
Orthodox Iconography, by Elias Damianakis
"A Discourse in Iconography" by John of Shanghai and San Francisco, Orthodox Life Vol. 30, No. 1 (January–February 1980), pp. 42–45 (via Archangel Books).
"The Iconic and Symbolic in Orthodox Iconography", at Orthodox Info
"Icon & Worship – Icons of Karakallou Monastery, Mt. Athos" Archived 2014-04-18 at the Wayback Machine
Ikonograph – contemporary Byzantine icon studio, iconography school, and Orthodox resources]
"Orthodox Iconography" Theodore Koufos at Ikonograph
"Contemporary Orthodox Byzantine Style Murals" – gallery, at Ikonograph
Iconography Guide – free e-learning site
"On the Difference of Western Religious Art and Orthodox Iconography", by icon painter Paul Azkoul
"Explanation of Orthodox Christian Icons", from Church of the Nativity
"Concerning the Veneration of Icons", from Church of the Nativity
"Holy Icons: Theology in Color", from Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese
"Icons of Mount Athos", from Macedonian Heritage
"Icons", from Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Icon Art – gallery of icons, murals, and mosaics (mostly Russian) from the 11th to the 20th century
Eikonografos – collection of Byzantine icons
My World of Byzantium by Bob Atchison, on the Deësis icon of Christ at Hagia Sophia, and four galleries of other icons |
UR, Ur or ur may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Gaming
A location in Final Fantasy III
A race of aliens in Fading Suns, a role-playing game
Royal Game of Ur, an ancient board game
Music
"UR", pronounced "you are", a song from the album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie by Alanis Morissette
"U R", a song by Monsta X on their 2019 EP Follow: Find You
"UR/A Tear in the Open", a song from the album Just Be by DJ Tiësto
UR (band), a satellite band of Secret Chiefs 3 from the U.S. city of San Francisco, California
Underground Resistance (band), a U.S. techno music label
Universal Records (Philippines), a Philippine record label
Other media
Ur, a novella by Stephen King
UR (Unrated), used for a film not submitted for rating, or an uncut version of a film
Sveriges Utbildningsradio, the Swedish Educational Broadcasting Corporation
Language
Úr (...), a letter of the Ogham alphabet
Ur (cuneiform), a cuneiform sign
ur (digraph), a digraph in Central Alaskan Yup'ik for /ʁʷ/, and in Pinyin for the trilled vowel /ʙ̝/
Ur (root), a common root word in the Basque language
Ur (rune) (ᚢ), a letter of the runic alphabets
Ur-, a German prefix meaning "primeval" (seldom also "primitive") or even simply "original"
Underlying representation, in phonology
Urdu language (ISO 639 alpha-2 code "ur")
"you're" (you are) or "your" in text messaging
Places
Ancient populated places:
Ur, an ancient city-state in southern Mesopotamia
Ur of the Chaldees, or Ur Kaśdim, scriptural birthplace of Abraham
Modern populated places:
Ur, Iran, a village in Ardabil Province, Iran
Ur, Pyrénées-Orientales, a commune of the Pyrénées-Orientales Département, France
Canton of Uri, Switzerland
Hayy Ur, a neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq
Religion and esotericism
Ur, the king of the underworld in Mandaeism
UR Group, Italian esotericist association
Science, technology, and mathematics
Ur, a continent that formed 3,100 million years ago
Ur, a programming language
UR Mark, a certification mark of Underwriters Laboratories
Ur, a Polish anti-tank rifle
Unitary representation, in group theory
Ur, an obsolete symbol for the element Uranium
Vehicles
Universal Rocket, a family of Russian rockets developed by Khrunichev
UrQuattro, prefix of the original Audi Quattro automobile, 1980–1991
Ursaab, prefix of the original Saab automobile, 1949
Universities
United States
University of Richmond, in Virginia
University of Rochester, in New York
University of Redlands, in California
Other countries
Universität Regensburg, Germany
University of Regina, Canada
Universidad Regiomontana, Monterrey, Mexico
University of La Réunion, France
University of La Rioja, Spain
University of Rwanda
Other meanings
UR, the IATA code of Uganda Airlines
See also
Ur-fascism
Urtext (disambiguation) |
APT is an initialism. It may refer to:
Computing and software
APT (programming language) (Automatically Programmed Tool), a high-level computer programming language
APT (software), Debian's high-level package management system, also used by other Linux-based operating systems
Almost Plain Text, or Doxia, a wiki-like syntax used mainly by Apache Maven
Annotation processing tool, a utility for executing annotation processors in the Java programming language
Advanced persistent threat, a set of stealthy and continuous computer hacking processes
Applied Predictive Technologies, a statistical business analysis software company
Advanced Programming Techniques Ltd., creators of the Command CICS software product
Entertainment and media companies
Alabama Public Television, a network of PBS member stations in Alabama, U.S.A.
American Players Theatre, a classical theater located in Spring Green, Wisconsin
American Public Television, a television program provider in the United States
APT Entertainment, a film production company in the Philippines
Finance
Automated Payment Transaction tax, a proposal to replace all taxes with a single tax on each and every transaction in the economy
Artist Pension Trust, an investment program designed for artists
Arbitrage pricing theory, a general theory of asset pricing
Science and medicine
Ammonium paratungstate, a tungsten-based chemical compound
Atom-probe tomography, an atomic-resolution microscopy technique
Attached proton test, a technique used in carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Automatic picture transmission, a weather satellite system
Anterior pelvic tilt
Acyl-protein thioesterase, an enzyme family that cleaves cysteine thioesters
Transportation
Advanced Passenger Train, a tilting passenger train designed and built during the late 1970s by British Rail
Association for Public Transportation, a Boston-based nonprofit organization
Australian Pacific Touring, an Australian tour operator
Other
American Perimeter Trail, a proposed trail system in the continental United States
Animation photo transfer process (APT process), a process used in animation
Applied Probability Trust, a UK-based non-profit-making foundation for study and research in the mathematical sciences
APT assault rifle
ASEAN Plus Three, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus China, South Korea, and Japan
Asia-Pacific Telecommunity, an intergovernmental organisation concerning communications technology
The Asia Pacific Triennial, a major art exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia
Asian Poker Tour, a major poker tour focusing on the Asia-Pacific region
Association for Preservation Technology International
Association for Psychological Therapies, a provider of accreditation and training for mental health professionals
See also
Apartment, sometimes abbreviated APT
Apt (disambiguation) |
AMOS or Advanced Mortar System is a Finno-Swedish 120 mm semi-automatic twin barrelled, breech loaded
mortar turret. AMOS has been fitted to a wide range of armoured vehicles, such as the Sisu Pasi, Patria AMV and Combat Vehicle 90. The Swedish Navy originally planned to fit AMOS to the CB90 assault craft, but found that it was too small to carry it. Instead, a project to develop the larger Combat Boat 2010 was launched specifically to carry AMOS. Sweden cancelled its acquisition of the AMOS in 2009 due to budget regulations by recommendations from Genomförandegruppen. In 2016 a new self propelled mortar system called Mjölner based on a CV90 hull was ordered by the Swedish armed forces, it is based on the AMOS and has many visual similarities but is not as advanced.
Design
When fitted to a vehicle, both GPS- and inertia positioning are used. The electronic fire-control system utilizes digital maps. The twin barreled AMOS is able to keep up rate of fire of 12 rounds per minute. Using its computer-controlled Multiple round simultaneous impact (MRSI) feature it is possible to set up a burst of up to 10 rounds that hit the target simultaneously. The first rounds are fired at higher angles with more propellant so that the rounds fly in a high arc. The next rounds are shot later with a slightly smaller angle and less propellant so that they fly a lower arc to the same target. This can be done seven times in a row, always adjusting the angle and power. The adjustment between shots is done by a computer. The strike of one AMOS unit roughly equals one strike of an artillery battery.
An AMOS turret has a full 360-degree field of fire at elevations of −3 to +85 degrees. AMOS is capable of both conventional indirect fire and direct fire for self-protection. In a typical installation, mounted on a Patria AMV or a similar vehicle, the vehicle can dash to the next position roughly 30 seconds after initiating the 14-round salvo, leaving minimal time for detection and counter-attack by enemy; evasion is the primary means of self-protection.
AMOS is manufactured and marketed by Finnish/Swedish Patria Hägglunds, a joint venture between Finnish Patria and Swedish BAE Systems Hägglunds. The system was to be known as the SSG120 in Swedish service. Ammunition for AMOS includes the Strix guided round and a modification of the Spanish Instalaza MAT-120 120 mm Mortar Cargo Round (although the latter is restricted from the Finnish inventory because of Finnish partnership in the Ottawa Treaty abolishing landmines). AMOS is capable of firing standard muzzle-loaded mortar rounds, but due to the breech-load design in the AMOS, the rounds have to be equipped with a short stub case at the base of the fins, similar to a sabot. When the round is fired, the case exits the breech system automatically.
Operators
Current operators
Finland
18 AMOS ordered in 2010, delivered from 2013, all in service
Potential orders
Czech Republic
The Army is looking for 62 self-propelled mortars, capable of indirect, semi-direct and direct fire and most likely on the 8x8 Pandur II. The competitors are the Patria NEMO and the M120 Rak. The NEMO is the favorite.
Cancelled orders
Finland
6 AMOS were in the end not ordered as 24 were initially ordered, but only 18 were purchased and supplied. Sweden
Swedish Army 40 AMOS was cancelled in 2009 due to financial reasons. It was expected to be installed on the CV90. In 2016, the Mjölner was selected to take over the role of the AMOS. 80 Mjölner turrets have been ordered so far.
Swedish Navy The AMOS purchase was cancelled in 2009 after studies finding out that fitting it to the Combat Boat 2010 was too expensive. Initially, the CB90 was the platform planned, but it was discovered to be too small to carry the AMOS. In 2023, Sweden decided to manufacture such a ship, but with the Patria Nemo as a turret, 8 were ordered.
See also
Patria NEMO
Light-weight Combat Vehicle (LCV) System
M120 Rak
AMOS at Patria Hägglunds's website Rev 7.3.2012
AMOS Advanced Mortar System and Amos Brochure 2008 at www.patria.fi. Rev. 7.3.2012
Instalaza news web page |
Alice may refer to:
Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname
Literature
Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), a character in books by Lewis Carroll
Alice series, children's and teen books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Alice (Hermann book), a 2009 short story collection by Judith Hermann
Computers
Alice (computer chip), a graphics engine chip in the Amiga computer in 1992
Alice (programming language), a functional programming language designed by the Programming Systems Lab at Saarland University
Alice (software), an object-oriented programming language and IDE developed at Carnegie Mellon
Alice mobile robot
Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity, an open-source chatterbot
Matra Alice, a home micro-computer marketed in France
Alice, a brand name used by Telecom Italia for internet and telephone services
Video games
Alice: An Interactive Museum, a 1991 adventure game
American McGee's Alice, a 2000 computer game
Through the Looking Glass (video game) or Alice, a 1984 Macintosh computer game
Films
Alice (1982 film), a musical-fantasy film co-produced by Belgian and Polish film companies
Alice (1988 film), a Czech fantasy film that loosely adapts Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Alice (1990 film), an American romantic comedy film by Woody Allen
Alice (2002 film), a French-language LGBT-related film
Alice (2005 film), a Portuguese drama film
Alice (2022 film), an American crime film starring Keke Palmer
A.LI.CE, a 2000 Japanese anime film
Alice: Ignorance Is Bliss, a short documentary
Alice, Sweet Alice, a 1976 American slasher film
The Alice (film), a 2004 Australian film
Television
Alice (American TV series), a 1976–1985 American television sitcom that was broadcast on CBS
Alice (Brazilian TV series), a 2008 Brazilian television drama series from HBO
Alice (South Korean TV series), a 2020 South Korean television drama series from SBS
Alice (miniseries), a 2009 American television miniseries that aired on Syfy
"Alice" (Star Trek: Voyager), a 1999 episode of Star Trek: Voyager
The Alice (TV series), 2005–2006 Australian drama TV series, a spin-off from the film of the same name
Music
Albums
Alice (Per Elisa), a 1981 album by Alice
Alice (1984 album), a compilation album by Alice
Alice (1986 album), a compilation album by Alice
Alice (Tom Waits album) (2002)
Alice (Alice Caymmi album) (2018)
Alice (EP), a 1983 EP by The Sisters of Mercy
Artists and bands
Alice (singer) (born 1954), San Remo winner and Eurovision participant
Alice (South Korean girl group)
Alice, a Japanese band formerly led by Shinji Tanimura
Alice, a band fronted by Dan Bárta
Baby Alice, a Swedish Eurodance group
Wolf Alice, English alternative rock band
Alice Glass, Canadian singer songwriter, popular for electronic music group Crystal Castles
Songs
"Alice" (Tom Waits song) (2002)
"Alice" (Moby song) (2008)
"Alice" (Pogo song) (2007)
"Alice" (Avril Lavigne song) (2010)
"Alice" (Lady Gaga song), (2020)
"Alice", a song by Stevie Nicks from The Other Side of the Mirror
"Alice", a song by the Noir Désir from Tostaky
"Alice", a song by Raven-Symoné from This Is My Time
"Alice", a song by Cocteau Twins
"Alice" (Mylène Farmer song), a 1995 song by Mylène Farmer from Anamorphosée
"Alice", a 1982 single by The Sisters of Mercy
"Alice" from the Nana Kitade album titled 18: Eighteen
Places
Alice Springs, Australia, also known as "the Alice"
Alice, São Tomé and Príncipe
Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa
Alice, Colorado, US
Alice, Missouri, US
Alice, North Dakota, US
Alice, Texas, US
Alice, West Virginia, US
Radio stations
Radio Alice, an Italian pirate radio station
Alice 96.1 (WQKS-FM), a radio station in Montgomery, Alabama
Alice 107.7 (KLAL), a radio station in Little Rock, Arkansas
Alice 97.3 (KLLC), a radio station in San Francisco, California
Alice 105.9 (KALC), a radio station in Denver, Colorado
Alice 97.7, the former branding of WLCE (now WQLZ), a radio station in Springfield, Illinois
Alice 106.7 (WLLC), a former radio station in Detroit, Michigan
Alice 95.5 (KTOZ-FM), a radio station in Springfield, Missouri
Alice 104.5, the former branding of WLCE (now WRFF), a former radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Ships
USS Alice (1864), a screw tug
USS Alice (SP-367)
Alice (steam tug 1897), a steam tug built in Tacoma, Washington
Other uses
291 Alice, a Main-Belt asteroid
Advanced Logistic & Inconsequence Cognizing Equipment, a fictional artificial intelligence in Gundam Sentinel
Alice (spacecraft instrument), a UV imaging spectrograph on the New Horizons space probe and Rosetta spacecraft
ALICE: A Large Ion Collider Experiment, a high-energy physics experiment
ALICE (accelerator), a prototype accelerator
Alice and Bob, archetypal characters in fields such as cryptography and physics
Alice (beetle), a genus of beetle in tribe Desmiphorini
Alice Chess, a variant of chess
ALICE (company), a hospitality management company
Alice (DC Comics), a character in DC Comics
Alice (Dilbert), a character in the Dilbert comic strip
Alice (locomotive), a Hunslet 0-4-0 ST, used at Llanberis in North Wales
Alice (mango), a mango cultivar that originated in south Florida
ALICE (propellant), a rocket propellant
All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment, a load-bearing system adopted as United States Army Standard A
Alice (spacecraft instrument), an imaging spectrometer design aboard New Horizons and Rosetta uncrewed space probes
Eviation Alice, an electric aircraft
A.L.I.C.E or Artificial Labile Intelligent Cybernated Existence in the Japanese light novel series, Sword Art Online
See also
Alice 19th, a manga series by Yū Watase
Alice Academy, a Japanese animated series
Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank International, a 2014 United States Supreme Court case
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, a 1974 film by Martin Scorsese
Alice in Chains, an alternative rock band
Alice in Wonderland (disambiguation)
Alice, I Think (TV series), a Canadian comedy show on The Comedy Network
Alicia (disambiguation)
Alicja, a Polish-language given name
Alis (disambiguation)
Alisa (disambiguation)
Alise (disambiguation)
Allis (disambiguation)
Alliss
Gakuen Alice (Alice Academy), a manga series written by Tachibana Higuchi
Doralice, an American female first name
Tropical Storm Alice, a list of tropical storms
All pages with titles beginning with Alice |
The agora (; Ancient Greek: ἀγορά, romanized: agorá, meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order of the polis. The literal meaning of the word "agora" is "gathering place" or "assembly". The agora was the center of the athletic, artistic, business, social, spiritual, and political life in the city. The Ancient Agora of Athens is the best-known example.
Origins
Early in Greek history (13th–4th centuries BC), free-born citizens would gather in the agora for military duty or to hear statements of the ruling king or council. Later, the agora also served as a marketplace, where merchants kept stalls or shops to sell their goods amid arcades. This attracted artisans who built workshops nearby.From these twin functions of the agora as a political and a commercial spot came the two Greek verbs ἀγοράζω, agorázō, "I shop", and ἀγορεύω, agoreúō, "I speak in public".
Ancient Agora of Athens
The Ancient Agora of Athens was situated beneath the northern slope of the Acropolis. The Ancient Agora was the primary meeting ground for Athenians, where members of democracy congregated affairs of the state, where business was conducted, a place to hang out, and watch performers and listen to famous philosophers. The importance of the Athenian agora revolved around religion. The agora was a very sacred place, in which holiness is laid out in the architecture of the ground upon which it lay upon. The layout of the agora was centered around the Panathenaic Way, a road that ran through the middle of Athens and to the main gate of the city, Dipylon. This road was considered tremendously sacred, serving as a travel route for the Panathenaic festival, which was held in honor of the goddess Athena every four years. The agora was also famously known for housing the Temple of Hephaestus, the Greek god of metalworking and craftsmen. This temple is still in great condition to this day. Other temples priorly standing in the agora include honor for Zeus, Athena, Apollo, and Ares.
Location and constituents
The agora was usually located in the middle of a city or near the harbor. Agoras were built of colonnades, or rows of long columns, and contained stoae, also known as a long open walkway below the colonnades. They were beautifully decorated with fountains, trees, and statues. When the Athenian agora was rebuilt after the Greco-Persian Wars, colonnades and stoae were not incorporated.
Phobia
The term agoraphobia denotes a phobic condition in which the sufferer becomes anxious in unfamiliar environments – for instance, places where they perceive that they have little control. Such anxiety may be triggered by wide-open spaces, crowds, or public situations, and the psychological term derives from the agora as a large and open gathering place.
Gallery
See also
Forum (Roman)
Agorism
Platonic Academy
Egora (electronic agora)
https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/68303
Media related to Agoras at Wikimedia Commons
Official Athenian agora excavations
Agora in Athens: photos |
ACC most often refers to:
Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US
American College of Cardiology, a US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists
Air Combat Command, a major command of the US Air Force headquartered at Langley Air Force Base
Association of Corporate Counsel, a global organization serving attorneys who practice in corporate law departments
American Chemistry Council, an industry trade association for American chemical companiesACC may also refer to:
Business
ACC Limited, an Indian cement manufacturer
ACCBank, an Irish commercial bank
American Campus Communities, a private student housing provider
American Chemistry Council, an industry trade association for American chemical companies
American Credit Corporation, renamed Barclays American
Asia Cement Corporation, a cement company in Taiwan
Associated Co-operative Creameries, or one of its successors:
ACC Milk, part of Dairy Farmers of Britain, and
Co-operative Retail Logistics, a division of Co-operative Group Ltd
Association of Corporate Counsel, an organization serving attorneys who practice in the corporate law
Christianity
Anglican Catholic Church, a body of Anglican Christians not in the Anglican Communion
Anglican Church of Canada, a church of the Anglican Communion
Anglican Consultative Council, an international body of the Anglican Communion
Apostolic Catholic Church, a self-governing church of Catholic Protestants originating in the Philippines
Apostolic Christian Church, a church of Anabaptist origins
Australian Christian Channel, a television channel in Australia
Australian Christian Churches, also known as Assemblies of God in Australia (AOG)
Education
Accreditation Committee of Cambodia, higher education quality and assessment body in Cambodia
Accredited Clinical Coder, a vocational qualification awarded to UK clinical coders
Adamjee Cantonment College, an institution in Bangladesh.
Adirondack Community College, now SUNY Adirondack, a two-year college in New York in the US
Allegany Community College, now Allegany College of Maryland in the US
Alvin Community College, a community college in Alvin, Texas, in the US
American College of Cardiology, a non-profit medical organization
American Craft Council, a non-profit educational organization
Another Course to College, a pilot school in Boston, Massachusetts, in the US
Arapahoe Community College, in Littleton, Colorado, in the US
Army Cadet College, a defence training establishment in India, now in Dehradun
Asnuntuck Community College, a community college in Enfield, Connecticut, in the US
Assiniboine Community College, a community college in Brandon, Manitoba, in Canada
Atlanta Christian College, now Point University, a university near Atlanta, Georgia, in the US
Austin Community College, a community college in the Austin, Texas, area in the US
Government, military, and politics
Allied Clandestine Committee, a 1957 founded NATO organisation
Accident Compensation Corporation, a New Zealand state insurance agency
Adelaide City Council, former name of the City of Adelaide, a local government area in the metropolitan area of Adelaide, South Australia
Air Combat Command, a major command of the US Air Force headquartered at Langley Air Force Base
Air Component Commander, the manager and commander of the Royal Australian Air Force's Force Element Groups
Allied Control Commission, or Allied Commission, a type of commission consisting of representatives of the major Allied Powers in World War II
Allied Control Council, a military occupation governing body in Germany after the end of World War II
Anti Corruption Commission Bangladesh, an independent, semi-governmental commission
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, a government committee that decides appointments to several top posts in the Government of India
Arab Cooperation Council, an Arab economic organization set up as a rival to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)
Arizona Corporation Commission - a public utility regulator in Arizona
Army Catering Corps, a corps of the British Army responsible for the feeding of all army units
Assistant Chief Constable, a British police rank
Association of Conservative Clubs, an organisation associated with the Conservative Party in the UK
Australian Crime Commission, former name of one of the components of the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission
Asia Culture Center, an arts complex in Gwangju, South Korea.
Language, media, and communication
Achi language, a Mayan language of Guatemala (ISO 639-3 code ACC)
Accusative case, the grammatical case used to mark the direct object of a transitive verb
Advent Children Complete, the director's cut of the 2005 film Final Fantasy VII Advent Children
American Country Countdown, a weekly syndicated radio program
Annenberg Center for Communication, a research center at the University of Southern California in the US
Non-government organisations
American Conservation Coalition, a nonprofit environmental advocacy organisation
Americans for Common Cents, a pro-penny lobbying organisation in the US
Angel City Chorale, a Los Angeles choir
Anti-Capitalist Convergence, organisations in North America which coordinated activities by the social justice, anarchist and environmentalist anti-capitalists
Asian Cultural Council, a New York-based foundation promoting cultural exchange between the US and Asia
The Atlantic Council of Canada, an NGO promoting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Canada
Australian Copyright Council, a non-profit organisation dedicated to understanding copyright law
Science, mathematics, and medicine
Agenesis of the corpus callosum, a rare birth defect in which there is a complete or partial absence of the corpus callosum
ACC, one of the genetic codons of threonine
Acetyl-CoA carboxylase, an enzyme that turns acetyl-CoA into malonyl-CoA
Acetylcysteine, used in the management of paracetamol overdose
Adenoid cystic carcinoma (also abbreviated AdCC), a rare glandular tumor that primarily appears in the salivary glands
American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists
1-Aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid, an intermediate in the biological synthesis of ethylene
Antarctic Circumpolar Current, an ocean current
Anterior cingulate cortex, the frontal part of the cingulate cortex
Anthropogenic climate change, a.k.a. anthropogenic global warming, climate change caused by humans
Ascending chain condition, a condition in commutative algebra
ACC (complexity), a hierarchy of complexity classes used in circuit complexity
Adrenocortical carcinoma, an aggressive cancer originating in the cortex, also called "adrenal cortical carcinoma" or "adrenal cortex cancer"
Aortic cross-clamp, a surgical instrument used in cardiac surgery to clamp the aorta
Sports and games
Aberdeenshire Cricket Club, a cricket club based in Aberdeen, Scotland
ACC Liverpool, an arena and convention centre in Liverpool
AFC Challenge Cup, an international football competition for Asian Football Confederation (AFC) member countries
Air Canada Centre, former name of Scotiabank Arena, an arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alpine Club of Canada, Canada's national mountaineering organization
Amway Canadian Championship, an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams
Asian Club Championship, an association football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation
Asian Cricket Council, an organisation whose aim is to promote and develop the game of cricket within Asia
Asian Cycling Confederation, the confederation of cycling's national governing bodies in Asia
Assetto Corsa Competizione, the official PC racing simulation of the 2018 Blancpain GT Series
Associated Catholic Colleges, an Australian Schools Sporting Association
Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US
Athletic & Convocation Center, University of Notre Dame facility renamed in 1987 as the Edmund P. Joyce Center
America's Cup Class, a sailboat class
Touring and Automobile Club of Colombia
Technology
ACC (computer company), a Hong Kong-based computer company which manufactured the ACC 8000
ACC (programming language), a compiler for use under the MS-DOS operating system
Accumulator, a type of rechargeable battery
Active clearance control, an engine temperature control
Active Cylinder Control, a variable displacement technology
Adaptive cruise control, an advanced automotive cruise control system
Automatic climate control, a type of automobile air conditioning
Autonomous Cruise Control, a car cruise control system also known as adaptive cruise control
Advanced clock calibration, a technology in the AMD 700 chipset series that enables higher CPU clock speeds
Remington Accelerator (ACC), a Remington .224 caliber bullet inside a .30 caliber sabot
ACC wire, red wire that only supplies power, mainly to accessories, when the car is ignited, see connectors for car audio
Transportation
Acton Central railway station, on the North London Line (station code ACC)
Kotoka International Airport, Accra, Ghana (IATA airport code ACC)
Area control center, a type of air traffic control facility
Touring & Automovil Club de Colombia, a motoring club and member of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile in South America |
The domain name int is a sponsored top-level domain (sTLD) in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Its name is derived from the word international, characterizing its use for international organizations and treaty-related purposes. The first use of this domain was by NATO, which had previously been assigned the top-level domain .nato.
According to Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) policy, based on RFC 1591, the sTLD int is reserved for international treaty-based organizations, United Nations agencies, and organizations or entities having observer status at the UN. int is considered to have the strictest application policies of all TLDs, as it implies that the holder is a subject of international law. For this reason, the application procedure requires the applicant to provide evidence that it is indeed treaty-based by providing a United Nations treaty registration number and that it has independent legal status.
Delegations
As of June 2012, the domain int consists of 166 subdomain delegations.The subdomain eu.int was used by the European Union–affiliated institutions. However, the aforementioned institutions' domain names switched to the TLD eu on May 9, 2006 (Europe Day). All previous eu.int addresses continued to be accessible for a transitional period of at least one year. As of 2017, the European Central Bank continues to use ecb.int in addition to ecb.eu and ecb.europa.eu, and the .int domain is still sometimes used for email addresses.The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS) saw its initial application for a domain name under int rejected on the grounds that the convention did not explicitly create an entity subject of international law. However, POPS appealed to the IANA Reconsideration Committee and obtained its domain (pops.int) on the grounds that other conventions lacking such specific language had nevertheless obtained a registration. The IANA granted the domain after the committee determined that (1) the organization was chartered by a treaty that was very likely to enter into force, and (2) despite lacking a legal track record, it met "the requirement for independent international legal personality." This grant was subject to the provision that the status of eligibility be renewed if the treaty had not entered into force within four years of the registration.Additionally, the domain int was historically also used for Internet infrastructure databases. The name space arpa had been slated to be moved into int, but in 2000 the Internet Architecture Board recommended that no new infrastructure databases should be added to int and that arpa retain its function. The only remaining technical role of int was for reverse translation of IPv6 addresses in the zone ip6.int. This zone was officially removed on 6 June 2006 in favor of ip6.arpa, also administered by IANA.
Grandfathered delegations
Several domains under int were granted prior to the application of the strict guidelines. World YMCA is an example of the loose guidelines applied in the early 1990s. IANA has not withdrawn the existing assignment from YMCA and other organisations such as The Phone Company (which has however not been available since 2011) who do not meet the current criteria.
See also
Generic top-level domain
List of organizations with .int domain names
Delegation Record for .INT, Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
IANA—Intergovernmental Treaty (.INT) Domains |
The manat (ISO code: AZN; sign: ₼; abbreviation: m) is the currency of Azerbaijan. It is subdivided into 100 gapiks.
The first iteration of the currency happened in the times of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and its successor, the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, with the issues happening in 1919–1923. The currency underwent hyperinflation, and was eventually substituted by the Transcaucasian ruble, which, in its turn, was converted to the Soviet ruble. In Soviet times, the common currency of the Soviet Union was known as manat in the Azeri language.
When Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union, it substituted the Soviet ruble with the manat, which also went through a period of high inflation in the first years, rendering the coinage obsolete. The current manat in circulation exists since the denomination in 2006, when 5,000 old manat (AZM) were substituted with the new currency. The currency has mostly been pegged to the US dollar, at what is now the rate of ₼1.70 to US$1.
The Azerbaijani manat symbol was added to Unicode as U+20BC ₼ MANAT SIGN in 2013. A lowercase m was used previously, and may still be encountered when the manat symbol is unavailable.
Etymology
The word "manat" is derived from the Latin word "monēta" and the Russian word "монета" ("moneta") meaning "coin". It was used as the name of the Soviet currency in Azeri (Azerbaijani: манат) and in Turkmen.
First manat, 1919–1923
The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and its successor the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic issued their own currency between 1919 and 1923. The currency was called the manat (منات) in Azerbaijani and the ruble (рубль) in Russian, with the denominations written in both languages (and sometimes also in French) on the banknotes. The manat replaced the first Transcaucasian ruble at par and was replaced by the second Transcaucasian ruble after Azerbaijan became part of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic. No subdivisions were issued, and the currency only existed as banknotes.
Banknotes
The Democratic Republic issued notes in denominations of 25, 50, 100, 250, and 500 manats, whilst the Soviet Socialist Republic issued notes in denominations of 5, 100, 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 25,000, 50,000, 100,000, 250,000, 1 million, and 5 million manats.
Second manat, 1992–2006
The second manat was introduced on 15 August 1992. It had the ISO 4217 code AZM and replaced the Soviet ruble at a rate of Rbls 10 to 1 manat.
From early 2002 to early 2005, the exchange rate was fairly stable (varying within a band of 4,770–4,990 manats per US dollar). Starting in the spring of 2005 there was a slight but steady increase in the value of the manat against the US dollar; the reason most likely being the increased flow of petrodollars into the country, together with the generally high price of oil on the world market. At the end of 2005, one dollar was worth 4,591 manats. Banknotes below 100 manats had effectively disappeared by 2005, as had the gapik coins.
Coins
Coins were issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20, and 50 gapiks, dated 1992 and 1993. Although brass and cupronickel were used for some of the 1992 issues, later issues were all in aluminium. These coins were rarely used in circulation.
Banknotes
The following banknotes were issued for this currency
1, 5, 10, 250 manats (all first issued on 15 August 1992)
50, 100, 500, 1,000 manats (all first issued in early 1993)
10,000 manats (first issued in August 1994)
50,000 manats (first issued in May 1996)
Third manat, 2006
On 1 January 2006, a new manat (ISO 4217 code AZN, also called the "manat (national currency)") was introduced at a ratio of 1 new manat to 5,000 old manats. From 1 October 2005, prices were indicated both in new manats and in old manats to ease the transition. Coins denominated in qəpik, which had not been used from 1993 onward due to inflation, were reintroduced with the re-denomination. The former manat (ISO code 4217 AZM) remained in use through to 31 December 2006.
Symbol
The new banknotes and Azerbaijani manat symbol, ₼, were designed by Robert Kalina in 2006, and the symbol was added to Unicode (U+20BC) in 2013, after failed addition proposals between 2008 and 2011. The final Azerbaijani Manat symbol design was inspired by the design of the Euro sign (€), based on an initial proposal by Mykyta Yevstifeyev, and resembles a single-bar Euro sign rotated 90° clockwise. The manat symbol is displayed to the right of the amount in Azeri and Russian.
Code
The new manat was initially assigned the code AYM on being added to the ISO 4217 standard on 1 June 2005, with an effective date of 1 January 2006. However, this was removed and replaced by AZN on 13 October 2005 as it did not comply with the ISO 4217 currency coding standardization rules (which state that currency codes must begin with the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code for the relevant country).
Coins
Coins in circulation are 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 and 50 gapiks.
Most coins closely resemble the size and shape of various euro coins. Most notably the bimetallic 50 gapik (similar to the €2 coin) and the 10 gapik (Spanish flower, like the 20 euro cent coin). Coins were first put into circulation during January 2006 and do not feature a mint year.
Banknotes
Banknotes in circulation are ₼1, ₼5, ₼10, ₼20, ₼50, ₼100, ₼200, and ₼500. They were designed by Austrian banknote designer Robert Kalina, who also designed the current banknotes of the euro and the Syrian pound. The notes look quite similar to those of the euro and the choice of motifs was inspired by the euro banknotes.
In 2009 the Azərbaycan Milli Bankı (National Bank of Azerbaijan) was renamed the Azərbaycan Respublikasının Mərkəzi Bankı (Central Bank of Azerbaijan). In 2010, the ₼1 banknote was issued with the new name of the issuing bank, in 2012 a ₼5 banknote was issued with the new name of the issuing bank and in 2017 a 100₼ banknote dated 2013 was issued with the new name of the issuing bank.
In 2011 Azerbaijan's Ministry of Finance announced it was considering issuing notes of ₼2 and ₼3 as well as notes with values larger than ₼100. In February 2013 the Central Bank of Azerbaijan announced it would not introduce larger denomination notes until at least 2014.In 2018, a ₼200 banknote was issued to commemorate Heydar Aliyev's 95th birthday.Redesigned ₼1, ₼5, and ₼50 banknotes were introduced in 2021, preserving the same motifs but with updated designs. These circulate in parallel with existing notes.
A new commemorative ₼500 banknote was introduced in 2021.
2005 series
2020 refurbishment
Exchange rates
Before Feb 2015: US$1 = ₼0.78
Feb - Dec 2015: US$1 = ₼1.05
Dec 2015 - Apr 2017: Fluctuate
May 2017 onwards: US$1 = ₼1.7 (pegged)
See also
Central Bank of Azerbaijan
Turkmenistani manat
Economy of Azerbaijan
Banking in Azerbaijan
Der Standard article on the redenomination (in German)
Azerbaijan Manat: Catalog of Banknotes
Azerbaijan International. Azerbaijan's New Manats: Design and Transition to a New Currency
Catalog of Azeri coins and banknotes
Coins of Azerbaijan at CISCoins.net
The banknotes of Azerbaijan (in English, German, and French) |
Lisa Selesner (born May 26, 1978), professionally known as Lisa S., is an American international model, actress and Channel V veejay based in Hong Kong.
Early life
Lisa Selesner was born on May 26, 1978, in Monaco to an American mother and a father of French and Chinese descent. She was raised in New York City where she was talent-scouted to be a model at age 14. She was raised by her mother and her stepfather, Gary Selesner, who is the president of Caesars Palace.She stated that she shortened her surname from Selesner to the initial "S" because after moving to Hong Kong in 2000, "no one could pronounce it".
Career
In Hong Kong, she became a top model who lent her exotic looks to fashion catwalks and appeared in advertisements for brands like Citibank, De Beers diamonds, and Olay skincare. She has been described as a "bewitching designer-clad international model." She hosted a lifestyle programme on TV in Hong Kong. She also starred in three Hong Kong movies: Silver Hawk (2004), Rob-B-Hood (2006), A Mob Story (2007) and cameoed in the Chinese movie Inseparable (2011) which starred Daniel Wu and Kevin Spacey.
She is the founder of the monthly beauty box subscription 'Glamabox' which is provided in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Personal life
On April 6, 2010, Lisa S. married Daniel Wu in South Africa, after eight years of dating. Their daughter, Raven, was born in 2013. Prior to their marriage, their privacy was occasionally invaded by paparazzi.Both Lisa and Wu are godparents to Ase Wang's daughter.
Official Blog of Lisa S.
Lisa Selesner at IMDb
Lisa Selesner at the Hong Kong Movie DataBase |
Mandy Lieu (born March 20, 1985) is a Malaysian-American model, actress, and TV show host based in Hong Kong and currently residing in the United Kingdom. She has appeared in Hong Kong television shows and movies such as Horseplay and To the Fore.
Early life
Mandy Lieu's father is a white American and he disappeared before she was born. Her mother is Malaysian-Chinese and unemployed at that time. Lieu and her younger brother grew up in a single parent household in Malaysia and moved to Kuala Lumpur with her family when she was 8. She worked as a part-time model during her free time. In 2003, she went to Hong Kong to develop her modelling career after dropping out of school and she had appeared in television advertisements.
Career
Model
Mandy Lieu rose to fame in a shampoo commercial in Malaysia, which led a new chapter in her life. She then moved to Tokyo at age 17, one year later she arrived in Hong Kong. She repeatedly and frequently featured on the cover of many magazines, including More, Me, HIM, Marie Claire, Fashion & Beauty, Wedding Deluxe, Ketchup, Darizi, Elle Wedding. Lieu face has been used as the face of many campaigns, like Hugo Boss, TAG Heuer Watch, Max & Co., Salvatore Ferragamo, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Dior, Omega to HK Fashion Week, Ted Baker, Miu Miu, Mulberry, Shiseido, and Swarovski.
Acting
In 2012, Mandy broke into film by playing a supporting role in Tai Chi 0. Her career path kept expanding with box-office successes like Black & White: The Dawn of Justice (2014) and To the Fore (2015).
Personal life
Growing up in multicultural country, Mandy Lieu is multilingual and can speak Malay, Cantonese, Mandarin, English, and Japanese.
Mandy Lieu stated that she does not officially have a Chinese name despite the rumour that her Chinese name is 劉碧麗. She said that 劉碧麗 is a name created by netizens, and she later accepted this name as it became too widespread.In 2020, Mandy Lieu bought Ewhurst Park estate, near Basingstoke, with the intent to change the 925-acre estate to produce food for her restaurant and rewild parts of it. In 2023, a pair of beavers to be released on the grounds, thereby reintroducing beavers in Hampshire, where they became extinct 400 years ago.
Relationship
Mandy Lieu dated Bolin Chen for three years before they broke up in 2011. She gave birth to a daughter on 20 May 2015 fathered by the already married Macau casino tycoon Alvin Chau (Chau Cheok Wa's). Mandy Lieu had dated Alvin Chau for over five years but it ended when he refused to divorce his wife Heidi Chan. Subsequently, Alvin Chau paid her HK$300 million (RM158 million) as a “breakup fee” in November 2019.
Filmography
Television
2008: Dressage to Win
Master of Ceremonies
2010: Mr. Hong Kong
2013: Asian Film Awards
Game Shows
2013: Super Trio Maximus
2014: The Conquerors (episode 10)
2014: Summer Splash (episodes 6–10)
Hostess
2009: Lifetival
2010: 老虎都要 party
2010: 日本‧不盡的享樂
Films
2012: Taichi 0
2014: The Splash Muses
2014: Horseplay
2014: Black & White: The Dawn of Justice
2015: To The Fore
刘碧丽MandyLieu on Sina Weibo (in Chinese)
Mandy Lieu on Facebook
mandylieu's blog
Mandy_Lieu on Sina Weibo (in Chinese)
welovemandylieu on Sina Weibo (in Chinese)
Mandy Lieu forum:) |
Breeze often refers to:
A gentle to moderate wind
Sea breeze, an onshore afternoon wind, caused by warm air rising over the land in sunny weatherBreeze or The Breeze may also refer to:
Places
Breeze Center, a shopping center in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan
Breeze Creek, a river in California
Breeze Lake, a lake in California
Breeze Nan Jing, shopping mall in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan
Gulf Breeze, Florida, a city in Santa Rosa County
People
Breeze (rapper), American rapper
Alan Breeze (1909–1980), English singer of the British dance band era
Andrew Breeze (born 1954), British academic
Ben Breeze (born 1974), English rugby union player
Brady Breeze (born 1997), American football player
Carl Breeze (born 1979), British auto racing driver
Claude Breeze (born 1938), Canadian figurative painter
David Breeze (born 1944), British archaeologist, teacher and scholar
Ernest Breeze (1910–1984), English footballer
Evan Breeze (1798–1855), Welsh poet and schoolmaster
Jared Breeze (born 2005), American child actor
Jean "Binta" Breeze (1956–2021), Jamaican dub poet and storyteller
Joe Breeze (born 1953), American bicycle framebuilder, designer and advocate
Lynn Breeze, British illustrator and author.
Maddie Breeze, British sociologist and lecturer
Marc Breeze (born 1987), Welsh rugby union player
Mark Breeze or DJ Breeze, British disc jockey
Matthew Breeze (born 1972), Australian football referee
Michaela Breeze (born 1979), British weightlifter
Roger Breeze (1946–2016), English veterinary scientist
Samuel Breeze (1772–1812), Welsh Baptist minister
Tyler Breeze (born 1988), Canadian pro wrestler
William Breeze (born 1955), American author and publisher on magick and philosophy
Arts, entertainment, and media
Music
Breezin', an album by George Benson
Breezing (album), an album by Sonny Red
The Breeze: An Appreciation of JJ Cale, an album by Eric Clapton
Press and publishing
Breeze Publications, publisher based in Lincoln, Rhode Island
Daily Breeze, daily newspaper published in Hermosa Beach, California, United States
The Breeze (newspaper), the official student newspaper of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia
Radio
In Australia
The Breeze (Australia), a radio network broadcasting to remote Queensland and New South Wales, Australia
Macquarie Sports Radio 1278, in Melbourne, former branding from 1992 to 1993
In Canada
CHLG-FM, in Vancouver, British Columbia
CKRA-FM, in Edmonton, Alberta
CKUL-FM, in Halifax, Nova Scotia
In England
The Breeze (radio network), a small network of radio stations operating in South and South West England
The Breeze (radio station), a pair of former radio stations in southern England
In New Zealand
The Breeze (New Zealand radio station), a radio station in New Zealand
In the United States
The Breeze, an iHeartRadio music service
KBEB, in Sacramento
KISQ, in San Francisco
WCON (AM), in Cornelia, Georgia
WGXI, in Plymouth, Wisconsin
WMSX, in Buffalo from 2018 to 2023
WPBZ-FM, in Rensaller, New York
WWZY, in Long Branch, New Jersey, former branding from 2003 to 2013
WXXF, in Loudonville, Ohio
Television
Breeze TV, a New Zealand music TV channel that was launched by The Breeze radio station
Brands and enterprises
Breeze, a brand of mobile phones marketed by Pantech
Breeze Airways, an airline in the United States that began operating in 2021
Breeze detergent
Breeze Energy, a UK-based retail electricity and gas supplier specialising in sustainable energy
Software
Breeze, a mobile banking application on the iPhone developed by Standard Chartered Bank
Macromedia Breeze, a former name of Adobe Acrobat Connect presentation software
Transport
Breeze, a brigantine sailing ship (see National Maritime Museum, New Zealand)
Breeze Airways, an airline in the United States that began operating in 2021
Breeze or Breeze Card, a stored-value smart card for Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority fare collection in Atlanta, Georgia
Carnival Breeze, a planned Carnival Cruise Lines cruise ship
Plymouth Breeze, a mid-sized car sold from 1996 to 2000
Solar Wings Breeze, a British hang glider design
The Breeze, a marketing name for the Spirit of Ontario I ferry between Rochester, New York and Toronto, Ontario
The Breeze, the fixed route bus service of the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority
The Breeze, the bus service in the North County Transit District in San Diego County, California
Other uses
Breeze block, a concrete masonry unit made from recovered fly-ash
Horse-fly, various strong-bodied dipterous insects of the family Tabanidae
DC Breeze, an open professional ultimate team based in the District of Columbia
See also
Breezy (disambiguation)
Brees (surname), includes a list of people with the name
All pages with titles beginning with Breeze
All pages with titles containing Breeze |
Hollow Knight is a 2017 Metroidvania video game developed and published by independent developer Team Cherry. In the game, the player controls the Knight, a nameless insectoid warrior, who explores Hallownest, a fallen kingdom plagued by a supernatural disease, known as the infection. The game is set in diverse subterranean locations, featuring friendly and hostile insectoid characters and numerous bosses. Players have the opportunity to unlock new abilities as they explore each location, along with pieces of lore and flavour text that are spread throughout the kingdom.
The concept behind Hollow Knight was conceived in 2013 in the Ludum Dare game jam. Team Cherry wanted to create a game inspired by older platformers that replicated the explorational aspects of its influences. Inspirations for the game include Faxanadu, Metroid, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Angel's Egg, and Mega Man X. Development was partially funded through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that raised over A$57,000 by the end of 2014. It was released for Windows, Linux, and macOS, in early 2017 and for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2018. After release, Team Cherry supported the game with four free expansions.
Hollow Knight was well received by critics, with particular praise for its music, art style, worldbuilding, atmosphere, combat and level of difficulty. By February 2019, the game had sold 2.8 million copies. A sequel, Hollow Knight: Silksong, is currently in development.
Gameplay
Hollow Knight is a 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania game that takes place in Hallownest, a fictional underground kingdom. The player controls an insect-like, silent, nameless "Knight" while exploring the underground world. The Knight wields a type of sword called a Nail, which is used in both combat and environmental interaction.In most areas of the game, players encounter hostile bugs and other creatures. Melee combat involves using the Nail to strike enemies from a short distance. The player can also learn spells, allowing for long-range attacks. Defeated enemies drop currency called Geo. The Knight starts with a limited number of hit points, which are represented by masks. "Mask Shards" can be collected throughout the game to increase the player's maximum number of masks. By striking enemies, the Knight gains Soul, which is stored in the Soul Vessel. If all masks are lost, the Knight dies and a Shade enemy appears where they died. The player loses all Geo and can hold a reduced amount of Soul. Players need to defeat the Shade enemy to recover the lost currency and to carry the normal amount of Soul. The game continues from the last visited bench the character sat on, which are scattered throughout the game world and act as save points and places where the player can change their charms. Initially the player can only use Soul to "Focus" and regenerate masks, but as the game progresses, players unlock and collect several offensive spells which consume Soul. Additional Soul Vessels, used to hold more Soul, can be acquired throughout the game.Many areas feature more challenging enemies and bosses which the player may need to defeat in order to progress further. Defeating some bosses grants the player access to new abilities. Later in the game, players acquire the Dream Nail, a special sword that can access the minds of Hallownest's creatures. Hitting most enemies with the Dream Nail gives the Knight extra Soul compared to hitting them with the regular Nail. It also enables the player to face more challenging versions of a few bosses and to break the seal to the final boss. If the player defeats the final boss of the game, they are given access to a mode called "Steel Soul". In this mode, dying is permanent, i.e. if the Knight loses all of their masks, the save slot will be reset.During the game, the player encounters bug-themed non-player characters (NPCs) with whom they can interact. These characters provide information about the game's plot and lore, offer aid, and sell items or services. The player can upgrade the Knight's Nail to deal more damage or find Soul Vessels to carry more Soul. During the course of the game, players acquire items that provide new movement abilities including an additional mid-air jump (Monarch Wings), adhering to and jumping off walls (Mantis Claw), a quick dash (Mothwing Cloak), and a speedy super dash (Crystal Heart). The player can learn other combat abilities, known as Nail Arts, and the aforementioned spells. To further customise the Knight, players can equip various charms, which can be found or purchased from NPCs. Some of their effects include improved combat abilities or skills, granting more masks with or without the ability to regenerate them with Soul, greater mobility, easier collecting of Geo or Soul, the ability to gain more Geo per enemy, and other transformations to the Knight. Equipping a charm takes up a certain number of limited slots, called notches.
Hallownest consists of several large, inter-connected areas with unique themes. With its nonlinear gameplay "Metroidvania" design, Hollow Knight does not bind the player to one path through the game nor require them to explore the whole world; there are entire places that can be missed when finishing the game, though there are obstacles that limit the player's access to various areas. The player may need to progress in the story of the game, or acquire a specific movement ability, skill, or item to progress further. To fast travel through the game's world, the player can use Stag Stations, terminals connected to network of tunnels that are traversed via giant stag beetles; players can only travel to previously visited and unlocked stations. Other fast travel methods, such as trams, lifts, and the "Dreamgate", are encountered later in the game.As the player enters a new area, they do not have access to the map of their surroundings. They must find Cornifer, the cartographer, to buy a rough map. As the player explores an area, the map becomes more accurate and complete, although it is updated only when sitting on a bench. The player will need to buy specific items to complete maps, to see points of interest, and to place markers. The Knight's position on the map can only be seen if the player is carrying the Wayward Compass charm.
Plot
At the outset of the game, the Knight arrives in Dirtmouth, a quiet town that sits just above the remains of the kingdom of Hallownest and is home to Elderbug, the first NPC the Knight meets. As the Knight ventures through the ruins, they learn that Hallownest was once a flourishing kingdom which fell after becoming overrun with "The Infection", a supernatural disease that can infect anyone who has free will. The Infection gives its subjects heightened strength but at the cost of their civility, causing madness and undeath. Hallownest's ruler, The Pale King, had previously attempted to lock away the Infection in the Temple of the Black Egg. Despite the temple's magical seals, the disease managed to escape and Hallownest fell into ruin. The Knight's mission is to find and kill three bugs called the Dreamers, who act as the living seals on the temple door. Once the seals have been removed, the Knight may confront the source of the Infection. This quest brings the Knight into conflict with Hornet, a warrior who tests their combat prowess in several battles.
Through dialogue with non-player characters, environmental imagery, and writings scattered throughout Hallownest, the Knight learns the origins of the Infection. In ancient times, a tribe of moths that lived in Hallownest worshipped the Radiance, a primordial being who could control the minds of other bugs. When the Pale King arrived at Hallownest from afar, he used his powers to give sapience and knowledge to the creatures of the realm. The moths soon joined the other bugs of Hallownest in worshipping the Pale King, draining the power of the Radiance as she was slowly forgotten. Beneath the notice of the Pale King, some worship of the Radiance continued, allowing her to remain alive inside the Dream Realm.Hallownest prospered until the Radiance began appearing in the dreams of its people, poisoning their minds with the Infection. In an attempt to contain the menace, the Pale King used an ancient power called Void to create the Vessels; creatures that could trap the Infection within their own bodies. Due to the Vessels being made from Void, they are considered to not have free will, thus allowing them to not be infected since they cannot dream. The Pale King chose a Vessel known as the Hollow Knight to trap the Radiance, leaving the rest locked in a pit called the Abyss. After the Hollow Knight was locked within the Temple of the Black Egg, the Radiance persisted within the Vessel, weakening the temple's seals and allowing the Infection to escape.
Throughout the game, it is implied that the Knight was a Vessel who managed to escape the Abyss. They gradually defeat the Dreamers and their guardians, removing the seals on the door. Inside, they encounter and battle with the infected Hollow Knight. Depending on the player's actions, multiple endings can then be achieved. These endings include the Knight defeating the infected Hollow Knight and taking its place containing the Radiance, defeating the Hollow Knight with Hornet's assistance, or using the Void Heart item to directly fight and defeat the Radiance inside the Dream Realm.
The Grimm Troupe expansion
In the second expansion to Hollow Knight, a "Nightmare Lantern" was added to the Howling Cliffs. After using the Dream Nail on a masked bug, the lantern summons a mysterious group of circus performers to Dirtmouth, who identify themselves as the Grimm Troupe. Their leader, Troupe Master Grimm, gives the Knight a quest to collect magic flames throughout Hallownest in order to take part in a "twisted ritual". He gives the player the Grimmchild charm, which absorbs the flames into itself, progressing the ritual and allowing the Grimmchild to attack the Knight's enemies. Eventually, the Knight must choose to either complete the ritual by fighting Grimm and his powerful Nightmare King form, or prevent the ritual and banish the Grimm Troupe with the help of Brumm, a traitorous troupe member.
Godmaster expansion
More content was added to Hollow Knight with the fourth and final expansion, Godmaster, in which the Knight can battle harder versions of all of the bosses in the game through a series of challenges. The main hub of the expansion is known as Godhome, and is accessed by using the Dream Nail on a new NPC called the Godseeker found in the Junk Pit of the Royal Waterways. Within Godhome are five "pantheons", each being a "boss rush", containing a set of bosses that must all be defeated consecutively without dying. The final pantheon, the Pantheon of Hallownest, contains every boss in the game or alternate forms of original bosses. If the Knight completes the Pantheon of Hallownest, the Absolute Radiance, a more powerful version of the Radiance, appears, acting as the new final boss. Upon defeating it, two unique endings can then be achieved, each involving the destruction of Godhome by a powerful Void creature.
Development
The idea that prompted the creation of Hollow Knight originated in a game jam, Ludum Dare 2013, in which two of the game's developers, Ari Gibson and William Pellen, developed a game called Hungry Knight, in which the character that would later become the Knight kills bugs to stave off starvation. The game, considered "not very good", used to hold a 1/5 star rating on Newgrounds, but has since increased to 4/5. The developers decided to work on another game jam with the theme "Beneath the Surface", but missed the deadline. However, the concept gave them the idea to create a game with an underground setting, a "deep, old kingdom", and insect characters.Influences for the game include Faxanadu, Metroid, Zelda II, and Mega Man X. Team Cherry noted that Hallownest was in some ways the inverse of the world tree setting in Faxanadu. The team also noted that they wanted to replicate the sense of wonder and discovery of games from their childhood from such games, in which "[t]here could be any crazy secret or weird creature."Believing that control of the character was most important for the player's enjoyment of the game, the developers based the Knight's movement on Mega Man X. They gave the character no acceleration when moving horizontally, as well as a large amount of aerial control and the ability to interrupt one's jump with a dash. This was meant to make the player feel that any hit they took could have been avoided right up until the last second.To create the game's art, Gibson's hand-drawn sketches were scanned directly into the game engine, creating a "vivid sense of place". The developers decided to "keep it simple" in order to prevent the development time from becoming extremely protracted. The complexity of the world was based on Metroid, which allows players to become disoriented and lost, focusing on the enjoyment of finding one's way. Only basic signs are placed throughout the world to direct players to important locations. The largest design challenge for the game was creating the mapping system and finding a balance between not divulging the world's secrets while not being too player-unfriendly.Hollow Knight was revealed on Kickstarter in November 2014, seeking a "modest" sum of A$35,000. The game passed this goal, raising more than A$57,000 from 2,158 backers, allowing its scope to be expanded and another developer to be hired—technical director David Kazi—as well as composer Christopher Larkin. The game reached a beta state in September 2015 and continued to achieve numerous stretch goals to add in more content after an engine switch from Stencyl to Unity.
Release
Hollow Knight was officially released for Windows on 24 February 2017, with versions for Linux and macOS being released on 11 April of the same year.The Nintendo Switch version of Hollow Knight was announced in January 2017 and released on 12 June 2018. Team Cherry originally planned to make their game available on the Wii U. Development of the Wii U version began in 2016, alongside the PC version, and it eventually shifted to Switch. The creators of Hollow Knight worked with another Australian developer, Shark Jump Studios, to speed up the porting process. Initially, Team Cherry planned the Switch version to arrive "not too long after the platform's launch"; subsequently they delayed it to early 2018. A release date was not announced until the Nintendo Direct presentation at E3 2018 on 12 June 2018, when it was unveiled the game would be available later that day via Nintendo eShop.Versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were released as Hollow Knight: Voidheart Edition on 25 September 2018.An official Hollow Knight Piano Collections sheet music book and album was released in 2019 by video game music label Materia Collective, arranged by David Peacock and performed by Augustine Mayuga Gonzales.
Downloadable content
On 3 August 2017, the Hidden Dreams DLC was released, featuring two new optional boss encounters, two new songs in the soundtrack, a new fast travel system, and a new Stag Station to discover. On 26 October 2017, the second DLC The Grimm Troupe was released, adding new major quests, new boss fights, new charms, new enemies, and other content. The update also added support for Russian, Portuguese, and Japanese languages. On 20 April 2018, the "Lifeblood" update was released, bringing various optimisations, changes to the colour palette, bug fixes, minor additions as well as a new boss fight. On 23 August 2018, the final DLC, Godmaster was released, containing new characters, boss fights, music, a new game mode as well as two new endings. It was renamed from its former title of Gods and Glory due to trademark concerns.
Reception
Hollow Knight's PC and PlayStation 4 versions received "generally favorable" reviews and the Nintendo Switch version received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator website Metacritic. Jed Whitaker of Destructoid praised it as a "masterpiece of gaming" and, on PC Gamer, Tom Marks called it a "new classic". IGN praised Hollow Knight's visuals, sound, music, and "a million other details" in building atmosphere.Critics recognised the combat system as simple and nuanced; they praised its responsiveness, or "tightness", similarly to the movement system. On IGN, Marks stated: "The combat in Hollow Knight is relatively straightforward, but starts out tricky ... It rewards patience and skill massively". In his review on PC Gamer, Marks praised the "brilliant" charm system: "What's so impressive about these charms is that I could never find a 'right' answer when equipping them. There were no wrong choices." Adam Abou-Nasr from NintendoWorldReport stated: "Charms offer a huge variety of upgrades ... removing them felt like trading a part of myself for a better chance at an upcoming battle."The difficulty of Hollow Knight received attention from reviewers and was described as challenging; Vikki Blake of Eurogamer called the game "ruthlessly tough, even occasionally unfair". For Nintendo World Report's Adam Abou-Nasr it also seemed unfair—he had "'so frustratingly hard that I cannot recommend this game' angrily scrawled in [his] notes"—but "it eventually clicked". Whitaker "never found any of the bosses to be unfair". Destructoid and Nintendo World Report reviewers felt a sense of accomplishment after difficult fights. Critics also made comparisons to the Dark Souls series, noting the mechanic of losing currency on death and having to defeat a Shade to regain it. Destructoid praised this feature, as well as the holding down of a button to heal, because "[t]hey circumvent a couple of issues games have always had, namely appropriate punishment for failing, and a risk-reward system".
Sales
Hollow Knight had sold over 500,000 copies by November 2017 and surpassed 1,000,000 in sales on PC platforms on 11 June 2018, one day before releasing on Nintendo Switch, where it had sold over 250,000 copies in the two weeks after its launch. By July 2018 it had sold over 1,250,000 copies. By February 2019, Hollow Knight had sold over 2,800,000 copies.
Awards
The game was nominated for "Best PC Game" in Destructoid's Game of the Year Awards 2017, and for "Best Platformer" in IGN's Best of 2017 Awards. It won the award for "Best Platformer" in PC Gamer's 2017 Game of the Year Awards. Polygon later named the game among the decade's best.
Sequel
A sequel to Hollow Knight titled Hollow Knight: Silksong, is in development by Team Cherry as of 2019, and is set to be released on Windows, macOS, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The sequel will revolve around the character Hornet exploring the kingdom of Pharloom. Game demos of Hollow Knight: Silksong demonstrate similar combat styles to the original game, but with several gameplay differences. The player character Hornet is more mobile than the Knight, and uses tools instead of Charms. The game was announced in February 2019 but has not yet received a release date. Team Cherry had previously planned this game as a piece of downloadable content for its predecessor, but decided to market it an individual title as its content grew too large.
Official website |
Temple Run is a 3D endless running video game developed and published by Imangi Studios. The player controls an explorer who has obtained an ancient relic and runs from demonic monkey-like creatures chasing him. The game was initially released for iOS devices on August 4, 2011, and later ported to Android systems and Windows Phone 8.
The game was a commercial success with positive reviews from critics. The success of the game led to a sequel, Temple Run 2. Collaborations with Disney/Pixar led to Temple Run: Brave and Temple Run: Oz, and a third spin-off in development by Scopely titled, Temple Run: Treasure Hunters as a match-three video game. Temple Run also received activity books and a board game, with Warner Bros. Studios talking with Imangi Studios of a possible film adaptation. The success of the game also inspired multiple games that copy Temple Run's gameplay and branding.
Gameplay
In Temple Run, the player controls either Guy Dangerous, an average explorer, Scarlett Fox, an escape artist, Barry Bones, a city cop, Karma Lee, the fastest runner in the Far East, Montana Smith, the "second greatest explorer ever" (referring to Indiana Jones being the greatest explorer), Francisco Montoya, a Spanish conquistador, or Zack Wonder, a football star. The character chosen will embark on an adventure to seek an ancient and valuable golden idol from an Aztec temple. They will not realize that the temple is inhabited by a family of demonic monkeys who wants to devour them. As the game is an endless running game, there is no end to the temple; the player plays until the character collides into a large obstacle, falls into the water, or is overtaken by the demon monkeys.
While the character is running, the player can tilt their device left or right to move the character to either side of the screen to collect coins and/or avoid obstacles. There are three types of coins to be found while the character is running: gold, red, and blue. A gold coin will only add one coin to the player's total number of coins. Red coins are worth two coins, while blue coins are worth three. The coins can be used to buy and then upgrade power-ups and/or other characters. Coins can also be bought by the player through in-app purchases with payments of actual money. If the player wishes to turn left or right, the touchscreen can be swiped in the corresponding direction. If the player wishes to jump over an object, the screen can be swiped upwards and if they wish to slide under an object, the screen can be swiped downwards.
Development
Temple Run was designed, programmed, and produced by husband-and-wife team Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova with art by Kiril Tchangov. The game took a total of four months to develop. Development began after the financial failure of Imangi Studio's previous game, Max Adventure and used that game to prototype Temple Run's controls. Imangi Studios wanted to make a quick game with simpler controls in contrast to Max Adventure's dual analog controls.
Keith started the prototype by making a game where the character is always running and can be controlled by rotating the environment from a top-down perspective. This idea was scrapped due to causing extreme dizziness during testing. To fix the problem, constraints were added so that players can only make 90° turns and perspective be fixed behind the character. When it came to the game's aesthetics, multiple ideas were conceptualized but ultimately settled for the character to running on a pathway resembling the Great Wall of China or Aztec temple.
After the temple design was solidified, Imangi Studios questioned the player character's motivation for constantly running without any breaks and came up with the idea of having something chasing him. Imangi Studios originally had the aliens from Max Adventure as placeholders. Kiril created the design of evil demon monkeys and gave them skull masks due to his desire of adding skulls in games he's involved in. Natalia initially did not like having evil demon monkeys chasing the player character and found them terrifying. Keith and Kiril, however, liked the evil demon monkeys and convinced Natalia to remain in the final product. Natalia later admitted that they were right and that it added immediacy and adrenaline.The coin and gem mechanic was originally intended to be a variety of colored gems where the player would receive different bonuses depending on what combination of gems was obtained, similar to Poker hand rankings but was proven too difficult to achieve and was scrapped. Natalia mentioned coins and Gems were particularly frustrating to add into the game that at one point were removed during development, but were added back due to the team missing them.
Release
The game was released on the App Store on August 4, 2011. The game was originally for 99 cents to download, but was switched to freemium prior to December 2011.
After the release of its sequel Temple Run 2, the game renamed to Temple Run: Classic.On January 12, 2012, Imangi Studios announced on the Temple Run Facebook page that the game would be released for the Android platform in February. The game was released on Google Play on March 27, 2012, a month later than expected. As Temple Run was originally released with a custom, flexible engine on iOS, there were some difficulties when it was ported to Android, primarily related to the use of the Unity game engine. The game frequently crashed, occasionally caused devices to overheat, and drained battery life extremely quickly. This led to generally unfavourable reviews.On March 27, 2013, the game was released for Windows Phone 8.An arcade version was developed by Coastal Amusements and released on 2012. The arcade version was discontinued some time after.
Related media
In November 2013, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Warner Bros. Pictures and producer David Heyman were in talks with Imangi Studios to make a movie version of Temple Run.In July 2014, a Temple Run fiction series and an activity book was published by Egmont Publishing. The series is called Run For Your Life, with the first four titles called Jungle Trek, Doom Lagoon, Arctic Rescue and Pyramid Peril. The series is a "choose-your-own-ending" series aimed at fans of the game and books like Beast Quest. The activity book, Temple Run Downloaded is shaped like a tablet and includes Temple Run info, character profiles, mazes and brain teasers.
Reception
Milestones and accolades
Since its initial release on the App Store, the popularity of the game has soared, to the point that Imangi Studios became more popular than Zynga. In the iTunes Store, the game was included in the top 50 most-downloaded apps in December 2011, and eventually became the number one free iOS app in the Store. It also reached the position of the top grossing iOS app. The Android version was downloaded one million times within three days of its release. As of June 2014, Temple Run and its sequel have been downloaded over 1 billion times.The Arcade version won the 2013 BOSA Awards bronze medal for Videmption Arcade Games.
Critical response
Temple Run has been generally well-received amongst critics. The iOS version holds an aggregate score of 80 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 10 reviews. Phillip Levin of 148Apps praised the gameplay but criticizing the backgrounds; "my big qualm with Temple Run lies in the fact that the majority of the game's scenery looks the same. Yeah, the scenery does change here and there, but most of the time, gamers are running through ruined, temple pathways that look consistently the same. It all starts to blur together after a while." AppSpy's Andrew Nesvadba was more impressed, writing "Temple Run tightens up and polishes the endless-runner for the 3rd dimension, giving players a unique and fun challenge that controls like a dream." TouchArcade's Nissa Campbell praising its move away from the "one-button jumping control system" of most endless runners, as well as the game's milieu; "Any endless runner worth the name will give you high-tension situations and that "one more time" compulsion. But Temple Run is probably the only one that also makes you feel like a daring archaeologist with a penchant for deadly situations."Gamezebo's Art Green called it "an instant iPhone classic," and writing "addictive doesn't even accurately describe the game. Enthralling gameplay as the game speeds up. Objectives add goals that keep you playing." Slide to Play's Andrew Webster praised the upgrade system, 3D graphics, and controls, concluding "Even if you think you're sick of automatic runners, Temple Run proves there's still much life left in the genre. It matches the sheer thrill and intensity of Canabalt, but with a completely new theme and perspective. We've all wanted to be Indiana Jones at some point, and now's your chance."IGN's Justin Davis praised the game's depth and upgrade system, which he felt distinguished it from other endless runners, such as Canabalt and Robot Unicorn Attack. He concluded that "Temple Run is a fast and frenzied iPhone experience. The combination of swiping and tilt controls give each session a frantic feeling [...] Gamers craving a new iOS time waster should give Temple Run a long look."PC Magazine's Laarni Almendrala Ragaza called the initial Android version "crisp", with "snappy" navigation. They also included it in their "Mobile Apps to keep Kids Happy" list.
Legacy
Precursors
Temple Run is categorized as an endless runner game, whose precursors include Pac-Man, Crash Bandicoot, Uncharted, and the Indiana Jones film franchise.
Copycats
In the wake of Temple Run's success, other developers created games of a similar style, such as Temple Guns, Temple Jump, Piggy Run, Zombie Run and Pyramid Run. Imangi Studios co-founder Keith Shepherd found it flattering that developers were inspired by the game to create interesting games that make them unique. However, Shepard also found it frustrating when developers took exact gameplay, branding, and assets from their original game. This led to many of the copycat games from indie developer Anton Sinelnikov being removed from the App Store.
Sequels and spin-offs
Temple Run was followed by several sequels and spin-offs, becoming the first game in the Temple Run series. The second entry in the series is Temple Run: Brave and is a spin-off based on the film, Brave. It was released on Android and iOS on June 14, 2012. The third entry in the series is Temple Run 2 and serves as the direct sequel to Temple Run. Temple Run 2 was released on iOS on January 16, 2013. The fourth entry is Temple Run: Oz and is the second spin-off in the series, now based on the film, Oz the Great and Powerful. Temple Run: Oz was released in early 2013. The fifth entry in the series is Temple Run VR and released for the Samsung Gear VR headset on December 23, 2014. |
Mercedes-Benz Arena may refer to:
Mercedes-Benz Arena (Berlin), Germany
Mercedes-Benz Arena (Shanghai), China
The MHPArena, Stuttgart, Germany, formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Arena
See also
Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Caesars Superdome, formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States |
Snake Pass is a hill pass in the Derbyshire section of the Peak District, crossing the Pennines between Glossop and the Ladybower Reservoir at Ashopton. The road was engineered by Thomas Telford and opened in 1821. The pass carries the A57 road between Manchester and Sheffield, but it is no longer the main signposted route between those two cities, with traffic instead directed through the Woodhead Pass to the north.
Like several other roads that cross the Pennines, Snake Pass has a poor accident record compared with roads in the UK generally, although more favourable compared with other roads in the area. It is regularly closed in winter because of snow, and has seen several longer-term closures owing to subsidence following heavy rain. The road remains a popular route for tourists and motorcycles, however, and sections have been used for semi-professional cycling races such as the Tour of Britain.
Route and location
Snake Pass runs through the National Trust's High Peak Estate, and lies within the High Peak borough of Derbyshire; much of it falls within the Hope Woodlands parish, the remainder being within the Charlesworth parish. It is part of the shortest route by road from Manchester to Sheffield.The pass starts east of Glossop and climbs to the Pennines watershed between the moorland plateaux of Kinder Scout and Bleaklow to a high point of 1,680 feet (510 m) above sea level, where it crosses the Pennine Way. After this, it passes a public house that used to be known as the Snake Inn, and descends through forest to the Ladybower Reservoir at Ashopton.The name of the road matches its winding route, but actually derives from the emblem of the Snake Inn, one of the few buildings on the high stretch of road. In turn, the pub's name and sign were derived from the serpent on the Cavendish arms of William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire. In the early 21st century, the inn was renamed the Snake Pass Inn, such that the inn now refers to the road that referred to itself.
History
An ancient road between Glossop and Ashopton was the Doctor's Gate, which follows the Shelf Brook between Shelf Moor and Coldharbour Moor. It is marked on some maps as a Roman road, though this is disputed. The route is now popular with walkers and mountain bikers. In 1932, an Iron Age axe thought to be more than 2,000 years old was found near the site of this road.The current road further south was designed as a toll road by Thomas Telford to improve communications east of Glossop, which was expanding as an industrial town. It was originally called the Sheffield to Glossop Turnpike and run by a turnpike trust, the Sheffield and Glossop Trust. An act of parliament to build the road was passed in 1818, and construction was financed by the Duke of Norfolk and the Duke of Devonshire. The road opened in 1821, having cost £18,625 to build (equivalent to £1.7 million in 2021). Upon opening, it was the highest turnpike road in England. The road was immediately popular and increased toll collections of traffic heading to Glossop. Tolls were abolished on the road in June 1870.The eastern end of the pass is by the River Derwent. The river is bridged by the Ashopton Viaduct, built as part of the Ladybower Reservoir project between 1935 and 1945.Although Snake Pass is still the shortest route between Manchester and Sheffield, the more northerly Woodhead Pass, which is less steep and at a lower altitude, is now the primary road link between the two cities. Unlike Snake Pass, the Woodhead route is a trunk road. Traffic levels on both passes remained similar until the 1980s, but the Woodhead Pass route is now favoured as it connects directly to the M1, while Snake Pass leads into the centre of Sheffield.
Despite Sheffield and Manchester being among the largest UK cities by population, there is no direct motorway link between the two. The M67 was originally proposed to be a Manchester to Sheffield motorway, but only a small section bypassing Denton and Hyde was actually built. The Woodhead Tunnel, which carried a Sheffield to Manchester railway line, was closed in 1981, and it was proposed to use it as part of a motorway link but linking the cities by road would have meant constructing many costly tunnels and viaducts across the Peak District. Consequently, the plans were shelved, but reports in December 2014 announced a revival of the ambition for a road tunnel to avoid the passes.In 1979, the Department of Transport considered closing the road with traffic to be diverted to use the A628.The road remains popular with drivers. A 2008 survey by Caterham Cars rated Snake Pass the best driving road in the UK. The following year, it was listed as one of the best roads for driving in Britain by Auto Trader magazine, who described it as "offering unparalleled views over Manchester".
Safety
As would be expected for a road crossing the Pennines, Snake Pass has several dangerous bends and blind summits. Like many roads in the North of England passing through similar terrain, Snake Pass has a poor safety record in comparison to other roads in the United Kingdom but it is not as dangerous as other roads bisecting hilly terrain in this part of England. It was not among the top ten in lists of the most dangerous roads published by the Road Safety Foundation for EuroRAP in June 2007 and in July 2010, despite nine of the top ten being in Northern England.In 2012, Derbyshire Police announced a campaign to monitor motorcyclists using the pass, who are particularly at risk of being involved in a fatal accident.Incidents of people being overtaken by bad weather in Snake Pass, and in particular the deaths of three walkers in 1964, led to the organisation of Peak District Mountain Rescue.
Weather
In winter the road is often the first of the routes between Sheffield and Manchester to be closed following snow in the area. In bad storms the entire road over the summit, including marker poles, has been buried in snow. Derbyshire County Council, who are the highway authority for Snake Pass, class the route as a priority for gritting which is pre-treated ahead of icy weather. The local borough council, High Peak Borough Council, who are not responsible for gritting, have stated that they would prefer streets in towns and villages were treated instead, as they believe that roads such as Snake Pass will be closed anyway.In 1924, Derbyshire County Council spent £2,000 (equivalent to £121,000 in 2021) installing underground telegraph wire cables beneath the road, as the above-ground installations were continually broken and disrupted following snowstorms. The British winter of 2010–11 was the coldest for decades and the road was closed on numerous occasions.
Subsidence
Snake Pass has also been closed for longer periods owing to subsidence in the local area following rain. In January 1932, the road was closed after 200 tonnes of debris fell on it during a heavy rainstorm, covering the surface in as much as 4 feet (1.2 m) in places. In January 2008, a landslip at Cowms Moor following heavy rain caused the road to be closed to all traffic between Ladybower and Glossop, although access was still available to local premises and businesses including the Snake Pass Inn. A subsequent investigation by the British Geological Survey showed the road has had a history of subsidence-related long-term closures dating back to the 1930s, including a 1970s project that attempted to strengthen the layer below the tarmac with local rock fill. The road reopened in February, but with temporary traffic lights at the point of the slip restricting traffic to one direction at a time. In 2012, the road had to be closed several times for resurfacing and strengthening.In February 2022, Snake Pass was closed to motor vehicles after Storm Eunice caused heavy rain leading to subsidence. Inspectors examining the road found three slumps in a single mile-long section. Two weeks later, the closure was extended to bicycles, prompting protests; it was reopened on 31 March with weight restrictions and traffic light sections. That August, the council announced it would be partially closed again to investigate collapses, while the road would be examined with a drilling rig.In May 2023, the road was closed again after Storm Eunice and Storm Franklin brought heavy rainfall to the region, causing landslips of up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in). The closure extended from the turnoff at Fairholms to the summit.
Cycling and hiking
Snake Pass is a popular route for cyclists. A 1902 report on leisure cycling in the Lancashire Evening Post described the eastward journey from the summit to Ashopton as "nine miles unbroken freewheeling" and the scenery as "magnificent". The road is one of only a few road climbs in the UK that are comparable in length and average gradient (approximately 7 per cent for around 3.2 miles (5.1 km) when starting in Glossop) to those used in continental cycle racing. The road had been part of an 82-mile (132 km) "Tour of the Peak" race, involving climbing the pass twice, and has frequently featured in the Tour of Britain along with another nearby favourite, Holme Moss.Cycling Time Trials sanctioned hill climbs are regularly promoted on this course by local club Glossop Kinder Velo. The record for completing the course is 11 minutes 51 seconds, which was set by Tejvan Pettinger in 2014.The annual Four Inns Walk has traditionally used parts of the route.
Bus route
Between October 2020 and January 2022, Hulleys of Baslow operated the X57 Snake bus route, which ran between Sheffield and Manchester via the Snake Pass. The service was withdrawn on 9 January 2022 because low ridership made the route unsustainable.
In popular culture
Snake Pass has been referred to several times by music groups. The track "The Snake" by Sheffield band The Human League, from their 2001 album Secrets, is about the road. The Squarepusher album Selection Sixteen features a track entitled "Snake Pass", described by Rolling Stone as a "monomaniacal thump".Comic character John Shuttleworth has performed a song called "Incident on Snake Pass" about the perils of Snake Pass, relating to an accident he claimed to have had, driving a Ford Anglia on the road.
National Trust description of the area |
Portal often refers to:
Portal (architecture), an opening in a wall of a building, gate or fortification, or the extremities (ends) of a tunnelPortal may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Gaming
Portal (series), a series of video games developed by Valve
Portal (video game), a 2007 video game, the first in the series
Portal 2, the 2011 sequel
Portal Stories: Mel, a mod for Portal 2
Portal (1986 video game), a 1986 computer game by Activision
Portal (Magic: The Gathering), a set in the Magic: The Gathering card game
Portal (video game element), an element in video game design
Music
Portal (band), an Australian extreme metal band
Portal (album), a 1994 album by Wendy & Carl
Portals (Arsonists Get All the Girls album), 2009
Portals (Sub Focus and Wilkinson album), 2020
"Portals", by Alan Silvestri, from the soundtrack for the film Avengers: Endgame
Portals (EP), a 2022 EP by Kirk Hammett
Portals (Melanie Martinez album), 2023
Other uses in arts and entertainment
Portal (comics), a Marvel Comics character
Portal (magic trick), an illusion performed by David Copperfield
Portal (TV series), a series about MMORPGs
Portals (initiative), a public art initiative that connects people in different world cities through real-time videoconferencing
The Portal (podcast), a podcast hosted by Eric Weinstein
Computing
Gateways to information
Captive portal, controlling connections to the Internet
Enterprise portal, a framework to provide a single point of access to a variety of information and tools
Intranet portal, a gateway that unifies access to all enterprise information and applications
Web portal, a site that functions as a point of access to information on the World Wide Web
Other uses in computing
Meta Portal, a screen-enhanced smart speaker
Portal rendering, an optimization technique in 3D computer graphics
Portals network programming API, a high-performance networking programming interface for massively parallel supercomputers
Portal Software, a company based in Cupertino, California
Places
Portal, Arizona
Portal, Georgia
Portal, Nebraska
Portal, North Dakota
Portal Peak, a mountain in Canada
Portal, Tarporley, a country house near Tarporley, Cheshire, England
Portal Bridge, over the Hackensack River in New Jersey
Organisations
Clube Atlético Portal, a football club based in Uberlândia, Brazil
Portals Athletic F.C., a defunct football club, based in Overton, England
Portals (paper makers), a UK paper making company
Other uses
NCAA transfer portal, a database and compliance tool facilitating US college athletes who wish to change schools
Portal frame, a construction method
Portal stones, a type of stone monument
Portal (surname), shared by several notable people
Portal venous system, an occurrence where one capillary bed drains into another through veins
Hepatic portal system, the portal system between the digestive system and the liver
Hepatic portal vein, a vein that drains blood from the digestive system
Hypophyseal portal system
See also
Conduit (channeling)
The Portal (disambiguation)
Porthole, a window in the hull of a ship
Wormhole |
Spyro is a video game series originally created by Insomniac Games as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. The series features the adventures of the main protagonist of the same name, a dragon. Since the series' introduction in 1998 with, there have been numerous sequels and a reboot trilogy. The series was originally produced by Universal Interactive, later became known as Vivendi Games; the rights to the intellectual property were acquired by Activision after its merge with Vivendi in 2008.
The series went dormant for a decade until a collection of remakes of the original Spyro PlayStation trilogy called Spyro Reignited Trilogy, developed by Toys for Bob, was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in November 2018, and later for Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch in September 2019.
Games
Original PlayStation trilogy (1998–2000)
Spyro the Dragon was released in North America on September 9, 1998 and Europe in October 1998 for the PlayStation. It is a platform game that placed the player as Spyro, a small purple dragon set with the task of freeing his fellow dragons from crystal prisons, which are scattered around their world. Each level is accessed through 'portals' from a main world. The game closes out with the climatic battle between Spyro and the primary antagonist, Gnasty Gnorc. The game sold well, with a total of five million copies being sold worldwide. The game received favorable reviews from IGN giving Spyro the Dragon a 9 out of 10. It received acclaim for its musical score by Stewart Copeland.Ripto's Rage!, known as Gateway to Glimmer in Europe and Australia, followed on from the success of the first title, making its release on November 2, 1999 in North America and November 5, 1999 in Europe for the PlayStation. The game introduced new characters including Hunter, a cheetah; Elora, a faun; The Professor, a mole; and Zoe, a fairy. The structure of the game is similar to the first, with levels being accessed from the three main home worlds: Summer Forest, Autumn Plains, and Winter Tundra. The game ends with the climatic duel between Spyro and the primary antagonist, Ripto. The game introduces some abilities for Spyro, including hovering after a glide, swimming underwater, climbing ladders, head-bashing, and the ability to use power-ups. Like its predecessor, it was critically acclaimed.Year of the Dragon was released in North America on October 24, 2000 and Europe on November 10, 2000 for the PlayStation, and it was Insomniac's last Spyro game. In the game, the dragons are celebrating the Year of the Dragon, an event held every twelve years in which new dragon eggs arrive in the dragon worlds. Bianca, an anthropomorphic rabbit, steals the eggs, and Spyro follows her down a rabbit hole. The rabbit hole leads to the Forgotten Realms, which are under the rule of the game's primary antagonist, The Sorceress, to whom Bianca is apprenticed. As in the previous games, levels are accessed from a central home world, of which there are four: Sunrise Spring, Midday Gardens, Evening Lake, and Midnight Mountain. The game also features levels in which the player controls "Sparx", Spyro's companion dragonfly, in a bird's eye view shooting game as well as four new playable characters: Sheila the Kangaroo, Sgt. Byrd, Bentley the Yeti, and Agent 9 the Monkey.
Multiplatform and handhelds (2001–05)
Season of Ice was the first Spyro game not to be developed by Insomniac Games or be on a Sony console, released for the Game Boy Advance and developed by Digital Eclipse. It is known as Spyro Advance in Japan. Spyro must use his fire breath to rescue the fairies in the various Fairy Realms after they are frozen by an evil monster named Grendor.
Season of Flame was the second Digital Eclipse title and was released for the Game Boy Advance. It is the sequel to Season of Ice, and introduces new features, such as the ability to breathe other elements besides fire. In the game, Spyro must recover the stolen fireflies scattered across the Dragon Realms and foil an evil plot by Ripto and his minions.
Enter the Dragonfly is available for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube, and was developed by Equinox Digital Entertainment and Check Six Studios. It had received mixed to negative responses from reviewers, referring to the numerous glitches, lack of storyline, originality, and long load times. The story begins with the baby dragons preparing to receive their dragonflies and celebrating. Ripto captures the dragonflies, making the dragons helpless, and accidentally scatters the dragonflies across the world with a spell. Spyro must recover the dragonflies.
Attack of the Rhynocs, also known as Spyro Adventure in Europe and Australia, is the third and final game to be developed by Digital Eclipse. Spyro is tasked with collecting the "Heart" of each land in order to stop Ripto's latest evil scheme after a machine malfunctions opening a portal, bringing Ripto back into the dragon realms following the events of Enter The Dragonfly.
The Cortex Conspiracy, known as Spyro Fusion in Europe and Australia, and Spyro Advance Wakuwaku Tomodachi Daisakusen! in Japan, introduces multiple game screening. It is a crossover game between Spyro the Dragon and Crash Bandicoot, and a companion game to Crash Bandicoot Purple: Ripto's Rampage. In the game, Spyro travels through Crash's universe in a side-scroller, rather than the traditional isometric, top-down view.
A Hero's Tail is available for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, and was created by Eurocom. The game revolves around an evil plot by the villain Red, a former Dragon Elder, who begins to plant Dark Gems around the Dragon Realms, sucking the life out of these worlds. He also works alongside Gnasty Gnorc and Ineptune. Spyro then begins his journey to destroy all the Dark Gems, alongside Sparx, Hunter, Sgt. Byrd, and Blink.
Shadow Legacy acts as a sequel to Spyro: A Hero's Tail and was released only on the Nintendo DS. This is the first Spyro game that plays as a role-playing game as opposed to a platformer and the game allows Spyro to gain experience, level up and learn new spells and combat moves. Spyro must use his new skills to save his allies when they are trapped in the "Shadow Realm" which features returning levels from the Dragon Kingdom, Avalar, and the Forgotten Realms.
The Legend of Spyro reboot trilogy (2006–08)
The Legend of Spyro is a game trilogy that is part of the Spyro the Dragon series. It acted as a reboot to the original series. The games use a combination of close-combat and platforming gameplay, though the gameplay is more oriented towards combat than previous games in the Spyro series were. The story revolves around Spyro, the protagonist, and his efforts to stop Malefor, The Dark Master, from destroying the world.The first installment of this game is titled The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning. It focuses on Spyro's origins as a legendary purple dragon and his quest to stop Cynder, the black dragon waging war against the world. He meets Ignitus the Fire Guardian, a red dragon who tells him about his past and offers to train him in his newly discovered ability to breathe fire. Spyro must then embark on a quest to various worlds to rescue the other three Guardians; Volteer, the Electric Guardian, Cyril, the Ice Guardian, and Terrador, the Earth Guardian. Each guardian trains him in a new elemental breath to help him on his journey and eventual fight with Cynder herself.
Spyro Reignited Trilogy (2018)
Discussions around the relaunch of Spyro began as early as 2014. In a July 2014 interview with The Daily Telegraph, Sony Computer Entertainment CEO, Andrew House stated that his team was considering bringing Spyro back. House stated that he believed video gamers would be interested in revisiting a character from their youth. Later that same year, Insomniac Games CEO Ted Price also stated that making a new Spyro game was a possibility. In 2017, developer Vicarious Visions stated that they were aware of how high the popular demand was for a revival of the classic Spyro series. In a statement they said, "just keep asking". Spyro Reignited Trilogy was officially announced on 5 April 2018 and was originally going to be released on 21 September 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, before being delayed to 13 November 2018. The game was developed by Skylanders developer Toys for Bob and was ported to Microsoft Windows and Nintendo Switch, with a release date of 3 September 2019.
Other games
In addition to Crash Purple and Spyro Orange, Spyro has made various crossover appearances in the Crash Bandicoot series. Spyro appears as a playable character in the Game Boy Advance version of Crash Nitro Kart, and makes a cameo appearance in Crash Twinsanity. The characters Spyro, Cynder, Dark Spyro, Sparx the Dragonfly and Malefor also made appearances in the Skylanders series, including all six mainline games and the television series. Elements from the Spyro series were added to Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled as part of a post-launch game update in August 2019. Spyro, Hunter, and Gnasty Gnorc appear as playable characters, along with Spyro-themed karts and a "Spyro Circuit" race track. Spyro-themed parade and pool floats appear in Crash Bandicoot 4: It's About Time, while both Spyro and Dark Spyro have major roles in Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!
Cancelled games
Spyro Ever After was going to be the first Spyro educational game where Spyro meets fairy tale characters like The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Golden Goose. However, the game never passed the storyboard, and was cancelled.Agent 9 was a James Bond-like parody spin-off game starring Agent 9 as the main character as he does spy missions. It was set to be developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment and Backbone Entertainment and be published by Universal Interactive. The game's production was cancelled for undisclosed reasons.After the cancellation of Agent 9, Digital Eclipse reworked the game into a full Spyro the Dragon title, that took place in a large desert environment. The video game title was never released to the market, and was scrapped by Digital Eclipse.
Common elements
Characters
The main character of the series is Spyro the Dragon, a young purple dragon. In the original series, he is accompanied by Sparx, a dragonfly that performs many functions such as helping protect Spyro from damage and collecting gems. Most of the games before the Legend of Spyro series include Hunter the cheetah, a loyal friend of Spyro's who sometimes helps him on quests; Moneybags, a money-obsessed bear who in some games is needed to make pathways for Spyro for a small fee; and Zoe, a fairy who serves as checkpoints in each land that Spyro visits.
Locations
The Dragon Realms are the main setting of the series where most of the dragons including Spyro live. Avalar is a separate world that was being threatened by Ripto in Spyro: Ripto's Rage. The Forgotten Realms are the ancient home of the dragons before being driven out by the Sorceress and serve as the setting for Spyro: Year of the Dragon. The Fairy Realms are a separate series of realms that are inhabited by fairies and only appear in Spyro: Season of Ice. After collecting enough orbs in Spyro 2: Riptos Rage, the Dragon Shores can be accessed, which has games and a special power-up for Spyro.
Collectibles
A large part of the original series revolves around item collection. When the player collects a certain amount of items, they can move on to the next area. The most common of these are gems, which are often used not only for collecting, but also for buying skills, passageways, items, and more. In A Hero's Tail there were special dark gems, which the player had to destroy to proceed to new areas within the game, while collecting light gems allowed use of some of the professor's inventions and opened certain doors.
Freeing dragons is the main goal in Spyro the Dragon, while retrieving dragon eggs is the main goal in Spyro: Year of the Dragon. In Spyro the Dragon, dragon eggs are also collected by chasing down thieves (but their color designs are different from those of the third installment). They also appear in Spyro: A Hero's Tail, and collecting them will unlock concept art. Collecting Talismans and Orbs are the primary goal in Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!, as the devices are used in a portal to get Spyro back to his home. Dragonflies are the primary collectibles in Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly where Spyro catches them using his bubble breath. In Spyro: Season of Ice freeing fairies is the main goal, and in Spyro 2: Season of Flame collecting fireflies is the goal.
Music
Stewart Copeland composed the soundtracks for the first four Spyro games. Copeland made music for each world in the games as well as music devoted to each level, often playing each level so he could tailor the mood of the music to the level. As with the voice cast in A Hero's Tail, Stewart Copeland was replaced and the soundtrack was composed by Steve Duckworth and Paul Lawler. Rebecca Kneubuhl and Gabriel Mann of the a cappella band Spiralmouth composed the music for The Legend of Spyro trilogy. Finally, for Reignited Trilogy, Copeland's music was remixed in-house by the developer and remained mostly faithful to the original scores; Copeland himself composed a main theme for the compilation.
Reception
As of 2007, the Spyro the Dragon series has sold over 20 million units worldwide. According to the Los Angeles Times, the first Spyro game has sold 4.8 million units as of November 2007, making it the seventeenth best-selling PlayStation game of all time. Ripto's Rage! sold 3.45 million units in the U.S., while Year of the Dragon sold 3.28 million.
Official website |
AOE or AoE may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Age of Empires, a series of real-time strategy video games, or the first game of the series
Area of effect, a term used in gaming to describe area attacks
Transformers: Age of Extinction, a 2014 film
Technology
ATA over Ethernet (AoE), lightweight storage area network protocol
Audio over Ethernet, the concept of using an Ethernet-based network to transmit digital audio in audio engineering
Alpha Omega Epsilon, a social and professional sorority for women in engineering and technical sciences
Transport
Airport of entry, an airport that provides customs and immigration services
American Orient Express
AOE, a United States Navy hull classification symbol for a fast combat support ship
ATO over ETCS, Automatic train operation over European Train Control System)
Other
Acute otitis externa, an infection of the external ear canal
Alberta Order of Excellence, a high notary award given in Alberta, Canada
Anywhere on Earth (AoE), a calendar designation for UTC−12:00
Assembly of Experts, an Iranian governmental body
Axis of evil, a term used by former U.S. President George W. Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address
See also
AEO (disambiguation) |
Teaser may not refer to:
Cold open, a segment at the beginning of a television program or film before the opening creditsTeaser may refer to:
One who teases
Teaser (animal), a male livestock animal (typically a bull) whose penis has been amputated, "gomer"
Film exhibition, broadcasting, advertising
Billboard (broadcasting), a programming segment, at the beginning of a radio or TV show, or the end of previous radio or TV show, identifying upcoming content.like headlines at the beginning of a newscastTeaser (broadcasting), a programming segment, during or between radio or TV shows, promoting later contentsee clickbaitTeaser (trailer), a advertising method specifically focused in film and television (including theatrical trailers). It is a teaser campaign method.
Teaser campaign is a broad term used to refer to an abridged promotion that leaves the receiver with lots of questions in order to build anticipation.
Film productions
The Teaser (1925 film), directed by William A. Seiter and starring Laura La Plante and Pat O'Malley
Music productions
Teaser (Tommy Bolin album)
Teaser (Angela Bofill album)
"Teaser" (George Benson song)
"Teaser", a song by Kardinal Offishall
"Teaser", a song by the Brothers Johnson from Winners
Games
Teaser (gambling), a type of gambling bet that allows the bettor to combine bets on two different games
Brain teaser, a puzzle
Ships
USS Teaser, more than one United States Navy ship
Teaser (sternwheeler), a steamboat that ran on the Columbia River and Puget Sound from 1874 to 1880
HMS Teazer, various ships of the British Royal Navy
See also
Teazer (disambiguation)
All pages with titles containing Teaser
All pages with titles beginning with Teaser
Tease (disambiguation) |
WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of children's television programming, which is distributed through its multi-channel network, WildBrain Spark, and a group of Canadian specialty television channels.
DHX was founded in 2006 when the entertainment entrepreneurs Michael Donovan and Steven DeNure gained control of Decode Entertainment and the Halifax Film Company.
History
As DHX Media
In 2006, the Toronto-based Decode Entertainment and Halifax-based Halifax Film Company merged so that the newly merged company would be named the Decode-Halifax Film Company. The newly public company known as DHX Media, began trading in 2006, because the name, "DHX", is an acronym for the combination of the names Decode and Halifax.A reverse merger deal with Entertainment One was considered in 2008, but was dropped. On March 25, 2008, DHX Media acquired Bulldog Interactive Fitness. On September 8, 2010, all related subsidiaries and divisions were rebranded under the label DHX Media. On September 14, 2010, DHX Media acquired the American animation studio Wildbrain Entertainment.On August 20, 2012, it was announced that DHX Media would acquire Cookie Jar Group for CA $111 million, a deal which would make DHX the world's largest independent owner of children's television programming. The acquisition was completed on October 22, 2012.In May 2013, DHX introduced three premium, subscription-based channels on YouTube; DHX Junior, DHX Kids, and DHX Retro. DHX's then executive chairman Michael Hirsh stated that the offerings were meant to leverage the company's library and the growth of digital distribution in the children's television market. DHX was among the first 30 content partners for YouTube's premium channel platform.On September 16, 2013, DHX acquired Ragdoll Worldwide—a joint venture between British production company Ragdoll Productions, BBC Worldwide and an investment group that managed and licensed Ragdoll Productions' properties outside the United Kingdom. As a result, Teletubbies and In the Night Garden came into DHX's ownership.
Expansion into broadcasting, subsequent partnerships
On November 28, 2013, DHX announced that it would acquire four children's specialty television channels from the former Astral Media for CA$170 million, consisting of Family Channel, Disney Junior (English), Disney Junior (French), and Disney XD. The networks were being sold as a condition of Bell Media's 2013 acquisition of the remainder of Astral Media's assets; its purchase of the networks marked DHX's first foray into television broadcasting. The deal was approved by the CRTC on July 24, 2014, and closed on July 31, 2014. The channels were incorporated into a new unit, DHX Television.In early 2014, DHX Media acquired Epitome Pictures, the company that produced the post-2001 entries of the Degrassi franchise, but Epitome did not own international distribution rights. In November, DHX purchased 117 children's and family titles from US distributor Echo Bridge Home Entertainment. The acquisition comprised about 1,200 half-hours including the international distribution rights to Degrassi, as well as Instant Star and The L.A. Complex (two other Epitome productions), as well as distribution rights to an additional 34 series. Other shows in the purchase included Lunar Jim, Beast Wars: Transformers and Cookie Jar's Emily of New Moon. Nerd Corps Entertainment, a computer animation studio founded by former Mainframe Entertainment producers Asaph Fipke and Chuck Johnson, also the makers of Slugterra, was acquired by DHX Media on December 24.In April 2015, Corus Entertainment announced that it had acquired Canadian rights to the program library of Disney Channel and its associated brands as part of a deal with the Disney–ABC Television Group; DHX's existing deal with Disney, which covered programming across the four DHX Television services, ended in January 2016. DHX's Disney-branded channels were re-branded as Family Jr. and Télémagino in September 2015.
In August 2015, DHX reached an output deal with AwesomenessTV; the deal includes rights to its programming for Family Channel, along with plans to co-develop new, original content for DHX to distribute and merchandise internationally. In December 2015, DHX reached an output deal with DreamWorks Animation, which included Canadian rights to its original animated television series, and a pact to co-produce 130 episodes of animated programming for the Family networks, with DHX handling Canadian distribution and DreamWorks handling international distribution. Also that month, DHX established a development deal with Mattel to co-develop and handle global sales for content in the Little People and Polly Pocket franchises, as well as HiT Entertainment properties owned by them such as the Bob the Builder and Fireman Sam franchises, including television and digital video programming.In April 2016, DHX Media announced the formation of a new London-based multi-channel network under the WildBrain name. On September 21, 2016, DHX cut a deal with Air Bud Entertainment (founded by Robert Vince) distribute the Air Bud library of 15 films, including the newest Air Bud production Pup Star.
Peanuts acquisition, reorganizations
On May 10, 2017, DHX announced that it had acquired the entertainment division of Iconix Brand Group for US$345 million. The purchase gave DHX full ownership to the Strawberry Shortcake franchise and, more prominently, an 80% majority stake in Peanuts Worldwide.On October 2, 2017, the company announced that it was evaluating strategic alternatives, including a potential sale, following a review of its finances. DHX's debt had increased following the Iconix acquisition, and the company reported a net loss of CA$18.3 million during its fiscal fourth quarter.On May 14, 2018, DHX announced that it would sell a 39% stake (approximately 49% of its total ownership) in Peanuts Worldwide to its Japanese licensee Sony Music Entertainment Japan for US$185 million. The sale would be used to help cover DHX's debt.On September 24, 2018, DHX announced that it had concluded its strategic review and decided against selling the company, and that it planned to prioritize investments into digital content (including short-form digital content for WildBrain, and premium long-form content intended for platforms such as Amazon Video and Netflix), rather than television, to reflect changes in viewing habits. On the same day, the company also reported a revenue of CA $434.4 million for its fiscal 2018 (up from CA $298.7 million in its fiscal 2017). In November 2018, DHX announced the sale of its Halifax animation studio to IoM Media Ventures, a new company led by former DHX CEO Dana Landry. The Halifax animation studio had been operating on a loss. The sale was completed on December 21, 2018.In February 2019, the company announced plans to consolidate its operations into two internal subsidiaries for "improved focus and strategic flexibility", focused on studios and networks, and digital respectively. During its investors' call, then CEO Michael Donovan stated that the company had slightly downsized its slate of productions to "focus on the shows we think have the greatest potential, particularly with respect to consumer products".
As WildBrain
In August 2019, former Marvel Entertainment CEO and founder of Classic Media (now DreamWorks Classics) Eric Ellenbogen was named the new CEO of DHX Media. DHX began trading as "WildBrain", building upon its multi-channel network of the same name (which was subsequently renamed to "WildBrain Spark"). Company president Josh Scherba explained that the name was "synonymous with creativity, imagination and innovation", and symbolized the company's efforts to achieve stronger collaboration and integration between its businesses. DHX shareholders officially approved the change in corporate name during its annual shareholder meeting in December.On February 3, 2022, WildBrain acquired distribution, production, and licensing rights to the Jay Ward Productions portfolio; both companies will create new content based on the portfolio. The deal excluded co-productions from the Bullwinkle Studios venture that was operated by DreamWorks Classics before the new deal was made. That November, the studio made a production deal with How to Train Your Dragon producer Bonnie Arnold, through which she would produce television and film content for the studio. The first projects following the deal are set to be adaptations of Cressida Crowell's Which Way to Anywhere novel and Emily Broen series.Josh Scherba became President and CEO of the company in 2023. WildBrain announced its intent to acquire Toronto-based animation studio House of Cool for CA$18.3 million on March 29, 2023. The acqusition was completed in July 2023. As part of the deal, House of Cool co-founders Wes Lui and Ricardo Curtis joined WildBrain as co-general managers of the studio.
Businesses
WildBrain CPLG (formerly Copyright Promotions Licensing Group), a third-party entertainment, sport and brand licensing agency headquartered in London, United Kingdom with offices around the world, became a subsidiary to WildBrain in the process of the acquisition of Cookie Jar Entertainment.
WildBrain Distribution: WildBrain distributes television shows and specials within their library to various media platforms, territory-by-territory. The company maintains distribution offices in Toronto, Beijing, Los Angeles, New York, London, and Paris, and a support team in Toronto.
WildBrain Television: WildBrain operates four Canadian specialty television channels: three in English (Family Channel, Family Jr., and WildBrainTV) and a French-language channel (Télémagino). They were acquired in 2013 from Bell Media as part of its acquisition of Astral Media.
WildBrain Studios: WildBrain maintains a production studio in Vancouver, British Columbia, and formally operated 3 others.
WildBrain Spark is a multi-channel network based in London, England, that programs digital children's content on services such as YouTube—including content from WildBrain's library and properties, as well as edutainment and toys. It was formerly known as simply "WildBrain" until DHX's 2019 rebranding. The division has also entered into partnerships with other parties to manage their digital properties. The WildBrain Spark channel is among the largest children's channels on YouTube, and accounted for $70 million of WildBrain's revenue in 2019.
See also
List of WildBrain programs
List of libraries owned by WildBrain
Official website
DHX Media at The Big Cartoon DataBase
Decode Entertainment at The Big Cartoon DataBase
Studio B Productions at The Big Cartoon DataBaseBulldog Interactive Fitness website
DHX Media Website |
ID2020 is an American 501(c)(3) nongovernmental organization which advocates for digital ID for the billion undocumented people worldwide and under-served groups like refugees. Clive Smith succeeded founder Dakota Gruener as executive director in 2022. The NGO was relatively unknown before being publicized because of misinformation related to the COVID-19 pandemic by conspiracy theorists.
History
ID2020 was founded by John Edge on June 27, 2014 after being inspired by a screening of Meena.On August 10, 2015, Dr. Alicia Carmona published a blog post on LinkedIn seeking input from her colleagues with examples where "identification/identity is at the core of a community problem." She noted that a new non-profit organization called Identification 2020 was soon to be formally launched.On May 20, 2016, at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, the inaugural ID2020 summit brought together over 400 people to discuss how to provide digital identity to all, a defined Sustainable Development Goal including to 1.5 billion people living without any form of recognized identification. Experts in blockchain and other cryptographic technology joined with representatives of technical standards bodies to identify how technology and other private sector expertise could achieve the goal.The 2018 summit was held in September 2018, and focused on defining what constitutes a "good" digital ID. Sponsors for the event included the United Nations Office of Information Communications Technology (OICT), United Nations Refugee Agency, International Telecommunication Union and the Consulate General of Denmark in New York.In 2019, ID2020 started a new digital identity program in collaboration with the government of Bangladesh and Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.
Mission
ID2020 is a public-private consortium in service of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of providing legal identity for all people, including the world's most vulnerable populations.ID2020 has published a ten-point mission statement, which includes: "We believe that individuals must have control over their own digital identities, including how personal data is collected, used, and shared."
Participants
Organizations currently or formerly participating in the ID2020 initiative include:
COVID-19 conspiracy theory
Conspiracy theorists falsely alleged that ID2020 and Bill Gates made plans for mandatory COVID-19 vaccination and the implantation of microchips into patients' bodies. As a result of these conspiracy theories, the staff at ID2020 received death threats.
Official website
World Health Organization: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: Myth busters
Coronavirus at Politifact |
Web3 (also known as Web 3.0) is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and token-based economics. Some technologists and journalists have contrasted it with Web 2.0, wherein they say data and content are centralized in a small group of companies sometimes referred to as "Big Tech". The term "Web3" was coined in 2014 by Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood, and the idea gained interest in 2021 from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, large technology companies, and venture capital firms. The concepts of Web3 were first represented in 2013.Critics have expressed concerns over the centralization of wealth to a small group of investors and individuals, or a loss of privacy due to more expansive data collection. Billionaires like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey have argued that Web3 only serves as a buzzword or marketing term.
Background
Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 refer to eras in the history of the World Wide Web as it evolved through various technologies and formats. Web 1.0 refers roughly to the period from 1989 to 2004, where most sites consisted of static pages, and the vast majority of users were consumers, not producers of content. Web 2.0 is based around the idea of "the web as platform" and centers on user-created content uploaded to forums, social media and networking services, blogs, and wikis, among other services. Web 2.0 is generally considered to have begun around 2004 and continues to the current day.
Terminology
Web3 is distinct from Tim Berners-Lee's 1999 concept for a Semantic Web. In 2006, Berners-Lee described the Semantic Web as a component of Web 3.0, which is different from the meaning of Web3 in blockchain contexts.The term "Web3" was coined by Polkadot founder and Ethereum co-founder Gavin Wood in 2014, referring to a "decentralized online ecosystem based on blockchain." In 2021, the idea of Web3 gained popularity. Particular interest spiked toward the end of 2021, largely due to interest from cryptocurrency enthusiasts and investments from high-profile technologists and companies. Executives from venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz traveled to Washington, D.C., in October 2021 to lobby for the idea as a potential solution to questions about regulation of the web, with which policymakers have been grappling.
Concept
Specific visions for Web3 differ, and the term has been described by Olga Kharif as "hazy", but they revolve around the idea of decentralization and often incorporate blockchain technologies, such as various cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Kharif has described Web3 as an idea that "would build financial assets, in the form of tokens, into the inner workings of almost anything you do online". A policy brief published by the Bennett Institute for Public Policy at the University of Cambridge defined Web3 as "the putative next generation of the web's technical, legal, and payments infrastructure—including blockchain, smart contracts and cryptocurrencies." According to Liu, Zhuotao, et al (2021), three fundamental architectural enablers of Web3 were identified as a combination of decentralized or federated platforms, secured interoperability, and verifiable computing through distributed ledger technologies.Some visions are based around the concept of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). Decentralized finance (DeFi) is another key concept; in it, users exchange currency without bank or government involvement. Self-sovereign identity allows users to identify themselves without relying on an authentication system such as OAuth, in which a trusted party has to be reached in order to assess identity. Technology scholars have argued that Web3 would likely run in tandem with Web 2.0 sites, with Web 2.0 sites likely adopting Web3 technologies in order to keep their services relevant.
Reception
Technologists, journalists, and academic researchers, such as Chaffer and Goldston (2022), have described Web3 as a possible solution to concerns about the over-centralization of the web in a few "Big Tech" companies. Some have expressed the notion that Web3 could improve data security, scalability, and privacy beyond what is currently possible with Web 2.0 platforms. Bloomberg states that skeptics say the idea "is a long way from proving its use beyond niche applications, many of them tools aimed at crypto traders". The New York Times reported that several investors are betting $27 billion that Web3 "is the future of the internet".Some Web 2.0 companies, including Reddit and Discord, have explored incorporating Web3 technologies into their platforms. On November 8, 2021, CEO Jason Citron tweeted a screenshot suggesting Discord might be exploring integrating cryptocurrency wallets into their platform. Two days later, and after heavy user backlash, Discord announced they had no plans to integrate such technologies and that it was an internal-only concept that had been developed in a company-wide hackathon.Some legal scholars quoted by The Conversation have expressed concerns over the difficulty of regulating a decentralized web, which they reported might make it more difficult to prevent cybercrime, online harassment, hate speech, and the dissemination of child abuse images. But, the news website also states that, "[decentralized web] represents the cyber-libertarian views and hopes of the past that the internet can empower ordinary people by breaking down existing power structures". Some other critics of Web3 see the concept as a part of a cryptocurrency bubble, or as an extension of blockchain-based trends that they see as overhyped or harmful, particularly NFTs. Some critics have raised concerns about the environmental impact of cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Cryptocurrencies vary in efficiency, with proof of stake having been designed to be less energy intensive than the more widely used proof of work, although there is disagreement about how secure and decentralized this is in practice. Others have expressed beliefs that Web3 and the associated technologies are a pyramid scheme.Jack Dorsey, co-founder and former CEO of Twitter, dismissed Web3 as a "venture capitalists' plaything". Dorsey opined that Web3 will not democratize the internet, but it will shift power from players like Facebook to venture capital funds like Andreessen Horowitz.
Buzzword
Liam Proven, writing for The Register, concludes that Web3 is "a myth, a fairy story. It's what parents tell their kids about at night if they want them to grow up to become economists".In 2021, SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed skepticism about Web3 in a tweet, saying that Web3 "seems more marketing buzzword than reality right now."In November 2021, James Grimmelmann of Cornell University referred to Web3 as vaporware, calling it "a promised future internet that fixes all the things people don't like about the current internet, even when it's contradictory." Grimmelmann also argued that moving the internet toward a blockchain-focused infrastructure would centralize and cause more data collection compared to the current internet.Software engineer Stephen Diehl described Web3 in a blog post as a "vapid marketing campaign that attempts to reframe the public's negative associations of crypto assets into a false narrative about disruption of legacy tech company hegemony."
Not decentralised
Kevin Werbach, author of The Blockchain and the New Architecture of Trust, has said that "many so-called 'Web 3.0' solutions are not as decentralized as they seem, while others have yet to show they are scalable, secure and accessible enough for the mass market", adding that this "may change, but it's not a given that all these limitations will be overcome."In early 2022, Moxie Marlinspike, creator of Signal, articulated how Web3 is not as decentralized as it appears to be, mainly due to consolidation in the cryptocurrency field, including in blockchain application programming interfaces which is currently mainly controlled by the companies Alchemy and Infura, cryptocurrency exchanges which is mainly dominated by Binance, Coinbase, MetaMask, and OpenSea, and the stablecoin market which is currently dominated by Tether. Marlinspike also remarked that the new web resembles the old web.An Ad Age article from 2022 stated "early adopters want to make a new internet that alleviates the problems of the old one" but said if companies put the same type of people in charge as on the earlier version, and those people had similar attitudes, the same problems would happen. Another article in the same issue of the magazine quoted Alex Smeele, co-founder of Non-Fungible Labs, who said companies that wanted to participate in Web3 were "actually going to have to rethink their entire business model."Ana Constantino, founder of meetup platform Nowhere, said the metaverse did not really welcome everyone, because owners of NFT real estate on sites such as Decentraland could keep people out who did not have the assets.
See also
Distributed social network
InterPlanetary File System – Web3 user-made cloud |
Compositing is the process or technique of combining visual elements from separate sources into single images, often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene. Live-action shooting for compositing is variously called "chroma key", "blue screen", "green screen" and other names. Today, most, though not all, compositing is achieved through digital image manipulation. Pre-digital compositing techniques, however, go back as far as the trick films of Georges Méliès in the late 19th century, and some are still in use.
Basic procedure
All compositing involves the replacement of selected parts of an image with other material, usually, but not always, from another image. In the digital method of compositing, software commands designate a narrowly defined color as the part of an image to be replaced. Then the software (e.g. Natron) replaces every pixel within the designated color range with a pixel from another image, aligned to appear as part of the original. For example, one could record a television weather presenter positioned in front of a plain blue or green background, while compositing software replaces only the designated blue or green color with weather maps.
Typical applications
In television studios, blue or green screens may back news-readers to allow the compositing of stories behind them, before being switched to full-screen display. In other cases, presenters may be completely within compositing backgrounds that are replaced with entire "virtual sets" executed in computer graphics programs. In sophisticated installations, subjects, cameras, or both can move about freely while the computer-generated imagery (CGI) environment changes in real time to maintain correct relationships between the camera angles, subjects, and virtual "backgrounds".
Virtual sets are also used in motion picture filmmaking, usually photographed in blue or green screen environments (other colors are possible but less common), as for example in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. More commonly, composited backgrounds are combined with sets – both full-size and models – and vehicles, furniture, and other physical objects that enhance the realism of the composited visuals. "Sets" of almost unlimited size can be created digitally because compositing software can take the blue or green color at the edges of a backing screen and extend it to fill the rest of the frame outside it. That way, subjects recorded in modest areas can be placed in large virtual vistas.
Most common, perhaps, are set extensions: digital additions to actual performing environments. In the film Gladiator, for example, the arena and first tier seats of the Roman Colosseum were actually built, while the upper galleries (complete with moving spectators) were computer graphics, composited onto the image above the physical set. For motion pictures originally recorded on film, high-quality video conversions called "digital intermediates" enable compositing and other operations of computerized post production. Digital compositing is a type of matting, and one of four basic compositing methods. The others are physical compositing, multiple exposure, and background projection, a method which utilizes both front projection and rear projection.
Physical compositing
In physical compositing the separate parts of the image are placed together in the photographic frame and recorded in a single exposure. The components are aligned so that they give the appearance of a single image. The most common physical compositing elements are partial models and glass paintings.
Partial models are typically used as set extensions such as ceilings or the upper stories of buildings. The model, built to match the actual set but on a much smaller scale, is hung in front of the camera, aligned so that it appears to be part of the set.
Models are often quite large because they must be placed far enough from the camera so that both they and the set far beyond them are in sharp focus.Glass shots are made by positioning a large pane of glass so that it fills the camera frame, and is far enough away to be held in focus along with the background visible through it. The entire scene is painted on the glass, except for the area revealing the background where action is to take place. This area is left clear. Photographed through the glass, the live action is composited with the painted area. A classic example of a glass shot is the approach to Ashley Wilkes' plantation in Gone with the Wind. The plantation and fields are all painted, while the road and the moving figures on it are photographed through the glass area left clear.
A variant uses the opposite technique: most of the area is clear, except for individual elements (photo cutouts or paintings) affixed to the glass. For example, a ranch house could be added to an empty valley by placing an appropriately scaled and positioned picture of it between the valley and the camera.
Multiple exposure
An in-camera multiple exposure is made by recording on only one part of each film frame, rewinding the film to exactly the same start point, exposing a second part, and repeating the process as needed. The resulting negative is a composite of all the individual exposures. (By contrast, a "double exposure" records multiple images on the entire frame area, so that all are partially visible through one another.) Exposing one section at a time is made possible by enclosing the camera lens (or the whole camera) in a light-tight box fitted with maskable openings, each one corresponding to one of the action areas. Only one opening is revealed per exposure, to record just the action positioned in front of it.
Multiple exposure is difficult because the action in each recording must match that of the others; thus, multiple-exposure composites typically contain only two or three elements. However, as early as 1900 Georges Méliès used seven-fold exposure in L'homme-orchestre/The One-man Band; and in the 1921 film The Playhouse, Buster Keaton used multiple exposures to appear simultaneously as nine different actors on a stage, perfectly synchronizing all nine performances.
Background projection
Background projection throws the background image on a screen behind the subjects in the foreground while the camera makes a composite by photographing both at once. The foreground elements conceal the parts of the background image behind them. Sometimes, the background is projected from the front, reflecting off the screen but not the foreground subjects because the screen is made of highly directional, exceptionally reflective material. (The prehistoric opening of 2001: A Space Odyssey uses front projection.) However, rear projection has been a far more common technique.
In rear projection, (often called process shooting) background images (called "plates", whether they are still pictures or moving) are photographed first. For example, a camera car may drive along streets or roads while photographing the changing scene behind it. In the studio, the resulting "background plate" is loaded into a projector with the film "flipped" (reversed), because it will be projected onto (and through) the back of a translucent screen. A car containing the performers is aligned in front of the screen so that the scenery appears through its rear and/or side windows. A camera in front of the car records both the foreground action and the projected scenery, as the performers pretend to drive.
Like multiple exposure, rear projection is technically difficult. The projector and camera motors must be synchronized to avoid flicker and perfectly aligned behind and before the screen. The foreground must be lit to prevent light spill onto the screen behind it. (For night driving scenes, the foreground lights are usually varied as the car "moves" along.) The projector must use a very strong light source so that the projected background is as bright as the foreground. Color filming presents additional difficulties, but can be quite convincing, as in several shots in the famous crop duster sequence in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest. (Much of the sequence, however, was shot on location.) Because of its complexity, rear projection has been largely replaced by digital compositing with, for example, the car positioned in front of a blue or green screen.
Matting
Traditional matting is the process of compositing two different film elements by printing them, one at a time, onto a duplicate strip of film. After one component is printed on the duplicate, the film is re-wound and the other component is added. Since the film cannot be exposed twice without creating a double exposure, the blank second area must be masked while the first is printed; then the freshly exposed first area must be masked while the second area is printed. Each masking is performed by a "traveling matte": a specially altered duplicate shot which lies on top of the copy film stock.
Like its digital successor, traditional matte photography uses a uniformly colored backing – usually (but not always) a special blue or green. Because a matching filter on the camera lens screens out only the backing color, the background area records as black, which, on the camera's negative film, will develop clear.
First, a print from the original negative is made on high-contrast film, which records the backing as opaque and the foreground subject as clear. A second high-contrast copy is then made from the first, rendering the backing clear and the foreground opaque.
Next, a three-layer sandwich of film is run through an optical printer. On the bottom is the unexposed copy film. Above it is the first matte, whose opaque backing color masks the background. On top is the negative of the foreground action. On this pass, the foreground is copied while the background is shielded from exposure by the matte.
Then the process is repeated; but this time, the copy film is masked by the reverse matte, which excludes light from the foreground area already exposed. The top layer contains the background scene, which is now exposed only in the areas protected during the previous pass. The result is a positive print of the combined background and foreground. A copy of this composite print yields a "dupe negative" that will replace the original foreground shot in the film's edited negative.
Advantages of digital mattes
Digital matting has replaced the traditional approach for two reasons. In the old system, the five separate strips of film (foreground and background originals, positive and negative mattes, and copy stock) could drift slightly out of registration, resulting in halos and other edge artifacts in the result. Done correctly, digital matting is perfect, down to the single-pixel level. Also, the final dupe negative was a "third generation" copy, and film loses quality each time it is copied. Digital images can be copied without quality loss.
This means that multi-layer digital composites can easily be made. For example, models of a space station, a space ship, and a second space ship could be shot separately against blue screen, each "moving" differently. The individual shots could then be composited with one another, and finally with a star background. With pre-digital matting, the several extra passes through the optical printer would degrade the film quality and increase the probability of edge artifacts. Elements crossing behind or before one another would pose additional problems.
See also
Alpha compositing
Broadcast designer
Character generator
Clean feed (TV)
Compositing window manager
Deep image compositing
Derivative work
Digital asset
Digital compositing
Digital on-screen graphic (Bug or DOG)
Graphics coordinator
Image stitching
Matte painting
Video matting
Motion graphic design
Multiple exposure
Photographic mosaic
Primatte chromakey technology
Further reading
T. Porter and T. Duff, "Compositing Digital Images", Proceedings of SIGGRAPH '84, 18 (1984).
Ron Brinkmann, The Art and Science of Digital Compositing (ISBN 0-12-133960-2)
Steve Wright, Digital Compositing for Film and Video, Second Edition (ISBN 0-240-80760-X)
American Cinematographer Manual, 2nd ed., Mascelli, Joseph V., A.S.C. and Miller, Arthur, A.S.C, eds. Los Angeles, 1966, p. 500 ff.
http://www.videomaker.com/article/10914-green-screen-lighting |
Portable Network Graphics (PNG, officially pronounced PING, colloquially pronounced PEE-en-JEE) is a raster-graphics file format that supports lossless data compression. PNG was developed as an improved, non-patented replacement for Graphics Interchange Format (GIF)—unofficially, the initials PNG stood for the recursive acronym "PNG's not GIF".PNG supports palette-based images (with palettes of 24-bit RGB or 32-bit RGBA colors), grayscale images (with or without an alpha channel for transparency), and full-color non-palette-based RGB or RGBA images. The PNG working group designed the format for transferring images on the Internet, not for professional-quality print graphics; therefore, non-RGB color spaces such as CMYK are not supported. A PNG file contains a single image in an extensible structure of chunks, encoding the basic pixels and other information such as textual comments and integrity checks documented in RFC 2083.PNG files have the ".png" file extension and the "image/png" MIME media type.
PNG was published as an informational RFC 2083 in March 1997 and as an ISO/IEC 15948 standard in 2004.
History and development
The motivation for creating the PNG format was the realization that, on 28 December 1994, the Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW) data compression algorithm used in the Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) format was patented by Unisys. The patent required that all software supporting GIF pay royalties, leading to a flurry of criticism from Usenet users. One of them was Thomas Boutell, who on 4 January 1995 posted a precursory discussion thread on the Usenet newsgroup "comp.graphics" in which he devised a plan for a free alternative to GIF. Other users in that thread put forth many propositions that would later be part of the final file format. Oliver Fromme, author of the popular JPEG viewer QPEG, proposed the PING name, eventually becoming PNG, a recursive acronym meaning PING is not GIF, and also the .png extension. Other suggestions later implemented included the deflate compression algorithm and 24-bit color support, the lack of the latter in GIF also motivating the team to create their file format. The group would become known as the PNG Development Group, and as the discussion rapidly expanded, it later used a mailing list associated with a CompuServe forum.The full specification of PNG was released under the approval of W3C on 1 October 1996, and later as RFC 2083 on 15 January 1997. The specification was revised on 31 December 1998 as version 1.1, which addressed technical problems for gamma and color correction. Version 1.2, released on 11 August 1999, added the iTXt chunk as the specification's only change, and a reformatted version of 1.2 was released as a second edition of the W3C standard on 10 November 2003, and as an International Standard (ISO/IEC 15948:2004) on 3 March 2004.Although GIF allows for animation, it was decided that PNG should be a single-image format. In 2001, the developers of PNG published the Multiple-image Network Graphics (MNG) format, with support for animation. MNG achieved moderate application support, but not enough among mainstream web browsers and no usage among web site designers or publishers. In 2008, certain Mozilla developers published the Animated Portable Network Graphics (APNG) format with similar goals. APNG is a format that is natively supported by Gecko- and Presto-based web browsers and is also commonly used for thumbnails on Sony's PlayStation Portable system (using the normal PNG file extension). In 2017, Chromium based browsers adopted APNG support. In January 2020, Microsoft Edge became Chromium based, thus inheriting support for APNG. With this all major browsers now support APNG.
PNG Working Group
The original PNG specification was authored by an ad hoc group of computer graphics experts and enthusiasts. Discussions and decisions about the format were conducted by email. The original authors listed on RFC 2083 are:
Editor: Thomas Boutell
Contributing Editor: Tom Lane
Authors (in alphabetical order by last name): Mark Adler, Thomas Boutell, Christian Brunschen, Adam M. Costello, Lee Daniel Crocker, Andreas Dilger, Oliver Fromme, Jean-loup Gailly, Chris Herborth, Aleks Jakulin, Neal Kettler, Tom Lane, Alexander Lehmann, Chris Lilley, Dave Martindale, Owen Mortensen, Keith S. Pickens, Robert P. Poole, Glenn Randers-Pehrson, Greg Roelofs, Willem van Schaik, Guy Schalnat, Paul Schmidt, Tim Wegner, Jeremy Wohl
File format
File header
A PNG file starts with an 8-byte signature (refer to hex editor image on the right):
"Chunks" within the file
After the header, comes a series of chunks, each of which conveys certain information about the image. Chunks declare themselves as critical or ancillary, and a program encountering an ancillary chunk that it does not understand can safely ignore it. This chunk-based storage layer structure, similar in concept to a container format or to Amiga's IFF, is designed to allow the PNG format to be extended while maintaining compatibility with older versions—it provides forward compatibility, and this same file structure (with different signature and chunks) is used in the associated MNG, JNG, and APNG formats.
A chunk consists of four parts: length (4 bytes, big-endian), chunk type/name (4 bytes), chunk data (length bytes) and CRC (cyclic redundancy code/checksum; 4 bytes). The CRC is a network-byte-order CRC-32 computed over the chunk type and chunk data, but not the length.
Chunk types are given a four-letter case sensitive ASCII type/name; compare FourCC. The case of the different letters in the name (bit 5 of the numeric value of the character) is a bit field that provides the decoder with some information on the nature of chunks it does not recognize.
The case of the first letter indicates whether the chunk is critical or not. If the first letter is uppercase, the chunk is critical; if not, the chunk is ancillary. Critical chunks contain information that is necessary to read the file. If a decoder encounters a critical chunk it does not recognize, it must abort reading the file or supply the user with an appropriate warning.
The case of the second letter indicates whether the chunk is "public" (either in the specification or the registry of special-purpose public chunks) or "private" (not standardised). Uppercase is public and lowercase is private. This ensures that public and private chunk names can never conflict with each other (although two private chunk names could conflict).
The third letter must be uppercase to conform to the PNG specification. It is reserved for future expansion. Decoders should treat a chunk with a lower case third letter the same as any other unrecognised chunk.
The case of the fourth letter indicates whether the chunk is safe to copy by editors that do not recognize it. If lowercase, the chunk may be safely copied regardless of the extent of modifications to the file. If uppercase, it may only be copied if the modifications have not touched any critical chunks.
Critical chunks
A decoder must be able to interpret critical chunks to read and render a PNG file.
IHDR must be the first chunk; it contains (in this order) the image's
width (4 bytes)
height (4 bytes)
bit depth (1 byte, values 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16)
color type (1 byte, values 0, 2, 3, 4, or 6)
compression method (1 byte, value 0)
filter method (1 byte, value 0)
interlace method (1 byte, values 0 "no interlace" or 1 "Adam7 interlace") (13 data bytes total).As stated in the World Wide Web Consortium, bit depth is defined as "the number of bits per sample or per palette index (not per pixel)".
PLTE contains the palette: a list of colors.
IDAT contains the image, which may be split among multiple IDAT chunks. Such splitting increases filesize slightly, but makes it possible to generate a PNG in a streaming manner. The IDAT chunk contains the actual image data, which is the output stream of the compression algorithm.
IEND marks the image end; the data field of the IEND chunk has 0 bytes/is empty.The PLTE chunk is essential for color type 3 (indexed color). It is optional for color types two and six (truecolor and truecolor with alpha) and it must not appear for color types 0 and 4 (grayscale and grayscale with alpha).
Ancillary chunks
Other image attributes that can be stored in PNG files include gamma values, background color, and textual metadata information. PNG also supports color management through the inclusion of ICC color profiles.
bKGD gives the default background color. It is intended for use when there is no better choice available, such as in standalone image viewers (but not web browsers; see below for more details).
cHRM gives the chromaticity coordinates of the display primaries and white point.
dSIG is for storing digital signatures.
eXIf stores Exif metadata.
gAMA specifies gamma. The gAMA chunk contains only 4 bytes, and its value represents the gamma value multiplied by 100,000; for example, the gamma value 1/3.4 calculates to 29411.7647059 ((1/3.4)*(100,000)) and is converted to an integer (29412) for storage.
hIST can store the histogram, or total amount of each color in the image.
iCCP is an ICC color profile.
iTXt contains a keyword and UTF-8 text, with encodings for possible compression and translations marked with language tag. The Extensible Metadata Platform (XMP) uses this chunk with a keyword 'XML:com.adobe.xmp'
pHYs holds the intended pixel size (or pixel aspect ratio); the pHYs contains "Pixels per unit, X axis" (4 bytes), "Pixels per unit, Y axis" (4 bytes), and "Unit specifier" (1 byte) for a total of 9 bytes.
sBIT (significant bits) indicates the color-accuracy of the source data; this chunk contains a total of between 1 and 5 bytes, depending on the color type.
sPLT suggests a palette to use if the full range of colors is unavailable.
sRGB indicates that the standard sRGB color space is used; the sRGB chunk contains only 1 byte, which is used for "rendering intent" (4 values—0, 1, 2, and 3—are defined for rendering intent).
sTER stereo-image indicator chunk for stereoscopic images.
tEXt can store text that can be represented in ISO/IEC 8859-1, with one key-value pair for each chunk. The "key" must be between one and 79 characters long. Separator is a null character. The "value" can be any length, including zero up to the maximum permissible chunk size minus the length of the keyword and separator. Neither "key" nor "value" can contain null character. Leading or trailing spaces are also disallowed.
tIME stores the time that the image was last changed.
tRNS contains transparency information. For indexed images, it stores alpha channel values for one or more palette entries. For truecolor and grayscale images, it stores a single pixel value that is to be regarded as fully transparent.
zTXt contains compressed text (and a compression method marker) with the same limits as tEXt.The lowercase first letter in these chunks indicates that they are not needed for the PNG specification. The lowercase last letter in some chunks indicates that they are safe to copy, even if the application concerned does not understand them.
Pixel format
Pixels in PNG images are numbers that may be either indices of sample data in the palette or the sample data itself. The palette is a separate table contained in the PLTE chunk. Sample data for a single pixel consists of a tuple of between one and four numbers. Whether the pixel data represents palette indices or explicit sample values, the numbers are referred to as channels and every number in the image is encoded with an identical format.
The permitted formats encode each number as an unsigned integer value using a fixed number of bits, referred to in the PNG specification as the bit depth. Notice that this is not the same as color depth, which is commonly used to refer to the total number of bits in each pixel, not each channel. The permitted bit depths are summarized in the table along with the total number of bits used for each pixel.
The number of channels depends on whether the image is grayscale or color and whether it has an alpha channel. PNG allows the following combinations of channels, called the color type.
The color type is specified as an 8-bit value however only the low three bits are used and, even then, only the five combinations listed above are permitted. So long as the color type is valid it can be considered as a bit field as summarized in the adjacent table:
bit value 1: the image data stores palette indices. This is only valid in combination with bit value 2;
bit value 2: the image samples contain three channels of data encoding trichromatic colors, otherwise the image samples contain one channel of data encoding relative luminance,
bit value 4: the image samples also contain an alpha channel expressed as a linear measure of the opacity of the pixel. This is not valid in combination with bit value 1.With indexed color images, the palette always stores trichromatic colors at a depth of 8 bits per channel (24 bits per palette entry). Additionally, an optional list of 8-bit alpha values for the palette entries may be included; if not included, or if shorter than the palette, the remaining palette entries are assumed to be opaque. The palette must not have more entries than the image bit depth allows for, but it may have fewer (for example, if an image with 8-bit pixels only uses 90 colors then it does not need palette entries for all 256 colors). The palette must contain entries for all the pixel values present in the image.
The standard allows indexed color PNGs to have 1, 2, 4 or 8 bits per pixel; grayscale images with no alpha channel may have 1, 2, 4, 8 or 16 bits per pixel. Everything else uses a bit depth per channel of either 8 or 16. The combinations this allows are given in the table above. The standard requires that decoders can read all supported color formats, but many image editors can only produce a small subset of them.
Transparency of image
PNG offers a variety of transparency options. With true-color and grayscale images either a single pixel value can be declared as transparent or an alpha channel can be added (enabling any percentage of partial transparency to be used). For paletted images, alpha values can be added to palette entries. The number of such values stored may be less than the total number of palette entries, in which case the remaining entries are considered fully opaque.
The scanning of pixel values for binary transparency is supposed to be performed before any color reduction to avoid pixels becoming unintentionally transparent. This is most likely to pose an issue for systems that can decode 16-bits-per-channel images (as is required for compliance with the specification) but only output at 8 bits per channel (the norm for all but the highest end systems).
Alpha storage can be "associated" ("premultiplied") or "unassociated", but PNG standardized on "unassociated" ("non-premultiplied") alpha, which means that imagery is not alpha encoded; the emissions represented in RGB are not the emissions at the pixel level. This means that the over operation will multiply the RGB emissions by the alpha, and cannot represent emission and occlusion properly.
Compression
PNG uses a 2-stage compression process:
pre-compression: filtering (prediction)
compression: DEFLATEPNG uses DEFLATE, a non-patented lossless data compression algorithm involving a combination of LZ77 and Huffman coding. Permissively licensed DEFLATE implementations, such as zlib, are widely available.
Compared to formats with lossy compression such as JPEG, choosing a compression setting higher than average delays processing, but often does not result in a significantly smaller file size.
Filtering
Before DEFLATE is applied, the data is transformed via a prediction method: a single filter method is used for the entire image, while for each image line, a filter type is chosen to transform the data to make it more efficiently compressible. The filter type used for a scanline is prepended to the scanline to enable inline decompression.
There is only one filter method in the current PNG specification (denoted method 0), and thus in practice the only choice is which filter type to apply to each line. For this method, the filter predicts the value of each pixel based on the values of previous neighboring pixels, and subtracts the predicted color of the pixel from the actual value, as in DPCM. An image line filtered in this way is often more compressible than the raw image line would be, especially if it is similar to the line above, since the differences from prediction will generally be clustered around 0, rather than spread over all possible image values. This is particularly important in relating separate rows, since DEFLATE has no understanding that an image is a 2D entity, and instead just sees the image data as a stream of bytes.
There are five filter types for filter method 0; each type predicts the value of each byte (of the image data before filtering) based on the corresponding byte of the pixel to the left (A), the pixel above (B), and the pixel above and to the left (C) or some combination thereof, and encodes the difference between the predicted value and the actual value. Filters are applied to byte values, not pixels; pixel values may be one or two bytes, or several values per byte, but never cross byte boundaries. The filter types are:
The Paeth filter is based on an algorithm by Alan W. Paeth.
Compare to the version of DPCM used in lossless JPEG, and to the discrete wavelet transform using 1 × 2, 2 × 1, or (for the Paeth predictor) 2 × 2 windows and Haar wavelets.
Compression is further improved by choosing filter types adaptively on a line-by-line basis. This improvement, and a heuristic method of implementing it commonly used by PNG-writing software, were created by Lee Daniel Crocker, who tested the methods on many images during the creation of the format; the choice of filter is a component of file size optimization, as discussed below.
If interlacing is used, each stage of the interlacing is filtered separately, meaning that the image can be progressively rendered as each stage is received; however, interlacing generally makes compression less effective.
Interlacing
PNG offers an optional 2-dimensional, 7-pass interlacing scheme—the Adam7 algorithm. This is more sophisticated than GIF's 1-dimensional, 4-pass scheme, and allows a clearer low-resolution image to be visible earlier in the transfer, particularly if interpolation algorithms such as bicubic interpolation are used.However, the 7-pass scheme tends to reduce the data's compressibility more than simpler schemes.
Animation
PNG itself does not support animation. MNG is an extension to PNG that does; it was designed by members of the PNG Group. MNG shares PNG's basic structure and chunks, but it is significantly more complex and has a different file signature, which automatically renders it incompatible with standard PNG decoders. This means that most web browsers and applications either never supported MNG or dropped support for it.
The complexity of MNG led to the proposal of APNG by developers at the Mozilla Foundation. It is based on PNG, supports animation and is simpler than MNG. APNG offers fallback to single-image display for PNG decoders that do not support APNG. Today, the APNG format is supported by all major web browsers. APNG is supported in Firefox 3.0 and up, Pale Moon (all versions), and Safari 8.0 and up. Chromium 59.0 added APNG support, followed by Google Chrome. Opera supported APNG in versions 10–12.1, but support lapsed in version 15 when it switched to the Blink rendering engine; support was re-added in Opera 46 (inherited from Chromium 59). Microsoft Edge has supported APNG since version 79.0, when it switched to a Chromium-based engine.
The PNG Group decided in April 2007 not to embrace APNG. Several alternatives were under discussion, including ANG, aNIM/mPNG, "PNG in GIF" and its subset "RGBA in GIF". However, currently only APNG has widespread support.
Examples
Displayed in the fashion of hex editors, with on the left side byte values shown in hex format, and on the right side their equivalent characters from ISO-8859-1 with unrecognized and control characters replaced with periods. Additionally the PNG signature and individual chunks are marked with colors. Note they are easy to identify because of their human readable type names (in this example PNG, IHDR, IDAT, and IEND).
Advantages
Reasons to use this International Standard may be:
Portability: Transmission is independent of the software and hardware platform.
Completeness: it's possible to represent truecolor, indexed-color, and greyscale images.
Coding and decoding in series: allows to generate and read data streams in series, that is, the format of the data stream is used for the generation and visualization of images at the moment through serial communication.
Progressive presentation: to be able to transmit data flows that are initially an approximation of the entire image and progressively they improve as the data flow is received.
Soundness to transmission errors: detects the transmission errors of the data stream correctly.
Losslessness: No loss: filtering and compression preserve all information.
Efficiency: any progressive image presentation, compression and filtering seeks efficient decoding and presentation.
Compression: images can be compressed efficiently and consistently.
Easiness: the implementation of the standard is easy.
Interchangeability: any PNG decoder that follows the standards can read all PNG data streams.
Flexibility: allows future extensions and private additions without affecting the previous point.
Freedom of legal restrictions: the algorithms used are free and accessible.
Comparison with other file formats
Graphics Interchange Format (GIF)
On small images, GIF can achieve greater compression than PNG (see the section on filesize, below).
On most images, except for the above case, a GIF file has a larger size than an indexed PNG image.
PNG gives a much wider range of transparency options than GIF, including alpha channel transparency.
Whereas GIF is limited to 8-bit indexed color, PNG gives a much wider range of color depths, including 24-bit (8 bits per channel) and 48-bit (16 bits per channel) truecolor, allowing for greater color precision, smoother fades, etc. When an alpha channel is added, up to 64 bits per pixel (before compression) are possible.
When converting an image from the PNG format to GIF, the image quality may suffer due to posterization if the PNG image has more than 256 colors.
GIF intrinsically supports animated images. PNG supports animation only via unofficial extensions (see the section on animation, above).PNG images are less widely supported by older browsers. In particular, IE6 has limited support for PNG.
JPEG
The JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) format can produce a smaller file than PNG for photographic (and photo-like) images, since JPEG uses a lossy encoding method specifically designed for photographic image data, which is typically dominated by soft, low-contrast transitions, and an amount of noise or similar irregular structures. Using PNG instead of a high-quality JPEG for such images would result in a large increase in filesize with negligible gain in quality. In comparison, when storing images that contain text, line art, or graphics – images with sharp transitions and large areas of solid color – the PNG format can compress image data more than JPEG can. Additionally, PNG is lossless, while JPEG produces visual artifacts around high-contrast areas. (Such artifacts depend on the settings used in the JPG compression; they can be quite noticeable when a low-quality [high-compression] setting is used.) Where an image contains both sharp transitions and photographic parts, a choice must be made between the two effects. JPEG does not support transparency.
JPEG's lossy compression also suffers from generation loss, where repeatedly decoding and re-encoding an image to save it again causes a loss of information each time, degrading the image. Because PNG is lossless, it is suitable for storing images to be edited. While PNG is reasonably efficient when compressing photographic images, there are lossless compression formats designed specifically for photographic images, lossless WebP and Adobe DNG (digital negative) for example. However these formats are either not widely supported, or are proprietary. An image can be stored losslessly and converted to JPEG format only for distribution, so that there is no generation loss.
While the PNG specification does not explicitly include a standard for embedding Exif image data from sources such as digital cameras, the preferred method for embedding EXIF data in a PNG is to use the non-critical ancillary chunk label eXIf.Early web browsers did not support PNG images; JPEG and GIF were the main image formats. JPEG was commonly used when exporting images containing gradients for web pages, because of GIF's limited color depth. However, JPEG compression causes a gradient to blur slightly. A PNG format reproduces a gradient as accurately as possible for a given bit depth, while keeping the file size small. PNG became the optimal choice for small gradient images as web browser support for the format improved. No images at all are needed to display gradients in modern browsers, as gradients can be created using CSS.
JPEG-LS
JPEG-LS is an image format by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, though far less widely known and supported than the other lossy JPEG format discussed above. It is directly comparable with PNG, and has a standard set of test images. On the Waterloo Repertoire ColorSet, a standard set of test images (unrelated to the JPEG-LS conformance test set), JPEG-LS generally performs better than PNG, by 10–15%, but on some images PNG performs substantially better, on the order of 50–75%. Thus, if both of these formats are options and file size is an important criterion, they should both be considered, depending on the image.
TIFF
Tagged Image File Format (TIFF) is a format that incorporates an extremely wide range of options. While this makes TIFF useful as a generic format for interchange between professional image editing applications, it makes adding support for it to applications a much bigger task and so it has little support in applications not concerned with image manipulation (such as web browsers). The high level of extensibility also means that most applications provide only a subset of possible features, potentially creating user confusion and compatibility issues.
The most common general-purpose, lossless compression algorithm used with TIFF is Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW). This compression technique, also used in GIF, was covered by patents until 2003. TIFF also supports the compression algorithm PNG uses (i.e. Compression Tag 000816 'Adobe-style') with medium usage and support by applications. TIFF also offers special-purpose lossless compression algorithms like CCITT Group IV, which can compress bilevel images (e.g., faxes or black-and-white text) better than PNG's compression algorithm.
PNG supports non-premultiplied alpha only whereas TIFF also supports "associated" (premultiplied) alpha.
Software support
The official reference implementation of the PNG format is the programming library libpng. It is published as free software under the terms of a permissive free software license. Therefore, it is usually found as an important system library in free operating systems.
Bitmap graphics editor support for PNG
The PNG format is widely supported by graphics programs, including Adobe Photoshop, Corel's Photo-Paint and Paint Shop Pro, the GIMP, GraphicConverter, Helicon Filter, ImageMagick, Inkscape, IrfanView, Pixel image editor, Paint.NET and Xara Photo & Graphic Designer and many others (including online graphic design platforms such as Canva). Some programs bundled with popular operating systems which support PNG include Microsoft's Paint and Apple's Photos/iPhoto and Preview, with the GIMP also often being bundled with popular Linux distributions.
Adobe Fireworks (formerly by Macromedia) uses PNG as its native file format, allowing other image editors and preview utilities to view the flattened image. However, Fireworks by default also stores metadata for layers, animation, vector data, text and effects. Such files should not be distributed directly. Fireworks can instead export the image as an optimized PNG without the extra metadata for use on web pages, etc.
Web browser support for PNG
PNG support first appeared in 1997, in Internet Explorer 4.0b1 (32-bit only for NT), and in Netscape 4.04.Despite calls by the Free Software Foundation and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), tools such as gif2png, and campaigns such as Burn All GIFs, PNG adoption on websites was fairly slow due to late and buggy support in Internet Explorer, particularly regarding transparency.PNG compatible browsers include: Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Camino, Internet Explorer 7 (still numerous issues), Internet Explorer 8 (still some issues), Internet Explorer 9 and many others. For the complete comparison, see Comparison of web browsers (Image format support).
Especially versions of Internet Explorer (Windows) below 9.0 (released 2011) have numerous problems which prevent it from correctly rendering PNG images.
4.0 crashes on large PNG chunks.
4.0 does not include the functionality to view .png files, but there is a registry fix.
5.0 and 5.01 have broken OBJECT support.
5.01 prints palette images with black (or dark gray) backgrounds under Windows 98, sometimes with radically altered colors.
6.0 fails to display PNG images of 4097 or 4098 bytes in size.
6.0 cannot open a PNG file that contains one or more zero-length IDAT chunks. This issue was first fixed in security update 947864 (MS08-024). For more information, see this article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 947864 MS08-024: Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer.
6.0 sometimes completely loses ability to display PNGs, but there are various fixes.
6.0 and below have broken alpha-channel transparency support (will display the default background color instead).
7.0 and below cannot combine 8-bit alpha transparency AND element opacity (CSS – filter: Alpha (opacity=xx)) without filling partially transparent sections with black.
8.0 and below have inconsistent/broken gamma support.
8.0 and below don't have color-correction support.
Operating system support for PNG icons
PNG icons have been supported in most distributions of Linux since at least 1999, in desktop environments such as GNOME. In 2006, Microsoft Windows support for PNG icons was introduced in Windows Vista. PNG icons are supported in AmigaOS 4, AROS, macOS, iOS and MorphOS as well. In addition, Android makes extensive use of PNGs.
File size and optimization software
PNG file size can vary significantly depending on how it is encoded and compressed; this is discussed and a number of tips are given in PNG: The Definitive Guide.
Compared to GIF
Compared to GIF files, a PNG file with the same information (256 colors, no ancillary chunks/metadata), compressed by an effective compressor is normally smaller than a GIF image. Depending on the file and the compressor, PNG may range from somewhat smaller (10%) to significantly smaller (50%) to somewhat larger (5%), but is rarely significantly larger for large images. This is attributed to the performance of PNG's DEFLATE compared to GIF's LZW, and because the added precompression layer of PNG's predictive filters take account of the 2-dimensional image structure to further compress files; as filtered data encodes differences between pixels, they will tend to cluster closer to 0, rather than being spread across all possible values, and thus be more easily compressed by DEFLATE. However, some versions of Adobe Photoshop, CorelDRAW and MS Paint provide poor PNG compression, creating the impression that GIF is more efficient.
File size factors
PNG files vary in size due to a number of factors:
color depth
Color depth can range from 1 to 64 bits per pixel.
ancillary chunks
PNG supports metadata—this may be useful for editing, but unnecessary for viewing, as on websites.
interlacing
As each pass of the Adam7 algorithm is separately filtered, this can increase file size.
filter
As a precompression stage, each line is filtered by a predictive filter, which can change from line to line. As the ultimate DEFLATE step operates on the whole image's filtered data, one cannot optimize this row-by-row; the choice of filter for each row is thus potentially very variable, though heuristics exist.
compression
With additional computation, DEFLATE compressors can produce smaller files.There is thus a filesize trade-off between high color depth, maximal metadata (including color space information, together with information that does not affect display), interlacing, and speed of compression, which all yield large files, with lower color depth, fewer or no ancillary chunks, no interlacing, and tuned but computationally intensive filtering and compression. For different purposes, different trade-offs are chosen: a maximal file may be best for archiving and editing, while a stripped down file may be best for use on a website, and similarly fast but poor compression is preferred when repeatedly editing and saving a file, while slow but high compression is preferred when a file is stable: when archiving or posting.
Interlacing is a trade-off: it dramatically speeds up early rendering of large files (improves latency), but may increase file size (decrease throughput) for little gain, particularly for small files.
Lossy PNG compression
Although PNG is a lossless format, PNG encoders can preprocess image data in a lossy fashion to improve PNG compression. For example, quantizing a truecolor PNG to 256 colors allows the indexed color type to be used for a likely reduction in file size.
Image editing software
Some programs are more efficient than others when saving PNG files, this relates to implementation of the PNG compression used by the program.
Many graphics programs (such as Apple's Preview software) save PNGs with large amounts of metadata and color-correction data that are generally unnecessary for Web viewing. Unoptimized PNG files from Adobe Fireworks are also notorious for this since they contain options to make the image editable in supported editors. Also CorelDRAW (at least version 11) sometimes produces PNGs which cannot be opened by Internet Explorer (versions 6–8).
Adobe Photoshop's performance on PNG files has improved in the CS Suite when using the Save For Web feature (which also allows explicit PNG/8 use).
Adobe's Fireworks saves larger PNG files than many programs by default. This stems from the mechanics of its Save format: the images produced by Fireworks' save function include large, private chunks, containing complete layer and vector information. This allows further lossless editing. When saved with the Export option, Fireworks' PNGs are competitive with those produced by other image editors, but are no longer editable as anything but flattened bitmaps. Fireworks is unable to save size-optimized vector-editable PNGs.
Other notable examples of poor PNG compressors include:
Microsoft's Paint for Windows XP
Microsoft Picture It! Photo Premium 9Poor compression increases the PNG file size but does not affect the image quality or compatibility of the file with other programs.
When the color depth of a truecolor image is reduced to an 8-bit palette (as in GIF), the resulting image data is typically much smaller. Thus a truecolor PNG is typically larger than a color-reduced GIF, although PNG could store the color-reduced version as a palettized file of comparable size. Conversely, some tools, when saving images as PNGs, automatically save them as truecolor, even if the original data use only 8-bit color, thus bloating the file unnecessarily. Both factors can lead to the misconception that PNG files are larger than equivalent GIF files.
Optimizing tools
Various tools are available for optimizing PNG files; they do this by:
(optionally) removing ancillary chunks,
reducing color depth, either:
use a palette (instead of RGB) if the image has 256 or fewer colors,
use a smaller palette, if the image has 2, 4, or 16 colors, or
(optionally) lossily discard some of the data in the original image,
optimizing line-by-line filter choice, and
optimizing DEFLATE compression.
Tool list
pngcrush is the oldest of the popular PNG optimizers. It allows for multiple trials on filter selection and compression arguments, and finally chooses the smallest one. This working model is used in almost every png optimizer.
advpng and the similar advdef utility in the AdvanceCOMP package recompress the PNG IDAT. Different DEFLATE implementations are applied depending on the selected compression level, trading between speed and file size: zlib at level 1, libdeflate at level 2, 7-zip's LZMA DEFLATE at level 3, and zopfli at level 4.
pngout was made with the author's own deflater (same to the author's zip utility, kzip), while keeping all facilities of color reduction / filtering. However, pngout doesn't allow for using several trials on filters in a single run. It's suggested to use its commercial GUI version, pngoutwin, or used with a wrapper to automate the trials or to recompress using its own deflater while keep the filter line by line.
zopflipng was also made with its own deflater, zopfli. It has all the optimizing features pngcrush has (including automating trials) while providing a very good, but slow deflater.A simple comparison of their features is listed below.
Before zopflipng was available, a good way in practice to perform a png optimization is to use a combination of 2 tools in sequence for optimal compression: one which optimizes filters (and removes ancillary chunks), and one which optimizes DEFLATE. Although pngout offers both, only one type of filter can be specified in a single run, therefore it can be used with a wrapper tool or in combination with pngcrush, acting as a re-deflater, like advdef.
Ancillary chunk removal
For removing ancillary chunks, most PNG optimization tools have the ability to remove all color correction data from PNG files (gamma, white balance, ICC color profile, standard RGB color profile). This often results in much smaller file sizes. For example, the following command line options achieve this with pngcrush:
pngcrush -rem gAMA -rem cHRM -rem iCCP -rem sRGB InputFile.png OutputFile.png
Filter optimization
pngcrush, pngout, and zopflipng all offer options applying one of the filter types 0–4 globally (using the same filter type for all lines) or with a "pseudo filter" (numbered 5), which for each line chooses one of the filter types 0–4 using an adaptive algorithm. Zopflipng offers 3 different adaptive method, including a brute-force search that attempts to optimize the filtering.pngout and zopflipng provide an option to preserve/reuse the line-by-line filter set present in the input image.
pngcrush and zopflipng provide options to try different filter strategies in a single run and choose the best. The freeware command line version of pngout doesn't offer this, but the commercial version, pngoutwin, does.
DEFLATE optimization
Zopfli and the LZMA SDK provide DEFLATE implementations that can produce higher compression ratios than the zlib reference implementation at the cost of performance. AdvanceCOMP's advpng and advdef can use either of these libraries to re-compress PNG files. Additionally, PNGOUT contains its own proprietary DEFLATE implementation.
advpng doesn't have an option to apply filters and always uses filter 0 globally (leaving the image data unfiltered); therefore it should not be used where the image benefits significantly from filtering. By contrast, advdef from the same package doesn't deal with PNG structure and acts only as a re-deflater, retaining any existing filter settings.
Icon optimization
Since icons intended for Windows Vista and later versions may contain PNG subimages, the optimizations can be applied to them as well. At least one icon editor, Pixelformer, is able to perform a special optimization pass while saving ICO files, thereby reducing their sizes. FileOptimizer (mentioned above) can also handle ICO files.
Icons for macOS may also contain PNG subimages, yet there isn't such tool available.
See also
Computer graphics, including:
Image editing
Image file formats
Related graphics file formats
APNG Animated PNG
JPEG Network Graphics (JNG)
Multiple-image Network Graphics (MNG)
Similar file formats
X PixMap for portable icons
Scalable Vector Graphics
WebP
Explanatory notes
Further reading
Roelofs, Greg (April 1997). "Linux Gazette: History of the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Format". Linux Journal. Specialized Systems Consultants, Inc. 1997 (36es). ISSN 1075-3583.
Roelofs, Greg (2003). PNG: The Definitive Guide (2nd ed.). O'Reilly Media. ISBN 1-56592-542-4.
"Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Specification" (Second ed.). W3C. 10 November 2003.
PNG Home Site
libpng Home Page
The Story of PNG by Greg Roelofs
Test inline PNG images
RFC 2083
More information about PNG color correction
The GD-library to generate dynamic PNG-files with PHP
PNG Adam7 interlacing
Encoding Web Shells in PNG files: Encoding human readable data inside an IDAT block. |
The Chinese Contemporary Bible (当代圣经 Dangdai Shengjing) is a Bible translation by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, published in 2012.The CCB is a translation from the Greek and Hebrew, replacing the Chinese Living Bible, New Testament (当代福音) originally published in 1974 by Living Bibles International, then republished in 1998 by IBS. The CLB was criticized for its reliance on the English Living Bible.
See also
Chinese Bible Translations
Biblica website |
Tatchakorn Yeerum (Thai: ทัชชกร ยีรัมย์, RTGS: Thatchakon Yiram, pronounced [tʰát.t͡ɕʰā.kɔ̄ːn jīː.rām]; formerly Phanom Yeerum (Thai: พนม ยีรัมย์, [pʰā.nōm jīː.rām])), better known internationally as Tony Jaa and in Thailand as Jaa Phanom (Thai: จา พนม, RTGS: Cha Phanom, [t͡ɕāː pʰā.nōm]), is a Thai martial artist, actor, action choreographer, stuntman, director, and traceur. His martial arts films are credited with helping to showcase the combat systems of Muay Thai, Muay Boran, and "Muay Kotchasaan" (a fighting style Jaa and his mentor Panna Rittikrai developed). His most famous works include films such as Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior (2003), Tom-Yum-Goong (2005), Ong Bak 2: The Beginning (2008), Ong Bak 3 (2010), Tom Yum Goong 2 (2013), Furious 7 (2015), SPL II: A Time for Consequences (2015) and Expend4bles (2023).
Early life
Tony Jaa was born and raised in a rural area in Surin Province to Rin Saipetch and Thongdee Yeerum. He is of Kuy descent, a Mon–Khmer ethnic group that inhabits Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The Kuy practice traditions that are more similar to the traditions of Cambodia than that of traditions observed by the Lao or the Thai. The Kuy are known for being skilled trainers of elephants. Tony Jaa speaks Kuy, Thai and Northern Khmer.In his youth, Jaa watched films by Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan at temple fairs, which inspired him to learn martial arts. He practiced the techniques in his father's rice paddy. "What they [Lee and Chan] did was so beautiful, so heroic that I wanted to do it too," Jaa told Time in a 2004 interview. "I practiced until I could do the move exactly as I had seen the masters do it."Jaa began training in Muay Thai at his local temple at age 10. By 15, he was a protégé of stuntman and action film director Panna Rittikrai. Panna had instructed Jaa to attend Maha Sarakham College of Physical Education in Maha Sarakham Province from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree. His early martial arts experience included Taekwondo, Muay Thai, Muay Boran, and Krabi-Krabong, with an emphasis on gymnastics and acrobatics. His films have showcased various other martial arts styles, such as Kung-fu, Silat, and Jiu Jitsu.
Career
Stunt work
Jaa initially worked as a stuntman for Muay Thai Stunt for 14 years, appearing in many of Rittikrai's films. He doubled for Sammo Hung when the martial-arts movie actor made a commercial for an energy drink that required him to grasp an elephant's tusks and somersault onto the elephant's back. He was also a stunt double in the Thai television series Insee Daeng (Red Eagle).
2003–2008
Together, Panna and Jaa developed an interest in Muay Boran, the predecessor of muay thai and worked and trained for four years at the art with the intention of developing a film about it. Eventually they were able to put together a short film showing what Jaa could do with the help of instructor Grandmaster Mark Harris. One of the people they showed it to was producer-director Prachya Pinkaew.This led to Ong-Bak: Muay Thai Warrior in 2003, Jaa's break-out role as a leading man. Jaa did all the stunts without mechanical assistance or computer-generated effects and it showcased his style of extreme acrobatics and speedy, dance-like moves. Injuries suffered in the filming included a ligament injury and a sprained ankle. One scene in the film involved fighting with another actor while his own trousers were on fire. "I actually got burned," he said in a 2005 interview. "I really had to concentrate because once my pants were on fire the flames spread upwards very fast and burnt my eyebrows, my eyelashes and my nose. Then we had to do a couple more takes to get it right."His second major movie was Tom-Yum-Goong (The Protector in the US), named after tom yum soup, which included a style of Muay Thai that imitates elephants.
In August 2006, he was in New York to promote the US release of The Protector, including an appearance at the Museum of the Moving Image.Sahamongkol Film International advertised that Tony Jaa's third film would be called Sword or Daab Atamas, about the art of Thai two-sword fighting (daab song mue), with a script by Prapas Chonsalanont. But due to a falling out between Prachya and Jaa, which neither have publicly commented on, Sword was cancelled.In March 2006, it was reported that there would be a sequel to Ong-Bak, Ong-Bak 2. With Jaa both directing and starring, it started pre-production in fall 2006 and was released in December 2008.Jaa's films captured the attention of his hero, Jackie Chan, who asked director Brett Ratner to cast Jaa in Rush Hour 3. "I gave the director videos of Tony Jaa because I think Tony Jaa is the most well-rounded of all action stars," Chan told the Associated Press. "The director liked him a lot," Chan said. However, Jaa said he'd be unable to participate because of scheduling conflicts with the shooting of Ong Bak 2.While Jaa and Amogelang were working on Ong-Bak 2, director Prachya Pinkaew and action ya choreographer Panna Rittikrai were working on Chocolate, starring a female martial artist, Nicharee Vismistananda and released 6 February 2008. Jaa had been cast in a small role in a third installment of the King Naresuan film series directed by Chatrichalerm Yukol, although the film was ultimately cancelled. Ong Bak 3 was released in 2010 and provides a conclusion to this Thai trilogy.
2010–present
Tony Jaa and Panna Rittikrai co-directed Ong Bak 3, the 2010 sequel to the prequel Ong Bak 2.
On 28 May 2010, Jaa became a Buddhist monk at a Buddhist temple in Surin, Thailand.After leaving the monastery, Jaa accepted a deal with Sahamongkol film company. He filmed Tom Yum Goong 2 for them, with Chocolate star Jija Yanin in a major role too, the first time Jaa has shared the big screen with another international martial arts star. Director Prachya Pinkaew and choreographer Panna Rittikrai also returned for this film.In 2013, Jaa teamed up with Dolph Lundgren in the Thai western-comedy A Man Will Rise (which remains unfinished) and in 2014 in Lundgren's pet project Skin Trade. Jaa then co-starred in the blockbuster action film Furious 7, produced by and starring Vin Diesel and directed by James Wan. Jaa also teamed up with fellow actors Louis Koo and Wu Jing in Hong Kong-Chinese action film SPL II.
Jaa was briefly attached to the remake of Kickboxer: Vengeance. However, in November 2014, it was announced that he had exited the project. Jaa's most recent project was co-starring with Vin Diesel again in XXX: Return of Xander Cage, directed by D.J. Caruso and released in January 2017.In October 2016, Jaa co-starred with Louis Koo again in Paradox, the third part of the SPL series.
Personal life
Jaa married his longtime girlfriend Piyarat Chotiwattananont on 3 May 2012. The couple have two daughters.
Filmography
Film
Television
Singles
Music videos
Video games
Awards and nominations
See also
Panna Rittikrai
Muay Thai Stunt
Tony Jaa on Facebook
Tony Jaa at IMDb |
Ivy Lee (born 16 July 1973) is a Singaporean former actress and host, who was a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 1993 to 2007. She has won three Star Awards for Best Actress for her performances in the television series Angel's Dream (2000), Double Happiness (2004) and Family Matters (2006).
Early life and career
Lee graduated from Singapore Polytechnic with a Diploma in Biomedical in 1993. The same year, she joined TCS (predecessor of MediaCorp) after winning the biannual Star Search and clinching the "Miss Photogenic" title at the same contest.
At the Star Awards 2006, Lee was awarded the Best Actress award for her role as a lawyer in the drama serial Family Matters. Before that, she was also named the Best Actress another two times; the first in 2000, and then in 2004.
Later in her career, Lee was known for her on-screen partnership with actor Edmund Chen, most notably in Beyond the Axis of Truth and Double Happiness. At the Star Awards 2007 anniversary special celebrating 25 years of Chinese drama in Singapore, they were named one of the Top 5 Favourite On-screen Partners for their roles as husband and wife in Double Happiness.
Lee left the entertainment industry in November 2009 and moved to Hong Kong with her family two years later. She has been based in London, England since 2017.
Personal life
Lee is currently based in England with her four children and her Hong Kong-born television producer and director husband Raymond Choy, whom she married in 1997 and in the same year, gave birth to a girl. In 2005, Lee gave birth to twin boys. In 2009, she gave birth to another girl. In an interview, Lee stated that she relocated to Hong Kong with her children so as to be nearer to her husband who travels frequently within the Greater China Region.
Filmography
Television series
Variety show host
Discography
Compilation albums
Awards and nominations
Ivy Lee at IMDb
Ivy Lee's Profile on Toggle.sg |
Hollow Knight: Silksong is an upcoming video game developed and published by Team Cherry for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. It was announced on 14 February 2019, as a sequel to the 2017 game Hollow Knight.
Gameplay
Hollow Knight: Silksong gameplay is similar to the previous Hollow Knight title, featuring 2D platforming and combat. Some changes are made from the original, such as how the character Hornet moves with a more acrobatic flair and how the character can heal themselves instantly. Sidequests will also be part of the game, and include a journal to keep track of them. The includes quest system divided into four categories: Gather, Wayfarer, Hunt, and Grand Hunt which are requested from the non-playable characters within the game.Team Cherry stated the game to be very large, featuring at least 165 new enemies and over 100 different benches in the game, while Hollow Knight only has 41 benches.Silksong will have an additional difficulty mode with permanent death called "Silk Soul mode", akin to the "Steel Soul mode" found in Hollow Knight. It will feature more differences from the base game than "Steel Soul mode" did in Hollow Knight.
Premise
Hornet is captured and taken to the unknown kingdom of Pharloom, which is said to be "haunted by Silk and Song", and must climb to the top to reach a shining citadel.
Development
Hollow Knight: Silksong was announced on 14 February 2019 in a trailer and with a developer diary video sharing more information about the game. Since announcement, per GameSpot, "updates have been sporadic and infrequent".Originally, Hornet was planned as a second playable character to be included in a downloadable content (DLC) pack for Hollow Knight, funded as a stretch goal in the game's Kickstarter campaign. Eventually, due to the increased scope of the project Team Cherry decided to expand the DLC to a full sequel. While in the process, Team Cherry revealed some of the character animations for Hornet and Steel Assassin Sharpe, a villain from the game.The developers released an update about the game in March 2019, sharing descriptions and images of characters who will appear in Silksong. They thanked the game's fans for supporting them regarding the announcement of the sequel.In December 2019, Team Cherry released a preview of the game's soundtrack, composed by Christopher Larkin, as well as an update on the total number of enemies developed, with a focus on a trio, described as "members of a scholarly suite."An article in PC Gamer from February 2022 showcased Team Cherry co-director William Pellen stating that the game was still in development despite the lack of updates since December 2019 and said that more details would be revealed as the game got closer to its release.A new trailer for the game was revealed at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase in June 2022, revealing that the game would be released on Xbox Game Pass at launch, with the game being available through the service for PC and Xbox Series X/S. While no release date was announced, the Xbox Twitter account stated in a tweet that the game would be available within the next twelve months, implying they expected a release by 12 June 2023. Team Cherry marketing and publishing representative Matthew Griffin declared on 10 May 2023 that the game was delayed, stating "We had planned to release in the first half of 2023, but development is still continuing."In September 2022, Sony confirmed in a tweet that the game would also come to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.
Reception
In May 2022, Hollow Knight: Silksong won a "Most Anticipated Game" award from Unity. In response, Team Cherry thanked the community for their support and said "It can't be too much longer, surely!"
Official website |
The All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (ACFIC; Chinese: 中华全国工商业联合会; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Quánguó Gōngshāngyè Liánhéhuì), also called the All-China Chamber of Industry and Commerce (ACCIC; Chinese: 中国民间商会) is a quasi-governmental chamber of commerce, established in 1953 as a successor to the chambers of commerce that were first founded during the Qing dynasty. Today, it consists of Chinese industrialists and business people under the leadership of the United Front Work Department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), as well as being a constituent organization of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the holder of a number of seats in the National People's Congress. The organization assists the government in managing China's private sector economy and acts as a bridge between the private sector entities and the government.
Leadership
From November 2002 to 2012, the ACFIC had been led by Chairman Huang Mengfu (Chinese: 黄孟复), who, like his predecessors, was also a vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, ranking as a national leader of China. His predecessor was Jing Shuping, founder of the first private bank in modern China and the son of a well-known entrepreneur of the late Qing Dynasty.The first vice-chairman of the ACFIC is Quan Zhezhu (Chinese: 全哲洙), a deputy minister of the United Front Department originally from Jilin. The ACFIC has another 23 vice-chairpersons, most of them private entrepreneurs.
Regional federations
More than 3,000 regional federations of industry and commerce (FIC) have been established in all provinces and prefectures and most counties of China. As of 2009, they listed a combined membership of 2.6 million private enterprises. The relationship between ACFIC and the regional FIC is described as a role of guidance, but the statute of ACFIC is also valid for the regional federations.In September 2020, the CCP announced that it would establish more party committees in regional FICs, and would arrange a special liaison between them and the CCP.
See also
Technological and industrial history of China
Official website (in English) |
A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place.: 30 : 12–13 Usually a campaign setting is designed for a specific game (such as the Forgotten Realms setting for Dungeons & Dragons) or a specific genre of game (such as medieval fantasy, or outer space/science fiction adventure). There are numerous campaign settings available both in print and online. In addition to published campaign settings available for purchase, many game masters create their own settings, often referred to as "homebrew" settings or worlds.
While obviously connected to game materials, campaign settings are supported also by other media, such as novels and comic books.: 171 Examples of major campaign settings include numerous settings within Dungeons & Dragons,: 30 as well others such as BattleTech.: 171
Types of setting
The use of the term "world" in describing a campaign setting is loose, at best. Campaign worlds such as the World of Greyhawk detail entire cosmologies and timelines of thousands of years, while the setting of a game such as Deadlands might only describe one nation within a brief segment of alternate history.
There are three primary types of campaign setting:
The first type of setting is specifically tied to a single game, such as Warhammer or World of Darkness, where the game has only the one setting.
The second type of setting is for games that have multiple settings such as modern Dungeons & Dragons or generic roleplaying systems such as GURPS or Fudge
The third type of setting is developed without being tied to a particular game system. Typically this last sort are developed first as stand-alone works of fiction, which are later adapted to one or more role playing systems such as the Star Wars universe or Middle-earth, though there are a few exceptions of settings which were designed explicitly for role playing gaming, but without a specific system in mind, such as Hârn.Nikolai Butler distinguished two types of campaign settings, homebrewed and official.: 13 According to games journalist David M. Ewalt, established campaign settings have the advantage of providing a wealth of material written by professional game designers. When creating a homebrew setting "you're on your own - but without limits and preconceptions", which can lead to more interesting games as the game master may be "more invested in the material and passionate about its development".Setting genres have touched on every genre of high-action fictional storytelling from role-playing's roots in fantasy to science fiction in settings such as Traveller to horror in the World of Darkness. Even modern-day spy thriller-oriented settings such as Spycraft have been introduced.
A small number of campaign settings fuse two or more genres in a single game. In GURPS Infinite Worlds, for example, the characters play "Infinity Patrol" agents who travel to alternate worlds. Shadowrun combines fantasy with cyberpunk, Castle Falkenstein draws on fantasy and steampunk elements, and Torg mixes fantasy, science fiction, pulp and horror elements while Feng Shui combines Chinese historical fantasy with kung fu action tropes and dystopian science fiction.
Fantasy
Fantasy settings draw their inspiration almost exclusively from fantasy literature, such as the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard. The setting in these games is usually a world with a level of technology similar to that of medieval Europe. Fantasy elements include magic and supernatural/mythological creatures, such as dragons, elves, dwarves and orcs.
The very first role-playing settings from the late 1960s and early 1970s (World of Greyhawk, and Blackmoor) were based in the fantasy genre, primarily based on the popularity of fantasy works by authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. Over the decades since, fantasy role-playing has evolved and expanded tremendously, even developing its own subgenres. The genre can be subdivided into high fantasy where supernatural events are commonplace, and low fantasy where there are few or no supernatural aspects.
While pure fantasy games were initially popular, games such as Ars Magica popularized the notion of fantasy set within elements of real-world history. Later games would update this concept even further, bringing fantasy gaming into the present day in a genre known as urban fantasy (e.g. Mage: The Ascension) or even into the future by combining urban fantasy with cyberpunk (e.g. Shadowrun). Even when the main setting of a game is not taken directly from the history of our world, they still tend to draw heavily on historical models, though distorted by the presence of magic; also, as gods often have direct and tangible interactions with the world, religion is usually very unlike our world.
Fantasy typically remains the most played roleplaying genre.: 30 RPGs of the fantasy genre are sometimes collectively called "Fantasy roleplaying games" ("FRP").
See Category:Fantasy roleplaying games
Science fiction
Science fiction settings are inspired by science fiction literature. The setting is generally in the future, sometimes near future but also quite often in the far future, though in many cases the setting bears no connection to the world we live in, e.g. Star Wars. Common elements involve futuristic technology, contact with alien life forms, experimental societies, and space travel. Psionic abilities (i.e. ESP and telekinesis) often take the place of magic. The genre can be divided similarly with science fiction literature into subgenres, such as cyberpunk or space opera.
Science fiction settings for role playing were introduced with Metamorphosis Alpha in 1976 -- dungeon adventuring on a "lost starship" -- and in 1977 soon followed with Traveller, a space opera game. Its Third Imperium setting covered multiple worlds and alien races. Due to the success of Star Wars, and the impact that the franchise had on popular culture, many science fiction settings were introduced or adapted, especially during the 1980s. The scope of a science fiction setting is typically larger than that of a fantasy setting, encompassing multiple worlds or even entire galaxies. Such settings often involve detailed accounts of military and/or trading operations and organizations.
Gamma World, introduced in 1978, explored the replacement of traditional elements of fantasy settings with the pseudo-scientific elements of post-apocalyptic fiction. These settings lend themselves to the "adventuring" mode of most fantasy games, and thus focus on developing specific locations and loosely defined cultural or racial groups.
See Category:Science fiction roleplaying games
Historical
Historical settings take place in the past. Because historical games often overlap the fantasy genre, a distinguishing mark is that fantasy games are set on a "fantasy world" similar to but distinct from Earth, while historical games are set in the past of Earth. Settings that have been explored in roleplaying games include Pendragon (Arthurian), Sengoku (Japanese warring states), Recon (Vietnam War), Tibet (historical Tibet), and Fantasy Imperium (historical Europe).
The roleplaying game Ars Magica is one such 'historical' game, set in what its source materials call 'Mythic Europe': while history is generally accepted to unfold as depicted in real-world historical accounts, Ars Magica presents a detailed background for its setting, tying the existence of magic, wizards and the Faerie realms into a historical context while allowing for 'fantasy' elements to come into play.
See Category:Historical roleplaying games
Horror
Horror settings take their inspiration from horror literature. Horror role-playing can be divided into two major groups.
Modern horror settings such as Call of Cthulhu were first introduced in the early 1980s, creating a hybrid of fantasy horror and modern thrillers. These settings tend to focus on organizations and societies in which generally normal people fight against malevolent supernatural entities. Such games often are structured as a straightforward "monster hunt", though Call of Cthulhu also involves a great deal of investigation and clue-finding.
The second style of horror game reverses the roles, with the player characters being such supernatural creatures as vampires and werewolves. This second style was popularized by White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade. A series of games by the same company followed, sharing a setting called the World of Darkness.
The setting in both these styles of horror games is often contemporary, between the 19th century and the current day. Creating the correct mood and air of suspense is very important in these games.
Some elements of fantasy role-playing settings were often related to the horror genre. Vampires and ghosts are typical fare in most such settings, for example. Campaign settings that combine horror and fantasy elements on an even footing include the Dungeons & Dragons settings Ravenloft and Ghostwalk. The D&D Heroes of Horror sourcebook also provides ways to emphasize horror elements within a more typical fantasy milieu.
See Category:Horror roleplaying games
Humor
Humor games are based on creating situations which are funny or have a funny premise. Humor is not usually a genre in itself (although it can be), but a modifier added to other genres. In 1983 Bureau 13 introduced humorous modern horror/fantasy gaming. In 1984, the Paranoia game introduced a science fiction setting which used a post-apocalypse world in which to set a tongue-in-cheek game of futile struggle against a computer-controlled dictatorship. Humorous settings for multiple genres have since been released. Humorous settings typically develop few if any locations and organizations, focusing instead on specific characters of note and general tone.
See Category:Comedy roleplaying games
Multi-genre
Multi-genre games that mix elements of different genres together. For example, Deadlands presents a Wild West in which elements of horror, magic and steampunk are prevalent, and Castle Falkenstein presents a Victorian-era world with Jules Verne- and H. G. Wells-inspired technology alongside fantasy elements like magics and the denizens of Faerie.
Similarly, Shadowrun presents a futuristic dystopia that draws heavily from Cyberpunk influences such as cyberized limbs, megacorporations and the virtual reality internet in the form of the Matrix, while also including, as a major plot element, the return of magic to the world and the classic Dungeons & Dragons races of elves, dwarfs, trolls and so forth. Likewise, the superhero genre typically emulates the comic book universes such as the DC and Marvel Universes as a form of science fantasy set in contemporary setting where all fantastic elements from futuristic technology to mythic beings co-exist.
More extreme mashups are also possible; Torg combined fantasy, science fiction, pulp, and horror elements while Feng Shui combined Chinese historical fantasy with Kung Fu action tropes and dystopian science fiction. In GURPS Infinite Worlds, the characters played "Infinity Patrol" agents who travel to alternate worlds characterized by different genre elements including steampunk and horror.
Licensed
Licensed games are tie-ins to larger media franchises. They were once rare but the number of these games is increasing. Licensed games are usually considered part of their franchise's genre rather than a genre in and of themselves. Many licensed products are now defunct because of license expiration, while others such as Blood of Heroes take a system designed for a licensee's game world and create a new world to match it.
See also
Fantasy world
List of campaign settings
List of fictional universes
Campaign (role-playing games)
Dungeons & Dragons campaign settings |
A campaign is a continuing storyline in a game. In role-playing games, it is a set of adventures.: 30 In video games, it may be a linked series of quests designed to tell a complete story.
In role-playing games
A campaign in a tabletop role-playing game is characterized by the following:
Rules – What underlying game system is used? What changes, additions, or subtractions has the game master made to the rules? How will the game master interpret those rules?
Setting – Where do the adventures take place? What makes this world or place unique?
Realism – Will the game try to closely simulate the real world? Or will unlikely or fantastic happenings be commonplace?
Humor – Will the game be silly or comical? Or will it be serious and dark?
Plot – Are the players a part of larger events? Not all campaigns have such a storyline, but most at least have recurring characters. Differing emphasis on these factors sets the flavor of the campaign. A campaign, its characters, the settings, and its history, are created by players and the game master collaboratively .
In video games
Campaigns with deep stories are typically found in single-player video games. Cooperative multiplayer video games may also have campaigns where players assist each other with a series of challenges or goals. Progressing through them together provides a coherent story. Campaigns in video games often incorporate cutscenes to tell the story, breaking up the game into alternating interactive and non-interactive sequences. In open world video games, campaigns usually consist of a series of linked quests that require players to travel to specific locations to continue the story. Players who dislike being forced to travel and complete specific quests may ignore the main story. In this sense, campaigns are the game's main story, as opposed to side quests. Heavily scripted video games that force players to progress linearly through the story may be called "on rails".
Styles
A hack and slash, kick in the door, or dungeon crawl campaign focuses on slaying monsters and finding treasure. This type of campaign is often very episodic. Many players of Dungeons & Dragons favor this type of campaign.
A wargame campaign focuses on military and political activities, generally involving the affairs of fictional states. Miniature wargaming overlaps with role playing. Games Workshop started as a roleplay company, but through an analogous process, have transformed themselves into a miniatures manufacturing company with support material for entire fictional worlds – all to support their own role/miniature campaign concepts.
A four color or superheroic campaign resembles comic books. Players are often given tasks, such as stopping supervillains, by their superiors.
A detective campaign focuses on mysteries that must be solved by the players or that unfold as the game goes along. These may be ordinary crimes or paranormal mysteries. Some games, such as Call of Cthulhu, are designed specifically with supernatural campaigns in mind.
Numerous variants of the above campaigns are created by the players. The exact nature of these variations are usually exposed by providing a descriptive prefix to the word campaign. For example: a villain campaign where the players are the bad guys or a kiddie campaign where the players' characters are still children.
Other names
Some published games have deliberately used different terms for the same concept. For instance, White Wolf uses the word Chronicle for its World of Darkness and Exalted games. |
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly referred to as the Metropolitan Police, is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within the ceremonial county of Greater London. In addition, it is responsible for some specialised matters throughout the United Kingdom, including national counter-terrorism measures and the protection of specific people, such as the monarch and other members of the royal family, members of the government, and other officials.
The main geographical area of responsibilities, the Metropolitan Police District, consists of the 32 London boroughs, but does not include the City of London proper – the central financial district – which is policed by a separate force, the City of London Police. As the force responsible for the capital of the United Kingdom, the Met has significant unique responsibilities and challenges, such as protecting 164 foreign embassies and High Commissions, policing London City and Heathrow airports, protecting the Palace of Westminster, and dealing with significantly more protests and events than any other British force, with 3,500 such events in 2016.The force, by officer numbers, is the largest in the United Kingdom by a significant margin, and one of the biggest in the world. Leaving its national responsibilities aside, the Met has the eighth-smallest police area (primary geographic area of responsibility) of the territorial police forces in the United Kingdom.
The force is led by the commissioner, whose formal title is the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. The commissioner is answerable to the Home Office and the Mayor of London, through the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime. The post of commissioner was first held jointly by Sir Charles Rowan and Sir Richard Mayne. Sir Mark Rowley is the current commissioner; he succeeded Acting Commissioner Sir Stephen House in July 2022.A number of informal names are used for the service, most commonly the Met. It is also referred to as Scotland Yard or the Yard, after the location of its original headquarters in a road called Great Scotland Yard in Whitehall. The Met's current headquarters is New Scotland Yard, on the Victoria Embankment.
History
The Metropolitan Police Service was founded in 1829 by Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel under the Metropolitan Police Act 1829 and on 29 September of that year, the first constables of the service appeared on the streets of London. Ten years later, Metropolitan Police Act 1839 consolidated policing within London by expanding the Metropolitan Police District and either abolishing or amalgamating the various other law enforcement entities within London into the Metropolitan Police such as the Thames River Police and the Bow Street Runners.
Governance
Since January 2012, the Mayor of London is responsible for the governance of the Metropolitan Police through the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). The mayor is able to appoint someone to act on his behalf. As of April 2019, the office-holder is the deputy mayor for policing and crime, Sophie Linden. The work of MOPAC is scrutinised by the Police and Crime Committee (also known as a police and crime panel) of the London Assembly. These structures were created by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 and replaced the Metropolitan Police Authority-appointed board created in 2000 by Greater London Authority Act 1999.
Police area and other forces
The area policed by the Metropolitan Police Service is known as the Metropolitan Police District (MPD). The Met was divided into 32 Borough Operational Command Units that directly aligned with the 32 London boroughs covered. This situation has changed since 2017, as the Met has attempted to save money due to cuts in funding. The MPD is now divided into 12 Basic Command Units (BCUs) made up of two, three or four boroughs. There is criticism of these changes. The City of London (which is not a London borough) is a separate police area and is the responsibility of the separate City of London Police.
The Ministry of Defence Police is responsible for policing of Ministry of Defence property throughout the United Kingdom, including its headquarters in Whitehall and other MoD establishments across the MPD.The British Transport Police (BTP) are responsible for policing of the rail network in Great Britain, including London. Within London, they are also responsible for the policing of the London Underground, London Trams, the London Cable Car and the Docklands Light Railway.The English part of the Royal Parks Constabulary, which patrolled a number of Greater London's major parks, was merged with the Metropolitan Police in 2004, and those parks are now policed by the Royal Parks Operational Command Unit. There is also a small park police force, the Kew Constabulary, responsible for the Royal Botanic Gardens, whose officers have full police powers within the park. A few local authorities maintain their own borough park constabularies, including Wandsworth Parks and Events Police, Kensington and Chelsea Parks Police, Havering Parks Constabulary and the Hampstead Heath Constabulary. All of these enjoy powers of arrest without warrant as constables, however the officers of the latter have full police powers, much like officers of the Metropolitan Police on the Heath. The other parks police primarily focus on by-law enforcement.
Metropolitan Police officers have legal jurisdiction throughout all of England and Wales, including areas that have their own special police forces, such as the Ministry of Defence, as do all police officers of territorial police forces. Officers also have limited powers in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Within the MPD, the Met will take over the investigation of any serious crime from the Ministry of Defence Police and to a lesser degree BTP, if it is deemed appropriate. Terrorist incidents and complex murder enquiries will almost always be investigated by the Met, with the assistance of any relevant specialist force, even if they are committed on Ministry of Defence or railway property. A minor incursion into the normal jurisdiction of territorial police officers in England and Wales is that Met officers involved in the protection duties of the Royal Family and other VIPs have full police powers in Scotland and Northern Ireland in connection with those duties.
Organisation and structure
The Metropolitan Police Service is organised into the following directorates:
Frontline Policing
Met Operations
Specialist Operations
Professionalism
Shared Support Services (part of Met headquarters)Each is overseen by an assistant commissioner or, in the case of administrative departments, a director of police staff, which is the equivalent civilian staff grade. The management board is made up of the commissioner, deputy commissioner, assistant commissioners and directors.
Ranks
The Metropolitan Police Service uses the standard British police ranks, indicated by epaulettes, up to chief superintendent, but uniquely has five ranks above that level instead of the standard three; namely commander, deputy assistant commissioner, assistant commissioner, deputy commissioner and commissioner. All senior officers of the rank of Commander and above are chief police officers of NPCC (previously ACPO) rank.
The Met approved the use of name badges in October 2003, with new recruits wearing the Velcro badges from September 2004. The badge consists of the wearer's rank, followed by their surname. All officers are assigned a unique identification number which includes a two-letter BCU (Basic Command Unit) code.
Following controversy over assaults by uniformed officers with concealed shoulder identification numbers during the G20 summit, Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said, "the public has a right to be able to identify any uniformed officer whilst performing their duty" by their shoulder identification numbers.
Insignia
The Met uniformed officer rank structure, with epaulette design, is as follows (from highest to lowest):
The Met also has several active Volunteer Police Cadet units, which maintain their own internal rank structure. The Metropolitan Special Constabulary is a contingent of part-time volunteer police officers and is attached to most Borough Operational Command Units. The Metropolitan Special Constabulary Ranks are as follows (from lowest to highest):
The prefix "woman" in front of female officers' ranks has been obsolete since 1999. Members of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) up to and including the rank of chief superintendent prefix their ranks with "detective". Detective ranks are equivalent in rank to their uniform counterparts. Other departments, such as Special Branch and Child Protection, award non-detectives "branch detective" status, allowing them to use the "Detective" prefix. None of these detective ranks confer on the holder any extra pay or supervisory authority compared to their uniformed colleagues.
Workforce
The following is the current released workforce data for the ranks. The chief officers rank covers all senior ranks as well as special constables covering all special constable ranks.
Arms
Resources
The Metropolitan Police Service is composed of police officers and police staff (civilians who are non-warranted). Police officers include full-time, paid officers known as 'regulars', and part-time, voluntary officers from the Metropolitan Special Constabulary. Both regulars and specials enjoy full police powers, wear the same uniform, and carry the same kit. Police Staff include police community support officers (PCSOs), designated detention officers (DDOs), and many other civilian roles. The Met was the first constabulary to introduce PCSOs. Unlike civilian police staff, police officers in the Met (as elsewhere in the UK) are not employees, but rather Crown servants, and holders of the Office of Constable.
Funding for the Metropolitan Police has been cut due to austerity. Changes in the way the government pays for police pensions will lead to further cuts.
Police numbers
Police officers (regular – of all ranks): 34,363
Specially Trained Officers (STO): 7,615
Police officers (special – of all ranks): 1,445
Police Community Support Officers (PCSO): 1,254
Police staff (designated detention officers): 614
Police staff (other): 9,814
Police dogs: around 250
Police horses: 120
Historic numbers of police officers
1852: 5,625
1866: 6,839
1877: 10,336^
1887: 14,191
1912: 20,529
1929: 19,290
1938: 18,511
1944: 17,976*
1952: 16,400
1965: 18,016
1984: 27,000 (approximate)
2001: 25,000 (approximate)
2003: 28,000 (approximate)
2004: 31,000 (approximate)
2009: 32,543 (excluding 2,622 special constables)
2010: 33,260 (excluding 3,125 special constables)
2011: 32,380 (excluding 4,459 special constables)
2013: 30,398 (excluding 5,303 special constables)
2014: 30,932 (excluding 4,587 special constables)
2015: 31,877
2016: 32,125
2017: 30,817
2019: 30,980 (excluding 1,749 special constables)
2020: 32,766 (excluding 1,874 special constables)*include temporary constables from war period
^includes 753 officers policing Her Majesty's Dockyards throughout the country
Fleet
As of 2023, the Met operates and maintains a fleet of around 5,200 vehicles. In 2018, the fleet covered 46,777,720 miles (75,281,440 km). The fleet comprises numerous vehicles, including:
Incident response vehicles (IRV): attached to the various Basic Command Units (BCU) of the Metropolitan Police area, used for frontline policing duties such as patrol and emergency response.
Q-cars: covert unmarked vehicles, belonging to a variety of departments.
Armed response vehicle (ARV): Transports authorised firearms officers trained to use firearms to deal with incidents involving deadly weapons.
Traffic units: respond to traffic accidents on major roads, enforce traffic laws and encourage road safety.
Motorcycles: utilised by the Roads and Transport Policing Command and Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection for more agile patrol and response.
Scrambler bikes: used by Operation Venice officers to combat moped gangs.
Collision investigation units (CIU): respond to and appropriately investigate all major road traffic collisions.
Protected carriers: used for public order duties.
Personnel carriers: used to transport numerous officers on patrol and to incidents, as well as non-violent public order situations.
Station vans: used to transport both officers and suspects in a cage in the rear of the van.
Commercial vehicle units: used to respond to incidents involving commercial vehicles.
CBRN units: used to mitigate chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents. These are identified by a large amount of equipment lockers on newer vans and a large array of detecting equipment on the top of older vans.
Control units: used for incident command and control purposes.
Armoured multi-role vehicles: used for public order duties, airport and counter-terrorism duties, or as required.
General purpose vehicles: used for general support and transportation duties of officers or equipment.
Training vehicles: used to train police drivers.
Miscellaneous vehicles: such as horseboxes and trailers.The majority of vehicles have a service life of three to five years; the Met replaces or upgrades between 800 and 1,000 vehicles each year. Vehicles are maintained and repaired on contract by Babcock International; from November 2023, the contract for 3,700 of the Met's 5,200 vehicles will be undertaken by Rivus Fleet Solutions for a ten-year period.By 2012, the Met was marking all new marked vehicles with Battenburg markings, a highly-reflective material on the side of the vehicles, chequered blue and yellow-green for the police, and in other colours for other services. The old livery was an orange stripe through the vehicle, with the force's logo. Originally, marked vehicles were finished in base white paint; this was changed to silver from 2002 to help improve a vehicle's resale value when it is retired from police use.The National Police Air Service provides helicopter support to the Met.
A marine policing unit operates 22 vessels from its base in Wapping.
Budget
The force's expenditure for single years, not adjusted for inflation.
Crime figures
Crimes reported within the Metropolitan Police District, selected by quarter centuries.
1829/30: 20,000
1848: 15,000
1873: 20,000
1898: 18,838
1923: 15,383
1948: 126,597
1973: 355,258
1998/9: 934,254
2017/18: 827,225
Detection rates
The following table shows the percentage detection rates for the Metropolitan Police by offence group for 2010/11.
The Metropolitan Police Service "screened out" 34,164 crimes the day they were reported in 2017 and did not investigate them further. This compares to 13,019 the previous year. 18,093 crimes were closed in 24 hours during the first 5 months of 2018 making it likely that the 2017 total will be exceeded. Crimes not being investigated include sexual assaults and arson, burglaries, thefts and assaults. Some critics believe this shows the effect of austerity on the force's ability to carry out its responsibilities.
Specialist units
Protection Command – This command is split into two branches: Royalty and Specialist Protection (RASP) and Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection (PaDP). RaSP provides personal armed protection for the Royal family, Prime Minister and other ministers, ambassadors and visiting heads of state. PaDP is responsible for providing armed officers to protect the Palace of Westminster, important residences such as Downing Street and the many embassies found located in London. Royal Palaces are the responsibility of RaSP. The Special Escort Group (SEG) are responsible for escorting the Royal Family, Prime Minister and other ministers, ambassadors and visiting heads of state, and occasionally prisoner transport.
Aviation Policing Command – Responsible for providing policing (with the majority being armed officers) at Heathrow Airport and London City Airport.
Flying Squad – A unit which investigates and intercepts armed robberies. The name comes from the fact its members travelled across divisional and borough boundaries.
Trident Gang Crime Command – Investigates and works to prevent gang crime.
Roads and Transport Policing Command – Provides policing for the transport network in London, comprising numerous divisions: the Traffic Division, patrols the road, pursuing fleeing suspects and enforcing speed, safety, and drink driving; the Road Crime Team focuses on dangerous drivers, priority roads, uninsured vehicles and 'fatal four' offences; the Safer Transport Team (STT) provide a policing presence on Transport for London's buses and investigates most crimes committed on them.
Specialist Firearms Command – (SCO19) Responsible for providing armed response and support across the whole of London with Authorised Firearms Officers (AFO) travelling in ARVs (Armed Response Vehicles) responding to calls involving firearms and weapons. SCO19 has a number of CTSFOs (Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officers), who have additional training.
Dog Support Unit – (DSU) Provides highly trained dogs and police handlers. They are trained to detect drugs and firearms, respond to searches, missing people, and fleeing suspects. Bomb-detection dogs are also used for specific duties.
Marine Policing Unit – (MPU) Provides policing on the waterways of London, responding to situations in the River Thames and tracking and stopping illegal vessels entering and exiting London.
Mounted Branch – Provides policing on horseback in London. One of their duties is escorting the Royal Guard down The Mall, into and out of Buckingham Palace every morning from April to July, then occasionally through the remainder of the year. They also provide public order support and are commonly called to police football matches in the event of any unrest. All officers are trained in public order tactics on horseback.
Police Support Unit (PSU) – Trained to deal with a variety of public order situations outside the remit or capability of regular divisional officers.
Territorial Support Group (TSG) – Highly trained officers, specialised in public order and large scale riots responding around London in marked Public Order Vehicles (POV) with 6 constables and a sergeant in each POV. They aim to: secure the capital against terrorism, respond to any disorder in London, and reduce priority crime through borough support. They respond in highly-protective uniform during riots or large disorder, protecting themselves from any thrown objects or hazards.
Violent Crime Task Force (VCTF) – Formed in April 2018, the VCTF is a pan-London proactive response team to knife and serious violent crime, made up of 300 ring-fenced and dedicated police officers who solely focus on violent crime, weapon-enabled crime and serious criminality.
Operation Venice – Formed in 2017 to deal with record-breaking moped crime in London, but also tackles different types of robbery trends; the Scorpion Team consists of highly skilled drivers and riders who were given a green light to instigate tactical contact against moped and motorbikes involved in criminality.
Stations
In addition to the headquarters at New Scotland Yard, there are many police stations in London. These range from large borough headquarters staffed around the clock every day to smaller stations, which may be open to the public only during normal business hours, or on certain days of the week. In 2017, there were 73 working front counters open to the public in London.Most police stations can easily be identified from one or more blue lamps located outside the entrance, which were introduced in 1861.
The oldest Metropolitan police station, which opened in Bow Street in 1881, closed in 1992 and the adjoining Bow Street Magistrates' Court heard its last case on 14 July 2006. One of the oldest operational police station in London is in Wapping, which opened in 1908. It is the headquarters of the marine policing unit (formerly known as Thames Division), which is responsible for policing the River Thames. It also houses a mortuary and the River Police Museum.
Paddington Green Police Station, which is no longer operational, received much publicity for its housing of terrorism suspects in an underground complex prior to its closure in 2017.
In 2004, there was a call from the Institute for Public Policy Research for more imaginative planning of police stations to aid in improving relations between police forces and the wider community.
Officers killed in the line of duty
The Police Roll of Honour Trust lists and commemorates all British police officers killed in the line of duty.
Controversies
In 1970, a group of British black activists known as the Mangrove Nine were tried for violent clashes during a protest against the police targeting of The Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill. The nine men were all acquitted of the most serious charges and the trial became the first judicial acknowledgement of racial hatred within the Metropolitan Police.Following the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, Judge William Macpherson headed a public inquiry (1998) into the handling of the original Metropolitan Police Service investigation of the murder. The inquiry concluded that the investigation was incompetent and that the force was institutionally racist.In 2005, police shot dead Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian man who had wrongly been identified as a perpetrator of the attempted terrorist bombings the day before.
During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the Metropolitan police were found to be 2.17 times as likely to issue fines to black people for lockdown breaches, relative to the general population.The Met said: "In total, more white people received FPNs [fixed penalty notices] or were arrested than other individual ethnic groups. However, when compared with the composition of the resident population, higher proportions of those in black and minority ethnic (BAME) groups were issued with FPNs or arrested across London as a whole. The reasons for this are likely to be complex and reflect a range of factors. This includes interactions between the areas subject to significant proactive policing activity targeting crime hotspots and both the variation in the age profile and geographical distribution of ethnic groups in London."In 2021, the MPS have attracted media coverage for approaches to policing in high-profile cases such as the murder of Sarah Everard, the murders of Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry and the handling of internal sexual assault allegations. Women's rights groups have called for an enquiry into misogyny in the force.In March 2021, Wayne Couzens, a serving Metropolitan Police officer with the Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection unit, was arrested and later charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard. Couzens was later sentenced to life without the possibility of release. There were renewed calls for high level resignations following public outcry over the Met's response to the Everard case. In March 2022, two serving Met police constables and one ex-officer were charged with sharing offensive messages with Wayne Couzens.In April 2021 an early-career Metropolitan police officer, Ben Hannam, was found guilty of being a member of a banned neo-Nazi terrorist group.In December 2021, an inquest jury ruled that the deaths in 2014–2015 of serial killer Stephen Port's final three victims was due in part to the Met Police's failings. The inquest found that the Met "failed to carry out basic checks, send evidence to be forensically examined, and exercise professional curiosity while Port was embarking on his killing spree".At the beginning of February 2022, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) reported on the conduct of officers at the Charing Cross police station. Their investigation found evidence of highly sexualized, violent and discriminatory messages sent as part of WhatsApp group involving 17 officers. The regional director of the IOPC, Sal Naseem, said: "The behaviour we uncovered was disgraceful and fell well below the standards expected of the officers involved. While these officers predominantly worked in teams in Westminster, which have since been disbanded, we know from other recent cases that these issues are not isolated or historic."In March 2022 it was revealed that a 15-year old black girl, referred to as Child Q, was strip-searched by police in school without an adult present after wrongly being suspected of being in possession of Cannabis. An independent safeguarding report concluded the incident was unjustified and racism was likely a factor. Child Q is now suing the Metropolitan Police and pursuing civil action against her school. The two police officers who carried out the strip search have been removed from front line duties. In September 2023, the IOPC announced that four officers would face misconduct charges over the Child Q case.Two years before the Child Q incident there were complaints that many strip searches of children were unjustified. In 2019 it was found that strip searches were disproportionately done to black and ethnic minority suspects. Inspectors found the number, "higher than we normally see", and involved, "many children and a significantly higher proportion of black and minority ethnic detainees". Metropolitan Police have strip searched 5,279 children during the three years up to 2022 and 75% (3,939) were from ethnically diverse backgrounds according to the LBC. Sixteen children strip searched were between ten and twelve years old. Statistics only cover children strip searched following arrest and the actual figures are likely to be higher. On 24 June 2022, Metropolitan police referred itself to the IOPC for investigation of 8 strip-searches of youngsters under 18. Reforms will be introduced including that an inspector will have to approve a strip-search of a child, an appropriate adult will have to be present and there will have to be a report. The Met stated "We have reviewed the policy for 'further searches' for those aged under 18 and made changes. This is to assure ourselves the policy is appropriate {...} and that it recognises the fact a child in these circumstances may well be a vulnerable victim of exploitation by others involved in gangs, county lines and drug dealing." Between 2018 and 2020 there were 650 strip-searches of children, 23% were without an appropriate adult. 58% of boys searched were black. Rachel de Souza said "I am not reassured that what happened to Child Q was an isolated issue, but instead believe it may be a particularly concerning example of a more systemic problem around child protection within the Metropolitan Police. I remain unconvinced that the Metropolitan Police is consistently considering children's welfare and wellbeing." The majority of children strip-searched were innocent. De Souza said "This low level of successful searches arguably indicates that this intrusive practice may well not be justified or necessary in all cases." (95%) of youngsters strip-searched were boys, and a quarter were under 16. De Souza said "I am also extremely concerned by the ethnic disproportionality shown in these figures, particularly given that ethnicity was determined to be such a key factor in the Child Q case. I am not reassured that what happened to Child Q was an isolated issue, but instead believe it may be a particularly concerning example of a more systemic problem around child protection within the Metropolitan police. I remain unconvinced that the Metropolitan police is consistently considering children's welfare and wellbeing." In September 2023, Det Supt James Conway said that the Met had been overusing the power of strip search, and that the Met had made changes in the procedure.In June 2022 the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said that there was evidence of "systemic sexism, racism, homophobia, discrimination, misogyny" in the Met; he accepted that there are "dedicated, decent, brave officers" as well. Khan said he felt that the new Police Commissioner would need to restore confidence in London police. Khan accepted that London crime figures are going down. The Met has been put into special measures by H M Inspectorate of Constabulary. The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said the Met was not getting "the basics right. (...) The process to recruit a new commissioner is well under way and I have made clear that the successful candidate must demonstrate sustained improvements in the Met Police in order to regain public trust both in London and across the country. The new commissioner will need to deliver on the public's priorities for the police – making our streets safer, bearing down on crime and bringing more criminals to justice, while continuing to recruit thousands of new officers to protect local communities." The Inspectorate has "systemic concerns" over the Met, including its inadequate response to emergency calls, "barely adequate" recording of crime and child abuse referrals developing a backlog. A letter from the watchdog to the Met said failures worsened due to the young and inexperienced recruits brought in as an element of the national move to replace thousands of experienced officers cut as part of austerity measures. Matt Parr of the Inspectorate wrote to Sir Stephen House that the inspectors had had "substantial and persistent concerns" about the Met "for a considerable time". The concerns included the Met's approach to tackling corruption which the letter said was "fundamentally flawed" and "not fit for purpose".In August 2022, the Met started legal proceedings against Parm Sandhu, a former senior officer who has published a book including allegations of 'racial and gender discrimination' against her by the Met. The Met's claim is that Sandhu has breached a non-disclosure agreement which was part of a settlement agreement between Sandhu and the Met.In September 2022, there were protests over the death of Chris Kaba, who was shot and killed by a Metropolitan Police officer in south London. The police officer involved was shortly afterwards suspended pending the outcome of the investigation by the IOPC. Two police cars had chased and stopped his vehicle late at night on 5 September, following a suspected armed incident the previous day involving the vehicle Kaba was driving.
The family also privately met with Scotland Yard's new Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, for 25 minutes after viewing the footage. On 30 March 2023, the IOPC announced that they had referred the case to the Crown Prosecution Service. On 17 January 2023, David Carrick, a Met Police Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection officer, was dismissed from the Metropolitan Police after pleading guilty to 49 offences, including numerous cases of rape. He had been the subject of allegations of abuse of women over a period of twenty years. The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, announced that there would be an internal review of the Met's dismissal processes, and Mark Rowley said that the histories and records of all officers and staff would be rechecked to see whether any previous offending had been missed. In July 2023 it was announced that six of Carrick’s victims are intending to sue the Metropolitan Police for breaching their human rights by failing to investigate properly. On 20 July 2023 the Independent Office for Police Conduct announced that it was starting four investigations into the way the Metropolitan Police had handled complaints against Carrick.In 2023, a report on the Metropolitan Police found that the organisation was rife with racism, misogyny, and homophobia, and was corrupt. A 363-page report written by Louise Casey, Baroness Casey of Blackstock was commissioned after the abduction of Sarah Everard by Wayne Couzens, a police constable. The report stated that 12% of female Met employees had been harassed or attacked, with 33% experiencing sexism. Other incidents include a Muslim officer who had bacon stuffed into his boots and a Sikh officer whose beard was cut. The report also found that officers of minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely to be disciplined and leave the force. The report was criticised by the charity Galop for not investigating transphobia. Fiver former officers admitted in court in 2023 to sending racist messages, and the targets of the messages included the Duchess of Sussex. In August 2023 Graham Smith issued a claim for judicial review against the Metropolitan police commissioner regarding Smith's arrest on the day of the king's coronation, when he was preparing to demonstrate against the monarchy.
See also
Other London emergency services:
London's Air Ambulance Charity
London Ambulance Service
London Fire Brigade
City of London Police
Official website
Metropolitan Police at His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services
Inspector Denning – Victorian Police in Westminster – UK Parliament Living Heritage
Parliamentary Archives, Records of the Metropolitan Police Archived 15 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine |
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