Well .org is pretty much the standard TLD for open source projects. While it would be "cool" to use .io it might confuse some people.
It's very common for example that projects have an .org for their Open Source software and .com or other for their business behind it (see wordpress.org vs wordpress.com)
Ya, makes sense. What about all the trendy open source stuff that have the TLD .io as their suffix like socket.io etc? How did the .io trend start anyway?
what matters is what you can do, how much you understand the platform tools (it is not required of a junior developer to write renderscript kernels, but he/she at least need to know basic concepts such as view recycling or view holders) and whether you are able to write maintainable & extensible code.
This course probably help for at least some of these points.
I just reviewed a test made by somebody that would like to join our team.
There were some very weird use of view in there, for example holding references to dozens of view objects in order to display them in a grid instead of caching the bitmap themselves, among other things.
That was a big no-no. A junior developer is going to make mistakes (and she already has a couple of years of experience) but if each of his/her code reviews end up with a -2, both parties are going to lose their time.
To be honest, I believe that taking the course could be a deciding factor, more than the certificate. What I'll be looking for (hopefully soon) is someone that can navigate the environment and familiar with APIs. I'm considering taking the course myself anyway.
When I took CS61A over 8 years ago with Prof. Hilfinger, one of the revelations was how few primitives you need to make a powerful language. Using define, cons, cond, and a couple other functions (but no loops and no assignment), you can write an evaluator for Scheme that can interpret any other Scheme program (excluding I/O, strings). I learned how powerful a first-class function is from that class.
Python has a wealth of syntax and data structures that make it great for real programs but is perhaps not as good at building abstractions from the ground up.
I think Apple has the potential to change the way we handle information in both schools and hospitals (and of course private practices). Both of these are usually still using outdated Hardware/Software from ~2000 so they will have to be replaced in the near future.
I just don't know if it's good for a school to buy into a closed environment, like the one Apple provides.
Does Microsoft charge you a fee to develop and sell an app? No. But once you're locked into the iApps, iBooks, iTunes U, iUniverse - Apple gets its 30% off the top. And no alternatives are allowed.
Uh, yes, Microsoft DOES charge you a fee...it's called "paying out the ass for your tools".
What did Visual Studio Enterprise cost last time I looked for a small company (like a start up)? $1600 a pop. More than what's needed for a Mac Mini, an iPod Touch, and a Apple Developer License/Cert.
The same tools (XCode) cost $5.
(And you'd still have to pay for your hardware/OS on top of that $1600). And that's not counting MSDN fees, either.
Make no mistake: Microsoft milks its marketshare of developers just as much as anyone else. It's just a different way of pricing.
Mircosoft is also working towards launching it's own walled garden with a 70/30 split, from what I hear, due in late 2012. So then, they'll be a double stab
Well, there's no other alternative at the moment. The only thing students are bound by is the curriculum and recommended texts.
I for one, hope Amazon get onto it too. It's just a shame it's always Apple innovating and the rest left catching up. How and why did Amazon not see this as an opportunity years ago? They must sell thousands of text books each year and ship them everywhere.
Like Kodak, Amazon was making too much money off the analog format to seriously consider a move that would kill the current cash cow. Dabble in the digital alternative, yes, but ready for massive game changes from near-unexpected competition and overnight adoption by customers, not so much.
