I play around with a lot of technologies. I think it’s important for anyone in the technology field to explore new technologies. In order to provide the best solutions, I have to know what tools are available. Some good technologies don’t receive much buzz, others don’t receive enough. So, what technologies am I playing with right now? Recently, I started looking at Processing and OpenCV. This technology has been around for awhile, but I’ve never had the pleasure of playing with it. Processing uses Java, but programs almost like Unity or Arduino with a call to set everything up and a loop function to execute the code. what makes processing so great is how much it simplifies graphical programming. Another exciting technology is Johnny-Five. This framework, named after the famous robot from Short Circuit, is intended to create a unified framework for programming a variety of hardware boards for robotics. It uses JavaScript, and an event-driven model which greatly simplifies robotics for those unskilled in C++. What’s also awesome about Johnny-Five is that it runs on your computer instead of directly on the hardware. While this could be viewed as a con – since you need a computer to run project – it also means you can integrate functionality from the computer into the project. Your hardware project can now function as an I/O device for something much larger. And, with huge number of small computers available now (such as the Raspberry Pi), you can still create small portable projects. The next technology on my list right now is .NET Core 2.0. As a Mac/Linux user, I avoid Microsoft-only technologies. But .NET Core 2.0 now runs cross platform. And, even more exciting, it’s actually pretty good. I have been very excited with the ease that i can develop web applications with their MVC framework and even happier about how easy their Entity Framework is for interacting with databases. Lastly, I’ve been tinkering with Angular. I’ve avoided most of the JavaScript frameworks over the years. I typically use JSF with the occasional jQuery when needed. But, the buzz around Angular is too great, too many jobs want this skill. So, I’ve started tinkering around with it. Looks great for some applications, but I’d rather stick to Java for larger applications. There are lots of other technologies out there I’d like to explore – if only there were more hours in the day.
