It's always fun to bring something new to DDJ. That's why this month I'm particularly happy about launching the "Programmer's Bookshelf," a new monthly column devoted to books that are important for programmers. The column, which you'll find on page 145 of this issue, is co-written on alternate months by Andrew Schulman and Ray Duncan. Andrew kicks off with a look at a recently published book on the new generation of microprocessors. Unlike most CPU-oriented books that are aimed at hardware design engineers, this one is written from the programmer's perspective. As Andrew points out, you get source code instead of pin-outs.
Over the coming months, Andrew and Ray will examine books they think should be on every programmer's bookshelf. The ground rules are that books are as important to every programmer's toolkit as software and that a book should be used as a tool. They're reserving the right, however, to break the rules at any time.
If you've run across a book (new or old) you think they should take a look at, drop us a note in care of DDJ and we'll see if they agree.
We look forward to seeing out-of-town visitors when they get a chance to drop by the office. One recent caller was Stephan Lugert of Open Network (developers of, among other tools, a nifty file comparison program called "Delta" -- there's the plug Stephan) who was on his way to Seattle, taking the train up from San Diego where he'd just attended the International Joint Conference on Neural Networks.
One conference presentation that really impressed Stephan was a videotape of a research project whereby neurons were being grown on silicon plates. Nothing really new there. What was new, however, was that electrical signals generated by neural network circuits were stimulating the cells to grow in certain directions. As the dendrites grew, the cells generated growth energy and seemed to make decisions about which specific way to grow. Eventually one cell would take off while others were absorbed back into the dendrites. Intracell competition was genuinely occurring even though the growth of the dendrites appeared to be random.
There were a couple of things about the presentation that really knocked his socks off, Stephan said. One thing was the non-verbal nature of the presentation -- seeing it actually happen instead of simply having it described. The other was that the neurons weren't static; the growth was much more dynamic and much more sensitive to the environment than researchers previously thought. And they were keeping the nerves alive for up to three months.
I'm not sure what the long range potential of research like this is, and I'd like someone to explain it to me in more depth. If you've heard about this or similar projects, I'd like to hear from you.
I don't know if we'll get a chance to look at projects like this in next April's "Biocomputing" issue (where we'll be examining neural networks, genetic algorithms, and the like), but if you have something in mind, that's the perfect forum to present what you've learned.
We've had a few calls asking about the art in the our July "Graphics Programming" issue. Yes, Doc Livingston of Rix Softworks created both the Dr. Dobb's blimp scene on the cover and the VGA street sign that accompanied Chris Howard's article. And yes, Doc did use his own software to generate the screens.
Telepath, M&T's online service, was officially up and running as of our August issue. Not only does the service give you access to DDJ, but it also provides you an electronic doorway to our sister publications: DBMS, LAN Technology, and Personal Workstation.
In addition to furnishing you with yet another way to get DDJ's (and the other magazine's) source code listings, you'll find a variety of active online technical conferences already underway: 32-bit programming, C, graphics, OOPS, and discussions about dBase, Oracle, servers, Netware, and so on.
You can get to Telepath via the Tymnet network; dial 800-336-0149 to find out your local Tymnet access phone number. The communications parameters are 7 data bits, even parity, and 1 stop bit. When Tymnet answers, press a and, when prompted to log in, type telepath. You'll then be led through the sign-on process and you can go on-line immediately.
Summer Visitors, Neural Nets, and Biocomputing
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
DDJ Online