Pete's Pages

Programming links

While much of the information on this page is now quite out-of-date, there is still some useful information to be found. I shall be updating this page with lots of handy new pointers over the next few weeks. In the meantime, please visit the Openstrike site for all matters relating to open source in general and Linux in particular.


Language-specific information

Fortran

Yes, the old ones are not necessarily the best, but here's some interesting notes about old faithful.

C

The original (ie. first edition) of K&R is now available online courtesy of the good people at the internet archive. Browse away.

C++

If you can't quite manage to scrape up the cash for Stroustrup's book, you can always browse the on-line version (cheaper, but less exhaustive). There's also an accelerated introduction and an annotations page for your browsing pleasure. Don't forget about the C++ Shop either.

Perl

Where better to go than Perl Consultancy for a description of this space-age scripting language?

MJD has now published his seminal Higher-Order Perl online for all to enjoy. Be sure to procure a paper copy when you realise just how good it is.

Shells

At the minute we only have references for sh, bash, csh and tcsh, but there will be more along in a little while.

See Colodebug for easier script debugging.

HTML tutorials and information

Of historical interest is the JHU/APL's WWW & HTML Developer's JumpStation, although many of the links are now sadly out of date. Much more up-to-date is the UK Web Compliant site for all validation and compliance issues. Alternatively, why not take a look at what the Web Standards Project is up to? There's also a very useful piece on i18n encoding which is explained (very well) from an XML viewpoint and, by extension, HTML.

Firefox and some other modern browsers can now support SVG, which is a very slick development. Some examples might inspire you as to what can be achieved with it. You can exert further control over the rendering of documents on the web with user styles. Do your part to avoid the Website Obesity Crisis.

No design talent? Don't worry - the best designs are now available to you directly from Open Web Design who have split from Skettino's OSWD project.

LaTeX

The full docs for LaTeX2e are available online. There is also NASA's Hypertext version. If you have Inkscape, you can use it to construct flashy presentations with LaTeX. Also worth a gander is the PDF FAQ list at Queen Mary and Westfield which includes some LaTeX-specific gems.

Other specific-use languages

Qore for multithreading.

Operating Systems

Unix

Unix Guru Universe and the vi lovers' home page and FAQ. There's also some useful stuff at the unix / net / hack page.

Linux

A few things which are specific to Linux and therefore not mentioned above. One worthwhile resource is the scientific applications on Linux page.

List of distributions. PDAs. Clustering with OpenSSI, LVS and Ultra Monkey. Virtualisation with Xen.

If you can program and want to contribute, the best way to get started is with the Kernel Janitor Project.

Among the on-line publications dealing with Linux is the Linux Gazette.

Applications and Utilities

X11

A big list of Window Managers for X is available. There's also a colour test, so you can tell what your RGBs look like. How about a screensaver?

Graphics

Vector

Inkscape and Dia.

Raster

GIMP including user manual and adding fonts. For simpler tweaks and a handy multi-directory GUI, try gThumb. Blender leads the field in 3D. For video editing, take a look at Cinelerra.

Kermit

All you ever wanted to know about the file transfer program and then some from the new site at kermitproject.org. The old site and associated archive is still available at Columbia for now.

Comms

Some comms apps worth a look.

Video conferencing

Jami is a distributed audio/video calling and conferencing system which looks very promising. Similarly BigBlueButton covers much of the same ground but isn't distributed and caters more specifically for online learning. There is also Jitsi and OpenMeetings, although these are both Java-based and therefore will necessarily suffer from the downsides this brings.

The old stalwarts, Ekiga and Empathy are no longer being actively maintained, alas.

IM

IM servers include: Prosody, DJabberd, etc.

Clients include: Gajim (best of the bunch, IMHO), Pidgin, ...

Companies

Miscellaneous


This page has been optimised for use with lynx and was written using vim. Valid XHTML 1.0!

Pete Houston --- Comments welcomed