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Optical disc authoring
Optical disc
Optical disc image
Recorder hardware
Authoring software
Recording technologies
Recording modes
Packet writing
Optical media types
Laserdisc
Compact disc/CD-ROM: CD-R, CD-RW
MiniDisc
DVD: DVD-R, DVD-D, DVD-R DL, DVD+R,
DVD+R DL, DVD-RW, DVD+RW,
DVD-RW DL, DVD+RW DL, DVD-RAM
Blu-ray Disc: BD-R, BD-RE
HD DVD: HD DVD-R: HD DVD-RAM
UDO
UMD
Holographic data storage
3D optical data storage
History of optical storage media
Standards
Rainbow Books
File systems
ISO 9660
Joliet
Rock Ridge
Amiga Rock Ridge extensions
El Torito
Apple ISO9660 Extensions
Universal Disk Format
Mount Rainier
In computing, optical disc authoring, including DVD authoring, known often as burning, is the process of recording source material—video, audio or other data—onto an optical disc (compact disc or DVD).
Contents [hide]
1 Process
2 Sessions
2.1 TOC
2.2 Lead-In
2.3 Lead-Out
2.4 Tracks
3 Hardware
4 Software
5 File systems
5.1 ISO 9660
5.2 Universal Disk Format
6 See also
[edit] Process
To create an optical disc, one usually first creates a disk image with a full file system designed for the optical disc, and then burns the image to the disc. The disc image is a single file, built and stored on the hard drive, which contains the entire information to be contained on the disc.
Many programs create the disc image and burn in one bundled operation, so that end-users often do not know the distinction. However, a useful motivation for learning this distinction is that creating the disc image is an "expensive" (time-consuming) process. Most disc writing applications will silently delete this image from the "temporary directory" in which it was built unless users instruct the disc burning application to preserve the image, which can then be used for creating further copies of the same image without the need to rebuild the image each time.
There are also packet-writing applications that do not require writing the entire disc at once, but allow writing parts at a time, allowing the disc to be used in the same way as rewritable media such as floppy disk.
There exist many optical disc authoring technologies for optimizing the authoring process and preventing errors. Discs whose burn failed are colloquially termed coasters since that is almost all they are good for, as well being primitive frisbees.
Some operating systems are aware of disc images as a filesystem type, and can mount these images so that they appear as actual mounted discs. This feature can be useful for testing a disc image after authoring but before writing to the disc media.
[edit] Sessions
Data on an optical disc is laid out in sessions. Each session consists of a lead-in, containing the session's Table of Contents, the program area in which the individual tracks are located, and the lead-out.
The number of tracks is limited to 99 in a session. The specifications require at least one track in each session. The tracks are located in the program area of the session.
In multisession discs, the lead-in areas contain addresses of the previous sessions. The TOC written in the lead-in of the latest session is used to access the tracks.
[edit] TOC
The Table of Contents (TOC) is the area where the layout of the tracks on the disc is described. It is located in the lead-in area of the disc session. The TOC on discs is in principle similar to partition table on hard drives.
Nonstandard or corrupted TOC records are abused as a form of CD/DVD copy protection, in e.g. the key2Audio scheme.
[edit] Lead-In
The lead-in area of a CD session is the starting part of the disc. It contains the TOC for the session, and the address of the next available free part of the disc available for the start of the next session, unless the disc is closed and therefore no more sessions can be added, or the disc is not multisession.
[edit] Lead-Out
The lead-out area is the ending part of the CD session. When the session is closed, the lead-out area is written.
The first lead-out is 6750 sectors (about 13 megabytes) long, each subsequent lead-out is 2250 sectors (4 megabytes) long.
[edit] Tracks
Main article: Track (CD)
A track is a consecutive set of sectors on the disc containing a block of data. One session may contain one or more tracks of the same or different types. There are several kinds of tracks: Audio tracks, Data tracks.
[edit] Hardware
Main article: Optical disc recorder
Authoring is commonly done in software on computers with optical disc recorders. There are, however, stand-alone devices like personal video recorders which can also author and record discs.
[edit] Software
Main article: Optical disc authoring software
Use of optical disc recorders require optical disc authoring software, sometimes called "burning applications" or "burner applications". Such software is usually sold with the recorder. Some operating systems, including most Linux distributions, come bundled with them.
[edit] File systems
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it.
Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion.(January 2007).
Optical disk file systems include ISO-9660 (often known simply as "ISO") and Universal Disk Format (UDF). ISO is most common for CDs and UDF is most common for DVDs.
[edit] ISO 9660
Main article: ISO 9660
ISO 9660 is a format mainly used on CDs. The ISO 9660 can be extended with Joliet, Rock Ridge, Amiga Extensions to Rock Ridge, El Torito, or the Apple ISO9660 Extensions. The Joliet file system was made by Microsoft. It makes it possible to have long file names, among other things. Rock Ridge is a system providing ownership, fewer restrictions on the file names, and more. Amiga extensions allow use of Amiga attribute bits and comments. El Torito makes it possible to boot from a CD. The Apple Extensions enables creator codes, file type, and so on.
[edit] Universal Disk Format
Main article: Universal Disk Format
Universal Disk Format (UDF) can be extended with Mount Rainier making it possible to use the disc like a floppy. This allows to easily delete, create, and modify files, without having to write the whole disc again.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
FoxPro
FoxPro has multiple meanings:
Visual FoxPro - an object-oriented programming language and RDBMS, published by Microsoft, for Microsoft Windows.
FoxPro 2 - a text-based procedural programming language and RDBMS, originally published by Fox Software and later by Microsoft, for MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX
Visual FoxPro - an object-oriented programming language and RDBMS, published by Microsoft, for Microsoft Windows.
FoxPro 2 - a text-based procedural programming language and RDBMS, originally published by Fox Software and later by Microsoft, for MS-DOS, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, and UNIX
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash, or simply Flash, refers to both the Adobe Flash Player, and to the Adobe Flash Professional multimedia authoring program. Adobe Flash Professional is used to create content for the Adobe Engagement Platform (such as web applications, games and movies, and content for mobile phones and other embedded devices). The Flash Player, developed and distributed by Adobe Systems (which acquired Macromedia in a merger that was finalized in December 2005), is a client application available in most common web browsers. It features support for vector and raster graphics, a scripting language called ActionScript and bi-directional streaming of audio and video. There are also versions of the Flash Player for mobile phones and other non-PC devices.
Strictly speaking, Adobe Flash Professional is an integrated development environment (IDE) while Flash Player is a virtual machine used to run, or parse, the Flash files. But in contemporary colloquial terms "Flash" can refer to the authoring environment, the player, or the application files.
Since its introduction in 1996, Flash technology has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages; several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, various web-page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications.
The Flash files, traditionally called "Flash movies" or "Flash games", have a .swf file extension and may be an object of a web page, strictly "played" in a standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a Projector, a self-executing Flash movie with the .exe extension in Windows. Flash Video files have a .flv file extension and are utilized from within .swf files.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 History (Authoring tool)
3 Future developments
4 Programming language
4.1 Content protection
5 Competition
5.1 Format and plug-in
5.2 Free software alternatives
5.3 Third-party Playback
5.3.1 Authoring
6 Criticisms
6.1 Usage
6.2 Using Flash to restrict access to content
6.3 Local Shared Objects
6.4 Application flaws
6.5 Accessibility issues
6.6 Flash Player on various platforms
6.7 Search engine indexability
6.8 Digital Rights Management
7 Market share
8 Hidden Secret Games
9 Related file formats and extensions
10 Video in web pages
11 See also
12 References
13 External links
[edit] History
Flash grew out of a chain of thought that started in the 1980s with some ideas Jonathan Gay had at school, then at college and later while working for Silicon Beach Software and its successors.[1] In January 1993, Charlie Jackson, Jonathan Gay, and Michelle Welsh started a small software company called FutureWave Software and created their first product, SmartSketch. A drawing application, SmartSketch was designed to make creating computer graphics as simple as drawing on paper. Although SmartSketch was an innovative drawing application, it didn't gain enough of a foothold in its market. As the Internet began to thrive, FutureWave began to realize the potential for a vector-based web animation tool that might easily challenge Macromedia's often slow-to-download Shockwave technology. In 1995, FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and re-released it as FutureSplash Animator on Macintosh and PC. By that time, the company had added a second programmer Robert Tatsumi, artist Adam Grofcsik, and PR specialist Ralph Mittman. The product was offered to Adobe and used by Microsoft in its early (MSN) work with the Internet. In December 1996, Macromedia acquired the vector-based animation software and later released it as Flash 1.0.
Macromedia Flash 2 (1997) Features: Support of stereo sound, enhanced bitmap integration, buttons, the Library, and the capability to tween color changes.
Macromedia Flash 3 (1998) Features: Brought improvements to animation, playback, and publishing, as well as the introduction of simple script commands for interactivity. Macromedia ships its 100,000th Flash product this year, as well.
Macromedia Flash 4 (1999) Features: Achieved 100 million installations of the Flash Player, thanks in part to its inclusion with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5. Flash 4 saw the introduction of streaming MP3s and the Motion Tween. Initially, the Flash Player plug-in was not bundled with popular web browsers and users had to visit Macromedia website to download it, but as of year 2000, the Flash Player was already being distributed with all AOL, Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. Two years later it shipped with all releases of Windows XP. The install-base of the Flash Player reached 92% of all Internet users.
Macromedia Flash 5 (2000) Features: Flash 5 was a major leap forward in capability, with the evolution of Flash's scripting capabilities as released as ActionScript. Flash 5 also saw the ability to customize the authoring environment's interface.
Macromedia Generator was the first initiative from Macromedia to separate design from content in Flash files. Generator 2.0 was released in April 2000 and featured real-time server-side generation of Flash content in its Enterprise Edition. Generator was discontinued in 2002 in favor of new technologies such as Flash Remoting, which allows for seamless transmission of data between the server and the client, and ColdFusion Server.
In October 2000, usability guru Jakob Nielsen wrote a polemic article regarding usability of Flash content entitled "Flash 99% Bad". (Macromedia later hired Nielsen to help them improve Flash usability.)
In September 2001, a survey made for Macromedia by Media Metrix showed that out of the 10 biggest websites in the United States, 7 were making use of Flash content.[citation needed]
On March 15, 2002, Macromedia announced the availability of Macromedia Flash MX and Macromedia Flash Player 6, with support for video, application components, shared libraries, and accessibility.
Flash Communication Server MX, also released in 2002, allowed video to be streamed to Flash Player 6 (otherwise the video could be embedded into the Flash movie).
Flash MX 2004 was released in September 2003, with features such as faster runtime performance up to 8 times with the enhanced compiler and the new Macromedia Flash Player 7, ability to create charts, graphs and additional text effects with the new support for extensions (sold separately), high fidelity import of PDF and Adobe Illustrator 10 files, mobile and device development and a forms-based development environment. ActionScript 2.0 was also introduced, giving developers a formal Object-Oriented approach to ActionScript. V2 Components replaced Flash MX's components, being rewritten from the ground up to take advantage of ActionScript 2.0 and Object-Oriented principles. Flash MX 2004 was the first release of Flash to be segmented into "Basic" and "Professional" versions. The Basic version was targeted at traditional Flash animators while the Professional version brought more advanced capabilities that developers would use, for example the data components.
In 2004, the "Flash Platform" was introduced. This expanded Flash to more than the Flash authoring tool. Flex 1.0 and Breeze 1.0 were released, both of which utilized the Flash Player as a delivery method but relied on tools other than the Flash authoring program to create Flash applications and presentations. Flash Lite 1.1 was also released, enabling mobile phones to play Flash content.
Macromedia Flash 8 (2005) is touted by Macromedia as the most significant upgrade to Flash since Flash 5. New features included filter effects and blending modes, bitmap caching, a new video codec called On2 VP6, an enhanced type rendering engine called FlashType, an emulator for mobile devices, and several enhancements to the ActionScript 2.0 spec, such as the BitmapData class, several geometric classes, and the ConvolutionFilter and DisplacmentMapFilter classes.
Flash Lite 2 was also released in 2005, which brought its capabilities in line with Flash Player 7.
On December 3, 2005, Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia and its product portfolio (including Flash).[2]
Adobe Flash Player 9 was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2006, which marked the first time a Flash Player major release occurred without a simultaneous Flash authoring program major release. Flex 2.0 was released in conjunction with Flash Player 9, and the player will be continued when Flash Authoring 9 is released in 2007. For the first time in the history of Flash, the Flash Player will have had an opportunity to become widely installed before the release of the equivalent Flash program.
Adobe Flash Player 9 was released for Linux in January 2007.[3]
Adobe Flash 9 Public Alpha was released in 2006, and was a preview of ActionScript 3.0.
Adobe Flash CS3 in 2007, originated from Flash 9 Public Alpha with several updates for integrating into other Adobe products, is released as a bundled software of the Adobe Creative Suite 3. This currently-newest version also brings ActionScript 3.0 and a new xml engine to the Flash authoring tool. Also has an improved and optimized GUI like the rest of the CS3 suite.
[edit] History (Authoring tool)
Adobe Flash CS3 ProfessionalFutureSplash Animator (Spring 10 April 1996) – initial version of Flash with basic editing tools and a timeline
Flash 1 (November 1996) – a Macromedia re-branded version of the FutureSplash Animator
Flash 2 (June 1997) – Released with Flash Player 2, new features included: the object library
Flash 3 (31 May 1998) – Released with Flash Player 3, new features included: the movieclip element, JavaScript plug-in integration, transparency and an external stand alone player
Flash 4 (15 June 1999) – Released with Flash Player 4, new features included: internal variables, an input field, advanced Actionscript, and streaming MP3
Flash 5 (24 August 2000) – Released with Flash Player 5, new features included: ActionScript 1.0 (based on ECMAScript, making it very similar to JavaScript in syntax), XML support, Smartclips (the precursor to components in Flash), HTML text formatting added for dynamic text
Flash MX (ver 6) (15 March 2002) – Released with Flash Player 6, new features included: a video codec (Sorenson Spark), Unicode, v1 UI Components, compression, ActionScript vector drawing API
Flash MX 2004 (ver 7) (9 September 2003) – Released with Flash Player 7, new features included: Actionscript 2.0 (which enabled an object-oriented programming model for Flash), behaviors, extensibility layer (JSAPI), alias text support, timeline effects
Flash MX Professional 2004 (ver 7) (9 September 2003) – Released with Flash Player 7, new features included all Flash MX 2004 features plus: Screens (forms for non-linear state-based development and slides for organizing content in a linear slide format like PowerPoint), web services integration, video import wizard, Media Playback components (which encapsulate a complete MP3 and/or FLV player in a component that may be placed in a SWF), Data components (DataSet, XMLConnector, WebServicesConnector, XUpdateResolver, etc) and data binding APIs, the Project Panel, v2 UI components, and Transition class libraries.
Flash Basic 8 (released on 13 September 2005) – A less feature-rich version of the Flash authoring tool targeted at new users who only want to do basic drawing, animation and interactivity. Released with Flash Player 8, this version of the product has limited support for video and advanced graphical and animation effects.
Flash Professional 8 (released on 13 September 2005) – Released with the Flash Player 8, Flash Professional 8 added features focused on expressiveness, quality, video, and mobile authoring. New features included Filters and blend modes, easing control for animation, enhanced stroke properties (caps and joins), object-based drawing mode, run-time bitmap caching, FlashType advanced anti-aliasing for text, On2 VP6 advanced video codec, support for alpha transparency in video, a stand-alone encoder and advanced video importer, cue point support in FLV files, an advanced video playback component, and an interactive mobile device emulator.
Flash CS3 Professional (as version 9, released on 16 April 2007) – Flash CS3 is the first version of Flash released under the Adobe name. CS3 features full support for ActionScript 3.0, allows tweens to be converted into ActionScript, adds better integration with other Adobe products such as Adobe Photoshop, and also provides better Vector drawing behavior, becoming more similar to Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Fireworks.
[edit] Future developments
Adobe Labs (previously Macromedia Labs) is a source for early looks at emerging products and technologies from Adobe-Macromedia, including downloads of the latest software and plugins. Flash 9, Flex 2, and ActionScript 3.0 are discussed.
The important new development in Flash is its increasing use in providing the presentation layer in handheld devices. Adobe is aggressively courting cell phone and PDA vendors, and partnering to deploy Flash Lite as the user interface.
A project currently in development at Adobe Labs is the Adobe AIR Project[2] which is a cross-OS runtime that allows developers to reuse their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax) to build and deploy desktop Rich Internet Applications (RIAs).
The next version of Flash will have two additional components designed for large scale implementation. Adobe is adding in the option to require an ad to be played in full before the main video piece is played. This would be most useful for large scale video sites. Also, Adobe has announced plans to add DRM into the new version of Flash. This way Adobe can give companies the option to link an advertisement with content and make sure that both are played and that they are not changed.[4]
[edit] Programming language
Main article: ActionScript
Initially focused on animation, early versions of Flash content offered few interactivity features and thus had very limited scripting capability.
More recent versions include ActionScript, an implementation of the ECMAScript standard which therefore has the same syntax as JavaScript, but in a different programming framework with a different associated set of class libraries. ActionScript is used to create almost all of the interactivity (buttons, text entry fields, pick lists) seen in many Flash applications.
New versions of the Flash Player and authoring tool have strived to improve on scripting capabilities. Flash MX 2004 introduced ActionScript 2.0, a scripting programming language more suited to the development of Flash applications. It is often possible to save a lot of time by scripting something rather than animating it, which usually also retains a higher level of editability.
Of late, the Flash libraries are being used with the XML capabilities of the browser to render rich content in the browser. Since Flash provides more comprehensive support for vector graphics than the browser and because it provides a scripting language geared towards interactive animations, it is being considered a viable addition to the capabilities of a browser. This technology, which is currently in its nascent stage, is known as Asynchronous Flash and XML, much like AJAX, but with possibly greater potential.
[edit] Content protection
Many times, Flash authors will decide that while they desire the advantages that Flash affords them in the areas of animation and interactivity, they do not wish to expose their images and/or code to the world. However, once an .swf file is saved locally, it may then quite easily be decompiled into its source code and assets. Some decompilers are capable of nearly full reconstruction of the original source file, down to the actual code that was used during creation.
In opposition to the decompilers, SWF obfuscators have been introduced to provide a modicum of security, some produced by decompiler authors themselves. The higher-quality obfuscators use traps for the decompilers, making some fail, but none have definitively been shown to protect all content.
[edit] Competition
[edit] Format and plug-in
Compared to other plug-ins such as Java, Acrobat Reader, QuickTime or Windows Media Player, the Flash Player has a small install size, quick download time, and fast initialization time. However, care must be taken to detect and embed the Flash Player in (X)HTML in a W3C compliant way. A simple and widely used workaround is provided below:
More Information on how to detect and embed Flash Objects in a W3C compliant way is provided in the xSWF description.
The use of vector graphics combined with program code allows Flash files to be smaller, or streams to use less bandwidth, than the corresponding bitmaps or video clips. For content in a single format (such as just text, video or audio) other alternatives may provide better performance and consume less CPU power than the corresponding Flash movie, for example when using transparency or making large screen updates such as photographic or text fades.
In addition to a vector-rendering engine, the Flash Player includes a virtual machine called the ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM) for scripting interactivity at run-time, support for video, MP3-based audio, and bitmap graphics. As of Flash Player 8, it offers two video codecs: On2 Technologies VP6 and Sorenson Spark, and run-time support for JPEG, Progressive JPEG, PNG, and GIF. In the next version, Flash is slated to use a just-in-time compiler for the ActionScript engine.
Flash as a format has become very widespread on the desktop market. According to a NPD study, 98% of US Web users have the Flash Player installed,[5] with 45%–56%[6] (depending on region) having the latest version. Numbers vary depending on the detection scheme and research demographics.
Flash players exist for a wide variety of different systems and devices. Flash content can run consistently on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and Linux (Macromedia has created or licensed players for the following operating systems: Windows, Mac OS 9/X, Solaris, HP-UX, Pocket PC, OS/2, QNX, Symbian, Palm OS, BeOS, and IRIX). See also Macromedia Flash Lite for Flash compatibility on other devices.
Adobe offers the specifications of the Flash file format (excluding specifications of related formats such as AMF) to developers who agree to a license agreement that permits them to use the specifications only to develop programs that can export to the Flash file format. The license forbids the use of the specifications to create programs that can be used for playback of Flash files.
[edit] Free software alternatives
There is, as of late 2006, no complete free software replacement which offers all the functionality of the latest version of Adobe Flash. Gnash, based on GameSWF, is a Flash player replacement that is under development and has the support of the Free Software Foundation. Gnash supports Flash 7 and below, but not files that require version 8 or 9 features.[7] Open Source projects like Ajax Animator, UIRA, and Openswif also aim to create a flash development environment.[citation needed]
A full end-to-end implementation of the W3C SVG and SMIL specifications would offer close competition for most of the features of Flash in an open, standard way. Adobe used to develop and distribute the 'Adobe SVG Viewer' client plug-in for MS Internet Explorer, but has recently announced its discontinuation.[8] It has been noted by industry commentators that this is probably no coincidence at a time when Adobe has moved from competing with Macromedia's Flash, to owning the technology itself.[citation needed] Meanwhile, Opera has supported SVG since version 8,[9] and Firefox's built-in support for SVG continues to grow.[10]
libavg is a high-performance open source alternative for media-rich applications that aren't browser-based.
[edit] Third-party Playback
Since Flash files do not depend on an open standard such as SVG, this reduces the incentive for non-commercial software to support the format, although there are several third party tools which use and generate the SWF file format. IrfanView is capable of playing SWF files. There is a large and vibrant open source community. Flash Player cannot ship as part of a pure open source, or completely free operating system, as its distribution is bound to the Macromedia Licensing Program and subject to approval.
[edit] Authoring
In October 1998, Macromedia disclosed the Flash Version 3 Specification to the world on its website. It did this in response to many new and often semi-open formats competing with SWF, such as Xara's Flare and Sharp's Extended Vector Animation formats. Several developers quickly created a C library for producing SWF. February 1999 saw the launch of MorphInk 99, the first third party program to create SWF files. Macromedia also hired Middlesoft to create a freely available developers' kit for the SWF file format versions 3 to 5.
Today, several open and free libraries and tool sets exist to generate and manipulate SWF files on many platforms. These include the Ming library, SWFTools, and the combination of swfmill and MTASC.
Macromedia has made the Flash Files specifications for versions 6 and later available only under a non-disclosure agreement, but it is widely available from various sites.
Many shareware developers produced Flash creation tools and sold them for under US$50 between 2000 and 2002. In 2003 competition and the emergence of free Flash creation tools, most notably OpenOffice.org Impress, had driven many third-party Flash-creation tool-makers out of the market, allowing the remaining developers to raise their prices, although many of the products still cost less than US$100 and support ActionScript. As for open source tools, KToon can edit vectors and generate SWF, but its interface is very different from Macromedia's. Another, more recent example of a Flash creation tool is SWiSH Max made by an ex-employee of Macromedia. Toon Boom Technologies also sells traditional animation tool, based on Flash - Toon-Army.
Adobe wrote a software package called Adobe LiveMotion, designed to create interactive animation content and export it to a variety of formats, including SWF. LiveMotion went through two major releases, but failed to gain any notable user base. Cartoon Man X Studios is one of the studios that uses this software.
In February 2003, Macromedia purchased Presedia, which had developed a Flash authoring tool that automatically converted PowerPoint Files into Flash. Macromedia subsequently released the new product as Breeze, which included many new enhancements. Since that time, Macromedia has seen competing PowerPoint-to-Flash authoring tools from PointeCast (not to be confused with PointCast) and PresentationPro among others. In addition, (as of version 2) Apple's Keynote presentation software also allows users to create interactive presentations and export to SWF.
In April of 2006, the Macromedia Flash SWF file format specification was released with details on the then newest version format (Flash 8). Although still lacking specific information on the incorporated video compression formats (On2, Sorenson Spark, etc.), this new documentation covers all the new features offered in Flash v8 including new ActionScript commands, expressive filter controls, and so on. The file format specification document is typically obtainable by subscribing to Macromedia's membership system and license restrictions (which include a prohibition against using these specifications to develop a free alternative).
[edit] Criticisms
Simple animation in Flash 6.0; a square moving across the screen in a motion tween, one of the basic functions of Flash.
Typical error message with Flash. A. Your computer may need a newer version of Flash that it can support. B. CPU usage may disable slower computers. C. Security concerns.
[edit] Usage
Due to the increase in the use of Flash in aggressive—and even intrusive—online advertising, tools have emerged that restrict Flash content in some or all websites by temporarily or permanently turning Flash Player off depending on user requirements. Examples of such tools are Flashblock and Adblock for the Mozilla Firefox browser, Internet Explorer browser, Safari browser, all of which are commonly used in conjunction with each other to allow users to control what Flash content they see.
Many websites rely on Flash being available by default on a user's web browser and will not check to see if it is available. If Flash is not installed, users may be unable to access some Flash-dependent websites or site features. These sites sometimes depend on a fast internet connection, especially a highly complex website or one with music. While it is possible to see Flash-based sites with a slower form of internet, such as dial-up, or a slow form of DSL, it may be frustrating for the user. Blocking tools generally do alert the end user to the fact that Flash content is present on the site, allowing the user to view it if they wish.
Flash stores its content in a binary file that is not easily accessible by search engine crawlers. However, this problem can be alleviated with coding techniques to detect if a client is capable of viewing the flash content and showing standard markup code if it is not.
[edit] Using Flash to restrict access to content
Many content producers use Flash as a way to limit user's access to the media displayed in their browsers, and/or gain clicks by forcing extra steps to display. For example, in Windows, Shockwave/Flash (.swf) files cannot be right-clicked and saved. Famously, YouTube furnishes all video in flash video format (.flv), requiring users to turn to third-party solutions to store the content locally. The usage is now spreading to photo sharing websites such as Webshots. A Flash overlay exists over the initial photo displayed, requiring a second click to retrieve the photo, slowing the experience considerably. However, if Flash is not installed, the image displays normally.
[edit] Local Shared Objects
Main article: Local Shared Object
Flash Players from version 6 can store and retrieve persistent data without offering any visible signs to the user—in a manner similar to that of cookies. It is possible to clear the temporary files that Flash stores on your computer either through the Flash website, or by clearing the files manually. The default storage location for LSOs is operating-system dependent. For Windows XP, the location is within each user's Application Data directory, under Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects. For Mac OS X the location is in each users Library directory under Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects. On Linux the location is in each users directory: ~/.macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects.
[edit] Application flaws
Specially crafted files have been shown to cause Flash applications to malfunction, by allowing the execution of malevolent code. The Flash Player has a long history of security flaws that expose computers to remote attacks. However, exploitation of these flaws has remained at the proof-of-concept stage and has not escalated into a real-world problem.[citation needed]
In addition to entries in the Open Source Vulnerability Database, security advisories published in August 2002, December 2002, and November 2005 highlight three examples of reports about various Flash Player versions that allowed remote code execution.
[edit] Accessibility issues
The US Justice Department has stated in regard to the Americans with Disabilites Act:
"Covered entities under the ADA are required to provide effective communication, regardless of whether they generally communicate through print media, audio media, or computerized media such as the Internet. Covered entities that use the Internet for communications regarding their programs, goods, or services must be prepared to offer those communications through accessible means as well."
Currently, businesses are able to sidestep this mandate to a great degree because the increased cost and complexity associated with providing content to sight-challenged viewers. However, the same argument can be made about those with ADHD, since changes to a website to better accommodate users under ADA 504 might further break the same website for other users under ADA 504.
Although long since fixed with accessibility functions since Flash Player 6, Internet users who are visually-impaired, and who may rely on a screen reader, braille display, or using larger text sizes and/or high-contrast color schemes may find sites that make extensive use of Flash difficult or impossible to use.[11]
[edit] Flash Player on various platforms
The Adobe Flash Player is mainly optimized for the Windows 32 bit platform. 32 bit editions of version 9 are also available for Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris. Adobe has been criticized for neglecting to optimize its products on non-Microsoft platforms. This has led to poor web surfing performance on Macintosh and Linux computers with Flash prior to version 9, since many websites use Flash animations for menus and advertisements.[12][13] Flash Player 7 for Linux was very CPU hungry in fullscreen mode, resulting in low frame rates.
Adobe has rewritten the bitmap drawing routines in Flash Player 8 for Mac, using OpenGL planes via Quartz to draw the surfaces. The new drawing code is reported to be actually faster than its Windows counterpart, where JPEG, TIFF or other bitmap images are composited into the animation.
The Linux version of the Flash Player requires the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) to output sound. ALSA was introduced in Linux 2.5 and can only be used with recent sound hardware. Users of the Open Sound System must either compile and install the abstraction layer flashsupport provided by Adobe, run the Windows Flash Player in a Windows browser through WINE, or switch to ALSA, which involves upgrading the kernel and typically the sound card. However, it is questionable how many of the Linux users would be able to identify this problem. On Flash Player 7 for Linux, the sound could lag about a second behind the picture; this issue was resolved in Flash Player 9. Flash Player 8 was never released for Linux, Adobe stated that they would skip that version and instead focus on preparing Flash Player 9. This decision led to disappointment in the Linux community, with some people feeling that Adobe had abandoned the Linux market. Flash Player 9 for Linux was released in January 2007, providing platform parity once again. On Linux, it is generally not possible to scroll a web page while the mouse cursor is held over a flash animation (On some distributions, it is possible by using the arrow keys after a mouse click on the page outside the flash). Long news sites may be a pain to scroll through, as they often contain flash animations spread out all over, so that one must slalom the cursor around the flash content while scrolling.
Adobe has yet (as of April 2007) to release a Flash Player for the x86-64 architecture on any operating system.[14] There is to date no Linux Flash Player for non-x86 compatible processors (e.g. x86-64 native, PowerPC, ARM, etc.). Adobe employees have said the Flash implementation is very 32-bit specific and porting to 64-bit systems would require a lot of effort.[citation needed] Adobe is currently working on a 64-bit version.[15] Adobe have not yet released any of their development software for any UNIX-like operating system except Mac OS X.
[edit] Search engine indexability
Although the myth is that Flash content cannot be indexed properly by search engine "bots" the problem has been corrected, or at least alleviated, with Flash CS3. Users can publish Flash CS3 with meta tags that index individual Flash movie content, such as links, which can be used by search engine bots to properly categorize the information. In addition, with the implementation of XML and other external scripting languages (like PHP) flash can now run websites at greater speeds than their graphic-heavy counterparts (some applications can run on as little as 50 KB; about the size of one image).
[edit] Digital Rights Management
According to a recent article from BBC News, the latest iteration of Flash allows copyright holders to embed ads within videos, as well as control how those videos are used.[4] With this latest piece of software, companies will be able to quickly remove any video that they feel violates copyright and force advertisements to play prior to the start of the video.
[edit] Market share
According to a Millward Brown survey, conducted June 2007, Adobe claims Flash reaches 99.3% of desktop Internet users.[5] Independent market share data is not available because the several companies who periodically gather browser usage data (see Usage share of web browsers) do not measure Flash penetration.
[edit] Hidden Secret Games
If you click "help" in the top-left corner, press "About Flash Professional", it will Say "Macromedia Flash Professional 8" press the letter i on the word "macromedia", (the dot of it) click several times, 6 games will appear.
[edit] Related file formats and extensions
Ext. Explanation
.swf .swf files are completed, compiled and published files that cannot be edited with Adobe Flash. However, many '.swf decompilers' do exist. Attempting to import .swf files using Flash allows it to retrieve some assets from the .swf, but not all.
.fla .fla files contain source material for the Flash application. Flash authoring software can edit FLA files and compile them into .swf files.
.as .as files contain ActionScript source code in simple source files. FLA files can also contain Actionscript code directly, but separate external .as files often emerge for structural reasons, or to expose the code to versioning applications. They sometimes use the extension .actionscript
.swd .swd files are temporary debugging files used during Flash development. Once finished developing a Flash project these files are not needed and can be removed.
.asc .asc files contain Server-Side ActionScript, which is used to develop efficient and flexible client-server Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX applications.
.flv .flv files are Flash video files, as created by Adobe Flash, ffmpeg, Sorenson Squeeze, or On2 Flix.
.swc .swc files are used for distributing components; they contain a compiled clip, the component's ActionScript class file, and other files that describe the component.
.jsfl .jsfl files are used to add functionality in the Flash Authoring environment; they contain Javascript code and access the Flash Javascript API.
.swt .swt files are 'templatized' forms of .swf files, used by Macromedia Generator
.flp .flp files are XML files used to reference all the document files contained in a Flash Project. Flash Projects allow the user to group multiple, related files together to assist in Flash project organization, compilation and build.
.spl .spl files are FutureSplash documents.
.aso .aso files are cache files used during Flash development, containing compiled ActionScript byte code. An ASO file is recreated when a change in its corresponding class files is detected. Occasionally the Flash IDE does not recognize that a recompile is necessary, and these cache files must be deleted manually. They are located in %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash8\en\Configuration\Classes\aso on Win32 / Flash8.
.lmv .lmv files is the equivalent to .fla file. These files are also the source material for the open-source program Liveswif, which can also compile them into .swf files.
[edit] Video in web pages
Flash is increasingly used as a way to display video clips on web pages, a feature available since Flash Player version 7. As a video format, Flash is liked for its ability to be displayed inside browser windows, not for its in this sense relatively limited platform compatibility. While there are other video file types that can be played on more platforms, typically 'out of the box' on the majority of operating systems, their browser plugins are limited in distribution. In contrast, the Adobe Flash Player is a dedicated browser plugin (also available as standalone player) and offers very good platform compatibility compared to other browser plugins.[citation needed] It is available for many popular platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X and, to some extent, Linux. Flash is used as the basis for many popular video sites, including YouTube and Google Video. One major flaw with multimedia embedded through Flash, however, is the considerable performance penalty placed on playback hardware as compared with a proper multimedia playback system. Many files that drop frames and skip audio when embedded within Flash play without any issues using normal multimedia formats on the same hardware.
Flash Video (.flv files) is a container format, meaning that it is not a video format in itself, but can contain other formats. The video in Flash is encoded in H.263, and starting with Flash player 8, it may alternatively be encoded in VP6. The audio is in MP3. The use of VP6 is common in many companies, because of the large adoption rates of Flash Player 8 and Flash Player 9.[6]
On August 20, 2007, Adobe announced on its blog that with Update 3 of the Flash Player (currently in beta), Flash Video will also support the MPEG-4 international standard. [16] Specifically, Flash Player will have support for video compressed in H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10), audio compressed using AAC (MPEG-4 Part 3), the MP4, M4V, M4A, 3GP and MOV multimedia container formats (MPEG-4 Part 14), 3GPP Timed Text specification (MPEG-4 Part 17) which is a standardized subtitle format and partial parsing support for the 'ilst' atom which is the ID3 equivalent iTunes uses to store metadata. Adobe also announced that they will be gradually moving away from the proprietary FLV format to the standard MP4 format owing to functional limits with the FLV structure when streaming H.264. The final release of the Flash Player supporting MPEG-4 is expected to be available in Fall 2007.[17]
[edit] See also
Actionscript
Flash animation
Adobe Flash Lite
Adobe Flex
Adobe AIR
Macromedia Shockwave
OpenLaszlo
Microsoft Silverlight
Strictly speaking, Adobe Flash Professional is an integrated development environment (IDE) while Flash Player is a virtual machine used to run, or parse, the Flash files. But in contemporary colloquial terms "Flash" can refer to the authoring environment, the player, or the application files.
Since its introduction in 1996, Flash technology has become a popular method for adding animation and interactivity to web pages; several software products, systems, and devices are able to create or display Flash. Flash is commonly used to create animation, advertisements, various web-page components, to integrate video into web pages, and more recently, to develop rich Internet applications.
The Flash files, traditionally called "Flash movies" or "Flash games", have a .swf file extension and may be an object of a web page, strictly "played" in a standalone Flash Player, or incorporated into a Projector, a self-executing Flash movie with the .exe extension in Windows. Flash Video files have a .flv file extension and are utilized from within .swf files.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 History (Authoring tool)
3 Future developments
4 Programming language
4.1 Content protection
5 Competition
5.1 Format and plug-in
5.2 Free software alternatives
5.3 Third-party Playback
5.3.1 Authoring
6 Criticisms
6.1 Usage
6.2 Using Flash to restrict access to content
6.3 Local Shared Objects
6.4 Application flaws
6.5 Accessibility issues
6.6 Flash Player on various platforms
6.7 Search engine indexability
6.8 Digital Rights Management
7 Market share
8 Hidden Secret Games
9 Related file formats and extensions
10 Video in web pages
11 See also
12 References
13 External links
[edit] History
Flash grew out of a chain of thought that started in the 1980s with some ideas Jonathan Gay had at school, then at college and later while working for Silicon Beach Software and its successors.[1] In January 1993, Charlie Jackson, Jonathan Gay, and Michelle Welsh started a small software company called FutureWave Software and created their first product, SmartSketch. A drawing application, SmartSketch was designed to make creating computer graphics as simple as drawing on paper. Although SmartSketch was an innovative drawing application, it didn't gain enough of a foothold in its market. As the Internet began to thrive, FutureWave began to realize the potential for a vector-based web animation tool that might easily challenge Macromedia's often slow-to-download Shockwave technology. In 1995, FutureWave modified SmartSketch by adding frame-by-frame animation features and re-released it as FutureSplash Animator on Macintosh and PC. By that time, the company had added a second programmer Robert Tatsumi, artist Adam Grofcsik, and PR specialist Ralph Mittman. The product was offered to Adobe and used by Microsoft in its early (MSN) work with the Internet. In December 1996, Macromedia acquired the vector-based animation software and later released it as Flash 1.0.
Macromedia Flash 2 (1997) Features: Support of stereo sound, enhanced bitmap integration, buttons, the Library, and the capability to tween color changes.
Macromedia Flash 3 (1998) Features: Brought improvements to animation, playback, and publishing, as well as the introduction of simple script commands for interactivity. Macromedia ships its 100,000th Flash product this year, as well.
Macromedia Flash 4 (1999) Features: Achieved 100 million installations of the Flash Player, thanks in part to its inclusion with Microsoft Internet Explorer 5. Flash 4 saw the introduction of streaming MP3s and the Motion Tween. Initially, the Flash Player plug-in was not bundled with popular web browsers and users had to visit Macromedia website to download it, but as of year 2000, the Flash Player was already being distributed with all AOL, Netscape and Internet Explorer browsers. Two years later it shipped with all releases of Windows XP. The install-base of the Flash Player reached 92% of all Internet users.
Macromedia Flash 5 (2000) Features: Flash 5 was a major leap forward in capability, with the evolution of Flash's scripting capabilities as released as ActionScript. Flash 5 also saw the ability to customize the authoring environment's interface.
Macromedia Generator was the first initiative from Macromedia to separate design from content in Flash files. Generator 2.0 was released in April 2000 and featured real-time server-side generation of Flash content in its Enterprise Edition. Generator was discontinued in 2002 in favor of new technologies such as Flash Remoting, which allows for seamless transmission of data between the server and the client, and ColdFusion Server.
In October 2000, usability guru Jakob Nielsen wrote a polemic article regarding usability of Flash content entitled "Flash 99% Bad". (Macromedia later hired Nielsen to help them improve Flash usability.)
In September 2001, a survey made for Macromedia by Media Metrix showed that out of the 10 biggest websites in the United States, 7 were making use of Flash content.[citation needed]
On March 15, 2002, Macromedia announced the availability of Macromedia Flash MX and Macromedia Flash Player 6, with support for video, application components, shared libraries, and accessibility.
Flash Communication Server MX, also released in 2002, allowed video to be streamed to Flash Player 6 (otherwise the video could be embedded into the Flash movie).
Flash MX 2004 was released in September 2003, with features such as faster runtime performance up to 8 times with the enhanced compiler and the new Macromedia Flash Player 7, ability to create charts, graphs and additional text effects with the new support for extensions (sold separately), high fidelity import of PDF and Adobe Illustrator 10 files, mobile and device development and a forms-based development environment. ActionScript 2.0 was also introduced, giving developers a formal Object-Oriented approach to ActionScript. V2 Components replaced Flash MX's components, being rewritten from the ground up to take advantage of ActionScript 2.0 and Object-Oriented principles. Flash MX 2004 was the first release of Flash to be segmented into "Basic" and "Professional" versions. The Basic version was targeted at traditional Flash animators while the Professional version brought more advanced capabilities that developers would use, for example the data components.
In 2004, the "Flash Platform" was introduced. This expanded Flash to more than the Flash authoring tool. Flex 1.0 and Breeze 1.0 were released, both of which utilized the Flash Player as a delivery method but relied on tools other than the Flash authoring program to create Flash applications and presentations. Flash Lite 1.1 was also released, enabling mobile phones to play Flash content.
Macromedia Flash 8 (2005) is touted by Macromedia as the most significant upgrade to Flash since Flash 5. New features included filter effects and blending modes, bitmap caching, a new video codec called On2 VP6, an enhanced type rendering engine called FlashType, an emulator for mobile devices, and several enhancements to the ActionScript 2.0 spec, such as the BitmapData class, several geometric classes, and the ConvolutionFilter and DisplacmentMapFilter classes.
Flash Lite 2 was also released in 2005, which brought its capabilities in line with Flash Player 7.
On December 3, 2005, Adobe Systems acquired Macromedia and its product portfolio (including Flash).[2]
Adobe Flash Player 9 was released for Windows and Mac OS in 2006, which marked the first time a Flash Player major release occurred without a simultaneous Flash authoring program major release. Flex 2.0 was released in conjunction with Flash Player 9, and the player will be continued when Flash Authoring 9 is released in 2007. For the first time in the history of Flash, the Flash Player will have had an opportunity to become widely installed before the release of the equivalent Flash program.
Adobe Flash Player 9 was released for Linux in January 2007.[3]
Adobe Flash 9 Public Alpha was released in 2006, and was a preview of ActionScript 3.0.
Adobe Flash CS3 in 2007, originated from Flash 9 Public Alpha with several updates for integrating into other Adobe products, is released as a bundled software of the Adobe Creative Suite 3. This currently-newest version also brings ActionScript 3.0 and a new xml engine to the Flash authoring tool. Also has an improved and optimized GUI like the rest of the CS3 suite.
[edit] History (Authoring tool)
Adobe Flash CS3 ProfessionalFutureSplash Animator (Spring 10 April 1996) – initial version of Flash with basic editing tools and a timeline
Flash 1 (November 1996) – a Macromedia re-branded version of the FutureSplash Animator
Flash 2 (June 1997) – Released with Flash Player 2, new features included: the object library
Flash 3 (31 May 1998) – Released with Flash Player 3, new features included: the movieclip element, JavaScript plug-in integration, transparency and an external stand alone player
Flash 4 (15 June 1999) – Released with Flash Player 4, new features included: internal variables, an input field, advanced Actionscript, and streaming MP3
Flash 5 (24 August 2000) – Released with Flash Player 5, new features included: ActionScript 1.0 (based on ECMAScript, making it very similar to JavaScript in syntax), XML support, Smartclips (the precursor to components in Flash), HTML text formatting added for dynamic text
Flash MX (ver 6) (15 March 2002) – Released with Flash Player 6, new features included: a video codec (Sorenson Spark), Unicode, v1 UI Components, compression, ActionScript vector drawing API
Flash MX 2004 (ver 7) (9 September 2003) – Released with Flash Player 7, new features included: Actionscript 2.0 (which enabled an object-oriented programming model for Flash), behaviors, extensibility layer (JSAPI), alias text support, timeline effects
Flash MX Professional 2004 (ver 7) (9 September 2003) – Released with Flash Player 7, new features included all Flash MX 2004 features plus: Screens (forms for non-linear state-based development and slides for organizing content in a linear slide format like PowerPoint), web services integration, video import wizard, Media Playback components (which encapsulate a complete MP3 and/or FLV player in a component that may be placed in a SWF), Data components (DataSet, XMLConnector, WebServicesConnector, XUpdateResolver, etc) and data binding APIs, the Project Panel, v2 UI components, and Transition class libraries.
Flash Basic 8 (released on 13 September 2005) – A less feature-rich version of the Flash authoring tool targeted at new users who only want to do basic drawing, animation and interactivity. Released with Flash Player 8, this version of the product has limited support for video and advanced graphical and animation effects.
Flash Professional 8 (released on 13 September 2005) – Released with the Flash Player 8, Flash Professional 8 added features focused on expressiveness, quality, video, and mobile authoring. New features included Filters and blend modes, easing control for animation, enhanced stroke properties (caps and joins), object-based drawing mode, run-time bitmap caching, FlashType advanced anti-aliasing for text, On2 VP6 advanced video codec, support for alpha transparency in video, a stand-alone encoder and advanced video importer, cue point support in FLV files, an advanced video playback component, and an interactive mobile device emulator.
Flash CS3 Professional (as version 9, released on 16 April 2007) – Flash CS3 is the first version of Flash released under the Adobe name. CS3 features full support for ActionScript 3.0, allows tweens to be converted into ActionScript, adds better integration with other Adobe products such as Adobe Photoshop, and also provides better Vector drawing behavior, becoming more similar to Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Fireworks.
[edit] Future developments
Adobe Labs (previously Macromedia Labs) is a source for early looks at emerging products and technologies from Adobe-Macromedia, including downloads of the latest software and plugins. Flash 9, Flex 2, and ActionScript 3.0 are discussed.
The important new development in Flash is its increasing use in providing the presentation layer in handheld devices. Adobe is aggressively courting cell phone and PDA vendors, and partnering to deploy Flash Lite as the user interface.
A project currently in development at Adobe Labs is the Adobe AIR Project[2] which is a cross-OS runtime that allows developers to reuse their existing web development skills (Flash, Flex, HTML, Ajax) to build and deploy desktop Rich Internet Applications (RIAs).
The next version of Flash will have two additional components designed for large scale implementation. Adobe is adding in the option to require an ad to be played in full before the main video piece is played. This would be most useful for large scale video sites. Also, Adobe has announced plans to add DRM into the new version of Flash. This way Adobe can give companies the option to link an advertisement with content and make sure that both are played and that they are not changed.[4]
[edit] Programming language
Main article: ActionScript
Initially focused on animation, early versions of Flash content offered few interactivity features and thus had very limited scripting capability.
More recent versions include ActionScript, an implementation of the ECMAScript standard which therefore has the same syntax as JavaScript, but in a different programming framework with a different associated set of class libraries. ActionScript is used to create almost all of the interactivity (buttons, text entry fields, pick lists) seen in many Flash applications.
New versions of the Flash Player and authoring tool have strived to improve on scripting capabilities. Flash MX 2004 introduced ActionScript 2.0, a scripting programming language more suited to the development of Flash applications. It is often possible to save a lot of time by scripting something rather than animating it, which usually also retains a higher level of editability.
Of late, the Flash libraries are being used with the XML capabilities of the browser to render rich content in the browser. Since Flash provides more comprehensive support for vector graphics than the browser and because it provides a scripting language geared towards interactive animations, it is being considered a viable addition to the capabilities of a browser. This technology, which is currently in its nascent stage, is known as Asynchronous Flash and XML, much like AJAX, but with possibly greater potential.
[edit] Content protection
Many times, Flash authors will decide that while they desire the advantages that Flash affords them in the areas of animation and interactivity, they do not wish to expose their images and/or code to the world. However, once an .swf file is saved locally, it may then quite easily be decompiled into its source code and assets. Some decompilers are capable of nearly full reconstruction of the original source file, down to the actual code that was used during creation.
In opposition to the decompilers, SWF obfuscators have been introduced to provide a modicum of security, some produced by decompiler authors themselves. The higher-quality obfuscators use traps for the decompilers, making some fail, but none have definitively been shown to protect all content.
[edit] Competition
[edit] Format and plug-in
Compared to other plug-ins such as Java, Acrobat Reader, QuickTime or Windows Media Player, the Flash Player has a small install size, quick download time, and fast initialization time. However, care must be taken to detect and embed the Flash Player in (X)HTML in a W3C compliant way. A simple and widely used workaround is provided below:
More Information on how to detect and embed Flash Objects in a W3C compliant way is provided in the xSWF description.
The use of vector graphics combined with program code allows Flash files to be smaller, or streams to use less bandwidth, than the corresponding bitmaps or video clips. For content in a single format (such as just text, video or audio) other alternatives may provide better performance and consume less CPU power than the corresponding Flash movie, for example when using transparency or making large screen updates such as photographic or text fades.
In addition to a vector-rendering engine, the Flash Player includes a virtual machine called the ActionScript Virtual Machine (AVM) for scripting interactivity at run-time, support for video, MP3-based audio, and bitmap graphics. As of Flash Player 8, it offers two video codecs: On2 Technologies VP6 and Sorenson Spark, and run-time support for JPEG, Progressive JPEG, PNG, and GIF. In the next version, Flash is slated to use a just-in-time compiler for the ActionScript engine.
Flash as a format has become very widespread on the desktop market. According to a NPD study, 98% of US Web users have the Flash Player installed,[5] with 45%–56%[6] (depending on region) having the latest version. Numbers vary depending on the detection scheme and research demographics.
Flash players exist for a wide variety of different systems and devices. Flash content can run consistently on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, and Linux (Macromedia has created or licensed players for the following operating systems: Windows, Mac OS 9/X, Solaris, HP-UX, Pocket PC, OS/2, QNX, Symbian, Palm OS, BeOS, and IRIX). See also Macromedia Flash Lite for Flash compatibility on other devices.
Adobe offers the specifications of the Flash file format (excluding specifications of related formats such as AMF) to developers who agree to a license agreement that permits them to use the specifications only to develop programs that can export to the Flash file format. The license forbids the use of the specifications to create programs that can be used for playback of Flash files.
[edit] Free software alternatives
There is, as of late 2006, no complete free software replacement which offers all the functionality of the latest version of Adobe Flash. Gnash, based on GameSWF, is a Flash player replacement that is under development and has the support of the Free Software Foundation. Gnash supports Flash 7 and below, but not files that require version 8 or 9 features.[7] Open Source projects like Ajax Animator, UIRA, and Openswif also aim to create a flash development environment.[citation needed]
A full end-to-end implementation of the W3C SVG and SMIL specifications would offer close competition for most of the features of Flash in an open, standard way. Adobe used to develop and distribute the 'Adobe SVG Viewer' client plug-in for MS Internet Explorer, but has recently announced its discontinuation.[8] It has been noted by industry commentators that this is probably no coincidence at a time when Adobe has moved from competing with Macromedia's Flash, to owning the technology itself.[citation needed] Meanwhile, Opera has supported SVG since version 8,[9] and Firefox's built-in support for SVG continues to grow.[10]
libavg is a high-performance open source alternative for media-rich applications that aren't browser-based.
[edit] Third-party Playback
Since Flash files do not depend on an open standard such as SVG, this reduces the incentive for non-commercial software to support the format, although there are several third party tools which use and generate the SWF file format. IrfanView is capable of playing SWF files. There is a large and vibrant open source community. Flash Player cannot ship as part of a pure open source, or completely free operating system, as its distribution is bound to the Macromedia Licensing Program and subject to approval.
[edit] Authoring
In October 1998, Macromedia disclosed the Flash Version 3 Specification to the world on its website. It did this in response to many new and often semi-open formats competing with SWF, such as Xara's Flare and Sharp's Extended Vector Animation formats. Several developers quickly created a C library for producing SWF. February 1999 saw the launch of MorphInk 99, the first third party program to create SWF files. Macromedia also hired Middlesoft to create a freely available developers' kit for the SWF file format versions 3 to 5.
Today, several open and free libraries and tool sets exist to generate and manipulate SWF files on many platforms. These include the Ming library, SWFTools, and the combination of swfmill and MTASC.
Macromedia has made the Flash Files specifications for versions 6 and later available only under a non-disclosure agreement, but it is widely available from various sites.
Many shareware developers produced Flash creation tools and sold them for under US$50 between 2000 and 2002. In 2003 competition and the emergence of free Flash creation tools, most notably OpenOffice.org Impress, had driven many third-party Flash-creation tool-makers out of the market, allowing the remaining developers to raise their prices, although many of the products still cost less than US$100 and support ActionScript. As for open source tools, KToon can edit vectors and generate SWF, but its interface is very different from Macromedia's. Another, more recent example of a Flash creation tool is SWiSH Max made by an ex-employee of Macromedia. Toon Boom Technologies also sells traditional animation tool, based on Flash - Toon-Army.
Adobe wrote a software package called Adobe LiveMotion, designed to create interactive animation content and export it to a variety of formats, including SWF. LiveMotion went through two major releases, but failed to gain any notable user base. Cartoon Man X Studios is one of the studios that uses this software.
In February 2003, Macromedia purchased Presedia, which had developed a Flash authoring tool that automatically converted PowerPoint Files into Flash. Macromedia subsequently released the new product as Breeze, which included many new enhancements. Since that time, Macromedia has seen competing PowerPoint-to-Flash authoring tools from PointeCast (not to be confused with PointCast) and PresentationPro among others. In addition, (as of version 2) Apple's Keynote presentation software also allows users to create interactive presentations and export to SWF.
In April of 2006, the Macromedia Flash SWF file format specification was released with details on the then newest version format (Flash 8). Although still lacking specific information on the incorporated video compression formats (On2, Sorenson Spark, etc.), this new documentation covers all the new features offered in Flash v8 including new ActionScript commands, expressive filter controls, and so on. The file format specification document is typically obtainable by subscribing to Macromedia's membership system and license restrictions (which include a prohibition against using these specifications to develop a free alternative).
[edit] Criticisms
Simple animation in Flash 6.0; a square moving across the screen in a motion tween, one of the basic functions of Flash.
Typical error message with Flash. A. Your computer may need a newer version of Flash that it can support. B. CPU usage may disable slower computers. C. Security concerns.
[edit] Usage
Due to the increase in the use of Flash in aggressive—and even intrusive—online advertising, tools have emerged that restrict Flash content in some or all websites by temporarily or permanently turning Flash Player off depending on user requirements. Examples of such tools are Flashblock and Adblock for the Mozilla Firefox browser, Internet Explorer browser, Safari browser, all of which are commonly used in conjunction with each other to allow users to control what Flash content they see.
Many websites rely on Flash being available by default on a user's web browser and will not check to see if it is available. If Flash is not installed, users may be unable to access some Flash-dependent websites or site features. These sites sometimes depend on a fast internet connection, especially a highly complex website or one with music. While it is possible to see Flash-based sites with a slower form of internet, such as dial-up, or a slow form of DSL, it may be frustrating for the user. Blocking tools generally do alert the end user to the fact that Flash content is present on the site, allowing the user to view it if they wish.
Flash stores its content in a binary file that is not easily accessible by search engine crawlers. However, this problem can be alleviated with coding techniques to detect if a client is capable of viewing the flash content and showing standard markup code if it is not.
[edit] Using Flash to restrict access to content
Many content producers use Flash as a way to limit user's access to the media displayed in their browsers, and/or gain clicks by forcing extra steps to display. For example, in Windows, Shockwave/Flash (.swf) files cannot be right-clicked and saved. Famously, YouTube furnishes all video in flash video format (.flv), requiring users to turn to third-party solutions to store the content locally. The usage is now spreading to photo sharing websites such as Webshots. A Flash overlay exists over the initial photo displayed, requiring a second click to retrieve the photo, slowing the experience considerably. However, if Flash is not installed, the image displays normally.
[edit] Local Shared Objects
Main article: Local Shared Object
Flash Players from version 6 can store and retrieve persistent data without offering any visible signs to the user—in a manner similar to that of cookies. It is possible to clear the temporary files that Flash stores on your computer either through the Flash website, or by clearing the files manually. The default storage location for LSOs is operating-system dependent. For Windows XP, the location is within each user's Application Data directory, under Macromedia\Flash Player\#SharedObjects. For Mac OS X the location is in each users Library directory under Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects. On Linux the location is in each users directory: ~/.macromedia/Flash_Player/#SharedObjects.
[edit] Application flaws
Specially crafted files have been shown to cause Flash applications to malfunction, by allowing the execution of malevolent code. The Flash Player has a long history of security flaws that expose computers to remote attacks. However, exploitation of these flaws has remained at the proof-of-concept stage and has not escalated into a real-world problem.[citation needed]
In addition to entries in the Open Source Vulnerability Database, security advisories published in August 2002, December 2002, and November 2005 highlight three examples of reports about various Flash Player versions that allowed remote code execution.
[edit] Accessibility issues
The US Justice Department has stated in regard to the Americans with Disabilites Act:
"Covered entities under the ADA are required to provide effective communication, regardless of whether they generally communicate through print media, audio media, or computerized media such as the Internet. Covered entities that use the Internet for communications regarding their programs, goods, or services must be prepared to offer those communications through accessible means as well."
Currently, businesses are able to sidestep this mandate to a great degree because the increased cost and complexity associated with providing content to sight-challenged viewers. However, the same argument can be made about those with ADHD, since changes to a website to better accommodate users under ADA 504 might further break the same website for other users under ADA 504.
Although long since fixed with accessibility functions since Flash Player 6, Internet users who are visually-impaired, and who may rely on a screen reader, braille display, or using larger text sizes and/or high-contrast color schemes may find sites that make extensive use of Flash difficult or impossible to use.[11]
[edit] Flash Player on various platforms
The Adobe Flash Player is mainly optimized for the Windows 32 bit platform. 32 bit editions of version 9 are also available for Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris. Adobe has been criticized for neglecting to optimize its products on non-Microsoft platforms. This has led to poor web surfing performance on Macintosh and Linux computers with Flash prior to version 9, since many websites use Flash animations for menus and advertisements.[12][13] Flash Player 7 for Linux was very CPU hungry in fullscreen mode, resulting in low frame rates.
Adobe has rewritten the bitmap drawing routines in Flash Player 8 for Mac, using OpenGL planes via Quartz to draw the surfaces. The new drawing code is reported to be actually faster than its Windows counterpart, where JPEG, TIFF or other bitmap images are composited into the animation.
The Linux version of the Flash Player requires the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) to output sound. ALSA was introduced in Linux 2.5 and can only be used with recent sound hardware. Users of the Open Sound System must either compile and install the abstraction layer flashsupport provided by Adobe, run the Windows Flash Player in a Windows browser through WINE, or switch to ALSA, which involves upgrading the kernel and typically the sound card. However, it is questionable how many of the Linux users would be able to identify this problem. On Flash Player 7 for Linux, the sound could lag about a second behind the picture; this issue was resolved in Flash Player 9. Flash Player 8 was never released for Linux, Adobe stated that they would skip that version and instead focus on preparing Flash Player 9. This decision led to disappointment in the Linux community, with some people feeling that Adobe had abandoned the Linux market. Flash Player 9 for Linux was released in January 2007, providing platform parity once again. On Linux, it is generally not possible to scroll a web page while the mouse cursor is held over a flash animation (On some distributions, it is possible by using the arrow keys after a mouse click on the page outside the flash). Long news sites may be a pain to scroll through, as they often contain flash animations spread out all over, so that one must slalom the cursor around the flash content while scrolling.
Adobe has yet (as of April 2007) to release a Flash Player for the x86-64 architecture on any operating system.[14] There is to date no Linux Flash Player for non-x86 compatible processors (e.g. x86-64 native, PowerPC, ARM, etc.). Adobe employees have said the Flash implementation is very 32-bit specific and porting to 64-bit systems would require a lot of effort.[citation needed] Adobe is currently working on a 64-bit version.[15] Adobe have not yet released any of their development software for any UNIX-like operating system except Mac OS X.
[edit] Search engine indexability
Although the myth is that Flash content cannot be indexed properly by search engine "bots" the problem has been corrected, or at least alleviated, with Flash CS3. Users can publish Flash CS3 with meta tags that index individual Flash movie content, such as links, which can be used by search engine bots to properly categorize the information. In addition, with the implementation of XML and other external scripting languages (like PHP) flash can now run websites at greater speeds than their graphic-heavy counterparts (some applications can run on as little as 50 KB; about the size of one image).
[edit] Digital Rights Management
According to a recent article from BBC News, the latest iteration of Flash allows copyright holders to embed ads within videos, as well as control how those videos are used.[4] With this latest piece of software, companies will be able to quickly remove any video that they feel violates copyright and force advertisements to play prior to the start of the video.
[edit] Market share
According to a Millward Brown survey, conducted June 2007, Adobe claims Flash reaches 99.3% of desktop Internet users.[5] Independent market share data is not available because the several companies who periodically gather browser usage data (see Usage share of web browsers) do not measure Flash penetration.
[edit] Hidden Secret Games
If you click "help" in the top-left corner, press "About Flash Professional", it will Say "Macromedia Flash Professional 8" press the letter i on the word "macromedia", (the dot of it) click several times, 6 games will appear.
[edit] Related file formats and extensions
Ext. Explanation
.swf .swf files are completed, compiled and published files that cannot be edited with Adobe Flash. However, many '.swf decompilers' do exist. Attempting to import .swf files using Flash allows it to retrieve some assets from the .swf, but not all.
.fla .fla files contain source material for the Flash application. Flash authoring software can edit FLA files and compile them into .swf files.
.as .as files contain ActionScript source code in simple source files. FLA files can also contain Actionscript code directly, but separate external .as files often emerge for structural reasons, or to expose the code to versioning applications. They sometimes use the extension .actionscript
.swd .swd files are temporary debugging files used during Flash development. Once finished developing a Flash project these files are not needed and can be removed.
.asc .asc files contain Server-Side ActionScript, which is used to develop efficient and flexible client-server Macromedia Flash Communication Server MX applications.
.flv .flv files are Flash video files, as created by Adobe Flash, ffmpeg, Sorenson Squeeze, or On2 Flix.
.swc .swc files are used for distributing components; they contain a compiled clip, the component's ActionScript class file, and other files that describe the component.
.jsfl .jsfl files are used to add functionality in the Flash Authoring environment; they contain Javascript code and access the Flash Javascript API.
.swt .swt files are 'templatized' forms of .swf files, used by Macromedia Generator
.flp .flp files are XML files used to reference all the document files contained in a Flash Project. Flash Projects allow the user to group multiple, related files together to assist in Flash project organization, compilation and build.
.spl .spl files are FutureSplash documents.
.aso .aso files are cache files used during Flash development, containing compiled ActionScript byte code. An ASO file is recreated when a change in its corresponding class files is detected. Occasionally the Flash IDE does not recognize that a recompile is necessary, and these cache files must be deleted manually. They are located in %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash8\en\Configuration\Classes\aso on Win32 / Flash8.
.lmv .lmv files is the equivalent to .fla file. These files are also the source material for the open-source program Liveswif, which can also compile them into .swf files.
[edit] Video in web pages
Flash is increasingly used as a way to display video clips on web pages, a feature available since Flash Player version 7. As a video format, Flash is liked for its ability to be displayed inside browser windows, not for its in this sense relatively limited platform compatibility. While there are other video file types that can be played on more platforms, typically 'out of the box' on the majority of operating systems, their browser plugins are limited in distribution. In contrast, the Adobe Flash Player is a dedicated browser plugin (also available as standalone player) and offers very good platform compatibility compared to other browser plugins.[citation needed] It is available for many popular platforms, including Windows, Mac OS X and, to some extent, Linux. Flash is used as the basis for many popular video sites, including YouTube and Google Video. One major flaw with multimedia embedded through Flash, however, is the considerable performance penalty placed on playback hardware as compared with a proper multimedia playback system. Many files that drop frames and skip audio when embedded within Flash play without any issues using normal multimedia formats on the same hardware.
Flash Video (.flv files) is a container format, meaning that it is not a video format in itself, but can contain other formats. The video in Flash is encoded in H.263, and starting with Flash player 8, it may alternatively be encoded in VP6. The audio is in MP3. The use of VP6 is common in many companies, because of the large adoption rates of Flash Player 8 and Flash Player 9.[6]
On August 20, 2007, Adobe announced on its blog that with Update 3 of the Flash Player (currently in beta), Flash Video will also support the MPEG-4 international standard. [16] Specifically, Flash Player will have support for video compressed in H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10), audio compressed using AAC (MPEG-4 Part 3), the MP4, M4V, M4A, 3GP and MOV multimedia container formats (MPEG-4 Part 14), 3GPP Timed Text specification (MPEG-4 Part 17) which is a standardized subtitle format and partial parsing support for the 'ilst' atom which is the ID3 equivalent iTunes uses to store metadata. Adobe also announced that they will be gradually moving away from the proprietary FLV format to the standard MP4 format owing to functional limits with the FLV structure when streaming H.264. The final release of the Flash Player supporting MPEG-4 is expected to be available in Fall 2007.[17]
[edit] See also
Actionscript
Flash animation
Adobe Flash Lite
Adobe Flex
Adobe AIR
Macromedia Shockwave
OpenLaszlo
Microsoft Silverlight
Macromedia Authorware
Macromedia Authorware (now part of Adobe Systems) is an interpreted, flowchart based, graphical programming language. Authorware is used for creating interactive programs that can integrate a range of multimedia content, particularly e-learning applications. The flowchart model differentiates Authorware from other authoring tools, such as Flash and Director which rely on a visual stage, timeline, and script structure.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Usage & Features
3 Use in E-Learning
4 External links
[edit] History
Authorware was originally produced by Authorware Inc., founded in 1987 by Dr. Michael Allen. Allen had contributed to the development of the PLATO collaborative learning system during the 1970s.
Originally titled Course of Action (CoA), it was a Macintosh-only program. It produced runtime programs for DOS. Authorware came later and produced DOS runtime versions until the release of the first Windows version.
Authorware Inc. merged with MacroMind/Paracomp in 1992 to form Macromedia. In December 2005, Adobe and Macromedia merged, under the Adobe Systems name. The most recent version of Authorware is 7.02; version 7 was released in 2003.
It was generally known in the Authorware development community that version 8.0 was in production prior to the merger between the two companies, with 4 beta versions released to external testing shortly before the merger was completed. Among several other features slated for the new version, the ability to publish to Flash's SWF (ShockWave Flash) was at the top of the list. Once production shifted to Adobe's off-shore development facility in Bangalore, India, the free-flow of information that had been enjoyed between Macromedia's engineering team and its beta testers was curtailed. On Friday, August 3, 2007, after several years of keeping the development community in limbo, Adobe finally announced its plans to discontinue development of Authorware.
[edit] Usage & Features
Authorware's distinctive style revolves around a central icon: the Interaction Icon. The structure of the authoring environment encourages rich interaction; complex user feed-back is not only possible but somewhat suggested by the software, rather than suggesting the usual media diffusion. This Interaction Icon allows various forms of user feedback (move object to, along a line, click an object or hot-spot; plus the usual text-entry, keypress, etc.)
The original strength in education of Authorware could be linked to its roots in pedagogical models based on constructivist views.
Authorware programs start by creating a flowline, which is a flowchart showing the structure of the developer's program. The developer can add and manage text, graphics, animation, sound and video; develop interactivity and add navigational elements such as links, buttons, and menus. Macromedia Flash and Macromedia Director movies can also be integrated into an Authorware project. Xtras, or add-ins, can also be used to extend the functionality of Authorware, which is similar to HyperCard's XCMDs. Authorware's power can be even better utilized with the use of variables, functions and expressions. Authorware can interpret both its built-in proprietary scripting language and JavaScript version 1.5.
Over time Authorware has lost its specificity: graphical design, interaction, integration as more scripting was added, more power was gained, but Authorware's special interaction-centered, clean simple design was lost along the way.
Authorware programs can be distributed as stand-alone executable files, or over the web which requires a proprietary Authorware Web Player.
[edit] Use in E-Learning
Authorware is particularly well-suited to creating e-learning content, as it includes highly customizable templates for CBTs and WBTs, including student assessment tools. Working with these templates, businesses and schools can rapidly assemble multimedia training materials without needing to hire a full-fledged programmer. Intuitively-named dialog boxes take care of input and output. The flow chart model makes the re-use of lesson elements extremely straightforward. Being both AICC- and SCORM-compliant, Authorware can be used to deliver content via any AICC- or SCORM-compliant Learning Management System.
Moving beyond the templates, however, requires either the importation of interactive Flash or Director movies, or scripting, which can be done either in Authorware's native scripting language or in JavaScript.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Usage & Features
3 Use in E-Learning
4 External links
[edit] History
Authorware was originally produced by Authorware Inc., founded in 1987 by Dr. Michael Allen. Allen had contributed to the development of the PLATO collaborative learning system during the 1970s.
Originally titled Course of Action (CoA), it was a Macintosh-only program. It produced runtime programs for DOS. Authorware came later and produced DOS runtime versions until the release of the first Windows version.
Authorware Inc. merged with MacroMind/Paracomp in 1992 to form Macromedia. In December 2005, Adobe and Macromedia merged, under the Adobe Systems name. The most recent version of Authorware is 7.02; version 7 was released in 2003.
It was generally known in the Authorware development community that version 8.0 was in production prior to the merger between the two companies, with 4 beta versions released to external testing shortly before the merger was completed. Among several other features slated for the new version, the ability to publish to Flash's SWF (ShockWave Flash) was at the top of the list. Once production shifted to Adobe's off-shore development facility in Bangalore, India, the free-flow of information that had been enjoyed between Macromedia's engineering team and its beta testers was curtailed. On Friday, August 3, 2007, after several years of keeping the development community in limbo, Adobe finally announced its plans to discontinue development of Authorware.
[edit] Usage & Features
Authorware's distinctive style revolves around a central icon: the Interaction Icon. The structure of the authoring environment encourages rich interaction; complex user feed-back is not only possible but somewhat suggested by the software, rather than suggesting the usual media diffusion. This Interaction Icon allows various forms of user feedback (move object to, along a line, click an object or hot-spot; plus the usual text-entry, keypress, etc.)
The original strength in education of Authorware could be linked to its roots in pedagogical models based on constructivist views.
Authorware programs start by creating a flowline, which is a flowchart showing the structure of the developer's program. The developer can add and manage text, graphics, animation, sound and video; develop interactivity and add navigational elements such as links, buttons, and menus. Macromedia Flash and Macromedia Director movies can also be integrated into an Authorware project. Xtras, or add-ins, can also be used to extend the functionality of Authorware, which is similar to HyperCard's XCMDs. Authorware's power can be even better utilized with the use of variables, functions and expressions. Authorware can interpret both its built-in proprietary scripting language and JavaScript version 1.5.
Over time Authorware has lost its specificity: graphical design, interaction, integration as more scripting was added, more power was gained, but Authorware's special interaction-centered, clean simple design was lost along the way.
Authorware programs can be distributed as stand-alone executable files, or over the web which requires a proprietary Authorware Web Player.
[edit] Use in E-Learning
Authorware is particularly well-suited to creating e-learning content, as it includes highly customizable templates for CBTs and WBTs, including student assessment tools. Working with these templates, businesses and schools can rapidly assemble multimedia training materials without needing to hire a full-fledged programmer. Intuitively-named dialog boxes take care of input and output. The flow chart model makes the re-use of lesson elements extremely straightforward. Being both AICC- and SCORM-compliant, Authorware can be used to deliver content via any AICC- or SCORM-compliant Learning Management System.
Moving beyond the templates, however, requires either the importation of interactive Flash or Director movies, or scripting, which can be done either in Authorware's native scripting language or in JavaScript.
Macromedia Authorware
Macromedia Authorware (now part of Adobe Systems) is an interpreted, flowchart based, graphical programming language. Authorware is used for creating interactive programs that can integrate a range of multimedia content, particularly e-learning applications. The flowchart model differentiates Authorware from other authoring tools, such as Flash and Director which rely on a visual stage, timeline, and script structure.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Usage & Features
3 Use in E-Learning
4 External links
[edit] History
Authorware was originally produced by Authorware Inc., founded in 1987 by Dr. Michael Allen. Allen had contributed to the development of the PLATO collaborative learning system during the 1970s.
Originally titled Course of Action (CoA), it was a Macintosh-only program. It produced runtime programs for DOS. Authorware came later and produced DOS runtime versions until the release of the first Windows version.
Authorware Inc. merged with MacroMind/Paracomp in 1992 to form Macromedia. In December 2005, Adobe and Macromedia merged, under the Adobe Systems name. The most recent version of Authorware is 7.02; version 7 was released in 2003.
It was generally known in the Authorware development community that version 8.0 was in production prior to the merger between the two companies, with 4 beta versions released to external testing shortly before the merger was completed. Among several other features slated for the new version, the ability to publish to Flash's SWF (ShockWave Flash) was at the top of the list. Once production shifted to Adobe's off-shore development facility in Bangalore, India, the free-flow of information that had been enjoyed between Macromedia's engineering team and its beta testers was curtailed. On Friday, August 3, 2007, after several years of keeping the development community in limbo, Adobe finally announced its plans to discontinue development of Authorware.
[edit] Usage & Features
Authorware's distinctive style revolves around a central icon: the Interaction Icon. The structure of the authoring environment encourages rich interaction; complex user feed-back is not only possible but somewhat suggested by the software, rather than suggesting the usual media diffusion. This Interaction Icon allows various forms of user feedback (move object to, along a line, click an object or hot-spot; plus the usual text-entry, keypress, etc.)
The original strength in education of Authorware could be linked to its roots in pedagogical models based on constructivist views.
Authorware programs start by creating a flowline, which is a flowchart showing the structure of the developer's program. The developer can add and manage text, graphics, animation, sound and video; develop interactivity and add navigational elements such as links, buttons, and menus. Macromedia Flash and Macromedia Director movies can also be integrated into an Authorware project. Xtras, or add-ins, can also be used to extend the functionality of Authorware, which is similar to HyperCard's XCMDs. Authorware's power can be even better utilized with the use of variables, functions and expressions. Authorware can interpret both its built-in proprietary scripting language and JavaScript version 1.5.
Over time Authorware has lost its specificity: graphical design, interaction, integration as more scripting was added, more power was gained, but Authorware's special interaction-centered, clean simple design was lost along the way.
Authorware programs can be distributed as stand-alone executable files, or over the web which requires a proprietary Authorware Web Player.
[edit] Use in E-Learning
Authorware is particularly well-suited to creating e-learning content, as it includes highly customizable templates for CBTs and WBTs, including student assessment tools. Working with these templates, businesses and schools can rapidly assemble multimedia training materials without needing to hire a full-fledged programmer. Intuitively-named dialog boxes take care of input and output. The flow chart model makes the re-use of lesson elements extremely straightforward. Being both AICC- and SCORM-compliant, Authorware can be used to deliver content via any AICC- or SCORM-compliant Learning Management System.
Moving beyond the templates, however, requires either the importation of interactive Flash or Director movies, or scripting, which can be done either in Authorware's native scripting language or in JavaScript.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Usage & Features
3 Use in E-Learning
4 External links
[edit] History
Authorware was originally produced by Authorware Inc., founded in 1987 by Dr. Michael Allen. Allen had contributed to the development of the PLATO collaborative learning system during the 1970s.
Originally titled Course of Action (CoA), it was a Macintosh-only program. It produced runtime programs for DOS. Authorware came later and produced DOS runtime versions until the release of the first Windows version.
Authorware Inc. merged with MacroMind/Paracomp in 1992 to form Macromedia. In December 2005, Adobe and Macromedia merged, under the Adobe Systems name. The most recent version of Authorware is 7.02; version 7 was released in 2003.
It was generally known in the Authorware development community that version 8.0 was in production prior to the merger between the two companies, with 4 beta versions released to external testing shortly before the merger was completed. Among several other features slated for the new version, the ability to publish to Flash's SWF (ShockWave Flash) was at the top of the list. Once production shifted to Adobe's off-shore development facility in Bangalore, India, the free-flow of information that had been enjoyed between Macromedia's engineering team and its beta testers was curtailed. On Friday, August 3, 2007, after several years of keeping the development community in limbo, Adobe finally announced its plans to discontinue development of Authorware.
[edit] Usage & Features
Authorware's distinctive style revolves around a central icon: the Interaction Icon. The structure of the authoring environment encourages rich interaction; complex user feed-back is not only possible but somewhat suggested by the software, rather than suggesting the usual media diffusion. This Interaction Icon allows various forms of user feedback (move object to, along a line, click an object or hot-spot; plus the usual text-entry, keypress, etc.)
The original strength in education of Authorware could be linked to its roots in pedagogical models based on constructivist views.
Authorware programs start by creating a flowline, which is a flowchart showing the structure of the developer's program. The developer can add and manage text, graphics, animation, sound and video; develop interactivity and add navigational elements such as links, buttons, and menus. Macromedia Flash and Macromedia Director movies can also be integrated into an Authorware project. Xtras, or add-ins, can also be used to extend the functionality of Authorware, which is similar to HyperCard's XCMDs. Authorware's power can be even better utilized with the use of variables, functions and expressions. Authorware can interpret both its built-in proprietary scripting language and JavaScript version 1.5.
Over time Authorware has lost its specificity: graphical design, interaction, integration as more scripting was added, more power was gained, but Authorware's special interaction-centered, clean simple design was lost along the way.
Authorware programs can be distributed as stand-alone executable files, or over the web which requires a proprietary Authorware Web Player.
[edit] Use in E-Learning
Authorware is particularly well-suited to creating e-learning content, as it includes highly customizable templates for CBTs and WBTs, including student assessment tools. Working with these templates, businesses and schools can rapidly assemble multimedia training materials without needing to hire a full-fledged programmer. Intuitively-named dialog boxes take care of input and output. The flow chart model makes the re-use of lesson elements extremely straightforward. Being both AICC- and SCORM-compliant, Authorware can be used to deliver content via any AICC- or SCORM-compliant Learning Management System.
Moving beyond the templates, however, requires either the importation of interactive Flash or Director movies, or scripting, which can be done either in Authorware's native scripting language or in JavaScript.
Multimedia
Multimedia (Lat. Multum + Medium) is media that uses multiple forms of information content and information processing (e.g. text, audio, graphics, animation, video, interactivity) to inform or entertain the (user) audience. Multimedia also refers to the use of (but not limited to) electronic media to store and experience multimedia content. Multimedia is similar to traditional mixed media in fine art, but with a broader scope. The term "rich media" is synonymous for interactive multimedia. Multimedia means that computer info can be represented through audio, graphics, image, video and animation in addition to traditional media(text and graphics). Hypermedia can be considered one particular multimedia
Categorization
Linear
Presentation Non-linear
Interactive
Multimedia may be broadly divided into linear and non-linear categories. Linear active content progresses without any navigation control for the viewer such as a cinema presentation. Non-linear content offers user interactivity to control progress as used with a computer game or used in self-paced computer based training. Non-linear content is also known as hypermedia content.
Multimedia presentations can be live or recorded. A recorded presentation may allow interactivity via a navigation system. A live multimedia presentation may allow interactivity via interaction with the presenter or performer.
[edit] Features
Local
Recorded Online
Streaming
Multimedia presentations may be viewed in person on stage, projected, transmitted, or played locally with a media player. A broadcast may be a live or recorded multimedia presentation. Broadcasts and recordings can be either analog or digital electronic media technology. Digital online multimedia may be downloaded or streamed. Streaming multimedia may be live or on-demand.
Multimedia games and simulations may be used in a physical environment with special effects, with multiple users in an online network, or locally with an offline computer, game system, or simulator.
The various formats of technological or digital multimedia may be intended to enhance the users experience, for example to make it easier and faster to convey information. Or in entertainment or art, to transcend everyday experience.
A lasershow is a live multimedia performance.Enhanced levels of interactivity are made possible by combining multiple forms of media content. Online multimedia is increasingly becoming object-oriented and data-driven, enabling applications with collaborative end-user innovation and personalization on multiple forms of content over time. Examples of these range from multiple forms of content on web sites like photo galleries with both images (pictures) and title (text) user-updated, to simulations whose co-efficients, events, illustrations, animations or videos are modifiable, allowing the multimedia "experience" to be altered without reprogramming. In addition to seeing and hearing, Haptic technology enables virtual objects to be felt. Emerging technology involving illusions of taste and smell may also enhance the multimedia experience.
[edit] Terminology
[edit] History of the term
In 1965 the term Multi-media was used to describe the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a performance that combined live rock music, cinema, experimental lighting and performance art.
In the intervening forty years the word has taken on different meanings. In the late 1970s the term was used to describe presentations consisting of multi-projector slide shows timed to an audio track. In the 1990s it took on its current meaning. In common usage the term multimedia refers to an electronically delivered combination of media including video, still images, audio, text in such a way that can be accessed interactively.[1] Much of the content on the web today falls within this definition as understood by millions.
Some computers which were marketed in the 1990s were called "multimedia" computers because they incorporated a CD-ROM drive, which allowed for the delivery of several hundred megabytes of video, picture, and audio data.
[edit] Word usage and context
Since media is the plural of medium, the term "multimedia" is a pleonasm if "multi" is used to describe multiple occurrences of only one form of media such as a collection of audio CDs. This is why it's important that the word "multimedia" is used exclusively to describe multiple forms of media.
The term "multimedia" is also ambiguous. Static content (such as a paper book) may be considered multimedia if it contains both pictures and text or may be considered interactive if the user interacts by turning pages at will. Books may also be considered non-linear if the pages are accessed non-sequentially. The term "video", if not used exclusively to describe motion photography, is ambiguous in multimedia terminology. Video is often used to describe the file format, delivery format, or presentation format instead of the form of information content such as moving illustrations or still pictures. Multiple forms of information content are often not considered multimedia if they don't contain modern forms of presentation such as audio or video. Likewise, single forms of information content with single methods of information processing (e.g. non-interactive audio) are often called multimedia, perhaps to distinguish static media from active media.
[edit] Usage
VVO Multimedia-Terminal in Dresden WTC (Germany)
A presentation using Powerpoint. Corporate presentations may combine all forms of media
Virtual reality uses multimedia content. Applications and delivery platforms of multimedia are virtually limitless.Multimedia finds its application in various areas including, but not limited to, advertisements, art, education, entertainment, engineering, medicine, mathematics, business, scientific research and spatial temporal applications. Below are the several examples as follows:
[edit] Professional
[edit] Creative industries
Creative industries use multimedia for a variety of purposes ranging from fine arts, to entertainment, to commercial art, to journalism, to media and software services provided for any of the industries listed below. An individual multimedia designer may cover the spectrum throughout their career. Request for their skills range from technical, to analytical, to creative.
[edit] Commercial
Much of the electronic old and new media utilized by commercial artists is multimedia. Exciting presentations are used to grab and keep attention in advertising. Industrial, business to business, and interoffice communications are often developed by creative services firms for advanced multimedia presentations beyond simple slide shows to sell ideas or liven-up training. Commercial multimedia developers may be hired to design for governmental services and nonprofit services applications as well.
[edit] Entertainment and fine arts
In addition, multimedia is heavily used in the entertainment industry, especially to develop special effects in movies and animations. Multimedia games are a popular pastime and are software programs available either as CD-ROMs or online. Some video games also use multimedia features.
Multimedia applications that allow users to actively participate instead of just sitting by as passive recipients of information are called Interactive Multimedia.
In the Arts there are multimedia artists, whose minds are able to blend techniques using different media that in some way incorporates interaction with the viewer. One of the most relevant could be Peter Greenaway who is melding Cinema with Opera and all sorts of digital media. Another approach entails the creation of multimedia that can be displayed in a traditional fine arts arena, such as an art gallery. For the most part these artists are using materials that will not hold up over time.
[edit] Education
In Education, multimedia is used to produce computer-based training courses (popularly called CBTs) and reference books like encyclopaedia and almanacs. A CBT lets the user go through a series of presentations, text about a particular topic, and associated illustrations in various information formats. Edutainment is an informal term used to describe combining education with entertainment, especially multimedia entertainment.
[edit] Engineering
Software engineers may use multimedia in Computer Simulations for anything from entertainment to training such as military or industrial training. Multimedia for software interfaces are often done as a collaboration between creative professionals and software engineers.
[edit] Industry
In the Industrial sector, multimedia is used as a way to help present information to shareholders, superiors and coworkers. Multimedia is also helpful for providing employee training, advertising and selling products all over the world via virtually unlimited web-based technologies.
[edit] Mathematical and Scientific Research
In Mathematical and Scientific Research, multimedia are mainly used for modelling and simulation. For example, a scientist can look at a molecular model of a particular substance and manipulate it to arrive at a new substance. Representative research can be found in journals such as the Journal of Multimedia.
[edit] Medicine
In Medicine, doctors can get trained by looking at a virtual surgery or they can simulate how the human body is affected by diseases spread by viruses and bacteria and then develop techniques to prevent it.
[edit] Miscellaneous
In Europe, the reference organization for Multimedia industry is the European Multimedia Associations Convention (EMMAC).
An observatory for jobs in the multimedia industry provides surveys and analysis about multimedia and ITC jobs.[1]
[edit] Conferences
There are a large number of multimedia conferences, the two main scholarly scientific conferences being:
ACM Multimedia;
IEEE ICME, International Conference on Multimedia & Expo.
[edit] References, Sources, and Notes
Categorization
Linear
Presentation Non-linear
Interactive
Multimedia may be broadly divided into linear and non-linear categories. Linear active content progresses without any navigation control for the viewer such as a cinema presentation. Non-linear content offers user interactivity to control progress as used with a computer game or used in self-paced computer based training. Non-linear content is also known as hypermedia content.
Multimedia presentations can be live or recorded. A recorded presentation may allow interactivity via a navigation system. A live multimedia presentation may allow interactivity via interaction with the presenter or performer.
[edit] Features
Local
Recorded Online
Streaming
Multimedia presentations may be viewed in person on stage, projected, transmitted, or played locally with a media player. A broadcast may be a live or recorded multimedia presentation. Broadcasts and recordings can be either analog or digital electronic media technology. Digital online multimedia may be downloaded or streamed. Streaming multimedia may be live or on-demand.
Multimedia games and simulations may be used in a physical environment with special effects, with multiple users in an online network, or locally with an offline computer, game system, or simulator.
The various formats of technological or digital multimedia may be intended to enhance the users experience, for example to make it easier and faster to convey information. Or in entertainment or art, to transcend everyday experience.
A lasershow is a live multimedia performance.Enhanced levels of interactivity are made possible by combining multiple forms of media content. Online multimedia is increasingly becoming object-oriented and data-driven, enabling applications with collaborative end-user innovation and personalization on multiple forms of content over time. Examples of these range from multiple forms of content on web sites like photo galleries with both images (pictures) and title (text) user-updated, to simulations whose co-efficients, events, illustrations, animations or videos are modifiable, allowing the multimedia "experience" to be altered without reprogramming. In addition to seeing and hearing, Haptic technology enables virtual objects to be felt. Emerging technology involving illusions of taste and smell may also enhance the multimedia experience.
[edit] Terminology
[edit] History of the term
In 1965 the term Multi-media was used to describe the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, a performance that combined live rock music, cinema, experimental lighting and performance art.
In the intervening forty years the word has taken on different meanings. In the late 1970s the term was used to describe presentations consisting of multi-projector slide shows timed to an audio track. In the 1990s it took on its current meaning. In common usage the term multimedia refers to an electronically delivered combination of media including video, still images, audio, text in such a way that can be accessed interactively.[1] Much of the content on the web today falls within this definition as understood by millions.
Some computers which were marketed in the 1990s were called "multimedia" computers because they incorporated a CD-ROM drive, which allowed for the delivery of several hundred megabytes of video, picture, and audio data.
[edit] Word usage and context
Since media is the plural of medium, the term "multimedia" is a pleonasm if "multi" is used to describe multiple occurrences of only one form of media such as a collection of audio CDs. This is why it's important that the word "multimedia" is used exclusively to describe multiple forms of media.
The term "multimedia" is also ambiguous. Static content (such as a paper book) may be considered multimedia if it contains both pictures and text or may be considered interactive if the user interacts by turning pages at will. Books may also be considered non-linear if the pages are accessed non-sequentially. The term "video", if not used exclusively to describe motion photography, is ambiguous in multimedia terminology. Video is often used to describe the file format, delivery format, or presentation format instead of the form of information content such as moving illustrations or still pictures. Multiple forms of information content are often not considered multimedia if they don't contain modern forms of presentation such as audio or video. Likewise, single forms of information content with single methods of information processing (e.g. non-interactive audio) are often called multimedia, perhaps to distinguish static media from active media.
[edit] Usage
VVO Multimedia-Terminal in Dresden WTC (Germany)
A presentation using Powerpoint. Corporate presentations may combine all forms of media
Virtual reality uses multimedia content. Applications and delivery platforms of multimedia are virtually limitless.Multimedia finds its application in various areas including, but not limited to, advertisements, art, education, entertainment, engineering, medicine, mathematics, business, scientific research and spatial temporal applications. Below are the several examples as follows:
[edit] Professional
[edit] Creative industries
Creative industries use multimedia for a variety of purposes ranging from fine arts, to entertainment, to commercial art, to journalism, to media and software services provided for any of the industries listed below. An individual multimedia designer may cover the spectrum throughout their career. Request for their skills range from technical, to analytical, to creative.
[edit] Commercial
Much of the electronic old and new media utilized by commercial artists is multimedia. Exciting presentations are used to grab and keep attention in advertising. Industrial, business to business, and interoffice communications are often developed by creative services firms for advanced multimedia presentations beyond simple slide shows to sell ideas or liven-up training. Commercial multimedia developers may be hired to design for governmental services and nonprofit services applications as well.
[edit] Entertainment and fine arts
In addition, multimedia is heavily used in the entertainment industry, especially to develop special effects in movies and animations. Multimedia games are a popular pastime and are software programs available either as CD-ROMs or online. Some video games also use multimedia features.
Multimedia applications that allow users to actively participate instead of just sitting by as passive recipients of information are called Interactive Multimedia.
In the Arts there are multimedia artists, whose minds are able to blend techniques using different media that in some way incorporates interaction with the viewer. One of the most relevant could be Peter Greenaway who is melding Cinema with Opera and all sorts of digital media. Another approach entails the creation of multimedia that can be displayed in a traditional fine arts arena, such as an art gallery. For the most part these artists are using materials that will not hold up over time.
[edit] Education
In Education, multimedia is used to produce computer-based training courses (popularly called CBTs) and reference books like encyclopaedia and almanacs. A CBT lets the user go through a series of presentations, text about a particular topic, and associated illustrations in various information formats. Edutainment is an informal term used to describe combining education with entertainment, especially multimedia entertainment.
[edit] Engineering
Software engineers may use multimedia in Computer Simulations for anything from entertainment to training such as military or industrial training. Multimedia for software interfaces are often done as a collaboration between creative professionals and software engineers.
[edit] Industry
In the Industrial sector, multimedia is used as a way to help present information to shareholders, superiors and coworkers. Multimedia is also helpful for providing employee training, advertising and selling products all over the world via virtually unlimited web-based technologies.
[edit] Mathematical and Scientific Research
In Mathematical and Scientific Research, multimedia are mainly used for modelling and simulation. For example, a scientist can look at a molecular model of a particular substance and manipulate it to arrive at a new substance. Representative research can be found in journals such as the Journal of Multimedia.
[edit] Medicine
In Medicine, doctors can get trained by looking at a virtual surgery or they can simulate how the human body is affected by diseases spread by viruses and bacteria and then develop techniques to prevent it.
[edit] Miscellaneous
In Europe, the reference organization for Multimedia industry is the European Multimedia Associations Convention (EMMAC).
An observatory for jobs in the multimedia industry provides surveys and analysis about multimedia and ITC jobs.[1]
[edit] Conferences
There are a large number of multimedia conferences, the two main scholarly scientific conferences being:
ACM Multimedia;
IEEE ICME, International Conference on Multimedia & Expo.
[edit] References, Sources, and Notes
Software
Programming tool
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Learn more about citing Wikipedia •Jump to: navigation, search
A programming tool or software tool is a program or application that software developers use to create, debug, or maintain other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs that can be combined together to accomplish a task, much as one might use multiple hand tools to fix a physical object.
History
The history of software tools began with the first computers in the early 1950s that used linkers, loaders, and control programs. Tools became famous with Unix in the early 1970s with tools like grep, awk and make that were meant to be combined flexibly with pipes. The term "software tools" came from the book of the same name by Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger.
Tools were originally simple and light weight. As some tools have been maintained, they have been integrated into more powerful integrated development environments (IDEs). These environments consolidate functionality into one place, sometimes increasing simplicity and productivity, other times sacrificing flexibility and extensibility. The workflow of IDEs is routinely contrasted with alternative approaches, such as the use of Unix shell tools with text editors like Vim and Emacs.
The distinction between tools and applications is murky. For example, developers use simple databases (such as a file containing list of important values) all the time as tools. However a full-blown database is usually thought of as an application in its own right.
For many years, computer-assisted software engineering (CASE) tools were sought after. Successful tools have proven elusive. In one sense, CASE tools emphasized design and architecture support, such as for UML. But the most successful of these tools are IDEs.
The ability to use a variety of tools productively is one hallmark of a skilled software engineer.
[edit] List of tools
Software tools come in many forms:
Revision control: Bazaar, Bitkeeper, Bonsai, ClearCase, CVS, Git, GNU arch, Mercurial, Monotone, PVCS, RCS, SCM, SCCS, SourceSafe, SVN, LibreSource Synchronizer
Interface generators: Swig
Build Tools: Make, automake, Apache Ant, SCons, Rake
Compilation and linking tools: GNU toolchain, gcc, Microsoft Visual Studio, CodeWarrior, Xcode, ICC
Static code analysis: lint, Splint
Search: grep, find
Text editors: emacs, vi
Scripting languages: Awk, Perl, Python, REXX, Ruby, Shell, Tcl
Parser generators: Lex, Yacc, Parsec
Bug Databases: gnats, Bugzilla, Trac, Atlassian Jira, LibreSource
Debuggers: gdb, GNU Binutils, valgrind
Memory Leaks/Corruptions Detection: dmalloc, Electric Fence, duma, Insure++
Memory use: Aard
Code coverage: GCT, CCover
Source-Code Clones/Duplications Finding: CCFinderX
Refactoring Browser
Code Sharing Sites: Freshmeat, Krugle, Sourceforge, ByteMyCode, UCodit
Source code generation tools
Documentation generators: Doxygen, help2man, POD, Javadoc, Pydoc/Epydoc
Debugging tools also are used in the process of debugging code, and can also be used to create code that is more compliant to standards and portable than if they were not used.
Memory leak detection: In the C programming language for instance, memory leaks are not as easily detected - software tools called memory debuggers are often used to find memory leaks enabling the programmer to find these problems much more efficiently than inspection alone.
[edit] IDEs
Integrated development environments (IDEs) combine the features of many tools into one complete package. They are usually simpler and make it easier to do simple tasks, such as searching for content only in files in a particular project.
IDEs are often used for development of enterprise-level applications.
Some examples of IDEs are:
Delphi
C++ Builder
Microsoft Visual Studio
Xcode
Eclipse
NetBeans
IntelliJ IDEA
WinDev
[edit] See also
Computer-aided software engineering tools
Software development kit
Configuration System
Toolkits for User Innovation
Software engineering and list of software engineering topics
Software systems
Computer science
Scripting language
Retrieved from "
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Learn more about citing Wikipedia •Jump to: navigation, search
A programming tool or software tool is a program or application that software developers use to create, debug, or maintain other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs that can be combined together to accomplish a task, much as one might use multiple hand tools to fix a physical object.
History
The history of software tools began with the first computers in the early 1950s that used linkers, loaders, and control programs. Tools became famous with Unix in the early 1970s with tools like grep, awk and make that were meant to be combined flexibly with pipes. The term "software tools" came from the book of the same name by Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger.
Tools were originally simple and light weight. As some tools have been maintained, they have been integrated into more powerful integrated development environments (IDEs). These environments consolidate functionality into one place, sometimes increasing simplicity and productivity, other times sacrificing flexibility and extensibility. The workflow of IDEs is routinely contrasted with alternative approaches, such as the use of Unix shell tools with text editors like Vim and Emacs.
The distinction between tools and applications is murky. For example, developers use simple databases (such as a file containing list of important values) all the time as tools. However a full-blown database is usually thought of as an application in its own right.
For many years, computer-assisted software engineering (CASE) tools were sought after. Successful tools have proven elusive. In one sense, CASE tools emphasized design and architecture support, such as for UML. But the most successful of these tools are IDEs.
The ability to use a variety of tools productively is one hallmark of a skilled software engineer.
[edit] List of tools
Software tools come in many forms:
Revision control: Bazaar, Bitkeeper, Bonsai, ClearCase, CVS, Git, GNU arch, Mercurial, Monotone, PVCS, RCS, SCM, SCCS, SourceSafe, SVN, LibreSource Synchronizer
Interface generators: Swig
Build Tools: Make, automake, Apache Ant, SCons, Rake
Compilation and linking tools: GNU toolchain, gcc, Microsoft Visual Studio, CodeWarrior, Xcode, ICC
Static code analysis: lint, Splint
Search: grep, find
Text editors: emacs, vi
Scripting languages: Awk, Perl, Python, REXX, Ruby, Shell, Tcl
Parser generators: Lex, Yacc, Parsec
Bug Databases: gnats, Bugzilla, Trac, Atlassian Jira, LibreSource
Debuggers: gdb, GNU Binutils, valgrind
Memory Leaks/Corruptions Detection: dmalloc, Electric Fence, duma, Insure++
Memory use: Aard
Code coverage: GCT, CCover
Source-Code Clones/Duplications Finding: CCFinderX
Refactoring Browser
Code Sharing Sites: Freshmeat, Krugle, Sourceforge, ByteMyCode, UCodit
Source code generation tools
Documentation generators: Doxygen, help2man, POD, Javadoc, Pydoc/Epydoc
Debugging tools also are used in the process of debugging code, and can also be used to create code that is more compliant to standards and portable than if they were not used.
Memory leak detection: In the C programming language for instance, memory leaks are not as easily detected - software tools called memory debuggers are often used to find memory leaks enabling the programmer to find these problems much more efficiently than inspection alone.
[edit] IDEs
Integrated development environments (IDEs) combine the features of many tools into one complete package. They are usually simpler and make it easier to do simple tasks, such as searching for content only in files in a particular project.
IDEs are often used for development of enterprise-level applications.
Some examples of IDEs are:
Delphi
C++ Builder
Microsoft Visual Studio
Xcode
Eclipse
NetBeans
IntelliJ IDEA
WinDev
[edit] See also
Computer-aided software engineering tools
Software development kit
Configuration System
Toolkits for User Innovation
Software engineering and list of software engineering topics
Software systems
Computer science
Scripting language
Retrieved from "
Software
Programming tool
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Learn more about citing Wikipedia •Jump to: navigation, search
A programming tool or software tool is a program or application that software developers use to create, debug, or maintain other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs that can be combined together to accomplish a task, much as one might use multiple hand tools to fix a physical object.
History
The history of software tools began with the first computers in the early 1950s that used linkers, loaders, and control programs. Tools became famous with Unix in the early 1970s with tools like grep, awk and make that were meant to be combined flexibly with pipes. The term "software tools" came from the book of the same name by Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger.
Tools were originally simple and light weight. As some tools have been maintained, they have been integrated into more powerful integrated development environments (IDEs). These environments consolidate functionality into one place, sometimes increasing simplicity and productivity, other times sacrificing flexibility and extensibility. The workflow of IDEs is routinely contrasted with alternative approaches, such as the use of Unix shell tools with text editors like Vim and Emacs.
The distinction between tools and applications is murky. For example, developers use simple databases (such as a file containing list of important values) all the time as tools. However a full-blown database is usually thought of as an application in its own right.
For many years, computer-assisted software engineering (CASE) tools were sought after. Successful tools have proven elusive. In one sense, CASE tools emphasized design and architecture support, such as for UML. But the most successful of these tools are IDEs.
The ability to use a variety of tools productively is one hallmark of a skilled software engineer.
[edit] List of tools
Software tools come in many forms:
Revision control: Bazaar, Bitkeeper, Bonsai, ClearCase, CVS, Git, GNU arch, Mercurial, Monotone, PVCS, RCS, SCM, SCCS, SourceSafe, SVN, LibreSource Synchronizer
Interface generators: Swig
Build Tools: Make, automake, Apache Ant, SCons, Rake
Compilation and linking tools: GNU toolchain, gcc, Microsoft Visual Studio, CodeWarrior, Xcode, ICC
Static code analysis: lint, Splint
Search: grep, find
Text editors: emacs, vi
Scripting languages: Awk, Perl, Python, REXX, Ruby, Shell, Tcl
Parser generators: Lex, Yacc, Parsec
Bug Databases: gnats, Bugzilla, Trac, Atlassian Jira, LibreSource
Debuggers: gdb, GNU Binutils, valgrind
Memory Leaks/Corruptions Detection: dmalloc, Electric Fence, duma, Insure++
Memory use: Aard
Code coverage: GCT, CCover
Source-Code Clones/Duplications Finding: CCFinderX
Refactoring Browser
Code Sharing Sites: Freshmeat, Krugle, Sourceforge, ByteMyCode, UCodit
Source code generation tools
Documentation generators: Doxygen, help2man, POD, Javadoc, Pydoc/Epydoc
Debugging tools also are used in the process of debugging code, and can also be used to create code that is more compliant to standards and portable than if they were not used.
Memory leak detection: In the C programming language for instance, memory leaks are not as easily detected - software tools called memory debuggers are often used to find memory leaks enabling the programmer to find these problems much more efficiently than inspection alone.
[edit] IDEs
Integrated development environments (IDEs) combine the features of many tools into one complete package. They are usually simpler and make it easier to do simple tasks, such as searching for content only in files in a particular project.
IDEs are often used for development of enterprise-level applications.
Some examples of IDEs are:
Delphi
C++ Builder
Microsoft Visual Studio
Xcode
Eclipse
NetBeans
IntelliJ IDEA
WinDev
[edit] See also
Computer-aided software engineering tools
Software development kit
Configuration System
Toolkits for User Innovation
Software engineering and list of software engineering topics
Software systems
Computer science
Scripting language
Retrieved from "
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Learn more about citing Wikipedia •Jump to: navigation, search
A programming tool or software tool is a program or application that software developers use to create, debug, or maintain other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs that can be combined together to accomplish a task, much as one might use multiple hand tools to fix a physical object.
History
The history of software tools began with the first computers in the early 1950s that used linkers, loaders, and control programs. Tools became famous with Unix in the early 1970s with tools like grep, awk and make that were meant to be combined flexibly with pipes. The term "software tools" came from the book of the same name by Brian Kernighan and P. J. Plauger.
Tools were originally simple and light weight. As some tools have been maintained, they have been integrated into more powerful integrated development environments (IDEs). These environments consolidate functionality into one place, sometimes increasing simplicity and productivity, other times sacrificing flexibility and extensibility. The workflow of IDEs is routinely contrasted with alternative approaches, such as the use of Unix shell tools with text editors like Vim and Emacs.
The distinction between tools and applications is murky. For example, developers use simple databases (such as a file containing list of important values) all the time as tools. However a full-blown database is usually thought of as an application in its own right.
For many years, computer-assisted software engineering (CASE) tools were sought after. Successful tools have proven elusive. In one sense, CASE tools emphasized design and architecture support, such as for UML. But the most successful of these tools are IDEs.
The ability to use a variety of tools productively is one hallmark of a skilled software engineer.
[edit] List of tools
Software tools come in many forms:
Revision control: Bazaar, Bitkeeper, Bonsai, ClearCase, CVS, Git, GNU arch, Mercurial, Monotone, PVCS, RCS, SCM, SCCS, SourceSafe, SVN, LibreSource Synchronizer
Interface generators: Swig
Build Tools: Make, automake, Apache Ant, SCons, Rake
Compilation and linking tools: GNU toolchain, gcc, Microsoft Visual Studio, CodeWarrior, Xcode, ICC
Static code analysis: lint, Splint
Search: grep, find
Text editors: emacs, vi
Scripting languages: Awk, Perl, Python, REXX, Ruby, Shell, Tcl
Parser generators: Lex, Yacc, Parsec
Bug Databases: gnats, Bugzilla, Trac, Atlassian Jira, LibreSource
Debuggers: gdb, GNU Binutils, valgrind
Memory Leaks/Corruptions Detection: dmalloc, Electric Fence, duma, Insure++
Memory use: Aard
Code coverage: GCT, CCover
Source-Code Clones/Duplications Finding: CCFinderX
Refactoring Browser
Code Sharing Sites: Freshmeat, Krugle, Sourceforge, ByteMyCode, UCodit
Source code generation tools
Documentation generators: Doxygen, help2man, POD, Javadoc, Pydoc/Epydoc
Debugging tools also are used in the process of debugging code, and can also be used to create code that is more compliant to standards and portable than if they were not used.
Memory leak detection: In the C programming language for instance, memory leaks are not as easily detected - software tools called memory debuggers are often used to find memory leaks enabling the programmer to find these problems much more efficiently than inspection alone.
[edit] IDEs
Integrated development environments (IDEs) combine the features of many tools into one complete package. They are usually simpler and make it easier to do simple tasks, such as searching for content only in files in a particular project.
IDEs are often used for development of enterprise-level applications.
Some examples of IDEs are:
Delphi
C++ Builder
Microsoft Visual Studio
Xcode
Eclipse
NetBeans
IntelliJ IDEA
WinDev
[edit] See also
Computer-aided software engineering tools
Software development kit
Configuration System
Toolkits for User Innovation
Software engineering and list of software engineering topics
Software systems
Computer science
Scripting language
Retrieved from "
Hypermedia
Hypermedia is a term created by Ted Nelson, and used in his 1965 article Complex information processing: a file structure for the complex, the changing and the indeterminate. It is used as a logical extension of the term hypertext, in which graphics, audio, video, plain text and hyperlinks intertwine to create a generally non-linear medium of information. This contrasts with the broader term multimedia, which may be used to describe non-interactive linear presentations as well as hypermedia. Hypermedia should not be confused with hypergraphics or super-writing which is not a related subject.
The World Wide Web is a classic example of hypermedia, whereas a non-interactive cinema presentation is an example of standard multimedia due to the absence of hyperlinks.
The first hypermedia system was the Aspen Movie Map, while the first truly universal hypermedia was Hypercard. Most modern hypermedia is delivered via electronic pages from a variety of systems. Audio hypermedia is emerging with voice command devices and voice browsing.
By the way, it is NOT a program.
The World Wide Web is a classic example of hypermedia, whereas a non-interactive cinema presentation is an example of standard multimedia due to the absence of hyperlinks.
The first hypermedia system was the Aspen Movie Map, while the first truly universal hypermedia was Hypercard. Most modern hypermedia is delivered via electronic pages from a variety of systems. Audio hypermedia is emerging with voice command devices and voice browsing.
By the way, it is NOT a program.
Web-based teaching materials
Web-based teaching materials are a subset of computer-based training (CBT) or electronic learning (eLearning) used to leverage the World Wide Web for the delivery to instructional materials.
Several teachers and institutions provide access to Web-based teaching materials through links on Web pages. An example is how Columbia Education Center provides access to supplemental Web-based Teaching Materials[1]. University professors and departments often provide similar resource pages to augment learning opportunities for their students. These resources are especially helpful when they provide an extension beyond what is covered in the classroom (i.e. materials on specific disciplines for Education majors who may be have deep knowledge in a specific discipline).
Several companies and cooperative efforts have emerged to provide online access to Web-based teaching materials. These entities range from companies producing their own edutainment media to sites provided to aggregate links to other existing content. While the missions of these organizations may differ, they all focus on furthering the World Wide Web as the delivery medium for teaching materials.
Web-based teaching materials emerged as elements on personal Web sites with the proliferation and adoption of the Internet in the early to mid-90s. Beyond personal publishing, Web-based teaching materials were often published online as samples and supplemental materials by commercial entities experimenting with the World Wide Web.
Sites devoted to specific topics began aggregating links to these resources in efforts to capture educator audiences in the late 90s. These concepts were then extended to the Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning Content Management System (LCMS) as a way for instructors to organize and provide access to learning materials already available online. These systems also contain authoring tools that allow pieces of entire courses (including Web-based teaching materials) to be published online.
Several teachers and institutions provide access to Web-based teaching materials through links on Web pages. An example is how Columbia Education Center provides access to supplemental Web-based Teaching Materials[1]. University professors and departments often provide similar resource pages to augment learning opportunities for their students. These resources are especially helpful when they provide an extension beyond what is covered in the classroom (i.e. materials on specific disciplines for Education majors who may be have deep knowledge in a specific discipline).
Several companies and cooperative efforts have emerged to provide online access to Web-based teaching materials. These entities range from companies producing their own edutainment media to sites provided to aggregate links to other existing content. While the missions of these organizations may differ, they all focus on furthering the World Wide Web as the delivery medium for teaching materials.
Web-based teaching materials emerged as elements on personal Web sites with the proliferation and adoption of the Internet in the early to mid-90s. Beyond personal publishing, Web-based teaching materials were often published online as samples and supplemental materials by commercial entities experimenting with the World Wide Web.
Sites devoted to specific topics began aggregating links to these resources in efforts to capture educator audiences in the late 90s. These concepts were then extended to the Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning Content Management System (LCMS) as a way for instructors to organize and provide access to learning materials already available online. These systems also contain authoring tools that allow pieces of entire courses (including Web-based teaching materials) to be published online.
Web-based teaching materials
Web-based teaching materials are a subset of computer-based training (CBT) or electronic learning (eLearning) used to leverage the World Wide Web for the delivery to instructional materials.
Several teachers and institutions provide access to Web-based teaching materials through links on Web pages. An example is how Columbia Education Center provides access to supplemental Web-based Teaching Materials[1]. University professors and departments often provide similar resource pages to augment learning opportunities for their students. These resources are especially helpful when they provide an extension beyond what is covered in the classroom (i.e. materials on specific disciplines for Education majors who may be have deep knowledge in a specific discipline).
Several companies and cooperative efforts have emerged to provide online access to Web-based teaching materials. These entities range from companies producing their own edutainment media to sites provided to aggregate links to other existing content. While the missions of these organizations may differ, they all focus on furthering the World Wide Web as the delivery medium for teaching materials.
Web-based teaching materials emerged as elements on personal Web sites with the proliferation and adoption of the Internet in the early to mid-90s. Beyond personal publishing, Web-based teaching materials were often published online as samples and supplemental materials by commercial entities experimenting with the World Wide Web.
Sites devoted to specific topics began aggregating links to these resources in efforts to capture educator audiences in the late 90s. These concepts were then extended to the Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning Content Management System (LCMS) as a way for instructors to organize and provide access to learning materials already available online. These systems also contain authoring tools that allow pieces of entire courses (including Web-based teaching materials) to be published online.
Several teachers and institutions provide access to Web-based teaching materials through links on Web pages. An example is how Columbia Education Center provides access to supplemental Web-based Teaching Materials[1]. University professors and departments often provide similar resource pages to augment learning opportunities for their students. These resources are especially helpful when they provide an extension beyond what is covered in the classroom (i.e. materials on specific disciplines for Education majors who may be have deep knowledge in a specific discipline).
Several companies and cooperative efforts have emerged to provide online access to Web-based teaching materials. These entities range from companies producing their own edutainment media to sites provided to aggregate links to other existing content. While the missions of these organizations may differ, they all focus on furthering the World Wide Web as the delivery medium for teaching materials.
Web-based teaching materials emerged as elements on personal Web sites with the proliferation and adoption of the Internet in the early to mid-90s. Beyond personal publishing, Web-based teaching materials were often published online as samples and supplemental materials by commercial entities experimenting with the World Wide Web.
Sites devoted to specific topics began aggregating links to these resources in efforts to capture educator audiences in the late 90s. These concepts were then extended to the Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning Content Management System (LCMS) as a way for instructors to organize and provide access to learning materials already available online. These systems also contain authoring tools that allow pieces of entire courses (including Web-based teaching materials) to be published online.
More commonly referred to as an MP3 player, a digital audio player or "DAP" is a portable, handheld digital music player that stores, organizes and plays MP3 and often other audio files. Most DAPs are powered by rechargeable batteries, some of which are not user replaceable. Listening to music stored on DAPs is typically done through earphones, but external speakers and docking stations are also available.
Digital audio players are generally categorized by storage media:
Flash-based Players - These are non mechanical solid state devices that hold digital audio files on internal flash memory or removable flash media called memory cards. Due to technological advancements in flash memory, these originally low-storage devices are now available commercially ranging up to 16GB. Because they are solid state and do not have moving parts they require less battery power and may be more resilient to hazards such as dropping or fragmentation than hard disk-based players. Basic MP3 player functions are commonly integrated into USB flash drives.
Hard drive-based Players or Digital Jukeboxes - Devices that read digital audio files from a hard disk drive (HDD). These players have higher capacities currently ranging up to 160GB. At typical encoding rates, this means that thousands of songs — perhaps an entire music collection — can be stored on one player. Because of the storage capacity, devices that also display video and pictures are often hard disk drive based. Such multi-media devices are usually called Portable Media Players or Personal Media Players (PMPs).
MP3 CD Players - Portable CD players that can decode and play MP3 audio files stored on CDs.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Uses
3 Audio acquisition
4 Audio formats
5 Controversy
6 References
7 See also
8 External links
[edit] History
The precursors to MP3 Players/DAPs were portable CD players and MiniDisc players. Even though the media they play uses digital storage methods, neither is generally called a "digital audio player" because they do not play MP3 or other music/audio codecs, Non-mechanical DAPs were introduced following the popularity of the precursors.
The world’s first mass-produced hardware MP3 player/DAP was created in 1997 by SaeHan Information Systems of South Korea which sold its “MPMan” player in Asia starting in the late spring of 1998. SaeHan’s licensed its player to Eiger Labs which sold the 32MB Eiger Labs MPMan F10 portable flash-based player to the American market in the summer of 1998. [1]
The Rio PMP300 from Diamond Multimedia was introduced in September 1998, a few months after SaeHan’s MPMan and the Eiger MPMan F10. The Rio was a big success during the Christmas 1998 season as sales significantly exceeded expectations, spurring interest and investment in digital music. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) soon filed a lawsuit alleging that the device abetted illegal copying of music, but Diamond won a legal victory on the shoulders of Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios and digital audio players were ruled legal devices. Because of its notoriety as the target of the RIAA suit, the Rio is often erroneously thought to have been first to market. [2]
In 1998, Compaq's laptop engineers made the first hard-drive-based MP3 player and licensed it to a Korean company HanGo Electronics which sold it as Personal Jukebox or PJB-100 starting in 1999. Using a 2.5” laptop hard drive for song storage instead of (then) low-capacity flash memory created significant improvement in space limitations of the earlier DAPs. The Personal Jukebox (PJB-100) had 6.0GB of storage space, which held about 1200 songs or 100 CDs (hence the name PJB-100) and was the beginning of what would be called the jukebox segment of digital audio players.
Apple Computer unveiled its 5GB hard drive-based iPod in October 2001. Having focused on developing an intuitive user interface and using a new 1.8” 5GB laptop hard disk drive from Toshiba, Apple's smaller form factor and elegant industrial design made the iPod a hit with the users of its Macintosh computers. In July 2002, Apple introduced second generation players including iPod models with Windows compatibility through Musicmatch software. Although online music services such as Real Networks’ Rhapsody offered legal music downloads on a subscription basis, the opening of the iTunes Store in 2003 established the business model of selling individual songs for purchase and download at an average price of $0.99. Apple's iPod line-up, which grew to include mini hard disk and flash based players, has become the market leader in DAPs.
In 2003, the term "Digital Audio Player" and the acronym "DAP" were first popularized as the name and focus of the website DAPreview.net. The term and the acronym were subsequently adopted by news editors at Engadget.com, one of the most popular technology-related blogs, and they have since become a common way of referencing these devices among the gadget-savvy. [citation needed]
In 2004, Microsoft introduced their Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology under the PlaysForSure brand. This technology allows consumers to rent music from subscription music services such as Napster, Rhapsody, and Yahoo Music Unlimited and transfer it to their compatible digital audio players. Microsoft did not use PlaysForSure when it released its own Zune music player because of limitations over sharing music between devices [3] and in 2007 announced a new DRM technology to cover more file types than music and video.
[edit] Uses
As digital audio players have spread, new uses have been found for them. This includes podcasting, in which radio-like programs, or even TV-like video feeds, are automatically uploaded to the device to be played at the user's convenience.
Most[citation needed] modern digital audio players are technically portable media players, as they support video playback.
[edit] Audio acquisition
All commercially available digital audio players can play music that has been ripped from Compact Discs via computer. In addition to ripped CD tracks, many digital audio players can accept downloaded music from online music stores. However, such stores often use proprietary formats and DRM, which means that the tracks can only be played on suitably licensed and restricted devices. For example, songs you purchase from iTunes might not work on any digital audio player other than an iPod.
Another way of getting audio files is to rip the songs from radio broadcasts. Many players have the ability to record songs played on the built-in FM tuner. Recently, a Swedish company called PopCatcher has developed a technology to save songs from Internet radio and can distinguish between songs, DJ talks, and commercials for convenience.
[edit] Audio formats
MP3 is the dominant format, and is nearly universally supported. The main alternative formats are AAC, supported on players from Apple, ATRAC, on players from Sony, and WMA, on players from Microsoft and partners. Unlike MP3, these formats support DRM restrictions, which are often added to files from paid download sites. Alternative formats which are completely patent-free are available but less widely supported - examples include Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Speex, and Module file formats.
[edit] Controversy
iBox Mediaman, an illegal clone of the iriver iFP-500Many digital audio player manufacturing companies located in China have been making clones, or similar digital audio players of major brands e.g iPods without licenses or agreements. Despite the objections and lawsuits against these Chinese companies, the Chinese government is not required to take any action to prosecute their manufacturers.[4]
Additionally, content acquisition and management have created additional controversies.
Further information: iTunes Store,and Digital Rights Management
[edit] References
^ "MP3 Players - The Basics and History".
^ "Bragging rights to the world's first MP3 player".
^ http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/07/31/microsoft-not-turning-back-on-playsforsure-with-zune-player/
^ http://apple.qj.net/iPod-Clone-From-China-The-MP270/pg/49/aid/2321
[edit] See also
Comparison of portable media players
Internet radio device
Podcast
Portable media player
Media Transfer Protocol
USB mass storage device class
[edit] External links
Digital audio players are generally categorized by storage media:
Flash-based Players - These are non mechanical solid state devices that hold digital audio files on internal flash memory or removable flash media called memory cards. Due to technological advancements in flash memory, these originally low-storage devices are now available commercially ranging up to 16GB. Because they are solid state and do not have moving parts they require less battery power and may be more resilient to hazards such as dropping or fragmentation than hard disk-based players. Basic MP3 player functions are commonly integrated into USB flash drives.
Hard drive-based Players or Digital Jukeboxes - Devices that read digital audio files from a hard disk drive (HDD). These players have higher capacities currently ranging up to 160GB. At typical encoding rates, this means that thousands of songs — perhaps an entire music collection — can be stored on one player. Because of the storage capacity, devices that also display video and pictures are often hard disk drive based. Such multi-media devices are usually called Portable Media Players or Personal Media Players (PMPs).
MP3 CD Players - Portable CD players that can decode and play MP3 audio files stored on CDs.
Contents [hide]
1 History
2 Uses
3 Audio acquisition
4 Audio formats
5 Controversy
6 References
7 See also
8 External links
[edit] History
The precursors to MP3 Players/DAPs were portable CD players and MiniDisc players. Even though the media they play uses digital storage methods, neither is generally called a "digital audio player" because they do not play MP3 or other music/audio codecs, Non-mechanical DAPs were introduced following the popularity of the precursors.
The world’s first mass-produced hardware MP3 player/DAP was created in 1997 by SaeHan Information Systems of South Korea which sold its “MPMan” player in Asia starting in the late spring of 1998. SaeHan’s licensed its player to Eiger Labs which sold the 32MB Eiger Labs MPMan F10 portable flash-based player to the American market in the summer of 1998. [1]
The Rio PMP300 from Diamond Multimedia was introduced in September 1998, a few months after SaeHan’s MPMan and the Eiger MPMan F10. The Rio was a big success during the Christmas 1998 season as sales significantly exceeded expectations, spurring interest and investment in digital music. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) soon filed a lawsuit alleging that the device abetted illegal copying of music, but Diamond won a legal victory on the shoulders of Sony Corp. v. Universal City Studios and digital audio players were ruled legal devices. Because of its notoriety as the target of the RIAA suit, the Rio is often erroneously thought to have been first to market. [2]
In 1998, Compaq's laptop engineers made the first hard-drive-based MP3 player and licensed it to a Korean company HanGo Electronics which sold it as Personal Jukebox or PJB-100 starting in 1999. Using a 2.5” laptop hard drive for song storage instead of (then) low-capacity flash memory created significant improvement in space limitations of the earlier DAPs. The Personal Jukebox (PJB-100) had 6.0GB of storage space, which held about 1200 songs or 100 CDs (hence the name PJB-100) and was the beginning of what would be called the jukebox segment of digital audio players.
Apple Computer unveiled its 5GB hard drive-based iPod in October 2001. Having focused on developing an intuitive user interface and using a new 1.8” 5GB laptop hard disk drive from Toshiba, Apple's smaller form factor and elegant industrial design made the iPod a hit with the users of its Macintosh computers. In July 2002, Apple introduced second generation players including iPod models with Windows compatibility through Musicmatch software. Although online music services such as Real Networks’ Rhapsody offered legal music downloads on a subscription basis, the opening of the iTunes Store in 2003 established the business model of selling individual songs for purchase and download at an average price of $0.99. Apple's iPod line-up, which grew to include mini hard disk and flash based players, has become the market leader in DAPs.
In 2003, the term "Digital Audio Player" and the acronym "DAP" were first popularized as the name and focus of the website DAPreview.net. The term and the acronym were subsequently adopted by news editors at Engadget.com, one of the most popular technology-related blogs, and they have since become a common way of referencing these devices among the gadget-savvy. [citation needed]
In 2004, Microsoft introduced their Digital Rights Management (DRM) technology under the PlaysForSure brand. This technology allows consumers to rent music from subscription music services such as Napster, Rhapsody, and Yahoo Music Unlimited and transfer it to their compatible digital audio players. Microsoft did not use PlaysForSure when it released its own Zune music player because of limitations over sharing music between devices [3] and in 2007 announced a new DRM technology to cover more file types than music and video.
[edit] Uses
As digital audio players have spread, new uses have been found for them. This includes podcasting, in which radio-like programs, or even TV-like video feeds, are automatically uploaded to the device to be played at the user's convenience.
Most[citation needed] modern digital audio players are technically portable media players, as they support video playback.
[edit] Audio acquisition
All commercially available digital audio players can play music that has been ripped from Compact Discs via computer. In addition to ripped CD tracks, many digital audio players can accept downloaded music from online music stores. However, such stores often use proprietary formats and DRM, which means that the tracks can only be played on suitably licensed and restricted devices. For example, songs you purchase from iTunes might not work on any digital audio player other than an iPod.
Another way of getting audio files is to rip the songs from radio broadcasts. Many players have the ability to record songs played on the built-in FM tuner. Recently, a Swedish company called PopCatcher has developed a technology to save songs from Internet radio and can distinguish between songs, DJ talks, and commercials for convenience.
[edit] Audio formats
MP3 is the dominant format, and is nearly universally supported. The main alternative formats are AAC, supported on players from Apple, ATRAC, on players from Sony, and WMA, on players from Microsoft and partners. Unlike MP3, these formats support DRM restrictions, which are often added to files from paid download sites. Alternative formats which are completely patent-free are available but less widely supported - examples include Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Speex, and Module file formats.
[edit] Controversy
iBox Mediaman, an illegal clone of the iriver iFP-500Many digital audio player manufacturing companies located in China have been making clones, or similar digital audio players of major brands e.g iPods without licenses or agreements. Despite the objections and lawsuits against these Chinese companies, the Chinese government is not required to take any action to prosecute their manufacturers.[4]
Additionally, content acquisition and management have created additional controversies.
Further information: iTunes Store,and Digital Rights Management
[edit] References
^ "MP3 Players - The Basics and History".
^ "Bragging rights to the world's first MP3 player".
^ http://createdigitalmusic.com/2006/07/31/microsoft-not-turning-back-on-playsforsure-with-zune-player/
^ http://apple.qj.net/iPod-Clone-From-China-The-MP270/pg/49/aid/2321
[edit] See also
Comparison of portable media players
Internet radio device
Podcast
Portable media player
Media Transfer Protocol
USB mass storage device class
[edit] External links
Personal digital assistant
History
The term "personal data assistant" was coined on January 7, 1992 by Apple Computer CEO John Sculley at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, referring to the Apple Newton.
PDAs are some times referred to as "Palms", "Palm Pilot" or "Palm Tops" after an early PDA created by USR and Palm Inc called the Palm Pilot.
[edit] Typical features
Currently, a typical PDA has a touch screen for entering data, a memory card slot for data storage and at least one of the following for connectivity: IrDA, Bluetooth and/or WiFi. However, many PDAs (typically those used primarily as telephones) may not have a touch screen, using softkeys, a directional pad and either the numeric keypad or a thumb keyboard for input.
Software typically required to be a PDA includes an appointment calendar, a to-do list, an address book for contacts and some sort of note program. Connected PDAs also typically include E-mail and Web support.
[edit] Touch screen
Many original PDAs, such as the Apple Newton and the Palm Pilot, featured touch screens for user interaction, having only a few buttons usually reserved for shortcuts to often used programs. Touch screen PDAs, including Windows Pocket PC devices, usually have a detachable stylus that can be used on the touch screen. Interaction is then done by tapping the screen to activate buttons or menu choices, and dragging the stylus to, for example, highlight. Text input is usually done in one of two ways:
Using a virtual keyboard, where a keyboard is shown on the touch screen. Input is done by tapping the letters.
Using letter or word recognition, where letters or words are written on the touch screen, and then "translated" to letters in the currently activated text field. Despite rigorous research and development projects, end-users experience mixed results with this input method, with some finding it frustrating and inaccurate, while others are satisfied with the quality.[1] Recognition and computation of handwritten horizontal and vertical formulas such as "1 + 2 =" was also under development.
PDAs for business use, including the BlackBerry and Treo, have full keyboards and scroll wheels or thumb wheels to facilitate data entry and navigation, in addition to supporting touch-screen input. There are also full-size foldable keyboards available that plug directly, or use wireless technology to interface with the PDA and allow for normal typing. BlackBerry also has additional functionality as push based email and applications.
Newer PDAs, such as the Apple iPhone include new user interfaces using other means of input. The iPhone uses a technology called Multi-touch.
[edit] Memory cards
Although many early PDAs did not have memory card slots, now most have either an SD (Secure Digital) and/or a Compact Flash slot. Although originally designed for memory, SDIO and Compact Flash cards are available for such things as Wi-Fi and Webcams. Some PDAs also have a USB port, mainly for USB flash drives.
As more PDAs include telephone support, to keep the size down, many now offer miniSD or microSD slots instead of full-sized SD slots.
[edit] Wired connectivity
While many earlier PDAs connected via serial ports or other proprietary format, many today connect via USB cable. This served primarily to connect to a computer, and few, if any PDAs were able to connect to each other out of the box using cables, as USB requires one machine to act as a host - functionality which was not often planned. Some PDAs were able to connect to the internet, either by means of one of these cables, or by using an extension card with an ethernet port/RJ-45 adaptor.
[edit] Wireless connectivity
Most modern PDAs have Bluetooth wireless connectivity, an increasingly popular tool for mobile devices. It can be used to connect keyboards, headsets, GPS and many other accessories, as well as sending files between PDAs. Many mid-range and superior PDAs have Wi-Fi/WLAN/802.11-connectivity, used for connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots or wireless networks. Older PDAs predominantly have an IrDA (infrared) port; however fewer current models have the technology, as it is slowly being phased out due to support for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. IrDA allows communication between two PDAs: a PDA and any device with an IrDA port or adapter. Most universal PDA keyboards use infrared technology because many older PDAs have it, and infrared technology is low-cost.
[edit] Synchronization
An important function of PDAs is synchronizing data with a PC. This allows up-to-date contact information stored on software such as Microsoft Outlook or ACT! to update the database on the PDA. The data synchronization ensures that the PDA has an accurate list of contacts, appointments and e-mail, allowing users to access the same information on the PDA as the host computer.
The synchronizing also prevents the loss of information stored on the device in case it is lost, stolen, or destroyed. Another advantage is that data input is usually a lot quicker on a PC, since text input via a touch screen is still not quite optimal. Transferring data to a PDA via the computer is therefore a lot quicker than having to manually input all data on the handheld device.
Most PDAs come with the ability to synchronize to a PC. This is done through synchronization software provided with the handheld, such as HotSync Manager, which comes with Palm OS handhelds, Microsoft ActiveSync for older versions of Windows or Windows Mobile Device Center on Windows Vista, which comes with Windows Mobile handhelds.
These programs allow the PDA to be synchronized with a Personal information manager. This personal information manager may be an outside program or a proprietary program. For example, the BlackBerry PDA comes with the Desktop Manager program which can synchronize to both Microsoft Outlook and ACT!. Other PDAs come only with their own proprietary software. For example, some early Palm OS PDAs came only with Palm Desktop while later Palms such as the Treo 650 has the built-in ability to sync to Palm Desktop and/or Microsoft Outlook, while Microsoft's ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center only synchronize with Microsoft Outlook or a Microsoft Exchange server.
Third-party synchronization software is also available for many PDAs from companies like Intellisync and CompanionLink. This software synchronizes these handhelds to other personal information managers which are not supported by the PDA manufacturers, such as GoldMine and Lotus Notes.
[edit] Customization
As with personal computers, it is possible to install additional software on most PDAs. Software can be bought or downloaded from the Internet, allowing users to personalize their PDAs to their liking. An example of this would be the display theme for the PDA. Almost all PDAs also allow for adding some form of hardware. The most common is a memory card slot, which allows the users to get additional and exchangeable storage space on their handheld devices. There are also miniature keyboards that can be connected to most mainstream PDAs for quicker text input. PDAs with Bluetooth use Bluetooth-enabled devices like headsets, mice and (possibly foldable) keyboards.
[edit] Uses
PDAs are used to store information that can be accessed at any time and any where.
[edit] Automobile navigation
Many PDAs are used in car kits and are fitted with differential Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to provide realtime automobile navigation. PDAs are increasingly being fitted as standard on new cars.
Many systems can also display traffic conditions, dynamic routing and roadside mobile radar guns.[citation needed] This information is usually downloaded from the Internet prior to travel, or can be downloaded on the fly with PDAs equipped with Internet access capability.
Popular software in Europe for this functionality is TomTom software showing road conditions and 3D environments.
[edit] Ruggedized PDAs
For many years businesses and government organizations have relied upon rugged PDAs for mobile data applications. Typical applications include supply chain management in warehouses, package delivery, route accounting, medical treatment and record keeping in hospitals, facilities maintenance and management, parking enforcement, access control and security, capital asset maintenance, meter reading by utilities, and "wireless waitress" applications in restaurants and hospitality venues. There are even PDAs designed to take significant amounts of punishment, probably meant for military use. Unfortunately, these devices often lack the features of other PDAs, and come with a steep price tag.[1]
[edit] Medical and scientific uses
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (tagged since May 2007)
In medicine, PDAs have been shown to aid diagnosis and drug selection and some studies have concluded that their use by patients to record symptoms improves the effectiveness of communication with hospitals during follow-up. The first landmark study in testing the effectiveness of PDAs in a medical setting was conducted at the Brigham & Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospitals in affiliation with Harvard Medical School. Led by the team of Steven Labkoff, MD and Sandeep Shah, the Constellation project used Apple's Newton (first PDA in the market) to cater to the demands of the medical professionals.
Constellation's objective was to test how clinicians in various medical environments (wired vs un wired) would use medical reference books on a hand-held device. The study validated the hypothesis that PDAs with medical content would be used to a greater degree (>40% more often) in unwired environments.
Today, the company evolved from the effort Skyscape offers a wide range of resources including drug information, treatment options, guidelines, evidence based information and journal summaries including the drug & safety alerts. Other entrants include Epocrates and ABX guide, which supply drug databases, treatment information and relevant news in formats specific to mobile devices and services such as AvantGo translate medical journals into readable formats and provide updates from journals. WardWatch organizes medical records to remind doctors making ward rounds of information such as the treatment regimens of patients and programs. Finally, Pendragon and Syware provide tools for conducting research with mobile devices, and connecting to a central server allowing the user to enter data into a centralized database using their PDA. Additionally, Microsoft Visual Studio and Sun Java provide programming tools for developing survey instruments on the handheld. These development tools allow for integration with SQL databases that are stored on the handheld and can be synchronized with a desktop/server based database. Recently the development of Sensor Web technology has led to discussion of using wearable bodily sensors to monitor ongoing conditions like diabetes and epilepsy and alerting medical staff or the patient themselves to the treatment required via communication between the web and PDAs.
[edit] Educational uses
The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.
As mobile technology has become almost a necessity, it is no surprise that personal computing has become a vital learning tool by this time. Educational institutes have commenced a trend of integrating PDAs into their teaching practices (mobile learning). With the capabilities of PDAs, teachers are now able to provide a collaborative learning experience for their students. They are also preparing their students for possible practical uses of mobile computing upon their graduation.
PDAs and handheld devices have recently allowed for digital note taking. This has increased student’s productivity by allowing individuals to quickly spell-check, modify, and amend their class notes or e-notes. Educators are currently able to distribute course material through the use of the internet connectivity or infrared file sharing functions of the PDA. With concerns to class material, textbook publishers have begun to release e-books, electronic textbooks, which can be uploaded directly to a PDA. This eliminates the exhausting effort of carrying multiple textbooks at one time.
To meet the instructive needs sought by educational institutes, software companies have developed programs with the learning aspects in mind. Simple programs such as dictionaries, thesauri, and word processing software are important to the digital note taking process. In addition to these simple programs, encyclopedias and digital planning lessons have created added functionality for users.
With the increase in mobility of PDAs, school boards and educational institutes have now encountered issues with these devices. School boards are now concerned with students utilizing the internet connectivity to share test answers or to gossip during class time, which creates disruptions. Many school boards have modernized their computer policies to address these new concerns. Software companies such as Scantron Corp. have now created a program for distributing digital quizzes. The quiz software disables the infrared function on PDAs, which eliminates the element of information sharing among individuals during the examination.[2]
[edit] Sporting uses
PDAs are used by glider pilots for pre-flight planning and to assist navigation in cross-country competitions. They are linked to a GPS to produce moving-map displays showing the tracks to turn-points, airspace hazards and other tactical information.
[edit] Technical details
[edit] Architecture
Many PDAs run using a variation of the ARM architecture (usually denoted by the Intel XScale trademark). This encompasses a class of RISC microprocessors that are widely used in mobile devices and embedded systems, and its design was influenced strongly by a popular 1970s/1980s CPU, the MOS Technology 6502.
[edit] OS
The currently major PDA operating systems are:
Palm OS - owned by PalmSource
Windows Mobile Professional and Classic for use on Pocket PCs, (based on the Windows CE kernel) - owned by Microsoft
BlackBerry OS - owned by Research In Motion
Many operating systems based on the Linux kernel - free (not owned by any company) These include
Familiar (comes in three flavours: GPE, Opie and barebone)
OpenZaurus (for Zaurus PDAs)
Intimate (for PDAs with an exceedingly large amount of memory)
Symbian OS (formerly EPOC) owned by Motorola, Panasonic, Nokia, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson
[edit] Decreasing popularity?
The factual accuracy of this article is disputed.
Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.
PDA sales fell 43.5% from 2006 to 2007. Approximately 4 million PDAs are sold per year, while smartphone sales are approximately 60 million per year.
According to a Gartner market study, the overall market for PDAs grew by 20.7% in the third quarter (Q3) of 2005, compared to Q3 2004, with marketshare resolving as follows (by operating system):[citation needed]
Palm OS for Palm, Inc. PDAs and some other licensees- 14.9% (declining)
Windows Mobile for PDAs that comply with the Microsoft's Pocket PC specifications - 49.2% (increasing)
RIM BlackBerry for BlackBerry PDA (produced by Research In Motion) - 25.0% (increasing)
Symbian OS - 5.8% (increasing)
Various operating systems based on the Linux kernel for various special designed PDAs (many other supported) - 0.7% (stable)
Other - 4.4% (stable)
[edit] Shortcomings
Perhaps, more than any other computer devices, the PDA lacks the fully-blown infrastructure of a Wireless Broadband network. This could be offered in future by WiMax. Nowadays prices of laptops are coming down. Though somewhat bigger in size, laptops have better visibility and are more powerful. However, the OQO Model 2 has been released as an IBM-PC compatible PDA with a USB port so that people can play computer games from ubiquitous operating systems such as Windows XP and connect typical PC peripherals.
[edit] Popular consumer PDAs
HP iPAQ
Psion
Abacus PDA Watch
Acer N Series
AlphaSmart
Amida Simputer
BlackBerry
Casio Pocket Viewer
Dell Axim
Fujitsu Siemens Loox
GMate Yopy
High Tech Computer Corporation's series of Windows Mobile PDA/phones
Palm, Inc. (Tungsten E2, TX, Treo and Zire)
OQO Model 2; one of the few IBM PC compatible devices in the form factor of a PDA.
PocketMail (email PDA with inbuilt acoustic coupler)
Sharp Wizard and Sharp Zaurus
[edit] Discontinued
hp Jornada Pocket PC (phased out/merged with iPAQ line in 2002)
Sony CLIÉ
Tapwave Zodiac
LifeDrive
Apple Newton
Dell Axim
NEC MobilePro
[edit] Rugged PDAs for business, government and military applications
Hand Held Products (HHP)
Intermec
Psion Teklogix
Symbol Technologies
[edit] See also
Automotive navigation system
Danger Hiptop
Desknote
Graffiti (Palm OS)
Hipster PDA
Information appliance
Laptop
Mobile software
Mobile learning
Mobile web
PADD (Star Trek PDA)
Personal area network
Personal Communicator
Personal information manager
Smartphone
Sony Clie
Subnotebook
Tablet PC
Ultra-Mobile PC
Wearable computer
Sena Cases
Timex Datalink
[edit] References
^ HWR accuracy:
See comments in Wired's Apple Newton Just Won't Drop (4 yrs later)
See text under "Handwriting Recognition" in Pen Computing's First Look at Newton OS 2.0
See "Opportunity Squandered" in Pen Computing's Why did Apple kill the Newton?
See comments under "Software" in MacTech's MessagePad 2000 review
Comments by Pen Computing's editor
See user testing results discussed in part 6 of this A.I. Magazine article on Newton HWR
MessagePad 2000 review at Small Dog Electronics
See comments under "Note-taking" in MessagePad 2000 review at "The History and Macintosh Society"
What's Right With The Newton: HWR
The term "personal data assistant" was coined on January 7, 1992 by Apple Computer CEO John Sculley at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada, referring to the Apple Newton.
PDAs are some times referred to as "Palms", "Palm Pilot" or "Palm Tops" after an early PDA created by USR and Palm Inc called the Palm Pilot.
[edit] Typical features
Currently, a typical PDA has a touch screen for entering data, a memory card slot for data storage and at least one of the following for connectivity: IrDA, Bluetooth and/or WiFi. However, many PDAs (typically those used primarily as telephones) may not have a touch screen, using softkeys, a directional pad and either the numeric keypad or a thumb keyboard for input.
Software typically required to be a PDA includes an appointment calendar, a to-do list, an address book for contacts and some sort of note program. Connected PDAs also typically include E-mail and Web support.
[edit] Touch screen
Many original PDAs, such as the Apple Newton and the Palm Pilot, featured touch screens for user interaction, having only a few buttons usually reserved for shortcuts to often used programs. Touch screen PDAs, including Windows Pocket PC devices, usually have a detachable stylus that can be used on the touch screen. Interaction is then done by tapping the screen to activate buttons or menu choices, and dragging the stylus to, for example, highlight. Text input is usually done in one of two ways:
Using a virtual keyboard, where a keyboard is shown on the touch screen. Input is done by tapping the letters.
Using letter or word recognition, where letters or words are written on the touch screen, and then "translated" to letters in the currently activated text field. Despite rigorous research and development projects, end-users experience mixed results with this input method, with some finding it frustrating and inaccurate, while others are satisfied with the quality.[1] Recognition and computation of handwritten horizontal and vertical formulas such as "1 + 2 =" was also under development.
PDAs for business use, including the BlackBerry and Treo, have full keyboards and scroll wheels or thumb wheels to facilitate data entry and navigation, in addition to supporting touch-screen input. There are also full-size foldable keyboards available that plug directly, or use wireless technology to interface with the PDA and allow for normal typing. BlackBerry also has additional functionality as push based email and applications.
Newer PDAs, such as the Apple iPhone include new user interfaces using other means of input. The iPhone uses a technology called Multi-touch.
[edit] Memory cards
Although many early PDAs did not have memory card slots, now most have either an SD (Secure Digital) and/or a Compact Flash slot. Although originally designed for memory, SDIO and Compact Flash cards are available for such things as Wi-Fi and Webcams. Some PDAs also have a USB port, mainly for USB flash drives.
As more PDAs include telephone support, to keep the size down, many now offer miniSD or microSD slots instead of full-sized SD slots.
[edit] Wired connectivity
While many earlier PDAs connected via serial ports or other proprietary format, many today connect via USB cable. This served primarily to connect to a computer, and few, if any PDAs were able to connect to each other out of the box using cables, as USB requires one machine to act as a host - functionality which was not often planned. Some PDAs were able to connect to the internet, either by means of one of these cables, or by using an extension card with an ethernet port/RJ-45 adaptor.
[edit] Wireless connectivity
Most modern PDAs have Bluetooth wireless connectivity, an increasingly popular tool for mobile devices. It can be used to connect keyboards, headsets, GPS and many other accessories, as well as sending files between PDAs. Many mid-range and superior PDAs have Wi-Fi/WLAN/802.11-connectivity, used for connecting to Wi-Fi hotspots or wireless networks. Older PDAs predominantly have an IrDA (infrared) port; however fewer current models have the technology, as it is slowly being phased out due to support for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. IrDA allows communication between two PDAs: a PDA and any device with an IrDA port or adapter. Most universal PDA keyboards use infrared technology because many older PDAs have it, and infrared technology is low-cost.
[edit] Synchronization
An important function of PDAs is synchronizing data with a PC. This allows up-to-date contact information stored on software such as Microsoft Outlook or ACT! to update the database on the PDA. The data synchronization ensures that the PDA has an accurate list of contacts, appointments and e-mail, allowing users to access the same information on the PDA as the host computer.
The synchronizing also prevents the loss of information stored on the device in case it is lost, stolen, or destroyed. Another advantage is that data input is usually a lot quicker on a PC, since text input via a touch screen is still not quite optimal. Transferring data to a PDA via the computer is therefore a lot quicker than having to manually input all data on the handheld device.
Most PDAs come with the ability to synchronize to a PC. This is done through synchronization software provided with the handheld, such as HotSync Manager, which comes with Palm OS handhelds, Microsoft ActiveSync for older versions of Windows or Windows Mobile Device Center on Windows Vista, which comes with Windows Mobile handhelds.
These programs allow the PDA to be synchronized with a Personal information manager. This personal information manager may be an outside program or a proprietary program. For example, the BlackBerry PDA comes with the Desktop Manager program which can synchronize to both Microsoft Outlook and ACT!. Other PDAs come only with their own proprietary software. For example, some early Palm OS PDAs came only with Palm Desktop while later Palms such as the Treo 650 has the built-in ability to sync to Palm Desktop and/or Microsoft Outlook, while Microsoft's ActiveSync and Windows Mobile Device Center only synchronize with Microsoft Outlook or a Microsoft Exchange server.
Third-party synchronization software is also available for many PDAs from companies like Intellisync and CompanionLink. This software synchronizes these handhelds to other personal information managers which are not supported by the PDA manufacturers, such as GoldMine and Lotus Notes.
[edit] Customization
As with personal computers, it is possible to install additional software on most PDAs. Software can be bought or downloaded from the Internet, allowing users to personalize their PDAs to their liking. An example of this would be the display theme for the PDA. Almost all PDAs also allow for adding some form of hardware. The most common is a memory card slot, which allows the users to get additional and exchangeable storage space on their handheld devices. There are also miniature keyboards that can be connected to most mainstream PDAs for quicker text input. PDAs with Bluetooth use Bluetooth-enabled devices like headsets, mice and (possibly foldable) keyboards.
[edit] Uses
PDAs are used to store information that can be accessed at any time and any where.
[edit] Automobile navigation
Many PDAs are used in car kits and are fitted with differential Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to provide realtime automobile navigation. PDAs are increasingly being fitted as standard on new cars.
Many systems can also display traffic conditions, dynamic routing and roadside mobile radar guns.[citation needed] This information is usually downloaded from the Internet prior to travel, or can be downloaded on the fly with PDAs equipped with Internet access capability.
Popular software in Europe for this functionality is TomTom software showing road conditions and 3D environments.
[edit] Ruggedized PDAs
For many years businesses and government organizations have relied upon rugged PDAs for mobile data applications. Typical applications include supply chain management in warehouses, package delivery, route accounting, medical treatment and record keeping in hospitals, facilities maintenance and management, parking enforcement, access control and security, capital asset maintenance, meter reading by utilities, and "wireless waitress" applications in restaurants and hospitality venues. There are even PDAs designed to take significant amounts of punishment, probably meant for military use. Unfortunately, these devices often lack the features of other PDAs, and come with a steep price tag.[1]
[edit] Medical and scientific uses
This section does not cite any references or sources.
Please improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (tagged since May 2007)
In medicine, PDAs have been shown to aid diagnosis and drug selection and some studies have concluded that their use by patients to record symptoms improves the effectiveness of communication with hospitals during follow-up. The first landmark study in testing the effectiveness of PDAs in a medical setting was conducted at the Brigham & Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospitals in affiliation with Harvard Medical School. Led by the team of Steven Labkoff, MD and Sandeep Shah, the Constellation project used Apple's Newton (first PDA in the market) to cater to the demands of the medical professionals.
Constellation's objective was to test how clinicians in various medical environments (wired vs un wired) would use medical reference books on a hand-held device. The study validated the hypothesis that PDAs with medical content would be used to a greater degree (>40% more often) in unwired environments.
Today, the company evolved from the effort Skyscape offers a wide range of resources including drug information, treatment options, guidelines, evidence based information and journal summaries including the drug & safety alerts. Other entrants include Epocrates and ABX guide, which supply drug databases, treatment information and relevant news in formats specific to mobile devices and services such as AvantGo translate medical journals into readable formats and provide updates from journals. WardWatch organizes medical records to remind doctors making ward rounds of information such as the treatment regimens of patients and programs. Finally, Pendragon and Syware provide tools for conducting research with mobile devices, and connecting to a central server allowing the user to enter data into a centralized database using their PDA. Additionally, Microsoft Visual Studio and Sun Java provide programming tools for developing survey instruments on the handheld. These development tools allow for integration with SQL databases that are stored on the handheld and can be synchronized with a desktop/server based database. Recently the development of Sensor Web technology has led to discussion of using wearable bodily sensors to monitor ongoing conditions like diabetes and epilepsy and alerting medical staff or the patient themselves to the treatment required via communication between the web and PDAs.
[edit] Educational uses
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Please see the discussion on the talk page.
As mobile technology has become almost a necessity, it is no surprise that personal computing has become a vital learning tool by this time. Educational institutes have commenced a trend of integrating PDAs into their teaching practices (mobile learning). With the capabilities of PDAs, teachers are now able to provide a collaborative learning experience for their students. They are also preparing their students for possible practical uses of mobile computing upon their graduation.
PDAs and handheld devices have recently allowed for digital note taking. This has increased student’s productivity by allowing individuals to quickly spell-check, modify, and amend their class notes or e-notes. Educators are currently able to distribute course material through the use of the internet connectivity or infrared file sharing functions of the PDA. With concerns to class material, textbook publishers have begun to release e-books, electronic textbooks, which can be uploaded directly to a PDA. This eliminates the exhausting effort of carrying multiple textbooks at one time.
To meet the instructive needs sought by educational institutes, software companies have developed programs with the learning aspects in mind. Simple programs such as dictionaries, thesauri, and word processing software are important to the digital note taking process. In addition to these simple programs, encyclopedias and digital planning lessons have created added functionality for users.
With the increase in mobility of PDAs, school boards and educational institutes have now encountered issues with these devices. School boards are now concerned with students utilizing the internet connectivity to share test answers or to gossip during class time, which creates disruptions. Many school boards have modernized their computer policies to address these new concerns. Software companies such as Scantron Corp. have now created a program for distributing digital quizzes. The quiz software disables the infrared function on PDAs, which eliminates the element of information sharing among individuals during the examination.[2]
[edit] Sporting uses
PDAs are used by glider pilots for pre-flight planning and to assist navigation in cross-country competitions. They are linked to a GPS to produce moving-map displays showing the tracks to turn-points, airspace hazards and other tactical information.
[edit] Technical details
[edit] Architecture
Many PDAs run using a variation of the ARM architecture (usually denoted by the Intel XScale trademark). This encompasses a class of RISC microprocessors that are widely used in mobile devices and embedded systems, and its design was influenced strongly by a popular 1970s/1980s CPU, the MOS Technology 6502.
[edit] OS
The currently major PDA operating systems are:
Palm OS - owned by PalmSource
Windows Mobile Professional and Classic for use on Pocket PCs, (based on the Windows CE kernel) - owned by Microsoft
BlackBerry OS - owned by Research In Motion
Many operating systems based on the Linux kernel - free (not owned by any company) These include
Familiar (comes in three flavours: GPE, Opie and barebone)
OpenZaurus (for Zaurus PDAs)
Intimate (for PDAs with an exceedingly large amount of memory)
Symbian OS (formerly EPOC) owned by Motorola, Panasonic, Nokia, Samsung, Siemens and Sony Ericsson
[edit] Decreasing popularity?
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Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.
PDA sales fell 43.5% from 2006 to 2007. Approximately 4 million PDAs are sold per year, while smartphone sales are approximately 60 million per year.
According to a Gartner market study, the overall market for PDAs grew by 20.7% in the third quarter (Q3) of 2005, compared to Q3 2004, with marketshare resolving as follows (by operating system):[citation needed]
Palm OS for Palm, Inc. PDAs and some other licensees- 14.9% (declining)
Windows Mobile for PDAs that comply with the Microsoft's Pocket PC specifications - 49.2% (increasing)
RIM BlackBerry for BlackBerry PDA (produced by Research In Motion) - 25.0% (increasing)
Symbian OS - 5.8% (increasing)
Various operating systems based on the Linux kernel for various special designed PDAs (many other supported) - 0.7% (stable)
Other - 4.4% (stable)
[edit] Shortcomings
Perhaps, more than any other computer devices, the PDA lacks the fully-blown infrastructure of a Wireless Broadband network. This could be offered in future by WiMax. Nowadays prices of laptops are coming down. Though somewhat bigger in size, laptops have better visibility and are more powerful. However, the OQO Model 2 has been released as an IBM-PC compatible PDA with a USB port so that people can play computer games from ubiquitous operating systems such as Windows XP and connect typical PC peripherals.
[edit] Popular consumer PDAs
HP iPAQ
Psion
Abacus PDA Watch
Acer N Series
AlphaSmart
Amida Simputer
BlackBerry
Casio Pocket Viewer
Dell Axim
Fujitsu Siemens Loox
GMate Yopy
High Tech Computer Corporation's series of Windows Mobile PDA/phones
Palm, Inc. (Tungsten E2, TX, Treo and Zire)
OQO Model 2; one of the few IBM PC compatible devices in the form factor of a PDA.
PocketMail (email PDA with inbuilt acoustic coupler)
Sharp Wizard and Sharp Zaurus
[edit] Discontinued
hp Jornada Pocket PC (phased out/merged with iPAQ line in 2002)
Sony CLIÉ
Tapwave Zodiac
LifeDrive
Apple Newton
Dell Axim
NEC MobilePro
[edit] Rugged PDAs for business, government and military applications
Hand Held Products (HHP)
Intermec
Psion Teklogix
Symbol Technologies
[edit] See also
Automotive navigation system
Danger Hiptop
Desknote
Graffiti (Palm OS)
Hipster PDA
Information appliance
Laptop
Mobile software
Mobile learning
Mobile web
PADD (Star Trek PDA)
Personal area network
Personal Communicator
Personal information manager
Smartphone
Sony Clie
Subnotebook
Tablet PC
Ultra-Mobile PC
Wearable computer
Sena Cases
Timex Datalink
[edit] References
^ HWR accuracy:
See comments in Wired's Apple Newton Just Won't Drop (4 yrs later)
See text under "Handwriting Recognition" in Pen Computing's First Look at Newton OS 2.0
See "Opportunity Squandered" in Pen Computing's Why did Apple kill the Newton?
See comments under "Software" in MacTech's MessagePad 2000 review
Comments by Pen Computing's editor
See user testing results discussed in part 6 of this A.I. Magazine article on Newton HWR
MessagePad 2000 review at Small Dog Electronics
See comments under "Note-taking" in MessagePad 2000 review at "The History and Macintosh Society"
What's Right With The Newton: HWR
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